Daring Done?
Pinkie bounded down the road with her usual peppy self, greeting everyone she passed while Sora, Kairi, and Rainbow tailed behind her, the latter of the trio bored while the party pony purchased a paper from the Ponyville Chronicle from a young newspaper pony. Pinkie parked herself on the nearby bench, opening up her paper cheerfully, Rainbow slumping down beside her.
"I just love to read about happy happenings, and it's always good to be a pony in the know, you know? And there's so much to know!" Pinkie said.
"Sounds like a bunch of hooey to me," Rainbow grumbled.
"Does 'New Shrubbery in Castle Garden' sound like boring hooey to you?" Pinkie asked Rainbow.
"Yes," the pegasus mare said bluntly.
"What about...'Parasprite Infestation in Fillydelphia Eradicated'?" Pinkie suggested.
"Yawn," Rainbow said, slumping further in her seat.
"What's a parasprite?" Kairi asked, making Sora grimace.
"Uhh, you don't want to know," he said. "I know what they look like...and what they can do."
"What DO they do?" Kairi questioned.
"Well..." Sora chuckled sheepishly as he recalled meeting a parasprite for the first time.
Sora kicked down a few apple trees, filling up several buckets. "Just another several dozen trees, and my workload should be good for AJ," he said to himself. He suddenly heard a strange cooing sound, thinking there was a pigeon perched on one of the trees' branches, but it came from the ground. When the noise came again, he looked down at a rock, where a strange, ball-like creature with two sets of intangible insect wings crawled up to show itself. It was blue, sporting tiny legs and really big green eyes. "Whoa. That's an interesting bug."
If this little ball of cuteness rivaled against Apple Bloom's, Sora would definitely lose to the young Apple than the adorable insect he met. It curiously hopped over to him while staring at the apples in the buckets. Thinking it was hungry, he thought one little apple wouldn't hurt. Grabbing a big, juicy one from the bunch, he laid it on the ground, crushing it under his hooves to help it eat it better. Instead of going for his style of apple sauce, the bug instead flew over to the bucket, buzzing and munching down every single apple inside, core and all. Startled, Sora watched the bug hover up cutely and innocently, making him groan in dismay.
"Aww man, little guy with a big stomach," he uttered. "Applejack's gonna chew me out for letting a strange bug in this world eat through a bucket of produce..." The bug flew up, chirping its cute noises while nuzzling up to him. "Well, I will admit, you are kinda cute, but you're not gonna win me over with that face. I wonder what kind of creature you are."
After getting his other buckets to the barn, while making sure the bug didn't eat the other apples as well if it was somehow still hungry, Sora made his way to the Golden Oak Library to look up what this creature was. Ironically, Twilight was getting everyone to set up the welcoming committee for Princess Celestia's visit. Despite trying to tell her she didn't have to go that far for Celestia's simple visit, Twilight was adamant on making sure everything went perfect for the princess. He showed him the new insect friend he unfortunately made while looking for her at Sugarcube Corner, since she had quite an extensive knowledge on anything he didn't, the bug somehow managed to reproduce, by itself, and there were two more the popped out from inside his spiky mane.
When Pinkie saw what it was, she groaned and went off to find random instruments to guide the creature, whom she called parasprites, out of town. Sora should have listened to her instead of leave the parasprites with Twilight, or even Fluttershy and Rainbow with them in the bakery as well, because things went from moderately average to hectic the next day. Within one night, several thousand parasprites had appeared, infesting Ponyville, and ate almost every single morsel of food in town. And giving them food was a bad idea; they not only ate, but that was also how they reproduced, hacking up new parasprites like hairballs to increase their numbers and act more like swarming pests than adorable pets. If he knew about the changelings back then and pitted a war with them against the parasprites, the parasprites would most definitely win.
They tried rounding up the swarm and kicking them into the Everfree Forest where they belong, but Fluttershy, being the animal-loving pony she was, kept one hidden in her home, sending them back to the drawing board with the new swarm the pegasus created. Rainbow tried using a mini-cyclone to sweep them up with her speed, but Pinkie almost knocked her out during her musical instrument hunt, the pair of cymbals she had around her neck getting swept up and flew around the cyclone, making her break it up and send the parasprites flying into Ponyville, where they ate everything edible. In a panic, Twilight tried using magic on them to stop them from eating the food. It worked...for a brief moment, changing their diet to eat everything that wasn't food: wood, metal, brick, plastic, anything that wasn't meant to be digested. They ate up the entire town, but at least Twilight didn't turn the parasprites into tiny pony eaters.
Pinkie had saved the day with her one-band-stand, using all the musical instruments she found to play a bouncy tune that entranced the parasprites, leading them out of Ponyville and off into the Everfree Forest. Celestia didn't see the damage, and the cleanup spent quite a while, bite marks on the half-eaten buildings, signs, carts, etc. that took weeks to fix and rebuild. At least they learned a couple important lessons that day: one was to trust in your friends, no matter how silly their ideas may be, and two, NEVER trust anything small and cute. They'll cause nothing but trouble, and with Sora living with the Apples and being around Apple Bloom, he kept an eye out for her, knowing just how mischievous the filly can be.
Kairi scrunched her muzzle after hearing Sora's short story meeting a parasprite, and discovering what they could do the hard way. "...I think I'll stick with a puppy if we ever decide to have a pet," she said. "They might chew your furniture, but not eat it whole."
"Those things were too affectionate, too," Rainbow added.
"And yet when I showed you, Fluttershy, and Twilight, you were kissing one of the tiny devil spawns when I handed them off to you three," Sora replied with a smirk.
Rainbow blanched, puffing out her cheeks and pouted with a huff, crossing her forelegs. "Shut up," she grumbled.
Pinkie continued reading different headlines in the paper aloud, hoping one of them would peak Rainbow's interest. "'Noodles Named Official Food Of Whinnyapolis'. 'Author A. K. Yearling Announces Retirement.' 'Cloudsdale Election Heating Up For Candidate In Favor Of Cooling It Down.'"
"WHAT!?" Rainbow exclaimed, reacting to the second headline Pinkie read and snatched the newspaper out of her hooves and read the article.
"A. K. yearling retiring?" Sora asked. "That doesn't sound right."
"She would never quit and retire out of the blue!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Something could be really wrong, and we need to make sure she's ok!"
"How are you sure she wouldn't announce retiring if she has nothing else exciting to write about?" Kairi asked, then grew skeptical as she leered at Rainbow. "...Unless you want her to keep writing more Daring Do books, which is the only book series you've ever read your whole life?"
"Of course not!" she denied. "...But that wouldn't hurt either."
"Uh huh," Kairi uttered with a blank stare.
Rainbow flew off in a hurry, Pinkie, Sora and Kairi chasing after her to make sure she didn't do anything stupid to tick off the author/"fictional" archaeologist.
After a long trek, they reached A. K. Yearling's home out in the forest, far from any civilization to catch a glimpse of her coming out as Daring Do. Rainbow rushed to the front door, rapping on it anxiously as she waited for her idol to answer.
"You know, she might not be home right now," Sora suggested. "She could be excavating another artifact, or retrieving one from Caballeron or Ahuizotl."
"Nope. She's home," Pinkie said, startling the other three.
"How do you know that?" Rainbow questioned.
"Because she's right there looking all sad and alone," Pinkie noted, squishing her face against the window while pointing out the pegasus inside.
"I knew it! Something IS wrong!" Rainbow exclaimed, then went back to knocking on the door to get the mare's attention.
Sora and Kairi approached the window, peering in beside Pinkie to see A. K./Daring Do miserably packing up her belongings. "She definitely doesn't look happy about retiring," Kairi noted.
"A. K., it's us!" Rainbow called out. "Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Sora! Your friends!"
"You know I'm here, too," Kairi muttered bitterly.
"I don't think she met you, Kairi," Sora reminded the alicorn.
After hearing Rainbow, A. K. approached her door and opened it, looking around before allowing them inside. The guests walked inside to see many moving boxes filled with all sorts of different tools, archaeology books, and all sorts of different artifacts from her adventures packed in them. The explorer barely even noticed Kairi or her wings and horn as she continued packing.
"Oh no. Did somepony ransack your cottage again and steal some ancient, mysterious relic that's the key to saving all of Equestria!?" Rainbow exclaimed, taking things way out of proportion when the house was spotless, showing no signs of a struggle.
"Ooooh! Sparkly!" Pinkie said, picking up a gold idol from one of A. K.'s chests.
The mare noticed what Pinkie was holding, letting out a gasp before rushing over, snatching the idol out of her hooves and back in the chest, closing it tightly. "Nothing's been stolen," she said with a melancholy sigh.
"Then is somepony blackmailing you and forcing you to retire?" Rainbow questioned. "Because if they are-!"
"No. Nothing like that," A. K. interjected.
"So you're just quitting and moving away? Why. Would. You. Do. That!?" Rainbow asked again, shaking the author while emphasizing her question.
A. K. took Rainbow's hooves off her, pushing the desperate mare back. "I already explained everything in the Ponyville Chronicle."
"...Huh?" Rainbow uttered.
