61. Manehattan: Reliance
I was slightly flabbergasted… I needed to watch out for a princess now. A princess who somehow got injured. There were also heartless teeming beneath the foundation of the building which put me on edge. I purposely changed my voice just because of panic. Regardless of how I felt I needed to keep anything about me as secretive as possible. Though with Luna knowing about me now there was an obvious wrench in that plan. It didn't help that now Cadence was in my presence far before she was supposed to be introduced in this world.
“I-I-i’m Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Niece to Princess Celestia - ” Cadence started only for me to cover her muzzle with my hoof.
“No formalities, please. We don't have time for it and there are monsters teeming everywhere.”
Cadence glared a little until I pulled out my keyblade and sliced a shadow that had gotten too close to us in the intervening time.
“Cadence. My name is Cadence.” She quickly stated as she got back to her hooves and limped behind me.
“Cure.” I lifted my keyblade up as the green flower bell appeared over her head healing the wounds she had received. She looked over her wings and hooves amazed that they were hurting her anymore… at least I think that's what she was feeling. It was hard to tell when more shadows were trying to get at her.
“We need to flee. As part of the Lunar Guard I'm certain we can get more support to deal with this threat effectively.” Cadence developed a plan which I half ignored. It wasn't because it was bad though. It was because more ponies just meant more bodies that the heartless could use to make more.
“No time for that. Besides I'm not part of any guard.”
Cadence gasped slightly as I traveled further into the mini cave system that seemed to be within the island of Manehattan. She followed along based purely on curiosity since she had her wings back and could have theoretically flown back up to the building.
“Then who are you? How are you using magic so… effortlessly? What are those things attacking ponies?” Cadence quickly rattled off as I cut through a Darkball that had come careening through the hall.
“In order: I'm your savior, I'm special, and they are monsters. I'm not divulging more than that until I know you are trustworthy. Since I feel you're probably going to blab about this after we're done here that's all you're getting.”
I was perhaps a bit blunt but I remembered how things turned out in the game because of ambitious scientist types, one of which was Twilight Sparkle who like to research things way too intensively.
“But… this information could save ponies!” Cadence shouted as I speared through another Darkball slicing it in half and making it dissipate back into darkness.
“It could also doom them. There are smart ponies you probably know who would use the information for the wrong reasons. It would make what Nightmare Moon tried to do look like a walk through the park. Though you do have a point. Some information is better than none.”
“So you'll tell me about the monsters at least?” Cadence cautiously brought up.
“Yeah. The monsters are called Heartless. Collectively, I might add. They are the manifestation of darkness within everyone's hearts given physical form. They hunt down hearts to devour in order to make more of their ilk and work towards the decimation of the entire world by devouring the heart of this world.”
Cadence made choking noises as her eyes bugged out nearly threatening to pop out of her skull. I suppose that learning something like that would be shocking enough. I had to poke her cheek just to get a response which was her staring incredulously before taking deep breaths just to calm herself.
“It's okay… it's okay… I'm fine. I'm fine. This isn't affecting me. It's not. It's bothering me. It bothers me. Oh Celestia it bothers me! How!?” Cadence panicked clearly unable to handle this kind of news.
“How what? How do they exist? How do they eat hearts? How do they devour worlds?”
“YES!” Cadence shouted clearly not coping well with the situation.
“They exist because everyone had darkness in their hearts. They envelope you in darkness and mystically pull your heart out of your body which is represented by a crystal heart token. Worlds usually have entrances into the representation of their hearts which heartless are always searching for. Right now they have found an entrance and are working their way towards it.”
“I-I-I don't understand…” Cadence whimpered… though it made sense to me. This was way outside her field of knowledge. I had reference to what everything was, she didn't.
“Follow me and maybe you'll understand.”
With a heavy heart Cadence mutely nodded as I fought my way through more heartless. Invigorated by the sight she helped out whenever there were too many heartless to see the path through, firing off magical laser beams from her horn. It was still fizzling though so I didn’t rely on it. My keyblade was still vibrating the path out for me.
