• Published 20th Dec 2012
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Kingdom Heart next generation: Friendship is Omniversal - Starry Eyed



A story meant for bronies who love Kingdom Hearts, Anime, or good stories. This story does not require any knowledge of anime to enjoy, but you may want to know the basics of Kingdom Hearts (only the bare basics).

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Chapter 6: Sins and Forgiveness, part 1


Going back in time a little bit, to about an hour after the humans fell into Equestria, the crew’s doctor awoke to find himself encased in a bubble of a green transparent slime. Keeping watch over him were about a dozen Changelings. Reading their hearts, he could tell that they weren’t so much keeping him imprisoned like jailers, but rather watching over him like nurses.

They were also playing a game of trying their best to change into him, but they couldn’t, and didn’t know why. When they noticed that he had become conscious, one spoke, “You’re ok already? You heal fast! We have been ordered to take you to the queen unharmed, so don’t worry.” The doctor answered by touching the edge of the “bubble” he was hanging in, “unzipped” it and fell perfectly onto his feet.

The Changelings were shocked. “How did you do that? Your wounds were so bad that it should have taken a month to heal you, which is also how much antiseptic we pumped into you. You should have been in a coma for over a month. It’s been 30 minutes! Even Celestia couldn’t break that cocoon!”

Some of the Changelings braced for a fight. The doctor looked at them, “Relax. You were good to me, so I will return the favor. You said something about a queen.” That last part was phrased as a reminder to the worried Changeling rather that a question. They relaxed, and remembered their orders, “This way human.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Chrysalis looked up from her throne to see the human approaching accompanied by her “guards”. She knew all too well how long the healing should have lasted. She spoke, “How in Equestria did you? I knew that you would set an all-time record, but thirty minutes is just ridiculous you know. Who are you?”

The doctor answered, “My name is Kai and I’m a doctor. I would have healed without the cocoon, but it provided me with fantastic nutrition. That, more than the healing helped me recover.”

Chrysalis wasn’t convinced, “But even so, you fell from the stars! We Changelings know better than most that being flung a great distance and crashing into something hurts like crazy, if you even survive!”

The other Changelings shuddered and many of them rubbed parts of their bodies that not too long ago must have hurt terribly, like just mentioning it brought back the numbness of the pain’s memory.

Kai shook his head, “You misunderstand. The fall hurt but I already had injuries prior to the crash. If not, I would have been sore, but still able to move from the beginning. But I am very grateful, and I know you did not save me from the goodness of your heart, so tell me what I can do to repay you and I will be on my way back to the ship.”

There was a shift in the mood. Things were now strictly business and all the servants straightened up as standby guards.

Chrysalis spoke, “Right. Well then I wouldn’t waste any time. I have a question for you. Are you familiar with the Mare Clan?”

Kai looked like he sort of knew, “I have heard that term before. I know ABOUT them, but I do not know more than hearsay. Why?”

Chrysalis looked disappointed, “Oh well, that’s too bad.” She turned away from Kai and looked longingly out the window, which was stained glass like a dragonfly’s wing. “A few months ago, I foolishly tried to attack Canterlot. It failed spectacularly and we were literally sent flying back by a blast. I survived with minor injuries, but most all of my Changelings nearly died.”

Chrysalis tilted her head back to let her mane flow back, “But we were helped. Saved by a bunch of humans. They treated us and gave us love. The strange part is that they knew what we had done, and even though they were and quote “on the ponies’ side”, they still helped us.

They wore rings that were the different colors of the rainbow, wrapped in golden wings. They called themselves the Mare Clan. You can probably figure out on your own why we helped a hurt human and want to know more about them. Not only I, but all the Changelings owe them a great debt. But how are we supposed to find this clan of humans named for female ponies?”

Up until now everyone had been stern and serious, but now Kai burst out laughing. The little Changelings looked at him like he was crazy and Chrysalis cocked an eyebrow, “What could possibly be so funny?”

Kai answered with the remnant of a laugh still on his lips, “Your misunderstanding of language is funny. MARE is an adult female equine, in English. But MARE also means the ocean or the sea, in Italian. They weren’t calling themselves “The Clan of Girl Ponies”. They were calling themselves “The Clan of the Sea.”

Chrysalis soaked in this new information, “I …see. Well then that’s good to know, but I know no more about their whereabouts than before!”

Chrysalis looked like she had just remembered that she was late for something important, “Oh yes, I forgot the second thing I wanted to ask you. Are you with us or against us?”

