A Heart Eclipsed

by Show Stopper

Chapter 11

Author's Note:

Crossover with Danger A Dragon's story, The Iridescent Element.

Chapter 11

3rd Pony POV

“It’s called a Dark Cloud,” said Sora.

They had gathered in the orchards, helping with the apple harvest as they talked about the previous night. Though Luna had been able to keep the settlement free of war-torn nightmares, it had not been an easy task. She lay exhausted under a nearby tree, taking a nap to replenish her strength for the next confrontation.

“A Dark Cloud?” asked Strongheart, freeing a tree of all of its apples with a single buck.

Sora nodded. “It feeds on hatred, spreading it every night wherever it goes. Entire cities have torn themselves apart from its influence: street fighting against street, neighbor against neighbor, heck, even families shedding each other's blood. Even keybladers become more touchy and irritated.”

“Wait just one minute,” said Jazz, scratching her head. “If this here monster goes around dishin’ out hatred like it’s Thanksgivin’ gravy, how come Strongheart and I haven’t started fightin’?”

“Because it doesn’t give hatred out,” corrected Sora. “It increases the hatred that’s already there. The buffalo and the Appleoosans may have made up and found a compromise, but anger doesn’t fade easily. It would only take the smallest spark of animosity for the Dark Cloud to rile it up into a warmongering hatred.” Sora leaned back on a tree and smirked. “As for you two, well, heh, it should be rather obvious.”

Strongheart and Jazz looked at eachother before blushing and looking away.

Sora chuckled. “Exactly my point. You two couldn’t bring up any deep-seated animosity between you if you tried.”

Strongheart cleared her throat, fighting down her blush. “S-so, what’s the plan of attack then?”

At this, Sora sighed and pushed himself off the tree. “That’s just it,” he said, beginning to pace. “I don’t know. The three of us did a pretty good job of fighting off the heartless last night, but they’ll just keep coming back at this rate. Luna would give us the extra power we need, but she needs to focus her magic on staving off the Cloud’s influence.”

“You could always call Alex again,” said Luna, cracking an eye open.

Sora sighed, his pacing getting slightly more frantic. “Yeah, but I don’t want to be bothering him all of the time. From what he told us, he’s going through some major issues right now. Besides, he may be strong, but we’ll need a real powerhouse to make sure that this thing is taken care of once and for all. Jeremy would fit the bill, but I highly doubt that a Slenderman has anything close to light magic… AGH! If the multiverse is supposed to be infinite, then why do I only know three displaced?”

And that’s when the magic hourglass smacked him in the face.

“Seriously!?” he yelled, getting up and shaking his fists at the sky. “Why? Why the buysomeapples is that the delivery method?” He leaned down and picked up the hourglass, dusting the dust off of it.

“I am Draigo, a primordial dragon. To those who find this hourglass. Know that I'm here should you need help. I will give my protection to those I deem worthy. I will give my attention to those who need to talk. Finally, to those who misuse this item and others like it. You shall know my wrath.”

Primordial dragon, huh? Sora thought. Eh, why not. If nothing else, he’ll be able to hold it off while we wail on it. “Hey Draigo,” he said to the hourglass, “got any light based magic? Because if so, The Warrior of Light could sure use some help here.”

Jazz raised an eyebrow. “Um, Sora, not to state the obvious, but y’all’re talkin’ to an hourglass. Somethin’ we should know?”

A portal appeared before them as a dragon about the size of Princess Celestia walked through. His scales showed different colors as he stepped into the sunlight. “Greetings, are you the one who summoned me? I heard something about needing light based magic?” he said as he stepped up to the group before him.

Sora smirked at Jazz and Strongheart’s dropped jaws. “That would be me,” he said, stepping forward. “Sora, Warrior of Light and Wielder of the Keyblade. Nice to meet you.” He pointed at the buffalo and pony behind him. “These are Little Strongheart and Jazz Apple.”

“It’s nice to meet all of you. I am Draigo, a Primordial Dragon. Is this your entire group or are there others around?” Draigo asked as he looked Strongheart and Jazz over.

“Well, there’s me over here,” said Luna, not even bothering to open her eyes. “Princess Luna, Princess of the Night, all that Jazz.”

“Yes, Princess?”

“Not you, Jazz. We have one more potential combatant, but he’s training other keybladers up in Canterlot. Then of course there’s the Appleoosans, the buffalo herd, and the giant cloud of darkness and hatred that comes around every night.” She waved a hoof around flippantly. “We were hoping you could help out with that last one.”

“Of course, Luna. I’d be happy to help. Now, is it okay if I were to go to my full size? I wouldn’t want to accidentally destroy something.” Draigo said as he looked at the dozing princess of the night.

“Thought you were kind of short for a ‘primordial’ dragon,” Sora said to himself. “Sure, why not. Everyone else is catching up on the sleep that they haven’t been able to get this past week, so there shouldn’t be any concern about squishing anyone. Just try to leave the trees intact.”

