Lea and Yen Sid's Visit
Weeks passed since the day Aqua gave Terra his Mark of Mastery exam. Their duel of unimaginable strength and magical prowess ended with him the victor, the couple's injuries healing well after they took it easy, and Terra had passed with flying colors. He still couldn't believe he was now a Keyblade Master, doubting himself as he felt he would never be ready, but Aqua believed in him and knew she had made the right choice in declaring him as a fellow master. Though he was still haunted by the darkness he used back then, he learned from his painful past and what had happened to him, Aqua, and Ventus, vowing to stay with the light this time and trust his own strength.
During their recovery, a lot of surprising events unfolded, one of them being Rainbow Dash now a full-fledged Wonderbolt. When Spitfire came down to Ponyville that day with the rest of her team, she personally gave the recruit and potential Wonderbolt the awesome news, and Scootaloo was there to witness it as she expressed her excitement before Rainbow's shock turned to overwhelming joy. Needless to say, where she was hyped to finally achieve her long-time dream since she was a filly, her first day ended in a bit of a disaster, ignoring specific rules Spitfire warned her about and wound up crashing into a trash can, being teased by being called Rainbow Crash by her teammates, the same hurtful nickname her old bullies gave her when she was a filly. When they found out about her terrible first day after throwing her a party, they tried to give her advice on stand out in a positive way, only to take it the other way when she acted like the others, even changing her hair to look like her friends she tried to imitate. Sadly, it did nothing to impress Spitfire or the rest of the team, and when it came for the start of their tour, she grew desperate to change her nickname by going against their routine and showing off, which ended in her crashing into Pinkie's enormous pile of cotton candy in the crowd. Surprisingly for her, the other Wonderbolts had their own nicknames they were given over their first day blunders, including Spitfire. She kept her nickname they gave her in the end, not letting it bother her knowing that even her idols have had their fair share of screw-ups and they weren't always perfect.
Then along came Fluttershy's younger brother, Zephyr Breeze, one of the laziest people the group had ever met. Somehow, she had never discussed her brother's lazy, guilt-tripping personality toward their parents to the Keyblade wielders, though the rest of the Mane Six knew of him. Rainbow, unfortunately, knew him all too well, being Zephyr's crush and too lovestruck to even understand the definition of no, or even notice the awkward, disgusted looks Rainbow gave him when confessing "her" feelings for him. He was supposed to go to school for mane therapy, but he dropped out and didn't bother finishing, Fluttershy being the only assertive member of her family to tell her own mother and father that Zephyr can't stay with them. It showed she came a long way from the timid mare she used to be, although she had been frustrated with her brother's laziness, and even more so when he decided to room with his older sister, but she allowed it on one condition: he had to get a job. Sadly, he failed to finish or even start anything as he messed up a simple cloth dying at Rarity's boutique by using Opal as a mobile brush, having Spike "show" him how to clean the windows in the castle while the baby dragon did all the work, and even a simple bit of work with Rainbow Dash earned him a lightning bolt bucked by the mare of his desires. It didn't take long for Fluttershy and Rainbow to hear him admit that he was afraid of failing and just gave up before he ever had a chance to fail, so with the right push, and keeping him from giving up, Zephyr actually completed a hairstyle on his mannequin on his own, and it looked like it did in his book. Given the confidence he needed, he promised to go back to school and really finish his studies and pass, and if he failed, he would try again and learn from his mistakes.
And now with the map back up and running, the Keyblade wielders were able to pinpoint the growing threat of Heartless throughout the worlds again. Twilight accompanied the expert wielders to each of the worlds in trouble for more experience, using her own magic to help her transform into her human form from the alternate Equestria. Unfortunately, she needed a set of clothes for it to work, otherwise she'd be running around in the nude trying to save the world from Heartless, and they surely won't get distracted by certain assets of her human body. It was worse for Riku when she first attempted this as he blushed like mad, averting his eyes while being thankful they were alone in a forest so no one else saw her. After that embarrassing display, she turned back into a pony, making sure to ask Rarity to sew her an outfit for traveling to other worlds and changing into a human while making sure to enchant it herself so it can fit her while transformed. Thankfully, with her next venture to another new world, she took her new set of clothes and gave it a test run when she was with either Aqua or Kairi to avoid embarrassing Riku again, or Sora, Ventus, or Terra.
Lea leaned against the wall, skimming through one of the magic books Yen Sid had in his study. His affinity was definitely Fire, and he was interested in some of these special Fire spells he could learn, but learning the other elements, especially his polar opposite, Blizzard, it was pretty complicated for him. He had been practicing using his Keyblade magic, though, which took a lot of time to get used to using the other elemental spells. He looked up when he heard the door to Yen Sid's room open, the wizard finished chatting with Celestia for now.
"Having fun with your new girlfriend, gramps?" Lea teased, shutting the book and placing it back in its rightful spot on the shelf.
"Celestia is doing well," Yen Sid said, ignoring the oldest apprentice's childish comment. "Although, her former student had informed her of a few...troublesome events without our knowledge. Have I told you about a pony named Starlight Glimmer?"
"She's that equality loving pony who thought those cutie mark things were evil, right?" Lea guessed, the wizard nodding at the correct guess. "So, what about her?"
"Apparently, she had found a way to travel back in time to alter the course of history, only to create multiple timelines where, no matter what the outcome, spelled disaster for Equestria...and every other world within our universe." The red-headed wielder balked in surprise by the news. "What was worse was that not only were Twilight Sparkle and her friends were not seen in this alternate timelines, but Sora was also killed in some way as well."
"...Whoa...Seriously? Sora ends up dead in those other times???" Lea questioned. "How does that even work? If things had changed in the past, how did it affect everything else outside of Equestria?"
"A butterfly effect," Yen Sid answered. "One small change can affect everything it has much impact upon the world. Or worlds." Lea scratched his head, highly confused, but went along with it since Yen Sid knew what he was talking about. "Twilight had told Celestia of what she had experienced and what befell Sora in those alternate timelines..." He grew silent as a couple of those past moments had worried him. One of them was Sora getting upset with the alternate Sombra and began to lose himself in rage, where his darkness threatened to overtake him. The other was Kairi's unimaginable power if she was enraged as well from the pain of losing Sora. She may not lose herself in darkness since her heart was made of pure light, but if a Princess of Heart could cause devastation while in a depressed state like what that Kairi had experienced, he didn't know if it was possible for her to be corrupted by darkness if that happened. "His ends...were not pleasant."
"No need to make me memorize all the gory details," Lea uttered, shuddering at the many ways Sora could have lost his life. "...So, what about this Starlight pony? She in jail or something?"
"Well, believe it or not, she is actually Twilight's student," Yen Sid said. "Her 'sentence' is to learn about the magic of friendship, her actions caused by her loss of a friend in her youth and fears of making friends who earn a cutie mark."
"...That's...a stupid reason," Lea said. "She should have gotten some jail time. Or get banished."
"Aqua had some...ideas she decided to voice, and almost act upon if Twilight did not intervene." Yen Sid hummed with concern, stroking his beard as he looked back on the Aqua he met then to the Aqua today. "I can trust Aqua to be a great leader, but the many years she's spent alone, struggling to survive, her mental state had deteriorated. Thankfully, Ventus and Terra are back to help bring her back to her senses, but that may take many years before her experience in the Realm of Darkness can truly be a distant memory."
"Yikes...I wonder if she wanted to strangle me with how I spoke with her the first time we met," Lea wondered allowed. A moment of silence passed between them. Lea was curious to know what the wizard wanted him to do for his training today. "So, am I just going to get an update and go on vacation, or is there something you want me to do?"
"Actually, there is something the both of us are going to do," Yen Sid said with a grin. "I think I need a little vacation from my research, and you need a bit of training fighting Heartless in a transformed state."
"Oh great. An escort mission," Lea groaned. "And you're going to sit around on your saggy butt while I do all the hard work, right?" Yen Sid's grin turned into a frown as he leered at his apprentice, raising a brow at his question. "...Are you taking offense to that?"
"...Your sense of humor is even more childish than Sora's, you know that?" Yen Sid asked. "I guess you haven't truly grown up after losing your heart as a teenager."
