Quelling the Raging Blizzard
Inside the Golden Oak Library, the rest of the Twilight's family had woken up, Spike in the kitchen preparing breakfast with Twilight Velvet. Riku had slightly recovered from the shock of meeting the jolly old man in the red suit and cap who delivers gifts to good children in a magical sleigh, though he wasn't as irritated anymore.
"You sure you don't want to catch a few more winks of sleep?" Shining Armor asked Riku. "You look exhausted."
"I'll be fine," he assured. "I stood up three days straight waiting for your sister, Spike, and Sora to make it out of that portal alive several months ago."
"Speaking of, since my parents aren't around..." Shining looked through the entrance to the kitchen, seeing both her mom and dad helping getting breakfast ready for everyone. "Apparently, Twilight and Cadence had held out on informing me that's she's also a protector of light...just like you and your friends?" Riku internally winced, prepared to face the wrath of his girlfriend's overprotective brother. At least he could manage dealing with him without any fear, unlike their mother, who was sweet on the outside, but one wrong move and she can unleash a demonic force hidden away inside if anything were to happen to her children. "How did Twilight get one of those Keyblades?"
"I would be lying if I said one came to her out of the blue, but that's not the case," Riku said. "There's a little ceremony that's made by those who are deemed Keyblade Masters, where they can offer a possibly potential wielder in the future by letting them touch their Keyblade. It can be done on purpose...or by complete accident." Shining Armor leered at him, confused by the young stallion's explanation to how one can gain the ability to wield a Keyblade. "Twi and I had a little playful banter and messed around, then she snagged my Keyblade from me and I took it back after I kissed her." The brother grumbled as his ears drooped in annoyance, not needing to hear her sister kissing the otherworldly pegasus stallion sitting across from him, who smirked at Shining's reaction. "Turns out that the ceremony can happen by accident if both the master and non-Keyblade wielder touch the Keyblade together."
"So she got one after you both touched that thing?" Shining repeated, still not understanding how the process worked with the brief description he was given.
"Not immediately," Riku corrected. "It can appear at any moment in time, whether it's days, or years like for Kairi and myself."
"What about Sora? Didn't he have that same ceremony thing happen to him?" Before Riku could answer, the entire library was struck with a very questionable cold wave, making everyone inside shiver for a moment before the chill disappeared.
"Shining, did you open one of the windows?" Twilight Velvet asked as she poked her head through the door frame.
"I didn't even open any of them. Some strange blast of cold air just...suddenly came in through solid walls..." While Shining pondered what had happened, his thoughts stopped as the unicorns, alicorn, and pegasus felt a powerful magical disturbance after the frigid cold front passed. "Wait...what was that?"
Twilight burst through the door panting heavily, looking very worried. "Riku, come quick! It happened to Aqua again! She just had one of the most powerful magical surges I've ever felt, and it could be dangerous!"
"Your fitness instructor had a magic surge?" Twilight Velvet questioned. "What kind of workouts are you two even doing? Magical stretches?"
"That was what that cold wave was?" Twilight nodded as Riku quickly stood up from the couch he was sitting on, running out of the door to the direction where the wave came from. It wasn't hard to notice where Aqua must have been, seeing the massive spire of ice several miles away. "What the heck? Aqua made that???"
"I don't know what happened," Twilight said. "We were taking a break from some sparring practice, and I surprisingly managed to knock her down, but while we talked, she began to think back to her past and was about to lose herself in another magic surge. She used Stop on me, and the next thing I knew, that cold shockwave came from that spire of ice, and the most uncontrollable magical energy I've ever felt."
"Crap. She's going to need our help. Go find your friends and I'll get Sora and Kairi. We'll meet down at the fields and make our way there." The mare gave a nod, Riku quickly flying back out to the fields where their Gummi ships were, knowing the two of them had spent the night together there after returning to Equestria.
"Twilight, what's going on?" Shining asked.
"I can't explain right now," she hurriedly said. "I don't want you, Cadence, Spike, or our parents leaving here until I tell you it's safe. You have no idea how dangerous Aqua can be with her magic surges."
As much as Shining didn't want to have her sister deal with a dangerous magical threat, if it involved a Keyblade wielder from outside of Equestria, who was a unicorn and having an uncontrollable magical surge with her kind of magic, Twilight and her friends seem to be the only ones who could stop Aqua. "Alright...Just don't get hurt."
"You know I've dealt with far worse villains than anything like this. I even knew Nightmare Moon would return, and I can take care of myself a lot more than before as an alicorn. Along with my Keyblade." Twilight quickly ran off to gather her friends to save Aqua from her enraged magical surge created from the traumatizing memories of her past.
"Shining, what is going on?" his mother asked, starting to get worried if her daughter had to leave and gather her friends, being the Elements of Harmony as well.
"Don't worry, mom. Twily can handle this," he assured, looking out in the distance, seeing the large pillar of ice jutting out from the ground in the distance and piercing through several clouds that were underneath it. "At least, I hope so..."
Inside of Kairi's Gummi ship, the couple deciding to stay inside after getting back last night, mostly due to Sora knowing he'll still be embarrassed half to death by Big Macintosh as he constantly mentioned his baby pictures. For a stallion who was more a pony of action rather than words, he can be quite vocal, but Sora knew in one of those photo albums back at the Apple family's house, there were bound to be several pictures of him as a baby he can tease him with too. It was odd to have him has an older brother figure to the teen, being an only child all his life, and since he was considered part of the Apple family, he had to admit the bickering was a bit enjoyable, only when he did the teasing to the "equally" strong stallion.
Resting in the bunk they shared, both their clothes folded on the shelf on the other side of the sleeping quarters, Sora opened his eyes first. He looked down at her, his hooves wrapped around her underneath the blanket they shared. After last night's bout of training and heading to Christmas Town to see Santa, they both talked about what Kairi and Riku were unable to believe was actually true. He got a kick out of Riku's face when Santa knew every single thing about him and couldn't help but rub it in his face. Eventually, they had both gotten pretty exhausted and fell right to sleep in each other's hooves.
Kairi yawned and began to wake up too, feeling Sora pulling her closer to him and brushing his lips against hers, giving each other a kiss. "Morning."
"Good morning." Kairi stretched out her back as she rolled over, wanting to stay together like this for a while longer, but they had more training to do. "What a day that was. I still can't get over the fact that you were right about Santa Claus."
"And you guys didn't believe me," Sora scoffed. "Riku owes me a few years worth of presents for almost making me believe he didn't exist."
"So you continue to act like a child when your're almost an adult." She felt him wince at the immature comment, giggling lightly as she grabbed his hooves. Suddenly, a cold blast of air hit them, making Kairi shriek in shock and move away from Sora, thinking he used a Blizzard spell to get her back for her comment. "Sora! You didn't have to use magic!"
"That wasn't me," Sora admitted. Kairi turned around, finding no sign of his Keyblade on him, shivering just as much as she was. "What the heck was that sudden chill? Is the dome of the flight deck cracked in your ship?"
"No..." The unicorn gasped and sat up, feeling an odd, dark presence, and it didn't seem to far away from them. "Uh oh."
"What's 'uh oh' mean?" Sora asked with worry, Kairi quickly levitating their clothing, smacking the pegasus in the face with his as she put on hers.
"I think I felt a magic surge, and it felt like it came from Aqua!" she quickly said, shocking Sora as he fumbled about putting his shirt, jacket, and pouch on him.
"Is it bad to give her an ice-related name besides Aqua at this point?" Sora questioned. "Because she is going to be considered the ice queen with all these surges."
"No, Sora. This one felt worse." Before he could ask what Kairi meant, they heard a hard knocking come from outside of the ship.
"Sora! Kairi! Get out here, quick!" Riku shouted. After getting dressed, Kairi opened the ramp to walk out, seeing Riku in a panic. "Twilight told me Aqua had another magic surge, and it's a really bad one."
"Wait, was that what the odd spike in coldness was?" Sora asked.
"And the large ice pillar out where we fought off that Dark Hide to save her back on Nightmare Night," the white stallion added as he pointed out in the general direction.
Sora and Kairi looked around the ship, gasping at the sight of the ice pillar in the distance. "Wow. That's as tall as a castle. How much magic does Aqua have packed as a unicorn?"
"That's not the worst of it," Kairi muttered, her limbs trembling at the power that came from the top of the pillar. "Her magical surge is far more stronger than it was the last time...It's out of control."
"What do you mean, Kairi?" Both pegasi didn't receive an answer, but they soon found out why as her eyes were glued at the apex of the pillar. They saw flashes of light come from inside at the top, both stallions' eyes widening as they saw small glimpses of darkness with each flash, growing darker and darker with each one. "Oh no. What's happening to Aqua?"
"We need to move. Now." The trio ran toward the pillar to save Aqua before whatever was bothering her grew far more worse than an overpowered magic surge. "Twilight and the others will meet us once she gets them."
Inside of the pillar, it was more than just a large stalagmite that rose from the ground by Aqua's magical surge. It was like a fortress: crystaline walls and floors made from the very ice itself, stairs leading to different levels of the structure that were clear, yet solid, the stairways spiraling up to several platforms until it reached the very top of the pillar. At the highest level, the sound of ice shattering and shooting up from the ground echoed in the silent "building", along with the sound of Aqua's screams and grunts, unleashing her rage from her nervous breakdown.
The ice shooting up kept making reflective mirrors appear around her, slicing through them or thrusting straight into them, shattering to pieces. To anyone else watching, she's destroying reflections of herself, but what she can see and hear in her manic state, she could only see the ones who had caused her, Terra, and Ventus so much pain. They continuously mocked her, screaming in anguish and slicing away a mirror to feel some form of relief for getting rid of the voices and illusions, but they kept going and made her more miserable, deteriorating her psyche further and further.
"Stop it!" Aqua shouted, snorting an icy mist as tears streamed down her cheeks, panting heavily as she wanted this all to stop. She couldn't calm down. She couldn't meditate and clear her mind. Xehanort and Vanitas keep appearing, controlling her two friends as they insulted her. "Give me back my friends, you bastard!"
"Your friends are long gone," Vanitas's voice rang out, a reflection of the armored assistant stood behind her, his helmet veiling his face. "Why would you even care about that wimp, Ventus? He was pathetic. I'm his better half, and I took control of our body."
"SHUT UP!" Aqua screamed, leaping into the air and diving into the mirror, shattering the ice to pieces, but Vanitas laughed, almost as if he physically was here, battling him and his instantaneous transportation after striking him only to counterattack from behind or above her.
