“I hope everything turns out to the princess’s liking,” Twilight anxiously thought, looking around the celebration hall, which had turned out to be Rarity’s shop. A few of her new... friends, yes, her friends had run off to do their individual tasks after the party wound down a bit. Her welcoming party had been fun, if a little foalish. Seriously, pin the tail on the pony? Who plays that these days? She was standing near the front of the gathered crowd, along with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie. On the edges of the crowd, Fluttershy coaxed her gathered flock of birds into song while Rarity waited up on the balcony where Princess Celestia was to appear, ready to pull the curtains.
As Pinkie chattered on about how excited she was about all this, doubt wormed its way in the young keyblade wielder’s heart. Should she have canceled the event after all? She’d had to deal with two groups of Heartless today already, but then again, they were on the outskirts of town, and one was near the Everfree Forest at that. “Oh, I hope the princess won’t be mad that I kinda bent my promise,” she fretted, before looking up as a familiar voice began to speak to the crowd.
“Fillies and gentlecolts,” an amber coated earth pony wearing glasses began from a stand built above the crowd.
“Now where did I see her before?” Twilight wondered before remembering, “Oh, right, Pinkie introduced me to her at the party!”
“As mayor of Ponyville it is my great privilege to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!” She grandly began to the cheers of the crowd. “In just a few moments, our town will witness the sun rising into the sky once more and celebrate this, the Summer Sun Celebration! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the pony whose light keeps the darkness at bay, she who has graced our celebration with her very presence, the bringer of harmony, the wise Princess Celestia!” she cried as the chorus of birds began to trill beautifully and Rarity pulled her the rope near her. The curtains parted to reveal... nothing! Gasps and murmurs ran through the crowd as a cold wind suddenly blew through the hall. “Please remain calm!” the mayor called, “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all this!”
Twilight’s keyblade flashed as it appeared beside her. “Something’s coming!” She said lowly so as not to start a panic. The keyblade wielder looked around but didn’t see anything.
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Duh, of course something’s coming. We just had dramatic wind at a big event!”
“What’d ya mean? What’s coming?” the apple farmer asked, taking her lasso out from where she’d been hiding it under her hat.
“I don’t know!” Twilight hissed back. “Everypony, stay close to me! Spike, that means you!” The little dragon meekly nodded, remembering their fights with the Heartless earlier.
Suddenly, what looked like liquid darkness erupted on the balcony. Rarity shrieked in fear before practically diving over the side. Only Rainbow’s quick reflexes saved her from some broken bones as the pegasus jumped into the air to catch the falling fashionista. The darkness began forming into a round shape, sort of like a doorway as the rainbow maned mare circled back around, landing before Twilight and her friends. “Um, thank you,” Rarity embarrassedly said.
“No problem, it’s my duty as a reserve member of the Royal Guard!” the pegasus mare proclaimed.
Fluttershy meekly made her way through the panicking crowd towards them, “My goodness, I’m glad you’re alright,” she murmured as Mayor Mare’s voice rang out again.
“Everypony, please remain calm and head for the exits in an orderly fashion!” She cried, pointing the way out with a hoof. Almost as one, the herd surged towards the doors, only to suddenly stop short as huge, dark purple-suited humanoids appeared in the way.
“More of ‘em!” Applejack and Twilight cried out, recognizing the creature they’d fought together in the barn back at Sweet Apple Acres.
“Oh no, I can’t have my subjects leaving,” a voice said, silky and low but somehow heard by everypony in the room. Twilight looked up to see a pony, clad in dark armor with what the keyblade wielder now thought as the Heartless emblem stamped upon it, stepping out of the dark portal above, flanked by more dark creatures, large black orbs with tendrils of darkness floating away from them. They were little more than horrific faces with gaping jaws that snapped at the air hungrily. With a gasp, Twilight looked upon the black coated pony and realized that she had a long horn and wings, just like Princess Celestia! “After all, it’s been so long since I’ve seen your little light loving faces!”
“Who are you and what have you done with Princess Celestia!?” Twilight angrily shouted, brandishing her keyblade threateningly.
