//------------------------------// // The Cutie Re-Mark (Part 1) // Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria // by Codex92 //------------------------------// Several days after the Helping Hooves Music Festival, Twilight was given a message from Celestia to appear in Canterlot to give a little speech to the students at Celestia's School of Magic to teach them the values of friendship and how magical it can be. She wasn't scheduled to begin later in the afternoon, but she took the classroom she would be in to practice her speech in front of the podium. "If somepony had told me when I was a blank flank that one day I'd give a speech to a class at Celestia's School of Magic, I wouldn't have believed it, but..." Twilight paused, already forgetting what came next in her practice speech. She looked down and shuffled her cue cards to regain her train of thought. "I hope that I have been up to the task, because I can tell that all of you are and that the future of Equestrian magic is in good hooves." Sitting in the seats meant for the students were Riku and Spike, both of them being dragged along to help settle the alicorn's nerves. Spike applauded, though both boys were incredibly bored as they sat through Twilight's speech. "Wow. That was...impressive," Spike said. "Even better than the last eleven times..." "Eh, I don't know, Spike," Twilight said with uncertainty. "I'd like to be able to get through the whole speech without looking at the cards." "That's what cue cards are supposed to be for in a speech, Twilight," Riku said. "Can't expect a speech to go perfectly without any mistakes or pauses." "She's probably still nervous about giving this speech to a bunch of magical students," Spike said. "I'm not nervous," Twilight denied. "But I do need to set a good example, especially for magic students. That's why this speech has to be..." She waited for them to finish her statement, both pegasus and baby dragon sighing in defeat. "Perfect?" "Exactly. Let's go through it one more time." Twilight cleared her throat and began her speech from the beginning once again, only to be interrupted as a voice rang out from hers and Riku's enchanted earpieces. "Twilight, Riku, we're picking up some Heartless activity near Canterlot," Aqua said. "Thankfully, nowhere in the city, but around the base of the mountain. Best to take care of it before things get worse." Finally finding something to do after hearing the same speech over and over, Riku answered the Keyblade Master. "I'll take care of it. Twilight's got a little meeting with the future magical unicorns in Equestria to teach them the importance of friendship." "You're not saying that because you want to get out of hearing my perfect speech, are you?" Twilight questioned. "What? No!" Riku exclaimed. "Why would I do that!?" The alicorn raised a brow in skepticism, the stallion's nervous grin telling her that he wanted to get out now than suffer another few minutes of her speech. Riku sighed in defeat, no longer trying to feign innocence. "Ok, maybe a little. But your speech is fine, regardless of the pauses and card reading...Isn't that good enough as an A- performance?" "I'd prefer having an A++ performance," Twilight corrected. "But, seeing how I've made you suffer enough, you can take care of the Heartless." "Hey, can I go with Riku?" Spike asked. "I've suffered enough, too!" "Sorry, Spike, but somepony needs to stay behind to help with my presentation, and you're not able to protect yourself from the Heartless." The dragon groaned, slumping in his seat as he had to overhear the speech several more times. Riku leapt out of his, gliding down to Twilight and gave her a kiss on the muzzle. "Not sure what I'll encounter, but I'll see you back in Ponyville. And remember: cue cards are your friends," he said, waving the cards in front of the alicorn's face. "I'm not going to use them," Twilight said defiantly. "In fact, if I do use them once, I'll do whatever you want." "Alright, deal," Riku said, sealing their wager with a kiss on the lips before he headed out. Once he left, Twilight got back to practicing her speech once again, making Spike groan as he felt like he was dying from boredom. Magic students began making their way into the classroom Twilight was in to hear her speech, many of them excited to hear from the alicorn princess who was a prodigy in magic and a former student of Princess Celestia and her school. Her speech went off strong as she discussed the topic of magic and how much she favored it above many other subjects she enjoyed during her studies. A projector showed several slides she had prepared for her presentation, moving onto the values of cutie mark magic in her speech, the first one showing three overlapped circles with the CMC's faces in each circle, the unique images from their shield cutie marks between each other in two of them with the shield in the center where they were connected, symbolizing their bond as best friends upon getting their cutie marks at the same time. "Obviously, the long term effects of the simultaneous acquisition of cutie marks has yet to be determined, but..." Twilight waited for Spike to move onto the next slide, but the baby dragon had dozed off after hearing this speech far too many times to care. "Ahem. Next slide, please." Sitting beside the slumbering dragon was Moon Dancer, who was also interested to hear about Twilight's studies in friendship after making amends with her. She looked over at Spike, gently nudging him awake, startling him as he scrambled to