1. Decisions

From the desk of the newly christened Nebula Gray

My name is Nebula Gray formerly known only as Jack. Last name is omitted not on purpose but from the fall of time. As of now I have been dragged into something far beyond my understanding but this journal entry should be able to explain what happened to me that particular night back in 2012. I don’t know how to explain it well because memories are always fickle when you want them to return. Either way I think it is important to figure things out as it goes.

During that night way back I watched the world decide to turn to horror and anarchy. The supposed end of the world, I guessed at the time. It was just another normal day to me. In fact all that happened was that I was driving to home that day and noticed that the entire street was abandoned. It wasn’t looted either. It was just empty. Going into my home also left more questions than answers. I wasn’t looted nor was I sentenced to being attacked on the street. I was just alone.

“Great, a riveting audience set to the stage of nothing. Now time for a snack and hopefully rest.” I felt my eyes roll like they had so many times before. I wasn’t much for crowds so the imagined one in mind came as a great relief. I was awkward enough when dealing with others and didn’t need my sarcastic wit turning others cynical.

That snack took only a short while to finish and the trip to my room took even less time than that. I hadn’t played any games recently nor had I looked through that long list of stories I wanted to write either. Then again hearing about the end of the world might have been the cause of that. Apathy was kind of a big thing and the necessity to care was very small at this point. Not so much on the faith of humanity as a whole but of the individuals that make up that group.

I had gotten the week off prior to all the rumors of the end of the world as we all know it and it just spiraled into worse territory as the days went by. Three days prior my work had turned into a hunting ground and the perpetrator was once my best friend… I think his name was Henry but at this point I don’t think he could be considered that any more. What he did was monstrous and when the police was forced to whittle him down to mush I could see that he was always bad on the outside as he was on the inside. During that week he had kidnapped one of the younger girls of the neighborhood. I don’t think I need to say more. On the other side of the spectrum my older neighbor a kindly old woman named Geraldine turned into a sociopath. She had fed a few of the people working downtown poisoned sweets. Needless to say she followed them with her own creation leaving my neighborhood the ghost town that it was. Two days prior to that I had been forced to get out the old generator from the small shack behind my house just to keep the power on. The following day I was forced to hide the car inside the garage because I didn’t have the means to get more gas for it. It was a giant shitstorm at that point.

And to this day I don’t know why I did what I did that day. I just sat down in my living room and pulled out a Kingdom Hearts game and played it until the supposed end of the world. Sometime during that game while I was in the World That Never Was I fell asleep and I don’t think I woke up after that.

Several hours later… I think. I woke up to a giant sphere of light. I just stared at it and slowly stood up.

“Yo. How’s it going?”

“Hello my child. It seems you have passed.”

“Yup I sure did. What did I win?”

“You’re not surprised or confused?”

“Nah. Just gonna roll with it until I can’t make sense of this anymore. Right now I’m thinking either God or YHVH from the Shin Megami Tensei series which makes me want to hit you a bunch of times because it’s evil in that series.”

“It’s indeed God. I do know of the series you mean though and not to worry. I’m nothing like that creation, anymore at least.”

I could hear the wistful chuckle and immediately slapped myself. It merely hurt and brought his attention back to me.

“You certainly have acted different from the others who have come here. Most try to hit me. First time anyone decided to hit themselves. So, as for why you are here, you have passed my test in particular for your kindness and general unsinful nature. I’m here to grant you a wish of your choosing. What you would want for making it thus far? Any ideas?”

“Sure I have plenty of ideas but I would like to hear what are some of the choices. Most of the ideas I have are going back to face the fallout from that false apocalypse.”

“Why would you want to go back? There is nothing but death there now.”

“I’d rather face death with dignity than run like a coward. I’m not really that afraid anymore and have made my peace with it. Just quick favor… when I do die mind bringing my body back and cremating it. Maybe put me in a flower pot for an Iris or a Sunflower. Seems like a good way to go wouldn’t you say?”

“You truly are a strange one. Most jump at the chance for escape why aren’t you?”

“Because life isn’t that boring I guess. It’s hard but makes it worth it. If it wasn’t so hard would it even be worth living? If I really must choose another world and powers mind giving me ideas. Right now the last thing I played is Kingdom Hearts and I don’t know if that’s a cliche yet or not.”

I didn’t notice at the time but I think he was laughing at me. I figured out why later but at the time I knew nothing.

“I see. Well that sounds reasonable. Any particular keyblade you want? I mean it might be a bit silly but I’m sure you can cope with a little whimsy can’t you?”

“Yeah I suppose I can. Fine I guess. I’ll try out the Organization XIII weapons and abilities. Those actually seem the most versatile. If I have to have a keyblade I guess Mickey’s keyblade he found in the World of Darkness, the Kingdom Key D."

At this point it seemed like God was having an aneurysm. I found out why later. Hopefully I don’t get dominated the way that guy was. Either way I waited patiently.

“I suppose I can allow you that. Most don’t choose those weapons because too many makes you indecisive. I can’t teach you anything about how to use them though. You’re on your own with that. As for the keyblade hold out your hand.”

I did as he said and felt a hilt within my palm within seconds of holding my hand out. There is was a golden keyblade with a white hilt and a small golden Mickey Mouse keychain.

“Now that your weapons are acquired have you decided where you wanted to go? I can give you suggestions for where to go but you are responsible for your own decisions. Especially if the others that chose this path decide to seek you out for it.”

“Where did most people choose anyways?”

“Well… They chose an Equestrian lifestyle…”

“So they rode horses?”

“Yeah. They rode horses…”

I could feel the deadpan look he gave me tear through my soul. I knew what he meant and while I was never that big a fan my niece had made me watch a bit of it with here. She was four and impressionable and always said something about ponies always smiling when that Twilight Sparkle came on screen. I’m pretty sure God was smiling at my memory of my family and merely chuckled at my softness for family.

“So would you like to join that world? I have options for full change, half change, and no change.”

“So what does that mean? Full pony, Anthropomorphic, and human?”

“Pretty much. If you go full I’m turning you into one at random. Unless you have a better idea.”

“The one with the bat wings. Those were at least interesting enough to make my niece ask me questions about it.”

“Really? That’s a first that’s for sure. Now just to be clear this is your decision and while I know you were leading me through my questions the whole time I do not fault you for it. Since you chose to have weapons of the Organization you will be considered like them. Also the world I send you to might be visited by the other people. Remember that when you get there.”

“Mind doing me one more favor?”

“What would that be?”

“If they come to my world they get morphed into a pony should they have chosen a world of Anthro or Human. Might as well have at least some way to mitigate what is most likely gonna be a bad day beforehand to something more… manageable.”

“That is actually fine. I figured as much since you’re gonna be on the lowest rung for a while. Some other guidelines erst I forget. You don’t have magic yet. You’ll have to train your weapons on your own and after a small grace period until you get used to things I’ll keep the heartless from going full force on your choice. You get one month. No more no less. Make it count kid.”

“I’m not that young am I?”

“To me everyone is.”

“Right. Should I give myself a new name then when I get there?”

“Probably. Blending in would make you less… obvious that you have no idea what you are doing.”

“Yeah…” I sighed and put on my metaphorical thinking cap. “Nebula Gray. That fine?”

“You’re really fast with this aren’t ya? Most of the others either cursed at me, hit me, or immediately gushed over the idea of being a keyblade master. You, on the other hand, remained composed and level headed enough to try to outwit me to give you a path to follow. I know you are unsure child about what you want to do in life but you must forge it yourself. You are an individual and you have a path to follow that you only know. Fate is literally in your hands right now. I’ll throw in a small deal if you do that for me.”

“What’s the deal?”

“I’ll let you find out what the world turns to when you dream. You won’t be able to retain everything but should there be more Kingdom Hearts games or Pony cartoons your niece likes it might be nice to know what’s going to happen right? At least one world didn't fall to chaos... All you have to do is find the path you want to walk whether by Dawn, Dusk or Sunset/Twilight. Got it?”

“Got it. I’ll do my best to be… proactive. Let’s make friends.” I mockingly threw my arms up and halfheartedly cheered. God merely smiled sadly and nodded in understanding.

With a heavy heart I waited for him to do whatever he needed to do as I plunged into a void of nothingness. I felt things happen to my body that shouldn’t be happening. Things were cracked and things were shifted. On the bright side I was still male at least. God wasn’t a troll like YHVH would have been. The dark side was the things in my back that tore out of my skin and stretched until I fell unconscious from the change. A new adventure waited but I didn’t really get to start it right away.

2. Badlands

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‘Everything hurt. Everything always hurts. Why does everything always hurt?’ A hoof rose up and rubbed the muzzle that was apparently my face. I looked down and noticed there was a hoof in my face. Joy. Then I looked on my back and saw what was itching it so badly. There were two bat like wings idly flapping.

‘Am I agitated?’ I shook my head trying to get rid of my own insecurities. This was going to take a while to get used to. All around me was a dead barren landscape while behind me was a vast forest looming in the foreground.

“Did I really wind up in a different world? God, there’s a migraine forming and I don’t have enough sanity to deal with all that.”

A gruff sigh escaped my mouth and forced me to look up into the sky. The moon was shining but this large shadow was stuck on the moon. I knew there was a man on the moon but this was ridiculous. Rolling my eyes I quickly made my way to the forest’s edge. When I reached the shadows of the canopy there was this weird buzzing sound of in the distance. Instead of making my way towards the sound I decided not to be stupid and took cover in one of the tree boughs.

“I can’t believe Chrysalis has us on guard duty. Nopony makes their way over here. They aren’t stupid enough to come out here. You have any idea how many prisoners we actually find in one day. None! Always none. Always gonna be none.” The black insect pony shaped creature spoke aloud.

The other seemed to chitter. I think it was laughing maybe maliciously. The other insect huffed and raged with some weird sounds that obviously weren’t words. Reminded me of one of my coworkers, ineffective and full of hot air. Most of the time that was what most of his dates would say about him. I really wanted to laugh but it was better not to draw attention before I knew what was going on.

“She has a plan ready for us. We’re getting ready to take over Equestria. Now’s not the time to rush. She’s working hard to get us closer to the real prize. So shut your mandible and keep it down. Don’t need one of her spies coming around saying we need to be reevaluated. Mother knows what they tried to do to Thorax already. Sixth time he almost got dragged in for reeducation.”

Guess it sucks to be an insect pony thing. I will find out their names later but until then I don’t need to do anything but survive. Let’s see which episodes did my niece make me watch… Were they finales or openings? Crap I don’t remember…

“Let’s see… Chrysalis was a… changeling and attacked during a wedding. Right? Yeah, right. Yay me…” I quietly clapped my hooves together though I somehow managed to make it sound as sarcastic as I thought it was.

“Okay time to make my way somewhere else then here. Also should figure out what’s the deal with the moon. Shadow on the moon means I’m also dealing with time travel probably… God damn it this is confusing.”

I opened my wings and attempted to fly… only to fall flat on my face. Damn it all he didn’t give me knowledge on my wings… Or I did it wrong.

“Really you gave me knowledge on my weapons but not on my wings. Jesus Christ… Okay, not like a bird just take it easy and don’t think about it.”

I spent the next three hours attempting to figure them out. Near the end of the third hour I managed to get up to hovering range. It was flap every few seconds or fall on the ground and eat dirt. After a few more times I got enough down to fly above the tree line though I kept it to a few seconds in case the changelings were still around.

The trip through the forest was… fun. Though the screaming manticore and flying wolves made of wood were unsettling. Probably should have asked for more info on the world before he sent me through. I kept out of range of the fighting between the two groups before they headed farther into the forest. Satisfied I wasn’t going to end up a meal I stumbled around until I found a stream flowing off into the distance.

“Let’s see what he made me into, probably ugly as sin but I’m sure I could bash those pieces into place at least.”

I looked down into the surprisingly clear waters and saw the muzzle of a pony staring back at me. I think my coat was completely charcoal gray. My eyes were shining a weird amber yellow color now. I actually had fangs in my mouth which greatly calmed me down. I liked eating fish from time to time. My mane was a light shade of cornflower blue. Don’t ask how I know that color by sight. I’m pretty sure hearing one of my art loving friends rant on the difference between sky blue and cornflower blue probably destroyed half the brain cells I used to learn new things. My tail… tail, right I got one now… was the same color.

“Well I don’t look too ugly but I wouldn’t know what the aesthetics are here. Oh right wings…”

I unfurled my wings and saw that they were kind of big. Not overwhelmingly big but I think they were an inch bigger than wings I did see whenever my niece wanted to pause on a pegasus.

“Why didn’t I pay attention…” The groan I released pretty much scared the fish that were flowing through the water.

Hunger led my next actions to see if I could at least eat grass to sustain my body. Surprisingly it could… it was just really bland but filling. I began following the stream until it flowed out into a river. The forest wasn’t as dense and it seemed I had two choices now. Left or right…

For some reason I summoned my keyblade which ended up in my mouth and fitted for a pony to use. I’m pretty sure I mumbled something about figuring out hooves next time. I threw it up into the air. If I caught it I would travel left. If I didn’t then right. Turns out I sucked at catching and traveled off to the right where the river seemed to be flowing towards.

“Obviously the river goes towards the sea. Probably gonna find a city there.”

That was hopeful bullshit obviously enough. I was not looking forward to finding something to keep myself from financially secure. Still I’d rather die fighting than by hunger, at least I would have done something more impacting with my life and even if that sacrifice was pointless I wouldn’t be alive to notice it. Wow… I am going to suck at being friendly to anyone.

The trip took a couple hours and in those couple of hours I managed to figure out how to swing the keyblade in a way that wouldn’t leave me a open target until the third swing of my combo. I still couldn’t figure out how to summon the other weapons yet because every time I tried to summon them the keyblade would come out instead. As the river widened out into an estuary I looked around for a city trying to find something that would actually fit my needs. Off in the distance was that city.

“Well let’s see what this will get me into then.”

I flew across the river merely glancing at the bay I passed. There were a few boats but nothing worth checking out right away. The flight took another hour mostly due to my own clumsiness in flight. I could barely hover across and my wings kept feeling weird every time I used them.

“Must figure out the glider functions of the keyblade. Also need a list on what to figure out first.”

‘First objective: Figure out how hooves work. Second objective: Get map and figure out the area before then. Third objective: Get money to support myself and not be a lazy bum. Fourth objective: Fight heartless for training.’ I groaned as my wing mysteriously rubbed the spot between my eyes. Looks like they were long enough to do that and I have no idea how that happened in the first place.

As I drew closer to the city I finally found out what the place was called. Then I swallowed the bile in my throat from the horrible pun I just read. I was in a place only known as Baltimare. I shook off the nausea and braced myself for what was going to be a horrible experience with puns based on ponies. Now I remembered exactly why I only ever watched the show with my niece. The puns that would come up were just killing me softly.

A small shadow eked out from behind the sign and watched the weird batpony walk off for the city rather than fly. The yellow eyes shined as it sensed something pleasing. Strangely it didn’t attack and merely watched in rapt attention of the situation. The eyes turned into blue reptilian shapes as it turned bigger. It had a horn and wings with fancy armor attached to its head and chest. It didn’t move but the smile that formed was unsettling. Several more shadows rose behind it all stumpy and bipedal. The antennae on their individual heads twitched and writhed almost as erratically as their bodies did. With a fling of its wing the entire group dispersed back into shadows and awaited new orders.

3. Troubles

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Damn it all my wing has been feeling really weird still… Why does it feel so weird. I lifted my wing up only to notice a small sticky note on the inside of my wing. I looked at it before I even reached the first street of Baltimare. Oh god I think I felt the bile come back up.

‘Dear Nebula Gray

It’s god. I kind of forgot to mention that you spent about 24 days in stasis while your body was healing from being transformed into a pony. Yeah… sorry bout that I was focusing on other problems I’m facing so in return for flubbing up I’m gonna give you knowledge on how to fly and use your keyblade. As soon as you read this note-’

Then my brain is on fire. I fell over and clutched my head rocking back in forth in abject misery. Apparently I was either the luckiest being in the world or the unluckiest sucker ever. There were no other ponies in the area so my seizure and brain aneurysm went unchallenged and unhindered throughout the next couple of minutes. Luckily the moon was still out even though it wasn’t shining as brightly as I thought it would have been. As soon as the tremors subsided and I now knew how to fly without turning myself into the first ever grounded Thestral, apparently what my species of pony is called by some circles. How much damn knowledge did he try to stuff in me… I quickly went back to reading the note before I lost my mind again.

‘- you will be endowed with the knowledge of what you are and what you could do alongside the other things I promised. Keep a low profile for now since I know you have no idea what you are doing. Likewise I have made sure that any visitor that hits your world immediately goes into pony form regardless of how they make it into your world. That’s all the help I’m giving out for now. Do your best and good luck. Signed God.’

“This is bullshit… Fine, whatever. At least I can finally fly somewhat.” That’s when another memory dashed through my mind sending me sprawling on the ground. Apparently when calm I can enter shadows. Surprisingly, it doesn’t mean the Darkness but the shadows on the ground. Semantics are afoot and wrecking my world view every single day.

“Christ I’m gonna be God’s ragdoll at this point if I get anymore memories. Whatever…”

I saw a shadow heartless crawl into the sewers… Damn it I’m not ready for this. Reluctantly, I found the closest manhole and pried it open with the keyblade. Metal plates are really heavy. Surprisingly, it didn’t smell as bad as I thought it would be. I was still gagging but it was tolerable enough to not immediate wretch and spew up everything. It was also really dark even though I could see perfectly regardless. So I am nocturnal to some extent. Might need glasses if I decide to try being diurnal.

“Did I get infected with a dictionary or something. I’m figuring out words I shouldn’t know and it's becoming disconcerting. What do you think Shadow heartless…? Crap…”

It slashed a claw at me managing to hit my side. Strangely, there was no blood though. Immediately that put some warning bells in my head. It meant that game logic was in effect and wounds caused by heartless didn’t draw blood per say. Or keyblades give you some immunity to showing wounds caused by heartless. Or I should shut my thoughts up and slice the little jerk who was slashing at me side.

I summoned my keyblade and moved my head to horizontally slash at the shadow forcing it back. I really was at level one… It usually took three swings just to destroy a shadow. Well at least this gets me some practice hopefully. It jumped into the air landing on my back. Before it could sink a claw into me I panicked and slammed my back against the brick wall. Instead of harming the shadow it sunk into the wall and climbed back to the floor while I was forced to deal with a sore back.

“Little bastard…”

When it reformed back into a solid object I sliced it down managing to switch the keyblade to my hoof in a fit of anger. It surprisingly stayed in place as well but I soon fell back to four legs. If I had room to fly maybe I would have a better time using my hooves for combat.

After the single heartless dispersed I realized how impulsive I had been. I just rushed into a sewer to destroy one heartless. There were horrible implications from that seeing that had I not been lucky it was only one I would have rushed to my death so soon.

‘Would that be a bad thing?’

“Woah… where did that thought come from…”

I smacked myself with my hoof and trudged further into the sewer. It was surprisingly clean but the smell made it hard to concentrate on anything other than figuring out why heartless were already within the sewer. Passing through a few sluice gates I came to one of the large reservoirs for sending the water somewhere for purification probably. There was a large crystal which was emanating magic which turned the water from dirty to clean after passing by it. I noticed that several of the shadows were congregating within one of the pipes which seemed to be leading away from the city.

I whistled aloud while tapping the tip of the blade against the wall. Each of their writhing bodies turned to face me merely looking at me with special interest as they saw the keyblade I was wielding. All five of them sunk into the ground and raced after me. I stepped back into the larger room if only to have more room as a few of them rose from the ground. I quickly rushed forward and lunged like a spinning top. He taught me to use this blade I just had to get ready for the consequences. The spin managed to hit the three that were visible while the other two kept hidden.

Only one of the shadows dispersed while the other two were flung back. The other two shadows rose up and lunged forward. For some reason I saw a triangle button appear over one of the shadow’s head. Before I could figure out what that meant I thought too hard about the triangle and I suddenly lunged forward catching the shadow’s claw and spinning it into another shadow before the keyblade warped to my hoof and swung through the two shadows dispersing them as I finished my swing.

My eye started to twitch but before I could take care of that thought I focused back on the shadows that were still around and cut them down while they tried to jump on my back like the first one.As they dispersed I looked at the pipe they were trying to open I noticed that it was actually a large sluice gate. Tapping my keyblade against it caused the door to swing open luckily to a large empty room.

“What the hell were they after…?”

Looking around all I saw was a large empty room. Before I could exit and head back for the surface a bright glow appeared above my head. It looked like a keyhole. Really… there’s a keyhole here. Taking my stance I pointed the keyblade up and willed the lock closed. Then my wing started to itch once again. Looking in the spot I found another note.

‘So this is the P.S. I forgot to mention. That particular world has multiple keyholes. Mind locking them for me. Thanks in advance.’

The groaning I made echoed throughout the entire sewer system. I had a mission now if only that it was busy work instead of wandering this world for no reason but satisfying my curiosity. It took a few minutes to get back out of the sewers and strangely there weren’t any other heartless around. That means god is taking it easy on me to some extent. If only for one week left.

“I hope the keyholes aren’t underground like this one. I could’ve died and no one would have know. Literally, in fact.”

Once I reached the surface I closed the manhole and flew straight up. I looked over the town in question taking great care in not thinking about the name. The building all resembled the real Baltimore. Several of the buildings had slanted roofs and the bay was populated by several luxury boats. Most were steamboats with a paddle wheel system in place. They also seemed to have several light fixtures in place but when I got a closer look I noticed that they were all magically functioning. Gems were being used as a power source. Like everything else that came to my mind I immediately thought magic and stopped questioning it.

That’s when I noticed the sun coming out and noticed how tired I was feeling. Taking stock of my situation I flew out of the city and captured a cloud. I still don’t know how I did that but I caught one and took it a bit out of the city if only to not be bothered. I saw several ponies finally moving out into the streets but I was too far away already if they were going to notice me or not. Wearily I rested myself on the cloud and soon fell asleep either from the ‘epic’ battle I had or general fatigue. My eyes automatically rolled themselves even though they were closed. Or I finally was feeling the effects of my nocturnal habits.

The shadow like alicorn rose from under the cloud Gray was sleeping on and glared caustically at the prone figure. Before she could strike the rays of the sun glowed over the horizon. Growling in fury the shadow sunk back into the shadows and continued its plan in other matters. Several pegasi were floating around and getting clouds ready for a rainstorm scheduled in Baltimare. A few of the weather mares noticed the cloud floating outside the city and flew towards it. They were shocked when they noticed that a stallion was sleeping on it. More shocked when they saw the batwings on his back. They were dark blue instead of cornflower blue. His cutie mark was a field of stars that seemed to take the shape of a key. The closest weather mare, Sunshower Raindrops, was about to wake him when she noticed the claw wound on his side bleeding out.

“Oh this looks bad. We might need to take this stallion to the hospital.”

“Why what’s wrong with him?”

“He got attacked by something and I don’t think he could get to safety fast enough.”

“Raindrops we need to finish the cloud gathering. Remember this city needs rain. For why I don’t know since they don’t exactly grow anything here.”

“Don’t worry about that right now. Look, cover for me. I’ll get him to hospital then I’ll come right back.”

“I bet you’re just staring at his wings…”

The words muttered out drove the mares to blush slightly. They were bigger than most pegasi they had seen. Each shook themselves out of their stupor and agreed to Raindrops plan.

“I’ll be right back ok. This shouldn’t take long.”

She pushed the cloud along while the other two got back to work on moving the clouds into position.

4. Insight

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I woke up back in my bed looking down at my hands. It felt weird but I guess everything that happened was just a dream. Then I mentally slapped that notion for being stupid as I saw the same bright sphere watching over me like the night the world supposedly ended.

“So what happened this time. Did the world end?”

“Nope. You are unconscious and in a hospital. I’ll admit I kind of flubbed up somethings for you. See I kind of worked through your mind’s idea of what you thought of Kingdom Hearts. So because you never saw wounds you kind of don’t see wounds in your world. In truth that first shadow managed to cut your side deep enough to cause you to bleed. So you started to bleed out. When you started to fall asleep you were falling unconscious unknowingly dying. On the bright side you managed to get rescued by a few pegasi. Bad side is that you’ll probably have to explain what happened to you. So before I leave you back to figuring out your world I think I should explain a few things to you.”

“I’m not really good at this am I? Anyways I need you to give me some info on my race and where I live and what I can do. I need to be able to lie somewhat convincingly. Eventually I might be found out but until then I need to have a good cover story.”

“I’ll give you a quick run down. You’re one of the thestrals from the Badlands tribe. You live in one of the expansive cave systems. The reason for traveling the world is more your right of passage or something to that extent. Anybody asks about the wings tell them that it's a genetic thing from your family. Parents have passed and you were an only child. In this body you are around a nineteen or twenty. Now quick heads up I’ve given you a lot more help than I should have and I don’t play favorites. Also I can’t fix your perceptions so you have to take your wounds seriously. You might not feel them but they will still be there. The reason I can’t fix your perceptions is because if I do I would have to recreate your body once again and the body you have right now would die. That’s not preferable. So last time I’m helping implicitly. Besides anymore would immediately drag one of the others towards you. You don’t want that right?”

“No I don’t. I’ll be fine then hopefully I can keep this secret for a while rather than just three days or so. Thanks for the help.”

The sphere simply bobbed up and down most likely a gesture of a nod. I rolled my eyes and just chuckled under my breath. It was stupid looking but after almost dying… I found the levity uplifting.

The steady beep alerted me awake but I kept my eyes closed. Somebody… Somepony was in the room with me. Most likely the doctor. It sounded like a he and I didn’t want to answer questions just yet.

“Well the patient seems stable now. Perhaps Ms. Raindrops could have given me more info on this stallion. I don’t even know his name and his cutie mark isn’t registering in any of the archives. Wounds seem shallow but there’s dark magic seeping out of it. Nurse Adrenal could you summon our mage specialist. We’re gonna need a more thorough healing spell.”

“Right away Dr. Trotting.”

The doctor kept muttering terms to himself though I think he was just wasting time until the specialist came in. I noticed that he tapped at least two of his hooves over and over again. A sure sign of either boredom or impatience. I was still tired and realizing that I needed to learn the cure spell otherwise I was going to be in worse places than this. Instead of waiting for something to happen I reviewed the facts God had given me in more detail. While he left the important things to our slight conversation he left a load of facts in my brain about things that would be important later. Luckily, I was laying down so if it had sent me into a seizure I was at least properly taken care of.

“Ah there you are. What took you so long Red Cross?”

“Sorry Trotty I’ve been busy. Is this the patient?”

“Please don’t call me that… Yeah this is him. Dark magic was used to wound him. Right now the consensus agrees that it was probably a Timber wolf that did this to him.”

“Ok I’ll cast on him right away. Then he’ll need a few hours of rest. Remember the last time we healed somepony up like this? They were so exhausted that they fell down and hurt their ankle and wound up being readmitted. Not our best day right Trotty.”

I thought I heard the Doctor’s teeth grind into dust but he uttered out a groan instead and most likely slapped his forehead in a facehoof. There wasn’t another word as I felt something grab me. It was most likely the magic of what was probably a unicorn if the facts in my head were right. Magic seemed to course through my body as I felt my sides itch incessantly until the sensation was gone. I still kept my eyes closed but it felt more natural after that. It was more natural until a prompt appeared inside my still closed eyes.

Obtained the power of healing. Cure now available.

I wanted to scream in frustration that this was going to be how magic was going to be given to me. Basically I was working at it like Sora in a sense. No master and no guidance on what to do. Perhaps… that was a blessing in disguise though. I had never really accepted anyone to teach me how to be better. I wasn’t going to start now. I pushed the frustration down and mentally sighed in understanding of my circumstances.

If my understanding was correct I basically saw myself in a video game like situation but this is reality now. Wounds would appear on me and I wouldn’t be able to see them because my delusions are so strong. It appears that the only way to fix them were to accept death again and be reborn in another form… or break my delusion by doing something I would never see in a video game. Fantastic…

Reluctantly I slowly lifted one eye to see what was going on. The doctor and the specialist were still discussing things while the nurse had long left already. Then a knock came from outside the room. Another pegasus came into the room which most likely was a mare. I still am having trouble from telling stallions from mares but it was negligible should they speak out loud first.

“Hi. I brought this pony in. Is he okay?”

“Yes… Ms. Raindrops. He’ll be fine now thanks to Red Cross here the dark magic wound he was afflicted with won’t be a problem any more. Though why are you back here?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? I am worried about this stallion since we found him heavily wounded out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Fair enough. Are you going to stay here?”

“Just until closing if that’s fine.”

“Sure. We’ll be heading to our next patient. Should he wake up would you mind getting us. We can only do so much with him unconscious.”

I think the mare nodded at that point. There were two sets of scuffling as the door closed behind them. Then I felt her gaze stop on me. She took a seat next to where my head was but I kept calm and collected, She carefully brushed my mane and seemingly examined me more closely. I felt so awkward and unsettled. Then she muttered to herself.

“Never seen a pony quite like you. Even the rumors of the Night Guard only whisper about thestrals. What were you doing that got you in so much trouble.”

She leaned back and I think she lost herself in thought only taking an occasional glance down as me. As time dragged on I finally relented and opened my eye a bit. That got her attention.

“Mind listening to me before you rush off for the doc.” I managed to squeak out. I was parched.

“Uh… sure. Within reason mind you. And if you tell me what happened to you.”

“Bargaining mare, huh? I don’t mind but don’t freak out. OK?”

She nodded and flipped her hoof towards me. It was a gesture to continue speaking. I’m pretty sure there is no way to actually flip someone the bird in this world without magic.

“I had left my home to go on a sort of coming of age ceremony. While I was looking out for mushrooms that I knew about I was attacked by a manticore. It got lucky and tore my saddlebags off and they landed in a gorge. While I was running away from it I stumbled upon a group of timber wolves. The manticore that was hot on my tail also ran into them. And in the calamity I managed to get slashed at by a lucky shot from a timber wolf. So I’m wondering if you got any idea where I could get a few quick tasks done to earn some bits. I gotta replace them.”

“That was… certainly a mouthful. I’m surprised you got away from them. Couldn’t you fly?”

“Panicked. I was not prepared as I would have liked to be. By the way, Nebula Gray.” I raised my hoof out to her. I think I surprised her by my candidness. I always knew that catching someone off guard came from being ‘honest’ about my life. Even if it is one I fabricated in twenty seconds.

“Oh… Sunshower Raindrops. Nice to meet you Gray. Um… I could talk to someone in the weather service here. We need a temp later tonight to keep an eye open for any rogue clouds. You know how to do that?”

“Slightly. We kind of lived in a cave system so the only time weather was necessary is when there were flood warnings.”

“I’ll tell you right now it’s just gonna be cloud watching. The stallion that usually has the late night shift missed his days too many times and we needed someone who doesn’t mind being awake at night.”

“Yes, of course that would be wonderful. It should be enough to get me back on my feet… Why do you keep staring at my wings?”

“Nothing.”

She instantly shot off towards the door to get the doc. I’m pretty sure now that wings are analogous to other ways of saying you have a big whatever is the stand in for what ponies look at. Regardless plans are at least a go and there is a good lead to making something better for myself in this world. Also I think she bought the lie but until then I need to keep it up. I also need to avoid any Apple family members. I think they can suss out lying way too easily.

Sunshower Raindrops raced for the doctors and got their attention. While he walked off to see the patient her eyes were drawn elsewhere. A newspaper had just been delivered for the staff and her eyes were drawn to the front cover

SLUICE GATES BROKEN INTO. GRISLY SCENE FOUND.

Late last night unicorn maintenance workers found one of the larger sluice gates opened and little sign of effort used to open it. Several of the workers were flabbergasted which soon turned to horror. Within some of the tunnels was the visible scene of blood leading towards said sluice gate. Whomever was dragged into the sewers was brutally beaten and most likely gotten rid of. Blood traces proved inconclusive to active royal guards on the scene. Samples were tainted with strange markers not found in ponies. No suspects have been found but guards are on the case.

5.Turbulence

View Online

The doctor, Trotting, or whatever his name was came back with that Nurse, Adrenal I think her name was. After working through the boring paperwork they came to the hardest question I ever had to answer.

“Would you mind explaining what your cutie mark means?”

Now if I was actually a pony this would be easy to answer. Since I wasn’t I instantly let my mind race through dozens of explanations. I looked down with a smile, as forced as it was, and explained exactly what I wanted it to mean in the first place. If nothing at least I have a decent working imagination.

“Well when I was young I found a meteorite falling down from the heavens and landing nearby. Suffice it to say, I was mischievous and immediately ran off to find it. After finding it I actually found the mineral composition of the remains from the impact. It was a mixture of copper, nickel and some other minerals. That’s when the mark appeared and took the shape it has right now.”

“Don’t we all have a story like that. Thanks I’ll add the mark to the archives but for now you are fine. It’s the afternoon right now but you are free to leave.”

I didn’t waste much time and trotted leisurely through the halls towards Raindrops who was reading the front cover of the newspaper.

“Something wrong?”

“Hm… Oh right. It’s, well something happened her in the city. Seems like somepony was dragged into the sewers and… Well something happened to them. They didn’t find the body though.”

I went wide eyed at the news. Hopefully the blood wasn’t going to be tracked back to me. Still I endeavored not to let it appear to bother me… and failed miserably at it.

“Y-y-yeah. That sound bad.”

“Oh don’t worry about that. The guards are pretty well trained out here in Baltimare. Now if this were Canterlot I would be worried. Too many recruits in that area and most of them are kind of green.”

I merely nodded as she began to trot outside the hospital. I kept quiet throughout our conversation. Even as we both flew off I kept my ears open for all the details she was speaking to me. After arriving in the small cloud building used as the weather factory’s Baltimare section I was introduced to the pony in charge. Unlike most jobs I had back on Earth there wasn’t really an interview. They needed help desperately for a late night worker. While I was only a temp it would pay somewhere around 200 bits for the three nights they wanted me to stay. There was also talk about a Summer Sun Celebration occurring in five days. There weren’t any contracts to sign and I began that very day.

So far I was on my second day there and managed to at least have a slight lead in what I was going to do. I needed to travel to where the Summer Sun Celebration was and see if I can help without fucking up canon. My niece had made me watch a lot of the finales and openings because she liked the grand stories. I never will know where the hell she got that adventurous spirit because it sure as hell wasn’t from my sister-in-law.

The first night was uneventful and I only had Raindrops chaperone me for two hours. Luckily after the storm finished I only had to move a few cloud out of the city. The first time I moved clouds I think I almost shouted obscenity after obscenity because it was an affront to established physics. Instead I bit my tongue and kept it shut. When morning came I received eighty bits.

While I wasn’t one to question it I knew something was up. I was an unofficial worker and I’m pretty sure that they were paying me under the table. The reason I knew this was what they were doing also made it pretty obvious. The boss, whose name escapes me, left a bag of bits underneath the table where we discussed things. I wasn’t insulted about it though. When I asked him about it he got a bit scared for some reason. When I explained that I found it funny he gave off a forced laugh and shakily agreed with me.

Regardless I went shopping that day gathering a saddlebag for about thirty bits. I don’t know if I was ripped off but the unicorn that showed me it, named Sassy Saddles I think, said it matched my coat really well. It was a slate gray bag and seemed to be camouflaged against my coat, Reluctantly I bought it and made sure it was equipped. Afterwards I went and gathered some food. Anything hay related was actually good to eat. As were the flowers that sometimes adorned the dishes I tried. I gorged myself on a moderate amount spending another ten bits for the meal.

I found a small cloud to sleep on wanting to save the rest of my bits for something else and waited for my shift to begin. Everytime my eyes closed though I felt something dark watching me. Every once in awhile I even caught the shine of a blue reptilian eye staring at me from the shadows. I think that I had seen that eye in the season one opening episode but the name escaped me.

It was watching me. I was deeply unsettled but slept anyways. While on the cloud I summoned my keyblade far from the prying eyes of the ponies below and examined it more closely. It looked exactly like the blade from the game but I couldn’t tell if it was real or not. A thought crossed my mind every single time I had swung my blade that night. Did God create a world that was specifically created to cater to our whims? A lot of people had been dragged away in the name of salvation but they ended up fighting. I would like to meet at least one of them just to figure out whether or not they are trustworthy though knowing my luck they’re probably all battle crazy and I have no way to keep up with the skills they probably negotiated for. I know how to use a keyblade but that doesn’t mean I know how to use it effectively.

“This sucks… And it’s time for work…”

I didn’t sleep. I wasn’t tired strangely enough as I put my keyblade away and looked around cautiously hoping no one saw the flash of light. I think a few ponies did look up at the cloud but most kept trotting along ignoring me… for the most part. Whenever I flew I always noticed a few mares, almost all pegasi, would stare at my wings. I don’t know whether to find this flattering or not mostly because aesthetics of beauty escape me in this world. I can understand staring at their flanks but most of the time that seems to be used to show off cutie marks instead so what it means escapes me entirely.

The second night was just as boring. After several hours I nearly had fallen asleep. That was until I hear this weird pinging sound. I ducked instinctively from my experience with my cousin and his penchant for tossing water balloons at the back of my head a few times. A small energy projectile flew past my head. Looking behind me I saw heartless floating behind me with a sharp grin on their faces. Somehow ten of these heartless had snuck up behind me. They were all bat shaped and I felt they were familiar. The only problem with the familiarity was that these particular heartless only appeared in the final battle with Ansem in the first game. I think they were called Bit Snipers. They each tried to target me but I had gotten much better at flying at this point.

“And it only took two aneurysms and a seizure to figure it out right…”

Summoning my keyblade I swung at the closest enemy smacking it into another one. They answered the strike with several of their own shots forcing me to dive down and avoid them. I wasn’t exactly skilled in combat yet but I did know how to dodge well enough. The constant barrage should have alerted the town but something was off. When I was about to fly off to regroup I hit an invisible wall. Something was keeping me trapped with the heartless while not allowing anyone to see within.

“Crap... ”

I shook my head and charged back at the bit snipers smacking whomever was in range. Within that flurry of blows I had managed to get rid of seven of them. The trade off was that I was blasted with the energy beams a couple times. I could literally feel my health bar beeping that I was about to die. I’m pretty sure I was also bleeding even if I couldn’t see it.

Part of me belligerently didn’t want to cast cure on myself mostly due to the enemy still trying to shoot me. Instead I flew off to one of the edges of the invisible sphere that surrounded us and managed to use the spell. I think it worked cause I didn’t feel like I was losing blood anymore. Instead I felt my MP bar was empty at this point and slowly started to recharge.

“Seriously, I have game mechanics detailing my life. What the hell was I thinking before I technically died. Someone is going to pay for this stupidity… It’s gonna be me I just know it.”

I charged back at the three bit snipers left and took great pleasure at watching them disperse. Before I hit the last one I led it back towards the cloud I had been sitting on during my shift and destroyed it in one swing. Nopony down below had seen what had happened… hopefully. Whoever was messing with me wanted that to be the case and went to great lengths to make it be that way.

As I looked over my keyblade I cast another dose of cure on me just to make sure I didn’t miss any parts. God knows it would be difficult to explain why I had burn wounds on my body and the lack of reaction on my part. I looked at where I was hit and couldn’t see what was wrong with my body in any way, shape, or form. I also felt strange… well stranger than usual. Though for some reason it felt real good.

“Did I just level up… Oh shit I think I did!”

I instantly covered my mouth and mentally cheered for myself. While in a good mood I did look down on my weapon and note that I still didn’t know how to use the other ones I had received. As if on cue the keyblade glowed and disappeared. In its place was a book. It was one I recognized as Zexion’s weapon. I don’t think I could furrow my brow any harder as it was at that moment. The first weapon I received and it's the one that oozes with darkness. If I still had internet I’m pretty sure this would go on the FML meme page. Regardless I opened the book and noticed what it actually did. The Lexicon, as it was called, was created to hold a multitude of information for use in the organization to coordinate with the members that stayed in the World that Never Was and those at Castle Oblivion.

“Well at least this could act as my journal like Jiminy’s did for Sora.”

I looked at the character section and noted that all the pictures were 3D models and moved as a looped gif. I could even rotate the image. I didn’t though. There were even little blurbs about the ponies I met. The doctor, nurse, and mage specialists though were very sparse probably because I didn’t listen to what they did for a living. When I came to Raindrops though it was a bit more substantial.

Sunshower Raindrops
Pony in the Ponyville Weather Patrol. This mare is usually on loan for moving services and the Baltimare chain of the Weather Patrol. Has a tendency to rain on others parade when work needs to be finished but her sunny disposition makes it all in good fun. Is a bit clumsy but manages to work through that.

“Well that was informative… I guess.”

The section of the heartless was not as expansive either giving a small blurb on what they were and what they could do. The only interesting part was that they gave me numbers on how many I destroyed. Five shadows and ten bit snipers were on my kill scorecard I suppose.

At least now I knew how to access my other weapons. Each was tied into the keyblade in some form. It was just like that one armor who managed to turn his keyblade into a bow and arrow set and a giant space laser cannon. I quickly switched between the two just to get a feel for it and managed to keep it as subtle as possible. After another two hours of waiting I was relieved of duty and allowed time to myself.

The boss was pleased that I did so well watching for any wild weather and he handed me sixty more bits for staying awake for so long. I didn’t tell anypony that I did absolutely nothing that night for the weather and went back to the cloud I found and slept.

The third night was more of the same. Strangely I wasn’t attacked again but I kept watching the skies for any other strike. Whoever targeted me was taking care to attack whenever I was alone. They were doing it for a reason but for the life of me I didn’t know why. Even if I have a keyblade, had they left me alone I wouldn’t have done anything to stop them because I literally knew nothing about what their plans were. My knowledge of Equestria was small and lacking. Something I plan to figure out later. As the dawn soon arose again I felt the same pointed stare coming from the shadows and it was still as unsettling as it had been the night before.

Sunshower came to get me that morning and after a lengthy discussion with the boss I was recommended to stay on because of my fortitude as they called it. I call it me not being a lazy pony and staying awake throughout the night. I politely declined due to some pressing matters of continuing my journey. The boss was frantic but the stallion who had been shirking his duties finally showed up. While they ‘discussed’ his continued employment I left with Sunshower to avoid the yelling… ‘aggressive negotiations’.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay on call here? Being a weather manager actually pays a lot if you actually do the work. And it’s clear you can do the job.”

“Sorry. There’s still a lot of the world left to see and it wasn’t that great of a start if I was admitted to the hospital on my first week out.”

“I suppose… Hey I got to get back to my own home. I actually live in Ponyville. If you ever stop by make sure to look me up.”

Before I could respond she kissed my cheek and playfully giggled before flying off. I didn’t know what to make of it so my first stop before I fall asleep is the library. I’m pretty sure it was probably because of a pegasi thing for wings. Groaning, I left to find whatever counts as a library here. If nothing I’m gonna at least get a map of Equestria.

Several guards had gone down into the sewers and hadn’t reported back. Steel Front was the lead investigator and traveled down below to find his men. It had been a long day of few clues and no leads. As he made his way towards the sluice gate a small shadow jumped onto his back followed by several more. Eventually all that was left was a floating heart emblem. The first shadow to pounce greedily absorbed it transforming into a Soldier shadow. It was a start.

The alicorn shadow chuckled as her reptilian eyes settled on the remaining guards who were still fighting. Soon enough she would have a much better force behind her.

6. Assault

View Online

It took an hour of asking around for the library before I finally found it. The municipal building doubled as both a library and a city hall. Ignoring the politics around me I trudged into the library and quickly looked around for books on the geography of Equestria, the local customs and traditions, and a dating book. For research purposes.

The map was useful but I couldn’t take it with me. I was going to be going non stop with very few chances to return back to a home I could call my own. Also I hated the name of the city I was in for being one of the more painful puns I had heard since my uncle decided to have a pun-ishment session when I misbehaved when I was younger. Never again. NEVER!

I pulled out the lexicon and held it over the atlas. I wasn’t expecting anything to happen but I didn’t have very many options which I could pull on. Strangely enough the book started glowing which I had to hide in my saddlebags because I wasn’t the only pony in the library.
When it subsided I pulled the lexicon back out and peered into its pages. A new section had been added which included the entire map of Equestria and some of the areas outside of its borders. Nothing was labeled though and I had to make rough estimates on scale. Only the Badlands and Baltimare were fully labeled landmarks and all.

With the location aspect of my worries taken care of, I turned over to the customs and traditions. The lexicon didn’t react to it and I was forced to look through it at another’s pace. The important holidays seemed to be the Summer Sun Celebration which had to do with the summer solstice, Nightmare Night which was analogous to Halloween, Hearth’s Warming which was comparable to Christmas, and Hearts and Hooves Day which was a glorified Valentine’s day.

‘Note to self. Never tell them that Valentine’s day was based on a bloody massacre that claimed the lives of many. Or that if they have a Santa counterpart never tell them that he was also the patron saint of prostitutes.’

The Summer Sun Celebration had been the talk of the town but everypony seemed pissed that it was being held in a place called Ponyville. The same place that Sunshower was speaking about. Might as well take care of everything I need to.

Starting the last book was… a challenge. By challenge, I mean I was embarrassed to even need to read such a book but I might as well see if I could avoid any pitfalls. Heaven knows I’ll need the pointers if something is going to happen. The book, though, was less than helpful and only gave me the basics of the basics. Earth ponies were hard workers and favored the same for the most part. Unicorns were either going after high society unicorns or magically powerful unicorns. Pegasi were like birds at the bare minimum and sometimes went by plumage or wing span. That explained a lot at least and made me reconsider buying a jacket to hide my wings whenever I was around others.

At least I knew now it wasn’t serious love. Only infatuation due to pegasus hormones… hopefully. I returned the books to the places I found them avoiding the ponies that congregated inside the building as they all spoke politician which was mind numbing at best. Though one conversation caught my ear.

“Those guards haven’t come back yet… Think they gave up?”

“No way. They probably doubled their search time and went deeper into the sewer…”

I didn’t waste anymore time and dashed out of the building and into the air. It was still bright out though. I was also exhausted and endeavored to search after a quick nap. I was probably already too late if they ran into heartless but running in half cocked would get me killed… almost like my first night fighting against a single shadow.

I found my cloud luckily in the same spot I left it untouched. A note was left on it as well.

Think nothing of it handsome.
Sunshower

Well at least now I know it was flirting… I didn’t even do anything to earn that. What the… It’s pointless to think about. Much more important things to think about. I took the cloud to a fair height and fell back asleep. At least I tried. I now had a small inkling of what was happening in this city. At least a partial idea. Whoever that weird reptile like eye belongs to is either controlling the heartless or being manipulated by the heartless in some way not clear at this point. The only way to make stronger heartless is to gather hearts but dragging too much attention would probably drag somepony important or strong enough to deal with the problem. While the keyblade is the only thing that can put the heartless down it doesn’t mean they couldn’t be put down at all. Light spells would certainly keep them from coming back since I do seem to remember the Cornerstone of Light working to that effect.

That also makes this dangerous because that means I’ve attracted the attention of someone that could be comparable to Maleficent. At least to some degree and more than likely more competent than Pete. After I had finally gotten back up and the ponies of the town fled back to their homes I immediately tried to find one of the closest entrances to the sewers as I could. The one I previously entered was heavily guarded but the guards surrounding it looked extremely unsettled. Probably because of the missing ponies that never came back.

Down one of the alleyways I found an obscure entrance down near the first entrance. I managed to use the keyblade as a wedge letting me sink into the depths without much trouble.

“When did I start risking my life to find the truth… I’m supposed to be apathetic to the plights of others… Damn sentimentality from being in a pony body probably got to me.”

I crept further into the tunnels making my way to the familiar sluice gate from a few nights ago. My blood no longer coated a few spots on the wall but I did notice the discarded gear of the Day Guard. The gold armor was really… tacky and probably one of the worst ideas I had ever seen. I did note it was gold plated but that still made it tacky. Several weapons were left scattered near the sluice gate. When I went in I was a bit saddened by what I saw.

There was nothing left in the room except for the sign of a battle that had long ended. From the armor adorning the floor I could safely say that four guards lost their lives here last night. Since there were no bodies either that meant the heartless got them.

“Perhaps I should have come down here after the hospital to make sure no one got hurt… Crap… This is gonna weigh on me isn’t it…”

I’ve realized I talk more to myself instead of others. Would that be the telltale sign of insanity or eccentricity? Before I could ponder further on that tangent I was suddenly kicked into the far wall of the Sluice Gate room. Wasn’t paying attention again and now I’m paying for it.

Out of the shadows, a soldier heartless popped out of the darkness and was finishing up his spin kick. As it landed two other soldiers popped out alongside a green requiem. They brought the healing one.

Shaking off my shock I took flight though it was only enough to keep out of range of their claw swipes. I knew which one I needed to go after first as I darted forward blade first managing to smack the requiem into the wall and shattering it before it could warp out of range. Luckily it was the weakest of the heartless here and fell to a keyblade with a strong enough strike. Though I had charged ahead and slammed it into a wall and smacked it at least one more time with the tip of the keyblade. The crystalline heart floated away and disappeared back into the aether. Eventually I would have to find the corresponding nobody that goes along with it.

The soldiers, instead of panicking, threw themselves at me trying their best to knock me out of the air. The first two were too low but the last one managed to reach my leg and grabbed at me. We both fell back to the floor forcing me to fling my other leg out clocking the heartless in the jaw. As it staggered back I thrust the keyblade at it’s chest forcing it farther back. I was still distracted as another soldier spin kicked me into another wall.

“Why don’t I get the easier heartless to deal with? I bet Sora never got this beat up by a small group of enemies that were this low on the ladder.”

Before the third soldier could slash at me I held my blade out blocking the strike and staggering the soldier back. I quickly knocked it back with the keyblade and jumped out of the way as the second soldier attempted to spin kick me again. As it flew past I struck the first one and slammed it to the floor before planting the keyblade into it’s head dispersing it and freeing the heart it had eaten.

The other two alternated their attacks keeping each other out of combos and strikes. When one finished its attack the other would come in and cover. Whenever I blocked they would team up and force me back rather than give me time to attack. I was getting fed up at this point but I could do little more than block. Luckily, they were still heartless and rashly flung out their claws at the same time. After they hit the blade I flung them back and took to the air.

While I flew out of their range I cast cure and waited for them to fling themselves at me again. The second one still had no idea how to aim but the third was a much better shot. Unfortunately for it, I was ready for the attack this time. As it attempted to grab me I grabbed it’s helmet. It flailed around up until the point I stopped flying. As we fell I got on top of it allowing it to take the brunt of the fall. I was forced to roll off at the last second before we could touch the ground. It was stunned while I was dazed. The other soldier didn’t waste any time and went straight for me. As it got closer I stumbled out of the way of its attacks. Stupid dumb luck was the heaviest reason I still wasn’t dead.

When I stumbled back I slapped the keyblade against the soldier knocking him back. Sheer dumb luck was my savior. I quickly picked up steam and swept the keyblade at it dispersing the heartless and releasing the heart. The final soldier was still listless on the floor and wide open. I stumbled over and planted the keyblade into it’s head dispersing it as well. Four freed hearts later and I was finally done.

“Wonder if I should get an apprentice… Nah. I’m still working on my own style. Maybe after I get better but until then… “

I needed two cure spells to stop the pain all over my body. I’m pretty sure I nearly broke my leg when the soldier grabbed me and dragged me down. These heartless were so much smarter than they should have been. Someone was personally controlling them or they had a stronger heartless controlling them. I’m really hoping that it’s a stronger heartless because the alternative raises so many other problems for me.

I actually looked over my journal at this point. Since it was being filled automatically by magic it was perhaps my best bet to figure something out. I searched through the pages noting that I had new heartless to look over.

5 Shadows
10 Bit Snipers
3 Soldiers
1 Green Requiem

My kill count had grown somewhat. After resting, as much as could be done in a sewer, I traveled back above ground luckily to the sight of no ponies in the area and through the same manhole cover. The moon was slowly rising into the sky and I felt very… wrong and hungry. I instantly rushed to the river zooming at ever increasing speeds and drenched myself in water until I felt clean again. I needed a real shower.

I went back to my cloud now and took vigil over the town heading for the more slum like portions. The ponies there were far more interesting in a sense. At least one club was popping with music while the mares and stallions of the night waltzed their way through it. I merely watched the fun go on since I was still so damn tired. As the light of the moon started to trail off the ponies on the street all fled back to wherever they belonged. I did notice that there were still two ponies exiting the club but one of them looked really pissed that it was morning already. The other was really happy.

As I turned away I heard the sound of a scream. Damn cliches are going to kill me. A single stallion, I think, confronted the two ponies from the exit of the club. I watched for a few seconds before I noticed that it was getting serious. Crap, this is really going to suck… I flew straight up into the air and zoomed straight down for the stallion. As I came closer I turned it into a flying kick aimed at his neck in case he tried to duck. He didn’t. I was going fast enough that he didn’t react until he felt my hoof touch him and flung him out of the alleyway.

I managed to land without much problem though my back hoof felt as though I walked through glass. Couldn’t heal it in front of other ponies. I turned to them and tilted my head towards the still empty entrance. I probably shouldn’t have been slightly flapping my wings because they started to stare with large blushes on their muzzles. I whistled once gathering their attention.

“Leave. Get away. Now.”

Every word was direct and emphasized for a reason. They both got the message and left both muttering out a thank you. As they rounded the corner, the stallion I kicked got back to his hooves struggling to keep balance. He also started to cough up a lot of saliva. Luckily, I didn’t draw blood. Though he tried to come after me I flew straight up and went back to my cloud far out of his reach. He was an earth pony which made it easier to leave him behind. He bucked a nearby dumpster creating a very large dent in it making me cringe at the idea of actually fighting him in a physical match.

When the sun finally rose I tried healing myself again and found that I didn’t need my keyblade to act as a focusing tool for the magic I learned. I felt my back hoof and noted that it wasn’t broken before I flew my cloud off. I needed to sleep and it had to be somewhere he couldn’t send goons to take care of me.

“Who the buck was that stallion Vinyl? Why was he looking for you?”

“Well I think he was one of those drunks I was talking to you about. I kind of turned him down for a date and he got really pushy. The guards tossed him out on his flank. So he got all pissy and tried to get me to reconsider any time I’m in Baltimare. I heard he got a mare already but I guess that rumor turned out to be a lie.”

“Vinyl it looked like he was about to do something… vulgar to us right then and there. What made you think that it was a good idea to come back here?”

“I thought he was legit finally. Sue me. I was looking at that whole ponies always do better bullshit we always hear about when we’re foals. Still I think it was worth it, don’t you?”

“... I suppose. Feels weird to have a knight in shining armor save us. Though I don’t think I’ve ever seen a thestral outside of Hollow Shades. The few I did see in Canterlot were all in the Night Guard but they always seemed listless and boring.”

“He really kicked that guy hard. Did you see the distance he got on that kick. Also those wings were pretty big right?”

“VINYL! Let’s just get back to the Inn. I’d rather need a rest from having to watch you sweat in a DJ booth for several hours.”

“Hey! I was sweating in a booth making all these sweet bits the least you could do is play along.”

The stallion, Mighty Oak, finally regained his bearings and ran off for the nearest alley he could find. He needed to collect his head after being knocked off his head. He almost had that little mare. She would have been his if it hadn’t been for one of the Night Guards seeing him in action.

“Damn it all. Now I gotta improvise this shit. Fucking thestral… “

As he headed down the alley a group of shadows attacked him and dragged him into darkness. He wouldn’t be missed. The shadowy alicorn welcomed her newest heartless, the Large Body. She would soon have the keyblade wielder in her magical clutches. Even if it killed her. The plan was in motion and everything was alright.

7. Journey

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I woke up to a massive headache and a grumbling stomach. I really should have gotten food before I slept but it was very late or early depending on your views I suppose. When my eyes finally opened I saw the night sky and the moon shining over me. There were four stars surrounding it which utterly confused me. Ignoring that I looked back down at the city and looked for the first restaurant I could find.

I took something to go and ate that quickly. I didn’t know what it was only that it stopped the gnawing pains in my stomach. I flew back to my cloud and thought really hard about what I wanted to do. I spent one day in the hospital and three days as an impromptu weather patrol member. Another day was spent searching for what happened to the guards who went missing meaning I spent five days here and there were less than two days till the Summer Sun Celebration.

“Best I get over there and figure out what to do there. I’m sure something bad will happen there.”

I lost myself to mumbling as I kicked the cloud dissipating it as I made my way towards the train station. After the entire time in Baltimare I still had about 147 bits left on me. When I reached the train station I noted that ponies were congregating on the platform waiting for the last train of the night. The ticket master gave me one of the last tickets they had for a reasonable price… I think. Must go over economics of Equestria in case I was taken advantage of. 137 bits left to my name… my very fake name. Crap, was I becoming pensive?

“Stupid memories…”

I kept my voice low while I stood around waiting for the train to start boarding. Every once in awhile I felt very pointed stares but I was always a minute too late to figure out where from. Eventually I ignored the stares all together. Though for some reason I felt two of those stares remain transfixed by my presence.

‘Ignoring it… Ignoring it… Ignoring it… Ignoring it… Can’t Ignore it… Can’t IGNORE IT…'

“All aboard!”

Shaking my head I got on the already packed train and made my way towards one of the seats near the front with my ticket at the ready. I still felt really tired though. I had kept my wings tucked and close to my side and hidden by my seat. I still felt the pointed stares though only this time there were three sources. I know two were behind me but not how far away while the other one was staring at me from the darkness. I heard myself gulp as I tried to calm my mind. It would take another six hours before we would reach Ponyville. This was going to be a long ride and I decided to catch up on my sleep.

My mind was a haze of ideas at that point and I decided to sleep away the annoyances. That might have been a mistake though because I was forced to open my eyes again only to find myself on one of the platforms that appeared in those dive to the hearts that all protagonists seem to go through… lovely.

“So… exposition? Concerns? Or all of the above?”

As if in response the platform lit up revealing six figures on the platform but they weren’t the ponies I saw being followed within the show. Instead on the platform were all the villains who appeared in the show appeared. I finally recalled their names as well since my niece was very into following the serious episodes. I think there were more figures on the edge but all of them were shadowed.

In the top left section was Nightmare Moon, the mare who wanted to bring Equestria into darkness. In the top right was Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. On the center left was Queen Chrysalis, leader of the Badlands Changelings. On the center right was King Sombra, Umbrum ruler of the Crystal Empire. On the bottom left was Tirek, the scourge of Tartarus. On the bottom right was Starlight Glimmer, cult personality and time destroyer.

“Well… this is a thing… What the hell do they want me to do about any of this. History should be fine so long as I stay out of things. Though now that I said that out loud I’m sure it’s going to twist fate into making me part of the story in some way. Damn you Murphy’s Law.”

A spotlight appeared on two points of the platform indicating something strange. On the farthest one was the outline of a door while the closest one held a treasure chest. Reluctantly, I opened the chest and found several notes. Each seemed to detail synthesis creations and each of them seemed to be keyblades of some sort. The ingredients could be found by defeating heartless, nobodies, and unversed if those existed. Though for each style I needed something specific. All of them were orbs of something and I had no idea how to actually get any of the ingredients that were being detailed with the pages.

The door finally solidified and allowed me to open it… only to be knocked back by a tide of darkness. Inside that darkness was the shadow of a large pony with both horns and wings. I think they were alicorns from what my niece told me and I could only groan at the fact I remembered that… also the crushing by darkness. That was unpleasant.

The keyblade immediately shined into my mouth allowing me to at least knock back the darkness. The shadow alicorn responded to my defiance by shooting a bolt of lightning through my keyblade and through my body. Convulsions riddled my body as the volts took their toll and nearly cooked me to a charred slab of meat. With great pain the cure spell was cast and kept me from dying out right. It just chuckled and summoned more shadows to surround me.

I was certain I was only within my mind in the representation of what my heart looks like if viewed in an awakening station. Everything still hurt though meaning it was real… right? Shaking my head clear I took off before the shadows struck and flew around switching my keyblade to my hoof but for some reason it felt loose in my grip. Well it would have been had both my forelegs not been numb. The alicorn kept shooting lightning at me always trying to steer the bolt to the keyblade. To stop that I would de-summon it before it could find its mark before summoning it back to my hooves.

At the pace I was going I managed to cast another cure spell on myself healing the numbness still plaguing my body even though it shouldn’t affect me in the real world… hopefully. Sucking up whatever courage I had, I charged for the alicorn blade ready after she finished another barrage. The blade struck her horn and a clash actually happened.

'COME ON! How fucking strong are you!'

Using my momentum from another clash I swung around her head and slapped her on the back of her head with the teeth of the keyblade forcing her forward. She raised her back legs and bucked me towards the door forcing me onto the ground. Forgoing any kind of strategy the alicorn raced at me and attempted to stomp my head into pulp. Unwilling to get crushed I forced my body to roll out of the way smacking her again with the teeth against her lower chest, right between her front legs. She reared back and fell onto her back allowing me some time to catch my breath.

Something strange happened throughout the battle. I noticed that the alicorn’s horn kept glowing as if trying to grip something but it would fizzle out. Every couple of seconds I would feel something grip around my neck but falter at the last minute. I think holding this particular keyblade gave my minute immunity to telekinesis or any type of pony magic that would kill me outright. Then I felt the remains of the chest being chucked at me make contact with my side knocking my wing out of its socket.

“SHIT!”

Ok… not being able to fly might be a problem. The alicorn charged forward and attempted to skewer me on her horn. Then a triangle button appeared in my head when she got too close. Instinctively I pressed the button in my mind and watched my body move as if it was on a track. The keyblade parried her head allowing me to jump on her back and slice her horn off with one swipe before grabbing her wings and twisting them as far as I could until they stopped being able to move. For the final action I kicked her into the door frame knocking her to the floor.

When my reaction command attack came to an end I fell to the floor with a still broken wing and the severed horn of a shadow alicorn which promptly vanished in a puff of darkness. After some trepidation I immediately fell to my side and popped the wing forcefully back into place and cast a cure spell. I know that I won’t have the wounds on the outside but it feels just as horrible as it looks. My adrenaline shot I sat down and watched the shadow alicorn dissolve like all other heartless alongside the shadows that had surrounded me.

Obtained the power of lightning. Thunder is now available.

Goody… A spell that make me visible if I use it outside. Wonderful. Really I can feel the random number gods really loving me right now. All I had to do to earn that was be struck by enough lightning to almost kill me. Not even good enough to learn the second level as well. Well at least I didn’t almost die… why am I sinking…?

The darkness pooled under me trying to take me just like Sora’s did. God damn you cliches. God damn you to hell.

My eyes reopened only to note that the pointed stares I had received were now coming from in front of me. On the left was a white coated unicorn with an electric blue two tone mane and piercing red eyes. Her shades were hanging of her horn while she glanced at me waking up. She elbowed her neighbor to get her attention.

The other pony was an earth pony and had a light gray coat with a gray brown mane. Her eyes were a shade of purple I think. I didn’t know enough about shades of purple mostly because blue was the color I heard about most from my friend… damn him to hell. She was startled awake and looked at me looking at her. She coughed into her hoof and nervously started to fidget around. Neither actually started to talk making that nervous chill run up my spine.

Before I spoke I checked my wings and moved them slightly relaxing when I found them not broken and glad I believed in my own flawed reasoning. I looked at the two ponies before me and was about to say something when another voice rang out from the ticket taker.

“PONYVILLE! ATTENTION ALL RIDERS WE ARE NOW ARRIVING IN PONYVILLE! PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR BELONGINGS IN ORDER AND TAKE CARE FOR THE SUMMER SUN CELEBRATION!”

I looked at the two mares who seemed annoyed that I was interrupted and got their things ready seemingly disappointed. I knew this particular train would also go to Canterlot, I think it was called, but I was getting off in Ponyville. I hadn’t taken my saddlebags off throughout the trip and waited until the train came to a stop at the station. When the two ponies were getting off the train I followed after them. I don’t think they noticed because they only looked back when we reached the platform. I’m pretty sure they both blushed and fidgeted more if their mumbling was any indication.

“If you’d like to talk I wouldn’t mind. I was coming here for a reason anyways.”

8. Conversation

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I think I was expecting too much. The two kind of stared at me much longer than I anticipated and I started feeling more uncomfortable by the second. I even checked my wings to make sure they were tucked in as much as possible. Finally the unicorn tapped her cheek and stopped leering at me. I’m hoping it’s not one of those ‘rescue romances’ I’ve heard about. It usually makes a weird relationship where the other in question gets really… clingy.

“Uh… sure dude. If you don’t mind we could talk at our home about this. Right Octavia?”

The other mare, Octavia, as I now knew squeaked and nodded before trotting off with her luggage in tow. I don’t think she really understood what was happening because she knocked over a few ponies in her warpath down the street. I didn’t see any sign of Raindrops either while I trotted after her with the unicorn by my side. Still didn’t know her name and my own knowledge of this world even from when I was still on Earth was probably the smallest ever since I only focused on the bad guys. They were more interesting in my mind and usually the villains of most mediums were really well written to make you actually feel something when you read or watched that particular media.

That brought up a weird observation. I didn’t feel much. I felt apathetic? Listless? Lost? I don’t know how to explain it but I felt nothing… or like nobody. Hm… that could be concerning… I think. I felt like a Nobody.

‘It might be because of the use of the organizations weapons. Hopefully I don’t break my cover. New life and new chance feels really good. Maybe if I get better I’ll go handle other worlds. Hopefully I don’t meet anything too big. Also why aren’t these two speaking?’

We finally reached a house that was split down the middle and the two led me inside setting up a table while the unicorn put everything away. Really should ask her name.

“I’m sorry we haven’t introduced ourselves. I am Octavia Melody, one of Canterlot’s cello players. This over her is Vinyl Scratch, DJ extraordinaire… self proclaimed.”

Vinyl, as I now knew, glared at Octavia but kept her mouth shut and sat down next to her. Then Octavia flinched and rubbed her leg while glaring back at Vinyl. I decided it was finally time to talk before it could turn into a brawl. I’m also sure I had a time limit before that one pony, Pinkie Pie, knew I was in town. It was still early morning which means I just messed my own sleeping schedule up. Crap…

“My name is Nebula Gray. I don’t have any fancy title such as you two ladies but I’m looking to turn myself into an explorer of sorts. Still a work in progress though. A few bumps on the path of life I guess.”

“Why did you save us?”

Well that was abrupt. I guess Vinyl has no impulse control about speaking her mind. The look from Octavia said she was annoyed by the way the question was asked but still curious all the same. I thought about it and decided to go with the first thing that came to mind. It wasn’t the best answer but it was the answer I thought felt right.

“Impulse. I saw it happening and acted before thinking. Really rare of me to do that as well.”

“That’s it?”

“Yup.”

“You weren’t expecting anything for it?”

Octavia froze up and covered her mouth with her hoof. Vinyl had turned into a red unicorn at this point. Huh… I didn’t know unicorns could change colors. I thought about it for a moment, let my dark thoughts get their kicks, then crush them with a block of sheer willpower.

“Yes. There is something that you could do.”

Their eyes went wide and I think they wanted to stomp on me in ways I would not enjoy but they patiently waited for my condition. I could ask them anything but I knew what I wanted it. I’ve wanted it since I got to this world and still hadn’t had that chance to do so.

“I would like to use your shower. I haven’t been able to get a decent chance for a few days.”

They both fell out of their seats blushing heavily but smiling regardless and showing me the way. I went in by myself and thanked them before closing the door. I needed this more than I thought and if they thought I was going to take advantage of them then I was going to poke fun at that. I’d rather not get anypony into the problems I’ll eventually get into especially since I’ve been feeling the scent of darkness coming from deep inside the forest that’s nearby. I also feel weird since I entered town. It felt like someone is watching me. I don’t know who it is but I feel weird just being in this town.

“Just visiting the town is all. Just visiting.”

I heard a groan and looked all around, I thought I saw a poof of pink fluff disappear from outside the window. That was Pinkie Pie… I think. Was she mad I wasn’t living here? That’s really weird maybe I dodged a bullet at least for now.

“Did you expect him to just want that? I kind of got shivers when I asked him what he wanted.”

“Why would you even ask him that!? Most stallions can become pigs when you ask them what they want. Seriously Vinyl you need to think about these things before hoof.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know. Still… He didn’t try getting our flanks right off the bat. That gives him a point right?”

“I guess. Just don’t do that again. I was ready to kick his flank if he turned out to be a pervert.”

“I doubt that he would be like Mighty Oak.”

“You mean that stallion from back in Baltimare? What was his problem anyways?”

“I wouldn’t take the plunge with him. I dumped his sorry flank and came back to Ponyville. All he was interested in was getting his sapling rooted and there’s no way in Equestria that this pony rolls that way.”

“He- he tried to take advantage of you? That brute… Perhaps the kick was too light a sentence for somepony like that.”

“Honestly I was surprised of that cause nopony ever managed to harm him. He’s literally as strong as an oak tree. I’m more surprised that Gray didn’t break his leg kicking him. The only reason I managed to dump him was that he was drunk that night and I left immediately after that.”

“Sweet Celestia Vinyl. Why haven’t we talked about this before?”

“We never had a reason to and I didn’t wanna. Look this one’s pretty good in my book but he seems distracted from us. I mean look at us. We’re awesome.”

“He’s probably trying to do something important and not looking for mares. After we were saved I asked around about the thestral in town. Seems he worked in Baltimare as a night time weather manager. I also heard Raindrops made a move on him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah but he seemed more confused. Maybe he’s really innocent thinking and all that.”

“That seems really optimistic Tavi.”

“So? Better than letting an opportunity slip by. Besides we got nothing to lose from this.”

“Fine but if this comes back to biting us in the flank you’re listening to every single record I’ve ever mixed into a wubtastic experience straight. No breaks.”

“Ugh… fine. Deal.

They shook hooves sealing the deal. They were going to avoid the dreaded Pinkie Promise with all their hearts. Their budget couldn’t afford her antics tearing up their house.

I finished my shower and dried off with one of the towels. Wings are really hard to wash but at least I finally got rid of the smell. Though I did find out that I smelled something else now. Something coming from me. Inner Darkness or something I don’t really know. I guess I’m like a nobody now. Well no big deal since it fits me so well. Yeah, fits like a glove.

When I stepped out of the bathroom I saw both mares sitting around the table whispering I thought about what I needed to do because it was becoming the afternoon and that meant one more day until the Summer Sun Celebration and I needed to do whatever that Dive to the Heart was trying to tell me. Which meant something about Nightmare Moon. I do know that she needs to get purified but I doubt I actually have to be seen by the harmony bearers. So I have to make my way into the forest for something in there. That castle they talked about but first I need to deal with the ponies here. Let’s see… I do remember I can move through the shadows so I just need to leave when it gets dark.

“Thanks for the hospitality. I needed it more than I thought. Something on your minds?”

They smiled but they were both silent. I didn’t think much of it but I did recognize the look I was given. It was that look that said ‘I want something but it would be rude to ask’. I sat back down if only to kill some time. I needed at least one more hour before I could go out when the sun would finally set.

“If you don’t mind… Are you staying here in Ponyville?”

“I don’t know. It looks nice but I’m kind of a wanderer in a sense. I like to travel far and wide to see things that nopony has ever seen before. Maybe make a homebase here perhaps if my plans don’t fall through.”

I didn’t mention that I was worried about other things happening here. From what I could tell from all the conversations I’ve had with these three ponies in particular nobody actually knows about the heartless which means that it's a peaceful world with a hidden darkness. The other problem was that if there were other wielders roaming around they could possibly drag worlds into their wars just because they needed a number advantage. I was apathetic but I wasn’t one to accept a plan such as that.

“What kind of plans do you have?”

“Ah-ah that’s a secret for now. I’m confident that something will happen when I finish what I am doing. Though I’m gonna explore now.”

“Explore!?”

“Yup. Explore. I’m a creature of the night and I enjoy flying through the night sky taking in the nightlife. I said night too much now… “

They both seemed confused by my little idea and I trotted off for the front door. Before they could stop me I was suddenly flung back into the house by the sudden appearance of Raindrops. Oh… something is sticking to my back… pain…

“I found you Gray. Wait what do you two think you’re doing?”

“Us? Nothing of course. What makes you think we’re thinking about anything.”

“Vinyl!”

They started to argue about something I didn’t hear only because the pain was getting to me. I really wanted to use cure but there were too many prying eyes. I slowly got up and limped out the door. I didn’t break anything but I was really sore. I’m glad I’m not that fragile otherwise this would have been bad.

I flung myself into one of the closest shadows and found myself right near the forest. It felt weird… as if gliding through jello… not that I have ever done that of course. I don’t think they noticed either because as soon as I reached the first tree I dived into the shadows in case anypony else saw me beforehand. I knew Pinkie was always skulking around town.

“So we’re in agreement then. Each of us will try to win him over with our personalities and such and no matter what the outcome is we accept it at face value with dignity, right?”

“Sure Tavi.”

“I guess. I still saw him first.”

“Tavi, what if we just go the herd route at least then we wouldn’t have to deal with the winning him over thing.”

“Vinyl, if you can get him to agree to that without him freaking out then I will go along with it in a heartbeat. That’s the easiest but he might be one of those old fashioned stallions who only wants a single mate. Though he was really innocent.”

“Why was he even here in the first place then?”

“He saved us from one of Vinyl’s stalkers without asking for a reward or a thanks. All he asked was to use our shower. He must have been working really hard.”

“He was a hard worker but I felt he was dealing with other things. Whenever we spoke he always kept quiet about his own plans. I only knew his name and some random facts he spoke about his family. He never even spoke about his own kind at all.”

“That is weird but I’m sure it’s just a sensitive topic. We all got skeletons in our closet.”

“I suppose I guess I’m just impatient. He’s been pretty nice even though he’s too stoic.”

Journal Entries:

Octavia Melody
The first chair cellist of the Canterlot symphony. Is know as one of the higher class ponies but has a wild side she keeps closed to all but the closest of friends. Favors a pink bowtie combo while on tour and had a keen ear to discern sounds from a distance.

Vinyl Scratch
The infamous unicorn DJ going by the title DJ-PON3 and wildest party animal of the Manehattan skyline. Is actually much quieter in public if only because her party girl look is a facade for a more sophisticated mare. Prefers easy solutions to complicated problems and works through contacts that are secretly funded by a unicorn noble.

Author's Notes:

Any concerns? I would like to hear if there are any. I have a general direction with this story that I'm taking it but it doesn't mean I'm gonna be on Equestria for the entire story. I'll be going the standard Kingdom Hearts plot and going to other worlds. Suggestions are welcome but I'm thinking of keeping it mostly Disney unless you can give me a really good reason that Gray would go to the world you want to see. There are a lot of people who think a world would be fun to see but if you'd like to see me write that I want you to write the reason that Gray would even go there.

I'm sorry if I'm a bit blunt about this but most of the time I see worlds be used and they are not really fleshed out... only made to be a backdrop for things to happen without actually feeling like anything was accomplished. Maybe that's ust my perception. I am tired while I finish writing this up.

9. Castle

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Well… In the forest now and luckily not being followed by Pinkie Pie. I think before she could figure out I was going in she felt someone coming to the town. I’m literally working on the very night before the Summer Sun Celebration begins and more likely than not, I’m going to miss the brunt of the celebration because I know that darkness is emanating from the forest. More specifically its emanating somewhere to the east of my position. As much as I wanted to just fly there and get it over with I took the slower route to avoid being seen by the pegasi that roam throughout Ponyville. Besides… I was playing tourist so why not tour some places not on the schedule.

While I was wandering towards the smell of darkness I thought I saw a chariot coming from the mountain and heading over to Ponyville. Huh… maybe I was wrong about the dates… unless I miscounted which might be the case.

“Shit! I took way too long for this meet and greet.”

I immediately flapped my wings and kept to the areas where the canopy was thinner. If nothing else I have recharging MP and I could just tank all the low hanging branches. I took the first left I found climbing a tall mountain that overlooked the entire forest and saw a castle in the distance and I immediately flew straight for it. No time to waste to get into the bulk of my adventure…

I still kept low enough not to be seen by anypony patrolling the skies because regardless of how scared ponies get they are worse than stubborn mules sometimes. Even if mules exist here they still fit the criteria better than the real mules here metaphorically. Was that racist or specist of me? Is there such thing as political correctness or do ponies even care? More pondering required but that’s for later.

As I landed right on the outskirts of the area I noticed a rickety bridge and the castle looming over on the other side. There were plenty of problems already with the scene before me. The worst was that I had spent far too long being sneaky and the area was already being washed in a twilit haze. I looked around the area and noticed a few areas to explore before it could get any darker and made the first critical decision of my entire life. One that would forever dictate this eventfully epic moment with all the respect and dignity that is required of finding the important areas of a new world.

“I will loot the area.”

I was proud to say those words because I now felt like every other keyblade wielder that had come before me when they went to go save their world from the darkness. This truly must have been how they felt. I even saw my first chest right outside the castle walls. It was blue and had a glowing lock just like all the other important chests back in the second game. I tapped it with my key and it magically unlocked. Within I found something really strange and I could hardly believe it. Inside was the blueprint and fully created gummi ship that apparently was called Diablos. I wonder right now if God also made this similar for my delusions… Either way this is at least good for me in the long run. A gummi ship means a living space and the ability to hide from Pinkie Pie without being a citizen of Ponyville. Loopholes are amazing.

I stopped my celebrating and got back to looking over the ruins in more detail. Several areas were very broken and my senses even in the dark felt so many traps in many of the areas I travel that I kept finding myself hovering through the halls. The floor was dangerous and several of the chests I found triggered a few traps. The first chest I found inside the castle held a piece of mythril… which also led to me being flung through a secret passage and nearly thrown into the ravine.

“Practical joke or security system gone wrong…”

I actually was relieved that the chests would disappear because it would leave less evidence when I got out of the area. The more I explored though the more I realized that the rewards from the chests while nice were very much catered for synthesis. There were five chests in total including the mythril. I found a collection of munny in the third chest ranging to about five hundred munny, three potions, an ether, and an item called a nightmare shard…

This was one of the important items I had on the list of synthesis items for new keyblades. Only one wouldn’t be enough but that would have to wait. I moved back to my starting point in the castle because I seriously had no idea what I was looking for. Every other room I found was empty and the locked doors I opened led to a bedroom. It was in pristine shape as well since the dressers held a lot of fancy dresses still protected by magic… Also found a leather saddle and bit and a riding crop… Less said about that the better. Otherwise there was nothing else of note worth.

As I was finally getting out of my treasure hunting mode I looked up towards the moon and watched as it shone brighter than it had as four stars seemed to get closer towards it. I wondered if those were worlds or actual stars. I had always been confused on that aspect of the KH universe. I think stars were actual gummi blocks if I remember right but I never really knew much more than that. I’m pretty sure Kingdom Hearts 2 clarified but this was another reality and the rules might even be different for all I knew. Then the shadow on the moon disappeared.

“Well… that was unexpected.”

There was a weird twitching in the area as darkness seemed to pulse throughout the castle and made me cover my nose in disgust. It was really strong and fouler than the sewers I had been through. I summoned my keyblade as a soldier heartless came straight for me from behind me. Damn it… did this mean that the one who controls the heartless was ready to commit their plan. My response came in the form of a spin kicking soldier who was knocked back when I blocked said kick. The tip of the blade shoved through its chest dissipated it and freed the heart it ate.

Running back inside made it clear that the heartless were in full force but they seemed to be focused on me, the keyblade wielding fool in the forbidden looking castle. Though that was probably my best idea at least. Heartless crave the hearts of keyblade wielders because they are the strongest and while I do feel muted emotions I know I still have my heart. I’m similar to a nobody but they do grow back a new heart so long as they make sure not to have the Recusant's Sigil on them. I’m hoping that’s not a thing yet. I have no idea when I am because each world runs along its own time.

Regardless I fought off a few more shadow heartless rearing back with a thunder spell striking a few of them. Couldn’t make them disappear but the ones that got hit were stunned at least. I also swore I heard evil laughter a while ago. I don’t know how it reached this far but I kept hacking away at the shadows still in the area. The use of magic made my clean up much easier and by the time I reached one of the courtyards I managed to smite about twenty of the regular shadows. For some reason I hadn’t run into many soldiers or any other type of heartless even though I had already faced down a Green requiem the day before.

Then my body was flung into the wall by something… bouncy. Groaning as I fell from the imprint in the wall I wondered if this was going to be my life of peeling off walls every time I’m sucker punched… or body slammed in this case. A Large Body heartless warped in and it cockily slapped its stomach allowing it to jiggle then ran straight for me. Another triangle appeared in my mind and I managed to knock it into the air. The second triangle appeared again and I smacked through its belly as hard as I could knocking it back on its ass.

It wasn’t even that hurt and I rued the day that I thought I could actually do much damage like that. I wasn’t exactly the strongest protagonist around the block and I’m pretty sure even with all the heartless I have fought off I’m barely level four… probably. The heartless weren’t roaming the forest and nothing attacked me in the air. I was seriously under leveled with the only abilities I had: Guard, and Dodge roll apparently. I also had two spells which was something… I think.

I’ve got to stop thinking during battle. My time wasted contemplating things allowed the Large body to get back on it’s feet and angrily stomp around creating shockwaves… which did absolutely nothing to me because I was flapping my wings the entire time I was thinking. It charged for me and I flew above it letting it run around until it tripped and fell flat on its face. I wasted no time and swung a flurry of combos at its back from above. It sped up what was gonna be a long battle as the final smash of my keyblade freed the captive heart within the shell.

“Ha! I am the best! Level five, baby!”

I sheepishly looked around and sighed. I think I’m enjoying this too much but this time I only took minimal damage without ending up in a bleeding pile on the floor. I cast cure though in case I was. I looked around the impact site and found no sign of blood left behind. When I was certain I quickly tried to do a fist pump… only to remember I had no fist. Hoof pump then? It looked weird… never doing that again.

I ended my trek back through the castle in front of this grand monolith with several spheres surrounding a spire. The plaque on the ground near it read ‘Elements of Harmony’ which I promptly ignored since it didn’t really need me to do anything. I was confident that I did nothing to change the way events would play out. Then I tripped.

“The fuck!?”

When I looked behind me at the statue of the elements I noticed several dark tendrils pulling me towards a portal while this very large alicorn wearing blue armor fitted with crescent moons was standing near the portal. She grinned, showing off the fangs in her mouth, and laughed evilly. I remember seeing same eye that had been watching me throughout the nights leading up to this moment. I don’t know what possessed me to say what I said next but I’m sure it would be one of the weirdest moments I have ever had in the history of the universe. That or one of the most embarrassing moments that Nightmare Moon ever had.

“So… are you the whorse who hid the leather saddle and bit in their room or are you just into being whipped like you were once before when they sent you to the moon. You're probably the worst voyeur in the history of voyeurism since even though you saw me you were still screwed over by three other mares I met before hoof.”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody regardless of what they are get that angry. She instantly slammed me into the portal of darkness and came flying straight after me. At least I have her attention though I will have to work on my diplomacy later.

10. Nightmare

View Online

I don’t think that bends that way… my groaning is all I can hear. She used her magic to slam me into the ground then continued to use the force to crush me into the ground. She finally landed nearby and glared down at me. I replied by standing back up… though my back leg was wrong.

“Poor little knave. You are but a jester soon you will be naught more than a corpse when I’m done with you.”

I snapped my leg back into place screaming the entire time while she just chuckled at my pain. She was in a haze of darkness I could barely breathe through. Perhaps I was too hasty in picking a fight but… this was unavoidable. I know what I need to do regardless of how I feel about it even if I’m on the floor writhing around in agony. A quick cure spell fixed that up and made the horrible agony into mild annoyance at this point. Her surprise was palpable when I cast the spells I did without having a horn.

“Seems the jester has more surprises than I once believed. Now I remember seeing my subjects finally realizing who they should have worshiped blinded me. If I had you then I could do what I always needed to do.”

She instantly slammed into me pushing me against the wall with her front hooves. When she did I attempted to summon the keyblade only for it to fall from my grip. She cooed slightly when she noticed and tossed me to the side.

“Yes this is the thing I needed. Such a good messenger to deliver my prize. Now I don’t require you anymore.”

She picked up the keyblade and angled it at me ready to pierce it through my neck. I really need to practice some fighting styles eventually. Might as well go for surprise then.

The blade was thrust forward only to disappear in a blaze of light back to my muzzle. I darted forward through the pain and hit Nightmare Moon across the neck and from below on the chin. While she flinched back from the sudden strike I reared back and bucked her with my back legs sending her into a heap.

“You aren’t worthy.”

I really hoped that line made my point because I don’t think I want to take anymore attacks from her. I didn’t break anything but I still felt that my wings were sore meaning my way of flying was still shot. I also didn’t have any MP since it was still recharging. Game mechanics in real life can be very disconcerting… and she’s getting back up…

“You foul cretin I shall… Curses more interlopers. They are merely rats but… Heh heh I know what to do. Come shadows and serve your Princess of the Night.”

I managed to cast my cure spell when a huge amount of shadows burst out of a portal of darkness. They immediately conjoined into a large tower of darkness as it flew through the air… they can do that. Crap I’ve never seen a heartless actually do this.

“Servant destroy this servile peasant and bring the blade to me. We shall need it for my goals. I will take care of these interlopers myself.”

I don’t know if the heartless actually understood the order but it immediately swarmed down towards me forcing me to fly up just in the attempt to get away from onslaught. She teleported somewhere and left me to my fate. Fat chance that this would actually work but they were fast.

“Looks like I’m getting a workout tonight. Maybe I should have made an apprentice.”

The tide of shadows swarmed around me forcing me to strike out whenever it got close and it felt like I wasn’t doing much damage. There were hundreds of shadows in the combination and every couple of swings take out a few shadows only for more to take their place. A few more slashes against me forced me to cure once again.

“This is not working out right…”

I immediately took off through the basement running past several of the dungeon cells causing the tide of heartless to take alternate paths to get to me. I shot off several thunder spells in between though. The crackle of lightning was guided by the metal bars causing them to be supercharged by magic electricity. When the tide came in the shadows were shocked and faltered off their path and fall to the side. Instead of falling to the side the entire group disappeared into the ground. Then it appeared behind me and tried to tackle me to the ground.

Rolling off to the side I just kept dodging firing off a thunder spell whenever I could. There was a sphere of darkness somewhere deep inside the tide controlling it. I noticed it after the last attack but the speed at which it was travelling at forced me to fly around as fast as possible. The entire room was warped into something twisted during the entire onslaught. It didn’t help that I could hear the shouts of ponies calling out for Twilight out in the distance. The entire ceiling in that time was covered in shadow heartless as they congregated around the core. Then the ground turned to darkness and the core turned a blood red color. Tendrils sprouted out and the shadows all circled the core surrounding it in blood red energy. I instantly landed and raced through the debris as several hundreds of the shadows were flung at me forcing me to dodge and weave. Every time I got stuck on something was another time I was hit by the claws of one of the shadows. I was forced back into the air just to get away running across the walls in fact just to dodge the attacks.

Then it got crazier as it knocked me back to the center of the dungeon and circled me before launching several spheres filled with shadows which slashed at me whenever it got close and there were so many coming directly at me. Crap… crap… crap… need healing.

“This sucks so much. Wait what’s that…?”

The shadows fell to the ground and were forced back into a single tower of shadows instead of a flying group. It didn’t stop attacking me though but now I could actually strike back at the tower knocking it away from me. It swerved around like a snake trying to strike me but it was slower and couldn’t reach me when I flew.

“Ha! Got ya now.”

I spammed as many thunder spells as I could then launched as many combos as I could. Being in the air made it much easier to deal with these problems. As I struck another set of strikes the tower ran back into the shadows and the entire area turned back into the basement. The area still had a dungeon but it wasn’t as horrifying as it was when the heartless had corrupted the area. No more fleshy parts and dead iconography littered the area.

I don’t think cure did much as I fell to the ground and curled up slightly. I was bleeding, I think, I could finally see the wounds on my body… while I still saw some delusions I could now see the wounds on my body. Several cuts were across my sides and my wings had some tears in them. Adrenaline was probably the only reason I survived because I sure as hell didn’t destroy the tower. I made it retreat. Admirable… but not good enough.

I opened the Lexicon and searched through the book finding exactly what those particular heartless were. It actually terrified me when I found the right entry.

Demon Tide
A core of darkness surrounded by a conglomeration of shadow heartless. Employs vicious attacks which could change the very foundation of reality. The core can be affected by increasingly high levels of magic.

Demon Tower
A core of darkness surrounded by a conglomeration of shadow heartless. Due to the high density of the heartless that incorporate this form it is forced to stay mobile with a link on the ground. It has severe strikes due to the high density and are cowardly by nature.

I looked through my heartless list and found that the book actually counted them as a kill in a sense. I shakily sighed out and managed a small smile. It wasn’t praise from anyone but the confidence that I managed to defeat those particular heartless types was refreshing. I couldn’t treat this like the games do anymore. I was still wary of the other keyblade wielders though. Who knows how much shit they would pull me into when I could barely survive against one of the more dangerous pureblood heartless. At least I think that those two types were purebloods since they were only formed from shadows.

“So it looks like you survived… Unfortunate.”

I looked around only to find a wisp of smoke in the shape of a alicorn float down from above. I pulled myself together and cast another cure spell on myself. The wounds did heal but I felt so heavy. Too many wounds and too little time to heal made this a critical moment. One more battle perhaps…?

“Still it is impressive that you survived. With your body we could be something far grander. You shall SUBMIT!”

The wisp of smoke charged at me and I instantly shot one of the light beams that locked the keyholes of world at the smoke locking it in mid air. I flew straight up at it screaming in a bloody rage as I slashed the now solidified smoke into a pulp. I didn’t care I wanted it gone and I made sure I would get rid of it. As my swings started to slow down I charged the light again and slammed it down on the wisp knocking it into the ground where the smoke dissipated. The scream emanating rang into my ears but I don’t think I could stay up anymore. I fell to the ground and my eyes closed. Tired…

“I wonder if the Lexicon can send messages… Wake me… in the morning…”

Obtained the power of the stars. Gravity now available.

Meanwhile…

Princess Luna had accepted her sister’s friendship and trotted back with the others to the carriage. Two were set up so they could all get back. Twilight and her friends took one while the sisters took the other to fully break the ice.

“Sister… I truly am sorry for everything.”

“Luna there is no need to apologize I’m just glad you’re part of my life once again. Though it is troubling that you think you were attacked while in your Nightmare Moon form. Are you sure you don’t remember what happened?”

“Neigh sister. Though it is troubling because that means something happened even during my madness. I also felt so infuriated during my encounter with your protege Twilight Sparkle. Something happened between those two times… but my soul does feel lighter at least.”

“I see. Whatever did happen at least you have been saved from the nightmare that had taken you from me.”

“Yes. I look forward to seeing this new world… maybe in foal steps though. I have been gone for so long and I will need to learn the customs that have come into being.”

The two alicorns remained silent as the festivities in Ponyville bloomed into something amazing. Everypony smiled as their newest princess was revealed even though she was an old princess. The mares who saved the world relished in their newest friends staying around to live in Ponyville.

Three other ponies, however, were not as thrilled by the events before them. He didn’t return from his exploration phase. Raindrops had searched all over Ponyville when the sun rose and found neither hide nor hair of the stallion they had met. Vinyl kept her emotions on the back burner and remained silent while she partied through checking every pony who was in town in case he was hiding his wings. She found nothing. Octavia was the bravest and actually managed to ask the guard if they had seen anypony named Nebula Gray and even mentioned that he was a thestral. None of them recognized the name or even knew the pony in question. When the guard she asked tried to hit on her she accidentally ignored him and wandered off to the chuckles of his fellow guards.

“I haven’t found him…”

“Neither have I.”

Vinyl shook her head and merely led the way back to the conjoined house of Octavia’s and her’s. The celebration came to a close and the three mares sat sullenly around the table within. Neither option they thought of made them feel any better.

“Think he was killed…?”

Both ponies looked at Vinyl and violently shook their heads in the negative. Vinyl bit back her cynicism and sighed.

“Sorry. I just… think we need to think about all possible outcomes.”

“I know… it would at least be preferable than hearing he’s trying to ignore us. That might actually be worse. I know we all said that we should try to find if he likes us but maybe we’re jumping the bale here. Maybe we should at least become friends before we pursue going farther. Besides if we get to know him maybe Vinyl’s crazy idea of a herd won’t actually be dismissed on principle.”

“Hey!”

“That’s a good point Raindrops… Still we don’t know what happened to him. This is really bad and nopony else seems to know about him. We’ll be clutching at straws looking for him. I don’t even think Pinkie knew where he was because she was looking around confused. I heard her mutter something about there being one missing pony but she couldn’t put her hoof on it. “

As the three ponies sighed they looked around pensively until Octavia noticed something she didn’t see until then. On the back of the door was a small note seemingly written hastily and pinned to the back with a tack. She brought the note to the table and was startled by the content. She proceeded to read out loud.

‘Dear girls, I’m probably gonna be out looking for that thing I mentioned before I left and don’t know when I’ll get back but most likely it will be in two days because I have such a large area to cover. I’ll be back as well so don’t worry too much about me. I always manage to return home somehow. I’m just lucky like that. We’ll hang out some more later. Nebula Gray.’

The girls examined the note but remained as calm as possible. While they now knew he would be back they were all curious about what he was looking for. Secrets were Gray’s game and they all wanted to know the rules if only to get to know the pony who played those games. Vinyl muttered a few curses about waiting before heading to her room to rest. Octavia walked Raindrops out and wished her well as she flew off for home and her own bed. Octavia looked at the note one last time glad that they hadn’t scared him off before trotting off for bed and resting from all the excitement of the Summer Sun Celebration.

Throughout all the excitement a small portion of the Nightmare cloud managed to keep form even though the blade had pierced and sliced it into nothing but miniscule particles. Weakened and actually frightened of the terrible weapon it looked around for the monster that tried to kill it.

There he was on the floor unconscious. Ripe to be killed… but in its weakened state it couldn’t muster enough force to move far. The damage was too extensive.

“Worthless sword wielder I shall make you suffer but not today… I will have my revenge.”

The smoke caught the first thing it could which was a small beetle infecting it and turning it into a nightmare being as well. It crawled out of the dungeon heading for other areas in order grow back to it’s full power. It was only a matter of time till it returned.

11. Dreamscape

View Online

It had been a harrowing night. Insulted a Nightmare Moon in a way that made me laugh extensively in my mind… up until she slammed me against a wall and tried to stick the keyblade into my head but details aren’t important. I could erase that off the bucket list I created after the first few dream sequences I had. The instances of being told about events that would happen in this world and Earth were thorough. After a couple of days I had figured out all the villains that would appear and when they would appear. I also found out that heartless only trickled into this world because of the extensive light being used to power this place. It also made the heart of this world a difficult place to capture because the light was overly corrosive to the heartless at this point.

“Where the hell am I?”

The entire area around me seemed overly aetherial and magical. I was suspended on a large magical sigil that seemed to radiate light making a solid platform out of that light. In the center of the area was a large desk with an overly comfortable looking armchair. On the desk was the Lexicon waiting for me it seems. I took a seat and finally took a good look around the room for lack of a better term for it. There were thirteen pedestals all around me each holding one of the weapons I had asked for. Only the sixth and twelfth pedestals were highlighted and visible. The thirteenth pedestal was only half lit up while the other half was trapped in dark chains.

“What about the others…?”

I quickly shut up when I saw all the other pedestals were wrapped in dark chains. There were no locks and no discernible way to unlock them. I opened the Lexicon on the desk and a small holographic display opened… showing me my status.

Nebula Gray
Level: 8
Attack: 24
Defense: 37
Magic: 29

Oh neat. I leveled up three times after fighting a giant pureblood heartless and surviving. So I guess that was the reason another pedestal opened up for me to use in battle. So now I have three weapon types to use. Which one was the twelfth...wait. That was the sadistic woman with the lightning powers wasn’t it? I wonder if these weapons influence their wielders. Might as well check through my options now.

I lifted my hoof to summon my new weapons and the kunai blades attached to my hoof. Then the other set attached to my other hoof. It was then that I noticed that I was still pony even in my dream…

‘Did god troll me entirely… I mean I did want a new life… I just didn’t think he would be this thorough. I’m gonna miss having hands now…’

Then I felt movement somewhere. Someone was moving around my dreamscape.

As I looked around I saw a guy sorta just walk out from the darkness. He was dressed in a white shirt, jeans, and he was holding… the X-blade. “What’s the point of this again if I’m not gonna remember everything?”

“Even if you won’t remember in the real world you will here in the dream one.” A voice seemed to speak from the X-blade.

“Fine, bu-” He cut himself off when he spotted me. “Well this is new…”

“Oh look. Somebody popped into my dreams. Hello weary traveler welcome to The Dreamscape your one stop shop for all things that make all your dreams come true. We offer a wide variety of items to delight and inspire. Now who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Hey, X just has me walk around the dreamscape til I wind up somewhere. I have literally no idea where I am or who you are. He makes me train this way just in case.” The guy said.

“That’s wonderful. No really stupendous. I’m touched that somebody would have you come here to train for absolutely no discernable reason. So your name is…?”

“Zeke… Ventral…” He muttered the last name.

“Never heard of you.”

He seemed to sigh in relief. “Well, anyway, what’s your name and what’s with the towers and lexicon?”

“Now I’m ‘Nebula Gray’ I guess. Used to be Jack… something. I’m guess you’re one of those guys he mentioned. I’m sure you can figure out what I am and why I’m here. Probably?”

He looked at me for a moment. “Oh, so there are others like Eclipse out there, huh, how hard did God hit you with the literal stick?”

“Wound up unconscious for twenty seven days after having my wings grow in. Was delusional because I couldn’t see my wounds and I think right now I’m bleeding out in the dungeon of that castle in the forest. You know overall I say a good night and what not.”

“Wow, Eclipse was reborn Twilight Sparkle’s twin in his reflection, went through puberty twice, now… well things are getting hectic in the multiverse now.”

“Neat. I’m calling him Sparkplug the moment I see him then. Either way I’m sure there are loads of questions and a whole lot of problems on your side so why are you here then?”

“I told you, the X-blade, when I sleep has me wander around the dreamscape til I wander into something. Tonight I wandered into here. Usually I find the dreams of worlds or things like that.”

“Super. Well I’m pretty sure I’m dying out there and that’s perfectly fine. I’ve was ready for it the moment the world was gonna end. So any reason I shouldn’t die then?”

“Well for starters, cause it’s a trend so far with all the survivors, you likely caught the eye or eyes of someone, pony? Whatever. Plus I’m pretty sure it’s human nature to keep struggling till all fades to black, right?”

“I’m certain that’s a thing. Damn ponies keep looking at my wings and I still don’t understand the goddamn aesthetics they have. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get back up. So now that that’s settled… Are you gonna be a problem? I’m pretty sure if you are training you’re fighting something really bad…”

“Why would I be the problem? And yeah… Core and the rest of my family, let’s just say that if you see a guy in purple robes and a blank face mask… run. I don’t exactly have my legs in the real world anymore because of that bastard.”

“Nifty. He’s a creature of darkness right?”

“A Nobody that turned himself into the first born emblem heartless, he has an army of… experiments, his own reflections, my family, he’s God’s brother, and who knows who else works for him, but that’s what I generally know.”

“Okay I really don’t want you to visit me in real world moments unless I get something to hide your scent. I mean seriously you smell like half of you is covered in darkness and there’s a weird pit trying to work it’s way into you. Hell I only have this keyblade because I asked for it.”

“So did I.” He said, holding up the X-blade. “But apparently since my darkness and light are balanced, I would have gotten this thing anyway.”

“I only got this.” I summoned my Keyblade. “It smells like a lot of darkness for some reason but I think it can use light spells. For some reason I keep hearing a weird mumbling from time to time.”

“It’s a keyblade of darkness, what you’re hearing is likely the darkness inside it. Dark Keyblades do have light, all real keyblades do, but ones like that one have more darkness forged into them than light. If your heart can’t handle the darkness in it, well, those mumbles may become shouts.”

“It’s funny. All the mumbling says to me is to prank people and ponies whenever and wherever I can. I think the worst it’s been is to hang somebody from a tree covered in honey so far from what I remember. Also I’m thinking the pink one will get it.”

“That sounds like your reflection Discord somehow talking through it, not sure how but I’d look into it.”

“Don’t worry it’s on the bucket list. I’m gonna punch him in the schnoz. I already called Nightmare Moon a whorse so I’ll get to sign two things off the list. Ha!”

“If you say so. Either way, whatever is going on here seems… important?”

“I have no clue. My reflection of Nightmare Moon summoned the Demon Tide and I think when she was purified it turned into the Demon Tower. That was a pain. Though when she slammed me against the floor in her magic I did learn how to use gravity magic… lost a lot of blood for it though. Well win-win I guess.”

“Been there. Well, if you see human, or pony, Heartless or Unversed fusions running around… Core’s been there, so yeah, watch out for those.”

“Quick question. Since he’s a being of darkness can he track when light keyblade users use Doors to Darkness?”

“I don’t know actually. As far as that’s happened to me he either can’t or has no interest in them.”

“I’m gonna err on the side of caution then. Here gimme a sec…” I summon the Lexicon and tap it against his head. “Ok Link established. I can send you messages now.”

“Oh, so something like how we use Keyblades to send codes then, good. Since I won’t remember when I wake up X is gonna have to remind me.”

“No. This is more secure. The less others know about me the better I can move around. From what you’ve said he has his eye on you and whoever else is related to you. I’m gonna try to keep my reflection as safe as possible and not drag it into a war.”

“He’s interested in me because of the X-blade, he only has my family around as ‘workers’ since they’re all criminals of varying degrees. Besides, he has ways of finding worlds regardless, mainly through the people. I think he can tell who isn’t supposed to be there, once he’s got interest, expect your life to suck worse than you are going through now.”

“You are a wealth of charisma and making people feel better. Gold Medal for you. Crap… I’m like level eight at this point. And yes I know my stats I can see my delusions… There’s even a treasure chest nearby which is fucking with me. This is a dream and I’m pretty sure if I open it now it’s gonna end up in my bag and freak me the fuck out.”

“Well, the chest thing sounds like God playing… god, but the way you talk… you do know that when you die here there is no respawn, no ‘load game’, right? This is god’s reality, our reality now. You said it yourself, you’re bleeding out while this dreamscape conversation is happening… you might wanna wake up soon then…”

“Nah. It’s fine.”

“Pride is a killer you know?”

“Pride? Nope. No pride here. It’s more… acceptance I guess. I’m sure I’ll wake up and maybe I’ll live maybe I won’t. No worries about it. I’ve been ready since way back then. No real ties yet remember? I’ve been ready to die for a very long time already. Not killing myself or any suicidal thoughts. Just acceptance.”

“You know…” He started, sitting down. “In my old family, I saw more death than I care to remember. We used corpses for target practice, everywhere we went bodies piled up often in the hundreds. I never killed, but I saw enough of it that when my own uncle branded me with a death mark, saying that unless I join in on the family business, he was gonna personally kill me. I didn’t care, I was gonna die in either a cop vs Ventral shoot out or from that mark either way. Then God came along and now… I have a family, kids, a world that calls me a hero, not caring about my past. Same goes for the other survivors. I realized something then, I had no reason to live on til this happened. Kinda makes you think God didn’t just pick us up because we didn’t kill anyone that day, maybe he picked us up because our happiness wasn’t on earth. Not sure if you even care, but if you don’t, just proves my point, without people, ponies, whatever, without someone to care about you, and you to care about them, the death you end up with is a fate not even a Nobody deserves.”

“Right. Inspiring. You didn’t load any of their weapons did you? I’m pretty sure that’s still accessory to murder. I did work as a cop before. You know what. Don’t answer that. I don’t care. I’ll choose life then.”

“Good, once you got a good thing going for you, protect it, otherwise you’ll lose it faster than you got it.”

“Just make sure none of you warp into my reflection before I set up a safe spot. If he can sense darkness maybe he’ll ignore me for a while because of his blind devotion to that blade.”

“He only wants it cause his… well, you don’t wanna hear it, do you?”

“Is it horribly depressing?”

“His wife was X-blade’s first wielder ever, yeah, he’s that old. She died by an from what I understand, she’s in a place where there was nothing before nothing. A place only a god can reach. He wants to send everything there, not even sure how that logic works, but that’s about it. Guess losing a loved one you don’t make the best life choices after that happens.”

“Well at least he isn’t going after Kingdom Hearts then. You remember there are three ways to open it right?”

“I believe I have one in my hands, right?”

“That’s one. The second was shown at the end of the second game. Feed it hearts and the doors burst open. The third was shown at the end of the first game. Do you remember?”

“A key on each end, right?”

“Specifically a keyblade of light and a keyblade of darkness. If we’re lucky maybe all he can make are darkness keyblades. So long as no one falls to his side or he captures someone who can use a keyblade of light, we’re golden.”

He chuckled. “Wish that were true, his goal, he already has a connection to the place that is true nonexistence, to the Void. With that power, he won’t even need to bother with Kingdom Hearts.”

“You know you should be a motivational speaker. Really you are a bowl of sunshine here. Here I am bleeding out and not dying yet trying to find a hopeful line and you are the one with the dour expression. Congrats Commander you are the epitome of hope.” I clap my hooves together in slow motion to push how gleeful I am at the prospect.

“Just saying it how it is,” He said as he got up. “So you can start taking your life, powers, and combat seriously.” He finished.

“Yeah yeah… Time to wake up. Hopefully I don’t have to deal with this shit. Already I’m working from the ground up. One thing… Don’t send anyone here. That makes it hard to move around undetected for now. I need some time to ease into things before I get to the point where I’m can… survive against whatever it is you decided to fight against.”

“Surviving is all we can hope for.” He said, walking back into the darkness. “Call me if anything happens, or if you reach level eighty, alright?”

I nod and flap my wings and disappear back into my room. After he disappeared I went back to the chest and opened it. Inside was a note… from God.

‘So I may have tweaked a few things for you. What can I say… You are my favorite to tro- help. I’ve made it really hard to find you right now but it’s not permanent besides you are going to help them whenever you can. I’m making sure of it.’

He’s not even giving me a choice in the matter… God damn him. The embrace of sleep soon went away as I once again started to feel the light.

12. Return

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Too much pain in my side… Everything feels numb… Cure spell might help… Legs are numb and jaw feels stiff. I think I’m dying or something. Nope… it’s dying. Definitely dying. If I can cast a cure spell maybe I can get back up. Wings are not moving… This was a horrible idea. Should have accepted the help I was offered. Ok, jaw listen to the remains of my will… please?

The keyblade was summoned in front of me… then fell on my head.

“Ow…”

I focused my will on the part that hit me and willed a cure spell. It took a lot longer than I thought and I was stuck writhing in a pool of my own blood for at least ten minutes. It felt like a day had passed since the moon was shining… wait how am I seeing the moon. Jeez where did that hole come from. Okay cure spell was successful I think. Still can’t feel my hooves but I’m not feeling anemic at least.

“Okay foot you will obey my…”

I start shivering and writhing as the pins and needles attack every section of my hooves. All my hooves are prickling and I’m feeling utter agony. Must keep moving or the feeling will win.

“Stop with the feeling! This is the worst pain ever. EVER!”

After a couple of minutes I finally settled down. My wings don’t have holes in them anymore and my legs stopped bleeding. Now the only problem is that I’m all red and sticky from blood. Nope, nevermind, my legs still feel like jelly.

It takes several minutes for me to find the staircase and my constant stumbling over every single step isn’t helping in the least. Every step feels as though my legs are burning and the use of cure spells isn’t making it any better. I think I liked it better when I was still having delusions. At least then I would be able to walk for more than a few minutes. The constant harshness of my breath is a constant sound in the ruins of the old castle. By the time I reach the top of the stairs from the basement the moon has fully dipped back down below the horizon. This is not ideal but I can’t fall asleep again. I’m not going to accept it.

Another cure spell and my legs are still feeling weak. It isn’t working and this is starting to become unsettling. Do my wings even work at this point?

“Well better to try something rather than nothing,”

The first flap makes me wince. The pain isn’t intense but the constant strain is harrowing. After several moments I’ve worked my way into a rhythm. My flight is shoddy and slightly off kilter but I think it would be sustainable. Of course that’s pushing even my own will. I stumbled outside into the morning sun and squint my eyes just to even see through the light. This is not a good thing. I need sunglasses… and maybe a doctor. A really good doctor. I hope they don’t have glue factories around here.

The remnants of the throne room show shadows of scuffs on the floor from other ponies rushing around. That must mean that someone dealt with Nightmare Moon while I distracted the heartless. The ponies around here have no way to fully defend themselves though anything can destroy the heartless.

The keyblade purifies the hearts and also kills the heartless. They would reform from the ambient darkness and remain lost to the shadows without intervention of a keyblade. From what I can tell almost all the other wielders and masters decided to give the heroes of this world a keyblade but why does it feel for completely arbitrary reasons. I will have to choose some to follow me into this lifestyle but I’d rather not.

“If anyone ever finds out about me I’ll just make them a keyblade wielder as well. At least they’ll have to keep me a secret. God that is a horrible idea especially when I don’t have much in terms of fighting skill. I’m untrained and didn’t accept help. Pride why you do this to me!?”

Before I moved on I frowned when I noticed that a keyhole was shining over the remnants of the thrones. It took several minutes of maneuvering to even line myself right. The beam of light shot out of my keyblade and locked the seal hiding the keyhole from any heartless. I’m still feeling annoyed by how my body is acting.

My mock anger froze over as I remembered exactly who we had talked about. A being only known as Core. I offered a service but luckily that won’t come for a while. There are still things I have to do before that day happens. I need to try out the use of my gummi ship. Maybe I can finally see a save point. Also that ship is gonna be my new home hopefully. I may need to find more gummi blocks to make more adjustments mostly cause I remembered that you never needed wings and they could just look like bricks with engines on it.

“Gotta have some style maybe…”

The entire time I’ve been flying I’ve had to stop on tree branches to catch my breath and it’s been slow going. I don’t have any idea why this is happening. I should really get to the hospital. Does Ponyville have one? Gotta look for one again and hope I don’t run into another pony just yet. That would be awkward.

I think it’s been over five hours and the sun has barely reached noon. I don’t see much of a weather patrol right now so that means everything is still going fine then. There are a few ponies off in the distance… wait. I’m covered in blood still...Stream… stream… stream. Water need now before I make it there.

“Let’s see… ah there one is. Ok… I just barely edge in and hope no one can see me. I still feel numb so I can’t get into the deep end. Remember that brain and we’ll be fine.”

I see a small cottage off in the distance. That’s… someone who’s important. Yeah I think so and no one is around. I slowly lower myself near the edge of the stream and dip most of my body while keeping my wings flapping. God this is uncomfortable. Let’s see ears peeled and luckily nothing is approaching.

‘This is really hard… is there a water spell yet in the Kingdom Hearts series or is only ice. Maybe I could use the sitar instead. I’ve gotten a few more ideas what happens in Kingdom Hearts thanks to god’s deal and I know more or less what happens Equestrian wise as well. I think hindsight is telling me I should have also asked if there are side effects to using this much magic to heal wounds.’

It took a few minutes but enough blood at least washed off so that I wouldn’t be stared at for too long. I also finally noticed that the wounds that I now do see are still healing only slower than I thought they would be. I don’t think my body can handle this much strain. As soon as I can I’m gonna find the Mysterious Tower and see if he’ll be my master. But… I would need him to do something to train me quickly… I hate asking others for help.

“But I’m running out of options. I can barely take out a Large Body and that had me eating a stone wall after one sucker punch. First things first though and that’s a hospital. Besides… this is the last day before heartless will show up.”

I think so long as I can lead them somewhere else it should be fine. They instinctively come after keyblade wielders due to their need for strong hearts. I know I have one even if it feels… muted. I flap my wings harder and float out of the water and back on the solid ground. My entire body still feels as though I’m suffering through some weird acupuncture ritual. My legs are spasming as I let the water dry off. I can’t effectively shake myself dry just yet. I had enjoyed the shower so much and less than a day later I needed three more.

“This is going to be hard to explain to anyone. Gray, just get it over with and stop fucking procrastinating.”

I look around and only notice animals. Though there is this little bunny looking at me for some reason. It’s staring into my soul forcing me to crane my head around to make sure no one else is around. It looks important and it seems to be sitting on a bear. Right… that’s something important and they stay with… the yellow one. Crap…

I quickly flap my wings and jerk my head around. I already notice that the stream has a lot of globules of red floating down it. Let’s see… hospital… hospital…

“Town hall… no… Library… no… farm… NO… Ah there it is!”

I zoom off in the most uncoordinated way possible keeping somewhat low so that if my wings do lock up I won’t instantly die. I’ve also noticed that there’s been this weird rainbow trail flowing around. I think it’s been following… me… Double crap! I manage to make it to the hospital and flap inside. I think the orderlies started to yell at me about not flying in a hospital when they noticed that my head was covered in blood. Then one of the nurses fainted and the other ran off for the doctor.

‘This is my life now. Causing mares to scream whenever I make an entrance.’

I wonder if this is what my father meant when he said I would knock the ladies out of their socks. Now none of the ponies wore socks but this was close… probably. That’s kind of depressing if this is what he meant. Either way I sat on the floor attempting to get my legs to stop being numb. Fat chance of course but I was nothing if not persistent. The doctor finally came in, took one look at me, and screamed for the orderlies to do their job. I was instantly wheeled into emergency and I think they wanted to sedate me…

“Wait… what?”

A cyan mare glided around outside of the hospital followed by a yellow mare. Each kept flapping almost in perfect tandem to remain at their height. The latter had seen the injured stallion and noted that he was covered in blood and hid beneath Barry the bear. When he flew off she managed to get someone’s attention. Fluttershy was mortified that somepony was in that condition while Rainbow Dash was just surprised he managed to fly at all.

“Flutters did you see what happened to him? Nopony gets those wounds just by flying around. He must have been in a scrap. Not even I’ve ever gotten to the point where I look like that. Though, of course, I’m too awesome to be hit that badly.”

“I-I-I don’t know. Angel just told me something was wrong in the stream and when I went out with Barry to check we all saw him just trying to clean up in the stream. He couldn’t move his hooves either the entire time so I thought his legs were broken. It was horrifying.”

“Don’t worry I doubt he would have done anything bad especially if he looked like that. Though do you think we should tell somepony about it?”

“Why? He hadn’t done anything wrong.”

“Oh I know that but I remember hearing that one mare… what was her name? Uh… Octavia. Yeah that mare. She was asking the guards about a thestral if I remember right.”

“Really? Well I suppose it couldn’t hurt.”

“Okay then I’ll go stop by their house before I go check over on Applejack. I think she’s having that new girl over today at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Should we tell our friends about it?”

“I guess. It just doesn’t seem that important though. But if you think we should.”

“Oh I don’t mean we should if you don’t wanna. I understand. Sorry.”

“Flutters one of these days we’re gonna get you to be more confident.”

“I know.”

“Don’t be like that. Look you’re braver than you know. You can do it.”

“Thanks Rainbow. I’ll try.”

The two mares said goodbye as Fluttershy got ready to head into town to buy her own groceries while Rainbow Dash zoomed straight to Octavia’s house. Luckily the mare in question was home. When she gave her the news Octavia’s eyes flew wide open. She rushed back inside grabbing Vinyl who was still lounging around gathering inspiration for her next gig. The two raced off somehow managing to close the door and leaving Dash confused and dizzy. While the two couldn’t find Sunshower because she was working over in Cloudsdale to get ready for the impromptu rain later that day. And all throughout that entire debacle Gray assumed that he was still in the clear while he laid unconscious and waited for the doctors to finish whatever they were attempting to do.

13. Recovery

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When I woke up I found that I was sitting in a bed with the ability that I could actually move my limbs. Good… that was a real trial and might have been bad in a long run. I couldn’t figure out why though. Magic?

“Ah you’re awake. Seems like you’ve been through a wringer. I mean seriously you’ve been through the wringer.”

“Uh… you are?”

“Oh right sorry ‘bout that. I’m Dr. Horse. And you are in Ponyville General. I’m sure you’re wondering about a lot of things but I think we need to address something more important. Right now we’ve been fixing you up and we’ve noticed that your body has been healing wrong. Whoever the unicorn that’s been healing you up is they have been doing it wrong. You’re so full of magical buildup that your body is slowly breaking up. I’ve managed to get most of it out of you but you need to stop this pony from healing you anymore until they actually know the spell right.”

I blinked in confusion. My spells were harming me on a higher level? Ok so need to find that magic teacher or finally get to that master I was thinking about. If Yen Sid exists in this universe maybe I could convince him… Wait, gotta say something.

“Right. I kind of got reckless. I needed to help out an old friend. Before I came here I got him to safety.”

“You did? Not important. We got you fully healed but you should really rest. You’ve been through a harrowing experience. Seriously I’ve never seen somepony lose that much blood and you managed to keep moving enough to get to safety.”

“I’ve always been pretty hardy I guess.”

“Hardy!? You barely managed to survive. Any longer and you would have been dead. Sweet Tartarus stallion, you lost more blood than is usually in a ponies body and are managing to get back up within the day. I understand the healing spell managed to keep your wounds regenerating but you shouldn’t even be alive at this point.”

I think I lost all focus and just stared at the doctor. Something was wrong with my head at that point… I was disappointed? Christ that’s weird. I’m not suicidal but I’m disappointed. Did I get a warrior’s background? No. No more thinking about it. It’s not important. Right now what is important is that I get out of here and make my way to see those ponies I sent the note to. I shook my head and pushed myself out of the bed and landed on my hooves. They still felt numb but that quickly passed. I needed an expert and I needed a master. One in this world who won’t immediately send me out to fight a war…

“You really shouldn’t be standing.”

“I shouldn’t be doing a lot of things and what I shouldn’t be doing is breaking my word. It’s not a Pinkie promise but I think I should keep my word.”

Thank you God for sending me memories of my world so I know what happens in this world. The doctor immediately flinched when he heard the words ‘Pinkie Promise’ and took a few steps back. I hated to use that as an excuse when I knew that I wasn’t in the best of shape. Apparently all the scars I got from my battle with the Demon Tide were healing and the magic used to heal me started to break my body for some reason. Another reason to get to Yen Sid or the same, it doesn’t matter. I needed to leave this planet and I had a ship to do so. But first I want to see those ponies I met.

“Here. Sign this release form and I’ll let you go. I’d rather not have that pink menace in my hospital when ponies here need to sleep. On another note, two ponies came to see you while you were under.”

“White unicorn and Gray earth pony?”

“Yes. You know them?”

“I’ve met them we are… acquaintances. Was anything wrong with them?”

“They seemed distraught when they saw you but they kept quiet overall.”

“That sounds bad. Is that bad?”

“It is bad.”

“That is bad.”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

“Okay well I’ll need to go see them. Did you see my saddlebags?”

He hoofed over the saddlebags and led me out of the hospital. I saw a few of the nurses stare at me. Either from fear or awe I didn’t know since I was managing to trot out at a brisk canter. One particular earth pony mare with an outline of a red cross filled and surrounded by hearts on her flank handed me an apple on my way out.

“Make sure you eat something. It’s like you haven’t eaten anything for a few days.”

I had actually eaten grass so I didn’t fully succumb to hunger and while I was still full I noticed that I was still always hungry. I really wanted to eat some meat… fish mind you. I took the apple and faked a smile. It was one I always knew how to do and practiced while I was still fully human. I think she noticed it didn’t reach my eyes and frowned.

“Thanks.”

She stared at me and tapped me on the shoulder and hugged me. The doctor didn’t say anything but for some reason hugged me too. These ponies noticed way too much. I sighed and allowed myself a genuine smile. It’s hard to not at least give some earnest smile and when the two noticed they patted me on the back and sent me on my way.

I ate the apple and trotted off through the town. It was the afternoon and a lot of the ponies who were still out and about looked at me. I remained confident… or as confident as I could be when I had just came out of a near induced coma. My legs were still awkward but didn’t impede my progress. The ponies around me returned back to their activities but every odd couple of minutes one would stare at me.

When I made it to the split house I heard a sorrowful tune coming from a string instrument. I had no idea why they were so sad but I knocked on the door and the music broke. What seemed like an angry stomp came to the door furiously opening up to show a very distraught Octavia. She glared angrily at me but the double take she elicited turned to a sorrowful smile. I think she wanted to hug me but she refrained from moving forward. Most likely the idea of high society probably still ingrained in her mind but she took a few steps back and let me in. Surprisingly, the two other mares I met, Vinyl and Raindrops, were sitting on the couch with a dour frown plastered in their faces which changed when I stepped into the room.

“Hello. I’m finally back. Sorry for the wait.”

They looked incredulously at me and waited for me to say something else. I didn’t though mostly because I had no idea what I could say about it. I was injured fighting heartless and Nightmare Moon. That’s a perfect way to explain who I am but at the same time I couldn’t really lie. The first time I did I used Timber Wolves as an excuse. I don’t think they would accept that as the reason this time.

“Um… so how are you three?”

“How are we!? What the buck happened to you? Octavia nearly lost her mind when Rainbow Dash told us you were covered in blood and flew off to Ponyville General.”

“To be fair it was my blood.”

“And that makes it better!?”

“Not really… But at least no one else got hurt. Right?”

Their eyes were staring at me and I noticed that they were all sad but they didn’t say anything. I didn’t like not saying anything but… what was I gonna tell them? I sat down in front of them and they all sat down on the couch and peered at me. It was uncomfortable and really awkward. I thought really hard about what to say and I sighed out loud. I could tell them a story which isn’t a full lie but something the jedi might find palatable.

“Well… maybe I should explain some things huh? I was told not to really say much about these things.”

That caught their attention and they waited for a while. I gathered my thoughts and sighed a lot because I didn’t really want to say something.

“You see… A while back I was tasked with dealing with monsters that hide in the darkness. I’m not exactly a guard but I am someone who deals with the darkness that hides in the world. It’s not a glamorous task but one I was chosen for. In fact, I was the only one they could choose. So my patron decided to give me the task because I was… the most trustworthy. I am not to tell anyone more than that but trust me when I say that it’s my job to deal with the monsters in the night.”

I think I broke them because all their jaws were slacked. I actually stepped down and walked to the closest one. Raindrops didn’t react when I shook my hoof in front of her face. I closed Vinyl’s mouth which fell open again. Octavia had a twitch and her mouth was closed in a grim frown. I sat back down and waited for their reply. They didn’t react.

“That’s pretty bad right?”

Vinyl was the first to react moving her mouth like a fish. Octavia kept twitching while Raindrops stared off into the distance. I don’t think they knew what to say about that. I guess the guards here are in more domestic and not used to actual combat. From my dreams I’ve noticed that most of the time they fight with pastries. I don’t understand why because not everyone can be won over by friendship. Then again, I was human and I knew exactly what it meant to fight for something to the bitter end. I’m not in the best mindset for this world. I think the others from what I heard immediately turned to combat and teaching their worlds combat. That was the context that I got from my conversations.

“Is that what happened to you? What the buck could do that to you? The doctor even said you shouldn’t be alive anymore.”

Vinyl was the most vocal and I think she couldn’t believe I was alive. Octavia bit her hoof and remained silent allowing her to speak. Raindrops appeared to be tearing up but kept it from overwhelming her sensibilities somewhat. She wasn’t doing too well.

“A monster. It was dangerous and I dealt with it. When Nightmare Moon escaped it found the perfect time to escape from it’s confines. It’s gone.”

She looked away and I think Octavia found her voice. Well it sounded like a voice because she mumbled something before coughing. She was trying and Vinyl kept quiet waiting for her to answer.

“And you do this often?”

“Yeah. There have been… four incidents. Three of them were minor and taken care of before they could turn into something actually threatening. The fourth incident was when Nightmare Moon was released. I’m just chosen to do the job. Not a chosen one mind you. Just the pony picked for the job.”

She mumbled some more things but kept quiet. Raindrops was the next one to actually speak. She was silently bawling though for some reason it didn’t affect her speech. Neat trick and very useful should tears overwhelm others.

“Must you do this? Isn’t there anyone else who could do this instead of you?”

“No. I checked. No one else can do it.”

She went silent as well and the three seemed to want to discuss something amongst themselves. I didn’t get up though because I didn’t know if that would piss them off. The moment I leave the house I’m gonna see if I can find the gummi ship then I’ll zoom around for a bit.

“Can you give us a chance to talk about this Gray?”

“Sure. I’m just gonna step outside.”

I did as I said and walked out the door. As I closed the door I saw a save spot near their front door. A small debate went off in my head. Most of my head wanted to leave and only a bit of me wanted to stay. I didn’t want to deal with this. I didn’t lie but I didn’t tell the truth. This is… disturbing. Won’t tell until I’m caught. The save point is off to the side and seems to be out of sight except for if they are moving up to the home. Time to wait.

“I wish we had Applejack at this point. She’s good at figuring out if others are lying.”

“Raindrops, you know she was busy, getting ready for Applebuck season. Do you really want to deal with that barrels of apples.”

“No but maybe we should have asked. It seems like this was really important to him.”

“Do you think he’s lying Tavi?”

“No. He was really conflicted about talking about it. Still that makes this hard. What should we do about actually making friends with him? He’ll probably disappear on these missions and there is a chance that we’ll never see him. This is gonna be rough if we get close. So reckless or let go?”

“Seriously? Reckless of course Tavi.”

“... I’ll go reckless. He deserves somepony to be by his side. I’m more worried about what he’s been fighting. What could have done that much damage to him? I’m curious.”

“Ugh… I’ll go along with this then. Reckless it is. Remember ladies we are risking a lot because of this. Hopefully we’re not gonna get more ponies to join this idea.”

“We’re still going on about it?”

“Well I wouldn’t mind Vinyl.”

“Right right. Well let’s get him settled in. I wonder what he’s gonna do before his next mission.”

“Let’s just worry about getting him back on his feet.”

The door opened up and I walked back in. That save point was still there. I needed to look around for other areas with a glowing save point. Either way the mares in front of me seemed to be in better spirits but I have no idea why.

“Everything ok here? Hope I haven’t scared all of you with my stories.”

“Not at all… We were just surprised that’s all. Is there anything you wanted to do before you have to… leave.”

“I want to see Canterlot before I go.”

14. Trip

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I’m regretting deciding to leave for Canterlot because one particular pony was in tow with me. Octavia had made it a point to come along with me just to make sure that I wasn’t going to get in trouble. Raindrops needed to deal with more weather and Vinyl was working on her next set. She kept a stern eye on me the entire ride on the train which was… slow. When we descended from the train it was the afternoon and I managed to catch a long nap in the train.

The two of us trotted off the platform and into the town proper. What I saw were the constant traipsing of unicorns with their noses high in the air. I felt a growl building in my chest and I merely looked around at the multitude of shops. Each are quite nice and overly fanciful. Octavia noted the music shops leading me within to check them out. She wasn’t looking at the equipment though as I noticed that her eyes always settled back on me.

“I’m not going to leave anytime soon.”

“I know. Let’s just keep on moving. There’s still more to see in Canterlot and I want to be the mare to show you around. Got it.”

She got up in my face and pushed her muzzle into mine making sure I was paying attention. That made me nervous and I was internally panicking. Having a girl in my face was not doing well for my own emotions. I’m still not used to having feelings for ponies and I am still getting used to looking at mares that way. She stepped back and the red on her face betrayed her emotions but a quick cough caused her frown to return.

“Sure. Lead on then.”

