Heart Of Equestria

Chapter 6: The Fury of a Goddess

The villagers of Sunny Town were almost jumping for joy as they saw their princess landing among their party decorations, fillies were laughing and playing as the adults bowed low for their princess.

Princess Luna had always been kind to Sunny Town; the ponies were old fashioned much like the princess herself and they had always loved the night. Indeed several of the ponies actually chose to sleep through to the afternoon and then stay up with the moon and stars.

But as she came closer, several of them felt confusion wash over them; their Princess held none of the love or care that graced her beautiful eyes. Instead there was only cold fury and hatred, so intense that several could swear that they felt it burn them.

“Where is Ruby?” Princess Luna had clearly dispensed with the Royal Canterlot Voice; the level but still threatening tone promised unimaginable pain and washed fear over the assembled ponies like a wave.

Greyhoof, the town mayor, decided to answer her.

“Your majesty, you understand that we didn’t have any choice in the matter-“

The collected ponies screamed as a beam of moonlight flew from their Princesses horn and struck Greyhoof; his fur and flesh rotted and melted away before their eyes as he cried in anguish, reaching his hooves out in desperation toward his friends and family, who recoiled in horror.

“You shall know pain… You shall suffer worse than she, feel the agony of death a thousand times… but you shall not perish, you will live in eternal agony, always knowing, always remembering… you did this.” As she spoke Luna rose from the ground without her wings flapping; her eyes had taken on a snow white glow and before their eyes her appearance morphed.

Regular teeth elongated and narrowed into fangs, feathers linked together and turned black as shadows coiled and crawled along her body, solidifying into vicious warrior armour. Her beautiful mane, blue as the night sky and decorated with stars, changed its tone to an eerie purple and took on the movement of flames.

The moment the transformation was completed, a light shone down on the entire area like a spotlight; it was coming from the full moon but it was unlikely any of the gathered ponies ever realised this as they felt the fire erupt under their flesh, burning away at them, destroying organs and exposing muscle yet not allowing them to die.

Some unknown time later Greyhoof managed to force himself to stand and open his eyes, agony still assaulting his very being; the village was in ruins and the forest overgrown with plants of poison and jagged spikes, sealing them in their hollowed corpse of a town to suffer until their princess saw that they were right and forgave them.

****

Princess Luna could feel the horrified stares even as she refused to meet their eyes, the tears streaming freely from her face.

“Now you know why I refuse to take the throne; Equestria deserves better than a monster ruling over them.” Her voice was barely audible and she sounded vulnerable, as though afraid someone would hit her.

The keyblade masters and the Elements had been silent since the story began and now most seemed to have no idea how to react; Twilight seemed more worried about Luna’s grief while Riku had an odd look of pity on his face but the others seemed simply scared.

“Luna.” Twilight moved to the Princess and laid a wing around her, nuzzling her not caring in the least about the others presence. “It wasn’t your fault, it was Nightmare Moon. Please don’t do this; I thought you understood that we will never hate you for what Nightmare Moon did.”

Luna shook her head but leaned herself into Twilights wing, tears still gently falling.

“But that’s just it my dear Twilight: that wasn’t Nightmare Moon. That was what caused me to become her. The action was mine and mine alone.”

There was silence again except for Luna’s almost silent crying.

Sora and Kairi were sharing a concerned glance, clearly their trust was shaken.

“Don’t even think about it.”

They jumped, as did everyone else; none of them had been aware of Riku watching the two.

“Don’t think about what?” Sora asked.

Riku scowled.

“Sora you might be the best warrior in the world but you’re a terrible liar; you and Kairi are thinking whether Luna can be trusted.” His tone had turned accusatory.

“Well, yeah.”

Everyone turned to stare at Rainbow Dash.

“What? I mean if she’s willing to do something that screwed up without Nightmare Moon we kinda have to wonder, right?” She sounded unsure of herself for once.

Riku’s glare could rival Fluttershy as he levelled his eyes to the remaining ponies.

“Anyone else got something to add?”

