Hearts of Harmony

by Legrio

Chapter 14: Sleepless Nights

The monstrous shape towered above the little filly, rising from the remains of the academy. “No, this isn’t what I wanted!” Pityless yellow eyes stared down at her. A black limb reached back, darkness swirling about it. “Help! Anypony, help!”

No one came.

The darkness closed in, choking her. The last thing she saw was the disappointed face of the princess...

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Twilight jerked awake, shuddering. “Why do I keep having these nightmares?” The mare shook her head. Pulling away the sweat soaked blanket, she slipped out of bed. Spike mumbled in his sleep, pulling more covers over himself. Twilight slowly walked over to a window, looking out. Moonlight faintly lit the arena below, illuminating scaffolding and other tools the repairmen left behind for the night. “Is it something to do with the keyblade?” The mare shook her head. “No, that can’t be it. I haven’t had nightmares like this for years.”

She looked to the door. “Maybe I just need a walk to settle my mind,” the mare muttered to herself. She silently recast the spell to take human form, and slipped out of the room, missing the concerned eyes of her friends.

Twilight wandered through the halls of the quiet coliseum, fingering the golden trinket she’d won from the games. “What’s so special about this?” She flipped the medallion over. The other side was a mirror image of the first. Something echoed down the hall, startling her. Quickly putting the golden trinket in her bag, she silently crept forward. Eventually, she came to the doorway leading to the courtyard with the statues. The noise was coming from outside. Letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, Twilight manifested her keyblade and opened the door.

“Cloud?” She asked, confused. The man was practicing on some wooden dummies, running through several complicated techniques that Twilight had never seen before. “I thought you left?”

“Twilight,” the blonde man acknowledged, pausing for a moment. “My transportation is running later than expected, so I thought I might get in some practice.” He resumed his bladework, hacking apart a small facsimile of the Cerberus. “Why are you out so late at night?”

“I couldn’t sleep.” The keyblade wielder looked away for a moment. “Do you ever get bad dreams?”

Cloud decapitated all three heads of the dummy in one stroke. “All the time.”

“How do you deal with them?”

The blonde swordsman sighed. “I don’t.”

“Oh.”

He gestured for Twilight to come over. Puzzled, she did so. “Since we are both here, we might as well make the most of our time. This is the technique I gave you, the Blade Beam.” He held his sword up in front of him. “First, concentrate some energy in the tip of your sword.” Said tip began to glow a bright yellow. “Next, slash downwards in the direction of your target while releasing the magic.” He did so, and a vertical wave of energy shot forth towards one of the dummies, neatly splitting it down the middle. “Now, you try.”

Twilight nodded. “Right, first concentrate the magic,” she muttered, as the tip of her keyblade took on a purple glow. “Then slash while releasing it!” A bright purple wave of magic raced forwards, obliterating the target and slicing into a good three feet of stone wall before puttering out.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. “Hm. Not bad.” A dark shape blotted out the light of the moon for a moment. “Ah. There’s my ride.” The swordsman sheathed his blade. “Good luck on your journeys, Twilight.”

“Thanks! You too!” She called. The keyblade wielder suppressed a yawn. Well, at least she was definitely ready for bed now. She began walking back to their room, passing through the trophy room once more. Strangely, her keyblade appeared as she passed one of the statues. “Huh?” she murmured. “What’s going on?” She yawned again, her eyes drooping. “Eh, I’ll just deal with it in the morning...”

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The next morning found Twilight at the breakfast table with her companions, plus Hercules and Phil and minus Rainbow Dash, picking at a plate of cheese, flatbread, and vegetables. She’d decided to forgo the transformation spell today. The two locals hadn’t seemed too surprised. “Eh, transformation spells aren’t that uncommon around here,” Phil commented.

Twilight looked around. “Where’s Rainbow?”

“Oh, she said something about finding a blacksmith,” Spike explained.

“Hey, Twi’, watcha doin’ there?” Applejack asked around a mouthful of gyro.

“Huh?” she looked up. “Oh, I’m drilling a little hole in that medal from the games with my magic. The princess told me once that hanging certain trinkets on your keyblade can have interesting effects.” She threaded a small chain through the hole. A thought occurred to her. “Er, that’s fine, right? I don’t want to offend anyone.”

