Titanic Turmoil in Olympus (Part 1)
Early the next morning, Aqua called for everyone to meet with her in the throne room, including the Young Six. Despite them still in the early stages of training with their training, the news she had to share was important to everyone who knows about the fate of all the worlds and Xehanort's plan to obtain Kingdom Hearts and use its power for himself. The Young Six were slowly getting used to waking up early thanks to Sandbar and his loyal determination for Aqua and their fellow superiors.
"Wow! We're actually going to see inside the throne room!" Silverstream squealed in her typical eager excitement. "I wonder what it's like!"
"Probably big with thrones inside," Gallus stated. "It's called a 'throne' room. You know, where royalty or leaders sit in while ruling a kingdom?"
"Well, duh, but maybe it's more different than a typical throne room," Silverstream said.
"The thrones would be made of crystal?" Smolder suggested. "And speaking of crystal, I wonder what this castle tastes like."
"Umm, don't you think that's rude to try to eat Princess Twilight's castle?" Ocellus asked.
"I could ask," Smolder said with a shrug.
"This castle's also where our masters' live, so I think they're going to say no," Sandbar said.
The group of six finally arrived and entered the throne room, gawking in awe at the large room with thirteen thrones surrounding the crystal table that held the Cutie Map. Six of those thrones were much taller, occupied by the wielders sitting in their respective seats marked by their Keyblades, while the other seven were shorter and closer to the ground, where the Mane Six and Spike sat in their respective thrones. Starlight, Donald, Goofy, and Lea were the only ones who lacked thrones of their own, the three standing beside the table as everyone watched the Young Six enter.
"Wow," Yona gasped in awe.
"Ok. So, it's definitely not as boring as I thought," Gallus said.
"Told ya, silly!" Silverstream cheered, sticking her tongue out playfully at the griffon.
"Come on in, guys," Aqua said. The Young Six stepped closer, gathering around the crystal table while curiously eyeing the enchanted map of Equestria. "Now that everyone is present, I have some possibly good news for us."
"Er, what news, exactly?" Lea questioned.
"News pertaining a somewhat helpful bit of information from Luxord about what the Organization is after: the Black Box." Pulling out Luxord's card, Aqua hovered it around to everyone with her magic. "This might not be the exact design of this mysterious chest, but Luxord didn't give us this hint by accident. I don't know what his game is, but if he's planning on defecting, then he must be planning something on his own."
"Xehanort sure does love to pick the wrong people to enlist, doesn't he?" Sora asked. "First was Xion, then Roxas, and Axel."
"Don't forget the other traitors from the old Organization XIII who wanted to use you to overthrow Xemnas," Riku added. "Ienzo's Nobody was one of them."
"Wasn't that mare with her power of electricity, Larxenne, one of them, too?" Twilight asked, recalling the surprise attack the sadistic pegasus at Hayseed Swamp when Riku caught Swamp Fever.
"Oh yeah. Along with Marluxia, Vexen, Xaldin, and Lexaeus," Lea listed, completing the roster of the six traitors in Castle Oblivion. "I still don't see how Xehanort is willing to bring some of those who tried to backstab his Nobody back on his side."
"Regardless of whoever in this new Organization is a traitor or a follower, we're treating every single one of them as our enemies," Aqua continued. "Now, for the Black Box in question, I had a revelation last night. This box existed a thousand years ago, around the same time as the Keyblade War from what Luxord told us. There have been no known records in the Land of Departure's library pertaining anything about other wielders of the past, not even about this Black Box. Just the results of a war between wielders over Kingdom Hearts where light and darkness clashed and created the Keyblade Graveyard. And I doubt other worlds know anything about the Keyblade since we're warriors who have to keep the world order in balance."
"And failed miserably," Donald snickered as he pointed his thumb at Sora.
"Hey!" Sora exclaimed with a pout.
"Uhh, Donald, King Mickey kinda did the same thing when he was an apprentice, too," Goofy said to the midget griffon mage. "He talked with Ansem the Wise, and he was researching the hearts and how they affect the Heartless."
"...Well, Sora kept talking with others and helping?" Donald said, trying to backpedal, only sighing and hung his head. "And we weren't any better, actually."
"Aside from the 'no meddling' rule that all of us have broken out of the goodness of our hearts, there might have been a possibility that all of our worlds were once connected into one," Aqua continued. "There are the keyholes hidden in each world that lead to the hearts of those worlds, but that doesn't seem to be enough to confirm that theory. And as the years passed, generations of Keyblade wielders would pass down knowledge from their own experiences, but history would be forgotten unless written since neither of us can live forever."
"Oh! What about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?" Sandbar suggested. "They've lived for a thousand years. Maybe they know something?"
"As good of an idea as that is, Sandbar, Celestia and Luna have had no knowledge of the Keyblade wielders in their youth," Aqua stated. "They did know someone named M, who was an outsider of their world and a wielder himself, but he kept that knowledge from them as he grew too attached to them. Knowing how dangerous the Heartless can be, he was afraid for their lives, and he seemed to have some knowledge of the future with some strange foresight ability only he bore."
"Then what about Star Swirl the Bearded?" Ventus asked. "M told him a lot of stuff beyond Equestria."
"He was also pretty vague with details," Terra reminded his young friend. "M may have leaked some information about the Keyblade and other worlds, but I doubt he would have told Star Swirl everything. Even being so vague to the point of brushing off the topic to frustrate him and avoid telling too many secrets he's known."
"So, this is a pointless meeting," Gallus chimed in with a bored expression. "There's no one else who's lived for over a thousand years, or is immortal who might know about where this mystery box thing is?"
"Gallus!" Ocellus scolded, glancing at Aqua nervously. "D-Don't speak out of turn!"
Instead of getting upset, Aqua grinned and leaned forward in her seat. "Actually, Gallus, there are some beings out there who are 'immortal'." Raising her hooves, the Young Six watched as she waved her hooves around, then gasped when they saw a holographic map of Equestria appear above the Cutie Map. The young wielders watched with awe as Aqua maneuvered around the Galactic Map through the holographic cosmos until she finally stopped at a certain world. Sora, Ventus, and Terra recognized the world: the lower half filled with Greek buildings, along with a big statue of a familiar man flexing his muscular biceps in the center of the city, the upper half consisting of a mountain rising up to what appear to be heavens of bright white-pink clouds, looking thick enough to walk on with some Greek architecture scattered among the fluffy cloud structure. The Equestrians were impressed by the buildings as some of them Rainbow and Fluttershy recognized as some similar architecture that was built in Cloudsdale. "And we'll find our guy here in this world."
"At Olympus?" Goofy asked curiously.
"Oh! Hades!" Sora exclaimed. "He's the god of the Underworld, and he also runs Tarterus in Equestria!"
"Exactly: a god, who's immortal and is quite possibly eons old, and might know a bit more than he's letting on since the beginning," Aqua said. "If he can give us a few leads, we might find that box before Xehanort does."
"Yay! Another outer world field trip!" Silverstream cheered, prompting the other new wielders to celebrate.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Not so fast," Aqua interjected, making the Young Six stop their premature celebration. "I think it would be better not to send everyone there, or to another world with some clues to where the Black Box may be. And for the six of you, you're still not trained enough to go out to another world yet. Especially to a world like Olympus." The students groaned in disappointment, thinking they would have had to skip a day at the School of Friendship for some more Keyblade experience. "Once all of you are fully ready to defend yourselves, and learned a couple basic magic spells, I'll consider letting one of you ghost with one of us to new world."
"When will that be?" Smolder asked. "When Ocellus stops acting like a copycat to be properly trained?"
"I-I can't control how I change the way I use my Keyblade!" Ocellus exclaimed, slightly hurt by the dragoness' complaint. "I don't understand why, either!"
"We'll figure that out later today," Aqua said. "And Smolder, that was pretty harsh. You've got your own issues in combat to work on as well. After this meeting is done, you're doing fifty laps around the entire town. On foot. No wings." Smolder let out a groan and huffed bitterly, crossing her arms as she mumbled under her breath. "I'm sorry, do you want to make that one hundred laps?"
"Mrf...No, Master Aqua," Smolder grumbled in defeat.
"Good." After making sure Smolder wasn't going to misbehave, and giving Gallus a stern glance when he smirked cockily at Smolder for getting into trouble, she addressed the rest of her friends. "Now then, as to who should go off to have a chat with Hades, I'm choosing Sora and Twilight."
