//------------------------------// // The Cutie Re-Mark (Part 2) // Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria // by Codex92 //------------------------------// Twilight looked back and forth between Sora and the stallion he called Xehanort. She had heard his name from the others many times and only got a small look at a past picture of him as a young teen with Yen Sid and Eraqus in the wizard's tower. Both of them were surprisingly shocked to see each other, Sora from having encountered him in the middle of this Heartless invasion that's already threatening to engulf her home, but Xehanort was shocked to see him here. "...Wait, this old stallion is Xehanort?" Twilight asked Sora. "The one who caused so much misery to Aqua, Terra, and Ventus, and is responsible for thrusting the worlds in darkness?" Sora didn't respond, clenching his Keyblade tightly in his hoof as he snapped out of his stupor, glaring angrily at the old pony. With a flap of his wings, Sora sped off toward Xehanort with a yell. "Sora!?" "Xehanort!!!!" he cried out. Xehanort snapped out of his daze, quickly blocking Sora's Keyblade as he was pushed back by the younger wielder's strength. "What are you doing!?" he demanded angrily. "What did you do to this world!?" Sora questioned, slashing wildly to end the man who destroyed this timeline's Equestria while Xehanort evaded and blocked the pegasus's oncoming attacks with his blade. "I didn't do anything!" Xehanort shouted. Their blades clashed again as they pushed each other back, but Xehanort was panting heavily, having exerted so much energy from how long he's been fighting. "Quit fighting me! The Heartless are going to kill us if you keep making me waste away my strength!" "Maybe that's a good thing!" Sora argued. "You deserve a taste of your own medicine after what you've done to us!" Too focused on dealing with Xehanort, Sora forgot about the other Heartless that he and Twilight didn't kill with their Limit Break. Dark Pegasi swooped in and smacked Sora in the side, sending him flying back and hitting the ground as they piled on him, trying to stab their razor sharp wings down on his body. Twilight tried to rush in to help, but Xehanort beat her to it, teleporting up to Sora and slashing through the Heartless with ease. Both alicorn and pegasus were confused as the manic villain had saved him, but before Sora could try to retaliate, Xehanort slammed his hoof down on the teen's chest, knocking the wind out of him. "STOPJA!!!!!!" the old stallion shouted, unleashing a massive shockwave in the shape of a clock out and around them. Throughout all of Ponyville, the Heartless caught in the spell were frozen in time as they tried to get the jump on them. While Sora recovered from the near bone-crushing blow to his ribcage, Xehanort leered down at the teen and placed more pressure on his chest. "Quit fighting. I see we both demand answers, but I don't have the energy to quarrel with you when this world's already on the brink of destruction. For now, we have a temporary truce, find someplace to recuperate a little, and finally get some questions out of the way. Without unnecessary fighting." "W-Why should we?" Sora demanded. "Because if you didn't notice earlier, the Heartless were trying to kill me as well," Xehanort stated. "I can't control them because something else is. Now, are you going to trust me or not?" Sora couldn't trust Xehanort as far as he could kill him, and he's already done that twice to his Nobody and Heartless a few years ago. But, for Twilight's sake, he swallowed his pride as they both needed to figure out what happened to this alternate world. "...Fine," Sora finally said. "But if you so much as stab us in the back-" "I can't when we need allies in this deadly war we're in," Xehanort interrupted. Grabbing Sora by the collar of his shirt, the old stallion lifted the teen back on his hooves as he clutched his sore chest. "This spell won't last forever. These Heartless have started to grow an immunity to Stop, and I don't know how much time we have left before they move again. Follow me." Xehanort walked ahead, passing by the frozen Heartless while slashing through some to either kill or heavily damage when the spell ends. Sora and Twilight followed him, needing a momentary breather just from getting here to meet up with the unknown ally who just so happened to be the Keyblade wielders' number one enemy. "Sora, should we trust him?" Twilight asked. "Heartless attacked him, too, so-" "I don't want to trust him," Sora interrupted. "I don't care if he helped me a moment ago. After all he's done to me, Riku, Kairi, Aqua, Terra, Ven, and everyone else, I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt. Ever." As they passed by the dilapidated buildings, Twilight dreaded the worst case scenario after witnessing Lyra's heart getting taken by the Shadow Pony. "W-Where is everypony?" "I think you can put two and two together, seeing how we're the only ones left in this town," Xehanort said without a care in the world. "But Lyra was still here...before..." Twilight choked, unable to get the gruesome image of what happened to the green unicorn out of her head. Xehanort groaned in what sounded like annoyance. "I told her to stay put until I took care of them, but there were too many and she ran off. She should have listened." "How can you be so heartless!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Somepony died!" "Don't bother trying to make him feel guilty," Sora said. "Xehanort only cares about me, myself, and I." The old stallion let out a laugh as he smirked at the true statement. They soon found themselves out in the desolate wasteland of Sweet Apple Acres, many of the trees hacked down from claws or oversized hammer arms as the orchard looked like a deadly battlefield. The farmhouse was in shambles, but the barn was still up, although a bit run down. Sora was devastated, seeing the remains of his second home torn apart like this, unsure if the Apple family had survived this ordeal along with the rest of their friends. Once they reached the barn, Xehanort opened the doors, letting the three of them inside before closing it. "Won't be much of a shelter, but at least this will buy us some time before they know where we're hiding," Xehanort said, right before he coughed heavily, his wounds slowly taking its toll on him along with his exhaustion. "Old age finally catching up to you?" Sora mocked spitefully. "Shut up," the older stallion grumbled as he walked past the pegasus, sitting beside one of the support beams of the barn and leaned his back against it. "Alright...Let's get on with the questions and answers." "Then let us start first," Sora said. "What are you doing here in this world?" "...Saving it," he answered. "Or if you even call it saving when there's no point." "Horseapples!" Sora swore, Xehanort raising a brow quizzically at the odd cursing. "You're the cause of all these Heartless appearing in Equestria!" "Did you already forget I was attacked by them!?" Xehanort yelled. "I wasn't in the middle of a training session to my death! I can't even control them since they're under someone else's...and...he's stronger than me..." "...What?" Sora asked, he and Twilight unable to hear him mumbling his last reason. "Just move on with the equine's question," Xehanort said, quickly diverting the topic. "M-My name's Twilight Sparkle," Twilight said, still shaken from what had happened, what they've seen of Ponyville, and meeting the man responsible for all the Keyblade wielders' turmoil and dangerous journeys. "Just ask your question," Xehanort demanded, Sora pointing his Keyblade at the old stallion with glare, warning him not to push anymore of his buttons. Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat, dreading to know what had happened when she and Sora were forcefully jumped forward through time. "...What happened to Equestria?" Xehanort stared at the alicorn for a moment before taking a deep breath, shutting his eyes as he began relaying what had been happening. "It all started with a catastrophic event over a thousand years ago. The two princesses who ruled this world's kingdom, who look just like you, only taller. Celestia and Luna, they were called, and those two were stupid enough to trap a unicorn tyrant with his heart filled with darkness in the shadows, banishing him along with the Crystal Empire." "We know about that," Sora said. "The two of us were there, along with our friends. We stopped Sombra and saved the Crystal Empire." Xehanort scoffed. "You were there? When you shouldn't even be here?" Sora growled in annoyance, but Xehanort ignored him and continued. "His name was Sombra, and after a thousand years, the spell those princesses left on him had worn its welcome, freeing him from the darkness as he took control of the Crystal Empire. The artifact that protected the kingdom from the frozen north, the Crystal Heart, was destroyed, shattering the hope and light that came from the crystal ponies that lived there. At first, he began enslaving the ponies into his mindless slaves, but with his power of darkness, he was able to create his own army of Heartless, the same ones who have invaded the rest of this world. "Upon his return, Celestia requested assistance from Riku and Kairi to help save their world when she contacted an old friend of mine, Yen Sid, through a magic mirror. They volunteered to try to stop him, but Sombra was far too powerful to take on alone." Xehanort pulled out a map of Equestria, the paper slightly torn as the Heartless struck him. He rolled it open, showing several "X" marks across some of the major cities and towns throughout the kingdom. "Sombra's already destroyed most of the civilizations in this world, turning the ponies and other sentient creatures into Heartless. Even as we speak, Riku, Kairi, and even your bumbling friends and His Highness, King Mickey, are still struggling to liberate this world from his darkness." "And you're here to 'help save' Equestria, huh?" Sora questioned skeptically. "It's pointless, but I have my reasons why I decided to become allies with your friends. Only temporarily," Xehanort corrected. "From where I hid, I sensed that darkness of Sombra's..." He paused when he saw Sora's face. The pegasus grinned smugly and crossed his forelegs across his chest, making the old stallion growl in frustration. "...Alright, fine! If you really want to hear me say it, Sombra's darkness is far stronger than my own, and I don't want him to discover the ability to transport through other worlds through portals of darkness and even discover and take Kingdom Hearts for himself! Are you happy, you brat!?" "No, but that feels amazing hearing you admit you're scared of Sombra," Sora mocked. Xehanort let out an irritated grunt, rubbing his bald head as he continued his tale. "Anyways, his power far exceeds my own, and I tried to stop him myself like a fool and ran when I realized I couldn't win. I still don't understand why I'm still here when this is all a lost cause. This world is doomed, regardless, but your friends still think there's hope that they'll win. Too bad most of that hope had died before this started." "What about our friends?" Twilight asked. "My family. The princesses...Are they...?" Xehanort remained silent, slowly shaking his head. "Thousands and thousands of hearts had been taken, even IF we tried our hardest to save them. So, to answer that, there were no survivors. Not even the rulers of this world stood a chance." Tears welled up in Twilight's eyes, unable to bear the thought that her family, their friends, and even her mentor and younger sister had perished in this dark war. She sobbed, to Xehanort's annoyance as he rolled his eyes, burying her face in Sora's shoulder as he draped around her to comfort her. "As upsetting as it is for your losses, I'd like to move on to my question." Sora leered at Xehanort, unable to believe he wanted to get some answers when Twilight was having a traumatic moment. He figured he must have been born a Heartless if he doesn't even bat an eye at a crying pony. "What is it?" Sora asked. "...Why are you still alive?" Xehanort asked, catching Sora and Twilight off guard as the alicorn looked at Xehanort with confused, teary eyes. "Excuse me?" Sora asked. "Is that supposed to be some kind of threat coming from you?" "I'm being serious," Xehanort said. "You're not supposed to be alive." "Well, I'm still standing, so make some sense before I finally end you like I should have with Ansem and Xemnas!" Sora threatened as he approached the stallion, pressing his Keyblade against Xehanort's neck. Xehanort remained stoic as he stared at Sora's enraged glare, calmly pushing the Keyblade away from him. "Alright. If you don't believe me, then tell me what you know. Do you recall what happened at the end of your Mark of Mastery exam?" "Yes. Clearly," Sora said. "Riku and I tried to wake up the sleeping worlds as part of our exam, but your younger self tricked the two of us to getting closer to you and make one of us your thirteenth seed of darkness. I was the unfortunate target and fell for your trap, but Riku came to save me, along with King Mickey and Lea, killed Young Xehanort, and saved me yet again as a Nightmare tried to consume me while I was still deep asleep. Riku became a Keyblade Master, I continued to train for the next exam, and I know about this world more than you because I was sent here to not only get stronger, but also protect it from darkness and the threats that lived in Equestria." Xehanort processed Sora's explanation, chuckling coldly as he shook his head, which only irritated Sora more. "Is that what you think happened?" "That's exactly what happened!" Sora exclaimed. "Quit beating around the bush and tell us what you're not telling!" "...Alright, if that's what you want to know." Xehanort paused, enjoying the frustration on