56. Dreaming
Once again I was back in the realm of my own dreams overlooking the same desk I woke up at whenever I fell asleep. It was confusing but dream logic, of course, always took over and delightfully made me roll with the sudden shifts in thinking.
On my desk the Lexicon was opened to the newest entries showcasing several heartless and even the bios of everyone we met in the Forest of Nibel. Eventually I would use this particular expansion of my weapon to its full use but until that day I would have to be patient. Around me were the pedestals holding each of the organizations weapons, or better said a version of their weapons that dwelled as an alternative mode for my keyblade. That was when I noticed that beside the: daggers, scythe, lexicon, tomahawk and shield another pedestal had lit up. The cards were now active and I felt them added to my repertoire of choices while in combat.
Like the other weapons the cards held dominion over a particular aspect for some reason that I couldn't truly explain. They controlled the aspects of time. Though with the lack of actually seeing a lot of Luxord in the second game they were mitigated to timed events. I felt they could do so much more even though the other weapons, barring the scythe, were much more intuitive to use.
‘Okay… daggers control lightning, shield controls ice, tomahawk controls earth and the lexicon controls illusion. For some reason the scythe controls blooms or blooming or something like that. The weird one out obviously enough. Now I control time in some way… maybe. Not like I didn't already do so with the stop spell.’ I groaned internally over how to utilize the weapons better.
As much as I praised them to be very useful there still had to be limits of some form. I hadn't been able to figure out what that limit could be except for the shield. It was the only one that could be destroyed and forced to reform over a short period of time. The other weapons, however, didn't have that obvious a sign of a limit on them. The tomahawk seemed to have a cool down on how long it would take to gain strength but since I would use it for one big hit and then switch the drawbacks weren't naturally seen.
The daggers were merely conduits for the lightning but seemed to hold their own internal battery to allow lightning to be used when necessary. Though with the longer range of the other weapons they hadn't been given much chance to shine.
I don't use the scythe enough to even judge it since it is wrapped up in death. That, in of itself, is not bad. It's just impractical and difficult to train with when there were multiple better ways of dealing with external problems.
That left me with the book… which I only used for clerical activities since it was so convenient to my needs. It was also much more expansive than Jiminy’s journal which was through the eyes of a single being instead of the somewhat strange omniscience that the Lexicon, and to a lesser degree the keyblade had since all these copies were tied in a keyblade forms.
Illusions were useful… for spying and hiding but I needed not to do that while on Equestria. Nothing brought attention to a shut in more than deciding not to engage with the obvious needy society that ponies had when it came to making friends. The Lexicon didn't help me in this regard… at least when it came to certain ponies.
At this point I had to watch out for three other beings that lived in Ponyville. The first one was Pinkie Pie who I had actually managed to antagonize because I wouldn't go along with her need to throw me a birthday party. Add into that my reaction command condition and I could predict whenever I was being attacked and my own reasoning on what counts as an attack and you have a truly epic battle of wits. In my mind, which I was in at the moment, it screamed out to me as unstoppable force and immovable object meeting and causing the end of the universe.
I didn't fear her though. I feared the other two more for much deeper reasons.
Twilight Sparkle, envoy of the princess of the sun, Element of Magic incarnate and resident magical expert. The mare was obsessed with anything Star Swirl the Bearded. I had a paper that seemed to be from said pony and was labeled secret and I still hadn't read it yet. I would have to do that soon and figure out what to do with said information eventually.
Spike, on the other hoof, was able to instantly connect to the princess with a single breath. The paper would need to be attached to the Lexicon and constantly kept out of sight. Those two were going to be troublemakers… if I was stupid. My saddlebags were always locked and only capable of being opened by my keyblade. The same was the case with the basement and while I left the Spirit Tree sapling on the ship for the night I would be planting it in the backyard as soon as I ran it by Mayor Mare. I didn't need her getting on my case for planting what could be an invasive species.
Placing the Lexicon back on the desk, I summoned the cards to my hooves and they turned out to float using only my will. There were over seventy four cards floating around and the pictures on them were familiar.
“Is this a tarot deck?”
