(Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted material you will encounter in this or any other story. This is the edited version.)
(AN: That's right, Stephen and David survived.)
Chapter 2: Bad News from the Stars
The Everfree, a place of constant darkness. Most on this world would never go here, but two beings from another had no choice in the matter.
"Ugh..." was the groan of pain that the taller of the two let out as he began to come to.
The shorter of the two came too soundlessly and opened his eyes, the sight of almost interlocking tree branches meeting his eyes. He sat up slowly, trying not to aggravate his aching head. He blinked several times to try and adjust to the light so it wouldn't be so dark, only to realize that it was actually this dark naturally and not because of his eyes.
It was then that he remembered something. "David? Where are you?"
"I'm right here, Steve…" came the reply.
Stephen looked up in the direction the voice came from and saw his friend suspended in low hanging branches. The position he was in didn't look all too comfortable. This being as it was, Steve got up and helped his friend down as best as he could.
"So, now that you're down on Terra-Fermi again, do you have any clue as to where we are?" Stephen asked his recently de-treed friend as he looked at their surroundings.
Trees, exotic plants, and darkness; those were the only three things they could see. Strange bird calls echoed all around them, but there was not a bird to be seen. The darkness hung in the air as if it were a fog instead of a shadow. There was very little light penetrating the thick canopy, and the light that was getting through came to the ground in small shafts of gold.
David looked around for a few more seconds before he spoke. "I don't know, but I don't like the vibe I'm getting from this place."
"Me neither, but which way should we go?" The older boy asked as he continued to look around.
David thought about this for a bit, "You still have your Keyblade, right?"
Stephen summoned his Keyblade and held it point up, "Of course. You know as well as I do that one can't really lose a Keyblade."
"Can I see it for a little bit?"
Stephen shrugged and handed his blade to his friend.
David put it and the ground and spun it like a top. It spun for a minute or two before it slowly came to a stop. He made an arrow on the ground in the same direction the blade was pointing.
"Let's go this way." He said, handing the Keyblade back to it's owner.
Stephen looked at his friend in confusion. "What? That's it?"
David looked back at him, "I'm sure you remember that the Keyblades are alive."
"Then it would stand to reason that they can control themselves to a limited extent!" Stephen exclaimed in understanding, "That's just brilliant!"
And with that, the two set out.
<|-0-|>
"I still don't get why we're here, this is egg-head stuff." Complained a sky blue pegasus with a rainbow mane as she hovered in place with her forehooves crossed.
"Rainbow Dash, if something like what happened to that star I saw last night were to happen to our sun, it could end all life in Equestria!" A lavender purple unicorn with a mostly dark royal purple mane explained to the now identified Rainbow Dash in a panicked voice.
A white unicorn with a curly purple mane walked toward the other unicorn, "Twilight dear, I know you are distressed, but I don't think there is anything we can do about this."
The purple unicorn, Twilight, sighed and began to rub her temples, "I know you're right, Rarity, but there must be something we can do. I mean, I have already sent the princesses a letter regarding this, but I haven't received a reply yet."
"Maybe they are trying to figure it out too." Suggested a gold colored pegasus with a rose pink mane in a quiet voice, barley loud enough to be heard by her friends.
"That sounds reasonable to me. Ah know Ah ain't ever heard of a star blinkin' out before." Said an orange pony with a blond mane, but had neither wings or a horn.
"But aren't they supposed to be smarty-smart-pants that know almost everything?" Asked a hot pink colored wingless, hornless pony with a slightly darker pink mane in a chipper tone that she almost always had.
The other five that were present just looked at her.
"What?" She inquired innocently.
"Pinky," Twilight began, "They do know almost everything, and if they don't know what caused that star to die like that like Fluttershy is suggesting, then this is bad. Very, very bad."
"Hmm, if only someone was here who was actually there, so they could tell us what happened…" Rarity said in a slightly dramatic way.
Almost as soon as the white unicorn said that, Pinky's body had what would look to those that didn't know her like a mini-seizure.
"Oh, oh! Somepony new is coming to town!" The pink pony cried out as she began jumping around in circles.
"Pinky, all of Equestria could be in danger, and all you can think about is that some new pony is coming here?!" Twilight practically yelled at her friend.