the teen's face while Twilight wondered what was different with Sora's version of his Mark of Mastery exam. "...After your Mark of Mastery exam, from what Riku had told me after I witnessed him, Mickey, and Lea interrupt us...The Nightmare managed to crack through what tried to protect you from its corruption...and you died by your best friend's blade." Twilight gasped in shock at the alternate result of what had changed not just in Equestria, but in Sora's life as well. Sora, however, wasn't buying it, growling furiously and punched Xehanort in the face hard with a yell, sending the old stallion falling to the ground. "You lying bastard!" Sora exclaimed. He pounced Xehanort and grabbed the collar of his jacket, picking him up and slamming his back into a wooden beam. "Riku would never kill me! He saved my life! How the hell do you think I'm still standing!?" Xehanort chuckled, rubbing his sore jaw as he stared at Sora, refusing to retaliate and strike the pegasus back. "That's what I'd like to know." "Sora, stop!" Twilight shouted, grabbing Sora and pulling him away from Xehanort. "Isn't he already beaten enough!?" "You're going to take his side!?" Sora questioned. "He's the enemy, Twilight! He's not a frail old man! He's a monster!" "Then why did he bother saving us from those Heartless out there if he didn't care!?" Twilight argued. "To be fair, I didn't care about your safety," Xehanort pointed out. "I needed answers, and I'm still expecting some more." Sora growled, wanting to punch him again or thrust his Keyblade straight through the dark heart inside of the stallion's chest, but Twilight dragged him away forcefully with her magic. Once on the other side of the barn, Twilight kept the pegasus in place to try to talk to him about something she shouldn't do, but if they needed more answers, they would have to risk it. "Sora, we have to tell him the truth," Twilight said. "This clearly isn't how things are supposed to be...and...you aren't supposed to be...gone." "Don't listen to him!" Sora hissed. "I'm not believing anything he says. There's no way I died by Riku's hand when the Nightmares tried to corrupt me." "But we need some kind of explanation as to why everything has changed and Sombra's still alive," Twilight reasoned. "Besides, like it or not, he's the only one we can talk to, and he does have some knowledge with time travel, right?" Sora grumbled, pouting like a little kid. He didn't want anything to do with Xehanort, but there was no other choice, and Riku and Kairi could be in any other parts of Equestria where the lights were from the Cutie Map. He let out a frustrated sigh, giving in to Twilight's plan. "Fine. But if he doesn't give us straight answers, I'm refusing to believe everything he says." Twilight approached the old stallion after gaining Sora's approval, to some extent. "Xehanort, I don't know if you'll believe us, but there's a reason why we're a bit confused by what's been going on and what we actually know," Twilight said. "I'm talking to the boy who should have been dead and a pony with the ability to wield a Keyblade," Xehanort stated. "I'll believe anything after fighting these Heartless for several months without any rest." "Well...It all started back in my castle, where somepony by the name of Starlight Glimmer broke in, waited for me and Sora in the throne room where this magical map is located, and sent all three of us back in time," Twilight said. "You haven't happened to have seen her, have you? Light pinkish-purple unicorn? Purple mane with blue highlights?" Xehanort shook his head as the description didn't remind him of any of the ponies he may have seen in this desolate land. "Oh...Anyway, she sent us back to a point in time where Rainbow Dash, a friend of ours, performed the sonic rainboom as a filly. A sonic rainboom is a-" "Spare the lecture and continue," Xehanort said, running his hoof over his goatee out of curiosity with what came next. "...Ok. That sonic rainboom was important because it did two things: one was giving me and my other five friends, Rainbow Dash being one of them, our cutie marks, these marks on our-" Twilight began to explain to Xehanort what a cutie mark was, but the look on his face told her to quit deterring with a mini lesson and keep going. "...Sorry. T-The second thing was uniting us as friends many years later when Nightmare Moon returned. However, Starlight stopped Rainbow Dash, and in doing so, sent Sora and I back through the time portal with the spell she made and back to the present. But, if it makes any sense, the present now isn't the same present that we know before this happened." Xehanort processed all this as he silently thought. After a moment, the stallion grinned and began to laugh, shaking his head as if the answer had been right under his muzzle. "What's so funny?" Sora questioned skeptically. "Now it makes perfect sense," Xehanort said. "This explains everything. You two aren't even supposed to exist...or, is it me who isn't supposed to exist?" "Quit being cryptic and tell us!" Sora demanded. Twilight had to hold Sora back as Xehanort relished getting the pegasus riled up. "Have you two ever heard of the butterfly effect?" Twilight nodded her head, reading theories about time travel as an interest in science fiction before discovering it really does exist, but Sora shook his head no. "Well, at least one of you can read." "You really want to try my patience, don't you?" Sora asked with a leer. "Well, I did lose the chance of getting my thirteenth seed of darkness before your life came to an end by the Nightmare taking over your heart." Xehanort ignored the death glare the pegasus gave him, calling forth his Keyblade and pointed the sharp blade at the ground. "You know, Sora, if you wanted to kill me, you could have done the deed as soon as we walked in here. Your showing of mercy will eventually be your downfall." "You're lucky Twilight's here to stop me because she feels sorry for the ENEMY being a frail old man," Sora emphasized. "I know that, but he's exhausted and it wouldn't be fair to hurt him when he's already injured and tired," Twilight reasoned angrily. "Nothing in war is remotely fair involved with me, so change your philosophy before Sora brings you down with him," Xehanort said, starting to irritate Twilight a little that he didn't accept her defending him while exhausted. He then began drawing a line across the dirt with his blade as he began his little lecture, mostly to teach Sora. "Now, to start, let's say that this line represents the timeline you two are from." He then drew two points on the line, one on each side of the "timeline". "Between these two points are what you two know of your past timeline...I hope you're taking notes, Sora, because this is going to be on the exam." "Shut up," Sora growled as Xehanort smirked teasingly. The stallion then drew another line, connecting it from the early point of the previous one at an angle before