My Little Kingdom: The Key to Harmony

by Mekapix


Explanation

Sora put his hoof to his chin and let out a sigh, trying to store all the information that just entered his brain over the last ten minutes. “Ok, let’s see if I got this right now.” He looked over at the orange pony with the Stetson. “Your name is Applejack, you and your family run Sweet Apple Acres which is an apple farm and you live with your brother, sister and grandma.” Applejack nodded in her response “That’s right but it’s not an apple farm, it’s the best apple farm!” Sora smirked at her attitude and turned to the white unicorn “You’re Rarity and you run a fashion boutique in town, you also have a little sister.” Rarity smiled “That’s absolutely correct darling and I’d suggest you drop by, I’m sure I could find something better than those bands and that chain around your neck.” Sora felt a little discouraged as he liked his chain and as for the bands, he didn’t even know if they could come off but seeing as his friends were inside them, he didn’t want to risk it. “You’re called Pinkie Pie, you live and work at the bakery owned by Mr and Mrs Cakes and you’re also a party planner?” Pinkie bounced around him as he came to her. “Correct-a-mundo. Remind me that I have to throw your welcome-to-Ponyville party soon as well, ever heard of a chimicherrychonga? I think you might enjoy it.” She said with a smile pressed right into Sora’s face, he giggled at her enthusiasm “Sounds like fun and sure, I’ll give it a try.” She backed off happily as he turned his attention to the cyan Pegasus hovering in mid-air, it wasn’t hard at all to remember her name.

“You’re Rainbow Dash, you’re the fastest weather pony in town and you want to join a group of the fastest flyers around called the Wonderbolts.” Rainbow Dash nodded and beamed as he complimented her though he felt it had to be said, she did call herself the fastest flyer around about five times. Then he looked to a scared looking yellow Pegasus hiding behind the purple unicorn he had sort of met earlier. “Your name is Fluttershy and you look after all the animals that need your help, even to the point that you’d live next to a forest full of animals you’re scared of just so that your friends will feel comfortable. That’s a very admirable thing to do.” He said gently to her. She smiled while hiding behind her mane, not out of fear but embarrassment from the compliment. He smiled and looked to the purple unicorn that Fluttershy was hiding behind. “You, as you told me before, are Twilight Sparkle. You live in this library and you love books, the only other thing you love as much as a good book is magic. You are the star student of Princess Celestia.” Twilight nodded but then looked back at him quizzically. “That’s right but now you know about us, it’s your turn. You’re an earth pony yet you used magic to summon that weird key, the one on your cutie mark.” “Cutie what?” Sora answered, it was surprising to him that whenever he and Twilight seemed to converse, one question always lead to another. As for Twilight, she was very puzzled that the colt in front of her didn’t know what a cutie mark was. “You know, a cutie mark. The picture on your flank? Shows what your talent is?” She said, feeling like she was explaining it to a new born. Sora looked at all the ponies in the room and saw they all had a mark on their behinds, he turned his head and saw the kingdom Keyblade surrounded by stars linked together with a line of light.
He sniggered and turned back to Twilight “I see, well that oversized key you saw earlier is called the Keyblade and I’m the only one who can wield it.” Twilight looked at the ground confused while the other five mares threw him looks of disbelief, especially Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “Oh really?” The cyan Pegasus asked, not even trying to hide her tone that practically screamed that she didn’t believe him. He sat down on his haunches and held his fore hooves straight out, a stream of light appeared just above his hooves and then the light burst to reveal the key that was the same as the one on his cutie mark. All six mares looked at the key fall onto his hooves with their mouths hanging open, even Twilight was still surprised despite seeing it happen for a second time. “This is the Keyblade.” Sora stated, Rainbow Dash started edging closer to it until she was nearly breathing on it. “That looks weird but kinda cool.” She said, she then looked up at Sora and saw she was nearly nose to nose with him, her cheeks went a little red and she backed away a little. “So uh, what did you mean by only you can wield it?” She asked, trying to cover up her face by looking away slightly. Sora ignored the slightly flushed look on her face and simply replied “Take it.” Rainbow pointed to herself while raising an eyebrow and getting a nod from Sora. She moved towards him again and took the handle in her hoof, picking it up off of his forehooves and admiring it closely. The other mares started inspecting it closely as well, the seemingly magical object summoned by an earth pony was waved around a little by the cyan pegasus. Then without warning, it flashed in a stream of light and reappeared back in Sora's forehooves again, a grin pushed through onto his face. "That's what I meant, if the Keyblade is taken from me, I can just simply call it back.” The ponies were definitely impressed by the feat but it brought a question to Twilight’s mind once the impressed feeling had subsided. “So this is some kind of weapon, isn’t it?” Sora nodded as he made the key vanish in a stream of light. “That’s right, it’s what I use to fight against the heartless.”

