Christmas was right around the corner, and everyone was excited for the 25th to arrive, mostly the foals as they couldn't wait to get more presents from Santa Claus. Sora was just as giddy, although not as annoyingly excited as he normally was with Kaito around. During the time his mother stayed for the holidays, like he intended before his immature tantrum and almost killing his father's Nobody, he tried to get along with Kaito as best as he could. At least they were friends, but it was always awkward being around him when it's like he's talking to his father while reminding himself that it wasn't him...at least not yet if something bad were to happen to the Nobody. Sora wasn't that desperate to bring his father back, no matter how much he wished it for himself and Manami, and if the real Kaito were to return, where would he end up if he did? Out in the middle of the ocean where his boat sank? At the port? He didn't want to risk having his father really drown this time if the former was the result.
During his stay, Kaito explored a bit more of the town without getting attacked by his true self's son. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle offer to give him a tour, Manami joining them as well. While walking around the snow-covered streets, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon peeked around the corner of a building, giggling to themselves with a snowball in their hooves.
"Hey, Crusaders! Catch!" Diamond Tiara warned, both former bullies throwing their snowballs at the group, hitting Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in the back of the head.
"Ahh! Ambush!" Sweetie Belle shrieked. "Take cover!"
The Crusaders quickly fled to cover behind an empty cart, then retaliated as the snowball fight kicked off, both sides laughing playfully. "What is going on?" Kaito asked, only to splutter when he was caught in the crossfire, both sides smacking him in the face with the pat down balls of snow.
"Haven't ya ever heard of a snowball fight!?" Apple Bloom called out. "Now duck your head! Ah'm aimin' to knock Diamond Tiara's tiara off her head!"
"Not after I hit you hard enough to untie that bow from your hair!" Diamond taunted, tossing another snowball at her opponents.
Kaito ducked this time, getting out of the line of fire. He still got hit by a snowball, and the culprit was Manami, the mare whistling nonchalantly and looking away while hiding a snowball behind her.
"Oh, you did not just throw a snowball at me," Kaito growled playfully.
"Did I?" Manami asked innocently. "Did it look like...this?"
She threw the snowball she kept "hidden", smacking Kaito in the face. "...Maybe," he said, staring blankly with his face covered in powdered white mush. "You're going to get it, you know."
"Bring it, big boy!" Manami challenged, quickly flying over to cover, the few days of practice paying off as she managed to handle staying a few feet off the ground, albeit a bit shakily. "Girls, focus all fire on the stallion! Bury him in snow!"
"OK!" the fillies exclaimed, the Crusaders and ex-bullies forming a truce as the girls all began throwing snowballs at Kaito.
"Ah! Hey! That's not fair!" Kaito complained, dodging snowballs, completely outnumbered by five fillies and one mare. He was eventually covered under a pile of snow, his eyes poking out from the pile of frozen white powder, blinking a few times as he watched the girls cheer in victory. "Alright. If you want a snowball fight, then let's turn it into a war."
Using his power, Kaito manipulated the water in the snow, levitating several roofs covered in snow from the buildings and slowly hovered it over his "foes". When they noticed a shadow hovering over them, the fillies and mare looked up, then gasped when they saw a giant cloud of snow above them.
"Uh oh," they said simultaneously, followed by shrieking as the cloud rained snowballs down on them.
"How is he doing that!?" Silver Spoon asked as she and Diamond Tiara fled under an awning for protection from the aerial assault.
"He's got super cool magic over water!" Scootaloo said before grunting repeatedly, her body completely covered in snow and turning her into a snow pony. "Even though...he's a pegasus..."
"He's like Sora?" Diamond asked curiously.
"Kinda, sorta," Apple Bloom said, fleeing into a barrel while carefully poking her head up from the lid. "Mr. Kaito's a Nobody, but he's Sora's pa's Nobody."
"'Nobody'???" Diamond and Silver asked.
"Ya remember those gray monsters that attacked the Crystal Empire durin' the Equestria Games?" Apple Bloom reminded them, only to yelp as she was hit by a snowball and ducked back inside her barrel. "He's actually a stronger version of them that look like who they were before losin' their heart."
"...Uhh, I'm already lost," Silver uttered.
The last of the avalanche of snowballs finally ceased when Sweetie Belle and Manami couldn't escape, covered under pony-sized mounds of snow. Kaito wore a smug grin as he casually walked over to the mare's snowy "grave", wiping away some snow and freed her head. She gave him a leer, finding it unfair with the Nobody's abilities with water more than him being outnumbered.
"So, who was going to bury whom in snow?" he asked.
"You're a cheater," Manami growled.
"Says the woman who had a group of fillies help her gang up on me," Kaito reasoned. "I have faced Heartless in droves. On a daily basis. You need to do far more than that to catch me off guard." The mare hummed in agreement, a smirk growing on her face as she lunged her hooves out at Kaito, wrapping them around his neck, then dragged him into the snow, proving him wrong as he didn't expect that. They both popped their heads out, Manami smiling while sticking her tongue out at him. "...Ok, that works, too."
"One thing you always need to know about me as my husband's Nobody," Manami cautioned, leaning forward and swiftly giving his muzzle a light peck. "I always win. No matter what it's about."
"...Even a fight to the death?" Kaito asked, his cutlass appearing in a swirl of water in his hoof. Manami nodded her head, making the Nobody slump his shoulders while giving her a quizzical stare. "Seriously!? You don't even know how to use a weapon!"
"I have my ways," she vaguely stated.
Kaito gave up with a disgruntled sigh, helping the mare and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle out of the snow he buried them under. After they were freed, they made their way to Sugarcube Corner, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon joining them as they got themselves some hot cocoa to warm up from the snowball war the girls managed to survive. While waiting for their warm beverages, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon got a better understanding to what the Nobodies were and how they were created.
"Ok, I think we get it now," Diamond Tiara said. "Nobodies are created when someone turns into a Heartless. And if their heart is strong enough, it can either turn them into one of those gray monsters or look like the pony they were when a Heartless kills them...But, they aren't who they once were and are their own pony?"
"Confusing, yes, but that's the gist of it," Kaito answered.
"So...that means...Sora's dad is..." Silver paused, she and Diamond looking at each other with concern when they realized what Kaito was. "...Oh..."
"We know. It's a little depressing," Manami said. "But I don't mind it. And Sora's...slowly warming up to him."
"It drops when he sees us doing something that makes him cringe; hugging, messing around, kissing, usual couple stuff." Manami giggled and nuzzled Kaito. "But, when he's not within seeing or hearing distance, we can freely enjoy ourselves."
"Sounds like you two are a better couple than my own parents," Diamond sadly said. "I used to pick on the Crusaders a lot because my mom wanted me to look down on anypony who wasn't in the same social standing as I was...My family wouldn't have gotten where we are today if it weren't for Granny Smith making a deal with my great grandfather, Stinkin' Rich, to help sell her Zap Apple jam and get a share of the profits. I acted so horribly toward them and even Sora because of my mom, and I thought I lost Silver Spoon as my best friend when I acted the same way to her. Sora forgave me when he saw me getting scolded, and he helped me even though I was rude to him, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo."
"That's my son; always forgiving if he understands why they did terrible things," Manami said. "Your mother, on the other hand, I've got a few choice words to give for turning her child into a bully because of her wealth over everyone else's."
Their cocoa soon arrived, delivered by Pinkie Pie, who made sure to give the fillies extra marshmallows. After finishing their drinks, they continued the tour and the important locations in Ponyville.
Outside of the Castle of Friendship, a flash of light from a teleportation spell lit up the front entrance. Yen Sid and Lea stood at the steps, the latter yelping and falling over from the swift transformation from human to pony.
"Hey, a little suggestion?" Lea said, standing back up and wiping off the snow after his faceplant. "How about you transport us a few feet in the air so I can land properly? I'm not making it a habit to eat the earth every time we come here."
"Ok. For you, I'll make sure you enter from several stories in the air. Does that sound better?" Yen Sid smirked at the annoyed glare from the red stallion, taking that as a yes.
"You really didn't want me to have a Keyblade at all, did you?" Lea questioned.
"At this point, we could use new recruits, but we can't risk that with Xehanort still on the prowl," Yen Sid said.
The two unicorns entered the castle, making their way to the throne room where they expected Aqua to show up in. As they predicted, the mare was busy studying the map while using her magic to try to add some enchantments to locating other foes besides the Heartless throughout the worlds.
"Merry Christmas, Ice Queen!" Lea called out, startling the mare as she looked up from her work.
"Yen Sid, Lea, what brings you here?" Aqua asked before leering at Lea. "And don't call me 'Ice Queen', you red-headed miscreant."
"Ouch, my poor heart," Lea said, feigning a hurt expression as he held a hoof over his chest. "See how you feel when we give everyone else but you presents this year."
"We came by to enjoy the holidays," Yen Sid said. "Where are the others?"
Aqua waved her hoof, skimming through the worlds as she showed the unicorn stallions where they were. "They're out taking care of some Heartless in some of the critical worlds that need help." The first world she stopped at showed one light dot eliminating several black ones in a geological map of Neverland. "Terra's taking care of the outbreak in Neverland. Hopefully the Lost Boys don't get in over their head with the Heartless." The next couple worlds showed the layouts of Radiant Garden and The Land of Dragons, two white dots in both worlds taking out Heartless as Aqua scrolled through them. "Sora and Kairi are in Radiant Garden, and Ven and Riku seem to be finishing up the Heartless invasion in The Land of Dragons. They should be back soon."
"Twilight's not with them?" Yen Sid asked curiously.
"She's not feeling well," Spike said as he walked in the room, carrying a tray of sandwiches and a pot of tea. "Winter is not a fun season when you get sick. She might be bedridden for Christmas tomorrow."
"Once she's back on her hooves, she'll get back into fighting shape," Aqua said. She took a teacup from the tray and poured herself some tea, her eyes glued back to the two maps as she continued her research. "She's been testing her fighting prowess as a human with her transformation spell, and the enchantment on her traveling clothes worked as she becomes a human. Better than accidentally turning into a buck-naked human if she teams up with one of the boys."
"It's weird how she does have clothes when we travel through the mirror, but not in other worlds," Spike noted, munching on one of the sandwiches he made. "Maybe it's because of the magic in our world?"
"It could be," Aqua pondered. "...Although, considering she's a Keyblade wielder now, her magic should have helped her change to fit in with other worlds in this universe. But, for some odd reason, it's not..."
Aqua silently sipped her tea, curiosity nagging at her mind over this strange predicament. Her thoughts were cut off when they heard the Crusaders, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon barge into the throne room, along with Kaito and Manami. Aqua quickly dismissed the Galactic Map before Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon saw the other worlds she was showing to Lea and Yen Sid.
"Hey, we're back!" Kaito called out. "Kinda got into some mischief with these-" The Nobody paused when he noticed Lea, recognizing the coat and spiked hair on the red unicorn. Lea grimaced, surprised when he looked at Kaito and baffled after Axel hadn't seen this Nobody since his escape from Organization XIII. Kaito approached Lea, raising a brow curiously. "...Axel? Is that you?"
"Heheh...Again with that," Lea uttered. "Uhh, yes and no?"
"Lea, do you know him?" Yen Sid asked.
"Well...Axel knows him, but it's been so long since the Organization gathered the last few members it needed." Lea rubbed the back of his neck, both out of nervousness and bewilderment. "I...didn't think you'd still be around since you fled."
Kaito squinted his eyes, getting closer as he continued invading Lea's personal space. He recognized the coat the red-haired assassin wore, but as he grabbed his face with his hooves and examined every inch of the stallion's face, he didn't see those teardrop marks under his eyes that Axel had. Lea looked anywhere but the Nobody, his ears twitching down in embarrassment as he heard Aqua and Manami giggling at the unfortunate situation he was in, thankful to have red fur covering the blush on his face.
"...You're not Axel," Kaito finally said, a little disappointed as he found Axel to be the only decently nice Nobody from the Organization to meet again. "...I guess you must be...his original?"