The path through the upper echelons of high society were enlightening and truly made me appreciate the struggles of high society. I then proceeded to mentally puke from the load of bullshit that nearly escaped my mind. Octavia also seemed on edge especially when we met with two unicorns named Jet Set and Upper Crust. After all that I needed a drink or something to stop the horror I’ve had to hear. I’m pretty sure they are unicorn supremacists or at least the lite snack version. It was disgusting and the way they spoke to Octavia was… wrong. I nearly smacked that shithead upside his head just for speaking but she stopped me.

We walked off and looked back around the city. She seemed contemplative about things but was broken out when Raindrops flew down to us. Octavia looked at a small watch she had in her pack and gasped.

“I’m sorry you two I must get ready for practice. The Grand Galloping Gala is coming up and I want to prepare as much as possible. You got it from here Raindrops?”

“Yeah. It’s time for us to fly. See ya later Octavia.”

“All three of you planned this out didn’t ya?”

“Kind of. We only managed to get the bare bones. I’m here for the afternoon boss colt. I’ll be handling the aerial tour. Now follow me and don’t slow down.”

She took off flying far above the clouds and I already felt fatigue. Octavia walked around a lot and in doing so I was walking around a lot. I slept the same time as the other three unfortunately which meant my sleep schedule was messed up. Again.

“Where we going?”

“We’ll be heading over to the pegasi district. There are a few specialty stores there. We’ll see if there’s anything you might like for later.”

I merely nodded. I doubted that I could hold on to any cloud furniture inside the gummi ship but I acquiesced to the act. They needed to see I wasn’t going to run off to die right away. Still don’t know why they all decided to switch off between each other. As we reached the area I noticed a lot of ponies in the area. All of them were pegasi of different colors and sizes. A lot of them were mares and a lot of them momentarily stared at me when I finally folded in my wings. Raindrops immediately stood next to me and snorted. I think I lost myself in a blinking loop. Gray.exe was not found at all at that point but I continued following alongside Raindrops.

“Something wrong?”

“Nothing. We just need to find a few things for later k?”

That smile indicated something entirely different than what I usually understood. I’m pretty sure from that one book I read a while back, back in Baltimare that when mares want to protect their mate they act more protective. I quickly pushed the thought out of my head more due to the worry that I was going to be a piece of meat. I don’t know if it was the stallion’s part of my mind but I was slightly okay with the idea. I mentally slapped myself and ignored that voice from trying to sway me into doing something like that.

“What are we getting?”

“What?”

“What are we getting here Raindrops?”

“O-oh right. We’re gonna find you some enchanted things for a cloud house you may decide to get.”

“Well I don’t mind but I kind of live in dark places. It’s a thestral thing.”

I chuckled a little and Raindrops looked at me. I think she was lost in thought because she focused on me a lot. I tapped her shoulder and she instinctively flinched and blushed heavily. She looked back at me and returned back to checking over the furniture. There were several things made for the other thestrals including special gem based equipment that created shadow based lights to keep their eyes from getting hurt. I was really tired at that point and bought a pair of sunglasses for about two bits. 135 bits left to my name. I should think about getting a job in Equestria but if I leave the planet that would make things really hard to actually accomplish.

I learned a bit more about Raindrops and her arguments with another pony by the name of Clear Skies and how often they tried to make his name into a comedy skit. I still can’t tell by name whether a pony is male or female. I’m assuming there is a way to tell but for the life of me I can’t figure it out. Every couple of minutes I’m pretty sure that she purposely brushed against my side. While it was disguised by us trying to weave through the hoof traffic, she would make sure to rub against me whenever she did. Everytime she did I would look her in the eye. She would turn red in response. I smiled and let her get as close as she wanted. It wasn’t bothering me but I still felt as though my own heart was muted.

When the sun started setting we went back to the main road of the capital that connects the castle with the train station. When we got there I noticed Vinyl had trotted down and found the two of us. Raindrops quickly excused herself due to help with clearing some clouds early in the morning leaving me to the mercy of Vinyl.

“Cool shades. Looks like you know what it means to be cool then, don’t ya?”

She flipped her own shades over and pushed me into following her. I didn’t have the heart to say I just needed them for the mornings or maybe it was the spine to say it. I was tired but not to the point of wanting to pass out. She led the way to a small cafe where we sat down and drank some fancy coffee whose name escapes me at this point. I was back to awake time but I felt a little out of it.

“See we have an goal tonight and it’s to see how well you party. I know a club we’re going to tonight and we’re gonna see how you do.”

“Who’s ‘we’ and are you performing?”

“Tonight’s my night off. And by ‘we’ I mean the two of us.”

“So what are you saying?”

I knew what she meant. She seemed like the one who didn’t beat around the bush and I knew she knew I knew that. That was confusing. Either way she removed her glasses and stared me down.

“I think you know. Three mares in your life and each of them want your attention. What do you think it means.”

“I’m guessing you’re the one who wants the all of the above option?”

I think my bluntness made her fumble her drink but she caught it at the last second. She didn’t seem the type to actually blush but she did regardless. I looked her down as she calmed herself and drank her coffee in silence. We remained quiet for the most part but eventually the coffee was gone. I paid for us spending another six bits. 129 bits left to my name. That job is looking very enticing right now.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

She got close to me just like Raindrops did. I’m also guessing she’s the one who doesn’t care much for societal compunctions or public displays of affection. I debated with myself on morality and society. I was raised in a four member family. A mom, dad, and sibling were my only idea of a family. No divorces or adoptions and the only problem of my 'family' was that we drifted apart and stopped talking to each other. I was in a new reality and I was kind of given a chance for to have something here in this world. It was their customs and how they lived in their world.

“Quick question Vinyl.”

“Shoot.”

“Did you girls decide on the all of the above option?”

She nearly tripped when I placed my wing under her. Crap feels tingly when somepony touches my wing. There’s shivers going down my spine. Is this a thing? Damn this is uncomfortable but not really bad. She quickly pushed herself back on her feet and placed her glasses on hiding her eyes. She’s really good at hiding her emotions. Her tone sounds a little dismissive but it’s quavering which means she wants it to happen.

“What makes you think we want that? I mean you just worked hard for one of us for no reason and saved the other two of us from a horrible pony without asking for anything. The only problem is that somepony has such a dangerous lifestyle that we don’t even know whether or not it would work. What could possibly make you think we would want that?”

“Nothing really. Just wondering if I say yes how would you react. I mean we really should actually get to know each other but it would have to wait until I get back from meeting with my master.”

“You’re leaving?”

“Yeah I’m going then coming back. There were some problems with my training apparently. He taught me something but never finished teaching me control. It was the reason that I was in the hospital.”

“I see. So you’re of the all of the above option then?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok. Let’s just head for the club. We’ll talk about this later.”

I don’t know why she was so curt about this but I didn’t want to disturb her from her thoughts just yet. Throughout the entire trek she never faced me and kept her glasses on the entire trip. The few times I managed to sneak a look at her face she had a smile on her face that seemed to be brimming with confidence. It was that kind of smile when somebody got their way and wanted to smugly gloat about it.

The club was interesting and I did manage to not make a complete fool of myself. As it turns out even if you sucked at dancing on two feet having four legs doesn’t instantly make you better at dancing. Instead of having two left feet I now have four left feet. Vinyl didn’t seem to mind if only because I managed to keep up with her throughout the dance floor. I did catch a few more ponies staring at me and a few mares tried to pull me away from Vinyl. It got so bad I had to drag her away from the club before she broke another mare’s face.

We were going to take a train but I knew that it was too late for that. I picked her up in my hooves and dipped into a shadow filled area. I think it startled her too much that she nearly choked the life out of me. We ended up back in Ponyville within a few minutes instead of a few hours. I let her down where we were forced to walk through Ponyville. She kept a bit of distance while walking through town.

“Wanna keep this secret till we figure some things out.”

I merely nodded. This was one of the complex rituals of this world and I didn’t want to intrude on the process. I was also worried that these three were gonna try to add more. I didn’t know much about herds in most species. The only idea I had were lions and their prides usually had eleven lioness to one lion. That was the breadth of my expertise on these matters.

“I have to get ready some things to leave Vinyl. Think you three will be fine without me for a bit?”

“Sh-yeah. We’re independent mares Gray. We have our own lives to live and all that. We’ll survive without ya around.”

“Well here’s your home. While I don’t want to intrude I must get ready. Wish the other two goodbye for me. I’ll send a letter when I’m done with what I’m doing.”

She came up to me but stopped in front of me. I didn’t know what to do about that but I shut my thoughts about leaving right away and gave her a wing hug. I think those were well received by pegasi based on what I saw in Canterlot. She went shock stiff but eventually managed a hug back. I wasn’t ready for anything more intimate but I knew it was on the table. I dipped into the shadows making my way towards the train station. I found the first save area and stepped on the light. I don’t think ponies noticed me anymore when I did which was confusing. Warping into the gummi ship I saw that it was pre-built with an engine already. Making my trip into space much easier at least. I turned on the ship with the giant button meant for on and I felt the entire ship warp into space. It was time to find the Mysterious Tower and meet with Yen Sid. God save me if I can’t fly this ship.

Vinyl stepped into her house only to find a cavalcade of ponies all in her home alongside Octavia and Raindrops for a Pinkie style party. Pinkie Pie looked around confused and slightly miffed startling every pony present.

“Where is he?”

“Huh?”

“Where is HE?”

“He left to meet with his master… Said it was a long trip.”

Pinkie Pie groaned in defeat and sulked a bit before moving the entire party outside for the night. That left three very confused mares wondering how she managed that before excusing their minds from sanity and forgetting it ever happened.

“So Vinyl what happened? Where did he go?”

“Well… he said he was heading out to handle some things with his master. Said something about his training not being right.”

“Did he have to leave now? I mean we barely got to know him though admittedly he was really quiet during our little meetings.”

“I heard Raindrops. You were curling up to him weren’t you?”

“Right Octavia and you were the perfect picture of demure. I heard how in his face you got. Any closer and you would have stolen his lips.”

The two were nearly face to face both a bit perturbed at each other’s antics. Ironically, it was Vinyl who stopped the eventual fight with her next choice of words.

“He’s open to the idea of herd relationship. Managed to talk him into it, Tavi.”

“What!? How did you do that?”

“My charming personality of course. This flank of mine always catches the stallion’s eyes. I just showed off some dance moves and bam, he agreed on the spot.”

“Let me guess. You decided to just blurt out what we were thinking and he decided to agree because of it.”

“Tavi!”

“Yup thought so. Well I’m not mad about it. What about you Raindrops?”

“I’m fine with it. What if we aren’t the only ponies to get his attention?”

“We’ll say we’ll accept maybe three more ponies and only three more ponies.”

“Vinyl, why are you thinking we should add more.”

“Come on Tavi. A herd should be a bit bigger. Remember safety in numbers. Besides if his lifestyle is what it is we’re gonna need some more support to get through this. The more of us around might make him decide to settle down. It’s not the best idea but it’s an idea we might be able to enforce so long as we work together.”

“Are we gonna leave that decision to him?”

“I’ll say we trust him with that. We trust him maybe he’ll trust us with more about himself. I noticed that he always kept quiet more about his own personal life than general topics. We do this we might get closer.”

“Raindrops, I know we should but what if we don’t like what’s gonna come out of this? Do we really need to know everything?”

“Octavia, we already chose reckless as our thing. I know it’s a big stretch but he’s been quite kind with us. He didn’t lie to us either and tried to tell us as much as was possible. That means, at least, that he feels something for the three of us. We’ll get closer to him on a more emotional level when he gets back from meeting with his master.”

“I know. I’m just worried. He came back to Ponyville covered in blood and with four almost useless legs. What happens next time he come back. Will he be missing a wing? An eye? It’s the not knowing that gets to me.”

“It’ll be fine. He knows what’s waiting for him now and I’m sure he’s looking forward to getting to know us better.”

“That does mean he wants to date first right Vinyl?

“Yeah Tavi. He seems to take thing slowly. While I find that boring I’m gonna make an exception this once.”

The three mares nodded and each went to their respective beds. Raindrops, of course, left for her own home while the other ponies of Ponyville partied throughout the night courtesy of the peppy pink party pony placating plenty of ponies in powerful pounces.

“Woo! Alliteration!”

Pinkie screamed out to the heavens while a shooting star sailed across the night sky. A certain demon ship named Diablos flew off in search of a master.

15. P.O.V.

View Online

Pinkie was a bit livid at this point. A pony didn’t come to their party and she couldn’t make them smile. It was time to make specialty sweets with Applejack and that at least raised her mood. While there were a few things going on at least she could be happy making snacks with one of her friends.

(Raindrop’s Tale)

It took several hours for the ponies of ponyville to fully barf the baked bads away. Forever know as the Baked Bads Bonanza left the ponies wary of any sweets from that day. Nurse Redheart had pulled a triple shift at this point making sure everypony finally emptied themselves from the hazardous material.

“Who the buck let’s an overworked pony make desserts. We’ve had over twelve cases in the last couple of hours and we’re still nowhere close to getting these ponies back on their feet.”

Redheart went back to patient zero and helped clean up the buckets that were created and made sure she would get back on her feet soon.

“Pinkie, what have we learned from all this?”

“Make sure the ingredients are the right ingredients.”

Redheart merely patted her on the head and continued her rounds to deal with epidemic. Pinkie was only one of the many victims of the incident. Raindrops, unfortunately, was afflicted by the baked bads. She was not having a good day. Due to the stomach pains she was missing a day of work which was something she hated to do.

“Redheart… I need another bucket.”

This was only the tip of the iceberg for Raindrops while she got better.

(Vinyl’s Tale)

Vinyl had made the trip over to Manehattan checking out one of her usual hangouts. Most were places that she worked for late night shows at random. Most of her money came out of Canterlot where the stuck up ponies paid for the real entertainment to let loose. She cringed at all the moments of the nobles dancing like fools and quickly purged them from her mind. This particular party was being thrown for the Wonderbolts Captain, Spitfire.

“So how are you enjoying the party?”

“Pretty chill place here. Good atmosphere and decent tunes make this a happening spot. Though the dancing could be better.”

“Well yeah. A lot of these ponies were meant for flight not walking. So are you gonna grace us with your skills this night?”

“I’ll think about it. I need to unwind sometimes.”

“I heard you unwound with a pony awhile back. How’d that go for ya?”

“Fine.”

Vinyl immediately wanted to shut herself in the booth to avoid talking about details. Wonderbolts were usually really chatty about accomplishments. That was until Spitfire screamed out.

“What the buck do you think you’re doing Soarin? Who in Tartarus is that?”

Vinyl looked on as she saw Soaring, Vice Captain of the Wonderbolts embraced in a random ponies arms. He had a bunch of lip prints over his face and seemed both nervous and unsure at the same time. She wondered if the rumors of them being an item were true. She also wondered if he was going to survive.

“I’m outta here. Buck off Soarin!”

“Wait come back!”

Vinyl stared at the dance floor and noticed every other pony was unsure whether to keep dancing or not. Sighing to herself she got into the booth knocking the other DJ out of the way and got everypony’s attention.

“Don’t worry folks DJ-PON3 has got the grooves to get you back on to your hooves. Now let’s crank that bass up!”

The wubs were in full effect and the ponies on the dance floor continued on like nothing even happened. The thoughts that swirled in her brain were as complex and mysterious as any others and nopony would ever guess what was going on in her mind.

‘I wonder if the Hayburger will still be open after this…’

(Octavia’s Tale)

Octavia had made her way back into Canterlot to get to the Music Hall to check out some things for one of her composer friends. They annoyed her to no end and waited for the place to open. The problem was that they started painting the hall that very day. One particular unicorn was in charge of it. She wore a green hat and a red smock while she continued painting the main hall.

“Um… excuse me Miss. How much longer will you be painting the hall?”

“Well I think it might take me one more day before I’m satisfied with the last coat of paint. I don’t wanna miss a spot. So who are ya?”

“Oh apologies. My name is Octavia Melody I’m here to check on the progress for a small concert that’s being held here.”

“Ah I see. Name’s Fresh Coat. They hired me last second and it’s been a nightmare. These Canterlot unicorns have been a bit… unpleasant lately. Here I am trying to work and then this idiot comes up and tried to touch my flank. Made sure they regretted that. Am I right?”

“Uh sure. What happened to him?”

“Him?”

Octavia blinked a bit but shut her mouth though the small meep was audible. Fresh Coat merely laughed and brushed it off.

“Don’t worry bout it. It’s flattering but she wasn’t my type, They got to earn my affection.”

“R-right.”

“You know it’s weird when somepony thinks that a little physical contact is all you need to make a relationship. You gotta make a connection instead of rushing off into a relationship. Though I guess for some ponies some pretty words are all you need to fall for each other huh?”

“Um? I just wanted to know about the hall…”

Fresh Coat gasped and blushed in embarrassment. The paint brush held in her levitation field fell back into the paint can somehow making sure that the paint didn’t fly out of the can.

“Sorry about that. I ramble whenever I have an audience when I paint. Bad habit of mine I’m trying to break.”

“It’s fine. I guess I could relate to some of that.”

“Oh yeah? In what ways Octavia.”

“Met a stallion. He was kind enough to save me and my roommate one night. We both got to know him a bit better but we found out he has a dangerous job. He’s kind of like one of the guards in the palace but not affiliated with them. My roommate managed to get him to agree to a herd situation but I’m not so sure about it.”

“How come? Sounds like you got the dashing hero type. Well at least you didn’t sleep with him just cause he saved your life.”

“Yeah. When we met with him that night we thought he might be one of those stallions but he surprised us entirely.”

“Really? Now I’ve heard everything. Sounds like a catch.”

“I guess… It’s just when he went off to his job we found out he had to fly himself to the hospital… covered in blood… nearly broken legs… It was horrifying.”

Octavia let a few tears break through but held it together. She was stronger than that. Fresh Coat was a bit more apprehensive but the gleam in her eye showed that she was interested in the story.

“Damn. Sounds hardcore. I bet he told you what happened and bragged all about it.”

“That’s the thing. He was reluctant to talk about it and kept it to a very vague explanation. All we know is that he’s been partially trained for it and is the best they found at the time. Could you believe those foolish ponies picking one pony and barely training him for something like that. It’s infuriating that they wouldn’t teach him better.”

Fresh Coat placed her hoof against her muzzle quieting her down. She shook her head apprehensively and looked over her work. She was nearly done and this conversation was getting a bit too deep. Clearly the mare in front of her was more distraught than she appeared. Scratching the back of her head she pointed to the cello case that Octavia had left at the hall so as to not have to drag it around with her everywhere.

Octavia watched her hoof and looked at her case. With a sad smile she opened the case and allowed herself to play a small serenade that came straight from the heart. Her feelings on the matter flowed from the bow through the strings while Fresh Coat finished her work.

“Sounds like an interesting stallion. Mind if I could meet him sometime too?”

“What!?”

“What? You’re the one who made him appealing. What can I say, it sounds interesting.”

“Fine... But I’m watching you.”

“Sounds like fun.”

Octavia blushed and then facehoofed when she realized that she accidentally added to their herd without even realizing it. Vinyl and Raindrops were going to kill her.

(Raindrop’s Tale)

Raindrops finally was able to fly once again. Though she was also the last pony managing to get out of the hospital. Redheart was the only pony left and seemed real tired. All baked bads had been destroyed… aside from the few that went mysteriously missing.

“Thanks for sticking around Redheart. I didn’t think I would make it after that horror.”

“It’s not a problem. It’s not the worse thing I’ve seen. That belongs to this stallion I saw yesterday coming into the hospital covered in blood. That was scary. Yet he looked calm and content. It was the strangest thing I’ve seen.”

Raindrops tried to keep her squeak contained. Octavia had told her what had happened earlier and was feeling a bit mortified by the action. She had nearly fainted when she heard what happened but kept herself standing by sheer force of will.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I know you know Raindrops. I’ve heard about you walking around with a thestral. Same one I had to treat. So what’s the story?”

“I thought you weren’t a gossiper!”

“Hey! You try dealing with a pony covered in blood and not even knowing why they were even like that.”

“It’s nothing!”

“It’s not nothing. I want to know what happened to them! Something like that isn’t natural in the first place!”

“Ask him yourself!”

“Fine. The moment I see him I’ll ask him myself.”

“Wait! Why do you want to know so badly?”

“Curiosity. He wasn’t whining the entire time we patched him up. He even managed to finish up the treatment even though he wasn’t under anesthesia without much more than a grumble. How is that even possible is what I want to know.”

“I guess I can understand that.”

“Plus he was easy on the eyes…”

“Wait what?”

Raindrops didn’t know what happened but she felt as though she was just manipulated somehow. Leaning back in her bed Raindrops desperately wanted to go back to sleep to forget how the rest of the day had gone.

(Vinyl’s Tale)

Vinyl finished up a couple of her sets and left the club in a grander mood. She stopped off in a small bar near said club where she once again found the Wonderbolt Captain drinking the night away with another Wonderbolt, Fleetfoot.

“Huh… Well I’m not dealing with that.”

As she made her way to leave a voice rang out of the bar directed at her. It was very loud and very pissed sounding. She didn’t want to deal with a drunken Wonderbolt. The last time she did she watched eight tables be thrown through a wall and several patrons walk out with black eyes and broken wings.

“Hey! Vinyl! Over here! Hey! Over here!”

“Right… Hey Spitfire. How’s it going? You look… good,”

Spitfire didn’t. She looked angry and Fleetfoot was nursing a nearby bucket for the inevitable. Vinyl sat as far away as she could.

“Oh I’m fine. Just fine. Yeah fine. Right Fleetfoot. I’m doing great and nothing could be better.”

“Yeah that’s right Captain. No problems here.”

Fleetfoot managed to give off a fake smile while looking away from the table. Vinyl knew that look. It was the same look Octavia gave her whenever she dragged her to a club way past the time she would usually sleep at. It was the look of annoyance.

“I’m guess it had to do with ‘him’.”

Vinyl knew exactly how to avoid those kind of minefields after meeting with a different friend up in Canterlot. Spitfire gripped her drink too hard as it shattered in her hoof. She brusquely brushed the glass off the table and her hoof without cutting herself. Fleetfoot lightly tapped Vinyl’s shoulder which she promptly ignored.

“Maybe. It’s not like watching somebody you liked suck some other ponies face without even knowing who they are. It’s not like I’m bitter about seeing that happen once again. Damn it all I need another drink.”

Fleetfoot held her hoof up as another pony floated over another drink to Spitfire. Vinyl frowned. She hated dealing with these things.

“I have to go deal with some things Captain. I’m gonna leave you in the capable hooves of this pony over here. Vinyl you got the reins.”

Fleetfoot left a small note for Vinyl which still left her frowning. When she left Vinyl looked closer at the note and her eyes nearly bugged out.

‘Gotta Check on Soarin. He’s in the hospital.’

Vinyl looked at Spitfire who nursed another drink forcing her to shift her seat closer. It was going to be a very long night.

“Vinyl why does fame change a pony so much?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we just can’t always be the same because of the expectations of everypony who walks around us. We’re ponies as well but those expectations are always too high.”

“Somedays I hate being a captain. Other days I love the job. How do you handle it?”

“I made sure to make friends before I became famous… or infamous in other ponies’ eyes. I got lucky that those ponies stuck around me for this long.”

“What about other relationships?”

“I’m working on that. Got my eyes on somepony and I’m working on it with some other mares.”

“Ha! You’re a herd pony. Though that does sound easier. When you get them introduce me, k?”

“Oh dude! You should totally join us!”

“Ha. Only if that stallion could handle me in a fight. Only one pony could do that and he’s not going to be getting on my good side anymore.”

“Hey you never know. When he gets back at least give him a chance.”

“Fine… But if he isn’t up to snuff I’m gonna beat him up~”

“You are way too happy a drunk.”

“Yeah but it’s fun.”

“True. Let’s get you back to your room. I think you drank too much.”

Below the table were several empty mugs and a few broken glasses. Sighing, the not drunk Spitfire held onto Vinyl just to find her way back to the special hotel they reserved for the Wonderbolts. Vinyl was even given a room and realized what she did… And was totally cool with it. Though she knew that Octavia was totally gonna get on her case. That was gonna be a real drag.

(Gray’s Tale, 8 hours before every other pony’s tale)

I stood looking around the bridge after leaving last night. I eventually found the navigation computer and the small notebook with the information on the Gummi Ship and its operation. I placed the Lexicon over the notebook to absorb all the info. It was something I found easier to do since I could drag the Lexicon wherever I go.

The controls were inverted. So up went down and down went up. That was not too confusing at least. The triggers on the steering wheel cause the weapons to fire. The ship only has a small gatling gun and a small laser cannon at this point. It’s enough to at least get through the universe and right now only one location is registered within the nav computer. The Mysterious Tower is actually a location to visit… That’s convenient. The next note revealed something else.

‘Here is a little help on where to go. Signed God.’

I was lost in another blinking fit and pressed the buttons that would take me to the Tower. I was extremely tired from the constant movement and finally figured out how long it would take me to reach my destination. It would take ten hours to reach it and that was enough time for me to catch up on sleep. Before my eyes closed a shiver pass through my entire body. I didn’t feel cold but I felt an omen...Or maybe it was a cramp. I’m gonna think it was just a cramp otherwise I’m gonna be panicking for the entire trip.

16. Eclipse

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Great… Once again within the confines of my dream realm and hopefully I won’t be dragged into anything… Again. Now let’s test out these new weapons...Wait... God damn it there’s someone in here… I’m not wasting a chance again. Time to channel my inner spirit animal. Heh heh heh…

And it was...another pony. Actually this is pretty good. It’s a unicorn but something felt off. The red eyes and the almost similar look to Twilight was something I was dreading. I hoped that it wasn’t a dream hopping Twilight… but then remembered I was in space. In fact, it looked like he was a guy… probably. Still having trouble with telling gender by sight but I guess when I finally troll them I’ll know for certain.

Ok I only got one chance to do this… Deep breathe and own your role Gray.

“Welcome master to this Dreamscape. I… am your spirit animal Nebula Gray. I welcome you to this realm and hope you are finding the rest suitable.”

He blinked a few times as the words sunk in. “This is a joke right?”

“Joke? Of course not Master. I’m am here to facilitate your arrival into this realm. I couldn’t reach you due to some interference with your… heart. Yeah that’s it.” I whispered the last part.

“Huh...makes sense having visited Kingdom Hearts, fighting myself on what feels like a day to day basis and a whole ton of other crap since I met Zeke.” the unicorn responded with a shrug. “Besides, I've learned to just roll with these things.”

“I’m here to warn you that the perverted thoughts you have had are starting an uprising and are making their way to the rational part of your head.”

“Okay now I know you are joking” He said starting to laugh. “It was a good one though. I'll give you that.”

“Then what’s that over there?” I pointed at the far wall and used the special ability of the Lexicon. The attribute it possessed was one of illusions. I quickly let it summon a version of Luna in a leather saddle with a bit in her mouth and a riding crop floating in her magic.

“Easy, Luna has been trying to convince me to do that since our first time by changing my dreams. Doesn't work and she gave up after finding out in lucid.” He shrugs again.

“Ugh… Well at least you’re more fun than that other guy. He reminded me of everything I left behind already. Said he was a Ventral. Didn’t really care though. I already locked that past away when the world started to end.”

“Ah, you’re another survivor then? Huh. Small multiverse. So, you got turned into a pony too?” He asked.

“Thestral. Sounded cooler and also got this keyblade as well. It’s a far call from what I used to do but I manage. Uh… Though my stories of my adventures aren’t up to snuff. Heck the only thing I’ve done so far is fight a version of Nightmare Moon.” I summoned my keyblade and let it hang in my hoof for a sec before putting it away.

“Ah, I get the feeling. I've dealt with my Nightmare just to have Zeke drop into my life...literally. Since then everything has been shit on the timeline. Name’s Eclipse.” He said, offering a hoof.

“Ah welcome Sparkplug. Nice to meet ya.” I bump his hoof and fly back up hanging upside down to watch his reaction.
“Sparkplug? That's a new one. And I was called a pedo because I'm mentally forty two.” Eclipse said, acting scarily chill.

“Pedo Plug then. I think the nickname rolls off the tongue. Perfect. I wish I had thumbs right now cause I would so give you a thumbs up for saying something that really didn’t need to be said. Woo Random names for the win!”

Eclipse laughed as he summoned Oblivion and Oathkeeper to his side. “ Oh ho you’re going to pay for that one.”

“You wanna hear something really funny…” My eyes begin to glow a deep yellow as the dreamscape begins to blur.

“Let me guess...your mind, your rules?” Eclipse said with a smile.

“That’s not the funny part. The funny part is when I send this conversation to Zeke for the express purpose of a laugh. That’s the funny part.”

“...you evil git.” Eclipse said in a tone I recognized as defeat...sweet, sweet defeat.

“But… I’m willing to go back to Sparkplug and forgetting all about that if you do me a little favor.”

“Fine, what is it?” Eclipse said, dismissing his keyblades.

“I need you to hit me with a stop level spell.”

“That's it? What level, Stop, Stopra, Stopga, what?”

“First level. I learn spells after being hit with them. I don’t think I’ll be finding any time lords in my reflection anytime soon. I also don’t want to deal with the Elements of Harmony in my world if I can avoid it. Too much timeline fuckery could happen. So dreamscape is the safest place so far.”

“Well, a few things first. First, a warning. Using the higher levels of this spell and even using it too much can and will lead to a massive migraine in the morning. Second, You exist in the world and I bet heartless do to...the timeline is already fucked by those details alone. And third, don’t say they won’t find you, they generally do right after you say that.” Eclipse said with surprising knowledgeability. “Now...for the spell. STOP!” He said, summoning Oathkeeper and raising it above his head.

I remained motionless in the spell. I didn’t know for how long but it was enough before this booming voice called out through the dreamscape.

Obtained the power of Time. Stop now available.

The spell wore off and I flew back down to the floor… I think it was the floor. Dream realms were weird and I was pretty sure we were actually on the ceiling now but that didn’t matter… Unless I thought about gravity...Shit… We both fell to what was now the floor with me on my back and him on his stomach.

“A...bit of warning would be...nice” He groaned as he stood back up.

“I starting thinking about gravity… Woops. Well at least it was funny. Not so much when I fell but you get the picture.” I stood up and stretched out my wings. Why does this hurt in my dream too?

“Because you think you should be feeling pain...and because it’s your mind it affects me.” Eclipse said like I was supposed to know this.

“Did you just read my mind?”

“Actually, yea.” He said, pointing to the ground where it showed that exact thought. “It just kinda popped up there.”

“Hm… well what do you know. So quick question. How did you deal with your Nightmare Moon?”

“Long answer or short one?”

“The one that doesn’t put you in a catapult that shoots you to the dream moon. Short.”

“Kay then. I started to fight her during her monologue, found out she was a keyblade wielder, fought her in her heart to help free Luna, then the elements did the rest.”

“Weird. I called mine a whorse to piss her off then I smacked her upside the chin with my keyblade. Then she summoned a Demon Tide on me. Oh well, whatcha gonna do about that. I at least can cross off insulting royalty on my bucket list.”

“Yeah…kinda did that most of my childhood, much to Twilight’s sanity, or lack there of.” Eclipse said. “Let me tell you, it feels awesome calling Celestia sunbutt to her face!”

“Hah. There’s no such thing as sanity. Crazy Sparkplug. Sanity is a myth. And my next bucket list item goes much farther than Sunspot. I’m going straight into madness. I will punch him in the face just cause I want to.”

“Wait… You are going to punch John de Lancey in the face?!”

“Yup. It’s a god given right to punch people in the face. Plus I have a loophole to logic. I don’t have fists. I have hooves.”

“Well played my friend… wait….aw shit! I forgot to tell my Luna and Flutters I was home!... I’m dead.”

I quietly used the Lexicon to make an open casket for Eclipse. Then quietly let bugles play their tune. Then I tap him on the head with the book in order to attach a more secure link to message him whenever necessary.

“Goodbye...old friend.” Eclipse says dramatically before falling into the coffin.

I wondered if I should have told him that since my mind is weird it would make the death seem real. I close the casket with that thought before sending him back to the world of the living. I looked down to see a single letter on the ground with my name on it.

I let the Lexicon create a clone of me to open the letter far away from me. Trust must be earned of course. So I waited and let the clone read the letter for me as a object also fell out.

‘Well, I thought it would be rude to not offer you anything, and even if it is only a dream, maybe you’d like it. So here you go, your very own Wayfinder! Have fun with those D-Links! -Eclipse’

“Yup… should have really told him that I think Core’s track us by using Doors to Darkness. I’ll send a letter when I wake up.”

After returning back from the constant talks with dream ponies… people. Whatever they were I managed to at least figure out some new spells. I probably overshot my own cards when I made the whole joke on being a Spirit Animal.

Either way I merely put the Wayfinder away in my dream pack. Due to my delusions I would get it in the real world soon enough… I hate dream logic sometimes. I returned back to my spot and pulled out my new weapon. The Kunai knives wrapped around both my front hooves. I jabbed my hoof forward only for a knife to fly off. An arc of electricity trailed off of my hoof and reattached the knife back to my hoof.

I looked closer at my hooves noticing that the knives were all at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions and were held together by a thin band of lightning curling around my hooves. I practiced for a while throwing the knives around. I couldn’t catch them very well. After a while I got a good rhythm in getting close enough to allow the electricity to reconnect it back to my hooves.

“Well I got a good idea for this so far.”

I then switched back to the Lexicon. I apparently used it to make illusions even though I didn’t know exactly how. What one will do to prank somebody when pressed for time. Also I apparently mocked a guy that was stronger than me and got away with it… Will have to make sure I get the reflect spell up to third tier.

Taking a few minutes I willed the book to summon a clone of myself. I had to stare closely because there were very few minute details which were different. The eyes of the clone were brown instead of the strange amber yellow I had. The fur was also not gray but a very light purple. Once again I curse my friend for talking so much about colors to me. Damn art snob… only friend I kept after high school and his color talks are the only thing distinct about him… kind of miss him...

“Forget it. It’s time to wake up I should be reaching the Tower by now.”

Before I left I wrote out the letter in the Lexicon and delivered it to Eclipse about the Cores possibly finding us whenever we use Doors to Darkness. I finally opened my eyes from my… restful slumber and saw the strange tower floating within the heavens surprisingly not attached to Twilight Town for some reason.

Investigation for later but right now I have a meeting with a wizened wizard.

17. Sorcerer

View Online

I didn’t know what to expect when I woke up. It was supposed to be just me seeing a tower but when I finally went to rub my eyes with my hooves I found something wrapped around my left hoof. It was a small star shaped charm. It looked metallic with several neon blue tips. The center was an amber yellow star facing the opposite direction of the main star. Before I got out of my ship for the Mysterious Tower I looked through my book and found the entries of the two beings I met within the dreamscape.

Zeke Ventral
A Keyblade Master of another realm. Seems to wield the X-blade. At the moment his darkness smells really potent. Still retains his human form but lives in an Equestrian Reflection.

Eclipse Sparkle (Sparkplug)
A Keyblade Master of another realm. Wields both Oblivion and Oathkeeper. Eyes were red and was transformed into a unicorn and sibling of the Sparkle household. Will now be known as Sparkplug. He lives in an Equestrian Reflection.

“Right… other wielders in different realms. Joy. Well I guess that’s something I’m not gonna be worried about.”

I was worried. Worried that whatever they were dealing with would come where I am. I pushed it out of my head and looked back to the Wayfinder. I unwrapped it from my hoof and placed it into my saddlebags. It was nice to look at but I needed my hoof clear in case anything happened.

The Tower was crooked and nestled within the small hillside leading my steps across the path towards the first doorway. When I finally reached the small courtyard I felt… off. I smelled darkness trying to seep into the area which confused me. When I stepped into the courtyard a singular heartless appeared and I was surprised by the one that appeared. Pureblood Heartless were some of the most dangerous and erratic creatures of darkness. It was an Invisible, one of the deadlier beings. It looked at me and raised the strange sword it wielded before charging against me.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I summoned my keyblade and braced my hoof against the blade stopping the Invisible’s charge. Flipping my sword forward I knocked it back and immediately took to the air. It shook off the sudden surprise and flew up to face me.

Each swing of our blades produced sparks upon impact. The Invisible forced me back on each swing. In hindsight, taking to the air was a poorly thought out tactic. I had no way to gain traction and push back my opponent. I quickly shifted my wings so I was below it and blocked another blow allowing it to push me back on the ground. With my hooves firmly planted I waited for it to charge once again.

It dove straight for me ready with an overhead chop. As the blade grew closer I lifted my forehooves forward with keyblade steady. The blade struck mine and I pushed it to the side allowing the Invisible to hit the ground. Before I could plant my blade into it's head it rolled away and planted the blade into the ground. It disappeared in a haze of dark fire.

“Uh… wait what happens when they do that?”

My question was answered as several dark flames appeared around me. I really should have remembered that.

“Oh. Right. Shit…”

The flames circled me at ludicrous speeds but I stood my ground. I remembered what would happen and waited. The flames stopped and lunged at me. I jumped at the last second escaping with a singed tail but no worse for wear.

As the heartless reformed and picked up it's sword I lunged in with my own swings catching it off guard and into a flurry of strikes. It felt that I was doing piddly damage to it though. Really wished I had the scan ability right now.

“Crush.”

An orb of condensed gravity appeared on the invisible crushing it to the ground. The intense pressure dissipated allowing the heartless to comically spring back up to form. I think I lost myself to a blinking fit. The sensibilities of physics wanted to complain while my new mindset of magic smacked it back to the background.

“What the-”

A large helix blade sliced against my cheek leaving a trail of blood trickling down. Using my wings I backpedaled away from its swings which arced wildly through the air.

The courtyard was a cloud of dust and chaos as we traded blows allowing the sparks of our blades as the only visible sign of our presence. Finally my lucky break came as the helix shaped sword swung down at me. The triangle button appeared in my head. As I pressed it in my mind my body reacted appropriately. I spun into a side step and swung the keyblade so hard that the head of the Invisible was cleaved clear from it's shoulders. Before I could get a good look at the decapitated body the entire heartless dissipated back into the darkness. The walls that had appeared disappeared just as quickly leaving me with a cut cheek in the middle of a dusty courtyard. I hoped the master of the tower didn't mind the scuffle around his home. I made my way to the door and was about to open it when it slowly creaked open. I think I was invited in.

“He is rough around the edges and there's something wrong with his magic. His fighting skills seem to favor blocking and countering rather than attacking outright.”

With the small study stood a magician in blue robes and pointy blue cap adjusting the glasses on his face. To his left was a old woman in a blue gown who seemed to be floating around.

“The poor dearie. He's reluctant to use magic to cure himself. Perhaps we should examine him more closely before his body gives out.”

The figure sitting at the desk clasped his hands together and closed his eyes in thought while the other two continued talking. Several things had happened in succession. The glowing of the star and moon sigils in the study followed by the arrival of a heartless managing to pierce through the light. Finally a keyblade wielder appearing and managing to hold off dangerous entity with only minor trouble. Things were happening at a surprising pace.

“We should let him in then. We shall discuss more in depth what he is when he is in front of us. He deserves that respect.”

The wizard in the pointy blue hat stroked his beard while the flying woman fiddled with her wand. The wizard coughed a bit before voicing his concerns.

“The darkness in him seems heavy. I’m surprised he was chosen to wield a blade. Are we to ignore that?”

“No. I will figure out the problem. It is faint but his heart is one of light. The darkness seems to be acting as a shield for it which is something I find almost impossible. I will not act in lines with Eraqus’s views. This one is fighting the darkness in such a way that I've never seen before. Should we be careful then he could do great things for his causes.”

“Are you against this Merlin?”

“No Godmother. I am merely being wary. He knows a spell which takes a lot out of untrained mages. I can sense the bonds of magic tearing apart his body. I'm worried the path he follows will be his downfall.”

“Then we shall have to do our best to give him the best chance for survival. He is far from even being a keyblade master but the potential is at least there.”

The three mages stood in silence contemplating what was necessary to test the strange equine but the thoughts were interrupted when Merlin brought up a very important point.

“What is he Master Yen Sid?”

“I have no idea.”

The two magi stared at Yen Sid and did the only sensible thing they could do at the time. They rubbed their temples and groaned in frustration.

It felt as though I had been walking for hours. It was probably closer to minutes but boredom shares no differential on time spent. The staircase I was trailing up stretched on for miles. The only reason I hadn't used my wings yet was the fatigue from battle. Even though it was a high level for I still didn't level up. Both were of similar frustrations on my part but luckily flying was of more importance.

As I got used to this body flying gave me the most versatility for both combat and mobility. The heartless I've faced so far have been ground based for the most part. From the stats I've seen I've noticed I'm more of a tank with slightly weak attacks and magic though I think my magic is causing side effects.

When the gravity spell launched from the keyblade I fell magic well up inside my chest. The constant staccato of my heart caused more problems than the Demon Tide did. At this point I couldn't deny that magic was doing something to my body which was likely a side effect of God's power on me. Perhaps I was supposed to stay asleep for the entire month or he short changed me on my transformation. The long winding stairwell gave me a lot of time to think. Way too much in fact.

Here I was living out a child like dream in a twenty year old body after abandoning my world from the sheer anarchy that exploded that fateful day. I would have been twenty nine yesterday but now my birthday already passed almost ten days ago. That family I had fell apart six years ago. My job to uphold the law ended last year. I left so much behind and it was horrible. At the same time that family did care about me. I met a love I thought would last forever. While it didn't at least I could say I was in love once. There were good things I left behind.

“Stop losing yourself to memories. You're Gray now. Jack is gone… and he's never coming back.”

As my thoughts tried to reorganize into something more manageable I finally came across a large door covered in stars and moons. I came to a complete stop in front of the door and sat down completely unsure of how to proceed. Here I was on the cusp of working out training for my skills only to realize that I had no idea how to approach him. I knew of Yen Sid from both the movie Fantasia and his roles in the games. I was in a reflection of another world and he could be any version. The movie portrayed him as a stern mentor with very stringent rules while the games made him out to be understanding and open to someone using darkness to protect others. Time to roll the die I suppose.

I decided to flex my diplomatic skills once again. Unlike Nightmare Moon I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. If nothing else I could be polite to someone who seemed to deserve it.

“Enter.”

I opened the door with my wing and trotted in with my head held high. The proceeded to trip over a snag on the small throw rug and slide face first into the room.

‘Perfect ten point landing. Kudos on first impressions you idiot.’

There was a short chuckle but the voice that came after wasn’t demeaning at my expense. In fact if I didn’t know any better it actually sounded comforting.

“Are you alright there?”

“Yeah… Just took a trip far, far away.”

“Quite. I suppose we should dispense pleasantries now. I’m Yen Sid, Master of this Tower and a sorceror. To what do I owe the pleasure.”

“I’m Nebula Gray… a thestral and pony. I guess I’m a keyblade wielder and I heard you trained them once. I was hoping to come here to get some training to be competent at the very least.”

“Are you? Something was used on you. I doubt you were a pony. I can see the magical lattice work that changed your form. So who are you really?”

Crap… I was hoping he couldn’t tell. Since he can might as well say as much of the truth as I can.

“Originally… I was human. My name is Jack Ryker. Or was at this point. No I’m not looking to turn back. I’ve gotten used to this form already and I’m actually enjoying it. Flying has a lot of advantages. It’s a new life for me… I’ll live it this way now.”

Yen Sid pondered on things. His eyes were closed and he seemed lost in thought. I watched him for a while until boredom had me glancing around the room. There were several items on the walls amongst the bookshelves including small statuettes of Heartless trapped in a stone form. He opened his eyes once again and a smile came to his face.

“Excellent. I would not teach someone who could not tell me who they truly are. Are you certain that this is what you want though Jack? To forgo the past you had and build a new future with little to tie you down? Forgetting the past can be just as dangerous as forging a new future.”

“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about both sides lately and part of me wants to keep the good but the bad always seems to force its way back to the forefront. I’d rather not deal with it right this second.”

“That is fine but if I do train you, we must figure out the problem. You are here to find something in particular and I think I can tell what that is.”

“Yes?”

“A purpose. You seem to be lacking one and are just following your own curiosity. If you should follow my instruction there will be three particular trials and we shall handle them quickly and efficiently. Right now I think there is much we must do and little time to do it before events unfold into something beyond our control”

“I- Yeah please. I’ll follow your instruction.”

“It’s a pleasure to have you under my tutelage, Nebula Gray.”

As I heard the name I chose for myself I felt… happy. A genuine happy which I haven’t felt for a while. I finally had a direction to go in.

18. Body

View Online

Yen Sid stood up from his desk and stepped forth leading me towards a wall. With a wave of his palm a door materialized and opened into a dark hallway. The floor was covered in glyphs and alternated showing each symbol of the darkness in the world. One I clearly saw as the emblem of the Heartless. At least the fake created ones. That was followed by the emblem of the Nobodies. On the opposing side were the symbols of the Dream Eaters and the Unversed. It was a surreal moment to be sure that something like this existed within the tower… especially when we were walking further away from the tower into space that was in the air.

“Where are we exactly?”

“This… This is the hallway I use to reach something to help new recruits train. Unfortunately I have to train you much faster than I thought was possible. Dark forces are gathering far too quickly so we must not waste a moment. There is little I can do unless we prepare you for the battle ahead.”

“So this will be training my fighting skills?”

“Yes… but there is one condition you must follow.”

“That is…?”

“You may not use your magic while you fight. You must raise the skills you already have started to develop and temper into a power that is all your own. There will be no shortcuts in this and the training… will be brutal.”

“I understand. I need to get better. Eventually something will happen I need to be ready for.”

He merely smiled as we both fell into a comfortable silence. I wasn’t exactly optimistic about the training. Part of me wanted desperately to just stay on… Equis…? I think that was the name of the world, and live my life as I saw fit. The keyblade in my hoof had other decisions behind it and I would forever be hunted by the darkness. I wasn’t exactly happy about it but the use of a keyblade came with perks as well. While I wouldn’t use the glider functions much due to having my own wings it would be useful should something happen that would require me to need it.

The hallway came to another door with the symbol of the Dream Eaters emblazoned over it. Yen Sid calmly opened the door and led me in where I saw two other magical beings I thought wouldn’t be here. Merlin, from the Sword in the Stone, and the Fairy Godmother, from Cinderella, stood at the ready. The two were at different points on a triangle on the floor. Yen Sid stood over the third point as well and motioned me to enter the center of the area. I complied quietly. I really didn’t have a choice in the matter if I wanted to survive any longer in the world. There was something out there which could carve its way me regardless of my motivations or my attempts.

“It is a pleasure to meet with you Gray was it?”

Merlin was the one who spoke first, I merely waved finding a lack of words coming to mind. I always liked Merlin because he literally didn’t care about society and it’s rules because he broke the laws of time all the time. The Fairy Godmother didn’t speak but she waved at me as well and I returned that kindness back. Then she started to chant pushing her power through her wand.

Merlin did the same and his chant was much more ornate than the one he used to move his furniture. The magic pooled into his wand and powered up the triangle on the floor. He wasted no time in letting the magic flow with the Godmother’s magic as a sphere appeared around me. While I didn’t know much about thestrals and their tics on stress I could feel my wings flinch and flap ready to run away. I quashed the feeling down but it was still there telling me that this was dangerous in all senses of the word.

“Gray… what we do is very dangerous and will allow you to train faster than is possible. We do this under the condition you agree that this was your decision and no one manipulated you into it. There is a chance you may die.”

“Do it.”

I gave a cocky smile. I knew it was utter bullshit but I came this far already. He nodded and closed his eyes as the hat on his head glowed and the magic gathered into his hands. The sphere became more opaque and I finally saw what they were doing. Within the sphere I saw a room filled with heartless. More than the eye could possibly see and I finally understood what they wanted from me. I felt my throat dry and I knew I could still flee.

“Dearie. You don’t have to do it this way. You could still train the old way but that will take years to get you to the point that you need to be. This is your decision and the most we can do for you should you enter is heal you. This will train you the only way one can… through experience.”

I looked at the Godmother… the worry was clear on her face and I knew what the chances of my survival were should I head inside the sphere. I could take my time… or speed up and take the chance. I was a cop… I always trained through procedure and took the time to learn all the techniques and how to perform. When the time came I excelled because of all the training I did to get to that point. The thing that made it worth it was going at my pace. I didn’t follow another to figure out the ropes. I made the ropes for myself to follow. I took a deep breath and jumped into the sphere leaving behind all sensibilities and ideals of safety behind to follow my own merits.

The path down was a clusterfuck of turbulence and energy. The darkness overwhelmed my senses and bombarded me through smell. It was too much but I couldn’t exactly turn it off. I chose to ignore it but I always noticed. When I finally pierced into the center there was nothing but a large platform in the middle of a technicolor cubist’s nightmare. It was similar to the are at the end of Hollow Bastion where they fought the Behemoth. When my feet hit the ground I was confronted… by a single shadow heartless.

“That’s underwhelming…”

I summoned my keyblade and after a few whacks I made it disperse back into darkness. As it disappeared another two appeared in front of me. I took my time and used a few horizontal slashes to keep them both at bay before they dispersed as well. Then three appeared. This continued on until it got to twenty shadows at a time. It capped at twenty shadows.

Several flowed through the ground becoming invulnerable while the others would try to surround me and claw at my sides. A quick slap of the keyblade shook them off while I used my free hoof to grab the closest shadow and toss them into another. Unfortunately I was being slowly overwhelmed. There were small things at first. A misplaced hoof, a swing gone too far, or a lucky hit were only some of the problems coming up. I was getting tired and this was the fifth wave of twenty shadows.

Throughout the entire fight I noticed that I never faced anything more than pureblood heartless and only pureblood heartless. Yes they were only shadows but those were the base of the pureblood heartless. Another scratch against my side and another shadows down. Another climbed onto my back and tore at my wing and another wave was done. Seven waves of twenty at this point. I finally managed to stumble back to the center as I felt a wave of magic heal my wounds up… it did nothing for my stamina though. I was exhausted.

Then it reset… Instead of one shadow, the heartless that came out was a different one… It was a Darkball. It was chattering it’s makeshift teeth as it immediately charged at me before blinking out of sight. I had rolled out of the way but lost sight… until I noticed the dull purple light which nearly appeared on top of me. I flapped out of the way as it rematerialized and wildly shuddered in place. I struck at it with the tip of the keyblade only to be knocked back doing absolutely no damage.

‘Seriously how did I forget that they do that. Gotta get away.’

It charged forward only to get smacked out of its charge. I flew in swinging, knocking it around but every time it shuddered I would be knocked out of my combo. Then I would be forced to dodge it’s rematerialization ability. After several strikes the darkball dissipated back to darkness. The second wave came out and two darkballs appeared. One floated in place watching me while the other charged forward. I rolled out of the way smacking it from behind and knocking it to the ground.

“Argh!”

The Darkball that had merely been watching me floated forward while I was distracted and in the last swings of my combo grabbed my leg clamping down on it. Flapping around wildly I kicked my free leg at it’s face until the jaw opened up. My leg was throbbing forcing me to keep to the air.

The entire fight was taking its toll on me. My breathing had gotten shallow after the first few waves of shadows and I was running ragged after the last wave of twenty shadows on one. I managed to destroy the Darkballs but my leg was still sore. Then the third wave appeared. I took stock and flew around taking potshots whenever it was convenient until I finally managed to take the three out.

This continued on until I got to fifteen Darkballs per wave. When I faced the shadow heartless I faced twenty at once. Then I face six waves of twenty until I finally managed to complete it. Several bites later and I was facing the fourth wave of fifteen Darkballs. There were several bite marks across my body decreasing my mobility which got me tackled to the ground multiple times. Everything was sore… wings were torn once again… back leg was swollen… and several welts were covering my entire body. I wouldn’t give up though. After a few clever feints I cherry tapped each Darkball till they dissipated to the darkness they came from. At the last swing I fell to the ground drenched in blood and sweat. The visible parts of my body were covered in welts and bite marks.

“See that… I can handle… it, easy... peasy lemon squeezy…”

I couldn’t even move much at that point. I was on the floor once again just like after my fight with the Demon Tide. I was healed once again but I still couldn’t stand. If I forced it I could strike down one more enemy. I did my best to look around for the next wave or enemy I would face… I finally saw what was next.

From the shadows I saw something crawling through it. It looked like another Shadow heartless which made me sigh in relief. That sigh turned to a gasp when it rose from the ground. The gangly limbs and longer antenna left no doubt in my mind on what it actually was. It was a Neoshadow heartless which sauntered over to me. It twitched erratically… up until it kicked me in the stomach and sending me flying a short distance away groaning and coughing the whole time.

“Guargh… Koff…”

I was sputtering at this point… I needed a breather. I had been fighting over one hundred heartless back to back at this point. The Neoshadow wasted no time and jumped into the air spinning around like a top. Instantly the triangle button appeared in my head. I couldn’t hesitate and I immediately poured my thoughts into that and jumped into the air spinning my keyblade wildly around and slashing with wild abandon. At the last swing the Neoshadow dissipated and I fell to the ground dead tired and slightly immobile. As the second wave started I was instantly dragged out of the sphere and fell to the floor in front of the three mages.

Merlin was stroking his beard overly concerned it seemed. Godmother came towards me and healed what few wounds I received from the battle. Yen Sid, who I was most concerned with, had his eyes closed, lost in thought.

“You did better than expected for a novice. You managed to survive until the middle ground of heartless and actually use their attacks against them, albeit only once. Rest up for an hour. After that hour we’ll try again to see if you can make it to the end.”

“How long was I in there for?”

“The sphere itself is outside the bounds of time. The magic we wield is capable of doing that but it is taxing. We can only do it three more times and assure your safe return. Within those three turns you must be able to make it at least to the fourth enemy type.”

I glanced at my body… It was healed, yes, but I was exhausted. I couldn’t really move well just yet but… I wanted to do this. I had only made it to the middling run of enemy types. I also felt that even with the delusion of leveling up I had only gotten three levels out of all that. I was now at eleven. Woo…I merely nodded to Yen Sid and closed my eyes for a short nap.

My dreams weren’t as usual. I mostly had lucid dreams where I could interact with it in some way. This dream was a recollection of everything that happened to me while I had fought and the numerous mistakes I felt I made. During the round with the Shadow heartless I had let several climb on my back and take their shots at clawing me. During that wave I had spun around chaotically enough to get away with shallow cuts but my wings were still torn for the rest of that round. When I was healed I could still feel the pain, phantom pains most likely, all over my body. My will to win kept me going.

During the second round I had faced the Darkballs with some more caution and wound up using hit and run tactics throughout the entire debacle. Near the last wave, one of them had grabbed me by my wings and tried to tear it off. The only reason it wasn’t was that I had my hooves firmly planted on the ground and smacked it into the floor when I rolled over. The first hit made it let go… the second hit knocked it far away. The third hit from my keyblade destroyed it out right. That moment left me open to being tackled away. I had gotten lucky with the Neoshadow jumping into the air… even if I did get kicked in the gut.

Those mistakes were at least fixable. I needed to plan out better and use hit and run tactics more often. I was tough and I knew I was tough but so were the enemies I was facing. Though why is it taking so long to level up. Wait… crap what if this is like the first game. I chose to travel at dusk so I’m gonna be leveling as slow as a tortoise. I smacked my head actually knocking me out of my dream and back into the waking world. I looked around noticing that I was in another room of the tower resting in a bed. On the table nearby was a small plate of fruits and some water. It wasn’t something to write home about but after the first training session I had it looked like a meal fit for a king. I wasted no time finishing the meal and trotted back out into the room where all three mages were sitting discussing other matters it would seem. The moment I entered their attention turned to me.

“One hour on the dot it seems. How were you so punctual?”

“I used to be a cop… some nights would require me to run stakeouts and I hate to force myself to create a sort of internal clock so I could power nap but still be able to get up ready to deal with anything that comes my way. I was never perfect at it but sometimes I would get the right time seven out of ten times I suppose.”

“Do you want to continue now?”

I looked at my limbs, all six of them, and idly moved them around. I was still tired and I knew that any more training would be too taxing on me. Still I didn’t have a whole lot of time. Weighing my options I merely nodded and stretched myself out. We all went back into the sigil room and they all set their magic up once again. The sphere appeared before me letting me jump right back into the fray. I had to start all the way from the beginning.

“It seems he is determined at least.”

Merlin allowed his wand to power the sphere on its own while he sat down watching the young pony deal with the waves of Shadow heartless again. Fairy Godmother kept her focus on her magic but winced at every attack.

“A police officer… Yet he lies so much about everything. Why do you suppose that is?”

Merlin shrugged. His experiences with time travel and seeing both the past and the future made him certain why the young man would lie about things. Crimes became worse as soon as the world reached a point. He knew about the supposed end of the world and then traveled past that only to find nothing wrong had happened. Panic had consumed the people and people as they’re ought to do destroyed themselves. He couldn’t bring himself to speak of it though.

“Whatever makes him do so perhaps there is a reason for it. While the truth will set you free, we’re in a universe where the truth will not set you free. We are all on the cusp of darkness every single day due to the onslaught of heartless. Nobodies continue to be sighted on multiple worlds and for some reason Unversed have appeared in very strange locales. At most only three worlds so far are fully protected from the darkness but even that could change.”

Yen Sid calmed himself before continuing to watch the fight. By sheer luck Gray had managed to get through the round of Shadows without being hit. His round with the Darkballs didn’t prove to be so lucky as three managed to tackle him before he made it to the endurance portion of the round. When the final fell Godmother healed him back up sealing the wounds.

“Now this is interesting…”

“What is it Merlin?”

“Well Yen Sid, when a being casts magic or has magic casted on them they exude a small flare of mana due to the power used. Whenever we healed Gray the magic would instead be contained within his body. From my eyesight it would seem that the magic is trying to find something within his body. As far as I could tell Gray should be incapable of casting spells. I think whatever caused his transformation flubbed up most likely by accident and left him only capable of learning magic but not internalizing it. At least not well enough to not be harmed by it.”

“Is there any treatment for it?”

“I do have a few transmogrification spells that would at least alleviate the stress and allow him to internalize the magic but it would affect his soul in a way. It would be beneficial and something he would have to agree to. At the very least magic won’t be the reason he dies.”
Yen Sid merely nodded as they watched Gray battle through the hordes of Neoshadows. While there were only up to ten of them, Gray would be facing at least thirty of the damned heartless. Strangely even though his body was sluggish he was still managing well against the tides of Neoshadows. Whenever one made the tactical decision to jump into the air he would mutter something about a ‘triangle button’ and suddenly launch his body into the air wildly spinning around and in most cases destroying two or more of the Neoshadows.

“Perhaps he has more potential…”

Crap… How many more do I have to fight… I had managed well enough at the Shadow round and only minor damage during the Darkball round. It was during the Neoshadow round when things began to get pear shaped. The first one had been easy since it pulled the same jumping maneuver almost immediately when the wave started. When I got to five Neoshadows they knew exactly what I was doing and managed to coordinate better than they had been. It was harder to get them to jump into their attacks. I wound up letting them hit me to bait them into jumping. This began a dangerous loop of pain and success. I took several gouges into my sides and a large slash across an eye… It was shallow but the blood seeping down across it was starting to affect my sight.

As I got to the third round of ten I was covered in blood once again… I had this strange feeling that this was going to be a common concern whenever I fought. While cure would heal the wounds and make them not scar over the phantom pains were starting to become out of hoof… hand. I don’t know at this point. The Neoshadows wasted no time and coordinated their attacks only allowing me to strike out every time they managed to get into each other’s way. One thing I learned though about heartless from the battle is that they are still creatures of habit. Eventually one of them actually jumped into the air, from confidence or recklessness, I didn’t know. Once again I reacted accordingly and surprisingly because they all bunched up together they all dissipated back into darkness.

I was still standing and able to move… though I noticed tremors in my front hooves. My jaw was sore from the switching of my keyblade from mouth to hoof and vice versa as well. Fighting on four legs was definitely not easy… The Pride Lands lied to me.

As I looked back on all my fights I did notice something wonderful though. I had picked up the inklings of a style of fighting. It wasn’t perfect but it did give me more defensive options as opposed to offensive. Maybe I really did need partners to assist me. I couldn’t always do this alone… I’m not doing this alone either. I broke out of my thoughts and quickly took a low stance. I didn’t know what I was facing but I was going to be ready.

From the center of the ring my next opponent appeared. Back in it’s demonic glory the Invisible heartless appeared and raised its sword towards me. I had been healed in the intervening time and I waited. It charged just like the first one only for me to deflect the blade away and strike into it. After a few more swings I had managed to take it out without taking a hit or activating it’s dark fire skill. I wanted so desperately to cheer and dance in jubilation but instead I took my stance again as two appeared this time. When the first charged, in the other planted their sword and surrounded me in dark fire. I deflected the first taking a small cut across the neck… shallow enough not to bleed but it still stang. I launched a few combo swings before rolling out of the way as the fires closed in on me. While they were both together I rushed in catching them both in another combo flapping my wings slightly to extend my time swinging.

“I don’t know about you but I’m getting into the swing of things.”

After mentally lambasting myself for making such a stupid pun the two Invisibles dissipated. The third and fourth wave went much the same with them taking distance and charging in two at a time while the third attempted to surround me in fire. I suffered several more slices across my forelegs and sides but nothing was ever cut off and after facing five at once the round was over. I had made it.

“Gray, it’s me Yen Sid. You have managed to survive and I’m proud to say you have proven yourself to be at cadet level at the very least. I would suggest stopping now but if you think you could handle it… there is one more challenge. A final battle if you would. You may take it later but you would have to face the gauntlet if you do.”

I looked over my body… I was still really tired and while I felt invincible I knew that as soon as the adrenaline wore off I would certainly pass out. The stubbornness attempted to win me over but it fell on deaf ears.

“I’ll try later. I don’t think I could handle it right now.”

“A wise choice. Perhaps you might be better than a cadet.”

A low chuckle left his lips as I was deposited out of the sphere. The mages looked over me and led me to the bed I had slept in. Merlin stood by and looked me over.

“I know you are tired but we don’t have much time to dawdle. While time was halted by the sphere and everything happened within the tests that I and Fairy Godmother have for you will have to be administered within your dreams. Are you willing to go along with this my boy?”

“Yeah… You aren’t the first to wind up in my dreams.”

“Heh… I’ll take your word for it.”

“Will it hurt?”

“Perhaps… I’m not going to lie to you about it. This is important to do so you may survive using your magic. This is the only safe way we could handle it without you hurting too much.”

“I understand… Do what you must.”

I was absolutely terrified but my talk with Dr. Horse telling me that I had to have magic siphoned out of me returned with a vengeance to the forefront of my mind. There was nothing else I could say about the treatment. I was placed in the bed by magic as Merlin cast a sleep spell on me. It… was… peaceful.

Heartless Kill Count
Shadow 686
Soldier 7
Large Body 1
Bit Sniper 10
Darkball 360
Neoshadow 75
Invisible 16
Demon Tide 1
Demon Tower 1

19. Soul

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I was back in the dream realm and watching my mind seemingly fluttering with anxiety and stress. I had survived and managed to get through one of the most harrowing experiences I’ve ever had to deal with in the entirety of my life. The only thing that came close was that incident back when I was a cop… Didn’t want to remember.

“Well it seems that you are going to be fine.”

I turned around in my dream realm only to see Merlin standing with me. I was surprised but I guess this was to be expected since he did have to help me out. Magic was powerful and I was gifted with the power to use it. Too bad when it was given to me my body quite couldn’t hack it in the long run.

“Is there something special that needs to happen to let magic not try to kill me?”

“Yes dear boy there is. But I need you to walk me through some of your memories while we do so. As long as you are conscious of only your memories I can do my magic and help you use magic without letting your magic tear your body apart.”

I nodded and decided to look back and recollect all my previous thoughts. Opening this floodgate would probably leave me emotionally vulnerable to Merlin, but I needed this problem solved. I hated opening up.

It looked like rain… that was how my birthdays would always be. Yet I loved the rain. It was peaceful and calming most of the time. It helped me sleep. It was another wonderful birthday actually, back when my family was still whole. My father Jakob was an industrial worker and due to the constant building projects he was well off to never want again. My mother Evelyn was a teacher in an elementary school. She was content with where she was. Eighteenth birthday and finally out of school… I didn’t put much stock in what to do… So I decided to try going into the police academy. My parents were less than ecstatic but my brother was supportive. Freddy, or Frederick, as he was known voiced his approval.

“Interesting… Why did you choose to follow the path of law?”

“I didn’t know what else to do. I never had any strong feelings for much just going through my days one by one. It was… peaceful… in complete solitude… boring. I needed something that would not leave me out to dry on monotony. I don’t regret it… but that path led me down into something I was not prepared for. A dark place.”

I was trained relentlessly. While I was never going to be a valedictorian I was competent enough to get to the top twenty. It was always challenging, grueling even to fall into that mindset. I was someone who would uphold the law. I had grown that thing I had been missing as a child. Drive. A path to follow. A reason to do more than just survive.

“Congratulations Son. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks Dad. I’m kind of surprised I made it… I never was much of a scholar ya know.”

“Son you gotta be more confident in yourself. You did great.”

“Yeah mom. Where’s Frederick?”

“Unfortunately work kept him late. He’ll be expecting a drink with you since you’re of age.”

“But I’m not twenty one yet…”

“I didn’t hear you son. Must have not been listening to you. Sorry bout that.”

“It’s nothing Mom.”

That night I took a drink of whiskey and while the burn and taste sucked more than I thought it would it did prepare me for what could be my habit for the next couple of years. I was sanctioned within a metropolitan station in a city environment. I was actually working towards being a detective eventually. I was assigned under one of the Head Detectives and acted as his gopher in a sense. It took a few years before anything came of it.

“You seemed to have a picturesque life ahead of you. Yet here you are before me, completely transformed from what you once were. No longer the youth of hope and the drive to pursue the law. Now I see a man who had given into apathy. We all noticed it during your fight. Sometimes you would allow a hit to make contact just to gain an advantage.”

“I’ll admit Merlin that I’m not much for planning… I have a tendency to lose my emotions in order to fit better with what was the case in question. When I was twenty five I finally became his actual partner. A real detective. While I had been left to handle the smaller things within the station I was finally given a chance to do something… important. I didn’t know how bad it could really get.”

Merlin was listening carefully. Each time a new memory would come out he would trace his way through the lattice work on my mind to find where exactly the magic pooled. The first memory had been long enough to allow Merlin to start constructing the necessary construct to hold on to the magic and distill it through my body in a way that wouldn’t kill Gray. He just needed to talk more. The second time had him construct the connections so magic would circulate through the body keeping it from killing Gray.

“Continue my boy.”

“I don’t know. The rest is graphic…”

“I’m pretty sure all people have those skeletons in their closet… but this door must be open for now.”

My first homicide case… I threw up outside the building where it happened. The sick fuckers decided to coat the walls… several times. Eight bodies of various ages. No children luckily enough. That had been my first run in with the ugly part of the city. It had taken us twelve days to find the right leads but eventually we cornered the perp in an abandoned office building. It had been scheduled for demolition soon. When I finally came face to face with the criminal he just smiled at me. Even with me pointing a gun at him yelling at him to lay his firearm down. He choose to turn it on his mouth and hold me in check.

One thing you learn about people is that when there is nothing left to lose they will do anything to win. He just smiled at me… happy at what he did. Chuckling while he bit at the barrel of the gun. Behind him were bodies… small ones. Before I could react he shot himself.

That heart I had hardened that day. And it started the slow process where my family drifted apart. The justice I thought of serving… couldn’t even save a child. It was my twenty sixth birthday when it happened. My brother had a nervous breakdown due to the whole idea of the end of the world.

He wasn’t by any terms weak enough to fall into despair… but the wife he had was. She took pills leaving behind their daughter, my niece. It was a slow decline but he soon bit the bullet… a poor choice of words… leaving me to take care of her. I was the godfather apparently. It wasn’t the most ideal but I followed through with it. We became close surprisingly with the idea we called television time. She was young still and for some reason she enjoyed ponies. Whenever she got the remote control first it would always go to watch ponies… I sat with her never really watching but chiming in to make sure she knew I was around. Dad had taken to the bottle when the job market started to fall and Mom was lost in a daze most of the time because of Frederick’s passing. She taught but every once in a while she would call one of the students Frederick and have to be reminded that it wasn’t. She was let go soon after.

The following two years were not kind. Mom could barely take care of Amy, my niece and Dad was slowly becoming a drunk. Here I was supporting two near invalids and a young child. Instead of complaining I just shut down my emotions. Amy was the only one I would allow in. Barely.

The cases I took became more gruesome as the two years dragged on. My mentor was killed in an incident… a hazard of the job, or so I was told. The bullet recovered came from a standard issued firearm that came from our department. I said nothing after they made me Lead Detective for their department. The chief even came down to ‘congratulate’ me.

“Don’t let us down kid.”

I could read between the lines. I kept my nose down and followed orders… because justice was a crock of shit in this world. I eventually found a way out becoming a private detective. I left officially in a way that would keep me out of their hair. They hated I did that but my replacement was… more pliable than me.

Unfortunately I only had the savings to support two people… My parents liquidated most of their own things and drove off… I never saw them again. My niece Amy, decided to stay with me. It was rough on both of us. I had stopped eating full meals only paying the bare minimums we needed that the only luxury we had was cable. It made us… cold to everyone outside of our broken family. The only thing we had where we opened up was television time. Of course she would always find the remote first so more ponies on the screen. It was frustrating but she was like my child. I had never made the effort for a relationship. Trysts with a few coworkers kept in secret but that was it. They never ended in my favor. Or never progress beyond that one night stand. It was… frustrating.

Then the countdown came… Many people had gone insane losing themselves to the mania. Armageddon… The Rapture… The end of times… all a load of horseshit. I kept to myself and my niece who had grown a bit too independent did as well. Only during our television time did we ever speak more than three words at a time to each other. It was there she told me about meeting with Geraldine and helping her make snacks. I had taken up work in a small office building the previous month. It was the last week until the end of the world. I had a friend… as close as someone got to me… who had gotten me the job. Ironically an acquaintance was the closest thing to a best friend I had.

That week… it was the worst week of my life. And during that week I had fallen so far into a ditch I was sure I had made my grave already.

I had found what Geraldine had done… I had found who the first victim was… Trust should never be given… only earned. That night I held her close to me and for the first time in years I cried. Parents had gone dark or didn’t exist anymore. Brother fell to despair. Niece was gone. I fled back into my shell and fell back onto something I did in my childhood. I played games. Before I had gone completely ascetic I had gotten hooked into gaming… mostly as a way to pass the times when I couldn’t sleep. Kingdom Hearts 2 was the last game I had bought out of a growing curiosity. I had finished it before the decline and in my last days I started to play again… in a big empty house where only I lived. It was something I decided to do. I wouldn’t give in to despair but I had no idea what else to do. I had lived my entire life for the sake of another… I was alone now.

When the day in question came I merely… sat down and waited. I hoped desperately that I could think of better paths. I couldn’t. The end of the world came and I slept through it. When I woke up I met a god… or God. I didn’t care. When I was chosen I wanted to go back and just face the consequences of a day I had to live for myself. He managed to convince me otherwise. When he gave me powers I went for the one I had remembered fondly. When he asked for the world and was given an idea… I followed through for her sake, for the thing she liked to speak with me about. I had no interest in it but for her… I suppose it was worth it. I had already felt no real emotion for anything. Then I was a pony… One I recognized as exotic and different enough to get me far away from the past. I chose that because they were the ones my niece always wanted to know more about. That was the start of a new life.

“My word… That was certainly dark. Are you alright my boy?”

“Honestly… no. I don’t think I ever will be but… I have to try to have a new life. Apparently others are looking at me not as someone of convenience but in long term goals. While I still don’t get the aesthetics I’m going off personality so far. I’m in for something interesting and I hope maybe I could reciprocate it earnestly one day. God knows I need some normalcy one of these days…”

Merlin stroked his beard in contemplation. I noticed that his wand was no longer lit with magic and that for some reason my body felt lighter for some reason. I didn’t feel that horrible pressure beneath my skin trying to cleave its way out of me.

“Am I fine now?”

“For the most part, yes. I have completely transfigured your entire magical system to allow you to handle magic better. I even managed to leave the magic this body provides you intact. It seems that the natural magic your body contains and the magic you were using caused some problems when you were given this body. The being who casted it probably was rushing or something broke his concentration. Either way you are fine to cast magic once again. Though I’ve noticed you haven’t learned even the basic spells yet so while I’m here I’m going to train you a bit with some other spells. I only have two in particular that you might need.”

“I’m ready.”

He nodded and motioned me to the center of my dream platform. I think he knew I could learn spells by being hit with them. So I was hit with a spell. First I was dragged closer to him from a large sigil floating in front of him.

Obtained the power of Attraction. Magnet now available.

I was floating around kind of absent mindedly noticing how weird it felt to know I was being held up by magnetism. Then he stepped closer and the moment I was closest to him he summoned a shield from nowhere.

Obtained the power of Protection. Reflect now available.

“This is what I can teach you right now. With how many times you wander into danger you’re going to need to better protect yourself. This will at least mitigate some of the problems that plague your life. As for the problem of others in your life… I would say take a chance. We can’t live alone for all our lives. It’s impossible and you are no different.”

“I’ll try… I’ve had to lie about what I am though… Won’t that be a problem?”

“Gray I’m not going to say it was wrong. There are secrets out in the world that would do better to be forgotten but… we must face the truth someday and I would rather face that with those I trust by my side rather than face it all alone. I once tried to escape facing a fate I knew would happen… I couldn’t and I stuck around and knew the truth. I was better for it. Should they know the truth there might be some hurt feelings but it will be better for you in the long run.”

“Yeah… Working on that…”

Merlin merely chuckled as he walked off out of the dream realm. I mused back on my interactions with the mares I had met… Surprisingly they found me interesting. I didn’t see why but I knew eventually I would need to open up. It took nearly dying for me to open up to someone who could be my magic teacher. I still didn’t know the Aero spell, the Fire spell, the Blizzard spell, or the Spark spell. I felt there was more to learn but until then I would have to look for how to learn these spells later.

Since he was gone I looked over my own stats. I didn’t know how strong I actually got but I needed to know.

Nebula Gray
Level: 14
Attack: 30
Defense: 43
Magic: 33

I was still not as strong as I thought I could be but I was making progress. I wondered what was left for them to check. It was probably important if they were still checking me in my dreams.

“So that is the problem…”

“Yes Godmother. His heart is so well protected because his own inner darkness has formed into an armor for him. It’s not even corroding his heart like it does for most beings. He doesn’t have any control of it but it was tempered into following his subconscious thoughts.”

“There is little I can do for his heart now then. I will still try in a bit. Any suggestions?”

“I can’t offer any. This is a case outside my own domain. Yen Sid?”

Yen Sid peered down at Gray and crossed his arms fully engrossed in his thoughts. He weighed his choices and finally opened his eyes.

“Make contact as best you can. I shall assist you when you do.”

20. Heart

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Fairy Godmother made her way deeper into the dream world where the heart of the matter resided. The heart immediately reacted to the intrusion and turned into a platform revealing the enemies he would fight in the near future. She carefully floated to the center of the platform and the platform instantly lit up revealing a pedestal with an orb floating on top of it over the large pony with the dark blue armor. As she looked around the area I floated in near her.

“I felt something weird happening. Didn’t think this would be happening so soon.”

“Sorry dearie but it is better that we handle this sooner rather than later. I’m wondering about this thing over here. What happened that you got this particular item?”

“Oh that thing. Back on the world I ended up I wound up fighting a figure known as Nightmare Moon. She was apparently a big deal there. After fighting off her heartless minion I destroyed the nightmarish entity that was possessing that pony. It was this weird shadow creature made of negative energy. The keyblade took care of it and during my times asleep I noticed this weird orb floating on this… representation of my heart I guess. I don’t think much of it right now.”

Godmother floated over and examined the pedestal letting magic course through her wand. The orb didn’t react but the darkness all around did. I immediately stepped in front of her just as it formed to attack her. It instantly stopped and I stared it back into the shadows of my heart.

“I see… I think I understand now. You are resistant to darkness because you are facing physical manifestations of darkness. This particular orb seems to radiate envy. Envy is one of the lightest darknesses out there in the world. But it can always overwhelm sensibilities. I don’t know what this orb is doing for you but your darkness is stable for some reason.”

“I’m not sure on my side either. I just know it’s here.”

Godmother returned to the center and stared down at the other figures on the platform. I didn’t know what else to say about it. She pointed at the first one where the orb was.

“This one?”

“Nightmare Moon. She tried to turn a world to eternal night so the sun would never rise again. I think it was a possession thing but I’m not sure.”

“Was it a demon?”

“I really don’t know. The thing seemed to be made from nightmares taking form as far I can tell.”

She floated over to the chimeric overlord I now knew as Discord. The memories I received on the inner workings of this world were at least very thorough. I flew over and landed near the pedestal. She casted another spell examining the intricacies of what was going on in my heart before heading back to the center.

“Can you explain them all?”

“Probably. I know their names and what they could possibly do but I don’t know if they are going to do it.”

“Go ahead and tell me about them. Yen Sid is on his way in to discuss things with you.”

“Right… Well the one you were at was named Discord. He is the Spirit of Disharmony or something like that. He’s a chaotic being and has access to chaos magic of some sort. The one below him is Chrysalis, the Changeling Queen. She’s a shapeshifter and feeds on emotions… somehow. The one next to Nightmare Moon is known as King Sombra, I think he’s a tyrant made of shadows or something like that. Below him is a centaur known as Tirek. He’s a conqueror of some sorts and is looking to control Equestria. Below him is the unicorn Starlight Glimmer. I think she will meddle with the aspects of time. I think there are more but I’m not sure about it.”

“How do you know about this?”

“I… I guess I was told by prophetic dreams you could say. Also they appeared the first time I was here in my heart.”

Godmother stared at me seemingly lost in contemplation. I shifted around and I finally noticed something. Anytime I was nervous or anxious my wings instinctively move in an attempt to fly me out of the area. It seems I’ve at least figured something out about myself… I wonder if this tic is the reason mares stare at me whenever I passed by. While I was idly reminiscing there was a burst of magic and Yen Sid stood next to Fairy Godmother.

“Hello there.”

“I see you already wound up here. It seems your heart is an exception towards a lot of others. Most of the times darkness would overwhelm anyone with it in their hearts. Strangely, this isn’t the case for yours. It is mostly dark but you still have a strong core of light within you. It’s not balanced but it’s not overwhelming you. I’ve only seen one other person like this… For now I can safely say you are indeed my apprentice Gray. Under my tutelage you should one day become a master. Though for now I think it is best if I have you grow through experience. Return back to your home… Equestria was it?”

“Yes Master Yen Sid.”

“Not too formal now. I haven’t been a master for many years now. Before you leave though I wish for you to meet three more members of this Tower. They are waiting for you in the foyer. They have something they wish to give to you.”

I nodded and they left the sanctity of my heart. I pulled off the Nightmare orb I received so long ago and gazed deeply into it. I saw nothing but nightmares. Nightmares that would reach out for me only to slink back to the darkness frustrated whenever I resisted their voices. Honestly it just didn’t appeal to me. It probably was the apathy speaking at that point and the honeyed words couldn’t break the cynicism that built up through the years. I replaced it on the pedestal and kept wandering around my heart.

The maelstrom of darkness around my heart was eerily calm, serene even. The light that made up my core was brightly shining even in the darkest of conditions. At that point all I could do was dwell on what was lost. Regrets were had, mistakes were made, and futures were changed beyond anything I could have ever imagined. The bonds I once had had fizzled out so long ago but even now the inkling of new bonds were forming. Perhaps I should be more forward when dealing with the girls I’ve now met in my life. The only problem is dealing with what I am… Tell them I used to be something else… or just keep it to bare minimums. Words could be twisted to change how it goes. I could go the reincarnation avenue as well. The truth is so strange not even I could comprehend how to make it make sense.

“No need to overthink things. We will cross the bridge when we get there… hopefully I won’t be burning it as well.”

I left my heart behind and returned to my dreamscape. There were a few new thoughts to go over for when I return to Equestria. Too many plans in my mind and little ways to handle it well enough.

“Well I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”

It took another three hours for me to wake up. I was still feeling the effects of the battle royale training I had. I was now more wary than I enjoyed being. I stepped out into the main room where Yen Sid sat at his desk pouring over one of the books he had pulled out. Neither Merlin or Fairy Godmother were there. I was about to ask when he pointed at another of the doors. He then went back to his book and I closed my mouth. It seemed like this was important so I trotted over to the door and entered the next room. There were three women inside seemingly fussing over this strange pauldron with an onyx stone embedded in the center.

“Um… Hello?”

“Ah there’s the new keyblade wielder. Welcome Gray. We are The Three Good Fairies. I am Flora.”

“Fauna.”

“Merryweather.”

“We have been expecting you. It’s taken a bit of time and the measurements that Fairy Godmother took but we have finally finished crafting something for you. It’s not fully set but it should provide you ample protection should you require it,”

I looked over the pauldron and tried to remember what it was exactly. I only had memories about this from the Dream Realm. This was… the armor attachments worn by the three protagonists in Birth by Sleep. Flora, the red fairy, assisted in putting it on me. It was tight but not constricting and let me still move my hoof without too much trouble. I was a little overwhelmed at this point. There were too many nice things going on at this point and I didn’t know why. I had always been suspicious whenever I got something for no reason.

That suspicion kept me alive more often than not. Once long ago, I received a mysterious package out of nowhere. Instead of opening it I left it in my office and wandered off somewhere else. A huge explosion came from that same office which I later found out was a warning from one of the perps who I had a case file on. Gifts could just as easily become traps.

“Why are you doing all this?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“Now Merryweather… Let me handle this.”

Fauna took me aside while Flora and Merryweather seemed concerned about my tone. Something too good to be true. I knew these were good people based on what I remember but… Christ this was hard. The other three I needed help because I was desperate. This on the other hand, hoof, whatever was a bit too much.

“Now Gray I know this seems like a lot but you are helping us more than we are helping you. We have seen many worlds wracked with devastation beyond even our comprehension. We know you don’t give trust easily. We know you fake a lot of your emotions from all the conversations you’ve had with the others. It’s time for you to take a few steps back to what you once were. It’s hard to open up again but from what I can tell you are working to fixing that already. This armor we are giving you will keep you safe and them safer. As long as you wield a keyblade you will be hunted down by the darkness regardless of how your heart is. You must protect it and them now.”

I mumbled out an understanding… I think. It was a lot to take in. Was I as easy to read as an open book? I guessed to mages of such magnitude I was easy to read. I have to try now and get better at… interactions or relationships.

“Thanks… I’ll try to get better about this. It’s just hard…”

“No worries. We all have chains locked to our regrets.”

I nodded. I knew what regrets I had and what could possibly come from it. While I was still getting a stern glare from Merryweather she did seem more concerned about my mental state if her patting me on the head meant anything. Flora explained more about the armor piece and what the jewel on it did. From what Fairy Godmother told them the orb I received would react with the jewel when the right trigger is found to activate it. While it would be a long time before I could activate it I could still use the armor function. I tapped the jewel and suddenly I was engulfed in light.

As the light dimmed I stood in the center fully enveloped in armor. It was actually onyx as well almost jewel like in nature but felt like steel. I looked in the mirror nearby and noticed that every part of my body was covered in armor. When I lifted my wings I noticed that even they were covered slightly in a thinner metal while the edges had been sharpened to a razor’s edge. The membrane of my wings were held in a tiny magical field which made my wings appear as dark as the rest of my armor. Several parts of the trim had a midnight blue trim. I looked more like a dark knight than anything. Then the armor faded and I was back to my regular body.

“Uh… what happened?”

“Hm… Looks like it needs more ambient magic. Give us another hour to work on it and we’ll figure something out before you go.”

I placed the armor pauldron back on the table and left the room. I decided to discuss with Yen Sid more about the world in question. I needed a better frame of reference… also some training keyblades in case I ever needed to knight someone. I also decided to send a letter to those mares in question. Might as well finish this up.

Meanwhile…

Vinyl stood next to her friend Spitfire as they entered her shared home. What she didn’t expect was the arguing already going on inside. On one side of the room stood Raindrops and Redheart angrily discussing things that seemed trivial until she heard what the subject was about. On the other half was Octavia with another unicorn wearing a green hat and red smock. They were actually just watching the sparks fly when Octavia noticed Vinyl… with Spitfire.

“Uh… Vinyl. Why is there a Wonderbolt in our living room?”

“Oh well… She wants in too.”

Raindrops and Redheart immediately stopped arguing and turned to face Vinyl. Octavia kept a straight face throughout the whole thing until she facehoofed. Vinyl started laughing throughout the entire thing.

“Vinyl! This isn’t funny!” Octavia groaned.

“Are you kidding me. It’s hilarious!”

Her laughing was finally stopped when Spitfire covered her muzzle. She took a step forward and presented herself with all the dignity of a Wonderbolt. The words out of her mouth didn’t match the poise.

“So... where is this stallion you spoke so highly about? If he really is up to snuff I wanna meet him already.”

“He’s not here right now. He had to go back to talk to his master about his training.” Vinyl explained.

“Training? What kind of training?” The chorus of Redheart, Spitfire, and Fresh Coat came out.

“Well Spitfire, it’s… well it’s… Look, we don’t really know what he had to do. All we know is that he fights monsters. He didn’t tell us what kind of monsters because he was sworn to secrecy.” Vinyl sputtered out.

“Doesn’t that seem weird Vinyl? Wouldn’t he be working for the princesses then?” Spitfire pointed out.

“I don’t think so. He made it clear that he wasn’t working as a guard or under the princesses.” Octavia informed them all.

“Octavia and I found him after one of his missions covered in blood and almost dead. Right Redheart?” Vinyl focused on Redheart.

“Yeah, he was a mess. The magic in his system was breaking his body down. From what we could tell he looked like he had never been healed by magic in his entire life. We wanted to keep him from leaving for observation but he was insistent on keeping a promise. Dr. Horse said he nearly invoked a Pinkie Promise.”

All but Spitfire and Fresh Coat shuddered at the bullet that was dodged. Neither of the two wanted to know at that moment so Fresh Coat took the initiative.

“So we can meet him soon though right?”

“Why do you all want to meet him though?” Vinyl asked while ignoring pointing her hoof at Spitfire because she already heard all about it when they had gotten back to the hotel room. Alcoholic confessions do nothing for actual sleep.

“I’m curious and interested.” Fresh Coat answered plainly.

“He was easy on the eyes and also curiosity.” Redheart looked away blushing slightly.

“If he’s tough enough I want to join in.” Spitfire forcefully spoke standing proudly while Octavia and Raindrops stared unamusedly at the three. Vinyl facehoofed this time.

“Vinyl how did you get Spitfire to agree… and here.”

“Well Octavia I got flown first class by an overeager Wonderbolt who couldn’t wait to meet somepony new. How did this unicorn-”

“Fresh Coat.”

“Sorry, How did Fresh Coat come to learn about this?”

“I was worried and accidentally spilled my guts to the first pony who would listen.” Octavia hung her head slightly sad.

“And Raindrops?”

“When I was sick she expressed interest and I was manipulated into this.”

“I didn’t manipulate you. I just asked and you agreed.”

“See. Manipulated.” Raindrops held a grim frown on her face.

All ponies around sighed and looked at one another unsure what to do. Said stallion was somewhere far away and it would be a long time until he would get back. Applebucking season was almost over in fact. A few days had already passed since the Baked Bads Bonanza and the only major event had been a stampede of frightened bunnies. Before anyone could say anything something fluttered down from the ceiling and landed on the floor before all of them.

Spitfire immediately looked around for any sign of forced entry while Fresh Coat and Vinyl lit up their horns looking for any sign of forced entry. Raindrops, Redheart, and Octavia cautiously approached the letter. When Octavia saw who it was from she calmed down significantly.

“Oh… It’s just from him.”

That revelation got the new girl’s attention. The biggest question hanging in the air was… how? Pushing their worries aside they listened to Octavia recite the letter.

Hello there, So it’s been a bit huh? I’ve finished my course. Never underestimate magical means of training. It was horrifying. Anyways I’ve pretty much finished up here and will probably be back tomorrow or day after. I look forward to speaking with each of you again. I’m gonna talk to my master about how much I can discuss with all of you later. See ya soon.

Signed, Nebula Gray.

“Well… looks like he’ll be back soon then. I’m sticking around to meet with him then!” Spitfire exclaimed.

“I’ll stick around too. I wanna meet this stallion.” Fresh Coat uttered out.

“I will as well.” Redheart slipped in.

“Ugh… fine. I’ll set up the guest room. Two ponies will have to take the couch.” Octavia grunted in annoyance.

“I could just fly home for the night Octavia.” Octavia grabbed Raindrops pulling her closer.

“And let these mares try to seduce him first. I think not.” Vinyl moved in and pulled Octavia to the side leaving a very flustered Raindrops behind.

“I’d thought you’d be angrier.”

“I was until I realized that we each bucked up. So I can’t be angry out of mistakes that happened. Though knowing you, you probably did it on purpose.”

“Psh… no I didn’t.”

Octavia gave her a flat glare and Vinyl wilted under her gaze. She knew Vinyl did it on purpose but said nothing else. At the very least he would be coming back soon. Then they could discuss the clusterfuck of a situation that came about because curiosity struck at the mares they spoke to.

I had just finished my conversation with Master Yen Sid. It seems he did keep special training blades for special occasions. When I asked about it he decided to give me a small supply of them. I had fifteen after that conversation. I also learned about the initiation to allow others to acquire a keyblade and the process of weapons turning into keyblades due to the strength of one’s heart. It seemed like emotions were the big factor of the process and would occur when one accepted themselves in their entirety. It seemed to be very involved and take a matter of time. He also showed me the process of putting light into the training blades. He performed the action because I still didn’t have a decent idea on how to perform said process. Once all of them were completed Merlin returned.

We discussed trivial matter about the status of my heart and he also changed the structure of my saddlebags making them nigh indestructible. He also placed an enchantment on them to act like his bag, shrinking down components and bringing what I need to the forefront whenever I required it using nothing but my own thoughts. He also spoke about equipping a special gummi piece to my ship.

“I call it the Warp-G Deluxe piece.”

“So… I can warp to places I’ve been to before?”

“In a sense yes. They also perform one more special function as well.”

“What’s that?”

“It breaks the instance of time for a split moment bringing you back to nearly the same time you left. It’s very experimental and there is only one in this entire universe but since you are going to be flying around anyways I might as well get some data out of this.”

“Gee… Thanks.”

“Now don’t worry my boy. I have personally used it myself so I’m not letting you go into this without making sure it is safe. I have only used it on smaller Gummi Ships and your ship I have taken the precaution of enhancing in my own way so you can have a living quarters on it as well. I don’t think we need to tell you about the necessity of keeping most of the things out in the universe secret. In your own words others must gain trust before we can trust them.”

I winced. It was something I would say and would follow almost to the letter. It also dictated what I would be doing to discuss with Octavia, Vinyl, and Raindrops. Still… I was at least prepared for any eventuality. Should they ever find out I could at least give them a way to help out. Equestria as a whole was engulfed in light almost like the Disney Castle world. I was certain there might be a Cornerstone of Light somewhere on that world.

“Is this a fine compromise Gray?”

“Yeah… Yeah it is Merlin.”

A quick smile and a hand to hoof shake finished our interactions. My saddlebags didn’t even feel heavy even though I was holding so many items. After the fight with the Heartless in the pseudo-World of Darkness I found an assortment of synthesis items. Most of the Shadows actually dropped dark shards and lucid shards. I had a small pile of each. The Darkballs got me very small pile of Lucid Crystals, only eight in total. Through the alignment of the gods or some such thing, one of the Invisibles actually dropped an Orihalcum. I was besides myself in wonder at that. The Neoshadows were weird and dropped something I came to find out as a Stormy Stone. It looked like someone took the wind and froze it into a crystal. Regardless I made my way back to the Three Good Fairies and watched their antics.

“Did you figure out the problem?”

“Yes… It’s a strange one though.”

“What is it?”

“Well your body had weird effects when under magic. We have had to readjust it so it would work on your world under that particular train of magic. It would have to be there to charge up.”

“That’s really weird…”

“I know it is but it’s the best we can do under these circumstances.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… Merryweather and Fauna have both been discussing how something has been playing games with darkness out on other worlds. We’re unsure what it is but it seems to grow stronger with each world that falls to corruption. It’s slow and methodical. We’re unsure what it is.”

“I see… I’ll keep an eye out then.”

“You’d die.”

Merryweather stood in front of me making me back down… I didn’t.

“I’m too stubborn to die. Besides I wouldn’t fight fair in the first place. I’d rather no one else have to die.”

The three fairies contemplated my response and sighed. I was a stubborn person when I was human. I was still a stubborn pony as I am now. Besides… this gave me direction, a reason to keep trying. I needed something to work towards that could keep me constantly moving forward to face the day.

“Fine Gray. You must promise to stay alive. Heroics are fine but you shouldn’t throw your life away got it.”

“Yeah I get it. I’ll be careful then,”

I placed the pauldron back on my body and headed out of the tower walking back down the long corridor. As I exited the front door to the courtyard I saw Yen Sid waiting for me. He seemed lost in thought once again and I regarded him carefully. In his hand was a small red gem of some sort. I trotted up to him and waited for him to speak first.

“It was a short time but I’m glad we have met Gray. You must work hard and take steps to become a Keyblade Master. Grow your bonds and restore your hope. Before you head off I must give you this. This will allow you a little edge in conversing with some esteemed colleagues.”

“What is it?”

“It is a direct line to the Moogle Control Center, or Mognet Central. The hub for acquiring all the accoutrements of an adventurer. They will assist you on getting more items should the need ever arise. Remember that they deal in Munny and any on world currency would not work for them.”

“Thanks… Look, I’m glad for all this help. I just wanted to let you know I do appreciate all this even if my expression doesn’t show it. I’m lucky to have met all of you and gotten all the help you have offered.”

“You are welcome Gray. Do not be a stranger and drop by should you ever need guidance. When I feel you are ready I shall summon you for important matters.”

I merely nodded chuckling a bit as I put the gem into my saddle bags. He walked with me all the way to the ship in a calm silence. I smiled as I took my first steps onto the ship. I was… content at this point. I had a path to walk and ways to deal with it. There were still mysteries to look over but for now I needed to focus on my next destination… Equestria. I turned on the ship while Yen Sid walked back to his tower and I was instantly in space. I looked over the changes to the ship and marveled at how expansive the place was. If I didn’t know any better it was bigger on the inside now. I looked over the console and found the new option of the Warp G system. I clicked on the screen activating it only to be flung back to a seat as the ship warped off for Equestria.

When I finally peeled myself off the chair I looked out of the cockpit window and saw Equestria below me. It was finally time to make a life for myself.

Inventory
Potion x3
Ether x1
Lucid Shard x25
Dark Shard x31
Mythril Shard x1
Nightmare Shard x1
Stormy Stone x5
Lucid Crystal x8
Bits x129
Munny x 3745

21. Homecoming

View Online

I was finally back in Equestrian Airspace in a dark ship that was camouflaged against the night sky. I looked down and noticed that it kind of looked a bit weird. Any portion of the land that wasn’t Equestria were lost in a fog… I even made the ship fly around the planet before I even thought of disembarking. It was really strange to see the world in its entirety. I quietly stowed away that knowledge and looked back through my pack at the Moogle Gem I was given. I placed it on the floor and pressed the strange button that was on it.

The gem spiraled out into the same holographic marker that appeared within the second game showcasing a small moogle on top of a munny gem holding a balloon that had it’s name on it. The name on the balloon read… Stiltzkin.

“Welcome to the Moogle Synthesis Shop. My name is Stiltzkin and it is a pleasure to do business with you… Oh a new client. Seems like we need to form a little business deal now don’t we.”

“Name’s Nebula Gray… I guess we do. So what’s the deal then?”

“Well… I only work for intrepid explorers and Yen Sid was one such explorer. So tell me… Are you even qualified to be an explorer?”

I pulled out the orihalcum from my bag and showed it to the holographic marker. I heard a choking noise and the sound of thrashing coming from the screen. It took a few minutes before the voice came back.

“Jeez… I would have accepted your word. No need to give me a heart attack with one of the rarest metal out there. Fine looks like we got ourself a deal. Anything I can do for you right now?”

“Can you make anything?”

“Yes I can make anything. Moogles are universe class synthesis masters.”

“Could you make me some small accessories using the items I have on hand right now? I have a bit of munny but I also need to get some of the currency of this world. They aren’t part of the rest of the universe as a whole just yet.”

“I suppose I could… Let’s see what you got.”

He took about ten of both my lucid shards and dark shards and after an hour made about thirty pieces of jewelry all made to fit on hooves. I had never even shown him my hoof yet he was able to craft something far beyond what I had seen back on earth. All of them were strangely complex regardless of their simplicity. The Lucid jewelry were all clear and held the essence of emptiness. The Dark jewelry were obsidian like and held the essence of darkness. When I smelled it, it strangely didn’t smell like darkness.

“That’ll be 700 munny kid.”

I looked at the marker and hoofed over the munny. I was down some munny but that was a resource that was easy enough to get. I placed the thirty random assortment of jewelry along with the moogle gem back into my saddlebags. The pauldron was still attached to me but I left that on. From what I was told the ambient magic in the air would charge it up. Maybe it was a bit… much but I decided to be different… open. I really didn’t want to go back just yet. This would be slightly embarrassing.

“No. No backing down. C’mon you can do this.”

I angled the ship and found the closest save point I could. Strangely it was right in front of Vinyl and Octavia’s house… but it was night time right now. That didn’t matter at the moment since I was a nocturnal creature. Before I left I placed the ship in geosynchronous orbit around Equestria and warped back down to Ponyville.

It was midnight when I warped in. All the houses were dark and the only light came from the weird tree library I had seen a while back. I stayed on the small porch area of the house peering around. Ponyville wasn’t exactly the jewel of nightlife debauchery as most cities on Earth could be. Still I made due with my time and examined all the things I brought back. I had a plan to at least sell some of them since jewelry didn’t seem to be a big thing here. Canterlot though would of course be a much different prospect. The rich probably wouldn’t even care of the color because it would be a rare jewel being used for decoration. A little underhanded… underhoofed… whatever it was, but it would make me some bits to at least keep myself financially secure.

‘Step 1: Read up more on what Equestria’s economy is like. Step 2: Talk with the three mares in my life and see where that goes. Whether or not it’s going to be good I should follow through and speak with them. Step 3: Build a home base in Ponyville. Though this was optional because I would then have to deal with Pinkie Pie. Sacrifices would have to be made… damn it. Step 4: Explore other worlds. I need to be stronger and with Equestria mostly in light because of the lack of darkness beings able to survive the world, it’s next to impossible right now.’

“I wonder when I am in this chronology… another new word in my brain… urgh…”

I kept my voice quiet. While I was groaning in frustration I didn’t need to expose myself to all of Ponyville at this point. My whole body then started to shiver… I felt something watching me. I looked around finding nothing really and even looked towards the Tree Library. The telescope on it was not being used to peer around the town. There was nothing in the sky and no sign of a pegasus floating around on a cloud. It felt just like my first week when I was facing Nightmare Moon…

‘I didn’t finish off the Nightmare fully did I?’

I looked around and out in the forest I finally saw the same eye looking back at me… coming from multiple creatures. As I looked them all over I saw over fifty pairs of eyes staring down at me. For that entire night we were locked in a staring match with only me on vigil against a horde of monsters waiting. I knew they knew I was ready for them. They also knew that I knew I was only one pony against them.

Three hours passed before they finally traipsed back into the forest. Looks like leaving Equestria will have to wait until later. The night was still young and I looked back on everything that happened so far. I had a lot of things to handle… a lot of mares, girls… whatever, in my life now, and for some reason the Nightmare found a way to survive. It’s probably at its weakest point right now but there’s no time to hunt it down in the forest just yet. I still don’t know the layout of it well enough and the only reason I made it to the castle was due to my wings keeping me above the treeline most of the time.

I immediately took a position on the awning of the small house upside down and folded my wings in. I rested my eyes keeping my ears open and constantly shifting for any unusual sounds. By the time I calmed down enough it looked to be about six in the morning if the chiming of the clock tower was anything to go by. I closed my eyes for a quick power nap. If anything I was more tense about my social obligations rather than my fighting ones. The nightmare was weak but crafty enough to not want to bring any attention to itself. With the princesses together once again and the Elements of Harmony found it would be remiss of the Nightmare to do anything without a plan. Now that it knows I’m here maybe it wants revenge more than following any real reason. I did manage to turn it into a puddle of nothing after it came down to try and possess me.

The next chime I heard was at eight and I opened my eyes and looked down at the front door. It was still probably too early to knock… at least until I heard voices from inside. There was a lot of complaining for some reason. Sounded like something about when somepony would appear. Probably not me so I just waited a bit until the arguing came to a stop. When it did I heard somepony start working in the kitchen and I decided that now was the time to do something. I wasn’t motivated by the rumbling of my stomach at at even though I hadn’t eaten since my training session… Wow I really am crazy. I landed somewhat gracefully on the porch and raised my hoof to the door.

“I told you we have to be patient until he’s done with his meeting blast it all. Now stop complaining about everything.”

“You tell them Tavi.”

“Vinyl you’re not helping.”

“Psh I’m doing plenty right now.”

“What are you doing?”

“Keeping the vibe chill.”

Octavia glared at Vinyl while Fresh Coat went to the kitchen. She was sick and tired of the arguing already. All of it had been on who would sleep where. Needless to say it went pear shaped the moment that everypony wanted to sleep. Eventually they settled on who would go where around midnight. Strangely they felt something was off during the night as if nightmares were floating around their head… and just as quickly left before they got any worse.

“Whatcha gonna make Fresh Coat?”

“I have no idea. I’m gonna look through their fridge right now Spitfire. You helping or you just gawking.”

“Ease up I’ll help out.”

They got to work setting up a little breakfast for the six of them if only to give them something to do other than argue. Sunshower and Redheart were sitting on the couch going over something they had worked on the night before. Supposedly it was a chart on who would get to go first.

“I’m first Redheart. I met him first anyways.”

“Fine but we still gotta decide on the order for the rest of us.”

“I think we could use some die from one of the board games Vinyl bought.”

“We’re really getting ahead of ourselves already.”

All the ponies finally sat down to eat making a few extra in case somepony was still hungry. That was when a knock sounded at the front door.

“Probably just the mail. Ditzy always comes around this time.”

Octavia went to the front door and opened it for the visitor.

“What have you got today for us Dit-”

She stopped when she saw me. I waved a bit with the hoof that had the pauldron on it. She didn’t speak though. I wanted to step inside the house but I remembered how rude that could be… plus I think she was just coping with seeing me so soon.

“Tavi, is it Ditzy!”

Octavia didn’t answer. She sprang on top of me and hugged me tightly. Seriously I think I was gone for maybe two days at the max. Honestly I wasn’t sure if she liked me as much as the other two did but I guess I was wrong. When I finally got to get up she fixed herself up to look like the proper mare she was when she first opened the door and invited me in. I sat on the couch while she rushed into the kitchen leaving me both hungry and in a ponderous state.

“Tavi what’s wrong?”

“He’s back…”

I didn’t know that anyone could get that quiet. There was a bit of shuffling around but it didn’t sound like anyone got up off their chair. While bored I pulled out the Lexicon from my saddlebags to hide the glow from summoning it and looked through some of the pages that appeared after meeting with those in the Mysterious Tower. Still there was no sound… for another five minutes. When I was about to finish the first voice came out.

“Dibs.”

“Vinyl you can’t call dibs. It’s not right.”

“I called it so dibs is in play Spitfire.”

‘How many ponies are here…?’

“Then how about getting up already Vinyl.”

“Shush Sunshower I’m already up.”

“Yeah cause the chair moved all of three inches already.”

“Get off my flank Redheart. Hey wait… Tavi?”

“Yes?”

“Where’s Fresh Coat?”

The silence came back while I was introduced to a new pony. She was a unicorn with an light orange coat and black mane. Her eyes were a very deep magenta and she wore a green hat backwards. She was also staring at me. When our eyes met I didn’t really know what to say or do but for some reason her pupils got bigger… wait that only happens when you find something you like… oh…

Before I could fully commit to the act of speaking I felt something land next to me. I really was distracted. It was a pegasus with a brilliant gold coat and very orange hair and eyes that seemed to pierce into me. I may have gone into a blinking fit when she got this close. She seemed to be eyeing me up and judging me. Though her eyes trailed mostly to the pauldron on me.

I was about to say something when another pony came up to me. She physically turned me to face her and looked at the scar against my left cheek. She was a very white or very light grey pony with very light pink hair. Her eyes were blue and seemed to be examining the cut I got. It was a bit weird though because I thought that particular scar had been healed. I think I about doubled my blinking fit because all three were focusing on me. I heard some other hoofsteps and had both Vinyl and Octavia join with Fresh Coat to watch Redheart work. Sunshower was hovering around me and seemed to be focusing more on Redheart than me.

“Um… could I have my face back?”

“Hm?”

“My face could I have it back?”

After a little recognition she looked a bit embarrassed and backed away letting my face go. It wasn’t obstructive and I may have enjoyed the feeling of her hoof against my cheek but it was getting awkward with all the stares which were getting out of hoof at this point… I think I’ve been naturalized.

“Sorry bout that.”

“It’s fine… I remember you from the hospital. You were the one who hugged me right?”

I think some of the girls blanched and stared at the mare in question. Really should have asked for a name already. While I was focused on the nurse pony that I met I did notice the pegasus next to me seemingly entranced by the pauldron. While her hoof started going towards it my hoof went up and caught hers.

“So… whatcha doing there?”

I think her eyes went wider when she noticed I was actually paying attention. I released her hoof and she seemed apologetic.

“Just curious…”

“I get that. I’m not exactly forward in what I like to talk about. I don’t even know who you three are… At least not by name.”

I looked over to the nurse who seemed to realize that I had no idea who they were. Vinyl seemed a little perturbed and immediately ingratiated herself to the free side on the couch. She was very close though this wasn’t out of character for her. She raised her hoof and pointed at each pony giving me a little description of them as well.

“Nurse Redheart. She works as the head nurse of Ponyville General. Fresh Coat. She works as a painter in the Canterlot area. Spitfire. Captain of the Wonderbolts.”

“Ok I’ll commit that to memory. So… what happened while I was gone?”

“Well…” Vinyl started.

Nurse Redheart
Head nurse of Ponyville General. Is very much a working mare sometimes losing herself to her work. That same nature made her one of the most well received nurses in Ponyville and the most competent. She is very sarcastic when she gets going but overall acts motherly to all ponies.

Fresh Coat
Painter pony in the Canterlot area. She is a very excitable mare usually going on tangents while she speaks whenever she is working. Has a tendency to speak her mind and sometimes say a bit more than she would say. Also seems to know how to use all her charms to her advantage. Very dangerous

Captain Spitfire
Captain of the famous Wonderbolts. Her appearance seems to scream drill sergeant in though her demeanor when out of costume shifts to one of humbleness and understanding. Has a bit of a temper and enjoys a good throw down provided the opponent is on their level. She also seems really reluctant to show emotions a lot of the time.

22. Contract

View Online

I was walking towards Town Hall with Sunshower in tow. I don’t think my mind was fully functioning as well as I thought it would be because I was thinking that they had all just wanted me to try being in a herd with six different mares. But that would be insane and completely out of left field. I went back into my memories because something must have happened between then and now.

“Well…?”

“Well we’re all kinda talking about herd things with some other mares who found out about it and decided to go… ‘Hey mind if we join too?’ and all of us were like ‘Yeah sure I’m sure my roommate won’t mind at all.’ Then everypony is here and wants to give ya a shot.

“Vinyl… I haven’t even gone on dates with the other three of you yet. And no the exploration of Canterlot doesn’t really count since I didn’t give each of you a day to yourselfs.”

“So we’re in agreement that for the next week we’re all gonna go on dates until you get to know us better then.”

“Yeah of course… wait, what? I mean… That’s fine. I just need to come back to Ponyville at night… Important reasons beyond my control and I need to sell some things to get some bits together… Also find out how much a home is. At least for today.”

“You might get a home here in Ponyville?”

“Yeah Octavia. I need to have a home base and somewhere to come back to. Since a majority of you seem to frequent here I might as well find a plot of land and see how much it would cost to get a house built.”

“So how do you want to do this?”

“What?”

“How do you wanna handle these dates then? Like who goes first and such.” Spitfire motioned her hoof at the others who had just as curious expressions as she did.

“Uh… I’m thinking of a number from one to ten.”

“Six.” Octavia chuckled.

“Two.” Vinyl countered.

“Four~” Fresh Coat sang out.

“Seven.” Sunshower chimed.

“Eight.” Redheart muttered.

“Five.“ Spitfire huffed.

“Ok Spitfire guessed it, so she’s first. Then Octavia and Fresh Coat will have to figure out who goes first. Then Sunshower, Vinyl, and Redheart will play again to figure out who goes next after the first three. Is that fine?”

There were a few grumbles from the three who guessed too high or too low but everypony was at least mature about these things. I slowly climbed off the couch and told them I needed to find out some things at City Hall.

“Oh I’ll go with you. Might as well have somepony around to make sure you get through the day okay. Since it looks like you’re not sleeping anytime soon.”

“I’m shooting for 3 and waking up by 8. I’m trying to be diurnal.”

“What?”

“Say what?”

“What was that?”

I blinked and realized that that word might not come up a lot. Hell I still didn’t know how to explain how I knew that word without using the phrase God shoved it into my brain. I looked around a bit then finally answered holding back the sigh I was fighting against.

“Means I stay up both day and night and only sleep in the afternoons.”

A bunch of oh’s and ah’s chorused out. I nodded and started trotting for the door. My mind was still reeling and I did my best impersonation of someone who knew what they were doing. Sunshower followed after me while the mares in question decided to debate when this would start and how we would handle it. Spitfire, at least from what I saw, looked extremely smug that she had won first place. She also seemed to stop sweating bullets as well but I had no idea what that was about. I left the house with a mare in tow and went straight for City Hall.

Nope I was just freaking out and purposely trying to forget it. What I thought was three now turned to six and I have no idea what I’m getting into. Not to mention that I’m pretty sure that the Nightmare thing is in the forest plotting things now. Evil things or revenge I’m not sure but it’s probably going to be something sinister. It was so engrossing I barely noticed that we had reached Town Hall. I had a quick look around the town as well for the fearsome beast I only know as ‘The Pink One’ only to see her chasing after Rainbow Dash. It was weird seeing the dedication she was putting into catching her. Then she saw me and stopped.

She looked at me with a face I could only call the serious face. Then her eyes widened in abject terror as she looked at the fading contrail of rainbows. She looked torn between her two goals then she pointed a hoof at me.

“SOON…”

I shook my head and gave a determined look back. Sunshower stood off to the side while I stood my ground. She may have liked me but no one would go against Pinkie Pie’s determination. I would.

“NEVER…”

The smirk she gave me told me her response. It was one of inevitability. I knew that look well because it was the same look I received from my Captain when he ‘promoted’ me. It told me that it would happen… regardless of what I do. She then zoomed off after what I guessed was Rainbow Dash if the memories in my head could be trusted. Strangely, I still have no journal entries on any other pony I’ve met just yet. I suppose the journal requires me to meet them and speak for more than a few seconds than I did with Pinkie Pie.

After she zoomed off Sunshower looked concerned about things. I merely patted her on the back with my wing and urged us on. I ignored the blush mostly because I knew she liked me… then again it could be something about using wings like that which could be the real problem. Regardless, I entered the Town Hall and walked up to the receptionist… which was non existent. Rolling my eyes, I knocked on the Mayor’s door.

“Yes? Come in.”

I stepped inside and noticed a young looking mare sitting at the main desk though for some reason the grey colored mane was throwing me off. I stepped forward with Sunshower sitting off to the side.

“Hi… I’m Nebula Gray. I was hoping to see if there were any possible places to get a home built.”

“Ah a new resident… Well I suppose we could find something. Are you looking prebuilt or something new?”

“New hopefully… I need to know a cost and where the possible plots of land are before I commit.”

Mayor Mare, as I came to know her as, took out a map of Ponyville showcasing that while the town was small there was still over five hundred ponies living in Ponyville with most of that bulk appearing before tourist seasons. A sleepy town in the middle of nowhere gave it one of those rustic charms which enticed the normal ponies into settling down. I also noticed her staring at me as well but it wasn’t out of attraction. It felt as though she was trying to place me from somewhere.

The map was pretty detailed. I couldn’t build anywhere in the southeastern region due to the whole place being owned by the Apple Family Orchards. I didn’t think about building anything in the northwest because of the abundance of train tracks in that area. The very edge of the map has a small place in the western part of town that was for the most part secluded.

“How about here?”

“Hm… Most ponies don’t live out there because of the closeness to the Everfree… Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah… it fits me at the very least.”

What followed were several hours of discussing contracts and other such things. I had to place a deposit of a hundred bits which instantly drained my cash down to my last twenty nine bits. For the rest I would be required to pay off about six hundred more bits over the course of a month and rent would be around eighty bits. I have no idea whether or not this would be costly or not. I have to sell some of those jewels to someone in Canterlot. Hopefully, those shard jewelry would get me what I needed. If not I could sell a lucid crystal.

“Thank you for deciding to join Ponyville. Should any problems arise just get me, Mayor Mare, and I would be happy to assist.”

“Of course Mam. Thanks for the help. When should the project be done?”

“Three days.”

The speed which she answered and the short wait period was shocking… to say the least. My surprise must have painted my face because she chuckled.

“Here in Ponyville we have some of the best barn builders in Equestria. A house would take a much shorter time.”

I nodded and followed Sunshower out waving as I did. It was weird walking on three hooves but it was possible. It was a very quiet and amicable silence as we walked off for the house. I still needed to go to Canterlot to sell some of the jewelry in order to pay off all the construction on the home I would be getting. Managed to negotiate for a much larger basement and a two story home. Also managed to get several rooms in case I ever had to have a lot of ponies over… which seemed to be something that was going to happen eventually.

“So one more order of business before I’m done for today…”

“Yes?”

“I need to find a jeweler in Canterlot.”

“A jeweler? Why do you need that?”

“A business partner of mine wanted me to show off some of his… creations to sell more often.”

“What do they look like?”

I pulled out one of the lucid shard bracelet and her eyes immediately focused on the gem used. The reason that all synthesis items look so interesting is that all of them seem to have a life all their own and shine with the very thing that they embody most. Lucid synthesis items embodied the very essence of emptiness. While they are transparent something in the item makes it appear as more changing shades depending on what angle they are looked at.

“That’s really pretty…”

Her eyes were glued on the item in question. I had a feeling that she wanted me to give her one as well… I thought about it… then immediately thought not to. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to give her something but I needed to find something that would fit her better.

“I need to find the right ones for each of you before I get something much better for each of you.”

Her eyes perked up and while she seemed a bit disappointed the idea of something better seemed to stop her thoughts from getting away from her. As I have found out Sunshower is the cuddler which is what she did after I put the jewelry back into my saddlebags. I was stunned for a bit but I did allow her to have her fun before we trotted off for Octavia and Vinyl’s home.

“We’re back.”

I opened the door only to find that Vinyl and Spitfire were the only ones inside. They waved and returned back to speaking to each other. Sunshower took a seat near them joining them while I began to trot outside.

“Where are you going?”

“Huh?” I had been stopped by Spitfire.

“Where are ya going?”

“Oh I need to go to Canterlot and find a jeweler. It’s important for getting a home base here.”

“I’ll go with then. I got some contacts there.” Spitfire stood up leaving Vinyl and Sunshower to their conversation though I noticed Vinyl was a bit on edge. I didn’t know why at all.

“That’s fine but I want to get there fast.”

“Fast? Who do you think you’re talking to?”

“Faster than that. Here hold on.”

“Wait… what?”

Before she could protest I picked her up flared up my wings and dived into the shadows. When I left I thought I could hear Vinyl laughing like a hyena. I wondered if hyena were a thing here.

We ended up in one of the Canterlot Alleys from a place that I remember seeing a while back while I was being escorted through the city. I placed Spitfire back on her hooves before she could freak out anymore. I don’t think she was blushing but it was hard to tell when she was busy looking around her surroundings.

“What in Tartarus…? How…?”

“Thestral thing. I can go through shadows and bring I think at least one other pony with me. Decided to speed this up so I could spend more time talking with all of you before we actually head out on a date.”

“Right… Um… so you were serious about that?”

“Uh… yeah. You are first so I’ll go all out to make sure you have a good time… with whatever we’re gonna do. Especially since it seems like you would be busy most of the time. So we should enjoy the time we do get.”

“... Hm… I guess Vinyl was right about ya. You’re a bit of a dork sometimes as well.”

Well that wasn’t what I was expecting… Roll with it. Let’s see where this goes before anything bad happens.

“I’m not that bad.”

“Nah you aren’t but that was a bit cheesy. I’ll see how you do tomorrow. For our date we’re heading over to the Wonderbolts Academy. I need to check on something with you there. Just between you and me.”

“Hopefully you can keep up.”

I think she enjoyed that because a smirk appeared on her muzzle. Then she got real close to me. And brushed my cheek before socking me in the arm. She was blushing though and I barely felt anything… ow… Not a thing.

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself and save that talk for tomorrow. Now let’s get to this jeweler and see what you got for him.”

She led the way getting some odd stares from the unicorns of the place but none of them seemed to be bigoted like that Jet Set and Upper Crust ponies. I ignore the stares which seemed to be focused on the fact that I was cantering along with her. Right… she is a celebrity. Huh… well this is gonna be a pain in the ass eventually. I shook myself out of my thoughts as well came up to a very illustrious looking jewel shop.

“Oh goody the riff… Oh excuse me welcome to Shiny Baubles on the Lane. I’m the proprietor Shiny Baubles. How can I help you two?”

“I’m wondering if you could look at this for me.”

I pulled out one of the lucid hoof bracelets and one of the dark hoof bracelets. When he took out a small eyepiece to look closer at the his eyes seemed to bug out but only for a moment. It was almost impossible to detect but it seems freaky pegasi styled eyes still work even if you’re a nocturnal thestral. His poker face came back on when he looked back up to me.

“I can give you thirty for each of them. They look pretty well made even if the gems aren’t something to write home about.”

I had thirty of these bracelets and while nine hundred bits was a good price for them all I needed to have a bit of a surplus before I got a home. So I thought about everything I had ever seen in my own career as a cop. Only once had I ever been involved in a case that involved a corrupt business man buying low and selling high which wasn’t that big a deal. The fraud was considered a white collared crime though so the procedure was still followed and it worked out. The only thing I made of note was that one of his business deal he lost composure when he was presented with a blue diamond. Surprisingly what I found out was that with the clarity being cloudy made it much more expensive to buy. He managed to sell his expression that it wasn’t going to be as much as it actually cost and actually won.

“I don’t know… I looked at another jeweler and they were willing to give me sixty bits for each one.”

I didn’t want to push too hard. I needed a good price from this guy and maybe if he wasn’t going to be an asshole I was going to use him to keep bit roaming back into me. Underhoofed… I groaned… I know but I didn’t like most of the residents in Canterlot so I didn’t feel as bad especially when they had scoffed at me just for being around Spitfire.

“I can tell you are actually someone who knows their stuff don’t you… Fine eighty bits for the two. Anything else?”

“How about a couple more. I got a few I could sell to you and perhaps make you pretty popular when ponies come in.”

“I’m listening…”

“I have fifteen of each and if you give me eighty bits each then I’ll come back when I get more that you could sell at whatever you want. Nopony else has these and nopony ever will. So..?”

He looked down at me and I could tell he hated the idea but the thought of investments and more money seemed to swim through his eyes coaxing him. He agreed and I was given twenty four hundred bits. Over two thousand bits were traded and Spitfire helped me pack the bag into my saddlebags. She seemed really confused about this.

“It’s enchanted to fit a lot of things and not be that heavy…”

“Neat… Think you could get me one of those?”

“Uh… sure just bring me a bag you like and I can go talk to my master about it. I can talk him into helping me out with the charm.”

She seemed appeased by this and she led me out. As soon as we found a quiet spot I picked her up and ducked into another shadow. When we reappeared near the house again and I placed her down. She seemed to be more comfortable now with all this. We trotted inside only to find all the ponies I met sitting around eating lunch. They gave us our small meal and I already felt that fatigue was trying to get me down. I had one more thing to do before I slept that night and that was to go out and spend some bits on the rest of the house before hand. So as soon as I finished the sandwich, very small portion for some reason, I went back to City Hall and knocked on the Mayor’s door again. Luckily she was still in but her assistant wasn’t. I ignored it for now and paid off the loans I made when I signed the contract and paid the construction in full. Now at eighteen hundred and twenty nine bits. Still more than enough for whatever came my way.

I had made a good business deal for now… As much fun as it would have been to play merchant it was not meant to be. I went back to the home and fell asleep for the afternoon hanging out on the porch in front of their home. I did tell them beforehand, hoof… whatever and they acquiesced. I did hear the roar of something out in the town but I didn’t put much thought into it.

It seemed the girls were still discussing things and I endeavored to make sure to have coffee with me in case I needed it whenever these dates were scheduled to happen. When night fell they all turned in early while I woke up and watched the forest. Something bad would be happening every night and I knew it would be worse if I did nothing.

The eyes returned again and were watching me carefully. Whenever one tried to get out of the forest I would immediately step onto the ground and flare my wings out glaring at it. It would step back into the forest and I would return back to the porch ceiling watching. I needed to get into the forest and destroy that thing before it could become a bigger threat. I looked through the Lexicon and looked over the map. I was less worried about being seen that night. Pinkie was too focused on what apparently was a griffon in the town and a lot of the ponies were on edge trying to not become part of the shenanigans.

Either way the eyes were still watching. Whenever I looked closer I noticed that all the creatures were made of smoke instead of being actual physical creatures. It didn’t last as long as I thought they would as the smoke creatures fled back into the forest leaving me watching nothing. I went back to sleep after that. Tomorrow was going to be the first of the longest day in my entire life.

Mayor Mare
Head of Ponyville and the voice of the town in most cases. Mayor Mare runs the bureaucracy of Ponyville on a tight ship. For the most part she is unassuming but the shrewd personality she hides can be seen whenever you sit near her when she does paperwork. Mane color may not be grey and uncertain of what color is actually is.

Shiny Baubles
Owner of Shiny Baubles on the Lane. Shiny is a very egocentric unicorn but he does have some of the fairer deals on the market in Canterlot. While money grubbing there are several lines he won’t cross. He enjoys finding new gems in his spare time and making his own jewelry whenever time permits.

23. Spitfire and Octavia

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When I woke up that morning it turned out that I had only slept for three or so hours. It was six in the morning if the ringing of the clock chimes was something to go by. The nightmare was still stalling and I needed to keep watch… but I also needed to blend in. So far I had done well enough. Aside from coming back to Ponyville covered in blood from head to hoof and freaking out Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash alongside scaring Octavia, Vinyl, and Sunshower everything was going pretty well.

‘Who am I kidding… I’m hanging on a goddamn thread even with the training I received. Gotta be better about things from this point on. The home I’m getting will be situated close to the Everfree Forest and I’ll be keeping close track of whatever heartless might try to get out of there. It’s not prevalent but I have smelled darkness emanating from that area. There were also areas I felt when I first came into the world over by the Badlands I guess. I won’t be anywhere near there for now but they were still just as light over there. The darkness has a lot of trouble focusing in Equestria.’

“I wonder if they have a Cornerstone of Light here…”

I mused some more but it was finally time to get things rolling. Today apparently would be Spitfire’s day. All focused on actually getting to know her better while also letting her get to know me… Instantly I wanted to escape into space. I didn’t have a history here and while I’ve found out that the Badland Thestrals are very remote even with other thestral tribes I didn’t know if anyone knew of them more in detail. At the very least I’m not dealing with Twilight. She would probably figure out who I really was within a few days of meeting me and that was intolerable under my own reservations. From my memories I knew I had to at least keep things going on a general same path. I had ideas of what I could and shouldn’t change but when it came to the season threats I had to deal with them personally. Not for glory or fame, but for the item they each possessed. Nightmare Moon had dropped something I now know as the Envy Orb. For some reason it had resonated with my keyblade armor.

That still hadn’t gotten anywhere in terms of solving how to use the orb with the armor but it was on the list of constant mysteries I needed to solve. First on the list was figuring out why six random mares like me and why they seem fine with making a herd, Second was finding the Nightmare that got away apparently and destroying the permanently, and the armor was third. I had strange priorities at this point and little to go on. Even detective skills are useless if I have nothing to detect. Equestria while nice is also very boring most of the time. Peace and quiet were so rare on Earth that the entire time I had been staying near Octavia and Vinyl’s house very little actually happened.

My thoughts were brought to an abrupt end when the front door was opened. Spitfire had stepped out followed by a concerned Octavia. That didn’t sit well with me but I didn’t break their conversation mostly due to not knowing what it was about. When they noticed me actually awake both mares clammed up.

“Something wrong?”

“Nothing.

“No problems here.”

Both of them were pawing at the ground with their hooves and twisting their heads to not look at me. Ponies are very bad liars most of the time… at least from what I’ve seen so far. Perhaps one of them will surprise me but for now I didn’t question it.

“Mind if I use the shower Octavia before I start the rest of the day?”

“Huh… Oh, of course, go right ahead.”

“We’ll head out when you’re done Gray. Got a lot to do today.”

I merely nodded and went upstairs. Only Sunshower and Redheart were awake at this point and luckily they had finished getting ready before the other two came outside. I closed the door after saying hi to both of them. They looked a bit pensive and worried when I passed by them. Warning bells went off in my head and I was really getting that feeling that something was going to happen on this date… I was most likely going to be put through the wringer but I waited until I finished a shower before I even wanted to mull that over.

“Are you certain this is the only way?”

“Yeah… Octavia right? Look this stallion seems tough so I gotta make sure he’s up to snuff for a pony like me.”

“Well yes… but challenging him to a duel to see if he’s tough enough seems a little extreme don’t you think?”

“It’s how I chose my last coltfriend. He was able to stand up to me and keep up. Look it’s just the standard I have ok. If he’s not up to code I probably won’t be part of this herd.”

“I know it just seems… extreme to me. There are better ways to get to know somepony.”

“I know. This way is mine. Everypony here is going to be finding out more about him during their dates and when we finish that we’ll pool all the info together.”

“Please make sure he comes back in one piece. We already had a scare a while back and we don’t need another so soon.”

“He’ll be fine. I actually have high expectations for him already. No stallion has ever had the spine to pick me up like that and keep a cocky attitude against me in a long time.”

“He picked you up? Wait… What!?”

“Nothing! You heard nothing!”

I finally finished and exited the shower. It took a bit to trot downstairs since both Sunshower and Redheart both gave me hugs before I left. They acted like they might never see me again. Also noticed that Sunshower is still the cuddler while Redheart is very motherly with her hugs. Nice little tidbits to store away in case I needed more insight on how they acted.

When I reached the front door I saw both mares still locked in an intense debate. I think they heard my hoofsteps because they both stopped when I appeared. Pony ears are not for show apparently since I saw them twitch in my direction. Will have to be more careful from now on to get through places and I should figure out their range.

“Ready.”

“Good. Come on we have a bit of a flight ahead of us.”

