//------------------------------//
// Episode 2: Elemental Discovery 
// Story: Kingdom Hearts: The Path of the Heart 
// by Tetsuya Kintame 
//------------------------------//

As the Heartless lunged at them all, Twilight believed this was where her life was ending. She couldn't even think of a spell to get rid of these things. Her own panic was keeping her from acting to protect herself. Her eyes shut tightly as the creatures came ever closer through the air. She could imagine the pain she would be feeling any second now. . . . Any second now. A few more seconds ticked by, and still she didn't feel the sting of pain. Opening her eyes finally, she looked up and found that not only had the Heartless been stopped, but some kind of barrier with multiple hexagonal shapes was surrounding all of them. It didn’t last long as the barrier disappeared, but it had at least kept them all safe.

But that just made the unicorn even more curious where it came from. Her thoughts were interrupted as Kairi galloped forward with something in her mouth, and brought the object down on at least three of the stunned Shadows before they managed to recuperate. From the defeated Heartless, Twilight saw shining pink hearts floating up, and then disappearing from her view. The object Kairi was holding looked like a sword she supposed, but it looked like it was fashioned to the liking of flowers, and it didn’t seem to have an edge. She then noticed Kairi looked like she wasn’t used to moving her head around like that to swing it very good.

Backing up from the group of Heartless, Kairi readied herself to throw up another Reflect spell in order to protect herself and the other ponies in the building with her. Just before another Heartless made to lunge, it was kicked away much to her surprise by Rainbow Dash with little effort on her part. “Hey, thought you might want an extra hoof in dealing with these bozos,” she said.

Kairi nodded, holding her leg out, and letting go of her Keyblade with her mouth. She managed to balance it on her leg, before looking back up to Rainbow. “Thanks, I could really use the help. Fighting like this feels kind of strange,” she admitted.

“It looked like it to me too. Too bad you don’t have wings, you could keep a grip on that thing in your hooves if you did,” The rainbow mare said.

”I think you’re right. Okay, if you can keep them off my back, then I can attack them to release the hearts they’ve captured. Defeating them without this would be pointless, they’d just come back again.” With that, Kairi gripped the handle in between her teeth, and readied herself for another attack.

“Sure thing. Hey Applejack, make sure these shadow things don’t attack anypony,” Rainbow called out, and kicked another Shadow as it made to lunge at her. Kairi made quick to attack it while it was downed, but the action itself caused another to attack as well. Luckily for her, an apple hit it in the side of its head, and knocked it off balance enough to miss. The opportunity was not wasted as Kairi hit it as hard as she could with her Keyblade, and released another heart from the grasp of darkness.

The group of ponies stayed huddled together as Applejack went around, and bucked a few of the creatures away to protect them. Their numbers were slowly dwindling, but she was hard pressed to be able to keep this up for much longer. She had seen Pinkie throw an apple towards a Heartless that had been about to attack Kairi, thinking it might be a good idea to team up with her. “Hey Pinkie, Ah need a hoof over here! Ah can’t keep up with this all on my own!”

“Okie dokie loki!” the party pony replied, and began assisting Applejack with protecting the others in her own unique way. Out of her mane, she pulled out a fairly large candy cane, with which she smacked the Heartless back when they tried to attack.

As the minutes pressed on, Kairi and Rainbow Dash were managing to slim the Heartless numbers. Several times now, Rainbow had kicked away one of the Heartless that tried to attack both her and Kairi, and Kairi would quickly follow up with a swing of her Keyblade. Soon, only five Shadows were remaining, and getting closer to finishing this battle. As Rainbow kicked another away when it attacked, and Kairi had moved to finish it off, she was surprised as a small purple beam blasted another Heartless away as it was about to jump on her back. Confused, she looked to where the dark creature lay stunned, and then back to where the beam came from. And saw Twilight with her horn aglow with her magic. With a smile, she nodded her thanks, and then hit the Heartless while it was down.

With only four left now, Applejack and Pinkie could relax as those Heartless that were left were now focusing on the two ponies responsible for eliminating a majority of them. With a look around herself, Kairi noticed the Heartless were ready to strike all at once. And she smirked, moving her head in a way to tell Rainbow Dash to back up. Seeing this, Rainbow was slightly confused, before catching on to the signal. While she wasn’t ready to just abandon the strange pony, the smirk on Kairi’s face told her she knew what she was doing. She nodded back, and flew upwards to give her some space. And that’s when the all four Heartless jumped at Kairi.

The split second it took for the Heartless to lunge at her, Kairi had already swung her head to the right, and swiftly turned her head to the left while lowering it as well. In her mind she called to a spell, and the effect was immediate. Fireballs swirled around her as if in orbit, and hit all four Heartless at once, the magic of the Keyblade releasing the hearts they held. As the fireballs vanished, so did the barrier on the Town Hall interior, and everypony that noticed this immediately vacated the building for fear of another attack.

With a sigh of relief, Kairi let her Keyblade vanish, and give her mouth some space to talk again. “Well, I didn’t expect this to happen, but I’m glad I was here to help,” she said, mostly to herself. Her eyes widened suddenly as Rainbow Dash landed in front of her. She looked pretty serious about what she was going to say.

“That. Was. Awesome!” she said, catching Kairi by surprise. “How did you use magic? Was it because of your odd weapon? Where did it go anyway? Could I get something like it as well, but twenty percent cooler?” The near rapid-fire questions, as well as Rainbow's close vicinity had Kairi leaning her head back, and unable to form a proper sentence.

“Settle down sally, give her some breathing room,” Applejack said, approaching both mares with Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy.

“My, my, that weapon you wielded was quite beautiful. I’d say it suits you my dear,” said Rarity.

“That was pretty cool, but your execution in using it was kind of sloppy. I’m sure if you practiced a little more, you could use it quite easily as a pony,” Pinkie had said. With all these mares giving her attention about her Keyblade, she wasn’t exactly sure where to start in answering Rainbow Dashes questions. 

Thankfully though, she had noticed Twilight and Spike were gone, which gave her enough time to think as she said, “Okay, I’ll answer your questions, but I need to get back to the library. I’ll explain on the way.” With that said she moved past Applejack, and gave a soft smile to Fluttershy, who had decided to keep quiet for the time being. “I think you should come too, Fluttershy. I think I might need your help later,” she said, following her intuition.

The shy mare nodded slowly, but returned the smile as she followed Kairi out of the building, with the rest behind. Except for Rainbow Dash, who had flown up next to her, and was waiting to hear her answers. With a small smirk, she explained aloud so everypony could hear. “Okay, so answering the first two questions, yes I can use magic, but it's not because of my weapon though it does help me cast spells. It’s called a Keyblade, and it’s a weapon that is used to free hearts from the grip of darkness. It can also be used to lock and unlock anything that could use a key, but I would never and shall never use it unjustly. I’ll only ever summon it if I need to protect someb- somepony,” she said, correcting herself once when she was about to say somebody. “As to where it goes after I let it vanish, I've never really found out. As to getting one of your own Rainbow Dash, I kind of need to keep it a secret on how to obtain a Keyblade, but yes; it is possible for you to get one. Keep a strong heart, and I might show you how.”

“Aww, I could totally help if I had a Keyblade,” Rainbow complained.

“I know you could, but it really isn’t as simple as you think. I just need a little time to make sure before I can make a serious decision like this. In the wrong hooves, the Keyblade can be a really dangerous,” Kairi explained.

“Just how dangerous could a Keyblade be in the wrong hooves, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

Kairi really didn’t want to answer that question. She really didn’t want to scare her friends. She still decided it was better to hear it now rather than later though. “…Dangerous enough that it could cover this world in darkness, and the bright lights in any pony's hearts would be lost for a while,” she said, trying to keep the grim tone from sneaking in to her voice.

“Oh my, it sounds like quite the responsibility you have to bear, dear,” Rarity commented, sounding awestruck.

“It is, but I can handle it. On the plus side, the Keyblade can be used for a lot of good too. You all saw it just a moment ago back at Town Hall,” she said, far more happy she could admit that.