"Y-Yeah," Lea muttered, clearing his throat as he ignored the mares' tormenting laughter. "Name's Lea. Nice seeing you again...Uhh, whatever your name was going to be if you did join."
"I go by Kaito," the Nobody said, holding out his hoof to shake Lea's, who accepted it. "I was named only recently by Manami, after Sora's father."
"Oh, really? Sora's...father...?" Lea's grip on Kaito's hoof was lost when he got a better look at the Nobody. He never put any thought into it back then, but now it seemed like there was some similarities between him and Sora: his face, his eyes, the similar stance both Kaito and Sora took with their weapons. "...Oh my god...There's no way...You're...Sora's father's Nobody???"
"Hard to believe, but yeah," Kaito said.
Lea and Yen Sid were shocked at this revelation, the former having pieced together Sora and Kaito's similar skills and behavior while the latter never knew about another Nobody that defected before being enlisted by the Organization. "We were just as surprised when he told us his story a couple weeks ago," Aqua said, snapping the bewildered stallions out of their stupor. "In fact, I had no idea he was in the Realm of Darkness when he was 'born'. We could have crossed paths, but after fighting for my life in there, I didn't expect anyone else to be there."
"Speaking of expecting, where's Sora?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Off to another world stopping Heartless," Spike said. "Shouldn't be too long before they all come back soon."
"Maybe this time we'll spend a decent holiday this month where no one tries to kill each other," Manami said, hoping the same thing two weeks ago doesn't happen again. Coughing echoed out in the halls, everyone looking out at the opened doorway to see Twilight weakly wandering about. "Twilight! You should be in bed resting."
"I'm fine," Twilight assured, her voice nasally with her stuffed nose. "A little cold's...not going to put me down."
The alicorn's face scrunched up, breathing in rapidly as she was about to sneeze. Yen Sid quickly cast a barrier around everyone in the room in time as Twilight sneezed, keeping everyone else from catching her cold. Her motherly instincts kicking in, Manami gently pushed Twilight out of the room and guided her back to her bedroom.
"You can barely stand and you're going to get everyone else sick if you're not careful," she chided. "Let's get you back into bed, and I'm going to make you some nice, hot soup and some refreshing juice. You need a lot of fluids and rest if you want to get better sooner."
"Ugh...Why can't Cure heal illnesses?" Twilight grumbled, letting out another string of coughs and a sniffle, groaning in agony from her stuffed nose, sore throat, and weak limbs.
"Guess Riku's going to be disappointed not being able to spend a nice Christmas Eve with Twilight," Lea commented. "Oh well. We'll both have ourselves some eggnog and party until Santa shows up."
"I wish we could party all night," Scootaloo grumbled. "But I want presents, so I have to go to bed early..."
"Have you been behaving this year?" Aqua questioned.
"Yes!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "...Maybe...? Good enough to maybe get one thing at least?"
The adults laughed at Scootaloo second-guessing herself, at least being a little bit honest. It was obvious she would get presents, along with the other foals in town since Sora plans out "Santa's" route and gifts for each colt and filly.
Later that evening, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Terra, and Ventus returned after saving the worlds in need of help. Pinkie had already set up the Christmas party as the other girls joined in, wishing Twilight a full recovery as she was unfortunately left out due to her cold. Before Sora partied, he donned his Santa suit and went out to deliver presents to everypony, snatching the sweets the foals left behind to bring to the others as extra snacks the mares brought over for the party. Sora thought there might be a time were he won't be able to this again if something comes up, or even Ventus if he can't fill in either, so he made a mental note to visit Santa in Christmas Town and ask if he would like to add another world to his list of ever-growing naughty and nice children.
Despite having two parties in a row weeks ago, it was never a dull moment when Pinkie throws a party for any occasion. Music played in the background while they danced to the holiday songs or sang along, drank a variety of beverages from soft drinks to eggnog, and munched on some homemade sweets brought in by the others or the leftover cookies Sora brought from the houses he visited. Manami and Riku left occasionally to check on Twilight and make sure she was resting comfortably.
Taking a breather from the party, Lea sat on the roof of the castle with a mug of eggnog. He wasn't going to try Equestria's version of Sea-Salt ice cream again with how salty they make them. He didn't know why equines or any hooved creatures loved salty things, but as long as he had something that didn't turn his tongue into gravel and dehydrate him worse than his own fire abilities, he was fine not knowing right now.
"I didn't think you were one to walk out on a party," Kaito said, finding the red-haired Keyblade wielder and joined him.
"I'm not a party animal like Pinkie Pie is, and I doubt she can party all her life without some limits," Lea said.
"Yeah, she's a strange case. Especially when it came to that Pinkie Promise thing I made to Sora..." Kaito looked back at the stairway, half expecting Pinkie to be standing there leering at him, but thankfully, she wasn't there. "I can't even drop any subtle hints about what I'm supposed to keep secret."
"I heard about that," Lea uttered. "You poke yourself in the eye doing that promise?"
"...Yes," Kaito grumbled, rubbing his eye that suffered the incident while the other stallion laughed at his misfortune. "Hey, the ponies here have big eyes. I'm amazed harsh winds haven't managed to blind them with how huge they are."
Lea calmed down after he poking fun at Kaito, part of him from Axel's side missing the conversations he had with the Nobody. The two sat in silence, watching the town in all its snow-covered beauty as the gentle snowfall left more on the ground for foals to play around in tomorrow.
"...So, what happened after you ran?" Lea asked curiously. "Where'd you and your Nobody army hide out in?"
"I went through many different worlds, trying to find out where my memories came from and steer clear of you guys if you tried to hunt me down," Kaito said. "And I call those Nobodies Swashbucklers, my own personal 'army' I didn't know came to my rescue."
"At least they look a lot better than my Assassins," Lea muttered. "Unfortunately, none of the Nobodies are under my control now that I'm me again. They gave up on me when I tried to help Sora as Axel, and they got my Nobody killed."
"Thank you! Someone complimented my Swashbucklers on something!" Kaito exclaimed. "Sora said it was a dumb name for them...Then again, he was still pretty miffed at my existence. He's come around, though, unless I'm anywhere near his mother, then his overprotective side comes out."
"You're seriously dating his mom?" Lea asked curiously. "Aren't you supposed to be her husband's Nobody? Is that...cheating in some way?"
"I have no idea, but I can say this; love is...an incredible experience," Kaito said. "And I know not to push Manami's buttons. Memories of those moments are definitely fresh in my mind, along with first meeting her when she threatened to kick me where it was not going to feel pleasant."
"Yikes. I'd call that domestic violence, not love," Lea commented.
"The real Kaito was crazy about her," the Nobody reasoned. "And memories of his or not, so am I."
"Whatever floats your boat, I guess." Lea sipped on his eggnog, letting out a sigh in content. "I think I prefer going solo. I tried my chances with Aqua when we first met her, but I guess she gets irritated by my personality. But, she's got Terra: someone who she's great friends with, worried to death about since things went south several years ago with them and Xehanort. They're a perfect pair."
"You might get lucky," Kaito said. "I know I was since I was born..." Looking back on his life, Kaito had no idea just how lucky he was to escape death in many ways: the Heartless in the Realm of Darkness before discovering his ability to wield a sword, being recruited into Organization XIII and risk being killed by the members that were there or even against Sora when he confronted them, and even just recently avoided getting his life taken by an enraged, distraught Sora after trying to get over losing his father. Kaito sighed, wondering when that luck is bound to run out. "Luck can only get someone so far before it finally runs out..."
Late in the evening, mere hours before the sun was scheduled to rise, everything was peaceful as everyone slept soundly in their homes. Sadly, that peace didn't last long when the Apple family was getting ready to wake up and start their day, always routine to get up at the crack of dawn even during the winter season. Applejack was the first to rise, leaving her room with a yawn and a messy untied mane. Despite partying as hard as she allowed, nothing could stop her from working just as hard. She approached Apple Bloom's bedroom door and knocked to wake her sister up.
"Up an' at 'em, sugarcube," she said. Hearing no response or even a slight bit of stirring, Applejack let out an irritated groan and pounded the door. "Apple Bloom, ya ain't skimpin' out on your chores today, winter vacation or not!" Again, no answer. Sighing, Applejack opened her sister's door to wake her up by force, but to her surprise, there was no sign of the filly in bed. The sheets were slightly messy, which meant she had been sleeping, but she seemed to have been up and out earlier than Applejack, which was odd. "Apple Bloom? Where in tarnation is she?"
Worried about her sister's well-being, Applejack quickly tied up her mane and tail, grabbed her father's stetson, and made her way downstairs. She expected Apple Bloom was already up opening her presents "Santa" got her, but when she arrived in the living room, the presents Sora had laid out last night were unopened. None of them were even wrinkled or re-wrapped with more tape keeping the wrapping paper together to make it look like it was never opened. She knew Apple Bloom was a present addict when it came to getting gifts on the holidays, and whether or not the rest of the family was up, she would be up first and run straight for them to see what she got.
Applejack walked outside, the sun barely peeking over the horizon as she began to panic. She knew Apple Bloom wouldn't go anywhere without telling her, even if she was able to prove she could take care of herself when she thought she was able to watch the farm by herself while the rest of the Apples, including Sora, delivered pies to different parts of the kingdom. She was lucky Sora had helped her fend off that chimera that almost got Apple Bloom, even with all the tools she needed to fight it off while it thrived in the Flame Geyser Swamp, a dangerous environment like the Everfree Forest, only with hot swamp water that was close to being lava with small pools that can shoot geysers out at any time. Speaking of Sora, she saw him walking up the road to help with their chores.
"Hey, A.J.," Sora greeted. "Ready to shovel some snow?"
"Not now," she said. "Have ya seen Apple Bloom?"
"No. I thought she was still sleeping," Sora said. "Why?"
"She wasn't in her room, she didn't even touch the presents ya left last night, and she didn't even leave a note tellin' me where she went," she said, starting to panic. "Where in the hay can that silly filly have gone?"
"Maybe she had a sleepover planned with the girls," Sora assured.
"Without lettin' me know where she's sleepin' over at?" Applejack questioned skeptically.
"Well, those fillies are getting older, so they're going to get into some mischief." The mare raised a brow, growling irritably at Sora with a dirty look. "...Ok, more mischief than usual. Let's check in on Rarity. They'll probably have a better sleepover in an insulated house than their clubhouse with how freezing it is out here."
"Ah sure hope she's there..." Sora and Applejack soon made their way through town and arrived at Rarity's home/workplace. Applejack knocked on the door, dreading to wake the fashionista from her beauty sleep, but her sister missing was more important than her fashion-savvy friend's eight hours of sleep. "Rarity!? Rarity!!!"
"Ooooh. Who in Equestria is knocking on my door at this hour?" Rarity said as the mare opened up her bedroom window upstairs. When she poked her head out, Sora and Applejack yelped when they saw the dried mud mask the unicorn wore, glaring down at her unwanted guests before her gaze softened when she saw who it was. "Oh. Sora. Applejack. What is it?" Rarity let out a yawn, rubbing her eyes while being careful not to remove her mud mask. "It's not even sunrise."
"Is Apple Bloom having a sleepover with the other Crusaders at your place?" Sora asked. "Applejack's turning into a worrywart again since there's no sign of her. Not even her gifts were opened yet."
"Sleepover?" Rarity asked. "No, I wasn't aware of anything...Although, Sweetie Belle has a habit of holding things off at the last minute. Story of my life."
"Ya mean she ain't here either???" Applejack asked, starting to panic, but Sora gently placed his hooves on her shoulders to keep her calm.
"Let me check her room. I'd be surprised if they actually had a quiet sleepover for Christmas." Rarity ducked her head back into her room, closing her window to keep the cold out. After a few minutes of waiting, Rarity unlocked her door to let them in, though she was just as confused as they were. "Well, Sweetie's sheets are a tad messy, but she wasn't in bed. Nor were there any sleeping bags."
"Did they sleep over somewhere else?" Sora asked.
"I didn't get any notes from her about a sleepover," Rarity said. Sora noticed the presents for Sweetie Belle were unopened, just like with Apple Bloom's from what Applejack told him. "I know they couldn't have possibly gotten up so early. Especially on a break from school."