"Aha! So you are offended!" Before Lea could gloat any further, Yen Sid sent one of the books on the shelf behind the ex-Organization XIII member smacking into his head. "Ow! Now you can't take a joke..."
"I can tolerate nonsense like that since I was friends with Eraqus in my youth. He was always the jokester, despite being serious when it came to training." Looking down at his desk, Yen Sid glanced at the picture of him, Eraqus, and Xehanort when they were Keyblade Apprentices. Those fond memories seemed tainted when he looked at Xehanort, still shocked by the fact that, in an alternate timeline, he actually did have a heart when he heard from Celestia that Twilight and Sora were saved by him during Sombra's attack on the world. Nevertheless, he was still the enemy, and the longer he still lives, the worse his plans will be to gain ultimate power from Kingdom Hearts and the X-blade. "If you are quite done goofing around, are you ready for our little trip?"
"Yeah, yeah. I've been ready since I woke up. I'll start up the ship." Lea was about to leave the study, only for the wizard to shut the doors on him. "Huh? Hey, what gives?"
"I figured I could take us there," Yen Sid said. "Don't want to get too rusty with my magic every now and then."
"...Alright, then. Where exactly are we going?" Lea asked.
"I think you know exactly where I plan to go." Yen Sid beckoned Lea to walk over to him, who obeyed and stepped closer.
As soon as he was close enough, the powerful wizard raised his hands as he focused his magic on a teleportation spell. Lights began spiraling around the duo, Lea watching them with a bit of worry at what his master was planning. Yen Sid raised his arms in the air as the lights moved faster, growing brighter and blinding Lea as he quickly covered his eyes with his arms. In the flash, they disappeared as the lights faded, a feeling of weightlessness hitting Lea as his vision was filled with swift movement he could barely tell what they passed. After what felt like an eternity, they finally reached their destination, Lea grunting as he failed to land on his feet, his face smacking the ground with a painful groan.
"Ugh. Warn me about the rough landing next time?" Lea peeled his face out of the ground, which happened to be a stone walkway they had landed on. He stood up and tried to check if his teeth were still intact, only to yelp as he fell forward from losing his balance from his own limbs. "Agh! Ok, did my arms and limbs get switched around? Is my head connected to my own butt now because of that comment I made about yours?"
"You're fine," Yen Sid said. "Just sit up and look down at yourself."
Trying again, he carefully pushed himself up to a sitting position, and when he looked down at the ground, instead of seeing his black shoes, he saw a pair of dark red hooves. "Huh?" Moving his cloak around, his legs were definitely different as well, covered with dark red fur that he now felt all over his body from within his clothing. Lifting his arms up, they were just like his legs as he now had hooves for hands, not covered by black gloves as he stared at them with a raised brow. Curious, he moved his hooves to his face, which was longer now that he had a muzzle and a squared jawline. "Oh. We're in Equestria aren't we?
"No wonder I fell on my face..." Lea moved his forelegs to the upper part of his head, feeling the equine ears as he involuntarily twitched them from the contact. He felt something odd around his forehead, running both hooves up a cone that was attached to his forehead. Looking up as best as he could, he could see the tip of a dark red horn, which was almost obscured by his brighter red mane. "Aww. I'm a unicorn? I wanna be a pegasus."
"Your magic would turn you into something that suits your preference," Yen Sid explained. "No doubt your fascination for Fire spells might be the reason."
"I'm more of an assassin when I was part of Organization XIII as Axel, so I figured speed would be my thing," Lea argued, looking down to find his tail as he felt it twitch. It was just as red as his hair, looking exactly as wild and spiked as it was on his head. He felt around his barrel, hoping to feel a pair of wings hiding under his cloak, but sighed in disappointment when he felt nothing. "Dang it. So much for wishing for both."
Lea turned his head to look at his master, only to gawk in surprise at who he was looking at. Standing before him in the same blue cloak and stellar mage's cap was an elderly white-gray unicorn stallion with a familiar gray beard that belonged to Yen Sid. What shocked Lea the most was the unicorn's eyes; instead of them being the usual beady black pupils the serious wizard had, he actually had big, gray irises, giving him actual eyes, which unnerved the red unicorn.
"...What?" Yen Sid questioned the odd look Lea gave him.
"Holy crap!" he exclaimed. "...You have eyes!"
Yen Sid gave Lea a deadpanned glare, resisting the urge to smack him upside the back of his head. "Yes. I have eyes. So do you."
"No! I mean, REAL eyes!" Lea stated. "You ever see yourself in the mirror and see those tiny black dots called pupils? Those aren't eyes! Those are disturbing contacts, making it impossible to actually look you in the eye when you give me orders! Find a mirror here, memorize those eyes, and magic up that pair to wear like glasses so we can avoid awkward conversations." Yen Sid slowly lifted a foreleg, then stomped it down, using his magic to launch Lea up in the air with a pillar of road they stood on. He placed the earth back in its rightful place, watching the red stallion yell as he fell back down and landed on his back. "Ow...I was being serious that time."
"Try to behave yourself," Yen Sid chided. "We are among others." Once Lea could feel his spine, he sat up again, taking in his surroundings for the first time since they arrived in Equestria. They were in the center of Canterlot, where many of the nobles had watched them as they mysteriously appeared from their teleportation and the wizard's spell despite the fact his horn didn't glow. In the distance, he could see Canterlot Castle, which was where Celestia and Luna resided from what the old wizard told him. "Now, stand up and follow me. Celestia is expecting us."
"She is?" Lea asked. He tried to stand up, only on his hind legs before losing his balance, forcing his forelegs down to catch himself. "So, you talked to her about visiting earlier? Oh jeez, walking this way is gonna feel awkward."
"It's like taking your first steps as a baby," Yen Sid advised his pupil, walking casually as if he had more experience while sitting around in his study for many years.
"Oh, yeah. That's easy," Lea sarcastically said. "Would have been a cinch if I was actually born a pony." He slowly took a few shaky steps, wobbling slightly while looking like an idiot in front of a crowd of curious ponies watching him. "Hey, why don't you all take a picture!? It'll last longer!" Not paying attention to his legs, Lea yelped as he tripped over his forelegs, slamming his chin on the ground while his limbs were splayed out. "Ugh. Maybe they shouldn't, otherwise I'll be a laughingstock..." Scrambling to get back on his hooves, he slowly followed after the only unicorn with the starry blue hat on, stumbling in his steps as he was forced to learn how to walk like a pony. "Hey, gramps, wait up! I'm just getting my sea legs in gear!"
It took a while for Lea to get used to walking on all fours, managing to catch up to Yen Sid, but still trying not to walk into his own legs to avoid tripping. He didn't see the smirk on the older unicorn's muzzle, making Lea feel humiliated for his earlier comment back at the Mysterious Tower. They soon arrived at the gates to the castle, an amazing spectacle for a royal of any world to live in. Approaching the gates, the guards stationed there blocked their entrance.
"State your business," one of the stallions demanded.
"We are here to see Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia," Yen Sid said. "She is expecting us. I am Yen Sid, and this is my student."
"Yen Sid? Odd name..." A guard near the small booth looked over a list of important guests the princess is either expecting or is always welcome by her orders. He looked down the list and found the old wizard's name. "Ah. Here it is. Although, we haven't seen you visit once...How does Princess Celestia know you?"
"Oh, they have a long-distance relationship," Lea said with a smirk. "You don't want to believe how excited he gets when his beloved 'pen pal' writes back. And trust me, this old geezer is not easily excited. Just look at the serious look on his face. His facial muscles are so stiff that it's painful for him to even crack a smile."
"Ignore him," Yen Sid said. "The princess and I are just friends. I had sent one of my other students to help assist Princess Celestia during the more troubling times that have occurred quite recently. He goes by the name of Sora."
"Sora's one of your students???" both guards asked in shock.
"What...kind of teacher are you?" the first guard questioned.
"Magic and weapons combat training," Yen Sid answered.
"More magic than weapons," Lea corrected, the wizard glancing at the red stallion before turning back to the guards.
"Are we allowed entry?" Yen Sid asked. "Her Highness is still expecting us."
