//------------------------------// // The Mysterious Keyblade Knight // Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria // by Codex92 //------------------------------// "Welcome to the long and winding staircase of the Mysterious Tower, surprise pony guests," Lea announced as they walked up the steps. They traveled through a portal into some other dimension within the tower, the mares staring in awe at the floating staircases in the massive tower they were in now. "Please keep all hooves on the stairway as you go up and down, otherwise risk falling down into an endless abyss of...whatever's down in that light. And I hope you're looking to get your cardio today, because this climb is kind of long compared to how it looks on the outside." "Ok, this is gonna get boring. I'll meet you guys at the top of those stairs." Rainbow flew off to go on ahead, but as she left the safety of the stairwell, she yelped as gravity suddenly began to pull her down, her wings failing to lift her back up. Lea managed to grab her tail and pull her back up, hanging her upside down as she brought her face to his eye level. "Yeah, Skittles, I suggest you heed my warning and memorize it. Capisce?" The pegasus nodded her head, learning her lesson. The red headed man dropped Rainbow on her hooves, continuing leading the way. "Ok! That was a prime example of why you don't jump off the rails! You'll fall faster than you can say 'Oh crap!'" "This whole tower is like a magical fortress...and I already love it!" Twilight squealed as she skipped merrily next to Riku. "I want to learn everything now that I'm a Keyblade wielder!" "You won't be able to learn everything until you're appointed as a Keyblade Master," Riku said, gently pressing his hand down on the alicorn's head to keep her from getting too excited. "But does taking on Heartless on my own with little practice count for a little bump up the ranks?" she asked as she looked up at Riku, finding her more adorable with her smaller height compared to him. "Sadly, no," Sora said. "You were just lucky when you went up against Neoshadows. Those things are more ruthless for pureblood Heartless." "What exactly does that mean when you call a Heartless a 'pureblood'?" Rarity asked. "There may be different Heartless, but each one is classified by how they look," Kairi explained, their trek up the stairs leading to a doorway to a room, then heading out on the other end up the next set in the tower. "There are purebloods, emblem, and Gummi Heartless. Thankfully, there's been a lack of Gummi Heartless, which happen to be ships made of Gummi blocks that a Heartless becomes. Pureblood Heartless are those made out of pure darkness and hold no hearts in them." "Like the Shadows and Neoshadows?" Twilight pondered, remembering seeing nothing but black mist when she defeated the Shadows back in the Everfree Forest. "Right. But there are a few others that may lurk about that came from the Realm of Darkness. The worst ones are Darksides." Sora nodded his head, having met his fair share of those powerful Heartless in the past. "And emblem Heartless are those that release hearts," Sora continued. "You girls remember seeing some of those Heartless with that heart emblem on them? Those ones are created from strong hearts from actual people, or ponies, who lost their hearts to the Heartless. The stronger they are, the stronger the Heartless." "And let's not forget the same rule about Nobodies," Lea said as he pointed his finger up. "Strong hearts, strong Heartless, and also strong Nobodies. And you are all in the presence of an ex-Nobody." "Wait, what!?" the mares exclaimed in shock. "T-That doesn't make sense!" Rainbow said. "How are you...NOT a Nobody!?" "Oh. So you guys told them about Nobodies, huh?" Lea asked Sora, Riku, and Kairi. "Well, to make this story short and simple, I did lose my heart, which meant I had a Heartless and a Nobody. Strangely enough, when a Heartless and a Nobody that came from the same person gets destroyed, that person returns to life. Don't ask me how that works, because not even we know how it happens. I'm guessing it's all about luck or something. "Anyway, I have some lingering memories as a Nobody, my counterpart known as Axel. He looked a lot like me: same hair, same face, the coat I decided to keep since I don't have anything else to wear as all the Organization XIII members wore them, the only difference was that Axel had teardrop facial marks under his eyes and I don't." As they reached the door to Yen Sid's study, Lea turned and pointed at his face to show the Mane Six where the marks were located. "...And we can trust you when you were part of that Organization group?" Applejack questioned with suspicion. "Of course we can trust him," Kairi said as she stood next to Lea. "His Nobody, Axel, tried to protect me from being taken by Organization XIII." "And he died when he tried to help us get to where their hideout was," Sora added. "Axel betrayed the Organization to stop them, but left him with a large group of Nobodies to end him when they found out what he did." The ponies looked at Lea, able to give him the benefit of the