//------------------------------// // The Key to Day’s Start // Story: May Your Heart Be Your Guiding Key // by SoulboundAlchemist //------------------------------// May Your Heart Be Your Guiding Key By SoulboundAlchemist Chapter 5: The Key to Day’s Start The sound of birds chirping roused me from slumber. It was a beautiful morning, the sun shining in the clear blue sky. As I opened my eyes, I felt a slight movement next to me that had me glance over to the still sleeping Luna and Chirithy. I smiled as memories of yesterday came back to me. *** The Previous Day *** The sound of a throat being cleared draws my attention away from where the portal once was. I turn to find a glaring princess of the sun about ten feet behind me. “Heh heh, guess I have some explaining to do, don’t I?” “I should think so,” Celestia growled. “Let’s start with that filly’s claim of being Discord’s daughter, and why you weren’t worried.” I nod. “I’d be happy to explain, just as soon as Chirithy brings the others back in.” “I’ll get them,” Rainbow replies with an eyeroll as she gets to her hooves. “Thanks Rainbow,” I say with a smile. She nods in acknowledgement before unfurling her wings and taking off in search of the others. Five minutes later Rainbow returns, Chirithy, Fluttershy and Luna following close behind. Upon seeing me, Luna runs over to grab me in a hug. I laugh as I maneuver the two of us back to the table, taking a seat with Luna in my lap. “OK,” I say as everyone takes a seat. “I promised you all answers, and I’ll do my best to answer them all.” I see Celestia taking a breath, but I raise my hand to stop her. “I’ll be starting with questions that were asked during Tito’s visit. If there are any unanswered questions you have, I’ll answer them then. Is that fine with you?” The sun princess bows her head, closing her eyes in thought for a second before returning her gaze to me. “That is acceptable, I suppose.” I nod before turning to Rainbow. “If I recall correctly, you were the first one to be confused, wondering what I meant by being a character from a game, right?” “Right!” Rainbow nods with a smile, happy that her question was being answered first. “I thought Kairi was just someone you knew from home.” Everyone nodded their agreement to that. “Not quite,” I reply, digging around in my bag for my laptop. “Do you have video games here in Equestria?” ‘Huh? I don’t remember packing this much stuff in my bag before,’ I think in confusion as I pull my laptop out. ‘I’ll figure it out later.’ “We do,” Twilight answers with a nod. “But, I don’t see what something like Pokécrits has to do with anything.” My eyebrow raises at the somewhat familiar name as my laptop finishes booting up, before shaking my head. “Its important, because of this.” I reply as I turn my laptop around to show them one of the trailers for Kingdom Hearts 3. As soon as Kairi appears on screen I pause the video. “This girl here on screen is who I became.” Everyone stares at the image on screen, except for Celestia, who noticed someone else on screen. “Master Aqua?!?” We all turn to the sun princess, who continues to stare, not believing her eyes. “How do you know that name?” Celestia visibly shakes herself out of her stupor. “Not important right now,” she replies. “Let’s continue, shall we…?” ***Present*** I smile as I remembered some of the reactions, Twilight’s especially, when they saw some of the MLP episodes I had saved on my laptop. A small yawn prompts me to look over at a slowly awakening Luna. “Good morning sleepyhead.” Luna beams at me before giving me a big huh. “Good morning, sis!” That response has me beaming as well, as more memories from yesterday surface… ***The Previous Day*** “No!” We all stared at Luna as she point blank refused to leave with Celestia, who’s face saddened. “Why?” It was a simple question that carried many emotions. “Because,” Luna replies. “I want a new start, which I won’t get with you. You were planning on using that ritual after all. Don’t deny it!” Celestia bows her head. “You always were more perceptive that I gave you credit for,” she raises her head. “I just wanted to pick up where we left off.” Luna’s eyes burn with anger. “And you can’t do that with me like this? You would seriously put me right back into the situation that caused this whole mess?” “Wait, what?!?” I shout. Celestia sighs. “The Ritus Restitutio is a ritual Alicorns can use after a debilitating accident to return their bodies to the condition it was in before the accident. However, there is one drawback: not only is the body restored, the mind returns to the same state as the body as well, much like a rewind button. It falls to the castor of the ritual to prevent the pony affected by the ritual from making the same mistakes that caused their accident.” We all stared at Celestia in horror. “Luna, I’m gonna need you to go over to Fluttershy for a moment,” I say, not taking my glare off of Celestia’s sweating form. “Fluttershy, please cover her ears,” I say once I feel Luna slip from my lap. “No need for her to hear what I’m about to say.” I give it a second before I glance over at Fluttershy to see her covering Luna’s ears before turning my ire to Celestia. “What the actual **** is wrong with you?!?” I scream at her. I distinctly notice a barrier