//------------------------------// // Anti Sora Strikes // Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria // by Codex92 //------------------------------// The flu bug had finally passed within the next few days, everypony back on their hooves, though still slightly weak as they had just recovered. Ponyville was lively again as ponies went about their business and foals ran around playing in the snow. The clouds above had continued sprinkling snowflakes down, adding another couple of inches of snow layering the ground, enough snow around a colt or filly to build up snowballs and have a snowball fight. Outside the town in an empty field of snow, Sora stood before the Mane Six with Donald, Goofy, and Kairi next to him, today being the day he, his best friends, and girlfriend would teach them about defending themselves with the magic they knew. Along with showing their magical skills, if any one of the six mares could use them aside from Twilight and Rarity, Sora was going to show them all of his Drive Forms and how each one of them gives him a different fighting style, magical and physical capabilities, and power. He was not ready to do this, knowing just one transformation could make him lose control of himself, and he knew they were all powerless to stop him if it happens. While the nervous pegasus continued to fear the worst, Donald and Goofy had already introduced themselves to the rest of the mares. "Sora?" Kairi snapped Sora out of his thoughts, looking at him with concern as he trembled slightly. "Are you ok?" "Y-Yeah...I uhh...I'm just...nervous about teaching," he lied. He chuckled nervously and gave a sheepish grin, failing to hide his fears. "I guess the only thing I'm good at under pressure is fighting and saving the world." "...Sora..." The pink unicorn knew exactly what he was afraid of. Twilight had persisted to learn about their magic, and Donald and Goofy broke him down into agreeing to show off his Drive Forms. Kairi gently rubbed Sora's shoulder, assuring him everything will go smoothly. "You'll be fine. Maybe it won't happen." "My luck is already at its limit," Sora mumbled. "I have a bad feeling it's going to happen again, and Donald and Goofy are going to see it now that I can change without using their help." "We can stop you if you do turn into that, and my light can help free you if you can't regain control." She kissed her worried boyfriend on the cheek, nuzzling his neck to calm him down. "You can fight it." "Hey, you two don't start making out when we're about to learn about your awesome magic!" Rainbow yelled out, the couple grinning nervously as they scooched away. "Ok. Now, to understand our magic, it has to be used responsibly," Donald began as he held his wizard staff in his claw, the end of his weapon a blue curved bolt with a brown mage's hat on top, the hilt black with a red gem on the pommel. "There are a large variety of spells I can use, but we'll start with the basic and easiest spell; Fire." The small griffon mage cast the spell, summoning three fireballs around him as the flames orbited him, melting the snow around him in a temporary barrier. Twilight took notes as she watched, the others staring in awe. "Fire is the basic of elemental spells to master. It's simple to control, manipulating it into a defensive shield in case Heartless lunge at you. To cast it, focus on the heat of the magic, bring that burning energy out around your body, and unleash the Fire spell in an orbit around you." Twilight scribbled down everything Donald said, along with a spell algorithm to cast the spell using her own magic, though the others seemed a bit lost. "...Did anypony know what Donald said?" Pinkie asked. "All I heard was quacking." The mage fell over and squawked, grumbling angrily to himself as he stood back up. "Am I really that hard to understand?" "Oh wait! Somepony didn't turn the subtitles on!" Pinkie Pie pulled out a controller from her mane, being the only one to see a menu pop up after pressing a button. She navigated through the features until she found the subtitle function, turning them on to see words pop up at the bottom of her vision. Exiting the menu, she put the remote back in her mane. "Ok! Say what you said again!" Everyone stared at the random earth pony, Donald and Goofy highly confused after only meeting her a couple days ago. The two of them looked over at Sora and Kairi, both of them just shrugging their shoulders and shaking their heads. "Just don't ask, guys. It's just Pinkie being Pinkie." Goofy scratched his head, just taking Sora's advice, but Donald was skeptical as he tried to figure out Pinkie's randomness. "...Anyways, I'll just continue teaching, though I don't expect all of you to cast it perfectly. And you're only learning the first levels of each spell!" Donald