//------------------------------// // A dark reunion // Story: My Little Kingdom: The Key to Harmony // by Mekapix //------------------------------// The ruined castle was coming up in the distance. The seven ponies were running as fast as they possibly could, the dark cloud above the broken fortress was reaching down. Discord was starting. “So we can all use spells with the Keyblade?” Applejack asked Sora. He looked over to her with a nod before looking back to their destination. “Yes but there are only certain spells we can use, not like the magic you all have here.” Applejack gave a nod in return as she kept listening. “You’ve already seen four of them. Fire, Blizzard, Thunder and Cure. The others are Aero which blows enemies away from you, Reflect which creates a shield, Magnet which pulls enemies towards you and Gravity which pushes the enemies around you into the ground. There’s also the spell Stop which freezes the enemies around you for a few moments but that doesn’t work on the more powerful ones.” Applejack gave a little sigh as Sora finished the list. “That’s a lot to remember.” She replied. Sora just gave a small smile. “Yeah but you’ll all remember it easier than you think.” The cowpony gave a smile back then turned her head forward. The castle was getting closer now and small lightning strikes were lashing out at the castle grounds. As the approached a small clearing outside the castle, a dark mist materialized in front of them as a creature that could only be described as a conglomeration of different animal pieces appeared from the mist. The six mares looked up at the creature scowling. “Discord!” Twilight yelled. Discord smirked a little then sighed. “Yes hello Twilight.” He started. “Hello to you too Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and… who are you?” He said as he stared down at the brown colt in the group. “Sora, my name is Sora.” He replied. “Well Sora, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’d like to get to know you but I have a world that I need to rule but on the other hand…” Discord took a careful look at Sora, a little bit of confusion on his face. “Why are you here? You’re not an Element of Harmony.” “I’m here to stop the heartless which means I’m here to stop you too.” Discord sighed. “Another ‘mighty hero’ right? I’m going to win anyway so why do you keep trying to resist?” He said with a slight giggle. Suddenly the playful nature on his face washed away and only left confusion. “Wait a minute little Sora… The heartless are from another world, how do you know about them?” When Sora didn’t reply for a few moments, Discord caught on. “Oh I see” He smirked. “You’re from another world too aren’t you?” Before Sora could utter a comeback, Discord looked behind himself then turned back, clapping his claw and paw together. “Well I’d like to stay and chat a little more but I’m meeting an old friend of yours. I can’t have you all interrupt us while I’m helping her back however so I’ll give you some friends to play with.” With a snap of his claw Discord vanished into a dark mist, Neoshadows began coming through the mist where Discord left. The ponies called their Keyblades and got ready to fight, Twilight came up beside Sora and frowned at him. “You lied to us about where you’re from.” She said. “Yes I know I did, sorry but I’ll explain myself later. We got bigger problems right now.” He replied. Twilight sighed in defeat and started charging towards the heartless as they responded in kind. XXX Discord approached a black veiled portal at the end of the castles decrepit chamber, he thrust his arms out towards it and they became cloaked in a black aura. Dark wisps flowed out of the walls and floor, collecting inside the black portal as Discord started chuckling to himself. “Those fools. The elements may have stopped me last time but they will not be enough to stop this time around. I will get my Equestria back and return it to a beautiful state of chaos, those ponies won’t be able to stop me this time.” ‘Aiming high aren’t you Discord, it’s good to see that in a leader’ Maleficent spoke inside his mind. “Well Maleficent, if you’re going to do something wrong, you got to do it right.” Discord replied, smiling as more dark energies poured into the portal. ‘Very true indeed. Bestowing the powers of darkness on you was not a waste.’ She chuckled. He smiled proudly in return. “It won’t be, no one can stop me now. Not Celestia, not Luna and not those mares. I must ask about their new friend though, he knew about the heartless.” He said. Maleficent was quiet for a few moments. ‘What was his name…?’ “He said his name was Sora.” ‘WHAT?!’ Discord winced as she screamed in his mind. ‘How could you not have mentioned this already you fool?! He is not one to be underestimated, do you understand?’ “He is a small little earth pony, what danger could he pose to the plan?” ‘He carries a powerful weapon called the Keyblade, it is the one thing that the heartless fear and, as much as I don’t wish to admit it, he knows how to use it well’ Discord just shook his head and laughed. “A key? I’m supposed to be threatened by a big key? That’s a good one Maleficent.” He heard her growled. ‘I’m not joking you idiot!’ Discord cringed. “I’m no idiot witch! He will be under my control once I rule Equestria just like everypony else.” ‘Not ruled! He mustn’t be ruled, he must be destroyed!’ Maleficent wailed. Discord shrugged. “Ok ok. I’ll make sure that our friend, the mare of the moon, won’t leave a trace of that pony.” ‘You better…’ Then Maleficent disappeared from his mind. Discord frowned for a few moments, feeling that it was him that was being underestimated but the thought didn’t last long as the last wisp of darkness entered the portal and a pair of turquoise eyes with black slitted pupils opened inside the vortex. Discord grinned evilly as Nightmare Moon stepped forward and bowed to him. “Shame you’re not the full thing.” He said as the grin remained. “But we can make up for that with a few alterations.” He brought his talon to the mare’s horn and grabbed hold of it, laughing as he pumped dark energy inside the alicorn. XXX Sora brought his Keyblade down onto the last of the heartless, bursting it into wisps. He panted and looked up at the castle, gulping as he thought of what they might find inside. They all grouped back together before looking up at the archway. “We ready?” Sora said. Everypony nodded and they all walked forward, into the castle. As they made their way under the archway and towards the door to the main chamber, shivers ran down their spines. They could feel the dark intent behind the door way, it was subtle but strong, they were sweating slightly and Sora gulped as he pushed the door open. “Oh I’m so happy you all made it.” Discord said, greeting them into the chamber where he stood at the far end. “It wouldn’t have been very fun if that had been enough to take you down, in fact I would have been rather disappointed.” “You won’t find the heart of the world Discord, we won’t let you!” Twilight announced. Discord just laughed. “Oh I will Twilight Sparkle and when I do, this world will belong to me.” Sora stepped towards Discord a little. “You do know that if the heartless find the heart of the world, they will destroy it right? You won’t rule it.” Discord shook his head at the colt. “It won’t get destroyed little colt. Once I find the keyhole to the heart of the world and send in the heartless, Equestria will be plunged into chaos and I will rule as I rightfully should. Maleficent told me herself.” Sora narrowed his eyes and growled. “So Maleficent is the one who gave you the control of the darkness, don’t you realise you’re only being used?” Discord laughed loudly then turned the joyous expression into a twisted scowl. “You know nothing little pony. She has noticed my power and increased my strength, all I need to do to help her is to take down the light of this world and allow darkness to take it.” Sora began yelling at the god of disharmony. “No! That will destroy the entire world. I’ve stopped her and her minions before and I’ll stop you too!” He called the Keyblade to his mouth and grabbed hold. The mares behind him followed suit, calling their Keyblades forth and getting ready for a battle. Discord simply sighed and looked to the seven of them. “I wish I could make you see the chaos I’d create when I win little Sora but I’m afraid Maleficent has been rather forceful with the idea that I must be rid of you completely.” He stepped to his side and a dark portal rose from the ground. “So without further delay, I’d like to meet your doom little ponies. I give you the third coming of the powerful princess, the darkest ruler of the night, the queen of the moon. NIGHT-MARE MOON!” The dark alicorn’s horn was the first thing to pierce the veil of the black portal. Her head emerged and those cold turquoise eyes pierced the souls of the ponies that saw her. Her wings spread out as she entered the room and then her lower body came through, her pitch black tail and mane with a violet tinge flowed with the breeze as the portal dissipated behind her. Discord enjoyed the look of fear that came across the faces of the elements of harmony. “What’s wrong little ponies? I thought you’d enjoy seeing an old face, it’s a shame that she isn’t her full self, just a dark servant of mine if anything but that could be better, no chance of her getting her own ideas this way.” Twilight glanced at Discord while making sure the alicorn was still view. “What do you mean by ‘she isn’t her full self’?” Discord