At the gates of Traverse Town, a bright flash of light appeared from seemingly out of nowhere. As the light vanishes, a young woman was left in its place. Stretching her arms out above her head, she soon begins walking towards the shop plainly visible from the giant wooden doors. Before she even comes close to her destination, she hears someone call out to her from her right.
“Hey Kairi, over here!” shouted a young man with spikey brown hair, and beside him stood another with blue-silver hair.
Smiling, Kairi made her way to the guys. It had been a long time since she had last seen them. As soon as she closed the distance, she pulled the two into a big hug.
“Sora, Riku! I’m so glad to see you two! It’s been so long!” she said, unable to contain her happiness.
“Yeah, it sure has, hasn’t it?” Riku responded, hardly able to suppress his own smile. He and Sora returned the hug as well, though admittedly he had been caught off guard by it. “You seem to have been doing well this past year.”
“Thanks,” she said, finally releasing her friends. “I’ve been doing my best.”
“So, what have you been up to? Up until recently, we haven’t heard much from King Mickey on how you’ve been doing. All I got was a letter saying you would show up here,” Sora said, honestly curious as he placed his hands behind his head.
“You’re not the only one curious, Sora. Remember, Yen Sid asked me bring her to his tower,” Riku added, “It’s been bugging me ever since.”
Kairi smiled a little, and let a giggle escape her, touched her friends had worried about her for so long. “Come on, I’ll tell you as we walk.”
As they made their way towards the second district, Kairi began answering Sora and Riku’s questions, and filling them in about all the training Yen Sid had her doing. The looks on their faces when she told them that had been priceless to see.
The conversation had soon turned towards Sora’s and Riku’s own journeys across the many worlds they visited. It had been so long since she had heard their voices, the time spent away from both of them having been just as hard as the times she had been separated from them. She was glad to be spending time, and catching up with them.
As they entered the second district, however, all three were alerted to a scream being issued across the way. As if it were common place, Sora and Riku were dashing off towards the sound, with Kairi following close after them. What they saw next was a disturbing scene as a little girl was surrounded by many Heartless.
“Hold on, we’re coming!” Sora shouted, jumping right into the middle of the group surrounding the poor girl. A second later, he drew his Kingdom Key Keyblade out of thin air, and readied himself to protect her. “Stay close to me! I won’t let them harm you.”
Riku, on the other hand, began attacking a few of the Heartless with his own Way to Dawn Keyblade already, and dwindling there numbers a bit. “Always jumping in head first, Sora. You’ll never change,” he said, earning a grin from his friend.
Unaware to him, one of the heartless managed to sneak around behind Riku, and prepared to attack him. Just as it was about to lunge for him, it exploded into shadows from Kairi's Destiny’s Embrace Keyblade. Looking behind him, he saw her there smiling confidently. “Don’t get too relaxed, Shadow Heartless are still dangerous after all,” she said.
With a grin back, he nodded, and the three quickly finished the small group of Heartless effortlessly. Once the figurative smoke cleared, they all breathed easily, letting their Keyblades disappear from their grips. Sora then turned to the little girl he had been protecting, and placed a hand on her head. “Hey, are you okay? They didn’t hurt you, did they?” With a short shake of her head, Sora smiled happily they had got to her in time. “Alright then, you go on home then. And be careful, okay?”
She nodded softly, smiling back at Sora before she sprinted off towards her home. But the happiness was short lived, and Kairi looked around her. ‘What was that? I know I felt something dark just now,' she thought to herself.
“Hey Kairi, are you alright? You look like you- Kairi!” Sora had said, before shouting her name.
Without any warning, a pool of darkness spread out under Kairi, and she had already sank a few inches into it. She immediately began struggling against it, trying to free herself from the constricting tendrils of shadows. She stopped however when she saw her two friends attempt to aid her. “Wait, stop! Don’t come any closer guys!”
Riku had hesitated when she told him not come near her, but Sora rushed past him but only stopped at the edge of the darkness. Reaching out to her, he managed to grab her hand. “No way, I’m not letting you go!” That was enough incentive for Riku to come to her aid as well, grabbing her other hand. They pulled as hard as they could, but it seemed their struggles were only worsening things. The darkness had now managed to pull her down to her waist.
“Guys, let go! It is okay!” she yelled, relieved they had finally let her hands free. With a look at both of them, she could tell how worried they were for her. Managing to calm herself down now, she spoke as calmly as she could. “Okay, this does look pretty bad, but I think I’ll be fine in the long run. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t feel exactly sinister.”
“Well, we can’t just let the darkness take you away,” Riku said.
“Yeah, we just got back together in over a year! We can’t just let this take you to who knows where!” Sora exclaimed, a look of shock and horror crossing his features.
“I know, and I don’t want to go. But it’s obvious whatever this is, it isn't going to let me go so easily,” she said, sinking further until the darkness was above her belly. The situation was pretty hopeless, especially since Sora and Riku were strong in their own right. If they couldn’t pull her out, then whatever force that was pulling her down had to be fairly strong itself.
“Listen guys, I know our reunion was short lived, but I’m still glad we met up. Where ever this thing is taking me, I know you two will find me again,” she said, putting on a brave face for them as the darkness pulled her down to her shoulders.
“Argh, this isn’t fair!” Riku shouted, angered at himself for being useless.
She was shocked at Riku’s outburst, though she knew it was because he wasn’t able to pull her out. “It’s okay, really. I’m not afraid. Riku, Sora, just do your best, okay?” she asked them. After a moment, she earned two slow nods from them. “Okay, until we see each other again, guys. And stay safe,” she added, before being pulled completely into the darkness.
“KAIRI!” both Sora and Riku shouted, watching as the pool of darkness vanished without a trace. They stayed stock still, hoping that what just happened had been a joke, and Kairi would reappear before them. Moments passed by, before the two finally moved, both on their hands and knees at where Kairi disappeared in front of them.
Another moment passed, before Riku shook his head, his face showing far more determination than ever. He stood up slowly, before picking up a still shocked Sora. “Sora, come on. We can’t just stay here, and hope she pops back up.”
Shaking a little, and more than just angry at his own uselessness, Sora shook himself out of his stupor. “You’re right, Riku,” he said, looking up at the never-ending night sky, focusing on the stars. Kairi had to be on one of the worlds out there now. “Come on, we’ve got to go find her!” With that said, he began running back towards the first district, with Riku right behind.
They were determined to find Kairi, now more than ever.
With a short groan, Kairi finally came to. She felt a little sore all over her body, and a little disoriented. How long had she been out? She couldn’t tell if it had been 5 minutes, or probably close to an hour as she opened her eyes.
And she immediately regretted the action, blinded slightly by a bright sun. Groaning again, she rolled on to her front, which seemed odd to her at first, but quickly pushed the thought aside for now. She was still recuperating from being pulled in to darkness like that. Opening her eyes slowly this time, she found herself on a plain of sorts, and just in the distance was a town. ‘Good, at least I’m close to civilization,’ she thought to herself.
Closing her eyes again, she breathed deeply, hoping to ease some of the soreness in her body. Now she was realizing something else felt off. No, scratch that, a lot of things felt off. She hadn’t felt her fingers or toes yet, and it felt like her hair was far longer than usual. And there was something else.
Twitch
Her ears seemed to be picking up just the slightest of noises.
Twitch. Twitch.
And something seemed to be extending from her rear.
Twitch. Twitch.
She felt a little scared of what she might find when she next opened her eyes. Steeling herself a little she opened them slowly, and held out her hands. No, scratch that, those weren’t hands at all. Those were hooves!
She gasped, shocked at what she saw, not having expected it at all. She came close to screaming, it had shocked her so badly. Looking around quickly, she located a small creak with a small, arching bridge over it. Stumbling up on all fours, she shakily walked over to the stream of water. Or was she trotting? No, not trotting, she was stumbling too much for it to be called that.