“I’ll do my best,” Draigo said as he began to grow. It only took a few moments, but when he finished everyone was standing in the shade. Draigo was now about the size of a football field, including the end zone, long and his wingspan was about the same. His body had grown to thirty feet wide and he stood forty-four feet tall at the shoulder. “Does this fit the size you were thinking I’d be?”

“Land sakes,” whispered Jazz. “I ain’t never seen anythin’ that big.”

“Really?” asked Sora. “I have. Bigger, in fact. Those heartless took an army to take down. Each.” He nodded. “But yeah, I think this will do nicely. Ever had to fight a cloud?”

“No, I haven’t. Clouds tend to just break apart when I fly through them. Though, if it’s just like a cloud then I can definitely defeat it. Also, what did you see that’s bigger than I am right now?” Draigo laid down and brought his head down to Sora’s level.

“An absolute monster of a heartless. Seven of them, in fact, about two and a half thousand years ago. As for fighting the Dark Cloud,” Sora shook his head, “I’m afraid that it’s not that simple. Heartless don’t take damage from anything but light. Swords, fire, dropped houses, all useless against them. The best you could do with normal methods would be to scatter it a bit, and it would just reform after a minute or two.”

“Ah, so ‘heartless’ is the name of a creature. Hmm, you’re older than you seem, but that amount of time is nothing. So, that’s why you asked about light magic. Okay, got it,” Draigo said as his entire body shined with light.

Sora looked him up and down before nodding in approval. “Light augmented physical attacks. Not quite as good as a keyblade, but a close second. And yeah, heartless are what all of those creatures are called. They’re formed when someone gives into the darkness in their heart. The darkness consumes them, transforming them into a mindless creature bent on devouring more hearts. The one that’s been giving us a headache is called a Dark Cloud. It feeds on hatred and awakens and amplifies the hatred already in ponies’ hearts. And since the ponies and buffalo here fought a minor war against each other just last year…” he shrugged. “Yeah, lots of old wounds opening up again.”

“Well, light augmented physical attacks is only one of the ways I can use it. Hmm, I remember hearing Applejack tell me about that incident. Makes sense that they’re back at it if their hatred has been rekindled and increased by these creatures,” Draigo told him as he looked toward the town in the distance.

Jazz sighed, looking towards town herself. “Yeah, it’s a right shame. Things were really good there for a while. Heck, Strongheart and I were even about to, well, you know.” She and Strongheart both blushed again before Jazz continued. “A-Anyway, I just hope we can be done with this monster by the end of the night. Wouldn’t be right to leave Appleoosa while that thing is still threatenin’.”

“Oh ho, I think I hear some wedding bells coming from somewhere,” Draigo said teasingly, “Did the creatures interrupt right before it was going to happen? Cause that would be classic.”

Strongheart glared at Draigo as Jazz pulled her hat low over her flushed face. “No,” the buffalo muttered. “But we were getting ready to announce it. We thought the town and my tribe might finally be ready for an official union, but…” She began to shake as she glared off into the distance. “Then that thing came, like a nightmare from our darkest legends.” she stomped her hooves in rage. “Why when that thing gets back tonight, I’m going to-”

“STRONGHEART!” Strongheart flinched and looked over to Sora, who stared her down sternly. “Check your hatred. Passion is a virtue, but it can turn into a vise when misplaced or channeled through the ways of darkness. Remember, we are not above corruption, chosen of the keyblade or not.”

“Well, all I know is that your ruined opportunity has given me great motivation to see this ‘cloud’ defeated. I know what loneliness is like and I won’t let something that feeds off of hatred bring loneliness, sadness, or despair. Wait, I just thought of something. If you need light magic to defeat these things then is Celestia holding it off back in Canterlot or is she somehow incapacitated? She does wield light magic, right?” Draigo tilted his head to the side and pondered on what his Celestia would do in this situation.

Luna and Sora burst out laughing while Jazz and Strongheart looked on in confusion. “Oh, oh yes,” giggled Luna. “That one is holding down the fort in Canterlot while Sora and I travel the nation. Hehe, my brother is quite adept at light magic.”

“Crap, rule 63, huh? Well, at least Luna is still the attractive mare she is,” Draigo muttered to himself.

“She sure is,” said Sora, walking over and leaning down to kiss the tip of her horn. “Well, I think it’s official. If he’s ‘Celestia’ in four other universes, then that’s probably the norm rather than the exception. He owes me twenty bits and a picture of himself in a skirt!”

“I did not need that kind of image in my head for all eternity!” Draigo said as he cringed from the mental image of a male Celestia in a skirt.

“Oh, don’t worry,” said Luna, grinning evilly. “We plan to send that picture throughout the multiverse. You won’t have to use just a mental one for long. Oh, I hope he wears the frilly pink one I saw in Elusive’s boutique! The one with the cute yellow bows.”