“Of course, you stood up in front of everypony, and protected us all. It saddened me that those creatures needed to be hurt like that, but I couldn’t even see any emotion in their yellow eyes. It was like they were just husks or something,” Fluttershy finally spoke up, admitting how she felt about the situation.

“For the most part, they pretty much are. Trust me when I say this Fluttershy, it isn’t easy to fight them, and especially a large group like that. Without Rainbow Dash's help, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie making sure nopony were not attacked, we all would have had our hearts stolen, and turned into Heartless ourselves.” She wished she could have said that a little more gently, but it was the truth.

“Well, Ah’m just glad you were here when ya were. It don’t sit right with me hearing those things can steal our hearts like it was nothing,” Applejack said, and Kairi could tell she was being honest.

“So, anyway, why do you need to go the library? What’s there that’s gonna help us kick old moon flanks butt?” Rainbow asked.

Kairi had just noticed they were getting closer to the library when Rainbow asked her question. “Well, for starters, Twilight is there, and she's looking for a book to help her locate some powerful objects that can help. I think we should help her.”

“Hey you’re right, she seemed to know an awful lot about Nightmare Moon,” Rainbow Dash said, and the tone she carried sounded accusing, something Kairi didn’t like.

“She should, she’s been doing research on her, and from what I can tell, she sounded like she wanted to stop Nightmare Moon from even getting free in the first place. Though I guess the only thing she ever turned up in her research was a way to beat her.” Kairi said, hoping to remove whatever accusations Rainbow had.

“Wait, seriously? Then what are we waiting for then? Let’s hurry it up then.” Before she could even stop her, Rainbow had already opened the door to the building, and was approaching Twilight inside. They all followed her in as well, and heard the rainbow mare say, “Look, we want to help, so what are the Elements of Harmony?”

“Honestly, that pegasus can be so eager sometimes,” Applejack commented, though low enough that Rainbow didn’t hear.

“It is okay, Twilight, they’re here to help us,” Kairi said when Twilight looked her way. Twilight nodded, before closing her eyes a brief second as she organized her thoughts.

“When I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon, some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony were used a thousand years ago to banish her, and they are the only things that can stop her. But I don’t even know what they are, where to find them. I don’t even know what they do!” Twilight had said, sounding more and more concerned as she spoke.

“The Elements of Harmony: A reference guide!” Pinkie Pie spoke up, looking up at a book shelf. She was promptly bumped out of the way as Twilight rushed over to look at the book, easily picking it up in her magic.

“How did you find this?” she asked.

“It was under Eeeeeeee,” Pinkie replied simply in a sing song tone, bouncing by happily. Twilight had replied with a simple “…Oh,” And started reading through the book until she found what she was looking for.

“What does it say about the Elements, Twilight?” Kairi asked, glad they had so easily made another step forward in progress.

“Ok, there are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known; kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, and loyalty. The sixth is unknown, and is a complete mystery. It is said that the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now…” Twilight paused, afraid to say the next few words, “The Everfree Forest!”

At this everypony gasped, except Kairi since she had no idea why they were afraid of the forest to begin with. “Well, at least we now know where the Elements are. Now all we have to do is go get them,” she said. But something else bugged her mind about this. Out of the six ponies around her, she noticed four of the Elements seemed to ring true for most of them; namely Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. She supposed Rarity had a generous side as well. She did take time out of her own busy schedule to style Twilight's mane. She didn’t even ask to be paid. So all of them held the same virtues as the Elements, and she wondered for a moment if that meant something. She was soon shaken from her thoughts as Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“Well, the night ain’t getting any younger. Let’s go everypony,” she said, but was stopped when Twilight spoke up to her.

“Wait, as much as I appreciate the offer, I can’t just ask you all to come with me, and especially not into the Everfree Forest. I’ll go alone, and come back with the Elements,” Twilight said.

“You are definitely not going alone,” Kairi said, sounding serious herself. “You saw what Nightmare Moon did back at Town Hall. If she summons any more Heartless, then you’re going to need me around to help.”

“Kairi, as much as I appreciate it, I just simply couldn’t ask you to come along. Especially when you’re still figuring out how to move around,” Twilight responded. That statement left the rest confused about what Twilight meant.

“Then how are you going to protect yourself from them? You seem quite learned in magic, so you must have barrier spells. But what happens when you’re magic runs out? How are you going to respond then? Sometimes you can’t run away from a battle, especially when one comes with an impenetrable barrier,” Kairi said. Despite opening and closing her mouth a few times, Twilight couldn’t think of a single retort.

“In any case, we’re all going with ya, Twilight. There’s no way yer gonna change our minds, yer stuck with us,” Applejack said, bearing a bright smile at Twilight. Twilight really didn’t like this idea, especially when all this ‘friend making’ had gotten in her way before. Sighing in defeat though, she finally admitted to let them come along.

With everything settled, they all made their way to edge of the forest, and even though Kairi couldn’t feel any outright darkness from within, she still received a sense dread just looking at it. “Alright girls, let’s head on in. No use in standing around looking at it,” Kairi said, taking the first few step forward, “Keep your eyes peeled for anything too out of the ordinary.” Considering the ponies of Ponyville, and how peaceful it seemed, this place was probably far more extra-ordinary to them.

“Like she said ya’ll, let’s head on in, and find them Elements,” Applejack said. And with that, the group began their trek into the Everfree. It didn’t take long for their fear to be known, and even Kairi felt a little unsafe. The forest was so dark, she could barely see ten feet in front of her at all times. She wondered if eyesight would be better if the day was out.

“So, have any of you ever been in here before?” Twilight asked after about ten minutes walking. It was hard to tell, but Kairi definitely noticed they were walking along a wide cliff-side. And she was thankful for that, any narrower, and she wouldn’t have been able to continue.

“Of course not, just look at the place. It’s dreadful,” Rarity said, quite a bit fearful of the forest, though obviously the ‘charm’ of the Everfree wasn’t helping.

“And it ain’t natural. Folks say it don’t work the same as Equestria,” Applejack added, some of the fear she had been hiding being heard in her voice.

“W-What does that mean?” Twilight asked, sounding a little frightened.

Rainbow Dash, sensing a good scream coming everypony, decided to add to the creepiness factor. “Nopony knows,” she said in her best creepy voice. This had the rest scream a little, and earning a chuckle from Rainbow.

“That wasn’t very nice, Rainbow,” Kairi said, obviously not approving what Rainbow had done. But before she could say anything else, she could sense darkness somewhere, and it felt malevolent. Seeing Kairi hesitate to continue, Rainbow kept going.

“You know why? Because everypony who’s ever came in has never. Come. Out!” she exclaimed loudly, shocking Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. But what was even more shocking was that the ground underneath them gave out for some reason. As she fell, Kairi spotted a purple, sparkly mist rise up into the sky, and knew exactly why the ground gave out. But for now, her current thought was her screaming as she slid down a steeper slope. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew after them all to attempt a rescue. Rainbow managed to grab, and lift Pinkie into the air, while Fluttershy flew as fast as she could towards Rarity.

Kairi really wished she had hands and fingers now. She could at least grab on to something then. Thankfully, she managed, to her great surprise, to stop just a few feet from a ledge. Looking to her right, she saw Applejack keeping Twilight from falling. How she was holding on to Twilight, she didn’t know, nor cared at the moment. She just knew they were both safe for the moment.

“Applejack, what do I do? I can’t hold on,” Twilight asked, not even bothering to hide her fear now. For a brief moment, Kairi looked around to try and find something to help, but then she saw Fluttershy and Rainbow flying back with their hooves empty.

Applejack must have seen them too, because she said calmly to Twilight, “Let go.”

“Are you crazy?!” Twilight replied, sounding rather agitated that that was her response.

“No I ain’t. I promise, you’ll be safe,” Applejack replied just as calmly as before.

“That’s not true!” the purple mare said, not believing a word of it. She knew what would happen if she let go. She would end up getting severely injured if she fell from a height like this.