"His darkness bested his light! And you think you're able to stop pure darkness like myself!? Don't make me laugh, Aqua!" She turned around and faced another mirror, watching Vanitas pulling off his helmet to reveal Ventus's face, his eyes yellow and not blue like the young teen's. He smirked, goading her into wasting her energy. "You won't find him. I may be dead, but someday, I'll come back straight from the darkness. His light is snuffed out, just like Terra's."
"You're wrong! I'll find him!" Aqua ran forward, dragging her Keyblade, now infused with ice to make it sharper and longer. "And if you come back, I'll just kill you!"
Vanitas cackled, making the unicorn more furious as she sliced the ice mirror into millions of shards. Aqua panted heavily and sobbed, unable to believe herself as she grew frustrated at herself. There was no way she could find Ventus's heart, not even with the others' help. The mirrors began moving closer, her magic acting on its own as a dark aura began to form around her, Xehanort appearing in each mirror as they grinned at her misery.
"You cannot save everyone," they said, making her look up as she turned around, facing every single clone of the old man mocking her, gripping her Keyblade and threatening to shatter the hilt in two with how hard she held it in her mouth. "Everything begins and ends in darkness, Aqua. Deny it all you want, but you will face your fate as well."
"Shut up," she growled, her eyes darting to every mirror, trying to find the real one. "I'm still alive. Why don't you face me like a real man, one-on-one, no holding back!? Quit plotting behind our backs and fight me with your real strength, not a powerful Keyblade! If you have the X-blade, you're nothing but a frail old man, who ended up betraying everyone all to gain power!"
"Even then, what good will it do you?" Xehanort asked, his question making the icy mare glower, as if she was literally shooting daggers made of ice from her eyes. "You should have met your end in the Realm of Darkness. Terra and Ventus were very helpful pawns in my plan, and so were you."
"Shut up!" she shouted.
"You're no Keyblade Master. You have no more power. I was beaten many times by Sora, as a Heartless, and a Nobody." Xehanort chuckled, the dark aura around Aqua growing stronger as her tears flowed more, her delusions endless torment breaking her down. "Just give up, Aqua. It's hopeless. I couldn't be stopped back then, and I will never be stopped now. Let your heart suffer in darkness. Let it end your pain of loss."
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Aqua screamed at the top of her lungs, slamming her Keyblade and slashing through the mirrors one by one.
She didn't even realize her blows were powered by her anger, her rage slowly releasing the darkness she had kept supressed inside of her, vowing to never use it as a protector of light. Aqua sliced through every mirror, Xehanort's mocking laughter echoing in the room as more and more ice mirrors appeared from the ground around her, never ceasing as her mind was further being broken by the torturous memories of the past. She finally stopped, panting heavily, her body finally giving in to her exhaustion as she collapsed on the ground, but she was still awake, still transformed in her uncontrolled magic surge state. One mirror stood before her, and in it was Xehanort, Ventus-Vanitas, and Terra-Xehanort, all three of them staring down at her defeated form.
Now feeling utterly hopeless, Aqua broke down and cried. She had failed everyone and only made more lives suffer due to her mistake. She couldn't save Terra, she couldn't find Ventus, and she was trapped in darkness for so many years. Many times, she always wanted her life to end. Her first time in the Realm of Darkness, she wanted to give up and let the darkness take her, but she still hung onto the hope of finding Terra and Ventus again and continued fighting. Even after wandering the darkness for over a decade and meeting the mysteriously black cloaked man on those dark shores, she heard Sora had been the world's saving grace for the past two years since that day, the same young boy she had met on Destiny Island, part of her grateful to know his fate lead him to being the great Keyblade wielder he is now, but she regretted ever putting him, Riku, and Kairi in all this.
Her despair made her aura grow stronger still, the darkness feeding off of her depression and anger toward Xehanort, Vanitas, and mostly to herself. The reflection of Xehanort, Ventus-Vanitas, and Terra-Xehanort disappeared, leaving behind her own reflection, sobbing heavily and curled in a ball and lamented on her worthless attempts to save Terra and Ventus.
"Poor Aqua," Aqua stopped crying, her ears perking up as she heard a voice. "Poor, innocent, precious little Aqua."
She gasped, hearing her own voice, but it sounded so different compared to her own. She stood up and looked around the empty room sans the only mirror still standing, unsure if this was another illusion of a voice or signs of her already going crazy as she dreamed. It sounded dark, but soothing, as if it was the voice of a mother she never knew. Aqua slowly turned back to the mirror, seeing her reflection and what she really looked like in her magically imbalanced form. Her face was matted with tears, her icicle-spiked hair was a mess, and all she saw in her reflection was a mare who was helpless and begged for someone to help her. The mirror didn't show her the dark aura around her, no longer angry, but it was powerful and began flowing into the mirror.
"H-Hello?" she said, her voice cracked from the constant screaming she made earlier in her frenzy. "W-Who's there?"
She turned around, facing away from the mirror. The reflection flashed briefly as the Aqua inside the mirror turned a shade darker. The darker mare turned her head, her blue eyes now a bright yellow as a sinister smirk grew on her lips. The reflection turned around, dropping the evil grin as she looked at the confused mare with concern.
"You've gone through so much pain, haven't you?" Aqua turned around, seeing herself in the mirror again, but it didn't mimic her movements. She cautiously approached the mirror, her reflection tsking and shaking her head as she got closer and surprising her. "Oh yes. I can clearly see the misery in your eyes. How tragic."
As she saw the yellow eyes, Aqua gasped as she stared at her darkness, having manifested from her anger and sorrow. She quickly picked up her Keyblade and aimed it at her reflection, her hold shaky from her exhaustion and sadness, her dark self's facade fading as she grinned.
"What's happening?" Aqua asked herself.
"You lost your mind, obviously," her reflection stated with a laugh. "Then again, maybe you lost it after two or three years being trapped in the Realm of Darkness. Solitude can really do that to someone for such a long time. I'm kind of surprised you didn't turn a rock into an awkward smiley face and called it Terra." The reflection snickered as she saw the irritated and pained look on Aqua's face, pinching a nerve at an actual idea she had one time while stuck in that horrible realm. "Get it? Because 'Terra' means 'earth'?"
"I get the stupid joke." Aqua shook her head, her head slightly clear, but her heart was still pained with her mistakes and losses. She looked back up, thinking the darker Aqua was nothing but an illusion, but she still stood there with a toothy grin, holding back her mocking laughter. "Who are you?"
"That's a dumb question to ask. And you said you're smart." The reflection poked herself in the head, making fun of Aqua as she crossed her eyes while sticking out her tongue, insulting her IQ. "I'm you, genius. Though, I'm not the pathetic woman you are right now, so I guess I'm not you at all either." Aqua growled and tried to thrust her Keyblade through the ice mirror, but her body wouldn't respond. She grunted as she tried to move, but her actions only caused her reflection to laugh harder. "I don't think so! You're not going to break this mirror and get rid of me so easily! Besides, you've got...oh, about three hundred or so years of bad luck with all the mirrors you broke today, so I'd tone down on the slicey-dicey and help come up with a good name to give me."
"Grgh!" Aqua grunted, giving up trying to attack, now able to move as long as she didn't have the intent to destroy her reflection, no matter how hard she desperately wanted to. "I'm talking to my darkness...This was...It's just like-"
"Ventus and Vanitas," her reflection finished Aqua's sentence. "But as much as I want my own body, I'd rather take over yours and not have to be separated from a part of me. It's like we're sisters! You always wanted a sister, but ooooh. No parents...Sucks to be you, doesn't it?" Aqua growled and raised her hoof up to smash the mirror, but like before, she wasn't able to move it. Instead, it moved on its own and she punched herself in the face, knocking her down on her side. "I said no breaking this mirror."
"H-How?" Aqua asked, utterly flabbergasted at how her own darkness was controlling her body while she was still controlling herself.
"Ooh! I got one! I'll be called Torrent! Since your name means 'water', mine would mean the same thing! Perfect! You are such a genius, Torrent." Aqua stood up and rubbed her cheek, watching Torrent congratulate herself for giving herself a name.
"...I'm so confused...Why am I talking to my darkness?" Aqua asked herself, slowly delving back to the theory she had already lost her mind and was still slashing away like a madwoman.
"Because you let your darkness out," Torrent said, Aqua turning around and facing her darkness with confusion.
"I never use darkness. Never!" Aqua said.
"But you did. Remember when you turned into this? Which I just adore, by the way." Torrent looked down at herself as she posed, getting a look at her body while playing with her icy mane and tail. "So spiky and shiny. Dark spines look really good on me."
"...I don't understand..." Torrent stopped admiring her body, giggling at Aqua's confusion.
"Oh, it didn't actually show up...At least, when you weren't so angry like earlier." Torrent's grin grew darker as the space of the mirror above her showed Aqua her furious rage inside of the frozen room for the last half hour. She watched as this moment of her magical surge caused her to subconsciously release her inner darkness, using it to put more power into her strikes to quell her anger, but only fueling it by accident. The mare's face went pale as she looked down at her hooves, now seeing the faint dark aura around her as most of it appeared around Torrent. "Yeah. Staying with the light can be too much of a bad thing. You forget you have darkness in your heart, and it just comes out like a tiny little scratch that grows into a terrible gash!...Ew, I just made that sound gross."
"N-No...I-I...I used the power of darkness?" Aqua was incredibly nervous now, even scared if anyone else knew about this. "How...? How did I not know?"
"Probably because you were so mad that all you cared about was killing Xehanort for revenge." The unicorn's face went pale as she looked up at her darkness, relishing the shock on Aqua's face. "Oh yes. Your emotions you had held back for so long brought your darkness out. All your twisted thoughts killing Xehanort..." Torrent shuddered in excitement as Aqua's thoughts to end Xehanort's life began to be made real through the screen above her Heartless in the mirror. She watched in horror at the gruesome woman she turned out to be with each kill, her stomach twisting and threatening to expel its contents from the sickening display. "You want that kind of power to do him in, don't you?"
"No...No," Aqua murmured. "I-I don't-"
"Don't lie to yourself!" Torrent shouted, slamming her hooves into the mirror, causing Aqua to fall on her back in surprise as her eyes were thankfully drawn away from the bloody scenes she didn't dare want to think about again. Unfortunately, her Heartless's face went from sadistically happy to outright enraged and manic. "That's what's been on your mind for the last several years after living in the Realm of Darkness for over thirteen years, right!? I know what you know, and I know what you'd love to do to Xehanort! Get back at him for killing your friends, continue protecting the light, and destroy the darkness! Those were your little plans!
