//------------------------------// // 63. Shrouding Dark Cloud // Story: Spider in Equestria // by DarkSpider //------------------------------// At the edge of Canterlot Castle, a large golden ring expanded in size, floating above the ground before Dark and the others jumped out of the ring, causing it to shrink back down to its original size. Seeing the shrinking ring spin towards him, Dark raised his hand and caught the ring before quickly pocketing it. "That'll definitely be useful," Dark muttered to himself before looking at his 2 companions. "Come on." Almost immediately after saying that, he saw a few Shadows behind Mike and immediately slashed them with Lycan Web. "You sure the guard can't handle these things?" Lightning asked before tackling a few more. "I mean they're pretty pathetic." Dark shook his head, glaring at the approaching Shadows. The flat creatures quickly pulled themselves off the ground before pouncing on him. "You don't know how incompetent the guard is.” He began, pausing for a moment to slash the Shadows trying to claw him. “Even if by some small chance it was just the Shadows, there's a pretty high chance the guard will be wiped out by sunset." "What about the princesses?" He shrugged. "They likely can handle the Shadows, but I honestly have no idea about their capabilities in a fight. I've seen them get defeated almost as much as the guard in the show, but not so sure whether or not that means they have no real experience here." A moment after saying that, they both felt their respective spider-sense go off and charged into the castle, the Frogadier quickly leaped after the two to catch up. As the trio got closer to the castle’s front gate, they quickly spotted the numerous Shadows all crawling up the wall, trying to get to the two guards on top of the wall. While Dark couldn’t see any other guardsmen around, he noticed that the drawbridge was quickly rising to prevent some of the Heartless from getting through. “Mike-” Before Dark could finish, the Frogadier quickly jumped up, firing a bubble beam attack to destroy the Shadows clinging onto the gate’s walls. While the frog pokemon dealt with the heartless scaling the wall, Lightning Dust and Dark quickly dispatched the Soldiers standing around where the bridge used to be. Dark sighed, quickly looking around to make sure the heartless around the area are gone before turning towards the front gate. “Hey! All of the creatures in the area have been cleared! Make sure to sweep the area for any civilians, after that, get to safety! We can take it from here!” He called out, not bothering to wait for a response before leaping over the wall, Lightning Dust and Mike following soon after. Dark’s sense flared again as multiple heartless began manifesting around them. Looking past a pair of Large Bodies trying to block his path, he narrowed his eyes at the sight of a guard being tackled down by a Soldier, the guardsman’s body was soon covered in a black cloud with a bright red heart flying out of him before being replaced by a brand new Soldier. Gritting his teeth, he gripped the Lycan Web tightly, glaring at the monsters around him. “We need to get rid of these guys fast, the longer we take, the more of them show up.” As if in response to that, Dark felt something on his back. A moment later, a pair of tendrils impaled the Large Bodies in their faces, causing them to disappear a moment later. Dark gave a quick thanks to Venom before slicing up the 2 Soldiers and hurrying towards more Heartless. “Everypony please remain calm!” Princess Celestia called out to everypony in the room. She eyed the nervous nobles, and the scared castle staff as they all crowded around in the throne room. “I assure you, that you’re all safe in this room, as we speak the invaders are already being dealt with. You can rest easy as your lives are in the hands of our capable guards.” Behind the solar princess, Luna snorted. “That's reassuring.” She muttered sarcastically. Celestia glared at her sister. “I am trying to keep them calm.” She turned back to the crowd and waved. “What about your guards? Have you alerted them?” Luna nodded, “My guards have engaged the creatures. While I was still out there, I had noticed something rather...disturbing…” Celestia frowned, “Disturbing how?” “Whenever they would defeat one of our guards, or whenever they managed to hit one of our subjects, they would multiply.” Luna sighed. “The bodies of those defeated would melt away into shadows and more of those black monsters appear immediately after. Often the small helmeted ones.” Celestia grimaced. “Do you have any ideas regarding where they came from?” Seeing her sister shake her head only caused her to sigh. “Then we better find out and quickly, I’m not comfortable sending the guards out there against a threat like this.” Luna stepped towards Celestia, frowning. “Then let me go face them! The guards can’t do anything on their own, they’re just adding to their numbers.” “Luna, this isn’t the time.” Celestia sighed. “Then when is it time?!” She hissed. “Should we wait until they’re in the throne room? Maybe I’ll ask again after they’ve already cleared the castle of our subjects!” She turned around and glared. “Luna, the guards are just trying to keep us safe.” “They can’t even keep themselves safe!” She retorted, clenching her fist as she struggled to keep her voice low. “We’re both much stronger than the entire guard put together, which isn't really saying much anymore, in all honesty. We don’t need them to coddle us, and I rather not sit idly by while they throw away their lives when we can go out and stop this madness ourselves.” “We are needed here to keep our subjects calm.” Luna growled, rubbing her forehead. “Fine, we’ll stay for now. But the moment things start looking bad, I’m going in.” Celestia sighed, no longer having the energy to continue fighting. Deciding to turn back to the crowd of ponies, she frowned, letting her gaze fall to the floor. ‘Perhaps I should send Valor a message after this, maybe ask her to come back. She might’ve not been in the guard for long, but if she’s anything like her father, I know she can make some serious improvements in the guard. I should also try to get into contact with Gero. Having Gallant’s old partner around can make our chances in the future even better for us.’ Before her thoughts could continue, the doors opened and a panting guard ran towards the rulers. The guardsman took a deep breath before turning to address the eldest. “Princess Celestia, Lieutenant Dark has arrived and is approaching the castle to help dispose of the invaders.” Celestia smiled, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders. “That's excellent news, and was Twilight with him?” The guard frowned. “Forgive me Princess, but I didn’t see Princess Twilight with them. The lieutenant didn’t seem worried though. I believe she may be helping the civilians out in the city. I heard word that those things attacked the market not long before they appeared in the castle.” “Them?” Luna questioned, stepping forward between the two. “There are others with Dark?” “That frog creature, Mike I believe, and an unknown mare I couldn’t recognize. I just know she's a pegasus.” The guard answered hesitantly. "If they're together, then it must mean she’s here to help." Luna reasoned, letting out a relieved sigh. “So how long do you think it’d take for them to dispatch the invaders?” She asked, turning towards her sister. “A shame I won’t be able to see it.” Celestia frowned, worry weighing down on her. “I just hope they’re able to deal with them quickly. Their numbers are still growing, and if they take too long, they could get overwhelmed.” Luna shrugged. "Considering what we've seen from Dark and heard regarding his capabilities, he might be able to handle it. Plus he isn't alone." Just as the princess was about to answer, the throne room’s doors were thrown wide open again, allowing for multiple guardsmen to rush inside. Celestia quickly went to meet them, asking about what was going on. Luna stared at the group for a moment before slowly stepping back, making her way behind the throne, she quickly looked back at her sister as she lit up her horn and teleported away. Dark scowled, dodging the spiked balls being thrown by the Chao-looking heartless. Raising his arms, he quickly webbed the group of heartless and brought them down to him, swinging Lycan Web as soon as they got close. "Quite a few of those helmet ones," Venom says as his avatar stood next to Dark. "Behind you." Dark immediately sliced his Keyblade upwards, tearing the attacking Soldier in 2 before it vanished like its brethren. Not sensing anymore Heartless, Dark dismissed Lycan Web and took a deep breath. "And if those kinds are made by the victims, that just proves that the guards were outclassed…" he shook his head. "Should seriously talk to the sisters about that." "Add that to the list, along with those mercenaries." Dark simply nodded before his spider-sense kicked in again and he ran down the hall, summoning Lycan Web back into his hand to keep fighting. Seeing a pair of Large Bodies crowding around a group of guards, Dark quickly jumped up and impaled the first Large Body with the keyblade. Before Dark could move to the second heartless, he blinked in surprise, watching as the heartless poof into a black cloud without him doing anything. Turning his head towards the guards, his eyes widened in surprise when he noticed a certain blue maned stallion. "Fancy Pants?" Dark asked, completely confused to see the noble with a blade in hand and being the most calm pony the human had seen since arriving at Canterlot. The noble unicorn turned towards Dark and smiled, "Ah hello there Dark! Fancy meeting you here. Thank you for the intervention, I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle both of those things at the same time." Dark nodded, still shocked. "You can fight?" “Well of course,” Fancy answered, “After all, I was once a member of the Royal Guard. Couldn’t exactly stand by and do nothing while these monsters made a mess of things.” Dark stared at the stallion for a couple of seconds before shaking his head. "Worry about that later…" he muttered before looking at Fancy. "Think you guys can get to the throne room okay?" Fancy Pants nodded, turning towards the guardsmen behind him before stopping suddenly. “Oh Dark, I realize right now might not be the best time, but I must ask for your help.” He began, turning back towards Dark, “Before this invasion, I came to the castle with a young girl, I was trying to help her reunite with her family, but due to the attack, we got separated. If you happen to see a young rabbit-like girl, can you please bring her to safety? I’m incredibly worried about her.” Dark immediately stiffened when he heard the description. "Sure… Uh, mind giving her name?" “Her name is Gabriella, we found her a while ago along with a small fairy-like creature named Cheese.” He answered, frowning. “We tried searching for her family in Canterlot, but so far we had no luck, that's why we came to the castle, to ask for the Princesses’ help.” Dark stood silent for a couple of moments until he shook his head again. "I'll keep an eye out for her. You best be getting to the throne room though. Stay safe." He then ran down the hall to look for more Heartless. When he was outside of their seeing or hearing range he stopped for a moment and placed a hand on his head. "V. What do you think the chances-" "Shares the same name, looking for her family, and from what you were told, the description of her appearance would fit," Venom said, his avatar standing beside Dark with his arms crossed. "Plus it'd explain why Cheese was with Fleur of all ponies. So I'd say pretty high." Dark sighed. "She was in the same city as us this whole time and we never knew…" Venom shrugged. "Well, it's not like you guys would think she'd be in Canterlot and not hear about it. Now you best hurry up. Better to find her before any Heartless get their hands on her." That immediately made Dark mad as his irises changed color. "Those things will not touch her," he said before readying his Keyblade and resuming his hunt. Gabby ran across the hallway, panting loudly as she pushed her new body to its limits to get away from the black creatures. Suddenly tripping, she whimpered as she fell face down onto the cold marble floor, her large ears twitched hearing the loud stomping from a Large Body running towards her. Turning around, she froze, paling at the sight of the Large Body now towering over her. Growing terrified, she buried her face into her knees, reluctantly accepting her fate. Just as the Large Body raised its arms to crush her, it was suddenly blasted by a blue bolt of energy, the bolt managed to make it lose