shouted, pointing at the eager Twilight Sparkle. "You won't learn the advanced spells until I know you're able to move up to the next level!" "...Maybe if I master it soon, can I learn the advanced variations of the spells?" the lavender unicorn asked, only receiving a glare from the duck billed griffon. "...Or a lot later...Right." Donald continued teaching each of the different spells, having Sora or Kairi take over to give an example of how the spells worked if any one of them needed to wait a while for their mana to regenerate once it was fully consumed. Twilight continued writing everything down as she and her friends watched each spell, even using Goofy as a test dummy for some of them. The mares panicked a little when Goofy just took the spells, but Sora and Donald assured them he could live through them, especially after that almost traumatizing moment in Radiant Garden during the Heartless swarm after defeating a member of Organization XIII, taking a giant rock to the noggin and living after falling unconscious. They eventually went through every spell they all knew, Twilight's scroll of notes completely filled out, her eyes sparkling as she couldn't wait to practice using the new spells. She pulled out another empty roll of parchment, this one for Sora's Drive Forms to learn how the magical enchantments in his clothing transformed him into a stronger style. The others, except for Pinkie, seemed to be a little lost with how exactly they could cast the magic spells, a majority of them unable to use magic without a horn or some magical weapon. "I actually want to try that fun balloon spell!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Only, is there a way to not make them pop when somepony touches them? Makes setting up balloons for a party a lot easier than blowing into each one, then running out of air and getting lightheaded when blowing too much!" "No, Pinkie. Balloon is not a spell used to set up parties," Donald said. "It's meant to stun opponents and knock them in the air as they pop when they touch them. It can't be modified to do that." "Aww," Pinkie whined. "There goes that idea..." "Ok, enough about the boring magic," Rainbow said, after nearly dozing off a few times from the long-winded explanations Donald gave them. "Let's see what other Drives Sora's got on him! I want to see some Keyblade swinging!" "...Uhh...W-Well, I can't actually show them all," Sora said nervously, sweat slowly forming around his forehead as he dug a hoof into his pouch. He pulled out a glass container that held a large yellow orb, these types of orbs able to quickly refill his Drive Gauge more than just striking Heartless or getting injured. "I...kind of don't have enough Drive Recoveries if I run out. I might not...show you all of them?" "I think you have plenty of energy to turn into all of them, and there's enough of them orbs you got stored in case you need to use them again," Goofy said, not helping Sora's nerves and fears. "I'm kind of curious as to how he looks on the outside instead of Donald and I merging with him." "Yeah! Come on, Sora!" Donald agreed. The other mares agreed as Donald, Goofy, and Kairi sat next to them. Sora gulped, unable to back away from the inevitable now as he put the Drive Recovery back in his pouch. All of them watched him, Kairi being the only one who knows of his hidden form that comes up at random chance. They were awaiting an explanation, Twilight especially, the teen wishing to all the stars in the universe that luck would be in his favor and he wouldn't turn into his Anti Form. "...O-Ok." Sora cleared his throat, sweat beading down his face as he was about to begin explaining his Drive Forms in full detail, examples and all. "S-So, as you girls have seen when Nightmare Moon first appeared...I used my Valor Form to take care of all the Heartless. It's also one of the few forms that gives me the ability to dual wield Keyblades, and each one actually gives me different strengths, so not all of them are the same." Twilight wrote down that little note, where the different Keyblades he can use each have their own attributes. "V-Valor Form gives me more power with physical strength. So, all my magic is fueled into my attacks, and my style changes to-" "We get it already!" Rainbow shouted. "We saw what it looks like! Just transform into it before Twilight explodes from impatience!" "Hey, I am writing down important notes, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight scolded the cyan pegasus mare. "Maybe you could learn a thing or two about paying attention and listening to every single detail Sora says. These enchantments are incredibly powerful, and we all knew first hoof how it felt to be a part of his Harmony Form with the Elements of Harmony." "...Yeah, I tuned you out the moment you