"Well, here's some bad news, Aqua-" Several mirrors appeared around Aqua and Torrent's mirror, memories of her life, with Terra, Ventus, and Eraqus, and everywhere she went played around her. So many scenes, but the ones that had struck her the most were her times with her best friends, learning with her master, their final stand against Xehanort and Vanitas failing as she was the only one to make it out alive, and even her thoughts after everything she lost when she sacrificed herself to try to save Terra, her biggest regret to the present events that had occurred in her absence. "-sometimes, plans don't go the way you want.
"Life sucks in a way, and you've hidden back so much pain...You don't want to feel it anymore. Don't you?" As much as Aqua didn't want to agree with her own darkness, Torrent was right. After Ventus lost his heart and Terra's was completely engulfed by Xehanort's darkness, it tore her apart to have both her friends' fates end up this way, and she blamed herself in some way. She was supposed to watch Terra for her master, and ended up in a fight with him the moment she mentioned his concerns. They fought and practically stopped Xehanort's plan to forge the X-blade, but at a great cost to their lives. And if she wasn't so concerned with saving Terra to help him fight back against Xehanort when he took possession of him, she could have prevented the events that had happened a couple years back if she didn't save him. She deserved to be lost in darkness after causing so much pain to everyone else, including herself. "I know you do. I can tell."
Aqua began to shed more tears, bringing a hoof to her chest as her heart ached, wishing things would go back to the way they were. It hurt her so much. Everything she knew, everyone she had known growing up, including Ventus for only a few months, her home. It was gone. She began to question why she kept fighting, why she kept surviving in the Realm of Darkness after all she did was for nothing. She dug into her pockets and pulled out her Wayfinder, her hoof trembling as she stared at the blue star she made for herself.
"I-I..." Aqua sniffled, imagining Terra and Aqua standing before her, holding out their Wayfinders in their hands. She choked back a sob, feeling so alone, more so than when she had to be on her own to leave Ventus in Castle Oblivion to keep him safe and protect the worlds from darkness by herself. She couldn't hold back her emotions anymore and cried, dropping her Wayfinder, burying her face in her hooves as she will never see her friends again. She'll never see her family again. "I-I don't...I can't..."
"Shhhhhh...It's ok, Aqua," Torrent cooed, her mirror slowly approaching the sobbing unicorn. She pressed her hooves against the reflective ice as Aqua looked up at her, her eyes filled with pain she had bottled up for so many years. "I know it hurts...I can help make the pain go away. Just reach out and touch my hooves, and everything will be all better."
"W-Why...s-should I trust y-you...?" Aqua asked, her sorrow making her forget she was speaking with her darkness, seeking out any kind of comfort in the emotional state she was in.
"Because I am you." Torrent's color grew brighter, matching Aqua's as her actual reflection. No longer willing to see, or remember, the painful memories still playing around her, Aqua shakily reached a hoof out to her reflection, pressing it lightly against the cold ice. She shut her eyes, the darkness in the mirror began to seep into her body as Aqua begged for Torrent's help, the dark mare grinning widely as she was accepted by her. "There we go...Time to forget about those awful, painful memories..."
Down at the base of the pillar, Sora, Riku, and Kairi looked up at the massive structure, surprised to see what looked like a doorway to access the inside of the pillar. "This is insane. Can magical surges make a fortress if there was enough anger involved?"
"Sora, I don't think making something like this is possible through Equestrian magic," Kairi said. "But this is odd. This pillar doesn't even look hollow and there's an entrance."
"Hey!" Turning around, the trio spotted Twilight and her friends heading their way, all of them looking up at the ice pillar as they got closer to it. "Whoa. Aqua made this thing with a magic surge?"
"That's a whole lot of ice cubes to make for cold drinks," Pinkie commented. "And it's the middle of winter."
"What happened to Aqua?" Rarity asked. "She was fine when she left. You didn't really give us much detail, Twilight."
"I had to rush, but I don't think there's much time left." Twilight turned to Kairi, who shook her head in response to her theory. "Aqua and I talked a little about our lives as apprentices, then she suddenly began to show signs of another magical surge. I thought I could help, but she literally Stopped me, and then this pillar appeared." As the alicorn got a better look at the base, she raised a brow in confusion at the doorway. "Why is there a door?"
"It's a dungeon!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Let's get in there and find some treasures to beat the big baddie inside!"
"Pinkie!" everyone shouted, chiding the mare for her silliness when the matter was deadly serious.
"Oh. Right," the earth pony said with an apologetic look. "We gotta help Aqua!"
Sora tried to push the door open, but the crystal ice wouldn't budge. "Urgh. Gonna need a running start. Riku, let's bash our way through."
"Right." Both pegasi backed away a good distance to prepare to ram through the doorway with their combined strength.
As they began to charge, Twilight noticed a doorknob hidden well within the door, using her magic to twist the knob. "Or we could just go right on in."
The alicorn opened the door right as Sora and Riku went right through, their momentum thrown off as they expected to at least ram through. They collided with the wall on the other end of the pillar, collapsed in a heap as they groaned in pain.
"We made it," Sora slurred, his eyes spinning in his head.
The girls made their way inside as the boys got up off each other, surprised to see that the inside of the pillar wasn't all completely ice or hollow. Stairs made of clear ice rose up to several floors, each with a clear flooring that reached a few stories high, though the top floor, where Aqua was at, had a crystalized floor that made it impossible to see where she was or what she could be doing.
"Wow. This place is like a castle," Rainbow commented. "Only, there's just one boring floor after another."
"Aww man," Pinkie whined. "No freedom of exploration. Why must everything be so linear nowadays!? We want exploration, darn it!"
Kairi gasped as the darkness began growing at the top of the ice castle, her magical surge inducing her darkness to come out as she failed to keep it locked away. "We have to go! Aqua needs us!"
"Right. Let's go, everyone!" Sora, Riku, and Kairi lead the way as they ran up the stairs, Twilight and her friends following in case there was any dangerous threats.
As luck would have it, upon reaching the second floor of the structure, Heartless appeared to stop their raid, many of them magical or Blizzard-type Heartless. And if there were Heartless, that meant there were more inside that needed to be dealt with, the Elements of Harmony staying back as they let the expert Keyblade wielders handled them, Twilight summoning her own Keyblade in case any of them get closer to her friends. Their first encounter had the simple elemental magic Heartless in great numbers: Red Nocturnes, Blue Raphsodies, Yellow Operas, and Green Requiems, along with four Wizards behind them. The Wizards were basically the garbs and hat of a typical wizard, though their eyes are unseen on their black faces while the collar of their robes made it look like a row of jagged teeth, the Heartless Emblem made apparent on their chests. The weaker mages were easily dealt with as they only controlled one element, even destroying the Green Requiems before they were able to heal any damage done to their allies, but the Wizards were a pain with their teleporting around the room, sometimes failing as they floated in a daze, unleashing all three variants of the elemental spells to hit the Keyblade wielders.
With the wave dealt with, they quickly moved up to the third floor, stopped again by another wave of Heartless. This time, there were Tornado Steps, Heartless that could use Aero spells along with physical blows using the magical power, Crescendos, horn-like Heartless that looks like a bloated music note that could use its honking sounds to reinforce more Heartless or heal allies, and a few Fortunetellers, looking exactly like how they are named as they floated around on their crystal balls. Sora knew to deal with the Crescendos first, their ability to heal the other Heartless would further halt their progress and risk having Aqua hurt herself even further, stomping down on one that was about to heal the Tornado Steps Riku and Kairi were attacking, redirecting it's healing music notes to him and his friends for a rejuvenating boost of energy. The Fortunetellers flew about, shooting Blizzard shards down at them or swinging their crystal ball to attack up close, but their spells were deflected back and attacks avoided once Sora was finished with the Crescendos.
The longer flight up to the next floor was met with Bookmasters, Heartless connected to a spellbook that shot magic from the pages it finds or uses the book itself as a weapon, along with a group of more mage-like Heartless: Silver Rocks, small with white bodies that could disappear and reappear over anyone in a ball of light, creating an explosion that harmed its victims, Emerald Blues, Aero-based mage Heartless that can unleash powerful tornadoes than a Tornado Step could, its body green with streaks of white along its left side, and Crimson Jazzes, Fire-based Heartless that creates Fire mines around their opponent, produce a flaming shockwave to push back anyone that gets close to it, and when desperate, create three large mines around them, pushing the trio of fireballs into their enemy to hit them with triple the blast of a normal one. This group was much harder due to the Crimson Jazzes, constantly creating mines, though unable to harm as they are formed, their explosions kept Sora, Riku, and Kairi on their hooves to avoid getting blown up while not getting hit by the tiny balls of light around them and getting sucked into powerful Aero spells.
One of the Silver Rocks noticed Twilight, disappearing in a flash and appearing right in front of the alicorn in a small ball of light. "GAH! Get away!"
She swung her Keyblade at it, grabbing the small orb of dangerous light in the teeth of the blade. Her friends shrieked in terror as the Heartless was now attached to her weapon, though it blows up when someone gets too close to it.
"Twilight, get rid of that thing!" Applejack exclaimed.
"It's gonna blow!" Rainbow added.
"Wait, shouldn't it have blown up in Twilight's face?" Pinkie asked. Twilight quickly swung her blade again, only this time, the orb flung off her weapon and into a Crimson Jazz, the Silver Rock self destructing in its confusion, taking it's red Heartless ally with it. "Ooooh! Reverse bombs! These Heartless aren't all that smart."
"Maybe next time, darling, DON'T GRAB ONE OF THOSE THINGS WITH YOUR KEYBLADE AGAIN!" Rarity shouted, alerting more Silver Rocks as they appeared around the defenseless ponies. "I should not do that again if we're surrounded by enemies again."
Coming up with an idea, Twilight flew around and grabbed the floating orb mines, attaching all of them to her Keyblade. "Sora! Riku! Kairi! Heads up!"
The trio in the middle of the field of mines quickly leapt out of the way at Twilight's call. The alicorn swung her Keyblade hard in the direction of the other Heartless, using her magic to guide each flung orb directly into them. The Silver Rocks blew up and inflicted damage upon their own kind, some that were gravely injured from getting struck by Sora, Riku, or Kairi defeated from the blast alone. The ones that survived were dazed from the self destruction, quickly taken out before they snapped out of it and unleashed their powerful spells.