"Really?" Twilight asked curiously.
"You two have some unique abilities. And they'll surely come in handy, especially on a day like today." Moving the globe of Olympus on the map, she zoomed in on a section of space, showing a few worlds within a few several million miles from each other lining up in a row. "I think some of you might know about the Titans in this world: giant, monstrous beings made of the elements of fire, ice, earth, and air?"
"Yup. I remember two of them," Sora said. "The Rock Titan and Ice Titan. I have no idea how Hades got those guys in the coliseum all those years ago."
"Well, that's what baffles me as well when I fought the Ice Titan many years ago when the Unversed were roaming the worlds," Aqua said. "The Titans in Olympus were supposed to be sealed away beneath the ocean, imprisoned down there thanks to Zeus, a powerful god able to wield lightning bolts and throw them down at his foes. These planets lined up there are an important part of veiling the prison the Titans were sealed in. There might have been a breach when Hades used them to get an edge over us, but with the planets aligned-"
"He could release all the Titans and let them spread carnage throughout the whole world without simply summoning them in a coliseum," Sora finished, which startled everyone present, including the Young Six.
"...Yona see why Master Aqua think Yona and friends can't go now," Yona said.
"I'd rather face that Luxord pony again than a huge monster," Sandbar said nervously.
"And you think sending Twilight with Sora is a good idea?" Starlight questioned. "She might be a strong wielder, but against four different giants of different elements?"
"She did take on Tirek when he absorbed almost every single ounce of magic out of every pony in Equestria," Rainbow reminded Starlight.
"But that was when she had Celestia, Luna, and Cadence's alicorn magic to hide it from him, and even with all that power, she and Tirek were evenly matched," Riku added.
"And there may be Heartless out there that can be as massive as a Titan," Ventus said. "Who knows what we might run into?"
On the map, some black dots began appearing around Olympus, and there were a lot of them popping in around the Greek city. "Heartless are invading. No time to waste," Sora said, hopping out of his throne. "Let's hope Hades doesn't think about breaking those Titans free and save those people from the Heartless."
Twilight nodded and stood up to follow Sora, Donald and Goofy tagging along to make sure Sora wouldn't be in any danger from the Organization. "Good luck out there, guys," Spike said with a wave.
The other ponies wished Sora and Twilight luck as well, but before Twilight reached the doors, Riku flew down and tapped her withers. "Hey," he called out as the alicorn turned to face him. "You be careful out there."
"I traveled a whole continent facing danger searching for the hippogriffs. I think I can manage facing a giant elemental monster," Twilight assured. "At least, I hope so."
"You better. I just don't want Sora saving you again," Riku said, though still showed a bit of anxiety for his beloved's safety.
"Jealous?" Twilight teased with a coy smirk. Riku just grumbled and looked away, though grew shocked when Twilight gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be fine, Riku. I do need a little bit of exercise after spending the last week going through schedules and future assignments for the school."
"Just don't let this 'exercise' flatten you into a pony pancake," Riku said, making the alicorn roll her eyes.
After Riku finally let Twilight go, she, Sora, Donald, and Goofy finally made their exit and set off for Olympus. "That was the most romantic bantering I've ever heard!" Silverstream gushed.
"Sounded more awkward than romantic," Gallus mumbled, Smolder agreeing as she stuck out her tongue and gagged in disgust.
"Wait until you fall in love with a certain someone, darling," Rarity said, giving the griffon a knowing look while subtly glancing over at Silverstream.
After preparations were complete, Sora, Twilight, Donald, and Goofy took a Gummi ship off to Olympus, warping to the Greek world and flying down to the mountains for a landing. Sora piloted the ship down onto a safe spot, completely out of sight of any of the people in the city, though he seemed to lose sight of where said city was. The climbed up the path, looking around in confusion as the different peaks around the taller mountain.
"Uhhh...Ok, this...doesn't look familiar," Sora said while scratching the back of his head.
"You mean we're lost?" Goofy asked.
"We're not lost," Sora retorted. While trying to come up with an excuse, he saw the annoyed looks on Donald and Twilight's faces, the alicorn quirking her brow at the wielder's poor navigational skills. "...Ok, we're lost."
Donald, Goofy, and Twilight sighed and hung their heads in exasperation. "And yet we still trust him to drive a Gummi ship," Donald grumbled.
"Hey, it's been a long while since I've been to this world, and we've only been to the coliseum and the Underworld," Sora argued. "I've never been to this mountain."
"Maybe it's a good thing I kept traveling with Riku or everypony else besides you when I went to other worlds," Twilight grumbled. "Let's see if we can find a higher vantage point and find the city." Walking into a mountain path, the group found some cliffs, along with a statue of a man sitting in some sort of throne, though it wasn't like the muscular man like the one that was in the city from a much farther view of the world. This man wore a robe and had a beard and longer hair. Twilight figured this man must have been the god Aqua mentioned, Zeus, as this statue gave him an air of leadership and an unwavering sense of pride. "Hmm...I wonder who would build a statue of somepony in a place like this. And speaking of, should I probably transmutate into a human to fit in?"
"Actually, maybe you might fit in with this world," Sora said as he looked up at the statue curiously. "There's a lot of creatures from Equestria that closely resemble those from here, if I recall all my history classes involving ancient Greece."
"Which sounds like centuries ago with how long you've been away from home," Donald teased with a snicker.
"Hey, at least I didn't have to sit through boring classes anymore!" Sora chuckled.
"Learning at school is NOT boring!" Twilight angrily exclaimed. "You even help teach at the School of Friendship!"
"Well, learning friendship is meant to be fun. It's anything else that's supposed to be important that puts me to sleep." Twilight growled, giving Sora a nasty scowl. Before the alicorn could verbally lash out at Sora, they were interrupted by a group of Heartless popping in front of them: a few Shadows, some Soldiers and Air Soldiers, the same type Sora encountered after saving Applejack's parents in the past, and a Large Body. Sora and Twilight quickly summoned their Keyblades, Donald and Goofy calling forth their staff and shield respectively. "At least moments like these will keep me wide awake."
"We are going to talk about this later, Sora," Twilight reminded the wielder, to which he replied with a cocky smirk.
Sora and Twilight sped off and slashed right through the weaker Heartless while Donald and Goofy provided support and took care of the two Soldiers between them. The Air Soldiers attempted to dive kick the two Keyblade wielders while they handled the Shadows and the Large Body waddling toward them, but Twilight shocked them into mist and floating hearts with a flurry of bolts raining down in a wild Thundaga spell. The Large Body got hit by a few stray bolts, jittering from the electric shocks, even tripping over itself while it tried to move as a paralytic spasm made it twitch. With its back exposed to Sora, he took the opportunity, rushing toward it and gave it an uppercut swing, launching it in the air.
"Large Body volleyball!" Sora called out as he jumped after it, following up with a downward slash, smacking it straight down to Goofy.
Goofy wound his shield hand back, then charged into the Heartless, sending it rolling toward Donald. The mage finished off the last Soldier with a Fire spell, only to turn around and squawk when he saw the Large Body heading for him. Quickly firing a Blizzard spell, Donald destroyed the Heartless before it bowled and flatten him into a pancake.
"Oops. Sorry, Donald!" Goofy called out.
Luckily, the Large Body was the last of the Heartless slain. Sora landed and let out a laugh, resting his Keyblade over his shoulder.
"Way too easy," he said with a cheeky grin.
"Don't get cocky, Sora," Twilight chided the wielder. Looking up at the cliff face, she could see a path higher up. "We might get a better view of the land up there." She then looked back at Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who were currently in their normal forms after they left Equestria moments ago. "But this mountain's so tall. How are you guys going to climb it? I don't see any hoofholds."
"We could hitch a ride on your back," Goofy suggested.
"Carrying all three of you?" Twilight questioned. "I might be a bit stronger physically as an alicorn and from my training, but I don't think I'll be able to-"
Sora ran past Twilight and headed straight for the wall. The alicorn turned her head and watched the young man run up the side of the cliff. Twilight knew Sora had quite a bit of dexterity to him, but running up a flat surface stunned her when she's seen him leap incredible heights and can glide without wings.
"That's one load you don't have to carry," Donald pointed out.
"Betcha if you didn't have your wings, you could do the same thing," Goofy said to Twilight with a chuckle.
"I've grown a bit too attached to my wings to let them go after all these years," Twilight said.
