Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep: Kingdom of Harmony

by Dawn Flower

Terra

After leaving Radiant Garden, Terra was riding his Keyblade Glider through the Lanes Between, clad in his Keyblade Armour. Master Xehanort’s words were still ringing in his head. There was still a lot that he didn’t know about, but did know what he had to do next: He had to find Vanitas and destroy him; to end the threat of the Unversed, and to save his friends.

As Terra was travelling along, a new world was coming into view. This world’s icon, which was the representation of a new world when viewed from the Lanes Between, contained a small town, a forest, an old castle, with clouds in the sky.

As he got closer to this new world, he felt a warm, radiant light emanating from it. With this world being so close to Radiant Garden, he was certain that Vanitas had infected this world with Unversed as well. That also meant that Vanitas might be there as well, but even if he wasn’t, he still had to destroy the Unversed there.

Gripping the handles of his Keyblade Glider tightly, he put on a sudden burst of speed and zoomed straight into this new world.

---

A big, shimmering portal opened up inside of a clearing, on the edge of a forest. Terra walked out of the portal, and his Keyblade Armor started to disappear. The portal then closed behind him.

After Terra had walked out into the centre of the clearing, he then suddenly felt strangely different. He first noticed that he now appeared to be walking on four legs. He looked down at his feet, and his eyes widened when he noticed that he now had hooves. With a confused look on his face, he then began inspecting the rest of his body.

Terra looked confused, as he now seemed to be horse for some reason, with a dark brown coat. His mane was the same as his usual brown, spiky hairstyle. What he also found peculiar was that the Wayfinder that Aqua had given him was now emblazoned on his flank.

After inspecting his new body, he then pulled his head back in front of him to think. He seemed to be small for a horse and deduced that he was actually a pony. “This must be one of the worlds the Master told us about, that changes your form to match.”

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”

Terra was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by a loud scream from close by. He immediately turned in the direction of the scream. To his right, over by a nearby cottage, he saw a small, butter-yellow pegasus surrounded by several Flood Unversed. They were still appearing from the ground and were slowly advancing on the pegasus. The pegasus, a female from the looks of it, was terrified at their appearance and was frozen in place.

Terra gasped when he saw the Unversed appear. “Unversed.” He said to himself. He then hardened his face into an expression of resolve and moved to summon his Keyblade. He was slightly taken aback when his Keyblade appeared in his mouth, but the pegasus’ screams, and the fact that he couldn’t hold it any other way, quickly snapped him out of it.

He then ran over towards the pegasus and threw himself between her and the Unversed. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.” Terra said to the pegasus, as he turned his head halfway between her and the Unversed. The pegasus was surprised to him suddenly appear, so she didn’t respond to him, with her hoof still raised slightly off the ground.

He then turned back around fully to face the Unversed, as they finished appearing and prepared to attack him.

The battle begun.

---

One of the Flood’s quickly lunged at Terra, but he simply moved his head and slammed his Keyblade into it, destroying it on contact. As the rest of the Unversed came towards him, he then reared back and easily jumped over the tiny Unversed, landing behind them. Luckily, the Unversed all turned around and stayed focused on him like he wanted, ignoring the little pony.

One of the Flood’s came at him again, but he simply stepped to the side to avoid it; he was still getting used to moving in this new body, and that was all he could do at the moment. As soon as he had dodged, he simply brought his Keyblade down on the tiny Unversed, destroying it.

Terra then simply repeated this process on the rest of the Unversed, dodging when he had to and attacked when they were caught off guard. After two minutes, he had destroyed all of them.

---

Once all of the Unversed had been defeated, he banished his Keyblade and walked back over to the frightened pegasus pony. The poor pony had been terrified during the whole fight, even though she had not participated. She was reared back on her hind hooves and hid behind her front hooves, peaking out every so often.

When she saw that he had defeated all of the monsters, and was walking towards her, she emerged from out behind her hooves and slowly stood back up again.

“Are you alright?” Terra asked her calmly when he had reached her.

Fluttershy was still a bit scared and struggled to find the courage to speak. Even though he had saved her, she seemed to find this pony very intimidating. “Uhhmm… yes, I’m okay.” She spoke slowly and quietly. “But…” She spoke up again, louder this time.

“Hmmm?” Terra added.

Fluttershy now a stern look on her face. “But you shouldn’t have jumped right into a fight, without trying to reason with them first.”

Terra was taken aback by what she had just said. He certainly wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction. After regaining himself, he spoke again. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but you can’t reason with the Unversed.”

Fluttershy, however, didn’t change her expression. “Well, have you tried?”

Terra was now even more confused. Why was she acting this way? Unversed were unintelligent monsters of negativity that attacked everything on instinct. Fighting them was the natural response.