Sora let out a heavy sigh of relief after taking the third wave out. "I hate Crimson Jazzes. Fire mines are not fun to avoid."
"Great thinking clumping up the Silver Rocks," Riku commented, Twilight grinning at her assistance. "Though, next time, don't clump them up altogether like that. Those things are hair triggers if they end up touching each other as well."
Her grin turned into a frown, grumbling in annoyance. "Hey, at least I helped you avoid wasting more energy evading those flare mines!"
"Hey, quit your squabbling and let's keep going!" Rainbow reminded as she flew to the stairs leading all the way up to the top.
After they climbed the final and longest staircase, they ran around the crystal hall until they found a door leading them inside of the room where Aqua was hiding. "Girls, let us go first," Kairi warned. "Whatever's in there with Aqua...it's really powerful."
"Right. We'll be out here," Fluttershy timidly said, shivering in fright. "So, you know, we won't...get in the way?"
"Or get turned into Heartless," Applejack added.
"And then have a Nobody!" Pinkie chimed in. "Ooh, wait, if they're pony Nobodies, do we call them 'Noponies'? Or are they still called Nobodies?"
"Pinkie, enough with the tangents!" Riku scolded, the earth pony zipping her lips shut, a zipping sound made as she ran her hoof over her lips. "It's bad enough to have one comic reliever in the group, but you're ten times worse than Sora."
"Yeah." After a moment, Sora realized Riku had called him out as the comic relief in their own friendship circle, and insulted him by saying he wasn't as funny as Pinkie. "Hey!"
"Boys, cut it out!" Kairi hissed. "Let's save Aqua and quit goofing around."
Both stallions prepared themselves as Kairi slowly opened the doors to the room, everyone staying cautious in case there was another Heartless attack. Inside of the large room, the entire room was formed of crystalized ice, shimmering a light blue and white along its walls, floor, and ceiling. In the center of the room, they found Aqua sitting with her back turned to everyone, though her body looked a bit darker, which made them all worry. Sora, Kairi, Riku, and Twilight entered first, their Keyblades held firmly as they slowly walked in the room, but right as Rainbow was about to follow them, a light shined between her and the room, ramming into an invisible wall.
"Ow!" Rainbow rubbed her nose, staring at the barrier that kept the others from entering the room. "What the hay!?"
"Oh no. Not another one of those mysterious barrier things like the one when Trixie fought Sora," Rarity said.
Applejack tried to buck the magical wall, but it didn't budge and made her back hooves sore from the impact. "Urgh...Eeyup. We're stuck out here."
"But Twilight's in there!" Fluttershy said in a panic. "She can't handle fights with anything if it's too dangerous for us!"
The five mares blocked out tried to call out to them, but the magical barrier was soundproof, the four Keyblade wielders inside unable to hear them. They were trapped inside a room with a magically out of control unicorn, with the powers of a Keyblade Master and more dangerous spells that Twilight has probably never seen. The darker coat and icicles were worrisome enough, but all four Keyblade wielders could sense the darkness that came from Aqua, unless it wasn't Aqua they were looking at.
"Aqua?" Sora called out. She didn't respond. "Aqua, are you alright?"
More silence. Sora was about to step forward and get her attention, only to freeze as they heard Aqua begin to chuckle, her voice a bit deeper than usual, and sounded a lot more sinister than how she originally sounds. Sora stepped back and readied his Keyblade as the icy mare stood up and began to turn around, her eyes closed.
"Sorry, but Aqua's not in at the moment. But, you can call me-" She opened her eyes, everyone gasping as they were yellow like a Heartless's instead of blue. "-Torrent."
"Her eyes," Twilight muttered, backing away slightly while Riku, Sora, and Kairi stood their ground.
"Darkness had taken control of her," Riku said. "I knew something didn't look right with how she looked, but that magic surge must have brought it out with whatever pain she was in."
"You all should have just stayed outside of my little palace," Torrent said as she slowly paced around. "But Riku is right. I was created by Aqua through her little angry fit, but I've been around for much, much longer than her first time turning into this." The dark mare flipped her mane and tail, admiring herself as she monologued. "You have no idea how many times I wanted Aqua to at least try on makeup for once, or dress up into something as gorgeous as I am right now."
"Give us back Aqua!" Sora exclaimed.
"Like I said, she's not here. She's taking a little nap," Torrent said. "A little dark nap." Sora growled as he, Riku, and Kairi were ready to rush forward and destroy Aqua's darkness. "It's going to take a little while for me to take full control, but that won't matter for long. All her pain and suffering will end soon. It's what she wants, after all."
"W-What are you talking about?" Kairi asked. "She wants to end her life?"
"Oh! Didn't any of you know?" Torrent asked. "She told you what happened, right?"
"Of course she did," Riku said.
"Everything important that happened after..." It took them a moment to realize it, but now they could see that Aqua's past was a lot more painful than retelling what happened to her when they found her and her sorrowful state when she got drunk back in Manehattan.
"Yup. It ran pretty deep," Torrent giggled as she saw the pitiful expressions on their faces, even the ones on the mares outside of the room as they could hear and see everything inside outside of the impenetrable barrier. "It didn't help her heartache much after spending nearly fifteen years in isolation in a realm filled with no life but Heartless and dreary colors day in and day out. And let's not forget the blame she puts on herself for everything she did back then that lead up to the events of today.
"She lost a lot more than you realize. She didn't just lose two friends, her master, and her self-respect as a Keyblade Master." Torrent stopped pacing as she stood back in the center of the room. "She lost her family, her home, and all hope of ever being reunited with any of them."
The look on their faces made Torrent grin, none of them ever putting any thought into how badly Aqua truly felt alone for so long. How she managed to keep holding back her pain and not even letting it out to them without falling into such despair was astounding to them. Aqua was supposed to be a Keyblade Master, a powerful wielder of a weapon that defends against the darkness, never showing any weakness no matter what happens, but with so much pain losing her friends and master, the world she lived in to train as a Keyblade Master changed into another world that only she knows, and surviving on her own in the Realm of Darkness, they didn't even know she was suffering this badly.
"...Aqua..." Riku uttered. "...How did we not see just how deep those emotional wounds were...?"
"She hid her sadness pretty well, even if only a small bit of it comes out," Torrent answered. "Aqua tries to be this strong, independent woman, born to lead future Keyblade wielders to 'protect all worlds from darkness', but the sad truth is that her hopes are nothing but dreams that can never be reached." She lifted up Aqua's Wayfinder with her magic, her aura a dark shade of blue, waving it mockingly in front of the young generation of Keyblade wielders. "She's just a little girl trapped in a thirty-something year old's body, believing that, one day, she'll be reunited with at least one of her dear friends, and the worlds would be at peace...
"Who was she kidding? There's no way any of them will come back." Torrent began dramatically posing, mocking Aqua while infuriating her foes. "'Ven, I'll bring you back. I promise.' 'I'll find your heart, Ventus.' Blah blah blah blah blah! She's so dead set on bringing that twerp back, but it's been so many years, and there's not even a single, solitary sliver of a chance that kid's still alive."
"How do you know!?" Sora shouted. "I lost my heart saving Kairi, but I found her light and was brought back!"
"You were with a Princess of Heart, Sora! You were lucky she was that close to you!" Torrent argued back, leering at Kairi in disgust. "A heart of pure light. Not a sprinkle of darkness lying inside." She looked at the blue charm curiously. "Do you know how the worlds-no, all worlds began?...Darkness. Before light was even a thing, before any life, this all used to be just one big black expanse of darkness. Every world began in darkness, and eventually, it will also end. That's why hearts are weak: always scrounging for light to cling on to, but in the end, darkness will engulf them, especially when the heart aches for a dream that can never be a reality."
Sora rolled his eyes and growled in irritation, sick of hearing this kind of speech from anyone who thinks they know darkness is the ultimate power. "I am getting sick of this same old song and dance! No matter how weak a heart may be, it can always find its way out of the darkness! Even if Kairi's heart is pure light, I found my way to her and came back! Riku had been controlled by Ansem, Xehanort's Heartless, and he managed to fight it back and control it!" Behind him, Riku and Kairi nodded, knowing Sora was one to never give up on anyone, neither his friends or himself. "Aqua would never give up and let the Realm of Darkness stop her! She fought for so long to survive, and she had a reason to keep going! If she believes Ventus can be saved, then so do I! Together, we'll be able to find his heart, guide it back with our light, and bring him back!"
"Sora's right," Riku said, raising his Keyblade as he stood in his fighting stance. "He didn't stop believing in me, and I managed to find myself again. Even after everything I had done, everything I said under the influence of my anger, my jealousy, my darkness...he still called me his friend and vowed to bring me back! He's done a lot to save many worlds from darkness, and I know he's too stubborn to give up when someone or some world needs help!"
"And there was one thing you forgot about, Torrent," Kairi added. "Darkness can't exist without light, and vice-versa. So, in a way, you're wrong about how all the worlds are born! Light and darkness are eternal, and deep in every heart, there's a light that can never be snuffed out, no matter how much damage has been done to it! Aqua's still inside, and I'll do everything in my power, both as a Keyblade Master and a Princess of Heart, to save her, and purge you and all her pain out of her heart!"
"Yeah, you guys tell her!" Rainbow cheered, even if they couldn't hear her.
"We all want to help you, Aqua!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I want to see that real smile of yours, not the fake one you keep putting on! I'll even throw you and Ventus a party when you're reunited!"
Torrent stared at the battle ready Keyblade wielders, even Twilight stood her ground despite her beginner status as a warrior of light. She wasn't impressed with their speech, letting out an annoyed sigh as she grabbed the Wayfinder in her hoof. The mare tossed it around in her hoof a little, keeping her eye on the four Keyblade wielders and their determined gazes.
"...You're all a bunch of fools...Ventus-" Torrent tossed the Wayfinder in the air, her eyes glowing menacingly as she sneered. "-is forever gone!" In her raised hoof, a dark aura appeared as a Keyblade formed in her grasp, but it wasn't the same one that her master used. It was a dangerously sharp, dark blue blade, shaped like a tear drop, a streak of red curving down around it. The hilt was a dull gray, the guard's edges shaped like the bottom of a rushing waterfall hitting the water below, only the color was black, as if it was polluted. "He's dead, just like Terra and Eraqus!"