continue with the slideshow. At first, Spike accidentally showed a picture of himself lounging on a beach, then got the right picture of the Mane Six and Sora together, Twilight without her alicorn wings as they posed in the middle of Ponyville. "I can speak from my own experience that the power of Cutie Mark Magic is very real, and in the instance of my friends and I, it can be traced back to a single event! "Without Rainbow Dash's race to defend Fluttershy's honor-" The next slide was segmented into several ones, all of them with a circle of rainbow in the center as it started with a filly Rainbow Dash racing through the sky. "-this rainboom wouldn't have happened." The next slides after added more to the missing segments, depicting what had happened to the rest of Twilight's friends, including herself, when they got their cutie marks during Rainbow's sonic rainboom. "Fluttershy might never have discovered her love of animals. Applejack might not have realized that she belonged on her farm. And Pinkie Pie might never have decided to leave hers. It must be hard to imagine Rarity without her sense of fabulousness. But it's even harder to fathom what my life would be like. Without this rainboom, I might not have gotten into magic school. Celestia wouldn't have taken me on as her pupil or sent me to Ponyville to meet my friends. And the most powerful thing about Cutie Mark Magic that I found is the connection I share with them." Twilight then noticed a pony's hoof wave in the stands to get her attention. "Yes?" "What about Sora?" the pony asked. "Isn't he important in that sonic rainboom thing too? He helped you and your other friends in saving Equestria multiple times as well." Some of the other students mumbled their agreements out of curiosity. "Well...that is a good question," Twilight responded, wishing she had a slide for Sora, knowing he had never witnessed the sonic rainboom before the Young Flier's Competition a few years ago. "I don't believe Sora had told me if he ever witnessed it as a colt, but regardless, he's just as important as the six of us. I guess, in some way, he has a connection with us, even if he didn't get a cutie mark around the same time we all did. There may be six Elements of Harmony, but he's been like a seventh optional Element with his unique magic and skills." Many of the students were satisfied with the answer, even if Twilight had come up with it on the spot. If she were being truthful, no one would probably believe her if she said he's actually a human from another world who came here to keep their world safe from the darkness that is now threatening their world after so many years. As she tried to continue on with her speech, she paused when she thought she saw someone in the stands she hadn't seen in a long time. She caught a glance of Starlight Glimmer, sitting there and hearing her presentation with an evil grin on her muzzle after hearing about the sonic rainboom and all of them being connected by it. She stammered and rubbed her eyes, then looked back to where Starlight sat, but the unicorn was no longer there. She had no idea if she was imagining things or if the nervous stress was getting to her, suddenly losing her train of thought in her speech that needed to keep going. She gave in and looked at her cue cards, owing Riku as she lost the bet since teaching these ponies was more important at the moment. "But, umm...the real question about...Cutie Mark Magic is...who it seems to affect," Twilight continued, occasionally glancing at the spot where the former cultist leader was. Despite the setback with being distracted by Starlight Glimmer, the rest of Twilight's magic lesson had gone smoothly. However, she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen on the train ride back to Ponyville. She told Spike about why she was so worried when he noticed her expression as soon as they disembarked. "Starlight Glimmer was there?" Spike questioned. "I was sure I saw her," she said. "But when I looked back at her, she was gone...We haven't heard anything from her ever since we stopped her cutie mark stealing, and I'm afraid to know what she has planned." "Apparently nothing good," Spike said. "She didn't sound all that happy after you stopped her." "Forcing everypony in that town to have the same cutie mark was not right, and stealing ours against our will was just as worse," Twilight stated. "Hey, Twilight!" Sora called out, hovering down beside the worried alicorn. "So, how'd the speech go? You impress everyone or bored them to death?" "It went...ok," Twilight muttered. "Twilight said she thought she spotted Starlight Glimmer with the rest of the students," Spike said. "Seriously? About time she finally showed herself after all this time hiding," Sora growled. He looked around, but didn't see Riku around with her. "Hey, where's Riku? Wasn't he with you guys?" "Aqua contacted us and said there was some Heartless activity at the base of the mountain back in Canterlot," Twilight said. "He hasn't come back yet?" "No...? But I was in the throne room earlier," Sora said, crossing his forelegs across his chest as he thought curiously. "I didn't see any Heartless showing up around Canterlot today...And this was before your presentation, right?" "...Right..." Twilight began to grow anxious, worrying about Riku's safety. "You don't think-?" "Riku's not going to die that easily, Twilight," Sora reassured. He raised a hoof to his ear to contact his missing friend. "Hey, Riku, your getting your girlfriend all worried. You doing