Moonlit Sky

by Gusto Starstorm

Prologue - Long Lost Promise

The pitter patter of little footsteps against the sand echoed across the moonlit sky, the only sound aside from the waves gently washing up on the nearby shores. This lonely little beach, usually empty and only ever visited in the dead of night, served as a second home for two.

And right now, the two found themselves in the middle of something extremely important…

A little boy rushed forward, a wooden sword gripped tightly in his hands. In front of him, a shadowy figure held a little girl with red hair, struggling desperately against the creature’s grip.

“Sora, help me!” she exclaimed, the terror in her voice doubling his speed in an instant.

“Don’t worry, I’ll save you!”

With a wide, very telegraphed swing of his blade, Sora jumped up and attacked the monster with fury. The red-haired girl was able to break from its grip, narrowly managing to fall to the ground, out of the way of the strike. The boy’s technique was choppy and unrefined, but he swung his blade like a man possessed, ripping into his foe with everything he had.

And because of this… sand went everywhere.

The moon shone down, Sora able to see his work proudly. Half of the sandman they had created was lopped off in a single swing of his toy weapon. And much to his delight, that meant they had won this little game of theirs.

And as Sora stared into her purple eyes, he couldn’t help but grin.

“My hero!” the young redhead swooned, standing back up and hugging Sora. “Thank you so much, brave knight Sora!”

“It was my honor, Princess Moon Dancer!” he exclaimed happily, resting his sword against his shoulder. “No sand monster’ll ever hurt you!”

Moon Dancer couldn’t help but smile, relishing in the feeling of her friend being so close.

Part of her still couldn’t believe that she had been so lucky to meet him. It seemed like only yesterday when he had just shown up, even though it had been months ago. This little boy with his toy sword had been here every night since, and the two of them played the nights away.

They could only see each other while Moon Dancer slept, this beach a construct in her dreamscape where they could have all the fun together that they could imagine. The tranquil sea and starry skies above their head were ethereal, and completely unchanging, but both were okay with that.

For Sora, it reminded him of home. And for Moon Dancer, it reminded her she had somewhere she actually had a friend.

“So, whatcha wanna play now?” Sora asked, eager to whack something again. “Ooh, maybe we can play blitzball!”

“Actually…” Moon Dancer said, looking away with a shy smile. “I was kind of hoping we could just sit and watch the waves?”

“Okay, sure!”

The girl smiled. Sora was always so easy to please, and she never felt like she could do wrong with him. It was nothing like in the real world, where she would say the wrong thing, or upset the other kids because she didn’t like the games they wanted to play.

With Sora, it was easy.

And so, the children sat, fine grains of sand pressed up against their legs, small waves of water trickling over them from time to time. Moon Dancer wished they could stay like this forever.

But it could not. She knew the morning would come eventually, and she would have to leave her only friend. Have to wake up and go to school, finishing her classwork so easily, and wishing she could just take a nap in class and see Sora again.

She didn’t know if Sora would be available in that case. From what he had told her of his life, he had a home, and friends back home. Would he be able to drop everything just because she was lonely? And what if he got caught up in something that meant he couldn’t come back?

A swell of anxiety bubbled up in Moon Dancer’s little chest as she thought of that.

“Something wrong, Moonie?” Sora asked.

A small smile graced her lips as she heard his little nickname for her. Far be it from Sora to not pick up on when she was feeling scared. He was so considerate, and she loved that about him.

It made her heart hurt more, thinking about the idea of him going away.

“Sora, we’re friends, right?” asked Moon Dancer, voice brimming with trepidation. “And we’ll always be friends… right?”

“Of course!” he answered, not an ounce of hesitation. “I wanna be friends forever with you!”

“But what if we can’t always meet up like this?”

To that, Sora shook his head. “Even if we can’t always see each other, you’ll always be my friend.”

“You promise?”

“Yep! In fact…”

Without warning, Sora stood back up, and presented Moon Dancer his wooden sword. To say the girl was shocked by this action would have been an understatement. He loved that thing… was he really giving it to her? Could the boy really just part with it like that?

“Hold onto this,” he told her, blue eyes burning with a mix of regret and confidence. “Look, I don’t know if I’ll be able to see you these next couple of nights, but I’m making you a promise right now. I’ll be back, and until I am… I want you to have this, to remember me by.”

“Y-... you’re serious?”

He didn’t need to say anything. The nod of his head and the conviction in his eyes said more to her than words ever could. Moon Dancer smiled, graciously accepting the toy weapon. To her surprise, it felt a lot heavier than she had expected.

Maybe that was the weight of his determination. No longer was this merely a simple toy, but a symbol; it MEANT something now. It was a promise between them that Sora would return, no matter what.

And Moon Dancer would believe in his promise.

---

The very next night, Moon Dancer was alone.

She waited and waited for Sora, but he never showed up. While he had warned her of the possibility, seeing it come true was a completely different beast.

And that beast brought with it boredom.

She would pass the time by drawing in the sand with his toy sword, or building another sandman in case he wanted to play pretend when he got there. But despite all of her preparations, Sora ultimately wasn’t able to make it, leaving only a very sad girl with no one to play with.

Still, Moon Dancer held out hope all the way until she felt herself about to be woken up for school. And while her disappointment was immense when her knight didn’t make it, it was manageable. It was just one night, after all, and he would make up for it tomorrow.

She would believe in his promise.

---

A day turned into a week.

Moon Dancer was a child, and so her patience wasn’t always the best. She missed her only friend so very much. It had been a very bad day at school, with one of the other girls pushing her down on the playground, and others laughing at her.

The other kids at school were so mean, and normally she could handle it. Because she had him there to make all the sadness go away.