Everyone gasped in shock as the Wayfinder came falling down in front of Torrent. She then slashed the charm to pieces, destroying Aqua's memento she had made for herself to remind her that her friends would always be there for her. Torrent grinned menacingly, her pupils shrunk as she leered, feeling delight at the shocked expressions on their faces. She levitated her blade by her side, posing in Aqua's fighting stance as if to mock them by fighting in her style. Sora growled, taking initiative and deciding to end this Heartless until there wasn't a trace of it left.
"You're going to regret that, Torrent!" Sora shouted as he leapt up in the air, diving down to slam his Keyblade down on her.
Torrent's horn glowed, and right as Sora was about to connect his blade to her head, a block of ice shot up in front of the mare and struck the teen hard in the stomach. The wind was knocked out of him as he struggled to cough or breath, his eyes wide in surprise as the dark unicorn mare approached him with a sickening look of a maniac on her face.
"You want to play first, 'hero'?" she asked, chuckling at the gasping pegasus stuck on the block of ice. "Then let's play!"
With a flick of her Keyblade, the block shot a powerful torrent of ice water into Sora's abdomen, sending the teen flying back across the room at blinding speeds. Riku barely avoided getting rammed into, surprised at how swift Torrent was with her attacks, watching his best friend slam into the wall. Growling, he ran forward as Kairi and Twilight checked on Sora, staying cautious of any ice-based tricks Torrent might have.
"It's going to take more than ice water to stop us!" Riku exclaimed. Torrent did nothing as she smirked, not even raising her Keyblade to defend herself. Riku swung and struck her, only for the mare's body to shatter to pieces of ice, stunning the stallion in surprise as he looked around him. "What the heck? Where'd she go!?"
They heard her cackle echo around the room, but found no sign of her. While Riku tried to search for her, Kairi spotted something move around the shards of ice that were laid out inside of the room. She gasped as she saw Torrent reform from those same shards of ice behind him.
"Riku, behind you!" Riku quickly spun around to slash at her reappearing form, but it was another fake as it shattered to pieces. "What!?"
"Up here, sweetie!" Torrent suddenly shot down from the ceiling, slamming Riku into the ground. With him pinned to the ground, she thrust her Keyblade into the floor mere inches from the stallion's muzzle as she leaned her head down to his. "Just who do you think you're dealing with? I'm just like Aqua: a Keyblade Master, with far more skill than you can possibly imagine...Then again, our names mean 'water' when we use Blizzard spells. How ironic is that?" Riku grunted as he slashed at Torrent, the mare flipping off of him before his strike connected. "Easy there, little man. That's a weapon you have there, not a toy."
Riku vaulted back up on his hooves and charged forward again, but with each strike he made, all Torrent did was evade him, mocking him with each miss. Sora managed to snap out of his daze as he began to breathe normally, shaking his head so his vision would clear up.
"That hurt," he said.
"At least we don't have to worry about our friends getting hurt by that thing," Kairi said as she pointed at the barrier blocking the rest of the mares out. "But Twilight's with us, and she's not ready to deal with someone like Torrent...Aqua's darkness."
"But if we attack Torrent, wouldn't we also be hurting Aqua?" Twilight asked. "If we kill Torrent...Do we also kill Aqua?"
"That won't happen," Sora said as he stood back up. "Remember how Kairi saved you, Twilight? She can use her light and purge Torrent out of Aqua...Right?"
"I think it's worth a try," Kairi said. "But if I'm going to pull off what I did last time, I'm going to need to concentrate my light again. I may have to unleash every bit of it."
"Then I won't let that happen!" Gasping in surprise, Torrent appeared underneath them through the shards on the floor, Sora, Kairi, and Twilight backing away a far enough distance as she slashed at them. Sora turned to look at where Riku was fighting her, seeing a clone of her made of ice shards fighting back, but he was too busy in the fight against the fake to realize it. "I have ears and eyes in the back of my head, or more likely, in this very room! Good luck trying to make any plans when I can see and hear everything you try to come up with to stop me!"
"You're more annoying than that Nobody in Organization XIII with that sitar for a weapon," Sora grumbled.
"Annoying like this!?" Torrent slammed her Keyblade down to the ground, sending several ice shards floating up in the air. They began to form into clones of the dark mare, the reflection of the light inside the shards making it look like the real unicorn from a distance as they surrounded Sora. "Dance, ice, dance!"
"Oh, come on! Not cool!" Before Sora could whine any further, being reminded of Demyx's annoying water clone attack, the ice clones of Torrent began attacking, quickly defending as he was forced away from Twilight and Kairi.
"Now, who's going to be my first target?" Torrent questioned herself as she rubbed her chin in thought. While the clones attacked Sora, the one Riku fought fell apart after doing its job, confusing the stallion until he saw the real mare in front of Twilight and Kairi. "Two princesses: one who has that sickening pure light and one who only has the title because of her brain."
"Hey, I earned my right as an alicorn princess through my studies!" Twilight exclaimed, taking offense to her comment. "You're lucky we don't have the Elements of Harmony, otherwise we'd kill you and save Aqua on the spot!"
"Yes, but weren't your friends also supposed to help you with those little gems?" Torrent asked rhetorically, pointing to the blocked passage in the room. Twilight winced, forgetting that her friends were still stuck out there, but thankfully safe from harm. "Yeah. That's a conundrum if that scenario were to happen, wouldn't it?"
"Well, I can fight!" The alicorn held her Keyblade high. "Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Aqua had trained me enough for me to know the basics! That has to count for something!"
Torrent began laughing uproariously at Twilight's bravado, nearly falling over from laughing so hard. "'Ooh! I know the basics of fighting!' Y-You think that-" She broke out into laughter again, but as she went silent, she glared at the alicorn, her Keyblade swiftly striking Twilight's and sending it soaring out of her aura. Kairi tried to defend Twilight, but Torrent sent her flying across the room with an ice block smacking her from the side, the dark mare pressing the teeth of her Keyblade against Twilight's neck. "There's a difference between experience and knowledge. Take Aqua's 'experience' in the Realm of Darkness. No sane person, or pastel colored grass chewer like yourself, could even survive a day with just 'basic training'. What you read in a book or learn from a teacher is far different than what it's like out in the field.
"Why you have a Keyblade with that much pathetic power is beyond me." Riku shouted as he rushed Torrent, not allowing him to harm a single hair on his girlfriend. Without even turning to look at him, Torrent summoned another ice block, slamming it down in his path to keep him from getting closer. He tried going around or over it, but it followed his every movement, unable to break through the tough cube of frozen ice kept held together with her magic. "It's as incomplete as the X-blade Xehanort tried to make when Vanitas merged with Ventus."
"I-Incomplete?" Twilight asked, keeping her head still as her eyes looked over to her flung Keyblade.
"It's pathetic. What amount of damage can you do to a mere Shadow with that worthless piece of junk?" Twilight looked over at her friends, seeing them all panic as her neck was threatened to get slit by the dark Keyblade.
She looked back at Torrent, staring defiantly at her. "It's not pathetic. You have no idea how powerful one can be just from looks alone. Experience or not, as long as I know my friends are safe from creatures like you, it doesn't matter if I'm strong or weak." Her eyes turned to Sora valiantly holding off the ice clones, Riku struggling desperately to get around the annoying block of ice constantly flying with him, and Kairi waking up from her daze after getting knocked back earlier. "My heart's strong with my friends by my side. Without them, I wouldn't have gotten where I am now. My friends are my power, and it only grows stronger and stronger as long as we're forever connected!"
Torrent rolled her eyes at the boring speech. "'My friends are my power.' Meh meh meh meh! That's a load of crap!"
Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering alerted Torrent to the sound. In the center of the scattered shards of her clones fighting Sora, the stallion glowed brightly as his clothes began to change color. Transformed into his Harmony Form, he summoned the Keyblades of Harmony in their respective places, along with the Ultima Keyblade in his maw. The light that came from the six Keyblades around the pegasus brought a chill down Torrent's spine, quickly looking back to Twilight, the alicorn smirking at her shock.
"Try telling that to Sora," she said. "How else do you think he managed to survive in the past?"
"W-What are those?" Torrent asked. "What is that!?"
"You must have forgotten there was a second set of Elements that we had, being Aqua's darkness and all." Twilight called her Keyblade back in her hoof, pulling her neck back and struck Torrent's away from her as she flew back. "Sora can wield all six of them and use the power of light at once: the Keyblades of Harmony with the power of Harmony Form!"
Torrent looked back at Sora, the stallion disappearing and reappearing in front of her in a millisecond. He struck, only for the cowardly dark mare to use a clone in her place to avoid getting hit by the Keyblades of Laughter and Honesty in a cross-slash. As he used his Keyblades to slice away the block annoying Riku and healing himself and his allies with his Curaga spell, Torrent stared at the form she had heard of from inside Aqua.
"So, this is that Harmony Form..." She growled, her mane and tail straightening and sharpening themselves in irritation. "These are his Drive Forms he talked about...All I have to do is wait it out and he'll turn back to normal...That means he's the first to go if he can unleash such power like that on a whim. So, how about I even the odds?"
With her magic raising all the ice shards left behind by her clones, she brought them to her. They began to form into solid blades, each matching her Keyblade in shape and design, shimmering brightly as they were reinforced to stay solid. She mimicked his style, grabbing two with her forehooves as she stood on her hind legs, hovered two over her back like wings and two above her head, gripping her Keyblade in her maw.
"She's mimicking Sora," Kairi said. "Why?"
"Doesn't matter." Sora spun the Keyblades of Harmony around, clashing the blades over his head before setting them back in their proper placements. "Kairi, start concentrating on that spell while I knock this monster down a peg. Riku, watch her back."
"Right." Even though Torrent heard their plan, it didn't matter in the long run.
"Let's go, little hero!" the unicorn mocked, repeating the sword clash he did earlier. "Show me your power!"
"With pleasure, Heartless!" Sora ran forward, dragging the Keyblades down against the ground as they created sparks of light behind him.
Torrent did the same as she charged forward with sparks of darkness behind her, both sets of blades clashing with each other as sparks from both sides sprayed out around them. They pushed back against each other before breaking away, repeatedly rushing forward and clashing as they moved about the room in a blur.
"Kairi, now or never!" Riku said as he kept a close watch of her surroundings, Twilight helping assist him to the best of her ability.
"Ok." Kairi closed her eyes and began focusing on the light in her heart, her Keyblade glowing brightly as pure light began charging into it.