alright where you're at?" There was no response, or even a retort as they waited for a moment. "Riku...? Helloooooo?...Huh. Odd." "Oh no! It must have been too difficult for him to face alone!" Twilight panicked, only for Sora to grab her shoulders. "Easy, Twilight. He's probably staying quiet so he doesn't get jumped on, or he's in the middle of a fight and can't respond right away," he quickly said. "Let's just go to the castle and check on his location on the map. Don't have a panic attack." Twilight took in a deep breath to calm herself, overthinking things and stressing out about too much today. "Well, if it's ok with you guys, I think I need myself some fresh air after the practicing and the actual speech today," Spike said. "I'll see you guys later." Spike wandered off, heading down toward Sugarcube Corner to get himself something to munch on and enjoy the sunny afternoon. Sora and Twilight made their way to the castle, making sure that Riku was still fine and in no danger and to verify if there were Heartless that had appeared near Canterlot. "Maybe you need a bit of a break," Sora suggested. "Every time you get so stressed out, you make up so many crazy scenarios that the possibilities are more improbable than a scientific equation." "Do I really do that?" Twilight asked. "Need I remind you of what happened when you freaked out over a late friendship report to Celestia and practically lost your marbles?" Twilight groaned, that memory never going to fade from existence as she stressed about what she misheard from her former mentor. "Please don't," she begged. "But, maybe you're right. Riku's fine on his own. When he comes back, I'll ask him if he can give me a massage. I mean, it would be silly if Starlight found some way to get revenge on us after all this time." They opened the throne room doors, but while Twilight was distracted by the thought of some relaxing alone time with Riku, Sora gasped in shock at what was inside. "Or maybe you're not far from the truth!" He summoned his Keyblade and crouched in his battle stance as Starlight was actually sitting in the throne room, her hind legs propped up on the Cutie Map as she sat in Fluttershy's throne. She ignored Sora's throne appearing upon his entrance, Twilight letting out a startled yelp at her somehow managing to sneak into her castle, past their friends who were either inside or out in town, and smirking at them with the intent on getting her vengeance on them. "Hello, Sora, Twilight," Starlight greeted. Her horn lit up as she levitated an old scroll from behind the map, shooting a beam into it with a sadistic grin as it floated up in the air. Magic swirled around the opened scroll, then shot down on the table as it revealed the map of Equestria by Starlight's magic. "What are you doing, Starlight!?" Sora demanded, Twilight calling her Keyblade as well as they slowly approached the table with caution. Starlight laughed maniacally as the spell she cast was successful. "I'd tell you, but that would ruin the surprise!" She then lowered the scroll and crumpled it up into a ball. "Won't be needing that anymore!" she said and threw it at them. She laughed again as a strange aura fell upon the map. Twilight tried to retaliate by firing a magic beam at it, but her magic bounced off the strange barrier. It soon disappeared as a portal appeared above the map, the sound of ticking clocks echoing as it opened up and began sucking anything within the mouth's vicinity. Sora and Twilight backed away before they got sucked in, but Starlight stayed, enshrouding herself with her magic and levitated herself toward it. With a last look of manic glee, the unicorn flew up into the portal, which disappeared in a flash of light as it closed up. Confused, Sora and Twilight looked up at the ceiling. "Where did she go?" Twilight questioned. "And what did she do?" "I don't know..." While Twilight looked down at the map, more concerned with what Starlight did than Riku's location around Canterlot, Sora found the scroll Starlight crumpled up. "What kind of spell was on that thing?" The alicorn turned around, gasping in shock as she sensed lingering magic within the scroll. "Wait, Sora, don't touch-!" She was too late to stop him as he picked up the scroll in his hoof, immediately reacting to his touch as it brought back that strange portal Starlight had summoned. The pull was even stronger this time, as if intending to suck Sora and Twilight inside it this time. Both ponies struggled to stay grounded, but they were whisked off their hooves as they screamed, flailing wildly as they were flung away to wherever it took them and disappeared without a trace. Pinkie soon walked into the throne room, pushing a cart with a big cake for some odd reason. She found no one in sight, actually expecting a new face that came to Ponyville thanks to her Pinkie Sense. Ventus noticed her as he walked past, wondering what the cake was for. "Hey, Pinkie, what are you doing?" he asked. "I thought there was a new pony in Ponyville I was supposed to greet right here in this castle, but they're not here...Oh well." Pinkie shrugged, then scarfed the entire welcome cake whole in one gulp. She wheeled the cart out, leaving a confused Ventus. "Could have saved me some cake, at least..." He looked back in the throne room, surprised to see Sora's throne was here, but there was no sign of him or his Keyblade laying around. "What the...?...Uhh, Sora? You hiding in here?" Hearing no response, he left to find Aqua to see if she can figure out this strange phenomenon, although Pinkie expecting a new visitor in town was also a cause for concern as to who it was as well. Sora and Twilight fell through the green, shifting void that sucked them in, both of them holding onto each other to keep from getting separated. "Sora, what's going on!?" Twilight asked as Sora clung onto the scroll tightly, no longer in its rolled up ball state as it seemed to carry them past the illusions of sand timers, clocks, and echoing ticking sounds. "I have no idea!" he exclaimed. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the portal to finally come to an end, spitting the duo out high in the sky, quickly disappearing as fast as it appeared. They both flared open their wings and slowed to a hover, lowering down onto a runway resting on top of a long stretch of clouds. Around them was what appeared to be a flight camp, other pegasi in the area not even paying attention to the strange wormhole that appeared above them or the two ponies who went into a freefall after getting spat out by it. "Is this...Cloudsdale?" Twilight asked in confusion. "I think so," Sora said. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that this part of Cloudsdale seemed very familiar to him, but he couldn't put his hoof on what it was. "Ok, Starlight's up to something, but why would she teleport herself to Cloudsdale when she's a uni-" Both ponies were unaware of a small blue blur with a rainbow trail flying toward them, nearly smacking Sora upside the back of the head as he ducked on instinct. "Darn it, Rainbow Dash! Quit trying to-!" He balked when he noticed just how small the pegasus was. "Whaaaaaaaaaaaa...???" "Does Rainbow Dash look...a bit too young?" Twilight asked. They watched the filly fly around until she looked down in another part of the camp. She flew down before a filly Fluttershy and colt Hoops and Dumbbell to defend her friend from the two bullies who teased them. Just from their distance from them alone, they didn't see their cutie marks, which made Sora tense up as he now realized what happened. "Uhh, Twi? I think I know where we are...and when," he uttered. "What? 'When'?" Twilight questioned. "Whatever spell Starlight used, she transported us through time, back to when Rainbow Dash performed her sonic rainboom for the first time," he explained. "That's impossible," Twilight said. "Star Swirl the Bearded was the only pony in all of Equestria who was able to do that, and the spell took him back by a week at most!" "I know that, but Xehanort had also manipulated time before, we can temporarily stop Heartless with time magic to kill them off quickly, and I have a spell that can warp me forward and back in time, but I don't know the limits to how far I can go with it," Sora said. "I didn't want to test it further after using it to give you a message to myself so I don't end up creating some sort of paradox because Young Xehanort already ran that risk while trying to recreate those thirteen seeds of darkness. With me being one of them after Riku and I got tricked in the dream worlds." "But how could Starlight do more than the greatest wizard in all of Equestria?" Twilight pondered in confusion. They both knew Starlight had a lot more magical power than she had back in Our Town, and she could do a whole lot more damage with the wrong spells caught in her hooves. Sora remembered the scroll she had earlier, which he dropped by accident when they landed on the runway. He picked it up and read what was on it, ignoring the magical algorithms that flew over his head as he saw the specific spell she used. "Uhh, with a modified version of Star Swirl's spell?" Sora asked, turning the page over for the alicorn to see. The moment she looked at the scroll, her jaw dropped in shock at the complex algorithms that outdid Star Swirl's time travel spell. "Oh no. With this enhanced spell, it's possible for any unicorn strong enough to cast it to travel at any point in time." "And she's going to try to change the future if she messes with anything in this time," Sora quickly said. "We need to find Starlight Glimmer and bring her back to the present by force." Twilight nodded in agreement as they both moved out, Sora stuffing Star Swirl's spell in his pouch for safekeeping. They flew off to where the obstacle course Rainbow would race her bullies to defend Fluttershy, the race just about to start as foals gathered at the starting line to watch, Fluttershy holding onto the flag to begin the race. The lanky pegasus filly waved it, the trio of racers dashing past her, sending the poor filly spinning out of control and off the cloud to the ground. Twilight tried to save her, but Sora grabbed her, keeping her still on the cloud they hid on. "No, don't. As much as I want to do the same thing, Twilight, this has to happen. The flock of butterflies will catch her." "Actually, a large group of butterflies is called a 'kaleidoscope', but most ponies call it a swarm or-" Sora quickly pressed his hoof against Twilight's muzzle, silencing her mini-lecture. "Not the time to be learning stuff," he hissed. "We need to hurry up to Rainbow Dash and those colts before Starlight finds them." While trying to figure out where the trio of pegasi were racing around, Starlight was way ahead of them as she hid in the right spot in a cloud, floating up in her levitational aura as Rainbow and Hoops passed her. "Aw, sorry about this," Starlight said sarcastically. Rainbow began diving down at a sharp angle, a cone of air beginning to form around her as she was about to unleash the sonic