Kingdom Hearts: Harmonic Connections

by Mr Curious Writer

Chapter 35: Nurturing Compassion

o

Once again, Sora returned to that familiar place within his heart. At this point, he decided to call it, the Station of Connection… Well, it was more like the name just popped into his head when he returned to this place. Going through this all before he casually watched his body descend to it before flipping to land on his feet onto it. Once he did wait. It wasn’t long before another Station appeared.

And on that station a sight Sora was all too familiar with by now. Fluttershy curled up in a cute butter yellow quivering ball with her wings hiding her face. It caused him to laugh a little and shake his head. “Fluttershy! Over here!”

The pegasus squeaked from the response, shrinking into herself more until her mind processed the familiar voice and her head slowly poked out. “S-sora?” after making visual contact with him, her initial fear seemed to take a back seat the moment she confirmed his presence. “Sora! Are you ok?! You were so hurt, H-hold on, I’ll be right over.” he flapped her wings ready to fly over to him.

“Fluttershy wait!” Sora tried to stop her but before he could a wall of light appeared in front of Fluttershy when she was Just about to cross the edge. She yelped and immediately backed away from it. Sora looked on surprised “Wait.. so… unless we make a connection, there is no way to cross to the others.” Now that he thought about it, Fluttershy is technically the first pegasus to join him here so there was a reason the others would try to run towards the edge.

When he looked at her again he could see her frantically flying about trying to find away past the invisible wall. “Oh dear, oh dear oh dear”

“Fluttershy! Calm down! I’m fine really and you won’t be able to cross right now. Just calm back down” Sora tried to calm her, the process took a bit of effort, but he eventually got her attention and did what was asked of her.

Of course, that didn’t mean her concern about him was able to subside. The last thing she remembered was a battered Sora, standing in front of her and her… Wait, Where were her friends, where was the monster? “W-where… Where are we?”

There, a question he HAD been expecting “Everything is alright Fluttershy. The best I can describe it is that the both of us are in a place where are hearts can meet.” He said gesturing to the place around them “This is where I connected with AJ, Pinkie, and Rarity.”

“It is?” she landed back on her hooves and looked around. Although she was nervous, she was a lot calmer than a few moments ago “It’s kinda scary”

“Yeah, I figured you’d say that.” Sora scratched the back of his head. “Tell you what, I know exactly what we're supposed to do here. However, I can’t do it without you, ok?”

She quickly nodded “O-ok, I’ll try.” she looked around “What… What do we do then?” As if on cue, that disembodied voice from before appeared once again, scaring the daylights out of poor Fluttershy.

Kindness is its product, it resides within a heart. Without it, the heart becomes cold and uncaring.

Sora took a moment to soak those words in and think back to previous visits here. “It makes a person kind to others… and without it, it would make us cruel to one another. I think that’s basically what it’s trying to tell us…. So what is the magic word?” he thought about it, then turned to Fluttershy. Despite her brief moment of terror, it seems she was pondering the phrase as well. He smiled. She certainly came a long way from how she was when they first met. Yet, at the same time, her best qualities remained the same.

“I hope everypony is ok” that look of worry returned to her face.

Sora smiled “Even when your here your first thoughts go to our friends.” He admired that

Fluttershy had no trouble responding to that “Of course I do, How can I not. The last thing I remember is everypony being hurt or unconscious.” She then looked at Sora “But, I couldn’t move… If only I could reach my wand I could’ve healed you and the girls. How were you able to move after that Sora?”

Sora thought back to that moment “Uuum… I’m not sure what I can tell you. After that blast the heartless made, when I got up, I saw everyone was down.” he then nodded “I couldn’t just lay there while that monster was still there, So I got up and ran toward it. I used my last ether and my magic was charging” He shrugged “I figured I could stall and distract it from you guys until you all came to.”

“Sora… I understand the situation, and I know now, that is something you would do… But I-I Um… I don’t think that was the wisest choice.” Fluttershy fidgeted, she seemed to be forcing her to speak her mind here, but immediately blushed and receded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean your not wise, I mean uh… well…” however, she took a moment to stop herself… breathe in, then tried again looking at him straight in the eyes. “Sora, you're great but reckless. And that worries me, all of us.” Sora was kind of surprised to hear her say that. “Rainbow may not admit it, and Pinkie Pie might hide it with a smile. But the girls and I feel… feel close to you. So, as selfish as this may sound… For our sake, can you please take care of yourself more? Even if it’s just a little, it would mean the world to us, truly.”

Sora wasn’t sure what to say about this now. It took him a moment but some memories did return to him that would prove her point.One good example was unlocking his heart to free Kairi’s along with the other princesses of heart. True, it was the only way that they knew how to return their hearts, but in the process, he nearly lost his. Thinking back on the looks of Donald and Goofy’s faces the moment he did it… He did feel bad about it. And if Kairi wasn’t there, he’d probably be gone for good as nothing more than a simple Shadow.

More recently he was called out by the girls on his little “Adventures”, but he was pretty sure the story Applejack reminded of probably worried them the most. He did promise not to go solo anymore when entering the woods. However, he had a feeling that promise he made was meant for more than just that. Same for the promise he made today… They just want to know that their friend will still be there when they looked for him and in one piece. Thinking of it that way… He could see why they’d be worried. Just like back when Destiny Island fell into darkness and he watched his two best friends vanish before his eyes.

