Seven Princesses of Light

by TundraStanza

Traverse Town

Chapter 7: Traverse Town

How could this have happened? Was she destined to have her heart broken every time she tried to form ties of friendship and love? Princess Cadance asked herself these questions but to her disappointment, she did not know the answers to them. She even tried pulling out the magenta and white star charm she had. Perhaps she thought her aunts could answer her questions just by willing them to even though she couldn't see them. Sadly, the charm remained silent, unable to provide understanding in her time of sorrow.

A surge of rage blinded her in tears at that moment. Using her blue magic, she flung the charm with as hard a swinging motion as possible. The sudden release of magical contact with the charm seemed to wake her up from her jiffy of anger.

"Oh no," said the dawn alicorn, "What have I done?" Immediately, she began to gallop around the house she had tossed the trinket. The lights flickered a bit as she turned around a corner. She was not expecting the sight that met her eyes.

The creature had a spiky, blond mane but it stood much taller than any pony she had ever seen before. It stood on two legs and was dressed almost entirely in black leather apparel. It seemed to be picking something up before resuming to stand at its full height.

"I think you dropped this, Miss," it said with a masculine voice. Cadance could now see its unsharpened claw appendage reaching in a sort of offering pose. She recognized the object it held as her Thalassa charm.

"Uh... thank you," she said nearly dumbfounded. She used her magical hold to retrieve her charm from its... no, his possession. He was definitely a man, whatever his species was. Before she placed the white, magenta star back on her left wing, a thought of guilt crossed her mind.

Sorry, Aunt Luna. It was wrong of me to take out my frustration on you. She reattached the trinket as the man began to walk away. Cadance wasn't sure why, but she felt the need to follow him. Her attempt to trot softly and quietly was destroyed by the loud, stone pavement. The man, however, took no notice as he continued to mosey on his way.

The two unlikely companions continued walking until the man stopped at a more open area. Dim lamps and street lights revealed the laid out benches and a wide stairway. It wasn't exactly the cheerful looking Ponyville park. Despite that, there was a sense of peace that met the young princess's mind. It almost made her forget her earlier fit of anger.

Unfortunately, all good things had to have an end. Shadows bulged out of the ground as blue, floating masses appeared out of nowhere. These masses looked kind of like dwarf wizards. Except, their yellow eyes were reminiscent of the hungry stares of the Shadows. They were most likely Heartless as well. What was once a peaceful quadrant was now a tense battle field.

The stranger and the princess stood back to back. They pulled out their respective weapons. The man drew a large sword from his back and held it in both of his hands. Cadance called forth her energy from within and summoned her melodious garden Keyblade. Neither of them had to say anything to confirm that they were ready to fight.

As if a dam had burst, they rushed toward the waves of enemies that surrounded them. The Shadows stood no chance against the powerful charging stabs made by the swordsman. The blue floating Heartless released blasts that took ice form upon impact. Contrarily, the dawn alicorn felt a burning heat rise up within her. It released itself from the end of her Keyblade in the form of fiery blasts, easily taking down the icy Heartless.

Quick as the battle had started, it was over. All of the dark creatures had been slain. The companions shared a slow breath before sheathing their weapons. At this moment, the princess thought she could at least introduce herself properly to the man that had helped her.

"I'm Cadance," she said as she turned to look at the man.

"Cloud," he replied abruptly, not even bothering to turn around.

"So... uh," started the young princess unsure of what to make of this man's body language, "What brings you around these parts?"

"Partly because I'm searching for someone," he said, "to end my struggles with a certain darkness once and for all."

"Searching...," she repeated, "I... guess I'm searching too."

"For your light?" he asked quietly, "Don't lose sight of it."

"I won't," she vowed. Though, something still plagued her mind, "You said it was only 'partly'. What was the other 'partly'?"

"A friend of mine told me to come here," he answered, "and to give this to the new Keyblade master." Cloud reached into one of his pockets. When he pulled out his hand, he was holding a dark, rounded pad.

"For me?" Cadance wondered as she reached out to the object with her magic, "What is it?"

"Something to protect you from the darkness on the roads you will travel." It was kind of creepy, Cadance thought, how he could talk so monotonously yet so deeply at the same time. As the rounded object drew closer to her, it suddenly jumped out of her grasp and connected with her right shoulder. It was clear now that it was some sort of pad.

"Good luck with your search," said the blond as he started to walk away.

"You too!" called the princess. She idly started scratching her shoulder pad with her left hoof. What she didn't realize was that she activated its mechanism. Light surrounded her entire being. After a few seconds, the light cleared leaving a fully armored Cadance. The armor plates were colored bright red and a black vizor now covered her eyes. She looked herself over and confirmed that she could still walk by moving her legs.

She summoned her Keyblade and charged up a beam of light. The light revealed a hidden gateway made of light that rested in space. Princess Cadance started galloping to the gateway. Just as she was about to cross through, she opened her wings as wide as they could spread. She disappeared into the path as the gateway shut. Another wanderer had trekked the Lanes Between.

Cloud sighed as he kept walking along the pavement.

"You owe me for this, Leon."

A/N: Ever since Kingdom Hearts 1, Squall Leonheart insisted on being called "Leon". To this day, I still have no idea why.