Chapter 19
3rd-Pony POV
"So? How is she?"
Luna sighed as her horn powered down, gazing sadly at the pony curled up to her side. "She will recover. It seems that she and her father have known of her mother's nature for quite some time, long before the heartless reemerged. They were resigned, and her heart was ready to take the blow." She shook her head. "Though the blow was not one easily taken, even for a heart so strong and prepared. She has many nightmares and many tears ahead of her. I shudder to think of what her state would be if her father were gone as well."
"Let's hope it never comes to that." Sora sighed as he stared out the window of the train. Manehattan was long behind them as they traveled through the dense forest that surrounded Hollow Shades. "Some tour, huh? First we see the death of almost the entire Canterlot nobility. Next we have a town about to tear itself to pieces. Then the usurping of a Dragon Lord, and the less said about Our Town the better. Now we've got a traumatized Keyblade Master whose father just had to kill her mother. At this rate, we'll be facing an army by the time we return to Canterlot."
"Knock on wood," Luna muttered. "At least this next stop should be peaceful. Hollow Shades has always been a quaint little town. There should not be too much excitement there."
"Hmph."
Luna cocked an eyebrow at Sora. "You still have feelings against Hollow Shades? I thought you had come to terms with their ways."
"Just because I've accepted it doesn't mean I like it." Sora groaned, massaging his temples. "They're too close to the darkness. Too open to it. Too... comfortable with it."
"Did you not once say that another human from Kingdom Hearts was similarly attuned to the darkness? Riku, wasn't it?"
Sora nodded. "Which is the only reason I haven't tried to interfere there. Riku walked a delicate line between light and darkness, a line that the ponies in the Shades seem to have mastered. But," Sora's face fell into a scowl, "Riku had to fall into darkness before he could find that balance. It... unnerves me that these ponies have found that balance so easily. Especially since their hearts are so strong. If one of them were to become a heartless..."
"And yet there have been no reports of them falling into darkness in the past three thousand years," Luna countered. "Relax, Sora. All shall be well. The ponies of Hollow Shades know how to live with the darkness without succumbing to it."
Sora sighed, staring out at the dark woods as the train chugged along. "Let's hope you're right."
*****
"So, what can y'all tell us about this town?"
The train was scheduled to stop in Hollow Shades in a few minutes, arriving just before midnight. Everyone stood ready to disembark, though Strongheart and Fancy seemed irritated at being up in the middle of the night, the latter nursing a mug of coffee.
"Not much to tell," Sora answered. "It's a small, out of the way town that has very little interaction with the rest of Equestria. They've always had a bunch of keybladers, but the woods around here are also so full of heartless that they've never been able to send any our way. They mostly live off the surrounding forest, which is part of why they've always stayed so small." He hesitated before adding, "They're also a little bit... odd."
"Odd how?" asked Coco, still rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
Luna rolled her eyes. "They are not odd just because they have a certain affinity for darkness. After all, would that not make me odd as well?"
"You said it, not me. Ow!"
Returning her forehoof to the ground, Luna continued. "Through some tradition or another, the ponies of Hollow Shades have adopted a nocturnal sleep pattern. We'll actually be arriving in the middle of their 'day,' so to speak. 'Tis also the only town which hosts a large population of thestrals."
"Thestrals? Really?" asked Fancy, the word perking him up more than the coffee had. "Well, that explains the midnight hour of our arrival. I met a thestral once who was visiting Canterlot. Poor fellow kept complaining about how bright it was."
"Um, what exactly is a thestral?" Coco asked. "I don't think I've ever heard of them before."
"Bat-ponies," Sora replied, earning a scowl from Luna. "They're like pegasi, but their wings look like bat wings rather than bird wings. Darker coats and manes, cat-like eyes, fangs."
"F-fangs?"
"Of course," Sora replied, grinning evilly. "How else are they going to suck your blood?"
Coco eeped as Strongheart and Jazz paled. "S-s-s-s-s-s-suck our b-b-b-b-"
Sora held his expression for a moment before bursting out laughing. "Oh, oh stars! You, hahaha, you should have seen the looks on your faces! Hahahahaha-"
*ZAP*
"YOUCH!!!"
Luna rolled her eyes again as her horn powered down. "They are not vampires, they are omnivores. Most of the Hollow Shades ponies have adopted an omnivorous diet over the centuries, mostly for fish and small mammals such as rabbits, similar to Gryphons. 'Tis neither sinister nor unnatural. Really, Sora, you were once more of a meat-eater than they are."