“Well no, but…” He stammered, trying to find some way to explain it to her. “That wouldn’t work. I just know.” He then scratched at the back of his head and looked away slightly, embarrassed.

Fluttershy just continued giving him a stern look. A few moments later, she softened her gaze. “Well, okay. You don’t seem to be a bad pony; and you did rescue me.” Terra looked back up to face her. Fluttershy then smiled slightly, though it was a bit of an uncomfortable smile. “So… what’s your name?” She asked him.

Terra smiled back at her warmly again. “I’m Terra. And you?” He asked, gesturing towards her.

“My name’s Fluttershy.” She responded. She then turned away from him again, looking slightly to the side, hiding behind her mane.

Terra could tell that she felt uncomfortable around him. He quickly glanced around at the surrounding area before facing her again. “So, have you dealt with those monsters before?” He asked her as gently as he could.

When he was finished speaking, she turned back to face him again. While this pony seemed intimidating and resorted to violence first, he generally seemed to want to help. Lightening up a bit, she peaked out from behind her mane again.

“Not for long, no. They only appeared a few days ago. At first, they kept to the Everfree Forest, just like all of the other scary creatures.” She pointed at the forest behind them as she spoke. Terra turned to look at it before turning back to her. “But then they suddenly got more aggressive and more organised and started attacking Ponyville.” She then looked the other way, at a small town in the distance. Terra also turned to look at it. “Right now, we’re evacuating the town, since they seem to be focused here at the moment. We’re trying everything we can think of to try and find some way to deal with them, but it’s not going so well.”

Terra took in everything that Fluttershy told him. “I see.” He said, as he brought a hoof to his mouth, in thought. They then both turned back around to face each other, but Terra almost immediately looked over towards the Everfree Forest.

“The Unversed are normally unintelligent. They keep to where they spawned and move on instinct, attacking anything that’s not one of their own. Fluttershy said they first kept to the forest, but then suddenly got more organized. If their behaviour suddenly changed, then it must be because of someone or something.” Terra then narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Vanitas.”

Terra then lowered his hoof to the ground again and turned fully around, towards the Everfree Forest. He then started galloping towards it.

Fluttershy saw him move towards the Everfree Forest and her eyes immediately widened in fear. “Wait, don’t go in there!” She called out to him, much louder than before. She took one step forward and held a hoof out towards him. “The Everfree Forest is incredibly dangerous.” She spoke in a scared and worried tone.

Terra just turned his back head back towards her while he kept running forward. “Don’t worry. I can take care of myself.” He then turned back around and continued galloping quickly towards the forest.

After he had disappeared into the thick foliage of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy slowly lowered her outstretched hoof again. Tears then started forming in her eyes and she fell back down again and started crying into her hooves.

---

When Terra entered the Everfree Forest, he simply followed the path in front of him, deeper into the forest. As he continued on, he encountered more Unversed. He simply dealt with them the same way that dealt with the Unversed in all the other worlds that he visited: He simply ran up to them and bashed them with his Keyblade. As he fought against more of them, he became more accustomed to moving and fighting in this form.

---

When Terra had gone deeper into the forest, as he made his way along, he spotted another pony up ahead, facing away from him. She was much taller than Fluttershy, standing at least twice as tall as the yellow pegasus. She had a midnight black coat, and her mane waved about in a non-existent breeze and shone with the stars of the night sky. She had a pair of large, feathered wings, folded in against her torso. She also had an image of a crescent moon on her flank.

As Terra approached her, the pony became aware of his presence and turned around to face him. Now that he could see her more clearly, he noted that she also had a horn on her forehead and that she wore silver armour around her legs, face and chest. Her chest plate had a crescent moon on it that matched the symbol on her flank.

She studied Terra intently as he walked closer to her, scanning him up and down, in a contemptuous fashion. When there was only a few feet between them, he stopped and addressed her. “Who are you?” He asked.

After taking in his presence, she finally spoke to him. “You would address me so simply?” She asked in a condescending tone.

Terra now had an even more confused look on his face. “Is there a reason why I shouldn’t?” He asked her back.

Nightmare Moon simply placed her hoof to her lips, as she continued staring back at him with a blank, unreadable expression on her face. After a moment of silence between them, she finally spoke again. “You’re not from this world, are you?” She spoke casually.

Terra suddenly lifted his head in surprise. “How did you know?” He asked in a worried tone.

The tall alicorn simply placed her hoof back on the ground and ‘hmmm’ed’ as she tilted her head to the side. “Did you really think that no one else knew about the other worlds?” She spoke like she was talking down to him.

Terra quickly steeled himself back into a stronger expression. “But they’re supposed to be a secret.”

Nightmare Moon just brushed him off arrogantly and turned on her side. “Only to those who aren’t capable of travelling between them.” She spoke just as arrogantly. She then turned completely away from him again.

