I woke up a while later to a very distressed looking Redheart and Sunshower looking over me. My puncture wounds seemed to have been fully regrown in the intervening time. A cure spell was no substitution for actual rest though it was the best alternative for healing.
“Gray? Can you hear me?” Redheart whispered into my ear causing me to crane around my neck just to look at her.
“Yeah… how long was I out for?”
“Two hours. What happened to you? Before the cure spell could take effect I noticed several puncture wounds on your side. Did something show up in Manehattan?” Redheart immediately grabbed my chin forcing me to look her in the eyes.
“Heartless invaded the city… kinda. They found one of the keyholes and were trying to get to the heart. Would have meant the end of Equestria but it was locked by yours truly.”
“They got in? I thought the barrier thingie was keeping them out!?” Sunshower interjected and tumbled into my bed which apparently I was laying in. When they brought me here was beyond me.
“Remember that even in a world covered in light there is still darkness within. Basically the heartless can still grow if there is enough darkness to breed within. Let's be honest… from what I've seen in Manehattan, the city is full of more ruthless ponies.”
“Well… you're not wrong about it. Still for them to actually hurt you? The heartless so far haven't been able to do much to you in the first place. What was it?” Sunshower pondered the state of affairs at the moment.
“Remember how we talked with Yen Sid about how there are different kinds of heartless?”
“You mean the Purebloods and the Emblems right?” Sunshower lifted her head off the bed to look at me.
“Yeah. The Emblem heartless are those that managed to capture a heart which increased their personal power to fit in with whatever world they are on. The Pureblood are made entirely out of darkness and are the more vicious of the two. There are three heartless I really don't want to face alone unless absolutely necessary. The first two are similar enough that you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.”
“Ooh story time~” Sunshower curled up in my blanket with a pillow underneath her. Redheart, after sighing from the sight, reluctantly joined Sunshower. I had to roll my eyes and chuckle at the sight. They were treating it like a sleepover.
“The first is the Demon Tower. The extensive collection of multiple shadow heartless joined together by a large pulsating core. When sufficiently angered it starts flying around becoming the Demon Tide. Same thing only it flies and warps reality to a certain degree.”
“Scary~ what happened next?” Sunshower chimed in completely engrossed by the atmosphere. Redheart wasn't as amused though chuckled despite herself.
“When Nightmare Moon came I had to fight them in succession. They are very difficult opponents usually remaining on the move and out of range of most spells. They almost killed me as well.”
Sunshower remained silent making a little ‘oh’ face as well. Redheart cringed at the thought that I almost died before we met. I remembered having to stumble out of that place covered in blood and nearly catatonic from shock.
“Anyways I survived that encounter by the skin of my teeth. As for this heartless… well the Dark Hide is known as one of the most dangerous of its kind within the Realm of Darkness. I didn't even think that they could spawn here because of how much energy they needed.”
“Gray, honey, we love you but please stop getting distracted.” Redheart cut me off before I could ramble on.
“Right, yes, sorry. Anyways it attacked after I sealed the keyhole and nearly got out into the city. The only reason that it didn't was because the Royal Guard was there on the scene. They kept the heartless within their shield spells but if I wasn't there… well Manehattan might not have been around anymore.”
“I knew one of us should have gone with you.” Redheart grumbled as she rubbed the spot between her eyes. I still didn't know how ponies did that when they didn't have fingers.
“Hindsight… so there's more news…”
“Gray…” Redheart tensed up clearly not knowing where this was going.
“So while there I met a princess, Mi Amore Cadenza. Saved her life and before I could escape the paparazzi took my picture. I think they also got one of me slicing the Dark Hide’s head off.”
Redheart quickly rested her head against my chest and slowly and methodically hit her head against my chest. Sunshower seemed to be tossing ideas if the movement of her eyes was any indication.
“So… what happens now?” Redheart grumbled as she grinder her head against my chest.
“Nothing. I was in my armor and nopony saw what I really look like. Though there might be stories written about a strange knight fighting monsters in Manehattan. I'm sure it won't be a big deal… probably?”
“Well… at least you didn't use any names. Let's just table it for now. I was lucky that I got home when I did.” Sunshower admitted finally understanding the weight of Redheart's worries.
“What did they call you?” Redheart brought up.
“I have no clue… so how was your night? You two seem closer.”
“We just had makeovers… nothing too big.” Redheart blushed as she rubbed a small part of her mane.