"Oh, yes. Of course, sir." The stallions stepped aside to let the guests through, Yen Sid and Lea walking past them and entered the palace.
They walked through the halls, looking around at the royal decor while the princesses servants went about their daily duties. Some of the maids eyed Lea as the two guests made their way to Celestia, the unicorn noticing their stares as he gave them an alluring grin. He chuckled as some of them blushed at his gaze, although he did end up embarrassing himself by not paying attention to where he was going, bumping into a table holding a vase and nearly knocking it over. Yen Sid caught it in his unicorn telekinesis, his aura a pale gray, saving the priceless pottery, placed it back on the table, then grabbed Lea's ear and yanked him forward, the mares who witnessed his bumbling giggling as he was dragged off by his master like a troublesome son taken away by his disappointed father.
They wandered into the halls where they found the many stain-glass windows depicting Equestria's most memorable moments in history etched for all to see. Lea let out an awed whistle, seeing Sora in most of them with Twilight and her friends.
"Sora's pretty popular around here, huh?" Lea asked aloud. "You think we can get windows like these at your place?"
"Unnecessary," Yen Sid said, continuing on as he already knew of Sora's feats from the alicorn princess. "And there won't be any of you on there if I did create any."
"Gee, thanks." After admiring the windows for a bit longer, Lea caught up with Yen Sid as they found the doors to the throne room.
Inside was Celestia resting on her lush throne while reading a few recent letters from Twilight. She looked up from the scrolls as she heard a pair of hooves approach her, a bit surprised when she saw the elder unicorn wearing the same clothing as a certain human she's known for the last few years.
"...Yen Sid?" Celestia guessed. "Is that you?"
"Indeed, Celestia," the wizard said with a grin. "Surprised?"
"Oh my...I almost expected you to look a bit differently than I imagined," the princess said. "You actually have irises in your eyes."
"Hah! See!? I told ya!" Lea gloated while Yen Sid let out a sigh.
"And you are...?" Celestia addressed the red unicorn teasing her friend.
"Name's Lea, another one of the old fart's pupils in the ways of the Keyblade," the cocky stallion said. "It's spelled L-E-A. Got it memorized?" He pressed a hoof to the side of his head, finding it a bit awkward not to have fingers as he did his signature catchphrase and motion. "...I'm already starting to miss my fingers."
"I see...Well, it is a pleasure meeting you, Lea." Celestia got up from her throne, neatly placing the letters on the armrest before approaching Yen Sid and Lea. "I didn't expect you to arrive so soon."
"I would have teleported us to your room, although it would have caused quite a ruckus for any guards nearby to hear two stallions sneaking into a princess's chambers," Yen Sid reasoned. "Giving me that little glance of Canterlot through the mirror gave me the mental imaging I needed to transport the two of us in the city and not in a random building or through a wall."
"Wait, that can happen!?" Lea asked in surprise. "You could have planted me in the ground like a red and black weed!"
"You doubted my skills?" Yen Sid questioned. "I COULD have put you in the ground, but I was feeling generous today...Unless you want half your body caught in a wall or the ground."
"I'm good!" Lea quickly exclaimed, backing away as he lifted his forelegs up, only to fall backwards with an irritated leer. "Ok, I wanna be human again. I hate losing my balance when I'm meant to be on two legs."
"So, why did you bring him along?" Celestia asked curiously.
"Training to fight while in a different form," the wizard explained. "Certain worlds rely on being discreet about our appearance so we don't shatter what remains of the world order. That's why we were both shocked to see each other in the mirror a few years back, you never seeing a human before while I was found out by someone from another world."
"I see," Celestia said with a nod. "He doesn't seem to be adjusting that well, unfortunately."
"He'll get used to it," Yen Sid said, ignoring the glare he received from the pouting red stallion. "If Sora, Riku, and Kairi could handle it with no practice, Lea surely can."
"I'm gonna need a week, then," Lea muttered. "Or a month."
As Yen Sid shook his head in amusement with Lea's whining, Celestia stared at Yen Sid in his pony form. She didn't say it aloud, but she could swear he looked a lot like Star Swirl the Bearded, her old mentor. If she replaced his gray beard with a swirling white one, placed several bells on his hat and cloak, and blue irises instead of gray, he would look exactly like the old unicorn wizard who tutored her and Luna. Memories of him teaching them surfaced, saddening the alicorn as the last time she ever saw him was over a thousand years ago. And the worst of it was that he ended up missing before old age caught up with him. If it weren't for him, Celestia and Luna would never have been able to ascend to the alicorn princesses they became, taught to rule over a nation where the three pony races lived together while under the guidance of the two sisters who represented all three tribes in one.
"Celestia?" Snapping out of her thoughts, the illusion of Star Swirl in her mind that took Yen Sid's place faded, noticing the concerned look on the former Keyblade wielder's face. "Is something troubling you?"
"...No," she answered, composing herself as she put on the same stoic mask she bore for the last millennia, hiding her true feelings from her subjects when she still grieved for what she did to her sister back then. "I just...spaced out."
"You're upset," Yen Sid said. "I know you more than even your closest assistants. Your expression may say, 'I'm perfectly alright,' but your eyes tell a different story."
The princess didn't flinch, but her slightly twitching ears that threatened to droop gave it away. Giving the mare a firm gaze, despite their age difference, Celestia wilted as her ears drooped, letting out a sad sigh as she looked down.
"...You look almost like my old mentor," she said.
"Star Swirl the Bearded," Yen Sid guessed, nodding his head as she mentioned many different spells that the stallion had written. "I see. I know it is difficult for someone to lose somebody important to them; whether it be a family member, someone to look up to or guided you with the lessons they gave, or even a close friend...I understand, Celestia."
"But the problem is that I did not see Star Swirl in his final hours," Celestia admitted. "He...disappeared, and there was no sign of him anywhere...I was afraid to presume he was dead, but after many years with no evidence of how he vanished..." Tears welled up in her eyes, losing her mentor just as painful as banishing Luna to the moon after failing to see just how miserable she was while she was taking all the limelight being a ruler. "...It was probably a couple years after I had to admit he was gone for good, which was around the time Luna grew miserable from being unloved by our subjects, Sombra leaving her to protect us from the darkness taking over his heart...and turned into Nightmare Moon..."
Yen Sid silently nodded silently. He understood how dark her past was with all the mistakes she's made, and he even felt some sadness of his own after his, Eraqus, and Xehanort's master had passed away many years ago. Celestia, however, had lived for a thousand years with the guilt for her actions, blinded by fame to see how Luna was feeling about everyone's adoration toward the princess of the sun. Yen Sid approached the mournful alicorn, gently placing a hoof on her shoulder.
"Don't always let your past weigh your heart down," he said. "Whatever happened with your mentor, I'm sure he would have been proud of the accomplishments you and Luna have made upon her return and freedom from her darkness."
"I know," Celestia said. "I can't help but recall those memories of him when I look at you as you are now." She composed herself, gently rubbing her eyes with her wing to not seem like an emotional wreck in case any of her servants walked in on them. "Sometimes, I think that he might still be alive, and the only way I could were those days when he tutored Luna and I."
"Memories are pretty sensitive, though," Lea said as he recalled his time in Castle Oblivion as Axel, where he was ordered by Xemnas to cell defectors of Organization XIII who planned to use Sora for their own benefits. "Fond or painful, you can't really lose them...Unless you had a Nobody held hostage who was able to manipulate and take away memories. The traitors from Organization XIII tried to use Naminé to trick Sora when he came to a place called Castle Oblivion to find Riku." He then scratched his head bashfully, letting out a nervous chuckle. "I kinda had a hand in helping them, only to make sure those few members are assassinated so Xemnas's plans continued rolling."
"Organization XIII was that group of Nobodies," Celestia muttered as she remembered the explanation given to her, Luna, and Cadence during the Equestria Games when the Nobodies attacked the stadium. Looked over Lea again, she noticed the black coat he wore, most of it covering his body while leaving his upper neck, hooves, and tail in the open. "...Don't they...wear coats like that?"
"Yeah, but it's the only thing I can wear," Lea said. "Useful for keeping me from losing myself in the portals of darkness I made, but because I'm a Keyblade wielder, I've got to memorize that that's not allowed anymore. Even if they get me to where I needed faster than a blocky ship."