go up around Fluttershy and Luna, curtesy of Chirithy, as I unleashed a tirade of vitriol, the likes of which I have never unleashed before or after, with such intensity that the Mane 6 were visibly wincing, and Celestia was actually cowering! Looking back on it, I believe my magic decided to back my words up and induced a sort of Killing Intent aura around me. In any case, I let up after about five minutes, when I finally ran out of things to say. Celestia was crying by this point as the weight of what she had been planning to do hit her full force. “While I don’t agree with everything Kairi said,” Twilight speaks up with a quick glance at me. “I must agree with a couple points she made. Specifically, the fact that this would simply become an unending cycle that Luna would never be able to escape from. Why did you plan to do this ritual?” It took a couple seconds for Celestia to calm herself enough to answer. “Because I wanted to spend more time with Luna,” she finally managed to reply. “And you can’t do that now, because…?” Applejack prodded. Celestia turned to face AJ. “The Nobles. They would insist on the ritual, simply to make sure the time I spend listening to their self-centered and frankly asinine proposals doesn’t decrease.” “So you decided to just do the ritual so you wouldn’t have to deal with their ****?” she nodded at my deduction. “Well then, I have the perfect solution for you then,” I say, my face remaining neutral. “I assume that you were planning on having me live here at the Tower, right?” Celestia nods, turning to me. “That was my intention, yes.” I nod. “Then Luna can live with me here, and you visit as often as you want with the excuse that you need to train for some coming threat. This is a training facility, after all.” Celestia’s eyes widen. “That’s brilliant! And in a sense its true, since with an active Guardian of Light here, the Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed will soon be stirring again.” I nod with a smirk. “You’ll also need to teach the Element Bearers how to use their Keyblades effectively…” ***Present*** We spent the next hour that day working out the details of the training plan. We agreed that Celestia would handle theory, while I handled the practical application, something I planned to look into both I and Luna were awake and fed. After that, everyone except myself, Luna and Chirithy left, leaving us to explore our new home. We eventually found a room with a walk-in closet full of replicas of my current clothes and undergarments for me, as well as sets of the clothes Kairi wore in the first Kingdom Hearts game sized for Luna. It was admittedly rather strange that the clothes were all there ready for us, but we figured we’d find out why it was there later. “Come on sweetheart, time to get ready for the day,” I say as I went into the closet, selecting some clean underwear and clothes for the both of us, before meeting up with Luna outside the adjoining bathroom for a bath. While I will admit that the experience was quite… educational… I am not going to be describing any of it. I don’t need any potential male readers acting like Jiraya from Naruto, thank you very much! In any case, after the bath we got dressed and headed to the dinning commons. Now, this was a huge surprise for us, since we found a rat experimenting in the kitchen. A rat I very quickly recognized as Little Chef, AKA Remy. After the initial surprise, we introduced ourselves to the rat, before requesting something for breakfast. After a delicious meal of French toast, Luna and I made our way downstairs to the training facility. A training facility that was locked. “Well, that’s annoying,” I muttered. “Any ideas, sweetheart? I’d really rather not get have Celestia back here so soon.” Luna looks around for a moment before pointing at a room labeled ‘Control Room.’ Great, apparently I’m oblivious now as well. Instead of letting my exasperation show, I smile at Luna. “Good eye. Now, lets see what we have here.” As the two of us enter the room, lights automatically come on, revealing… “A TARDIS Console?” I question. “Not exactly,” a voice pipes up to my right, causing both Luna and I to shriek in surprise as I summon my Keyblade and Luna hides behind me. Before us stands an earth pony stallion in a brown suit with a bright red bow tie. He was a light brown with a dark brown mane and resting on his head is a red fez. In his hand was a silver cylinder with a green light at the end. “Weapon? Really?” the stallion asked with an eyeroll. “Is that really necessary?” “I should think that’s obvious,” I snapped back. “Considering I don’t know who you are, and on top of that you could be someone here to kidnap Luna!” Even as I say those words, something in the back of my mind was nagging me… “No, really, your weapon isn’t necessary,” the stallion insisted. “I’m not actually here. I’m just a message left by the stallion Clockwork, though you’d know him better as-“ “The Doctor!” I cry in shock as I finally figured out what was bugging me. I was talking to a pony version of the Eleventh Doctor. I was talking to a pony version of the Eleventh Doctor! “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh…!” “I think you broke her,” Luna giggled as I was having my fangasm. “Quite,” the Doctor said with