//------------------------------// // Chapter VI: Reunited in the Crystal Empire // Story: KINGDOM HEARTS: Dark Order // by OliverSparkle //------------------------------// The guardians continued to walk among the field of the snow, but the coldness didn’t actually get to them in time because, after about ten more minutes of walking, they manage to find field path that’s full of grass and more sunshine. “Hey, look!” Ventus said happily while pointing forward. “Clean grass!” “Finally!” sighed Donald before running towards the green field, sat on his knees and started kissed the grass. He was glad to out of the snowy field. Just then, Goofy saw something up ahead as he pointed forward while saying, “Look! A town!” The others looked forward and saw he was right. The town Goofy saw was all shiny and bright with a shiny Crystal Palace in it and a big crystal open gateway to the town. It was the Crystal Empire. But they didn’t know about it yet. “Good spotting, Goofy!” Roxas said happily, “Maybe we might be able find someone who knows where we are.” “Sounds like a good idea to me, Roxas,” said Axel in agreement. “Then that town is where we’re heading to now,” said Sora pointing to the Crystal Empire. “Let’s go!” Donald said before being the first to walk towards the Crystal Empire as the others followed behind him. The guardians made it into the Crystal Empire only to find that no one was around. All the doors were closed, the spa place was shut and the shops and cafes were all closed with a sign saying “CLOSED” in red. “That’s strange,” said Xion while looking around, “There’s no one around.” “You think there’s anyone around?” Axel asked curiously. “I’m not quite sure,” answered Riku, “But we better head to the castle just to be sure if anyone’s in there.” “Right,” agreed Sora. With that being said, the guardians started to make their way towards the castle of the Crystal Empire. But they getting very far to the castle as they were stopped by six purple royal guard ponies with light blue armour on them. Three of the guards ran to them while the other three flew towards them before pointing their spears at them making Donald scream in terror as he ran towards Sora and hid behind his legs. “Hold it right there!” Said the one of the no helmet royal guard furiously. “Whoa whoa, this is some serious trouble!” Axel said. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” The sane guard asked still furiously. “Okay, we are definitely in Equestria,” said Sora making his friends look at him in shock and confuse. “What makes you say that, Sora?” Ventus asked. “Because, the last time I came to Equestria, they had different creatures here. Ponies are one of them. And the first new friends I’ve met in Equestria were ponies before any other creatures that live here. So it’s clear that we’ve made to the right world we needed to be in.” “Hey! Did you not hear me?!” The same guard shouted, Who are you and why are you here?! Are you those tiny creepy creatures that attacked us this morning?!” “Huh? Tiny creepy creatures?” Sora said to himself quietly before thinking. Was he talking the unversed that he and his friends have also faced before entering Equestria and facing one giant unversed in the snowy field? “Well?!” “Oh no no no no!” Sora quickly answered while waving his hands near the guards, “We're not those creatures you’re on about! They attacked us too, but in a different town that we live in! We heard they attacked here and wanted to see if we can help! We’re not with them! Honest!” Donald looked at Sora in shock. Normally, in each world they visited, he would almost forget about the order and say where he and his friends actually came from. But even though Equestria isn’t part of their world or any other worlds they visited over the years, he still didn’t say anything their world. A stallion royal guard looked at the no helmet royal guard, that shouted at Sora, and said, “What do you think, sir? Should we trust them?” The no helmet royal guard rubbed his chin while thinking for four seconds before answering. “Hmmm... Take them inside the castle while I go get the captain. We’ll let him decide.” The guards nodded in understood before walking behind the guardians, making they don’t try to pull any stunts or moves. Which I doubt they would since they only attack people and creatures that serve the darkness. One of the guards behind poked Donald at the butt with his spear while shouting, “Move it!” “Ow! Watch it!” Shouted the angry duck. He was attack to start attacking the guard, but was stopped by Sora. “Do what he saids, Donald,” he said to his friend, “When we see the captain, I’ll try to get him to trust us.” Donald was about to say something to him, but decided not to. He was