//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: Block Party // Story: Kingdom Hearts: Harmonic Connections // by Mr Curious Writer //------------------------------// (As Always Green Text means "click me" to play theme music to go with what your reading. Red text means to stop the music. Completely optional: Your free to ignore this) Golden Oaks Library         Twilight was in an offensive stance panting heavily as she gazed at her foes, flying dishes, they flew all over the place in random path routes. Normally such a sight would cause her to flip out and look for the cause, but this time she was fully aware of what was going on and who caused this. Behind her was Spike and their new guest Merlin who was stroking his beard and observing Twilight’s action. “I must say you certainly have a lot of magic built up within you, but all of that is for nothing if you don’t think about how to use it wisely my dear, All you’ve been doing is firing your new spell at any target you lock eyes with.”         Twilight looked back as she tried to regain her composure, “W-What do you… mean by that?”         Merlin shook his head. “A bright child, but not enough battle sense I suppose.” He cleared his throat. “Your spell has a lot more going for it than just being another kind of magic bolt you would use from before. This is the essence of fire compacted into a sphere, once you fire that thing, it’s gonna want to reach it’s target, and when it does, the fire is gonna want to escape its tiny confines.”         Twilight thought for a moment but was able to pick up what he meant. “In other words, the explosion it makes is useful as well.”         “Correct my dear, so what should you be doing now?”         Twilight got another look at the flying dinnerware and watched intently. When she noticed a large amount of them could converge in one spot she took aim and formed an orb of fire from the tip of her glowing horn. “Fire!” It rocketed off away from her and  towards her intended target. When it reached one of the dishes that formed the cluster, it exploded shattering it and countless others that were nearby; making a sizeable hole in the group. Twilight was surprised at how effective it was and ecstatic that her calculations were correct she took a moment to cheer for herself.         Merlin on the other hand-er hoof just chuckled at the unicorn’s enthusiasm. “Splendid, Ms. Sparkle. You certainly have knack for magic, just as your teacher said.” Twilight was beaming at her accomplishment. as all the remaining dishes vanished from sight. She looked back at Merlin confused on what was going on. “Well, now that you’ve grasped the basics, I suppose we can call it a day.” Merlin nodded before making his way over to the kitchen. “I say, all this teaching has left me quite famished.” “Leave it to me Mr. Merlin, I’ll whip something up for lunch.” Spike already ran past the wizard and into the kitchen. “Wait, what? W-we can’t stop now. I just started grasping this new kind of magic, and it’s nowhere near as powerful as Sora’s,” said Twilight as she ran over to the old wizard, “and-and Sora knows so many more spells. All I have is a measly fireball!” Twilight was adamant to continue her training, however Merlin thought otherwise.   “Now, now Ms. Sparkle, I’m sure your very eager to continue your studies, you look like the studious sort, by the looks of it. However, haste makes waste. You’re just beginning to enter a form of magic completely alien to your world. It’s not exactly something you can master by cramming all in one day, especially with your race.” “What, do you mean, Mr. Merlin?” Twilight raised an eyebrow wondering where this was going. Merlin cleared his throat, “Well, you see the inhabitants of this world are exposed much of their world’s magic than most other worlds that we have discovered out in the stars. Growing up in such an environment, magic is basically a part of your body. Even more so for Unicorns and… what was it now… Alicorns?... Yes, that’s the word.” Twilight sat back and thought about it. There were a lot of known facts that would prove Merlin’s statement. “So what would that have to do with us stopping training for now?” “Simple, my dear. You’ll tire yourself out,” said Merlin. “What?” “Think of it this way, when you use a lot of magic with normal equestrian magic, that would tend to give you quite the headache I believe, as well as exhaust you, correct?” To which Twilight sheepishly looked away, giving Merlin the answer he was expecting. “Well, to put it simply, your learning magic that is completely alien for what Equestrian magic is used to. This just adds more strain as your body isn’t quite sure how much magic is needed for such unusual spells.” Twilight thought about it. Everything he said made sense. Without knowledge on what is needed for a spell, you’re leaving out the possibility of expending energy and magic that could have been conserved for other spells and tasks. “Besides, Sora certainly didn’t learn all his spells in one night, Donald taught him Fire. the spell you’re learning now, he actually taught himself magic.” Merlin pointed out. “I simply gave him a place to practice those spells, as well as some helpful advice here and there.” Twilight looked at Merlin with astonishment. “Really? He made those magic spells himself?! Merlin just laughed, “I wouldn’t say he created them. From what Donald told me, when the lad was just starting out, he basically copied off of him, allies and enemies they came across to understand how to use the other spells. there was always a Blizzard and Stop and whatnot, he just happened to find out on his own how to reach those spells. He’s rather stubborn in that regard. Remarkable really, a self