"No surprise that the only other thing she reads, she doesn't read the whole article," Kairi uttered. She grabbed the newspaper, which Pinkie stashed in her mane as it stuck out of her wild and curly hair, opening the article to read out A. K.'s reason for retiring out loud. "'Author A. K. Yearling announced yesterday that the next adventure novel in her popular series, "Daring Do and the Curse of the Pharaoh's Tomb", will be her last. Yearling looks forward to her retirement.' Huh. Maybe you cut it close with your last adventure and decided to quit while you were ahead."
"I don't think I met you with the rest of Rainbow's friends," A. K. said. "Who are you? And...you know about my...other persona?"
"I'm Kairi, Sora's fiance," the alicorn said, introducing herself to the author/explorer. "And I saw the cover of one of your novels featuring him and Rainbow Dash. I figured it wasn't a coincidence when that story AND another series made by A. K. Yearling featured him in a fictional story that almost sounds like a biography of his actual adventures."
Surprised, the writer rummaged through a shelf, pulling out the sequel of her other series she worked on the side, the cover showing the Sora look-alike and several other characters, noticing a pink unicorn mare who looked almost similar to Kairi. "...So...while writing this story, I've unintentionally created similar adventures, and characters, Sora's been in?" A. K. asked.
"Almost perfectly accurate, too," Sora said, then he grimaced when he saw what looked like Xemnas looming at the top of the art cover. "I take that back. Xemnas did not have a goatee."
"Ooh! Can I read the sequel?" Pinkie asked. "I got sidetracked with life getting in the way, like parties, hangouts, saving the world, running from darkness, nothingness, and negativity, cooking, parties-"
"But that article's saying you're giving up writing stories," Rainbow interrupted. "Most ponies don't even know that you actually ARE Daring Do, and those stories are real. So what you're REALLY saying is that you're giving up being Daring Do, but you're not saying why!"
"Rainbow!" Sora and Kairi scolded, getting a bit fed up with Rainbow pressing A. K. because she wanted to read more of her adventures.
"You don't have to say anything," Kairi reassured the author.
"We understand if you don't want to tell us. Just know that, as your friends, we're here just checking in on you," Sora added, the glanced at Rainbow Dash with a blank stare. "Right, Rainbow Dash?"
A. K. surprisingly complied, looking through a box and pulled out a manila folder filled with all sorts of news articles from a different paper across Equestria. "If you guys want to know, my last quest took me to a village in Southern Equestria, where I started seeing these..." The group looked through the articles, each of them mentioning Daring Do, and unfortunately, causing a lot of collateral damage to the village the explorer visited recently. And the headlines with pictures of the aftermath and Daring Do herself didn't help either: "Wake Of Destruction: Daring Do Ruins Entire Village Marketplace" "Dare or Scare: Local Rogue Daring Do Involved In Frightful Fiasco" "Daring Do Leads Bull Into China Shop During High Speed Chase" Seeing the grimaces on her guests' faces as they looked at the pictures, A. K. sighed again. "Everypony I tried to help there is mad at me."
"That's not true," Pinkie assured. "They're not mad at A. K. Yearling. They're mad at Daring Do."
Sora, Kairi, and Rainbow facehooved, not making the author/explorer feel any better. "They don't sell my books in Southern Equestria," A. K. said, ignoring Pinkie's assurance. "The ponies there don't know who A. K. Yearling is. They only know Daring Do, and apparently she does more harm than good."
"Then we'll go on down there and explain to them that these tabloids aren't true," Sora suggested.
"But that's just the thing; it IS true!" A. K. stated, shocking everyone, especially Rainbow Dash as she let out a horrified gasp.
"What!? That can't be right!" Rainbow exclaimed.
"I guess I've always been so focused on saving priceless relics and stopping the bad guys that I never really thought about the mess I left behind," the author said, letting out another heavy sigh as she continued packing. "Seems like ponies are finally fed up with me. Either way, I'm done with adventures, having or writing."
"Oh, come on!" Rainbow exclaimed. "For every one pony who's upset, there must be at least a hundred that know you're a hero!"
"I don't think so, Dash," A. K. said.
"There might actually be someone in that village who might vouch for you," Kairi said. "Why don't we head over to-" Kairi glanced at the village's name, trying to figure out how to pronounce it. "-'Som...nam...bu...la' and take a look?"
"There is still the possibility that whoever wrote those articles could be fabricating them to soil your name as Daring Do," Sora theorized.
"And we can have the ponies who do like you tell you how much they appreciate all your hard work!" Pinkie added.
A. K. glanced at each of the ponies, giving in to peer pressure with yet another sigh. "If you guys really think this'll help me...I'll go."
Rainbow cheered, eager to get her favorite explorer back in the game and write more future novels. They made their way to the train station, A. K. making sure she concealed herself well enough to avoid fans, and eventually, the ponies of Somnambula.
After being dropped off at the station closest to the Daring Do-despising village, they walked the rest of the way and reached the village of Somnambula. The area almost felt like it was a part of Egypt from Sora and Kairi's perspective: a couple pyramids seen in the distance across the desert sands, mud huts grouped around with many open doors and windows to leave some air in the harsh heat, and the ponies wore lightweight outfits to keep them from suffocating in the dry desert air. Rainbow Dash squealed like a fangirl as they looked at their surroundings.
"This is so cool!" she excitedly squeaked. "It looks just like the village in your last book where Daring Do recovers the Doomed Diadem from the Wild Bunch Gang who chase after her through the desert!"
"It should. I based that entire chapter on my experiences here in Somnambula," A. K. said.
"You know, your novels aren't exactly considered fiction if there are actual experiences in your adventuring life," Kairi stated. "If anyone else found out, it's not a fictional series; it's an autobiography with exaggerated details of your adventures."
"So what happens!?" Pinkie asked. "No, wait, don't tell me. No spoilers...I changed my mind! TELL MEEEEE!"
"Daring Do thwarts Ahuizotl's evil plot to separate the Sister Crown Relics," Rainbow said, spoiling important information from Daring's latest exploits. "And if it wasn't for her, the region would be cursed with eternal night, and the entire town of Somnambula would have sunk to the ground!"
"Wowie! There's no chance that these ponies don't think you're a hero!" Pinkie said to A. K.
The author didn't seem assuaged, still nervous coming back here after being flagged as a destructive delinquent than a heroic explorer. Rainbow approached an elderly stallion to show her adventuring idol that she had nothing to worry about.
"Excuse me, sir," Rainbow said, getting the stallion's attention. "I was hoping you could tell me about a pony named Daring Do. I hear she's an awesome adventure-pony hero."
"Daring Do? Oh, she's awesome, all right." Rainbow turned to wink at A. K., but the elderly stallion's grin turned into a sneer, his praise feigning to disdain at the name of the pegasus mare. "Awesome at destroying ponies' apple carts!" He then waved at an apple stand he was standing in front of, in disrepair as the temporary supports keeping it up broke, dropping the stallion's produce on the sand. "Even priceless, sacred statues!" he added, pointing to a pile of rubble sitting on an alter, some of the remains featuring what looked like a pony from what they could see.
Rainbow's plan backfired horribly as she grimaced, a stallion concealed in a brown cloak approaching them. "Indeed. Daring Do is a menace who destroys everything she touches," he said, spreading more doubt about the explorer to the other villagers as they murmured in agreement.
"That's not true!" Sora exclaimed. "Daring's not a menace! She tried to save your town from getting sunk into the sane from that...diadem relic thing!"
"I tried to tell you!" A. K. grunted as Sora's explanation didn't sway the villagers, focusing more on their destroyed property than losing their entire town. "Coming back here was a mistake!"
A. K. Yearling ran off to avoid hearing anymore verbal insults. Rainbow and Pinkie ran ahead to try to console her, but as Sora and Kairi turned to follow, they swore they saw a smirk on the cloaked stallion's rugged muzzle. The Keyblade wielders caught up with Rainbow and Pinkie, A. K. nowhere to be seen as she ran off in guilt.
"You couldn't convince her enough?" Kairi asked.
"Nopey nope," Pinkie said.
"If we can't convince A. K. that she's not at fault for breaking everything, then we'll have to try to convince everypony else in this town," Rainbow said. "We'll start by figuring out what else Daring Do broke or crashed, then try to tell everypony she had a good reason against it."
"If you think that'll work, where exactly do we start?" Sora asked.
Kairi looked up, their long ride to Somnambula reaching them by near sunset, and the sky was getting darker while the air got colder from the lack of the heat. "Maybe we can start at a hotel or inn around here. She must have rested here during her last adventure."
"If she based everything she experienced here in her books, I think I know just the place!" Sora, Kairi, and Pinkie followed Rainbow Dash down the road. A little ways away from the main village, there was a hotel across a small river, lots of plant life flourishing around the oasis-like section of the river, and Rainbow recognized it from Daring's novel. "There! The Get On Inn! Daring Do stays here all the time in her adventures! There has to be some ponies there who like her and can help us."
Pinkie sniffed the air, humming in delight at the aroma coming from inside. "My nose is telling me to help myself to some muffins."