just smiled at her as Sora began to explain instead. “Heartless are made of all the darkness inside a heart, they feed on it and that’s what gives them form but this isn’t made from all the darkness inside your Princess’ heart. It’s just filled with whatever left you Princess when you defeated Nightmare Moon before, all the empty parts are just filled with dark magic. It looks like Nightmare Moon and may have her powers but it isn’t really her, just a shadow.” Discord started clapping and laughed. “100 points to the colt! You’re absolutely right but even though she isn’t the full Nightmare Moon from before, she still has great power, even more with my dark energy imbued with her.” Sora looked at him as Discord began dissipating into a dark mist. “Well I’m off to pay a visit to your lovely little town, might find a few ideas as to where the keyhole is there. Have fun now.” With that, he was gone and only the alicorn remained. It wasn’t even a few moments before the alicorn splayed out her wings and dove for the group, her horn sparking as black lightning fired at the ponies. They jumped out of the way as the magical lightning made an impact on the ground, cracking the floor. “Don’t hesitate, just attack!” Sora yelled. He jumped back and span round, throwing the Keyblade towards the alicorn. “Spark Raid!” The Keyblade smacked into the alicorn’s side with less effect it had on the Stealth Sneak. He called it back to his mouth and ran round the mare, she glared at him and fired another few bolts of black lightning at him. He managed to deflect the first couple of bolts with the Keyblade but tripped and skidded along the floor as the last bolt flew towards him, it would have hit him but Pinkie came out of nowhere and held up her Keyblade. “Reflect!” A transparent shell appeared over the two ponies and blocked the last bolt as it exploded over the dome. She quickly helped up the brown pony and he nodded in thanks as they made their way away from the shadowy mare. The alicorn growled at the two and was too distracted to see the fireball that struck her horn, she screamed and turned with a scowl to see Rainbow Dash pointing a Keyblade at her. The pegasus smirked as Applejack and her tree shaped Keyblade came from behind Nightmare Moon and slammed into her hooves causing the alicorn to whinny and rear up. Fluttershy grabbed Twilight and threw her towards the reared alicorn and slammed her Keyblade into the evil mare’s chest before teleporting away. Rarity threw her Keyblade towards Nightmare Moon. “Spark Raid!” The Keyblade span towards the alicorn but she’d had enough. She spread out her wings and jumped over the weapon, opening her mouth and firing a ball of dark energy towards the fashion pony. Rarity just managed to jump out the way of a direct hit but the force of the blast sent her skidding across the floor and into the wall, forcing a yelp out of her mouth. Fluttershy quickly flew to Rarity’s side and Rainbow Dash dove in front of the two and used her reflect spell as the alicorn continued to fire dark blasts at them. Twilight and Pinkie simultaneously fired Blizzard spells into the alicorns back. The dark mare yelped as she took the hits, she span round and fired the black lightning from her horn. Sora blocked the stream of lightning with his Keyblade but felt the power of the lightning begin to overpower his block. “We need to find a way to beat her and quickly!” Sora cried as they spread out. “How’re we supposed t’do that?” Applejack yelled to him. Sora’s block managed to outlast the stream of dark magic and he jumped back. He stumbled a little and Applejack supported him, allowing him to stay on all four hooves. “We haven’t hurt her much except when Rainbow hit her horn, everyone aim for her horn!” All the ponies nodded and got faced the dark mare. The alicorn growled and began tensing up as a dark aura started at her horn then spread across her whole body. All the ponies were blown back as the black aura exploded outwards, pulsing across the whole room. “Ok…now I’m mad!” Rainbow Dash said as she got back up and flew towards the alicorn. The alicorn looked up at Rainbow Dash as she swung her Keyblade, Nightmare Moon reared up and took the blow to her chest, wincing a little but not reacting much. She was about to slam her hooves down on the pegasus but Pinkie jumped up behind her and swiped the Keyblade across her horn. Nightmare Moon yelled out in pain and took into the air with a flap of her wings. “A few more hits should do it.” Twilight said as she kept blasting Fire magic in an attempt to hit her horn, each attempt missing. Sora ran under the alicorn and held out his Keyblade, giving Applejack a boost as she used her strong back legs to jump into the air. She struck the dark mare’s horn with her