Lightning was still unconscious as his body was in a different place that isn’t Equestria. His body was now in a light place with nothing but just light and his body floating in the air before slowly laying on an invisible ground.
After a few more minutes, Lightning slowly opened his eyes while moaning in pain.
Once Lightning’s eyes were opened, he let out a small gasp of shock as he saw where he was now. He slowly got onto his hooves and looked around the place. He saw nothing but light as he began to grow worried about it.
“Where...where am I? Momma?! Smolder?! Uncle Oliver?! Anycreature?! Sora?!”
Lightning began to tear up, there was no creature around except for him. He was all alone inside the place he’s never, heard or seen before. “Please. Somepony. Anycreature. I...I don’t wanna be alone!” Lightning started to cry in fear and sadness.
Just then, a new female voice was heard.
“You’re not alone. You’re inside the light that was made by Kingdom Hearts.”
Lightning stopped crying and looked around trying to locate the voice he just heard. “W-Who’s there?”
“Just a friend,” said the female voice again, “Don’t be scared.”
Lightning turned behind him and saw a girl walking towards him. She was tall and slender, her blue hair was a medium length, mostly parted to her left. Her eyes were the same color as her hair and she wore a black and navy blue high-collared halter top with a black corset with two pairs of white laces and black shorts. She had two pink straps intersecting over her chest with a silver badge. On her arms were white bell-sleeves and tan fingerless gloves. On each of her upper arms were small segmented pieces of armor. She wore black stockings reaching halfway up her thighs. There were two strips of blue cloth draped over each of her hips along with a smaller white stripe around her waist holding the two stripes together. Her bots were silver, pointed and armored, with a sharp hook like edge on the outer side of each.
She stopped near Lightning while still looking at him with a kind smile on her face.
“W-Who, are you?” He asked nervously.
“My name is Master Aqua,” she answered politely to the little colt, “But you can just call me Aqua.” She bent down to Lightning’s level to make better eye contact with him. “What’s your name, little one?”
Lightning nervously stared at Aqua for a few seconds before answering, “M-my name is L-Lightning T-Twister.”
“That’s a lovely name,” Aqua said while still smiling.
Lightning smiled a bit back to her and then suddenly remember what she just said earlier.
“Wait. This light place was made by Kingdom Hearts? Does that mean I’m...?”
Aqua kindly answered his question before he could finish it and grew more fear that he had already. “Do not fear. Your heart hasn’t gone yet. You’re just unconscious after taking that blast and ended up here.”
That’s when Lightning remembered something else after that was said. He remembered jumping in front of Fluttershy so she wouldn’t get hit by Chrysalis’s evil magical blast, and the blast did hit him instead of her.
“But I-I didn’t mean to let that blast hit me! I was just trying to save Momma! I didn’t wanna lose her like I did with my real Momma!”
Aqua’s smile did not fade away after hearing what the colt was trying to tell her. She then gently placed her hand on his shoulder. “What you did for your mother was no bad move, or an accident that’s not easy to forgive. Sacrifices are often made for those that don’t want to lose a friend or family member that’s close to them. I had to do a sacrifice once.”
“You did?”
Aqua nodded before standing up again and said, “Awhile back, before Sora ended up in your world, a friend of mine called Terra was being controlled, by an evil keyblade master called, Master Xehanort. He used him as a new vessel before I even knew why there was darkness in him. And after that fight we had, Terra was able to use Xehanort’s keyblade to stab it into his heart hoping to release him from it.”
Aqua turned round and faced behind her as her smile turned into a sad one before she continued on, “But, it only made Xehanort lose his memories and made Terra fall into the realm of darkness, which made him turn into a shadowy guardian as well. I drove into the darkness to save him, only to use my keyblade armour to send him back to the surface leaving only me to fall into the realm of darkness.”
She then took a few steps forward away from Lightning.
“I wandered through endless roads that led to no way, until I met someone in a black coat. He was very kind. Ansem the Wise, his name was. But he was taken away by someone that was part of the darkness and had the same shadowy guardian. I figured that he was one of the forms Terranort had after sending him back to the surface.”
Aqua placed her hand on her chest where her heart was. “And then, the darkness swallowed me. Making me become like them. Making me believe that Mickey forgot about me and left me to suffer alone in the realm of darkness while he went on to save Kingdom Hearts. It also made me try to destroy both him and Riku when they entered the realm of darkness to save me, until Sora showed up and stopped me from destroying them.”
