//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: A Heart Eclipsed // by Show Stopper //------------------------------// Chapter 5 3rd Pony POV “You dick!” Sora turned around just in time to get bowled over. Everypony looked on in shock as the portal closed behind the human who had come flying through. “Ask for help, get tackled,” muttered Sora. “Good to know. Could you get off of me please, whoever you are?” "Names Alex," the human said standing up, brushing their hair out of their face. Sora blinked, looking up at the familiar black-robed figure before him. “Noooooo, I’m pretty sure it’s ‘Xion’.” "No asshat my name is Alex. I may be stuck looking like this but I AM not Xion." Alex snapped, glaring at the boy hard. “Sora, who is this?” asked Solaris, eyeing the new human up and down. “More importantly,” added Luna, glaring out at the rampaging heartless, “can she help us?” "First off, I'm not a 'she'," Alex listed off, "I am a replica nobody, don't ask its a long story." The castle shook as another Darkside found its mark. “Right,” said Sora, jumping to his feet. “Heartless first, exposition later. Can you fight?” "Yes I can fight," Alex said, holding his hand out, summoning up his keyblade. "I've been training for weeks, let's see if Xem is as good a teacher as he thinks." Sora nodded, summoning Oathkeeper and Oblivion. “Teams, then. Sol, you take Alex here and start taking out those behemoths. Luna and I will handle the Darksides.” “Hey, what about us!” said Blitz. “You think we’re just going to sit on the sidelines while you kick flank? Think again!” Sora was about to argue, but stopped when he saw Solaris nodding at him. “Of course you can help. But right now what we need from you isn’t more fighting power. We need to get the citizens to safety.” He turned to look over the rest of the gathered ponies. “We will rely on all of you to keep them safe while we deal with this threat.” Twilight nodded. “Of course, Prince Solaris. Let’s go girls. You too, Fancy Pants. We might need that keyblade.” Sora raised an eyebrow at Solaris as they ran off. “You do realize that almost everypony will have fled to the castle already, right?” Solaris chuckled, summoning up a broadsword crafted from sunlight. “Well, how else was I going to keep them out of the fight?” He turned to Alex, kneeling kneeling down and nodding towards his back. “Need a lift down there?” "Aren't you supposed to a woman?" Alex asked, raising his eyebrow. Solaris for the first time in 500 years had no idea how to respond. “...what?” "In my world, your Princess Celestia. Haven't met yet though." Alex explained, looking out the window. Sora and Luna stared at Alex incredulously before turning to Solaris. “You know,” said Luna, “I can see it.” "Anyway, I'll see you guys later," Alex said with a salute before jumping out the window, his cloak billowing as he fell. Sora leapt onto Luna’s back, and she charged out the window herself, flying as fast as she could towards the nearest Darkside, and leaving Solaris staring dumbly off into space. “...what?” ---------- Alex came down hard on a Behemoth, stabbing his keyblade into its horn. "Note to self, never do that again..." He mumbled, pulling the blade out, repeatedly slashing at the horn as hard as he could. The Behemoth roared in pain and began swinging its head back and forth, trying to shake him off. “You ain’t getting rid of me that easily!” He grinned, stabbing the blade in again. The behemoth roared again before collapsing and exploded into wisps of darkness. “Okay! Who's next!?” A bellowing roar answered him. Alex turned to see two more behemoths barreling towards his, one each from the left and right. “Ok... I need to keep my mouth shut,” he grumbled, getting into a stance, bracing himself. Alex suddenly felt a jerking sensation around his middle and was yanked into the air as the heartless collided beneath him. He looked up to see Solaris, horn glowing as he scowled down at the behemoths. “Need a hoof?” “Sure why not, weird R63 Celestia,” Alex nodded, looking up at him. Solaris glared, his horn lighting even brighter. Twin beams of concentrated sunlight shot forth, vaporizing the behemoths below. “My name is Solaris,” he said, dropping Alex to the pile of ash that had once been two massive heartless. “Got it?” “I’ll just call you Sol...” he grumbled, looking around. “So, where do we go next?” Sol smirked and hurled a ball of sunlight into the air, where it hovered above them. “I think that they will likely soon find us. In the meantime, perhaps you could tell me more about yourself and where you hail from? I’ve never seen or heard of any humans besides Sora.” “Not much to tell really. I live in a village in the middle of nowhere that used to be a weird cultish version of communism. Something about sameness and stolen cutie marks.” “I see,” said Sol, filing that away to investigate later. “But you mentioned that I was a mare in your world. You are from another universe then? Another Equestria?” “Apparently...” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Life used to be so simple...” “I find that life is rarely simple,” said Sol. “We simply do not see the complexity of life until it is thrust upon us.” “Yeah, lets see you say that when your turned into nothing...” Alex grumbled, “Or in my case less than nothing.” Sol looked at Alex for a moment before cuffing him in the head with his wing. “Hm,” he said, “strange. You feel quite existent to me. I’m not sure who told you that you are ‘less than nothing’, but I can honestly say that they were quite clearly mistaken.” “Don’t start, “he growled, “I’ve already heard this speech. I’m a Replica. A copy. A copy of nothing. Don’t tell me what I am.” “A copy of nothing, you say?” Sol chuckled. “I cannot claim to understand what you mean by that. I will say this; even if you are naught but a copy of something else, that does not dictate your choices. Whatever might have been, right here, right now, your decisions are yours.” Another roar drew their attention to a behemoth slowly approaching, surrounded by neoshadows. “Though I would suggest that your choice right now involves destroying these heartless.” He summoned his broadsword of sunfire, smiling at Alex. “What say you?” “I need something to hit,” Alex said simply, gritting his teeth in anger. Sol sighed. “Close enough.” ---------- “So let me get this straight,” said Luna. “She, or rather he, is the result of an experiment to replicate the abilities of your ‘nobody’ so that this Organization 13 would have more keyblade bearers at their disposal?” “Pretty much,” said Sora. “Or at least that’s who he’s been turned into. If he goes by ‘Alex’, then he’s probably in about the same situation I am, trapped in another world and given strange powers and DUCK!” Luna dove, barely passing beneath a darkside’s fist. Sora raised his keyblade, dragging it up the underside of the arm as Luna flew towards its head. Sora and Luna fired a series of fire spells and blasts of moonlight, blasting the darkside’s head into oblivion. “How many remain?” asked Luna as the heartless’s body dissolved. “One more that I can see,” said Sora. “I think Sol and Alex have taken down most of the behemoths, too.” “Well then, let’s not keep them waiting.” Luna charged straight for the remaining darkside, brandishing dual short-swords of moonlight. She flew straight through the center of the darkside, slashing at both sides of its chest as she went. The darkside let out a groan of pain, reaching down to snatch Luna out of the air. “Firaga!” With a flick of Oblivion, Sora sent a fireball hurtling towards the darkside’s hand, blowing it clean off. A few more moonblasts and fira spells, and the final darkside fell. “Alright, let’s head back to the others,” said Sora. Luna nodded and turned, flying to where the orb of sunlight hovered. “You know, I expected there to be more of the smaller heartless around. There’s usually a few swarms of shadows around a darkside.” Luna looked over her shoulder at him, quirking an eyebrow. “You haven’t noticed? Look down at the streets as we fly.” Curious, Sora leaned over to get a good view of the streets passing below. Soon enough, he saw what Luna meant. The shadows and neoshadows were there, along with a scattering of other heartless. However, they were being hunted and driven back by… “Keybladers?” asked Sora in shock. There weren’t a lot of them, and the ones he saw seemed to have no idea how to use a sword beyond wildly swinging it back and forth, but they were there. Luna chuckled at Sora’s dumbfounded expression. “Did you think that because all of the old wielders had passed away that the new generation would not be able to rise to the challenge? Have more faith in our kind than that.” Sora nodded, a grin splitting his face. They weren’t masters. They weren’t anywhere close, and probably never would be. None of their keyblades were unique like Fancy Pants’s; they were all just the basic Kingdom Keys. But they were there, and they were fighting back. “I think Sol’s going to have to set up a civilian sword-fighting class,” said Sora. “Maybe make keybladers an official part of the royal guard.” “Perhaps,” said Luna. “I shall speak with him about it. Ah, here we are.” Luna landed a block away from Sol and Alex just as they finished off the last behemoth. “It would seem that the threat has passed, brother.” “For now,” Sol agreed. He smiled at Alex. “Thank you for helping us in this hour of need.” “You're welcome,” Alex said with a sigh, wiping some sweat from his forehead. “I wasn’t doing anything important.” “Protecting our ponies is never unimportant,” said Luna. “If ever you are in need of help, call on us. We shall do our best to render aid.” “Speaking of which,” said Sora, scratching his head, “how do we get in contact with you?” “Call me through the shell,” Alex said, leaning on a wall. “It’s my token apparently.” “Token?” asked Sora, taking the shell out of his pocket. “What do you mean?” “Each one of us has a token we send out into the multiverse that others can use to call us... or at least that's what Xem tells me.” “Each one of… wait.” Sora’s eyes got wide as the implication set in. “There are more of us? More people from Earth?” “Versions of Earth,” Alex corrected, “Infinite multiverse.” “Wow,” said Sora. He sat down hard, staring off into space for a moment. “Okay, that’s a