drawing it parallel with the other. "However, this timeline up here is the one you're in now, with past events I'm aware of. At this first point, something in the past had been altered from what you recall, thus changing the flow of time and diverting it into an alternate timeline. That one point could have multiple paths that can lead to different outcomes,-" Xehanort drew more lines connecting to that first point, showing the simple example of the alternate timelines that could result in just one change from that one event. "-some resulting the same way, while others would be different. Imagine this as water flowing down a stream. You want to block that water and divert the flow, separating it into going two separate paths, or more. Though they go different directions, time would continue flowing onward toward a different destination. That is the butterfly effect." Looking up from his simplistic diagram of the time theory, he still had one question lingering on his mind. "But, if the timeline had changed, then you two shouldn't exist. "You're both a paradox and shouldn't be here...Well, at least one of you from what I know," he said as he looked at Sora. "What sort of power was there that managed to keep you two safe from the change in time?" While Sora mulled over the different changes that could have happened, ignoring the "death" jab at him, Twilight pondered what had kept the two of them around when they really should have faded from existence. It hit her when she realized that the Cutie Map was still there, even though the castle was gone. "The map," she said. "That's it! The Cutie Map!" "The what?" Xehanort asked. "That's right," Sora said after getting what Twilight meant. "The map was still there. It was connected to the Tree of Harmony, which means its power must be keeping us here in order to set the timeline right!" "Exactly!" Twilight grabbed the modified time traveling spell out from Sora's pouch. "I'll use the spell Starlight created and send us back earlier in time before she arrives! That way, we'll get the jump on her before she even knows we're there!" "We need to get back to that map before the Heartless move again and stop Star-" Suddenly, all three Keyblade wielders gasped, their fur standing up on end as they felt a dreadful darkness somewhere close by. "W-What was that?" Twilight asked, her skin crawling as she shuddered in fear. She and Sora looked at Xehanort, his pupils shrunk as he even seemed frightened by the overwhelming power of darkness. "No...He's here...?" His ears twitched as he looked at where the darkness was coming from, quickly running toward the stunned ponies. "Get down!" Xehanort pushed Sora and Twilight down to the ground just in time as the barn collapsed from a powerful blast from a dark fireball. The trio covered their heads as the shattered wood from the roof fell on them, most of it burning to cinders in a dark fire. They brushed off the rubble of the destroyed barn, groaning slightly from the heavy wood falling on them as they stood up. A dark voice suddenly chuckled behind them, quickly turning to face the owner of the voice as he slowly made his way toward them. "Well, well, well, look who we have here." The dark unicorn stallion who returned after a thousand years of banishment in shadows stood before them, Sombra in his royal red cape, silver armor and headpiece, curved red horn, and purple aura around his horn levitating a dark black crystal sword infused with a dark aura. "Hiding away like the coward you are, Xehanort?" "I'm no coward," Xehanort growled, holding his Keyblade firmly in his hoof. "Then explain why you fled from me after seeing only a glimpse of my power," Sombra retorted, laughing as he noticed the slight trembling come from the elder stallion. "I can smell your fear from a mile away. Why deny it when you know it's impossible to stay and fight like those other pathetic fools?" He noticed Sora and Twilight, new victims to turn into his Heartless army, only to frown as they wielded Keyblades as well. "More of them...Where did they come from?" "What did you do to our friends!?" Sora demanded. Sombra chuckled darkly, running a hoof across his blade. "They stood no chance when I found them. Although...that pink unicorn was troublesome when I sensed her heart." Sora grunted, glaring in rage as he clenched his teeth. "Pure light...I couldn't make a Heartless out of her...but I did keep myself a little souvenir to replace the Crystal Heart." From underneath his cape, Sombra pulled out a glass container, but what was inside it made Sora's heart drop. Inside it was a heart, but Sora recognized that pure light emitting from the container; it was Kairi's heart. Seeing Sombra smirk as he caught his reaction while holding his lover's heart in his hooves, despite this Kairi not being the one from his timeline, made the pegasus see red. Seething with rage, he gripped his Keyblade tightly in his maw, his teeth threatening to break the hilt. "No," Sora growled, his muscles tensing as he wanted nothing more than to kill this Sombra, feeling no remorse for this stallion's past. Suddenly, surprising Twilight, and even Xehanort as he felt something he never thought he would expect from the Keyblade wielder, a small aura of darkness began building around him, startling them as his anger fueled his inner darkness he had never unleashed before. "You...You sick, twisted bastard..." "S-Sora?" Twilight called out, but he didn't listen. "Oh. Did you know this mare?" Sombra asked, waving the container around teasingly. "Was she somepony special to you?" Sora growled even more, but before he could lunge at Sombra without thinking of how much darkness he wielded, Xehanort turned around and jabbed the pegasus hard in the chest with the hilt of his Keyblade. He dropped to the ground with a gasp, thankfully distracting him from his anger with pain as the darkness ebbed away. Sombra raised a brow in confusion, only to grunt as Xehanort aimed his Keyblade at the unicorn and fired a quick and powerful Blizzaga spell, trapping him in a block of ice. "You two get out of here and fix this mess!" Xehanort said. "I'll hold him off as long as I can!" "K-Kairi-" Sora called out, only to earn a hard slap across his face from his enemy, snapping him to his senses. "This isn't your world, you idiot. Remember that," Xehanort scolded. "I can't believe I'm giving you advice, but don't let your emotions from your heart cloud your head. As much as I'd love seeing you unleash your darkness, you can't right now." They heard the ice begin to break, Sombra's eyes glowing green as purple mist leaked from them while hearing him let out a low, guttural growl. Twilight helped Sora up on his hooves, Xehanort looking back at them with a worried gaze, not for their lives, but for the sake of the correct timeline. "Now go! Get out of here!" Twilight nodded, forcefully dragging Sora along with her as the pegasus looked back a moment longer before