Kingdom Hearts: Harmonic Connections

by Mr Curious Writer

Chapter 28: Omen

        “Whoooa, they sent her flying!” Rainbow was hovering over the rooftop where Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity were as they all watched the witch vanish from sight. “That’s some hammer.”

        “I’m just glad the fight’s finally over.” Twilight wiped some sweat off her brow before taking a sitting position and looking back down toward Sora. “Great work, everypony… I think now we ca-SORA!” she immediately shot back to her hooves and nearly jumped off the roof with how quickly she moved towards the edge. Seeing this Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Rarity followed her to get a look themselves.

        Down on the ground, Sora was grinning at his triumphant victory as he pulled the hammer back while it was shrinking and separating back into it’s two keyblade forms, however all at once that smile turned into an expression of dumbfounded shock as he felt his entire body go numb. “Guh!” In that instant the flames on his back had vanished with his valor form following close behind it in a brief bright flash of light, reverting his outfit to it’s normal black attire. Both Applejack and Pinkie tumbled out of that light and away from him.

        “Oof!” Applejack had to keep hold of her hat to keep it on her head from that roll.

        “Wheee!” Pinkie seemed to be enjoying herself as she bounced a few times, rolling a few feet before lying on her back in a giggling fit. “That was fun, can we do it again!”

        Sora would beg to differ but had trouble speaking as he felt utterly wiped physically, spiritually, and mentally. This ended with him falling to his knees, his Kingdom Key dropping from his grasp to the ground with a clang before finally Sora fell face first onto the stone pavement.

        This caused great alarm for the two girls as they immediately got up and ran to his side, with Twilight teleporting her and the rest of the girls over to him as well.

        Sora just laid there motionless as his true form reverted back to his pony form, legs sprawled out and a face of utter exhaustion “Ugh…. Can’t… feel… anything...” and then just like that, he closed his eyes and blacked out. The last thing he could hear were the muffled voices of his friends as they gathered around him.

        Honestly, Maleficent had had better days. Everything was hurting, she couldn’t recollect why she was lying on the ground for a few moments when she finally reached consciousness, until her memories finally caught up with her… it was infuriating to say the least. That wretched boy and his pony friends had ended her rampage. Even if it was just for a diversion, losing was still an utter disappointment. If only I hadn’t spent most of my energy and magic beforehand, things would have gone differently. It was no longer wise to be in her dragon form as it only drained more of her power so she reverted back to her previous body. Eventually she rose to her feet.

        “Aaaaugh! It’s still moving!” A squeak to her right caused her to follow the source of the voice. There she was finally face to face with the little purple dragon, three little fillies, and an old bearded stallion with a pointy hat.

        Do I know him? He seems familiar Her mind pondered for a moment until a flash image of a certain wizard came into her mind Impossible… Merlin? He is here as well?! Who else from the outside is here with Sora?! This was not good. The runts were no trouble, but she was in no condition to fight right now, and from the look on his face, Merlin could tell she wasn’t either. She opened up a portal and made her way toward it as swiftly as she possibly could.

        “Leaving so soon, Maleficent?”

        She stopped, was this him saying he would take her down here and now. She tightened her grip on her staff. She may be weakened, but she was not going down without a fight. “Yes, yes I am.” she turned her head slightly toward them. This caused Spike and the crusaders to tense up a bit. “Will that be a problem?”

        Merlin didn’t even hesitate to speak. “That would be a problem indeed. However, I’m only here to teach and intervene when my students are in danger.” That was her out, right there.

        She face forward toward the portal again and continued walking. “What a responsible teacher you are.” she then proceeded through the portal before it immediately vanished behind her.

        “Mr. Merlin?” Merlin was brought back to reality when Spike called out to him. “Should we have really just… let her go like that? I mean that’s that Maleficent witch my friends told me about, right?

        Merlin shook his head before patting the baby dragon on the head. “Indeed she was, my boy. However, if I were to confront her then… Well that would be the equivalent of trapping a cornered beast. That is when they are at their most dangerous, so considering what I have to protect...” he looked at Spike and the crusaders, along with guards that were finally coming to. “I have decided to leave it to Sora and those wonder ladies to handle her and this… Chrysalis I believe she’s called. Not to worry, Sora has yet to let me down and I can only assume those Bearers are the same in that respect.

