(As Always Green Text means "click me" to play theme music to go with what your reading. Red text means to stop the music. Anywords with This coloring to their text means to click on it for a sound effect. If there is music playing, then let it keep playing, the sound effect is brief

Completely optional: Your free to ignore this)

Plaza, Celestia’s Advance

“What in Celestia’s name is that?!” One of the soldiers pointed out at the battle ahead as a new creature appeared in a flash of light wielding a giant hammer. When it’s hammer swung down on the defender below it, it pretty much flattened it to the ground with its own monster shield it tried to block the attack with. What came next was a loud thud as the stone pavement below it cracked and a heavy gust of wind from the impact blew the other heartless around it away. The defender soon vanished in defeat as a heart floated up away from where it once was.

The guards watch the bipedal being finally land on its two oddly shaped legs before lifting the giant weapon with one forelimb and resting it on its shoulder. It then turned to the ponies and lifted its other forelimb where instead of hooves was something that resembled the claws of a dragon, or better yet, the hands of a minotaur. It held out a balled up fist and its thumb was sticking up. Unsure of what that gesture meant, thankfully the creature spoke what he meant anyway. “We’re almost done here everyone, let’s show these heartless the door!”

Meanwhile Sora could hear Applejack in his head. Sora, no pony is gonna know what a thumbs up means. Hay, ah’ wouldn’t even know if’n ah’ wasn’t fused wit’ ya’ right now. He could hear her sigh Now their just givin’ ya’ funny looks.

Sora slouched a bit from this truth and grumbled. “It’s a pretty cool pose when you do know it though” in the end he ended up giving a heavy sigh as well. Before straightening back up and looking around. By now the heartless had righted themselves and decided to take on the nearest and biggest threat, which was apparently the keyblade wielder himself. He brought both hands onto the handle of his weapon. “Whatever, let’s just take care of these guys” he winded back and gave a wide horizontal swing in front of him and set to work, sending heartless flying if that hit didn’t kill them.

The guards were, for a moment unsure how to respond to this appearance of a new being. However seeing it fight against the heartless seemed to at the very least give them the idea that they had a common enemy, so it wasn’t long before they joined the fray, albeit a safe distance from the bipedal creature. Twilight and Rarity nodded toward each other before charging ahead, leaving Celestia behind to smile at the sudden turn of events.

Heartless were flying left and right as Sora charged toward wherever the enemy population was at its most dense smacking them away, like he was playing baseball. Other times he would get a running start before jumping on a heartless, or an object to fly over to them and bring his hammer down to the ground. If some heartless happened to be standing between the mallet and the pavement. Well It’s pretty obvious how that turned out for them once the two connected and sent out a devastating shock wave.

That was when Sora had an idea, which Applejack picked up on. Ya sure you and this hammer is powerful enough for that?

He gave a cocky smirk Only one way to find out he replied in his head before running off toward the ponies. Then jumped behind them. This startled a few guards into taking a defensive stance against him. “Yo, Twilight! Can you guys cover me for a second!” Before any of them were to ask as to why it knew one of the elements, said mare surprised them all when she replied with enthusiasm.

“You got it!” she nodded to Sora before running past him “Come on, Rarity!”

“I’m right here dear” Rarity responded as she fired a needle down a line of over a dozen heartless that happened to be standing at the wrong place at the wrong time. “I can concentrate so much better when I don’t have to worry about those creatures damaging my mane or glorious new outfit.” she then turned to Sora “We have you covered dear” she then turned to the guards “Right?” she gave them an expecting look before some of them fumbled a ‘yes, ma’am’ and turned to face the real threat.

Sora smiled “Thanks Rarity, I appreciate it” he then started focusing as he held his hammer out in front of him.

“Oh it’s no trouble at all dear, do what you must” She took a step forward and levitated her cache of needles around her before she went on her hind legs again. “Now then” she wore a stern yet focused face, as she began her deadly dance once again.

Twilight was all around the plaza, more than eager to try her new magic on live targets. From what she learned from Merlin, there was more than one way to use some spells. She expressed this as she charged through a group of soldiers and shadows with multiple fireballs revolving around her rapidly setting them on fire and eventually destroying them. “Out of my way!” she cheered as she continued to barrel through more and more heartless with the spell, before whipping around firing a spread shot of ice. Now they changed from burning alive to freezing to death. She gave a little twirl of her own firing blizzara all around her, turning the heartless into nice looking ice sculptures. She then struck a pose as she exhaled sharply through her nose with a proud grin. “Who’s useless now!” she then used her natural magic to levitate the ice sculptures and forced them to crash and shatter into the larger foes she saw in the distance. Even if this didn’t destroy them it was enough to create an opening for Rarity as she fired multiple precise headshots to the creatures erasing their existence from the area.

The guards weren’t slouching around either at this point as they had no problem handling the smaller enemies, but had to group up if they ever faced a larger one.

