//------------------------------//
// 4: Equestria: Darkness Falls, Light Awakens Part 2 
// Story: Kingdom Hearts: Twilight's Awakening 
// by Equestrian Defender 
//------------------------------//

The fight took about five minutes in total, but eventually Twilight destroyed the last Shadow. Wiping some sweat from her brow with her foreleg she said "Phew. What a workout." Once she caught her breath she looked to the castle. "Don't worry everyone. I'm coming."

She started running towards the door, holding her Keyblade by her side in case a Shadow popped out from around the corner or somewhere else.

Once she was inside she made her way to the room where they found the Elements of Harmony, figuring that that would be where the girls more than likely went to first. As she barreled down the halls she would occasionally be attacked by a few Shadows, but they were quickly dealt with with a few slashes and strikes with her Keyblade. Is it weird that I'm really starting to like this thing?

Once she took out the latest group, she pushed open the doors and found herself in the familiar room again. She smiled as she remembered when they'd first found them, and then when she and the rest of her friends ended up facing Nightmare Moon together. 

But part of that was tempered by rather sad thoughts. If what she read in the history books was true, this place used to be Celestia's and Luna's old home. But that changed after Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon. And after their fierce battle and Nightmare Moon's subsequent banishment, Celestia had ordered the construction of a new castle in the capital city of Canterlot. 

And if the state of the room she was in was any indication, she never looked back at this place. Seriously, there was mold and/or moss on the walls, small plants growing between the cracks on the floor, the parts of the floor that were wooden were rotting out and in danger of falling through to the basement (assuming they hadn't already done so and left huge holes in the ground.) It all just looked sad, and more than a little haunting.

As she walked towards where they had first found the Elements of Harmony she noticed that behind the weird machine the Elements had been on in their stone forms was a hidden door, which had apparently been hidden behind a bookcase that someone had rather forcefully kicked to the side. "Applejack, probably," she guessed.

The door led to a rather narrow stone staircase, which spiraled as it led down into what she guessed was the basement. There were torches along the wall, but none of them were lit. Fortunately, she had her horn for that. So with her horn lit, she descended down the stairs.

After climbing down the stairs for about fifteen minutes, she finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Quite literally, as there was something in the next room that was glowing. That's gotta be them. Please be them.

Once she reached the bottom she rushed into the room, seeing Spike and her friends almost immediately. "Hey guys!"

"There ya are, Twi," Applejack said. After a quick group hug she added "We were all worried somethin' fierce."

"They were," Rainbow Dash quickly interjected unconvincingly. "Not me. I figured after you tore those things apart you'd be just fine."

Twilight rolled her eyes, clearly not believing Rainbow. "Well I'm still here. And we-" she paused, taking the Element of Magic from Spike, uttering a quick thanks before putting it on. "-still have a job to do." 

"Yes, well... About that," Rarity began.

"What?"

"There's nothing here."

Having been so focused on seeing her friends again, she had neglected to look around the room.

The room was circular with stone walls and floors. The ceiling was at least ten feet tall, and there was a large golden stone in the center of the ceiling that cast a low light across the entire room. 

But Rarity and her friends were right. Aside from the light stone in the ceiling, there was nothing else. "No, it can't be," she muttered.

"We've been here for the past ten minutes looking for something, but we've found nothing," Pinkie stated. "I tried running all around and every which way, but there's absolutely-positively nothing here!"

"Well it was hidden behind a heavy bookcase like in a Daring Do book," Rainbow said encouragingly.

Twilight nodded. "This used to be Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's castle. If they built a secret chamber like this, they had to make it for a..." She paused as her Keyblade began to glow. "...reason."

The middle of the floor began to glow, before a large keyhole appeared on the largest stone in the center. As all of them surrounded it to get a good look at it, Spike looked to said "Not to state the obvious, but I'm betting it probably has something to do with the oversized keyhole in the ground, and your nice big oversized key."

"Still earning you a 'Thank you, Captain Obvious', Spike," Rainbow remarked, only to be bonked on the head by Applejack's hoof with a very audible clonk! sound."Ow!"

"You had it coming," Applejack replied.

Sighing, Twilight said "Girls, please act your age." She then levitated the Keyblade over the keyhole and lined it up, before sliding it in and turning it clockwise.

