//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Kingdom Hearts: Star Swirl´s Legacy // by NightmareShredder //------------------------------// Chapter One – The Dream Twilight felt a warm breeze on her skin. It carried the smell of fallen leaves, grass, and earth to her and painted a colorful picture of the coming season in her mind. The last warm days before fall were beautiful. The sun, the sound of the lake, the grass beneath her, everything was so peaceful. So quiet … Perhaps a bit too quiet? She opened her eyes and found herself under a tree at the lake near Ponyville. Everything seemed to be good, but something really bugged her. Where was everypony? So much to see. “What?“ So much to learn. Startled by the strange voice that rang in her head, she got up and looked around. The door is about to unlock. Are you afraid? To be honest, she totally was. What the hay was going on? There was most definitely no door that needed unlocking around here. “What am I doing here?“ Step forward now. The path is clear. As she took a step forward, the ground began to shine. But what does it bring? Salvation … A thin line of light made it´s way to the lake and began to draw a picture on its surface. Fascinated by this magical spectacle, Twilight kept walking forward, stepping onto the lake. Before she knew what she was doing, she stood in the middle of it and looked around. The surface looked like some kind of stained glass window, showing the Tree of Harmony in all its glory. Amazed by the beauty and detail of this unnatural structure beneath her hooves that even put the windows in Celestia's castle to shame, Twilight was filled with a deep peace and nearly forgot about the strangeness of this situation. … Or doom? Everything around the lake suddenly was engulfed in green flames. Shocked by the sudden display of destruction, all she could do was to watch how the fire consumed the houses, the trees, her castle, her friends … She spread her wings to fly over to Ponyville, which was right behind her. She was interrupted by a mass of a strange, black liquid that landed directly in front of her. Twilight screamed in terror as the puddle of black mud spread all over the floor like a stain of living ink that crept around to corner her. Will you face the darkness … Two other masses of the sludge came down. The black substance circled around her and tried to grab her right hoof. Panic began to wash through her head and she flew straight up to get away. “No, no, no, no, no! This can´t be happening. I have to save the others quickly!” She just wanted to get away. A million thoughts ran in circles in her head, but in her state, she was not even able compose herself anymore. ...or go down in fear? More darkness fell down on her, smashing her into the stained glass. The impact was strong enough to shatter it into a million pieces and Twilight saw them sink into a dark pool of liquid fear, rage, despair and hatred. She couldn´t think straight; everything was happening so fast, her mind wasn´t able to make sense of what happened. Slowly but surely, she was dragged into the pure darkness. Twilight couldn´t see anymore. The darkness around her was complete. It robbed her of sight, hearing and feeling. Even her taste was taken when the black liquid filled her mouth and her thoughts. She could not breathe! Air … ! Air … Do not be afraid. The shards of shattered glass formed nine shining stars swirling down near her, engulfing everything in a blinding light. Twilight lay there, twitching and coughing; the light calmed her down in its soothing warmth that wiped away every last drop of darkness. Because you bear a light stronger than all. The mare stood up. Her surroundings changed again. Now, the stained glass platform displayed the Crystal Empire. In the center, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence held the Crystal Heart. Everything around the platform was still obscured by deep shadows. Can you feel it? Does it have a form? Give it a form. What did the voice mean, a light stronger than all? What form could it have? Was it her magic? With this thought, her horn flashed to life and Twilight created a glowing image of her cutie mark. No, that wasn’t it. This symbolized her talent, her place in the world, but it wasn´t what made her stronger. The one thing that always helped her, even through the worst hardships, was friendship. Without her friends, she would not have stood a chance against Nightmare Moon, Discord or Tirek. Alone, she was weak. You are not alone. The pieces of the old platform, which were scattered all around her, began to glow and bloomed into flowers of light with all her friends standing in the blossoms. Everyone was there: Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Spike, even the princesses and Discord took form. But beware of the darkness that lurks in every heart! Twilight looked around. What was this voice in her head trying to tell her? She began to cough heavily. Her knees got weak and she collapsed on the floor while some of the liquified darkness forced its way out of her mouth and landed on the ground with a weak, splashing sound. The small amount of black sludge