The dark alicorn laughed bitterly. “It is true, isn’t it? That sister of mine really did suppress all knowledge of me, didn’t she?” A gasp ran through the crowd at the word, ‘sister’, “After all, we can’t have a bit of darkness in our bright Equestrian history, now can we?!” she cried as lightning struck outside and the gathered ponies below cowered in fear.
“But don’t worry, your precious princess is still alive, for now. And who might you be? No, wait, let me guess. Celly’s little pet, right?” A cruel smirk crossed her face as Twilight grit her teeth in anger. “She told me all about you, Twilight Sparkle, and your little episode with the darkness. Oh, this should be fun!” She cried, turning back to the portal. Just before stepping in, the dark alicorn called back, “When you’re done with my little minions here, come find me at the old castle in the middle of the Everfree Forest. I’m sure we have much to discuss, little keyblade wielder. And as for who I am...”
A pitch black keyblade curved like the moon materialized beside the alicorn. Razor sharp spikes sprouted from the edges and shadowy flames danced down the length of the blade. “I am your true queen, Nightmare Moon!” she cried, laughing madly as she slowly walked back into the portal of darkness, which vanished behind her. The floating orbs of darkness remained still for a moment before diving down into the crowd, snapping their jaws as the fat heartless began throwing bone-shattering punches at anypony in range.
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Twilight looked on in horror as one of the Darkballs bit down on a screaming unicorn’s flank, her cutie mark of a harp disappearing under a stream of blood before the mare went shock still. Her body slowly faded away, leaving behind a crystalline heart. Darkness enveloped the hovering heart before it suddenly transformed into a Heartless.
“No, no, no, this can’t be happening!” Twilight whispered, watching the newborn Shadow creep towards her. She could dully hear Spike saying something atop her back, but it didn’t seem to matter right now. She’d failed, and ponies were dying because of it! She knew she should have canceled the event, but she’d been too worried about failing and just forged on recklessly! Suddenly, a rope looped around the Heartless and pulled the struggling monster back.
“TWILIGHT!” she heard Applejack’s voice shout over the screaming of the panicking crowd, “Snap out of it! We need ya right now!”
The young keyblade wielder looked up to see her friends fighting back against the Heartless. Applejack was struggling to hold the squirming Shadow back as Rainbow Dash crashed into one of the fat beasts near the doors, driving it back with a flurry of punches and kicks to the face. Pinkie almost seemed to dance around one of the floating orbs of darkness, distracting it just long enough for Rarity to lance it with a conjured spike of ice. Fluttershy was pulling more potions from the pouch at her side, tending to the wounds of the injured ponies around her.
Twilight shook her head. Applejack was right! She couldn’t just stand around when others were in danger! With a flash of light, Twilight’s keyblade reappeared beside her. “I’m sorry,” she thought, sweeping her weapon through the remains of the former pony, destroying the dark creature, before raising her weapon high into the air as she channeled her energy for a powerful spell.
“Bindra!” she shouted, the brilliant light around her horn shooting out at her foes. Glowing purple chains erupted from the floor, encircling the dark beasts before dragging them to the ground. Twilight quickly aimed her keyblade at the large Heartless blocking the main door before letting it fly like a purple missile. The monster almost seemed to explode as the powerful magic surrounding the weapon crashed into it. “Hurry, get everyone out of here!”
“I can do better than that!” Rainbow Dash cried, rapidly punching one of the trapped large Heartless directly in the face with one of her hooves over and over again. The creature let out a groan before fading away.
Channeling another ice spell at one of the snapping dark orbs, Rarity grumbled, “How undignified.”
“Who cares, so long as it works!” Applejack shouted back, bucking one of the chained balls with powerful strikes from her hind legs until it vanished into wisps of darkness, as a huge red stallion beside her did the same to a Shadow threatening a filly with the same colored coat as the apple farmer.
Pinkie seemed to be popping up all over, dispatching Heartless with her own confusing moves. “Here I am!” she cried, before suddenly appearing on the other side of one of a bewildered Shadow. “No, wait, here I am!” A cannon with the pink pony behind it appeared out of nowhere, blowing the monster away with a burst of what appeared to be confetti. “Hah, tricked you, I was right here all along!”