It had taken a good minute, but she finally managed to get to the creek, and looked at her rippled reflection. What she found, she half-expected, but still surprised as her face look completely equine now. She then noticed that the smooth, short fur covering her face looked beige in color, and her hair, no wait, mane still sported her red coloring. Another feature that drew her attention was her big, blue eyes that, while looking surprised, looked quite peaceful were she calmer. She also noticed her ears, while perched on top of her head, were lying flat against her head.
After a minute of staring at her new reflection on her shaky hooves, she finally did start calming down, and attempted to take it all in stride for now. She remembered when Sora had told her he had once become a lion cub when visiting the Pride Lands, Simba’s home. If he could take that in stride, then she could do the same now.
“This feels so awkward though,” she said, almost complaining. It wasn’t taking much for her to start missing her fingers already. Deciding to push those thoughts aside, for now, she turned her head to look herself over completely.
She found she had a tail now, which explained the twitching sensation she felt earlier. However, her attention was quickly drawn to her ru-, flank. She had to remind herself she was some sort of equine, possibly a pony. On her flank was a mark of sorts, which was kind of strange to look at. It looked like a heart with thick, blue lines on her beige coat. Inside the hollow heart was a keyhole, on top of it sat a gold crown and white wings on either side of the heart.
It looked pretty, but a question rose from her lips. “Who tattooed my butt?” she asked, but no one was around to hear her question. Turning her head to look at the other flank, she found the same mark there as well. “Okay, tattooed on both sides. This is going to be a little awkward. I wonder what I should tell Sora and Riku.”
And instantly, her face fell to sadness, remembering the last moments she had seen them. She wondered for a moment if the same had happened to them after her vision was clouded by darkness. Shaking that thought off, she sat down with a soft thump, and looked at her reflection again. For a while, she stewed in her sadness, until something flew overhead.
Looking up, and behind her, she saw what she thought was a chariot being pulled through the air. She blinked, hardly believing the sight herself at all. The creature pulling it, it was definitely a pony, but it had wings. Surely she must have imagined it. Before she could contemplate any further, the chariot had turned and was coming back. And heading her way!
She scrambled to her hooves to try and get away, only to fall face first on to the ground again. That was going to get annoying really fast if it happened again. Looking up, she saw the pony with wings stopped on the ground a good yard away. Her attention was soon drawn to a pair of creatures hoping off the back of the chariot and heading her way. Taking her time, she managed to sit back up.
The first was a purple pony, with an even deeper purple color for its mane and tail with a pink stripe. Its eye color was also purple, instantly thinking the pony a triple purple pony. A feature this pony had differing from the winged pony was the horn protruding from its head. A quick glance at its flank revealed the pony had a tattoo as well, though it had a starburst with five smaller stars around it. She wondered briefly why it had a horn, before turning her attention at its smaller, purple and green companion, whose eyes looked an emerald green with slits for pupils. She was confused on what it was. Was it a lizard? It couldn’t have been, lizards didn’t grow that large. At least she hoped they didn’t.
She was pulled from her thoughts as the pony spoke up after closing the distance a bit. “Hi, are you from the town over there?” she asked, that voice was definitely female for sure.
Kairi blinked for a second, before replying, “Oh, uh, not… Not exactly. I’m kind of new here myself.” The fact the pony in front of her talked had thrown her off guard for a good moment.
“Oh, well that’s okay. I’m new to the town myself as well. I’m here to do re-oof!” she said, before being interrupted by a nudge from her companion. “I mean, I’m here to make sure preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration are going smoothly.”
“Summer what?” Kairi asked, thinking that a festival like that sounded a little odd, and yet sounded pretty fun to take part in.
“The Summer Sun Celebration. You know, the holiday that takes place on the longest night of the year, symbolizing Princess Celestia’s triumph over Nightmare Moon?” the strange, horned pony said. She had a confused look on her face to match her own.
“Oh, uh, right. That Summer Sun Festival! Completely slipped my mind,” she said, an uneasy smile on her face. Who was Princess Celestia? And what in the worlds was a Nightmare Moon?
“Are you okay? If you don’t know what the festival is, it’s okay if you just say so. Nopony will judge you for it,” the little creature next to the pony said, almost as if he was trying to reassure her. Though it was a little difficult to tell, his voice sounded like a young boys at least.
“Heh, guess you saw right through me. Sorry, I’m just a little confused about some things right now, and possibly missing some information at the moment. My heads kind of hurting still,” she said. Looking at the way they nodded, and their understanding expressions, she felt calmer already.
“Well, let me introduce my friend and myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is my number one assistant!”
“Spike the dragon,” the little dragon introduced himself. Kairi smiled, nodding softly. So he was a dragon, she felt little guilty now for mistaking him for a lizard.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you two. My name’s Kairi,” she said.
“Kairi, huh? Sounds like a pretty foreign name to me,” Twilight responded, rubbing her chin with her hoof.
“It probably is, since I’m not really from around here,” she said, looking off to the side. She knew too well her name might be foreign considering Twilight’s name. She had a funny feeling she was going to meet lots of ponies who were aptly named. This was something she could easily get used to though.
“Well, we were on our way to Ponyville. If you’d like, you can tag along for a while until we get there,” she said.
Without a second thought, Kairi shakily stood up, and was eager to move. “Sure, I’d like a little company right now.”
Before they even moved though, Twilight held out a hoof, and easily noticed just how shaky Kairi looked on her hooves. “Are you going to be okay walking there? You seem quite shaky on your hooves.”
Kairi looked down at her own hooves, realizing just how badly she was shaking. Looking up with an embarrassed smile, she said, “I’m fine at least physically, though I probably just need to walk off this shakiness. I probably bumped my head a little harder than I thought.”
For a moment, Twilight looked thoughtful, before an idea came to her. “No worries, I’m sure we can help. Spike?” she said, turning to look at her number one assistant. “Do you mind helping Kairi get steady on her hooves?”
With the salute, that made Kairi giggle, Spike responded firmly, “Of course I don’t mind!” Turning his attention to Kairi, he continued, “Alright, Kairi, let’s start slow, and have you walk over to me.” That said, he walked to Kairi’s right a few feet, and stood still as he faced her. “Whenever you’re ready!”
Looking down at her hooves, Kairi felt a little nervous. With a gulp, she attempted to walk forward, but unfortunately for her, she fell on her side quickly as she moved both her right foreleg and hind leg at the same time. She grunted when she collided with the ground, feeling rather uncomfortable using so many appendages to move. Sora must have had an easier time doing this as a lion cub. At least he had paws instead of hooves.
“Wow, I guess that bump was harder than you thought. You moved the wrong legs at the wrong time,” Twilight said, noticing just how badly Kairi was at walking. It was like she was completely new to the motion.
“Yeah, I guess so,” she said, getting back up on her shaky hooves. She had to admit, this seemed impossible to do.
Seeing her start to give up, Twilight moved to stand next to her. “No giving up, okay. It’s quite easy once you get the hang of it. Now start by moving your right foreleg and your left hind leg this time,” she instructed. This would probably take a while.
Kairi did as instructed, but slowly enough she didn’t trip herself up. Twilight walked right beside her, catching her a few times so she would hit the ground. Slowly, but surely, they made their way to Spike, who had been patiently waited for them. The goal had seemed like a tall obstacle at first, but now she felt a little bit used to the movement.
Spike ran about a yard away this time, heading a little closer to the town in the distance. “Alright, now try to make your way to me on your own this time,” he said to her.
