Magic Rules
Wow. Lots of suggestions for weapons. Thanks guys. I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with something from all of that.
So, I have used this quote before when it comes to explaining to people about how long the writing process can take, even when you’ve become good at it, and I feel as though I must share it once again, as this is what it has felt like for me these past six months or so. The quote is from the book, Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (1995) by Anne Lamott.
“Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it. Nor do they go about their business feeling dewy and thrilled. They do not type a few stiff warm-up sentences and then find themselves bounding along like huskies across the snow. One writer I know tells me that he sits down every morning and says to himself nicely, "It's not that you don't have a choice, because you do—you can either type or kill yourself." We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose ends up being the most natural and fluid. The right words and sentences just do not come pouring out like ticker tape most of the time. Now, Muriel Spark is said to have felt like she was taking dictation from God every morning—sitting there, one supposes, plugged into a Dictaphone, typing away, humming. But this is a very hostile and aggressive position. One might hope for bad things to rain down on a person like this.”
If you are another writer on this site, another site, or are actually a published one raking in whatever bits you can from your work, I am sure that you can agree with that quote to some degree.
Disclaimer: Shire Folk, it is your turn. Please roll the die, make a suggestion, use the secret passage, or admit that you don’t own My Little Pony and Kingdom Hearts.
-G-M-
Guardians of Magic
Chapter 6: Magic Rules
Trixie’s horn glowed with violet light while she lay in the bed she’d been placed in. Spoonful after spoonful of soup entered her mouth from the bowl she’d been brought, but the unicorn paid little attention to it. Her purple eyes were instead fixed on the object lying on the sheets across her barrel. The Keyblade was about as long as her body was. Its guard was circular and made up of silver and cyan stars, and the blade’s grip was a pale robin’s egg blue. Shooting out of the hilt from a bouquet of red and gold blossoms was the blade, a silver core spiralled by green and copper threads like fireworks, and the key-tip was a periwinkle five-pointed star like the one of the wand on her own cutie mark. Dangling from a silver chain at the base of the hilt rested a golden crescent moon.
So this is the Keyblade I am bestowed, Trixie thought to herself, pouring over every inch of it in great detail. She had refused to allow Sora or the other ponies she hadn’t met leave without explaining to her exactly what this object was and what it could do. Flare. A fitting name, I suppose. It does have a little of its own flare about it. She nibbled on a bit more of the bread before turning her attention towards a pile of hay fries and daffodils, feeling her stomachs lessening in their hunger pains.
The showpony sighed and smiled a little. “I guess Trixie does owe her one, don’t I?” she asked nopony in particular, having been left alone to rest and recuperate. She levitated a hay fry towards her mouth and began consumption. Twilight Sparkle certainly was somepony she didn’t quite have a grasp on yet. She had no reason to assist Trixie when she had been in trouble against the Heartless earlier; she even had a couple of reasons to go out of her way not to help, yet still she did. Now Trixie was in the care of Canterlot Castle’s physicians, and being fed better fare than she had eaten for the majority of the last month. Although, she had undoubtedly developed a certain taste for pinecones…
She began to levitate another hay fry to her mouth, but paused and looked at it with unfocused eyes. “I owe almost everything to Twilight Sparkle, don’t I? My life, a chance to make amends, the care from the doctors here at the castle and good standing with the Princess, but…” she trailed off, and bit the hay fry with her teeth. Chewing the fry was a mechanical action as she lowered her eyes. Trixie swallowed, purple eyes now resting upon the Keyblade on her bed.
“This is one thing that I don’t owe Twilight Sparkle for,” she said, a surge of her old pride entering her voice. “This Keyblade, and this business with being a Guardian of Magic, this could be the change in fortune I was looking for. No more will I have to perform odd jobs hardly worthy of a pony of my talents. Trixie will train hard, and learn to use this weapon to beyond the best of her ability. The Heartless, the dreaded Ursa Major, and even the worst of the worst of foals’ birthday parties will not pose a challenge to the new and improved Great and Powerful Trixie! Father always did say that you were destined for greatness, Trixie!”
She stopped for a moment, hearing herself talk, and giggled. “Look at myself, talking in third person when nopony’s around. Act the part long enough and it becomes you, I suppose.” She laughed a little more and continued consuming those delicious hay fries that had been brought up for her.
“You do birthday parties?” a voice asked excitedly.