"Yeah," muttered Sora, rubbing his still smoking arm, "but that was in my world where the cows didn't talk back." Seeing Coco and Jazz's worried faces, Sora held up his hands. "Relax. I'm mostly vegetarian now. I only eat meat these days if it happens to be on the menu."
"If you say so," Jazz said, still eyeing him warily. An uncomfortable silence filled the train car, no-one quite sure how to break it.
The screeching of brakes and a small jerk from the train came as a welcome distraction. "Hollow Shades," the conductor's voice called out, magically carried through the whole train. "Now arriving in Hollow Shades. All passengers departing here, please gather your luggage and prepare to disembark."
"Well, that's our cue," said Sora as Fancy and Coco slipped on their saddlebags. They headed for the door of the car, the train coming to a halt right after they reached it. As Sora reached for the door, Luna reached up, grabbing his arm. Sora looked over, his curiosity turning to concern when he saw Luna's glare. "What is it?"
"I hear voices," she said, her ears twitching. "Soft, but many. A large crowd trying as one to be quiet."
Sora frowned, Oblivion flashing into being in his other hand. "Trouble?"
"I cannot be sure."
Sora nodded, facing the door again as he called upon his Heartsight. Physical barriers limited its effects, but he could still get a decent feel for the emotions outside. "They're mostly... anticipatory. Excited. They're waiting to do something as soon as they receive some sort of signal. I... don't think they're hostile; I don't sense any dark intent." He blinked back to normal, turning to face his keybladers. "Blades out," he said, "but at rest. Best case scenario: it's an impressive display of my new team. Worst case scenario..."
Strongheart smirked, summoning Pact and resting it across her back. "It will be an even more impressive display."
Sora returned the smirk before taking a deep breath and shouldering his keyblade. "Well," he said, grabbing the handle of the door, "here goes nothing." With that, he threw the door open.
*PHEW* *BANG* *POP*
"WELCOME BACK, PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!!!!"
Cheers erupted from the waiting crowd, nearly blowing Sora off his feet. Luna stared in shock and wonder as fireworks exploded overhead. The town square before them was packed beyond capacity with cheering and stamping ponies, pegasi and thestrals hovering and clapping their hooves. The square was lit and decorated like a festival or fair, strings of lanterns providing plenty of light by which to see the various food and game stalls. Ponies wore festive masks of owls, bats, or other night-time creatures, while others - especially younger fillies and colts - wore costumes that resembled the armor of the Lunar Guard. Two rows of actual Lunar Guards stood at attention, lining the path from the train to the square.
"Wh- what is all of this?" Luna asked in wonder.
"Princess Luna." Luna's attention was drawn to an elderly thestral mare who had approached. The mare dropped into a deep bow, her dark purple robes with black trim billowing around her, replicas of Luna's cutie mark adorning each flank. "My name is Midnight Dance, Mayor of Hollow Shades and High Priestess of the Cult Lunarius. On behalf of this town, on behalf of the thousand years of ponies who waited for your return, welcome back." She looked up, meeting Luna's stunned gaze with eyes that were filled with tears. "Welcome home."
"The cult survives," Luna whispered, a hoof coming to her mouth as tears filled her eyes as well. She leapt forward, pulling Midnight into a crushing embrace as she looked over the crowd. "They... they remember me. Even after everything I did."
"We never forgot, Princess!" shouted a pony from the crowd.
"Our mothers and fathers told us your story," another cried. "The true story. All of it."
"They never blamed you, Luna! They understood!"
"The town mourned for years after your fall, Luna! They swore to remember. To make sure we would be ready to receive you again in their stead!"
"We always knew you would return." Luna looked down at the mare in her arms, who stared back with eyes full of love and admiration, without the slightest trace of fear. "Our ancestors knew, and they knew how the rest of Equestria would see you. They wanted to make sure that you would have a place of refuge, should you need it." Tears streamed down her cheeks as she nuzzled into Luna's chest. "It's so wonderful to finally meet you, honored grandmother."
"G-grandmother?" Fancy gasped, looking up at Sora.
Sora shrugged in reply, wiping away a few tears of his own. "Well, I never claimed to be Luna's first love. She had a few mortal husbands and consorts before I came along, before seeing them pass away became too painful. Her decendents are the ones who founded Hollow Shades. I'd imagine everypony here has a bit of her blood in them."