Taking a deep breath, Kairi did as instructed again, and soon found her limbs responding much more easily this time. Over the course of the next ten minutes, Kairi would reach Spike, and he would move closer towards the town again. She found herself less and less shaky on her new hooves each time. The next five times, she found herself moving at a much more practical pace than before. They both had been very patient with her the entire time as she learned to walk under her own power.
For the last few times Spike had moved, she was asked to try galloping towards him. While she wasn’t confident enough to move at that speed, she did manage move at a fairly brisk pace, almost as if she were jogging if she were human. She guessed this would be called trotting, though she honestly didn’t know. She couldn’t recall all those terms off the top of her head.
“Looks like you’ve made a lot of progress in such a short amount of time. We’re already in Ponyville now,” Twilight said as she walked up behind her.
“What?” she asked, before looking around. She just noticed the buildings off to the sides when Twilight spoke up. She had already walked so far from where she was at by the creek. She felt so happy, she felt like shouting to the world. Before she caught herself, she pushed herself up onto her hind legs, before falling back due to the unfamiliarity. “Whoa!” she yelled out, before giggling afterward.
“Are you okay?” Spike asked, though the smile on his face said he wasn’t too worried.
“Yeah, I’m great!” she said, before rolling over and getting back up on her hooves. As she turned around, she giggled a little from the excitement. “I got a little bit too excited there.”
“It certainly looked like it. Well, I guess this where we part ways. It was nice meeting Kairi,” Twilight, turning to walk further into Ponyville.
“Actually Twilight, why doesn’t she just stick with us? Kairi said she was new here as well,” Spike spoke up, looking at Kairi with a smile.
“Spike, we’ve got more important things to worry about. Besides, we have to rush as fast possible to check in on the preparations for the celebration so we can get to the library. We’ve still got a lot of research to do,” Twilight responded.
“But Kairi is still new to Ponyville like us. And you still have to make some friends. Princess Celestia said you should,” he retorted.
“Please, Spike, I don’t need to make friends. I need to hurry up with the preparations, and then hit the library to find out where the elements are. The fate of the world depends on it.”
The fate of the world? That sounded pretty serious to her. She had thought this world wasn’t troubled by any darkness, but hearing that made her not so sure of her quick assumption. “This ‘fate of the world’ stuff kind of sounds serious. Maybe I can help?” Kairi asked.
They both looked at Kairi, her words having stopped the impending argument between them. “Well, I guess I could use an extra set of hooves. Just try to keep up with us, okay,” Twilight, turning to march on.
“Sure thing, Twilight,” she said, following them along the streets.
As they marched on, Kairi felt a little bad that Twilight had said she didn’t need friends. She wondered if the pony sheltered herself. “At least try to make friends Twilight. That way you can tell Princess Celestia you at least tried,” Spike spoke up after a while. “Maybe the ponies here in Ponyville have interesting things to say. Look, here comes somepony now.”
Around them, Kairi had noticed the different ponies of the town now, wondering why all of them were so colorful in the literal sense. No way could genetics pull off this many vibrant colors. And approaching them now was a pink pony with a slightly darker pink mane and tail, not to mention how gravity-defying the style of it was. She briefly wondered if she could get her own mane and tail to do that. She also noticed this pink pony’s eyes were sky blue in color, and a quick glance at her flank revealed a tattoo of three balloons.
‘Who gets a tattoo of balloons? The star-burst I could understand, but balloons?’ Kairi thought to herself.
“Come on Twilight, just try,” Spike said, trying to get his friend to attempt to make a friend.
There was a slight pause as the pink pony stopped in front of them, a smile on her face. At least, Kairi believed the pony was female; she couldn’t imagine a pink male pony anyway. Twilight looked at the pony as well, and hesitantly asked, “Uh, h-hello?”
In the next few seconds, the pony gasped over-dramatically while lifting up in the air somehow, and suddenly zipped over them at speeds Kairi knew would have caused herself whiplash. ‘What in the worlds? How fast was that?!'
Twilight looked just as shocked as well, before saying dully, “Well that was interesting alright.” She turned towards their next destination, and walked on to pretend the small event never happened. Kairi followed after her with Spike beside her, wondering why that pink pony had reacted like that.
A few minutes of travel found them walking along a dirt path that looked like it was traveled quite often. Spike then spoke while holding a piece of parchment. Where he got it from she didn’t know, but decided not to question it. New worlds often had different rules after all. “Summer Sun Celebrations Official Overseer's Checklist. Number One: Banquet Preparations; Sweet Apple Acres.” They soon walked under a white wooden archway, which led into an apple farm, complete with a barn and cozy little house.
In the distance, they heard a loud “YEEHAW!” Turning to where it came from, Kairi saw an orange pony with a blonde mane and tail tied up at the ends, who wore a stetson hat on her head, and had three apples on her flank. A quick at look at her eyes showed them to be brilliant green in color. At first, she thought the pony was going to ram into the tree she was running at, but the second she was close enough she had turned to hit the trunk with her hind legs. The apples hanging from the tree seemed to easily come off their branches, and all of them landed perfectly into wooden baskets under them. Kairi looked wide-eyed at the display, not even sure she had seen that right, but the apples were all there, not a one having rolled away on the ground. The pony then crossed her right leg over her left, ending her little show.
“Wow, that was pretty impressive to see,” Kairi commented, a smile of amazement spreading on her face.
With a sigh, Twilight began walking over to pony, and said, “Let’s get this over with.” As they approached the farm pony, as she obviously had to be, Twilight spoke to the mare, “Good Afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” If she was about to say more, she was cut off from as the farm pony caught her hoof in between hers, and start shaking it up and down rapidly.
“Well howdy doo, Miss Twilight. A pleasure makin' yer acquaintance. I’m Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends,” Applejack said. She then looked at Kairi, and asked, “Whose yer friends?”
“Friends? A-a-actually I-uh,” Twilight barely managed to say.
“I’m Kairi, I’m new around here. I’m helping out Twilight at the moment,” she said, introducing herself.
“And I’m Spike, Twilight’s number one assistant.”
“So, what can I do ya for?” Applejack asked, having let go of Twilight's hoof. Unfortunately for the purple mare, her hoof kept moving up and down as if her hoof was still being shaken. Spike caught her hoof for her, and helped her stop, both him and Kairi chuckling a little at the scene. Twilight gave a small glare at Spike, before returning her attention to Applejack.
“Ahem, well I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you’re in charge of the food?” Twilight said.
“We sure as sugar are! Would you care to sample some?” Applejack asked.
“Well, as long as it doesn’t take too long,” Twilight replied, though noticing how fast Applejack had at the slightest notion of a positive, she had a feeling it really would take a while.
Next came the loud ringing of a triangle, before the farm pony called out loudly, “SOOOUUUPPSS ON EVERYPONY!” Before they knew it, Kairi, Twilight, and Spike had been picked up, carried over, and set down at an outdoor table. Looking around, Kairi saw several ponies around them, all wearing kind smiles.
Applejack quickly popped up next to Kairi, and said, “Now, why don’t I introduce you to the Apple Family!”
“Thanks, but I really need to hurry,” Twilight said, trying to steer away from oncoming introductions, but was met with failure as a pony came up next to her with an apple treat on her hoof. Kairi took special note of how she was balancing a plate like that, figuring it was probably an easy thing to do.
“This here’s Apple Fritter.” The pony put the plate on the table, and stepped away as another came up to the table with an apple covered in caramel on sticks. Applejack then introduced her as well, but the list of names with the introductions escalated far too fast for Kairi to keep up with, as well as the towering amount of food that began piling up in front of her.