There was a slight rumbling sound, before the floor began slowly lowering itself downwards with the girls standing on it, which lead Fluttershy to state "It's an elevator." 

Twilight nodded. "Looks that way. Surprised it still works after a thousand years."

As they descended deeper and deeper, Rarity asked "So, where do you suppose this leads?"

"Not sure. But if this really is where the Shadows are coming from, then we'd better be careful. We might be walking into an ambush."

Everyone except Twilight looked a little fearful. "Um, what do we do if that does happen," Applejack asked.

"Well I'm hoping we can just use the Elements of Harmony to wipe them out like usual. But if that doesn't work... I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"Maybe have you go all 'Hi-Ya!' on them with your new toy," Pinkie Pie stated, mimicking holding a sword with her hooves, making everyone laugh.

"Hey, this toy happened to save me and all of us from those things," Twilight replied, giving it an affectionate pat on the handle. "Show it a little respect."

Everyone rolled their eyes at this. "Oh man, next thing you know you're gonna name the thing," Rainbow muttered.

"Well, I was thinking of calling it Spellstar."[1]

"Me and my big mouth."

At that moment the "elevator" had finally reached the bottom, and to their right was a metal gate. Spike pushed against it but it didn't budge at all. "Why won't it-" He stopped when he saw the Keyhole. "Of course. Twilight, could you please?"

Smirking, Twilight tapped the tip of her Keyblade against the lock and was rewarded with a satisfying click! and the door swinging open. "Huh. Handy."

"Where were you when I locked myself out of my boutique," Rarity asked.

Deciding not to answer, Twilight walked through the gate, the rest of them following behind her.

They emerged into a large underground chamber, with a few small streams flowing along the sides before flowing out of the cave. Clusters of crystals along the walls and ceiling glowed in the dark, the light illuminating the cave in an ethereal blue glow.

But what stood in the center was what drew their collective attention.

A massive tree made entirely out of blue-white crystal, its skeletal branches reaching up to and into the ceiling. Among the branches were five small indentations, with a slightly larger one in the center at the top of the trunk. Inscribed on the trunk were two symbols they all recognized. "Celestia and Luna's cutie marks," Twilight said. "What are they doing here?"

"Forget that. What the hay is this thing," Applejack asked.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen it before," Twilight replied. Looking around she took notice of something else. "There's no more of those Shadow things. Did you girls see the Shadows come through that bookshelf or-"

"Um, actually Twilight," Fluttershy began. "The bookshelf had already been moved when we got there."

That got Twilight confused. "Wait, you mean you guys didn't move that bookshelf and find that passageway?"

They all shook their heads in the negative. "We just assumed those Shadows or somepony else moved it and came down here," Rainbow Dash replied. "We also saw through a hole in the ceiling that we were dead center underneath the eye, so we figured there was something important down here."

"I... honestly can't argue with that logic. But if you girls didn't move the bookshelf, then who did?"

Rarity looked around, before noticing something. "Um, darlings? Is it just me, or is that crystal tree starting to lose its glow?"

They all looked to the tree and saw she was right. The tree was slowly losing its glow, the cave getting darker as a result. And as it did the tree from the roots up started to be covered in smoky shadows. "That can't be good," Spike stated.

"It's not," Pinkie Pie confirmed, her body shuddering and her mane still deflated. "That bad feeling's getting worse! And it feels like it's happening right now!"

Crack!

All seven pairs of eyes looked to the source of the sound, their gazes promptly widening when they saw the large crack appearing on the ground a few feet away from them.

And then their gazes turned fearful when several Shadows started crawling up through said crack. Rainbow groaned. "Here too? How many of these things are there?"

Twilight readied her Keyblade. "Maybe you guys should head back to the-"

CRACK! CRACK-A-CRACK-A-CRACK!!!

More cracks began to appear, before suddenly whole sections of the cave floor suddenly fell away. "What the-" Twilight began, only to stop when she saw a sinister purple-black glow coming from the large pits appearing around the tree. She teleported past the Shadows to the edge to get a closer look, and her jaw dropped. Collecting herself she said "Um, guys? I think I found what's giving Pinkie that Really Bad Feeling."

Suspended a few feet beneath the roots of the tree was a massive orb of darkness. As the sections of the ground kept falling away, they were immediately sucked into the orb and consistently broken apart until they were little more than dust.