        Spike smiled after hearing that, he had faith in his friends as well, and Sora was like a superhero with his amazing abilities and combat prowess… However, that also made him feel a bit frustrated.

        “Of course, they aren't the only ones I can rely on” This caught the dragon’s attention and he turned to face the wizard who had a smile and a thoughtful expression as he tapped his hoof on his… beard?... honestly if he was tapping his chin, you couldn’t tell with all those whiskers. “I must admit Spike, you have certainly handled that foe rather well, and you cooperated with your friends when you needed to most. Despite your previous protests, you still decided to take on the enemy without batting an eye.” He then levitated Spike’s stick from the drake and toward his face to “examine” it. “And with a simple stick no less” He gave a nod “You certainly have a courage in your heart, much like Sora indeed.

        For Spike, just hearing that he was even REMOTELY similar to Sora produced a sparkle in his eyes and smile on his face. “Really?!” Already his mind was delving into his imagination of him and Sora back to back, him wearing the same outfit as his hero and wielding the same keyblade, standing on a mountain of defeated Heartless.

        Thanks, Spike! I couldn’t have done it without your help. You really are one amazing dragon. Imagination Sora would congratulate him Also Rarity thinks you’re totally handsome and amazing.
       Heh, yeah… I know. Imagination Spike would pose with his keyblade resting on his shoulder as he smoothed back the Spikes on his head as he prepares to-

Snap!

        Spike was brought back down to Earth when Merlin had snapped the stick in half with his magic and carelessly tossed it aside. “Now then, won’t be needing this.”

        “AAAAAHHH! My stick!” Spike reached out to the broken ‘weapon’ in futility as it was sent flying out of view.

        “Jeez Spike, relax” Scootaloo rolled her eyes at the baby dragon’s melodrama. “We can just get another one for you.

        “That will not be necessary” Merlin added. “I believe I have something more fitting for your scaly friend here.

        “You mean a new stick?” Spike looked back at the wizard with hope in his eyes. The Crusaders simply face hoofed at his question.

Merlin just stared at Spike with newfound wonder. “Um, no Spike, think a little bigger… and no don’t think of a bigger stick”

“I wasn’t!” Spike blushed and looked away rubbing the back of his head. How’d he know?

Merlin just laughed and shook his head. “Perhaps I’ll just show you.” he turned to make his way over to Sora’s house. “Don’t dawdle now.”

With nothing else to do and the threat gone, Spike and the Crusaders simply looked at one another before deciding to heed the wizard’s words and catch up with him.

Meanwhile, Mogson was floating down the path to the Golden Oaks Library and Sora’s house after his trip to the market district. Carrying a large basket of groceries. “Note to self, never ask a pony vendor for meat products.” He recalled that rather vivid memory of watching the store clerk turn green and then black out behind the register. “Last I heard there were plenty of meat eating races on this rock. You’d figured they’d get over that by now.” He had been visiting the library mostly to get an understanding on the world incase there were other races of potential customers he could advertise his wares to. Hey, the more cash the better.

His thoughts were cut short when he noticed the guard scattered all about the field, injured and/or unconscious while the better faring ones tried to assist them as much as they could. “What in the… What happened here?!”

Just then a Guard noticed him and hobbled over toward him. “Mr. Mogson? What a sight for sore eyes. Please, we require your assistance, we need potions and ethers,  as many as can possibly give us.” the night panted. “We have accumulated a small fortune of those “munny” things you spoke off and would gladly pay you for your assistance.

Mogson stopped listening when he heard “small fortune” come out of the pony’s mouth. “Oh, you don’t say, then please, PLEASE, right this way.” he ushered the guard along as he called out for more able bodied guards to assist with carrying the goods. Today was going to be a good day for Mogson.

