It had been actually enjoyable that we were actually eating together. It hadn't been since my niece was still around that I had eaten with this many people around… well ponies now. Enjoyable as it was our recollection of traveling through the Misty Woods for some reason brought up memories about the Everfree Forest. Their tales of how weather moved on its own was met with my own skepticism. It was pushed to the limit when I pointed out that this planet had no one managing the weather either and everypony started to hyperventilate due to that little reveal.
“Is it that weird?”
“Well yeah… I mean it's wild and out of control. How do you not freak out about that?” Fresh Coat furrowed her brow in confusion and some trepidation.
“It's not that big a deal though. That is nature. Survival of the fittest and the chance to adapt to things.”
“So you don't feel the need to watch the weather and make certain that you have things under control. That's like the number one thing we do on a natural cycle.” Spitfire explained as she looked at the clouds noticing they were moving on their own.
“I just don't get it. I've lived in places that had wild weather and I adapted to it entirely. It makes certain things more useful as you live through certain weather patterns. I've lived through a hurricane before.”
It was also really far away from me which I didn't say. We were going to places where weather was always going to be wild and at the mercy of the world. Control was the furthest thought from everyone else in all the worlds combined except for Equestria it seems.
“You've certainly lived a more chaotic life than us, haven't you Gray?” Octavia demurely chuckled but I could sense a little nervousness in her tone.
“I suppose. Technically still living chaotically out in the universe but it works out well enough I suppose.”
“With us.” Sunshower added.
“Yes with all of you that's for certain the best part of it all. Though we should get ready for the next section. Since we have the Gumon Seal we can enter the Forlorn Ruins. My only question is who is coming with me this time? Only three ponies left and this may not be as easy.”
“My turn!” Sunshower cried out hopping in place like a child who got her present early would.
“Right. We'll head out soon enough. Seems it will be dark soon.”
There was a collective set of nods as we all curled up nearby under the shade of the Spirit Tree hidden from anything that may try and attack us. It wasn't the most restful sleep but Ori made certain that we remained hidden from the threats of this world. At certain times the screeching of an owl could be heard in the background menacingly soaring around the world attempting to find us. She was still angry at us for both escaping her and dropping several large rocks on her head. Truly we have managed to slay the beast… only we didn't. Kuro was still a high level threat but luckily she didn't use the heartless.
At the first light from the Spirit Tree we awoke at the very least satisfied and rested. I didn't actually know how many hours we slept but it was probably enough. Everypony went back to the ship and used the small bathrooms we had on the ship in each other's rooms. We didn't have an abundance of water apparently on board but we made due cleaning up after everything we had each been through. As soon as Sunshower was done I put Fresh Coat in charge of the camp so that she could get some leadership training in. Octavia mutely nodded in agreement seeing as she was still half asleep at the moment.
We backtracked through the Valley of the Winds and headed south to the place where the Forlorn Ruins resided. It was a bit easier since the two of us could fly around the obstacles including the mass of heartless trying to find prey. Several thunder spells later and the assortment of powerwilds and bladewilds had been taken care of. The heartless were easy so long as you take them seriously.
That was the one of the reasons that heartless were overall successful. The appearance they take make them look like oversized toys or decorative items. The few truly vicious ones kept a ghastly appearance making certain to look as threatening as possible. They also had no soul to speak of which made me wonder if Fluttershy’s stare would work on them. It was a quiet thought but it was one I knew eventually would happen.
As time passes on Equestria heartless will try to enter and attack everyone living there. Eventually I would be found out by the princesses. I would need to settle it on my terms though. If they found out about me it would be a certainty that they would try to tack Twilight on this problem. There is no telling how she would react to traveling to other worlds. It was something I wanted to avoid. I really wanted want to avoid a lot of ponies at this point.
“Gray I think that's the path we want.” Sunshower pointed out to me a long path covered in ice and snow.
“So the Element of Winds is in the snowy region?”
“Not exactly. After Kuro destroyed the light of the tree the other three elements went wild and caused a large blizzard that froze over the ruins. This place was filled with Gumo’s race long ago. I don't know what happened to them after the snow got out of control.”
“Well… this will probably be unsettling then. Sunshower, prep yourself as best you can. I don't know what we're going to be seeing in here.”