Near the end though, Applejack gasped for breath for the last few introductions. “Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, aaaaannnndd Granny Apple Smith.” This time Kairi looked at each of them now that she had time to catch up. Big Macintosh, quite obviously, was a male pony, or stallion as she corrected her thoughts. His coat was a brilliant red color with three white circles on his cheeks, and figured they were supposed to be freckles. His short mane and tail were orange, and his tattoo looked like a large green apple. It was hard to tell, but she guessed the apple had a slice took off because she could see the core seeds. His eyes matched Applejacks with their green color. Around his neck he carried a yoke. It looked pretty heavy, she wondered if he hefted that everywhere he went.
Looking at the smallest pony among them, the one Applejack introduced as Apple Bloom, she noticed that her mane and tail was a lighter shade of red than Big Macintosh’s. Her coat was a pretty yellow, certainly easier on the eyes than most yellows she’d seen. Her eyes had quite a nice amber to them. But she noticed quickly that the filly didn’t have a tattoo like all the others so far. It made sense, she looked like a child still, and tattoos on children just didn’t sit right with her. Looking over to Granny Apple Smith sleeping in her rocking chair, she noticed this mare was definitely an elderly, but she had obviously lived a good life so far. Her coat was green, but her mane and tail were white as snow. Around her neck was a kerchief with a red apple pattern and orange background.
“Up and at’em Granny Smith,” Applejack called out, stirring Granny Smith from her slumber in her rocking chair. The elder pony mumbled something as she got out of her chair, and walked over to the table. With her eyes open now, she saw the older mare’s eye color had the same amber color as Apple Blooms. Kairi, who hadn’t caught a single bit of what the elder pony said, turned her attention to Twilight, who had an apple stuffed into her mouth when Applejack introduced her granny.
“Why I’d say yer already part of the family,” the farm pony proudly stated, which caused Twilight to spit a bit of the apple she hadn’t chewed and swallowed yet.
“Ah hahah, okay, well I can see the food situation is handled, so we will be on our way,” the lavender mare stated.
“Aren’t ya gonna stay fer brunch?” the little filly asked, putting on an adorable pouty face. Kairi herself couldn’t look away without wanting to cave in at the sight.
“Sorry, but we have an awful lot to do,” Twilight said, having a hard time herself trying to turn down the filly. At that moment, all of the ponies said “Awww…” Looking around, Kairi felt she didn’t want to leave yet, they were all such nice ponies after all. Not mention she felt her belly rumble a little bit. How long had it been since she last ate anyway?
“Well, I am feeling kind of hungry Twilight. It wouldn’t hurt to have something to eat at least,” Kairi said, looking at Twilight with a little plead on her face. Looking around once more, Twilight caved in.
“Okay, we’ll stay,” she said. Her response was met with immediate cheering. “But only for brunch, no later,” she pointedly stated, the other ponies around her seemingly accepted the response with ease.
The better part of the next half hour was spent with Twilight, Spike, and Kairi eating the delicious baked apple treats on the table. Kairi couldn’t remember the last time she tasted such scrumptious food, it seemed like it had been a long time ago. She was rather enjoying herself the entire time.
By the time they left Sweet Apple Acres, the hungry feeling in her stomach had completely vanished as she walked alongside Spike; with Twilight bringing up the rear. “The food is all taken care of. Next up is the weather.”
“Ugh, I ate too much pie,” Twilight complained.
“Well, you didn’t have to eat the entire thing. I’m sure they could have put any leftovers away,” Kairi said. At that statement, Twilight simply face-hoofed for not having thought about that. “Still, those were the best apple dishes I’ve ever tasted.”
“Yeah, they were pretty good,” Spike piped in while checking the list again. “Hmm, there’s supposed to be a pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds.”
Both Kairi and Twilight looked up, and saw clouds still hanging around up in the sky. ‘Okay, so they are called pegasus ponies, and they can apparently evaporate clouds. Sounds kind of like weather manipulation, but I thought that sort of magic wasn’t possible. This world has something new around every corner, it seems. I can’t wait to tell Sora and Riku about this place when I see them again.’
“Well, she’s not doing a very good job, is she- Oomph!” Twilight said, about to finish her sentence before a rainbow blur suddenly crashed into her. She groaned with her face in the mud with said pegasus on her back. Kairi snerked, not meaning to laugh, but the situation just seemed silly.
Rainbow Dash soon got up off of Twilight, her eyes looking at the pony she just crashed into, and gave a slightly sheepish chuckle. Now that Kairi got a good look at the pegasus, she saw the winged pony’s coat was cyan, but her unkempt mane and tail were all the colors of a rainbow. It did her name justice. The last few things she noted were her magenta eyes, and her tattoo being that of a cloud and a rainbow lightning bolt. It looked like a lightning bolt anyway.
The pegasus flew into the air after saying something Kairi missed, noticing just how easy she made it look just moving through the air. With another chuckle, Rainbow hovered over Twilight, and said, “Here, let me help you.” She flew a short way, and came back with a cloud. ‘Weather manipulation confirmed then,’ Kairi thought to herself.
Rainbow had placed the cloud over Twilight, and before anyone could say otherwise, started jumping on the surprisingly bouncy fluff. The effect poured water down on top of Twilight, who was now a soaked mess instead of dirty now. Rainbow couldn’t help but chuckle again, and said, “Oops, guess I overdid it. Um, uh, how about this!”
Twilight looked shocked for a split second as Rainbow began flying around at quite an impressive speed, and before Kairi could question how it was possible a small rainbow-colored whirlwind surrounded the horned pony, it was gone, leaving Twilight spinning for a moment longer with her mane and tail a mess. “My very own patented Rainblow Dry. No, no, don’t thank me. You’re quite welcome,” the rather brash pegasus said as she floated back down to the ground. But one quick look at Twilight's new ‘mane style’ had the pony struggling to keep her laughter to herself, before just falling back and letting it out anyway. Spike was quick to join her, and even Kairi had trouble keeping her giggles to herself.
Twilight didn’t look too impressed at all, rolling her eyes at the ponies and dragon. “Let me guess, you're Rainbow Dash,” She stated rather than asked. It was pretty obvious to everypony who the mare was.
Bouncing up to her hooves, Rainbow said, “The one and only! Why, have you heard of me?”
“I’ve heard you’re supposed to be keeping the sky clear,” the purple mare replied, sighing afterward. She forced a small smile, and continued. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. My dragon friend is Spike, and the earth pony is Kairi. The princess sent me to check the preparations for the celebration.”
In the time it took Twilight to inform Rainbow Dash of who they were, the pegasus had already flown up to an extremely low hanging cloud, and was currently kicking back as if she were about to take a nap. “Yeah, yeah, that’ll be a snap. I’ll do it in a jiffy, just as soon as I’m done practicing,” Rainbow replied.
“Practicing for what?” Kairi asked, feeling a little curious now.
“The WONDERBOLTS! They’re going to be performing at the celebration tomorrow, and I’m gonna show’em my stuff,” Rainbow had stated, as if she were sure they’d notice her without any doubt. Just for good measure, she even did loop in the air, before landing on a cloud.
“THE Wonderbolts?” Twilight questioned.
“Yep!”
“The most talented fliers in all of Equestria?”
“That’s them.”
Scoffing, Twilight said, “Please, they’d pick a pegasus who couldn’t keep the sky clear for one measly day.”
Somewhere in Twilight’s sentence, Rainbow believed she heard a challenge in it, and replied firmly, “Hey, I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat.” She hadn’t stated it; she knew she could do it.
Kairi saw that knowing grin on Rainbow’s face, and said, “I don’t know, that seems like a tall tale. Prove it.” Seeing this new pony she’d never met before issue the challenge, all bets were off. In the blink of an eye, the rainbow maned pegasus zipped through the sky easily, and was busting clouds left and right as if it were the easiest thing to do. Kairi had started counting in her head while she watched, amazed at how quickly this mare was flying. Before she knew it, Rainbow was back on the ground, and all the clouds that had been in the sky were gone. And Kairi had counted ten just as she landed.