"Definitely looks like the kind of place explorers scouring ancient ruins would settle down for the night," Sora said as they walked across the bridge and entered the inn.
There were quite a few ponies hanging out inside, some traveling nomads of the desert or tourists looking to see the ruins of older civilizations. The two pegasi, alicorn, and earth pony approached the front desk, Rainbow ringing the bell for a host impatiently. After a few minutes, a mare came out to greet them, looking a bit irritated by a customer constantly dinging the bell after hearing it alert her to some guests.
"Ooh, she's fancy," Pinkie said. "I got this, guys," she said, winking to her friends before approaching the counter. "A good evening to you, madame. We are but weary travelers who humbly wish to inquire on the status of a certain mare of intrigue taking residence here."
"What in Southern Equestria are you talking about?" the mare questioned, confused by Pinkie's overly formal statement as if she thought she was a noble in Canterlot.
Sora rolled his eyes, gently pushing Pinkie away and took her place. "Sorry. My friend can be a little...weird," he apologized. "What we were wondering was if Daring Do stays here from time to time. Does she?"
"Ha! Not anymore, she doesn't!" the mare exclaimed, her tone diminishing any sort of hope in finding a fan of the explorer. "Last time I rented that rascal a room, she was in such a rush to hightail it outta here, she didn't even pay her bill!"
"...Oh. She didn't?" Sora asked nervously.
"And after that, a band of ruffians showed up and destroyed half the rooms looking for her," the mare continued. "Guess she made them even more mad than she made me!"
The group looked at each other, Sora then looking back at the host with a sheepish chuckle. "Uhh, well...I don't think she intended to leave without paying. She must have had...a good reason?"
"And how do you figure that?" she questioned skeptically.
Rainbow butted in and began explaining why through the adventures written in Daring Do's novel. "Daring Do was trying to save everypony from the curse of the Doomed Diadem of Xilati. And she was only in a rush because she had to get the crown back to the Tiara of Teotlale before the curse took effect."
"Sounds like a tall tale to me," the mare said, making the pegasus mare groan, wishing the ponies in this region of Equestria knew of Daring Do's other dangerous excavations. "And a hard one to believe, now that I know Daring Do is a scoundrel and a thief!"
"Well, so much for this idea," Kairi mumbled.
"Every year, ponies come to offer precious glowpaz to the Somnambula statue in the village in hopes of a good future," the mare said. The visiting ponies never heard of glowpaz, but they saw what it looked like when the mare showed them. It was a green gem of sorts, shaped like an opal, though it wasn't in any way an emerald. If only Rarity was here with them, she could probably explain what it was like better than they imagined. "Why, that poor fella had his glowpaz necklace stolen by Daring Do just yesterday!"
The host pointed to someone, which happened to be the same cloaked stallion back in the village who sowed more seeds of hate toward Daring Do earlier. While he approached some of the patrons to continue slandering Daring Do's name, ironically enough, they spotted A. K. Yearling by herself at a table.
"Daring Do ruined our town and stole our precious glowpaz!" the stallion exclaimed to the patrons. "We need to make sure that if she turns up again, there will be consequences! Everypony who's with me, meet me at the statue tomorrow!"
The patrons all agreed to rally against the explorer, making A. K. grimace in shock and bafflement. "Now I'm getting blamed for something I didn't even do?" she questioned, her name being sullied more and more in this area. The others walked over to her table, seeing her distress, though Sora couldn't help recognizing the stallion's accent. "Why would I steal anything from them? I hunt artifacts that could doom Equestria, not a country's currency."
"They are super bad!" Pinkie said, giving a grimace that almost matched Starlight's enraged expression after finding out she had her cutie mark hidden from the ponies of Our Town when she was in charge. "...But we're still staying the night here, right?" She then lifted up a plate, tossing up the muffin sitting on it and caught it in her mouth with a chomp, talking with her mouth full. "Because I already ate all the free mini muffins!"
"It's already late, so, obviously, we're going to stay the night," Sora said. He placed a hoof on A. K.'s shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. Tomorrow, we'll try to fix this. Just try to get some sleep."
A. K. wasn't so sure, but she trusted her friends to help her settle this, as long as it didn't involve revealing herself to the ponies of Somnambula. After paying for a couple rooms and heading to them for some rest, Sora noticed the stallion spreading the lies watching them, especially A. K. Yearling with a cocky grin. It couldn't have been a coincidence that he would be in the same place the writer/adventurer was at the very moment she began doubting her heroics.
The next morning, Sora, Kairi, Pinkie, Rainbow, and A. K. Yearling made their way to the village, but the author still seemed unsettled to get heckled by ponies when they weren't aware of Daring's presence hiding under a normal mare persona. "I really shouldn't be here, guys," she said. "This is never gonna work."
"Of course it will!" Rainbow said. "All we have to do is go up there and explain to everypony how wrong they are!"
"Yeah!" Pinkie agreed cheerfully.
A. K. whimpered nervously, making their way to the broken statue they saw earlier, where the cloaked stallion already had a crowd gathered around him. "Here it is! The remains of your-I mean, OUR Somnambula statue!" he cried out, the slip up going unnoticed by the two Keyblade wielders. "Now that Daring Do has destroyed it, tell me, where will we hang our glowpaz?"
"We don't have any glowpaz because they were stolen by Daring Do!" one of the villagers exclaimed, making the crowd shout in agreement and spouting more insensitive comments toward the adventurer, her destructive escapes, and her accused thievery.
"Daring Do would never steal anything!" Rainbow shouted over the crowd, flying up to the alter of the ruined statue to prove her idol's innocence. "Ok, maybe she destroyed the statue, but it was because she was trying to save you all from Ahuizotl!" At the mention of one of Daring's archenemies, the crowd didn't seem to know who Ahuizotl was. "Ahuizotl? He's pretty big? Long neck? Itty-bitty face? Weird claw thingy on his tail?"
"Uhh, what exactly IS Ahuizotl supposed to be?" Kairi asked Sora.
"I...don't know what he would be called in Equestria," he answered, just as baffled as he scratched his head in thought. "...Imagine a monkey mixed with a dog of some sort, but would stand out as a mythical creature in this region."
Kairi grimaced, trying to imagine what Ahuizotl would look like, with several mixed abominations coming to mind. "But trust me, if Ahuizotl had gotten away with the Doomed Diadem, your entire village would have been swallowed up in the sand!" Rainbow continued. "And that's a lot worse than losing some crummy old statue!"
The villagers all gasped in shock, some surprised to know their town would have been lost while most were appalled by insulting their town's priceless statue. The cloaked stallion winced, feeling like he was going to be accused as a liar. Rainbow thought she'd beaten this mysterious heckler, but the elder stallion she spoke with earlier marched up to her, glaring at her for being disrespectful to their village's culture.
"This was not some crummy old statue!" he berated the uneducated pegasus. "It was the namesake of our town! If you want to understand us, you must first understand her."
"Uhh, who?" Rainbow asked.
"Somnambula," the stallion said, waving a hoof to the broken statue's face, depicting the mare whom the town was named after, then began telling the story of the region's history, along with how historical of a figure Somnambula was.
Many years ago in the southern region of Equestria, the desert wasn't as prosperous as it was today. A black-hooded stallion walked along the road, barely bothered by the intense heat as he arrived at the village. Many of the farmers working on the crops looked exhausted, the visitor having expected there to be more with the town thriving near a river. Once he arrived at the entrance, the ponies here looked miserable, the markets barely selling any food, what little there was, and it looked like they were trying to ration everything they had until their next harvest. At one of the stands, he spotted a light scarlet pegasus mare, her hair dark blue and turquoise, wearing a light, transparent dress fitting for her desert culture and Egyptian-style headdress. Through the see through skirt, the stallion saw what appeared to be a gold necklace with two pearls at the ends of the accessory.
An elderly mare approached the merchant, barely having anything to pay for a loaf of bread, but the seller shook her head. The pegasus across from the elder gave her a sympathetic look, taking off her pearl necklace, and offered it as payment for a single loaf. She then came up to the elderly mare, giving her the bread despite having no choice but to sell a beautiful accessory she owned for something like food.
"This won't last forever," she assured the elder. "Our home will be at peace when we are rid of that beast."
"Bless you, Somnambula," the elder thanked, grateful for the younger pegasus's kindness.
As he watched the generous offer, neither of them had noticed that someone else had watched the pegasus mare's gesture. A dark blue pegasus stallion wearing what appeared to be royal garments showing his stature as a ruler of the nation eyed Somnambula, amazed by how much hope she still had despite the lack of crops. The traveler approached Somnambula's while looking over the small amount of bread for sale.
"You know, growing food in a desert doesn't seem to make much money with all this hot, dry air," the stallion commented jokingly. "Thank goodness for nearby streams making that possible."
"It's not really a bad harvest," Somnambula said. "It is an unfortunate time for travelers to come here."
"Why? Some sort of plague?" the stranger asked nonchalantly, gazing at the different loaves of bread for their quality.