Keyblade while she was too distracted by Twilight’s constant assault. She landed while Nightmare Moon gripped her horn in pain, a loud crackle of magic could be heard as the dark alicorn blasted black lightning bolts wildly. Rarity held up her Keyblade and used a reflect spell to protect herself and Fluttershy, blocking the lightning blasts while Rainbow Dash did the same for Sora and Pinkie. Twilight was also using her reflect spell to protect Applejack from any attack, she looked over at Sora while holding the spell. “She’s going out of control!” She yelled. Sora started to yell back. “It because she’s weak, I expect the next hit will be the last one! Everypony try to hit her horn one more time, it should stop her.” They all nodded and prepared for the final attack. Nightmare Moon eventually stopped and panted in exhaustion, the others quickly dropped the spells and charged towards the alicorn. Rainbow picked up Pinkie and threw her towards the area under Nightmare Moon, she was quickly joined by Rarity and Applejack and they all crossed their Keyblades as Twilight ran and jumped onto the crossed Keyblades. They pushed her high into the air where Fluttershy caught her, Rainbow Dash then held out her Keyblade while on the ground where Sora jumped on and pushed off. He jumped up and swung at the alicorns back, getting her attention as he wanted so that when Fluttershy dropped the purple unicorn on Nightmare Moon, she was able to deliver the final, powerful downward strike onto her horn. Rainbow caught Sora as he fell back to the ground and Fluttershy flew down, catching Twilight before she hit the ground. They all watched as Nightmare Moon fell to the ground with a thump, they shared a sigh of relief and grouped up again, walking towards the exit. “Now we got to get out of here, Discord headed back to Ponyville and I doubt he will be quiet when he gets there.” Twilight stated. The other six nodded and started making their way out. However Sora looked back at the fallen alicorn and frowned, trotting back towards her. Rainbow noticed and followed behind him as they re-entered the main chamber while the others waited. “What’s wrong Sora? We got to hurry.” She told him. He just shook his head in response and when he saw the alicorns eyelids start opening, he tackled Rainbow Dash the side. Before she could even ask what he was doing, Nightmare Moon rose to her hooves and let out a shriek. Her horn crackled loudly and she fired a bolt of black lightning at the top of the door way, causing it to collapse. The alicorn started to shake and hiss as Sora and Rainbow Dash ran to the collapsed door way, hearing the others on the other side. “We’ll try and get you out!” Rarity said. “No.” Sora responded. “Nightmare Moon isn’t defeated yet and Discord is heading back to Ponyville, I’ll finish Nightmare Moon while you go protect the town.” Rainbow Dash then spoke up through the wall. “Yeah, you guys go on ahead. We can take care of her.” Sora looked over at the mare. “There’s a hole up where the stone came down, you can get out now you know?” Rainbow just shook her head. “I can’t leave you in here alone now can I?” Sora smiled and heard Fluttershy’s voice through the stones. “A-are you sure about us leaving you?” She asked softly. Sora grinned at Rainbow Dash and replied. “Yeah we can handle it, go make sure everyone else is ok.” He heard their hoof steps as they ran away from the tower. They turned back to face Nightmare Moon who was beginning to change. She hissed as her teeth turned into sharp fangs, each side of her shoulders started growing long appendages and they ripped open at the heads, a single row of sharp teeth in the mouths made them look like snakes with bear teeth, both with a mane flowing down them the same colour as the alicorns. Her tail split off and began solidifying into tendrils and her eyes turned fully yellow as she stared at the two ponies. Rainbow grimaced at the foul monster and turned to Sora. “What will we do? She looks stronger than she was before.” Sora nodded and smiled a little. “Then so will I.” His blue band shone brightly and enveloped his entire body, Rainbow quickly shielded her eyes as she smiled, remembering what happened last time. When the light died down, there stood Sora with his mane still the same but his coat now a navy blue. A horn protruded from his head and he called his Keyblade. A light blue, oval shaped guard with a dark blue handle. The shaft was dark blue like the handle and lead up to a slightly axe shaped head with circular patterns on it, a star in a circle was on the back of the Keyblade behind the axe shape. Sora smirked as he looked up at Nightmare Moon. “This is the Spellbinder Keyblade and this…” he gestured to his new body. “is my wisdom form. I hope you’re ready…”