crawled in the direction of the Crystal Heart, sank into it, and corrupted it. First the crystal turned dark purple, then black and, with a deep dark pulse, shattered it, leaving a hole from which small, shadowy creatures originated. They looked kind of cute. A little smaller than Twilight even though they stood on two legs, and they seemed kind of restless. The creatures had two antennae on their heads, which were twitching as they came closer to her. But when their empty yellow eyes fixed on the lavender pony and the shadows became more aggressive, with tension in their sharp clawed hands, all the cuteness was replaced with an image of a mindless beast, hunting it´s prey. “N-no! Stay back! Don´t come any closer!” Twilight threatened the creatures with a shaking voice. Why was this happening? Fear crept back into her heart. She crawled backwards, still weak after the assault of pure darkness against her. But she wasn´t alone. The enlightened silhouettes of her friends flowed into her, giving her strength and resolve. She had the power to defend herself against the darkness. The spark of friendship would never go out. “I can do this!” As one of her opponents tried to attack her, she took a step to the side and blasted him away with an energy blast from her horn. With one flap of her wings, she jumped over a few of them and cast a rain of magical light upon them, which caused the creatures to silently go down and fade away. “Okay, now I have bought some time. I need to fix this platform!” Twilight tried to put the shards of the crystal heart together again, but failed as the force of darkness broke her magical grip over and over. When she realized that this wouldn't work, she was already surrounded by even more of those little shadows. Surprised by the sheer amount, she stumbled into one of them and got hit on her chest, leaving three nasty marks. Wincing, Twilight teleported out of the circle and prepared to attack. The Princess of Friendship sprinted in the direction of one enemy, impaling him with her horn and throwing him into another shadow. With one flap of her right wing, she pushed away two jumping creatures while hurling one away with a powerful kick. However, with every shadow she defeated, more came from the hole in the center. “I have to do something! But how do I fix a structure I cannot analyze properly?” she asked herself, defending herself against a small army of shadows. When they tried to encircle her again, she teleported herself into the air and hovered a few feet over them. “There is only one way then.” Twilight said flying into the air, covering herself in a magical aura and diving directly through the shadows into the hole, causing a magenta colored maelstrom which consumed the shadows. “Ripping out the roots!” So much to see. So much to learn. Let your light grow. Twilight dashed through the darkness, going deeper and deeper into its depths. She crashed into another platform. It was different. She could not make out what it was showing because of the black, chain-like patterns that covered it. The darkness poured out of the center. “This must be the core of it all... but how do I stop this?” She walked around it a bit more. “No, that's not it; it feels different.” This was something darker. These little creatures had a similar feeling to them, but they seemed kind of mindless. Whatever she was looking at now felt much more evil. It was intelligent, controlled, deeper, stronger and most of all more evil than those shadows she had faced a few minutes ago. Every new path brings new bonds. Will you let them form? The princess noticed a door just at the edge of the platform. Had it been there before? Stepping closer to the door, she felt that this would change everything. That it would bring something into her life. Something new. Something big! She wasn´t able to put her hoof on what this all meant, but she knew that whatever was happening, she was the one to solve it. She had to go on. Twilight opened the door and saw it led into nothingness. “Well, isn´t that just nice?” she muttered. However, she felt like she could trust it. And even if not … she had wings after all. She took a first, careful step. Under her hoof appeared a step of stained glass in all colors of the rainbow, and another, and yet another. Amazed by all what was happening around her, Twilight was sure she was dreaming. But why did it feel so different, so real? Was there a meaning still hidden from her? Maybe she was just going crazy. The steps led to another round platform. Looking down at her hooves, she recognized herself filling half of the circle. It looked like she was sleeping. Her hooves in the picture seemed to hold something, but there seemed to be nothing there. A bit further, she could make out a brown earth pony in a similar position, completing the circle. He wore a necklace with a crown shaped pendant. The cutie mark showed a strange fruit which resembled a star. This pony actually held a big key in his hooves. Between them, there was a portrait of a sunset at the beach. It somehow shimmered, as if it was real. “Who is this?” she wondered, stepping further into the center. Sora... As