Hercules shrugged while Phil waved off her concerns. “You can do whatever you want with your winnings. Heck, a lot of people just end up selling theirs.”

“Alright then.” Twilight stood up and manifested her keyblade. It floated in the air in front of her. Carefully, she attached the golden medallion to it. With a flash of light, the weapon changed. The whole thing now appeared to be made of dark metal and marble, with much of the design, such as the teeth of the key and the crossguard resembling clouds carved in the same manner as the surrounding architecture. The small golden medallion hung off of the end on a silvery chain. A name ran through her mind, Olympia. Twilight waved the weapon around. “Hm, it feels a bit heavier,” she thought aloud, “It would probably hit pretty hard, but it’ll be a little slower to swing. Still, not bad.”

“That’s an interesting weapon,” Hercules commented. He bit into a gyro. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.”

“The keyblade? Well, it’s a very powerful magical weapon and tool,” Twilight began, launching into an involved explanation.

Spike sighed, settling in for a long discussion. Luckily for him, the missing pegasus choose then to burst in. “Hey, everypony! How’s my armor look?” she shouted, striking a couple of fighting poses.

“Awesome!” Spike exclaimed, thankful for the sudden change of topic.

“Yep, looks like them smiths around here did a decent job,” Applejack drawled, getting to her hooves.

There was a sudden gust of wind, as Pegasus burst into the room. A panicked look came over the armored pony. “Oh no, not again! I’ll see you later, bye!” She vanished in a rainbow colored streak, the winged horse trailing after her.

“Welp, looks like she found a new friend,” the farmpony commented, holding back a laugh.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “You probably wouldn’t think it was so funny if it was happening to you.” She turned to their hosts. “Thanks again, for everything!”

“Hey, no problem! You’re welcome to come back at any time!” Phil said, refilling his plate.

“Good luck on your quest,” Hercules called, as they left the room.

The two ponies and the dragon quickly stepped through the halls, finally passing through the trophy room again. Rainbow Dash suddenly flew in, wiping her brow with a hoof. “Phew, I think I lost him. I swear, it’s like having a lost puppy following me around.”

“Hey, puppies are great!” Applejack felt compelled to defend pony’s best friend. “Why, my pet dog back at the farm-” She noticed Twilight staring at a pedestal bearing a small statue with her keyblade floating in the air beside her. “Er, are ya alright, Twi’?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, there’s something up here, and I’m going to find out what!” Enveloping the stone in her magic, she shoved it aside, revealing a small hole in the floor beneath.

“It sorta looks like a keyhole,” the pegasus commented.

“I think I should,” Twilight trailed off, raising her keyblade. The world seemed to fade away as a glowing emblem like a crown emblazoned itself beneath her hooves. There was only her and the keyhole. She could feel powerful magic gathering as a beam of light shot out from the tip of her mystical weapon. There was a sound, like the closing of a lock, and suddenly it was over. The world was just as it was before.

“What the hay was that?!” Applejack exclaimed. “Twilight, what did you just do?”

“I’m not really sure,” the keyblade wielder said, examining her weapon. “It just felt like the right thing to do.” She looked down to see a small block of material sitting at her hooves. Picking it up with her magic, she hummed thoughtfully. “What’s this? It sorta reminds me of the gummi ship.”

“Hey, we can get all introspective later!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “That crazy giant pony is out to get me! Let’s get out of here already!”

Twilight laughed. “Right, let’s go!”

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“Here we are!” The keyblade wielder threw open the hatch on the gummi ship, letting the others inside.

“This is your ship?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking around. “Huh, I was kinda expecting something a little more alien like.”

“Welcome aboard!” Gadget’s voice rang from a nearby speaker.

The pegasus whirled, putting up her hooves defensively. “Who’s there?”

“That’s just our mechanic, Gadget Hackwrench,” Twilight explained. “Hey Gadget, why don’t you come out and meet Rainbow Dash?”

“Gimme a sec, just finishing up one last little thing,” the tinny voice said, as what sounded like a drill buzzed through the speaker. A moment later, the little mouse emerged from a nearby vent. “Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Gadget.”