The others hesitated; before they could answer Riku felt Sora’s hand on his shoulder.

“Riku, calm down. We know Luna can be trusted, it’s just… surprising is all. I mean, we have to always wonder don’t we, we’ve been betrayed before.”

Riku turned to face Sora.

“I can tell she isn’t like that anymore.” He assured with no emotion to his voice.

Luna spoke up for the first time.

“And how can you be so sure of my alter ego?”

Riku sighed and his shoulders sagged slightly.

“First hand experience.”

The ponies gasped.

Sora turned Riku back around and spread his arms; Riku groaned but still accepted a hug, with Kairi giving him another as soon as Sora released him. He visibly calmed down.

“Sorry.”

Kairi shook her head.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about.”

Riku nodded and sat back down.

“It’s just a sore spot is all.”

“We understand sugarcube.”

Riku smiled as he saw the other Elements, including Rainbow Dash, nodding with encouraging smiles, Fluttershy was even giving Luna as best a hug as she could with the size difference.

Sora spoke up. “So, Twilight; we at least know where the undead-“

“Blanks.”

He stared at Luna in surprise.

“Those creatures… they are called Blanks.”

He decided not to upset Luna anymore and didn’t question her knowledge.

“Right, so those Blanks; any ideas who could’ve called them, we know Luna’s out she was with us the entire time.”

Twilight immediately began her pacing; from the top staircase her assistant Spike was following her progress and noting everything she said.

“Well we know Luna is off the list and Celestia and Cadence didn’t know about them; but they still thought it was Luna that released them.” She stroked her chin with a hoof, eyes deep in thought.

“Another Alicorn maybe?” Rarity offered.

“Pony with wings, magic and strength.” Applejack answered before Sora could ask.

Twilight shook her head.

“Couldn’t be; Alicorns are some of the most powerful creatures in existence, if there were more than three Alicorns running around-“

“Four.” Kairi reminded her.

Twilight nodded. She kept forgetting her relatively recent change.

“Four Alicorns, we would know if there were any more of them, they aren’t exactly hard to notice. No, we’re looking for something that can impersonate an Alicorn, something that can look like Luna but isn’t but has powerful enough magic to combat… her.”

The Elements and Luna all hit the same realisation.

“Queen Chrysalis!”

“Who?” Riku asked.

“Short version, evil pony things that can shapeshift, leader is a big icky queen that kinda looks like an Alicorn and hates us.” Rainbow Dash responded.

“Like this!” Immediately the three keyblade masters were greeted with the sight of Pinkie Pie dressed in insect wings made from plastic bags and a bent cardboard tube for a horn.

“Riiight, anyway.” Twilight continued, used to Pinkies antics. “Chrysalis could have unleashed the Blanks to try and kill our friends, if she knew we were away somehow she probably assumed Ponyville was defenseless.”

“Didn’t count on mah big brother then!” Applejack declared proudly.

“Yeah, Big Mac and the others totally kicked their flanks!” Rainbow exclaimed, miming some punches and kicks in the air.

“True, we didn't come out of it unscathed though.” They all grimaced as they remembered Lotus; Aloe still hadn’t left her house despite Cheerilees best efforts to comfort her.

“Still, at least we now have a suspect to bring to justice!” Luna declared, finally gaining back some of her confidence at the thought of Chrysalis.

Sora nodded.

“I agree, we should find where she is a get her back for what she did to you all.”

“Ah like that plans.”

“Me too.”

“It’s agreed then.” Kairi asked and everyone nodded, Fluttershy just barely visible from her curled up position. “Good, we’ll all meet in an hour at the edge of the forest then?”

“Wait, I thought you said the forest was full of dangerous creatures?” Riku asked.

Sora rolled his eyes.

“Come on Riku, we’ve got two goddesses, someone who works with those animals all the time and us! We’ll be fine.” He grinned punching Riku on the shoulder in a challenge.

Riku returned the punch and smirked as Kairi and Applejack shared an exasperated look.