taught keyblade wielder and magic user. He and Riku truly are remarkable fellows.” “Riku… wait that’s Sora’s friend right?” Twilight asked. “Correct, in a sense he is in the same boat. Although his path was a bit… rocky for a while.” He cleared his throat. “Now then, there will be plenty more chatting during lunch, Shall we Ms. Sparkle?” He gestured a hoof toward the kitchen, she simply smiled and nodded as she trotted in. “Very well Mr. Merlin, and please, you can call me Twilight,” she said happily. Although in all honesty she was growing a bit hungry as well. Then Merlin smiled. “Very well, Twilight. But never mind the “Mister,” just plain Merlin will do.” Twilight nodded, “Fair enough.” Then Merlin followed close behind her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ponyville Town Hall Sora looked on at the cylindrical building ahead, He saw the girls run inside it so he was curious on what they had planned for here. If the sign he saw was anything to go on he could only assume that they were going to speak to the mayor of the town. He trotted inside and already saw the CMC all over the mayor as she was doing paper work. “Girls listen, I’m very busy right now, I’m afraid whatever it is you’re asking will have to wait for later.” “But it’s really important, ma’am! It’s for our new friend!” Sweetie Belle was pleading giving the mayor and adorably cute sad face to win her over. The mayor sighed seeing the face “I-I’m sorry, really I am, but there is an urgent matter I need to attend to.” She then looked up to see Sora walk in. “Ah, not another one.” The mayor placed a hoof to her face as she shook her head before clearing her throat. “Hello, welcome to the Ponyville Town Hall. I am Mayor Mare, a pleasure to meet you. However I’m afraid I cannot attend to you at the moment, but if you’re willing to wait in the next, oh say, 5 hours, I’ll gladly help you by then.”         Scootaloo then ran up between the Mayor and Sora. “This is the friend we were talking about!”         “He is?” the Mayor took a closer look at Sora as he walked up to them. “Wait, I know you… You’re that new pony from a few days ago right? Uh, Sora was it?”         He nodded, “Yup, thats me, ma’am”         “Ah I see.” She nodded her head before a frown appeared on it again. “I’m terribly sorry, I would really like to assist you with your problem right now, but an urgent matter has come up that needs my attention. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until then.”         Sora sat back and tilted his head slightly “Well, what seems to be the problem? Maybe I can help?”         The mayor was taken aback by Sora’s response, “What? Help?” She shook her head, “No, no, I’m afraid this is a task I can’t ask a civilian. It’s a request for the Royal Guard that was just recently stationed here.” She then got close and gave a whispering tone. “Word has been going around, strange black creatures have been appearing around Equestria, Celestia has been sending guards to patrol all the towns and cities, until her secret project is complete.”         “Yeah, I know about that, the heartless” Sora said         “You have? Well that makes things easier then. You see there was an… issue that just came up involving those ‘heartless’ as you call them and I was about to make my way to one of the guards so they could handle it. It’s best if you stay in town for awhile until this matter is settled, for your safety, of course.”         “You're having trouble with the heartless? I can take care of that then.” he stood back up. The mayor again was surprised by the stallion’s response and was about to say it was a foolish idea until Scootaloo butted in the conversation.         “Yeah! Sora actually came to Equestria to beat them up. He’s a superhero!”         Sora chuckled at Scootaloo’s enthusiasm. “I think hero would be fine.” She was going by his rank the gods of Olympus gave him.         “See? Modest too! one hundred percent superhero!” Scootaloo added, by now Sweetie Belle and Applebloom joined her side.         “Yeah ma’am, mah’ sister can totally vouch fer’ him.” Applebloom gave her two cents.         As did Sweetie Belle, “Oh, so can my sister too. They told us all about him.”         The Mayor looked at the fillies then back at Sora “Really? and how exactly do you take care of those ‘heartless’ things?”         “With this,” Sora held his hoof out and a flash of light that startled the Mayor before Sora’s keyblade appeared in his grip.         “Oh my… An Earth Pony using magic? This is unprecedented!”         “So I’ve heard,” Sora replied simply         “Yeah, and he can cast spells too, Right, Sora?!” Sweetie Belle said.         “That is also true.” Sora nodded before turning to the Mayor. “You see, mayor I was sent to Equestria since I have the means to completely defeat the heartless, so if you have an issue that involves them, I am more then happy to take care of it for you.” Sora then banished the blade once the demonstration was over but held a goofy grin on his face.         “Yeah, and then ya’ won’t be so busy and can help with what we came here fer,” Applebloom added grinning at this perfect plan.         Mayor Mare was at a loss for words for a moment but seeing such a convincing argument. “Well, if you’re equipped for the job, I suppose it would be foolish to refuse it. Very well.” She sat down and cleared her throat. “Let me explain the situation.         Sora sat down again and listened intently on the “mission briefing”, the girls were in front of him as well, with the same curiosity to know more.         “Well, thanks to the presence of the royal guards, everypony in town aren’t panicking now that these heartless’ have started appearing, however that doesn’t mean everything's as it was before all this. Ponies have been a little tense, since there are still sightings of the creatures around the outskirts. But now I have ponies at my doorstep saying that she spotted some in town as as well. Don’t get the wrong idea, they do go to the guards first,  but there are so many sightings that there isn’t enough of them to take care of everything at once.”         “And that’s where I come in,” Sora assumed. The Mayor nodded before she continued, “If you’re really willing to help, then I need you to head over to the eastern part of town. Citizens have been saying that there were some weird black creatures skulking around the outskirts, and they’re a little worried with how close they are. Like, right outside their window close. I’m sure the guards are already trying to dispatch some soldiers as soon as possible, but, like I said, their hooves are kind of tied since these creatures appear all around and even IN town” Sora gave a solid nod after hearing the explanation and request, “Sure thing, that’s no trouble at all.” He got back up, “I’ll head over there now and see for myself.” The girls were excited before saying in unison, “We’re coming too!” They were about to race for the door before the Mayor spoke up, “Actually, I think it’s best if you three leave this to Mr. Sora, you’ll only be a burden for him if you’re there with all those monsters around,” and she watched the girls start groaning and moaning. “Besides, I believe you were trying to discuss some sort of idea for your friend here correct. While he takes care of what I asked, why don’t use that time to discuss how I can return the favor.” “O-oh, right, That’s the whole reason why we’re here,” Sweetie Belle was the first to remember it. they all looked toward Sora who smiled and nodded at the proposal. “Not sure what you girls are planning, but I really appreciate doing this for me. I’ll be back before you know it!” he once again had to resist the urge to make a thumbs up… considering he physically couldn’t. He then turned and ran out of the building. Sora looked back to see the little fillies waving at him, but for some reason, those innocent looking smiles left him feeling… concerned. He decided not to dwell on it and just focus on the task at hand. When the girls watched him leave they turned to the Mayor, “Say Mayor, how about we head over to your office to tell you about our idea there?” The Mayor simply nodded “I don’t see why not, and that’s where I can reach any needed documents, should I agree to this.” When she turned and made her way to the office, the girls waited until she was out of earshot before they started whispering with each other. “Ok, one of us has ta’ stay here. Who’s it gonna be?” Applebloom looked at the other two and wasn’t surprised neither volunteered. So she had to go with her back up plan. “One two three NOT IT” “Not it!” Scootaloo was quick on the pick up “Not i-Aaawwww, no fair” Sweetie pouted as Applebloom and Scootaloo have a high hoof to each other before running up to the Mayor. “Excuse us Mayor, we need ta’ use the little filly’s room, we’ll be right back, but Sweetie Belle can talk about it until we get back. “Uh, sure it’s down to your left” The Mayor arched an eyebrow but still pointed to the direction to the bathroom and watched both girls thank her and run off in that direction. “Well then, right this way then, Sweetie Belle.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back to Sora         It didn’t take much time for Sora to reach the eastern part of Ponyville, and one look around he could tell things were definitely off. All around the ponies were either rushing their way out of the area, nervously looking around looking for something, or just generally being jumpy.         “I wonder how far the Heartless reached into town” Sora said looking around. He could feel the tension in the air and it was obvious as to why. He had hoped that he would be able to take care of the problem before things escalated, but that window was becoming increasingly smaller the more the further in he went. Lowered voices were heard all around him.         “I swear I saw it! It had these creepy yellow eyes, all black. It was so freaky.”         “For real? Maybe it would be better if I stayed with my folks for a while”         “I don’t blame ya, that’s starting to sound like a good idea for me as well.”         “If they live anywhere outside Ponyville, you’re on your own. There is more of them out there than here.”         “Seriously? Where are the guards! Now’s a perfect time for them to show up!”         “They’re busy as it is with the large sighting off in the north part of town, Celestia knows how long that will take?”         Sora decided to stow away that piece of information. Hopefully they’ll be fine without me, but it wouldn’t hurt to check it out after this. He then bumped into a passerby  that was rounding a corner, “oh, sorry… Excuse me-huh” It was clear now that the passerby was frantically run away as she was already far behind him not even so much as looking back. “Well… I guess i know where to start” he then ran around the corner to see what got her so scared.         Instead of some heartless or neerdowell he was surprised when a familiar pink pony was there to greet him. “Oh, Hi Sora! Fancy meeting you here?” Pinkie was wearing a party hat with a party favor in her mouth as she held a cupcake.         “Pinkie? What are you doing here?” Sora asked, as if her appearing wasn’t a surprise enough, the fact that she was ready for a party just added to the confusion.         “Pinkie Sense!” Pinkie cheered         “What?”         “Yeah, my Pinkie sense! it warns me about all sorts of things, and this time it was telling me to come here and I can see why” she looked around “All these ponies look like they’re about to jump out of their fur from something spooky. So I decided to give them something special.”         “Is that why you look like you came from a birthday party?” Sora looked at cupcake again Probably not the most important question to ask his mind reminded him of her short explanation on her “Pinkie Sense”.         She nodded “Yup, yup I was gonna go around surprising everyone with cupcakes and party favors!”         “Pinkie, I think surprising them isn’t the best choice right now” He looked around the corner to see the poor mare she“ helped still booking out of the neighborhood.         “Aww, but that’s the best part” Pinkie’s head sagged a little at the suggestion.         “I-I know, I know, but for now, everyone is as tense as it is, a surprise wouldn’t be the best way to help these ponies feel better, but it is nice to see that you’re trying to cheer them all up.” Sora then took a moment and thought. “How about this, we work together, since your here.”         Pinkie was now giving a huge grin “OHMYGOSH! Sora, you wanna help me put smiles on everyone’s faces?” She immediately brought him into a hug “That would be fantastic! We can set it up for the whole neighborhood! It’ll be a… A…” Pinkie searched for the right word for such an event.         Sora, even though his lungs were being crushed still managed to help his friend by saying “A… Block Party?” he was starting to turn blue before his pink offender finally released him.         She gasped and her eyes sparkled “That’s perfect, Sora! We’re gonna have a Block Party! I have to get everything ready! We’re gonna need a lot of tables for sure!” she was already looking around the area imagining all the things to set up.         “I’ll definitely help you out, on that Pinkie, however I have to remain here. I’m here to find the reason why everyone here is so scared. Though I’m sure I already know what it is.”         Pinkie immediately pressed her face against his and stared straight into eyes. “Do you Pinkie Promise?”         Sora flinched from his personal space being invaded in the blink of an eye “Pinkie Promise?”         “Exactly! Repeat after me!” She pulled back and then started makes gestures with her hooves that seemed to compliment what she was saying “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” she finished when she placed her hoof on her right eye. then pointed that hoof at Sora “Now, you!”         The similarities are uncanny he blinked after seeing how this promise worked, but he nodded “Alright then” he copied her exactly, thought at a slower pace to double check her reaction and motion incase he messed up somewhere. “Cross my heart” she nods “Hope to fly” another nod and an even wider smile from the pink mare “Stick a cupcake in my eye” he finished when he placed his right hoof on his right eye. “Good! No going back on your word, Sora!” Pinkie smiled and was already off “I’ll go get everything, be right back!” zipped off with a large trail of dust kicking up behind her. Sora watched her leave only to sigh “Well, it’s a good idea to get these ponies in a better mood, but would a party really do the trick?” he couldn’t help but wonder. but then immediately shook his head “Shouldn’t be negative about it, she’s doing her best, so I should do the same” he turned around to face down the street “This area is starting to look deserted. This could be a good place to start.   Sora went to work running around the area, searching the alleys, buildings that would permit him to enter, he would even make his way to the roof tops to see if a higher vantage point would help him. Every now and again any pony he would come across if they seen or heard anything strange, gently of course. The last thing he needed was cause anypony a panic attack when they’re this on edge. This leaded into they knew nothing, or heard of the rumors but never experienced anything out of the ordinary. Sora was starting to think this was all pointless and was about return to where Pinkie and he met at when he heard a voice “I’m telling you, I saw one! One of those… Those things.” Sora stopped and turned his head to two stallions across the street. “You can’t be serious? Look if you’re spreading a rumor just to prank this neighborhood, it’s in terrible taste right now.” “You know I wouldn’t joke about something like this. I’m telling the truth it was in my neighbor's yard down the street?” “The one with the red roof?” the other stallion seemed to click to the realization and backpedaled a bit from the shock  “That’s not to far from my home” “Yeah it was really weird looking. Different from the ones wandering just outside of town. It was like some kind of imp… Monkey thing carrying knives around, I swear I thought I was having a nightmare.” “Um excuse me” both the stallions jumped when they heard the new voice and turned to see Sora with a genuine smile. “You mind telling where this house is?”   ~~~ Meanwhile not to far off from Sora Around the corner, stalking the keyblader were two rather eager fillies, carefully sticking their head out from the side of a building. “There he is” Applebloom pointed toward Sora but kept a whispering tone with Scootaloo. “He’s just talking to those two… Where’s the action? Where’s the bad guys” Scootaloo arched an eyebrow as she looked around, hoping to see how Sora fought “We just got here, Ah’m sure he’s still lookin’ fer’em” “Looks like he’s just chatting with some random ponies to me.