And for every section the orb absorbed it grew larger, while more and more Shadows began to appear. 

Teleporting back to the group she said "I'm not sure how, but there's some sort of magic black hole beneath that tree. It's sucking in everything!"

Another chunk of the floor fell away, this one giving all of them a clear view of what she was talking about. "Um, that thing's not gonna suck us in, is it," Applejack asked.

"We're not giving it a chance," Twilight replied, her horn glowing in conjunction with her Element of Magic, along with the other Elements of Harmony. "We'll blast that thing to- Huh?"

The surprise came from her magic suddenly cutting out, along with the Elements. "Uh, why'd you suddenly cut off your magic," Rainbow asked.

"I didn't," she replied with confusion while trying to restart her magic, to no avail. The only magic she could use right now was what she was using to hold her Keyblade. "It's like something's jamming my magic. And without my magic we can't trigger the Elements!"

"Is that even possible," Fluttershy asked, slightly panicking from everything happening.

"It shouldn't be. The only time it's ever happened to me was..." Her face visibly paled. "Oh no. Please no."

Boom!

All of them went silent as a large black hoof rose from the newly formed pit, easily the size of a large tree stump. "Uh, Twilight," Spike began. "Isn't that-"

"EVERYONE GET TO THE ELEVATOR! NOW!"

Spurred on by the urgency in her voice, they all sprinted at full speed to the elevator. Once they were all on it automatically began ascending to the surface, just as another hoof appeared and stomped on the ground. Fortunately at that point they were already out of sight.

Once they got back to the chamber, they immediately started running up the stairs to the surface. "Uh, why are we running away," Rainbow asked.

"It's not running away," Twilight replied. "It's a tactical retreat. I can't use my magic and we can't use the Elements of Harmony. We need a new plan."

"So what do we do," Rarity asked.

"Princess Celestia. If anypony knows what's going on, it'll be her." I hope.

Once they reached the surface they continued running, hoping to reach the entrance without any problems.

And they almost did. Almost.

Right as they reached the front door the ground shook, and a chunk of the ceiling fell and was about to crash in front of them and trap them inside.

Fortunately Twilight at that point could access some of her magic, so she grabbed the chunk with a Levitation Spell and held it. Straining with the effort she yelled "Go!"

They obliged, getting to the other side and out of the path of the falling debris. Once they were on the other side, Twilight prepared to stop the Levitation Spell and Teleport to the other side.

Only for her magic to cut out on her again and the debris to smash into the ground in front of her, cutting her off from the others. She heard the girls and Spike yell out "TWILIGHT!"

Twilight didn't reply. Instead she turned around, Keyblade at the ready.

A massive geyser of shadows shot out from the floor in front of her, tearing a majority of the ceiling away as well as the walls inside the castle, essentially turning it into one room.

And standing in front of her was the monster she didn't want to see.

The Darkside Alicorn spread its horrid looking wings, glaring at Twilight hatefully with its yellow eyes and stamping its forehoof down in challenge. She noticed that its broken looking horn was glowing dark purple, which she guess was the reason her magic wasn't working properly.

"Twilight!"

She turned back around and saw a small hole through the debris, revealing her friends watching on the other side. She said "You girls need to go. Now."

"You're not seriously going to fight that thing, are you," Spike asked.

She sighed. "I don't really think I have a choice." She then handed the Element of Magic to Spike and said "Keep that safe for me until I come to get it. Okay?"

Spike took it gingerly, like it was made of glass. He then looked at her and said "You are gonna come back. Right, Sis?"

Twilight nodded. "Cross my heart. Hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye." Looking at the faces of her friends she added "Head to Canterlot and tell Princess Celestia what's going on. I'll meet up with you there."

They all nodded, and Applejack said "Y'all be careful. Alright, Twi?"

"I make no promises," she replied, turning back to the monster and readying her Keyblade. "Now go!"

She heard their hoofsteps fade into the distance, breathing a low sigh of relief once they were completely gone. Pointing her Keyblade at the monster and said "Now it's just you and me. Again."

The beast didn't respond, save for focusing shadows into its horn. It released it, enveloping the area in a massive cloud of darkness. Twilight took up a defensive stance, expecting the evil Alicorn to attack her.

