//------------------------------//
// 1: Twilight's Dive To The Heart 
// Story: Kingdom Hearts: Twilight's Awakening 
// by Equestrian Defender 
//------------------------------//

Twilight was falling, mostly floating, through seemingly endless nothingness. Everywhere she looked there was not a thing to be found. 

Am I dreaming? No, it can't be one of my dreams. There's not a book to be found.

Just when she wondered if she was going to spend the whole dream falling, she felt her hooves touch something akin to solid ground. Shaking off the slight feeling of vertigo, she looked around, only to still see nopony around. "Hello," she called out. "Is anypony there?"

Not hearing a reply, she took a step forward, and suddenly the ground began to move. Before she knew it the darkness on the ground disappeared, taking the shape of birds before flying away and allowing light to shine from the ground.

And revealing that Twilight was standing on a large, circular stained glass window that depicted her sleeping form in the center, with Spike and the rest of her friends around her in smaller panels. Smiling she said "My friends. I wonder how they're doing right now?" Peering over the edge she saw nothing but more darkness. "Okay. I'm not entirely sure what that spell was supposed to do, but I don't think this was it."

On a whim, she lit up her horn in an attempt to shine a light downwards and see just how far the darkness went. 

Sadly, that went nowhere as the darkness just seemed to go on and on and on into infinity. Nervously, she stepped back from the edge. "Eenope."

Walking back towards the center of the platform, she froze when she heard a voice whisper "Power sleeps within you. If you give it form..."

There was a slight rumble, and from the ground rose three stone pedestals. Once they finished rising an object appeared and hovered above each one: a sword, what she guessed was a staff of some kind, and a shield.

"...it will give you strength. Choose well."

Looking around and not seeing a speaker, Twilight stated "That's not weird at all." Seeing nothing else happen she said "Guess I'll play along for now."

She trotted over to the first platform, the one with the sword. 

As she picked it up with her magic, she heard the voice say "The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?"

Twilight shook her head. While having invincible courage sounded good, she couldn't get behind the "sword of terrible destruction." It just didn't sound like her, using her power to destroy. So she put the sword back, said a quick "No thanks," and walked to the next pedestal, this one bearing the staff.

Lifting it, she heard the voice say "The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?"

This one did sound a bit more like her. After all, magic for unicorns basically relied on their own inner strength, and her studies were all geared towards magic and mysticism. But while it did feel more like it fit her, at the same time it didn't. Maybe she was just overthinking it, but having the power to "ruin" something or someone with magic didn't sound like her. So placing the staff back she said "Close, but no enchilada."

That left the last pedestal, the one with the shield.

Much like with the other two, the voice spoke to her. "The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek?"

Now this one she had no qualms or worries about, as it pretty much matched what she wanted to do every time they got into trouble or had an enemy to face. And if Spike's issues of Captain Equestria were anything to go by, shields could be effective for offense just as much as defense. "Plus, Kindness is one of the Elements of Harmony," she said with a giggle. "Yeah. This is the power I seek. The power to protect my friends."

The moment she said that the shield disappeared in a flash of light, and the voice said "Your path is set. Now, what will you give up in exchange?"

Looking between the sword and the staff, she held up the sword. "Swords were never my thing anyway."

As the sword disappeared the voice said "You've chosen the power of the guardian. You've given up the power of the warrior. Is this the form you choose?"

She nodded. "It is."

The moment the words left her mouth the pedestals tilted before passing through the floor of the platform.

Followed by the platform breaking apart into thousands of glass shards, leaving Twilight slowly falling through empty space again. "This dream just keeps getting weirder and weirder," she muttered.

She fell for... seconds? Minutes? Honestly she couldn't tell. But eventually she felt her body slow down before righting itself, and she landed on another stained glass platform.

Unlike the last one, this picture showed a peculiar creature. If Twilight had to guess it looked like a young female monkey, but without the fur to cover her pale white skin. However, she wore clothes that went really well with her dark red mane, a rather gothic black and red outfit with a cloak that was as red as rose petals. But perhaps the things that stood out the most about her were her eyes, which were a startling silver color, and the weapon she wielded: a gigantic red scythe that was easily a head and a half taller than she was. [1][2]

She was jarred out of her observations by the shield re-materializing over her right foreleg, her magic holding it in place. Surprisingly the shield was rather light, despite its large and kinda bulky design. The voice came back, saying "You've gained the power to fight."

Figuring that the voice meant with the shield, she made a motion with her hoof like she was throwing a punch. The shield, still enveloped in her magic, followed suit, a trail of purple magic following it as it moved. "All right! You've got it."

"Thank you, Mysterious Dream Voice." She giggled and added "Wow. I sound just like Pinkie Pie."

The voice continued (possibly ignoring her, she couldn't tell.) and said "Use this power to protect yourself and others."

