“Now, my student, remember, the magic comes from both the heart and will. Focus, and try again.”
The young filly concentrated. The small stones encircling her began to glow a soft purple. One by one they floated up into the air, slowly revolving around the little unicorn.
“Very good, now, continue the exercise,” Princess Celestia instructed, standing several feet away.
The floating stones started to move, looping around one another in complex patterns. One of the smaller ones started to wobble slightly.
“Focus, Twilight.”
The unstable stone stilled as more magic was concentrated upon it, but soon others began to shake unsteadily in their paths. One by one, they shot off in myriad directions, a few flaring off of the elder alicorn’s magical shield. “I’m sorry, princess,” the filly sniffed, a few tears beginning to pool in her eyes. “I messed up again.”
The ancient mare came to stand over the crying filly, her face stern. “Yes, you did. However,” Celestia’s expression softened, “Failure is its own teacher.”
“Huh?” Twilight looked up, two glistening tracks upon her face.
“Sometimes we learn best from our mistakes, not our successes.” The princess’s voice seemed to fade. “Always remember that, Twilight.”
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“Twilight! Twilight! Come on, wake up!”
The keyblade wielder awoke to violent shaking. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes.
“Oh thank Celestia! I was afraid you weren’t ever going to wake up!” Spike cried, jumping forward to hug the mare that was closer to him than anyone.
Twilight curled a limb around the small drake comfortingly. “Sh, it’s alright, I’m here.” She looked around the dimly lit alley they were in. Bits of trash sat in piles along with a few overflowing garbage cans. “But where’s ‘here’? The last thing I remember is...” Memories of her adventure with her friends and confronting Nightmare Moon flew through her head. “That dark mare tried to do something with her keyblade, but her spell backfired on her somehow. The reaction sucked us all in! What was she trying to do?” She shook her head, noting the cold metal still upon her neck. “Oh, I can’t worry about that right now! I don’t have enough information to guess, anyways.”
“Spike, we need to find Princess Celestia and the others, okay?” Twilight gently said, patting her assistant’s back comfortingly.
The baby dragon nodded, slowly letting go. After kneeling down to let Spike climb up on her back, the mare warily trotted out of the alley into what seemed to be a market of sorts. Two old fashioned lamps lit the area as two simply gigantic doors stood in the distance. A strangely shaped postbox sat near some stairs leading up to some more shops. A cafe of sorts was nearby. And there were humans all over, some as big as her and others even twice as tall! Twilight yelped and quickly ducked back into the alley.
“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Spike asked.
“What’s wrong?!” She repeated, a touch of hysteria in her voice. “There are real, live, humans out there!”
“So? Why don’t you go out and ask where we are?” A few moments later the keyblade wielder still hadn’t moved. “Oh come on, you faced down a bunch of Heartless and Nightmare Moon and this is what stops you cold?!”
Twilight shook her head. “You’re right, Spike, sorry. It’s just, well, I just always thought they were just a myth!” She sighed. “Well, here goes.” She stepped out of the alleyway again and warily trotted up to the cafe.
“Uh, hello?” She asked what looked looked to be the female in charge. At least, she thought it was a female human, the ancient legends hadn’t been too clear about how to tell gender with them. Her features did look softer than some of the others though.
“Why hello there, dearie!” the human cheerily greeted, “What can I get for you?”
“Er, I was just wondering where we were.” Twilight was slightly thrown by the enthusiastic greeting.
“Oh dear, you must be newcomers,” she fretted before calling for a busboy. “Pierre, why don’t you go get Leon?” The young lad ran off.
“Newcomers?” Spike asked, eyeing one of the muffins one of the cafe patrons was eating.
“Oh, aren’t you cute!” the lady exclaimed, pinching the little dragon’s cheeks before continuing. “Anyways, yes, newcomers. This is Traverse Town. All lost travelers between the worlds end up here.”
Twilight was silent for a moment as she digested this information. “Worlds? What do you mean?”
“You don’t know about the worlds? Oh dear. Well, I think Leon and the others could explain it better than I could.”