doubt, considering he was no longer a Nobody, even though he still wore the coat Organization XIII members wore. "...Ok, Lea, if that's your real name," Pinkie said as she bounded up to him. "But if you do something evil, I refuse to throw a party for you." "Gee, that's harsh," he said sarcastically. "Don't worry. I'll be on my best behavior." Lea turned around and entered through the door, leading everyone into Yen Sid's study. The wizard wasn't in the room, but the flaming red-haired man approached the adjacent door, knocking on it to get his attention. "Hey, old timer! You got company! Make yourself decent and put your hat on!" Twilight gasped and dragged Lea back toward her with her magic, appalled at how he spoke to his superior. "Lea, show respect to your master! Do you want to get punished and have him burn you to a crisp!?" "Ah, hey! Easy with the yanking!" The alicorn pulled too hard, sending the man falling on his back. She glared at him, Lea blankly staring back as she poked her muzzle. "It was a joke. Master Yen Sid's got a sense of humor." "Calling him 'old timer' is considered funny to someone who is your teacher and is more powerful than you could imagine?" she questioned. "It is quite alright, Twilight." Yen Sid walked out of the room, surprising everyone as he entered without making so much as a sound. Sora, Riku, and Kairi stood at attention, Lea vaulting back up on his feet and doing the same as the old wizard approached his desk and sat down in his chair. "I am getting around that age, but Lea knows his place and has his own way of showing his respect." The wizard looked at the other five mares behind his pupils, all of them staring at him awkwardly, though Pinkie grinned and waved at him. "And I assume these are your friends, Twilight?" "Y-Yes sir." Before the alicorn could introduce them, Pinkie suddenly appeared from underneath Yen Sid's desk. "Hi!" she greeted, slightly startling the wizard as he backed away. "I'm Pinkie Pie, and that's Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy! You got some big beady eyes, and a long beard! You kinda look like that old wizardy pony Twilight always talks about! I think his name was Swirly Star the Epic Bearded or something!" Sora quickly ran up to the desk and grabbed Pinkie, pressing his hand against her muzzle, muffling her nonsensical talking while he pulled her away from the elder man. "Sorry about this one, Master Yen Sid, sir! Pinkie Pie's kind of the kooky, random member of the group. Far more silly than me, Donald, and Goofy combined." "...Uhh, yes. I see." Yen Sid cleared his throat as he recovered from the slight heart attack. Sora placed the mare back down next to him, his foot pressing down on her tail to keep her from moving anywhere. "And, as hyper as she is, she smells a lot like cotton candy." "I've been using a new shampoo for my mane! It smells like cotton candy, but don't try to eat it. Bleck." Pinkie stuck out her tongue in disgust. "It tastes like hair." "...Quite..." Ignoring Pinkie for the time being, he looked at his pupils, the teens praying Pinkie doesn't act out of line in front of Yen Sid while Lea tried not to smirk at the hilarious display. "So, I am sure you have some news to report. Princess Celestia has informed me of some details that have occurred while Sora was there. Though, with the unfortunate kidnapping of the princesses and my young students, I would like to know what was the cause of the chaos the other day." Twilight looked over at Sora, Riku, and Kairi, the three of them nodding their heads, letting her explain everything since they were unconscious and taken by the vines. "It turned out to be a thousand year old ploy that had failed back then, but came up yesterday. There was a...chaotic deity we call Discord, a creature called a draconequus who can bend reality by his own will with just a snap of his fingers. He might be smart, but he lets his ego get the better of him at times and can slip up when he thinks everything goes according to plan." "Which is why he got his butt whooped hard by Sora before getting turned back to stone again several months ago," Rainbow said, reminded of the epic battle between the two when the teen had found his Harmony Drive Form. "Yes, but now that he's reformed, somewhat, he hasn't caused much trouble." Twilight growled angrily. "I'm still going to beat the living hay out of him if I see him again! His plunderseed vines captured my mentor and her sister, Sora, Riku, and Kairi, prevented the time of day to change once the princesses were kidnapped, and nearly destroyed the Tree of Harmony, the creator of the Elements of Harmony we used to use in the past before we had to give them up to save it! He's left me under so much stress, so much pressure for both duties I had, and if he ever takes Riku away from me again, I'll do far worse than have him turned back to stone again!" "'Take Riku away from me?' Wonder what that's supposed to mean." Lea looked at Riku, smirking as he noticed the blush growing on the teen's face. "Wait a minute...What does the winged pegasus mean?" "She's an alicorn, and I'm really close friends with Twilight!" Riku