Suddenly Sora’s hammer flashed a moment then started glowing. “Yes!” both Sora and Applejack said through his mouth as he winded back. “EVERYONE! Get Behind me! He called out as loud as he could, the girls were quick to follow his direction although it took a moment for the guards to follow his instruction without Twilight and Rarity convincing them.

“Get your flanks and gear everyone, Move!” Twilight ordered them, which even caused the Captain look on in disbelief. However, She and Rarity haven’t steered them wrong yet so hesitantly he repeated the order.

“I have a name you know!” Sora was able to hear every word and it sorta irked him they just saw him as an “it”.

We’ll cross that bridge when we come ta’ it, Sora. just focus. Applejack responded as the last of the guard finally stood behind him.

“Ok, That’s Everyone! Now what Sora?!” Twilight called out as she looked one the remaining heartless all still converging mindlessly toward them.

“We clear the room!” Replied as he tensed up his muscles, gritted his teeth and channeled all his charged light and energy into this one attack. “HAMMER DOWN!”

( ) (....) ( ) (Yes, I know... I just wanted to use it once, shut up.)

( : *giggles* You play that game too much ) (... Shut up...)

Sora whips the hammer over his shoulder and slams the mallet to the ground which then shakes like an earthquake as a wave of light shoots forward in a wide cone shape and bathes the dark creatures in its relenting light immediately clearing the area. Along with leaving multiple long trails of cracks in front of him on the pavement.

Everyone, Sora and Applejack included took a moment to look at the aftermath… or lack thereof, from Sora’s attack.

“.... What just happened?” One of the guards managed to say, everyone was wide eyed and mouths agape as they stared at the now empty plaza and its relative silence. Soon they all turned to the human standing in front of them holding the very weapon that caused it.

Both Sora and Applejack fared no better as they looked out at the plaza, then at their weapon. “I just figured, it would take out a lot and stun the others… but” he then decided to ask his partner in the act. Just how strong is this hammer? as he asked this, the gem on the mallet was blinking before it reverted back to its keyblade form.

How exactly would ah’ know? This all new territory for me too! Was her only response as he got a sense of disbelief and wonder from her. This got Sora to really Look at the keyblade.

These keyblades…. Are a lot different from the ones I’ve used before now… That much is for sure.

Before anymore questions could be asked Sora’s bead magic ran out and he reverted back to his pony form, in a flash of light, This no doubt startled the guards and had them back up a bit until they saw the familiar pony they fought alongside with before they were left shocked and confused. It probably didn’t help when right after that he and Applejack unfused reverting the two of them back to normal.

The mumbles and weird looks were not letting up. Sora sighed and was about to say something, when a rainbow blur streaked by in front of him and he immediately vanished.

“Looks like you guys are done over here! Perfect Timing, Luna’s side needs some help again!” the rainbow streak, which in reality was just Rainbow giving him an express lift, was zipping through the air as fast as her wings could take her.

“Wait, who, what, But-but!” Sora had to take a moment for his mind to catch up with the situation before he clearly asked. “Whoa, we’re going pretty fast here. Is it that bad?”

“Well, the good news is that Luna’s group reached the plaza she was heading to as well”

“Well…. That” Rainbow looked ahead down toward their destination. Ahead there was a horde of heartless as seen on Celestia’s side, but unlike her side, a rather large heartless seemed to make itself right at home in the dead center of the plaza. It looked like a large statue, the base looked like tall pedestal, while four torsos of armored sinister looking knights facing away from each other rested on top of it. Each with different weapons from one another. One with two swords, another with a giant hammer, another with a crossbow, and the last one held two halves of a large shield, where each half was held in one of its clawed hands.

“Yeeeaah, so what’s the plan?” she asked as she watched the guards be kept at bay thanks to its many weapons. Whenever it fired a crossbow, it was thankfully deflected by the unicorn guards that brought up a barrier.

What bugged Sora more was that it looked like Luna might intervene at any second, and that would cost time. “We’re gonna have to give that thing more things to think about” He threw his keyblade at it, not so much to damage it, but to grab its attention. OK, Already used up my fusion time with Applejack so smashing it is out of the question… I could fuse with Pinkie and we can fire that gun thing at it. At this moment he was able to catch a glance at Pinkie, and unfortunately her hooves were tied as she was covering anti air for a group of pegasus guards that needed to recover their energy, at least he saw fluttershy make her way to them. Ok, that plan’s out for the time being… Man, Fluttershy can be pretty fearless when it comes to playing support. He shook the thought out of his head and focused as Rainbow had to dodge a flying bolt

“Great, now the crossbow one is shooting at us” Rainbow grumbled as she dodged another bolt.

“OK, Rainbow, looks like we got no choice” Sora called up to her as they finally swooped into the plaza

“You said you wanted to fuse, we’re gonna try to figure out how then.” Once he landed on all four hooves he immediately got a look at Rainbow as they had to dodge a swipe from a giant sword this time. He had never seen her grin so much.

