//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Heart of Friendship // by Silky //------------------------------// 3 “YOU DID WHAT?!” The five ponies shrunk back from their friend, obviously seeing the rage plastered all over their friend’s face. Each looked at each other or at the sky, trying to avoid the fuming purple unicorn. Twilight put a hoof to her face, closing her eyes to take it all in. The crowd had dispersed by now, only leaving her, her five friends and the ship. “Well…um…” Fluttershy tried to speak, finding herself at a loss for words. The butter Pegasus proceeded to shrunk lower to the ground when the rest of the mares cast glances towards her. Twilight sighed, looking towards her friends before stepping out near the gummi ship. “Twilight, dear, we were just trying to protect you. We didn’t know what happened to you; you just disappeared after heading into that vortex! We found you captured by those creatures and we’d need you to active the Elements of Harmony to fight them off if those…brutes attacked.” Rarity said, stepping forward slightly towards her fellow unicorn. Twilight glared towards Rarity, who didn’t seem to back off before the purple unicorn sighed. “I told you what happened! I managed to teleport myself into another dimension! I don’t know…how exactly I did it, but I did!” Twilight nearly screamed towards the white unicorn, “And that pony was with me! He helped me escape too, and I’m sure his friends were just as good as him!” Twilight looked towards her friends, staring at them for a long time. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash stepped forward slightly, giving a glare towards Twilight. “That sounds like a load of Buffalo! I know you charged forward into the vortex and that machine was inside of it too, but that guy was just an Earth pony! There’s no way he could perform magic to teleport into a different dimension! They must be…aliens!” Rainbow Dash spoke slowly, in sudden realization. Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie held each other in their hooves, gasping in shock while Applejack simply rolled her eyes. Twilight Sparkle gave a slight groan but continued to glare at the blue mare. “Don’t be mad, none Twi.” Applejack stepped forward with a half-hearted smile, “Besides, Celestia seemed to be interested about that Rainbow-thingy-ma-jigger. I’m sure everypony in Ponyville was too.” Twilight’s ears perked up for a moment, looking towards the orange Earth Pony. “Wait, Celestia? What would she want with that Rainbow vortex?” She asked, looking questioningly for a second. It didn’t make sense why the Princess wouldn’t just inform her, or at least come here herself for investigation. The group shifted uncomfortably, giving small murmurs between them. Each of them looked towards Rainbow Dash, who shifted uncomfortably on her hooves before flying into the sky as if to avoid her friend’s glances. “Celestia did send them, but I dunno why they arrested them. They must be fugitives or something, but, hay, if you wanna hang out with criminals it’s your business.” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging slightly in an uncaring way. “They aren’t criminals! Or at least Sora isn’t…” Twilight exclaimed before trailing off, looking towards the ground slightly. She wasn’t even totally sure if these guys were good or not, which her friends gave worried glances towards the purple mare besides Rainbow Dash. The purple unicorn then sighed and let her head droop before Pinkie Pie proceeded to bounce next to the purple unicorn, pulling her into a headlock. “Don’t worry your pretty little head Twilight! Your auntie Pinkie Pie’s got an idea how to rescue those guys!” All five mares raised their heads at the pink earth pony. The four looked surprised while Twilight also echoed their surprise with a small frown towards the pink pony. “What in the hay are ya talkin’ ‘bout?” Applejack responded, looking towards the pink pony with a curious expression. Twilight was intrigued too, wondering why the pink pony believed her. Her other friends were casting wary glances towards their friend, as if she were crazy or something. Twilight was a bit glad to have somepony to confine in even though the rest of her friends didn’t believe her. “Alright Pinkie, what’s your plan?” Twilight asked, looking towards the pink pony eagerly. “Okie dokie loki! First we’re gonna need paint….lots and lots of paint.” xxx Sora stared out the window, looking out at the clouds that passed by. This really wasn’t where he wanted to be