quickly said, wanting to hide his embarrassment but not wanting to be rude to turn his back on his mentor. Lea snickered, knowing exactly what he meant by the term "close friends", but laid off for Riku's sake. "Yeah. I'm sure you two are 'very close'." Yen Sid noticed Riku's reaction, but remained silent as Twilight continued her report. "Anyway, aside from Discord causing more trouble than any of us wanted, there was nothing else that went wrong...But, there was somepony who helped me in the Everfree Forest when I was attacked by Heartless. I fought Shadows, but I managed to fend them off on my own with how much little combat experience I had." "That is impressive," Yen Sid praised, the alicorn's tail swishing excitedly at the compliment. "However, it was careless of you to attempt to fight creatures of darkness without the proper sword training required to even stand a chance out in a dangerous environment. Don't count on your luck or magic to save you when you are not prepared." Twilight winced, nodding her head as she took note not to do that again until she was really ready. "Right...But, after I beat the Shadows, stronger Heartless attacked me. They called them Neoshadows." "Ugh," Lea groaned. "Those can be bad. But not as bad a group of Invisibles. Those things should be called 'Dangerous Demons' with how erratic they are. Not to mention how they actually turn invisible and surround you in a dark ring that closes around you after a while." "And you managed to beat that level of pureblood Heartless with such little experience?" the wizard asked in astonishment. "No. I actually had help from somepony else who had a Keyblade." This news caught Lea and Yen Sid by surprise. "I couldn't tell who it was exactly with that suit of armor they wore. All I knew was that whoever it was had a horn on their forehead like Rarity and I, and the Keyblade they held." "Wait, there were other students you took in and you didn't tell us?" Lea questioned as he stepped forward. "You four are my current students," Yen Sid said. "Five including Princess Twilight Sparkle. The only other Keyblade wielder I had taught in the past was Mickey. But...I thought the last of them aside from myself were the only ones remaining." The wizard stood up and began to pace near the windows, stroking his beard in thought. "Did this Keyblade wielder say anything?" "No. I couldn't tell if it was a mare or stallion," Twilight said. "...What did their armor look like?" Yen Sid asked. "I...don't think I can describe it all that well," she admitted. "It wasn't any kind of armor I've seen in Equestria. It was mostly gray and pale blue, and despite the armor looking and sounding heavy, it didn't hinder their movement after I saw how nimble and quick they were fighting those Neoshadows. Though their true strength actually came from their magic." Yen Sid stopped his pacing as he stared at the wall, going over the description of what Twilight gave him. "...And the Keyblade?" "Uhh...Let's see..." Twilight recalled what the mysterious Keyblade knight's Keyblade looked like after watching them fight the Neoshadows. "The blade was black, and it was rounded like Sora's, but a bit skinnier. The hilt is the one thing that throws me off. Both the hilt and the guard were silver and copper red, but the hilt isn't cylindrical to wield for better grip. It was just as box-like as the guard. Not exactly a smart design when holding it in a hand." Yen Sid's eyes widened as he recognized what it looked like from Twilight's description. A moment of silence passed before he did something, lifting his arm up and pointing at one of the books on his shelf. Controlling it with his magic, surprising the mares as he levitated something without seeing an aura around it, he brought it closer to him and flipped through the pages. The book itself was quite old, though it didn't appear to look like a simple text book from what Twilight could see. He found the page he was looking for and placed it down on the desk. "Did it look like this?" he asked as he pointed at a picture. On the page was an old photo of three teenage boys. On the left was a black haired teen, the back tied in a short, high topknot, a few strands of his hair draped over his right eye, wearing a white haori. In the middle was what looked like a young Yen Sid, wearing the familiar blue wizard robe and cap, though he looked more cheerful than he does now, his hair brighter and shorter while lacking any facial hair. On the right was someone Sora, Riku, and Lea recognized, having encountered this teen not too long ago: silver hair spiked back, wearing a black vest and a pair of blue pants, though, his eyes were brown instead of yellow. Beneath the group photo were pictures of the Keyblades underneath each boy: the one Twilight saw under the first one, the Star Seeker was Yen Sid's Keyblade, and under the one with a young Xehanort was completely black, the blade double edged, the teeth a sharp curve off the end of the weapon, the pommel and guard shaped like demonic wings, and at the base between the hilt and the blade was a horned lion. As Twilight looked at the first Keyblade, it