//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Honesty and Trustworthiness // Story: Kingdom Heart next generation: Friendship is Omniversal // by Starry Eyed //------------------------------// Applejack looked out the window of her guest room at her cousin Braeburn’s house. The local Pegasus rarely made it rain as far out as Appaloosa, but when they did it came in a torrent. It had rained all of the day before but was beginning to die down and was now no more than a drizzle. Applejack called out, “Come awn Braeburn let’s head out, Little Feather is waiting for us.” It was no secret that Braeburn needed no persuasion to go and see Little Strongheart (wink, wink), but he didn’t want to meet up in the rain, “But cousin what about the rain?” Applejack gave Braeburn a sour look, “It’s almost stopped already. It will definitely have stopped by the time we get to the buffalo village.” Braeburn smiled and put his satchel on, “You’re right, let’s go”. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Applejack and Braeburn walked along through the super light drizzle. Applejack didn’t mind, but Braeburn just wasn’t as used to rain, “You said it would have stopped by now Applejack.” Applejack looked at Braeburn in disappointment, “Oh stop your whining. I know it doesn’t rain often here, but this doesn’t even count as a small, yet cloudy drizzle. It’s not like the sky is falling.” BOOM! All of Appaloosa looked up and saw a massive ball of fire sporadically hurtling through the clouds. It was falling at a 30 degree angle. The core of the fireball was not much bigger than a pony but the trail of fire and smoke billowing off of it made it seem much larger than it was. More than that it was evaporating the cloud that it had fallen through, turning the moisture in the air to steam. Applejack frantically grabbed her cousin and pulled him to the ground to brace for the nearby impact. That was a good idea too, because when the ball hit, gale force wind brimming with steam gushed over them, and would have knocked them down if they hadn’t already braced themselves. Braeburn looked up with wide eyes “what in Equestria just happened”. Applejack stood shaking like she did the first time pinkie sang the “evil enchantress song”. She looked over at the crash and could only manage to say “the sky just fell”. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Applejack and Braeburn made their way over to the crash site which was only 40 meters away from where then had been. As they got closer they heard something groaning in pain, within the crater. “Applejack, do you hear somepony?” asked Braeburn. “Eeyup” was all that Applejack could manage. Braeburn froze up “that either means that that thing hit somepony, or that IT was somepony”. Applejack thought hard about that. She didn’t know much about the local Pegasus, but she knew that they supposedly had different customs than those back home. And after seeing her friend Rainbow Dash break the speed of sound and control nature, and create rainbows. Well in short, the idea that a Pegasus spinning out of control and making such a spectacle was certainly far-fetched, but not out of the question. “Whatever or whoever it is, we gotta help um,” said Applejack. “Now, on the count of three. One, two, three …” Something stood, coated in fire. It clapped its hands together and the flames vanished without a trace. It stood almost twice as tall as either of the ponies standing before it, a monstrosity that the two had only heard of in stories to scare little colts and fillies. Human. Applejack looked over at Braeburn. Apparently the shaking is an apple family trait. The human looked down at the two, a look in her eyes that was that of a lost person trying to get their bearings. Applejack and Braeburn braced themselves and were prepared for anything that this monster could dish out. “Daaww! Little ponies, that’s adorable,” except that. Braeburn’s shook made him speak first, “Are you a human? Like, a real one?” The human girl’s eyes widened, “You can talk! Ponies can talk! Ponies can talk in this world!” She composed herself and bowed gracefully to them in a very ladylike fashion. “My name is Dea, and yes I am a human. Don’t worry I am not going to hurt you; I am just a passing explorer. Would you two excuse me for just one second?” Applejack and Braeburn exchanged a looked. It wasn’t like they could object to the mythical beast standing in front of them. They looked back to the girl and simultaneously uttered “eeyup”. Dea nodded regally and turned around. She then burst out, “Ponies! A world of talking ponies; this is the best world ever!” She regained half of her previous composure but couldn’t hide her smile. Applejack looked over to Braeburn and asked, “Well, she doesn’t seem hostile. Peppy maybe, but after being friends with Pinkie this is nothing. We should help her.” Braeburn whipped back horrified, “You want to help it! It is a foreign monster that we know nothing about and could overturn our way of life! Do you know what it could turn out to be?!” Applejack sadly looked back at Braeburn, “Just like Little Strongheart, maybe.” Braeburn realized his mistake far too late. Applejack continued, “You, of all people should have learned by now to give new and different people a chance.” Applejack looked down and reflected on her own past, “Like I learned back during that incident with Zecora.” Braeburn sighed. He didn’t like it, but he knew what had to be done and was going to do it, “Alright, you win, we will help her.” Dea was moved, and it showed, “Thank you both. We haven’t gotten such a good reception everywhere we have