A Heart Eclipsed

by Show Stopper

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sora POV

Eight-million-four-hundred-sixteen-thousand-three-hundred-seventy-two bottles of cider on the wall. Eight-million-four-hundred-sixteen-thousand-three-hundred-seventy-two bottles of cider. Take one down, pass it around, Eight-million-four-hundred-sixteen... You know what, screw this!

There's not a lot to do when one is a statue in the Royal Canterlot Gardens. Pony watch? Repetitive. Bird watch? Boring. Watch grass grow. Oh yes, thrill me. Eventually, you start coming up with stupider and stupider ways to pass the time.

Like singing One-Billion Bottles of Cider in your head. Got down to seven digits before I finally got tired enough of it to stop. Besides, there was a field trip up from that small town down in the valley. Ponyville, wasn't it? The teacher, a mauve earth pony led her class around the gardens showing off the different statues, about half of which were actually stoned prisoners. But they don't teach that in class.

"That one," the teacher said, looking at a pony statue to my left, "represents Friendship." The class oohed and awed as I wished that I could roll my eyes.

Oh yes, Quicksilver represents friendship all right. The friendships she shattered when she stabbed Lulu in the back. Literally. I mean, come on. Did she really think that that would down an alicorn?

"What's this one, Miss Cheerilee?" I focused back on the class to see a yellow earth pony filly looking up at me, a hint of fear in her eye. Not that I really blame her.

"Ah, yes," said Cheerilee, stopping to show me off to her class. "This one is Aros, the Darkness. Legends tell that there was a hero long ago who fought side by side with Prince Solarus and Princess Luna against this great foe, who could control shadows and make them rise up and attack ponies."

Not quite, Cheerilee, but you're pretty darn close.

"One day, Aros came upon the hero while he was alone and took over his body."

Eh, technically true, in a sense.

"Solarus and Luna had no choice but to destroy the hero along with the dark Aros, therefore freeing Equestria forever from his dark clutches."

And there's where the story is just completely wrong. I would have told them that it was me, but stupid shadow form can't talk. Figures the one time I bleed off the dark energy while in the castle is the one night they decide to walk in without knocking. Oh look, those three fillies are arguing about something. Cue teacher crack-down in three. Two.

"Girls!" called Cheerilee, bringing an end to the argument. She pointed to the statue that I stood directly facing. "Now this is a very interesting statue. What do you notice about it?"

Yeah, interesting is right. If I could have lowered my eyebrows, I would have been giving that "statue" a death glare for the last thousand plus years. Discord. That twisted mockery of existence. He'd been a nightmare to seal away all those years ago, and a headache for the next decade before we finally found a way to seal off his telepathy.

Oh look, the class is leaving. Shame. Looks like I'm back to counting blades of grass between me and the path.

Well, that doesn't sound like much fun.

My blood froze. I didn't even have blood, and it still managed to freeze. No. It can't be.

Which, knowing me, means that it must be!

Discord! How? Luna placed those wards herself. Your mind should be as trapped as your body.

"Oh but it is."

I stared in horror as the statue before me crumbled, revealing a hollow interior. A sinuous figure wrapped around me, and a twisted pony head came into my field of view. "You, on the other paw, seem to still be stuck. How delightful! Solo and Lulu never did figure out that it was you in there, did they? Oh, they must still think that you're dead, or worse. How simply marvelous!"

My anger surged as he laughed that insane, grating laugh of his. I swear, Discord. When I get out of here, you're going to wish you'd never broken out of your prison.

"Oh, I'm so terrified," the fiend said, pretending to cower before me. "Oh wait," he said, looking up in contemplation. "No I'm not." He gave one final laugh before flying off towards the castle.

__________

Several hours later I was still struggling in vain against my stone prison. Well, mentally struggling anyway. Hard to physically strain against bonds when your entire body is the bond.

The sky was filled with pink clouds which seemed to be raining drops of mud. Zebras flew through the pink and green checkerboard sky while the sun and moon swapped places at random. The grass changed colors constantly, spelling out horrible slanders and, admitedlly hilarious, jokes almost constantly. It was chaos on a rampage, and Discord was just getting warmed up. Within twenty-four hours, the world would be his once again.

Wonder how Sol's handling this, I thought. Luna too. I bet they're out there trying to fight him right now. I hope the Elements are still working, or they don't stand a-

Not as wonderful as friendship!

That voice. It couldn't be.

That's right. You couldn't break apart our friendship for long.

There was no mistaking it. I recognized these voices. But, they're dead. They died years ago. How am I hearing them now?

I'll tell you what we've learned, Discord. We've learned that friendship isn't always easy, but it's no doubt it's worth fighting for!