"Hey! You guys wanna climb up here or continue enjoying looking at this statue's feet!?" Sora called out from atop the cliff. Rolling her eyes, Twilight let Donald and Goofy climb onto her back, the latter surprisingly light even with his tall and lanky frame. Sora ran on ahead, passing by some dead trees growing along the mountain until he reached the edge overlooking the land. Twilight, Donald, and Goofy caught up with him, the group staring in awe at the landscape, even spotting the city they were searching for spanning a few miles from the base of the mountain. "There it is! I knew we weren't lost!"
"Yeah, yeah, sure we weren't, Sora," Donald grumbled.
Twilight stood closer to the edge of the cliff as she got a better look at the city. "So, how exactly do we find Hades in this world?" she asked. "Is there a portal in the city that leads to the Underworld?"
"I think so," Sora said. "Maybe Hercules might know where it's at. He could be training somewhere on this mountain." Sora stepped closer to the edge next to Twilight, then cupped his hands to his mouth and leaned forward. "HEY, HERC! YOU OUT HERE!?"
His voice echoed throughout the valley below, then waited for someone to respond. As they waited, Twilight glanced up at the sky, trying to see where the highest peak of this mountain was beyond the clouds, only to gasp when she saw a trail of black smoke flying through the clouds surrounding the mountain heading straight for them.
"What is that!?" she pointed out.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy glanced up, spotting the cloud of black smoke. "Oh, I recognize that puff of smoke anywhere," Sora said, he and his loyal companions bracing themselves to their foe. "Didn't have to search hard for him at all."
The smoke cloud flew over their heads, causing the group to duck as it hovered a few yards away from them. "Alright, I know I dotted my 'I's', crossed my 'T's', and zeroed the hero." The black smoke began to form into another shape and slowly shift down to simmer along the ground. Before them was the god of the Underworld himself, Hades: wearing a black toga, skin as gray as volcanic ash, yellow eyes, razor sharp teeth, long sharp nails, and a blue flame on billowing on his head as his hair. His back was turned to them as he mumbled to himself. "What gives? Who could be possibly giving me a migraine by yodeling that yutz's name?" Turning around, Hades blinked, recognizing the troublesome trio who was more of a thorn in his side than his arch nemesis. "...Oh, you've got to be kidding me. It's the three dumbbells."
"Hades! What a coincidence!" Sora greeted. "We were just looking for you."
"Really? Looking for me when you've been calling Herc the Jerk? Oy vey," Hades scoffed.
"This...is Hades?" Twilight asked.
Hades finally noticed the alicorn, letting out a disgruntled groan. "Really? You brought one of the colorful abominations from the other world I'm forced to overlook in THEIR underworld?"
"'Abomination'?" Twilight growled irritably, already disliking this so-called god. "I'm one of the new princesses of Equestria: the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle!"
Hades blew a raspberry, waving his hand at the alicorn. "A wannabe goddess like those other two pega-corn horses in your world? Don't make me laugh, Raspberry."
"My name is Twilight," Twilight corrected angrily.
"Quit making fun of Twilight," Sora interjected before Twilight tried to blast Hades with her magic and provoke the god of the Underworld. He stepped toward the god, who stood almost twice the wielder's height. "We'll get out of your hair after we ask you some questions. Unless you've got another crazy scheme to get rid of Hercules, then you're gonna get another butt whupping from us."
Hades growled at the mention of Hercules, his skin and fiery hair turning a shade of reddish-orange for a brief moment before he went back to normal, letting out an amused chuckle. "Well, now that you mention it, you little key-brat, I have been pretty busy since last time," he said. Hades turned away from Sora and walked closer toward the mountain as he looked up to the peak. "So I don't have any time answering any of your silly questions. On a tight schedule right now, and my many, MANY long years of waiting are finally going to be worth it."
"Of course you do," Sora sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. "Alright, I think we know the drill, guys."
Before the four heroes summoned their weapons, Hades thrust his arms up to the sky. "Where are my TItans!? Show me your power!"
"Huh?" Goofy uttered.
"Did...he just say...'Titans'?" Twilight asked nervously. A few seconds later, the sky above them grew dark, a vortex of swirling clouds appearing above them as the earth beneath them began to shake. Hades smirked and turned to face the shocked heroes. Suddenly, a huge shadow loomed over them and a huge section of the mountain, making the two Keyblade wielders, mage, and guard captain gasp as they saw silhouettes of four towering beings looming higher up on the mountain. "W-W-W-What...What are THOSE!?"
"I t-think we've got a problem!" Donald squawked.
A sudden gust of wind blew down the peak, hitting the four heroes as they struggled to hold their ground. The powerful, hurricane winds blew harder as lava pooled down the side and freezing winds added to the harsher winds threatening throw Sora, Twilight, Donald, and Goofy off the mountain. Hades was unaffected, holding out his arms and breathing out a relieved sigh.
"Feel that glorious breeze," he said with a snide, sarcastic tone. One last powerful gust managed to fling the heroes off the edge, Hades relishing their screams as they faded and headed straight for the city down below. Laughing to himself as the winds died down, he began to head off to continue his latest plan, the Titans climbing back up the mountain ahead of the lord of the Underworld. "Hope they enjoy their stay in Thebes. Too bad it's not gonna last long after I'm done getting my revenge on my dear brother, my fellow gods, and Jerkules."
"Still spending your time dealing with one annoyance within your own world, I see." Hades's eyes grew wide for a brief moment before his lips curled to a frustrated scowl, recognizing the voice.
Quickly curling his lips to a fake, toothy smirk, he turned to greet his other guests gracing his presence. "Ah, Maleficent. Long time no not wanting to see," Hades said, then glanced at Pete, who stood beside the sorceress. "Not you, tubby. I could have gone without seeing you far worse than her."
"Yeah, yeah, the feelin's mutual," Pete grumbled bitterly.
Hades approached Maleficent and Pete, the sorceress already regretting her decision to speak with this overdramatic god. "So, what do I owe the displeasure of your visit? I would have appreciated a call in advance, but, as you can see, I've already got plans and gotta get going before I miss the big finale."
"All we require is an answer to just one question, then we will be out of your hair once and for all," Maleficent said.
"Fine, whatever. Ask away, then vamoose," Hades quickly said. "I'm on a time crunch, you know. And it better be a good question, because neither of you have done me any good when we 'teamed up'. Heh, I bet the others didn't manage all that well when that brat with the Keyblade did a lot more damage than we had."
"Hey, you watch who you're talkin' to!" Pete said, but Maleficent held her hand up to her minion to silence him.
"Do you know of a distinctive...black box that might be in your world?" Maleficent asked.
"A black box, eh?" Hades brought a hand to his chin, deep in thought as he paced a little. "Black box, black box...Wait, are you talking about the one Zeus hid here on earth?"
"Possibly," Maleficent said, a smirk growing on her face as her search wouldn't take long. "If I were, where might it be?"
Sora, Twilight, Donald, and Goofy screamed as they flipped out of control after getting blown off the mountain by the combined Titans' power. Sora and Twilight managed to right themselves as they headed straight for the city thanks to their training, but Donald and Goofy helplessly flailed as they all were about to crash toward a temple. Their cries didn't go unnoticed when, out of nowhere, someone leapt up toward them from that very temple. Sora and Goofy grunted as they were caught, while Twilight slowed her descent with her wings and Donald unfortunately got his shirt stuck in the fangs of a bronze statue of a lion. Twilight hovered down to the ground, where she was surprised to see two of her friends' savior, who happened to look like the statue of the muscular man that could be seen beyond the world. He wore brown-orange armor ending in a metal skirt, a blue cape, had bulging muscles that the statue DIDN'T exaggerate on, brown knee-high strapped sandals, and a sweatband around his head. He had blue eyes and rust-colored hair with one bang falling over his forehead. And even though he was crouched after landing when he rescued Sora and Goofy, when he stood up, he definitely stood much taller than Terra by a head.
"...Oh my," Twilight uttered, her wings fluttering with a light blush on her cheeks as she stared at the super strong, and quite attractive, hero.
"Ugh...Nice catch, Herc," Sora grunted.
"Nice to see you guys again, although I didn't expect you to actually drop in like this," Hercules said. When he looked down, his head cocked to the side as he looked down at Twilight curiously. "...Umm...I've never seen a pegasus foal with a horn. Or had purple fur."
