//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: On the Case // 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 Next Morning “SORA, WAKE UP!” Sora jolted off the couch, he was sleeping on, and fell onto the floor like a rock. “Ow… I’m up…” “For goodness sake, how can you sleep so much? You’re just wasting the day away, like a lump.” The voice came from Twilight, who was more than displeased with her friend’s lazy behavior ever since he crashed at the library after that party. Sora forced himself to get back on his hooves and start stretching the sleepy feeling out of his system. “You’re not the first to talk about my sleeping habits” he then gave a yawn. “Gee, I wonder why?” Twilight replied sarcastically. “Ah, Sora, my boy. You’re finally awake, I see,” Merlin came out of the kitchen, levitating a cup of some sort of warm drink with him to the coffee table. “I must say, Twilight, your dragon friend Spike knows his way around a kitchen. That was a lovely breakfast.” “Oh shoot, there’s food?” That perked the young key bearer right out of his drowsy funk. Twilight sighed, “Yes, and we saved some for you that’s getting co-” Sora shot right past her and into the kitchen.  “Thanks, Twilight!” He called out, only to get a groan from the purple unicorn. “This is the hero that will help us protect Equestria…”   Merlin could only chuckle before taking a sip of his drink, “Ah, Lovely.” After a moment he cleared his throat “No need to be concerned about Sora. He may seem distracted at times, but he never let’s his friends down.” Twilight thought about it for a moment and shook her head. “I certainly hope so, but what a day yesterday…” ~~~~~~~~~~ East Ponyville Yesterday Twilight had been rushing  to the eastern side of town when she heard all the commotion from all the way from her house mid training, When she had got there, she saw a huge crowd of ponies. And what looked like tables full of snacks…. Streamers… Balloons…and Music She noticed the DJ pony that was already starting a new song causing some of the ponies to start their celebrations. “Is Pinkie throwing a party?” The crowd then started Cheering really loudly. She forced her way to the front of it all and was finally able to see what was going on, but it looked like she was too late. Up ahead were Sora, Rainbow Dash and the crusaders in a dog pile and laughing away. She then noticed something on Pinkie “Where did she get those goggles and that metal box on her back-” and then it clicked and she shot out of the crowd and to her friends. “Pinkie and Sora Fused?!” “Twilight!” All heads turned to her in response and called her name, then Pinkie jumped out of the pile and hugged her tightly. “Welcome to the party! It was awesome, you should’ve seen it, we were like ‘Whoosh, Shing!, KABOOM!’” Pinkie then released her in order to reenact their battle just using the special keyblade as best she could. “And then the Keyblade transformed and it was like, DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA” She then changed her post to that of one that would hold a machine gun, however the reference would’ve been lost on them. “And there were fireworks and bombs and lasers beams, and my weapon is like a super awesome domey thing with lotsa cannons, big cannons, little cannons, and buttons… Sooooo many buttons” just talking about it was setting her in hyper mode as she was bouncing rapidly in place.  Twilight tried to comprehend everything she was saying, until something clicked. “Wait, you fought something in town?! Was it a heartless?!” She turned to Sora and Rainbow who simply waved it off “Keyword being ‘WAS’, Egghead,” Rainbow started as she set Scootaloo back on the ground. “Yeah, there was actually a horde of them before a really big one showed up, but we took care of it,” Sora continued “Wait there was more?” Rainbow turned to Sora who just nodded “Man, I missed so much flank kicking! Sora shrugged, “At least your were there when it mattered most.” He gave her a reassuring smile. Rainbow just sighed and shook her head, “I guess so… Where are those guards anyway. Aren’t they suppose to keep the riff raff out?” “Apparently, they're busy with other parts Ponyville, it turns out, it was busy day for them in terms of heartless sightings.” Sora shrugged. “Wh-what?! Is this a heartless invasion?” Twilight reeled back in shock of the realization, but Sora just kept on smiling. “Well if it was, then it failed, and it looks the rest of the town is okay, as well.” Rainbow shot up after what he said to get a bird’s eye view of Ponyville. After some time she came back down and smirked, “Yup, everything’s pretty quiet everywhere else and I can see some of the guards returning to their posts.” “Don’t you guys find that a bit worrying?” Twilight asked, to which everyone looked back at her. “I mean, the guards are pulled away to one part of town so that biggest threat could come here. If you guys weren’t here then-” She was stopped by yet another lung crushing hug by her pink friend. “But we were here ,Twilight and still are, so stop making such a frowny face. There’s a cupcake with your name on it back on the snack table.” “Yeah, all that fighting and flying kicked up my appetite again, I need some snacks” Rainbow said as she took to the air to fly to the snack bar, only to stop then give Sora a glare. “Next time, buddy…” she pointed at him then at herself and it was