"I'd wish it was..." Looking around, Somnambula leaned closer to him. "There's an evil Sphinx who's been demanding a large amount of our crops, claiming our village as its territory and terrorizing us with its presence."
"Ah. I see," the stallion said. "Takes a lot of strength to keep hope alive when it seems frail and crumble at a moment's notice." Somnambula nodded in agreement. The stallion reached into his coat, pulling out a large bag filled with bits, shocking the mare and the merchant as he set it down on the wooden counter next to the bread. "Let's keep that hope kicking. I'll take all those loaves and give them to the needy. And, whatever's left over...keep the change."
Somnambula and the bread merchant were speechless, the other pony's mouth flapping open and closed at the surprisingly generous offer. She was too busy staring at the hefty bag of bits while the stallion helped himself to the last of the bread, leaving to help the unfortunate villagers while whistling a random tune. The stallion watching the "transaction" approached Somnambula, broken out of her dumbfoundedness when she noticed the young ruler.
"P-Prince Hisan," Somnambula uttered, then quickly bowed to the stallion.
"Please rise, Miss Somnambula," the prince said. "I have watched from afar, and since that dreaded Sphinx took over my father's kingdom, your hope has never faded, and I am moved by your compassion to my unfortunate subjects." Somnambula looked up, stunned and honored to have the son of the Pharaoh swayed by her unbroken faith for their home's freedom from the Sphinx. "And like that stallion, I plan on bringing that hope back to all of us. With my father's permission, I will personally lead the guards to that Sphinx's lair at the pyramid and run that foul beast from our land! And with the next harvest, we shall hold a bountiful feast to celebrate defeating that fiend!"
The prince made his leave to inform his father, leaving the mare in awe and Southern Equestria would finally be at peace again. Somnambula noticed him going around the village after recovering from her shock after talking to the prince, true to his word as he handed out bread to the starving ponies in the village. She didn't think this was just pure coincidence that this stranger happened to appear right as Prince Hisan announced his resolve to her after seeing how full of hope she was in such troubling times.
The next day, Hisan went through with his word, gathering his soldiers, and lead the charge to run the Sphinx out of his kingdom. They clearly outnumbered the beast, but it was a lot stronger than an army of stallions, capturing the prince and holding him hostage in the pyramid it made its home in. The traveler stayed in town, Somnambula spotting him playing some games with a few foals. The peace was ruined when they heard some of the soldiers come back from their fight against the Sphinx in a panic.
"His Highness has been captured!" they exclaimed all throughout town, which caused the villagers to panic.
"W-What has happened!?" Somnambula asked, thinking she heard wrong.
"We couldn't stop the Sphinx!" one of the soldiers said to her. "It was too strong!"
"The Pharaoh is worried sick, but we failed, and Prince Hisan is in that fiend's clutches!" another exclaimed with worry.
"The Sphinx offered to free him if anypony could answer its riddle, but none of us know what the answer is!" the first soldier said.
The traveler overheard the conversation, disappointed that well-trained soldiers had the brawn to stop a wild animal from rampaging through town, but didn't have the brains to answer a riddle. "So, all of you just left your future Pharaoh to his doom, and you can't answer something as simple as a brain teaser?" he questioned.
"You are a fool to think an outsider such as you can face the Sphinx without seeing what it looks like!" the first solder exclaimed.
"Well, this 'fool' is crazy enough to face anything without showing any fear!" the stallion argued. "Anyone else brave enough to save your prince from the clutches of the beast!?" He looked around, hooves up in the air, attempting to rally the other soldiers and the villagers. Sadly, no one offered to volunteer, everyone too scared of facing the Sphinx. The stallion wilted and hung his head dejectedly from the lack of responses he expected. "Ok. Seems like I'm the only-"
"I'll go with you," Somnambula said, surprising the villagers.
The stallion perked up, a grin on his face as if he was waiting for the mare to say something. "Wonderful! Let us baffle a Sphinx and save a prince!"
Despite the soldiers and villagers begging Somnambula not to do it, the mare followed after the mysterious traveler as they headed to the pyramid in the distance. This pyramid wasn't as slanted like traditional ones with the two spires at the top made to look more like a fortress, the entrance greeting them with two pegasi statues. Both ponies ran inside, hearing Prince Hisan grunting and calling out for help deep inside. Through the hall and out in the gigantic, single room within the massive pyramid, they found the Sphinx eagerly awaiting for new victims, towering several feet higher than an average pony with purple fur, wearing a two-toned purple headdress with a gold crown, a golden choker, and a gold band on its front left leg. Behind the giant half-lion, half-pegasus creature was the prince, tied to a pedestal on a singular platform in the middle of a huge pit, a shifty rope bridge connecting the platform to the other end while hovering over what looked like glowing green ooze at the bottom.
The Sphinx glowered at the two ponies, giving them a toothy sneer, baring its fangs as it finally found someone courageous enough to take her tests. "Finally. You pathetic mortals have decided to risk your lives to save the prince," the Sphinx said with a feminine voice, which seemed to fit with her more rounded muzzle.
"Mortals, we may be, but pathetic!? Think again, kitty cat!" the stallion taunted. "Give us your riddle! Bring it!"
"...Fine," the Sphinx said, eyeing the robed stallion warily out of his overly enthusiastic nature. "Here is my riddle: I shine brightest in the dark. I am there but cannot be seen. To have me costs you nothing. To be without me costs you EVERYTHING. What am I?"
From the smirk on the Sphinx's face, she expected them to get stumped and randomly guess in desperation. But Somnambula knew the answer without needing much thought, the answer being what she strived to bring to everyone when the Sphinx took over their home.
"It's hope!" Somnambula answered.
The Sphinx looked shocked, growled, then let out a frustrated roar in defeat. Seething with rage at how quickly her riddle was solved, the beast looked back at the prince, her frown turning back into a grin, which did not sit well with neither Somnambula or her new friend.
"Uhh, aren't you things supposed to commit suicide when someone correctly answers your riddles?" the stallion questioned while scratching his head. "What kind of lore is even remotely correct around here?"
Ignoring the stallion, the Sphinx turned back to face the two ponies, definitely defiant in admitting defeat. "If it was much too easy of a challenge, then grant me another one."
"Oh, I plan to," the Sphinx said with a sinister cackle.
"And if I succeed completing this one, you must leave our home and never return," Somnambula added.
The Sphinx grinned and laughed again. "Very well, little pony," she said. "I'll let you free the prince. All you have to do is cross the chasm and reach him." Somnambula grinned, seeing it was simple enough, but from that grin on the Sphinx's face, the traveler knew there was a catch. Before the pegasus could step forward, the Sphinx's paw slammed down in front of her, blocking her from progressing. "But you have to do it blindfolded!" she added, materializing a white cloth with faded brown lines designed like a pair of sharp teeth around Somnambula's eyes, tied tightly to keep her blinded. Surprised, Somnambula stumbled, flexing her wings on reflex. "And you are not allowed to fly while in this pyramid!"
With a blink of her eyes, a faint glow appeared around Somnambula's wings, making them retract back to her sides, keeping them permanently locked in place while they remained inside the pyramid. The stallion growled while Prince Hisan winced with worry for the mare's life from the dirty trick the Sphinx pulled off. The beast nudged Somnambula to the start of the bridge, making her panic as she shakily reached a hoof forward to feel the precarious rope bridge. The Sphinx laughed triumphantly, eager to see the mare fall to her death, but the cloaked stallion was going to have none of it.
"Hey, pussy cat!" he called out, grabbing the Sphinx's tail and yanked hard, surprising the beast as she yelped and fell on her stomach with a grunt. She turned her head to face the interloper with a snarl, unable to believe something smaller than her was strong enough to pull her down. "You could have just admitted you lost and fled, but now you've made this into a sick, twisted game."
"You dare touch me, mortal!?" the Sphinx screeched, snatching back her tail and quickly stood back up, towering over the stallion while glaring down menacingly.
"How about I give you a riddle, and if you answer right, I won't have to do any serious harm?" the stallion offered.
"What can something as small as you do to the likes of me?" she questioned. While the stallion waited for a response, Somnambula found her resolve, silently thanking her friend for distracting the Sphinx so she could compose herself. Not giving up hope, she took a leap forward, landing on the bridge at a small distance, but she took it step by step while keeping her balance, and by listening to the two talk behind her, she knew she was going in a straight line across the bridge to Prince Hisan. The Sphinx scoffed after the two had a stare off, giving in to his little game before tearing him apart. "Fine. What is your riddle?"
"I am a part of the same whole, where I cannot exist without the other. I fight a never ending war with my other half, fighting for dominance until the end of time. Shadows grow when I am lost, but even still at my strongest. I live within all living things, yet I am desired by those with greed. I am power, I am a guardian, and I will never die. What am I?" the stallion said, giving the Sphinx his own riddle with a wide smirk.
He saw the puzzled look on the creature's face, the riddle far more complex than she expected. Looking between the Sphinx's legs, the stallion noticed Somambula was halfway across the bridge, Hisan quietly ushering her toward him without the Sphinx hearing him. After the Sphinx silently pondered the answer for a few seconds, the stallion clicked his tongue, mimicking the ticking of a clock, which started irritating the beast.