        A portal to the corridor of darkness opened, and out marched a changeling with Maleficent close behind. She had previously traveled to their decided rendezvous point, however instead of the Queen, a she was met by a random changeling. Apparently there was somewhere else that was important for her to be, and the changeling was instructed to guide her there. “Such a dark and ratty tomb.” Maleficent said as the portal closed behind her.

        “It’s actually a dungeon, and apparently we’re in the deepest darkest part of it.” Maleficent turned to face the owner of the voice, Chrysalis. She had apparently been standing in that spot, observing the heartless.

        “So this is where the Princesses stuffed them… How goes the process?” she immediately watched groups of varying heartless either fly out of or slam against one of the cell’s grates and door before dispersing into black mist. Then in another cell was a flash of red light before the heartless in that cell became mist as well.

        “As anticipated, these ‘Beasts’ aren’t making the process easy, despite how long they’ve been down here and the fact that they’ve been sapped of most their power… Though the one in the nearest cell seemed to have all of a sudden accepted their fate once this all started.” Chrysalis went and summoned even more heartless as her two guards stood to either side of her, trying their best not to flinch at every loud attack or blast coming out of the cells. “She even spoke… Though what she said was a bit strange.”

        “And what did she say?” The witch’s curiosity got the better of her.

        Chrysalis took a moment to gather her thoughts on the subject, “‘Took you long enough’, were her words.” It seemed to have given a chill to the Queen when she heard it.

        Maleficent took a moment to ponder this. Was this really someone accepting their fate? Perhaps being down in this dungeon for so long they were hoping for a way out, any way out…. even death? However, how could that be when they know they are immortal? She shook her head, none of this was her concern for now. So long as they captured their hearts they would become incredibly powerful heartless to use at her disposal. “It matters not I suppose, I shall aide you in this endeavor.”

Chrysalis turned back to look at her. “After your fight with those pesky ponies and colt? My agents that were watching said that they saw them really giving you a hard time.” She smirked “I had figured you would need time to recover.” She said it like it was a snide remark.

Maleficent simply waved her off. “I was not using my full power. I had to conserve some for this far greater project.” she looked on at the cells just as a Soldier was sent flying from one cell into another before the sound of another loud attack returned it on a volley back to it’s previous cell, although it had already taken so much damage that it dispersed mid flight. “It seems to me that they are enjoying themselves with the heartless” She watched another ‘tennis match’ begin, this time with a dark ball.

“It… certainly feels that way” she couldn’t sworn she heard some rather dark and low laughter from one of the cells. “They can’t last forever, they already show signs of fatigue

“Oh? How so?” the witch asked as she used her power to summon much more formidable heartless inside the cells

“They were much louder and violent before you arrived….”

        Sora slowly opened his eyes, the first thing to greet him was the orange light of the sunsetting entering through the window. “Ugh… What happened?” he tried to sit up, but his body started screaming at him. He was aching and sore all over. “Jeez, we won right?” he asked himself “It certainly doesn’t feel like we did.”

        And that was when he heard the sound of multiple hooves rush toward the door. “Come on! The nurse said he was waking up soon!”

        Rainbow was his first thought. That impatient attitude along with her voice confirmed it.

        “We’re hurrying, Dash. Relax! He’s not going anywhere.”

        Aaand there’s Twilight He slowly tried to lean himself against the headboard with pillow as a cushion. It was hard with the aching to say the least. Once the door swung open and the girls noticed him, he was nearly tackled by them… Ok, Rainbow and Pinkie tackled him off the bed into a hug, to be honest.

        “You’re Ok!” Rainbow shouted

        “YAAAAYYY!! “Pinkie cheered into his ear. Both her and Rainbow had him in a strong hug, but in his condition, it did more harm than good.

“Nnnnnnnnrrrgh…..” He could not think due to his body screaming at him right now.

        “Alright y'all, ease up there. Ah’ don’t think he’s quite ready fer us to pounce on him like that, judging by the look on his face” Applejack came by to pull the two girls off the stallion and Twilight used her magic to gently lift him back onto the bed.

        “Sorry…” the two offenders said with embarrassed looks on their faces.