said 'writing'. Just change already before you make us freeze to death!" Twilight grumbled as Rainbow Dash completely ignored her. "...A-Alright then...Here goes nothing..." Sora hesitated a little, but went through with changing into his Drive Forms. The light built up in his chest and unleashed it, a shockwave of light exploding out from him as the sound of glass breaking echoed around them. The light faded from his clothing as it was now red, even his scarf had turned red as he was now in his Valor Form, his Kingdom Keyblade and the Star Seeker appearing in his hooves. Sora breathed a sigh of relief, but he still feared his luck would finally backfire. "Thank goodness..." "Hey, his scarf also changed color too!" Pinkie pointed out. "Rarity, you didn't tell us you actually knew how his Drives worked to make anything else change with him too!" "I didn't," Rarity admitted. "This is actually inspiring. I wonder if there's a simple spell I can use to make my designs change color depending on the wearer's mood." "I'd buy something like that," Fluttershy said. "Sora, do you know how that's possible?" Twilight asked, now noticing the change in his scarf's color after writing down the magical algorithm she focused on for his Valor Form. "...I...actually don't know," Sora said. "The same thing happened when I was in my changed outfit in Halloween Town, my mask actually turning to a black mage when I went into my Wisdom Form...Maybe any other accessories or articles of clothing change too." Since they had seen his style of fighting in his Valor Form, he reverted out of it and prepared the next one. "Ok, next is Wisdom Form. This one is more based around magic." "Oooh," Twilight said in awe, finishing up writing the details of his Valor Form's style of combat from memory of the Summer Sun Celebration. "When using this form, I do have a ranged attack where I shoot energy beams out of my Keyblade, but it's more useful with casting quick magic spells. Along with that, I have free mobility across the ground, my feet...or hooves, rather, hover above the ground by blue sparkles, almost like skating on ice." Sora rubbed the back of his neck, dreading the possibility of his next Drive Form. "Unfortunately, I only use one Keyblade, so...nothing...special..." The teen hesitated, afraid to transform again, feeling like it will backfire on him the next time he did so. The others waited, wondering why Sora wasn't changing, but Kairi knew. She needed to be ready in case Sora's Drive backfired on him. "...Well, Sora? We're waiting," Twilight said. "...Right...Sorry." Taking in a deep breath, Sora began to shift to his Wisdom Form. The light built up around him and exploded, his clothes glowing brightly. He felt his form slowly building up as the light began to slowly fade, but he felt something go wrong, his eyes widening as he felt the enchanted transformation sucking away the light. "No. No! NO!" Sora panicked as the Drive Form ended up backfiring, the light quickly fading and replaced by an orb of darkness that surrounded him. The others gasped in shock, hearing the pegasus scream in terror just before he was shrouded in the darkness. "Sora!?" Donald exclaimed, both he and Goofy watching as their friend was being absorbed by the darkness. "What's happening!?" Twilight asked, unsure of what was happening. The sphere of black disappeared, shooting Sora out to the ground, his body smacking the ground hard. Instead of the blue clothing and magic sparkles they were expecting to see, the pegasus was now black: his clothing, his coat, his hair, every part of him was a very dark shading of black. Everyone had no idea what to do, if they should help him up or wonder if he would wake up. Donald and Goofy were about to run up to Sora to help him up, but Kairi stopped them with her telekinesis, her white aura latching onto their clothes and pulling them back to them. "Wait...Don't go near him," she said, stepping in front of them with her Keyblade at the ready. "Kairi, what's going on!?" Goofy asked. "What happened to Sora!?" "That's not his Wisdom Form!" Donald added. "I know...It's something much worse." The others stared at the pink unicorn in confusion, Sora slowly coming to, his limbs twitching slightly. "I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone else about this form...but now that he's like this, he's not going to be himself right now." "But...why is he black?" Twilight asked. "Just look." Sora had just gotten up on his hooves, his head drooped down as his body twitched every so often. Even though Kairi knows about her lover's Anti Form, this was the first time she and the others have ever seen it. His front hooves now had sharp claws that dug into the snow covered earth, forelegs twitching and flexing erratically. He slowly lifted his head