A Health of Information
Riku took Twilight out for a stroll through the Everfree Forest, despite it being a horrible idea. They could easily scare off any of the dangerous wildlife in this forest with their magic alone, and he needed to get Twilight out of the castle for a while.
"Your ideas of casual dates are not exactly the safest," Twilight grumbled.
"Pleasant walks down a forest road are nice," Riku argued. "Remember when we went through Whitetail Woods?"
"Yes; we found a Moogle shop, who's now taken residence in the castle, and I was also chased down by Nobodies," Twilight said with a leer. "Best 'casual' outing ever."
"Ok, bad example, but there's parts of the Everfree that don't look all that dangerous," he reasoned. Twilight just rolled her eyes as they continued their stroll, reaching a calm, clean swamp with trees blooming beautiful flowers on their long, drooping leaves. They weren't alone, finding Fluttershy sitting by the edge of the water with a large brown bag, along with Zecora, who was standing on a root while reaching out to some moss on the surface of the water, her black and white striped tail tied to the tree's branch to balance herself. "See? Fluttershy and Zecora are here. This area's obviously safe."
"Where there might be cragodiles hiding in the water?" Twilight questioned.
"You are such a worrywart," Riku sighed with a shake of his head.
Fluttershy looked over at them as they heard their bickering, waving them over. "Hi, Twilight. Hi, Riku," she greeted.
"What are you two doing out here?" Twilight asked out of curiosity.
"I asked Zecora if she could help me find some crisscross moss," Fluttershy said.
"I know where it grows, so it was not much to ask," Zecora said, even able to overhear Riku and Twilight's sarcastic squabbling from a mile away. "Though retrieving it has been a difficult task."
"What do you need this kind of moss for?" Riku asked.
"There's some oxen that will visit Sweet Feather Sanctuary next week, and they'll definitely appreciate eating some," Fluttershy said. "It really adds a shine to their coat."
"Why not just rub it on them instead?" Riku chuckled, though his question didn't get a laugh out of Fluttershy.
Zecora reached into the water, finally grabbing some moss in her hoof. "There we go. Now, that wasn't so tough. Fluttershy, tell me, will this be enough?"
"Gee, I don't know. It's a pretty big pack," Fluttershy said, then held up the bag she brought with her. "Maybe enough to fill up this sack?" Realizing she just accidentally rhymed, the pegasus giggled. "Oh, my! You're rubbing off on me, Zecora!"
"Try not to make it a habit," Riku muttered jokingly.
Zecora laughed at the ironic rhyming Fluttershy made, but she suddenly lost her balance on the moss growing on the root of the tree she stood on. She couldn't regain it, snapping the branch her tail was connected to, and fell into the water. While the others worried she might have accidentally got hurt from the slip, the splash Zecora made sent a lillypad with a strange blue flower with orange spots floating down the wave toward the shore. The zebra surfaced with a gasp, a little startled by her fall.
"No need to fret. I only got wet," Zecora reassured her friends. While in the water, she could at least gather the massive hooffull of crisscross moss Fluttershy needed. "At least now I can easily grab all the crisscross moss there is to be had."
As Zecora swam back to shore with the moss, Riku noticed the blue flower slowly floating by. "Huh. That's an odd looking plant." He approached the lilly, curious to see what kind of bud it was, but as he lowered his face closer, the flower opened up, spraying a cloud of dark brown-orange spores point blank. "AHH! W-What-!?"
Riku began coughing as the spores entered his system, quickly backing away from the mysterious flower. The mares heard him cough, wondering what happened to him as the spore cloud cleared away.
"Riku, are you ok?" Twilight asked.
"S-Stupid flower reacted and sprayed some kind of gas in my face," Riku said, coughing again as he tried to breathe. When he looked back at the three mares, they all gasped when they saw orange spots begin to form on his body. Riku suddenly felt ill as he rubbed his head, checking himself for a fever. "Ugh...I don't feel so good..."
"Oh dear, another specie of flora that's dour," Zecora said, noticing the blue flower that sprayed him in the water. "This is not like Poison Joke, a illness far worse than a prankster flower."
Riku looked at his leg, noticing the orange spots on his white fur. "Oh crud. What did that flower gi-ehh-AHH-CHOO!!!!!!!!" Riku sneezed, but when he did, he also sneezed a bolt of lightning from his nose. The mares all ducked, avoiding the mysterious bolt. Riku stared in shock, then couldn't hold back his cough, releasing bubbles from his mouth. When he opened his eyes and saw the bubbles from whatever ailments he's gotten, he saw the shocked expressions on the mares' faces, even from Zecora if she's never seen anything like this. "...I think I need to see a doctor..."
After arriving at the hospital, the doctor checked Riku out with all the mysterious symptoms he had, finishing examining his mouth, his tongue also sporting the same orange spots his body has. "Alright, Mr. Riku, let's take a listen to the old ticker." With his stethoscope, the stallion listened to Riku's heart, which had an irregular rhythm despite his normal breathing, sounding like a jazzy drum solo more than a heartbeat. "Hmmm...Well, that's not a good sign."
"Oh, and the orange spots, coughing bubbles, and lightning bolt sneezes weren't a big enough clue already?" Riku questioned irritably, then began to cough.
Quickly putting some chemicals in a small beaker, the doctor grabbed one of the bubbles, placed it in the beaker, and shook it up after plugging the small vial. "We're looking for any color other than red," he said. After shaking it up enough, he showed Twilight, Fluttershy, and Zecora the results. Their relief was short-lived when the clear liquid began to turn red. "Oh, it's just as I thought. Riku, I'm afraid you have a very rare disease called...Swamp Fever!"
The doctor's dramatic reveal was accentuated by Riku sneezing lighting at the perfect timing, the pegasus stallion sniffling a little before giving the doctor a deadpanned glare. "'Swamp Fever'? Really???"
"Tell us, doctor, what should we do?" Zecora asked. "I've never heard of Swamp Fever, mind you."
"Unfortunately, very little is known about the disease. Except, of course, its symptoms," the doctor said. He then held out a medical book, turning to the pages about the disease Riku's afflicted with. "Change of coat, coughing bubbles, shock sneezing, confusion, and the last stage, the afflicted turn into the very trees that drop the disease-spreading flower."
"I'm gonna turn into a WHAT!?" Riku exclaimed, the mares shocked by the unfortunate end to anyone infected with Swamp Fever. Getting up off the examination table, Riku grabbed the doctor's coat aggressively, freaking out about turning into a tree as the least likely expected ways to die in his line of work. "What's the cure for this stupid sickness!? Fix me up, doc!"
"I'm sorry, but a cure has yet to be discovered." The girls gasped while Riku's eyes widened, dropping the doctor in stunned silence. The doctor got back up, straightening his outfit, understanding the dire situation Riku was in, along with his friends and marefriend. "I know this is a lot to take in. I'll leave you four be."
After the doctor left, Riku slumped over, letting out a cough and some more bubbles as he stared blankly at the wall. "...I've nearly lost my heart to Ansem, and the Demon Tower almost got me when Flurry Heart was in danger...But instead of the most painful ways to die, getting turned into a tree is going to do me in..."
"Riku, I'm so sorry," Fluttershy apologized, confusing the stallion as he looked up at her. "If I didn't ask Zecora for help getting the crisscross moss, you wouldn't have gotten Swamp Fever when she fell in and sent that flower over to the shore."
"Fluttershy, it's not your fault," Twilight assured. "It was an accident. None of us even knew what kind of flower it was."
"No! I don't want you to lose your coltfriend!" Fluttershy exclaimed, her refusal to see this as an accident startling Twilight, Riku, and Zecora. "There has to be somepony who can help him!"
"There was a healer of legend who could never fail," Zecora said. "But I only know her from ancient folktales. Mystical and masked, she came in the night and cured everything from hoof cough to fur blight. What became of the healer, nopony knows, for she disappeared ages and ages ago."
"The Mystical Mask!" Twilight and Fluttershy both exclaimed.
Twilight gave Fluttershy an odd look, wondering why she knew about this legend. "My parents would tell me about her when I was sick in bed," the yellow pegasus explained.
"So, if we find out where this 'Mystical Mask' pony lived, you think we can find the cure for this dumb Swamp Fever?" Riku asked.
"Legends so far have been real many times by now. There might be something in the library about her," Twilight said.
"I shall return home and see if I can come up with a cure," Zecora said. "Just in case the Mystical Mask really is just lore."
"Well, come on Trixie, Butterscotch, and Zackary!" Riku said. "We gotta hurry before I turn into a tree!"
The mares looked at each other, confused by what Riku called each of them. "Uhh, Riku, you got our names wrong," Twilight said.
"No I didn't, Sprinkles," Riku said in annoyance. The look the mares gave him dropped his arrogance, then he facepalmed as he began suffering from the fourth symptom of Swamp Fever. "...Let's just figure out where the Mystical Mask is before I-I-ahye-AH-AHH-CHOOO!!!!"
Riku let out another shock sneeze, Twilight quickly casting a protective barrier around herself, Fluttershy, and Zecora. It disappeared in a millisecond, flashing briefly as the lightning bolt bounced off harmlessly. Riku rubbed his snout, getting irritated with his coughing and sneezing.
"Thank you, Cadence, for teaching me this spell," Twilight said. "Really helpful after Discord pretended to be sick to interrupt our sister-time a couple years ago."
Zecora split up from Riku, Twilight, and Fluttershy to help find a cure for the afflicted stallion, leaving the others to search through the library on anything involving the Mystical Mask. Twilight warned the others in the castle to steer clear of Riku after telling them of his illness so no one else got sick. Sora was shocked to hear that his best friend is going to die by turning into a tree, but he and the other Keyblade wielders were willing to help Twilight and Fluttershy uncover the legend's origins and a possible cure. They looked through every horticultural book, medical illnesses and diseases, even bog habitation along with legends of historical figures, but there was no luck on anything about the Mystical Mask.
The search lasted until the next morning, Fluttershy refusing to sleep until she found something useful. Everyone else was scattered around the library, passed out with several books piled around them that they've already gone through, one of them halfway opened and left forgotten as they slept. Riku was forced to sleep in a magic bubble created by Twilight as a precaution if the magic health bubble Cadence taught her wore off. Fluttershy squinted her eyes as she scanned the book she was currently reading, then let out a gasp, finally finding an answer.
"I found it!" Fluttershy shouted, startling everyone as they scrambled back on their hooves.
"W-What's happening!?" Aqua exclaimed, her Keyblade summoned while looking around in a daze. "Where are the Heartless!? I'll stop them!"
"Uhh, false alarm, Aqua," Terra said, calming the blue unicorn down.
"Ugh. Woken up by Fluttershy of all ponies," Ventus mumbled, rubbing his tired eyes. "Who would have thunk it?"
Riku grumbled as he sat up, coughing up more bubbles. "What time is it?"
"Sorry, everypony, but I figured out who the Mystical Mask is!" Fluttershy said.
"You did!?" Twilight exclaimed in shock.
"All I had to do was cross-reference a book about masks with another book on ancient Equestrian healers, then use a third book to translate it all from Olde Ponish, and there it was!" Fluttershy explained, though her explanation went over Sora, Riku, Ventus, and Terra's heads. "The Mystical Mask wasn't just a legend after all. The Mystical Mask was Mage Meadowbrook!"
Twilight let out a deep gasp in surprise. "The ancient sorceress from Hayseed Swamp?" she asked.
"The very same pony who discovered eight different magical items?" Aqua asked.
"Are you sure it's the same pony?" Kairi asked.
"Yes! Mage Meadowbrook wasn't just a sorceress," Fluttershy said. "She was also a healer, and back then, healers wore masks so they wouldn't get sick themselves!"
Twilight had a wide grin on her face after hearing Fluttershy, whose only interest was mostly about animals, was able to uncover something that not even a brilliant mind like hers could discover in one night. "But didn't she disappear?" Riku asked. "Even if she didn't, she's probably long gone if she lived a full life centuries ago."