"...A soul!" she answered confidently with a toothy grin.
The stallion let out a hiss, but it was out of disappointment rather than shock, confusing the Sphinx. "Sorry, putty tat, but that's wrong," he said. The Sphinx growled, then let out a roar and pounced him. As her paws slammed down on him, he rose his hoof up, summoning a key-shaped sword, easily blocking its heavier blow without any strain. The Sphinx struggled to crush the stallion, but she didn't make him cringe or budge an inch, watching him crane his head to let her see the cocky grin under his hood. "The correct answer was light."
"W-What...kind of...pony...are you!?" the Sphinx questioned, still struggling to crush the stallion beneath her.
"More than you can imagine," he said, then with a slash, he sent the Sphinx flying off to his left, sending her crashing into the wall away from the pit to avoid distracting Somnambula. The Sphinx growled, leering at the stallion and began shooting magic beams from her eyes. The traveler slowly approached the beast, flailing his blade wildly, deflecting each beam with ease. The beast snarled and pounced him again, landing on top of him with a triumphant grin. When she moved her paws away, there was no sign of him, until she felt something tickling her ear. "I'm a god compared to a witty bitty puddy tat like you."
Somehow, the stallion managed to move faster than she could blink, or teleport, sitting nonchalantly on her shoulder. Roaring angrily, she tried to swat him, but kept missing as he zipped all over the Sphinx, making her spin around, slam the ground or hit herself. She didn't even notice Somnambula had already made it across, using her magic to permanently seal whatever kind of magic her opponent was using, but nothing affected him. Prince Hisan took off Somnambula's blindfold for her, letting her see again and untie the Pharaoh's son from the pedestal.
Panting heavily, the Sphinx winced as she felt another loss from another challenge she made. Looking back, she saw Somnambula succeeded in freeing the prince, letting out a low growl, turning back to glare at the smug stallion waiting for her to strike again.
"You tricked me, mortal!" she shrieked in rage, lunging toward the stallion again.
The traveler leapt up, uppercutting the Sphinx hard in the jaw, sending her flipping onto her back. He dove down, thrusting his blade down on the beast's chest, piercing through its heart as it let out a painful, gasping yowl.
"You actually played yourself," he said to the dying Sphinx. "You're a sore loser and used us 'mortals'' pity toward your simple riddle and have us take another test so you didn't feel humiliated, and you tried to trick us with an intimidating challenge to scare a mare into falling to her death. She completed your second challenge, and you're not going to offer us a third challenge. You're leaving this place, one way or another."
The Sphinx let out a swift gasp as the stallion pulled out his sword, along with her heart as it floated up through the skylight of the pyramid. She watched her heart fly away before letting out a final breath, her body fading away in a flurry of lights. The stallion leapt away as the Sphinx began glowing and disappearing, watching the heart fly up and away, realizing what he did with a grimace, hoping the Heartless of the monster doesn't come back to cause trouble. When he turned to the bridge, Somnambula and Hisan stared in shock at what they witnessed.
"By the makers above," Hisan uttered.
"You...slayed the Sphinx?" Somnambula asked.
"Well, I doubted this Sphinx was going to leave just like she promised," the stallion reasoned, dismissing his weapon in a flash of light. "Either way, this monster isn't going to cause anymore trouble, or come back to haunt your descendants!...At least I hope it doesn't come back..."
After the trio left the pyramid, they returned to the village, where the Pharaoh was relieved to see his son returned safe and sound. Somnambula explained to the ruler what had happened, but her new friend advised her and Hisan to keep what they saw with the Sphinx a secret, to lie and claim it fled after overcoming her two challenges. She even told the Pharaoh of her hope for her people and how it helped carry her through the final test. Moved by her bravery, the Pharaoh appointed Somnambula as his son's royal adviser when he becomes the next Pharaoh, and Prince Hisan gifted her with a necklace made of glowpaz, letting the green gems be forever known as their kingdom's symbol of hope. They even named the village after her for future generations to remember her and how her faith and hope stayed strong in such desperate times.
That night, as they celebrated in Somnambula's honor, she searched around for her friend, who had declined taking all the glory despite handling the Sphinx with his own incredible power. Hisan told her in private how he managed to win without a scratch, surprising and impressing her, wanting to know just who the pony under that coat was. She found him at the entrance of the village, but instead of seeing him about to head out, he stood there like he had been waiting for her to find him.
"You're leaving so soon?" Somnambula asked.
"Yeah. I got places to be," he said. "Kinda don't want to be involved with your party for saving the prince."
"But you had just as much a part of rescuing him like I had," she stated. "You even volunteered first."
"True, but this story's all about you, and not giving up hope to see peace back to your home." He pulled out the blindfold Somnambula was forced to wear, giving it to the pegasus. "Even though you were terrified of falling, you didn't lose hope in me or Hisan guiding you across that rickety bridge. And I was a stranger you just met."
"After seeing what you did for everypony yesterday, I had a feeling you were a trustworthy pony," Somnambula said. "...I never did get your name, but you've heard mine."
The stallion chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Here we go again," he uttered to himself, confusing the mare as if he's been asked a personal question millions of times. "How about you just call me M? Saves me a lot of trouble being vague about my real name."
"And what is 'M' short for?" Somnambula asked curiously.
"I'll tell you and the others later," the stallion said, making the mare roll her eyes while also making her wonder who else had asked of his name.
"Very well," she said with a giggle. "But, before you go. I overheard the riddle you gave to the Sphinx. Was light really the answer?"
"Oh, it very much was. And not the illuminating kind of light, either," he explained. "But, light would have also been a secondary answer to that cheating monster's riddle as well."
"It is? How?" Somnambula asked.
"Because light is also hope," M said. Somnambula raised a brow in confusion, but she wondered how it was possible, and got her answer as the stallion continued. "Your village and kingdom suffered under the tyranny of a beast, taking your food and instilling fear with its power and size. You not losing hope kept your home's hope alive, despite how small it was. Your suffering was like being trapped in darkness, and the hope you have is the small speck of light shining in the endless void of darkness, which would eventually brighten and cast away the shadows of despair." Somnambula absorbed M's words, shocked by the wisdom of his short lecture, feeling like she was learning something else rather than hearing a comparison between hope and light. M then gently pointed to her chest, over her heart. "There's a light deep inside every heart, a sliver of hope deep within, that will never go out. Never loose sight of that hope, and it'll always shine through the deepest darkness."
Somnambula looked at, reaching a hoof over her own heart as he pulled his hoof away, then let out an amused chuckle. "How wise you are for somepony like you. If I cannot know your name, then may I ask how old you are?"
"That, too, is a secret, missy," M chided, then let out a playful scoff. "You know, us guys can be offended when a woman asks their age as well." Somnambula laughed, wishing the stallion best of luck on his travels before heading back to rejoin her people in celebration. He grinned, trekking down the road to his next destination, pulling out his list and marked off another item. "And just one more pony to find..."
Sorcery
Strength
Beauty
Bravery
Hope
Healing
"Forever after that event, glowpaz became our symbol of hope," the elderly stallion concluded Somnambula's tale, getting the rest of the village's agreement on how important the statue of the mare filled with hope was, along with their glowpaz.
The story was enlightening, along with learning some more history in the region and an important figure the village was named after. "Wow. And standing up to something like a Sphinx on her own," Sora said in awe.
"Yeah. She sounded pretty cool," Rainbow agreed, then quickly shook her head and looked back out at the crowd. "But I bet if Somambula was here, she'd tell you how cool Daring Do is too, because they've both fought to protect this town!"
She got the crowd mumbling among each other at the thought, but the stallion bashing Daring Do retorted with his own thoughts. "If Somnambula were here today, she would condemn Daring Do for destroying your-our symbol of hope!"
That got the village to go right back to jeering Daring Do, Rainbow's attempt to change their minds immediately failing no thanks to this heckler tarnishing the adventurer's name with her unintentional destruction against her enemies. The moment the ponies voiced their complaints against the pegasus explorer, A. K. lowered her head and walked away, hearing enough and continued planning her early retirement. Pinkie, Sora, and Kairi hurried after the mare to try to keep her from leaving while the crowd dispersed, to the cloaked stallion's delight. Rainbow Dash growled, then turned to confront him.
"Hey, what did Daring Do ever do to you to deserve all this!?" she questioned.
"Only...everything!" The stallion took off his disguise, revealing himself to be none other than Dr. Caballeron. Rainbow gawked at Daring Do's rival in shock, not seeing that coming, even with his accent or slipups when riling up the village of Somnambula. "The moment I saw you and Sora, Daring Do's closest friends, I knew she would not be that far behind. I owe you for leading her right to me."
"B-But I d-didn't meant to-" Rainbow backed away, only to bump into one of Caballeron's goons as they walked out and surrounded the mare, quickly grabbing her and tying her wings to her sides.
"Thank you for helping me break Daring Do's spirit by destroying her reputation, but I can't have you running off and telling her my plan," Caballeron said. "Or even Sora. I might not be able to keep him held down, but with you as my hostage, he can't do anything without risking hurting you."