Looks of confusion were shared amongst the mares. “What in tarnation is a ‘heartless’?” Applejack asked, Sora was just about to explain when Twilight cut in. “Were they those small creatures that we saw in the forest?” Sora turned to her instead. “Yes they are but-“ he was cut off by her again, she turned to the rest of the mares and started to explain their appearance “They’re small, jet black animals with sharp claws and walk on two legs.” “Well they are more than just-“ Sora’s explanation was cut off yet again by Fluttershy who was no longer hiding. “Oh you mean the little bunny animals? Why would you hurt them?” She asked Sora with wide eyes, her pupils and iris had expanded dramatically and her lip quivered a little. Rarity petted her on the back “Fluttershy is right, how could you attack poor little rabbits?” Sora wasn’t even given the chance to begin again when Twilight replied. “They weren’t normal rabbits, they weren’t rabbits at all, they are vicious little monsters that surrounded and attacked us!” Pinkie Pie giggled at Twilight. “Rabbits aren’t monsters silly, they wouldn’t attack anypony.” Twilight opened her mouth to argue back but it was hastily plugged by a brown hoof, Sora looked at all the mares with the first serious expression he had shown since his arrival. “Please listen, these things aren’t rabbits, they are called heartless.” He took his hoof out of the unicorn’s mouth and continued explaining. “A heartless is a creature born from the darkness inside a heart, they work together to hunt down the darkness within a heart and pull it out, turning the owner into another heartless. The only thing they are truly afraid of is the Keyblade because it is the only thing that can release the heart trapped inside a heartless.”

A tense silence filled the room until Fluttershy raised her hoof a little “E-excuse me but if you’re telling the truth then you’re here to help right?” Sora looked at her and nodded, his normal warm smile returning to his face. “That’s right, I’m here to help!” That face and attitude ushered a small smile to her lips. He turned to make sure that he had the attention of all six mares. “Listen” he started “I need to warn you though, if the heartless are in those woods then it won’t be long until they try to come into your town…in fact, I’m rather surprised they haven’t tried to come in already.” A few gulps were shared in the group, Applejack came forward to ask the question on everypony’s mind. “So what are we going to do?” she asked, all of them felt rather concerned. “Heartless are attracted to very strong hearts as well as the Keyblade, if you could guess, who would you all say has the strongest heart out of all the ponies you know?” Only two ponies came to mind as the answer for such a question, Twilight looked at Sora and nodded “The strongest ponies that you could find anywhere would definitely be Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, no doubt about it. They don’t live very far either.” Sora was delighted at the news, he could find the strongest hearts in this world and the keyhole to this world couldn’t be far from it. “Right then! Shall we go?” He asked, so eager to get moving but there was one fact that he had neglected, it was pointed out to him by Pinkie Pie. “I hate to be a bubble bursting bearer of bad news Sora but it’s past everypony’s bed time.” She explained, pointing up at the moon through the library window. Sora looked up at the moon and saw all the ponies begin yawning, he had to let out a sigh as he realised that the visit to the princesses would have to wait until morning.

As all the mares started discussing the time for leaving to see the princesses, a fact dawned on him. Rainbow Dash tilted her head at Sora, seeing a confused look on his face. “What’s wrong Sora? I know you want to go to the princesses but we can’t go at this time.” She explained, the colt waved his hoof at her “No, I understand that and it’s ok, if the heartless aren’t here now, I don’t think they will attack, it’s just that…” Rainbow Dash and the other 5 mares looked at him confused, he looked up grinning and scratching the back of his head with his hoof. “Heh, I don’t actually have a place to sleep…” he said, getting a concerned look from the mares. “One moment dear.” Rarity asked of him, the mares then got into a huddle and Sora could hear suggestions being thrown around but just sat on his haunches, taking the opportunity to look himself over as a pony again. He then remembered that earlier, Rainbow Dash had picked up his Keyblade by its handle with her hoof so he trotted over to a nearby book and picked it up with his hoof. It was easy to do but impossible for him to understand how he was doing it, he simply imagined the feeling of his human hand clutching it and the hoof did so. Twilight came over to Sora while he put the book down, amused by the phenomenon that was his grasping hooves. He then looked up to Twilight who patted him on the shoulder “Well I’d let you stay here but the guest room is in a bit of a mess, my assistant, Spike, is out helping some little fillies get their cutie mark in ‘dragon caring’.” She didn’t hide her notion to believe that it was pointless. “So we’ve decided that you’ll be staying at Rarity’s boutique. I hope that’s ok.” Twilight explained, Sora looked over at the marshmallow unicorn and smiled. “Sure, thanks for taking me in for the night.”