rainboom for the first time. Starlight, however, wasn't going to allow that, shooting a beam of magic at the filly. It made contact with her faster than she could fly, stopping her just before the sonic rainboom was about to happen, keeping her body still as she looked around in confusion. "Hey! What gives!?" filly Rainbow Dash asked aloud, helplessly watching colt Hoops pass by her and win the race. Down on the ground beneath the Junior Speedsters Flight Camp, Fluttershy was enjoying her time with all the wonders the ground had far below the clouds. Unfortunately, it was short-lived as the critters dispersed and went back to their daily lives, even the butterflies that had saved her from her fall she was thankful for. She felt like there was supposed to be something more with all the wonders nature from the ground had to offer her, feeling disappointed as it never came to her. Elsewhere in Manehattan, Applejack looked out on the horizon in her Aunt and Uncle Orange's condo to see nothing but buildings and the sound of loud noises. She wanted to try to make it as a city pony after feeling bored with life on a farm, but now she wondered if she was making the right choice or a big mistake. She had expected some kind of sign showing her the way back home, to be at home with her family, but nothing came. The filly sighed sadly, closing the curtains to her new bedroom as fate told her she was destined to stay in the city and needed to get used to living this new life while missing her big brother, Granny Smith, and her little sister. She wished her parents were still here, telling her her choice was a bad idea and deserved to be punished for running away from home, tears welling up in her eyes as she curled up in a ball in her new bed. Down on the rock farm, Pinkie was busy moving rocks for the harvest, doing the same old routine her sisters and parents do day after day. After moving the last one, she let out a sigh and wiped her brow. She looked up at the dreary gray sky, almost expecting the clouds to be blown away by a large explosion of bright colors and let some sun shine in. Unfortunately, the day was going to continue being boring and dreary, disappointing the filly to the point of being emotionless, but that went to her big sister Maud. She wished there was some fun to be had on a rock farm, but she lost that hope as nothing fun ever happens on a rock farm. Rarity had followed her horn after it surged out of control, more likely dragging her against her will from her house and out to this quarry where it lead her to this giant boulder. She was appalled that her magic made her believe a rock would be her destiny and not a fashion artist like she wanted, and without anything that makes her costumes shine for the play, she probably wouldn't even make it in the fashion industry. Grunting in frustration, she marched off down the hill, ignoring the sound of the rock falling over the cliff and crashing to the ground below, revealing the gems inside that could have given her some inspiration for that extra sparkle in her designs. Filly Twilight in Canterlot continued struggling to light up her horn and use magic to hatch the dragon egg that would give birth to Spike. Her straining only lead to a small sprinkle of magic to bounce off her horn and onto the purple egg with darker purple spots, with no results. The ponies inspecting her magical feats seemed disappointed after several minutes of failing, all her efforts studying magic were for nothing as she wasted everyone's time: the judges, her parents', even her own. Night Light and Twilight Velvet were sad to see their daughter so disappointed that she couldn't do it, even after all the practice she's done. "Oh, honey, don't worry," Twilight Velvet cooed, hugging the depressed unicorn filly as they left the classroom. "You can try again next time. You probably just got nervous." "Yeah, nerves always get the best of us in stressful situations," Night Light added. "But now that you know what to expect, you can give it your all next time." "It won't matter," Twilight muttered miserably. "Princess Celestia won't even let me be her pupil when they show her my failed results..." Squirming out of her mother's hooves, the depressed filly slowly trudged through the halls of the school she won't attend. As she rounded the corner, she accidentally bumped into the tall alicorn princess as she decided to make a surprise visit to her future pupil. "Oh, well, hello there," Celestia greeted. "Have you come to take part in my school for magically gifted unicorns?" Twilight teared up and began crying, running around the princess and back home to hide, unable to face Celestia when she hears of her failure in the entrance exam. "Twilight, sweetie!" Velvet called out, chasing after her daughter. "Sorry, Your Highness," Night Light apologized as he hurried after his wife and daughter. "Our filly's...had a bit of a rough day today!" Celestia watched Twilight's parents chasing after her, utterly confused and bewildered by the filly's reaction to her question. Curious, she approached the judges exiting the classroom where they had the entrance exam for her, pushing the unhatched dragon egg with them. "What happened?" Celestia asked. "The little filly who took her entrance exam for your school, Highness, didn't quite make the cut," one of the stallions said, hovering the results sheet up to the princess. She looked over their rulings, completely shocked as she swore that Twilight would have been the perfect student to take in. Celestia