Sora flew after Torrent, his Keyblades clashing with her swords of ice as he tried to get in close to knock the mare's block off. Being as skilled as Aqua, knowing every move she does and more, Torrent was a difficult Heartless with her power enhanced by the crystalized ice the room was made of. Not even his Firaga spells he occasionally fired couldn't melt the incredibly tough ice as they missed and exploded upon contact.
Their floating weapons began to fly around the room trying to strike their opponent, only being blocked or deflected by the opposing side as the pegasus and unicorn met in the center of the room, clashing with their Keyblades. Sparks lit up the center as their strikes were swift, blocking each other with each movement.
"I'm actually quite impressed!" Torrent said as their blades struck again, pushing each other back. "In fact, this is a little bit fun."
"What the heck are you!?" Sora shouted, shoving Torrent back as he went back to attacking.
"I'm a side of Aqua she's suppressed, remember!?" the mare asked, even as she kept fighting. "She's always so serious and mature, but I'm the part of her who wants fun, excitement, anything that she thought wasn't disciplined enough while being a Keyblade Master! But most of all-" After another strike, they aimed their Keyblades at each other, Firaga charged in Sora's while Blizzaga was charged in hers, Torrent's eyes glowing menacingly with a sadistic, toothy grin on her face. "-I'm the part of her that is her bloodlust!"
"What?" Both spells fired, causing an explosion of smoke and ice shards, sending them both sliding back across the ground. Sora blew the smoke away with his wings, calling back his Keyblades as Torrent called back her ice Keyblades, keeping the manic grin on her face at his shock. "What do you mean her bloodlust!?"
"You're really clueless," she snorted. "Trapped in darkness for so long, it made her irate and starving for companionship. For so many years, she had been craving revenge. Revenge for what Xehanort did to her, her friends, her home, everything! She tried to hold back that monster inside, which is yours truly, having many wonderful, juicy images of bashing Xehanort's skull in on the ground, slicing him into pieces until his cold, dead heart was all that was left, impaling him over and over again with her Keyblade!" Torrent shuddered with each sickening thought that came into Aqua's mind, Sora's face paling along with the others, unable to believe Aqua was that desperate for revenge. "It made her feel alive, but she kept it back because it was immoral. I'm doing her a favor whenever that old fart does decide to show himself again."
"...Aqua...She would never..." Sora couldn't find the words to express how shocked he and everyone else felt. "Aqua, just how badly hurt ARE you?"
"It's too bad you'll never know. By now, her heart will fully submit to me, and I'll be free to do whatever I please!" Torrent lifted her Keyblade in the air, creating a large chunk of ice. "And my first priority is to kill you, your friends, and create my own Heartless army!"
She slammed the ice down to the ground, creating an explosion of fog in the room. Torrent's cackle echoed around them, Sora readying his Keyblades for any sneak attacks through the dense fog. It was hard for him to move as well, being a pegasus that can manipulate clouds as well, it was like he was in a murky swamp that slowed him down.
"Crap. Great day to be a pegasus through an icy fog," he mumbled to himself.
While he expected her to attack him, it didn't come at all. Either she was biding her time and using this as a ploy until his Drive gauge ran out, or waiting for the right moment to stab him in the back. He gasped when he realized that neither option was the one Torrent would do, remembering that she could hear any one of them talking inside this room. Kairi was in the middle of concentrating on focusing her light to purge her from Aqua's body, and while he was too busy defending himself, Kairi was helpless with the fog obscuring hers, Riku's, and Twilight's vision, none of them knowing where she could be attacking from.
Sora quickly flew to the bright light through the fog, the light coming from Kairi like a beacon through the darkness. They heard her cackle again, and as he got closer, he was right as he saw a glint of light reflect off of Kairi's light, coming from a reflection from one of the ice Keyblades in Torrent's grasp.
"Kairi, look out!" Sora called out.
As the fog suddenly lifted, he gasped as he saw no sign of Torrent or an ice impersonation of her blade above the startled mares and stallion. It was a floating shard of ice, the mare tricking him and catching him right in her trap.
"Surprise!" Torrent called out, rushing out from the wall in front of him, catching Sora off guard as he screamed in pain, the six Keyblades made of ice stabbing into him.
He went soaring across the room until he hit the other side of the wall, the blades freezing his limbs in place as they began draining his energy away. He could barely move his legs to try to pull them out, his grasp on his Harmony Form slipping away from him as he tried to will the Keyblades of Harmony into freeing him. The blades were too heavily enchanted, unable to break him free, Torrent chuckling in delight as she watched him struggle.
"Sora!" Riku shouted as he flew forward, only to get slammed into an ice block, sending him tumbling back to Twilight and Kairi, the pink unicorn slightly losing her focus as she watched Sora struggle to break free.
Twilight wanted to help, but she was no match for Torrent, not even able to provide a distraction for Sora to escape. Kairi continued focusing, as much as she didn't want to lose Sora again, desperate to bring Aqua back and end this madness. Torrent created a flight of stairs made of ice up to the pinned pegasus, his energy drained too much as his clothing reverted to normal, the Keyblades of Harmony disappearing as his Harmony Form faded.
"Or draining away your energy with specially enchanted ice will take away your ultimate power, huh?" Sora grunted, calling his Keyblade in his mouth to swing at her, but the mare deflected it with her own, slapping the teen's face and knocking it out of his mouth. She quickly brought her blade up to his neck, giggling gleefully as she bested the boy who was a major problem to Xehanort's Heartless's and Nobody's plans. "Not much of a hero now, are you? And you know its rude to hold a blade to your elders."
"I don't respect anything that came from darkness, or fights with it," Sora growled, Torrent forcing his head up as the teeth of the blade began to graze his neck.
"So feisty, and yet you fought against the darkness so easily after losing your heart for only a moment," Torrent complimented, grinning widely as he continued leering at her. She brought a hoof to his cheek and moved closer to look in his eyes as she killed him. "I'll gladly take your Heartless as a loyal soldier if your light's that strong. Now, time to accept the darkness, once and for a-" Torrent paused as she stared deeply into Sora's eyes. She saw a glint of light in his pupils, something that came from inside of him, feeling that light's energy through her hoof. She gasped, recognizing that light inside of the pegasus. "...No...That's impossible..."
Deep inside Aqua's heart, the mourning woman floated in the endless darkness around her, letting her pain melt away as she allowed Torrent to take control of her heart. She wanted it all to end, suffering through so much and accepting her fate as darkness slowly pulled her in its embrace.
"Why did I keep fighting?" Aqua asked herself. "What was the point? There was no hope left...I fooled myself, thinking I could still save everyone...None of them will come back..." She closed her eyes as she slowly began to fade. "I fought...for nothing............"
"Huh?" Aqua opened her eyes, hearing a voice echo around the darkness.
Aq...ak...p!
A small light began to shine in the darkness, growing closer and fending the darkness away from her. "Light?"
Aqua! Aqua gasped as she heard the voice clearly. Aqua, don't do this to yourself!
"...T-That voice..." She couldn't believe her ears, the light moving closer to her as the darkness faded away. She landed on a platform, showing herself with her old Keyblade, her eyes closed as the background showed the Land of Departure, her home. A platform appeared in the distance at a higher level, the light resting at the top of it as stairs appeared before her. "...Ven...?"
Aqua, I'm right here! I'm ok! It was Ventus's voice that spoke to her, the shining light in the distance was his light; his heart. Please, don't let her take you away. You have to fight back against her! Terra wouldn't want you to give up on yourself, would he?
As she stepped forward, Torrent fell down in front of Aqua's path, her human form still retaining the dark icicle hair and darker clothing. "You're not going anywhere!" she exclaimed, pointing her Keyblade at her. "You want to forget all those painful memories, right? You're just seeing an illusion. Why fight what you can't save?"
Filled with renewed hope, knowing Ventus was ok and very close now, Aqua stared down her darkness, refusing to let it win her over again. "I don't know why I listened to you. Even if I want to forget everything that happened, it's impossible to...I clung onto the hope of finding my friends, bringing back my home, and stopping Xehanort once and for all."
"You mean kill him," Torrent corrected.
"...No. I want to stop him, but if I'm going to kill him, I won't do it for revenge. Those thoughts came from you, not me!" Aqua held out her hand and summoned her Keyblade, not her master's, but her own Keyblade that was lost with her old armor, Rainfell. "I continued fighting, even suffering through the losses I've faced, because I want to be a better Keyblade wielder. All my mistakes, my faults, I had learned from them and continued fighting, knowing that I can at least fulfill one wish of mine. And now that I know Ventus's heart was here all this time-" Aqua stood defiant in her fighting stance, no longer feeling the guilt of her past weighing her heart down. "-I can bring him back!"
Torrent screamed in frustration and ran forward to strike. Aqua cartwheeled away, striking her darkness hard in the back of her head, following up with Deep Freeze to trap her in the sheet of ice. Aqua ran up the stairs to reach out to Ventus's light, Torrent breaking free from he ice as she flipped back up, growling angrily and gave chase.
"Stop lying to yourself!" Torrent called out. "Think about everything Xehanort did! Your friends! Eraqus! The Land of Departure! What he did to all the worlds!"
"I'll never forget! But that doesn't mean I'm going to sit around and wallow in despair anymore!" Aqua laid down magical Mine glyphs behind her, slowing Torrent down as she stupidly ran into them, knocking her back down the stairway. Aqua reached the top of the platform, the picture beneath her feet showing herself, Terra, and Aqua together, their hands held out as they held their Wayfinders. As she got closer to the light, she could see Ventus's silhouette inside it, along with what Torrent was seeing as she took control of her body. She saw Sora trapped against the wall, but the glint in his eyes matched the light Ventus was in. "...Ven..." All the times she saw him when Sora helped her, it was so obvious to her now everytime he saw her friend in the heroic teen. "Now I understand...Your heart is-"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Torrent screamed at the top of her lungs, Aqua quickly turning around and blocking her Heartless's Keyblade as it slammed down over her. "You're! Not! Taking this from me!"
"You're not supposed to exist!" Aqua argued, shoving Torrent back hard and firing a Triple-Firaga, all three fireballs stricking the shrieking Heartless. She ran forward and began striking her down, fighting back to take control of her heart and end her torment once and for all. "Now, get out of my heart!"
While Sora waited for the finishing blow, Torrent suddenly screamed out in agony, backing away as she clutched her head. She lost her footing and fell down the flight of ice stairs she made, all the while fumbling around as she tried to stand as Aqua fought back against her.