“Hey, I’m Rainbow Dash and-” Just then, there was a mighty neigh and flapping of wings from outside. “Get us out of here, it’s that mutant pony thing again!”

Twilight giggled, pressing the launch button. The gummi ship rocketed high into the air, leaving the straining Pegasus behind. The winged horse was soon forgotten altogether as Rainbow’s eyes were glued to the stars.

“Wow, I’ve always dreamed of going out and seeing the stars, but never like this!” the pegasus gushed, “This is so cool!”

“If ya say so,” Applejack grumbled, sitting with her flank against a wall. “Ah still say earth ponies should stay on the ground.”

“Oh, whatever. This has to be, like, the most awesome thing ever!” A grin stretched nearly from ear to ear on the mare’s face. “So, where are we headed?”

“Hm, I’m not sure.” Twilight played with the controls a bit, setting the ship into an easy orbit around the world. “We told Sora and the others that we’d meet back in Traverse Town in a few days, but we’ve only been out for one. I don’t want to be sitting around, waiting, when we could be searching.”

“Yeah, me neither. Say, why don’t ya show Gadget that block ya found?” The farmpony suggested.

“What block?” their little mechanic asked, wiping her hands on a miniature rag. Twilight floated out the piece they’d found earlier and set it on a nearby console. Gasping, Gadget rushed forward to inspect it. “Where in the world did you find this?!” she exclaimed.

“Um, it appeared after I used my keyblade on this strange hole in the floor, back at Olympus Coliseum,” she explained. “Why, is something wrong?”

“Wrong? No, this is great!” Gadget began hooking up wires to the gummi block. “This is a gummi block, like what we make ships out of, but not just any gummi block!” A nearby computer screen lit up, code streaming by. “Rare ones like this one has a... connection of sorts with other worlds. We call ones like these Navi Blocks. If I process the information inside, I might be able to find a path to another world!” The computer beeped and Gadget dashed over.

“So, what’s it say?” Rainbow excitedly asked.

“Let’s see,” Gadget trailed off. She frowned. “Huh, that’s strange.”

“What?” Spike spoke up, sorting through their supplies.

“Well, it doesn’t really tell me much of anything.” Gadget pulled out a miniature keyboard from the computer’s side and tapped away for a bit. “It just shows a new route here. Maybe I hooked it up wrong.” A short while later, she shook her head and stepped away. “I can’t find any problems. Cid was the one who came up with this technique, so he’s the expert.”

“Hm, so, should we head back to Traverse Town or explore this new world?” Twilight wondered. “What do you gals think?”

“Go for it!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, punching a hoof up into the air.

“Hm.” Applejack scratched the side of her face for a moment. “Well, it’d probably be safer going back, but Ah don’t wanna waste time neither. So, Ah guess we should be movin’ on.”

“Well, that settles it,” Twilight said, the controls beginning to glow with her magic once more. “Gadget, show me that new space lane!”

“Right,” Gadget began typing away.

“Awesome! I can’t wait to explore a whole new world, this is gonna be great!” Rainbow Dash punched a hoof up into the air in her excitement. “So, what can I do to help?”

“Um,” the keyblade wielder hummed, thinking. She suddenly brightened. “You can run the weapons!” A portion of the controls stopped glowing as the unicorn withdrew her magic. “See, this button fires the lasers...”

Comments

[BronyPonyMan]

awesome chapter! awesome story! your an awesome person!

[Rainbow Dash the Awesome]

You know what this reminds me of?

Also, I'm gonna make a few guesses about where the others might be:
Pinkie: Neverland. It makes sense because it's a place where you never get older, and she has the heart of a child.
Fluttershy: Either Halloweentown for the incredible sense of irony that would come with it, or Deep Jungle because of all the wild animals.
Rarity: Agrabah. Something tells me she'd love seeing all the exotic fashions of the locals, not to mention the gems in the Cave of Wonders.

[Legrio]

Good guesses, but who says they have to only go to the worlds in KH 1? After all, there's plenty of untouched Disney worlds out there...

Anyways, a new chapter should be up shortly.

Happy Easter, everyone!