He sighed and tapped his fist against his head lightly with his knuckles, then laughed a little. “Sorry… You’re right, Fluttershy. I guess when I’m adventuring or helping out my friends and other people, I kind of forget about myself a little.

Fluttershy looked away kicking at ground shyly “Well... I can understand why. You care about others more than yourself. I suppose I’m the same way in a sense.” She smiled a little.

Sora looked at her with a smirk. “That’s an understatement, you showed a lot of courage today”

“What? I-I did?”

“No joke, I seem to remember a yellow pegasus with a pink mane suddenly rushing past me to cast reflect when that heartless was about to punt me when I wasn’t looking, and that wasn’t the only time, as afraid as you were, you had no trouble flying in to block the heartless to keep your friends safe.” Sora pointed out.

Fluttershy felt a little embarrassed for the praise, unsure how to reply “I… Well… I just want everypony to be safe… and for the fighting to end soon.” She took this moment to really soak in how far she’s come for just a simple reason. “I hated being so useless when my friends were hurting.”

Sora just smiled and folded his arms. “Yeah, you made that clear… !!” That’s when a word hit his mind and it all made sense… “Fluttershy… Do you know what you have that makes you so kind?” Seeing her stare at him for an answer he placed a hand over his heart. “It’s what we all have whenever anyone shows kindness to another. But your heart seems full to bursting with it. Fluttershy, you are the most compassionate girl I have ever met. I guess that’s one of the things I like about you.”

The moment all that registered in her mind she felt her heart skip a beat, however that last part he said just made her face turn into a lovely shade of pink “Oh, my…” But once again, that was short lived when that voice appeared once more scaring her back into a ball once more.

Compassion… Compassion is the soil for Kindness to grow…. Your hearts are connected. A new power is unlocked within you.

Sora clutched a hand into a fist “I knew it!” Looking down he could see Fluttershy’s element appearing in one of the blank spots just like the other gems for Aj, Pinkie, and Rarity. “Only two left, huh?” He said staring at the two still blank spots. Then looked back at the scared Fluttershy. She didn’t even notice the path of floating stained glass. He chuckled shaking his head before calling out to her “Fluttershy, come on! We gotta go help our friends remember?”

“Huh?” Fluttershy peeked out to look at him, then noticed the pathway, at first she crawled to it til she was at the edge of her station, then tentatively tapped at it with her hoof, then stepped on it slowly, all the while Sora just smiled and waited for her. He certainly wasn’t gonna ruin the moment in reminding her that she had wings. Better afraid yet curious than terrified and reclusive. When she finally stepped on the third tile, it gave her enough confidence that it wouldn’t fall. Knowing this, she high-tailed it to him and jumped then hugged him, catching him off guard nearly knocking the two of them over.

He felt his cheeks grow warm from the display, but he hugged back all the same. When they parted he held her out and let her wings keep her aloft at eye level with him. “Ready? If this is like those times before, you’re gonna be merged with me.” He asked her

Fluttershy just smiled and nodded “Applejack explained to us how it was like… I’ll be fine.”

He nodded. “Alright, just remember. Both our hearts will be connected very closely during this, what you feel, physically, mentally, or emotionally, I will too, and vice versa.”

She nodded again this time with a more determined look. “And our thoughts shared… I’m ready, Sora. Let’s protect everyone. Together this time”

This got the boy making that goofy smile once more as he summoned his keyblade and pointed toward the elements depicted on the station they were standing on. “Definitely” light soon filled the place and they eventually vanished within it.

Pete did not feel good. “Ugh, my head.”

He groaned as his consciousness returned, clutching his head. Struggling to get to his feet his mind tried to piece together the last thing he remembered…….. !! “Oh Yeah! The Twerps and the heartless!” he fumbled to the wind to get a look outside and was amazed at what he saw. That same Heartless that would’ve gotten destroyed without his intervention earlier, was taking those very ponies and key wielder through the wringer. It was perfect “Ooooh Boy, Wait til Maleficent hears about this” He chuckled sinisterly. Then he saw the creature charge up for an attack, “Uh Oh” He managed to duck under the window and waited out the blast, the next thing he saw when he popped back up was the area around the Heartless was leveled out any structures within its radius or at the least blew them away, and when he looked toward where he last saw Sora and the girls they were blown away as well. Upon seeing them now down and out it would appear he would have even greater news to report to Maleficent as the Heartless made its approach toward the heroes. “Haha! That’s it, big guy! Crush’em…. Huh? Wait a minute” That’s when he noticed one of them getting up.

It was Sora struggling to his feet before running toward the heartless. “Hmph! That, twerp just don’t know when to give up” he was about to just sit and watch his demise when he noticed something fly off from one of the mares and reach Sora. “What the…” From his distance and position, he couldn’t see what was going on but had to shield his eyes from the immediate flash of light that blocked his view. “What’s going on?!”

When the light show ended he was met with a new sight he never expected “Uh Oh, this don’t look too good.”