“Now listen hear, what Ah’m saying to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you’ll be safe,” the orange farm pony replied, giving Twilight an honest smile. The unicorn just knew something bad was going to happen, but Applejack's words felt like they rang true. Battling with herself, she promised that if she did end up getting hurt, she was going to return the favor ten times over. And she let go, screaming as she started falling from the ledge, only to be cut off as she was caught by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

“I’m glad she trusted you, Applejack. I don’t think I would have been able to convince her if I had said anything,” Kairi said, still struggling to keep her position.

“And now fer you, Kairi. Ah need ya to trust me on this. You can make it to the ground safely. Ah got a look over the edge, and saw some rocky ledges that you can jump on,” Applejack said.

“No, I think I can hang on for a little bit-“ Kairi started to say, but when she slid another inch, she was quick to whimper. She was facing the edge, and was scared of even thinking of jumping. She was steady on her hooves while walking; jumping like this was a bit too much to ask of her already.

“Kairi, listen to me,” Applejack said calmly, even though she noticed her friend having slid an inch forward. ”You can do this, I know you can. You’re an earth pony now. So just listen with your heart, and follow your instincts. They’ll guide ya safely to the ground.”

“How can you be so sure I won’t mess up?” she said, completely missing her words out of fear of falling from such a height.

“Because you stood up for us when we thought Nopony was there to save us from them Heartless. Ah’m being completely honest Kairi, I know you can do it,” Applejack replied. Kairi trembled a little, forcing herself to stay calm. Applejack’s words felt greatly encouraging, and felt a little calmer for it, but she still felt scared. For the briefest moment, she closed her eyes as she imagined what Sora or Riku would do in her position. And then she opened them, knowing exactly what they would do.

Determination shown in her eyes, and let herself slide the rest of the way off the edge. She saw the rocky ledge Applejack mentioned, and braced herself for impact. Following her heart, she let instincts take over, and landed far easier than she thought she would. She immediately jumped for the next ledge, and landed safely on it, some of her fear draining away. And with each ledge she landed on, her fear kept fading until nothing was left, and she landed safely on the ground with Applejack landing right beside her.

For a few seconds, Kairi couldn't believe she actually managed to do all that. But then she shouted loudly into the air, a cheer of happiness escaping her, before laughing at how silly she had felt before. When she finally calmed down, she turned to Applejack, and said, “Thanks, I really needed that encouragement.”

“Heh, yer welcome for it. No way Ah was gonna let you sit there alone until Rainbow came and got ya. And Ah knew ya could do it, too,” she replied, smiling happily back.

Now that she had a moment to think, she remembered Applejack’s words, and asked, “So, quick question; what made you say 'I’m an earth pony now?'”

“You mean besides the Keyblade, the magic, and everything else?” Applejack asked back. Kairi blinked, realizing that could have caused some suspicion, but nodded anyway in confirmation. Everypony was listening in on the conversation by now, the topic having sparked some curiosity. “Well, along with that, Twilight said you had been learning to walk back at the library. I may not know about all the hard stuff there is out there, but if ya add all that up, then it could only mean one thing. You’ve only been an earth pony for at least a day.”

Kairi was quite surprised that Applejack was able to figure it out so easily. Then again, Kairi hadn’t actually been trying to hide it. She just never said anything about it. “Guess the cats out of the bag then. You’re right Applejack; I’ve been a pony for about a day now. I never said anything because I thought everyone would think it was too far-fetched,” she said, admitting she wasn’t a pony.

“So, what are you exactly? And is your name even Kairi?” Rainbow chimed in, now far more interested in who Kairi was.

Kairi giggled, sitting down as she prepared to tell them all who she was, “Well, let me start with saying my name really is Kairi. In order to explain what I used to be, I need to tell you where I’m from.” She paused for a moment, letting them absorb that knowledge first before continuing. “You see, I’m not actually from this world at all. My world is out there among the stars, and I used to be what’s called a human.”

“I think I’ve actually heard of those from somewhere, maybe from the Princess I guess. So, why are you here now? It seems a little fishy to me,” Twilight asked, curious about why Kairi was even in Equestria to begin with.

“That, I have no idea. You see, before you found me Twilight, I was actually with my friends on another world. We had just defended a little girl from a bunch of heartless, but then I was caught by surprise when a pool of darkness appeared under my feet, and started pulling me down into it. My friends tried to pull me out, but the strength of the darkness just pulled me in even more. I blacked out when I was pulled in all the way, and the next thing I remember was finding myself in that plain outside of Ponyville,” Kairi explained.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry that happened to you, Kairi. I don’t know what I would have done if that happened to me,” Fluttershy said, feeling bad that Kairi had been pulled from her friends.

“Thanks, Fluttershy, but it’s okay. If I know my friends as well as I do, I’m sure they’ll find me here eventually. They’re the type who never gives up on a friend,” she said, smiling happily.

“That sounds mighty nice. And while everything ya said sounds unbelievable, it don’t sound like you’ve been dishonest with us at all. If ya say yer from another world, I believe ya,” Applejack said, the smile on her face showing she really did believe her.

“Heh, coming from a whole other world just sounds all kinds of awesome, and you’ve been pretty cool already. I’d love to hang out with you some more after this whole thing is done with,” Rainbow said, the look on her face saying she wanted to hear everything Kairi knew about all the other worlds.

“From what I’ve heard so far, it sounds like you might be waiting for a while, and have no place to call your own. Since that is the case, I’ll welcome you into my home, and I won’t take no for an answer. Mi casa es su casa,” Rarity said, and looked like she had already made the decision for Kairi.

“Oh my gosh, I totally need to throw a ‘Welcome to Equestria’ party for you now! I know I’ve already done a ‘Welcome to Ponyville” party, but this one will be totally better! I’m sure you’ll love it, because you enjoyed your party earlier, and it looked like you had a lot of fun,” Pinkie said, and continue to talk on and on for the next few minutes.

Kairi had just decided to let her continue when Fluttershy came up to her, and said, “And you could always come to my house, and learn a little more about animals. I mean, if you want…” Fluttershy looked away, rubbing her left hoof over her right.

“Thanks, Fluttershy, I’d really enjoy that,” Kairi said, finally getting a word in edgewise. She was so touched by all these ponies, and knew they cared about her.

It was then Twilight walked up, her head hanging a little low as she was thinking about something first. She then looked at Kairi, and said, “You know, when I first found you in that field, I did think that maybe you weren’t from around here. And that assumption grew stronger when I watched you learning to walk. I wasn’t really sure what to think of you this entire time, but now I can see you’re really just trying your best in a new world. And looking back on today, I guess I can see why Princess Celestia wanted me to make friends. I’ll admit now I wasn’t really trying before, but after what just happened, I’ll give it a better shot. We’re all probably going to need to work together in order to get to the ancient castle.”

Kairi nodded, and stood up from where she sat. She was ready to continue, and said, “Well then, let’s not waste any more time then. We need to find those Elements.”

“Alright, come on everypony!” Rainbow Dash loudly said, leading the way. They hadn’t traveled very far, at least a good distance from the cliff-side, before a new threat appeared. A large creature stood in their way, and it looked mad. It had the body of a lion, but its tail looked like a scorpion’s tail, and it had bat-like wings.

“What is that?!” Kairi exclaimed.

“It’s a manticore!” Twilight replied, and looked scared for a second. But she remembered that they needed to get to the castle as quickly as possible. Looking determined, she boldly said, “We have to get past him!” Before another action could be taken, the shadows around the manticore formed, and appeared to them as Heartless. The next second, a barrier formed around them, and prevented them from leaving the immediate area.

“Great, just what we need. Can you guys handle the manticore?” Kairi asked.

“Yeah, no problem. Go ahead, and take out those Heartless, we’ll handle the big guy,” Rainbow said, already dashing off to face the beast.

“Wait,” Fluttershy has said, but was ignored as everypony moved to fight. Kairi galloped forward, and summoned her Keyblade with a short movement of her head, gripping the handle in her teeth. Looking at the numbers, there weren’t that many at all, at least six in total from what she could see. While the others were distracting the manticore, she busied herself taking out the Shadows one by one, even having to use her Reflect spell on Rarity once.