"It's possible she could have left something behind before disappearing," Terra pondered. "There could be notes she left on Swamp Fever, which could have the cure for Riku."
"Well, we have to try!" Fluttershy quickly said. She flew out of the room, then came back as fast as Rainbow Dash, plopping Twilight's saddlebags over her back while also carrying hers, pushing the lavender alicorn out to the door. "I've figured out a route we can take to get there faster than you can say 'chaos'!"
"Wait, you want us to go NOW!?" Twilight exclaimed.
"Of course! Every second we spend waiting is a second Riku's coughing bubbles, or sneezing lightning!" Riku let out a cough, growling angrily as he waved away the bubbles the floated in front of him.
Despite the rush, they could see Fluttershy was sleep deprived, and her own worries getting Riku better were only going to make her sick as well. "Fluttershy, were you actually up all night?" Sora asked. "You should probably sleep. We'll go to Hayseed Swamp and-"
"Don't talk me out of it!" Fluttershy interrupted, flying up to Sora and tried pushing him along as well, barely nudging him with how meek she was compared to him. "We've got no time to waste!"
Complying with Fluttershy's impatient demands, everyone got themselves ready for the trip. "I'm going, too," Riku said, using his Keyblade to pop the magic bubble to give himself free movement.
"No, Riku, you need to stay here," Twilight strictly ordered. "You're in no condition to do anything right now."
"I'm not going to lie down in bed while waiting for twigs to grow out of my ears," Riku said, quickly turning his head as he coughed, not wanting to get Twilight sick. "I want to get cured as soon as possible, and I'm not going to let this Swamp Fever bring me down."
"This isn't the time to be stubborn," Twilight growled.
"Oh yeah? Then I guess I'm thick-headed," Riku countered, walking past his lover while struggling to stifle his coughs and sneezes. "Sora's the worst, but I've had my worst days..."
Sora let out a sigh, ignoring the remark his friend made to him despite it being true. Riku was mentioning his stubborn jealousy when he saw Sora hanging out with Donald and Goofy while trying to find him and Kairi. Twilight was worried about Riku's health, but she could see he was just as desperate as Fluttershy at this point for the cure. She let it slide and let him come along, but if his health begins deteriorating more and more, she was forcing him into a bed and getting rest before his symptoms got worse. Once everyone was prepared to go, Donald and Goofy staying behind to look after Ponyville after being told where they were going and to let Zecora know if she didn't create a cure yet, they followed Fluttershy toward Hayseed Swamp.
It took a couple hours of flight to reach the swamp, Fluttershy nodding off and bumping into everyone and Riku stalling as he went into uncontrollable coughing or sneezing fits. When they arrived at the swamp town, there didn't appear to be a soul around aside from the wildlife. It was like a ghost town, no inhabitants in the empty town to greet them. It was an eerie feeling, the Keyblade wielders staying alert just in case something jumped out and ambushed them.
"Well, this is kinda spooky," Terra muttered. "Where is everyone?"
"We won't be able to find out where Mage Meadowbrook lived without a guide," Ventus added.
Walking along the boardwalk, Fluttershy noticed an odd looking tree, colored blue, and looked like it was more roots than trunk with its curly growth. "Wait, I recognize that tree!" she said. She flew toward it, the others following her as she examined its features. "Yes! This has to be the place! It's just like the illustrations of her home!"
"Anypony who lives in a tree is ok with me," Twilight said.
"Because you lived in one, too?" Sora asked with a smirk.
While Twilight glared at him, Fluttershy tried to push the door open, completely forgetting about the door handle, then gave up after a few seconds with a huff. "Well, if the doorway is sealed up, we'll just have to dig our way in!"
Fluttershy began to dig a hole and make a tunnel inside Mage Meadowbrook's home. Everyone stared blankly at her as Riku wondered to himself who's the one that's more confused than his own symptom.
"How about we just turn the handle?" Riku suggested, grabbing the handle and gave it a twist, the door surprisingly unlocked when the town seemed abandoned.
Fluttershy stood up from the small hole she made, covered in dirt, giving everyone a sheepish grin. "It...blends in well with the bark...?"
"Sure," Sora uttered sarcastically. "Let's go with that..."
Riku pulled open the door, everyone filing inside the empty tree house. The whole place was covered in dust and cobwebs, everything inside seemingly untouched for years. As everyone looked around, Ventus spotted something on one of the counters; the same flower that caused the Swamp Fever in its budded form, concealed in a glass jar.
"Is this the flower that got Riku sick?" Ventus asked as he examined it closely.
"The very same one," Riku said, letting out a few more coughs. "I really hope Meadowbrook found the cure if she studied this stupid plant."
"Try not to get too far ahead of yourself, Riku," Aqua advised. Suddenly, they heard a squeaking sound, the unicorn quickly turning to Fluttershy. "Like that. You're making an excited squeaking noise."
"Umm, I wasn't making any excited squeaking noises," Fluttershy uttered.
They heard the squeak again. Everyone looked over at where it came from, the faint light leaking in the room showing a pony sitting in a rocking chair, which moved back and forth. Startled, the Keyblade wielders summoned their Keyblades as the pony stood up and stepped closer. In the light, the mysterious resident was a dark orangeish-brown earth pony stallion, his mane, tail, and beard a braided pale gold with dark brownish-gold streaks, and his cutie mark was a sun spiral with two crossed cattail stalks. He also wore a brown top hat with a pale gray-brown ribbon around the base and a couple leaves jutting from the rim, a red bandanna around his forehead, a green vest, and a couple necklaces hanging around his neck.
His leer turned to surprise when he saw seven Keyblades in the wielders' hooves/aura. "Whoa, whoa, hold on, y'all," the stallion said. "Didn't mean to startle y'all, even though ya kinda barged in without so much as a hello."
"Well, we thought this place was completely empty," Sora said, lowering his guard. "Maybe you should have said something when we walked in unannounced."
"Fair point. Ah do that a lot: sittin' in a rocker, in the dark, just silently waitin' for somethin' to happen." The stallion chuckled, clearly harmless, albeit in a creepy way. The wielders dismissed their Keyblades, the single inhabitant they met in Hayseed Swamp introducing himself as he took off his hat in a respective manner. "Name's Cattail. Pleased to meet ya."
"Likewise," Sora said.
"Might we ask what you're doing in Mage Meadowbrook's home?" Aqua questioned curiously.
"Oh, Ah take care of the place," Cattail said. Everyone looked around the dusty home, finding it hard to believe this pony was the current caretaker. "Ah ain't much of a cleaner, but from what Ah hear, my kin wasn't neither. So I doubt they'd mind a few cobwebs in our ancestral home."
"Huh!?" everyone exclaimed in surprise.
"You're Mage Meadowbrook's descendant!?" Kairi asked in disbelief.
Cattail nodded in response. It was an odd coincidence, but if Cattail was Meadowbrook's great grandson, he might know how to cure Riku's Swamp Fever.
"Well, can you tell us how to fix this disease I got from that plant?" Riku asked, pointing to the dangerous lily on the counter before going into a coughing fit.
Cattail quickly backed away from the bubbles spewing out of the sick stallion, avoiding getting afflicted by the disease. "Uh oh. Y'all got yourself a case of Swamp Fever," he said. "If it's a cure you're lookin' for, Meadowbrook probably has a cure written in one of her journals."
Cattail then showed everyone Meadowbrook's "library" of journals, which only happened to be a small, dusty shelf with several different journals written by the Mystical Mask herself. Thankfully, with the smaller shelf, they didn't take too much time like last night to figure out the legend's identity and where they formerly resided. Some of the journals were mostly diary entries; usual complaints or boring moments in Meadowbrook's daily life growing up. Fluttershy looked through an entry, her eyes growing wide after reading through an entry that could help them.
"Hey, listen to this," she called out, everyone sans Riku gathering around, the stallion forced to stay at a distance to keep spreading this disease as Fluttershy read out the entry aloud.
The black-cloaked stallion entered the bayou after a long, casual stroll across the world. He took in a deep breath to smell the swamp air, quickly regretting it as he coughed and hacked at the murky smell.
"Agh! Take in a breath of fresh air, they say," he said to himself, gagging slightly with another cough. "Note to self: NEVER do that in a swamp. Ugh. No wonder I'm more of a city boy."
He walked across the boardwalk paths that were built over the swamp, passing by the residents as they went about their day. Spotting the fascinating blue tree house, he made his way over to the building, politely knocking on the door. Opening the door for him was a young light cerulean earth pony mare, her tied, braided hair hanging up in a weird style a pink and scarlet color. It was hard to tell what her cutie mark was with the green skirt covering her backside. She also wore a white cloth headband, a small white cloth vest, and a bronze necklace.
"Why, hello there," she greeted. "What can Ah do for ya, mister?"
"Just a traveler going where the wind takes him," the stallion said, taking a whiff of the swamp air and let out another cough. "Unfortunately, the wind isn't all that pleasant with swamp air."
"Meadowbrook, who's at the door?" another mare called out from inside, sounding much older than the young pony greeting the stallion.
"Just a visitor!" Meadowbrook called out. As she opened the door a bit more, the traveler got a better look inside the tree home. An assortment of medicine masks hanging from the wall, along with medicine books, potion bottles and ingredients on a variety of shelves, and in the middle of the room was a bubbling cauldron with the other mare sitting beside the large black pot. "Sorry. We're kind of in the middle of some potion brewin'. Learnin' to be a medicine mare."
"Oh. Interesting," the stallion said in awe. "Mind if I watch? I can make a mean healing serum, so I know a little about the apothecary arts." Meadowbrook looked back at the other mare, who seemed to be her mother, who had a lighter blue-purple coat, her brown and light tan mane done up in a similar fashion to Meadowbrook's, and wore a purple dress and two pink bandannas, one around her neck and around her head. The older mare nodded, mostly curious after hearing the stallion dabbled in potion making. Meadowbrook let him in, getting a better look at some of the medicine masks probably used by other family members or ancestors of theirs. "Wow. Snazzy masks. Makes me want to make one for myself..."
He had interrupted the mother and daughter while Meadowbrook was making a potion from what she learned from her studies. The patient was a chipmunk with a red nose, sick with a cold of some snort as it sneezed every so often. Meadowbrook finished her brewing, scooped some of the green liquid in a wooden spoon, then held it out to the sick critter. It took a sip, and within seconds, the stuffy red nose was gone, curing the chipmunk. The stallion whistled in awe at how quick their medicine worked, watching the chipmunk scurry off happily and feeling good as new.
As a sort of graduation ritual, Meadowbrook's mother gave her a present. Inside was a medicine mask of her own, shaped like a hawk or parrot, painted yellow with blue stripes, big blue eyes, and green and orange feathers as its plume. He must have accidentally barged in on Meadowbrook's final exam to be an official medicine mare, and the young mare was excited. The celebration was interrupted by a knock on the door, the older mare walking up to the door to see who it was this time. Outside was a mare who wore a brown cloak, but when she unveiled herself, Meadowbrook, her mother, and their visiting guest were startled seeing her with orange spots.
"My goodness! What caused this?" the mother asked.
The mare said nothing, holding out a blue flower with orange spots covering its petals. She took the flower from the ill pony after hearing out what kind of strange symptoms came from her before she and Meadowbrook immediately went to studying this flower. In the meantime, the stallion thought he'd pass the time by carving out his own medicine mask while the mares worked. He felt like he was loafing around in their house, although it would have been pathetic if he tried to act like he was a tired old stallion having traveled so long and needed a place to stay. It take long for him to finish carving the mask's face, expertly crafting the face of a Shadow.
Meadowbrook walked over to her guest with a cup of tea, taking a small break from studying the flower, only to pause when she saw the strange face the mystery stallion made. "Uhh, what kind of creature is that supposed to be?"
"I call it...a Heartless," he said cheekily, then put on the mask and waved his forelegs around. "Ooga booga booga!" he yelled out, trying to scare the young mare, but she just stared at him in confusion. His legs drooped after stopping, letting out a sigh before taking off his mask. "Yeah, it's not done yet. Just need some black paint to coat the face and some yellow for the eyes. Then it'll be terrifying."