"N-No!" she screamed, letting out another grunt of pain. "Stop...fighting me! Give...yourself...to darkness!"
"What's happening?" Twilight asked, Kairi unable to give an answer as she managed to focus her light, both her blade and cutie marks glowing white.
"I think she's fighting back," she said. "...But why now?"
Riku sat up, rubbing his chest after getting smacked aside by a speeding ice block. "Is it finally over?" He heard Torrent's grunts as she tried to win back control, seeing her struggling to stand, move toward Sora to try to stab him while he was still trapped against the wall, all while screaming at Aqua to stay down. "Guess not."
"It will be soon. I'm going to cast the spell to free Aqua from that thing," Kairi said. "Riku, go free Sora."
"As long as I'm not going to get crushed by a piece of the ceiling," Riku joked as he ran forward, being wary of anymore random sections of the floor, walls, or ceiling for any surprise ice blocks that'll hit him out of nowhere. He passed by Torrent, too busy struggling to maintain control, reaching his pinned friend. "Too busy hanging out to be of any help?"
"I can't move, and my strength is being drained out of me through these stupid blades," Sora commented with a blank stare. "Just get me down from here!"
"Alright, alright. Sheesh." Riku easily slashed the blades pinning Sora's limbs to the wall, the teen falling in a heap as his hooves shook. "Try to be funny in the middle of a dire situation, and it only seems like you get off scot-free. And you seriously couldn't break them?"
"First, they were enchanted like real steel," Sora said. "Second, she used magic to drain away my power and leave me vulnerable." He slowly stood up, his legs shaking as he struggled to stay standing. "Is Kairi ready yet?"
"Thankfully, yes." Riku pointed to the Princess of Heart, his jaw dropping as he saw the heart made of light drawn out in front of her with her Keyblade.
Torrent turned to the powerful light coming from Kairi, her eyes widening in shock as the heart began glowing brightly, the light making her shudder. "No! NO!" Kairi shot a beam into the heart, firing an even stronger beam at her. It struck true and engulfed the mare in light, feeling herself being pulled out of Aqua's body and heart. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!"
As she struggled to stay inside, turning darker as she began turning into an actual Heartless, Aqua grunted as she fought back, her body returning to normal while Torrent took the form of her magic surged form. The two finally split apart, sent flying across the room as they tumbled to the floor. Kairi nearly fainted after nearly unleashing so much of her light for the second time, Twilight quickly catching her before she fell. The barrier blocking Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy faded away, the mares quickly running up to Twilight and Kairi.
"You did it!" Pinkie cheered, her tackling Twilight nearly making her drop Kairi in her weakened state.
"We thought y'all were gonners for sure!" Applejack said.
"You could have probably done a bit more, Twilight, but that whole speech you gave that thing made up for it," Rainbow said. "And the fact that it's one hundred and twenty percent true!"
While the others were relieved for their safety, Sora and Riku rushed up to Aqua, the mare groaning as she stood up, lifting herself up with her master's Keyblade. Even though she still couldn't use her old Keyblade anymore until she found it again, at least she was able to use it again after all these years. Not only did it feel good to hold onto Rainfell again, but she also found Ventus again, and he was close ever since she met up with Sora and his friends.
"Aqua?" She looked up, back outside of her heart as she looked at Sora and Riku. "Are you ok?"
"...I'm fine," Aqua said with a smile, lifting herself on her hooves, heavily exhausted after having her darkness pulled out of her. "I'm sorry. I must have caused so much trouble for everyone...I thought I could handle my feelings and let everything go once I got out, but so much had changed, and knowing everything only got worse made me feel responsible for my mistakes..." As she moved her hoof, she looked down as she felt something else besides the ice shards scattered around the room. She saw the shredded remains of her Wayfinder slashed by Torrent, disheartened that her memento was destroyed, but a part of her felt like it was a sign for her to try to move on. She can now, knowing Ventus would come back very soon. "I held so much back, and it only got worse as I wanted to seek revenge for what Xehanort had done...But this is no longer my fight, and I have to remember that." She looked up, seeing the concern on both stallions' faces, as well as the mares watching them. Aqua brought her hooves up and ruffled both teens' hair, bringing her back to the first time she met them. "I'll move forward, grow from my experience, and lead you all to a brighter future."
"Heh. Yeah," Sora agreed. "But, if you start having anymore trouble, just come to us and we can talk. Otherwise, I'll have to beat you up and get it in your head like I did to Riku."
"And how many times have I had to knock some sense in your head?" Riku questioned as he lightly punched Sora's shoulder, making him wince as his body wasn't fully healed from the energy sapping blades.
"Ow! Easy, I'm still sore!" Sora whined, making Aqua giggle at their friendly banter, definitely behaving like Terra and Ventus.
Before there was any chance to finally relax, Sora and Riku were suddenly struck by dozens of dark icicles shooting up around Aqua. The icicles emitting darkness sent the two pegasi flying across the room, slamming them into the wall and knocking them unconscious. Aqua turned around, only to have several dark icicles shoot up and trap her in place, the sharp points of the ice threatening to pierce her neck as she dared not to move.
"Forgetting someone?" The Mane Six gasped in shock as Torrent was still alive, though now her body was mostly black, her mane and tail more jagged and in disarray. Her eyes were completely yellow like a Heartless, her mouth now a pair of jagged fangs, the Keyblade she had fused with her hoof as a black aura surrounded her now crooked horn, creating the dark icicles that attacked Sora and Riku and trapped Aqua. She looked down at the floor, seeing her reflection and getting a better look at herself, growling in anger. "You ruined my body! Now you'll all die!"
"How the hay is she still alive!?" Rainbow asked.
"Eww! Kill it with fire!" Pinkie screeched at the dreadful sight of the Heartless mare.
"I-I thought that spell Kairi did saved Aqua and...got rid of that," Fluttershy whimpered.
"Kairi's light purged Torrent out of Aqua's heart," Twilight said. "It didn't kill her. It just separated them."
"How do you know about it, Twilight?" Rarity asked.
"...Because..." Twilight sighed, finally deciding to just tell her friends instead of hiding it from them. "The same thing happened to me. When I had a crush on Sora, Maleficent came to me...and...well, I let my jealousy take over after she convinced me to kill Kairi, and I had my own darkness taken out of me..." She looked back at her friends, all of them pretty shocked at the details. "...I'm over it now, though. Sort of...I didn't want to get in between what Kairi and Sora had, their bond more unbreakable than me experiencing my first ever crush on somepony who saved my life several times."
"...Well, at least nopony got hurt, right?" The alicorn shook her head at Applejack's question. "Ok...But jealousy can bring out your darkness?"
"I was sheltered and studied every day after trying to get into Princess Celestia's school," Twilight explained. "Why didn't you think I was too adamant on being friends with you when we first met?"
"Guys," Kairi said as she weakly tried to stand. "Maybe we can talk after we stop the thing that's about to kill Aqua."
"Not before I kill you, Princess of HEART!!!!!" Torrent screamed as she ran toward the weakened unicorn, the others quickly fleeing before she got to them as well. Twilight quickly shoved Kairi out of the way and readied herself to defend. Torrent slashed her Keyblade arm at the alicorn, Twilight perfectly blocking the strike and stood her ground as she was instructed, but the Heartless shoved the mare across the floor, slamming her into the wall. "So, the little pony wants to die first!? Then I'll give end your pathetic life, along with that worthless Keyblade of yours!"
"TWILIGHT!" Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy screamed out in horror as they were going to watch their friend meet her end.
Torrent reared back and prepared to thrust her blade straight through Twilight's heart, but time around her slowed down again. Before she could question how this strange skill of hers reacted, she saw a faint glow come in her peripheral vision. On the chain attached to the hilt, where the Elements of Harmony's symbols connected, the Element of Loyalty's was glowing. She didn't have time to look at it as she needed to react, quickly side-stepped right as Torrent thrust her blade into the wall.
"Huh!?" She stared at the alicorn in confusion, swearing she had hit her mark, not even noticing how quick she moved. Twilight backed away as the Heartless forcefully pulled out a chunk of the crystal ice wall out with her attached Keyblade. "Lucky little horsie. But luck won't be your saving grace!"
Torrent flung the large piece of wall at the alicorn, time slowing down for her yet again. This time, having enough time to evade, Twilight looked down at the chain and saw that the small red lightning bolt was indeed glowing. Figuring that questions of how this was possible would have to be saved until later, she gripped her Keyblade tightly in her maw and slashed at the debris flung at her. In the blink of an eye, everyone saw Twilight quickly slice through the ice, both halves splitting and sailing past her. Torrent growled in confusion while the alicorn egged on the Heartless with a smirk.
"Sweet mercy," Applejack muttered.
"Wow, Twilight moved fast!" Pinkie exclaimed. "How'd she do that!?"
"No way," Rainbow uttered, completely baffled that her alicorn friend moved so fast that even she couldn't even see.
"...T-That's...NO!" The dark aura around Torrent flared wildly out of control, losing all patience and her temper. "I will not be beaten by a pathetic light like that!"
"I'll show you how 'pathetic' I am," Twilight mocked, almost having the same attitude as Rainbow Dash herself as the Element of Loyalty on the chain glowed. "Let's go, ice queen!"
Shrieking in irritation, Torrent rushed at Twilight, but the alicorn was ready to fight back, feeling confident in her new skills. The Element of Generosity's diamond began to glow as well, joining with the Element of Loyatly's as the Heartless got closer. Twilight's Keyblade suddenly began to light up on fire as she swung around in a circle, striking Torrent with a Fire Strike while unleashing a shockwave of Fire magic around her. The shockwave melted away some of the ice around Aqua, allowing her to break free of her sharp prison. As she picked up her Keyblade to join the fight, she froze in place as she saw Twilight actually holding her own against her darkness: her form perfect like she was taught from only her first week of practice with her, hitting and smacking Torrent around, and evading swiftly and blocking each strike she made that it was hard to see her movements.
"What in the world?" Aqua asked herself as she continued watching. She gasped when she saw the lights around Twilight's Keyblade's chain, feeling the same light that came from what she had felt back in Rarity's boutique after their trip from Manehattan and returning back to Ponyville from Rainbow Falls. Those lights were giving Twilight her unleashed potential, which only brought up more questions about what those powers of light were and why they were with Twilight. "...So, is this Twilight's hidden potential?"
Aqua continued to watch her student fight her darkness, Torrent getting highly annoyed that she couldn't even hit the cocky alicorn. "Hold still, you purple pest!"