"I see..." Right as Celestia asked Lea about more of his life before turning into a Nobody, one of her assistants walked in with a long list held in her aura.
"Princess Celestia, we have a lot to cover for today," the mare said as she was too focused on the parchment in front of her. When she finally looked up from her work to look at the princess, she was surprised to see Lea and Yen Sid in the room with her. "...And that includes no time to spend time with...umm...Who are they?"
"This is a friend of mine from across the seas," Celestia lied as she pointed at Yen Sid. "And this is his pupil. They've come to visit me today."
"Well, this visit unfortunately will have to come to an end," the assistant sternly said. "You have a meeting with the faculty of your prestigious school, then there's an appearance for the youngest students who had entered, a lunch with your nephew, Prince Blueblood, several disputes between a few ponies over land, business deals, et cetera, and a lot more we have to get done today."
"Is there anything on that list that can give her a break?" Lea questioned, trying to peek over the unicorn mare's shoulder.
"A princess's duties doesn't warrant a rest when there's so much to do with so little time," the assistant said irritably, dragging her list away from Lea's prying eyes.
Celestia suppressed an irritated sigh, silently wishing she could take a vacation from her duties. "I completely forgot about all that. I am sorry, Yen Sid. It appears your visit is going to be cut short."
"It's quite alright," the wizard assured. "There's always our method of communication."
"Are you sure you two just talk and don't do anything weird when you 'communicate'?" Lea questioned, his answer a swift gust of wind from Yen Sid that sent him tumbling all the way across the expansive throne room and out the doors, slamming to a halt against the wall out in the hallway.
"If that is your student, I highly suggest you teach him to show some respect to Princess Celestia, sir," the assistant advised, warning the gray unicorn who they were in the presence of.
"He has an odd way of showing his respect," Yen Sid said. "As long as you give enough discipline, he'll learn. Some...take a while to get it in their heads."
"Sure," the mare muttered. "Princess, if we are to at least get through a fraction of your countless meetings and the like, we must be going now."
"Ok," Celestia said, watching her strict assistant leave ahead of her, leering at the maids who were laughing at the dazed red stallion leaning upside down against the wall, warning them to get back to work. "Sometimes, ponies take their jobs too seriously." She then looked down at Yen Sid, feeling a bit guilty for letting their first physical meeting together end so abruptly. "I wish I could introduce you to Luna, but at this time, she's sleeping. No doubt having a dream date with her late fiance."
"Yes. He became a Dream Eater upon his end," Yen Sid recalled. "Despite how fragile the heart can be, there are many who have one strong enough to defy facing their end: Ventus as he destroyed his darkness with his light finding solace in Sora's heart, Sora sacrificing his heart to awaken Kairi and returning from the darkness as a Shadow by following her light, and Sombra leaving behind a part of himself inside of a simple gemstone to forever be with his beloved during his final breath...Some may call it luck or a miracle, but the truth may be that their hearts are stronger than we give them credit for. This, I believe, is what makes Sora stand out among other wielders I've met; he'll be the one who is strong enough to end Xehanort and anymore plots to take Kingdom Hearts and the X-blade."
"It surely shows with how much he's done for Equestria," Celestia agreed. She left to catch up with her assistant before the mare had a fit, but before she left, she turned to face Yen Sid again as a curious thought came to her. "When Twilight and Sora traveled back through time to stop Starlight...with Sora's end in each timeline...Do you think it's possible Sora has had a connection with the Elements of Harmony in the past from such a long distance between our world and his?"
Yen Sid had mulled over that fact when Celestia brought of Sora and Twilight's dreadful misadventures through the alternate timelines. From how much Sora was affected by the slight changes to Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom, the spectacle she pulled off as a filly that made the Mane Six's destinies intertwine to becoming best friends, it may have been possible that Sora may have witnessed the sonic rainboom as well back then. He had the Drive Form that was created by the Elements of Harmony, something that even he was surprised to know that there was such a form when he was told about it. Sora may have been a bit too young to remember seeing a glimpse of it in the sky if the light of the rainboom was strong enough to spread far out from Equestria to Destiny Islands, but there was no coincidence that he had a really close bond with them when they met.
"...It might have been possible," Yen Sid responded after some thought. "The only way to know is if we were to travel back in time...But, without trying to change any part of the past to create more paradoxes."
"I'd rather not try to change the past after reading what Twilight explained." With her question answered, Celestia nodded to Yen Sid and made her way down the hall to begin her endless duties for the day.
Yen Sid exited the room and approached Lea, his bottom half finally falling over onto the floor as he regained consciousness. "...Why are you abusing me now?"
"So you don't stand out like a sore thumb in a new world, especially while transformed," Yen Sid lectured. "Also-" He smacked the red stallion upside the head, making him wince as he rubbed the sore mark the older stallion left. "-Celestia and I are merely friends. We don't want you spreading random rumors around that are not true."
Lea groaned and sat up, memorizing the lesson on speaking to royalty. "Yeah, yeah...So, what do we do now?"
"Well, this trip won't be for nothing," Yen Sid said. "I say we check in on everyone in Ponyville. I also want to see the maps in Twilight Sparkle's castle."
"Alrighty, then." They waited in silence, though Lea had expected Yen Sid to teleport them off to the small town after deciding what to do next. "...Uhh, ok. Let's get on with the teleporting magic thing. I'm ready this time."
"We're not going to teleport there," Yen Sid said.
"...Yes you can," Lea insisted. "It's not that hard if you're that great of a wizard. Or did you run out of juice due to old age?"
"I can cast more spells than you can count without suffering from mana exhaustion," the wizard sternly responded. "I cannot teleport to a location that I know nothing about. Teleportation has very specific rules to ensure you don't end up stuck in a wall or appear in a dangerous position. I have not seen the town up close, so if I were to teleport us, I could wind up getting the both of us trapped somewhere else or in a house or tree. I need to envision the location's exact geography for a perfect teleportation."
"Are you serious?" Lea asked in exasperation. "Oh, great. So, how exactly are we supposed to get there?"
The train's whistle blew, chugging away from the station in Canterlot as it began its trek down the mountain. Inside one of the many cars filled with passengers, Lea and Yen Sid sat in one of the many benches, the former staring ahead blankly as their best method to reach Ponyville was by train.
"...Do you have a thing for trains?" Lea questioned, both out of annoyance and curiosity. "You have your own magical train that's connected to Twilight Town, and you wanted to ride a train to Ponyville?"
"This is the only best way to reach the town from this distance," Yen Sid reasoned. "That train back at the tower has nothing to do with a fascination for locomotives."
"Mhmm. Sure." After only a few minutes on board, watching what view of the world they saw out the window as the train went down and around the mountain, Lea was immediately bored just watched the scenery. Inside their car were a few other ponies, some of them on business as they waited patiently while reading the news, some of them families with a filly or colt excitedly enjoying the ride while looking out the window. One earth pony colt, his coat a pale red with a messy yellow mane who was probably around five years old, grew curious about the strange ponies wearing clothes, staring at Lea as he sat awkwardly, like how he does as a human with a leg up on his seat with a foreleg draped over his knee. Lea noticed the colt, who was wondering how he didn't feel uncomfortable sitting that way. "...Hey." He hid behind the bench as Lea greeted him, poking his head around shyly. "Don't worry. The old man doesn't bite."
"He seems to be staring at you more than me," Yen Sid said. "Can you sit normally?"
"I am," Lea stated.
"Like a pony," the wizard reiterated.
"Honey, don't wander too far from mommy!" The colt looked over at his mother, her coat a hot pink with a tied back red, orange, and yellow streaked mane, returning back to her on the other side of the car, leaping up onto the bench and sat beside her. The mare gave them an apologetic look. "Sorry. He's always such a curious little guy."
"He wasn't a bother at all, ma'am," Yen Sid assured.
The colt tried to mimic Lea's sitting position, using his right fore and hind leg like the stallion did. He stuck his tongue out while trying to get comfortable, occasionally looking over at the unicorn in the black coat. Lea chuckled as the little guy was trying to impress him.