“Got it. See ya later Octavia.” I gave her a hug. It felt like a thing I should do. I had done it for my niece everytime I left the house to either go to work or let her head to school. It was… no gotta focus on the now. I don’t think she noticed me getting pensive but I didn’t look too long before Spitfire pulled me into the air and led the way.

It was a nice flight. Though the entire time we were traveling I noticed that she would speed up forcing me to increase my speed. I was not a speed flyer and I still didn’t know what kind of flyer I was. Endurance flyers would be able to fly for hours on end, power flyers would probably be able to tear through their obstacles without too much trouble, speed flyers are possibly like Spitfire, and technical flyers are stunt ponies to an almost crazy extent. I couldn’t dwell on it much because she then dived down forcing me to follow along. We flew through several trees dodging and weaving around them. By some miracle I managed to keep her in my sight and not make a complete fool of myself. Perhaps I was getting better.

I ran into a thundercloud as soon as I took my eye off of her. Before I could be overcharged I summoned the kunai blades around my hooves keeping the electricity off of me. After I got out I unsummoned them before Spitfire could see.

“You ok?”

“Yeah… I’m good… It was just really tingly.”

She looked at me really closely as she stopped to make sure I was fine. My body wasn’t showing the signs of being electrified. Maybe I should have been affected by the static instead of blocking it entirely. She looked specifically at my hooves but since there were no marks there she looked back into my eyes. I wasn’t nervous at all… My eyes were darting around for an excuse.

“You don’t look like you were affected at all by the lightning in there.”

“I guess I’m just naturally resistant to electricity. I’ve never been in a thundercloud before. First time for everything.”

“Didn’t you do weather control for your home?”

“Lived in a cave system in the Badlands. We only dealt with rain showers whenever we managed to get the rain clouds for it.”

“Hm… sounds tough. I might want to hear more of that another time. Right now we should probably get to the Academy.”

“Right. Why are we heading there? Wasn’t this supposed to be a date to get to know each other better?”

“Don’t worry about that Gray. We’ll be getting to know each other real soon.”

I, obviously, didn’t panic when she said those words. My back legs weren’t shaking from anxiousness at all. My wings didn’t even nearly close up on me when she purred the word ‘real’… Christ this was turning into something weird… and I still had no idea about pony aesthetics.

When we reached the large academy I saw multiple teams of pegasi in their blue and yellow outfits performing complex maneuvers all over the skyline. An arctic blue mare with a nearly white or really light gray mane seemed to be leading the drills. When she saw the two of us flying down she immediately zoomed over forcing her trainees to fly another lap. Spitfire looked expectantly at her approach.

“Welcome back Captain. Are you done with your sabbatical or… Ah do you need the place now.”

“Yeah Fleetfoot. Gotta check on a few things. I still have another day off before I come back. You don’t mind do you?”

“Not at all.”

“That will be all Fleetfoot.”

“Right…”

I didn’t know what was going on but that weird feeling in the pit of my gut was working it’s way up. Clearly my libido had lied to me. Also there was also something… underlyingly wrong going on.

“Good luck pony… Your funeral.”

She muttered those words when I trotted past her. I really should have found a book on pegasus dating manuals. This was going to be one of those days. It felt like I was back on the force and had that fling with… what was her name… crap I don’t remember. She had used me to get back at her boyfriend. Didn’t work apparently from what I remember. Learned a lesson that day though… never trust a pair of pretty eyes cause they are the most dangerous of the bunch.

“So… where are we going?”

“You’ll see…”

I followed her through one of the longer hallways and noticed there were no ponies patrolling the area. Probably seeing Spitfire here scared them all away. We finally reached one of the far doors and she led me in. As it turned out she brought me into one of the training rooms used for hoof to hoof combat.

“Uh…”

“So… here’s the thing. You seem like a good stallion and I know you seem strong enough but I gotta see if you can keep up with me in a little spar. I like my stallions to be as tough as me.”

“That sounds like you don’t get a lot of romantic options.”

“Ugh… Don’t remind me. Only one pony has ever managed to keep up with me and I’m never gonna be with that bum ever again.”

“That bad huh? Sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine. I’m over it. I got a new prospective coltfriend right in front of me. He just has to keep up.”

“I’ll admit that hoof to hoof combat was never my specialty…”

“Weapons pony?”

“Yeah… I had more weapons training. I mean I did complete basic combat training.”

As a cop I only knew submission holds because of course the rules behind apprehending suspects. Problem was that I didn’t have hands anymore… also I’m not even sure if my arms bend that way. I never thought of it before but the fact my back legs seem to bend the opposite way freaks me out more that I thought it would. Ignoring it I took position across from Spitfire who smiled at my eagerness. I was cringing the whole time which made her chuckle.

“Glad you’re enjoying yourself.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout that. This is just a friendly spar… maybe more than friendly if you keep up.”

The wink she gave me didn’t drop my guard. I made sure to be ready for anything she sent my way which was why even though I smiled my eyes were locked on her. She noticed the intensity of my gaze but returned one of her own. She was smirking though, which put me on edge. Neither of us moved first. While I never was formally trained my time fighting the heartless for Yen Sid had taught me the wonders of waiting for the opponent to make the first move.

It worked especially well when fighting Neoshadows. It would possibly work well for fighting other ponies. I hoped.

Spitfire slowly took a step to the left while I stepped to the right. A slow circle was made as we kept a sizable distance from each other. Both of us were very much predators and neither could make the first move. I was full of holes in my defense hoping she would fall for the feint. She was smarter than that and kept her distance. Her smile never broke either. My wings started to get agitated as they slowly opened and closed ready to move. Hers did the same. Step by step, inch by inch we moved in that concentric circle.

With a sudden lunge at a dashing speed Spitfire launched herself at me managing to grasp onto me only for me to fling her off before her hooves could get their grip. She slid to a halt on the floor while I rushed in low attempting to get her to the floor and pin her. She flapped her wings dodging the sweep and jumping on top of me. I instantly fell backwards hoping to knock her off by crashing against the floor. She let go and used the momentum to roll away while I crashed to the floor. Luckily the mats on the floor made it tolerable.

She instantly jumped back towards me forcing me to pull my legs in. As soon as she touched down I pushed my legs forward tossing her away causing her to skid on her side. I got back to my hooves as did she. She was actually really excited and her tail seemed to be flicking around… a lot. I took my stance again and waited for her.

While she was very skilled at combat I managed to be a bit stronger than her. Probably the outcome of facing so many heartless within a short amount of time giving me the experience to match her. I wondered briefly if I could see other ponies stats like I could with mine. She then lunged for me managing to toss me on my back. Once again, losing myself in thought was turning out bad for me. Instead of fighting against her I grabbed her sides shocking her and forced Spitfire to the mat. Placing my front hooves on her arms and making sure I didn’t let her legs get between mine I pinned her down.

She was breathing heavily though I really don’t think it was from fatigue. Wait… were her pupils dilating… Well I think she’s warmed up to me. Also this position seems really compromising. Police training definitely didn’t cover this for submission holds. Maybe my mind’s being more pony again.

“Done?”

“What?”

“I’m asking if you give up Spitfire.”

She tried to push my hooves off but I actually put my weight on her. I think she started blushing when she noticed the position of her back legs. She didn’t try to move them because things could turn awkward. I also didn’t want our relationship to go that fast. Barely knew enough about Spitfire and this date/interview was still ongoing.

“Yeah… fine I give. Mind letting me up.”

I stepped off her and took a few steps back. She stopped visibly breathing heavily but I did noticed that her chest was still rising rapidly. She was also pretty red as she made her way closer to me. This might get a bit out of my control.

“Looks like you managed to beat me. You’re up to my level and I am going to enjoy this.”

“Um… Right. Remember we’re still figuring out the whole herd situation. Heh heh…”

“Oh I know that. Don’t worry about that. I’m just kind of happy since I don’t meet a lot of stallions that could keep up with me. Now I found one and I’m gonna make sure you want to stick around.”

With a small wink she stepped up to me and nuzzled against me. I didn’t tense up but I felt a bit warmer than usual. Probably nothing and I didn’t feel nervous… not nervous at all. Then she pushed me down to the mat because I was distracted. She mounted on top of me and decided I was far too protected so she planted her lips against mine and made sure I was focused entirely on her. My eyes instantly bugged out and my arms wriggled around in shock. Wait… is she… is that her tongue? As our lips parted she nuzzled against me leaving me shocked.

“I think I’m gonna enjoy this a lot.”

“Mph… huh? Right. Yes. Enjoy. Yes.”

I think I instinctively wrapped my arms and wings around her and we laid there for a while just relaxing in this empty training room. All thoughts in my head were racing around at millions of miles per hour. Eventually we both got up and she quickly nuzzled me again before we decided to leave. She started to talk a bit more about herself including a mother that lived out near one of the mountain ranges but I didn’t know which one. I did learn that she was very passionate about leading her team as well.

“Anything about the team I should know in detail?”

“Well… You might see my Ex around if you stick around long enough… Then again he is still recovering.”

“Recovering?”

“Found out he was seeing another pony while we were relaxing in Manehattan. It had been going on for a while. As you can tell I’m not exactly one to take betrayal like that lightly. At least right now I know you aren’t going to do something that hasn’t already been talked about.”

“This has been talked about? Where was I when this happened?”

“When you took that nap a few nights ago. Each of us decided on some ground rules. Trust me if we didn’t agree to some things we wouldn’t have left the training room.”

I think my eyes bugged out again. I think I was red. They were very serious and I think I was understanding the aesthetics of ponies though I wasn’t sure if the kiss was the catalyst. I shook my head and chuckled.

“Good to know I’m in such good standing with you mares. I guess I’m really lucky.”

“So… what about you? What’s your story?”

“Well… I guess I can say that I had an ordinary family life and eventually joined a small police force we had. I worked hard at it and eventually became one of the head detectives of the branch. Parents were proud of me and my brother was supportive. It was a good day. Incidents turned me loose on the rest of Equestria. That made it a bad day.”

I grimaced… I really didn’t want to say much about things that involved my past… only because it would be very crazy to anyone who was listening to it. Still I gave enough details that would at least be believable. She frowned but came close to me and gave me a very quick hug. We were already walking the halls of the Academy so she kept her affection to a minimum. I wanted to laugh at the absurdity but I understood the need to keep the facade up. Better she have the mask around the recruits and not be seen as emotional.

After that we trotted out of the building to a nearly darkened sky. Fleetfoot was telling the ponies still flying to pack it in for the night as she walked over to the two of us. She smiled lightly and handed Spitfire a ledger which seemed to have plenty of recruits that needed more training apparently.

“Looks like we call this a night then Gray. I got some things to work on for the Academy. Thanks for making this interesting.”

“Huh? You survived. Guess you were better than I thought.”

I thought I saw her sigh in relief but I was distracted by a wink from Spitfire who sashayed away with Fleetfoot. I felt her tail rub against my chin as she trotted away while the two snickered a bit. I needed to take a very cold shower eventually before I get too worked up. I needed to leave right that moment… Very soon… I was not watching her flank. Damn it I was.

“I’m not gonna survive anymore encounters if they end up like this. Also I think that being a thestral made me very open to the nuzzling.”

I opened my wings and flew off towards Ponyville. It was a very slow flight because my head was still spinning slightly. I didn’t meet any resistance along the way home and I managed to make it back outside of their house. I knocked and was received by Octavia apparently. She let me in and allowed me to use the shower. I used a lot of cold water. She also seemed really excited because she and Fresh Coat worked out who would be next. After the shower I went outside and took my position on the porch.

“Why do you stay out here Gray?”

“I kind of like it. Can’t explain it well but being upside down is kind of fun. Plus the night is always fun. I’m just gonna power nap for now though. Then tomorrow will be our day Octavia.”

I think she made a squee sound as a smile was plastered across her muzzle. I chuckled while she closed the door. When I thought back to it I noticed that only Fresh Coat was still here. I didn’t see Sunshower or Redheart. The probably had a home here in Ponyville already so it made sense.

When I looked out into the forest I didn’t see any of the nightmare creatures or Nightmare either looking out at me. I closed my eyes and quietly tried to sleep but the constant idea that the threat was waiting for me to make a mistake making my rest turn to suffering. I woke up multiple times during the night only to see nothing out in the forest. My sleep schedule was already disturbed enough so I decided to do anything else to curb those thoughts. I looked through my saddlebags and felt something really warm within them. I pulled it out only to realize that it was the wayfinder. One of the petals was glowing a bright golden color. I blinked in surprise until I thought back to every game in the series I’ve played. I don’t think I knew much about the D-Link system but this felt connected in some way. Sighing I placed it back into my pack and fell asleep.

I awoke the next day with a mixture of worry and anticipation. The Nightmare was still out within the Everfree Forest but made it a point not to make themselves known in the first place. The anticipation, I couldn’t place, was filling me with dread. I merely prepared for today the best I could. Octavia was the only pony on my mind right at this point. I needed to focus on her like I focused on Spitfire yesterday. I only knew a bit about Octavia and one of those things was that she loved classical music. Also that she was very empathic. She seemed to be the most worried when she heard I was covered in blood. Can’t really blame her that moment in my life was a real wake up call. Also probably got seen by two of the Elements of Harmony when I should have never been seen in the first place.

“Hindsight is always against me isn’t it?”

Mumbling to myself seemed to be a more common occurrence whenever I was alone. I landed back on the ground from the porch roof and knocked on the front door. Octavia stepped out and immediately shut the door behind her. I quickly put two and two together and figured that she wanted to go enjoy our date right at this moment.

“So where shall we go then Octavia?”

“Well I was thinking we go out to a small coffee shop up in Canterlot. I know you could get us there faster than the train can.”

“Sure I can do that. You’d have to hold on tight.”

“Hold on tight?”

I didn’t answer and decided to just pick her up in my arms and lifting my wings up. I did notice that she seemed a bit heavier than Spitfire did. One of my arms was wrapped around her flank and I couldn’t say I didn’t enjoy the curves… I shook my head and noticed she was blushing heavily until I dived into one of the nearby shadows as we exited out around one of the Canterlot alleyways. I placed her back on the ground. She quietly readjusted her fancy bowtie and fixed her mussed up mane though during that she leaned up against me. Surprisingly, she wasn’t actually doing this on purpose which kind of made it adorable. When she noticed that she was leaning against me she too a few steps away and regained her regal composure for the rest of the ponies in the city. I merely chuckled and allowed her to lead the way.

Once again we same the same unicorns with the same attitudes they held the last time I walked around with Octavia. Still she held herself with the dignity that she always held herself with. After a short trek through the streets we made our way to a small coffee shop called Cocoa Sizzle’s Cafe. I was still confused about the naming conventions of businesses but I didn’t make much of a fuss about it. So far the puns that nearly made me sick like that one city which wouldn’t be mentioned anymore hadn’t come up again which made me kind of happy.

“Here we are. It’s not something grand but it’s a place I really like.”

“It’s good Octavia. This is an interesting place. Besides I’m here to get to know you better.”

“Y-yes, of course.”

We were ushered in by one of the servers towards a booth in the back. If I didn’t know any better than they were making coffee bars exactly like the new age retro style some of the people from back home has done. It was even stereotypical with the one obligatory pony wearing the beatnik beret. I think that this might have done wonders for my sensibilities of society… and promptly wanted to immediately turn into an outcast. I didn’t have problems with beatniks though. I had problems with the people who would go too far into character. Still this was about Octavia and not my problems with stereotypes.

“So… What can you tell me about yourself?”

“Me? Gray you seem to know more about me than I do about you.”

“Perhaps but I just find you more interesting than me. I’ve had to life with myself for long enough as is.”

She tittered politely as her posture started to finally relax. I couldn’t fault her for being on edge. Apparently I was slightly intimidating. From what I observed everytime I would unconsciously move my wings others would take it for signs of agitation which would make other ponies want to get away from me. When I found out I took several steps to quit that habit and that included the idea of strapping my wings down. That was shot down by Sunshower.

“Well I was born here in Canterlot to a small noble family over in the northwestern quadrant of the city. I was always well taken care of and wanted for naught. Eventually I made friends with Vinyl which of course turned my life around. You’ve already seen what happens whenever I decide to indulge in her habits though.”

“Yes I noticed. I probably will ask her more about that another day. Sorry if I had shocked you too much that night.”

“I-i-i wasn’t shocked. I was just… surprised to have somepony come out of nowhere like a knight. I suppose chivalry is still alive.”

“I’m no knight. I’m just a lucky pony who happened to be around and capable of doing something. So as long as you were ok then I was good with that.”

“You are to me…”

I could barely hear what she said but the redness of her ears told me it was probably embarrassing or flattering and about me in some way. It was pretty cute and I was about to slide closer to her when the server came back. I ordered a very light caffeinated drink. I really didn’t want to be wired for the rest of the day. Octavia chose a cappuccino and when the orders came she gingerly drank from the mug. If she had pinkies I’m pretty sure they would be extended. She was the very picture of poise.

“So what would you like to know about me?”

“... Why are you doing what you are doing? Why let yourself be hurt so badly for the sake of a mission?”

That was not the first thing I was expecting to answer. My eyes widened surprised from what I could feel. This was not the first question I ever thought I would be answering today at least. I looked down at my drink and chugged the entire thing. I hadn’t really thought about these things but I decided then and there to put words to my reason. I looked up and was surprised to see her staring intently into my eyes. I didn’t break my line of sight.

“I do what I do because it’s something I want to do. When I was younger I trained to be a cop and eventually became a detective. I knew what it meant; to do whatever I could to make sure others were ok. I guess I dedicated my life to make sure that others would always be in good graces. I do these things so nopony else has to.”

“W-w-what happened to being a detective?”

“... The one’s I worked under turned out to be… corrupt. There was nothing I could do without becoming a monster to change things so… I decided to leave under the most amicable terms I could get. It was barely enough to get out from under that… oppressive environment.”

“Your family knew?”

“Family was already gone. It’s not that bad.”

She begged to differ as she had inched closer near me through the entire time I was speaking. Even then the only thing I could wonder about was how she got so close without me noticing. Before I could ask she leaned against me and gave me a hug. I was a little confused though. I didn’t feel sad about what happened back on Earth… at least as much as I did when I first came to Equestria. Sure I never had the chance to dwell on it. It wasn’t on my mind all the time. I never thought back to holding the dead body of my niece and crying about it. My face felt wet now… crap.

Octavia looked up at me. From her position she was leaned against my chest and wiping the tears that had managed to get out of me. I shook my head and absentmindedly stroked the back of her head. I didn’t want to think much right now. We eventually went back to our original positions and drank in a comfortable silence. As it turned out Octavia might have been the most emotional out of the mares I’ve met. She wasn’t open about them but it seemed like if you got close she would open up.

Before we could continue our conversation something unexpected came up. This weird unicorn stallion with a light blue coat, black mane, and treble clef as a cutie mark came trotting up to the two of us. I tilted my head in confusion as I was apt to do whenever I felt something stupid was about to come up. He smiled up at Octavia who merely grimaced at his presence while I felt the strangest sensation that he was trying to glare at me. While I was used to glares I never quite felt this intensity before except from criminals I was forced to fire at when they wouldn’t surrender. The sheer hatred was surprising. It was worse when Octavia actually sidled closer to me.

“Hello again dear Octavia. It’s a pleasure to see you again… although in such… interesting company.”

He sneered a lot while saying that. I could feel that aneurysm building up from my temples to the bridge of my muzzle. Also I was certain that he was insulting me. I ignored him and let my eyes instead peer down at Octavia who was curled against me at the moment. She obviously didn’t like this pony in any way, shape or form.

“Of course Treble Clef. I’m in better company than most I would say.”

“Quite… even though he seems to have a penchant for unicorns and pegasi.”

“Who?”

“You’re roommate for one and the Wonderbolt captain. I thought you would find someone more trustworthy than that.”

“Oh. You mean our herd.”

If there was glass I am pretty sure I heard it shattering. His eyes widened as he looked at me in both disgust, envy, and hatred. I think he planned this wrong and wound up paying for it. I merely shrugged at him and wrapped my hooves around Octavia.

“I see. My apologies Octavia. I didn’t realize what was going on. Seems I might have overstepped my bounds. Though as your… colleague I thought I would try to look out for you.”

“Of course. I am glad for your concern but I know what I am doing. Now if you’ll excuse us we were busy speaking about the future. Isn’t that right Gray?”

“Yes. We were Octavia.”

She pulled herself closer to me and waited until Clef trotted away. Even though he was muttering to himself I’m pretty sure I hear something like ‘pretentious bitch and avaricious bastard.’ I frowned at his choice of words but I couldn’t move due to the adorable pony clinging to me. If I had the chance I would have done something about him.

Octavia finally let me go and went back to her original position demurely fretting as her hooves wrenched together in perfect tandem. I didn’t mind the consequences of what had happened but she seemed a bit troubled.

“Everything ok there?”

“I’m sorry for being so… forward. I know some stallions don’t enjoy the clinging… I just… didn’t want you to think I believed his words on the matter. Had he said two other ponies I don’t know if I would have reacted as I did.”

I thought about things for a bit looking at her while her eyes turned away from me. She seemed to like me but… I could see she was still working out whether or not to believe in me. I was after all an outlier. I was lying about certain things. I clenched my jaw and thought about my options. I wanted this bond between us to work out… but that required me to be truthful. Problem is that being truthful all at once would probably make them run away in fear from me. It was something I don’t think I could prepare for, at least, not on my own. I mentally sighed because I knew what I had to do. Unlike Spitfire who knew what she wanted and how to get what she wanted, Octavia was a different breed of pony. Not just literally either.

Octavia was demure and while she was much tougher than she appeared, in terms of romance, she was still learning. While she could trade barbs with the best of them she couldn’t force herself to instantly trust someone with something as important as their heart.

“Octavia…?”

“Y-yes?”

“I’m going to tell you something important and I need you listen till the very last word.”

She got real quiet and while there was no frown, there was no smile either. I got close to her and looked her straight in the eyes.

“I know I have yet to earn your trust. While I know you have affection for me it is only that. Affection. I can’t tell you everything about myself yet because we both have to earn each other’s trust before we can grow closer. Trust is earned, never given. I will find a way to earn your trust I just hope you can believe me when I say that I really want to tell you… all of you more about me but I have to maintain secrecy while I do my job. I am sorry that I can’t tell you more.”

Her face was impassive and I couldn’t get a good read off of her. She seemed uncertain or scared? Maybe she was glad or angry. I couldn’t tell because she hadn’t moved. What was merely seconds felt more akin to an eternity. She sidled back over to me and without warning kissed my cheek. She nuzzled against me and looked me in the eye again. They had no tears but there was a certain warmness within them.

“That’s all I ask.”

From that point on our conversation became far more lively. Music had become our connection point. While I was not well versed in classical music I did like the blues genre which intrigued Octavia. I found out that most blues styled singers faded as Equestria became the land it is to this very day. Several songs were still in circulation and were taught to any musical students who showed interest but few kept up with it. When we came to the idea of lyrical and instrumental we found that we both agreed that instrumental music was superior in our opinions. Though even we had our weaknesses. Eventually afternoon started to fall upon us. After we got outside I scooped up Octavia in my arms and flew off for Ponyville, taking the long way.

Octavia was surprised when I didn’t immediately head for her home. I got up to a stray cloud that had no one around it and was a bit far out of Ponyville territory. I landed on it and startled Octavia when I fell onto my back. I spread my wings out and immediately positioned Octavia to the point where she could lay on top with me. She was frightened but I held on tightly to make certain that nothing would happen to her.

“W-w-why are we up here?”

“I wanted to cuddle you.”

“What!?”

She looked incredulously at me only to blanch when she noticed I was serious. I had planned this a while ago. Only for a few moments before I took her home. She nervously brought herself closer to me.

“Why would this be the best place for that?”

“It’s quiet and remote and you don’t have to worry. So long as I’m here, you shall always be safe.”

She sighed contently as she snuggled her head against my chest. I just held on to her.

“Thanks… Thank you for being sweet.”

“My pleasure.”

We didn’t speak for the rest of the night. It wasn’t even the awkward kind of silence either. We were both comfortable with each other. Personally, I felt as though I was being pretty quick about things. I also thought back about these last two days.

In the grand scheme of things I was working within an already established system with pre-established rules set in place. The darkness which I was fighting wasn’t striking out at me just yet and was content with watching me… for the moment. I’m pretty sure I’m also going to be dealing with jealous stallions and/or mares if any of them were/are bi. I still don’t know Fresh Coat or Redheart as well as I should yet. The Nightmare was hiding within the Everfree Forest growing stronger by the day or trying to at the very least.

Instead, I laid my head on a cloud holding one of those mares that had decided to take a chance on me. Priorities dictated that I should take on the monsters in the forest while my emotions went immediately to creating bonds with these six mares. After an hour I carefully picked Octavia up who curled closer in my arms and flew her back home. She hugged me before she went off to rest a bit and I took my position on the ceiling of the porch awning once again. It was still early but I decided to sleep before the night came.

When I woke up I saw that the moon was high in the sky at this point. I gazed out on the outskirts of the forest and noticed the eyes of the Nightmare had returned. They were less numerous at this point… but all of them were eye level with a pony now. I think I even heard something snarling as well. For the rest of the night I watched them watch me. It was a stalemate and we both knew it.

Ignoring the obvious threat I felt something warm in my bag once again. I pulled out the wayfinder I received from eclipse and noticed that another of the petals was shining again. This one was shining a shade of purple that I couldn’t really tell at this point. I knew shades of blue due to an old friend from school, but I didn’t know every shade imaginable like that nut.

“A golden petal, and a purple petal… looks like I’ve made a bond now. Maybe I will be better eventually.”

I placed it back in my bag and looked out on the forest again. The eyes were all gone and I could finally return to sleep… at least for the moment.

24. Fresh Coat and Vinyl Scratch

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A somewhat restful night had followed me. A short nap rejuvenated me. Unfortunately what awoke me wasn’t one of the mares I had met but a short earth pony stallion by the name of List Taker who woke me up. I blinked in surprise but I decided it was probably important if he was coming out here.

“You Nebula Gray?”

“Yes… What can I help you with?”

“I’ve been looking all over for you for a few hours now. You’re home has been finished. We need you to give it a once over. You’ll have to get your own furniture unfortunately. We need you to come over to check it out.”

“Yes of course… Give me a moment to confer something with somepony before I go.”

He harrumphed at me and trotted a short distance away. Thanks be to whomever for loyal civil servants… I felt my eyes roll and knocked on the front door. Surprisingly it was Fresh Coat who answered the door. I had to wonder if narrative causality was under my control at this point… then I remembered that I’m not Pinkie.

“Yes Gray?”

“My home is finished. Since today is our day Fresh would you accompany me today. Afterwards we’ll hang out for the rest of the day.”

She seemed a bit chipper about that and got her hat before trotting out the door with me. Her vibrant magenta eyes pierced into mine and I seemed to get intimidated by them. I noticed that almost all the mares I knew at this point had very warm colored eyes which meant they were all red hues. Raindrops was the only exception. Her eyes were cyan and the only cool color… I’m pretty sure that at this point only Fresh Coat would understand color talk.

We both followed after List Taker walking through Ponyville Center. Strangely nopony was there yet and I figured out why when I looked up at the clock tower. It was six in the morning. Surprisingly, only an orange pony in a stetson hat was out and about working on a cart laden with apples. I kept my eyes away from her and focused on the path we were taking. Fresh Coat trotted besides me humming to herself a tune without a care in the world. List, on the other hoof or hand…, focused on getting us to the newly built home before he seemingly lost his mind to the humming.

“Here you two are. A reliable two story home out on the outskirts of Ponyville. Far from the hustle and bustle of the town square. Rent is due every month on the twentieth and it’s one hundred bits. First month is on us since you paid for the entire construction so promptly. Enjoy. Any remodeling must be done through City Hall. If you have any questions please come to City Hall to discuss them. Have a nice day.”

After he faked a smile he handed me a key to the front door and left us to look over the newly crafted building. It was quite nice though the walls were all a cream color and seemed almost the same as the other buildings… something I didn’t like. I didn’t know if it was the influence of my friend but I didn’t like the color. Fresh was also examining the building for some reason. The thatch roof seemed strong enough but eventually I wanted to place ceramic tiles if only to keep rain off better. They also last longer. I wondered if the reason that all the roofs were made of thatch was because of Rainbow Dash. I didn’t place much thought in it because I remember seeing her get chased all day by Pinkie Pie. Also the griffin that was still in town was getting a party later at Sugarcube Corner if the invitation I found on the porch was real.

I wandered around the building with a very eager unicorn trailing behind me taking in all the aspects of the building for some reason. For the most part I examined all the doors. There were three entrances into the building. The front door, the back door, and the cellar door all situated exactly where they were meant to be. It seemed the front door was made to be facing all of Ponyville while the back door and cellar were situated to face the Everfree. I opened the cellar first and trotted down. I had to stop and brace myself when I heard Fresh Coat squeak.

“Whoa!”

She had tripped down the steps and I instantly placed myself in the way of her fall. She landed on my back and I barely kept myself from tripping down the stairs. Like Octavia she was also built with curves. Those curves were now on my back nearly throwing me off balance. She gripped around my neck choking me slightly and I quickly cantered down the steps into the basement. When I finally found my footing she was still holding on to me.

“I don’t mind if you want to keep riding the pony but you should probably keep your eyes open.”

“I-i-i-i...Mmph...I’ll stay here,”

She was blushing heavily and I noticed her muzzle accidentally buried into my neck. I didn’t mind the mare curled on top of me but it was startling enough to see that the mare who merely stared at me was being so affectionate. I didn’t actually know how to react so I merely trotted around the house while she made herself comfortable on my back.

“Mind telling me about yourself Fresh Coat?”

“Oh yeah… Sorry I haven’t actually spoken much have I? The thing is is that I’m just a painter who works out of Canterlot. There’s not much I can say about myself. Is there anything in particular you want to know?”

“Nothing specific just anything about you that would help me get to know you.”

“Well… I was once like all those foals looking for a purpose in life. One day when my parents Steady Palette and Water Color were working on a project for a family friend when I stumbled upon a open paint can. At the time I was still working on my magic and something just clicked for me. I scooped up the paint and used my weak magic to put paint on all the walls. I forgot to set the tarps up though… Big whoops of course.”

I chuckled and stopped my trot around the basement finding that there was an extra door that led up to the main floor. I had remembered to close the basement door and waited for her to continue her tale.

“After I had placed paint on all the walls I noticed that my flank started to glow and suddenly I had this on my flank. It was a wonderful day and when my parents noticed they weren’t even angry with me. The clients were also happy for me. It truly was wonderful… Are you staring at my flank?”

“I am looking at your mark you know?”

She blushed and shyly rolled the tip of her hoof on my back. I’m pretty sure that she was nervous or self conscious and my sight wasn’t helping but like the other mares I made sure to remember their marks so I would always find them whenever we were apart. Spitfire had a phoenix on her flank, Octavia had a treble clef on her flank… that may explain why that stallion Treble Clef was trying to steal her from me… and Fresh Coat had an opened paint bucket on her flank.

“Staring too much right? Sorry…”

She was a bit red still but I did avert my eyes never betraying that I was in fact ogling her… just a bit. It was hard to concentrate when she keeps shifting on my back and I can feel all those curves. Plus for some reason she keeps stroking my wings… which felt really weird and nice at the same time. This was still one of the most awkward dates I’ve ever had though that is a modest number in retrospect. Only five in my adult life… I actually did better in school. Though three of those were very much use each other just to not feel lonely. Jeez I had a messed up love life.

“It’s alright… We are getting to know each other. What about you? What’s your story on your mark?”

“I saw a meteorite falling from the sky and snuck out into the badlands to track where it was. I found out what it was made of and got this as my mark. Basically I unlocked the secrets of the stars I suppose. A little cheesy but it fits well I think.”

I started up the stairs for the main floor of the house and used me wings to keep Fresh Coat on my back. She clung a bit tighter around my neck but I powered through until we reached the next floor. She loosened her grip letting me have my air back as she finally got back onto her own feet.

The walls of the house were all white. There were no colors visible which kind of made me grimace at the lack of creativity. I had thought ponies would be into colors and all that but this house was consistently bare bones. I would have to go out of the way to find furniture. It did have a stove strangely enough though that brought up a lot of problems in how this was actually functioning.

“I like the house but perhaps we should head out on our date. Fresh…? Fresh Coat?”

“I can’t believe that this whole place looks so barren. You’d think they would know that a house needs to have some personality behind it. Look at these walls… They’re disgraceful.”

“Y-yeah but…”

“We should totally paint this place just you and me.”

“We would need supplies…”

“I have a small supplier here and we could do the work quickly.”

“I usually like dark colors…”

“So do I. I sometimes do brighter colors because most ponies like them but the contrast usually brings their true character to light. You ready to go?”

“If this is how you want to spend our date as long as it is with you it’s fine.”

She flinched and blushed at the statement and immediately jumped on top of me. She buried her face into my neck though she was really red since her ears had changed as well. I managed to twist my wing enough to rub the top of her head which calmed her down enough to look me in the eye again.

“We need to see the second floor as well. We might have to get a lot of paint for this place.”

She merely nodded as I climbed upstairs with her still on my back. She seemed to figure out a better way to hold on since this particular time I wasn’t being choked. The upstairs was just as spacious surprisingly. There were only six rooms but most of them could be bedrooms if necessary. I doubted that anyone would move into my home if they already had their own. I didn’t place the idea out of my head though. There was always the chance that narrative causality would destroy my perceptions and make what I said come true in an instant.

“We’ll need at least four cans of a dark color… I’m thinking a shade of blue.”

“That I can do. For the inside only right?”

“Yeah the outside will get washed out in a few days plus it should at least externally look like all the houses so as to not stand out. You do seem like the type of pony to hide in the shadows ya know.”

“Right… So want to pick the shade then?”

“I feel like your wing color would be the best shade. Or something lighter. Maybe an Aegean blue would work for you… Hm… Yes we’ll go with that shade. It fits you perfectly.”

“Does it?”

“No wait… Slate Blue fits you better,”

“I suppose so. Lead the way and we’ll get some paint and some food before we start.”

She chuckled as I felt her stomach rumble against my back, We had been examining the house for an hour already and the constant climbing was getting me hungry. We left through the front door and I made sure the door was locked. It was something I had planned for just in case for when I leave. Also the key was pointless when I had the keyblade. When we walked outside I noticed that Pinkie was throwing a party over in Sugarcube Corner. I also saw that griffon from earlier walking towards the building with Rainbow Dash. Not that important I think but I made a note of it in case I needed to make a quick escape especially from Pinkie Pie should she get free. I placed Fresh Coat back on her feet if only to have her walk beside me rather than lay on me.

“I think there’s a restaurant over there. Let’s get something quick and we’ll be good. Besides looks like the local bakery is reserved today.”

“That’s fine by me. I need something more filling today.”

We found the local restaurant manned by this very french sounding pony. He wasn’t insufferable but I did find the accent annoying. I don’t know why either. I was probably being irrational. The menu also did not have anything about fish… which was disheartening but I made due with a salad ignoring that sense of sadness in not having meat for what was most likely two weeks at the most. Surprisingly Fresh didn’t speak at all while eating focusing on her meal though I did notice her eyes always settled on me and stared into my eyes. It was actually intimidating but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. It felt as though she was digging her way into my soul.

I talked about myself a bit telling her exactly what I told both Spitfire and Octavia making sure to keep the information short so as to get her to speak. She remained quiet though answering with a polite nod or sympathetic look. That all changed when she finished eating.

“Sorry for not speaking… I usually like to focus on one thing when I eat. Makes time go faster so I have more time for other things.”

“No problem. I told you most about me that the other girls have heard about. I would like to know why you wanted to join in this impromptu herd. I’m a bit curious since we hardly know each other and you’re giving me this chance for some reason out of my range of thoughts. It’s not bad mind you… I’ve already enjoyed our together time.”

“I don’t really know why. When I first heard about you, the dangerous things I’ve heard you went through, well I guess I got excited. When I met you, you were very calm and collected unlike how I imagined you would be. My reason for my chance is that I want to know more about you. The pony who keeps making sure to keep quiet about their more dangerous activities.”

This one is too perceptive… I thought she was only supposed to be a painter… then again she would have to pay attention to details. I need to say something I guess… This is not going how I pictured it. I also thought that Spitfire would be the action junkie not Fresh Coat. Appearance truly can be deceiving. I looked around noticing that the waiter had trudged back inside and there were less ponies around. We had been seated outside and for some reason the only other full table was across the seating area.

“This is not the best place to speak about it… When we start painting I’ll give you some more details.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

I called the waiter over and paid the check before we left for the hardware store. Twelve bits went towards the meal. While at the store we got the color we needed pretty quickly as Fresh coat zoomed around getting all we would need. I carried the paint cans on my back while Fresh Coat lifted the rollers, brushes, and tarps in her magic. I think both of them, Fresh Coat and the Owner of the store, were surprised when I kept a brisk canter even with four large cans of paint on my back.

“You’re pretty strong…”

“I suppose so… I’m just very solidly built I guess…”

For some reason I noticed that whenever I leveled up my abilities would go up. After the instance of fighting Nightmare Moon I found I could actually break stone with my bare hooves. When I came back from training with Yen Sid I could crush those same stones with a mere tap. I was much stronger than I was then and training actually made it possible. Though I wasn’t doing much fighting at this point. Heartless found it almost detrimental to strike Equestria when there were no outside influences supplementing their power. That, in the long run, may be detrimental but I didn’t know exactly how.

“Gray?”

“Hm…?”

“You ok? You got real quiet and got this serious look on your face.”

“Sorry… Lost in my thoughts for the moment. It’s something I’ve found I’ve been doing too much of.”

“What are you thinking of?”

“Parts of my job and mysteries behind it.”

“Care to share?”

“When we get back to the house I’ll talk a bit about some things.”

She grinned and also let out a squee. As we were walking past Sugarcube Corner we saw a really pissed off griffon leave while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie watched. The two of us quietly walked past them. While Dash was too lost in her own regret Pinkie managed to glare at me. I knew she wanted to force a party soon but with one of her friends now sad she would be distracted. I smirked in her general direction and she knew grimacing for a second before turning back to a smile. Fresh Coat didn’t seem to notice since she was still smiling.

When we got back to the house we immediately set up everything to start painting in the second floor. There wasn’t any furniture so it would make this one of the easier projects. At first I wanted to split up to paint a separate room but Fresh immediately denied that since we were doing this to get to know each other and working together would make the painting go faster. It was still barely noon from what I could see.

“So what in particular are you doing here in Ponyville?”

“Making a new life for myself in a sense. I’ve been a bit… lost I guess you could say. I lost my purpose in life and I needed to find some reason.”

“This place doesn’t seem to be the place to find meaning… at least for a pony like you.”

We started to paint through the master bedroom. I handled the roller and Fresh handled the detail painting to not allow the paint to drop on the molding of the walls. I didn’t really understand what Fresh Coat was saying.

“What kind of pony do you see me as?”

“From what I can tell you seem more like a guard. A hard boiled detective type. You have these weird mannerisms from time to time. You sometimes zone out and lose yourself in a place none of us can get you sometimes. Other times you make sure we are well taken care of in a way I’ve never really seen from many stallions. You actually aren’t ogling us like pieces of meat… most of the time.”

“I was looking at your mark to be fair regardless of where my eyes may have stayed.”

“Don’t worry about that. If I was showing you then I wanted you to look. That’s not what’s important here though. You don’t act like a lot of the stallions I’ve met. You haven’t tried to even try to brush up against me on purpose. You let me set the pace of our closeness throughout the entire morning as well. You’re really passive about this.”

“I guess… I guess I’m taking this passively because I’ve not exactly had such a decent love life you could say. Any relationships I used to have made it very clear that I wasn’t exactly what they wanted and I was there for… a convenience. Somepony to keep their beds warm. I’ve been taking a wait and see approach in this situation.”

“Oh I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

She instantly trotted over to me and hugged me tightly. While I didn’t mind, I was getting paint on my coat… which would be a pain to get out. Still I let it happen and stroked her back as she did. She seemed to be empathic as well to a higher degree than Octavia. She also was the most inquisitive of the bunch.

“It’s fine. It doesn’t bother me much anymore. I’ve made my peace with it. As much as you six are giving me a chance I’m giving a chance to all of you as well. I’m not… emotional like many others you would meet but I would do my best to tell you what I can. There are some things which must be secret… at least for now.”

“So you’ll tell us one day? The whole truth?”

“Yeah… So long as you all want to hear it. I don’t mind saying it. But it would have to be later after I trust you all even if you don’t trust me yet.”

“You saying that I’m not cute enough to tell right away?”

She winked at me and instead of backing up like I normally did I decided to be forward and kissed her on the cheek. She instantly went red and I’m sure a few sparks went off from her horn. Probably my imagination but she did seem happier at this point. It’s funny when they think I’m gonna be shy about being flirted with. So far only Spitfire has managed to make me surprised and that was more due to the forwardness she displayed… also what she did with her tail but the less thought about that the better for now.

We buckled down and painted each room as efficiently as we could. Thanks in no small part to Fresh Coat we managed not to leave any patches and left each room with an even coat.

"So will you tell me about what you used to do before you came here."

"I was a detective working under my... teacher I guess you could say. He was an old drunk but he was one of the more honorable ponies in the precinct. We would have multiple conversations about morality and what it meant to society as a whole."

"Sounds a bit deep. Did you learn anything from him at all?"

"I learned that not everyone wants the truth... sometimes they would be happier with a lie because the truth brings no closure or causes them to fester in either guilt or anger. At the time I thought cynicism had gotten to him. After an incident in where he lost his life I came around to his way of thinking."

"That's horrible. Wouldn't your colleagues do something about his death?"

"There were no witnesses. I was made Lead Detective later that day and I quit by the end of the year."

She looked mortified but I held my hoof out to stop what possibly could have been tears. I couldn't tell her that it was one of those same colleagues who did him in nor that the reason I quit was because if I didn't play along I was set to go on the chopping block as well.

"I have no regrets about what I chose. I couldn't do anything else for them and I was still in grief about these things. So I left that life to do something else. Now here I am."

"I see... That reminds me... How old are you?"

"...twenty six..."

I lied about my age taking off two years if nothing else to appear not so young yet not too old. Her eyes widened and I was instantly worried I picked too high a number.

"I'm the youngest here at twenty two then... Wow."

"How old are the others?"

"Well... Spitfire and Redheart are the oldest at twenty four. Vinyl, Octavia and Sunshower are actually twenty three."

"Huh? Strange... Well this is good to know. Is this good enough to know a bit more about me for now Fresh?"

"Yes. Thank you for sharing about these things. Let's get back to work."

It took us the better part of the day to finish every single room. Most of my praise went towards Fresh because her magic made this go much faster than it should have.

“I think we’re done. We’ve done a good job and this house fits you like a horseshoe. Though you won’t be able to sleep inside this house for today.”

“I figured as much. I’m in no rush. I still need to get furniture for this place before it becomes an actual homebase.”

“Will this ever be an actual home?”

“When all of us can sit together at a table and eat together is when this place will be a home.”

“That actually sounds like you want this herd to be bigger.”

“I’m neither saying yes or no to that. I’ll let you girls decide should somepony else join. Otherwise I’m content where I am.”

“Let’s get dinner and get you back to their house. This home isn’t quite ready just yet.”

“Oh wait before I forget.”

Her horn lit up as the paint on our bodies immediately flaked off and returned back to the buckets in a liquid form. I was surprised for the most part while our coats were now clean once again. I suppose I should have been ready for anything but that was still amazing.

We went out to eat at the same place before it closed which we luckily didn’t run into Pinkie Pie again. There must have been a party going on somewhere else. Then I walked her back to the Octavia’s and Vinyl’s home. I bid her a good night and flew back to my home. I was tired but I now had a new place to view the forest from.

When I got back I opened all the windows so that the rooms would circulate air better. There was nothing inside so I didn’t have to worry about thieves… especially in Ponyville at least at this point. I watched from the backyard porch as the eyes reassembled at the edge of the forest. They were still at pony level but that wasn’t much of a problem to me at the very least. The eyes disappeared after an hour. Before I fell asleep I looked at the wayfinder. The gold from Spitfire, the purple from Octavia, and now orange for Fresh Coat. It was maddening and I fell asleep watching the forest once again. My ears were fully listening for any movement. I once again messed up my sleep schedule like an idiot and mentally berated myself throughout my dreams.

The next morning came and I once again found myself waking up to the sun. Another six in the morning day for me to look forward to. That also meant another mare to go on a date with. I would need to go back to their house again since I still hadn’t learned where either Sunshower or Redheart lived. I probably could find them without too much trouble but I needed to get furniture as well.

“So… what first…?”

I trotted inside the house closing all the windows and admiring the paint job. There were even coats of this slate blue all over the entire home. I don’t know why it resonated with me but it did… though that might in part be because most of me was a shade of blue. Once all the windows were closed and the doors were locked I immediately flew into town. When I looked at the clock tower it had turned out to be eight in the morning. That was surprising and entirely unsettling. I lost so much time when I wasn’t paying attention.

I looked around and found the furniture store. I would have tried the Sofas and Quills shop but their inventory was limited. I did purchase a very large couch which would fit in the building but the delivery would take a day. As this point I realized I had spent twenty five bits on the meals yesterday and another hundred on a sofa. I didn’t have all the bits in the world even if I could always get more later. Now I was at seventeen hundred and four bits. I didn’t need that much but I should probably go to another world at this point and find more enemies to fight. It wasn’t going to last forever.

The furniture I bought was a bit more limited. I bought a bed but had to custom order a larger size just because I felt the beds I saw were too small for my own tastes. I was never the tallest person but I still liked the comfort of an oversized bed, Another two hundred bits went into that. The dresser and cabinets cost fifty bits each. Surprisingly they did have refrigerators powered by a magically inclined gem. Another two hundred and fifty gems was spent.

‘Seriously I spent over five hundred bits for furniture. I really do need to farm more gems to sell to that jeweler.’

I had twelve hundred and four bits left so I decided not to spend much more unless I absolutely needed to. Most likely I would have to when I went out with the girls. After getting those particular items I immediately went out to their house since today was apparently Vinyl’s day as I was told by Fresh Coat. They had worked it out together though Sunshower was glowering a lot lately. I made my way to the door knocking on it and getting only Octavia at the door.

“Hi Octavia. I think today is Vinyl’s day. She awake?”

It was around eleven at this point and I was actually awake, I really needed to fix my sleep schedule at this point because this was getting ridiculous. Octavia led me down to a room and left me to it.

“You should probably wake her up. She had been up working on some mixes so it’s up to you to wake her.”

“This seems like a bad idea.”

“Maybe but I’m not waking her so it’s ok.”

Octavia left me to head into the room without even batting an eye. Sighing, I knocked on the door only to receive no answer. Octavia reappeared and opened the door pushing me into a very clean room with a lone mare sleeping on a bed. I fumbled on the floor and was knocked to the ground. Octavia closed the door and trotted away while I tried to regain my footing.

I looked on the sleeping pony and noticed just how much drool she was leaving on her pillow. Yup, she was truly a picture of loveliness. I took a few steps towards her and called out to her.

“Vinyl? It’s time to get up.”

She shifted in her bed and turned around to face me but her eyes were still closed. She looked to be comfortable. I really needed to get her out of bed so we could go out for our date but I didn’t know if I should wake her. This may get me slapped but I would probably tell Vinyl that Octavia made me.

I took a few steps forward and immediately tapped her shoulder with my hoof. As I was retracting my hoof away she immediately grabbed me in both her hooves and magic and dragged me into bed with her. Immediately, she made herself comfortable by lying against me as the little spoon. As it turned out she was shorter than me by a few inches which allowed her to find a perfect spot to curl up against me. Then she woke up and looked up to greet my muzzle.

“Mind if I have my body back now?”

There was a lot of fumbling as we fell onto the floor with me on my back and her on my stomach. The she fumbled more and I had to grab her just to stop her from hitting my sides. She swiveled her head around and calmed down enough to finally look me in the eye. They were quite red and not blurry. It was very vibrant but it made her very nervous. I don’t know what came over me but when she tried to turn away I put my hoof against her cheek and pushed her sight back to mine.

“I like them. They are very vibrant. I’d like to see them more often.”

She looked completely overwhelmed and finally managed to regain her composure. She just smiled and held her ears down. Luckily, she didn’t want to hit me but she, instead, laid her head on me and sighed.

“You’d be one of a few who likes them. Don’t wanna talk about them. So what were you planning to do with me today anyways?”

“I hadn’t planned anything I was hoping to hear an idea from you because it is still morning and I doubt any clubs would be open. I also didn’t want to assume you wanted to go clubbing.”

“Maybe later but for now I know what I want to do.”

She immediately laid down on me and started snoring. I was left in a blinking fit and Octavia walked in. She looked amusedly at me and waved.

“Help?”

“Nah… This was part of the agreement. It’s what she wanted for her date day.”

“I see. Can you save us lunch then?”

“Sure. Fresh is going to your house to check the painting you two apparently did yesterday. Sunshower will be joining her. Mind handing me your key?”

I reached into my pack with my wing and tossed the key out to her which she calmly caught with her teeth. She spat it out into her hoof and handed it off into Fresh Coat’s telekinetic field. Then I was left there without any other pony but Vinyl. I just went through mental exercises for the next two hours while Vinyl snored away. Every couple of minutes I shifted a bit to relieve the tension on my wings since while I was able to keep my saddlebags from being completely under me they were still around me. That made my wings twitch in frustration from the pressure upon them, I did my best to ignore them and waited until Vinyl decided that it was time to wake up.

‘Note to self: Always make sure to take off saddlebags whenever trying to wake up any marefriend I apparently have. Especially if they are a unicorn and are very much a cuddlebug when they sleep.’

She eventually woke up with a cute yawn and nuzzled into me. She seemed much happier than when she woke up originally. I think it had been two hours since I came in which meant it was probably two in the afternoon… probably. Honestly, at that point, I lost complete track of time and only had the very quiet rhythmic beating of her heart to keep track of time. I couldn’t see out the window and my wings were in constant discomfort. If I didn’t actually like the feeling of a mare against me I probably would have already gotten up before the discomfort could have gotten to me.

“Hey there handsome. Come all this way just to see me.”

“No… I just enjoy being everypony’s pillow.”

I rolled my eyes and kissed her forehead which was dangerously close to her horn. Immediately, she shot up with a completely crimson coat.

“I have to shower. Be right back!”

She ran off towards the bathroom knocking Octavia over surprisingly while I had a hoofprint on my chest. Let no one say I never showed complete forgiveness for being used as a throw rug.

“You good down there?”

“Octavia… I can’t feel my everything.”

“Wait are you broken!?”

“No… just everything feels like pins and needles… Tickles so badly. Avenge me.”

“What?”

“AVENGE ME!!”

I fell back to the floor as the numbness raced over me and Octavia chuckled at my melodramatic acting. Finally Vinyl trotted back in seeing the scene before her and bursting out into laughter. A part of me wanted to pull off this gag so long ago but when the years started to get bleaker while I was human I pushed this back to mere fantasy. Now that there was someone besides me who could genuinely laugh I had to make up for so much time lost. I was never a jokester since being a cop meant having a slightly serious demeanor. Especially with what I had seen during my investigations. Seeing genuine smiles, real happiness, it had made me feel… better.

“Ok then Gray if possible it’s time for lunch. Vinyl please help him back to his hooves. Seems you’re cuddling was wholly to blame. I’ll get the table ready.”

“Got it Tavi. He won’t know what hit him.”

“Right…”

I’m pretty sure I heard the flat stare even if it was just a subtle shift of the eyes. I still felt the prickling of my body to even notice what was going on. When Octavia left Vinyl managed to flip me over with her magic and take off my saddlebags. Then she cuddled back into me.

“I’ve been wanting you for myself a few days now. Glad you’re ok with this herd situation.”

“Couldn’t deny that it’s an interesting concept. Most of my family had gone monogamous so I thought it would be the same for me. Guess I was wrong apparently.”

“You got that right. Personally I think you’re one lucky stallion for this many mares to actually want a piece of ya. Or would you say we’re lucky that we found somepony open to this situation.”

“Either, or. Maybe both. Right now I’m just kind of hungry and while I like this I still need to eat.”

She carefully traced a hoof across my chest and coyly looked up at me. I could say for the record that I wasn’t always a shy individual when it came to affection. I was bold when someone actually earned it. This was one of the rare opportunities where boldness was actually encouraged by somepony quite not ready for it.

“Well handsome I’m around ain’t I. Why not eat me?”

While I might be used to the aesthetics of ponies now that was one of the most forward statements any of them had made. Even Spitfire had been subtle… subtle enough at least. I merely smiled and slid closer to her neck. Before she could realize what was going on I nipped at her which elicited a sudden whinny from her. It was low and very quick but she immediately went red and got back up.

“Jeez, you aren’t a shy one are you?”

“Not really. I’m a little bold when somepony is giving me the shot to be.”

I’m pretty sure I heard her mumbling about keeping the promise but I only had an inkling of what the promise actually was. If what Spitfire was saying was true they were waiting to go full force on me. From what I could guess they all agreed to wait until a certain point which I had no idea when that could be. While I was generally good now with pony aesthetics I still needed a frame of reference before I did anything… substantial. The biggest thing on the list was look over any books about relationships especially the most explicit ones because I didn’t want to be so woefully inept in these regards. Most techniques from being human still worked but without fingers certain others would never be possible… though my wings do seem to have small digits that act like fingers and grasp things… Pushing that thought to the side for now.

We trotted downstairs and sat at the table while the three of us ate. Octavia didn’t say a word but I saw her chuckle at how red Vinyl still was. She eventually left to go talk with a pony she knew named Lyra. I had no clue why but it was probably to keep up with friends which left the two of us alone.

“So whatcha want to do then Vinyl? We got a whole day for just the two of us… and no we can’t just go back to bed.”

“R-r-right. Well then for tonight we’re heading up to another club I know over in Canterlot. This one is bigger and better than the last. We’re gonna tear it up… though I am a bit worried.”

“Worried? What for?”

“Nothing bad just some ponies I don’t want to meet. You got my back right?”

“I’m pretty sure the fact that we slept together already implies I have your back.”

The shade of red she turned was adorable. She instantly put her shades on while I laughed. I wasn’t one to use crude humor but she made it a bit easy to use it. Plus regardless of how mortified she seemed she enjoyed it all the same if the smile on her face was some kind of sign.

“Shut it you. You barely sat down at the table. You ain’t ready for this bass.”

“I suppose. I’ll be waiting to ride the waves then.”

I made her flinch and blush again. She really wasn’t going to win this flirting contest if that was what it was. I really should figure out just how many innuendos ponies actually use on a regular basis. It may serve useful for one on one moments with Vinyl and maybe Spitfire. At the very least to keep up because so far rolling in the hay is probably the only one I know to be universal.

We chatted for an appreciable amount of time before it started to get late. I found out enough about Vinyl to know that she never speaks about her parents for very long. The only clues I got out of it was that her father was not around anymore while her mother was living with her grandfather somewhere in Canterlot. They were also nobles… lesser nobles really and more down to earth than every other noble in Canterlot. I wouldn’t judge until I actually spoke with them but my own tentative time with nobles during my other outings didn’t paint my experiences very well.

She managed to only get the same info I told the other girls out of me which strangely she nodded to and I think rehearsing some tears when I mentioned the ones I lost already. At that point I realized that I hadn’t exactly gone with my cover story and had decided to tell them as much of the truth as possible. By six that night we started to head up for Canterlot for said club she wanted to go to, I cheated right then and there and picked her up and jumped into the shadows. She was expecting it and was very much prepared to whoop and holler the entire way through the shadows. I set her back on her hooves and waited for her to calm down.

“Lead the way then. I’ll follow you.”

“Right then. It’s a bit of a trot there.”

Unlike the club from the previous night this new one was further out in the more common born area of the city. A few of the more dangerous looking ponies eyed me a couple of times. I glared back and they instantly turned their heads. I knew I didn’t intimidate them but I did make sure they knew I wasn’t going to sit back and let them get to me. Vinyl, on the other hand, was waving and saying hi to all these ponies. They immediately waved back and were cordial and polite with her. I merely followed her lead until we got inside this club by the name of the Rotten Trough. I realized because of my upset stomach that it was both a pun and horrible play on words for what they considered themselves. Whoever thought it was clever needed to be bucked in the face… or stomped into paste to never make more puns ever again.

“So… Gray. When we get in there stick by me. I’ve noticed you haven’t exactly been looked at favorably.”

“Not at all. They all love me already. I could just feel it.”

“Right. Well, make sure not to get the attention of a pony by the name of Neon Lights, got it?”

“How bad am I dealing with?”

She shuffled a bit trying to make herself smaller when I asked. I was dealing with an ex at this point. I kind of figured that Vinyl would have a much more sociable life.

“He’s an ex… tried to use his fame to bed me. Kicked him in the junk and left him crying in a DJ booth. I’m pretty sure he’s in Manehattan right now but just in case keep close to me.”

“I’m gonna buck him in the face if he goes after you. Laying those cards on the table now.”

“Hey! I’m first. Then you can kick his flank if he does so. Actually you probably shouldn’t unless he throws the first swing.”

I merely nodded and continued following her. The inside of the club was pumping with music as the ponies swayed and bounce to the beat. It seemed a female DJ was at the booth tonight which alleviated some of the concerns I was having the moment we walked in. A lot of the ponies here were more wary of me rather than judging me on sight. That left me in a precarious situation as I danced the night away with Vinyl. A lot of those eyes were very very jealous and I was the target they saw as the threat. I doubt Vinyl actually noticed the threat level since all these ponies liked her so much and she had made her choice. So long as none of them imbibed in something dangerous I was probably going to be fine. The moment she curled up against me I’m pretty sure I felt the heat of the club go up and it wasn’t just because she was close. If I’m thinking correctly all the ponies that I’m going to be meeting soon when around these girls can be categorized in two lists. One is full of friends which won’t act crazy while the other is full of exes who hate that they were thrown to the curb. My fears were realized when the music stopped and this unicorn with blue sunglasses and black overshirt came out of the crowd towards us.

“Well well well… look who decided to show up here again. Ready to reconsider.”

The smugness of the voice already made me want to hit them. This pony probably wasn’t bad but they were sounded very much like a douche. I kept quiet. As much as I would like to immediately burst in and defend a lady I didn’t know the score between the two of them yet. Not all stories were black and white and I very much needed the context.

“Who would want to come back to a poser like you Neon.”

“Hey! I’m more legit than every DJ combined, doll. You just couldn’t see that.”

“I also couldn’t see a sign of your dick so you obviously must legit be a mare then.”

There were a few chuckles while Neon looked around kind of steamed. I actually decided to get ready to charge forward if need be.

“I’m more of a stallion than you could ever handle babe. And what’s this over here… new meat. What? Gonna use another stallion to make yourself feel special?”

I wonder if it’s gonna be one of those she uses guys sort of set up. I’ve heard it before during the domestic abuse cases I’ve been on. While most of the offenders were male there were a few females that actually guilt trip their lover into that sort of situation. I merely listened to what was going on and also observed Neon as well. I’m pretty sure there were white flakes around his mouth… doesn’t look like cocaine. Do ponies even have hard drugs around here?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never used anybody.”

“Sure, sure like we all haven’t heard that story before. You find an interesting stallion and talk him into a relationship just to get out if it ever gets serious.”

Hm… I will need to talk to her later if I was too forward. Does mean I’m gonna have to be more passive whenever we head out somewhere. It’s not that big a deal for me.

“I’ve never done that!”

“You did it to me!”

“No I didn’t you were too pushy!”

“Says the flirty mare who can’t handle a little affection!”

“That wasn’t affection!”

I think he had enough as he took a few steps forward and Vinyl took some back. I immediately stepped in front of his path making him stop. He seemed a bit flabbergasted but he also seemed like he was fully on drugs but I wasn’t sure at all. Still I stood in front of him because this looked to be getting out of hand… hoof. I really should figure out where I stand on that eventually.

“Look Bat stallion just step out of the way. The two of us have a lot of discussing to do.”

“I’m good where I am.”

When he tried to move past me I stepped in front of him matching him step for step. He was pissed and I was grumpy at that point. I was supposed to get to know Vinyl more and instead I was dealing with some asshole instead.

“She’s just using you to make herself special. Can’t you see that?”

“If she is then she can tell me to my face. If it’s true I won’t be angry about it. I’ll just go ok and we’ll part as amicably as I can be. Not because I don’t care but because I care enough about her being happy to not hold it against her. Besides I’m pretty cool from time to time so I can’t fault her for having me around.”

“Arrogant prick!”

“Yeah I’m looking at this tiny one right in front of me.”

I don’t think triangle buttons work all the time. He managed to sucker punch me with a hoof which felt really weird. First thing going through my mind was that it was actually painful enough to make me grit my teeth. Second thing was that how the hell was it a punch when he used a hoof. Third was when my own hoof shot forward and sent him sprawling on the ground.

“Motherbucker! I’ll kick your worthless flank from here to Manehattan!”

Instead of waiting for him to get up I trotted over to him and stomped him really hard in the face knocking him out. The pain in my head stopped finally and his horn stopped glowing. The glow around his hooves I didn’t notice until after I knocked him down. He magically enhanced his strike which was impressive but left me with an impressive headache to match. Vinyl trotted up to me looking extremely sad while she lead me out of the club. When we got outside I immediately got us somewhere private and jumped into a shadow back to Ponyville. She looked mortified when I didn’t let go of her. I flew us to a bench far away from where any pony could see us and sat her down across from me. While I really wanted to use a cure spell I pushed that away and focused on Vinyl.

“You ok?”

“What the buck are you talking about? You should be asking yourself that. He magically charged that swing to knock your bucking flank out.”

“So? I’m asking you first.”

“I...What the buck is wrong with you?”

The glare in her eyes as she forced me down on the bench and smacked into my chest were very light. I’m guessing she hasn’t had a good love life.

“You treat me so damn nicely and look out for me when I don’t treat this relationship with as much reverence as you do. Why? Why!? WHY!?”

“Because I want to.”

She buried her head into my shoulder and cried. I really don’t think she thought I would actually go out of my way for her. I’m guessing this is a common occurrence.

“You’d be better off without me…”

“Too bad I’m deciding on keepin ya.”

“You’ll be attacked by other stallions…”

“They still don’t have the balls to match me.”

“I’m just a flirt that can’t take the plunge for something more.”

“I’ll wait till you think you’re ready. I’m in no rush and kind of old fashioned about dating before going around the world if you catch my drift.”

“You’re a fool… ”

“Always wanted a useful career.”

“You dork…”

“I’m your dork.”

“Along with the rest of this herd.”

“You decided on that. I’m going along with it so long as you are happy.”

She rested her head back on my shoulder until her crying finally subsided. Had I not decided to cut this short I’m pretty sure we would be there the entire night. While she seemed sad to leave I think she knew she needed a bed. Instead she laid on my back and held on tight.

“Vinyl. Do you still want to do this herd idea?”

She seemed a bit surprised that I was giving her a choice. I still need to read on herd dynamics here before this got more serious but I didn’t have much time. She buried her muzzle into my neck and I could hear her grunting and groaning in contemplation. She finally looked me in the eye when she answered.

“Yes. No matter what yes. I’m not losing you to any other pony unless I’m allowing them into this herd. You’re too nice for your own good. I need to make sure you have a good sense of cynicism to balance you out.”

I nodded and lifted her off my back onto her porch. She seemed a bit unsure of things and before I could leave she decided to be forward this time, I was kissed once again out of nowhere and I still didn’t mind.

“I’m taking this seriously from now on Gray. Better expect me acting on things a lot more often.”

“I won’t say I don’t like it.”

After that kiss she trotted inside and I flew back off for my home. I had to stay up once again and keep track of the forest. The shadows of the nightmare were still only at pony level but there were still more problems I could see in the future. I still didn’t know when they would decide to keep moving on with their plan. We were at a stalemate and I was getting worried of my keyblade skills growing rusty. I cast a quick cure spell and felt the pain in my head disappear. I pulled out the wayfinder and saw that the next petal had turned on and shined. It was a dark blue color and glowed just as bright as the other petals.

“This is a complicated world I live in isn’t it?”

I looked over the forest as the shadows disappeared once again which still worried me.

25. Redheart and Sunshower

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My face still hurt after the previous night. Note to self: never underestimate drugged up ex coltfriends because they are too tweaked to recognize pain. At least Vinyl and I got closer to each other that night. Spitfire and her seemed to be the most likely to throw down should anything get out of hoof. Also need to be more careful about taking hits. Unicorns like to cheat.

“I’m trotting the thin line between safe and reckless. Stop rocking the boat me.”

I looked out on my home and saw that the furniture I had ordered had finally come in. At that point the moving ponies had placed everything where it belonged though my bed would take another day to get to my home. Today was actually Redheart’s day off and I had made sure to find where she lived before the moving ponies had left. I was still worried about yesterday but I knew she needed some time to think.

I left that thought at that and decided it was time to decide what to do for the date today. From the trend of the last few dates I was conflicted about what to choose. My first date was an impromptu spar that ended with me pinning a potential marefriend. Second date was a normal if cliche trek out for coffee. Third date was unique in that it was all about working together on a project. Last date was basically clubbing. I had no idea what I should actually do for this one. I didn’t know what expectations she could have placed on me when I went to get her. It was probably not as bad as my paranoia possibly thought it up but she was the first pony around during my hospitalization to see how I reacted to wounds. That meant she saw a glimpse of the me I use to fight monsters with.

“This is gonna be a more traditional date. I can feel it in my bones. I really should have gotten something for the occasion… at the very least a tie.”

I knew at that moment I had to go meet a certain pony. I just didn’t expect the moment to come so soon. I was going to have to see Rarity… this was going to be a joy.

While I had nothing against the pony; she was also a gossiper whenever it came to romantic entanglements of any kind. I remembered what my memories showed me and she wasn’t the best pony to speak to when it came to societal norms and the like. Oh well… nothing ventured, nothing gained I supposed.

It was about to be nine in the morning and I trotted over to the Carousel Boutique which thankfully was opened. I knocked on the door and waited until I heard a cry.

“Come in~!”

I stepped inside and waited until said pony stepped out in a regal manner. I also briefly wondered where the sparkles materialized from because I was pretty sure she didn’t usually use glitter.

“Welcome to the Carousel Boutique. Where everything is chic and unique. How may I help- “

She abruptly cut herself off when she saw me. I almost didn’t catch it but she did scrutinize me for the briefest of seconds. Her smile returned though it felt like it was one worn by someone who was fishing for information instead of sales. Obviously she must have heard from me either by Dash or Fluttershy. I had to tread lightly.

“Sorry darling. Slight hiccup. Do forgive me. Now, how may I help you this fine morning.”

“I need something for a date…”

“Oh my a romantic rendezvous between two starcrossed lovers. Say no more I have just the ensemble for you.”

Before I could protest I was whisked away and fitted with a grey suit. It looked to be the same color as my coat. She tutted at it before switching it to something blue. It was too brightly colored. I gagged at the sight of it and she did as well though more exaggerated than mine.

“Couldn’t we just go with a fancy tie. Something casual but stylish enough to fool other ponies.”

“Just a tie? Just a tie! You must wow your date with more than a simple tie… then again with your coat it might just work… hmm… IDEA~!”

She got to work on a sewing machine as she readjusted some very fancy work glasses which somehow managed to stay on the bridge of her muzzle. I had so many questions about hooves and how glasses would fit on ponies which I had buried in order to not go insane. Now they were at the forefront of my mind. I was brusquely woken from my reverie by Rarity putting a very interesting looking silk tie around my neck. It was the same color as my coat and fit pretty nicely. She probably measured my neck while I was freaking out.

“Ta-da! A look that says I’m formal yet ready to dance the night away. By the way, what is your name, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Nebula Gray.”

“When did you get into town?”

“Last week… got a house built by the mayor… how much is this tie?”

“Oh darling the first garment is free. Just remember to think of me when you go for all your dressing needs, of course.

“I can do that.”

“Of course darling… now if you would take the moment to answer one more question for me.”

“Depends on the question… but ask away.”

“Who is the lucky mare?”

“Unfortunately that is one of those questions I won’t answer.”

“Oh horseapples…”

I managed to leave while Rarity was still scowling. I’m still worried about her questions since she managed to coax out my name. I didn’t exactly try very hard to conceal it but I was hoping only Pinkie Pie would be the only one to really know about me. The only ponies who don’t know about me are Applejack and Twilight. Hopefully that will stay that way until it is absolutely necessary.

“Now to find Redheart…”

I kept the tie on as I went in the direction I was told a while back. Ponyville was a strange town. There actually is a better off neighborhood somehow in Ponyville. It’s not that noticeable since the only reason that it looks better is because of the mansion that is situated in the area. It seemed that Redheart had an apartment in the area alongside one of the other nurses. I didn’t have to look long as I saw Redheart getting her mail from a strange pegasus with bubbles for a cutie mark. After she flew away I stepped up to her door and knocked. I had also placed the tie into my saddlebags before she came back to the door.

“Ditzy did you forget to give me some…”

“Hi there.”

She slammed the down into my muzzle. It stung but I didn’t bleed or feel too much pain. It seems that the strength boosts from leveling do, in fact, help mitigate pain. It took a few minutes for Redheart to come back out. She wasn’t wearing her nurse hat but she did seem more awake now.

“Oh Gray I see you’ve come today. Please come in I was expecting you.”

I looked her in the eye and noticed how much she was blushing and how much she knew I knew she was lying. I brought her in for a hug and she flinched like crazy before I whispered into her ear.

“Don’t worry so much. Still beautiful in the morning.”

She calmed down with a easygoing smile before inviting me in. The house was a bit cluttered but still navigable. We eventually found a cleared couch and sat down together. She fidgeted around a bit before speaking.

“I didn’t think you would come today. I mean I know I was next but I thought you would take some time to rest after all these dates. I mean I know what it’s like to deal with this many ponies one after the other.”

“You ok? You seem less eager for this than you did a few nights ago.”

Her eyes widened and she fidgeted around some more trying desperately not to look me in the eyes. She looked forlorn and a bit exasperated. I merely waited until she found her voice.

“Why are you agreeing to this? This herd. Accepting me?”

Her voice was quiet at the last part. I was really confused as well cause I’ve only dealt with this attitude from the outside. A buddy of mine from high school who was dating this girl with horrible self esteem. I don’t know what happened to them and my memory of that was limited to my senior year back then. I immediately put my hoof against her mouth before she could go on a tirade. I pulled her close and just held her. Unlike Vinyl who cried it out, Redheart managed to keep her emotions in check.

“I want to.”

“That’s it? That’s your reason.”

“So let me take you out?”

“W-what?”

“Let me take you out.”

“I-I don’t have much to wear… “

“I’ll get you something.”

“I don’t look presentable enough…”

“Beautiful to me.”

Her mouth tried to focus on some flaw but she just kept flapping her lips trying in vain to think of some excuse. Nothing else came out of her mouth. A melancholic smile appeared on her face.

“Fine… I can’t win against those ringing endorsements. I have a dress I’ve saved for a special occasion. It’s nothing too fancy mind you.”

“That’s fine. The only fancy thing I have is a silk tie. I kind of never had the need to wear fancy things back home.”

She smiled at that and went off to get her dress. That left me alone with my thoughts. Redheart certainly didn’t think highly of herself. I wondered to myself if I could actually fix that. Aside from being there for her I didn’t know what to really do to fix this. I wouldn’t give up but I needed to have a better plan.

“I have this little thing. I hope it’s not too much.”

Out she came with a very tight black cocktail dress that actually accentuated her frame. I wasn’t staring… honest. I shook my head noticing that she was blushing very heavily.

“Sorry… I just liked what I saw…”

“Thank you… I didn’t think you would like it…”

“Ok enough sadness, Where would you like to head out to? I can get us places before you know it. Though I can only make it to Canterlot or Baltimare. I haven’t explored other places just yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll show you when you decide that we’re ready to go.”

“Ok then. Let me grab my bag. I guess Baltimare would be good… ”

After she grabbed her bag I immediately picked her up in my arms startling her as she gripped tightly onto me. I dove into the closest shadow as we appeared near the train station. Another jump took us closer to the Badlands. The last jump wound up with us in Baltimare, my mortal enemy with the pun like name. I placed her back on her hooves while I put on my tie, She looked around flabbergasted and surprised.

“How… how did you do this?”

“I’m a thestral. I can use the shadows to get where I need to go. So for you I’m taking you out for a night on the town here.”

“F-for me?”

“For you.”

She shyly shifted her hooves around though they felt a bit forced. Though the smile on her face was immensely genuine. She took a few steps closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder. It was a definite change from what I saw earlier that day.

“Thank you for this. This means a lot to me. You have no idea.”

“No problem. I haven’t exactly been around this city much but I’m sure we can wing it from here… no pun intended.”

While she chuckled I really wished I had gone out of my way while I was in this city to find a high class restaurant. I do think luck was on my side as this restaurant nearby looked to be both fancy yet casual… Weirdest combination I have ever seen in my entire life.

“Would that be a good place to go.”

I made sure my tone was one of stating rather than questioning. I was still nervous about things because I didn’t know much about Redheart except for her nursing skills and ability to keep calm under pressure since she didn’t faint when I came in covered in blood. She smiled and nodded while we trotted over to the restaurant in question. It was called… Pastured Greens.

Her eyes seemed to sparkle which meant that it was probably something good. I’m guessing that this place is really good but not out of the way for normal ponies to enjoy.

“Are you sure? This place is a bit fancy…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

We trotted over to the maitre’d and luckily got seated within a couple of minutes. It was still the afternoon so lunch was going on at this point. We were seated on the second floor terrace facing a window. This was a bit of a cliche dating scenario in my mind… but I think the effort was worth it all. She was still smiling and it was genuine.

“So Redheart… please tell me more about yourself. I kind of never had the chance to talk with you much that day we met. Circumstance aside…”

“Oh… um… I’m just a nurse. I’ve seen a lot in my life but you have been one of the most serious cases I’ve ever seen in my life. Seriously how are you still alive… Most ponies couldn’t even handle their hooves being stubbed yet you managed to fly in half paralyzed and covered in blood and managed to get back to full strength within the day.”

“I’m just really tough. I’ve always been tough. Ever since I finished school I decided to be a cop. I learned to be tough and pass my limitations on pain. It wasn’t something easy or something I enjoyed but I did it to make sure to help others whenever I can. I was basically trained really well for pain tolerance.”

“How did you cope with such things?”

“I had a good brother… “

“‘Had’?”

“He’s gone now.”

She went quiet and a sympathetic frown crossed her muzzle. It seemed to be one she created from years of dealing with patients.

“I’m sorry for your loss.

“It happened a long time ago.”

“How do you deal with it?”

“Excuse me?

“How did you deal with the grief?”

“It happened a long time ago. I've come to terms with it.”

I hadn’t put much thought into my grief. I usually pushed it to the side because I had to take care of my niece. Which was probably a bad idea when I did lose her. The floodgates had opened and I lost to that repressed sadness.

“I didn’t at first. I ignored it because somepony needed me to look after them. When they were gone I didn’t have a way to stop it. So, from this point on, I endeavored to remember the good times instead of dwell on the loss.”

She seemed appeased by my answer though she seemed a bit confused. I did keep my answer vague so as to not give out names. It was not my best plan but something I’ve been subconsciously doing.

“Why didn’t you give them names?”

Crap… I can’t think up any excuses. I shouldn’t lie about it. I’ll say what I can then…

“I… I guess I’m just not fully coping with it. I partially don’t say names because I want to distance myself from it. It’s just until I think I can handle it.”

“Oh I’m sorry about this. I was just curious is all.”

“It’s not a problem. I’ll tell you all one day. I just need some time to get the words all sorted together. It takes me a while to figure out how to say these particular things.”

She nodded and went quiet at the waiter finally came back. We both ordered and chatted some more. Our conversation never went as intense as it did before the waiter came back but I did learn more about Redheart. She lived with her roommate and fellow nurse Tenderheart and had worked as a nurse since she turned eighteen. Seriously the more I learn about ponies age and already being professionals the more I feel like something really weird is going on here. It’s both that they are extreme experts and yet limited to their fields of expertise. I didn’t know whether that was good or not even my own mark never really said anything about my abilities.

“I wonder something Gray.”

“Yes?”

“What are you even against? You say you are fighting something but what could be so dangerous that not even the Princesses could deal with it.”

I’m glad she dropped her voice to a whisper. While the restaurant was still less crowded there were still ponies all around us and ponies had really good ears.

“Well… I can’t tell you much due to oaths I’ve made but I can say that they are darkness given form. Not evil but fully instinctual like beast and not animals. It’s my job to stop them.”

“Without anypony’s help? Maybe one of us should start going with you from now on. To make sure you don’t get hurt.”

“I appreciate it. I really do but I could never let anything happen to any of you because while I’m sure you can help, I don’t think any of you are trained for this outside of Spitfire and even I’m reluctant of her doing this.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s the leader of the Wonderbolts.”

“No what makes you think I can’t help out?”

“Nothing actually. What can you do Redheart?”

The moment I didn’t say anything that would be against mares fighting I think I pulled the steam out of her sails. She fidgeted a bit but wasn’t as forthcoming as she had been. I waited patiently for her to speak.

“Well… before I started my residency I did get trained as a guard but I eventually decided to work in medicine.”

“Really? What did you train in?”

“Mostly some hoof to hoof combat. I was good at it. Plus being an earth pony gives you a really good left hook.”

“Wow… Hm… I’ll think about it. That would be useful to have somepony watch my back. I’m not saying yes yet. I’m just thinking about it.”

She nodded with a stern look on her face which eventually settled into a smile. I felt a bit guided in that conversation. I wondered how many plans these mares had about me in general. Each had different demeanors and constantly kept me on my toes… if I had any. It also got me thinking about my idea of keeping it to only myself as a keyblade wielder. Perhaps my loneliness had taken its toll on me because I was motivated to give each of these ladies a keyblade. I quietly pushed that thought into the maybe category.

As we finished our meal we left for a walk around the town. I actually never really walked around the town before I left. It was nice to look at all the buildings around even if they seemed a bit overly ornate. Several of the buildings had grecian aesthetics but ancient grecian building techniques. All the arches and pillars were built similarly. My mind tried to make sense of it all but I eventually settled on Redheart again. She had gotten closer to me and I kept her under my wing. She didn’t seem to speak and merely nuzzled against my neck.

“Anything you’d like to do before we head back for Ponyville Redheart?”

“I don’t know. You’ve been really good to me. Much better than all the dates I’ve ever gone on.”

Crap… baggage… A lot of baggage. I’m really hoping that it’s not going to be another ex I am going to have to fight against. After the last few days I’ve had only Fresh Coat was single before she met me. Spitfire dumped her original for some reason I never found out about. Octavia kept close to me when that one stallion tried to use their perceptions to stop us from dating. While Vinyl had a lot of exes. Two of which I personally kick their flank. To be fair he only stopped the first one by sheer luck then flew off.

“It couldn’t be that bad right?”

She looked at me and I could see that it was that bad. Her eyes had already gotten teary. I’m really hoping it’s not abuse. I’ve dealt with enough cases to know that I could never truly make a difference.

“It’s just… I’m a working mare. I know you’ll probably need to see me more often but I want to put my career first. I don’t want to slow down. Most stallions I date can’t handle a working mare and don’t know how to go about with my sometimes busy schedule.”

I kind of got lost in a blinking fit. This reason was a bit stupid in my eyes though I did notice that the cultural norms seem to indicate that the mares are the heads of the relationship. It’s so weird to me but I decided to go along with it if for nothing more than to give her some peace of mind.

“Redheart you really don’t need to worry about that. I understand that you want to keep doing what you are doing. That’s very much what I’m going to be doing. Tell me whenever you have a day off and we’ll make some time together. I know what a busy schedule looks like. So it’s no big deal to me.”

It really wasn’t a big deal but from the tears streaming down her cheeks and the look in her eyes this was a big deal to her. Instantly I was on the ground with a very passionate mare snuggling aggressively against me. Her dress would be ruined at this rate… I wasn’t feeling up her sides while she did this. My hooves mystically found themselves wrapped around her just to keep her from snuggling too hard.

“I’m glad you’re happy Redheart but we need to head back for Ponyville.”

“I’m ready.”

Before I could leave she planted a kiss against my lips and then nuzzled into my neck. What is it with all these mares and nuzzling into my neck? I really need to check in a mirror to see what the hell these mares see in me. I still haven’t got a clue.

I dipped into the nearest shadow and went through the same three spots before appearing back near her home. She kept to her hooves and walked herself. I suppose she is the most independent out of all the mares here. As we got close to her door Tenderheart opened it and stared at me. She then fainted in shock leaving her sprawled form on the door frame. I picked her up and trotted in with Redheart. After she led me to Tenderheart’s room and I placed her in her bed I left the apartment after kissing Redheart back for her own surprise kiss. She fainted as well and I had to take her to her room.

From what I could tell she was very unused to being in control of a relationship. It’s weird to me but I pushed the thought aside for the moment. That list of archived thoughts was now getting really long and out of control. I needed to find anything on more intimate relationships, I needed to keep track of the Nightmares in the forest, and I needed to get ready to explore other worlds. At the same time I wanted to make something out of my life here and I wanted to make sure I didn’t drag any of these ponies into my problems. That second want was starting to look impossible if my feelings on the matter were any indication.

“I need to get back home…”

I leapt into a shadow and found myself back near my porch. I took my vigil and around ten that night the eyes appeared. They were all level with Nightmare Moon’s height. After the hour and a cruel sneer they disappeared back into darkness. I looked over my wayfinder and noted that the last petal was light blue which seemed to indicate Redheart.

“Five lights and five mares. The center still hasn’t shined just yet.”

I fell asleep afterwards trying to get enough rest until I could manage to figure out what I would have to deal with in the forest. This time there were only a few nightmare eyes…

When I woke up the next morning I immediately tried to get into my home since the bed finally came in. Before I could tell them where to put it a speeding pegasi flew straight at me sending me and the moving ponies sprawling across the floor. I magically ended up with a mare on top of me with the same eyes I saw that morning I woke up in the hospital the first time. She was looking at me expectantly as well.

“Hi Sunshower… We should really stop meeting like this. I don’t think my wings can take anymore strain on them.”

“Don’t worry silly. That’s why I made sure to aim for the bed.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that so I just grunted ambiguously to keep my surprise away from my face. She instead immediately went for the nuzzling to the snickers of the moving ponies.

“Sunshower, how bout we help these ponies move the bed already. They probably have a lot to do.”

“Oh right. Let’s.”

It took a few minutes to get the bed to the biggest room on the second floor. Most of the ponies were surprised I even bought such a large bed until Sunshower sprawled out on it and rolled around a bit. It made me have to send any of the stallions out the door before she could do anymore sprawling. The mares were just as hard to get rid of because they weren’t looking out of interest but of jealousy… and mostly at me.

She immediately got off the bed and got in front of me flaring her wings and getting this angry look in her eyes. The mares left with a sour look on their faces leaving me a bit dumbstruck. After a while most of the leering looks I got had finally gone away. This was going to be a pain if I have to walk around town without any of the mares I know at my side.

“So… what shall we do today? It is your day Sunshower.”

“Cuddle me.”

“What?”

“You heard me. I want you to cuddle me.”

Well at least she knew what she wanted. This is one of the most awkward things I’ve ever had to do. The other times were heat of the moment dealings. This was planned and just generally awkward since I wanted to eat something. Still I obliged mostly to see where she was going with this.

I laid on the bed and she laid next to me setting herself up as the small spoon and curling under my forehoof. I just watched over her and when she got comfortable I laid my wing over her. I knew this was gonna be a very long day. She didn’t snore or fall asleep but she did turn around and looked me in the eye.

“How are you enjoying Ponyville?”

“It’s fine. A little warm but I’m guessing that’s because it’s still summer.”

“How about the others?”

“Well… they’ve all been… affectionate with me. I have noticed that a lot of you made a promise of some sort. I’m curious about that.”

“Oh that? That’s more about not immediately staking a claim if you understand.”

“Right… Figured that’s what was meant. I’m guessing most relationships don’t go this way?”

“Usually most relationships go a bit faster but since this is a herd dynamic it’s moving at a reasonable pace.”

“It is?”

“Yeah. One on one relationships usually end up in the hay within two weeks or so. The ones that don’t are because the mares are too obnoxious or horrible to their partner or the stallions are pig headed and immediately try to jump into the sack with the mare. Oh… this doesn’t count of course since we aren’t doing that…”

The blush on her face made me entirely unconvinced. I just gave her a tight squeeze making her squeak out in shock and turn even redder. I snickered and let her go allowing her to relax still as a cuddle bug. This was the second one I had to watch out for.

“You’re not one of those stallions are you, Gray?”

“Nope. I’m far too passive but it seems more like you girls are trying to get me to bed much quicker. At least if this position we’re in is anything to speak of, of course.”

She got really quiet and immediately buried her head into my chest desperately trying not to look me in the eye. These ponies and their cute moments will probably be the death of me at this rate but I signed up for it I guess. I stroked my hoof against her back until she finally managed to look me in the eyes again.

“Sorry.”

“About what? I’m not complaining about this.”

“Oh… uh… I guess I’m just a bit overwhelmed that you’re taking this in stride.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I still find this a bit weird but over the last couple of days I’ve come around to the idea of this… herd. I’m just wondering if there are any rules. Also I’m pretty sure Vinyl wanted to try adding more ponies to the mix later. That was something… I guess.”

“Really? I do know a bit about these things.”

“Please explain it to me. Seriously I would really like to know.”

“Well herds are old fashioned ways of making families where we could feel safe and loved. The largest recorded herd was around sixteen ponies. That was one stallion and fifteen mares. At most a herd usually can grow up to ten mares to a stallion if they can handle it. There are even double herds where there are two stallions which take up the reins as the fathers of the group. Most of the time if a mare wants to join an existing herd she usually gives a gift to the alpha mare and that mare and the stallion which is you would go out on a date to see if they are compatible.”

“That… that is certainly a lot of things to consider. Which one of you is the Alpha then?”

“Uh… you have to decide that.”

“What?”

“Seeing as you’re the stallion and leader of the herd you have to decide who the Alpha is. We technically could figure out who it is but it would be better to involve you so nopony could say we took advantage of your naivety. Though based on what Vinyl said you know a lot more than you let on most of the time.”

Seems they already talked with Vinyl after I nipped at her neck. In hindsight, perhaps I should have slowed down on that. I merely gave off a smile… which I knew looked nervous as hell since I could feel sweat try to drip down my brow.

“So I need to ‘punish’ you for being so forward~”

“What?”

She bit at my neck giving me a hickie. Can ponies really do that? It’s not fully visible because of the fur but I can still feel it. This feels so weird… not bad but good weird. I shook my head after she had let go trying to let the shock drain off my face.

“Well… that was unexpected.”

“Too much?”

“Nah… I’m good. It’s just surprising is all.”

“Good. I think I’m good for now with the cuddling.”

“Great. Well we still have to get some food for later. I’m kind of in need of breakfast.’

“I’ll bet.”

She nuzzled into me before getting off the bed and letting me get up as well. It took a few minutes to get full feeling in one of my legs. She had laid upon it and that left it numb and ticklish. I think I need to get something to stop the constant numbness on my body otherwise I’m gonna be stuck on a bed being snuggled to death because I couldn’t move.

“So what do you have planned for me Gray?”

“I’m gonna keep that a secret until I feel it’s time to talk about it. Right now let’s get something to eat.”

She seemed really adamant about figuring out what we were going to do but I kept my lips sealed on the topic. Truthfully, I had no idea what to do and there was little I could think to do because I decided in my own stupidity to be original with each mare and have a date they would like. She led me to Sugarcube Corner which I immediately had several flags zoom up because Pinkie Pie had yet to throw me a party. Sunshower seemed to catch on that something was up.

“You ok?”

“Yeah… it’s just that Pinkie Pie hasn’t thrown me a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party and I’m realizing that the moment I step inside might be my reckoning.”

“It’s not that bad is it?”

“No but I was hoping to keep it as long as possible if only because she challenged me on it. Right now it’s a game of wits in a sense to see who could outwit who.”

“Against Pinkie Pie? But she’s so… out there. How do you plan on outwitting somepony who managed to get me a cake I liked when nopony had ever managed to get the taste quite right.”

“Sheer dumb luck.”

The flat look she gave me was more than I could take. She rolled her eyes and chuckled. I knew I was being a bit silly but I was not looking forward to meeting so many ponies all at once. Too many ponies means I’ll probably crack and speak something I don’t want to talk about. Also there might be probing questions either about my race or my dating status. In a town with several dozen mares and Twilight Sparkle, either could mean the end of my privacy.

“I’ll go in first then.”

She trotted in and came back out. She looked a bit smug at this point and dragged me in.

“She’s over by Fluttershy’s Cottage helping out Rainbow Dash for some reason.”

“Oh… Must be because of that griffon.”

“That explains why Merriweather was taking over as Weather Manager today.”

We quietly got into a booth after ordering some breakfast foods of various things. The owners were quite nice as Sunshower and I spoke about various things. It was the small talk I had mentioned to all the other mares and kept every detail spoken the same. It was something I was prepared to do since I hadn’t sit down with all of them before and talked about myself. I realized now that I never really spoke about myself during those first two nights I was around all the mares. I just quietly contemplated things while I ate and they mingled amongst each other to get a good sense of how the herd dynamic would work. For the most part they got along though Fresh Coat and Sunshower would rib on each other. Vinyl would sometimes glower at Spitfire for reasons beyond my understanding. Octavia and Redheart were the quietest with each other seemingly sizing one another up.

“Why do you always look so sad some of the times?”

“Huh?”

“Gray… Why do you look sad sometimes?”

“Memories have a way of keeping themselves known.”

“Bad ones?”

“For the most part yeah. There are good ones as well. So I wouldn’t say I’m sad. I would say I’m… contemplative. It’s not a look of sadness but one of rememberance.”

“What do you think about?”

“Family.”

“Would they proud of you?”

“They were proud of me. Before they left they were always proud of me. Though they did hate that it was my brother that gave them kids when I was the elder one. They thought it was my job to give them a grandchild to spoil.”

“You’re making a family now at the very least.”

“Yeah… Not ready to be a father quite yet though so hold off on those plans.”

“Huh? Wait… I wasn’t going in that direction!”

She was blushing and her wings were very erect which didn’t escape my notice. When I pointed it out she immediately brushed her wings down and threw me a glare which softened into a perverted smile.

“Ok… maybe a little for later on. My friend wanted a kid so badly she decided to adopt before hoof. I was surprised at her but I could understand the need. That little filly needed a mom and I was happy she got one.”

“Who?”

“Oh she’s my friend Ditzy Doo. She’s always so busy being a really good mailmare that she sometimes loses track of time.”

“That’s great. Ah for our date time we would have to wait till the sun sets tonight. Are you willing to wait a while longer before that happens?”

“Yup. You got me all excited now!”

I was nervous as hell. I had nothing planned and our little food run hadn’t taken too long. After the previous two dates I had actually spent another ninety two bits leaving me with eleven hundred and twelve bits. It had taken another twelve bits for this breakfast which left me with eleven hundred even. The extra bits had gone to getting some food for later. I did have a plan but it would require a big enough cloud to see if it would work.

We trotted back to my place where we relaxed for a while. I had taken the time to move my furniture around even though there wasn’t a lot. The bed took some effort and I nearly got squashed by it a few times much to my chagrin and Sunshower’s laughter. The fridge was placed in a better position while the couch was moved several times to find the best place.

“It should go here in the center Gray.”

“Then the sun would get in somepony’s eyes. It should be set in the corner so there’s more room in this room.”

“Put it against the wall maybe? Seriously it looks like it would fall over if you get startled.”

“Then I would have to move it to clean the wall. I’d rather just keep it away from the wall so mildew doesn’t pile up.”

“Wait… Place it here then the sun won’t hit anypony’s face and it probably won’t tip over.”

“I can see that I guess. Ok then. Let’s place it there.”

To say we weren’t interior decorators would be the kindest way to explain that we were kind of inept at making room for furniture. Or sheer laziness had taken over. I was still tired and I plopped down on the couch. Before I knew it Sunshower had plopped on top of me and curled up as well. I really didn’t care at the moment. I was tired and I needed a nap which she seemingly agreed to if her snoring was anything clear to read by. It was a short nap but I did feel better. Nothing out of place happened either and she was still sleeping… with a puddle of drool soaking my shoulder…

‘Another vision of loveliness. I wonder what kind of cameras there are in this world. This would definitely make a memorable souvenir… though I would probably be struck down for my callousness… I still want to do it.’

I gingerly woke her up allowing her to get off of me without stepping wantonly over me. She was blushing like a fire truck which made me wonder which hoof she was about to place inside her mouth.

“We… we didn’t sleep together… together, did we?”

“We kind of did…”

“No that’s not what I meant… I mean… Like this…”

She began to do weird movements with her hooves which was probably the same movements humans did when they wanted to indicate sex. It was kind of hilarious to watch since hooves made the meaning almost impossible to figure out.

“No we didn’t do that. You were the utmost lady-like and treated me with respect.”

“Very funny.”

The small pout she gave was cute and when we finally looked outside she noticed the sun was already setting. She gave a gasp before glomping on me, sending me onto the couch once again which did indeed flip over from the sudden shock. Groaning at the sudden turn I felt myself getting shook not stirred from my near fall.

“It’s time. It’s time. It’s time!”

“I know. Let’s get ready to go. I have some prep work I have to do before I get it ready.”

We left the house and I dove us into a shadow. She wasn’t ready for this and nearly freaked out gripping tightly onto me. When we emerged quite far out of Ponyville I placed her on the ground to get her bearings straight while I went out my way collecting wild clouds from the Everfree. I managed to grab eight clouds of varying sizes and summoned my knives. I then threw one into each of the eight clouds forcing them to stabilize enough not to disappear on me.

When I returned with the eight, Sunshower seemed a bit apprehensive. I sat in front of her and waited until she found her voice.

“Where did you get those clouds?”

“Everfree.

“How are they still sticking around here? Clouds from the Everfree are so random and keep moving without our intervention. Yet you managed to tame them…”

“When I was living in the Badlands we had to capture clouds from the Everfree sometimes. We learned how to manipulate them to a degree. They should remain stable for an hour or two.”

“What were you planning? I know you aren’t exactly gonna wow me with stunts. So what was the plan?”

“Well… Care to dance with me?”

“Dance?”

If I didn’t know any better she finally managed to make her voice crack and turned several shades of red deeper than ever before. I took her outstretched hoof and flew up into the clouds I arranged and began a simple waltz around the small cloud arena. I wasn’t a good dancer and the only thing I knew how to do was a waltz and if I pushed it the tango if the flailing of my limbs could even be considered doing the tango right.

It didn’t seem to matter to Sunshower though seeing as she was so lost in her bliss she nearly forgot to flap her own wings from time to time. For a whole hour we managed to dance with me only making a fool out of myself a few times. When our hour ended Sunshower flew back down to the ground to fan herself off while I de-summoned the knives in the cloud. On cue the clouds all floated back into the Everfree and I floated back down near Sunshower.

“Sorry bout that. Seems I could only get them for an hour or so.”

“Are you kidding me? That was really romantic. Are you sure you’re a stallion?”

“What do you mean?”

“Very few stallions go through these kind of efforts to impress a mare. You’re not even trying to impress me but show me a good time regardless of whatever happens. Why?”

“I felt like it? I don’t have any good reasons. I do what I do because it’s what I want to do.”

Sunshower stared at me with a measure of awe if her gaping mouth and tearing eyes were any indication. She didn’t speak but instead glomped into me and snuggled me into the ground. We actually left a groove in the ground from her snuggling. That terrified me on how strong these mares actually are. After we arrived back in Ponyville proper she hugged me and flew off for home leaving me to my thoughts.

I had managed somehow… whether through luck or skill to go on an individual date with six mares and not let it blow up in my face. I quickly flew back to my home and watched the forest once again from the same perch I’ve taken almost every night. The nightmare eyes are still alicorn sized but there are fewer now. They probably have a plan while the only thing I have to show for it is making a life for myself here. I wondered if it was a fair trade but I pushed that excuse out of mind. In the following day I had to go into the forest to figure out where it’s hiding and what I have to do to get rid of it. After an hour it disappeared allowing me to look at the wayfinder again. The center was glowing a bright green which probably meant that it was Sunshower’s color. Gold for Spitfire, purple for Octavia, orange for Fresh Coat, dark blue for Vinyl, light blue for Redheart, and green for Sunshower seemed to make the wayfinder whole.

“I’m still wondering what this means exactly. I don’t even know shotlock skills just yet. Should I ask them…? A question for another day I suppose. A question for when I’m willing to tell the entire truth and not the pieces I can accept.”

I sighed and looked out onto the forest. Tomorrow was another day and one I needed to use to my fullest. I needed more information about everything possible which meant waking up early and meeting a pony I have been avoiding for as long as possible. Tomorrow I had to go looking for Twilight Sparkle.

26. Revealed

View Online

As the sun hit my eyes I finally decided it was time to work on more concrete plan of dealing with the Nightmare that was hiding out in the forest. Tonight I would have to go out there like bait and destroy it. I didn’t exactly have any insights into where it was hiding nor did I have anything that would stop it from summoning heartless if it did indeed get that strong. All I had was my sense of smell and a bit more training to hopefully deal with the problem outright. I was confident enough in the idea of the plan. The execution though, not so much.

“I should really come up with a better plan.”

I ignored my misgivings and flew off for the Library which I had remembered was the tree with the door carved into it. I really didn’t want to come here when Twilight Sparkle was around if only because she was way too inquisitive. I was trying to keep a low profile and not get roped into things that would destroy the natural order. So far most of the things that happened when the show was running in the human world had happened. Eventually I would be out of range of this planet once again but I needed to make sure that I was prepared for any changes that occurred on Equestria due in no small part to my appearance.

So far my entrance and duel with Nightmare Moon and her summoning of heartless had gone unnoticed and unobtrusive upon the world that is Equestria. That didn’t mean that Luna couldn’t remember it either. There would be a chance that she could in fact recall what happened that night eventually. For now I noticed that no one tried to get into my dreams and my own nightmares had been pacified by my dreams overwhelming them. That still left the chance that anything could happen from the moment I entered this building and the moment I left it as well. I also had to prepare for my trek into the forest. I knocked on the door as soon as seven bell tolled on the clock tower. What I was welcomed to was… strange.

In the center room was a very yellow Spike, I think his name was, standing in front of a Twilight while her horn was shining.

“That’s spell number 14. You have been getting better at this Twilight.”

“Oh Spike these are pretty easy spells. Let’s get ready for the next couple of- Oh hello there mister…”

Twilight stopped talking for a moment and stared at me. It was very concerning when I trotted over to Spike and waited till she spoke again. She still didn’t. It didn’t look like love sickness, which meant it was the beginnings of discovery. I really should have gotten food before I left the house this morning. This was going to be migraine inducing.

“Hi there. I need a book on combat through the ages and relationships through the ages.”

I directed all my questions to the dragon who at least kept his wits about him. Twilight, on the other hand, seemed to be pondering something.

“Uh… sure. Just give me a second and I’ll get you something.”

When he left I realized the true weight of my folly. I was stuck with Twilight waiting for some new information. She was still in pondering mode though I did note she looked at my wings at least once.

“So… is something wrong with me?”

“Huh?”

“Well you keep staring at me… It’s a bit… disconcerting.”

She started to stutter and push out apologies stating that she was not creepy in any way shape or form. I merely blinked and accepted the apology. Better we stay on the right side of being acquaintances.We sat there in relative silence and I could already tell this was going to be awkward as all hell. Spike finally came back after a few minutes with three books. One seemed to be about major battle fought within Equestria. Another was about something called Heart Song. The last was about relationships for dummies… which was heavily edited to have multiple tabs already in place.

“This seems good… thanks. Do I need anything to check them out?”

Immediately Twilight perked up summoning a scroll and quill while I merely looked on in amusement.

“Sure just need your name and I’ll check out your books for you. By the way, my name is Twilight Sparkle and this is Spike.”

“Pleasure. Nebula Gray.”

“Ok Mr. Gray I’ll expect these back in two weeks. See you then.”

“Thanks. I’ll be off then.”

That went easier than expected. She was whispering to Spike who was dismissively shaking his head. I didn’t want to figure out what the disagreement was about in case it was about me. I quickly trotted out the door and took a few turns in case she was still watching me leave. I did overhear one last thing though.

“Was that who Rarity was speaking about?”

“Probably. Look Twi I know you wanna know things but we need to go meet with the others today. If you wanted to talk with him you could have spoken up.”

“I blanked out. You know thestrals are really rare. Even when I lived near the princess I never met any of the night guards. Not even Shining had any pull over them. They remained independent until Luna returned.”

“Asking him about it probably wouldn’t answer anything. He isn’t part of the Night Guard.”

“I know but he could answer other things about thestrals perhaps.”

“Look Twi if it means so much to you I’ll ask around town later about him.”

“Thanks Spike that means a lot to me.”

I quietly dived back into the shadows and reappeared back in my home. I half expected Pinkie to be within but she wasn’t. From my window I spotted a cerulean unicorn moving a cart along into town. Probably not important but I made a note of it. She also had a wand for a mark. It seemed familiar but I couldn’t place my hoof on it. Damn, I really need to decide where I stand on hoof or hand.

I looked through the books I received and found out exactly what constituted as combat around Equestria… It was entirely underwhelming though not unexpected based on what I saw of the ponies around Ponyville. After Celestia began her solo rule it seems combat was settled with baked goods and pastry wars. It was really silly and kind of stupid though with a human mind set I guess it of course would be stupid. Unfortunately all pastry wars were ones of attrition rather than strategy.

Heart Song, on the other hoof, was something more interesting all together. Apparently singing while fighting actually made you nearly untouchable and more powerful than ever before. Then I looked at the warnings page which included the whole obligatory ‘You are not Invincible’ phrase in the text. It also noted that the whole song had to be sung while you were fighting and afterwards it would leave you partially open to counters. Something to look into at a later time but regardless it would be useful.should I remember a song I was willing to sing aloud.

The last book was hard to actually look through. Not out of nervousness but how cringey some sections were. There were a lot of notes within about doing things better or how some things were wrong and didn’t work. I did find a section on herds which didn’t have any notes on it. It seemed that everything Sunshower told me was correct. That might actually cause a problem if they expect me to pick an Alpha.

“Well at least that gives me some headway into figuring out things. The whole battles are fought with sweets angle made this place weirder than it should be. Now I have to wait until tonight and I’ll make my move on the forest.”

It was already the afternoon when I finally put down the books. I merely skimmed them and ate whatever leftovers I received during the dates I had. I knew I should have gotten more food but I was leaving soon and I needed to get ready for anything.

(Third Person POV)

It had taken all morning for the ladies to meet up with each other. Spitfire took a few hours due to needing to get some time off leaving Fleetfoot to take over the team for a bit. Soarin was apparently still in traction. Sunshower managed to get some time off from weather patrol and met up with her outside of Vinyl and Octavia’s home. They didn’t saw much and waited till they were let in. Vinyl was the one to open the door and led the two in. Octavia, Redheart, and Fresh Coat were already sitting around the dining table they owned in rapt silence.

“So I take it we came to a decision on this already?” Spitfire questioned.

“Yes. The four of us are in agreement that we should make this herd official now that we’ve all had one on one time with him.” Octavia mused.

The other mares around agreed. Each were curious of the other’s time with Gray. They were certain that Vinyl was going to be the one to breach the question.

“So what did everypony do for their date?” Vinyl slammed her hooves on the table as if to make their point. The only one to rise to the occasion was Spitfire.

“I took him back to the Wonderbolts Academy and put him through his paces.”

“What?” Four mares screamed out.

“Yeah I found out he is a bit of a fighter. He’s pretty strong too. He managed to pin me down after a half hour. So that was a plus.” Spitfire chuckled out while the others calmed their embarrassment. Nopony really wanted to speak next until Vinyl kept the ball rolling.

“I took him clubbing. We did run into trouble but he stepped up when he needed to.” Vinyl boasted proudly.

“What do you mean he stepped up?” Octavia leered over towards Vinyl.

“Neon was there… He was hitting the salt again. Took a swing at Gray but he kept going and knocked his flank out. Then he carried me back even though he was hit by a magically enhanced hit. The bucking fool was more worried about me. Idiot…” Vinyl muttered the last part out.

A few of the girls were speechless. They really didn’t expect that.

“Why didn’t he check into the hospital after that!?” Redheart nearly screeched out.

“I don’t know.” Vinyl countered out.

“He didn’t look injured when he came to see me the next morning…” Redheart managed to croak out.

“What?”

“How’s that possible…”

“I don’t know… let’s just move on. What else did you girls do for your dates?”

“We went out for coffee. Then that boorish jerk Treble Clef tried to once again get my attention by saying something rude about Gray dating other mares. I knew he meant your girls. He was really displeased when I nuzzled into him.” Octavia tittered nervously while her cheeks turned a bit red.

“I didn’t think you were that kind of mare Octavia.” Vinyl slyly nudged Octavia’s side causing her to flinch.

“I didn’t do anything else than that that day.” Octavia quickly added.

“I bet you did.” Vinyl challenged.

“No I didn’t. I certainly didn’t lay with him on a cloud for a while…” Octavia slammed her hooves in front of her mouth before burying her face on the table while she turned a deep crimson shade.

“See. I knew Tavi was party animal.” Vinyl nudged the now hidden Octavia while she pointed at Fresh Coat to continue.

“I just painted with him… I did ride on his back a lot… He’s really muscle-ly. Especially his neck. He was really really comfortable.” Fresh Coat lost herself in a giggling fit while she turned red. Most of the mares would have rolled their eyes had they not been lost in their own giggling fits.

“Redheart?” Vinyl pointed to.

“Me? Uh… we just went out for dinner over in Baltimare. I did get a kiss from him… though I may have been a bit overwhelmed by the moment… heh heh…” Redheart grinned whle rubbing the back of her head with her hoof.

“So what about you Sunshower?” Vinyl asked.

“I made him cuddle me. A lot. I mean a lot, a lot. I even slept on top of him. He’s a bit comfy when positioned right. Then we danced on some clouds. What was weird about that was that he managed to tame some of the Everfree clouds by chance. It was weird.”

The mares looked a bit perturbed by Sunshower’s confession but pushed it to the side. There would be plenty of time to determine what they would do about it but first came the more serious part.

“So we know a lot more about him now then don’t we? He keeps a lot hidden but I can see why he does so.” Redheart somberly explained.

“Yeah…” The murmurs of each mare came out. Vinyl had told Spitfire the information after they had pulled it together. Sunshower had learned the details that day. They each weighed the emotional baggage he carried against their own. He also didn’t deal with it just yet meaning it was a recent thing.

“So we’re going to help him through that eventually, right?” Fresh Coat brought up while the others mulled things over.

“Of course we are. If we want this to succeed then we’re gonna need to get him to open up fully. It’s been slow going the entire time and we still haven’t even figured out who the Alpha is.” Spitfire replied matter of factly.

“I kind of told him he could decide that…” Sunshower squeaked out.

There was a collective groan from the mares but no sounds of disapproval. Nopony seemed to know what to say at that point. They all were collectively figuring out how to tip the scales in their favor.

“So where is he right now then?” Octavia finally asked.

“He’s probably at his house from what I’ve seen. Though I think he went to the library while I was flying through town.” Sunshower explained.

“It’s already sunset so he was probably done with the library ages ago. Let’s go find him already and see if we can get him to decide.” Spitfire explained.

“The moon is already coming up. Let’s go he’s probably already awake.” Vinyl took the first steps from the table.

The mares all got up from the table following Vinyl out into the night towards Gray’s home. The crisp air seemed to raise their spirits as they walked through town to the other side of town. They were all smiles until they saw Gray start trotting into the Everfree Forest. At any other time they would stop him but this was a golden opportunity to figure out what he did whenever he was alone.

Fresh Coat had wanted to call out to him but Vinyl had covered her mouth before she could. The slowly trotted to keep pace with Gray which they did feel a bit bad for but he was acting suspicious. When he had gone in through the tree line they all noticed a lot of the path was wider and more spacious than it should have been. The trees had been razed to the ground leaving not even stumps behind. Gray stopped for a moment and sniffed at the air.

“They’ve been busy…” He muttered under his breath. Spitfire managed to catch what he had said.

“What does he mean that ‘they’ve been busy’? What’s hiding in here?” She growled to the others in low tones. It was a sign that she wanted to fight whatever was doing this kind of destruction, at least, as far as Vinyl knew.

He sniffed at the air and his muzzle instantly scrunched up. The others sniffed at the air but they didn’t smell anything wrong in the air. When they looked back at Gray he took a low stance and in a flash of light a weapon appeared clinging from his wing. It looked like a giant golden key with a very fancy white hoofguard.

“He can use magic…” Octavia muttered breathlessly. The murmurs from the others quieted down as Gray took a few steps forward.

“Ok… so where are you then. I’ve kept watch on you every night for the past week. Stop hiding right now.” Gray called out loudly enough that they could hear but it wouldn’t pierce its way back to Ponyville. He was being cautious. “Should I sing a little song for you? Would help out when you finally decide to show your face.” He sneered seemingly tense about the situation.

“He’s like a different pony all together now. He never seemed to be that mean when he spoke with us.” Sunshower stated worriedly. They finally saw a bit of what Gray was hiding and it was far above what they expected. Then he started to sing.

I'm waking up to ash and dust

I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust

I'm breathing in the chemicals

As he took a deep breath a large demon came shooting out of the darkness of the forest. It had two large horns and looked like an emaciated minotaur but with torn shredded wings and a long tail. It it’s hand they supposed was a large blue sword with a strange helix pattern. It charged straight at Gray who didn’t move a muscle. Before Spitfire could charge out to stop it or the girls could cry out to him Gray parried the blow meant for his neck. Spinning around he swung his key sword straight through the demon’s neck decapitating it. The creature faded into dark smoke before Gray exhaled. He kept singing.

I’m breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on a prison bus.

This is it, the apocalypse. Whoa~

Several small shadowy creatures crawled out of the darkness surrounding Gray. He lifted the blade up and lightning suddenly shot down striking the twelve shadows that had appeared. All of them dissipated into smoke as well. Vinyl closed Octavia’s jaw and she returned the favor back. This was impossible.

I’m waking up!

I feel it in my bones

Enough to make my system blow

Welcome to the new age, to the new age

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh. Whoa, oh, oh, oh I’m radioactive. Radioactive.

Several more taller shadows climbed out of the forest lunging for Gray while one jumped into the air spinning down to attack him. Gray immediately jumped up to the high flying one spinning with him as they tore through the others that were on the ground. A few still stood back up while eyeing Gray. He calmly kept singing.

I raise my flag and dye my clothes

It’s a revolution I suppose

We’ll paint it red to fit right in. Whoa oh~

The first gangly shadow charged in swiping at him. Only for him to dodge and strike back. A second one came in sending a scratch across his side which he answered with a strong buck that sent the creature back to the ground. He grimaced but destroyed the first opponent as another popped out of the ground. Gray grabbed its arm and flung it into the one that was on the floor. The singing resumed.

I’m waking up!

I feel it in my bones

Enough to make my system blow

Welcome to the new age, to the new age

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh. Whoa, oh, oh, oh I’m radioactive. Radioactive.

Gray’s key weapon immediately changed as several daggers seemed to wrap around his hooves. He dropped them on the ground and sat down waiting for the next opponent. He then sat down which forced all the mares present to hold down both Spitfire and Vinyl before they could charge in, to help. A large fat bipedal creature with the same eyes lunged belly first at Gray. He didn’t flinch as the daggers activated linking together through electricity and vaporizing the creature in its track. A strange heart emblem floated into the sky which caused Gray to sigh in a somewhat melancholic tone.

All system go, sun hasn’t died

Deep in my bones, straight from inside

Another demon looking creature floated out of the darkness pointing it’s sword at Gray who brought back the key sword he was wielding ready to answer the fight. The daggers had also disappeared. He started singing again what almost felt like a finale.

I’m waking up!

I feel it in my bones

Enough to make my system blow

Welcome to the new age, to the new age

Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh. Whoa, oh, oh, oh I’m radioactive. Radioactive.

They locked blades a few time slicing through each other. The demon got the upper hand managing to tear one of his wings with a lucky strike. The blade went cleanly through and blood began to fall to the ground. Gray was luckier knocking the demon to the side and slicing off its arm. Unfortunately the demon saw them hiding in the brush. It recklessly charged for them blade ready when Gray raised his weapon back up into the air.

“Gather!” A large rune appeared in the air as the creature was dragged back towards Gray. He tossed the keyblade in a circular matter at it impaled the creature’s head. It dissipated back into smoke letting Gray finally relax somewhat. He looked over his wing grimacing the entire time.

“Heal.” He muttered as a small green hued flower appeared above his head. He extended his wing to check it out. The girls were stunned. The large gash and the cuts he received earlier had healed back up. Redheart immediately wanted to go find out what he did until Fresh Coat grabbed her with her magic and held her down.

“So are you gonna come out or do I have to drag you. I could fight all day and all night if necessary. Get. Out. Here.” His voice was harsh and low. It was full of certainty and danger. As if on cue a large shadowed alicorn strode out of the darkness. Unlike the princesses this one was made of smoke and had piercing blue snake eyes. Nightmare Moon was something they all saw as scary. This was on a whole other level.

Every step it took cracked the ground yet it was made entirely out of smoke. The smoldering glare it gave Gray was unsettling. It never took its eyes off of him.

“Looks like the fool returned for round two. I almost killed you last time. I supposed once a fool always a fool.” The voice was cold and full of mocking bite behind every word. It smiled wickedly but the eyes kept focused on Gray never letting its guard down.

“Well I did hear it’s a good career choice. Putting idiots in their place was always an enjoyable task. I mean look at you, groveling in the dirt after I struck you down while I was barely better than a corpse. I suppose being a teacher of fools makes you the biggest fool around here.” Gray smirked and the alicorn was enveloped in an aura of magical hatred.

“Whelp, when I finish with you the stain you leave will never be found.” The alicorn smoke creature charged up some magic.

“So you’re a maid now too? Guess you really have fallen on hard times.” Gray muttered out.

The alicorn instantly charged forward smacking Gray into the ground. He managed to roll with the hit landing back on his feet and skidding to the ground. The key sword aimed for the smoke creature and shot out beams of light at it only to miss by the smallest of measures.

“I shall not fall for that again knave!” The smoke alicorn took up flight and dove down after Gray. He stood his ground and blocked the alicorn’s charge smashing it to the ground and firing a beam of light into it. It instantly screamed bloody murder which was drowned out by the roar of a large bear out in the distance.

“I don’t have time for this.” Gray mumbled as he smacked the alicorn across the head multiple times until the light faded from the smoke. It immediately bucked Gray away who hit one of the trees still standing. The creature charged straight forward only to be hit with another light beam and fell to the ground thrashing like an animal.

Gray charged forward constantly smacking the creature with his sword knocking it up into the air and taking flight. The light faded again as the two locked in battle in the sky. Eventually the alicorn made its last mistake and swung too far. Another beam of light hit it and Gray took as much strength as he possessed and down swung the creature back to the ground. As it impacted and created the crater it was now stuck in another roar sounded out through Ponyville.

“So close… so close to getting a body back… I hate you Gray… I HATE YOU…” The shadow cried out before it was silenced by the key being shoved through its head.

“I hate you too you manifestation of a nightmarish bitch…” Gray muttered as he stared down at the now dissipating smoke. It hadn’t used a host.

“Crap… crap… Is it like a goddamn lich… Now I got to watch out for it again.” Gray rubbed his forehead with his hoof. In that moment he looked just like his old self… only more tired and older than he should be. His wings drooped and the scars he had were covered in dirt and blood.

Before the mares could answer a beam of magic roared out the forest directly at Gray. He say it and raised his weapon again. The mares were already besides themselves in both awe and concern. This was far above what they had ever seen in their lives. Spitfire even had to admit that most of the creatures she saw would be too much for even a trained Wonderbolt at least for now. Since she saw them as they fought against Gray she started thinking up strategies to use against them.

“Reflect!” A small reflective shield appeared around Gray causing the beam to dissipate and release energy outwards. The true creature, one not made of smoke, came out of the forest.

“Once again you survive… you worthless pile of refuse. Still you refuse to die for your ruler.” The now physical body of the alicorn sneered at Gray looking really pissed that he was still standing.

“What can I say? I’ve never been one for listening to assholes. So long as you don’t start monologuing then I’d rather we hurry up and get to the part where I beat you into the ground. The nightmare routine got old a while back. Also you’re still the worse voyeur in the history of this world. Six days of watching me and six other mares still are braver than you are.” Gray chuckled out which caused the Alicorn to charge at Gray. It was the same size as Nightmare Moon and the same look except it had no cutie mark and the armor it wore looked as though it was growing off of it.

When it got close the girls saw Gray still sitting. He muttered something only to let his sword do the talking as it severed the Alicorn’s horn clean off it’s body. It stumbled backwards while striking Gray with a lucky hoof strike sending Gray sprawling onto the ground near the crater.

“You still hit worse than a foal…” Gray mumbled as he stumbled out of the crater. He lifted the keyblade into the air while the alicorn was still fumbling around from the loss of its horn. A green flower appeared above Gray healing him back up. He rubbed his head as the alicorn charged at him. It took Gray a few swings to get it out of its rage. At this point it was a battle of attrition as both sides kept striking each other stumbling about while regaining footing or trying to pull each other into feints.

The alicorn finally fell to the ground as the darkness it was made of started to fade. Gray was breathing heavily as he sat back down. Fatigue was not healed by the spell he used. The alicorn pulled itself back up to its front hooves and tried to crawl over to Gray.

“I won’t go. I’ll make sure to come back for you Gray. You can’t get rid of nightmares that easily. I know what you fear and I will make sure I come back for you.” The alicorn answered plainly, None of them could see what kind of face she was making but Gray looked unimpressed by it.

“Then I’ll crush whatever part you leave behind. If you couldn’t match me now what makes you think you could match me then. No matter what you try you’ll never win. I’ll make sure of it.” He glared down at the alicorn who just started to laugh as it dissolve into darkness. In the center of the mass was a beetle. Gray brought his hoof down on it crushing it as a large amount of darkness pulsed out of it and dissolved back into the aether.

“Done.”

Gray walked around covering as much of the ground where the smoke alicorn hit the ground. It took him a while to accomplish everything and by then the moon was at its highest point. The girls hadn’t moved the entire time they were there. All of them were lost in their own thoughts at this point. Something this amazing and wondrous that happened nearly without any of them knowing.

Gray had held a load of secrets and this was the one that colored their perceptions. The single most defining thought on each of their minds was a resounding… Who is Nebula Gray and could I be a part of this. As he was walking past their hiding spot luck worked against them. Fresh Coat who had been holding both Vinyl and Redheart fumbled over Vinyl and fell out of the brush right in front of Gray.

Still covered in bruises and suddenly looking very shocked and terrified saw one of the mares he had became entangled with in front of him looking extremely guilty. Soon the whole cadre of those mares trotted out of the bush looking equally as guilty. Gray lost his train of thought and merely stared at them.

“So… you all saw that then?” He uttered out though his tone was far from confident. Each of them nodded quietly though they let their guilt falter a bit. They were just curious after all.

“None of you got hurt?” He asked first off surprising them all. He was covered in welts and bruises though after see him use spells they realized he could just heal them up. Though that didn’t cut the worry.

“Perhaps we should head to my home to discuss this matter… Better that way in the long run…” Gray sighed as he started trotting back into Ponyville proper. Each of the mares were concerned but followed along to find out the truth.

Meanwhile…

What was left of the nightmare tried to reform into something with more substance but the strain was too much for it. It ended up racing into a quarry far outside of Ponyville. Most of its body was damaged beyond repair and the key weapon had once again eluded it. Taking refuge within a gem just to keep its physical form during the daylight hours it waited to finally be repaired.

“Thank you so much for helping me darling. I wouldn’t have been able to get this many gems without you,”

“It’s no problem Rarity. I’d do anything for you.”

The pony and dragon both collected gems until Rarity saw one of the most unique gems in her life. It almost seemed to be alive.

(Extra)

Gray’s Thoughts throughout the night

Great now I know it managed to get heartless back on Equestria. I’m gonna need a plan… or maybe I could try out that heart song idea. Maybe it would do something interesting.So I sang and barely managed to get hurt by the heartless at all.

The dagger worked similarly to the tests I ran in the dream realm. They can be used for traps. I wonder if there will be a section in the book that would answer that.

Crap he hit me. Now I’m gonna have to use a heal spell too. Wait why is that one trying to run. Better get it before it does.

Oh god its going to start monologuing. Hopefully insulting it will stop it from talking like that. Wait… this isn’t the real one. Damn it it’s trying to weaken me before things get worse for it. I need to figure out where the real one is before… wait what is that?

Shit… It managed to make a body… No wonder I smelled so much darkness in here. That crazy entity managed to make a flesh body from the darkness just to make sure it could face me down.

Finally its down. I hope I don’t have to fight another alicorn again… even a fake one scares me shitless. Now to get home heal my wounds and hope none of the girls made it to my house this night.

Shit...shit shit shit shit… What are they doing here? Why are they here? How did they follow me? What the fuck is that bear roar in the background? Crap… I promised myself something really stupid that I’m regretting just now… Let’s see how receptive they are to actually helping me out with my mission...

27. Decision

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They were all too silent as we walked out through the underbrush back into Ponyville proper. Out in the distance I saw the unicorn with the cerulean coat racing off into the distance. Probably not that important for now but something to keep in mind for later. I had more important things to handle at this point. The six mares behind me were still quiet and staring at me. I was still covered in wounds and dirt. While I could heal my wounds it was probably best that I save it for a demonstration in case they thought I couldn’t do magic.

For some reason I also saw Twilight and Spike walking back to their Library house with some of her friends. I wondered if that bear roaring was something important. I ignored it and opened the door to my sparsely decorated home. I really needed to get more furniture. Maybe I could find some in different worlds. I opened the front door for the group and they all trotted in. I closed the door behind me and I waited until they all sat down on the couch. I managed to get a few candles set up strangely I found them as a gift from… Pinkie Pie. Right… ignoring that.

“Ok… well I’m sure you have a load of questions about what happened so each of you decide the most important question you have for me and I’ll answer them… Probably as fully as I can.”

They each took a moment amongst themselves to decide. Their mumbling continued while I looked over my wounds. Several bruises coated my side while there were several cuts in my wings and hooves. I did notice that Redheart was scrutinizing me intently. She was the first one to ask something.

“How did you keep moving so much during the fight? Your wing was torn and then you healed… How did you do that?” Redheart cautiously asked.

“I used magic.”

“You used magic...But you’re not a unicorn…”

I pulled her close to me and summoned my keyblade. I raised it above my head as the green flower appeared above my head. She examined me and noticed that all the wounds and bruises on my body had healed completely. Her jaw dropped and she had to sit down to calm herself.

“Only problem is that it heals wounds but not fatigue. Next question?”

I waited a bit while they stared at me. I didn’t exactly feel comfortable still. They were still trying to figure things out. Finally it was Octavia who broke the silence once again.

“What is that thing you wield? It destroyed those monsters almost effortlessly…”

“It’s called a keyblade. A weapon forged from either light or darkness given physical form. It is a powerful artifact and weapon made to fight against the monsters of the universe in a sense. It’s only lethal to those who do evil things. On regular beings it’s like being hit with a stick.”

“This keyblade… It is a weapon of light or darkness… Is the one you wield one of light?”

“No… Its one of darkness. I was the most resistant to it so this blade chose me in a sense.”

“Chose you?”

“Keyblades are sentient to different degrees. Those of light are like companions and are helpful to a certain degree. The ones of darkness are corrupting and require very strong wills to even wield without it whispering corrupting thoughts.”

“Do you hear it a lot?”

“No. I’ve learned to ignore it. For the most part the only times it gets to me is if I’m freaking out. I’ve been good so far but I’m keeping myself centered a lot of the time. Also as long as I don’t have it in hoof or wing I’m fine.”

Octavia nodded and seemed to be lost in thought with all the information she had received. I answered everything I could answer that I knew right at that moment. Sunshower and Spitfire asked almost at the same time the exact same thing.

“What were those monsters?”

They looked at each other confused that it made me chuckle. I didn’t think that they wanted to laugh but I couldn’t help.

“Sorry I found it cute. But to answer your question I’ll need something to explain it right.”

I summoned the Lexicon and placed it on the ground turning the page over to the Heartless section. A three dimensional model of a shadow appeared causing a few to jump but they soon calmed down when it just stood in place looping it’s actions over and over again.

“These… are the heartless. Physical manifestations of the darkness that every sentient being has within their hearts. I know it sounds a bit silly but this is what they are. Basically they are creatures of instinct constantly looking for the hearts of strong beings. When they find anyone with a strong heart they kill those beings and create new heartless to fight against anyone who wields a keyblade.”

The shadow attacked a fake pony stealing their heart which appeared like a crystalline heart emblem. The shadow ate it and turned into a soldier. It moved around a bit before I shut the book.

“They purposely hunt down strong beings with strong hearts to have stronger heartless with anyone who wields a keyblade being their target. Right now Equestria as a whole is actually really safe from heartless because it is lacking any true evil. At least any that is free right now. It’s probably one of the safest places in the universe right now with only three other worlds being this safe.”

Spitfire nodded and seemed to lose herself in a contemplative meditation. Her ears were still active but Sunshower wasn’t done asking questions.

“Are you being hunted?”

“Not right now. For the past week I’ve not noticed any heartless in the area or on the planet as a whole. It’s why I made sure to give you each a day because I knew it was safe enough to take some time off.”

They all blushed at that and hid their embarrassment. It was good to know that they still had some affection for me. I had been worried that this would immediately make them worried about me instead of worrying for me. Still… I was going to be talking a lot. That might also mean about me… shit… Fresh Coat asked the next question and it was a bit of a doozy.

“What do you mean by universe…?”

This caught their attention making all of them wide eyed and curious. Also a lot of nervousness in all of them which I wondered how to actually answer this question in a concise way. I couldn’t explain this easily.

“Well… what if I told you that this wasn’t the only world with life on it? What if I said that this place is so grand and expansive that every star you see out there wasn’t only a creation of Luna but it’s only world?”

None of them said anything. I knew though from the look in their eyes that there was some doubt still but it was tempered after what they saw this night. Fresh Coat was the most accepting of this explanation and while Vinyl, Octavia, and Sunshower seemed the most willing to believe both Spitfire and Redheart didn’t look too convinced.

“Could you prove it?”

Spitfire crossed her hooves not looking convinced at all. I wondered if I should do so but… there would be provisions before I took them with me. If I took them with me.

“Yes. Though there are certain things that have to be discussed and that should probably take place later tomorrow… today. Probably by the next moon after you discuss this amongst yourselves.”

She seemed satisfied by that answer and nodded for the moment. All of them had asked a question except for Vinyl… She was the quietest of them all hidden in thought by her DJ glasses. Then she finally slammed the arm of the couch and got my attention.

“You know this is all good so far but I think you’re forgetting something very important. Something so important that I’m surprised that none of you asked it just yet. You have so much to explain Gray. You wanna know what was so important that you still haven’t answered just yet?”

The girls looked surprised and seemingly incensed by Vinyl’s outburst but I don’t think they were for her viewpoint. They waited patiently while I was in a blinking fit.

“What is it Vinyl?”

“Simple. What was that song you sang? I’ve never heard it ever in my entire life. It was dark yet catchy and inspiring for some reason. Where did you hear it from?”