Trixie turned her head. The young light blue filly that had been with the Elements and princesses was slowly entering the hospital room, and had clearly heard her declaration. “Yes,” she told the filly. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does perform her magic tricks for birthday parties. No foal has ever been disappointed by Trixie’s performances.”
“Why do you do that?” she asked, cocking her head to the side while her hooves clip-clopped on the stone.
“Why does Trixie do what, little Rei?”
“That,” she answered, almost a giggle in her voice. “Talking like that. Calling yourself by your name instead of just saying ‘I’. It’d be a lot faster if you just said that instead.”
Trixie chuckled slightly, humoured by Sora’s young sister. “It is all part of Trixie’s act; specifically, my persona as The Great and Powerful Trixie. All of the very best and most talented showponies have their own signatures to ensure that the ponies who see their shows remember them. Mostly ability, part bravado, but…as Trixie has learned, if the pony places reputation and bravado above their ability they are liable to fall.” She gave Rei a serious look. “Remember that well, young filly. Boasting a little is nothing to be ashamed of and is something all ponies do, but boast too much and your perfect life will rip at the seams and leave you forgotten as dust in the wind. Earning your place in the world is difficult, and regaining it is even harder. However…” she paused and glanced at Flare as she still held it in her telekinetic grasp, “this should make things a little easier.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Rei said, pointing a hoof at the weapon floating in the air. “Sora says that being a Keyblade Wielder is hard and dangerous, and I’ve been going with him to different places long enough now to know that he’s right. Fighting evil is hard and dangerous.” The filly dropped her head slightly and closed her eyes. In front of her materialized the very item that was depicted by the cutie mark on her flank, and it did not take much of Trixie’s considerable intelligence to understand that it too was a Keyblade. The sword’s guard looked like an empty triangle made of silver feathers, and the grip was white-gold. The length of the blade was a background of black with pinprick stars, with small silver and brass jingle-bells running down it, joined by a bolt of yellow lightning. At the end, jutting up like the star on Trixie Lulamoon’s own Keyblade, was a domed brass bell with a silver bolt of lightning on it. Dangling off a chain from the bottom of the guard hung a diamond-shaped piece of obsidian with a yellow lightning bolt dashing the front.
“I’m a Wielder too,” Rei continued, pouting and looking down at the weapon lying on the floor, “but Sora still treats me like a little kid.” She lay down flat on her chest, propping her head up with her forelegs. “I’m the one who knows who the Guardians are when I see them. I knew that you and Twilight were them when I saw you! I know that that’s important enough of a reason for me to be with my big brother, but I’m a Keyblade Wielder too. He doesn’t need to carry the weight of all the worlds on just his and Kairi’s and Riku’s shoulders.”
Trixie calmly placed Flare back down upon the bed while quietly levitating another hay fry to her mouth. She chewed it thoughtfully, watching the banana-maned filly bat the hilt of Thunderbell this way and that with her hooves. She swallowed. “You know,” Trixie began, raising her head and now grasping for another spoonful of her soup with her magic, “I never had the burden of looking after siblings while I was growing up. Such a troublesome thing, it appears, having to watch over their shoulders day after day, dealing with bullies, being somepony to talk to about their problems, helping them to discover their special talents and be right there with them to celebrate on the day that they get their cutie marks. Although…” she sipped her soup, slowly, agonizingly slowly to the filly that was listening to her, “I imagine that knowing that they are safe and happy, and doing fun things together, would have been enjoyable had my parents had the luxury of being more fortunate. If anything, your brother merely appears to be trying to protect his baby sister from the dangerous things that seek out the Keyblade and its bearers, if my understanding of its relation to the Heartless is correct; it is hardly something to be upset about.”
Trixie paused for a moment, and peered quizzically at Rei as a thought struck her. “Why do you do that anyway?”
“Do what?” Rei asked.
“Earlier, you were calling your brother onii-chan or Sora-nii-chan, and while I now understand what that means, now you are simply referring to him by his name alone. What is the reason behind the change?”
Rei answered with a knowing giggle. “Oh, I only call him that when he’s around because it bugs him.”
Trixie snorted with a small smile of amusement. She ate another spoonful of her soup, and then felt out the innermost innate material signature of the knife in the jam jar, and grasped it firmly with her honed inborn abilities. Her horn’s violet glow still persisted as it enveloped the butter knife, and controlling it to scoop up a moderate amount of strawberry jam and spread it upon a slice of the bread she’d been brought was a trifle of a task.
