Laughter echoed around her, seeming to come from everywhere at once from the shadows. Eerie yellow eyes peered at her. “Who’s there!?” she called. Nothing but more laughter answered her. She ran, trying to get away, but the eyes followed her every step. There, something in the distance! She chased after it, but for every step she took it seemed to get further away, vanishing into the dark.
Her mistress’s voice whispered into her ear. “Why couldn’t you save me, Twilight?”
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“Twilight! Wake up!” Someone was shaking her awake, again. She groggily hoped this wouldn’t become a regular occurrence. “Come on, ya’ll was havin’ a bad dream!”
Twilight opened her eyes to see Applejack watching her, concerned, with Spike anxiously looking on.
“Um, are you alright, Twilight?” the little dragon asked, wringing his claws.
The unicorn slowly nodded.
“Do ya wanna talk about it?” The farmpony sat down on the bed beside her and put a hoof on her shoulder, comfortingly.
“No!” A shudder ran down the mare’s spine. “No,” she said again, her voice lower this time. “I just want to forget all about it.”
“Well, alright, if ya say so,” Applejack reluctantly replied. She got up and retrieved her hat from where she’d set it the night before. “So, how’s about some breakfast? I think that big fella, er, what was his name?”
“Goofy!” Spike helpfully supplied.
“Right, Ah think he went out early to get something from that cafe from yesterday.”
Just then Goofy’s voice called, “Up and at ‘em everyone, breakfast is served!”
Smiling, Twilight followed her friends outside, to where Sora was already wolfing down a plateful of donuts while Donald pecked at a muffin. The mare floated over a few pastries for herself. “Thank you for breakfast.”
“Aw shucks, you’re welcome!” Goofy replied, quickly making his way through a stack of donuts.
Applejack got her hooves on some apple fritters and took a bite. She sighed. “It’s good, but... it just ain’t the same.”
“Hey, we’ll find them and be home before you know it!” Twilight tried to cheer her up, though her heart wasn’t really in it.
“And how do ya know that?!” the earth pony shouted, throwing her pastry away. “They could be anywhere! We don’t even know where to start!”
“Hey now, none of that!” The usually jovial knight said, his voice serious for once. “I know things seem a little dark right now, but things always get better before the end! You’ll see! You’ve just gotta keep a smile going!” He nodded to himself in certainty. Applejack slowly nodded and sat back down.
“Besides,” Donald interjected, “There’s only so many worlds out there they could be, remember? ‘You can only travel to the worlds connected on the Lanes Between.’” He sounded as if he was quoting something. “So, it’s just a matter of elimination! We’re doing the same thing with Sora to find his friends.” He shared a look with Goofy before continuing. “Actually, me and Goofy have been talking about something. You see, we’re on a mission from his Majesty, King Mickey.”
“Who’s he?” Spike asked, grabbing for another muffin before Twilight coughed and shook her head. The little dragon crossed his arms and began grumbling to himself.
“King Mickey? Why, he’s the ruler of Disney Castle! I’m the Captain of the Guard and Donald here is the Royal Wizard!” He happily exclaimed.
“Goofy! I was trying to keep that a secret!” Donald shouted.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “I kinda already guessed that.”
“Well, anyways,” the wizard continued, looking slightly cross, “The King gave us a mission to find someone with a ‘key’ and protect him, but he never said anything about two keys. So, we were thinking that maybe one of us should go with you instead.”
“What?!” Sora spluttered, spraying crumbs all over.
“I’m sorry, Sora, but we’ve gotta follow our orders.” Goofy sadly said.
“But you can’t do that! You’ve gotta help me find Riku and Kairi!” The boy shouted. He looked at Twilight imploringly.
“Um, you don’t have to do that!” the unicorn found herself saying, “I’ve got a lot more training than Sora does, I’m sure he could use both of your help a lot more!”
“Well...” Donald trailed off as Goofy hummed in thought.
“And well, I figured we’re going to be splitting up, to search for our friends, right?” The two royal retainers nodded. “Well, we could come back here to Traverse Town to check in every few days! That way, you’ll be able to see that I’m okay and if one of us happens to find the other’s friends, we can bring them back here. How’s that sound?”
After a moment’s thought, Goofy nodded. “Sounds good to me. What do you think, Donald?”
The duck wizard sighed. “Well, I guess Sora does need all the help he can get.”
“Hey!” the younger keyblade wielder exclaimed, before breaking into laughter. “Thanks guys.”
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“Hey,” Cid called, entering the garage. He stretched and yawned. “Man, you guys sure like getting an early start, huh? Well, your ships are all ready to go.”