exactly, heading to prison for some sort of crime he didn’t even know he committed, especially since they hadn’t seen a single Heartless since they’d arrived. Donald and Goofy had been silent for most of the trip, probably thinking on their own as well. Sora glanced at them in the corner of his eye before sighing and looking towards them. “Sorry guys…I never expected this to happen.” Sora said apologetically, smiling slightly while shrugging with his hooves bound. The Griffin and Diamond Dog looked at each other before bursting out laughing, causing Sora to jump a little by their outburst. “Aw shucks Sora! You don’t have to worry about us! Remember back in Hollow Bastion? All fer one and one fer all, ahyuck!” Goofy said, grinning towards the brown stallion. “He’s right,” Donald quacked while giving his own little smile, “We’re a team, and we’ll stick together through and through. Besides, we’ve defeated countless numbers of Heartless! No stupid Princess is gonna beat us!” The Griffin grinned causing Sora to chuckle slightly to himself. He never doubted them for their bravery of the situation, but it was comforting to know they were behind him the whole way. Suddenly the container lurched forward, causing all three of them to slide inside of the box forward a little. There was a rough bump before the cart slowly came to a halt. Each creature got up slowly, looking out of the bars to try and see where exactly they had arrived. Sora turned as the sound of a latch opening from the back of the cart, causing the two doors to swing open to reveal three guards standing outside of the cart. “Come with us.” One of them said flatly, looking towards them with a hint of hostility. Sora glanced at his friends, who returned with their own looks of concern, then trotted out as best he could with his hooves bounded together and the fact he still wasn’t used to this form himself. Donald and Goofy followed soon after, being followed by their own guard as they exited the cart. As Sora looked up, his mouth gaped at the sight in front of him. It was a large castle, yellow spirals rising up into the blue sky as well as fancy patterns along the building’s side. Sora was suddenly bumped by one of the guards, realizing he had been standing to stare at the large building for awhile. He snorted before trotting forward with the rest of the guards and his friends. Moving somewhat slowly, the group headed towards the interior of the castle without a word. If Donald or Goofy tried to get a word in, they were immediately silenced by one of the guards with a flick of their wings. Sora made a note to not get on their bad side as they passed through one of the large hallways. The place was as large as it was on the inside as it looked on from the outside. There were massive paintings and stained-glass windows along the sides of the walls, though Sora had no time to look at them since the guards kept the three moving. Soon the group disappeared down a stair case, into a less pretty part of the castle. There were a few torches here and there, obviously kept lit by some magic as the wood inside it seemed to be rotted, as well as stone for wallpaper. It took them a few minutes, but finally they had reached the dungeons of the palace. It was quite empty, to Sora’s surprise, but there were a few ponies here and there. They looked awfully shady but none of the trio said anything as they walked by. Soon the guards arrived at a prison cell, pushing Sora roughly with one of their hooves into one, causing him to skid slightly to the ground. The guards closed the gate quickly before the brown pony could get up, before moving on through the prisons. “H-hey, where are you taking my friends!?” Sora had managed to get up, holding the bars with his hooves that somehow had been released magically by their bonds. A guard glanced back, stopping before chuckling slightly to himself. “A different holding cell, we have different cells for different creatures. Just keep your mouth shut and you’ll be fine. The Princess will have an audience with you soon.” The Guard spoke before walking off with Donald and Goofy further into the prisons. Sora watched them go until they were swallowed up by the blackness of the rest of the prison cells, which he slowly slid onto his haunches. “Boy, this is just wonderful,” Sora chuckled ironically to himself while putting his hooves on his cheeks as he sat down, “Way to go, Sora. First you wind up with some purple unicorn, then next thing y’know you’re in prison. I guess that’s why I’m so nice.” “Purple