"You're going to have to catch up to me if you want to hit me," Twilight mocked as she taunted like Rainbow Dash would, flicking her mane back with a teasing grin.
"...Ok, is she acting like Rainbow Dash?" Rarity questioned. "And has...the same finesse as I did? In the middle of a fight?"
"She's gonna get herself killed if she doesn't pay attention!" Applejack exclaimed. She noticed Aqua was freed, but she was standing there and watched the two mares battle. "Aqua, help Twilight!"
"Not yet," she said, confusing the five mares. "You guys get Sora, Riku, and Kairi out of here. I'll assist when the time comes."
"Are you crazy!?" Rainbow questioned, suddenly wincing at her poor word choice. "I mean, not crazy like insane with your surges and all, but crazy as in-"
"Just go!" Aqua commanded.
After ducking from a strayed off dark Blizzard spell, they didn't need to be told twice as Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy grabbed the unconscious Keyblade wielders and began making their way down the ice pillar. Torrent yelled and slammed her Keyblade arm into the ground, missing Twilight yet again as she began doing her little greeting dance she does with Cadence whenever they saw each other.
"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake." Torrent stabbed the ground where Twilight, where she was laying, only for her to appear behind her in a blur and start tapping her flank with her hooves. "Clap your hooves-" The Heartless screamed in frustration and swung behind her, missing the alicorn again. But when she turned around, she got a face full of purple pony plot as Twilight mockingly shook her rump right in front of her. "-and do a little shake!"
"THAT'S IT!" Torrent thrust her Keyblade forward, missing Twilight again as she flipped forward and evaded the dark icicles shooting out from underneath her.
Twilight continued flipping away, slashing at any icicles that she was about to land on. Once she landed back on all fours, she sped off in a blur toward Torrent, the Heartless screaming in rage as she did the same. Both mares struck and slid past each other, the Heartless unicorn panting heavily in frustration while Twilight slowly stood up normally. With a grin, she held her Keyblade in her aura as the air grew still.
"Schwing," Twilight said as she slashed in front of her. Torrent was suddenly struck by thousands of Keyblade slashes that came all around her from out of nowhere, sending her in a spasming fit until it stopped. She fell to her knees, holding herself up with her bladed arm as she struggled to breathe. Torrent turned her head as Twilight turned around with a cocky grin on her face, angering her all the more. The lights around the lightning bolt and diamond faded away, leaving the alicorn slightly exhausted as she grabbed her head. "Ugh...Oh boy, that power was a rush..." She gasped as she noticed the lights had faded, her bravado and skills in her fight suddenly forgotten as she stared at the irate Heartless. "Uh oh. Wished it lasted a bit longer."
"I...have had...ENOUGH OF YOU!" Torrent screamed furiously and ran forward again, this time making sure she hit her mark while Twilight didn't have her little energy boost from those two small powers of light.
Twilight yelped and held her Keyblade up to defend herself, flinching in anticipation as she would either block it and get knocked back or get struck and possibly killed. She soon heard a strangled gasp and shuddering breaths as the sound of a blade thrust into someone was heard. Twilight looked up from her Keyblade, seeing Torrent's face in a mix of pain and shock, her Keyblade arm missing Twilight by a few inches, and standing between them was Aqua. Her Keyblade was thrust into the Heartless's chest, right where her heart would be if they ever had one.
"You are not going to hurt anyone ever again," Aqua said calmly, Twilight watching Torrent's eyes slowly look at the mare she was struck by. "Return back to the darkness where you came."
Torrent began chuckling as her body slowly began to fade away. "I won't leave...Even if you can't come with me as you killed me, I'll still be in your heart, waiting to come out...You need me."
"...You may be right...but I don't need you," Aqua said. "I needed you when I was feeling down, where I wanted vengeance for all the wrongs Xehanort had done...But not anymore." She backed away, lifting her darkness's chin up for her to look at her. "I made a promise to a young boy, my best friend, that I would find his heart and keep his body safe from outsiders where I hid him. I'm going to keep that promise and keep my hope you deterred me from. Ven's heart will return to him soon, and I will make sure nothing happens to him."
"...How will you even get him out?" Torrent asked curiously.
"I'll find out. Somehow." Aqua quickly pulled her Keyblade out of Torrent's chest as the Heartless backed away, clutching the fatal wound as she began to fade away into darkness. The dark unicorn fell over until there was nothing left as the darkness evaporated. Letting out a sigh of relief, she turned to Twilight, noticing the confused expression on her face. "Let's get out of here and destroy this place. We don't want anyone...or, rather, 'anypony' wondering what this frozen pillar is doing out here."
"Ok," Twilight said with a nod.
As Twilight went on ahead, Aqua looked back in the room as she exited the doorway. She looked at the pieces of her Wayfinder, wanting to pick them up and put it back together, but she couldn't. Though it was a memento of her friendship between Terra and Ventus, it also brought her back memories of what she could have done to prevent everything Xehanort had done from happening. She needed to let go of her past, let go of her mistakes, let go of her failures, but she will never let go of the fond memories of her friends. She'll make a new one, maybe even several, knowing she has a lot more friends that can help her in her time of need.
"Just wait a little bit longer, Ven," Aqua said to herself with a smile. "It'll be a challenge to figure out how to get you out of his heart, but you'll be back before you know it."
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I'm glad Aqua made it out OK. And I'm amazed with good Twilight was because of the gems that glowed at the time they did.
I'm guessing the closer to the chest related to the tree of harmony, the closer we get to the powers of Twilight's keyblade?
7780654 Pretty much, yup. Two keys already in their grasp, four more left to find, and a whole lot more hidden potential for Twilight to be fully unleashed. Not to mention Aqua knowing exactly where Ventus's heart is now, he could potentially join the group...maybe sooner or later.
just going to leave this here
I was expect'in Roxas to split from Sora and fight Aquas darkness, but this works too!!!
This was a good chapter mate! I did see some mess ups like where you put Rainbow Dash down twice. but other than that, this was a good. and if you have seen the new trailer, it looks like Aqua can have her wardrobe be customize for you to have her wear different colors and accessories with her outfit. so good luck with what you have plan with that.
With at last her suffering of her past put behind her, Aqua can now rest easy with her new friends and now knows where Ventus's heart resides til it was time for him to wake up. But how will Aqua free Ventus's heart without anything happen to Sora will be a challenge itself. Will Aqua ever find a way to return Ven's heart to his body without anything bad happen to Sora? What does Twilights hidden abilities have to do with the hidden keys that they have found so far? and how will Aquas teachings help Twilight to grow a better Keyblade Wielder and one day be a Keyblade Master? Find out these and more next time on My Little Pony Soras misadventures in Equestria!
7780748 Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes...and Yes. All of my yes. I cannot wait! It needs to be the end of January now!
I'm going to need to look back in there...I hate how I want to rush out a chapter I got going in my head to put it down in words before I lose it, having dialogue errors and the like...
7781287 I did???
7780681 Don't you mean convinient power?! You realy are Mary Suing her.
Why does Twilight want to become a keyblade master anyway?! And won't that affect the season 4 conflict about her purpose, you kinda thrown a grenade on the whole princess of friendship thing.
7781546 Her purpose is still a princess. She's also a protector of light, and with a Keyblade, she could defend her world much more against the Heartless that appear and any threats toward Equestria. She's training to learn how to use her new Keyblade powers, too. Being a Keyblade Master would mean she wouldn't need anymore training. And I'm not Mary Sueing Twilight. She's still a novice in combat and it would take her a couple years until she's on the same level as the others. Plus, her fighting against the purged Torrent was by her Keyblade's power assisting her after they had already found 2 keys, hence Twilight's sudden change in behavior when the Elements of Loyalty and Generosity were lit up.
7781287 I did look back on the chapter and I didn't put Rainbow Dash in twice at any point. I think you mistook it for Twilight "acting" like Rainbow Dash when her Keyblade's power activated, making her mimic how Dash would if she were the one fighting instead.
Did none of you guys notice that aqua finally figured out that vens heart is inside Soras
7781815 BenictheHedgehog did if you didn't read his DBZ style narrating he's been doing after each chapter I make. And so did Kye Belmont, though he theorized Roxas instead of Ventus, but that's kind of close.
7781662 oh. sorry, it is just in one of the areas I thought I saw where it said Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. and it confused me like "wait, two Rainbows and no Rarity?" but I guess I must of read wrong and it looked like that when I was tired last night.
7782417 Read when you're eyes aren't threatening to droop and force you asleep. Then again, I write some of these chapters way past midnight myself, so I should follow my own advice!
7782434 FINALLY AQUA FINDS OUT ABOUT VEN!!!!
also DAYUM!!! Torrent was freaky. Least now aqua is at peace with the past. Good on u author. Keep up the good work.
Well, reading this after seeing the new trailer has gotten me riled up for January.
Now then, time for my thoughts on this. I found this chapter to be exciting and accurate to what might happen to someone who felt no hope from all they endured. No light to follow, only your own. Aqua had it rough with her two missing friends now, she lost the family she once had with them, her master and her world. Life is unfair to those who's light shine the brightest, as it will cause your shadow to become much larger. Now dear Aqua, hang tight. We will help you through this. Soon you will be rescued from the darkness. Soon enough...
7781662 That's the POINT she has little to no reason to feel she has no purpose, making the whole drama of the 4th season finale pointless, if she has problems of not having a purpose she'd sound like a little girl wanting more than everyone else beliving she is better, Point she doesn't need to find a purpose she already HAS ONE, it comes with the keyblade. Unless you are saying the keyblade doesn't matter all that much, the only other example is king Mickey and he is practicaly almost never doing kingly work, he is off saving worlds, but in his case there's Queen Minnie to take care of things in Twilight's vague role is practicaly waiting when the map will say "go there" so she'd be stuck in one world and have a kayblade unlike other weilders.
7789327 That's actually a good name for them. Corruption Heartless: incomplete Heartless created by a being taken over by a dark emotion, born too early to consume their host's heart and take full control.
Though, those won't probably appear that much in the future.
And you'll see one variation of an Equestrian Heartless further on in the story. I'm going to have to do some thinking with those once I run out of the ones I place in from the KH games. Good to see you're enjoying it so far.
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Rarity must have pulled a Pinkie Pie and disguised herself.
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Too many characters in one place, that's why...
Thank you for pointing out that mistake. Oh, god, how in the world did I not see that?
This chapter feels like something outta Persona.
Hmmm...That's a good question