a chuckle. “In any case, have her push the big red button on the console over there when she snaps out of it.” And with those words the hologram vanishes, snapping me out of fangirl mode. “Are you OK now, sis?” Luna asks. I nodded. “Do me a favor, Luna. If that ever happens again, whack the back of my head, OK?” Luna tilted her head to the side. “Why do you want me to do that?” “Because it’ll snap me out of fangirl mode if it happens again,” I explained as I moved to the button the hologram indicated. It was fairly easy to find the button, especially since it was flashing and had the words ‘press me’ written on it in big, bold, lettering. With a shrug I pressed the button and immediately heard the iconic TARDIS sound effect. Luna and I both turned around to find the Blue Box herself materializing next to the door. Upon fully materializing, the Doctor himself stepped out, followed by none other than Sunset Shimmer, surprisingly enough. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmy – “ – WHACK! Welp, I really should have seen that coming. “Thanks Luna,” I say while rubbing the back of my head. Luna beams at me, while the new arrivals get a good laugh at my expense. “Well, that was unexpected,” the Doctor says as he gets his laughter under control. “Am I right in assuming you know who we are?” I nodded with a grin of glee. “The Doctor and Sunset Shimmer of course!” “I see, Mira wasn’t exaggerating then,” the Doctor replies with a grin of his own. “Wait, wh-“ “Spoilers~!” the Doctor cuts me off. “Now, I left that message you saw earlier for a reason. Celestia had me deactivate everything before she did her little vanishing act on the Tower, so I left that message for the next caretaker to summon me and reactivate everything.” My eyes widened at that. “That explains why everything is locked.” “Indeed,” he nodded, before moving over to the console. “Now then, I assume you came from a universe that had the TV series Star Trek, yes?” I nod. “Brilliant, then you should be familiar with the idea of the Holo-Deck. That’s basically what your new training facility is; a giant Holo-Deck.” My eyebrows shot up into my hair, my eyes narrowed. “If I remember correctly, the Holo-Deck in Star Trek required a program to run. If this facility is a giant Holo-Deck, what programs will it run?” I questioned. The Doctor smirked, as if he expected that very question, however, it was Sunset who replied with “When you were pulled here, I assume you had your personal belongings with you?” I nodded. “Well, I’m sure the Doctor can rig something up to use what you have.” “Right you are my dear Sunset!” The Doctor beamed at his companion before turning back to me. “If you wouldn’t mind, could you please bring those things here?” I nodded before turning and, with Luna on my heels, made a dash back to our shared room. As Luna and I step into our room, I suddenly hear a familiar tune playing from my bag, specifically the Spider-Man theme song. I quickly move over to my bag and dig out the source of the music, that being my brand new Gummiphone. I quickly answer the phone and hold it up to my ear. “Hello?” “Holy crap it works,” I heard a familiar voice say on the other end. “Tito? Is that you?” I asked in surprise, not expecting to hear from him so soon. “Hey Kairi, how you been?” “Uh, the same as I was yesterday when you were here,” I replied with some confusion. “You act like… Wait a moment, I forgot that time works differently between universes…” “Only a day for you? Yeah, been longer for me. Quite a few things have happened on my end…” he muttered that last part. “Oh? Did something happen with your Keyblade?” I asked, feeling a measure of concern over the direction the conversation was going. “No. It's fine. Though that dream I had that night was unexpected.” “Did it have anything to do with a stained glass floor in a dark void?” I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what that dream was... “Uh huh. Pretty much. And apparently the others had it too. Take it you know about it? I remember it was in the first Kingdom Hearts game and you said you're an expert on those games.” I nod with a smirk. “That’s right, what you have just experienced is the Dive to the Heart. Basically, it’s your Keyblade getting a feel for you. In the games, the Dive to the Heart acts as the tutorial for the basic gameplay, while also revealing the character of Sora, or whoever the playable character of the game happens to be.” The next thing he said was hard to pick up on, as if he was talking to a separate person, before I heard him ask, “Any way for someone else to end up in one's dive?” I blink at that. “Well, in terms of the lore for the series, there was no mention of anyone else showing up during a Dive. Why do you ask?” “I ended up having a...visitor, for lack of a better word.” I close my eyes in thought for a moment. What Tito was describing was completely unheard of in the games, yet at the same time, there was one moment in the games that may explain it. “Was your ‘visitor’ Venom, by any chance?” After a second, I faintly heard him say “shut up” before telling me, “Yeah, pretty much.” I nod. “I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on here. In Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, for the final boss of the