gone.” Dea suddenly gasped, “My friends, my crew, I have to get back to them! Have you two seen six more of my kind? They're all boys except for me. Oh, and the ship, have you seen a giant orange ship that looks like a bath toy coated in a bubble except that it can really fly and …” “Whoa Nelly, slow down. We ain't seen any more than you, but we’ll help you find your friends,” Applejack intervened. Dea calmed down, but saddened, “We may not be related, but we are family. I need to rendezvous with them ASAP.” Applejack would have walked up and put a caring hoof around Dea, but Dea’s shoulders were way too high up for that to be possible. “Don’t worry we know how important family is. We will help you.” Braeburn had agreed to help, but not to let his guard down, “But you have to promise not to hurt anypony, alright”. Dea looked over at the two ponies with the perfect innocence of a little child, “Nope, can’t do that.” Applejack was the one who spoke first, “WHAT!?” Dea looked back at them still in pure innocence, “Look nothing personal but I never make promises. Let’s say that I agreed to that promise. I know nothing about your kind, but I assume that at least one of your kind could be bad. If I promise not to hurt anypony and I meet such a pony, then I can only either break my promise or let the bad pony do as he pleases. I am not comfortable with either of those options. I believe that the most important virtue that a person can have is trustworthiness. If I say yes I mean yes, and if I say no I mean no. All I can promise you is that I mean what I say, and that I will always be true to my heart. That is my truth. I am not with you or against you, I am on truths side.” Applejack didn’t know what to say to that, but her element of honesty told her that Dea was serious. Applejack tried to say something, “I …” But that thought was never finished, because at that moment a warship came over the horizon, sailing in the air. Braeburn stared at it in disbelief, “Friend of yours?” Dea became very serious, “Trust me. I will never, ever be friends with the likes of them. That is an Enforcer ship.” Braeburn did not know or care what that was, “It’s over the Buffalo village, Little Strongheart!” All three ran in unison straight toward the certain meeting place. Dea looked down at the ponies, “If we keep running at this speed, how long will it take us to get there?” Braeburn answered, “We were already only five minutes away from the village. It will only be half that if we run like this.” Dea grabbed Braeburn up under her right arm and Applejack under her left arm, much to the sudden surprise of both. Dea spoke, “That will take way too long. I’ll carry you there.” In terms of tallness, Dea was almost twice that of the other two, but in terms of mass and weight, the three were almost the same. The ponies were sure they would only be slowed down by this new arrangement. “Let’s go” cried Dea, and their speed picked up to at least 25 miles an hour. “Or not” thought the ponies. Just how strong were these humans? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The buffalos had known foreigners to come into their land without permission and set up camp before but this was different. Although the ship had set up camp in the air just outside their village, they had sent one member of their crew to “greet” the locals. The Enforcer now standing in the middle of the village was a grey, rubbery looking being. It had no real features and looked like a human wearing a white, rubbery leather, full body suit. Except it wasn’t a suit, it was skin. Despite its look of being made of elastic, its surface definitely had a metallic shine. It had no facial features at all, so it was impossible to tell what it was thinking or feeling. It was not hard to tell what the buffalos were thinking or feeling though. Anger and intrusion, like the problems they had experienced with the settlers, were happening all over again, but this time it felt even worse. The chief had seen enough. No questions were asked. He gathered his four strongest troops and had them surround the intruder. Before anyone had tried to offer a single word, the chief gave the only word they needed - “CHARGE!” The four giants lowered their heads and rushed into the lone enemy. One aimed for its chest, one for its back, and the other two for its sides. There was a decisive crash, several smirks, and victory cheers that went up from the buffalos and the few ponies that were visiting (since they had made peace, Braeburn wasn’t the only one who had made friends and liked to visit). Their cheers died down when they saw what had happened. The grey anomaly had caught the heads of the two that had rushed its sides, stopping them in their tracks. As for the two that hit it in the front and back, they were now reeling back as though they had run headlong into a solid steel wall. The thing itself, looked like it hadn’t even noticed the attack, but to be fair it was hard to tell with that poker face it had. It flicked its wrists and tossed the two buffalo it had caught four buffalo lengths away from itself. The buffalo were scared now, but the few ponies were even more so. Other than dragons, manticores, star beasts, and alicorns, there really weren’t much in all of Equestria that was physically superior to a buffalo warrior. And this, this, whatever it was had just brushed four of their best off like they were dust bunnies. The ponies had, until the last year, been enemies with the buffalo and had all learned by heart that if you had to fight one, fight it in any kind of battle other than one of muscle. Even a super earth pony would