Shining Armor was the best. As Captain of the Guard, he had worked hard for his position through blood, sweat and tears. Most had thought he had gotten that position through nepotism… though they couldn’t have been farther from the truth if that was even possible. There were a lot of detractors who had made those arguments which had fallen on deaf ears.
Shining Armor had been given even harder training than all his predecessors combined specifically because he had suddenly started dating Cadence. Nopony could date a princess and be prepared for what that could entail. He was the perfect picture of calm, composed and generally the epitome of great leader that the Royal Guards needed.
“We have to bust in a go save Cadence now!” Shining Armor screamed as he once again tried to break through the line of monsters that were continuously rising from the ground.
Several of the other royal guard unicorns had placed shields around the block while the monsters stormed out of the building. They hadn’t been able to break through leaving the earth pony and pegasi guards to deal with the brunt of the attack. The round dark creatures with the suicidal charge had been the most dangerous especially when they spazzed out striking anything that would be in range. The ones that melted into shadows rose up at inopportune times twitching into errant positions to strike at any guard foolish enough to underestimate them.
“We can’t sir! They keep pouring out of the building and nopony can get close!” Flash yelled out as he knocked another round creature off before it could bite him. The first one he had fought had managed to maul into his wings leaving him unable to fly… but not unable to fight.
“Feldspar! Trident formation and we’ll break our way in!” Shining growled out clearly not deterred by the constant flow of enemies.
“Not enough soldiers to do so, sir!” Feldspar answered smashing another shadow under hoof.
Shining, frustrated at not being able to do anything, slashed at any of the creatures that got too close to his troops. For all he knew Cadence was dead… and that thought made his blood run cold. He needed to do something but… he didn’t have any plan.
We had been walking further down though the constant stream of heartless kept this from being a cake walk. Cadence had managed to keep her cool at least as far as she could when the Darkball heartless started to spaz out being invincible to any of her magical beams or my sword slashes.
“Why are they so durable!?” Cadence growled out as she tried to keep up the barrage of magic. Her fizzling horn didn’t help much though.
“They are manifestations of darkness. Of course they’re durable. We’re almost to where I need to be.”
“That reminds me… what’s your stake in all this? You came out of nowhere and saved me… even fight off all those monsters. Not to sound ungrateful but you haven’t explained anything. In all this time you’ve not said much more than just the bare bones explanation. Please… help me to understand.” Cadence pleaded as I sliced another Darkball in half.
“The bare bones is the only thing I have time for. Right now we have to find what I’m looking for before the heartless find it. If they find it then this entire world dies.”
“What!? Dead! What could be so important that it would cost the entire world!?” Cadence suddenly started panicking more as the keyblade finally finished vibrating over towards a large opening.
“A keyhole.”
“A keyhole… that’s it.” Cadence deadpanned clearly uncertain of what I was saying.
“A keyhole that needs to be locked by a keyblade. I mean I am swinging a giant key around destroying creatures known as heartless and that is probably the easiest things to explain. Anything else would require at the very least a week of study. And unless you are willing to take this secret to the grave even from your lover that is all you are getting. Eventually I will have to explain to the Princesses but that requires more information to be gathered about this world.”
“What kind of secrets?” Cadence cautiously stated trying to coax information about these things.
“You really want to know?”
Cadence nodded hesitantly. The moment that I had asked her she started to look as though she regretted asking it. I didn’t know if this would even be worthwhile to explain but since I would have to talk with the Princesses eventually this was a good way to get things ready.
“Apparently… if my research was correct. Star Swirl the Bearded knew about the heartless but made no notes on the subject. At least no published research that not even Princess Celestia or Princess Luna knew about. At the very least that’s what I’ve found out about him.”
Cadence looked at me dubiously until I pulled out a piece of paper with Star Swirl the Bearded’s signature on it. The shock in her eyes was surprising. I put the paper away and got ready to enter the large cavern before me. She slowly followed uncertainty plagued her face.
‘It has to be a lie, right? Something not even Aunt Celestia or Luna knows about… it just seems so wrong. He doesn’t seem to be lying… right?’ Cadence mentally wrestled with the weight of what she had heard.
