Kairi blinked and looked between her friend and husband.
"Kingdom Hearts itself? But isn't that in the world of Darkness?"
"That's just a door to Kingdom Hearts. There are many doors, at least one in every world. Some worlds have several and Piper here." Sora pointed a hoof at Piper.
"Is one of those Doors."
"Doesn't that make him dangerous?" Kairi asked."Can't anyone with a Keyblade open the door?"
Sora shook his head.
"Not exactly, its a bit complicated." Sora's keyblade appeared, hovering in mid-air.
"Mine can, but its the Master Key."
"Mine can too, but that's only because the Master Key passed me over for Sora. I only gained control of a keyblade matching Sora's after...well You already know Kairi." Riku said quietly. The Alicorn sat down, his children sitting on either side of him. Sora smiled, looking at them.
"So these are your kids?" Sora asked, his own children climbing up his back and playing with his hair.
"Yes, this is Nox and Shadowflare. Nox is named after her mother and Shadow, well." The Alicorn smiled, his coat shifting for a moment, the color pattern having swapped.
"He takes after me..." Riku mumbled almost ashamed.
"Dad, you can't keep beating yourself up like this." The Alicorn spoke up.
"He's right Riku. He's a healthy colt with some strange abilities, that's all. It was to be expected at some point." Nyx said, trying to comfort him.
"We're getting off topic again. What the buck is this 'Kingdom Hearts'?" Amethyst interrupted, again dragging everyone back on track. Emerald punched his shoulder.
"Amethyst, rude." She remarked quietly.
"We don't have time for nonsense right now Sis, we've got a war on our claws and Pipers at the heart of it and they know whats going on. We don't."
"Amethyst has a point. Its hard to explain"
"Maybe you should let me then." Piper said quietly as he sat up and spread his wings out. He seemed to flicker for a moment, his orange coat fading to black and smoke drifting from his nostrils as his eyes lit up bright yellow, a heartless crest twisted in on itself emblazoned across his chest. He put a hoof to his head, shifting back to his original form.
"That's the Door." Sora said with a small smile.
"I get it now. That Alicorn you were talking about, Harmony, she's put a lock on it hasn't she?" Sora said. Piper nodded.
"I don't know much about Kingdom Hearts. I just know what she told me. 'A key will open the door and a choice will be made'" Riku and Sora looked at one another and then back at Piper.
"I think we should keep an eye on you. I think this is what I was hearing and what Namine's dream meant." Sora said, surprising even Kairi with how serious he was.
"As long as you don't get in my way, go right ahead. But I've got a war to fight." he stood shakily, Celestia putting a hoof on his shoulder.
"You need rest. Even an immortal body cannot go on forever without rest." She said. He sighed, gasping in surprise as Strawberry started nudging him out of the room.
"Alright grumpy pants, start moving." she mumbled, pushing him along. Amethyst stared at his claws, having finally taken his gaze off of Piper.
"All of this because of that stupid spell. He coulda had a normal life, been a normal pegasus and maybe even married Strawberry by now. I took all that away from him when I killed him."
"Amethyst Darastrix Shrike, how many times do i have to tell you that you didn't kill him" Dinky said, eyeing the kirin. Amethyst blinked and gulped. It was rare anypony ever used his full name, only two ponies ever dared, his mother and Dinky hooves.
"Dinks."
"No, I don't want to hear it and if I do hear it again then I will use this." she lifted her Sonic Screwdriver into the air, letting it hover in front of his face. He gulped and nodded.
"I don't get it, whats that little thing gonna do to him? Isn't he some kinda dragon?" Sora asked.
"This is a fine tuned Sonic Screwdriver which I tweaked myself. At a certain frequency...well lets just say Amethyst can have excellent hearing at the worst of times." She said with a bit of a grin.
Strawberry stopped pushing Piper as they came across the gardens. She smiled and bounced over to a tree and sat underneath it, smiling over at him, her eyes lidded. The expression itself was enough to snap the pegasi's wings open with a very loud POMF. The zebra giggled and sighed softly as she rolled onto her back, looking up at the tree. Piper calmed himself and cleared his throat as he walked up to her.
"Berry...about what happened back there..."
"Piper, I already told you, I don't care. You're still my Piper and you always will be. No matter what stuff happened or whats gonna happen, because I love you." she glanced over at him, her smile never fading.
"Even if you look like a meanie heartless, you're still my Piper."
"Berry..." he lay beside her, nuzzling her neck, feeling an ache in his heart.
But its not my heart...its hers. But this pain...its not the same pain...She's crying...happy tears. He smiled, the mare throwing her hooves around him.
"I don't care about all the stuff that happened anymore Piper. I have you back and I'm not letting you leave again." she said as she nuzzled him.
"Now ain't that just cute." a voice spoke up. Piper rolled away from Strawberry, growling like a rabid animal as he stared at what seemed to be thin air.
"Oh? You can see me? well they said you might. So you're the Door huh? Well you're gonna have to come with me buddy. Be a nice little pony and come get the snack." the figure said as he appeared, holding out a carrot towards Piper. Piper continued growling, flaring out his wings as his eyes shifted to a deep blue, the air turning cold around them.