I looked and noticed that, indeed, it was a tarot deck. The first card I pulled was the moon card, which meant something about mysteries… I think.
My understanding of tarot cards was rudimentary and the only cards I knew about that were horrible to get were the Devil, the Tower, and the Ten of Swords. I didn't even know what their reverse nature could mean but I didn't speculate further on it.
“Wait… what is that I feel… again!? Another group wandering through my dream realm.”
I winced since the last one was just… unbearably weird and wondered if I should ignore it entirely. The other people had been nothing but depressing and bringing up topics that didn't affect me entirely.
“So… what role do I pull off now.”
“Hm? What’s this place?”
After the crack had appeared in their dream field, revealing a strange cave system full of gangly looking trees growing throughout it. The shadows covered the ceiling but there appeared to be no actual ceiling at all. In the distance were several locked doors though they each had a light spilling lock on each of them.
“I don’t remember making this part of the field.” Kira said.
“This is weird.” Lan stated. “A dream within a dream? Hope we aren’t caught up in an Inception plot. I still don’t understand that movie.”
*crack*
“Who’s there!?” Kira shouted readying her Keyblade. Her brother doing the same.
A cloud of bats flew past startling the two before disappearing back into the darkness.
“Oh, okay. Creepy bats. That fits the cave cliche. So what do we do now bro?” Kira asked.
“Yeah what do we do bro?” A voice called from behind Kira. Only for nothing to be there.
“Ahhh! Firaga!” Kira sent a fire spell in the direction of the voice in panic. But it only struck the side of a tree, nothing else.
“Okay, now that’s a tell that there is definitely someone here.” Lan raised his blade. “Show yourself! Are you an enemy?”
Nothing but the whistling wind blew through the cave and silence blanketed the area.
“Ahh! I don’t like this! Is this gonna be like Nightmare on Elm Street? Are we gonna see Freddy!?” Kira started swinging wildly.
Lan facepalmed with a sigh. “I knew you couldn’t handle that movie.”
“It is pretty scary, huh?” The voice struck behind Lan but soon fled back into the shadows once again.
“This is almost as much of a headache as the Master of Masters. ”Lan said rubbing his temples. “Plus he gets our meta references. Please come out. If you don’t mean harm then neither do we.”
Once again no answer came out right away. A small piece of paper slowly flew down between the two fluttering down almost too perfectly so that the blank side was only seen.
Kira started at the paper scared, her knees started to buckle. She took small steps back and started poking at it with her Keyblade. Nothing happened.
“Bro! I don’t know what movie this is from!” Kira yelled.
Lan sighed in annoyance. “Forget the movie! I’m tired of this. If this is a dream, then we have some influence here.” Lan placed his hand on the cave flow as he started to glow. In an instant, the shadowy cave terrain was replaced with a very illuminated cave filled with several mangled trees that also hid their own shadows.
A thestral hung from one of the sturdier looking branches looking down on the two people watching them closely. It’s amber eyes glowed even in the bright light. As quickly as the light shot up it was turned back down and the thestral was lost in the shadows once again.
“Ahhhhh! I don’t like it!” Kira shouted again as she continued to shiver.
“How did the lights go off? Is someone else controlling the dream?” Lan questioned.
“I’m quite nice when you get to know me.” The voice answered and gripped onto Kira’s back.
Kira’s expression darkened as she slowly turned around. She saw the same menacing amber eyes they saw earlier.
“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” Suddenly, the Weeflower Spirit she summoned prior rushed in and knocked the figure away from her.
“Oof… too much?” The voice called out as it fled back into the darkness. “Too bad I was your spirit animal miss.”
“Spirit animal?” Lan chuckled. “Well you obviously don’t know a Dream Eater when you see one.”
“No I know. We’re different. Dream Eaters being the purified heartless living within the sleeping worlds that some are able to tame. I know what she knows. Hence I am her spirit animal.” The voice called out.
“But you don’t sound like a penguin! I took an online quiz, that proves it!” Kira yelled randomly.
“Your true spirit animal comes from the soul. Not a quiz made by others over the internet.” The voice answered from another location than the last. “You have the soul of a pony within you.”
