//------------------------------// // Ohana, Part 1: Nothing but a Hound Dog // Story: The Key to the Light // by KingJoltik //------------------------------// I was wrong. I thought the world was so big, so insanely massive that nothing could compare to it's size. And yet...I was wrong once again. Even now, I continue to fail. I continue...to see things in such a scope that nothing could compare to what I truly see. Everything is connected. Hearts, worlds, 'The Key', Light, Darkness...all of it is connected. How small the world I live in is. Equestria. It is a speck in the endless vastness that is everything. These portals I have made proves it. I must continue to study. 'The Key' holds the path to everything and it connects to everything. This is only the beginning. I must research 'The Key' more than anything. That is my path. -Starswirl, Report 36 It had been a few days since Twilight and her friends had arrived in that world. The first few were mainly used to understand combat in their new forms. After that, they found out they were a species referred to as 'humans.' Or that's what Twilight looked up once she found a local library. She also told her friends that they were still technically 'foals' in their new human forms, though they were now a boy and two girls. With this new information, they began to explore a local town. "So...remind Trixie again, what is this place called?" "We're in someplace called Hawaii. Or at least I think the country is called that. The island we're currently on is called 'Kauai'." Twilight said as she flipped another page in an atlas she had found and purchased. She was glad that her bits had somehow transformed into currency that worked in this world due to the portal. "Fascinating. This world continues to intrigue me." "At least somepony is intrigued. Trixie finds this place boring and annoying. Trixie can't wait to get back to her ponyself." Trixie said as she took off her hat and wiped her forehead. "And it's soooo hot. Stupid tropical island." "Kupo." Spike nodded in agreement and rubbed his forehead as well. "Not only that, we haven't seen a single Heartless. And we were so sure some would have shown up after that small earthquake a few days back." Flash replied as he folded his arms behind his head. A few days ago, something had struck the island, though the four thought it was a Heartless attack. However, after trying to investigate, nothing popped up. Instead, they found a large crater on the side of the mountain and a mess of scrap metal. Twilight concluded some vehicle had crashed there, but there was no sight of the driver. "I know, but this world is still interesting everypony. I mean, this island is just one of several of this 'Hawaii' country. Not only that-" Twilight began to rant. As Flash and Trixie glanced at each other, knowing where this was going, Spike then floated in front of them and pointed at something. "Look kupo!" The duo looked and saw a girl with long black hair wearing a red floral dress. With her was what looked like to be a dog, though it looked very unnatural in dog standards. It's eyes were much wider than most dog's and it's fur was colored blue. It's ears were as long as half it's body and it kept switching between walking on two legs and four legs. "Now that's something you don't see everyday." "Trixie agrees Sentry. That thing the blue dog is watching looks very strange." "Watching?" Flash replied, his eyes now catching what Trixie was saying. The blue dog was standing on it's hind legs as it looked at a red television. The tv was showing an old black and white monster movie. "Huh. Trixie has never seen anything like that before." "Come on Stich, over here." The little girl in the red dress said as the dog began to follow her. 'Follow' was an understatement, as he kept glancing around, barking and yelling at everything. It was here that Trixie felt a slight chill. Flash glanced at her and asked, "You okay?" "Hmm? Oh, Trixie's fine. Trixie just thought she felt something." "Really? What did you-" "My friends!" the girl suddenly yelled, quickly catching the duo's attention back to her. They turned their heads to see what she was looking at, only to see a sight they weren't too comfortable looking at. The girl in the red dress quickly ran up to another girl who was wearing large glasses and was riding a toy-tricycle. They quickly noticed that the bespectacled girl was going to be trouble as she declared to the other girl. "What...do you want?!" she hissed, instantly alerting the 'she's a bully' message through Flash and Trixie's heads. The other girl gave a small frown and began to apologize, "I'm sorry I bit you...and pulled your hair...and punched you in the face." "Trixie thinks Trixie likes the non-spectacled one." she whispered into Flash's ear. "Same here. But why is her dog colored blue? I've never seen a dog like that before...and why doesn't it have a leash?" "No idea." They decided to continue to watch the scene, the