Twilight repeated the name in her mind, she was roughly interrupted by a roaring sound. Her eyes widened in shock from what she had to see. A giant, black dragon descended from the void of darkness above her. The look in its menacing, green eyes sent shivers through every part of her body. You must be ready to fight! “Oh, hay no! You are kidding me!” she shouted. In that moment, a blaze of green fire shot out of the dragon’s mouth. She dodged by leaping into the air and spiraled her way up, around the pillar of flames. The heat of the fire helped the alicorn to accelerate her flight. Twilight managed to concentrate enough magic to attack with a few lavender colored shots as well. However, the monster wasn´t fazed at all. “How am supposed to deal with a dragon? Where is Fluttershy with her stare in a moment like this?” she complained while fireballs began to rain down. She dodged a sweep of a black, spiked tail and rolled to the side to not be hit by one of the claws. When the beast angrily spit another fireball at her, the mare teleported directly in front of the scaled beast’s face and channeled all magic she could into one powerful beam. The creature roared in pain and anger when the attack hit it directly in its eyes. It flailed its arms as it fell to the ground and hit her with the back of its claw. The heavy hit tossed Twilight onto the ground as well and for a few moments, she was only able to cringe and moan in pain. But there is still time. She was hurled off the platform by a wave of white light. All she saw was nothingness. Twilight fainted. When Twilight opened her eyes, all she saw was a purple dragon’s face with green eyes. “Wake up Twilight! You have to see this!” She let out a shrill shriek, pushed Spike, who was standing beside her bed, away from her and jumped out from the other side, ready to attack. “What …? How … ? Why … ?” she panted. “Woah! Come on, chill Twilight! What is wrong with you?” Spike asked with a startled look on his face. Then it clicked inside her head. “Oh, I´m so sorry Spike! I just had … a strange dream.” “You better be sorry! You really scared me!” the baby dragon complained. Twilight relaxed and levitated him over, sitting him next to her to pet his head. “I´m sorry,“ she said. “So... what was it you woke me up for?” “You must’ve been sleeping like a rock! There was that loud thunder outside, and suddenly the sky broke apart and everypony panicked. I don´t know what to...” “The sky did what?” The alicorn threw him on her back with her telekinesis and sprinted outside to see what her assistant was talking about. Her mouth fell open and she looked up, stunned by the spectacle the night had to offer. This was definitely something else. The air was filled with a weird sensation and the sky looked kind of strange. It was brighter than ever, and there were so many new stars she had never seen before. Even though it was a beautiful sight, it did not seem right. By the sounds of scared ponies all around, she got the impression that a lot of Ponyville's citizens were more frightened than happy to see this change. Some ponies already gathered in front of her castle and demanded answers, answers she would not be able to give. She had to think of something before things got out of hoof even more. “What is going on here?” Twilight muttered. “Spike! We have to notify Celestia immediately!” Right that moment, Spike choked and belched out a small, green flame from which a scroll with the royal seal on it came to be. “Or she just notifies us … ” Dear Princess Twilight, It seems that something strange occurred with the magical balance in Equestria. We couldn´t find a reason for this so far, but thanks to patrols around the Everfree Forest, we were able to tell that the problem originated from there. Since this is different from anything we had ever imagined, we are not prepared for it. We have to decide on arrangements as soon as possible. Gather your friends! We will hold council at your castle in about two hours. Princess Celestia. Wait a minute. Did Twilight just misread this? Even the princesses did not know the cause of this? As she looked at Spike, she saw the same bewilderment on his face that had been stuck on hers. Life in Ponyville can never be easy huh? Well, I guess we should prepare for the worst. “Come on Spike! This will be a long night, and I´m sure it won´t be easy to gather everypony in a panic like this. You stay here and prepare everything! Just work according to this emergency checklist!“ The scroll that suddenly manifested in Spike’s hand looked more like an over-sized roll of kitchen paper with thousands of instructions. “While you do that, I’ll try to stop this panic and gather our friends. I´ll be back as fast as I can!” With that, she turned around and spoke to her subjects again. “Don´t worry everypony! Just gather around the town square and I´ll explain everything!” The alicorn called down to the frightened ponies, jumped from the balcony and turned in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. Spike looked at the hasting silhouette of Twilight, then back at the checklist, and again at Twilight, then kicked the ground. “Ah crap!”