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   They then noticed the two ponies Sora was talking to start leading him off somewhere. “Look, he’s movin’! Lets go” Applebloom got out of cover and quietly crossed the street with Scootaloo. the two them followed closed behind Sora but remained out of sight ~~~ Back to Sora The walk was relatively short, just a few turns and a straight walk and the house was already in view. One of the stallions pointed toward it “That’s the place, the creature appeared some time after my neighbor went out for errands, and just broke in somehow. I’m at a lost at what to do. I can’t let my neighbor go back in there while that thing is around” Sora just nodded “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it” he started trotting ahead now that he got a clear view of where he needed to be. Both ponies tried to stop him “Hey wait! You can’t be serious, we should wait for the guard to get here! Are you nuts?! Then the other one spoke right after him, “This isn’t something an average pony can handle, that thing looked scary and looking for a fight, and I don’t think the outcome will be simply knocking you out! Sora just flashed a big goofy grin “Don’t worry, if you’re worried about me, I’m technically more qualified to deal with it compared to them” he then turned and sprinted full force. Leaving his two temporary companions at a loss at what to do. Meanwhile neither of them noticed the moving boxes with familiar looking tails across the street, sneaking past them and following Sora. Sora ran up to the house and looked through the window to see if he could spot it. He couldn’t see it from that window, but he did notice the place looked trashed. “Oh boy… Well I guess it wouldn’t be so bad when I let myself in, now.” he nodded before backing off from the window, and moved to the front door. He then summoned his keyblade and pointed toward the lock on the door. a small beam of light shot out of the tip of the keyblade and into the keyhole. There was a sound of a lock clicking and he nodded before moving up to the door “ok, 1… 2… 3!” he swung the door open and jumped in on his hind legs and in a battle stance, his head on a swivel. Apparently he was in what appeared to be the living room, all the furniture was turned over or slashed while most of house hold items were broken on the floor or knocked over. “Odd, if the owner left before all this started… then why is a heartless trashing the place?” he spoke to himself mostly. Seeing no immediate threat, Sora went back on all fours and put the keyblade in his mouth before he walked around the house. Sora got a good look and kept moving around the house when he stopped to notice what looked like a pet bed. “Oh boy… that might explain things.” Crash! Sora whipped his head to the side hearing the sound of something breaking in that direction, but it sounded a bit far off, however thats when he found a broken down doorway with a pet door at the bottom of a busted door. he ran up to it noticing it was the stairs leading to the basement. He could then hear what sounded like a cat hissing at something. “Guess I’m on the right track” he jumped down and rounded the corner to see what he was dealing with. It was yet again another new type of Heartless, however this one seemed somewhat reminiscent to a type of heartless he fought a long time ago. (image owned by LynxGriffin Click on name to see their deviantart page ) What seemed to make it different was how aggressive it seemed from its simian counterparts. It held two daggers and was running around trying to attack a somewhat very nimble and agile calico cat. Whenever the cat had a moment it would turn and continue to hiss at the Heartless or even bat at its face before dodging another strike. That is one brave cat Sora said before charging and blocking another strike at the cat with his keyblade, then pushing the heartless back before getting into a fighting stance. This allowed the cat a chance to scurry off into hiding. “Lets go!” He charged in, weapon in his mouth as he made a lunging slash at the heartless. However the monster simply jumped back to dodge the attack, but its counterattack was just as swift as it jumped back toward Sora, both Daggers held over its head, ready to give a downward stab at him. Fortunately Sora side jumped, then tucked and rolled away from his enemy’s reach. Once on his feet, Sora wasted no time trying again with his previous attack. Fortunately this time the strike connected with the Heartless’ chest, staggering it for a moment to allow Sora to string up a few more combo strikes before finishing it off by leaping shortly in the air and flipping in mid air to gain momentum, keyblade in his hooves this time, and bring down a downward strike on the creature’s head, causing it to immediately disperse from reality in a black mist and a rising crystalline heart. Sora stared at where the heartless once stood before banishing his keyblade and tilting his head. “That was… surprisingly easy. Was this the only heartless lurking around this part of town?” he then scoffed  “As if it was ever that easy” “That was awesome-” “Ssshh!” Sora whipped around when he heard those two voices, however when he did he didn’t find anyone, other than the cat that finally left it’s hiding spot and rubbed against Sora’s leg with a purr. However, something very out of the ordinary did come into view. There were two boxes that he didn’t remember seeing now on the stairs, not only that, but both boxes seem to have their own tails, familiar looking tails. He made his way over and lifted the boxes up only for pairs of eyes to look back at him in shock. “Applebloom? Scootaloo! What are you two doing here?” Applebloom could only give a nervous laugh while Scootaloo timidly waved back as they both said “Uuuh, hi” Crash! Before Sora could say anything to them, they heard a crash upstairs, along with noticing the cat hissing up the stairs, which didn’t take Sora long to put two and two together as he bolted up the steps, “You two stay here, I mean it!” When Sora ran up he was greeted with a shock but what he had recently expected. Other heartless had invaded the home through the opened door, and beyond that he could see more crawling around the place in previous forms he knew as well as some new ones that Equestria had exclusively, along with a few of those monkey ones he fought earlier “Oooooh, so not good” As he said this, right behind him were Applebloom, Scootaloo, and the Cat sticking their heads out of the basement doorway to get a view of what was going on.