What happened next when she finished off the last Heartless was an oddity to her. The barrier that had trapped them all just disappeared, and allowed them a way to escape. ‘That’s never happened before. I thought the manticore was being controlled by darkness,’ she briefly thought. She decided to try and join their struggle now, but was stopped when she heard Fluttershy yelled, “Wait!”

Everypony stopped in their tracks, with Fluttershy in their path to stop them. With everypony calmed down finally, she approached the manticore carefully yet calmly. The manticore looked it was about to swipe her away, but she said sweetly, “Sshhh, it is okay.” She then nuzzled the back of its lowered paw, and sniffed softly. Kairi was surprised to see this creature react to Fluttershy’s gestures, lowering its raised paw, and revealing a rather large thorn in the palm of the other. How it managed to step on something so large, Kairi really didn’t want to find out. Somehow, sensing things were going to be alright, Kairi let her Keyblade vanish.

“Aw, you poor little baby,” Fluttershy calmly said.

“Little?” Rainbow Dash asked rhetorically.

“Now, this might hurt for just a second,” the animal care taker said. Gripping the thorn in her teeth, she yanked hard, and pulled the thorn out. The manticore roared loudly because of the pain, and for a second it looked like it might hurt Fluttershy.

Kairi joined the others in yelling, “FLUTTERSHY!” But what happened caught them all by surprise as the manticore held the pegasus in its forelegs, and began licking her affectionately, almost a like a domesticated cat. With a giggle, Fluttershy continued to pamper the creature. Seeing this chance to move on without further fighting, everypony decided to walk past the manticore. Kairi, for good measure, kicked the discarded thorn away into a nearby brush as she passed it.

Twilight turned around to watch the manticore put Fluttershy down, and then watched as it went on its way to find someplace to rest. “How did you know about the thorn?” she asked as Fluttershy walked passed her.

“I didn’t, sometimes we all need to be shown a little kindness,” she replied. Twilight smiled when she heard this, and followed after her. Unbeknownst to them however, the thorn Kairi kicked away spun in place, and evaporated into a sparkly mist. That mist then went on to follow after them secretly from the shadows.

Time passed fairly quickly as they traveled silently through the forest, but still not seeing any further in thanks to how dark it seemed. Kairi was glad the moon provided at least some light. She could only hope they were drawing nearer toward the ancient castle that held the Elements. Soon enough though, Rarity broke the silence.

“Nuuhhh, my eyes need a rest from all this icky muck,” she said. And almost as if it were jinxed while they pressed on, any sort of light they did have was swallowed as they passed under a thicker canopy. Now Kairi couldn’t even see two meters in front of her.

“Well, I didn’t mean that literally,” Rarity said, though a little quieter.

“That ancient ruin could be right in front of our noses, and we wouldn’t even know it,” Twilight said.

“It is okay girls, as long as we stick together, we’ll be fine. Admittedly though, I wish I knew some sort of illumination spell. This darkness is hard to travel through,” Kairi said, being honest with them. In the darkness though, just out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw just the barest glow of some sort of mist.

“I-I wish y-you did too,” Fluttershy spoke up shakily.

“Oops, Ah think Ah stepped in something,” said Applejack, trying to look at her. Barely a second passed before Fluttershy screamed. Looking at Applejack, or what she could see anyway, the mud on her hoof did suggest something else. “Calm down, it’s just mud. Oomph!” Without knowing it, she bumped into what she thought was a tree. But Nopony would have thought that when they looked up, and saw what looked like a glowing monster. Before she knew it, more and more began to appear around them. Fright having guided her, she called out her Keyblade as everypony screamed behind her. 

In her panic, she thought they were under attack again, but as a few more seconds passed, her panic faded as she thought something wasn’t right about this scenario. And just like that, her thoughts were proven when she heard Pinkie Pie start laughing and giggling at what was around her. Apparently when everypony had retreated behind Kairi, Pinkie thought these were nothing more than a hoot to laugh at. She then began making faces at the supposed ‘monsters’ to have a little more fun.

“Pinkie, what are you doing?! Run!” Twilight called out.

“Oh girls, don’t you see,” Pinkie said, moving in place. But that’s not what caught Kairi’s attention. Looking around, she was trying to find out where the sudden music was coming from.

When I was a little filly and the sun was going dooooown.

“Tell me she’s not?” Twilight asked.

The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me froooowwnn.

“She is,” Rarity answered. As this continued, Kairi kept her eye on Pinkie Pie, giving up on locating where the music was coming from. It sounded like it was already in her ears like she was wearing earphones. She really couldn’t understand how Pinkie could hover like that, and stretch her neck so far. She was starting to think this mare could bend physics.

I’d hide under my pillow from what I thought I saw.
But Granny Pie said that wasn’t the way to deal with fears aaalllllll.

By now Pinkie was bouncing around them as she sung in tune to the music. She then heard Rainbow ask, “Then what is?”

She said ‘Pinkie, you got to stand up tall. Learn to face your feeears.
You’ll see that they can’t hurt you. Just laugh and make them disappeeear.

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” Pinkie simply said during a break in the song. The scary face that, now that Kairi could see it a little better, was on the glowing tree poofed, and just vanished like it wasn’t even there to begin with. They all gasped at what happened, figuring out that their fears had gotten away from them, and joined in laughing while Pinkie continued the song.

Soooooo giggle at the ghosties. Guffaw at the grossly.
Crack up at the creepy. Whoop it up with the weepy.
Chortle at the kooky. Snortle at the spooky.
And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... hahahaha... heh... 

Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuugh! 

At the end of her song, Pinkie just continued to laugh with her friends. Kairi couldn’t believe she had gotten scared at a bunch of scary looking trees to begin with. The idea of it all just made her laugh with everypony for a while longer. Soon enough they all had to get to their hooves, and continue on, but at least for now the silence was taken up with laughter.

With higher spirits, they continued on while laughing until Pinkie came to a stop in front of a raging river. “How are we going to cross this?” she asked. Just then they could hear wailing a little further up, and decided to check on it. What they all saw was a tall purple scaled serpent going on about something. Kairi missed a little bit of it, but it seemed he was in trouble about something. A closer look told her that this serpent likes keeping himself groomed, his hair was styled back quite expertly, and his mustache seemed to be too. Though another look said otherwise as the hair on his right looked like it had been cut off.

Twilight stepped forth, and asked “Excuse me sir, why are you crying?”

“Well, I was just minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me, and tore half of my beloved moustache clean off. And now, I look simply horrid,” the serpent said, resuming his wailing.

“Oh, gimme a break,” Rainbow Dash commented.

“That’s what this fuss is all about?” Applejack asked rhetorically.

“Why of course it is! How can you be so insensitive?” Rarity said, simply stating rather than asking. While she wasn’t one for extreme fashion, Kairi kind of understood what the serpent was going through, though not as much as Rarity understood as she stood in front of the sniveling creature. “Oh, just look at him. Such lovely, luminescent scales.”

He sniffed, before saying, “I know.”

“And you’re expertly quaffed mane.”

“Oh, I know, I know.”

“And your fabulous manicure.”

“Oh it’s so true.”

“All ruined without your beautiful moustache.”

“It’s so true! I’m hideous!” he exclaimed and began wailing again. This was getting a little ridiculous for Kairi. Surely this serpent could wait until his ‘moustache’ grew back. It wasn’t the end of the world.

“I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected,” Rarity said. She then reaches her head forward, and plucked off one of the serpent’s scales.

“Ow! What did you that for?” he asked. His answer was for Rarity to lift her head up, as if she were about to swing the scale. It looked like it was sharp to cut something too.

“Rarity, what are you-“ Kairi had begun to ask, but was cut off as Rarity moved her head to slash. The serpent made to look like he fainted, like the sight of what Rarity did was something gruesome. And it probably was for him. She had simply cut off a large amount of her tail hair. Tossing the scale away, she lifted her cut off tail, and moved it to the half to the serpents face, using some magic to meld the ends together.