The stallion merely stepped into the cavern which she followed in order not to get caught off guard by the heartless. It was… unsettling. He seemed to know more than he was saying and was keeping it close to his chest. It was at that time that she felt she needed to make a decision.
‘If I keep this secret… will it really keep Equestria relatively peaceful. I could learn more about it. I could even fight it off myself just as Aunt Celestia and Luna have done with their own threats.’ Cadence mused as she finally started to believe what he was saying.
The entire room was covered in darkness… but it was moving. The entire walls, ceilings and nearly floors were made up of the small bipedal shadow heartless all staring out at the two with their soulless yellow eyes. In the center of the room was a large tear in reality shaped like a keyhole. It was inside that made her eyes light up to the pure majesty before them.
The inner workings of light enveloped the entirety of the keyhole as something pulsed within it beating like a regular heart. The eyes in the darkness all disappeared.
‘Crap… they got this far into grabbing it. Need to seal it… maybe get ready to run with the Princess.’
I lifted my keyblade and quickly shot out the beam of light into the keyhole. As the lock started to turn the darkness didn’t take it sitting down. The darkness shot out of the walls grabbing the tear trying to keep it from fully closing. Through sheer force it tried to keep the door to the heart open. I switched to the tomahawk, even though I knew that this would lead the heartless to striking out at us, and threw it in an arcing motion through each of the dark tendrils that tried to keep the tear open.
The darkness was torn away from the lock allowing the tear to finally close as the light faded from the room. The world was saved for now and I immediately switched back to the keyblade.
“We need to leave now princess. Sorry about this.”
“Sorry about - “ Cadence gasped as I picked her up on my back and immediately dived into the shadows, not the darkness to get us back into the main room.
I didn’t listen to her mostly because if the keyhole sealed but the darkness was still here then it would retaliate hard… in a place I had no advantage over. That wasn't going to happen so long as I could escape.
The heartless screamed and wailed as its food had been taken from it. Unable to comprehend how bad everything went for them they began to merge together forcing all the purebloods together into one form.
As they finished merging together out from the shadows stepped a quadrupedal creature known as the Dark Hide stepped out. Its purple and black body was covered in magenta spikes and shackles adorned its front legs. For a short moment its eyes turned red as it let out a bellowing roar that reached out to the streets above.
Shining Armor was thrown off guard by that piercing scream as all the shadow creatures that accosted the street instantly turned tail and retreated back into the building. Given the chance he reluctantly ordered the shield to be kept around the entrance to the intersection while he personally kept the rest of the building in his own shield.
He wanted nothing more than to race inside and find Cadence but… she would want him to save other ponies first. His teeth clenched tightly as he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. The ever growing pit in his chest kept calling out to him, but he was Captain of the Guard. He did his duty regardless of his personal feelings… no matter how badly he wanted to buck procedure and save his love himself if need be.
I returned to the main room where I first found Cadence through my shadow diving and bent down to allow her to step off my back. She was heavily blushing probably with how embarrassing a position she was in. I was certain that she had to keep her tail curled close to her back leg just because of how fast we escaped from that room, at least from what I could see out of my peripheral vision.
“You never speak of this to anypony… got it!” Cadence shoved her hoof in my chest though it didn't make me budge. Indignation covered her muzzle and painted it entirely red.
“Noted. So… have you made a decision?”
That made her back off slightly removing all her blushing in favor of frowning. Lost in thought and not answering I waved my hoof in circles hoping to get her to answer but she was still dithering away.
“This is a big deal… I can't decide right - “ Cadence started only for me to cut her off by tapping her on top of her head with the Lexicon. “What was that for!?”
‘Can you hear me?’
Cadence jumped back after hearing my voice in her mind. I still had the other channels but everypony was probably busy with their job at this point. While she freaked out I kept projecting my thoughts.
‘I'll keep this link open for a few months until you've made your decision. We need to leave this building because the heartless aren't happy that their food was taken away from them. Though realize that if you do join me in this adventure you need to keep secrets until I've gotten more information.’