"Can Ah start bein' a worrywart now, Sora?" Applejack asked, biting her hoof nervously while unable to bear the thought of what had happened to her sister, or even Sweetie Belle.
"Applejack, calm down," Sora reassured. "I'm sure this can't be a coincidence. Maybe they're at Scootaloo's. Or maybe Diamond Tiara's now that they're friends."
"After what her mother, Spoiled Rich, said to our sisters during that student pony election and before they discovered their true talents?" Rarity questioned. "I wouldn't agree to have her chaperone Sweetie Belle after acting like such an outright snob."
"And the real reason why Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom kept fightin' with each other," Applejack added.
"...Ok, I'm not making any good points today, but there's no need to panic," Sora said. "I'm sure everything's ok. They're probably planning some big Christmas prank or party and don't want us to know so they can surprise us. It might not be as bad as their previous shenanigans when they were searching for their cutie marks."
"Muffin!" a familiar voice cried from outside. Curious, Sora, Applejack, and Rarity ran outside, finding Derpy fluttering around in a panic, searching for something with her cocked eyes. "Where are you, my little muffin!?"
"Derpy?" Sora called out.
The gray pegasus mare looked down as she heard her name, then dove down. "Sora!" she exclaimed, unable to stop herself as she ended up slamming into Sora, sending the both of them tumbling across the snow before coming to a stop, Derpy sitting on top of the stallion's abdomen. "Thank Celestia I found you! Have you seen my muffin!?"
"Uhh...I don't have any muffins on me," he said awkwardly.
"No! My muffin!" Derpy reiterated.
It took a moment for Sora to realize what Ponyville's ditsy mailmare was talking about, clearly talking about her daughter and not the puffy pastry. "Oh! You mean Dinky!...Wait, why are you looking for her?"
"I went to wake her up so she can open up her presents Sandy Claws gave her, but when I went in her room, she wasn't in bed!" Derpy sniffled, tears welling up in her eyes as she worried about the unicorn filly. "She'd never leave without telling me where she's going! Please tell me you were playing with her."
Now it was becoming an odd coincidence. So far, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle weren't at home, their presents were opened, and neither Applejack or Rarity knew of the other's whereabouts. Now Derpy's worried about Dinky, who's mysteriously gone without telling her where she is or where she was going.
"...Derpy, were Dinky's presents opened when you tried to find her in your house?" Sora asked nervously.
"No. I love taking holiday pictures when she opens her gifts, even if most of them don't come out right." Sora let out a shocked grunt, now growing concerned about this strange missing foals' case that's come up. Quickly sitting up, knocking Derpy over into the snow, he sped off into town to check on everyone else's homes and their children. "Sora!? Where are you going!?"
Rarity and Applejack looked at each other, their hearts sinking as they feared something awful happened to their sisters. "Applejack, what's going on?" Rarity asked.
"A-Ah don't know," Applejack uttered. "But if Sora's suddenly concerned, then Ah think somethin' happened to Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Dinky...and..."
She dared to not finish that statement, swallowing audibly in fear at her thoughts on the horrible situation. And worst of all, on a cherished holiday celebrated by Sora and his friends and family.
Sora ran through the quiet streets, surely causing enough noise to disturb the community in his panic. His first destination was Scootaloo's home, knocking on the door to wake up the filly's parents.
"Hello!? Scootaloo!? Scootaloo's mom and dad!?" he called out, but didn't receive an answer. Growling in frustration, barely seeing Scootaloo anywhere around her folks since he first met her, he instead flew up to Scootaloo's bedroom window and peaked inside. Her bed was a ruffled mess, but there was no sign of her in bed. As much as he didn't want to break in and enter, he was too worried about his surrogate little sister to care, opening the window and let himself inside. "Scootaloo! Where are you!?"
Again, no response. His loud voice should have at least woken up Scootaloo's parents from indoors, and there wasn't so much as a clutter in response to the intruder barging into their home. Making his way downstairs in the living room, Scootaloo's gifts were still wrapped up and untouched. He looked in the kitchen, finding a note that was on the fridge he glanced over the previous night, letting out an angry huff as it was a note from Scootaloo's parents, the couple apparently gone for the winter holiday and left the filly some leftovers and plenty of bits to buy herself some snacks if she wanted. Ignoring the neglectful parents and their poor raising habits, he had a group of fillies to find, or at worst, an entire town of foals.
Leaving Scootaloo's house, Sora raced down the streets, checking every home in town. Looking through the windows of the foals' bedrooms, his worst fears came to him when he didn't find any sign of the children sleeping in their beds, and their presents remained unwrapped. He even checked the Rich manor, but Diamond Tiara wasn't there, or Silver Spoon, or the girls if he suspected they would have slept over for Christmas. His heart raced as he was about to go into a full-blown panic, taking one last stop at the youngest of the foals he adored, praying they were sleeping soundly in Sugarcube Corner.
Reaching the bakery, Sora hovered by the Cake Twins' bedroom window, gently opening the window and quietly sneaking inside so he didn't wake them. "Pound? Pumpkin?" he quietly called out, hoping to gently stir them from their slumber and not alert Mr. and Mrs. Cake. He didn't hear any mumbling from the twin toddlers, slowly, yet agonizingly peeking into the cribs, and to his horror, he didn't find Pound or Pumpkin in them. "No...No. No no no no! Not them, too! What is going on!?"
"Morning, Sora!" Sora screamed and turned around with his Keyblade summoned in his hoof, nearly smacking Pinkie Pie as she calmly, yet tiredly smiled at him as she stood in the doorway. "Merry Christmas!"
"P-Pinkie, now's not a good time to sneak up on me," he uttered, trying not to wake the Cakes.
"Did you come to wish Pound and Pumpkin a merry Christmas too?" Pinkie asked. Sora stammered, unable to stop Pinkie as she walked past him to inspect the cribs. "Huh? Pound? Pumpkin?...Are you two playing an early round of hide and seek? You two know the rules: breakfast first, then playtime."
"...Pinkie, I think...something happened," Sora said.
"What do you mean?" Sora hesitated, but told Pinkie what happened earlier with Applejack's worries for Apple Bloom, discovering that Sweetie Belle and Dinky were mysteriously gone, and his search throughout town failing to find all the colts and fillies in town as they had also disappeared without a trace. Pinkie blinked, the sight of her messy mane slowly beginning to droop and lose its poofy curls clearly visible to Sora as she processed what was going on. "...W-What?...Sora, i-is this supposed to be a prank? Because this is worse than Dashie's hurtful pranks a couple months ago."
"Do you really think I'm joking about this when I've been frantically searching for all the kids that are nowhere to be seen!?" Sora exclaimed. "I don't know what happened! I know they were all in bed before I delivered their presents, and I checked in their rooms to make sure they were really sleeping before leaving their gifts and grabbing the sweets they left for Santa! Someone kidnapped all the kids in Ponyville, including the twins, and I don't know how or why!" Sora heard a gasp come from behind him, his heart stopping when he saw Cup Cake with a terrified expression on her face. He didn't realize how loud he was, not even hearing the baker approach the twins' room, and she heard him say her babies were mysteriously kidnapped in the middle of the night. "...Oh crud..."
Cup Cake quickly made her way to the cribs, finding no sign of her foals, then began hyperventilating as she began searching everywhere for them. "Pound!? Pumpkin!?" she called out helplessly. "Sora, please tell me you're joking! My babies are NOT kidnapped! Please!?"
"I-I-I...I don't...know..." Sora's ears perked up when they soon heard more cries outside. Some of the families who woke up early out of habit for their morning jobs must have found out their children weren't at home and began to frantically search for them. Cup Cake couldn't find Pound or Pumpkin hiding anywhere in their room, her hooves dancing frantically as she dreaded the worst had happened to her babies. "Mrs. Cake, don't panic. I'll find them."
"CARROT!!!!" the mare cried out, running out of the room to wake up her husband. "OUR BABIES ARE GONE!!!!"
Sora let out a worried moan as he helplessly watched Cup Cake leave while bawling her eyes out, only to yelp when he was forcefully spun around, then stopped to face a deadly serious, really angry Pinkie, her mane completely straightened out and hanging down her face. "Is it Pete again? Is that fat, meanie minotaur responsible for taking the twins again!? Because if that mommy and baby stealing, overweight, no-good BULLY so much as hurts them, I'm going to stuff him in my party cannon and shoot him right into the maw of a Malboro!"
"...What the heck is a Malboro?" Sora asked out of curiosity and fear.
"I don't know, but it doesn't sound pleasant!" Pinkie shrieked. "PETE! I'M GONNA HUNT YOU DOWN!!!!!!!!!"
Pinkie then sped off out of the room to find Pete, if the cohort of Maleficent was even around. Sora doubted that the culprit was Pete. He clearly won't be able to handle all those foals even with Heartless terrifying them to keep them in line, and he couldn't protect himself from the Cake Twins from their retaliation when they were only a month old when he last foalnapped them. Not even Maleficent could attempt this massive kidnapping scheme since she wasn't one to appreciate children, or tolerate their wild behavior if Snips and Snails irritated the living daylights out of her.
While pondering over who could possibly kidnap all the foals in Ponyville, infants and adolescents, he heard something appear in the bedroom behind him. Quickly turning around, he found a Dusk standing by the window, staring at him. Sora crouched as he prepared to slay the Nobody, but the Dusk held up its tendril-like hand up, confusing him with its non-aggressive action. In its other limb, it held a red rose, baffling Sora more as it reached its arm out as if it wanted to hand it out to him. He didn't trust it, keeping his guard up if it planned on attacking him. The Dusk approached him, seeing him hesitate, but Sora relented and reached his hoof out, quickly snatching the rose out of its tendril, then backed away. He looked down at the rose, sensing some kind of magic emanating from the petals.
"...What's this?" he asked the Dusk, knowing he wasn't going to get a verbal response from the Nobody. "Did you kidnap all those kids? You and your other band of Dusks?"
"That is actually my doing, Sora," a voice said, shocking Sora as it came from the rose and the person on the speaking to him knew his name. The Dusk slithered out the window and flew off to who knows where, ignoring the panicking parents and not attacking them. "Don't bother with the Dusk. It's just a messenger."
"...Who the hell are you?" Sora growled. "What did you do to all the foals!? If you so much as hurt any of them-!"
"I have no intention of harming them," the voice interrupted. "It's you that I want."
"Then why not come and find me instead of resorting to this, talking through a stupid rose!?" Sora exclaimed.
"Incentive," the voice simply answered. "We will find a way to hunt you down, Sora. Like a rabbit hiding from a pack of wolves, the alpha has your scent, and won't rest until he devours your rich flesh."
"Are you saying I'm hiding?" Sora questioned, confused by the odd statement the male voice through the flower was saying.
"To make it simple for you to understand, Master Xehanort still requires his thirteenth vessel." Sora gasped, the voice revealing himself as one of Xehanort's thirteen seeds of darkness. "To think that you would take residence in a world like this. This world reeks of kindness and innocence, like these little equines who adore you ever so." Sora swallowed nervously, the audible gulp making the voice chuckle as he could hear his anticipation. "I bet you're wondering how I know that and why I kidnapped them. Do you recall the Nobodies who had attacked this world?" Sora looked out the window, slowly walking over to it and looked up. There was nothing there, but he had a horrible gut feeling to the voice's question. "They weren't just invading; they've been doing reconnaissance, searching for you and gathering intel for us. You're growing stronger, and Master Xehanort is growing impatient."
"If it's me you want, then don't get the others involved in this," Sora growled. "Especially the colts and fillies you foalnapped. Two of them happen to be toddlers, twins even, and they can barely speak properly yet."
"All the more reason for you to save them like the 'hero' you claim to be," the voice said. "If you don't come to where I have them held hostage, then I just might have to do something awful to them...I'll first start with three of them who are like...sisters to you: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, I believe their names are?"
Sora's breath hitched in his throat, fearing for the CMC's safety as he expressed his worries to this voice. "...Where are you?" he asked, his tone nearing the point of pleading so he could rescue all of them immediately.