clear that she wanted to be the next to fuse. Sora simply gave an unsure smile and wave “Uuuh, right…” was all he said, Not sure it works that way, Rainbow… After she seemed satisfied with his response she resumed her flight path to the food. “Now that I think about it, I think I might do the same thing” his stomach started growling, “Well this party looks like fun anyway.” “We’re seriously gonna let this go?” Twilight asked as she was not getting pushed from behind and into the crowd by Pinkie, “You worry too much, Twilight” Pinkie giggled as she seemed to give the pushing on effort at all, despite Twilight’s hooves dragging a trail along the ground. Sora, could barely stifle his laughter from scene, as he looked at the rest of the crowd, while most seem to be cheering for them, he could see gradually more and more ponies started to join in on the celebration. “Sora!” He glanced back in response to his name to see the crusaders standing behind them all sharing the same face. “Sweetie Belle has some news!” Applebloom spoke first. “You’re gonna like it!” Scootaloo said Sora walked up to them and on his haunches. “Uuuh, Ok, shoot, Sweetie Belle.” He looked at the little unicorn who seem to have that grin glued to her face by now, not sure if it was the news, or the amazing battle she saw. “Well, the mayor has everything set up!” “Set up?” It took Sora a few moments, for his memory to bring up the whole reason he was here in the first place. “Oh right! A job idea! She has one for me? So then you stayed behind to continue the proposal?” He looked at the little filly and smiled, but then scowled at her friends. “Yeah, unlike these two!” Causing both girls to cringe at her response and look away. That’s when Pinkie popped in from behind Sora, startling everyone there. “Don’t worry, you wouldn’t want to be them right now.” “Why’s that?” Sora had to ask, he looked back the crusaders and both of Applebloom and Scootaloo had a look utter defeat on their face. “Because, they are gonna help clean up this WHOLE party once it’s over.” Pinkie replied with a lot more cheer than one would have when they say that sentence. The groans from the two unfortunate girls could heard along with the sound of Sweetie Belle blowing a raspberry at them in response, along with a “HAH! That’s what you get!” Sora cleared his throat “So, uh, what is this job she’s offering me?” Sweetie Belle turned to Sora and smiled “It’s a job that suits you perfectly since you’ll be able to help anypony that needs it, but you’ll see tomorrow, The mayor is already getting it all set up for you, she said you should head to town hall tomorrow to see for yourself and so she can explain more about it.” She giggled “She wanted to surprise you with it so I can’t say anymore.” Sora scratched his head but smiled anyway. “Uh Alright then. I guess for the time being, let’s just have some fun.” Already the girls were a blur as they whizzed right past him and joined the crowds of partygoers. “Aaaand they’re off…” He laughed and turned to join the fun as well, but stopped for a moment and looked back at where the battle once was. “What was all that about anyway? Was Maleficent behind it all again.” He couldn’t help but think on the subject for just a few seconds, but shook those thoughts away. It wasn’t like he could do anything about it right now, and he wanted to eat something, he was starving. He shrugged and made his way back to the party.   ~~~~~~~~~~ Back to the present Twilight, was now preparing for another day of training, though her mind couldn’t just let things be. “First Applejack, now Pinkie Pie… I had a guess that this would happen once Applejack and Sora fused, but now that it’s actually becoming a fact….. I haven’t taken the time to actually do some research on their weapons, perhaps it will help the rest of us activate ours. Merlin stroked his beard. “Ah yes, this mysterious, fusion capability you spoke of.” Although he called it mysterious, it seemed like he knew more about it then Twilight. If he did, he certainly didn’t bring it up. “Quite the useful ability if one were able to understand how it works.” Twilight’s ears perked up after hearing that. If she could figure out how fusing works, then maybe it will be faster and easier for the rest of them to do it. This means… in order to discover its secrets, Sora must do… Research.” A smile was growing bigger and wider on the librarian’s face the more she thought about it. Merlin could easily pick up the ravenous scholar within Twilight, just by her body language and facial cues. He may have started something that would be troubling for those within Twilight’s target range. “Woo! Thanks for the food, Spike. That was great!” Sora stepped out of the kitchen after finally finishing his meal. Sora followed by the purple dragon who was still had his cooking apron on, but wiping his hands with a rag, looking pretty proudly at a job well done. “Ah, Sora, perhaps you should be on your way now. I believe you have somewhere to be?” Merlin kept glancing over at Twilight to see her already gathering materials, books and scrolls, and the like for her “research”. “Huh?” Sora looked at Merlin and was about to ask when he also got a look from Twilight, but didn’t fully get what was going on. Fortunately Spike, being Twilight’s number one assistant, did and was already rushing Sora out the door. “Yeah, you gotta do that uhh, thing remember? With the mayor?!” “Huh? O-oh right! The job! Thanks for reminding me, buddy.” Sora patted Spike on the head and before galloping off and out the door. “Catch you guys later!” He called out to everyone in the library. “What?! NO WAIT! I need to ask him some questions first!” Twilight immediately dropped everything when she saw Sora leave and tried to chase after him, but an aura of magic covered the door and closed it.  “Now, now, Ms. Sparkle. You’ll have plenty of time for that later. I believe you still have your training to attend to.” Merlin gestured to the now floating furniture. It was like lightning struck the mare as that realization hit her as hard. “Oh…. t-that’s right, hehe” she rubbed the back of her neck, with a sheepish grin, the situation, expertly deflated by the old wizard. Merlin simply smiled and took another drink from his cup. “Ah, quite refreshing.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Town Hall After a short walk “Sora had to admit, he was getting excited about whatever his new job was. Sure he was going in utterly clueless, but that didn’t damper his enthusiasm about it. He was glad to help anyone in anyway he could, and to be able to get an honest pay for it since it would help him in the long run while he’s staying in Equestria. But that did get him to thinking about the Munny he has now and keeps collecting from taking out heartless. Everywhere he went the “Munny” was good, so it was a surprise to be in a world that had no clue what it was and had their own kind of currency. Now he was starting to collect more munny than he knows what to do with. He sighed, “One problem solved, another one rises.” He then finally took notice of what was ahead of him, there was a large signpost in front of the Town hall. Curious, he trotted his way up to it to get a better look. Handy Sora Got a problem need fixing? An issue need solving? Is it a task you can’t ask anyone else to do? Or do you just need an extra hoof? Leave it to our resident Handy pony Sora! Who, thanks to a reliable source,- “Must be talking about Sweetie Belle.” And thanks to her sibling who was even more reliable,- Sora stumbled a bit from reading that and he couldn’t help but laugh lightly. “Figures they’d ask Rarity just to be sure.” Is actually a special agent tasked by our very own Princesses to take on the new threat that is appearing all over Equestria. However, he won’t be on duty all the time, and has plenty of time to help anyone that needs it. A noble Stallion indeed, however he cannot be everywhere at once. So please pin your request along with how urgent it needs to be completed and time window that it needs to be completed in. He’ll get to them as quickly as he can. No task too big, no job too small! He’ll take on any quest, and take them all! “Was… Was that a jingle?” Sora blinked at the sign, not quite sure how he felt about those last two lines he read. And what’s this about a noble stallion?  “Ah Sora! I see you’ve arrived!” Sora turned around to see Mayor Mare making her way over to him. “Oh hey, yeah. So… this is a surprise.” Sora turned his head back to the signpost. “That is correct, I believe this should cover all your needs. Ponies will simply post up what they need done and you’ll just go and answer the call, and thanks to that little display you did yesterday, I’m sure  you’ll be getting a lot of business.” The mayor then looked up at the sign “Oh, it appears it’s already starting, that must’ve happened just recently, I wasn’t away for long.   Looked up at the signpost and finally noticed a few pieces of paper pinned up on the large blanket portion of the sign. He walked up and looked at each of them, then one immediately grabbed his attention. “I think I might start work right now.” “Splendid, now I can get to the point o how all this will work.” The mayor said before clearing her throat grabbing Sora’s full attention. “Now, when you decide to take on a mission, for the time being, just leave the request on the sign post. Once you do complete them, I managed to also place a bin at the front of my office for you, all you need to do is take that request off the board and slip it into the bin once it’s done. “At the end of the day, I’ll gather what’s inside and double check with the pony of that request if the job is done, and then i’ll mark it off to add it to your pay you’ll get at the end of each week. Don’t get me wrong, I trust that you’re honest enough to get the job done, but it’s more of a  formality.” Sora waved it off, “That’s fine mayor, do what you need to do, I’m just happy to help.” She nodded, “Yes, I’m aware. Well that’s the long and short of it. I have other matters to attend to, so wish you luck in this new business venture.” She gave a polite nod and then made her way into town hall. “Thanks!” He waved at her with a smile before it turned into a questioning look when                                                                                                                        he turned his gaze on the request he was reading. There’s a strange creature that I saw wandering by the forest! I never seen anything like it, it had a big pink nose, an antenna with a really big red round thing on it, and it flew around on tiny bat wings. I tried to get a closer look, but it suddenly flew into the forest like it was looking for something. Could you go find it? My curiosity