“No wonder you two were all dolled up… honestly if I hadn't been injured I would have assumed other things at this moment. And probably taken advantage of it with gusto.”
Both mares blushed and intently brushed their hooves against me as if hitting me to stop. My side was still sore from the claw wounds but if they asked I wouldn't deny to doing anything else.
“You get better first mister flirt.” Sunshower chided me. “Besides I have work in the morning and so does Redheart.”
“Tch… stupid responsibilities.” Redheart growled out under her breath.
While I couldn't do much… my wings were still very flexible.
By morning both Sunshower and Redheart were sleeping soundly with peaceful smiles plastered on their faces. My wings needed to be washed off before I could rest.
“Really need to invest in wing cleaner or something. Probably would make clean ups easier or something like that.”
At this point I was mumbling to myself. A habit I built up from times being alone. One that kept me in a constant thinking state. I was actually worried about the paper coming out. Personally I was hoping that it would remain a local story in Manehattan but at this point I felt as though I was already in debt to fate.
All I could do was wait.
Twilight Sparkle was a very tired mare. After the whole debacle with the Cutecenera that was thrown she wanted nothing more to do than relax for the day reading her newest book.
“Hey Twi! Something weird is going on.” Spike called out only to see Twilight smack her head against her book groaning in frustration.
“It can't be that weird Spike. We always get the newspaper at this time.” Twilight grumbled looking at the rolled of paper.
“No that's not the problem. This is a copy from Manehattan. Apparently teams of pegasi accompanied by certain Wonderbolt members were called in to spread this news around. At least that's what Parcel Post said when he delivered this.” Spike quickly explained.
“That's weird… why would they be sending news from there here…? Let me see that Spike.” Twilight furrowed her brow and picked the paper out of his claw opening it to the front page.
Calamity in Manehattan! A Dark Knight Appears!
Earlier this evening, one building known as Hotel Troubadour, was attacked by strange creatures resembling dark bipedal creatures. Due to visiting royalty the Royal Guard was on hoof keeping the beasts at bay. From rumors floating around that the dignitary was almost killed by these creatures had it not been for the heroics of one pony, one pony who stood alone amongst the monster, whom has been dubbed The Shadow Knight.
Said pony brought Princess Mi Amore Cadenza out of the building safe and unharmed. Though moments later ordered the entirety of the Royal Guard to vacated the plaza outside moments later. Despite insistence of the Captain of the Guard to remain he did as the stranger asked.
From the newly minted wreckage of the hotel came a truly frightening beast as shown in the picture above. With its glowing yellow eyes and monstrous appearance one would be remiss to run away screaming. This pony didn't.
With their own monstrous strength and strange magic that seemed to summon weapons in a cloud of light he bested the beast decapitating it even as the beast’s claws sunk deeper into said pony’s body as seen in the picture below of that moment.
After suffering such a wound one would assume that said pony would need to be taken to a hospital but the a raise of their might keyblade (name pending) they cast a spell that healed their wound almost instantaneously. From this magical prowess one would be remiss that said pony was an alicorn.
Not much is know about the pony in the suit of armor. Many are speculating that they were a pegasus but the instances of magic pull towards unicorns. The physical strength feats of knocking said monster almost forty hooves into the air also make a case for an Earth Pony.. Even then, the wings were part of the armor and no sign of a horn could be seen. Due to the use of magic nopony could tell what kind of pony they were. Not even Princess Mi Amore Cadenza could comment on the status of this pony.
This pony however knows a hero when this pony sees one. Those of Manehattan will be looking forward to more appearances of the mysterious shadow knight and his mysterious keyblade.
Written by Ink Quill
Twilight read through the story once… then twice… then one more time to make certain she hadn’t mistaken what she had read. The monster was horrifying and the fact that it had attacked her brother as well made things a little worse. She didn’t know who this Cadenza pony was but it must have been a big deal at this point.
“Woah… so cool.” Spike muttered as he looked through the story. “This pony blows Rainbow Dash out of the sky with how cool they are.
“I’m sure this is just a sensationalist story Spike. Look let’s send a letter to Princess Celestia about this to get them to stop printing a story like this to get more readers.” Twilight groused clearly unamused by this little prank.
A quick letter to Princess Celestia and Twilight awaited the quick resolution that would come when she put her hoof down. Spike quickly burped up the response and handed it to her.
“Now let’s see what Princess Celestia has to say about this.” Twilight smiled as she read the letter. She reread the letter. Then she did so once more.