chasing after her back to the Cutie Map. Sombra broke free from his icy prison with a roar, brushing off the shards of ice from his cape calmly while leering at Xehanort. "So, you sacrifice yourself to save those two," Sombra said, placing Kairi's heart back underneath his cape. "For somepony who's heart is filled with darkness, you seem to have some light in you." "I let them escape because those two are going to end this war," Xehanort corrected. "When they succeed, the two of us will cease to exist. So if I'm a hypocrite for being nice, that'll be the only good thing I'll ever do in my lifetime that was actually real, not forced or fake." Sombra furrowed his brows in anger. "What are they planning to do!?" "You can find out," Xehanort taunted, smirking at the unicorn despite fearing Sombra's overwhelming power. "Over my dead body!" Sombra let out a demonic roar, summoning his Heartless army to chase after Sora and Twilight while he rushed Xehanort as a cloud of mist. Xehanort charged forward as well, the unicorn stallion shifting back to his body as both ponies with darkness in their hearts clashed, their movements a blur as their blades lit up with black sparks, teleporting all around the barren orchard of Sweet Apple Acres. Dark crystals shot up from the ground around Xehanort to pierce him, but the old stallion was able to avoid them despite his age, slicing through the shards and unleashing powerful magic spells on the unicorn. They clashed again and pushed each other back in dominance. Xehanort grunted, still weak from his endless fighting as he was pushed back. Moving his free hoof back, he thrust it forward, sending out a powerful gust of wing out just from his hoof instead of his Keyblade, sending Sombra flying back. As soon as he saw the stallion land, Xehanort lifted his hoof up, raising the earth around Sombra and sent it crashing down on him. The heavy block of earth didn't deter Sombra in the slightest, teleporting in front of Xehanort and slashed him with a flurry of swings from his sword. Grunting in pain, Xehanort tried to teleport away, but Sombra was constantly chasing after him. "That's right, run away and cower like a little colt, Xehanort!" Sombra shouted, shooting dark crystals at the old Keyblade Master as they headed into town. "You're all talk and no game! Where's that bravado when you faced me before!? Are you afraid of the darkness you claim you're in control of!?" Xehanort didn't respond, trying to think of a plan while retreating as he blocked the shards of crystals and fired several spells at Sombra to throw him off. Sora and Twilight reached the plains where the castle used to be, the alicorn holding onto the scroll as she prepared to use the same spell to send them back in the past. "At least this didn't get ruined when the barn was destroyed." There were a few roadblocks with the Heartless Sombra commanded to chase after them, but they took care of them, mostly Sora as he was still mad with what the unicorn stallion had teased him with earlier. They finally reached the map and saw Ponyville, the special black dot that was Xehanort's moving around town as the darker one that was possibly Sombra's, able to hear the explosions from magic spells and clanging steel echo in the distance. Before Twilight could cast the spell, Xehanort's dot suddenly flew out from town and toward the map, where the evil Keyblade Master appeared tumbling across the ground, covered in more cuts, bruises, and nearly falling unconscious. "Xehanort!" He grunted, struggling to stand up as he used his Keyblade as a crutch. "G-Go...He's...coming..." "But you're-" Twilight tried to offer help, but Xehanort refused as he shook his head. "Just go!" he yelled, coughing heavily as he sputtered blood, taking serious internal injuries from his fight. Sora and Twilight looked out toward town, where they could see Sombra in his mist form flying toward them. With no time to help, Twilight cast the spell on the scroll, activating the map's magic as the time portal appeared above them, quickly sucking up the two Keyblade wielders. Xehanort watched as his vision began growing blurry, the portal disappearing as they left, along with the Cutie Map. "NO!" Sombra shouted, making it too late as he skid to a halt back in his physical form. He looked around, growling in frustration before turning to Xehanort. "Where did they go!?" "...Like I said," Xehanort answered. "To end this war." "They escaped!" Sombra corrected angrily. "For them. Not for us," Xehanort restated. He coughed again, collapsing on his side as his injuries finally took its toll on him, all while chuckling, even while in pain. "It's all over...I've lost...in this timeline...Maybe in another, I'll succeed." Sombra growled, looking down at his beaten foe. "What are you talking about?" "...Time...is a royal pain," Xehanort answered. "So delicate...so easily manipulated...We won't exist for them...because they never belonged here." He took his Keyblade, turning it around and aimed it at his heart. "No point in trying...I know when I've truly lost...You want my darkness...then you can have it." Xehanort plunged his blade through his chest, letting out a gasp as he used his power to release his heart, admitting defeat to the powerful stallion watching him in shock and confusion. As the Keyblade moved out on its own, Xehanort's heart flew out of his chest, his body disappearing as the dark, glowing heart flew away into the sky. Sombra didn't bother trying to take it and mold Xehanort's darkness into a Heartless for his army, spotting a small speck of light that hid deep in the center of his heart. With no one left to stop him and his world conquest, Sombra took Xehanort's Keyblade as his trophy and teleported away to his castle in the Crystal Empire. While flying through the time stream, Sora and Twilight reflected on what they had just experienced in their alternate present. Just from that one change, Starlight keeping Rainbow Dash still before she was able to pull off the sonic rainboom, created an apocalyptic Equestria invaded by Heartless when Sombra returned, no one able to stop him with the power of the Crystal Heart as he destroys anyone and anything that dares to stop him. What was worse was that Twilight, for the first time, ever saw Sora this angry, and getting angry enough to let his darkness show. Thankfully, Xehanort had stopped him before it got worse. She noticed he was a bit startled at that, unable to believe he nearly lost himself like that. "Sora, are you ok?" Twilight asked, greatly concerned for his well-being. "...I think so," he said, sounding unsure of himself. "...I know it wasn't our world, but..." Sora suddenly felt sick to his stomach, the news of him meeting his end near the end of his and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam and seeing Kairi's contained heart in Sombra's grasp too much for him to take. "If that really did happen..." "I'm glad it didn't, but