“I see.” Terra said, bring his hoof to his mouth. He then lowered it again and turned back to face her. “Well, my name is Terra. So, do you know anything about the Unversed as well? Is there anything I can do to help?”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes slowly drifted back towards him while he was speaking. She then started tapping her hoof to her mouth, while she thought. Her eyes then widened as she came up with a plan, and she grinned devilishly, exposing her sharp fangs.

Then suddenly, she raised her hoof up to her forehead in a dramatic fashion. “Oh, it’s awful, just awful.” She said in an obviously exaggerated tone.

Terra, however, didn’t notice anything off about the way she spoke, and just stared back at her in surprise. “What is it?” He asked her.

She then turned back around again and walked towards him. “You see, I’m the Queen of this world. My name is Nightmare Moon.” She now sounded much nicer than she was a moment ago. “However, sadly, I don’t feel like much of a ruler, as I’m unable to protect my subjects.” She said with her eyes closed and her hoof across her chest.

“You mean the Unversed?” Terra looked at her worriedly.

Nightmare Moon opened her eyes again and looked back at Terra. “I’m afraid that it’s much worse than that. My own sister, Celestia, has been corrupted by the light, and has taken control of these monsters to attack my subjects.”

Terra’s eyes widened at this. “Corrupted by the light? That’s just like what Master Xehanort said.” He then faced Nightmare Moon again. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Nightmare Moon inwardly grinned in satisfaction. Outwardly, however, she gave him a bright and happy smile. “Yes, I believe that there is.” She then turned back around and pointed ahead. “At the far end of the Everfree Forest, there is an old castle. That is where the Elements of Harmony are kept. They are the only things that can save us now, and sadly, my sister is on her way there to destroy them so that nothing can stop her.”

She then turned back to face Terra again. “I want to go there and stop her. I cannot do it myself, for I simply cannot even think about fighting my own sister, even the way she is now.” She was even able to squeeze out a few fake tears. She then gave Terra the most sympathetic look that she could. “Oh brave stallion, would you kindly stop my sister?”

Terra stood to attention, put on a strong look of determination and nodded in affirmation. “Of course.”

Nightmare Moon breathed a sigh of relief at his answer. “Oh, thank you so much.” She spoke gently. Inwardly, she was raving about how easy it was to manipulate this pony. She had to fight back the urge to laugh out loud. “You must hurry and get there before she does.” She continued.

“Right,” Terra replied. He then quickly galloped past her.

Once he had passed by and she could no longer see him, she grinned devilishly. Once she was sure that he was far enough away, Nightmare Moon started laughing evilly to herself. “Oh, that was just too easy.”

---

Terra continued along the path through the Everfree Forest. He encountered more Unversed as he continued on, and the deeper into the forest he went, he encountered newer and stronger Unversed and in bigger groups. He had to adjust his tactics a bit and use magic as well. However, he mostly crushed them with his overwhelming strength.

In addition to the Unversed, he also encountered timberwolves. The timberwolves only spawned one or two at a time and never alongside the Unversed. They weren’t very difficult to defeat; however, whenever they were defeated, they would simply collapsed into pieces and then reform again after a while. The only way to destroy them for good was to hit them with fire.

---

After Terra reached the end of the long, winding, forest path, he then entered a large clearing in the forest. The clearing had a large number of Unversed and timberwolves that spawned in groups when he got close. He decided to take his time and take out all of the Unversed, in order to gain experience and get stronger. He was going to have to fight Celestia, and she likely wouldn’t go down easily, so he had to be as strong as possible. He also wanted to destroy as many Unversed as he could.

When he had defeated all of the Unversed in the clearing, he continued on and made it out of the forest.

---

After Terra had stepped out of the forest, he was now in a small area, with a rope bridge right in front of him and the ruins of a dilapidated castle on the other side. Terra figured that that was where he was supposed to go, so he quickly galloped across the rope bridge. There weren’t any Unversed in this area, so he was able to move quickly. When he crossed the bridged, he then opened the door and stepped inside.

---

As Terra entered the dilapidated castle, the first room that he stepped into was a large foyer. Most of the ceiling was gone, exposing the castle to the outside air. There were large, stone, barred windows and broken columns running along the side of the room, with vines wrapped around them. The walls and floor were cracked in places and falling apart. The entire castle was deathly silent.

In the centre of the room was a large, stone dais, with six pedestals sticking out at the sides and one larger pedestal in the centre. On each pedestal rested a gold necklace and one tiara, each with colourful jewels embedded in them.

Terra quietly walked towards the dais in the centre of the room. He regarded the necklaces and tiara strangely as he walked. “I wonder if these are the Elements of Harmony.” He thought. He was then suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching. Thinking quickly, he ducked behind the stone dais.

