After all this time I've researched the Darkness, I keep finding unique ways it can be used. It seems that not only it is used to help enhance one's lust for power or giving them power with little to no effort but...it seems as if there is another way for darkness to be used. It can summoned if you are possessed with it as well. The Darkness seems to like puppets, as I have just met one. That stallion, just what hold does the darkness have over him?
-Starswirl, Report 53
"Tell me Sugar Belle, what is your mission?"
"To spread Heartless." Sugar Belle responded in a cold, robotic tone. Her eyes were blank as dark mist surrounded them and the black cloak she was wearing. "I must spread Heartless so they may capture more hearts."
"Yes. You must." The Servant replied as the pony began clapping it's hooves. As the claps ended, a large mirror appeared in the room along with a small gummi block beside it. "And this is where you will spread the Heartless."
"Through here?"
"Yes. Beyond this mirror is a world filled with hearts." The Servant chuckled as it laid it's hoof on the side of the portal. "You see, I believe Party Favor is about to fail his mission. It seems the keybearer has grown stronger but...we have as well. We have let the keybearer gain strength over these past six months due to our busy schedules of drowning you and your so-called friends in darkness and trying to get rid of the outsiders. Thankfully, Number IX has successfully apprehended the outsiders, causing us to be able to get back on track with our plans."
"I see. Shall I go and spread the Heartless now?"
"Yes." The Servant then picked up the gummi block and gave it to the brainwashed unicorn. "One more thing Sugar Belle..." The Servant leaned into the unicorn's ear and whispered. "Remember, you only exist to distract the keybearer from Equestria. Your existence is meaningless otherwise." The Servant's hoof grabbed Sugar's neck in a vice-like grip, her mouth now choking at the pain. "Understand?"
"Yes. I-I-I have no p-p-purpose but t-t-to spread Heartless."
"Good. Now go, little tool. Bring destruction and fear where you go." The Servant pointed to the mirror and the unicorn followed. As she entered the portal, The Servant let out a cackling laugh that would make the dead shiver. "HA! Pathetic little soul. The darkness will take your heart before you can even blink. After all, a piece of trash like you is nothing compared to me."
With that, The Servant left the room, a malicious grin shining under the cowl of the pony's dark robes. The plan had worked. Now, there were only two other ponies left to brainwash.
In another part of Equestria...
Her name was Little Strongheart. She was a lean, physically well built buffalo for her age with a fluffy yellow tuft of hair on her head. She wore a headband with a jagged purple and white design with two feathers pointing out at the back of the band. Her expression was one of anger and fear mixed together as she watched five Shadow Heartless surround her, their antennas bobbing back and forth as they glared at her with cold, soulless eyes. She grit her teeth as steam blew from her nostrils.
"Come on you monsters! I'll take you all on!" she yelled, trying to be as intimidating as possible. "I don't care if you took down some of the tribe, I'll beat you all!"
With that, she charged at one of the Shadows, trying to slam down on it with both of her front hooves. As she hit the ground at full power, the Shadow merely shifted into the ground, easily avoiding her attack. "What the-" before she could say another word, another Shadow leapt into the air and struck her side, causing her to yelp in pain. She quickly tried to backpedal only for another Shadow to shift in front of her.
"Uh oh, that's not good." she said to herself as she realized that the number of Heartless had increased. She was now surrounded by fifteen Heartless, triple the number from before. Biting her lip, she started to look for an escape route, but found none. She was alone, easy food for the Heartless. Realizing she couldn't win, she closed her eyes as she saw three Heartless jump into the air, ready to strike her down. Ready to accept her fate, she whispered to herself, "I'm sorry chief. I should've listened to you and ran away with the others."
But fate was different today.
As the three Heartless unleashed their tiny claws to slash her, a barrage of rocks flew through the sky, instantly turning the trio into a dusty black mist. Strongheart gasped as she heard the noise from the rocks and opened her eyes. There, she saw a gray colored filly in a peculiar outfit, striking down Heartless with a series of rock-based attacks. Several shadows tried to attack the filly, only for the ground to shake as big rock spikes appeared under the enemies, instantly killing them. After a few seconds, every Heartless was dead.
"Wow..." Strongheart said as she watched the filly dust off the sand from the battle.
The filly then turned to Strongheart and asked her in the most deadpan tone possible, "Hello, I'm Maud Pie. Are you alright?"
Meanwhile...
"Gantu." Party Favor said in a low, cold hiss. "Destroy them."
"Yes sir." Gantu replied in a robotic voice as he pulled out his blaster. The gun was double the size of Twilight and Trixie, causing them to slightly backpedal at the towering weapon now being pointed at them. The giant adjusted his finger as he pulled the trigger, the gun instantly firing a large green energy blast. Twilight and Trixie quickly sidestepped away from the attack, just barely dodging it as the shot created a dark ashy crater in the sand.