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               ~~~ Meanwhile Pinkie was now back where she and Sora parted ways, already setting up tables and filling them with all sorts of food and drink, this was already drawing a crowd due to simple curiosity, eventually when ponies asked her about it, she would answer and would even get some volunteers to help set up the festivities. “Alright! Everything’s coming along nicely!” she cheered She then looked around. “Now, let’s see, the sign should hang over the street, some streamers too…” she then pulled out a clipboard and a quill from out of her curly mane. “Check, check, balloons” she looked around and there were bunches of balloons placed in certain spots “Check a mundo” she then gave a nod, before putting it away again. “Gonna need extra help, with that sign and streamers, and I know just the pony” she smiled and bounced off in a random direction down an alleyway. ~~~ Back to Sora Sora bursted through the door knocking the heartless inside the house outside with him, all of them soon vanished in black mists and freed hearts before they even hit the ground, Sora did not waste a moment as he fired a shotgun blast of ice towards a group of Soldiers and jackalopes closest to him freezing them solid then whipped out a Graviga right over them before his first hoof touched the ground. Once it did he already sprinted toward more heartless wandering the streets. The frozen heartless at this point were now reduced to nothing once the immense black dome of gravity shattered them into nothing but more freedhearts. Ok, well this is actually a perfect opportunity! Sora thought to himself as he was on all fours keyblade in his mouth as he started cutting through more enemies. I need to learn how to fight in this form while I’m here, no tricks, no bag, just my keyblade and my magic. Sora was confident in this idea since he’s had no issue with regular heartless in this form. He even had a memory of when he saved the cutie mark crusaders when the four of them were launched off the cart, come to think of it, it seemed he instinctively used another ability he learned at his first Mark of Mastery exam. Well, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to mix in things I know into it. These buildings are close enough together anyway after cutting through the last heartless on the street he noticed a few down the alley and decided to kick off one of the abilities he learned recently, flowmotion. He banked right to jump and kick off a lamp post and shoot into the alley. Meanwhile at the front of the doorway from the house Sora came out of, Applebloom and Scootaloo were starry eyed and mesmerized by the amazing stunts Sora just pulled. Soon that turned into cheers as they watched him literally shoot into the alley in midair. “Whoa! That was awesome!” Scootaloo cheered “Yeah! Super Knights are so cool!” Applebloom replied Sora was zipping around zig zag style bouncing off the walls of the alley, Shooting him past the Heartless, kicked off the wall while twisting his body so that he was facing the heartless behind him as he flew the opposite direction. “Where do you think you’re going” he spun around once, keyblade in hoof, before flinging towards the narrow group of heartless knocking them all into the air just for the keyblade to boomerang back cutting through most of them into non existence, and the ones that survived didn’t last a second longer once Sora caught the Keyblade in his mouth shot towards them spinning in mid air like a drill right through them once they touched the ground again. He bounced up to the roof tops Up there he was greeted with a few of those monkey heartless again leaping on roof tops to get to a more populated area. Sora quickly lifted his keyblade in the air. “Thunder!” A huge Thundaga bolt crashed down on each of heartless, paralyzing them in place causing one, that was in mid air, to fall into a trash bin where it belonged. Sora made short work of the other two on the roof when he made his way over then turned and bucked them high into the air causing the two to fall into the street and succumb to a nasty fall. “Heh, I can get used to that kind of thing” he gave a smirk before jumping off the roof. “Alright who’s ne-” “There you are!” a voice yelled from behind and it nearly made Sora jump out of his fur as he whipped around ready for a fight, only to see two bright blue eyes and a big grin. attached to a vividly pink mare. “Pinkie?!” She giggled “Well, duh, who were you expecting, the Princess” she then immediately hoisted him onto her back. “No time for lollygagging, we got a party to set up!” she cheered as she galloped off. “Huh? What?!” it had to take him a few seconds to remember that promise he made. “Now?! “Of course, silly! We need to put on the finishing touches!” “But-but there are more heartless back there! And Applebloom and Scootaloo are back there with them!” Sora pleaded “Oh don’t you worry your spiky little head about that mister! Auntie Pinkie has ya covered!” She then rounded a corner. stopped and bucked