The front doors of the old castle opened up again and another alicorn entered. Terra peaked out from behind the dais a bit to look at her. She looked a bit similar to Nightmare Moon, except her coat was pure white instead of midnight black, and her mane, while it also waved about independent of the wind, was rainbow-coloured instead star-like. Her cutie mark, in contrast to Nightmare Moon’s Moon, was a Sun. She looked like the opposite of Nightmare Moon.

Terra narrowed his eyes as he observed her. “She certainly looks like she’s deeply connected to the light.” He thought.

Celestia walked towards the dais in the centre of the room. Suddenly, she stopped where she was and sighed to herself, with a pained expression on her face. “Sister… I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I have no other choice.” She then started walking towards the dais again.

As she got closer to the Elements, Terra then suddenly leapt out from behind the dais, in full view of Celestia. As soon as Celestia noticed him, she stopped again and simply stared back at him in shock.

“Are you Celestia?” Terra asked her, bearing down towards her.

“Uhhmm… yes. That’s me.” Celestia stuttered, not expecting to find another pony here.

When she had confirmed his suspicions, Terra then got into a battle position. “The light is not yours to take.” He then summoned his Keyblade in his mouth and charged at her.

Celestia was surprised by this and simply stepped to the side to avoid the attack. Terra missed the attack and went sailing past her. Once he landed, he then quickly turned back around to face her again.

Celestia looked back at him, worriedly. “Wait, hold on a minute.” Terra, however, just hardened his glare at her. Celestia then breathed a sigh to herself. “Alright then, if I must.” Her horn then started glowing and she summoned a sword made of pure light for herself.

The battle begun.

---

The battle between Terra and Celestia commenced. Terra gripped his Keyblade in his mouth, tightly. He had a strong look on his face that showed that he was determined to defeat her.

Celestia had a slightly worried look on her face. She was still confused about who this pony was and why he was attacking her, but seeing as how he had come at her so aggressively right away, she had no other choice, so she was resolved to fighting him.

Once the battle began, Terra quickly leapt forward, attacking Celestia with a Keyblade combo. Celestia raised her sword up in front of her to block the attack. She still took some damage, but her block lessoned the blow.

Once Terra’s combo had ended, Celestia’s horn started glowing and she disappeared in a flash of light. She then quickly reappeared in another flash of light, right behind him.

Terra spun around quickly to see where she had appeared. He then did an air slide to move around her quickly, landing just to her side. Celestia was still tired from teleporting and the damage she just took. Terra then launched into another Keyblade combo while she was off guard and struck her in the side. She wasn’t able to block this attack, so she took more damage than last time.

When Terra’s combo had ended again, her horn started glowing and she disappeared again. She then reappeared all the way on the other side of the room this time.

Terra looked around to see where she would appear this time; however, before he could move, Celestia closed her eyes and her horn lit up again. She then summoned three small orbs of light that slowly moved around each other. She then gestured her head towards Terra, and the three orbs of light began moving towards him at a fast pace.

Terra had a bad feeling about those orbs of light and he quickly did several air slides in the opposite direction to avoid them. The orbs just continued following after him wherever he went. Celestia meanwhile was standing completely still so that she could control the orbs.

While air sliding around to avoid the orbs of light, Terra looked over to Celestia, and deduced that she wasn’t moving so that she could control the orbs. He at first thought about attacking her now that she was open, but decided against it since that would give her time for the orbs to catch him. After another air slide, he then decided on another plan.

Terra slid ahead and then turned around to see the three orbs of light coming at him. He then faced towards them and channelled magic into his Keyblade. “Fire.” He shouted out. A small flame then shot out of his Keyblade, right at the three orbs of light, destroying one of them.

Terra felt a small wave of satisfaction for accurately figuring out how to safely dispose of the orbs of light and that his plan had worked. However, seeing the two remaining orbs still coming towards him, he quickly did an air slide to the side to avoid them.

He then repeated the same process on the other two orbs, moving around the room to avoid them while his spells recharged. When they were gone, he then quickly slid over to Celestia and caught her in another Keyblade combo while she was off guard.

“Aaaaaahhhh.” Celestia screamed out after being hit.

When the combo had ended, she then quickly teleported away again.

---

Celestia reappeared again on the far side of the room, in front of the door. She then fell down slightly on her knee and started panting from exhaustion.

Terra quickly spun around to see where she was this time. Once he spotted her and saw that she was weak, he quickly galloped towards her, ready to attack.

“STOP!”

Terra’s eyes suddenly widened as he was caught off guard; even more so because he recognised that voice. He then stopped where he was and saw Fluttershy standing in the doorframe, behind Celestia.

The yellow pegasus then unfurled her wings, flew into the air and landed down between Celestia and Terra. She then stared back at Terra, with a scolding and disapproving look on her face.