“Thanks again, Cid.” With a quick spell the unicorn floated in her and Applejack’s saddlebags from the small bedroom, settling them over herself and her friend. “Well, I guess this is it,” she sighed, a look of determination on her face. She turned to Sora’s. “How does meeting here in three days sound?”
“That works, I guess,” the boy replied. “Um, do you know where to start looking?”
“No, do you have any ideas?” she asked.
“Well, the ship should have the same basic routes programmed in as Donald and Goofy’s ship. Just take the space lane that they didn’t take!” a new voice said. It sounded vaguely familiar. Twilight looked around for the source but couldn’t find anyone. “Down here!” Twilight looked down to see a small mouse clad in a blue mechanic’s suit. A matching set of goggles sat upon her forehead. She waved a paw. “Hiya! I’m Gadget!”
“Oh yeah, now I remember, the voice over the speakers from last night.”
“Yep, Gadget here volunteered to be your ship’s mechanic.” Cid fished out a cigar and made to light it, but the little mouse turned to glare at him. He stuffed it back into a pocket, grumbling. “Well, let’s get you all going.”
The two groups followed Cid to their waiting ships. Up close, the ships looked really weird, like some sort of brightly colored rubber, or plastic. “What’re these things made of?” Applejack asked, poking the side of one of them. It gave slightly before bouncing back into shape. “Doesn’t seem too sturdy, if ya ask me.”
“They’re made out of gummi blocks,” Gadget explained. “They rain down from the sky from time to time. Nobody’s quite sure what they’re made of, but I have my guesses. They do make great materials to make ships out of, though! They stick together really well to make an airtight seal, plus they’re surprisingly resilient! And there’s all kinds of special gummi blocks, like ones that shoot lasers, or engines, or whatever we need!”
“These things shoot lasers?” Spike exclaimed, his eyes wide. “Cool!”
“Well, this ship only has a few weapon gummis, but it’s more than enough to keep you safe,” Cid explained.
“Er, why would we need weapons? Don’t tell me the Heartless are out there too!” Twilight groaned in exasperation.
“Well, not always, but sometimes you have to shoot down a few Heartless ships to get by,” Donald said, already putting his pack into his ship.
“Ah’m likin’ this idea less and less all the time,” Applejack said, “Come on Twi’, let’s go before Ah lose mah nerve!”
“Alright, alright.” Twilight turned back to the others. “So, you guys said you came from Wonderland, right?”
“Ah yup!” Goofy nodded. “You’ll wanna take the other route. Uh, where’s that lead again?” He scratched his head in thought.
“Olympus Coliseum, I think.” Donald helpfully supplied. “I’ve never been there, so you’ll have to just wing it.” Spike smirked at the turn of phrase, but managed to contain his laughter. “Oh, almost forgot. Don’t interfere in the world’s events more than you have to.”
“Why not?” The mare asked.
“It’s just not good to interfere. Who knows what could happen?” He tossed his own bags into his gummi ship. “Well, I think we’re ready to go,” the mage declared.
Twilight nodded, “Alright. Thanks for all your help, everyone! See you in a few days!”
“See ya!” Sora shouted. Their good-byes said, the two groups piled into their ships.
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Twilight looked over the ship’s controls. “Hm, this doesn’t look too hard,” she mumbled to herself.
“Well, that’s good, because you’ll be piloting!” Gadget chirped, to the dismay of everyone else aboard.
“What?!” the unicorn exclaimed. “I’ve never done anything like this before! Can’t you do it?”
The little mouse girl laughed. “Well, I’d love to, but there’s a slight problem. I’m too small to reach the controls!”
Twilight laughed nervously and settled into the pilot’s chair.
“Relax, it’s not that hard, you said so yourself!” Gadget exclaimed. She quickly explained the controls.
The unicorn let out a shaky breath and nodded. A light purple glow settled over the various buttons and knobs as the keyblade wielder got ready.
“You gals ready in there?” Cid’s voice asked from a nearby speaker.
“Yep! We’re ready to launch!” Gadget answered, gesturing for Twilight to press a red button.
“Ya know,” Applejack began, “Ah’m startin’ to think this wasn’t such a great ideAAAAAAAAH!” She screamed as the ship rocketed forward down the exit shaft, coming out amidst a field of stars.
“Wow,” Spike gasped, nose pressed against the glass as he gazed at the stars.
“They’re beautiful,” Twilight softly murmured.
Applejack took one look and blanched. “Tell me when we’re on solid ground again.”
Gadget laughed as Twilight carefully directed the ship into the lane she indicated. “Oh, come on, it’s not that bad. Besides, this is a thousand times safer than the first ship I made. That was one rickety old blimp...”