“Oh, if I weren’t attracted to my version of you I’d encase you in the earth you lay upon. Not that it would really do anything since you can teleport but it’s the principal of the thing. Also, I really hope that that photo is never seen by my Celestia. It’s really scary when she gets angry. She still can’t beat me by herself, but I’d rather not have a landlord that’s pissed off for an entire day or two,” Draigo said as he got a dreamy look in his eye when he first mentioned Celestia only to have that turn into a look of terror by the end.

“Heh, yeah, Solaris gets pretty wild when he’s angry. Thankfully, he just goes on a little trip to Tartarus to blow off his steam. I tell you, angry stallions are soooo much easier to handle than angry mares. Just give them something to hit enough times and they’re good.” He cocked his head for a moment and sighed. “Well, we’d better wrap this up. Sounds like the Appleoosans are awake.”

“Ah, right. How would you like to handle this? Cause they seem to be heading this way,” Draigo asked as he stood and turned toward the encroaching ponies.

“Angry mob with torches and pitchforks?” Jazz deadpanned. At Draigo’s nod she sighed and trotted off. “I’ll go and calm ‘em down. Bunch of stubborn, hypersensitive…” Her words faded to annoyed grumbling as she disappeared between the trees.

“I know she’s one of them, but will she be able to calm them down with those ‘heartless’ amplifying their hatred? They wouldn’t even be able to hurt me, but I don’t like messing with other’s worlds so I act differently than normal and ask instead of just letting it happen.” Draigo lifted his head up and was able to just make out Jazz talking to the mob of ponies.

“Trust me,” said Sora. “She’ll be fine. As stubborn as earth ponies are, Apples are more stubborn still, and Jazz has got it down to an art form.” Jazz’s shouts rang out across the acres and Sora winced. “She’s got a good set of pipes, too.”

________

Night was falling. The Appleoosans had been calmed (chastised) by Jazz and met with Draigo more or less peacefully. A missive had been sent to the buffalo tribe as well, explaining why they were able to see a giant figure on the horizon.

Now Luna stared eastward as she prepared to raise the moon and begin the night, Sora standing by her side. “Nervous?” she asked.

Sora nodded. “A bit,” he admitted. “Haven’t faced a titan class heartless in 300 years, even before I was stoned. I hope we’re up to it.”

“You are,” said Luna, nuzzling him tenderly. “You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, and those two are no foals either.”

“I know, I know. I just…” he sighed. “I just wish I could somehow know that everything would be okay.”

“It will be,” reassured Luna. “The future may not be decided, but that only means that there is room for hope, as well as concern.” They stood in silence for a while before she chuckled. “And a primordial being does tip the scales in our favor.”

Sora smiled, nodding. “Yeah, I guess. Thank you, Luna. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Trip over your own shoes and make a fool of yourself at every turn, no doubt.”

Sora shook his head, opening his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by a voice from behind him. “Hurry it up, you lovebirds! The cloud’ll be here any minute!”

Luna looked back at Jazz’s retreating form, pouting. “That hypocrite. And just what does she call herself and young Strongheart?”

Sora chuckled, giving Luna one last kiss before he ran off into the orchard. The moon began to rise just as he reached the others. “So everyone, ready to kick some buysomeapples?”

“Sure, just point me in the right direction,” Draigo said as light enveloped him once more.

“Shouldn’t take too long,” said Strongheart. “The cloud always came from the orchard, so it must start out somewhere in here.”

Sora nodded. “Heartless like this usually have a central body that’s more solid than the rest. If we destroy that, the rest of the cloud will dissolve into mist. We just need to fight off the cloud and the swarms of smaller heartless until we can find the yay thing.”

“Okay, do we know what it usually looks like?” Draigo wondered if it would be easier than he thought to find this ‘central body’.

“Yeah,” said Sora, rubbing his temples. “The cloud will get thicker and thicker the closer we get, and the body will look just like the surrounding cloud except that it goes ‘thunk’ when you run into it.”

“Wow, like trying to find a certain piece of hay in a haystack. Well, that’s what fire is for. Would a wide area light magic attack help at all?” Draigo asked as the light enveloping him intensified.

Sora nodded. “Probably. A blast like that would probably blow most of the cloud away for a bit and leave the body behind. We’d have to get to the body quickly before the cloud reformed, but yeah, that could work.”

“Well then, two questions. How wide an area and how long do you want me to hold it?” Draigo grinned from ear to ear at the prospect of unleashing so much of his magical might.

“Wait, you’re serious?” Sora’s grin grew to match. “How long could you hold something like that covering the whole orchard?”

“How long would it take you to defeat the central body?” Draigo’s light intensified even further.

“Ten minutes?” Sora guessed. “Twenty tops. It really isn’t that strong; it relies mostly on being able to hide and summon swarms of Soldiers and Neoshadows from the cloud.”