The orange pony put a hoof on her friend's shoulder, "Now calm down there, Twi. Maybe whoever it is can help us understand what happened."
Twilight took a deep breath then exhaled, "I hope you're right, Applejack."
She turned to her pink friend, "I'm sorry for yelling at you Pinky; I got worked up about what I saw last night and took my stress out on you. Can you forgive me?"
"Only if you help me greet the new pony." Said the pink pony jokingly, after thinking about it for a moment.
Twilight smiled at her, "How about we all go?"
The other four ponies chimed in in agreement. So they went to greet the newcomers, five of them following Pinky as she led the way to where she believed the newcomers would come from.
<|-0-|>
Stephen and David were just exiting the forest in which the had awoken, both with their Keyblades resting on their shoulders.
"Wow, that trick actually works in real life." Stephen commented, using his free hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun.
David chuckled at his friend's comment, and then looked straight ahead, "Hey, look! There's a town over there!"
Stephen shifted his gaze to where his friend was looking, and there it was. Most of the homes were wooden houses with straw thatched roofs; there were exceptions, such as one house that looked like a gingerbread house…
Wait…
A gingerbread house?
It seemed awfully familiar…
And so did the white and purple building he could barely see beyond the others…
He looked to his right and saw a familiar looking tree with a white picket fence running around it's perimeter and what appeared to be a large number of bird houses all around it.
"Dave," He began, "I think I know where we are…"
"Really?"
Stephen looked at the town once more before he spoke, "I think we're in Equestria, and that's Ponyville."
"And there are the main six." David said as he looked ahead of him seemingly in a trance.
Stephen followed his friend's gaze, and though he could barely see them, he knew it was them. The pink one was obviously Pinky Pie, the orange one was Applejack, the white one was Rarity, the yellow one was Fluttershy, and the purple one was Twilight Sparkle.
Wait a minute.
Where was Rainbow Dash?
He heard a whooshing sound above them. Oh no…
He looked up and saw her, a blue blur with a rainbow contrail. She was flying straight at them at full speed!
"David! Look out!" He cried out as he pushed his friend out of the way.
He held up his arm to protect himself some, his shield activating of its own accord. Then she hit him, the shield taking the full force of the blow. It was now that he learned a very useful fact about his mysterious shield: it can easily absorb a tremendous amount of force with very little knock back.
<|-0-|>
The other five members of the main six were shocked to say the least; this being had taken the full force of Rainbow Dash impacting at her full supersonic flight speed, and had barely moved an inch!
Rainbow just hovered there for a few moments, then she flew backwards and began shaking her hooves as if she had touched something hot, "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"
The being's shield and weapon disappeared in a flash of light, and then it crossed its arms and spoke, "You really should work on that "attack on sight" problem you have. You left yourself wide open to a counter attack both when you were charging and after you hit my shield."
"Oh yeah, then why didn't you?" The confrontational pegasus challenged.
"Maybe because we don't intend on hurting anyone." The being responded in an obviously upset tone of voice.
The other one, whose name was apparently David, decided to put in his two cents worth, "You really shouldn't judge other people before you get to know them. One would think your parents would have taught you that years ago."
Twilight saw that Rainbow was about to offer ether a rebuttal or an insult, so she decided to intervene, "I'm sorry about that. Rainbow is just overprotective when she sees something or someone that doesn't look, well…"
"Normal?" The shorter one finished.
"Well, yes." The purple mare began, and then she started to stutter, "B-but i-it's not t-that you're weird o-or anything, it's j-just… oh dear…"
"Don't worry; we understand what you are trying to say." The one called David told her gently.
"Now then, we have a very important message to give to your leaders." The other said, as his face took on serious expression.
"Really now? Just how important is this "very important message" of yours?" Dash challenged, being her usual stubborn self.
The older of the two fixed his eyes on her with an expression so serious that only Princess Celestia could match it before he answered, "So important that the lives of not only every being in your own lands, but the life of everything in your whole world is at stake."
<|-0-|>
Inside the Golden Oaks Library, David and Stephen leaned against a wall as they waited for the princesses to arrive. Both of them were nervous on the inside, but they knew that the news that they had was far too important to let their nerves get the better of them. They were also thinking about what happened to their world. It was gone, all of it, and only they were left.