"Oh, I'm...I'm not a pegasus," Twilight giggled sheepishly. Shocked from hearing the alicorn speak, Hercules dropped Sora and Goofy, making the two grunt as they hit the cobblestone road. "I'm an alicorn, and a fully grown one, too."
"An...alicorn?" Hercules questioned. Sora and Goofy sat up with a grunt while Hercules pondered the mysteriously small and colorful pony before him. "I've never heard of one before."
"Hey! Someone get me down from here!" Donald called out, squawking angrily while wriggling about from the statue's mouth.
"Whoops," Hercules uttered, rubbing his neck sheepishly as he forgot to save Donald.
Twilight used her magic to unhook Donald's clothes from the bronze lion's teeth and safely levitate the mage down. Her magic surprised the muscular warrior, growing fascinated with what this new equine creature was capable of. "Thanks, Twilight," Donald said.
"Sorry for crashing in unannounced, Herc," Sora said as he moved over to Twilight with Donald and Goofy in tow. "This is a friend of mine, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight, this man is Hercules, one of the strongest men ever in this world." Twilight awkwardly waved to Hercules, wishing she had transformed herself into a human to fit in more than look like a dyed pegasus foal with a horn glued on their forehead. Thankfully, Hercules was only startled by her ability to talk more than her appearance. After introductions were made, Sora noticed something off about the city when some ash fell from the sky. Looking at the upper levels of the city, he noticed some of the buildings and structures were on fire, some of them crumbling or threatening to collapse on itself. "Whoa. What's happening here?"
Donald, Goofy, and Twilight also noticed, and were just as shocked. Hercules let out an exhausted sigh as he looked back to the carnage before looking back at his friends.
"I think you know exactly who's responsible for this mess," the strong man said.
"Hades. Of course," Donald sighed.
"We just ran into him back on the mountain we got blown off of," Sora said. "And there's a bit of bad news that we just discovered."
"Well, if Hades is involved, then I'll put him in his place," Hercules boldly stated, flexing his muscles with confidence.
Twilight thought of Hercules as a boastful, arrogant warrior with incredible strength, but she could see in his eyes that he's able to back up his words while being a true, genuine, and selfless hero. "Then let's get back up to that mountain before he-"
"Twilight, Sora, I'm picking up a lot of Heartless activity around your location in Olympus." Aqua's voice startled the alicorn and young man.
Before either of them could respond, they heard something fall from the sky from the direction of the mountain. Looking up, the group scrambled as flaming rocks from the peak rained down on the city. Only, after crashing, the rocks began floating, faces appearing on the black obsidian with burning flames atop their heads. They were Flame Cores, the same type of Heartless Ventus mentioned fighting back at Canterlot High a while back during Sci-Twi's unstable magic-stealing device.
"We've got company!" Goofy announced as he and Donald summoned their weapons.
"Hades can wait for a bit," Hercules said as he cracked his knuckles. "We can't let the Heartless harm anyone in Thebes!"
Twilight and Sora summoned their Keyblades, the alicorn a bit miffed that the bigger threat with Hades was going to be put on hold when thousands of lives were at stake. "Worst timing ever," Twilight grumbled.
"Tell me about it," Sora agreed.
The group charged forward as they heard nearby people scream and run from the Shadows and Soldiers that appeared along with the Flame Cores. Some of the Flame Cores smacked the bottom of Hercules's statue, causing one of the feet to break off and send the heavy statue falling over. A pair of civilians were about to be crushed, but Hercules sprinted toward them and caught his toppled statue with ease. They thanked the hero before fleeing to safety as the man lowered his massive statue down. Sora and Twilight combined Water and Blizzard spells on the Flame Cores, seeing their flames fizzle out or weaken while drenched by two of their weaknesses. Donald did the same, but while Goofy smacked some of the Cores around with his shield, one of them ignited into a fireball, burning the knight captain with a yelp before it flew up and circled around the battlefield.
Just as it was about to dive down, Twilight noticed the meteor slam it was charging, splashing it with Waterga after the sphere of water homed in and struck its target, dousing its flames and stunning it. Goofy finished it off with another hard smack, giving Twilight a thumbs up for the assist. Twilight spotted Hercules getting surrounded by Soldiers, but she didn't need to help him when she saw him lift up a piece of the earth, then spun around to knock the Heartless away, and then chucked it to crush a fallen group to death.
"Wow. How strong IS he?" Twilight asked.
"Incredibly strong!" Sora said, slashing away at a few Shadows in his path before glancing at Twilight. "He's not a hero for nothing. We were even his junior heroes before we were titled full heroes a while back when we helped Herc stop Hades when he held his own tournament."
"And you forgot about the 'no meddling' rule?" Twilight questioned.
"If you wanna wait until tonight, you might see constellations of me, Donald, and Goofy in the sky," Sora goaded cheekily.
Twilight shook her head, deciding to pass on the chance to see Sora immortalized in this world's night sky. After the last of the Heartless were destroyed, and with no casualties, the group relaxed, but not too much since more Heartless could be in the city.
"Hercules!" Looking up, they spotted something flying down toward them, and it wasn't a flaming rock. Approaching them was a pure white pegasus with its blue mane in a mohawk style, though it was almost as tall as Celestia or the Saddle Arabians in Twilight's eyes. On its back was a small, chubby satyr with an orange goatee and a woman in a purple dress with her thick brown hair tied in a ponytail. The pegasus touched down a few yards from the five defenders, the woman climbing off the taller pegasus of this world after landing safely and approached Hercules. "Thank goodness you're alright." Before she tried to hug the muscular hero, she noticed Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Twilight. "Oh. It's the 'junior heroes'. Nice to see you three again."
"Hey, Meg," Sora greeted with a wave, then looked at the satyr. "And Phil! Missed us?"
"As much as I'd like to say 'no', Thebes is in a whole mess of trouble, and..." Phil let out a disgruntled sigh, dragging his palm down along his face in defeat. "... Herc's gonna need some...backup."
"Just admit we're hero material already," Sora teased, which made the satyr grumble some more.
While Phil was moping in annoyance, the mount he sat on noticed Twilight. Letting out a shocked grunt, he then made a bird-like wolf whistle, followed by a whinny and galloped toward the alicorn, his excited movements bucking Phil off his back, making the satyr fall to the ground with a grunt. Twilight yelped in surprise as the white pegasus skid to a halt before her, then, to her confusion and discomfort, he let out an affectionate sputter with his brows waggling in a flirty manner.
"Herc, you need to get that horse of yours in check," Phil grunted as he stood up, rubbing his back in pain. "Ow, my aching back. I'm gettin' too old for this."
"Umm...hello?" Twilight greeted awkwardly to the stallion, who then began to strut around the smaller equine while making bird calls and showing off his wingspan to attract the alicorn. Sadly, it wasn't all that effective and confused Twilight. "Uhh, what is he...doing?"
"I think Pegasus likes you," Donald said with a teasing snicker.
"...His name is just 'Pegasus'?" Twilight questioned, only to yelp when he felt Pegasus's wing gently caress the feathers of one of her wings. Finally getting what he was trying to do, Twilight backed away from the bird-brained stallion. "Whoa! Whoa whoa whoa, stop what you're doing, mister! I'm already taken!"
Pegasus let out a distressed grunt, looking shocked, then dejected as he hung his head sadly. Hercules chuckled, guiding his equine friend back over to Meg while giving him a reassuring pat on his neck.
"Don't worry, Pegasus. You'll find your soul mate someday." He then glanced over to Meg. "You guys should get somewhere safe. We'll handle getting everyone else out."
Meg nodded, then hugged Hercules tightly. "Be careful, Wonderboy," she said. Hercules hugged Meg back before the two broke their embrace after a moment. She then climbed up on Pegasus's back, along with Phil after the pain from his fall subsided. "Break a leg out there, heroes," she said to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, the wielder giving the woman a thumbs up in response.
Once the two passengers were settled, Pegasus took off to take Meg and Phil somewhere safe and away from the fiery carnage and the Heartless appearing in Thebes. "I can't believe a stallion from another world tried to hit on me," Twilight mumbled. "That was so weird. And he also tweets like a bird?"
"At least he's very expressive," Donald said, teasing the alicorn more while holding back his laughter.
Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance. "At least I don't ditch my coltfriend and forget an important date that he planned," she said, immediately shutting Donald up as he chuckled sheepishly, being reminded of his lack of keeping his promises for Daisy to remember any dates she had planned for them.