“Well, prepare to see the might of a primordial dragon. Just tell me when you want it and you’ll have all the time you’d ever need.” Draigo showed his impressive set of teeth and let out a primal roar, challenging any and all in the area to try to stop him.

Sora chuckled. “We’ll probably wait until the cloud starts forming. Don’t want to wait too long though, we might run… into... “ He trailed off as he looked around, the others doing the same.

Thick clouds of darkness surrounded them, straining against the light given off by Draigo. It had risen subtly, wisp by wisp as they’d talked, and now blocked their view of even the closest trees.

“Oh, buysome-”

Sora was interrupted by a chorus of unholy shrieks as several Neoshadows lept from the cloud. Two latched onto Draigo’s wings, two more diving for Jazz and Strongheart. In a flash of light, the two summoned their keyblades, tearing through the attacking heartless.

“Draigo!” shouted Sora, fending off five more as they lept out of the cloud. “Get airborn and get that light-burst going!”

“On it!” Draigo brought the light up to the highest intensity he could before he took to the skies. The two Neoshadows on his wings were ignored as he let loose with his magical blast. The blast enveloped the entire orchard and then some and Draigo didn’t even seem to be straining to hold it or his altitude.

“Alright!” shouted Sora. “Here’s our chance! Let’s go find that…” he trailed off as he looked across the orchard.

They’d chosen their starting position well, a rather large hill that allowed them to see most of the orchard. They’d thought to look from the hilltop to see if they could spot the central mass of the cloud.

And spot it they did, along with thousands of heartless swarming throughout the trees between it and the keybladers.

Sora swallowed nervously, glancing up at Draigo. “We’re going to need more than twenty minutes.”

________

“How many of these yay-ing things are there!” Strongheart yelled, slashing Pact through the most recent swarm of shadows.

“I don’t know,” panted Jazz, throwing up a Reflect spell to block some spinning Soldiers. “Feels like we’ve been fightin’ for hours.”

“About three hours, yeah,” said Sora, glancing at the moon. He swung Oathkeeper and Oblivion around himself, slicing through heartless left and right as they carved their way toward the Dark Cloud.

A sudden roar shook the ground and a Behemoth lept out of the trees ahead of them, charging straight for them.

“Okay, that’s it!” Sora shouted, vanishing in a flash of light. He reappeared dressed all in yellow, Metal Chocabo in his right hand and Mysterious Stalker floating behind him. “Taste Master Form, you oversized piece of-”

A pillar of light rained down from above, engulfing the behemoth. It roared in agony before dissolving into wisps of darkness. Sora looked up to see Draigo circling above, grinning smugly. “OY!” shouted Sora. “THAT WAS MY KILL!”

“Saved your life! Oh, you’re going to have to be faster than that if you want to kill the bigger ones! I already see more and I think I’m gonna take them all for myself if you don’t hurry it up!” Draigo yelled down in challenge.

Sora grit his teeth as the dragon flew off. “Jerk. Okay, let’s go! Curaga!” Jazz and Strongheart sighed in relief, their wounds healing and strength returning to them. “Come on girls, we’re almost there,” Sora encouraged.

Strongheart and Jazz nodded, galloping off with Sora and swinging Pact and Rodeo at any heartless that dared to get too close. Not that many got that chance. Sora’s Master Form was a fighting machine, zipping from Shadow to Soldier to Neoshadow before springing into the air to combat some of the Air Pirates who had chosen to focus on the land-bound targets.

“Remind me why he didn’t do that in the first place?” asked Jazz as she bucked a Shadow that had tried to attack from behind.

“It only lasts for a few minutes, apparently,” said Strongheart, finishing it off. “Not to mention that it leaves barely anything for us to fight.”

“Heh, good point,” said Jazz. They ran through the orchard, slashing away at everything in their path. Finally, after clearing out a particularly nasty group of Darkballs, they found it.

The central mass of the Dark Cloud hovered a foot or so off of the ground, a solid mass of black and grey wisps 10 feet tall and wide. It seemed to shiver as the keybladers approached, and three black figures floated out of its depths. These heartless were humanoid, but with scythe-like tails and twin horns. There were holes in each of their chests in the shape of hearts, and each of them wielded a formidable blade.

“Invisibles,” muttered Sora. “Of course there would be Invisibles guarding it. Why not?”

The Invisibles were blind sided by a beam of light that strafed across all three of them. Draigo was then seen turning around for another shot at the three. “Come and get it you abominations! There’s plenty more where that came from.”

The three Invisibles, seeing a bigger threat than the three beings in front of them, took off to face the dragon. “Go destroy that body, I’ll take care of these uglies,” Draigo called out as he rose up and turned, leading the three Invisibles away from Sora and his allies.

The Dark Cloud trembled again, and fifty more Invisibles shot out, chasing after Draigo. Sora, Strongheart and Jazz stood at the ready, prepared to attack any more that came out to take them on.

Two minutes later, Sora facepalmed. “Seriously? Is he really that much more powerful than us that this thing sends its ENTIRE DEFENSE FORCE after him?!”