easily lose to an average buffalo. They knew that after it had endured that, there really wasn’t much else they could do. The chief knew this too, and he knew he had to renew morale, “Don’t panic. They obviously sent out the strongest warrior they have to intimidate us. If we can just defeat it, the others will get scared and leave us alone.” The chief’s speech had renewed some hope among the natives that they could still win, key word being “some”. As if to crush their hopes, the anomaly liquefied its right arm, molded it into the shape of a sword blade, and re-hardened it until it turned dark silver, all before crouching into a battle stance. Equestrians are not naturally hostile. Even when they went to war to defend their own homes they seldom used anything more deadly than a pie fight. The mere sight of a sword sent pure terror down the spines of all who looked on. They may have become totally frozen by fear if the moment had not been interrupted by the sounds of Braeburn and Applejack running into town, asking what was going on. The only one not distracted by these newcomers was the anomaly itself. It did not let the moment to distraction go to waste, and lunged blade first right towards the chief. In the next moment several things all happened in the span of a few seconds. The chief lowered his head and entered a fighting stance. Little Strongheart, knowing that her father couldn’t survive the hit, dove in front of him. Braeburn grabbed Little Strongheart to use himself as a living shield against their certain doom. The chief realizing what was happening rushed to get the two youths out of the way, and the anomaly suddenly stopped mid-air and fell to the ground, destroyed. As said, these events all took place so fast that nopony or buffalo fully grasped what had happened. One brave (and/or stupid) buffalo walked up and inspected the beast. It had been ripped into by something and had claw marks unlike had ever been seen. What caught his eye was that the thing had no “innards”. It was filled with the same rubbery, metallic material that its body was made of. A collective gasp went up, as several ponies and buffalos had just noticed Dea; who had virtually appeared in all the commotion. She spoke loud enough that everyone who had been present could hear, “First off, that thing is a pawn class Enforcer, the lowest rank. Second, it is not a “creature”. It is a “construct”. Its body is logia, meaning that if it is distorted or damaged. It will gelatinize and reform as good as new. Third, unless the phrase “Haki of Armament” means anything to you, you had best stay out of their way. Finally, relax; I will take care of this.” One of the buffaloes was not pacified by this and demanded answers from the (in its eyes) equally strange and dangerous anomaly that was Dea, “What do you mean by this stranger? Explain yourself!” Dea looked out over the crowd like a mother calmly trying to explain something to little children, “I will only repeat the last part until I send these guys packing. I will take care of this. I am on the side of truth and those guys are not. You cannot fight them. I can. This is your home. So, since you cannot win, I will fight for you. Trust in me for now.” Applejack turned to face the chief, but spoke so that everyone could hear her, “It’s alright, she’s with us, let’s trust her.” The chief wanted answers, but knew this was not the time or place, “Very well. Good Applejack, we will leave the offensive to you and your …friend. But we will fight to defend our homes should they reach us,” that last part spoken more to the herd than to Applejack. Applejack turned pleadingly towards Dea and for the first time really got a good look at the human. She had only noticed the basic form of human, but not really paid attention to what Dea looked like as an individual. Dea was not muscular, but was clearly very fit. She was fair skinned but had a healthy tan from living out in the sun, something a hard worker like Applejack could appreciate. Her hair was as black as midnight, but as shiny as the moon, and she had it up with a decorative red hairpin made of slick metal decorated with a Chinese motif. Her nails looked to be freshly painted with a polish just a little brighter than natural human color, but shiny. Applejack, then noticed something else, grey liquid rubber dripping from the fingers on her right hand. It was then Applejack realized what had happened. Dea had run by, clawed the Enforcer in two and gained some high ground. Applejack stepped forward and asked, “So what now Dea?” Dea looked at Applejack like she was worried about something less serious, “Is magic normal in this world?” “What?” asked Applejack, but continued, “Yea sure, any unicorn can use magic, why?” Dea sighed with relief, “Oh good, then you wouldn’t get scared if I use magic to beat those guys?” Applejack just assumed that magic was normal. Just because she couldn’t use it didn’t exactly make it rare. And even earth ponies had some magic, just nothing like a unicorn’s. “No of course not, go ahead.” Dea smiled and fire gushed out of her hands, coating them in orbs of fire, “Good, then this will be easy.