"I believe you know the location: in the forest outside of town, deep through the foliage is the ruins of a castle. That is where we are," the voice said, Sora able to sense the smirk growing on the kidnapper's face as he grimaced angrily. "Be there in half an hour, by yourself without any of your friends tagging along to help you, or else one of those three little ponies might get seriously hurt. Any questions, Sora?"
Sora looked back down at the rose, hoping whoever it was could see the death glare he was giving the flower. "...How do you know me? Who are you?"
"You might not remember me, but I remember you," the voice said. "I'll give you a hint: we first met in an open field, you followed a mysterious figure to a palace lost in another plane of existence, and the further you climbed the floors of this castle, you tried to gain something, only to lose something you had with each floor."
Puzzled by the hint, Sora watched the rose begin to fade away, the petals falling off and floating out the window and up into the sky through an invisible breeze. The only place Sora could recall that sounded similar to the kidnapper's clue was Castle Oblivion, someplace he had visited before in the past, but had no memory to the events that transpired long ago because of Naminé forced by Organization XIII to slowly take his memories with fake ones and get them back after being a coma while floating in a pod for a year. Whoever it was that knew him, it had to have been one of those Nobodies from the Organization, even though they were all supposed to be killed off, and Xehanort had recruited Xemnas, Xigbar, and Saïx, or Isa as Lea knew him as, so it's possible other Organization members could have been revived and were working for the man responsible for all this madness the last couple decades.
With no choice, Sora had to abide by the kidnapper's demands or else risk letting any of the foals get hurt. He climbed out the window and ran off toward the Everfree Forest, the Castle of the Two Sisters' ruins the location where he'll find the kidnapped colts and fillies and whoever took them in the middle of the night. As he left, he didn't notice Pinkie had been listening out in the hallway, her party cannon she planned to use on Pete beside her. She had dragged her cannon with her before she heard Sora talking to someone she didn't know, shocked by the kidnapper and his demands while revealing the location of where he was hiding along with the foals.
"Oh no," Pinkie uttered. "I need to warn the others."
Apple Bloom grunted in discomfort, her soft bed somehow turned into a hard, uncomfortable surface as she rolled around. While finding a spot to feel comfortable and continue sleeping, she bumped into something furry, thinking it was Winona, the collie deciding to sleep in the filly's bed with her. She let out an annoyed groan and woke up, wanting to sleep in a bit longer before opening up her Christmas presents.
"What's wrong with mah bed?" she questioned, rubbing her eyes and subconsciously petting the family dog. "Maybe Ah should have asked Santa for a new mattress."
"Hey, quit touching me. I'm trying to sleep." Apple Bloom's ears perked up, waking up enough to hear that her "dog" had Scootaloo's voice.
Looking down, she winced and moved her hoof away when she was somehow sleeping beside Scootaloo. "Scoots!?" she exclaimed, backing away, only to bump into someone else. She accidentally nudged Diamond Tiara, making the filly grunt and growl irritably as she rolled over. "Diamond Tiara???" Finally taking a look at her surroundings, Apple Bloom found the rest of her friends, classmates, and other foals she had seen in Ponyville were all here. The large room they were in happened to be in the main foyer of the Castle of the Two Sisters deep in the Everfree Forest. She remembered going to sleep in her own bed, and now she and every colt and filly in Ponyville were in the ruins of the millennia-old castle with no clue how they ended up here. "W-What's goin' on? What are we all doin' here?"
Apple Bloom made her way to the front entrance, careful not to step on anyone in her way. As soon as she reached the door, she screamed as a Dusk appeared in front of her. She tried to flee, but it wrapped its tendrils around her, unable to squirm free as she was escorted back to the group of foals, who were stirring awake from Apple Bloom's fright. When they were wide awake and saw the Nobody holding Apple Bloom, the foals began to panic and flee, only to be corralled by more Dusks, keeping them from running out of the foyer and escape outside or go further into the abandoned castle. Some tried to bowl through the Nobodies, like Scootaloo, but due to their elasticity, they weren't able to knock them down or charge through without getting caught in their limbs or stretchy bodies.
"What's going on!?" one of them exclaimed fearfully.
"I want my mommy!" a young filly cried out.
Scootaloo grunted as she was tossed back into the circle of young ponies, shaking her head before leering at the Dusk who kept catching her and throwing her back. "What's the matter with these things!? Aren't they supposed to be hurting us instead of treating us like sheep!?"
"That's because they aren't going to hurt you." Looking up on the second floor's balcony, the foals gasped when they saw a black-coated figure stand on the railing. It was clearly a stallion by his build and voice, though every other part of him was a mystery. "At least, not yet. If I allow them to."
"W-Who is that?" Sweetie Belle uttered nervously.
"It ain't Mr. Kaito, that's for sure," Apple Bloom whispered back. "Doesn't even sound like him."
"It's the Mysterious Stallion!" Snips exclaimed, he and Snails giddy to see the mystery vigilante again after his disappearance a few years ago. "He's come to rescue us!"
"Yeah, and get rid of these...whatever these weird things are!" Snails added excitedly. The figure leapt down from the balcony, landing light as a feather on the ground, both dimwitted colts running up to him for safety. "Help us, Mysterious Stallion!"
The stallion shot his hoof forward, sending a gust of air along with a flurry of rose petals out and sending both unicorn colts flying back toward the group. "Sorry, but I'm not your savior," he said, confusing Snips and Snails as the other foals grew more nervous around the stallion. "I want all of you to remain calm and try not to flee. You'll only be caught and brought back here."
"W-What do you want with us?" Dinky asked.
"None of you have any importance to what I want, however, I need you here to make sure my plan comes to fruition," the stallion said.
"Ya kidnapped us in the middle of the night?" Apple Bloom asked.
"You just wait, you jerk!" Scootaloo shouted. "When Sora finds out, he's going to kick your plot all the way to next year!"
"He already knows, and he's on his way as we speak," the stallion said. The foals were confused by him actually wanting Sora to find them, even though they were happy to know he was coming to their rescue. "Don't think he will succeed. Wouldn't want to get your hopes up too high and be disappointed that your true savior will no longer be the hero you see."
"What do you mean?" Diamond Tiara asked.
"You'll see," the stallion answered. He looked at the Dusks, motioning with his head, giving them a silent command as they guided the foals upstairs. "You little girls and boys are going to get a front row seat to the downfall of Sora, and we wouldn't want you all to get caught in the fight."
"He's gonna win!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "He's super strong, with awesome powers and faster speed that you won't even see what's coming to hit you in the face!"
"We'll see, Scootaloo." The pegasus filly paused when she heard him say her name, like she knew everything about her.
She snapped out of her thoughts when a Dusk nudged her along with the others. Up on the balcony where everyone gathered, they saw one of the Dusks holding onto Pound and Pumpkin Cake, both still sleeping and unaware of the situation. Some of them were surprised to see the Cake Twins bound up in its stretchy limbs, yet the Nobody wasn't disturbing them in the slightest. The Crusaders knew that Nobodies were smarter than Heartless, though how smart they were was a mystery, even the lesser ones who seemed more intelligent than they appear.
Outside the castle, Sora had arrived several minutes before time was up. He could see Sniper Nobodies perched around the ruins and thick branches of the trees, their crossbows aimed at him in case he tried anything suspicious to them. Letting out a huff, Sora pushed the doors opened to find the culprit and the foals. They all cheered and begged for Sora to rescue them, though his attention was on the veiled stallion standing in the middle of the room. Walking inside the ruined foyer, a pair of Dusks closed the doors behind him, then stopped as he stood a few yards away from the foalnapper.
"I'm here, and I'm by myself just as you asked," Sora said. "Let those kids go."
"This is not how this negotiation is going to work," the stallion said.
"I don't want them involved in this," Sora growled. "Release them. You want me, and here I am! Now let them go!"
"They are going to watch as you fall by my power," the kidnapper said. "It won't be the same like last time, and Master Xehanort wants you alive so you can complete the seeds of darkness."
"If you've been watching me, then good luck trying!" Sora crouched low and summoned his Keyblade. "I don't know who you are or what last time was like, but I'll be damned to lose and not bring them all back home safely! Not on Christmas Day!"
The stallion chuckled and shook his head in amusement. "You really don't remember who I am, do you?" he asked. He raised a hoof and took off his hood, revealing his face to Sora and the foals upstairs. His fur was a pale pinkish-white with a long, ruffled bright pink mane, and yellow eyes similar to those Xehanort has. Sora grimaced a little, his appearance almost looking feminine if it weren't for his masculine build. "Does my face ring a bell, even though I've turned equine while in this world?"
"...No...I don't even remember meeting you at all," Sora said.
"Then it seems that witch, Naminé, had done an impressive job erasing the events that transpired in Castle Oblivion when she put your memories back in order," he said.
"You knew Naminé?" Sora asked.
"I'll give you a brief summary since you're missing a lot of crucial memories in one year of your life. My name is Marluxia, or, at least that's what my Nobody's name was," Marluxia said. "Anyway, while you were off on an adventure like the stupid little kid that you are, I took the opportunity to guide you to Castle Oblivion. You believed me when I offered you the chance to find something, or someone, you forgot about, and that if you progressed through the castle, you would gain bits and pieces about that lost memory as you lose the memories you have the higher you go. Myself and a few other members of Organization XIII sent there actually wanted to conspire against our leader, Xemnas, not wanting hearts again like how we used to have them as our old selves before losing them once."
"And you're working with Xehanort as one of his thirteen seeds," Sora mentioned. "...You're working with Xemnas again, and he was Xehanort's Nobody...How do you know they aren't thinking you'll try to betray them like last time?"
"That is a good question," Marluxia said nonchalantly. "Maybe I'm conspiring again? Or maybe I decided to actually work with them this time around?" Sora didn't know if Marluxia was joking around about this issue or waited for him to pick the most plausible answer. The stallion shook his head, skipping over the topic since he was clearly working alongside whom he was against in the past. "Anyway, you managed to make your way up, defeated a few of us as we tested your strength, and when it come to our final bout, you managed to best me. Granted, how we fought was a broken mess that hindered all of us to a pretentious card game to the death, and my true abilities weren't really revealed, not even when I went all out in the grand finale.
"...But, things would have gone smoother, had it not been for one member who actually survived Castle Oblivion. Does the name Axel ring a bell?" Sora gasped in surprise, confirming Marluxia that he does recognize the Nobody who was assigned to make sure the traitors didn't come back to The World That Never Was. "That's right. He was there, too. Did he not tell you that you two first met in Castle Oblivion? Or anything about the other members you don't recall fighting? It was a disappointment seeing him again when he came to your rescue when Master Xehanort was so close in making you his final vessel."
"Why didn't Lea tell us?" Sora muttered to himself. "Or...why didn't he tell me?"
"Oh well. We still have a chance," Marluxia said. "So, did any of that refresh your memory?" Sora didn't answer, the stallion laughing as his rhetoric question was given an obvious answer. "Clearly not. But that won't matter once you're in our hands."
"That's not gonna happen," Sora said, gripping his Keyblade tightly in his mouth. "If you want me alive, you're going to have to be strong enough to take me down."
"Yeah, you tell him, Sora!" Apple Bloom cheered, rousing the others to cheer for Sora as well, all of them knowing he could handle the mysterious stallion who kidnapped them.
Marluxia grinned, holding his hoof out to the side. "I was hoping to have a rematch with you," he said. Rose petals suddenly began to whirl around Marluxia, the wind blowing around him rustling his coat and mane. It soon stopped in a flash of dark-red light, petals falling around him as a scythe appeared in his hoof, the long hilt green while the curved blade was a light pink, both parts connected by a yellow sigil similar to the ones on the Dusks' foreheads. The ponies upstairs gasped at the sight of the incredibly long and deadly weapon, but they still had confidence in Sora that he could win against Marluxia. "Things will be a lot different than last time. Not like you remember what happened...But, let's make things...interesting."