matched exactly to what the knight had. "Yes! That's the same one I saw! Your friend saved me?" "Sadly, it couldn't be him," he said, confusing the alicorn. "Eraqus has been...deceased for over a decade. There was no possible chance for him to return from the dead...not after he killed him." "'He'?" She looked down at the photo again, the others approaching the table and looked at the group picture of the three boys. "I'm guessing Xehanort was the one who did him in," Riku growled as he leered at young Xehanort. "Correct. He used to be a dear friend, but he sided with the darkness." The ponies and Keyblade wielders looked up at the wizard as he levitated the book back to him. "I guess now would be a good time as any to tell you about past events that have happened over a decade ago." "Ooh! Story time!" Pinkie pulled out seats from out of wherever she's able to store anything, quickly sitting everyone down in one. Once the seats were filled in front of the desk, Yen Sid raising a brow at Pinkie's randomness, the mare sat down in her seat, munching on a bag of popcorn. "Ok! Ready!" "...Ok, seriously, how did she do all that!?" Lea asked. "Don't question Pinkie Pie," everyone except for Lea, Yen Sid, and Pinkie said at once. "...That's going to be the response, isn't it?" the man questioned, earning a nod from the others. "Alright. Fine. But sooner or later, there has to be an answer. Like weird, freaky magic that she knows." Yen Sid decided to follow his pupils' advice and not question what Pinkie Pie does as he began to tell what had happened long ago. "Before your journeys began, roughly twelve years ago, there was once a world that was meant to train potential Keyblade wielders, teaching them the way of protecting the light from darkness as they discover their ways of combat. It was called the Land of Departure, one of the only safe havens throughout the world. But, after the Keyblade War, there had been less of an abundance of wielders, and so few Keyblade Masters to train new students. "Eraqus was one of those teachers, always following the moral code and fought for the light indefinitely. Xehanort was also a teacher in the Land of Departure as well, though his intentions were sinister as he had claimed to master complete control over the darkness. During that time, there were three students, two of them on their way to becoming Keyblade Masters, while the last still needed more training. One had passed during their exam, while the other failed." Yen Sid levitated another book off the shelf, opening the pages to show creatures similar to the Heartless, though not quite like them. "What are those things?" Rainbow asked. "These creatures are called Unversed," Yen Sid explained. "They began to show up some time before the Mark of Mastery exam back then. The Unversed are beings created by negative emotion. They are as wild as Heartless, and their numbers are just as endless. I have no idea how they came to be, but they have yet to reappear after a deadly battle in the Keyblade Graveyard. "The three Keyblade wielding youths confronted Xehanort and an apprentice of his in the wasteland where the Keyblade War had started and ended. The good news was that Xehanort and the successor to his schemes involving the X-blade and Kingdom Hearts had been stopped. The bad...only one of them made it out alive." As he searched for another book, the mares recalled hearing from Mickey about a battle in that same world where he helped a Keyblade wielder. "King Mickey was there when that happened, right?" Twilight asked. "He was." Yen Sid found what he was looking for and opened the page to the youth that had survived the encounter. It showed a picture of a young woman's face with all of her statistics as a Keyblade wielder, Kairi finding her familiar as she noticed her blue hair. "This was the only survivor, and barely made it out alive. Her name is Aqua, more skilled with magic, but her abilities in combat are just as impressive. She had given me some insight to what had happened to Eraqus, the Land of Departure, and her companions during their confrontation with Xehanort." "Is there any way we can see the Land of Departure?" Sora asked. "Or...does it still exist?" "It still exists, but it's not what you think it is now," he answered. "Once Eraqus was slain by Xehanort, after tricking a young man named Terra to train under him and use the power of darkness, the Land of Departure was on the verge of being destroyed by darkness. So, as a last line of defense to protect the world's secrets from any evildoer who dares venture into the land, Aqua was tasked to lock the world away, and also hid her other friend, Ventus, who had lost his heart during the fight. After that, I heard no word from her." "Master Yen Sid, do you think that this woman, Aqua, was the one who saved Twilight?" Riku asked. "...I am not sure. It might be her, though where she had disappeared to is beyond me..." The wizard placed the books back on the shelves and sat back down in his chair. "If any of you see her, I would like to see how she's doing. Judging by the color of her armor, I know that it must be Aqua." "Is she