Twilight ran for the Second District doors as tears blurred her vision. She couldn't believe Fluttershy was gone. It couldn't be. It just wasn't fair!
She opened the double doors with her magic and ran into the neighboring district, already feeling the darkness from the heartless on top of the Gizmo Shop. She wiped her eyes clear and looked at the roof of the shop, noticing a massive black object moving around.
It didn't look anything like a normal heartless from where Twilight was standing. It looked more like a big black snake with no head sliding in and out of knots made from its own body as it twisted and slithered by itself. But no matter. Twilight was here for revenge. Though she knew it wasn't right, she did her best to find some righteousness in it. She had to for the sake of her sanity.
Twilight began walking toward the doors to the Gizmo Shop, slowly at first but eventually breaking into a run. She reached the Gizmo Shop doors in ten seconds and quickly pushed them open with her magic before charging in and making her way to the next door which led back out into the Second Distric. By this time, she could feel the intense darkness from above at her very core, and just the existance of it made her sick.
As she reached the other door, she noticed the door hadn't slammed behind her yet. She stopped with her hoof on the doors as she heard her name being called out. "Twilight, stop!" called out a female voice. Twilight spun around and waited for the source to come into sight. She soon found herself looking at Aerith standing in front of her a few meters away.
"What are you doing here?" asked Twilight coldly.
"I came to talk to you and stop you before you did anything you'd regret," said Aerith back.
"I don't need talking to and I won't regret what I'm about to do to that heartless," challenged Twilight. "Stay out of my business!"
"I can't do that, Twilight," said Aerith with compassion in her voice. "We're all here to help you. We're here for you."
"Please. That's the most cliched line I've ever heard. I don't need any sort of consoling, especially from you."
"Then don't take it from me," said Aerith. "Take it from Sora. He's not going to give up on saving Fluttershy, and he certainly won't try to take revenge on the heartless. Even when he thought his friend Goofy had died and he took action against the heartless, it wasn't about revenge. Not really. It was about protecting others so that they wouldn't share the same fate. Are you really the type of person to take revenge?"
"I- ...no," said Twilight after a few seconds, immediately feeling defeated.
"Then don't become that person," said Aerith, now walking towards Twilight. "Be better than that." Aerith put her hand on Twilight's shoulder to comfort her.
Twilight immediately fell to her knees and started crying again. Her wails were agonizing, but Aerith didn't mind. As long as Twilight could work it out, that was all that mattered. "But Fluttershy could be dead because of me!" she managed through sobs. "I couldn't protect her from the heartless, and now, she might lose her heart!"
"Like I said, Sora won't give up on her. I'm sure he's got something up his sleeve to save her. Now come on. We need to get back to the Accessory Shop. That heartless won't let us go without a fight now that we're this close, and we need to be extremely careful." She helped Twilight up and they slowly moved back to the first set of doors. "Summon your keyblade, and if it attacks, just run. Don't try to fight it. I can hold it off for a few minutes."
"Okay," said Twilight back. She summoned her keyblade and held it up. "Ready."
"Okay, here goes," said Aerith. She pushed open the doors and ran out of them, sprinting to get back to the First District with Twilight close behind. They didn't take more than ten steps before they felt a heavy darkness bearing down on them. They both stopped and turned around, looking up at the Gizmo Shop roof. They couldn't believe what they saw.
Tons of shadow heartless were raining down from the roof, all flying toward them. Twilight quickly held up her keyblade to guard, but saw all of the heartless stop in mid-air about a yard away from her and Aerith. When Twilight looked over to Aerith, she saw her holding her hand up and projecting a green shield. "Didn't I say to run if the heartless attacked?" asked Aerith, breaking her usual soft tone. "Go!"
Twilight hesitated, but turned around regardless. She bolted for the First District doors and arrived at them when she heard what sounded like glass shattering. Twilight quickly spun around and looked back at the Gizmo Shop. She turned just in time to see Aerith's shield break before she was covered in shadows. "Aerith!" yelled Twilight, trying to get her attention.
It was no use. Aerith was already too deep in shadows to hear anything from the outside world. Twilight immediately began casting Fire at the ball of darkness where Aerith used to be, striking it multiple times and destroying several heartless, but not trimming the crowd enough. The heartless just kept coming, piling higher and higher until the front doors of the Gizmo Shop were out of sight as well.
Twilight, against her will, turned back around and ran back for the First District and the Accessory Shop. When she pushed her way through the First District doors, she could see shadows and soldier heartless beginning to form near the doors to the moogles' shop.
Twilight ran right past them and jumped down the ledge that led to the left side of the Accessory Shop(1). She took the small alley way as a shortcut to come back around to the front where she pushed the doors open. There, she found Sora and all of her friends regrouping. Even Fluttershy was standing again. "Fluttershy?" managed Twilight, unwilling to believe her eyes.
"Oh, hi Twilight," said her yellow pegasus friend. "We have a way to fight the heartless now. We can beat them."
Twilight slowly started walking toward Fluttershy, unsure if her friend was really there. She was glad when she confirmed it by putting her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "You're okay," said Twilight. She then embraced Fluttershy in a hug, too happy for words. "I'm so glad you're alright."