"Cute kid," he said to himself. As he rubbed his cheek with his hoof, Lea realized something that was incredibly important that was considered part of his training for fitting in a new world with a transformed body. "So, being here is part of my training, right?"
"Yes. What about it?" Yen Sid asked.
"How am I supposed to fight when I have no fingers to grasp my chakrams or Keyblade?" Lea questioned, holding his forehooves out and waving them in front of him.
"You're a unicorn," he stated, pointing at his own horn while making it glow, lifting up his cap in his gray aura. "Telekinesis is the most simplest of spells a unicorn can learn. Even a foal can do it."
Yen Sid pointed at a couple unicorn foals farther ahead of them, two unicorn fillies levitating some dolls around while playing with them. Lea looked up at his own horn with crossed eyes, tapping his new appendage thinking it would turn on.
"...Ok...How do I make things float then?" Lea asked.
"Concentrate on the object, or objects, and focus on lifting them up," Yen Sid explained. "Imagine it as an extra set of arms and hands, only with the ability to freely move them around without the limits of your arms being outstretched or twisted about."
"Ah. So like Dilan when he was Xaldin with those wind spears of his," Lea summarized, even if the method was a bit different since the number three of the Organization had the power of wind at his disposal, not telekinesis.
"Similarly, yes," Yen Sid agreed. He pulled out small book from under his cloak, nothing worthy of reading material as he handed it to Lea. "Practice using this book. It's light enough, and it should come naturally to you since your magic had changed you into a unicorn."
Lea stared at the book in his hoof, humming curiously as he decided to give it a try. Putting all of his concentration on the small, blank tome, his horn began lighting up a fiery red-orange aura, surprising him as Yen Sid was actually right about his unicorn magic feeling natural. Imagining him grabbing the book with an invisible hand, his aura wrapped around the book and made it float in front of him. Growing excited, no longer miffed at being a unicorn, he moved the book up, down, all around him, entertaining himself.
"Maybe being a unicorn isn't that bad after all," Lea said. He then gasped, losing his focus and dropped the book as a thought came to him. "What if I can levitate myself? I can fly AND use magic! Hah!"
"Can you handle lifting your own weight?" Yen Sid asked. "Those with strong magical power can levitate themselves if they desired, though I'm not sure you have that kind of capacity."
"Just watch me!" Lea focused his magic again, surrounding himself in his aura as he tried to lift himself out of his seat. Unfortunately, he couldn't even hover an inch as he struggled to levitate himself, even though he was pretty fit and weighed the average weight of a grown man. "Come on! Come on! Float! Float, me!" After straining for a few minutes, the stallion gave up, panting heavily in exhaustion. "Ok, it's impossible. Unicorns can't make themselves float with their own magic." He looked at Yen Sid, only to gawk in shock as the older stallion one-upped him, levitating in a meditative stance with his aura surrounding him. He looked at Lea with one eye, then smirked at his expression. "...I hate you."
"You just need some more magic training," Yen Sid said before gently floating back down in his seat.
"How are you a pro at this? Is this really the first time you've ever been here?" Lea questioned skeptically.
"It is," Yen Sid answered. "And I have had experience walking on all fours in the past." Lea opened his mouth to ask another question, but the wizard beat him to it. "It felt natural for me to use my magic and walk in this form as well. I was the top of my peers in magic and intellect for a reason."
Lea rolled his eyes, huffing in annoyance as he looked past the grinning stallion and to the colt mimicking him. He found it cute to see someone actually trying to pretend to be him, even though they met each other for the first time. Maybe it was his hair, his coat, or his demeanor that got the colt interested, young boys easily impressionable with someone who acts or looks cool to them. Even his mother was amused by her son mimicking him, rolling her eyes and shaking her head with a grin at the odd choice of role model.
Their pleasant ride was interrupted as they heard screaming come from the car in front of them. Suddenly, ponies from that car ran through in a panic, even the conductors and engineers working the train ran from something as they quickly shut the door once everyone was through.
"What in the hell?" Lea asked, looking at Yen Sid as they both had a feeling something was definitely wrong.
"Now, everypony, try to remain calm!" the conductor said, trying to calm the startled passengers down despite his own voice wavering.
Before they could relax, several pairs of thin, rubbery gray arms managed to squeeze through the gap of the door and began prying it open. The staff tried to keep the door shut, but the arms were too strong and slammed it open, revealing several Nobodies ranging from Dusks, Creepers, and Dancers on the other end. More Dusks and Dancers poked their heads from the roof of the train, pulling the closed windows up to allow them entry, making the passengers scream in terror as they all scrambled to get away from the mysterious gray monsters.
"Nobodies!" Lea exclaimed, he and Yen Sid quickly standing up from their seats. "And there had to be Dancers. I really hate those things. They also remind me of Demyx."
They heard the colt's mother yelp as she was struck by a Dusk, trying to keep her son safe and failing to do so with creatures like Nobodies. Trembling in terror, the colt cowered under his hooves, the Dusk preparing to grab him and either kidnap or harm him. Now being a perfect time to practice his combat skills as a unicorn, Lea summoned his chakrams first, holding the spiked discs in his aura as they appeared in a veil of flames. He flung his signature weapons hard at the Dusk, smacking it away from the petrified colt and burning it, then rushed forward, summoned his Keyblade, and thrust it straight in the Nobody's head, making it disappear in a burst of light as it was destroyed.
Yen Sid cast a multitude of powerful spells toward the Nobodies, taking careful aim while avoiding the ponies trying to get away. "Lea, get rid of the Nobodies! I'll keep the ponies safe!"
"Sure! Let me do all the work, eh, old timer!?" Lea flung his chakrams wildly, swinging them freely in his aura without needing to call them back for another windup while keeping his Keyblade nearby for close-quarters. Helping the smacked mother up on her hooves, he smacked the Creepers away as they flapped toward them, grabbing the scared colt and placed him on his mother's back. "Hey, don't worry, buddy. I'll take care of these monsters."
The colt peeked through his hooves, feeling reassured by the confident grin on the red stallion's muzzle. The mother silently thanked him before running off with the rest of the passengers into the next car. Yen Sid followed after them, blasting Nobodies back with his magic so Lea could handle them while also get some practice in as a unicorn.
"Good luck, Lea," Yen Sid wished, lighting up his horn as he created a protective bubble around the remaining cars not infested with Nobodies while the train continued rolling with its crew hiding along with their passengers.
"I'm gonna need it with the Dancers," Lea muttered to himself. Looking back at the number of Nobodies leering at him, he had flashbacks being trapped in the void between The World That Never Was and Twilight Town while being constantly attacked by Nobodies as Axel for defecting against the Organization. "Alright. It's getting kind of crowded in here. How about we take this outside!?"
Taking his chakrams in his hooves, he held them out and made them spin, building up flames around the pointed ends as he turned up the heat. In an explosion of fire, he blasted the Nobodies out through the windows, stunning them as they were set on fire while fluttering like plastic bags in the air or tumbling across the ground in a crumpled heap. Getting some room to move around now, Lea leapt through a window, grabbing the ledge of the roof and flipped up on top, grasping both chakrams and his Keyblade in his aura as he watched the Dusks swim through the air back toward the train and the Creepers and Dancers warp around the stallion. With his Keyblade held in front of him and his chakrams hanging by his sides, lazily holding the right one while keeping the left one firm in his usual stance while fighting as a human, he waited for the Nobodies to strike first.
To his disappointment, it was the Creepers who moved first, the shifty forms disappearing briefly before appearing above Lea, turning into swords as they dove down on him. Swiftly sprinting away from them, he spun his chakrams and threw them at their temporary forms, igniting them in flames until they burst into a spark of light. The Dancers slid across the roof of the car toward him, flanking him while also side-stepping away from his thrown chakrams. He smacked them away with his Keyblade as they got too close, shooting a barrage of Fire spells to keep them back, though he made a big mistake as some of them continued moving closer, their bodies glowing a white aura. Their retaliating counter made them seem impenetrable, and despite his efforts to try to get away from them, one of them managed to latch their stretchy limbs around him, "danced" with him by spinning him around, then flung him after smacking him against the roof a couple times during the painful tango.