        “It’s cool, guys…” Sora weakly waved it off as he tried to settle into his bed. “I’m actually glad to see you guys are ok.” He looked at himself. “It’s a little vague in my mind what happened, probably from waking up, but I think we won right?”

        “Of course we did!” Rainbow  blurted out before anyone else could. “We showed that witch not to mess with us! And that weird new fusion power you used with AJ and Pinkie was AWESOME!” it was fortunate to Sora that the sheer awesomeness he displayed in the battle was temporarily keeping her from giving him the stink eye for STILL not fusing with her yet. Not like either of them even knew how to do that yet. Sora has the idea of it down, but from what he can tell, it would have to connect to her element in some way.

        “By the way, what was that exactly? You fused with both Applejack and Pinkie Pie back there, and that fire coming off your back was very odd.” Twilight’s curiosity immediately got the better of her the moment Rainbow Dash mentioned it.

        “Oooh oooh that was Valor form!” Pinkie raised her hoof like she was in a classroom. “Sora called it that when we were in that form! It was awesome! We were all fast and the keyblades were like all whoosh, whoosh, Shing!” she proceeded to flail her for legs about as fast as she could trying to reenact Sora’s dual keyblade attacks.

        “Valor Form?” Twilight asked before looking back at Sora for answers.

        Sora was happy to oblige, if he could take on those forms with the girls, he might as well educate them on the subject and other forms he’s used. “Valor form is one of the special forms I can use when I combine strengths with a friend of mine named Goofy.”

        “Goofy? Oh ah’ remember that name, he and this Donald Duck feller’ would travel with ya on adventures all the time right?” Applejack could remember vividly Sora’s time telling them of his adventures the first time they were in Canterlot.

        “Right, you see-” he turned to the nightstand next to him where his jacket and Saddle bags were folded away neatly. “Those clothes are more practical then you would think.”

        “They are?... Wait, I remember you saying that 3 fairies gave that to you?” Twilight tapped a hoof to her chin. “I thought it was because your old clothes didn’t fit you anymore.

        “Well you’re right on that, but it was only part of the reason they gave me a new outfit.” Sora looked back at the girls “The larger reason was for them to aid in my adventures by giving me new powers. So, basically it can transform me into different forms when I have the power to.” Sora then began to go into detail about what he knew about the Drive Forms. Each of the mares were enthralled by what he told them. Twilight liked the idea of it because of the magic potential it must possess to incur such an ability. Rarity liked the very idea of an outfit that could change it’s style at anytime. Rainbow loved the idea of how it sounded like an awesome super power to change forms. Applejack thought it was a useful and practical ability, she saw it more as a ‘tools in the toolbox’ sort of thing. Pinkie just straight up liked it cuz it sounded like so much fun. Fluttershy might not have been as interested as the other girls were, but she did enjoy listening to Sora explain about it. He seemed to like talking about it, even though that “anti form” he spoke of sounded like a scary risk to her. Sora didn’t seem too keen on it either as he tried to move away from that subject as quickly as possible.

        It wasn’t like Sora saw it as the worst form. In actuality it was a lot more useful than one would believe it to be for being a consequence of going into drive forms too often. It just seemed to leave him in an unnerving state the whole time, and afterwards, he didn’t know whether he should hate it or respect it. On one hand, it was basically embracing darkness for a time to annihilate the foe in a rather vicious way, but on the other hand, it wasn’t like he wasn’t aware of what was happening. He was in full control, in a sense. Sure he wasn’t telling his body slash at heartless with his hands like they were claws, or move around in such a feral way, but it still listened to him without question whenever he commanded this body to do something.

        That was another issue. Unlike his other drive forms. Sora wasn’t in direct control of his body when he was stuck in this form, and he couldn’t revert from it on his own, it would revert back after some time by itself. That was the only thing that the form would disobey Sora on. he couldn’t even use items or magic in this form, however it wasn’t like it didn’t listen to him whenever he commanded it to cast a spell or drink a potion, it just seemed utterly clueless on how even use such things. As if it was just an animal, in fact that was probably what best described it; Being in that form was like commanding an obedient vicious animal. It knows enough, but not everything you would want it to do. You could command it to sit and roll over, but don’t bother trying to teach it how to open a bottle.