unicorn?” A feminine voice asked from across Sora’s cell, causing him to look up slowly. He could see another pony in the cell just in front of him, but he couldn’t make out exactly what the pony looked like. He squinted a little before deciding to give up on deciphering who the pony was exactly. “Yeah, her name’s Twilight Sparkle. Have you heard of her or something?” Sora asked, curiously looking at the equine behind the bars. She was silent for awhile before he could see her head turn towards him. “Know her…? Yes I know her. Thanks to that stupid filly, I’ve been in nothing but trouble.” The pony hissed through her teeth, “She’s the reason I’m stuck in this place. Every time I showed off my great and powerful expertise, it ended in failure. Everypony used to adore me! Now I’m the laughing stock of Equestria and banished here.” Sora felt a bit sorry for the pony, frowning towards her. He didn’t really think that Twilight was a bad unicorn, but maybe she had caused some misfortune to others. After all, he’d only been with her for a short time and he had managed to get in trouble because of her. “Oh…um…I’m sorry.” Sora said, looking apologetically towards the pony, “Well, if it makes you feel better I’m kinda in here ‘cause of her too.” Sora saw the pony shift slightly, as if she were surprised by the same pony in her own horseshoes. Sora grabbed the bars with his hooves, trying to get a better look at her now that she had moved, but to no avail. “Really? What a coincidence…” The pony said, her voice suddenly changing to a lower somewhat darker tone, “Tell me more…” xxx “This, by far, is the STUPIDEST idea you’ve ever had Pinkie.” Five mares hid behind a bush only a few feet away from the Castle located in Canterlot. Each gave a strange look towards the pink one in the middle who was doing some sort of procedure to a Pegasus pony that couldn’t be seen behind the pink one. Pinkie Pie was making odd faces towards her creation, holding a paint brush firmly in one hoof while the other was straightening some sort of cone-like object. After a few more moments, the pink pony stepped back and grinned goofily before gesturing towards the other four ponies. “Fillies and Gentlecolts! I give you, Princess Luna!” Each raised an eyebrow towards the ‘Luna’ supposedly behind the pink pony. The creature was a dark purple color, a few blotches of paint sticking firmly to her coat and on her wings. Makeshift jewelry had been messily put together as the Princess’s lunar jewelry, as well as a hastily painted cutie mark to somewhat match the princess. To top it all off, on top of the pegasi’s head sported a somewhat interesting looking horn that, if closely looked at, looked almost machine stitched. A plastic looking crown spray painted a dark blue also pushed against the pseudo-horn. “Uh-uhm w-why did I get picked again?” The mare asked, shrinking slightly as Pinkie introduced her. Twilight Sparkle stared at the makeshift princess before slapping a hoof into her muzzle. “We picked you because you’re the only pony with blue eyes and a Pegasi! You know how Rarity is with paint and none of us could probably pull it off.” Twilight said softly towards Fluttershy who looked away slightly. Twilight was glad that after Pinkie had explained the plan they had gone along with it. Even if they were wary about Twilight’s decision to rescue the pony that had saved her and his friends, she was glad they still trusted her enough to help her. She felt that she needed to know more about that pony, why he had come in an odd ship, and more about this ‘Keyblade’ that voice had talked about. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, flapping her wings into the air as she flew around Fluttershy. “They’ll never buy it! It’s just Fluttershy with a paintjob.” Rainbow Dash cut in, cupping Fluttershy’s blue mane with her hoof before tossing it in the mare’s face. Fluttershy daintily scuffed her hoof on the ground, a bit embarrassed by Rainbow Dash’s comment. Rarity immediately went over to the mare, looking her up and down before looking towards the rest of her friends. “Come now, girls! If Twilight is with her, it might be more reasonable why they’ll let them in. All Twilight needs to do is unlock the Palace Garden’s back door, correct? If “Luna” is with her, she can easily access the castle. Pinkie, I must say your taste is quite… unique.” Rarity explained, looking towards the pink pony who gave a large grin. “So what yer tellin’ me is…Alls we need ta do is git through the Gardens and distract the guards