As the group were about to head further in the city to help more people, they heard a child cry out for help far in the distance. Looking around, they saw a little girl up on the highest point of the city clinging against the wall as she was surrounded by fire.
"Oh no! That little girl's in trouble!" Goofy exclaimed.
"It's too far of a run from here," Hercules said. Looking around, he had an idea when he spotted the fallen statue of himself. "Sora, over here!"
Sora looked at the statue, getting an idea of what Hercules had in mind. He quickly ran over and jumped onto the stone cape of the strong man's statue, confusing Twilight with what the two were up to.
"Twilight, jump on!" Sora said.
"Wait, you mean Hercules is going to hurl that up there? With US riding on it!?" she exclaimed. "I could just teleport us there!"
"Do you know the area, or do you want to risk us getting stuck between a wall or appear under a crumbling building?" Sora questioned. Twilight grimaced, almost forgetting about the fiery carnage, and she wasn't savvy with the layout of this city. Regretting her choice, she flapped up onto the statue with Sora, biting her lip nervously like she was about to get strapped in on a death defying rollercoaster ride. "Donald, Goofy, help Herc down here! We'll meet up with you guys halfway!"
"Just don't run into too much trouble without us!" Donald exclaimed.
"No promises!" Sora said.
Sora gave a nod to Hercules, the heroic man hefted his heavy statue with a strained groan. Twilight had no idea what limits Hercules had with his strength, but if he was able to lift a huge stone statue possibly weighing more than a ton, slightly more so with her and Sora adding to the weight.
"This is incredible. He's far stronger than an average human. Even stronger physically than Applejack, or maybe even Rockhoof," Twilight mumbled in awe. As Hercules shifted the statue to give it a hard toss, Twilight's ears perked up as a thought crossed her mind. "Wait, I can fly. I could have flown up there to-"
Her statement was soon forgotten as Hercules threw his statue like a javelin, sending the Keyblade wielders soaring through the city. Twilight screamed and clung onto the statue as they flew past buildings to reach the peak. Sora prepared himself as the statue flew over the highest building, then jumped off with Twilight following after. The little girl cried out for help as the fire crept closer. Summoning their Keyblades, Sora and Twilight used Waterga to douse out the fire. The two landed on the scorched stones, startling the rescued girl.
"Have no fear, some new heroes are here to save the day!" Sora announced, puffing out his chest with his Keyblade over his shoulder.
Twilight grumbled, smacking Sora upside the head with her wing, making him stagger out of his heroic stance. "We've got a job to do," she reminded the wielder, making him grumble bitterly. Twilight hovered next to the girl and crouched down. "Climb on my back. I'll take you somewhere safe."
"Wow. I thought Mr. Hercules was the only one with a flying horse," the girl said in awe.
"You're not surprised by the fact I can talk when Pegasus makes bird noises?" Twilight questioned with a blank expression. The girl climbed up on Twilight's back, wrapping her arms around the alicorn's neck tightly to hold on as she stood up. "Hang on tight," she said to the girl, then looked at Sora. "I'll catch up with you after I drop her off."
"I can handle things here before you get back. I might not leave any Heartless for you." Twilight rolled her eyes at Sora's teasing remark, then flapped her wings and took off, being as slow as possible to keep her passenger from falling off. Sora watched Twilight fly over the nearby building, keeping an eye out for any Heartless that could ambush her before he made his way down the path to meet back up with Hercules, Donald, and Goofy. "Alright. Save the town, then stop Hades and all those-" Just as he reached the stairs, Sora froze when he saw two familiar figures he did not want to run into as they climbed up the stone steps: Pete and Maleficent. Grunting, Sora leapt back, getting into his stance with his Keyblade as his presence startled the two villains. "Not you two again!"
"Doh! Of all the rotten luck!" Pete exclaimed. "What are you doing here, twerp!?"
"I should be asking you two that!" Sora pointed his Keyblade at the sorceress and her lackey. "We haven't heard anything from you two since your last crazy scheme to take over Equestria. Were you trying to get Hades in on your plan?"
"Silence, boy," Maleficent scowled. "I refuse to seek assistance from any of my former cohorts after failing against you and your meddling friends."
"And what we're doin' is none of your beeswax!" Pete added. He grunted quizzically as he looked at Sora's clothing, which were much different than his mostly black outfit. "Say, when did you get new duds?"
"Not too long ago, actually," Sora answered, then smirked at his two enemies. "If you want a demonstration, I'll give you one."
"Why I oughta-!?" Pete was about to charge Sora, only to get whacked on the head by Maleficent's staff.
"Enough!" Maleficent scolded angrily. Pete grumbled, rubbing his head, but he complied as the sorceress turned back to address Sora. "We have no time squabbling with you, boy. We have more important matters than trying to deal with you."
"Because you know you're just gonna lose again," Sora replied, getting Maleficent to growl in disdain. "I already gave you a pass when those teenage dragons came after you for helping me with the old Organization XIII. I won't give you another one if you're going to harm Equestria or other worlds again."
Maleficent scoffed at Sora's claim. "I did not ask for you to spare me any fate. And you can be at ease; that equine world is of no concern of mine anymore." Sora growled, not wanting to believe the wicked mistress of all evil. "I misjudged the harmless world after facing that unicorn who took away my power with only one simple spell, never mind the dragon delinquents nor you or your friends' interference in the past."
Sora let out a laugh in amusement. "You mean Starlight Glimmer? Yeah, she was pretty tough, but she's on our side now."
"I do not care who is your ally or enemy," Maleficent said. She began to walk forward, only to head up the stairs to head further up the peak. "You're lucky I do not have time to deal with you. Once I find what I seek, then I will unleash all of my fury upon you."
Sora kept a close eye on her as she headed further up, then to Pete as he reluctantly followed her. "I still got a beef with you and that guy in the black coat who helped save your sorry butts in Disney Town."
"Try not to kidnap any babies in this world! They won't even need me to save them if they can kick yours!" Sora called back, making Pete stumble at the top of the step and trip before getting back up with an annoyed grumble and leaving. After being sure they were out of his sight, Sora stayed cautious with whatever Maleficent has planned, continuing on his way down through the city to save the rest of Thebes' denizens. "Hope they aren't trying to find what we're looking for, too. It's already bad enough that Xehanort's after it, too."
On the long, winding trek down, Sora fought his way through droves of Heartless, slaying them all while rescuing the helpless citizens cowering in fear. Twilight flew in to help out and get the rescued people to safety, teleporting them after finding Meg, Phil, and Pegasus now that she knew a bit of the layout of the city. There were certain sections of the paths that were shrouded in flames, the fire far too hot for Sora to walk through. He got an idea thanks to Goofy and his shield; using the Keyblade of Kindness, he Formchanged it into a whip, then a shield, and rode it over the burning road to the other side. Twilight easily flew over the flames, shaking her head while watching Sora have fun shield-boarding over the fire.
While looking for more people to help, they fought more of the usual Heartless, Flame Cores adding more fiery carnage, and, popping out from random pots among the piles of cargo, a new kind of Heartless: pot bodies with limbs almost cat-like from the long ears to their squiggly tails. As soon as one of them got closer to them, they hopped toward them to try to ambush them. Despite being startled, they barely did as much damage as a Shadow when they just clunk their pot bodies at them, and were quickly beaten just like the weak Pureblood Heartless.
What was worse than the Heartless were the massive fireballs dropping down on the city. Many of them that hit Thebes crumbled entire buildings, prompting the duo to quickly rush through the streets to save everyone. Even though some of the rescued people expected Hercules to save them, their minds changed after seeing Sora and Twilight beat the Heatless like they were nothing. Twilight was still a bit annoyed hearing some of them comment about her "being a perfect match for Hercules's trusty steed", even though she was clearly smaller than Pegasus, and hearing that made her grimace.
The two wielders finally arrived back to where the main entrance of the city was, the steps near them unfortunately blocked off by some rubble. "Sora! Twilight!" Donald called out up ahead on another path. The mage ran up to them in a panic, panting heavily. "Hercules needs help! He's trying to hold up a building that's going to collapse, and there's people still inside!"
"Then let's hurry!" Sora said.