glasses girl continuing the conversation. "Now get out of my way before I run you over-aah!" she yelped as the blue dog walked up to the other girl. The other girl seemed excited by the creature though, quickly pointing at it. "I got a new dog! His name is Stitch!" "That...is the ugliest thing, I have ever saw!" the bully replied back as two girls behind her continued with a "Yeah!". Trixie let out a snort as she saw the bully's posse give disapproving frowns. However, their moment would be short lived as the dog immediately went up and grabbed the toy-tricycle with a growl. The glasses girl began yelling that the dog was going to infect her as he just pulled at her toy. It was then that Flash and Trixie noticed something strange. The dog had a small dark aura surrounding it's back. They glanced at each other before trying to signal Twilight, whose head was still face deep in the atlas. "Twilight! Look!" Flash said as he pulled her shoulder. "That dog over there!" "Hmm?" Twilight replied as she popped her head out of the atlas. "What is it? What the-" Her eyes then saw the aura and a gulp went down her throat. That aura was very familiar to her. She remembered seeing something similar when she first met Trixie at Canterlot Castle. "Uh-oh. That's not good, is it?" "No. It's not." Trixie replied before cricking her fingers, ready to summon her blade. It was then that the dog noticed the four and quickly knocked the toy over, the bully quickly falling off. The glasses girl began to cry, yelling for someone to do something as Stitch grabbed the other girl and placed her in the back of the toy-tricycle. "Shoot! It saw us!" Trixie said as the three looked at each other. "Come on, we've got to catch that dog! If he's got that kind of dark aura surrounding him, Heartless will soon show up!" "Got it! Let's go!" Flash replied as he started into a full-on sprint. The girls soon followed as Spike placed himself on Flash's head. They soon saw the path ahead of them as Stitch quickly blasted the toy-tricycle to it's absolute limits, leaving a trail of dust behind. All three let out a sigh, seeing how fast he was going. Flash could only groan as he spoke his mind. "Darn it...I really wish I had my wings right now." However, as soon as they all got into a full sprint, they found themselves coming to a screeching halt. On the ground in front of them suddenly appeared several shifting shadows. Soon they found themselves surrounding by around twenty Shadow Heartless along with a few Solider Heartless appearing out of nowhere. "Ah great, looks like we found our source of Heartless!" Trixie said as she summoned her blade. She quickly assumed a battle stance, her right hand gripping the blade as her left began to conjure up a dark flame. "We can't waste our time here!" Twilight yelled as her keyblade shined and appeared in her hand. "Let's get rid of these things and get that dog!" "No problem." Flash unsheathed his sword and equipped his shield. He then signaled Spike to hide. "Get in my weird saddlebag on my back Spike, you'll be safe there!" "Understood kupo!" "Alright...let's beat some Heartless!" Twilight commanded as she put herself in a fighting position. Her two friends yelled in unison as they began to attack the dark beings. As they started to fight, two other individuals watched them. One of them was wearing a wig, covering it's bald head as the being only had one eye. "Oh great, he's loose! And there's a bunch of weird other monsters now!" "His destructive programming is taking effect." the other replied, a large four-eyed individual hiding behind a newspaper. He gave another glance as he watch the four chase the dog down the street. "Hmm...looks like that Party Favor individual was right. He did say that someone else would soon come to chase down 626. Though I must say, these other creatures are quite...intriguing." "Yeah, sure." the other sarcastically replied before glaring at the four-eyed one. "You do realize that the grand council woman won't like this, right? She'll flip if your monster destroys everything!" "It'll be fine Pleakley...though it makes me wonder. How did 626 project that odd smoke above himself? That is not in his original blueprints when I created him." the man then rubbed his chin as put down his newspaper. "Did that Party Favor individual do something?" A few days ago... "And remember, if you bring back that monstrosity, your freedom is guaranteed." the grand council woman said as she presented Jumba with his new ship. "It should have all the equipment you need, so go ahead and get going." "Understood." Jumba replied as he scratched the back of his head with slight hesitation. He then looked at the ship and then the officer that was going to be joining him. "Are you sure this one-eyed noodle is necessary to come along with me?" "Yes. He's going to be observing you to make sure you do not harm this planet and help you capture your experiment." "Very well." Jumba sighed as Pleakly