"And you didn't think to tell us that before?" Jazz asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Didn't want to get Luna's hopes up. I had no idea what happened to Hollow Shades after Luna fell. Frankly, I was surprised to learn that it was still around. I'm even more surprised to see that they still see her this way." He smiled as a small herd of foals ran up to Luna, dog-piling on her and hugging and nuzzling any part of her they could reach, Luna laughing and crying all the while. "I'm glad they do, though. She deserves this."
"You must be Sora, then." Sora looked down to see that Midnight had pulled herself away from Luna and approached them. She gave the rest of the keybladers a brief nod. "Along with your new entourage, I see. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"The honor is mine," Sora replied, nodding to her. "How's the heartless situation been since I was last here?"
"Straight to business then," Midnight said, a wry smile creeping onto her face. "Just like they said. I don't expect you'll be having much to do with us going forward?"
"If you've kept yourselves to your love of Luna and your traditions, then you've probably kept your connection to the darkness, right?" Midnight nodded, unashamed. "In that case, you're spot on. As far as I've always been concerned, Hollow Shades is one bad apple away from falling into darkness." Sora shrugged, looking back up at Luna, his face softening slightly. "Until then, Luna will be my representative to this town, and I'll count on her to represent it to me."
"Just like the old days, then?" Midnight nodded to herself. "That's about what we were expecting when we learned of your return." She turned and began walking away from the train, gesturing for Sora to follow. "In any case," she said, once Sora had waved his team off to enjoy the festivities, "the heartless have been under control since they started returning. A massive swarm invaded the day you returned. They probably thought that we'd be an easy conquer."
Sora nodded, switching to Heartsight briefly to take a look around. "And you would have been," he said, smirking, "if a solid fifth of your town hadn't become keybladers. How many Masters do you have here?"
"Eight," Midnight replied. "And no, you can't have them. They're the only reason we survived the Titan attack last week."
Sora let out a low whistle. "Impressive, especially if there were no casualties. What kind was it?"
"One of those giant ones that look like a heartless version of you," she replied, "along with ten or so of its smaller kin."
"A World's Shadow and several Darksides." Sora let out another whistle. "Lots of power, but very basic tactics. You got lucky."
"We got ready," Midnight countered. "We figured the heartless weren't gone for good either. The darkness never really faded after you were imprisoned. It just... slept. We've kept ourselves prepared to face the heartless should they return."
"One of these days, I've got to get some historians out here," Sora muttered. "The rest of Equestria seems to forget things so quickly. Luna's still basically unknown, even after a year of being back, but here your town is still passing along the tales of the past."
"We do make it a point to remember those who have come before," Midnight said, nodding to a statue of Luna as they passed it. The statue featured her in full armor, swords half-way out of their sheaths as she glared calmly at some unseen foe. "It helps that we share a rather important ancestor."
"Yeah, I guess." Sora looked around again, smiling at the festivities and the ponies enjoying them. Despite the town's close association with the darkness, or perhaps because of it, the ponies here seemed to almost glow with a powerful inner light. Sora chuckled as he spotted a young couple enter an alley, giggling and blushing furiously. "I don't suppose you happen to know a gray unicorn filly with a gold mane or a silver pegasus colt with a blue one, do you?"
Midnight raised an eyebrow. "My granddaughter and her coltfriend," she answered, her eyes narrowing. "Why?"
Sora simply pointed down the alley where the tails of the two ponies were vanishing.
Midnight grit her teeth, spreading her wings and taking to the air. "Excuse me for a moment," she said, speeding off.
Sora chuckled as he began wandering the outskirts of the party, talking to a pony here and there but generally staying out of the way. After all, this was Luna's night; he wasn't going to draw attention away from her if he could avoid it.
However, it seemed that Luna herself had other plans. "Sora!" she called as she cantered over, a wreath of black roses and moon lilies around her neck and a massive grin splitting her face. Sora smiled; she had never seemed so radiant.
"What is is, beautiful?" he asked, stepping forward and pulling her into a kiss.
Luna hummed appreciatively, leaning into the kiss for a moment before breaking off and giggling. "There will be time aplenty for that later," she said. "But for now," she let out a squee, doing a little dance in place. "Sora, they have dueling circles! Not just symbolic ones or fencing rings. Fully enchanted dueling circles!"
Sora sighed, rolling his eyes and smiling indulgently. "Let me guess, you want to test their limits?"