“For real! YES!!” she pumped a hoof as she avoided another swipe nonchalantly this time. “OK! How do we do it?” she asked before bucking away a shadow, that grin never leaving his face.

Sora turned to her with a grin of his own before replying. “I don’t know, we’re just gonna wing it.”

Running through the streets and alleyways, Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight were making their way down toward Luna’s advance to provide back up. “I don’t get why… Celestia is sending us... all over there? Sora han… Oh Celestia-handled before by himself. What if guards by her get overwhelmed?” Twilight looked back where they came from, it was clear she wasn’t the runner of the group as she was panting so hard she had trouble even asking that sentence without prioritizing gulping in as much air as she could to continue.

“Then we’re just gonna have to chance it, sugarcube. You heard her, she felt something off over by Luna. Sora mighta’ bitten off more than he can chew this time.” Applejack kept her eyes forward Sora always trusted her and her friends whenever he needed them and she wasn’t gonna fail him now.

“If only there was enough time for a carriage, all this running around is making me positively sweaty, and the wind isn’t exactly helping my mane” the two ignored rarity’s complaints, at least she, oddly enough, fared better than the purple book worm.

“Quit yer bellyachin’! Ya’ll can worry bout’ that once all this heartless mess is taken care of.” The farmer shook her head and sprinted on ahead.

“Well, you don’t have to be so rude about it, hmph.” Rarity glared at the back side of Applejack before picking up the pace.

“You… You guys!.... Wait up! Oh my legs are on fire…” Twilight… did her best to speed up.

Back to Luna’s Advance

Sora was once again in his human form as blocked an incoming giant sword swing from hitting a group of guards that were dispatching the smaller heartless. Though without being fused with AJ, he lacked the strength necessary to completely stop it and it broke through his guard, pushing him back a few feet. “Man, that thing hits hard” he then looked back at the guards “You guys need to back up from this thing a bit more!”

Sora just faced forward with a deadpan stare and sighed. “Right, nevermind. You're too busy gawking at me to even listen to a word I’m saying.” he rushed in, He had to at least close in to keep the statue heartless from even thinking about those guys.

A rainbow streak zipped by taking out some heartless that were getting too close to him, before it flew back to him. “I’m not sure being backup is working. Wait, is it, working? How do we know it’s working” she and Sora jumped over a low sweep attack before moving forward to strike at it, only for the statue to rotate to the shield bust and blocked their efforts. “Jeez that is so annoying”

Sora looked over at Rainbow’s necklace, then shook his head. “No good it looks like. Your gem’s not glowing… It must be something we’re missing here for the others to work.” He tried thinking back to his first time fusing with Applejack and Pinkie, but he couldn’t think on it for long.

“Incoming!” Rainbow shouted as a bolt was fired right where Sora just was, but thankfully her warning kept him unharmed as he backstepped.

“No problem, just focus, we can’t fuse if you’re already taken out” she smirked

He shook his head “Right” he dodged the giant hammer before rushing in to strike, but once again, the busts rotated and the shield blocked his attempt, forcing him to back step away again. “It’s just nothing we’re using is working on it and I don’t think my magic alone is putting enough of a dent into it.” He has already expended his magic and used one of his ethers to restore it. He still had the tendency to use those sparingly.

“Look, Spikey don’t worry about it. I know how I keep saying that I want to fuse and all, but let’s not get all bent outta shape about it.” She couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. “It’ll happen when it happens. I just… I just don’t want you getting messed up while you’re wracking your brain about it” she made an effort to look away as she felt heat rise up on her cheeks. She REALLY Couldn’t believe what she was saying. It probably wasn’t such a good idea to do so as her gem started glowing at that moment and Sora couldn’t see it.

He took a moment to look at her, then looked at the foe they were facing… then smiled “Heh… right… not like I ever plan for these things anyway right?” she ruffled his hair and shook his head, then immediately took his fighting stance. “OK, let’s focus this big ugly thing and worry about it later”

By the time Rainbow looked back at him, the glow had vanished “You got it!” she dragged her hoof against the ground and lowered her head to the ground before lunging off the ground and flying straight at the thing, dodging more attacks and taking more pot shots to see what would work.

Sora charged in doing the same after biting down on another bead to extend his time in his real body. However there was a sudden shot of pain in his head after he did this. He barely managed to avoid three swipes and a hammer as he clutched his head and grunted in from the pain. “Agh! What was that?!” A fourth swing came by and he barely managed to block it in time, but he was in an awkward position after that previous headache and he was knocked off his feet, before he tumbled and rolled a few yards back onto the ground.