its balance as it stumbled backward. Before it could regain its balance, a second bolt of energy exploded on its face, causing it to fall back and poof away. Gabby continued to keep her eyes shut, ignoring everything that was going on around her. She whimpered when she heard the sound of something walking towards her, she stiffened once the sound stopped in front of her, believing that the Large Body was giving her up to something much worse. Gabby closed her eyes tighter when she heard something shifting as it bent down, gulping, she tried to hold back the tears that were trying to escape. “Don’t be afraid.” A soft voice called out, startling the poor rabbit girl. “It's okay, that monster is gone now.” Gabby hesitated for a moment before slowly lifting her head and looking to the source of the voice, only to see a dark blue mare with a starry mane and both a horn on her head and a pair of wings on her back. The young girl blink in shock. "W-who are you?" “My name is Luna.” She answered, smiling at Gabby. “Was there anypony else here with you before the attack?” Hesitantly she nodded, “I-I was here with Fancy Pants, but we got separated when the monsters attacked.” Gaby explained. Luna frowned, nodding her head. “I see…” She stood silent for a second before nodding. “Alright, I’m going to teleport you to the throne room, don’t worry, you’ll be safe there while I go look for Fancy Pants.” "O-okay…" Nodding, Luna gently grabbed the rabbit’s hand and lit up her horn. There was a flash of bright light before the two of them disappeared, only to reappear in a large room full of ponies. Several ponies jumped in fright, a few guardsmen raised their weapons before visibly relaxing at the sight of the lunar princess.  “Luna?” Celestia asked, slowly walking towards them. “Where have you been?”  Wincing, Luna quickly bent down to Gabby’s eye level. “Don’t you worry now, you’ll be safe with them. I’m going to go now and find Fancy, don’t worry.” She quickly reassured her, only staying for a second longer before teleporting away, ignoring her sister’s protest.  Releasing an annoyed sigh, Celestia shook her head. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you decided to help.” Turning towards Gabby, she stared at the rabbit, her eyes wide with surprise before she gave the girl a small smile. “You wouldn’t happen to be someone who used to be human now, are you?” “I think…” Lightning began, watching as the small Shadow poof away. “That was the last of them.” She said, panting slightly. She looked around briefly, but seeing as how her “hero-sense” wasn’t going off, she relaxed slightly. "That was tiring." "Yeah, even an athlete like you can't fight for so long without rest. And I can only do so much to help," Toxin commented. "Now come on. I'll lead us to my brother and daddy." Lightning frowned. "You can do that?" "Now that I know that Venom is bonded to him, I can get a read on him." Lightning shrugged before spreading her wings and taking to flight again, having Toxin guide her. After a couple of minutes, she arrived at a hallway and saw Dark slicing the arm off of a Soldier before slamming its head to the ground, it immediately fading after that. After landing, Lightning said, "Sheesh D, talk about overkill." Dark sighed to calm himself down and dismissed Lycan Web. "I honestly don't care. Those things killed enough ponies. And with how mad that got me, I decided to vent my aggression on them." "The most healthy way of doing that," Venom said, his arms crossed. He then shrugged. "Though at least you aren't holding it in…" Ignoring the symbiote, Dark turned to Lightning. "So you get all the ones you found?" The pegasus nodded. "Yup. And considering Toxin hasn't picked up on anything, I think that's the last of them." She looked around. "Where's Mike?" "I sent him to look for any stragglers that we couldn't pick up on," he said, his voice revealing that he was distracted. Lightning frowned at Dark's tone. "Something wrong?" After a moment of hesitation, Dark asked, "Did you find a rabbit?" Lightning blinked. "What?" "A rabbit," Venom repeated. "We ran into Fancy Pants earlier. Not only is he apparently a former guard, but he asked if we can keep an eye out for a rabbit girl. Whose name is Gabriella." While Lightning was confused, Toxin gasped. "Gabby?!" Venom nodded. "Most likely. He said she is usually with Cheese. Which would explain why the Chao was with Fleur earlier." "Okay, can any of you guys tell me who the hay you're talking about?" Lightning exclaimed. Dark was the first to answer. "Gabby is my younger cousin. She and her sister Elizabeth were Displaced as the Sonic characters Cream the Rabbit and Blaze the Cat over a month ago. Cece and I met Eli a few weeks ago and learned about their Displacement but none of us had any idea where Gabby was. Until Fancy Pants mentioned her." Lighting stared at Dark in shock before putting a hand on her hand. "So you're saying that not only were you and your sister Displaced, but so were 2 of your cousins? And you all ended up in the same world? Sheesh. I don't know whether to say you're lucky to all end up in the same place or incredibly unlucky that all of you ended up Displaced." Dark shrugged. "I'd consider it lucky. And we're all lucky to have ended up found by ponies nice enough to give us each a roof over our heads." Lightning thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Can't argue with that. I mean you've seen firsthand how bad ponies can be. Both in that show and in person." She then shook her head. "Getting way off-topic. To answer your question, no. We didn't see Gabby anywhere. Though my confusion on what you guys said should make that extremely obvious. Maybe she made it to the throne room with everypony else?" Dark sighed. "I hope so. Come on." Before any of them could go, however, Toxin spoke up. "Um, before we do that, can we rest up? Lightning is a bit winded from all the fighting." Dark then looked to Lightning Dust. "Really?" After a brief moment of hesitation, the cop sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Not exactly used to fighting nonstop for so long." "Makes sense," Venom replied. "Not like any fights you ponies have been in for a while ever last that long. And you never would've handled anything to this scale before." Dust rose an eyebrow. "And you have?" Dark shrugged. "Not exactly. I fought 2 hordes of giant