"Holy magic! That thing's fast!" Trixie said as she spun her free hand in a circle, a dark flame quickly appearing in it. "Let's see how you like this! Dark Fira!" A large black-colored fireball flew out of her hand, striking Gantu's elbow. He let out a small cry of pain before turning and firing at Trixie again. Quickly raising her weapon up, she tried to block the incoming blast, only for the shot to knock her off her feet. "AUGH!"
"Trixie! Hang on!" Twilight yelled as she lifted her keyblade to the sky. "Cure!" A green aura of magic with small similar colored vines covered Trixie as the spell went off. As Trixie's body began to heal, Twilight noticed that Gantu was readying another round in his blaster. She then turned and aimed at Gantu's gun and screamed. "Please let this work, BLIZZARA!"
Several shards of ice flew out of the tip of the blade, quickly striking the gun. Gantu was immediately taken back as he saw his whole hand turn into a block of ice, including the gun. "What the heck?!"
"HA! How'd you like...uh-oh." Twilight tried to taunt as she saw Gantu quickly turn and raised his frozen hand up. She instantly knew what was going to happen next. He was going to try and smash her with his new frozen block hand. "AAahhhh!" she yelled as she jumped out of the way as he slammed the hand down, instantly destroying the ice.
"Don't get cocky Sparkle!" Trixie said as Gantu began to raise his hand back up. As he did, she quickly rushed at him, her blade ready in hand. Putting all her strength in her legs, she leaped into the air, striking the gun with her sword. The slash cut the gun in half, causing an explosion to follow, knocking both Gantu and Trixie back.
"Trixie!" Twilight yelled again as she ran over to her friend, quickly sending another cure spell. "Hang on, I'm coming!"
As she sprinted over, Party Favor walked over to Gantu with a scowl on his face. The giant fish alien had fallen over due to the sudden explosion, and was now not moving. Party raised his right hand as a dark aura covered it. Then, as if invisible strings were guiding his ligaments, Party snapped his fingers and said, "Gantu! Get up now! You tower over them don't you?! Destroy them with your brute strength!"
"Yes sir!" Gantu yelled as got up, his whole body almost fully covered in a messy inky black aura. "I'll tear them apart!"
Twilight looked up as she had just got Trixie to stand. Her eyes went wide as she saw the giant snort out steam as if he were a bull ready to charge at them. "Uh-oh." Gantu began stomping, causing the ground shake under the duo before beginning a full-on bull charge. Twilight's legs froze as she saw the literal giant rampaging towards them. "That's not good."
"Move Sparkle!" Trixie yelled as she pushed Twilight away. The following motion threw Trixie back right before Gantu struck them, causing him to miss and slam into a bunch of palm trees. The girls both fell over as the giant began turning around, his body unharmed from destroying the foliage. Seeing this, Trixie responded the same way Twilight had. "That's also not good."
"RRRAAAAGGGHHHH!!!" Gantu screamed as he placed both his hands over his head and began yelling to the heavens. "I'll destroy you both!"
"Good Gantu! Get more angry!" Party Favor commanded as his right hand's aura got bigger. "Destroy them now!"
Seeing this, Twilight and Trixie both looked at each other and nodded. They both got up and stood by each others side, their weapons in one hand as they pointed them at the alien. Party Favor instantly noticed the sudden light surrounding the two and glanced back at Gantu. "No! Gantu, hurry and beat them!"
"Fat chance!" Trixie yelled as she darkness covered her free hand.
"You're going to lose today. Count on it!" Twilight continued as a red flame covered her free hand.
"Today, we win!" the duo said in unison as they placed their other hands on their weapons. The two blades shined two different lights as Gantu began charging one more time. As his sprint started, the swords began to shine brighter and brighter. But the giant wasn't intimidated. Instead, he picked up the pace as he got closer and closer. Then, as the Gantu's fist began its swing, its force almost breaking the wind itself, the blades shined the most brilliant light.
"Dark Fira-"
"And Fira combine!"
"Into Double Firaga!" The two yelled in unison. A giant fireball flew out of the blades, instantly knocking Gantu right off his feet. The towering behemoth went flying into the air before making a giant crater in the sand. As he landed, the ground shook once more, but the girls knew it was fine. Gantu was now fully knocked out, his eyes showing cartoonish swirls as he laid there, his giant tongue sticking out like a limp rag. They looked at each other before high-fiving with cheeky grins on their faces.
"Not bad Sparkle."
"You too Trixie."
Twilight then cast Cure on both her and Trixie. Glad that the fight was over, Jumba and Peakley both walked up to them.
"My, that was an impressive feat. You two are quite powerful for such little girls." Jumba complimented while Peakley just nodded. "I did not expect you to beat him without at least a level six plasma rifle."
"No need. All I need is this and my friends." Twilight replied as she spun the keyblade around before resting it on her shoulder. She then glanced at Trixie, who was looking around. "Something wrong Trixie?"