the only one who wears that armor?" Twilight asked. "Actually, back then, Keyblade wielders were able to craft their own armor. And it's not just built for combat." Yen Sid grinned as he saw the excited look in Sora's eyes. "And, how they got around through the universe to protect other worlds from darkness was not by Gummi ship. They were able to use their own Keyblades, transforming them into gliders that got them from point A to point B." "Seriously!?" Sora shouted as he shot up from his seat. "Wait. Do we have to be Keyblade Masters in order to do that?" As the wizard shook his head, the teen's excitement doubled as he ran up to his mentor's desk. "You gotta teach me how to do that and make awesome armor! Please!?" "Ok, Sora, calm down," Kairi said as she got up and dragged her boyfriend back by the back of his jacket. "I'm sure Master Yen Sid was going to tell us about this when all of us were ready to learn about it." "Unfortunately, I don't have any books on the subject since that knowledge was only available in the Land of Departure, and since it has disappeared and is locked away from everyone..." Sora put two and two together, groaning in disappointment as he slumped his head and shoulders. "Then how come you don't know anything about them at the top of your head?" the teen asked. "The armor didn't suit me, and I'd prefer teleportation as a means of travel than fly through space." Pinkie snorted at the unintentional pun Yen Sid made, though it didn't help Sora after he got his hopes up. "But, if you can find Aqua, she might share that knowledge with you." "Well, that's going to be tough with all the worlds out there," Lea said. "She could be just about anywhere and hard to spot while flying out in the cosmos." "Uhh, you think we can also get some cool armor too?" Rainbow asked. "And can it be made for ponies like us?" "Are you and your other friends Keyblade wielders?" Yen Sid asked, the pegasus slowly shaking her head. "Well, sorry to say that it won't work unless you're able to wield a Keyblade." "Aww man," Rainbow grumbled as she crossed her forelegs against her chest and pouted. "I wonder if I'm allowed to help assist with creating the design for Twilight's armor," Rarity wondered. "Fashionable and functional, make her stand out amongst the battlefield." "Rarity, Ah think Twilight would stick out like a sore hoof, bein' the only pony with a Keyblade." Rarity growled as she leered at the farm mare. While the rest of the mares looked around the study, Sora, Riku, and Kairi began to find a way to search for Aqua and find out what really happened when they were young. "Guys, I can't help but feel like I met Aqua before when I was little." "You sure that was the woman?" Sora asked. "I think so. I was really young back then, but I know it's her," Kairi said. "But how can we find her? She could be anywhere, and she could help us fight against Xehanort." Riku looked out the window, examining the stars out in the distance. He soon got an idea of where they might be able to find Aqua. "What about the Keyblade Graveyard?" Riku suggested. "The place is a barren wasteland, and no one else has ever gone there. Not even us." "You really think she'd go to a wasteland as a hideout?" Sora asked. "It's worth a shot. She knows a lot more about what Xehanort was up to, and we could use another ally to help us." Sora and Kairi looked at each other, the former shrugging his shoulders as it was worth a shot. "Let's see if we can find where the Keyblade Graveyard is located and check," Kairi said. "Planning on a little outing?" Lea asked, the teens turning to face him. "Off to search for the mysterious Keyblade Master who's been missing for a decade?" "Is that a bad thing?" Riku asked. "No, but you aren't going to find it without knowing where it's located." The red-headed man pulled out a slip of paper from his coat pocket, waving it in his hand. "The old geezer figured she might be there as well, and he gave me the coordinates to this little graveyard of fallen Keyblade wielders. A little searching mission for all of us to go on since the place might be too big for just three kids and six bright and colorful ponies." "Wait, we're bringing Twilight and her friends with us?" Riku asked in surprise. "Ask the pink menace who overheard the two of us," Lea said as he turned around and pointed at his back, Pinkie Pie holding onto his back. "Adventure ho!" the mare cheered, Sora snickering at the hilarious moment while Lea sighed. "You guys got a spatula or something to pry this giant pink leech off me? I think she's literally getting attached to me, and with what she can do, that kind of scares me." Pinkie giggled, Sora and Kairi pulling the clinging mare off his back so they can get ready for their trip to the Keyblade Graveyard. The deserted mountain wastelands were filled with nothing but silence, the wind blowing through the empty land, kicking up dust, dirt, and small pieces of the region. The air was thick with the scent of a deadly battle, once a battleground to a horrible war where thousands of lives had been lost over a power far greater than anyone could imagine. There was no