insects before, one time while protecting an egg, and a lot of robots just a few days ago. And with my luck, this is only the beginning. But if you really are tired, I guess we can stay put for a couple of minutes. Not like we're in any rush now." "Thanks." With that said, Lightning sat down by a wall and closed her eyes, with Dark deciding to lean on a nearby pillar. The two stood in silence, merely resting after the long fight they had. After a couple of minutes, Lightning got up, taking a deep breath before sighing. “Okay, I think I’m good now. I’ll rest up some more after we make it to the throne room.” Dark nodded, getting up from his position as the two got ready to make their way to the throne room. The two only took a few steps before suddenly stiffening, their senses going off again. Lightning cursed, “Really?! How many more are there?!” She cried out, making her frustration clear. As if to answer her question, a giant armored fist crashed right through the castle wall. The armored gauntlet flew straight towards them, forcing the two to jump out of the way. With a loud crash, the purple gauntlet left behind a large crater right where it crashed. The two heroes quickly raised their arms in anticipation as they watched as the armored gauntlet suddenly started floating upwards. Before the two could react, there was another crash as more floating armor pieces smashed through the castle wall to join the gauntlet. The armor pieces all floated around each other before they began to move to their proper position, with the two gauntlets floating in between a purple hourglass-shaped body, the heartless symbol right on the center of its chest. Below the floating body, a pair of armored legs hopped into position, while an armored knight-like helmet set itself above its body. The Guard Armor stared at the two heroes below it before stomping towards them, the two gauntlets started spinning around the body as if it was a helicopter blade. Seeing the armor advanced towards them, the two heroes jumped out of the way, Dark quickly summoned his keyblade and leaped at the armor, slashing the floating helmet and causing it to crash onto the floor right behind it.  Feeling his spider-sense go off, Dark turned his head to see the pair of floating gauntlets reach out to grab him. Quickly twisting his body, he used the Lycan Web to swat one of the armored limbs away, while Lightning quickly used her webs to pull the other gauntlet away from him.  “Thanks for the save,” Dark said, safely landing on the ground and turning towards the heartless monster. “Don’t mention it.” She gritted out, heaving the gauntlet towards her as she began to spin around, causing the armored limb to spin with her. With a loud shout, she tossed the gauntlet towards the main body, causing it to crash onto the ground. “Bullseye!” Lightning cried out, pumping a fist into the air.  Her eyes then widened, feeling her senses force her to jump away, looking back, she saw the armored legs stomp right on the ground she was standing on. “Thanks, Toxin.” “Don’t thank me yet, focus on the fight!” Nodding, Lightning raised her arms, preparing herself as the two limbs rose into the air and darted straight towards her. Meanwhile, on the other side of the hallway, Dark continued to jump backwards, dodging all of the claw swipes from the armored gauntlets. As he jumped up in the air to dodge another swipe, he let out a cry of pain when the armored helmet crashed right onto his back, tossing him towards the two floating limbs. The armored claws quickly reached out and grabbed Dark’s arms, and without any warning, the two claws began to pull Dark’s arms on opposite sides, causing Dark’s eyes to snap wide open as he let out a pained yell. Gritting his teeth, he gathered his strength to pull back hard, managing to make the two gauntlets to collide with each other. Feeling his spider-sense go off again, he looked back to see the armored helmet dart towards him for another tackle.  As the helmet got closer, several black tendrils erupted from Dark’s body, wrapping themselves around the helmet before slamming it to the ground several times before slamming it on top of the two floating arms that were slowly getting up. Venom continued to slam the armored pieces against each other before all three of them glowed and poofed away, causing Dark to let out a relieved sigh as he rubbed his arms.  Turning towards Lightning, he couldn’t help but feel relieved when he saw the two legs poof away. “The head, arms, and legs… Now, where’s the body?” As if on cue, his senses went off again, causing him to throw himself on the ground to dodge the giant floating body’s attempt to tackle him. Lightning quickly rushed towards Dark’s side, helping him up as she glared at the armored torso. “Just one left, and without its limbs, this will be easy!” She said with a cocky grin, missing Dark’s wince. “I really don’t think you should’ve said that…” Dark muttered.  Suddenly the armored torso began to shake violently, a black mist slowly began to leak from it. Forming into clouds, the Guard Armor’s limbs all returned, much to the shock of the heroes. The Guard Armor raised its gauntlets above its body, but instead of using it to attack them, it flipped itself over, with its helmet floating to set itself on the torso’s bottom this time. As soon as the helmet made it to position, the grey faceplate snapped down, showing off a pitch-black void inside the helmet, with a pair of beady yellow eyes glaring down at them. The two legs raised up to replace the arms, the long feet then snapped into the shape of pincers. With a low groan, all four of the armored limbs darted towards the heroes. While their spider-senses helped them dodge the first limbs, the second limbs managed to catch them while mid-air, squeezing down on the pair. The two couldn’t help but yell as the Reverse Armor used its new pincer-like arms to crush them. The giant heartless brought the two closer, as if to get a better look at them as it squeezed the life out of them. Before it could continue though, a small blue blur crashed into the armored helmet, causing it to drop the heroes in surprise.  “What was that?” Lightning wheezed, nursing her bruised ribs as Toxin quickly worked to heal her. Dark turned his head towards what hit the Reverse Armor and gaped in surprise. “Cheese?” “He followed us?!” Lightning Dust asked in shock. The small Chao floated back up, its tiny body swayed in the air as it rubbed its head. “Chao Chao.” It muttered, dazed from the impact. Just before it could regain its bearings, Dark quickly shot a web at the Chao and pulled it over to them, saving it from being crushed by one of the armored claws. “Thanks for the save, Cheese,” Dark said, giving the Chao a slight smile behind his scarf before glaring up at the heartless. “Though you may want to sit this one out.” The Chao’s cheeks puffed up, as it shook its head, getting out of Dark’s grip and waving its arms around. “Chao Chao!” It said, beating its chest with its small arm as it pointed at the Reverse Armor.  "Is he really volunteering to help against that thing?" Lightning asked. "Well, he was able to stagger it," Venom answered. "Maybe the little guy is stronger than we thought. Certainly braver than expected. Not like we know anything about Chao besides the Sonic X version." A low groan snapped their attention back to the Reversed Armor in time for them to dodge another attempt to grab them with its pincer-like limbs. Behind the floating armor, its two claws began to spin in place as if they were drills before shooting towards the airborne heroes, just as the two claws were coming close to impaling them, the two heroes were suddenly teleported away, with the two reappearing back in the ground near Cheese as a blue alicorn flew in.  “Hope you don’t mind if I step in.” Luna greeted, glaring at the armored monster as she landed, a pure black sword in her hand. “This thing is bigger than the others, I’m guessing this must be the leader. Am I correct to assume that destroying it will end the invasion?” Dark shrugged. “Probably. Can’t hurt to try.” Luna grinned, “Indeed it won’t.” Her grin then turned into a scowl as she blasted an incoming fist and raised a magic shield to stop the other three limbs from grabbing them. “But I’m certain it’ll hurt this creature a lot more than us to try.” The Reversed Armor’s helmet shook as it raised all four of its limbs and struck at the barrier, its groans becoming louder and deeper as it continued to strike at it. Suddenly throwing its entire body towards the shield, a purple light flashed in front of it, revealing Twilight. The alicorn scowled as she raised her new keyblade struck the body of the heartless, knocking it back. "Twilight?" Dark exclaimed, surprised to not only see the alicorn fighting but also having a Keyblade in hand. After teleporting into the shield and putting one of her own over it, the purple pony sighed and looked at the others with a tired smile. "Hello everyone. Glad to see you're all okay." Only then did the group notice that Twilight's mane was disheveled and a bit messy and Dark's bag was strapped to her shoulders. A moment later, Dark's bag started to stir and Bri stuck her head out and shook it. As soon as she saw Dark, she let out a yip and jumped out of the bag to hug him. Lightning stared at the pair for a couple of seconds before saying, "Is now really the best time for that?" As if to prove her point, the Heartless had started attacking Twilight's shield. After that, Dark immediately put Bri down. "Bri, you stay here. We'll handle this." He then looked at Twilight. "And you are gonna explain that when we're done," he said, pointing at the Keyblade in her hand. He then looked at Luna. "You still able to fight?" Luna nodded, “I am. I only just joined the fight not too long ago, so I still have more than enough energy to defeat this thing.” Dark hummed before looking at Twilight. "Twi, when I give the word I want you to open the shield enough to let me and Luna through to deal with this thing." "What about me?" Lightning asked, confused. "You are gonna stay here." "What?!" "You're too tired to keep fighting that thing right now and I don't want to risk you getting anymore hurt than you already are." "You've been fighting for as long as me. And according to you, you were sparring this morning before I arrived. Shouldn't you be just as tired?" Dark shook his head. "Nope. Still have enough energy to keep fighting like I have been all day." When he said that, Lightning stared at him in shock. "Now are we gonna keep arguing or are you done thinking of excuses to try and get yourself hurt?" At that moment, they all heard a crash and Twilight winced. Looking at the source of the noise, they saw the Reverse Armor beginning to leave cracks on the shield. "Can you please make it quick?" Lightning glared at Dark for a few seconds before sighing. "Fine." "Good." Dark then looked at the Reverse Armor and prepared himself. When the Armor reeled back all its limbs to hit the shield again, Dark shouted, "Now!" The shield opened in front of him and he immediately ran straight to the Reverse Armor to punch it in the torso before it could defend itself, sending it flying a few yards. As if enraged by the sudden attack, the other four limbs snapped towards Dark, only for a blue aura to take a hold of them and keep them in place. Smirking, Luna raised her arm, raising the four armored limbs at the same time, and launched them towards the torso, causing them all to crash into each other. Undeterred by the attacks, the floating helmet darted behind the two, trying to take one of them by surprise. Before it could attack however it was sucked into a small blue twister, the helmet spun around inside the twister before being launched onto a wall. Destroying the wall behind it, the floating helmet glowed briefly before poofing away. “Chao Chao!” Cheese cheered, stopping the twister it created and pumping its arm.  "Okay, we are definitely gonna need to ask Amy about what Chao are capable of," Dark muttered to himself. Rising from their pile, the floating armor pieces all split up, with the pair of gauntlets going after Dark, while the pincers tried to pluck Luna. Cheese let out a panicked cry as it tried to get away from the torso trying to crush it. Seeing the panicked Chao, Luna teleported over to Cheese and summoned a shield, protecting the two from the hopping torso. As the armored torso continued to stomp on the magic barrier, the other two pincer-like claws shot at the barrier, managing to hit it at the same time as the torso, the force of the attack shattering the shield.  