Roxas sprinted towards Gilda’s Heartless as fast as he could, running through a crowd of panicked ponies. Another shriek synchronized with a magical blast of energy, causing another devastating explosion.
‘If I don’t handle this quickly, there won’t be a Ponyville left to save!’Thought Roxas, as he dodged an incoming mound of debris by leaping to and running along the side of a nearby building.
The Heartless began floating away from its original position, no doubt looking for more chaos to cause. Luckily for Roxas, it hadn’t noticed him yet. Seizing the opportunity, Roxas leapt towards the beast, his magic enhancing his speed to that of a bullet. Capitalizing on this, Roxas stabbed his Keyblade right at the Heartless’s head. It screamed in pain, both beaks opening to shoot their respective blasts of energy. The head then rotated round and round like a wheel, at a speed that dislodged Roxas, sending him crashing into a pile of debris.
Roxas felt the air forced out of his lungs when he impacted. In addition, several pieces of broken wood tore through his coat, cutting into his flesh, leaving splinters in the wounds.
Roxas tried to suck air back into his body, but couldn’t. As he lay there, the Heartless’s face that emanated rage opened it’s beak and sent a barrage of fireballs at Roxas. The human tried to get up and out of the way, but he still couldn’t catch his breath. The fire hit him, creating an intense amount of smoke that consumed the air around it. Roxas, with is first breath of air, screamed.
“Spike! Spiiiikkkeee!” called Twilight as she galloped through the chaos of Ponyville. She and the others had split up in order to find Spike, Applejack and Rarity, as well as help any other ponies who needed it.
“Spike!” Twilight looked around. The area she was in was now abandoned, with all the citizens either having escaped, or perished. Tears sweat and blood mixed on the unicorns face as she frantically searched. She ran to a pile of debris and started sorting through it, finding nothing. She moved on to the next one, finding nothing but the broken remnants of the lives that had once occupied the spot.
She had no time to stop and contemplate the ruined lives around her. Not until she found Spike.
“Applejack! Rarity! Where are you!” called Rainbow frantically as she flew from ruined building to ruined building. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find her friends. She was about to move on to the next section of town, when she heard a faint call.
“Help!”
It was weak, but Rainbow was able to identify the voice of a filly coming from behind her. She did a quick one-eighty and dashed towards the source of the call.
“Please! Somepony help me!” came the voice again. Rainbow now had an accurate pinpoint of where the voice was coming from. She looked and saw a small orange filly pinned beneath the decorative cupcake structure that had made up Pinkie Pie’s room.
Rainbow quickly flew to the spot. She grabbed the large piece that was pinning the filly, and lifted it into the air, off of her.
“Quick kid! You gotta crawl out of there!”
“Okay!” replied the filly. Rainbow watched through grit teeth as the orange Pegasus filly crawled out from under the wreckage. Once she was clear, Rainbow dropped the rubble. Rainbow then landed in front of the child.
“Are you alright?” she asked, concerned.
“I-I think so,” replied the filly. Aside from some scratches on her fur, and debris in her purple mane, the she looked to be unharmed.
“You-you’re Rainbow Dash!” said the filly in adoration when she realized who had saved her.
“Yeah that’s me, listen kid I don’t mean to be rude but you gotta get out of here! It’s not safe!”
“Oh, yeah sure,” replied the filly. Rainbow took to he air, and was about to fly off, when she looked back to see the Pegasus filly running instead of flying. She quickly returned to the filly.
“Kid, you should probably fly out of here, running’s too slow!”
“I…I can’t fly,” replied the filly.
“Really? Crap! Alright, hop on my back and I’ll fly you out of here!” Rainbow lowered herself to the ground in front of her fellow pegasus, whose eyes were now wide open and sparkling. The filly wordlessly climbed onto Rainbow’s back, and in quick motion, Rainbow took to the air. She couldn’t see the expression of pure joy and amazement that graced the child’s face.
Roxas circled around the Heartless, firing blasts of fire and ice magic at it. But because the heartless had two faces that rotated, he wasn’t able to find an opening in its defenses. The creature screamed once more, and dove at Roxas, swinging its talons at him. He blocked with his Keyblade, before disappearing. He reappeared high above the heartless. Switching his single blade for the duo of Oathkeeper and Oblivion, he fell down towards his opponents’ head. He brought the weapons down on its skull, which caused it to fall towards the ground, landing with a thud.