Cadence visibly nodded as I sniffed the air. The darkness was growing stronger down here. Heartless had been crawling along the ground and ceiling all returning to the cavern I had sealed the keyhole in. That filled me with dread beyond when I fought the Demon Tide during the Nightmare Moon incident. I barely had survived that fight.
“You still haven't told me who you are…” Cadence brought up taking a few steps towards me.
“Like I said when I found you. I am your savior for the evening. Pleasure to meet you Princess.”
With that statement I tossed her unceremoniously on my back surprising her again as I dove into the shadows. By sheer chance I had escaped just before the Dark Hide could pounce on us. It glared at where I had been before it started to claw its way up the hole Cadence had fallen through. The size of the hole didn't deter it one bit. It made its own way up.
I took us into the lobby of the building which I had cased out before I enacted my plan. This hotel seemed to have been built in a very bad place… albeit convenient enough for me to find the keyhole within. Cadence shifted off me clearly uncomfortable about being treated like a rag doll. She was bigger than all my mare friends certainly enough but it wasn't that big a deal. Her blushing was soon quelled as I stepped up to the front door and opened it… to a crowd of ponies in golden armor and several onlookers looking through the shield that was around us.
Several guards tensed up as I quickly waved to Cadence to hurry her flank up and walk outside. Even the white unicorn with the blue mane looked ready to throw down with me. I suppose in my armor I did look like a heartless since my eyes were covered by a thin shield that blocked others from seeing where my eyes went.
Cadence stepped outside and threw everypony into tears, especially that unicorn, who ran to embrace her. She followed suit clearly happy to see them again.
“As happy as I am for you I would suggest ordering your ponies behind the shield you erected. Its coming outside soon…”
“Who are you!? If you're part of the Lunar Guards you should recognize me. I am Captain of the Guards, Shining Armor. Identify yourself.” Shining ordered which I promptly ignored.
A holdout from my former years as a detective and something I picked up from my mentor. He didn't enjoy being ordered around. I didn't either.
“Not part of the guard that's for sure. Now move.”
I ordered just as the foundation of the building started to rumble. The Captain taking the message at face value immediately ordered his troops behind the shield as he enveloped me and the building in his own shield leaving a sizable area for me to stand in. A whole intersection was mine… with absolutely no cover to hide behind or objects to use as projectiles. I really wished I knew how to shotlock things.
I stepped into the middle of the intersection as the Dark Hide jumped out of the building tearing the door frame off as it emerged. With a mighty roar it covered the entire area in the shield in darkness which made the ponies of town panic and scream. The only visible part was its eyes which kept shifting from yellow to red constantly. It looked at Shining Armor actually licking its lips which he could see as its tongue flopped out of its mouth.
I tapped my keyblade against the ground sending sparks up when I scraped it through the asphalt. Shining Armor was immediately ignored as the creature started to radiate energy resembling electrical currents through the thorns on its back. There was no pony here but me.
Charging forward I immediately flapped up into the air as it charged through where I was. The only visible thing in the darkness was the energy that radiated off of it. Several ponies screamed as it jumped at the barrier knocking back unicorns helping Shining Armor and bouncing off it to try and grab me.
Making a stupid mistake I took advantage and flapped higher then switched to the tomahawk. With a mighty downward swing I knocked it back to the ground. It forced itself to to angle out as all four legs hit the ground first. The impact merely left a crater with it still managing to stand tall and charge back out of the hole.
Disappearing into the darkness I landed back in the center. As much as I needed to use my flight against it… I couldn't risk it breaking the shield around us. There were far too many innocents watching this battle and I couldn't instantly stop the heartless from attacking anypony.
It charged out of the darkness leaving a trail of fire behind it. Taking off guard I switched to the shield covering it in a layer of permafrost and charged forward. The sudden mixture of cold and heat exploded sending the two of us back. I needed to regain my bearings as my armored hooves tore through the asphalt. It didn't and his back in the darkness.
I rolled to the side out of habit of being by attacked from behind as it charged behind me melting the loose asphalt I had ripped up. Spreading its legs out it charged up a large fireball made of dark flames. I tried to flap away but it came out too fast. I was plowed over and dove into my own shadow just to escape the explosion that followed. The shield was visibly cracking.