Luna let out a pained shriek as she felt the backlash from the sudden destruction of her shield, collapsing next to Cheese, she gripped her head as she felt a migraine form. The Chao besides her panicked, lowering itself to try to drag Luna away from the Reverse Armor’s next attack.  Hearing the shriek, Dark looked back, his eyes widening when he saw the armored torso about to crush the downed princess and Chao. Before he could do anything, one of the armored claws grabbed him and quickly slammed him against the wall, the armored limb continued to slam him repeatedly before the final one managed to destroy the section of the wall it was slamming Dark against. Letting go of the hero, it let the rumble of the crumbling wall bury him before turning its attention to the other two.  Just as the two limbs were floating to rejoin the rest of its body parts, the armored torso flew down, trying to crush the two under it, only for it to be stopped by the small blue fairy. Cheese groan as it tried to keep the hollowed armor piece from crushing the two. “C-Chao…” Dark groaned as he got up, his hood having gotten off. When he looked back at the Heartless, seeing Cheese barely managing to hold it off. Immediately, Dark started growling and his irises changed into blood red again. "I am sick of these things…" he said, not noticing the black substance slowly enveloping his body until it reached his face. "Then let's end this now," he heard Venom say in his head. Nodding, Dark looked down at the debris around him before shooting a web at the biggest one and throwing it right at the Heartless. Knocking the torso to the floor, all four of the other limbs turned their claws towards Dark before the torso picked itself up and floated beside its limbs. The Heartless immediately shot both of its pincers at Dark, who immediately jumped over them before a pair of tendrils shot out of him and pulled him to the ground, immediately crushing one of the pincers before he impaled it with his Keyblade, causing it to fade away. The other pincer lunged at him again and tried to get a hold of him but he dismissed Lycan Web and grabbed the pincer by its sides and kept them from closing on him. A single tendril shot out of his chest and went straight through the arm, causing it to go limp before fading away too. The Reverse Armor then tried to come at him with its torso and claws, with Dark immediately jumping to the closest wall to dodge. Before the Armor can continue its onslaught, Dark shot a web to the opposite wall, barely missing the Heartless, and quickly pulled himself towards it, landing a kick to the torso that had it crashing through the wall. Dark then webbed one of the claws to the wall he was previously on and quickly grabbed the ends of the other one before pulling it apart as hard as he can, tearing the claw in half before it faded. After that, he resummoned Lycan Web slashed at the webbed claw a few times until it faded too from too much damage. When he was finished he immediately flipped over the torso trying to tackle him from behind. With a pair of tendrils shooting out again, landing on the floor barely avoiding the Armor, they pulled Dark in as he lifted his Keyblade and stabbed the Heartless right in its emblem as hard as he could. The blow was the last of the punishment the torso could take, with it quickly fading away like the rest of the Heartless. With no more armor pieces to fight and no more Heartless detected, Dark exhaled and started walking to Luna and Cheese as Venom returned back inside of Dark. As Cheese helped Luna get back up, the princess glanced at Dark, still rubbing her head as her migraine began to lessen. She muttered a quick thanks to the Chao as she shakingly tried to regain her balance, looking around, she noticed the absence of the heartless. “Where did the armored creature go? Did you already take care of it?” "That's an understatement," they heard before seeing Twilight, Lightning Dust, and Bri coming to them, Twilight's Keyblade gone. Dust then continued, saying, "Dark completely destroyed that thing in moments." “Really?” Luna asked, her eyes widening slightly. “Well, it's good to hear that that beast was finally dealt with.” "Are you okay princess?" Twilight asked, concerned for the alicorn. Luna nodded, “Just some magical backlash, I’ll be fine.” Twilight then looked at Cheese and blinked, as if only now noticing the Chao's appearance. "What in the world is this creature?" Before Dark could respond, Luna spoke up first. “It's a Chao,” She answered, giving the small fairy a smile. “A rather strong one too, whoever raised you did a good job.” She patted the Chao’s head, causing the floating yellow orb above its head to briefly turn into a heart. Dark did a double-take at that. "Wait. Princess, you know what a Chao is?" Luna nodded, “I’ve met a few a long time ago, even been to one of their gardens.” She said, giving a wistful smile. Shaking her head, she focused her thoughts back on the present, “Right now probably isn’t the best time to talk about this though, we should get back to the throne room and make sure everything is alright.” Dark nodded before putting his hood back on. With that, everyone started walking to the throne room, Dark retrieving his bag from Twilight before Peter exited it and perched himself on Dark's shoulder and Bri was picked up in his arms. As they were walking, Twilight leaned closer to Dark. "Why is it a surprise that Princess Luna knew what a Chao was," she whispered to him. "Chao are creatures from Sonic," Dark whispered back. "They aren't connected to MLP. But I guess like Chaos Emeralds and Conduits, they're something native to this world." Twilight nodded and they resumed their walk in silence. Upon reaching the doors to the throne room, the group spotted Mike, the Frogadier was waiting patiently near the two doors. When the frog pokemon spotted them, he let out a small croak and hopped over to their side. Dark smiled at the frog pokemon. “Hey Mike, guessing you didn’t encounter anymore of those monsters around?” The frog nodded. After that, the group entered the throne room. Almost immediately after entering, they heard someone exclaimed, "Cheese?!" Upon hearing that, the small Chao flew up and darted towards the source of the yell, tackling the small rabbit girl with a hug. “Chao Chao!” Before Dark could follow the Chao, his spider-sense flared, causing him to take a step back from a rather sudden punch. “What in tartarus are you doing here?!” The attacker yelled. Looking at him, Dark