“Fluttershy?” Terra uttered, through the Keyblade in his mouth, surprised to see her here.

“Stop this right now.” She spoke in a tone of voice, like she was scolding a disrespectful child. “Princess Celestia is not your enemy.” She then furrowed her eyebrows. “And you would have known that if you hadn’t jumped right into a fight.”

Terra was taken aback by her outburst. Confused, his gaze drifted over to Princess Celestia, who was down on one knee, panting hard. She then looked up at Terra, with an understanding look on her face. She then slowly stood back up straight and banished her sword. “I’m willing to yield if you are.”

Terra was now really confused. Just now, Celestia didn’t sound like she was trying to trick him, but like she honestly didn’t want to fight. He also noticed that she didn’t act in any way corrupt, like Nightmare Moon had said. He also realised that he had attacked her first, and she had tried to reason with him.

With a guilty look on his face, he banished his Keyblade and looked back at Celestia, with regret in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have attacked you like that without trying to talk to you first.”

Looking back at him, Celestia could see that he truly was sorry and that he hadn’t meant to attack her for no reason. Standing back up straight, she regarded him with a warm smile. “It’s alright. I also should have explained myself better.”

Terra stared back at her in awe. He couldn’t believe that she was being so understanding. He had attacked her without provocation and she had forgiven him just like that. There was now no doubt in his mind that she was good. However, that still left something unclear: Why had Nightmare Moon told him otherwise?

“Well,” Fluttershy chimed in again. “That’s all well and done, but you still shouldn’t have just attacked her like that.”

Terra then turned to face Fluttershy. He could see the hurt in her eyes. He tried to think of someway that he could explain himself that she would find acceptable. “I’m really sorry, but Queen Nightmare Moon told me that Celestia had been corrupted by the light and that she was on her way here to destroy the Elements of Harmony.” Terra explained.

Mid-way through his explanation, Celestia and Fluttershy both changed their expressions. “Nightmare Moon?” Celestia stuttered.

Terra looked back at them strangely. “Uhhmm, yes. She said that…” He was suddenly cut off by a maniacal laughter from behind them.

“MWA HA HA HA HA HA AH!”

The three of them all turned around to see Nightmare Moon rise up from behind the dais holding the Elements of Harmony. She then stopped, hovering in the air just above the Elements. She stared down at the three of them staring back at her in shock, with a wicked grin on her face, as her eyes moved over the three of them. She then focused on Terra. “Well done, Terra. You gave me just the time I needed.” She spoke to him in a mocking tone.

Terra gritted his teeth in irritation towards her. He was so angry at her for being used like that.

“Sister!” Celestia suddenly called out to her, taking a step forward and wincing from the pain. She was still hurt from her fight earlier. Terra and Fluttershy both turned to face her. “Why are you doing this? I thought that the Elements of Harmony had returned you to normal.” There was obvious pain in her voice as she spoke.

Looking down at her sister, Nightmare Moon just smiled devilishly and laughed evilly. “It’s simple sister. These creatures… these… Unversed are the embodiments of the negative feelings that dwell in a person’s heart. When they first arrived in this world, it was their mere presence that reawakened me.

“At first they seemed so primitive and stupid; hardly a threat at all. However, that was not the case. They were simply masterless; so lost… so desperate for direction, that all it took was a little push to bend them to my will and turn them into a real army. With them at my command, soon all of Equestria will be mine.

I knew that once you took notice of them, you would know that they were not of this world and that you would come here to retrieve the Elements of Harmony so that your little ponies could defeat them.

So, I needed something to distract you long enough so that I could reach them first.” She then glanced over at Terra. “And it seems that the worlds answered my call.” Nightmare Moon ended. Terra simply glared back at her, grinding his teeth in anger.

Celestia gritted her teeth in annoyance. She then closed her eyes briefly and let out a sigh to try and calm herself. She then opened her eyes and faced Nightmare Moon again, with a much stronger expression on her face than before. “I’m sorry, but I cannot let you do that.” She then quickly shot a beam out of her horn at Nightmare Moon.

However, when the beam came within inches of hitting her, it suddenly reflected off of an invisible barrier around her. Celestia’s face went blank when she saw this, as she had no idea what was going on.

Nightmare Moon then started laughing maniacally again. “Sorry sister, but I’m afraid that there’s nothing you can do to stop me now. You see, I didn’t come here to destroy the Elements of Harmony. No, that would be a waste. I learned my lesson from last time. Instead, I came here to absorb their power. And with the power that I have absorbed from the Elements, I now cannot be defeated by the light.”

As she was speaking, a trail of energy was flowing from the six Elements, into her. She then began laughing triumphantly again, as a dark aura appeared around her. “You can’t touch me now!” She spat at her sister.