up, everyone gasping in horror as they saw his eyes: yellow, glowing ominously on his darkened face, staring at them as if they were a predator having trapped its prey in a corner. "Oh my goodness," Rarity said, being the first to speak over the other speechless ponies, diamond dog, and griffon. "Sora's a Heartless!" "Not permanently," Kairi said before the others could make any negative assumptions. "I heard Sora when he spoke to Spike after I was knocked out by that Stealth Sneak. He knew about this form, which he called his Anti Form, and ever since he had turned into it, he's been afraid to show it to anyone around him. That's why he hesitated earlier; he knew it was going to happen." "Spike knew about this!?" Twilight asked. "Why couldn't he tell us!?" "How do you think you would have reacted if he told you he could turn into a Heartless by complete accident?" Kairi asked. Twilight couldn't think of an answer, but after what she experienced after having darkness plague her heart, she would have kept it hidden if she was Sora. "Sora isn't all that perfect. No one is. Not even me. He's kept it hidden for a long while, and during that time, he's been haunted by what would happen to those around him if they were around him in this form...which was why, after we finally reunited again after defeating Organization XIII, he's been afraid to tell me how he really felt about me...He was afraid he would hurt me." "But, we didn't even know about this," Donald said. "You two didn't have any idea what happened once he turned into this form, Donald, Goofy." Kairi looked at Sora, the transformed pegasus staring at her, his body randomly twitching as he stared back at her. "It was like you two had dozed off, having no memory of what happened...You two are lucky you didn't have to hear him explain just how terrible it is. "He's had nightmares about turning into his Anti Form, killing everyone around him, even taking their hearts and crushing them in his hands. The worst thing about this...is that he actually sees what he does, from inside of his heart." Sora had began to twitch more, unable to keep control of his darkness as it began bucking its legs and stomping its front hooves down, like an animal on a leash struggling to break free from its bindings. "He see's the dangerous power he wields, attacking without any restraint with speed no one Heartless could keep up with...He's strong, and I know he can fight back against this, but his fears made him vulnerable, making him lose that control and unable to break free from the cage he's trapped in. Sora may be brave and determined, but when he told me how scared he was, he broke down when he explained why he couldn't tell me he wanted to be with me. He's been through a lot like Riku, but unlike him, Sora actually lost his heart and turned into a Heartless, where Riku had his heart taken over by Ansem." "...So...His 'Anti Form'..." The Mane Six looked at Sora in sadness and pity, Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity having known about his scarifice, where the other three didn't and were shocked at the unfortunate event. Sora was going crazy, still staying in place, but his hold was going to be broken on his darkness at any moment. "...Is this his Heartless trying to break free? When he was supposed to...stay heartless?" "That's what he thinks...I honestly don't know, Twilight..." Kairi slowly stepped forward, staying cautious as she carefully approached Anti Sora. "But maybe I can bring him back. My light guided his Heartless to me, his instincts as one nullified by his heart, making him one of very rare and docile Shadows." The unicorn stopped before him, the dark pegasus stopping its thrashing as it looked at her. "Sora...I want to help you...It's ok." He slowly tilted his head, processing Kairi's words as she held her hoof out to him. Sora slowly reached his own clawed hoof out to hers, both of them gently touching each other's hooves. She figured he was finally able to take control of himself, moving a little closer to embrace him and let him seek salvation in her light. "K-Kairi..." Sora spoke, his voice sounding warped and dark, even though he had no mouth to speak with. Kairi smiled, but it quickly disappeared as she felt the sharp claws of his hoof grip hers tightly, the sharp nails made of darkness penetrating her skin. His grip squeezed harder, causing her to wince in pain. "G-Get...away...from me!" "S-Sora...!" The pegasus finally lost control of his darkness, moving his other hoof to grab the hoof he was already holding. He spun Kairi around and threw her back to the others, Donald and Goofy quickly catching her before she hit the ground. Anti Sora began thrashing the ground and snow around him, trying to regain control, but it wasn't going to last long. The pink