“Oh.” Kira’s expression dropped. “But I’m already part pony and vampire. Can I switch with someone else?”
“No. It is set in stone. As a thestral I will lead you on your blood crusade and into the future while you seal keyholes and capture the hearts of all the boys… probably.” The voice chided Kira though there was a small chuckle near the end.
“All the boys? Is this a reverse harem story!?” Kira said, eyes turning into stars.
“No! No! None of that!.” Lan interrupted her train of thought. “Okay, let’s have a chance of scenery.” He pulled out a Dream card. “I cast: Smile Town!”
The cracked portal behind the siblings started expanding before it replaced the cave terrain entirely.
“Well guess you don’t get the reverse harem story. Still you already have that one boy under your hoof or hand don’t you.” The voice came into view flapping down on his hooves and stretching out. He sounded uncertain of things though it was subtle.
“Ah so you’re the one who-!” Before Lan could finish his sentence, a pink blur rushed pass him towards the new arrival.
“Oh my gosh! A bat pony! He’s so cute!” Kira said latching on to it, while petting its mane.
“Well… this is unexpected. As your spirit animal I approve.” The thestral answered.
“As I was saying.” Lan jumped back in. “So you were the one messing with us?”
“Nope that was the other bat pony out there. I’m her spirit animal as you can see from her ministrations of patting my head.” The thestral looked at the man ignoring him entirely for the head pats.
“Aw, can you be a fox? I already am like that, so a fox would go with my Union.” Kira asked.
“Nope. It would require you to unlock your soul like Sora, otherwise, I can’t do anything but be you.” The thestral answered tapping his hooves together. Kira pouted.
“Kira!” Lan yelled as she yanked his sister off the Thestral by the back of her armor. “Can we get down to brass tacks already!? All this banter is getting annoying!”
“Ah… he’s the party pooper always dancing around in your head.” The voice stated though he sounded confused.
A tick mark appeared on Lan’s forehead, before an orb of light formed in his palm. Thrusting it skywards it disappeared, but what appeared behind him was a technicolored T-rex. This was a Tyranto Rex spirit.
*ROOOOAAARRR*
The thestral did nothing at first. “Your brain was right. He is a buzzkill.” A shield was summoned to his hoof and just as the Tyranto Rex took a step forward a large flow of ice formed around it captured the spirit and keeping it locked in place. “Ok I’ve had my fun now.”
“Okay, now let’s talk.” Lan said calming down. “But first, one of the best things about Dream Eaters, their physical forms can be dispelled.” The Tyranto Rex disappeared, leaving an ice statue of its likeness in it place.
“Neat. So let’s break this then.” The thestral summoned a keyblade and hit the ground unlocking the area and returning it into a cave once again. “So more people to meet and more keybladers that have something going on with god right?”
“Oh, so you already know? That means you’re a survivor of the Mayan test. RIght?” Kira asked.
“More people? Does that mean you met others?” Lan asked.
“First one was very depressing to listen to. Second one I called Spark Plug because he decided to look like Twilight. Last one was kind of arrogant sounding and had a little boy chained to his side.” The thestral muttered as he flapped back to a tree and hung upside down once again.
“Ah! Zeke, Eclipse, and Ben. So I guess we’re the latest ones?” Kira said sheepishly.
“Was there a reason they came here?” Lan asked. “I wish all of us were here to meet you though.”
“Too many cooks ruin the soup. Two is fine. So why are you here? The last guys came here by accident and most of them were either depressing or fun to mess with. You land on the other half, by the by. Though just like the rest you look quite weird. We’re almost twinsies.” The thestral chuckled as he looked at Kira.
“We came here by accident too. We were testing one of our Dream Fields, I guess our over exerting the power limit caused a malfunction.” Kira explained as she dispelled her armor. “My names Kira by the way. Leader of the Vulpus Union!”
Her brother followed her lead. “And I’m Lan, her brother. Leader of the Unicornis Union.”
“Neat. Dead people coming back to life to not get dragged back into their mistakes. Or new people? It’s funny how much you think about things when you just got back from almost dying once again. Ah… right. I’m Nebula Gray… at least now I am.” Gray chimed in wrapping his wings around his body.