Marluxia suddenly vanished, startling Sora as he looked around the foyer. While in an invisible state, Marluxia warped beside Sora, bearing a smirk as he leaned into the Keyblade wielder's ear and whispered something to him. Sora's ear twitched, unable to tell what the scythe-wielding stallion said, but as he turned his head to face where he was, he let out a loud grunt and clutched his hoof to his chest, feeling some kind of spell flow straight into his heart as a flurry of roses whirled over his head. Marluxia reappeared where he once stood, his smirk growing wider as he hefted his scythe over his shoulder.
"W-What was that?" Sora questioned, looking down at his chest in confusion.
"Sora, somethings above you!" Scootaloo called out.
Looking up, he, the foals, and Marluxia could see the number 50 floating above his head. "What did that Mar-luck-sia guy do to Sora?" Silver Spoon asked.
"An excellent question," Marluxia said. "I placed a little spell on Sora, a little counter letting him and all of you know just how much longer he has before its lights out for him. Every time I land a hit on you, it counts down, and once it reaches zero..." Waving his scythe, he aimed the blade at his neck and traced it across, making the point that he'll seal his doom when the number above him reaches zero. They gasped in shock, but Sora growled, not even phased by the handicap he was given. "Think you can avoid me long enough for you to beat me?"
"Hmph. I'll take the challenge," Sora goaded.
"...Big mistake." Marluxia spun his scythe around, creating a vortex that sucked Sora closer toward him, surprising the pegasus as he tried to back away.
As soon as Sora was close enough, Marluxia unleashed a fury of combos, swinging his scythe around with incredible speed for such a big weapon. Sora managed to avoid the first few swings, but got struck as he spun toward him, hitting him a few times before sending him flying off toward the other end of the foyer. The counter above him went from 50 to 44 in a matter of seconds, and even though he was hit, he felt no pain despite getting staggered. Sora got back up, grunting disappointingly at himself for not blocking Marluxia's scythe after the surprising vortex of wind and rose petals, but he swore those were the only hits he was going to take.
Getting back up, Sora charged forward, taking care not to leave himself open as he swung, Marluxia dodging his slashes or blocking with the long hilt of his weapon. Even though Marluxia was an earth pony in Equestria, he was able to warp around, leaving behind a flurry of rose petals in his wake. He reappeared behind Sora, trying to catch him off guard, but Sora had quicker reactions, blocking the murderous, colorful gardening tool without getting hit once. Releasing a shockwave counter, Sora staggered Marluxia, getting back at him for his surprise first attack and getting cheers from the colts and fillies above them. After being juggled in the air, Marluxia warped away, letting out a grunt while Sora gave him a cocky smirk.
"Got any other dirty tricks up your sleeve?" Sora asked. "I could take you and all of Xehanort's other followers by myself!" Marluxia began sucking Sora back into his whirlwind vortex and wound up for his spiraling charge, but Sora was ready for him this time. He got sucks in, and when he got close, he flapped his wings and leapt back, blocking Marluxia's swings until he came to a stop. "Mind if I borrow this!?"
Slashing up, Sora knocked Marluxia's scythe out of his hoof, quickly snatching it and using it against him. After several swings and knocking him in the air, Sora flung the dangerously deadly weapon at the pale pink stallion, striking him in the chest and knocking him back. The counter above Sora flashed for a moment, rising back up to 50 as it appeared hitting Marluxia with his own weapon gave back his lost points. Upstairs, the foals cheered for Sora, but the stallion getting struck by his own scythe barely harmed him at all as he stood up, brushing the dust off his chest.
"How did you like that, you jerk!?" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Don't think he's winning just yet," he said to the filly. "I'm just getting started."
Marluxia warped into the middle of the foyer, Sora quickly backing away as he watched the kidnapper twirl his scythe in his hoof, a dark red aura flowing around him as he thrust the deadly gardening tool into the ground. Beneath them, spreading out and taking over a large amount of the ground were three giant pools of blackness, radiating rose petals and vines while contained in a similar aura. Sora moved away to avoid whatever the voids were, only to run into Marluxia as he warped behind him, slashing him right into the intersecting circles of death. As soon as his hoof touched the ground inside them, a wave of pain lashed through him as he quickly jumped up and flew to safety, grimacing in agony as it felt like he somehow fell into a prickly rose bush where the thorns actually pierced through his skin instead of pricking him. What shocked the foals was that when they saw that the counter had dropped down to 49 when Marluxia smacked him in, and it didn't lower in the slightest while it physically injured him.
"Hey, the number didn't drop!" Snips noted.
"He's cheating!" Snails added. "You can't change the rules in a fight!"
Marluxia suddenly appeared on the railing of the balcony, startling the colts and fillies as he nonchalantly twirled his weapon in his hoof. "In battles like these, there are no rules," he said to the lanky colt. "Only skill, might, and anticipating your opponents will give you the edge in combat. I carry all three aspects highly, while Sora only has some experience and knows nothing of my true skills."
"So much for anticipating me," Sora growled, healing himself with Cure. "I've taken on worse monsters than you!" Marluxia let out a small laugh, turning around and thrusting his hoof forward. Sora was surrounded by an aura of vines that slowly began to turn more tangible, sensing that it was going to cause an explosion at any second. "Oh crap."
While distracted by waiting for the timing, Marluxia tossed his scythe up, letting it spin and fall to the ground, then dove down after it. The stallion sunk into the ground, creating a deadly wheel of blades half sunk in the ground, then sped off toward Sora. Sora managed to avoid getting blown up, unable to react in time as Marluxia bowled through him, launching him in the air and dropped the counter down another point. Sora stayed in the air to avoid him, waiting for Marluxia to pop up and dove down on him, smacking him around with his Keyblade before the pale pink-white stallion warped away. He sucked Sora in again with his whirlwind vortex, but like last time, Sora avoided his spinning slashes, charging after him when he stopped. Marluxia swung his scythe down on Sora, but the pegasus swiftly dodged it, flipping onto his weapon's hilt, spinning his Keyblade in his hoof as he leapt off the scythe, smacked Marluxia's face several times, dove through him with another slash, then smacked him hard, launching him several yards away.
As the two continued fighting while the foals watched, petals and sparks lighting with each clash of their weapons, their hope in Sora began to dwindle when, in a matter of minutes, Sora's counter was down to 15 and he was growing heavily exhausted. Marluxia kept himself from being left over, restraining from dragging Sora toward him again and risk letting his counter rise up again, but he did keep using the dark voids that physically drained Sora, grinning madly as he relished in the torture of defeating Sora in two different ways. Even though Sora tried to use one of his Drive Forms to give him an advantage in strength, it did nothing to reset the counter hovering over him, giving up on using them since those voids he either accidentally steps in or gets knocked in nearly drains his energy greatly.
"Come on, Sora," Apple Bloom uttered. "You can do this."
"Please win, Sora," Sweetie Belle prayed. "We believe in you..."
"I don't know if he can win," Diamond Tiara uttered helplessly. "He's too fast, and he's forcing Sora to keep defending with whatever curse he put on him."
"Don't say that!" Scootaloo exclaimed angrily, struggling not to break down in tears as she tried to cling onto her faith in Sora's abilities. "H-He can beat him!...H-He has to..."
The fighting down below eventually woke up the Cake Twins, both toddlers looking around in confusion as a weird monster was holding them. The Dusk quickly held them down, its limb holding Pound gently tightening around his barrel to hold his wings down and the limb holding Pumpkin wrapping the tip of its stretchy tendril around her horn to keep her from casting any spells. Hearing the twins crying out while trying to escape got Sora's attention, especially when Pumpkin called out for him. Sora saw the Dusk holding the twins hostage, distracting him long enough to get struck by Marluxia two times, getting his focus back as he leapt away to avoid the rest of the pale pink stallion's wide and quick swings.
"Losing your composure already?" Marluxia taunted. "Are you really giving it your all, or are you more concerned about the safety of those children that you're willing to lose for their sake?"
"I am giving it my all!" Sora shouted. "You kidnapping them and holding them hostage to get to me is like blackmail, and I'll kill you for taking them away from their homes and scaring them! And on Christmas Day of all days!"
Marluxia chuckled darkly, his body slowly rising in the air as a dark red aura emanated around him. "I'd love to see you try."
He soon disappeared, a flurry of rose petals suddenly appearing in the foyer. They didn't lower Sora's visibility in the slightest, but he kept his guard up, making sure not to get attacked from behind if Marluxia warped behind him. He had appeared behind Sora, floating behind him with a menacing cackle as he loomed over Sora like the Grim Reaper, if the spirit of Death had pale pink-white fur with bright pink hair.
"Sora, behind you!" the Crusaders called out.
Sora could feel Marluxia's presence hanging over him, but when he turned to look at him, the stallion followed like a spirit haunting his body. He couldn't even swing his Keyblade behind him to smack Marluxia away, which meant he was either invulnerable as he performed what appeared to be his ultimate attack or it was his spiritual body. Marluxia raised his hooves up, unleashing a barrage of energy pillars of the same aura around him that shot up from the ground, Sora quickly diving out of the way as they started to rise underneath him. There were too many to avoid as he ended up running into one, feeling just as much pain as the intersected voids, only five times as worse. The foals tried to warn him as Marluxia held his scythe up, the pegasus stallion only getting a small glimpse of the other's manic grin before he was repeatedly struck by a flurry of swings in a millisecond, followed by a final dive slamming Sora down into the ground as he let out a pained cry of agony.
Warping a few yards away, Marluxia relished in Sora's pain as he watched the Keyblade wielder struggle to stand up. Sora winced, his body aching from the constant near-death voids and energy pillars, clutching his hoof to his chest as it felt like his heart was going to explode. Above him, the counter read 1 and blinked red, the eventual abuse he had taken about to take its toll on Sora and feel like it would kill him if he was struck one more time. Marluxia looked up, grinning as he saw the teary-eyed, hopeless gazes of the foals who looked up to the Keyblade wielder.
"Behold, children: your savior reduced to a weakened, defeated mess!" Marluxia announced, waving his hoof toward Sora as the pegasus grunted while shakily getting back on his hooves. "He follows the light, claims his power comes from his friends, yet here he is, by himself with no support, not even spiritually, and his strength pales in comparison to my own! How he got this far by pure luck is a mystery, always being rescued by his friends when he's in peril or in over his head. And yet, his potential is wasted on following the path of light, sticking up for his friends when he finally unleashes that hidden strength within him to protect them...Doesn't seem like he has enough in him to protect all of you."
"L-Liar..." Sora groaned, his legs buckling as he tried to stand, stumbling a couple times as he lifted his Keyblade up to heal himself. "I'm...not...finished yet..."
Marluxia warped into Sora, knocking his Keyblade out of his hoof and slammed him into a nearby pillar, keeping him pinned by his neck. "You know, Sora, I could just end your life right now," he said, slowly moving the blade of his scythe against the stallion's neck. "I can do it in one of two ways: dropping that counter to zero with one tiny nick of my Graceful Dahlia, or let the last of your life be taken away with a simple magic spell...However, Master Xehanort wants you alive, so I'm inclined to leave you by just a breath away from death."
"Of course," Sora grunted irritably. "It's...not gonna happen."
"Not a reasonable choice," Marluxia said. "You clearly care about those children watching you at your lowest, right?" Sora growled, but his silence couldn't hide his eyes as they gave the stallion his answer. "How about a little deal, since there's no hope of you winning? If you give up now and willingly join us as the final vessel, I promise to let the children go and have them escorted back to their homes, safe and sound. But if you continue to refuse joining us, I will be forced to take drastic measures until you agree to come with me."
Sora didn't trust Marluxia in the slightest. Either choice he made, it was a lose-lose for him, being forcefully dragged away from everyone so Xehanort could get what he wants from him. Even if he went peacefully, he didn't believe Marluxia would hold his word as soon as they leave, the Dusks watching them would end up "escorting" the foals to their deaths. Maybe there was a possibility he was being honest, but he dreaded to know what the stallion meant by using drastic measures in order for him to come quietly. Before he could give his response, Scootaloo had enough as she leapt onto the railing of the balcony, the dove off and glided toward them.
"You're not taking him away from us, you girly jerk!" Scootaloo shouted.