Rainbow was then blindfolded, unable to escape the stronger earth pony henchmens' grip as she struggled, hearing Caballeron laugh as they dragged her away. "Help! Sora! Daring Do! SOMEPONY!!!"
Sora skid to a halt when he heard Rainbow Dash, quickly turning around and spotting her getting taken away by Caballeron and his goons. "Caballeron!? Damn it, I knew that accent sounded familiar!" He sprinted after them, Pinkie, Kairi, and A. K. turning around and growing just as shocked as Sora when they saw Daring's rival. One of the stallions noticed Sora coming straight at them, throwing a smoke bomb at the Keyblade wielder's hooves and catching him in a large puff of smoke. Sora coughed as he got a face full of smoke point blank from the bomb. "Ack! Can't...breathe...!"
Kairi quickly flew over to him and blew away the smoke with her wings, seeing he was too busy hacking to save himself from the smoke cloud. "Sora, are you ok!?"
After taking a few deep breaths, Sora coughed a bit, but he wasn't suffocating anymore. "I think I need some CPR," he said, earning a deadpanned glare from his fiancee. "After rescuing Rainbow."
"HANG ON, RAINBOW DASH!" Pinkie shouted, running on ahead to chase after Caballeron and his crew, making their way out into the desert. "WE'RE COMING TO RESCUE YOU!!!!"
"I can't believe I didn't notice that was Caballeron all this time," Sora grumbled. "I thought he learned his lesson after running into that weird crocodile from those ruins."
"He's never gonna learn." Walking up to them, A. K. Yearling changed into her explorer persona, her depression gone now that she knew who's been adding more fuel to the fire in the village's hatred toward her as Daring Do. "If he wanted to ruin my reputation, he should do it in my face, not behind a town I know I made a mess of last time I was here. And now he's going to hurt one of my friends to distract me."
"Then let's go after them and save Rainbow Dash!" Kairi exclaimed.
The trio ran off into the desert, catching up with Pinkie, who slowed down to wait up for them and was glad to have Daring Do back. Following the hoofprints in the sand, the rescue party found themselves at what appeared to be the very same pyramid from the story of Somnambula, though time wore at the stones of the structure and the statues by the entrance. They ran inside and skid to a halt before a pit filled with green slime, which bubbled in a sickening way. Across the chasm was the very same platform Prince Hisan was tied up to, and Rainbow was in the same predicament as the late stallion, tied to the pedestal sitting on the platform.
"Rainbow Dash!" Daring called out.
"Daring Do!? Is that you!?" Rainbow asked, completely terrified and looking around all over in her blinded state.
The slime began gurgling, the platform out in beyond the chasm slowly starting to sink down as the pegasus struggled. "Hold on, Dash!" Sora called out. "We'll get you out of there in no time!"
Up above, they heard Caballeron cackling evilly, seeing him look down at them from the skylight. "If my previous plan didn't cause you to give up, Daring Do, then the shame of losing your dear friend Rainbow Dash to the slime WILL!" Daring growled, wanting to pummel Caballeron for resorting to hostage situations to get her to back down again. She tried to fly up through the skylight, only to find her wings permanently attached to her sides by an unknown force. "Oh, and that ancient magic from the legend is real. There'll be no flying in the pyramid!"
"What!?" Kairi exclaimed as she and Sora tried shifting their wings to, with no luck as they were unresponsive. "That spell the Sphinx cast still exists after all this time!?"
"Good luck saving your friend, Daring Do!" Caballeron mocked with another insane cackle.
Sora growled, then smirked as he was about to put the stallion in his place. Leaping up high, he managed to reach the end of the skylight's opening from inside, quickly spinning around and floating up in a double-jump for some extra air, then wall-kicked up to the roof. Caballeron went dead silent, letting out a squeak, not expecting Sora to be able to reach this height in a single bound.
"I don't know what you're planning trying to slander Daring Do's name, but you're the one who's going to need all the luck getting away from me!" Sora said, summoning his Keyblade, pointing it at the horrible artifact-stealing stallion. Caballeron knew he was outmatched by the younger stallion, frozen in place with a dangerous weapon pointed at his face. Out of nowhere, the light from the sun was blocked by a mysterious eclipse, the shadow covering the perimeter of the pyramid. Both stallions slowly looked up, seeing a strange blot in front of the sun getting bigger, something huge diving down toward them. And it was heading straight for Sora. "What the hell is-?"
The shadowy "eclipse" seemed to take the shape of a large feline, its eyes opening to reveal the yellow glow, but the thin-slitted iris had a brighter orange that made it stand out from the rest of its eyes. The giant shadow let out a lion's roar, slamming down on Sora, sending them crashing through the roof of the pyramid and added another giant skylight in the ancient ruins. Caballeron leapt back, avoiding falling with the Keyblade wielder and the strange creature, Daring, Kairi, and Pinkie quickly getting away before they were pinned along with Sora. Caballeron peeked down in the skylight, everyone gasping in shock at the strange creature that attacked Sora out of nowhere.
"What's going on!?" Rainbow asked, hearing the crash, but still blindfolded. "Oh no! Did someone press a switch that set a trap that's destroying the pyramid and going to trap us in here forever!?"
"Uhh, you don't want to know, Rainbow Dash!" Daring said.
Sora grunted, pushing back against the strange creature's paws to avoid getting crushed. He managed to push the limbs off him, quickly getting up and diving away to avoid it slamming down on him again. When he got a better look at what attacked him, his jaw dropped like the others; it was the Sphinx from the story, but now it was a Heartless, and judging by the odd coloring of its iris, it was another one of these strange Heartless that came from Twilight's envy, Sunset's wrath, and Arimaspi's greed.
"HEARTLESS!!!!" Pinkie shrieked.
"Heartless!?" Rainbow screeched. "Somepony get me out of here!"
"Well, umm, good luck with dealing with...the Sphinx as well," Caballeron uttered before fleeing, getting as far away from the Heartless Sphinx as possible.
"Sora, it's another one of these Heartless, isn't it?" Kairi asked.
"Yeah. But from the Sphinx?" Sora questioned. "What happened to it?"
"And I'll take a wild guess saying the Sphinx must have had too much pride to lose to Somnambula," Kairi added. The Sphinx roared, unleashing a barrage of lightning strikes in the room sans the abyss. Sora and Kairi quickly snatched Daring Do and Pinkie away from the bolts of lightning hitting the ground, along with the electric shockwaves released from each bolt. "And it really doesn't want us to beat it either."
"Daring, you and Pinkie rescue Rainbow Dash! We'll distract the Sphinx!" Sora said.
"Uhh, you sure you can do that with the little space there is around here?" Daring asked.
"Heartless are attracted to the Keyblade. It'll just come after us more," he reassured.
"Here it comes!" Kairi warned, the Sphinx pouncing toward the group.
Daring and Pinkie dove closer to the abyss while Sora and Kairi leapt back, Kairi calling her Keyblade to keep the Heartless's focus on them. The Sphinx swiped its paws at the two ponies, moving too slow to smack them or slam them into the ground with two different targets to aim for. It slammed both paws down, one for each wielder, the couple both blocking its heavy paws with their Keyblades. Working in sync, Sora and Kairi flung both the Heartless Sphinx's paws outward, sending it falling flat on its stomach and slamming its chin hard on the ground, then followed up with a dual slash on its face. Letting out a yowl, the sphinx roared, firing laser beams from its eyes at the Keyblade wielders, both ponies either deflecting or dodging the dual beams aimed at them.
At the edge of the chasm, Daring and Pinkie tried to find a way for them to cross to reach Rainbow Dash. If there was a bridge here, just like in the legend, Caballeron must have cut it to keep them from flying across, even without the Sphinx's curse still active inside. All the while, Rainbow's constant shifting to get free and not die to a Heartless made the platform sink further down in the green slime at the bottom, whether it was acidic, poisonous, or in any way lethal.
"We're never going to get to her in time!" Daring Do exclaimed in a panic.
"If this is really like Somnambula's story, then we just have to have hope that we can!" Pinkie said.
"We need more than hope, Pinkie!" Daring said. "There isn't a bridge here like in the story, and the only pony who can make a huge leap across is fighting a Sphinx of darkness with his wife-to-be!" She gestured to the battle behind them, Sora climbing on the Sphinx's back to attack its head easier while it tried to buck the stallion off, Kairi on the ground firing different spells to stun it while avoiding the random lightning strikes it summoned with every roar it made. "What are we gonna do!?"
"I don't know, but Rainbow is our friend. Just like Somnambula," Pinkie said, being eerily calm about this despite Rainbow sinking further in the goop and the Sphinx as a Heartless about ready to turn them into its minions. "We need to make a leap of faith and hope that we can save her!"