"There, there," said Fluttershy. She slowly pushed Twilight off of her. "Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"
"You were attacked by that heartless and I thought it had finished you. How'd you survive?" asked Twilight.
"Sora saved me," she said. Fluttershy then recounted the tale of her rescue, though she left out the part about merging with Sora to make a new drive form. She didn't quite understand it herself, so she didn't want to make any assumptions.
"He's good," said Twilight, incredibly grateful to Sora.
"How you doing, Twilight?" said Sora from across the room.
Twilight turned toward him. "I'm okay now," she said. She suddenly remembered what happened in the Second District. For a moment, she was surprised she had forgotten. "Oh no. Aerith is still in the Second District," she yelled. "We have to go and help her!"
"Aerith?" said Cloud, suddenly straightening after leaning against the wall. He pulled his sword off of his back and charged through the front doors and around the corner of the Accessory Shop without another word.
"Cloud, wait!" yelled Leon as he ran after him. Yuffie, Tifa, and Cid hurried after them, leaving the shop to follow Leon and Cloud.
"Let's go," said Sora to the ponies. They had had a great reunion, but it was time to get to work.
Together, the six friends ran out of the Accessory Shop and around the corner, all sprinting to get to the Second District in time. When they arrived at the doors, they had already been broken open by a large sword, no doubt the crushing swing of Cloud's buster sword. Ignoring that, they ran through the door to the Second District where they found Cloud, Leon, Cid, Tifa, and Yuffie all striking at the mass of shadows that were still in front of the Gizmo Shop.
Sora and the ponies summoned their keyblades and prepared to assist their friends when three more hordes of heartless erupted from the roof of the Shop, flying at the team with incredible speed. Sora and Rarity immediately set up Reflect spells to guard against the darkness, giving Applejack and Twilight a chance to fire spells at the heartless through the shield. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie used her incredible teleporting skills to miraculously appear near the Traverse Town crew and strike a mighty blow to the heartless horde.
Those heartless that were still attacking Aerith suddenly exploded away and disappeared, leaving her limp form on the ground in front of the Gizmo Shop doors. After a second of pause to confirm the all clear (at least within a few feet), Cloud and Tifa rushed forward to help Aerith. They picked her up and with the assistance of the others, began making their way back to the First District's doors where Sora and the others were still pinned down.
Sora and Rarity's Reflect spell was beginning to fade, forcing Twilight to add her magic to the mix to support them. Just in time, Leon, Cid, and Yuffie's combined attacks struck the attacking heartless and forced them to retreat, allowing Rarity and Sora to drop their shield.
Sora, Rarity, and Twilight dropped to the ground in exhaustion as Fluttershy began healing them with her Cure and Cura spells. Before long, they were ready to move again and they began heading back toward the First District.
Cloud and Tifa then took Aerith back to the Accessory Shop where they were soon joined by the rest of the crew, including Sora and the ponies after their rushed recovery. After setting Aerith down on a couch in the corner by the fireplace, Cloud turned back toward the door, preparing to leave.
"Where are you going?" asked Leon in a monotone.
"Where do you think?" responded Cloud.
"Back to the Second District to fight the heartless," said Leon flatly.
"Cloud, don't go yet," spoke Twilight. "That heartless is too powerful for us. Besides, Aerith told me not to focus on revenge." Twilight approached Cloud while she continued. "I would've been killed had it not been for her. She not only set my mind right again, but she protected me when the heartless attacked. I want to fight that thing just as much as you do, but none of us can do it alone."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" asked Cloud, beginning to worry.
"Fluttershy told me that you guys had found a way for us to fight the heartless. A way to get past the heavy darkness from it. Let's practice it and learn to use it effectively, whatever it is. Then we'll confront it," finished Twilight.
Sighing in annoyance, Cloud gave in and finally said, "Okay. But you'd better hurry. That thing needs to be destroyed."
"Let's head outside and practice a little bit," said Sora. "The First District should be fine." Together, Sora and the ponies made their way outside where they summoned their keyblades.
"So what was the tactic that you guys came up with?" asked Twilight.
"Well, right now it's just a concept," said Sora. "The plan is to unite all of our power together to create a burst of light. That might damage the heartless enough for us to get in close. That, or at least it should stun it long enough for us to come up with something else."
"So how do you 'spose we do that?" asked Applejack as she hung her keyblade over her shoulder.
"We need to practice manifesting our light. Master Yen Sid was going to tell us about it before we left to face Xehanort, but we ran out of time and had to leave before he could finish," said Sora. "We could try contacting him and getting his help."
"Great," said Twilight. "So where is he?"
"Well, he was in a world known as Twilight Town the last time we were there," said Sora. "If he isn't there now, then we're stuck."
"Is there a way to check before we go there?" asked Fluttershy.
"Not that I know of," said Sora. "We just have to hope that he's there."
"Then let's get going," said Rarity. "The sooner we develop this new technique, the sooner we can deal with that abomination."
"Right," said Sora. "Let's go then." Sora then left the ponies and ran back into the Accessory Shop. He returned after a minute or so. "The others said that they can hold down the fort until we get back."
"Alright!" yelled Pinkie excitedly. "Let's go!"