“Nice to meet you!” Kira waved at him. “It’s always nice to meet a new friend.”
“Little soon for that. Let’s say we’re on the way towards it.” Gray answered clearly uncomfortable for some reason.
Kira’s expression dropped as she began to twiddled her thumbs. Tears began to surface on her eyes as she pouted cutely. “Ah, okay. I guess you’re my friend, and I’m not yours yet.”
“That’s never worked on me. I was a cop before and I can tell the difference between manipulative and genuine. Ah there is it… the hidden smirk hidden beneath the frown. I said you are working your way towards it. Friendships are built on trust and hard work. We barely met and have only just started speaking to each other. Trust is earned… never given.” Gray answered… never looking in their direction as his eyes took a thousand yard stare.
Kira pouted, more comically this time. “Hm, well i had to give it a try. You’re pretty mature for a cute pony.” she chuckled.
“I’m twenty six.” Gray deadpanned looking at the young girl.
“Exactly!” She said.
“Well anyways.” Lan interjected. “It is nice to meet another survivor. Mayhaps we can trade stories?”
“I don’t know… You seem a bit boring. She’s at least entertaining. Also the head pats. That’s always a plus. Do you have a good story?” Gray smirked as he pointed at Lan.
Lan smirked. “I may be more interesting than you think.”
“Yeah!” Kira said. “He’s kind of a square, a prude, and really dense. So he has some funny stories. Plus I have stories about him I can tell.”
“Then you can speak about your stories to his detriment since it works out in your favor and make things interesting. Final offer. Take it or leave it.” Gray announced in a commentator’s voice over.
Even after Lan’s protest, his sister and the thestral began to tell stories. Kira mentioned the mess with Sunset and the recent fight against the Dazzlings and their eventual reformation so long as her brother kept it in his pants, to his louder protests. Gray, on the other hoof, as he said it, recalled the fight against Nightmare Moon and nearly dying against her and the Demon Tide heartless. The mention of finding love in six mares was met with Lan trying to poke fun of it like the other two did for him. Gray instead mentioned all the things he did to the detriment of Kira’s innocence and Lan’s frustration.
“You did ask.” Gray bluntly stated.
“That’s quite the tale.” Lan said. “It’s pretty refreshing to hear the story of a survivor who isn’t overpowered like the others.”
“But I don’t get one thing.” Kira asked. “What did the stuff you did with your wings have to do with the story?”
“Ask your brother. He’d love to tell you everything that was mentioned. He’ll answer or your siblings if he doesn’t and you can tell them that he was the one who let you listen to that talk.” Gray chuckled winking one eye at Lan to tease him. “Let me continue my story then.” He continued as Lan glared at him.
There was mention of a grand underwater empire hidden behind a large sea monster that guarded it. The eventual loss of all the survivors and the fight against a true monster who turned into an even dangerous monster. Then there was mention of a grand forest that was almost lost to the darkness and besieged by an owl. When it was said that the owl was a mother who was only protecting her last young and the eventual restoration of the light of the world that put actual tears in Kira’s eyes.
“And that’s all I’ve done so far.” Gray offhandedly stated as if it were no big deal.
“Wow! You’ve been to a lot more worlds than we have. I guess it’s because we never really had a reason to.” Kira pouted.
“Atlantis sounds like a nice place. Too bad it ended that way.” Lan said. “So since you finished your latest adventure, you’re just relaxing now?”
“Well… I am in the dream world. So yeah… probably relaxing.” Gray smirked once again chuckling at the obviousness.
“Okay smartass. Just trying to move the conversation along.” Lan stretched out his arms. “Well it’s about time we took our leave. We’ve taken enough of your time.”
“Plus he’s got a makeup date with his girlfriends who caught him with Adagio” Kira smirked.
He sighed. “Don’t rub it in.”
“Rub it in. Rub it in. Rub it in.” Gray chanted in the background.