“Oh dear… I'll try.” Sunshower hesitantly answered before putting on her serious face.
Ori jumped onto her back and patted her head. He was also just as worried seeing that something like death was something Sunshower had never dealt with consistently. We had but most were taken by the heartless and she knew about some people sometimes coming back to life due to heartless intervention at this point. I doubted that this would be the case when we entered the Ruins.
The snowy path was filled with new heartless that looked like ice cubes. Icy Cubes, if I remember right, were wandering along the paths while aerial knockers floated around. When they saw us in the air the aerial knockers decided to soar straight for us winding up for a haymaker.
We were too speedy for them though. Flying around I remembered how hard we trained both Spitfire and Sunshower for full three dimensional fighting due to their advantage of flight. If I could find Neverland I would try to get some pixie dust just so I could allow the others the chance for flight but for now that will have to be a dream.
On the left there were also some Shamans as well trying to coordinate the other heartless but the constant thunder spells knocked them off their game. In the end the heartless were very unorganized and were more stepping stones rather than obstacles since only the small heartless had appeared and their advantage in numbers just made area of effect spells more effective at defeating them all.
“I would have thought we would have had more trouble than this Gray…” Sunshower trailed off as the heartless finally dissipated leaving us a clear path forward.
“To be fair we had the advantage of flight and they were all mostly ground bound. Plus we are overwhelming them with a cacophony of spells. We are very well prepared basically but I don't want to chance it. The moment we entered the Ginso Tree we were being hunted by a much stronger heartless that took heavy advantage of the arena. This won't be a cakewalk unfortunately.”
“That's too bad. Cake is pretty delicious, ya know.” Sunshower smirked as she landed in front of the door to the Forlorn Ruins.
“Cake sounds good. We need to get some when we get back. Don't know why really, I just want some.”
My sweet tooth had been acting up for a while. My carnivorous instincts had as well and I really needed to think about fishing at the very least when I get back to Equestria.
‘What I wouldn't give to have bacon again… but I'm a pony now so that might just be weird to do. If I remember right, pigs are sapient in Equestria. I really do wonder how carnivores survive when everything seemed to be sapient to some degree.’ I imagined a scene of that magnitude and quickly shut it down. There were somethings that didn't need to be imagined.
“Woah… this place is all frozen over. What happened here?” Sunshower gasped as my thoughts had blinded me to what we were looking at.
Ori stepped forward holding the Gumon Seal up towards the door allowing the seal to enter the indentation in the wall. I merely stared at the door a little closer noticing that there were heavy scratch marks against it. They didn't look like talon marks though which meant that Kuro didn't play any part in it. I wondered if the heartless had tried to break in but failed. Sunshower peeked inside noticing that the entire Ruins were covered in a thick layer of frost.
“Let's head in then.”
Sunshower nodded summoning her keyblade and readying herself for combat. The moment we stepped inside… nothing happened. I had to look around hoping that Gumo’s people were not heartless. I was certainly right that they had not become heartless. Covering the entire ground floor were several frozen bodies all similar to Gumo. Sunshower gasped at the sight backing up from it while Ori bowed his head in sadness.
“I see. The Gumon were builders, using their innovative ideas to create better dwellings for themselves. When Kuro destroyed the light the Element of Winds grew out of control releasing a frigid wind over their home. Look there!”
Off on one of the raised platforms was an orb of light being held in place by some unknown means. As we got closer Sein started to examine it closer. Luckily, the heartless hadn't tried to attack any of us yet. I was glad for the distraction from the fact that the ruins had become an impromptu burial mound.
“The Gumon were truly one of the most gifted within Nibel. They had managed to close brain some of the light into this giving them a source to draw power from. Ori we may need this orb to get to the Element of Winds. Grab it.”
Ori walked over to the Light Vessel which created a spherical shield around him and covered the two of us as well. I was thoroughly confused on the purpose of the shield but it seemed to be important.
“The Gumon were builders and created their machinery to use the light as a power source. Unfortunately that left their home covered in heat sources comparable to the fires of Mount Horu. It seems the light can stop them from burning us.”
“What exactly were the Gumon building that needed something like this?” Sunshower flew up a bit poking the vessel tenderly with a single hoof.