Seeing his completed moustache again, albeit one half being purple, the serpent cried out in joy. “My moustache!”

Rarity considered her work for just a second, before saying, “You look smashing.”

“Oh, Rarity, your beautiful tail,” Twilight said, feeling a little bad Rarity had done something like that to help out a complete stranger.

“Oh, it is fine my dear, short tails are in this season. Besides, it will grow back,” she replied.

Kairi walked up next to Twilight, and said, “So would the mustache.” They both exchanged small smiles, but then Twilight noticed the raging river was now more like a calm stream.

“We can cross now! Let’s go,” she said. She moved to cross, but the serpent cut her off before she made it to the water.

“Oh please, let me assist you all so you don’t have to get your hooves wet,” he said. He then turns, and used his body to make a sort of ‘hopping stone’ bridge. Or maybe a better term was hopping coils. Either way, they began hopping from one coil to the next to cross over. Bidding their farewells to the serpent, who they learned was named Steven Magnet, they continued on further into the forest.

And just within a few minutes, Twilight caught sight of the ruins of the ancient castle on the other side of a large gorge. “There it is, the ruin that holds the Elements of Harmony. We made it!” She started to run forward, but Kairi stopped in her tracks by grabbing hold of her tail with her teeth. “Ow, what was that for?”

Kairi let go, and pointed forward at what caught her eye. “The bridge is out. I didn’t want you falling into the gorge,” she said. As if it missed her in her excitement, Twilight looked to where the bridge was, and it indeed was out.

She looked back at Kairi with a sheepish smile, and said, “Eheh, thanks Kairi. I guess I was getting a little ahead of myself.”

“No worries, I’m sure we’ve all let our excitement get away from us once or twice,” she said, smiling back. She then approached the posts where the bridge was supposed to be tied to, and was thankful to see the bridge hadn’t snap in two. It was still hanging in one piece on their side of the gorge. “Looks like the bridge is still in working order, but somepony is going to have to fly down, and then across the gorge to tie the rope back up. Rainbow, you think you can do that?”

“Think? Hah, there is no think, Kairi. I can do it. Be back in a flash!” Rainbow said, and was already flying to do the job. It wouldn’t take too long now, and soon they’d have the Elements in their possession. Now if only-

Kairi looked around, sensing a faint darkness nearby as the fog of the gorge blocked their view of Rainbow Dash on the other side. Without warning, a new barrier surrounded them, and it was large enough to cover both sides of the gorge. “Everypony, on your hooves. We’re under attack!” Kairi exclaimed. And just in time too, looking at the path they walked to where they were she saw at least eight Shadow Heartless, but they came with a couple new friends.

The two she saw kind of looked like Soldier Heartless, but they looked more like ponies instead of their bipedal form. If these were here, than that meant there was an extra objective. But what could- Of course! “Applejack, Pinkie Pie, keep those two pony Heartless from striking the bridge posts! They’re going to focus on them!”

“Hear ya loud, and clear Kairi!” Applejack replied with a mock salute.

“Okie dokie loki!” Pinkie said, and they both took position.

“Twilight, make a barrier around yourself, and Rarity and Fluttershy. I need to focus on the fight here,” Kairi, turning her attention to Twilight.

With a glow of her magic, Twilight erected a solid, translucent barrier around herself and the others. “Be careful, Kairi.” Kairi nodded in confirmation, and galloped to Applejack and Pinkie Pie.

“Okay, listen girls. Those pony Heartless aren’t like the weaker Shadows you’ve seen. They can charge right at you, and you will be hit if you aren’t careful. If they do charge, try to counter them. I’m fairly sure they are like they’re bipedal form,” she quickly instructed. She then summoned her Keyblade, gripping it firmly in her mouth.

“Thanks for the info, Kairi. I’m sure we can handle it from here on out,” Applejack said, ready to defend.

With that said, the Heartless she had mentioned immediately charged forward.  She jumped forward, and hit the one charging at Pinkie back, but the other got passed her fairly quick. Apparently it wasn’t too quick though as Applejack managed to turn, and buck it backwards hard, sending it flying a few meters.

“Nice hit, Applejack!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

Now that she knew they had things under control, she focused her attention on the Shadows surrounding Twilight's barrier. She rushed at them, and took out at three least of the Heartless, jumping back when one lunged her. She briefly wondered what was taking Rainbow Dash so long, before jumping back in, and taking out two more. Her attention was pulled away when Applejack yelled, “Behind you!” She knew what that meant, and almost as easily as it came to her, Kairi spun on her hind legs, and then swiped her head down as she landed on her forelegs. The motion hit the Soldier Pony out of its charge, and she followed up the attack by jumping forward shortly while swinging her head the other way. That did the trick, and heartless boomed out of existence, its captured heart now free floating away. She turned her attention back the Shadows again, taking out two more with her attacks. Little by little, she was growing used to fighting like this.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie made busy keeping the remaining Soldier at bay, knocking it back to protect the bridge. Their attacks weren’t damaging it much, but they were at least holding it back for now. Unfortunately, during one of its charges, it managed to slip past them both. They moved to catch up, but were surprised when it was sent flying back again. Looking back, they saw Rainbow hovering with a flap of her wings. “Oh no you don’t! I’m not about to let you break the bridge!” She proudly stated.

Hearing this, Kairi looked back as she mopped up the last of the Shadows, and saw Rainbow Dash had stopped the Soldier from attacking the bridge posts. She smiled, glad they have such a loyal friend backing them up. She then turned her focus on the stunned Soldier Pony Heartless, and moved to strike it down before it got back up. Her attack sent it up into the air, and she followed after it, jumping up while swiping at it with her Keyblade. Having taken enough damage, the Heartless exploded into purple clouds, and released the heart it held captive. With the last of the Heartless gone, the barrier surrounding the area vanished.

But this time, Kairi didn’t let her Keyblade vanish, and balanced it on her leg. She looked up at the ruins of the ancient castle, and already knew things were going to get a little more dangerous. While it was against principle, she knew at least two of them needed to be able to protect the rest against the Heartless. And as Twilight lowered her barrier, Kairi made her decision. “Well, I know for sure I can’t protect all of you at once.”

“Well, ya seem to be doing a pretty good job so far,” Applejack said as she approached Kairi. Looking around, she saw the rest were walking to her as well.

She sighed, knowing the compliment was well meant, but she knew she had her limits then and there. “Maybe, but what’s to stop the Heartless from attacking you if you can’t defend yourselves from them? I can’t keep asking Twilight to use her barrier to protect everyone all the time. There’s also going to be times when I’m not around to protect you,” Kairi said, sitting down as she explained her position, “I need at least two of you to have your own Keyblades. Before I do this though, I need you all to promise to never reveal how this is done, and also to never show others how to get their own unless you are one-hundred percent certain of their character.”

The ponies looked at each other, but Pinkie was the first to reply, as well do a few motions to show how serious she was, “No problem. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

Kairi looked at Pinkie, and said, “What was that?”

“It’s a Pinkie Promise. It’s a promise that you can’t break, no matter what,” she replied.

Taking that as a sign, she nodded, and looked at the rest. Everypony exchanged looks with each other, before agreeing as well, even performing Pinkie’s Pinkie Promise. “Okay then, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, please step forward,” she said, both ponies did as instructed. “Do you swear you will only use your Keyblades for the defense of the innocent and weak?”

“Totally!” Rainbow said with excitement in her voice.

“Of course, sugarcube,” Applejack replied, her honesty without match.

“A simple yes is fine, but thank you. Do you swear to only strike down darkness if it strikes first?” Kairi stated, almost as if she was testing their resolve.

Both nodded, and said, “Yes!”

“And do you swear to use your Keyblades to defend your world from those that would seek to darken its horizons?”

“Yes!”