Keeping his cool, Lea flipped back on his hooves, orbiting his chakrams around him as sparks of fire built up around him. "Burn, baby!" he shouted, creating a pillar of flames that shot up from the middle of the car, the metal roof turning into a magma floor that slowly burned the Nobodies as their feet remained standing on the hot field he created. Around them as well was a barrier made of fire, keeping the Nobodies inside so they don't try to escape, but with his element of fire, he was immune to the flames as he leapt out. Sprinting around to the other side, he dove through, slashing through the Dusks and Dancers as pillars of fire shot up as they trailed behind him, knocking them back and stunning them. "Let's turn up the heat, you rubber freaks!"
Inside the protected car, ponies tried to look out the windows to see what was happening, especially when they felt the temperature suddenly rise to sweltering degrees and caught a glimpse of the fire shield Lea created. The conductors and engineers were worried that the unicorn was going to burn their train with all the fire up on the roof of the next car, but as they watched some of the Nobodies getting tossed through the flames and burning away to sparks of light, they had to trust Lea to deal with the mysterious white creatures. More Nobodies appeared as they tried to stop the ex-Organization XIII member and Keyblade wielder, but they were no match for his flames, speed, and the ability to wield three weapons at once.
"What is going on out there?" a conductor asked. "Just who is that stallion?"
"My pupil," Yen Sid said. "Everyone, relax. He's got this handled."
The colt Lea saved pressed his face against the window to try to watch, the wall of fire above them disappearing and saw one of those scary white monsters get knocked off the train, disappearing into a puff of light as it hit the ground. After several moments, the fires and the sound of metal clanging against the roof and Nobodies slowed to a halt. The passengers and staff worried about the silence before hearing the sound of hooves walking over their car. Poking his head to the window as he leaned over, Lea surprised everyone as he gave them a grin.
"Piece of cake," he said. He noticed the colt, coincidentally picking the same window to peek into as he tried to watch him fight. "See? I told you I could handle those monsters."
Yen Sid dropped his barrier, assuring the conductor that the train was now safe and that the engineers can head back to the engine and get ready for their scheduled stop in Ponyville. The passengers had settled down and returned to their seats, Lea climbing back down and regrouped with Yen Sid.
"Get a better feeling of combat as a quadruped?" the wizard asked.
"Guess so. Like you said, it felt natural after a while, but I still miss my fingers." Lea lifted his forehooves and waved them about, emphasizing his lack of digits. "...How'd I even grab my chakrams earlier without them anyway?"
The rest of the ride went smoothly, thankfully with no more random attacks from more Nobodies, or even any Heartless. The conductors soon announced their arriving at Ponyville Station, where many of the ponies got themselves ready to disembark. As Lea and Yen Sid stood up to get ready to exit, the mother and son Lea saved approached them as they seemed to be leaving the train as well.
"Thank you so much for saving my son, sir," the mare thanked. "I may be a protective mother, but I don't think I could have handled...whatever those creatures were."
"No prob," Lea said. "I've handled Nobodies like those before. And I needed a bit of training for the day done anyway." Looking down, the mare's son looked up at him, feeling a bit nervous as Lea crouched himself down to his level. "You alright, kiddo? Don't tell me those monsters scared you more than the old geezer I'm traveling with."
"I am standing right here, you know," Yen Sid said offensively, though he smirked, knowing Lea was only joking.
"And his hearing still works. That's a good sign." His joking eased the shy colt's nerves a little as he smiled. "So, what's your name, buddy?" Lea waited for a response, though the colt looked down shyly, wanting to from the look in his eyes, but couldn't. "What? Afraid I'll make fun of your name?"
"Actually, he's mute," the mother said. "Since he was born, he wasn't able to cry or speak. I've had to constantly be by his side so I'd know what he needed or if he wanted to tell me something. That's also why I got worried when he walked over to you."
"Oh...I see." Lea saw the colt nod his head, feeling bad for not being able to speak to him. Not even dismayed by the colt's lack of speech, Lea grinned and ruffled the his mane. "Well, having no voice at all isn't all that bad. You could probably sneak all the cookies out of the cookie jar without getting caught."
"Don't give him any ideas!" the mare laughed playfully. "His name is Axle Beam, by the way. I'm Sweet Delight."
"Well, nice meeting you two," Lea said. The train finally arrived at Ponyville, the engine hissing once it came to a complete stop as the doors to the cars opened for those disembarking. Yen Sid, Lea, Axle, and Sweet Delight stepped onto the station together, but before they parted, Lea dug into his coat and pulled something out. He remembered playing with a pair of frisbees in his youth, which was how he practiced fighting with them before gaining the chakrams as his Nobody, Axel, the throwing toy bearing the face of a sinister-grinning flame monster. "Here, Axle, I want you to have this." Surprised, Axle looked at the frisbee curiously, then back at the stallion giving it to him. He grabbed the toy in both hooves, looking over the cool-looking design. "So you can remember the cool guy who saved you. My name's Lea; got it memorized?"
Lea leaned down, pressing a hoof to the side of his head with his signature phrase. Axle smiled, mimicking Lea to show he definitely has his name memorized. Taking his new toy, the colt walked with his mother toward town.
"You know that there was a specific rule we follow," Yen Sid reminded Lea. The red stallion looked back at the elder, not following what he meant. "Not to meddle in the affairs of other worlds."
"What? Have you met Sora? He's basically torn that rule up to shreds," Lea said. "Besides, you broke that rule, too. We could have let everyone get hurt by those Nobodies, but we didn't."
"I was talking more about being connected to the lives of others in those worlds." Lea just gave Yen Sid a raised brow, crossing his forelegs against his chest. "Yes, I know. Sora's done that as well...But, then again, the rule of meddling has always been crossed and stepped over many times...I admit I was guilty for breaking that rule from time to time."
"Like with you talking with Celestia through that mirror?" Lea asked.
"Well, there was that, but also the times in my youth where I traveled alone to some worlds," Yen Sid said.
"So, the wise wizard who is supposed to be a perfect teacher isn't all that perfect after all. I knew it." Lea chuckled while the older stallion rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, gramps. Your secret's safe with me."
"For about five minutes," Yen Sid uttered.
Lea hoped to see Axle again when and if he visited Equestria again, unable to help himself when it came to "picking up stray puppies" as Isa used to say to him before they became Nobodies. As he and Yen Sid walked through Ponyville to reach Twilight's castle in the distance, Lea couldn't help but wonder where his best friend was. He had been helplessly searching for him, along with any signs of Xehanort, confused by his friend working with the man who had practically killed them and turned them into Nobodies in the first place. Was he under some sort of mind control? Was Isa still Saïx, even though Sora had managed to succeed in killing the seventh member of Organization XIII and should have brought the blue-haired man back like it did with Lea, Even, Ienzo, Aeleus, and Dilan? Or did Isa willingly join Xehanort over something Lea didn't know about that ticked him off when they were themselves or their Nobody selves?
Lea was snapped out of his thoughts when they reached the castle, which was just as jaw-dropping as Canterlot Castle with its crystalline structure. The duo made their way inside, wondering where everyone was at this time as they walked down the hall of the main foyer. At the end were a pair of double doors they checked through first, entering the throne room where they saw the Cutie Map in the center of the room, surrounded by six thrones and a smaller one, the bigger crystal seats bearing the cutie marks of the Mane Six. They could see the entire map of Equestria on the table, the world filled with several more towns and cities the two stallions were curious to explore.
"Nice map," Lea commented, waving his hoof over the magical hologram of Canterlot. "Does this thing also get cable?"
"Fascinating," Yen Sid uttered as he studied the map. Looking above them, there was the Galactic Map, showing the entire globe of Equestria as it spun slowly on its axis. Ever the curious scholar, Yen Sid reached a hoof out, feeling the globe just from a distance, then rotated it to look over the world as if it was being viewed from space. "This is an incredible mapping system...And this was created by the Tree of Harmony's gift to the Element bearers...But...this does not seem to be normal magic from this world if it can access the locations of every other world in the cosmos."
"What do you mean?" Lea asked curiously.