Sora off her back causing him to Fall into her Party Cannon that was somehow placed exactly in the right spot to load the Keyblader as ammo. “Wait what?” Sora stuck his head out before it was shoved back in with rolls of streamers “Hold still for a second, Sora” Pinkie said before whipping the camera around and taking at a certain part of the sky, “I prepared a lot of explosive power in this shot! threetwooneFIRE!” She then slapped her hoof on the detonation button and Sora and the streamers were blasted high above the neighborhood. “Whoooooaaaaaaa!” with their landing destination being where all the ponies in the neighborhood seem to be gathering. “You have got to be kidding me!” Sora grabbed the streamers and braced for impact. Meanwhile back with Applebloom and Scootaloo “Oh man where did they go?” Scootaloo asked as the two of them were trying to follow after Pinkie and Sora, but their tiny legs could only move so fast. “Just keep running Scoots! Ah dun think we have any other option!” Applebloom replied as the two of them were sprinting away from a monkey heartless that caught sight of them and went on pursuit. When they rounded the corner the first words they heard was “DUCK!” out of instinct from hearing the word in such a way the two of them dove to the ground in front of them. Just in time for a oddly huge boomerang to fly right over them and smack the stalking heartless in the head dazing it. When they looked back they already saw a pink blur run past them, when they looked back Pinkie was leaping into the air catching the boomerang before somersaulting behind the Heartless whipping out a sledgehammer from her tail, got on her hind legs and wound back. “No meanies get to hurt my friends!” she swung and the sledgehammer made contact with the heartless’ body sending it into the sky until it was nothing more than a twinkle up above. “Pinkie!” both the fillies cheered before they watched her scoop them up onto her back and gallop away as more heartless started to appear behind them. “Thanks fer saving us, Pinkie!” Applebloom said as she watched the heartless get farther and farther away behind them. “Yeah! cool moves back there!” Scootaloo replied Pinkie simply kept running but with a sly smiled on her face “I don’t think you’d thank me so much when the girls find out where you’ve been.” Immediately the two fillies winced and their smiles vanished from their faces, replaced by ones of despair. Scootaloo spoke first. “Y-you don’t have to do that!” “Yeah! We won’t do it again, honest!” Applebloom pleaded “Aaaaand…” Pinkie responded “And uh… um, we’ll do whatever you want!” Scootaloo pitched Applebloom turned toward her friend arched eyebrow “We will?” until Scootaloo jabbed a hoof to her side until she got the picture “I mean, yeah we will!” “Really?” Pinkie finally turned to the two with a big smile on her face. This caused the fillies to gulp and immediately regret that decision. ~~~ Back with Sora When Sora landed on one of the rooftops overviewing the party area, it didn’t take long for it to click to him what Pinkie wanted him to do with those streamers. Seeing that there were no heartless nearby he couldn’t opt out of it now. He had a strange feeling it would be wiser to keep his promise now rather than later with the party pony. So with his acrobatics and flowmotion abilities, Sora was zipping around above the party and ponies down below on the rooftops setting the streamers up in a very pleasing way. Also his stunt was definitely attracting a crowd, as the citizens all watched in amazement as Sora flew above them, without even wings.         “This job should be done pretty soon it looks like.” another look at the crowd and they were cheering him on now. “Well, this is something I can get used to” he smiled at his fans before noticing on the other side of the street, something appeared in the dark alley and was sneaking its way toward the ponies near it. “Oh no you don’t” without a moment to lose he tipped over the side of the roof to kick off a flowmotion trail to one street lamp, to the other across the street, but hooked his keyblade on it instead to spin around rapidly before releasing from it, now he shot into a dark alley like a flying buzzsaw immediately slicing the heartless, that happened to be another one of those monkey heartless, in half, ending it’s dastardly plan completely. When Sora stopped and landed on a garbage bin he saw the crowd started cheering. He was confused as to why before he noticed the streamer roll in his hand, it was empty, he looked and noticed the same streamer attached to both street lamps and the roof. he put two and two together and figured out that the ponies thought that was part of some kind of act. ... this could probably work to my favor he smiled and wall kicked between buildings in the alley to get to the roof and get a bird’s eye view. It seemed heartless would start trickling in from the alleys, but from what he’s seen they all come from the same direction so he didn’t have to worry about keeping a 360 view. At the same time he had to make it all look like an act so the ponies don’t freak out from the imminent danger they faced. He wiped a foreleg across his forehead and exhaled deeply, that’s when he noticed a cup lifted towards him on his left. he then noticed the pink foreleg attached to it, along with the familiar, eccentric mare attached to it. “You can do it Sora! I bet a million cupcakes that you can!” Hearing that the stallion couldn’t help but chuckle, take the cup of rather refreshing ice cold punch and down it in one go. Then gave a big goofy grin to match her’s “Right!” he handed the empty cup back to her then leapt off the edge of the roof. “Awesome punch by the way!” “I