• Published 25th Jul 2013
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Kingdom Hearts of Harmony - steel soul



The weight of Sora's failure at the keyblade exam slowly began to eat away at him. In his lonely despair a door appears in front of him, opening a way to a new world with creatures he would have never thought he would see.

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Restful Respite Part 2 (Edited)

Kingdom Hearts of Harmony

By Steel Soul

Restful Respite Part 2

Green to start music and red to stop music

It went without saying that when Sora had finished the tale that was his life as a Keyblade Wielder, that many of the ponies within the room were left speechless. Even the princesses, knowing where he had come from beforehand, could not have fathomed just how much Sora had been through at such a young age. To tell the least, his story would have been seen as downright fantasy if it wasn’t for the fact that Princess Celestia confirmed everything he had told the girls.

He had told them of the worlds he had seen, the people he visited, and the monsters he fought. He told them of the friends he made along the way, as well as the enemies he vanquished. All the while the pony’s around him would listen in with wrapped attention, something he honestly wasn’t quite used to if he was telling the truth.

With his life story finally ended, the stallion would look away from the group of ponies staring holes into him, scratching his cheek as he did so. “Hehe...So, that's it I guess. Everything I was a part of at least. I’m sure Riku has some stories to tell to fill in some blanks but as for me, that's it, up until I ended up here in Equestria."

Twilight, Applejack and amazingly Pinkie Pie had remained quiet throughout the whole of Sora’s tale. The latter only occasionally allowed her quill to jolt down a few notes as he spoke, and the former looked on towards the stallion with her undivided attention as if she was a filly being told a bedtime story, which was slightly ruined due to the fact that she held a bag a popcorn, munching away happily from it as he had woven his tale.

Sora still wondered when she even had time to pop any sort of popcorn in between his story, though if it was like everything else the pink mare did, it was just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie so he decided to leave it as that.

The farm mare, herself, held an air of knowing, as if every word he spoke, no matter how outlandish or crazy, was nothing but the truth. Sora didn’t know why he felt that about her. Maybe it had something to do with her Element of Harmony. Maybe it was just her natural instinct about ponies...or people in general. Still, the fact that she did believe him gave him some kind of comfort.

When his gaze shifted over towards that of Rarity and Fluttershy’s own, he was quite surprised by the fact he could still see the tell tell signs of tear stains down each of the mare’s cheeks. He was pretty sure he had heard them when he had gotten to the part of Riku’s betrayal and redemption. Even the part when Sora himself had found his lost friend’s at least after being away from them for so long. Even the stallion himself had to admit that he cried when he finally found his very best friend Riku once again.

All of that paled in comparison to when he had gotten to the part where the stallion had sacrificed his own heart so that Kairi could have hers once again. He was pretty sure that somepony had said “Of course he did,” During that time in the story, though he couldn't quite place who it was at the time. He even caught Scootaloo rubbing her eyes harshly, tying her best to wipe her own tears away. Honestly Sora had no idea he had this much of an effect on these ponies. It was both frightening and...comforting to him for some reason.

After that he was pretty sure he heard a collective sigh of relief when he got to the part of Kairi recognizing him and, through the power of their friendship, was able to turn the poor boy back into what he once was.

Celestia herself couldn’t allow such an action to go unanswered as she whispered softly, “The power of Friendship…truly an amazing thing…” The taller princess had wrapped a hoof around her sister’s shoulder at the time. “Something I wished I learned oh so long ago…”

Luna, for her part, only stared at the young stallion. She had held her piece throughout the story itself, though a crack in expression formed when she had learned how Sora’s friend had fought the darkness in his own heart and won, making it his own. Even more so was when Sora had been lost to the trap set up by those who wanted his heart, Riku was the first to jump to Sora’s rescue, saving him just as Sora saved Riku.

“As did I dear sister.” the Lunar Princess said softly. "As did I..."

Sora had shook the memories from his mind, deciding that the present was a better place to be at the moment. Looking over towards the three fillies that were right in front of him, the stallion couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the little orange pegasus shaking softly between her two friends.

“Hey, Scootaloo?” The young stallion spoke up, lowering himself to her level. “Are you...okay?” He placed a hoof upon the filly’s shoulder only for said filly to cry out the loudest and shrillist cheer he had heard from her yet. So much so that his ears folded back against his head at the sheer might of her scream. Before he could even apologize for whatever it was that he did, the young filly pulled the stallion by his jacket, her eyes shimmering brightly into his own.