outside, while Twilight and Fluttershy get inside the castle and unlock the Palace Garden door so we can get in?” Applejack asked giving an odd glance towards Rarity, who simply nodded. “Yes! They let ponies in the gardens all the time, so we shouldn’t be suspected. We can’t get in otherwise, so we’ll use Rainbow Dash to distract the guards until we can get inside.” Rainbow Dash groaned but gave a half-hearted salute. Applejack tapped a hoof to her chin before nodding at the plan again once she reviewed it over in her head. Twilight sighed shaking her head before trotting up to her friends. “Alright, let’s set this plan into motion. I just wanna say…thank you.” Twilight smiled towards her friends, who all gave a smile back warmly towards the purple unicorn. Rainbow Dash still frowned towards Twilight, but rolled her eyes and nodded slightly. “Girls, we’ll rendezvous at the Palace Gardens. Fluttershy?” Twilight looked towards the blue mare, who nodded somewhat nervously towards her, “Keep your head up, and don’t worry! We’ll get through. I’ve got a back-up plan in case they don’t buy it.” Fluttershy seemed reassured at her comment and nodded slightly. The ground dispersed, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash heading towards the Palace Gardens while Twilight and Fluttershy remained behind the bush. Twilight peered out of the bushes until her friends had disappeared, looking towards Fluttershy before giving a nod. “Ready?” She asked her shy friend, who looked at the ground for a moment before looking up. “Uhm…yes…But,” Fluttershy spoke up, looking towards Twilight who stared at her impatiently, “Oh…uhm…if that’s okay with you, if I may say something…I mean-” “Just say it, Fluttershy.” “Oh, um, yes.” Fluttershy said, regaining herself, “I believe you Twilight…I know we may seem a bit…y’know…but I’m sure you’re telling the truth…a-anyway let’s go.” Twilight felt a smile creep across her face at her friend’s confidence, causing her to lurch forward to pull the blue pony into a hug. “Oh, thanks Fluttershy!” Twilight said, squeezing her friend in her hooves while Fluttershy attempted to hug her friend back. Twilight let go of the pony before getting onto her hooves, nodding towards her. Fluttershy returned the nod before following the purple unicorn, trying to be as graceful as possible as she trotted after her. Twilight slowed her pace to let Fluttershy ahead of her as they approached the castle As they approached two large stallions were on guard, their expressions emotionless as the two approached. Twilight stepped forward as she and Fluttershy approached, causing the guard’s wings to spread as a sort of shield. “Halt! Who goes there?” One of the guards asked, looking toward the two ponies slightly. They looked over the pony who seemed to be Princess Luna, their eyes widening slightly. Twilight raised a hoof and proceeded to cough into it before clearing her throat. “I am Twilight Sparkle, apprentice of Princess Celestia. Princess Luna, here, was just escorting me to the castle for a meeting with my mentor.” Twilight explained, looking towards the guards. They cast wary glances towards the ‘said’ Luna, who simply kept quiet and looked towards the ground. Twilight gulped, trying to keep a smile towards the guards as they inspected Luna. She quickly bumped the shoulder of the blue pegasi, who immediately perked up slightly. “Uh…yes, she’s with me.” Fluttershy spoke up, raising her neck a little bit to look higher, “Or do you doubt your Princess?” The Guards seemed a little flustered by doubting their princess, unsure of what to do exactly. She looked similar but the guards managed to see through the disguise. Though it seemed like no-pony had seen Luna since Twilight and her friends had defeated Nightmare Moon, the guards seemed to notice the difference between the Alicorn and the colorful pegasi. “Nice try.” One of the guards said, immediately thrusting their heads towards Twilight and ‘Luna’. ‘Luna’ squeaked while Twilight bit her lip, quickly jumping forward to unleash a sleeping spell on the two guards. Their eyes fluttered for a moment as the magic spell was cast, before easily falling to the ground asleep. “T-they’ll be okay right?” Fluttershy squeaked, looking at Twilight with a glimpse of fear in her eyes. “Yeah they’ll be fine. I just put them under a sleeping spell, now c’mon!” Twilight said hurriedly, trotting past the guards by opening them with a flick of her horn. Fluttershy trotted in quickly with Twilight trailing on after her. The two entered the