When the light disappeared Sora and Fluttershy wasted no time. Sora’s timer was gonna run out and he wasn’t gonna risk the damaging effect of a four bead. Fluttershy especially seemed adamant about it. Along with that, the Heartless wouldn’t stay dazed for long from the previous light show. So they raised their keyblade in the air pointing to the sky. As both their voices left Sora’s mouth. “HEAL!” It was like a green plant bomb set off. The regular flower and plant circle that would appear above the keyblade expanded into what could only be described as a floating flower bed contained within a ring of thick greenish looking roots that sprouted their own leaves or buds, then a green aura filled with leaves and petals burst from it covering a wide radius. It had no effect on the Heartless, but it seemed to have a grand effect on the other girls.

One by one they immediately bounced to their feet feeling like how someone would after wolfing down a bag of sugar… well For Pinkie’s case nothing seemed to have changed other than a slightly manic looking stare as she bounced all over the place. “Wow! What’sgoingondoyouguysfeelSUPERchargedcuzIfeellikeIcantakeontheworldandstuffheehee” Pinkie giggled at a rapid pace.

“Whoa Man! This is like When Sora healed me when I was knocked out but like a hundred times stronger. Woo, What a rush” Rainbow shook her head rapidly to handle the effects.

“Oh wow, this is quite the experie-” Twilight was about to say before Sora cut her off.

Guys listen, I’m glad you’re all better now, girls but right now I need you to focus all that energy on beating the giant heartless we’ve been fighting this whole time!” Upon hearing his words the girls all looked over to See Sora, with long pink straight hair, Fluttershy’s tattoo on the back of his jacket had Fluttershy’s emblem on the back. Along with his new keyblade, he held in his hand.

Rainbow’s jaw dropped “Fluttershy?! I Lost to FLUTTERSHY?!” She fell flat on her stomach legs sprawled out. All that energy was still there, but it didn’t stop her brief moment of depression. “What am I doing wrong?...” she then felt a hoof to her rear.

“Get up ya big baby, just figure it out next time. We don’t have the time right now fer yer belly achin’, so come on!” Applejack said as she charged past Rainbow to join Sora. Rainbow begrudgingly got back on her hooves and lifted off the ground.

“It’s annoying when she’s right” then flew off after her. Rarity and Pinkie Pie summoned their weapons once more as Twilight took another ether to replenish her magic.

“Twilight! You have got a spare one of those? That spell deleted our magic and I’m all out!” Sora called as Applejack and Rainbow rushed past him.

“Oh uh one moment!” she fumbled around in her bag, not enjoying the pressure of the situation but once she found she tossed it up “Here!” it vanished and reappeared over Sora doing its job refilling his magic.

“Thanks!” he said before running toward the heartless, at that moment the time limit was reached and he was back in pony form running on all fours, blade in his mouth. Before he left, Twilight could’ve sworn she saw something… strange about Sora when he returned to pony form. But now it was obscure to see with how much dust he was kicking up running full speed at the monster to join AJ and Rainbow. So she opted to check it out later, and focus more on spell casting with her newfound energy.

The Battle was different somewhat this time. Now everyone energized and alert, dodging the heartless attacks were a lot easier, and remembering what happened before getting KO’ed had them all warier. Applejack was thinking more on her pillar abilities and defensive measures, so now she was blocking the creature’s attacks. The vines would whip only to smash through some pillars until it would kill its moments keep it from even reaching her or Sora, and it was always easy to make more. Rainbow seemed to have a much easier time dodging the flying vine attacks, however actually attacking it was easier said than done. Even with Applejack’s defenses, there were still so many vines flinging around. It was taking Rainbow everything she had just avoid getting it. “Could really go for that wind shield thingy!” She called out to Sora.

“On it!” Sora said as he deflected a few vines then back jumped, taking the keyblade out of his mouth and pointing it Skyward “WIND!” Rainbow got that wind barrier and then some! The barrier was like a protective torrent now. Blasting away all of the vines that dared to reach out to her. “Whoa!.... ALRiGHT!” She took that chance and dove in. the impact was a surprise to heartless after being untouchable by the pegasus for so long and caused it to stumble back.
This was where Rarity saw her opportune moment. In the span of half a second, with the monster stunned, she combined her rapiers in one large one and started charging light. Her gem flipped over the bill of her fedora and rested in front of her eye and it zoomed in on the creature.

“There!” The moment her reticule rested on her target, the large combined rapier fired a long beam of light that it was charging straight into the Heartless gaping mouth. “I do hope you’re hungry, darling. The beam continued to fire into the beast’s mouth filling it with light and causing its body lock up and spaz out. Then it ended with an explosion engulfing the large head. This caused the flower petals to close up around its head and shield it from any more attacks to its exposed head.

“HEY! OPEN BACK UP!” Pinkie yelled behind her console and fired away at the flower petals with everything she had.

Twilight, however, took a moment to think of the situation. Judging by how well that petal barrier is holding up against Pinkie’s barrage, it’ll be awhile before her onslaught will break through it. In the meantime, there had to be something they could do to damage it. With her mind going into overdrive she observed the monster closely. That was when she noticed there was still that hole in one of the petals… It looked big enough for- “That’s It!” Twilight exclaimed then turned to Pinkie. “Pinkie I need a bomb!”