Thinking of her friends and her family, she nodded. "I will."

She felt something was off, and saw weird shadowy creatures crawling along the floor. "That's not normal."

The voice said "There will be times you have to fight."

As the shadow creatures suddenly began peeling themselves off of the floor and transitioning from 2-D to 3-D, she rolled her eyes. "Honestly I'm not surprised." 

As they pulled themselves up she took time to study them.

The creatures were small and diminutive, roughly a head shorter than her. They were bipedal, but hunched over to the point you'd think they were quadrupeds. Their arms ended in three sharp claws, which she figured were their main form of offense. Their heads were odd; having two antennae on top of their head, glowing yellow eyes without pupils, and no visible mouth.

All in all they didn't look like they'd be too much of a threat. Not unless they swarmed her in mass numbers. Right now there were only four.

"Keep your light burning strong."

Readying her shield, she said "Can do."

One of the creatures, which she dubbed a Shadow [3], lunged at her with its claws outstretched. With a flick of her horn she brought the shield in front of her and heard the Shadow slam into it. She then mimicked her earlier action and slashed at the shadow with the shield, landing a hit to its midsection. To her surprise the shadow was sent flying away, fading away to nothingness as it hit the ground. "Huh. Scary looking, but kinda fragile." 

She slapped another Shadow away with the shield, before dodging the swipe of another one and bashing it with an overhead slam. Both of them faded away much like the first Shadow, and Twilight fixed the last one with a look. "And then there was one."

The Shadow didn't respond, save to make a move with its claws like it was sharpening them, then splaying them out like it had jazz hands.

Twilight's response was simple; she reared her arm back and threw the shield like a frisbee. It flew through the air straight and true, nailing the Shadow in the neck and making it stumble. She quickly yanked the shield back and then smashed it in the face with a right cross as it faded away.

Once they were all gone, Twilight floated the shield onto her foreleg. "Looks like Shining and Princess Celestia were right about those magic self defense lessons." She then groaned. "And now having said that, I owe Shining 50 Bits."

At that moment the stained glass she was on started to be covered in rapidly spreading darkness, as if someone had tipped over an inkwell and spread ink everywhere. Before she knew it it had pooled around her hooves and quickly yanked her down, almost like it was quicksand. Instinctively she took a deep breath before her head went under. 

But that didn't prepare her for the cold feeling she got as the darkness dragged her down, or the fear she felt that this might be the end. She tried another lighting spell, but it failed to illuminate anything beyond a foot in front of her. 

Fortunately it didn't last long before the darkness faded away, and Twilight found herself laying on another platform of stained glass. Exhaling the breath she was holding, she quickly took a few deep breathes and said "I really hope I don't have to do that again." 

The platform she was on didn't show another odd creature, or herself or her friends. 

Instead it showed a large tree made entirely out of crystal, with hundreds of crystalline branches and smaller limbs reaching into what she assumed was the sky. In the branches closest to the trunk there were six gems that she recognized instantly. "The Elements of Harmony. But what are they doing in that tree?"[2][4]

Shelving that thought for later, she looked around and found a large wooden door across from her. Walking to it, she was immediately confused. "When did this door get here?" She looked behind it and saw there was nothing there, increasing her confusion. "Why would someone build a door to nowhere?"

Figuring that this was part of the dream, she tried to open the door. It didn't open, which made her sigh. "Figured it wasn't going to be that easy." Looking around she said "Okay Mysterious Dream Voice, what am I supposed to do?"

Almost as if in answer, a large red and gold chest appeared in a flash of light a few feet away from the door. "Thank you."

Once she stood in front of it, she tried to lift up the lid but found it wouldn't budge. Confused, she looked at her shield and saw the slight glow it had. Shrugging, she tapped it on the lid of the chest and it suddenly popped open. "Well, that's handy."

She peered inside the chest, only to pull her head back as a light suddenly floated up and shot towards the door. The moment it made contact there was a loud click! sound. Curious, she grabbed one of the handles and turned it, finding that this time it gave without any issues. "I guess that's one problem solved."

Opening the doors, she found herself having to shield her eyes from a sudden flood of blinding light. 

Once she removed them, her eyes widened at where she was.

She was now outside on a rather sunny day, right outside the Golden Oaks Library. She could feel a slight breeze blowing, the warmth from the sun felt real, it honestly felt like she was outside.

But then she remembered how she had got there to begin with, as well as the fact that it had been almost nighttime when she and her friends cast the spell. "Yeah, I'm still dreaming. So, what do I need to do?"

"Hold on. You're not ready just yet. First, tell me more about yourself."

"Tell 'me'?" Looking around, she quickly noticed three ponies standing across from her. One was a white unicorn stallion with blue eyes and a blue mane and tail, wearing his Royal Guard Armor and polishing his shield. It was her older brother, Shining Armor.