I resurfaced behind it switching to my scythe. The small lull allowed me to hook the blade under its neck and pull. Even slicing through and cutting deep into the creature barely phased it as it knocked me off allowing the darkness to drip from its neck. I switched over to the daggers and threw them.
They all surrounded the creature who merely glared at me clearly unamused. With a tap of my hooves they all discharged enough electricity to blind anypony watching our fight. As they returned back to me I switched back to the keyblade and looked over my scorched armor. Dark flames were still smoldering at the metal. I didn't notice as the heartless charged forward and slashed me into the barrier cracking it further.
I stood my ground switching back to the tomahawk and timing my swing. As its right claw went for my head I swung up towards its jaw. I managed to win the exchange sending it flying into the air making it land on its back. The sudden impact shook the very ground knocking a few ponies off their feet.
I didn’t waste time as I flew as far up as I could and dropped with my keyblade pointed at the heartless. The speed of my fall assisted as I tried to plant my blade into the heartless. It got back up and with a swipe of its claw knocked me against the shield again. The shield was covered in cracks resembling spider webs which covered the entirety of the it. I forced myself into a roll as it sent out three copies of its body.
The afterimages of the heartless immediately charged slashing where I was as I rolled around. Each of the images actually had physical mass behind them letting them tear away at the asphalt like it was tissue paper. The main body charged through completely on fire as it melted whatever it rushed through. I was forced up into the air using the heat to keep gliding around by keeping my wings stationary.
It looked up and charged up a large fireball in its mouth… followed by the afterimages and began firing megaflares which exploded sending out more light. The monsters were very visible as the ponies started to panic as I dodged around. The shield could barely take anymore… up until Cadence pushed her magic into the shield keeping it from cracking any further.
I dove down to the ground and immediately went as low as possible leveling my keyblade at the cut still visible in its neck. With great effort I sliced into it just as the claws of its left hand sunk into my torso.
I forced my way through lopping the head of the heartless off as it flew up into the air and landed with a meaty thump on the ground. The darkness and the after images all disappeared as the body of the heartless floundered around carrying my with me as I was still impaled on the claws.
The shield cracked open as several ponies with guard armor came rushing in… stopping when they noticed the bloody trails on the ground… all leading to me. I forced myself off the the claws which probably was a bad idea as it was the only thing keeping my from bleeding out. Stumbling around I noted Princess Cadence rushing ahead looking extremely worried followed by Shining Armor. I didn’t need to be caught right now… so with great effort I lifted my keyblade up casting cure on myself.
Cure spells did not stop the fatigue but they did plug up puncture wounds at the very least. The small green flower above my head confused several ponies as I stood back up breathing heavily. I needed rest and a lot of it… blood loss did that to me. Several newsponies came rushing in shooting my picture and generally just appearing like nuisances at this point. I cast the dark spell I knew releasing a shadow all around me before diving into it. I was gone before they even realized it.
Cadence looked around through the flashing lights looking for the strange armored pony. She couldn’t even tell if he was around anymore. The paparazzi had come full force as well as pictures of the scene were taken. One of them even shouted about managing to get a picture of the monster as well.
“Cadence… It’s time to get out of here.” Shining Armor quietly stated while the rest of the guards did damage control making certain to keep things from getting out of hand, headed by Flash Sentry and Feldspar.
“Right…” Cadence reluctantly followed after. She had had a harrowing day.
‘Hello…”
Cadence’s eyes instantly shot open but instantly started to scowl. She could feel the voice in her head which was disturbing. The only thing keeping her from yelling out was how weak the voice sounded.
‘Where are you?’ Cadence muttered in her mind.
‘Away. I nearly bled out and need time to heal. I just needed to say something before I go quiet for a bit. That was a medium threat and didn’t have full access to its power. Time will come that I need to recruit others to help me. Would you be the first?’
Cadence stopped where she stood surprised and clearly lost in her own world. Shining armor waved his hoof in front of her face barely managing to get her attention. “Sorry..”