That caused all of them to flinch from the sudden swerve into a barely important question in their eyes. Truthfully, it was one of the most important questions they could have asked throughout the entire night. I weighed my options and tried to figure out what to say. There wasn’t really much I could say that would make sense.

“It’s called Radioactive. It’s from another world. A world I was born on a long time ago.”

“What!?”

“Yeah… I was born on a different world twenty six years ago. I’ve been trying to fit myself on this world for a while now thanks to a god that decided to pluck me from that doomed world.”

They didn’t say anything… I was wondering whether or now this was going to go badly. For now I needed to answer as best I could.

“What do you mean by doomed?”

Well at least they were still listening… This was going to be a clusterfuck I knew it.

“About two weeks ago from today my world fell into anarchy. They all decided the rule of law meant nothing because the world was going to end which meant it was everyone for themselves. Let’s just say that horrible things happened and no it was much worse than anything that could happen in Tartarus. It was done with full knowledge that their actions were their own and the atrocities they committed were their own decisions. The day it was to end this god decided to pull me away and send me somewhere else because I was one of the few who didn’t lose their mind. So… Here I am trying to make a new life for myself with the stipulation that I fight the darkness wherever it appears whenever it appears.”

They didn’t actually answer at first and I didn’t know why. I hadn’t looked them in the eye because it was a far too heavy story I didn’t want to answer at all. When I finally looked them in the eye I saw all of them crying… Spitfire was trying not to folding her hooves and keeping a stern look on her face though the tears were still streaming.

“Why didn’t you tell us what you’ve been through!?”

Sunshower came close and glomped me though she didn’t exactly knock me over. I had felt stronger after beating the Nightmare once again. She was followed by the others with Spitfire joining in reluctantly but happily.

“I… well I was worried about being found out. I wanted to just blend in and not get anyone involved at all. Besides you know new life and new chance at things. Might as well try even if… look it’s something I don’t want to talk about right now…”

I’m pretty sure after they stopped hugging me I didn’t look them in the eye. I sucked it up and noticed that they all still looked sad. I coughed a bit making sure that they were still paying attention.

“Anyways this is who I am and this is my job nowadays. Um… I have to contact one of my associates… You can stay and see if you like…”

I wondered if this was a bad idea but they wanted proof and this was the easiest way to handle things without going too far. They all nodded and seemed a bit better in spirit but I was worried that this might be too much. I pulled out the moogle gem and placed it on the ground. As they were about to say something the gem started to shine and the holographic moogle appeared before them.

“Welcome to the Moogle Synthesis Shop. How may I help you Gray?”

“Hi Stiltzkin. I’m wondering if you could help me with something. I found this during my last fight and I was wondering if you could use it to make me something.”

“Let’s see what I can… Who are these… ponies?”

“Friends of mine. They were curious after seeing me fight off a small group of heartless. Anyways I found this and this item a while back and it seems to be the same make.”

Stiltzkin looked over the nightmare shards and the nightmare core I found after fighting with the remnant of Nightmare Moon. He made a few calculations and seemed to look over his items. Then he gave me a stern look.

“I know I can make this but the problem is that we need some orihalcum and five dark shards. I know you have the items but if we make this it would take me the rest of the day. Are you willing to wait?”

“Yes. I have plenty of time. It sounds like there were other concerns on your mind though.”

“Heh… Guess I am getting old. Most don’t notice my tells. Anyways my brother Montblanc wants to speak with you; he has some message for you and a job if you’re interested.”

“Uh… sure I guess. Let’s hear from him then. Here’s the items for the synthesis.”

“Thanks, kupo. Sorry force of habit. Anyways here’s Montblanc.”

All the girls were still a bit shocked by the small bear creature with bat wings and a small pom pom on it’s head. It looked like a little adventurer with the green doo-rag on it’s head. I saw a few of them were even more curious about things now.

“Something wrong?”

“What the buck was that?” Vinyl cried out.

“That was a moogle. It’s one of the denizens of those other planets I talked about. They are very skilled crafts moogles who made the jewelry I sold back in Canterlot.”

“Wait they made those?” Sunshower gasped.

“Yup. They’re my associates and the ones who helped make the items. I only found the materials.”

Before they could ask anything more another moogle appeared in the holographic display. This particular one was much different in shape being slightly skinnier and wielding was looked to be a large minigun and pack on his back. Montblanc was decked out in a Gunner job class outfit. I really didn’t expect that at all.

“Hello there… Montblanc.”

“Ah there he is. It’s a pleasure Nebula Gray. As you already know I’m Montblanc, leader of this particular group of artisans within Clan Centurio. Now I don’t want to bore you with details but I do have some important things to discuss with you.”

“Of course. What’s on your mind?”

“Well, first on the agenda is that Yen Sid wishes to speak with you on some important matters. It’s not urgent but something long term which needs to be addressed alongside many other details.”

“Ok. What’s the second thing you needed?”

“Later on I may need a keyblade wielder to do me some favors and I was looking at you in particular since we did manage to get you a very rare moogle gem to speak with you like we are now.”

“Right… I’ll agree to it since we are working together at the very least.”

“Excellent. Don’t worry about your synthesis item you left. That will be free of charge for such a loyal customer.”

“Of course then sounds like a fair deal.”

“Right then. That’s all. In a few months I’ll have Mog contact you with more details about these jobs.”

The holographic display blinked out and the girls seemed more confused and excited than before. This time I got bowled over by Vinyl.

“Dude, you’ve got to take me with. This sounds so cool. I so want one of those keyblade thingies. Hook a mare up already.”

I tried to speak but she was cuddling into me a lot which made Fresh Coat pick her up in her magic so I could stand back up. I did say that I wanted someone, or in this case somepony, to come with me. Still I needed to place the line in the sand for this particular endeavor. There was one thing about a keyblade wielder that would perhaps be bad for all of them.

“I don’t mind but there is a warning to all this. The moment you have a keyblade your life goes to helping out the entire universe. The darkness will always try to get you because you have a strong heart. I’m prepared for that lifestyle and I’d rather you not go through it if you don’t have to. It’s a really big responsibility and can sometimes get really heavy. I did almost die already which I can tell you is one of my concerns right now especially if you decide that you want to join me.”

Before Vinyl could jump into agreement Octavia shut her mouth with her hoof and dragged her back.

“Gray, Do you mind if we discuss this first before Vinyl jumps into something like this.”

“Yes please do so. Maybe convince her not to. It’s kind of high on the danger scale and while I would enjoy the company I’d rather you all have the chance to have a normal life and this is definitely more than anything that could be considered normal.”

A few of them seemed determined to figure out somethings before they answered. I led them back to their homes getting a silent hug from each of them as they entered Octavia’s and Vinyl’s home. It was already starting to look as though the sun was rising at this point. From what I figured they all had the day off. I flapped off back for my home and locked up. I needed supplies for the trip especially if I go to another world.

(Third Person POV)

They all fell asleep exhausted from the sudden turn in information. So many things came to light and the monsters they saw had an explanation now. When they woke up it was Vinyl who tried to rush out the door only to be picked up by Fresh Coat. Grumbling the entire way, She was placed on the couch between Octavia and Spitfire just to make sure she didn’t race off to get a keyblade.

“Vinyl! We need to discuss this before we do this. Remember we’re trying to be a herd.” Octavia shouted out.

“What’s there to think about? We do this we go with him and learn more about him and get closer. As far as I can see this just means that we actually have a good relationship and build it into something more permanent.” Vinyl argued right back.

“That’s not the problem Vinyl and I’m sure that’s not what Octavia meant. She was talking about the keyblade business. Except for Spitfire, Redheart, and you none of us have had combat training in any sense of the word and from what we saw this won’t be a simple pastry war. These monsters want us dead.” Sunshower explained in a somber tone causing the girls to lower their ears.

“He can get us a keyblade somehow but that means we will be attacked by those monsters. It seems like he wants to spare us from that lifestyle and wants us to be happy. Already that makes it a hard decision because he wants what is best for us. I still want to go though.” Fresh Coat muttered out the last parts.

“This might make Wonderbolts stronger if I learn to fight like he does. So far he’s one of the toughest ponies I’ve met that could take me on in a fight. I’m not giving that up for a second.” Spitfire resolutely stated.

“He’s been very nice to us even allowing us to see the magic he performed up close without worry. He could help me save other ponies and I still would like to see him romantically.” Redheart explained her own reason.

“I’m just going to do it because it’s bucking cool and he’s cool by proxy. What’s not to like.” Vinyl stated with finality.

“I want this herd to work out right. It’s been a long time since I’ve found a stallion that was so nice as Gray has been for a long time.” Sunshower gave her opinion which got a lot of nods from the other mares.

“So we’re in agreement then that this is how this herd is going to be?” Octavia looked around the room and got nods from the others. She smiled as well. While she wanted to agree right away this was a group effort and someone needed to be picked as the Alpha mare… so why not the most level headed who keeps things moving.

“Tavi, why you smiling?”

“Oh nothing Vinyl. Let’s go ahead and get some supplies then. I’m sure this will be interesting once we head out.”

Gray’s POV)

I went out to town while they were all asleep and trotted over to the market. It was seven in the morning and there were only a few ponies around. I made my way over to the orange pony I saw a few days back. I knew she was Applejack at this point but I needed to bring supplies this time in case they did lose to Vinyl’s enthusiasm and join in my adventures. At least Octavia was being wary and smart about this. This was not an easy life seeing as I almost died already.

“Hello there stranger. Only seen you in Ponyville once or twice so far. Name’s Applejack and it’s mighty fine to finally meet you.”

“Um… Hello there. Nebula Gray. I’m actually looking to buy a bushel of apples. It’s for something special.”

“A special occasion, huh? What’s the occasion?”

“Trip soon. I need the really good food and I’ve heard good things about things from Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Well shoot… Trying to be a charmer only gets you so far. So a bushel of apples will be twenty bits and I’ll throw in an apple pie as well.”

“Sounds good to me. Here you are.”

I smiled a bit and took both the bushel on my back and the pie in a small bag carried by my teeth. I gave a nod and trotted away from her. I was worried that it would go on longer. She will not use her freaky lie detector powers on me if I could avoid it. I already have to deal with a group of mares finding out about me. Also I now had a thousand eighty bit left to my name. Not actually bad but I did need to eventually get more bits. There were so many things I needed to go over at this point.

‘On the one hand I no longer have to hide what I am from the girls anymore but they now know more about me than they should and I didn’t even tell them details… They hugged me even knowing that I was not entirely a pony… unless I wasn’t clear at all. Shit… I might have not been clear at all. Forget it for now… I’ve got to deal with the fact that now I’ll have to decide to give them keyblades or not. So long as Octavia can convince them not to then I should be fine. I’d rather not lose them… Also the training blades have to be activated to allow them to find their own keyblades. Hopefully the new synthesis item will help me out in the long run seeing that I’m making it from scratch. It took me finding that Nightmare Crystal after destroying that bitch just to make it. One nightmare shard, one nightmare crystal, five dark shards, and one orihalcum all used in the synthesis of a new darkness based keyblade.’

I managed to reach home without much problem. I had this feeling that all the girls were still sleeping after all the information they received. I looked around my home at this point and noted that there was a save point in the living room at this point. I quickly warped up to the ship and looked around for parameters for guests. Most save points were invisible to those not logged into a Gummi Ship. I added each of their names to the roster and quietly went back home. I finally, after many days sleeping upside down on a roof, laid in the new bed I bought so long ago and slept comfortably for the first time in weeks at this point. I finally found out a way to relax.

It took until nearly eight that night when I finally woke up. I trotted back downstairs more alert than I had been for a very long time. I had left the bushel of apples in the galley of the Gummi Ship. The tech of the ship would keep them fresh for a long time. It was when I reached the living room that I heard knocking at my door. It was at that moment I realized a folly of my plans. These mares must really like me because all of them had saddlebags on their back and seemed eager to go. I let them all into the living room where they stood transfixed by the glowing circle that was within.

“I’m guessing you all agreed as a family in a sense to come with me…?”

“Yup.”

“Yes.”

“Of course.”

“Right on dude.”

“Yessir.”

“Sorry Gray but my hooves were tied in this matter. We all care about you and while this is certainly something so far out of the norm… each of us wants to make this work and this is the way we see as being the most beneficial to make our herd grow stronger.”

“Ok then Octavia. I guess I should start with giving you all a way to get a keyblade. I still need to wait for my synthesis object before we head out.”

I looked through my saddlebags and found the training keyblades from Yen Sid. Each of them were the same but with the same mystical properties of a keyblade. Each could still hold back the tide of heartless with no problem but it would take their strong hearts to forge one that was worthy to them. For now this was what needed to be done to give them a chance to fight alongside me.

“So who wants to be first?”

Octavia immediately stepped forward before anypony else could. I had a feeling that she was the most eager to get on my good side at this point which meant something was going on… I thought about it for a moment and realized I still hadn’t picked an Alpha just yet. This decision was going to suck in the long run at this point. I held the training keyblade in front of me and readied myself.

"Just hold out your hoof, touch the handle and I’ll recite the oath for your keyblade ceremony.”

“Ceremony? What does this ritual entail Gray?”

“Just me linking with your heart to allow you the chance to get a keyblade.”

She blushed at the mention of a heart and I’m sure she misinterpreted it as being romantic in a way… it might have been if I didn’t know what the ritual entailed thanks to Yen Sid’s teachings.

“In your hoof, take this key.
So long as you have the makings,
Then through this simple act of taking,
It’s wielder you shall one day be.
And you will find me, friend;
No ocean will contain you then.
No more borders around, or below, or above
So long as you champion the ones you love.”

As the training keyblade disappeared Octavia appeared to have a glow in her eyes which disappeared just as quickly. She looked around confused. I waited until she asked her question before I answered.

“Where is my keyblade Gray?”

“Lift your hoof and think about your keyblade being in it.”

She looked at me perplexed but did as I asked. She closed her eyes in concentration before a flash of light appeared and the training keyblade appeared in her hoof. She opened her eyes in a shock and squealed with glee. I didn’t say much but I did give her a hug so she knew I was happy for her. I felt an action would work better at that point.

Vinyl was next and she jumped at the chance for one. I performed the ritual and she grabbed her keyblade with joy instead cuddling into me once she learned how to summon and unsummon the keyblade from her hoof.

Sunshower went next and hers was just as easy though she did blush intensely once the ritual was complete. She also cuddled into me but from a glomp. At this point I had a bad feeling that brownie points were now in effect to become the Alpha.

Redheart was the shyest of them when she got her keyblade. She did still receive a hug but it was very subdued. I supposed she was still used to this and I merely went along with it. At least she would be the calmest to get along with on other planets.

Fresh Coat hummed a little song as she summoned her newly acquired training keyblade. She was so ecstatic that she jumped on my back and hugged me from that position nearly depriving me of air. She is really strong for a unicorn.

Spitfire remained the most dignified when she received her keyblade almost treating me as if I was a superior. I had to pull her in for a hug because she was stubbornly keeping hold of her Wonderbolts training. She was glowering a bit until I whispered something into her ear so only she could hear.

“We’re a herd… It’s ok to be intimate with me whenever you want you know.”

I should really watch what I say to any of them but I couldn’t have her be stiff when we were fighting on other worlds otherwise it could go bad. She nodded dumbly as her whole face was red and trotted back to her spot. I made certain all of them could summon their training blades before we went off into the unknown. I didn’t want any problems in the long run. Once I was satisfied I led them to the glowing circle on the ground and had each of them stand on it one by one. When the first warped away the next pony would look nervous but trot willingly into the light. As soon as the last pony warped out I took one last look around the house and locked the doors. I stepped on the light and I was warped away from Equis. This time I had other with me. This path would not be so lonely anymore.

28. Discovery

View Online

When I finally warped into the ship I saw the six mares all shocked and looking out into the stars from the cockpit’s dome. They were all slack jawed and slightly lost in their excitement. Out the dome was the planet of Equus floating in all its splendor. The starry background shined in the background receiving a few gasps of wonder when a comet shot past.

“All of you ok there?”

They all flinched and turned their attention back to me. I don’t think any of them could articulate what they wanted to say but we didn’t have all the time in the world to stand around in awe. Fresh Coat actually was able to speak.eventually.

“Is this all real?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure it is. Now I would like all of you to take a seat before we take off. The warp system for the ship is really powerful.”

Before any of them could get in a seat Vinyl stepped over to the console looking over the console at all the buttons. I could tell something bad was gonna happen at that moment.

“Vinyl don’t touch the buttons please. The warp system may already have the coordinates for Mysterious Tower but it’s a bit too powerful.”

“What does it do?”

“It’s an instant warp to a world I’ve been to. Just don’t press that button until everypony gets in their seat-”

She pressed the button and I instantly dug my hooves into the floor in an attempt to not get dragged away by the momentum. Each of the girls hit the far wall and were stuck there with Vinyl being the last to hit the wall. I skidded against the ground being dragged closer until the warp system finally finished bringing us to the Tower.

I breathed a sigh of relief until I felt something land on my back sending me to the ground from the suddenness of it. Vinyl landed on me first followed by Fresh Coat, Redheart, Sunshower, Spitfire, and finally Octavia. Each of them glared down at Vinyl and I groaned from the immediate weight.

“As much as I like having all of you on top of me please get up so I can feel my legs again…”

Each of them made a squeak and got off of me. When I looked at all of them they couldn’t look me in the eye and they were all blushing intensely. The mutterings of ‘sorry’ permeated the room and I trotted back to the controls to make sure we were already near Yen Sid’s tower. We were luckily out in orbit around the Tower. A few of them were grumbling to Vinyl but I quickly walked over to the controls and flew the ship down to the planet. The girls all stumbled around a bit until I landed.

“We’re here. Welcome to The Mysterious Tower. Yes that is the world’s name even if it is only a tower. This is where my master lives.”

“Are you sure it’s ok for us to be here?” Sunshower slightly grimaced.

“Yup. You are all Keyblade wielders in training now. I’m not a master, mind you, but I’d rather we be equals instead.”

“So what would we be doing here? I mean we’re so new at this and this is a bit… It’s just overwhelming. I didn’t expect us to go out into an adventure so soon.” Octavia voiced her concerns.

“Well… this is the best place to learn and it won’t take you long to figure things out. Hopefully, the others are still here with Master Yen Sid.”

“What do they do?” Spitfire bluntly asked.

“Merlin is the one who teaches magic while Fairy Godmother works with Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather to make armor. I’m gonna ask them if they can get you girls ready better than I could ever do. I can train you more on the mental aspects of fighting which is just as important when we deal with other worlds. I’ll talk more about it later after we meet with them.”

“What do you mean mental aspects?”

“On Equestria how do battles usually go?”

“Honestly most battles were fought with pastries and usually is laughed away afterwards when the pastries are all used. A few times though the Wonderbolts fight with the weather strikes but that has only been used on really dangerous dragon attacks.”

“On other worlds we go to there might be beings who believe in the idea of ‘Might is Right’. Other places don’t exactly find the magic of friendship so universal as Equestria does. There have been moments where I had to make an important decision within a split second and sometimes I didn’t win those decisions. I’ll talk about those later… much later.” I got distracted for a moment and looked off into space before Redheart got my attention back.

“You ok there Gray?” She looked worried as did the others. Crap I got lost in the past again.

“Yeah… Yes sorry. Thinking too much. It happens sometimes. Um… Let’s go ahead and head for the Tower.”

I opened the ramp and started to trot for it when I felt something fall on my back. Fresh Coat had fallen onto my back and clung to me somewhat tightly. I looked behind me and saw the the other girls were looking a bit jealous. I actually froze cause I was in an entirely new situation I never had been in.

“I’m staying right here until we get up to see your master.” Fresh Coat stated to the others more than me. I merely sighed… then thought up a compromise.

“Fine then… But everybody takes turns. This is using your turn now Got it Fresh?”

“Yes. I’m good with this.” She stated while snuggling into my neck. The others seemed to calm down but I could tell they were being very envious at this point.

I felt those stares and wondered who was going to do this next time when I trotted out into the tower’s courtyard. All of us were clumped together as we made our way to the stairwell. The girls kept their eyes peeled looking at everything in complete wonder though I did notice that several times their eyes would look at Fresh Coat. This was gonna be a long, long day.

When we made it inside the main hall and near the door leading to Yen Sid I tapped Fresh Coat with my wing and she climbed off my back. I then knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

“Enter.” Yen Sid called from within the room.

I opened the door to the familiar man sitting at the desk who seemed surprised when he saw the entourage I had brought behind me. He motioned me to enter and I let everypony else enter first the trotted in closing the door behind me.

“I see you have found those you can trust Gray. Hello ladies it is a pleasure to make your acquaintances. I am Yen Sid, master of this tower and retired Keyblade Master. May I know all of your names?” He waved his hands to them and I waited until they could introduce themselves.

“I’m Spitfire. Captain of the Wonderbolts from Equestria. Nice to meet you Master Yen Sid.” Spitfire diplomatically spoke. I suppose she had dealt with a lot of dignitaries before hand.

“I’m Octavia. I’m a cellist in the Canterlot Symphony Orchestra. Charmed.” Octavia regally bowed showcasing her more proper etiquette.

“I’m Sunshower Raindrops. I’m one of the weather mares in the Ponyville Weather Patrol. It’s great to meet you mister Yen Sid.” Sunshower shyly waved her hoof at the wizened wizard.

“I’m Redheart. I’m one of the nurses in Ponyville General.” Redheart demurely bowed slightly. She seemed overly nervous about what was going on.

“I’m Fresh Coat. I’m a painter. I kind of want to paint your portrait if that’s ok…” Fresh Coat knocked her hooves together. When Yen Sid nodded she let out a gleeful squeal and covered her mouth with her hooves to muffle the sound.

“Yo there wizard dude. I’m Vinyl Scratch, DJ extraordinaire. Sup.” Vinyl belted out which made every mare cringe but made both Yen Sid and I laugh at her nonchalant demeanor.

“Yo indeed. I can see that you have all been drawn in through the bonds you’ve forged from your hearts. It seems as though you haven’t had time to do much just yet.” Yen Sid steepled his hands together as he lost himself in thought.

Each of the girls were blushing intensely even though the bonds of the heart weren’t meant to be taken romantically. Still from the sly smile he was hiding behind his hands I knew he knew what our relationship was like.

“Master Yen Sid I was told you had something important to discuss with me? You went through the trouble of getting Montblanc to reach out to me so I came as quickly as I could.”

He woke from his thoughts and nodded at me. I stood up from near the desk as a book floated down from one of the bookshelves and right in front of him. The pages flipped open until the images magically floated up into the air. Six different worlds appeared right in front of me.

“This world has started to develop a small portion of darkness at this point. From the records I’ve found it is only known as Lost Empire. I know it has another name but it has been lost to the ages.” Yen Sid pointed towards the world covered in water, ice, and one city in particular that looked like Victorian London.

“I feel a sense of familiarity from it…”

“That place looks weird… It’s covered almost entirely in water.” Sunshower mentioned in passing.

“Indeed. It is still on the cusp of darkness trying to take hold but I fear it might fall if left unchecked. I need you to head there and keep things going smoothly.” Yen Sid mused before the second world took its place. It was a large tree surrounded by three quadrants of mountains, a volcano, and a cave system. It seemed to be covered entirely in darkness but kept in a stable mode.

“This world is the strangest I’ve ever seen possible. It’s covered in darkness and seems to be close to falling but it isn’t going down at all. The light of the world is stuck in a stasis mode.” Yen Sid waved his hand over the world sending it back into the book.

“It looks like it is falling apart at this point…” Redheart frowned at the world averting her eyes at the last moment.

The third world came up and it was a castle surrounded by the reanimated remnants of skeletons of all sorts. Darkness pervaded all facets of the world but the world kept spinning at a leisurely pace.

“This world is home to a terrifying tyrant of unimaginable power over death itself. He has been getting more ambitious lately and I fear that he may find a way to get off planet. For now he can’t but I would not put it past him that he would eventually figure it out.” Yen Sid warned cautiously.

“Buck that pony. We could handle him whenever we have the chance to do so. I’m sure we can handle him someday.” Vinyl groused as she glared at the world in question.

The world returned to the book as another took its place. This world was surrounded by golden plains and pegasi architecture. A large coliseum loomed in the background while on the underside was a dark tower that seemed to put Tartarus to shame.

“This is a world of great heroes but lately things have been strange there. I fear the hero there requires help against the enemies of that world. There are other problems but there is only so much that could be done before things become worse there.”

“A place of heroes huh? Sounds like my kind of place.” Spitfire mused to herself.

The world lowered and this cartoonish looking beings head appeared. It looked like bomberman from those old games I knew so long ago. Only in planet form. I remembered that game well enough but I had no idea which game was being represented.

“This is a world of intergalactic space cops who seem to be in stress due to appearance of heartless. There have been other problems as well but I am uncertain at the threats they are facing.”

“Those poor ponies probably need help.” Fresh Coat motioned towards the world lifting a hoof at it.

The world lowered into the book and another took its place. This was a large forest with a medieval castle in the background with a small hamlet on the outskirts. It was picturesque but something felt off.

“This place is still within light’s reign but there have been problems there with the incursion of the heartless. There are hidden evils within this world and there are more problems on the horizon. These worlds will hold out due to Merlin’s machinations but they do require assistance eventually.” Yen Sid mentioned almost offhandedly.

“These are the worlds that require our help then I see. Perhaps we should visit that Lost Empire first before things get more dire there then we take on the next challenge as we go.” Octavia muttered as she seemed to try and make a schedule around the problems.

After looking over the worlds he presented he pulled out one more world from the book. It looked like a grand mountain of some sort but it felt bigger than it should have been. It felt like something was off of the entire world in question.

“Why does this place feel so different than the others?”

“This world is surrounded by a barrier of some sort but something is wrong here. I’m uncertain at this point due to the barrier preventing any form of scrying. I’ll keep monitoring this particular world but until I gather more information for it you must stay away from it Gray.”

I looked over the world one last time as it slipped back into the book. Seven worlds already placed before me. None of the girls were trained even to a small degree to use their training keyblades. They still needed to acquire their true keyblades.

“On another note it seems as though we have multiple keyblade wielders before us who still haven’t been able to try out their weapons. Merlin is waiting over in the next room. Perhaps you ladies would like to learn a bit before you travel with Gray?”

Everypony seemed to nod and started trotting out to the next room with me following behind them to see how well they would do. I didn’t get very far before someone got my attention.

“Gray I still need to discuss things with you right now. Please stick around.” Yen Sid requested me to stay behind.

Octavia looked at me briefly a bit worried before she turned it to a confident smile and ushered the other mares into the next room. There were a few complaints, mostly from Vinyl, about leaving me behind but I merely shrugged and gave them a sign I would be fine in the long run. Still unsatisfied by that answer, they all reluctantly went to the next room while I took my seat across from Yen Sid. Truthfully, I had been standing the entire time I had been looking at the worlds in question which left my legs feel a bit stiff. As the door closed I knew it was going to be something serious.

“Gray, are you certain it was wise to give so many this destiny?” Yen Sid gave me an appraising look.

“Not entirely at this point. I tried to keep it as secret as I could but unfortunately curiosity was the enemy that I couldn’t fight against. A threat appeared and managed to summon the heartless under their thrall. Unfortunately they managed to follow me and see what I could do. I panicked and then there is also the fact that all of them want to be romantically involved with me. Let’s just say on matters of the heart I’m a bit of a sucker sometimes.”

“I won’t say it’s a bad choice just one you should be wary of. Regardless it is something you will have to deal with when the time comes. Now, onto other matters, we must discuss about your armor. You haven’t used it have you?” Yen Sid held out his hand as I gave him the pauldron on my shoulder. It took a little finagling to actually give it to him since my wing got caught on the strap.

“I haven’t. I never needed to but it might have been useful if I did.”

“It’s best you didn’t. It was not working right when we gave it to you. It had faulty construction due to the gem that was used to contain the magic. Hm… now this is strange indeed.” Yen Sid paused as he examined the gem intently.

“What’s the matter Master?”

“It seems as though it has been repaired and prepared exactly for what it was needed for. Tell me Gray… Are gems on Equestria plentiful or magical in nature?” Yen Sid locked his eyes on the gem looking for flaws of any kind.

I racked my brain and remembered seeing a lot of gems when I went to get my tie for the date with Redheart. It was more a passing glance than anything but all the gems were large and held the most brilliant shine within them. That meant that they were polished to perfection but also they looked to have been brought in the same day. I didn’t ask at the time mostly due to the worry of going out with another pony and following the customs that Equestria had.

“I think so. I never got a clear answer on that particular topic if only because I was still figuring out the societal norms of the world. I do know that they are plentiful with most of them appearing to be more intricate and grander than the one I wear on my shoulder. What is wrong with this particular jewel?”

“It’s similar to obsidian now and it absorbed enough magic to make it into an eternal battery of sorts, or something similar. I shall run some tests before you leave for one of those worlds. Remember to take your time and do things right, not fast.” Yen Sid explained while putting the pauldron to the side.

“Anything else on your mind Master Yen Sid?”

“Yes… It seems too soon but you have forced my hand albeit unintentionally. Being responsible for other keyblade wielders you need to perform your Mark of Mastery in order to be an effective leader over others. As you are right now you could only hope to stem the tide of darkness for so long. While it is too early I do know of the best task I could perform for you to become a worthy master. Are you ready Gray?” Yen Sid looked down at me. While his gaze was harsh I could feel the expectations from him reaching astronomical heights.

“As I’ll ever be master, I’ll take on any challenge you deem necessary.”

“Excellent. For your Mark of Mastery you must forge your bonds with your students and, I suppose lovers as well, to the pinnacle of their growth. They must all have their keyblades prepared by the time you have completed these seven worlds. If you have accomplished this then you shall receive your mark and be counted amongst the cavalcade of masters from the days of yore.” Yen Sid smirked at me with a confident look.

“You mean they have to have accepted their hearts and become the best that they could be?”

“Yes. I look forward to your progress Gray. I expect great things of you.” Yen Sid mused as he stood up from his chair, “Perhaps we should check on the others training with Merlin. I know for a fact he has created a room with some time dilation effect for whenever you decided you required more training. We felt that there was a chance that you would choose others to wield a keyblade eventually… when you learned to trust once again.”

I nodded and eagerly followed after him. While I had done the training effectively enough to not die… I was still worried about the others. Octavia, Fresh Coat, and Sunshower had no formal training from what I had seen. Had Redheart not told me she had some royal guard training she would be part of that worry. The problem I kept seeing in my mind was how they would wield the keyblade since the mouthguard was made specifically for ponies after they had measured my jaws and accounted for the weight. They were specifically enchanted to fit their wielder and whatever biology they were born with. I had only been speaking with Yen sid for twenty minutes. How much could they have learned from then to now?

Earlier…

The six mares all stepped into a new room where another of the creatures that Gray spoke to as a master stood looking through a large book which was floating in mid air. On the side were four other beings, three with wings, floating nearby and seemingly creating something on the table they were at. Vinyl was still the most confident of the group and called out to them.

“Hello? We’re here to meet with Merlin.” Vinyl called out to the mages in the room.

All of them stopped and turned to face the ponies in the room… who were now all self conscious that they were the only ponies in the room. Octavia took the initiative and took a step forward while Merlin turned around and faced them fully holding his wand at his side in a more relaxed position. He didn’t look wary nor did he seem surprised at all by the intrusion.

“Come in, Come in. Pleasure to meet you all. Welcome to my humble dwellings while I stay here within the tower. I take it you are the ponies Gray mentioned a while back… though to be fair I only know of three of you. Which of you are Octavia, Vinyl, and Sunshower?” The three corresponding ponies raised their hooves and Merlin motioned to the other three, “And you three are?”

“Spitfire.” The fiery pegasus answered.

“Fresh Coat.” The orange unicorn tipped her hat.

“Redheart.” The earth pony bowed her head slightly.

“Charmed, I’m sure young ladies. I am Merlin and these are my friends Fairy Godmother, Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather.” Merlin pointed to the corresponding fairies who all politely waved but continued with their work, “If possible I realize that this has been a trying day learning more than is imaginable for all of you. Perhaps if you are up to it we could teach you more.”

“That would be most welcome, sir. We would like to make sure we could keep up with Gray…” Octavia tapped her hooves together while the others all nervously nodded.

“Of course. I suspect it’s more than that but time is of the essence. We need to get all of you ready for things to come. If you would follow me and we’ll begin your training.” Merlin waved his wand and a door appeared behind him. The fairies all matched it casting a spell on the door as well before continuing with their work. The mares just stared confused at the door before walking through the doorway.

“I can only do this with the help of other magi so this will give us enough time to get you all prepared. Can all of you summon your keyblades?” Merlin looked over the mares as several flashes of light appeared and six mares were each holding a training blade. It wasn’t what he expected but he knew they were all still working on strengthening their hearts.

“What are you going to teach us?” Spitfire perked up as she held the training blade with her wing.

“Everything.” Merlin answered as he summoned several training dummies and had each of the mares get ready with their opponent.

“Now Ms. Octavia how do you handle a weapon?” Merlin answered as he made the training dummy attack her in random patterns always making sure only to tap her when it struck.

Octavia managed to block a few shots and merely powered through the other strikes. As an earth pony she knew she could handle anything that came her way. She actually managed to fully use her strength as she knocked the training dummy against the wall smashing it to pieces only for Merlin’s magic to reconstruct it.

“This is much harder than I thought it would be…” Octavia groaned as the dummy kept up its attack.

“Such are things that we truly want. Let’s keep going. I want you to be as prepared as possible.” Merlin explained as he fired off a fire spell which Octavia blocked with a swing of her blade knocking the fireball back at Merlin which he blocked with his hand reabsorbing the magic.

“Let’s keep it up. It seems fire isn’t your forte. Perhaps we should try another spell.” Merlin kept up his plethora of spells. Octavia was forced to dodge the lightning strikes and frost spells. The magnet spells were impossible to completely dodge but every couple of times Octavia would manage to keep her footing. It was frustrating but she was learning. She could be better and do more than play in front of a crowd. She could show them all that she could do more than the mark on her flank.

“This one is a specialty spell that was forged only a while ago. Think you can master it?” Merlin chuckled before chanting a new spell. “Quake!”

A large chunk of dirt appeared and tried to slam into Octavia who sliced it with her training blade. She pointed the blade back at the training dummy and shouted, “Quake!”

A large earthen clump attacked the dummy turning it into splinters before it magically reformed itself. Merlin stroked at his beard and smiled. It looked as though she found her element.

“Good work. Let’s keep going.”

Spitfire kept weaving through attacks as she flew through the swing. Merlin had to compromise and give her three training dummies because her speed allowed her strike the dummies down too fast. Merlin actually managed to keep her on her hooves.

“Is that all you got Merlin?” Spitfire cockily spoke and he obliged by bringing in two more dummies.

While she managed to keep them at bay every couple of swings one would get lucky enough to strike against her side. Not overly pleased, she took to the sky and flew circles around the dummies until she heard Merlin use two spells.

“Fire! Aero!” Merlin called out as a shield of wind surrounded the dummies and a fireball shot forth for Spitfire.

“Oh horseapples!” Spitfire cried out as she began to dodge and weave through the hail of spells. She lifted her own training blade at the dummies.

“Fire!” A small plume of fire surrounded her before charring the dummies down to ash. She looked over her handiwork and smiled. She truly did spit fire at this point. She hated the pun but even she had to admit that it was wonderful to use magic regardless.

“Hm… Looks as though we’ve found your element, haven’t we?” Merlin smiled as he set the dummies up again and prepared for another round.

Fresh Coat was working through the constant barrage of spells. Surprisingly she managed to learn spells easier than all the others. While magic wasn’t her forte as painting was she managed to learn spells faster than the others and take the dummies out with said magic.

“Thunder!” A lightning spell struck a dummy electrocuting it into ash before it reformed.

“Blizzard!” A cone of cold air struck the reformed dummy and managed to freeze it solid.

“Seems as though these spells are your forte young lady.” Merlin complimented her as she smiled and struck the next reformed dummy with her blade.

“Thanks. I never knew that this magic would actually be easier to perform than the magic back on Equestria.” Fresh Coat answered.

“What do you mean my dear?” Merlin asked more curious than he thought he would be at this point.

“Magic on Equestria needs a lot of concentration to make certain that the spells you cast actually get cast. So far most of these spells were really intuitive and are mostly point and cast through the blade instead of my horn. It’s just so much faster at some points like this.” Fresh Coat explained as she wrung her hooves in nervousness.

“I can see your point Ms. Coat. Though you are concentrating actually whenever you are casting these spells. It’s just more direct and the keyblade regardless of whether it was a training blade or not act as great conduits for magic to flow through. You’re apparent use of telekinesis just made it easier to cast these spells.” Merlin surmised as he watch the young mare’s eyes open in understanding. She knew there was still more to go to get up to Gray’s level… especially if she wanted to stay on his back more often… he was comfortable to her.

Redheart was more attuned to fighting smarter than the other girls. She deftly handled the blade more in accord with a spear for some reason but she managed the finesse somehow. The dummy would get struck in the throat and fall apart or have the weapon arm torn off when it would least have expected it. The problem came more when she tried to cast magic. Ironically enough the more eccentric spells became her forte.

“Magnet!” A large rune appeared drawing the dummies in and tossing them to the side. Redheart took her time and managed to strike down the assembled dummies.

“Aero!” A shield of wind appeared around Redheart letting her take on more than one opponent. She dove head first into the dummies turning them to splinters and forcing them to reform once again.

“You are doing well… I think you may need to learn a healing spell as well.” Merlin pondered for a moment since her mark made him think of the Red Cross from the human world. It was a very obvious mark.

“Please.” Redheart looked up to Merlin eyes shining brightly because she wanted to know the healing spell since the moment she saw Gray use it. With a little subtlety she could heal everypony who came to Ponyville General.

“Then let us begin.” Merlin answered as he prepared for the lesson.

Vinyl struck down another dummy through sheer force and kept on going. While not as adept at magic she picked up thunder easily enough with how much electricity she used on average. It wasn’t her best move but she could handle herself in a fight.

“Vinyl, was it? You are far too tense. Is something wrong?” Merlin looked over his new charge who fumbled with her blade when he asked.

“I feel a bit bad still…” Vinyl mumbled more to herself but Merlin still heard.

“How come?” Merlin looked at the small unicorn unsure of what had happened to make her feel so bad.

“I pressed the warp button in the ship without letting everypony strap in and secure themselves. Heh… I’m scared my curiosity might be a hindrance if we go to these worlds.” Vinyl kept her ears down clearly uncomfortable of that particular train of thought.

“Ah dear Vinyl, curiosity is how we learn. It’s how we continue to grow. A little truth between the two of us is that I’ve sometimes forgotten to strap in when I was using the warp system. It’s actually a bit exhilarating when it happens. Don’t worry too much about it. I’m sure a few of them wanted to do so themselves.” Merlin nudged her with his elbow and winked at her making her giggle at the prospect of her herd mates acting so rashly as well.

“Thanks… I’ll still apologize later.” Vinyl muttered before setting her sights back on the dummies.

“We need to get you ready for more. Shall we learn some more spells?” Merlin chuckled out.

“Yes please.” Vinyl nodded enthusiastically as she used the light spell Spark correctly for the first time.

Sunshower was having a weird time. For some reason aero and blizzard were her spells of choice managing to give her the easiest casting abilities. She was more frustrated at what that affinity could mean.

“I thought I wouldn’t be that cold... “ Sunshower muttered.

“Are you alright?” Merlin let one of his eyebrows perk up while he looked over the small pegasus.

“Yes… I’m just a bit unsure if I’m performing the magic right.” Sunshower quietly lied.

“You are my dear. Though you still haven’t found your affinity for magic just yet.” Merlin summarized his thoughts aloud.

“Really?” Sunshower seemed lost in her thoughts.

“Yes really Sunshower.” Merlin answered to her now jubilant expression.

Sunshower threw herself back into her spells managing to fire off a gravity spell as well. Sunshower was pleased that she was able to perform the spell just right and looked forward to the next dummy. It turned to paste before reforming back into a dummy again. She was going to stand on Gray’s level through her motivation. She was going to be his equal if possible.

“Good work. Let’s move on to the next step.” Merlin announced before summoning more dummies for each of the girls to fight against.

I walked into the room and instantly have to block with my keyblade. Vinyl had used a spark spell which flew too far and hit me. I felt a little heat off it and suddenly a wave of pain.

Obtained the power of light. Spark now available.

Before I could prepare myself a chunk of earth flew out hitting my side sending me into Sunshower who had a shield of wind up around her.

Obtained the power of earth. Quake now available.

Obtained the power of wind. Aero now available.

Before I could get back up Redheart instantly cured me up and I looked around confused and slightly worried about any other spell that might hit me. I knew that I could learn spells I just didn’t expect it to happen so quickly and one right after the other. I was lost in a blinking fit and waited until I didn’t feel like something bad was going to happen again. I have now learned a lot of spells including ones I didn’t know existed in Kingdom Hearts lore.

Cure was the first, Thunder from my dream battle, Gravity from Nightmare Moon, Magnet and Reflect from Merlin, Stop from Eclipse, and now Spark, Quake, and Aero from all my marefriends. I felt as though this gift could have been given a bit more warning before I received it. Still I laughed and prepared to train alongside all those I loved to make sure we would work together while we explored other worlds.

29. Pathway

View Online

It took over two hours for all of us to get used to combat. As it turned out we were horrible as a unit. When we tried to strike the first target I would either run into one of the mares. Spitfire managed to work around each of the others but never managed to work well with the others. Octavia and Vinyl managed to work well around each other but Octavia had horrible coordination with Redheart for some reason. Vinyl, herself, had trouble coordinating with Fresh Coat as Sunshower did with Spitfire as well. Strangely, the earth ponies couldn’t work well together which was the same with the unicorns and the pegasi. When mixed they worked well together, almost harmoniously one would say. I didn’t understand why the diversity worked well for them while the similarities worked against them.

They were in utter disharmony throughout their training although I managed to work well with each of them one on one, though, that was probably because of the connections they wanted to make with me in the long run. I had to find a way to fix this so that they would get along enough to call themselves a family. In some blind foresight, I knew I could trust them to watch out for each other when the chips are down but I didn’t want it to get to that point just to force them to get along. It needed to be natural and through the adventures we would eventually take we needed that unity to get us through.

“What are we going to do?”

I muttered under my breath so as to not attract any attention while the girls still worked on their forms. I noticed more often than not the looks and gestures that those particular pairs would give each other whenever they thought I wasn’t looking. They kept it under control and not explode even when the exercise was over. They needed to communicate more before those arguments slowly boiled to the forefront and caused mistakes to happen. Merlin did his best to curb the focus that they sometimes lost but it could get out of control at any moment.

“Gray, there has been a call for you.” Yen Sid quietly announced to me.

“From who Master?”

“Montblanc. He has apparently finished your item already.” Yen Sid explained while the girls stopped their training to look at me.

“Good to know. I’ll go take a look at it. Thank you.”

I trotted out of the room noting a strange bit of magic separating the room from the rest of the tower. Merlin prepared it most likely after the first time I visited. I went back to the study and activated the moogle gem. Hopefully this project would reach fruition and bring me to a higher level.

“Welcome to Moogle Synthesis Emporium. Stiltzkin here to deliver- oh, Gray there you are. I have your order prepared for you. Are you sure you want this? Montblanc was worried that this thing we created… well, it’s a bit beyond our understanding.” Stiltzkin explained while he wrung his paws.

“I’m sure I can handle it. I knew that I was getting something more dangerous than I could possibly imagine.”

“Fine buddy. Your funeral then… “ Stiltzkin muttered loud enough for me to hear.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence there. Appreciate that.”

He merely shrugged at me as a narrow beam of light shot off from behind him and in a flash a small keychain floated before me. When I equipped it the keyblade changed shape and color. What had been a Golden lever lock key was now more ornate mixture of blues, blacks and purples. The hilt took the shape of Nightmare Moon’s helmet while the shaft resembled the Pumpkin Head keyblade. The teeth were in the shape of a stylized crescent moon with a reptilian eye on the guard above the grip. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all.

When I held the keyblade in my wing a new whispering began deep in the back of my subconscious. The constant droning of making the night reign supreme which was on the tip of the iceberg apparently. The muttering of darkness and pushing oneself to the edge was the epitome of expression which made me smack it against the floor until it stopped. After the sixth hit it went back to muttering about night before fading back into silence.

Once the new keyblade was secured and now known to me as Nightmare Cascade, I trudged back up to the room and saw that the girls were all exhausted and nearly asleep. I picked up all of them and place them on my back which thankfully Merlin assisted me by keeping them balanced with his magic.

“You seem to have your own share of problems, don’t you?” Merlin slyly mused.

“I wouldn’t say they are problems. They are part of my life now. I think that’s all I need to say about that.”

Merlin wryly nodded as I put all the girls in one of the nearby bedrooms. The Three Good Fairies had gotten the beds ready for each of them. After placing them in their respective beds I decided to rejoin Yen Sid in the study. Merlin prepared a spell which created a sphere which showed me a recording of how capable each of them were.

As was predicted Spitfire and Redheart managed to be the most coordinated with their attacks complementing each other when they had to fight next to each other. I suppose that the royal guard training Redheart took meshed well with Spitfire’s Wonderbolt training. Vinyl and Octavia were easily the most well rounded pair of the bunch able to anticipate what the other did before they did it. Strangely, their ears moved whenever they were working together. A left twitch made Octavia go right and a right twitch was left. On lowered was duck and the other was jump. That really surprised me when I realized that they were communicating with ear signals apparently. It was also really weird in hindsight and noticeable enough to be a distraction. Fresh Coat and Sunshower were the two extremes of magic. Fresh excelled in advanced magic like magnet, gravity and stop. Sunshower was more into combat magic favoring fire, ice and lightning. When they fought together Fresh would set up the combos and Sunshower would end the enemies.

“Looks like I at least know which pairings I could rely on when they fight together.”

“It seems so. We tried multiple pairing but whenever it was two of the same race they messed each other up. When Redheart and Octavia fought together against the dummies we noticed the significant differences between the two.” Merlin explained as he pulled a highlight of the match.

On the sphere I saw Redheart and Octavia charging the same foe only to run into each other. Octavia from the looks of it went for a graceful charge straight for the opponents legs. Redheart went for a quick overhead smash. They then tripped over each other. Before they could start to argue with each other the dummy attacked them relentlessly. It merely bopped them but it seemed to annoy them enough to get them to focus back on the dummy.

“Octavia is a pragmatic fighter on the ground going for graceful movements while targeting limbs first before going for the torso. Redheart, on the other hand, fights like a standard warrior always targeting the most vulnerable place on an opponent. It’s a sign that the training she received wasn’t fully complete but she can fight competently.” Merlin explained.

“They both are fast learners and seem to prefer fighting based on the strength they wield having more defense than the others and tanking through some of the weaker blows.” Yen Sid commented.

“I know who to bring when I need somepony to last out a fight then.”

The next scene showed Vinyl and Fresh Coat casting magic at a dummy. Unfortunately they also casted the opposing spell everytime canceling each other out. Vinyl favored blizzard spells while Fresh favored fire spells. All that was left was steam. A lightning spell would be fizzled out by the earth spell and a wind spell would cancel out the reflect spell. They nearly yelled at each other before Merlin was forced to use the magnet spell to keep them from flying into an argument. They seemingly agreed on the spark spell though which amplified the light spell to dangerous levels.

“Vinyl is very slow on the draw preferring powerful single target spells while Fresh Coat went through multi targeting spells. Unfortunately their opposing viewpoints made their magic fizzle out when they attempted to work together. Vinyl is the more offensive type making sure she overwhelms opponents before they become a problem. Fresh Coat instead goes to handle the group keeping allies safe from the masses. An attacker and defender respectively.” Merlin explained more thoroughly.

“Magic is their forte but they sometimes lose sight when they are forced into melee. Luckily they favor long range due to their telekinetic abilities. They need to learn more extensive magic eventually to make sure they can keep up. Right now all of them at least know tier one magic to an extent and have already found the element that they favor.” Yen Sid mused as he made his comment. He sounded nostalgic for some reason.

“So they are more skilled in magic than me. I still haven’t learned either fire or blizzard.”

“You could learn it right now if you like. I just need to cast it on you if you can handle it.” Merlin coyly spoke while adjusting his glasses.

“No...no I’m good. I’ll learn it eventually.”

I didn’t want to get hit with magic so soon. I already got hit with three spells and didn’t need to be hit with more anytime soon. Merlin chuckled while Yen Sid stroked his beard most likely trying not to laugh at the situation.

The next scene showed both Spitfire and Sunshower flying around quick enough to be hard to clearly see. They targeted the same part and flew into each other. Sunshower quietly apologized while Spitfire merely glared and continued to fight the dummy. Their coordination was off every third strike and they would accidentally fly into each other ruffling their feathers in the process. It was a bit hard to watch and Merlin was forced to heal them up after every impact. They were the first ones I needed to work on since the others at least didn’t hurt each other during their training session.

“Both Spitfire and Sunshower were exemplary in fighting off the dummies. They moved faster than most of the dummies whenever I wasn’t controlling them directly. Sunshower does favor magic more to enhance her strikes while Spitfire only keeps to defensive spells to push herself farther and faster than ever. While the two earth ponies hit much harder the two pegasi hit much faster and more often. Picture it like the difference between using a trowel shovel multiple times to using a full length shovel once.” Merlin looked over his own notes seemingly lost in his thoughts.

“So they favor power over defense then. Truly Gray you found a diversified team to assist you. Are you taking them with you then?” Yen Sid asked while he looked back through the magical footage seemingly making mental notes at everything he saw.

“Yes. I’ll take them with me. Things will be better with them around rather than them waiting for me to never come back should something happen.”

“That is also a dangerous road Gray. One should never joke that way.” Merlin scowled though it was tempered by actual concern.

“Not joking honestly. I’m worried about what would happen but this is their decision and if they want to come with me I couldn’t find it in my heart to actually say no.”

“While it is not ideal this should be good for you Gray.” Yen Sid answered.

“Sir?”

“This will help in your test. These bonds I wish for you to create must be cultivated and made whole. This will make them stronger but at the same time it will also put them in danger. You have experienced loss once before… No you can’t hide it. I can see it in your eyes. Be careful out there.” Yen Sid explained.

I merely nodded and headed out of the study. While I couldn’t say much to that claim it made me pensive once again. I quietly checked on each of the girls since they were in the same room. All of them were still passed out which was comforting at the very least. Tomorrow when it was time to wake we would be traveling to a new world. One they knew nothing about and it would take time for them to get used to the idea of that. I trotted over to my room and went to the bed that was prepared for me. I was tired but this particular sleep would mess up my sleep schedule once again. I sighed as I closed my eyes.

We all woke up promptly. As it turned out Merlin did update something on the gummi ship while I slept. It now kept time in both Equestria and whatever world we went to. As it turned out every world had its own time dilation in effect. Equestria was one of the slowest worlds strangely enough. It moved at it’s own speed relative to other worlds and the one day we experienced with the Mysterious Tower was only one minute in Equestria. That completely shattered my mind and made me want to question everything I ever knew… though at the same time I didn’t know where Merlin was.

“Master Yen Sid where is Merlin?”

“He returned to his world already. He said there were matters that he needed to take care of before things get worse.” Yen Sid answered nonchalantly enough.

“I see. I supposed I will have to see him later to ask him more about the upgrades to the ship.”

The girls slowly got up trudging along into the study still exhausted by the entire debacle they went through the previous day which I found out that it was actually three weeks training due to Merlin’s machinations. Merlin seriously tore the time space continuum a new one every single time speaking about how it was a localized event that would keep things from getting out of control.

“Morning ladies. How are you all feeling?”

“I want waffles…” Vinyl muttered.

“How long have we been here?” Octavia asked.

“Do we get more bad guys?” Spitfire pounded her hooves together with a smirk on her face.

“Is there anything else we need to learn about?” Redheart quirked an eyebrow mostly at Yen Sid who merely nodded.

“I hope we get breakfast soon.” Sunshower grumbled out.

“I want a morning kiss.” Fresh Coat stated.

I felt the room drop several degrees and I couldn’t even tell how cold it felt. Everypony was frozen staring at Fresh Coat who casually stepped up to me and waited. I pecked her on the cheek if only to not get dragged into anything worse. I did so for everypony quietly afterwards so as to not have any problems later. Yen Sid merely chuckled and waved out a book from the shelf.

“I need to tell you about the enemies you may face out there in the universe. Please pay close attention because this will cover a lot of information.” Yen Sid explained as everypony sat down in front of the wizened wizard as he opened the book in front of him.

It took two hours but we finally explained everything about the enemies roaming the universe. The heartless discussion was the shortest luckily due to my foresight in explaining them before we left Equestria. They were surprised at the classifications of Purebloods versus the Emblem heartless. Sunshower seemed a bit scared of the emblems and what they meant for anyone out there in the world.

The discussion of the Nobodies took a lot longer due to needing to explain what it meant to be a nobody. There was confusion on being nobody and being a nobody which was a distinction I didn’t think needed to be addressed that intently. Still it was quickly understood that they were much more dangerous but disorganized at this point. Yen Sid wasn’t even sure that they were still an active threat at this point but it paid to be careful.

The Unversed were a different matter altogether. While there hadn’t been sign of anyone with a split heart in ages he mentioned about how they were negativity given form. Each were created as the opposite of sentient life. The conversation had taken a dark turn when the specifics of how Unversed came to be made everypony’s stomach crawl.

When we finished Fauna made us those pancakes which Vinyl voraciously ate. It was a quiet affair as everypony seemed to be contemplating exactly what this lifestyle meant for them. Only Octavia was still curious about how long we had been here. When I told her due to Merlin’s magic we had been here almost a month she freaked out for a good twenty minutes. The others accepted the magic reason since he effortlessly trained all of them with a flick of a wand. I physically grabbed Octavia forcing her to lay on my lap while I sat awkwardly like a human. She was confused and utterly panicking but I eventually ran my wing against her cheek which distracted her enough to calm down.

“You good?”

“Yes… Sorry about that. Just… not used to losing that much time. What about Equestria?” Octavia asked.

“Each world works differently on the time scale. A day here on this world is one minute since we are all synchronized with Equestria’s time scale. It’s weird and messes with my own understanding of temporal physics but I’m gonna just accept it as fact until I’m told what this really means. Okay?”

“I suppose so… It’s just weird to know that this is real… Vinyl am I dreaming?” Octavia looked at Vinyl.

Instead of answering Vinyl pinched Octavia’s flank with her magic getting her to yelp and cling closer into me. It was not lost on her on how compromising this position was as she clumsily got up and sat back down in her seat. I chuckled and continued eating as we all quieted down and enjoyed each other’s company.

It took a few minutes to get everything ready and Flora was the last to see us off on the Gummi Ship. It was what she brought that surprised me.

“Girls and Gray I have something important for you before you go that you must keep on you at all costs when you go to different worlds.” Flora explained.

“Why am I singled out?”

“Because you’re the only dude, dude.” Vinyl answered leaving me to groan jokingly.

Flora handed each of us a small bracelet with our cutie marks on them except for mine which was of the Kingdom Key D. I merely helped everypony place their bracelets on. I’m sure I was misinterpreting what it meant in hindsight but the blushes I saw from each mare should have tuned me in.

“Wear these bracelets whenever you travel to new worlds. They will help disguise you as the native population. While we are here to help save others the last time someone told one of the natives of another planet about the worlds amongst the stars he almost sent the world spiraling into darkness destroying everything that possibly lived in his quest to understand. Watch your pronouns as well when dealing with others.” Flora warned as she cast another enchantment on the items.

My armor was also returned with the notes detailing what it meant. The battery, as I called it, was fully compatible with Equestrian magic at this point allowing me to store hours worth of time to use the armor. At that point in time it had three hours worth of magic stored to allow me to use the armor.

“We’ll have to work on making armor for all of you another time. I’ve gotten your measurements and we’ll make sure it’s ready for all of you to use as soon as we can. It might be a bit red which should suit your needs.” Flora said.

“I thought we were making it blue.” Merryweather interjected.

Their argument led them back into the tower while Yen Sid finally came down and waved us off as we entered the Gummi Ship. Everypony strapped themselves in while I took the pilot’s seat. Octavia had neatly forced herself into the co-pilot seat which left a few of the mares salty. I didn’t understand why exactly but it must have been important since each mare was giving Octavia the stink eye. I thought back to it and realized that the position of the Alpha was still in contention at this point.

I pushed the thought out of my head as the ship lifted off the ground and the course was plotted for this first new world.

Forgotten Terrace

The ship instantly found one of the paths that led to the next world and we were instantly attacked by several heartless ships I had seen during my time playing Kingdom Hearts 2. They instantly targeted us.

“Hold on!”

I instantly jerked the controls forward as we dove straight through the offensive. Luckily the ship was built for speed at this point as the turret and laser did their job striking any foe stupid enough to get in our way. The structure of a giant terrace where the ships were congregating was a misgiving site as we flew through the constant barrage of rival ships and barrages of shots flying past us. The heartless were not well equipped to deal with the small, fast-moving ship effectively which is what let us get through relatively unscathed. The few shots that grazed us did elicit a scream but they were short lived as we punched through the blockade that had formed around the world we were going to.

“What’s that whirring sound?” Fresh Coat brought up.

“What whirring sound?”

A huge ship of rotating blades surrounding a ship popped in from below and started targeting us. Several lasers were fired forcing me to perform several aileron rolls. I seriously considered saying a certain phrase I heard when I was a kid but I knew it was wrong. Regardless, I fired back aiming the laser at the weapons that the enemy ship had on it.

“Is this going to happen often!?” Sunshower cried out.

“If there are heartless around then yes. Yes it will.”

The enemy ship flew straight up and took ramming speed as I maneuvered around each blade. I nearly choked when one of the blades came apart and the shrapnel pierced the leg of the Diablos. Luckily the arms and legs were superficial decorations but it still caused me to panic internally. It immediately shot off and took position to fire on the ship once again.

“Hold on to something…”

Everypony immediately grabbed onto their seat as the ship lurched into position as the laser was given a workout and forced to target the remaining turret emplacements. Several rolls later and the turrets were removed from play forcing the ship to fly away while the path forward was finally free. The ship slowly made it’s way through as the planet came into sight. As Yen Sid had said, it was covered in water but the city was still visible.

“Ladies… It looks like we’ve made it to a new world. Shall we explore?”

Everypony said yes but a few were still shaking from the excitement. I put the ship on autopilot as I got up and gave each of them a hug until the pounding of their hearts would calm down. This was going to be an exciting turn of events.

30. Lost Empire: Arrival

View Online

Washington D.C. Smithsonian Courtyard

“Why can’t they just humor me for once. I know my research is right and Atlantis does exist.” A young man with orange hair and large rimmed glasses slowly picked up his notes. Once again the committee had snubbed him leaving him to pick up the shattered remains of his research with the same disdain of saying he should stay in the boiler room.

His name was Milo Thatch, a young man dressed overall like a scholar with large glasses and orange wavy hair, who was once regaled by the stories of his adventuring grandfather. If only they would believe him. Milo slowly lumbered back to his feet and began to make his way back to the same dingy room he used to keep close to the boilers to keep them from exploding.

“If only I was given a chance…” Milo muttered out.

“LOOK OUT!” A voice called out as Milo ducked to the side as this strange shadow like creature swooped in with it’s long sharp claws.

A strange fellow with a old detective’s coat ran in smacking the creature with this strange looking sword shaped like a key. Following him were six differing women of all sizes who all seemed to wield the same weapon as well. Several of the flying creatures came out of nowhere and immediately went after the sword wielding crew that had saved him at the last second.

“Watch out for the Air Soldiers they like to dance around making them unpredictable!” The male shouted out while the rest simply nodded and continued to work together to stop the threat.
Finally when the last creature dispersed and the strange heart crystal emblems disappeared Milo stood up unsure of what to do. He had to say something but the fact that those creatures were something he’d never seen was beyond even his understanding.

“You ok there?” The man asked.

“Uh… yeah. Sorry it’s just something I wasn’t expecting. Thank you for getting me out of that. What were those things?” Milo questioned the man.

“Those were monsters. I guess you were doing something which seemed to attract their attention.” The man shrugged his shoulders.

“I didn’t think they would immediately come out of nowhere just like that.” The young woman with the neon blue hair mentioned.

“We told you multiple times already that they would warp in at any moment.” The most prim and proper of the women mentioned. Strangely her eyes were very purple which might just be a genetic impossibility but it wasn’t Milo’s field of expertise.

‘Who are these people?’ Milo pondered as they talked amongst themselves for a while.

Gray’s Pov (Two hours before landing)

“So once we go down there I need to warn you that if there are humans we might need to give a few of you alias.”

“What!? Why?” Vinyl huffed.

“Because human names are simpler and less obvious about what they mean. I can get away with going by Gray since that is sometimes used as a first name but it’s not very often. Right now Octavia is the only one with a passing name.”

“Why are we going through all the trouble though? Shouldn’t keyblade wielders be revered as heroes?” Spitfire questioned though the look in her eyes told me that she already had some idea of why they weren’t.

“Once long ago maybe. At a certain point in history there was a great war between keybladers which ended with almost all those wielders dead and only a minute few managing to survive. Due to that war there have been numerous rumors of keyblade wielders being either bringers of salvation or ruination. Most worlds we go to might not even know anything about keyblades at all or the heartless that pervade their very world. When we get there we have to limit some of our information when it comes to locals of those worlds.”

“But why?” Spitfire pushed on.

“The last person who was told of other worlds sold their hearts to darkness and sacrificed all their friends to gain more power. While I know there are trustworthy beings who won’t abuse that knowledge I’ve made it a point to never trust immediately. Trust is earned and never given. Something I learned from experience…”

“Gray.” Fresh Coat stepped forward and placed her hoof on my shoulder. My eyes immediately woke up from my memories.

“Look… I trust all of you by now with my life and while we’re down there I know I can count on you all to watch out for each other. All I’m asking is that you trust my judgement on how much information we actually divulge to the inhabitants of new worlds. We work on a case by case system. Information of the heartless is immediately divulged when we have the chance.”

Every mare actually looked surprised. While I knew it might be reckless of trusting them so fully… I needed to do it. I knew I had to do it, to eventually get better. I can’t keep freezing up whenever my memories of the past wanted to breach the surface of the water. Each of them seemed to contemplate the severity of what I said. Spitfire and Redheart took it the most seriously almost saluting me but they quickly put their hooves down. Octavia and Fresh Coat seemed to constantly think upon those things lost deep in thought. Vinyl and Sunshower seemed to blush and flail one of their hooves as if telling me not to worry about things.

“Well… Ok then Gray. We’ll follow your lead on this. Is this only when we go to human worlds?” Octavia brought up first seemingly taking charge of the situation.

“Yes only on human based worlds. We need to ease natural inhabitants to the idea of other worlds over time.”

“Do you have an idea for names for us then? We have never met a human before yesterday. I don’t think I can just pull off a color for a name.” Fresh Coat brought up.

“Hm… Vinyl can be shortened to Vi. Sunshower to Sunny. Redheart can go by Red. Spitfire can go by Ash. And Fresh Coat can go by Pallette. It still fits you and can be considered nicknames while we’re on these worlds.”

“Why am I Ash?” Spitfire brought up.

“It’s short for Ashley but this way it fits the fire theme I still see in you.”

“Oh… I guess that’s okay for now. Still doesn’t make sense to me but if you think it would work then I’ll go along with it.” Spitfire thought aloud seemingly trying to puzzle out why this made sense. The others accepted it at face value, then again their names didn’t change much and Fresh Coat’s still had to do with painting in someway.

Truthfully I didn’t know if this would fully work but as an alias it would at least give us some form of anonymity while helping out other worlds. Though I decided right away to give Octavia a nickname because she really did have a unique name on human worlds.

“Octavia I’m gonna use Vinyl’s nickname for you. So while on other worlds I’m using Tavi.”

“R-really? Oh drat.” Octavia sighed out.

“I’m sorry. You’re name is very unique and a real name.”

“Can we not use Melody as my name?” Octavia brought up. I looked at her and facehoofed. That would work perfectly.

“Nevermind. You’re right that works much better.”

“So what else do we need to do before we head down there?” Octavia asked.

“Honestly I think we’re good. Let’s go ahead and head down there.”

The seven ponies all got into position as the teleporting platform activated. Everypony was still nervous about it but Gray was the first to step on it leaving the ship behind. Not being outdone Sunshower was the first to warp down to Gray’s position. The others followed suit not wanting to be outdone by their fellow herd mate.

When they all landed the sight of the sprawling city surprised them entirely. When I looked around to see what exactly those bracelets did and when I found the first window in our path… The sight wanted to make me throw up… It was me, as a human. The same brown eyes and the same light brown hair. I was wearing the old cobalt gray detective coat I wore so long ago alongside a red tie and dress shirt with long slacks. When I looked down I still had my hooves and wings as well. Good… it was just an illusion.

The girls all looked into the mirror and each of them were shocked as well. Spitfire seemed to be wearing army fatigues though in a much brighter color with the symbol of the Wonderbolts. Redheart seemed to be wearing a bright red dress with long black tights and had a doctor’s coat draped upon her shoulders. Octavia was wearing a modest black dress that covered her legs though she did check her legs and was surprisingly wearing slacks beneath them. Vinyl was wearing a strange getup similar to a mechanic of some sort with overalls and gloves. Fresh Coat was wearing a smock and her hat had become a green beret. Finally Sunshower was dressed in a medium goldenrod dress with white tights covering her legs and beyond. They all had illusions that made them look human.

“So that’s what I would look like…?” Vinyl questioned as she gazed at her reflection more closely. Fresh Coat and Sunshower also seemed mesmerized as well.

“Ladies we need to figure out where to go. While we do look different it’s only an illusion. We’re still ponies when we look at each other.” Spitfire broke their trances with that information allowing everypony to settle down from the shock.

“So now we need to figure out what to do as we are now. Seems like the illusions would at least give us some leeway when it comes to the natives. Gray was there any information about this world?” Sunshower quietly brought up.

“The only thing Yen Sid told me about this world was that the darkness was encroaching on this world. We need to be on the lookout for heartless of any kind. Let’s see… looks like we’re outside of a museum.”

Before anypony could answer me a mass of darkness appeared over the courtyard summoning several new heartless I hadn’t encountered yet and disappeared after the first game. Air Soldiers They shared similar bodies like them but instead of a helmet they wore aviator gear with matching goggles. I didn’t know why their caps had propellers on them but it did compliment their bat wings.

“Hey, Gray look! You're twins!” Vinyl laughed out as several air soldiers popped out of the darkness.

“I say I pull off the look better.”

I flared my wings and soared towards the closest enemy striking it with Nightmare Cascade. Surprisingly the blade had much more reach and after the third hit the Air Soldier I had smack fell asleep. Before I could enjoy that little surprise another flew straight for me kicking me aside. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.

Spitfire flew to my side as we worked together to thin the numbers and weaken the group. Fresh and Vinyl took care to fire off several fire spells to keep the swarm off guard. The few that did go too far to ground got smacked around by Octavia and Redheart. Sunshower finally came up to the air casting defensive measures on Spitfire and I.

The Air Soldiers kept swarming in forcing all of us to work in tandem to keep them from overwhelming each other. Everypony got a workout from the entire debacle though after the endeavors of Merlin the girls were all decently getting better. I briefly wondered if they would have been able to help me handle the Demon Tide. A little optimistic but I survived well enough… as well as could be expected for a newbie.

As the last Air Soldier fell back to darkness and the heart emblem floated away I felt a pointed stare coming from somewhere only for the feeling to disappear. Sunshower seemed to notice as well as she looked on in concern while I was looking around for that feeling. The others finally joined us where they also seemed concerned.

“What’s wrong?”

“We all worked pretty well but why did those heartless appear in the first place?” Fresh Coat asked.

“It probably means that they are actively looking for the heart of the world. Did we explain that to you girls?”

“Yes you did. It’s basically the very core of the world and the reason that worlds manage to exist as one of the vessels of light. Because the heartless are after them they became known as the Hearts of the World.” Octavia recited from memory as if she planned for this.

“Correct. That means they have sensed it somewhere but they haven’t found it just yet. We still have plenty of time to find it and lock them off from it.”

Everypony nodded only to get distracted as another group of Air Soldiers popped out of nowhere only this time a young man with orange hair was sourly speaking to himself. Sunshower was the first to notice as she cried out to get him to duck.

“Thanks you all for getting me out of that mess but I have to get home for now. Perhaps another day we could discuss this but right now… I just need to rest for a bit.” Milo spoke as he walked off for some other place.

“Are you sure you’re going to be ok?”

“Yes… just need to clear my head.” He said though even I could tell he was feeling a bit melancholic. While Sunshower wanted to do something we still didn’t know much about this world… well most of us didn’t. I personally knew he could be trusted since I watched the movie about this world before. The problem with that was that with heartless on the set the entire script was probably rewritten to something to fit as an adaptation. That left a lot of ground that needed to be covered. Before I could fully work out something another car drove by much bigger than the standards of what this world was capable of and stopped before us.

Before today I believed that the ponies I had met and decided to give a chance to were capable of rolling with the punches and taking on anything in the world. Since they saw me effortlessly defeat heartless in a few swings and then manage to destroy the personification of nightmares in the form of an alicorn I thought them unflappable by anything. Then they saw a car moving and immediately were freaking out by the fact that it moved without any form of pony power or coal engine. That conversation had been one of the most difficult to truly convey in words what I actually meant. Now that an example was before them they were fascinated by everything that was before them making the illusions we were wearing very hard to take seriously.

The driver of the car allowed us in and we were face to face with a very old man with a balding head and long very well maintained beard. He seemed a bit knowing about things with the way he looked over us but his demeanor never seemed to hold any malice towards us. The only reason we had gotten in the car was more due to me having knowledge of him. He was known as Mr. Whitmore and was the one who would eventually fund the Atlantis expedition. Now was the time to gather info for the girls.

“So we’re here but I would like to know for why?”

“Sharp man. I like it. But I think you know why you’re here. You’re hunting heartless and I can tell that you probably need to do something important here. Plus you saved Milo and I can’t think of a better reason to approach you now in person than through an agent. Preston Whitmore, philanthropist and entrepreneur of the rare and exotic. I happened to be close by waiting to speak with young Milo before I noticed a strange group of people fighting what was most likely known as heartless in the courtyard and managing to fly around all willy-nilly as if they had wings.” Whitmore rambled on causing a few of us to flinch… myself included.

“Were you the one watching us after we finished off those heartless?” Sunshower asked politely enough.

“Why yes indeed I was mam. I was waiting for my associate to procure a few more would be adventurers in order to round out something very important I’ve been working on.” Whitmore explained.

“What could possibly be so important that you need Milo for this?” Spitfire quirked her eyebrow at him. She seemed a bit unsure why Milo would be so important for this man’s project and didn’t like how it was worded either.

“Ah that my dear is on a need to know basis and I know you want to know. Perhaps a little trade would be in order. Hm? You agree to work for me for one expedition and I give you more information about how I know what I know. This may be your one chance to get what you need to get and find what you have to find.” Whitmore spoke

“May we have a few moments to think about this before we agree to it?” Octavia answered in kind.

“Of course. Make yourselves at home.” Whitmore answered as the car finally came to a stop and the girls quit gawking over things. Outside, however, was more to gawk at as we were at the site of a huge manor.

Whitmore Mansion

The seven of us all occupied one of the larger lounges furnished with things never seen before. Well things they’ve never seen before. After they satisfied their curiosity and stopped trying to touch every weapon in Spitfire’s case we all sat down around one of the tables and pondered over things.

“So what do you girls want to do?”

I already had planned to accept the deal but I knew they were a part of it now. They were going to be a part of my life for the rest of it while I was in Equestria. So I waited for them to make their opinions known.

“We should just take the deal. It’s not like we know any better about this world than he does.” Vinyl brought up.

“I know Vinyl but we need to look smarter than that. Play coy in some cases so he knows we aren’t just trigger happy wackjobs swinging around keyblades.” Octavia responded.

“He knows about heartless though. Should we be worried about that?” Sunshower sat back on the couch cushion sinking into it which caused her to yelp about how fluffy it was.

“Most worlds do know about heartless to some degree. The problem right now is with how much he knows. He has a better hand than we have and we can’t exactly just wait around to figure out what we have to do to find the keyhole that leads to the heart of this world. Though if this expedition has to do with water then we’re going to be using the Gummi Ship to handle that problem.”

“It can go underwater!?” Fresh Coat interjected.

“Yes. It’s a spaceship but since it handles the pressure up there it should also handle the water pressure as well.”

“That’s taking a big risk with our mode of transportation. Should we really chance it?” Redheart intervened that line of thought before it went much further.

“Unfortunately that means that we are going to be under someone else’s command and we have no training using anything made by humans. At most I only trained as a cop and that limited me to driving things. I’ve never exactly earned my sea legs and only recently did I earn my wings.”

“That was only two weeks ago to this day now wasn’t it?” Spitfire reminisced about those moments, “To think it was only so long ago we duked it out in a friendly sparring match.”

“Yeah. Good times… Good times. But I’m thinking we should just take the deal. We’ll make the stipulations about our independence in some form and work alongside these experts he probably has.”

Everypony nodded and agreed to the terms. While I couldn’t help to think that maybe their feelings molded their decisions I was still happy that they weren’t being impulsive on these matters. From what I could tell, a common goal amongst ponies seems to bring even the most polarizing together to fix a common problem. At the same time with strong leadership they are slightly mostly followers at the same time. Spitfire is the only one I can see actually being willing to take the role of leadership besides me and capable of keeping it. Before I could keep contemplating individualism and the sanctity of forging one’s path Mr. Whitmore came into the lounge dressed in a very white suit. He seemed very pleased at this point.

“So have you all come to a decision about this?” Whitmore asked.

“We’ll take the job but you have to give us info first and tell us exactly what we signed up for.”

“Done.” Whitmore answered as he took a seat before us. Tonight was going to be a long night.

31. Lost Empire: Deals

View Online

“As you may have seen I’m a bit of a kook from time to time and many of what I say seem outlandish but what I tell you today is the truth. Now tell me what do you think of legends?” Whitmore glanced at the collection of people before him.

“They’re old ma- wives tales.” Vinyl brought up quickly switching her word at the last minute.

“Legends usually aren’t real and embellished due to nop- no one knowing the truth behind such tales.” Octavia brought up.

“Every legend is usually true to some degree.”

My answer cut off a few of the others but I think the reveal of Nightmare Moon did put doubt in them about legends. Whitmore was a very shrewd man as I could see whenever he glanced at me. Every time he spoke there was always an agenda and the one right now seemed to say to me… ‘What type of man are you’? So I spoke what I thought was true.

“A fair answer and one I believe in. A while back my buddy managed to find something very interesting deep in the heart of a glacier along with a very impressive crew that would lead them somewhere unbelievable.” Whitmore shrewdly put out in the open while scratching at his beard.

“So this place is what made you decide on the spot that ‘yeah those strangers can handle this’ then offer them a job.” Spitfire mockingly stated getting a chuckle from Whitmore.

“Yes, to put it bluntly. In more extensive terms the only reason they got out of there was thanks to their quick wits. When they found what was hidden in that glacier they were set upon by a horde of shadow like creatures. Yellow eyes that showed no sign of a soul. Real nightmare in that situation. Supposedly while there, there was mention of weapons shaped like keys managing to ‘purify’ the darkness as they put it. Then I saw all of you wielding key like blades of some sort and put two and two together.” Whitmore put his hands together keeping the sharp look in his eyes while he examined all of us.

“So I take it you want us along in case this darkness decides to be a problem then.” Redheart mentioned as she seemed to be pondering some things.

“You wouldn’t be wrong. There are problems with this trip already and it has to do with the sub that has been prepared for this trip. There have been some hints of monsters haunting the dock house where we are preparing things. Since you agreed to this I won’t mince words that this is probably going to be dangerous. Those monster have been trying to take out most of my men for this trip. While there I need you to meet with two of my best men. Demolitions Expert Vincenzo Santorini and Geologist and Digging Expert Gaetan Moliere will be your contacts there and they have seen the monsters the most. I need them to be safe before things get out of control.” Whitmore seriously state keeping a dour look on his face.

“We can handle that. These monsters won’t know what hit them.” Sunshower smiled which Whitmore returned content now by the positivity.

“What I like to hear. You head there tomorrow and we leave in two days. Be careful while you’re out there. I have some beds set up for you and you can head out in the morning.” Whitmore answered.

Everypony got up and followed the old man to one of the largest bedrooms in the area. Apparently it was like a barracks and had several beds in the area. Apparently Milo got his own room from what I saw since he wasn’t in there.

“Gray, a word before you sleep?” Whitmore whispered to me as the others claimed a bed for themselves.

“Sure… Girls I’ll be right back. I’ll be looking over the maps of the area before I sleep.”

There were a few uncertain nods but everypony did agree with it. I was certain that they wanted to say more on the situation but it was late already and the yawns that followed said a lot on how they felt. We left through the hallway and went into his private study. On the table was a book which I felt I knew based on my memories. What was it… Right, the Shepherd's Journal. Whitmore took a seat in front of the book as I sat opposite to him.

“I know I said the job was to fight against the darkness but I have a more important criteria for your job.” Whitmore solemnly stated.

“Is this about Milo?”

“Yes. He’s naive, foolish, and not suited to be an adventurer but I’m gonna follow my friend’s advice, god bless his soul. He a good kid but I’m not sure if he can handle this. Watch over him. He’s alone right now and needs a friend. I can’t ask you to do that though because he needs to work that out for himself. I do want you to watch out for him so he doesn’t wind up dead.” Whitmore buried his head in his hands.

“I take it there’s more to this story than just worried about things going wrong.”

“I just uplifted his entire life leaving no loose ends behind. He’ll have no one but the people he meets on this voyage. Help him grow. Keep him alive. There’s little more I can do for him but give him a chance to prove his dream.” Whitmore ran his hand across his face in abject fatigue. His age was more apparent than it had ever been.

“I’ll do the best I can but I can’t stop him from doing stupid plans…”

“Don’t I know that… Just like his grandfather, my friend, he is a hard-headed idiot while still having a brilliant mind. Do what you can but don’t risk your lovers.” Whitmore plainly stated with a smug smirk on his face.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t feign ignorance kid. I’ve been around the world many times already. I know but how they stare at you longingly to know there is more than meets the eye.” Whitmore crossed his fingers as he waited for my response.

“I suppose we are… It’s complicated and something I’m still getting used to.”

“I can see that. You are wooden and stiff around them and that wasn’t innuendo. They look like they want more from you. I’ve only seen monogamous relationships work out but you’re sought after by several others. Those situations never work out in the long run.” Whitmore answered.

“It might based on where I live but I can see why that would be weird. Regardless I made them part of my life. Any other concerns?”

“One more thing. Do you have any access to another submersible?” Whitmore sounded out though he didn’t sound serious at all.

“I do have access to one. I feel it would be better for us to be part of that ship. I already planned out enough for that trip.”

“Then we are done. Hopefully these negotiations haven’t pushed you over the edge. Tomorrow we’ll need you at the docks to clear out those monsters and the day after we launch.” Whitmore explained.

“Easy enough. I should go sleep then… I’m more a night owl than the others but I’ve been up all day already.”

“Sleep well then.”

Gray had just left the room to go discuss in more detail what was going on tomorrow but for Sunshower, it was a boring moment of the adventure. It was true that they needed to sleep but she wanted to keep moving, keep fighting. Ever since they had flown in she felt that twinge of desire to keep the adventure alive.

“Does anypony have any idea what we’re going to do here?” Fresh Coat brought up as she curled up on one of the beds.

“Don’t you remember? We’re going to seal the keyhole of this world. You know, to stop the heartless from destroying this place.” Octavia clarified.

“Well I know that much but why are we here in this mansion? This is such a big change from what I’m used to.” Fresh Coat answered.

“Hay yeah. We’re actually being treated pretty well even though we’re strangers. Seriously though is this what it means to be a keyblade wielder?” Vinyl thought aloud.

“Probably. Even Gray seemed very calm throughout all this. Still I’m wondering about keyblades now that we have some time to think. Did everypony notice that he has a new one? It looked kind of scary.” Spitfire commented on the situation.

“And we still have training keyblades. Why don’t we have our own yet?” Redheart mentioned.

“From what I found out while we were still in the Mysterious Tower he’s planning for our training blades to evolve into their own keyblades. He wants us to have something special to call our own.” Sunshower mentioned while sighing in lovelorn attention.

“Does anypony feel weird that we all can use magic now?” Octavia asked nopony in particular.

“It’s a little odd. I didn’t expect that being in a relationship like this opened something far more than any of us could possibly imagine. Seriously we wound up on another world and we all can wield magic while fighting against a creature who could only be described as heartless.” Sunshower slowly spoke as he tone became more reverent of their circumstances.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow as well. We’re going to be doing so many new things that not even being a Wonderbolt could compare to.” Spitfire glossed over her own team.

“Are you saying that being a Wonderbolt doesn’t compare to what we’re doing right now?” Vinyl prodded Spitfire slightly having a bit of fun at her words.

“No I’m not saying that. Being a Wonderbolt is the epitome of being awesome. I’m just saying that this isn’t something that most Wonderbolts would ever experience at all. It’s amazing that we are in this position to handle helping others. Too bad nopony would believe us.” Spitfire sighed.

“Well we do need to keep this secret. Who knows what somepony would do with this kind of juicy info. Thinking back on it, how many ponies could you tell about this and not end up in the nuthouse?” Vinyl rolled her eyes.

“Then we keep this between ourselves. As far as it goes I think we’ve managed to become friends even if it does become strained at certain times…” Octavia trailed off. They all knew exactly what she meant and they all grunted in agreement.

Sunshower eventually got off her bed and looked around at the beds. There were eight beds surprisingly. All of them were too large for each of them. Almost six ponies could fit on one bed and that started giving her many, many ideas.

“Octavia can you help me move these beds together.” Sunshower innocently asked which made warning bells in every other pony’s mind except for Octavia.

“Uh… sure then.” Octavia muttered as the two got to work.

After the beds were put together everypony looked at her handiwork and wondered what exactly she was planning. Once the beds were in place Sunshower got back into her bed and laid down pretending to sleep. Everypony else was also in their beds already when suddenly Gray came into the room.

“You’re all still up? Get some sleep since we’re heading out in the morning.”

Everypony instantly laid back until Gray noticed the beds that were put together. There was a subtle twitch of his head and some grumbling before he laid down on one side of the put together beds. Then Sunshower began to freak out in her own bed as if having a nightmare.

“Sunshower get up.”

“Huh? What?” Sunshower feigned looking around and seeming scared.

“You good?”

“Uh… maybe… I don’t think I can sleep like this can I join you?” Sunshower looked at me hopefully. Everypony else was glaring daggers at her though.

He sighed and nodded getting a cheer from her as she trotted over and made herself comfortable next to him. He laid his head down before he felt more ruffling as more hooves were digging at his back. Octavia had climbed in when he wasn’t looking and grabbed on to him. Gray was forced on his back.

“Does anybody else want to join while this is happening?”

Instantly all the mares climbed into the bed and curled up as close as they possibly could.

“Well… this is unexpected. Nice but unexpected.”

I could feel very snug as there were ponies all around me. We were in a veritable pony pile when we woke up that morning. Sunshower looked a bit disappointed but not much since she was the one closest to me physically at the very least. It took a bit to get out of the pile seeing as Octavia found a way to link on of her back hooves with mine. I still don’t know how that happened at all.

“Where do we go from here?” Vinyl called out from the bathroom.

To say that conversation of how to use the bathrooms of the human world was something I quickly glossed over at least until they could figure out what to do. It was one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever had to talk about with a woman. The other involved insulting someone’s brother which I never want to remember ever again.

“After we get ready Whitmore is going to get us a ride to the dockyards. One of his affiliates.”

“Affiliate? Aren’t they friends?” Fresh Coat brought up.

“It’s… difficult to explain. He is technically their boss but they don’t use the word friend very often. Something about their enemies picking up on those things.”

“Humans sound like griffons.” Vinyl snickered under her breath.

“That’s probably the most apt description of them. I should warn you that most of them do eat meat. They’re omnivorous meaning both meat and plants.”

“That’s not a problem at all.” Spitfire immediately put her hoof down.

From the look on Octavia and Fresh Coat’s faces I could tell that this was a point of contention amongst them. I decided that it was time for me to drop my bombshell before they found out from another source.

“I eat meat ladies. Mostly only fish.”

There were a few gasps but it didn’t end with anything shocking. Spitfire patted me on the back.

“I thought so. Most stallions I know eat some meat since they’ve gone to the Griffon kingdom from time to time.” Spitfire answered.

“I suppose I should get used to that.” Octavia muttered.

“I’ll get over it I suppose.” Fresh Coat added as the two hugged each other for solace.

“Is it that big a deal?”

“Nah. They’re just being a bit melodramatic right now. Octavia has always been one for theatrics sometimes. It’s her only outlet for stress relief.” Vinyl groused out.

“And Fresh Coat?”

“I felt it would be fun for later. I know just what kind of meat to feed ya.” Fresh Coat muttered under her breath. There were several blushes and a cough from me as I nervously looked around for any exit. Whitmore took that opening to immediately open the door. We were still under the effects of the illusion.

“Everything good in here gentleman and ladies?” Whitmore innocently asked as the girls quickly stopped their staring match against each other.

“We’re ready to head out. Lead the way and we’ll get things done.”

“Excellent. I’ll be leaving you under the capable hands of Lieutenant Helga Sinclair. My dear I leave them in your capable hands.” Whitmore said as another woman came into the picture dressed in a large trench coat those it contrasted deeply against her blonde hair.

“So you’re our specialists? Don’t look like much to me.” Helga snarked a bit to the scoffs of some of the girls.

“Seeing is believing I suppose.” Sunshower answered in turn.

“Then follow me and we’ll go take care of these problems.” Helga led on as we all followed her out to a waiting truck.

As we all piled in I sat up front surprisingly with Sunshower at my side. I didn’t show surprise but I was curious about why she was able to be by my side last night and at this point. The others were less than ecstatic but seemed understanding. They all gave me a nod making me mentally shrug. Helga remained quiet while we finally got to the docks undeterred and filed out to a very large ship.

“This is the main ship holding our craft known as the Ulysses. Preston has told me you have your own craft ready and serviced for the trip and will be brought into the dock before tomorrow. We need you to go around looking for these creatures that have been trying to sink the ship. Vinny and Mole should have locations ready for you in where they are. Meet with them then report back to me when you’ve cleared them out.” Helga summarized before pointing us into the docks.

D.C. Dockyard, Ship Dock 3

The seven of us trotted into the drydocks to the amazement of my fellow ponies. The ships here were more intricate and grand than the ships in Equestria from my own predilection back in Baltimare. Luckily, the bile from the horrible pun no longer was coming up so the city didn’t fill me with unreasonable rage.

“Is this how ships are here?” Redheart peered straight up.

“These are just cargo ships. There are bigger ones being made most likely but those are meant for naval combat rather than transportation. The real ship everyone else will be on is inside this ship.”

“What!?” Several ponies cried out which made my ears blanch from the sound.

“There are bigger ships. We probably won’t see any but we will see ships that can go underwater.”

Before anypony could make another sound there was this very loud guttural roar from further in the docks. Several large fish like heartless appeared only known as Aquatanks… and they were floating in mid air. I thought they could only exist in Atlantica though there was that moment back at the End of the World where they could float through the air.

“Mole, hurry up, we gotta get the nitroglycerin out of here! Oh look at that we got new people.” A tall man with a bushy mustache and bored look on his face seemed to keep an eye on the heartless more than us.

“I am hurrying! I won’t let them get my dirt from around the world. The french pile is encroaching on Germany and they never had the spine to do so.” A small man with a fancy cap with a flashlight on it and specialty goggles ran off with a wheelbarrow… most likely filled with explosives.

“Keep the heartless away from those things!”

Spitfire shot forward holding Vinyl as the two went straight into the first Aquatank. As they started their attack several Air Soldiers also popped out. With the keyblades revealed they instantly targeted me. The first one charged immediately as the second Aquatank charged directly at me I held my blade strong and blocked the charge causing it to spin around wildly. Fresh Coat and Sunshower peppered it with thunder spells forcing me to back up as the Air Soldiers took their chance attempting to kick me in the face. Octavia took initiative smacking them before they got close alongside Redheart who shot out blizzard spells.

“Zut alors… It is something grand we are seeing is it now mon ami?” Mole, or so I thought it was, pulled at Vinny’s arm.

“You mean all the acrobatic things? Yeah I could do that to but you know have to keep the explosives safe. Also the paper clips, you know, big ones.” Vinny mused as he kept the explosives out of reach.

“No! No! You fool I mean the women, of course.” Mole wrung his hands together. I immediately too umbrage with his enthusiasm.

“Mine!”

“But- “ Mole brought a finger up to bring up a complaint.

“No.”

Before he could say anything else Vinny forced him to move the cart out of the way while we kept fighting. Another Aquatank charged forward forcing me to roll out of the way as it smashed into a nearby chain link fence. The fence was torn down and nearly rendered beyond repair.

“So… he was enthusiastic.” Redheart chuckled.

“Yeah but I’d rather you not have to deal with that.”

“He did look a little weird.” Sunshower commented before casting a magnet spell a bit farther away from us forcing several of the Air Soldiers to smack into each other even drawing in one of the Aquatanks.

“Fill them full of magic!”

Several spells were slung leaving a large cloud of dust as several of the heartless were dispersed releasing several heart emblems from them. Spitfire and Vinyl were forced back from one of the Aquatanks charging them into us. I lifted my keyblade just as they were flung into me.

“Stop!”

The heartless stopped in place allowing Octavia to charge in with her own combos as Sunshower flew up and smacked it with an overhead chop just as the spell faltered. It immediately hit the ground as every hit it had taken finally took effect forcing the heart emblem out of its body.

We looked around cautiously as the smell of darkness still permeated the area. Spitfire got up first and noticed my look. She urged Octavia to follow me as I looked around trying to focus on where it was at its worst.

“Ladies there are probably still more areas. Need three teams to go out and figure where these heartless are. Spitfire, Octavia, you two are team leaders right now. We’ll alternate as we go through our time here on this world.”

“Understood.” Spitfire saluted.

“Got it.” Octavia nodded.

Octavia picked Fresh Coat to travel with her. Thankfully she knew the importance of getting to know one another while we were here. Spitfire chose Redheart as the two made their way in one of the directions I had scowled in. I pointed Octavia in the opposite direction.

“Vinyl, Sunshower, you two are with me. Vinyl stick to offensive magic and Sunshower stick to defensive magic for now. I’ll be the vanguard and drag them closer into battle.”

Both mares smirked and smiled respectively understanding their roles. I didn’t want to mold them into fighting the same way as I did. They needed to work on their own styles and figure out what it meant to make their own tactical decisions. Spitfire and Redheart seemed to understand that explicitly but the other four didn’t just yet. I briefly wondered if I could figure out if there would be a way to get them a more formal training for their own stances and such but decided to keep it to myself.

It took Octavia only a few moments before the heartless reappeared. Fresh Coat had noticed more of the Air Soldiers popping up above them which was a bit out of their league. Both mares were ground bound and none of them came down long enough to suffer for their attacks.

“I got them. Magnet!” Fresh Coat lifted her training blade up making a rune appear low on the ground dragging a sizeable chunk of the heartless down.

“Good work Fresh. I’ll shake up their life. Quake!” Octavia shouted as a large chunk of earth appeared out of nowhere and smashed into the group of heartless smashing a few out of existence. The few that survived immediately dove down kicking Fresh Coat aside and bowling over Octavia.

Fresh rolled back to her hooves and immediately shot out a gravity spell breaking their wings and forcing them down to the ground. Without flight they could barely fight like regular soldiers. Octavia got back up casting a cure spell healing up the scratches the two received from the assault as they finished up their small group of heartless.

“Shake up their life? Really?” Fresh Coat snickered at a now blushing Octavia.

“It was all I could think up at the time. Shut it.” Octavia glowered as she tried to hide her face from her herd mates chuckles.

Spitfire had been through alot in the past. She thought herself very well traveled around the world. Yes she was now on a new world but for the most part it followed similar pattern to Equestria. The rich made things happen and the scholars tried to prove their point. Then she found out about the heartless and fought against them. The only act which could compare was fighting against a dragon that one time only to suddenly be overwhelmed by a space battle against a giant ship in the sky with rotating wings of death.

“This is probably going to be the highlight of my life…” Spitfire mumbled as she smacked away a charging Air Pirate.

“What do you mean?” Redheart called out as she bucked away another one.

“I mean look at what we are doing here. This is much more extravagant and amazing than anything I could ever do as a Wonderbolt!” Spitfire cried out as she managed to deflect a charging Aquatank into a wall. Her hoof was sore but she was going to be stronger.

“I suppose I get what you mean. To think that we could all learn magic. Things beyond the stars that could very well change everything on Equestria. It’s too bad we need to keep this secret for a while.” Redheart mumbled as she threw her training keyblade as a charging Aquatank stopping it in mid charge before summoning it back to her hoof.

“Why do we have to do that again?” Spitfire growled as she faced the first Aquatank and smashing it back into the wall until it dispersed back into darkness.

“From what Gray said, we need to ease everypony into the idea of there being other worlds and the fact that the princesses have no idea about what happens out here. Equestria from what he told us is so isolated from the rest of the universe that we have never had heartless manage to even find our world.” Redheart mentioned as she shot out a beam of light from her blade stunning the Aquatank before finishing it off in a combo of low strikes.

“Right. I’ve seen how flighty a lot of ponies can be. Does that say something bad about us or that we can sense danger really well?” Spitfire destroyed the last Air Soldier and looked around for any other heartless.

“I’ll go for the second option because the first option is a bit saddening. It makes my job easier since we don’t get many patients. Still something like this would change all of Equestria. When we get back there we should sit down with Gray and try to convince him to talk to the princesses.” Redheart mused as she cast a cure spell making sure that they had no wounds on either of them.

“Maybe we should wait until all of us have our own keyblades. Better proof plus we can impose ourselves as knights or something to that level if we’re lucky. Let’s face it… this is going to be the most epic thing we’ve ever done and I don’t want to be shunted down and let somepony else take over my position.” Spitfire groaned as she stretched herself out.

Redheart just shrugged and led the way back towards the rest of the group. They had spent enough time wasting it on some small fries. It was still really weird to see a floating fish heartless.

It took a few minutes to find a few more heartless closer to the ship but I wasn’t too worried at this point. Everypony was trained up and luckily all the people we’ve met haven’t asked for names throughout our entire time. Vinyl was itching for a fight while Sunshower was getting ready to cast a few aero spells. As we got near the docks another of the crew mates were being attacked by Air Soldiers.

“Puto madre, get the hell away from me!” A small latina woman in an engineer uniform was swinging around a wrench around like a maniac managing to knock a few away.

“Durn freaks floatin ‘round like some kind o’hummingbird.” An old man with a double barreled shotgun fired blasting one of them into mist.

“You know I really should tell Margie about this later.” She took out a large old time camera taking a few pictures which actually stunned some of the heartless.

Instead of calling out I used a magnet spell to drag the Air Soldiers closer to the three of us then peppered the group with multiple spells. I finally finished them off with a gravity spell. Surprisingly they had done well enough even without us helping them out.

“Are you three ok?”

“Yeah, yeah no problema aqui. Quien estoy hablando con?” The small latina woman asked me. Spanish was not my strong point but I did take some high school spanish.

“Gray. This is Vi and Sunny.”

“Yo.” Vinyl answered managing to remember her code name for this world.

“Hi there.” Sunshower smiled

“We were hired by Mr. Whitmore to handle these monsters more permanently. You three are?”

“Audrey. This is Cookie on my left and Ms. Packard on my right.” Audrey pointed as their respective person.

“Hello there… jeez you’re so skinny. Need to fatten ya up a bit more before you waste away to skin ’n’ bones.” Cookie stated as he held me in place and I suppose felt a very skinny pony. These were really good illusions.

“Ha! You’re a rail now Gray!” Vinyl laughed out while I tried to get out of his grip.

“No Margie he probably went out for smokes. Yeah. Yeah I can see that. What happened to Oliver?” Ms. Packard kept speaking into her headset which just confused me. She dropped the cigarette to the ground stomping it out before getting another one ready and walking back onto the ship.

“We have to meet up with the others of our group. Pleasure to meet you all.”

“Yeah. See ya round.” Audrey walked away with Cookie leading him back onto the ship to find the galley.

“Well that was simple enough. Let’s go meet with the others. We need to get the gummi ship ready for the trip.”

“The ship can go underwater?” Sunshower put her hoof to her chin in thought.

“Most likely. Let’s go get things ready.”

“Sounds like we’re gonna have some real fun soon.” Vinyl rubbed her hooves together.

32. Lost Empire: Diving

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It took a few more minutes before we could confirm that the entire dock was clear of heartless. Luckily enough we managed to get out of trouble with everypony meeting back at the point where we split up. Spitfire and Redheart seemed to be lost in thought but didn’t say anything and merely kept vigil on everything around us. Octavia, on the other hand, was looking a little red and Fresh Coat looked as though she was laughing.

“You ladies good?”

There was a chorus of yes’s being muttered and I merely accepted it before another man started walking down from the ship. He looked a little older than everyone else and was dressed like a military commander. He stood before me and seemed to appraise me before he fully spoke.

“Welcome soldier… Have you ever served before?” The old man asked cordially enough.

“Sorry sir. I merely was a police detective for a while and only had up to the advanced training for that particular field.”

“Hm… Too bad. You fight well and thought you had enlisted. Rourke. Commander of this particular group. I suppose you’ve already been appraised of what we are doing and how we are doing it.” Rourke said with a jovial smile on his face.

“I have. My ship will be brought in tonight before the voyage begins. This is my crew in a sense. They’re all well trained and ready to handle anything that comes their way.”

All the ladies appeared to look confident but I could tell by Rourke’s eyes he knew otherwise. I knew he was the bad guy and I knew he would do something. The problem here was figuring out whether or not he would act on anything. There was always a chance to change things. When I watched this movie when it first came out… all the people except for eight of this crew were killed during the entire film. There was a chance that I could shift and change that but that was a pipe dream at this point. They didn’t know who I was and I wouldn’t trust some stranger.

“I’m sure they are assets to your team. Thanks for the assistance in destroying the monsters and keeping my team safe.” Rourke looked me in the eyes when he said it. I hardened my stare back at him. I wouldn’t break that shield I’ve built at this point. I needed to look tough otherwise he could find a way to take advantage of us. I would need to watch out for him in the long run.

“No problem. It’s what we do.”

“No kidding. It’s been a pleasure to meet with you. Meet up with our doctor before you head out then. Also get a rig from Packard. We’ll need to keep in touch while we make our way down into the depths.” Rourke pointed to the ship but I had to shake my head at him.

“I have a very capable medic on this team. Don’t you worry about these things. We’ll get the equipment from her as soon as the ship gets here.”

He gave me a very sly smile and nodded before traipsing his way back into the ship. Most likely to go over the last minute preparations. I merely headed for the first empty drydock. From the look on everypony’s face they didn’t like him. When we finally reached the end of the final drydock I tried to summon the gummi ship with my keyblade. I had no idea if it would work though. It took several minutes before the ship flashed into existence in the water and sent all of us sprawling on the floor confused and disoriented by what happened.

“This is gonna take some getting used to isn’t it?” Vinyl mumbled as I got her back up and absentmindedly placed her on my back. Her frown instantly disappeared and she snuggled into my back.

“It’s probably only gonna happen here. Let’s get on and get things secure before we head down underwater. I’m pretty sure we just need to check around the limbs of the ship. Spitfire and Sunshower can you handle looking around the outside.”

“On it.” Spitfire cried out as she started to circle the ship, “What am I looking for anyways?”

“Leaks and tears. I can fix them up but I need to know where they are.”

“Okay. Spitfire and I can handle it.” Sunshower answered and took off as well.

“I need two of you to handle making sure everything is secure. I need to go get the equipment they want to give us.”

“Okay… uh Octavia and I will stick around making sure everything is ready to go.” Vinyl waved as she dragged Octavia back onto the ship.

“Wait- Vinyl!” Octavia cried out as she was dragged into the gummi ship.

“You two mind coming along then?”

“Of course.” Redheart answered while Fresh Coat merely nodded enthusiastically.

We made our way back towards the main ship and traipsed our way into it. There were a few missteps on figuring where to go but eventually we made it to the communications station where we found Ms. Packard chatting away.

“No Margie you need to switch over to the real butter. No it’s not a scam you just gotta get it. Yes you’ll probably keep Jerry around this time. No I don’t know what you mean by that. Yeah I can see that…” Ms. Packard kept her monotone tone throughout the conversation only stopping long enough to point at something nearby.

“This thing?”

“Yes. Remember 205.76 is our call sign and keeps us in touch. No Margie I wasn’t talking to you. Yes I know you need help with Jerry. Look I know what you need to do and it involves that butter. Yes Margie I know it’s weird but it should work.” She continued.

“She was nice.” Fresh Coat stated as I walked with the equipment on my back.

“I suppose but I don’t see how butter will save a relationship.” Redheart muttered as she made sure to keep the equipment on my back. To everyone else it looked like the stuff was in my hands. I had seen it in my reflection while we walked back out of the ship.

“Let’s not dwell on it… It’ll probably be a bit too much for our minds.”

“What do you me- Oh… oh…” Redheart started to blush.

“What are you thinking about?” Fresh Coat asked innocently enough.

“Nothing.” She quickly answered.

“But-” Fresh Coat started.

“Nothing!” Redheart screamed out while I merely rolled my eyes and chuckled.

“I want to know…” Fresh Coat mumbled.

“We’ll teach you later.”

That got Redheart to instantly froze up and looked at me while being all red. Fresh Coat smiled and bounced around a bit in glee. Redheart seemed to want to do something about me until I opened my mouth again.

“We’ll find a book to explain it all.”

She looked me in the eyes and I couldn’t stop that smug grin on my face. Fresh Coat nodded in approval and bounded off for the ship while Redheart stepped closer to me.

“You shouldn’t tease a mare like that you know…” Redheart grumbled to me.

“I know. I was going to find chocolate later for use on you. I only can eat so much ya know.”

“Yeah that- wait what!?” Redheart turned entirely red. She truly matched her namesake at this point.

“Let’s get back to the ship and get things set up already. We’ll need to make sure everything is set before we head underwater.”

I trotted ahead forcing Redheart out of her fantasies as Vinyl and Fresh Coat made sure I didn’t drop anything while I entered the ship.She stumbled in trying her best not to look as though I had pressed her buttons a bunch but I felt it was appropriate to tease everypony a bit. I’d never been in this sort of situation since most of the relationships I had back in the human world were very much one night stands rather than long term plans. It was time to get things ready for departure.

After working throughout the whole night and figuring out multiple cords I found out that the radio that was prebuilt in the gummi ship could configure the audio equipment to allow us to reach the other ship on the fly. The equipment merely allowed us to extract the necessary channels to reach the ship… I was pissed at the very least to figure out my efforts were basically worthless in the short term. I sighed and laid on the floor partially defeated.

“You good Gray?” Vinyl called out and saw me on the floor.

“Yeah… just annoyed.”

“It was the wires wasn’t it?” Vinyl looked at the mass of wires and instantly placed them where they needed to place them.

“Why didn’t you tell me you could handle the communications wiring?”

“You never asked.” Vinyl chuckled as I felt my wing rub in between my eyes as if trying to ease the tension from the aneurysm I was starting to feel.

“Right… Well I guess we’re ready to head out. Can you be our Communications Officer then?”

“Sure. That just means I’m the one who handles the messages between the ships right?” Vinyl rubbed her hoof against her chin.

I picked her up on my back and nodded as she got herself comfortable on my back until we got back to the bridge. She carefully slid off and I got behind the steering for the ship. The was a sudden crackling of a radio and Vinyl played the sound for us. Hindsight really was killing me slowly and I should have given her control of it earlier.

‘This is Commander Rourke of the Ulysses. Captain Gray have you been appraised of the situation?’ Vinyl quickly flipped a few of the switched and gave me a nod.

“Yes for the most part. We’ll be following and providing support if necessary.”

‘Good man. Have course set along with ours as soon as we launch the Ulysses into the water. Keep up visuals out there.’

The radio cut out as our ship followed alongside the cargo vessel while everypony just looked out the cockpit to the sky. It was going to be a long trip.

“I’m thinking of a number between one and ten.” Fresh Coat hummed out.

“Is it seven?” Octavia groaned.

“Yes! How did you know?” Fresh Coat cheered.

“It’s been seven the last twelve times we’ve guessed Fresh…” Redheart chided making Fresh cringe.

“Are we there yet, Gray?” Spitfire moaned. She wasn’t taking the small confined spaces well… neither was Sunshower.

“Sorry but we’re still making it. Eventually we’ll be diving so I want you all to be calm while we do this. I know it’s gonna be scary but we’re in this together. We’ll be fine.”

While it didn’t exactly calm them down a lot they all sat back and waited for our cue to come up. The creaking of the cargo ship began as the Ulysses was finally let go deep underwater. A small ping came from the radio signaling us to follow close behind. I inched the steering up… when the hell did I switch it to inverted controls… Anyways the ship followed course and dove into the sea. Both of the pegasi on the ship were having mini panic attacks forcing Fresh Coat to hold them down with her telekinesis. Octavia had to physically help with Sunshower because she was being overly dramatic.

“Girls! Please breathe. You’re fine.”

They eventually stopped freaking out visibly but I looked at Octavia and Fresh Coat and shook my head. They knew not to let go until we made it where we needed to make it to. At first it was very calming and slightly eerie underwater.

‘Gray what is the designation of your ship?’Ms. Packard’s bored voice rang through the PA system.

“Diablos. It makes sense in context.”

‘Right… Anyways Milo is giving an introduction on what we’re looking for. I shall be patching in the feed now.’ Her voice went silent as another voice came on.

‘...of the Leviathan the creature guarding the entrance to Atlantis. It’s a mythical sea serpent. He’s described in the book of Job that the Bible says out of his mouth go burning lights sparks of fire shoot out but more likely it’s a carving or a sculpture to frighten the superstitious.’ Milo’s voice droned on in explanation.

“We’re facing a Leviathan? What would that be like?” Redheart held her hooves against her muzzle while the rest of the explanation came up a few seconds later.

‘Actually we don’t have to dig see according to the journal the path to Atlantis will take us down a tunnel at the bottom of the ocean and we’ll come up a curve into an air pocket right here where we’ll find the remnants of an ancient highway that will lead us to Atlantis kind of like the grease trap in your sink.’ Milo finished up speaking.

‘Keep following our heading Diablos. We’ll be your guiding light. Now Margie…’ Ms. Packard began speaking before the radio died out.

The external lights of the Ulysses turned on illuminating more than I thought they would. What was out there made every mare cover their mouths in horror. The entire sea floor was covered in the wrecks of ships over the ages each trying to find Atlantis. Spitfire managed to break the telekinetic field surrounding her and looked out the window in a seething fury.

“So many good ponies all drowned just for trying to explore somewhere. What could have done this kind of damage…?” She slammed her hoof on one of the panels luckily not breaking anything.

“The Leviathan is out there. I suggest everypony strap in right now. I’m more than likely gonna need to stop it from hurting us and we will be going fast…”

A low reverberating roar sounded out all around us traveling through the water. I couldn’t even hear myself think as everypony immediately clammed up and looked around for any exit. Luckily they were strapped in and kept following my advice. I knew this would be dangerous and I couldn’t lie to myself. Pony instincts had been slowly changing me and I could tell. The sounds of beasts made me want to run. The smells of mares drove me crazy. I had to force my more human sensibilities to keep pushing forward and for the most part they worked. I wasn’t weak minded or overly powerful in mental discipline but I knew I needed a clear head to deal with what comes next. The Leviathan would strike soon if my knowledge of the movie was accurate.

“Gray… There’s something swimming out there…” Sunshower pointed out the cockpit window and showcased a large crab like being with the tail of a fish swimming around and it was made entirely out of metal.

‘Mayday! Mayday! Diablos provide support!’ Commander Rourke’s commanded as the Leviathan attempted to attack the Ulysses.

“Hold on!”

I piloted the Diablos near the Leviathan and began shooting off the laser and the magically placed turret snapping off a few of the wires that were positioned around the mouth of it. I really wished I hadn’t as it focused its mechanical eyes on me and gave chase. I veered the ship off as I punched the engines and forced it around several of the pillars which the Leviathan ignored by plowing straight through them firing a beam of lightning at the tiny ship.

By sheer luck I managed to move erratically enough to get out of the way as it charged towards us snapping its claws around at the ship. It didn’t pay attention for long though as we got out of range and zoomed back for the Ulysses firing a beam of lightning through the center of the ship.

I forced the Diablos back and fired the laser and gun several times all over the ship. The laser was the only thing that caused any damaged as the Ulysses started sinking faster into the depths. I forced the Diablos too close to the Leviathan as several more of the sub pods came out firing torpedoes at the creature. It lashed out wildly destroying several of the pods in the process as the Ulysses exploded in the water and several of the large carriers dove deeper into the ocean into a crevasse nearby.

Sensing something wrong the Leviathan charged straight for the escaping ships forcing me to fire at it from the side getting a lucky shot in it’s eye forcing it off to the side. I immediately charged the ship into the crevasse and lead my descent by the skin of my teeth at the Leviathan recovered and came after us. Several of the small sub pods had been smashed by the claws of the creature as the Diablos swerved down into the crevasse avoiding the shots of lightning that tracked our ship.

“We’re not gonna make it!” Vinyl cried out as she clung to the console.

The lightning spear nearly struck us spearing through another of the sub pods and downing it immediately. We reached the bend in the tunnel leading back up as another of the sub pods lost control and blew up in front of us. Luckily, the gummi ship was much tougher and pushed through the explosion without too much trouble. As we started to float up to the surface several of the larger subs managed to breach first. Plenty of people survived thankfully. When i looked towards everypony though I knew I would have to address this issue.

“You all okay back there?”

“We barely survived…” Vinyl breathed out, “ that… was… AWESOME! Dude that was so much thrill seeking I don’t know if anything on Equestria could top that ever!” Vinyl cried out in glee.

“You got that right… still I’d rather not be underwater anymore…” Spitfire chuckled nervously as she fiddled with her straps managing to get them off. She was still shaking slightly but we almost breached the surface.

“That was a fun trip!” Fresh Coat called out while she waved her hooves around in glee.

“So many of those pod thingies got destroyed though… how many people were on them?” Octavia quietly asked though the moroseness of her question brought everypony down.

“Only four of the pods made it here. They saved the larger ships at the cost of their own. Two to each pod.”

“Do you think they’ll do anything for them when we surface?” Redheart coughed as a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Yeah… I’m sure they’ll do what they can with what they have. It won’t be fancy mind you. Their survival rests now on finding this city.”

“What are we going to do? We have a means to get out of here mostly unscathed… We’re not going to leave anytime soon right?” Sunshower asked though her trembling voice betrayed how she felt.

“I’m sorry but we can’t leave anytime soon. I made a promise to Mr. Whitmore.”

“What kind of promise…?” Octavia quirked her eyebrow at me as did a few of the others.

“Keep Milo alive. Help him make friends.”

“That doesn’t seem like you though… No offense. You seem more distant with strangers and we’re still learning about you as well.” Vinyl brought up raising her hoof as if to get my attention.

“I know. I’m trying to set a better example of who I was rather than who I had become.”

“What do you mean?” Fresh Coat finally undid her strap and trotted over to me looking me in the eyes.

“After my time on earth… I shut down a lot of my empathy. Those reasons while something I don’t like talking about are the reason I seem a bit blase about certain things. I try not to do it on purpose but I was dealt a bad hand when I reached adulthood. Personally, I have a second chance and I want to make the most of it. That means making sure he makes his way towards being an adult and dealing with whatever comes in his way to the best of his abilities.”

“This seems more personal to you than just helping someone out.” Octavia pointed out.

“He reminds me of my brother…”

I mumbled out that last line as the mares around me stopped and didn’t say a word. I needed to speak about it. I wanted to say anything about. I wanted that feeling off my chest and away from me. It was Redheart who finally asked me.

“Can you tell us a bit about your brother…?” Redheart gently spoke.

“Where do I even begin… My brother was older than me but strangely he was more scholarly than I. He knew what to say and when to say it. Dragged me out to several times just to go for a drink and enjoy life. Before I knew it he managed to have a family before I could even land someone who was actually loyal. Unfortunately, when it came time to the end of the world… he wasn’t strong enough to make it. A beautiful family and it fell apart… Sister-in-law was the first… Brother followed her soon after to their own despair. I took in my niece and raised her as my own…”

“Gray… Gray are you ok? Gray!” Fresh Coat called out. I shook my head and looked around noticing a lot of concerned looks.

“What? Did I blank out…?”

“Was it bad…?” Spitfire asked merely finding the most tact to ask what I was thinking of.

“Yeah… Let’s save this for another day. We should join the rest of the survivors of the Ulysses. I want to keep my word…”

“We’re all in with you Gray. You know that right?” Vinyl questioned me removing her glasses and looking me directly in the eyes to tell me how serious she actually was. Her stare bored into my soul.

“Yeah. I’m glad all of you are.”

I docked the ship and the six of us wandered off to join the others. From a quick look over the crew at least one hundred of the ship’s personnel managed to survive and make it off the ship. A large african american man took a nearby helmet and placed a small candle in it before setting the makeshift ship off on it’s lonely voyage to guide those that lost their lives at sea to the other side.

“I’m not going to lie to you folks. We’re up the creek without a paddle in this situation. From two hundred of the best and brightest we were viciously cut in half. Our only hope rests in this book. Unfortunately everyone is pulling double duty. No one left behind.” Rourke called out to his crew before pulling me aside.

“Seems like things are rough around here.”

“Yes but now I gotta ask you something. Why did Whitmore hire you in the first place?” Rourke stared me down and I stared him back.

“Take care of any creatures that may pop up. They went after Milo so there is not telling if they’ll also take care of the people here as well. We’ll be advanced guard clearing a path should any of them appear.”

“Fine. Take care of it. I’ll situate our linguistic expert. Hopefully the boy can do something beside read.” Rourke muttered as he trekked over to Milo.

Several of the mares gave him sour looks as we took point with the large digging machine which they were all awed by. I really needed to teach them about human accomplishments with Merlin next time.

Rourke was pragmatic. He knew that this trip would be dangerous. He knew most of his men may die under the circumstances. The problem was that there were factors completely out of control at this point. New faces and more cuts to the pie than could be handled. He wouldn’t let this chance go to waste. He wanted that heart… He wanted it so badly he could taste it. While he looked over the last page he slowly stroked something that was wrapped around his shoulder.

Wrapped around said shoulder was a large reptilian creature with a large goofy grin. It was a mixture of greens and purples with large yellow eyes and darkness pouring out of its mouth. On it’s chest was the emblem of the heartless.

“Now Snapagator… You keep whisperin’ in my head that getting the heart will solve all my troubles but now we have keybearers around. Any plans for this or you just gonna watch like you usually do?” Rourke eyed the creature.

It didn’t say anything but it seemed to understand. It nodded and summoned another heartless from it’s mouth sending it ahead deeper into the tunnels. It made no noise but if it did it would look as though the heartless was laughing. Rourke grinned as he patted it on the head and traipsed his way back into the convoy as they made their way down into the depths.

33. Lost Empire: Highway

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Ancient Highway - Cistern Gallery

It was dark. Very dark. Everypony was a bit on edge because of the lack of direction. Milo was still translating the Shepherd’s Journal and we waited on the water’s edge as the vehicles were prepared. The funeral rites for those who were lost were completed quickly enough as the six of us made it in front of the giant digger machine. It took me a few minutes to get everypony away from the machinery due to their curiosity overwhelming them. We trotted into the conjoined area and met with a grand cavern the cars managed to keep up until we reached the first open area.

“This place is scary…” Sunshower mumbled as we all trotted around down the path.

“It’s not too bad. At least we have room to fly should we need to. We should fly right?” Spitfire questioned and from my shaking head she just grumbled in silent resignation.

“Trying not to bring too much attention to ourselves. That’s kind of the reason behind the whole world order thing. I think it should be fine to tell you the entire story.”

“So what happened that made it wrong to talk about other worlds?” Octavia grunted as she readjusted her saddlebags. I remembered that we had filled our packs with food since the enchantments on them would keep the food fresh regardless of how far we were walking for.

“A long time ago a king was traveling through the cosmos trying to find a way to restore his friend from a terrible fate. During their adventures he met a scientist who was studying gummi blocks, the material the ship is made of, and looking into the nature of the heart. As they conversed the king made multiple mentions of the nature of the heart and the existence of other worlds not maliciously of course but the intellectual decided to go to work. He gathered several assistants to look into the nature of darkness because he thought it would work out and grant him access to other worlds. When he felt his research had borne fruit he sacrificed his assistants to darkness as part of his research. Gone was the intellectual and in its place was a monster.”

“I-i-is he still around?” Fresh Coat shivered.

“Not that I know of. I am sure he was taken care of unless something else happened in between then and now. Equestria wouldn’t have to worry about it though. Its one of the most isolated worlds I’ve ever seen.”

“So that’s why the world order rules are around then?” Spitfire questioned.

“There is another reason but that is the most recent. The other problem had to do with the keyblade as the focal point. Did you girls know that the worlds used to be one and everything was connected?”

“Wait… what? Even Equestria?” Vinyl hissed out as she tried to keep her voice down.

“Yes. Every world even this one was connected in some way so everything fit together. But the Master of Masters, the first keyblade wielder, held something called the Book of Prophecies. He predicted that the worlds would be split and destroyed. One thing you should know about prophecies is that they are self fulfilling when you hear them. Unfortunately his students were too divided and wound up in war with each other because they heard the prophecy and didn’t talk about it before hoof. That led to very bad times and the entire world splitting into multiple worlds.”

“Ah ha! I got it. We need to travel southeast to reach the main ancient highway!” Milo called out as everybody finally got into their vehicles and were ready to start a convoy to wherever this hidden city was.

“Before we head out… should the worlds be put back together?” Sunshower cautiously asked.

“Personally at this point that might be a bad idea because of how far every world has developed. There would be some… opportunists during that calamity even after we go take care of the darkness. Can’t account for how others will act still like I said if we find those we trust we can talk about it. I’m sure there are trustworthy beings out there.”

Sunshower pursed her lips and pouted slightly since I gave a really vague answer. I’m sure several worlds can be safely be connected but the problem came from the constant shifting technological level of every single world. As I kept working through the constant worlds around the universe I couldn’t think of any that would be able to fully adjust to working together seeing as only keybladers could travel through the universe. At this point only the seven of us have keyblades in a sense. I had no idea whether or not Sora existed in this universe now or at all. Alternatively I could be before any other masters aside from Yen Sid still existed. Though maybe someday I would meet King Mickey.

“Gray they’re still moving. Let’s keep track of any heartless in the area.”

“Look at the size of this pillar. It must have taken thousand of years to carve.” Milo exclaimed as Vinny dragged him away from the pillar behind some cover. He pulled out a plunger pressing it as the pillar exploded created a land bridge.

“I made a bridge. It only took me like… ten seconds. Eleven tops.” Vinny explains in his monotone voice.

At the very least the explosion was controlled. Before the people could actually get ready to leave several portals of darkness appeared. Out of the darkness stepped out several heartless… all of them different than anything I had ever seen in any of the games. They were all strapped into large diving suits holding large anchors in their left hands. It was the diving helmet which threw me off entirely. It was a goofy caricature of an angry face with large yellow eyes.

“And I thought it would be quiet. Let’s go earn our keep, ladies.”

Everypony pulled out their blades as we charged while the other mercenaries that were around created a defensive position. The moment one of the diving heartless saw us they shot out their anchors which were attached by chains at us. I hopped over mine while the others alternated between dodging or reflecting it back with magic. The one I dodged decided not to waste the opportunity and immediately charged forward as the anchor had attached to the ground. I held my ground managing to block the full strike up until it brought me right up to the anchor and slammed me into the ground.

Sunshower immediately used a magnet spell forcing many of the suits back including the one crushing me as everypony got to work on their respective targets. The few that weren’t took their time getting away from the magnetic force. Forcing myself back onto my hooves I charged the one that slammed me to the ground and managed to slice off the chain from the anchor.

As the chain disappeared the diver heartless pulled in the chain and out of the opening popped in a large multi barrel cannon. That cannon was now pointed at me…

“Now that’s just unfair…”

The triangle button appeared in my mind as the cannonball made of pure darkness shot out. Using my keyblade I sliced at the ball knocking it back into the heartless… who knocked it back. I did it again as we went back and forth with our tennis match. Finally the triangle button switched to a new command I think said Spin Driver and activated it. With a careful flick of the blade I swirled the dark cannonball spun around me increasing its velocity before slamming through the heartless knocking it into the one that was fighting Fresh Coat.

“Ok… Now it’s fair.”

Octavia was a bit overwhelmed. These heartless were much different from the others she had seen. From what she was told they never looked like serious threats because as instinctual hunters they would play off their cute nature just to gather hearts faster. These new heartless were far more aggressive and more dangerous than the last ones she faced when they first landed. Unlike the others, Octavia preferred to tank blows then strike back with overwhelming force. Then Gray was slammed into the ground and he was far stronger than any of them and had actually blocked the attack.

“Ok… let’s not do that. I’ll handle it a different way then.” Octavia groused because her way of fighting would be detrimental.

The one she was fighting immediately was dragged away from her by the sudden magnet spell along with everypony else. Taking advantage she charged forward smacking into it’s face sending the top half of its head spinning before striking at the legs. The magnet spell did it’s job forcing the heartless to spin uncontrollably. Eventually Spitfire and Vinyl assisted more firing off plenty of spells into the group of enemies. Several of the heartless dissipated but not all of them. The one Gray had fought was now firing off cannonballs for some reason.

The game of tennis they played was beyond ordinary up until the point where he managed to fling the cannonball back too fast for the heartless to actually respond in time destroying two of them in the process.

It took a short while to take care of the large group of heartless. These were the first emblem heartless I’ve seen while out through the worlds and these ones were specifically chosen forms for this world in particular. I needed to check the Lexicon as several of the vehicles finally started moving again. Redheart had taken the short break to fully heal us up as we kept up as the front guard.

“Hey Gray!” Vinyl called out after finally getting all healed up.

“Yes Vinyl? Something wrong or question about something.”

“Yeah small one about those heartless. What were they? Yen Sid showed us a lot of categorized heartless a while back but this one in particular wasn’t shown to us at all. What the buck’s with that?” Vinyl groused.

“I’m curious too actually. But I can answer that as being a heartless that is native only to this world for the most part. Since we’re here we might be seeing heartless that reflect the nature of this world.”

“Huh… Weird.” Vinyl muttered.

I took that chance and summoned the Lexicon instead of my keyblade. When I opened to the heartless section I immediately saw the new heartless in all it’s glory. I was a bit confused that the book would know what these heartless were called… but that could be explained by how many worlds the Organization actually went through before they were stopped… or even started yet.

Ballast
Heartless found in the depths of the Lost Empire looking for those who submerge themselves in darkness. While wielding large anchors should they lose them they’ll pull out an auto cannon that fires off large projectiles of pure darkness.

So that’s what they were called then. With everypony looking over my shoulders already it seemed I didn’t have to say what they were in the first place. I did wonder why they were named that though. A Ballast is supposed to give weight to large items that were deceptively light. At least I think that’s what they were… that language lesson still rattling around in my head still gives me a headache.

“Well at least now we have a name to our enemy… Will we be facing any other new kind of enemies down here?” Fresh Coat brought up as she began to shiver.

We had been walking for a while at this point and I noticed the sudden drop in temperature only to find myself walking through snow… My hooves felt weird… not frozen but cool. When I looked back at each mare I noticed that both Spitfire and Sunshower were perfectly fine with the temperature. The other ponies, on the other hand, weren’t. Octavia and Fresh Coat’s chattering teeth could be heard throughout the area. Vinyl looked more annoyed that cold but she couldn’t hide the shivering of her legs. Redheart was… Well she pulled out a scarf combo already and began passing out some for the other ponies who were cold. They finally stopped shivering which confused me even more that that was all that was needed to stop the cold for them. I wanted to scream to the heavens for someone to explain how ponies worked on a fundamental level which was something I had thought I had gotten over weeks ago… It was hard to tell at this point because of the training time we had which felt like three weeks.

“Much better. We should keep going then Gray.” Redheart smiled as she trotted forward leaving me to walk in the center of the group.

It was another thing I had been noticing. It was small and relatively harmless but whenever we were forced out to check for things I was kept at the center of our herd. The focal point if you will, and that left me a bit stifled. Every now and then I would notice out of the corner of my eye that one of them would be staring at me. It wasn’t in lust though which I was only marginally thankful for since it meant I could trust them not to be distracted. No, the looks they gave me were coated heavily with worry. I had the tendency to get hit during our fights so far. It was apparent even during training and something I think I consciously did as well.

I would constantly jump in to keep each mare safe from attack which usually wasn’t necessary in the first place. I do know why I do it though and I need to mitigate it only to important moments because it is more of a nuisance than a boon. They were all strong and very independent and I didn’t need to play the role of a knight in shining armor. They already liked me enough and I didn’t need to impress them. I was sure of it… I think.

‘I wish I was better at these relationship things. Forget it for now you can work on it later… Though I need to talk to them privately later in case something goes wrong.’

Ancient Highway - Frozen Gully

The entire area was covered in ice and snow. Thankfully the digger proved to be more formidable than the ice could ever be. Mole made sure to make us aware of this fact.

“Ah, mon ami can truly get through the worse of the worse. Mademoiselle do you think so as well?” Mole wiggled his eyebrows at Redheart this time.

This had been going on for a while at this point during our trek. I knew the girls were really beautiful and the illusion was being much better than it had to be. I found that several of the mercenaries had hit on each of them. Those guards were now easily identifiable by the crushed goggles each of them wore. Those that had gone strutting around Vinyl ended up waddling away with their pride and joy cradled in their hands. Spitfire was more dignified but much more vicious with her words. They still needed to cradle their pride and joy.

Octavia and Fresh Coat spent the most time next to me which deterred everyone except for Mole. I was both annoyed yet strangely endeared by his tenacity. Sunshower was the one I was most worried about. She had remained the most focused standing most of the time in front of me watching for any threats. I had no idea why she was being so serious.

“It’s a fine machine Mole. Now watch where we’re going please.” Redheart answered with the lightest hint of venom in her voice. I could barely hear it when she said it and it terrified me because she now could kick his flank from here back to the ships easily enough.

‘It’s ass not flank. Why are you thinking pony terms? You have a human mind damn it all.’

I shook my head and continued my trek through as we kept wandering through the area. Milo was still near frozen but he had managed to figure out the right routes so far. Aside from us speaking with him he never took his nose out of his book. Many of the ponies had mentioned that when they first saw her they thought of Twilight whenever Milo was working. It was slightly disheartening to me but I had to wait a bit longer. He was still working and so far nothing bad had happened to him quite yet.

“Mademoiselle if you would please do me the honor of joining me on ze digger I would be honored.” Mole’s voice tried to be suave.

“No thanks. I prefer to tro- walk around.” Redheart forced herself to give a smile while I thought I could hear her teeth grinding themselves to dust.

“But-” Mole started.