unicorn looked at her hoof, a little blood trickling out from the small wounds Sora's dark claws left in her. "Kairi, are you ok?" Goofy asked. "...He really can't fight it...His voice sounded...like he was in pain." Donald used his Cure magic to heal her wounds, the mage and knight stepping forward to defend Kairi, Goofy pulling out a small shield with their king's insignia on the front. "...The only way he can really be freed is when his Drive Form runs out of energy." "Kairi, we'll hold Sora off!" Donald exclaimed. "You get the others out of here and stay safe!" "You're not going to kill him, are you?" Twilight asked as she and the rest of her friends worried about the pegasus stallion about to go on a rampage. "We're just gonna stall until he runs out of steam," Goofy answered. "We're not gonna lose our best buddy after all we've been through." "I'm staying," Kairi said, gripping her Keyblade in her aura. "Sora needs my help. Twilight, get your friends far away from here." "But he's our friend too!" Pinkie shouted. "None of you can defend yourselves against the Heartless! How can you six think you can take on Sora like this!?" Kairi shouted. "Get out of here before he comes to you first!" Sora stomped his hooves down hard to the ground, creating a powerful quake and formed a dark barrier around a large area of the field, trapping all of them inside. "Oh no...This is not good." "We're trapped!" Fluttershy screamed and began to panic. "Just stay out of his line of sight! We'll hold him off until he returns back to normal." Kairi gulped, feeling scared as she still felt her hoof throb a little in pain from Sora's claws. She wasn't sure any of them could survive if he had power that outmatched any other Heartless ever created. "...I hope..." "We've fought tougher foes in the past. We'll stop him!" Goofy took his shield and threw it at Sora like a frisbee. As it reached the dark pegasus, he quickly side-stepped out of its trajectory, missing him by mere inches. He crouched low and ran toward them, becoming a blur of darkness as he zigzagged his way toward them. Donald and Kairi began shooting off spells to try to slow him down, but he managed to avoid each one, even the large range of their Thundaga spells that were impossible to dodge. Anti Sora's first target was Donald, repeatedly slashing and thrusting his hooves into the mage as he squawked in pain. His speed was too fast, even rivaling Rainbow Dash's speed after pulling off a sonic rainboom. Goofy quickly intervened, his shield returning to him as he began to ride on it like a skateboard. He rode straight into the teen, only managing to shove him away and became his next target. The diamond dog knight couldn't block the pegasus's swift strikes, moving too fast for him to even blink let alone move his shield to protect himself. Sora bucked Goofy up into the air, leaping up after him to continue circling him and attacking like the blindingly quick blur of darkness he was. Finishing the devastating combo of slashes, Anti Sora hovered over the diamond dog, thrusting his forelegs down on him as dark energy shot out from an orb that appeared between his hooves. Goofy yelped and fell hard to the ground, still conscious but badly injured. Above, Sora dove down as a dark cone of air formed around him, diving straight for the downed knight. Before he could reach him, Kairi leapt at him, swinging her Keyblade hard into his face, sending the Heartless stallion flying across the arena. He quickly flipped right back up, landing on the ground while cracking its neck. "Sora, please! You have to fight it! You can control your darkness!" Her words didn't reach out to him as he zipped up to her, standing directly in front of her as he stared into her eyes with his own yellow ones. She swung her blade again, only for Anti Sora to strike her horn, grabbing onto it tightly. He sent a wave of darkness straight into her appendage, the unicorn screaming in pain as the energy sealed her horn, along with any magic she could use. Her Keyblade fell to the ground as she staggered from the painful pulse of darkness, only to be stuck in a painful flurry of scratches from the pegasus's claws. After giving her body several hundred scratches, Anti Sora bucked Kairi hard in the face, sending her tumbling across the snow until she skidded to a halt, laying unconscious and vulnerable as he began to slowly approach her. "Oh no. Sora's too strong like this," Twilight said, the lavender mare and her friends unable to believe the horror that was the unstoppable Anti Form. "We have to do something." "But what can we do?" Applejack asked. "Kairi, Donald, and Goofy can't stop him. What can we do?" "If only we had the Elements of Harmony, maybe they could destroy his darkness...Or it would do the exact opposite and possibly