Regardless of how menial her use of magic was, the young filly in front of her had been unable to keep her eyes off of any of the objects she’d been levitating in her horn’s magical glow. Trixie chuckled inwardly. Rei’s interest in the magical arts was easy to recognize. Most young unicorns were always interested in magic and in discovering just how much they had the potential to wield and control. She focused her mind again, drawing upon the stores of arcane power deep within her that she had learned how to feel for and access. Her horn glowed, and Trixie theatrically waved her hooves in the air in front of her as the glow began to encompass an area of space between her and the foal.
Exteriorly she exhibited a state of calm confidence, while on the inside Trixie felt nothing but studious concentration. Conjuration tricks were a difficult school of magic to perform for any unicorn, creating things out of nothing but the energy of Art. Each particle had to be created perfectly, and then linked to one another within a tiny pocket dimension first created in the space where the conjured object is supposed to appear, without fault, in a delicate process that required extreme amounts of concentration. Even for one as practiced in conjuring small objects as Trixie was, it still required over ninety-five percent of her focus; one careless mistake could send the entire object being created spiralling down into chaos and lost before it could even pop into existence. The only difference between her and other, lesser, unicorns was the speed in which she was able to perform the task. Having performed this trick over a hundred times before, Trixie knew all of its intricacies and where she had to be careful when linking. Cell creation and correctly mapping their locations is a delicate process after all.
Strangely enough, she felt as though the task was coming to her much easier than it ever had before.
Only ten seconds after she began, a process that would take anywhere from half a minute to two for a less-practiced or talented unicorn, Trixie was satisfied in her creation and pulled it out of the tiny pocket dimension she’d created, the white paper-wrapped bouquet of chrysanthemums, orchids, and a pair of stargazer lilies appearing in the space of her horn’s glow. Trixie properly collapsed the dimension she’d created to hold the bouquet as she was making it, seized the flowers in her magical grasp, and levitated them towards the filly with a proud smirk dancing on her face, caused wholly by the wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression of glee Rei had.
Rei took the bouquet into her hooves, and beamed up at Trixie. “Wow! Not even my brother can do something like that with magic!” she said. “He’s never conjured up anything besides fireballs.”
Trixie chuckled. “It was nothing for the Great and Powerful Trixie, my little admirer. If time and your brother permits Trixie is sure that you could receive lessons from the Great and Powerful Trixie, though you could never be half as…” Rei’s words hit her, and she sweatdropped. “Did you say ‘fireballs’?”
Rei nodded. “Uh-huh. And lightning and thunder and water and icicles bigger than your whole body! And huge gusts of wind! And he and Kairi even worked together to make a whirling lightning storm that rained fire! They both slept for a whole day afterwards, though, but it was amazing! That huge Nightwalker never stood a chance! Buuut…” she giggled, and Trixie hoped that it wasn’t at the look that she knew was frozen onto her face, “he’s never actually made anything with his magic, so that still makes you amazing.”
Trixie quickly rearranged her facial features to hide her utter shock at the extent of the pegasi’s magical abilities and reveal nothing but grudging acceptance. “Well, the Great and Powerful Trixie does perform awesome feats of magic,” she declared, “but, naturally, Trixie wouldn’t dare attempt a feat so awe-inspiring that it could wreck havoc on a town such as a fiery tornado. The publicity would not be so beneficial to her career.” They both stopped and looked at another for a few seconds, Rei holding onto the bouquet, and then laughed.
Rei’s laughter ceased suddenly, and she stood up on all four of her hooves.
Trixie furrowed her brow in confusion. “What is it?”
“They’re here,” the filly answered firmly, “I can feel them.” Thunderbell became enveloped in a flash of light from where it lay on the ground and disappeared, reappearing in Rei’s mouth a moment later. Seconds later a half-dozen Shadows rose up out of the tiles in the floor, not a trace of them having been present before.
Shivers ran down Trixie’s spine as she saw the Heartless for the second time, but for the first knowing exactly what they were and what they sought to do. Hers and Rei’s very hearts were on the line, the creatures of inky black drawn to devour their hearts and turn the ponies into Heartless like themselves. Trixie couldn’t deny to herself that she was afraid, with knowledge making her even more afraid this time than the last, but at the same time she recalled something else about the Heartless that Sora had imparted to her.