"...Ok?" Meadowbrook uttered, finding him a little weird. Suddenly, as Meadowbrook's mother poured a bit of water on the flower, it opened up and sprayed her with spores, infecting her with the same sickness the mare earlier had. "Momma!" the mare cried out in shock, dropping the stallion's tea and ran over to see what happened to her. The older mare began to cough out bubbles, orange spots suddenly appearing on her body, getting the same symptoms the other afflicted mare had. "Oh, no. Not you, too!"
"T-This isn't good," the mother said. Meadowbrook backed away as her mother coughed again, then sneezed out lightning, nearly zapping her daughter. "That flower's spores is the cause of this illness."
"Yeesh. Talk about a bad case of swamp fever," the stallion said. He quickly put on his unfinished mask, helping Meadowbrook guide her mother to her bed to get some rest while avoiding the random lightning sneezes. "I think calling this sickness Swamp Fever sounds justifiable, don't you two?"
"Sadly, yes," the mother said. "Mister, ya don't need to stay if it means you can get sick from this illness as well."
"Well, consider this as a way to pay you back for resting at your place for a while," he said. Before he and Meadowbrook could figure out how to cure this mysterious disease, they heard a commotion at the door. The stallion hurried over to the door, keeping his mask on, and good thing he did as he was met with all the ponies in the village, all of them with a horrible case of Swamp Fever. "Whoa! Uhh, Meadowbrook!? We got an epidemic on our hands!"
"Huh?" Meadowbrook approached the doorway, wondering what he meant by the word "hands", her jaw immediately dropping at the bubble coughing and shock sneezing ponies standing in a line outside her home. "Oh no. It's spreadin'..."
The last couple days, both Meadowbrook and her unfortunate guest tried to discover the cure for Swamp Fever while avoiding catching it themselves. They tried everything from potions, essences, even acupuncture, unable to lessen the symptoms they had documented in their findings. Some of the patients afflicted with Swamp Fever much earlier than Meadowbrook's mother had began sprouting branches, slowly turning into trees and would most likely die, becoming hosts to possibly create more of these dangerous lilies.
The two sat by the edge of the swamp, watching some of the Swamp Fever flowers from a distance, puzzled by this mysterious epidemic. The traveling stallion finished painting his medicine mask, making an exact replica of a Shadow's black face with eerie yellow eyes.
"This is bad," Meadowbrook uttered. "Ah don't know if we'll ever find the cure in time."
"There has to be one somewhere," the stallion reassured. Their answer was given when they saw a strange looking insect buzzing over to the lily they were examining. They seemed to look like wasps, though their bodies were yellow with blue stripes, their stingers at the end shaped like a lightning bolt, and they even seemed to spark electricity while zipping off faster than they could blink. "Ehh. Weird looking bees."
"Those are flash bees," Meadowbrook said. They watched the scouting flash bees approach the lily, the flower acting in defense and sprayed them, but the bees didn't flinch. They hovered down on the opened, disease-spreading flower, sucking the nectar in their mouths to make honey out of them. It was then that Meadowbrook had an inspirational hypothesis after watching the flash bees. "They're immune to the poisonous spores...Which means, if it's possible, their honey might be the cure!"
"You know, I think your hunch might be spot on!" the stallion agreed. After the flash bees gathered enough nectar, the scouters sped off like lightning bolts, returning to their nest to make some honey. "After those bees!"
Both ponies chased after the flash bees, leaping over the massive roots of the trees in the marshland and deep waters of the swamp. They soon reached the tree the insects built their nest, high above the branches in a yellow hive.
"How are we gonna get their honey?" Meadowbrook asked, even though climbing up wasn't the real issue for her.
"One way is stealing it...Or..." With an impish giggle, the stallion put on his Heartless medicine mask. "We scare them out of their hive and take the whole thing!"
"Ah don't think that's a good-" The mares stopped him too late as he already started bounding up the branches. "-...idea..."
Reaching the highest branch, the stallion quietly approached the hive. Looking through the small, hoof-sized entrance, he saw the flash bees inside sleeping, along with the queen, which was a lot bigger and had an obvious-looking crown on its head.
"Oh, flash bees~!" the stallion taunted, waking them up. They began buzzing angrily, glaring at the intruder, barely even terrified of his mask. "Ooga booga! Give me all your honey, or feel my wrath!" The buzzing grew louder, the whole hive zipping out and surrounded the stallion, his bravado quickly turning to squealing terror and yelps of pain. He got stung by the protective swarm, getting a nasty shock while getting pierced by their painful stingers as he scrambled to shoo them away. "AH! AHHHAHAHAHAAAA!!!! Owowowowowowowowow! I was just kidding!" He suddenly let out a high-pitched scream as some of them flew into his coat after knocking off his mask, stinging his body more as their struck directly on his skin. "THEY'RE IN MY COAT! GET OUT! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
He lost his footing, the bees managing to get in his coat through his hood flying out and back in the hive, ignoring the grunting stallion as he smacked every branch on the way down. He landed painfully on his back as he hit the ground, letting out a whiny groan with his limbs twitching from the flash bees' sting's aftershock. Meadowbrook loomed over the defeated stallion with a deadpanned leer.
"Ah was tryin' to tell ya before leapin' up to their nest: flash bees are quite ornery, and highly territorial," she explained.
"...Good to know," the stallion uttered weakly. As soon as he could feel his limbs, he winced as the stings began to itch. "Agh. Why don't you find a way to get the honey? I'm gonna check on your mom...and find some ointment for these bee stings."
He winced off after finding his mask, leaving Meadowbrook to handle the flash bees since she knew more about them than he did. When he got back to the mare's home, he lathered some ointment on his stings in the privacy of a room in the tree house. As itchy as he was, he didn't want either Meadowbrook or her mother to see what he looks like under his clothing. He put his coat back on just in time when he heard the door open, Meadowbrook returning with a jar of the flash bee honey while wearing her medicine mask.
"Ah got it!" she announced triumphantly.
"Seriously?" the stallion asked. He even noticed that Meadowbrook didn't even get stung once. "And without getting stung by those flash bees???"
"Well, Ah thought Ah was. Ah put on mah mask, prepared to get stung, but they left me alone as soon as they flew up to me," Meadowbrook explained. "Takin' the chance, Ah got enough honey for everypony so we can cure them!"
The stallion's jaw dropped, baffled, and a bit irritated that she got away scot-free and he felt the flash bees' shockingly painful wrath. He was about to question how, but when he looked at Meadowbrook's mask when she set it down on the table, he figured out how it worked. Meadowbrook tested her theory with the flash bees honey as the cure for Swamp Fever on her mother, feeding her a spoonful of the delicious, gooey substance. The mare swallowed the spoonful, and within moments, her orange spots disappeared, completely cured.
Within no time at all, Meadowbrook and the stallion managed to give every sick pony in the village the cure in time before they turned into trees. They made sure to stay away from those deadly flowers so they didn't get sick again, especially when the cure is really hard to get from the overprotective flash bees. With the epidemic over, the traveler packed up some things for his next destination, Meadowbrook seeing him off at the entrance of Hayseed Swamp.
"Are ya sure ya don't want to stay a bit longer?" Meadowbrook asked. "Ah'm curious to know what kind of healin' serum ya mentioned the other day is like."
"Eh. I don't think I have the right ingredients on me to make it," he said. "And I don't think you can find them in a swamp."
"Oh. Ah see," Meadowbrook mumbled, sounding a bit disappointed. "Well, don't ya be a stranger, mister."
"Call me M," the stallion said. "And don't worry; you'll be seeing me again sooner than you think. Along with some allies."
"Allies?" the young mare asked curiously.
"Well, there's always got to be the healer of a group, and you fit the bill to a T," M said. Meadowbrook was understandable confused, making the stallion chuckle. "I know. I'm cryptic as heck. My other students always ask for my advice, but I want them to figure out how to get things done on their own when I'm gone. But you, Meadowbrook, managed to discover an illness and find the cure in record time. And I have no skills in medicine like THAT to save my own skin."
"But Ah wouldn't have found the cure without your help," Meadowbrook said.
"All I did was assist the real doctor," M stated. "...And got stung by bees in the process. Guess I'm not quitting my day job to be a doctor anytime soon." Meadowbrook let out a small laugh, nodding in agreement. "Well, off I go. I'll be seeing you later, Mystical Mask."
"'Mystical Mask', huh?" She laughed again at the strange nickname M gave her, but she found it fitting for some reason.
Her new friend headed on his way, giving Meadowbrook a wave as he disappeared down the road, pulling out his list and crossing the last thing on it. Meadowbrook headed back home, wondering what M was really doing here in Hayseed Swamp if he was given some sort of mission. When she walked back inside, she was startled to see M had left his strange medicine mask behind, completely forgetting about it before heading out. Since she would see him again some day, she took the mask and stored it away for safekeeping, inspecting the strangely menacing, yet somewhat adorable face design for a moment before pulling out a journal and wrote about her day.
Fluttershy finished reading out the entries pertaining the Swamp Fever epidemic and the cure for it, though they didn't know there was another person who was there to help her discover it and help the villagers back then. "Huh. Cattail, did you know your ancestor had some help back then?" Kairi asked curiously.
"Hmm...Well, for generations, we were told stories from our grandparents about her knowledge in healing," Cattail said, just as surprised as his guests were. "None of us looked through her personal journals to preserve the history behind her life."
"At least we know the cure isn't a complicated potion," Aqua said. She winced as she heard Riku building up a sneeze, quickly casting a barrier in his direction to block the lightning shooting out of his muzzle. "We need to find a flash bee hive, gather their honey, and rid Riku of this disease."
"And we have the best animal whisperer with us to convince the bees to give us their honey," Sora added, pointing a wing to Fluttershy.
"But Meadowbrook's journal said they were very aggressive," Ventus reminded the stallion. "This M pony tried to scare off the bees, which was the dumbest thing to do, and got attacked. They don't want anyone taking away their precious honey."
"Hmm...It's not mentioned anywhere," Fluttershy said, flipping back through the pages to see if she missed a detail. "None of the pages seem to be missing..." Humming in thought as she put the journal down, everyone gasped when they saw orange spots on the yellow pegasus's chest and hooves. "What?"
"Uhh, Fluttershy..." Twilight winced, pointing at her orange spots, more appearing all over her body.
"Is my mane all messy?" she asked. "I know I haven't slept in a while, but-" Cattail grabbed a nearby mirror, the reflective surface a bit scuffed from built up dust, but was clear enough as he held it in front of Fluttershy. Fluttershy gasped in shock when she noticed the spots, making Riku panic since he was incredibly careful not to cough, sneeze, or be anywhere near anyone to spread his disease. "Oh no! I've caught Swamp Fever!"
"How!?" Riku exclaimed.
Panicking, Fluttershy flew over to the wall of medicine masks, quickly placing them all on the healthy ponies to keep them from getting infected with Swamp Fever. "Uhh, was this necessary?" Terra questioned.
"Yes!" Fluttershy said, keeping his mask down over his face. "I'm not going to risk getting anypony else sick!"
"Fluttershy, I don't know how you got sick, but you've had no sleep, and your symptoms are going to get worse if you don't rest!" Twilight scolded, then looked back at Riku. "Like you should have been doing back home, Riku!"
"I got enough rest!" Riku argued, letting out another irritated cough. "We know what the cure is, so let's find a flash bee hive and get the honey!"
"Maybe you two should stay here and rest up before going up to them flash bees," Cattail suggested. "They're nasty critters."
"I can't afford to rest right now, Dogtail," Riku growled.
"Cattail," the swamp-dwelling stallion corrected.
"That's what I said...Right?" Riku asked, his confusion symptom acting up again.
"Neither can I," Fluttershy said. "I got Biju sick, and I'm going to help him just like Meadowbrook helped her mother and the bayou ponies long ago!" She approached Twilight and Cattail, pushing them toward the door to find the flash bee hive with a strained grunt. "And you're not going to change my mind!"
