//------------------------------//
// Darkness in a Colorful Land 
// Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria 
// by Codex92 
//------------------------------//

	The sun was about to set as Sora made it back to Sweet Apple Acres. For his first day being in this world, he learned a little bit about Equestria, including how amazing it was to be a pegasus in this world. Though he looked like an idiot to everyone when he said the weather can't be manipulated, going by what he learned in school and every other world he had been to. He even wondered what it would feel like to sleep on a cloud, probably a lot better than any mattress he ever slept on.

Entering the farm house, he could already smell dinner being cooked, more apple recipes he can't wait to try out. Sora laid out Big Mac's suit on the nearby couch in the living room, making sure it wasn't too wrinkled, and placed the weather schedule and medicine for Winona on the side table next to the couch. Granny Smith was in the room in her rocking chair, fast asleep as she snored and mumbled to herself.

"Sora!" The teen spotted Apple Bloom running down the stairs, carrying his red pouch on her back like a backpack. "How was Ponyville!?"

"It's a pretty good town. Far different than the ones I've ever been in." He messed with the filly's mane, noticing the awkward way his pouch rested on her back. "What are you doing with that?"

"Ah put your charm in there. Ya left it on the table before ya headed out to do Applejack's errands." Sora's ears perked up in shock, having forgotten about Kairi's charm. "Ah also saw some strange small necklaces in here...and green potions...blue ones." Apple Bloom took off the pouch and opened it. "It's like a huge empty space in there."

"It's magical...You didn't do anything to them in there, right?" he asked.

"Ah was just lookin' at them tiny necklaces." Apple Bloom pulled out one of them, a pendant that had a ukulele on it. "They look a bit too small to fit around your neck."

"They're actually special pendants." He looked around, making sure none of older members of the family were around. Since it seemed like magic was possible in this world, seeing unicorns like Rarity and watching her use telekinesis, he didn't think it would hurt to get the young filly excited about what magic he could do, as long as he doesn't show it off. He ushered her closer until his lips were next to her ear. "I can actually call some friends to appear beside me, and depending on which pendant I use, a different buddy will help me."

Apple Bloom gasped, already interested in how it works. "Really!? What do Ah do to call somepony!?"

"That, my little pony, is a secret." He winked and took his pouch back, strapping it to his right hind leg. "Now, I think your sister promised my clothes would have been dry once I got back."

"Oh. They're in your room. Ah gotta tell Applejack about your magic bag and your magic necklaces!" Sora laughed as Apple Bloom excitedly ran into the kitchen to tell her sister about his magical gear.

Just seeing the excitement in her eyes was a heartwarming feeling for Sora to give to a kid, human or creature. Their imagination knows no bounds, and he was still a kid at heart. He walked up the stairs and headed for the guest room he was staying in. Entering his room, he found his shirt and jacket, neatly folded and cleaned. He put them back on, still fitting perfectly around him; not too loose, and not too tight. He still felt the magical enchantments in them to access his Drive Forms, though he had to be careful when using them.

At times, when he relied on them to power his way through hordes of Heartless, sometimes they ended up changing him into a different form, one he might not be able to control. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he saw his reflection, the pegasus he was now wearing his enchanted garments. That reflection soon changed in his eyes, feeling the cold pang of darkness threatening to escape as he shifted forms, failing to contain it as it engulfed him, if only temporarily. Now, instead of seeing himself, he saw a blacker version of him, no sign of color on his body except for the soul-piercing yellow eyes a Heartless has. He was staring at his Anti-Form, the darkness in his heart brought out by his Drive Form, wild and swift, weak, but deadly.

During those moments, all on his own where Donald and Goofy were used as mediums to channel his Drive Forms, they seem to have no memory of what he becomes...but he does. His Keyblade disappears, a bane to his darkened form, using his sharp claws that grew from his nails, striking his foes with blind abandon. He was so fast that if anyone blinked, they wouldn't open their eyes ever again. He could see everything this darkness did, trapped behind a cage as he was forced to wait until his Drive Gauge was fully depleted, feeling how overwhelming that power was.

For the last year, he never wanted to tell anyone about this dangerous form he turns into. He feared they would find him a dangerous threat if it was permanent. Riku was forced to use darkness after he was used by Maleficent back then, making him think Sora had abandoned him and Kairi. He was used by Ansem, changing him into something he didn't want to be, but he was forgiven, now that he was able to control that darkness from hurting himself and his friends. But for Sora, this was different. He had no clue how this form came to be. Maybe it was because he once turned into a Heartless, sacrificing his heart for Kairi to awaken her, and that darkness was trying to swallow him back after he cheated his fate thanks to his crush's light guiding him to her and bringing him back.

Before his thoughts could bring him to the possible scenarios where he would end up killing his friends in that dreadful form, he snapped back to reality after smacking himself in the face. He saw himself as a pegasus again, a normal, tan pegasus stallion. He dug through his pouch and pulled out Kairi's good luck charm, just looking at it recalling how warm her light was in that moment of wandering the darkness.

"...Kairi...Everyone..." He brought the charm up to his forehead and closed his eyes, praying for some light in the charm to help him, though it wasn't really magical. "I wish I could tell you...what I might turn into...But I'm scared..."

"Sora! Time for dinner!" Applejack said from downstairs.

"Uhh, ok! I'll be down in a minute!" Erasing those negative thoughts out of his mind, Sora returned the charm to its rightful place in his jacket pocket and headed downstairs for some more of the Apple family's delicious apple goods.





After dinner, Sora helped clean the dishes, not wanting to be a freeloader in their home, and headed up to his room as the family went to bed early. Being a farming family, it's early to bed and early to rise, taking care of their chores before the crack of dawn. Unfortunately for the Keyblade wielder, he couldn't fall asleep. He began wondering how his friends were doing, having no way to communicate with any of them with his gummi ship destroyed and no way of making another. He wondered if they found out what happened to his ship, unaware of him being stranded in a world practically at the edge of the galaxy.