"Scootaloo, no!" Sora called out, but it was too late when he saw the smirk on Marluxia's face. Marluxia swiftly punched Sora in the gut, making him cough and wheeze in pain as he fell over. Scootaloo was about to kick the pale pinkish-white stallion's face, but he turned and grabbed the filly, catching her, then slammed her down into the ground hard. The foals watched helplessly, fearing for Scootaloo's life while in the hooves of their captor after being nearly knocked unconscious as she groaned in pain. Sora grunted and lifted his head, his pupils shrinking as he let out a weak gasp, finding Marluxia's scythe hovering over Scootaloo's head. "N-No, don't! Let her go!"
"Not a step closer," Marluxia warned, paralyzing Sora as the Keyblade wielder wanted nothing more than to charge the stallion off the filly he's pinning down. "If you care about one of your precious little friends, a little sister to your eyes, you will give me your answer."
"Don't hurt her! Please!" Sora begged with tear-filled eyes, helplessly watching the curved blade of Marluxia's scythe begin to rise. "Leave her out of this...I'll do anything you want. Just let her go..." From his hunched over position, he brought his forelegs in front of him, lowering his head to Marluxia as he physically pleaded him to let Scootaloo go, to the shock of his young friends watching him give in. "...Please...I'll...I'll go...Please, don't hurt them..."
Marluxia grinned at his success, enjoying bringing Sora to such a tormented state while he was practically on his last legs from his curse, his health, and his willingness to protect the ones he loves. "...Such strength from someone so weak," he said. "Having so many people you care about is your downfall, Sora. You care too much about who you want to protect, and when all else fails, you resort to begging for their lives as you sacrifice yourself..." His smile suddenly turned wicked, holding his scythe up higher. "But I don't think you convinced me enough to believe you're willing to come with me."
Sora gasped and looked up, time slowing to a crawl as he helplessly watched Marluxia swing his scythe down onto Scootaloo. Before his swing made it halfway, Marluxia paused when he heard the sound of a Nobody appearing behind him, only to let out a yell in pain as he was stabbed by a sword. Looking back, he was met with a grayed foot to the face, sent stumbling back as a Swashbuckler knocked the stallion away from Scootaloo, who then picked up the dazed filly and held her protectively. Before the Dusks could react, more Swashbucklers teleported around them, scaring the foals as more Nobodies appeared, but to their surprise, they attacked the Dusks with their cutlasses and hooked hands, destroying them and keeping them safe. Even the Dusk holding Pumpkin and Pound Cake was slain by a Swashbuckler, quickly caught in its arms, giving them light scratches on the head to assure them they were safe with it.
"W-Where did these things come from?" Dinky asked, worried to have these new Nobodies harm them. "...Are they going to hurt us?"
"But why did they attack the other ones?" Diamond asked. "Aren't they...the same thing? Nobodies?"
Marluxia glared at the Swashbuckler, baffled by their appearance and their surprise attack. "What kind of Nobodies are these?" he questioned. He stepped forward, ready to kill the Nobody for interrupting him, only to stop when he stepped on a puddle of water that wasn't there before. "What the hell?"
Suddenly, the water shot up like a geyser, smacking Marluxia into the ceiling before dragging him back down, hitting the ground hard. He warped away from the puddle, only to get struck from behind as a yell rang out in the foyer. Kaito rammed into Marluxia, hacking away at the surprised stallion as each slash released a point-blank shockwave of water that kept pushing Marluxia back. Backing him into a wall, Kaito grabbed Marluxia's luxurious pink locks with his free hoof, slamming the back of his head against the wall, stunning him as he placed his cutlass against the earth pony's throat.
"You're not going to lay a single hair on their heads, you prick," Kaito growled.
"K-Kaito?" Sora called out weakly. The front doors suddenly burst open as the Snipers keeping watch of the ruins were flung through, their bodies disappearing as they hit the ground. Riku, Kairi, Aqua, Terra, and Ventus charged inside, the older trio making their way up the stairs to protect the foals while Kairi ran up to Sora and Riku joined Kaito in taking down Marluxia. "Guys? How...How did you-?"
"We'll tell you later," Kairi quickly interrupted.
Marluxia grunted, staring down the deathly glare coming from the Nobody. "Who...the hell are you?"
"Just a Nobody," Kaito growled. "And I'll be damned if a prissy little punk like you is going to blackmail Sora after you kidnapped all those kids."
A few seconds later, Starlight, the Mane Six sans Twilight since the alicorn was still sick, Yen Sid, and Lea joined the rescue party as they ran inside. "Apple Bloom!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity cried out as well, the two younger sisters happy to see their older siblings as the elders raced up the stairs and hugged them tightly. "Oh, Sweetie Belle! We were so worried about you!"
"Scoots!" Rainbow called out, flapping over to the Swashbuckler holding the pegasus filly. Scootaloo had passed out from Marluxia slamming her into the ground, but she wasn't too badly hurt. Rainbow turned to the pink-haired kidnapper, growling angrily as hovered over Riku and Kaito. "What did you do to Scootaloo?"
As Lea ran up to join them, he gasped in shock, recognizing the stallion by his appearance and choice of weapon. "Marluxia!?" he exclaimed, his surprise turning to anger as he summoned his chakrams and Keyblade. "I can't believe that you of all the traitors of Organization XIII are back. And working along with Xemnas when you planned to stab him in the back?"
"Says the traitor of traitors who had a change of heart," Marluxia growled. "Sora was lucky you had shown up unexpectedly, saving him and proving my point to him with how pathetic he is right now."
"Sora's saved all of us at least once from bastards like you on several occasions," Riku said. "I don't know what your definition of pathetic means, but Sora's stronger than all of us."
"And who happened to be a Keyblade Master over him?" Marluxia asked, smirking when Riku grimaced, almost dropping his guard as he glared at the pinned stallion. "In fact, why ISN'T he a master just yet?" He then looked at Yen Sid, the magician keeping a stoic expression as the question was addressed to him. "I'm sure his accomplishments should have given him at least a medal of honor, or maybe the right to be called a master."
"He is not ready yet," Yen Sid calmly stated. "When the time comes for him to retake his exam, I will judge him when I believe he is ready."
"How long has it been since his first, and possibly last exam? After almost losing him to Master Xehanort during that exam?" Yen Sid refused to answer, not wanting to dampen Sora's hopes in joining the ranks as a Keyblade Master. However, Marluxia noticed Sora had begun to feel despondent, realizing it had been a few years since his and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam, and Yen Sid hadn't seemed to plan for when he was allowed to retake it, or let him know how soon he can try again to become a Keyblade Master. "You can't even tell us when?"
"I do know, but I don't have to give you an answer to your pointless questioning," Yen Sid said.
"Some mentor you turned out to be," Marluxia said. "What did Master Xehanort even see in-?"
"Shut up!" Kaito shouted, punching the stallion hard in the gut. "Sora, don't listen to him! He's just trying to get under your skin. It shouldn't even matter if passing a test shows how great you are. What does matter is that you're strong, and we'll be there to support you no matter what happens."
Marluxia chuckled, letting out a few coughs after getting the wind knocked out of him. "Strong? Look at him, you idiot; I brought him down to an inch of his life, my curse on him almost complete if just one more injury is inflicted on his body, and he crumbled when I threatened to kill those brats if he didn't comply." As everyone looked at Sora, they finally noticed the blinking 1 hovering over him, Aqua and Yen Sid's jaws dropping as they recognized what kind of curse was placed on him. "Even without you fools here, he failed to defeat me on his own. Any situation he ends up in peril, he's always saved by others when he tries to save everyone else. Face it, Sora, you can't do anything on your own. Not even in Castle Oblivion with your friends in those cards that came to your aid."
"Can I blast him with my party cannon now?" Pinkie asked, Marluxia turning his head to look at her, only to face the barrel of the party pony's cannon. "He took Pound and Pumpkin, and Mrs. Cake is worried sick. And so am I! For your crimes against ponykind, I hereby sentence you to getting blasted to kingdom come! And I made sure to put something extra special in my party cannon for foalnappers like you!"
"...How annoying," Marluxia grumbled. "I think I've had my fun. But don't rest easy when you have to rely on your friends saving you from your problems. You'll be seeing more of us in the future, Sora. Count on it."
With a flick of his hoof, Marluxia shrouded Kaito in ethereal rose thorns that he used on Sora earlier. Kaito quickly backed away, freeing the stallion as a flurry of rose petals shrouded him as he dove out of the explosion that nearly caught him. Pinkie fired her party cannon, lacking the confetti, streamers, and the squeaky blast it made as it sounded like a live cannon, shooting a cannonball at the pale pink-white stallion. She unfortunately missed as he warped away, everyone blinded by the swirling rose petals as he made his escape through a portal of darkness. The petals faded away, Marluxia disappearing without a trace, Pinkie's cannonball leaving a sizable hole in one of the castle ruin's already crumbling walls.
"No! I missed!" Pinkie whined. "And that was my only cannonball I kept for foalnapping emergencies."
No one bothered asking why Pinkie kept a heavy ball of iron in case there was a kidnapping, though some of them did agree that Marluxia deserved to get struck by it. With him gone, the counter over Sora's head faded away. A second after it disappeared, however, Sora let out a pained gasp, his pupils shrinking as a wave of agonizing pain suddenly shot through him. His eyes rolled into his head and collapsed unconscious to the ground, startling everyone.
"Sora!" Kairi called out, rolling him onto his side as the others gathered around him worriedly.
"Sora's fine," Yen Sid assured everyone while Kairi lowered her head to Sora's chest to check his breathing. "He just fainted."
"How?" Fluttershy asked as she tended to some of the younger, more terrified foals who were escorted by Kaito's Swashbucklers. "It didn't look like he was that tired."
"That counter could have done a lot worse if that had reached zero," the wizard said.
"What was that, anyway?" Riku asked curiously. "I don't think I've seen a spell like that."
"That's not any normal spell," Aqua said. "I never thought that curse could have ever existed to this day. It's a forbidden magic spell that was said to have been known even before the Keyblade War, but the origin of the spell was unknown and how to cast it was never shown when the results could be deadly, to friend or foe if abused. It's true name was lost, but what it has been named matches what it does: Doom."
"'Doom'?" Kairi looked down at Sora, swallowing nervously, having a dreadful feeling she knew what could have happened if that number had turned to zero. "...If...it hit zero...Sora would have..."
"He would have died," Yen Sid morosely said, shocking the whole group.
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Why would that guy want to kill Sora when Xehanort wants him!?"
"To torture him," Lea said. "Out of all the Nobodies from Organization XIII, only two of them were more cynical than even Xemnas. Marluxia was one of them, and none of you ever want to meet the other." As he dismissed his weapons, the red-haired unicorn growled in disdain. "Marluxia's known as the Graceful Assassin, Number XI, but 'graceful' doesn't even match his personality. That scythe of his shows his true colors; an epitome of Death itself in living form while the rose petals he leaves behind in his strikes are more foreboding than beautiful...To think he's back along with Isa and Xigbar...Who knows who else from the Organization is working for Xehanort...?"
Terra looked down, sighing to himself. This was all partially his fault for letting events transpire from the past to occur today. If he was strong enough to not rely on summoning the power of darkness, if he was strong enough to defeat Xehanort and fight back against his control, others wouldn't have had to suffer from his power hungry feats to obtain Kingdom Hearts and the X-blade. Aqua felt just as terrible, feelings of guilt and regrets for saving Terra under Xehanort's power and what could have happened if she let him and Xehanort fall into the Realm of Darkness. Sora was now a big target, and they know where he is. With everything the aspiring Keyblade Master's been going through in the past year, there was going to be no chance for him to relax and recover from the emotional turmoil he's suffered.
"At the very least, we do know a few members of Xehanort's new Organization, his seeds of darkness," Yen Sid said. "When the rest of them reveal themselves, we'll know who we're up against and figure out a plan to end Xehanort's tyranny over all worlds once and for all."
"But what about his Mark of Mastery exam?" Apple Bloom asked, tugging the wizard's robe. "Do ya know when Sora can take it again?"