"Wow. For bein' sick, she sure is strong," Cattail commented, his hooves sliding across the floor as he was shoved outside.
Riku heard Sora snicker, laughing at Fluttershy calling him the wrong name, giving his friend a leer. "Yeah, let's see if we can help 'Biju' get better, too," Sora snorted, now getting himself shoved by Riku.
"Go before I take off that stupid mask you're wearing and give you Swamp Fever, too," Riku growled, the wielders quickly hurrying after Twilight, Fluttershy, and Cattail.
Cattail lead the group through the swamp to where the dangerous flash bee hive was located. It was sitting up high in a tall tree, faint buzzing coming from the normal-looking beehive. It sounded like the whole hive was there after gathering enough nectar from the Swamp Fever lilies.
"Wow. They like being pretty high up," Kairi commented.
"Fluttershy, are you sure you don't want any of us to come with you?" Twilight asked worriedly, not wanting to see her friend get stung if her convincing the flash bees fails.
"No. It's too dangerous," Fluttershy said.
"As dangerous as fighting Heartless?" Riku scoffed, letting out a small cough as well. "I can handle a few bee stings."
"Your conditions are far worse than mine right now, and I just got Swamp Fever," Fluttershy argued. "I'll get the honey for us or turn into a tree trying."
"Well, you'll at least get your wish," Sora commented. Everyone looked at him, feeling a majority of his friends' and fiancee's glares underneath their medicine masks. "...What? When we first went to Appleoosa, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie argued about Bloomburg, the apple tree Applejack was delivering to Braeburn, Pinkie misunderstood Rainbow and we got into a debate over Fluttershy being a tree. Fluttershy even admitted she wanted to be a tree." Sora was met with silence, but Fluttershy nodded, remembering the late night debate on the train ride years ago. Ventus recalled the night, along with the insane feud between the pony settlers and the buffalo tribe, along with Pinkie's annoying singing almost ruining everything. "I'll show you all what happened when we get back to the castle."
Fluttershy began to fly up the tree, though her strength failed her in her ill state as she half-flew, half-climbed the tree's trunk. After a bit of struggling, she made it to the highest branch, able to stand at full height and peer through the small entrance in the flash bee hive. The flash bees were busy at work, the queen sitting in the center on its "throne", making sure their hive flourishes.
"Hello, flash bees!" Fluttershy greeted. The bees stopped, turning to leer at the intruder peeking into their home. "I was hoping I could get some of your honey." The insects began buzzing aggressively. The pegasus grimaced at their denying her request, already irritating them just by being near them. "Oh, I see. You don't let others have any. Well, I'm sorry, but I REALLY need it."
The flash bees' buzzing grew louder, and a lot more angrier. Fluttershy backed away nervously, avoiding the bees shooting out of their hive as they surrounded the poor mare, stinging her several times as a warning not to take their honey again. She yelped from the pain, and stumbled off the branch she was on to another beneath her.
"Ok, being nice isn't the right answer it seems," Sora uttered.
Twilight, Cattail, and the Keyblade wielders watched as Fluttershy coughed heavily, spurting out bubbles, then looked up. Her head suddenly began to sway, getting a case of vertigo as her vision began swirling, then passed out and fell off the branch.
"Fluttershy!" everyone called out in shock.
Terra quickly leapt up the branches, catching Fluttershy halfway, safely carrying the unconscious pegasus back down to the ground. "Seems like the lack of sleep and the Swamp Fever caught up with her," he said.
Riku growled in annoyance, his conditions getting worse, and the flash bees refuse to be helpful. "That's it. If they won't agree nicely, then I'm taking that honey by force!"
The sick stallion leapt up the branches, his own balance wavering as he stumbled on the occasional landing, but he wasn't going to let himself turn into a tree and let this disease take him down without a fight. "Riku, get back down here!" Twilight shouted after him.
Ignoring his girlfriend, Riku reached the branch, glaring back at the already miffed flash bees through their home after getting rid of Fluttershy. "Alright, listen here, you dumb bees! My friend and I are sick from this Swamp Fever from those flowers you love to make your honey from, and we need that honey to cure us so we don't turn into trees!" The bees buzzed, warning the stallion to back off, but he wasn't heeding it in the slightest out of desperation. "If you won't give us any, then I'll take some for myself!"
"And Riku's IQ suddenly dropped from Swamp Fever if he's thinking of putting his own hoof in an active bee hive with territorial insects with painful or poisonous stingers," Aqua grumbled, shaking her head in frustration.
Riku shoved his hoof through the hive's entrance to grab his gooey medicine, barely even getting a smudge before feeling several stingers stabbing his whole foreleg. He yelled, unable to handle the multiple shocking pricks and pulled his leg out, now covered in welts. The flash bees weren't done yet, swarming after Riku next and kept stinging him, making it very clear to him and anyone else crazy enough to pull a stunt like that that they weren't giving ANY of their honey to ANYONE. Riku tried to swat them away, getting stung everywhere, barely able to think clearly with his illness to try using Aero to protect him.
While in the middle of attacking the stallion, some of them noticed something gleam in the distance, then warned the rest of the attacking swarm to retreat as something was about to come toward them. Riku barely got a chance to take a breath before feeling another sharp sting on his side, only this time, the painful jolt was cranked up by at least ten, then unleashed an explosive shockwave that sent him sailing through the bog. The others down below watching Riku getting stung stared in bewilderment at the last sting he got, even though the flash bees retreated back into their hive the moment it struck the Keyblade wielder.
"...What...just happened?" Ventus asked.
"Can flash bees shock someone THAT hard that it creates a literal shockwave and flings them off in a general direction?" Kairi asked Cattail.
"Ya think Ah study those critters on a daily basis?" Cattail questioned. "All Ah know is that they'll sting anypony who don't leave 'em be. Y'all can see they're mighty aggressive, but...they've never done anythin' like THAT."
"We'll take Fluttershy back to the house with Cattail," Aqua said. "Sora, Kairi, Twilight, find Riku and bring him back so he can properly rest."
Sora, Kairi, and Twilight nodded, then ran off in the direction Riku was zapped off toward, Aqua, Terra, Ventus, and Cattail making their way back to Meadowbrook's old home to lay Fluttershy down. "I really want to beat that stupid pony up for being this dumb, but I hope he's not too badly hurt," Twilight uttered worriedly as the trio raced through the swamp.
Riku grunted in pain, his body wracked with pain after getting shocked. It didn't help that he also slammed through several tree branches on his way down, ending up pretty far in Hayseed Swamp and into a circular area of shallow, mucky water. He managed to sit up, nearly doubling over as he went into a coughing fit, his sore and tired body demanding him to just lay down and relax in the murky water.
"Damn it," he uttered, breathing deeply as he began feeling nauseous, trying not to throw up from the pain he was in. Now with small burn welts added to the orange spots on his body, he grumbled in frustration when his vision started to blur slightly. "Can today get any worse?"
"Oh, it's about to get a whole lot worse, big boy." Gasping, Riku quickly stood up on his hind legs, Keyblade at the ready while ignoring his body's protests. He looked around, trying to find where the mysterious voice came from, feminine and filled with sadistic glee, hearing her giggling like a sinister imp ready to fool her unsuspecting victim. While his back was turned to where she was, the assailant dropped down, making a small splash that alerted Riku. He quickly turned around, finding a pony in the Oragnization's black coat knelt down in her landing, slowly standing back up. "Nice to finally meet the real you, Riku, even if you are looking a little pale."
Confused, Riku watched the pony lower her hood and unveil herself. Underneath the hood was a pale golden-yellow mare, her blonde mane short to about an inch or two away from her shoulders, slicked back with two strands styled up to look like antennae. It was obvious to Riku that this mare has to be part of the Organization, no need to see the similar yellow eyes Xehanort's new group have, but it was the odd, sadistic look in them that made him grimace.
"How do you know who I am?" Riku questioned. "Are you new to the Organization or were you part of the Nobody group we stopped before?"
"Oh, I was definitely part of the old Organization," she said. "Sadly, my time was cut short too soon before you dealt with Xemnas. But I do remember Sora." She let out an annoyed huff, the smirk on her face turning into a sneer as she rolled her eyes in disdain. "Very fondly, might I add..."
"Sora's never told me about someone like you," Riku stated, making the mare snort in hilarity.
"Of course he wouldn't tell you; he had his memories completely rearranged after Marluxia and I plotted to rearrange them around to trick him and use him to take over," the mare said, surprising Riku as he took a wild guess on where exactly she was mentioning. The shocked look on his face told her he figured it out. "And how I know you? That puppet clone of yours was also sent to attack you after using it to trick Sora from going up higher in Castle Oblivion. Too bad I wasn't around when Axel decided to betray us for our attempted betrayal on the Organization."
Riku growled, widening his stance, nearly slipping from the water and his muscles nearly giving out on him. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.
"My name is Larxene," the mare said, giving Riku a mocking bow as she introduced herself. Larxene chuckled, a pair of wings flaring out from her sides, her primaries sparking with electricity. "I don't know if it feels right fighting someone while they're sick-" Standing back up straight, she folded her wings in front of her, her left raised up while the right wrapped in front of her chest, almost like she was posing with arms. To Riku's surprise, the sparks of electricity he saw from her wings came from eight yellow and blue daggers in the shape of Nobody symbols, each one held in between her feathers like fingers. "-but I never like playing fair."
"Just because I'm sick doesn't mean I can't fight," Riku warned, though his bluff failed when Larxene tilted her head back and let out an annoying laugh.
"Seriously!? You can barely stand on your own legs!" Larxene noted. Riku growled, ending up getting into another coughing fit, spurting out bubbles, then sneezed out lightning. The mare raised a brow, giving a disturbed frown. "...And coughing bubbles and sneezing lightning bolts???...Wow. This world has really weird diseases."
"All the more to see how you'll like it when I give you my disease!" Riku rushed forward, then lunged his Keyblade at Larxene. The mare smirked, and right as Riku's blade was about to touch her, in the blink of an eye, Larxene zipped away at lightning speed. Riku stumbled, looking around in bewilderment. "W-What the...? Where did she-?"
Behind him, Larxene reappeared, then gave him a swift kick to his side, sending the sick stallion tumbling across the shallow water. Riku climbed back to his hooves, only for Larxene to zip up to him, unable to react to the barrage of swipes from her daggers in all directions. He heard her laugh maniacally while she struck him, each dagger sparking with lightning magic, the same pain he experienced earlier came directly from her while he was attacked by the flash bees. Larxene gave Riku a slight reprieve, but his chance to strike back was easily avoided. Twirling to his side, she lunged all eight of her daggers in his side, unleashing a painful jolt of lightning, sending Riku flying back across their battlefield.
She watched him hit a tree with a grunt, coughing in agony as he tried to stand. "As much as I hate being a...bleh, a pony, I think I'm getting used to how this body behaves in this world," Larxene said to herself, ignoring Riku while looking at her wings.
Riku managed to get back on his hooves, but as he stood in his fighting stance, while keeping his eye on Larxene, his vision started to get blurry. "Oh god. Not now," he grumbled in disdain. As Larxene slowly approached him, both wings held out to her right, Riku tried to shake away the nausea and loss of his senses. When he blinked, he thought his mind was playing tricks on him when he saw two of her coming his way, making him rub his head with his free hoof, shaking it again while trying not to succumb to his body's demands to shut down. "D-Damn it...I'm...seeing double..."
"Nope, you're seeing it right." Hearing Larxene's voice from both sides, he turned to his left and right, shocked to see he wasn't hallucinating; Larxene was able to create a duplicate of herself.