Discord? No! Clover, run! He's not going to underestimate you!

Ah! Berry!

Consarnit, Discord! What'd you do to him?

Pansy! Cookie! No, get away from him!

But, we figured out your riddle. We won! You can't just-

HE CHEATS, CLOVER! NOW GET OUT OF THERE! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE'S CAPABLE OF!!!

What? No! Everypony! Discord, stop it! Change them back!

Just run, Clover. By this point I was just begging in my mind, hoping beyond hope that she'd somehow hear me. Just run. Get away. Far far away. Save yourself at least.

S-somepony. She sounded heartbroken. Anypony. My rage built inside. Unseen by me, cracks began to spread across the surface of my statue.

Help.

3rd-pony POV

Twilight stared helplessly as her friends were transformed and twisted one by one before her. Berry Bubble blew up like a balloon and began to drift up into the sky. Rainbow Blitz made to follow her only to find that her wings had been replaced with anvils. Elusive's mane had come to life and was doing it's level best to strangle her while Fluttershy wept as she was forced to watch her animals fight each other. Discord had just finished turning Applejack into a pear tree, and had now turned towards her. "Well well well," he said, slowly stalking closer. "Save the best for last, as they say."

Twilight's hind legs gave out and she fell to her haunches. "S-somepony," she whispered, looking around at her friends. "Anypony." A shadow loomed over her and she closed her eyes, afraid to look into that horrid face as he prepared her end.

"Help."

Discord reached down, cupping Twilight's chin in his paw and forcing her to look up at him. "Well now, Twilight Sparkle. It seems it's just you and me once again. Oh, we're going to have such a good time, you and I!

Tears streamed down Twilight's face as Discord's magic forced her eyes open. She saw his eyes begin to swirl, and she knew what was coming. He was going to brainwash her. He was going to make her enjoy his chaos. He was going to...

...let her go as he cried out in pain. Twilight fell backward and grunted as she landed on her rump. From where she lay, she could see Discord rearing up and staring at a large metal rod that pierced through his body. The rod was almost completely black, with a few strands of silver running along it. A large hilt was on the end sticking out of Discord's back, while the side sticking out his front had a large piece of metal jutting out near the end. It almost looked like a giant key mixed with a sword.

"No," said Discord, looking down at the sword in shock. "It can't be."

"And knowing you, that means that it must be." Twilight looked behind Discord to see a strange creature approaching. He stood on two legs, and was clothed from neck to foot in some of the strangest clothing Twilight had ever seen. From what she could see of his exposed arms and legs he was completely hairless, except for a very spikey brown mane. In one of his hands he held another key-sword, this one almost entirely white.

Discord slowly turned to face the new creature. "Sora," he said with a scowl. "Always coming along to ruin my fun. How did you even get out of your prison?"

The creature, Sora, looked at Twilight. As their eyes met, Twilight felt like he wasn't just looking at her. He was looking through her, looking at the very core of her being. It was a gaze that she'd seen a few times from Solaris, but never directed at her. After a moment, the creature looked back at Discord, matching his glare. "I heard a strong heart call out to me, and I answered the call."

Discord rolled his eyes. "Oh, this again? Come on, there has to be more to it then that. I refuse to believe that something so simple as a heart couyeaAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Discord screamed as the key vanished from his body in a flash of light, reappearing in Sora's hand a moment later. "You still underestimate the power contained in one's heart, Discord," he said, readying both of his keys. "And today, that will be your downfall."

Sora POV

I charged him straight on, bringing both keyblades to bear. Discord pulled out a pink umbrella from behind his back and pulled down one of his pink clouds to use as a shield. He parried my blows as I rained them down upon him, never giving him a moment to rest. I finally managed to knock the umbrella from his hand and land a solid blow across his chest.

"GAAHHH!" he screamed, vanishing in a flash of light and reappearing a stone's throw back. "You're going to pay for that one!"

I paid him no mind as my eye caught something interesting. A nearby pear tree had transformed into an orange earth pony. An earth pony with a gaudy golden necklace. I looked over at the purple unicorn and noticed her tiara, just as gaudy and obviously magical. Wait, are those-

I didn't have time to finish the thought as a cannon ball slammed into my chest. I flew back into a house, which collapsed on top of me. Looking out through the wreckage, I saw Discord holding a giant golf club, three more cannonballs at his feet. "Oh dear," he said as I pulled myself out, "was I supposed to yell 'fore' before I hit the ball?" He shrugged and swung back. "Oh well. FOUR!"

Three more cannonballs came hurtling my way. I threw both keyblades, knocking two of them out of the air, followed by a shout of, "Aeroga!" A large cyclone formed around me instantly. It barely buffeted my clothing, but it caught the cannonball and sent it hurtling back toward Discord's face.