"Hey that's a neat trick, but uh..." the figure snapped his fingers, surrounding them in a ring of flames.
"Fire trumps ice buddy." Piper only grinned and reared back, slamming his hooves down on the ground as he brushed his wings together, a jolt of electricity flowing through him and striking the figure who screamed in surprise and agony, the bolt knocking them out, the flames vanishing without their master commanding them. Piper let out a breath he had been holding as he cautiously walked up to the figure. Something black and sickly clung to his forehead, just under his crazy red spiked hair.
"What...is he?" Strawberry asked, poking the figure.
"He's a Nobody. One of the strong ones. I don't know his name but I know what he's after. We need to get Sora quickly before the others realize he's out."
"What others Piper?" Strawberry asked.
"No time to explain, move!" he yelled, pushing her into the tree as several holes opened in the air. Piper bent his legs and sprung into the air, spiraling up and away, the black figures chasing after him. Strawberry shook out of her daze, running down the hall and screaming.
"SORA!SORA!SORA!SORA!SORA!"
"Its one freakin pony, is it really gonna take three of us to catch it?" one cloaked figure asked.
"Well it took out Axel without breakin a sweat."
"Yea but Axel's been fighting that worm for ages, maybe he was holdin back?"
"I doubt it. Hey where the hell did it go?" the figures turned to see the pony had vanished. Moments later the boom reached their ears, causing them to scream and cover their ears, giving Piper the opening he needed. The pegasus grunted in pain as a bolt landed in his side. Nothing could hit him at these speeds.
What had shot him? He rolled in the air as more bolts rained down toward him, catching a rapidly vanishing figure out of the corner of his eye. The figure smirked, aiming its crossbow at him and firing quickly. Piper rolled, throwing shards of ice in the way of the bolts, freezing several in mid-air as he dove for the ground, the figure chasing after him as well as the other three. This wasn't his first time in a situation like this and he doubted it would be his last.
They wanted a door, he was gonna give them one. Piper pushed with all of his might, screaming against the wind as a second cone formed around him. The figure with the bolts was smart enough to back away, the other three were not as Piper vanished completely from sight, a hole ripping in the air and sucking them toward it.
"WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Sora yelled over the winds whipping about as everything was sucked into the tear in the air.
"THAT IDIOT BROKE THE SOUND BARRIER AND PUSHED BEYOND IT! HE'S SHATTERED THE LIGHT SPECTRUM! NOTHING SHOULD MOVE AT SPEEDS LIKE THAT! HE'S CREATED A BLACK HOLE! HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!" Dinky yelled, Sora watching as the three members of Organization XIII were sucked into the black hole kicking and screaming, moments later an orange pegasus hurtled through, the tear slowly sealing itself.
Piper panted and grinned, grunting as a bolt slammed into his side, another quickly nailing his hoof to the ground. Piper pulled back, ripping his hoof and leaving the arrow in the ground. He hobbled backwards, fluttering his wings weakly as the figure appeared before him.
"Nice trick, I should thank you for getting rid of those three for me, they were starting to bug me. Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
"HOW ABOUT THIS WAY!?" Sora yelled, tackling the cloaked figure and placing his keyblade at his throat.
"Well well, what a surprise." The figure grinned, sinking into the ground and vanishing. Strawberry Swirl quickly ran over to Piper as he began yanking the bolts out of his body.
"Downside to all oth thith" he said around the bolt, grunting in pain as he ripped it out, spitting it out of his mouth.
"Can't heal with something in the way." he mumbled, ripping out another bolt and resting his now healed hoof down.
"Piper that was the most reckless thing I have ever seen! What was to stop that hole from sucking all of us in!?" Dinky fumed.
"Well none of you were suppose to be over here. And I doubt something like that would bother a Keyblade Master, he's the one I sent Berry to get. He knows these things better than I do." he said, kicking the still knocked out figure.
"No way...Axel?" Sora walked up to the figure, smacking away the black gunk with his keyblade. The figure gasped and sat up.
"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!" he screamed, panting, his eyes wide in fear. He blinked, realizing he was staring at a pair of eyes he recognized, the body was different but there was only one person with those eyes.
"Roxas?" he asked. No, it wasn't Roxas.
"Sora?" the figure nodded and smiled.
"Geez Axel, what the heck are you doin here?"
"Its a long story...why the heck are you a horse?"
"Its...a long story..." they both blinked and fell into a fit of laughter.
"Ok wait a minute, this guy tried to hurt Piper and now you two are buddy buddy? Whats going on here?!" Strawberry demanded.
"We'll explain later. Right now we need to move. They know where we are and they know I'm here. I didn't want to do this but.." he turned toward Piper, pointing his keyblade at him. Piper bared his teeth and growled, frost clinging to his coat.
"Piper, relax, I'm not going to hurt you, this is for the best."
"I know exactly what that key of yours can do and I'm not standin still for it."
"I've caught things faster than you." Sora challenged.
"Oh yea?" Piper took off, Sora swearing under his breath and chasing after him.