The second was an alicorn with a light pink coat and a three color mane and tail of yellow, pink and purple and purple eyes. She was looking at a bunch of pictures, most of them family pictures. This was Princess Cadance, Shining Armor's wife and Twilight's sister-in-law.

The third pony... was actually a zebra, with blue eyes and a well kept black and white Mohawk. This was Zecora, a zebra who lived in the Everfree forest and was one of the best potion brewers Twilight had ever met. Speaking of, she was currently brewing a potion in a large cauldron, with wisps of blue smoke and the occasional spark rising up from the rim.

Walking over to Shining Armor, she said "Hey Shining. Is it really you or are you part of the dream?"

He didn't answer her question. Instead he asked "What's most important to you?"

"Dream it is," she muttered. Smiling, she replied "Friendship!"

"Is friendship such a big deal?"

"If you were really my B.B.B.F.F., you'd know the answer to that," she deadpanned, before walking over to Zecora.

Zecora looked up from her cauldron and looked at Twilight. "What are you so afraid of?"

Honestly there were a lot of things she could list. Failing an important test, accidentally hurting one of her friends (physically or emotionally), but the one that stood out the most was: "Letting my friends and the ones I care about down. Failing them is something I'm constantly afraid of."

"Failure. Is that really so scary?"

"Contrary to what Pinkie Pie says, there are some fears you can't laugh away."

Finally, she came to Cadance. She waited for a few minutes, but Cadance's gaze didn't leave her pictures. "Um, Cadance?"

There was a pause before Cadance asked "What is it that you want out of life?"

Twilight thought about it for a second, and then thought about it some more.

Truth be told, Twilight had actually been thinking about it a lot lately. All of her friends had one goal or a few goals that they were working to accomplish. Applejack wanted to help Sweet Apple Acres prosper for generations to come, just like her parents and their parents did. Rainbow Dash was training night and day to become a Wonderbolt. Pinkie Pie wanted to spread smiles across all of Equestria with her parties. Rarity wanted to start a fashion line that would be sold in boutiques in every city in Equestria. Even Fluttershy, who wanted to get her veterinary license despite the fact that she was already one of the best animal caretakers in all of Ponyville (possibly all of Equestria).[5]

But while Twilight originally said her dream was to learn magic from Princess Celestia, one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Applebloom, had asked what Twilight planned to do once she'd learned all the magic the Princess could teach her. She didn't have an answer, because honestly she'd never really thought of that. She was just so caught up in being Princess Celestia's student that she never really thought of what she would do after she graduated. It wasn't like she could stay in school forever. It wasn't like she was living in a kids show where the main character never grew older and nothing ever really changed.[6]

Finally after a while she replied "I... I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that out."

Cadance then turned to look at her and smiled. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll find that out soon enough."

Before Twilight could ask what she meant there was another flash of light, and when it cleared she was on another platform with a stained glass picture.

This one depicted another one of those odd creatures like the red haired one, only this one was what she assumed to be a young boy. He was short and kinda chubby, with curly black hair and wearing a red shirt with a gold star, with blue jeans and some sort of open red shoes. [2]

As she took a step, more Shadows began appearing and peeling themselves off of the ground. Pulling out her shield, she settled into a combat stance. "More of you? Great. I was starting to get a little lonely." Taking a moment she stated "And now I just sounded like Rainbow Dash. I better not start arrogantly bragging about how awesome I am."

One of the Shadows leaped at her from behind, but she quickly rolled away to dodge and slapped it away with her shield, conveniently sending it flying into a group of its companions, scattering them like bowling pins before it faded away. "Nice try, but the monologue trope only works with the villains." 

She quickly went to work, bashing, slashing, and whacking the Shadows into oblivion. Once she took down the last one, she looked around and asked "Are we done yet? Not that this dream hasn't been fun, but I would like to wake up and go home. Please."

The moment she said that a series of steps made out of rainbow colored stained glass appeared, all of which led to another pillar a good distance away. Hoping it was the way out of this place she quickly trotted up the stairs, being careful not to fall off the edge. "I'm gonna have to ask Princess Luna about this, because this has been one strange dream."

Once she got to the top of the stairs, she found that the top of the pillar had another stained glass picture. 

This one depicted another one of the strange creatures, this time being a boy who was a little older than the one from the previous platform. He had a spiky brown mane and blue eyes, and was standing next to a dog that walked on two legs and held a circular shield, and a duck who was holding a staff. The boy himself was holding a strange looking sword, one that looked like a giant old fashioned key with a silver blade and a gold handle. Surrounding them were a bunch of the Shadows, but they all stood ready to fight.[7] 

"Wonder who these guys are," she mused aloud. "Okay Mystery Dream Voice; what do you got for me?"

"The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes."

That didn't sound good.