castle, though Twilight thought everything looked pretty much the same. The same décor, the same guards, the same servants, all of it the same since she had last been here. She felt guilty for sneaking inside the palace by putting the guards under a spell but they had to find out more about that pony and his friends. Twilight felt something nagging at her thoughts about, but she couldn’t place what exactly it was. The two ponies hurried through the corridors, trying to remain unseen by maids and guards. They swarmed the palace, but thanks to a few magic spells whipped up by Twilight they managed to avoid being seen by changing their shape. Along the way Fluttershy had managed to lose her horn but it wasn’t like it mattered much now. All they had to focus on was getting to the Palace Garden’s door. xxx “Hold it right there!” Guards were everywhere, yelling and running across the gardens. A rainbow-like blur sped by, clamping her hooves against some of the freshly-trimmed bushes to ruin them. She then proceeded to splash too much water against some of the patio furniture along the outer sides of the palace. Rainbow Dash then, to top it all off, had managed to use Rarity’s emergency make-up kit to paint faces on the Statues inside of the Gardens. Guards were flying and running every which way to catch the blue Pegasus pony. Rainbow Dash was the Best Flier in all of Equestria, and she had managed to elude them for awhile. Rairty, Pinkie Pie, Applejack had managed to hide themselves near a large clump of bushes just a few feet away from the commotion and the front door of the palace. It was still closed, so trying to get in until Twilight came and got her friends would be a definite no-no or so Rarity would say. Pinkie Pie was having a hard time keeping still, especially when Rainbow Dash was flying around distracting the guards. The pink pony bounced softly to herself, shifting on her hooves uncomfortably while Rarity continued to mumble to herself about being ‘covered in dirt’. Applejack kept her green eyes glued to the door hoping silently to herself that her friends could keep quiet for a bit. “Applejack, dear, can we please get out from under this dreadful bush?” Rarity complained, picking up one of her white hooves daintily. “No. We need ta wait fer Twilight. We’re keeping it low for now while Twilight manages to unlock that there door.” Applejack said sternly, though Rarity gave a glare towards the orange earth pony. The white unicorn sighed before nodding, staring at the door expectantly while occasionally casting glances towards Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie sighed, shuffling her hooves faster and faster before suddenly popping up. “Oooooh! I can’t take it! I need to help Dashie!” Pinkie Pie said bouncing out of the bushes quickly. Applejack managed to catch the pink pony by her fluffy tail, causing the party pony to ricochet back into the orange earth pony. The two tumbled back into the bushes, causing Rarity to screech out of horror of getting leaves in her mane. Pinkie Pie managed to seat herself onto of Applejack, whose hat had covered her face now. “Pinkie, no! It’s too dangerous; if she’s caught we’ll need you as backup!” Applejack said, adjusting her hoof to allow her hat to move back behind her ears. Pinkie Pie frowned, jumping off of Applejack before quickly pointing a hoof in the opposite direction of the two ponies. “But she’s in trouble!” Pinkie Pie squeaked, jumping uncontrollably while frowning. Applejack thought it was odd Pinkie Pie wanted to help so bad, then again she didn’t really like sitting still. Applejack got to her hooves, glaring towards Pinkie Pie before staring towards the direction her hoof was pointing. “Ah don’t see…Oh Celestia’s mane.” Applejack paused in midsentence blinking towards the direction the Pink Pony had been pointing. There were little blobs of dark creatures, they looked similar to someone splashing a giant bottle of ink across the gardens but different somehow. Rainbow Dash was only a few feet away from the two ponies, shaking off the creatures that were swarming her from the air. The creatures were all black, taking a similar shape of a pony but more defined sharp edges on them. Their ears were long and thin, especially curly at the end with beady yellow eyes. They had long Pegasus wings, but looked more mechanical than anything else. There were two flanking Rainbow Dash as she tried to fight them off with a few strikes of her hooves. “This might be a bit of a problem.” Applejack groaned to herself.