is eating away at me and there is no way I’m going into that forest! However, I was at that party yesterday and saw how you fight, and I was told you’ve been in that forest twice already! So now you just gotta go check it out! It could be an alien species! Maybe it even knows something about humans! “Huh?!” Sora was surprised to hear about this, a pony outside of the princesses and the girls that knows about humans. He looked at the name of the requester at the bottom “Lyra Heartstrings?” Lyra? That sounds familiar… He shook his head, He’ll wonder about it later, right now, the description of the creature was what’s important. “Did she really see a moogle? What’s a moogle doing here? No, I can ask about that later when I find it. If it flew into the Everfree Forest… this could be a problem.” And just like that, he ran off down the trail to Fluttershy’s cottage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fluttershy’s Cottage Later         Once again it was another wonderful day for Fluttershy, Another bright sunny day, her animals were fed and well taken care of, and it seemed like the perfect time to make some tea and enjoy this peaceful day in tranquility. After hearing all those frightening noises coming from Ponyville, along with hearing the news from Rainbow Dash the other day, she decided to remain at her cottage for a few days, just incase any more “excitement” were to appear again. After making herself a fresh cup of tea, she decided to enjoy it outside in her front yard as she watched the animals go about their business and enjoyed the view of nature itself.         She giggled softly. “You know this sort of reminds me of the day Sora arrived.” She reminisced the fateful day, at the time thinking it was a wonderful day ruined when he crashed into the forest and laid unconscious in a crater, yet changed to meeting such brave new friend as that very same pony… er… Human came to her rescue when she protected Spike. She had to admit after that day, it had been nothing but excitement and danger. Two things she doesn’t actively search for on a daily basis and one of them she openly would avoid if she could help it. However, she held no resentment to the stallion that started it all, on the contrary, she was fine about whatever scary things they would face, if it met meeting such a wonderful friend like Sora. Of course, we should still actively try to avoid such scary and dangerous things as much as she could… She’s still Fluttershy after all. After soaking another moment of the lovely feeling she was about to take her sip when she heard the sound of galloping coming from the path connected to her house. She looked out towards Ponyville to see the stallion that was on her mind head up the path. Wondering what all the commotion was about she set her cup down and flew over to towards the path to meet him, giving smile and wave. Seeing his friend wave him down Sora took the moment to stop by her house and greet her as well. “Morning Fluttershy, hey have you seen any strange creatures lately?” “Strange creatures?” She tilted her head and thought about it, before a wave of fear suddenly struck her. “Y-Y-You mean… as in… a heartless?” He shook his head quickly to reassure her, “N-no no no, nothing like that I promise.” Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief hearing that, yet was still curious “So then, what is it your looking for, It’s not a hurt animal, is it?” and now her voice was filled with concern and worry. “No, I mean… i’m not sure. It went into the forest and I had a request to look for it, though I think I know what it is, however it’s not from this world, so it might get lost.” “Oh dear, oh no no no no, they could get hurt, or worse.” Fluttershy was now fearful for the mysterious creature’s health “We have to go find it.” Fluttershy already flew past him and was making a beeline for the forest. Sora nodded as he turned around as well to head to the forest “Right, that’s what I-wait you’re coming?” He stumbled a bit but followed after her. “Of course, the poor thing doesn’t know how scary the forest can be, and now it’s even worse with heartless living in there as well. We need to hurry before it gets hurt.” She spoke with conviction this time that Sora couldn’t help but admire. He smiled “Wow Fluttershy, you certainly have a lot of courage,” he chased after her as they finally entered forest. At that moment, Fluttershy realized what she was doing and what she said, she still kept going but she looked away. “It….. It’s not because I’m brave or anything…” “You seem pretty brave to me,” Sora said as he was able to catch up with her now. Fluttershy seemed to not say anything in response after that. So Sora decided to leave her be for now. They had a more important task to deal with at the moment anyway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sweet Apple Acres “Haaah! Yah! Rrrraaaaw!!” The battle cries of Rainbow Dash could be heard throughout the farm as she aggressively went all out on one of the training dummies that were still standing. Applejack just watched with an unamused look on her face as she stood around the scattered remains of the previous training dummies she worked so hard to make for Sora the other day. “And so Pinkie can fuse with him now?” Another crashing sound and she didn’t even pay a glance at a piece of the arm part of the dummy flew right past her. She decided to let Rainbow Dash blow off some steam on the things after she helped with farm work for the day as promised. 