The other Changelings now lowered themselves into a fighting stance. What Kai would say would change everything. Kai’s demeanor never changed, “I am not with you, nor am I against you. I am on whatever side my crew is on, and I am against any and all that I or my crew deem wrong.”

All the Changelings looked like they were calculating. How were you supposed to respond to that?

Chrysalis leaned back in her throne and spoke, “Very well, then I shall tell you everything about the Changelings and about our current predicament and let you decide.”

Chrysalis told Kai everything about the Changelings’ recent history and what little she understood about ponies before getting to the gist of the argument. She finally got to the point, “Needless to say, we are now enemies of Equestria. We are being hunted like insects and now the enemy is on our doorstep. Led by none other than that fool Shining Armor, with the aid of his accursed wife. Now you have to choose. Will you side with us or them?”

Kai had not spoken for a long time, but he had heard everything and knew his response, “Why do you need love? My answer will depend on that. If it is food and you have to eat it to survive, then I will say that you should take responsibility for your actions. Loving others is the best way to get love, and a grudge will make that nearly impossible. If you need it for magic, then you are just being selfish, and I will personally be your enemy. If it’s something else, then tell me so I can respond.”

Chrysalis answered without thinking about it, very uncharacteristic of her, “We need love to break the spell. Changelings are not born, but made. When a Changeling feasts on love there is always the danger they will drain all the love from somepony and that that pony will die; unless of course, we make them into Changelings.

Think of it like money. You need money to get out of debt, so you borrow some to pay off that debt. But, since you borrowed to pay off the first debt, you are still in debt to someone, and if you cannot pay them back then they are just as poor and destitute as you are. So, they have to go into debt as well. Plus, everypony has to pay for the expenses of living so everypony is losing some of their money all the time. Worst case scenario: you go bankrupt.

We are just like that, but with love instead of money. We are bankrupt. We ran out of love and cannot produce any of our own, so we have to borrow love from others to stay alive and to try to restore ourselves. Do you understand?”

Kai snapped his fingers, “So you’re just like NOBODIES!”

The Changelings were confused and responded in unison, “What?”

NOBODIES have no heart. Some of them have willpower, memories, and sometimes even the ability to think about how something would feel and fake that emotion, but they cannot really feel. Does that make since?”

Chrysalis nodded, “It’s something like that, yes, but we have our hearts. They are merely asleep. Cold, dead, lifeless. When we get love, they awake, and we feel alive again, if only for a while.”

Kai looked puzzled but calculating, “So if you ever got enough love to ‘pay off all your debts’ then you would all go back to being ponies?”

Chrysalis shook her head as if to say no, “In theory yes, but you do not understand. There are thousands of Changelings, and the only way to revert them is to pay off ALL the debts all at once, or to pay direct love to the one you want to cure. When we collect love it’s not generally aimed at us, it’s aimed at the pony we are pretending to be. If someone loved the Changeling itself, and loved it enough, it could revert back without having to pay the debt directly.”

Kai smiled, “How much do you need?”

Chrysalis shot him a confused look, “Pardon?”

Kai answered “you don’t need another loan. You need someone to pay your debts for you without asking anything back. I’ll do it. So how much do you need?”

Chrysalis got mad, “You mock me! I was planning to conquer all of Equestria to harvest enough love, and even that wouldn’t be enough! Just about three times what I had with Shining Armor would have been enough, but if I borrowed it from him, then I would have to pay it back to him, so I would still be in …”

Kai marched up to the queen’s throne, “YOU CAN NEVER BE OUT OF DEBT IF THE ONLY WAY YOU MAKE MONEY IS TAKING LOANS STUPID! YOU EITHER HAVE TO MAKE MONEY AND PAY IT OFF OR SOMEONE HAS TO PAY IT WITH NO REWARD!”

All the Changelings froze. Unfeeling though they may be, they could think, and they knew he was right.

Kai continued, “Since you are Changelings and cannot make love yourselves, the first option is out. Meaning, the only way you can be free is if someone loves you back unconditionally; not because of what you’ve done, or what you are, or what you will do, but just because they want to love you.

Kai put his hand on Chrysalis’s head like petting a dog, “I will help you. I don’t need a reason. If you need a reason then it’s not truly UNCONDITIONAL love. You need it more than I do, so I’ll just give it to you.”

The Changelings were speechless. They couldn’t feel, but they knew what it was like, and could think. They fully understood the boldness of Kai’s claim.