Dear Twilight,
This is no mere story. After a thorough investigation and numerous eye witnesses including from Captain Shining Armor it is true that there were monster attacks in Manehattan. Luckily, there were no casualties due in no small part to the rapid response of the guard. It was fortunate, in fact, that this pony appeared out of nowhere, as it were.
After even more thorough investigation we still know almost nothing about either the monsters that attacked, the weapon used to fight them, or the stallion that wielded it. The more dangerous part was that the stallion knew all about the monsters that attacked. For now this matter will be headed by Princess Luna so do not worry about it my faithful student. These matters will be taken care of once we found the stallion in question.
Celestia.
Twilight dropped the letter completely shocked by the news… the news that it was all real. For a moment she completely lost herself to a panic attack since her brother had in fact been in such danger that not even she knew about. Her breathing went shallow and Spike was constantly trying to get her to calm down, even placing a paper bag in front of her muzzle so she could breath into it.
Rainbow Dash was helping Applejack with some minor weather things that morning. Let no one say that she didn’t take her promises seriously. As they settled down for some apple juice the paper was delivered by Parcel Post.
“Where’s Ditzy?” Dash rasped out looking at the stallion.
“Day off I think. Spending it with a friend she wanted to hang out with. Too bad. The story coming in is pretty amazing.” Parcel answered and with a small nod flew off to deliver more of them.
Dash quirked her eyebrow in confusion before taking the paper. She didn’t care about the news except for when the Wonderbolts were mentioned but if it was so awesome that they were delivering it from Manehattan even in Ponyville then it had to be important. She looked through the story… and her scowl intensified when she realized what she was seeing. It was the same knight that had come through for Ponyville… only now in Manehattan, appearing much cooler than anything she could ever be.
“Whatcha got right there, Dash?” Applejack finally got her attention as she took the paper from her distracted hooves.
“Nothing important.” Dash growled out not looking in her direction.
“Woo doggie… that there’s a dangerous lookin critter. And they’re sayin that this knight feller managed to beat it on their own.” Applejack tipped her head back and forth as if in thought. “Reckon this here’s the same feller that saved Ponyville?”
“Probably…” Dash grumbled out.
“What’s got that bee in your bonnet?” Applejack groaned out.
“Look how awesome this pony looks. How am I supposed to compete with that!?” Dash cried out completely lost in her own delusions of awesomeness.
“Dash, it ain’t about looking cool. This here pony did this to protect ponies not to look cool.” Applejack honestly stated.
“I guess… still. What if the Wonderbolts find him? Then my chances of being a Wonderbolt goes down. They did this without even breaking a sweat and appearing badflank as possible. How do I top that?” Dash groaned out as she laid atop the wagon full of apples.
Applejack just rolled her eyes and continued working applebucking for the market that day.
Octavia, Vinyl and Fresh Coat had met up that morning thanks to a quick message through their telepathic network that Gray placed on all of them. Sitting around a small breakfast table in the corner of the restaurant allowed them to speak about whatever they wanted without worrying about being heard. Then the newspapers were stocked and the whole restaurant was full of chatter. Canterlot was all a titter.
“Have you heard about that Shadow Knight?” One pony called out.
“Yeah I heard he’s more than eight hooves tall and so muscular that he could break solid steel.” A mare dreamily sighed.
“I heard he wields several weapons including one that looks like a giant key.” A stallion in another part of the restaurant breathed out almost as if in disbelief.
That got Octavia’s attention which brought Vinyl and Fresh up to speed. Surprised but calm, they gathered one copy of the paper in question… and read.
“What the buck…?” Vinyl’s eyes nearly bugged out of her shades.
“Woah… is this a good thing?” Fresh hissed out already feeling exposed.
“Look… it’s fine. Just stay calm and let’s finish our work before we head home and find out what happened… okay.” Octavia warned as she quietly took a sip of her tea portraying the very picture of elegance.
Vinyl looked under the table noticing that her back hooves were shaking furiously as if she wanted to run off and find out what happened. All of them felt extremely restless when they read the story. The continuing rumors made it worse. Differing stories and opinions clouded their perceptions. All three wanted their day to end already so they could go home.
Spitfire quickly stored away her paperwork as she got ready for a few more routines for the week. It had taken some work but she had finally decided to schedule a day off for herself every week at the very least. The Manager had been very accommodating about the schedule change though she didn’t exactly tell him the reason why. When Soarin had come up… the look on her face made the manager immediately shut his mouth.