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The ship shuddered as another volley slammed into the hull. “Ah thought ya’ll said there weren’t supposed to be many Heartless ships out here?!” Applejack cried as she tried to keep Spike calm.
“I did! I’ve never seen Heartless out in such numbers before!” Gadget’s voice came from a nearby open console, where she was doing some quick repairs. There was a slight whine as the vibrations ceased. “There, the shields should be back up now, but they won’t last much longer. You need to take out the rest of those Heartless!”
“Right,” Twilight grunted, looping the ship around to get a better angle on the enemy ships. It wasn’t until they’d gotten out of sight of Traverse Town that the Heartless had attacked. The mare had barely had any time to get used to the controls before she was forced to fight. “They’re clever, I’ll give them that,” she thought, pressing the trigger as soon as one was in her sights. The Heartless gummi ship exploded under her fire, soon followed by the rest. “But they’re just not very good.” She swept a bit of sweat from her brow. “Well, I think that’s the rest of them. Is everyone alright?”
“Ah guess.”
“Yeah!”
“I’m fine, but we have a slight problem,” Gadget said, coming into view as she climbed out of some wiring. “One of their shots did a little damage to the engines. Now don’t worry!” She reassured at the pony’s alarmed looks, “We’re not in any danger right now, but we just won’t be able to take off right away after we land. It’ll take me a few hours to do the necessary repairs.”
“That’s alright, we were going to look for our friends anyways.” The unicorn caught sight of something in the distance. “Hey, is that it?”
The mouse peered out of the window. “Yep, we’re here! Now, just slowly take her in.”
Twilight nodded in concentration as she manipulated the controls...
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The unicorn landed the ship outside of an enormous building. Huge stone pillars supported the walls. “Well, here we are, Olympus Coliseum.” She looked out of the window and spied a few humans walking about, dressed in long, flowing clothes. “Right, better transform,” she thought, her horn glowing as she cast the spell. Purple light suffused the cabin as she changed, making sure to remember the clothes from before.
Her assistant gave her a thumbs up. “Looks good, Twilight!”
Smiling, she turned to Applejack. “Are you sure you don’t want a transformation? It’d help us fit in a lot better!” She cajoled.
“Like Ah said before, no! And look, not everyone around here’s all human anyways!” she said, pointing out the window to a short creature that looked half goat, half human. The little figure quickly entered the towering structure.
“Alright, alright. Gadget, will you be fine in here?”
“Yep!” She chirped, already diving into one of the consoles. “I’ve got everything under control, don’t worry about me!”
“Good. Come on, everyone!” She pressed a button, opening the hatch. The keyblade wielder took a breath of fresh air then turned to lift Spike up onto her shoulders. She grunted slightly under the weight. “Alright, that’s it, you’re going on a diet.”
“Aw, but Twilight!” the little dragon whined.
“Aw, give the little guy a break, Twi’.” Applejack got out of the ship and closed the hatch, clearly thankful to be on solid ground once more. “It’s not every day he gets to try food from other worlds, right?”
Slightly alarmed, Twilight shushed her friend. “Remember what Donald said! We shouldn’t interfere in worlds that don’t already know about the other worlds. I don’t think we’re supposed to mention them either.”
“Okay, okay, Ah get it.” The earth pony rolled her eyes. “Don’t see much point in it myself, as they’ll find out one way or another, but alright.”
“Well, we’re new to this. I just think we should follow the advice of the more experienced,” Twilight defended herself.
Before Applejack could respond, Spike interjected, “Hey, maybe we should check inside that big building? I bet someone in there would know if any ponies showed up here.”
“Good idea, Spike.” Twilight patted her assistant’s knee. “Let’s go!”
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“Woah, I’ve never seen architecture like this before.” Twilight looked up at the pillars stretching up high into the sky. They lined the passage leading deeper into the building. Strangely, several of the areas were open to the sky. A man near the entrance had directed them to talk to the coliseum manager, somebody named Philoctetes.
Applejack came up beside her. “It's so tall. Almost reminds me of Manehatten,” she commented.
After a short walk, they came out in a large, open courtyard. A couple of large statues sat beside a relatively small door on the other side. Suddenly, Twilight’s keyblade appeared in her hands. On instinct, she conjured a magical barrier, just before a familiar rainbow colored meteor slammed into it.
“I knew it! No normal human can block me like that! Twi’, AJ, it is you!” A voice Twilight knew shouted.
The young keyblade wielder found herself being pulled into a hug. When the dust from the impact cleared and she could see, a smile spread across her face. “Rainbow Dash!”