“Sora!” Rainbow turned back and gasped and was about to fly back toward him when she noticed the the living statue had the same idea. “Oh no you don’t! You get away from him!” She stared daggers at the creature and flew right at it with a lot more speed then she would normally use in fights. This proved useful as now the big guy was more focused on trying to swat away the Rainbow bug buzzing around it but failing miserably. “As if you can catch me, blockhead!” She then called out! “Sora! Get up! I can’t keep this up forever!” Which was true as she was already started to feel some exhaustion from all the fighting and flying around from earlier.

Sora, thankfully didn’t lose consciousness, but struggled to get up as his body was starting to really notice how much energy it was exerting, as well as the the pain from the tumble he just had. It was an easy fix though, he just had to drink a potion and… He just remembered using his last one on a guard that clumsily got himself caught in a pincer attack back when he was fighting for Celestia…. Ok no problem… He just needs to get on his feet and cast curaga on himself and-”Agh!” He went back down on one knee with his hands supporting him from kissing the pavement. “OK… this is kinda bad” he looked up Rainbow wasn’t looking too hot now as she was slowing down and barely dodged a swing as she was forced to back off.

“Come on, big guy… you gotta get back on your feet…” She panted as she tried to help him up by nudging her head against him. She was about to fumble into her bag for a potion to use when suddenly they there was as flash a green light above their heads as and that same green light washed over their bodies as smaller green spheres revolved around them. “What?”

“Huh?” Sora was confused too, but thankful as he felt like a million bits and quickly got up right on his feet. Rainbow Dash felt all her energy come back to her and then some. They looked at each other wondering if either of them did that.

“Are you two alright?!” they looked behind them and they noticed Rarity and Applejack running toward them, Twilight was lagging behind but once she reached the plaza she plopped the ground gasping for air and fumbling for her own potion hoping it would do the same for her as it did for Sora and Rainbow.

“Girls! You’re here?” Rainbow watched them run up to their sides Applejack stepped forward using her gauntlets to block or punch away anymore strikes the heartless tried to make on them.

“Of course we are, dear. We couldn’t very well let you two handle everything on your own. You both have a nasty habit of going headfirst into danger. Somebody has to support you after all” Rarity when to check them all over. “Oh my, you both positively Reek of sweat”

“Well no kidding” Rainbow sighed leave it to Rarity to worry more about that instead of the monster at hand. She shook her head

“Well, thankfully that those potions took care of your fatigue” Rarity smiled as she snapped her bag closed

“Those were your potions Rarity?” Sora turned back to her. “Oh man, I’m sorry you had to use it on us. Those were meant for you.”

“Don’t you dare apologize for that, mister. I know exactly what they were meant for, but I had plenty more anyway, I bought them and I choose how and when I want to use them. Whether it is for me or for others.” She was right. Unlike the other girls, Rarity actually kept a collection of Munny as she originally picked them up from previous battles hoping to plan out designs for them. Once sora taught her about them being Currency along with learning about the Moogle shop, she then decided to collect as much of them as she could to make purchases a that shop after she saw some accessories Mogson was selling as well as learning about the synthesizer. “Besides, I usually fight from a distance so I don’t have much of a reason to use them when I’m right as rain. Ethers though are another matter entirely” she giggled at that.

Sora turned to her… then reached into his pocket and pulled out two ethers and handed them to Rarity.

Rarity, was caught off guard by this and looked between them and Sora. “Sora? But I thought-”

“Yeah, I know but quite frankly, you and Twilight need these more than I do since you’re unicorns and all.” he chuckled and shook his head “Honestly though, I just… wanted to show some appreciation for what you did.” once she took the ethers in her magic he flashed a big grin. “You really saved our hides back there.”

Rarity watched as he smiled at him before turning around and rushing back into the fight, She had been paid back for her generosity when she never had any intention of being paid back, but it wasn’t till after hearing his words that she actually thought about how wonderful it felt when it did happen. She then nodded and used one of the ethers as she had a determined look on her face. “Right, I mustn’t keep my friends waiting” She was thankful for all her friends and she was gonna make sure she was gonna help them anyway she could. Getting a good look at the being before them, she could see how it was giving them so much trouble… yet… it was so obvious how to take it down… perhaps if she-

Sora had once again been deflected by that same shield bust again. It was getting on his nerves, however that concern was set aside as a flash of light appeared behind him, the moment he turned around he was caught off guard when something flew at him. “Whoa!”.... He then realized what it was, Rarity’s gem. He turned to look at her and she was frozen in place surprised about what was happening as well.

Rainbow couldn’t avoid seeing this after that brief light show grabbed her attention. And she immediately wished it hadn’t “No…. no no nooooo… RARITY! Even Rarity gets it before I do?!”

Sora turned to Rainbow hearing her as he took the gem “Whatever happened to the ‘let’s not get all bent out of shape about it’ speech?”

“That was before Rarity’s gem popped out. I mean what does she have that I do-Whoa!” Rainbow was forced to back off from a hammer swing. “Ugh! Whatever, just hurry up and do it, already!”