I know how you feel," Twilight agreed. "And to hear you died-" "Xehanort was lying," Sora interjected. "There's no way I could have died...M-Maybe I was in another world, and no one told me about it." "Why would he lie to us?" Twilight questioned. "He helped us." "Only to help himself," Sora said. He didn't want to believe he was killed in that alternate timeline, denying the facts Xehanort gave the two of them involving him. He couldn't trust Xehanort, and yet this one had protected him and Twilight while they fled from Sombra. He shook his head, putting away any thoughts of doubting the Keyblade Master and forgetting what they had been through. They finally reached past Cloudsdale again, this time arriving earlier in time before Starlight had as they landed on the clouds. "Look, let's just focus on finding Starlight, knocking her unconscious, and getting back so we can throw her in a-" Sora and Twilight were suddenly shot with a beam of magic, encasing them in a giant block of crystal, slowly sinking as the weight pressed them through the cloud inch by inch. "Well, finding her would be easy," Starlight said, levitating herself over to them with a grin. "But stopping her is gonna be harder than you think." As she floated around them, Sora and Twilight could only look at her, confused as to how she knew they would come back earlier in time and how she got the jump on them. "Sorry to disappoint you two, but I created that spell to send myself back in time. So even when you cast it, I still get sent back here. It wasn't difficult to change Star Swirl's spell. He'd already done the hard part. "But figuring out I could use the map to go to any time and place AND pull you along with me?" Starlight laughed, mocking them as she then hovered above them. "I even impressed myself with that. I knew you would try to stop me. You two are so predictable. Why else would I leave the scroll behind? Touching it triggered the map to whisk you here and watch me erase the one thing that linked you with your friends!" The unicorn landed on the crystal, making them sink further as she leered at the frozen alicorn and pegasus. "My village was a sanctuary of equality, where nopony's cutie mark allowed them to feel superior! "It was a special place, and you and all your friends took it away!" As she yelled out her monologue to her foes, the crystal had sunk through most of the cloud, leaving the Keyblade wielders dangling underneath. Starlight rolled her eyes in annoyance when she realized, levitating herself around and back to the crystalized ponies. "Now it's my turn to take something special from you! Without the rainboom, you and your friends will NEVER form your special cutie mark bonds! Cutie marks for cutie marks! Sounds like a fair trade to me!" Starlight poked the crystal, nudging it enough for Sora and Twilight to fall in their frozen states. They both looked at each other as they fell, baffled at the unicorn's reasons for doing all this and already giving them nightmares for the next month. Twilight lit up her horn, summoning her Keyblade from outside as she is the only one able to move anything outside of their prison, quickly slicing the crystal apart and freeing them. "Cutie marks. Again with the cutie marks!" Sora exclaimed as the duo hovered. "She created THAT future for all of us all because of freaking cutie marks!? That's completely stupid!" "Sora, relax!" Twilight said, shaking the stallion's shoulders to get him to focus. It was ironic how she used to rely on him to calm her down when she's stressed, and now she's doing the same for him after living in the Sombra timeline. "I'm upset about this, too. But now we know why she's doing this." "Does she even realize how important you girls are to Equestria? How much that rainboom means to your home's safety?" Sora questioned. "Was she so secluded in her little town of equality to even hear the news about what's going on outside that crappy cult she created!? Eternal night, chaos on their doorstep, a changeling invasion, a power hungry centaur who could take their magic away with a single breath, or maybe even Heartless popping out of the shadows to steal their hearts! But nooooooo! The only thing that matters was us ruining her philosophy, which she was hypocritical about, and she only cares about stealing ponies' cutie marks and planting equal signs on their butts because she's insane!" Sora panted heavily after ending his tirade, trying to compose himself and not let his anger get the better of him again. "...You done?" Twilight asked, the stallion responding with a slight nod. "Ok. Now, instead of complaining about Starlight's reasons, let's try to stop her before she stops Rainbow Dash again." Sora and Twilight flew back up to the clouds that made up the Junior Speedsters Flight Camp to search for Starlight. "Now we can't ambush her with that spell," Sora grumbled. "She's just going to appear before us over and over again." "We just need to find Rainbow Dash and those bullies before she does," Twilight said. "Let's keep our eyes peeled for them." They were already too late as Starlight was with Hoops, Dumbbell, and Fluttershy, talking to them about something. "Too late. There she is!" Sora pointed out. Twilight gasped when she saw the unicorn talk to the three younger pegasi. They flew down toward them, hoping to stop whatever nonsense Starlight was telling them. "Just remember how you would feel if someone said those things to you," Starlight said to the two colts. "What's going on over here?" Sora asked, glaring at the mare trying to change the past. "Oh, I was just reminding these two colts how 'hurtful' teasing can be," she explained. "Well, cut it out!" the stallion exclaimed, his response confusing the younger ponies. Even Sora was confused as well, unsure if Starlight was using reverse psychology or actually being sincere, which was still going to throw the timeline out of whack no matter what it was. "I mean...you are?" "Of course!" Starlight said. "In a world where everypony is unique, some are bound to feel more special than others. But that isn't a license to be cruel, is it?" She smirked at Sora and Twilight, knowing they can't do anything to argue with the positive lesson on bullying Starlight was giving Hoops and Dumbbell. "Well...no...?" "Oh, isn't it a shame we don't live in a world where everypony is equal?" Starlight asked rhetorically, already irritating the two Keyblade wielders with her equality idealism she used. "No one would ever tease anyone there. Wouldn't that be nice?" The foals all agreed with a nod, already won over by Starlight's words. "No, it wouldn't!" Twilight quickly said, but yet again needing to correct herself as Starlight was tricking them positively, which wasn't supposed to happen for their present, and yet it's conflicting when their goal was to give positive reinforcement to the younger generation. "I-I mean, it'd be nice not to be teased, of course, but that's