****

“Well then just who the hay is he?”

“Ah dunno Scoots but keep your voice down!”

“But didn’t Miss Heartstrings say he was nice?”

“Yeah but she totally looked freaked when she said it Dinky!”

“Well if he helps me get back to mummy I love him.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders trudged their way through the dingy woods, conversing under their voices with Dinky Doo; ahead they could see Lyra Heartstrings clearing away branches in their path while behind them was the unknown unicorn stallion they were discussing. He seemed tense and walked backwards occasionally; scanning the sky and the path they came down.

“Anyways, if you guys are really sure he isn’t the Headless Horse-“

“Well he does kinda have a head Scoots.”

“Well then who could he be; you heard Miss Heartstrings when she thought we were asleep, you can’t just teleport out of that place!”

“Well, maybe he’s a traitor; maybe he decided he didn’t like those nasty ponies and helped us escape, that’s what ah reckon.”

“What about you Sweetie?”

The three turned their eyes to Sweetie Belle, who was trudging with a blank look on her face and didn’t seem to be really listening; ever since she had managed to force her head out of the sack Lyle had thrown them into she had been in her own world.

“Ah’m startin’ to really worry about her.”

“Me too…”

“We should take her to Doctor Whooves, he can fix her!”

Both Scootaloo and Applebloom exchanged glances.

“No offense Dinks, but the Doctor is kinda… well, weird, ya know what I mean?”

The look Dinky gave clearly showed she didn’t.

“Fine, we’ll take her to him when we actually get the hay out of here, how long have we been goin’ anyway y’all?”

Scootaloo shrugged.

“About an hour?”

Suddenly they heard a whoosh of air overhead.

“Get down.” Came the hushed voice of the mystery stallion.

They all threw themselves into the brush; Scootaloo couldn’t help but wince at how badly some of them stuck out, with her hot pink mane, Appleblooms huge bow and the mystery stallion’s shiny red coat and horn.

As they listened overhead the stallion suddenly tensed and smiled.

“Lyra, I think I’ve found a spot!”

The group all winced and the stallion growled; that had been much louder than he’d intended.

A moment passed.

Then another.

“Maybe they didn’t hear?” Lyra whispered hopefully.

The stallion shook his head.

“No… they’re watching us now I’d wager.”

All the foals cast their eyes around, all trying to find any trace of spying eyes but none of them saw anything but leafs.

The stallion seemed to be pondering something.

“Lyra, do you trust me?” His eyes were pleading.

She nodded, though hesitantly.

He turned to the foals.

“Kids, I think I might have a way to get us home… but it’s going to be really dangerous. Is everypony willing to take that risk?” The looks of hope and joy he got answered him.

“Alright, hang on everypony.”

The Stallion buzzed with energy and lit up; not just his horn, his whole body illuminated as though someone had lit him up with a light bulb. After a few moments the light coalesced in his horn and shot out into a clearing; it writhed and spiralled before forming an opening with what looked like…

“PONYVILLE!!!”

Immediately all the foals took off for the opening.

Like a snap on a mousetrap, the Shadowbolts descended.

The first Pegasus made a diving movement toward Dinky and was slammed into a nearby tree by a bolt from Lyra; the Shadowbolt rebounded with a crunch and fell to the floor.

Two Shadowbolts began flying in circle formation, luring Dinky and Twist away from the portal; neither noticed the sliver of shadow that had connected them until it was too late. The sliver quickly gathered energy from their movement and expanded, engulfing the two pegasi even as they struggled to escape.

There was a scream from the east side of the clearing as Applebloom was grabbed; the Pegasus rose but didn’t get far as a bolt of green severed several feathers, a cloud of shadow catching Applebloom before she hit the floor and depositing her through the portal.

“Cascade, defence!”

The stallion grimaced as he noticed a pair of Shadowbolts make it through the portal; he positioned himself in front of it and met a third with a red jet of light, what remained of the Pegasus cartwheeling into the portal with a sickening crunch on the other side.