“A home, I think. You would need a lot of resources to make somewhere like this into a home you could be proud of. But because the light was destroyed everything went out of control allowing nature to take back its harsh role.”
Sunshower pursed her lips scrunching her muzzle in thought. I noticed that she wasn't looking down at me while she talked. I was pretty sure it was because of the copious amount of bodies that seemed huddled together. It was unsettling as the bodies of parents were holding their children as if to insure they would be fine. Any eyes I saw were glazed over and frozen solid in an unending stare. I shook my head and got my thoughts out of it. There was a moment I thought I saw my niece amongst the bodies forever caught in that unending stare directed straight at me.
‘Just a hallucination. That's all. All in your mind Gray.’ I shoved the thoughts to the back of my mind. Right at this moment they would be a burden.
Ori began lugging the orb with him unable to use his jumping prowess to speed through the area. Strangely as soon as we reached one of the corners we noticed that they were rounded making the separation of floor to wall seamless. They were also radiating heat as well but it seemed unable to melt the surrounding ice. Ori tentatively placed a step on the rounded edge while carrying the orb. To his and our surprise he started to walk along the wall.
“Guess it does more that create a bubble of light.”
“So… do you think he's going to get disoriented?” Sunshower asked showcasing the worry on her face.
“Probably. Let's keep to the air and keep any heartless that show up off his back.”
“Roger Nebby.” Sunshower smirked.
I grunted at my nickname but let it go with a sigh. If that's what they wanted to call me. The two of us remained flapping next to each other why we watched Ori make progress over the dozen of spatial puzzles that seemed to make up the layout of the ruins. There were several major moving parts that seemed to do nothing but go back and forth and all of them were superheated and glowing red. Ori was moving on the heated platforms without worry using the orb of light he had.
“Seems like we got something easy to do huh?” Sunshower grunted in defeat.
“I wouldn't think that way just yet. Times like this means that we're in for a rough time later.”
Sunshower digested that information keeping her eyes peeled for any changes that could happen around them. Ori, then jumped off a platform and began falling for another platform. I had to physically restrain her from zooming after him. When he landed without incident Sunshower couldn't believe it, at first. It took me the better part of our trip watching Ori fearlessly fall from those heights until she got the bigger picture together.
“He's really good a landing.” Sunshower bristled slightly realizing that even her landings were never that smooth.
“He is a spirit. While he has a physical form he is made of light. Personally at this point I think he was a leaf since he floats around so easily.”
“So everything can be a spirit then?” Sunshower looked at the rocks and snow scrutinizing them closely as if she could see the spirits.
“That's hard to answer. I would think yes since Ori has jumped on and off my back so many times already that I can just tell he physically exists at this point, but that's just me ya know. I can't speak for everyone.”
“Naturally.” Sunshower rolled her eyes at my attempts to act funny.
“That bad, huh? Need to work on my material is going on the mental checklist.”
“C’mon Gray. Let's keep taking care of the heartless. I'm sure Ori is sick and tired of watching us talk.” Sunshower chuckle only to stop when Ori seemed disappointed that we stopped our playful banter. “Ori keep moving!”
Ori looked to be laughing before he continued on his way carrying the light vessel. Sunshower muttered some obscenities I couldn't hear while pouring like a child. Her entire face was red in embarrassment and I could do nothing but laugh because of it dragging her in for a tight hug before we continued on.
The path we took actually snaked around since there were obstructions that kept us from getting further. It got to the point where we were lucky to have aerial knockers to fight. Icy Cubes were stuck to the ground floor and the constant barrage of fire spells made it easier to deal with them all at once. Ori shot off his spirit flame whenever he had the chance but carrying the orb had diminished his impressive acrobatic fighting style. This continued on and on for what felt like days when I was certain it had barely been two hours when we finally met back up with the path we came from and the new direction to go.
With our flying prowess nothing could fight us on even footing. We had finally made it to one of the largest rooms in this place when the orb flew off towards another door embedding itself in it. We finally made it to our desired destination.
“Finally…”
I paused looking around since the first sanctuary had a large spider heartless acting as its guardians. There wasn't going to be any difference here I was certain of it.
As soon as we flew in the large area and Ori jumped to my back a large invisible shield appeared blocking off all our escape routes. I was certain I released a groan of exasperation since it meant there was a boss battle now.