saw it was a brown-furred earth pony with a short white mane, the pony’s eyes were two different colors, being orange and green, he was also wearing a beige colored prison warden’s uniform, and a pair of white gloves. “Filthy traitor! Breaking out all those prisoners wasn’t enough for you was it? I bet you’re the one leading these black creatures attacking the city aren’t you?!” He yelled, catching the attention of many of the ponies around them, causing them to step back and whisper to each other. "What in the world are you talking about?" Dark asked, completely confused. “Drop the act!” The prison warden hissed. “Last night you and your lackeys attacked Ryker’s Island! And as soon as the three of you left with Shocker, all of those monsters attacked the prison! I’ve lost a lot of good ponies because of you!” He said, scowling as he took out his baton. Deciding she has seen enough, Luna stepped in between the two and, while holding them with her magic, teleported the two into an empty part of the castle. After looking around to make sure they were alone, Luna turned towards the warden, “Now, why are you accusing Dark of orchestrating this invasion and a prison break?” The warden scowled, “Because your highness, I saw him, even spoke to him, yesterday before he broke all of the prisoners out. I even told him to take off his mask so I could make sure it really was the Spider that was in my prison.” He then stepped towards Dark, his hands gripping the baton tightly, “And along with those other two guardsmen, the three broke everypony out, and sent those monsters after us to cover up their tracks!” At this point, Bri had started growling at the warden and even Peter was glaring at him. Dark shook his head. "Sorry to break this to you, but I haven't been in Manehattan since Hearts & Hooves Day. Been a bit too busy to visit the past couple of weeks." It was then that Dark properly processed something. "Wait a minute… Was the person you're talking about dressed in red and black?" “What, are you going to tell me it was somepony else?” Tower rolled his eyes. “I saw your face, you’re the only one of your kind around in all of Equestria.” "Apparently not," Dark said with a shake of his head. He then used one of his hands to remove his hood and lower his scarf. "Is this really what the person looked like?" Stone Tower’s eyes widened when he saw Dark’s face, his arms lowering as he stared at him. “You… you’re actually not the same pony?” "No, and the term is "person" when it's humans. But I got into contact with Toxin earlier today and she informed me about the Scarlet Spider. I figured he was human but if he actually was able to impersonate me by showing his face, that just proves that he is. That's actually why Twilight and I came to Canterlot. To inform the Sisters." Luna sighed, shaking her head. “So another human has appeared. A shame this one seems to be just as troublesome as that other one, even seems to be trying to drag your name into the mud.” "Other one?" Tower asked. Dark shook his head. "I found out a week ago that another human is here and he is nothing but trouble. But trust me, this guy can't disguise as me. Too tall, too fat, too bald, and way too egotistical to even hide the fact it's really him." Dark put his cover back on. "What can you tell me about this guy who pretended to be me?" Tower blinked before shaking his head, “Right… Well, he had peach skin, a brown mane, and eyes. He was calm, collected, he did crack a few jokes to lighten the mood.” He then frowned, thinking back to the previous night. “I can never seem to surprise him or catch him off guard. He’s very confident, and an excellent actor. Oh, and he was rather scrawny, in fact, he was offended when I pointed that out.” "Scrawny?" Dark asked. He then hummed. "A perk to the spider powers seems to be a better physique, if me and the original are anything to go by, so if he's scrawny despite the powers that might mean he either hasn't eaten much lately or hasn't done any training or physical stuff in a while." He then looked at Tower. "One more thing. You said monsters attacked you?" “After the riot they did.” He nodded, “They were the same type of creatures that attacked Canterlot today.” Tower scowled, “I lost a lot of my colleagues last night, a good amount of the prisoners were even taken by them.” Dark's eyes widened. "Heartless attacked Manehattan too?" “Heartless?” Luna questioned, “I remember we got a warning about them a week ago. These creatures are the Heartless?” Dark nodded. "Yeah. They are. I don't remember much, even with V's help, but I can say they are Heartless. The emblem on some of them proves that. Plus the fact many of them came straight at me as soon as they saw Lycan Web." “This Keyblade is supposed to be their weakness right?” Luna asked, “Is it possible that the Heartless are also drawn to it? You did say they came straight towards you as soon as they saw it.” Dark shrugged. "If I had to hazard a guess, maybe they wanted to take out the biggest threat to them as soon as they saw it." “We should return to the throne room now, no doubt everyone is wondering where we disappeared to,” Luna said, lighting up her horn. “My sister should also be around to hear this, we’ll need everypony available to come up with a solution.” She then sighed, turning away from the two. “I just know that Celestia is going to have a lecture ready for running off again.” "Why?" Luna shook her head. "She wanted me to stay in the throne room to help calm down our subjects rather than join the fight. So while she was distracted talking to some guards you sent there, I teleported out so I could help." She then shrugged. "I understand that everypony needed to calm down, but I've never been very comfortable sitting on the sidelines while you all deal with everything."  Before Dark can respond, she teleported all of them back to the throne room. While all the nobles were confused about what happened, Luna immediately spoke up. "Fear not everypony. This was all a misunderstanding. No one here is responsible for the invasion, nor the prison break that occurred at Ryker's. And for now, it'd probably be best that you all return to your homes. The guard will escort you all out." Celestia spoke up, coming to Luna’s side as she gave the nobles a smile. “As my sister said, the worst has passed, thanks to the efforts of the guards and these heroes the invasion has been stopped. I suggest that you all head home and check on your loved ones, court will be canceled for today and tomorrow while we assess the damage.”  