29 more days to go for Rainbow. It was funny, she was dragging her hooves when it came to work, yet she suddenly had a boost of energy once she was able to use those things. Rainbow flapped her wings to lift off the ground to twist her body to make a one legged buck that looked more like a martial arts aerial kick. Knocking the head part of the dummy and over Aj’s head. “Yeah! It’s awesome, of course… but sooo frustrating! That should’ve been me you know?” “Oh? And why, if'n ya don’t mind me askin, should it have been you and not Pinkie?” Applejack just had to hear this “logic”. The pegasus scoffed “Well obviously if anypony should’ve gotten a cool new super weapon first, it should’ve been me, but apparently destiny decided to give it to you first so I had to settle with next time.” Applejack rolled her eyes, “Well sorry, that Ah’ stole yer thunder that ya didn’t even know ya’ had.” “I suppose I can forgive you for that” Was Rainbow’s reply, leaving Applejack to simply facehoof at her friends overbearing attitude. “Besides, It’s Pinkie who’s done it this time.” She gave a hoof punch to the dummy’s chest, making it weeble and wobble dangerously out of the ground. “Well it’s not like neither Pinkie and I did it on purpose ya’ know” Applejack responded. “It just sorta happened” “How does it ‘just sorta happen’, AJ? You’re telling me it all just happens and you have no clue how it works?” “Exactly… Ah’ can’t honestly say ah’ know how it all works now? It just does, and it’s even harder ta’ explain how we can activate it whenever we want now. The best ah’ CAN tell ya is, after the first time, you can feel how ta’ activate it again next time.” Applejack during this hold time held a hoof to her heart and had her eyes closed. “Well… Perhaps a better way ta’ truly explain it is that… Well yer heart knows how to after the first time.” When she opened her eyes she noticed Rainbow in her face and smirking at her. “W-what?” “There you go again talking about hearts… You sure that’s all there is, AJ?” Rainbow proceed to fly around her, giving off that same smug look. “What are ya’ gettin’ at?” Rainbow faked a shrug “I’m just saying, whenever we talk about it, you seem to talk about sentimental things. That makes me wonder, are you a bit jealous now that Pinkie’s doing it too? “What? Why would ah’ be?” Applejack arched an eyebrow though she could already tell she wasn’t going to like the answer. “I think, it’s because you like being together with ol’ Spiky hair.” She then proceeded to make kissy noises and hug her self. Then she would imitate both Applejack’s and Sora’s voices “Oh, Sora we’re together again” more kissy noises before she switched to Sora “Our hearts are one, Applejack, forever” A scowl could be seen on Applejack’s face before she had to hide her face with her hat to keep the growing blush from being seen from Rainbow. That’s when an idea appeared in the farmer’s head and that scowl turned into a smug grin of her own. “Well, ain’t this like the pot ta’ call the kettle black” This caught Rainbow’s attention, “Uuh, what?” “Well, ah’m just sayin, ya certainly keep tryin’ to bring it up over and over again, how come ya wanna fuse so badly with Sora. Then when Pinkie finally gets a turn ta’ do it, ya’ don’t handle it so well. Sounds like ta’ me that if anybody is jealous, it should be you. That colt certainly seems ta’ be on yer mind lately, after all.” This time it was rainbow’s turn to clam up and start to grow some red of her own. “I-it’s not like that at all!” She turned around and started  beating the dummy with an inch of its life now to release her frustrations. Meanwhile Applejack’s smile seemed to fade before looking away. So ah’ guess that’s not just sumthin’ only sora and I can do now... She was glad that Pinkie was able to join in and get a fusion weapon like she did, but she seemed sorta down about it at the same time… but then she shook those thoughts out of her head. Don’t be selfish, girl. This is for Equestria, so the sooner the other girls get theirs the better… Right? She decided it was better to just distract herself with something else. “She started putting the training dummies back together. She was in the mood to hit something as well Now. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Golden Oaks Library “And again” Merlin was casually sitting on one of his couches he brought along and floating in midair along with Spike, the two of them were enjoying some tea and snacks that rested on a floating coffee table and watched Twilight already start mastering the Spell Blizzard. “Yes sir.” Twilight was panting, these new kinds of spells were certainly taking a toll on her, but the more she practiced with them, the less excess magic would be wasted on them as she got used to them. She focused the magic on her horn, aimed it toward a wall of floating furnitures and fired a spread shot of Frost and ice, this managing to hit a large radius and tagging a lot of furniture and blowing them back and/or freezing them. However unlike the magic fire, they didn’t vanish. “Splendid, Twilight, you are shaping up to be a grand wizard yourself” he chuckled “Then again I suppose being born a unicorn and a prodigy certainly has given you quite the advantage” The couch and table Merlin and Spike were using