“Gray I think I see more heartless up ahead!” Redheart shouted out which forced the convoy to stop as we ran ahead to check it out.

There weren’t any heartless but I knew Redheart needed a break. Before we could actually return to the group another portal of darkness appeared. I thought it would have been more Ballasts but it wasn’t. What came out was much worse.

A large serpent slithered out of the darkness made entirely out of ice and there was a large heartless emblem emblazoned on it’s chest. It had four yellow eyes and small wings near it’s head which made it look weird. It had larger jaws with very cartoonish teeth which seemed to be part of the jaw rather than teeth. It had a completely serpentine body but there were strange indentations all around its body.

“Looks like we’re not going to be liars at the very least right Red?”

“Huh? Oh yeah… Yes. Right.” Redheart mumbled as she shyly reached up and cradled her cheeks.

“Flirty time later. Fight time now.” Spitfire called out as she shot forward for the heartless.

It immediately roared at the challenge and summoned several flying heartless composed of Air Soldiers and several small blue ones. I recognized them as Blue Rhapsodies. They were the blizzard focused magical heartless. Spitfire immediately started up firing off fireballs. I did briefly wonder if Merlin told them about the weaknesses of magic and which beats which.

I charged forward as well with Octavia, Vinyl and Sunshower. Surprisingly these three were very willing to fight up close and personal. The giant ice serpent heartless ignored Spitfire’s attempts and sent Air Soldiers against her knocking her into melee with the smaller targets. Slithering around the area the serpent went after Fresh Coat and Redheart who remained behind. I tried to stab the keyblade into its tail only for me to be dragged around as several of the rhapsodies surrounded the girls and started to fire off ice projectiles at the group.

Spitfire made a small mistake. She was a grown mare and new exactly how to take that she made a mistake. The heartless immediately was her main focus especially the giant ice serpent looking thing which was the highest threat. Instead it ignored her and left her to take care of the smaller Air Soldiers as she now knew. They were a problem as well since they kept cutting her off from flying over to the serpent heartless.

“I don’t have bucking time for this.” Spitfire growled out.

She knew intimidation tactics were slightly pointless at this point. Heartless were mindless creatures most of the time. The ones that weren’t didn’t show any fear or hesitation. They knew what they wanted and were set to get it before the end of the day. Several of the group began to attack her relentless only missing because she decided to stop fighting under the illusion and start fighting as a pony.

A quick buck sent several Air Soldiers back as she took off in the air and pulled out her training blade slicing it through whatever got in her way. A careful arc through the air let her zoom around the Air Soldiers who, while coordinated, couldn’t keep up with her speed and wound up smashing into each other whenever things got difficult.

Wasting no time she made sure to pepper the area in fire seeing as all the ice around her was asking for it. The heartless released their captive prizes and Spitfire did a small victory dance before noticing that the other heartless that shot ice were overwhelming her herd mates. She sped off for the group ready to bring in the heat.

Sunshower wondered if it would have been better not to charge in so recklessly. While she enjoyed her mates… bravado in fighting, she wasn’t much for constant violence. It wasn’t that she was unable to fight but it was becoming very life threatening at this point. While she knew what she was getting into the moment Gray had cut off the head of a heartless that looked like a demon that ponies would tell their foals about to make sure they didn’t get in trouble; she didn’t know the scope of what she was facing. She sighed and quietly berated herself before firing off a blizzard spell which did nothing to the blue heartless all around her.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me…” Sunshower growled out.

“What is it?” Vinyl called out as she fired another Spark spell at the heartless.

“They absorb ice.” Sunshower muttered.

“Huh. Good to know then. So shoot off a fire spell?” Vinyl innocently asked.

“I didn’t learn it. I only managed to get good at Blizzard, Aero, and Magnet. I was getting ready to learn more when we had to head out for this world.” Sunshower pouted as she hit one of the Rhapsodies that got too close.

“Really? I only managed to get Quake, Cure, and Reflect.” Octavia spoke up as she threw another piece of earth at one of the rhapsodies crushing it into a puff of darkness and corresponding heart emblem.

“Dang girls… I got most of the others. When we have time how ‘bout we teach each other. I never got Cure, Magnet, or Reflect. But I did get… FIRE!” Vinyl shouted as she shot several fireballs at the still floating around enemies.

The Blue Rhapsodies focused their barrage on Vinyl at that point due to the huge show of firepower. Octavia took point reflecting whatever projectile came for them while Sunshower flew around summoning several magnet runes during her flight pulling the rhapsodies together.

“INCOMING!” Spitfire’s cry reached the group as a charging ball of fire came in striking through the bulk of the Blue Rhapsodies joining the other four in a hail of fire.

“Glad you could join us there. We needed a bit more firepower.” Octavia snarked slightly.

“Sorry bout that. I was trying to hit the giant snake thing. It didn’t stay still for me though.” Spitfire mumbled out.

The girls banded together and fought through the barrage of heartless while off in the distance the serpent fell back into their midst crushing several of the heartless. There were several shocked gasps at the sudden fall. On the serpent’s head were three very badly injured ponies. Gray was supported but a bruised Redheart and Fresh Coat was on his back unconscious.

I hated being dragged around by the heartless. Keeping the keyblade planted in its tail proved to be harder than it looked since it immediately took off into the air closer to Fresh Coat and Redheart. Immediately I was feeling a lot of dread and I endeavored to stop that fear by charging across its tail while in my true form. Using my wings as counterbalances I ran up to its head and swiped at one of the wings forcing it to crash land scraping me off at the same time.

“Stupid piece of shit!”

I rolled along the ground feeling a few cuts and bruises form from the sudden landing. Redheart charged over to me casting a cure spell while Fresh Coat covered us with several fire spells. As I got up I grabbed the two and tossed them out of the way as the tail cracked down on us. I was flung several feet away forcing the two to focus on the beast.

Redheart followed suit casting aero on the themselves while Fresh Coat took the front firing off fire spells. Several of them were perfectly aimed as well… until the heartless showed off that its body was for more than being compact. With blinding speed it slithered around the explosive spells and immediately opened its maw for Redheart.

I threw my keyblade at it clocking it in the jaw and sending it spiraling away from the force as my keyblade returned to me. I cured myself and joined the other two while Redheart cast another aero spell on me. Feeling as prepared as I could I immediately flew up and fired a few spark spells at the heartless getting its attention again. While it worked its way back up to me Fresh Coat and Redheart took position several paces away from me. I didn’t actually know if they knew what to do but I had to trust they knew what they were doing.

I set up another raid attack tossing my keyblade immediately at its head which it dodged lunging directly at me. I summoned my keyblade but it wasn’t in time as the jaw nearly wrapped around me. Fresh Coat immediately let off a barrage of fire spells while Redheart used a magnet spell pulling its jaw below me. As it was suddenly tossed off course I immediately planted my keyblade in its head before slicing out a portion of its head. The darkness just healed back up the wound but the force behind the strike forced the heartless back to the ground. Redheart took her chance striking at the right wing while Fresh Coat attacked the left disabling them from working against us.

Before we could land a veritable killing blow the serpent immediately began rolling around knocking Fresh Coat out of the way while Redheart backed up enough to escape the repercussions. I immediately dove down to Fresh Coat grabbing her on my back as the serpent went back to attacking me. I immediately let it fly past me in a failed attempt to snap me in half. I brought Fresh Coat over to Redheart while the heartless recovered from the lunge.

“Guard her Red. Cure her when you can I’ll be bait.”

“But Gray… It keeps moving around so quickly!” Redheart shouted out which brought the attention of the serpent back to us.

“No choice! Go!”

Redheart managed to get Fresh Coat on her back and galloped off while I blocked another of the serpent’s biting attack. This went on for a couple of minutes as the serpent kept rounding around me. The tail was especially dangerous as it managed to smash me into the ground several times with me only surviving because Redheart kept casting Aero on me whenever it wore off. It was the only thing that actually kept me from being chomped in half. The serpent didn’t waste anytime focusing on speeding up on me just to slap me around faster.

Suddenly the triangle button appeared in my head as it lunged towards me. I slid under its jaw and knocked it up before knocking it away with a baseball swing which somehow had enough force behind it to knock it into the group of heartless that the others were fighting. I picked up Fresh Coat placing her on my back as I gripped Redheart in my hooves and flew over to them. I could barely feel most of my body even with Redheart casting another cure spell.

“Are you three ok?” Sunshower called out.

“No but we need to take care of this thing!”

Without wasting another second the girls piled on a barrage of spells and strikes while Redheart pulled Fresh Coat behind the others managing to get her back up after her unwitting unconsciousness. I slammed my keyblade into the creature’s face knocking it around until it finally dissipated into a cloud of darkness and a floating crystal heart emblem which flew off into the sky.

Obtained the power of ice. Blizzard now available.

Everypony put on their disguises before the crew could get to us. Sweet was at the forefront and immediately looked over us. Spitfire had multiple bruises as did Octavia whose fighting style was only described as brutal. Vinyl was magically exhausted and Fresh Coat was still dizzy from barely waking up again. Comparably Redheart and Sunshower were still the least injured only appearing to be slightly dirty from the fight.

“Ok no need to panic. Mind joining me over here folks, I’ll be looking over you.” Sweet called out which everypony hesitated.

I merely pushed them forward as I took point. Redheart joined without hesitation as all of us were looked over before we continued our journey. I was still in poor condition at this point. It was going to be a long trip.

Rourke scowled at the view before him. The Snapagator had helped him pull that heartless but it had cost him a few of his own soldiers. Grousing over his own luck he focused back on the page of the journal he stole. The Heart of Atlantis and the riches it would bring him. While the weird creature he found in Iceland was very clear on wanting to eat them he was certain that he could control it. It would be impossible for it to actually manage to get out of his control. He was sure of it.

“Mr. Thatch have you found the right path yet?” Rourke called out.

“Yeah that way. Are they okay though?” Milo sounded concerned as Gray and his group was brought back highly exhausted from fighting that… monster.

“They’ll be fine. They’re professionals of course. They can handle… anything thrown at them. Just get ready to move. The men are freezing.” Rourke dismissed the concern.

“I’ve noticed that we’re missing a few. Did something happen?” Milo looked at the commander. He didn’t betray his demeanor by his answer.

“Casualties from those who thought they could be heroes. I’ve been telling them not to focus on women since they’re obviously stronger than they are. Regardless I’d prefer to get my crew out of this danger already. Get ready Mr. Thatch.” Rourke ordered as he went to speak with Helga.

Several figures were viewing the battle with the creatures in the snow from a distance. Their leader was transfixed by the snow serpent being destroyed by what she knew as a keyblade. Not only was there a keyblade in their mix but there were seven of them. She needed to get them to Atlantis. The monsters would keep coming but everytime that these blades were used the darkness would not return as strongly.

Several of the warriors needed to be told not to get close because of what happened. Regardless she ordered them back to base as the convoy of strange vehicles kept moving while that one being at the front that fought the creatures was speaking to this red haired man who was reading from a book.

The warriors immediately ran off into the shadows while the convoy kept moving on.

Arc Serpent
A large serpentine heartless that appeared beneath the caves that lead to Atlantis. Made of ice it makes several attempts to lunge and bite at whatever it perceives as a threat. By chance it can also fly in small bursts.

34. Lost Empire: Illuminate

View Online

We sat in the impromptu medical station for an hour while Dr. Sweet looked over us. Since Redheart was mostly uninjured she assisted with the procedures. I had cast cure before we met back up with Sweet but it was only enough to stop the most serious of conditions. The worse was Fresh Coat who was still partially dazed but thanks to Redheart she was back on her hooves within a few minutes. It seemed she bought some potions back in Yen Sid’s tower before we left from another moogle by the name of Kumop. I was suddenly having flashbacks of the moogles from Final Fantasy IX for some reason. Regardless Fresh Coat was out of danger which surprised Sweet but he didn’t say anything about it.

Spitfire and Vinyl were partially frostbitten and luckily we had enough warm clothing to stop them from feeling the chill though they quietly complained that it was too hot even though all they had were scarves on to keep them warm through the illusion they were seen for. Their bruises had disappeared during the cure spell I had cast earlier.

Octavia had much more serious injuries though only comparable to the fact she was bruised along her side from the fight. She was forced to stay in the medical station in the back of one of the trucks for the remainder of the day if Sweet’s diagnosis was followed. She seemed fine with this and looked at me for support for some reason I wasn’t sure of. I think she was looking at me with some sort of guilt which she had no reason to have at all.

My wounds, on the other hand, were slightly more serious. There were a few gashes along my sides which the cure spell merely took down to red lines instead of dripping with blood. They needed to be… sanitized, which meant something I always hated when I was a kid. I may have become apathetic to it as an adult but I had a different body and I didn’t know how it would react. It sucked as I thought it would as the rag soaked in medical alcohol was dabbed against the cuts. The stinging sensation made me grit my teeth from the uncomfortable nature. It was something I really should have just had someone cast another cure spell but what was done was done.

“Take it easy for a while otherwise they could get worse.” Sweet called out as we all headed back for our positions. Octavia ignored the doc’s orders and trotted after us making sure not to miss a beat.

I didn’t say much about it until we got out of earshot. When we did I motioned Octavia to trot next to me. She complied though a bit reluctantly.

“You still good to keep going or do you want to rest?”

“I want to keep going. I won’t let you down.” Octavia answered me which made me stop trotting all at once. It was… sobering to hear those words for some reason. I never expected any of them to actually treat me as some commanding officer while we off on other worlds, but… I understood why in a sense.

I was the only one who had dealt with other worlds even though my only experience was the Mysterious Tower world. In all sense of the word I was their master even though at best I was still a novice with a mark of mastery test ongoing through my bonds with these mares, my students, my potential lovers. ‘Was I already considering them as family?’ Once again I tried to shut that thought down… at least for now. There was too much uncertainty at this point and I needed to make sure they were absolutely sure of their decision. We were in this together but this was a path of combat, of treachery, of sorrow, of a multitude of horrible consequences that would affect their lives for the rest of time.

Keyblade wielders, regardless of strength, were always seen as either warriors of salvation, or bringers of ruin. They were always hunted down as the most enticing game for heartless and this was something I stressed on them from the moment they found me out. I didn’t want this for them but they decided for themselves to follow it. Something outside of my control… and it frightened me. This fight alone showed me that we are still very much untrained as a unit.
Spitfire is a loose cannon most likely due to being a captain. She already knows what to do but had only worked with other pegasi on missions. Sunshower and Fresh Coat have no combat experience at all aside from the time we spent with Merlin. They aren’t liabilities but they haven’t reached their full potentials. Vinyl and Octavia are reckless with Vinyl being trigger happy while Octavia’s fighting style lands her too many wounds. One is already too much. Redheart… actually she is the most competent of the bunch surprisingly. Yet she only fights defensively. I needed to put my hoof down already.

“Listen to me right now Octavia. All of you in fact. You will never let me down. Got it?”

I looked each mare in the eye and thought I almost saw tears in them. They each nodded and their resolve instantly caused them to smirk confidently. I hope that was a good call motivation wise. I’d rather they do nothing reckless for me. We also needed to plan ahead for this problem. Rourke was scowling at us after we left. I only noticed because I looked that way when Octavia was frowning.

“We need to plan something out for later… but in private.”

I kept my voice low and brought everypony in for a huddle to hear those words. I knew this world would be getting a rude awakening when it came to friendship and these mares would be the first to see what it meant to this people.

“What’s going on?” Vinyl whispered back to everypony which I knew I had to answer.

“You know the commander?”

I got nods from everypony before I continued.

“We all don’t trust him but I feel like somethings wrong on the side. He’s been losing men and they aren’t from heartless from what I can tell. We had over a hundred men still on this trip and after a quick count we’re down to eighty. Something is wrong and we need a plan for when it goes wrong but… we need it to be private so the first moment we get we find a way to be alone for a while and we’ll hash out a plan.”

“Do you think this is wise?” Octavia brought up.

“What do you mean?” Redheart asked, quirking an eyebrow at Octavia.

“If this guy is as bad as you say he is then he probably already has plans for us in mind. We are an outlier. An enigma that he only knows a cursory glance about. We need to be better than that whenever he makes his move. There is something dangerous around here and he knows more than he should or is planning something. All these people here aside from Milo are mercenary. My father once told me that all mercenaries care about is money.” Octavia explained to all of us.

It was something I already knew but the startled gasps from everypony made me realize how much they needed this lesson. The other problem was that Octavia’s father apparently knew about mercenaries… Not suspicious at all. I may need to figure out some security measures later in case he doesn’t like me at all.

“We should keep moving. Don’t want to look too suspicious. Surprisingly, I do see some more… morale people in the bunch. The problem here is how this will go down. Keep your heads low for now. We’ll plan out something soon.”

Everypony nodded before trotting on towards warmer climates as we left behind the snowy areas. Luckily, we were finally out of the freezing cold and back to waiting for Milo to figure out the right path. Every couple hundreds of yards we would be ambushed by more Ballasts. They had become more prevalent during our trek though they had begun pairing with Aquatanks as well attempting to overwhelm us with power tactics. I would handle the Ballasts alongside Redheart and Vinyl making sure to take them down before they decided to switch to their auto cannon arm. It was always a moment of trepidation whenever I did decide to use a reaction attack. The others handled the Aquatanks easily enough Fresh Coat and Sunshower fire off lightning startling and dissipating the heartless away.

“This seems to be getting easier now that we have a better idea on how to deal with these monsters.” Vinyl groused.

“A little mad that it’s getting easier?”

“Well… Yeah just a bit. I mean these are supposed to be monsters from the darkness that prey upon the weak of heart and we’re cutting through them like butter. I mean… A little bit more of a challenge wouldn’t hurt would it?” Vinyl sighed.

“To be fair this is probably for the best. We’ve been trotting for a while now and we’ve been ambushed every single time.”

I pulled Vinyl in closer to the shock of the other mares. There was a few looks of confusion until they noticed Vinyl looking serious.

“We’re missing more people already. At least five more are gone. I need two of you to keep an eye on them before we lose anymore. So I’m asking you and whomever you ask to do that.”

Vinyl merely nodded and grabbed Spitfire immediately. After whispering my concerns to her she saluted and began walking with Vinyl back with the rest of the people keeping an eye out for anymore ambushes.

“Is it bad?” Octavia brought up only to receive a nod from me.

I was certain that Rourke was doing something after I sent Vinyl back with Spitfire. We weren’t ambushed again and we finally came to the next obstacle we had seen since the heartless hiding in the ice. A large wall stood before us which left me to find out what we were actually going to do about it. Rourke was up front with Vinny at this point.

“So do we have a plan to continue?”

“Vinny, you have anything that can take care of this?” Rourke looked at Vinny completely ignoring me. Vinny seemed to notice and took the tact to answer both of us.

“I probably could do something about this if I had over two hundred of these.” Vinny held out a couple sticks of dynamite. “I mean I have like ten of these. A couple of my own. Some cherry bombs. A road flare. Hey too bad we don’t have some nitroglycerin. Eh, Milo?”

Mole started laughing like a fool while Milo merely looked pissed off. I really feel we should spend more time with him but the constant ambushes put everypony on edge at this point. Redheart, especially, was on a short fuse at this point. I needed to take care of a lot of things.

“It looks like we’re going to need to dig.” Rourke off handedly mentioned gathering Mole’s attention.

“It would be my pleasure! Mon ami Red please to be joining me!” Mole cried out.

“I’m good here!” Redheart screamed out grimacing at being called out.

Mole, slightly dejected, started his machine forcing the drill into the wall. The process was slow and slightly deafening. Everypony folded their ears down trying to shut out the noise up until the machine started to smoke and slow. Mole bashed his head against the wheel trying desperately to keep the machine going. Audrey sighed before heading to the boiler.

“Milo… psst… Milo. Go help her out. You know boilers.”

Luckily, my whispers weren’t too quiet as Milo nodded and ran over to Audrey’s side. It wasn’t much but he finally interacted with someone else aside from Rourke and Helga. I cringed when he was punched in the shoulder but it was actually slightly playful.

“That seemed rude.” Redheart bluntly stated. Her eyes seemed to be smouldering and I was getting a bit worried.

“It’s a human thing. That’s how tougher people bond. Y’know. Keep their emotions close to the vest in most cases.”

“Are all human concepts confusing like this?” Redheart slightly sneered though I could tell it was forced. She seemed more uncomfortable by the second.

“Yeah. Yeah they are.”

I pulled Redheart close and made sure she stayed by me until she calmed down. I really didn’t know what was wrong and we still had many more miles to go. She seemed to smile when I gave her a wing hug but the illusion made it seem more casual than that. Still we followed the group through the newly forming tunnel keeping close together at this point. I could smell darkness emanating from most of the group with a few exceptions. These people seemed closer and closer to either despair or anger. Rourke, himself, was seething every couple of minutes. It was obvious that he was getting annoyed but he kept a level head like a leader should. The problem came whenever I was near him. His inner darkness was overwhelming and I could smell it grow stronger every time we stood near each other.

The next cavern we reached was vast and grand adorned with a large fixture of light above a stone carved bridge. Milo looked through the journal and seemed to tell the group how this was the last stop before we reached the city proper.

“We’ll make camp for the night here!” Rourke called out to all his men.

“That thing is going to keep me up all night.” Vinny mumbled as the groups split up to ready their sleeping arrangements. I motioned for everypony to join me as we trekked a bit farther away for the moment.

We reached a small copse on the rock wall and set up around there building a small fire and readying our sleeping areas. Most of us only had sleeping mats since a tent would be too cumbersome for all of us to share… though I’m sure most of the mares wouldn’t have minded if I was at the bottom.

“Ok… here’s what we need to do.”

It took a while to explain everything. In that time Milo actually grew closer with the others of the group. A small prank did get him mad but he managed to keep his cool and everyone else managed to keep civil and actually happy with him.

“Well I’ll be. Looks like he’ll be fine after all.”

“He will?” Redheart asked.

I still had kept Redheart underneath one of my hooves. I had been nipping at her ear from time to time to calm her down. As it turned out when I asked her what was wrong she was actually a little worried when I did nothing more to stop Mole from hitting on her. When I answered that I trusted her she seemed to go wide eyed and almost start blubbering. I didn’t know if she was insecure or just worried that I wasn’t showing enough affection to her but I spent most of my conversation with everypony switching between every mare and nipping at their ears until I knew that they knew that I cared deeply for them. As it turned out the illusions showed the others that I was twiddling with their ears scratching behind them calmly and tenderly. Helga apparently saw it as weird and was lost in a conversation with Sunshower that I didn’t overhear. Really need to speak with her about that later.

“Yeah he will. While it might not seem like it, he’s doing great by interacting with the others. Eventually we’ll see them be friends… but for now we just have to encourage them as best we can without seeming too obvious. Subtlety is key here.”

“I thought keyblades were the key.” Redheart rolled her eyes. The sarcasm was heavy in this one.

“Don’t worry… I have plenty of ways to unlock what I want.”

I dipped my head down and nipped at her neck nearly eliciting a small whinny which she covered her mouth with her hooves. It nearly got everyone’s attention though all the ponies noticed. I had done a few different things with each of them. All of them were blushing profusely looking away while Redheart playfully tapped at my muzzle to get me to stop.

“Stop~” Redheart sang out softly.

I complied just as the lantern above the bridge finally sputtered out. We all turned in for the night… except for me and apparently Sunshower. She stood next to me while I watched over the camp.

“So what have you been so excited to talk about with Helga?”

“She seemed a bit sad to be down here. I don’t know why but she’s been getting nervous ever since we fought the heartless in the snow. She kept saying that their men have been disappearing slowly and she has no idea where they are going. Everypony over there has noticed making them closer to the edge.” Sunshower explained keeping her voice down.

“Most likely it’s the fault of Rourke. Everytime I get near him I can smell darkness spreading out from him.”

“You can smell darkness!? How do you smell that?” Sunshower puzzled out scrunching her face in concentration trying to figure out how that would even work.

“It’s something I was given when I came to Equestria. Didn’t I explain it before? Or did I forget that?”

She merely shook her head causing me to think back. I tried to remember if I told any of them that I could sense darkness. I couldn’t remember one instance of me explaining this… unless my memory was just that shoddy.

“Ok… Well I can sense darkness from others through scent. It’s useful whenever I’m dealing with others since it tells me whether or not I should be wary of them or not. And before you ask it smells like something fouler than anything you could imagine.”

Sunshower closed her mouth and thought for a moment. She raised her hoof then lowered it again while her mouth kind of opened and closed like a fish. I didn’t think she expected me to figure out what she wanted to ask but she quickly broke out of the stupor and smiled.

“That’s not what I wanted to ask. I wanted to know if we smelled like darkness.” Sunshower smirked with a smug like grin coating her muzzle. Clever mare…

“Everypony does. You smell more like fresh dew after a rainshower for some reason with the darkness being nearly non existent within you just like the other mares that are here.”

“I smell good to you…” Sunshower blushed and I think she might have missed everything else I said… Still she was smiling at least.

“Yes. But like I said I can smell darkness.”

“Gray?”

“Yes?”

“Why do you seem more… I don’t know. Professional now?” Sunshower quirked an eyebrow at me. Was I being too distant? I tried to think about what to do. Instead I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“What do you mean?”

“Well it seems like until now you were very much in work mode. You focused heavily on making sure we were prepared though you did so a bit more sternly than any of us have seen.” Sunshower reasoned flailing her hooves around as if to make a point. I was still trying to think of a reason.

“That might be because of my police training… I’ve always made sure to be as professional as I possibly could be while on the job. That might be the reason that I suck at relationships… heh heh… Look… I’m sorry about that. I’m just… I don’t want any of you to get hurt more than you have to. You’re all still new to this and I’m making it my responsibility that you all make it back to Equestria as unharmed as possible. Even if we have magic to heal each other I still don’t like watching you all get hurt.”

“We know what we signed up for Gray. All of us did before we took up a keyblade. I’m glad you’re not like other stallions at least. Most would immediately shelter us and treat us like damsels in distress or something. We stumble, yes, but we are not weak little flowers that would falter without the big stallion around to protect us.” Sunshower smirked as she summoned her keyblade. Luckily, the bright flash of light didn’t wake anyone up.

“I know. It’s probably the only reason I didn’t completely freak out when that heartless managed to knock out Fresh Coat. Still… It was a scary moment, y’know. I already have lived enough scary moments in my lifetime.”

“Is everything ok? You seem to get this way when family is involved. We’re not officially a herd yet, but you have treated us as family.” Sunshower frowned before placing her head against my shoulder. “You can tell us.”

“I know… Where to begin…? I’ll admit that my childhood was good. No real problems at all. Supportive parents and all that. When the panic of the whole end of the world came around… well my sister-in-law wasn’t the most spirited of people. She ended her life from despair leaving behind my brother and their daughter. My brother, well he... he broke down. He made me the sole person responsible for their daughter. My niece became my child and he followed his wife in a way I’m still unsure of how he did. I never wanted to know what he did.”

“That’s awful…” Sunshower began to cry. I really didn’t want her to cry. Before I could continue I felt every other mare awake and huddling on top of me holding on to me and hugging me tightly.

“Should I continue?”

My groaning was stopped by a few head nodding into me. They wanted to know… maybe even needed to. I didn’t go into detailed description and only mentioned that my family was gone. Opening up… the worst feeling in the world. To be reminded that you lost. Made me sick but I sucked it up. They deserved to know.

“Well… After another year we started to run out of money to buy food. My mother was already losing her sanity from the loss of one child. My father being someone who told me that family came first confided in me about taking out life insurance policies on the two of them. Enough to give me and my niece a chance to live somewhat comfortably as could be during an apocalyptic situation. They drove off and I never saw either of them ever again. All I know is that the insurance policy actually kicked in. For another year it was me and her… I had to trust one of my neighbors to look after her while I worked. I trusted that…”

My words died off. I had nearly broken through the rock floor beneath me during the entire conversation. Octavia had managed to get me to stop by squeezing my sides hard enough to get my attention. Apparently I was very light, yet I hit like a falling boulder. I shook my head and noticed a few tears falling. I was at peace with the death of my parents and my brother and his wife. There was literally nothing I could’ve done to stop them from going through with it. My niece… I held no illusions that I could have done something to prevent that. I reasoned that I had no idea that it would happen but… that twinge in my heart called that voice a liar.

“I see everypony is awake already. All of you slept fine?”

“For the most part…” Vinyl growled out. Her stomach was empty.

“No nightmares… though I don’t think Luna would be able to find us if we did have any.” Octavia shrugged her shoulders.

“Need more sleep…” Fresh Coat muttered out but kept her eyes open.

“I think we’ve slept for long enough. We should keep an eye out for anything that’s coming after us.” Redheart whispered out. There were still no other people awake just yet.

“Someone is moving…” Spitfire motioned to someone moving in the distance.

“Milo. Must be using the bathroom or something… “

Everypony turned away returning back to their camp site storing away the equipment. Before we could fully get ready Milo began to scream and the entire cavern started to light up.

“FIRE!” Milo screamed out.

“Crap… Whoever knows blizzard get down there and put out the fires.”

All of us rushed off shooting off blizzard spells at any blazes that started because of the large cloud of fireflies. Within those clouds were small heartless that resembled the Blue Rhapsodies. The Red Nocturnes surrounded the entire collection of people forcing us to charge ahead and meet them in battle.

“Why are they here…?”

“Grr… This isn’t what I wanted.” Rourke growled down at the Snapagator curled around its body.

It merely growled as it raised another one of his soldiers and shoved its tail through its chest infesting its body with darkness. The heart was taken away before being given to a shadow and turning into a Ballast.

“Fine… We are getting close. Are they getting too close?” Rourke questioned the heartless who merely smiled as it coughed out more darkness.

The soldiers immediately got their gear together and attempted to get across the bridge. Rourke stood near the back and waited till his men got ahead.

“Let’s get ready for what’s to come.” Rourke grinned as he got in his van and drove off across the bridge to get away from the flames.

35. Lost Empire: Kingdom

View Online

Ancient Cistern- Caldera Cavern

The flames charred away a few of the tents before we managed to get on scene. Blizzard spells flocked through the entirety of the camp as the fireflies and Red Nocturnes made sure to reignite the flames forcing us into battle while the other members of the group ran off. The Nocturnes focused especially on us once we set hoof on stage. The fire bolts they fired off set more of the area in a sea of flames because we dodged. The few shots I blocked were sent back only healing the targets.

“I really hate elemental enemies…”

My mutterings couldn’t be heard over the roaring inferno which had managed to get all the other people away and starting over the bridge. Then something exploded as another one of the serpents that lived in the snow appeared. This one looked almost similar only this time being made of fire. While it did set it’s eyes on us it decided to run away for the moment disappearing into a cloud of darkness.

“Gray was that another of those heartless like the other serpent. We barely managed the ice one. A lava one might be a bit much…” Octavia lightly tapped her hooves together in a worried fashion.

“Don’t worry about that now. We all have ice magic which should help us out for this. Plus I think I have something special to deal with it.”

While the others were dealing with the heartless I slowly shifted my keyblade to one of my other weapons. I was certain I had unlocked a new one. In a flash of light a giant tomahawk appeared in my hooves. It was heavy as all hell… I didn’t think I would be able to handle this in prolonged combat. Still it would help out for later.

“That… That is impressive but it seems unwieldy. Does it do anything else?” Octavia muttered unsure if she offended me or not from what I could tell from her eyes.

“It controls the earth around me and is elementally charged with earth magic. Sort of like the quake spells we all know.”

“Oh. That is much more useful than just another whacking stick.” Octavia chuckled.

While I did chuckle it was drowned out by the screams of the other people when the bridge actually exploded and the vehicles started to fall into the darkness. Before either of us could get into position the heartless all flew off and the serpent reappeared slamming into me and dragging me away from the now broken bridge and past the other girls.

“Gray! Gray! You get back here we weren’t done saving those people!” Octavia screamed out which got everypony’s attention.

“Wait… Where is he at?” Vinyl perked up when she looked around for Gray. Octavia merely pointed at the large serpent that was going back through the hole that the driller machine had created.

“He’s what!?” Sunshower screamed out before zooming off in her pony form to help Gray out.

The others reconvened joining together a bit confused that Sunshower was flying off without them. Before Sunshower could get any further the serpent was knocked back into the cavern where everypony was looking slightly dazed and part of the armor around the nose was fully caved in. Everypony looked on confused that this happened in the first place.

“Octavia! I told you it would be useful!”

I flew back out of the tunnel slightly burnt. The head of the serpent was actually nearly white and I couldn’t feel anything on my right side. Also my wing seemed to droop slightly looking as though it was melted… but then again I couldn’t feel anything at this point. I felt a quick cure spell as Redheart galloped over to me checking me over. Her mouth was aghast and I think I nearly fell over only with my right hooves managing to keep me standing.

“We’re lucky this healing spell is actually good enough to heal these kinds of injuries. Are you alright?” Redheart fussed over me touching those spots which had just been burnt.

I winced whenever she did. They felt tender… as if I had regrown flesh and fur just from a spell. The rest of the group began to pummel the creature with blizzard spells creating a steam cloud which both Sunshower and Spitfire controlled so it wouldn’t get out of hand. All the humans were below in the abyss after the bridge exploded and we had no way to contact them just yet. The flames from the trucks were still sputtering leaving a few of us worried.

“Yeah. I’m good. Just… sore. We need to get rid of that thing before it gets back up. How is everypony else?”

“They’re fine. After that serpent appeared the rest of the heartless seemed to be absorbed into the creature.” Redheart speculated.

“Would explain why it’s so damn hot at this point…”

Redheart led me towards the rest of the group as we looked over our wounded. Luckily the only other wounds were a few burn marks on Octavia and Sunshower. A quick cure spell healed them up though they did wince whenever they touched where their wounds had been. I immediately flew up in order to see what else the serpent was doing. Surprisingly it was no longer glowing white from the heat and merely had a red scaled hide. It was almost as long as the Arc Serpent but it had more spikes adorning its sides and back. Before long it began to stir awake once again.

“Shit… Hey! Ladies we need to get ready. It’s getting up.”

Everypony immediately took cover with Vinyl supporting Octavia into cover and Fresh Coat leading Sunshower to cover leaving me with Spitfire and Redheart as my backup. I immediately flew back down and picked Redheart up, to both her chagrin and embarrassment, lifting her off the ground as a tail swept over the makeshift battlefield. Vinyl and Fresh Coat entered the battlefield only for an invisible wall to appear around us locking out Octavia and Sunshower.

“Well… this is very unfortunate…”

Milo groaned from the sudden explosion that had knocked him from the car sending him flying off on the other side of the bridge. He felt woozy and nearly passed out from the pain. The small trickle of blood from his shoulder managed to shock him back awake but he was still in excruciating pain.

Rourke looked around the ruins of his group. The bulk of his soldiers had been traded for heartless but there were still enough to keep things from getting out of hand. Lifting his flashlight he positioned the Snapagator off to observe the fight with the new heartless that had appeared. The trip to Iceland had given him a good understanding of how these creatures acted.

“Sound off. Say something if you’re dead!” Rourke commanded receiving a load of platitudes and confirmations that most of his crew had survived. The roar from the monster that had attacked however woke everyone from their stupor. “Double time people! I don’t want that thing to get us.”

“We’re missing Milo!” Audrey called out though Rourke felt it would be fine.

“We’re also missing those lovely mademoiselles and their unbearable leader. Y cet imbecile massif…” Mole muttered out the last part. “Would not allow me to woo that nightengale maiden.”

“They’re fine. Get the lead out and get everyone ready to move!” Rourke explained as many of the soldiers began to salvage whatever they found.

“Monsieur. We have a problem. The presence of this type of rock means we are in caldera.” Mole claimed.

“English Mole.” Rourke stated.

“We’re in a volcano.” Audrey bluntly said.

“We in trouble?” Rourke looked down at the diminutive man waiting for his answer.

“No. Cet impossible. You would need a powerful explosion to activate the flow of magma once again.” Mole waved off the possibility before everyone looked over at Vinny. He was working on a timebomb fixing the clock mechanism.

“Right… I’ll just work on this later…” Vinny mumbled before placing the timebomb away.

I threw the tomahawk at the serpent knocking it off from its charge making it slam against the invisible walls that were surrounding us. Spitfire had taken Vinyl into the air allowing her to pepper blizzard spells over the creature. The small target they made was at the very least capable of keeping away from the heartless. Redheart and Fresh Coat stuck close to me providing cover for each other while I charged in switching between the keyblade and the tomahawk depending on the situation.

As it reared back it nearly released a torrent of flames. Spitfire flew down low making the flames harmless flow over them. While it was distracted I charged in with the tomahawk and slammed it entirely into the serpent’s upper body. There was a sickening crack as the flames that were billowing from it’s mouth soon snuffed out replaced by acrid black smoke. While it was stunned Fresh Coat fired off magnet spells pulling the head down to our level allowing Redheart to get some hits in. When she finished her combo of swings I swooped in continuing the trend causing it to fall flat on it’s back again.

“We’re doing much better than the last heartless we fought.” Vinyl muttered worriedly.

It was true. It had been dealt with much easier but there were too many mitigating factors that pushed themselves as the reason. We had grown stronger and my new weapon was specifically made to increase power during every swing. I was about to finally plant the tomahawk in the heartless’ head when it shot out a blast of heated air. It turned completely white zooming around the area melting the stone on the outskirts.

Panicking, I tossed Fresh Coat on my back and picked up Redheart in my hooves. Neither looked embarrassed as we flew up meeting with Spitfire and Vinyl once again. Octavia and Sunshower immediately backed away from the arena as the whole floor immediately melted into a pool of magma with several pillars still managing to stay standing.

“What the absolute fuck!”

“Gray! Language!” Fresh Coat scolded me.

I wanted to point out that we were in a bad situation but her eyes told me that she got the picture. Slowly I went back down on the largest pillar dropping off the two mares while Spitfire also cautiously joined me. The heartless was still in the molten rock hiding away somewhere beneath the waves. It took all my self control not race towards one of the edges to allow these mares a chance to freeze our target in ice.

“Get ready. Moment it surfaces we freeze it in place.”

“You think that would work?” Spitfire raised a brow at this dubious plan. It gave me enough time to pull out my tomahawk.

“Maybe. The other plan involves me physically smashing it against the invisible wall tanking it blow for blow while it melts me body. You girls keep healing me while that happens.”

“Let’s stick with the ice plan.” Fresh Coat chided Spitfire as I pulled out my keyblade once more.

As if on cue the serpent rose from the molten rock covered in magma as it stared down at us. It immediately charged down at us only to be stopped by a barrage of ice causing it falter to the side before falling off into the magma. The world remained silent as I watched Octavia and Sunshower race along the edge of the new arena created. They stopped west of my position and frantically waved their hooves around.

“Get ready!” Spitfire yelled out as the serpent rose again from the magma charging for us. Another blast of ice sent it tumbling back into the magma.

“This is getting us nowhere. Get ready.”

I pulled out my tomahawk and hefted it on my back using my wing to keep it steady. While the others seemed a bit worried they readied themselves as Octavia and Sunshower waved their hooves south of my position. We all turned just in time as the heartless charged in meeting the same barrage as it tried to falter back into the magma pit I slammed the tomahawk down on its head stopping it from regaining its heat shield. I returned back to the keyblade striking the heartless down before knocking it towards the girls.

Taking some initiative Redheart stepped up managing to toss it further into the air while Vinyl and Fresh Coat fired off blizzard spells at the serpent. At the apex of being hit by Redheart, Spitfire came flying down slamming her training blade into the serpent knocking it back down to the platform. The triangle button in my head came back up and I immediately thought about it.

With a quick hop I stood below where the creature would fall and readied my keyblade with a quick slash the entire serpent was slit down the center and dissipated back into darkness releasing the crystalline heart emblem back into the aether. Before any of us could celebrate the platform began to crumble. Spitfire, once again, picked up Vinyl while I tossed Fresh Coat on my back and lifted Redheart into my hooves.

“Too close…”

I was tired. The invisible wall disappeared allowing us to flap back to the other two. Sunshower looked over our wounds when we did. There were no visible ones thanks to Redheart healing us with cure spells but we were all sore. Maybe if one of us could learn Cura it would do more than just heal wounds. Maybe it would also cure fatigue. Wishful thinking, maybe, but it would be worth it to have that be a side effect.

“My word… That creature looked as though it were made for us. You don’t suppose that they wanted us out of the way?” Octavia fussed over Vinyl and me.

“Probably Tavi. You saw that it went after Gray first. Gray, are keyblade wielders always considered high priority targets?” Vinyl wheezed out. The heat didn’t agree well with her.

“Keyblades are the only thing that can seal the heart of a world from being overrun by darkness. If someone was being evil it would be in their best interests to kill the keyblade wielder. Though heartless will just use them to get closer until they can take the heart of a world and devour it sending those worlds into their realm.”

“It would explain why so many of the soldiers are missing…” Fresh Coat commented.

“Hey ponies! I think the rest of the group is still stuck at the bottom of the abyss. We should probably go rejoin them.” Sunshower brought up flapping around as she pointed to the beams of light that were coming from below.

“Right… big question comes up now. How do we get down there without them noticing that we’re ponies…?”

It took a few minutes of discussion before we decided to fly over them and get ahead of them. While my herd discussed something private amongst themselves I looked into the Lexicon to figure out what we actually fought.

Obtained the power of flames. Fire now available.

Ash Serpent
A large serpentine heartless that appeared beneath the caves that lead to Atlantis. Made of molten rock is can burrow through earth by releasing heat from it’s head. When coated by magma it is able to generate higher speeds and grow nearly untouchable armor. In this state it is affecting by ice spells more potently.

I kept that info stored away for now. These new heartless were turning out to be more dangerous than the heartless I saw while I played the games. Also nearly melting to death was something I never expected happening to me. Before I could process anything more about the heartless I was tapped on the shoulder by Sunshower.

“We figured out how we can travel. You’ll have to carry Octavia and Fresh Coat.” Sunshower explained. I merely nodded and got ready to lift one of them onto my back.

“You don’t want to know why?” Octavia immediately interjected getting up into my muzzle.

“Nope. We need to catch up with the main group and then overtake them so they don’t see us flying. Mercenaries shouldn’t be trusted for the most part. There are exceptions but those are rare enough as is.”

Octavia seemed a little… dismayed or confused… I didn’t know. Instead of dwelling on it I tossed Octavia on my back and trotted over to Fresh Coat before lifting her up in my arm. After taking off I realized why they were worried. Both mares were very… curvy and unfortunately also much heavier. Sunshower stuck to picking up Vinyl who was the most svelte of us all and the lightest. Spitfire picked up Redheart with no problem.

My flight pattern was a bit slower than usual but nopony said anything about it and I correctly made sure to not say anything about it later regardless of what they try to do to get me to talk. It took nearly five minutes just to find a place where we could set down and readjust our illusions. Both Octavia and Fresh Coat looked as though they wanted to say something to me but they stopped themselves from voicing anything. I was never going to ask them what was wrong because if it was a weight thing I was never going to survive no matter.

“Let’s get going then. We still have to meet up with the rest of the group.”

We quickly traveled towards the group that was left in the abyss. Both Octavia and Fresh Coat were following me closely… crap. The entire crew finally reorganized their equipment and the driller was ready to move.

“Ah there you are. Good to see you’re all alive. Have you seen Mr. Thatch?” Rourke hollered out over the roar of the digger.

“What…? No we haven’t. We were dealing with that monster and I haven’t seen him…”

Milo groaned as he felt a hand against his still wounded shoulder. He tried to crawl away but the pain was too much for him. Before he could negotiate for his safety the figure took off her mask and used the crystal she had energizing her hand and placing it against the wound. In seconds the wound sealed up to his amazement.

“Milo!” Audrey screamed out.

“Mr. Thatch!” Rourke bellowed out.

The group of warriors immediately raced off to Milo’s dismay. He got up waving his hands as he chased after the warriors.

“Wait come back here. Wait up!” Milo raced after the group past several rock pillars.

My group raced ahead after hearing Milo scream out. Thankfully pony ears are more sensitive to sounds… especially pegasus ears apparently. Milo led us over to a large hole where light seemed to be shining from. Milo ran through first and stopped at the edge of a cliff. We followed as well stopping right behind him.

Out in the distance was a large plateau with a city built into the water surrounded by a large sea of lava. The only connection point was a long wooden bridge that spanned the entire width of the sea of lava. Soon the rest of the mercenaries joined us and stood shocked by the sight before them. Before we could fully come to grasp with the sight before us a group of warriors surrounded us keeping us trapped between their spears and the sea of lava below us.

“Well… This was unexpected.”

“Who are they?” Sunshower whispered in my ear.

“Atlanteans. The people who live down here.”

“But how!?” Sunshower hissed out.

“Let’s find out later. Right now we’re surrounded with our backs to a cliff edge.”

Milo stepped forward to converse with the warriors though I had no idea what they were saying. It sounded like gibberish to me and the other mares agreed. For the most part things while tense managed to proceed smoothly enough that the two groups actually managed to speak well to each other. Finally the main leader of the group a young woman took center stage and walked to the edge of the cliff and waved her arm towards the city.

“Welcome to Atlantis.”

36. Lost Empire: Plaza

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Ancient City Atlantis - Main Plaza

The woman I now knew as Kida led most of our group across the wooden bridge though Rourke had the bright idea of leaving behind a small contingent of soldiers to secure a departure zone for when we actually had to leave. It seems something he kept would take us back up to surface when the time came. For the most part all of us trotted at an easy pace taking in all the sights of the waterlogged city. Octavia and Fresh Coat seemed to be perking their ears a lot taking in the cultural sights for their own personal muses. Vinyl and Spitfire were a bit more nonchalant of their excitement though the fact we could see through each other’s illusion their tails were wagging in excitement. I wanted to make a joke about it but it was better that I save it for ammo later.

Sunshower and Redheart were the quietest of us all making sure to stick close to me for some reason. From what I could tell we were starting to get worried looks from soldiers… meaning Rourke was going to do something soon. Sunshower especially looked worried since our plans depended on certain circumstances. Redheart kept a steely gaze on certain members of the group especially Milo who was gushing entirely about this archeological find and the importance of history in the making.

“Sir… This changes everything.” A female voice whispered out forcing me to readjust my ears to listen in on things.

“This changes nothing.” The gruff voice of Rourke hissed back.

Well… that was unsettling enough to worry about. Surprisingly all of the mares heard as well making it even worse. Everypony looked ready to charge against Rourke until I stomped my hoof down. I shook my head and quickly led them away from the commander before they did anything. Regardless of what I wanted to do and what they felt they should do we needed to play it close to the vest.

“Look… I know you girls want to do something but timing is everything in this case. If we strike first before he does anything all those mercenaries will turn on us. We’re strong but guns reach pegasus speeds and hurt very badly. We need to figure out who is on whose side before we commit to something.”

“We all know Gray but he is a corrupted monster in waiting. I’ve known unicorns in Canterlot who were jerks that still wouldn’t act like that even on their worst day.” Octavia stated though I knew she didn’t want to think about those ponies anymore than the next pony did.

“Can’t leave jerks to do whatever they want, ya know.” Vinyl added in.

“I know but we need to plan for what he decides to do. We’re only one small group and we don’t have the means to deal with everything. So we do the best thing we can and keep things from going off the deep end.”

Everypony seemed to contemplate things as Milo was led by Kida towards the palace in the center of town. Rourke and Helga followed after him. Another guard actually forced our group to follow along as well while the other mercs remained on station repairing and maintaining the equipment they held without too much interference from the local population. It was surprising how many people were actually still alive and all of them spoke languages we could never hope to understand or mix it with another.

“I wish I could understand what they were saying…” Sunshower muttered close to my ear when she said it.

“Milo would know. It is his job to understand languages.”

“Gray… Will this plan work?” Sunshower stopped me from speaking further. The look on her face told me all I needed to know. She was worried about this plan in its entirety.

“Yes. It will work but we need to make sure we do it right. Remember it’s going to be touch and go when we spring the plan up.”

Before she could continue we were ushered into the main palace before the king… who looked nearly dead. The whites of his eyes meant he was also blind but he knew we were there all the same. He stared down Rourke, Milo and Helga intensely. When his eyes found us… they softened slightly as he motioned his guards to put us off to the side.

“You are not welcome here.” The King spoke to the merc captain.

“Please your highness we are merely explorers who have come in search of this fabled service in the name of science and discovery.” Rourke smoothly stated.

“I know what you have come for and you will not find it here.” The king slammed his staff on the ground shutting them up. “You will leave now.”

“Sir… I really think we should listen to them.” Milo nudged Rourke seeming a bit worried how this would go.

“Hold on son.” Rourke motioned to Milo. “Please your highness at the very least allow us a day to rest and recuperate from our long trek. We suffered more than a few casualties during our trek and we need to prepare to leave.” Rourke pleaded out.

“Fine… But then you leave.” The king stated with a tone of finality. The mercs all left though I was worried about what he wanted from us.

“Guards… Leave us. I wish to speak with this group alone.” The King motioned to the guards who reluctantly left the room. Kida made to leave but the king stopped her from moving.

“Father?” Kida questioned her father and slowly took a seat as well.

“Come closer keyblade wielders.” The king motioned for us to move closer.

Everypony kind of freaked out at that point shuffling behind me as I trotted forward. It wasn’t that bad was it? I brought Sunshower and Octavia front and center so they could stand next to me.

“You girls need to relax. It’s fine.”

“It is surprising that pony like creatures that can speak the tongue of man are also wielders of a keyblade.” The king stated.

“Ok now you can panic…” I muttered to the girls before turning my attention back to the King. “That isn’t a problem now, is it? I mean we do need to keep some things secret.”

I turned off my illusion bracelet which caused Kida to jump back in surprise. The king merely chuckled and said nothing about it.

“When you get as old as I have you learn that the world is full of mystery that you could never fathom in the long run. Kida, calm yourself. These guests are actually necessary… though I do have reservations that you came with that group of… people.” The king scoffed at the word while Kida sat down rubbing her eyes still.

“Some of them aren’t bad. Is there something more important that you need then sir? I know you didn’t want this conference just to catch up on old times.”

“Yes… A keyblade wielder is necessary for this. For the past forty thousand years I have been King of Atlantis. I led it to its darkest and through the darkest moments of its history. For years now there have been sightings of creatures skulking around in the darkness yet they have been kept away by our light.” The king waved Kida on who managed to light her crystal around her neck.

“Forty thousand…” Octavia muttered under her breath. I would have calmed her but I think the others were also staring in disbelief. The only beings they knew that lived that long were the princesses.

“Have they gotten worse then?”

“Yes. At this point there are things hiding within each of the main plazas of the city crouching in the darkness and waiting to strike. It was fortuitous that we had someone with a keyblade who may do something about it. On my name as King Kashekim Nedakh I implore you to destroy the darkness that inhabits these places and then leave like the rest.” Kashekim explained.

“But you’ll be all alone…” Sunshower brought up bringing the king’s attention to her.

“Yes. Yes we will.” The king sullenly stated as he motioned us to leave.

I placed the illusion back on and trotted out of the palace while everypony reluctantly followed after me. It was something I don’t think that most ponies would actually understand at all. Some beings… no matter what intentions are thought of… would rather choose to be alone. The doors closed behind us as some guards came in to make sure everything was fine. I shook my head both out of frustration and figuring out how exactly we would handle these plazas. I also needed to check on the mercenaries before anything else would happen.

“Well Mr. Thatch, you are out guy. Good luck on this.” Rourke patted him on the back while we trotted out of the building. The other mercs left without much attention to the matter at hand.

“Milo?”

“Ah… uh… hi guys… girls. I mean what’s up.” Milo stammered out.

“We have a job from the king before we go. As it turns out there are heartless hiding in each of the plazas. Did you count out how many plazas there are?”

“Uh… no sorry I was actually looking over a lot of the marking that these building have since they seem to tell a story about what exactly happened to the city to make it sink below the waves.” Milo motioned to one of the pillars nearby that was covered in marking which I recognized as some of the writing in the Shepherd's Journal.

“And what have you found out exactly behind this history then?”

“Well if I’m reading this right then… It seems the city went to war with the rest of the world trying to push its supremacy over the other nations. Unfortunately under the King Kashekim, they decided to use the very Heart of Atlantis as a weapon. The Heart is supposedly sentient though and didn’t like being used for war. In retribution it sunk the city beneath the waves unable to ever be seen by the light of day ever again. At first most people thought it as legend, but I knew there must be some truth to it. Now look at this.” Milo waved his hand over the city.

“Interesting. Well would you like to accompany us to these plazas? I’m sure Kida would like to come along.”

Kida hopped down from her hiding spot. Thanks be to whoever they are for giving pony ears such high range of hearing. Milo seemed especially shocked throughout all this. For now I needed to see how well these two would get along in the long run. The girls smirked slightly since I knew they all heard her before hand.

“I see you have decent hearing then. Since you don’t know how the city is laid out perhaps I could lead you through it. But… Mr. Thatch will have to assist me later with something.” Kida demanded.

“Deal.”

“Wait, what?” Milo questioned.

“Wait, what?” The girls all asked.

“It’s fine. It will work out well enough.”

The girls all looked as though I was incredulously insane. Then Kida dragged Milo away towards the first plaza which made them all realize what was going on.

“Did… did you just get a girl interested in him?” Vinyl questioned me and I had to think about that before I answered.

“Nope. I merely agreed to something for someone else because they are probably too shy to make a move in the first place. So… Who wants me to carry them to the next plaza?”

Many hooves went up almost immediately.

Ancient City Atlantis - Starweaver Plaza

It took a while to trot to the first plaza. Spitfire strangely won the rock, paper, and scissors match and I was still utterly confused how they did it. It seems hooves were pointed a certain way to symbolize each one. Straightforward meant rock, hoof curved up meant scissors, and hoof curved down meant paper. That, in itself, was something I thought would be impossible to actually determine but I merely rolled with it.

Unlike the others Spitfire was not overly clingy. She rested on my back lazily and never really tried anything. Though I did feel her hoof roll around my back muscles every once in awhile. I didn’t make a fuss about it or stop it so she continued until we reached the plaza.

“This is the Starweaver Plaza. This was the place where the astronomers of the past would chart out the wonders of the skies including all the stars that shined throughout the ages. Of course… look at it now.” Kida announced to all of us as Spitfire slipped off my back.

The plaza was in disrepair with water flooding portions of the platform. A large star had been carved into the platform but the grooves in the floor were nearly worn down to disappear. Redheart looked over the edge into the water noting that is was deeper than it looked. When I got closer to the edge I smelt darkness coating the area which made me scrunch up my nose. When the girls noticed that they all summoned their keyblades and waited. I summoned mine shortly after but I couldn’t tell where the smell was coming from. As Kida was leading us to the next plaza a Ballast fell from on high with several shadows appearing as well near it.

“Looks like they were waiting for us…”

We all took stances while Kida pushed Milo back and wielded her collapsible spear. I still wondered where she hid it. The Ballast lifted its anchor towards us and the shadows charged after us. Several shadows dashed after us swarming all over both above ground and hidden as shadows on the ground.

Kida has joined the party.

“What the-”

I was cut off as the Ballast shot its anchor at me. The swarm of shadows dove over the girls while I was forced to charge after the Ballast. The shadows seemed more sturdy taking several hits before they faltered and fell to their blades. Kida charged her spear with magic and fired off several lightning bolts getting rid of several shadows. In my haste and surprise I accidentally cut off the chain. It quickly cycled through to the multi barreled cannon and fired off several darkness cannonballs.

Spitfire knocked several of the shadows into the Ballast knocking it off balance while Octavia rushed in knocking it into the air. I hopped up and knocked it into the water which for some reason made it drown and dissipate. Shaking my head the rest of the girls managed to get through the shadows easily enough. Regardless of how much stronger they were the shadows were still merely shadows. All the ladies managed to clean up the leftover shadows leaving nothing to chance. Even with blitz tactics the heartless were overwhelmed by sheer power.

“It seems like this plaza is clear. How many plazas were there?”

“Including the main one in front of the palace there are four plazas. The other two are the Sovereign Plaza and the Queen’s Plaza. The Sovereign Plaza was made to hold ceremonies where leadership would pass from ruler to ruler. The Queen’s Plaza was a recent one made for my mother…” Kida explained though trailed off before she finished.

Sunshower patted her on the back while Milo had the sense not to say anything about it. I merely nodded and signaled her to lead the way towards the next one. We still had plenty of places to check out before the day ended and while the heartless presence was low… they were still threats to everyone.

“What have you found so far men?” Rourke called out to his men across the lake of lava.

“Nothing sir… though we are still missing men. Most of them are worried about these creatures trying to take them out. I know you don’t want us outdone by those other mercs that were hired but maybe we should get there help-” The guard was cut off as Rourke placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Calm down soldier. We’re fine and we can deal with this. I’m sure you all have this under control. Now sitrep on the men.” Rourke calmly asserted.

“We’re down to twenty five of us not including the specialists who went with you into the city. Sir… we are going to die down here.” The guard explained.

“You’ll be fine. I guarantee that you’ll be fine. Now what about the search for the prize.” Rourke pushed on with his own agenda causing the guard to sigh in exasperation.

“Nothing sir. All throughout the city nothing and the other guys have noted that the princess is walking with the other merc group with Milo in tow. We’re following at a far distance until those two have had a chance to go off alone.” The guard saluted which Rourke responded with a salute of his own.

As the guard left Rourke found a secluded spot far from the peering eyes of the others to look at the Snapagator. It’s eerie smile was contorted with rage as another group of heartless it created fell to the keyblade. Another five men were taken and more heartless were created. Rourke rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. He was losing men too fast and needed to hurry this up.

“Enough! No more hearts until we get info on the heart of this world.” Rourke ordered the Snapagator.

Reluctantly, it stopped and glared at him. It perched back on his shoulder and went dormant allowing the last of his soldiers to not lose their hearts quite yet.

Ancient City Atlantis - Sovereign Plaza

The next plaza was in better shape and directly behind the palace overlooking the sheer drop off into the lake of lava below. For the most part the darkness was lighter in this area from what I could smell. Still there was something to be said for how much Milo and Kida were speaking to each other. The others made note not to get too close but I could tell by their raised ears that they were listening intently.

“Get ready…” I muttered causing everyone to get prepared. Milo took a few step back. While he could probably learn magic, at this point he was here to keep Kida happy. This was much more different than what I remember from the movie.

Several flying heartless warped in through the darkness as a cavalcade of Red Nocturnes and Blue Rhapsodies flew in dancing around us. The flung ice crystals nearly froze Spitfire’s wings while Redheart used a magnet spell to keep them concentrated. Strangely this group was much easier to deal with because of the barrage of magic hitting them. Kida also showed promise as she channeled light spells through her spear striking down multiple heartless that were flying out of reach. Within moments the fighting was done and the smell of darkness faded from the area.

“That was… easier than I thought it would be.”

“Did anyp- anyone notice that there were less heartless coming out this time. There were mostly just random flunkies instead of the bigger ones. Maybe we finally are making a difference in how many are in the area.” Vinyl cheered slightly.

While it would be great if that were the case… the problem is that heartless would still exist even if the heart is sealed mostly because darkness still exists within the hearts of the people of the world. I quietly thought about what was happening. It didn’t make sense and I hadn’t counted how many soldiers were still left after all these problems occurred.

“I really don’t think we should be putting stock in that right now Vi.” Spitfire quickly mentioned.

“What do you mean?” Vinyl groaned.

“I think what she means is that we’re probably getting them out of the area for the moment but they could come back since they exist in darkness. From one of Yen Sid’s books it spoke about how where there is light there is always darkness.” Octavia lectured.

“So there is no way at all to destroy them all?” Kida spoke up bringing all our attention to her.

“Not really. You’d have to wipe out all hearts… I’m sure you could understand why that is bad.”

Everyone clutched at their chest realizing the implications of what I said. It wasn’t something I even liked bringing up. There were enough problems in my head and I didn’t need the death of innocent people even mentioned in my general vicinity. Regardless, we made our way towards the next plaza because the job needed to be finished.

Ancient City Atlantis - Queen’s Plaza

As soon as we reached the outskirts of the plaza I could tell something was wrong. The darkness was more concentrated and centralized to the very center of the platform. The Queen’s plaza was covered in a thin layer of water from partially sinking. The sloshing of water while we were forced to wade through it made Spitfire and Sunshower nervous. Pegasi don’t seem to like being anywhere near heavy water areas. It’s true that feathers are near useless when they get wet… It made me glad to have membrane like wings instead.

“This is the last plaza that my father says that the darkness has invaded. If you don’t mind I will borrow Milo now.” Kida grabbed Milo by the arm and we all acquiesced to her request.

“Stay safe you two. Don’t go looking for the heartless.”

Kida has left the party.

Kida waved at us and trekked off back towards the Starweaver Plaza. That left us dealing with this plaza. I could smell the darkness pouring out at this point. Octavia and Sunshower stood at either side of me and ventured forth first. As we entered the platform a shield of light rose up sealing us off from the other mares who banged ineffectively against the shield with their training blades.

“Well… this is going to turn out poorly now. Octavia… Sunshower… get ready to have a fun time.”

“I don’t like this much fun in one day…” Octavia mumbled as she pulled out her blade.

“At least we’re inside the shield now…” Sunshower looked on the bright side.

“That doesn’t fill me with confidence.” Octavia deadpanned.

A large portal of darkness appeared dropping in something almost unreal. A much larger Ballast like creature appeared and slammed down on the plaza. On the right arm was a large battle axe while a drill adorned the left arm. I really wished I had time to look inside the Lexicon to figure out what it was but before I could even entertain the idea it readied the axe forcing all of us to choose a side to dodge to. Octavia and I jumped left while Sunshower undid her disguise and fly straight up to the right. Before the other mares could help, a group of Air Soldiers popped out of the darkness and charged after them distracting them from the fight.

“It’s really big!” Sunshower shouted out.

“Tell me something I don’t know!”

“I’m double jointed!” Sunshower cried out.

I really wanted to facehoof at that point but she got me there. I did ask for something I didn’t know but I couldn’t exactly ask what she meant. The heartless readied the drill attempting to slam it into me but due to crossing its arms it couldn’t quite reach and forced it to fall over.

“Oh thank god it’s stupid as all hell.”

After it fell a small hatch opened behind it releasing a small ball of darkness with bright yellow eyes that seemed to look extremely scared of us. I charged in smacking it around with my keyblade while Sunshower placed an Aero spell on me causing even more damage to it. Octavia took the chance to fire off Quake spells. Before I could slam the shadow creature down onto the ground it popped back into the large armor and disappeared.

The shadow I realized was a Possessor. This heartless was definitely not a Thresholder or a Dark Thorn. The large Ballast like armor rose back onto its legs and charged up its drill again. I saw the triangle button appear in my head again as Octavia and Sunshower galloped out of the way. In all my infinite wisdom I followed through with that instinct and let the triangle button take control over my actions.

I rose my blade just as the drill hit me. The sparks charged over metal as I had to constantly press the triangle button in my head just to fight against the drill. Within a few seconds the drill turned dull and snapped off from the smoking motors in the arm slamming into its face while the drill dissipated into darkness. The armor fell over again but it didn’t release the Possessor again.

“What the buck!?” Octavia cried out.

“What?”

“How the buck did you do that!?” Sunshower shouted as the heartless started to get back on its feet.

“Maybe later… yeah?”

Both nodded as the large axe flew down trying to slice through us. Octavia and I ducked underneath while Sunshower flew straight up. After the heartless rose back up a large gatling cannon burst out of stump. I felt my ears actually fold over as the gun pointed down at us. I immediately grabbed Octavia and zoomed off with Sunshower as the rapid fire of dark bullets flew around us.

Sunshower took the opportunity to use a gravity spell knocking the gun down as I tossed Octavia at the the heartless’ head which she gladly knocked into with her blade knocking it to the ground once again. I quickly zoomed down and picked her back up just as the Possessor got knocked out once again. Sunshower immediately used a magnet spell and kept it from moving as we slashed into it. As it was zooming back to get in the body Sunshower sliced it in half causing it to dissipate into darkness followed by the armor oozing away. The shield lowered as the platform lost the smell of darkness over it.

“Ok… I really want to take a break from fighting giant monsters…”

“Did you see me Sunshower? I positively knocked that creature flat on its flank… so exhilarating…” Octavia breathed out as she looked to be having a conniption.

“I’m glad I managed to get it before it disappeared back into that armor. This has been the third creature we’ve dealt with that towered over us. I’m really getting a bit scared something might happen…” Sunshower fretted as the others came over to us.

“Now the important thing is healing up and getting ready to head back to the palace to tell the King. Redheart can you heal us up?” Octavia looked to Redheart who obliged making sure all of us were under a cure spell.

We took a little time to roll out our joints as Vinyl and Spitfire immediately tackled me asking how I exactly blocked a drill and shattered it to pieces just by blocking. I didn’t know how to explain it but I answered the best of my abilities.

“I’m just lucky I guess…?”

I didn’t exactly know how to broach the subject of seeing a metaphorical triangle button in my head that allowed me to perform reaction commands whenever an opportunity presented itself. Both of them looked a bit disappointed but there was some mischief in their eyes that told me they wanted to see what else I could get lucky with. I coughed lightly and led the way back to the palace. Milo and Kida were nowhere in sight.

“You do swim, do you not?” Kida calmly asked as she got closer to the water’s edge.

“Oh I can swim pretty girl… pretty pretty good pretty good it’s good swim good pretty good. I swim pretty good.” Milo stammered out.

Rourke’s men brought in the guns and laid them out for everyone to grab. The other group was still working on figuring out where Gray and his group were but the wild heartless proved much too dangerous to look for anyone. Regardless they prepared the men for the next couple of hours… They would be rich before the week ended… so long as they survived getting out of Atlantis.

Ballast Behemoth
A large armor of a Ballast used by a Possessor heartless. It’s massive ax is large enough to eclipse any wielder and the drill is able to shatter through lesser steel. Should the drill be lost a large Gatling cannon will take the place. Knocking it to the ground sometimes forces the Possessor out of the body.

37. Lost Empire: Treachery

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We managed to reach the palace and entered, meeting with the King. Unfortunately Kida still hadn’t returned with Milo. That meant that they were still searching the water for secrets. Ignoring that fact I strolled up to the King. The guards stood at attention but they didn’t train their weapons on me. Fresh Coat looked a bit nervous about the circumstances but Octavia calmed her down.

“The plazas have been cleared… You were right about the heartless trying to make a foothold in the city. I didn’t think that they would have gotten so far into the city though.”

“The Darkness is ever growing. Those you call heartless have existed since before the beginning always entrenching itself upon the worlds as those with evil in their hearts kept pushing for new heights. While I am blind even I can see what this will come to should this evil not be stopped.” Kashekim spoke easing the guards down with his raised hand.

“I take it you have heard the story about the keyblades, have you not?”

“Yes. In times of crisis those who would wield the sacred weapon of light would arrive in times of need. Though, in honesty, that chronicle of history is slightly skewed. As a keybearer you are bound to the rules and not to meddle in the affairs of others. While I must say I do follow this line of thinking… I must admit that things have gotten to the point where there is little to no hope left in this city.” Kashekim explained over the course surprising the girls immensely. I was sure we told them this… I suppose that hearing it in person is more convincing than hearing it from a third party.

“I’ve noticed. The moment that we reached the city and established any communication that the people immediately took to with sparkling eyes and all.”

“The keyhole must be sealed… but the location had long been lost to the ages. I cannot help more than this.” Kashekim sighed as I merely nodded and got ready to leave the palace.

I motioned to the rest of the girls to follow me as we trotted out of the palace and towards the main plaza. We kept quiet as we opened our ears and waited for anything else to happen.

“Hey Gray… Could we talk a bit about this?” Spitfire stepped forward looking very serious.

“Yes. Is it about what he said?”

“No… I remember that when Yen Sid spoke. I meant more about this plan… Are you sure it's even going to work in the first place. Even though we’re good I don’t think we could handle this in this way.” Spitfire looked towards everypony who also seemed to have the same level of concern at the plan.

“No plan survives first contact. Honestly I doubt it would work but… I feel this will work out the best in the long run, maybe even save lives. Unfortunately, so far, there have only been casualties caused by heartless. Especially while the bridge was collapsing. I looked over the troops before we crossed the bridge. There were only twenty five soldiers left on Rourke’s side. That means that the rest of the soldiers were either killed or taken by the heartless. And the darkness off of Rourke has gotten so heavy that I nearly threw up.”

“TMI dude.” Vinyl cut in.

“Sorry.”

“So are you saying that he was planning this from the start?” Octavia brought up.

“That would be impossible. What kind of being does that to their own kind?” Sunshower interjected.

“You remember how Yen Sid said these worlds were dangerous. What you are seeing, is the first instance of a monster. A monster is someone who knows right from wrong… and willingly decides to do the wrong thing just because it amused them.”

The mares were silent for a minute. Each of them were disgusted to differing levels. Vinyl and Spitfire were the angriest. Sunshower and Fresh Coat looked a bit sick. Octavia and Redheart merely frowned but even I could tell they agreed with me on this. Before we could fully debate on this an explosion rocked the palace leaving the area covered in acrid smoke that rose to the city heights.

“Looks like we were not as prepared as we possibly could be.”

Before we could gallop too far a group of heartless warped in surrounding us. Mostly Air Soldiers and Red Nocturnes. There were clouds of them keeping us from getting back to the palace before things could get worse.

Rourke had the remains of his men lock up Kida. The Heart of Atlantis had done something. Milo had gotten in his way again.

“Look Son… This is all about the money. Besides you get to be the guy that discovered Atlantis. Just come along.” Rourke attempted to persuade Milo only to receive glare in response.

“It’s just business.” Rourke snidely remarked.

It had been more of a surprise that over all that cash several of his specialists decided to grow a conscience out of nowhere. He looked them down just as that other group appeared in front of him. That keyblade wielder… surely another goody two shoes jackass just like all the rest of these morons. He merely snorted in frustration. He only had twenty soldiers left to his name alongside Helga.

“So… what happened here?” Gray asked no one in particular.

“Simple my good soldier. It’s pay day. We’re taking the Heart with us and making money. You in?” Rourke called out.
There was no time for subtlety and no time for persuasion. If necessary then the Snapagator could be used as a distraction. He merely looked around at the other mercs then at Milo who seemed to be pleading with him if that sniveling look in his eyes was right. The women behind Gray looked at him with righteous indignation except for two… who wanted this to be considered. Gray mumbled a bit before he finally spoke.

“Fine. I’m in.” He said.

“WHAT!?” Several of the girls and Milo all shouted out.

“It’s a good deal. Might as well get on the ground floor for later.” Gray dismissively.

“Sounds good to me.” Spitfire spoke up.

“Same.” Sunshower smiled out.

“What the hell is wrong with you!?” Vinyl shouted out.

“We’re not going along with some asinine plan like that.” Redheart complained.

“How could you even think this would be a good idea in the first place?” Octavia argued while Fresh Coat merely crouched down trying to fight her tears.

Rourke watched as the prissy one slapped Gray who merely glared and walked over to his side. It was only for a moment… he felt something was too easy but the heart needed to be taken out of the city. Annoyed, he got into the last car keeping his gun trained on Milo and the rest having Gray and his two loyal cronies get in another one. As they drove off Rourke pressed a small switch and the bridge blew up from a large explosion.

(Octavia’s POV, 3rd person)

“Let’s begin then. Milo we need to find a way to deal with this.” Octavia trotted over to Milo who was walking up to the palace.

“Octavia… was it? I don’t know if you noticed, but right now my leading skills are not up to snuff. Look at what happened to him.” Milo muttered as he pointed over to the King. Sweet was just now placing a cloth over his face.

Even with cure magic they hadn’t been able to fully heal him due to his advanced age already and the timing behind it. Needless to say the ponies had not taken that well. They wanted to do more but even Redheart knew that she didn’t have the tools or sterile environment to do more than they could.

“It still means that something has to be done. We need to figure out how to get to them now.” Octavia stepped forward pushing her point more.

“Octavia your leader decided to be a jerk and betray everyone else here and the city itself. How can we actually win at this?”

“Oh right… wait gimme a sec. Here read this.” Octavia pulled out a small note handing it to Milo.

Milo… This is Gray. Here is the plan, you see Rourke is too smart but right now I think we might at the very least catch him off guard at least momentarily. I’ll be making sure to follow him off to wherever he stashed his way out of the underground cavern… most likely the volcano. The girls and I will make a scene and at the very least three of us will travel with Rourke and distract them well enough until you’re ready to get to us. Hurry up… I know for a fact he won’t be distracted for that long.

“Wait...wait wait wait… Are you saying that you all planned this out?” Milo stared at Octavia who merely looked away from him.

“Please don’t remind me. I hated having to do that to him, but I was the only one with the spine to do it. Look… Figure out a way we can get to him and maybe we’ll be able to save Atlantis.” Octavia explained before walking off with the others who seemed to be getting ready.

Fresh Coat still looked extremely sad while Vinyl and Redheart did their best to calm her down as Milo got ready to talk to the mercs that were left behind.

“Everything ready Tavi?” Vinyl looked up while she rubbed her hoof on Fresh Coat’s back. Her tears finally coming to a stop.

“That was so hard to do… I didn’t think we could even do that…” Fresh Coat sobbed slightly still looking a little despondent. She did buck herself back up while Redheart watched the humans get things ready.

“Are you okay Fresh Coat?” Vinyl brought up.

“Yeah… I knew I had to play along but that was more intense than I thought it would be. This plan was really hard to do… I didn’t think we would be that convincing.” Fresh Coat sniffed slightly as she rubbed a few tears from her eyes.

“I know what you mean. I was surprised when he asked me to do that.” Octavia interjected as the humans started to gather around a large fish like statue… which then came to life and floated in midair.

“It’s ok Octavia. You did your best and I’m sure he’s proud of you.” Redheart patted her on her back as they joined the rest of the humans and got on their own vehicle with one of the Atlanteans driving for them. The ships were very streamlined and seemed ready to go as Milo called out to save Atlantis.

Octavia wiped a tear that managed to break her facade but quickly regained her composure. Like Fresh Coat, she was feeling a bit… melancholic on what she needed to do. Still… if she was going to be the Alpha mare she needed to stay strong and go along with these plans should they ever need to. She was sure Gray was happy that she was even able to do so.

Last Night…

Gray finally sat them all down far away from the main camp. Milo was busy listening to everyone else’s backstories. Strangely it looked as though they were getting along… at least at their own pace. He just looked around as his group and thought long and hard about what he was going to actually do due to Rourke.

“So… now that we have some time before it happens we need to make a plan to handle this guy when the time comes. I’m not sure what’s going to happen but I do have a plan for it.” Gray spoke softly.

“Yeah yeah bring it on already. We all noticed that that guy is planning something crazy. I mean did you see how he looked at us when we got done dealing with that ice snake thing.” Vinyl gestured with her hoof.

“I noticed that too. He didn’t look too happy that we managed to beat it. Though I’ve also noticed that I can’t really read human emotions that well. They don’t have those obvious tells that all of us have. No ear flaps, wing positions, and I don’t even want to talk about the lack of tails.” Fresh Coat scowled slightly as if she was thinking too hard about the differences.

“You too… I get so confused by them. Though I did notice that that Helga mare was using her chest to coax some of the guards to keep moving…. Gray is that how human mares attract mates?” Redheart questioned him.

“Well… yeah in a sense… Um… well… Teats are on their upper chest but she isn’t trying to mate. She’s technically using her sexuality to coax others to do what she wants or do it faster.” Gray answered which just made all the mares blush. “Anyways we’ll discuss this much later when we are back in the ship or back on Equestria.” Gray looked around noticing that the people were starting to go back to their tents.

“Right bring us up to speed then Gray.” Octavia quieted everyone else and awaited. The other mares noticed and most of them realized what was happening.

‘She’s trying to make herself the Alpha…” All of them thought.

“Ok then… Well right now we need to appear on his side. When he makes his move three of us are going to need to look as though we betray the others because of money. Most likely he’ll be too desperate to actually question it. We’ll have to make it convincing as well.” Gray explained.

“By convincing… What do you mean?” Sunshower cautiously spoke up.

“Uh… One of you will have to slap me.” Gray bluntly stated.

All of them looked at Gray as though he lost his freaking mind… Spitfire had to keep both Fresh Coat and Vinyl from crying out in shock. Octavia looked aghast as did Redheart. Sunshower nearly passed out barely keeping herself on her hooves out of sheer willpower. Redheart remained impassive through all this.

‘Huh… I didn’t think this was going to be that big a deal.’ Gray silently mused.

“Does one of us really have to?” Octavia found her voice trembling as she spoke.

“Yes.” Gray nodded as he answered.

“I’ll do it then.” Octavia coughed out.

“You sure?” Gray quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Yes. I can handle it.” Octavia tried to shut off her emotions through all this.

“Okay then… I’m gonna say right now that this is going to be really hard. I can tell that I’m asking you something really impossible. If you don’t want to do it then we could always come up with something else.” Gray soother Octavia who was staring off into the embers of the now diminishing fire pit.

“No. I can handle it. I’m certain of it.” Octavia quickly answered.

“So… is there a stigma for this on Equestria?” Gray looked over everypony noticing how distraught they actually looked over this.

“A little… See our stallion to mare pop is thirty to seventy. Most stallions become royal guards of either the Day Guard or the newly minted Night guard. While we do have equality most of Equestria is matriarchal. The only exception right now seems to be over in Appleloosa and Trottingham which have patriarchal roots. Most mares from Ponyville find it… well unacceptable to hit a stallion because Ponyville is a heavily mare filled town.” Redheart summarized the entire ordeal.

“Weird… Cloudsdale is much more lax on that. Though most pegasi do like a good scrap every once in a while. It’s how we make sure that our mates could handle us.” Spitfire cut in.

“So… This is harder for the rest of you to do?” Gray asked to the nods of everypony except for Spitfire who shook her head.

“I can do this Gray. I’m qualified to act and the only pony who would be able to handle it.” Octavia stepped up to him bringing him eye to eye with her. The resolve she had was intimidating.

“If you are fine with it then it’s good. Now who’s going to come with me and play the role of a villain?” Gray looked around noticing that everypony was still lost in thought.

“I’ll go.” Spitfire raised her hoof.

“Me too.” Sunshower also raised her hoof while everypony looked a bit surprised.

“Ok then all we have to do is prepare ourselves. This is only Plan A if we can convince him. If we can’t then we’re probably going to have to fight them then and there.” Gray mumbled to himself but with the girl’s hearing they gleaned exactly what the consequences of their actions could be.

“Hey Gray? You should make Octavia the Alpha mare of this herd.” Vinyl immediately said causing Gray and everypony else to stare at her. Octavia was slackjawed.

“What!?” Octavia nearly screamed out before Fresh Coat held her mouth closed with her telekinesis.

“You think so?” Gray stared into her eyes seemingly trying to find a reason for this.

“Yeah. She has to do something that would kill her inside even though you are asking her to do it. It’s not easy for her to hit someone she loves.” Vinyl finished off.

While everypony looked a bit disappointed none of them could actually hit Gray for no reason. Spitfire looked fine with it but she didn’t exactly want to since the last time she hit a stallion he was in the hospital in traction for another three days. Octavia was still slightly surprised since nopony else was voicing any opposition.

“Ok then. Octavia’s the Alpha mare. Glad that we’ve finally decided on that order of business. I was worried about choosing honestly. I didn’t want to make any of you cry at all. “ Gray picked Octavia up giving her a bear hug while a few tears streamed down her cheeks.

Everypony congratulated her before turning in for the night. It was an eventful evening with a big surprise occurring out of nowhere for them. Octavia took her role seriously as she set herself up right next to Gray’s sleeping mat. Though she knew he was going to be up a bit longer. He rarely slept more than four hours before something would wake him up.

Octavia remembered just how harrowing that night had been. As all of them managed to get to get some sleep before things became worse they were awakened both by a story by Gray and the sudden flash fire that burst through the camp. The new snake heartless had been more dangerous than the last actually using lava to attack them.

“Ooh… I wonder if I was getting in over my head for this.” She mumbled to herself as she got into position on one of the larger flying fish ships.

Next to her were Fresh Coat, Vinyl and Redheart each preparing themselves for take off as one of the Atlanteans got into position on the driver’s spot. With a quick turn of the crystal the ship zoomed off through the tunnels following the rest of the group.

(Gray’s POV)

I was still rubbing my cheek after Octavia had slapped me. Must remember from now on that the mare who was decided to be the Alpha is very very strong. I had personally hoped that Fresh Coat or Vinyl would be the ones to slap me because I’ve noticed that they don’t put their entire strength into their swings if they are ever forced to use their hooves.

“You ok Gray?” Sunshower fretted over me while Spitfire kept an eye on our… driver.

Our driver looked as though he would be keeling over at any moment with how lethargic he was moving. Several times I noticed that he never blinked and I was certain that all his soldiers were just moments away from being consumed by darkness. It was worse when Sunshower did try to talk with him only to be completely ignored. Rourke’s soldiers, for the most part, were completely gone from reality.

“Yeah… I’m good. It just stings a little. Still… it was necessary to get all the ‘money’ in the end right ladies?”

Both of them nodded doing their best to keep their smirks hidden. While the driver seemed utterly unaware of his surroundings, we still took no chances with him. Throughout our trip with the caravan we all noticed how lifeless the people looked. The only two who didn’t were Rourke and Helga. Rourke looked completely manic at this point stroking something on his shoulder while he led from the front. Helga was more perturbed by the sudden shift he was exhibiting. She kept her distance and seemed to stare forlornly back at the rest of the group that was left behind then scrutinize the chamber that was holding the heart. We needed to release the heart eventually but for now we played along while the other mercenaries were lost in their own darkness.

After painstakingly waiting for the caravan to return to the shaft it was clear just how much darkness had enveloped the other group. Several Soldier heartless were mulling around getting a large air balloon ready while the three of us nervously stood by while Rourke ordered the heartless around. The mercs all shuddered in place before turning into Ballasts as they loading the chamber holding the Heart of Atlantis. Helga immediately unholstered her Luger keeping it in hand while Rourke merely got on the platform of the hot air balloon.

“I love it when a plan comes together.” Rourke smirked as the five of us got on the platform.

I pushed Spitfire and Sunshower ahead of me to the other side of the platform behind cover as the Soldiers all prepared themselves as they had more darkness enter them turning them into Air Soldiers. Several of the Ballasts actually ripped their anchors off getting their gatling cannons ready to fire.

“Now… Let’s deal with you now. You think yourself great manipulators. Ha! Amateurish at best but I will commend you on getting the little prim and proper girlie to go along with it.” Rourke sneered as he stepped forward to me. Helga took a few steps back completely isolating herself from Rourke as a large crocodilian heartless appeared over Rourke’s shoulder.

I more than expected that he would realize it. It also was very lucky that I brought both pegasi with me as the hot air balloon started to rise above the ground. The darkness made the platform grow out from the center. The heartless grew in size and immediately tackled into me dragging me out to the platform while Rourke laughed into the cavern allowing his echoes to pierce the surrounding walls.

38. Lost Empire: Savior

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“Why is it always snapping jaws!? It’s always snapping jaws! First it was the snake and then the second one added fire to the mix. It's always the snapping jaws!” I complained as the large alligator heartless kept pushing its jaw into my face.

Throughout all this time Spitfire and Sunshower were attempting to get closer. The alligator heartless had gripped onto me though the stubby claws it had did absolutely nothing but tickle me. It was mortifying since everytime a chuckle escaped my muzzle the snapping jaws would get closer. When Spitfire attempted to strike from above it rolled in place bringing me to bear at Spitfire’s attack.

“Gray stop playing with the giant literally heartless monster! I can't get a decent shot if you keep fooling around!” Spitfire screamed out.

“It's not on purpose!” I struggled to say.

Sunshower flew up a bit firing off several blizzard spells at the tail. Spitfire smirked slightly as she went for another strike. As they planned the heartless went to roll again only to twist uncomfortably in place. Snapping back as the one on top, the alligator heartless was struck by Spitfire. Her blade sliced through its back causing its jaw to open wider than I previously thought possible. That did nothing to stop the nightmares I was certain to be having of snapping jaws.

“Open wide you overgrown lizard!” Sunshower immediately planted her hooves down releasing a barrage of blizzards into the heartless’ mouth freezing it shut.

I managed to pull some leverage from the struggle as I started to kick it in the stomach. While the heartless are anatomically different from all actual living organisms they do in fact have pain receptors. At first I thought it was all wrong but all things need to feel pain otherwise they would suicidally charge into danger without worry or care. Cutting off my inquisitive thought, I placed more emphasis on my kicks changing where I placed them as its grip faltered enough to let go of me.

“Finally! No more snapping jaws!” I cheered at the top of my lungs before being slammed away by an overbearing tail.

“Hey! No one gets to tumble him around but me! And maybe Sunshower and the others… you know what I mean” Spitfire yelled out, blanched slightly from losing her train of thought, then retiring back to her main point slightly a bit more red.

“Please don't bring me into your idea of a fantasy.” Sunshower begged as she kept her eyes trained on the heartless.

“What!? It would be fun.” Spitfire defended all the while the two were getting distracted.

“Ladies, you're both pretty. Argue later it's still around and taunts are wasted on it.” I chided slightly.

As the two regained their composure the heartless faced me and suddenly a large cloud of ice came flying towards me. Angling my keyblade, I used a reflect spell knocking the frozen shrapnel out of the sky. It charged forward spinning in mid air as it corkscrewed straight for me. I nearly made the rookie mistake of backing up and shifted my weight to roll to the side.

“You know I have to admit this is one of the most interesting things I've ever seen. What do you think Helga?” Rourke called out from the central platform, head rested against his hand as he wielded a machine gun in the other.

“They're pegasi… right then.” Helga deadpanned though her eyes betrayed her obvious interest.

“Think of how much we could make should we sell them. Million easily for the pegasi and maybe three mil for the bat version. A true rarity for any wild game collector.” Rourke smirked in glee while watching us struggle against the heartless.

As he raised his machine gun a beam of lightning shot it out of his hand. From the crazed look in his eye he saw Vinny mock salute him before Helga rounded on him with her Luger.

Ten minutes earlier…

The girls had been buckling along on the ride with the giant fish robot thing as Vinyl so aptly put it. Octavia sighed when everypony else also called it that.

“So do we got a plan then Tavi? I mean we are charging head first into uncharted territory.” Vinyl looked towards their fearless leader who seemed to flinch when all eyes rested on her.

“Right… yes I got a plan. It's um… we come in low and keep any flying heartless off their footing to make sure that the fish ships don't get damaged. If we can we join up with Gray to take care of that jerk face.” Octavia stuttered out at first but finished strong as the timber of her voice got stronger.

“Sounds good to me.” Fresh Coat shrugged smiling slightly as she aimed her training blade out over the edge.

“I guess I'll help watch that side as well then.” Redheart motioned her own keyblade over the edge. Some magic was pooling in the tip.

Octavia and Vinyl nodded to each other as they got to the other edge of the fish ship. As far as the pilot was concerned he now was forced into a vanguard position to break through the front line with the other gung ho personalities he was working off of.

“We're talking about this Alpha thing later Vinyl.” Octavia whispered to her friend who suddenly blanched and backed up slightly.

“What do you mean?” Vinyl nonchalantly waved her hoof off but the sweat dripping down her cheeks gave her away.

“You know what I mean.” Octavia sneered out darkly.

Gulping, Vinyl stepped back to Octavia's side as the collection of fish ships burst into the caldera cavern. In the center, surrounded by several Ballasts, Air Soldiers, Red Nocturnes, and Blue Rhapsodies was a giant balloon. A large alligator heartless started growing from it as darkness flowed towards the balloon. A large platform appeared around the balloon as the alligator tackled a familiar looking pony.

“Gray!” Fresh Coat screamed out nearly causing the ship to tip back and forth.

“Calm down!” Octavia cried out while Redheart pulled Fresh Coat away from the edge.

While Gray struggled with the heartless Vinny and Milo made a breakthrough past the heartless blockade. As they flew around distracting Rourke and Helga, both Sweet and Audrey made a beeline for the cage that was holding Kida. Audrey began the difficult process of cutting through chains with a bonesaw.

“I thought you said this could cut through a femur in twenty three seconds!” Audrey snarled at Dr. Sweet.

“More cutting, less talking.” Sweet replied.

“Looks like someone is working overtime.” Rourke snarked as he pointed his finger downwards for Helga to see.

She quickly ran over to several of the hydrogen canisters releasing a few over the ships that were hovering near the cage. Audrey was forced from her ship clinging to the chains holding the cage as she kept sawing away at them.

“Okay girl time to go then.” Sweet grabbed Audrey off the chain flying off just as another canister nearly fell upon them.

As the two were forced off Vinny and Milo took their chance. While Vinny did what he did best Milo psyched himself up. With nary a thought for his own safety he set the ship forward jumping at the last minute. The ship punctured one of the balloons and Milo barely clung to the main balloon. The balloon was going down.

I nearly stumbled as the entire platform shook with me suffering the effects only. Since our illusion somehow shattered and Rourke was now looking to sell us I had to think fast. The heartless hit me again with its tail while Spitfire and Sunshower fired a barrage of spells at it.

“We need to lighten the load!” Rourke hollered most likely to Helga who I couldn't see because of the heartless focusing its attention entirely on me.

Before I could overhear more of their conversation could continue the heartless attempted to snap me up in its jaws… again. The spells being flung out barely phased the monster from stopping its prodigious charge flinging through the hail of blizzard spells, the bolts of thunder spells, and the bursts of fire spells.

“You said we were partners. You promised me a percentage!” Helga screamed as she kicked Rourke again. She went for one more kick only to be grabbed at the last minute.

I smacked the creature down changing my weapon back to the tomahawk. The fissure created from the power sent the heartless bouncing across the platform as Rourke lifted Helga above his head and threw her over the side of the platform.

“Spitfire!”

“On it!” She yelled as she zoomed down through the propeller blades without blinking an eye.

I could only hope that she got there in time before Helga died. It happened in the movie in question and this was never going to go one to one in most cases. Sunshower came down to my level knocking the creature back some more before coming back to my side and casting a cure spell.

“You know that we’re not exactly in the best position around here right?” Sunshower glowered over towards Rourke who had smacked Milo with his fist.

“Yeah… Let’s hurry up before Milo gets taken down.”

The two of us galloped over to Milo taking care to stay grounded. While flying was useful the flailing of the balloon was becoming a problem to navigate around. The platform was slowly losing altitude. As we reached the pair Milo and Rourke were knocked down towards the cage Kida was being kept in.

“You know Mr. Thatch… I’m a reasonable man but you and your friends have finally perturbed me. Congratulations. You won the solid gold kewpie doll.” Rourke muttered while his eyes showed nothing but an unhinged beast hunting down and sadistically playing with it’s prey. Rourke slammed an axe at Milo while Sunshower and I could only watch. There was no footing for us to land on and our wings would get stuck in the rigging that was around the area.

The sound of broken glass broke us out of our worry as Rourke lifted Milo by the scruff of his shirt, if you could call it that, up to eye level. As Rourke reared back the axe Milo used a piece of glass covered in a strange glowing blue liquid to slice his arm leaving a small gash as Milo fell to the cage.

Rourke dropped the axe and in his rage made to grab for Milo when his arm started to turn darker. The skin around the cut mottled and festered before turning to stone. The stone made quick work growing over his arm enveloping it in blue stone. The affliction turned worse working down his body covering its entirety within seconds until it slowed around his neck. While Milo started to climb up Rourke reached out to him before the energy fully covered his head cutting off his breath and turning him into a statue. Several cracks glowed along his body signifying every moment that he moved and when it was over the dead face of Commander Lyle T. Rourke stood staring up at us forever stuck in perpetual fear of an unimaginable horror.

“Oh thank god.” Milo breathed out.

“Good job Milo hurry up and get back up here.”

“Gray, that heartless is getting back up already. We need to get ready for him.” Sunshower harshly hissed out seeming nervous for some reason with the twitching of her ears. Even my own ears were twitching like crazy at this point.

Spitfire shot down towards the falling woman swerving through the cloud of heartless patrolling the skies. Her Wonderbolt training instantly took control as she brought out her keyblade and used a corkscrew maneuver to drill through anything in her way. As Spitfire came closer to Helga she flared out her wings slightly allowing her to get beneath Helga and grab her. Spitfire almost gasped in surprise when she noticed that the woman seemed to be lighter than she possibly should be.

“Well how about that… Being a keyblade wielder actually makes you stronger.” Spitfire mused slightly while she carried Helga over to one of the dirt formations. “You gonna be any problem?”

Helga folded her arms across her chest glaring daggers up at the balloon. Spitfire’s eyes follow and with her freakily good eyesight she notices that Milo is tussling with Rourke… and losing badly.

“Not to you that’s for sure.” Helga’s glare hyper focused on the balloon.

“So enemy of my enemy then?” Spitfire motioned her hoof slightly toward Helga who looked at it for a moment.

“Fine… I did like that other pegasus that you were with.” Helga rolled her eyes and gave Spitfire a very curt shake.

“Spitfire… are you ok?” A voice called out from above her. Craning her neck she noticed the other four ponies she had left behind already upon them.

“Hey there ladies… Mind giving us a ride?” Spitfire smiled and for some reason there was also a squeak which surprised Helga when she heard it.

“Sure… Mind filling us in on what happened while we go help Gray?” Octavia intoned almost reaching an ordering tone. Spitfire groaned slightly but the two got onto the ship though the pilot seemed a bit uncertain of things… until Vinyl patted him on the back to get him to continue flying through the barrage of heartless.

Before anypony could explain further a large barrier appeared around the balloon blocking the airspace above and the rigging below. Gray, Sunshower, and Milo were trapped on the platform with the balloon slowly descending to the volcano below.

At the same time…

As we felt the danger Milo took one last look at Rourke. As he was about to make it back up onto the platform a crystallized hand grabbed the chain right below him. Milo was forced to look at the still moving body of Rourke climbing up to grab him.

“Milo grab on!”

I allowed the keyblade tip out to him. As he grabbed it I yanked him up stopping Rourke from actually touching him. The portion of the chain he has touch slightly crystallized encasing a portion in stone. Milo immediately backed up running out to the edge of the platform while Sunshower followed right after him. I slowly stepped back as Rourke made his way up onto the platform. He didn’t speak at all though a strange gurgling sound came out of his mouth. He had no eyes… and only light came out of the holes. As I reached Sunshower and Milo I noticed that the heartless had gotten back on his feet.

“So… Sunshower… think you can handle the heartless while I keep Rourke away from us?”

“Are you serious?” Sunshower gasped as she saw the heartless stumbling around seeming much worse for wear than it had started out as.

I had to remember that the tomahawk did the most damage to anything and should be used only on larger enemies. Without a Green Requiem they also couldn’t heal either. Sunshower cringed but with Rourke also in the picture she needed to make sure Milo wasn’t accidentally eaten or worse.

“Maybe… wait what’s that?” Sunshower perked up as she heard a buzzing sound.

Out from nowhere an Air Soldier managed to circumvent the shield that was surrounding our battlefield and for some strange reason it took its place next to Rourke. Something terrible must have happened to Rourke after he was turned into a walking crystal stone man because as soon as the heartless was in reach he grabbed it by the neck squeezing tightly with a single fist. Within seconds the same magical residue that had been on the glass that Milo used surged from Rourke’s body and entered the heartless transforming him to crystal or stone. It didn’t get back up and it wasn’t from lack of trying either. Rourke smashed the Air Soldier statue against the ground shattering it to smithereens.

“I think I’ll take the heartless on.” Sunshower gulped and pulled out her blade flying off against him.

“Right then… Milo I need you to keep moving. I think he might be pissed off at you most of all.”

“Can do. I can do that. Obviously I can do it. Um… go get’em um… weird bat horse thing that I’m pretty sure is Gray.” Milo stuttered out.

“Uh… pony and I guess you’ve noticed that we’re not exactly human then?”

“Until now. I’ll just keep quiet about it. Uh… Rourke’s coming.” Milo pointed out.

Rourke growled out as he charged against me. I pressed the crystal on my pauldron and the armor I wore so long ago instantly came into being as I pulled out Nightmare Cascade. This was going to be difficult.

The heartless lunged for Sunshower, maw gaping wide open, wild look in its eyes as it attacked. Sunshower immediately dove beneath the creature striking at the tail as it tried to slam down on her. The tail bounced away as the beast rolled over, face first, onto its back. Sunshower wasted no time flapping her wings to get back into the air before diving down with the tip of her training blade in front of her.

“Take this!” Sunshower screamed at the top of her lungs as the blade planted itself deep into the heartless’ belly.

With a quick slice the blade part cut through the darkness. For a moment it looked as though Sunshower had defeated the monster. She felt triumphant, powerful, and then she felt nothing.

The tail had lunged out from below smacking her off to the side far from the beast. Slightly dazed she was given at least the chance to regain her footing as the heartless struggled to get to its feet. Sensing that it was not going to be overpowering the small pony it was fighting, it did the only sensible thing it could possibly do. The heartless soon started to fade from sight but it was not from being defeated.

Sunshower looked around. It was gone and off in the distance Gray and Rourke were still fighting. Gray kept dodging striking only when Rourke made big swings. Before she could go help him out anyways she could possibly think of doing she noticed something off. A weird shimmering effect was right in front of her eyes as if she had been in the desert for hours looking at mirages in the distance. It was too close to be that though.

“Oh no…” Sunshower’s eyes turned to prinpricks as she realized now why she was still feeling that dread.

The creature could turn invisible. Gray had always said he could smell darkness just overflowing from Rourke… which meant it was always there clinging onto him, watching. It was watching them all the entire time. Shaking her head she instantly used an aero spell. While she couldn’t see it she could at the very least defend against it.

Sunshower flew back against the ground as she heard a very loud hiss come from her right. Her entire left side was sore at this point. The Aero spell had done its job as the shimmering brought the heartless back to sight, but only for a moment. It soon faded back from sight leaving Sunshower still confused about where it was.

“I don’t know what I’m doing… damn it all.” Sunshower moped slightly as the sting in her side kept hurting.

Unsure of what she could do Sunshower readied a Spark spell. As she lifted her blade something slid across the platform knocking her off her feet. The spell shot off into the sky leaving the area blinded in light.

“What the-” Sunshower started before hitting the platform.

When the light spell went off, she could see a shimmering spot nearby and a large shadow on the platform somehow. The platform was strangely blue which confused Sunshower a bit more the more thought she put into it. Shaking herself back up Sunshower readied another Spark spell firing it straight up. She immediately flew up to evade another tail swipe and saw where the shadow and shimmering rested.

“Gotcha!” Sunshower cried out.

Diving straight down she released a flurry of combos knocking the heartless around. The damage it had suffered from the tomahawk had taken its toll making it too sluggish to keep moving around. Sunshower raised her blade one final time slicing off the heartless’ tongue. The darkness flowed from the tongue as the creature dissipated into the aether.

“I-I did it…” Sunshower muttered out realizing she actually managed to win.

As she took it all in she remembered the real problem turning her eyes over to Gray. What she saw shocked her in spot.

At the same time…

Rourke slammed his fist against my blade forcing me back. As the Rourke crystal monster kept trying to smash my face in I managed to make him completely forget about Milo entirely. I wondered if that was actually a good thing as Rourke managed to get a hand on my foreleg as I was swinging the blade.

The crystal encroached on my arm forcing me to switch back to the tomahawk and use my free leg to strike at Rourke sending the crystal monster as far away from me. Rourke laid flat on the ground stunned while I looked over my leg. The armor kept the crystal at bay as a small ring of magic looked to be trying to purge the crystal from climbing any further up.

“Well… that’s gonna be unfortunate…”

I immediately took off into the air switching back to the keyblade as I dove down at Rourke’s prone form. As the blade came close the monster rolled out of the way escaping the impalement before jumping back to his feet. Wasting no time Rourke stood back on his feet a snarling mess of cracks and crystal.

Within seconds he charged at me knocking me onto my back as I struggled to keep him from grabbing my neck which his arms were flailing around. It didn’t stop the crystal effect very well as I was forced to use my back legs to push him off. The crystal started forming on my legs as I pushed Rourke away once again. My steps were uneven as the crystal formed around my back hooves. Not wasting anytime I flew back up into the air and struck down Rourke a couple times.

Rourke shuddered under the assault as he formed more crystals out of his arm and shot them out at me. Rolling out of the way, I noticed that once the crystal hit something it exploded and made portions of the platform crystalize. I felt a bit of sweat drip beneath the helmet of my armor.

“Are you serious!?”

I summoned out the daggers instead and tossed them through the crystals that Rourke fired shattering them mid flight. Luckily when the shards fell to the ground they didn’t envelope the ground fading to dust before they hit the ground. The monster formerly known as Rourke jumped into the air as soon as the final crystal shard was fired, his arm twisting into some kind of blade. The only look on his face was the unmitigated horror he was feeling from the deformation of his arm but he didn’t scream. I don’t think he was capable of screaming anymore as the blade came closer to me. I pulled out the tomahawk and planted me hooves firm. At the tip came close I swung out meeting him halfway. His weight coupled with the speed at which he was falling against the strength boost from the tomahawk and how large the weapon was compared to me caused us clash against one another.

My legs started to buckle as he started to get closer. It wasn’t even a matter of strength at this point. The crystals that had stuck onto me had started to glow slightly. I didn’t feel it at first but that was probably the point. We were even only because the crystals were helping him. They were draining my strength and the only reason I managed to keep him from impaling me was due to using the tomahawk.

I pushed him off of me flinging him back as I heard the unmistakable sound of darkness dissipating. Before I could twist my eyes over Rourke had managed to correct himself twisting his arms back into hands. I felt a sudden pressure as one of those hands managed to get around my neck and the crystal started to grow over my body.

Gray was in deep trouble. Sunshower was trembling in spite of the added danger. This monster had managed to match Gray evenly enough in a fight even though he was much stronger than all of them combined, at least in her eyes he was. Tears started to form as she saw Gray’s lifeless body flung to the ground, the sadness of her herd mates, and the monster looming over them turning them to crystal and shattering them. It was too much.

‘What do I do? What do I do?’ Sunshower panicked, hyperventilating throughout the entire assault.

Out of nowhere she felt her heart beat furiously as she pulled out her keyblade. It hummed in her hoof as she gripped the hilt tighter somehow. What was once a generic training blade soon became more, as the hilt shifted into a large storm cloud with the grip decorated with stylized lightning bolts. The shaft of the blade warped in changing to a similar look like Gray’s first keyblade only sky blue in color. The tip of the keyblade was a regular cloud with the teeth becoming three raindrops falling from it with the outside drops falling less than the central drop.

“Cloud Nine… “ Sunshower muttered as she looked over it slightly.

Shaking her head, she instantly shot off straight for Rourke. She didn’t have any armor but she didn’t need it. All she needed to do was knock that jerk off of Gray.

I once thought my death would come at the hands of that corrupt Police Chief I once worked under. He made it no secret that I was someone he would hate because of my ‘narrow sense of justice’ in his own words as he called it. Instead I my armor was being converted into a crystallized coffin in which I would suffocate because of an over ambitious Commander who bit off more than he could chew. The world is a funny place honestly.

The crystal had worked over the rest of my neck encircling it as Rourke gripped tighter. He didn’t gloat, nor did he speak the entire time we had fought. The moment that he had warped his hand into a blade told me exactly how he actually felt. The pain was probably unbearable as he was twisted from the inside out into a crystal monster. He was kind of beyond saving at this point.

“Get away from him!” Sunshower screamed out as she used a baseball swing knocking Rourke off of Gray towards the edge of the platform.

Milo rushed over picking Gray up slightly as he tried to get him back to the central ring. The platform had started to shrink due to the loss of the heartless. Sunshower noticed casting several blizzard spells at Rourke stopping him in place as she flew backwards. As the platform finally faded Rourke fell from the platform falling into the still rotating propeller. The sound of shredded crystal and an inhuman scream followed while the small shards cut through the chains holding up Kida’s cage.

The balloon was still falling down and I was still stuck in my armor from the crystallization. It was luck that I’m still breathing as I felt Sunshower start to hack away at me. I didn’t really understand why she was doing it… until I remembered that the crystal had been choking me. As soon as the part around my neck was knocked off I felt my breath return gasping in deeply of that sweet sweet air.

“What happened?”

“You almost died… Are you ok?” Sunshower sniffed slightly.

“Yeah… Did you just get your keyblade? Proud of ya Sunshower. Let’s get out of here already.”

I got up stumbling slightly but a cure spell from Sunshower managed to stop the lightheadedness I was feeling. We quickly picked up Milo and flew down to the cage that held Kida. It was sturdier than I thought since it was still intact. Before we could go celebrate several dark cannonballs fired on the balloon.

“Oh damn... “

Milo pushed the cage out of the way with Sunshower and I helping him move it out of the way. The cannonballs hit their mark causing a lot of sparks to flit into existence. The hydrogen burst into flames causing the balloons to explode and come hurtling down to the ground. Several plasma styled bolts went off around us as the heartless were phased out of physical plane. Several of the ships came down including the one holding the rest of the herd. Mole got off his ship alongside Vinny and Audrey.

“The volcano… She awakes!” Mole cried out as several cracks appeared on the caldera and steam started to break through them.

I pushed Sunshower up onto the ship with the others while Milo and Audrey got a chain together to put around the cage. Vinny was holding a lit stick of dynamite.

“I just want to say I had nothing to do with this.” Vinny explained noticing that he lit the dynamite.

He quickly snuffed it out as Milo and Audrey got the chain around Kida’s cage as I flew up to the ship with the rest of the girls. Octavia instantly hugged me tightly before we started to fly off back to the city. When all eyes focused on Sunshower’s keyblade everypony were in awe. The ring that the chain was clinging onto snapped completely causing all of us to look on as Milo went back down to get the chain around the cage.

“Milo, hurry up!” Audrey cried out.

“Just go!” Milo screamed back as the cracks started to get deeper.

He jumped onto the cage as the ships all flew back to the city. I had to keep Sunshower and Spitfire from flying off to help because the thermals created from the lava flows would have wrecked their ability to fly straight and more than likely plunge them into the lava. We were the first ship to break back through the tunnels and fly back into the city.

As we hit the main plaza the ship holding the cage was lowered onto the ground in the plaza. Milo landed soon after with all the survivors from the expedition crowded around with the group. Helga stood off to the side trying to make herself appear much smaller than she was. Several large magma rocks flew overhead as a guard ran over with a spear giving it to Milo.

“The fissure… it is about to eject… its pyroclastic fury!” Mole screams out as he watches the lava start to flow from the tunnel into the basin below the city.

“Milo, Mole says the wall’s going to blow!” Sweet translated for him getting Milo to work fast on getting the cage open.

Milo pried the lid off of the cage causing the entire metal casing to burst apart a short distance and float around Kida’s body. She was the same color as the crystal that Rourke had turned to. Her body lifted into the sky and a large pulse of light burst out from her. The entire city began shaking. Several giants rose from the water walking towards the edge of the city standing at key points around the circumference.With a loud clap a field of energy formed from their hands creating an ever expanding shield. Within seconds the shield overlapped with one another as the lava started filling in the basin. A wave washed over the city highlighted over the entire shield and everything went red.

“Holy buck…” Vinyl breathed out.

“Not the time Vinyl.” Fresh Coat muttered.

“It is pretty amazing… I don’t think we’ll ever see something so amazing on Equestria, at least not so easily.” Octavia thought aloud receiving some stilted mutterings from Spitfire and Vinyl.

“Wonderbolts for life.” Spitfire answered resolutely pumping her hoof up in a mild salute.

“Well nothing breaks her spirit, eh?” Redheart snarked slightly.

“Are our illusions still working?”

Everypony instantly checked their bracelets making certain that their disguises were back on as another pulse of energy flew from the heart. The lava supercooled before our very eyes before more energy poured out cracking the caldera away from the shield. As everything that had covered the city sizzled away the shield went down and the waters flowed back into the basin recooling the lava once again and leaving the city still standing through the entire debacle.

“Finally… A good end to a long adventure.”

“Weren’t we supposed to find a keyhole?” Sunshower brought up.

Before we could continue our discussion, Kida slowly floated down from the heart back in flesh and blood. Slowly she opened her arms embracing Milo as she held out a necklace. We all looked out into the city, at the people we saved, at the ones who survived, and thought long and hard about what else we needed to do. We helped save a world in a sense. As I pondered things more in depth someone screamed.

“Kida, your necklace!” Milo pointed out as the necklace started glowing a bright light.

“What is happening!?” Kida shocked, let go of it.

The necklace floated up back to the heart almost above us. The entire world shifted into another plane of reality as everything turned orange. A large crown appeared below our entire group and I made to summon my keyblade… then stopped.

“Sunshower. Summon your keyblade.”

“What?” Sunshower reluctantly did so subconsciously.

“You are sealing the world off from the heartless.”

“WHAT?” Sunshower gasped as did the other mares.

“Just point your keyblade up to the necklace and it should be fine.”

Hesitating slightly, Sunshower raised her keyblade towards the sky. A small light appeared on the tip and the necklace transformed into a keyhole. Everypony could see the world’s heart from within beating in tandem with every time it twinkled. The beam of light shot from her keyblade and the lock was sealed making the keyhole disappear. The world came back into view as the necklace floated back down into Kida’s hand. The world was safe now.

“I really want to sleep for a while…”

Several Atlanteans all cheered as the entire populace started a celebration. Unfortunately for my group, exhaustion had taken its toll and Kida graciously led us towards the palace. There were things she needed to prepare for and we were to be given some time to rest. The rest of the mercs partied with the Atlanteans while Helga disappeared off to another area. Milo, Vinny, Sweet, and Cookie followed after her.

Kida kept quiet as we entered the palace. The sight of her father didn’t send her to tears but the sadness she felt I could tell was permeated throughout the entire room. One of the guards led us to a single bedroom which forced us to share. Just like at Whitmore’s Mansion I was put in the center and had everypony curled around me. I was too tired to voice concern though I probably wouldn’t for any discernable reason. Everypony immediately fell asleep and I soon followed afterwards.

“Hm… I suppose somepony couldn’t keep themselves from becoming a monster.” A figure out in the active volcano mused as the flames licked at the shield that surrounded them.

The figure was vaguely pony shaped and seemed to be wearing a long flowing cloak. They worked their way through the lava stopping whenever they found a shard of the crystal monster that had nearly killed a key wielder. They smirked slightly as the filled up the bag with more and more shards. Most had been lost in the explosion, rendered into dust from it but enough survived to be useful.

“I suppose it was only a matter of time before ponies earned their own keyblade but I didn’t think it would take this long. Celestia and Luna must have messed up somewhere along the line. They always were the kind of ponies who prioritized friendship over duty. Still with the knowledge I gained over the years I suppose I should give them the benefit of the doubt.” The figure muttered as they flicked their horn around scanning the area.

The figure clicked his tongue in frustration. There were no more shards to be found. The shield rose out of the lava and with another pulse of their horn the entire magma chamber froze over, cooling instantly allowing the figure to lower said shield. With a flick of their hood, his beard flowed freely and his hat came into view jingling in delight.

“Soon… all the mysteries of the heart will be known to me. Or my name isn’t Starswirl the Bearded.”

39. Greetings

View Online

That same familiar feeling took over as I looked over a large desk with the Lexicon resting upon it. Several pedestals were lit up due to the constant fighting in the Lost Empire. I looked over the book trying to find where my stats were.

“Gray… Where are we?” A voice called out from one of the corners of the room that made up my mind.

My eyes scanned around as I looked for whomever was speaking to me. In the corner of the room was a familiar looking pegasus examining the pedestals in more detail. When she saw me sitting at the desk she shot forward getting close to me. For some reason she was shaking uncontrollably.

“Sunshower! What are you doing here? I mean, seriously, this is my mind in a dream realm and you managed to get in here… Maybe I have some brain damage from not being able to breath during the fight with Rourke.”

“This is your mind… In your dream… I don’t get it.” Sunshower puzzled out.

“It means that while I’m asleep I lucid dream this place as a sanctum for my heart and soul. The fact that you’re here means that you are really really close to me or you managed to unlock a path for our dreams to work together because you earned your keyblade. Did you figure out what it was called?”

“Yeah… It told me that it was called Cloud Nine. I don’t know what it can do yet but I’ll figure it out later when we have more time.” Sunshower answered in kind.

“Well for now let’s just relax I suppose. Hm… I feel like there are more things here… Sunshower, I think someone else is here in this dream realm. This is the third time someone managed to get into my dreams from another realm.”

Sunshower looked around as a door appeared where I pointed which caused her to jump slightly. She was much more confident since what happened though her eyes seemed a bit hardened. I moved towards the door opening it and looking through. There were footsteps somewhere in the distance.

“Keep close. I think someone is in here with us.”

“Okay so we were teleported to John's world right?” A man in a white Dusk looking cloak asked a kid in a Samurai looking cloak.

“Yes.” The kid nodded. “But then we somehow passed out… and now we’re here in a dream world.” The child said, frowning behind the shadow of his cloak.

“Well that's just fantastic.” The man groaned. “Right when bad shit was happening and we needed to be ready for anything. Jeez what next? Meeting new people out of the blue cause the god of convenience said so?”

A hissing appeared as a thestral was hanging from the ceiling staring at the two with glowing amber eyes. It eyed them cautiously as several more eyes appeared surrounding the two.

The two looked around at the eyes and then shrugged. “Meh.” They both said in unison. “How you doing up their ma’am?” The man asked the thestral with a little wave.

“Guy. If anybody looked like a woman it's the two wearing the long flowing robes. So madams should we get you some tea and crumpets since you look like victorian era rejects. “ The thestral intoned with a small wave of his hoof which every other thestral copied.

“Rarity and Coco would take great offense at that.” The child says honestly. “Also we're not women, and sorry for thinking you were a woman...distance and all that.” The child shrugged.

“You sure? I mean I can see the taller one being too man-ish but you looked like a bishounen type character. It must suck for you since it means women are dominating you left and right with no hope of survival. Also it’s fine. Gray is caring soul. I forgive ya.” Gray chuckled out as the other thestrals followed suit.

“More like all my girls keep flirting too much.” The samurai cloaked kid sighed out.

“Same difference.” Gray shrugged. “So… who are you two and why are you in my dream realm?”

“The name’s Ben, and this is my little brother Joy.” The man said. “And how we got here...literally no idea.” Ben shrugged.

“Earth right? You know the other two… I think one was Zeke and the other was Eclipse. But he’s really called Sparkplug. We can all see the writing on the wall.” Gray slyly rubbed his hoof against his chin.

“Yes, we do know of Zeke and Eclipse. Friends of ours actually.” Ben nodded. “So… I suppose you're one of those trollish people huh? Always trying to mess with people even if they're not enemies?” Ben asked, finding what he said before in a kind of 'trollish’ fashion.

“Sort of. I’m just tired of others getting too close to getting near where my mind is every time I’m sleeping. Always as if on the dot someone shows up and I have to deal with someone who is either boring, or is technically insane. It gets old real fast and I hate things getting boring. Zeke was a bit boring to mess with while Eclipse was willing to play along. So which are you?” Gray looked down on the two scrutinizing them more closely.

“Gray did you find the things that found their way in here?” Sunshower called out.

“Yeah!” Gray yelled out.

“Are they hostile?” Sunshower peered over some cover she had found.

“No!” Gray called back.

“We’re not hostile, but for who we are…” Ben started before seeing a small white ball gently float around them. “That's debatable because I have a new life instead of being a depressed sack of shit.” He explained.

“Oh… So you’re boring then. Gotcha.” Gray waved it off with one of his wings before pushing the white ball amongst the other thestrals letting them use it as a beach ball.

“Um…” Ben started before the ball vanishes away from the thestral and back to Ben and Joy. “Anywhosits, have any adventures while I didn't know you existed?” He asked curiously.

“Yup. Called Nightmare Moon a whorse which was hilarious. Fought off two very large snake heartless and I almost died like four times already. It was fun overall. Though I do want to have a mango soon. I need to find some on Equestria. Sunshower! Do you know where I can get mangoes!?” Gray looked towards the yellow pegasus with the light blue mane.

“Hollow Shades!” Sunshower answered.

“Hollow Shade?” Gray answered back.

“Yes.” Sunshower shook her head covering her eyes with her hoof.

“Well there is my next adventure. So I take it you’re getting ready for something important? I am too. I’m getting ready for mangoes.” Gray confidently raised his voice.

“And our important stuff involves helping people fight against a big bad that wants to kill all existence.” Ben frowned. “And trust me, he can start backing up that claim.”

“Neat.” Gray answered in kind with a thin smile.

“So… you're happy that everything you know and care about in some sort of way will ripped from you in a very painful way...right?” Joy asked.

“Yup. Should be an interesting experience. Sucks to be you though since you have that burden on your shoulders. Have fun with that.” Gray chuckled out slightly.

“Denial.” Ben stated, not believing this guy literally wanted his life to end along with whoever cared about him. “Okay so just for your information, there is this guy named Core, and-”

“Ah ah ah. Zeke told me about that. I got bored within the first couple of minutes. Heard that pitch and he still hasn’t heard of me or even come to my world. I have never even seen anything about him in anything I’ve done at all.” Gray cut Ben off already hearing the same song and dance before.

“Then I suppose he saw you as nothing more than a random fuck wit with a Keyblade.” Joy shrugged. “Cause while he's having fun cloning, murdering people in the billions, and just doing whatever the hell he wants that even a family of the most well known criminals back on Earth condemn, you've just been sitting there not knowing any horrors this real life has to offer.” Joy explained. “And Cores not even the worst thing out there.”

“Still neat.” Gray smiled and nodded as if he understood.

“Okay… so how was your life before life turned upside down?” Ben asked, not wanting to rush into shouting at him for understanding shit about the grand scheme of things right now.

“Oh pretty good. Loving parents and a brother with a wife and child. I became a detective and managed to live a pretty good life. Some bad things happened when the world was spiraling into end of the world mentality. You know fun times. Fun times. Yeah.” Gray sighed wistfully and looked back fondly in nostalgia.

“A detective huh?” Ben asked. “So I suppose you actually do have some modicum of understanding about what Zeke told you right? Or do you just outright not give a flying shit?”

“Depends? Do you actually care or are you going through the motions because every adult figure in your life failed you in your eyes?” Gray seriously asked. “See you keep doing weird little things with your hands every time we talk since I’ve been exasperating you with my own ideals of treating what you are going through as trivial. I mean it’s obvious that I care but there is nothing that I can do about it since I’m dealing with my own problems in my own world. I mean look at you two. One of you says that they are trying to not be a depressive sack of shit yet your eyes say that you are failing the entire time while the younger one is so lacking in confidence that I’m wondering how he can even stand up to the women in his life and show that he can be dependable. Of course those are really rusty detective skills so you tell me who do you think you two are and whether or not you can really handle that kind of weight on your shoulders. Once again, my two bits.” Gray droned on nodded his head back and forth.

“We can.” Joy states. “And if you want cliffsnotes on our lives then that's great, but I doubt you care about how our lives went from decent to absolute shit all because a murderer staged our parents deaths as suicides.” Joy explains.

“Huh? Sounds like the Pendragon case my mentor was working on before he wound up with a case of ‘the dead’.” Gray muttered.

“That's because I was their son… the one in the aftermath who thought I was the reason they died…” Ben said sadly.

“Weird. The report never mentioned you at all.” Gray seemed to be thinking back. “At least when I got his workload I never saw anything about a kid.”

“I was about...maybe ten or twelve at the time. The next six to eight years of my life was hell to say the least. But want to know something special about Joy that might seem crazy?” The dusk cloaked man asked.

“What?” Gray wondered.

“Long story short he is literally my joy given physical form.” I say. “Yep, he became my 'rejection’ when I was depressed, but after I mastered my Keyblade he came back. But then after a few months or so a stronger being in existence gave him a new body...and he happens to be over three hundred years old cause reincarnation apparently exists.” Ben explained while patting Joy’s head.

“Right. That’s a thing then. Hm… At least it’s not as weird as that one case I was on a long time ago. Never let a criminal eat his clam chowder. That was some crazy shit.” Gray chuckled.

“Glad to know you have some crazy stories. Cause we have… plenty of weird and crazy stuff to talk about if you ever want to know.” Joy smiled.

“Another time. Right now you need to leave and get back to your mission if the world is in such peril. If you survive then good job. If you don’t would you like to be buried or cremated?” Gray held out a small pamphlet detailing the burial process or cremation process.

“Um…” Ben frowned. “I'm gonna have to explain how that might not be needed. Thankfully revival items exist to a certain extent. But due to a new genetic father that's...also a thing.” He said sheepishly.

“Yeah that’s nice and all but if existence is wiped out then you won’t even leave a body. I guess we could make an effigy for you since they would never find a corpse. Oh well that should work. What did you want?” Gray smiled as he held out a book of effigies. The gorier ones were near the back of the book.

“My ten fiance's would kill me if I died. They are wonderful like that.” Ben chuckled and took the book cause why not.

“I see you want the one made out of a friend’s stomach since you keep focusing on that page.” Gray grimaced slightly since the book was made of the Lexicon.

“Either way.” Ben said while the book vanished. “It was nice meeting you Gray. And if you sense any big explosions from a different multiverse away then you'll know how bad the situation is.”

“Yup and have fun with that.” Gray tapped the ceiling with his hoof as two pits appeared below Ben and Joy.

“You know we can fly right?” Ben asked, while a door appeared next to the two of them. “This maybe your dream world, but sometimes a few...liberties are taken when others are around. Especially when one already knows how to work with mind logic.” He said while pointing at Joy who has been in his head for as long as he lived. “See ya Gray.” They both said before exiting through the door that was to their left.

“Well… that was a thing. Sunshower are you ok?”

“Yeah… They were really weird. I was also sure that they were mares too.” Sunshower pondered slightly.

“They are firmly in the Zeke camp then… slightly boring for not fully playing along.”

“Was it true what you said about them?” Sunshower looked over the area noticing that it was disappearing slowly.

“Maybe. They didn’t deny it. Anyways just forget about them for now. It’s not that important in the long run.”

Sunshower merely shrugged and followed me back into the room that represented my own mind. I looked over the pedestals really quickly before I had been distracted by an unexpected arrival. The Keyblade pedestal was still only half released. The daggers, the lexicon, and the tomahawk were all released and visible. I didn’t expect much to be released until I looked more closely. The scythe had also been released. The only problem with me summoning it is that it was… pink.

‘It’s still a scythe… but I don’t know if I would be taken seriously with it… Maybe only in Equestria especially by Pinkie Pie since she’s all about being pink…’ I groaned internally to not drag Sunshower’s attention. That brought me back to what I was truly thinking about since I had unlocked two more weapons of the thirteen I was gifted with I should check my level and hopefully the levels of the ladies as well.

“So… What’s with the pedestals Gray?” Sunshower looked over the sitar which was covered in dark chains still.

“They are weapons that my keyblade can turn into. As you grow stronger your keyblade can shift forms into new things to make combat easier. I have the possibility for thirteen weapons or more.”

Sunshower looked at each pedestal and then placed a hoof against her heart. Since gaining her true keyblade she felt a little voice come from inside her. It didn’t come from her brain though. It always seemed to come from the heart. She closed her eyes in quiet contemplation while I looked over the Lexicon that was on my desk.

Nebula Gray
Level: 23
Attack: 42
Defense: 51
Magic: 46

Sunshower Raindrops
Level: 19
Attack: 45
Defense: 36
Magic: 39

Spitfire
Level: 21
Attack: 51
Defense: 38
Magic: 32

Octavia Melody
Level: 20
Attack: 46
Defense: 50
Magic: 36

Redheart
Level: 21
Attack: 43
Defense: 53
Magic: 37

Vinyl Scratch
Level: 19
Attack: 34
Defense: 39
Magic: 53

Fresh Coat
Level: 18
Attack: 32
Defense: 35
Magic: 49

Those stats were actually pretty close to what I thought that they would be. Sunshower looked over the data as well surprised how… sparse it looked. I could see the confusion entering her eyes.

“Confused about the numbers?”

“Uh… maybe a little…” Sunshower giggled nervously and tapped her hooves around trying to appear as though she hadn’t been looking over my shoulders.

“I can explain somewhat. These numbers are like arbitrary trackers of how strong we are. The only numbers that matter are the last three for each of our respective names. The highest one details which is your best trait. Both you and Spitfire are really good attackers. You have the most physical offensive capabilities out of the entire herd.”

“So… we’re good at beating things with sticks… well keyblades for us now. So that means that Redheart and Octavia are best at defense while, of course, our unicorns are best at magic. You seem to be the defensive type.” Sunshower coyly ran her hoof across my neck bring my eyes to hers.

“Uh… yeah. I defend those who need me… It’s… uh… what I do.”

I think she learned about what she could do in a dream realm now. Before she could close in for a real long kiss the entire dream realm started to shake uncontrollably. Cursing her luck, Sunshower immediately went for my lips.

As she got closer the entire dream faded and I was starting to feel as though somepony was shaking me. In all that time, for that particular moment, I knew somepony was gonna be getting an earful of a cockblocked mare.

40. Memoirs: The Lost Empire

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It took several minutes before I willingly woke up noticing I was still in a pony pile though Octavia was the closest one with Sunshower to my right. She was staring up at the ceiling scowling away while Spitfire looked away sheepishly. Neither looked bruised so I assumed they didn’t try to beat each other to death. Still it was best to figure out what was going on at this point.

“What’s up? Has it been a week of sleeping already?”

“What? No. One of the guards knocked on the door and Milo and Kida wish to speak with us.” Spitfire explained.

“So how long has it been?”

“Nearly twenty hours.” Octavia mumbled next to me before squeezing me harder.

I coughed slightly because now I remembered just how hard earth ponies hug. It was suffocating, literally suffocating. Vinyl had to tickled her just to get her hooves off of me. Fresh Coat gave a little catcall which made the still waking up Octavia blush in embarrassment. It was an interesting development overall. Everypony was very well rested and they all also seemed to be sending humorous jabs at one another without resorting to any cruel remarks.

I suppose fighting together and living so close to one another in life and death situations had left them all realizing how much they are going to rely on one another throughout these treks into the unknown. I looked around the room finally taking in everything I purposely ignored after our fight with Rourke and his transformed mercenaries.

Standard Atlantean affair of fluffy bed most likely made from cotton should there be a farm around here with that kind of manufacturing. It was sparse and decorated with merely a rug and nightstand carved out of stone.There were two doors, one of which I knew led out into the halls as the only thing I paid attention to. Training as a cop meant making sure to be aware of your surroundings even while asleep. Didn’t help much when completely exhausted mentally but it helped on the calmer nights when I wasn’t trying to deal with the world I once knew.

I managed to roll onto the floor since Sunshower flapped up into the air. She was still disgruntled but I figured that she would feel better sooner rather than later. I quietly stretched out my back legs one at a time feeling a slight pop when I did. Each alternating hoof in the front followed suit allowing me to get the most out of my stretching. After I felt certain that my legs were limber enough I did the same to my wings stretching them out little by little. After flaring my wings out a bit I folded them back in and looked over to my herd. All of them were staring at me, fully blushed and I was pretty sure one or two of them had a nose bleed. I only watched shonen anime when I was a child and it was limited to Toonami back on earth. The only time I saw something like this it was in… Tenchi Muyo.

“So as much as I enjoy giving you all a show I think we should get ready to meet with Milo and Kida then.”

Nopony moved at all. I had to close a few mouths before they finally realized where they were and what they were doing. I really don’t think thestrals have this kind of power nor that my body is the product of perfection. I doubted God made my body with that quirk or ability attached.