not the same thing!" Taking Starlight's word over the alicorn the two colts and filly didn't even notice and the pegasus with odd looking clothes, Hoops and Dumbbell turned to Fluttershy. "Come on, Fluttershy," Hoops said. "Maybe I can help you get through the course this time." "Well, I-I sure could use the practice," Fluttershy said nervously. "We'll start out with the first few obstacles and work our way up from there," Dumbbell added as the colts lead the young Element of Kindness over to the flying course. Starlight waved to the foals as they left while Sora and Twilight leered at the unicorn. "You only convinced them not to tease her to stop the rainboom. We know what you're doing." "What? That's so not true," Starlight said sarcastically. "I convinced them to not be bullies because everypony should be equal. Stopping the rainboom was just a bonus." "Liar," Sora grumbled. They soon heard Rainbow Dash zoom through the course behind them, practicing her flying while unaware that her best friend was being taught how to fly better by their bullies. Sora had an idea to make the sonic rainboom still happen, even if things were to change slightly without Fluttershy down on the ground meeting the animals. "You may have stopped the bullies, but that doesn't mean the rainboom hasn't been stopped yet!" Sora flapped away and chased down the filly as Twilight and Starlight watched. "Good luck with that," Starlight said. Sora caught up with the filly, flying backwards as he glided casually alongside Rainbow. "Hey there, squirt!" he greeted. "...Umm, hi?" Rainbow greeted back in confusion. "Say, is your name Rainbow Dash?" he asked with feigned curiosity, the filly nodding her head in response. "I heard you're the fastest filly in all of Cloudsdale." "Pth. Please! I'm even faster than that!" Rainbow gloated. "That's just what I like to hear! So, do you want to have a little race with me?" Sora asked. "But, that wouldn't be fair," Rainbow said. "You're a full-grown pony." "So? Doesn't mean you can't win." Sora draped a hoof around Rainbow's shoulders, dragging her over to a cloud for them to start their race, unaware of the nervous expression on her face. "And I won't go easy on you, either! Let's race from this cloud all the way down to about...a mile or two?" "Umm, actually, I just remembered I have somewhere to be!" Rainbow quickly said, slipping out of Sora's foreleg and flying far away from him. Growing desperate, Sora chased after her and easily caught up with her. "Ok, so maybe no race, but I need you to fly as fast as possible and create a sonic rainboom!" "What!? Are you crazy!?" the filly asked in shock. "I can't do that! Nopony can! It's just on old mare's tale!" "But it's not a myth!" Sora assured. "It's possible! And I've seen you do it! In the future!" He gave her a knowing grin, raising his brows up and down, only to creep Rainbow Dash out with the look he gave her. "Uhh, I need an adult!" "But I am an adult," Sora answered. Rainbow then zipped away, flying off to a counselor she could trust more than him as the stallion realized what he just said. "Ah! No! Not like that! I didn't mean to say that!" She was already long gone, Sora letting out a groan as he dragged his hoof down his face after smacking his forehead. "Why did I say that???" Twilight groaned as well, but Starlight was guffawing as she watched and heard everything, floating up to the frustrated pegasus to mock him. "Well, it looked like you couldn't make her do the impossible after all," Starlight said after her laughter subsided. "And congratulations. Your friend now sees you as a pedophile. Nice choice of words to say to a filly, Sora." Sora growled, turning his head to glare at the unicorn. He summoned his Keyblade and was about to attack Starlight, only for the portal to appear above them, sucking him in as he shouted expletives. Twilight got caught in the portal as well, only able to watch Starlight waving at them with a smug grin. After flailing through the timestream back into the present time, both ponies had another rough landing, only this time, Sora ended up slamming his back on the hard top of the Cutie Map while Twilight hit the slightly softer ground. The stallion groaned in pain, rubbing his sore back as he sat up. "...I can't believe I said that," he mumbled. Sora and Twilight got their bearings as they saw what became of their present time, thankfully no longer the dreadful apocalypse of Heartless ruled by Sombra. The map was now green as a deserted, mountainous region seemed to be the area that was invading the kingdom, the crystal table surrounded by a forest with thick vegetation. "I guess the future changed again...and not only was Starlight responsible, but so was I. Perfect." "At least there aren't any Heartless around, right?" Twilight asked. "No, but this overgrown forest is more like a jungle. Did the Everfree Forest invade the whole world?" Sora jumped down from the table, feeling his back crack from the harsh landing. While he and Twilight reformulated their plan in stopping Starlight Glimmer, both of them were unaware that they were being watched through the foliage. "So now what? We can't use that spell anymore, otherwise Starlight will come back as well." "I know...but, why didn't she seem as startled as we were when we were flung into the timeline of Sombra's reign?" Twilight questioned. "She should have been sent back to the present like us." "But she didn't. She doesn't even realize what she's doing." Sora looked down at the Cutie Map, thankfully not seeing any Heartless in the world. He did a double take as he noticed something odd in somewhere near their location: he saw the two lights that were him and Twilight close to the map, but there was another that seemed to be behind them. "...Twi, you get the feeling that you're being watched?" "No...Umm, are we in danger?" she asked. Sora didn't answer, slowly turning his head to look over his shoulder. He saw a small flash of light come from the bushes, where the third dot of light was located. He tried to turn and tell them to not attack, but he was too late as an ethereal clock appeared above him and Twilight. They both gasped, their attempt to flee from the Stop spell failing as it took affect, freezing them in place. The spy stepped out of the bushes, pink hooves walking cautiously over to the time stopped ponies. In a white aura hovering beside the unicorn spy was a Keyblade, resembling Kairi's, Destiny's Embrace, but the flowers as the teeth seemed to be slightly wilted, the paopu fruit hanging from the chain was slightly cracked, and the weapon itself had lost its bright colors. Underneath the camouflage mask that concealed her face and mane, aside from her blue eyes and eyelashes, the mare stared at Sora's frozen face. "...Not again..." She growled, now leering at him. Raising the Keyblade, she bashed the guard down hard against his head, leaving an impact hard enough to knock him unconscious