To Daring's shock, Pinkie actually leapt into the chasm. Not knowing the pink earth pony all that well like Rainbow and Sora, if they were able to trust her beliefs, she was willing to take the chance. Taking a deep breath, Daring followed Pinkie's example and made a leap of faith, unable open her wings and plummet to the slime. She covered her eyes, waiting to drop into the slime, but instead, she was suddenly shot back up by a blast of air underneath her. Looking through her hooves, Daring looked down, being propelled by steam vents floating above the slime. Despite the odd ventilation system, they found their way across the slime, air hopping from each vent and reached Rainbow Dash safely.
"Holy cow, that was outright insane!" Daring said.
"And fun! I knew we could do it!" Pinkie cheered.
"Thanks for reminding me never to give up hope," she said.
"And I'm kinda 'hoping' you two will untie me before we all take a bath in bubbling green slime, or turn into Heartless!" Rainbow exclaimed, wriggling in her binds desperately.
"Oh. Sorry." Daring untied Rainbow Dash from the pedestal while Pinkie helped take off the blindfold.
When Rainbow could finally see and move, she winced when she saw the Heartless Sphinx Sora and Kairi were fighting. Lightning was constantly raining down around their battlefield, both Keyblade wielders focusing more on avoiding getting struck than attacking. Kairi slipped up, getting shocked by a lightning bolt, then was grabbed by the Sphinx in its paw. She yelped as the Heartless picked her up, then slammed her into a nearby wall, her Keyblade lost in her grip as it flew up in the air.
"Kairi!" Sora called out. He avoided the Sphinx's tail as it tried to sideswipe him, running over to rescue his beloved. He jumped up, reaching his left hoof out to grab Destiny's Embrace, and once he grasped it, he yelled and dove onto the Sphinx's back, stabbing both his and her Keyblades right by its wings. It let out a painful roar, followed by a much higher-pitched and agonizing roar when Sora sliced through its body, cutting off its wings like a hot knife through butter. "Don't!" He continued stabbing the dark beast, forcing the Sphinx to drop Kairi, letting her fall to the ground with a groan, emphasizing each word with each painful stab he left. "Touch! My! Fiancee! You! Stupid! Cat!"
While roaring in pain, the Sphinx raised its tail up, suddenly shifting into a scorpion's stinger, then thrust it down on the stallion stabbing its back. Sora's ears twitched, quickly blocking the tail between both Keyblades and sliced the stinger tip off, increasing its pain. As it bucked him off, Sora leapt up to the Sphinx's head, slashing away at its face as he landed in front of it, followed by a powerful jump into its chest, cross-slashing with incredible force that sent it crashing into the other end of the pyramid. Flipping back over to Kairi, Sora helped the alicorn back up on her hooves.
"My hero," she wheezed. "Now I think I might need CPR." Sora smirked, extending his left hoof, still holding his lover's Keyblade as it pointed to the dazed Heartless. Kairi chuckled, reaching her hoof out and grabbed the hilt of her blade, touching Sora's hoof as well. "After destroying this Heartless."
Combining both of their power, along with Kairi's ring enhancing her power of light, Destiny's Embrace's tip shining brightly before unleashing a huge beam of light. The Sphinx managed to get back up, only to get struck in the chest by the couple's combined power, its mouth opened in a silent scream as it was pinned to the wall. When the beam faded, the Sphinx fell to the ground, its body writhing as it stared at the two Keyblade wielders.
"...You...tricked...me," the Sphinx said, startling the ponies when they heard it talk. "You...mortals...should...never...beat me...I'm...smarter...and more powerful...than...you..."
The Sphinx let out a final breath as its heart flew out from it and floated up through the large hole it made after dive-bombing Sora. Its body faded away, leaving nothing behind, though its last words did confirm Kairi's theory about the Sphinx being blinded by its pride before it turned into a Heartless.
"...Did the Arimaspi say anything when you and Riku fought it in Griffonstone?" Kairi asked Sora.
"Not a word," Sora said. "I don't think Sunset's said anything besides shriek in the little time it was being pulled out...They're getting smarter."
Kairi grumbled, lightly smacking her doof of a husband-to-be in the back of the head. "We've already got Nobodies with brains," she scolded. "We've already got Ansem and Vanitas. We don't need anymore sentient Heartless to plan a way to take over a world."
Sora giggled sheepishly, mostly joking about what they just witnessed from a Corrupted Heartless. With the threat now gone, Daring, Pinkie, and Rainbow hopped their way back to safety with the steam vents before the platform completely sank into the oozing slime.
"This pyramid sucks!" Rainbow exclaimed, trying to stretch out her wings, but couldn't with the Sphinx's spell still in effect. "That Sphinx must have had some powerful magic to mess with Somnambula like this!"
"Eh, I don't feel anything," Pinkie said.
"Because you don't have wings," all three pegasi and alicorn stated with deadpanned stares.
"Oh yeah," Pinkie said with a giggle.
"We gotta go after Caballeron," Daring said. "I have a hunch he's been after something if he wanted me to quit exploring."
Following Daring Do, they hurried back to the village to stop Caballeron, the explorer no longer worried about facing the villagers as herself after being blamed for the collateral she was responsible for.
"Come on, come on, let's get out of here," Caballeron hissed nervously, his band of stallions following behind while three of them dragged a massive bag along, two of them keeping the opening tied shut so whatever they had acquired didn't fall out.
"Boss, why are you so nervous?" one of the stallions asked. "I thought Daring Do was going to 'retire', and lose that rainbow-haired pegasus in the pyramid."
"S-Shut up and keep walking!" Caballeron said through gritted teeth, trying to stay casual. "I'll tell you what happened after we're far away from this desert."
Daring landed in front of her rival, startling Caballeron and his group. "Not so fast, Caballeron!"
The artifact thief and his crew were surrounded as they tried to back away from Daring Do, Sora, Kairi, Rainbow, and Pinkie keeping them from fleeing. "What's in the bag, Caballeron!?" Sora questioned.
"J-Just...travel supplies!" the stallion lied. "You expect us to walk through the hot desert without being prepared!?"
"Travel supplies, or-" Kairi swiftly slashed her Keyblade, tearing the bag and spilled out its contents: several heavy pounds worth of glopaz. "-the whole town's currency to BUY 'travel supplies'!?"
The villagers had gathered to hear the commotion, along with seeing Daring Do, but their attention was fixated on all their town's glowpaz stolen by Caballeron, not Daring. "Hey, you're the one who stole our glowpaz!" one of the villagers exclaimed, causing an uproar as the tables were turned on the stallion who tried to slander the mare explorer's reputation.
"I knew it," Daring said. "You sullied my name so you could steal whatever you wanted."
"Of course that was the plan, Daring Do!" Caballeron said, no longer denying his intentions in front of the massive crowd. "At first I just wanted the glowpaz, but then I saw an opportunity to write you out of the story for good! And with the destruction you leave in your wake, it didn't take long to convince ponies YOU were a villain!"
While he cackled maniacally, the villagers were absolutely shocked by Caballeron's motives for slandering Daring Do's name. "You're wrong, Caballeron," Daring said. "And I won't let you break my spirit again. Because I'm never going to give up hope that I can protect ponies and ancient treasures from miscreants like you!"
The ponies all shouted in agreement, feeling more disgusted at Caballeron's twisted scheme and realized Daring Do may have accidentally been involved with the collateral damage done to the village of Somnambula, but she didn't mean to cause any harm. Caballeron grimaced as the angry village was focused on him now instead of Daring Do.
"S-She destroyed your statue, remember!?" he backpedaled, but no one was buying his accusations any longer, especially when everyone can see the stolen glowpaz he and his group were trying to steal. "You're fools to believe in her!"
"At least they can rebuild the statue," Sora said. "Taking all the gems that are basically a symbol of this village's hope is more uncalled for than accidentally breaking something that can be fixed." Kairi levitated all the glowpaz back to the villagers, Caballeron sweating bullets as Sora approached him, Keyblade in hoof. "Now, do us all a favor and fly away, because I think YOU'RE the one who's not allowed in this town."
"Fly away?" one of Caballeron's henchponies questioned in confusion. "But we're earth ponies."
"Not for long. Aeroga!" Sora called out, unleashing a small tornado around Caballeron and his crew, sucking them up as they screamed and flailed about.
He blew the spell toward the exit, Daring stepping aside as Sora waved cheekily at the thieving stallion, sent out into the desert for a good long while. "You'll pay for this, Daring Do!!!!!" Caballeron exclaimed angrily, disappearing in the distance.
After kicking Caballeron out, the village of Somnambula cheered, lifting Daring Do as they praised her, surprising the explorer. She still felt guilty for breaking the statue, skimping on her bill at the Get On Inn, and causing a lot of trouble for the ponies on her excavations or fleeing from mortal enemies trying to take back the dangerous artifacts she's trying to keep from falling in the wrong hands. Daring kept a reminder to herself to pay back for the destruction of property and forgotten bills from where she stayed for her adventures. They let the adventurer down, thanking Daring properly for saving their town from her last visit and bringing back their glowpaz before going back to their day.
"Thanks for helping me come back to my senses, everypony," Daring said.
"Glad you're back to your old self," Sora said. "I'm kinda interested in the latest book from your actual 'fictional' series you make on the side."
"I'm kinda glad, too," Daring said with a small laugh. "But I'm also glad I realized that even if you're fighting for something good, you're still responsible for your actions."
