The Key to the Light

by KingJoltik

Early Days, Part 8: The Sparkle and the Darkness

Perhaps I was wrong about 'The Key' and it's true nature. I believed to be a object that can change the very being of both the Light and the Darkness. However, 'The Key' is so much more than that. 'The Key' seems to be an object that connects the very hearts of everypony. I shouldn't be surprised but...I was. 'The Key' is an object that can connect each and every heart. Light, Darkness, Nothing...it matters not what that heart is filled with, it will connect them. Unbelievable. What a truly marvelous weapon.

-Starswirl Report 38

"Keep up you mugs!" yelled a burly unicorn stallion as him and two soldiers ran down the hallways, striking down the shadow Heartless that infested the walls with their magic. Several beams of magic flew down the hallways, their horns shooting down every intruder. "Keep it together! We have to-"

The unicorn came to a complete halt as they cut the next corner. The two behind him quickly stopped as well as a shiver went down all three stallion's spines. In front of them was a small cloaked unicorn, her eyes containing a bright red glow with a small dark haze around them. Behind her was two flying bipedal Heartless along with four walking solider Heartless. "H-H-Heartless..." the filly panted, a small sigh falling out of her mouth. "Find the k-k-keybearer..."

The Heartless twitched, their claws showing themselves. The three soldiers backpedaled as the Heartless walked in front of the blue unicorn. Four more Heartless appeared behind her shortly. All of them were floating and conical shaped with a yellow straw hat with a jagged tip on top. Two were colored red while the others were blue.

"Uh...what is this Captain Blade?" said one of the soldiers. "Is that little filly controlling these things?"

"I'm...not sure. Little filly, are you-"

"Attack!" Trixie yelled, the Heartless immediately reacting. The four floating Heartless quickly shot out fire and ice spells. Several fireballs flew at the guards along with several snowflake looking ice spells. One of the guards quickly reacted and summoned a shield in front of them, negating the spells.

"Holy Suns! Well done Shining Armor!" the captain yelled as he recovered from the sudden shock of the attack. "If you hadn't done that, we'd be toast!"

"Thank you captain!" Shining said as he began to flinch as the solider Heartless began clawing at the shield. "It's not gonna hold! What do we do?!"

The captain gave a quick hoof signal to the other soldier and the two charged their horns. "Put it down on my command!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Trixie grows tired of this..." the filly closed her eyes as a red aura engulfed her horn. Her long demonic looking blade teleported into her mouth as she took a fighting stance. She watched her Heartless relentlessly attack the shield, only for the shield to still stand. Closing her eyes again, she let out a long breath and glared at the shield again. An explosion of magic flew out of her horn, a red beam covered in dark smoke flew into the shield, instantly breaking it. The blast knocked Shining Armor flying into the air, his body skidding down the hallway.

"Shining!" the other solider yelled. "Hang on, I'm-augh!"

Two solider Heartless struck their claws into the soldier, quickly taking the pony's heart. The captain saw his soldier disappear from the attack and quickly hopped backwards, screaming profanities at the shadows.

"Blasted monsters! You're gonna pay for that!" he said as his horn shot down all four floating Heartless. Another shot knocked down one of the flying soldiers, but the other dodged. The Heartless flew in and kicked the stallion in the face. The kick was a bad move for the shadow as the captain grabbed it's leg and slammed it into the wall, instantly dissipating into smoke. The captain glared back at the other soldier Heartless, only to see all four in full bull charge mode. He began to charge his horn, only to hear a small flicker. He was out of magic. He had been fighting all through the castle, only to lose it in front of the strongest Heartless inside the building. "No..."

The four swung their claws out, trying to strike the captain down. A hoof smashes one of the soldiers in the face, knocking it into the ceiling. Another two are bucked down the hallway, their bodies flying through the air as they turned into mist. However, it was this moment that a small sense of fear overtook the captain. He couldn't see the fourth one. It had vanished as he had been taking down the other three soldier Heartless. Before he could utter a word, the last one struck where it mattered. It's claw struck his stomach as it took his heart. The captain fell over before turning into a small puff of smoke, his heart completely devoured by the Heartless.