character Ventus, the entire battle takes place within a Dive. However, that was only possible because the final boss, Vanitas, was intricately linked to Ventus’s heart. I believe something similar is going on here with you and Venom. Because he originally came from you, your hearts are inextricably linked, allowing him to participate in your Dive.” “Wait, I heard that name before. Vanitas…” After a moment, he said, “Oh right. Anyway, what do you mean our hearts are linked?” I shrug. “It’s exactly what it sounds like. Your heart is a part of his, and his heart is a part of yours.” “Doesn't that mean the hearts of the other symbiotes are a part of me too?” “Yes, but in a different way,” I explained. “They can’t intrude on your Dive, because they haven’t bonded to you. Venom on the other hand, has bonded to you.” “So besides entering my dive, does that mean anything?” I shrug again. “From a lore perspective, not really, since the only example we have to draw on is the battle between Ventus and Vanitas. We’ll need to wait and see to know for certain. In any case, was there anything else you were calling about? It seemed like you had something else on your mind before we went down that bunny trail.” “Yeah. You know your token?” I raise my eyebrow. “Yes, what about it?” “Does it have anything special about it besides the summoning?” My other eyebrow goes up to join the first. “Not that I’m aware of, unless the Merchant did something to it when he put it in my bag. Why do you ask?” “Screwball said she saw it glowing while I was sparring with Rainbow. Figured you might know what that was about.” My eyes widen at that. “Wait, did you happen to use an ability that you don’t normally use in combat? Like, an ability someone else usually uses?” After a few moments of him talking to whoever was with him, he said, “Apparently I did something that looked similar to the Homing Attack.” Now that surprised me. Never in a million years did I expect my token to act like the actual Wayfinders from Birth by Sleep. “What you just did is called a Dimension Link, or D-Link for short. Basically, it allow the user to borrow the abilities and skills of another person that they have created a strong bond with. Somehow my token acts in the same way as the Wayfinders from Birth by Sleep.” “And you weren't aware of that?” “No,” I state bluntly. “In the games, Kairi’s lucky charm is just that, a lucky charm. No powers or abilities attached to it.” “Then why is yours different than hers?” “No idea,” I reply with a shrug. “Could be that the Merchant thought it would be a good idea.” I heard him scoff. “Doubt it. Probably something to do with when you made it a token.” I nod. “Sounds like that could be the case. Be very careful when you experiment with it. In the games the D-Link was on a timer, so don’t do anything reckless while using it, otherwise you could end up hurt, or very dead.” “Honestly I didn't even notice it until after Screwball brought it up. Didn't feel tired or anything.” I shrug again. “Could be that you were unconsciously tapping into the ability, that could change when you properly use it. All I’m saying is that you need to be careful when experimenting.” “Duly noted.” I nod in satisfaction. “Alright, anything else? I’ve kinda got the Doctor waiting in the other room right now…” “You sick?” I giggle at that. “No, no. You might know him better as either Clockwork, or Doctor Whooves, whichever is more recognizable.” “Only Clockwork I know is from Danny Phantom and Sly Cooper. So why you bring Time Turner up?” “Huh, that’s odd, didn’t think he was going by Time Turner in your world…” I trail off before shaking my head. “In any case, apparently he’s here to reactivate the training facility in the Tower. I’ll tell you more next time we talk.” “Kay. Until next time.” And with that, he hung up. I pull the phone away from my ear and put it back into my bag before opening it to sort out the things I don’t need. What I found in the bag shocked me to the core. Not only were the things I brought with me in the bag, but my PS4 and the games I had for it was in it, along with a note: ”Surprised? Don’t be. I’ve been keeping an eye on you and thought this might be useful down the line. This is the last freebie you get from me though, oh Guardian, mine. If there’s anything else you want or need from home, check your phone for a shop app. -The Merchant” I blinked. Something about that phrasing nagged at me. Almost like a memory was right on the top of my tongue. I shook my head before shrugging, then dug around in my bag again, pulling out the pouch of keychains I had bought. Now seemed like a perfect time to actually check out the keychains the Merchant gave me, so I dump them into my hand, counting six keychains instead of the original five. Those six keychains being Oathkeeper, Oblivion, Ever After, Starlight, Crystal Snow, and Way to Dawn. I shrug before putting them back and shouldering my bag. “Luna?” I call. “Where’d you go?” “Right here, sis!” a muffled voice called from the closet. “Just trying to find something I left in here.” She came back out putting something in her pocket. “Alright then, lets head back,” I say turning back to the door. No sooner had we stepped through the door, we found ourselves falling through a white void.