The trio quickly ran up the steps to the collapsing building, rushing inside to see Hercules using his super strength to keep a fallen support column held up to keep it from caving the roof in on him and a few people, some of them injured from the debris. Goofy was doing his hardest to smack back Heartless with his shield, keeping them away from the cowering group of innocents. Sora, Twilight, and Donald charged in, nearly stumbling as the whole building shook. Behind them, part of the roof caved in, blocking off the entrance and trapping everyone inside.
"Oh, great. We're trapped in here!" Twilight exclaimed. She looked back at the Heartless, their attention now diverted to the two wielders. She noticed Hercules struggling to keep the building up, his stance getting lower as he strained with all his might. "Hercules, are you ok!?"
"No problem!" Hercules said. "Just get them out of here!"
"We're on it!" Sora said, he and Twilight summoning their Keyblades to keep the Heartless' attention all on them.
The Flame Cores stood no chance with their flames extinguished, or dying, as Twilight lured them into a corner of the collapsing building, then blasted them all with a powerful Blizzaga spell. The rest of the Heartless fell with Sora taking care of the rest with a mix of spells and swift lunging strikes. Once the last of the Heartless were slain, the group quickly gathered the defenseless people over to a hole leading outside of the building, helping carry the injured who weren't able to run after. Hercules was losing his grip, but they got the people out of there just in time.
Outside of the building, the structure finally started to give in and collapse on itself. Sora, Twilight, Donald, Goofy, and the other people staggered and turned back, Twilight quickly casting a barrier around them as the dust from the debris blew toward them. After the dust settled, everyone gasped in horror when they saw the crumbled remains, and Hercules was still inside.
"Oh no," Twilight uttered. Her ears drooped sadly, knowing that someone with strength like his couldn't have survived getting crushed under tons of stone. However, her sorrow turned to shock when they heard some of the rubble shifting around. Stepping out from the fallen building, casually brushing off his shoulders of dust and pebbles, was none other than the man of muscle, Hercules. The saved citizens cheered, the alicorn the only one dumbfounded by this human's inhuman strength. "Y-You're alive!?"
"It was nothing," Hercules said, then flexed his biceps, making some of the women the group rescued swoon over his gloriously bulging muscles. "That's what these are for."
Twilight's ear twitched, glancing back at Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who were also giving praise to Hercules's might by mimicking the hero's flexing, neither of them bearing the same bulk as him. "Herc's incredible!" Donald cheered.
"Strongest man around!" Goofy added.
"How were you three not worried!?" Twilight exclaimed. "I thought he died in there!"
"Hey, he was able to hold back Cerberus, fight off a hydra, which we helped finish off, and took on Hades in the Underworld," Sora said. "A collapsing building's nothing for Herc."
"That was quite an impressive display, though." A portal of darkness appeared, startling and terrifying the rescued people as they fled. Stepping out, to Sora's ire, was Xigbar, mockingly clapping with a smug grin on his face as he "praised" Hercules's dramatic exit. "Full marks all around, hero."
Sora growled, summoning his Keyblade, ready to pounce the one-eyed assassin. "What are you doing here?" he questioned.
"You know, I should ask that to all of you; traveling to other places, getting in our way of our plans," Xigbar countered. He then glanced at Twilight, the alicorn wielding her Keyblade as well, feeling a little nervous with the look he gave her. "And the Princess of Friendship is here as well. You still managing to kick Sora's butt some more, or did you give up proving you're more right than he is?"
His question made her wince and wilt slightly, but Sora stepped in front of her, pointing his blade at the sniper. "Keep her and everyone else out of this," Sora said. "I've got a bone to pick with you for what you said to the Crusaders."
"'Crusaders'"? Xigbar asked, confused at first until he understood who Sora meant. "Oh! You mean the three little fillies who idolize you back in Canterlot?" Xigbar chuckled, getting Sora more furious as he tried to keep his cool. "I just told them the truth, kid."
Donald and Goofy stepped in front of Sora this time, their weapons at the ready as they glared at the Nobody. "Well, Sora ain't goin' anywhere!" Goofy said.
"You'll have to get through us before you can!" Donald added.
"Heh. Don't worry about Sora. We're done trying to get him...for the time being," Xigbar said. "Although, I have to question if your heart of light has a good insurance policy."
"What are you talking about?" Sora questioned.
"Protecting and saving everyone," the sniper rephrased. "No good comes out of putting others before yourself. I mean, you've already experienced that 'out of body' experience before, right?"
Hercules had no idea who this man was, but from the look on his friends' faces, he couldn't trust Xigbar. "You're wrong about that," he said, getting Xigbar's attention. "I saved Meg's life because I was ready to risk my own. And as long as I know everyone in Thebes is safe at the cost of my life, that means a lot more than just saving my own skin."
Xigbar scoffed in amusement. "You're able to do that because you've got friends in high places," he stated. "Tricks like that don't fly over your average joe."
Hercules let out slight grunt, looking a bit dejected as Xigbar managed to strike a nerve. "What do you even know!?" Sora exclaimed. "You weren't there! Herc and I should be praised for being as courageous as we were for those moments! Not like you would even care if all you care about is yourself!"
"Hey, don't chew my ear off with that. It's not like I don't admire someone jumping headfirst into danger if it means someone else might jump in to save them," Xigbar explained, his back turned to the heroic group while staring at the rubble of the recently collapsed building. "The problem is all of you are lining up just to lose out. Dooming others to take the fall with you." Glancing over his shoulder, he gave Sora and Twilight a smirk. "And spare me your usual mantra. I get that hearts are powerful when connected, but if you put too much of that power in one place, some of those hearts might end up breaking. The same goes for making friends, Princess Twilight; the connections you have with those other ponies and Sora could collapse just as much when your heart's involved." Twilight's ears drooped, slowly looking up at Sora. There were many moments in the past where her friendships with all of her friends would have ended, but she was lucky they were able to reconcile, or even stay together while in the middle of a crisis. She still felt terrible for causing their last fight at the shore near Mt. Aris and almost ending her relationship with Sora and her friends, all because she was too focused on saving everyone else her way that she shut the others' opinions out and their befriending Capper and Celaeno and her crew would have only brought them in more danger than going it alone. Xigbar turned around, then pointed a finger to the two wielders. "But that doesn't mean you two should change. Accept the powers you've been given, and link the hearts connected to yours."
"I'm not listening to any advice you give!" Sora exclaimed.
"Whatever. Do what you want," Xigbar chuckled as he turned around and began to walk away. "In the end, you'll finally realize what destiny has in store for you." He stopped for a moment, a sly grin forming on his face as he imagined the look on Sora's face. "In fact, Sora, your reward might just be around the corner."
After hearing Sora grunt in reaction to his warning, Xigbar laughed, then continued walking, giving the group a small wave as he walked through an appearing portal of darkness. Once it disappeared, Sora growled angrily.
"The nerve of that guy," Sora grumbled. "I'll show him what my 'destiny' is."
"Don't let him get under your skin, Sora," Hercules said, trying to calm the heated wielder down. "We'll prove to him that our sacrifices won't be for nothing."
"He's already proven that several times in the past," Goofy said. "I don't think Sora needs that much of a reminder."
"And if he does, we'll make sure he remembers," Donald added with a snicker.
"Hey, I'm not THAT forgetful!" Sora complained as he leered at Donald. After the mage finished poking fun at Sora, the heroes continued on their way, hoping to find another way back to the entrance plaza of the city to find anyone else in need of help. Sora stopped and looked back where they last saw Xigbar before heading who knows where. "...What did he mean by 'reward'?"
"Sora?" Twilight called out.
As Sora looked back at his friends, he noticed Donald, Goofy, and Hercules were already gone, and Twilight seemed worried about something. "What's up, Twilight?"
"Do you think what Xigbar said...is true?" she asked.
"He doesn't know anything," Sora said. "Xigbar's the kind of guy who prefers being alone, even though he's working with Xehanort. Like he knows just how close we are as friends with everyone."
"But what if he was right?" Twilight asked. "Or what if he's BEEN right? I mean, think about how our friendship's gotten us since we first met. I didn't trust you at first, but I grew to like you and the others, and you all taught me the values of friendship to make me the princess I am today."
"Yeah. It has been a crazy journey since then," Sora agreed, but Twilight shook her head.
