//------------------------------//
// 6: The Radiant Garden and the Tree Of Harmony 
// Story: Kingdom Hearts: Twilight's Awakening 
// by Equestrian Defender 
//------------------------------//

It took the better part of two hours, but eventually Toriel led Spike to a set of thick metal blast doors. He half expected her to pull out a key and put it into some keyhole, or to use her magic to open the doors.

He did not expect to hear her say "This is Toriel. Open the doors!"

He was confused for a moment before a mechanical voice replied "Commencing Scan..."

Toriel rolled her eyes before pulling Spike forward. "Don't move. You may feel a slight tingle." She smiled to reassure him. "But it's harmless, I assure you."

Spike would've replied it was okay, but at that moment the floor beneath them began to glow with golden light. After a second it ended and the same voice said "No Heartless Detected. No Nobodies Detected. All Clear!"

"Of course there wouldn't be," Toriel said. Looking at Spike she explained "Because this system of caves connects to that other castle, we have to scan everyone to make sure that they are who they appear to be."

He nodded in understanding. "We've had a problem with shapeshifters back home. But we took care of it." Even though it involved Twilight being made to look like a crazy fool, nobody believing her warnings, and all her friends and her teacher abandoning her. Including me. He looked down shamefully at that part. Some little brother I was.[1]

He pushed those thoughts aside when with a groan the blast doors began to slide apart, letting light shine through and revealing a metal elevator that led to the surface. Stepping into it and closing the game, Toriel pressed a button and the machine began its ascent. 

Growl.

Surprised, she looked around but didn't see anything. She then looked to Spike, who was blushing from embarrassment. "Sorry. I haven't eaten anything since..." He racked his brain before finishing "well, before those things attacked my home."

She nodded, understanding. "Well, once we get up there we'll get you some food."

"Awesome." Seeing that it was going to be a while before they got to the top he decided to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while. "So, that creature you toasted back there. You called it a Heartless?"

"Yes." She shook her head, a bit of anger on her face. "Despicable creatures."

"Well, what are they?"

"They are creatures of darkness. Most of them are born from the shadows themselves, but ones like the one I 'toasted' are actually created from when they manage to find a victim." Seeing his confused look she elaborated "The Heartless are attracted to the darkness in a person's, or a creature's, heart. Not the physical organ, but rather a spiritual one."

"Like a soul?"

"Not quite. It's... hard to explain. Think of it more like a culmination of your being; the part that gives you your feelings, your emotions, everything that makes you... well, you."[2]

"Okay. And I'm guessing they're attracted to the Heart to... eat it?"

Toriel nodded somberly. "Unfortunately. They feed on the light within the Heart, leaving only the darkness behind. When that happens, that darkness ends up becoming another Heartless. How strong the darkness is within that person's heart determines how strong the Heartless will be. Just a few of these things could turn an entire town into their lunch within a few hours."[3]

"That sounds terrifying."

The elevator finally reached the top, and Toriel sighed again. "You don't know the half of it."

As they exited the elevator, they immediately came to metal door. Toriel smiled before opening it, and said "Welcome to The Radiant Garden."

Spike could immediately see why it was called that. Compared to the rest of the barren wasteland around them (and especially that other castle) the town was full of life. Children ran around playing games, adults were either doing their jobs or shopping, and the whole town just seemed to radiate joy and happiness. It was almost like he was back in Ponyville again (Though without a castle, since there wasn't a princess living there and he doubted one would be soon.)

But one of the key differences Spike noticed was that none of the creatures in front of him were ponies, griffons, or dragons. They all looked like he did now, save for the fact that they didn't have patches of scales like he did. Or a tail. "Um, Toriel?"

"Yes Spike?"

"Where... exactly are we? Because on my world, all of these... creatures," he gestured to the people in front of him "would either be ponies, dragons, or some other magical creature."

Toriel looked at him, then at his scales, and asked "You used to be a dragon?"

He nodded. "Yeah. That's not a problem, is it?"

Growing up in Canterlot, in his early years he'd faced his fair share of discrimantion from some of the snobbier individuals there. Up until Twilight found out, told Princess Celestia, and Princess Celestia told said snobs that he was a friend of hers and her student (AKA Twilight.) They backed off after that.