life at all in this world, not even a hint of vegetation to even give the mountains some color in the bland brown and tan rocks and the dulled gray skies shrouding the mountains from what sunlight could be seen. At a specific mountain region in the Keyblade Graveyard, mountain platforms not created naturally like the craggy cliffsides elsewhere, the mysterious knight, a human now, slowly trudged along the battlefield that she fought on. Her head looked around the tall platforms, seeing the many nicks and shattered portions of the area from the long and arduous fight of her life. Where she stood, looking up at the sky, she stared at where she saw the massive platinum heart that had appeared above them when the conflict started: Kingdom Hearts. "...Xehanort...You have caused so much trouble for us...and I only made things worse thinking I could save Terra." Looking down, she pulled out the potion she swiped from Discord, most of the white liquid nearly gone as she took some sips from it to see what had happened in her entrapment in the Realm of Darkness. Her grip tightened on the potion, not hard enough to shatter the glass, glaring spitefully as her hand trembled. "You used those three kids, caused those two boys to fight with each other until one of them died, and you brought Kairi into this mess you made...And...Ven's heart..." She was snapped out of her thoughts when she looked up, hearing what sounded like engines roaring in the sky. Four blocky ships soared overhead as they flew off to the other side of the wastelands, the same location she stood upon before her trek through the lands to face the man responsible for all this mess and the darkness of her young friend back then. Calling forth her former master's Keyblade, now her own after giving up hers to save the wrong person, casting a spell to make herself invisible, not risking to chance if whoever came to this forsaken world was friend or foe as she ran to where they were landing to investigate. After landing the Gummi ships down on a large enough mountain range to fit four of them, the group of Keyblade wielders and ponies stepped out and viewed the landscape near the edge of the cliff. Not a minute landing in the Keyblade Graveyard, everyone felt a chill down their spine at the lack of life they could see across the land below them. It was as if they were expecting spirits of the many Keyblade wielders that lost their lives in a deadly war between light and darkness to come up and haunt them. "T-This place is scary," Fluttershy said, trembling in fright. "There's no life here," Twilight noted. "Not even a single blade of grass...Was there once life in this world?" "Who knows?" Lea shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "If there was, then it all probably got wiped out in that war. No survivors, death all around causing the world to shrivel up, all the perfect ingredients to make a barren grave site." "And there ain't no chance of revivin' this world, either," Applejack said as she kicked up some of the dirt around them, which was nothing but dust now. "The land has no sign of fertile ground. Ah wouldn't dare put an apple saplin' anywhere around here, or any kind of crop or flower." "The Keyblade War destroyed the land," Riku said as he pointed out the craters in the ground and many of the mountains sporting massive holes from powerful spells or impacts. "A battle between light and darkness ending with death..." "Let's take a look around," Sora said as he lead the way through the trail. "And we'd better stay on guard just in case Heartless might show up." The group followed Sora as they searched around the land. The Mane Six stayed in the center while Riku and Kairi stood on the sides and Lea watched the rear. As they reached the canyon, they saw dangerous tornadoes made of a dangerous magic swirling around across the closed in passage, the only safe place they could all safely go across the mountain without slipping down the side and risk getting injured. "Ok, that's not a natural twister," Twilight said. "I can practically feel some kind of powerful magic coming from several of them around this area." "Yeah," Rainbow agreed. "And as much as pegasi can easily clean up weather problems, I'm not going to risk reversing the spin on a tornado that randomly glows purple and green." "I'll check it out," Sora said, summoning his Keyblade as he began to approach the tornado. "You guys stay back here until it's safe to move forward." He ran up to the tornado, the others staying back near the entrance to the canyon to avoid getting caught in the vortex. As soon as he got a few yards around its vicinity, it began to move closer to him like a magnetic pull. Sora tried to back away, but the winds grew too strong and sucked him in, the others gasping as he disappeared inside the magical twister. Inside the twister, Sora was surprised he wasn't being tossed around like a ragdoll. Instead, he was in some kind of strange dimension where there was nothing but shifting green and purple voids as he landed on solid ground. While looking around, he saw strange blue creatures zigzagging up from the ground. They looked