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Enforcers were now on the move. There were over a hundred of the “pawns” and at least a hundred more detailed ones called “scouts”, as well as one thousand “soldier” class, each one increment above the previous. Dea rushed into the fray and pulled a dagger out of her hairpin (which was actually a sheathed dagger in disguise). What is interesting is that the dagger became a sword with all the majesty of a bankia. Dea began cleaving the soldiers in half, and the occasional scout. Whenever one would get too close for comfort or she would find herself overwhelmed, which happened frequently, she would fire bend waves of fire infused with the Haki of Armament that would melt the things so that they could never reform. After she had finished off the last soldier, she reverted her sword back into a dagger for about five seconds before it grew into a long spear, with the original dagger’s handle where the fulcrum point would be. With this new longer sweeping weapon, she proceeded to literally sweep up the remaining pawns and a few scouts with relative ease. Applejack and the others watched the distant fight, at first suspecting to be fighting of all the Enforcers that got past Dea. But they had realized several things. One: The Enforcers knew that they were going to have enough trouble dealing with Dea herself, and weren’t stupid enough to divide their forces. Two: That once (if) they got Dea, that even if only one of them was left, that they would be able to single handedly beat the village’s inhabitants. And most importantly, Three: That Dea was awesome! She was a fire bending, Haki using, weapon master extraordinaire. Even when she was in a bind she kept a level head, a calm disposition, a burning passion (and fire), and seemed to do so all with grace. Obviously, Dea won the battle but was badly hurt. Even she was not invincible, and had needed to go all out to get this far. She staggered her way back to town. She thought to herself, “These are a peaceful people. No doubt they will hate and fear me now that they have seen what I am capable of; but I stayed true. I was a good as my word. I can leave it at that.” Dea never would have expected what happened next. The ponies and the buffalo alike ran out to welcome their hero back with open arms. She was cascaded with thank-you’s and praise of every kind. She didn’t know what to think or whom to respond to. Thankfully, one of the buffalo asked a question, and those were the easiest things to respond to, “How did you make fire so hot that it evaporated them? No amount of magic could make fire so hot!” Dea answered, “It’s not about heat; it’s about fuel. If you burn wood, you get fire and smoke. If you burn poison, you get fire and poisonous smoke. I burn Haki infused magic, so I get Haki hardened flame. That’s also how I tore up that pawn earlier. I didn’t “rip him with strength”; I “cut him with sharpness”. I’m really not THAT strong, and my fires not THAT hot. It’s just enforced with Haki is all. It’s not the power. It’s what you can do with the power.” The whole crowd responded with a sigh of “ooohhhhh”. Dea noticed that Applejack was not here, “Where is Applejack?” Little Strongheart answered her, “After you beat the last of them, she figured you would be wanting some cold apple cider to cool off after your fight. She is getting you some. We should head back and ...” “ENFORCER!” Everyone looked back towards town. That had sounded like Applejack. One must have gotten through. Dea rushed in to help, but it was too late. An Enforcer had Applejack’s neck in the grip of its right hand. It literally held her life in its hands. What was worse, this Enforcer was different. It looked like a human wearing silver metal armor but that was its skin. Upon seeing it, Dea choked up and uttered something quieter and more ominous than a whisper, “one of the Soldier Class got past me”. It responded in the most mechanical voice possible, “Throw me your weapon now or she dies first.” Dea threw the solider her shape-shifting weapon without a word. The Soldier continued, “I will exchange her for you. Surrender.” Dea looked stern. Trusting an Enforcer NEVER worked well in the long run, or the short run for that matter. But trying to negotiate with one worked even less often. Instead she turned and stared Applejack in the eye, “Do you trust me?” Applejack looked at her and nodded as much as she could. Dea looked even more serious, “Do you trust me with your life?” Applejack knew that Dea was going to try something and that if it didn’t work, well, she didn’t want to think about that. But she did, she did trust Dea, “Eeyup”. It didn’t come out the way she wanted. Kinda hard to talk with your neck in someone’s grip, but it got the job done. Dea fired the largest fireball she could straight at them. It was the greatest show of firepower that most of the bystanders could imagine. It was hot. It was fast. It was concentrated. It was a big as a bus flying at them like a meteor, and it was definitely going to hit the Enforcer AND Applejack. Applejack watched in terror as the blast washed over them both. She saw the Soldier burning up, being completely destroyed, being turned to ashes and crumbling away under the force of the blast. The other thing Applejack noticed was that it didn’t hurt. It felt warm and nice and bright, but there was no pain, even her Stetson was no warmer than normal. The solider had now been reduced to nothing, but she remained. She then noticed that the one who had fired it had collapsed. Totally out of power, Applejack ran to her new friend and asked, “How did you make the fire do that!?” Dea responded with what little strength she still had, “It’s not about the fire, it’s about the fuel. My magic comes from my will. So my will is my fuel, so my will is my fire. It won’t burn oil unless I want it to.” She then nodded off to sleep, but not before uttering, “That’s the truth.” Applejack carried Dea inside, “I’ll get you back to your friends, I promis ...” She stopped herself, “I will get you to your family, that’s the honest truth.”