“Heartless fear the Keyblade. They are drawn to kill its wielders because we are dangerous to them; the Keyblade can defeat them like nothing else can.”
Trixie’s eyes fell upon Flare as it rested on the bed atop the covers, and with fear being hedged by the desire of vengeance and the knowledge that her weapon could destroy them, Trixie twisted around and stood up on the bed. She grasped Flare with a levitation spell and declared, “Leave the foal alone! You seek to challenge the awesome magical might of The Great and Powerful Trixie, Guardian of Magic and Keyblade Wielder? Show me your best, Heartless!”
“Pwixie!” Rei exclaimed as the Heartless all jumped for the showpony, Rei’s mouth and tongue flummoxed to make the appropriate sounds while they held onto her weapon. Trixie leapt off the bed, dodging the darting claws of the attacking Shadows, and simultaneously directed her Keyblade through the air. Flare plunged straight into the chest of one of the leaping Shadows, and the Heartless burst apart in a cloud of dark smoke.
A startled gasp of pain went out of Trixie’s mouth as she landed, a sudden spike of pain shooting through her left foreleg. The muscle she’d strained before must still be a little weak. Blinking away the pain, Trixie moved Flare closer to her and the filly, eyeing the remaining Heartless on the bed and giving them a stubbornly brash smirk. “If you think that was all Trixie had in store for you then you’re very wrong,” she announced, and then shouted wordlessly as she slashed Flare across the bed with all the force her levitation spell could muster.
Her Keyblade cut through all but one, with the remaining Heartless only escaping doom because it had melted into its own shadow on the sheets. Both unicorns watched it carefully as it wriggled seamlessly off the bed and onto the floor. Instead of heading straight for Trixie, as the azure unicorn had hoped, it instead went and stopped right next to Rei. Trixie readied Flare in the air above her as the Shadow started to emerge from the floor, but Rei turned her back on the rising Shadow and quickly gave it a hard buck with her back legs. The Shadow stumbled backwards several steps on its flat feet, head wobbling and seeing stars, and so was completely unable to avoid Thunderbell’s slice through its chest as Rei turned back around and gave her neck a hard jerk.
All was quiet for a few moments as the last wisps of the Shadow faded away. Rei suddenly spat her Keyblade out of her mouth. “There’s got to be a better way than that,” she complained, Thunderbell vanishing in a shimmer of sparkles. “I’ve got almost no control using it in my mouth like that.” She glanced behind her, and Thunderbell appeared in the grasp of the cord of muscle tissue at the centre of her banana-yellow tail. Rei experimentally swung it a couple of times before sighing and dismissing her Keyblade. “No, that won’t really do either.” She looked at Trixie, and cocked her head to her side. She pointed a hoof at Flare. “How can I do that?”
For a moment, Trixie didn’t know what the filly was talking about, and was about to point out that she didn’t until she realized that she was still holding Flare in the air by her horn’s glow. She smiled knowingly at Rei, and laughed in her throat to herself. A pupil had presented herself before the Great and Powerful Trixie. She wasn’t the first, and certainly would not be the last, foal to do so, but Rei would definitely go down in history as the first one that Trixie had accepted.
And while we’re at it, she can tell me more of her brother’s and the Keyblade’s powers.
Her stomach rumbled suddenly. “Trixie will teach you how,” she said, dismissing her Keyblade in a shower of white sparkles and raising her head with a superior air, “after she has finished her soup.”
-G-M-
Riku burst out of the door of Twilight Sparkle’s parent’s house, his eyes already sweeping up and down the road. Considering the number of ponies running around screaming, he was surprised that there were as few Heartless as there were. A cursory glance told him there were no more than ten Shadows and half as many Soldiers clacking about.
“Here I come,” he muttered to himself, grinning at the prospects in front of him. Fighting Mortimer earlier that morning only to get unexpectedly blasted into Equestria before he could flatten the pompous rodent’s nose had left a sour taste in his mouth, and taking out these Heartless would go a long way towards removing it.
Racing past a yellow earth pony mare, Way to the Dawn appeared in Riku’s mouth with a flash. He’d reached the first Soldier Heartless almost before it could realize that a Keyblade Wielder was upon it. Forehooves pounced down on its helmeted head, driving the Heartless prone to the ground, and Riku drove Way to the Dawn through its neck with a swing of his own. A pink crystalline heart emerged from the black cloud of smoke that the Heartless turned into, and bathed Riku’s face in its pink light as it slowly rose into the sky. The turquoise unicorn spun around, tail flicking to slap against his flank, and chose his next target. Another Soldier was clattering towards him from halfway across the wide street. Riku almost laughed, so eager did it seem to meet its death.