But Toriel shook her head and replied "No. But that does explain the scales." She then sighed. "You said that your home was attacked by the Heartless, right?" He nodded, and Toriel continued "The truth is, Spike, judging by what you said, you actually came from another world."

"Like, another planet?"

"Sort of. Anyway, much like a person a World has a Heart of its own. They tend to be much bigger and made almost entirely of Light. And since the Heartless feed on Light..."

She left the sentence hanging, but Spike's mind already came to the conclusion. "They ate the Heart of our world. Which means-"

He couldn't finish that sentence. He just couldn't. The thought of his home, the place he was born and spent his whole life growing up and where he met all of his friends. And his friends... "Is it possible I'm not the only one who survived?"

Toriel nodded. "It is possible. The ones who usually survive a world's destruction are those with strong hearts with the least amount of darkness in them, or who are protected by a spell or if they happen to have a Keyblade."

Images of Twilight holding that sword and her calling it a Keyblade by name flashed in his mind, and he said "My older sister, she got a Keyblade just before our world was destroyed. So she's safe?"

She nodded again. "Yes. But she might not be here. When a World is destroyed, any survivors would be scattered across the many worlds in existence. While there are a few worlds that the majority of survivors land on, such as this world, Traverse Town and Twilight Town, there's a chance she could end up anywhere."

"But she's alive at least. And it's possible my other friends and family might be too. That's good enough for me." He smiled. "Gotta think positive."

"Indeed." Hearing his stomach growl again, she said "Now, let's get you some food. Preferably before you stomach decides to eat itself."

They both laughed at the joke, before hearing someone ask "Spike?"

The speaker was another one of the strange creatures that Spike had turned into, though he lacked scales or a tail. He was wearing a pair of blue pants with red and black sneakers, a hooded jacket with blue on the inside and the sleeves over a white t-shirt with a familiar symbol: a blue shield with a yellow lightning bolt emblazoned upon it. 

That symbol, plus the fact that the creature had blue hair in the same style and the same blue eyes, immediately clued Spike in on who he was. "Lieutenant Flash Sentry?"

He nodded. "Thought I told you to call me Flash?" Looking at Toriel he added "Oh, hey Toriel. Caves treat you okay?"

"I was fine," she replied, before looking at Spike. "But he ran into something down- Wait, you two know each other?"

Both Spike and Flash nodded. "Yeah. I met Flash a few hours before the Heartless swarmed Equestria." Looking at Flash he asked "Hey, how'd you get here anyway?"

Flash rubbed the back of his head. "It's a long story..."



 

Twilight looked at the crystal tree in confusion, then at the little filly, then back at the tree. "How exactly is this crystal tree going to bring back Equestria? I thought it was sucked into a black hole?"

The filly giggled. "This isn't just any old crystal tree, Twilight. This is something far more important." Seeing a little light appear on the trunk, the filly gestured for Twilight to touch it. "All the answers will be revealed."

With nothing else to do, Twilight reached out a hoof towards the light.

And the moment she touched the light, images began to flow into her mind as her eyes glowed. "Whoa..."





"And that's pretty much all I remember," Flash finished.

After the three of them came to a small inn to get some food, Flash had told them what had happened. Apparently after they played in the park, Flash and his little brother were going out to get some ice cream. 

Then the sky went dark, and the Heartless started showing up. Nowhere near as much as what was in Ponyville, but still enough to be concerned about.

Anyway, after making sure First Base (that was his brother's name) got into one of the shelters, Flash had flown off to Canterlot Castle to get some answers and retrieve his gear.

Sadly by the time he got there the only thing he had time to grab was his shield before, as he put it, everything went black. The next thing he remembered was waking up in a room at the local inn in this town, now transformed into what the locals called a "Human."

Swallowing a spoonful of soup, Spike asked "So, what have ve you been doing since then?"

Flash sighed. "Well, I spent the better part of a week looking around this place for First Base. But sadly, looks like he didn't land here."

"You find anyone- Wait, a week?"