Kairi nodded, and stood as she let the blade fall to the ground, cradling the handle in her hoof. “Very well, Rainbow Dash, please step forth and grasp my Keyblades handle,” she said. Rainbow did as told, and made it look easy to grasp the handle with her hoof. For a few good seconds they waited with nothing extraordinary happening, but Kairi knew all too well that that was supposed to happen. Taking her hoof back, Rainbow looked it with a puzzled look. “Please step back. Applejack, please step forth, and grasp my Keyblades handle.” Rainbow did as told, and Applejack repeated what the pegasus did. When told to step back, she did so as Kairi spoke again, “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, from this day forth, may you both protect the ones care for, and defend your world from harm. I name you both Keyblade Wielders.” She let her Keyblade vanish, and then put her hoof down.

For a long minute, Kairi simply stood there with a smile, and waited for the first question. “So, was anything supposed to happen, because I don’t feel any different?” Rainbow asked.

“Nope, and that was the point. If it was flashy, it would have drawn unnecessary attention. It’s best that it isn’t flashy any way,” Kairi answered. She then watched Rainbow move her hoof around as if trying to draw something out of the air.

“Considerin' Rainbow isn’t pulling out a Keyblade, Ah'm supposin’ it don’t come to us automatically then,” Applejack said, watching Rainbow try to summon her Keyblade.

“Yeah, I wish that wasn’t the case. Don’t worry though, as long as you keep your hearts strong, you’ll summon them soon. In fact, I didn’t even know I could wield a Keyblade until I was given mine. Let me explain that one a little bit. A long time ago, I met woman who was a Keyblade Master. She saved me from some nasty creatures as well, but when she had her Keyblade out, I accidentally touched it while she was holding it. Right then, I inherited the right to wield a Keyblade,” Kairi explained.

“Well, I hope I don’t need somepony giving me my Keyblade. That would be totally lame,” Rainbow said, putting her hoof down finally. “So all we need to do is keep our hearts strong, and eventually it will come to us. I hope it’s soon, I don’t want to walk around in there, and have Heartless jumping at us.” She turned to look at the ruins of the castle, a little concerned about walking into a trap.

“Don’t worry, I think Nightmare Moon is out of traps to spring on us,” Kairi simply stated. This earned a few gasps from the ponies around her.

“What makes you think Nightmare Moon has been setting traps?” Twilight asked.

“Because she has been this entire time at every stop we’ve had. The cliff-side suddenly giving way when we all don’t weight that much was not natural, not to mention it was a large portion of the ground too. Just shy of a second after it gave way, I saw a purple mist rise up into the sky. The trees that had scary faces meant to keep us from advancing any further. It was too dark to see, but I’m fairly sure I saw some mist again. And then the serpent by the river; he was thrashing about because a, and I quote, ‘tacky purple cloud of smoke’ ripped off his moustache. I think it’s safe to say that same purple mist was responsible for the thorn in the manticore’s paw,” Kairi explained.

“The Shadowbolts suddenly appearing out of nowhere, and interrupting me with a deal to join them. They told me if I wanted to join them, I’d need to leave you guys behind. But I turned them down because I couldn’t leave you all hangin’,” Rainbow added, telling everypony what had kept her from coming back immediately.

“She’s been trying to slow us down every step of the way,” Twilight said, it all making way too much sense now. “Of course she’d try and stop us. We’re trying get the Elements, the only things that can stop her. Her actions are genuine proof that they are real.” She turned towards the ruins, and said, “Come on everypony, we’ve got to get to those Elements!”

With that said, they all followed Twilight across the now repaired bridge, and into the castle ruins. Upon stepping through the doorway, they saw a large stone pedestal not too far from the doorway. It seemed important enough, because on the stone branches surrounding it were five stone orbs, each with what looked like gray jewels popping out of the surface.

“These are the Elements of Harmony? I guess not being used for over a thousand years turned them to stone,” Kairi asked. While she wasn’t sure about it, she thought she felt something coming off of them. A passive aura, residual magic, it could have been any number things.

“Yes, these are the Elements of Harmony, we found them,” Twilight said, possibly giddy about the discovery. While Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash lifted the Elements off the stone branches, Pinkie Pie went ahead and counted them off.

“There’s only five, where’s the sixth?” she asked.

“According to the book, when the five are together, a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed,” Twilight replied.

“Well what in the hay is that supposed to mean?” Applejack asked.

“I’m not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back, I don’t know what will happen.” With that said, Twilight began focusing on her magic.

“Come on now ya’ll, she needs to concentrate,” Applejack said, leading the way back outside. Kairi, on the other hoof, decided to stay nearby just in case. She stepped back of course to give Twilight some room, but she didn’t trust this place enough to leave her all alone.

And just like she thought, she felt that same darkness from before arrive. Only this time it wasn’t wasting any more time as the purple mist surrounded the Elements, and began making some sort of vortex of magic to carry them away. “Ah!” Twilight yelped when she noticed what was happening.

“Twilight, she’s trying to take them away from here!” Kairi yelled back, galloping up towards the swirling vortex. Just before it disappeared, both of them jumped in, and were carried off someplace. As the others came back into the ruins, they saw all this happen.

“Where’d they go?!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Look, there’s light coming from a nearby tower!” Rarity called out, noticing the flashing light outside a window.

“Come on everypony! Twilight and Kairi need us!” Applejack said. But before they could make their way towards said tower, a barrier covered the room, and prevented them from leaving.

“Oh no, this means that-“ Fluttershy said, before turning around to face the room. As they all looked on, they saw several Heartless Shadows forming around the large pedestal that held the Elements. They all backed away from the group, knowing they were under attack. Applejack and Rainbow exchanged looks with each other, before taking the front.

“We may not be able to bring them out yet, but we can at least out last these varmints!” Applejack said, “Ah’ll try to corral them, and then you try to take out any that slip past me, Rainbow!”

“I’m on it! With my speed, they won’t even lay a claw on anypony,” Rainbow proudly stated. With their battle plan laid out, both ponies charged forward to protect their friends.





Coughing and a little disoriented, Twilight and Kairi took in their surroundings. And before them, holding the Elements in her wispy mane was Nightmare Moon, chuckling evilly as she stood on a raised platform. “Nightmare Moon,” Kairi said quietly. Though fear was in the pits of their stomachs, they readied themselves to charge at the mare in the moon.

“You’re joking. You’re joking right?” she asked, not impressed at all. And as they charged forward, Twilight's horn lit with magic. Meeting their challenge almost half-heartedly, Nightmare Moon charged forward as well, but left the Elements on the ground behind her. Just before they collided, Kairi jumped to the side to get past the tall mare, while Twilight's magic teleported her to the Elements.

“Twilight, you do your thing. I’ll keep her back as long as I possibly can,” Kairi said, facing towards Nightmare Moon. Despite her earlier hesitation back at Town Hall, she summoned her Keyblade, and faced down the opposing pony. But a dark chuckle emanated from the mare, and she stepped further back.

“I’m not worried. In fact, why don’t I summon another Heartless for you to fight, Keyblade Wielder,” she said. With a light glow, the room was quickly enveloped by a barrier, but from her shadow rose a far more menacing creature. When it finally formed, it was at least twice as tall as Kairi with orange tipped claws, and menacing looking fangs. On its head were horns, and the yellow glow of its eyes were hard to stare at for any given amount of time. With a quick glance, Kairi noticed just Nightmare Moon, the Heartless, and herself were inside the barrier. It seemed like it had stopped just before the raised platform, and Twilight was busy building up her magic. She looked back, staring down this menacing Heartless with determination.

‘Okay Kairi, you can do this. You just need to believe in yourself. You can take it down,’ she thought to herself. Shaking off the fear she felt, she readied herself to move, and let this boss type Heartless take the first move. It was quick, bringing its claw up, and slashing at Kairi after it charged forward. Quick to dodge, she jumped up over the attack, and brought the weapon on its elbow. ‘First hit!’ As she landed on her hooves, she immediately ducked down as the Heartless drew its clawed hand back, barely dodging the movement. With its hand raised, it tried to smash Kairi into the floor, but that move was easily seen. Kicking with her left legs, she rolled herself off to the right, and brought herself up to her hooves just as it smashed its hand on the empty space.