She then released the darkness in a wave out towards the three of them in an attack. Fluttershy was thrown back immediately. Celestia, in her weakened state, couldn’t hold on and was pushed back as well. Terra managed to stay standing where he was, and raised his hoof up to his face to shield himself.

After the wave of darkness had passed, Terra lowered his hoof again and looked around the room. Nightmare Moon was laughing in victory. He then looked behind him and saw Fluttershy and Celestia sprawled out on the ground, struggling in vain to stand up.

Terra then looked back at Nightmare Moon, with a furious look on his face and grounded his teeth together hard. He was just so angry that she had used him like that and that she had hurt them. Terra was now blinded by his anger. Suddenly, a dark aura, similar to the one surrounding Nightmare Moon, now surrounded Terra as well.

Nightmare Moon suddenly noticed that Terra was channelling the darkness as well and looked down at him, curiously. “What?” She uttered.

Terra then summoned his Keyblade in his mouth, and using it to channel his magic as usual, shot a blast of dark energy right at Nightmare Moon. The dark energy blast struck her right in the chest and knocked her out of the air, down to the ground.

After she had been knocked down, Terra’s eyes suddenly snapped open and he realised that he had just channelled darkness again. He then unknowingly took a step backwards. “The darkness? I channelled it again. It’s still there.” He thought, with an unsure look on his face.

He was then snapped out of his thoughts by a combination of remembering what Master Xehanort had told him and Nightmare Moon getting back to her hooves and hissing at him. Once she was standing back up again, she glared angrily back at Terra and got into a fighting position, ready to attack him.

“Terra...” Celestia called out to him. Terra turned back to face her, seeing her badly beaten down from Nightmare Moon’s dark energy wave, covered in injuries, barely being able to lift herself up on her two front hooves. “Please… save my sister.” She begged him. She then collapsed again.

Looking back at her with a sorrowful expression on his face, he suddenly hardened his gaze into a stronger expression. “Right.” He nodded at her. He then turned back towards Nightmare Moon and lowered his head down to the ground. “Use the light… and the darkness.” He whispered to himself. He then looked back up towards Nightmare Moon again, with a new determination and summoned his Keyblade.

The battle begun.

---

The battle between Terra and Nightmare Moon commenced. Terra stared down Nightmare Moon, with his Keyblade gripped tightly in his mouth, from his anger. He was still radiating a thin dark aura around his body; however, he was now fully in control of himself.

Nightmare Moon stood on the other side of the room, with the stone dais in between them. She stared back at Terra with intent to kill; annoyed that he had interfered with her plan. She was also radiating a much larger dark aura around her; however, the link between her and the Elements had been severed, so she was now vulnerable to attack.

As soon as the battle had begun, Nightmare Moon immediately engulfed herself in darkness and used the darkness to teleport over to Terra, just like Celestia had used the light, though she was much faster. She reappeared in front of him only one second later and immediately moved to attack him.

Terra was caught off guard by how quickly she was able to move, however, he still managed to raise his Keyblade in front of him in time and blocked the attack. After she had been knocked back slightly by the block, Terra immediately followed up with a three-strike Keyblade combo.

After the combo had ended, Nightmare teleported away again, over to the far side of the room. Terra turned to face her and saw her fire a quick beam from her horn. Terra wasn’t able to react fast enough and took a direct hit.

As soon as she had hit him, Nightmare Moon then teleported again, slightly to the side and fired another fast beam of energy at him.

However, he was ready this time and quickly did an air slide to the right to avoid it. Once he had dodged, and since he had access to his shotlock, he quickly targeted Nightmare Moon and fired Dark Volley at her. The dark aura around him intensified, and he quickly spun around in the air and hovered slightly above the ground, firing dark projectiles at her.

All of the dark projectiles hit against her; each attack knocked her back slightly and kept her in place, ensuring that the following projectiles would hit her as well.

Once Terra had exited his shotlock, the dark aura was still surrounding him; though it had thinned to how thick it was before he activated it. When he was touching the ground again, he then used his air slide to quickly move towards Nightmare Moon; the darkness making him even faster.

However, before he could reach her, Nightmare Moon quickly teleported again, appearing just behind. She then launched into her own combo, striking at Terra several times, severely damaging him.

Once the combo was over, Terra quickly performed several air slides past her, in order to get a safe distance away from her. When he felt that he had put enough space between the two of them, he raised his Keyblade up above his head. “Heal.” The Cura spell then appeared above his head, shining down on him, restoring some of his health.

Once he was healed, he turned to face Nightmare Moon, who used the darkness that she was wrapped in to move faster, towards him, instead of teleporting, to catch him off guard.

Terra and Nightmare Moon both launched their attacks at the exact same time and they cancelled each other out. Terra then quickly struck again first and pulled off another three-hit combo, damaging her even more.