The concerned look on the filly's face almost broke Yen Sid, silently cursing to himself how adorable the young ponies in this world were if they could use that cuteness as a weapon. "...Uhh...in due time, little one," he said, patting the filly's head. "Sora still needs some training, but it'll come when I see he's truly ready once again."
"But it's been years since his last exam, right?" Sweetie Belle asked, wearing the same sad, worried expression Apple Bloom had. "He should have taken it again a long time ago. He's saved all of us from far worse things than that stallion, Sombra being the worst in the Crystal Empire. Just WHEN is he ready if he's 'trained' for so long?"
Yen Sid kept his composure, though beads of sweat began to form around his forehead. "W-Well...every professional does have a few problems they deal with and must fix before being absolutely perfect in their execution and skills in their profession," Yen Sid reasoned. He interrupted the fillies before they could talk them into a corner, Lea understanding the old unicorn's hesitation since he knew what would be Sora's test and the results of the success he needs to fully be known as a master. "No more questions. All of you children had quite a fright after being snatched from your homes and families, along with watching such a horrible fight. Come along, little ones. Let us take you back homes, open gifts, eat sweets, anything else to get your mind off such a traumatizing experience."
Yen Sid lead the group, keeping his eyes firmly on the road before them as they made their way out of the Everfree Forest. Rainbow carried Scootaloo as she took the unconscious filly out of the Swashbuckler's arms while Kaito carried Sora on his back.
"Aqua, you know a lot about this Doom spell Sora was cursed with, right?" Kaito asked.
"From what I read many years ago when I was a kid," Aqua said. "We were lucky it didn't hit zero. But how he fell unconscious was due to how much abuse his body took when the curse is broken by either killing the caster or being dispelled when the caster wills it or gets too far away from their victim. When it fades, the pain from the injuries that should have hurt would wash over them like a tidal wave, depending on the highest number on the magical counter given to the victim. It looked like the pain was too much, and with his other injuries from his weakened state, it knocked Sora out cold."
"Would he be stuck in a coma?" Kairi asked.
"...Maybe, but I don't think it'll likely happen to Sora," Aqua assured, though she wasn't positive with her own theory as she looked at the unconscious stallion. "He's stronger than all of us...He'll pull through..."
The families were relieved to see their foals again after such a horrible nightmare. Some of them were shaken by what they witnessed, but they didn't believe Marluxia in the slightest about Sora being a failure of a hero when he's done plenty of things to prove he was amazing. When the others returned to the castle after the foals were brought back home, Kaito brought Sora to his room and let him rest in bed, Manami worried sick after hearing what had happened and finding her son rendered unconscious on the Nobody's back. Scootaloo had woken up, slightly sore, but she shrugged it off just like Rainbow Dash in one of her worst crashes, and even though she was afraid Sora was gone, they assured her he was still here and resting after the effects of the Doom curse that was placed on him. She insisted on staying instead of going back home, the CMC making their way to Sora's room and keep watch over him until he wakes up.
Christmas Day soon turned into night. Sora grunted, still in pain as he opened his eyes. This morning's battle with Marluxia and his kidnapping was still fresh in his mind, including his parting words before he passed out from the excruciating pain that flowed through him after he left. He felt a weight on his chest, looking down in surprise to see Scootaloo sleeping on top of him. Two more bodies were pressed between him, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle asleep as well, all three fillies passing out after he assumed they were waiting for him to wake up. He didn't know how late it was, but it didn't matter to him as he let out a quiet sigh and stared at the ceiling.
Marluxia's words began to bother Sora, even though he told himself not to let it when he was only trying to get under his skin. What hurt him the most was the fact that he had actually failed to save the colts and fillies on his own, looking back on his past achievements when he first obtained the Keyblade until now. Many times, against the worst of Heartless, Nobodies, and other foes in the past, he always had his friends beside him when they defeated their enemies. His true power comes from his friends, their hearts connected to his as their belief in him gave him the strength to overcome anything in his way. But it didn't come to him against Marluxia: all by himself, holding the kids hostage in front of him, and with powers that baffled him and kept him off guard while getting frustrated by the lack of knowing the Nobody, if Marluxia was still a Nobody with his return from his fate in Castle Oblivion. What also bothered him was that he had no memories of Castle Oblivion, wishing he could talk with Naminé and explain everything that happened to him in the confusing, enchanted palace.
Being careful not to wake Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo up, Sora got up out of bed, wincing with each movement as he gently laid Scootaloo down on the bed. He limped out of the room and down to the kitchen, his stomach demanding food and his dry mouth letting him know of his dehydration after being unconscious for the whole day. As soon as he reached the hall leading down to the kitchen, his mother stepped out of the room with a tray with some soup, crackers, and a glass of orange juice, gasping in surprise when she saw her son walking about.
"Sora, you're awake!" she said, careful not to get too excited and spill the food she made as she hugged him. "You probably shouldn't even be out of bed."
"I'll live," Sora uttered. "...Is that all for me?"
"Oh, no. I thought you would still be out," Manami said. "This is for Twilight. Poor dear's having trouble sleeping because of that nasty cold, and being too stubborn to stay in bed, she's hanging out in the library catching up on some reading. Some soup, saltine crackers, and a bit of OJ should help get her back in good health. There's some extra soup in the kitchen if you want, or I can whip something up for you."
"Whatever. I'm hungry." Manami suddenly grew worried with the distant tone Sora gave her, watching him walk past her into the kitchen, then came back out with some soup for himself and a glass of water. He followed his mother down the halls to the library, wondering where everyone else was when he had expected Kairi to be waiting around his room for him to wake up. "Where are the others?"
"Aqua and Yen Sid had everyone do a big sweep of Equestria to make sure that Marluxia who attacked you and kidnapped all the children in Ponyville or anyone else involved with him was around," Manami said. "They're worried Xehanort's followers would try to get you when you were unconscious. You can never be too careful."
"And the other kids?" Sora asked.
"A bit shaken, but they're fine. None of them were hurt except Scootaloo, but she's a tough filly and she was perfectly alright when she woke up." Sora grimaced as Scootaloo's injury replayed over and over in his head. If only he was able to move and tried to stop her from gliding into Marluxia, she wouldn't have gotten hurt. His mother's reassurance did nothing to assuage his lack of protecting Scootaloo, or the others, disappointed in himself for losing the fight and watching her almost meet her end. They entered the library, the table Twilight sat at littered with used tissues as the alicorn read one of the small stack of books she picked. "How are you doing, Twilight?"
"Bored. Sick. Helpless to do nothing when Sora was tricked by one of Xehanort's seeds of darkness and he's knocked unconscious by the dispelling of a dangerous magic spell several thousand years old that could kill anypony in an instant. I feel great," Twilight said, sniffling heavily and groaning in irritation. "Stupid cold! Of all the worst times for me to get sick!" Looking up from her book, she gasped when she saw Sora was up and about, getting up from her seat as she approached him shakily, her body still achy from her cold. "Sora! You're awake!"
"Ah ah ah!" Manami warned, stopping the alicorn in her tracks with a free wing. "You're sick, remember? You do not want to get anyone else to catch your cold."
"R-Right," Twilight mumbled, turning away to cough. She went back to the table, discarding her used tissues in a waste bin nearby. She grabbed a fresh one from a nearby box and blew her nose, levitating her opened book out of the way for Manami to place her late night snack in front of her. "I really wish my nose wasn't stuffed. I bet this soup smells good."
"I wanted to try making chicken soup, a classic dish that can help cure a cold, but ponies don't eat meat, so it's more like an awkward, chicken-less soup," Manami tittered.
"Probably wouldn't be able to taste it if there was. Never tried any meat when I went to Canterlot High, and I really don't want to if humans eat different kinds of meat." Twilight dug into her soup, the warm broth helping to soothe her throat with each spoonful. Manami and Sora sat on the other side of the table, the latter downing his whole glass of water before slowly slurping at his bowl. Both mares noticed the distant, depressed gaze he had, lost in his thoughts as he mulled over yet another failure that could have ended a lot worse if help didn't arrive. "Sora, are you ok?"
"...I don't really know anymore," he said. "I'm starting to question how great of a hero I am when there were so many lives I almost couldn't save and few where I couldn't at all."
"Sora, you're not-" Sora interrupted his mother, slamming his hooves on the table.
"I held myself back, mom!" he shouted. "They were in trouble, surrounded by Dusks, and if I won or lost against Marluxia, I would still lose no matter what I did!" Sora let out a heavy sigh, bringing his hooves to his head as he looked down at the table. "What good am I on my own? My 'achievements' couldn't have been done without someone fighting by my side..."
"...You fought a thousand Heartless by yourself," Twilight mentioned. "You managed to do that while you were fighting a massive horde of them with everyone in Radiant Garden when Organization XIII was around, right?"
"Those were mere grunts that Kairi could have taken down when she was still new to swordplay," Sora said, letting out a pitiful laugh. "Even then, everyone in Radiant Garden able to fight helped stop them that day. And that was when Donald and I thought we lost Goofy when a boulder came hurtling toward King Mickey, pushing him out of the way and getting hit by it instead..."
"But everypony else you faced, you did all the work." Twilight grabbed a tissue as she felt a sneeze coming on, letting it out and blew her nose before continuing. "When Luna was Nightmare Moon, you took her on and that Guard Armor that came out of nowhere. Discord, Sombra, and Starlight, too."
"Celestia wanted me to save Luna, so I couldn't kill Nightmare Moon and we purified her with the Elements of Harmony, Discord practically blew me up and left me gravely wounded before discovering my Harmony Form, Sombra was even stronger than Xehanort and I was barely able to stop him in time for Spike to return the Crystal Heart to its rightful place, and if I didn't know why Starlight became a cutie mark snatching dictator who wanted everyone to be the same, I wouldn't have gone easy on her and convinced her to realize how ridiculous she acted," Sora listed bitterly. "Marluxia cursed me, held all the colts and fillies in Ponyville hostage, and try as I might, I ended up losing by his power and the fact he was blackmailing me by hurting Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo if I didn't show up in time! I was on the verge of death, both by that curse and him managing to physically wound me with magic spells, and I had to beg Marluxia not to hurt Scootaloo when she tried to hit him! He had his scythe ready to swing down on her, and all I could do was watch like a helpless idiot, unable to move, and lose someone I saw as a little sister! How can they even look up to me when I wasn't able to react when I could have lost Scootaloo, just like Sombra when the Crystal Heart's light purified him, or even dad!?"
Letting out a frustrated yell, Sora smacked his bowl off the table, splattering his half-eaten soup on the floor, but Twilight quickly caught the bowl with her magic before it hit the ground. He panted heavily, tears rolling down his face as he belted out his self-doubts. Twilight and Manami looked at each other, the latter looking back with a disappointed gaze as she watched her son break down over more of his own failures he wasn't able to control from the situation. The pegasus mare walked around the table, grabbed Sora's ear and tugged hard, making him yelp in pain and look at his mother like she was crazy.
"Stop doubting yourself!" Manami scolded. "Whatever nonsense that Marluxia monster put into your head, don't pay it any mind! He caught you in a trap you knew you couldn't escape from. You don't have to solve everything by yourself when you need the help of your friends to face someone who works for the man responsible for causing so much trouble in the last several years."
"Then what about my Mark of Mastery exam?" Sora questioned angrily. "It's been years since the last one, and Riku and I didn't know it was a trap until it was almost too late for me. When's my retake? Or am I really that useless that I'll never be more than a-?" Sora yelped again as Manami tugged his ear harder. "OWWWW!!!! Stop doing that, mom!"
"Not until you calm down and use your heart, not your head!" she said.
"Don't you mean 'use your head'?" Twilight asked, confused by the odd phrasing of Manami's statement.
"No, I do mean his heart," she said to the alicorn, then looked back at Sora. "Sora, do not let those heartless people play mind games with you. If they can trick you by going for the ones you love, they'll get you easily if you plead for them to take you for their sake. You're stronger than them. And even if you are as gullible as the five-year-old boy you still act like at times, you're not that naive to let them fool you that easily." He didn't seem to agree as he looked down. Sora was willing to beg to Saïx to let Kairi go in exchange for himself, but he should have expected the literally heartless Nobody to deny his plea and force him to keep gathering hearts for Organization XIII. Manami let go of his ear and brought her hoof to his cheek. "Don't let them break you more than you already are. This whole year, you've been having such a hard time, but I know you can pull through. They're doing this so that can easily win you over to their side, and that'll never happen. Not in a million years."