Greeeat, now she’s in a bad mood Sora sighed before turning to Rarity. “You're ok with this?” he had to ask her to be sure, but he already held it over his keyblade.

After regaining her composure Rarity smiled at him “Yes, quite so, darling. I have faith that this is exactly what we need right now… And besides-” She looked to Rainbow and gave a smirk “I have to demonstrate to my rather rude friend over there how a lady handles things.”

Rainbow looked away forelegs crossed with a grunt as she mumbled “How? By whining about it?”

“Right! Here it goes then” he nodded then looked at the gem and his keyblade. “Connect!” and that familiar light show immediately started taking place while he and Rarity were sent on a trip to a place the key bearer has started getting used to as reality slows to a halt.

Whereabouts Unknown

Eyes open, Sora was welcomed by that same infinite black void that would surround him every time he came here. “Aaaand back here again.” he looked down and yet again he was standing on that same green stained glass floor this time with both Apple Jack’s and Pinkie’s elements in the smaller circles of it. He then looked around and as expected, There was Rarity as she was just coming to. The first thing she saw was what she stood on and it was large.

(Picture made by Akili-Amethyst )

She was absolutely stunned “My word… Whoever made this definitely got my good side”

This made Sora stumble a bit. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that would be your first response to all this”

After hearing his voice Rarity stopped admiring the rather exquisite mosaic stained glass picture beneath her and looked around frantically until she saw Sora on his one pillar. “Sora? There you are! Is… this normal, dear?” she then looked around at the black nothingness that surrounded them.

He laughed a little. “Yeah, this means it’s working. Well the first half anyway”

“First half? Meaning we’re not fused yet?” She then took a moment to think about what she was saying. “Well I suppose that answer is obvious since you're over there and I’m over here… Where is here anyway?”

“I think AJ and I explained this before to you guys, but this is basically our hearts in a sense. Or at the very least something that's reaching out from our hearts.” Sora stopped to think about it. “These things we’re standing on. I think this pillar I’m on, is what's representing my heart trying to bond with yours like it did with AJ and Pinkie.” he explained he then looked at the floor of her pillar “What you’re standing on, is basically Everything you know and love that’s within your heart…. I think” he added. “Or at least what’s important to you in your heart.”

Rarity took a moment to digest it all. “I believe I remember something like that when you were explaining it all.” she held a hoof to her muzzle and thought. “So, you said there’s more that we must do for us to “bond” so we can fuse correct? What is that?”

This is a gift to the generous. The most worthwhile gift the receiver could give.

Sora decided to let Rarity freak out for the moment about the disembodied voice as he took a moment to digest that riddle. “A gift to the generous” he looked over to Rarity who was looking behind herself in hopes to find the owner of that voice. “Don’t bother, Rarity, you won’t find whoever said that, but we do have to figure out the meaning of what it said.”

“You’re, rather calm about this… Though I suppose that is fair now that I think about it, you’ve already experienced this with both Applejack and Pinkie, correct?” Rarity finally composed herself and decided to join in with his brainstorming. “Right, so if we figure out the answer, then we can move on… Hmmm… A gift for the generous… Well if we’re talking about a gift for me, I know that I would absolutely enjoy a new hat to go with this darling outfit.” Rarity looked at herself and admired her work.

Sora decided to think back on recent events for a hint of what it was that triggered the connection…. All he remembered doing was getting healed by Rarity...She definitely was generous to use her own potions on him and Rainbow… He figured it was only fair to pay her back. Not that she needed the ether, but he… ! A thought came to mind as he looked over to Rarity.

His silence had already grabbed her attention when he never responded after her hat suggestion. So seeing him suddenly stare her down was a bit unnerving. “Or maybe it's not a hat, ahem…”

“Excuse me?” that response caught her off guard. “Have I done something?”

He smiled while scratching his head. “Sorry, I meant, I want to thank you again from before with the potion.”

“Oh that again?” she blinked, confused as to why he brought it up but soon smiled “I believe you were already quite clear about that, dear.” She giggled

“I know, It was the best gift I could give in return for your generosity” He gave a smirk

“Yes, indeed… Hm?” That sounded familiar to her, that’s when it clicked. “Wait… Sora you're saying…”

Sora held both hands behind his head and flashed that big goofy grin. “My greatest gift to you, is my gratitude”

A flash of light erupted from beneath them as a pathway of stained glass appeared and connected both their pillars.

Gratitude, is the reward for a generous friend. Always appreciate those that give. Your Hearts are connected. A New power is unlocked within you.

Sora was finally starting to see a pattern to these riddles, and it gave a major hint to the what the others might be, but that was for another time. Right now what was important was completing the fusion. He turned to Rarity and watched her quickly make her way over to him. She wasn’t gonna question how that path of floating stained glass window panes were suspended in mid air in fear that if she did, the laws of physics would actually listen to her and try to correct it while she was walking on it. Once she did make it to the other side she sighed with relief and faced her gaze on the key bearer. “I must say, this is a rather, unique experience. Am I to assume that now, the process is complete?” She heard the voice but wanted to be sure.