"Yeah. One of the people who help run this place said that sometimes people from the same world end up crashing into others at different times. I've been here for going on two weeks now, and I'm guessing you just got here."[4]

"Yeah. So, did you find anyone or anypony else from Equestria?"

Flash shook his head. "Sadly, no. You're the first one from Equestria who's landed here besides me."

Spike sighed, then noticed Toriel. Throughout the whole conversation she hadn't really said much, just ate her food while listening to their story. "Sorry if we kinda dumped all this on you. It's just-"

Toriel dismissed it with a wave of her hand, smiling. "It's fine. Really the most surprising part was finding out that you used to be a dragon and your friend used to be a winged horse."

"The technical term is Pegasus, Ma'am," Flash replied, taking a bite of his salad.

"Sorry." She looked at the rest of her food with a forlorn expression, and said "The saddest part is that the story of what happened to your world almost entirely matches-"

"-what happened to your world?" Seeing her surprised expression Spike continued "The way you talked about the Heartless, and how they consumed people and Worlds? Sounded a bit too much like firsthand experience."

Once she got over her shock, Toriel nodded. "About a year ago, the Heartless showed up in my world; The Monster Underground. Nobody knew what they were or where we came from, but they didn't give us a chance to find out. We tried fighting them off, and we managed to hold them off for some time. But between some internal problems between us monsters, the sheer number of the Heartless, and the fact that at the time we didn't know about Hearts, the Worlds, et cetera; our world was destroyed." She absentmindedly poked at her salad. "One moment I was recovering from a fight, reading a book on snail recipes by a nice warm fire. Next thing I know, everything goes dark and I wake up in the same cave system you woke up in. I've been living here ever since, helping to search the caves for others who land here."

"I'm sorry."

She waved it off. "It's fine. While I am worried about some of my friends back home, I'm confident I'll see them again. Plus, I finally got to see the sun." Seeing the surprised look on Spike's face, she smiled and added "It's not called 'The Monster Underground' for nothing."

Flash and Spike both chuckled. "Anyway," Flash said "if what everyone here says is true, then it's likely my brother landed in another world besides this one. I need to find him before something happens to him. And then I want to try and find the other survivors."

"Understandable," Toriel replied. "But how exactly do you plan to do that?"

"Yeah, I doubt you can just fly there. Especially considering your wings are kinda not there anymore," Spike noted. 

"Don't remind me. It feels weird not having them on my back." Flash smirked and continued "And I actually did find a way to travel between worlds."

"Really? How?"

Taking a sip of his drink, Flash replied "Finish your food and I'll show you."





Twilight saw the tree, the same crystal tree that she had touched moments earlier. Only now below within its roots she could see something else; an enormous crystal shaped like a heart, though much MUCH larger than the actual Crystal Heart in the Crystal Empire. But much like the rest of the world at the moment, it lacked color. In fact, it looked kind of damaged if the cracks were anything to go by.

It was then that she saw six different colored lights floating in front of the tree. Each of the lights became clearer as she got closer, revealing the Elements of Harmony.

As they each floated into their corresponding slots, the tree began to glow, the light traveling down into the heart within the roots. The cracks began to heal as the heart glowed...

...and to Twilight's amazement the light from the tree slowly expanded, spreading out and banishing the darkness. 

In an instant she was somehow floating above Ponyville, seeing the darkness that had covered it banished away by the light. As it did, ponies started to appear, some rubbing their heads or eyes as if they had just woken up from a strange slumber. 

Then she remembered what the voice in her dream had told her. You are the light that will shine through the darkness.

And then the vision ended, and Twilight was back in the cave with the filly. Looking at said filly with a smile on her face she said "I need the Elements of Harmony. With them, I can restore the Tree, which will restart that crystal within the roots and bring Equestria back!"

The filly smiled. "Exactly. By restoring the Tree of Harmony, you'll restore this world's Heart. Only then will it come back from the darkness."

Twilight nodded, but then noticed the world around her beginning to fade. "Am I... waking up?"

"Soon, probably. Time moves differently in your head."

Looking at the filly, Twilight smiled and said "Thank you. I'd hug you, but I'd just go right through you."

"Maybe someday you could hug me for real," the filly asked.