“Alright, I’ll wait for him. Um, if you don’t mind me asking, why isn’t anyone freaking out about? Me and Spike here look much different than any of you humans.”
The... woman? She thought that’s what the female humans were called. The woman laughed. “Oh dearie, we get so many different kinds of people popping in here these days, hardly anything phases us anymore. You should see the duck boys and their uncle! Besides, you two look too cute to be scary!”
“Great, I’m ‘cute’,” Twilight grumbled internally. Her stomach rumbled. “Er, could we order some of those pastries?”
“Why sure, that’ll be two munny each!” The cafe owner bustled behind the counter, pulling a few out.
Twilight swallowed nervously. “Er, munny? Do you mean bits?” Spike produced a few of the golden coins from his pouch.
“Uh, no dearie. Munny.” The woman held up a small multi-colored ball. Twilight facehoofed. She’d seen those before! They’d pop out of the Heartless she’d beaten all the time! “Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing,” Twilight replied in a strained voice, gritting her teeth. “I can’t believe this!”
“Well, since this is your first time here, you can have these on the house,” the cafe owner said, handing them the plates. In no time at all, the pastries were gone.
Twilight blushed, wiping crumbs from her lips as Spike shouted his compliments. “Heh, sorry, I must have been hungrier than I thought. Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is my assistant, Spike.”
The woman laughed. “And I am Marie. And I take it as a compliment! Now, could I see one of those gold coins?” At the keyblade wielder’s nod, Spike handed her one. She looked it over for a moment before handing it back. “You might want to head over to the McDuck item shop over there, they’ll probably give you a good price for these.”
“Er, I’ll consider it.” Twilight hesitantly said, as her assistant put the bit away. “I didn’t exactly bring much from home.”
Marie nodded. “I understand, dearie, but sometimes we have to do what we must to get by, and you won’t survive long in our little town without some munny. We try to work together, but at the end of the day it’s often everyone for themselves,” she sadly explained.
Twilight suddenly remembered what she had come out here for. “Have you seen anyone who looks like me?” She quickly described her friends.
“No dearie, but nearly everyone stays in this district where it’s safe. See that door over there?” Marie pointed to the huge door on the other side of the plaza. “Beyond there is the other districts. We don’t go there, it’s too dangerous. I suppose your friends could have appeared over there, but if they did surely the Heartless have... taken them by now.”
“There’s Heartless here?! I’ve got to find my friends before it’s too late!” Twilight cried, already running for the aforementioned door as her keyblade appeared beside her in a flash of light, oblivious to Spike and Marie’s cries. She suddenly stopped short as a tall man wielding a huge sword stepped into her path. He wore a dark jacket with a fur lining and several belts about his waist. His brown hair waved in the wind and a scar marked his face.
“Hmph. Another reckless one. What is it about people like you that attracts the keyblade?”
“What do you mean?!” Twilight shouted, her weapon angled towards the man blocking the way. He appeared altogether unconcerned about this. “There was another keyblade wielder around here? Tell me, was it another pony like me?!”
“No. It was a human. Just some dumb kid. You just missed him, really, he left a short while ago.” the man replied, his voice a monotone. “It’s interesting that another keyblade wielder would appear so soon.”
Twilight growled. “I don’t care. Now get out of my way, I have to find my friends!”
“I understand, but running around with no direction will only end in pain.” The man shifted his sword around to settle comfortably across his shoulder. “I can help you search the other districts, if you wish.”
Twilight hesitated. She didn’t know this person, this human! What if he just wanted to get them someplace alone and rob them, or worse? But she really could use all the help she could get. She grimaced. “I’m not very good at fighting alone.”
“Mr. Leon!” the woman from before, Marie, cried as she ran up, ignoring the hostilities. “Thank you for coming so quickly. These two here are new to Traverse Town and I was wondering if you could help them get oriented?”
“Yes, Marie, I’ll take care of it. And it’s just Leon.” the man, Leon, shifted his sword around so it sat comfortably on his shoulder. “Shall we?”
“...yes.” Twilight’s keyblade vanished as she floated Spike down. “Marie, do you mind watching him for a while?”
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, dearie!”