Sora nodded with a laugh as he pulled his keyblade out, below them on the floor, in one of the smaller circles by the other two gems. One of the circles were filled in with Rarity’s Element of Generosity. “See, your heart and mine are connected” he pointed to the gem.”

Rarity blushed and giggled “My, my... Sora be careful what you say to a lady, dear. You’re already charming as it is, saying such things would be overdoing it to some.”

This caused Sora to fumble a bit with his keyblade, caught completely off guard by her response, and immediately blushing from her accusation “no, I mean, uh… L-let’s just go” He hastily pointed his keyblade down toward the circles with gems on as light engulfed him. All the while Rarity had to cover her mouth with her hoof to stifle any future giggling whilst watching Sora fumble his words and actions.

Just before they’re hearts and mind were connected Rarity managed to think of this in private. He’s rather cute when he’s flustered. Once again did time return to it’s normal pace as they were brought back to reality

The Battle for Luna’s Plaza

The light soon faded and what it left behind was Sora in his new fused human form. Streaks of Purple impeccable hair with a bright sheen. Eyes a darker shade of blue, yet, seemed they appeared to be much sharper than his regular eyes. As if he could see certain things sooner than others. On the back of his jacket the Element of Generosity was glowing brightly. Finally, in his hand, was a new form of Keyblade.

(Owned by aniamalman )

Everyone was in awe of this sudden appearance. Except for Rainbow Dash, she was still pouting on the side “Yeah, whatever…”

Sora took a moment to look at the keyblade in his hand, turning it over a few times to get a good look at it. “It seems… fancy”

I prefer the term elegant, darling. Rarity chimed in from his mind which caused him to look up, but instead of seeing her he was face to face with their target. Now then, as much as I would love to examine that divine looking weapon we have. I would feel much better if we take care of this brutish beast.

You have a point there he smiled and went to take his stance only this time, he took on what appeared to be a fencer’s stance as he placed one foot an inch behind to turn to his side, his free hand held up behind him open palm facing his head. And keyblade extended out in front of him as if he was posing for a picture of a fencer’s thrust attack. Well, this is new…

I feel that this is a much more proper way to handle a sword, wouldn’t you agree? She said as he charged in.

I’ll praise it if it’ll actually help us damage this guy that was when the crossbow bust fired a bolt at him. But to his surprise, his body swiftly made a twirling side step before resuming his run. “Whoa!”

One mustn’t underestimate the finer points of a battle, dear. As she said this, the bust fired another bolt but at that moment, time seemed to slow down for Sora, he had great kinetic vision before, but this was ridiculous. Already on instinct his keyblade hand lifted up the weapon in time to reach the arrowhead, smack it up to deflect it and ran right under it as it rapidly spun into the air before landing and sticking to the pavement arrowhead first. It is my firm belief that the most stylish fighter is the one that rules the battlefield, after all.

As they finally closed the distance, the busts rotated rapidly so the shield bust was facing them. That’s great, but it won’t help us if we can’t get past that guy.

He heard her giggle as he felt himself jump toward the shield bust You simply need to step back and really assess the situation. Observe. Just as they were about to reach the shield, instead of striking at it or backing off, he planted a foot on it, ran up, flipped over it until he was right side up facing the bust’s head, keyblade pulled into his chest. Now then, with gusto she said and the two of them made their motives clear that they wanted to strike. With that combined thought, Sora’s keyblade hand was rapidly thrusting and slashing into the bust’s face, making it stagger and lower its shield.

Applejack not wasting this chance charged right in, jumped and thrusted both her gauntlets right into its chest making it lurch forward right after Sora descended and landed right on her back before thrusting his weapon skyward. “Thundaga!” What came out from above the sky was a piercing bolt of lightning that went right through the busts head and into the tip of the keyblade. There wasn’t much time to admire the the display of the attack as now Applejack bolted out and away from the statue as they all started to spin rapidly to shake off its attackers, once it slowed down Applejack turned around with Sora on her back as they got ready to make another pass at it. The busts rotated and it was the crossbow again trying to fire another bolt that soon separated into many bolts.

Applejack’s pupils shrunk and was about to stop and avoid when she heard Sora call out “Reflega!” What normally would’ve been a bubble shield of hexagons around them was a hexagon wall of in front of them that not only blocked the the arrows, but reflected them right back, giving the crossbow bust a barrage of its own medicine, making it stagger back in response and leave it distracted.

I believe we’ve had quite enough of your mischief. Rarity had Sora point toward the crossbow, more specifically, with his improved vision, he saw it was aimed directly at the hand holding it.