He reared, neighing in challenge, and galloped for the Soldier with head brought to bear and horn pointed. The Soldier performed a small kick-step and hurtled towards the silver-maned unicorn with iron-shod boot forward. Riku felt his charge only slow slightly and he grunted in satisfaction even as his head pounded from the boot connecting with his skull. His horn had pierced right through the Soldier’s armoured foot, and now the Heartless was squirming and struggling to get free. Riku could feel red claws scratching at him, trying to get him to release it.
Riku was more than ready to oblige; the scratches were quite annoying and the Soldier’s body was detracting from his view of Canterlot. Riku tossed his head to the right, slinging the Soldier off and into the air. He followed with another fling of his neck and a release of the Keyblade in his mouth. Riku watched for two moments as Way to the Dawn whirled left-right in the air before catching up to the Soldier, running it through the chest, and pinning the body to the wall of a house on the street’s opposite side. Another second, and the Soldier’s struggling ceased as it succumbed to its wounds. It burst apart into wisps of darkness, and another heart rose into the sky.
“Riku!”
He turned his head, seeing that Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor had both emerged from their parents’ house and into the street. It was mostly deserted of ponies now, although there were a few that had stopped in their escaping to watch him do his thing in awe. “Ah, good,” he said, “here to watch me take these guys out?” He winked, and Twilight rolled her eyes.
“No,” she answered patiently, like she was answering the painfully obvious questions of a child. “This is my childhood home, and I want to help. Besides, Shining Armor needs to uphold his reputation as a Captain of the Royal Guards.”
Riku sidestepped a Shadow that had lunged at him. He smirked at Twilight’s older brother. “Yeah, we wouldn’t want a captain to be upstaged by somepony who was a prisoner only hours ago.”
A blast of magenta light rocketed out of Shining Armor’s horn and smothered the Shadow completely. The Guard Captain looked up and gave Riku a superior look. “What was that about upstaging?”
Riku raised an eyebrow, saying without words, ‘Oh?’ He promptly turned back to the Heartless on the street. His horn charged with black and dark navy blue light, and he leveled it towards a remaining Soldier. “Dark Aura!”
A ball of black and dark blue fire emerged from his horn, twice the size of his head, and roared through the air on a straight path for the Soldier. It burst apart in a firework of dark flame as it struck, and all they could see of the Soldier was its released heart rising into the sky to join the other three. Only two Soldiers were left, and they both hung back while the Shadows melted into the ground and advanced in safety.
Riku could see Shining Armor and Twilight looking at the space where the Soldier he’d blasted used to be in shock, but Shining Armor shook his head first and gave Riku a look of respectful acknowledgement. “Alright. That was nice, but…you’ve still got a ways to go if you want to best the Captain of the Palace Guard.”
“Ah, so you’re not only a captain of the Royal Guards, but you’re also the one in charge of the guards of Canterlot Castle, are you,” Riku replied. He bowed with exaggerated politeness. “Well then, after you, Captain Shining Armor.”
Shining Armor smiled and placed the tip of his hoof against the top of his chest, just shy of his neck. “Thank you Riku,” he said with all the measure of a true gentlecolt. He eyed the Shadows with supreme confidence, definitely not about to look weak in front of his little sister, and his horn flared with magenta light. The Shadows emerged from the ground, their claws at the ready to tear into him and Riku, when suddenly all of them became enveloped by the same magenta glow that was around Shining Armor’s horn. Riku watched with amusement as all nine of the Shadows started bouncing around the street, their heads smashing into the pavement or each other. Two of them Shining Armor even hurtled skyward so fast that Riku almost hurt his neck following their ascent.
In the end, though, the unicorn dispatched the Shadows he was levitating around. Riku had to admit that Shining Armor looked like he was having quite a bit of fun playing with the Heartless before vanquishing them. Shining Armor gave Riku a smile with a toss of his head, and Riku sat down and gave him a polite golf clap. He waved one hoof towards the two Soldiers that had stood watching from the sidelines as their brethren were bounced and splattered to death. “You missed two though,” Riku noted.