was frustrated, her stoic and calm demeanor cracking as she glared at the piece of paper with the judges' signatures, worrying the four ponies as they never once saw her get this mad since they first saw her as children. "How is this possible?" she whispered to herself. "I know she has such incredible magic inside of her when I saw her at the Summer Sun Celebration this year...She was eager, she had the determination to learn, and she could help save...her..." Celestia took in a deep breath through her nose, letting out a heavy sigh as her anger ebbed into sadness. She gave the report back to the judges, confusing them with her sudden mood swings as she walked back down the hall. "She had such potential...I don't think I have any other choice in the next decade to come..." Rainbow Dash continued struggling to move, still locked in place by Starlight's magic. Sora and Twilight were too late to stop her as they found the pegasus filly bound by the unicorn's blue aura. "Starlight!" Sora shouted, calling his Keyblade and flew toward her, Twilight following behind with her own in her hoof. He swung his Keyblade down on her, but a blade of aura forged from her magic blocked his blade as she turned to face him with a smug grin. "What have you just done!?" "You two are about to find out," she said. Before Twilight could jump in and attack Starlight, the portal reappeared above them, sucking the Keyblade wielders in as they didn't expect it while Starlight somehow stayed behind without getting sucked in with them. After a countless moment of flailing through time, they both reached the end, finding the Cutie Map in the distance and landed with a harsh thud beside it. Both ponies let out a groan, failing to stop Starlight as they appeared to have ended up back in the present. "Ow...At least we didn't land on the map," Sora groaned, stretching out his back with a crack. Twilight sat up, leaning against the map, both of them unaware of the red and black glow from the geography of the kingdom. "I have no idea why Starlight would change the past, but we'd better figure it out before it's too late." As Twilight looked at the map, Sora looked around them, his heart dropping in his stomach as the castle was gone, only the map remaining behind. "...I think it really is too late," Sora said. Twilight looked up, noticing the lack of a crystal castle around them, along with the dreary atmosphere of the empty field that once housed it. Not only that, but he could sense a chill in the air, feeling as though they weren't safe and could get ambushed at any moment. "Starlight changed the future. The castle's gone." "But the map's still here...Sora, let me see Star Swirl's spell Starlight modified." Sora pulled out the scroll and gave it to Twilight, keeping an eye out around them in case they were being watched. The alicorn took a better look at the spell, which was unfortunately perfected from its flaws. "She definitely altered Star Swirl's spell. She used the map to go back in time and changed something in the past. Once it had changed, it brought us back to the present." She then looked down at the map, swallowing the lump in her throat upon realizing just how much the Crystal Empire had taken up most of Equestria. "And I don't like the looks of the map right now." Sora glanced at the Cutie Map, his jaw dropping at the dark and foreboding landscape where crystals seemed to jut out from a majority of the world. Not only that, but they could also see several black dots all around the kingdom, no doubt being Heartless taking over. There were a few specks of light scattered about, which must have belonged to their friends, but if the future had changed, they had no idea who was helping defend Equestria from darkness. There was some activity coming from Ponyville nearby, but there was a speck darker than the others that was destroying some the Heartless, only with more appearing with each one slain. "This is not good," Sora said aloud. "But, if the future changed, shouldn't we have disappeared, too? We're practically a paradox at this point." "I don't know, but we need to find our friends," Twilight said, placing the scroll back in Sora's pouch. "They're all in danger." Taking caution to the wind, Sora and Twilight began making their way to Ponyville. Just as they reached the outskirts of town, they could see all the buildings were in disrepair, some of them filled with holes someone, or something, smashed into, and they could feel the dread in the air. They heard a pony scream and ran toward them, which happened to be Lyra, panting heavily as she fled for her life. "H-Help! Somepony help me!" she cried out. "They're gonna-GAGH!!!!!!!" Suddenly, a claw shot up from the ground she ran toward, piercing straight through her chest and into her heart. Twilight gasped in horror as the dark limb pulled out the unicorn's heart, Lyra gasping in shock with a look of fear before she fell over, her body disappearing in a burst of light. Sora quickly summoned his Keyblade, prepared to face the seemingly endless Heartless that have appeared in this alternate timeline of Equestria. The rest of the limb's body climbed up from the shadows, surprising the Keyblade wielders as it was an equine Shadow clutching Lyra's heart. "O-Oh my goodness," Twilight mumbled, feeling sick to her stomach as she witnessed a Heartless actually take a pony's heart for the first time. "I-Is this...what it looks like...when they kill somepony?" "Pretty much," Sora said. They both watched the heart suddenly get shrouded in a