left the two as he pulled his luggage inside the ship. He then turned to another individual in the room, a cloaked man with curly blue hair. "And you, uh...Party Favor is it? You believe that where my monster went is dangerous for him?" Party Favor nodded. "Yes. I helped observe your experiment before it escaped due to Captain Gantu's failure. I was...unable to make sure the experiment would not escape but...I believe things will soon go wrong for your experiment." "Alright." Jumba turned around in a huff. Like being vague, eh? he thought as he grabbed what little luggage he had. "Here's hoping I can capture 626." The Present... I still don't trust that...whoever he was. Jumba thought as he watched Twilight's group begin to chase Stitch. He then grabbed the newspaper again as a sigh let itself out. "We'll have to make sure 626 stays away from cities until we capture him. He will instinctively go there first." "We need to capture that monster now Jumba. That's why we're here!" The one-eyed one said as he nudged Jumba's shoulder. "So, what do we do?" "Simple. We wait and watch. Then, we will find the moment we need to capture my little monstrosity." And with that, the strange duo watched Twilight and her friends fight as more Heartless appeared around them. Meanwhile in Equestria... Maud walked out of her ship, her hoof tapping a small device as the ship turned invisible to the naked eye. She was still wearing the Geomancer outfit, along with the four bells around her belt. Her body had changed back to a pony, though it honestly didn't faze her. She merely brushed her hoof for a second before looking at her surroundings with a deadpan stare. "Home." It had been six months since her 'abduction' of sorts. Despite suddenly leaving her home, it never truly bothered her. Thanks to the kindness of Refia and Vanille, she knew that she would get back home eventually. Because of that, Maud trained herself well in the art of Geomancy, something Refia believed she would excel at and she did. Now, she was home and she knew her first stop. She quickly went into a solid trot, knowing her home was close by as she continued to run. She was never accustomed to running, she had always picked the slow path in her life. But here, she wanted to get there as soon as possible. A few hours later, she found what she was looking for. The Pie Family Rock Farm. She could feel a tear almost form under her eyes as she started to get closer. She was home. As she walked up to the main house, her hoof slowly tapped the door. After a few seconds, a rough looking stallion opened the front door. "Hello, who is-" his voice stopped as he looked the filly dead in the eye. "M-Maud?" "Hello father." she replied in her usual deadpan tone. "I'm home." He quickly hugged her, causing her expression to show slight surprise. A small smile appeared on her face as she began to hug him back. "You're home." he said as he stopped the hug and pulled her inside. "You have a lot to explain." "I will." Maud replied as she walked inside. Soon, she embraced her mother along with her three sisters. Her sister Pinkie quickly decided that a party was needed for her return only to get rejected by her parents. They wanted an explanation first before celebrations. After a little bit, Maud and the others sat on some furniture as Maud let out a tiny, unnoticeable sigh. "Let me explain what happened. It started when I was playing camouflage with Boulder..." One very blunt and non-descriptive explanation later... "So...the reason you're wearing that outfit and everything is because you're now a...Geomancer?" "Yes." Maud nodded, her facial expression unchanging. "And this Geomancer class job thing...it allows you to control 'earth-like' elements? Including rocks?" "Yes." "Huh. And you're on a mission for this WRO that also concerns the fate of Equestria?" "Yes." "Alright. That's good enough for me." her father replied with a snort. He then looked at his wife with a look of curiosity. "And you?" She slightly adjusted her glasses with a response, "Same here. She's our daughter and she hasn't changed a bit, I can tell. Besides, she was interacting with rocks the whole time, so she should've been safe." "Thank you." Maud said as she got up and hugged them both. They were momentarily surprised, they had always known Maud as somepony who shows little emotion but were glad she hugged them. Returning the hug, she soon hugged her other family members before Pinkie declared to at least have a small party for Maud. Knowing Pinkie wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, she agreed. A party soon started as Maud watched her happy sister quickly pull party decorations out of her mane and transformed the room in a flash. Maud could only smile as she watched her family celebrate her return. She pulled a small device out of her coat and stared at it for a second, thinking. Seems nothing has changed. I guess that's good. I'll start my hunt for the agents after this.