My Little Pony: Rise of the Heartless

by Flarinite

Destati

Fortune stood, shaking his head groggily. He opened his eyes, but saw nothing but an endless void of blackness.

“What’s going on?” he whispered to himself. He took a step forward, and heard the clink of his hoof on glass. He looked down. He stood on a large circular platform that seemed to be made of incredibly ornate stained glass, colored primarily in hues of orange. Depicted on it was a deep-blue unicorn stallion with a silver mane and tail, his body arched gracefully as though he was floating in the air. His cutie mark was hidden by his billowing tail, and his eyes were closed. In the space created by the stallion’s arching body, the head of a white unicorn with a pink mane looked out of a circle. She seemed to be looking up at the stallion’s face.

“Those look like the two ponies from that dream Lucky and I had.”
So much to do, so little time…

“What? Who said that?” Fortune looked around wildly, looking for the source of the voice.
Take your time. Don’t be afraid.

“Which is it? So little time, or take my time?”
The door is still shut.

“What door?” Fortune yelled in exasperation. “Why don’t you start making some sense?”

Three stone pedestals rose from the glass platform. Beams of light appeared over each of them, and an object appeared over each one. One was a circular red shield shaped like Princess Celestia’s cutie mark. One was a sword with the Princess’s cutie mark engraved in the hilt. The last was a staff with a head shaped like Celestia’s cutie mark.

“Why is the Princess’s cutie mark everywhere?”
Power sleeps within you. If you give it form… it will give you strength. Choose well.

“Uh, okay?” Fortune walked tentatively up to the staff. He levitated it off of the pedestal with his magic, and it hovered in front of him.
The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. Is this the power you seek?

“I don’t know.” He replaced the staff and walked over to the sword, again levitating it toward him.
The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?

“I’m still not sure. I’d better check out the last one.” Fortune walked over to the shield.
The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek?

“Inner strength, courage, or kindness to aid friends?” Fortune mulled it over. “They all sound great. And important. But I think I’ll have to pick the power of the guardian.”

The three objects disappeared in a flash of light. Floating in the air where the shield had been was Fortune’s Keyblade.
Your path is set.

The stone pedestals crumbled and vanished. From the ground, three of the small bug-like Heartless from Fortune’s dream appeared.

There will be times you have to fight. The Heartless gathered in a triangle around him, shifting on their feet. Fortune stared at them, fear gripping his chest.
Keep your light burning strong.

The Heartless leapt at Fortune. His Keyblade responded to his magic, levitating in the air in front of him and blocking the Heartless’ wild swipes. He swung, the blade cutting through one of the Heartless. It vanished in a puff of dark energy.

He struck at the remaining two Heartless, but they sank into the ground, and his blade ricocheted off the glass. The Heartless moved through the surface like shadows, reemerging behind him. As they leapt at him, he spun his Keyblade like a buzz saw, slicing through one of them. The other one swiped at his face, knocking him to the ground. He looked up at the Heartless from the ground, and brought his Keyblade crashing down, cleaving the monster in two.

Fortune stood up shakily, looking around.

“Let me out of here!” he yelled, panicked.

A set of stained glass stairs appeared at the edge of the platform, ascending through the void in an elegant spiral. Hesitantly, he dismissed his Keyeblade before trotting toward them, beginning the ascent. As he walked, the steps behind him disappeared.

“Guess there’s no turning back,” he said as he continued on.

He reached a second platform, colored in muted blues. In the center was Princess Luna, gazing forlornly up at the crescent moon near the edge of the platform. Oddly, her cutie mark was absent.

“Now what?” Fortune looked around, as though an answer would appear out of the void.

There was a flash of light, and a large pinkish door appeared on the opposite side of the platform. Fortune walked closer to it, and realized it was translucent.

“That’s weird,” he muttered. He walked around to the other side of it. Other than its transparency, it seemed to be an ordinary door, albeit one that seemed to lead nowhere.

There was another flash of light, and a small red chest appeared on the other side of the platform. Fortune rolled his eyes as he walked over to it, hooves dragging, still tired from his fight with the Heartless. He tried to lift the lid with his hooves, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried opening it with magic, but to no avail.

“How do I open this thing?” The voice from earlier did not answer. Fortune stared at the chest when something clicked.

“If you come across a lock…” he summoned his Keyblade, tapping the chest with it. “Use a key!”

The chest popped open, and vanished, leaving a vial of orange liquid in its place. Fortune dismissed his weapon and picked up the vial, opening it. He was instantly hit with a very familiar scent.

“This is an Elixir,” he said to himself, before gulping it down. He instantly felt rejuvenated, and stood straighter.

He looked back at the door. It looked solid now. As he trotted over to it, it opened slowly, blinding light spilling from its interior. Fortune shut his eyes, shielding them from the brightness.