“I… I actually feel really insulted right now,” said Strongheart, glowering up at where Draigo battled the massive swarm of Invisibles.

“It’s simple allocation of resources.” Sora and Strongheart turned to glare at Jazz, who simply shrugged back. “It’s true. You put the most resources where they’re needed most, and right now he’s a bigger threat than we are.”

“BUT WE’RE RIGHT HERE IN FRONT OF IT!!!” shouted Strongheart.

“Yes, yes we are.” Sora sighed. “Well, nopony ever accused heartless of being smart.” He hefted Metal Chocabo and Mysterious Stalker above his head. “Together then?”

The two others nodded and, on his signal, Pact and Rodeo joined in on slicing the Dark Cloud to ribbons. It gave out a cry of pain which slowly died down to a whimper as it vanished for good.

“Whew, glad that’s over with,” said Jazz, leaning up against a nearby tree.

“Yeah,” Strongheart deadpanned. “Now we just need to deal with the rest of the heartless in the orchard."

The trio looked around to see the ground-bound heartless advancing upon them once again. They looked up and could just make out Draigo’s glowing form amongst the mass of airborne heartless.

“BUUUUUUUUUUUYSOOOOOOOOOOMEAAAAAAAAAAPPLEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!”

________

Three weary keybladers and one annoyingly chipper dragon walked out of the Appleoosan orchards as the sun rose the next morning.

“You three look like you could use a pick me up. Would you like a ride back to town so you could at least rest a little bit?” Draigo asked as he looked down upon the three fighters.

“Not a chance,” said Jazz, supporting Strongheart as she half slept leaning against her. “Too stubborn.”

“And too proud here to admit that I could use some help,” Sora added, yawning widely. “Wow, we’re too tired to even deny it, aren’t we? That’s it. First thing when we get back, I’m snuggling up with my mare for a nice long nap.”

“Mmm. Nap sounds good. Nighty night.” Jazz sighed as Strongheart started lightly snoring into her side. She leaned down and hoisted her onto her back, continuing on towards town.

“Fine, I won’t give you a ride,” Draigo said as he manipulated the air around all three of them, “Ever heard the phrase ‘like sleeping on air’? Well, now you know what it’s like.” Draigo had the three of them in the air before any of them could say a word of protest.

“Hey, I could have done that myself,” Sora complained. He held up the Kingdom Key and slurred out, “Aeroga.” A small breeze kicked in, circling around them once before dying out. “Okay, maybe I’m a little too drained to manage that.”

“Exactly, besides I’m sure Luna will be pleased to know you got some rest instead of pushing yourself to the brink when you didn’t need to. Now, rest easy. We’ll be there in a little bit,” Draigo commented as he continued to walk to Appleloosa.

A loud snore was Sora’s only reply. Jazz shook her head and sighed before smiling at the dragon. “Thanks again for helpin’ us out. I honestly don’t know what we would have done if y’all hadn’t shown up.”

“You’re welcome. It has been an honor to help out in this endeavor. Also, it’s been forever since I’ve stretched my magical ‘muscles’ as well as my physical muscles in such an enjoyable battle. Now, I suggest you get some shut eye as well,” Draigo said as he smiled fondly down at the three exhausted beings.

“Yeah, I guess,” replied Jazz wearily. She got herself comfortable and was about to drift off when a thought occurred to her. “Hey, Draigo. Can I ask you a bit of a personal question?”

“Go right ahead.” Draigo tapped back into his powers once more, readying for one more use.

“What’s it like bein’, you know, immortal?”

“Ah, a good question. Well, for me at least, it’s been really lonesome. There were days when I had to dig really deep to keep looking for the right planet to settle down on. There are too many goodbyes to keep track of. Sure, I can’t die, I don’t age, and I’ve got powers that can literally kill gods. Those haven’t really made up for the fact that without a really powerful reason or goal to life, being immortal is no fun. Would I ever give up my immortality? Not anymore, I’ve found my reason and it took the form of two mares. They are two that I’ll never have to say ‘goodbye’ to. I’ll eventually have to pick one or the other, but for now I’m fine with the way things are,” Draigo replied while having a far away look that spoke of the loneliness and vastness that he’s borne witness to and experienced.

“Hm. Well that… that don’t sound no… no fun…”

Jazz drifted off to sleep, cradled in the magic of the powerful primordial dragon. Little did they know, there was another who had heard their conversation. Sora lay on the bed of air, clutching three cracked keychains to his chest as he fought back tears.

No, Jazz, he thought to himself. No fun at all.

________

The party was wild and ferocious. Not quite as fun as a Berry Bubble Party, perhaps, but that Cheese Sandwich had done a comparable job. Buffalo and ponies laughed, ate and danced together, hooting, hollering and having a grand old time. By far, the crowning moment of the party had been when Jazz had brought out a black jewelry box, kneeling before Little Strongheart as she opened it. The resounding “YES” could almost have been heard in Ponyville as she swept Jazz off her hooves in a bone crushing hug.

