Three individuals who had recently awoken from a long slumber were now in a strange tower home to an extraordinarily powerful sorcerer named Yen Sid. The individual’s names were Sora, Donald, and Goofy. The three have a history of fighting off the darkness, battling heartless and protecting the worlds they travel to in the process.
”Without Meddling!”
Yes Donald… without “Meddling” in the affairs of other worlds.
”And maintaining the natural border!”
“ORDER!!”
Ahem… Anyways… their journey was not yet complete; not even close. They were about to embark on another journey, both more difficult and more… interesting than the last.
“...Your past endeavors did prevent an immense effusion of Heartless from
the great darkness; make no mistake about that.” Yen Sid explained to the three. “However, the Heartless are darkness made real… and darkness lingers yet in every heart. The Heartless are
fewer. But while darkness exists in a single heart, it will be difficult to
eliminate them.”
The three just let out a heavy sigh.
“Gawrsh, that must mean… if everybody's heart was full of light, them
Heartless'd go away!” Goofy points out.
Yen Sid nods. “Now it is time to speak of the enemies that you will encounter.” Yen Sid started as he made what looked like Donald appear.
“Wha??” Donald let out.
The Donald in front of them suddenly changed into a strange black creature with antennas and yellow eyes. “If one such as you, Donald, yields to the darkness in their heart, they too will become a Heartless. But you know this. The Heartless are always lurking and ever seeking to capture new hearts. Never let your guard down!” Yen Sid warned. “Now then…” He said before changing the heartless into a slender looking white creature with a strange symbol on its head. “At times, if someone with a strong heart and will; be they evil or good; becomes a Heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its own. An empty vessel whose heart has been stolen away... A spirit that goes on even as its body fades from existence; for you see, Nobodies do not truly exist at all. Nobodies may seem to have feelings, but this is a ruse. They only pretend to have hearts. You must not be deceived!”
Sora looked down for a moment. “Nobodies... They don't exist…” He says.
Two more slender looking Nobodies then appeared. “Now then…” Yen Sid continued “The being you see before you is known as a Dusk. They are the most common form of Nobody. But there are others; some larger, some with frightening and unique powers. Be vigilant! On your journey, you will meet an alarming number of Dusks. They will all attempt to do you harm. Still, they are
nothing but empty shells, destined to return to the darkness. But…” He then waved his hand, making a figure in black appear before them. “The beings you see before you now are different. These powerful Nobodies have formed a group called Organization 13. It commands the lesser Nobodies.”
“Organization 13…” Sora repeats looking at the figure curiously.
“While Heartless act on instinct,” Yen Sid continues. “Nobodies function in a higher manner. They can think and plan. And it seems they are working towards a goal. What that goal is, we do not know. The King sensed the danger, and journeyed forth to fight it. He found the dark realm's Keyblade, and with it, closed the door. Now he's traveling from world to world, fighting the Heartless as he seeks the answer to the riddle of the Nobodies and Organization 13.”
“Then I guess we better go find the King first!” Sora says.
“But where could he be?” Donald asked.
“Well, we won't know 'til we look.” Goofy says
“Yeah. And the King must know where Riku is, 'cause the two of them were
together in the realm of darkness when we closed the door. You know, after
defeating Ansem.” Sora says.
Yen Sid nods. “So, before you go, you will need more suitable traveling clothes. Those look a bit too small for you.” Yen Sid says, pointing out that Sora did indeed have small clothes as if he just grew in them. He then motions to the door on his left. “Through there, you'll find three good fairies. If you ask, they'll create for you appropriate garments.”
Goofy looked at Sora closely. “Gawrsh, Sora, you sure are growing fast.” he says.
“Uh, I guess…” Sora said, chuckling a bit. With that, he, Donald, and Goofy headed into the room where the three fairies were. “Me, you guys, Riku, and the King. I don't care who this Organization is or what it's planning. With the five of us… I mean, six of us, there's
nothing to worry about, right?”
______________________________________________
“Goodness… are you sure?”
“Positive, your highness. We have a few friends out there fighting them right now, but I’m not really sure it’ll be enough.”
“And you’re positive they will come to this world?”
“There’s no mistaking it…”
“But why… what is their reasoning?”
“Well gosh, if I knew that then I might’ve been able to do something about it.”
“I see… well, thank you again for your warning, your majesty.”
“Do you think you have someone who’s up for it…?”
“I may have a candidate in mind.”
“Just kind of strange… I don’t think we’ve ever thought of a pony being a guardian.”
“Well… she isn’t exactly a ‘pony’.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Equestria is home to many ponies, that is true… but there is one who is only half pony… and half human.”