“See, ten seconds flat. I’d never leave Ponyville hangin,” she said, pride in her ability practically radiated off of her, but it was her words that Kairi paid attention to. Yes, what she did was simply amazing to her, but she didn’t ignore those words, wearing a grin of her own.
“You sound like you’d make for a very loyal friend, Rainbow Dash. I’m glad I got to meet you,” she said, Twilight and Spike themselves were snapped out of their stupor from what the pegasus achieved.
Rainbow blinked at Kairi’s words, a little caught off guard by the compliment. “Oh, of course! No doubt, I’m as loyal as most ponies come,” she said, smiling back at Kairi. She then stretched her wings for a good second, before speaking, “Well gotta fly, I’ll catch you guys later!” With that she took off, probably to keep practicing for the Wonderbolts.
“Wow, she’s amazing,” Spike said, pointing to mare that flew off.
“Yes, even I have to admit it. She did what I thought she couldn’t do,” Twilight replied, ready to move on to the next destination on the list.
“Despite her brash nature, I’d say she’d make a very good friend for you Twilight. You should really hang out with her,” Kairi said, wearing a smile of her own to match Spike’s.
“Er, maybe some other time. Now come on, we need to hurry up,” she said, leading the way.
“Does she always have a hard time making friends, or is she just choosing to ignore a request from your Princess,” Kairi asked Spike as they walked a little further behind Twilight. By now, Kairi managed to recall that horses with horns were usually called unicorns. She had been fumbling around in her mind to find that term, and thankfully just remembered before she asked what would admittedly be a stupid question.
“I’m not entirely sure myself. I think it’s just when she focuses on one thing, she usually ignores something else that might seem unnecessary. And right now, she thinks the world is in danger because of a prophecy,” Spike replied, sharing a little more insight on Twilight. “I’m actually surprised she let you tag along with us.”
“I guess she sees me in a similar light to herself, though that really is just a guess. Now, about this prophecy you mentioned. What’s that about?”
“Oh, it’s just an old pony story. A thousand years ago, Princess Celestia apparently had a sister named Princess Luna. I don’t know the exact details myself, but it seems Princess Luna got jealous of Princess Celestia, because ponies would love her sisters day, and not her night. It all came to a peak at one point, enough that Luna wouldn’t lower the moon to make way for the day. Princess Celestia pleaded to her sister to lower the moon, but Princess Luna ignored her. And then, the Princess of the Night suddenly transformed into a terrifying entity known as Nightmare Moon.
“According to legend, Princess Celestia managed to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon about a thousand years. And apparently the prophecy states that on the thousandth year of her imprisonment, the stars will aid Nightmare Moon in her escape, and return to terrorize Equestria again.”
Kairi thought on what Spike explained to her, about how Luna became Nightmare Moon and the prophecy. The transformation Luna went through sounded a whole lot like how darkness took over a person with an evil heart. It didn’t actually sound like Nightmare Moon was a Heartless though, like she managed to retain her individuality. Perhaps she was a Nobody then? No, that didn’t sound right at all. Maybe the transformation was because the darkness reacted to her jealousy of her sister then. Guessing like this was beginning to give her a headache.
“Yeah, and that’s why Twilight wants to hurry this up. She believes it, and wants to do research on something called the Elements of Harmony, whatever those are.”
“Elements of Harmony? They sound important enough, but what are they?” she asked.
“No clue, but apparently they’re supposed to be super powerful artifacts. Beyond that, I don’t know,” Spike answered. “Why so interested all of a sudden?”
“Well, I don’t have a lot to go on, but what happened to Princess Luna sounds a whole lot like what I’ve encountered a couple times myself,” she replied, it being her turn to answer few questions.
“Oh yeah, how so?”
“Well, it’s a bit difficult to explain, but I’ll give it my best shot. From what you just described, it sounds like Princess Luna let the darkness in her heart take control of her. But maybe not completely though, because something else would have happened to her instead of a physical transformation. There’s probably a good chance that Luna is still somewhere inside Nightmare Moon, that is if this prophecy does come true anyway.”
“Huh, that sounds reasonable enough. You really think Princess Luna is just trapped in her own darkness then?” Spike asked.
“That’s most likely the only explanation. In any case, if this is all true, then the Elements are probably the only best shot at restoring Princess Luna to her normal self. I mean come on, Elements of Harmony? They sound like magical artifacts meant to purify darkness.”
“Heh, I guess you’re right, they do sound like it,” Spike agreed. Kairi smiled, knowing things like this ahead of time, made dealing with events so much easier in the long run.
Looking around the town again, she noticed the ponies going about their usual lives. It was quite relaxing being in such a peaceful world. Though, one thing was still gnawing at her mind. “Hey Spike, promise not to over react, but do all the ponies have to have tattoos on their flanks?” she asked.
The reaction was immediate; Spike nearly tripped over himself when she asked that question. “Tattoos? You mean you don’t remember what a Cutie Mark is?” he answered her question with another question.
Now she knew this information was already common knowledge, but his reaction just hammered the nail in further. “Sorry, I really didn’t know what it was called. When I said I was new here, I really meant it.”
“So wait, when you say you’re new here, what are you really meaning?” he asked, looking confused.
“New enough that I couldn’t walk on all fours at all,” she said truthfully. He seemed smart, maybe he would accept this a lot better than she expected.
Spike blinked, letting that bit of information sit in his head for a while. He then looked back at Kairi, and asked slowly, “So, uh, does that mean you’re some kind of alien?”
If she had hands, she would have face-palmed. Instead, she just hung her head a little lower, and her ears drooped down to the sides. Sighing, she replied, “I guess in technical terms, yes. Let me explain myself before you get any more scared.” She then began telling him what she had been doing before she arrived in Equestria, all up to the point where she was pulled down in to a pool of darkness. When she finished, she looked at Spike, and hoped he didn’t look scared. She was surprised instead to see he wore a look of sympathy.
“Wow that sounds terrible. So that means you’re stranded here until your friends find you,” he said finally.
Looking down again, she saw the wooden floors of Town Halls porch. They must have arrived at their destination already. “Yeah, pretty much. No worries though, if I know those two as well as I do, they won’t give up until they find me.”
“They sound like pretty capable guys. Okay, so to answer your question, Cutie Marks are what fillies and colts get when they discover their special talent. Whatever your talent is, it must be pretty special. You’re Cutie Mark looks like it’s one of a kind,” he said, answering her finally. “Looks like we’re here already.”
With a quickened step, he moved up next to Twilight with his checklist in hand. “Let’s see. Decorations is up on the list.” He looked up from his checklist, and one word left him. “Beautiful.”
It seemed Twilight had tuned Spike and Kairi out the entire time they walked to Town Hall, because she didn’t seem to give any indication she overheard anything they had conversed about. “Yes, the décor is coming along nicely. This ought to be quick. We’ll be at the library in no time. Beautiful indeed,” she said.
“No, not the décor. Her,” he said, his voice trailing a little bit, almost like he was love struck or something. Looking in front of them, Kairi and Twilight saw the beautiful mare unicorn who Spike was talking about. Her coat was a near white alabaster color that it almost hurt to look at, and her long purple mane and tail were stylishly curled to near perfection that it accentuated her looks. Her blue eyes sparkled as she worked her magic with the decorations, and on her flank, Kairi saw three diamonds as her Cutie Mark.
“She certainly is beautiful, I know I’d have a hard time styling my h- mane and tail like that,” Kairi said, giving her own compliment as well. She had almost said her hair, knowing she was likely going to have to get used to living in this world for a while.