"NOOOO!!!" Shining Armor screamed as he ran down the hallway, his hoof smashing the Heartless down in a violent rage. He slammed the Heartless into the wall, beating it's head in until it was nothing but smoke. He quickly shot his head around, trying to find the filly responsible for summoning the creatures. Trixie just stood there, staring at the lone solider. "I'm gonna tear you apart!" Shining spat as a giant aura devoured his horn. "I'll blast you to smithereens!"

His horn quickly shot out several blasts, several balls of magic flew towards the cloaked filly. However, Trixie just stood there, unflinching. As the attack was just about to strike, a large Heartless fell from the ceiling, it's fat body absorbing the magic. As the last magic attack struck it's belly, the Heartless burst into a dark hazy mist. Shining grinned at his quick victory, only to soon realize it was far from over. While the Heartless had protected Trixie, her blade disappeared from her mouth. Instead, a red aura shined from her horn as it shot a fireball into her hoof. Regularly, Shining would be sure that his shield magic could easily protect him from such a small fireball. But this one was different. This ball was grey and the flames were a distinct jet black color. Trixie leaned down as she closed her right eye, aiming at the stallion.

"Dark Fira." she whispered before stretching her hoof back, as if she was throwing a pitch. The flames floated just above her hoof as she leaned back and then pelted the ball at the soldier. Shining quickly shot a shield out, only for the attack to immediately destroy the shield as if it were made of glass. The blast shot Shining down the hall again, his screams of pain following him.

"No..." he moaned as he tried to get up. "Can't...lose...here..."

Trixie began to march, slowly getting closer to the stallion. As she took step after step, she suddenly tripped, her face kissing the floor. "Oof! Ugh..." she strained as she slowly got up. She clutched her chest as she began panting. "Darkness...Trixie's heart can't take much more..."

I've used too much darkness. she thought as she clapped her hooves, summoning two more soldier Heartless. I've summoned too many Heartless...maybe only a few more before the darkness takes me. Have to...find the keybearer...

Several sounds of clanging broke through the hallway as the two soldiers rushed towards Shining Armor. As they showed their claws, Shining quickly grabbed one of their heads and smashed it into the wall. The other struck the side of his left hoof, a scream followed as the pain flowed through his body. But before the Heartless could make another move, Shining bucked the Heartless straight into the ceiling, instantly destroying the creature. "HA! How'd you like that?!" he yelled as he turned back around from the bucking. But despair sunk into him as he realized he was now alone. "Wha...where did she go?!"

Shining looked back at the hallway where he first saw the filly, only to see a few straggling Heartless. His horn began to shine once more. "Darn it. Guess I'll have to get rid of you guys first."

---

Meanwhile....

"Hmm...this is very entertaining to say the least Servant." The Master said as the pony sat on it's throne, it's eyes glued to the giant orb in the middle of the room. Inside the orb was a vision of Trixie going down another hallway in the Canterlot Castle.

"I'm glad you approve Master." The Servant replied as they both ate from a bucket of popcorn. "I'm just glad I was able to make that special tracking Heartless work. Now we can see everything we need to see...for now at least."

"True. And your apprentice doesn't know she's being tracked?"

"No. Unless a ton of light is used on her, the tracking Heartless on her should stay without devouring her heart."

"Good. Very good..." The Master replied while munching on another hooful of popcorn. "At least we know-"

The Master was interrupted as another pony entered the room. This pony was cloaked as well, but was the same size and age as Trixie. The little one held a small book in it's hooves as it looked at the Master with wanting eyes. "It seems my apprentice is done studying. I need to start the next part of today's training."

"Indeed Master. Should I continue watching over Trixie and report to you when she finds the keybearer?" The Servant asked as the Master left it's throne.

"Yes. And make sure to get me a name of this new wretched keybearer."

"But of course Master. I am your Servant and I will fulfill your orders."

"Good...and get me some more popcorn while you're at it."

"Of course." The Servant said with a bow. As the two ponies left the room, the Servant grabbed another bag of popcorn and released a small fire spell under it. The pony began watching the orb again, seeing it's apprentice slowly get closer to the throne room. It seems Trixie had more in her heart than I thought. She's been in the blasted realm of light for this long and can still control the Heartless...pity, she's still going to die once Celestia shows up again. The Servant gritted it's teeth at the very thought of the alicorn. Blasted princess of the sun...if only we could snuff out your disgusting light.