She had been forced to try and fight away the boredom, which became an uphill battle with the sadness of earlier. To distract herself, she had drawn so much that she was beginning to wear down his wooden sword. The tip, previously a perfect triangle, was now a bit more weathered, and a lot less pointy. She hoped he wouldn’t mind…

No, it would be okay.

He wouldn’t mind, that much Moon Dancer knew. When Sora got back, he’d be happy she had held onto it. And they’d play together, like they always did. She’d have her friend back, and her hero would be there to keep her safe again.

She would believe in his promise…

---

A week turned into months.

As the year passed on, Moon Dancer found herself visiting these shores less and less. Her hope was beginning to fade, her one true friend still nowhere to be found. And yet, the girl tried to visit every night that she could, in some desperate hope that maybe, just maybe, this would be the night that he would return to her.

But Sora had yet to return.

… That was his name, right? Sora?

It sounded right, but at some point, she had begun to second-guess herself. She could remember his blue eyes well enough, and his smile. But his voice, mannerisms, his outfit? Not always the easiest thing to recall.

The main reminder of his existence was the wooden sword she’d planted into the ground. Placed there so he could pull it from the sand like the sword in the stone, and be the knight he had always been.

She had missed the last two nights, opting instead to go fly or be a pirate in her dreams. But for now, she was going to keep returning. Because part of her wanted so desperately to see him again.

She wanted to believe in his promise…

---

Months turned into years.

Moon Dancer couldn’t remember the last time she had been to this beach. Were she pressed to summon an answer, it would likely be the night before she met her only real friend, Twilight Sparkle. After that single, defining event, she’d no need for these imaginary shores.

And no need for her imaginary friend.

So many years since she had even thought of him, that little boy whom she would dream of from time to time.

Caelum, if memory serves.

Alongside this beach, the boy had been a welcome distraction from the misery that was Elementary School. And now, as a girl one summer vacation away from high school, she found herself returned.

The waves were as tranquil as ever, the sands as silvery as they had always been.

The only thing that had changed in so many years was the blade.

The wooden sword that had once been his was now battered beyond repair. Gone was the blade, split off only a bit above the crossguard. Useful for nothing more than to remind her of a time long forgotten.

As Moon Dancer looked to the dried out stump of Caelum’s primary weapon, she couldn’t help but scowl. She had spent so long holding out for something so silly, just… clinging to this desperate belief that maybe one day, it would work out. That her knight would return, and they’d be able to just pick up where they had left off, like nothing had changed at all.

All because he had made a promise.

She wished she hadn’t believed in his promise…

---

It was a long and lonely three years before those silvery sands would shift for a familiar set of feet once again. He was much larger than he had been the last time these grounds had been tread, but the peaceful winds almost seemed to invite Sora back.

Almost as if this place was happy to see him.

While the weary warrior could not muster the same feeling, there was something vaguely nostalgic about this place. He couldn’t help but feel like he’d been here before.

And in his attempts to figure out when exactly that had been, he stepped on something. Looking beneath his shoe, he saw the source of it—a lonely little object. Curiosity got the better of Sora, and he picked it up, holding it up to the moon to get a better view.

It was the handle of a wooden sword. Dried out, worn, caked with sand, and definitely looking like it had seen better days, but still a familiar sight. The very same type of toy he and his friends would play with back on Destiny Islands.

Yet as he held it in his hands, Sora couldn’t help but struggle. This blade felt so heavy, and in his mind, he couldn’t help but feel like that weight was more than just physical. He couldn’t explain it, at least not fully, but…

It felt like this broken blade meant something.

His answer would be received in the form of a blinding light, so grossly incandescent that he had to avert his eyes. The handle practically burned into his palms, the boy gritting his teeth as he desperately tried to let go of it.

But before he could even think of doing something, the brightness overwhelmed him. He felt it hold him close, like the loving embrace of a long-lost friend…

And then, he felt nothing.

---

“MOON DANCER! WAKE UP! IT’S TIME FOR SCHOOL!”

Sora’s eyes slowly cracked open, vision blurry as the drowsiness spread throughout his being. Allowing himself a grin, knowing that he could feel once again was a promising sign, the next goal became apparent. And so, slowly but surely, he brought himself to a sitting position, trying to shake away the tiredness to the best of his abilities.

But as the Keyblade wielder felt his body, something felt… off. Usually he could explain whatever he was feeling, but this was one of the rare times where he couldn’t find the words. All he knew was it wasn’t right.

And to make matters worse, something hit him right in the middle of trying to find said words. Something that completely pulled him from his stupor, eyes widened in abject shock.

“Did she just say... ‘Moon Dancer’!?”

Author's Note:

So, I'm sure this seems weird, given that I already have a story like this, but this is sort of me getting back to my roots for this premise.

I wish I could give you a real explanation for this, but truth is I just got hit with the urge. There were certain aspects of Sora and Moon Dancer's dynamic that I found wonderful, and I wanted to use them again. But I didn't want to do it in Equestria proper, and so instead, I decided to channel it in the human world. And plus, it gives me a chance to explore some territory that I always find fun, that being Sunset Shimmer and friends, and how Sora would interact with them.

And also Shadowbolts. LOTS of Shadowbolts. Surprise of the century there, given what I write for Indigo Zap.

So, with that in mind, do expect the next update for both this and Rebirth in Starlight soon. My plan is to update the two congruently, so that if you prefer one version or the other, neither side is left wanting. It's a bit of a tall order, but I'm confident I can do it.

So until then, I hope you enjoy. But for now, Gusto out, and I wish you all a happy new year.

Comments

[zachary12]

nice work

[AllenVth]

Going back to the roots I see. At least sora's heart has more of a reason to hide inside Moon Dancer's if he promised to be her knight. Even if none of them can remember it.

[Niya]