Everypony gave their goodbyes to one another and trotted home, Sora following behind Rarity while looking round the town in the dark, it looked peaceful if not a little spooky. He followed Rarity into her fancy, multi-coloured boutique and looked around the inside of it while she closed and locked the door behind him. There were many coloured fabrics strewn about in the corners of the room, pony shaped manikins on stands near the centre of the room, his view was cut short when Rarity came up beside him “The guest bedroom is just through that door over there, I must retire for the night. One must get her beauty sleep before she meets royalty.” She said with a wink. Rarity started making her way up the staircase to her room while Sora giggled and trotted towards the guest room. As he closed the door behind him, he admired the clean and tidy room around him. Purple drapes were closed over the only window in the room, a light blue carpet lay across the white floor which led to the equally white walls. There wasn’t much else in this room besides a few more manikins by the farthest wall, Sora yawned and crawled into the bed, the bright pink sheets quickly and comfortably huddled his body while he collapsed his body on the plush, soft pillow. The last thought to go through his mind was the hope that he would be able to find and lock the door to the heart of the world before the heartless attacked the town, this was a good world and all its inhabitants were so kind, he couldn’t let this world blink out. He wouldn’t let this world blink out.

XXX

Earlier that day

Princess Celestia was pacing back and forth in the throne room, her sister trying to calm her down to no avail. “Dearest sister, you are going to were a rut into the floor, please calm yourself.” Celestia looked at Luna for a moment then shook her head. “How can I Luna? These attacks are becoming more frequent and they are getting closer to the towns, Fillydelphia have already had reports of these creatures roaming into the city on occasion and attacking pedestrians!” Celestia felt helpless, she couldn’t protect all her subjects in Equestria at the same time and she couldn’t just leave the castle, everypony would go into an uproar. Celestia collapsed on her haunches and stared at her hooves. “How can I protect everypony? I feel so useless on my own.” She was quickly hugged from behind by two obsidian coated hooves. “Celly…you’re not alone, you have me to assist you in any way I can. You also have the elements who would gladly help you as well as the other kingdoms.” Luna paused to hold her sister a little tighter. “It might be time we called an audience with them. This isn’t just us becoming affected by these creatures.” Celestia nodded to Luna and pulled away from her, walking over to the throne room door and just let her head out of it to talk to the guard outside. “Guard, I wish to speak to Wingbeat and Shining Armor urgently.” The guard nodded and left to gather the two ponies, the alicorn sisters didn’t wait long before a grey, armored Pegasus and the cobalt maned stallion trotted into the room and bowed their heads. “You wished to see us your highnesses?” Shining Armor asked, he lifted his head up and Wingbeat followed suit. Celestia nodded “Indeed I did.” She first turned her attention to Wingbeat.

“Wingbeat, as you know, the creatures have started to approach towns and cities, putting the populace at risk. I wish for you to send a message to the Griffon Kingdom, the Diamond Dog Camps and dare I say…the Changeling Kingdom as well.” Luna lowered her head at the thought whereas Wingbeat and Shining Armor had a much more shocked reaction. “But Princess! After what they did at the wedding last year, you wish to invite them to our doorstep?” Wingbeat asked. The Sun Princess placed her hoof on Wingbeat shoulder “I understand that it is undesirable but this will affect her if it does not so already. Please have faith in your princess for now.” She asked of him with a sad smile on her face. The Pegasus nodded with a sigh, he knew deep down that this wouldn’t have been asked of him unless it was absolutely necessary. Celestia smiled at him at took her hoof from his shoulder “Thank you, tell them that they may bring a few guards for their own protection but no more than three. This is going to be hard enough to explain to anyone that sees it, we don’t want it to seem like another invasion.” Wingbeat nodded again and followed it with a salute before leaving the room.
Celestia then turned to Shining Armor and gave him a sad smile too. “I’m sorry that I have to call her here but we have little choice.” The unicorn stallion just gave a simple nod, the right words couldn’t gather in his mind. Celestia sighed at the silence and continued. “We need you to keep the barrier around Ponyville and Canterlot going for now, me and my sister shall channel some of our magic into your spell to take some strain off of you.” He looked up at the princess with concern in his eyes. “Are you sure about this, I can handle it your highness.” Celestia shook her head and placed a hoof on his head. “No, we are telling you to do this so it is only fair that we assist.” She removed her hoof before lowered her horn down to Shining Armor’s and Luna came up beside her, doing the same. A golden and dark purple glow surrounded their horns as the auras flew down the stallion’s horn and he began to feel a magical strength enter him. The alicorns lifted their horns away as the glows faded. “There is one more thing we ask of you Shining Armor.” The dark princess said to him. “We wish you to come to the meeting along with Princess Cadence.” The stallion nodded and bowed before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. Celestia and Luna looked at each other in concern before looking at the door. Luna let out another sigh and turned to Celestia. “I feel this is not going to go as smooth as we wish.” Her answer was in the form of her sister shaking her head. “It never is.”