"Yeah. Where did the pawn go?"
"The pawn? You mean Party Favor? I thought he was over...there..." Twilight pointed to a spot, only to see it empty. "Uh-oh."
"Yeah, Trixie agrees Sparkle. Where did he go? He didn't-" Trixie answered her own question as the four looked at Gantu's ship, only to see Party Favor standing above the capsule that Lilo and Stitch were trapped in.
"Bagha naga la toohkey!" Stitch yelled as he headbutted the capsule. "La toohkey! La toohkey!"
"Stay away from my dog!" Lilo yelled while Stitch kept barking at the cloaked human.
"Be quiet girl." Party hissed back as his hand began to be consumed with a dark aura again. "Now, hold still Experiment 626. I need you to become my pawn again." The aura began to grow as Stitch just kept barking, showing no signs of being possessed. "Come on darkness...I need you to-"
"Do nothing." said a voice behind Party Favor. Party then turned around and saw a certain blue haired boy with a moogle on his head in a tropical outfit. "Hi. I don't believe we met, I'm Flash."
POW!
With one punch, Party fell off the capsule and into the sand, completely unconscious. Flash patted his hands after that and hopped off the capsule with a big grin. "Welp, that was easy."
"Flash!" Twilight exclaimed as she and Trixie ran up to him.
"Hey girls. You all okay?"
"Yeah." Twilight nodded before looking at the knocked out Party Favor. "Good job knocking him out. Nice right hook."
"Thanks. So...is this guy the pawn?" Flash asked as he leaned down and tapped Party's cloak. "Is he from Equestria like us?"
"Trixie thinks so." Trixie grabbed the unconscious Party Favor, only for a small block to fall out of his cloak. The trio instantly recognized it as a gummi block as Twilight went down and picked it up. "Well, what'd you know? Trixie thinks we just accomplished our mission."
"I couldn't agree more Trixie." Twilight replied as she put the block up to her eye. "I believe we got what we came for."
"Good. Now we can go back to Equestria." Flash commented with a slight chuckle. "Too bad I didn't get much action here. You girls solved everything."
"Oh I wouldn't say that." said another voice. The trio turned around only to Gantu towering over them again, the dark aura surrounding his body was now even thicker. He cracked his knuckles in response. "You are all going to pay."
Back in Equestria...
"TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO KNOW!" yelled as a voice a small blaze of fire flew into a moogle bound by chains. The moogle screamed in pain as the fire singed his white fur, his blue pom-pom swaying from the blow. The voice's owner, who was a pony wearing a dark black coat, yelled once more. "TELL ME NOW!"
"Hurdy! Are you okay?!" another pony yelled who was also bound by chains. The pony then turned to the voice's owner and screamed, "YOU MONSTER! WHEN I GET OUT OF THIS, I'M GONNA-"
Smack!
A slap went across the pony's face as the voice hissed, "Be quiet you piece of garbage. I'm asking this stupid talking bear over there. I'll get to torturing you later."
"Why you little-"
"Stop it Eiko!" Hurdy yelled, his chains clanging from his struggle to get free. He turned to the voice's owner and glared. "Listen here kupo, we're never gonna help you, go it?! We of the WRO never help seekers of darkness!"
"Oh really?" the voice sneered, quickly going back to the moogle and placing it's hoof under his chin. A small hiss followed as the pony's teeth gritted. "We'll see about that. After all, thanks to you two, my fun was interrupted."
"You mean the fact that you wanted to destroy Appleloosa?"
"Yes. You interrupted me from turning that cowpony town into a burning ash heap. I so wanted to destroy that pathetic little town and you interrupted me. I hate interruptions." the voice snarled, a magic aura gripping the moogle's neck. "You will pay for what you have done. You and this 'WRO' you work for." the pony leaned over and whispered into Hurdy's ear. "I'll make sure you all burn."
"Oh really? You're gonna make us all burn in this cave you found?" Eiko chuckled, showing she had heard what the pony had said. "The only reason you beat us is because we use support classes you idiot. We're gonna get backup soon and they're gonna kick your butt."
"Tch. Is that so?" the cloaked pony remarked as it went back over to the purple haired filly, a flame blazing in the pony's hoof. "The only reason we're in this cave is because I need no interruptions to your torture session. I'm gonna make sure I squeeze every bit of information out of you and after that, you'll be nothing more than a pile of ash."
As the pony continued to mock it's two prisoners, there were several small hoofsteps at the edge of the cave. There, a small gray filly stood there, reaching into her pocket. Looking at the prize in her shirt, she said in a deadpan tone. "You think this is it?"
"Yes." said a small buffalo behind her. "All those shadows kept running back to this place. I tried to follow them and...you saw what happened."
"Good. Stay here." the gray filly replied as she looked at her hoof. "Boulder, are you ready?"
No response.
"I agree. Let's check it out."