Pinkie turned to Twilight making a silly serious face and salute “Okie dokie lokie!” He dug into the back of her turret seat and somehow managed to pull out a round classic looking bomb with a fuse and a star pattern on its body. Then tossed it to Twilight who caught the hefty thing in her magic.

“How did you… nevermind. Thanks!” She then got to work on her plan and called out for Rainbow Dash.

Meanwhile took this opportunity of the heartless being stunned to rush in and give it a crack. Through the majority of the time being fused with Fluttershy, it seemed her mindset affected him where he was attacking less and supporting more.Defending Applejack if an attack would blindside her, and patching her up again, meanwhile making sure he kept his eye on Rainbow in case things got rough for her. As well with this new found urge for self-preservation, he was very skilled in defense, deflection, and especially evasion. Nut now was the time to attack. “OK! Let’s see if we can find a weak point to exploit!”

I’m not too sure about this, Sora. He felt his body suddenly hesitate as Fluttershy voiced her concerns This whole time the only weakness has been its head, but the flower petals seem to be blocking us out now, and that wood around its body looks really sturdy.

“I don’t understand why those petals are stopping us now, they weren’t that strong before. Whatever Pete through at the thing is a serious pain.” Sora came to stop, of his own volition this time.

“INCOMING!” a shout from above drew their attention to Rainbow diving straight for the head with a lit bomb in her hooves. She was in a rush and for good reason with how short that fuse was getting.

Meanwhile, with Twilight, she had an exasperated look on her face. “NO, no, don’t listen to my plan of quietly sneaking the bomb into the hole while it’s blinded. Just light the fuse now and dive bomb screaming your lungs out so the heartless, along with all of Manehatten can hear your approach.”

“What is she doing?!” Both Sora and Fluttershy yelled in unison. At this moment Rainbow could see that same yellow eye appear through the hole in one of the pedals and leers at her.

“Uh oh.” At that moment Rainbow could see the vines all train on her, and so could everyone else. For Sora and Fluttershy the easiest option would be to cast another aeroga on her, but with that lit bomb time is of the essence and although it would protect her, the vines would still slow her down where it be unclear whether or not she’d make it in time. Without a second thought they cast the spell and Rainbow was under the winds protection, there was more that needed to be done.

LET’S CLEAR A PATH! Sora yelled in his mind.

Right! Fluttershy’s response was anything but timid. He jumped and kicked off the Heartless trunk body to enter flowmotion. Sora didn’t fully notice this but he certainly felt lighter now, it made his jump reach much higher and soar even faster in his flowmotion along with the vines. He could see some of the forefront ones strike at the wind barrier slowing her down a little, Both he and Fluttershy took this time to do a little pruning. They slashed through the base of some on there way up and slid on top of another as they started cutting through more and more.

Down Below, Applejack managed to catch a glimpse of jump up into the mess of vines and watch as one by one, the vile things were severed and falling to the ground only to disintegrate before they even touch the ground. However, Something else caught her attention when watching Sora jump up. “Was… Was that?”

Sora jumped from vine to vine cutting the ones he left and the others on the way the next one he would slide on. Pinkie’s and Rarity’s beams and rockets helping blow away even more of the things. All this was a brief moment in time as Sora jumped with his hind legs, twisted and Narrowly dodging the flying wind orb with the blue pegasus and bomb inside. The two of them in slow motion shared glances. Sora with a cocky smirk, and Rainbow, who at first was returning the same look, until he noticed something else looking away from his face and something else on him. However it wasn’t like she could say anything to him, cuz that moment was as fleeting as the blink of an eye as they rushed past each other.

Sora managed to twist back to face upright in the air and watch Rainbow Dive straight for the hole, he noticed the vines regrowing and aiming for her, but could tell they’d be too late. Just as she was about to collide she let go of the bomb and made an instant and rapid vertical climb. The bomb made it perfectly through the hole and banged around inside for a bit. “Pinkie Pie Special Air Mail!” Rainbow cheered as the explosion rocked everything within those petals. The heartless stumbled about and the petals were even blasted away.

“ALRIGHT!” Sora cheered as he felt his descent toward the ground. The rest of the girls seemed to feel the same after finally making some progress… That is until They all saw a horrible sight. Although its head was clouded and blinded by the smoke of the explosion. It did hear Sora’s voice and shot out a few vines toward him. “Aah!” Once again time seemed to slow down. What was Sora to do? He was falling now, he was at the mercy of gravity, he already used aerial dodge once. What else could he do?

While Sora tried to think of what to do, but apparently Fluttershy was quicker to respond.

With a shriek in his mind and the sense of fleeing filling his mind, Sora watched his pony self-move back and upward narrowly dodging the vines…. And remained to hover in the air.

“Wait… What?” That was impossible, right? Did he just… did he just….

“SORA!!!” This immediately caught his attention to look up at Rainbow staring bug-eyed at him. “Y-y-y-you-YOU GOT WINGS?!”

…… What?... He turned his head to his side…. And sure enough, he was greeted with a flapping wing. It looked ethereal in a sense, however, every now and then fading in and out of existence. Yet looked perfectly attached to him like it belonged there.