"And if they can do well by themselves, then they're crazy," Twilight added. "You never fight alone, even when you are alone. You just got unlucky because of the stress of surviving while promising the foals you would save them. Next time, Marluxia will think twice before pulling a stunt like that again."
"...But, the foals-" Manami gently turned Sora's head to look at her.
"They don't think of you as a failure," she assured him. "When you woke up, who was in the room with you, sleeping beside you as they waited for you to open your eyes?" He knew his mother asked a rhetorical question, no doubt everyone knowing the CMC were in his room. "Those three 'sisters' of yours were worried sick about you, but that didn't mean they were upset that you lost. They were afraid of losing you. So did the others.
"You know yesterday, when they gave us a tour of the town in the winter time, we got into a snow fight with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Those two used to be their bullies until you and those three fillies realized why she behaved so bitterly and helped change her for the better. Diamond Tiara looks up to you just like they do." Sora nodded, his relationship with Diamond far better than before he knew her mother, Spoiled Rich, tried to make her as selfish and cruel as she was to others who weren't in the same social standing as they were. "You have such a big impact on everyone's lives when you're around. No one is ever going to think differently of you, even before with your darkness, your mistakes, or even your personality. You are special in so many ways, and we'd all be devastated if you tried to change who you are."
Sora's ears twitched, his mother reminded him of the same thing Kairi told him before darkness destroyed Destiny Islands. It could have meant a great number of reasons about him that Kairi didn't want him to change, but for others, including Kairi, none of them want him to change into someone else, be someone other than himself. He realized Marluxia was playing tricks on his mind, though unable to remember what he went through in Castle Oblivion, he had a feeling the scythe-wielder had tried to do the same thing back then.
"...Mom, are you sure you don't have a secret career as a therapist behind mine and dad's backs?" Sora asked with a small grin.
"No. A mother just knows the right things to say or do to help their baby when they're struggling with life choices, even without any experience to go by." Manami giggled at her response, planting a kiss on Sora's forehead. Twilight felt a little jealous, missing her own mother, though she wasn't able to leave the castle thanks to her cold. She'll have to remind herself to write a letter to both her parents in the morning and let them know how she was doing. "Feel a little better?"
"Yeah. Sorry about...my tirade," Sora apologized.
"You needed to blow off some steam," Manami reassured. "You have every right to get mad and blow up to let out that stress. Your father helped me with that whenever he irritates me on purpose. But if you ever need to relieve yourself from stress with Kairi's help, it had better be with protection. You got that, mister?"
Sora groaned and hung his head, annoyed by his mother constantly reminding him when he and Kairi slept together, but he nodded his head to get her to drop the subject with Twilight giggling in the background. "MISS MANAMI!!!!!!!!" They were startled by Scootaloo's shrieking, distraught voice, the filly having woken up and sounded terrified not seeing Sora in bed. She soon barged into the library, panting heavily with tears running down her face, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle tailing after her with just as much worry and fear as the pegasus filly. "Sora's gone! That Marla-whoever took him away while we were sleeping!" Manami looked behind her, then slowly stepped aside, showing the CMC that Sora was still here. With their fear turned to relief, the fillies ran up to Sora and leapt into his chest, Sora catching and embracing them in his hooves as they cried. "Sora, don't you ever do that again! I-I thought...I thought you were gone forever..."
"You three aren't...mad at me for losing?" Sora asked. "Or tried to turn myself in to save you guys?"
"We don't want ya turnin' yourself in to anypony ever again!" Apple Bloom said, clutching Sora tightly. "Ah don't want ya taken away again!"
"We were all so worried about you," Sweetie Belle added. "I-I thought...you were gonna die..."
Sora looked up at his mom, giving him a look that said she told him so. He was relieved to hear Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo didn't hate him for losing against Marluxia, almost getting killed in the process, and giving himself up to ensure they would return safe and sound, even though he knew it was a false hope to believe one of Xehanort's followers would ever show mercy to a child, let alone several. He held them tightly, determined not to fail again now that he knew what Marluxia was able to pull. His main goal was to protect everyone with all his power, with his friends giving him the strength to overcome whatever obstacles Xehanort will throw at him.
"I'm not leaving you girls," he said to the three fillies in his forelegs. "I'm going to get stronger, keep all of you safe. Next time Marluxia takes you all away from me again, I won't let him win. Xehanort's going to have to think twice before he can get his hands on me, and when he shows himself, I'll make him pay." He lowered the fillies down, then performed a Pinkie Promise, ensuring that he will hold true to this promise, for his sake, and for everyone else the dastardly Keyblade Master had done wrong. "Pinkie Promise."
Giving them a confident, toothy grin, the Crusaders hugged Sora again. Kairi was going to be jealous when she got back tonight, seeing how the troublesome trio weren't going to leave his side for a while, but he was sure she would understand after today. Watching them out of the corner, Yen Sid overheard Sora's promise, letting out a sigh before turning and making his way to his guest room for the night. Down the hall to where his room was, he saw Lea leaning against the wall beside his door, standing on two legs while his forelegs were crossed against his chest, waiting for the wizard to arrive.
"So, now what are we going to do?" Lea asked. "Xehanort knows where Sora is now. You think he's tough enough to take them all out?"
"Knowing his mental state within the last year, he might if he steers away from the past," the gray stallion answered. "He has his friends and family's support, including ours. I have full confidence in him." He entered his room, summoning his magic as he transported three presents, placing them on his bed. Each one had a tag on the ends of the ribbons for the recipients for the gifts with Sora, Riku, and Kairi's names on each one respectively. Holding up Sora's gift, Lea peeked his head inside, watching the wizard as he checked over the wrapped box. "Xehanort knows of Sora's location thanks to Marluxia. As of right now, Sora's new Mark of Mastery exam has begun."
"Seriously?" Lea asked, surprised by the announcement without Sora being told about it. "Are you going to tell him?"
"No." The red stallion stared at Yen Sid, his mouth quickly zipped shut by the gray unicorn's magic before he could say something. "And before you berate me and tell me I'm going senile, the reason why I'm not telling him is because the thought of being tested will get him anxious and lose his focus. He knows what's at stake, and if killing Xehanort is the goal of his test, I don't want him overly pressured after the trauma he's experienced from the alternate futures without him, the loss of his father, his father's Nobody entering his life, and Marluxia threatening those children and spouting discouraging insults. They see his overprotectiveness and friendships as a weakness, but that is his greatest strength, and they fear it." Placing the present back down, he turned to Lea, freeing the red unicorn's mouth from being shut closed. "That proof comes from his Harmony Form: friendship is a magic unique to this world, and Sora has had the ability to wield it if he has a connection with Twilight and her friends. Love and friendship are stronger than the worst the darkness can unleash, performing feats and miracles that make the impossible possible."
"...And...you don't want me to tell anyone," Lea added, the serious expression on Yen Sid's face confirming his guess. Lea sighed, rubbing his neck, having no choice but to agree. "Alright. Alright. My lips are sealed." The wizard nodded, ensuring Lea would keep his promise, lest he go through rigorous training or be forced to be tormented by the sad pouts of the Crusaders for hours. Lea walked over to the bed, picking up one of the gifts and gently shook it to hear what was inside. "So, what late Christmas gifts did you get them? And none for Aqua, Terra, or Ven?"
"Just a little something for the next generation of Keyblade wielders," Yen Sid said, taking the gift back before Lea tried to sneak a peek. "Sora, Riku, and Kairi could use a little wardrobe change."
Somewhere in an abandoned world, a portal of darkness appeared in front of the gates of a castle with Heartless and Nobodies acting as guards. Marluxia stepped through, letting out a grunt as he gripped his head, still throbbing after Kaito slammed his head into the wall. Though the world was bleak and dreary with darkness settling over the world, the massive castle with multiple spires on both sides stood out among the empty buildings it towered over, a gap in the center connected by metal in the shape of an odd symbol, a core in the center unmoving as it had been broken for many centuries. He made his way to the entrance, only to stop as he heard the sound of a firearm cocking above him.
"Well, well, well, back so soon, Marluxia?" Looking up, the pink-haired assassin spotted Xigbar aiming his purple arrowguns formed into a rifle at him. He also refers to be called Braig as it was his true self, his hair black tied in a long ponytail with several gray streaks running down it, his face had a scar on his left cheek from the power of darkness inflicted on him by Terra many years ago, where he also wore an eyepatch that covered the right eye that was also injured from that moment. His eyes were gold, like Xehanort's, and he had pointed ears, wearing the similar black coat his Nobody wore in Organization XIII. The sniper smirked, lowering his weapon, then warped down to meet the former backstabber of the Nobody group. "Turns out your plan to snatch Sora didn't succeed. And my Snipers gave us some good recon in that disturbingly colorful world out there. Waste of talent if you ask me."
"I would have succeeded if I didn't know he had unexpected backup," Marluxia reasoned. "Someone bearing our coats came at me from out of nowhere with Nobodies I never saw before, then came the rest of the Keyblade wielders, along with that traitor, Axel."
"Someone else wearing these?" Xigbar asked, emphasizing the sleeve of his outfit curiously.
"He claimed he was a Nobody himself," Marluxia growled. "I've never seen him in the Organization. He had a cutlass as a weapon, shaggy brown hair and a rugged beard, and he had water as his element. I could practically smell the scent of the ocean on him."
Xigbar's eye widened, the description of this Nobody familiar to him. "...What did the Nobodies he controlled look like?"
"I don't know. Kind of like...pirates, burly like a Berserker, but they're as agile as Dancers and swift like Samurais." Xigbar stared at Marluxia for a moment, his shock slowly turning into amused disbelief as he paced a little, the light chuckle turning into uproarious laughter. "What the hell's so funny?"
It took a moment for Xigbar to calm down, but even then, he was still laughing. "Ohh-ho-ho-ho-ho man! He's still alive!? Wow. Lucky son of a gun," he said, letting out a sigh as he got the giggles out of him. "He was a slick one. And he avoided running into Sora and getting killed by him. And now...he's working with him. Is that right?"
"You mean you know him?" Marluxia questioned.
"Let's just say...he could have been the actual Number IX back then," Xigbar said, shocking the scythe-wielder. "Oh yeah! He would have been a better candidate than Demyx! Power over water, with an actual weapon, and not a complete coward like that punk musician. He flew the coop and took on who we had at the time with those Nobodies who came to save his sorry ass, so we had to resort to the whiny little brat who was less mature than Roxas." Xigbar scoffed, hefting his weapon over his shoulder as he began walking toward the gates. "At least Roxas had balls for a teenager, unlike Demyx."
"So, what do you propose we do about him?" Marluxia asked. "It'll be a lot harder to 'enlist' Sora if he's like his bodyguard."
"We'll figure it out," Xigbar nonchalantly said. "Now, do you want to tell Xehanort your plan was screwed up? Or do you want me to do the honors?" Marluxia huffed, walking past Xigbar as the sniper smirked. "Good luck with the boss, sissy boy. You'll need it." Ignoring Xehanort's right hand man, Marluxia continued onward into the castle to face his punishment. Xigbar's smirk faded, lowering his weapon and twisting it, changing them back into arrowgun pistols. From what his Snipers have gathered when they caught sight of Sora, his friends, the ponies in Equestria, and even Aqua, Terra, and Ventus, who he was surprised to see were back again when that bit of news came back, what he saw back in the sleeping world of The World That Never Was when he confronted Sora still startled him. Seeing the illusion of Sora's friends backing him up as he claimed his friends were his power worried the sniper, the number of allies Sora had befriended after all these years helping grow his strength the more friends he made, even if Marluxia managed to best him by playing dirty. "This is gonna be one tough war to win...Let's hope we can trick that kid so we can get it all over with."