Kira and Lan began walking back through the cracked portal, but Kira stopped. “Oh wait!” She ran back up to Gray and held something out to him. It was a card. “It’s Smile Town! I know that we just met and stuff, and we don’t know much about each other, other than what we told. It just looked like you could use a smile.” She smiled at him adorably.
Gray took the card and summoned a book. He tapped it against her head and flew back into the darkness. He waved goodbye and flew back into the shadows.
“Well… that occurred then. More random people that were trying to find a new life… at least they didn’t act like buzzkills.”
There had been a lull between the last person who came in and this particular guest. It was strange enough that my mind allows others in, time to time. At the most part that left me uncertain of dealing with Luna. There was no telling when she would get her full power. I quickly went back into my room and put the card away in the desk. Smile Town… was an utterly weird concept and something that I didn’t need at this particular venture.
‘Maybe later, but for now there is more important things to think of.’ I mused about… only for the voice to reverberate inside my head since I was in my dream world. I quietly facehoofed after that happened.
Instead of getting ready to get up… I placed Star Swirl’s report on my desk and slowly poured over it. I didn’t like it one bit.
Star Swirl Report 1:
It has been several days since I was drafted into my role as one of the so called Pillars of Equestria that Stygian has gone on and on about. It is an honor, to be sure, but I’ve see that my comrades and I don’t share a common goal. At least… we didn’t before something extraordinary happened. During our third year of comradery we were met by a strange pony wearing armor and wielding a sword that looked like a key. We were uncertain of who they were except for the fact that they were male. He slowly told us of these horrible creatures known only as the Heartless.
Darkness given form and moving on instinct to devour the hearts of the innocent. They were a plague that swept across the entirety world… though it was startling when he roared at us for our misstep. When I mentioned how the darkness is evil… he lost his cool and stared me down. For that moment and that moment alone I felt fear. A fear of knowing nothing at all and feeling the inadequacy from realizing that. When he calmed down he started to explain to us what the world truly meant.
The world is made of Light and Dark. Neither is good nor evil. They just exist locked in balance with each other. The stronger the light, the deeper the darkness, and vice versa. It was eye opening as he showed us just what he could do with his training.
It was at that point my research truly took hold. He assisted me… or it would be better to say I assisted him. It was infuriating to work under him… yet I was happy that somepony was able to teach me something even I would have never learned.
When he spoke about the nature of the heart I was more than a little skeptical… up until he destroyed the heartless and managed to show us what the hearts of others became. Almost exactly like the Crystal Heart up in the Crystal Empire but… thinner I guess would be the right term. The terms of the three aspects that made up any being in the world were separated into the body, heart, and soul. Each comprised what made every living thing a living thing in the first place. It was strange to have everything I thought I knew was right challenged.
For several months he taught all of us and eventually gifted six of us with keyblades… It was supposed to be seven but he never got it.
One month prior Stygian had gone missing. We have not found him and our Master is getting worried for him. It’s funny… during our entire training he mentioned his name only once. But for the life of me I cannot remember it since the loss of our friend. Master has been leaving every night to try and find him, we can only hope that nothing bad has happened.
I looked over the paper… I didn’t understand what it actually meant except that they knew what keyblades were. The problem came with why there was no mention of heartless to any single pony of Equestria though. From what I gleaned from looking at Twilight’s bookshelves, she was the leading expert on him in the first place but it seemed she knew nothing about them. I didn’t know for sure though since… that would require asking her explicitly. Faulty logic on my part, I needed to look through her collection of Star Swirl’s work. There were answers to be found and I needed to know.
This also brought up the problem behind how he knew. Apparently six other ponies knew including him, making seven. Star Swirl… and Stygian were the only two names I knew now. A pony had brought a keyblade to Equestria back then… but Equestria had always had its barrier up. This wracked me with so many questions because if there was one thing I knew from the Equestria that was shown on television, Star Swirl had lived over a thousand years ago or more. It would have to wait for another time.
All through those thoughts it left me pondering on whether or not it was time to find out what the princesses knew. That… was something I really didn’t want to do though. From the memories God shoved into my head that included how the princesses reacted to unknown things. It all boiled down to leaving it Twilight. It wasn’t something I wanted to do… at least not yet.