“Gray, something's flying in.” Sunshower focused off on one of the darker clouds.
Focusing my eyes on it I noticed a large figure flying through the cloud absorbing lightning into its body. Those glowing yellow eyes were the sure sign of a heartless. Strangely it looked like the wyvern heartless that appeared in Hollow Bastion back in the first game. Instead of the red skin it usually had it had entirely mulberry color scales while the emblem was still on its chest the same vibrant red it always was. It was also almost as large as the storm rider that attacked Ponyville.
“Sunshower I think you'll need your armor now.”
“Yeah I kind of figured. Is this like the thing you fought back in at Ponyville?” Sunshower summoned her armor surprising Ori who poked at the armor.
“Close enough.”
The giant wyvern like heartless slammed into the area below where I assumed the Element of Winds was located. It didn't have any arms though the wings had small digits at the center or each wing. As it did I immediately flew straight at it but instead of the tomahawk coming to my hoof it was instead a very large blue shield which actually came in handy as it stopped a swing by its tail forcing me back into the rock walls.
Sunshower and Ori began peppering it with fire spells which actually didn't do anything. It took flight firing off several tornadoes over the area kicking up the debris and rocks littering the area. I pulled myself out of the rock wall thankful for the armor and shield as I flew straight for the heartless.
With a quick flick of my hoof the shield grew sharp serrated ice shards across its face and I charged directly into the heartless’ face. It thrashed around unable to claw at its face due to the lack of claws on their arms. That caused the tornadoes to curve wildly allowing Sunshower and Ori to get away. Flying straight up they came above the wyvern heartless before it could notice them.
I switched over to the scythe using it to hook one of the wings and forcing it to crash on the craggy rocks below forcing it to shove the ice shards still stuck in its face deeper. Sunshower allowed Ori to jump off her back and watched as he dove from that height stomping on the back of its head. The sudden impact forced several stalagmites to explode into dust. I flew over the body and grabbed Ori before anything else happened rejoining Sunshower a comfortable distance away.
The wyvern styled heartless thrashed back up breaking more of the environment and ruining its body more. Several holes appeared in its wings from all the shrapnel that came from the attack. I kept the shield arm out in front of me as the air grew colder than it should be as several blocks of ice appeared around us and shot out at the heartless smacking through its wings once again. They cracked at strange angles leaving the heartless grounded as I switched to my keyblade and charged in. Ori remained on Sunshower’s back as the keyblade smacked the heartless down.
A quick switch to the tomahawk and an upward swing caused the heartless to fly up towards Sunshower who slammed her keyblade down smashing the heartless back on the ground. A barrage of spirit flames from Ori finally did the trick as dark mist wafted off the heartless as a large crystal heart icon flew off into the distance. The heartless slowly faded from sight leaving the three of us alone in a ruined section of the cavern.
“That was crazy!” Sunshower cried out unsummoning the armor and gripping onto my armor staring me in the eye.
“Yeah… that was actually pretty intense there. I'm surprised that there was a heartless like that in here.”
I was breathing a bit heavy behind the helmet of the armor. Even with the strength boosting of the tomahawk weapon I still felt a small strain whenever I had to smash large heartless away. Shaking away the strain we all decided it was time to wake up the Element of Winds already.
“Ooh I see it Gray. Look! Look!” Sunshower pointed at the large glowing sphere pulsing right above us in another antechamber.
“Let's get Ori in position then. Something big will probably happen if we activate it.”
Sunshower nodded and raced to position with Ori while I leisurely flapped up. If the Elements of Water created a flood then the Element of Winds was going to create a maelstrom most likely. I needed to be ready in case the Winds were too strong.
Ori got in position pulsing his internal light with the element’s core until they were in sync with each other. A large explosion of force brought the core to life forcing both of us to ground while Ori stood tall and proud at his accomplishment. Before he could bask in the splendor of his work the wind started picking up.
At first is was barely a breeze but that breeze soon fell into a gust. Then the gust became a squall and started lifting Ori up while Sunshower clung to me.
“You ok!?”
“No! The winds here are too powerful! I'd lose all my feathers if I opened my wings here!” Sunshower screamed over the roaring wind blowing through the ruins.