        “As amazing as those forms are, it seems to hinder you a lot if it damages your body every time.” Twilight stated as she was in her thinking mode.

        “Actually that was a first for me as well, normally going out of Drive forms wouldn’t do that to me. This time however was different. And for that matter, I thought I could only go into Valor form with Goofy. Same for my wisdom form, I can only enter it when I’m with Donald.” he held his chin and entered his own thinking mode as well. “Master and Final Form don’t seem to be picky, and anti form will take everything whether I want it to or not.

        “So why is it that you could enter it when Applejack and Pinkie Pie… and why did it drain you like it did?” Twilight asked. Though it was more like stating the topic for a group discussion rather than actually asking Sora about it.

        “Well, that fire coming off my back was pretty new… so there’s that” Sora stated as the memory of the girls making him roll around to put out the flames passed by his mind before pushing it away.

        “I was meaning to ask you that as well, but since you have no idea about that either… perhaps…” Twilight seemed to have formed up a quick analysis “Maybe there are some things you can only do fusing with us?”

        “Ya think so?” Applejack walked up to Twilight. “Ah guess ah I can see that. The way we fuse seems different from how Sora would fuse with his other friends in his stories.

        “I’m not even sure you could even call it fusing compared to how it works on both sides. It’s more like taking in their power and adding it toward mine.” Sora tilted his head from side to side slowly with his forelegs folded. “When I fuse with one of you guys… It’s more like you become-”

“A part of you!” Pinkie jumped in as she bounced on Sora’s bed at the other end.

        “Uuuh, yeah… Exactly. Like our hearts… connect...” Sora paused at that word. It seemed to make a lot of sense for everything so far.

        “A part of Sora? A part of each other?” As Twilight continued to stew over these thoughts the sound hoofsteps brought everyone’s attention toward the doorway. Sure enough Both Princess Celestia and Luna were entering the Infirmary.

        “Ah, it’s good to see you are well Sora. Seeing you in such a condition was worrying.” Celestia said. She knew he was here to help aid her Kingdom, but she still felt obligated to look after him in Yen Sid’s stead and as a guest to her world.

        “Sorry for the scare everyone.” Sora said remembering his current position. He didn’t want to be the cause of his friends distress.

        “Oh it’s quite alright, darling.” Rarity waved her hoof dismissively “Not even you knew the outcome, but you’re safe now. We can only learn from this after all.”

        “Valid point Rarity,” Twilight nodded, “We know you were trying your best to help stop Maleficent, however it would probably be best not to use that ability unless it’s absolutely necessary for now, until we can understand it better.”

        “Yeah I see what you mean.” Sora looked at himself for a moment before looking up to See Twilight pressing her face against his with a threatening glare.

        “Do you? I’m not to sure about that Mister Winging It”

        “Ok, ok, I get it! Really…” Sora lifted up his hooves defensively before the purple unicorn backed off, but still kept a suspicious glare towards him.

        “Good, I’m glad you agree.”

        Rainbow snickered “You got chewed out by the egghead” she elbowed him while hovering by him.

        At this moment, Celestia cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention “In any case, once again Canterlot is safe thanks to everypony’s efforts here. My sister and I cannot thank you enough.” they both lowered their heads briefly to the girls and Sora.

        “Actually, about the attacks your highness,” Sora spoke up, “something still doesn’t feel right about it.” He couldn’t place it but he had an uneasy feeling the whole time. Like they were missing something.

        “Oh? How so?” Luna asked, but Twilight decided to answer for him.

        “I would… have to agree, there are some things that don’t seem to add up for me. I mean, doesn’t it seem like, Chrysalis and Maleficent, kind of gave up too easily?”

        “Easy? They sure put up quite a fight for it being too easy” Rainbow snorted

        “That’s not what I mean, Dash. What I’m saying is, how come only Maleficent showed up to fight us. Also, when they first invaded, Maleficent only summoned a big heartless to fight us and then vanished. Why didn’t she stay hidden and make it harder for us to fight it and her? And where was Chrysalis in all this?”