Lyra yelped as a passing Pegasus escaped her blasts and sliced into her side with serrated steel feathers woven into the natural ones; she winced but turned and sent a stream of sparks his way, satisfied to hear the yell of pain that meant they connected.

Cascade was promptly being overwhelmed; for every Shadowbolt they killed it seems three replaced them, and only about half the foals had escaped, the others were forced into the bushes or the edges of the clearing to dodge the onslaught of pegasi dive-bombing their position.

He cried out as two Shadowbolts dodged around a burst of flames and sliced him, one cutting his temple and the other drawing a long gash into his side. His legs shook but he stayed upright and fired off a series of combustion spells, the blasts and resulting shrapnel buying them some time.

Lyra panicked as she saw five Shadowbolts rushing her at once in a V-formation; she fired off bolts in a desperate attempt to scatter them but while two pegasi dropped and one was forced to pull out of the dive to avoid it, the remaining two grabbed her without breaking pace and slammed her into the nearest tree.

Cascade scowled as he saw Lyra drop to the ground in a heap, the culprits circling around to try the same against him but they slammed straight into a wall of flames that had not been there previously. Their cohorts took full advantage and aimed a well-placed buck at Cascades already injured side, catapulting him into a nearby willow tree.

He growled as the world became a blur of colours and sound, forcing himself to stay awake and alert; he was out of practice but he would not fall to these welps!

As the thought occurred his legs failed completely.

As the last traces of consciousness left him he could see Scootaloo struggling in the grip of a Shadowbolt, flailing her limbs at his face while in another’s Dinky was crying for her mother to save her.

He prayed for a miracle as two more Shadowbolts descended on him.

****

“Guys… you’re gonna want to see this.”

Sora and Riku glanced up from their fencing session to where Kairi was pointing to with her own keyblade; on a field just outside of the Ponyville borders a large swirl of red light was illuminating the hilltop.

“Oh great, what now?” Sora asked.

The three tensed as they saw figures emerging from the portal.

“Wait a minute, are those…”

****

“The Children!”

Big Macintosh jumped as he heard Cheerilee call out from their table at Sugarcube Corner, but even as he turned around he saw her set off at a gallop toward the hills outside town.

“What in the hay?” The question faltered as he saw exactly, what.

As his eyes adjusted to looking at a bright light like the portal he was seeing, Big Mac could swear he saw figures emerging from it, including…

“APPLEBLOOM!!!”

The shout rattled nearby windows and sent ponies fleeing for their lives as a red blur of muscle zoomed toward the hilltop, quickly overtaking his marefriend.

****

Across town at a tree that was also a house, seven very startled ponies and one dragon glanced away from their work.

“What was that?” Spike wondered as he threw open a window. “Hey guys, check it out!”

He regretted his choice in words as he was squashed against the window frame by seven very insistent ponies.

They all saw the portal at once as well as the small figures emerging from it.

“Dat’s Applebloom. Hold on sis, Big Sis’s comin’!” Applejack took off like a rocket and smashed her way through the library door. She was followed swiftly by Rarity as the others still at the window were nearly deafened by the roar of wind from Rainbow Dash as she too made for the portal. Before their eyes they could see more figures making their way to the portal, recognising the keyblade masters.

“Come on, we’ve got to help them!” Twilight called, pulling Spike onto her back and flying off toward the hill, Luna and Fluttershy right behind her.

****

Applebloom hit the ground with a soft thump as the cloud of shadows that had caught her threw her through the portal; she shook it off quickly and offered a hoof to Twist and Sweetie Belle.

“Applebloom!”

Forgetting her fellow foals, Applebloom wheeled around, beaming and with tears in her eyes as she felt herself lifted into the air by the force of Applejacks hug, another rough thump indicating that Big Mac had joined them. Over their shoulders she could see various other figures making their way toward them.

The advancing figures didn’t all stay; three humans with bizarre weapons continued straight on through the portal as did Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and, to her surprise, Princess Luna.

“Applebloom, just what in the hay happened?” Applejack asked between kisses to her forehead and soft crying.