kill him or backfire!" The mares looked around themselves in the dark barrier they were stuck in: Donald was struggling to get back on his feet, Goofy couldn't move as he still laid in the crater he made as he crash landed from Sora's earlier attack, and Kairi was about to be the stallion's first victim, completely helpless. Twilight needed to do something, even if what she had planned was going to be the dumbest. She lowered her head and aimed her horn at him, her aura glowing as she focused. "Blizzard!" Twilight shot a large snowflake out from her horn, the magical spell flying toward Anti Sora. It hit its mark, making him stagger a little, his head quickly turning in the direction of his attacker. Ignoring Kairi for now, it ran straight for the lavender mare that struck him. Before he could even reach her, Pinkie's party cannon popped up in front of him, his head running straight into the barrel, his upper body stuck inside of it as he wriggled his body to try and slip out. "Fire in the hole!" Pinkie shouted as she pressed the button on her cannon, shooting Anti Sora out along with a blast of confetti and streamers, sending him tumbling across the snowy field in a crumpled heap. "We got to save our friend, even if he's dangerous right now!" "Pinkie's right! If we work together, we just might wear his Drive Form up and he'll turn back to normal!" Anti Sora began to get up, shaking off the snow and confetti on his body, tearing a streamer hanging in front of his face to pieces. "Or if we knock him out!" Rainbow Dash jumped in Pinkie's cannon, aimed directly at the charging Heartless stallion. "Pinkie, fire away!" "Okie dokie lokie! Extra speed boost coming up!" Pinkie fired her cannon again, giving Rainbow a boosted takeoff as she flew toward Anti Sora. He quickly dodged the rainbow blur, but the pegasus mare flipped over, landing on the side of the dark barrier, then leapt off with a faster momentum. She slammed into him, dragging the dark pegasus across the ground. Twilight helped by casting Magnet, dragging Anti Sora faster across the ground as the two pegasi were pulled toward the gravitational force. She dropped the spell, Rainbow gaining more speed as she grabbed Anti Sora's waist, flying them both up into the air. Taking the initiative while he was still dazed, the athletic pegasus mare dove back down and flipped rapidly. "Applejack! Over to you!" Rainbow flung the stallion down hard over Applejack, the farm mare rearing her powerful legs back, waiting for the right moment to strike. Anti Sora snapped out of its daze, thrusting his claws forward to quickly take down his prey below him. However, his quick claws weren't quick enough as Applejack bucked him hard, a loud crack echoing around them as her hooves struck his chest. The impact sent him flying, as well as shattering his form as Sora returned back to normal, the orange earth pony knocking him unconscious as he flew across the ground, tumbling repeatedly as he hit the dark barrier, shattering it and freeing everyone from the dark form's trap. With the Keyblade wielder's Anti Form "defeated", the mares finally relaxed as Donald and Goofy snapped to their senses. "Ooogh...That hurt much worse than getting hit in the head," Goofy groaned, pulling himself out of the imprint of his body in the ground. "Is Sora ok?" "Yeah. We helped," Rainbow said, helping the injured diamond dog up. Fluttershy helped Donald stand up, the mage picking up his staff as he limped over to Goofy. He used his Cure spell, healing the two of them from the very painful injuries they received from their friend. "He was tough," Donald said. "There was no way we could have kept up with him..." Twilight approached Kairi, thankful to see her breathing, but her injuries looked a lot more severe than Donald's or Goofy's. She lowered her horn over the unconscious pink unicorn, focusing her magic to cast the Cure spell. It was a harder spell since it had to use up a majority of her mana just to cast it, but she managed to do it, calling a pink bellflower to sprinkle green healing magic down over the two of them, though the amount wasn't as spread out in a wide radius like Donald's. She began to wake up, still feeling pain, but her injuries were at least gone. Twilight helped her sit up on her haunches, keeping her steady as she regained her senses. "Kairi, are you ok?" Twilight asked. "Yeah...thanks." Kairi gasped, quickly standing up, only to nearly double over in pain. "W-Where's Sora!?" She looked all over the field, spotting the pegasus stallion laying unconscious far from them all. Ignoring her body screaming at her to stay still, Kairi limped over to him, stumbling a few times into the snow. She finally reached him, thankful to see him back to normal and tried to shake him awake. "Sora? Sora!" Sora