“That.” She began, her voice cracking ever so slight with pure glee. “Was! SO! WICKED!!” She shook the stalin by jacket before releasing him, her buzzing wings lifting her off the ground ever so slightly. “You really are an alien right?! And you really did do everything you told us, right!?”

Sora blinked at the girl’s questions, unable to process them fast enough to answer correctly. However before he could gather the sense enough to answer, small yet surprisingly strong yellow forehooves pulled one of his own into a hug..

“He's not an alien.” Applebloom reprimanded Scoots. “ He doesn’t have weird tentacles or two mouths like in that one book Big Mac Keeps on the top shelf. ”She stuck her tongue out at the orange filly. “Plus you've seen him in action yourself Scoots. Ah mean he took on an eighteen story high monster back at the crystal empire as if it was a light workout. Not to mention he saved us loads of times!” She looked up towards the stallion with bright sparkling eyes and blushing cheeks. "Right Sora?"

Sora looked away from the filly, scratching the back of his head. "Well...wouldn’t say it was a light workout…” He smiled brightly. “ But there was no way I was going to lose to a jerk like that!" He declared.

Scootaloo latched on to the stallion by the cheeks on his face and began shaking him wildly. “Still. Like I said, he’s awesome. Hey, can you tell me how many monsters you’ve defeated? Do you still have any of that fairy dust on ya that made ya fly? Can I see your hero badge? NO! WAIT! TELL ME HOW I CAN I GET A KEYBLADE OF MY OWN!”

“Now Scootaloo,” Applejack reprimanded with a chuckle. “He can’t go and tell ya anything if’n y’all don’t let him breathe.”

Scootaloo blinked before gasping, jumping off of him and giving the stallion an apologetic smile. “Ah…Heheh…Sorry Sora…”

Sora, for his part, couldn’t help but laugh at the little filly’s actions, though he did rub the tenderness from his cheeks away as he spoke “No worries Scoots. Besides!” He reached into his coat jacket, pulling out a small round stone, no bigger then that of a bit, before tossing the it over to her. “I can show you this though. Its my Olympus Stone I used when I went to to the underworld. I'll need it back though.”

The orange filly’s eyes widened by degrees as she looked upon the golden medal with something akin to reverence. “Holy Celestia…”

Applejack chuckled softly as she wrapped a hoof around the stallion. “Ah have ta say, Sora, that is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the mightiest tales ah have ever been told in ma life,” She paused before putting on the warmest smile he had ever seen you use. “But, as it were I was party to your most recent adventure, ah can't help but think that everything ya said was true.”

Sora smiled before locking his forehooves behind his head. “Honestly, some parts still feel like a dream to me. One part of it may just have been a whole dream if I’m being honest here.” He paused before lowering his hooves to the ground, looking up at the mares he had gotten to know the past few days. “Ah...so...ya know. We still cool?”

Rarity coughed into her hoof politely, gaining everypony’s attention. “That, my dear Sora, goes without saying Darling. You have more than earned the right for us to call you a friend. What? Did you think we would drop you when we learned everything about you?”

“I don’t know...maybe. Never did this before actually.” Sora smiled a little at her words before asking. “And you’re not mad at me?”

“Mad?” Twilight said with, her eyes wide with both awe and wonder as her mind seemed to get back on page with the rest. “Are you kidding me?! I learned that there are worlds out there! Worlds full of things and places I’ve never seen or heard of before! More importantly, there are worlds full of things that I have heard of! Hydras! Dragons! Golems! You’ve seen it all and more!” Twilight had gotten uncomfortably close to Sora as she talked, her forehead pressing right into his own by the end of her rant.

Rarity saved the poor stallion by placing a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, pulling the mare back to give Sora a bit of between her two friends. “Twilight Dear, please calm down.” She turned to Sora. “And what my dear friend is trying to say darling, is that no, she is not mad at you for not telling, or rather she is but not for the reasons you think she is mad, if I am correct.” She gave him a warm smile. “Nor am I or any of the others for that matter. You have been through quite a bit before coming here. Knowing that, I can understand the reasons why you tried to not get us involved where you could. Why, you tried so hard to protect us from the dangers of the Heartless. You, my dear, truly are a good pony-Err-Person who was trying to look out for our best interest.” She said, correcting herself with the title at the end.

Pinkie Pie smiled brightly as she hopped around the stallion. “Yeah! You’re super special awesome for taking on so many baddies and fighting for justice everywhere you went, even when you didn’t have to. That just proves how good of a pony you are! We’re proud to call somepony like that our friend!”