“Hey, I didn’t agree to this!” Spike crossed his arms as Twilight kneeled down to speak to him.
“I’m sorry, Spike, but I can’t take you with me. It’s dangerous out there and I can’t watch you and fight at the same time.”
“I can take care of myself!” the little dragon cried defiantly. “I’ve got my claws, and I can breathe a little fire!”
Twilight shook her head. “I know, but would make me feel better if you stayed someplace safe. Please?” Spike sighed and reluctantly agreed.
“So, shall we be off?” Leon began walking towards the massive door as Twilight followed.
Moments later, the swordsman and keyblade wielder were on the other side of the door. “The Heartless infest these other districts of Traverse Town, so be ready to fight.” The unicorn nodded, her keyblade reappearing beside her. They were in what looked to be another courtyard, with stairs on both sides leading up to another door. A small alley on the side had a door with a flame sigil emblazoned on it. “That’s the way to our local magician, Merlin.”
“A magician? Ooh, I wonder if he knows any new spells!” Twilight shook her head. “No, can’t get distracted right now!”
There was a slight swirl of darkness as more Heartless appeared, this time a mix of the small ones with metal helmets and a few of the fatter monsters. “Soldiers and Large Bodies,” Leon muttered, slicing one of the smaller in half with his sword. “I assume you know how to deal with Heartless?”
“Yes, though the ones with that emblem on them are fairly new to me.” She replied, planting herself solidly. “‘Soldiers and Large Bodies’, so that’s what they’re called.” Concentrating, she blasted one of the ‘Soldiers’ with a quick fire spell before throwing her whirling weapon at one of the ‘Large Bodies’. They faded away, scattering a few of the munny orbs she was shown earlier. Preparing a larger thunder spell to shock the rest, she was suddenly startled by a screech of metal. She turned to see Leon behind her, blocking the razor sharp claws of one of the Soldiers with his blade. He frowned at her before finishing the offending monster. Not much later, all of the Heartless in the area were gone.
“You’re definitely more skilled than that other kid who came through here recently, but you should watch your back. You can’t just stand in one place in battle, blasting away with spells. You need to stay mobile.” Leon critiqued, surveying the area for more Heartless.
“I know, but it’s really hard for me to move and cast spells at the same time!” Twilight explained. She looked at the little balls scattered around. How was she supposed to carry all of these? A small leather bag with a string attached was thrust into her field of vision.
“Use this. It’s enchanted, gathers all the munny around you into it. Doesn’t have a very large range, but it can hold a lot.”
“Oh, um, thanks!” Twilight tied the bag around her neck. It flopped around near her cursed necklace. She walked near a few of the munny orbs and indeed, they were sucked into the bag. “Well, at least I have some of the local currency now.”
“As for moving around,” Leon continued, “Well, I see you’re something of a mage. Do you have any teleportation spells?”
The mare started to shake her head no, but then stopped. “Well, I do, but-”
“Then use them.”
“But it’s dark magic!” Twilight exclaimed, remembering when she was overtaken by the darkness in the Everfree.
Leon lips twitched, almost like he wanted to smirk. “So?”
“So?! Dark magic is dangerous! I refuse to use it again, I could fall to the darkness!”
“Fire magic is dangerous. You could get burned, so you should never use it again.”
“That’s different! With fire, I control the power!” The keyblade wielder exclaimed.
Leon shrugged. “Then the answer is simple. Control the darkness,” he said, ignoring Twilight’s gobsmacked expression as he walked up the stairs to the next level. After a moment, the mare followed. “The Second District is through here. Be cautious, there has been a lot of Heartless activity in this area lately.” He opened the huge creaking door and stepped through. Twilight followed. They emerged in another shadowy alley, much like the one that the unicorn had woken up on.
“It looks like this used to be quite the city,” she commented, looking around.
The swordsman nodded slightly. “Yes, it was before the Heartless tracked us here. We were forced to retreat to the First District, as it was simply too difficult to defend everyone when we were spread out. Of course, there are a few who refuse to leave their homes, but...”
Whatever the man was going to say next was lost as battle cries and crashes from beyond the alleyway reached them. The duo shared a look before breaking into a run...