“So… let’s get ready to go. We’re leaving as soon as we’re done with the pleasantries. Time to head back to Equestria ladies.”

That got everypony to quietly clean up. Though I noticed a few times that several mares’ eyes were roaming over my body. I coughed a few times when I noticed which made them quickly look away blushing. One by one we all showered though I noticed that the hot water was gone by the time I was able to take one. I was more surprised by the fact that there were pipes throughout the city.

“Oh this is gonna suck…”

It wasn’t hot water anymore… I breathed in deeply and clenched my teeth tightly. I knew the frigid blast of water was coming. I knew what to expect. I jumped in without hesitation and felt my entire body immediately seize up. I couldn’t open my mouth otherwise it would get to me. I turned around constantly letting the freezing shower cover my entire body. After a few seconds I stumbled out of the shower freezing and shivering immensely from the cold. I rolled around on one of the towels.

“C-c-c-cold…”

My teeth were chattering as I let the now soaked towel fall into a nearby hamper. I shook whatever was left dripping on me around until I was sure that I could dry off just by walking around town and made sure I at least had my wings done just in case something else was happening. Fur is a pain to wash; such is the downfall of now having a pony body. As I stepped out of the room a few of the mares were still dripping wet from their manes at the very least. I didn’t stare… or keep staring at the very least and my wings didn’t nearly pop open. I was very respectful and that smirk from Vinyl as she swatted her tail under my chin meant absolutely nothing at all.

Octavia motioned a scandalous gasp though the mirth in her eyes made sure to say that she was just kidding. Still, we all donned our disguises and made for the throne room. While it had only been a day we still were feeling the effects of our battles through the labyrinthian terrors of the tunnels and the final confrontation with a mercenary madman. This was our first adventure and it was something that we couldn’t exactly rationalize away as anything more than extraordinary.
We had ventured deep into an unknown ocean to pony eyes past a literal leviathan and battled a mercenary battalion while saving a thought to be lost civilization from genocide. That isn’t even mentioning the heartless at all. Still I pulled out the Lexicon and looked for the heartless’ info on that gator we fought above the now active volcano.

Snapagator
A large alligator heartless that muddles the minds of its host in order to turn them hostile. If the subject is already hostile it feeds on the darkness growing larger and more ferocious. By it’s namesake it snaps its jaws which can bite through steel if powered up enough. Specializes in dragging prey into darkness drowning them before devouring their heart.

Well… that entry was horrifying. Sunshower immediately read over the entry and was thoroughly disgusted by what it could do. Another strange heartless I had never even seen in the games back in my old life. I swore that one of my marefriends, I guess I should say at this point, mentioned that the snapagator looked like a cragodile. They also muttered something about the snake heartless looking like a sea serpent that lived in the Everfree Forest.

I was about to ask about those creatures when we managed to step into the throne room where Kida now sat at the stone throne while Milo stood by her side looking through the records left behind by the now late King. We all kept quiet as several of the guards led a procession with the body hidden underneath a white tarp. I bowed my head slightly while the others wept silently.

“Good to see you all awake. I suppose I have all you to thanks for freeing me from that cage I was held within.” Kida addressed us as she motioned the guards to exit the palace leaving us alone with them.

“Yeah. It was great how you all managed to do that. You know all the flipping and fighting but I gotta ask since I was under a lot of stress at the time and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t entirely crazy but… are you all actually quadruped horse like creatures.” Milo stroked his hand through his hair though the exasperated look in his eyes was telling of how he felt.

“Perhaps… Would that be bad if we were?”

Milo mulled it over nibbling at his thumbs. I was sure that Spitfire, who had gotten close to me, was using her wing to, I guess, warn me about something. It kind of tickled and didn’t get the point across well enough.

“You know what… No it would be awe inspiring that there are such creatures in this world. Though I don’t think my mind can take it.” Milo grinned maniacally which I quirked an eyebrow to. He was really wound up pretty tightly.

“Then let’s just say we’re human and leave it at that without ever bringing it up ever again?”

“Agreed.” Milo immediately jumped on the idea. Kida was a bit flabbergasted but went ahead and asked her own questions.

“I, for one, would like to know what you did back in the plaza when you freed me from my trance. One moment I was holding my mother’s necklace and then it started floating in place surrounded in a blinding light. What has happened?” Kida peered down at me while I felt Octavia push me forward.

“Well as a keyblade wielder it is our job to seal off the world’s heart from the heartless. We do this in order to keep the world from basically dying off because those creatures decide to steal the heart away. We usually try to be discreet about it but if someone is in danger then who are we to resist helping out others.”

It wasn’t a lie. As a cop it was something I sword to do to uphold justice and protect the innocent. It felt like I did way back when things were less complicated and I actually felt like I was making a difference. Still, it had been a long time since I had actually said something to that magnitude. Maybe I was lying, to her, or to myself. It was hard to gauge at this point. When I looked back everypony seemed to nod in agreement. I suppose being raised in Ponyville for most of them made them a tighter knit community. Spitfire may have been the only pony raised in Cloudsdale from what I could tell but her duty as a Wonderbolt seemed to extend to helping others no matter what.

“I am glad that our ‘world’ is safe… though by saying that you are telling me that there are other worlds out there… Is this true?” Kida seemed more interested now as she stood up and looked me eye to eye.

“I suppose that yes, there are many worlds. The King seemed to know that implicitly and I suppose that that knowledge is spread through any nobility. Now you know the truth as well and must safeguard that secret as well.”

Kida seemed to ponder over things quickly. The excitement rushed through her eyes but turned hard as she seemed to understand just how big this actually meant. Milo actually had to lead her back to the throne just to make sure she could process this all clearly. She sat down as the weight of the crown finally clicked in her mind and what it entailed actually meant to everyone who lived in Atlantis.

“What can you tell me of your world then?” Kida looked over, curiosity shining from the depth of her heart through her eyes.

“I’ll let the ladies answer. They know more about it than I do.”

It took several days before everyone was outfitted and ready to leave Atlantis. I had summoned the Gummi Ship out on the outskirts of the tunnel that led back to the volcano while another transport was acquired to allow the mercenaries to get back to the surface. Helga had been strangely pardoned more on the words of Sunshower who came to her defense during the impromptu trial during the heist. Rourke, as the commander, had taken the entirety of the blame and been sentenced to death… which was impossible at this point since he did die… horribly in fact.

While she didn’t get along with the others who had defected there was a certain respect between them all that transcended money or morality in a sense. She was given the same treatment and a share of the treasure that they were given though it was smaller than the rest if only to mitigate any bad blood between the group. That had been Redheart’s contribution. We also got a portion of treasure since the Atlanteans had no monetary use for any of it which really surprised all the mares who while didn’t care for money was surprised by how much they were giving away.

“Are you sure we can have all this?” Vinyl asked as she lifted a large emerald over her eye looking at the brilliant luster that radiated off of the uncut gem.

“Of course. Without any of you those monsters of darkness would have taken us out and destroyed us all. You all played a part in our salvation. I just wish we had more to give you all.” Kida solemnly answered as she placed a specialty jewel around everyone’s necks.

This in particular I remembered. The crystals connected directly to the Heart of Atlantis. From Milo’s lecture during our rest days they also granted a link to the heart which seemed to work more like a time abyss. While wearing the jewels on this world we effectively became immortal, aging only one year every one thousand years. Whether it would work back on Equestria was something I couldn’t answer to any of the ladies. It was an uncertainty and the fact that we could effectively become older than Celestia and Luna by virtue of remaining in Atlantis was unfathomable.

“I didn’t think being a hero would turn into something like this… Seriously I was thinking it would just be feel good moments and the feeling of knowing you did the right thing.” Spitfire muttered out sheepishly enough. She still seemed in awe about everything that was placed before her.

“What will we do with this treasure though? It’s not Equestrian bits and I don’t think we could do anything with it.” Octavia picked up a few of the atlantean coins letting them trickle through her fingers while the other ponies watched and thought as well.

“We could smelt it and sell it to somep- someone in the guard. You know how they like their gold status armor.” Fresh Coat snarked while rolling her eyes.

“Wouldn’t they ask us how we got it?” Redheart chirped in.

“Probably not. If that doesn’t work we could get our fearless leader to do something with it.” Sunshower chuckled.

“I guess I could get Stiltzkin to synthesize some other things and we could take it to random jewel shops around Equestria and pawn it off there for bits. I do need to regain some of my bits back and get more furniture… Actually Kida do you have any furniture you are willing to part with?”

“I could get the artisans to get some of their finest furniture for you if you give us another hour of your time.” Kida answered.

“That would be fine. We’re in no rush as it is for now.”

“Understood. I will get the guards to get some ready. Any particulars?” Kida questioned as she got one of the guards closer.

“A very large armchair if possible. And maybe some cabinets?”

“Right. You heard the man. Get to the artisans now.” Kida ordered as the guard ran off for their fish ship back to the city.

That left saying goodbye to the mercenaries. Mole and Sweet were loading the treasure they got into their ship. Audrey was busy getting Ms. Packard away from her suitors. Sunshower and Redheart for some reason thought that Granny Smith could give her a run for her money. I didn’t say anything about it because I was entirely confused on how it actually happened. Cookie was leering at Helga but still helped her into the ship. It was Vinny who decided to start up the goodbyes.

“You know, I’m gonna reopen the flower shop and I’m gonna think about you guys every single day. Monday to Friday, nine to five, Saturday to two. Sunday, I’m gonna take Sunday off probably and maybe I’ll go in for a couple of hours at all but August. I’m gonna take August off.” Vinny rambled on after giving Milo a hug. He also presented us with the last of his dynamite.

I quickly put it in my bag before the sly look Vinyl was getting could get any further than that. She managed to snap her illusory fingers even though it sounded more like a clip clopping sound. I still don’t understand how ponies do that.

“I ain’t so good at speechifying but I want you to have this. It’s the bacon grease from the whole trip.” Cookie sniffed a bit.

“Ah… thanks-” Milo started but Cookie shrugged it off nearly busting out into tears. Several of the ladies patted him on the back until he managed to pull himself together. Audrey came up behind Milo kissing him on the cheek before he realized what was happening.

“Ah, two for flinching,” Audrey slugged him on the shoulder slowly enough that it was actually playful. “See ya Milo.” she mock saluted before allowing Mole to take the stage.

Redheart actually broke off from us speaking to Audrey in more detail from what I could tell she was wondering about what she would do next. I missed Mole’s entire talk until Milo merely patted him on the head due to the smell he was giving off. It wasn’t pleasant on our end either. He did whisper something into Vinyl’s ear which pissed her off enough to slug him so hard that the stars he saw were seeing stars as well.

“I’ll get him back up.” Vinny pointed out lifting him back over to the treasure.

“Whoa, are you sure you want to stay. There’s a hero’s welcome waiting for the man who discovered Atlantis.” Sweet brought up.

“Nah. It’s fine down here. I’ve taken up a job deciphering gibberish language.” Milo replied as he grabbed Kida’s hand when she offered it. Everypony beside me went ‘aww’ at the sight. I merely rolled my eyes though I did feel a coy smirk appear on my face.

“Hey Sweet before you go, think you could…” Milo pointed at his neck which Sweet nodded at.

“Sure buddy.” Sweet cracked Milo’s neck and he seemingly relaxed on the spot to the surprise of everypony. I was pretty sure they were still scared of the saw they saw when we first met him.

“Enough goodbyes. Can we go now?” Ms. Packard answered in her monotonous tone while stamping out her cigarette.

“Yeah. One more picture in front of the piles of loot. Get in here everyone.” Sweet motioned for our group to join them as we all posed on the treasure.”You too Helga.”

Helga rolled her eyes and stepped off the ramp posing for the picture as well. She was entirely unhappy about the situation though Sunshower stepped near her drawing a smile from her. It was enough to last for the photo at the very least.

Fresh Coat made certain that the camera caught everyone subtly with her magic. We all posed with a few of us holding up some of the loot while we posed in front of the giant narwhal ship.

As the mercenaries left on the giant narwhal another ship offloading some furniture which was dragged into the ship as well. It looked somewhat heavy but the ship had some cargo space luckily enough and it seemed that I could beam the furniture into my home thanks to the other modifications that Merlin made. There still wasn’t a decent cupholder but I would hold out hope that one would be made sooner or later for my jumbo sized drinks eventually.

Everypony piled onto the ship while the atlanteans helped put most of the treasure onto the ship for us leaving me with Milo and Kida. It was an interesting adventure to be certain but I was surprised by how things had changed from when we came to this world to now. Milo was a confident man now and had something better in life to look forward to. Everypony in the herd had decided on an alpha and we were ready to make it an official herd without all the breaks from tradition that seemed to mess with several of the ponies when I asked them on our vacation.

“So this is it then?” Milo asked uncertain about things.

“Yup… this is it. We’re heading off. Still many new worlds to find and save. New beings to meet and more adventure to find. Not getting cold feet are you Milo?”

“What? No, no no no. I’m just… I mean. It’s just that since we met you’ve been looking out for me, and Whitmore did as well. It’s a lot to take in. So why did you watch out for me in the first place? You never answered me that.” Milo pressed on while Kida watched slightly concerned.

I never did answer that question to him. Everypony knew after I told them but telling Milo… It wasn’t something I actually wanted to do. Still… he deserved it after everything he did. Even if I did very little for him I made sure he survived the entire trip on his own merits instead of doing everything for him. I probably should have done more but beggars can’t be choosers in this harsh of an environment.

“You know… I had a brother. He was a huge dork as well. I miss him everyday…”

Milo closed his mouth from responding with a sad smile appearing on his face. Kida also looked on in melancholic fervor. I patted them both on the back which was as much as I could do for them. As it turned out if someone saw through the illusion then it didn’t work against them. That was slightly disconcerting to me in the long run.

“You have found new family.” Kida answered solemnly.

“Yeah… I wouldn’t trade it for anything else at this point.”

With a slight nod I entered the ship while Milo and Kida waved on. With a quick flick of the button I made certain that we would get out of there with the smallest of trouble. The ship flew through the same path that was once blocked by lava and we immediately flew up through the opening of the volcano. I looked over my saddlebags before we left noting that I asked for some extra crystals as well. Only a few in case Vinyl was serious about adding to the herd. The crystals would be a good indicator for those I trusted with a keyblade that were more intimately involved with me.

“So… Looks like we finished up here finally. How are all of you feeling about this? I know it was touch and go while we out there but I was impressed by how well you handled it all.”

“Honestly that was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.” Octavia bluntly stated.

“I got to fly around on a giant fish.” Vinyl deadpanned.

“I earned my keyblade.” Sunshower smugly gloated.

“I saved someone even if they didn’t deserve it but I did so anyways cause that’s the kind of pony I am.” Spitfire solemnly mumbled.

“I learned about human physiology and what it means to be an Atlantean. Especially what it means with these crystals. I don’t think they work anywhere but on that world.” Redheart quickly added when she brought up the Atlanteans.

“I’ve got so many ideas for painting projects I want to work on. Especially the heartless since they sometimes look so goofy. Mind helping me later Gray. I think that book of yours could help me out with it.” Fresh mentioned off hoof which I noticed made a few mares perk up.

“Yeah that’s fine. We’ll make some time so we can all hang out and do stuff together and have some time so we can have a few one on one times. That’s part of being in a herd I think, right?”

Octavia quickly nodded which made all the others nod as well. It seems that at the very least I wouldn’t have to worry about them going the jealousy route. I really need to look through that book I borrowed from Twilight that detailed herds. Seems like she is still searching for somepony and striking out… a lot if those tabs meant anything at all.

“So we’re going home then?” Octavia chirped up which drew my attention back from my rambling thoughts.

“Yes. Let’s head back to Equestria.”

I pressed the warp button on the console while everypony was firmly seated in a chair with their safety belts on. We were finally heading home and I could allow myself some time to put the records of The Lost Empire into a different book and dress it up in a vague way… just in case I need a distraction.

41. Searching

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Spike was frantically looking all over town. There were very few clues after Twilight had sent him on his assignment. Everypony he asked had little to no answers and Twilight had already invited everypony to to the library who met the stallion in question. He was a bit miffed because only the element bearers had any idea about him and only Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight had spoken to him at any length of time.

When Pinkie had tried to meet with him she couldn’t even throw him a party because he somehow evaded her. It took Rainbow Dash several hours just to calm her down before she went fully off the rails. They had successfully calmed her down but she always had this weird look in her eyes. It was as if something was wrong and just out of reach but she couldn’t get her hooves on it. Even her prodigious abilities of appearing anywhere at anytime hadn’t helped her capture that elusive stallion for his ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party.

“Are you sure you haven’t heard much about him Roseluck?” Spike pleaded with one of the flower ponies in town. Roseluck had been one of the few who could actually not faint when something surprising happened… so long as Daisy and Lily weren’t around.

“Sorry Spike. Right now there have been only a few rumors of him roaming around town. From what I can tell the only ponies who really know anything about him are the ponies at the hospital but patient confidentiality is ingrained in them. I do know that a few ponies talked about this bloody thestral that flew to the hospital that one day but nopony knows anything else.” Roseluck whispered conspiratorially.

“I heard that already… Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were the first to spot that. Anything else?” Spike waved his claw around in a gesturing manner hoping that she would feed him more info.

“Sorry… Wait. I think Mayor Mare might know a bit more. She was one of the few who spoke with him at length.” Roseluck gasped in realization.

“Thanks Rose. I’ll see what she knows.” Spike waved while walking towards Town Hall.

He didn’t have the heart to tell her that Mayor Mare was the first one he asked before anything else happened. She only told him his name which he already knew from the library book he checked out. Rubbing his claws between his eyes Spike trudged back to the Golden Oaks Library with the little information that he had managed to gather.

There were too many different theories surrounding Nebula Gray and who he spent time with as well as who knew him. From the multiple eyewitnesses he knew now that Octavia Melody, Vinyl Scratch, and Sunshower Raindrops were the only three who knew him implicitly. There had been a few more rumors that Redheart also knew him but she wasn’t at the hospital or on shift for the following week. Overall. Spike had exhausted his leads.

There had also been a few weirder rumors of the same stallion being seen in Canterlot and Baltimare all in the same day. Another that put him in Cloudsdale and the Wonderbolts Academy which made them seem impossible. Twilight had thrown those theories out the window figuratively because they made no sense at all to her. Spike had scrambled to find out a reason for the multiple sightings but Princess Celestia hadn’t sent anypony to check in on the sightings.

“Horseapples… I have nothing at all…” Spike grunted slightly as he reached the front door of the library and swung it open.

Off to the side were the friends they had made the moment that Twilight and him entered town. Though from Twilight’s initial meeting she wanted nothing to really do with them. Spike felt as though the only reason she made friends was because of the end of the world. Although that was his more cynical side coming out. It had taken him a few days to get Moondancer a replacement gift… thanks to a certain princess teleporting him back to the castle. Twilight still hadn’t realized anything but he wasn’t going to tell her anything about it. She needed to learn for herself.

It had taken him a few moments before he noticed the same lavender pony looking expectantly at him. A look he sighed at and shook his head. Twilight grimaced slightly at the lack of new information but she would make due.

“Thanks Spike. I know you tried your best.” Twilight offered a hoof which Spike reluctantly hugged.

“Sorry Twi. There are so many conflicting stories and so far the only ones that seem likely are that Octavia, Vinyl and Sunshower know him better than any other pony in town.” Spike informed the six ponies who turned to the dragon slightly confused.

“Uh… Twi. Whatcha talkin’ bout?” Applejack immediately asked. She had been asked to meet up but had no idea why in the first place. Luckily, the storm that was going to come in for the night would be another couple of days away.

“Oh right… I forgot to mention about it. A few days ago I met a thestral pony who came into the library. From recent investigations I found out he has a home here in Ponyville. There have been a lot of rumors about this stallion for the past week or so. Nopony really knows where he came from and nopony really knows him.” Twilight explained.

“Is that all this is about? I thought it was more dangerous than that.” Rainbow Dash rasped out feigning slight interest due to the sudden interest in a stallion that her friend was showing. Though it did sound familiar in her mind.

“Oh… I think I’ve seen him before. Though… I never thought I would see a pony like that in that condition.” Fluttershy whispered out.

“Condition?” Several ponies called out causing Fluttershy to eep into a corner.

“Don’t worry about that everypony. We just saw some pony covered entirely in blood come fly out of the Everfree. It was a thestral. No big deal.” Rainbow Dash waved it off which made Twilight grab her in a telekinetic field.

“Rainbow Dash why haven’t you told us that yet!” Twilight cried out nearly throttling her in the process.

“Darling you should probably let her down.” Rarity politely tsk’ed her leaving a sheepish grin on her muzzle as she politely put Dash back on the floor.

“You okay Dashie?” Pinkie got close to the pegasus as she fell to the floor dazed. Dash merely nodded before falling flat on her face from the sudden shift.

“Can you tell us anything about it Fluttershy?” Rarity calmly got Fluttershy to rejoin the circle. They were all still getting used to being friends still and there were still some hang ups.

“Um… okay. Well a week or so ago when Applebucking season was close to starting I saw a stallion washing himself in the river near my house-” Fluttershy started.

“My! How scandalous! How closely were you watching?” Rarity immediately got in Fluttershy’s face before being pulled away by Applejack. Fluttershy turned completely red and started to stammer putting a record skip to shame.

“It’s not like that!” Fluttershy cried out though even at that tone it merely sounded as loud as any other pony would be.

“Sorry bout her sugarcube. Now you go on an’ tell us what cha say.” Applejack drawled on forcing Rarity to keep her muzzle shut.

“Ok… Well he was covered in blood and Harry, he’s a bear in case you were wondering, smelled a lot of blood on him. The scary part was that none of his legs were working and he was slowly trying to wash it off of him even though he was in no condition. When he noticed Angel bunny looking at him he took off into the air and flew off in a nervous huff. Rainbow Dash joined me at that point noticing I had nearly screamed when she had come to pick me up. When I mentioned the blood covered stallion she took off to look for him and I followed after making sure Harry didn’t eat anymore berries because they give him tummy problems.” Fluttershy trailed off.

“Fluttershy focus on the stallion. Did you see his cutie mark?” Twilight brought up causing Fluttershy to cringe slightly.

“Um… uh… I think so… I wasn’t really looking at his flank… I think they were stars… in the shape of a key… maybe… “ Fluttershy squeaked out mostly because she wanted to crawl into the deepest hole she could find.

“Yeah… That sounds exactly like Nebula Gray. I made a note of his cutie mark when he came to the library. It was weird though. He took out a dating book for some reason. Spike which copy did you give him?” Twilight surmised as she looked towards Spike.

“The one with all the tabs in it. It looked as though it pleased him enough to get some pointers on it.” Spike nonchalantly answered only to realize that Twilight was now rounding upon him.

“You WHAT!?” Twilight screamed out both clearly frustrated and blushing immensely.

“You said you were done with it!” Spike cried out as he ran up the stairs barricading himself in the bedroom.

“Uh… Twilight. What’s the big deal? It’s just a book.” Rainbow Dash waved it off as unimportant.

“Right… Not important at all. Not important at all.” Twilight grinned maniacally.

Nopony was convinced but after seeing Twilight bench press an Ursa Minor nopony wanted to say anything to the contrary. It took several minutes before she calmed down enough to speak again.

“So… what was so important about this stallion that we’re here talking about him darling?” Rarity cleared the air trying to figure out why it was important in the first place.

“Well it isn’t common knowledge but something happened up in Baltimare a few weeks back. Somehow four guards have been lost since then, a captain and three privates. From certain ponies we learned that only one new pony appeared around that time period and it was a thestral. Nopony knows where they came from because he never spoke at length about himself. From there he took a train over here to Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration. While the princess doesn’t think he had anything to do with it they would want to know if he does know something.” Twilight explained.

“So you reckon that if in he was covered up in blood he might be some kind of bad pony.” Applejack harshly stated getting a bit antsy at the sudden deluge of info.

“No. I checked with the hospital and while they did keep most of his records quiet they did tell me it was his own blood… more than should be possible within a stallion’s body in fact. The fact that he survived was something that shocked them beyond all belief.” Twilight defused the situation making Applejack soften her glare and being a bit apprehensive about things.

“So you think Gray knows something or other about things in Baltimare and you want to sass it out of him. He’s a sus with the perfect al.” Pinkie rubbed under her chin while wearing a deerstalker cap and blowing bubbles out of a comically large pipe.

“Tch. It’s just one stallion. I doubt that he would be part of anything and he only got himself hurt because he did something stupid.” Rainbow Dash perked up managing to rub her head from the massive headache she was feeling.

“That’s the thing though. He’s been so quiet that the only things I’ve found out about him is that he is very quiet about everything.” Twilight hollered in frustration.

“I think I did hear a few things from the pony’s mouth darling.” Rarity called out causing Twilight to stumbled slightly.

“You have!” Twilight grimaced as she held back her voice giggling slightly at her sudden outburst.

“Only a bit darling. It seems he already has a special somepony somewhere in this town. Now I normally am not one for gossiping but I did hear he had a date with Redheart that night he came into the boutique. I was surprised that such a hard working mare that was so focused on her career would immediately go out with some stranger.” Rarity tittered as she released whatever she had found out.

Like clockwork, the girls all reacted as one would expect. Fluttershy blushed into her hooves. Rainbow Dash scoffed and pretended to vomit out all the mushiness. Pinkie was beside herself literally jumping with an exact clone of herself. Applejack merely pursed her lip in thought. Twilight, in the long run, looked over her scroll and made a list of possible ponies to interrogate in some capacity. So far she was looking at speaking with Vinyl Scratch and Octavia at the very least the next time she saw them. Now she could add Redheart and Sunshower to the list.

“Thanks girls this will make it easier to figure out what is going on. The princesses have voiced plenty of concern because those guards haven’t come back and there was no trace of them. It’s as if the darkness swallowed them up making them disappear from Equestria. Though that’s just silly. It would be impossible to do that even with the Princess’s magic. All they would like me to do is talk to this stallion and see if he knows anything.” Twilight confidently stated.

“Ya sure sugarcube?” Applejack bluntly asked completely uncertain of her capabilities of finding out the truth.

“What do you mean?” Twilight nearly scoffed but bit back her retort. She was still getting used to being nice to other ponies… she was working at it at the very least.

“No offense Twi but are ya sure you can make this here varmint tell the truth?” Applejack calmly questioned her new friend.

“Yes Applejack. I’m certain he would answer. Nopony who would check out a book to make themselves better for a mare would possibly be a bad guy.” Twilight confidently praised the power of books holding her head high while her eyes were shut in wise sage mode as she secretly told herself whenever she needed to make a point… with books.

“Alright then Twi. If you need any help with this pony don’t hesitate to ask.” Applejack warned her friend uncertain now of what could possibly happen. She wasn’t certain but she felt something off with the stallion when she first met him. There was something off about him but she couldn’t put her hoof on the reason for it.

“Don’t worry Applejack. I’m sure Twilight has everything under control.” Rarity flicked her mane as she went towards the door. “If you’ll excuse me there are some projects I must be finishing soon.”

“I gotta get ready for Weather Patrol tonight. Some weird clouds were seen in the area.” Rainbow Dash glibly replied as she flew out the door with Rarity leaving four ponies in the room.

“I have to go take care of my animals… if that’s ok? Sorry…” Fluttershy squeaked out but made no move to step out of the room.

“That’s okay Fluttershy. We understand.” Twilight immediately answered which made Fluttershy smile before she trotted off.

“Some more applebucking I gotta do before the day ends. Don’t forget to ask if you need any help with that critter wrangling.” Applejack gave Twilight the look as she tipped her hat and galloped off for the farm.

“Hey Twilight… Are you sure you could handle this pony?” Pinkie Pie asked slightly seriously which caught the unicorn off guard.

It was the first time she had ever seen Pinkie Pie even the slightest bit serious since the battle with Nightmare Moon. Throughout that entire incident she kept feeling something fall by her so called Pinkie Sense, trademark pending apparently, but nothing around them ever fell. It was something she wanted to find out more about but with the constant assault of the gala ticket and the Baked Bads Bonanza she couldn’t find the time for it. It had become a distant thought for much later but something was really off at this point keeping her from focusing on the past.

“What do you mean Pinkie?” Twilight grimaced.

“He’s good. Really good. I don’t know how he does it but he’s managed to dodge all my attempts to throw him a surprise party without even meaning or trying to. What’s more is that everytime I try to find him I can’t actually get anywhere near him. It vexes me so. I know he knows I’m trying to get him a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party but he’s being more stubborn than Applejack was for the Applebucking Season. So you got to be better than he is and try not to use any magic… I think he can tell when you’re casting.” Pinkie whispered the last part conspiratorially to her.

“I’m sure I can do this Pinkie. I have to have faith that I can do this. Princess Celestia is counting on me.” Twilight remarked, puffing her chest out in pride.

Pinkie merely nodded and pronked off towards Sugarcube Corner. Even as she did pronk away Twilight noticed that the contemplative look on her face had not disappeared. Twilight mused to herself trotting around the library picking up several books which she felt might help her. Amongst the titles were Interrogation and You: Guide to Good Cop, Bad Cop, 101 Ways to get a Confession, and Seducing your Stallion: Mare it all. The last book was… a joke book but it did provide some help.

‘Maybe if I play my cards right these methods would produce the best results… Still this might be seen as only shallow misgivings which he could pick on almost immediately. If I do this then I got to walk the walk and talk the talk.’ Twilight mentally paced back and forth looking for an answer within the books she had picked off the shelf.

‘What if he gets the wrong idea and thinks I’m crushing on him? He already has a herd if the rumors are true. Though Mother always did say I would work better in a herd… oh what does she know! I’m fine as I am right now.’ Twilight rolled her eyes putting away the seduction manual confident that she didn’t need it.

‘Sweet Celestia what was I thinking. I’m a mare of magic and science. Of course with a little logic I can get some information and please Princess Celestia… but what if she isn’t happy with my methods. What if I don’t get any pertinent information out of Gray. What if she sends me back to Magic Kindergarten…!’ Twilight hyperventilated as she tried to calm her panic attack down from major to minor but it kept coming up short. Then she remembered that he wasn’t even in town.

‘You’re getting ahead of yourself Twilight. First we have to wait for him to return back to Ponyville then we make our move. Or… maybe I could go about this smarter… And ask those he decided to get close to. Yes! This will be perfect.’ Twilight rubbed her hooves together in gleeful recognition that she had a significantly better plan than confronting the pony she wanted to know about in the first place for Celestia’s sake.

‘I hope he doesn’t ask me about the book… I didn’t even get to look over the herd section and make my own notes about it. Aw jeez… he’s gonna make fun of me I know it. No. No! He was nice enough and I doubt he would make fun of me… though some stallions that tried to talk to me did confuse me with their teasing… but I showed them and sent them packing. I better make sure I don’t use my packing spell on him. I’ll be fine. I probably won’t cast on him. I’m not that kind of mare after all.’ Twilight affirmed to herself smiling as she started her checklist on the plans she was going to try.

We floated over the horizon of Equestria. Even though we had been gone close to a week the date on the console for Equestria had barely changed by an hour. The ladies all looked at it and felt their own internal clocks say that it was the right time as well.

“How is this possible?” Octavia gasped lightly while the other ponies couldn’t fully articulate their thoughts.

“Remember that this particular warp function was created by Merlin. Merlin is one of the few wizards to ever break the very foundation of space and time making it his ability to transcend those bounds and be everywhere and anywhere all at once without losing himself. The gummi piece centralizes it to the ship so that whenever we use it it syncs our time to our original planet. So since we are Equestrians we get our own internal clocks that say we’re on Equestrian times. Even if we need sleep the time difference changes based on the planet and where we are in relation to the entirety of Equestria.”

“Can you simplify that?” Vinyl rubbed the back of her head as did everypony else.

“We move on Equestrian time. No matter where we go. So we can go somewhere and potentially come back the next minute with nothing happening on Equestria because of it.”

“So when we get back it would be like we lived a week in one day?” Fresh Coat queried as she looked over the world.

“Kind of. It’s a difficult disconnect between time on a different planet and time on Equestria and the warp functionality powered by magic and technology makes things… uncertain. I don’t think there is any real way to explain well enough without giving you all a headache and me an aneurysm. So we’re just gonna say a wizard did it and look at that a wizard certainly did do it.”

“That sounds like the lazy way out though.” Spitfire mentioned though I could tell that she was more appreciative of that than she let on if her holding her head in her hooves was any indication.

“Maybe. At least it’s the best I can explain now. Otherwise, we would have to go find Merlin to explain. How much more time do you all have off?”

“From what I wrote down when we found out about keyblades, we had all taken a week off. If it’s been only hours from the moment we left that night then it’s most likely that we still have five more days before we have to continue with our jobs and livelihoods.” Octavia informed me as she looked over a small planner.

“I take it you were practicing before hoof to be the Alpha mare of the herd then?”

“Y-yes. I mean no! I just wanted to get things organized for us.” Octavia blurted out all at once to the chuckles of the others.

“I do have one more shift tomorrow before I get time off unfortunately.” Redheart grumbled as she stretched out.

“You couldn’t get Tenderheart to do it?” Vinyl asked aloud.

“No she was still reeling when she met Gray so she’s been out of it lately.” Redheart sighed.

“I suppose our stallion had that effect on single mares.” Fresh Coat crooned as she hopped onto my back and curled her forehooves around my neck.

“Hey! It’s another pony’s turn Fresh.” Spitfire brought up.

“So far you, Spitfire, and Sunshower have rest on my back during this adventure.”

I quirked an eye back over towards the pouty mare on my back who merely grumbled as she slid off. I shook my wings off a bit since I’d kept them retracted while we were flying through space. The chairs were very uncomfortable whenever I had my wings flared out.

“My turn!” Octavia sang as she hopped on my back.

I grunted from the sudden shift. While she wasn’t heavy she was still an earth pony and I could feel a lot of muscle from her on my back. I thought about my options as she snuggled into me. I decided to let her have her fun while I thought back on my own agenda for Equestria.

Eventually I was going to be discovered by the princesses. The ladies were going to sleep and Luna was going to investigate their dreams. Even if I found them dream eaters in some capacity that would only gather suspicions rather than dissuade them from forming. I also had no reservations of the idea of somepony asking about me… especially with somepony like Pinkie Pie around. I tilted my head back and forth while Octavia lightly tapped at my ear with her hoof. At this point I could tell she was very cat like from time to time. It certainly would explain some of their more flexible moments.

No I didn’t get Octavia to show me how flexible she was… yet. All good things would come later. At this moment I was more worried that somepony might be asking questions about me in any capacity. Twilight certainly seemed interested in turning me into a science experiment of some sort. Though most likely given her hooves off approach she sent Spike out to do the recon before she committed to the project. So far only up to the incident with the Griffon happened while I have gone through the archives that God set up for me to see in my dreams.

That meant that the dragon incident was going to happen sooner or later. In three days we would be leaving for the second planet before I wait for a while until everypony could get more days off. I looked over each of the mares and finally decided that we waited long enough on the ship.

“So… let’s head down and relax for a while. We’ve worked pretty hard for the last week and deserve some free time right?”

There were plenty of ‘woo’s’ and cheers from everypony as we made our way towards the save point. Though as everypony left towards it I felt Octavia nip at my ear pretty hard to get my attention. When I turned my head to look at her she sheepishly averted her eyes from mine blushing intensely.

“What’s wrong?”

“What do you want us to do when we get back on Equestria when it comes to talking about you?” Octavia questioned.

“Be vague about it. I’d rather not have everypony looking for a piece of me for something trivial as getting a better understanding of the rest of the world. Nopony needs to know what we all did since I’m not looking to be revered or worshipped or even propped on a pedestal. I’d rather remain an anonymous nopony living with all of you peacefully with only the smallest moments of chaos in between to keep things interesting.”

“Okay Gray. If anypony asks we’ll just make something up?” Octavia shrugged uncertainly.

“No. If you don’t want to talk about it. Just say you don’t want to talk about it. That it’s between you and me.”

“That sounds better. So… like a Pinkie promise then?” Octavia muttered

“No. More flexible. This is so if you are forced to say anything I wouldn’t be mad.”

Octavia nodded and indulged some more on snuggling on my coat. I didn’t think much of it until she started to sniff at my neck and shuddered in bliss. I looked at her again and she merely blushed and did it more brazenly under my full attention. I certainly didn’t enjoy it and feel things rise up out of my control. I merely walked towards the others and activated the save point in my home allowing all of us to once again step on Equestrian soil.

42. Relaxation

View Online

What had been a long week long excavation and adventure into the bowels of the earth version of Atlantis left me and my herd a bit surprised. It had been the same day since we had left only the sun was barely going down. The clock tower out in the distance read as three p.m. give or take a couple minutes. Octavia and Vinyl looked around noticing that somepony had left a newspaper on my front porch and it was actually the same date as well. I didn’t really look at it as confirmation or anything. As soon as I landed in Equestria I merely figured out from the knowledge locked up in my brain about events and went by those problems. If I was correct in guessing after some incident with a giant bear made of stars then there would be a dragon causing smoke problems.

For some reason the save point had changed from inside the house to outside the house. When I peered around I noticed that there were no ponies around us luckily enough and by sheer luck the weather patrol wasn’t around.

“Is it really the same day…?” Spitfire breathed out as she looked around before quickly hiding her mane and cutie mark.

“Seems so. Looks like Merlin did have something very powerful in his possession since it pretty much bent space/time in a way that shouldn’t be possible… though with magic acting as a force it might be. It would be too complicated to think about… Maybe we should be inside before Spitfire gets caught by rabid fanponies or something.”

I opened the door of my home as Spitfire immediately zoomed in bowling over all of us. I landed on my back as Vinyl, Fresh and Redheart landed on top of me knocking the wind out of my chest. It wasn’t painful per say but I now had an appreciation for air and all it does for me. After a few seconds of fussing over me we all managed to get inside the house. The furniture from Atlantis was already inside thanks to the Gummi Ship and I couldn’t hold my apprehension.

As the ladies sat on the couch unwinding and chatting with each other I equipped the tomahawk and picked up the stone dresser. It was useful for doubling my strength and increasing it exponentially. I managed to get it in place where I wanted it making sure that it didn’t break in the process… to the shocked look of all the other ponies.

“What?”

“How did you lift that?” Vinyl wheezed out when she tried to lift it in her magic and struggled to lift one end. “It’s heavier than every piece of equipment that I own.”

“Like that’s an accomplishment…” Octavia snarkily muttered.

“Shut it… Anyways how’d you do it.” Vinyl poked me with her hoof.

“Oh. Well I hold more weapons on me but due to certain limitations I have to earn wielding them. Each of those are tied in to my keyblade in a sense but are separate weapons all together. The reason I could lift this is due to this weapon,” I summoned the tomahawk to my hoof. “This particular weapon has the attributes of earth like dirt and such allowing me some manipulations of the ground. It also has an extra effect of increasing my strength exponentially as I wield it.”

“Um… right… exponentially… Um…” Vinyl rolled her hoof as me while a few of the other mares chuckled slightly.

“It’s a strength booster. It makes me stronger the longer I hold it. It also can control the ground to a certain extent.”

“Right… I knew that. Thanks for the explanation though. I needed a reminder.” Vinyl haughtily acted which I went along with.

“Yup. No problem. I need to practice with them later but for now I’ll just keep them on the back burner. They kind of make a lot of noise and damage.”

“What about those daggers and that book?” Spitfire spoke up causing me to pivot around to face her.

“Those also have attributes to them. The daggers all represent lightning. It’s what let me have the clouds in from the Everfree to remain in my control for two hours, “ Sunshower gasped at that realizing now how I did that. “While the attribute of the book is illusion. It lets me create illusions whenever I exercise its power. I don’t really use it though for more than keeping track of our adventures and every being that I meet. That includes the heartless we fought.”

“So… how detailed are these illusions?” Spitfire pushed a bit more as she sauntered up to me.

“Well… from what I could tell it depends on how much magic is placed in them. I think I can have these creations last for an hour or so if they have physical mass. If I didn’t probably four hours at best maybe. Like I said I haven’t tested them.”

“Interesting…” Spitfire’s voice trailed off as she looked more closely at the book. I handed it to her as she looked at all the ponies I met… she got really red when she started fiddling with the ponies I’ve seen noticing how… correct they were.

“And no I haven’t really looked through the ponies in the book before you jump on that point.”

Spitfire instantly closed the book and fanned herself off to the confusion of everypony. I unsummoned the book switching it mentally to my keyblade. I still hadn’t used the scythe and I doubted that I would at any point in time due to its unwieldy nature… and the power over flowers was just confusing.

“So what was so shocking Spitfire…?” Octavia bumped her hip against the overly red mare… which was quite the sight since she was usually more orange and yellow most of the time.

“Nothing. I saw nothing and that’s all that is. Look we apparently still have a week off. What should we do now?” Spitfire quickly changed the subject.

“We should go get mangoes.” Sunshower immediately brought up.

“Mangoes? Why mangoes?” Fresh Coat quirked an ear up tilting her head slightly.

“I don’t know. I felt like getting mangoes. For some reason it resonates with me… heavily. I want some for some reason.”

“Maybe it’s cause you’re a batpony now. Didn’t you look up more about yourself?” Redheart brought up though from her posture she was too tired to get off the couch.

“Somewhat. I only know about minor history of being a thestral and basic workings on my body. I never looked closer into it… though that was more because of the lack of content on Thestrals in the two libraries I’ve checked.”

“Well tomorrow I know that there is one stand that sells mangoes so you don’t have to hop all the way over to Hollow Shades.” Redheart pointed out as she leaned back and started to snore slightly.

It was then that I noticed that except for Octavia, Vinyl and Spitfire the other three had fallen asleep from exhaustion. I wasn’t tired yet due to the long nap we took after Rourke’s fall. Spitfire rolled her eyes but also flipped onto the couch laying back and passing out as well. Vinyl followed suit if for no reason but to be one of the herd. That left me and Octavia alone. Instead of making awkward small talk I trotted up to her and pulled her onto my back.

“Eep!” Octavia sharply inhaled managing to keep her voice down enough not to wake anypony up.

“Let’s set up the other drawer and the treasure we got from Atlantis.”

Octavia nodded slightly before nuzzling into my neck burying herself. She was breathing really heavily now… I wondered if this was an Alpha mare thing. As we left the snoring I slowly stepped down the stairs into the basement which made Octavia hold on a bit tighter.

“I kind of expected that you would also fall asleep. It had been a long journey throughout the universe in a sense. We have been gone almost ten days yet somehow it’s been only a few hours here on Equestria.”

“I need to take my Alpha status a bit seriously here Gray. While it’s not very obvious right now there are a few traditions that we need to discuss since we’re making this herd official. Do you know anything about herds at all Gray?” Octavia lectured slightly as she nuzzled deeper into my neck.

‘Did she just shudder…?’ I quietly pushed that out of my mind because there wasn’t much I could actually do about it. When we stepped down into the basement I noticed something completely wrong… all the treasure we got was in the center of the room while the large dresser was against the far wall.

“Hm… We need to sort this out…”

“Where should we put it…?” Octavia questioned as she reluctantly slid off my back...I felt something wet… Not thinking about it.

“Let’s put most of it in the drawers while we keep maybe one piece out in the open. So… what did you want to discuss about herds?”

“Well as you know already herds are around mostly because male populations are kind of low. Most of the males you see are either taken or in the Royal Guard. Right now the male population is taking up around thirty percent of the total population. So… most of the time herds are made to protect the male but we’re not exactly acting like a normal one.” Octavia started.

“Is there such thing as a normal herd?”

“Well… normal is relatively speaking that one male, three mares. We’re a bit more ambitious with one male and six mares. In laypony’s terms we’re the exception for a herd structure. We did kind of skip the important part as well. See when we were suppose to deal with dates we were supposed to give you something to officialize it. See we have a custom of giving somepony a flower to symbolize that we are a herd but since flowers aren’t long lasting I’m thinking maybe we should use those crystals we got from our adventure as a sign.” Octavia explained as she fiddled with her necklace.

“So we keep these on at all times. That’s a good idea. So… were there other concerns you had?”

Octavia didn’t answer at first as she messed with one of the more extravagant pieces on the dresser that was shaped like one of the lizard birds from Atlantis. Her tail was swishing around slightly apparently in agitation. For some reason there was also a certain smell in the room that I couldn’t exactly place anywhere though it was making my head swim slightly.

“Well… as our stallion there is a certain… thing that comes to all herds after a certain time that requires… intimacy. I know you have said you wanted to be patient but certain mares need to have that particular need filled.” Octavia gestured with her hoof while her tail lashed out wildly though she had turned to face me.

“Ah… yes. Um… First time as a pony doing that. Hm… You’ll have to walk me through these things ok?”

“Lovely.” Octavia gave a warm smile as her tail finally stopped lashing around.

I didn’t know what happened. Well I knew what happened I just didn’t expect that to happen that particular day. Octavia went through the finer points of intimacy between ponies though I didn’t exactly follow convention.

“How did you do that thing with your wing…?” Octavia dreamily muttered as I placed her on my back.

I finally figured out what that wetness I was feeling was. We had finished up in the basement with decorating a small section with the souvenirs from Atlantis. Of course outside of my knowledge and uncertainty I was flung into what ponies did for their relationship status. My head was still swimming slightly and I didn’t exactly know what I should do now. So I slipped into the shadow and managed to find the bathroom. It was a modest affair with a tub and luckily thanks to some dealing with the mayor when I bought the house they had managed to make a heating system for the water aquifer that led to the shower. It wouldn’t exactly be as advanced as I was used to but… the stickiness needed to be dealt with.

“I experimented… that’s all.” I mumbled under my breath as I turned on the water.

“Do more… next time…” Octavia sighed in relief as I slowly slipped her off my back.

She got on her hooves though a part of her was shaky and I helped her meander into the tub. She had some trouble getting her back hooves into the tub but I pushed her in slowly. I think she flipped her tail under my muzzle giving me a very… detailed view to get me into the tub as well. I bit my cheek hard to keep myself level. As much fun as that was we still had to handle the rest of the group.

“So you think she got him to buck her yet?” Vinyl bluntly asked the others causing a few to wince.

“Probably. If I didn’t know any better he probably got the basement soundproofed though. So why was it so important to give her first dibs?” Spitfire groaned as she stretched out her body.

“Technically she’s a virgin so I thought she would deserve the first kick.” Vinyl mentioned offhoof causing a few of the ponies to act surprised.

“Are any other of us virgins?” Redheart motioned with her hoof. Only Fresh Coat raised hers.

“What!? I never found the right pony. Oh… does that mean I get second dibs?” Fresh Coat squealed slightly in glee.

“Yeah yeah… keep your tail down Fresh.” Vinyl waved her hoof while Fresh blushed heavily.

The sound of water brought all of them out of their revelry. Spitfire had to look outside at the clock tower just to check the time. She blinked and shook her head before checking again.

“Jeez… an hour. I thought the rumors of the thestrals were just that… rumors.” Spitfire gasped slightly.

I am so glad that I used my wings and mouth for the most part. Octavia was so relaxed though it made it hard for her to bathe. She was still weak in the knees so to speak and could barely stand. Luckily she washed off well and I took her out of the tub placing a towel around her so she could dry off… somewhat. A pony coat was torture to dry as was the mane and tail. I jumped in as well washing a lot of the stickiness away and jumping out just as quickly.

“Octavia…? Octavia? Wake up.”

As I stepped out of the tub I saw Octavia… lounging on her back on the floor completely asleep snoring softly as she giggled every couple of seconds. I managed to get her on my back and dove back into the shadows into the basement once again. I stepped up the stairs back into the living room where I saw everypony awake… I feel like this was planned.

“So… how was everypony’s nap?”

I heard plenty of fine’s good’s, and one five more minutes from on my back. I hefted her onto the couch with everypony and waited till any one of them asked me about that. When they didn’t I figured that this was planned in some way for some reason. I really need to finish that book to find out how fast relationships actually go on average. I know how fast mine went when I was still human but those were flings or more extreme measures for companionship. I didn’t actually want to use the term anymore but it kept coming back to me.

“Was that planned?”

I looked to them all and none of them could actually meet my eyes for more than a few seconds before fiddling with something on their body. Vinyl merely put her shades down; though the sweat drops trickling down her face, which I thought were impossible, gave away the clue.

“So… quick question. What’s considered fast for a pony relationship to ‘sleeping’ with somepony?”

I used my wings to emphasize my point which made a few ponies chuckle at. I’m finding my wings very very flexible at this point.

“I’d say a week…?” Redheart pondered out loud as she looked at the other ponies.

“Really? I thought fast is three days.” Vinyl muttered and Spitfire nodded as well in confusion.

“Pretty sure it’s a week.” Sunshower clarified to the other two. Octavia just giggled under her breath

“Don’t worry too much… but we are going to take a little initiative with things now that we have something to show us as a herd.” Redheart explained as Fresh Coat got up and glomped me.

I grunted in surprise as I felt the new weight on my back. Fresh Coat nuzzled into my neck as Octavia did. I was slowly surrounded by the other mares one after another. I felt very… very nervous at this point.

“I’m guessing that you already have an order ready then… Since Octavia was first… I’m guessing Fresh is next…”

“Yup. Since Octavia was the Alpha of the herd, we let her go first. So let’s finally finish painting this picture in full.” Fresh Coat giggled as I was led away for the night.

‘Ow… Ow… Back hurts… why one after another. Thank God I figured out that trick with my wing otherwise this would be impossible. What time is it?’

I managed to roll out of the bed easily enough and managed to look out one of the windows. The clock tower had finally struck midnight. When we came back it was about three in the afternoon and I didn’t start working on things in the basement until six. Was that supposed to happen… I need to finish reading that book on herds damn it all.

I slipped into the shadows and looked down on the bed from the ceiling. Every pony was splayed out on the bed in varying shades of afterglow except for Octavia who was still resting on the couch. I suppose this is a bonding activity but I’m not exactly sure how often we should do something to this size again. If only because my back can’t take it and the fact that some of them prefer to ride the pony is the only saving grace for my back. I really hope Vinyl isn’t serious about trying to bring in more mares. God… I’d never survive in the long run.

I dove into the shadows to check on Octavia who was still sleeping soundly on the couch. She shivered slightly forcing me to dive back up to the bedroom. While I didn’t have much I did get a few blankets free for buying such a large bed. I took one and went back to Octavia covering her.

“Thanks Gray.” Octavia sleepily muttered as she snuggled into the blanket looking adorable.

“Feeling better?”

“Yes… I’m sorry we sprung this up on you so suddenly.” Octavia frowned as her eyes opened slightly. They were downcast for some reason.

“It was bound to happen eventually. I’m just surprised it lasted this long. We’ve been working on this for a month thanks in part to the trips out there amongst the stars. Were you scared that I wasn’t going to reciprocate or something.”

“No… It’s not that. It’s more that we were worried that you would think that we were pressuring you.” Octavia groused as she yawned deeply.

“Pressuring me?”

“Yeah. Pressuring you. Forcing you to sleep with us. We don’t want to come across as tail lifters. Remember, we’re a matriarchal society so our colts are important since that divide on how ponies are born. There are fewer stallions than mares in Ponyville and that is the deepest gender divide. Unlike other places this place is really mare centric.” Octavia lecture me in this lethargic tone.

“I was planning on making this herd more official I just didn't really think much about it. Also you couldn't pressure me no matter how hard you would have tried.”

“Really? You'd think somepony like you who knows next to nothing of Equestria would go along with anything just to fit in.” Octavia motioned to me in a mock accusatory tone.

“Well if you caught me within the first few days you might have. Sorry to say I've got my bearings straight now.”
I had no idea what I was talking about. I knew absolutely nothing about pony society in the long run. I had rudimentary knowledge about ponies and the show did absolutely nothing to teach me anything other than that it was a vegetarian society with large herd structures to handle families. Even the things I learned from the knowledge God stuck in my head was pointless because it only told me about thestrals in the Badlands. They were pretty much gone from existence if my brain was telling me anything right.

Apparently after the loss of Luna those that lived in the Badlands emigrated to Hollow Shades before any zealots that thought them pawns of Nightmare Moon killed them. The ones who did stay fought against the Changeling Hordes to the last fighter but loss through sheer numbers. The Badlands Thestrals have been gone for many years now though the odd rumor of some still living out there surfaces from time to time. That meant my story was very suspect… unless I mention the dead family thing. Crap… I really don't want to and now Octavia was giving me this weird stare.

“Gray are you okay?” Octavia gently tapped me on the head poking me slightly.

“Yes. Yes I'm fine. Sorry spaced out for a second from over thinking things once again.”

“I wanted to know if you thought us too pushy in our needs? I mean I could twist it into justifications for why you needed to show us that you actually desire us or something to that effect but I didn't want to do that to you. You do show it a lot albeit more subdued than most stallions I've seen. Also you still don't show emotions so readily with even the errant twitch of your ears are so controlled that we can't always figure out what your thinking.” Octavia mumbled through yawns and groans of feeling sleep take over.

“Wait… I control those? I actually never thought about controlling those motions.”

“Really? So you just ignored those muscles and focused on taking as your only means of communication when sophisticated ponies, such as myself, speak through more than just the common word.” Octavia dictated with flair that was marred by her yawn breaking her chain of thought.

“Yeah you were really sophisticated when my wing-”

“Hush you. I was on a roll.” Octavia hissed as a furious blush covered her entire face.

“I got it. I got it. Don't worry too much about it for now. It's late and you should get back to sleep.”

“Fine.” Octavia pouted though she held her hooves out for me.

I edged over and placed my neck in between her hooves but instead of the crushing hug she curled me into her and soothingly nuzzled against me. She never spoke as she did. It was comfortably calming while she offered her ministrations of nuzzles and cuddles. When she finally let go that same tires look took over and she fell asleep wrapped up in that fluffy blanket calmly gone into the world of dreams. I took that moment to leave the room. I had too much to think about.

Twilight was still up studying. It was still one of her extreme passions. Unfortunately, as Spike informed her, nopony knew anything about Gray and the only ones who did weren't around. She had tried stopping in on Vinyl and Octavia in the morning but since neither were home she struck out there. When she tried Redheart she found that she had taken some vacation time for some reason even though she was the one who treated the thestral that was covered head to hoof in blood. Rainbow Dash had even checked on Sunshower for her but she was gone for a bit on her own vacation.
She was flabbergasted groaning in frustration that she couldn't figure out this mystery. So she decided to relax with a little stargazing session to make sure she remembered all the stars as Luna had barely gotten enough power to move the moon once again albeit slowly.

Peering through her telescope she felt her world shrink until an errant groan from Spike startled her.

“Spike?!” Twilight hissed and quieted herself when she noticed that Spike was out like a light and curled in his bed. “Is it really that late?”

Sure enough as she looked at the small cuckoo clock on her bedroom wall that it indeed was already one in the morning. Certainly not a record but a decent time for all scholarly types to finally sleep. Taking a quick peek into the telescope before she packed away everything got her to bring her eyes wide open. There on the front porch of the house that the telescope was pointing at was a very familiar pony hanging upside down from it. Twilight smirked as she realized something she should have done hours ago.

“When Spike gets up I'm going to need him to take a letter.” Twilight yawned as she put away her things and got ready for bed.

“Why does it always feel like somebody’s watching me. Do I get no privacy?”

I groaned as I felt my body finally work out all the kinks. As it turned out being flexible is really hard in a pony body. There are limitations to my back legs though if I flare out my wings I could probably walk like a bipedal using them as a focus.

I smacked myself before I got too lost in thought. There were other important things to think about.

‘What has it been? Almost a month since I started being a pony already in truth it's barely been two weeks on Equestria while I spent another fourteen days up in space and this relationship as I am hesitant to call it got serious finally. Seriously, all at once is a bit of a killer isn't it? I mean I survived and tried all flavors of the pony race but that nearly killed my back. I feel sore all over and I still don't know what it all means to me. I certainly care for all of them and even lov- no don't say it. I'm not ready for that…’

I was lost at that moment. They have my trust already. I know they got my heart on their side but the words won't come out. If I say it and something happens then what would I do.

‘I have to say it. There's no getting around it and I can't live in abject denial of this for the rest of my time here. There is always a risk, always someway to tear apart those feelings and cast them away like snowflakes on the northern winds. I love them. And there's no shame in that.’

43. Smokescreen

View Online

I still rested on the roof of the porch waiting for anything else to happen as I watched the moon slowly go down under the horizon. I didn’t feel that feeling of someone watching me and luckily the nightmare that had been haunting the Everfree was gone. Everypony that I cherished were sleeping soundly and here I was… still awake at night because I couldn’t sleep. Aside from the first night that I got that minotaur styled bed and the night after defeating Rourke and surviving the lava flow did I actually manage to find true sleep.

Every other time I did sleep I felt the creeping nightmares try to take control only to falter whenever they came close. For some reason I think I had Dream Eaters in my dreams keeping me safe from them. Otherwise I lucid dream my way into that realm of my mind where I keep track of all the weapons I hold onto. That did remind me that I have to practice those out sometime soon… even in my dreams. Probably I should do that as soon as I get those mangoes.

“I should really clean up in the basement.”

I remembered that I needed to do some cleaning and talking to Stiltzkin about making more jewelry to sell in Canterlot. Plenty to do before we leave and luckily nothing major happened during this time. Aside from the threat of Nightmare Moon there were no real problems here except for the Gala that comes up soon. Unless something else happens before then. Honestly how things go here is really weird so far and I don’t understand how things run for the world.

“Need to practice the new weapons… Can’t for the scythe because it’s made only for killing and flowers… for some reason. Book is for illusions but I don’t need them for anything just yet. Daggers channel lightning and can create clones made from electricity… though magic gives them mass which is also weird. Tomahawk channels the earth below my feet and supercharges my strength but is not the best for indoor training. And I’m talking to myself…”

I looked around… nopony was around. I was becoming… less aware of my surroundings whenever I spoke to myself. I probably wasn’t clinically crazy but talking to oneself is a sign of eccentricities. That’s what I’ll call it anyways.

As the moon finally started to lower once again I went inside and trotted down to the basement. Octavia was softly grunting on the couch as she moved a bit to find a more comfortable spot. I quickly got to her side when one of her twitches nearly got her sent over the side onto the floor.

“Careful there…”

“Oh… Gray… right there…” Octavia moaned out.

Well… at least I know she’s enjoying herself. After securing her to the back of the couch… mostly just scooting her so her back rested against it as she laid down I went for the basement and folding up my wings. This was to be one of my most monumental tasks I had ever done in the history of Equestria. Even more deadly than when I knocked that lava snake to the side from melting us alive. A task so death defying that not even Rainbow Dash was awesome enough to handle.

“Time to clean up that mess I made with Octavia…”

Fire is a good cleanser. I decided to incinerate all evidence which wasn’t too hard to do. The flames were useless around wood and didn’t burn them like a regular fire would. It seemed that magic we learned from out there would only affect what we focused on. So I focused on the spots that were left behind and turned them to soot. It also got rid of the musky scent that had decided to stick around. I didn’t chuckle from the obviously veiled innuendo I thought of when I thought about the sticky scent. I was an adult… mostly.

I groaned into my hooves about how this was my life now. No more high brow humor and dark asides that hid as thinly veiled threats when I interrogated prisoners. Now came the low brow humor and sex jokes. I’m pretty sure I had more class than that… probably.

After the stains were gone I quietly opened the basement doors and flapped my wings with help from an aero spell. The soot coiled around me and I sent it soaring out the now open doors. The sun was starting to rise making me realize I had been downstairs longer than I had expected. Maybe it was time to sleep… but I want mangoes… I’ll have to leave a message for the others then so I can sleep.

I took out the Lexicon and managed to will one of the pages to come out of the book. I wrote down a quick message about sleeping in the basement and asking them to handle getting mangoes for me. Hopefully that wasn’t asking for too much. I placed the note on the door making mention that I was locking the door but the keyblades could open it whenever they wanted to.

“Let’s see what’s going to happen today.”

Octavia woke up with a soft yawn as she peered around the room. She had felt Gray so close to her last night. When the blanket slid off her she finally realized what she had talked herself into wasn’t a dream either. The warmth she felt still radiated off of her as she cooed in joy at finally going along with her desires. She rested her head back and thought back to the entire night and couldn’t help but smile. Then she noted that there was still a heavy musky scent in the air… It clicked immediately that the rest of their herd decided to get into the spirit of things.

“Nice night… where is everypony though…?” Octavia grumbled as she finally managed to roll off the couch and onto her hooves.

With a quick stretch she managed to regain some feeling that she had lost about twenty minutes after Gray had started his… ministrations. She had other words for it but as a classy lady she would not stoop to such crass terms… even if she was very vocal last night. She trotted around the ground floor until she finally saw exactly where Gray had gotten to or at the very least what he was doing.

‘Ladies, I finally got to sleep after last night… I’m probably going to fall asleep for a while until later in the afternoon. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble could somepony please get the mangoes before they sell out. I need to catch some sleep after everything that happened. Seriously didn’t realize how sore my jaw was until this morning. Love, Gray.’

Octavia read the note over again with the blush covering her entire muzzle as she recalled plenty of what happened and what most likely happened to the other mares. Renewed vigor poured through her body as she galloped upstairs to the bedroom. The pungent stench still managed to stream from the cracks at the bottom of the door. She swung the door open only to be caught off guard by how everypony looked. Each of the mares were strewn across the bed in varying decadent position which left little to the imagination of what actually happened.

“Oh dear… This could be a problem.”

It took an hour just to get everypony back up and ready to face the day. Many of them had to share the shower just to get their knotted manes untangled. Regardless though who it was everypony looked oddly satisfied; Fresh Coat especially. Octavia and Vinyl were the last to share the shower… something they rarely did when they wanted to save on water bills. As a herd it was awkward but eventually they would be doing this more often so now was the time to get over it.

Redheart and Spitfire took the first shift though being the early birds usually, for work and for duty respectively, made their way downstairs reading over Gray’s note with the same luminescent blush that painted Octavia’s muzzle earlier. They too remembered exactly what they did.
Fresh Coat and Sunshower followed suit with similar reactions though Fresh took a certain pride in everything that happened. Holding her head high she didn’t realize she walked into Sunshower knocking her into the couch by accident.

“Oops. Sorry Sunshower. I was thinking something else… heh heh…” Fresh Coat nervously chuckled while Sunshower’s wings ruffled up in annoyance… at least it would be annoyance were she not also distracted.

“It’s fine… I was kind of distracted as well.” Sunshower groaned as she got back up and sat on the couch with the others reading the note as well.

Octavia and Vinyl trotted down as well while muttering to each other though the blank look on Vinyl’s face told a story. She wasn’t trying to answer any questions. As Vinyl’s eyes trailed off to the couch she raced ahead and took the note from Fresh Coat reading it. She pouted slightly but shrugged it off.

“So… for the afterparty we handle the day to day activities then? Seems legit. So who wants to go get the mangoes then? I’m sure one of the vendors has them on sale today. Is it Tuesday?” Vinyl looked around at everypony who all shrugged when her eyes settled on the table. There was a small bag of bits with Gray’s name on it. There were one hundred bits in it.

“Guess he planned ahead. So I’ll head out with whoever wants to go. So who wants to go?” Octavia motioned.

“I’ll go.” Sunshower chirped up floating across to Octavia with her saddlebags. They were very useful since Merlin enchanted them to hold multiple items in their own pocket dimension.

“I need to go check on our house. C’mon Fresh, you’re with me.” Vinyl brought up before trotting towards the door. Fresh merely hopped off the couch and ran off.

“I gotta stay here otherwise the whole town will go crazy. Besides I need some more rest, after all I am on vacation technically.” Spitfire yawned as she laid on the couch.

“I’m gonna lounge as well. The hospital needs me tomorrow for a small matter but I should have plenty of time to be around.” Redheart spoke up as she lounged on the couch as well with Spitfire.

“Looks like we got a plan. We’ll be back then.” Octavia motioned as four ponies left the house while the other two remained on the couch resting after their long trip and the spoils of war as they called it.

Octavia and Sunshower’s Day

The sun was finally shining as ponies all gathered ready to shop for whatever necessities that they needed. Applejack stood tall and proud against her cart as several ponies came to get their apples so early in the morning. It was the sign of a successful business and something she took pride in. As the crowd kept passing by with the odd customer every couple of minutes. It was then she noticed the oddest pair to ever grace her cart, that prissy concert mare Octavia and one of Rainbow Dash’s co-workers Sunshower. She had nothing against Octavia personally though the few times she went with her Canterlot attitude did bristle her mane the wrong way.

“Well howdy you two. Looks like you two’ve been through alot lately. Something wrong?” Applejack drawled on as Octavia and Sunshower stood before her.

The two were still a bit out of it given what they accomplished during their trip. They couldn’t say much about it but it didn’t stop other ponies from looking at them with concern.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve been through much but we have both been trying to keep ourselves busy since some changes have happened.” Octavia spoke first before Sunshower could respond. Sunshower, for her part, nodded vigorously.

“What kind of changes?” Applejack quirked an eyebrow.

“Big kind of changes. Ones that we are still looking to implement but it’s taking a while.” Sunshower finished up before Octavia could answer.

“Can’t ya talk about them?” Applejack voiced her concern.

“Oh yes… We can but we don’t want to until we are positively for sure this is really permanent.” Octavia answered politely taking up her Canterlot vibe which irked Applejack slightly.

“Aw right then. So what can I do for ya then?” Applejack dismissed her curiosity since there were still apples to sell.

“Seven apples please.” Octavia hummed.

With a quick flick seven apples were bagged up and given to Octavia who were suddenly placed in her saddlebags. Applejack was surprised that all seven fit in the small pack but said nothing about it. Fancy spells and such from Canterlot probably from her reckoning though she was uncertain.

“Applejack, you haven’t seen the mango seller have you?” Sunshower squeaked out.

“Mangoes? That galoot doesn’t show up for another hour. If you see him then make sure you tell him that he owes me ten bits.” Applejack growled out.

“Of course Applejack. How much for the seven apples?” Octavia politely asked.

“Fourteen bits.” Applejack stated.

“Thanks Applejack.” Octavia answered as she placed the fourteen bits on the counter.

“Thank ya kindly. Have a good day you two.” Applejack waved them off as they trotted for the next stall.

The two trotted a comfortable distance before they sighed out. Most of the day had been like that with several ponies asking them if anything was new in their life and every single time they would instantly clam up and seem really nervous. They meandered around for a while until the mango pony actually set up their stand complete with obligatory slogan on the nature of mangoes. It was highly underwhelming and with a near glazed over look they collected a small bushel of mangoes alongside all the other groceries they had bought.

“You think this is enough for now?” Sunshower finally spoke up to Octavia. They had twenty bits left after buying everything that they needed.

“Probably. We usually get lucky with food. Remember… we were well fed on the trip…” Octavia whispered slightly.

“Yeah… but the food kind of sucked. I’m glad Gray talked Cookie into letting him handle the vegetables we were to bring along. He had no idea what they even looked like.” Sunshower scoffed at the notion.

“I know. At the very least we managed to save all of them for the trip. Do you know where we’re going next? I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately and I don’t remember the order of our trips.” Octavia looked around noticing that the plaza was slowly thinning out as the two made their way back to their base camp.

“I think it was the jungle with all the darkness. I think it had a name but it was in that book he has.” Sunshower surmised.

“Do you think we’ll get something neat like that? I mean getting… that was something amazing and all but so far only you have a real one.” Octavia slightly groused as Sunshower shuffled about nervously.

“I didn’t like how I got it. I was terrified. That… monster was choking Gray and I was so scared.” Sunshower stopped speaking as she noticed that there were still far too many ponies around. She sucked in a deep breath banishing the tears she felt start forming in her eyes and kept trotting along with Octavia.

Octavia remained silent as well as the ponies kept going through their lives blissfully unaware of how much the world that they lived in seemed so much smaller. Octavia peered around seeing those happy smiles… and with some trepidation took solace that they didn’t know just how dangerous the rest of the universe really was.

Vinyl Scratch and Fresh Coat’s Day

The two unicorns slowly trotted off for Vinyl’s conjoined home with Octavia. The problem with Gray was that he was a slouch when it came to buying food for his own home but at the very least he had impeccable timing with his…

“Hey Vinyl?” Fresh prodded Vinyl breaking her out of her fantasizing daydreams which she hid behind her sunglasses.

“What?” Vinyl shook slightly from the sudden jolt but kept her nerves at bay. Nopony must know what she wanted to happen to her body next time.

“Why are we heading back to your house?” Fresh stopped trotted slowly letting her back legs stretch out as Vinyl looked incredulously at her.

“Really? C’mon Fresh, it’s obvious. We need to get our grub on and right now that home doesn’t have a stocked fridge or cabinet full of munchies to satisfy my delicate palate.” Vinyl annunciated slightly regally if not for the goofy way she sniffed the air.

“You’re delicate?” Fresh Coat sniggered beneath her hoof while Vinyl just scoffed before chuckling as well.

“Delicate enough, you noob. So how did it feel? Finally taking off your training hooves and moving on to real horseshoes.” Vinyl lightly prodded Fresh’s side and she in turn tried to hide in her hat as she turned from orange to red. “I take it as it was good?”

“It wasn’t what I expected. From all my friends in Canterlot and Manehattan they said it would hurt. I mean it was slightly discomforting but then it got better. Is that how it’s suppose to be?” Fresh innocently brought up while Vinyl merely took on a ponderous look.

“Maybe? Firsts are different and while I could regale you with exploits of my past it’s something that I can sum up in one word for you. Disappointing. Mine was so disappointing that I could have sworn I never actually turned in the V. card at all. But enough about that. Let’s go get what we came here for and head on back. I’m sure Tavi has all the shopping under control seeing as she handles the shopping for us.” Vinyl shuddered as she remembered the last time she did the shopping. They had too many potatoes and it had been horrifying.

“That’s… something I guess. What are we getting? I mean are you even the one who cooks in the household?” Fresh slowly treaded forward as Vinyl opened the door.

“What? Like yeah, of course I’m the cook. Love Tavi and all but she still has trouble with anything that requires fire. Though I guess now I don’t have to worry ‘bout that now do I?” Vinyl chuckled as she rushed off for the kitchen.

“Wait for me!” Fresh chased after her nearly stumbling over some furniture before making it into the kitchen.

Both unicorns worked in tandem managing to mediate through their quirks to make some food for them to eat. Fresh would sometimes cut something wrong while Vinyl would add too much. Eventually they found a good flow for their magic to pick up where the other left off as they built an assortment of small snacks for them to all enjoy.

“I wonder though… what do you think about all this Vinyl?” Fresh mumbled after finishing another sandwich for them to enjoy.

“... I want to be seen as something more.” Vinyl muttered morosely.

“Something more?” Fresh winced when Vinyl rubbed under her eye quickly enough that Fresh thought she was seeing things.

“I’ve always been seen as… well an easy mare I guess you could say. Then somepony decided to stand up for me and not treat me like a tail lifter. Even though they could’ve left me to rot for no reason whatsoever. They didn’t. Even saying that they would stay regardless of what I chose to do. How could I not follow along with somepony like that. That treats me so well. Do you have a reason for doing this?” Vinyl coughed at the end hiding her growing sadness.

“Not yet. I’m grateful but I still don’t know why I’m going along with this. It’s been… harrowing a lot of the time. But I feel like somepony as well when I go out there to do these things. Not just another of the herd you could say. It’s not as deep as your reason but… but it’s my reason.” Fresh finished her thought packing away the sandwich as the two fell into comfortable silence.

After packing up the small meal they left the house locking the door behind them as they trotted off towards their friends and herdmates.

Spitfire and Redheart’s Day

“So… what now?” Spitfire breathed out as she laid on her back while Redheart laid near her. Their heads the only thing touching each other.

For the past hour that everypony had been gone they had both merely stared at the ceiling in abject silence lost in thought. For that hour neither had found anything to talk about because they were both there when they fought the monsters that were hiding in the darkness. They were there when they saw true malice rather than the garden variety evil they saw in Equestria. Both felt something was off.

“I don’t know honestly. After seeing out there it’s just… I don’t know how to react anymore to being back home. Out there is was challenging and dangerous and we were pushed to be the best we were capable of being. Now. I don’t know.” Redheart sighed.

“I’ve tried thinking about Wonderbolt activities but the only thing I can think of is how much most of my training wouldn’t help much out there. The clouds were all wild. We made it underground which meant all my cloud abilities were useless. Even with this fancy space magic I’ve found myself looking back on the Wonderbolts and finding them… lackluster. It that even possible?” Spitfire groaned as she rubbed her eyes.

“Possibly. I’ve found a way to heal countless ponies of their physical wound yet I know it can only do so much for everypony and relies entirely on me. All my medical knowledge is at least still useful to a point. Now… Now I need to figure out what to do with it. We need to keep secrets but both of us being technically guards for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna means we should report this. I don’t want to betray anypony…” Redheart slightly winced as her ears fell to the side of her head.

“We just don’t mention it. I’m sure nopony knows that we’re part of anything really. We need to watch out for the herd first in these situations. I mean I got all your backs on these things.” Spitfire brought up before grimacing once again. “I just never thought I would be disillusioned by being the captain of what is basically a stunt flying team. I love flying like that.”

The two mares sighed as they looked down at their respective hooves before clapping them together in solidarity. They knew they were just griping to each other about their new lot in life but it had been a big blow to their reality in a sense.

“Is it bad that I find this more fulfilling?” Spitfire jolted up summoning her training keyblade and staring at it.

“I don’t know. I can see why though. We saved an entire culture from someone’s whose greed trumps a dragons. We fought such large scale battles and won without really compromising who we are as ponies in a sense. Though I can honestly see how we’re just lucky to be alive.” Redheart took a deep breath remembering how many times those monsters had come and how close everypony came to death.

“It’s dangerous but I’ve felt more alive now than I have throughout my entire Wonderbolt’s career…” Spitfire grudgingly mentioned under her breath. It was something she found hard to actually mention.

Redheart said nothing. She didn’t know how to respond since she felt so anxious while they were out on their trip. The constant stress had not been good for her but at the same time she couldn’t deny how useful she actually felt doing something to help others. Ponyville usually had no major injuries and some malingering patients who thought they were hurt.

“Maybe we should look for that answer one of these days.” Redheart finally spoke after carefully choosing her words.

“Yeah… that’s probably for the best.” Spitfire sighed as she put her weapon away and laid back down with Redheart.

Neither spoke again merely lost in their thoughts trying to find out what made them feel so alive in the first place. Complicated thoughts clouded their mind as they waited the arrival of the others. A small growling came from the two.

“I’m hungry…” Both muttered as they stared back into the abyss that was the ceiling.

Twilight got ready to dash off since she got confirmation of Octavia and Sunshower back in town. She had gotten her pad of paper and specialty quill ready to go jot down notes. Applebloom had delivered the message to her only a paltry half hour ago. It was time to get to the bottom of things that her inquisitive mind wanted to know. Perhaps the secret of the universe or perhaps even the secret origins of thestrals in general. Before she could leave the room Spike burped up loudly coughing out a wisp of green flame as a message materialized in her general vicinity.

“Twilight… Message here.” Spike coughed out as he laid down from the sudden shift of flames.

“Oh my, a message from the Princess. I wonder what’s up now.” Twilight mused to herself. More likely than not they were just checking on her to make sure she was okay.

She opened the scroll and carefully read through the note. Then she read again. Then again until she couldn’t believe her eyes. A few drops of sweat fell off her brow before she started to dance around in a panic. She slowly calmed herself and read again.

‘Of course. The Princess already has the answer in Fluttershy. I better make an announcement to the town before things get out of hoof there. I know how flighty everypony is there.’ Twilight mused as she put down her spy equipment and began trotted out to the bridge over Ponyville stream. Spike followed closely behind ready to make sure to pick up the unicorn pieces when Twilight eventually lost her cool.

There was a large smoke cloud slowly wafting over Ponyville and they needed to stop it. Research would have to wait till later.

44. Identity

View Online

I woke up three hours after I finally managed to close my eyes. I had no idea what time it was but I knew it was time to get up. It was time to deal with getting more bits before I left. I pulled out the moogle gem and called up Stiltzkin. It was time to get things ready for later.

“Hello and Welcome to the Moogle Emporium… Oh Gray there you are, Kupo.” Stiltzkin answered in his usual wistful tones.

“Kupo?”

“Just… Just shut it. Look we need to keep brand recognition and focus groups say that we need to act the part of intrepid moogle salesmen. Let me just have this shred of dignity, kupo.” Stiltzkin lamely finished off.

“That’s fine. I need more specialty things to sell around here. Think we could make this happen?”

“Yeah. Gonna need some gold this time though to embed the synthesis items into. It’s easy enough to get when you’re flying around in space but that requires way too much refinement from those sources. Anyways how have you been lately. We got word that one of our moogles managed to make a foothold in the Lost Empire by the name of Kumop, Kupo.” Stiltzkin mentioned off hand as he started to get ready his tools.

“Yeah we managed to lock that world off from the heartless. Managed to get a lot of things from them for souvenirs. Here’s the gold you needed.”

I placed a small pile of gold on the console of the holographic marker as it was transported over to the moogle who started to manipulate it in front of me with a strange magical torch. It literally looked like a blowtorch but the fire was magenta and didn’t burn his paws. While he worked to make the gold into the shape of several hoof rings and collars I looked over my own inventory.

Over the course of the entire adventure we had fought off so many different heartless including Air Soldiers, Red Nocturnes, Blue Rhapsodies, Aquatanks, and those new ones called Ballasts. The constant assault of Air Soldiers had gifted me with several Spirit Gems. I had at the very least twelve of them. For some reason I knew we were just really, really lucky at this point. I gave him four of them and he managed to make several necklaces. Spirit Gems held the essence of fighting spirit and were associated with Aero magic.

The Red Nocturnes had dropped plenty Blazing Shards giving me somewhere around thirty of them. The Blue Rhapsodies were not so numerous only rewarding me with twenty Frost Shards. I made fifteen Blazing hoof rings and ten Frost hoof rings. They were obviously the essence of fire and ice respectively with corresponding magic association.

The Aquatanks weren’t as forgiving on the drop rates and only five Lightning Gems were recovered. I didn’t use any of them for selling to Equestria. It wasn’t worth it in the long run. Even if they were the essence of thunder with the same magic association.

The Ballasts were the strangest out of all the heartless. They dropped Crystals of differing elements depending on where they were fought. While out near the ice they dropped Frost Crystals which I only received three of them. While in the crater and volcano areas they dropped Blaze Crystals which I got four of those. When we fought them in the city they dropped Power Crystals which I got two of those. Power Crystals held the essence of strength and were associated with Stop Magic. The last one I fought before we left actually dropped something entirely different and was darker than anything else I carried and was the only one I had.

“D-did you actually manage to get Dark Matter!?” Stiltzkin finally looked up from his work about to transport the items over to me.

“You mean this thing… yeah I guess I did. It’s weird but I never thought I would get something like this. What is it?”

“Are you daft or something. This is just like you bringing out that Orihalcum. Materials like this are so rare that they are usually only seen because someone else had worked to get it and decided to give it off as a prize. How… you know what no I don’t want to know how you got it. You got it and that’s the most important thing here… kupo.” Stiltzkin calmed down slightly but still felt that edge in his spine from seeing something so rare.

“Wow. Well I’ll keep it safe for now. Thanks for the help how much munny do I owe you.”

“For giving me the gold I’ve cut the costs down to around a thousand munny for everything. I made you some new items to sell which is why I raised the price a bit. These necklaces will look good for any enterprising pony you meet. There are six of them from all the Spirit Gems you gave me.” Stiltzkin answered.

I looked at the munny pouch I held onto and noticed that the amount in my pouch had significantly rose higher. From the three thousand forty five munny I had; it had jumped up to twelve thousand three hundred and sixty three munny. The Ballasts really pushed my money making up there. I gave him the thousand he wanted and with a tiny salute he shut the monitor down. I placed the jewelry away in my bag and took a quick lap around the room. It didn’t really mean much but I needed to stretch out a bit after sleeping on the ceiling again.

“I really should have gotten the bed cleaned up. I forgot entirely about doing that. The room must smell rank… Of course it would. I was in there.”

I groaned slightly as I realized just how much I had to get ready for. I didn’t even know if everypony actually did anything while I rested and I didn’t know what time it actually was. It was eight in the morning when I finally fell asleep. At least it felt like it. When I started trotting upstairs I heard something coming through the door. Spitfire and Redheart were talking…

I opened the door as silently as possible but neither heard me. Spitfire started to speak about her feelings of accomplishment. The idea of the Wonderbolts not being as fulfilling as a key bearer actually cause her to question everything. Redheart was on the opposite scale feeling as though her contributions would never be given the recognition within Equestria because of the secrecy of their lifestyle now.

I trotted into the room surprising the two who nearly got off the couch to say something and instead of letting them I grabbed them around their waist pulling them back on the couch to rest with me. Absentmindedly I wrapped my wings around them to keep them close which I figured they appreciated when they snuggled into me. Affection in Equestria seemed to be the sticking point for everypony here.

“You two ok? I won’t lie but I did overhear what you were talking about.”

Spitfire merely sighed and buried her head into the crook of my neck and sighed heavily into me. Redheart hesitantly shook her head before caving in and nodded. I waited for either to speak but neither was as forthcoming about things.

“You know… if I can teach you I could get you to cast spells with your hooves Redheart. And Spitfire, why not train the Wonderbolts with everything you learn while we’re on our adventures.”

“I can do that?” Redheart winced in confusion remembering the moments when I cast spells only from my hooves though I barely did so whenever I did. Maybe I could go get Merlin to teach better than I can.

“You’re okay with me making the Wonderbolts better? I mean what we do is kind of out there that nopony could actually do.” Spitfire chuckled tonelessly as she kept her face buried in my neck. It was starting to itch for some reason.

“Yup. You’re clever enough to change what we do to fit into Wonderbolt training. It will take time but I’m sure we can figure something out to make those changes and teach you how to perform magic with only your hooves.”

Both mares smiled as they left into their thoughts. After a few blissful moments they finally sat up next to me as I pulled out the Lexicon and began looking through the heartless descriptions. Each pointed out their strategies about how to face them and I would tell them ideally how to deal with them though with constant shifts in battle it was always hard to figure out the best way to deal with things.

“What do you mean we can reflect magic back with our keyblades?” Spitfire groused at something that seemed impossible.

“The magic we use has more physical form to it and can be struck back with our keyblades if we time our swings right or block them just as they hit us.”

“But we haven’t faced that many heartless that use magic.” Redheart mentioned as she looked back at the Nocturnes and Rhapsodies.

“Why are they named after musical pieces?” Spitfire motioned at the two small heartless.

“Honestly I have no clue. Whoever faced them first probably had music on the mind.”

“Looks like you three are finally up.” Vinyl answered from the door waltzing in as if nothing had happened while Fresh Coat caught up holding one of the small baskets they had put some food in. As the door started to close Octavia and Sunshower burst through with their own saddlebags.

“We made it back. Things are becoming crazy out there. Supposedly a dragon is sleeping nearby and its smoke is blocking out the sunlight.” Octavia whimpered slightly as she trotted over into the kitchen and placing all the things that they bought storing away everything.

“A dragon? How do you know that?”

“Twilight announced it to everypony in town and how she and her friends will go handle it. I found that a bit weird but so far nothing really bad will happen now.” Octavia sighed in relief.

“Could we have handled it instead?” Spitfire brought up.

“Well yeah… but let’s stick around town. We’re barely getting some rest after all those adventure we handled already. Besides we still need to get your armors and I’m still waiting for any message from Merlin to pick them up. I’d rather you have some more protection before we face the much more dangerous heartless out there. We got lucky that the ones we faced down there were nothing but small vanguards.”

“You don’t think we can handle it?” Redheart asked though there was no indignation only curiosity.

“I’m sure you can handle it. I’ve handled it but when I fought Rourke after he was tainted by the Heart of Atlantis he was more than a match for me even getting his hand around my throat. I was also using my armor. If Sunshower hadn’t raced in I would have been turned to crystal and crushed into powder.”

Nopony said anything. Each were lost in their thoughts since that almost spelled out the end of their herd. While there was a small bit of sniffling everypony kept it together. I set out the basket’s contents on the small table I had bought a while back revealing plenty of snacks for everypony. We all ate contently, making small talk as we did while we watched the skies darken from the smoke across the sky.

Several pegasi were already trying to blow the smoke away working in teams before stopping when it became clear that the smoke wasn’t going to go anywhere. The pegasi in the room groaned at the half baked plan before resting once again. I pulled out the Lexicon and handed it over to everypony to look through as they searched through the Heartless Archives to see what I had faced down before.

Before I could join them for a lecture a piercing scream struck through the town dragging all our attention. I immediately dawned my armor and dove into the shadows. While everypony remained still.

“Should we help him?” Spitfire sounded out.

“Until we get our armor let’s let him handle it. We’ll have to get ready for Gray to come back. Hopefully nothing goes out of hand here.” Octavia motioned while everypony frowned at the prospect.

“This sucks.” Vinyl muttered indignantly.

“You know it.” Octavia agreed.

I dove out of the shadows to the middle of town where a large heartless appeared out of nowhere. It looked eerily similar to a heartless I had seen when I had finished Kingdom Heart 2. It was the heartless from the Land of Dragons which was fought only after Shan Yu was defeated. The Storm Rider clapped several of its cymbals that were clamped on its face before diving down onto the unsuspecting ponies.

A small unicorn foal tripped just as a grey pegasus dove in to save them. I rushed in moving faster than before and tossed the tomahawk at it’s face knocking it away from the two as it lay in a heap before city hall. It was at this point that the screaming stopped and I noticed a lot of ponies were staring at me… I was so glad that they couldn’t actually see my face since this would be highly awkward enough already.

I remained silent at the tomahawk reappeared in my hoof as I switched it out for my keyblade. Luckily I had switched back to the Kingdom Key D and waited for the heartless to get back up from being dazed. It rose up instantly shaking in rage as it flew straight up into the sky knocking several pegasi into racing for cover. I turned back to the pair behind me and motioned them away while I widened my stance and waited.

The pair looked grateful and wanted to stay and speak but noticed I didn’t exactly have time to speak. They galloped off for cover as the Storm Rider dove back down racing down towards me while releasing several explosives that left small craters in the ground. I saw that mystical triangle button in my head and thought hard about it as I slid underneath the Rider and struck it below the chin, lower on the neck and above where a stomach would be.

It instantly fell back dazed once again as I hopped up top and started to strike at the small spikes on it’s back. I forced myself to strike even when they were electrified. Strangely, for as long as I had been on Equestria, lightning had minimal effects on my body. I powered through as the electricity coursed through my body and the small protruding spikes disappeared into the darkness. It immediately knocked me off causing me to skid against the ground as I rolled back onto my hooves.

Flaring my wings I immediately took off after it chasing it down as it encircled me, trying to use lightning spells which did absolutely nothing since it lost the spikes on its back. It actually changed tactics at this point flapping its wings hard as it shot tornadoes straight for me. I was forced to hit them with my keyblade just to make sure that they wouldn’t go straight for the town. The air pressure managed to spin me around when the Storm Rider instantly slammed its tail on my sending me plummeting into the ground leaving yet another crater behind.

Several ponies started to panic when they saw the dust cloud until I flapped the dust away revealing me still standing. I don’t really know what happened with the townsponies after that since I took off straight for the clouds and Storm Rider once again. It tried desperately to summon lightning but the spikes on its back were still not growing back. By the time it noticed me I had gotten in its face and slashed incessantly at it.

The Storm Rider growled loudly which seemed to reverberate all over Equestria as it attempted to striking me down with its tail only to miss by a few inches. The moment it tried to release more tornadoes I struck underneath its chin with the tomahawk sending it flying straight up further into the sky. I instantly switched to the daggers and threw them down on the ground on the spot where the Storm Rider was falling as I dove down to meet them.

“What is he doing?”

“Is that stallion crazy?”

“How’d he get those knives and axe thing. Also was the sword shaped like a key?”

“I wonder what he looks like under that mask.”

There were several ponies speaking about me… I wanted to growl out about how this wasn’t the best time but I needed to focus on my target. The Storm Rider came back into view falling down near where I was. I didn’t predict the exact spot but it was still in range. As it finally fell to cloud level I threw the last dagger in place as the entire circle of daggers burst with electricity. A large bolt of lightning shot straight from the ground piercing the Storm Rider as it fell to ground dissipating into a cloud of darkness and releasing a large crystal heart that everypony could see. As the darkness disappeared the cloud covering Ponyville also disappeared. Several ponies stared at the me while the daggers floated in mid air before reattaching back to my front hooves. Nopony made any step towards me as I put away my daggers and pulled out my keyblade.

Before I could move back to the shadows I noticed some groans from near the Town Hall as I trotted over to that spot. There was a pink earth pony on the ground with a cutie mark of a bunch of berries on her flank while a small unicorn foal tried to get her back up. When she noticed me she started to cower on the spot. I was a bit self conscious at this point but this particular pony looked scratched up from all the pain she was in. I lifted my keyblade and cast a Cure spell.

The little flower appeared over the pink pony as the vines encircled her, I found out she was a mare from her eyes, and healed up the scratches. The unicorn foal was surprised when she got back up looking no worse for wear. She was surprised as well when she opened her eyes and looked over her body. The foal looked tearfully first at me and then as the mare. I nodded towards her and noticed several ponies had started to find their spines and crowding up to me. I was a bit uncomfortable from the sudden attention. I flared my wings slightly making everypony back up a bit as I made my way towards the shadows and dove in surprising everypony.

“Where’d he go?”

“Who was he?”

“He had a nice flank…”

There were a few stares at the mare who said that which got her to blush in embarrassment. Mayor Mare took center stage getting everypony to look at her. The ponies calmed down just as the cloud covering Ponyville disappeared.

“Everypony please calm yourself. Let’s get things cleaned up since somepony managed to deal with the monster that attacked us. Please ponies let’s go deal with damage done to the town… which looked to be only the craters in the ground. Hm… I thought it would be worse?” Mayor Mare looked around and started to organize the clean up.

“Ow...ow...ow...ow...ow...ow…”

I stumbled all the way back to the house out of my armor just so nopony managed to see me. As I opened the door I was immediately tackled to the ground by an overenthusiastic Vinyl.

“Ow…”

“Hey there Nebby. How’s it going?” Vinyl jeered slightly as she poked my cheek and stared me right in the eye.

“Vinyl get off of him. I think he’s hurt… probably? It’s hard to tell since you tackled him. Jeez… it looks like parts of his fur were singed by lightning. How’d you get those bruises on your back and stomach… or were those from Vinyl.” Spitfire looked over me cringing at the wounds I had.

“Large heartless appeared in town because of the fear created from the dragon smoke clouding it. Managed to get a good hit on me because it could create tornadoes. Might have left a crater in the middle of town but it was something I wasn’t expecting. Also tornadoes hurt, like a lot. Then I saved a pony that didn’t get out of the way in time though I did have to use magic. So yeah things are happening way outside my control and I am mentally not prepared as I liked to be when that happened.”

“That… that was a mouthful.” Octavia called out as she ushered everypony inside while Fresh and Vinyl picked me up in their telekinetic magic and Redheart started looking over my wounds preparing to heal them with both the spells she learned and some of the supplies she brought in her saddlebags.

“Finally, we’re back. Good job Fluttershy I didn’t know you had it in you.” Rainbow Dash cheered on her shy friend which everypony agreed with.

“Thank you Dash. I didn’t even know I had it in me either. I’m glad it’s over now. “ Fluttershy mumbled under her breath.

“I’ll be glad when we’re finally back in town ri- what in Celestia happened here!?” Twilight gasped as she stopped and looked over the town.

Several of the ponies were busy clearing up debris and filling in several craters that looked recent. A few ponies were busy drinking their problems away courtesy of Berry Punch but nopony stopped her. The Mayor looked positively frazzled as well looking over several sheet of insurance which seemed to be for the Monster Repair Fund.

“Mayor! What happened here?” Twilight motioned her hoof over the town while ponies were fast at work repairing the superficial damage.

“Oh. Hello Twilight. Nothing much… just a little restructuring and such. Please tell me that the dragon has been taken care of, please?” Mayor Mare rattled off as she looked at the young purple unicorn. Her mane was a frizzy mess scaring Rarity completely but she remained on her hooves because it was impolite to faint at a lady’s appearance and rude overall.

“Yes Mayor. We’ve made the dragon move out of the area and go sleep somewhere else.” Twilight confidently stated before her confidence turned to worry. “But seriously, what happened here?”

“A monster attacked. It was no ordinary monster. What we thought was a dragon was actually a large winged serpent that seemed to call down lightning by slamming these little protrusions of flesh shaped like cymbals to call it down. It had nearly downed most of the pegasi that were moving the smoke out of Ponyville when it charged down at Ditzy and Dinky Doo. It would have killed them too if this strange stallion didn’t step up to stop it.” Mayor Mare recalled the event as clearly as she could muster.

“A stallion? Didn’t you see what he was?” Rarity spoke up first intrigued that a stallion did all that.

“We could only tell that they were a he. He wore this dark armor with navy blue highlights. Even the wings he had were covered… but they didn’t look real at all. He materialized weapons out of thin air including this large ornamental ax which he used to stun the monster, then this blade that looked like a giant key, and several pairs of daggers which he manipulated… like magic. But he had no horn…” Mayor Mare sounded incredulously but as everypony looked at Applejack they could only balk when they noticed that she was agreeing with Mayor Mare.

“That sounds impossible… Are you certain Mayor?” Twilight nervously asked.

“Yes I am Twilight. When things started getting out of hoof he came in and destroyed the monster. It disappeared into a cloud of darkness and this large crystalline heart popped out of it before disappearing into the sky. Berry Punch somehow got injured during the attack though we don’t know how. He lifted his blade up and suddenly this strange green flower above her head healing her back to full health. Hence why she’s been giving out drinks to all the ponies of town for free right now. She’s just glad to be alive.” Mayor Mare sighed.

Twilight stood there gaping like a fish uncertain of what happened while the other girls looked around concerned that this happened.

“Did you get a name?” Pinkie Pie got in Mayor Mare’s face seeming very serious about everything.

“I don’t know. They never said anything while they were in town before hopping into the shadows and disappearing. A lot of ponies were worried since the monster slammed him into the ground with its tail and he just stood up as if it was nothing.” Mayor Mare motioned over to the largest of craters that ponies were still trying to fill up.

“That has to be fake! That’s way too awesome to be real!” Rainbow Dash angrily declared as she flared her wings out trying to look intimidating but everypony merely scoffed annoyed at the bluster since there was no one to intimidate.

“Rainbow I don’t think that’s going to make anything different.” Fluttershy muttered out to Dash’s indignation.

“We need to tell Princess Celestia…” Twilight muttered under her breath. “This is something that shouldn’t be happening at all. We have some super pony flying around doing crazy things-”

“I think he’s more a Dark Knight figure.” Berry Punch cried out as she tossed another bottle over to Bon Bon.

“Knight fits much better.” Ditzy agreed readily as she and Dinky got ready to fly off for home.

“Ugh… fine. Dark Knight going around doing all this. Maybe Princess Celestia knows something.” Twilight trotted off for the library where maybe they could get some answers.

“Oh before I forget. Remember Rainbow Dash that we need a rainstorm in two days.” Mayor Mare pointed at Dash with her hoof which Dash answered with a serious salute.

“Whoever this pony is they must be some kind of badflank to deal with all this.” Dash groused under her breath though she couldn’t place the feeling into words. It was heavy and uncertain but it only ever appeared once. That one time Twilight disappeared to the library after Nightmare Moon appeared. This pony, regardless of being a stallion or mare, was an unknown. They couldn’t be trusted out right without finding out more about them.

“Ow! Ow! Stop pushing please…”

Redheart rolled her eyes as she was forced to push one of my limbs back into place using her prodigious strength as an earth pony to pop it back into place. The heartless had hurt me much worse than I thought and the armor just made it so I couldn’t feel it… or it got lucky.

“Quit complaining. I’m getting you back up to trotting order.” Redheart playfully booped my nose. Everypony merely chuckled that I was grousing about a dislocated limb.

“Yup… I’ll deal with that supposed utter badflank the moment I see them.” Rainbow Dash Affirmed to herself mostly as she flew off with her friends to the library to check on all the animals Spike was asked to watch and get a message sent to Princess Celestia.

After getting Fluttershy’s animals out of the library and back to her cottage, Twilight sent a letter to the Princess detailing the strange pony who fought a monster that attacked Ponyville along with the description of a sword shaped like a large golden key.

Princess Celestia sat at her throne pondering upon pondering the message that was before her hooves at this very moment. Luna had just joined her to get to know the ponies of this day and age when the message from Twilight had arrived. The dragon was successfully dealt with and the air would be cleared soon enough. As her heart lightened from the joy of her success it quickly turned to intrigue and concern.

“Sister… I’ve never heard of a sword in the shape of a key. What nonsense is this?” Luna huffed slightly. The mixture of curiosity and dismissal were very clear on her face.

“I know not Sister. I’ve been trying to see if I have ever heard of such a thing but I have never heard anything about a key sword in my entire life. If only Starswirl were here… he may have known something about this thing.” Celestia sighed in quiet contemplation.

“Perhaps I can find our mystery warrior’s dream later to see what they are planning?” Luna suggested though she still didn’t have her full power back yet. Dream weaving and channeling skills were very taxing on her recovering mind.

“Not until you have recovered enough Luna. When you do then we shall both go find this figure that managed to slay a monster flying serpent so easily.” Celestia intoned as she sent her reply and waited for Twilight’s inevitable ‘freak out’ as she called them.

45. Rainstorm

View Online

Talk was still buzzing around town of the mysterious pony who defeated the large monster that struck town with several rumors bounding out of nowhere. Some said that the pony was stronger than even the princesses able to shrug off wounds like a god. Others called them a mage unlike any others able to cross the bounds of life and death and control the flow of magic with their bare hooves. A few said that he was a stallion who would take mares on adventures that would fill her heart with more than just excitement. Sunshower had to physically restrain herself from laughing about everything that was happening. While she had gotten the week off for personal reasons and that Rainbow Dash was sufficient enough to deal with the weather of Ponyville most of the time even with her sleep habits she was forced to come in for the day of the rainstorm to help with some of the clouds.

It had been an eventful yesterday since Gray had been stuck on the couch recovering from his fight with the Storm Rider as he called it though the exasperation everypony was feeling that they couldn’t contribute just yet had reached their hearts. While they weren’t all hounded by press and didn’t know how to handle it most of the time she wanted to be there with him fighting those heartless that showed up. It was her town as well and her love on the line as well. After Gray had left through the shadows they had come to an agreement on some things. They couldn’t stop him from adventuring all the time.

Vinyl had argued that they were more than sufficient enough to deal with his adventurous spirit though as their roll in the hay proved… he could outlast them on virtue of being creative. Even exhausted he managed not only to get them all asleep he had cleaned the basement completely so that no sign of their romp was left. It had taken Octavia and Fresh Coat a while to clean up the bedroom. Sunshower knew next time her and Vinyl would have to handle the clean up… something she didn’t relish.

“Ugh… I wish this day was over already…” Sunshower mumbled as she moved another cloud into place. Below everypony was hard at work getting everything pruned and tied down. The rainstorm was going to be a doozy and would hit in a few hours.

Sunshower looked down at everypony and noticed a strange stallion walking through town. Most of the time she wouldn’t notice but this one was distinct in the long flowing beard that was hanging from his chin. It was familiar but something she couldn’t place her hoof on. Ignoring it she looked around for more interesting stories as Rarity and Applejack were once again arguing about the ways to handle trees. This was their third tree. Sunshower rolled her eyes and continued with her job.

Vinyl, Octavia and Fresh Coat were getting things settled in their home. Fresh and Vinyl had spent several hours prepping the windows for the constant gale of wind that would strike the house for the rest of the night though even they knew it wouldn’t be that bad. Still they were spending the night together at another home so it was plainly in their best interest. Octavia had played with the idea about moving into one home but she knew at only a month it was far too soon for something of that magnitude. They had barely started sleeping together and they were still under dating etiquette. Vinyl, of course, immediately suggested other racy topics they could perform which she bopped her on the head for.

“Do you have everything ready Vinyl?” Octavia called out as she packed up her extra cello in its case. She was going to get some practice in while the rain fell.

“Yeah Tavi! I got everything I need.” Vinyl answered back while carrying her headphones and a small pad of paper which she wrote her ideas for new songs on. It was rare but even she thought up some lyrical masterpieces… in her own words. “Fresh do you have things too?”

“Only a bit!” Fresh cried out as she packed up a small easel and her sketch book. She still hadn’t had time to get herself more paint supplies but her memory still vividly went back to everything she saw back in the Lost Empire.

“Okay ladies. Let’s head back before the rain gets out of control.” Octavia hefted her cello on her back finding it very easy to actually carry it now.

All the girls found it easier to do things now. Even hard activities that they normally couldn’t do were much easier to handle. Octavia had moved several pieces of furniture by using only one hoof and had to compensate for how much strength she was putting into it. While their physical strength was growing Vinyl and Fresh noticed that their unicorn magic was still the same. The magic they performed with their keyblades, on the other hoof, was much stronger. There was a growing disparity and curiosity nipped at their fetlocks and coronets.

They rushed out of the house and trotted off for their temporary rest stop for the rain that was to come. Vinyl rushed ahead leading the troops while Octavia handled the rear making sure to lock the door behind them. Nopony noticed the blue unicorn stallion following after them.

Redheart had stopped at her apartment earlier that morning after finishing her shift. She had lounged about for a while with Tenderheart gossiping about her night. When the topic of a herd came up Tenderheart immediately grabbed onto it pushing the mare into anything that happened. She couldn’t pry the information out of Redheart though since everytime she would be brought back to that night she would clam up and turn impossibly red.

“C’mon Red. Ya gotta tell me something.” Tenderheart begged to be told some juicy stories of illicit goings of ponies.

“Oh Tender c’mon already. I can’t tell you much about these things. Besides what would Rarity say?” Redheart prodded Tenderheart slightly who pouted in response.

“A lady never kisses and tells.” Tenderheart sighed as she growled out. “Don’t we always hear how disappointing her dates are though. I mean seriously how hard is it to find somepony to be with?”

“Remember she’s also gung ho about finding perfection…” Redheart rolled her eyes while she cringed at the word perfection.

Perfection, on the whole, didn’t exist in anything in the world. While Princess Celestia might have been the exception those rumors of her cake obsession made her just as equine as everypony else. When she went out into space she found even more immortal beings in a sense. They had become so set in their ways that stagnation was their only reward. Medical knowledge was more advanced in Ponyville than it was there. She had asked Gray about it and became enamored with the thought of gene therapy actually helping to get rid of genetic diseases though it was only in the opening stages of research… something that wouldn’t reach Equestria for years at this point.

When she had asked why he would say anything he answered glibly with an ‘actions have consequences’ reason. It wasn’t sufficient of an answer but it did explain a lot of things on why he did what he did. The rumors going around town and all the attention would mean Gray would have had no time for any of them. It wasn’t hard to understand why he did what he did now but she wanted to make some progress for Equestria eventually. The problem came in how to present the information. She was just a nurse… one of many in Ponyville who lived an average boring life in an admittedly dangerous place. It was something not thought of most the time with the proximity to the Everfree Forest.

A part of her wished that Merlin was on Equestria. From her conversation she knew he knew more than anyone on Equestria would ever know barring maybe the princesses as well. Maybe if she was clever she could convince both him and Merlin to trickle in information to Equestria’s medical knowledge.

“Red are you thinking about your new stallion crush?” Tenderheart gave a mischievous smile as she prodded her. Redheart blushed a heavy shade of red but managed to keep her composure.

“Look I got to get going for tonight. You’ll be good for tonight?” Redheart gripped Tenderheart’s hoof squeezing it slightly.

It wasn’t often but they acted more like sisters most of the time though both would deny it if only because they didn’t want others to lump them together. It was this goofy thing of theirs but it was their thing. Tenderheart merely giggled at the thought.

“I’ll be fine. Coldheart is coming over to hang out for the night. You go ahead and ride that pony all night long.” Tenderheart teased relentlessly while Redheart walked out of the building trying her best not to reveal how red she got. Redheart raced down the stairs closing the door behind her avoiding Coldheart who merely chuckled when she noticed how red she was.

Off in the distance she saw Octavia, Vinyl and Fresh Coat making their way towards Gray’s home and quickly trotted off to join them glad that she had kept her saddlebags with her the entire time she sat down. Within moments she joined the others with general aplomb in all their attitudes still not noticing the stallion behind them. Noticing the others, Sunshower flew down as well taking her spot with the others.

Spitfire was lying down on the couch finally enjoying her rest time. While she knew that she needed to keep flying to keep her wings strong but the time in the Lost Empire had strengthened her in ways she never realized. There were several things she had realized now as she lay on top of Gray as he laid on his back on the couch. He was still a bit sore so she couldn’t exactly do what she really wanted to do but it was fine. She slowly turned as to not cause him problems since he was still sleeping.

While his left hoof was popped in the fatigue from the pain was still causing him to sleep for a while longer. It had been two days since the heartless had tried to attack the town and Gray had stepped in to destroy it. Spitfire while not vocal about it found it to be pretty cool… she didn’t immediately want him to mount her right then and there because he was turning out to be a decently strong mate and proven to be looking out for ponies no matter the cost.

When she looked up to his face he was still asleep. The day before they had gone out of their way to Canterlot to sell some of the jewelry he had Stiltzkin had made to sell. When they met with Shiny Baubles and showed him the new jewelry. His eyes had bulged out of his head and the bartering started at that point. They knew Baubles was going to be cheap and with Gray only having nine hundred and twenty bits left they would need enough for him to be financially prepared.

Spitfire looked around noting that several nobles had multiple hoof rings made of lucid shards and dark shards. When the necklaces were brought out Baubles immediately wanted them for four hundred bits each. Gray managed to get them up to five hundred and fifty bits. Baubles was actually good for it in fact due to selling the Lucid Rings and Dark Rings for much more than he had paid for back then. He was over two thousand bits richer and after the rings were sold for eighty bits each he walked out four thousand six hundred bits richer.

Gray didn’t care if he was ripped off which surprised Spitfire and when she asked there was only one thing he said to her.

‘I don’t need bits for anything more than rent and all of you. I’m happy with what I have.’

Spitfire nuzzled into Gray’s chest taking a deep breath and taking in his scent just because she could. He cared more about them than being paid fairly. The bits were only being used to keep what he considered his family safe.

It had been a few weeks already since all their adventure even though only two weeks had passed in Ponyville. Spitfire had noted that there were moments where he would stare at them with a melancholic longing look but a few times his eyes would glaze over. She wasn’t the only one to notice and everypony in the herd noted that there were several times that he would be lost in his memories. Even though they noted that he was fine most of the time the moments where he stopped talking and looked off into space worried them.

Spitfire knew the signs of PTSD and there were moments that they were worried that he would react poorly but something kept him stable throughout those moments. Redheart was uncertain about the severity that afflicted him but they would try to be there for him no matter what. As she looked up at his face he was sleeping peacefully which made her think twice about their unprofessional diagnosis. Regardless she would be keeping an eye on him throughout their adventures. Even though she didn’t have as much strength as Octavia and Redheart showed she was still the most combat capable and did have a way to take down Gray should he become a danger to himself and others.

Yawning slightly she quietly peered around the room and tilted her ears back and forth. While she couldn’t exactly look throughout town because of her celebrity status and the fact that she was sure she had fanatics somewhere in town she still enjoyed the quiet from time to time. It was a small part of her happiness to have some time to relax but her love for leading would never escape. Realizing that she still had some alone time she cuddled into Gray’s chest getting him to wrap his arms even tighter against her.

‘Now just use your wings to angle them just right…’ Spitfire smugly grinned as her wings slowly lowered his hooves to her flank until a knock at the door caused him to wake up. Disappointed, she stopped her wings and slowly got up to let the now awake Gray get up.

“Slept too long… Something wrong Spitfire?”

“No nothing at all.” Spitfire spoke through gritted teeth and a forced smile.

I didn’t really believe her that much. Even asleep I trained myself to wake up at a moment’s notice including the long hours of no sleep that sometimes came from performing several stake outs. I could feel my front hooves being dragged down a pegasus’ body. Instead of dancing around the issue I decided to take actions mostly because I don’t like small talk that circles back on itself because somebody doesn’t want to speak.

I jumped on the couch and pinned Spitfire down taking her completely by surprised as I forced her into a kiss. Something I learned from our date together is that from time to time Spitfire enjoys when somepony actually takes control from her. It’s subtle enough that I almost didn’t notice until after I had pinned her down the first time… though that time she took control back within seconds. While kissing her I noticed her hooves trailing down my back when another knock came to the door. Slowly letting her back up her blushing face tried to vainly not look me in the eye.

“Tease…” Spitfire muttered.

“You know… I could feel somepony moving my arms a lot.”

That got her to blush even harder. After chuckling at the incident I went to the front door and let in all the girls who took their spots on the couch while Vinyl and Sunshower took kitchen duty helping themselves to making some food for the long night of rain. When I was about to close the door I noticed the stallion still walking up to my door… he looked very familiar.

“Need help there? Wait… Merlin?”

The stallion looked up and with a small smirk he nodded and I was floored. Literally, my flank hit the ground in disbelief.

“Sorry to bother you so late but I’ve come to discuss some things with you before you head off for your next adventure.” Merlin intoned in the same scholarly voice he held during his lectures on magic for the ladies.

“Of course. Come in, come in.”

After entering several of the mares looked utterly confused which got Vinyl and Sunshower to come out of the kitchen.

“It’s Merlin.”

“Merlin? But you’re a pony?” Octavia motioned her hoof over all of him.

“So is this magic your specialty?” Fresh Coat inquired.

“Where’s your awesome hat?” Vinyl called out from the kitchen as she watched the food cook.

“All good questions but I think it’s more important I answer why I’m here first.” Merlin chuckled at their calm demeanor throughout the entire visit.

“That does seem like a good place to start. “ Redheart coughed politely to curb the already enthusiasm that several of the others were already showing… including her own.

“Well this is the tricky part. I had to come to deal with something strange happening to this planet. A few days ago a small gash was made in the veil that keeps this world from being invaded by the heartless. We didn’t know what caused it at the time but after your battle a few days ago I’ve found something strange. Do these look familiar?” Merlin asked as he pulled out several crystal shards.

The crystal shards were all blue with glowing orange crack coursing throughout the crystal. It was… familiar. Too familiar in fact.

“Those look like the shards of crystal that Rourke’s body was made of before he exploded from spinning fan blade.” Sunshower piped up stopping me from saying anything.

“So they are. I found them here on this world.” Merlin spoke gravely allowing the message to hit their target as everypony immediately tensed up.

“What- what were they doing here?” Fresh Coat brought up first causing everypony to realize the breath they didn’t realize that they were holding in.

“From my research and findings they were used to open the veil at least for a while before the magic holding them together faded and scattered to the wind. The problem is that they are uncorrupted. There was no dark magic used at all during their creation. All I can sense from them is the last vestiges of light magic used to purify them and then crack open a hole for a heartless to get through.” Merlin gravely explained.

“Wait a minute. You’re telling us that the reason that heartless managed to break into Equestria without somepony evil around is because light magic, the good kind of magic, was used to break them in?” Spitfire summarized not seeming to believe what she was hearing.

“Ah I see I must explain something a bit more in depth on magic. Light magic is not good just as dark magic is not evil. Magic is magic and there is no difference between the two. Both are used and harnessed for their own means. The thought of using magic to harm another makes that casting of that spell evil. While there are more profane means of magic with much more dire requirements there is no such thing as good and evil when it comes to magic unless there is intent behind it.” Merlin clarified for everypony aside from myself.

Equestria was a world where there were no shades of gray throughout its history. There was good and there was evil but there was rarely anything in between. Even I wasn’t exactly the shining example of it even if I was technically more in tune with darkness rather than light. I fought the darkness with darkness and light in tandem. Everypony else was looking a bit confused by the sudden shift in their worldviews which left them all lost in their rationalizations.

“That’s not possible… is it?” Spitfire coughed out still reeling from that information.

“You must understand that all things in any world regardless of where they are or who they are light and dark are just what they are. The only way something gets put as evil is when someone regardless of who they are decides to make it evil. How you use something determines how it gets labeled as. It’s easy to say something is evil because the power is intoxicating and while there are things that can do evil it doesn’t mean all of them are. The moment you can’t say no dictates when a power is evil.” Merlin lectured on causing everypony to look even more lost.

“As I’ve told you before the world is much more difficult than it seems and continually surprises me whenever something of that caliber appears. Back when I was something other than what I am now the world was a constant shade of greys that had no end. While there was love, camaraderie, even friendship; there was also hate, betrayal, and enemies. No one person was even completely good or completely evil. There were no light actions or dark actions there were just actions to be taken that were beneficial for others as well. Subjectivity is the key most of the time when I was out on my job as a cop.”

“Can you give us an example… just for clarification.” Octavia nervously asked.

“I can… but do you really want to know that. The assignment was not one to be spoken of lightly. I didn’t like the outcome.”

“Come on dude… it can’t be that bad.” Vinyl came in levitating several bowls of food. “Right?”

“Fine… I warned you before hoof… Perhaps you wanna eat before I speak?”

There were no takers and Merlin certainly wasn’t voicing his complaints. I sighed and cursed under my breath because of their decisions. It was going to be a very long night.

“It was the first year after I finally earned the detective position and I was given my first case to prove myself. My mentor, the Head Detective and Sergeant of the police force, was there to guide me along the way. We had received several tips about children in the area being abducted which was always a good sign to hear.”

While the anger on my tone was clear I did note that all ponies were gasping at that revelation. Merlin made no sound of dissent merely listening. I hated this first case so much… it was overly complicated and I had to keep going through with it.

“Anyways… we found out that there were several kids being held at this small fish market that doubled as a home for some guy… I don’t remember his name since it happened over five years ago now… who had taken several random kids with no ransom note or even motive for his cause. When we found them they were actually well taken care of and had been given food and water. To make a long story short he was actually searching for his son who his ex-wife placed into adoption for reasons beyond my understanding. The family he was taken to was… abusive to put it bluntly and he was saved from it. The other kids were a smokescreen for his crime because he had already tried to sue for his child back but the ex-wife was stonewalling him at every step. So he took matters into his own hands.”

“What did you do…?” Sunshower cautiously asked. I think she knew though.

“I followed the law… had to arrest him. While he had good intentions he still did it in a way that caused more problems than it solved. Hence why I say it was more a shade of grey rather than a black and white view where I’m from. It was probably the beginning of my… I guess I could say devil may care attitude. It slowly waned as I continued working. When I got here I managed to build it back up to a respectable level while I’m… what’s the best word for what we do… freelance I guess.”

The ladies all seemed a bit taken aback by that. I’ll admit that I cleaned it up a lot from the truth, I didn’t want to tell the truth. When it came to my past I cleaned it up entirely when detailing my cases. That first case didn’t go as well as I spoke it did. The guy was a nut and ended up killing the children that weren’t his until he found the right one. I could tell Merlin knew I was lying but said nothing about it. From his gaze I could already tell he was looking at the ponies with pity. Each of them were processing the idea that not everyone they would meet would be entirely good or entirely evil. Self serving was rare in ponies that weren’t the snobbish nobility at least from what I’ve seen.

“I mean I kind of figured that this was probably a thing… but to hear about it so bluntly… Does this mean the same for those guys we met back in Atlantis?” Spitfire grunted in confusion as she looked back on everything that happened.

“In a sense. They were working for money and nothing else. Because of Milo they found their morality and decided to help instead. I consider them good people regardless of how they started.”

“Huh… That does make sense after everything I saw of them… It makes a whole bunch more sense now.” Octavia pondered as she rubbed a hoof against her chin in a slightly dignified way.

While our discussion on morality and how it affected everypony continued we ate in relative peace while the storm continued thundering outside. Apparently Sunshower took some precaution and bought a magical lightning rod to keep the house from getting hit. She had placed it after I had gone to sell the jewelry with Spitfire. Merlin answered some concerns everypony had while we ate including on how to spread medical knowledge a bit more evenly so as to not overwhelm the society they had already built up. Magical cures were the norm with only the barest of surgical procedures being shown within town when I had asked Redheart after she had finished her shift yesterday.

“Perhaps we should probably sleep for the night. Since we only have two more days before everypony has to get back to work I was thinking we head out on one more adventure tomorrow before that then we’ll plan things out as we go. Remember planets have different time fields around them in a sense. It’s not like they exist in another time before you say anything Vinyl. It’s more they have their own time that dictates how fast they go. Sometimes they don’t even match with our times in a sense.”

“Okay then Gray. I’m glad you ordered more beds for the other rooms.” Octavia pronounced as Fresh Coat took everything to the kitchen to clean.

“Oh Fresh Coat dear, allow me to handle the clean up. It would be rude if I didn’t help out a bit even if I am a guest.” Merlin spoke up as he followed Fresh into the kitchen.

“Are you sure Merlin?” Fresh Coat seemed confused at the sudden turn.

“Yes dear. I am more than capable of vanquishing a couple of dishes. I’m not that old.” Merlin guffawed slightly before placing a hoof against his mouth and coughing to a more dignified chortle. “The rest of you go sleep.”

“I’ll still be up for a while longer. I slept for a long time already this afternoon.”

With that everypony made their way up to their respective room. Vinyl and Octavia shared a room since it was the second largest and while we were all sleeping together in a sense it wasn’t an everyday occurrence. With six mares there wasn’t always enough room for all of us unless it was the specialty bed I ordered from Minoan territory. Everypony came up to me and kissed me… and it wasn’t on the cheek. Everypony made sure to get exactly what they wanted before they went to sleep for the night. Merlin had thankfully gone into the kitchen and started the dishes as everypony went upstairs to their respective bedrooms.

“So you think he’s going to talk with Merlin in secret?” Vinyl piped up as she got her bed ready.

“Most likely. He’s not here for just meeting with us. There must be something up.” Octavia replied as she got into bed.

“Shouldn’t we get the story as well?” Vinyl took off her sunglasses placing them on the small stand she brought to the house two nights ago.

“Let’s let Gray tell us. In case you didn’t notice but he made up part of the story about his time as a cop.” Octavia explained as she covered herself and took off the small purple bowtie and white collar she usually wore.

“Really? How could you tell?” Vinyl nearly yelled before switched to a harsh whisper.

“He wouldn’t look any of us in the eye. Whatever happened was probably much worse but I think he wanted to get his point across. He’s a very good liar when he wants to talk to strangers. When he speaks to us he makes it very obvious that he’s omitting things or outright lying. It’s probably much worse than we could possibly think if he keeps doing it. As an officer of the law what’s the worse thing that could happen to a suspect while resisting arrest Vinyl?” Octavia stared at the ceiling realizing both what she was saying and what she was thinking and how dark they got.

“You don’t think he would…” Vinyl started only to be cut off.

“It’s in his eyes Vinyl. Spitfire, Redheart, Fresh Coat and even Sunshower have all seen it. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to save us. Sunshower was more surprised when she stopped Rourke from killing Gray. Rourke exploded from the propeller blades striking him but it was Sunshower’s hit that ended him. He was a monster but she did it and that’s when she understood the look in his eyes. The one all of us were both intimidated and attracted to in the first place. The willingness to kill to keep others safe. I won’t condone that that is something good but at the same time I can’t deny it’s gratifying to know he places all of us on a pedestal that he won’t let any monster touch.” Octavia sighed as she felt he ears fall against her head.

“I guess… I guess I never really noticed. He’s always been too nice especially to me. He didn’t treat me like a tail lifter ya know. Even after Neon said all those hurtful things to me… I still say this was the best idea we’ve ever had.” Vinyl resolutely answered as she sat up looking over to Octavia who rolled over to look at her.

“I won’t deny that. But we have only managed to save one world thanks to a little luck on our part. This next world sounds like a doozy to me. Do you know what it is again?” Octavia lightly yawned before snuggling into her bed.

“No. Gray didn’t know the name but he said the world is the forest place covered in darkness.” Vinyl yawned back before drifting off to sleep for the night. Octavia nodded and dozed off just as she answered.

It had been a long time since I’ve felt this tense. Merlin and I worked on the dishes in quiet. He washed and I dried and put things away. I knew this feeling. It was the same feeling I got whenever my father needed to speak with me on difficult matters. He didn’t do the dishes very often and whenever he did we all knew it was important. I was surprised when Merlin did it… it brought back memories of better times. Times when I wasn’t a pony. When I was just some guy getting ready to join a police academy. When the dishes were gone Merlin lifted a hoof and led me outside.

The gentle pitter patter of rain changed to a constant thrashing. It was raining harder than I thought it was… though company certainly did make things inconsequential a lot of the time. Merlin lit up his horn and a translucent barrier appeared around us. Most likely it was only visible because I was inside it and I waited until Merlin had changed back to his human form.

“You know it was unbecoming to lie to a woman. Still I can understand why you did so. The harshness of human society especially to a pony can be quite the buck to the teeth if that is the right expression.” Merlin intoned as he watched the constant rainfall.

“I had to kill the guy. He decided that if he couldn’t keep his kid, no one could.”

“I had a feeling your story was much darker. You have quite the simple life here. Are you certain you wouldn’t rather relinquish your keyblades and their memories and be a simple family living in a modicum of comfort. It would be easier on you since you did nearly die during your first mission.” Merlin asked though the wringing of his hands bled the constant concern he was feeling.

“You know… if you had asked me before I faced off against the first enemy these ponies would face I might have said yes. Now… well not I would say no. Things have changed a bit. I haven’t been doing this long but I can see myself doing this for a long time.”

“It seems we have been gifted with a willing fighter. I will admit that I didn’t come here for pleasantries but I wanted to make sure of your mindset before I bequeath you with more knowledge of the world.” Merlin surmised as he placed his hands behind his back. His pensive stare looking at me closely.

“I’m ready for mostly anything. I’m hoping that it isn’t something bad.”

“To be fair good news comes first. Here.” Merlin pulled something out of his sleeve revealing an old iPod with some headphones that looked to be resized for pony ears. “I’ve taken the liberty of giving you several music genres that were created after the supposed end of human civilization. There is an earth still out there but it is different than the one you know. I should know… I went there already and met a version of you by complete accident.”

“M-m-me?”

I looked over the iPod in quiet study drinking in the new information I was given. Apparently I wasn’t even in the same dimension as my home. My family was still gone. I sighed but placed the iPod into my saddlebags. Merlin also handed me a specialty charging unit for it made from several magical crystals. I couldn’t tell what they were but I was glad to have them.

“I may have also placed a few stories on there to listen to in case you want to not strain your eyes reading. The other thing I have for you is much more important and requires your extreme care.” Merlin spoke in authoritative tones which I knew meant this was serious. This was turning into a conversation like I would have with my father.

Merlin pulled another thing out of his sleeve revealing a large book. I instantly thought of the Winnie the Pooh book but when I looked at the cover it wasn’t the same. It didn’t have either Christopher Robin or Sora on the cover. Instead on the cover was a large star with two dots for eyes.

“This… seems different. What’s this book about?”

“I found this book one day while on my own journey and decided to keep it safe. It’s missing some pages due to the heartless but I’m certain if I gave it to you it would be in safer hooves.” Merlin passed the book down to me and I was certain that he magically floated a small book stand down into the basement if I was seeing out of the corner of my eye right.

“So… this has magic in it doesn’t it?”

“Yes. There is something special about this and I need you to find the torn pages whenever you possible can. This one has multiple sections to it. Three at the very least if my eyes are correct. Of course these are the good news I was mentioning in the first place… there still is bad news.” Merlin breathed out in quiet exasperation.

“I take it must be serious if it has you worried then.”

“We have detected another pony figure while you were in the Lost Empire. Some other pony was there… they gathered the remains of Rourke and used them to break the barrier surrounding Equestria.” Merlin bluntly stated.

“Another… There is and they wanted to do- what!?”

“I know it is hard to believe but after using several scanning spells in tandem with the rest of the others in the Tower we can verify with one hundred percent accuracy that there was somepony else there… oh bother now you have me doing it.” Merlin rubbed the bridge of his nose with two fingers looking to try and stop the impending migraine.

“Another one… and I take it from your tone that they will become an enemy then… There’s no way a pony could have done it though if what all of us have observed throughout the entire time I’ve been here on Equestria. Nopony knows anything about the heartless here. If they did I’m sure that the towns would be better prepared or even have legends about keyblades at the very least. When I fought Nightmare Moon she had no idea what the keyblade was. She only knew it was a powerful weapon at the very least.”

“Whomever this pony turns out to be we only know that they can move to different planets and had the magic to rival even Yen Sid at the minimum. Those purification spells placed on the crystals matched Yen Sid’s magic but they were all diluted due to the crystal so we did not get a true scale for how strong this pony turned out to be. You must be more careful from now on.” Merlin ordered me at this point.

I merely nodded as he shifted back to the blue unicorn stallion look and looked at the rain covered landscape. He turned to me with a nod and pressed a hoof to his nose instantly shooting up into the sky just as the translucent shield disappeared around us. I honestly thought he could only do that in human form after getting pissed at Arthur’s step father.

I shook my head and trotted straight down into the basement to find that small book stand in one of the corners and placed the book with the star on the cover on it still closed. While I could probably head in to see just how magical this book was I needed to prepare for tomorrow even if that meant trying to force myself to sleep for a while. I pulled out that iPod Merlin got me and placed the earplugs in before using my wing tips to press the buttons to change the topics I wanted to listen to. While I doubted music would help me sleep instead I looked at the books he got for me. One that I really wanted to listen to was actually on the list and even if it didn’t tie into anything really I wanted to hear it read to me. As I pressed play I dove into the shadows back into the foyer and sat on the couch while I listened to the book being narrated to me. The pitter patter of the rain still fresh on the night air.

46. Forest of Nibel: Destruction

View Online

As the book came to it’s halfway point I made certain to keep track of my surroundings. Even in the darkness of the moments of twilight I noticed that the house was still quiet. When everypony woke again we would head out for the next world. If I remembered correctly Redheart had paid special attention for some reason to this world. I turned off the iPod gift Merlin gave me and slowly trekked back into the basement. While I knew I would eventually let Vinyl and Octavia look through the music library it had, I needed them to stay focused on the journey ahead.

I looked over the entirety of my basement and placed the device and the charger inside one of the drawers before realizing something I didn’t notice. The bookstand in the corner was larger than I thought and there were several shelves below it. On those shelves were six pauldrons just like the one that allows me to use my armor. I was a little displeased at first when I noticed that each of them had their respective owners cutie marks on them until I noticed that they were on the back of the jewel used to contain the magic of the armor. After a few moments of sorting through them I found the respective note I was looking for.

Gray, We have finished the armors for the ladies under your care. If you desire to keep this as secret as possible we have placed their respective marks on the inside lining for ease of identification. Remember the armor is lightweight due to enchantments and spells so it should be easy for you to carry them if necessary. Unlike your model these will not drain of magic because of my time on Equestria. I managed to find a book on the inner working of magic of this world though the mare in charge immediately thought I was some pony called Starswirl the Bearded. When I said I wasn’t she was adamant I was until she realized I didn’t have the hat that made him who he was and finally relented on that point. Be careful of her… she is smarter than she looks though the naivete of not being able to accept that there are unexplainable phenomenons might be her achilles heel so to speak. Good Luck Gray, Signed Merlin.

So… Twilight is actively looking into our business then…? I seriously hope she hasn’t gotten Luna to look into this just yet. She might be able to sense the Diablos in the starry sky with her magical sense tuned into the stars and moon. ‘Do I even have any mental defenses against dream diving!?’