They had to try and prevent that from happening to this world.
The ponies sat in various places around the main floor, all of them trying not to stare at the two humans that were in the room with them. All of them felt differently about the humans; Rainbow Dash didn't trust them, Applejack was worried about what the message they had to give was and how it might affect her family, Pinky Pie was being her normal bubbly self (and hoping that the meeting would finish soon, so they could have a welcoming party!), Rarity was trying her hardest to not start studying the clothes of their guests (...and failing. I mean, how in the world did they make those?), Fluttershy was worrying about her animal friends, and Twilight Sparkle was curious about where they came from, and what message was so important that they had to tell the princesses immediately.
Not a word had been said since Twilight had sent the letter to the princesses; the mood wasn't very conducive to small talk.
The front door of the library abruptly swung open as six guards entered the room and took up positions along the wall. Stephen and David straightened up, and the mares got to their hooves. Two tall ponies entered the room, both of them had large wings and long horns. One was alabaster white with a mane that looked like an Aurora, the other was a deep midnight blue with a mane that looked like a piece of the night sky.
They were none other than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, respectively.
All the mares bowed in respect to them; the two boys bowed at the waist to show their respect as well.
"It's good to see you again, Twilight. I just wish the circumstances were different." Celestia told her student when she had fully entered the room.
Luna turned her cerulean eyes to the humans, "We assume that thou art the ones who hath a message for us ."
Stephen nodded, "You are correct, your majesty. My name is Stephen McIntyre, and this is my friend, David Hammond. As for the message, we have good reason to believe that your world will soon be invaded by Heartless."
"Heartless? I have never heard of that race." Celestia stated, with an inquisitive look on her face.
"They aren't a race, they're a plague. The Heartless are creatures made of pure darkness; they consume the darkness in a being's heart to make more of themselves. They are always hungry for hearts, so hungry that they will seek out the heart of a world so that they can consume it, killing the world and everything on it." David told the alicorn.
"Oh yeah, and how do you know that?" Rainbow challenged as she hovered with her forelimbs folded, displaying her distrust of the humans.
Stephen's expression changed from serious to saddened, "Because they just destroyed our world, and only the two of us made it."
That killed the blue pegasus' confrontational mood, and elicited a gasp from the other members of the main six.
"Are you going to tell us that we should try and destroy them just because they destroyed your world?" Luna asked with a stern look on her face.
Stephen shook his head, "No, that would be an extremely foolish and completely hopeless endeavor. They outnumber us several hundred billion to one. The only way we can ensure minimal casualties is to try and evacuate as many people from this world as we possibly can."
There was silence as the ponies in the room let what had been said sink in. Even the guards looked surprised.
"How do you propose we do that?" Celestia inquired in a soft voice that sounded almost like Fluttershy.
"We will help you as best we can to build a fleet of ships. They are going to have to be big and will have to be self-sustaining so that those on board don't have to worry about running out of supplies." Stephen told her, as he began planning out how he and his friend could help.
"Sister, we could use the old sparring grounds as the construction site." Luna put in.
The solar princess thought about this for a short time: they were telling her that this course of action was best for her subjects. Even if it wasn't, it would allow them to visit other worlds. She just hoped she was making the right choice.
"Very well, we will begin planning as soon as we arrive at Canterlot. Both of you will be assigned rooms in the palace, provided you aid in the planning and construction process, of course." Celestia said to the displaced humans.
"Your Majesties, I would like to watch the planning and construction of these ships. It sounds like it would be a fascinating subject of study." Twilight requested.
Celestia looked at her student, then back at the two boys, "Only if neither of you have any objections."
David looked at Stephen, who shrugged, "That shouldn't be a problem." He said, smiling at the inquisitive pony.
Upon hearing this, Twilight's smile turned so wide that it threatened to split her face in half, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"Now that it is settled, let us get started." Luna said.
With that, the five of them went outside and got on the chariot. As they began to lift off the ground, Twilight started to wave to her friends. And so it was that the two Keybladers started a journey that would lead them from this world to many other strange places... as soon as they built the ship.
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