As Roxas prepared to attack again, the heartless picked itself up, and stood on its talons. As Roxas approached, it swung at him with both of its wings. Roxas dodged the first, but was hit with the second, which caused him to careen into a nearby building.
‘Why is this so difficult?’Roxas questioned himself as he wiped a smear of blood from his lips. ‘I barely managed to hurt this thing, while it’s been hurting me plenty!’
Roxas stood up, and twirled both his Keyblades, before jumping towards the heartless with fury. He cast thunder on the monster with Oathkeeper, and then brought a heavy hit towards the heartless with Oblivion. Then he began ferociously striking the beast with both of his Keyblades. Over and over like a swarm of bees, Roxas utilized the full extent of his speed; striking all over the heartless’s body and head as hard as he could.
The Heartless took the brunt of the attacks, crying out in pain and rage before erupting a shockwave of magic sound, which sent Roxas flying into the air. He recovered with a flip, but before he could attack again, the heartless cried out. Roxas heard the sound of thunder clapping, and he looked up just in time to see a bolt of lightning heading right for him!
Roxas was slammed right on the ground as all his muscles seized and burned. His Keyblades disappeared, as he lay on the ground motionless.
“Ooh, my head,” complained Rarity as she sat up from a pile of debris. “What happened?” she looked around to see the utter devastation surrounding her. “My goodness! What-“ she was interrupted by a dragon-like roar. She looked over, and her pupils shrank as she saw the looming distant figure of the heartless.
“W-what is that thing? Twilight! Rainbow, Pinkie Pie! Where are you?” she called. She heard a spurt of coughing coming from behind her. She turned to see Spike dusting himself off after digging his way out of the mess of broken wood that had covered him.
“Spikey!” cried Rarity as she ran and embraced the young dragon. “Are you alright?” she asked. Spikes cheeks glowed red as he returned the hug.
“Y-yeah, I’m good. My scales are pretty thick; they took most of the damage.”
“Thank Celestia!” said Rarity. The two disengaged from the embrace, and looked at the carnage around them.
“We need to find the others!”
“My thoughts exactly, let’s go!”
Rainbow landed next to the library, which was somewhat of a safe haven for the citizens of Ponyville, as the tree was barely damaged. Rainbow set her temporary ward on the ground.
“All right kid, get inside where it’s safe!”
“I will! You’re the coolest Rainbow Dash!” admired the filly, before she heeded Rainbows orders.
“You bet I am!”
“Rainbow!” the Pegasus looked to see Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy and Applejack approaching.
“We found Applejack!” said Pinkie Pie.
“But we still can’t find Spike!” cried Twilight.
“All right, I’ll take to the sky, see if I can-“ before she could finish, they heard the voice of Rarity approaching.
“Girls!” she called. Seeing Spike with her, Twilight ran up and embraced the young dragon as the rest of her friends joined in.
“I’m so glad you’re okay!” said Twilight as she hugged the dragon.
“I’m glad you’re okay too!”
Their embrace was interrupted by a loud roar, followed by the sound of an explosion. The seven of them all turned their attention to see the battle between Roxas and Gilda’s Heartless.
“What is that thing?” asked Applejack.
“That is, that was-“ started Twilight before she was interrupted by Rainbow.
“Gilda. That was Gilda.”
“I don’t understand,” questioned Spike.
“We can explain later, right now we have to stop that monster from causing anymore damage!” said Twilight with conviction.
“Roxas is fighting that thing, but I think he needs our help! Are you ready girls?” Each member of the group gave an affirmative nod. “Spike, go back to the tree house and wait there.
“O-okay!” replied the dragon, as he turned and ran towards the library.
“Let’s go!” cried Twilight as the six of them charged forward, ready to end the fight.
Roxas was reaching his limit. His body was covered in cuts and bruises, and his strength was starting to fail him.
“This…*huf* is insane. Why can’t I beat this thing?” he said through ragged breaths.
The Heartless let out another roar, and started charging a blast of magic in its beak. Roxas stepped back, and prepared to defend against the attack. With another roar, the Heartless sent the blast shooting towards Roxas. He tried to dash out of the way, but only made it five feet before he collapsed onto the ground.