I completely cut off that line of thinking and looked over the pauldrons again. I suppose that next time there is a crisis in town I could have them help me out anonymously. It wouldn’t be problematic anymore unless we were separated. Damn… now that I think that fully it might just happen actually. I trot back upstairs and sit on the couch with the pauldrons on the small coffee table that one of the mares brought to spruce up the house somewhat. I slowly closed my eyes and waited until everypony was finally awake.

Spitfire wasn’t a morning pony. She did it because of her career as a Wonderbolt but if she could have an extra hour of sleeping instead of being a rolepony she would be much happier. On days off it was a bit worse because she really enjoyed sleeping. The events of the previous day and the time till she returned back to her role as a leader were quietly rearing its head once again. Groaning, she rolled out of bed and took care of the morning routine each of the girls had which meant the shower was the most crowded.

Octavia was the earliest riser managing to get up way before anypony while Vinyl was the laziest and slept in a lot later than usual. Spitfire was always somewhere in the middle due to being on vacation though As she trotted downstairs after finishing up she noticed that nopony else was up just yet. Gray was sleeping on the couch in the weirdest position almost directly sitting up though the shifting of his ear meant he was still listening.

It was one of the weirdest things to see. Throughout her career and several joint missions with the Night Guard that was willing to pull double shifts none of the ponies had ever managed to keep aware even when sleeping. At the same time it made Gray a bit more clumsy whenever he didn’t get enough sleep. Taking to the air, Spitfire flapped down the steps and managed to get to the kitchen. Luckily, thanks to Octavia and Sunshower, they had filled up the fridge fully. It was even one of the special models with the inscribed runes to keep things fresh for longer periods of time. She bit into the apple she chose and trotted over to the couch… where Gray was staring at her.

Spitfire jumped up in surprise when I looked at her. I didn’t think she actually noticed when I was waking up. The sound of clip clopping hooves against wood and the crunching of an apple managed to pull me over the edge. I was actually more thankful for it than I should have been. For some reason it felt as though someone was trying to reach into my dream being forced out before they could get in. There was sparkly star covered hair seemingly coming out of the aether into my room in my mind when I noticed the sounds in the waking world. Training for stake outs once again helped out more than I thought it would.

“So… gonna stay there or are ya gonna get up here with me already.”

Spitfire blushed and coughed a bit as she came up on the couch sitting next to me. I looked over the table and picked out the pauldron with her symbol on it. When I looked towards her with it in hoof she sat up regally and I thought her fur on her chest may fluff up. With some careful ministrations I placed the pauldron on her securing it in place. The gem in place was a topaz if I remember right. Yellow in color and matching her coat, it fit really well. She adjusted it with her wing for a bit as her eyes grew wide and sparkly from the item. She stood up and picked a spot nearby with little coaxing she managed to make her own armor come to her.

It was made of silver plated metal with yellow highlights the armor hid her face and cutie mark. After she de-summoned her armor she glomped onto me snuggling aggressively into the couch. Once again these mares are very awkward positions.

“This is great. I’ll be the greatest now and I can do almost anything possible.” Spitfire gleeful laughed and bounded around happily.

“Spitfire calm down already some of us are trying to sleep!” Fresh Coat called out as she stumbled down the steps alongside the others.

“Hey I wanna do that!” Sunshower cried out.

“Me first!” Vinyl screamed back.

Before I knew it several mares immediately jumped the two of us where all of us landed on the couch and flipped it over onto its back. We groaned as I felt a hoof in my side and a horn in my cheek. It was uncomfortable and eventually we managed to get untangled from each other. I flipped the couch back up and trotted over to the coffee table. When everypony saw the pauldron on Spitfire’s shoulder everypony started getting loud.

“All of you stand still and I’ll put on your pauldron then.”

Everypony grew quiet as I used my wingtips to grab the rest from the table. Each stood straight and proud though I found it mildly amusing that they were treating this with such gravitas when all I was doing was dressing them up. I stood next to Octavia and placed hers on taking my time with the clasp just because I could. I think she knew I was gonna be teasing everypony a bit since her smirk was showing. Vinyl made a little squee noise when I placed the pauldron on her. Fresh Coat needed a little squeeze to keep still because she was trembling in excitement. Redheart stood taller when I placed the clasp on her. Sunshower glomped on me kissing me on the spot. After that though everypony wanted a kiss which just went through a whole lot of problems in the long run for how long they wanted. It was a mess.

“Alright alright… Let’s see how you look in your armor.”

“How do we do that?” Vinyl piped up raising her hoof in the air and waving it around as if trying to get a teacher to answer her question.

“It’s an extension of your will. For unicorns you have to think of it like you’re using your magic. For pegasi it seems you need to consciously think about it the same as when you think about using your wings. Earth ponies is a bit easier since you just have to force your will power. Merlin left very vague instructions but said you would know what they meant.”

At first everypony stared blankly at me. A few were quirking an eye at me as if I was crazy. I wasn’t sure Merlin knew exactly what he meant or maybe he did but didn’t explain it well enough in his note.

“Listen everypony just think of a happy thought and the armor should be summoned on you.” Spitfire called out as she summoned her own armor.

Everypony frowned slightly but complied with the vague statement. Within seconds there were several flashes of light and the other five had their armor on. Each stood in shock I think if their posture told me anything since their faces were covered.

Octavia’s had another silver plated metal armor with purple highlights with the gem resembling sugilite, another vibrant purple color. Vinyl’s had dark blue highlights with a sapphire providing the magic for the armor. Redheart’s had light blue highlights with a spinel providing for the armor. Sunshower’s had green highlights and had an emerald as the center piece. Fresh Coat’s had orange highlights with a citrine gem powering it up.

“These are the standard make of the keyblade armor that masters eventually manifest over time. I’m speeding up the process but it’s necessary to keep you all safer when we get out there to more dangerous places. The armors will shift to fit your personal tastes over time.”

“How come you are the only one with dark armor?” Fresh Coat spoke up stopping me from continuing the small spiel I had.

“It’s using what my heart looks like. I don’t know if Yen Sid mentioned it but the keyblade and the armor all reflect the state of your heart. I’m a bit more on the darkness side but still in control of all my mental faculties and thought processes. All of you come from Equestria where light is the main draw of the world. So you all balance me out in a way, ‘cause without light there is no darkness and without darkness there is no light. They go hoof in hoof as coexisting forces. Neither is good and neither is evil. They just exist.”

“But the heartless are evil…?” Redheart motioned though stopped when she was thinking harder about that statement.

“Yes and no. The heartless only care about getting hearts to feed themselves. They act on instinct like every animal out in the wild. When they sense someone with darkness in them they immediately follow that someone because it fits with their instinct to search for more hearts. But they are predators and the moment that that someone shows weakness the heartless will take their heart. So while they are used for evil purposes they only act that way because they are acting on instinct. Searching for hearts to fill themselves again.”

“That seems so sad…” Fresh Coat muttered.

“Is there nothing we can do for them?” Sunshower spoke up.

“I don’t know. All we can do is release the heart they took so it can get back to their host. In some cases we could bring back anyone who had their heart taken if we also destroy their corresponding nobody.”

“Wait! We can bring ponies back to life!?” Vinyl screamed out as several ponies looked shocked as well.

“In a sense, yeah. The problem is finding the corresponding nobody. If they were really strong then they might cause their own problems because they are also searching for hearts to fill their own missing heart.”

“Yen Sid was mentioning this as well. What do we do about it?” Octavia stepped forward as if to take charge of the situation.

“For now… we can’t do anything until we’ve actually fought a Nobody. Then we can figure out who has lost their heart to a Heartless. Big thing is that we have to defeat both the Nobody and corresponding Heartless. Let’s head out to the next place for now since we still have time to get all of you ready before we face someone that dangerous.”

There were several nods as everypony put their armors away and we got ready to leave. The saddlebags were filled with supplies and we trotted out the door to the still drenched landscape and made for the save portal. We were warped onto the ship and each got in our respective seats as I took the steering wheel. I needed to eventually teach everypony how to drive the ship before long.

We warped back to the Lost Empire world and another path was located on the navigation computer which surprised everypony because they hadn’t seen or heard the computer the last time we flew towards a planet. Luckily everypony was ready for the warp and as I lurched the ship towards the next path the excitement was palpable.

Desolate Starfield

The ship slowly came into being as we looked out the viewport to the planet below us. It was covered completely in shadow and the mist surrounding the forest and mountains below. The darkness was swirling around while Heartless ships flew around trying to reach planetside. The chaotic airspace forced them back into space.

“It looks like we’re going to need to break through…” Octavia groused as she secured her safety belt once again which prompted the others to follow suit.

“Can’t we just sneak by…?” Redheart questioned when the alarms started blaring.

“I think they spotted us.” Vinyl flatly stated seeming completely aware that they would see us no matter what.

“Horseapples…” Redheart cursed.

As soon as I pushed forward on the yoke causing the ship to dive as several missiles flew past us into the aether. Several heartless ships began their pursuit both firing their weapons and surrounding us in suicidal charges. The remnants of random buildings materialized in the background made entirely out of gummi blocks which several more Gummi Heartless stood upon forming artillery lines. The machine guns couldn’t target them and the lasers didn’t have enough firepower to handle them outright. I really needed to find more gummi blocks to upgrade the ship eventually.

As I pulled up from another harrowing dive several new ships appeared behind us in pursuit forcing me to look as the rear view camera where they began to fire several more missiles at us. Spitfire was glaring at her seatbelt which made sense to me at the time. Being subjected to another’s whim in flight probably made pegasi go mad from the lack of control. Thankfully, she was smarter than that and didn’t immediately try to take control of the ship. I still hadn’t taught any of them to drive.

The laser swiveled around blasting the pursuing ships from their chase leaving us to deal with the artillery. The central walker opened a large compartment on its back before revealing a large laser cannon which it charged up. I was forced to roll causing a lot of screaming as we avoided several short barrages of both missiles and laser fire. Eventually the laser did its job taking out one of the walker’s legs which caused a chain reaction of explosions taking out several of the artillery pieces.

Taking the chance, I steered the ship back on course as we maneuvered around several of the stationary heartless ships destroying anything which seemed to be holding more troops to transport down to the planet. They weren’t completely defenseless though as several of those stationary ships had roving defense turrets which proved more competent managing to strike several holes in non essential portions of the ship. Luck played a big factor since every time I saw something come for the main cockpit I would turn the ship in a way that would limit damage.

After breaking off from the invasionary forces we finally managed to give them the slip and soar into geosynchronous orbit around the planet. I had to do maintenance of the ship once again before we hopped off for the new planet. There were several breaches on the more superfluous areas which, thanks to the magical properties of gummi blocks, were already self repairing.

Apparently, after gummi blocks started to become more prevalent for world to world travel outside of keyblades their magical properties were fully touched on. Gummi Blocks were a self repairing building material that would take shape and mold into those shapes depending on the magical abilities of the being working on them. There were certain technologic ways to shape them but only the most intuitive minds could figure out how to work on them. From there even through severe damage they would regenerate shape if given enough time or if deposits of gummi blocks were found out in space. There were specifics that needed to be found to affect repairs during battles but they were very useful for long term conflicts.

“Okay… we made it. Once we get down there remember to keep together. If we do get separated we will designate a place to go to that will be our base camp or we find one of those glowing save points and warp back to the ship to save time.”

“Roger.” Spitfire saluted.

“Understood.” Octavia motioned while she secured her saddlebags.

“Aye aye.” Sunshower chirped.

“Alright then.” Redheart nodded.

“Sounds good.” Fresh Coat mentioned.

“No prob Nebby.” Vinyl called out as she went towards the warp pad down to the planet.

Sighing at my new nickname in exasperation I followed after her alongside everypony else towards the warp pad. It was going to be one of those days.

It had gone so wrong… She wasn’t moving anymore. He had to get help. The small figure crawled along the ground keeping clear of the thorns as the sky darkened around him. What was once the loss of fruit had suddenly gotten to the death of all plant life. Then she stopped moving. He couldn’t wake her. He was still small and while he could jump well the sudden coldness he was feeling started to get worse.

He knew what had caused all this. He didn’t listen to the pulsing light. His true family calling him and it went unheeded. That expenditure of light probably weakened her to the point of a coma. He couldn’t leave the one who cared for him though. Perhaps that was his biggest mistake. The past couldn’t be dwelt upon at this point and he needed to make it back to his home.

The thorns caught him slightly tearing at his skin as silver blood dripped from his wounds. Gritting his teeth he forced his way through breaking branches and brambles which caught onto his fur. The glow he emitted slowly started to diminish. It was so painful but he needed to break through. With one mighty shove he broke through the thorn branches out into the desolate world that was his home. Nature had died with the loss of the light of Nibel. The waters ran foul with the poison of the world and the shadows grew restless.

“Well, well, well… Looks like a light spirit did survive now didn’t you.” A voice called out. Even through bleary eyes the young light spirit, in the cusp of death’s grasp, looked up at the figure before him.

In front of his failing eyesight was a unicorn strangely enough with a long flowing beard and sorcerer’s cap and cape adorning their body. The tone of his voice was masculine… but also oddly unsettling. Unfortunately unconsciousness dragged him down leaving him to the mercy of another.

“Now let’s see what I can harvest from you- Damn it… several key bearers are here. Seems it’s your lucky day rodent… You are lucky that I still need privacy… besides, you’re worthless to me in this state.” The voice spoke coldly before the horn on its head flashed brightly and he was gone.

Meanwhile…

Luna woke up from a strange dream as if looking from outside her own body when she was taken by the Nightmare. There in front of her stood a single thestral with a strange key weapon. He stood valiantly against her though the comment of called her a whorse was something she could have gone without. The it summoned those shadow creatures. She didn’t know what they were called but the evil they contained was palpable. He fought against him even taken advantage of the melee to beat her other senseless.

For several nights now Luna had had the same dream for the past week while she regained her powers. The memory… dream… whatever it was consumed her curiosity to levels she didn’t even know that she possessed. Regardless she needed to get ready for her first foray into Night Court given that she had finally gotten back into the swing of things.

Taking a few moments she wrote down what she could remember from her own dream. Had she had her full power it would have taken her seconds using her magic to recall the event in perfect clarity. Until she could though she was forced through the haze of vague recollection like everypony else.

“Princess Luna.” A voice came from outside her door.

“Yes guard? What is it thou need? I mean… what is wrong?” Luna chided her speech. The new dialects proving a bit harder to handle especially the lack of the Royal Canterlot Voice in all her speech.

“Princess Celestia is requesting your presence on a matter. It seemed very important with how Kibitz appeared right now.” The guard answered back.

“Very well. Thanks be to you.” Luna stated as she warped off for the throne room leaving the guard to ponder what else he could do now that his charge was no longer in her room.

Within a few moments Luna popped into the throne room. While her connection to the dream realm was still being recovered her magic still proved versatile enough to allow some short range teleports. When she entered the throne room the guards were all gone, even the token force that hid in the corners to enact ambushes were also absent from the room. Celestia sat on her throne pouring over a letter that had her fully engrossed. Luna daintily trotted up to the throne making certain that Celestia hadn’t noticed her. Surprisingly the letter was far too engrossing apparently.

“Tia?” Luna called out causing Celestia to jump.

“Lulu! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Celestia yelped.

“Sister… I was in front of thou.” Luna deadpanned.

“Uh… right, yes. Sorry about that Lulu. Just… a little jumpy is all. The dragon situation was dealt with so the smoke covering Equestria will be cleaned soon enough.” Celestia stated though her wings were still shuffling in agitation.

“Tis good tidings then for the Elements. It seems that there is something else on thy mind that is distorting thy nerves sister. What be the problem?” Luna asked.

“It seems… well, it seems that there was another monster attack while the dragon was dealt with. Apparently, somepony wielding a weapon in the shape of a key defeated this monster by themselves and even channeled magic without a horn… at least from what everypony saw.” Celestia mentioned as her worry increased.

“A key you say… A golden key perhaps?” Luna hastily added as she rounded on Celestia in a pitched fervor.

“From what Twilight was informed of… yes. Nopony knew who this pony was and they remained hidden in armor that hid every part of his body. There were no marks to symbolize a cutie mark and their face remained within the knightly helmet they wore. They fought to protect the ponies of the town… I don’t know what to make of it. There is no mention of key like weapons in all our history and we don’t have many of Starswirl’s secret tomes which have been lost to history. This… this… this is unheard of.” Celestia started to hyperventilate from the stress of the unknown.

While most saw the two Celestial sisters as perfect the two knew they were far from it. Celestia was a worrywort that would panic the moment something happened that was so far out of her frame of reference that she would spasm into panic attacks. Luna, on the other hoof, was far more confrontational. She preferred taking her problems by the hoof and beating them into submission.

“It’s like my dream sister… that key warrior might be the same as my dream. Curse my limited power. If I was fully functional I could have found this pony already.” Luna stomped the ground in frustration leaving small cracks around where her hoofprint was.

“Calm yourself sister.” Celestia chuckled through her deep breaths.

“You are one to speak sister.” Luna shot back in muttered tones.

Both groaned but soon found their laughter once again. They could get through this together. Now… now they had to deal with the problem through Twilight. The lack of information made it very obvious that they needed her to be their eyes and ears for this developing situation.

“I suppose… We will have to keep track of this situation. When you regain your full power you will have an easier time finding out who this stallion is, won’t you Lulu?” Celestia softly stated.

“Of course Tia. I will find out who this pony is. Anypony who can survive Nightmare Moon deserves to be recognized for their actions.” Luna confidently stated.

“Not too overboard Luna. We need to figure out just who exactly this stallion is and what they had gotten themselves into. They know the entire situation that they are in and need to explain what they exactly brought to this world.” Celestia growled out… not at the pony but at the monster that was mentioned in the letter and the… picture that was sent with it courtesy of a Dinky Doo.

The silly filly had drawn a large snake with cymbals on it while this knight fought against it. It was the most adorable thing she had ever seen but the message behind it was clear. Something had come to Equestria and meant them harm.

47. Forest of Nibel: Devastation

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Sunken Grove

As we touched down in the darkened world we noted that everything around us was dying or already dead. Rivers were glowing a murky purple poisoned by the very landscape while the skies were hazed over in either smoke or darkness. It was hard to tell at that point. Redheart and Octavia looked the most distressed. Their grimaces told me something that none of the others could. Earth ponies were tied closely to the very ground beneath their hooves.

“Everything is dead…” Octavia muttered out monotonously.

“That’s impossible… How could- what happened here to cause all this?” Redheart breathed out harshly as she spun around in place looking for any explanation or even something to blame for all this. There was nothing she could blame though.

“It smells horrible around here…”

I was luckily muttering to myself. Nopony heard what I said while I looked around some more. Everypony actually stuck together because of how dangerous the area looked. Several bramble bushes seemed to be oozing with purple liquid on each of their barbs which made all of us certain of how dangerous the world had gotten.

“Hey I found something!” Vinyl yelled out causing all of us to rush over to her position.

On the ground in front of us was a small creature that seemed to be glowing a now dimming light. Redheart rushed ahead and started checking the creature on the ground frowning when she didn’t feel any pulse. Before she could voice her concerns the tree out in the distance started to glow as several flower made of light sprouted all around us. The light flowed into the tree before bursting back along the ground into the creature who slowly stood back on its feet.

It was a small bipedal lemur like creature with large black eyes. Honestly it reminded me of the movie Lilo and Stitch. More specifically I was looking at Sparky, Experiment 221, the lightning one only made entirely of light. It looked at all of us in confusion since I noticed that the illusion spell hadn’t activated when we landed. We were honest to God ponies at this point. I also noticed that the smell of darkness had dulled to barely being noticeable. Whatever darkness festered in this place the small creature was blocking it.

“Hello there little light… Are you ok?” Redheart motioned her hoof out for the creature who tentatively recoiled.

Redheart remained undeterred though. She was not overly decent with pets as Fluttershy or Dr. Fauna were but with the movement that the creature made it seemed to have more sapience behind its eyes. Carefully it stepped forward and grabbed her hoof before being brought in for a small embrace. The small light creature, though taken off guard, did embrace back before seemingly breaking down into tears. The eyes it wore were something I realized seemed oddly familiar. They were the same my niece first gave me during our first few months after her parents, my brother and sister-in-law, took their lives. They were looks of longing for comfort, understanding, and perhaps reasoning. Even then I couldn’t tell her the reason her parents chose what they did.

“Gray?” Octavia shook me out of my internal focus.

“Yes?”

“What do we do now with our passenger? They are still really weak and shouldn’t be moved around so haphazardly.” Octavia explained while the others took turns looking over the small light creature.

“We need to figure out where to get him to. There are a few places we could go within here but we need to find something to help this little...guy? Girl? I’m not really certain honestly. I smell so much darkness in the place that it’s getting harder to breath actually. Unless I’m around the little one… Place him on my back for now please?”

“Will you be ok?” Octavia instantly spoke the worried painted on her muzzle explicitly.

“Yeah… just get him on my back.”

I didn’t think it would be that bad but the darkness was really overwhelming my senses at this point. I felt a small weight placed on my back and the overwhelming scents overwhelming my senses stopped assailing me so badly. None of the others looked as bad and merely seemed uncomfortable by the world around them.

“Are all of you ok?”

There were several grumbles of ‘yes ‘ and ‘of course’ but their eyes said another thing. I stared down Spitfire who the the most proud but she didn’t break. She was too good as keeping her cool. Fresh Coat, on the other hoof, didn’t.

“Fresh… Are you ok?”

“Honestly no… This place is giving us all the creeps.” Fresh Coat muttered.

“I thought that the Everfree was bad but this place… this place is so wild and more than chaotic. It’s not even the matter of it being a forest on another world since I realize that there are no ponies on this world. This place… this place is dying and slowly. I can feel it in my hooves and it doesn’t feel good.” Redheart explained for the benefit of the others.

“If even I can feel it then you know it’s bad.” Vinyl piped up.

“Earth ponies have more connections to the ground than any other pony race but every pony can feel the magic that roams through the world. The magic of this realm is very skewed and dying. The magic that is still here seems to also be inside this creature on your back as well.” Fresh Coat mentioned as she lit up her horn illuminating more of the world around us.

“That makes sense. So… let’s see what we can do about all of this then. We also have to find the keyhole and hopefully keep the heartless at bay. They are already trying to land on the world with how much darkness is here.”

Everypony nodded as we trotted through the wilderness. Throughout the entire time through I half expected to be attacked out of nowhere but the wildlife I did see out in the distance would run away from us. I also noticed several shadows as well but whenever they attacked the creatures of the woods they would always miss. Spitfire kept careful vigil of them throughout our walk. She was just as uncertain as I was throughout the entire time we were going through the forest.

“It’s waking up.” Sunshower cried out which made a few of us wince. Luckily nothing immediately came after us.

The creature awoke sharply shaking erratically as it saw the seven of us. I thought it would immediately attempt to run away but it stayed on my back compacting itself even more than we all thought possible. Fresh Coat trotted up slowly holding her hoof out allowing the creature to sniff at her warily. There were several tense seconds of uncertainty as Fresh Coat placed her hoof on top of the creature. The shaking stopped. The creature started mewling which actually allowed several of the others to breathe once again.

“Well… that was unnecessarily tense.”

“You’re telling us…” Vinyl snarked back though I think it was a bit more playful since she stuck her tongue out at me.

I shook my head chuckling while the creature finally took a closer look at all of us. It stared intently at me in particular touching my leather styled wings. Immediately I decided to just go with male pronouns more as a catch all than anything. Then he jumped off my back peering carefully at all the other ponies around us. He was careful with his examinations looking everypony in the eye for some reason. I kept myself close by if for no other reason than to not be overwhelmed by the scent.

With its ministrations over it jumped back onto my back and peered around. I visibly breathed a sigh of relief as he patted me on the back of my head. I pivoted my head around to peer at him as he pointed down into one of the nearby caverns. I looked at the others are motioned my head towards the entrance which everypony nodded in agreement.

“Can you speak with us at all?” I mumbled to it while I was still getting confirmations from the others.

It released a few chirps and growls. I felt an eyebrow raise in confusion which he copied. It clearly understood what I said but I couldn’t understand what they said. He looked puzzled as well tweaking his head slightly and seeming to realize I didn’t understand him. He patted me on the head in genuine remorse. I had no idea if I had just been insulted or not. ‘Probably not insulted. It was just him being nice.’

Regardless of the chuckles from the others we made our way through the twisting trails of wooded area and rocky terrain until we hit our first couple of drop offs. The little guy jumped off my back and ran ahead forcing us to chase after him and not get lost.

“For a little guy he sure runs fast…” Spitfire called out as I had to pick up a few of the girls and fly over the poisoned looking water.

“It’s probably important.”

After everypony jumped off we made it to a large open glade where the little guy seemed to be looking around carefully. I was feeling out of it as I manage to get close enough to be within his little sphere of influence. He peered up at me with a worried expression. His eyes grew wider and his stance further apart as he jumped on my back. Something was within the glade.

“Ladies… I think we’re about to fight something…”

Everypony instinctively took out their keyblades. I still needed everypony to earn their true keyblades sooner or later. At this point only Sunshower had her true keyblade. A sign of courage let it burst out. ‘What would bring out the others.’

My little revelry was broken as the little guy once again patted my head towards a small ledge where there was something shining atop it. I galloped over to it, hopping over the small debris in the way to the object in question. We both saw this weird sphere of light though it was flickering in and out of being causing the creature to hop off and rush towards it. He slowly picked it up cradling it in his arms.

“Ori… You have come…”

The voice caused a few of us to panic slightly. Vinyl swore she didn’t whinny in fear and Spitfire didn’t scream like a filly. Their glares convinced everypony but me. Before they could continue their harsh punishment of glares at me the sphere floated into the air beside him. Ori, I suppose his name was, took it in stride bowing slightly to the light. The light floated over to each of us bobbing in place while most likely examining us as Ori did.

“Keybearers… It is good to have those that would lead us to salvation come to our realm. Please… assist us in returning the balance to this world.”

The light danced in front of me surrounding me in a thin barrier of light. The smells finally subsided and those waves of nausea finally disappeared. The light returned to Ori who seemed to be pondering things deeply while the rest of us waited as well.

“How did this world get so bad…?” Redheart started.

“I will answer once we are safe… they are coming.”

Several shadows popped from the ground ambling towards us. They weren’t alone either. Several monkey shaped heartless also appeared, most were blue in color while several orange ones and one pink one stayed further back pulling slingshots out. They were the ones that appeared in Deep Jungle and I knew their names. powerwilds, bouncywilds, and a Sniperwild… We were surrounded by heartless.

“Ori we shall assist.”

The light spoke as it circled Ori instilling him with power while the rest of us rushed into battle. The shadows were easily dealt with as several of Fresh Coat’s spells dissipated them without too much trouble. The powerwilds were much more dangerous able to go toe to hoof with the keyblades. Whenever Spitfire or I would swing, more often than not, our keyblades would catch against their fists. While it knocked us back slightly the impact caused those heartless to flinch from the pain. Without mouths though they looked like silent movie caricatures.

“What’s with these monkeys!” Sunshower called out as she kept casting reflect spells to stop the Sniperwild’s single minded attack against her. Whenever one of us would get close it would rush to a new advantageous spot and retarget Sunshower specifically.

“Argh! Stop blocking. Sweet Celestia are these guys annoying.” Vinyl growled out as she resorted to firing off spells to stop the powerwilds from parrying their blows.

“Gotcha!” Spitfire screamed as she tore through one of the bouncywilds, keeping it from escaping her swings.

Ori bounded into the fray surprisingly shooting out small flames of light towards the heartless though it would take several shots just to take out one heartless. He proved much better at dodging as the light seemed to make him duck and weave through the Powerwild’s assaults. As the flames burned it up Ori would strike against the next target.

I immediately dove into the shadows sneaking up upon the Sniperwild driving my blade through it. I had swapped out to Nightmare Cascade in case it ran away. While my chances of getting it to succumb to the sleep enchantment the blade had it still gave me the oomph needed to take it out of the picture. As the Sniperwild fell the bouncywilds focused their attacks on me. The moment that they turned their backs the others struck them down while Octavia and Redheart swept up the last remnants of the heartless around us. A few powerwilds seemed to back up appearing to run but they instead charged in one last attempt to overwhelm us. They didn’t survive long as everypony fired off complementary spells taking out the remnants and leaving us with a cleared out grove of trees in the middle of a dead forest.

“I feared as much… the world is now too open to every single heartless in the universe. Keybearers we must restore the light of the world.”

“What happened here first off?” Redheart spoke up stepping forward to the small sphere of light while Ori stood at attention.

“I would also like to know.”

There were several cries of agreement from everypony as we surrounded the sphere of light while Ori climbed onto my back.to look at the sphere as well. The sphere bobbed up and down in a hesitant manner.

“The story of the forest happened long ago. One night the owl, Kuro, took the light of Nibel tearing it away from its place leaving the world to slowly fall into the dilapidated state before you. I am the last piece of light that remains of that tree. Ori is the last child of that light which we must empower to restore the light of the world. I am Sein, the eyes of the Light.”

“It’s gotten that bad here?” Vinyl called out.

“I can say there is a way to allow this world to survive but Ori must find those who came before. His ancestors would allow him to interact with the light of this world and save it. Should we hurry we might be able to keep the heartless from taking this world.”

Most of us nodded in agreement and decided that we would get the light back for this world. Ori kept to my back as we tracked back up to where we needed to go using his light flames to destroy certain purple blobs that seemed to grow over several portions of the forest. Along the way several powerwilds had made it their mission to attack us at random times. While they weren’t the worst threat we faced the moment one of the heartless touched one of the pools of water it dissolved back into darkness. The water was far more poisonous than we once thought and all of us endeavored not to get any closer to the water.

“So… no fresh water then?” Vinyl called out sticking out her tongue at disgust at the waters around us.

“For now probably not. We need to find out what we need to do to save this world from falling.”

As we made our way up through the area I noted that the heartless were getting a bit more bold in their attack using sniperwilds to strike back at us from a distance using the terrain to their advantage. Eventually we came to a locked door which had two large indentations on it.

“We require keys to open this door.”

I glowered slightly at how tedious this seemed but the door was holding back the darkness. There were worse security systems than this. For the next few minutes we all searched for the keys we needed to open the door finding them in small copses hidden amongst the brush. Along the way we ran into several more strange doors that needed light placed in them. There were even large cracked columns blocking several paths as well. Overall it was a frustrating trek through poisonous marshes and broken trees until we managed to get back to the door.

“That seems like a poor security system…”

“It’s to keep the darkness at bay. The doors release a large effusion of light to make it safe to get through the next areas.”

“Sein where do we have to go exactly then?”

“We need to make it over to the tree of Nibel to awaken a portion of the tree up. Then we can find the portions of the elements that make up the matter of the world.”

“You guys have elements too?” Octavia cut off our conversation though she looked a bit sheepish about it.

“So what? There are elements of harmony here as well or something?” Vinyl deadpanned slightly seeing how common they were when it came to the makeup of planetary harmony.

“I do not know what these elements of harmony are but we have three elements that do describe the very foundation of the world around us. They are the elements of Water, Winds and Warmth. Once we get to the tree I can locate where the items we need to make the elements work right.”

“There are only three elements? That seems kind of weird when I think we got six back at home.” Spitfire pondered the implications of such a thing.

“There could always be something that dictates how each world works that doesn’t rely on order or chaos. Harmony isn’t really the end all for everything.”

The rest of us pondered what was going on as we fought our way through more sections of the world to find a path up to the main tree. The landscape required several times for me to carry Octavia and Fresh Coat up through the tree boughs. Sunshower got Redheart further up while Spitfire carried Vinyl once again.

Ori pointed elsewhere to forcing us to go further down into another passage which just made things even more difficult. There were only so many places to go in the long run with all the obstacles we faced along our path. As we reached the bottom of the small gulley we all noticed a tree off in the distance. There was a weak light coming from it which seemed to draw Ori’s eye.

“This is the resting place of the guardian spirit Fil. He is an old spirit which managed to find a way to keep the light going but it involved giving up his physical form to keep the light of the world alive. Ori you must absorb his light in order to stand a chance against the rest of this world.”

As we traveled into the grove Sein explained about I felt even more darkness form up around us. Several powerwilds bounded out of the brush rushing after us all while a new monkey took step across from us near the tree. It wielded two large blades with heartless symbols engraved upon it and was completely purple instead of the blue of the powerwild, orange of the bouncywild and pink of the sniperwild.

I charged in against it while the ladies mopped the floor with the powerwilds who were way too unorganized to pose a decent threat. As I readied my keyblade the monkey heartless immediately went to block managing to hold me off from charging through at the cost of using both blades just to stop me. Gritting my teeth in frustration I tried to push forward only to note that it had managed to get the best footing to deal with me. We struggled through a power match until Ori came in firing off several light flames forcing the two of us to disengage.

As I kept charging against this new heartless Ori kept supporting me with his fire. Eventually we backed the heartless into the rest of the group where Vinyl used a stop spell on it. Each of us took a few swings dissipating the heartless and leaving the area clear of anymore heartless… at least for the moment.

“Go to the tree Ori. This place will remain secure.”

“Nebby what was that heartless?” Vinyl brought up as she hoofed her keyblade away to the gather of the others.

“Honestly I don’t know. Probably a new type of heartless native to this particular realm. I’ll check the lexicon.”

I pulled out the book and leafed through the pages until I made it to the heartless section. The sections on the bouncywild, powerwild and sniperwild were all set out though the claims of the slingshot being so formidable caused my pegasi marefriends to scoff at the validity of it being dangerous. The last page told a different story on the new heartless.

Bladewild
A monkey heartless wielding two distinct daggers in each hand. Due in small part to their increased dexterity they have been noted to be the same rank as the Sniperwild and usually share joint custody of marshalling their forces. Extremely agile use time magic to slow them down.

“Well… looks like the heartless are evolving more and more every single day then.”

“And I thought Vinyl was the only one who was deadly with a knife…” Octavia scoffed.

“True. I do make a mean spaghetti dish.” Vinyl muttered clearly feeling a bit smug about her accomplishment.

There were a few laughs as a bright light caught our attention and Ori was floating before the tree. As we covered our eyes the light show ended with a small sonic boom of some sort. It wasn’t painful but it felt as though light had washed over all of us. Ori had become brighter as he climbed onto my back and we continued our trek up towards the tree for the position we needed to be in.

48. Forest of Nibel: Roots

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Spirit Caverns

Once again playing the noble steed I carried a few ponies up the shaft of sheer rock walls seeing as poisonous brambles coated several portions of the area. There wasn’t much time for bantering or chit chat surprisingly which confused me completely since we had a lot more to do back during the times with the mercs underground. Though with only Sein as someone new to speak with I could see why it would be disconcerting. His voice boomed every time he spoke up leaving a few of us startled at his range. Octavia compared it to the Royal Canterlot Voice that was being whispered about around the Canterlot nobility. Though she mentioned most of it being hogwash so I quickly burned those brain cells of that useless information.

“So we make for the tree then Sein?”

“Yes. If my predilections are correct when we get closer to the tree it should give Ori the general locations of the keys that would unlock the areas that lead to where the heart of each element resides. And before you ask, unfortunately, keyblades would not be able to open these particular locks. At least not the ones you possess on you as of this moment. They were keyed into to these specific locks because of the rumors going around.”

“Rumors?” Sunshower immediately squeaked out seeming more interested than she did before hoof when she was focusing on Ori.

“You received rumors?”

“As a being of light you hear things along the vine that inform you about the state of the world. We are not the first light tree in this universe and we shall not be the last.”

“Right… mind telling us what you have heard?”

“Yes, sorry. It seems as though there has been a few ponies wandering the universe as of late. Tales are whispered that there are six ponies who have been steeping themselves in darkness and other rumors that two more have joined their ranks.”

I sighed to myself whether in relief or exasperation I didn’t really know. We were luckily not the ones being talked about meaning we still had some modicum of stealth on our side. What frightened me to the core was that there were ponies who had figured out out to travel through the universe and this particular spirit of light noticed it happening. With Merlin’s information as well that meant they were explicitly an Equestrian pony but as far as I’ve seen no one had ever heard anything about heartless in any capacity.

“So there is somepony out there… six of them in fact.” Spitfire muttered as she held a hoof to her mouth lost in thought once again. From what I could tell she was letting her militarized mind plan out just how things might go.

“Spitfire save it for much later. Until we actually figure out where these ponies are we shouldn’t worry too much about them until we have actually met them. Remain on guard but don’t dwell on it.”

Spitfire nodded slightly though there was still a worried look plastered on her face. In fact, several of the mares were worried now because of the unknown out there in the universe. I couldn’t fault them though. As I have learned from my observations, ponies hate drastic changes though I did fight a giant heartless in the middle of town so I couldn’t actually consider this study useful. Ori tapped me on the head and pointed me in a different direction as we all had to climb up more sheer cliff walls. At this point all of us were used to having to fly up to separate platforms in order to make it any farther through the forest. In truth, they were more often than not the desiccated remains of the tree boughs and crumbling rock formations.

As we kept climbing up we noticed that the darkness was starting to get thicker once again. We reached a large field with a well before us and a large tree out in the distance. Ori jumped off my back and immediately ran off for the well. We all took a measured approach as we joined Ori amongst the broken remains of the sealed off well.

“Welcome… Welcome to the Spirit Tree, the very lifeblood of the entire world.”

“So this is where Ori came from? What do we need to do here then?” Vinyl called out as she lit up her horn making certain that nothing was hiding in the brush.

“We must tell you the tale of what occurred here before you came. Long ago Ori was taken away from the light of the tree towards another who took him in under her own wing. As we tried to find him the shadows hated that we shot out the light to try to coax Ori back home. Kuro, the owl of darkness, grew enraged and immediately attacked the light tearing it from the tree and breaking it into me, Sein.”

“So… why did she attack the light then?”

“Gray, isn’t she a creature of darkness?” Octavia was the first to speak out about it.

“See… that’s the biggest problem. If the owl hated the light then why didn’t it attack before hoof? While she might be a creature of darkness she also depends on the light to keep the world alive. There is probably a much deeper reason behind her actions rather than just a creature of darkness that hated the light.”

“So you think something else happened?” Octavia continued.

“I’d hope so otherwise this would be too stereotypical of the darkness attacking the light.”

There were a few chuckles at my reasons most likely because my own reasons were kind of shallow about the concept of darkness and light. Honestly, I had a feeling that something else was going on. I had watched the Atlantis movie back on earth and I had this feeling that every world I would go to would be something I’ve seen before but so far this particular world eluded me to the point where I had no idea what was going on on this planet in particular.

“Regardless of her reason, we must restore the light of the world before everything falls to ruin and the world is lost to the darkness. There are three places that hold the very key to the world. The first is within the Thornfelt Swamp. It holds the Ginso Tree, the resting place of the Element of Water. The second is near the Misty Woods. Hidden within are the Forlorn Ruins, there lies the resting place of the Element of Winds. Finally beyond Sorrow’s Pass lies Mount Horu. It is there within that resides the Element of Warmth. Please, you must assist us, otherwise, we are all doomed to perish.”

“Sein, we are already gonna help Ori out on this task. Please. We’re key bearers. Of course we’re gonna meddle in the affairs of this world to keep it from falling.”

“Aw yeah. Time to crank out the big guns!” Vinyl cried out as she summoned her armor and for some reason posed and strutted around as if to show off.

“Vinyl… the tree doesn’t have any eyes to see you.” Octavia facehoofed and snorted most likely to stop the laughter she was trying to hide if her smile was anything to go by. Ori chirped though and jumped onto Vinyl’s back posing with her.

“Well… at least they’re enthusiastic about this then…” Redheart chuckled stiffly as she trotted around the well trying to discern which way we needed to go.

Ori immediately took point pointing us off to the west, through the mists towards the next couple of areas we needed to go through. As we trotted along I noted something odd every once in a while. Out in the distance in the darkest parts of the world a pair of glowing orange eyes would leer at us. While they never did more than look at us I felt something strange whenever I locked sight with them. They stared into my soul in such a way that I had only small recollections of what it meant. It felt… familiar as if I was seeing something I had only seen when I was a kid. That feeling left as soon as the eyes closed. Whatever was within the darkness was now watching us… and as far as I could tell with the distance between us… it wasn’t a heartless of any sorts.

Starswirl kept looking around for any other light creature that might have survived the purge as he came to understand it. Frustrated and tired he slowly rubbed his eyes with a hoof. Before long he decided enough was enough and teleported closer to the tree.

“Blasted owl… got in my way one too many times already.”

The other ponies he had sensed with his life detection spell had inadvertently made it impossible to harvest the light creature as the delicate essence he needed for his plans could only be gotten from weakened light spirits. This one had been restored and strengthened by the sheer number of light wielding keyblade knights. At least he assumed they were knights. Even Celestia wasn’t foolish enough to send greenhorns out on missions of this importance even if she never did learn anything about keyblades in the first place.

“This is pointless… and this tree is almost deader than dead. Might as well leave for the next ingredient.”

With a simple flick of his horn he teleported out of the area. It was almost as if he was never there in the first place.

Hollow Grove

The following area was covered in a deep haze as several new bramble bushes covered in poisonous clumps of burrs covered the area we walked through. It took us several minutes just to find another one of those trees of light that seemed to occupy random areas. As Ori absorbed the light into his body another monkey like heartless popped out of the darkness. It looked like it was wearing a mask and seemed to dance in place as several bladewilds and bouncywilds took center stage.

Redheart immediately countered the bouncywilds by firing off several spears of ice towards them with a blizzard spell. The few that didn’t get hit slipped on the ice that had formed from the missed shots letting the others get free hits in. The bladewilds were much trickier since only Spitfire and Octavia could outspeed and outpower them reliably. Even I couldn’t do that though I was at least skilled enough to outbluff them in any match of strength. As much as the heartless do at adapting they are still very straightforward in what they actually want to do.

The bladewilds immediately took the first chance they got to try and carve out one of our hearts only to get smacked away by a well timed reflect spell. Though every couple of swings they would managed to knock a few of us back. It got so bad that Sunshower was knocked into some of the poisonous brambles and yelping in pain from it. That distracted me immensely allowing the shaman heartless, I remembered what it was, to jump on my back.

The shaman immediately lit his hands with will o’wisps and plunged them into my back causing me to scream in pain and fury as I immediately flew upwards slamming the bastard into one of the cut trees. The shaman’s hands lost their glow and I kept slamming him over and over again into the scenery trying to smear it into paste. I knew I couldn’t though because it would dissipate into darkness before I could. As it stumbled around slightly I grabbed his staff and threw him into a patch of brambles causing it to dissipate.

Ori had finally finished absorbing the light and ran into the middle of our fight. Before anypony could stop him, he let out a burst of light energy causing the stragglers of our battle to dissipate back into darkness and release several crystal heart emblems. I flew back down and immediately cast a cure spell over everypony. Luckily the poisonous looking material wasn’t as bad as I once thought. Sunshower didn’t look poisoned at all which let me relax.

That was a big mistake. I finally felt the pain from the burns caused by that damn shaman and I winced from the feeling. Adrenaline was truly a very useful thing and Redheart had to check over my burns quickly. The cure spell had made them slowly start to heal over but she assisted with her own spell. Strangely from what I felt from the flow of magic, if you could call me feeling the burns disappear some kind of superpower, the cure spell she cast was far more potent than my own.

“Thanks Red. That was far more uncomfortable than I really wanted to admit.”

“You really need to stop getting hurt. You take far worse wounds than we do. Don’t think we haven’t noticed.” Redheart tapping her hoof against my chest. Ori, for some reason, tapped my leg in tandem mimicking her

I noted that once again everypony looked at me with that worried look that they usually gave me. I didn’t know what to feel at this point. Honestly I wasn’t trying to get hurt yet, at the same time I didn’t try to dodge really heard. I do know that they at the very least saw me distracted by Sunshower getting hurt. As we all wound down from the sudden fight I felt Sunshower nuzzle against me.

“Don’t worry too much. I’m a tough mare already. I managed to keep up with you a few nights ago didn’t I?” Sunshower whispered to me as we continued on for the Ginso Tree.
The path was fraught with plenty of forcing Spitfire, Sunshower and myself to carry the others from time to time. Ori climbed on his own power most of the time using the foliage to climb around while he fired his light off at any obstacles that got in our way. At one point he used his spirit charge, my name for it, to break open several rock walls that would get in our way.

Once again I felt eyes immediately focus on us off in the distance but instead of there being something unknown out in the darkness there were two yellow eyes. Redheart was the closest at this point to me and also noticed. The figure immediately sat up showing that it was a bipedal creature with a spherical body. It soon fled into the shadows leaving the two of us pondering what we just saw.

“What’s up you two? See something out there? More heartless?” Fresh Coat stopped and traipsed back towards us.

“I don’t know… It had the same yellow eyes most heartless do but it didn’t come out swinging like they usually do. It took one look at us and dismissed us on the spot.” Redheart sighed but I couldn’t tell if it was in relief or not.

“Maybe it was an inhabitant of this world that survived?”

“Well it’s not there anymore so hurry up already. I think we found the entrance to a new place.” Fresh Coat shuddered in disgust.

“Is it that bad?”

“Worse… there’s too much water around here.” Fresh Coat answered back blowing a raspberry in response as well.

Thornfelt Swamp

It was very very wet around here. There were literal lakes all around us filled with the foulest water imaginable. I was certain that everything in the water was deader than dead. ‘What would that be? Corpse-y or skeletal? I’m certain not even those survived water that looked like that.’

“This place looks horrible. Where can we find that tree that Sein was talking about?” Fresh Coat called out as she climbed onto my back and peered around lifting her hoof above her eyes mimicking a lookout very well.

“Fresh… we’re still below the tree line. I don’t think doing that would get you better results. Ori don’t copy her t-, oh you already did…”

Ori did indeed climb up and copied her. Strangely enough he pointed off in the distance figuring out exactly where the tree was… I wanted to call bullshit but he probably could sense minute details of how the light functioned around here or instinct from being a spirit of Nibel. After climbing down and in Fresh Coat’s case lying down on my back we continued on over several rotted logs that were bobbing on the water.

Several times we had to stop due in no small part to the heartless’ growing expectations of beating us in battle. sniperwilds made several more appearances making certain to keep me in particular under their targeting sights. Thankfully having reaction commands let me send their shots back. They would still fire several volleys before they were satisfied. Octavia had nearly fallen into the water which forced me to grab her and toss her onto the closest solid ground I could see. More often than not those ‘safe’ spots were next to the heartless.

Spitfire and Sunshower became more invaluable as we trekked through the swamplands. With their extremely accurate eyesight they usually found several keystones which apparently we needed to get because the world was falling faster and faster. Vinyl joked around that we should make an album cover with the scenery as it is. I couldn’t deny it would look very metal like.

“Maybe when we find the tree.”

“Did you bring a camera, Nebby?” Vinyl immediately stopped her ribbing and looked at me in the most serious expression possible… not counting our first date night.

“Uh… no. Wait… let me try something.”

I pulled out the Lexicon and allowed the illusions to do their trick. Within seconds of thinking about it the book shifted into a very old fashioned camera. I was thinking of a digital camera which makes this weird. Maybe I still wasn’t strong enough to fully use the illusions to their greatest effects but for now this was a start.

“Whoa… how did you do that Nebby? I mean I know we all have magic but that was like magic magic. Wait… the book did, um… what was it? Illusions, right?” Vinyl nodded up and down while the others looked on at the book.

“Yeah. This is a really old fashioned camera though… I have no idea how to operate this at all.”

I turned the camera over in my hooves noticing that it was for the most part mechanically correct. I even managed to see the film that would be used though it looked highly customized to the point of not really making sense. I didn’t understand it at all.

“That’s not a normal camera.” Sunshower pointed out.

“Yeah… it’s a very strange hybrid.”

I turned it back into the book just to escape the headache that was forming from the uncertainty of how it actually worked and continued to carry on for the tree that Ori was supposedly pointing at. The trip was barely a couple yards ahead and I was still amazed that things like this existed.

Before us all was an even larger tree though the dessicated bark and large ornate door that seemed to naturally form within the confines of the bark before us. Within the center of the door was an indentation with what looked like a circle with waves on it. It was kind of on the nose really…

“This is bad! The Water Vein has been taken from its position. We must find it to get into the inner depths of the Ginso Tree to revive the Element of Water. I can sense it faintly coming from the direction of the Moon Grotto. Something took it into that area.”

“Ok… gimme a sec.”

I summoned the lexicon and immediately shifted it into the camera. I took a picture of the tree entrance just to appease Vinyl for her want of a cover for anything she made in the future. She quickly glomped onto me nearly causing me to fall over but I was able to keep from falling and thankfully no one glowered at the sight. It seemed that the act of sleeping with everypony together managed to get them all ok with the public displays of affection. Octavia didn’t even look annoyed either making things at the very least easier to handle.

“Ok, ok. Let’s head for the grotto to find this Water Vein and get inside the tree.”

Just to make certain I tried to tap the door with the keyblade but nothing actually happened. There was a certain limit to the keyblades I suppose… unless it’s more because the world is the reason that these doors are remaining sealed. The heart of each world are sentient to a certain degree from what I remembered. There were certain worlds who could create their own keyblades for wielders to use in their name since they are what all heartless are looking for. Strangely I didn’t receive one from Atlantis though it might be the same case with the first game in the series since Wonderland deigned to never give you a keyblade.

It took a few hours of climbing over several dangerous areas when we noticed a small figure hopping around while also holding some shiny blue orb. Before we could fully go after it several heartless appeared and started chasing after it in droves. The powerwilds immediately rushed through while it slowly made it’s way into what was more than likely the entrance of the Moon Grotto.

“Get over to him quickly!”

Spitfire and Vinyl shot forward zooming through the heartless in a shower of fire spells and whirling blades. Luckily, the powerwilds were focused primarily on the figure that was running away. Ori ran over to the cracking column and actually broke it with an explosion of light flames. Rushing in we found the heartless being thrashed by… laser beams?
“How do lasers even form in nature like that!?”

I quietly cut off those thoughts as we chased after the figure that rushed into the darkness with the key we needed to reawaken the waters of this world. The heartless were quickly mopped up leaving us a clear path deeper into the depths of the grotto.

“So… who wants to go underground then?”

“Not me.” Fresh Coat answered.

“I’m good up here.” Redheart replied next.

“Not enough open room down here.” Spitfire explained.

“T-t-tight spaces and me don’t mix.” Sunshower stuttered.

“I just don’t want to be down there.” Vinyl smirked as she flipped her glasses down.

“I’ll be heading down there with you Gray.” Octavia responded with a pat on my back. Ori copied the actions and hopped on my back.

“Fine fine. Let’s head down there then. I’m gonna call it here, we’re splitting up the work in this world then. Each place one of you will go in with Ori and I to scope out or solve the place.”

“So there are six places, one for each of us to go inside then?” Octavia explained in more detail.

“Pretty much. We’ll decide as we go along.”

49. Forest of Nibel: Grotto

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With a deep sigh I picked up Octavia while Ori jumped onto my back. The others made a small base camp away from the laser beams but still within range of the entrance deeper into the grotto. I flapped my wings experimentally a few times, not out of concern, but to make certain I was ready to zoom through at high speeds for dangerous problems.

“You two be careful down there. Spitfire and I shouldn’t be down there in the enclosed spaces otherwise we would be useless to should there be battles down there. We’ve been having a lot of trouble keeping to low level flight around here. It’s been getting really tight in close combat lately.” Sunshower gestured with her hooves while also pointing at her wings.

“It’s fine Sunshower. We can handle whatever is down there. The heartless really wanted that being crawling around like that, didn’t they?” Octavia mused though her eyes were lost in a serious gaze towards the entrance into the grotto.

“Fresh and Red you two are to keep watch for anything that might try to come in. Spitfire and Sunshower keep track of anything in the sky. I felt like there was something out there watching over the land. Vinyl do you have any spells you might have learned to keep everyone coordinated. While we’re down there I don’t think we’ll have much chance to speak with anypony.”

“Merlin was trying to teach me and Fresh some of the spells he knew. That stuff was way over what I learned back at magic school. Sorry bout that. Fresh did you manage to learn anything?” Vinyl groused over the lack of progress.

“Sorry I didn’t really understand much either. All the magic he taught was so different than any unicorn style spells and even though he made it easy I still didn’t really get how to do so. It was so different than what we’re taught back in school. At most I did strengthen my telekinesis at the very least.” Fresh Coat slightly cheered which Vinyl copied meaning she probably also strengthened her magic as well.

“Hm… we have to try something…”

I summoned the Lexicon again. I remember making contacts with several beings in my dreams before and the power of Organization VI’s weapon seemed to do so. I really didn’t understand what the full extent of each weapon’s potential could reach.

The Lexicon was the power of illusions. It allowed for whole worlds to be created on a whim to trap and destroy enemies in one fell swoop. It could create illusions so real that it would be difficult to even consider them fake. It also seemed to have the strange power of connecting with other beings through metal links but not telepathy. I quietly tapped the book against Octavia’s head. She looked at me as if I was crazy.

“What was that for?” Octavia nearly shouted as she rubbed her head. There wasn’t any pain but it felt so awkward and weird.

‘Testing… Testing…’

Octavia nearly seized up and looked around confused. She stared at me and I could see her eyes widening. My hoof was against my temple and I was seemingly focused.

‘Can you hear my thoughts Octavia?’

She recoiled slightly before lowering her guard enough to look back at me. I was really hoping that my sheepish smile would tell her how sorry I was for trying this out of the blue. What’s the phrase I’ve heard before… better to ask for forgiveness than permission, I think it was?

‘Y-yes. I can hear you Gray.’ Octavia focused on me.

“Sorry bout that. Since you are my Alpha I gotta make sure you are the first to know.”

She nodded and I noted that her blush covered her muzzle completely. I think she was more supportive by the fact after figuring out that I was basically propping her up as the most important. I really need to not do something like that. I’ll explain it later.

“Ladies I need you to come over here real quick.”

Five taps on the head with the Lexicon and the subsequent freak out I finally set up the plan I wanted to know if it had even been possible, which it was. Part of me wanted to dance around like a child on christmas while the rest of me wanted to maintain some amount of dignity.

‘Everypony hear me?’

‘Yup.’ Came five other voices in my mind.

‘After we finish up this problem I’ll message you through this mental link.’

‘Another thing that’s completely difficult for unicorns to do.’ Vinyl groused.

‘To be fair I am cheating. The book is doing all the work. I’m still figuring out exactly what this thing can do. All my weapons have something weird they can do. The Lexicon is the weakest of all the weapons I have but is the most versatile in what it is capable of doing. Illusions are its main capabilities.’

‘Ok ok I don’t need a whole history lesson right now. Let’s get this show in the road.’ Vinyl stopped me before I could explain even more.

‘Fine. Let’s go Octavia. I’m shutting down the link until we’re done.’

I changed the book over to my keyblade and the mental link disappeared. I noticed a few of the mares were trying to concentrate. I was completely shocked to see that even worked in the first place. I noticed that a few girls were embarrassed when I looked over to them. Chuckling a bit, I flapped up and picked up Octavia, who made a little meep sound, while Ori jumped on my back.

I flew down through the second laser keeping up to the small openings in order to dodge the beams. Octavia made certain to cling to me harder whenever the lasers were around. Ori grabbed onto Octavia since the first laser had made him a bit jumpy. When it stopped we immediately charged through the opening just as the laser fired off. Octavia breathed a sigh of relief as I landed nearby on safe land from the strangely potent traps.

“I will never understand exactly why they decided to put lasers in a place like this…” Octavia moaned in frustration.

“They almost look like natural formations.”

“How are lasers natural formations though?” Octavia pointed out as she glared behind us at the beams of death.

“Honestly I was thinking magic so it would make sense at the very least. Though this world is dying and this is probably it’s only defense against the heartless. There are plenty of other problems to go through. For now let’s just head down into the grotto and figure out where that thing hid the seal.”

I immediately put her on my back while Ori trotted behind us peering carefully through the void. There were several luminous mosses covering the walls allowing a modicum of light to permeate the shadows around us. Strangely no heartless showed up as we made our way further into the depths.

“Gray?” Octavia whispered.

“Yeah?”

“Why did you suggest we split up like this?” Octavia questioned.

“Usually when it comes to keyblade teams it’s composed of only three beings. While I don’t follow that trend of thinking because I like keeping you all close to me I figured eventually we’re going to need to do something like this eventually. Right now I’ve already kind of planned out that everypony is going to come with me as the very least into one of these areas. It’s going to be a little out there but I need to keep training you all to handle any situations.”

“Oh… “ Octavia motioned her hooves in small circles on my back while she snuggled onto my back. “Are you certain this isn’t just an excuse to get all of us to have one on one special meetings with you?”

“Huh…? Never really thought of that. While, yes it would be fun, we probably shouldn’t do anything with our companion here watching out for us. Besides… I already know what I’m going to do to all of you before you have to return back to your Equestrian livelihoods.”

That got me a little squeak as she buried her face into my neck trying to stifle the blushing. She should really know by now that the teasing game doesn’t work against me by now. I’m confident in my own ways to at the very least not get flustered. Then again, training my emotions when I was an officer and eventually a detective did make it harder to rile me up. There were very few things that could thankfully.

Ori looked at me confused before shrugging at me with a look that said ‘Get a room’. I rolled my eyes as we made it deeper into the grotto dodging several spike emplacements which seemed to litter the places that were nearly too small for us to go through. Well they were too small for Octavia and I but there would always be ways around. I was resourceful enough to think of a solution to the problem. As we finally reached the edge of the grotto we saw the figure from earlier across a rickety bridge.

“Hey over there! Wait for us!” Octavia called out.

“Octavia I don’t think we should assume that he’s friendly.”

In truth, he looked scared beyond belief. He was clutching that same orb while looking around in frustration and fear. Ori urged us to travel forward which got Octavia to hop off my back to trot alongside us. Carefully we stepped forward… only to freeze when the figure kicked a lever nearby. The floor immediately fell beneath us as I dove for Octavia grabbing her in my hooves as I tried to break our sudden fall. My wings caught a small uprising of air, though the sudden fall had nearly tore through the membrane of my wings.

“Gray what about Ori!” Octavia screeched as I instantly dove down in hopes of catching the light spirit.

When I made it to the bottom I was filling up with an immense amount of guilt… I had let another creature die. A choice of impossible proportions which I could feel making my teeth grind against each other. The taste of copper filled my mouth… which made Octavia brush the small trail of blood dripping down my chin. There were tears in her eyes as we finally managed to reach the bottom of the ravine.

Gumo’s Hideout

As we mourned the loss of our friend, said friend hopped onto my back causing Octavia to fall into the shallow pool of clean water surprising me with an impromptu shower. Octavia sputtered while I tried to rub the water off of my face… in vain I might add. My hoof was still covered in water. Groaning in defeat, I watched as Ori helped Octavia back onto her hooves. She had the wet mare look though it just made her a bit more sultry… up until she shook around like a dog would getting both of us wet. When she was done and back into her pristine appearance she did at the very least look sheepish at our misfortune. Though she did titter under her breath before fixing it off with a cough.

“Sorry… but that’s not important right now. Ori how are you alright? Also we’re sorry that we couldn’t get you in time.” Octavia muttered showing a surprising amount of shame, surprise, and inquisitiveness all at the same time.

Ori jumped up and fell down pretty fast though when he touched the floor he showed himself stretching out his limbs like a cat would as he hit the ground. Then he let his hands further detail him running off a cliff, I think, hitting the ground and still walking around like nothing happened. Octavia just smiled and nodded not understanding a bit of it. Sein had not deigned it important enough to actually talk about it so it was a bit off putting.

Ori merely sighed and waved his paw around as if it wasn’t that important urging us to follow after him. He jumped over several spikes deeper into the tunnels but before we could follow him Octavia stopped me.

“Give me a second there Gray. You’re still bleeding slightly. Let me clean it up.” Octavia motioned me towards her as she pulled out a small handkerchief from her saddle bags.

I stood still as she applied her ministrations on me. I briefly wondered why the contents of her bags were still dry until I remembered that Merlin probably enchanted them just as he did mine but more practically. A charm to keep the contents from being destroyed or the bag to rip probably weren’t that farfetched from what he was capable of.

“That was certainly a scare, right?” Octavia chuckled, though it was hollow. A sound of trepidation in her voice.

I nodded as she wiped the handkerchief a bit rougher against the wound causing me to wince slightly. It’s strange that small pain causes me more pain that being impaled or having my entire body nearly rendered useless.

“I nearly thought he died… and you started to hate yourself once again at being helpless. I can tell by the look in your eyes.” Octavia intoned, her eyes full of tears as she pressed herself against my still wet body.

“I can’t say that I wasn’t feeling that at that moment.”

“Thanks for thinking of me first… I still don’t like that it happened that way.” Octavia muttered as she tried to keep her voice from cracking.

“I know. Let’s follow along before he gets too far ahead.”

Octavia nodded as she blinked a few times to get the tears out of her eyes. Her hooves were technically still wet as we jumped over the small spike traps which were between us and Ori. Octavia made the jump first showing just how far she could actually get all on her own power. She cleared it with room to spare as she landed next to Ori who was still peering into the darkened tunnel. I flapped over the obstacle thanking god for the wings. Surprisingly I didn’t get this self aggrandizing message from him about it but then again I hardly ever dealt with it in the long run.

“Shall we?”

I urged a hoof forward which got a frightful grimace from Octavia which Ori once again copied like a child with their… parents. Shaking that thought out of my head I lead the way deeper only to come across some very slow moving walls that were smashing into each other. Octavia took one look at that and immediately jumped onto my back. Ori stepped onto the moving walls and looked down through the gap inching away whenever it slammed shut.

“Gray I have a horrible feeling about this…” Octavia shuddered into me as she looked down. “We’re going to have to go there… aren’t we?”

“Most likely.”

“Smashing…” Octavia punned with no sense of irony in her voice.

“I sense a disturbance in the jokes.” Vinyl suddenly spoke looking off into the distance as if her favorite turntable was smashed to pieces during a drunken rave where some stallion got too close and was suddenly suplexed through the equipment because he didn’t get the first two messages of ignoring them completely.

“I’m pretty sure you’re imagining things Vinyl.” Spitfire waved off her suspicions.

“I made some food you two.” Fresh Coat called out as the group continued fortifying their camp.

For some reason there was the sound of a hooting owl off in the distance seemingly somewhere in the darkness that covered the world but it never got too close near them. Redheart kept peering into the sky hoping she would find where the thing was coming from. Unfortunately she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary… at the very least considering that she was on an entirely different planet.

Unlike the Everfree Forest the entirety of the Forest of Nibel, as Sein had called it, was stale… dead. It didn’t even flow correctly in any possible way. It was something she didn’t dwell on too heavily. The planet was unsettling enough. She only hoped that nothing too dangerous was happening in the tunnels below. While they could mount an expedition for all of them to follow, Gray had made it clear that he wanted to train each of them individually. She couldn’t fault that they all needed to get better in some possible way but the safety of a world seemed more important. On the other hoof, they needed real danger to grow and Equestria might not have been the most dangerous… the memory of how many patients she saw within a single week could be counted on three hooves. Redheart kept watch while Sunshower took the first nap of the day. Patience would be a necessity on this particular trip.

It was difficult to actually move around while a mare was clutching at my throat. Honestly all of me felt sure asphyxiation would never reach anywhere on the fetish list at this point. I hopped over the gap while Octavia tensed as we went over it with Ori following close behind. I must remember that Octavia doesn’t like the idea of being crushed to death… almost to the point of phobia. After I made it as far as I possibly could she finally got off my back letting me get back my breath.

“I’m so sorry Gray… I just didn’t want to fall into those… tight confined spaces…” Octavia trailed off. I pulled her into a small hug until she calmed down. From the way she was breathing I could tell that she wasn’t handling this as well as she possibly could be.

“Don’t worry so much. You’ll be fine. Only problem is that we have to go down there though…”

Her eyes followed my hoof and she immediately shook her head, pointing her own hoof to the other passage only for a resounding thud to catch her attention. When she looked at the passage again she noticed that there were several crushers on that path as well undulating back and forth in steady rhythm causing her to gulp nervously. We had to go both ways in the long run and she wasn’t exactly happy about it all. She fell to the ground whimpering as her ears folded down in abject fear.

“Hold on to me. Trust me. Ok?”

Shakily, she rose to her hooves and climbed on my back. I moved her around until she got into the best position, a position where she couldn’t choke me at all. After getting ready I looked down into the abyss and positioned myself close by. Ori stepped next to me and with a confident nod hopping into the opening. After the crusher opened again I hopped through taking care to keep Octavia close by. She kept her eyes shut the entire time as we kept hopping down further through the crushers.

“Octavia… need you to calm down. Gripping too hard…”

“Oops… sorry Gray.” Octavia apologized.

We finally got through the last one and landed on the right side of the area. In the distance the figure we had been chasing after was still trying to escape the heartless. Octavia finally opened her eyes only to instantly hop off of my back summoning her keyblade. Charging forward we instantly hopped into the powerwilds swarming around smacking them around with our keyblades while Ori hopped atop each enemy firing off a salvo of light based fire. As the last powerwild fell another group of heartless showed up forcing the three of us to back up. Three bladewilds and several bouncywilds popped out of the darkness taking stock of the three of us. Ori immediately jumped forward hopping through the swinging blades of the heartless to get near the bouncywilds.

Octavia took point charging forward and smacking the closest bladewild into the ground as the other two charged at her. I jumped over her shoulder using a reflect spell to knock them back causing a burst of magic to smack them off to the side. The one on the ground went straight for my unprotected back only for Octavia to smack it into the ground, knocking the attack off center. Several bouncywilds disappeared in a cloud of darkness as Ori kept firing off several light fireballs.

The two on the ground got back up only for me to use a magnet spell to drag them out of their attacks releasing several combos with my keyblade while Octavia pierced the one on the ground dispersing the darkness out of it. The two I had caught soon faltered and disappeared as well back into the dark mist leaving us standing in the center of the small arena with no sight of the creature we had gone to save.

At the edge of my vision the figure climbed out another small path that seemed specifically for that figure to climb through. Ori deliberately tried to get closer only to come back when he noted several layers of poison barbs all over the opening. Unable to follow them efficiently we tracked our way back up through the crushers. Octavia gripped me tightly as we flew back up through them. I will always be careful from now on to check where I’m going so I don’t have to deal with Octavia crushing my windpipe because she has a fear of being crushed.

When we finally reached the top ground we tracked our way over to the right most path… which had more crushers. This was not a good day to be me in the slightest.

“Do we have to go that way?” Octavia sputtered out completely obvious of her fears.

“Unfortunately. We need to look for the key that that being took and it seems like he either has it on him or hid it somewhere difficult to get to. That kind of means we gotta check everywhere… and I mean over there.”

As I finished my statement the crushers slammed together while Ori seemed to actually cringe from the sound. Octavia whimpered and hid underneath me between my legs. As shapely and enticing as it was I needed to keep up moving through the grotto to get back the elements of this world. I nuzzled the back of her head nipping at her ear with my teeth to calm her down. Her flustering yelps at the very least made me confident that I at the very least calmed her down enough to continue. Ori’s insistence of looking at me with uncertainty made me question whether this was going to work or not. Before I could question that thought further Octavia sprung back up and nuzzled into my side with her earth pony strength sending us sliding to the ground.

“I’ll be brave. I can do it… I think. Just… just make sure we make it through ok, ok?” Octavia flustered out as she pulled me along towards the crushers.

I stopped her immediately and felt my shoulders where she hugged me. They were searing in pain for some reason… she is really damn strong. Ignoring the pain I pulled her back onto my back making certain that she was securely attached to me. Ori looked nervous as well but forwent climbing onto my back. With measured moments we hopped onto the first descending crusher as the next one slammed into each other. We ducked into the next crusher dodging the previous one from smashing us. Octavia whimpered as we scuttled under the third one barely missing death by mere hairs. That particular crusher was lower than the others and we barely managed to get by without being smashed into paste. Finally we reached a safe spot where the crushers didn’t slam together.

I was breathing heavily and Octavia clung to me in constant fear shaking immensely from the adrenaline. Ori was next to us surveying the area beyond the crushers allowing us some time to relax and keep from freaking out. Octavia heaved onto the ground nearby but luckily she didn’t throw up.

“You ok?”

“Yeah…” Octavia struggled to say.

“Now that I know what’s over here I can just get us to dive through the shadows so we don’t have to go back through that.”

“I’d like that…” Octavia groaned as she plopped back onto my stomach. We relaxed for a few more moments.

It took us ten minutes before Octavia was feeling well enough to get back up. Ori had gone ahead managing to bring back some of those weird keystones. While Octavia took a couple deep breaths we finally kept going through the next area which was very spacious cavern. Making our way through the keystone door, we finally found another one of the light trees hidden within this forsaken area.

“I see. Leru is laid here to rest. Swift and agile she flew through the air. Take her power Ori in order to assist these keybearers better. Take her power.”

Sein went quiet once again leaving us to watch as Ori took in the light. When the light show finished Ori began to hop around like crazy showing the prowess of hopping off of air. Octavia, once again resembled a fish for a moment until I patted her back. It took a bit but she shook her head and resigned herself to accepting that other beings could jump off of thin air without anything to jump off of. That sounded better in my head…

“Let’s head back up. Maybe we’ll spot him somewhere else.”

“Please just get me away from the crushers. I don’t want to be anywhere near them.” Octavia whimpered slightly making me hold her for a second until she calmed down.

After getting her on my back and convincing Ori to stop jumping around like a cricket I dove into the closest shadow. Within seconds we wound up on the other side of the crushers. Another dive took us back to the central room where the figure was trying to get away from more heartless. Within seconds Octavia immediately took on a more confident appearance hopping off my back to strike down the closest bladewild. I took flight in the open area dive bombing the closest heartless through the assortment of bladewilds and powerwilds. While the bladewilds were still proving to be difficult to time, like the other heartless they fell just as quickly.

“Gumo, please return to us the Water Vein. Without it the world shall fall to ruin.”

In response, the figure known as Gumo, immediately jumped away climbing up the shaft while we dealt with the heartless of the area. After they were dissipated and Ori had finished off his share of enemies I immediately grabbed Octavia and flew up. Understanding my intentions, Ori had jumped on my back almost as quickly. We flew straight up where we saw Gumo heading up another shaft dodging through more powerwilds as he did. Ori, in his infinite courage, jumped off my back and climbed up the sheer rock wall while Octavia and I dealt with the heartless in a more permanent manner.

Gumo pressed on the lever nearby trying to toss rocks on all his pursuers. Luckily enough he was fast enough. The switch was rusted though from disuse forcing Gumo to kick it… only to put too much power into his kick as it knocked out one of the support beams. Several rocks fell on his leg while he was trapped and unable to move. Still the rocks were falling and the monsters chasing after him would at the very least die.

I hated it when rocks started falling. If I remember any jokes from my college days it was one from a guy who was into dungeons and dragons. The first joke he told me involved an old saying. Rocks fall, everybody dies. I don’t know why it stuck with me but apparently so did the whole aspect of colors from that other friend. Octavia hugged the walls as I weaved through the rocks knocking heartless back down into the abyss. At this point the bladewilds were scaling the walls with their blades and pouncing for either of us.

Octavia fared better firing off several quake spells knocking them off the wall or smashing them outright into dark mist. I still felt this whole problem with the falling rocks was distracting me from something.

“Crap… where’s Ori?”

“He climbed ahead to deal with Gumo I think?” Octavia stated before knocking another powerwild away from her.

I really need to get a bell for that little guy. Still this was a decent way to use our time since Octavia and I are much stronger at taking out heartless than dealing with the denizens of this world in particular. It wasn’t from lack of trying at all. It was the lack of knowing how to speak with them. While they could understand us we couldn’t understand them except through crude pantomime. The heartless, were for some reason, determined to reach Gumo.

Ori cautiously walked up to the trapped Gumo, who looked on helpless as he was trapped with his foot beneath rock and in a horrible position to actually move it. Trapped, he waited for the end to come, an end that never came. Ori chirped a bit before moving the stone that trapped Gumo’s foot allowing him to escape. Without second thought Gumo raced away while the tiny light spirit raised a hand to try and stop him.

Gumo was finally able to keep running… letting the ones who were trying to help him get attacked by the darkness. Reluctantly, but with a lighter heart Gumo gave Ori the item he was safekeeping, the Water Vein. Kindness would be repaid with kindness as it traipsed away no longer chased by its own brethren.

Finally after several more heartless had appeared their numbers finally thinned to nothing. The constant aerial battle had ended and the rocks had stopped falling. I took a seat next to Octavia who was nursing a slight headache from the constant spell slinging. It was something I hadn’t realized before. Even though all of my marefriends had learned an otherworldly magic they hardly suffered from magic exhaustion since it was a constantly regenerating force. This was the first time Octavia had used so much magic that it affected her so much.

“When we get back to the others you are going to relax for a while.”

“No complaints from me. I had to face my fear even though I really didn’t want to.” Octavia groaned as she flopped back onto my back.

With the falling rocks finally stopping, we made our way up to meet with Ori. Ori stood near the ledge watching out for us before dancing around happily at our arrival. As I landed Ori had a concerned look on his face at Octavia.

“Don’t worry Ori. I’m just tired. We’ve had a very tough adventure and I need a little rest is all. I really should have brought my cello with me. I could have left it back at the campsite the others might have made. I hope…” Octavia muttered the last part which seemed to satisfy Ori who led the way back towards the entrance.

“I just hope they haven’t been too bored.”

Vinyl swung her blade down against Spitfire. It had been close to two hours since the two had gone and with a bit of reluctance Vinyl actually suggested that they train up a bit before they got back.

“So why so interested in training up Vinyl? You usually sleep through anything that isn’t about music.” Spitfire whispered as the two locked blades.

“No reason… I just thought we could do something productive is all…” Vinyl answered tersely. The physical activity was a bit out there for her. Not to an extreme but enough to get her winded after everything she had already done.

“Mare… I know you don’t do things without a reason.” Spitfire rounded on her locking blades once again.

Near their impromptu training session Redheart was playing cards with Fresh Coat and Sunshower. It was a small reprieve at the moment and they needed to unwind after their own training sessions. They had wanted to actually nap but every twenty minutes or so they noticed the shadow of a bird always flying nearby. It had gotten everypony to keep watch of the sky.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Vinyl responded with a noticeable glare.

“Eventually either me or Octavia will know about this. Better than letting Nebby know right?” Spitfire questioned only to note the small wince. She knew being a Wonderbolt was small potatoes compared to the whole keyblade stint but it still had prepared her eyes to the pinnacle of pegasi capabilities.

“That would be awkward. Look I’ll talk when I’m ready. Tavi is already breathing down my neck to figure out what I’m thinking. I’ll talk when I figure out everything.” Vinyl answered resolutely which was the moment that Spitfire took advantage.

Using a feinted block she dragged Vinyl in and knocked her blade out of her telekinetic field. Vinyl was momentarily disarmed which allowed Spitfire to knock her off her hooves and onto the ground lying on her back. Groaning, Vinyl did the only thing she could do.

“I yield?” Vinyl chuckled as Spitfire got her back up.

“Did we get the key we needed Ori?”

The small lightkin pulled out an orb of the deepest azure possible which was glowing in some ethereal blue light. I quickly made him put it away because the heartless had been adamant of getting it. I quickly took him on my back as well and flew back up the carved out mineshafts or whatever they possibly could be. It was a short trip after that allowing us to get back to the laser beam areas.

Octavia shut her eyes as I maneuvered around the obstacles and coming upon our camp where everypony seemed to be lost in a game of… Go Fish? Weird… but not inappropriate.

“We’re back everypony. Anything go wrong?”

“You two are back! Finally!” Vinyl cried out as everypony came to check on us.

After our little reunion I opted that we relax before we head out for the Ginsou Tree.

50. Forest of Nibel: Geyser

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It had taken a while to rest up while Octavia got over her fear episode. I had also noticed that the camp had been pretty safe overall, safe enough for a save point to manifest nearby, unused by the looks of it. I juggled with the idea of taking Octavia back up to the ship to rest for the moment. It was the safest place even if amongst the rest of us. She looked exhausted both physically and mentally. I tilted my head back and forth, lost in thought on the best course of action since I was both their master, in terms of keyblade wielding, and their mate.

“Octavia, I’m taking you back on the ship for now. Once you’ve rested and aren’t looking like you’re about to pass out from stress I’ll come back to get you.”

“What!? No I’m fine.” She stood up. “See, perfectly fine.” Then faltered on her legs still weak from facing a fear I had no idea she even had. It was probably something she experienced once and never let happen again.

When she looked into my eyes I could tell she was hoping that I didn’t see that she had faltered. I did. She looked like she wanted to fight against my complaints but I had made it clear through my actions that I cared about their safety too much to be stopped just because of a harsh glare. The others didn’t say anything but I could tell from a minute glance that they were both reluctant but in agreement.

I pulled Octavia on my back and immediately went on the save point warping back to the ship.

The ship remained in geosynchronous orbit around the planet. Luckily none of the heartless ships were around since we had scattered their forces on approach. I was back in the cabin with my exhausted alpha draped upon my back as I trotted over to our rest cabin. It wasn’t a big place but Merlin did something to change that immensely as I explored the rest of the ship more thoroughly.

In one of the halls I found a door with Octavia’s cutie mark emblazoned on the door. She looked surprised as I opened it to a very plain room that didn’t seem to have much decoration. There was a bed and a small writing desk. There were small amenities on the desk that seemed to be from Octavia’s own stock since her bags were in the corner. I placed her in bed and was about to head back when she stopped me.

“Gray?” Octavia called out.

“Yeah?”

“Sorry I never told you about my fear… It just seemed to be something that wouldn’t come up.” Octavia admitted.

“It’s fine. We’ve known each other what? Two Equestrian weeks and almost more than a month with where we’ve been. It’ll take us a lot longer to know everything and I’ll admit that I don’t want to know everything too quickly.”

“I don’t understand. Wouldn’t it be better to know each other thoroughly enough that we could figure out what each other wants by mere glance?” Octavia wondered aloud.

“Not really. Relationships should have mysteries and secrets because something new is always learned from each other. If we all get to know each other so well that that happens it should be after at the very least fifteen years.”

“That’s weird…” Octavia groaned as she curled into her bed.

“Yeah. That’s me in a nutshell I suppose. I enjoy being weird as you can tell?”

A little wink in her direction and her blush and dismissive look since I was being silly was a final thing as she grabbed me in for a very deep kiss before I could leave. I still didn’t know what was with all these mares and their obsession with curling and wrapping their tongue with mine. I wasn’t turned on at all. My blushing was from the stress, of course. With that she probably fell asleep, though I couldn’t tell, and I went back to our campsite.

As I came back everypony had packed up everything so we could continue on with our adventure. Ori held up the Water Vein for everypony to see. There were a few appropriate ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ that went over well as I picked up Fresh Coat and Redheart to fly back to the tree. Spitfire still took Vinyl who looked to be itching for a fight while Sunshower and Ori did a few tricks while we flew back to the base of the Ginso Tree.

“Here we are… So. Who’s coming with me into the tree aside from Ori?”

“Me, of course.” Vinyl immediately answered before Spitfire or Fresh Coat could.

There were a few grumbles of wanting to go next but it was first come, first serve at this point. I still needed each of them to get some one on one training as well while we save this world. This was the first stop on that task where eventually they would need to be the hero of their own story in a way.

“Ok then. Let’s head in. Ori, if you please. Open the door.”

Ori nodded as the Water Vein floated from his paws and into the door that the Ginso Tree seemed to have. I pondered the ramifications of a door on the tree and nearly slapped myself since I had already been inside a tree with a door. On the other hoof that tree was heavily saturated in magic and seemed to have the tree grown with it. It was the second biggest tree I had ever seen certainly while the first was a sequoia tree that had completely obliterated a truck and the trailer attached to it when it fell.

The two of us entered the tree followed by Ori who seemed a bit on edge. As soon as we cleared the threshold the door closed shut sealing us from the rest of the group.

“So… you think that was supposed to happen?” Spitfire placed a hoof against the door. The steady hum of magic from the Water Vein that was now embedded in the center sent vibrations of magic through her hoof.

“It does hold one of the hearts of this world probably. Maybe the light from the tree is the actual heart of the world in a sense?” Redheart brought up.

“That seems a little easy. I mean it feels like Sein is the light of Nibel only shattered to a small piece.” Fresh Coat mumbled.

“Yeah too easy. It was probably an accident. Who knows what really happened up here on this planet. Is it weird that we’re getting used to saying things about other planets?” Sunshower piped up.

Nopony had an answer for that as a new save point appeared at the bottom of the tree allowing the four of them to go back onto the ship to check on Octavia.

“So… this is what the tree looks like. There are a lot of spikes on the walls…”

“So would you say we’re in a prickly situation?” Vinyl elbowed me lightly as she made her puns.

“Yeah… You’re gonna make a lot of puns aren’t you?”

“Maybe. I need some practice to deal with Pinkie later. If she gets going she’ll try to drag me into another pun off even though I don’t really speak to many ponies outside of my DJ persona.” Vinyl stated though she tapped her hooves together really quickly.

“Something wrong?”

“It’s not anything too big… just more of that anxiety I’ve been feeling. Ya know with all those words you said about keeping me around. It’s not feeling real…”

I immediately pulled her on my back while Ori started to climb on the hanging vines and small blocks of plant matter that weren’t covered in spikes. I waited a bit to climb until Vinyl had snuggled into my back.

“I assure you I’m pretty real. Also I’ll probably keep trying to break through to you that I would rather keep you no matter what. That really brings up a big question though.”

“What’s that?” Vinyl mumbled into my back.

“What brought this on? You’ve been really straightforward with me on how you feel which I’ll tell you is something I’ve never really experienced. Heck, actually being loved is something new to me since my time back on my world.”

“I don’t really know. It was just one of those moments. Since I didn’t have my music to push out the thoughts I just kind of started thinking too much. I can’t exactly have music out here when we’re doing pretty dangerous work… and I didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you.” Vinyl spat out as she buried her face into my neck.

I’ve noticed that the more overt the mare is, the more likely she has some emotional baggage I probably would never be able to fully alleviate. I couldn’t stop my brother. I couldn’t stop my father but I wouldn’t let myself be stopped from keeping her safe. I immediately tossed Vinyl up from my back into the air. As she flew up I flapped up catching her in my embrace and frenched her right then and there.

While I will never say it out loud I did learn just how to kiss better from Octavia’s spirited performance. Honestly I think Vinyl needed to be romanced more often with how bad her other dates have been. I would need to do something like that before the next time we go out on a mission. I have to do it for all of them though I should also figure out what else that they like before I do so. Even improvisation has its limits for my mind.

“Um… not that I don’t mind,” Vinyl rubbed my forehoof. “But what was that for?”

“Nothing really. I just decided I was gonna steal a kiss from the DJ with the vibrant red eyes because I can.”

“Pshaw… don’t get all mushy on me you dork.” Vinyl muttered out as she wriggled out of my hooves and back onto my back taking care not to stop my wings. “Thanks Nebby. You know how to make a mare feel wanted. At least sometimes.”

“Yeah. I’m trying to get better day by day.”

Ori merely flashed me a thumbs up though I think the deadpan stare I gave him made him stop staring. Vinyl was blushing throughout realizing Ori was watching but… she didn’t hide her eyes with her glasses like she would usually do placing them in my saddlebags for safe keeping. With that I flew us straight up after Ori taking care to dodge the weird plants that fired out energy seeds at us. At this point I had seen a lot now though I wouldn’t have considered me world weary.

Ori jumped over the seeds without too much problem showing off his new double jump some more though Vinyl scoffed at the attempt.

“Ha! Just wait… as soon as I can even I could jump in the air again.” Vinyl boasted.

“That would be interesting.”

“I so can do it. I’m sure of it.” Vinyl adamantly answered.

“And I’m sure you can do so.”

“Stupid agreeable Nebby… making me feel happy.” Vinyl mumbled and growled slightly though the rotation of her hoof.

“Are you sure you’re not the romantic type Vinyl? You sure are convincing me otherwise.”

She mumbled another obscenity in my ear as we finally landed on a safe place for each of us to gather our bearings.

“I could do that but it would have to wait till we get back home Vinyl.”

Once again she nearly stumbled over my brazen nature coming back out. She didn’t scowl but she knew I was not easy to make blush intentionally. Ori wondered what I was speaking of and tapped my hoof to explain. I shook my head and he pouted slightly but rolled his eyes in acceptance.
The next section of the tree had strange openings in the side of the trunks with a glowing blue light pouring out of the openings. Ori burst through the opening appearing over on the other side of the tree which was just confusing.

“Sweet. Teleportation without wasting my magic. Let’s go through it.” Vinyl jumped on my back and immediately prodded me to go through.

Flapping through the portal we ended up into another small area where even more portals were placed. I groaned slightly while Ori joined us on Vinyl’s back. We flew through the next portal and the next and the next until we wound up back in the same spot. I put both of them back on the safe spots of the ground as I flew through the portals until I finally found a path to go through.

“Christ… This place is weird. You two ready to go?”

“Uh… Gray. Look there.” Vinyl pointed a hoof behind me which I followed.

Surrounding us were an assortment of flying heartless. They all looked like sparrows wielding boxing gloves. I think they were Aerial Knockers if I was remembering my time playing as Sora in the Pride Lands. That train of thought was derailed as they instantly swarmed the three of us attempting to go for the knockout punch.

I took to the air while Vinyl surrounded herself with an aero spell. Ori jumped off of the heartless using his double jumping skills to annoy and confuse the heartless into attacking each other. They didn’t break out into fights amongst each other though as much help as it would provide but it did allow Vinyl to fire off a few different spells against them turning them back into the dark mist and releasing their captive hearts.

I swam through the sky bucking them into the portal to disorient them slightly. I was certain I would eventually match the Apple Family on their skill but I still had a long way to go. Each of us took a bit of damage regardless of how well prepared we were unfortunately. One of them got lucky and knocked me through a portal into some of the bramble spikes. I was left covered in burrs and feeling slightly woozy. Crap… were the spikes poisonous as well...

“Gray are you alright in there?” Vinyl called out. “They’ve been taken care of though we got a bit hurt from them.”

“Yeah...yeah… never better… hurk…”

I threw up immediately into the burr patch. I was so glad that the poison affected me after I kissed Vinyl otherwise it would have just been extremely awkward and I would have felt like a complete jackass… though I would have to remember that that couldn’t be used as an insult on Equestria because they were also another of Equestria’s sapient citizens.

“Looks like you went through a bender with Berry Punch. Are you ok?” Vinyl cautiously approached me while Ori jumped on my back patting it to ease the tension.

“Poisoned…”

I muttered as best I could while Vinyl kept casting cure spells on me whenever her magic refilled. Eventually the magic did help as I worked through the poison. Shaking my head through the dizzy spell it took a bit longer before we kept moving on up through the tree. I had to stop several times just in an attempt not to lose whatever was left in my stomach. Poison shouldn’t work this way but it was better than dying instantly.

“I think I got something that I could cast to stop the hangover like feeling you are having. Just give me a sec to cast it Nebby.” Vinyl stated as her horn lit up and the glow surrounded my throat.

It was an awkward feeling to have magic at work on my throat. Since Yen Sid and the others had fixed the problems with my internal magic circulatory system I was still reluctant to allow magic to affect me in any way. Still… I knew I had to at the very least try it no matter how tense I felt my entire body spasm from being touched by magic. As the glow settled I flew around a bit to test how my stomach felt. There were no knots of tension, feelings of nausea or any other symptom I was feeling from the dizzy spell.

“Huh… I don’t feel like puking anymore. Thanks Vinyl. How long will this spell last?”

“Ugh…” Vinyl rubbed her horn in slight discomfort. “Well, probably for the rest of today at the very least. When we get out of here we should get Redheart to give you a real look over before we continue on with helping out this planet.”

Ori chirped a bit hopping around to emphasize some kind of point I didn’t really know about. Instead of trying to figure out a pantomime I followed him through several portals with Vinyl clung to my back. I still didn’t feel my best but I pushed through the discomfort. When we flew through a couple more of the portals we came across a large copse amongst the boughs of the tree where another tree was growing out of the bark.

“Hey… isn’t that one of those light trees Ori is looking for?” Vinyl aptly pointed out in a slightly obvious manner. I wasn’t in any mood to point out the obvious so I merely grunted and nodded.

Vinyl bopped me on the head and I knew she knew what I was thinking. Ori seemed to chuckle at our antics before rushing for the tree and absorbing the light. As he did an Aerial Knocker immediately tried to attack him sending a hurtling boxing glove for his face. Ori hopped up slightly and time seemed to stop around us… or at the very least slowed down as the light surrounding Ori grabbed the Aerial Knocker and through him into the ground before being finished off by a flurry of light.

“Well… that was convenient.”

“I’ll say. Dude swooped in out of nowhere. So… these trees are making him stronger then?” Vinyl pondered out loud.

“Looks like it. It seems like that ability will be useful for him in the long run, huh?”

“Little guy can knock things back at others without even trying. Another awesome power… wonder if I could get my horn to do that…?” Vinyl seemed to get lost in thought though she held on tight as we continued our trek up through the tree.

For some reason, the inner workings of the tree started to get covered in extensive, almost intricately made, webbing. Whenever I used a small twig or piece of bark to touch said webbing it turned to water and soaked into the bark. Vinyl was far too lost reciting magic formulas I didn’t understand as we kept flying upwards. Eventually Ori started to bristle with energy and seemed almost maniacally focused on one point in the tree.

We ended up on a large platform grown into the center hollow of the tree where a large core remained suspended by several, almost petrified, vines. Energy pulsed off the core though it was really weak and seemed to falter everytime it tried to flare up and send more of an output out.

“This is it. The core of the Element of Waters. This is one of the components that keep the entirety of the Forest of Nibel alive and stable. Without it active, as you have both seen, the waters are stagnant and poisonous to the touch. They constrict life and are killing the forest as surely as the darkness is. Ori must pour the light energy he has gathered into the core to give it a jumpstart. While he is doing so I’m certain that the heartless will make their appearance.”

“Yeah. I knew this arena seemed too well placed. Vinyl you got the right side, I’ll get the left?”

“You got it Nebby. Just take it easy… that hangover spell isn’t perfect and you’ll probably still feel a bit woozy from it.” Vinyl stated as she cautiously took her position on the right side of the platform.

“Just like everytime I went out on a high stakes case.”

My mutterings aside I shook my head to get it into the game as it were. Ori took position almost directly under the core while I readied my dagger weapons tossing a few around Ori to act as a last defense. I had two left on me from the original eight I carried. Vinyl pulled out her keyblade casting an aero spell on the two of us and took a new stance I had never seen her take.

‘She was probably working on it while I going through the Moon Grotto with Octavia.’ I deduced as best I could without asking her explicitly.

Before those thoughts could be thought any further several shadows popped out of the darkness and rushed through towards us. A few fire spells and magnet spells and they fell pretty quickly. When they fell the core glowed brighter and Ori pulsed in rhythm with the core. Shadows were not very decent for shock troops… but they were distracting…

“Nebby, up above!” Vinyl cried out as several Aerial Knockers were following a much more eccentric looking heartless similar to the Aerial Knockers.

‘Was this a Final Mix enemy?’

I flew straight up using my daggers to parry and stab whatever heartless appeared in range as Vinyl took a defensive position firing off thunder spells which seemed to home in on the weaker heartless. The golden, I remember the name slightly, Aerial Champ actually remained the most competent out of all the other heartless keeping out of range of my sword swings. Vinyl eventually ran out of magic temporarily and relied on her telekinesis to drag any of the Aerial Knockers down to her level to smack around until they dissipated.

After a few more seconds a magnet spell appeared in front of me stopping the dance I was involved with against the Champ. I took the opportunity to knock the champ into next week as he dissipated into dark mist like the rest of the heartless. As I landed the core instantly shot forth with an intense wave of light which seemed to cover the tree.

I still felt a small ache in my stomach but it was negligible enough to ignore. Vinyl trotted over to Ori who was still weak from the sudden release of energy he did and seemed to be giving us a half hearted thumbs up to show that he was fine overall. I felt good and Vinyl seemed to chuckle as well. We were feeling happy about our accomplishment.

The entire tree started to rumble as water immediately burst through several places on the bark and the water rose throughout the entire tree. Panicking, Vinyl jumped onto my back while Ori led the way up jumping with renewed vigor to the opening above the core. I followed just as the water engulfed the platform we were standing at only a couple minutes ago.

Ori used his new ability to use several of the hanging glow stones to get higher as I flew after him. Before I could fully grasp how dangerous the situation we were in was I heard a loud chittering come from below us as a large spider stood on top of the raging water allowing it to stand on the surface even as it churned below its legs. On its back was the emblem of the heartless as it shot out silk from its mouth that seemed more like water instead.

“You’ve gotta be bucking kidding me!” Vinyl cried out. “I hate spiders!”

“Now you tell me…”

I had to nearly stop when Vinyl started to choke me from fear. First, it had been crushing and now it was spiders. I barely dodged the shot of water silk as Vinyl got the hint and clung her hooves into my shoulders as tightly as she could. Coughing, I kept flying up… I was doing that a lot more than I thought I would need to in this place as the spider used the still raging waters to climb the walls to get closer to us.

“Vinyl! Magic, now!”

Vinyl managed to get the hint and used her keyblade, supported in her magic, to fire off several fire spells as the spider heartless forcing it to climb erratically around. It immediately started to gather up its spit while I kept weaving through the terrain trying to find the best paths to keep up with the water. As Vinyl exhausted her magic supply for the fifth time this battle it fired off a large glob of silk at us.

Ori fell from above grabbing the glob of silk in his strange energy field and sent it straight back at the spider knocking it off the wall and deep into the raging waters. Vinyl caught Ori in her telekinetic field as we climbed higher into the tree. Instead of celebrating we heard a loud hissing as the heartless burst out of the water and broke several more holes in the tree flooding it even faster.

“Looks like we pissed it off. Vinyl throw Ori back up above us and we’ll act like bait.”

“Get ready for launch little dude.” Vinyl commanded as Ori gave off an adorable salute as she flung him up into one of the hanging glow stones which he used to keep climbing above us.

The spider didn’t see Ori immediately so it focused directly on the two of us as its target. Climbing back up it jumped around the edges using its longer legs to grip the tree and send water up the spikes on its leg to create intricate web traps I had to fly through… ‘what!’

“That’s the same look Tavi gets when I prove to her that I can in fact get the bass way above eleven…” Vinyl mentioned as she carefully, without looking too closely at the wriggling creepy spider that was going to suck out her marrow into an emaciated husk the moment it got close enough to grab her, fired her spells back at it.

It proved to be a better dodger and started actively firing off webbing to intercept the spells causing them to fizzle mid impact. I had to move around a lot more as well knocking the spells off their immediate course. Ironically because of their wonky course the spider heartless jumped into the spell more often than not causing it to start gathering more silk in its mouth.

Another shot fired from its mouth giving Ori another chance to grab it and fling it back knocking the spider back into the water. Vinyl caught Ori again but was clearly struggling to keep him held. The shaft we were in was also nearly empty of glow stones and the opening was in sight. The spider immediately jumped out of the water and started to chase after us relentlessly in the last stretch.

“Vinyl! Landing Strategy!”

“I hate landing strategies!” Vinyl cried out as Ori clung to her mane looking worried about the uttering of a landing strategy.

As soon as we cleared the opening I tossed both of them over to the flattest areas I could see and readied my tomahawk. The spider immediately lunged at me out of frustration I the tomahawk swung down on its jaw. With a sickening crack the spider heartless zoomed straight through the water creating a large clearing of where it zoomed by breaking several of the water logged branches within the tree before a large crystalline heart flew up through the now re-flooded areas. I zipped through the air to the two who had seemed to roll back up on their feet and hooves respectively.

“Now that’s what an extermination should be like. Woo! I so need some wubs right now!” Vinyl cheered as she performed a little dance… which she noticed I was watching as was Ori.

“Interesting moves Vinyl. Much crazier than the moves you did at the club.”

She had not danced as sensuously as she did then thought this wasn’t trying to entice me as she wanted to that night. She was dancing like a child in a candy store who just found the golden ticket prancing in place and tittering, I suppose, if she was still a filly.

“Either of you say anything I’ll kill you…” She muttered as the three of us took a few breaths from the sudden excitement we found ourselves in.

Before we could get ready to leave there was a sudden hooting screeching somewhere around us.The three of us looked around for any sign of the perpetrator but we didn’t see anything amongst the craggy rocks that seemed to cover the top of the Ginso Tree, most likely because of the geyser that seemed to be within the tree.

As we slowly relaxed one of those very large boulders started to spread out. They were wings… spreading farther than the ones I saw on the Storm Rider back in Equestria as the head turned one hundred eighty degrees around showing us the face of the large owl Vinyl had heard with the others earlier. She had pushed it out of her mind until she noticed the burning coming from its stare. Literally the owl’s eyes were on fire, a ghostly ethereal fire that seemed to radiate pure hatred as it locked onto Ori who was on my back.

“Vinyl… back away slowly towards the cliff…”

Vinyl didn’t answer but I heard the soft clip clop of her hooves against stone backing up as I carefully peered behind me. I didn’t take my eyes completely off the owl as it slowly turned to face us.

“Kuro… the curse god of the owls… a creature of the darkness...”

Before I could question Sein or say anything else it lunged for Ori forcing me to jump off with Ori and Vinyl as it quickly took to the air. The three of us were separated during freefall as I saw Kuro out in the distance diving to intercept us. Panicking I shot a fire spell at Ori who used his new move to catch it and use the momentum to shoot out towards me. He barely caught onto my tail as I caught Vinyl in my front hooves and kept diving straight down.

Kuro immediately closed the distance talons ready to rend us to shreds as I summoned the tomahawk once more and tossed it at Kuro’s extended talons. The three of us were tossed off course as Kuro parried the thrown tomahawk forcing us into one of the waterfalls created from the erupting geyser bursting through the tree and creating several new holes in it. We were lost to the waters while Kuro flew back up into the sky seemingly satisfied that we had been dealt with.

“Over here!” Redheart called out as she came across the three still breathing bodies of Ori, Vinyl, and Gray. They were all unconscious and breathing peacefully as Gumo stood nearby silently holding vigil and seemingly guarding the three.

“Thanks Gumo, was it?” Octavia asked as she checked on the three before her.

Gumo politely nodded before bowing his head and bounding off for parts unknown. Spitfire and Sunshower were busy prowling the area since all the greenery had returned and most of the flowers now seemed to be, at the very least, edible. Fresh Coat had kept several of the smaller heartless from attack their small campsite also harvesting some of the other flowers. Thankfully Redheart had some training in identifying edible plants and most of the flora surrounding them was almost identical to Equestrian grown fare.

“What happened up there?” Redheart muttered as she was satisfied with their vitals enough.

“Kuro is angry… she knows what we are doing and will now be taking an active role in stopping us.”

Everypony slightly jumped at Sein’s sudden explanation but quickly pushed back into critical thinking mood.

“Who is Kuro exactly?” Octavia demanded from the small light creature.

“Kuro is the mother of the owls, creatures of darkness and comparable to a yakujin, a curse goddess. She is supposed to keep the forest safe at night but something has gone completely wrong.”

“I see. We’ll have to figure out why. For now let’s get these three back to the camp near the Spirit Tree. It’s the only safe spot we can rely on if these heartless keep trying to deal with us.” Octavia sighed as she picked up Vinyl on her back while the newly returned Spitfire and Sunshower picked up Gray and took him. Fresh Coat held onto Ori allowing her and Redheart to carve a path back to camp.

Geyser Spider
Large arachnid heartless that makes its home deep in water surfacing to drag those with hearts beneath the waves to feed. Capable of producing a strange silk made partially to resemble regular water. When angered it can create complex patterns by forcing the webbing through its legs to trap opponents. Most of the limbs are armored with serrated chitin but the face is barely protected. Has four eyes instead of the regular eight and is mostly covered in shades of blue.

51. Forest of Nibel: Continuous

View Online

“How’s he doing Red?” Octavia called out as they all rested around their new encampment. It had been a few hours since they had recovered Vinyl, Gray and Ori from their encounter with Kuro at the top of the Ginso Tree.

“He’s doing better now. Whatever poison was in him was diluted over time with his trek through the tree. Luckily it didn’t effect him for too long so after a bit more rest he should be up and at him once again.” Redheart checked Gray’s vitals making certain everything was still within acceptable levels.

“It was those damn heartless. They got lucky and knocked him into a briar bush. He got out quickly but I guess it wasn’t quick enough.” Vinyl muttered out as she looked over her bruises.

They had fallen a long way from the top of tree into one of the lakes that surrounded the area. Gray had managed to keep his wings open long enough that the fall didn’t knock him unconscious but the still lingering poison had exhausted him more than he thought. Vinyl had taken a few bruises from the fall since the blow between Kuro’s talon and Gray’s tomahawk had knocked the two apart. Unfortunately Gray, Vinyl and Ori were in front of a sheer rock wall. The impact had bruised the two while Ori remained mostly unhurt during the altercation.

“We’ve been keeping track and so far none of the heartless are in the area. Apparently they thinned out around the swamplands after the waters finally went clear.” Spitfire announced as Sunshower flapped down to join her.

“It’s been kind of quiet because of it. So far there have only been the monkey heartless around though when we flew too high we were attacked by some parrot heartless I think.” Sunshower mentioned off hoof.

“I’m back girls!” Fresh Coat cheered as she stepped up to their makeshift camp hiding behind several giant leaves that Sunshower and Spitfire had found.

“Where were you Fresh? With that owl roaming around looking for us?” Octavia motioned her voice full of worry.

“Don’t worry. She doesn’t come out to the Spirit Tree anymore. I’ve been looking for which way we need to go next. While we’re near the tree Sein is more talkative.” Fresh Coat explained.

“Did you find anything out?” Octavia urged her to continue speaking.

“Yeah. Apparently west of here is the Valley of the Winds that would lead to the two places we would need to go to eventually. Supposedly we need to go to the Forlorn Ruins where the Element of Winds is located. Then we have to make our way over to Mount Horu where the Element of Warmth is located.” Fresh Coat smiled as she brushed off her detective skills.

“Really? So I take it that you are thinking of going next?” Octavia brought up.

“Yeah. I haven’t done much just yet. So maybe I should now.” Fresh Coat muttered a bit.

“You’ve done a lot though. What are you talking about?” Octavia muttered under her breath bringing Fresh Coat closer to her.

“I haven’t been able to really do much just yet. For the most part I just go along with things and I really want to have some time to show off.” Fresh Coat whimpered slightly.

Octavia remained silent and hugged her softly patting her on the back to calm her nerves. It wasn’t very often that any of them showed a lot of doubts about how they handled things. Octavia was the most attentive of the others due to managing her way into the alpha mare role and it was something she was working on being better at.

“You’ll be fine I’m certain that Gray will take you with him on his next trip so for now we just wait till he’s rested up.” Octavia whispered.

Fresh Coat merely smiled as the sound of groaning called out breaking the silence that had permeating the camp. That got everypony’s attention as they crowded around the now waking up Gray.

I felt sore… why did everything feel so tender? I slowly opened my eyes to the sight of six mares crowding around me looking over me. I carefully sat up placing a hoof against my head feeling a minor headache currently pounding against my head. Luckily, Redheart kept everypony from suddenly charging at me. There was only so much I could handle at this point seeing as I had been out of commission for some time already.

“So how long was I out for…?”

I coughed out. Wow… my throat felt dry and I felt so tired still. I shook my head and managed to focus my eyes on everypony. Redheart quickly opened my mouth and poured some water down my throat. I thought I would nearly choke but my tired mind still managed to make me drink all the water I was given. I sputtered slightly as I finally was able to think about things a bit more clearly.

“Only a few hours. Surprisingly we found you with a little help from Gumo. He managed to find you after your encounter with Kuro. It seems like she doesn’t want us around.” Octavia darkly muttered clearly pissed that this actually happened.

“Right… She managed to stop my attack and knocked it back into me. We were lucky… she was much, much stronger than I am.”

I didn’t like admitting it but Kuro was far off much stronger than I was. The others seemed concerned but part of me wondered if they were still in the light is good and dark is evil mindset. Certainly, a part of them all probably thought of payback at the very least for almost killing the three of us… wait…

“Where’s Ori?”

“Over here Gray. He’s sleeping.” Fresh Coat chuckled as she pointed to the small light spirit.

He was curled up amongst a flower bed but… they weren’t ordinary flowers apparently. They were all glowing the same as Ori and seemed to grow from him rather than the ground. It was such a sight I brought out the Lexicon and took a picture with its illusionary functions. The sound unfortunately woke up the little guy who immediately leapt for joy when he saw me.

As it was, we were slightly beat up from our trek through the tree still. While it wasn't as tough as the expedition we took through to Atlantis there was something much rougher about this adventure. It may have been the fact that I put limitations on our adventuring party but it was a necessity for the future. Regardless of what I wanted, I could never protect them forever from all the monsters that were out there. Each of them would be a powerhouse to deal with and no one would ever be able to take them down… I hoped.

“Glad everyone is fine then. As much as I think that we should all go together from the looks of the Ginso Tree these places are too small for all of us to go. Redheart, do I have a clean bill of health now?”

“For the most part. Honestly, since the waters have returned to normal so has the plant life. The poison has for the most part receded from both the waters and coincidentally the plants as well. I'm glad that I brought a general antidote with me before we left. It only took a few drops to make certain your body could metabolize the poison out of it.” Redheart explained as she placed her medical bags back on her back.

I nodded slightly and realized that they were waiting for me to get up and back on my feet. I stretched out slightly feeling the soreness slowly leave my body though not quickly enough for my own tastes. I stumbled a bit before Spitfire propped me back up.

“Sorry. I'm still a bit tired let's just rest up a bit before we head out. Who's next for this training session?”

“Me.” Fresh Coat called out as she readjusted her green cap and giggled slightly.

“K then… we'll head out after a bit more rest. I'm still feeling a bit woozy.”

Valley of the Winds

It took hours until I was back on my hooves and ready to enter the fray once again. Suffice to say, being poisoned sucked so much even if I still managed to work through it. The spider didn't help, seeing as it tried to drown us in its weird water silk trap. While we rested it had turned out that Spitfire had taken Ori out into the swamp due to feeling something out there. She had found a tree which gave him more power and strangely wasn’t attacked by the heartless who seemed to thin out when the waters began to flow normally. I focused back on our surroundings since it was relatively safe and I was in no position to stop her from doing something dangerous.

Fresh Coat clung to my back while I flew through the open parts of the Valley of Winds as it was called. Only it wasn't too windy, I didn't even feel enough wind magic flowing in the air.

Something I found fascinating was that some pegasi could manipulate the wind slightly to move either faster through the air or create anywhere from tornadoes to typhoons provided there were enough pegasi around. Though when we landed Spitfire and Sunshower couldn't feel the wind moving at all forcing all flight to be reliant on our internal magic reserves. The wind was dead and it was the reason I was so winded and needed to rest for a while.

“Gray I think there's something out there…” Fresh Coat muttered into my ear as I landed at the entrance of a small tunnel.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if Kuro was still worried about us getting anywhere close to where the seals were wouldn't she be looking for us or something?” Fresh Coat pondered getting Ori to stroke his chin as if contemplating that little tidbit as well.

“Probably… have you gotten more inspiration for any pieces of art since we've gone on these adventures?”

“So many ideas! It's wondrously stupendous since we've been here. I managed to make a few sketches while we were at camp and I'm saving them on the ship right now. I got one of the Spirit Tree and another of the Ginso Tree. Spitfire helped carry me up high enough to see how the water was flowing through the tree. I even managed to sketch out the owl as well. She was actually really majestic looking but her eyes were clouded by rage. I don't even think she realized that we were ponies.” Fresh Coat excitedly sputtered out as we trotted through the tunnel that led towards what I thought was the Forlorn Ruins.

As we entered the next gully there was a sudden chill in the air. Kuro was perched right across from us hunched over and ready to strike out. Fresh Coat was right though. Her eyes were literally burning with rage and they focused mostly on Ori rather than us.

“Guess she was waiting for us…”

“See. Her eyes are so harsh. Something really bad must have happened to make eyes radiate with that much hatred.” Fresh Coat whimpered slightly hiding beneath me while Ori remained glued to my back.

There was nothing between us but wide open space and if I was right even me using the tomahawk at full power would do nothing. Well it would do something but that something was pissing Kuro off. Peering around the area, I noticed several rocks hanging precariously over the area and a few areas where their shadows covered a small area.

“Ori, ready for a mission.”

Ori nodded and gave me a strange salute followed by two thumbs up. I pointed up at the rocks then pointed at Kuro. He instantly understood but warily pointed at her as well. I pulled out the tomahawk and let it hang off my shoulder. Fresh Coat looked worried but nodded and summoned her keyblade. Ori began the arduous task of climbing while I got the fun job of distracting Kuro.

Trotting into plain view Kuro immediately took notice while Fresh stayed back beneath the shade of the tunnel.

“Fresh, keep me alive.”

“Yes, Gray. Can you keep her busy for that long?” Fresh Coat whispered to me before I took off.

“Let's hope so…”

I flapped into the air instantly setting off Kuro who dove into me claws extended. I kept the tomahawk ready to parry her talons. As our two weapons met she actually overpowered me since I had no ground to actually hold my footing. I was sent spiraling out of control while Kuro took one flap to stabilize herself. When she did she flew back up and went for another dive. I was fast, not Spitfire or even Rainbow Dash fast but I could, if I paced myself, keep up with them. Kuro was godly fast managing to rise and dive faster than that. Part of me wondered if it was the influence of the darkness assisting her. The other half brought up the tomahawk as I was sent spiraling even further due to Kuro’s relentless assault.

Fresh Coat had managed to keep me locked in sight as she sent a cure spell every couple of minutes as her magic recharged. She also fired off some lightning spells which did surprisingly little but annoy Kuro. As we kept up our defense Ori managed to get further up to a small copse in the rocks which he called out to us with a cry about. It was weird hearing his shrill voice but it gave me the incentive to get out of Kuro’s reach.

At the last strike I slammed the tomahawk at Kuro once more pushing us both back. Kuro was stronger but thanks to some careful maneuvering I had kept my back towards the tunnel which I was hurtling towards. Crashing at the opening I used the momentum to roll into the tunnel while Fresh fired off a barrage of random spells which managed to dissuade Kuro from attacking anymore said nice we were out of her reach.

Kuro took her perch once again glaring toward the two of us. For a moment I thought she was satisfied by our loss but as her eyes widened she began looking for Ori.

Within a few minutes the rock fell from their mooring and Kuro was knocked off her perch slamming into the rock wall above us. Feathers flew off and she stormed off to regain her senses. Ori fell down from the trap he set off landing kind of roughly in the tunnel skidding to a stop in front of us. A lone feather floated down seemingly bigger than Ori which he picked up and seemingly put it away… somehow.

“How'd you do that?” Fresh Coat stared flummoxed by the sudden disappearance of the feather.

“Let's not get distracted by that and make our way to the Forlorn Ruins.”

“Oh… well alright then.” Fresh Coat mutter slightly before hopping back on my back.

“Don't worry about it. There is a reason behind what he did it's just that that kind of conversation may take hours to explain and may require visual representation.”

“It's that difficult to explain?” Fresh Coat pondered.

“Kind of. I'd have to explain a different logic and the physics behind something of that sort, or ask Pinkie Pie to showcase the ability since she has similar abilities that are like what Ori did.”

“That sounds like opening the Gates of Tartarus, interesting but dark and cruel to whomever did so.” Fresh Coat bluntly stated.

“Didn't expect that but for now let's focus on getting to the journey rather than the side quests that await us.”

“Is Pinkie one of those side quests?” Fresh Coat shuddered.

“Sweet god I hope not…”

Misty Woods

“Fresh… this does lead to the Forlorn Ruins right?”

“Kind of. We need something to open the door you see. These woods have one of the seals which is why Kuro was watching over this area.” Fresh Coat explained as she tapped her hooves together. I’m beginning to see that it is a universal tic that everyone has for nervousness.

“Ah that makes sense. Did Sein tell you all?”

“He told me and I told everypony. Seems like as long as we're near the spirit tree or one of those light trees he can speak to us for a while. Also got a great shot to paint later of Ori absorbing the light from those trees so there's that as well.” Fresh Coat smiled happily as she thought of her opportunities growing.

“Well that's something good then. I'll be looking forward to seeing your paintings.”

“I got something else you could paint instead…” Fresh Coat muttered under her breath so Ori couldn't hear but I could.

“When we get back home we'll paint the entire room, floor to ceiling.”

The only answer I got was her vigorously nodding her head into my back. When we reached the very edge of the Misty Woods I noticed that unlike everything else on this planet these woods resembled their namesake very well.
Mist swept through all corners of the forest enveloping it in its embrace forcing us to squint just to see through it. Even with me using my wings to sweep it away was met with heavy resistance. The most kept rolling in ignoring my attempts and it was getting very obvious that it would take multiple pegasi working nonstop just to make a permanent dent and keep it open.

On a small platform was an unlit lantern surrounded by strange light that was being suppressed by the mist and kept dim. We each trotted up to the lantern after I placed Fresh Coat on her hooves. As soon as our job started I couldn't baby any of them and carry them unless there were sheer cliff walls that they couldn't climb. Unfortunately, I realized close on that this world favored vertical climbing a lot, almost to the point it could be considered a fetish. Alternatively it was because the world was made for climbing species and those with flight in mind.

“Ah, this is the Shrouded Lantern, the emanating force of all the mist continuously flowing into the forest. We need to dispel this mist in order to find the seal that will open the Forlorn Ruins. Perhaps if you two use your flame you can avoid going through the forest for the true flames we need.”

Nodding to the small light, Fresh Coat and I set our keyblades pointed as the lantern and fired a small barrage of fire spells in hopes of lighting the lantern. While the spells took effect the mist seemed to snuff out the fire just as quickly as it was lit. Even adding Ori’s spirit flames did nothing to assist lighting the lantern.

“I suppose it would be too easy to just light the flame and be done with it. We will need to traverse the forest then and find Atsu’s Flame. That is an everlasting fire created by one of the spirits that inhabit the tree. Still be careful while within the forest. So long as the mist flows the forest enjoys playing tricks on whomever enters until they are lost for an eternity.”

“Let's get started then. The sooner we find the flame the better off we'll be.”

Fresh nodded and Ori jumped on her back giving another tiny salute as we trekked into the forest. I had seen no regular creatures at all through my time on this planet. I hoped it was because they were hiding from the heartless because the alternative was that they were all dead… morbid thoughts were the furthest thing I wanted to think of.

The first couple of areas were very obvious on which way we needed to go and for the most part we were left a straightforward path to follow. Powerwilds and bouncywilds were very prevalent using the trees to gain more ground and several new vantage points. Fresh made quick work of those particular heartless pulling them off their perch with her telekinesis and firing off several spark spells bathing them in light. I focused more on ground combat issuing up combos for any that decided Fresh Coat was doing too well. Ori climbed the trees and with the feather he got floated around before diving down on his unsuspecting prey stomping them back into the darkness. We had each found good ways to fight against the heartless and it seemed as though the training we had all done back then had paid off.

We continued on our war path striking down whatever heartless got in our way until we hit a dead end. All around us were trees covering any escape route and no clue as to where to head next. Fresh Coat made an effort to break the trees and force our way through but they would not break to the assault. Ori climbed as high as he could wall jumping his way around only to find no hidden openings or secret ways to go. We were stuck in an empty dead end.

“Where to now then?”

“Uh, Gray. Wasn't there a straight path behind us before? Now we're in a tree bough… I'm confused.” Fresh Coat muttered.

“Wait, what? Did we get turned around somewhere or… wait a minute. That might be the case…”

“What is it?” Fresh Coat started to breathe heavily trying to push the anxiety away.

“The reason for why we seem lost is that the mist is kind of shifting us where it wants us to go. We're in a pseudo labyrinth in the forest.”

I wanted to say it was like the Lost Woods from Ocarina of Time but I felt that would make it more confusing than it already was. Thank god my childhood was wasted on frivolous things otherwise even I might have panicked. I mused as I looked for the next pathway we were going to be shunted along.

For the next few minutes we were herded into dead ends as the mist played tricks on our eyes. Flying offered no salvation due to the constant low hanging branches and several thorn patches covering the area. It got so bad that I was forced to slowly carry us through claustrophobic tunnels lined with thorn patches. While they no longer looked poisonous I'd rather not fall into them.

“Gray!” Fresh Coat cried out almost directly into my ear.

“Yeah!”

“I don't like small spaces!” Fresh Coat screamed out as she slid off my back and clung underneath me gripping my legs with hers. It would have been slightly kinky had we not been in such a dangerous location.

“Ok I know you're scared but I need you to calm down and fire spells off should we get attacked by heartless. Don't worry I'm right here with you.”

She nodded her face into my chest and slowly climbed onto my back once again. With careful maneuvering I managed to keep Fresh from freaking out too much even though heartless were swarming us.

Ori did his best to keep them from getting out of control using his abilities to grab the aerial knockers and use them as projectiles against the other heartless. When Fresh Coat was finally able to focus she fired off several spark spells to take care of both the darkness and the heartless.

Further down we traveled until we came to a spirit tree in the middle of nowhere. I was concerned by how gnarled everything around the tree looked. Surprisingly the tree itself was healthy and seemed to flourish under its own power.

“How unfortunate… this tree belongs to the free spirited being known as Tatsu who climbed through the rocky walls of Sorrow’s Pass. When Atsu passed Tatsu fell into despair. Ori absorb her light and carry her torch for her as she is unable to do so now…”

The somber tone managed to break Fresh Coat’s fears, if only slightly, and forced me to focus more on the forest. Death was something I have dealt with before, both on the job and when the world decided to go end. She didn't look as confident and I could tell that no matter how much they trained or how much they controlled themselves there was no way for them to truly escape their emotions. I was actually no better since I had nearly given up my emotions a long time ago.

Ori absorbed the light and we continued through the labyrinth. Several times I found myself playing noble steed in very cramped passages which left Fresh Coat clinging tightly to me. The passages were starting to get worse as the ceilings walls were covered in spikes and I wasn't even sure that we were going on the right direction anymore. Sure the Lost Woods was pretty straightforward but that had sound cues telling me where to go. Here though, was the constant droning of wildlife we hadn't seen and the constant cries of heartless trying to rip our hearts out. It was unsettling.

“Gray, I think the aerial knockers are back.” Fresh Coat muttered as, indeed, several of the heartless parrots, I think, showed up to block our flight.

Before we could strike Ori jumped up which caused a flower to hide. When the flower hid a laser shot up causing a laser beam to shoot from somewhere on the ground and vaporize all the heartless that were coming straight for us. I think I felt Fresh Coat’s jaw drop while my eyes were bulging out in confusion. I peered back at Ori who was clinging to a wall now looking very confused.

“Why are there lasers around here…?” Fresh Coat mumbled out loud still reeling from the impossibility surrounding the laser.

“Honestly I don’t want to know. I’ll take not fighting heartless over heavy aerial combat any day. Especially with how tight these confines are. Ori come on we have to dodge lasers now!”

Ori nodded and using his acrobatics and Kuro’s Feather which he fashioned into a glider he kept to my back while Fresh hung on underneath me. I was very certain she knew what she was doing but the glow from her horn told me she was focusing on keeping her hat on. I’ve come to realize something very obvious about the mares I’m with. With the exception of Spitfire and Vinyl, all of them are closet perverts. They try to be subtle but I can tell when they are and I think they are unused to the dynamic of a stallion being both unbothered by it and downright more into that aspect than they are usually subjected to. I’ll have to test my theory when we get back to Equestria.

“Ori jump.”

The flowers shifted and we continued that pattern for several moments hoping not to get hit by the raging lasers which seemed to appear out of nowhere and blocked our path. Eventually we finally reached a small area that finally didn’t have spikes covering every part of it and I could finally set everyone down. Fresh stretched her legs out from the lack of using them while adjusting her hat. Ori merely sniffed the air and seemed to be excited if his frantic waving for us to follow him was any indication.

Off in the distance was another tree… only it was dead. There was no light that was enveloping it but there was an orb that seemed to radiate heat from below it. Ori seemed mesmerized by it and eventually touched it. Within seconds the forest creaked and shifted as the mist dissipated from the area around us. A path had opened right next to the tree in front of our very eyes.

“Gray…” Fresh Coat muttered though she sounded slightly pissed.

“Yeah?”

“I hate this forest now…” She mumbled as we trotted out of the opening back to where the lantern was in the background. Ori carried the orb with us.

As much as I wanted to say that I found it interesting, I couldn’t. The spike filled passages had made me feel trapped and I think it might have been caused by the thestral genes I now had. I was fine with caves but with nowhere to hang from I felt some oppressive weight appear in my gut and I hated every moment of it.

“Don’t worry about that Fresh. Let’s head back to the others. You’ve done well getting through this with me even if we didn’t have much to do but get lost together.”

“R-r-really? So I wasn’t a burden?” Fresh Coat grabbed me and looked into my eyes imploring me to answer her.

“I don’t think that of any of you. You should have some confidence in yourself about these things. I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I wouldn’t and even then I wouldn’t let you do anything too dangerous unless I had absolutely no choice in the matter.”

“It’s just that… I haven’t done much yet. I’ve fought alongside everypony but I haven’t really stood out and showed that I was capable.” Fresh Coat groused.

“You’ll have your time. It’ll happen when it is time and no sooner. Just like your cutie mark your path will appear when it is ready. No sooner and no later.”

I cradled her into a hug which got her to stop moping. I really need to check on everypony and make sure that this doesn’t happen even if I have to do it one on one just to make certain that they get it through their heads that I want them around. Honestly, the only problems I see are that Vinyl and Fresh have low self esteem when it comes to being loved in any capacity, and Spitfire and Redheart are both career focused with one losing faith in her work if her mumbling is anything to go by. Sunshower and Octavia seem secure enough in their own paths but that might be me not seeing the problem.

Ori had carried the orb over to the lantern placing it in the pedestal inside. The lantern immediately went ablaze filling the area with fire and light and forcing the mist to dissipate and something on the head of the lantern to open up.

“Ah the Gumon seal. The key needed to enter the Forlorn Ruins deep to the south in the Valley of the Winds. We should head there soon and restore the winds to their rightful place.”

Sein once again went quiet. His power had grown but it seemed as though he didn’t have much time to talk or very little to talk about. He was an exposition fairy at this point and I briefly wondered if there would be more time to talk later and more in depth about things. For now we made our way to a save point that had appeared outside the entrance to the Misty Woods. It would be easier to get back to base through it than by flying back.

“Shall we?”

I offered my hoof to Fresh Coat who grabbed it gingerly with her hoof and smiled. Ori jumped on my back as we warped into the ship and then warped back to the Spirit Tree base. Everypony was sitting around making dinner from some of the supplies we brought.

“There you three are. What took you so long?” Octavia pointedly asked concerned when she noticed that we were still covered in the remnants of all the plant detritus and flower pollen from our flight through the Misty Woods.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it over dinner.”

52. Forest of Nibel: Revelation

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It had been actually enjoyable that we were actually eating together. It hadn't been since my niece was still around that I had eaten with this many people around… well ponies now. Enjoyable as it was our recollection of traveling through the Misty Woods for some reason brought up memories about the Everfree Forest. Their tales of how weather moved on its own was met with my own skepticism. It was pushed to the limit when I pointed out that this planet had no one managing the weather either and everypony started to hyperventilate due to that little reveal.

“Is it that weird?”

“Well yeah… I mean it's wild and out of control. How do you not freak out about that?” Fresh Coat furrowed her brow in confusion and some trepidation.

“It's not that big a deal though. That is nature. Survival of the fittest and the chance to adapt to things.”

“So you don't feel the need to watch the weather and make certain that you have things under control. That's like the number one thing we do on a natural cycle.” Spitfire explained as she looked at the clouds noticing they were moving on their own.

“I just don't get it. I've lived in places that had wild weather and I adapted to it entirely. It makes certain things more useful as you live through certain weather patterns. I've lived through a hurricane before.”

It was also really far away from me which I didn't say. We were going to places where weather was always going to be wild and at the mercy of the world. Control was the furthest thought from everyone else in all the worlds combined except for Equestria it seems.

“You've certainly lived a more chaotic life than us, haven't you Gray?” Octavia demurely chuckled but I could sense a little nervousness in her tone.

“I suppose. Technically still living chaotically out in the universe but it works out well enough I suppose.”

“With us.” Sunshower added.

“Yes with all of you that's for certain the best part of it all. Though we should get ready for the next section. Since we have the Gumon Seal we can enter the Forlorn Ruins. My only question is who is coming with me this time? Only three ponies left and this may not be as easy.”

“My turn!” Sunshower cried out hopping in place like a child who got her present early would.

“Right. We'll head out soon enough. Seems it will be dark soon.”

There was a collective set of nods as we all curled up nearby under the shade of the Spirit Tree hidden from anything that may try and attack us. It wasn't the most restful sleep but Ori made certain that we remained hidden from the threats of this world. At certain times the screeching of an owl could be heard in the background menacingly soaring around the world attempting to find us. She was still angry at us for both escaping her and dropping several large rocks on her head. Truly we have managed to slay the beast… only we didn't. Kuro was still a high level threat but luckily she didn't use the heartless.

At the first light from the Spirit Tree we awoke at the very least satisfied and rested. I didn't actually know how many hours we slept but it was probably enough. Everypony went back to the ship and used the small bathrooms we had on the ship in each other's rooms. We didn't have an abundance of water apparently on board but we made due cleaning up after everything we had each been through. As soon as Sunshower was done I put Fresh Coat in charge of the camp so that she could get some leadership training in. Octavia mutely nodded in agreement seeing as she was still half asleep at the moment.

We backtracked through the Valley of the Winds and headed south to the place where the Forlorn Ruins resided. It was a bit easier since the two of us could fly around the obstacles including the mass of heartless trying to find prey. Several thunder spells later and the assortment of powerwilds and bladewilds had been taken care of. The heartless were easy so long as you take them seriously.

That was the one of the reasons that heartless were overall successful. The appearance they take make them look like oversized toys or decorative items. The few truly vicious ones kept a ghastly appearance making certain to look as threatening as possible. They also had no soul to speak of which made me wonder if Fluttershy’s stare would work on them. It was a quiet thought but it was one I knew eventually would happen.

As time passes on Equestria heartless will try to enter and attack everyone living there. Eventually I would be found out by the princesses. I would need to settle it on my terms though. If they found out about me it would be a certainty that they would try to tack Twilight on this problem. There is no telling how she would react to traveling to other worlds. It was something I wanted to avoid. I really wanted want to avoid a lot of ponies at this point.

“Gray I think that's the path we want.” Sunshower pointed out to me a long path covered in ice and snow.

“So the Element of Winds is in the snowy region?”

“Not exactly. After Kuro destroyed the light of the tree the other three elements went wild and caused a large blizzard that froze over the ruins. This place was filled with Gumo’s race long ago. I don't know what happened to them after the snow got out of control.”

“Well… this will probably be unsettling then. Sunshower, prep yourself as best you can. I don't know what we're going to be seeing in here.”

“Oh dear… I'll try.” Sunshower hesitantly answered before putting on her serious face.

Ori jumped onto her back and patted her head. He was also just as worried seeing that something like death was something Sunshower had never dealt with consistently. We had but most were taken by the heartless and she knew about some people sometimes coming back to life due to heartless intervention at this point. I doubted that this would be the case when we entered the Ruins.