dark aura, consumed by darkness until it transformed into a unicorn Heartless. Its horn was crooked and colored red, a Heartless emblem resting on a dark chest plate it wore, along with a pair of red grieves on its legs. It had no mane or tail, or even a mouth, though its eyes were just as piercing as the smaller Shadow Pony's. Soon, more Heartless appeared around them as the first two spotted them, sensing the Keyblade and instincts commanding them to kill the bane that would destroy them: more unicorns, though some with different colored horns and grieves in blue, yellow, green, and purple, pegasi Heartless that twitched sporadically with sharp wings, their emblems shown on the battle helmets they wore, and bulky earth pony Heartless as muscular as Big Macintosh, only with massive forelegs and full body armor protecting everything but their backs, where their emblems are located. "I don't think Ponyville's no longer safe. Twilight, you ready to fight?" Twilight didn't respond, or move, too frozen in fear at witnessing somepony she knew dying so suddenly. She held a hoof over her heart, clutching her chest, fearing the same thing would have happened to everyone else she knew and loved. The Dark Pegasi lunged at them, brandishing their wings as they used them as weapons. With the only one aware of his surroundings, Sora cast Reflectga around him and Twilight, the barrier protecting them as all the pegasi Heartless struck them at once. The spell bounced the damage back into a powerful shockwave, sending the Dark Pegasi flying back as they were slain, their hearts flying up into the sky as they were released. "Twilight, snap out of it!" Sora yelled, slapping the alicorn in the face to make her come to her senses. "It's fight or die right now! And I know I can't keep protecting you forever!" Snapped from her thoughts, Twilight shook her head, knowing Sora was right. She would have to mourn later for her losses and focus on trying to stop Starlight while figuring out what happened in this timeline. Summoning her Keyblade, she tapped into the Element of Magic, unleashing a wide barrage of powerful spells on the Heartless. Most of the Shadow Ponies were easily destroyed by the onslaught of Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder spells combined into a maelstrom of elemental magic, but the Iron Ponies and Unicorn Wizards still stood, the unicorns immune to specific spells depending on their color of horn and grieves. The green Unicorn Wizards' horns began sparking green, casting a green healing aura around their allies, healing any of them that have been injured from Twilight's Trinity Whirlwind. "I thought that would kill them all. I forgot Heartless can be immune to certain spells, right?" "Right. A good effort, but we can't stay and fight all of them," Sora said. In Ponyville, they could see magic sparking and flaring in the distance as Heartless seemed to congregate in the middle of the square. The darker speck had to be there, and whether it was friend or foe, it was trying to drastically lower the Heartless's numbers. "Let's get going! Cut through the ones that matter and run!" Twilight nodded as they rushed forward, slashing their way through the weaker Equestrian Heartless as they made a break for the center of Ponyville. The Dark Pegasi zipped ahead of them, trying to cut them off, but Sora's reactions were quicker than their movements, slicing off their wings before stabbing them with one and flinging the other like a throwing star at any others in their way. They avoided spells fired from the Unicorn Wizards, each one firing the element of their color: red for Fire, blue for Blizzard, yellow for Thunder, and purple for Gravity. The Iron Ponies were a much bigger roadblock as their only soft point was their backs, slamming their heavy forelegs down to try to crush the Keyblade wielders in their path. Twilight blocked one of them, enhanced with the Element of Honesty's strength as she let out an exerted grunt, pushing back against the heavier Heartless until she sent it falling on its back. Before it got back up, rolling onto its side to get some leverage, Sora and Twilight thrust their blades together into its back, hearing a low groan of pain from it as they sliced up its spine, the unbearable pain killing the Heartless instantly. Ignoring the rest of them chasing after them, they saw almost thousands of Heartless meeting up in one area of town, many of them in the center sent flying back as they heard what sounded like an elderly stallion fighting back. "That's right! Keep coming!" the stallion said, his voice gruff and ragged, though not truly from exhaustion as he kept fighting despite being outnumbered. "Hey, hold on!" Twilight called out. "We'll help you!" "Get out of here!" the stallion said, several slashes ringing out as more Equestrian Heartless were slain. "You equines can't handle these creatures! Just get out of here!" "We're not just normal 'equines'!" Sora responded. He then turned to Twilight. "Twi, let's combine our power into a Limit Break!" "A what?" Twilight asked. "You remember what Kairi and I did back when the Heartless attacked during the Young Flier's Competition?" Sora reminded the alicorn, bringing back the flashy, yet powerful combination attack the couple performed to her. "Let's see just how mighty our powers are combined." Curious about this herself, Twilight nodded, taking Sora's hoof. She gasped as she felt a sudden surge of power flowed through her as the pegasus unleashed his mana into a Limit Break. "By