“Hold on then! I think mine can handle it.”
They couldn't, at least, not right away. I had to put my armor back on just to have the weight needed to remain sturdy enough against the winds as they reached tempest threat level. Sunshower remained glued to my back while Ori used the feather and caught the updrafts leading us out of the ruins. The fact that the sudden change in wind had also caused several boulders to get dislodged which were falling on us wasn't even that much of an obstacle at this point. A quick slash of the keyblade decimated the obstacles away leaving us smooth sailing beyond the tomb.
Kuro's Nest
As we reached the top of the shaft we were rising through a large rock formation fell behind us blocking off our entrance into the ruins. The place we entered looked like a burrow or nest of some sort where eggshells only remained.
Sunshower’s gasp alerted me to something else that was in this nest. Along the edges were the dessicated burnt bodies of tiny owlets resting eternally on the soft grassy mounds. Further ahead was a lone egg seemingly untouched by time or flame.
“I was afraid of this. I now understand why Kuro is so angry. This is our fault.”
“What do you mean Sein? Did you kill these children? Innocents that didn't deserve this!?” Sunshower glared at Sein with an intensity that I had only seen in newly crowned mothers.
“When Ori, child of the Spirit Tree, went missing the light weeped for many days pushing its light out into the world. For many days the light searched for Ori until it was forced to push harder than it ever had before. Unfortunately the owls of this world are creatures of darkness. The light couldn't be controlled be in its haste… we killed many creatures of darkness that we coexisted with.”
Sunshower held a hoof to her mouth as tears streamed down her muzzle. I merely sighed and turned away from the corpses that were left. I was tired. Tired of seeing corpses caused by good intentions. This was that straw that broke the perceptions of how the light was only good. Sunshower wept into my shoulder, silently sobbing about how wrong this all was. I couldn't understand her through all the blubbering and my own unyielding rage at the powerlessness I felt.
The powerlessness I felt from being unable to assure Sunshower that this was all a mistake which were some of the only words I could understand through her sobs. Ori held a claw to his chest as his other found the egg. It took a few seconds before he seemed to bound around in joy.
“What's up Ori?”
He jumped around pointing at the egg before pointing at his chest. Sunshower managed to calm her tears enough to look at Ori and realize what he was trying to say.
“It's still alive!” Sunshower gasped in jubilation that not all was lost.
Her celebration was cut short as a sudden quake went off behind us. A cold sweat dripping down my neck and the others had frozen in their spot. I slowly turned my head to the burning eyes of Kuro wrathfully glaring down at us. I took a few steps forward and Kuro took one.
“To the cliff…”
I couldn't take Kuro head on. In this nest it was suicidal since the egg was on our side. Kuro was smarter than she looked taking extreme care just to watch for sudden movements. The egg was more valuable than our death at the very least.
Sunshower made it first with Ori hopping on her back. I was stuck staring down Kuro while I took my steps back and as far away from the egg as possible. That left me at an impasse. I was within reach of the egg and Kuro's clicking beak told me that she was ready to strike the moment I moved even slightly. I did have stop spells but those had horrible hit rates against bosses and Kuro definitely counted as one.
I summoned my shield keeping it in the hoof furthest from the egg. Kuro was ready to strike the moment it appeared until I took another step back. That brought me a confused glare from her.
“Gray…” Sunshower called out scared of the situation we were in.
“Go down now.”
“But…” Sunshower tried to argue.
“Go. Down. Now.”
Sunshower grimaced at my tone. There were moments that I had to pull on my master credentials. She reluctantly floated down from the opening through the cloud barrier leaving me alone with Kuro. We were locked in the world’s tensest staring match. The only problem was that if I lost… I die.
I shoved my wings back allowing the momentum to pull me away from the egg as Kuro struck out with her beak smashing against my shield and sending me falling below the cloud layer. In her rage, Kuro placed the egg in a warmer part of the nest before diving out of the nest chasing after us.
I hit a pile of snow that seemed to be made out of nowhere and pulled myself out finding Sunshower and Ori standing nearby. I was relieved to find them safe though the same couldn't be said about my shield weapon. It was pierced and nearly torn in two. Mentally, I noticed that I needed to wait a short while until the shield regenerated its form back to normal. I was lucky it could handle such a strong hit otherwise I would have died.