“Damn it...” he said, defeated. “I guess this is it,” he relented. He closed his eyes in preparation for what was about to happen.
He heard a loud bang, but didn’t feel the attack hit him. He opened one eye and was surprised to see a translucent violet magic shield blocking the attack. Within moments, the main six had appeared.
“Are you alright?” questioned Twilight as she struggled to keep the shield from breaking under the force of the heartless’s attack.
“Alright-ish,” Roxas replied as Fluttershy helped him to his feet.
“Don’t worry man, we got this!” boasted Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah, you should go rest,” said Fluttershy.
“No, I can’t do that yet. My Keyblade is the only thing that can put the heartless down for good, and you don’t have the Elements!”
“Can ya even still fight?” questioned Applejack.
“I’m not beat yet. But I could use your help. If you can draw its attention away from me, it will give me the opening I need to strike the final blow.”
“Oh dear, I’m not sure how much help I can be with that,” said Rarity, nervous. “But I can certainly do best!”
“Rainbow and Fluttershy, you fly around that monster, and keep it’s attention!” commanded Twilight. Fluttershy let out an ‘eep’.
“I-I can’t!” replied Fluttershy, as she covered her face with her hooves, and cowered on the ground, shaking.
“But Fluttershy, we need you!” said Rainbow Dash.
“It’s fine,” stated Roxas. “Rainbow, you’re fast enough for two ponies, right?”
“You know it!”
“Alright, then this is the plan. Rainbow and Pinkie Pie, you draw the Heartless’s attention. Twilight try to contain its blasts and keep them from destroying anything. Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack, you should get out of here,” commanded Roxas.
“What? I aint’ runnin’ away!” shouted Applejack.
“I, might just heed his advice,” said Rarity. Another nervous ‘eep’ came from Fluttershy.
“Applejack, you should make sure everypony stays safe! We can handle this!” stated Twilight. Applejack was about to protest, but when she saw the fear that enveloped Fluttershy, she decided better of it.
“Alright fine! Rarity, Fluttershy, follow me!” she commanded. The three turned and rain away from the scene.
“Alright. Let’s do this,” said Roxas.
Rainbow flew right towards Gilda’s Heartless, flying around it in circles. The two heads tried to keep up, firing blasts out of both beaks, but where unable to hit the Pegasus.
“Sorry about this Gilda! I really am! But I have to do this!” said Rainbow, hoping that whatever was left of her friend could hear her.
Pinkie pie used her manic energy to bounce around the battlefield, hitting the Heartless with blasts from her party cannon, while twilight erected shields to keep the blasts of magic from causing any more harm. Roxas readied himself to strike a final blow. He ran towards the heartless at full speed. He leapt onto a nearby building, and ducked under an incoming blast of magic. He then leaped into the air, landing right on the Heartless’s head.
Roxas took Oblivion and stabbed it right onto the Heartless’s head. He raised Oathkeeper into the air and screamed: “Thunder!” He cast Thundaga on the Heartless, which conducted through the blade he’d stabbed into its head, caused the electric attack to travel throughout its entire body. The monster let out one final scream of pain and rage before bursting into purple and black energy. Before Roxas fell to the ground, he saw a heart float up into the air. Then he hit the ground, being launched into unconsciousness.
Rainbow stood in front of the battlefield, in the spot that Gilda had just occupied. The rest of her friends stood with her, with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy holding up the unconscious Roxas.
“I’m sorry Gilda. This is my fault…”
“It’s not your fault, Rainbow,” consoled Twilight, who put a hoof on her friends wither.
“You could’ve known this would happen. In fact, this has NEVER happened before, in the history of Equestria.”
“Why then? Why did it happen?” asked Rainbow through tears.
“I don’t know. But I have a feeling Roxas does.” All eyes went to the knocked out human.
In the Everfree forest, standing motionless was a Griffon. The Griffon, a female with white and pink head feathers, and a small black mark under each of her eyes, couldn’t seem to speak. All she could think was; ‘Where am I? Who am I?’
In front of the Griffon, a dark gateway opened. Out of it stepped a four-legged figure, face obscured by a black coat.
“Poor thing, you must be so confused,” said the figure. “Come with me, and I will take you somewhere safe.”
The Griffon wordlessly obeyed, and stepped through the portal.
“Welcome home, number III.”