The light faded, and Fortune found himself standing on yet another platform. This one was mostly green in color. Snaking around the entire border was a creature with a long body and neck, with mismatched limbs and two vastly different horns atop a muted brown head. In the center of the platform was an image of Princess Celestia, surrounded by the Elements of Harmony. Fortune stared at the creature on the platform’s border.

“Is that… Discord?”

Fortune looked up. There was a small sphere of light hovering beyond the edge of the platform, but the infinite blackness made it impossible to tell how close it was.
The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes.

Fortune turned around, and was frozen in shock. His shadow was growing, changing shape. Two glowing yellow pits sat where the eyes would have been. The shadow emerged from the ground as it grew and morphed, until it stood before him, towering over him. It stood on two feet, and had broad shoulders and thick, muscled arms, which ended in hands with five sharp claws. Its face was obscured by a thick mane of shadowy tentacle-like protrusions from its head, which wrapped around its face like a scarf, hiding everything but its glowing yellow eyes. In the center of its stomach was a large hole in the shape of an elongated heart, through which Fortune could see into the blackness beyond.
But don’t be afraid.

Fortune’s fear slowly began to change to one of determination. He summoned his Keyblade.
And don’t forget…

Fortune stared up at the enormous Heartless. After what seemed like an eternity, it raised an enormous fist, which came hurtling down. Fortune deftly rolled out of the way, dealing a few blows to the fist before the monster drew it back up. It reached down again, this time scooping up an orb of darkness from the blackness surrounding them. It threw its arm up into the air, and the orb burst, smaller spheres of dark energy raining down from above. Fortune stared at them in confusion, until one hit him.

“Ahh!” His body spasmed, and he rolled out of the way of the next one. Several more of the orbs rained down, following his movements. He managed to dodge or parry all of them.

The Heartless brought the other hand crashing down, palm open. Fortune rolled out of the way again, and the creature’s hand plunged into the platform, a pool of darkness forming around it. From the darkness rose three of the bug-like Heartless, which Fortune quickly dispatched.

“I’m not going to be able to take it out if I just keep hitting its hands,” Fortune muttered. Suddenly struck by an idea, he leapt onto the Heartless’s hand, which was still sunk into the platform. Several more of the small Heartless rose out of it, but Fortune ignored them, galloping up the giant monster’s arm, toward its face. It turned to look at him through its impassive yellow eyes as Fortune leapt off of its shoulder, grabbing his Keyblade in his teeth. He swung his head down, striking the monster in the center of its face, before falling to the ground, skidding along on his hooves. He righted himself and looked back at the creature.

“Take that, Heartless!” he yelled victoriously, grinning widely.

The Heartless stood and stumbled, lurching forward.

“Wait…”

It began falling toward Fortune. He yelled and tried to run out of the way, but it collapsed on top of him before sinking into the ground. Fortune was trapped in a pool of darkness, sinking slowly into it.
But don’t be afraid…

Fortune flailed about, trying desperately to free himself.
You hold the mightiest weapon of all.

Fortune was now almost completely engulfed in the darkness, only his head poking out of the void.
So don’t forget...

Fortune sank completely beneath the shadows.
You are the one who will save your world.

O O O O

“Is he okay?”

“I don’t know, I just got here myself.”

“Hey, give him some space.”

“Wait, are his eyes opening?”

Fortune’s eyes opened, his vision blurry. He saw eight multicolored shapes above him.

“Back up, y’all, he’s wakin’ up.”

Fortune sat up, shaking his head. His vision was clearer now. His six pony friends, his sister, and Zecora were looking back at him. He looked around; he was on a table in Zecora’s hut.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re all right! You gave us all quite a fright!”

“Fortune!” Lucky ran up to him, wrapping him in her hug. “I was so worried!”

“I’m fine, sis,” he said, sitting up. His head was completely clear. “In fact, I feel better than fine.” He jumped to his hooves.

“Hey, take it easy,” Twilight said.

“Really, I feel great!” Fortune cast a perfect Reflect spell around himself, grinning.

“See? I don’t feel tired at all anymore!”

“What?” Lucky stared at him. “What happened to you?”

“It’s a longish story,” he said. “I’m not totally sure if it even really happened.”

“Well, let’s hear it!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “I love stories!”

“Well, Zecora and I went into this cave to find these stones…”

Comments

[Riku006]

1.bp.blogspot.com/-_TkbcIBMy1Y/T2Ioh3r-T_I/AAAAAAAABGA/BAJcgUhFm7c/s1600/firstpost.jpg
There, now that that's out of the way.
So awesome. Although there was one error;
"He jumped to his hooves." Other than that, this was awesome.

[HungryPony]

Boss fight ! So happy to see some action.But now Fortune has to tell them everything.Story time !

[Flarinite]

935531 Ooh, nice catch, thanks.

[Alpharedblade]

im liking where this is going. and a side note can you actually run up the darksiders arm in the game cause i just kept hitting its hands

[Flarinite]

953152 Yeah, you can. That's the quickest way to beat him. I didn't realize it until you fight him again at the end.