lot to wrap my head around. So, um, how do I make one of these tokens?” “Find something that represents you,” she explained, “I have the shell, Xem has this,” he pulled a Nobody emblem out of his sleeve, “And this guy named Jason has this thing.” He pulled out a strange green canister, tossing both to Sora. Sora caught the tokens, hearing two voices echo in his head. "I am the changer of shape, seeking to understand the many forms of life. Call for the man of many shapes during your hour of need and I will come, a one man army. Activate the cylinder and in a flash I’ll be ready to clash." I am the ruler of the naught, that which does not exist. Should you find this need aid, hold it high and call upon me, Xemnas, Superior of The In-Between. “Huh, well that’s interesting. Hm let’s see…” Sora summoned a keyblade, the basic Kingdom Key, and pulled off the keychain. “Okay,” he said, the keyblade disappearing. “So, now what?” “Uh... focus on it and give it a phrase.” Sora nodded, staring intently at the keychain in his hand as he thought. Finally he nodded. “I am the Warrior of Light, enemy of darkness and all who walk within. If you find yourself trapped by the shadows and cannot find the light, call on my name, the name of Sora, and I will answer.” In a flash of light, the keychain vanished. “Huh,” said Sora curiously. “That felt… different than normal.” He shrugged and looked up at Alex. “Well, thanks again for the help. And like I said, if you need me, just give me a call.” “Yup. Oh! Any of you bozos got a map? Of like the country?” Alex asked, snapping his fingers. Luna quirked an eyebrow as Sol’s eyebrows lowered dangerously. “Bozos?” “Just get a map!” Sora rolled his eyes as Solaris flew up to the castle. “Wow. Wasn’t there a politer way you could have asked?” “Probably,” Alex said with a shrug. “I’m not in the best of places right now, mentally wise that is.” “Ah. ‘Fraid I can’t help you there. I deal with the heart, not the mind. The brain’s a much more complex organ.” “Thanks for the concern,” Alex commented, brushing some hair out his face, crossing his arms. His cool demeanor was somewhat ruined by a furled up scroll bouncing off of his head. “Your map,” said Solaris, landing beside him. “Ass.” “Although there might be a few differences between this world and yours.” Alex grumbled, unfurling the map, looking it over. “Here,” he said, pointing up in the mountains. “This is where Our Town is and yes its actually called that, that's how far the sameness cult went.” “I see,” said Luna. She smiled deviously at her brother. “So, royal guard, Elements of Harmony, or shall I handle this myself?” Solaris rolled his eyes. “We are not giving them increasingly horrifying nightmares until they surrender, Luna” “Anyone you send is going to get their mark stolen. Apparently it happened to princess Twilight and her... what did Diamond call them... friendship council? Whatever point is, evil unicorn stealing marks and brainwashing people to be the same.” Alex said, tossing the map to Sora. “Friendship Council?” asked Sora, examining the map. “I’ll have to start subtly suggesting better names for their group.” He rolled up the map and got up. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Alex,” he said, extending his hand. “I hope we see each other again soon. Preferably after you’ve seen a shrink.” “I will beat your ass.”Alex said, with him an unamused glare. “Looking forward to it.” “Just say ‘Alex our contract is complete’ so I can go home.” Sora smirked. “Alex, our contract is complete so I can go home.” “Hahaha,” he said as a corridor of darkness opened behind him. “Seeya around Space Cowboy,” he said giving a two finger salute, stepping through it. Sora chuckled as the corridor disappeared. “Good kid. Hope he gets some help soon.” He turned to Solaris and Luna to find both of their jaws dropped. “What?” Solaris was the first to recover. “...Did he say, Princess Twilight?” ---------- NOOOOOOOO! Oh Luna no! No, not Cookie! DIE! DIE YOU MISERABLE MOCKERIES OF LIFE! NO! Pansy, don't! You can't fight them all! We need to get back! It should have been safe here. My wards were perfect. It should have been safe. Clover, get up! We need to get going. Pans- PANSY!!! Ahh! Clover! Come on! We need to move! Both gone now. Cookie gone. Pansy gone. All gone into darkness. All because we stayed. All because we let them find us. No. No, it can't be that. It's not... No! No! Clover! Get up! Run! Ru- no... Oh Tartarus, no! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- "-OOOOO!" Sora sat straight up in bed, sweat soaking every inch of him. He sat there for a while trying to get his breathing under control. A flash of light, and a keyblade appeared in his hand. The silver shaft was curved in opposite directions at either end. Two feather-like shapes formed the slightly darker hilt which was studded with small emeralds. At the end of the dangling keychain was a four-leaf clover, an ugly crack running through the center. Sora stared at the keyblade, Ponderer, as he thought about his dream, and the ghosts of the past. "Never again," he whispered to himself. "I'll never let something like that happen again. "I promise."