“It’s been a long day Cadence. Let’s get you cleaned up. We need to report to Princess Celestia and Luna later as well.” Shining took in a deep breath. “I’m not looking forward to it.”
“Neither am I.” Cadence admitted. It was in that moment that she made her decision.
‘Yes. To keep this world safe, yes. When?’ Cadence thought as she looked back on the monsters she saw… the one who looked at Shiny like a chew toy. The darkness that came to devour them all and the light that held it all back.
‘Grand Galloping Gala in, I think, three to five months. I don’t know when exactly. Tell them what they are… but keep Star Swirl out of it for now. I need to find more of his secret reports that I know exist. And that you’ve seen to exist. Until then Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Until then.’
‘Wait! Who are you?’ Cadence mentally shouted.
‘I’m merely an errant dark knight keeping Equestria safe. Don’t worry about who I am. Think about what you’re going to talk about. Make up a title for me if the newspaper ponies need something. I trust you on something that small… after all… ’
‘After all…?” Cadence waited once again barely managing to keep her hooves moving forward while Shining Armor droned on and on until she was asked a question.
“Who was that pony Cadence?” Shining asked before they began to be swarmed by the press.
‘Trust is earned… never given.’
Cadence digested the little saying keeping her cool as the press swarmed around. She looked to the sky and then to the expectant crowd waiting for her every word. She though about it… and thought about it more.
“The Shadow Knight… apparently, he was my savior… “ Cadence cautiously stated as the press wrote down the name to print on all the next morning papers.
“Fuck… urgh…”
I stumbled around Ponyville out of my armor and into my backyard… everything was hurting me. The claws had sunk in about an inch or so before I pulled them out. I tapped my keyblade against the back door and entered through. My house was lit up at this point and I trotted into the room… where I found Redheart and Sunshower… braiding each other’s mane.
“What?”
I fell over finally succumbing to the pain. Cure was a useful spell but deeper wounds took time to heal. Also the Dark Hide hits worse that the Demon Tide did.
“Gray!” Both shouted as they crowded around me checking me over noticing the large welts on my side.
“Puncture wounds. You used cure already right!? What happened?” Redheart started to panic as Sunshower closed all the windows to the house.
Unbeknownst to any of them the voyeur outside the house immediately rushed away… as if compelled by something. Dr. Stable wandered around until he suddenly stopped. Looking around and noticing he wasn’t anywhere near his house made him nervous.
He remembered finding out where Redheart had gone… but that was it. Nothing was left in his mind from when he found out to that moment. It felt as though something had rooted through his brain erasing the useless things.
He didn’t even realize the strange shadow leaking into his ear that seemed to sport a dangerous looking lizard like eye glaring back at the house he was looking at. He didn’t even notice how the shadow seemed to wrap around his neck strangling him slightly in frustration as it remembered how much of a fool that that blasted keybearer made of it.
Dr. Stable quietly rushed home hopefully unseen by any of the ponies that could possibly be walking around town… also feeling light headed with every step. The Nightmare stopped what it was doing and kept calm as it watched the hapless fool allow envy into his heart. It would make him a decent… if overtly useless pawn in the meantime. Hurting the keybearer… even pettily was all it could do. And why would it waste a chance like that?
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I like the title the way it is. It fits to what Grey had to do during the chapter. Plus the fight scene was amazing.
8784172
Cadence is in but does she get a blade? Let’s put it to a vote
8784172
I try to make most chapter titles fit the things happening in chapter. Glad you liked the fight too. I was trying to make it seem epic for the penultimate chapter of this mini arc.
8784254
Eventually Gray will take on proteges. Also Cadence isn't in the herd. I hope I made it clear that Shining Armor and Cadence is still gonna be a thing.
8784511
I ment she was down for helping. I’m not messing with mi amor armor
8784548
Yeah neither will I, I like to live xD Everyone Gray takes on will get a training blade. Whether or not they get a keyblade depends on whether or not their heart is strong enough.
8784511
I can't wait for it! I know it's gonna be sick.
If Cadance get a keyblade i think i have a name for it.
Love's Grace.