Fluttershy blushed as she gently brushed her leg against his own, gaining the stallion’s attention. “I...I think so too. The friend part that is. And not being mad at you.” She smiled as she gently grasped his free hoof into her own. “You are a brave pony to have faced so many things and always come to care about those that are close to you. I...um...I think that is what makes you a special pony. A hero.”

“Well…Um...” Sora couldn’t help the blush that formed on his face at the touch of the shy mare’s hooves against his own, he looked away from her, scratching his cheek once again as he spoke. “Honestly...I’m nothing without my friends. It was because of all of you...all of them that I was able to keep going the way I am now.”

A hoof gently patted his shoulder, and to his surprise, found it was Cadence of all ponies. “And that’s a bad thing? The fact that you rely on your friends to fill in the gaps just solidifies how important they are to you and you to them.” She giggled softly, “And I think that's why the Keyblade chose you over your friend, Riku, when he was lost to the darkness. Not because of how strong you are physically but because of how strong this is.” She placed a hoof over his heart. “And honestly, even me, the Princess of Love, is hard pressed to find a pony with a bigger heart than you.”

Shining Armor nodded as he wrapped a hoof around Cadance, the mare nuzzling into her husband as he spoke. “She’s right, relying on your friends and those you love to help you pick up the slack is always a good thing. I know I always need her help.”

“Only when you are being a dork.” Cadence mused as she kissed his cheek gently.

Luna nodded, her eyes still having a far away look to them. “Tis true. It's a good thing that you have friends to pull you from the Darkness. A darkness that this Xehanort cretin seems to use without mercy.” She frowned as she pounded the floor below her. “I can't imagine what he wants...what his end goal is...”

Sora could see, just like before, a pained expression of helplessness on the princess of the moon’s features. Before he could comment on it however, he was pulled into a bone crushing hug by the Pink Party Pony herself. “Hey Yeah! Big McMeanine Xenanana is the bad one for sure!”

Sora forgot his momentary pain for the second to laugh at Pinkie Pie’s silly pronunciation at his most dangerous foe’s name. “HAHAHA! Ok! Now that was funny Pinkie!”

The pink one smiled. “I know right! What kind of name is that anyway?”

Once Sora had settled down, the key bearer eyes widened momentarily, a memory from his last battle playing out in his mind. He remembered a being standing over him, and a voice that was all too familiar.

“Thanks for making her worry...Lazy Bones.”

Riku...What are you doing here? And...I made her worry?

He felt a hoof gently brush against his leg, breaking him out of his deep stupor. Looking over, he found himself staring into the big blue orbs of Fluttershy’s eyes. “Sora…Are you ok?” She asked with a bit of worry.

Sora blinked before smacking his face with both hooves. He gave the mare a big bright smile and a nod. “Yeah! Just more tired than I thought, I guess.” He lied. He may have told them the truth of what he was, but he wasn't ready to tell them everything...not yet. "Sorry if I worried you, Shy."

The Yellow mare pouted softly but nodded in understanding. “I understand. Still, um...I’m here for you...we all are.”

Sora chuckled softly before nodding. “I know, and...thank you...but really I'm okay.”

The caramel stallion looked over towards Celestia just as she raised an eyebrow in his direction. He caught a sad knowing look before she turned it into a contemplative one. “In any case, what you had told us during the Exams has disturbed me quite a bit. He had control of your actions throughout the whole of the test without you being none the wiser right until the very end. While I am glad you were able to escape unharmed from his grasp, I am more worried than ever about the enemy we now face. We have yet to see these…Nobodies as you call them, but if they are born from Heartless then it is only a matter of time before we do.”

Twilight looked towards the solar princess as realization finally kicked in. “Your right princess! And we still have Sunset to deal with, along with her “Master”. Not to mention Chrysalis is running around again?” She threw her gaze towards sora. “Why is your friend working with her anyway? Do you think she’s controlling him with her magic?”

"I don’t know much about Chrysalis, but Riku..." Sora looked away, an indifferent tone being held in check as he said his friend’s name. When he looked up and noticed everypony's eyes on him, he shook his head and released a sigh before looking away. “Riku isn’t weak. Whatever he’s doing he’s doing it on his own, and I’m more then sure he’s still one of the good guys. He did save us after all.”