Too stunned to act, Larxene took the initiative as both herselves disappeared, then rushed the flabbergasted Keyblade wielder with blinding strikes. They both circled him while slashing away, leaving behind cuts and burns from the electric shocks from her daggers, then double-kicked him in the face to send him back to the center of the shallow muck. Larxene disappeared, letting Riku get back up before rushing once again at lightning speeds; four copies of herself slamming through Riku while leaving flashes of lightning strikes behind her as she struck him, repeating this several times in different directions, then diving down on him one by one, every slash leaving behind a lightning bolt that zapped Riku, racking up the increasing pain he was in. Larxene skid in front of Riku as she appeared alone, swung her wings and flung her daggers at him, unleashing a wide area of lightning strikes to constantly bombard the defenseless stallion, hearing him scream out in agony.
She finally stopped, her daggers reappearing in between her primaries, watching Riku's body twitch slightly before he let out another cough, then fell over with a splash. Disappointed, Larxene let out a bored sigh, approaching the unconscious Keyblade wielder.
"Wow. Over already?" Looking down at Riku, Larxene gave him a light tap on the side with her hoof, seeing his chest moving slightly. "I expected something better from a Keyblade Master. Especially someone who managed to overpower Ansem's control." She shrugged, grabbing the unconscious stallion by the collar of his vest, then hoisted him up with her wings flared out, calling her daggers back as they sparked with electricity. "At least we'll get rid of one of you before we have thirteen vessels."
Just before Larxene thrust her small blades in Riku's body to give him a deadly shock, Sora dashed toward them with a yell, smacking the Organization member away with his Keyblade. She was sent flying back several yards, quickly flipping back to her hooves and slid across the ground, glaring intensely at Riku's savior. Sora managed to catch his friend before he fell out of Larxene's grasp, glaring back at her through the medicine mask Fluttershy forced on him.
"You're not killing my best friend," Sora growled. Twilight ran over to Sora, worried to death over Riku's severe injuries. She was about to summon her Keyblade to deal with the mare giving them the most deadliest leer imaginable, but Sora handed Riku off to her, along with his mask. "I'll deal with her. She's obviously part of the Organization with that coat she's wearing."
"Can you handle her by yourself?" Twilight asked. "All that lightning we've been seeing and hearing must have come from her."
"I can manage. Just get him back to Cattail's and patch him up." Twilight didn't want to leave Sora alone with another Organization member, taking the risk of getting beaten by someone he nor anyone else might have met. Reluctantly, she nodded, trusting Sora's abilities as she hurried back to the tree house to give Riku immediate first aid. As Sora looked back at Larxene, he could swear he found her familiar, but it kept escaping him, similar to his "first" encounter with Marluxia. "So, someone else in the Organization has it out for Riku and not me? I'm a little shocked."
"Ohhhh, you're so going to regret that," Larxene growled.
"You guys seriously can't leave me alone and find someone else!?" Sora exclaimed, then exchanged his Kingdom Key for the Keyblade of Magic, giving Twilight a little bit of revenge for what she did to Riku.
"I was just looking around this part of this disgusting pony world, but since you're here, I'll bring you back in a body bag if I have to!" Larxene shrieked angrily, flinging her daggers at Sora.
Seeing what the Keyblade of Magic can do, he unleashed its Formchange powers with a swing of his blade, deflecting the daggers away. While his outfit turned purple and black, colorful stars twinkling in and out of existence around his jacket, the starry Keyblade shrunk to the size of a wand, billowing with a lavender aura similar to Twilight's. Sora's hooves lifted off the ground, without the use of his wings, floating above the water through powerful levitation. Larxene's anger ebbed at this strange form, warned by Vexen when he and Demyx fought Sora in a transformation similar to the one he's currently in.
"I'd like to see you try," Sora goaded, waving his wand like he was about to cast a spell.
Larxene didn't give him a chance, dashing at blinding speed toward him. She struck, only to miss as he, too, dashed away, leaving behind a magical projection of himself. The aura around it was blue, unlike his wand, but Sora kept dashing around the confused mare, his other projections turning into different colors; first orange, then pink, white, yellow, and finally lavender. Sora stood with his ethereal copies in a seven-pointed star formation, and together, he and his projections swung their wands, unleashing a barrage of rainbow-colored magic beams on Larxene. She wasn't able to break away in time, one single beam all it took for her to get caught up in the colorful bullet hell she couldn't escape from. When the barrage ended, she was seething with rage, watching the magical projections disappear after their magic barrage ended.
As soon as she dashed away, duplicating herself to surround Sora, he quickly cast up a powerful Aeroja spell. The powerful tornado not only protected him from Larxene, but also picked up the swamp water, creating a cyclone of wind and water to veil the Keyblade wielder. Larxene and her clones were flung back when they ran into the wind, but as they all landed, roots suddenly shot up and ensnared the pegasus and her duplicates. Through the tornado, Sora waved his wand in intricate patterns at each Larxene, striking them each with different magic spells: one struck by flaming Firaja meteors, one by a massive block of ice from a Blizzaja spell, one having their body crushed and stretched repeatedly by a Gravija spell, and the last one getting overly drenched and suffocated by endless torrents of Waterja spells. He wasn't going to risk Thunder magic, seeing that was the Organiation member's element, and it wouldn't affect her or it could re-energize her. The best part was that Sora could see each Larxene writhing in agony when one of them was struck, which meant that, despite splitting herself up, she could still feel the damage being inflicted on herself from different selves.
Ending his aquatic tornado, he swung his wand up, commanding the roots of the earth to throw the Larxenes into the air above him. All four clones smacked into each other, shaking slightly before reuniting into one. Larxene let out a pained gasp as all the magical injuries inflicted on her struck her at once. Sora wasn't done dealing with her yet, though. Shifting into the next phase of the Keyblade of Magic's form, he grabbed both ends, shrinking the wand down until only the stars that made the teeth of the Keyblade were left. He then expanded that part, changing the half of the pointed star into a compound bow. A string of lavender aura appeared between the ends of the long-ranged hunting weapon it turned into, an arrow of magic energy forming as Sora pulled back the drawstring.
Laxene grunted, still managing to stay standing as she turned to face Sora again. "You're starting to-" She paused when she stared at the arrow aimed at her, then to the stallion, who had a look who told her he wasn't messing around with her. "...How many times can you make that Keyblade change???"
"Two's plenty," Sora said, then released.
Larxene managed to leap to the side, but her cockiness at her dodge faded when she heard the arrow strike a tree in the distance, which then erupted in a blast of flames. Looking back at him, she growled, hoping to move around fast enough for his accuracy to dwindle. She made the mistake of getting closer to him, making him fire another arrow at his feet, turning the swamp water into an ice rink. The change in ground almost froze her hooves on the spot, but the slippery ice screwed up her footing, making her fumble and slid off while trying to regain her balance.
With Sora still floating above the ground, he dashed after Larxene, firing more elemental arrows at her. Those that struck her created and explosive shockwave of whatever element he chose sans Thunder, and those that struck the ground around her pierced through the ice, causing the earth and water of the swamp to shoot up in pillars, launching the mare up in the air repeatedly. Aiming upward, he launched three arrows at once, the magic arrows powered by Aero magic as they whizzed past Larxene, U-turned around, and struck her, sending her plummeting back to the ground with a powerful blast of wind from the shockwave they released.
Larxene smacked into the ground hard, cracking through the still frozen swamp water, lifting her head up and spat out the freezing, muddy water she inhaled. "Stupid kid...Even with my full potential, I can't even get near him," Larxene mumbled irritably. Looking up, she saw Sora aiming another arrow at her, suddenly feeling nervous from what else he was able to do with this form. "...You're not even done toying with me, are you?"
"Nope," Sora answered, shifting his aim a little higher, then fired his next arrow over Larxene's head.
The arrow suddenly slowed to a stop in the middle of the battlefield, shining brightly for a brief moment before it imploded, creating a black hole of a Magnet spell. Larxene looked back in shock, quickly getting up and running away as it began to pull her in. Even with her speed, she wasn't able to escape, even when she tried to stop Sora casting the spell with her daggers as they barely reached him and got sucked away, the rest of the environment around them completely unfazed. Getting sucked in the Magneja spell, flailing around helplessly, Sora fired one arrow at a time into the black hole of a void, each of them filled with a magic element. The energy within the void didn't harm Larxene, but they began to spark a chain reaction, building up more and more until it would eventually couldn't contain it anymore.
With one last magical arrow appearing in his hoof, Sora turned around, tossing it over his shoulder and let it fly into the black hole. That last bit of energy caused the overwhelmed Magneja spell to flash brightly, followed by a powerful Flare spell in the shape of a six-pointed star. Sora heard Larxene cry out in pain, stuck in the middle of the burning, non-elemental magic spell. She fell to the ground as the burning Flare star faded, landing on her stomach with a grunt. Sora was surprised to see she had survived something like that, his form reverting to normal as he cautiously approached Larxene.
"Had enough?" he asked.
"I-I'm done." Sora gasped, hearing Larxene behind him. He leapt away, his Keyblade at the ready as he faced the exhausted mare, but this one was completely unharmed. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the Larxene he unleashed the Keyblade of Magic's full power zipping away, returning to the pony in front of him as she nearly doubled over in agony. "I...refuse...to get beaten by you...again. Even outside of that...stupid castle..."
"Huh? Castle?" Sora questioned. He looked back to see Larxene summoning a portal of darkness, quickly leaping back into it to make her escape. "Hey, wait! Get back here!" he called out as the portal faded away. Sighing in annoyance, letting another Organization member run away from him, he wondered just who she was. "Did she mean...Castle Oblivion? Ugh. If only I could remember everything that happened there..."
Ignoring Larxene for the time being, Sora made his way back to Cattail's home to check on Riku, and figure out how to get the flash bee honey before he and Fluttershy turned into trees.
Riku let out a weak groan, squirming a little as he squinted his eyes open. While he tried to recall what happened to him, he saw Twilight and Sora looming over him, looking relieved to see him start to wake up.
"What happened?" he mumbled. "Where am I?"
"Back in Meadowbrook's tree," Twilight said.
"Isn't it technically Cattail's place if he's living here now?" Sora questioned, which earned him a harsh yank on the tail from the alicorn's magic to shut him up.
"You also got beat up by somepony from the Organization," Twilight added.
Riku gasped as his memory came back. "Larxene!" he shouted and sat up, a bad idea as he suddenly winced in pain, even hearing some rustling above him. Twilight gently nudged him to lay back down on his pillow, feeling something connected to his ears as whatever it was brushed against the bed frame he was resting in. "W-What the hell is-?" Raising his hooves up, ignoring the winces coming from his marefriend and best friend, Riku felt branches with leaves, and as he ran them down, they were indeed connected to his ears. His jaw dropped, then let out a disgruntled sigh. "...I have branches growing out of my ears...Great..."
"And you weren't concerned about being covered in bandages when that insane woman sliced your up?" Aqua scolded, finishing checking on Fluttershy as she approached Riku's bed. "Why didn't you run away from her?"
"...I don't know," Riku uttered. "I thought I could take her."
"While you were sick!?" Twilight exclaimed angrily. "Ooooh! You're lucky you're in such a horrible state right now, otherwise I'd beat you far worse than what that Larxene pony did to you!"
"She was after Sora like the others, and she was probably spying on us when we got to this swamp," Riku tried to argue.
"I handled her just fine with my Formchanging powers," Sora said.
"You shouldn't have tried to fight her," Aqua added, bringing the mirror to show Riku just how worse his symptoms have gotten, along with his bandaged cuts. "Your condition has gotten worse, and for the past three days, we can't still can't get that honey."
"Three days!?" Fluttershy shrieked, waking up in time to hear the argument across the room. She scrambled out of her bed, but Cattail, with his mask on, tried to keep her in bed to keep resting, thankfully avoiding the coughing bubbles popping in his face. She gasped when she saw Riku, who was just as startled knowing he had been out cold for so long. "Oh no! It's getting worse! We need to get to that hive and get that honey!"