groaned, his chest burning in pain from getting bucked in the chest as he squinted his eyes open. He looked at Kairi, relieved to see him back to his old self, but he was far from relieved. He saw everything from inside his body: having hurt his friends, almost injured Twilight and her friends, gravely injured Kairi, and was about to kill her. Everyone gathered around him and looked at him, all of them looking concerned, but he knew they were afraid of him. "Sora? You ok?" Goofy asked. "...No." Sora's voice cracked, tears welling up his eyes as he pulled his hood up over his face, ashamed to look at his friends and girlfriend. "...I'm not." Night slowly came to a crawl across Equestria, the magic lesson ending abruptly after Sora's unfortunate Drive Form backfired. While the others were back in Ponyville, Sora wanted to be alone, sitting in his fully built Gummi ship. He sat in a corner of his cockpit, the hood of his jacket still worn over his head as he looked down at his hooves. Everything that happened today kept replaying over and over in his mind. He could never forgive himself after what he did, his fears had come true with the loss of control over his Heartless. Sora had truly struggled deep inside of himself to free himself and fight back, trying to take back control of himself. He only managed to hold back for a short while, losing his control and shut away deep in his heart as he watched his darkness go wild and attack Donald, Goofy, and Kairi. He was forced to watch, trapped inside of a cage that had immobilized him, unable to turn away, flinching with every single slash Anti Sora struck on them. He felt every single blow he inflicted on them in his own hooves. Kairi tried to save him, but she couldn't; he saw her light from inside, he tried to reach out to it to return back to normal, but it couldn't help him. He practically felt her hoof against his, he reached that light, but it didn't bring him back to normal. He couldn't break free of this darkness, and he threw her far away from him after warning her to stay away. They didn't heed his warning. They tried to fight him to bring him back. He trapped them inside of a barrier, against his will, the only way it would disappear is if he killed them or he ran out of time for his Drive Form or get killed by them. Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack may have been able to stop him, but they were lucky he didn't harm them. His ears instinctively perked up as he heard someone entering his ship. Hoofsteps echoed in the quiet, empty, and freezing vessel, the pony entering stopping in front of him. He looked up slightly, recognizing the pink legs, curling himself up in a ball as he looked back down, hiding his face from her. "Sora?" He didn't respond, trying to scoot away from Kairi, but he was already pressed against the corner. "It's freezing in here. You're going to get sick." Again he remained silent as he shuddered not from the cold, but from his sorrow. Kairi sat next to him, feeling him flinch as she laid her hoof on his shoulder. "Sora, it's ok now. We're fine." "...I hurt you..." Sora mumbled. "...I couldn't stop it...It didn't work...Your light...couldn't help me..." Fresh tears rolled down his face, dripping onto his forelegs. "I tried, Kairi...I really did...but I can't...I can't beat it...I almost killed you..." "Sora, you were able to hold back for a while." Kairi gently hugged the depressed pegasus, his trembling increasing as he sobbed, weakly trying to escape from her forelegs. "You did fight it for a while. We're all ok. Everyone's not hurt, and the others understand you weren't you as that Heartless." Sora eventually gave in as the pink unicorn pulled him closer to her. She pulled his hood down and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "We can help you. You can grow stronger, and control that form. I know you're scared, but your friends won't abandon you after an accident like that. I won't abandon you. Ok?" Sora reluctantly nodded, believing Kairi, even though part of him told him to get away before he turned into Anti Sora again. She gave him a light peck on the lips, hugging him tightly. Kairi then helped Sora up on his hooves, leading him out of his Gummi ship and back into hers, where it was a lot warmer, getting them out of the freezing cold. It was going to be a long while before Sora could recover from this emotional ordeal. His friends still trusted him, even after what he turned into and almost killing them. Donald and Goofy were still loyal to him as friends, Kairi never stops believing in him, and Twilight and her friends didn't turn him away as a member of their friendship circle. Sora wondered how he was this lucky to have understanding friends when he didn't deserve them after accidentally revealing his dangerous form.