like the Shadow Heartless, only their limbs were more pointed, as well as their faces, and they looked a lot more twitchy. "Are these Unversed? I thought Master Yen Sid they didn't show up anymore." The Unversed charged forward and attacked, but the weak creatures of negative emotion were as weak as Shadows. They even behaved like Shadows as well, some of them diving into the ground as a blue void, popping up behind him to try and get a sneak attack in. But the way they appeared as they shot up made them easy targets with the sounds they made. As the last of them were beaten, more appeared around him from purple voids, newer and stronger Unversed surrounding Sora. There were ones that were like the Soldiers and a couple similar to Large Bodies, though the latter seemed a bit thinner than the rounded Heartless and lacked a defensive front to protect them. He easily made quick work of them, blocking the large Unversed's punches and the swift thrust punches coming from the Soldier look-alikes and countering them while they were stunned. After dealing with the last of them, the void he was in began to fade to white, falling through the ground as it disappeared underneath him. The others watched and waited, seeing the tornado begin to disappear and fade into nothing. Falling from the sky above where the tornado was when Sora was sucked into it, they watched the teen fall, having no clue how he wound up in the cloudy sky when he should have stayed inside the magical cyclone. He landed safely back on the ground, waving them over as the area was safe to be around. "Sora!" Pinkie ran ahead of everyone and tackled the teen into the ground, hugging him tightly while cutting off his air circulation. "What happened!? How did you make the tornado disappear!? How'd you fly up there? I thought you were gonna get torn to pieces and we would never see you again!" Sora pried the sobbing mare off of him before he passed out from lack of oxygen. "Pinkie, you know I've been through worse than getting sucked into a tornado." He stood up and scratched Pinkie's ears to calm her down as the others caught up, wondering what had happened to him. "Those tornadoes are indeed dangerous. I wasn't sucked into the eye, but instead transported into a void inside of it." "That doesn't explain how you fell through the clouds, though," Kairi said as she looked at the other twisters in the canyon. "Yeah. That confuses me too." Sora looked up at the sky, scratching his head as he and everyone else wondered how that worked. "But you guys aren't going to believe this, but inside those tornadoes are hordes of Unversed." "Unversed? Master Yen Sid said there weren't any sign of them after that fight between Xehanort and Aqua and her friends back then." Everyone was surprised at the idea of creatures created by negative emotion to appear in those twisters, let alone in a land filled with nothing able to give off emotion. "How do they exist if this world is completely dead? And why haven't they shown up elsewhere?" "Maybe they only linger here because of the air of negative feeling from the Keyblade War," Twilight guessed. "Or those twisters are creating some kind of negative magical field to keep them alive, like a living trap to suck in anyone crazy enough to walk in a living graveyard," Lea said, giving his thoughts as well. "We can't exactly wander through here safely unless we get rid of all those tornadoes." Riku summoned his Keyblade, staring down the next tornado slowly moving about not too far from them. "The Unversed hard to handle, Sora?" "They're almost like Heartless, but they aren't that hard to take down," Sora said. "At least the ones I fought earlier were pretty simple to beat." "Then I'll gladly take a challenge." Riku rushed forward and headed straight for the tornado in his sights, diving in to confront the Unversed waiting for him inside. Their trek through the canyon was slow as Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Lea switched out taking care of the tornadoes filled with negative energy and Unversed. It was slower than they'd like, but if it meant staying safe and keeping Twilight and her friends from getting sucked in and attacked, it was worth waiting after each one was beaten. After the last tornado disappeared after the waves of Unversed inside were defeated, Sora finishing it off as he fell down from the sky. Now that the canyon was free of the dangerous twisters, continuing on their way to see what else was in store for them. After passing through the small, and relatively safe, dried up ravine, they walked through the cavern leading out to what looked like a vast wasteland on the other side. The moment they left the canyons, everyone stared in shock and awe at what they saw. Along the pathway that shaped an 'X' were thousands upon thousands of Keyblades, the remnants of the many wielders who lost their lives in the dreaded war many years ago. Many of them had rusted from age, some dented or broken as they had clashed with stronger and tougher Keyblades, a literal graveyard of Keyblades that made the 'X' shaped walkway in the deserted land. "So many Keyblades..." The group