friendship's light!" The chains on her Keyblade began to glow as Sora began controlling their power instead of Twilight, a little surprised, but going along with it as her body acted on its own. The first part of their Limit sent the two of them whizzing by the Heartless around them, their Keyblades slashing through them at a hundred swings per millisecond. The instant they reappeared and stopped, the delayed blows suddenly struck, slaying some of the Heartless that were distracted by the stallion in the middle of the circle. Most of them noticed the added help, the Dark Pegasi quickly dive-bombing down on the duo, only for their blades to clash together and form a pink bubble around them. As they struck the shield, it shattered and turned into a giant dragon's head, letting out a roar before chomping down on the attackers and any Heartless caught in its maw, killing all of them in the dragon's teeth instantly. "Whoa! This feels amazing!" Twilight exclaimed, her body now feeling light as a feather as she felt like bouncing around. "It's not over yet!" Sora said, somehow appearing behind Twilight as the wielders began playing leapfrog. While leaping over each other at heights that an earth pony wished they could reach, they swung their blades with a random elemental aura around their weapons, burning, freezing, or shocking anything they hit. Once they landed, they placed a status inducing Mine, continuing their bouncing until they made a random line of them, some Heartless careless enough to run into one while trying to chase them and suffering from confusion, blindness, silence, paralysis, or sleep. Then, they both leapt up high in the air and plummeted back down, slamming their Keyblades down on two Iron Ponies with enough force that matched several tons of weight crashing down on them, breaking through their armor and squishing them into pancakes before they poofed out of existence with their hearts floating away. "Time for the finale?" Twilight asked. "Oh yeah. Let's go out with a bang." Magical energy began swirling around them, their Keyblades hovering on their own as they spun faster and faster. They swiftly moved in a hexagonal pattern, leaving behind a trail of light as points shined a colorful light: red, blue, purple, orange, pink, and fuschia. Their Keyblades returned to them as they both simultaneously jumped in the air, the lights following after them. "Friendship is magic!" they both shouted, swinging their blades together with a spark of light, causing a bright rainbow light to sweep around them, eradicating a majority of the Heartless around them. Once the light faded, a fuchsia star matching Twilight's cutie mark shimmered behind the pegasus and alicorn as they floated down, exploding out into the cutie marks of their friends as soon as they touched down before disappearing. Twilight was ecstatic, never feeling such power before her Harmony Links were discovered. They had wiped out hundreds of the Equestrian Heartless that were surrounding the older stallion defending himself, though they only took out half of the massive circle. Some of them were unaware of the wide radius of their Limit Break and continued attacking him, many of them dogpiling the pony as they heard him struggle underneath them. "He's in trouble!" Twilight exclaimed, running toward the piled up Heartless as she readied a Thunder spell to shock them off. Before she released it, they heard a roar from the stallion, Twilight jumping back in surprise as dark energy shot out from the ground, slicing through the Heartless and destroying them without mercy. The last of them were slashed off, revealing the stallion underneath as he held a black and gray barbed Keyblade, the teeth in the shape of a demonic wing, along with the guard around the hilt shaped similarly, a demonic goat head as part of the base connecting the hilt and blade, and a strange blue eye with a cat-like iris at the center on top of the blade and on the gray talisman hanging from the gray chain links. "I thought I told you to get out of here!" he demanded angrily, turning around to face the fools who thought they could fight the Heartless. Before he could scold them further, he balked in surprise as he saw them with Keyblades. He appeared to be a frail earth pony, wearing a black coat over a white buttoned shirt, two thin black belts around his waist, white gloves over his forelegs and black boots on his hind legs. His eyes were a terrifying yellow like the Heartless', his coat a darkish brown, though whether it came from being dirty from the fighting as he sported several cuts along his clothing and some bruises was unknown, and he was bald, the only sign of hair being the curled, silver goatee. He was slightly hunched over as an elder stallion, but he was stronger than he appeared to be with how he dealt with the ones that piled on him. "...Keyblades?" "You're a Keyblade wielder, too?" Twilight questioned. She looked at Sora, who was just as shocked as the old stallion was as the two more experienced Keyblade wielders stared at each other. "Sora?...Do you know him?" Time seemed to slow to a crawl around them as the mysterious Keyblade wielder shook his slightly in disbelief, utterly bewildered seeing Sora. "...That's impossible..." After examining the stallion's features, his clothing, and his Keyblade, there was no doubt in Sora's mind that this pony was someone he hadn't seen after what happened in the dream worlds where his and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam took place. "...Xehanort???"