know!” Pinkie waved wildly as she watched him get back to it. The whole time now, Pinkie’s element was glowing even brighter to the point that anyone that focused on it could tell. True to Pinkie’s belief, Sora managed to defend the citizens all the while making it look like a fantastic stunt for them all to see. Pinkie, used this opportunity to officially start the party, but at the same time keep a lookout for any heartless Sora might have missed. Any that she found had a shiny metal pipe waiting to greet their face, among other things she manages to hide away in her mane. Sora understood the gravity for the situation. He had to make sure the public were unaware of the danger they were really in until it finally passed, and yet…. and yet for some reason, he couldn’t help but start smiling. Am I… having fun doing this? He would remember at times when fighting heartless, he would sometimes get pumped up to fight heartless whenever he feels like he’s in the zone. This should be a serious situation, and yet, hearing a crowd cheer for him, all the while completely letting loose on the darkness at the same time, felt rather amazing. Plus Seeing Pinkie Pie have his back only made it more comfortable to keep that smile on his face. In time the small waves of heartless finally subsided, and the party went on like nothing ever happened, which for the partygoers concern, that’s basically true for them. Sora jumped off the building he was on last with a flip and landed into the crowd of ponies, that immediately made a way for his landing. Once he did, the crowd went wild. “That was amazing!” “It was like he was flying! But he’s an Earth Pony?” “Mom I want to fly too!” “That is one flashy Stallion” “Cute too” overhearing that last comment form the large crowd caught Sora off guard, but he didn’t have any time to dwell on it when he was tackled and given a bear hug by Pinkie “Sora that was awesome! You’re like a ninja” she then whispered in his ear “No more signs of those heartless jerks, anymore” Sora, despite his now constricted breathing from such a big hug, started laughing. “Glad to hear it Pinkie. I guess this mission is finally complete.” Once Pinkie let go of him he brought himself back onto his hooves. “Well, seeing that the job is down here, The party will go on without a hitch” he looked around and saw everyone already mingling, snacking, and dancing to the music already.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         “Right! then let’s have some fun! There’s some ice cream with your name on it!” Pinkie was already trotting her way over to the snack table.         “Ice cream? You wouldn’t happen to have Sea salt Ice cream would ya?” Sora asked.         THUD!         Everypony stopped in their tracks         THUD!          Everyone’s heads were on a swivel trying to locate the source of that earth shaking sound.         THUD, THUD, THUD!         It came from down the street, once everyone gazed in that direction they were greeted by an enormous creature coming into view behind some rather tall houses. It was 3 stories tall, Fat, and ugly. It was like an over stuffed costume of some sort. Two big zippers on the front and back were the only thing holding it together, it’s face, still held that same jagged mouth smile and Empty glowing yellow eyes. On the front of it was the heartless emblem and it was bipedal. Essentially it was like looking at a Frankenstein Large Body, however, something seemed off about it as well.         “Oh boy” Sora stared at the creature already whipping out his keyblade. Looking around Sora noticed the tension in the crowd rising. Not good, this might cause a stampede if nothing is done about it.         “LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS!” everyone turned to the new voice to see Pinkie with a megaphone. “I hope you all enjoyed my friend Sora’s fantastic, high flying acrobatics!” Everyone looked at each other before all eyes were back on her. “But the show ain’t over yet folks! It’s time for the grand finale! For Sora’s next trick! He will show you that you have nothing to fear when the heartless are around!” She then extended a hoof toward the slowly approaching threat. “Because Sora will be able to beat that Big Fat meanie over there before it can even reach 100 feet of the party!”         “What?!” Sora was shocked at such a bold declaration, but his voice was immediately drowned out by the cheers of all the ponies. he looked up at Pinkie, who had the biggest puppy dog look in her eyes that he had to shield himself from the cuteness Ok, Ok! I was gonna fight it anyway. as he turned around and headed out of the crowd to face the creature, he couldn’t help another smile on his face. Sheesh, she can be pretty demanding, but I can see where she’s coming from. Alright, Pinkie… I’ll try to make this as show worthy as possible. He turned to face Pinkie and give that trademark grin of his.         In turn, seeing that face, Pinkie couldn’t help but return one as well with a “GOOOO SORA!” that was when her element shined the brightest. then shot out of her necklace, and towards Sora at high speeds.         “Whoa!” Sora was barely able to catch it in his hoof. He stared at the radiating balloon gem before looking up at Pinkie, her grin never left her face but now she looked even more excited. Looking back at the gem he smiled. “This might even the odds a bit more” he took a few steps away from the crowd, stood on his hind legs, held his keyblade facing the Heartless in one hoof, while holding the Element of Laughter over the keyblade with the other. “CONNECT!” A flash of light engulfed him, as Pinkie Pie vanished from the table she was standing on. And just like that, time stood still in reality.