"Kairi, Ven, and Terra are out right now trying again," Aqua said. "We've tried everything from bargaining, distractions, disguises, magic. Those flash bees are more ornery than the Dark Hide constantly hunting me in the Realm of Darkness!" As if on cue, Kairi, Ventus, and Terra came barging through the house in a panic, quickly slamming the door shut, their bodies covered in singed welts. Aqua sighed heavily, calling forth a checklist filled with different ways to gather the flash bee honey, crossing off their latest idea. "And I assume sneaking away with the hive had utterly failed as well."
"Yes. Badly," Terra said.
"We even managed to get the queen out of the hive, but it's like they have a sixth sense when their home's about to be taken!" Ventus complained.
"And we're running out of ideas," Kairi added. Fluttershy was a bit curious when Aqua had mentioned disguises to persuade the flash bees. Meadowbrook wore her mask when she tried to get the honey herself, but she managed to get it unscathed. A flash bee snuck in through the window, making Kairi shriek when she saw it as she flew over to Sora and hid behind him. "They found a way in! Save me, Sora!"
Sora snickered at Kairi's reaction, the random scouting insect barely remembering her or the two stallions who tried to steal their honey. Fluttershy watched it hover around until it spotted the very mask Meadowbrook wore, which hung on the wall, though was a bit worn out from several centuries of time passing. The flash bee landed on the top of the mask, a look of content on its tiny face as it rubbed up against it in an affectionate manner.
"That's it!" Fluttershy said. "I know how Meadowbrook got the honey!"
"You do?" everyone asked.
Once the flash bee left after seeing its "friend", Fluttershy flew up to Meadowbrook's mask and took it off the wall, pointing to the stripes on the face. "She used her own mask!"
"She threw a mask at the flash bees?" Cattail questioned. "Ah wouldn't recommend that."
Aqua soon realized what Fluttershy meant, examining the blue stripes on the mask, even if the paint had slightly faded over time. "Oh! Now I understand!" she said. "The stripes on the mask look like the ones on the flash bees!"
"And that bee earlier thought it looked like another queen," Fluttershy added. "They don't show any aggression to their own kind."
"Meadowbrook probably didn't realize it back then and never mentioned it in her journal," Twilight said. "Fluttershy, you're a genius!"
"Well, I'm able to think a lot clearer now after resting for three days," Fluttershy said with a giggle.
Even though Fluttershy was supposed to stay in bed and rest, they needed her in order to talk to the flash bees and ask for some of their honey. With Meadowbrook's mask, Fluttershy put it on before flying up to the hive, buzzing to the hive to communicate with them. The plan worked as the flash bees allowed the other "queen" to stick their hoof in their hive, taking some honey for herself. After gathering enough and placing some in a jar, Fluttershy ate some once she reached the ground, her Swamp Fever completely cured within seconds. They returned to Riku and fed him a spoonful of the honey, healing him as well, the branches in his ears popping out without leaving any aftereffects from the tree transformation process.
Once the cure was given, the group said goodbye to Cattail, thanking them for letting them stick around and find the cure for Swamp Fever. They returned to Ponyville, Twilight visiting Zecora to let her know they found the cure and how to get it in case she accidentally found herself with a case of Swamp Fever. Riku was still feeling sore from his fight with Larxene, resting in his and Twilight's room while waiting for her to return. He asked Sora if he could try to recall his memories in Castle Oblivion with the enchanted ornaments in the throne room, but when he came back after about an hour, he unfortunately came back with nothing. He thought back to what happened after stopping Ansem, sealing the Door to Darkness with Mickey, and making sure Kairi was safe before the two split up from each other again, but the next memory after was waking up from the year-long sleep in that pod in the abandoned mansion, everything about Castle Oblivion completely erased from his memory.
Riku borrowed the Gummiphone, messing around with the settings on it, and seeing what dumb pictures Sora, Donald, and Goofy made. There were even a couple pictures Sora took when he went camping with the girls and his battle buddies at Winsome Falls. It's been a while since he went camping, his last time with Twilight a few years back, though nearly ending with disaster when Nobodies suddenly attacked. While thinking about that day, he remembered Ienzo's Nobody, Zexion, was at Castle Oblivion, and if Larxene had mentioned she was there as well, the young researcher might help him figure out who she was.
He gave Ienzo a call, getting him to respond after a moment when the call screen changed to a face time conversation. "Oh. Riku. Hello, there. Are you checking in on how far I've gotten on the data Sora uncovered?"
"Actually, I have a question to ask," Riku said. "I had a little bit of a run-in with another member from Organization XIII. Sadly, I was sick with Swamp Fever, and we were trying to get the cure from some very aggressive and overly-protective bees."
"'Swamp Fever'? Sounds...strange," Ienzo mumbled.
"Anything you hear that sounds impossible is possibly a thing in this world," Riku explained.
"Hmm...I may have to ask Lea to give me a lift and study Equestria on my breaks from cracking the encryption of Ansem the Wise's files," Ienzo said. "Anyway, what did you want to know?"
"Do you remember anything as Zexion about someone named Larxene?" Riku asked. His question made the young scientist grimace, knowing full well who that Nobody was. "She...kinda beat me up...even when I was at a huge disadvantage from my illness."
"...Unfortunately, I remember her all too clearly," Ienzo said. "Along with my Nobody, Lexaeus, and Vexen, Axel, Larxene, and Marluxia were sent to Castle Oblivion for a task. Lea told us that our placement there was because Xemnas didn't trust us, believing some of us were thinking of betraying the Organization. It turned out there were traitors: Larxene and Marluxia. The rest of us were considered a lost cause, and we lost to you and Sora."
"So, Xehanort brought back Larxene and Marluxia? Two Nobodies who tried to betray his Nobody in the old Organization XIII?" Riku questioned.
"I don't understand myself, but if he needed vessels, then he's probably going to take any he can get," Ienzo said.
"And Axel, or Lea now, was the only one who survived from being killed off?" Riku added.
"He was the one tasked with gathering evidence of the traitors, and after finding enough, executing them on the spot," Ienzo continued. "He slayed Vexen, but Sora defeated Larxene and Marluxia while he foiled their plans by using Naminé to alter his memories and his his Keyblade to take over the Organization. I'm surprised you made it out alive; Larxene is ruthlessly fast, has an affinity with lightning magic, and can split herself into several copies to surround and overwhelm her opponents with her agility."
"I figured that," Riku grumbled. "...Sora saved me, though...I should have tried to run away from her."
"You couldn't if you tried," Ienzo said. "She's almost like a ninja: a sadistic, harsh, deadly ninja." Riku grunted miserably, nearly beaten to death again by another member of the new Organization XIII. Even if Larxene admitted she wasn't targeting him, or even Sora, she was willing to do whatever it took to take out one of them and give Xehanort an advantage. If he stayed in Ponyville to rest, who knows who she could have actually targeted? Sora? Ventus? Terra?...Twilight? "...Is there...anything else you'd like to know that I'm able to try to answer?"
Ienzo snapped Riku out of his thoughts, quickly shaking his head. "N-No. I think I got enough," he said hastily.
"Ok. I'll give you guys an update if I manage to open up some of these files." Ienzo hung up, leaving Riku to mull over his worries, dropping the Gummiphone in his lap with a sigh.
After a while just laying in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, Twilight walked in the bedroom. She had a few bottles of Zecora's healing potions for him, but she looked like she was going to give Riku the cold shoulder for a few weeks for the stupid stunt he tried to pull with the flash bees and almost getting killed by Larxene. She sat beside the bed, setting the bottles of consumable green liquid down on the side table while Riku avoided her gaze.
"...Just say it," Riku said after several moments of silence.
"What am I going to say to you?" Twilight questioned.
"You're going to lecture me about how I'm the dumbest person on the face of the universe, my symptoms a poor excuse for my irrational decisions, and scaring the hell out of you for nearly dying to another member of the Organization while trying to fight them on my own," Riku said, covering his eyes with his forelegs with a huff after giving his own version of Twilight's angry, irritated rant.
Surprisingly, Twilight just stared at him silently for a moment before climbing up in bed and speaking up. "Well, you are dumb, and I really was scared when Sora and I saw you unconscious in that mare's clutches," she said.
Riku peeked through his legs, a shocked look on his face as he sat up, bewildered. "...You're not going to yell at me?" he questioned, the alicorn's response a shake of her head. "B-But...You should be screaming at me! Chew my ear off at how 'great' of a Keyblade Master I am, but that's the second time I almost got killed because I was trying to handle something over my head, BY MYSELF!"
"Riku-" Twilight tried to interrupt, but Riku continued with his tirade.
"And I was SICK with a disease that could have killed me and made more of the same plants that got me sick in the first place!" he continued. "I was making my symptoms worse, I didn't think straight, but blaming the confusion as one of the symptoms is an excuse because I still did it regardless! I'm dumber than Sora: I stuck my hoof in a bee hive, got stung multiple times, didn't think about casting an Aero spell to brush them away from me, and when Larxene knocked me away from you guys, I didn't run away because I was too prideful to back away and give her a chance to kidnap my best friend, force him into the Organization, and risk dying regardless so I don't lose any of you to that sadistic witch!"
Riku panted heavily after finishing his long-winded rant, waiting for Twilight to continue on from his own berating himself to feel some sort of justification for his sheer stupidity. She didn't. The silence frustrated him, but before he could let out a disgruntled yell, Twilight scooted beside him, then hugged him, brushing her cheek against his. Stunned, Riku's stress slowly faded, though he was still confused by her reaction.
"...I'm happy you're still here," Twilight said. Riku felt a tear trickled down from her cheek to his, her gentle nuzzling matting it against their faces. "I was so scared last time...I thought we were too late to help you again..."
Her hold on him tightened, trembling with quiet sobs. Riku was taken aback, his mind clearing from his own self-berating as Twilight let out how she truly felt after his loss against Larxene. His hooves slowly wrapped around his girlfriend in a comforting embrace, feeling like an eternity had passed since they were so close together when his Swamp Fever kept them apart for nearly the past week. Guilt welled within Riku's heart, scaring Twilight twice with his brush with death against a highly dangerous Heartless and a ruthless Nobody.
"...I wasn't confused," he said after several moments of silence.
Twilight leaned back, her tear-stricken face lost by his statement. "W-What?"
"One of Swamp Fever's symptoms? My mind didn't blank on deciding to fight Larxene or run away from her," he explained.
"...Y-You really...thought you could fight her?" Twilight questioned. "When you were that sick?"
Riku sighed, gently pressing his forehead against hers, avoiding her gaze to look at her chest. "...I was afraid," he responded after a bit of silence, contemplating how humiliated he'll be admitting this to Twilight. Twilight was confused, but didn't question why, wondering what he would tell her. "I never show it, but...I've always been scared. Ever since my journey outside Destiny Islands began that stormy night.
"Swallowed by darkness, I woke up in a new world, alone, no sign of Sora or Kairi anywhere," he continued, retelling his story and the fears he felt on the path he once took to his current actions that had almost taken his life twice within the year. "I trusted a witch I shouldn't have made allies with, dreading the thought of losing Sora as a friend while he was with Donald and Goofy. I was so mad, I wanted to show Sora I was stronger than him, that he made a mistake abandoning Kairi and I. But I was the one who screwed up, and lost, which made me give Ansem full control of my body for his own malicious intentions.
"I was at his mercy, even though I tried to fight back. I wasn't strong enough. He tried to take over again when I wound up in Castle Oblivion. I used the power of darkness to help fight my way back up to the main floor, and he would have succeeded if King Mickey didn't intervene and help me when I was hopelessly losing. I faced that darkness and destroyed it, despite being afraid...I still feel that fear, even after I faced it, so for a year, when I discovered Sora in that pod while in a coma, I wanted to help wake him back up. So, while wearing the Organization's coat to mask my power from them, and blindfolding myself to keep the darkness within me from being unleashed, it felt like I was still running away from becoming what I feared to be after getting away from that dark path.