Meanwhile, the other girls stopped to take notice as well. “I was right!” Said Twilight as she looked on. It was only a glance and she couldn’t be sure when he saw his back, but now… what she saw confirmed it. “What does this mean?” Twilight was then reminded of something, something that nagged her back in the 2nd battle of Canterlot. However, it was something she would have to bring up later. They still had work to do.

Applejack was in the same boat. “Since when did he get those…”

Oh My… Fluttershy responded in her mind. Do you mean... This whole time, you were a pegasus, Sora?

Sora looked at himself… then out into space. “I… just don’t know anymore.” that thought was cut short when a vine knocked him back to reality and careening away “GUH!” Once again Fluttershy acted and Sora caught himself in mid-air and righted himself. “Fluttershy, I think that’s you controlling the wings?”

Am I? She asked surprised then shrieked and barely dodged another vine swipe. I-I am! This was when she took a phrase from Sora’s memories and held a smile Well, no time to ask questions now, just absorb the knowledge and use it.

Hearing her confidence definitely helped him refocus on the task at hand. “Right” he smiled as well, keyblade his hoof, with the ability to fly, there was no need to hold it in his mouth for now. “And I think I’m starting to understand this fusion now… We’re not a fighter” Sora watched as his body aerially dodged more vines. “This form is that of a caretaker” He looked at his keyblade and saw the element on it shining. “Which means power is to protect and give strength to others!

At this point, the dust cleared from the Heartless head and it gave out a loud roar. Its head was becoming a mangled mess, Dark mist leaking from all sides.

I… I agree! I’m still scared… but I don’t want this thing hurting my friends anymore Fluttershy responded as Sora lifted the keyblade up high. As they both yelled in unison.

“TRANSFORM!”

The keyblade responded by first actually leaving Sora’s hooves and started to spin, the butterfly part moved down the shaft and laid over the hilt and handguard, the element Part then moved up and laid over the butterfly and expanding it to match its size, the keychain receded bringing the “familiar looking” bunny face past the butterfly and handguard and to the tip of the shaft. Then the hand guard and butterfly started spinning in the opposite direction the whole keyblade was spinning, going faster and faster before it was a brief blur and separated from the hilt itself. This was in the bunny keychain moved back down to rest at the bottom of the handle and enlarge into a three-dimensional version of itself. It now just looked like a wand of some sort, even the green tip of it started to emanate a warm light. The butterfly and hand guard merged as one and became what looked like a buckler. When they both returned to Sora, the buckler seemed magically lock itself in sync with Sora’s left foreleg, following his leg’s movement as if it was a shield on his arm. yet never physically touching him. The wand rested in his right hoof Sora could feel its healing power already going through his body to heal any wounds.

With a nod, Sora and Fluttershy had a feeling they already knew exactly what both those tools can do. “Let’s go”

Right! Fluttershy responded as his wings started flapping even faster as he flew forward, this time it was his will that made move so swiftly, however, Fluttershy being the expert on… well being a pegasus, she still steered. Buckler held in front of him, wand at his side Sora flew toward his first target.

Applejack was trying to back up from the inevitable rampage after hearing such a savage. She conjured up another wall of pillars and high-tailed it back to the others to avoid the reach of the regrown vines and those stompy feet. The wall helped, but not much. It was able to chase after once it gave its second try to bust through. “Whoa Nelly” She turned and sprinted as fast as she could from the beast but it was gaining on her.

However, just as it was about to stomp her, Applejack saw a blur shot past her in the opposite direction. A look back helped her confirm that it was Sora “Back off!” he flew in buckler out front and glowing. Once he was close enough it expanded immediately it was 10 times his size and dispersed a barrier of light that halted and pushed back the heartless upon impact. Undeterred, however, the beast immediately gained its balance again and changed the target of its rage, Sora. The expansion was as brief as it appeared as the buckler was back to its normal size, and from the look on Sora’s face, his plan was successful, the heartless had eyes on him now.

Applejack was in awe at what she just saw, and no doubt she wasn’t the only one. Right before their very eyes, Sora fought as a pony instead of his more advantageous human self, changed species, then singlehandedly halted the beasts advance the moment he transformed his keyblade. “My stars… to think that’s Fluttershy fighting with him…” Applejack said to herself.

Sora and Fluttershy were on point, They effortlessly blocked every attack the creature flung at them. Every time it would try to make a charge, it would get pushed back by Sora’s buckler expansion. It would try to strike at him with the vines, he’d either gracefully dodge in mid-air or deflect it again with his buckler, normal size.

“Wow! Look at him go!” Pinkie cheered as she fired another volley at the beast, this time, the ranged attacks were making the beast stagger, whereas before it would take the hits like rainwater hitting your face and keep on dishing attacks. Seeing that as his chance Sora flew up to its face. Pulled the buckler in front then around to his other side and quite literally Back hoofed the beast hard with it before flying past it to get behind, knocking the creature into a daze. Sora then lifted his wand in the air as if signaling the girls.
“Let’em have it!” He called out.

This call to action was not lost on them as they all started giving it their all. Applejack did an 180 charging right back in. “Rainbow! Ah’ need a lift!”

Without a second to lose a rainbow streak swooped down and scooped her up before replying. “Coming right up!”