Two figures stood off to the side, simply enjoying being observers. “Well, I’m glad they finally got to make it official,” said Sora, smiling at the happy couple. “I’d feel guilty taking either of them away if it weren’t for the fact that I’m taking both.”

“Yes, I’d feel the same way. Have you thought about doing the same with Luna? I’ve seen how you look at her and how you two are together,” Draigo asked as he smiled and waved at the happy gathering of ponies and buffalo.

Sora’s smile grew sad as he saw Luna engaged in a drinking contest with Chief Thunderhooves. “Yeah,” he said as she downed her twelfth mug of hard cider. “I’ve thought about it a lot, actually. Even went and bought the perfect ring for her a few times. But...” he sighed. “She wants foals. She always has. She doesn’t talk about it anymore, not ever since we started dating. But I don’t need my heart-sight to see how she looks at fillies and colts. She wants one of her own, maybe more than one. And I, well, just look at me.”

“Have you done the research and found that you can’t give her foals as you are? If the answer is yes, as I think it is. Then, do you want to become a pony?” Draigo asked in a serious tone.

“Trust me,” Sora chuckled. “If I could give her foals, we’d have several generations of our kids running around. Well, would have pre-stoning, but you get what I mean. As for turning into a pony…” He sighed and shook his head. “Equestria needs me at full fighting capacity. I need to train the next generation of keybladers. And the generation after that. And the one after that. And I can’t do that if I’m having to learn how to walk all over again.

“Besides…” He held out his right hand, summoning the Kingdom Key. “Keyblades don’t mix well with Equestrian magic. Too much magic in you, and the keyblade won’t let you wield it. not sure why. Sol and Luna can’t hold one for more than a second before it vanishes. Same thing with powerful unicorns or anypony who has a deep connection to a powerful magical artifact. Heh, that’s the only reason why Twilight and her friends aren’t six of the most promising keybladers in history.”

He shook his head. “Sorry. Rambling. My point is, to become a pony and still retain my immortality, I’d have to become an alicorn, and then I would have far too much magic for the keyblade to accept me. And Faust knows that Luna won’t hear a word of me losing my immortality just to give her foals. She says if she can’t have me for eternity, no amount of children would be enough to fill the void left behind in her heart. I’d call her out on it if I hadn’t checked her heart myself.”

“Well, I think I can help with that. Would you like me to try?” Draigo turned his head toward his human companion and shifted his wings and tail so that nopony could see Sora.

Sora looked into the old dragon’s eyes. Then, in a blink, he looked into his heart. It was there, that certainty that he could do it. That assurance that it would work. Sora closed his heart-sight, a smile starting to form on his face. He stepped forward and opened his mouth, ready to accept.

His keyblade twitched.

He looked down at the Kingdom Key. It sat there in his hand, not moving, not doing anything. In that one moment, it just felt like a heavy piece of strangely shaped metal.

As suddenly as it had come on, the moment passed. He could feel the keyblade’s power again, as well as two trails of tears that flowed down his face. “No,” he whispered, stepping back. “Thank you for offering. Really, truly, what you’re offering is the greatest thing I could ever dream of but…” He turned away, trying desperately to hide his tears. “Why?” he whispered, clutching the Kingdom Key tightly in his hand. “Why wouldn’t it work? Why can’t you finally let me have this?”

“You can not hide an element from me and you underestimate my hearing, young man. This has something to do with your keyblade, doesn’t it. For whatever reason, it or its magic won’t let you get altered in any way from what you are right now. One question, would you mind me talking to Luna privately in a little bit? There’s something I’d like to run past her.” Draigo continued in the same serious tone as earlier.

Sora was silent for a moment. He reached down and tore the keychain from the Kingdom Key, perhaps with a little more force than had been necessary. The blade disappeared, and Sora held the chain tight, concentrating for a moment. He turned and offered it to Draigo. “Here. It’s my token. Just hold it and call for me, and I’ll be there as quickly as I can. As for Luna,” he shrugged. “Hey, she’s free to talk with whoever she wants. Though you might want to hurry if you want anything resembling an intelligent conversation out of her.” He nodded over towards the party where Luna had just finished drinking her third opponent in a row under the table.

“Oh, it won’t be a problem, but you’re right. I’ll go talk to her right now. Excuse me,” Draigo said as he grabbed Sora’s token then stood up and walked over to the drunken lunar mare. “Luna, I need to talk to you, in private.”

Luna slowly looked up at him, eyes not quite focusing right. “Waith… you meanth like theriouth talk?”

“Yes, serious talk. Here, allow me to sober you up.” Draigo felt around with his power and manipulated the alcohol out of Luna’s system. “There, ready?”