While more than a few of the nobles were hesitant, they slowly made their way out of the throne room, the guards all around the room followed soon after. As the ponies all exited the room, Fancy Pants began to walk towards the two sisters, a small rabbit girl, and Chao by his side. Once in front of the lunar princess, he bowed, “Princess Luna, I just wanted to thank you for saving the life of my ward, I have been worried sick when we were separated.” He then rosed up, clasping his hands. “If there’s any way I can repay you, please do not hesitate to ask.” “Well…” Celestia began, glancing back at Dark, who was in the middle of talking to his companions about something, before giving her full attention to the two. "I believe it'd be best for the young one to meet someone special. They may even be able to help you with that problem you told me about.” Fancy Pants blinked in surprise, “Really? Well, that’d be wonderful!” He said, smiling widely. “Just who did you have in mind, your highness?” The solar princess smiled. "Dark, would you please come here?" Hearing his name, Dark excused himself and walked towards the Sisters and noble. "Yes?" Celestia then looked at the small rabbit. "Gabriella, I'd like you to meet Dark. From what I've heard, he could help you find your family." Realizing who she was talking to, Dark briefly stopped breathing as he saw the Displaced before him, whose eyes widened from what the princess had said. "Really?!" Dark cleared his throat before looking at Celestia, who gave him a silent nod, knowing the question on his mind. He then looked at Gabby and nodded in return. "Yeah, don't worry. I can reunite you with Eli." Gabby got excited for a couple of seconds before she caught a certain detail. "Wait. How do you know her name?" Dark smiled behind his cover, with that comment truly confirming his thoughts. He then let out a chuckle. "Hard to forget someone I grew up with, Gabby. Though I guess that isn't the same for you since you apparently don't remember me." Gabby frowned at that comment as Fancy Pants and Cheese were confused. But after having a good look at Dark, Gabby finally noticed the necklace that was hanging loosely off his neck. 'Wait, that's… And the colors… The voice…' Gabby's eyes widened in shock as she finally processed who it was she was talking to. She took a hesitant step forward, afraid of being wrong. "Tito?" Dark chuckled again before taking a knee as he put his daughter down so he'd be eye level with his cousin and removed his cover, smiling at the younger Displaced. "Nice to see you again Gabby." Gabby's mouth dropped at seeing her older cousin, before she immediately started tearing up and hugged him. "I thought you were dead!" Dark wrapped his arms around Gabby and patted her back. "Nope. Still alive. And so is Cece." Gabby gasped and moved so she was face to face with Dark. "Cece's okay?" Dark nodded. "Yeah. Though a small mishap happened to her. But don't worry. It's something that can be easily fixed." He then put a hand on her head. "And before you ask, yes. Eli's perfectly fine. We saw her a few weeks ago and she's very worried about you. But now that I found you, we can take you to her." “You two know each other?” Fancy asked, looking between the two. Dark smiled before letting go of Gabby and standing up. "Yeah. Gabby and her sister Elizabeth are my cousins. Eli came here a few weeks ago due to those demon rumors from Ponyville and she told us about how she and Gabby were together before she ended up here. And considering it's very similar to how my sister and I came to Equestria, we were hoping she ended up here too. Never would've guessed she was in Canterlot though." "Do you know what happened to us?" Gabby asked him. "And why I became Cream?" Dark nodded. "Yeah. It's a long story. I'll tell you later." “So you’re family…?” Fancy Pants said, his eyes with surprise. Smiling, he then spread his arms wide in joy. “How marvelous! This is truly wonderful news, we’ve spent weeks trying to find her family, and now we have!” As he celebrated, the Chao beside him tilted his head in confusion. “Dark, would you be willing to let her stay with you? I feel as though she would want to be with family now that she’s found them.” "It'll be fine," Twilight said, joining the conversation. "My castle is big enough to house another occupant." “Excellent!” Fancy Pants turned towards the young rabbit. “Well then Gabriella, we should head back to the estate and pack your things. Should we meet you back here, or at the train station after we’re done packing?” He asked. "If you could, try to get to Ponyville," Dark said. "We'll be heading there after a talk with the princesses and no idea how long said talk will take. Plus we have a way to be there rather quickly, without the train." Twilight frowned. "We do? I mean sure we could teleport there but-" "No Twilight. I recently found a new mode of transportation. At least I'm hoping that's what it is." Twilight simply shrugged. "If you say so." She then looked at the noble. "If you don't see us at the station by the time you arrive, you can head straight to my castle and we'll meet you there. Fancy Pants nodded. "Very well. We'll see you later today." With that said, he began to leave, with Gabby and Cheese close behind, the former waving goodbye to her cousin. After they left, Celestia looked to Dark. "So I take it you heard of the break out that happened last night?" "Yeah. Why?" "It's why I called you here. Considering you were the one responsible for Shocker being put behind bars. Plus I wanted you to know about Stone Tower's belief that you were the one responsible." Dark sighed. "Yeah. That's a bit of a long story." "I'm already planning to have Raven clear out my schedule for the rest of the day. We'll need to work on fixing the damage those creatures caused as well as plan out many funerals…" she shook her head. "For now, I think it best that we discuss what happened at Ryker's and that attack. Considering those creatures were apparently seen in Manehattan, it's probably best to believe that the attack here is not the last time they'll show up." Dark nodded before beginning to tell the story of what he and his current companions know about the break out.