Once the combo was over, Nightmare Moon teleported away again and reappeared above the dais. She then positioned herself straight up, closed her eyes and crossed her two front hooves over her chest, and began charging up energy. Suddenly, several small, dark tornadoes began forming all over the room, and they quickly started getting bigger and building up power. After three seconds, Nightmare Moon then opened her eyes again and spread her hooves out wide. “Experience the nightmare.”

All of the dark tornadoes in the room then all grew and released their dark energy. Terra was unable to dodge the attack and took a lot of damage. Nightmare Moon then started lowering herself down again and teleported to the other side of the room.

Terra was feeling very weak after taking the full brunt of that last attack. He couldn’t use his Cura spell again yet, so instead, he grabbed a hi-potion from his inventory and used it to restore some of his health.

Once he was feeling a bit better, he quickly performed an air slide to the side to avoid Nightmare Moon’s next attack. Turning back towards her, he pointed his Keyblade at her and shot a Fire spell at her.

Nightmare Moon was slightly burned by the attack. When she recovered, she teleported away again. She reappeared above the dais in the centre of the room, and began crossing her hooves over her chest and started charging up energy again.

However, this time, instead of just standing around, waiting for her attack, Terra reared back and jumped up towards her. When he was in the air and coming close to her, he pulled his head back and struck her with a single strike of his Keyblade.

As soon as she was hit, the dark tornadoes forming all around the room disappeared as he interrupted during her attack. “Aaaahhh.” She grunted at being hit.

Terra was then suddenly engulfed in a bright light, and when it faded, he was standing in a completely different space. Everything around him was a black, formless void, and there wasn’t any sign of anything else at all. There was just a thin white path directly in front of him, with Nightmare Moon at the other end.

As soon as she saw him, she lowered her head and fired a huge magic blast from her horn, that covered the entire path. The blast hit Terra straight on, though he didn’t feel like he lost as much health as he was expecting.

One second later, Nightmare Moon then fired another blast at him; however, he managed to jump up to avoid it. When he landed, he then started running towards her. Nightmare Moon simply kept shooting huge beams of energy at him, but Terra simply jumped up to dodge them and continued running towards her.

When he finally reached her, there was another, smaller bright light, and another pony appeared beside him. She looked a bit like Nightmare Moon, except she was a bit smaller, her coat was a light azure colour instead of midnight black, her mane also shone with the stars, but it also had an outline along the side that was a lighter than the rest of it, making it easy to distinguish between the two. Strangely, she also had Nightmare Moon’s cutie mark. However, despite the similarities that this pony had to Nightmare Moon, when she turned her head to face him, she gave him a smile that was so caring, that it warmed his heart and he instantly knew that she was alright.

Smiling back at her, the two of them then combined their powers and called down a beam of darkness, with an outline of a glorious light, right down on top of Nightmare Moon.

“Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!” The evil alicorn screamed out in pain as the attack connected with her. There was then another bright flash of light that engulfed his vision. When it dissipated, he was back in the castle.

Nightmare Moon was knocked back and fell over on the ground. Before he fell down, Terra quickly did an air slide over to her and hit her with another Keyblade combo.

“Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!” Nightmare Moon screamed out after she was hit.

---

After she had been hit by Terra’s last Keyblade combo, Nightmare Moon started slowly falling towards the ground. As she fell, her whole body was engulfed in a bright light.

As Terra watched, he banished his Keyblade and took a step back.

When the light had faded, Nightmare Moon was now much smaller, and she looked just like the pony that Terra had seen during his battle with her. She then hit the ground with a thud.

After a moment, Terra decided to take a step closer to the unconscious pony. Then, she started to rustle a little and she slowly opened her eyes. Terra stopped where he was; this time, he decided to see what she would do first, before he decided whether or not to attack.

“Luna.” Terra suddenly heard Celestia call out from behind him. He turned back around to see her and Fluttershy standing back up and making their way over to him. When they reached where he was, they stopped, turned towards him and gave him a comforting smile, and the three of them then turned to face Luna, who was slowly getting back to her hooves.

When she had managed to stand back up again, she placed her hoof to her head to try and steady herself. Turning her head to the side, her eyes widened when she saw her sister, one of Twilight Sparkle’s friends, and the pony that she remembered saving her from the darkness.

“Sister…” She spoke slowly. “Is it really you, or are my eyes playing tricks on me?”

Celestia walked up beside her and draped a wing over her sister to comfort her. “It is me, Luna.” She said in a soft voice. “You’re back.” She then snuggled her close. “You’re safe now.”

Luna simply cuddled in closer to her big sister. Terra and Fluttershy both stayed quiet and let the two sisters have their moment. Watching the two of them now warmed Terra’s heart, and the dark aura surrounding him disappeared.