None could speak so Kai sighed and finished, “I’m the doctor. My job is to make sure everyone lives, not just survives, but lives. I will heal you all. That’s the least that my crew’s doctor must be capable of. Otherwise I wouldn’t be worthy to be their doctor.”

Chrysalis had no idea what to say but decided to say something to clear the tension, “You … you must have a great crew if you aren’t sure your willing to be their doctor.”

Kai looked stern, “Love may be unconditional but healing isn’t. I wouldn’t want someone who didn’t know what he was doing holding my life in his hands. When you need a doctor, you don’t go to your friends. You go to someone strong who knows what they’re doing.”

Kai stepped down and walked out of the throne room, “I’m going to talk with this Shining Armor guy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Shining Armor had been called to the front. Something was coming out of enemy territory signaling that it wanted to talk.

The problem was, it wasn’t a pony or a Changeling. It was a human. When Shining arrived, he saw the beast standing afar off from the encampment where the guards had ordered him not to approach. Shining summoned the same magic he used to protect Canterlot, but as a door sized wall rather than a bubble, and placed it right before the human. Shining called out loud enough for it to hear, “Try walking through it. If you can, we’ll talk!”

Kai stepped though the barrier unharmed. Shining motioned for him to come in.

Once they were all inside one of the command tents, Shining had the human sit on the other side of his desk with a guard on either side. Kai started, “Would you mind if we skip the questioning and let me just tell you everything I know?” Shining and the guards scowled, “As long as you can remember your place. That barrier you walked though was an anti-enemy barrier. Anyone who wishes ill will on those on the other side cannot enter so you check out; but don’t think that gives you the right to do or say whatever you please.”

Kai pretended Shining had just said, “Sure”, and proceeded to tell Shining about the Changeling debt curse, the explanation ending with, “and I’m going to pay that debt off.”

Shining roared through gritted teeth, “You’re going to what?!”

Kai again seemed not to notice and continued, “The problem is, I already gave all the love I could to them and their debt is not yet paid. I was wondering if you could help me find enough ponies willing to donate a little love to help pay off their debts.”

Shining Armor flipped the table at him, “You want us to help those monsters?!”

One of the guards spoke as if Kai wasn’t there, “Captain, no need to be angry. This thing may be in love with the enemy.”

Kai looked like someone ready to facepalm, “You do know there is more than one kind of love right?”
The guards seemed confused, but Kai kept talking,

“There are seven types of love: love between parents and children, love between brethren, love between friends, love between lovers, love between a caregiver and the one being cared for, and love between rivals or people that acknowledge each other.”

Kai gestured in the direction of the Changeling’s wastelands, “And finally, Unconditional Love. To selflessly seek to help others, just because it is the right thing to do. They need help, so I want to help them, no matter whom they are or what they’ve done. To want to help others is the most important thing for a doctor. If I couldn’t do this much I wouldn’t be worthy to be my crew’s doctor. All my heart and soul is the least I can give them.”

Kai then turned to the guard from before, “And by the way, no one ‘falls’ in love, they rise to it.”
Suddenly a guard rushed in, “Captain, the Changeling queen just flew into camp. What’s more, she passed through the wall you set up rather than take any other way!”

Shining snapped into red alert, “Get everyone to battle stations. We ...”

Kai grabbed Shining, “She went through your barrier fairly. Didn’t you say that meant she was not the enemy?” The way Kai said it, it was clearly a reminder, not a question.

Shining glared at Kai, “Fine! If you are not going to be our enemies, you will still have to be our prisoners!”

Shining turned to his guards,” Book ’em both. We’re taking them to be tried for their crimes!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Chrysalis sat beside an overly relaxed Kai, “How can you be so calm?” she asked. Kai shot her a glance, “Being tensed or stressed is bad for your long term health. If the doctor dies, his patents die. I have to stay at 100% all the time. That’s the rule for a battlefront healer.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, “You should at least be a little worried. We’re going to be tried by the same princess that I imprisoned. We. Are. Doomed.”

Kai shrugged, “Maybe, but the best thing for a wartime doctor is to stop the war. If what you hate most is seeing people hurt, healing them is good, but stopping them from getting hurt is better. Without forgiveness, there will never be peace, which means there will always be good people getting hurt for no reason. That’s why we have to make things right, even if we come out the worse for it.”

Shining Armor entered the ward where they were waiting, “The REAL Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, will see you now.”

Author's Note:

I wrote two different drafts of what happens next. I went with the second, but the first was to good to throw out. I will be posting it also sometime in the future.