        “You bring up a good point, Twilight.” Celestia sighed “Luna and I have been wondering the same thing.”

        Luna continued “As we recalled, the first time they invaded, when we discovered Chrysalis, we were told that she had disguised herself as my sister to move past the guards and enter the Royal Library. By the time we reached there, Chrysalis seemed to have already gotten what she needed and left.”

        “What was it that she took?” Applejack sat down on a cushion nearby Sora’s bed.

        “We’re… not entirely sure to be honest.” Celestia explained “After we had the scattered books accounted for and returned to where they belong, the scholars marked every named book off the list.”

        “But she did take a book, that much was certain, and there would never be enough time to copy a book into another.” Luna was now in deep thought. “So it’s clear she took something...”

        “If all the books are accounted for, and she didn’t have time to copy a book… then what does that mean?” Fluttershy was quiet through the whole ordeal, the whole time she was quietly checking up on Sora for any more wounds or damage. She trusted the Nurse saying he was fine, but friends always deserved a double check in her book.  That didn’t mean she wasn’t listening to what everyone was talking about, however.

        Both royal sisters looked at each other, a growing concern becoming evident in their eyes. Luna spoke first “Sister.. You don’t suppose…”

        “No… they couldn’t have. We left no record of that book for a reason. We even placed it in the darkest, most obscure region to ensure that it would be hidden from everypony…” Celestia shook her head, but she didn’t feel so confident in her answer right now.

        “Perhaps not, but what are the chances someone would find it when they know they are looking for secrets.” Luna rebutted “And earlier… you felt that uneasy feeling did you not? It’s not been such a long time that we may have forgotten such a foreboding omen.

        “Um excuse me” Sora brought the two sister’s out of their conversation. “What’s this about secrets and Omens? Your kind of leaving us out over here”

Both sisters looked toward him, to each other, then back at Sora, before Celestia asked. “Sora, you said that there are those that can command the heartless, and Maleficent is one of them, correct?” at his nod she continued “Could… Could she teach someone how to command them, and could they then command the heartless to look for something?

“Uuh, yeah. Honestly the heartless don’t really see things like we would, as I said before, they are pretty mindless.” That was when he caught on to what they were really asking about. “I don’t think they would be able to find anything super-secret unless it had something that would draw them to it, like a heart, perhaps some kind of aura or something. It’s really vague, but I have seen heartless take a very important book because of what they could sense from it. Is there a book here that could do that?”

“No, in all tense of purpose it was made like any other book, at least to our knowledge. But all of this seems to fit together… Perhaps she found it through sheer luck?”

Luna held a grimace on her face for a moment before sharply looking back at her sister. “We should go, Tia. Hopefully we are wrong, but just to be safe we should head for the seal in the dungeon.”

“Celestia bit her lip, but she couldn’t see any reason to refuse. “You're right… Let's head there immediately.” both sister’s horns started glowing.

“Hey wait!” Twilight reached out, but it was too late as the Princesses had already teleported away.

…

“Does this mean no ‘We Saved Canterlot’ party?” Pinkie asked. Everyone just looked at her in silence.

        It was only a mere moment in time between when the Princesses teleported from the Infirmary all the way to the Dungeon. When they appeared and saw what was before them, they felt a cold terror well up in their hearts.

        “No… The Seal!” Luna took a step forward “How did they find it?”

        “Given everything they put into the invasion, it was more than enough time for them to search for this. Come, Luna, perhaps there is still time!” Celestia was already making her way down the foreboding passage, Luna close behind.

        When they made their way to the end of it, they were shocked at what they saw. Chrysalis and Maleficent were already stepping through one of the corridors of darkness, however just before they disappeared Chrysalis turned to the Royal sisters and smirked. “Ah, so close, yet so far, Dear Celestia. Until we meet again.” she gave a bow before stepping through, the portal vanishing behind her, leaving Celestia and Luna to stand there staring at the now empty cells. Their worst fears had been realized.