"I do not believe Equestria is considered a world that understands the vastness of space beyond the planet, or the worlds beyond its borders like we do..." Yen Sid expanded the Galactic Map, viewing the rest of the universe, where many different points on it had the names of each world over them to separate them from the rest. "This feels like the magic of a Keyblade wielder..."
"Didn't Twilight open that chest to make this castle with her Keyblade along with those odd keys they got back then?" Lea questioned. "Maybe that's why the map seems odd to you."
"...Possibly," Yen Sid agreed hesitantly. "But...this magic feels much older than-"
Behind them, the doors opened as Aqua walked inside, too busy looking over her notes on the maps to notice her superior and fellow Keyblade wielder in the room. Her entrance surprised them when they heard her throne suddenly appear as the mare held her Keyblade in her telekinetic grasp. Where she expected to bump into the table, she yelped when she bumped into someone, namely Lea as he faced her right as she walked into him.
"Oh! Sorry. I wasn't-" As Aqua lowered her notes, she was shocked to see Lea, recognizing his spiky red hair, black coat, and the cheeky grin he wore on his face.
"What's up?" Lea greeted, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "Bump into guys often?"
"L-Lea?" Aqua uttered, her shock quickly turning to anger as his hoof drifted down to her back as he tried to hug her.
"You missed me? How sweet!" Lea cheered.
Aqua's eye twitched, then slapped the red unicorn hard, sending him flailing across the room with a scream before hitting the wall. "Don't...touch me...I don't trust you enough to even let you hug me."
"Try not to abuse him after how exhausting our trip from Canterlot to Ponyville was," Yen Sid said.
"Huh?" She turned and finally noticed Yen Sid, shocked to see him as a unicorn as she recognized his clothing and beard, but his eyes really shocked her. "Master Yen Sid? You and Lea are both here?" The wizard nodded his head. "...Oh my gosh, you actually have eyes."
Yen Sid pouted as he stared blankly at the comment, Lea lifting up a hoof shakily as he recovered from the "friendly" slap from Aqua. "T-That's...what I...said..."
"I have a feeling everyone else is going to keep mentioning my eyes," Yen Sid grumbled. "They are not beady..." Feeling a bit self-conscious, he looked down at his reflection on the crystal table, taking a good look at his pony eyes. They were definitely different compared to his human eyes. "...Huh...Maybe you all have a point..."
"Anyways, what are you doing here?" Aqua asked. "Checking on our progress in person?"
"We did visit Canterlot Castle earlier to see Celestia, but her royal duties call and our time there was a bit short," he explained. "So we decided to come to Ponyville to see you all, though our train ride was a bit bumpy when Nobodies attacked."
"Nobodies!?" Aqua exclaimed, quickly looking over the map. "When? And where!?"
Yen Sid looked around the map, spotting the train tracks they were on from Canterlot to Ponyville as he pointed at a section of tracks where he guessed was when the Nobodies struck. "Somewhere along this section of tracks."
"Ahh! I completely forgot about the Nobodies!" Aqua rummaged through her notes, finding nothing on pinpointing locations on any other enemy aside from Heartless. "I need to keep a constant watch on this map in case Nobodies appear! If they attacked during the Equestria Games, those things can show up anywhere at any time!"
"Aqua-" Yen Sid tried to interrupt the mare's rambling, but Aqua continued as she paced back and forth while starting to panic.
"How many ponies got hurt on that train? How many of them were there? What kinds were there, or were there any new types of Nobodies the others haven't seen before!?" Yen Sid let out a sigh, feeling just like Celestia when she told him how much of a stressful student Twilight was while under her tutelage. Twilight and Aqua were practically alike now that her once calm personality was replaced with neurosis and anxiety. "What if there are Nobodies attacking another world right now, and we don't even realize it!? Can they be seen on the Galactic Map!? What if there's a Heartless AND Nobody attack happening at the same time!?"
Aqua gasped and her panicked rambling stopped as her body was locked in place, Yen Sid's magical aura freezing her before she made a rut in the floor. He forced her to walk over to him as he gently placed his hooves on her shoulders. It took a while for her to stop being tense and focused enough to listen to him over her fears and building anxiety.
"No one was seriously hurt," Yen Sid reassured.
"'Seriously' hurt?" Aqua asked, but the stallion kept her calm before she lost it again.
"The passengers and staff on the train are fine," he restated. "Lea took care of them while practicing his combat training as a pony. He did quite well, too. Even became a great role model to a little colt he saved."
Aqua looked at Lea, the red unicorn sitting up and shook his head out of the daze he was in. She could barely believe someone like him was actually looked up by a child, but seeing how Yen Sid was telling the truth, she gave him the benefit of the doubt since Lea was on their side.
"...Well, maybe if he changes how he acts around me, he might be useful after all," Aqua muttered.
Aqua contacted the others as Yen Sid and Lea got comfortable in the castle, meeting up in the throne room to see them in their pony forms. As Yen Sid expected, everyone else had commented about his eyes and how different they were, just accepting the fact that he had weird eyes as a human and looked better with normal eyes as a unicorn. Aqua had even informed their superior master that Terra had taken is Mark of Mastery exam and was judged by her on his performance and passing to be a master like her. Terra was understandably nervous once Yen Sid learned of this fact, but he was shocked to hear that he had accepted the news well, knowing he had been ready to be a Keyblade Master for quite some time upon his return.
Pinkie threw Lea and Yen Sid a party, apparently being new ponies in Ponyville as she always threw one for new visitors despite knowing them. They went along with it regardless, enjoying the delicious cake the party pony of Ponyville pulled out of nowhere, both of them taking the time to relax from their hard work. Yen Sid decided to stay in Equestria for a while longer, promising to teach Twilight some new spells to the alicorn's excitement. He even met Starlight, his stern gaze toward her making her feel small again as she felt like she was going to be verbally scolded for her actions. Thankfully, he issued a warning to her not to let anything like that happen again, otherwise the next paradox she would try to make could cost her her life, and he didn't mean by his own hoof. Starlight definitely learned her lesson from tapping into the darkness of her heart to try to beat Sora and Twilight once and for all, and Aqua's terrifying threats definitely scared her into changing after being promised to learn how to make friends by Twilight.
The party wound down after a while, though it was mostly due to Yen Sid unable to keep up with the younger group and wanting to explore more of the town and the castle. Lea did the same as he wandered the castle, getting around better than Starlight had as he found his way up to the top of the castle, where he found a spectacular view of Ponyville, the mountains, plains, and nearby forests from a fifty mile radius of the peak. He sat in his usual position on the edge, watching the sun set. It was an odd instinct he picked up from his Nobody to just relax after the end of the day by watching the sun set. All he needed now was some Sea-Salt ice cream to make the ending perfect.
"I was wondering where you disappeared to." Looking back, Lea saw Ventus walk over to him, carrying a couple popsicle sticks in his wings. "Figured you'd be a partier, yet you wanted to hide on the roof of the castle."
"I can't help myself. It's a subconscious thing Axel did that's rubbed off on me," Lea said in defense. "Got it way too memorized in my head."
"Sure," Ventus uttered. He sat beside Lea, handing him a popsicle, which the stallion was grateful for as he recognized the color of the ice cream. Even though they had met again during the party, they barely had the chance to interact with each other mostly due to Pinkie wanting to aggravate the red unicorn with her randomness. It felt a bit awkward for Lea, seeing how this pegasus sitting beside him wasn't actually Roxas, only looking like him while the real Roxas was back inside Sora's body. "So, how's your training been?"
"Fine, I guess," Lea said. "Magic's a big issue for me though. My forte's mostly around Fire magic, so trying to cast Blizzard's going to be a problem. Got used to being a unicorn my first day at least. Unicorns, by the way, are way better than being a pegasus. I can lift myself in the air with my own aura."
"Really?" Ventus asked as Lea gave him and overly-confident nod. "Well, Starlight could do that, too. I think Aqua could if she wanted to as well." Lea's confidence began to dwindle as Ventus listed the other unicorns who were able to float with their magic, and they were the ones who had more magic experience than he had. "Kairi, maybe. But Pumpkin Cake back at Sugarcube Corner...Oh boy, that little baby can go nuts with her magic sometimes."
"Seriously? A baby unicorn can make themselves fly with their magic?" Lea asked, both in shock and exasperation.