“Ah’ was getting tired starin’ at its legs. Let’s give it an old fashioned buck to the head, or two!” Applejack said with a determined look on her face.

“Hah! Why stop there?!” Rainbow responded as she carried AJ up to the head to land on it and the two of them took opposite sides of the beasts head to buck it back and forth to each other as if it were a big round punching back. In its Daze state the two of them were practically getting away with murder since knocking its head around was only prolonging it’s dazed state. At the same time Light beams from Rarity’s rapiers were pelting its face as Pinkie was trying to blow up its trunk body to see if she could reveal a weakness, She was making progress as the body started to crack from under Pinkie’s barrage.

Twilight was constantly firing Fire, Ice, and Lightning at the big head as well, she was glad Merlin taught her how to cast spells without harming her friends because her Thundara had a bit of Area of effect to its attack and the last thing she wanted was to Zap Rainbow and Applejack. Meanwhile, Sora and Fluttershy watched the girls give start pummeling the heartless. Observing really, Although the felt like he should be joining them. He also felt that his ways of attack are limited when Fluttershy’s keyblade transforms. Looking at his wand, he could tell that thing had more than one use. He then pointed toward Applejack and Rainbow with it and the tip started to give off its own light, then in a way, formed a little red orb of light that “popped” in all senses of the word. Once it that happened, that same red light washed over the two girls and they suddenly felt much more aggressive.

“Whoa! What’s going on?! I feel even more awesome than usual” Rainbow looked at herself noticing the red aura enveloping her.

“Ah, don’t know, but whatever that was Sora shot at us-” She kicked the head so hard even the body responded by stumbling to the side “It’s workin’ wonders on us!” Not wanting to lose out, Rainbow bucked at the head just as hard as Applejack, now the beast was getting knocked around in such away, it looked like it was making an impression of squash and stretch animation.

Sora then noticed that Pinkie’s had finally taken it’s toll on the heartless’ wooden gut as the cracks soon gave way to expose the soft underbelly beneath. “Nice!” Perfect timing, because that creature was only going to take so much bashing before it forced itself to focus retaliate, dazed or not. “Rainbow! Grab AJ! New target to hit!” he pointed toward it.

Rainbow looked over at the edge and finally saw it as well… Then the most devious looking grin grew on her “Oh this should be gooooood” she then took flight and grabbed AJ as she was still kicking at the giant round head.

“Hey! What’s the big idea! I was just about to-”

“Yeah, yeah, be mad at me after you see this” Rainbow flew down with her to the front of the beast and then faced her to the new spot.

……… “Ah’ wanna fly right inta that…” Applejack said with newfound determination and finality.

Rainbow’s grin just got bigger. “I know you do.” she flew far back, with Sora tailing behind. He then flew under them as they were just above the other girls.

“Heads up!” he called out as flew down to them and hovered just above Twilight’s head.

“Sora?” Twilight looked up she was panting from casting over and over again. The next thing she knew she felt Sora tap his wand on her head. “Ah! Why did-Whoa” she cringed from the tap, but then noticed she felt much better, she wasn’t panting, and even felt more focused. “How did you?”

“Blame the wand,shoulted” he said before flying off to restore Rarity and Pinkie.

“Alright! Here we go!” Still hopped up on that red aura surrounding them, Rainbow screamed through the sky, holding onto Apple closing the distance to their target within a second. The whole time Rainbow entered a corkscrew spin with her. “Here come out patented special attack!”

Since when did we even patented it? Applejack thought as she stuck her gauntlets out, and let them connect with the with soft exposed belly. Knocking the giant beast OFF IT’S FEET, but they weren’t done there as they were still spinning rapidly which started to drill through the beast.

“APPLE CORE-SCREW!” Rainbow shouted out the name before they both drilled into the heartless and popped out the other side and flying away before they got crushed by it’s falling body. “WHOOOOO!”

“OOOOH Catchy Name!!” Pinkie clapped her hooves at the attack. When Rainbow and Applejack returned to the group that red aura finally faded from their bodies and they seemed winded. Taking notice of this Fluttershy seemed to catalog it into her memory, which meant Sora saw it as well.

Sora, whatever that red magic was, seems to boost their strength, but at the cost of draining their own energy without them feeling the effects until the magic wears out. I think it’s best that for now we avoid using it until we know more about it.

Sora was amazed at how fast she made the analysis Uh, sure… But what if we reinvigorate them like how we did with Twilight and the others.He immediately felt his head shaking.

No, we haven’t seen if there are any drawbacks to that yet either. For all we know, they may bottom out within the next second of using their magic or powers.

Very Well Doctor, I shall follow your suggestions. Sora immediately felt Fluttershy’s shock and getting flustered.

Me? D-d-doctor, no I, I mean- She was at a loss for words. So Sora decided to get back to the matter at hand.

Well you seem to take the role pretty well. Come on, at the very least we have to defend our friends as they get ready.

Oh, you’re right… Let’s go Sora then flew off toward the group. At this point, the Beast started rising up again.

“Not on my watch, Stinky head!” Pinkie yelled as she launched a storm of bombs at it.

“Please, don’t get up on our behalf,” Rarity said as she pinned it to the ground with that piercing beam attack from before.