Both Soldiers vanished in streams of pink light. Riku and Shining Armor both blinked and looked at each other. The two stallions turned their heads.
Twilight gave both of them a somewhat sheepish smile. She pawed at the ground with a hoof. “Well, I couldn’t let you two take all the credit…”
Riku turned his head to look back at Shining Armor. “You know, at first I had some reservations about your sister, but now I think she’ll fit in with us just fine.”
-G-M-
So that’s that. Riku’s fight scene went through about eight different revisions before I finally settled on this one.
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk
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Its good to see it is still updating.
Gotta love Trixie.
Holy crap, this came out of left field.
I began to think this may have been hung out to dry.
I love it. Great stuff. If I ever get all my editing done I might take some time to read Annals of Darkness... because I know that'll take a while if I ever decide to.
858529 Yep. Still updating.
858624
858696 Nope, not hung out to dry. I do not intend to abandon this fic at all! I was just having a hard time figuring it out a bit. I kinda jumped into the writing of this without having a fair bit planned out and before I'd had a full time job, plus while I'm also writing another massive fic that's been mentioned a few times. I hit a wall and the plot bunnies weren't being kind to me.
858731
That'll take a while. Fortunately for you I've already got a beta on that who's a grammar Nazi.
Thanks all!
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk
858954
Oh, boy do I know that feeling.
858954Better than my plot bunnies...
ps3informer.com/playstation-3/images/rayman-raving-rabbids-2.jpg
858954
We'll get those bunnies movin'. Another stellar chapter, Shire. Glad to see you're still at work on it!
859562 Yes, finally an update. Mind telling me what you thought about it?
859777 I enjoyed it. The characterizations of all involved characters were impressive, though I am noticing that your explanation of Trixie's magic might have been a bit of a shock. Granted she's a guardian, but if she KNEW how to not only materialize a living object, but to do it in a pocket dimension... that's some pretty high-tier magic. Twi doesn't even do that much. The only explanations for this would be that Trixie, like Twilight, possesses absolutely obscene magical power, but their mental limitations have painfully restricted that power. Twi embodies all magic, but her mind says she can't cast magic she doesn't know the method for. Thus she studies, and only enough to know the basics of a spell, further limiting her, despite the fact that she can cast any spell she wants. Trixie, meanwhile, is privy to incredible magic, but her mindset of showbusiness keeps her from thinking to apply it more extensively. These are the first limitations I would see pealed off these characters in particular.
Let's see... Shiny's lookin' good, though I haven't seen Cadence much... I also notice that you missed an opportunity to cameo those flower girls from Ponyville and their classical "the horror! the HORROR!" screaming. They could have been in the capital for a fancy flower show.
Leseee... I could have sworn there was something else on my mind regarding this chapter... but I guess I can't think of it ATM. bummer.
Still so much waiting for this to go somewhere other than all action/fighting scenes, however, I rather enjoyed Trixie's 'redemption' scene.
I forsee that no more than 2 chapters should be required before the whole gang gets on to inter-worldly travel (but, then again, I don't know what you have planned).
More or less, it just feels like we need to move on from this "act one"
Still good, though, so don't feel discouraged if this comment feels overly demanding, I can be a demanding guy (especially of good stories)
They both stopped and looked at another for a few seconds
1. Looked at each other.
Details... I love details especially when it comes to things like magic
I'm mainly a detail loving person but yeah
You know... funny think is I feel like sharing this with you. Someone designed a Keyblade for me and I think you should use it. Well Twilight but, you know what I mean.
This is the Oath of Fayth, it's a magical mastery Keyblade that boosts magic power.
fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/040/7/4/max__s_keyblades_1_oath_of_fayth_by_camlio-d4p7yjh.png
And here's the description and stats.
A promise to return to those you care for can make all the difference, a Keyblade granted to Twilight Sparkle when she promised that she'd find a way to stop the heartless from destroying Equestria. Allows for faster casting of spells.
Stats: Strength = 5, Magic = 15, & Skill = Quick Channeling Element = Ice, Attribute = Light
And here's one for Trixie.
This is Burning Spirit.
fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/040/8/3/max__s_keyblades_2_burning_spirit_by_camlio-d4p7yml.png
The desire to protect burns with explosive force. After defending Rei from the Heartless in the hospital this Keyblade made itself known. It grants explosive knowledge of combat magic to it's wielder.