Trixie then got to the throne room, her hoof clutching her chest. The Servant merely chuckled at the sight as it popped the last bit of popcorn. "Now...let's see what you'll do next my apprentice."

---

Canterlot...

"Whoa!" said a certain filly as she flew out of a small book. A small furry animal followed her, along with a small brown pot labeled 'Honey'. The purple unicorn shook her head as she readjusted herself. Note to self Twilight, hopping in and out of books is a nauseous experience...though the idea of jumping into a book does sound fun.

"Kupo kupo!"

"Hmm?" Twilight answered as she turned to her little moogle friend. "Yes Spike?"

"Kupo?" Spike said as he pointed to the room around them. Twilight quickly looked around, a confused expression painting itself on her face.

"What the-why are we in Princess Celestia's room?" Twilight said as she scratched her head. "Did she bring the book in here?"

"Kupo kupo."

"I agree. That is if you're saying what I think you're saying. Hmm..." Twilight scratched her chin as she looked around one more time. "Guess she isn't here. Maybe she's in the throne room. Wanna go find her Spike?"

"Kupo!" Spike raised his arms in joy.

"Good!" Twilight replied as she put him on top of her head. "I'll just leave the honey pot here. Hopefully Princess Celestia won't mind." Twilight walked to the door while humming the tune Tigger was singing earlier. "I can't wait to tell her about that fun little world inside that book!"

As she opened the doors, she poked her head out, seeing if anypony was around. Seeing nopony in sight, the two shifted out of the room and into the throne room. "Huh...she's not here either. In fact, nopony is here. Wonder where they all went?"

"Kupo kupo."

"I don't know Spike. Maybe they-" Twilight's mouth came to complete stop as she looked down at the entrance to the throne room. There, a small cloaked pony walk inside, a few shadow Heartless behind her. Twilight immediately recognized the creatures from her dream. Those are...they're real? What in the-

"Are you...the one?" the filly said, causing Twilight's thoughts to come to a screeching halt. "Are you...the keybearer?"

"Keybearer?" Twilight replied with a cocked eyebrow. "You mean the keyblade?"

"Yes...do you..." the unicorn fell to one knee as she panted for a single calm breath. Trixie looked back at Twilight with a cold, deadly glare. "Do you wield a keyblade?"

"Um..." Twilight gulped, not sure what to answer. "I uh..." She slowly backpedaled as she watched the shadow Heartless flow through the floor, their bodies merged into the rug. Before she could answer, one of them jumped out of the floor, it's claws ready to strike. As the creature was about to hit the filly, a flash of light shined throughout the room as the keyblade appeared in Twilight's mouth, instantly swinging into the Heartless. The blade sliced the shadow in half as if it were butter, quickly turning it into a puff of dark smoke. It did it again! It's like this blade just knows when to pop into my mouth. Twilight looked back at Trixie, only to see a large malicious grin on her face. Uh-oh.

"Heh heh heh...Trixie finally found you..."

"Trixie?" Twilight squeaked as she continued to back away. She could feel Spike shiver in fear as he held her hair tightly. Is that her name? And why does she look like she's about to attack me? Wha...what's going on?!

"Yes...and now..." Trixie panted one more time before a blade shaped like a demonic bat wing appeared in her mouth. "Trixie is going to destroy you!"

Author's Note:

They finally meet. Next time: the startling conclusion to Early Days!

Also, to all out there that are confused in terms of the whole tone shift, I'm trying to do my kind of version of what happened in KH1. In the beginning of the game, everything is great for Sora at Destiny Islands and them BAM! Heartless pop up and everything goes wrong. That's what I'm trying to do.

That and I thought I might not get this out in time...whew. Added a whole other scene in this just because I thought this chapter was a bit too short. Oh well...I think it worked well...

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Comments

[Lord Nopony]

Don't do it Trixie!!!

[KingJoltik]

7717658 But she must. So sayeth the darkness!!!