"Kinda like Sora when he mumblered in other worlds while saving them!" Pinkie said.
"Meddling," Sora corrected, looking unamused after hearing that nonsense from Donald in the past, consequences be damned.
"And, if something bad does happen, unintentional or otherwise, don't give up hope or lose faith in yourself," Kairi added. She wrapped her wing around Sora's withers, surprising him with a peck on the cheek. "I have to keep reminding this goofball not to lose his own faith when things get rough. And if he ever needs hope to cling onto, I'll be there to give him some of mine."
Sora laughed sheepishly with a wide grin from how true that seems to be, ever since the two met as young children. "Maybe you should get kidnapped again," Sora said jokingly. "That might give me more of that hope for bringing you back home safe and sound. Too bad you can take care of yourself now, so, all my hope is lost."
Kairi giggled, shoving Sora for his snide comment. "You're such a dork!"
"But I'm your dork, right?" Sora asked with a grin.
"I'm reconsidering accepting your marriage proposal," Kairi lied, getting a shock out of Sora as his jaw dropped with a look of disbelief.
"H-HUH!? C-Come on, Kairi! You can't be serious, right!?" he questioned. Rainbow and Pinkie knew Kairi was teasing Sora, knowing full well Kairi would never ever leave Sora in a million years. Kairi burst out laughing at his reaction, making the stallion's eye twitch, realizing he was just being picked on. "Ok, you wanna play games? Beat this!"
Sora pounced Kairi, making her squeal while still laughing, being pinned down while he tortured her with tickling her sides with his wings. Through her laughing, she kept teasing Sora, letting him know how gullible he was and how silly he's behaved over something he clearly knew wasn't true. Daring watched the couple, Pinkie and Rainbow as well in amusement as they both made bets on who would win this one-sided tickle fight. Even though they were bantering, it was clear to see that their relationship as a couple was never going to die, almost like how she made their characters relationship in her other series. While Kairi finally gave up, panting heavily and receiving a soft, passionate kiss from her "torturer", their interactions, along with what she'd learned about hope, gave the mare some inspirations for both her side series and her own adventures.
After heading back home to Ponyville, Sora, Kairi, Rainbow, and Pinkie split up from Daring Do, the adventurer staying behind to pay for the damages before returning back to her private cottage. It was late when the couple returned to the castle, heading for their room and showering off the sand and dust in their exploits in the deserts of Southern Equestria. Sora got in first, then Kairi once he was done, waiting for her while sitting in front of a desk with all their scattered wedding plans. They were thankful for some distractions of the most stressful planning they've ever done, though it wasn't going anywhere when it came to their guest list. Or rather, HIS guest list, not wanting to let all the friends he made in the other worlds miss out on such a momentous occasion. Even if Aqua allowed it, he probably didn't want them to leave their worlds if something comes up, and despite trying to keep the world order when it's always breached by them or Heartless.
Kairi walked out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her head to dry her mane. "As much as I like sandy beaches, sandy deserts are far too coarse for my liking," she said to herself. She walked up behind Sora, wrapping her forelegs around him, leaning over to see their wedding plans. "Still so much to plan."
"And a guest list I stupidly made, and we keep adding more and more friends to the never-ending list," Sora added with a grunt.
"By 'we', you mean 'you', Mr. Friends-Are-My-Power," Kairi teased, kissing her grumbling fiance's cheek.
"I can't help being helpful," Sora argued. "I just wish we found some way for everyone to come to the wedding without taking them from their worlds." He felt Kairi's cheek gently press against his while figuring out how to make this impossible idea possible, he took out his crystal communicator from his ear. There was also the Gummiphone Chip and Dale built to keep in contact with King Mickey and Ienzo, which got the gears going in his head. Standing up and confusing Kairi, he walked over to his clothes, pulling out the Gummiphone from his jacket pocket and looked at the two different communication devices. "...Or...maybe we don't have to?"
"Huh?" Kairi asked.
"If we find the best spot for our wedding, we don't HAVE to invite everyone to COME to it," he reiterated, holding out both the electronic and magic devices. "We could hold a live visual of the wedding, and using crystals from Equestria, if it's possible to show live recordings from lightyears away like how we can talk with each other with these communicators, everyone can see it, and we don't have to worry about transporting everyone." Kairi blinked, processing Sora's spontaneous idea. He wilted a little, thinking she was going to say it sounded impossible. "...Or maybe not."
"Actually, that does sound like a good idea," Kairi said, perking Sora up a little. "I think we'll have to run it through with Twilight, Aqua, and Starlight to know if that can work, but that would definitely save us the stress of choosing the location of the wedding." She glanced at her own communicator, wondering what type of crystal could make it possible to see something happen that was currently going on from another world. "Maybe more of these types of crystals, although, what kind of magic is needed to enchant it for live footage and how much of it is kind of an issue, but this sounds far better than bringing them all to another world, breaching the world order, and causing all sorts of trouble."
"Huh. I was kinda just...randomly throwing ideas, but I guess my idea was a petty good one after all," Sora said with a wide grin.
"To be fair, most of your ideas are pretty childish." Sora's grin turned into an irritated scowl, making Kairi laugh. She made it up to him with a kiss on the lips, brushing up against him while his ears and wings stood up on end in surprise. "But you can come up with really good ideas from time to time." Kairi gave Sora another light peck, then nuzzled his neck. Sora grinned, holding the alicorn close while giving her a small kiss on her neck. "I do want to bring Selphie as one of my bridesmaids."
"If Aqua will allow her, or even Tidus and Wakka, to come along and see another world," Sora said.
"We'll ask her when the time comes," Kairi said. "It is a bit late, though, so I'll talk to the girls in the morning and see where the invitations of our plans end up. For now-" She gently nipped Sora's ear, giving him a sly grin, startling him and letting her out of his hooves. She then took off her towel, shaking her head and let her damp mane down, flopping the towel over Sora's head as she walked over to the bed with a sway of her hips. "-I want to spend the rest of the evening with my future husband and 'cuddle'."
Sora slowly pulled the damp towel off his head, watching Kairi's rump as she teased him, even flicking her tail up for barely a second before climbing into bed. He chuckled, reaching their bed as she got comfortable, then climbed in beside her, pulling her body closer to his and tightly wrapped his hooves around her. Their muzzles touched, looking in each other's eyes as their bodies shifted closer to each other, Kairi gently wrapping her forelegs around his neck, giving him that look he could never say no to.
"Do you ever stop tormenting me?" Sora asked playfully, gently rubbing his snout against hers and made her giggle.
"You should know me by now," Kairi said, sticking her tongue out at him. "I never will."
Sora let out a low rumble in his throat, leaning forward and planted a deep kiss on Kairi's lips, startling her with a squeak as he also took her tongue in his mouth and teased the appendage with his own. Her cheeks lit up, asking for it now after teasing him, Sora easily dominating their french kiss as he guided Kairi's tongue back in mouth, making her moan, struggling to push his tongue back, but only wanting more. She whimpered as Sora pulled away, both ponies letting out a small gasp with their tongues connected by a thin trail of saliva, which snapped apart as it hit their chins.
"Love you, Kairi," Sora whispered.
"I love you, too," Kairi whispered back, the couple leaning back in for another deep, sensual kiss, the alicorn gently pulling her lover's head closer to deepen their kiss.
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nice work on the chapter
its always a good day when you upload.
Amazing chapter again!!!! One of the pillars appear!
The next pillar is in A Health of Information episode!
awesome chapter cant wait for next chapter HEAL twilight said as the bellflower sparkled over fluttershy but nothing happened HEAL she said same outcome
HEAL HEAL HEAL
Twilight riku said curaga is for cuts and bruises not sickness twilight blushed 
what is the master of master objective in equestria
Saucy endings is a good ending
Master of Masters kill the Sphinx.
Me: her Hartless is gonna appear, isn't it?
The Sphinx's Corrupted Harteless appeared.
Me: CALLED IT!!! SO MUCH CALLED IT!!!!
Interesting take on this episode.
While I never was a huge fan of the original, the way you made this one was pretty fun.
I have to admit, the Master of Masters was the best part of this chapter. One note I find very interesting is the Sphinx being slain (bad-ass) and transforming into a smarter heartless, to the point of thinking and talking? I think that's a very interesting idea, I can see potential in that and I'm curious where you will go with that.
Good luck with the next chapter.
Can't wait for the next chapter it's gonna be epic I wander when riku will tie the knot with twilight
9947380
Give it like 3-4 years
9947380
Yea maybe riku and twilight are the best couple so she protects her man
Anyone have a tip for the final fight of KH3
9976994
As in... you want tips for beating the final fight? I have a few, if that's the case. Make sure you have MP Rage, and never go into MP Charge. The Mirage Staff is incredibly useful for keeping yourself alive if you run out of magic. Finally, get your defense and dark resistance as high as possible.
9984257
Ok and is the monsters inc. keyblade good for it as well
9984267
Honestly, use whatever. I did it with the Kingdom Key.
9984907
Oh wow ok thx for the help