As the busy mare examined ribbon after ribbon, Spike asked, “How are my spines? Are they straight?” Kairi gave a little giggle at his question, finding his reaction to the unicorn’s beauty cute. Twilight blinked once, then rolled her eyes with a knowing smirk that he had been hit by a figurative love arrow.
As they walked to the unicorn, Twilight said, “Good Afternoon-“
Suddenly cut off, the mare responded while barely looking back, “Just a moment please. I’m in the zone, as it were.” Sorting ribbon after ribbon again, she finally settled on a sparkling red ribbon, and added it in as part of the décor in the room. “Oh yes, sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Why Rarity you are a talent.” She finally turned to face her guests, her eyes blinking as she spoke to the three in front of her. “Now, um, how can I help yoouuuuhahahhaaahh!”
Kairi’s ears flopped down against her head, Rarity’s exclamation when she caught sight of Twilight’s new ‘mane style’ having hurt her eardrums a little. That seemed a little unnecessary to her. Sure, Twilight’s messed up mane and tail were, well, a mess, but it certainly didn’t deserve such a reaction. Maybe this mare just really didn’t like ridiculous looking manes.
“Oh my stars, darling! What ever happened to your coiffure?” Rarity asked, sounding more than a little shocked by what she saw.
“Oh you mean my mane?” she asked, “Well, it’s a long story. I’m just here to check on the decorations, and then I’ll be out of your mane.”
“Out of my mane? What about your mane?” the alabaster pony asked. She jumped next to Twilight, and started guiding her out of the building, apparently taking her somewhere much to the purple unicorn’s surprise. Kairi blinked, not even sure what was happening anymore. This pony really did seem like she had an eye for style. Without hesitating though, she followed after the two, with Spike somehow floating off the ground and following as well.
Barely any time passed as they exited Town Hall, and suddenly found themselves inside another at least partially nearby. The interior was exquisitely decorated, Kairi noted in her head. Those assumptions of this pony seemed true to her as she immediately went to work styling Twilight’s mane and tail, as well as having her try on various outfits. Kairi watched from the sidelines, not wanting to be dragged in as well. And just seeing Rarity put outfit after outfit on Twilight, she was starting to feel far more uncomfortable, but not because of the dresses themselves. She had noticed early on she had been wearing no clothes since she met Twilight, but now she was bearing a bright blush on her cheeks.
She was perfectly willing to accept it as a fact of the world before, but now that she knew clothes were a thing in this world, she could not distract her mind from the obvious anymore. Throughout a decent portion of the town, she had walked around literally naked. She had been fine before, but now her human instinct to wear something had crashed over her hard. She was never a pervert at all, but even this was beginning to get overbearing if she had to watch Twilight be forced to wear another dress.
It seemed the seamstress had found something that might make Twilight shine amongst the crowd, and even styled her mane back to the way she had it before they met Rainbow Dash. It looked like she’d put a pretty saddle on the purple unicorn, and it did make her stand out a little more because of it. “Now go on dear, you were telling me where you’re from,” Rarity said, grabbing a strap in her teeth and began pulling. Hard.
Struggling to breath, Twilight said in short breaths, “I’ve…been…sent from…Canterlot…to…-“ That was all she got out as the straps were released suddenly, and snapped back into place, the result sending the two ponies flying away from each other.
And just like that, Rarity went off about a bunch of things Kairi barely paid attention to, still a little too absorbed in her own mind to her current ‘no clothes’ situation. She really wished she was wearing something.
“Oh I can’t wait to hear all about it. We are going to be the best of friends, you and I,” Rarity had said. Twilight felt a little more than uncomfortable at that point. Rarity then looked at the chest of the saddle, and said, “Emeralds? What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!” And like that, she was off to scour from her gem drawer.
Taking off the saddle with her own magic, Twilight used her magic to set the saddle down on a nearby table, and began making her way to the door. “Quick! Let’s go before she decides to dye my coat a new color!” she said, doing her best not to be too loud, and draw Rarity’s attention. And like that, Kairi agreed, using her mouth to grab Spike by his largest spike, and followed after Twilight just as quickly as she could. She would be amazed at the fact that she was galloping another time; she didn’t want to spend another moment in the boutique.
A short while later, when they finally slowed down enough, Kairi set Spike up on Twilight’s back, and let her carry him. He still seemed to be lost in his love daze still. She then walked beside Twilight, though the blush on her face still hadn’t cooled off yet. This was certainly not something she was going to tell the guys about, there was no way she was going tell them she had been walking around naked in a town filled with talking, colorful ponies. She knew if she did, she’d never hear the end of it.
Twilight finally noticed the blush across Kairi’s face finally, and asked, “You okay, you look little red across the cheeks?”
Shocked out of her stupor, the blush that was fading returned with a vengeance. “I’m fine, thank you though. I’m just not used to a few things, that’s all.”
Twilight blinked at this, and could only guess the reason. “Did you come from a place where ponies wear clothes all the time?” It was a honest question, and she wasn’t a foal, she knew there was more to this mare than met the eye.
Wide eyed, Kairi stared back at Twilight, surprised she knew what was bothering her. After a silent moment, she replied, “Yeah, pretty much. I’m not exactly used to…not wearing clothes. I…had accepted the fact that it wouldn’t be a major issue before, but…yeah, I’m feeling kind of naked right now. Both figuratively and literally.”
“Hey, no worries, okay. After all this is sorted out, I’ll help you get some clothes once we’re done. How does that sound?”
Kairi gave a slight smile, nodding softly. “Thanks, I’d really appreciate it. I’ll try to keep my mind off not wearing clothes until then. I’d rather not walk around with an incredible blush on my cheeks.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty noticeable with your coat color. Try not to think too hard on it. It will probably be a difficult adjustment to get used to.”
“No kidding,” Kairi said, shaking her head a little to try to shake off her thoughts. “So about the Elements Spike told me about. Do you really think they exist?”
“He told you huh? Honestly, I’m not sure, but I’m definitely hoping they are. They will be our only hope to fight Nightmare Moon.”
“You’re pretty convinced this Nightmare Moon is real. What makes you think it isn’t an old pony tale?”
“A few reasons, but mostly because I’ve done a ton a research on the subject. And with some mathematical calculations, I’ve determined Nightmare Moon will make her escape tomorrow. Everything I’ve looked into and researched all points to that single conclusion,” Twilight had said, sounding pretty sure of herself.
“Well, if she does show tomorrow, I’m sure we’ll find the Elements. Now then, what’s next on the list Spike?” Kairi asked, turning her attention to Spike.
“Oh what? Oh right, ahem, let’s see here. Music, it’s the last one on the list,” he replied, finally breaking out of his love stupor. Almost on cue, a soft musical rendition could be heard a little ways away. As they approached, they found it was a choir of song birds making the beautiful music. All except one bird was singing off key, looking like it was enjoying its own tune a little more.
In front of said birds was a butter-yellow pegasus flapping her wings softly as she oversaw the song bird choir. Her long mane and tail was pink in color, and on her flank were three butterflies with aquamarine bodies and pink wings. As she saw the gentle flap of her wings, she already came to the conclusion this pegasus was going to be very kind in nature. The music that had been heard was stopped as the pegasus flew up to them, and though it was hard to hear from the distance, it sounded like she was instructing the blue bird on it's singing.
Just as the music was about to start up again, Twilight loudly said, “Hello.” This had caused the birds to fly away, and Twilight realized she made a mistake. “Oh no, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten away your birds. I was just checking up on the music, and it sounded wonderful.” As she spoke, the yellow and pink pegasus landed on the ground, but her head turned away, acting rather shy. She glanced at Twilight and Kairi, and then looked away again. With an awkward smile, Twilight introduced herself and Kairi, though she still didn’t receive a reply. Stepping forward a little, she then asked for her name.