"However...I had to use it to take Roxas to Diz, or Ansem the Wise, to wake Sora. I took Ansem's form, even though I was still me. Kairi found out when I helped rescue her in Organization XIII's castle in The World That Never Was. No surprise, considering who she is, but I didn't want Sora to see me like that...I was afraid he wouldn't be my friend if he saw what I became, but when he realized who it was inside that form, he fell on his knees and cried in joy, clutching my hand as if he had been desperately searching for me for centuries. I always expected something else that day and the end of our friendship, but, even after I doubted him before, I should have known Sora would never give up on someone like me.
"Then came our Mark of Mastery exam. We both basically had to start our training over in the dream world, myself wanting to repent for what I had done and start anew. Sora and I were in alternate dreamscapes, able to see each other interact with the parallel worlds we were in, even stop a Dream Eater Nightmare from splitting to each dreamscape to cause trouble. But when Young Xehanort began to split Sora from the waking world, forcing him to fall in a deep sleep while in the dream world, I had to try to save him on my own with the Spirits' help. I stopped Young Xehanort, even Ansem again, but when Sora was asleep, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to wake him up when I fought a Nightmare that had Ven's armor protecting him, but it was slowly getting corrupted, and the darkness could have gotten to his heart. I destroyed it, and became a Keyblade Master in the end, but I almost lost my best friend because we fell for a trap that split us up.
"Even here in Equestria, every foe I faced here from this world that I couldn't stop with my own strength...the fear of failing weighed heavily in my heart..." After pausing in his long-winded ordeals he's kept to himself, he finally tilted his head back up to look at Twilight. Her eyes expressed pity for the stallion, who always sought some sort of redemption for his irrational cowardice when he realized his mistakes and far redeemed himself so long ago. "I try to face my fears, and I do, even if I gain another fear from something that could happen to me or someone else..." Riku gently grasped Twilight's shoulders, his eyes beginning to well with tears. "Flurry Heart was surrounded by Shadows when I lost her...and that replica of me could have killed her if I didn't reach her in time. And Larxene...If she came after anyone else but me...especially you..."
Riku choked back a sob, shutting his eyes tightly while hanging his head, his tears breaking through as they ran down his face. It was horrifying enough to almost lose his future step-niece, but to lose Twilight would be far worse. He almost lost her when Tirek blew up the Golden Oak Library, and he didn't want that to happen ever again. Fully understanding the deep-seated fears Riku kept bottled up, Twilight gave him a comforting smile, gently bopping him on the head to get him to look up at her.
"You don't have to face them alone anymore," she assured, leaning forward and giving Riku a soft kiss on his muzzle. "I'll be there alongside you. All of us. No matter what we face, we'll face them together." Twilight kissed him, surprising Riku with her reassurances in both her words and the passion in her kiss. His eyes began to slowly shut, his fears melting away as he kissed his lover back, pulling the alicorn closer. Their lips parted with a light smack, Twilight rubbing her nose against Riku's while wrapping her hooves around his neck. "I'll get stronger, too, and we'll help each other if we're ever faced with a crisis that feels too much for us to handle alone. Ok?"
Riku nodded slightly, giving Twilight a small smile. "Ok," he said, trusting her and her capabilities as a Keyblade wielder to be a reliable partner in combat. He gave her another little peck before his lips curled into a smirk. "But, if you want to get stronger, you're going to have to get out of the castle more."
Twilight's grin quickly turned into a deadpanned frown, the touching moment ruined. "Excuse me?" she questioned.
"If you want to get to my level, you need to put down the books and go outside more," Riku teased, then gently poked her belly. "I think you're getting a bit chubby, which is nice for cuddling, but-"
Twilight growled, batting his hoof away and smacked his chest repeatedly. "You are such a bully!" she whined, making the stallion snicker. "No wonder Sora picks a fight with you; you're the instigator, not him!"
"I'm just kidding, Twilight," Riku said, earning another death glare from the alicorn.
She scoffed and turned away, using her magic to pull out one of the healing potions, plopping it in Riku's hooves. "Drink this and get better so I can beat you up, wait until you heal up again, and then beat you up some more."
Riku looked at the green liquid, grimacing slightly. "...Is this the same stuff Sora took after Trixie whupped him with that Alicorn Amulet?"
"Yes," Twilight said, uncorking the bottle with her magic, letting it bop Riku on the nose before it clattered to the floor. "Now, be a good boy and drink your medicine." Riku let out a whine, but when he saw the smirk on Twilight's face, he knew karma was going to get back at him. He held the bottle to his lips and took a sip, his pupils shrinking at the vile taste, but he swallowed his mouthful, gagging slightly while sticking out his tongue. Satisfied, Twilight gave Riku a kiss on the cheek, forgiving him. "I love you."
"Hmm. Love you, too," he said back.
"Good. Now, drink up and get better so I can beat your tail in another duel," Twilight goaded.
Growling, Riku downed the rest of the potion, ignoring his taste buds' complaints, letting out a disgusted shudder as the aftertaste assaulted his mouth. "You got lucky last time," he grumbled, making Twilight giggle at his whining, then stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, real mature, princess."
"Says the mean bully who made fun of my weight," Twilight countered. She got off the bed, slowly turning around to "examine" her svelte figure, making sure to accent EVERY part of her while judging herself. While her back was turned, she flicked her tail teasingly, getting a very riled up reaction from the poor stallion as he gawked at the little display as if he wasn't even there watching her. Twilight hummed and rubbed her stomach, giving him a sly grin. "You know, maybe I have gained a few pounds. I should probably shave them off to my coltfriend's expectations. I'll just leave you to your potions until I come back in a few days with a more PERFECT body."
As she walked out, she stifled her giggles when she heard Riku stammering, then flailing as he tried to get out of bed after her. "W-Wait, Twi! I was kidding! You're beautiful, perfect, sexy, every other synonym in a thesaurus about how incredible you look!" he exclaimed, letting out a yelp as he fell off the edge, smacking his face to the floor. She shut the door, waiting beside it to hear him scramble a bit more. "I love you!"
She opened the door a peek, seeing him tangled up in the bed sheets. "I know," she said with a giggle, the closed the door. "Now get back in bed and rest up. Don't want to rough you up too badly."
Riku sighed, slowly unwrapping himself from the sheets, heeding his girlfriend's advice and get back in bed. He wasn't going to let her beat him in another duel, and he'll train harder so he doesn't lose in another fight against the Organization again to keep himself, and those he cares about deeply, safe.
Back at Hayseed Swamp, Cattail looked around his ancestral home's slightly cleaner state. "Ah guess a good bit of cleanin' ain't so bad," he said to himself. While figuring out how to get the flash bee honey for the last few days, Aqua and Kairi used their magic to tidy up the house so they could find any ways of getting the honey or lessening the effects of the bubbles and lightning symptoms to that of just a cold. He headed into his ancestor's bedroom, clearing away the dust on some of the shelves with a feather duster. Some dust got in the stallion's nose, letting out a sneeze, blowing dust everywhere, making more of a mess. "Well, at least Ah don't have allergies...for the most part."
While dusting along the shelves, moving around a few bottles, books, knickknacks, and other miscellaneous stuff Meadowbrook had collected, his hoof stepped on a floorboard that nearly gave on his weight. Looking down, he tested the board again, which was loose. Curious, he crouched down to get a better look to see if it was rotted, but the wood was perfectly fine, even after centuries of time. Lifting up the board, it was more like a secret compartment. Inside was something that was wrapped in cloth, probably to keep it preserved and avoid getting it damaged. Cattail picked up the object and unwrapped it, startled slightly by what it was.
"Huh...That's...a little ominous," he uttered. "Strange kind of medicine mask. Wonder what Meadowbrook was doin' when makin' somethin' like this?"
Thinking it was a secret heirloom, or a side project Meadowbrook didn't want her mother to see, Cattail decided to hang it up on the wall next to his ancestor's. Beside the bird mask was black-faced creature with two crooked antennae, small, beady yellow eyes that looked like it could glow in the dark. Cattail examined it for a moment before shrugging, getting back to cleaning the house.
M strolled through a village after finishing the last of his "errands", passing ponies going about with their own. He whistled a little song while making his way to a certain pony he was eager to see after his long journey. His ears perked up when he heard playful giggling, looking over to see a couple fillies playing with a ball. He recognized the two fillies, since his friend he was meeting with was also their teacher. One of them was a white unicorn filly with pink hair, and the other was a grayish-blue with light blue hair, the pair sisters who love to play with each other.
The younger sister gave the ball too hard of a kick, sending it sailing past her big sister's head and flew straight toward the cloaked stallion. "Uh oh! Look out!" the filly cried out.
Everyone who heard the pegasus ducked or looked over in confusion. M smirked, crouching slightly before butting his head underneath the ball, bouncing it up in the air. Leaping up, he flipped after the ball, kicking it back down to the earth, and on the bounce back, he reared a hind leg back for a hard kick back toward the fillies, only to give it a gentle tap, safely sending it back to the two sisters. The unicorn caught the ball in her magic, both fillies staring in awe at M as he landed softly, then walked over to them.
"You know, you should probably have a net set up somewhere so you don't accidentally scramble someone's brain with a kick like that," he advised.
"Mr. M!" both fillies screamed happily, running up to the stallion and each hugged a foreleg.
M chuckled, tossing both fillies up in the air before catching them in a big hug. "Celly and Lulu, you both got so big since I last saw you two!" he said. Lowering the two sisters, he ruffled their manes, making them giggle. "How are my two princesses?"
"Good!" Luna said.
"Our teacher said you traveled all over Equestria," Celestia said. "Did you really go everywhere?"
"Oh, indeed I have. Wait until you see this creepy mask I made in a swamp. I also helped find a cure for-" M searched around his person, only to grunt in shock, completely forgetting about the mask he made in Hayseed Swamp at Meadowbrook's home. "Aww, crab apples. I left it back at the swamp. And I worked so hard on it, too!" The stallion sighed heavily, slumping over in misery. "I was gonna scare you two and everything..."
"You're silly, Mister M," Luna giggled.
"Where else did you go to, Mister M?" Celestia asked.
"Yeah! Tell us! Tell us!" Luna begged, practically jumping on the stallion's back as she demanded a story.
"Whoa, hold your horseshoes there, little missy." M snatched Luna off his back, giving the filly a noogie before plopping her back down beside her big sister, who seemed just as antsy to hear a story from him. "I gotta talk to ol' beardy about my travels first, THEN I'll tell you some awesome stories."
Celestia and Luna laughed at the nickname M gave their teacher. "You better tell us EVERYTHING!" Luna emphasized.
"Oh, you know I ALWAYS tell the best stories." Taking the ball, M bounced it around, juggling it on his head, legs, and flank before bumping it away, prompting the two sisters to get it and keep playing until he gets back. Letting out another small chuckle, M continued on his way down the road, leaving the village proper and into the woods. His destination lead him to a grand castle in the middle of construction, an observatory on a hill in the distance where he was sure to find his old friend. Reaching the top of the hill, he banged on the door of the observatory. "Hey, beardy! Guess who, you old codger!?"
M stepped back when he heard hoofsteps from inside, the door opening to reveal Luna and Celestia's teacher; Starswirl the Bearded, a tall gray unicorn stallion, his fetlocks a darker gray, his long hair, tail, and beard in streaks of light gray as most of it grew white with his age. He wore his signature star-themed wizard's hat and cloak, bells along the rim of his hat and at the pointed top and trim of his cloak.
"Is that any way to greet a friend, Master of Masters?" Star Swirl questioned.
"No, but you're the exception," M said. He helped himself inside the observatory, Star Swirl following behind while shaking his head with a grin. Avoiding all the books scattered around, filled with spells the wizard had formulated, future spells he was creating at the moment, fictional and nonfictional books for casual reading, Celestia and Luna's homework he had graded, and so on, M plopped himself down in a chair, letting out a relieved sigh as he kicked his feet up on Star Swirl's desk. "I am exhausted...and smell like a swamp."
"Yes, I could tell," Star Swirl grumbled, rubbing his nose as he caught wind of the cloaked stallion. He sat down in his chair across from him, ignoring his friend's dirty hooves scuffing up some of his work. "So, were you successful?"