He sighed, rolling off his bed after trying to sleep for the past hour. Deciding maybe getting something to drink will help him fall asleep, he carefully crept through the second floor hallway and down the creaky steps. At least with his light body, he didn't make much noise, though he did seem to wake Winona up as she slept on a couch in the living room. She wagged her tail, petting her so she doesn't bark and wake the family up as he headed for the kitchen. He snuck a peek in the fridge, finding everything inside basically apple related: chilled apple pie, apple juice, apple apples.

"Sheesh. Where's the orange juice when you need it?" Sora laughed quietly. "Apples as far as the fridge can be stocked, and not a single thing to eat."

Grabbing the pitcher of freshly squeezed apple juice, he took it out of the fridge and grabbed a clean glass from the cupboards, trying to figure out where the Apples put all their utensils. He poured himself a tall glass and placed the pitcher back in the fridge, taking a small sip of the delicious beverage. He had no idea when he might be sick of apples, but if they stay this delicious, it'll become an addiction to the teen.

Before he could relax in the quiet evening, he heard Winona growling. "Winona, shh. You're gonna wake everyone up," he whispered. Her growling grew louder as Sora came into the living room to quiet the collie down. He soon saw what she was growling at, his jaw dropping as he saw a pair of yellow eyes staring at them from the front door. "Oh crap. Heartless? Here?"

The Shadow's antennae twitched as it looked at Sora, quickly ducking into the ground like the shadow it was and escaped outside. If there were more, then he had to take care of them before they could kill any of the ponies in this world and turn them into more Heartless. He ran outside, making sure Winona didn't get out to try to chase the creature of darkness and risk getting the Apple's family dog killed, chasing the Shadow into the orchard.

Under the full moon, he was able to see the Shadow fleeing from him in the small light it gave off. Looking up to it as he chased after the dangerous threat, he noticed the craters made up what looked like the image of a pony. As curious as he was to know about what made a formation like that, his first priority was the Heartless that was going to hurt the ponies in this world.

Sora caught up with the Shadow as it popped up from the ground, staring at him with its creepy eyes glowing in the dim light of the moon. As expected, more Shadows appeared from the ground, surrounding the pegasus to gain the upper hand. He grinned and shook his head, the Heartless never learning not to expect their prey to be as weak as they seem.

"Let's see how well I fight as a pony." Sora opened his mouth and summoned his Keyblade in his maw, the weapon appearing in a flash of light as the silver blade of the key shimmered under the moon's glow.

He crouched low with his wings flared out, keeping focused on his surroundings, an instinct he learned to hone when he first encountered the Heartless in that strange dream he had before his journey started. Just as he figured, the Shadows behind him acted first, lunging toward him while his back was turned. Quickly turning around, he slashed at the group with one strike, destroying the pure Heartless in a single blow. With the incredible speed he has as a pegasus, he was able to smack each one with his Keyblade before they tried to hide under the ground to avoid his strikes.

After the first wave of Shadows were destroyed, another wave came in, this time with the clanking Soldiers twitching about with the Shadows. These were simple Heartless he could easily take down, avoiding their lunging kicks, blocking each Heartless's claws or feet, counterattacking as they were parried and staggered backward. In no time at all, Sora destroyed the second wave, the ground now littered with green orbs and yellow blocks. He looked around, finding no sign of anymore Heartless and sensing no threats hiding from him.

Sora dismissed his Keyblade as he relaxed, walking around to pick up the Munny orbs before they vanished on him. "There are Heartless here...This isn't good. Not in a peaceful world like this. I guess I'm lucky I crashed here. There's no way any of these ponies can defend themselves against the Heartless." He looked up at the night sky, looking at the millions of stars out in the distance, the moon with the depiction of a pony looking down at him. "And I'm doing this on my own...As long as they all come after me, having the Keyblade, then I won't have to worry about anyone getting hurt, or turned into a Heartless."

With the Heartless threat taken care of, Sora headed back to the farmhouse, making sure to stay quiet as he walked inside. Winona was calm again, sensing the danger had been dealt with, the teen giving the collie a pat on the head. He downed the rest of his drink in the kitchen, washing his glass and setting it on the rack for it to dry, then headed back upstairs to his room. After laying down in his bed, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.





Sora lightly snored as he laid sprawled out in his bed, his legs twitching randomly as he continued sleeping. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, bringing some light into the land. The door to his room opened quietly, Apple Bloom sneaking in with a pot on her back and a wooden spoon on her mouth. She stifled her giggles as she saw the drooling stallion sound asleep, but he was in for a wake-up call.

"Rise and shine, Sora!" Apple Bloom shouted as she banged the pot with her spoon, startling Sora awake as he flailed about in the bed.

"Gah! Fire alarm! Women and me first!" He slipped out of the bed, slamming his face into the ground just like yesterday. Groaning, he lifted his head up, watching the bow wearing filly giggling at his fall. "...Very funny."

"It's time to get up, Sora! Ya got chores to do!" Apple Bloom said.

Sora poked the filly in the snout with his hoof repeatedly, making her giggle more and scrunch her muzzle with each poke. "Where's the sleep mode on this thing?" He received his answer with another loud bang of the pot. "None, obviously."

He poked her nose one last time before getting up on his hooves, stretching out his limbs as he began to wake up. Sora tiredly followed Apple Bloom downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast, where today was going to be his first official day working on the farm to earn his keep while staying with the earth pony family. It should be no problem doing some farm labor, since dealing with the Heartless and Nobodies was more of a challenge than any chores he's ever done.