"No. How many times have I made things difficult for all of us? How many serious issues I tried to solve myself without bothering to ask for help, shooting my anxiety through the roof and causing me to panic and do something even worse?" Twilight had tears welling in her eyes as she continued her questioning. "Trying to stop Nightmare Moon on my own, giving up when Discord flipped the girls' personalities, Chrysalis managing to fool everypony when she pretended to be Cadence and my assumptions were actually right, even before I realized how important friendship was when I left Moondancer at her party because of Nightmare Moon's return. But all of that doesn't compare with all the things I did to you and practically testing just how far our friendship could stretch from my own stubbornness, and after I almost got you killed in our fight when I screwed up asking Queen Novo and her people for their help against the Storm King!"
"Twilight-" Sora tried to interrupt, but Twilight kept up with her emotional rambling.
"You say you forgive me, but I still feel like there's still some spite or ire you have toward me with how single-minded I can be when I have my own 'solutions', and I keep shooting you down, making you think none of you have any good ideas! It's like when I didn't believe Pinkie Pie with her random personality and thoughts before I really got to know her, and I did it all over again when I blew our chances to get help when I realized too late that Celestia was right: we HAD the magic we needed, and I made the stress of our adventure worse by 'taking charge' when it was supposed to be a team effort!" Twilight panted heavily, finished with her ranting as the tears flowed. She couldn't look up at Sora, turning away with her head hung low. She looked down at her Keyblade, the chain tying her bonds with all six of her closest friends with the pommel depicting their unity as the Elements of Harmony, and Sora was the additional anchor helping to strengthen their friendship. "I sometimes wonder how I got so lucky to even have a friend like you...Or any friends at all...I even wonder how I became the Princess of Friendship when I barely knew anything about it until just a few years ago. If anypony should be a ruler of friendship, you fit that bit much better than me..."
Sora walked up to Twilight and knelt beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Twilight, anything you did to hurt me, it's all forgiven," he reassured the alicorn. "If you forgot what Xehanort said, my heart's my biggest weakness. I forgive a bit too easily, and I don't hold a grudge toward anyone." Twilight gave him a skeptical leer, unable to believe that when there were a few ponies in Equestria Sora didn't like. Sora grimaced, giggling sheepishly in response to her silent disbelief. "Uhh, ok. I still hate the FlimFlam Brothers for what they did to the Apples, and Chrysalis mostly because of...an alternate timeline version of her and what she did to that Kairi." Twilight looked back at her Keyblade with a sigh, feeling Sora give her a gentle squeeze. "But no one's perfect. We made up through all those rough times, so you don't need to worry about how 'strained' our relationship as friends are." With his other hand, Sora reached out and placed his hand over Harmony's hilt. "We've already come this far, Twilight. Herc is right; Xigbar's just trying to rile us up. He doesn't know anything about us."
Twilight looked at Sora, who gave her his usual, assuring grin. Even though she was still bothered by her selfishness in the past, she's changed and grown a lot since she met her very first friend who opened her up to accepting more friends and get out of the secluded pursuit of knowledge she stuck with since she was a filly. She smiled back, wiped away her tears with her wing, and gave Sora a nod.
"You're right. We face the worst of times, but never alone," she said.
Sora nodded in agreement, giving the alicorn a pat on the back. "Right," he said before standing back up. "Now, let's see who else needs saving, then go find Hades, stop whatever he's up to with the Titans, and get some info on the Black Box."
Twilight nodded once more, then followed Sora as they hurried after Donald, Goofy, and Hercules. Whatever comes their way next, whether villains from a world they explore or foes from another with evil intentions, they'll all face them together, and nothing was going to sever their bonds. Not even a petty argument, or even a one-eyed man playing mind games, would ever tear apart their friendship. Harmony's keychain was proof enough, and Twilight wasn't going to let her mistakes haunt her, vowing to do what's best for the future of not just Equestria or the other worlds out there, but for her own friends and family, too.
Stats
Page generated in 0.086 seconds
Total duration
993 users online
1,613,210 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
awesome new chapter my friend keep it up nice kingdom hearts 3 reference cant wait for the next part
Okay, nice chapter there with the reference. And that was a great park there! I can’t wait for the next chapter! Please update soon to the next park!
This was an amazing chapter, can't wait for part 2
Love this chapter because you made phill talk this time.
Man, this us something I have been looking forward to for ages.
Awesome! I love it!
AWESOME 😎👍
So, I think you've got a good grasp on the Kingdom Hearts story so far. There are, however, other elements of KH, specifically KH Union Cross, that you should know about, just in case you find story elements to add. So here is what I consider to be the best way to get caught up with Union Cross without actually playing the game:
https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmkiL_YEJk_MSFiimycCWntwpsLjhOWV9
Let's. Fucking. Go!.
I'm gonna be honest, at first, I got a little upset that this detail was still prevalent to the lore, until, I realized something...
This has to be leading up to something.
Aqua mentions how in order to get answers on the history of the Black Box and the her theory that the worlds possibly were once one (which honestly should have been a bigger reaction from the main cast), this means that the idea that the Keyblade War was a thousand years ago was just a misconception that the characters believe to be true, and the idea that Keyblade war took place eons ago may be the Big reveal of this story arc.
To the put this in much further detail into this theory, once Sora and co. reach Zeus, and possibly the other gods, they ask them questions regarding the keyblade war and the black box. I can see some confusion, as maybe the gods think Sora is talking about Pandora's box, which could lead to a funny gag. After rephrasing himself, it's revealed here that Zeus, and the other gods, don't know anything about the secrets of the Black Box, but they do know of the Keyblade War. We may even get the rest of the characters reactions, as they can probably listen to the conversation through those crystal earpieces.
Here, it's revealed that they know the Keyblade War, and that it didn't take place a thousand years ago, it would be revealed, right there and there, that it took place eons ago. An incalculable amount of time ago. The gods, possibly were there upon seeing the dawn of creations for the KH universe. Essentially creating their own world of Olympus. Now, I do personally like to think the gods were there during the era of Fairy Tales, but to not go into more unnecessary detail, the point is that they were survivors of the war's impact.
Side-note: worlds come in many different sizes, Wonderland is a small, but odd place with no laws and boundaries, while the Lilo & Stitch world of Deep Space is described as an entire universe in the journal entries of BoS. So the Gods having their own star system and sun contain within their own space is just how world works. So, it's not like Zeus created the entire kh universe or anything, they just created their own, within many. You can even call the KH universe a multiverse.
This would be a massive shock to the KH crew. They will also learn that the Keyblade Graveyard wasn't the only thing that the war left behind, it was entirety of creation itself. The one world was destroyed, it's only remains are lifeless lands that came to be called the Keyblade Graveyard. All the other worlds were created from the hearts of children that survived the destruction the war left behind.
This will be a massive reveal, because not only do we the readers and the characters learn more about the lore of the universe, but it's also reveals the TRUE INTENTIONS OF XEHANORT.
Now they would understand why Xehanort wants another keyblade war.
He wants to erase everything, and recreate it in his own image.
This will be a terrifying reveal to the main cast, and this is just a huge case of Fridge Brilliance!
You took a mistake out of ignorance, and made it part of the story to be presented in a twist. A detail that has been a simple mistake, revealed within the story to also be a misconception by the characters' part within the story's universe.
Pure genius.
I know the arc isn't finished yet, but if this is what's it's building up to, holy shit dude, that is some clever ass writing my man. Props to you.
If I'm completely wrong, than I guess I just wasted my excitement, XD
Ok, sorry, I have to continue this analysis, because of how much potential this chapter gives.
This idea that there was once one world, will also reveal how something like this can happen. How is Olympus connected the Equestria? This could easily explain it, in that creation originally houses only one world, and maybe Kingdom Hearts was it's actual heart. If Kingdom hearts is known is the heart of all worlds, than this means each world is connected, and, conceptually, they're all supposed to be connected.
Not saying this will lead to a new plot-line having to reconnect all the worlds or something, no, just another piece of evidence to support this idea.
Also, I'm pretty sure Eraqus also knew this information. Both him, Yen Sid, and Xehanort grew up together, so It wouldn't be surprising if he knew this information. So maybe, Terra wouldn't act completely shocked, since a part of his heart knows the hearts. As for Yen Sid, I can see him never knowing the truth. He always seemed like the type to be distant and comfortable by himself. Maybe their master saw more potential in telling both Xehanort and Eraqus. Xehanort did gain that ancient keyblade for a reason.
I'm getting way ahead of myself, so I'm going to stop here for now, and focus on other things. My mind is blown, keep writing, you got some great stuff going on.