Twilight grinned. They were really doing this! “I won’t let you hurt anyone else!” She shouted, advancing upon the last of the darklings as her keyblade began glowing ever brighter. With a great cry of “Light!” the keyblade wielder brought her weapon down on the creature just as it broke free. A sphere of pure light enveloped the beast before fading away, leaving no trace it was ever there. Panting, she turned to look at the crowd of awestruck ponies.
“Wow, that was, like, twenty percent cooler than anything I’ve ever seen,” the rainbow maned pegasus shouted.
Twilight shook her head, suddenly feeling very tired, her keyblade vanishing as the current threat was gone. “Hey, Twilight, are you ok?” Spike asked. Funny, she’d almost forgotten he was on her back the whole time. “Twilight?”
A bottle was pressed up against her lips. “Here, drink this,” she heard Fluttershy say. Dutifully swallowing the minty fluid, the unicorn suddenly felt revitalized.
“Thanks,” she said as the yellow pegasus smiled shyly, putting away the empty bottle of Ether. “And yes, I’m fine now, Spike.”
The little dragon hugged her neck tightly. “Don’t scare me like that, alright?” Twilight nodded, hugging her assistant tightly.
“So, Twi’, what should we do now?” Rainbow Dash asked, landing near their little group as other ponies began congregating together, trying to find all of their friends and loved ones. All of her friends looked at her expectantly.
“Why are you all looking at me?!” Twilight exclaimed. “I failed! I should have canceled this whole thing from the very start!”
“There’s no way ya could have known this would happen.” Applejack shook her head.
“Yeah, it’s totally not your fault!” Pinkie shouted. “I mean, it’s not like there were warning signs or-”
“Indeed,” Rarity quickly cut in. “As the mayor seems to be… missing,” she said delicately, “And with you as the princess’s apprentice and appointed overseer, it falls to you.”
Twilight’s face seemed to fall for a moment before she nodded seriously. “Right. Attention, everyone!” she loudly yelled, as everyone turned to look at her. The unicorn gulped nervously before continuing. “I know you’re hurt, tired, and frightened, but we all need to work together, ok? I want you to count everyone so we know who’s… missing. You should be safe here for now, but if you need to go out, do not go out in groups smaller than three! If you see any Heartless, work together and strike as hard as you can! Don’t try to run, they don’t get tired and they don’t give up! I know we can get through this if we work together!”
As her friends volunteered to begin counting heads, Twilight turned to her assistant, “Spike, I need you to write another letter.”
“Right now?!” the little dragon exclaimed. “Fine, to who?”
“My brother. Can you do that?” She asked, as Spike nodded in comprehension. He produced another piece of paper from his little bag as Twilight began. “Shining Armor, we have a huge emergency in Ponyville. I don’t know if you know this yet, but Princess Celestia appears to have been kidnapped by a pony calling herself Nightmare Moon. She has wings and a horn much like the princess, and appears to have strong powers over darkness. She even seems to be able to command the Heartless! Please send all the guards you can spare. Nightmare Moon fled into the Everfree Forest after appearing at the Summer Sun Celebration and unleashing a swarm of Heartless upon us. I defeated them with help from some local ponies, but we took several casualties. I’m going after her. Your sister, Twilight Sparkle.”
“…sister, Twilight Sparkle,” Spike repeated, before realizing what he’d just written. “Wait, are you crazy?! Twilight, this is obviously a trap!”
“Of course it’s a trap!” Twilight shouted. A few ponies looked at her curiously as she continued more quietly, “But if I don’t go after her, Nightmare Moon might send more Heartless here and we don’t need that right now. And if the princess is missing, I need to rescue her, even if it means walking into a trap! Just send the letter, alright Spike? Please?” The little dragon frowned, but did as she asked, blowing magical flames over the paper. The ashes floated away through a nearby broken window. “Now, I need you to stay here, where it’s safe.”
“But, Twilight,” Spike began.
“No buts! This is just something I need to do, and I can’t watch over you and fight at the same time. And don’t tell anypony, alright, Spike?” Twilight said, her voice serious.
“Alright,” Spike sighed. The keyblade wielder nodded, before running off into the night. After watching the purple unicorn fade into the distance, the baby dragon turned to see Applejack looking at him, disappointment written all over her face.