We didn't celebrate for long as Kuro soared straight down landing with a tremor hitting the land forcing the three of us to take cover behind some rocks. We were stuck literally between a rock and a hard place.
“What should we do?” Sunshower hissed out as Kuro kept quiet vigil over the area.
“We can't out race her that's for certain… Ori do you see any place that was covered in shadows. I think we could use those places to hide at the very least.”
Ori nodded and began peering around looking across the near frozen lake and the fallen trees. He quickly pointed across forcing us to make up our mind at this point. We would have to make a break for it.
“I'll distract Kuro while you two make it behind cover then I'll join you?”
“Well you are the only one here who's taken several beatings from Kuro and survived. At this point I've realized that you are the only one durable to handle it.” Sunshower groaned realizing she was giving me permission to put myself in danger. Ori merely gave me a thumbs up and got ready to run.
I hopped onto the rock drawing Kuro's attention and watched as she rose high into the air above the cloud cover. At that moment Sunshower and Ori rushed off over the ice bridge towards the ruins of an old tree.
Kuro's talons came close to my face as I slammed the tomahawk up against her dive. The stone cracked and crumbled from the impact forcing me to rush off from my position. Kuro reluctantly returned to her perch as I made it back to the old tree.
“Sunshower how do I look?”
“Gray, you look like somepony took a cloud through a mud puddle.”
Ori got on my back brushing off several stone fragments and a few deposits of snow that had gotten stuck to me. My forearms actually were sore from blocking the attack… something I was not mentioning. Kuro hit harder than a truck and I barely could stand against it.
“I don't know if you should take another hit Gray.” Sunshower stated, her worry palpable as she kept her hoof on my side.
“We can't outrun her. Seriously. She's been faster and stronger than me. Ever time we've clashed I've been pushed back but in return I pushed her back. If I let up she'll rip us to shreds in her blinded rage which is probably worse because we intruded on her nest.”
“Is this the life of a keyblade wielder?” Sunshower gasped as she peered out of cover where Kuro's baleful glare examined the area.
“Unfortunately this is. At least for the life of a wielder who decides to do something for the betterment of other worlds.”
Sunshower pondered my words turning back to a personable silence. While she was ruminating I had to form a plan with Ori… which provided scintillating conversation topics. Most of them were pantomimed as Ori pointed out several safe spots.
Rushing ahead he managed to outjuke Kuro's sight getting to a small copse in the rock wall. Taking advantage, several heartless appeared forcing us to fire off several spells. Ori caught one of them using one of his abilities to knock it into a broken log revealing more cover for us to get to.
The heartless started to swarm allowing bladewilds and bouncywilds to take potshots at us until Kuro dove in tearing them to ribbons before returning to her perching spot. While surprising I knew why Kuro had done that. The egg was her number one priority and the heartless were just as much of a threat to her as we were.
While she was distracted Sunshower and I moved from spot to spot until only a short run was left between us and safety. Ori joined us shortly after looking exhausted from battling the remnants of the heartless that Kuro didn't kill outright. I placed him on Sunshower's back allowing him some rest as I pulled out the shield once more finally restored to its pristine state.
“One more push and we'll be free. Ready?”
Both Sunshower and Ori nodded as I rushed out with the shield ready. Kuro took the bait rising up and diving down into me forcing me down into the wood barely holding back the talons as The others got into the tunnels. Kuro noticed though while she was distracted I used the tomahawk to smack Kuro away managing to rush into the tunnel. Kuro recovered quickly enough trying to crush us as the tunnel collapsed behind me blocking us off from the Forlorn Ruins and Kuro's assault.
I laid on the ground breathing heavily as Sunshower and Ori took the time to lay beside me. I sighed as they rested nearly on top of me.
“Gray… this was crazy.” Sunshower sighed as she rested on my side while Ori curled under my neck.
“I know.”
“Should we get a vacation for this?” Sunshower looked me in the eye as I carefully maneuvered my neck so I could actually see her.
“When we finish up here, yeah. Let's get back to the others then. I'm certain you want to tell them what we found out about Kuro.”
Sunshower resolutely agreed getting Ori on my back as we flew back through the Valley of Winds back to the Spirit Tree to rejoin everypony.