“Firaga!” What shot out was a Very fast and thin bullet like fireball that struck at its target perfectly and exploded, knocking the weapon clean off its hand. “Yes!”

“Whoa…” Rainbow and Twilight shared the same word as they watched the magnificent display.

“Focus, Rainbow, It’s an opening!” Twilight said as she ran past her and started firing her magic at the disarmed bust. Not wanting to be left behind, especially by Twilight Rainbow shook the stupor out of her head and shot off like a rocket smacking the bust right in the face.

“Wow, ya two sure are pretty good at counters and disarmin” Applejack replied in awe as she ran toward the other bust with the swords. “But uuuh… how long are ya gonna keep ridin’ on me?”

Sora didn’t even glance her way but a surprised look did appear on his face before he chuckled weakly “Hehe, Sorry, I was kinda in the zone there and went with the flow.” he looked ahead. “If you can get us over to the hammer guy we’ll get off, Rarity wants to take care of that guy next. He placed a hand on her neck in an attempt to keep his balance as he rode on top of her.

He was utterly oblivious to the implications of what this meant to a pony, and the hand on her neck wasn’t helping at all as she had to fight back a furious blush by focusing on galloping to their target “R-Right, Fine… Just… J-just gimme a second” The sooner she could get out of this awkward situation the better and she hoped Rainbow wasn’t looking.

Normally Rarity would definitely chime in saying how improper it is for Sora to do so, but it seemed like Sora’s mind affected her as well where she was too focused on the battle to even notice. Oh dear, it looks like we have someone’s unwanted attention. Sora saw it too, the sword bust was leering down at them and winding up a swing with one of its swords.

“Applejack! Don’t stop running!” Sora and Rarity had an idea… an instinct really, that said that they could handle it. He held his keyblade out to his side. In a way he looked like a knight riding his steed into battle as he watched the blade come down at them. Applejack just closed her eyes and moved as fast as she could. Meanwhile, Time seemed to slow down for Sora again just as the sword was above and a bit in front of them. He watched his body respond by whipping the keyblade forward in a guard stance with the teeth of the blade facing down.

“Once they saw the edge of the giant sword just barely connect with the shaft of his blade, in a flurry of sparks from stone grinding against metal and lightning quick movements, Sora and Applejack were now running past the sword as it collided with nothing but the ground. Instead of taking on and blocking that massive attack, Sora redirected the attack JUST enough for it avoid them entirely.

After hearing the loud thud, Applejack peeked one of her eyes open “We… We’re ok?”

Sora and Rarity shared the same look for a moment as both their voices came out of his mouth “That worked?” They looked back at the sword they just deflected but face forward with a grin on Sora’s face. “How’d we do that?!” they both asked.

“Don’t ask me, but ya may need ta’ do it again!” Applejack replied as she looked up at the other sword getting ready to swing at them.

“Right, right, we got this!” Sora stared down. This time the sword swung low in front of them and was going for a sweeping strike. Rarity through Sora’s eyes seemed to catch on to something about it and shot her thoughts to Sora, causing him to grin “Keep running no matter what, AJ!” He called out to her.

“You got it!” Trusting his word She glared forward at the impending doom. When it was just in front of them, she couldn’t help but wince and shut her eyes. What she missed was that the massive blade flying right over her, missing her hat by a few inches.

Meanwhile Sora had ducked his head down to her level to dodge it as well, then pat her side. “Good job, AJ!” he said into her ear before he lifted his head back up. “You can open your eyes now” he laughed.
Once she did she was most thankful that she was still running and in one piece. “How did you…”

“We just… saw it, Even Rarity is surprised by it. She’s saying her eyesight was never this sharp before…. Huh? She wears glasses when she’s working?” Sora seemed to ask that more toward himself, or in this case Rarity then to Applejack. Meanwhile the farmer could only stare back at Sora’s astonishment and wonder. These two were nimble, focused, and can deflect anythin’… Is this a combination of both their abilities…. She was nearing the end of the ride when the hammer bust was in sight pushing back a group of guards with its mighty swings. Thankfully so far all it had been doing is whiffing, The guards were wise enough to know when to avoid an attack. Now that ah’ think about it… when Sora fuses with me… ah’ never seen so much power before… was that a combination of both our strengths?

“Welp, Here’s our stop!” Sora replied as he lifted his legs to stand to place them on her back then jumped off into the air toward the bust. “Thanks for the ride!” They now had the hammer bust’s attention as it prepared a wide swing to knock Sora and Applejack away. One look at the hammer with his keen sight and both he and Rarity discovered that this attack they couldn’t counter and Applejack was still in the target range. So its attack had to be interrupted. Fortunately the idea came to them just as quickly as gravity started to take hold. Fortunately, the enemy decided to swing the hammer with one arm, so it only left two targets for them. Sora aimed his keyblade at the shoulder “Freeze!” and shot out what appeared to be a large coned ice shard that shot out just as fast as their fused firaga attack earlier, pointed edge facing the target and spinning to cut through the air. He quickly fired another one at the crook of its arm where the elbow was on the other side.