going to take Sora’s words for it and trust him. They all then followed the no helmet royal guard into the castle of the Crystal Empire. Once inside the castle, they all stopped in the main entrance as the guards walked from behind the guardians and in front of them. “Stay here while I go get the captain. And DON’T get any ideas!” The guard turned to the other five guards. “Make sure they don’t go anywhere or try anything.” The five guards saluted to the no helmet guard before standing in front of the guardians so they keep a close a eye on them, but not standing too close to them, just a few miles from them so give them personal space. The no helmet guard left the room to go get the captain he was on about leaving only the guardians and the five guards in the main entrance room. “Gwarsh, that sure wasn’t a very friendly welcome,” said Goofy before turning to Sora, “Were they like that when you first entered here, Sora?” “No, not really,” answered Sora before turning to Goofy, “The ponies I first saw weren’t scared or even treated me like they did to us just now. In fact, the royal guards I saw had yellow gold armour on them, not purple. So what I’m saying is this town is part of Equestria, but not the same one I entered in when I first got here.” “You think they’re part of some sort of trap for us or even part of the unversed’s return?” Ventus asked. Sora placed a hand on his chin before answering, “I don’t know for sure. But we can’t be for sure they’re with the unversed until we see their captain. And the “tiny creepy creatures” they’ve mentioned is still making me wondering who or what they were talking about.” Sora continued to think about what the guards were on about for a few more seconds, until a familiar baby voice was heard. “Sora! Sora!” Sora took his hand off his chin while letting out a small gasp of happiness. He knew that baby voice from anywhere. He turned forward and happily said, “Flurry Heart!” There he saw Oliver walking towards the guardians with a happy smile on his face and the no helmet guard walking behind him. Flurry Heart was on her big brother’s head, cooing and giggling while reaching her tiny hooves out to Sora. The no helmet pony stood in between the five guards while Oliver stood in front of the guards as Flurry Heart quickly flew off her brother’s head and towards the keyblade wielder. Sora held his hands out to catch Flurry Heart as the baby alicorn landed in his hands, making him move back a bit, and began to nuzzle Sora’s cheek making him laugh. After a few more seconds of nuzzling, Sora pulled Flurry Heart away and both looked at each other while smiling as Sora said, “Haha, it’s good to see you too, Flurry Heart.” Flurry Heart kissed Sora on the cheek. “Did you miss me?” He asked. Flurry Heart nodded her head while saying, “Mmhmm.” Sora let out a chuckle before saying, “Yeah, me too.” While still holding the baby pony in his hands, Sora saw Oliver walking towards them while smiling which he smiled in return. “Oliver.” “Sora. So good to see you again.” The future prince looked at the guards and said, “Guards, leave us. Sora and his friends here aren’t a threat to us, they’re on our side.” The guards gave Oliver a nod in understood and returned to their duties as Oliver smiled at Sora again. “Sora, you know this pony?” Xion asked. Sora nodded his head before answering, “Yep. Guys, this is Oliver Sparkle, captain of the royal guards and the future prince.” Oliver gave Sora’s friends a wave with his hoof. Riku, Donald and Goofy jumped in shock as Riku then said, “What? The prince?!” Riku, Donald and Goofy stood up straight in respect of the prince. “Hey don’t worry,” Sora quickly said, “There’s no need to do that to him. He’s fine with it.” Riku, Donald and Goofy stopped standing up straight, after hearing what Sora just said, as Kairi walked towards Sora before bending to her knees and started looking at Flurry Heart. “Is this your little sister, Oliver? She’s so cute!” Flurry Heart started to coo and giggle at Kairi while reaching her tiny hooves out to her. Oliver let out a giggle. “Yep. Her name is Flurry Heart, and she loves meeting new visitors.” Oliver smiled at his little sister as she continued to reach her hooves out to Kairi. He then looked at Kairi, who was still smiling at Flurry Heart, before saying, “Would you like to hold her?” Kairi looked at Oliver and said, “I can hold her? Really?” “Of course,” replied Oliver happily, “Besides, she likes you already and wants to give you a hug.” Kairi looked back at the baby alicorn and saw he was right. Flurry Heart was still smiling at Kairi while reaching her hooves out to her wanting to hug her. “Bah,” the baby said. Kairi continued to smile at Flurry Heart as she gently took the baby alicorn from Sora’s arms and held her in her arms while letting Flurry Heart hug her. She was really excited to be held and hugged by Kairi. “You love me don’t you, you little pony,” she said before tickling Flurry Heart’s belly making her laugh while the others watched the two with smiles on their faces. “Like I said,” Oliver said happily, “She likes meeting new visitors.” Sora let out a chuckle before continuing to smile at Oliver and said, “Anyways, Oliver, these are my friends. Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, Riku, Kairi, Ventus, Aqua, Terra, Roxas, Xion and Axel.” Axel waved two fingers together while saying, “Hello.” He placed the fingers down and continued to smile at the future prince. “Nice to meet you all,” Oliver said politely. “Welcome to Equestria.” “A pleasure to meet you too, Oliver,” said Terra before holding his hand out to him as Oliver placed his hoof in Terra’s hand and both shook hands and hooves. Ventus shook hands and hooves with Oliver, after Terra, before saying, “Call me Ven.” Oliver smiled at him and said, “Very well then, Ven.” “Ven!” Said the voice of Flurry Heart. Oliver and Ventus looked at the baby pony and saw she was smiling at the two while in Kairi’s arms with her tiny hooves reaching up in the air and bouncing. Oliver giggled before saying, “Looks like Flurry Heart’s starting to like you already as well.” “Ven! Ven! Ven!” Flurry Heart stopped bouncing while letting out a laughter. The baby alicorn then saw King Mickey walking towards her while wearing a smile on his face. Flurry Heart started to reach her tiny hooves out to the mouse. Kairi noticed this and bent down a bit to let Flurry Heart see Mickey at a better level. “Hey there, Flurry Heart. It’s nice to meet you, little one.” Flurry Heart stretched towards Mickey and placed her tiny hooves on his face which tickled him. “Whoa! Haha, that tickles!” Riku let out a chuckle while watching Flurry Heart play with Mickey’s face. It reminded him of what he did to Mickey back at Castle Oblivion just to see if he was still illusion after freeing him from Ansem’s grasp. But he didn’t say anything about it, because Sora forgot about the castle and there’s no telling what kind of questions he might be asking about it. After a few more seconds of watching Flurry Heart playing with Mickey’s face, Sora turned to Oliver and said, “So, Oliver, do you know where we are in Equestria?” “Sure do,” answered Oliver, “This is the Crystal Empire, it’s my original home.” “Your original home?” Goofy asked. “Yep, I use to live here before I moved to Ponyville to live with my Aunt Twilight and learn about friendship and work at the School of Friendship.” Oliver looked back at Sora. “And, after you left those years ago, Flurry Heart has been drawing pictures of you in hopes that you will return one day.” “Has she now?” Sora looked at Flurry Heart. Flurry Heart nodded her head before using her magic to make one of her drawings appear from her bedroom. A paper of her drawing of Sora magically appeared in her grasp as she then showed it to him. “Wook!” Sora smiled at the drawing before crossing his arms and said, “Well, would you look at that? It’s like looking in a mirror.” “Yep, she really missed you that she couldn’t stop drawing pictures of you,” said Oliver, “She really wanted to see you again.” Sora looked at Oliver before saying, “Well, I think I know one thing she also missed after I left.” “What’d you mean, Sora?” Roxas asked curiously. Sora let out a chuckle. “Watch.” Sora walked up to Kairi and bent down to his knees to look at Flurry Heart. He then looked down to the ground and, after a few seconds, he did his funny face special which made Flurry Heart laugh. She really loved his funny face special. “Gwarsh, she loves your funny face special!” said Goofy happily. Sora stood back up and looked at the captain before letting out another chuckle. “Well, she is only a baby after all. Plus I figured my funny face would make her laugh after the first time we’ve met, and she seems to enjoy it.” Flurry Heart covered her face with her tiny hooves and, after a few seconds, she quickly moved them away while making her own funny face special at Sora which made him laugh in return. Sora turned back to Oliver and kindly asked, “So, are Twilight and the others here as well?” “Yep, they’re in the throne room with Mom and Dad. Wanna see them?” “Sure do,” Sora answered, “It’ll be great to see them again.” “Follow me,” said Oliver before making his way towards the throne room with the guardians following him. Kairi continued to hold Flurry Heart on her arms while heading towards the throne room as the baby alicorn magically made her drawing of Sora go back to her room nice and safe.