"Baby unicorns have magic surges, so they can't really control their magic all that well. It's kinda funny when she mistakes me for Sora when I visit the bakery." Ventus bit into his ice cream before it began melting. Lea did the same, only to wince at the very strong, salty taste of the Sea-Salt ice cream Equestria style. He wasn't going to let the taste bug him though as he continued listening to the teen. "Maybe she knew I was a part of Sora before we actually met...Babies have an odd way of knowing things we don't."
"Or maybe it's the fact you look alike and she mistook you for Sora," Lea guessed.
He did find it a bit odd that Ventus looked so much like Roxas, confused by how Sora's Nobody looked so much like the teen he first met almost two decades ago. He recalled only hanging out with Ventus back then when he was a teen for a moment back in Radiant Garden, and how Roxas was actually Sora's Nobody and not Ventus's raised a lot of questions. Despite hearing Ventus was part of Sora when he lost his heart, he didn't understand the process of how Sora gave up his heart for Kairi, turned into a Heartless, yet his Nobody looked nothing like him but did look so similar to Roxas, which only raised the question as to why Roxas didn't actually look like Sora and how he ended up looking like Ventus instead.
Avoiding getting a headache from trying to solve this confusing mystery, Lea munched on his ice cream, hoping to get brain freeze. "How's your search for Isa going?"
Lea paused in his eating, his frown telling Ventus his answer. "No luck," Lea uttered. "There's been no signs of him, or any of the other thirteen seeds of darkness...They're planning something, but I don't know what...And if Xehanort wants to grab Sora again, he's gonna need to think twice before trying the same thing again." He bit down on the last of his ice cream, examining the stick as he checked if he won or lost, the stick reading out "Loser", to his disappointment. "...Then again, knowing how much Xehanort pulled a fast one on everyone for the last twenty years, he's got so many backup plans that go into the thousands."
"It won't last forever," Ventus said. "He's bound to fail sooner or later. Xehanort will screw up, and he's definitely going to be outmatched. By all of us."
"Heh. Amen to that." The two sat in silence as they continued watching the sun set, Ventus finishing his ice cream, though he didn't bother looking to see if his stick was a winner or not. "Say, Ventus, when we find Isa, you want to help me knock some sense into him? Would be funny to have him beaten up by a kid."
"Kind of like how I beat you when you challenged me to a duel to perk me up?" Ventus recalled.
"Hey, hey, hey! I didn't lose," Lea reiterated. "It was a draw. I went easy on you."
"Sure. Keep telling yourself that." Lea and Ventus laughed at the unicorn's constant excuses.
Even though Ventus wasn't Roxas, Lea could get used to hanging around him. He did befriend Ventus first, after all, though they didn't really have much time to get to know each other after he ran off to find his friends. This moment reminded him of his days with Roxas after they finished their work in the Organization back then when they rested in Twilight Town at the top of the clock tower. While recollecting his memories as Axel, Lea winced as his head began to pound. Looking over at Ventus with squinted eyes through the migraine, he gasped when he thought he saw someone else sitting on the other side with a popsicle in their hand, wearing a black coat like his.
"Huh?" The illusion leaned over to look at him, moving their hood back to reveal a girl with short black hair, looking very similar to Kairi as she smiled at him.
"You ok, Lea?" Ventus asked. Lea was still dumbstruck by what he was looking at to focus on the pegasus trying to get his attention. He turned to look at what he was seeing, only to see nothing as he looked back at the dazed stallion. "What is it? A Heartless?"
"...Uhhh..." Lea shook his head as images flashed through his head, memories of his time as Axel, but also some he didn't recall actually happened. He saw that girl in most of them, looking happy in one moment with Axel and Roxas, to growing frustrated and being rebellious toward him, even getting into a physical confrontation with him as she held the Kingdom Keyblade, the same Keyblade Sora and Roxas both wielded. "Agh!" Lea cried out as his headache grew worse, the flashing memories of this girl somehow familiar, yet unfamiliar to him as many mixed emotions ran through his head.
"Lea? What's wrong!?" Ventus asked. Lea clutched his head, nearly blacking out and almost falling over the edge, but Ventus quickly caught him and pulled him away from the edge of the roof. "Hey, hey! I got you!" Lea grunted, the memories quickly fading and the pounding finally began to dull as he panted heavily. Ventus noticed the stallion had tears running down his face. "Are you alright?"
"...I-I...have no idea..." Lea sat up, rubbing his head as he looked at the edge. There was no sign of the black-haired Kairi look-alike, meaning he must have been hallucinating, but those mysterious memories felt like he really had experienced them before. Sighing, he wiped his face with the sleeve of his coat, having no idea why seeing that girl got him upset. "I'm fine, though...At least I hope so...Maybe it was that ice cream. Was that...supposed to be Sea-Salt ice cream?"
"Yeah...But Pinkie made those," Ventus admitted. "I kinda got used to the heavily salted taste after a while."
"Oh, so she tried poisoning me with salt," Lea joked with a playful scoff. "I knew she was out to get me." He sat up, rubbing his temples as the numbing pain died out. "Maybe...I should hit the hay early. Must be more exhausted than I thought."
"Are you sure?" Ventus asked with concern. "You nearly fell over the edge. You might end up passing out in the middle of the hall."
"I can walk on my own, even if I'm sleep deprived. I could use some rest since I was the only one who did most of the work taking care of those Nobodies." Ventus lead Lea back down through the castle, making sure he wasn't going to keel over after the surprising episode he had earlier. Upon arriving at his guest room, Lea assured Ventus he would be fine and not worry about him too much. Reluctantly, the teen let him be and headed back to rejoin the others. Now that he was alone, seeing that girl and those flashing memories concerned Lea, her name lost to him, but couldn't help but feel like he was friends with her before. Sora had mentioned seeing this girl as well, having some gut feeling he knew her as well, and even he was clueless as to who she was and where they met. Desperate for some rest to recover from the painful migraine, Lea plopped down on the bed, his forelegs propped behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. "...Was that...another member of Organization XIII? If so...who was she?"
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Huh interesting. Also the fact that Yen sid has eyes.
nice work.
And so the plot thickens with Xion’s identity getting closer and closer to being discovered also I have been waiting to see this for a while and I am happy with the result.
This chapter was great! The scenes with Axel/Lea were great! Especially the fight, his interactions with the child, and the scene at the end with Ventus. I wonder if Xion will show up somehow in the story? I'm always going to refer to Lea as Axel because I know him as that more.
Aside from that, it seems that Yen Sid believes that another Keyblade wielder from long ago helped the Pillars of Equestria with creating the Tree of Harmony. That will be interesting to see when we get to that point.
I'm wondering how long Axel and Yen Sid are staying? It would be kind of cool if the former stuck around long enough for meeting Thorax and handling Chrysalis. Also, I want to know if he can succeed in making himself fly at pegasus speeds like he wants.
I like the fact that Yen Sid’s eyes are a running gag here. Now that I think about it, he can pass off as Starswirl’s double.
Good work
That was a fun, I was wondering when you would get around to Xion.
I'm a little disappointed you skipped over Twilight going to other worlds on missions for the first time. I feel like that could have easily been a chapter of it's own.
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I know, but with how many different Disney universes there are and whatever conflicts were already resolved in the games, I couldn't think of any recent ones while not including announced worlds that will be in KH3...whenever we get a confirmed release date for it.
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You could always use non Disney world's. Kingdom hearts lends itself well to crossovers so you could use pretty much anything.
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Then you have to tune in at this year's E3.
Yen Sid has eyes.....PANIC!!!! Oh, and my girl Xion is coming!
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With the way Disney has been buying everyone out. Like Star Wars and Marvel. You could have potential in the future story arcs.
Xion... wonder how she would make a comeback
Xion
So not only does the best character in Kingdom Hearts show up, but Xion as well? Darn these cliffhangers!
Oh... Xion.... I'm crying a little bit right now, just knowing that she's still "Alive".
It still bugs me that Kingdom Hearts made Lea a Keyblade wielder. Preferred that he just kept the chakrams rather than give Keyblades out like candy. Nothing against the author, just that this really pissed me off in the games.