If she knew she would be on top of me twenty four/seven to learn everything I knew and more. She would get what she wanted if I had to deal with Celestia. When it came to the deal of knowledge I would lose my freedom. Either by Celestia ordering Twilight to follow me… or Twilight misconstruing her message to follow me incessantly.
She was a nice mare… but from my memories I knew she could become erratic, crazy, needy with information and generally impatient with anything that required a more belief based approach. The moment I cast a spell using only my hooves which I could do would probably break her.
For now… the best course of action would be to archive this for much much later. It wasn’t important until I could find more pieces to look through.
After the introduction with some new people and the sudden realization that some ponies did indeed know about keyblades, I felt more tired than ever. I was still asleep but that much information hurt my head. Regardless, I finally decided it was time to wake up and face the day. I still needed to check the book and place the pages back into the book in the basement.
I woke up to a very quiet room. Everypony was most likely still in their room sleeping. I looked out the window noting that the moon had actually risen after all the rain. It was quiet throughout the streets of Ponyville and I certainly felt more at peace than I thought I would. The rain had always been a relaxing thing for me whenever I would be on a stake out while I was a cop. It kept me level headed and hyper focused… though sometimes it would end up making me tunnel vision on one particular thing.
I shook my head and watched the moon and star slowly swim through the night sky enjoying the peace and quiet. I was for some reason… content. I knew there had been a lot of bad things in my life… but I’ve made my peace with them. They still hurt but… I had moved on. I would always remember, cherish and love those I lost… but I needed to focus on the now. I needed to focus on them.
Each mare had in some way made me crawl back into socializing with others… even if I didn’t want to say out loud most of the time. Sunshower believed I could do anything… I couldn’t but I appreciated the sentiment. Octavia and Vinyl both thought I was strong enough to pull them through anything… I was strong because they needed me to be which helped me work through my past little by little. Redheart worried for me when I had stopped worrying about myself long ago… which woke up my want to take care of myself. Fresh Coat looked to me for inspiration which I was inspired by her faith in me. Finally, Spitfire challenged me to be better and I made sure to rise for said challenge.
“I sure have come a long way from those moments when I wanted to give up, haven’t I Amy?”
My mutterings were lost to the night and I merely watched the night sky move on.
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To me. Honestly. You should have Equestrian arcs. Not long ones. But just some stuff that happens back at the hub world. I don't know why but for some reason seeing Gray have a battle with Sora would be epic as fuck.
I'd be fine with equestrian arcs, would be a good way to mix things up from time to time. Gotta use that main 6 tag somehow.
8713869
It would be epic but it would be funny if rainbow got into a scrape with gray. In or out of armor is Author’s choice.
8714665
Of course. It was just a thought.
that is interesting. six keybladers and one that was left out only to disappear to who knows where.
8713869
8713967
Yeah. I had them for a reason. So I'll most likely have Equestrian Arcs happening real soon. Since the herd does have day jobs they have to get to.
8714665
I did hint at that didn't I? Rainbow don't trust some newcomer to saving Ponyville. I don't know how their actual relationship will actually be. Mane Six aren't gonna be part of the herd. At least I don't think so. If it does happen then it's because something convinced me that it was a good idea.
8714702
It's a bit obvious who those six are given what we learned in the season seven finale. I'm just changing things to fit the canon of this story in particular. Adapting is probably the best way to get the story to be the story I want to write.
8718264
Twi should be in because she’s got some cool key blades from other crossovers not the least of which is the one from My little Pony: Sora’s Misadventure in Equestria.
8718607
I've been thinking a lot about that. I'm still unsure but I have toyed with the idea. I do know about that crossover, I still need to get back into reading it but the love triangle thing kind of made me look away too damn hard.
As for Twilight in the herd... well I need to figure out how to make it so that its not like the other stories. I chose both secondary and background ponies as the main to try and emphasize them more. So the Mane 6 tag is there for much later. But I am thinking about adding her maybe. Unless i get a better idea.
8730359
Love triangle? I can only think of one in that story and that was resolved pretty early on. Geez I think that was a season one plotline.