“Ah dunno, we were just in the schoolhouse with Lyle, he told us to go asleep and we all just nodded off, like we had no choice! Next thing ah knew ah was in a sack with the others and chucked in some kinda prison!”

Big Mac had broken away from his sisters by now to take a glance through the portal, the battle within had turned swiftly, strange pegasi of black and purple, all identical, scattered under a barrage of magic and slashing that he reckoned would even make the Princesses afraid.

Within the clearing Luna could tell she was snarling as she launched spell after spell at the attackers but she didn’t care, these pegasi were nothing but animals and they would be put down like them.

While impressive the Alicorns were well aware that many of the pegasi were surviving their barrage but to her relief when Twilight got a second of breathing space she saw that the keyblade masters had positioned themselves around the perimeter of the clearing, any new pegasi were met with a blade to the head while their retreating comrades fared no better. Their speed was unreal, several times they would become little more than a blur of colour, dodging and weaving between their opponents and occasionally even around and over each other, never taking a hit from the Pegasi and never faltering. It was no wonder that Celestia had said they were widely feared and respected; they could probably have challenged the entire Castle Guard and put up a decent challenge.

“That’s all of them guys, let’s get the hay out of here!” Rainbow Dash yelled out as she carried the last filly through the portal.

The group nodded and began working their way back toward the portal, Kairi and Riku walking backwards, keyblades at ready in case any of their foes tried to hit a retreating target.

As they passed through Sora stopped with one foot through the portal and focused on something none of them could see but whatever it was his eyes went wide and he immediately dashed back into the clearing.

“Sora, what are you doing!?” Kairi yelled.

“There’s two more ponies here, adults! Gimme a hand, this one’s really heavy!” He called back, hoisting a unicorn that was oddly familiar to Twilight.

“That’s Lyra!” Rainbow Dash called. “How the hay did she get caught up in this?”

“No idea but let’s get her out of it, now!” Riku declared, charging through the portal again to help Sora; the two hoisted the unconscious unicorn between them and ducked low as more magic flew from Luna and Twilight into the tress, any Pegasi that were hiding would have no chance to leave their cover.

“Hang on, there’s another one here!” Riku broke back off from the group to another unicorn, a stallion this time with a blood red coat and horn, who had been knocked to the side out of view from the portal entrance. He was much lighter than Lyra and Riku slung him over his shoulder effortlessly, sprinting back to the portal as he heard the sounds of more Pegasi behind him, at least one meeting a nasty end from a lightning blast from Luna.

Riku and his passenger fell through the portal as they all saw on the horizon something moving; a piece of the black sky almost seemed to separate itself as a cloud of shadow flew toward their portal, too great in size to be simply a spell.

The Elements of Harmony could only stare in horror as they recognised the green, glowing eyes at the front of it, burning with hatred.

“Sombra…”

Luna was just as horrified as the elements but unlike them she composed herself enough to direct her full magic at the portal, willing it to close with all her might but something was wrong; this was ancient magic, from her own time period. She could not recall how to close it.

“Get ready to fight guys, he’s a big one!” The keyblade masters readied their weapons; they had thought unknown foes before and they were not about to let this one hurt anyone.

But even as they readied them, the portal seemed to sputter and began folding in on itself.

The group had one last glimpse of Sombra roaring with rage, some of his physical form appearing before he was cut off; they now stood once again on an ordinary hilltop with a group of scared but alive foals.

While the others looked around in confusion, Cascading Aurora rose to his hooves, just barely able to stand on his own; he promptly lit his horn and a gentle green glow enveloped himself and Lyra, their injuries of battle fading.

The act caught the attention of the others in the group who all turned to face him, most simply curious about who he was. But as he looked them over he saw one face full of nothing but hatred and rage.

Oh, horseapples.

It was all he had time to think before the Princess of the Night physically hauled him off his hooves and threw him into a nearby tree, the impact threatening to re-shatter his recently repaired ribs. Before he had time to fully comprehend the pain he felt the tell-tale hum of magic pulling him up and felt an intense pressure on his windpipe, choking him.