“Wait, you know Sora?” Lightning asked in shock.
Aqua turned her head round to smile at Lightning and nodded her head in response.
“Yes. He was the one who fought the darkness that was controlling me. And just as I thought I was gonna drown again, I woken on Destiny Island where I saw him, Riku, Mickey, Donald and Goofy. As it turns out, Mickey was trying to save me from the realm of darkness. He was just busy trying to stop what Xehanort was doing in Terra’s body.”
After hearing what Aqua just said made Lightning get confuse now. If Aqua was freed from the realm of darkness, how is she here in the light made by Kingdom Hearts?
“But, if you were saved from the realm of darkness, how are you here with me? Did something hit you while I got blast at the same time?”
Aqua continued to smile at Lightning before slowly shaking her head in response.
“What I am in this light, is my heart. It can travel through the light within Kingdom Hearts, even while I’m still alive. My heart felt something was wrong within the light, so I travelled into this realm of light and it was you who had entered it. It seems you’re as worthy as Sora is.”
Lightning grew in shock after hearing what she just said to him. How could Lightning be as worthy as Sora is? Especially since he doesn’t have a keyblade of his own.
“How can I be worthy?! I’m not a keyblade wielder! And Kingdom Hearts isn’t suppose to end up in Equestria! And after what I just did before ending up here, I don’t think I am worthy to have a keyblade of my own.”
Aqua continued to wear that friendly smile on her face as she walked towards Lightning and bent down to make better eye contact with him again.
“Keyblade Wielder or not, you’re still worthy to me, and so does Kingdom Hearts. The light belongs in every world. And even though Kingdom Hearts isn’t suppose to be opened and appear in Equestria, it still shines the light in every world there is. You don’t need a keyblade in order to become worthy, or prove to everyone that you’re worthy. You only have to see it in order to know that you are worthy.”
She then gently placed a hand back on Lightning’s shoulder before continuing.
“What makes you worthy, is being yourself. Don’t let any bad words get to you that’ll make you believe you’re not worthy. You have friends and family that have been there for you, helped you become who you are now. The bonds you’ve made, have created the biggest connection anyone could have. And I can prove it.”
Aqua raised her right hand forward and then, after a few seconds, a bright, yellowish-white light appeared in Aqua’s hand and out came a keyblade in her hand.
Its shaft displays two hearts, and its handle bears two angel wings, contrasting the bat wings that comprise Oblivion's handle. The teeth are fashioned in the shape of the Kanji for "light" corresponding to the Oblivion's kanji for "darkness". Its Keychain token is Kairi's Wayfinder, a star sewn together from Thalassa Shells. It was called Oathkeeper.
Lightning stares at the keyblade with a tiny shock look on his face.
“This is your heart, Lightning,” Said Aqua with a smile, “The Keyblade that has been inside of you waiting for the connection to be completed.” She turned the keyblade the other way round. “Take it.”
The colt slowly took the Oathkeeper from Aqua’s hand and held it in his right hoof while looking at it.
“You’ve created this keyblade with the bonds you have made with your friends and family. Hold tight to it. It will take you home.”
Just then, a bright yellow light appeared around Lightning’s body. Lightning looked around his body in shock and worried. “Wha...what’s happening to me?!”
“Fear not, young one,” Aqua said softly to him, “It’s just the light from the keyblade. It’s taking you home now. Which means I have to go too, my friends will be waiting for me back home.”
“Will I ever see you again?”
Aqua smiled at Lightning before answering, “Perhaps. Only time will tell. For now, it is time for you to go help your friends and family, Lightning. There is a light to save. So go forth now, and save it.”
Lightning gave Aqua a happy smile as tears of happiness ran down his face. “See you soon, Aqua.”
Aqua smiled at Lightning back before saying, “See you, Lightning.”
The light around Lightning got brighter turning him into a small ball of light, with him safely inside. It then flew up into the air and made its way back to Equestria and Lightning’s heart.
Aqua looked up and watched the ball of light fly away with a smile on her face as she said, “May your heart be your guiding key.”
The light bright then appeared around Aqua and shone brightly before it disappeared along with Aqua as it took her home as well.