“Is that… really possible?”
“Well she’s living proof, isn’t she?”
“Gee… you got me there. What’s her name?”
“Her name is Crystal Sparkle.”
“Crystal Sparkle… Got it! Well I look forward to meeting her, your highness!”
The being just giggled a bit. “You don’t have to be so formal; you can just call me Celestia.”
“Well then, you can call me Mickey.”
In the Castle in Ponyville…
“Let’s see… This goes here… and this goes… here?”
The mare just sighed. “Try again, sweetie.”
“Here…?”
“Oh come on, it’s not that hard.”
“Mom, I still don’t know how to read old ponish, let alone how to organize them the same way you do.”
“That’s because you’ve been slacking off on your studies recently…”
“Slacking off?? Mom, I focus on every magic lesson you give me!”
“Magic is great to know, but other knowledge is important too, Crystal.” Twi says raising her hoof.
“And just when am I going to need to speak old ponish?” Crystal asks, lifting herself in the air, putting a book away on a high shelf. Twilight raised her hoof as she was about to say something, but looked to the side, rubbing the back of her head. “Yeah, I thought so.” Crystal huffed. “Can we just take a break? We’ve been going at this for about an hour… and I’m feeling kind of hungry.”
Twilight huffed. “Okay but come back as soon as you’re done, alright?”
“I will!” Crystal said leaving the castle.
“I swear… it’s like I don’t even know her anymore.” Twi says.
“She’s getting older, Twilight.” Spike says. “You can’t expect her to be the same little girl you always knew since you adopted her.”
“I know that, it just… feels like it was only yesterday.” Twi says looking down. “She used to get so excited to learn something new about Equestria… now I’m lucky to even get her attention long enough for one lesson.”
“Just give her some time… who knows? Maybe there’s something on her mind that’s distracting her.” Spike says.
"...Well… I suppose she is at the age where she would probably start… thinking of certain things that teenage ponies would…" Twilight says looking to the side, rubbing her hoof. "And it must be harder being the only human in Equestria…"
"Exactly." Spike says. "Don't worry Twilight. I'm sure things will get better."
"I hope you're right, Spike… because I honestly don't know what to do anymore…"
With Crystal…
Crystal was just heading on her way to Sugarcube corner, thinking of what to do once she got there. "Let's see… I could always ask for a simple daisy sandwich… but Pinkie probably wouldn't find any fun in that." She said, thinking a bit. "And whatever I get, I should probably get something for Mom and Spike too."
"Yo!"
"Huh?" Crystal looks up to where the voice came from, seeing Rainbow Dash hovering above her. "Oh hey, Rainbow! What's up?"
"Have you seen Pinkie Pie around?" Rainbow asked. "I wanted to visit while I was on break, but she wasn't there."
"That's weird…"
"Yeah, Mrs. Cake said she might've gone to Fluttershy's cottage, but I just wanted to make sure if you saw her first."
"Sorry Rainbow Dash. If you want I can look for her with you."
"You're not too busy? I thought Twilight usually had you doing lessons today."
"Eh… yeah but--"
"Boring?"
"I'm learning more about old ponish…"
Rainbow just layed in the air, making snoring sounds. "Totally boring! Okay yeah, let's go look for her!"
"Right behind you!" Crystal exclaimed, levitating herself to follow Rainbow. “So how come you needed to see Pinkie Pie?”
“Nothing important really. I was on lunch break and I wanted to see if she wanted to have lunch with me.” Rainbow answered.
“You probably don’t get a lot of breaks now, do you?” Crystal asked.
“You kidding?” Rainbow retorted. “Ever since I became captain of the Wonderbolts, I barely have time to blink! Especially with some of the new recruits coming in…”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I obviously can’t just give up on them, but some of them look like they aren’t going to make it as a wonderbolt. Just makes me wonder: why bother?”
“Well maybe they just have a dream like you did before you became a Wonderbolt.” Crystal chuckled.
“Yeah but that was different. I already knew how awesome I was!” Rainbow smirked.
Crystal rolled her eyes a bit. “Yeah compared to a lot of pegasi you are.”
“Um, a lot? More like compared to all pegasi!” Rainbow said, flying up slightly. “Do you know anypony faster?”
“Well not any pony but there is this red hooded girl--”
“Okay, first of all: there is no way Ruby is faster. Second: She’s not even real!” Rainbow retorted.
“But I met her!” Crystal exclaimed.
“Yeah, in your magic comic book!” Rainbow exclaimed back.
"Yeah well it still--!"