When she responded it was almost too soft for Kairi to hear. This pegasus really was shy, almost to an extreme as Twilight said she hadn’t caught it the few times she muttered it, her voice managing to get quieter every time. Kairi was impressed at how quiet the timid mare got. She knew this encounter needed a different touch.
With a calm tone, Kairi stepped forth, and said to Twilight, “Here, let me give it a try.” Nodding, the purple unicorn stepped back, and let Kairi try. With a soft clearing of her throat, Kairi then lowered her head a little, and spoke as softly as she could, “Hi, my name is Kairi, and this is Twilight Sparkle.” She would have introduced Spike, but he had decided to stay back this time. “We really did enjoy your song bird choir. You must have taught them very well. Where I come from, it’s near impossible to get a bird to land on my f- hoof.” The entire time she spoke, Twilight had to strain her ears to hear Kairi.
It seemed that this was exactly the right touch, as the pegasus spoke a little louder. “Oh my, I couldn’t imagine that sort of place,” she said.
“It’s actually quite peaceful, the birds just like to keep their distance,” Kairi said, smiling softly still.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. If you want, I can tell you how to get a bird to land on your hoof. I mean, if you want any way,” she said, though the soft smile Kairi got back proved to her the pegasus was opening up at least a little bit.
“Really, I’d definitely love learn that,” she replied. For the next minute, after the song birds had come back, Kairi had learn the pony’s name was Fluttershy, and was currently showing her how to hold up her hoof, even saying that it was important to stay absolutely calm. She noticed just how kind her teal eyes showed, definitely a sensitive, yet very caring pony. For the next moment, Kairi held up her right hoof in front of her, keeping her breathing calm as she waited patiently for one of the birds to fly on to her hoof. It was very trying for her, not used to staying so still for so long, but she did not go unrewarded.
One of the birds, a purple feathered bird with a lighter purple chest fluttered over, and gently landed on her held out hoof. Her smile grew wide in excitement and happiness; she had never managed to hold a bird, much less get one to land on her fingers. “This is so amazing,” she said, struggling to keep her voice down, the happiness in her tone clearly showed. The bird tweeted happily a little, and then flew back to the branch it had been on, and Kairi let her hoof back down. “Thank you so much for teaching me this Fluttershy, I really appreciate it,” she said, looking over at the pegasus. She smiled back as well, happy she could help.
Twilight, having learned she might have been just a bit too loud when she talked before, soon spoke as quietly as she could manage, “Well, it looks like your birds are back, so we’ll take our leave. Keep up the good work.” Fluttershy looked over at Twilight, and nodded with a soft smile. Before either could move to walk away though, Fluttershy caught sight of Spike behind Twilight, and was instantly in front him without warning.
“Oh my gosh, a baby dragon! Oh, I’ve never seen a baby dragon before! He’s so cute,” she exclaimed. Now Kairi was thinking maybe Spike should have let himself be seen in the first place.
“Well, well, well,” he said, looking at Twilight and Kairi with a smug smirk.
“Oh my, he talks too. I didn’t even know dragons could talk. It’s just incredibly wonderful, I just don’t know what to say,” Fluttershy had said, her voice a little easier to hear now. At that moment, Twilight used her magic to levitate Spike on to her back, and began walking towards the library now. Despite being finished with checking the preparations, Twilight was wondering just how much she wanted to hear from Spike, rolling her eyes a little when she said she wanted to hear everything. Kairi had managed to catch up with them, smiling softly as Spike had so easily managed to get Fluttershy to come out of her figurative shell.
‘He sure can talk a lot. He seems to have had a pretty interesting life so far,’ she thought while walking alongside Twilight. Overhearing Spike a little bit, she learned that Twilight was actually Princess Celestia’s personal student, to which Kairi thought was pretty cool. She now wondered what these princess’ actually looked like. She idly wondered if the princess was a pony too since, save for Spike, the majority of sentient inhabitants she'd seen and met so far were ponies too. The way Princess Celestia was talked about, it seemed like she was a benevolent ruler of this land.
As time passed by, and the sun was starting to set, they were finally closing the distance to the library. Kairi had expected it to look like one of the buildings in the town. What she saw instead was a large, fairly thick tree with a door, windows, and a couple of balconies. It was impressive to say the least; she hadn’t expected the library to be a literal tree house. And yet, the idea sounded just right. As they approached the library, they turned to talk to Fluttershy. “I guess we’re here, so I guess we’ll be seeing you later tonight.”
Fluttershy nodded, before she perked up suddenly, almost like she remembered something important. “Oh well, if you don’t mind, I need to go in first. I was going to check out a library book earlier, but I haven’t had the chance today.”
“Oh, well okay, go on ahead, we’ll be right behind you,” Kairi replied, earning a soft nod from Fluttershy as she entered the building. They followed her inside, but what happened next surprised all three of them. The pitch black interior suddenly lit up, and a loud “SURPRISE!” was shouted out by several ponies, including Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. Fluttershy had said surprise too, but hers was far quieter, and hadn’t been heard over the other ponies. At the front of the large group was that same pink pony from earlier.
“Whatthe-!?” Twilight exclaimed, but immediately groaned when she realized she really wasn’t going to have any time to do any research on the Elements of Harmony. Before she could react any more, the pink pony was suddenly in front of them. Wait-
Kairi looked around, noticing she was right beside Twilight. She knew was she still by the door, and Twilight had walked a little further inside. How did she get moved next to Twilight without noticing?
“That’s not important right now. However, what is more important is if you were surprised. I bet you were surprised. Hi, my name is Pinkie Pie, and I’m the self-proclaimed party pony expert of Ponyville,” Pinkie had said. All of it. In one go without needing to breathe. How many words had she spoken to even be able to do that?
“That was thirty-six words! But anyway, I hope you enjoy the party that I threw just for you two. So were you surprised?” While Twilight answered Pinkie’s question, Kairi had attempted to count off the number words she had said before, only to stop as it hurt her head just trying to remember it all. She was going to take it like she had been right. But, wait, how did she know what she was thinking? Her eyes grew wide, suddenly having a disturbing feeling. ‘I’d best tread lightly for now. I think she can read my mind.’
As if picking back up where her mind left off, Pinkie continued to talk while Twilight started to walk away. Kairi decided to just walk with them for now, noticing Spike must have went to join the party. “You see, I saw you when you two first got here, remember? You were all ‘Hello’, and I was all like ‘gasp’. You see I’d never saw you before, and if I never saw you before, it means you must be new. Because I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville. And if you’re new, you hadn’t met anypony yet, and if you hadn’t met anypony, you must not have any friends. And if you don’t have any friends, then that means you’re lonely. And that made me so, so sad. So I had an idea, and then when I went ‘gasp’. I just wanted throw a great, big, super ginormous, spectacular welcome party, and had to invite everypony in Ponyville. See? And now you have lots and lots of friends.”
The entire time Kairi was doing her best to keep up with Pinkie as she talked and talked, not even bothering to pour herself a drink like Twilight had. She was just stunned at how many words the pink pony had spoken in such a short amount of time. Without taking a single breath again! Seeing all the other ponies gather up around her, Kairi just smiled and nodded, before speaking, “Uh, thanks for the heartwarming welcome party Pinkie. It really is a touching thought. Not to be rude though, I could barely keep up with everything you said. If you don’t mind, can you slow it down a little for me next time?”
As if it were water off a ducks back, the party pony replied, “Sure, no problem. We are friends after all.” It was at this moment after sucking up a few sips of her drink through the straw that Twilight turned around, her cheeks bloated and red as if she were trying to hold her breath in.
“Twilight, are you alright?” Kairi asked, her response from the purple mare being her jumping in the air, her legs moving like she was trying to run, her mane and tail looking like fire, before running off to find another drink.