Celestia nodded as she gave a reassuring smile, "Then I shall trust your judgment on this Sora.” She turned to face the others. “For the most part, he seemed concerned about everypony's welfare and I felt no evil magic at work when he was in front of me, though I did feel something familiar.” She looked towards her sister for a second before turning back to the others. “Chrysalis, despite our differences, seems to be bent on helping Riku, and she did save Shining Armor, am I wrong?”

The stallion in question grew a scowl as he looked away. “She…Did…”

Celestia nodded. “What Chrysalis wants out of all of this still worries me, but I believe that Riku has a good head on his shoulders and will keep her in check." She shook her head before saying. “For now. until we know more, our enemy is the one who had given King Sombra his powers in the first place.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Wait...What do you mean princess?”

Celestia sighed before looking upwards. “Oh long ago I felt something during Sombra’s first uprising. Something that was so covered in darkness it even made me shiver. I had forgotten about it at the same time that the Crystal Empire disappeared sadly and I have not felt anything like it until Nightmare Moon’s return.” She sighed and looked towards the others. “If Nightmare Moon and Sombra are connected.

Twilight tilted her head. “Wait…Princess, it was prophesied that Nightmare would return. How is she and Sombra related?”

“Twilight,” Celestia said softly before looking away. “That is a story for another time I'm afraid...and...not mine to tell.”

Twilight wanted to say more, to ask more, but the look her teacher gave her said to let it drop for now. Twilight bit her bottom lip and then nodded. She was sure this information was going to plague her for the next few nights.

Celestia sighed before continuing. “I know not who it is, but I know that they are responsible for everything that happened in the Crystal Empire, both the first time and the more recent time. Whatever they are trying to accomplish I know not. What I do know is it put my ponies at risk. If things didn’t play out in our favor, then we would have lost more then just a kingdom to the darkness.”

“Be that as it may, dear sister, we did not lose. We not only gained back our memories but the lost empire, as well as all of the ponies who were lost to it.” Luna said with a reassuring smile. “The enemy has lost their foothold for the foreseeable future, we do believe.

Celestia smiled. “Yes, that much is true. They must not have expected our wild card, Sora, to be so resourceful, as well as Riku and the Queen’s timely intervention, so they were unprepared for such a devastating lost.” Celestia gently bowed her head towards the hero, causing him to blush a bit. “On behalf of the citizens of the Crystal Empire and Equestria itself, you have my utmost thanks Sora.

Sora blinked before placing both hooves behind his head, grinning widely. “It’s no biggie, Tia.” He was oblivious to the looks that Shining Armor and Twilight kept throwing his way each time he said the princess’s name in such a casual way. The Princess in question only giggled before nodding towards the keyblade wielder.

Pinkie laughed before smiling brightly. “Awww...Friendships really make the world go round.” Pinkie Pie snickered before making her way to the barn door. “Alright! Now if serious time is out of the way,” She quickly opened the door, revealing more than a few ponies outside, making their way towards the barn much to everyone’s surprise. “Let’s get this party started right!!”

Twilight’s eyes twitched. “Wait! When did you…?”

Applejack quickly covered the mare's mouth. “Twi…Don’t…Just don’t. She’s Pinkie Pie…That’s all we need ta know.”

~

Sora had found himself escaping the festivities of that evening, having danced and surprisingly sung so hard that he believed a quick breather would do him some good. With a sigh, he set himself under a nearby apple tree, which he honestly believed was the same apple tree he had met the three little fillies under oh so many nights ago. He closed his eyes as he listened to the party raging within the barn. He couldn’t count the times Applejack had to pull Pinkie Pie by her tail off of the stage she had set up during the party, if only so that she didn’t follow through with her plan to pull off the world’s biggest dog pile on it. Or was it a pony pile?

He shook his head. “Hehe...Geeze Pinkie. I think she has enough smiles to pilot a whole fleet of Gummy Ships.” He said, letting the matter drop. Instead his mind went to what was important. He placed a hoof over his chest and sighed. So what do I do now? Celestia said that for now I can’t follow after Riku, that resting is more important for my recovery. He sighed and leaned forward a bit, pulling his forelegs close to himself. “Not that he needs my help anyway. Doubt he would accept it…”

“Hey Idiot!”

Sora yelped as his head shot up, the back of his head hitting the tree he rested upon. Adding insult to injury, three apples fell from the branches, all aimed directly on top of the stallion's noggin by pure dumb luck. He groaned in pain as he rubbed the sore spot on top of his crown, a bit of a tear of pain forming within the side of one of his eyes. “Ow…What the?”