Luna blinked, her faculties once again entirely under her control. “Huh. You’ll have to teach that one to me.” She got up and waved to the still drunk buffalo before walking off and leading Draigo behind a large barn nearby. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Well, to be very, very blunt. Foals.” Draigo waited for her to recover from the exceeding bluntness he’d just used.

Luna stared at him for a moment before lighting her horn. An old dusty bottle appeared in her magical grasp. She pulled the cork out with her teeth before spitting it out to the side. “Nope,” she muttered. “Not having this conversation sober.” She lifted the bottle to her lips and tipped her head back, chugging down alcohol so potent that Draigo could smell it from where he stood. Luna finally came up for air, her magical grip only slightly shaky. “Okay, now I can have this conversation. I assume you talked to Sora already?”

“I can let you have his kids.” Draigo said before the alcohol had too much effect on the royal’s mind.

Luna rolled her eyes, taking another swig of alcohol. “Let me guess, you’ve thought of some brilliant loophole that nopony else has ever considered that’s sure to work. Been there. Done that. A hundred times over.”

“Have you had the ability to manipulate the very life-force of a pony, everything about them, to your will? I don’t think so,” Draigo said with a smirk.

“Hmph,” Luna said. “Wouldn’t use it if I did. That’s something that both Sora and I agreed on, one of the few times we talked about this. Natural conception, natural birth, or nothing. No magic involved in the process. We conceded on point of transforming one of us, but he can’t go pony without losing either his immortality or his keyblade, and I have no way to go human and stay immortal. Believe me, I’ve looked into it.” She took a sip of her drink, for once seaming to actually take the time to enjoy the taste. “I accepted it long ago. Children for us was never meant to be. Wish he’d put that aside and propose already.” That last part she added in a mutter before taking another long pull.

“Well, that’s another thing you both have in common. Underestimating my hearing. Do you want his kids? Do you want to be an immortal human by his side for the rest of eternity?” Draigo asked with a bit of irritation entering his voice.

Luna sighed. “And then what?” she asked. “Raise a bunch of most-likely immortal humans who then have to deal with the same problems when they grow up? And what kind of life is that anyway, a human in Equestria. I wouldn’t mind, and Sora says it’s worth it for him to be here, but he’s also said he wouldn’t with that sort of isolation on anyone.”

Draigo transformed into his armored human form. “Oh, believe me. I know what you mean. I’m human the same as him. I just happen to be able to transform back into a dragon. I’m able to do just about anything while I’m in other worlds like this. Making it so that you’re an immortal human that has mortal children is well within the realm of my power. Heck, I could change Sora into an immortal earth pony if it weren’t for that keyblade of his messing around with its magic. I’ve lived longer than you, your brother, and Sora combined. I know loneliness like the back of my hand. I don’t want anyone else to experience any kind of loneliness if I can help it. So, I’ll ask again. Do you love Sora enough to let me transform you into an immortal human that can only bear mortal children?” Draigo ranted as he walked back and forth in front of the princess while he gestured with his armored hands, finally ending up staring her in the eye from her height.

Luna looked him up and down as she took another drink. “Hm. Nope, not doing it for me. Guess it’s a Sora thing, not a human thing.” She drained the last of the bottle and threw it over her shoulder. “Three things wrong with your little rant there,” she said. “One, you say you know loneliness. You’re right! You’re better acquainted with loneliness than I could ever hope to be. Do you know why?” She pointed up to the moon hanging above them. “Because eventually, that will be gone. The sun will expand, this world will burn, and the moon will be gone. I don’t know how things work in your universe, but while immortals do not die naturally here, we can be killed.” She shrugged. “Everything dies, eventually, and Sora will be enough for me until that fateful day arrives.

“Number two. You suggested that I become an immortal human who bears mortal children for generation after generation, watching each and every one of them grow old and die, having to bury each and every one.” She shook her head. “No, thank you.

“And lucky number three. Yes, you could use your magic. Yes, you could use your powers. Yes, I’m sure you could find the perfect system that would make both of us and our children perfectly happy. But that’s why we agreed it had to be all natural. A natural conception, and a natural birth. Because if anyone else is significantly involved in either of those steps, it’s their child as well as ours.” She shrugged. “Old-fashioned thinking, perhaps, but we both thoroughly believe it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I am still far too sober for these sorts of thoughts.” She turned and began to walk back towards the party. “Oh,” she said, pausing and looking over her shoulder. “By the way, you were wrong on one point. Sora can be transformed just fine. I’ve turned him into a pegasus, an earth pony, even a gryphon. A superficial transformation, but a transformation none the less. We just won’t risk anything that will give him magic. And since the only way for him to keep his immortality would be to go alicorn…” She shrugged and turned away, sauntering back to the party much to the cheers of the buffalo.

Draigo turned and walked back to Sora with heavy footsteps.

“Look, I know that you want to give her foals, but you both have just rejected my help. So, marry her before something happens to one of you.” Draigo said as he stood next to Sora in his crimson and gold armor.