when the spell ended. She then walked over to Twilight, doing the same to her. While she waited, she pulled out some rope, a magic inhibitor, and some cloth to bound her victims. "Three...two...one..." The spell wore off as her blows to the backs of their heads finally affected them, Sora and Twilight grunting in pain as they fell unconscious. The huntress used her magic on the rope, tying both their legs and wings together to keep them from escaping, placed the magic nullifying ring around Twilight's horn, and tied the cloths around their eyes to blindfold them. Once they were securely tied up with no chance of them escaping, she levitated both unconscious ponies and carried them back into the forest, ignoring the mysterious map that kept track of all three of their lights. Twilight groaned as she regained unconsciousness, but when she tried opening her eyes, all she could see was darkness. "Huh? What's going on?" She tried using her magic, only to strain in vain as it was being blocked by something. Her legs were tied together, rendering her immobile as she looked around in a panic. "Where am I? Somepony help me!" "Shut up," a mare said coldly, giving the alicorn a sharp kick in the side. Twilight gasped in pain, swiveling her ears as she grunted, hearing her kidnapper walk somewhere before returning back to her. She tried to ask who it was, only for the pony to stick something in her opened mouth and gagged her. "I'll deal with you next. I need to have a little chat with your 'friend' over there." Twilight could swear that feminine voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't put her hoof on it. She had no idea where Sora was, and with her body bound, magic blocked by a dampener, and now her mouth gagged, she couldn't escape by using her Keyblade. She hoped he would save her soon. They both needed to stop Starlight and correct what this changed present was at this moment, but with no idea where they were, they would have to find the map. The mare walked over to the other side of the hut she brought Sora and Twilight deep in the Everfree Forest, the only source of light the small fire in the center of the plain hut as it hid in the deeper foliage. She took off her mask, letting out her short red mane she kept short to avoid getting it tangled in the brush when she hid from her foes. She looked down at Sora, glowering at the pegasus in hatred. Using her magic, she lifted the stallion up until he was sitting, starting to wake up from the sudden movement. "Ugh...My head," he groaned. He tried to move his hoof to rub the bump on his noggin, only to feel it was tied up. "Oh, great. Can today get any worse?" "It's going to get even worse if you don't cooperate," the unicorn said. Sora's ears twitched at the familiar sounding voice, but it sounded so dark, as if any joy from the mare was nonexistent. "Who...Who's there?" "You know exactly who it is," she said coldly. "I bet your queen's given you a lot of intel about who I am." "Queen? What queen?" Sora asked, only to be slapped hard in the face. "Ow! Hey, I'm already having a bad enough day as it is! Let me go, or you're going to get it!" The mare grabbed Sora's hair, then slammed it hard against the wall of her hut, dazing the stallion while Twilight's ears flinched in her helpless state, crying out muffled pleas to stop. "Don't play games with me! I'm in no mood for any of your lies, so I suggest you tell me what she's planning right now! And drop your damn disguise!" "W-What disguise?" Sora questioned, having no clue what she was talking about. "I don't ever want to see any of you love-sucking cockroaches transformed like that after what that bitch did to me!" she exclaimed, slamming Sora's head back into the wall again. "Change back to the way you really are, changeling!" Ignoring the growing headache, Sora growled in annoyance. "I'm not a changeling! And where's Twilight!?" "Your little friend over there will be dealt with soon enough until you give me some straight answers!" Even though there were a lot of questions needing answers, Twilight was unable to ask any while Sora was just getting more frustrated to think clearly. "Fine, you wanna play rough, then let's play!" Despite the tight bondings, Sora grunted and pushed his forelegs and wings out hard, ripping through his bindings. The unicorn growled, unable to shoot a magic beam at him as he rolled away, then lunged into her and tackled her. Both ponies grunted as they wrestled across the ground, Sora thankful they weren't rolling around against much furniture as he still had the blindfold over his eyes. "You're not getting away from me, you parasite!" the mare yelled as she tried to choke Sora. He flipped her over, sending her crashing on her back and quickly pounced her. He heard something flash, a glowing white light shimmering through his shut eyes from the cloth around his face, quickly punching the mare's horn when he felt it upon wrestling her into submission. She yelped, dropping what sounded like a sword clattering to the ground, then quickly flipped her onto her belly, holding her legs down with his own and keeping her still. "Ok, let's see who the hell I'm dealing with," Sora said, finally taking off the blindfold with his wings so the mare beneath him wouldn't escape. Ignoring the hut he was in and Twilight curled in a corner bound and gagged, he looked down at the mare, the small lighting from the fire the two miraculously avoided rolling into and getting burnt showed him enough to get some details on her. Her fur was pink, and her hair was a dark red and short, looking almost similar to Kairi aside from how dirty and unkempt she was and lacking her clothing. Her constant squirming began distracting Sora as he looked down, catching a glimpse of her cutie marks on her flanks. Peeking his head around, his jaw dropped as he saw the mark was Destiny's Embrace in front of a pure white heart, the same cutie mark Kairi had. "...What the...?" "Yeah, go ahead and try it, buddy!" the mare said. "I'll turn your chitin hide into body armor if you even think about having your way with me!" Stunned silent, he looked over to where he heard her weapon clatter. It was Kairi's Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace, but it lacked any bright colors and looked worn down as if used over and over without ever being sharpened, cleaned, or polished. Keeping a firm grip on her hooves, he turned the unicorn over onto her back, pinning her down as he got a better look at her. Sora's pupils shrunk as he gasped in surprise, staring into the blue eye glaring at him. This mare who captured him and Twilight was actually Kairi, her face, forelegs, and chest covered in scars from previous fights she had been in. There was no joy in her eyes when she stared at him, no longing; only pain and unbridled fury. "...Kairi?" Sora uttered, Twilight's ears perking along with her head as she muffled out the unicorn's name in shock and confusion.