"Oh please oh please oh please!!!" Luna pleaded, placing her forehooves together. "It has been far too long ere we tested ourselves against one another.
Sora scratched the back of his neck, looking away and trying to hide the grin on his face. Dang it, Luna! Stop being so cute! "I don't know," he hedged. "I was kind of hoping to take it easy tonight. Besides, I wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of your family."
"Is that so," Luna asked, a playful scowl crossing her features. "In that case, I, Luna Starlight of Equestria, do hereby issue a formal challenge to you, Sora. Should I be victorious, you shall grant me a single boon of my choosing."
"And if I should win?"
Luna's face went from scowling to sultry in an instant. "If you win," she whispered, running a forehoof down his chest, "then as soon as we get back to Canterlot, we can do that thing you love with the whip and the hoofcuffs."
*****
Word of the upcoming duel spread quickly through the party. Of particular note was the eagerness of the two participants, though very few knew that they were each eager for entirely different reasons. Five minutes after Luna issued her challenge, she and Sora stood at opposite ends of a concrete circle. The circle was fifty feet in diameter, the edges carved with powerful runes of containment and protection. These runes would create a cylindrical shield as soon as two beings stepped into the ring, falling again only when one had surrendered or sustained serious injury. Luna and Sora stared across the ring at each other, sizing each other up.
"Last chance to bow out, Luna!" Sora called, Oathkeeper and Oblivion resting across his shoulders. "You have no idea how motivated I am to win this duel. I won't go easy on you."
"You had best not," Luna replied, examining a pair of longswords that the Lunar Guard had provided for her. Giving them a few test swings, she nodded in satisfaction and turned her gaze back to Sora. "I have every intention of emerging victorious from this contest. I refuse to lose face before my children."
Cheering erupted from the crowd and Sora shook his head, chuckling as he stepped into the circle. "Guess I'll just have to disappoint them, then, because Momma's big bad boyfriend is about to get really mean."
Luna stepped forward as well, the shield rising around them as she fell into a battle stance. "Our standard duel, then?"
Sora nodded, hoisting the keyblades from his shoulders and entering a stance of his own. "First minute, blades only. Second minute, projectile magic added. After that, anything goes." Luna nodded, taking a stone from the center of the arena in her magic and tossing it high. a few seconds passed in silence before it hit the ground.
A streak of light and a burst of shadow were all the surrounding ponies could see before Sora and Luna met in the center of the arena, blades locked together as they pushed against each other. Sora disengaged quickly, jumping back and throwing Oblivion at Luna's legs.
Luna leapt over the blade, throwing one of her own straight as an arrow for Sora's chest. He deflected it with Oathkeeper, summoning Oblivion back to his hand as he charged forward again. He swung both blades at Luna, one of which she ducked under and the other of which she blocked with her remaining blade. Sora heard a faint whistling behind him and stepped to the side, pulling the unengaged Oathkeeper down to block Luna's other blade once again.
Taking advantage of this momentary distraction, Luna surged her strength and bull-rushed Sora, forcing him to stumble backward to keep from being trampled. He dropped Oblivion and grabbed Luna's mane as they approached the edge of the arena, jumping back a bit and kicking off of the shield, using Luna's mane to hold her still as he guided himself onto her back. He let go of her mane, summoning Oblivion again, bringing both of his blades down at Luna's neck, only to be blasted away by a shot of moonlight from her horn.
"One minute," said Luna as Sora flipped back onto his feet. She turned towards him, firing a few more shots as she charged forward. Sora blocked each shot until Luna was only a few feet away. "Reflect!" he shouted, summoning a sphere of light around him which deflected Luna's last shot back at her. Luna's eyes grew wide before the spell hit her dead in the face.
"HEY!" shouted a pony from the crowd. "It hasn't been two minutes yet! You can't do that!"
"Actually, I can!" Sora shouted back, leaping backward as Luna slashed blindly at him, blinking the spots out of her eyes. "Luna and I established long ago that barriers that deflect projectiles count as projectiles themselves."
"Indeed," Luna said, glaring up at him even as a small smirk tugged at her lips. "But now the two minutes have passed. I think we're both properly warmed up." The area around Luna seemed to grow darker, her shadow creeping up her legs and chest to form dangerous looking armor. "Time to take this to the next level."
"If you insist," Sora replied, focusing the energy in his heart. He pictured his Final Form, three of his most powerful keyblades orbiting around him. He released the energy in a great burst-
-and everything went black.