Once both shards hit their intended target, it pierced into them sticking them in place before suddenly flash freezing them in place, cancelling out the Bust’s attack and finally succumbing to the weight of it all was forced to lean with it as the hammerhead hit the ground uselessly since it couldn’t bend its arm instead. Sora could be seen fist pumping in mid air before his feet touched the ground. Once they did he was already sprinting forward.

Meanwhile Rainbow and Twilight were making short work of the crossbow Heartless. With its weapon too far from its reach thanks to its stationary lower body, it had to resort to punching swinging its arms at its foes. This was no trouble for the two girls as Twilight simply stayed just far enough back from its punches while shooting at it with her magic, and Rainbow could easily dodge every swing and counter with flying punches, kicks, and bucks, while also attacking with a corkscrew drill attack into the chest whenever it left itself open.

Both groups seemed to have forgotten that two other busts were still up. Or more specifically, they both seemed to have assumed a certain bust was down for the count when actuality it was knocked into a daze for a bit before finally recovering giving and rotated with its brothers. With a sudden turn, Rainbow and Twilight were up against the sword bust while Sora who intended to jump and strike at the hammer bust was now suddenly facing the now recovered shield bust with both half of its shield facing it.

Fortunately for Sora’s case they been through this song and dance before. “Still kicking, huh? We’ll have to fix that” he once again placed a foot on the shield, ran up to the top of it, flipped til he was upright. Then once again fired off a flurry of stabs and swipes like he was fencing with its face at lightning speed. Before finally giving one final thrust and calling out. “Thundaga!” and a piercing bolt of electricity struck from above, through it’s head and connected to the tip of his keyblade before Sora fell to the ground again. The shield bust was down once again.

It would appear that we need to properly finish this thing off to avoid any future interruptions. Rarity suggested

Agreed, let’s take care of it while it’s staggered. That’s when they both happened to notice a flash.

The symbol for Rarity’s element was glowing on her keyblade. It seemed to happen at the perfect time “Whoa… You don’t suppose…” he was already smiling knowing the answer.

Only one way to find out, darling. He got a the same sense of daring and wonder from her that he had. So he lifted the keyblade and pointed it skyward.

“Let’s see what we got then. Transform!” Back with Twilight and Rainbow, Applejack had decided to double back when she saw the rotation, worried about the girls. She managed to hear Sora yell out the word ‘transform’ in the distance but had no time to look back as she was already running towards Twilight who had just pulled up a barrier blocking the last giant sword strike, but it was obvious that it took its toll on her.

“Hey, Back off from the egghead!” Rainbow charged and clonked it on the head with a double forehoof comet strike, but this bust seemed more durable compared to the crossbow bust as it wasn’t dazed and attempted to swat her away with its other sword, which she had no trouble dodging but was frustrated that her attacks weren’t as effective as with the last bust they fought. She needed to be faster, more speed meant more force in her attacks.

“I-I’m fine, that sword is heavy… it took out a lot of magic from me just to shield from it, like that last heartless back when we fought at the castle.” Twilight pulled out another ether and tossed it up over herself. Feeling all her lost magic regain itself. “Ah, much better” she sighed with a shake of her head. “It’s hard to attack it when it’s so focused on me.”

Applejack took another look at the creature and it seemed to be solely staring at them, or more specifically Twilight…. She then started to have thought about it all… “Twilight…. Have ya’ managed ta’ hit it with magic yet?”

“Uh, no, once those things rotated, it took one look at me and was all swing happy… Why?”

“Sugarcube, sumthin’ tells me it’s more afraid of ya’ then it is of me or Rainbow.” She watched said pegasus still attack at its head though it only seemed to prove less damaging and more annoying to her foe as it was continue to swat her away like a fly.

Twilight gave the scene another look, and with a clear mind she could see it. “You… You may have a point…. Is this one weaker to magic than the others perhaps?

Applejack looked back at their foe and adjusted her hat a little “Only one way ta’ find out. You focus on yer magic. Ah’ll take care of anymore attacks it’s flingin out.”

Twilight stared at her friend in utter shock “What? H-how? They’re giant swords! Even if you catch or managed to hold your gauntlets at the just the right spot to block them. All that weight and mome-”

“Trust me, Twi. After watchin’ Sora, Ah have an idea.” Applejack spoke quickly as it was getting ready to strike again, as Rainbow was doing her best to stop it by attacking the arm that was winding the sword back. Applejack stood on her hind legs for a moment hitting both horse shoes of her gauntlets together a few times as the equivalent of punching one’s fist into their own open palm a few times to psyche themselves up.

“Ah got this…”

Kingdom Hearts: Harmonic Connections

by Mr Curious Writer

Chapter 23: Gratitude's Reward