Twilight nodded. "Absolutely. Hopefully by then I'll remember your name..."

It was at that moment it hit her: a vague memory of sitting in the Canterlot Library as a filly, reading a large book on Fire magic with the filly sitting right beside her. Though back then she was a year older than her.

Her best friend. "Sunset Shimmer."

The filly, Sunset nodded. As the world faded she smiled and said "See you around, Twi."

Twilight smiled, not noticing the few small tears escaping her eyes. "See you around, Sunny."




Once they finished their food, Flash led Spike and Toriel to a large building close to the city wall. Opening the door with a keycard, he led them inside. Flipping a few switches to the left, large lights flipped on overhead, revealing what was inside.

Spike's jaw dropped. "You're kidding me."

It looked like something out of one of the science fiction comics Spike read about spacecraft; maybe Pony Trek?

Only it was real.

He was actually looking at an honest to Celestia spaceship.

It was shaped mostly like a hexagon, with the cockpit mounted near the front. Underneath it was a gunner's station, with a double barreled gun on either side. On either side was also a gunner's station, though they each only had a single barreled gun. On top of the craft was a 360 Degree turret, armed with a four-barreled canon.[5]

But the awe and majesty was kind of undercut because several panels were missing all over the ship, as well as one of its three engines were hanging by a set of chains. On top of that, it seriously needed a new paint job as the majority of the paint was either faded or completely stripped to the metal in some places.

Noticing this, Flash said "Yeah. I'm still kind of putting it together. But aside from the missing panels, and the engine I'm repairing, it's still mostly intact."

"Yeah. Mostly," Spike scoffed, even though he immediately smiled once he said that. "You really think this'll take us where we need to go?"

Flash nodded. "It should. The guy I bought this from said he used to go to all sorts of worlds. But this was back when all the engines were in one place, the power core didn't need replaced, and the memory drive that had the Star Chart wasn't fried. That's not even taking into account the one hull breach I just fixed yesterday, the life support that I got replaced a few days before that, and the artificial gravity system that was the first thing I fixed after I bought it."

Toriel looked at him in surprise. "Where did you get the money for this?"

"I'm working a few odd jobs for the guy I bought it from. Well, he's not a guy. He's a duck."

"You're working with Scrooge McDuck?"

"Not really. I'm not his employee, I just do a few odd jobs for him. Can't really be a full-time employee since the moment this thing is fixed and I get a new Star Chart I'm heading out. I do a job, get paid, buy the parts, try and fix this ship up."

Looking at one of the exposed parts of the underside, Spike asked "How's that working out?"

"With any luck, I should hopefully have this thing fixed up and flying in about three or four months," Flash replied, making the "so-so" gesture. "Give or take. All this while I'm taking classes from a guy here who used to work on these ships, so that I can repair and maintain this beauty while I'm out there in the cold vacuum of space."

"Careful there, Flash," Spike said. "One of my friends, Applejack, tried to take on too much work by herself."

"Yeah, I heard about that from Princess Celestia," Flash stated. "Don't worry though. I'm still getting at least six hours of sleep a day, and I'm taking time to eat and drink." Seeing the surprised look on his face he added "Military training. Had to be ready to hop out of my bed and get ready at a moments notice, and fight for my life in the event of an attack with less than an hour's worth of sleep."

"Sounds hard."

"Let's just say I became quick friends with a pot of coffee."

"Personally, I prefer tea," Toriel stated, smirking. 

They all laughed at that. "Three to four months, huh?" Looking at Flash, Spike asked "Any chance there's a place here that I can do some odd jobs?"

Both Flash and Toriel nodded. "Radiant Garden has plenty of places to get some Munny," Flash said. "Delivery jobs, repair jobs, I'm personally more partial to Heartless hunting. I think I saw two or three job requests for rare gems found in the caves Toriel found you in."

Spike smiled. "Okay then. So I'll help you get the money for this thing. Should cut our time down in half, right?"

"Unless something happens to totally trash the ship, yeah. But don't you think you should focus on learning how to use that magic staff you found?" 