The paper soon came in and Fleetfoot handed it to her. When Spitfire read the title… her attention immediately focused on the story and pictures on the page.
“Yeah… that was my reaction. Hope its a stallion. Someone cool like that. Gotta be a catch, am I right?” Fleetfoot giggled.
“Yeah. Quite a catch.” Spitfire rolled her eyes though her back right hoof was shaking slightly and her left wing was twitching. She wasn’t annoyed but maybe a bit territorial about things.
“Still pissed about Soarin…?” Fleetfoot carefully stepped around that issue.
“Huh? No I’m fine. Nothing like that. Just itching to get back into the fray. So beside this, what brings you to my office?” Spitfire quickly changed the subject.
“Oh… uh… just checking on you is all.” Fleetfoot turned her face hoping that her eyes couldn’t be seen.
“The manager put you up to this… didn’t he?” Spitfire growled out.
“Yeah… he was worried you’d put him in traction again.” Fleetfoot admitted wrapping once of her hooves around her shoulder.
Spitfire groaned into her hooves and rolled her eyes when her head finally got back up. “I’m not going to put him in a body cast… again. Look, I found somepony new and I’m gonna stick with him. Besides… he has more staying power so far.”
“Aren’t you in a herd?” Fleetfoot questioned.
“He has a lot of staying power. End of discussion now let’s get out there and run some drills.” Spitfire cut the conversation off right then and there since she was tired of tip hoofing around these sensitive issues. It happened and that was that. There was no need to dig up ancient history.
The two teammates finally got on the field and began practicing Maneuver 24B. Triple helix formation with criss crossing pattern followed by a lightning cloud dismount. In the thick of training Spitfire felt some of the normality returning to her life.
For the life of her… she only felt bored of the situation. There was no challenge and she moved a bit too fast for her team at this point. She needed to find somepony to keep up… keep the team strong.
Celestia sat on her favorite cushion in her private room as she looked over the reports from Manehattan. There were no casualties… but property damage had been extensive. It was the least of her worries though.
Things could be replaced… ponies not so much. Celestia was more worried about the rumors of the Shadow Knight, as her darling niece was quick to call him. Now the story had spread across all of Equestria and she had no idea what the truth of the matter was.
Heartless. The word that Cadence had used to call the monsters that had attacked the hotel. The collective term for the race that had attacked her ponies.
Keyblade. A term Cadence used to describe the weapon that the stallion had used. They had managed to keep gender out of the paper before it was printed.
These two terms seemed to coincide with one another. Luna had poured over the archives and found no mention of either term in any of the books within their extensive libraries. Luckily, there was a spell for that.
Celestia had checked through the forbidden section and all of Star Swirl’s secret sections. She found absolutely nothing. The sheer depth of how much she didn't know was staggering. Pride for knowing as much of Equestria as possible, as much as was reasonably possible, drifted from her mind as she realized that there was nothing about these weapons or monsters.
“Sister! Have you found anything?” Luna called out as she finished another stack of scrolls.
“Luna… there's nothing about this. We have virtually no clue about the threat these monsters pose and we don't know where the one who fought them went.” Celestia grumbled as she laid her head on the table. As much as the cake in front of her tantalized her senses she couldn't enjoy it.
“Then we find this stallion and make him talk.” Luna resolutely stated firmly stamping her hoof down.
“Where?” Celestia instantly shot back.
“Uh… I am unsure. But we shall not do nothing!” Luna exclaimed as she began grasping at straws with ideas. Celestia was certain that Luna mentioning a royal title would draw out the pony of the hour or so she heard amongst the multiple ideas she held.
“I'm certain none of those would work sister. This pony is more mysterious. Even Cadence only was able to glean small tidbits about said pony. The wings appeared to be made of metal and there was no horn adornment on the armor but that doesn't mean that they don't exist especially with the magic we know. Too many uncertainties and so little explanations made it a moot point on what kind of pony they are.” Celestia pointed out quickly bringing up a scroll with everything Cadence had managed to find out.
“Even those are suspect sister. What if they lied about things?” Luna brought up clearly pouring over the list intensely, even if there were only four items on the list.