“Princess Luna, what in the name of Celestia has gotten into you?” He could see Lyra physically wrestling with the Princess; while it did nothing to actually move or hurt her, the act of defiance must have surprised her, as Cascade was released and fell to the ground with a thump.

The rest of the group just looked on in confusion as Lyra glared daggers at Princess Luna, whose eyes were still burning as they had been when she first saw the unicorn.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? YOU MEAN TO DEFEND THIS MONSTER!!! HE SURELY IS A SPY FOR THE ENEMY!!!”

Lyra jumped back as did the keyblade masters, none of them had heard the Canterlot Royal Voice so close before. But Lyra did not relent.

“He saved us, he opened the portal and he just risked his life fighting off those Shadowbolts when he could’ve just left. Don’t you tell me who’s an enemy Princess, you weren’t there to see how much he risked!” The loudness of their voices had drawn several other ponies away from town to inspect the hilltop.

“HE IS A DECEIVER, HE WILL DECEIVE YOU ALL AND DESTROY EQUESTRIA LIKE HE ALREADY HAS TRIED ONCE!!!”

At this point they were interrupted by an almost literal stampede as ponies from town recognised loved ones; Lyra herself was tackled to the floor in a hug by Bon Bon, who was laughing and crying in relief as she clung to Lyra like a vice, as if afraid she would vanish if she released her.

Riku was nearly knocked head over heels by two very odd looking ponies who looked like they were on holiday, both of them tripped and fell into a hug with Sweetie Belle and Rarity. He could only guess that Rarity was in fact not her mother as he had thought.

“MUFFIN!!!”

This was the loudest shout of all as a grey blur shot past the group and slammed into Dinky Doo, it was so fast it was miraculous none of them were hurt but when the dust cleared all that was there was, sitting in a crater, a blonde maned Pegasus desperately hugging and kissing a giggling filly, who was doing her best to throw her arms around her mother just like her mother had done with her wings. Both were crying but they were most certainly tears of joy as Ditzy Doo took a second from their hug to check Dinky was unhurt, only for her relief to increase when she saw no injuries.

“It seems one thing hasn’t changed in Equestria.”

Luna and the others whirled back to the stallion, who by now had pulled himself to his hooves again and was looking at the reunions with a somewhat hollow look, which reached his voice.

“It seems… I will be forever reminded of what I did. Fitting I suppose, if death was not a fitting punishment then revelling in my own mistakes shall suffice.”

Luna advanced on him again but the stallion made no moves to retreat or flee.

“Cascading Aurora?”

The stallion laughed bitterly.

“Princess, I told you I don’t like that, just call me Cascade, it’s what… what… what the others used to… call me, remember?” Cascades tone shifted drastically, he now sounded like he was barely holding back tears.

Luna had no sympathy and pressed on.

“Tell us welp; how is it you come to be here when we just saw you through the portal? You were skilful Cascading Aurora but duplication on this scale is impossible, even for my sister.”

None of the others knew what to do about the situation other than listen in, not noticing or caring that everypony else had departed back to Ponyville with their reunited loved ones except the CMC and Dinky and Ditzy.

Cascade once again laughed with no joy to his voice.

“That’s not duplication Princess, that’s separation. Me and him, well, we aren’t exactly one and the same anymore. Well, not literally at least.”

Finally Twilight asked the question on everyones mind.

“Luna, I know you’re angry but just who the hay is this stallion? Why do you hate him, what did he do, and what do you mean we just saw him?” Her tone grew louder with each question, ensuring Luna could not ignore her.

Luna honestly looked like she might lie or refuse to answer but sighed and turned to face the group.

“What we have here is a pony who should be dead, a pony dead by the hands of people he himself corrupted and tormented, much as he did me, my sister and countless others.” She took a breath.

“Elements of Harmony, Keyblade Masters. You stand here and look upon Cascading Aurora, or as we know him better, King Sombra.”