And as Twilight whirled around get a look at her own shadow, it didn't look too good either.

Somehow her shadow had stretched out and grown, now reaching almost to the edge of the platform. To her horror, it began to peel itself off the ground like the Shadows.

Only the Shadows didn't take the form of a fifteen foot tall pony with a unicorn horn and pegasus wings that were far too small to fly with. Its mane, if you could call it that, was more like a mass of tentacles that swayed too and fro in a nonexistent breeze, and its eyes were the same eerie glowing yellow as the standard Shadows.

And as the beast rose up to its full height, she could see a large heart-shaped hole in the center of its chest.[8]

Scared, she took a few steps backwards, barely registering the voice saying "But don't be afraid. And don't forget..."

As the beast took a step towards her she turned tail and ran to the edge of the platform, only to see that there was nowhere for her to go. Looking back at the still approaching monster she charged up magic in her horn to fire a beam, only to find that she couldn't. She then tried to teleport back to the platform she had just been on, only to find that she couldn't do that either. "Oh come on," she whispered in a panic. "I need to get out of here! I can't fight this thing! I can't-"

At that moment her shield appeared on her foreleg, and she remembered how she had taken down all the Shadows. Something she never thought she'd be able to do on her own. With new found strength rising in her, she took a deep breath as she looked back up at the monster, which in the back of her mind she somehow knew was called the Darkside Alicorn. Steeling her resolve"I can do this. I can fight, no! I can beat this thing!" Settling into a combat stance she yelled "Come and get me, ugly!"

Almost as if in response to her challenge, the Darkside Alicorn raised its right hoof as dark energy gathered around it. As it brought it down Twilight dodged out of the way, narrowly missing the monster's attempt to stomp her. 

Sadly she didn't miss the dark energy erupting out in a shockwave, which knocked her away and sent her skidding towards the edge. Fortunately she stopped just short of reaching it, though she quickly yanked back the one hoof that was getting a little too close to the edge for comfort.

As she looked back at her opponent, she saw that the black energy the monster had used was now pooled around its hoof on the ground. Within it she could see several Shadows starting to take form, all looking at her and getting ready to attack. 

Deciding she should deal with them first she shot forward, taking out several of them before they even had time to blink (assuming they could blink.) Once she had destroyed the last one she started visciously attacking the Darkside Alicorn's hoof with her shield. While she didn't see any cuts and the monster didn't seem to respond, she could only assume (or hope, rather) that she was actually damaging it in some way.

And she was proven right when the monster recoiled, rearing up on its hind legs in what seemed to be pain.

But as Twilight watched she saw an orb of dark energy gather in the hole in its chest, before it shot out in several small blasts, all of which began homing in on her. "Oh, come on!"

She quickly started running, narrowly dodging each of the blasts before she went back on the offensive. 

It went back and forth for a few minutes; Twilight would attack the Shadows and its hoof after it tried to stomp on her, she would then run like crazy while dodging its homing magic, and repeat.

However, Twilight knew it couldn't go on like this forever. As it was she was starting to feel a little tired from all the running and fighting she was doing. "I really need to start exercising more."

Looking back at the Darkside Alicorn as it gather energy in its heart hole again, an idea came to her. Quickly and smoothly, she reared her arm back and threw the shield. Much like with the Shadow from earlier, the shield was straight and true and nailed the target.

Unlike with the Shadow from earlier, the results were a bit more... dramatic.

The shield ground itself against the darkness orb, before finally winning and the orb exploded with the sound of breaking glass. The Darkside Alicorn threw itself backwards, letting out a wail of pain from Twilight's attack.

And in doing so it fell over the edge, falling into the darkness below.

Taking a few labored breaths she said "It's over. It's gone."

Suddenly she found herself being dragged into darkness again, struggling to free herself even though she knew it was useless. She picked up her shield and moved to strike the darkness, but the shield suddenly disappeared in a flash of light. Panicking, she started saying "No! Nononono!"

"-But don't be afraid."

She calmed down slightly, something about the voice was making her feel slightly calmer. Enough that she stopped trying to fight the darkness as it dragged her down.

"You hold the mightiest weapon of all. So don't forget:"

The tiredness and exhaustion had finally caught up with her, and the last thing she heard before she blacked out was:

"You are the light that will shine through the darkness."

The moment the voice finished, Twilight's unconscious form was suddenly enveloped in a golden light. The darkness that tried to take her was now being pushed back, unable to withstand the intensity of the light.

And just as sudden as it appeared, it vanished.

Along with Twilight Sparkle.





Meanwhile in Canterlot, a familiar white alicorn with a three color mane of pink, blue and green stood on the balcony of her tower, looking out towards the Everfree Forest.

More specifically, at the large patch of dark storm clouds that her guards had said just suddenly appeared that day.

Quietly, Princess Celestia whispered "And so it begins..."