It didn't, and as the cloud cleared away she found out why.

The remains of the castle they were standing on was now floating in the sky, the pieces of the wall and a few of the castle towers floating around them, suspended in midair. The consuming black hole from before was now below them, only now it was big enough that it looked like it could swallow Canterlot Castle. The crystal tree was still floating about it out of reach, much to her confusion. 

But she noticed something far more horrifying.

The Everfree Forest was slowly getting pulled into the black hole, feeding it as it grew. Soon enough Ponyville would soon be absorbed, as would Canterlot, Manehattan, everything.

Understanding dawned on her at what this meant. These creatures were like a swarm of locusts, devouring everything around them like it was a field of vegetables, leaving nothing behind. 

As she watch, she slowly realized that odds were she'd never see her friends or her family again. If that thing eventually grew large enough to devour the entire world, then no matter where they went it would catch them eventually. The world was ending and there was no way to escape it.

And even with her Keyblade there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Her magic grip tightened around her Keyblade as her body shook; not from fear or sadness, but anger. She glared hatefully at the Darkside Alicorn, and said "I hope you and your friends enjoyed your last meal. She stamped her hooves down and roared "BECAUSE YOU'RE GOING DOWN!"




Boss Battle: Darkside Alicorn




The Darkside Alicorn stamped its hoof down, shadows swirling around its horn for a brief moment before it fired a beam of pure darkness at Twilight. Nimbly dodging to the side, she ran at the beast and slashed three times at its right leg. The monster responded by raising its hoof and trying to squash her like a bug, but she rolled out of the way and jumped over the shockwave. Shadows began appearing from the pool, but they were dispersed in seconds by Twilight's Keyblade.

This thing's just as much of a pain in the real world as in my dream, she mentally grumbled.

She was jarred out of her musings when the monster flapped its small wings, and to her surprise it actually managed to fly over their battlefield. "Oh, come on! How is that possible with those tiny wings?!"

The Darkside Alicorn's response was simply to charge up an orb of darkness in its chest hole, before unleashing multiple blasts at once and rain them down on Twilight like shadow meteors. She managed to dodge all except the last one, and pain erupted over her body as it struck. No doubt the fur on her back was singed, and she definitely smelt burning hair, which meant it also got her mane. And it's learned some new tricks. How do I take this thing down?

Seeing it charge up another orb in its chest, she remembered her shield throw trick in her dream. Looking at her Keyblade she said "I really hope this works with a Keyblade just as well as it does with a shield." before rearing it back and threw it at the monster with a cry of "Strike Raid!"

Her Keyblade shot towards the Darkside Alicorn, spinning like a deadly buzzsaw. Surprisingly though, the monster dodged to the side, the Keyblade missing its chest.

However, it didn't miss entirely, and the Keyblade cut right through the monster's wing left wing. Unable to stay afloat it crashed down and landed on its uninjured wing, its orb detonating inside of it (and hurting it immensely if the pained yowls were anything to go by.)

Her Keyblade reappeared in front of her in a flash of light, and she asked "Is it over?"

There was a low rumble as the Darkside Alicorn slowly got back up; missing a wing and its remaining wing crumpled up like a tin can, but still alive (if you could call it that.) She sighed. "Of course not."

Before she could move the monster shot another Shadow Beam at her. Unable to dodge in time she instead blocked it with her Keyblade, hoping to minimize the damage. 

A small energy shield appeared around it, and it held for a few seconds before the beam shattered it. Twilight braced herself, but she still ended up getting blasted into the far wall, pain coursing through her entire body, her spine, and her head. Twilight listed off a number of related injuries she might have, but she ignored that and looked at the Darkside Alicorn. "I... I can't lose." Slowly getting to her hooves, her Keyblade glowing as she did so, she glared at the monster as it charged up another Shadow Beam. "I WON'T LOSE!"

At that moment her Keyblade began to glow a brilliant purple, as did her eyes. Knowledge of a powerful attack flowed into her mind, almost as if her Keyblade was talking to her. Her eyes returned to normal, and she smiled. "Here goes nothing."