Taking this chance to score a few hits, Kairi moved in on its wrist, and managed to get three hits in before it brought its hand back. Before she could get away, she took a sucker punch to her side, and was knocked off her hooves, the attack creating a small dark flame that was proof she had taken damage from a Heartless. She used the movement the punch sent her, and righted herself on her hooves, barely getting out of the way as the Heartless lunged at her. She kept herself on the move, and galloped behind the creature, before jumping on to its back. From there, she delivered several blows while it was busy trying to reach her with its claws, she moved out of the way each time, continuing to do as much damage as she could. Getting mad now, the Heartless threw itself up, and threw her off in the process, the action managing to lose her grip on her Keyblade.

Chancing a moment to watch Kairi, Twilight saw her being thrown off the creatures back, and lose grip of her Keyblade. When Kairi landed on her hooves, it looked like she ignored her Keyblade to evade a smash from the Heartless. Twilight questioned why she wouldn’t try to get her weapon back, but that question was answered as the blade vanished from the floor, and appeared back in Kairi’s mouth. ‘She can call it to her even if she’s not holding it. What a clever design!’ She then returned her concentration to her magic, attempting to create the spark to make the sixth element to appear.

After that the Heartless attempted to smash her again, Kairi decided it was too risky to jump on its back again after she called her Keyblade back. Instead, she rushed forward as it faced her, and began to grab at her. Without fear, she poured more speed into her gallop, moving past the claws, and hitting its legs as she ran under it. Turning around quickly, she jumped again, and slashed at its lower back. The momentum in the air helped her to spin, and as she began to drop, she brought her Keyblade down on its lower back once again. Having just about enough of this, it tried reaching behind itself to make a grab at her again. Kairi wasn’t having none of that, galloping under it, and hit its legs again, before continuing out its reach.

She was surprising herself with how well she was doing so far. She thought she would have a little more trouble. It looked like Nightmare had summoned something that was just slow moving enough that Kairi could react accordingly. Maybe her earlier assumption was correct, perhaps Princess Luna was still somewhere inside the form she was currently taking.

She couldn’t think any more on that though as she faced the Heartless once more. She was expecting it to have just managed to face her, but was caught off guard with another punch that sent her flying again. This time though, she managed to keep her grip on her Keyblade, and while in the air she used her Cure spell. The spell rid her body of the new dark flames, as well as the ones that were on her side. Landing on her hooves, she saw the Heartless attempting to smash her into the floor. An old trick that was easily out-maneuvered, and it just kept using it for her to manipulate. She jumped forward as hard as she could, and avoided the clawed hand easily, before galloping under its towering form once more. Behind it once more, she turned as quick as she could, and jumped onto its back again, unleashing strike after strike. It again tried to grab at her, and she moved out of the way to prevent that from happening. She knew what was coming next, and she jumped and spun in the air just as it tried the throw her off again. With a muffled yell, she brought her Keyblade down on its head, striking its horns first before hitting it square in the face.

It gave a loud roar as she landed on her hooves again; jumping back to keep herself out of danger, but it wasn’t needed. It froze in place after its roar, almost like something was freezing it in place. From its exposed chest, a heart emerged from the Heartless, and floated away as the shadows that formed it exploded into dark smoke. The barrier that surrounded them faded away, and Nightmare Moon gave a short chortle. “Congratulations are in order, I suppose, but too bad it did little in the long run,” she said, simply walking by Kairi confidently.

Just as she approached the platform, Twilight managed to cast a spark on the Elements. But Nightmare Moon continued to act confident as if her victory was assured. As the orbs glowed, the only thing that happened was the spark back firing, and sending Twilight off the platform. The glow around the Elements faded as Kairi approached the purple unicorn, who looked perplexed as to what happened. “But, that should have worked. A spark would reveal the sixth Element.”

“Foal, do you really think things would be so simple?” Nightmare asked rhetorically. “I’ll admit, you’ve all impressed me for making it this far.” As she spoke, she reared up on her hind legs, and stomped on the stone floor, the shockwave breaking the stone orbs that were the Elements. “But you were all little foals, thinking you could defeat me! Now you will never see your princess, or your sun. The night shall last forever!” Nightmare laughed mightily, enjoying her own merriment.

Kairi scowled at these turn of events, knowing they were so close to victory. It tasted sour that Nightmare Moon had seemingly won so easily. But then both Twilight, and her heard voices over the laughter. It seemed the others had finally arrived, and the thought they were so close brought a small smile to her face. But looking at Twilight told her something else was happening in her mind. For just a brief second, Twilight's large eyes widened, and Kairi thought she saw a twinkle in her pupil when she gasped. ‘Did she figure it out? Does she know how to reveal the sixth Element?’ Kairi questioned in her mind.

“You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that?” Twilight stated as she turned to face Nightmare Moon, “Well you’re wrong, because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!” She declared this proudly as she finally called Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Kairi her friends in her heart. The shattered stone pieces of the Elements began to glow, and floated up into the air before zipping over to the ponies.

“What?!” Nightmare Moon said quietly. She looked a little scared about what was happening.

Looking at Applejack, Twilight continued, “Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the Spirit of Honesty!” As if on cue, the stone shards of Honesty orbited around Applejack.

“Fluttershy, who tamed a manticore with her compassion, represents the Spirit of Kindness!” Twilight said as the shard of Kindness went to Fluttershy.

“Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by laughing in the face of danger, represents the Spirit of Laughter!” The shards of Laughter zoomed over, and orbited around Pinkie Pie as she bounced happily.

“Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the Spirit of Generosity!” Kairi watched as these shards of Generosity whipped over to Rarity, and circled around her in a soft glow.

“And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own hearts desire, represents the Spirit of Loyalty!” Rainbow Dash looked happy and proud as the shards of Loyalty orbited her.

“The Spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!” Twilight said proudly.

“But you still don’t have the sixth element. The spark didn’t work!” Nightmare Moon said, knowing that without the sixth element, they would not succeed in banishing her again.

“But it did, it was just a different kind of spark,” Kairi said, knowing exactly where this was going. It really was a different kind of magic. She looked to Twilight with a bright smile, who returned it just as well before turning to the others.

“I felt it the very moment I felt just how happy I was to hear you, to see you. How much cared about you. The spark ignited inside of me when I realized that you all…” She turned towards Nightmare Moon and said proudly, “Are my friends!”

Kairi stepped back as a light shined above the six mares, the sixth element finally revealing itself. It then floated over Twilight, dubbing her the sixth Spirit of Harmony. “You see Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by the… the spark that reside in the hearts of us all, it creates the sixth element. The Element of Magic!” When Twilight finished speaking, the bright light shined even brighter, the shards floating around each pony shining as well before morphing into golden necklaces with gems of their Cutie Marks in the center of each. The sixth Element above Twilight shined as it morphed into a tiara, the gem on top taking the shape of her Cutie Mark as well.

The light glowing brighter, making it harder for Kairi to watch, but she saw all her friends floating a short ways up off the floor before rainbow beams shot out of the center of their circle. It spiraled further up into the air like a double helix, before joining, and then flying straight at Nightmare Moon. The Mare in the Moon cried out as the light of the rainbow hit her, the rainbow swirling around her like a tornado as the power of the Elements of Harmony began purifying her of her darkness. The resulting bright light made Kairi flinch, and close them her to protect her vision.

By the time she managed to open her eyes, she saw her friends lying on the stone floor, and moved over to them as they groaned from the experience. “Ooh, my head,” Rainbow said, being the first to get her hooves. She rubbed her head with her hoof, though her headache was already fading quickly.

“Everypony okay?” Applejack asked, getting up as well. Everypony else managed to do the same, but Rarity remarked happily about something before anypony answer Applejack

“Oh thank goodness,” the white unicorn said.

“Why Rarity, it’s so lovely,” Fluttershy said, obviously meaning her Element necklace.

“I know, I’ll never part with it again,” Rarity said, waving her regrown tail about.

“No, you’re necklace. It looks just like your Cutie Mark,” Fluttershy corrected this time.