Remembering that he had already told Flash about what he did to the bug monster, the spell he used, Spike realized he had a point. "Hey, you still manage to do your jobs and repair this ship while taking engineering classes. I can do that too while learning about magic." Fingering the Element of Magic, he added "Plus, I need to find Twilight."

"Hey, I get it," Flash said with an understanding smile. "Brothers and sisters gotta look out for each other."

Spike nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright then. You can help. But the first moment I think you're pushing yourself too hard, I will make you stop and take a break. We clear?"

"Crystal," he replied, shaking Flash's hand.

A few minutes later Toriel and Spike walked out of the building, Toriel leading Spike down the road to meet a friend of hers. "So, this friend of your's," Spike asked. "You're saying he can teach me magic?"

Toriel nodded. "Trust me, if anyone can help teach you magic, or tell you what that staff of yours really is, it's him." Coming up to a house she said "Here we are."

Knocking three times, a wizened old voice asked "Yes, who is it?"

"It's Toriel, Merlin. May we come in?"

The door opened to reveal... no one there. "Magic," Spike guessed. 

Toriel nodded, leading him inside the house and almost right into the owner of the house. "Ooh, sorry about that! I was just about to make a pot of tea."

The owner in question was a bespectacled man who looked to be in his fifties, with short white hair and a long, straight white beard. He was wearing blue robes and a tall blue hat that ended in a point, which immediately made Spike realize that he was a wizard. Smiling (which was kind of hard to see behind his beard) he said "Hello Toriel. Good to see you again." Looking at Spike he asked "And who's this young man?"

"My name's Spike, sir," he answered, holding out his hand. "And, I'm actually a dragon." He held up his tail for emphasis.

The man smiled, taking Spike's hand and shaking it. "Pleasure to meet you, Spike the dragon. My name's Merlin." Motioning them inside he asked "So Toriel, why exactly have you brought him here?"

Toriel explained what Spike had told her when he used that spell, and how Spike wanted to learn magic. Merlin listened with rapt attention, and when it was over he looked to Spike. "An Explosion Spell? Those are uncommon... but not unheard of. It's a very rare spell."

"Well, I never used any spells until I found this staff," Spike said, showing it to Merlin.

Merlin analyzed the staff, seemingly X-Raying it with his eyes. "Hmm... I fell like I've seen something like it before. I'll have to check my library. In the meantime, however..." He looked at Spike and said "Fair warning, magic isn't as easy to learn as it seems. It will take a lot of study, a lot of practice, and quite a bit of trail-and-error. Are you sure you wish to walk down this path?"

Spike nodded. "If the Heartless show up again, I want to be able to fight them off with more than just my fire breath. Plus, my older sister and her friends are always fighting to save our world and protect me. This time, I want to be able to protect them."

Merlin and Toriel both smiled at his answer. Seeing this, Spike asked "So, when do we get started?"

Chuckling, Merlin replied "We already have."





Twilight felt weightless, like she was floating in water. Her whole body was so numb she could barely lift her head or open her eyes. I must've worn myself out worse than I thought. I've never had a case of Magic Exhaustion this bad. 

As the seconds passed by she started to regain feeling in her body, but something felt... off. Why does my body feel so different? Why can't I flick my ears? Where's my tail? And my horn? And why do my hooves feel so... wrong?

Unable to handle it any longer, she opened her eyes and put herself in a sitting position.

And immediately she noticed two things.

One, she was apparently in a hospital room of some kind. There were a few machines around her that were taking her vitals, an IV bag on a stand that was currently plugged into her arm, and a button on the rail of her hospital bed that read "Nurse."

And two, sometime during her period of unconsciousness her body had undergone a significant change. Gone was the body of a unicorn, replaced with what she could only guess was a body similar to the fur-less primates she saw on the stained glass from her dream. Her horn and tail were gone completely, as was all her fur, leaving only flesh. The hooves on her forelegs were gone, now fleshy as well and with additional appendages. The hooves on her rear legs were just as fleshy, though the additional appendages were shorter and kinda stubby. 

Her panic was starting to rise as she looked herself over. "What happened to my hooves? Why don't I have my horn? What happened to me?!"

Unable to take it anymore, she did what anyone in her situation would do.

She screamed.