She pointed her Keyblade at the Darkside Alicorn, and a series of purple rune circles appeared along the blade with a large one in front of the tip. She felt her magic, and instead of pushing it through her horn like her other spells, she pushed it into the Keyblade. She was rewarded with the blade glowing bright purple, and the rune circles beginning to spin rapidly. So this thing prevents me from casting Equestrian Spells, but spells using my Keyblade are fine. Duly noted.

Aiming it at the Darkside Alicorn she focused the magic into the tip, feeling it build up in power and intensity. Seemingly knowing that attack she was about to use was capable of killing it, the Darkside Alicorn fired another Shadow Beam at her, intent on finishing her off.

But it was too late.

"STARDUST LASER!"[2]

And from her Keyblade and the rune circle a massive beam of purple magic blaster forth and collided with the Shadow Beam. They clashed for roughly one second before Twilight's beam won out, overpowering it and slamming right through the Darkside Alicorn. As the beam blasted through it it howled in pain, cracks of light appearing along its body and spreading from its hooves to its horn.

Finally with one last horrified scream, it exploded into a cloud of black dust.

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief before she collapsed on the ground, thoroughly exhausted after her attack. That attack took a lot out of me. But at least that thing's gone. Hopefully for good this time.

At that moment she felt the floor shake, and saw large cracks appearing around her. She remembered that her world was basically disintegrating and realized she was more than likely about to be sucked in.

But sadly, after everything that had happened between getting her Keyblade and fighting the gigantic abomination, she couldn't muster the energy to raise so much as her one hoof. As it was, she was having a hard enough time keeping her eyes open.

The last thought that went through her head before she blacked out was her praying that Spike and her friends were okay.




Later, in a Far Away World...




Donald Duck, Head Wizard of Disney Castle, had seen a lot of strange things. He had seen monsters made of shadows, he had seen other worlds, he'd seen himself and his buddy Goofy turned into other creatures or had their body's altered into some really weird forms (As it was Donald made it a point never to visit Atlantica again as he didn't want to have his legs replaced by the tentacles of an octopus. Never again!)

The sight in front of him, however, was a new one.

About ten minutes ago he had been looking through his tomes of magic, seeing if there was a spell he could use to make the enchanted broomsticks work twice as fast around the castle, when Goofy had barged in and started spouting off about a shooting star. Donald would've asked him what was so important about it, had the room they were in not suddenly been illuminated by a brilliant purple glow.

And had their not been a massive CRASH!!! that came from the castle gardens.

Worried that it might be an attack by either the Heartless or the Nobodies, Donald had grabbed his staff and told Goofy to grab his shield and meet him out front, only for Goofy to already have his shield in hand. "Always come prepared," he said with a smile.

Once they got to the castle gardens, they saw that whatever had crashed into the gardens had demolished a good chunk of it. Wincing as he bore witness to the destruction Donald said "Daisy's not gonna like this."

Goofy then pointed to the crater. "Uh, Donald?"

Inside the crater was a single figure, not a Heartless and not a Nobody (he hoped, anyway) but rather a flesh and blood being. It looked like a horse, but with a lavender coat and an indigo mane with a pink and mulberry stripe. On its flank was a purple six point star with five smaller stars surrounding it. Most significant of all was the horn jutting out of its forehead.

And as Donald and Goofy looked, they notice two very important things.

One, the poor equine looked like it had been through the wringer. There were scorch mark along its back and part of its neck, a few scrapes along all of its legs, and a little bit of blood coming out of its nose.

And second, its hooves were resting...

"A Keyblade," the two of them asked in unison. 

Shaking off his shock, Donald said "Go get the King. Tell him we have an injured Keyblade Wielder and to prep the med- Huh?"

The equine creature in front of them suddenly began to glow in a blinding light, forcing Donald and Goofy to shield their eyes. It only lasted for a second before it died down, so they decided to look, and gasped

Where the horse-like creature had once been laying was now a young human girl in her teens with weather tanned skin. Her hair remained the same colors as her mane had been, and the Keyblade was now being clutched in her new hand. Somehow the magic behind her transformation had also given her basic clothes; a lavender t-shirt and torn up blue shorts. But she didn't have any shoes, strangely enough.

"Uh, should I go get the King now," Goofy asked.

Quickly checking the girl's pulse and finding it normal, Donald nodded. "Then get back her and help me move her to the Hospital Wing."

As Goofy ran off to inform the King, Donald sighed. "So much for a nice quiet evening."