now lowered and lazily drifted behind the Librarian, who seemed to have a bashful look on her face and rubbing the back of her neck. “Wow, uh t-thank you, sir. Too be honest it’s really hard to use these kinds of spells. I’m just so used to the ones here in equestria and they seem to use magic in a different way.” She sighed before psyching herself up for another round. “And ever eager to continue as well. Alright then, now that you know how to use the new spell…” Merlin paused and let his student continue “Right, now I just need to minimize the amount of magic I use for it as much as possible… Which means, keep shooting” she nodded to herself and watched as the frozen furniture moved away to thaw out a bit for another round and new and objects furniture took it’s place. Just as she was about to light up her horn, however Merlin’s voice caught her before doing so. “A moment, Ms. Sparkle!” When Twilight looked back to Merlin he noticed him stroking his beard. “Something… does not belong here… Spike was looking up at the wall of furniture while eating a scone scanning it all over. “What’s wrong Mr. Merlin? It all seems the same to me. “Yes…. perhaps a closer look is in order” he looked toward the floating table in front of them holding their snacks and tea. “Excuse us for a moment if you please” he spoke politely and the table simply moved out of the way of the couch “My gratitude” he nodded toward the table before the couch they were sitting on started floating up towards the target practice objects. “Now let’s see here” Spike watched the professor scan the furniture, even making the couch move around so he would have a better look at one area or another. So the little dragon decided to look around as well. In time Spike was the one to see it first “Hey, there’s a book just lying on that table, is that one of ours?” Merlin stopped his search and looked toward where Spike was pointing. “... Ah hah! Splendid observation, my boy,” he patted Spike’s head, letting the little drake puff out his chest in pride as the couch floated over to said table. “Oh ho, so you decided to come along you little stow away, “he held out a hoof and the book lifted off the table and into his hoof, and in a it seemed to float in a slow way like it new it was found and in trouble. “Now, now, What’s come over you, you know you're supposed to remain in Hollow Bastion while I was gone. Did you really miss seeing him that much?” He seemed to be speaking to the book. “Is everything alright up there Merlin?!” Twilight was curious why her training had stopped. “Ah yes, everything is fine, Ms. Sparkle” Merlin held onto the book as the couch descended and hovered away from the target furniture “It would appear a naughty friend of mine was about to become prey to your next blizzard attack” Once the couched reached its previous spot the table moved back in front of it again and Spike was able to take his cup of tea from it take a drink. “Oh dear, I didn’t know, are they alright?” She  went over to them only to see merlin place a book on the table. “Huh?” She looked at the couch again… Only Merlin and Spike… her gaze returned to the book, then pointed a hoof toward it. “Your… friend?” He chuckled, “Indeed, though I suppose it’s a closer friend to Sora then I” (Image Source: http://www.finalfantasykingdom.net/kh2100.php )   “This book?” Now Twilight loves books, but to consider one as a friend… !! “Is… Isn’t that Sora?” she pointed a hoof to the human boy on the cover, she could never forget Sora’s true form. Seeing the wizard nod she looked at the other being in the picture. “Who’s that?” “One of Sora’s friends of course, though I’m sure he must’ve told you already.” Merlin stroked his beard and observed Twilight as she examined the cover. Her mind went back to the extensive story telling Sora gave, then she recalled the part where he talked about something she considered absurd at the time. Being able to be transported into a storybook and…. “Wait… a little bear… red shirt… Is this Pooh?” Her memory slides in for the win. “Correct again, Ms. Sparkle,” Merlin gave another nod, but when he noticed Twilight about to use her magic to open a book he cleared his throat. “Ahem, Now now, it’ll be rude to visit Sora’s friend without Sora to properly introduce you to them.” Being denied of reading a book caused her to sag a little as her ears flayed back “Oh, s-sorry… wait, why would I need to wait for Sora just to read a book.” Merlin chuckled, all of a sudden the purple unicorn seemed to have forgotten that part of Sora’s story or he just didn’t believe it. “Why indeed Ms. Sparkle.