TASTE THE FURY OF AN MILDLY UPSET LIBRARIAN!” Twilight unleashed every destructive spell she ever learned at the thing. Some were spells that Sora never even seen before.

Sora just turned to her “That was an oddly specific battle cry.” raising an eyebrow. “Why Mild?”  

“You guys… go on and-oh boy- go on and fight without us, we’ll be right there” Rainbow dash managed to say as she and Applejack were recovering from their ordeal of energy expenditure

“No problem “ Sora nodded then turned to face the monster his buckler in front of him as he as he hovered in the air.

He the Heartless seemed to be taking a lot of damage, it wouldn’t be long now before it finally vanished for good. Even that green aura surrounding it wasn’t as strong as it was before. However, the moment that pinning beam keeping it down vanished it practically bounced to its feet, shaking the ground for those that weren’t hovering. It then screamed another loud roar at the group it started barreling towards them as fast as it could.

This got Sora’s attention and he glared at the oncoming threat Looks like he’s not gonna give us the chance to recharge here. At this moment he made his way to the front of the group in between them and the heartless. That’s when he felt the wand charging for a more powerful spell… it wasn’t his doing, though. “Fluttershy?” he didn’t look at it, he could feel energy charging into it.

I know what I said… So please, I don’t want to use it now… I want them to recover on their own… Then we’ll use it… We CAN’T LET IT THROUGH Fluttershy said with such conviction that it inspired the boy as he immediately held his foreleg in front of him that had the buckler linked to it.

Leave it to me then, you just focus on that spell… the sense of agreement was felt as flew to a little farther to the front. The Heartless was now just a meter away jaws wide open, body low charging another one of those devastating spheres form before, it was a smaller version, though, so that it could run to them. This ticked him off. “You can keep that.” he pulled his foreleg back just like before, but this time charge as much energy to buckler synced with it. Before swiftly thrusting it back out toward the beast. Immediately the buckler launched from his foreleg, expanded to a ridiculous size emanating so much light power that Sora couldn’t even see the beast on the other side of it. But he could feel it connect with it and the sphere it was charging as it stopped and a wave of wind and energy dispersed uselessly in every direction except where the shield was blocking, along with that he could see the stumble back once the buckler returned to him and to it’s original size with ease in front of his foreleg.

Although this display amazed the girls, this didn’t deter the creature though as it righted itself against and charged at them again. Only for it to receive another light shield bash to the face leaving it in a daze. Pinkie took this moment to fire a volley of rockets breaking off more and more of its once sturdy tree trunk armor with explosives. This caused it to stumble back again, but not as much as it shook the dizzy feeling away and went back at it. Every charge it would get closer as it received bash after bash from the buckler and strikes from Pinkie and Rarity.

Sora! It’s ready!

He nodded then looked back at the others. “Everyone, get ready. We’re gonna give you guys one more boost, this should help end this fight, But I need you all to stay where you are While it works it’s magic on you, Ok?”

“Stay here and wait? But that thing keeps getting closer! If we sit still any longer, it’ll be upon us in no time!” Twilight argued.

“We’ll take care of it!” Sora patted a hoof to himself, you guys just worry about recovering right now. We need you at your best.

“How?! Your little shield trick is slowing it down, but it’s still pushing forward.” Rainbow said getting to her hooves

“It’ll last! I promise. Look, believe that Fluttershy is utterly conflicted about using this power because how drained you and AJ looked Earlier just using that other spell from before. We know what this spell will do to you once it’s cast, but we don’t know if there will be any side effects after. However!” Sora fired another flying shield bash at the creature as it roared in pain. “This thing isn’t gonna sit around and let us take the slow and dangerous way.” Once the buckler returned he immediately sent it out again “So, please…. Just wait for a little longer… Time is running out!” The wand was still glowing ready to unleash whatever spell it had charged within it.

It took a moment for the girls to all look at each other hesitant at first, they all reluctantly nodded to one another. Twilight then spoke. “Alright…. Do it, then”

When the buckler returned to Sora he immediately flew up a short distance, wound back his foreleg holding the wand, then through it like a dart into the ground in front of the girls. Embedding its tip into the dirt. Before they could even question his reasoning for it, they immediately felt a search of power and energy resonate from the ground, through their hooves and vibrate through their body. It was…. A unique experience.

“WhoOoOoOaAaAa” Pinkie said in a shaky voice and a giggle “KiNdA tiCkLeS” the rest of the girls didn't have to say anything, the way they acted to spell was proof enough that they weren’t sure how to react et the felt stronger every second.

Meanwhile, for Sora and Fluttershy, They decided the best way to slow the thing down as to get closer to it.However, once they were close enough, the creature unleash its many vines onto them. However, their use with the buckler and it’s expansion power kept that barrage at bay, however, it was pushing him back since the beast wouldn’t let up. However, it wouldn’t deter him.

Tapping into its expansion ability, Sora used it to form a bubble himself in a light sphere before forcing himself through the onslaught until he broke through and headed for the head, the bubble then disappeared and his shield started charging light energy. He then pulled back and thrust his foreleg or an explosive shield bash Halting the beast “YES!” Sora cheered before flying in gave a spin and bashed the heartless in the head. Then immediately pulled out before it started spazzing out and whipping its vines where through self-defense. This kept on for a good wiel, although the creature grew ever closer Sora gave it everything he had to slow it to a crawl.