I saw a rainbow maned pegasus stallion take off as the ball struck, another golden necklace around his neck. So, Sol and Lulu finally found mortal bearers, huh? Well, three free, three to go. I summoned my keyblades back to me and charged Discord again.

Pulling the cannonball off of his face, Discord summoned a chef's hat and a mixing bowl. He slammed the ball down on the edge of the bowl, cracking it open and unleashing a swarm of daggers at me from within.

"Reflega!" I shouted, summoning a protective barrier around me. Most of the daggers shot off in random directions, but enough of them flew back at Discord to make him duck and weave to avoid the projectiles. He was unable, however, to dodge the Firaga spell that I sent hurling into his face.

"Ahg! The face again!" he shouted as the white unicorn's mane snapped into a more manageable style. "Why do you always go for the face? That's the money maYOUCH!" He cried out again as I slashed him across the chest. He swiped at me with his talon, forcing me to jump back.

"One," I said as the rainbow maned pegasus flew down with an overly pink earth pony, "it makes you shut up. Two, if you're trying to make money with a face like that, all I can say is, don't quit your day job."

Discord snorted, steam jetting from his nostrils and condensing into a crossbow. Eww. He took aim, a giant red boxing glove appearing at the tip of the bolt. He fired, and I raised Oathkeeper to block.

Turns out, it's hard to block an explosion. I found myself once again careening backwards, this time rolling along the ground before I smashed into a wall. Seeing Discord ready another bolt, I cast a quick Cura to clear up some of my scrapes and bruises.

"Gah! You cheater!" Discord pointed accusingly at me, crossbow forgotten. "You know I can't use healing magic. Why do you get to?"

I raised an eyebrow, cautiously approaching. "Phenomenal cosmic power, immortality, and a natural specialization in chaos magic, and my cure spells make me the unfair combatant?"

Discord tapped his chin, looking upward in though. "Good point. And thanks for reminding me!" He suddenly grew to the size of a large dragon and smirked down at me. "Phenomenal cosmic power," he repeated, summoning a giant fireball into his paw, "wasn't it."

I grinned and pointed my keyblade straight up. "Thanks for the huge target. Thundaga!"

Discord looked up in shock, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "Oh, buy some appAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

As Discord writhed in pain, I ran over to the six ponies wearing the golden jewelry, the last one, a yellow pegasus mare, having stopped weeping as she hugged a small white rabbit close to her chest. The purple unicorn stepped forward protectively, crouching down and lighting her horn. "Who are you?"

"Let's save introductions until after the mad chaos god is defeated, shall we?" I asked. "Those are the Elements of Harmony, right? Please tell me you know how to use them."

The unicorn looked behind me at Discord and hesitated for only a second before nodding. I turned to find Discord back to normal size, covered in soot, and struggling to his many different feet. He glared up at me. "I generally make it a policy not to kill," he hissed, "but I will thoroughly enjoy making an exception in your case."

"Last chance, Discord," I said, watching the six ponies get into formation out the corner of my eye. "Surrender now, and we may go easy on you."

Discord chuckled and leapt up into the air. "Do your worst!" he exclaimed. "You know you can't do anything permanent to me."

I just shook my head. "You're right; I can't." I turned and gestured to the six ponies, who had begun to glow and float into the air. "But they can."

Discord's eyes grew wide. He held up his hands and backed away slowly. "O-okay. I-I give. I surrender. Th-there's really no need to go that far, is there?"

"Unfortunately for you," said the purple unicorn, opening her glowing white eyes, "there is." Twin beams of rainbow energy shot up from the group, twining around each other until they met far above their heads. A prismatic wave shot out, engulfing Discord completely. He writhed in agony and panic as he slowly began turning to stone. He looked desperately at me, and froze as he saw Oblivion pointed right at his heart.

"No," he whispered. "You wouldn't."

As soon as the petrification covered him completely, I fired a beam of light straight at Discord, striking directly at his heart. An ominous click was heard a moment later, and Discord fell to the ground, a statue once more.

Comments

[ArreClonClipo]

Well... I like Kingdom Hearts. And I like MLP(obviously) but so far there is not much to differentiate this fic from countless other Displaced works. Anyway, I'll read on. As a Kingdom Hearts fan, I want to like this and I'll read further to see how it holds up.

P.S. Get a proofreader.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Dang! That was quite the opening! You have my attention!

[Fistfire]

Why did you switch out some of the Mane 6?

[Snow]

Huh. An arbitrary gender shuffle to make it a bit less biased in female favor. I don't really see the need but sure, why not.