Stats: Strength = 7, Magic = 9, & Skill = Wisdom. (This skill allows powers similar to Wisdom Form but, on a lesser and more permanent scale.) Element = Fire, Attribute = Darkness
860126
I don't know about any of that magical theory on Twilight's and Trixie's abilities, but Twilight was able to conjure up a door during "Boast Busters". That seems to be the same as Trixie's flowers trick.
Anyway, I really liked the fight scenes, being detailed and exciting. Also, they are fairly quick which is good since I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of them. There's only so many times a reader can sit through the same battle with the minions before was start to declare, "Get on with it!"
Keep at it!
Impressive. Most impressive.
I've never really been a big fan of Trixie (not because I didn't like her, just because I honestly didn't care), but you're doing a pretty damn good job of changing that. The way you've potrayed her and started working towards her overall redemption is, as I said, most impressive.
The Riku fight scene at the end was short and sweet. A nice change of pace from your usual fights. Not to mention, Twilight taking care of some of the Heartless even though Riku and Shining Armor had them in the bag was pretty hilarious.
On that note, I'm glad to see that you haven't forgotten about this fic while working on the battle for Radiant Garden in AoD.
Keep up the good work!
Aspicio, diluculo Infinitas Noctis.
Shadow Horizons
hey shire, if you ever have time in your busy schedule to read a fanfiction, check out Griffin the Griffin, a great ponyfic by Blackwing.
851890 After listening to your readings of them, I got myself to wondering if you would like me to guest on one of your chapter readings at some point. It could be pretty fun, I think, to have you reading the chapters and then getting guest commentary from the author about certain scenes or just friendly banter.
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk
Aww, that scene with Trixie and Rei was so freaking CUTE!
Loved it. 
And Riku is always a win! I enjoyed seeing him, Twilight and Shining Armor team up to beat the Heartless! I can't wait to see when Twilight gets her Keyblade! I assume it'll be during the wedding?
Your Pal,
VT
How long before they finally leave Equestria? Not that it's boring by any means; I just want to see the Disney worlds start appearing.
trixie need to learn some humility anyway keep it up
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Nuff said.
864460 Sure! It'd be awesome to have the writer of the fic himself read with me for a chapter. If you find one that you particularly want to have a part in, tell me.
885930 Well, I feel as though I'd like to be a part of any of them that you still have left to read, really, or even just to join you for as many as I can.
I've honestly never had anypony post readings of my stories aloud before I came to fimfiction, so the whole thing is just so new and awesome. Plus, it'd be a great way for the ponies who listen to get special insight from the author about story-related content.
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk
This has been an impressive read, I like your take on the Equestria exclusive Heartless.
I'm only familiar with the first 2 games and have only read 2 other fics(one that crossovers with FiM and starts with Twilight mysteriously getting a Keyblade and one that's a crossover with Care Bears) that use KH. So this turned out better than expected.
You also get points for using the Horned King and Mortimer as the villians. I'd completely forgotten those guys existed, Disney certainly has a vault full of characters they hardly ever or never use. Which is a shame because some of them are pretty unique and would look cool as a game world, always did like their version of a Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Black Hole and Zorro(though that one's probably out of their hands now).
I'm horrible at weapon creation and I'm pretty sure the weapons that other people have created will fill up all the roles you need to be done... still I guess I could give it a go if asked...
Bah I'm not going to be asked.
Anyway. The interactions between Trixie and Rei was very nice and the fight scene with Riku, Twilight and Armour was good as well. Riku begin the badass he is. Armour proving himself to be a badass as expected and Twilight having her own badassness.
A rather short chapter, but a good one overall
Riku raised an eyebrow, saying without words, ‘Oh?’ He promptly turned back to the Heartless on the street. His horn charged with black and dark navy blue light, and he leveled it towards a remaining Soldier. “Dark Aura!”
A ball of black and dark blue fire emerged from his horn, twice the size of his head, and roared through the air on a straight path for the Soldier. It burst apart in a firework of dark flame as it struck, and all they could see of the Soldier was its released heart rising into the sky to join the other three. Only two Soldiers were left, and they both hung back while the Shadows melted into the ground and advanced in safety.
Sorry to mess up your pun, but I'm pretty sure you mean "flair."
alright time to stop for now sleep time also
HAPPY NIGHTMARE NIGHT
oh and a nice Halloween too.