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everfree Forest 20 minutes later         Sora had to walk at a much slower pace now. After a while of watching Fluttershy lead the charge, it seemed to finally sink into her that she was actually charging into a spooky forest with scary things lurking around every corner. It had even gotten to the point at times where he would have to get behind her and push her along whenever a twig snapped in the distance. “Come on… Fluttershy… Grr… We’ve been… hrrmf- to this place before, we’ll be.... fine.” Sora tried to reassure his timid friend as he grunted another few steps forward pushing her along. “Um, R-right… You're right, I-I’ll be fine now, Sora” she then sighed and tried to put on a somewhat braver face, and stood up straight…. … … “Fluttershy?” “Y-yes?” “... You’re still not moving” Fluttershy gave a nervous smile and Sora was sure he heard something squeak when she did “Oh… right…” this time for real she started moving. Sora elected to walk beside her. “You sure you don’t want to head back home? You're definitely not too fond of being here. She shakes her head “No, no I’m not to be honest, b-but I like I said before” She looked around, not out of fear but to see if she could locate the creature. “The poor thing could be in trouble if we don’t find it, and if it’s really not from this world like you said, that only makes things even worse.” Sora noticed she seemed to pick up pace a little “You’re very kind Fluttershy” he smiled at her “You don’t even know what it is, but you still want to help them. Guess that’s why you got your element” he looked at her necklace, and for a moment could’ve sworn he saw it glow for a moment. Now sora was able to get a look at a stammering blushing yellow pegasus as she frantically tried to reply. “O-oh it’s um I-well you s-see-” She stopped immediately when Sora took a step forward and lifted a foreleg in front of her to make her stop. Sora was silent as his ears seemed to perk up and started focusing on the sounds around them… “Something’s coming” He summoned his keyblade and took a stance in front of her. Meanwhile Fluttershy backed up until most of her body was hidden behind him and shrunk to the ground as much as possible. After a moment some rustling was heard, startling the yellow mare enough to make her squeak out a tiny yelp.  Then out from the shrubbery nearby appeared a heartless, it was one of those jackalope looking ones. Sora was about to think it was gonna be a quick show of force for him, until another popped into view next to that jackalope… Then another, and another, and two more, then five more. They just coming until what looked like a small army of mini horned creepy bunnies were staring at them. “Greaaaaat…” he turned his head slightly towards Fluttershy, but kept his eyes on the numerous heartless staring at the two of them. He spoke low and calmly “Ok, I’ll handle this. You just just up high and wait for the all clear. ...I can't “What?” Sora turned towards her a little bit more to catch what she said “... I can’t… I’m afraid of heights…” Fluttershy said in her normal volume this time “What?!” Sora replied, a bit louder then he had hoped as now the jackalopes we’re heading straight for them. “Oh boy…” The Heartless rushed them, but he wasn’t gonna let them come near his friend. He started  off by firing volleys of Blizzard at them. Just like last time. The jackalopes seem to react poorly to it that they’re stuck frozen to the ground. Sora nearly unloaded all of his magic ability using blizzard on the entire horde. He then jumped up high, aimed his Keyblade at the densest cluster of the Heartless, and fired the biggest Firaga fireball he could muster with the last of his magic, causing to take a sizeable portion of them before he even landed on the ground. He didn’t stop there, the moment his hooves touched the ground, he shot off toward the rest of the frozen foes, keyblade in mouth and was moving like the wind, the sounds of his keyblade slicing through felt continuous as he was like a raging flurry of key strikes and bucks. He was clearing them out pretty well, but noticed there were still so many left. Man these guys really like to group up he jumped and flipped in the air to land and to face them once again. That’s when he noticed they were finally starting to break free. Some went after him, but his biggest concern were the heartless that now set their sights on Fluttershy. “Oh, no you don’t” with all the power he could muster into his hind legs practically jump and blast off toward his friend. Keyblade forward and imitating Rainbow’s corkscrew spin to drill through his foes to get there. It didn’t go as far as Rainbow Dash’s but it still did the trick as Sora exited out of the attack to lead into an aerial, somersault, over head swing on one of the unsuspecting jackalopes that were backing the poor mare into a corner. He then landed in front of her and looked on. He took a lot out, but there were still many left. He wasn’t fond of the idea of them laying a paw on her… so he had to think of something else. He was reluctant on the idea of fleeing, but it seemed to be the better option for Flutter’s sake. Fortunately, he did not have to even consider that as the two of them heard a familiar roar and a giant beast bursts out of the of foliage from their right and charges through the horde of jackalopes like it was nothing. “No way… is that…” Sora trailed off as he tried to get a better look, but Fluttershy was the first to confirm it. “I… It’s Mr. Manticore” her face changed from surprise to a smile of relief that their large feline friend came to their aid. The beast blasted another group away with his mighty roar before stamping his paw on one that was dumb enough to charge at him alone. He then turned to Sora and Fluttershy giving a toothy grin in response to them recognizing them. “You're a sight for sore eyes man” Sora grinned before turning to Fluttershy, now he had an idea. “Quick hop on my back!” “What?” Fluttershy was utterly confused on why he would ask such an odd question at a time like this. However, after he had to deflect to flying jackalope kick’s with his keyblade in