Looking at the necklace, then at her flank, and finally noticed that little detail. She then looked at Fluttershy’s necklace, and said, “Why so does yours.”

Pinkie bounced around happily before landing next to Applejack, saying, “Look at mine! Look at mine!”

“Aw yeah!” Rainbow exclaimed as she looked at her own necklace. Twilight was smiling as she looked at her tiara, happy that everything had turned out alright.

“Looks like Princess Celestia was correct in telling you to make friends, huh?” Kairi asked, smiling at her friend.

Twilight giggled as she looked at Kairi, and replied, “Yeah, I should have known not to doubt her words. I was just so worried, I didn’t even think she was subtly trying to guide me.”

“Looks like everything turned out alright in the end, isn’t that right Princess Celestia?” Kairi said, turning on the spot to face the window.

“Indeed it has, my new subject,” said a gentle voice. Outside through the window, they saw the sun beginning to rise above the distant mountains. And with it came a bright light that shined brightly as it came inside the tower room. Once the light faded, a tall white pony with wings and horn stood in front of them all. Her lighter shade of a rainbow mane and tail flowed just as ethereally Nightmare Moon’s had. She wore some sort of large, golden looking cloth with purple gem at its center around her neck, golden shoes on her hooves, and a golden crown with a purple gem as well on her head.  She had a smile on her face when she appeared, her lighter purple eyes gazing happily at all the ponies in the room. On her flank was a large sun Cutie Mark. Everypony kneeled before the princess, but Twilight walked toward her teacher happily. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight said, before she nuzzled up against her teacher, glad to see her safe

“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student, I knew you could do it.” Princess Celestia said, her smile never faltering for a second. She then looked over to Kairi, and being seen in her gaze, she bowed her head to show respect. “I’ve been watching over both of you today, and I’m quite happy you are here, Kairi. You kept my faithful student and her friends safe from harm this entire time. Even putting yourself in harm’s way to protect others. I can tell that one day you will make for a fine Keyblade Master.”

“Heh, thanks, but I think I’m still a ways away from getting there just yet. I’ve still got to keep training if I’m ever going to be one,” she said, a little flattered at Princess Celestia’s compliment.

“Princess, you told me that the prophecy was only an old pony tale,” Twilight said, interjecting to try and erase what lingering doubts she had.

“I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more,” Princess Celestia replied, addressing Twilight’s doubts. “I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return, and I knew you had the magic inside to defeat her. But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart.” Twilight looked to hers, and smiled happily at them, and especially at Kairi. “Now if only another will as well.”

At these words, everypony turned their attention to where Nightmare Moon was, and saw shed husks of the once fearsome mare surrounding a much smaller pony with wings and horn. Her coat looked a night blue in color, and her mane and tail were and lighter blue. On her flank was a blur-black splotch with a crescent moon as her Cutie Mark. She wore the same clothing as Princess Celestia, but the color was the same blue-black color on her flank, and the crescent moon was seen on her at the center of the cloth. She was also wearing shoes on her hooves, and a smaller crown on her head. “Princess Luna,” Princess Celestia said.

The pony gasped at the name, opening her teal eyes in shock as she watched her sister approach. “It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this,” Princess Celestia said gently, kneeling in front of Princess Luna. “It’s time to put our differences aside. We were meant to rule together little sister.” It looked like she was trying to comfort the worry Princess Luna might still have after being purified of her darker side. “Will you accept my friendship?”

For a long moment, everypony waited as Princess Luna had time to think. They were literally on the tips of their hooves, especially for Pinkie Pie when she lost balance, and fell forward. For those few moments, Kairi hoped Princess Luna accept her sisters offer of friendship. Jealously may not be vanquished as easily as that, but without the darkness’ influence, perhaps now she had the chance to think clearly for once. Princess Luna looked confused for a moment, not sure of exactly what to do, but in the end she began following her heart. With tears, she jumped up to embrace Princess Celestia, and said, “I’m so sorry, I missed you big sister.”

Princess Celestia shared her own tears as well, and said, “I’ve missed you too.” For a long moment, the two shared tears of happiness with each other, the silence taken with Pinkie crying her tears of happiness, though her tears came out like garden hoses were left. This pink pony just kept on surprising her.

She then gasped, and said loudly, “You know what this calls for? A party!” And just like that, she was already making-

Out on the center of Ponyville, the biggest party that the brilliant party pony could possibly throw was being held- 

Wait, what the? I didn’t write that.

I did silly!

Pinkie, stop breaking the fourth wall! I’m writing this story, let me tell it my way.

Aw, I was just trying to speed you up.

Thank you for the thought, but I’ll scene change when I need to. Go back to walking out of the room please.

Okie dokie loki! Just hurry, this episode is dragging on way too long.

I know that. Alright now where was I? Oh right.

Pinkie Pie was already bouncing her way out of the tower, obviously off to throw the party she declared. Her statement drew the Princess’ out of their reunion, smiling at the party pony’s antics. “Well, it looks like we need to get to Ponyville as quick as we can then,” Princess Celestia said.

“Of course, but there’s one thing that is still bother me Princess,” Kairi said, turning to look at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “What took you girls so long to find us? It doesn’t look like we traveled very far when we vanished with Nightmare Moon.”

“About that, we were about to follow after you, but a barrier sprung up around us. And then a bunch of Heartless showed up, and started attacking us,” Applejack replied.

Kairi looked shocked when she heard this, but calmed herself down as she looked at them. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to help. But it does look like you all managed to handle yourselves,” she said.

“Oh yeah, thanks to this baby, we managed to handle everything just fine,” Rainbow said, holding out her hoof as she flew up. Bright light shined, and she gripped the object in her hoof easily as it appeared. The guard around the handle looked like clouds, and the length of the blade was a zigzagged rainbow bolt with another cloud to take up the tooth. The keychain attached at the handle looked like a metal cloud with a rainbow bolt.

“You summoned your Keyblade!” Kairi stated, “That’s wonderful news Rainbow Dash!”

“Yep, and I think I get this strong heart stuff too. When I saw a Heartless about to lunge at Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, I just instantly flew over to try to protect them. It all happened so fast, but I think I was letting my heart guide me. Before I knew it, I just swiped my hoof down, and I hit with the Keyblade that appeared. It took out that Heartless in one strike. After that, I just starting mopping up the rest,” Rainbow explained.

“I’m very proud of you, Rainbow. Not only did you protect your friends, you followed your heart in order to do so. You’re a true Keyblade Wielder now,” Kairi said, smiling up at the rainbow maned pegasus. She then turned to Princess Luna, and asked cautiously, “Does…that mean Nightmare Moon summoned them then?”

Princess Luna had looked shocked the entire time she heard all of this, but shook herself out of her stupor when Kairi asked her question. “No, my darker side was far busier watching your battle at the time. I don’t know where those Heartless came from,” she said. 

And just like that, Kairi felt a pang of fear in the pit of her stomach. ‘If Nightmare Moon didn’t summon them…then who did?’ she thought.

Silence fell in the room, the grim tidings this news meant weighing heavily on them all. The silence would have lasted longer if Pinkie Pie didn’t show back up, and shout, “Hey, if you all don’t hurry up, you’re going to miss the party.”

They all blinked at the party pony, and the giggled softly. “Perhaps we will need of your assistance further in the future, Kairi. For now though, let us enjoy the party your friend wants to throw,” Princess Celestia.

Kairi thought about what the princess said, then nodded softly. She was right, without any more leads there really wasn’t much she could do but wait. Besides, after the victory today, she was more than willing to relax a little bit. Princess Celestia lit her horn as all the ponies gathered around her, and in a flash teleported them all into Ponyville.

From the shadows of a still standing pillar in that very same room, a pony figure walked out into the light. It looked at the place where the ponies vanished from, and a smile crept up along its features. “Soon, darkness will cover this world, and with it will come a new age of this land. Let’s see how you handle the challenges presented to you, Kairi, Princess of Heart.” The figure spoke softly, yet its deep voice held an intimidating tone. It then chuckled darkly as it vanished into a portal of darkness.