slowly walked along, trying to count how many Keyblades they're able to see. "There must be thousands of them." "How awful," Fluttershy uttered. "What reason was there to fight to have so many humans...die?" "A battle between light and darkness, to win possession over Kingdom Hearts," Kairi answered. "It's the heart of all hearts. Unimaginable power, kept hidden by the seven Princesses of Heart, me being one of them." "The ones who sided with darkness wanted to control Kingdom Hearts, turn every world into nothing but a land of darkness," Riku said. "The ones who were with the light fought back to protect it from being used in the wrong hands." "And Keyblades as far as the eye can see," Lea said. "Hey, if you ponies want a shot at pretending to be Keyblade wielders, go ahead and pick your favorite and swing it around a little." "Are you serious!?" Twilight yelled at the red-headed man at the terrible joke he made. "You want my friends to desecrate the graves of fallen Keyblade wielders by actually pulling out any one of them and disrespecting the lives that were lost here!?" "I was kidding!" Lea defended himself, stepping back in case the alicorn decided to chase him and trample him if he was caught. "I was being sarcastic! I'm not that heartless!" "Well, you didn't have a heart before," Pinkie reminded. "So...you have a heartless heart that isn't at all heartless and you aren't a Heartless or a shell without a heart to heart less?" The others stared at the pink pony, already getting lost the moment she began her tangent. "...Is there a translator for Pinkie Speech? I think she melted some of my brain cells just from saying all that." While Twilight grumbled at how rude Lea was with his disrespect to the dead and Yen Sid, she felt an odd magical disturbance not too far away from them. She looked out to the intersection of the graveyard of Keyblades, but she saw nothing in the direction where there were several tall, flat mountain platforms out in the distance, knowing that those mountains weren't naturally created. She was about to look back to her friends, thinking she must have felt some lingering magic that came from the Keyblade War, only to dart her eyes back as she saw dust kick up, almost like someone stepped their foot down. The alicorn summoned her Keyblade and pointed it at the invisible intruder. "Who's there!?" she called out, alerting the others as they were distracted by Pinkie's earlier confusing statement. "I know you're over there!" "Twilight, what are you doing?" Lea asked as he, the teens, and the other mares looked at where she was pointing at. "This place is a dead wasteland. There's no other life here but us." "There's somepony else here. And they're right there!" The alicorn fired a Blizzard spell at the ground, the invisible spy leaping away as the ground they stood on turned to ice. Twilight's ears perked up at the sound of a metal foot landing on the ground, spotting the dust kick up from the landing. "And you're not getting away from us!" Lighting her horn, she managed to grab the enemy's leg with her aura, sweeping them off their feet as they landed on the ground with a grunt. Everyone saw dust fly up as soon as the body hit the ground, Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Lea calling their Keyblades, seeing that Twilight was right. "Wait, stop!" a feminine voice called out from the picked up dust, the invisible spell fading away as she revealed herself. Even though she was human, Twilight recognized the color and design of her armor, and even more shocked to know that it was a female knight that had saved her back in the Everfree Forest. She flipped back up on her feet, holding her arms up in surrender. "I'm not an enemy." "You're the knight who rescued me from the Neoshadows," Twilight said. "And you're the same pony with that Keyblade," the knight replied back. "It felt...different then any light I've felt from it." Sora lowered his guard and stepped forward, somehow finding her voice familiar. A part of him felt like he knew her, and they had met once before. The strange thing was that, just from meeting her that one time as a kid, a distant memory forgotten through the years as he grew older, he knew her for much longer than a few brief minutes. The others had no idea what he was about to do, but just in case this wasn't who they were expecting to find, they stayed on their guard. "...Are you...Aqua?" Sora asked. The woman nodded her head, light appearing around her armor and blinding everyone temporarily. As soon as the light faded, they opened their eyes and saw her without her full suit of armor. It really was Aqua: her hair was blue and a bit longer than what it was in the picture of her Yen Sid showed them, even looking older than her photo, her clothing slightly tattered, though the pauldron on her left shoulder seemed to be newly crafted. Kairi recognized the clothes she wore, the same young woman from before as a child who saved her standing before them. "We meet again, Sora," Aqua said with a smile, looking at the other two teens staring at her. "Riku. Kairi. You three have grown up so much since I last saw you."