“Geeze…” Said the voice after he heard it release a snort of amusement. “Never seen applebucking like that before. Maybe I should tell AJ to try your technique.”

Knowing where the voice was coming from now, the stallion looked up, his eyes widening at the sight of a mare he had not seen all day. “Rainbow! It’s you.”

The rainbow maned mare rolled her eyes as she flow down towards where the stallion was. “Well if we don’t have a Surlock Hooves before us.”

Ignoring the teasing jab, Sora got onto his hooves. “I've been...I mean...There's a lot I gotta tell ya Rainbow Dash...and...I mean I not really-ow!”

Rainbow had not so gently tapped the top of Sora’s head to gain his attention. “Don’t worry about the explanation hero. I already know everything.”

Sora raised an eyebrow as he rubbed the sore spot she had struck. “You do?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes once again as she shifted a wing towards the barn. “I heard it all. I was up in the rafters, ya know.” She huffed as she pressed a hoof against his chest. “So no need to say you’re sorry and all that sappy stuff like that. And about you not even being a pony? I’ve had many non-pony friends so I don’t care stupid stuff like that. What I am mad about is that fact that you would allow yourself to get hurt, even die for ponies you barely know!!” She said poking him in the chest as she spoke. "Who gave you the right to do such a stupid selfish thing?!"

“B-But…” Sora stammered, the gentle roar of thunder calling forth the beginning of the evening’s rain.

“I know what your gonna say!” She cut him off. “You were ‘only doing what’s right’ and ‘I would do anything for my friends’! Did I hit the mark?! Well don’t, because I already know your stupid selfish reasons!”

Sora raised a hoof to say something but was cut off again.

“And you know what! I’m mad because of that! You didn’t give a flying flip about how we would have felt if you were out taking by that witch of a worse! All you cared about was what you wanted! You wanted to protect us! You wanted to keep us out of danger! Don’t you think that if we didn’t want anything to do with you we wouldn't have come to help you with Sombra!?” Rainbow lowered her head as she glared at him, the raindrops steadily pouring from the sky. “We came because we called you a friend. Not just because we had to." She glared back at the stallion. "That's right! Me too! So what?! And if you had been thinking with that stupid spiky brain of yours, maybe that silly key of yours could have opened that bubble that kept us from saving your sorry hide from that harpy. If you had freed us from the get go then maybe you wouldn't have gotten hurt like you did you stupid idiot!”

Sora had not thought about that actually, not really anyway. The stallion’s ears folded back against his head as he spoke. “Yeah…but…”

“But nothing! Maybe it wouldn't have worked, but you could have at least tried. Instead...instead...” Sora's gaze never left the rainbow mare, the stallion now being able to visibly see the mare shake with rage and frustration as the rain began to pour harder and harder around them. Her matted mane covered the mare's face as she spoke again, her voice roaring above the rain as her head shook. “All I could do was sit there! I was helpless. I couldn’t stop you from getting hurt…I…” She shook her head. “You idiot!” he barely registered the mare coming at him, even more so when she had began to strike at his chest with a damp hoof as her head rested hard against his neck.

“Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. You. Bucking. Idiot.” With each word she hit his chest; that is if Sora could count such gentle tapings as hits. “If you do that again; if you even think about sacrificing yourself to save us; then I’ll save you and beat the living heck out of you myself until you get it through your stupid head that doing such a stupid thing won’t win you any favors with any of us.”

Sora softened his gaze as he raised a hoof to gently pat Rainbow’s back. “Sorry Dash.” Was all he could say as the pair stood close to each other within the rain, both supporting the other under the downpour.

It was a long time before Rainbow sniffled before pulling away from the stallion. she gave him a rather mean glare, though Sora could tell that she was at least somewhat back to her old self. "If you tell anypony about this, about how I cried, I’ll Sonic Rainboom you into space, ya gat that!!” She said.

Sora chuckled as he gave the mare a salute. “Hehe...I promise...This stays between two friends.”

Rainbow’s frown softened into that of a smile. “You better...ya jerk. Now come on! There's a cake waiting with my name on it and I ain’t about to miss it because of you!” She said, whipping herself around and heading towards the barn.

Sora chuckled before getting up on his hooves. He looked up towards the sky, a frown crossing his features. He could feel something watching him in the darkness, even now. Rather it was instinct or just his abilities he did not know. “Whoever you are...I won’t let you hurt my friends...That's a promise I’m going to keep.” He said just before following after the cyan mare.

Author's Note:

Rework...woot

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