I love how you wrote Hades' dialogue here, it really comes off natural for him.
I also love Twilight's interactions and reaction to this new world around her. This is my bread and butter for these world explorations, seeing the MLP characters interacting with the worlds are what excite me the most. I can picture Twilight, after the battle, being all gitty and excited to learn new things about Olympus, it's culture and roots, everything.
As for the idea that she needs to disguise herself as human, I think that can work for some worlds, others not necessary, here are my theories. This is not only for Twilight, but if other MLP characters join in as well.
San Fransokyo - Honestly, I'm a bit mixed on this one. It would be funny if she stayed that way, and all the Big Hero Six characters confuse her for a super advanced robot, or Fred thinking she's some sort of mutant.
This is cute moment between the two. I love seeing these seeing these characters grew into versions I never thought they would in a story of this magnitude. And Sora is actually right, he forgives her and he admits he isn't perfect either, even he has room to grow, like his racism towards changelings (yes I'm still on about that till it gets properly addressed again), but he will improve himself ,he always will be, so will Twilight.
You know, after reading this chapter, it feels like were so close to the beginning of the end. It's crazy that this story has been running for around 4 years, and while I've only been with this fic for about half of that life span, this is definitely one of my favorite fics out there, and I'll be here till the very end, and seeing you iterations of these characters grow.
Shine on, man, shine on.
-
This is awesome Codex! I gotta say that my favorite in it is Sora comforting Twilight for what Xigbar said to them. Especially when it feels more real for Xigbar to make Twilight question her actions of being the Princess of Friendship. But Sora telling her that their connection won’t break as Xigbar says it would. Plus I sense a combo will come out from the two of them, & Twilight getting her own Formchange through her bond with Sora.
Also I am going to predict now while I can. Twilight will be the one that saves Sora from his “Fate”. Those that played KH3 will know what I mean.
Another great chapter, but there's one thing I'm wondering about. I remember Xigbar saying during the MLP Movie arc that Xehanort didn't want Terra back, so I'm curious if that means Terranort was recruited.
10514953
I thought that Xehanort wanted to create a world that was perfectly balanced between Light and Darkness?
Will sora become an alicorn soon?
10550005
No, Sora isn't going to ascend into an alicorn. He may be special, but not THAT special.
In which chapter does Kairi become an alicorn?
10550057
The final part of the Legend of Everfree chapters, after using the light's power from within her engagement ring that transformed her to fight back against a power-crazed Gloriosa Daisy, which helped in permanently changing her pony form from a unicorn to an alicorn.
10555333
I don't use any of the comic plots within this story. None of them are canon with the show except for the MLP movie with the other characters' backstories. There are some elements from the comics I do take from, but there are no references to any events that happen within the IDW comics. Besides, the show had Sombra come back as an evil villain again, and he doesn't get reformed, nor was there an arc about his past, and was destroyed by the Elements of Harmony in the end. So whatever life he had from the comics, including Mirror Sombra, all of that is completely nonexistent.
I just wrote the beginning of a story that takes in the beginning of Zelda Breath of the Wild. Your story inspired me and gave me courage to write it. Can you read it and give me some pointers?
10556335
Sure, I can take a look. I might not later tonight because of work, but I'll read it if I'm not too tired or busy tomorrow.
I had completely forgotten that this story was pre KH3.
I have been meaning to ask, but what are the character's ages?
10565905
Uhh, let's see if I can figure that out with all the years that passed in this story. And I hope I didn't skimp out on some of the holiday specials from the past seasons, like with season 1 skipping "Winter Wrap-Up", because that random season jump made no sense for the mlp timeline.
Sora: 19
Kairi: 19
Riku: 20
Aqua: Technically 32, though she still looks around 17-18 due to lack of time existing in the Realm of Darkness since she never seemed to age in the game
Terra: Technically 32 or 34, only looking a few years older than he was in BBS since he returned to his old body in the story. I think Terra was considered to be 20 years old, but I'm not really sure if he's actually a couple years older than Aqua or around the same age as her.
Ventus: Around 17 years old. He never aged as well while in a heartless coma in Castle Oblivion, so he seems more mentally mature, even though he still acts like a kid.
Not sure if you wanted me to give the ages of any other characters or just the main six wielders, although with the ages I have them at, they'd probably be a few years older than they would from their respective series.
10567241
I was asking for the main six wielders. Is this as of the latest chapter?
10567272
I apologize for the long delays, but a lot of the games I have been playing are pretty long, and I don't want to stop playing half the time.
Yes. I'm kinda getting distracted from stuff away from my laptop. Primarily work, new games I've been dying to play, along with other stories I'm trying to alternate writing so I don't lose the backed up flow I'm now currently on.
10567292
Clarification: I was asking if the ages were current?
10567299
Oh...I had no idea what you even meant with your last comment since it wasn't clear as to what exactly you were specifically asking for. But yes, those are the current ages for them for the story.
Say Codex, I am quite curious on something. When you were writing the story of where Riku & Twilight become Boyfriend and Girlfriend, what made you decide to put those two together instead of Twilight with Flash & Riku with a different main 6 pony?
10574674
Well, I honestly have no idea. I kinda just rolled with it, but I knew Flash and Twilight weren't going to have anymore chemistry from the other Equestria Girls movies/shorts after Rainbow Rocks since there's the human Twilight who's now part of the Humane 7. Then there's pegasus Flash Sentry, who has absolutely no character aside from being an alternate to the human Flash because it's two different worlds with the same characters. Even if I managed to give him more of a personality and character, I can't come up with anything for the royal guard recruit who served in the Crystal Empire before completely disappearing. And with the other Mane 6 for Riku, I couldn't see him with the other mares. Pinkie would constantly remind him of Sora with her goofy personality, Rainbow Dash is too arrogant and would constantly butt heads with him like Sora would, Rarity would probably annoy him too much with her overdramatic episodes, Fluttershy would be a bit too timid around him, at least from the start of when he first arrived, and I don't know how things would go with Applejack.
10607757
Agreed!
Hey Codex i just started this fanfic and it's awesome but do you remember all of the songs of all the chapters that were copyrighted ?
10618287
). I also thought you mentioned the MLP song lyrics that were in the story, but I remembered that those were fine in writing since they're related to MLP anyway.
Yes, I know. And the videos were taken down, ruining the atmosphere I wanted to give for this story, along with a couple others. Just ignore the links, as I had mentioned at the end of the long description for this story I edited in a long while ago (if you bothered to read that far, which I don't blame if you didn't because I make my descriptions way too long
I just read your last comment. To recreate that atmosphere, why not give us the name of the songs since kingdom hearts melody of memories came so we can look it up. Plus, when is the next chapter coming out?
10621676
It's been so long since I placed those songs in, and I forgot which one fit perfectly for the scenarios they were set up for. I went through the playlists while writing, picking which one was better for one scene or for one moment in the story. Would have been best to write the songs down for those scenes, but I usually don't like taking notes in case I do lose something.
As for the next chapter, I'm working on it now. Might be a bit of a longer part compared to the last one, though it was due to my procrastinating with all these games I can't stop buying/playing.
I understand. Take your time. Is one of those games Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity? You should write a story about it. I am doing one on Breath of the Wild.
10622806
Freaking Ubisoft needs to check their shit better, and their other free-roaming AC games, Odyssey and Origins, weren't as buggy), the current Tomb Raider series, Destroy All Humans, and trying to play some co-cop Borderlands 3 with a friend. I am curious about Age of Calamity, though after playing through the first Hyrule Warriors, and it being the definitive version as well, it feels like a slog trying to lvl up every character and get their best weapons possible, even the insanely long extra modes where you travel from square to square through LoZ maps and getting S ranks on each mission. 
I have OCD with completion, and I've already given up halfway through the first map of that mode...Getting good times on the big bosses are a pain when you can't knock them out with their weakness. And by that, I mean they barely do the attack that makes them vulnerable to that weapon so you can get a power finisher on them to deal a lot of damage to them.
Freaking King Dodongo is the worst.
No, it's a whole bunch of other games: Assassin's Creed Valhalla (even though I stopped because the stupid Yule event glitched me when I tried to fast travel to Raventhorpe for the event, and I got stuck in a corner in the city I was currently in and couldn't get out
Trust me. The second game is so much better. Just look up videos or play the demo and see if it catches your interest.
Hey Codex92 hated to be an annoyance asking but are ya gonna post the next chapter soon?