“While possible… I doubt that to be the case. Something tells me that these items are true. They are indeed a stallion; keyblades are something that exists; heartless are a collective term for the monsters that attacked and there is something called the Heart of the World. That last part has me worried that we know next to nothing about our world. And to top it off some pony who is barely a child when compared to us knows more than the entire collective of our own knowledge on the matter. It's stressful enough keeping the nobles pacified and now there are monsters to deal with as well. We don't even know how they got here!” Celestia glowered as she stamped her hooves against the table. It was reinforced to handle even her tantrums though, so it survived the incident and lived another day.
“Worry not sister. We shall find out more about it eventually.” Luna chimed in giving her sister a small smile.
“Of course. To change the subject… have you found the Badland Thestrals yet?” Celestia quietly asked.
“No. No sightings at all. Though I have found a strong example of one living in Ponyville. They have remained a quiet being out of other pony’s sight for the time being. I am… disturbed by the lack of sightings of any other thestral from the Badlands. It is as if somepony erased them all from existence.” Luna growled out scraping at the marble with her hooves digging out a small furrow.
“Calm yourself sister. We shall find them.” Celestia quickly unfolded her wing drawing Luna in for a hug.
Cadence sipped some tea and quietly concentrated on her thoughts.
‘Knight? Are you there?’ Cadence quietly hummed out in her mind.
There was no answer.
‘That would have been too easy I suppose. I kept my part of our bargain… but I don't know if I should have waited till the Gala to do something about this. Already the ponies are panicking… and clinging to a new hero. So few are actually around nowadays.’ Cadence placed her tea down looking over a few brushes she in front of her.
As she got ready for the day her thoughts kept cycling through the entire incident over and over. She couldn't figure out what the motive for helping others was. She was happy it was given but with all the secrets and information blockage there had to be more to it.
The brush swept through her mane as quickly as possible styling it up to her desires. As she looked in the mirror she remembered the light deep within the darkness. It shined brighter than even Celestia’s sun. It was beautiful.
Slowly lowering her brush she kept looking into her eyes trying to see something that she couldn't place her hoof on. Her eyes seemed locked on a conviction she couldn't figure out. All she knew was that it would come to pass no matter what.
The interview for the paper made certain that everypony knew what was going on. It wasn't the best method but it was the most viable at the moment. A choice she would have to live with.
Dr. Stable clutches at her head constantly as he tried to figure out why they were coming so frequently. He had just received the special report from one of the Manehattan branches. Now his head was on fire. Something was building up under the hood so to speak.
‘Kill him…’A voice whispered into his head.
“What!? Who's there!?” Stable cried out into his bedroom. There was nopony there.
‘Kill! Him!’The voice loudly proclaimed bursting into his brain setting it on fire. The prickling in his mind caused him to writhe on the ground in sheer agony.
“Stop it! Stop it!” Stable screamed at nopony in particular.
“Hey! Stable! Are you good!?” Berry Punch called from next door.
Quickly wiping his face off before he looked out the window he noticed his neighbor looking concerned. He needed a cover story quick.
“Yeah. Sorry about that. I was psyching myself out. Needed to get all the negativity out of me.” Stable chuckled awkwardly.
“Right then… try not to psych yourself out through a wall.” Berry chided before closing her window and returning to her business.
Stable rushed back into his bedroom and buried his head into his pillow. The voice had returned.
‘Kill! Nebula! Gray!’ The voice shouted almost ad nauseum delving deeper into his mind. He couldn't suppress it anymore as he screamed into his pillow.
The voice wouldn't stop.
I had spent most of my day alone since Redheart and Sunshower had very long shifts this particular day. My venture into keeping this herd happy while appreciated also made them work harder to get ready.
So there I was… at home listening to more stories from the little crystal iPod that Merlin gave me a while back. Honestly these moments were very peaceful and appreciated.
I looked back on everything I have done so far. Even the bucket list I had was going pretty well. I had hit an evil alicorn upside her face and lived to tell the tale. That was a mark for the ages.
The trip to Atlantis had been a harrowing adventure that had almost ended them before they had made it through to the city proper. The Leviathan especially made it difficult. The fight against Roarke had proven just how dangerous being a keyblade wielder could actually be.
The Forest of Nibel was an experience that showcased the light in the wrong. The anger of a mother who lost her children and the consequences for favoring one over the other. Kuro had been pacified at the very least and not lost to eternity.
“What was that!?”
My senses were assaulted to something dangerous. I could smell the darkness growing… somewhere in Ponyville… then it disappeared. My plans to remain home were quickly left forfeit because of the unlucky break. I summoned my armor and immediately jumped into a shadow.