“Nice transformation,” Sora idly commented. He’d grabbed a mug of cider while Draigo had been gone, and he took a sip. He sighed and looked up at the stars. “You know, we’ve considered both going mortal. Just live out the rest of our natural lives as ponies, me being a pegasus, her a unicorn. It was a nice fantasy. But of course, that wouldn’t work either. We couldn’t do that to Sol, leave him all alone like that. Really, it comes down to one of two things.” He summoned the Kingdom Key again, eyes still fixed on the stars. “Either this thing goes, or we all go mortal. Heh, we even considered that option before I got stoned and Luna… But now, there’s Prince Borello, and another displaced dropped a hint that Twilight Sparkle’s going to ascend later down the line. And once again, we can’t just leave them alone or ask them to give up immortality for something so selfish.”

He looked over at Draigo and smirked. “As for something happening to us, dude, I got blasted by the Elements of Harmony while in my shadow form, and all they did was stone me. Luna turned into a buysomeapples heartless, and even she got better, something that’s absolutely impossible. Trust me, nothing’s going to keep us down for long.”

“Really? I’m going to call major BS on that. If you hadn’t summoned me or some other immensely powerful displaced then you would have most likely died from that fight earlier. Luna already told me that even you immortals can be killed. You know, now that I think about it. You guys are lucky to have immortality like that. Me? You can destroy my body, but the only true way to kill me is to destroy anything and everything that is considered an ‘element’,” Draigo let out a sigh,”All I’m saying is propose to the mare before one of your adventures ends in a misadventure. She deserves to have as much happiness as possible and that involves being married to you.”

Sora sighed, looking back up at the stars. “I… I’ll think about it,” he conceded. “Oh, but you didn’t save our lives.” He gestured over to the party. “You saved their lives. We could have subbed Luna for you, but she was busy keeping everyone’s dreams safe from hatred corruption, and even then she barely managed it. If we’d had to, we’d have just gone in and destroyed the Dark Cloud as soon as possible, even though a lot of the ponies and buffalo would have woken up and gotten to fighting by the time we succeeded.” He looked back down at the party, his eyes hardened. “It would have hurt. It would have hurt a lot to lose innocent lives like that, but it would have been worth it to destroy that thing and save hundreds more.” Sora blinked and slapped his forehead. “Ah, and there I go again, an old general telling war stories. You don’t want to hear about all that.”

“Ha, join the club. I’ve had to fight the very dragons I created when they grew too greedy. I’ve said this to Luna, but I’m much older than probably all of you combined. I’ve seen my fair share of what you would consider ‘war’. Anyway, enough of this heavy stuff. We should be celebrating with them not talking about this stuff. The only reason I even brought it up in the first place was because it was another way I could help. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do with my powers when I’m not in my world, help. So far? I’ve just made it so those I’ve ‘helped’ have more awkward situations and explanations to give. So, how about we go join Luna in the celebration? I don’t think I can get drunk, but I’ll definitely enjoy cheering her on as she drinks every being here under a table.” Draigo gestured to Luna as she continued to drink.

Sora chuckled as he walked into the party. Dark thoughts of what could have been and wistful thoughts of what could never be still chased each other around the back of his mind, but tonight, for the rest of the night, that’s where they would stay.

Comments

[LeoneHaxor]

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[Show Stopper]

7125445 Wow! Thanks for all of the edits. Glad you're enjoying it so far.

[Shift]

“Nope,” she muttered. “Not having this conversation sober.”

At times I wish I actually drank... this thought comes up more than it should.

Also, Buicks can be weapons of light.

[Show Stopper]

7433163It was something that I thought on for a while. I wanted to write Sora and Luna as being together and I would not feel comfortable writing a gay relationship since I have absolutely no experience to draw on. So, Luna had to be a mare. At the same time, Celestia needed to take a more active role in defending Equestria than she usually does in order to combat the heartless. After all, s/he's the one leading the forces back in Canterlot while Sora and Luna travel. Thus, Celestia would have to be more aggressive. In every fic I've read featuring Solaris, he was much more direct and aggressive. I played a bit with the idea in my head, and found Sora and Sol becoming fast friends and even brothers.
From there, the pattern of keeping some the same and changing others continued. I ended up swapping half of the Mane 6, Shining, Cadence and Derpy so far, and I have ideas for a number of others to swap. One thing I'm making sure to do is to only swap characters that actually play a role and hold some significance. For example, Cloud Kicker will probably only pop up once or twice more in the entire story, so I'm keeping her gender as is. The Mane 6 may not feature during the Tour of Equestria, but they are central, recurring characters that all of my readers are guaranteed to be familiar with so I feel comfortable swapping them. I try to cause as little confusion with it as possible.

[Reishin Amara]

I see a solution from high school DXD actually....give mortals a 40,000 year average lifespan give or take some few thousand...And as a trade-off and safety,reduced fertility to match. This would prevent overpopulation.