defense, she eventually complied, her hooves wrapped around his neck, and some heat rising in her cheeks. “Alright! Don’t let go!” He waited for the feeling of her grip tightening as her way of saying “ok” before turning, running and jumping to a tree, and kicking off it to enter flow motion. Bouncing off trees and enemies before landing right on top of the manticore who took a moment of annihilating more jackalopes to look up at his new passengers. “And here we are” he helped set her down on the manticore’s back. “Hey, buddy can you let her ride you for abit? Don’t let any of them get to her.” Upon seeing the Manticore nod Sora jumped off his back brandishing his weapon to meet with his foes that were jumping towards him as well in an attempt to attack first. However he deflected it with a rapid spinning flip before landing on the ground, just to leap back up at the now stunned jackalopes above him with an Aerial Sweep. All that remained were freed hearts and black mist. The manticore was making short work on his end of the battle. It was possible that he got used to that kind of creature by now in the forest while Sora and the girls were away. Fluttershy watched the manticore swat away leaping jackalopes with its scorpion tail or paws, charge through any dense groups of them or even blast them away with his mighty roar. It was at this point that she felt comfortable enough to cheer the two of them on. Yet that lingering thought in the back of her mind returned once again. Am I just… in the way? This obviously affected her mood to continue cheering, but Sora and the Manticore continued their battle. After some time battling, the heartless were dwindling to just a few now, which was the perfect time now that Sora felt his magic returning. He stood on his hind legs and lifted his keyblade in the air. “GATHER!” A strong magnetic force appears above him in the form of swirling lights and spheres of energy, sucking in all of the Jackalopes into it as they helplessly orbit around it. “GO GET’EM BIG GUY!” Sora jumps out of the way in time as the Manticore runs and does a jumping tackle into the heartless and spell, dispelling it and destroying the last of them. With the fight over Sora was already running up to manticore and bopping a hoof against the side of the the big cat’s foreleg “Alright! Good work!” The manticore replied with a proud roar towards the sky. When Fluttershy finally flew off of its back, she gave it a hug “Thank you for helping us, Mr. Manticore” to which the big lug responded with a licking her face and giving her a rather, unique and slobbery hairstyle. Sora couldn’t help but laugh at it, but offered to help get it back to normal. “I have never seen so much mane stick that far up into the air before.” She giggles in response as she tries to straighten it out. “It’s not the first time this happened.” That’s when something clicked in Sora’s mind “Oh hey! This is actually perfect, maybe Alex here knows something about who we’re looking for?” “Alex?” Fluttershy turned to him confused on what the name was for. “Yeah, his name! I didn’t want to call him ‘the manticore’ the whole time.” Sora then gave it some thought. “Actually should probably give it a name that fits with this world, huh?” He looked at the creature who stared back with the same unsure look as Fluttershy. “Hmmm... “Kupo...” That stopped everyone’s train of thought to look around. “What… What was that?” Fluttershy asked before seeing Sora gallop off “Sora?! She turned to the manticore that only shrugged in response to her gaze. They decided to go after their friend. Sora knew he heard what he heard. As distant as it was, it was unmistakable. He ran through the trees and brush as fast as he could. In time he would finally reach his destination and meet the creature of that voice. “There you are!” He skidded to a stop. Small and white, bat wings, pink nose and pom pom on it’s antenna. To Sora it was unmistakable in his travels, and a lot of the time it was a godsend whenever he would run across them in his travels “I knew it! It’s a moogle!”     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Outskirts of Ponyville There were a group of Royal guards huddled around something in the grassy hills, “And you’re sure this is how you found it?” The one pony that apparently was the Captain looked on in utter confusion. “Yes Sir!” The subordinate saluted “During my surveillance something bright caught my attention, and it led me to it. Oddest thing though is that I can’t figure out who had done it or why this is even here? In the center of the huddle was an unconscious changeling that was bound by rope, gagged with a thick cloth and a black ring on it’s horn. There was also a parchment that was pierced through at the top by its horn to keep it attached, Written on it were was something that had the guards all scratching their heads. Sorry for the heartless in East Ponyville. I’ve been a bad girl. “Who was it that caught her?” The Captain asked himself. He then shook his head. “For now let’s bring this changeling to the capitol. Maybe the things would be solved there. “SIR!” A chorus of voices and salutes they got to work. Over on a distant hill top that same cloaked figure from before stood there observing. “Well, I suppose I’ve interfered enough. This should make things a bit more interesting” He turned and started walking away. “Your move, Key boy.”