"Oh yes," M said. Pulling out his checklist, he laid it down on the desk, all the names crossed out. "The very ponies you'll be needing were exactly where I knew they'd be. They're the perfect guardians to keep this world safe."
"Ah. Excellent," Star Swirl said. "With the six of us as the pillars to keep the peace, it will last for eons. We must send a letter to each of these ponies and gather them right away."
"Whoa, whoa, not just yet there, beardy," M warned. "It's not time for the pillars to join together just yet."
"Why not?" Star Swirl questioned, startled by M's disapproval. "I thought you've said to me the visions you foresee always come true."
"I have, but when these events will unfold is still a mystery," the stallion explained. "I knew the whereabouts of your future pillars and who they were before uniting them, but when you'll officially meet them is still unknown." From his coat, M pulled out a book with a blue cover, white lines etching the design with a symbol of a strange eight-pointed star, the lower half keeping five of the points, the upper right and left bearing the shape of angel wings, and the top curving to the shape of a heart. "I'm still writing what I'm able to see in this for events that will unfold elsewhere, and what will happen after. Some I know when exactly they'll happen, but most might not be exact. Patience is a virtue, Star Swirl."
Star Swirl grumbled, letting out a sigh in defeat. "Right. Clairvoyance is a tricky practice..." Levitating a scroll, he looked over one spell that resulted in failure. "As well as time travel. This spell only sent me back as far as a week, and seems to only work once. I doubt a spell like this will be perfected." He didn't notice M hiding the smirk on his face under his hood. Star Swirl had no idea how useful that spell would be, and he wasn't going to bring his hopes up and spoil the fun. Star Swirl stored his version of the time travel spell away, pulling out another. "It has been getting difficult for us unicorns to raise and lower the sun and moon. Even with Equestria's foundation, we exhaust ourselves too greatly to move both celestial bodies for the day and night...I hope your foresight is correct about my two young pupils."
"Hey, those two are more than perfect for that little spell," M reassured the worried wizard. "They have quite a lot of potential, and their ascension as alicorns will be a success."
"I do trust your judgement, my friend, but I do not wish to burden them with so much responsibility at such a young age," Star Swirl mumbled.
"Let them be kids," M said. "Those two are quick learners, and even after they ascend, they'll control their new magic like it was second nature." Standing up, M walked around the desk, placing a hoof on the worried unicorn's shoulder. "Equestria will be ruled by two great ponies; two sisters who love each other very much, and will use their power to protect their subjects when you eventually pass. Don't forget that the children of today are the future of the next generation." Star Swirl silently nodded in understanding, earning a light pat. "I'll leave you to more of your next work. I've gotta get back to those two and tell them what I saw on my travels. I owe them a lot of stories."
Just before he walked off, Star Swirl teleported in front of the door, giving him a stern glare. "You're not going to tell them about their future ascension celebration, right?"
"Of course not! Why would I want to spoil a surprise?" M scoffed, acting dramatic as if wounded by the accusation. "I'm a stallion who can keep a LOT of secrets."
He walked past Star Swirl and opened the door, feeling an aura of magic tugging on his tail hidden under his coat stopping him. "...Were there Heartless when you were venturing the continent?" Star Swirl asked, a hint of fear in his voice while still being stern.
"...Yes, but I took care of any that appeared," M said. "That's part of my job as a Keyblade Master, remember?" He looked over his shoulder, Star Swirl giving him another worried look. He knew what else he was afraid of, sighing a little. "Celestia and Luna don't know about my true origins like you, or even the Heartless. You know I won't let them get involved in my line of work."
Star Swirl reluctantly let him go after a hesitant nod, watching the cloaked stallion make his way back down to the village to visit the future princesses of Equestria. M slowed his return halfway, shedding a tear as he foresaw an event between Celestia and Luna that broke his heart a long while back, which he could never tell Star Swirl: the day the two sisters fought against each other, one light and one darkness, resulting in one of them being banished for a thousand years. He regained his composure long enough to reach the village and back to where Celestia and Luna were playing.
The two sisters were eagerly waiting for his return with Star Swirl the Bearded, running up to him again while bouncing around him, demanding story time like the spoiled princesses M wanted to make them. "Mister M, tell us now!" Celestia said.
"Tellustellustellustellustellustellus!" Luna quickly chanted.
"Ok, ok! Sheesh! Who fed you two a gallon of sugar today!?" M laughed, settling the fillies down as they gathered under the shade of a tree. "Now, where to start...? How about when I went to the Dragon Lands and took on a mean dragon who stole a very priceless gem I found?"
"A b-b-big, s-scary d-d-dragon?" Luna asked timidly. "O-Or a s-small one?"
"Oh, it was big, and reeeeeeaaaaally scary," M said, letting out an ominous moan and waved his hooves to emphasize how terrifying the beast was. Luna gulped in fright, but luckily, her big sister was beside her to keep her safe. "But not for the likes of me," he reassured the little filly with a wink. "Now, I was minding my own business, having just found the rarest, most beautiful diamond anyone's EVER laid eyes on..."
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So now all 6 Pillars have been Found and only four more Episodes before Shadow Play I still have some Questions:
Will The Master of Masters be seen Shadow Play?
Will the Keyblade Wielders and Mane 6 learn about what he's done?
Since Celestia and Luna Know the Master will there be a reunion between the three of them?
Will Kingdom Hearts Remind play a role in story?
please give me some answers
Great chapter, love the Formchanges given to the Keyblade of Magic.
I love this chapter
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maybe i'm surprised that celestia and luna knew the master and didnt tell master yensid or the other keyblades weldiers they will bound ask about him sooner rather than later
great chapter riku and aqua share almost the same scars riku shouldnt dwell on past mistakes he walk the road to dawn that change him as long as he have his friends and his marefriend/girlfriend with him he will never be alone never turn but to darkness happy to see larxene namine would told sora about her through kairi if given the chance will kingdom hearts remind play a role in the rest of the chapters and the mlp movie and season 8 and 9 ?
nice courage the cowardly reference that was my favorite program growing up
nice work
I really liked how this one turned out, especially since it felt like it helped get Twilight more closer to Riku and after he was cured and know more that he was bottling up, that it gives her a motive to get stronger as a keyblade Wielder and never let her relationship with Riku go. Plus it Really makes me want to see more romance with them when it comes time for Once Upon a Zepplin for Riku to hang with her family.
But I am surprised that Celestia & Luna would know the Master of Masters when so young, as well as Starswirl. Boy, is he gonna be in for a surprised when he finds out what happened while he was gone.
CELESTIA AND LUNA KNOW MASTER OF MASTER!!!
And Star Swirl know him too, and also about the existence of Heartless!
The suspense is grow stronger and stronger.
Is adorable for filly Celestia and filly Luna for listen the story from Mr. M!
When Sunburst gives Star Swirl's secret journal to the princess... this kind of event will recall their friend "Master of Master"?
Is Master of Master will see the pillars seal the Shadow Pony?
They will realized from each stories of Pillars about the existence of Master of Master?
The master of master ris all way strange man he to cool.
Is it bad I kind of Ship Celestia and The Master Of Masters? I mean an immortal, wise and kind sun princess and an time hopping, mysterious, funny and skilled Keyblade wielder would make an interesting couple.
Wonderfully done chapter. I'm not surprised Star Swirl met him. And before anyone says otherwise, Celly and Lulu probably knows him only as "M", just as with the other pillars. What I do hypothesize is the following:
- Stygian will still try and make himself more useful/powerful and will be misunderstood by the Pillars and banished.
- He will still give in to his inner darkness into the Pony of Shadows, only to have added Heartless powers. A shame Twilight became the Sin Heartless of Envy and the Sphinx the one of Pride, because Stygian's Pony of Shadows deserves a position of a Sin Heartless. My bits are on Gluttony because he wanted to obtain the power of the Pillars only for the wish itself to be corrupted.
- The MoM will appear and basically tear Star Swirl a new one for mistrusting Stygian but by then it is too late and they go into their Ponehenge hibernation.
- Once in the present with all the assembled Elements, Keyblade wielders (plus Starlight, Sunburst and Spike), the PoS will flee due to needing to regain his power (or maybe he will summon another powerful Pureblood like the Demon Tower or perhaps something akin to Darkside Omega in order to flee), Star Swirl will recognize their weapons, remember the words the MoM said and be less of a dick than he was in the original Shadow Play, allowing the Elements and the Keyblade wielders more hearsay.
I may be overthinking it, but the big hope for me is that Star Swirl becomes less of a one-track minded grump due to hopefully the MoM changing things. Anyways, here's hoping the "Once Upon A Zeppelin" (which I sincerely hope is a chapter written due to the huge relationship upgrade between Twi and Riku) comes along.
And here's my little plug: Please give the tropes page of this fic some love. I want everyone to know about this great story.
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Here are possible answers to the question
1. Unlikely, M seems to be portrayed as the puppet master in this fic, calculating and creating the events of the story because of what’s in the Book of Prophecies, using it to travel into future. If we follow the KH timeline, he’s been gone for like eons, so I doubt he would show up, especially since this also follows the story of the games, which implies he has a bigger role in the future, including the possibility of him being the next Big Bad. In other words, there really is no reason for him to show up, unless it’s a small interruption, without the need of reintroduction to our heroes.
2. I can see that happening, it was a major reveal especially that M was the man behind of all of it and with the fact that Starswirl knows of the existence of other worlds. There could be potential for major character drama, since he was the one that set Sombra’s fate into darkness and later revived as Dream Eater. Imagine the reaction of Luna upon hearing this, the love of her life is in this state because of someone who she once admired as a child.
3. Serious Doubt. Again, gone for eons, role of a puppet master, basically the answer to the first question.
4. I mean come on, of course it is! While this fic is mainly a retelling of the events of the show, it‘s now trying to blend in KH3, meaning yes, THE Kingdom Hearts will come into play.
Wow, the Master sure seems to love messing with time, though it’s the future so, all good.
I have to say, pretty solid chapter, nothing really amazing, but a good attempt in retelling the episode and the reintroduction to Larxene, who, I’ll be honest, wished she was introduced in a much better chapter, but that’s just wishful thinking.
One thing to note is finally, a conflict with the relationship between Riku and Twilight. There have been many times where I feel like the romantic relationships in this story have been very cookie cutter and don’t feel real at all. This chapter finally made me believe for them to have a very human and personal relationship, so good job on that.
Now for the big one, hoo boy.
So Celestia and Luna knew who the Master or Masters was, and is the one responsible for their ascension and overall the fate of the world as a whole. Holy. Shit.
This changes almost everything. The entire history of the world was all because of him! Imagine the character drama , the amount of potential behind this. An ancient Keyblade Welder from where universe was once different, traveled to the future in order to set the events of history as planned according to a book that foretold prophecies that have yet to come.
While we don’t know much about the relationship between Celestia and Luna with M, you can tell they’re close, where he acts like a fun uncle around them. Imagine the character drama that come with them, M was the one who set Sombra to his current state, he knew everything, including Luna’s transformation. I wouldn’t be surprised if was involved with Discord’s past at some point. There so much potential now. I also wonder how the main heroes will react to it, one thing to note as that none of the current character know what happened before the Keyblade War, imagine hearing of the existence of a Master of Masters and that there was once many Keyblade wielders. It could build to the events of KH3’s finale, where Sora could recognize the different Keyblade wielders of the last deciding to help him and even possibly foreshadow the Evans is the far future. THE POTENTIAL FOR THIS IS INSANE.
I have never been so excited for Shadow Play. I’ll try to keep my expectations at bay, but really, this is exciting stuff.
Hey does anyone else think that in once upon a zeppelin Riku will finally introduce his parents to Twilight and see how they'll react to him dating an other worldly sentient equine princess?
Awesome chapter! Can't wait for more!
Okay, that's straight-up domestic abuse. But since it's female-on-male, it's somehow "acceptable" instead of revolting and criminal; great.
That's one major problem with this story - all the goddamn sexism.
cool! thx for advice!!!!