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"
"What the!?" Crystal said looking around.
"That sounded like Fluttershy! Come on!!" Rainbow exclaimed as she and Crystal flew faster to where Fluttershy's cottage was… however when she got there, nopony was seen. "Where the hay is she!?"
"Somepony help us!!"
"That sounded like Pinkie Pie!" Crystal exclaimed.
Rainbow looked in the direction where the two heard the scream. "And of course… it came from the Everfree forest." Rainbow groaned.
"Well come on! We have to help them!" Crystal exclaimed, running in first.
"Crystal, wait up!" Rainbow exclaimed flying in after her. "Honestly, you'd think we saw everything in this forest already. What else is there??"
"That!!" the two hear Pinkie Pie shout. The two quickly darted their heads toward Pinkie's voice, seeing both her and Fluttershy surrounded by what looked like strange shadowy creatures with yellow eyes.
"Okay that's new!" Rainbow exclaimed. "What the heck kind of animals are they!?"
"T-t-these are definitely not animals!!" Fluttershy exclaimed.
"Don't worry! I'll get those creeps away from--" Rainbow exclaimed charging in, throwing a kick with her back hoof, only for her hoof to go through the creature, not seeming to harm it at all. "You?? What the??"
"Rainbow watch out!" Crystal exclaimed, firing a magic beam at one of the shadowy creatures. After hitting it, the creature vanished in a shadowy smoke before even more of them appeared seemingly from nowhere. "Where did they even come from!?"
"Ask questions later! More are coming!" Rainbow exclaimed. "And I don't think they're looking for autographs!"
"H-huh??" Crystal turned her head, seeing dozens of shadowy creatures coming from out of the ground. "We can't deal with all of those!"
"Then hurry up and teleport us outta here, Crystal!!" Rainbow shouted.
"Alright alright!" Crystal exclaimed. She and Rainbow Dash quickly flew over Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. As soon as they got to them, Crystal quickly used her magic to teleport them safely to the castle where Twilight was.
"Crystal? Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy?? What are you all--" Twilight started.
"We saw these weird monsters in the everfree forest!" Crystal exclaimed, cutting off Twilight.
"Weird monsters…? Wait what were you even doing in Everfree forest??" Twilight asked.
"T-that might've been our fault…" Fluttershy said.
"We heard them screaming from inside the forest and we charged in to help… but when I tried to fight off those weird things, it's like I couldn't even touch them!" Rainbow said. "Crystal did get one of them with her magic, but so many of them showed up! They were just coming out of the ground!"
"What…? I've never heard of a creature like that…" Twi says, pondering with her hoof to her face.
"I-i-it's true though…" Fluttershy said.
"TOTALLY true! I don't think I've ever been more scared in my life!" Pinkie said.
"Even you Pinkie Pie…?" Twi asked. "But you're the type of pony who laughs at things that are scary."
"I tried to! And even a manticore would be in a less grumpy mood after! But these things aren't like that!" Pinkie exclaimed. "A bunch of them just attacked us!"
"What exactly did they look like?" Twilight asked.
"They were literally all black with yellow eyes." Crystal answered. "They stood on two legs and had two antena coming out of their heads."
Twilight looked to the side as she tried to think of any creature that resembled that description… but nothing came to mind. "That's very strange… I've never heard of any creature like that."
"You think maybe Princess Celestia would know?" Crystal asked. "She has been around for over 1,000 years… maybe she's seen something like that."
"I'll try asking her." Twilight nods teleporting a scroll in front of her, writing down what Crystal and the others mentioned before having Spike send it off. "I wonder if it's a new threat…"
"Well those things didn't exactly seem like the friend making type so…" Crystal said rubbing the back of her head.
"I just don't understand… it's been peaceful for a few years… why now?" Twi asked.
"Who knows?" Rainbow asked. "I'm still freaked out that I couldn't even hit the thing…"
Moments later, a scroll in response was quickly sent back through Spike. Twilight took the scroll and opened it, reading through it without wasting any time. "What'd she say?" Crystal asked.
"...She said she knows exactly what that creature you described was… and that she needs the two of us in Canterlot immediately." Twilight said with a tone of nervousness.
"Just… you two?" Rainbow asked, tilting her head.
"That's what the scroll said…" Twilight nodded.
"But what if those weird things come out of the Everfree Forest and attack other ponies?" Rainbow asked.
"We'll come back as soon as we can." Twilight answers. "If any of those creatures do come, then I'll be counting on you three to evacuate the ponies to safety." she says to Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy.
"You got it!" Rainbow nodded confidently.
Twilight turns to Crystal. "Let's go."