Pinkie slammed open the front door of Gray’s home with several ponies ready to party… only for nopony to be there. She quickly zoomed around the house ignoring the basement because it wasn’t Nightmare Night and nopony in their right mind would be down there this time of day.
“Uh… Pinkie? I’m all for a party but… I don’t think they’re home.” Flitter muttered as the other ponies she brought stood outside not wanting to break and enter a building without their inhabitant within.
“But he was here! My Pinkie sense couldn’t have been wrong… though I also felt some pinchy knees so that might have thrown off my timing…” Pinkie fumed as her mane started to straighten slightly from the bad luck.
“Just try again later? He’ll probably be home before you know it.” Flitter suggested which got Pinkie to sigh and nod in agreement.
Reluctantly the pink party pony pronked off for the next birthday bash she was throwing that day. Flitter being the kind mare she was closed the door and led the other ponies away from the house. They didn’t need to be accused of breaking and entering as well.
Pinkie kept a brave face but the constant lack of not throwing the newest guest of Ponyville was throwing her off her game. She had already made a mistake of making chocolate cupcakes when strawberry cupcakes were what the party needed. Nopony noticed… but Pinkie did. She noticed it that very moment they exited the oven but it was too late.
It felt like some force outside her control was making this a running gag and screwing with her just because they knew how she would act… but that was silly. She knew there wasn’t some omniscient force writing all her actions and dialogue down.
“Now that would be silly.” Pinkie giggled to herself… before stopping and staring around just in case.
I felt some weird disturbance in the Everfree. After the problem with the Dark Hide I was hoping I wouldn’t get dragged into something stupid. It felt like this was going to be a predicament I never expected.
‘Why does it feel like I should focus on the triangle button…?’ My thoughts raced as it appeared in my mind’s eye.
With a quick spin I dodged a sharpened tree branch… which pierced two tree trunks before finally coming to a stop. I turned to look at my attacker… only to see a regular unicorn stallion with a brown coat and blonde mane.
“Dr. Stable? Why do you… oh…”
His eyes were reptilian with a green tint… just like the Nightmare Creature. Joy… I get to fight a possessed pony. He remained upright though several sharpened branches were held up in his magic and I summoned the shield. I really wished I had the chakrams… but at the same time using them to fight in a forest would have been suicide.
I charged forward using the reaction command to dodge his extremely precise blows. Though it would take several commands just to get in position to destroy one of the sticks. I didn’t want to set the forest on fire and inevitably drag in more ponies to see me. It would be hard enough to deal with being seen within the boundaries of Ponyville… especially since that would be confirmation that I was in Ponyville most likely.
With a few quick dodges I managed to get within striking range switching over to Nightmare Cascade, my keyblade, and striking down the possessed one. Regardless if the Nightmare was possessing him, his body was that of a scholar. He had no combat training at all even if he had fine tuned magical control.
A quick smack from the keyblade sent him to sleep… which seemed to be the power that this keyblade had behind it. Stable convulsed a few times before a large dark cloud with two serpent like eyes glared at me.
“Spark!”
A cloud of light shot from my keyblade tearing through the cloud. It slowly dissipated leaving behind the now unconscious Dr. Stable on the ground… and a pulsating dark orb floating above him.
Slowly I lifted my hoof towards the orb and it shot into my armor. For a few seconds I felt my entire body tingle from the sensations.
Drive Form Attained. Spirit of Envy Mode Available.
“What…?”
Nightmare felt the part of it it scraped together to try and kill Gray falter and be erased. It stung to the point it was forced to cling to the remnants of its imprisonment jewel just to retain cohesion. Those weeks of waiting undone within moments and its puppet falling from its strings.
Still… it was good to see what was happening out in the world… even if it lost more of itself. Information was key and eventually a better plan would present itself. All it needed was patience otherwise all was lost.
It decided now was the time to remain dormant… at least until it had more strength behind it. There would be time to destroy that pesky keyblade wielder someday. It just would require a stronger body… and far more magic.
The plan to possess an Element of Harmony was almost a no go at this point. All of them were too well adjusted at the moment except for the dressmaker. It was viable… but it would take some time until she could break the boon that possessing one of the elements was capable of bestowing on its user. Also wasting it on an envious stallion who wanted the heart of another was a mistake.
With a quick glint out of the gem the nightmare returned to dormancy as Rarity checked over her gem stash. She quietly placed the peculiar gem in a safe spot where she wouldn’t use it on a dress she was making. For what reason she couldn’t fathom… but it felt right.