“Aww, she’s so happy, she’s crying,” Pinkie said.
Kairi highly doubted that. Looking at the table, Kairi discovered the bottle of hot sauce Twilight had accidentally poured. “Oh, hot sauce. I wonder why she didn’t look at what she was pouring?”
Pinkie Pie picked up the bottle in her mouth, and poured a large amount on to a cupcake, and then ate said cupcake in one bite. Kairi and the other mares looked at her, earning a response from the pink pony, “What? It’s delicious.” Kairi just simply smiled, taking it all in. She had met several ponies today, learned how to walk as a quadrupedal pony herself, and had been having a pretty good time so far.
She decided to go ahead, and partake in the party for now, putting aside her worries for the moment. Nothing bad was happening yet, and she was not going to let her worries ruin a good time. A few hours later, Spike went up the stairs Twilight had used to retreat to the second floor. Kairi felt a little bad for the unicorn, knowing she was worrying herself a lot over what might come soon. She did hope Twilight would learn to relax a little, and she knew it wasn’t helping anybody, or well, anypony at the moment.
Time seemed to fly as the Summer Sun Celebration began to draw near. Kairi decided to rejoin Twilight and Spike as they made their way to Town Hall, where the celebration was supposed to start. As soon as all the ponies were inside, silence began to fall as the mayor walked up on the stand in front of everypony. Pinkie had started talking again, and Kairi tried to keep up, but her attention was pulled to the mayor. Suddenly, Fluttershy’s song bird choir began singing in tune as the spotlight descended to shine on the mayor.
“Mares and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!” Cheers came from all the ponies around Kairi, and she couldn’t help but join as well. It had been a single day, and she already felt like a part of the crowd. She knew better of course, but it didn’t stop her from cheering anyway. “In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this the longest day of the year.” It sounded kind of silly to her, but if what she heard about Princess Celestia was true, it was quite the feat in magic to move both sun and moon at the same time. She wondered briefly why this world had to have a pony move the celestial bodies.
Twilight on the other hand was still worried, looking up at the night sky through the skylight. She saw stars moving towards the moon, gasping softly as she nudged Kairi. She looked back, only to look up when Twilight directed her attention. She saw the same thing too, and the silhouette of a pony on the moon’s surface disappear. That looked ominous already, returning the same worried look Twilight had.
The mayor had continued to talk through all this. “And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day. The good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria. Princess Celestia!” Just as this was said, the birds began singing as the curtains on the upper balcony above were pulled apart. But where Princess Celestia was supposed to be standing, there was an empty space as the spotlight shone on the place where she was supposed to be. Rarity gasped, not knowing what was going on.
A few gasps and few whispers could be heard through the crowd of ponies. “This can’t be good,” Twilight said to herself, Kairi picking up on what this might mean as well.
The mayor attempted to keep the ponies currently nervous to remain calm for a moment, knowing there had to be a reasonable explanation. Pinking piped eagerly, “Ooh, ooh, I love guessing games! Is she hiding?” She then began looking around, as if trying to find the princess hiding somewhere among them.
Rarity came back from searching further beyond the balcony, but only to say, “She’s gone!” She had been quite surprised herself. At this news, everypony gasped loudly, but none more so then Pinkie Pie.
“Oh, she’s good,” she said.
“Pinkie Pie, I don’t think Princess Celestia is hiding,” Kairi said to her, though she kept her voice down. Despite how scared the ponies around her got, she stood ready for anything that was about to happen. She knew she had to; she was only one who knew how to fight. Admittedly now in a pony body yes, but she still retained the knowledge.
Pinkie then screamed as a purple, sparkly mist began to emanate from the balcony, making Rarity quickly retreat from the area. It grew bigger with each passing second. “Oh no,” Twilight said under her breath. Before them all, a pony began to form, but this one was far taller than the rest. Even more differing was she had wings and a horn. Her coat was a deep black, and her blue mane and tail waved in an almost ethereal way, the shimmering specks it held reminding her of the night sky. And those piercing, slit-like teal eyes of hers even sent a shiver down Kairi’s spine. After fully revealing herself, Spike fainted and fell from Twilight's back, and all the ponies stepped back in fear.
This had to be Nightmare Moon, Kairi just knew it. The darkness she felt coming off her was dense. She barely managed to stop herself from summoning her Keyblade, knowing now was not the time to draw it. The tall mare then finally spoke, “Oh, my beloved subjects, it’s been so long since I last saw your little sun loving faces.”
Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up. Whether it was bravado or naivety, Kairi couldn’t tell. “What did you do to our princess?” Had she been given enough time, she would have flown up to give the black furred creature a swift kick. Thankfully, Applejack had stopped her by biting on to the end of her tail.
With a sinister chuckle, the pony on the balcony spoke again. “Why? Am I not royal enough for you? Don’t you know who I am?”
Pinkie spoke this time, “Ooh, ooh, more guessing games. Um, Hokey Smokes? How about Queen Meanie? No, Black Snooty! Black SnooMMmm!” Once again, Applejack interrupted by stuffing an apple into Pinkie Pie’s mouth, still holding on to Rainbow’s Tail.
“Does my crown not count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?” The black coated mare asked. Her ethereal mane waving a little more as she gazed among the ponies below her. “Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?”
Suddenly from within the group, one mare spoke up finally. Twilight looked up at the figure, quite bravely in fact Kairi admitted. “I did, and I know who you are. You’re the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon!” Kairi didn’t back away as Twilight declared the name for everypony to hear. She gazed at Nightmare Moon as well, itching to move, to at least summon the weapon. But she couldn’t, not yet, not until Nightmare Moon gave some reason to do so.
All the ponies gasped at the name mentioned, hardly believing their eyes as they learned that old pony tale had been true all along. “Well, well, well, somepony who remembers me,” Nightmare Moon spoke, “Then you also know why I am here.”
The bravado Twilight had displayed was slowly, but surely shrinking as she replied. “You’re here to…to…” She just couldn’t finish the sentence, it was too frightening for her to mention. Before she tried to slink away, Kairi placed her hoof on her shoulder, reassuring the slightly quivering mare that everything was alright, forcing her biggest smile to help encourage that fact.
With a sinister chuckle, Nightmare Moon spoke aloud, “Remember this day little ponies, for it was your last. From this day forth, the night shall last forever!” With an evil cackle, her mane and tail swirled around the upper portion of the building, lightning cracking in the building from nowhere that could be seen. When her laughter died down, she looked down on the little ponies that hadn’t left due to sheer fright, many having left the building due to her declaration. “Before I go, let us part with a farewell gift. A play date with my minions of darkness!”
Below her on the balcony, on the small stage the mayor had been standing on, several shapes began to form out of the floor. Almost as if they were created from the shadows themselves. And that is what they were, shadows with beady yellow eyes that stood there, waiting for the order to be given. “Have fun, my little ones.” With that said, Nightmare Moon disappeared in a veil of purple mist. Rainbow Dash, having escaped Applejack's grip, zoomed up to the balcony, but was too late as the Mare in the Moon was already gone.
Kairi knew the creatures she had summoned all too well, knowing exactly what she had to do now as a barrier was erected along the buildings interior, and prevented any more ponies from the leaving the building. “Everypony stay away from those creatures. Don’t let them attack you!” Kairi shouted, gathering everyponies attention, “Those things can steal your heart if they hit you!” And just like that, the remaining ponies in the building gathered behind Kairi, shaking in fear as the creatures came ever so slowly closer. Well, everypony except Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie anyway.
“Kairi, do you know what those things are?” Twilight asked, fear in her tone.
“I do, Twilight. I’ve fought them a few times myself now. Those things before us right now. Those are Heartless!” she said. And just like that, the creatures attacked when she called them what they were.