“YEAH GO SORASHY!” Pinkie cheered from her position, they could feel it, they were almost ready and Twilight decided to take the moment to relay a plan to the girls.

“Pinkie, we can cheer later we still need to know your role of the plan.” Twilight dragged her back into the group huddle.

Meanwhile it seemed the heartless had enough of all this and seemed to conjure in all its strength and energy then made another charge for them. Only this time, it was in a wild frenzy. Sora could still block but with such frantic unpredictable attacks from the vines and it’s head he was forced to back up even more than would’ve liked.

At this point the wand’s boosting spell finally completed and left the girls feeling like they could take on the world and then some. The wand then dislodged itself from the ground and vanished to return in Sora’s hoof. Just in time as he pulled it in front of him and held his buckler in front of his eyes as the wand emitted a blinding flash, stunning the Heartless momentarily So he could back off to check on the girls.  “Ready to go? Cuz that thing’s not gonna wait once it can see again.” then they heard another roar. “Which is now apparently…”

“Yes! Definitely! Rainbow!” Twilight yelled

“On it!” Rainbow saluted before she got low, arched her body, then kicked off the ground as hard as she could, shooting like a bullet at the creature but instead of ram it, she buzzed around it. “Hey! Over here! Your Mother was a fungus!” whether or not the insulting worked, she did grab its attention as it tried to swat her out of the sky, but thanks to that boosting spell, dodging those things became way easier than before allowing her to blow raspberries at it and make rather rude gestures to it.

With the beast currently distracted Rarity took this time to charge her rapiers and take aim, Twilight was pouring as much magic as she could into this Firaga. While Pinkie stuck her tongue out as she aimed all barrels on her turret at the beast. Meanwhile, Applejack slammed both her hooves so far into the ground they indented it by half a foot. Then she closed her eyes and focused. It was a thought in her mind, but it sounded like it could work.

“Applejack? What will you be doing?” Twilight asked the farmer as they were huddled together absorbing the energy from the wand. The farmer just shook her head.

“Honestly Twi, ah’ don’t have anythin’ else up mah sleeves other than punchin, buckin, and makin’ pillars, and so far the pillars ain’t working, It’s head is too high for me without Rainbow’s help, but she’s gon distraction duty. ‘Fraid ah’m no use this time, girls.”

“That’s not true Applejack. We need everypony’s help on this” Twilight gave a rebuttal.

“Yeah, you can’t quit on us now” Rainbow added

“Ah’ ain’t quittin nuthin. It’s just that, I think this time, my powers won’t make much of a difference.”

“Well, with an attitude like that it won’t” Pinkie shook her head.

“Well, Ah’m sorry but that’s the attitude yer’ gonna get since it’s true.”

“Well, if what you already know doesn’t work, then how about trying something new.” Pinkie replied without missing a heartbeat.

Applejack just gave her a deadpan look. “Well, it’s not like we have the time to make up some new move fly out our rear end.”

“Then why not just try something new with what you have now?” Replied with a smile on her face.

Applejack was about to respond but stopped herself for a moment and thought on that question……

“Here go nothin’, ah’ guess” Applejack sighed before closing her eyes and focused real hard. It was a thought in her mind, It sounded like it could work in her mind, but reality may say something different from how she pictured it. However, she gave it her all and focused as hard as she could. That's when the ground started to rumble around her…. She kept her focus, however, “Come on… Just work…. Please….” the plan’s outcome determined whether or not her new trick will her… The ground more and more and she opened her eyes and focused on the creature as she gritted her teeth… Finally, it seemed her hard work paid off when a large sharp pillar of earth shot out of the ground facing away from Applejack as it went right through the big gaping hole in the heartless; The heartless struggled now that it was stuck with a long rock pillar impaled through its previous open wound. Meanwhile, Applejack just looked on, in shock. “It… It actually worked?”

“WHOA! What was that?! Was that you, AJ?” Sora turned to her to which she ended up smiling and nodded soaking in the recognition.

“ALRIGHT GIRLS THAT”S OUR CUE!” Twilight shouted and released the largest firaga fireball she could muster at it, the explosion was huge and set it and it’s vines ablaze. In an instant, it was like looking at a living bonfire at this point.  “HA! Take that!”

Rarity decided to fire her multi-beam attack back in at its open mouth again. It was highly effective before, and no doubt it still can be even now. And she was not wrong. Now the heartless was locked in place by a giant earth pillar going through the hole in its gut, constantly getting pestered by a rather annoying blue and rainbow pegasus, and being force multi concentrated light beams down its gullet while on fire.

If that wasn’t bad enough, It was Pinkie’s turn. One would think, given Pinkie’s weapon, the benefits of that boost wouldn’t be as useful to her as the others, however, since the girl's weapons are a product of the elements and their hearts, it can only grow as strong as how they feel. A good example is how Rarity is STILL firing those light beams at the moment. With that in mind, we have Pinkie on turret guns, and her mind, heart, and body have been boosted significantly. “I’MMA BLOW IT UP!”