After about ten seconds of hugging her sister close, Luna then looked out again and saw the tall earth pony stallion that had rescued her. She then moved to address him. “And… who might you be, brave stallion?”

Terra simply smiled brightly back at her when he realised that she was addressing him. “I’m Terra.”

Luna simply smiled and nodded back to him. “Well, Terra, I am Luna. Thank you for saving me from myself. I am eternally grateful.”

Terra simply smiled back at her in response, however, a few seconds later, he shifted his expression again and brought his hoof to his mouth, in thought, trying to analyse the situation. “I think I understand what happened now. You let the darkness into your heart and were consumed by it, becoming Nightmare Moon; no longer in control of your actions.” He then frowned. “And you hurt those close to you.” He then put his hoof back down and looked down at the ground, disheartened. “Is that what’s going to happen to me?” He whispered to himself.

Luna could see that he was feeling upset and afraid of the darkness in his heart. It was a feeling that she was all too familiar with herself. She didn’t want anyone else to go through what she went through. She wanted to help him.

Righting herself up, she pushed out from beneath her sister and stepped towards him. “I don’t think so.” She stated simply. This caused Terra to look up at her. She had a strong expression on her face, like she was certain of what she was saying. “You are very strong, Terra. You dove into the darkness to rescue me, and you were able to use the darkness without being corrupted by it. I think that that was incredible, and I know that you will be just fine. I will always remember what you did for me.”

After hearing what Luna had to say to him, he just smiled back at her, warmly. “Thank you, Luna.” He then turned to his side to see Fluttershy, who also smiled warmly back at him. “I’ve also learned an important lesson from you about not jumping right into a fight.” Fluttershy beamed in response, happy that she had managed to help somebody.

When they were all done talking, Celestia stepped forward again. “Thank you very much, Terra, for saving my sister.” She said, stepping back up beside Luna. The two of them shared a look before she continued speaking. “Now that she’s back, we just need to worry about these ’Unversed’ creatures.”

Still facing her sister, Luna spoke up again. “Do not worry, Celestia. When the Unversed first arrived in our world, they kept to the Everfree Forest and only attacked those that came by. They only became organised under Nightmare Moon. Without her, they will be easy to dispose of.” She then turned back to face Terra. “We can handle things from here, Terra. You have done more than enough for us already. Again, thank you.” The Princess of the Night beamed.

Terra simply nodded back to her. “Alright. I’ll trust your judgement.” He then turned to walk away and summoned his Keyblade. After he had taken several steps, he suddenly stopped. He then turned back around to face Luna. “Luna?” He spoke. There was something he had to know first before he proceeded. “Do you happen to remember what you said to me while you were Nightmare Moon?”

Luna considered the question for a moment before responding. “I don’t recall what I did as Nightmare Moon, but she knows everything that I do, if that’s what you mean.” She responded simply.

After a moment of silence between them, taking in her answer, he then smiled back at her, between the Keyblade in his teeth, and gave her a knowing nod. She returned it, with a playful grin on her face. She didn’t know what it was about, but she was sure that that was the correct response.

Terra then faced forward again, spun his Keyblade around in his mouth and pointed it directly in front of him. A small beam of light then shot out of the Keyblade and created a shimmering portal a few feet away from him.

Once the portal was opened, he gave one last look back at the ponies and his new friends, and then walked into the portal. Once he was through, it closed behind him.

Once Terra was gone, Celestia looked between Luna and Fluttershy. “Alright, now let us get going as well. We still have work to do.” She said in a cheerful tone.

With that, the three ponies all looked between themselves and started walking out of the castle. As they walked along, Luna suddenly figured out what Terra had meant earlier and giggled to herself.

Celestia looked over at Luna giggling and just shook her head at her, playfully. She always thought that Luna looked so cute when she giggled like that. It reminded her of when they were fillies.

When the three of them had reached the castle’s front door, she looked over at Luna again and smiled warmly. She was just so happy to have her sister back.

Forged a D-Link with Luna

OBTAINED

Element of Kindness

A Keyblade with short reach that does little for your Strength, but provides an outstanding boost in Magic. It also provides bonus EXP from defeated enemies.

Comments

[SK Alex]

*sigh* Gullible Terra...

Yay! New D-Link + Keyblade! :D

[621Chopsuey]

Great thus far. You captured the atmosphere of the game very well, as well as the characters.

Now on to Aqua!

[Artimis whooves]

You wrote this very much like the game, but it lost the feel of it being a story. like these;
1: the characters do not know they have a health bar.
2:the characters do not recognize that spells have to recharge.
Don't get me wrong, it was a good story. But you wrote it seemingly from the perspective of the player.

[AeroFlash09]

Shade of Kindness

Increase Strength extremely while magic increase slightly.