The snowy path was filled with new heartless that looked like ice cubes. Icy Cubes, if I remember right, were wandering along the paths while aerial knockers floated around. When they saw us in the air the aerial knockers decided to soar straight for us winding up for a haymaker.

We were too speedy for them though. Flying around I remembered how hard we trained both Spitfire and Sunshower for full three dimensional fighting due to their advantage of flight. If I could find Neverland I would try to get some pixie dust just so I could allow the others the chance for flight but for now that will have to be a dream.

On the left there were also some Shamans as well trying to coordinate the other heartless but the constant thunder spells knocked them off their game. In the end the heartless were very unorganized and were more stepping stones rather than obstacles since only the small heartless had appeared and their advantage in numbers just made area of effect spells more effective at defeating them all.

“I would have thought we would have had more trouble than this Gray…” Sunshower trailed off as the heartless finally dissipated leaving us a clear path forward.

“To be fair we had the advantage of flight and they were all mostly ground bound. Plus we are overwhelming them with a cacophony of spells. We are very well prepared basically but I don't want to chance it. The moment we entered the Ginso Tree we were being hunted by a much stronger heartless that took heavy advantage of the arena. This won't be a cakewalk unfortunately.”

“That's too bad. Cake is pretty delicious, ya know.” Sunshower smirked as she landed in front of the door to the Forlorn Ruins.

“Cake sounds good. We need to get some when we get back. Don't know why really, I just want some.”

My sweet tooth had been acting up for a while. My carnivorous instincts had as well and I really needed to think about fishing at the very least when I get back to Equestria.

‘What I wouldn't give to have bacon again… but I'm a pony now so that might just be weird to do. If I remember right, pigs are sapient in Equestria. I really do wonder how carnivores survive when everything seemed to be sapient to some degree.’ I imagined a scene of that magnitude and quickly shut it down. There were somethings that didn't need to be imagined.

“Woah… this place is all frozen over. What happened here?” Sunshower gasped as my thoughts had blinded me to what we were looking at.

Ori stepped forward holding the Gumon Seal up towards the door allowing the seal to enter the indentation in the wall. I merely stared at the door a little closer noticing that there were heavy scratch marks against it. They didn't look like talon marks though which meant that Kuro didn't play any part in it. I wondered if the heartless had tried to break in but failed. Sunshower peeked inside noticing that the entire Ruins were covered in a thick layer of frost.

“Let's head in then.”

Sunshower nodded summoning her keyblade and readying herself for combat. The moment we stepped inside… nothing happened. I had to look around hoping that Gumo’s people were not heartless. I was certainly right that they had not become heartless. Covering the entire ground floor were several frozen bodies all similar to Gumo. Sunshower gasped at the sight backing up from it while Ori bowed his head in sadness.

“I see. The Gumon were builders, using their innovative ideas to create better dwellings for themselves. When Kuro destroyed the light the Element of Winds grew out of control releasing a frigid wind over their home. Look there!”

Off on one of the raised platforms was an orb of light being held in place by some unknown means. As we got closer Sein started to examine it closer. Luckily, the heartless hadn't tried to attack any of us yet. I was glad for the distraction from the fact that the ruins had become an impromptu burial mound.

“The Gumon were truly one of the most gifted within Nibel. They had managed to close brain some of the light into this giving them a source to draw power from. Ori we may need this orb to get to the Element of Winds. Grab it.”

Ori walked over to the Light Vessel which created a spherical shield around him and covered the two of us as well. I was thoroughly confused on the purpose of the shield but it seemed to be important.

“The Gumon were builders and created their machinery to use the light as a power source. Unfortunately that left their home covered in heat sources comparable to the fires of Mount Horu. It seems the light can stop them from burning us.”

“What exactly were the Gumon building that needed something like this?” Sunshower flew up a bit poking the vessel tenderly with a single hoof.

“A home, I think. You would need a lot of resources to make somewhere like this into a home you could be proud of. But because the light was destroyed everything went out of control allowing nature to take back its harsh role.”

Sunshower pursed her lips scrunching her muzzle in thought. I noticed that she wasn't looking down at me while she talked. I was pretty sure it was because of the copious amount of bodies that seemed huddled together. It was unsettling as the bodies of parents were holding their children as if to insure they would be fine. Any eyes I saw were glazed over and frozen solid in an unending stare. I shook my head and got my thoughts out of it. There was a moment I thought I saw my niece amongst the bodies forever caught in that unending stare directed straight at me.

‘Just a hallucination. That's all. All in your mind Gray.’ I shoved the thoughts to the back of my mind. Right at this moment they would be a burden.

Ori began lugging the orb with him unable to use his jumping prowess to speed through the area. Strangely as soon as we reached one of the corners we noticed that they were rounded making the separation of floor to wall seamless. They were also radiating heat as well but it seemed unable to melt the surrounding ice. Ori tentatively placed a step on the rounded edge while carrying the orb. To his and our surprise he started to walk along the wall.

“Guess it does more that create a bubble of light.”

“So… do you think he's going to get disoriented?” Sunshower asked showcasing the worry on her face.

“Probably. Let's keep to the air and keep any heartless that show up off his back.”

“Roger Nebby.” Sunshower smirked.

I grunted at my nickname but let it go with a sigh. If that's what they wanted to call me. The two of us remained flapping next to each other why we watched Ori make progress over the dozen of spatial puzzles that seemed to make up the layout of the ruins. There were several major moving parts that seemed to do nothing but go back and forth and all of them were superheated and glowing red. Ori was moving on the heated platforms without worry using the orb of light he had.

“Seems like we got something easy to do huh?” Sunshower grunted in defeat.

“I wouldn't think that way just yet. Times like this means that we're in for a rough time later.”

Sunshower digested that information keeping her eyes peeled for any changes that could happen around them. Ori, then jumped off a platform and began falling for another platform. I had to physically restrain her from zooming after him. When he landed without incident Sunshower couldn't believe it, at first. It took me the better part of our trip watching Ori fearlessly fall from those heights until she got the bigger picture together.

“He's really good a landing.” Sunshower bristled slightly realizing that even her landings were never that smooth.

“He is a spirit. While he has a physical form he is made of light. Personally at this point I think he was a leaf since he floats around so easily.”

“So everything can be a spirit then?” Sunshower looked at the rocks and snow scrutinizing them closely as if she could see the spirits.

“That's hard to answer. I would think yes since Ori has jumped on and off my back so many times already that I can just tell he physically exists at this point, but that's just me ya know. I can't speak for everyone.”

“Naturally.” Sunshower rolled her eyes at my attempts to act funny.

“That bad, huh? Need to work on my material is going on the mental checklist.”

“C’mon Gray. Let's keep taking care of the heartless. I'm sure Ori is sick and tired of watching us talk.” Sunshower chuckle only to stop when Ori seemed disappointed that we stopped our playful banter. “Ori keep moving!”

Ori looked to be laughing before he continued on his way carrying the light vessel. Sunshower muttered some obscenities I couldn't hear while pouring like a child. Her entire face was red in embarrassment and I could do nothing but laugh because of it dragging her in for a tight hug before we continued on.

The path we took actually snaked around since there were obstructions that kept us from getting further. It got to the point where we were lucky to have aerial knockers to fight. Icy Cubes were stuck to the ground floor and the constant barrage of fire spells made it easier to deal with them all at once. Ori shot off his spirit flame whenever he had the chance but carrying the orb had diminished his impressive acrobatic fighting style. This continued on and on for what felt like days when I was certain it had barely been two hours when we finally met back up with the path we came from and the new direction to go.

With our flying prowess nothing could fight us on even footing. We had finally made it to one of the largest rooms in this place when the orb flew off towards another door embedding itself in it. We finally made it to our desired destination.

“Finally…”

I paused looking around since the first sanctuary had a large spider heartless acting as its guardians. There wasn't going to be any difference here I was certain of it.

As soon as we flew in the large area and Ori jumped to my back a large invisible shield appeared blocking off all our escape routes. I was certain I released a groan of exasperation since it meant there was a boss battle now.

“Gray, something's flying in.” Sunshower focused off on one of the darker clouds.

Focusing my eyes on it I noticed a large figure flying through the cloud absorbing lightning into its body. Those glowing yellow eyes were the sure sign of a heartless. Strangely it looked like the wyvern heartless that appeared in Hollow Bastion back in the first game. Instead of the red skin it usually had it had entirely mulberry color scales while the emblem was still on its chest the same vibrant red it always was. It was also almost as large as the storm rider that attacked Ponyville.

“Sunshower I think you'll need your armor now.”

“Yeah I kind of figured. Is this like the thing you fought back in at Ponyville?” Sunshower summoned her armor surprising Ori who poked at the armor.

“Close enough.”

The giant wyvern like heartless slammed into the area below where I assumed the Element of Winds was located. It didn't have any arms though the wings had small digits at the center or each wing. As it did I immediately flew straight at it but instead of the tomahawk coming to my hoof it was instead a very large blue shield which actually came in handy as it stopped a swing by its tail forcing me back into the rock walls.

Sunshower and Ori began peppering it with fire spells which actually didn't do anything. It took flight firing off several tornadoes over the area kicking up the debris and rocks littering the area. I pulled myself out of the rock wall thankful for the armor and shield as I flew straight for the heartless.

With a quick flick of my hoof the shield grew sharp serrated ice shards across its face and I charged directly into the heartless’ face. It thrashed around unable to claw at its face due to the lack of claws on their arms. That caused the tornadoes to curve wildly allowing Sunshower and Ori to get away. Flying straight up they came above the wyvern heartless before it could notice them.

I switched over to the scythe using it to hook one of the wings and forcing it to crash on the craggy rocks below forcing it to shove the ice shards still stuck in its face deeper. Sunshower allowed Ori to jump off her back and watched as he dove from that height stomping on the back of its head. The sudden impact forced several stalagmites to explode into dust. I flew over the body and grabbed Ori before anything else happened rejoining Sunshower a comfortable distance away.

The wyvern styled heartless thrashed back up breaking more of the environment and ruining its body more. Several holes appeared in its wings from all the shrapnel that came from the attack. I kept the shield arm out in front of me as the air grew colder than it should be as several blocks of ice appeared around us and shot out at the heartless smacking through its wings once again. They cracked at strange angles leaving the heartless grounded as I switched to my keyblade and charged in. Ori remained on Sunshower’s back as the keyblade smacked the heartless down.

A quick switch to the tomahawk and an upward swing caused the heartless to fly up towards Sunshower who slammed her keyblade down smashing the heartless back on the ground. A barrage of spirit flames from Ori finally did the trick as dark mist wafted off the heartless as a large crystal heart icon flew off into the distance. The heartless slowly faded from sight leaving the three of us alone in a ruined section of the cavern.

“That was crazy!” Sunshower cried out unsummoning the armor and gripping onto my armor staring me in the eye.

“Yeah… that was actually pretty intense there. I'm surprised that there was a heartless like that in here.”

I was breathing a bit heavy behind the helmet of the armor. Even with the strength boosting of the tomahawk weapon I still felt a small strain whenever I had to smash large heartless away. Shaking away the strain we all decided it was time to wake up the Element of Winds already.

“Ooh I see it Gray. Look! Look!” Sunshower pointed at the large glowing sphere pulsing right above us in another antechamber.

“Let's get Ori in position then. Something big will probably happen if we activate it.”

Sunshower nodded and raced to position with Ori while I leisurely flapped up. If the Elements of Water created a flood then the Element of Winds was going to create a maelstrom most likely. I needed to be ready in case the Winds were too strong.

Ori got in position pulsing his internal light with the element’s core until they were in sync with each other. A large explosion of force brought the core to life forcing both of us to ground while Ori stood tall and proud at his accomplishment. Before he could bask in the splendor of his work the wind started picking up.

At first is was barely a breeze but that breeze soon fell into a gust. Then the gust became a squall and started lifting Ori up while Sunshower clung to me.

“You ok!?”

“No! The winds here are too powerful! I'd lose all my feathers if I opened my wings here!” Sunshower screamed over the roaring wind blowing through the ruins.

“Hold on then! I think mine can handle it.”

They couldn't, at least, not right away. I had to put my armor back on just to have the weight needed to remain sturdy enough against the winds as they reached tempest threat level. Sunshower remained glued to my back while Ori used the feather and caught the updrafts leading us out of the ruins. The fact that the sudden change in wind had also caused several boulders to get dislodged which were falling on us wasn't even that much of an obstacle at this point. A quick slash of the keyblade decimated the obstacles away leaving us smooth sailing beyond the tomb.

Kuro's Nest

As we reached the top of the shaft we were rising through a large rock formation fell behind us blocking off our entrance into the ruins. The place we entered looked like a burrow or nest of some sort where eggshells only remained.

Sunshower’s gasp alerted me to something else that was in this nest. Along the edges were the dessicated burnt bodies of tiny owlets resting eternally on the soft grassy mounds. Further ahead was a lone egg seemingly untouched by time or flame.

“I was afraid of this. I now understand why Kuro is so angry. This is our fault.”

“What do you mean Sein? Did you kill these children? Innocents that didn't deserve this!?” Sunshower glared at Sein with an intensity that I had only seen in newly crowned mothers.

“When Ori, child of the Spirit Tree, went missing the light weeped for many days pushing its light out into the world. For many days the light searched for Ori until it was forced to push harder than it ever had before. Unfortunately the owls of this world are creatures of darkness. The light couldn't be controlled be in its haste… we killed many creatures of darkness that we coexisted with.”

Sunshower held a hoof to her mouth as tears streamed down her muzzle. I merely sighed and turned away from the corpses that were left. I was tired. Tired of seeing corpses caused by good intentions. This was that straw that broke the perceptions of how the light was only good. Sunshower wept into my shoulder, silently sobbing about how wrong this all was. I couldn't understand her through all the blubbering and my own unyielding rage at the powerlessness I felt.

The powerlessness I felt from being unable to assure Sunshower that this was all a mistake which were some of the only words I could understand through her sobs. Ori held a claw to his chest as his other found the egg. It took a few seconds before he seemed to bound around in joy.

“What's up Ori?”

He jumped around pointing at the egg before pointing at his chest. Sunshower managed to calm her tears enough to look at Ori and realize what he was trying to say.

“It's still alive!” Sunshower gasped in jubilation that not all was lost.

Her celebration was cut short as a sudden quake went off behind us. A cold sweat dripping down my neck and the others had frozen in their spot. I slowly turned my head to the burning eyes of Kuro wrathfully glaring down at us. I took a few steps forward and Kuro took one.

“To the cliff…”

I couldn't take Kuro head on. In this nest it was suicidal since the egg was on our side. Kuro was smarter than she looked taking extreme care just to watch for sudden movements. The egg was more valuable than our death at the very least.

Sunshower made it first with Ori hopping on her back. I was stuck staring down Kuro while I took my steps back and as far away from the egg as possible. That left me at an impasse. I was within reach of the egg and Kuro's clicking beak told me that she was ready to strike the moment I moved even slightly. I did have stop spells but those had horrible hit rates against bosses and Kuro definitely counted as one.

I summoned my shield keeping it in the hoof furthest from the egg. Kuro was ready to strike the moment it appeared until I took another step back. That brought me a confused glare from her.

“Gray…” Sunshower called out scared of the situation we were in.

“Go down now.”

“But…” Sunshower tried to argue.

“Go. Down. Now.”

Sunshower grimaced at my tone. There were moments that I had to pull on my master credentials. She reluctantly floated down from the opening through the cloud barrier leaving me alone with Kuro. We were locked in the world’s tensest staring match. The only problem was that if I lost… I die.

I shoved my wings back allowing the momentum to pull me away from the egg as Kuro struck out with her beak smashing against my shield and sending me falling below the cloud layer. In her rage, Kuro placed the egg in a warmer part of the nest before diving out of the nest chasing after us.

I hit a pile of snow that seemed to be made out of nowhere and pulled myself out finding Sunshower and Ori standing nearby. I was relieved to find them safe though the same couldn't be said about my shield weapon. It was pierced and nearly torn in two. Mentally, I noticed that I needed to wait a short while until the shield regenerated its form back to normal. I was lucky it could handle such a strong hit otherwise I would have died.

We didn't celebrate for long as Kuro soared straight down landing with a tremor hitting the land forcing the three of us to take cover behind some rocks. We were stuck literally between a rock and a hard place.

“What should we do?” Sunshower hissed out as Kuro kept quiet vigil over the area.

“We can't out race her that's for certain… Ori do you see any place that was covered in shadows. I think we could use those places to hide at the very least.”

Ori nodded and began peering around looking across the near frozen lake and the fallen trees. He quickly pointed across forcing us to make up our mind at this point. We would have to make a break for it.

“I'll distract Kuro while you two make it behind cover then I'll join you?”

“Well you are the only one here who's taken several beatings from Kuro and survived. At this point I've realized that you are the only one durable to handle it.” Sunshower groaned realizing she was giving me permission to put myself in danger. Ori merely gave me a thumbs up and got ready to run.

I hopped onto the rock drawing Kuro's attention and watched as she rose high into the air above the cloud cover. At that moment Sunshower and Ori rushed off over the ice bridge towards the ruins of an old tree.

Kuro's talons came close to my face as I slammed the tomahawk up against her dive. The stone cracked and crumbled from the impact forcing me to rush off from my position. Kuro reluctantly returned to her perch as I made it back to the old tree.

“Sunshower how do I look?”

“Gray, you look like somepony took a cloud through a mud puddle.”

Ori got on my back brushing off several stone fragments and a few deposits of snow that had gotten stuck to me. My forearms actually were sore from blocking the attack… something I was not mentioning. Kuro hit harder than a truck and I barely could stand against it.

“I don't know if you should take another hit Gray.” Sunshower stated, her worry palpable as she kept her hoof on my side.

“We can't outrun her. Seriously. She's been faster and stronger than me. Ever time we've clashed I've been pushed back but in return I pushed her back. If I let up she'll rip us to shreds in her blinded rage which is probably worse because we intruded on her nest.”

“Is this the life of a keyblade wielder?” Sunshower gasped as she peered out of cover where Kuro's baleful glare examined the area.

“Unfortunately this is. At least for the life of a wielder who decides to do something for the betterment of other worlds.”

Sunshower pondered my words turning back to a personable silence. While she was ruminating I had to form a plan with Ori… which provided scintillating conversation topics. Most of them were pantomimed as Ori pointed out several safe spots.

Rushing ahead he managed to outjuke Kuro's sight getting to a small copse in the rock wall. Taking advantage, several heartless appeared forcing us to fire off several spells. Ori caught one of them using one of his abilities to knock it into a broken log revealing more cover for us to get to.

The heartless started to swarm allowing bladewilds and bouncywilds to take potshots at us until Kuro dove in tearing them to ribbons before returning to her perching spot. While surprising I knew why Kuro had done that. The egg was her number one priority and the heartless were just as much of a threat to her as we were.

While she was distracted Sunshower and I moved from spot to spot until only a short run was left between us and safety. Ori joined us shortly after looking exhausted from battling the remnants of the heartless that Kuro didn't kill outright. I placed him on Sunshower's back allowing him some rest as I pulled out the shield once more finally restored to its pristine state.

“One more push and we'll be free. Ready?”

Both Sunshower and Ori nodded as I rushed out with the shield ready. Kuro took the bait rising up and diving down into me forcing me down into the wood barely holding back the talons as The others got into the tunnels. Kuro noticed though while she was distracted I used the tomahawk to smack Kuro away managing to rush into the tunnel. Kuro recovered quickly enough trying to crush us as the tunnel collapsed behind me blocking us off from the Forlorn Ruins and Kuro's assault.

I laid on the ground breathing heavily as Sunshower and Ori took the time to lay beside me. I sighed as they rested nearly on top of me.

“Gray… this was crazy.” Sunshower sighed as she rested on my side while Ori curled under my neck.

“I know.”

“Should we get a vacation for this?” Sunshower looked me in the eye as I carefully maneuvered my neck so I could actually see her.

“When we finish up here, yeah. Let's get back to the others then. I'm certain you want to tell them what we found out about Kuro.”

Sunshower resolutely agreed getting Ori on my back as we flew back through the Valley of Winds back to the Spirit Tree to rejoin everypony.

53. Forest of Nibel: Terms

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When we finally reached base camp I noticed that everypony was fully on edge. Spitfire especially kept peering up into the sky as if looking for something. Kuro must have flown around the area even more after we breached her nest. That incident was unfortunately unavoidable at the time. Sunshower looked nervous as well though the set of tear marks from what we learned back in the nest were still very visible. I pointed my hoof to her eyes and she immediately wiped the remnants away.

“You sure about this? We’re gonna have to talk about things before we continue ya know.”

“I know. It’s best we talk about things with the others before we continue on. It's just… I really don't want to be reminded of it.” Sunshower whimpered as she seemed to think back to the events that had transpired.

“Better now than later.”

Sunshower nodded and paced around trying to psych herself up for what came next. The light had been changed in her eyes when she had confronted Sein. It wasn't a big change that most would notice and part of me felt as though it wasn't for the best. I was from a more morally gray world where right and wrong were sometimes relative.

On Equestria, from what I've seen, there is only black and white morality. Every single pony has had a universal sense of right and wrong placed in mind from the beginning of their life though that was only from my limited time with other ponies. It seemed ingrained but I was also working through my mindset. As we reached the rest of the group they rushed out to meet us though my arms were still sore from the constant attacks I parried against Kuro.

“Hey everypony. You all doing good?”

“Yeah though that owl’s been getting more dangerous lately. The only solace is that its destroying heartless as well.” Spitfire explained as the others checked over Sunshower and me.

There were a few scratches on us that we had forgotten to heal with a cure spell which Redheart took care of as soon as she saw us.

“Our fault I suppose.”

“What do you mean?” Octavia interjected before everypony could speak up. I was actually proud that she was taking charge and owning up to being a leader.

“Sunshower will explain.”

I didn't expect so many tears. Everypony was crying with Spitfire being the only one to weep silently. I didn't have any tears to shed and kept silent vigil while Ori sat on my back looking ashamed about what was done. Sein hadn't spoken at all through the explanation. I didn't want to ruin the mood but we had a world to say but I cared about them. It was a heavy dilemma to figure out how to actually act.

So I stayed silent and hugged everypony as they cried it out. Every few minutes Kuro would fly over and skim over another section of the forest. If I didn't know better I could see dark mist being kicked up as her talons skimmed across those trees. When everypony finally calmed down I still remained quiet. I didn't want to break the silence first. I even looked through the book for the heartless we had faced.

Cyclonic Wyvern
A large draconian like heartless that controls the skies around Nibel. Can create large cyclones that can tend rock walls though it has the tendency to go in close to attack with its talons.

“Gray?” Spitfire called out which I merely turned and nodded to her. “Are we still heading out?”

“Yeah. We need to save this world.”

“I know… it's just that… well, this seems messed up.” Spitfire groused as she stomped down on a clod of dirt smashing it into dust.

“It's another world Spitfire. There was always bound to be several things being different between them. This was just one of the extremes that we were going to face one day. I'm sad that I didn't expect this from happening so soon. I've been through a situation where there is no good or bad choices.”

“Can I… nevermind. Let's get going. I need to do something.” Spitfire growled as her wings ruffled in frustration.

“Octavia! Where are you?”

“Yes Gray?” Octavia sniffed as she trotted over to me.

“We need to keep this going. I know that you all need time but if Kuro is still out there we need to help this world before it gets worse.”

Octavia stared at me for a second before stepping up to me and kissing me on the cheek. She then hugged Spitfire in a tight embrace. I think that the hug made Spitfire tear up slightly but she kept her calm facade up as best she could.

“I shall wait for you all when you return. Please stay safe. Kuro has become more voracious in her attack. We're still safe here by the spirit tree but I've noticed that the heartless have also increased their attacks. I don't think this place is gonna last much longer with this many striking the planet.” Octavia explained finally managing to keep her sadness from growing.

“I know. I've been smelling it even through the light bubble Ori gave me. It's strong. Really strong and getting worse every moment.”

“Then we shouldn't keep the planet waiting right?” Spitfire cockily grinned as she fanned her wings and took off with me still staying put. She quietly flapped back towards us though. “Where are we heading?”

“Follow me and we'll get where we need to be.”

I quickly went inside and gave everypony a kiss and hug, Spitfire getting hers fourth, before I headed out finishing up with Octavia. We zoomed off flying back towards the Valley of Winds once again.

Sorrow’s Pass

It took a few minutes to get back to the intersection that led to the Forlorn Ruins. What neither of us had expected were the intense gale force winds that had suddenly sprung up covering several paths up.

“Even with all my training my wings would be sheared off from those forces. There's a good reason why even though I'm the Wonderbolts captain I couldn't survive those small spaces with that much wind blasting away.” Spitfire scanned the area above us.

“Put on your armor. It helped Sunshower when we reawakened the winds. Ori can handle going up on his own.”

“Our armor can do that?” Spitfire seemed surprised entirely as she summoned it over her body.

I did as well and took off while Ori jumped up raising his feather and floating along the currents. Spitfire took it slow as she adjusted to the weight and floated up above me taking care to dodge the bramble patches. I followed after her weaving through as well while Ori kept pace with me. Heartless were very sparse since the winds kept slamming into the bramble.

That was when I noticed the large blockage in our way. I couldn't get a good angle to strike it with the tomahawk. Also it would create an updraft that would blow us off course to who knows where. Spitfire didn't say anything though. She kept quiet and fired off some fire spells whenever heartless would appear. For the most part only aerial knockers had appeared meaning we didn't have any real challenge. Spitfire handled them all with the finesse that a pegasus warrior in their prime could muster. It got to the point where we finally had a small place to rest while we gathered our bearings.

“Spitfire… what's on your mind? You've been real quiet lately.”

“Its… it's just that we're the good guys right? We use the light to battle evil. Then I hear this and I don't know what to think.” Spitfire groaned… though it seemed forced to my ears. It was as though she wanted to shift the subject a different way.

“We are. We have the capacity to choose what we want to do and make our own choices without worrying about the immediate consequences. Though I don't think that's what is bothering you.”

Spitfire didn't say anything though her ears were folded down. I waited a bit since I couldn't see her eyes. She still didn't answer me even as I trotted up to her. I held my hoof under her chin to have her look towards me. The opaque lenses used to for our helmets were still see through enough for me to see she wasn't looking me in the eye. I didn't want to force her though and she didn't fight me on this which was slightly weird.

I briefly wondered if it was a cultural thing about herds but Spitfire was the exception of what Vinyl told me about her ex was true. He was still in traction if what I heard was true. The stallion was protected but what I did forced all of them to adjust to my own rigid views on how relationships work. I don't know if they minded all that much seeing that each of them seemed happy that I would take charge more often than not. I couldn't really say for sure at this point. Spitfire, even being held in my hooves, remained silent about what was truly bothering her.

“We should keep moving then. Spitfire?”

“Yeah?” Spitfire tentatively answered.

“Ready to go on?”

“Yeah. Let's.” Spitfire nodded as we flapped off on another path.

We traveled around for a few hours at random. At this point we had come across several barriers and no way to actually get them out of our way. Spitfire remained tight lipped about what was bothering her and I hadn't made any more attempts to coax it out of her.

I knew it wasn't emotional. She was still very happy to show off her flexibility whenever Ori was looking through the smaller passages we couldn't fit through. I was distracted from actually dealing with the problem the more she wiggles her flank around while letting her legs stretch out as far as they could go. I couldn't not stare and her sudden stops whenever Ori returned didn't help things either. Even if I couldn't tell the look she was giving me because of the helmet I knew they were cocky smirks every single time she glanced at me when she did so.

She knew what she was doing. Every time I was about to get some answers she stretch as far as she could. By the time we found the small ancestral tree that Ori needed to be stronger I was certain I could imagine a lot of things I would do to Spitfire the moment she was all alone. Unlike the others though she was doing this for a different reason rather than a roll in the hay.

Ori finally took in the light of the tree making me realize that I have been in a daze the entire time we've gone through Sorrow’s Pass. Not even the heartless that attacked us were able to gain my attention. The last aerial knocker that tried to uppercut me was knocked into the brambles before the wind dragged it against the craggily rock wall while I wasn't really paying attention. That in particular was unsettling since I was building up a fighting instinct without even meaning to.

Over the month I've held my keyblade I've noticed that I have gotten good enough to react about half the speed of my reaction command ability. I was fast but not any better than a Sunshower when it came to flight combat, albeit, still decently good at it if compared to her. Spitfire was our best aerial combat specialist. It was her zone. Sunshower was near that zone but occupied aerial magic specialist.

I, on the other hoof - I finally settled on hoof at that point - , was a jack of all trades. Master of none but adept at all. Each weapon I switched to would specialize me into a different role allowing me to fluidly wisp around the battlefield to cover any flaws. That, in turn, made me realize that I was getting better at fighting every single time I went out on the field. Enough to strike an enemy without even realizing that they were there… or I was distracted by one of my herd trying to cover her deeper thoughts through seduction rather than confrontation.

As Ori led the way, Spitfire seemed to notice that her stretches weren't doing the trick anymore. It's not to say that I wasn't interested in wrecking her plot the next moment I had with all of them but I wanted to get to the bottom of this problem she was hiding. She actually started to fidget as we flew to the next safe spot to let Ori perform his magic. With a quick burst he slammed into the blocked passage knocking the rocks out of the way. As the rocks fell the wind suddenly shot through the shaft sending Ori flying into me.

A little dazed he wriggled in my grasp until he managed to regather his senses. The wind had gotten stronger as we all flew up to the second set of passages above noticing that new heartless were starting to pop up attached to the walls. Covered in dark slime several worm like figures with yellow eyes popped out through the thorny walls. They each eyed us down and a targeting reticle appeared on each of us.

“Well… that's gonna suck…”

“Wait. What does this mean?” Spitfire whirled her eyebrow, I think, because of the helmet it was hard to tell.

Before I could answer the triangle button appeared in my mind and the three heartless that appeared immediately shot their salvo at us. Ori and Spitfire kept moving while I swung my keyblade at the last second knocking the heartless off the wall and get blown away by the wind. The focus fire caused me to stop knocking the volleyed shot back which made both Ori and Spitfire step up to the plate and tear into the heartless. With me acting as bait the heartless were quickly routed.

“I see why you said that this would suck. What were those things anyways?” Spitfire huffed as she regained her breath. The constant barrage in a small space caused her to waste a lot energy.

“More newly discovered heartless. I'll check in the Lexicon later when there is less wind stopping us.”

She nodded and we continued through the next area. Ori always took the lead making certain to break any of the paths that would block us off. Those same heartless would pop out of the walls constantly targeting us forcing one of us to act as bait. Luckily, they were fast while I was able to knock their attacks back. I had noticed that while we were limited in teammates we were still very powerful and more dangerous than any of the heartless that had appeared so far. Regardless of their lucky shots, and they only had lucky shots against me.

After making it through more of them we found a switch which Ori stomped on giving us another path up. The wind was actually blowing too fast for the heartless to keep clinging to the walls knocking them into oblivion with the speed it was going.

“So… I have a plan.”

“Which is…?” Spitfire gulped slightly while Ori wanted to just rush in to fly off through the air.

“Well Ori can deal with the wind and I could probably deal with the wind and use the tomahawk to create divots in the wall as hoof holds. You'd just have to hold on to me.”

“Sounds dangerous. If you're not ready that kind of wind could shear your wings off.” Spitfire looked up the shaft noting a large section of cloud blocking the exit.

“I'm honestly trying not to think about it.”

Spitfire crossed her fore hooves but with a quiet sigh she gripped onto my barrel as I pulled out the tomahawk. With that Ori went first zooming up through the shaft. I jumped up next gripping onto the wall with the tomahawk. Thankfully keeping my wings closed only let me have a higher jump while Spitfire kept her wings clutched to her side. It took several minutes just to reach the cloud layer. When we did I jumped into the fray and used my wings at the last moment. The opening had diluted the winds enough that it no longer was contained in a tube.

The sudden rush through the clouds finally brought us out to the clear skies where the sun was shining down on the three of us. I placed Spitfire down and we both took off the armor unsummoning it. There was no sign of the corruption or darkness spreading through the open air anymore but the clouds were still thick and covering most of the world. There were open pockets over both the Ginso Tree and the Spirit Tree.

Over on a small pedestal of rock and autumn colored leaves was floating a large crystal. Ori stepped over to it waiting for the two of us to follow. Spitfire seemed hesitant or something to that effect since she never looked away from the horizon of rolling clouds and trees poking through the cover.

With a few tentative steps the crystal broke when I got close enough though Spitfire still hadn't deemed it important enough to join us.

“The Sunstone, that makes sense. Kuro could not handle this level of sunlight so it remained safe. Even the heartless have left this place untouched. This shall help you enter Mount Horu.”

“I see you've finally joined us Sein.”

“I have been… preoccupied dealing with some matters in mind. There are regrets… even spirits like I can feel them too. Never is there a chance for second meetings only less partings if I am lucky. I am not sure if there were no better options at the time but I regret the outcome. I do not wish to make excuses but every word I seem to think of sounds like it to me.”

“I cast no judgement. Regrets… well, regrets have a way of muddling a path you may want to take… or stop you from performing something unforgivable.”

Sein didn't answer and once again faded back into Ori. Taking the Sunstone in paw he stored it away with his light and began leading the way back down. I didn't move though. My gaze had focused on one of my lovers, I suppose is the right term at this point, and I couldn't leave just yet.

“Ori can you secure the path down? I doubt anything would appear but I need to handle something.”

Ori cautiously stared at Spitfire but she hadn't deigned to look at either of us. With a slow thumbs up he jumped through the wind tunnel and used his feather sparingly to reach the floor we left. Thankfully none of the heartless had respawned on the way down. I trotted over to Spitfire who was still staring out at the horizon and sat my flank down.

“You know… as a Wonderbolt I've traveled the entirety of Equestria. I've seen the zebra lands, fought over the badlands, even visited a forbidden jungle. I've seen wondrous things thanks to my training and my drive to be the best leader I could be. You know what’s sad though?” Spitfire quietly intoned before turned into a harsh sigh.

“What is it?”

“Even for all I've ever done for Equestria as a Wonderbolt it pales in comparison to what I'm doing now. This sight right here of the open skies untamed by any pony ever with a sun that doesn't move because of a princess and over a world far removed from our own makes me question a lot of things.” Spitfire complained slightly not really revealing what it was that truly was bothering her from my perspective.

“And what is the question then? Stop dancing around the problem.”

“Gray… what is the point of me being a Wonderbolt when being a keyblade wielder actually gives me me the chance to do more for others? I've been looking back on most of my missions and while successful nothing really changed. We saved some places in Equestria from wild weather but when I look out at this world I see that even with wild weather the planet continues to thrive. We stopped some bandits in lesser places but they would get away at the last minute, digging through the ground and disappearing. We stopped the heartless from devouring the Lost Empire and made visible progress in keeping it safe.” Spitfire almost started to tear up stopping due to her own stubbornness.

“You're becoming disillusioned with it because of all we've done?”

“I think so. I still feel pride in being the captain of the Wonderbolts but I'm not seeing a big contribution we've made in the past five years. Even our retired cadets who joined the royal guard were effortlessly tossed aside when Nightmare Moon attacked. We're famous for our derbies and stunt shows but that's about it. How do I continue being excited about it when I have to compare it to fighting in an inactive volcano while monsters fly around me or working my way through cavernous areas surrounded by thorns and monsters at every turn? How do I keep thinking it relevant when I have seen that my own cadets are sometimes grandstanders or incredibly arrogant enough to think themselves above other ponies?” Spitfire openly sobbed as I wrapped my hoof around her shoulder pulling her in close.

“I take it that something else triggered this line of thought?”

“Soarin.” Spitfire croaked out.

I didn't expect to hear her ex’s name this soon. Vinyl had told me he was caught with a younger mare though she wasn't sure that it was entirely his fault. I actually froze up before I could say whatever I was thinking of. I forced it out though.

“I see. He must have done something big to get you in this mood from what I've seen of you so far.”

“It was the third time I found him in another mare’s hooves. I forgave him the first two times but this was the last straw. I also work with him… so that will be awkward when we go home and he gets better.” Spitfire growled out snarling as her words finished.

“I'm surprised you forgave him the first time.”

“The first time I was certain was just a mistake. The second time was coincidence, at least, at first. I found out from an old friend of mine that that particular one had gone on for weeks. He promised he ended it but I could never trust him again.” Spitfire spoke as if in a trance.

“Like I said… surprised with how forgiving you were.”

“I shouldn't be crying over this. It's a stupid thing to feel sad about since I've managed to move on but… it still hurts.” Spitfire sniffed as she burning her head on my shoulder while tears streamed down onto my wings.

“Well… I'm glad you told me but you shouldn't bottle it up like this. I get it sucked so much you want to bury it but you have to go through with it and let it out. Boxing it up is just gonna ruin everything else you've built up in your life. You got a lot of us on your side now and we'll help you through it.”

Spitfire looked at me, a thoughtful stare as if she was looking at me for the first time. I didn't know if it was going to be good or not but she seemed contemplative about things.

“Vinyl’s right. You are kind of a dork. Still maybe that's why you seem like a good pick even in this herd structure.” She giggled slightly causing me to roll my eyes in exasperation.

“Fine fine. Look… we'll sit down more later to figure out what will keep the Wonderbolts interesting to you in Equestria. Just remember that I've come to l- enjoy having all of you with me and happy with your choices.”

“Sure you don't mean love there Nebby.” Spitfire gave me a playful wink as she used her tail to flick my nose.

When she did my wing shot out and gave her flank a very rough caress managing to hit a few more sensitive places causing her to squeak in aroused confusion.

“That… was for teasing me the entire time we were down there.”

She confidently smirked as she jumped on top of me sending me on my back. I was forced into a battle of wills at this point and with the tomahawk as my weapon I managed to flip her on her back pinning her down with my front hooves on her front hooves and my back hooves between her back hooves so she couldn't kick out.

“Forgot that you had more strength with that weapon equipped.” Spitfire nervously chuckled.

“Yeah… I'll admit that I really, really want to give you some punishment for the teasing with some teasing of my own right now but I'd rather we be home for this. Besides while your body might want it your heart doesn't seem in it, at least, not right now.”

“Yeah… would be exciting though.” Spitfire reluctantly agreed.

“When we get home then. Still we should equip our armors already and you should hold on. We gotta go back the way we came.”

With a quiet smirk our armors returned and her hooves found a comfortable spot to latch on to me. With a little tilt of her head we jumped back down to where Ori waited and made certain that we went back to camp, together.

Shadow Worm
A small manifestation of the heartless that dwells on cliffsides and targets prey with their internal organic looking maching gun. Covered in a viscous dark slime it is very difficult to hit the solid portions of their bodies but a fast enough speed can bypass their defenses.

54. Forest of Nibel: Confront

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We flew in back to camp about an hour before the sun reached what I was certain was a two o’clock position. Spitfire was calmer at this point and luckily hadn’t been teasing me during our flight back. Ori had clung to my back after we left the top of Sorrow’s Pass since we needed to get back quickly with the Sunstone in tow. As we landed everypony was still inside the small impromptu shelter.

“Everypony! We’re back!” Spitfire called out to the sound of thundering hooves as the other five immediately rushed out to meet with us.

“You ok? You seem a bit jumpy.”

“Gray there’s been a problem. Kuro stopped attacking. She just immediately stopped trying to find us and stopped flying around.” Octavia warned.

“It’s my turn but I’m a bit worried about these turns of event.” Redheart mentioned as she sealed up her saddlebags.

“It’s a bit unsettling but we’ll be fine. We just keep our wits about us and we can get through it. Though… I think since this is the last one we need to be prepared. Octavia, I’m gonna need the rest of you to get ready to move in case anything does happen.”

“Yes, of course. All of us have… managed through what we’ve heard and are ready to keep moving.” Octavia assured me.

“We’re gonna talk about it when we’re safer. Let’s save this world first then we’ll be good.”

“If you say so Gray. We'll make our way near the Mount Horu to make certain to keep close in case something happens.” Octavia announced to the others.

“Right then. Redheart we'll be going ahead then to get your own training ready.”

“Okay!” Redheart cheerfully cried out before jumping on my back causing me to falter onto the ground flat on my belly. “Aww… you were supposed to keep going…”

“Okay… still tired then. Give me a second and we'll head out.”

Redheart got off my back and came up to my face looking deeply into my eyes. She looked very stern as she stared into my tired looking eyes. It was almost exactly as it was during my time as an officer. The late night stakeouts had taken their toll on my sleep schedule. Even here on another planet I would only get a modicum of sleep while I watched the area for any heartless or Kuro coming out of nowhere to attack us. She looked very concerned about my eyes. I tried to convey pleading behind my gaze that I was fine. Her gaze was made of sterner stuff.

“You need a nap before we go. Even a short one will be fine.” Redheart demanded in a quiet tone.

It started to get obvious that I started to feel weight behind me as Vinyl and Sunshower flanked my left and right sides bearing down on me. Octavia and Fresh Coat joined afterwards squeezing me in between the four. Spitfire joined aftwards flapping above my head and Ori jumped on Redheart’s back to look at me as well. I sighed in exasperation.

“I'll take the nap.”

My grumbling was drowned out by the cheers of very happy mares and before I could voice any concerns Spitfire picked me up and dragged me into our little makeshift tent forcing me into the makeshift bed. Reluctantly I closed my eyes and felt somepony instantly cling to me. Redheart had wiggled her way into my hooves. Then there was another thump and another. My chin rested atop of Redheart’s head as I felt several hooves wrap around parts of me.

“I take it everypony actually needed hugs then?”

There were sheepish agreements and one gruff muttering from our Wonderbolts captain. Ori was even in the pile giving me a thumbs up as well then curling near the top of my head.

I was actually really tired. Fatigue had been building up since we landed and I was finally being forced to go with it. A nap wouldn't hurt… it just wouldn't always help with how I slept like.

“When I wake up we're heading out.”

“Sure sure Nebby. Just get some sleep.” Vinyl called out to the chuckles of the others and my own groan. I closed my eyes and everyone cuddled closer. Throughout that all one particular thought was going through my head.

‘It's hot…’

It took me three hours to get back up. Everypony was still tired and it occurred to me why. They still had dried tear tracks from finding out what happened to Kuro's children. Spitfire, from what I could tell, was the exception. She merely looked annoyed instead. There wasn't much I could do to actually appease them all but keep close. The balancing act of their worldview was certainly earth shattering and it was probably better that I sympathize with them. Living on Earth made for certain world views slowly changing to a gray versus grey morality scale.

There were no such thing as a villain. Everyone was the hero of their own story and everyone was responsible for their actions. I had lived it when I became a cop. I experienced it when my mentor was shot in the head with his own gun by our superior. I wanted to gut it the moment my niece had been poisoned by my neighbor but she escaped into death. I found myself squeezing Redheart a bit too much which broke me from my stupor as she squeezed back holding tightly onto me.

“I've been patient enough…” Redheart mumbled in a sleepy drawl as she snuggled her head into me.

One by one, as I stirred awake, everypony got up and shook themselves off. Redheart also managed to get unclung from my body and replaced her saddlebags back on her back. I did the same and instantly scooped her up on my back. I was wide awake at this point and surprisingly feeling much better than I had hours ago. The sun was also still pretty high in the sky meaning we had plenty of time to handle our tasks.

“Octavia can you get things ready here. We're gonna head out and deal with this last Element.”

“Yes, of course Gray.” Octavia came close while the others were trying to rouse Spitfire and Vinyl from their rest. “Be careful out there. Kuro was especially loud the moment you finally fell asleep. She didn't come me here but it was touch and go for a bit.”

“Got it.”

“We'll be back soon Octavia. As a trained nurse I'll make sure we're staying healthy the entire way. Besides it's finally my turn.” Redheart cheerfully answered though her eyes did hold worry.

With a quick nod I flapped my wings and flew off just as both Ori and Redheart jumped on my back. It was time to head off for Mount Horu.

It had taken us a few minutes to find the right path and the constant stream of powerwilds had been a little off putting. It wasn't out of hating them though. It had become routine and unless bladewilds were added to the mix it would end with the heartless being routed in a few minutes.

Luckily, the area seemed to be getting hotter every couple of seconds. That was when we came to the real problem of Mount Horu.

“It's all lava…!” Redheart cried out realizing that the swirling red liquid below us was very much active.

“I guess this is why it's so dangerous. We have magic to regulate ourselves around lava right?”

“Well yeah… it's been a constant ideal that our personal magic allows us not to feel the effects of intense heat of lava to not melt us within a few feet of it. We've seen the effect on chickens before, at least in medical texts. Everypony has that field but pegasus can handle the brunt of it better due to their internal wind magic. This allows us to deal with dragons on their own playing field… or at least that’s what most books tell us.” Redheart informed me in more detail.

“So… we’ll be fine overall?”

Ori immediately started to glow enveloping us in his aura as well. The Light dug its way around the two of us as the heat stopped affecting us. I blinked a bit wondering if my life was controlled by convenience but at the same time we were protected so I told my mind to shut up and continue on into the depths of the volcano…

“Gray… this seems really dangerous…” Redheart grimaced as I pulled her onto my back.

“Yeah… such is the life of a keyblade wielder. Did you not want to go?”

“No… I want to go. I’m just scared… plus I’ve waited long enough for my chance to see how far I’ve come. I will always be a nurse but I’m certain that I’ve gotten stronger throughout my time being with you and everything we’ve done together.” Redheart proudly beamed as she seemed to recall everything we’ve been through and the heartless we fought.

“I don’t doubt that. You watch my back, I’ll watch yours.”

She smiled a bit more as I flew us near the opening of the volcano. Sein floated up and seemed to convulse for some reason. Neither of us wanted to speak to him at first. I didn’t because I didn’t always have something to say. Redheart was impassively staring at the light but the loss of life still seemed to be wearing down on her heart by the lack of warmth in her eyes.

“This may be the end of the line… this world is dying and Kuro is still nowhere to be seen. We must be cautious within these tombs due to all the magma that had more than likely made its home here.”

We both nodded and Ori even gave a small thumbs up. With a quiet sigh we all entered the opening of the volcano and found ourselves in a large chamber of multiple passages. Below us was a large lake of magma bubbling over the entire expanse. There were times I truly wished that there were easier ways to get through a world but… I had tried my wings within the first few seconds and found that the air current within made it extremely difficult to do more than glide around. I would have to rely on updrafts to carry me up and alone left me hurtling too fast through the air to enable control. With Redheart on my back though I was able to have enough weight to illicit control over my flight.

Before we could fully figure out what to do several Red Nocturnes and Fiery Globes seemed to swarm all around us. There continued assault of fire spells forced me to carry Redheart on my back and employ the tried and true method of having whomever on my back act like a magic turret. It got more difficult as more fire enemies suddenly appeared as we looked for anything to shift the tides of magma around us. One looked like the Crescendo enemy yet it breathed out fire regularly. I think they were called Flare Notes if the words in the Lexicon were anything to go by. The other resembled a Creeper Plant but the Lexicon called them Fire Plants… it was a very apt name for them. A little on the nose if it could be pointed out.

All throughout the fights we were being herded in certain directions. They would bunch up whenever we climbed up to higher levels in the caldera. I finally had to force it as I summoned the shield up.

“Hold on.”

Redheart gripped tightly as the shield immediately summoned several sharp shards of ice against the face. I flew straight up piercing through several of the heartless hordes in our way when we reached the first upper paths I flung the shield back letting the ice shards fling off for any stragglers. Ori had used his feather to catch the updrafts and grab the heartless in his latent telekinesis. Using that momentum he managed to smack the heartless into each other. That caused more problems since they all used fire which healed them whenever they were struck by the random projectiles.

Funnily enough, Ori’s fireballs didn’t heal the fire element enemies. They acted like pure light and managed to tear through the heartless easily enough. With the enemies avoided at the very least we made it into the first cavern. There were several lasers being fired off intermittently and several pools of magma lying about made it very… nerve wracking.

“Any ideas Red?”

“Over there… There are loose rocks up there. Maybe if we hit them hard enough we could block the flow of lava for a while.” Redheart pointed over to a distance rock past all the lava.

“How do we get over there…”

Before I could fully think about it a fireball smacked me in the chest burning a portion of my body. Redheart immediately cast a cure spell as I focused on the opening. Several Red Nocturnes and Fiery Globes had immediately caught up and were firing a torrent on fire at either of us. Ori had decided enough was enough as he jumped over into the lava and used the feather to catch the updrafts leading to the precariously hanging boulder.

Seeing what Ori was attempting I immediately took my stance and whipped the shield out again firing off ice shards towards the heartless. I kept it to the bare minimum while Redheart fired off several thunder spells to catch as many as she could in the area.

The reason I had opted to use the shield at the bare minimum was due in small part to the dangers that that kind of temperature shift could have on the natural caldera. A sudden shift would cause the rock walls to break and release a deluge of magma which could start a chain reaction and the eventual eruption of Mount Horu. Luckily, Ori made it to the rock wall and with a steady charged light he exploded causing the rock to block one of the lava flows. With careful precision he managed to return to us safely.

“We’re gonna have to find more rooms like that aren’t we?” Redheart grumbled slightly as I nodded sighing in exasperation as the heartless kept up their barrage.

I immediately fired off several blizzard spells to disperse the heartless a bit. Redheart jumped to my back as did Ori signaling me to take off. I burst out of there like a bat out of hell. Then I mentally chastised myself for thinking up that stupid visual pun since I was a bat winged pony. Redheart gripped tightly keeping her keyblade clenched between her teeth as she fired off several blizzard spells alongside the light fireballs that Ori shot out.

It had been touch and go for several minutes as we entered different passages looking for the lava flows that we needed to plug up for some reason. Honestly, I was going off video game logic in some small part of my inner child. It wasn't extensive but I could figure out that sealing the flow of lava off was instrumental in progress.

Redheart had proven herself keen at spotting the hanging boulders we needed to drop picking them out from the intense radiating heat that permeated the entirety of the volcano. Regardless of the magic that flowed through our bodies and the light that shielded us given by Ori it was still swelteringly hot. I cast a few blizzard spells above us from time to time whenever we managed to get rid of the heartless chasing us. Those were short breaks we got and the need to don our armor kept growing.

“Gray I think this is the sixth one!” Redheart cried out over the constant barrage of fire that the heartless kept shooting at us. They were extremely tenacious at this point.

“Hopefully that's the last one… the keyhole must be getting close by now.”

Ori finally came back after deftly dodging the rising lava that somehow functioned in the room. He gave another thumbs up which Redheart managed to pick up on easily enough at this point for a job well done. There had been so many problems of racing along heated surfaces and several lasers that seemed to pepper the area. I was getting so damn tired of lasers at this point and I still hadn't even unlocked every single weapon I had.

Before I could gripe any longer about the heat once again the entire volcano started to rumble. Being out in the main chamber where the door was was an anxiety nightmare since I couldn't outfly a volcano eruption. Redheart gripped me tightly thinking it the end only to look surprised when the lake of magma that was below us started to recede. A strange band of light began to cover the surfaces where the magma touched and solidified it to better fit in with the caldera. I was glad for magic at this point and at the same time completely confused at how this happened.

“So we have to go down… “ Redheart gulped as she looked over the edge. Ori did much the same and copied her though I suspected that he knew what it meant.

“Yeah. Wait… where are the heartless?”

At those words the three of us had looked around for any enemy. Strangely enough after the eruption started the heartless all left back for the realm of darkness, I guessed. There were no more Red Nocturnes or Fire Plants shooting fire balls at us. The Flare Notes and Fiery Globes weren't racing to give us hugs and third degree burns anymore. Though had we not had cure spells I'm certain that we would have had them. The heartless were gone…

“Well… looks like they are waiting for us.”

“Yeah… it's kind of obvious. They are like wild animals that don't feel fear. Think they are down there?” Redheart patted her arms one at a time before taking on a determined look.

I nodded and got ready to glide down with Redheart and Ori secure on my back. The updrafts had lessened to the point I could flap my wings enough not to send me off course. There was still some wobble to my flight since Ori was constantly switching sides, something he picked up throughout the entire adventure whenever he flew on my back. He knew to always keep strict vigilance for flying heartless. As we flew lower we finally came upon another passage which seemed to hold another precariously hanging boulder.

Ori flew off for it with the feather leaving the two of us behind to wait. The heartless still hadn't intervened.

“Gray?” Redheart whispered into my ear.

“Yeah?”

“I'm glad I waited for my chance.” Redheart answered confusing me greatly.

“Really? What brought this on?”

“Noticing the others. They seemed accomplished after coming back from their training session, even happier in some cases. Vinyl is still cursing Kuro though for nearly knocking you unconscious when you fell from the waterfall.” Redheart chuckled at the thought.

“Yeah… that one was fun. Though I do feel sorry for her in a sense.”

“Yeah… is there nothing that we can do to help her? Merlin maybe?” Redheart inquired and the pleading look got me thinking.

“Unfortunately, for however strong Yen Sid and Merlin are, I'm certain that they can't raise the dead. I've asked already. You can't bring back the dead… at least, not the way you want them as. It came up once and there were too many repercussions. Wasn't even a morality question either.”

“So there is no cure all for everything, huh?” Redheart muttered though it wasn't a saddened tone.

“You don't sound all torn up.”

“I know… it's just… I always had a feeling that there wasn't some end-all cure-all that some ponies think exist out there. Magic is still used heavily and outside of the princesses there are no immortal ponies. This just cements that notion that there isn't a way to stop the end. It makes a lot of the times that I had to deliver bad news almost seem… justified, I guess, would be the best word.” Redheart nearly choked up and I could feel her tears splash on my neck… before evaporating from the heat.

“You've done a lot as a nurse, haven't you? I always hated that part of my job. When I was the youngest associate they made me deliver bad news once or twice. I… well I never really thought of it that way.”

“Yeah… it never leaves your mind, does it?” Redheart questioned as she wiped her eyes carefully.

“No. It never really does.”

Ori came back just as the rock hit ground and block the flow of lava. Redheart composed herself but Ori still picked up on her feelings lightly patting her on the shoulder. Redheart nodded in understanding and my own worries were calmed enough not to overreact.

There were points I felt I was trying too hard and that needed to stop. Redheart and the others were grown mates and could handle things on their own. I needed to take a page out of my father’s handbook and just keep a gentle but firm grip on things. No need to be overbearing or overprotective about them. I needed to trust that they could handle whatever happened in their world now.

With a heavy heart I kept quiet and waited till the next set of rumbling settled once again. Both my passengers looked around for whatever happened but it didn't seem obvious. We left the passage back to the main chamber only to notice a portion of the floor give way and drained of magma. The light once again managed to cool off the walls enough for us to trot along the ground. Slowly we made our way through the winding passage in the ground.

It had been a long journey and this was the final element we needed to restore. The heartless had for the most part disappeared since we lowered the lava… that filled me with more worry because of how out of character that seemed for the heartless. The only ones that ever remained passive were the White Mushrooms and Rare Truffles.

I slowly trotted down the passage that had been unblocked leaving us within the crater of the volcano where the large Element of Warmth was resting. The heartless were still nowhere to be found. Redheart was slightly worried as she summoned her armor on with me following suit. Ori remained slinking between our legs keeping his stance close to the ground. I couldn’t blame him in the least at this point. Our goal was right in front of us and there wasn’t anything else stopping us.

Octavia had led everypony to the area they needed to be at before Gray, Redheart and Ori had reached the element. The constant rumbling wasn’t something that they wanted to deal with on a daily basis. Each of the ponies had made it onto one of the plateaus that faced a place only known as Swallow’s Nest. For some reason Gumo had been climbing up that particular cliff face with an orb of light. There were a few curious looks but the group decided against it keeping on task as they set up a small camp.

Kuro was flying close to the lip of the volcano battering heartless with her talons steamrolling through them with her body. The ones who got too close were flung by the wind pressure and incinerated by the lava. That was when the fire elemental heartless burst out to strike at Kuro. With a burst of her wings she sent the flames away from her and over the mountain leaving it a burning landscape. The heartless were healed… up until Kuro used her talons to shred them to pieces. With a burst of lightning every mare released a maelstrom of lightning bolts raining down on the heartless that were still left.

Kuro stared at them before flying off for the rim of the volcano. Octavia frowned but nodded at what happened.and ushered everypony off elsewhere. It was time to get ready for any consequences that would come from Mount Horu.

Before they could leave… Gumo came walking out of the forest with a very large ape like creature following behind him.

“Sunshower, Spitfire, Can you go see if they need any help?” Octavia murmured off towards the others.

With a quick nod the two flew off for the nest ready to help out should they be needed.

Ori stood before the element and with a quick burst of light started pumping in the light to reawaken it. I remained at his side watching out at the sky in case any flying heartless popped out. Redheart kept an eye on the tunnel below us. Still no heartless popped out at all. It was unsettling and I really wanted to make certain that this wasn’t a trap.

The element immediately work up… just as Kuro flew into the picture slamming her talons on the Element of Warmth. She glared balefully down at the three of us. She would not let us win.

55. Forest of Nibel: Redemption

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There we were - Redheart, Ori and I - staring down Kuro and the wrath she felt in her eyes. Her talons clenched the Element of Warmth causing the entire crater to pulse with energy. I didn’t really enjoy the pressure of her gaze on all three of us. Even though only seconds passed while she watched us I immediately flew into action, figuratively only though.

I gripped Redheart on my back and rushed over the lake of lava that was rising with Ori following close behind me. Kuro took one swift flap and dove towards us forcing us through a small tunnel. The rocks behind us broke and closed off anymore chance for Kuro to catch us like that… unfortunately, it didn’t matter. The entire volcano started to rumble shaking the entire planet causing me to actually panic… only slightly.

“Ori… run. Run now!”

Ori immediately understood as the shaking started to get worse causing several rocks to fall into the pools of lava and magma. Taking the chance with Redheart on my back I jumped to the rock with Ori and continued on the path avoiding the falling rocks that kept raining down on us.

“Gray! Kuro is closing in!” Redheart screamed as I heard the distinct flapping of the giant owl.

I picked up my pace as the platforms started to sink into the magma. Though Ori needed to break some of the paths. The first nearly got us killed as Kuro landed attempting to crush us under the weight of the debris before taking off for the sky once again. Redheart gripped tighter making certain not to take her eyes off the skies. Kuro was persistent enough to do whatever it took to kill us at this point.

As we landed I noticed that the next passage was too high up and several Red Nocturnes finally showed up. I gripped Ori in my teeth and tossed him on my back with Redheart. A fierce sweep of my wings let us take off as I pulled out the tomahawk weapon while Ori and Redheart had their skills ready, Redheart with the keyblade, and Ori with his light. The heartless took no chances and began to focus their fire though they aimed for where I was more often than not. The hectic flight left us nearly paralyzed as Kuro came into sight. With a quick flick of my hoof I tossed the tomahawk at a low angle using the fact that it is still the form of the keyblade transformed to my advantage. While the weapon was the same as the original Nobodies that still retained their bodies, the weapon still kept the properties of the keyblade. That meant strike raid skills still remained viable.

The tomahawk flew true smashing into Kuro’s stomach and knocking her off course and smashing into the cliff walls. Redheart kept a steady stream of blizzard spells keeping the Red Nocturnes off our backs as I rushed into the small rocky copse. Kuro recovered enough to slam into the cliff wall causing more rocks to fall upon us. Ori took the chance to smash another floor while I slowly flew down the hole… which turned out to be bigger than I thought it was.

Ori managed to cling to the wall and used another of his abilities to smash another wall opening another passage for us to get through. On the other side were a couple new heartless known as Crimson Jazz hovering around and firing off several flame mines in the air. The sudden shift forced Redheart to use her reflect spell as they followed after us. Ori took his chance to grab onto the mines sending them flying back at the Crimson Jazz heartless. The fire from the mines only healed them back up. As I flew straight up I noticed Kuro diving straight down.

Ori gripped onto me in a state of pure fear as I flung the three of us into the closest place to hide. The tree branch that Kuro hit fell past us knocking the Crimson Jazz heartless back into the ground dispersing them on impact while the flames started to lick the mouth of the cave we entered. Taking a deep breath even through the constant smoke I checked on Redheart and Ori before moving forward. Redheart was keeping her muzzle against my neck to keep from breathing in the ash. I coughed slightly but I needed to keep moving.

With a quick jump Ori and I raced through the next couple of platforms as Kuro soared across the horizon. The flames kept racing along the landscape making certain to keep ahead of us. I notched my tomahawk out once again just as she got close knocking her talons off course as they scratched the stone in front of us. Ori had to screech to a halt while Redheart fired up a reflect spell keeping the shards that did get gouged out from slowing us down. Kuro flew straight back up at incredible speeds keeping us on the move… towards a small ravine of water.

“Damn it all!”

“What!?” Redheart cried out as she looked over my shoulder. “Oh… horseapples…”

“Red… hold your breath. We need to move.”

Red took a deep breath as did I while Ori followed me into the water. Kuro had gained enough momentum ratcheting it up into divebomb speeds just as we hit the water. It was difficult to actually move through the water since I was a pony at this point. Luckily, with webbed wings I forced them to propel me in the direction I needed to go. As we passed through the underwater tunnel Kuro smacked the wall slamming into it with all her weight knocking a rock from above us.

The two of us barely managed to get through the tunnel and back above the surface. I coughed up some of the water… as did Ori. I forced myself back onto dry land shaking off slightly to get the water off of Red and I. Red spat up the excess water she accidentally inhaled in the panic over my back.

“Sorry… koff… I panicked… koff…” Redheart struggled to say as her ears perked up.

Kuro immediately soared down upon us forcing me to adjust to the shield creating a small pillar of ice that immediately touched the flames. The resultant mist allowed us to dodge with Ori and Red still secured to my back. Lifting my wings I rode the sudden air currents up while Kuro flapped her wings once dispersing the mist away. Her baleful gaze once again tracked us as I got us into another small hole in the wall. She flew back up above the clouds again soaring at greater speeds while we took a small breather in our safe spot.

“She really doesn’t want us to live…” Redheart muttered as she looked out at the clouds once more. She barely reeled in her head just as Kuro dove right across the hole gouging out the rock wall in order to get us once again.

“If we restore the light, we save the planet. But if the light does the same thing again then her last child might die. We don’t have much chance to change things… maybe.”

“We have to try! We must… I don’t want to let her or her child die.” Redheart gasped out trying to keep her breath level as the smoke started to get worse. I used my wings to clear a portion out while Kuro made another pass.

“Good answer… now we just gotta try something to make it true. We gotta get out of here first the flames are getting worse.”

Redheart clung tighter to my back as did Ori when Kuro made another pass making the hole wide enough to get her talon inside it. I exploded out of there as quickly as I could using the wind to propel myself faster up. I nearly missed the turn as I touched down and raced along the ground. The sudden rush of flames got worse and my own panic led me to toss both Red and Ori forward catching them as a large explosion blew me forward. I quickly twisted my body as we fell down into the now burning forest.

The charred branches and smoldering embers burnt my back as we fell into the inferno before us. Before I lost consciousness Red raised her keyblade up and started up a cure spell.

Octavia and the rest of the mares managed to get to their designated spot. It had taken several minutes after leaving Gumo behind and the strange ape close to Mount Horu. Surprisingly both Spitfire and Sunshower managed to air lift her over there within seconds and Gumo’s parkour skills managed to let him keep pace.

“So… this is where it happened…?” Fresh Coat frowned as she saw the solitary egg resting in the empty nest.

“Yes…” Sunshower answered clearly uncomfortable at the sight.

“What did Nebby want us to do anyways?” Vinyl looked out as the raging fires from the volcano got worse.

“Vinyl, he wanted us to protect this egg should anything happen. Don’t you remember? We talked about it before they left.” Octavia answered resolutely as she placed her training keyblade down and several beads of light covered the opening to the nest. “Uh…”

“Was that you?” Spitfire asked as her own keyblade did the same thing. “Uh…”

“Ok then… light is keeping things safe then. Gotcha.” Vinyl answered as the light drifted off her keyblade as well creating a stronger barrier.

“What else do keyblades do at this point?” Sunshower pondered at that moment.

“Let's just take advantage of it for now. We can think about it later when there is less fire.” Fresh Coat yelled as several Red Nocturnes came up to the barrier blasting away at it with their fire.

“They're persistent aren't they?” Spitfire muttered as she flew out of the barrier and attacked the floating sentries the heartless decided to send their way. Sunshower followed suit making certain that the heartless stayed as far from the barrier as possible. Luckily, the barrier allowed them back through without letting the heartless follow giving Fresh Coat and Octavia the chance to heal everypony. Vinyl kept her magic back and remained as the last guardian for the egg.

“Hopefully, they get the light back on the tree.” Vinyl muttered as the flames started to reach across more of Nibel by the second.

‘Ow… ow… ow… Why do I smell burning?’ My mind desperately tried to catch up as I forced my eyes open. Redheart stood close by with Ori using blizzard to keep the flames around us tamer. I forced myself up with a cough and used cure on the three of us. It would cause me to need to wait for my magic to recharge but I needed to stop feeling the pain on my wings.

When I finally looked at them I could only see lingering burn marks which cure was slowly fixing. It would take a few instances just to fix them up but it was better than moving into the unknown injured.

“Gray! You’re okay!” Redheart cried as she hugged me.

“Ow… “

“Oops… umm, sorry about that. Overexcited and all that. Here give me a second…” Redheart cringed as she cast another cure spell on me. Funnily enough, her cure spells were always much stronger healing each of us for more. It was probably a side effect of magic amplifying her need to heal others but that was mere speculation on my part.

“It’s fine… thanks. I think I’m gonna need to fly us over to the tree. Problem is, is that Kuro is still looking for us. I doubt we managed to make her think that we are dead.”

Ori nodded looking genuinely still in one piece and Redheart grimaced but determination flashed on her face. She knew we needed to stop the flames from continuing. Though from earlier interactions with the clouds here I knew that even if we moved the clouds - Spitfire, Sunshower and I - they wouldn’t obey any of our pegasi magic. Different world, different rules I mentally guessed.

I had to experimentally flap my wings a few times noting that the burn tissue and scarring finally subsided as the cure spells did their job. So long as we healed right away the magic seemed to keep any scars or blemishes from overwhelming our bodies. With a quick jaunt we found ourselves out near a cliff overlooking the spirit tree. Ori was about to jump off with his feather before I pulled him back. I didn’t know why but I felt as though something was waiting for us to make a mistake. The heartless hadn’t attacked us either meaning that… Octavia and the others gathered their attention.

The plan wasn't overly complicated but there were still points of contention that I was still mulling over. The egg would be safe regardless of the fires but we also needed it to be a distraction. It was something that would confuse Kuro, maybe even break her out of her rage. It was a minuscule chance but stranger things have happened.

I was about to carry everyone over to the tree when a triangle button appeared in my head. I thought hard about it as Kuro came hurtling down at the three of us. She tried to grasp Ori, in particular, with her talons which I used my keyblade to hold against as I skidded across the ground leaving a fissure where my hoof was at. It hurt… it hurt so badly that it felt that my leg would have broke had Redheart not thrown her keyblade into Kuro's face.

Slightly stunned, Kuro reared back screeching in fury while we took up our fighting stances. A barrier had appeared around us trapping us in a small arena. We were forced to fight.

It was a raging inferno wherever she went. As she lumbered around desperately looking for Ori she could still remember the last moments of her life. The slow ebbing away as her hunger got worse and worse. It had all been for Ori and she didn't regret anything. Now was the time for action as she went looking for her child.

A nearby branch fell down making her flinch and back away from the bristling flares of heat and ash tried to lick at her body. As she moved through the flames compelled by instinct to find Ori she noticed a small area where ice was barely melting within the flames. One of the strangest sights she had seen but in her heart she could feel something off about it. It filled her with hope and she followed the path it left in that hope that it would lead Naru to her child.

Kuro immediately flew up using the aerial superiority she possessed to keep out of the barrier around us as she dive bombed against us raking her talons through the stone. Only good dodging kept her from slicing us to ribbons.

Redheart countered first using several thunder spells in succession. They barely managed to stun Kuro but it was enough to drive her away. I watched as Kuro flew out of range of our spells and began flapping her wings whipping the wind into a frenzy. I pulled out the scythe and slammed the blade into the ground where it sank almost too easily into the stone. Redheart managed to grab onto me while Ori hung for his life off of her tail. Eventually the wind did stop…

Kuro dove fast enough to grab me in her talons missing Ori by a few inches. She squeezed me tightly but I had switched over to the tomahawk and used the strength boost it gave me to keep the talons further apart. She was slowly wrenching her grip tighter but my dogged insistence on not being crushed left her prey to Redheart flinging her keyblade back into Kuro's eyes. I was tossed against the barrier where I heard a startled gasp in a strange language.

Beyond the barrier was a large ape like creature with a blank like face. She was very large and seemed to be looking intently not at me but at Ori. I had to follow her line of sight several times just to figure that out since I was sore from being tossed against the barrier. I struggled to get up as Redheart managed to always keep one step ahead of Kuro due in no small part because of Ori acting like bait. Shrugging off the ache in my shoulder and the shortness of breath from the continued smoke inhalation I galloped back into the fray using the Element of surprise to strike Kuro in the stomach with the tomahawk causing her to bend over in pain.

She managed to power through but she couldn't flap her wings anymore. Ori climbed onto her back and behind her letting me summon my shield. I charged it up and shot out a pillar of ice below her trapping her within an icy tomb. She remained stationary though afterwards. The craning of her neck and the sheer exhaustion on her beak made it very clear that she was done. The constant attack throughout the forest and the sheer number of hits by the tomahawk had finally worn her out.

The forest was still in flames and Ori was exhausted as he laid on the ground attempting to figure out if his legs could even work anymore. I looked at him feign exhaustion though the small beads of sweat that rolled down his forehead were obviously not staged. The barrier disappeared and the large ape immediately came running towards us. Redheart took a defensive stance but a wayward hoof of mine caused her to relax.

The large ape gently picked Ori up slowly cradling him in her arms right in front of Kuro. Kuro broke the ice and stared at the two… comprehension painted across her beak. I noted that the fiery look in her eyes finally smoldered and faded away. She bowed her head and just stared at the two, the large ape seeming ready to do what she must to protect Ori. I took a few steps forward as well with Redheart reluctantly doing so also. Kuro looked at us as well and with a great shuddered hoot stopped looked so enraged.

The flames had reached near the Misty Forest and the crackling and tearing of wood reawaken Kuro's attention. Her nest was too close with a quick flick of her talon she grabbed Sein and started flying for the Spirit Tree.

“Red!”

“Gotcha!” Redheart cried out as she hopped on my back and I took off after Kuro.

She was headed for the tree and if the light that had fried her babies was from such a long distance… then at point blank range it would incinerate Kuro. She landed first and shoved the light into place just as we touched down on her head. She didn't try to shake us off but the intense light was starting to burn me. Redheart appeared no worse for wear and pulled out her keyblade.

I pulled out my shield and we both started to chain cast reflect over and over as the light shot out over the entirety of the forest. The skies thundered and the grounds shook as the light permeated everywhere on the planet. I kept holding on while Redheart took point using her magic more effectively.

I was still a creature of darkness. That was what my body felt like though I had a strong core of light inside. This sensation rippled through my body burning me every time reflect wore off. Add to the fact I was also helping cover Kuro and the constant barrage of light was starting to get overwhelming.

“No you don't!” Redheart cried out as her keyblade started shifting. What was once a training blade soon twisted into new form.

The keyblade turned a clear eggshell white adorned with several etchings in the metal of angelic wings. The key part of the blade was also a wing though it was also adorned with a red cross acting as one of the teeth with several heart etchings at each opening of the cross. The pommel looked like two intertwining snakes, most likely a caduceus, with the staff they surrounded acting like the hilt. Redheart eyed it in shock but quickly pointed it out at the light.

“Angelic Grace!” Redheart shouted as her reflect spell overcharged covering all three of us as we fell out of the tree Kuro first with me following close after as Redheart was the last to stumble back.

I quickly grabbed Red keeping her in front of me. As we reached the ground Kuro wrapped her wings around us and we landed with a loud shuddering crash. I hit Kuro’s chest and felt Redheart slam into my chest knocking the wind out of me.

With a flash of light the entirety of the forest was enveloped in light and the skies grew darker. Rain fell over the entirety of the forest. Octavia looked around for the heartless as Sunshower and Spitfire rejoined the herd. It had been a bit harrowing since the light had bombarded the shield multiple times as did the fire and the heartless. Everypony was covered in a thin layer of ash and dust.

“I think we won…” Vinyl called out as she looked at the passing rain clouds and dragged Octavia and Sunshower out in her telekinetic grip.

“Vinyl!” Octavia screeched while Sunshower merely ruffled her feathers to get the water off her body splashing Octavia even more.

“Sorry bout that.” Sunshower mumbled while Octavia grumbled and wrung her mane trying to make to most of the water.

Fresh Coat and Spitfire eventually were coaxed out as well… though it was mostly Spitfire dragging her out to join in. With the heat from all the fires, the rain became a welcome relief. They quietly showered though it was in relative silence since everypony was too exhausted from dealing with all the dangers of the world to truly appreciate how comfortable everypony felt with each other.

While it had only been two months, which in pony relationships could be seen as a year already, everypony felt more comfortable with each other even on such a intimate level they had already been in. The showering part wasn’t exactly blush worthy at this point. Still, there were two missing pieces to their little family that still needed to be found.

I felt the rising of someone breathing heavily but steadily as I regained my own ability to breath once again. Having an earth pony land on your gut was a bit harsh… regardless of how well her flank bounced as certain moments. She was lying on her back on your belly holding her newly transformed keyblade in her hooves. It was specifically personalized for her in every possible way. The problem with the breathing was that it was coming from behind me…

I turned my head up to see Kuro looking down at the two of us as she lifted her wings off of us. It was strange that she hadn’t done anything else though I suspected that she was still taking stock of the situation. I lifted the two of us… though I did struggle to use my wings to get us off her. They were badly charred from the light that came from the Spirit Tree. When Redheart finally noticed she started using cure spells which turned out to be much stronger… yet were still only first tier strength. The burns slowly regenerated back my wings with the magic even affecting Kuro and healing the wounds that she had received.

She finally stood back up on her talons flexing against the ground and digging up the dirt. Her eyes looked around noticed what we didn’t notice before. The vegetation looked alive once again and the light of the tree had sprouted new plants made entirely of light. It would regrow. Kuro lowered her head and with a click of her beak tossed her head behind her. I stared at her for a good twenty seconds before flapping my own wings and getting on her back with the still distracted Redheart. She raised her wings and lifted off back for the cliff where we left Ori and the large Ape. I don’t think I would ever truly learn her name personally.

Kuro was much faster than I had been and when we reached that point the two were sitting against the smoldering wreck of one of the trees merely basking in each other’s company. With a small whistle they noticed me riding on Kuro’s back and both were invited on her back. Wary, they accepted and we were flown back to Kuro’s nest where everypony seemed to be waiting for us.

Everypony cleared the way for Kuro to enter her nest. She quietly did so and started to roost upon the egg closing her eyes in bliss while all of us looked over each other. I was covered in still healing burns and Redheart looked as though she was dehydrated from the sheer heat of the volcano we left behind. Still the group hug was nice and the small celebration of Redheart awakening to her keyblade left everypony happy.

Ori approached us looking completely content before Gumo finally joined us… though he was carrying something with him. It looked identical to the stone that was used in the Forlorn Ruins and glowed with a mysterious light. Before we could get a closer look the orb rose into the air and the entire landscape shifted back to the barrier between the outside and the heart of the world.

“Redheart… you’re up.”

“Me!?” Redheart asked almost looking completely incredulous at my command.

“Yup. Just raise your key and point it at the lock and everything will be done.”

She nodded and raised her keyblade sending a bright beam of light through the lock forcing the tumblers into place and locking off the heart of the world from the heartless for as long as would be possible. With the lock locked we returned back to reality surrounded by everyone who was from this realm.

Ori looked on sadly… I think he knew what was coming since he came up to everypony and gave them a big hug around their legs. Gumo merely smiled with his eyes and waved standing near the large ape who followed suit. Before we could do anything else Kuro actually hooted at me. Our eyes locked and I could feel a strange sensation from her empty stare. I trotted up to her resting spot while everypony waited for me outside the nest area. Nopony wanted to be back inside that place again.

She lowered her left wing and three pieces of paper fell out before me. Two of them had a star emblazoned on the background of the paper. It was a strange sight certainly. The third paper was what truly interested me. The title of it read… Star Swirl’s Report 1 and seemed extremely old… yet still preserved.

‘Why is this even here in the first place…?’ I looked over the pages and put them into my saddlebags. She lowered her wing once more and I felt something change. Something interesting.

Obtained the power of shadows. Dark now available.

I knew a new spell now… I looked up to the owl who merely twisted her head in strange angles to get me to back away and leave. Reluctantly, I went back to the others and we looked for the first save point we could find. I still hadn’t read the papers and I didn’t tell the others about it since it wasn’t that important. I did show them the first two pages though. When we found the save point everypony teleported back up to the ship with Redheart being the last. She looked around one last time and with a satisfied smile summoned her keyblade and went back on the ship with a cool pose… at least I think she thought it looked cool. It was a bit dorky to me… but I did love those moments from all of them.

Ori waved again gathering my attention before I could enter the circle of light. He sprinted over to me holding a small branch of the Spirit Tree… strangely, it actually had roots attached to it. He handed it over to me and I was a bit surprised. I slowly gave him a one armed hug… since the other arm was holding the tree sapling. He eventually let go and I stepped into the save point teleporting back to the ship. It was time to go home.

Forest of Nibel, Several days later…

Ori stood around Swallow’s Nest slowly holding a small rock with a pointed end. He had worked tirelessly for a couple of hours each day until he couldn’t anymore. It had taken a while to carve out small pictures of Naru, Gumo, Kuro, and himself together. The second rock was a bit harder. On it were the ponies that had helped him restore the world back to normal. In the center was the pony with the bat wings while the others went clockwise - the fire maned flying pony, the gray pony with the bowtie, the pony with the horn and strange eyewear, the flying pony with the raindrops, the pony with the red cross on her, and the pony with the horn and backwards green hat - each carved meticulously into the stone.

Admiring his handiwork it took a while for Naru to coax him outside. When he did so Gumo joined in and dragged the two off for Kuro’s Nest. Within a few hours they had managed the climb and saw Kuro waking from her slumber as the sun slowly set below the horizon. When Kuro stepped up another figure stepped up too. The small owlet chirped as it flew down to examine Ori much more closely. There was cheerful laughs as the two families grew closer together.

We had quickly used the warp function after strapping into our seats. There was chatter going on but at that point I was really tired. The constant fire and flying had taken their toll on me and I needed a very long nap which was made evident by the look in my eyes. Everypony knew I was going to sleep as soon as possible. With the warp barreling us to Equestria I could tell that everypony was still pretty happy with everything that happened… though there was a moment of silence when Kuro’s children were mentioned.

We needed to talk about everything that happened. That would have to wait for another day. I didn’t want to be coherent or conscious at this point because I was finally able to break out of work mode. I wanted to sleep at this point. It was probably selfish but I actually needed it. When the gummi ship finally came to a stop we made our way back to the teleporting unit and prepared ourselves. Everypony made certain to cast their cure spells in order to erase any evidence of our adventures.

The scratches and welts slowly disappeared from the constant healing before we headed back down to the world below. Everypony looked around only to note that it was nearly the same time we had left. We trotted back into my home and before I closed the door I looked around several times in case somepony was watching us.

Not even Rainbow Dash would be out in the rainy landscape before us. I didn’t want to take chances since Twilight was now looking into me on some level. Everypony trotted upstairs taking a shower two by two. I remained in the living room on the couch still tired. When everypony was done with their respective showers I noted that they went to bed almost immediately.

Before they did they each made certain to show me just how much they cared for me. It didn’t help that after the first one I was already raring to go. Still I fought that urge and made certain to go shower as well. When I was done I forwent going to my own room and went back to the living room and laid upon the couch in utter silence. Everypony was asleep and I slowly closed my eyes to join them. It had been a harrowing second excursion into the unknown but I was confident that we had done good even if I was uncertain how everypony handled the reveal of how light and darkness function.

It was time to finally rest and relax… and soon the girls would have to go back to their responsibilities. I was going to have to find something to do.

56. Dreaming

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Author's Notes:

So yeah. This is the last planned crossover I have for the entire universe that was created with the whole Mayan Calendar thing. This particular one crosses over with Foretellers by Fear Ripper.
Just click the link to get to it.

This chapter is important since I do reveal the contents of Star Swirl's report. So if you aren't a fan of crossovers I will tell you before hand. The crossover goes from the first page break to the second one. Still it was fun to write this so I hope you enjoy and Gray's adventures will continue tomorrow. Most likely with another Memoirs chapter which will happen after every arc that happens.

On another note, should I make Equestrian arcs as well? That would add more chapters to this work and I write a lot over the course of a year. Comments about that?

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.

57. Memoirs: Forest of Nibel

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The last of the drizzling rain came to an end in the very early vestiges of the morning as the sun peeked over the horizon. The land was still covered in water but that was to be expected since the rain struck. We had spent a while in Nibel though the moment we returned it was almost as though no time had passed. We left so suddenly that I didn’t have enough time to fully appreciated our time there.

With the constant near threat of death though I understood how little time we had. We were lucky in the first place to even have time to rest. With all the darkness overwhelming the area and balance slowly being destroyed the entire world had almost fallen. Throughout my thoughts I stared out the window watching the morning pegasi moving the clouds out of the way to make way for the sun.

It was at that point that I heard the rustling of hooves clip clopping across the wooden floors. I probably should invest in carpets but the sounds were good for my paranoia that sometimes flared up. They had helped immensely when the remnants of Nightmare Moon had tried to attack me. I was lucky that she had regarded me as a threat and hesitated on striking out at me.

“Morning. Have you been awake long?” Octavia asked as she trotted over to me and wrapping her hoof around my neck and she nestled herself in my hooves.

“Not really. At most an hour or so.” I lied… I had been up since the moon started to fall below the horizon.

“So a few hours then, huh?” Octavia caught me looking me in the eye. It wasn’t a stern look… but the concern was there. I looked well rested enough.

“Yeah… I woke up to watch the clouds. Though from where I am the cloud follows the winds so seeing them being moved by mortal hooves destroys cloud watching when you can shape them with your own hooves in a sense.”

“I suppose. Earth pony so I can’t exactly manipulate them.” Octavia chuckled as she snuggled into the spot between my forelegs so she could relax in my embrace while at the same time being the little spoon in a sense. I don’t know if she understood the implications. The look on her face said otherwise, innocent and just full of wanting to be spoiled by hugs.

“I think I mentioned that I wasn’t always a pony so… I was in the same boat.” I wrapped one of my hooves around her cradling her in a sense.

A part of me was confused by the sudden need to hold on to Octavia. I realized that I needed to cope with the past. I had lost a lot and now I had something new. I didn’t have to let go of the past… but I could make my peace with it. Then there was more scuffling as more hooves came down and piled around me.

“Tavi! Don’t hog Nebby to yourself.” Vinyl cried out as she squeezed herself into my embrace.

“Me too!” Fresh Coat followed getting her way into my grip to the right of Octavia.

“Might as well sneak in as well.” Redheart muttered as she got into place next to Vinyl’s left which stretched my arms to the brink just to hold them all.

“Jeez… you girls are insatiable.” Sunshower groaned as she hopped on my back and under my wing.

“You’re one to talk there Sunny.” Spitfire chuckled as she did the same to my free wing… though I felt her back hoof glide along my side. I felt a lot touching me...

“Whose hoof is on my flank?”

There was nothing but silence as I peered at everypony. Nothing but blushes though Spitfire was smugly smiling as well. It was slightly hilarious to me how much things had changed. When I was going through my first life I had horrible luck in any romantic situations. It was either used or loveless relationships. It was different.

“So what brought on this much affection.”

“We were waiting all that time on Nibel…” Octavia started twisting around to face me.

“Yeah Nebby… all that time riding a top you… It builds up ya know.” Vinyl added joining Octavia in turning to look me in the eye.

“We still have an extra day before we have to get back to work.” Redheart joined in allowing herself to wrap a hoof around my neck.

“I have so much I want to try.” Fresh Coat chuckled as her blushing got worse.

“It’s been a while since we did get to have some fun.” Sunshower glomped me one again using her wings to help her grip me.

“Now… let me pay you back for teasing me so much when we were there.” Spitfire smirked though I swear that it was raunchier than I thought was possible.

“Um… yeah… let’s go ahead with that then. I did say as soon as we get back from Nibel.”

I didn’t get much chance to say anything else before Vinyl’s horn lit up and the curtains were closed. I didn’t see much more after than before the girls immediately pounced all over me. Spitfire was the most aggressive. From there it was a cavalcade on uncertainty and moans that I kind of lost focus after the first hour of their… needs.

I limped upstairs to the bathroom. My wings and front hooves were completely sopping wet and my back legs felt like they were giving out. What was a sunny morning turned into a lazy afternoon. Spitfire was the most needy due in no small part to my teasing before we found the Sunstone. I took a shower while they enjoyed the afterglow. I needed to schedule these out better so they don’t come after me all at once.

“Really need to see if there are any potions for longevity… or stamina. I can’t feel my hips…”

At this point I was muttering to myself trying my best to work through the stress or lack thereof. The water was refreshing as I turned my thoughts back to the Report I got from Kuro. Not only was it in her talons, it was on that planet as well. The fact that Star Swirl’s work reached other worlds meant that he had found a way to travel to other worlds. I knew he was important to Equestrian History but the presence of keyblades and heartless changed everything into something much different than canon.

When God had shoved information of this world into my head alongside the knowledge of how to use my body I had learned about the history of the world… at least to some extent. Star Swirl was a powerful wizard who worked to help ponies colonize what would be Equestria as a whole. He helped the founders and was joined by several ponies of similar mindsets. Afterwards things went bad for them and they were locked away with one of their threats.

I knew I could mess with things preemptively but… I didn’t want to. If I did go out of my way to change things so much then this world would go in weird places. The problem was that that was what actually happened to Star Swirl. Going by the secret report I found it meant that Star Swirl was roaming the universe instead. My head started hurting with how complicated this sounded and how much this could actually change things if that was what true.

The shower slowly cleared my head and cleaned off my wings and matted fur. As much fun as it was, cleaning up wasn’t as enjoyable when you didn’t have fingers to actually clean fur. I left the tub and flew back down to the ground floor fully refreshed… I wasn’t soar at all. Ow…

It took a bit for everypony to get back up from our exercise. Surprisingly, Fresh Coat was the first up. When she noticed I was already cleaned up she started to shake everypony awake. I went into the kitchen and looked over our supplies. The sound of the shower kept going while I worked on make food. As most I could make some fruit dishes with what was in my fridge and I placed it on the kitchen table… we couldn’t use the small table near the couch when it came to food. For obvious reasons…

Two by two ponies joined me at the dining table where we ate in personable silence. Where most of the mares looked a bit flustered from everything, Spitfire and Octavia looked smugly satisfied oddly enough. I didn’t say anything because then it would be focused on me… but I did need to put the idea of pacing things out.

“So… how are you all feeling now?”

“Better/Fine/Great.” Several sighs and different words came out to answer me.

“We should pace things out better so I don’t wind up with a broken back.”

“C’mon Nebby. You’re a tough stallion you can handle us.” Vinyl waved me off dismissing my concern for my poor back.

“Yeah. You’re finally reaching my standards now.” Spitfire added with a knowing chuckle as they both gave each other a high hoof… which made the deadpan stare I was making all the more funny apparently.

“Seriously though. If we paced it out better then I can get really go into more in-depth methods with those times. Long, long in-depth methods.”

I gauged everypony’s reactions seeing that they were actually fantasizing based on my talk. Spitfire and Vinyl were the only ones who didn’t have their eyes glazed over or drooling. They were instead smiling deviously to each other clearly wanting to take advantage of my little condition.

“All in favor!” Octavia sang out raising her right hoof in the air.

“Aye!” A resounding agreement was belted out without any warning.My ears were slightly ringing.

“How do we decide that though?” Octavia looked towards me.

“You’re all grown mares. I trust you all to decide this like adults… regardless that I’m the oldest one here.” I started… then remembered that I needed to do something before the mayor’s office closed. “I’ll be back. I need to see the mayor about planting that tree.”

“Ok Gray. We shall be… resting still. Also discussing how this would work as well.” Octavia answered stopping several of them from voicing their opinions.

I looked over everypony noticing that there were some melancholic looks from everypony. I didn’t know why either. Something big must be going on if this was a discussion topic. I gave each of them a hug before I left the house. If I was lucky I could get there and back before the mayor could leave for the day. As I left I noted that there were serious looked on everypony’s face though I didn’t overthink anything at this moment. I would figure out what was going on eventually.

“So… We do need to discuss this don’t we.” Octavia brought up as the rest of the herd sat on the couch. Thanks to the magic they possessed at this point the clean up was… efficient to say the least.

“We can’t just make this our day job?” Vinyl piped in before anything else could get rolling.

“No. I have too many responsibilities to the Wonderbolts to just resign. Besides if I’m not around all of them are going to be lazy.” Spitfire grumbled as she folded her hooves across her chest. “Regardless of how much I really don’t want to see Soarin.”

“We all knew that joining Gray like this would be taxing if we wanted to keep our ordinary lives as well. Personally I think we lucked out by how versatile Merlin was in magic with his… what was it called?” Redheart mentioned before tapping her hoof against her temple trying to jostle the memories loose.

“Warp-G I think. That warp gummi block right?” Fresh Coat answered scrunching her eyes slightly to focus her memory a bit more.

“We need to tell him that we have to continue with our job. Whenever all six of us have free time together we need to take it. Either to see Gray or go with him on these missions. As much as I don’t want to say it out loud… I’m kind of pumped for going to new worlds. We’re the only ones who have done such things too.” Sunshower smiled as she fiddled with her hooves.

“It’s true. I’ve gotten more inspiration for my work in the past two Equestrian days then I’ve done in my entire life…. Ha! Look at me. I’m already adjusted to all the weird time dilation things.” Fresh Coat giggled receiving quite a few more giggles in response.

“It’s true. Inspiration did come from all this. I have a lot of wubs to produce. I just… I don’t want to have to leave Gray on his own for that long. Dude doesn’t sleep unless its forced on him. Seriously… did you see his eyes while we were in Nibel. Uptight right there. I mean I know that Kuro was being… murderous but he needed to relax.” Vinyl cringed as she remembered her fall from the waterfall.

“Why do you think I suggested that we all go at it like rabbits? I was hoping we could wear him out so he could finally relax for a while. It didn’t work out like I planned but he did certainly seem more relaxed. At least, a bit.” Octavia muttered the last part.

They had each looked at Gray and while he did sleep he didn’t actually rest. Spitfire had noticed that even when he closed his eyes his ears would always twitch a certain direction that a sound came from. It had concerned everypony more than once during their adventure to the point that they needed to force Gray to sleep for longer than a few hours.

“You think he’s been having nightmares?” Redheart brought up covering her mouth with her hoof.

“I don’t think he’s been having nightmares. He didn’t toss or turn during any of the nights we all spent together. It might be his diurnal thing he was doing acting up. To be fair we haven’t had a chance to actually get him on a decent schedule.” Octavia mentioned tapped her hoof against her muzzle.

“When he gets back we need to tell him that we need to keep up with our day jobs.” Spitfire ordered to Octavia’s grumbling but the agreements from everypony cut off any arguments.

“I don’t want to leave him on his own for so long though.” Vinyl voiced up immediately.

“We know Vinyl… but we have to trust that he’ll be fine for a while without all of us around him.” Octavia reassured her.

“So that’s what I want to do Mayor Mare.” I quickly explained catching the mayor leaving the office.

“Is that so Gray? What does this tree look like?” Mayor Mare quirked an eyebrow at me as I pulled a picture from out under my wing. I was lucky that my book created an illusion of the tree sapling I was given in picture form.

“This.”

“Hm… weird tree… but I’m certain it should be fine. You may plant it so long as it is isolated to your backyard. Is that fine?” Mayor Mare sternly stated.

I quickly nodded and was glad that it had been so easy to do so. She gave me a warm smile as I took off to the air to glide back home. I was actually pretty lucky that I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of any of the Element bearers. There was no one following me and I felt pretty good… little tired but that was usually the case.

I didn’t like to sleep in general. It was partially an insomnia thing and more of a paranoia thing now that I had a keyblade. Keyblades were beacons that heartless wanted to capture at all costs. Unless I was in a secure place, sleep would be a death sentence. That, unfortunately, impacted my sleep habits like a ton of bricks.

While working as a cop there were several nights where sleep was avoided entirely because of stake outs and tailing suspects. Those habits were built up over time to the point where I nearly functioned with no sleep for at the most three days. Though that was only at my prime and if I never had to drive.

My thoughts slowly faded as I reached home once again. I would get on the ship and get the sapling to plant it. Eventually I would have stories of other worlds told through all the trinkets I found on these adventures. When I stepped inside everypony was actually standing near the door.

“Welcome back Gray. We've figured out what we're going to do.” Octavia spoke out. I guessed being the Alpha Mare meant she was in charge of making decisions or forming a consensus or something like that.

“Great. Though if I'm looking right you all need to talk to me about something else.” My eyes trailed over everyone and there were some flinches when our eyes met.

“Yeah. You see we all have jobs here in Equestria so…” Octavia trailed off rolling her hoof around. She was beating around the bush.

“Sweet Celestia. Nebby, we need to keep working so we probably won't be around for a while. We gotta keep up appearances if you want to keep this a secret.” Vinyl spoke up though as her words got out her ears folded down lower and lower.

“Okay. That's really a smart idea.” I answered in a completely serious tone.

“Bwuh… “ Several mares managed to piece out as if I had just gone and killed someone.

“I'm not forcing you to do anything. I won't head off on adventures by myself so just figure out a day when all of you are free and I'll plan accordingly.”

I got several hugs and words of enticement for how understanding I was. I had to wonder if this really counted as understanding. I never wanted them in danger but I couldn't keep them out of my life… at least, now I couldn't. Before everypony could head out to get ready for work I zipped up to the ship and brought down the sapling.

I led everypony outside and we found a decent place to put the tree acting like a barrier between home and the Everfree Forest. We didn't have shovels though. Smacking my forehead I pulled out the tomahawk and used that rarely used function of shifting the earth around creating a hole to place the tree in.

As soon as the roots touched the soil the tree lit up with a soft gentle light not unlike the one from each spirit tree. The glow reached a good distance as we looked at the reminder of a long mission where we faced off against a corrupted curse goddess in the shape of an owl as we stopped a planet from falling into darkness. It was the only mission where something we got would be on display for all of Ponyville to see.

That sent some worries up my spine but a quick pat by Redheart made me push those feelings aside. For now at least.

Everypony finally said their goodbyes and walked home. Only Fresh Coat stayed because the trains had been doing maintenance and she didn't want to travel through shadows at this time of night. Surprisingly, the moon had risen during our talks about the immediate future.

Spitfire went back to the Wonderbolt Academy. Susnshower, Redheart, Octavia and Vinyl went back to their respective home. It was going to be really quiet when I was left on my own. Still I had some options to handle that solitude. I still had those pages of the star book to place and I could always do what this show preached and make more friends.

So much to do… so little time.

58. Solitude

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It had been a restful night though Fresh Coat had very explicitly taken advantage of the fact that she was the only one in the house. I was just thankful that she waited until the sun nearly rose up to do her plan. Needless to say she made certain to enjoy it for everything she could get. Around ten she left for the station and went back up to Canterlot. Once again I needed to clean up my house from another mess made because I couldn’t exactly say no to a request. That… left me home alone.

Octavia and Vinyl were also in Canterlot and probably were going to meet up with Fresh Coat later if her cryptic comments while we showered off were anything to go by. All I knew was that Octavia had to handle some business with a special performance coming sometime by spring even though apparently it was fall. I never really understood how the seasons worked around here.I tried not to question it either because that was a headache waiting to happen.

Spitfire was in Cloudsdale ready to lead the Wonderbolts once again. Before she left I did note she seemed… reluctant to want to handle leading them. The life of a keyblader while exciting was also wrought full of danger. Though from everything she told me it was obvious that she was just disappointed by the state of the Wonderbolts being barely better than stunt flyers at this point.

Sunshower, unfortunately, had to deal with more weather problems in Baltimare once again. I didn’t know why either. Sunshower merely told me that she was a damn good weather manager before she left. I wished her luck before she did so. Redheart was the only one remaining in Ponyville and she was going to be busy dealing with patients.

I looked outside to a busy town waltzing about as naturally as possible. The puddles weren't exactly helping matters since goals were splashing up a storm throughout the town. It was at this point I had to weigh my options.

While on Nibel I found two pages of the book that Merlin had brought with him during his visit. I could explore that option but alone and with only two out of however many pages there were seemed… wrong to me for some reason. I took the pages downstairs and placed them in the book. Even though it glowed brightly I trotted out of the basement leaving it for a later date. I didn't exactly want to do anything for the rest of the day and I wasn't in desperate need for bits either. If worse came to worse I could make more jewelry for Shiny Baubles to sell. It certainly would be useful since I now have a collection of Power synthesis items from all the monkey like heartless we fought.

Alternatively I could actually do the job God wanted me to do. There were still keyholes all around Equestria that were unlocked. The only reason the heartless haven't found them is because the barrier surrounding this world is stronger than all the other worlds. There also was most likely a Cornerstone of Light somewhere in this world. I didn't have forever to deal with the problem. I needed to explore other cities and figure out where those keyholes were and seal them.

Today though would be my relaxation day. I took out the gift Merlin had brought me and took it to the living room. I wanted a quiet day to listen to the book that was being read to me. I sat down on my couch and started the tape placing the earbuds in and lounging on the couch.

For the rest of the day I listened to the book while I cleaned up whatever I could around the house. I actually wasn't disturbed throughout the day. Pinkie hadn't come to bother me into trying to throw a party which was weird in of itself.

“Pinkie! We need twelve more trays of cupcake ready!” Mrs. Cake cried out as she rushed around with Mr. Cake trying to serve everypony as quickly as possible.

Sugarcube Corner was packed due to Filthy Rich sparing no expense for his little princess, Diamond Tiara.

“Party Senses tingling.” Pinkie muttered as her eyes grew unfocused and everything seemed to get quiet.

“Pinkie! Cupcakes quickly! Please!” Mr. Cake called out breaking her out of her trance. She quickly went back to getting the twelve trays out of the oven for everypony to enjoy.

“You won’t get away with this Nebula Gray! I will throw you a party!” Pinkie swore to the heavens as she was stuck baking cupcakes at the moment. Secretly, she was cursing the author for drawing out the confrontation for even longer.

I had finished listening to a horror novel just as the moon started to rise into the sky. It seemed as though I had wasted the entire day but honestly, it was the first time in a long time where I could sit down and just think about things. I noted that there had been one sad filly walking around outside during my relaxation. She was wearing a very large red bow which seemed to be just as expressive as she was.

I didn’t do anything though. It wasn’t my business regardless of what was going on. I ignored it for the most part since I didn’t know the pony in question along with the fact I was an adult. That would just be weird as all hell.

I tried to sleep that night if only because I had time to myself… it was actually hard to sleep with how quiet the house was. I was so used to being worn out by others already that it started to break me into flashbacks before I was turned into a pony. Those five days after that massacre… I didn’t sleep afterwards and remained downstairs on the couch watching the skies once again. There wasn’t much else to do at this point and I couldn’t sleep once again. It was until five in the morning when I finally passed out from exhaustion.

I was back in my dream realm once again. Sitting down at my desk looking over all the things I’ve acquired. The pedestals with all the weapons were still immaculately taken care of. I examined the cards since I barely managed to unlock them recently. I still hadn’t been able to test them out extensively but I would have the chance eventually. I would just need to find heartless to fight.

Though with the lack of heartless being capable of entering Equestria made things a lot more difficult in practice. Alternatively, I could head for another world to fight through any heartless that kept appearing. I faltered back over to the stained glass platform and looked that over noting that the Nightmare Moon section was now no longer the only section filled in. The circle had grown larger and there was now a ring surrounding the platform of more stained glass. There was a panel for Rourke in his crystal form and another for Kuro.

I supposed that my dreams were making certain to keep decent records of everything I’ve had to deal with. This would probably continue on and on through my adventures.

“My… this is an interesting dream. I did not expect one of my subjects to sleep at this time.” A voice came out from up high.

I looked around noting that I hadn’t protected my mind as well as I had as a medium sized pony with wings and a horn slowly flapped down landing on the platform. She stood before me though I don’t think that she actually remembered who I was. Then her eyes focused on me and seemed to start straining.

“Why do you look familiar to me?” Luna spoke but caught herself changing the topic. “I mean, Hello loyal subject I am glad I have finally found you. There has been some talk that a thestral was living in Ponyville.”

“It’s been a very weird life. I just decided to build somewhere I could keep my things.”

I tapped my hoof and the platform below me hid everything. I noticed that she was looking around more suspiciously. She started to trot up to me.

“Your dream is much stranger than the regular pony. Most have trouble differentiating between dream and reality. You control your dreams… perhaps you are a lucid dreamer?” Luna grinned as she tapped her hoof against my chest.

“Heh, yeah. I’ve been getting better at getting my dreams to work for me. How may I help you Princess Luna?”

I gave her a small half bow which I think confused her. She didn’t speak right away stepping around me, examining me in more detail. She seemed to take her time looking at my cutie mark rubbing her chin with her hoof.

“I do not recognize your mark. It is not even in our census records. But I digress, there are more important matters to deal with. You are one of the Badlands Thestrals, are you not? We have been searching for them for some time now. We haven’t found any trace of them aside from you. If you would be so kind… please tell me where they are.” Luna demanded though her tone was anything but harsh. Sadness emanated from her… but I didn’t know what happened to any of them.

Even then I wracked my brain for anything I could think of… and the only thing I could think of would be my family. It would answer her question to a degree but…

I didn’t really want to talk about it with someone I considered a complete stranger. As much as it could be said that I knew she was trustworthy I still barely talked about it with the rest of my herd. At least not so detail other then they were gone.

“I don’t actually know. I woke up on the edge of the Badlands and managed to make my way to Baltimare. I can only say that my family is gone, though I wished for more than half of them that it was someone else’s fault. There’s no one to blame and no way to really dress it up in a brighter light.”

“I see… this is unfortunate news indeed. I am sorry for your loss. I can… understand what it means to lose somepony close to you… not quite in the manner you are alluding to. Still… while you hold that shroud of sadness over you it seems that you are trying to move on. I see herds are still a thing. It is actually really rare nowadays based on what my sister says. Only nobility usually takes on the act of herding. Are you nobility?” Luna looked on me seemingly casing my demeanor and poise.

“Sorry to say I'm not noble. All I am is an old detective who's trying to get his life back on track.”

“A detective!? Where is thy trench coat and worn fedora? I have been reading these new trends. It is this noir styling. You narrate everything internally right? Oh my this is exciting!” Luna giddily danced around.

“Uh… I'm sorry to say but I retired after one last case where my mentor was taken out.”

“More! More! 'Tis far more interesting to hear thy tale of real mystery and drama!” Luna cried out blasting me away with what was most likely the Royal Canterlot Voice. “Oh shoot! You are awakening. Next time.”

I rubbed my head as she started to fade from my vision. I was glad that she had been distracted by my past so I supposed that that was mission accomplished. The princesses still wouldn't know too much about me but what I was willing to share.

I woke up on the floor of my living room just at the window wiping the drool that had dripped down my chin. I was alone again…

“Maybe it's time to get out of the house and do my job. Now that Luna knows where I am that means I need to keep my dreams clear or just not sleep at night.”

I muttered to myself… which just reinforced my decision to get off my flank and do something. I needed to go find a keyhole but I didn't want to head into Canterlot or Ponyville. Suffice to say, I didn't want to interact with anyone who could potentially get within messaging distance of Celestia and Luna.

The problem was where to go… I looked over the books I borrowed from Twilight Sparkle hoping to find a good place to both explore and not get found out. Also where a keyhole could be. I found the first one in Balitmare by sheer coincidence.

The sun was finally rising once again. I put away my iPod crystal device back in the basement and sat down on the couch. I looked around the living room one more time taking in the silence for a moment longer. It was peaceful… quiet… and completely insufferable. I had had enough silence throughout my former life and that was barely a week. I wouldn't suffer anymore silence for longer than I would have to.

I looked through the atlas I absorbed into the Lexicon and did the most intricate method of choosing a location known to the history of the world as the only way.

“Eeny, Meeny, Miney, you.”

Perfectly executed.

I would be heading out to a coastal city. The island city of Manehattan was next on my list to explore. I quickly created the illusion of a note and placed it on my front door as I jumped into the shadows for Baltimore. I would have to fly the rest of the way but it would be worth it.

Luna had jarringly woken up after the thestral had accidentally woke up. It was frustrating when a pony woke up before she could find out more of them.

“You truly are a strange stallion, Nebula Gray. Who are you really?” Luna muttered as she looked over her notes.

The moment she had learned of a new thestral she had compiled a complete list of cutie marks from all currently known thestrals. That included the census of the Badland thestrals before they went missing. There were no records of a mark of stars laid out in the shape of a key. Nebula Gray didn't exist within this context but… it could have been an oversight. She would have to speak to Celestia later.

For the most part, nothing seemed to egregious. There could be missing paperwork, clerical errors or something else. It had been difficult to figure out if there were more oblique reasons for Nebula Gray’s shady past. For the most part she couldn’t actually see all of his dream realm. There had been mental blocks as if he was repressing things. Secrets or mental trauma, she was uncertain of what dwelled in the mind of Nebula Gray.

Luna sighed as she got back to her duties and watched over the children. It had been only a few hours since she had regained her powers and she needed to work the kinks out of them.

Redheart had just finished checking over a patient after their current mishap. It had become routine for these things to happen given who she looked up to.

“So Scootaloo, this is visit what now?” Redheart deadpanned as she looked over her charts. Scraped knees and slight bump on the head, luckily not to concussion levels.

“Thirty four… but I was in total control this time.” Scootaloo shot back shakily defending her position.

“Yes I suppose no sprained wings this time is a step up.” Redheart chided with a good natured chuckle.

“I totally had it this time. The sun just got in my eyes.” Scootaloo shot back.

“It was the afternoon and the sun had already gone down over the horizon.” Redheart brought up causing Scootaloo to blush in embarrassment.

Redheart quietly brought her hoof up to comfort her and cast her cure spell. Scootaloo for some reason felt better than ever. Her head no longer ached and her cuts had healed over.

“Woah! Where'd my scrapes go?” Scootaloo looked over her legs noting how pristine they looked, as if nothing had hurt her in the first place.

“Hm… it must have been the delayed effects of the bandages we gave you.” Redheart quickly lied. They had had to change her bandages at least once already when Scootaloo had spilled her juice on them. It was believable enough that Scootaloo just kept her awe on her face.

“Neat. Wish I could have more of those for all the tricks I do.” Scootaloo muttered under her breath though not quietly enough.

“Sorry there but the bandages are made as we need them. The enchantment doesn't activate unless one of the doctors cast it.” Redheart stated making certain that Scootaloo wouldn't get any ideas.

“Darn… um Ms. Redheart… we don't have to tell my parents about this, right?” Scootaloo cringed the moment she said parents.

“Sorry, once again. Your mom is already here.” Redheart strained an apologetic smile.

“Oh boy…” Scootaloo gulped as she prepared herself for the talk she was going to get.

In a burst of wind Gusty Gale, her mother, flew straight for Scootaloo. There were several minutes of overprotectiveness smothered into Scootaloo before Redheart could give her the release forms.

“Thanks so much for taking care of my little angel.” Gale nodded as Redheart while she hugged Scootaloo tightly.

“Help…” Scootaloo mumbled through the hug… and was promptly ignored. Redheart knew better than to get between the love of a mother and daughter… it was also her punishment for trying to ramp off of Applejack’s stand onto Carousel Boutique and finally fly through Carrot Top’s stand. Instead she flew into Roseluck’s stand barely missing the roses but hitting the daisies. She was still trying to wake the Flower Trio as they were called.

“No problem Gale. I know what a hoof full she can be. She’ll be fine and she’s all healed up.” Redheart smiled as Gale flew off with a twitching Scootaloo who tried desperately to get the feeling back in her legs.

As they left Redheart tallied another mark on her clipboard. She had once again used her magic to heal another patient and while that was good, the other doctors were getting suspicious. Patients healing within a few hours stupefied them.

“Ah Redheart, I’m glad I found you.” A stallion called out trotting up to her in a quiet matter.

“Hello Doctor Stable. What seems to be the problem?” Redheart asked keeping a hoof on her clipboard at the ready.

“Can you check on the patient in Room 203? It’s time to change his saline bag.” Stable replied in his nonchalant tone he took with most of the nurses.

“Right away Doctor.” Redheart mentioned. Before she could walk away Stable placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Have you given anymore thought to my proposition?” Stable reminded her wriggling his eyebrows up and down in an enticing manner.

“Hm… Oh that. Sorry Doctor but I don’t feel that way about you. I should probably get back to work then. See you later Doctor.” Redheart coughed out before trotting away much faster than before.

Doctor Stable watched her leave before he bucked his hoof through the door of the room frustrated at the rejection. He was pissed and slowly returned to his rounds. He had to find out why and he would get his answer.

59. Manehattan: Traffic

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I quickly stopped what I was doing before leaving Ponyville leaving a note on my door with the ever descriptive phrase ‘Gone to Manehattan, be back soon.’

I hung the small note on my front door and locked the door. Since the others had keyblades I didn't have to worry too much about it being broken into. There were still some things to do before I left… but I couldn't place my hoof on what I was suppose to do.

“Duh… Redheart's still in town. I better tell her what I'm going to do.”

I rolled my eyes at my lack of foresight… or was it impatience? Either way I needed to check in on her before I left. I hopped into the shadows though for some reason I felt something try to grab me before I hopped into the shadows.

Pinkie had leapt for the figure of Nebula Gray. She would throw him a party before he could escape once again. With a mighty leap she rushed forward almost beating Rainbow Dash levels of speed. She was almost there seeing his retreating flank hop into the shadows. Her teeth about to grab the final wisps of hair from his tail but he was gone.

Pinkie was almost devastated when she missed her target. Rolling to a stop she had managed to roll against Gray’s front door, hop off the awning, and make a triple socow before she hit the ground. Somewhere she could see triple ten scores from a panel of judges.

“No. No! Why is this happening? He slipped through my hooves again!” Pinkie cried out until she saw the note on the door.

The gears were turning in her head. He had to come back, she knew this. Her head twisted lightly as she started to develop a tic now. He needed to have a party. He needed to.

“I just have to be patient. I just have to be patient. I just have to be patient.” Pinkie muttered over and over as she trotted back to Sugarcube Corner. Her mane slowly deflating with every step. She wouldn't be defeated yet and with a confident stomp her mane reinflated. She would party. Party with him.

I managed to find the hospital in a few jumps. Ponyville was larger than I anticipated. I was also certain that Spike had seen me but since I dived into the shadows within the blink of an eye I was probably safe. At the very least even if they were looking into me because Twilight wanted to know about thestrals I could reliably escape… probably. I had a Dark spell now so theoretically I could create my own shadows.

I looked up at the building noting it was only three stories tall but seemed to have been built out further since none of the houses were built adjacent to it. It seemed rustic… though I suppose that was the charm point.

As I trotted inside I noticed the pony that lived with Redheart working the front desk. Tenderheart, if I remembered correctly. When she noticed me she turned a very dull scarlet. I suppose Redheart might have told stories. That struck me as a bad idea in a heavily populated mare centric town like this. Though from what Luna mentioned, herding was rare. I would probably need to look into it at a later time in case something was wrong with the law on that field but for now I would remain blissfully unaware. If anything I could feign ignorance about the law.

“Um… uh… Gray, right?” Tenderheart broke me out of my whirling thoughts causing me to focus entirely on her. She was still blushing.

“Yes. Hi again… Tenderheart, was it?”

“Yes. How may I help you today Gray? Redheart is making the rounds so she may be a little busy.” Tenderheart tittered slightly though it sounded nervous.

“I can wait. Though is something wrong? You're all jittery.”

“It's Dr. Stable. He's been a bit moody this morning and nopony knows why. He's not a bad pony but he's never been this moody before so nopony knows what to expect. Redheart told me not to worry about it but until he calms down everypony is on edge.” Tenderheart admitted though she was keeping her voice down.

“I see. Sorry to hear that. I know bosses can become tightly wound when under a lotta stress. Still, I need to speak with Red before I head out to do what I'm going to to do.”

“She should be up one floor right now if she's running her usual schedule. Her break starts in five minutes.” Tenderheart informed me and I quietly trotted for the second floor.

If anything the hospital was a bit more open with how they ran things. There weren't any security guards around which made me a bit worried. Then again, all the ponies seemed tightly knit together. A veritable community that actually looked after one another. It was a bit of a culture shock after everything I had seen when I was human.

The stairs up were also a bit weird with how they were spaced apart. I knew why they were like that but it was weird to me still. All those little things that seemed to be similar to before were different to account for my new limbs.

I perused the halls looking for Red. I passed by a unicorn stallion with a brown coats and blonde mane. His glasses were slightly skewed and he seemed perturbed about something. I wisely took a different hallway when I noticed his name tag read Dr. Stable. I didn't need to meet that pony today and go under fire from his bad mood.

It took a few minutes to actually find her as she seemed to be sitting down on one of the hall couches. Her eyes were closed and I trotted up to her booping her snout just because she would make a cute face.

“Look I’m already with somepony. Either leave me alone or I’m tossing you through the closest door.” Redheart growled out.

“That seems extreme…”

“Gray!?” Redheart opened her eyes clearly shocked that I was in front of her. I booped her snout one more time and she scrunched up seeming a bit confused. Before she could stop me from doing anything else I pulled her in for a very deep kiss. Luckily, I didn’t have any other ponies around me, at least I thought so.

“Calmed down now?”

“Mmrgh… Always trying to ease things over with a little kissing… It’s nothing Gray. I’m just a bit tired from everything that happened.” Redheart admitted sighing in exasperation as her eyes softened when they looked at me.

“Is it cause Dr. Stable is all stressed out or something? Tenderheart mentioned that when I came to look for you.”

“Him…? N-no… he’s not the problem. I’m just getting used to working the normal nine to five again. Though I gotta know something. Why are you coming to check up on me?” Redheart quirked an eyebrow looking into my eyes to try and guess what I was up to.

“If you say so. I’m actually planning to go look for those things we talked about a while back. The thing you did while we had that nice forest retreat?”

“Oh… Oh! Right I got it. Yeah. Where are you going?” Redheart questioned me… looking a bit sad.

“Manehattan. I’m going to every city but everypony is busy right now. Unless you want me to stick around till you get off work?”

She seemed to ponder things over as she held a hoof over her muzzle rubbing it back and forth. It took a while until she finally seemed to make a decision.

“I’ll be fine while you’re out. You’re a big stallion and I got utmost confidence in ya.” Redheart chuckled as she pretended to bop me on the cheek with her hoof.

She was being pretty playful at this point but I couldn't put my hoof on why. I quietly nodded and gave her a hug before I trotted into the shadows and began hopping towards Baltimare.

Redheart thought things over as she was apt to do. She knew she had to be patient with what was going on since Dr. Stable had been a little pushy over the morning finding excuses to be in the same area as her multiple times. It got to the point where she threatened to knock him in the stomach that finally made him back off, at least for the moment.

Unbeknownst to her, Dr. Stable had watched everything that happened. His eyes had darkened the moment that that filthy monster laid his lips on her. She needed to be saved from this blasphemous relationship she was most likely coerced into. Dr. Stable was not the most open minded pony although it probably stemmed from not getting what he considered his. Nopony really knew.

“Stupid… she doesn't know how dangerous those bat ponies really are. I got to save her.” Stable growled out before quickly heading to his office to plan things out.

Redheart looked around noticing the clip-clop of hooves trailing away. She sighed slightly feeling that something stupid was about to happen.

“I really hope that that wasn't Dr. Stable…” Redheart grimaced as she picked herself up. She held a hoof up to her lips and took solace and hope that she would have the strength to deal with everything today.

I quickly flew out of the shadows back into Baltimare proper. The city didn't seem as lively that morning. There were still guards around trudging up the sewers and newspapers still told the story of four missing guards that still hadn't appeared.

I grit my teeth and quietly flew out of the city due north following the coast. If they were taken by the heartless then I had already destroyed them. I still hadn't met any of their nobodies which left me at an impasse. Kingdom Hearts rules on how the heartless and nobodies work were weird. I knew I could get them back if I found their nobodies and destroy them but that could take forever.

I sailed along the coast taking in the sights while my mind was in a tumultuous flurry of decisions and debates. Luna knew of me and I still didn't know what kind of bureaucracy existed in this place. I know for a fact that Twilight is looking into me though it's because I'm a thestral. Each of my mates have a lot of baggage and I really should have dealt with it then and there.

That problem I would have to trust that Red could deal with it. She was the most capable out of all the ponies with Octavia being second in composure. The only reason she wasn't was because of those two nights together. She was very loud…

I shook my head as I finally reached around where Manehattan was… only to come upon a bridge. The whole city was located on an island with skyscrapers dotting every available space. Lights were billowing from each rooftop and neon signs dotted several of those buildings. Certainly I felt like I was visiting New York and the parallels were pretty spot on. Though I wondered if the demeanor of ponies there would be the same.

I flapped my way across the bridge finally feeling that I had found another city to explore. I hadn't even done that for Baltimare since I was dragged into the sewers for the keyhole of this city. Ponies dotted the streets and filled them up wall to wall. There were even Pony drawn carriages… which confused me since there were ponies in the carriages. Equestria still doesn't make sense to me all of the time.

I found the first roof I could to merely survey the city and luckily nopony was actually around. It seemed everypony remained grounded for ease of communication. Useful for sure but nothing could be told to me about what I was looking for.

I really wished that I had talked to Yen Sid on whether the keyblade could locate keyholes but we never reached that topic before I left back home. We had spent hours chatting about keyblade forms and stances and magical abilities. It was useful for combat but when it came to searching for keyholes to lock it left a lot to be desired.

I rolled my eyes and carefully pulled my keyblade out. Nopony was flying above me and nopony was looking up towards me so it seemed to be for the best. The rooftop was luckily bare as well as far as I could see.

I placed the keyblade in my hooves and pointed it in different directions checking to see if it pulsed or pulled in certain directions. It didn't. I tried holding it like a dowsing rod… and all I felt was foolishness.

“Can't you help lead me towards the keyhole?”

I was joking at the time but the keyblade seemed to have a sense of humor as I was pulled along by it along the rooftop. It pointed off in the distance where the largest building stood though I was angled downwards below it.

“Again!? I already had to go underneath to lock one up and you're telling me again?”

In response it tapped against my hoof once. Most likely a yes to my query. I shook my head and sighed. I would need to wait until night to actually do anything so as to not draw a lot of attention to myself. There was no telling what would happen if anypony saw me trying to break into a building for a reason they didn't know anything about.

I summoned my armor checking it for any damages since my battles against Kuro. It seemed to still be slightly scorched and there were some claw marks in the back from what I could see. I would need to go see the Three Fairies later to get this fixed up but for the moment it would suffice. I took off and coasted down to the ground to… mingle with the random ponies of the city.

“Woah… that ain't somethang ya see everyday. Who the heck is he?” A small filly peered around the corner. She had been getting away from everypony to relax a bit when she saw a strange stallion on the roof.

At first she would stop him from doing anything bad. Then he had summoned a weapon and she nearly panicked. She couldn't run for the door since he was too close to the entrance, he would have heard her run.

Babs Seed was many things but she wasn't foolish about getting near anypony with a sword. Even if said sword just looked like a giant key. She was getting ready to sneak into a hiding spot when she noticed him talking to it.

‘Great, he's crazy too. Next you're gonna tell me the sword responds to him.’ Babs cruelly thought languishing at the very idea.

The sword pulled him along answering his cryptic question dragging him towards and edge and pointing off in the distance. Babs had to cover her eyes and mentally groan because it was that unbearable to even conceive.

He trotted over to the center of the building by the sound of the shuffling gravel on the roof which made her tense up. Trying desperately to turn smaller she didn't want to die this way. When she looked around he was not facing her hiding spot seeming to still stare off where the weird key sword had pointed.

In a flash of light he was covered head to toe in armor. It was covered in scorching marks where flames had locked against it and there were three gouged out marks on his back. It was the coolest thing she had seen. He seemed to check over the armor paying special attention to the markings and… sighing. It was a weird moment for sure but he was probably wistful about his time. All heroes and villains were. She just didn't know what he was at that moment.

The armor disappeared and he opened his bat wings before floating down into one of the alleys. She raced for the edge to see where he went only to catch him slowly blend into the crowd of ponies and disappear into the menagerie of colors that dotted the street.

Flipping her pink mohawk mane out of her eyes she was curious. Extremely curious. She wanted to go check this stuff out but was stopped when she noticed her older sister behind her.

“Sup Sunflower. Something wrong?” Babs uttered trying to keep up her tough girl act.

“Mare don't take that tone round me. Ya can relax. Mom says it's time for lunch.” Sunflower answered before looking closer as her sister. “You good? You seem a bit weird, like pale weird.”

“Oh… no. Thought I saw something weird. There was a bat here on the roof but it flew away.” Babs replied before trotting into the building.

“A bat. Weird, those critters usually hate the bright lights of the city.” Sunflower muttered as she went inside closing the door behind her.

I entered the large crowd keeps my my wings folded and enveloped into themselves to hide the tips. Nopony needed to know I was a thestral. I also needed to find something to do with myself until I could let my plan unfold. In hindsight, it wasn't so much a plan as it was a mission statement. I would unlock the doors as I went and look for the keyhole.

It was so simple that I knew something would complicate it within minutes of entering the building. I was planning for the worst since I was in a city that I hadn't figured out yet. That alone made me slightly anxious. I looked for the closest restaurant and decided to calm my nerves by eating. It didn't actually help my nerves in the slightest but I needed something to do.

Eventually I settled on a corner diner called Toasted Oats. I wondered if that was also a pony’s name or just the name of the diner. It wasn't much to look at resembling a fifties style diner complete with strangely shaped jukebox.

I was ushered into a booth quickly by a hostess who looked like she didn't want to be there. I ignored it and was seated down strangely there was a pink unicorn in the seat behind me.

“Cadence, why are we even in Manehattan?” A white unicorn with blue tone mane that was sitting next to the pink unicorn awkwardly asked.

“C’mon Shiny. We're shopping for new things besides when are you ever gonna have the chance for another day off.” Cadence answered clearly enjoying her plate of food.

“Maybe… still did you have to cast that spell?” ‘Shiny’, as I knew him, chided the mare.

“We need to be incognito, you know that.” Cadence answered back defending her position.

“It's just… I've been getting weird looks while I'm walking around with you. We should have hid my coat color as well.” He mentioned offhandedly clearly uncomfortable for some reason.

“True. Shouldn't let Shining Armor look like a cheater. Don't worry you can make it up to me later for going around with that pink unicorn later.” Cadence smirked clearly in control of the situation.

“This is because I forgot your specialty saddlebags, isn't it?” Shining winced slightly.

“Kind of.” Cadence admitted.

I chuckled slightly under my breath as the waitress brought me a cup of coffee. I think the couple noticed me since the mare’s ears swiveled to my direction. I pretended to be ignorant of everything and remained aloof.

Vinyl and Octavia entered the recording studio and went to work on their specialty project. Ever since a few weeks before the Summer Sun Celebration.

“Okay Tavi, let's get started. I’ll start the wubs you come in with the strings.” Vinyl mentioned as she powered up her turntable.

“Yes, yes I got it.” Octavia muttered as she took up her cello carefully taking her bow and holding it against the strings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7qxeXNqCHw

What began was a very intense session of jamming out while the two worked on a specialty song at Vinyl’s behest. The very tones had shaken the very room they were in and left the two mares breathing intensely from the wubs.

“Cool. Sounds like we got something done.” Vinyl chuckled as she joined the now disheveled Octavia.

“I would hope so. Now I must head to the orchestra and get ready for the Grand Galloping Gala. You know how the royals enjoy my playing.” Octavia proudly stated.

“Don’t you hate being there though?” Vinyl quickly shot making certain to pull her sunglasses down so Octavia could see the look she was giving her.

“Of course I do. But this year we all have somepony to go with so I play well enough and maybe I’ll get to enjoy it this time.” Octavia mentioned hiding the blush that spread across her face.

“Three questions for ya. Why would he want to go? How are you gonna get enough tickets for all of us? Finally, Why should we go?” Vinyl grumbled out. The music choices for the Gala had always been lackluster and the lack of decent ponies became discomforting.

“One, he would always want to make us happy plus if he is looking for those keyholes as he mentioned back with Yen Sid he would find this as the perfect opportunity to investigate. Two, I have my contacts with Raven Inkwell, Celestia’s personal attendant and she mentioned getting my more tickets should I find ponies that wanted to go thanks to a favor I did for her before. Also Spitfire has multiple tickets already because of her status as the Wonderbolts Captain. Finally, I’ll make sure to ask Gray to personally convince you. One way or another that silver tongue of his will convince you.” Octavia boasted her answers completely countering anything Vinyl was stating as fault with the plan.

“Celestia damn you…” Vinyl mumbled clearly unamused that it would actually work.

“You good till I get back?” Octavia stopped and placed a hoof on her shoulder. She knew about Neon and his weird habits.

“Yeah. I’m meeting with Ditzy later. Apparently I promised to go shopping with her a while back. I don’t really remember saying that but I might as well go along with it. I think it will be good for me.” Vinyl stumbled over her words getting softer with each one.

“Be careful out there Vinyl.” Octavia tapped her forehooves together as she watched Vinyl leave the studio.

“Are we done with this cloud bank!” Sunshower yelled out.

“Yeah! Head to the southwestern section with those rain clouds!” A pegasus with blue coat and blonde mane screamed out.

“Got it!” Sunshower called back.

Spitfire joined the rest of the crew placing on her captain’s jacket and inspecting the troops. Fleetfoot had mentioned that Soarin would be back that very day and she had psyched herself up for this meeting.

It would be weird for sure but she had come to terms with it. She stretched out slightly and cracked her neck attempting to calm that tiny voice that was screaming in the back of her head. She still wasn't ready to meet with him again.

In a flurry of emotions she had moved on in the span of a few days. She even slept with said pony a little fast… though not as fast as she used to. She had hated taking her time but at this point she forced herself to, to not be taken in by a pair of wings.

Spitfire flew around the academy looking thoroughly at all her reserves and hopefuls. It helped quell that building anger she still harbored. Tartarus knows no fury such as a mare scorned but Soarin had when she had found him canoodling with another rabid fanmare.

Spitfire took a deep breath and prepared herself.

Fresh Coat looked over her studio. It was a far cry from what would assume an artiste would have but she liked simpler places. The small Canterlot loft was full of palettes with different paintings of random things.

There were several me from her fruit painting days, some from went she painted ponies and plenty of landscapes. None of them actually feature in galleries but she was persistent if nothing else. She also thought of what she wanted to do.

Certainly being in a herd was a big deal but her mom was in one and she actually expounded on how safe it felt. Though she had three moms so that was weird in of itself. She never knew whether she would call the other mares her moms or aunts. Pushing the thoughts away she needed to make a decision.

If she moved to Ponyville she could open a studio within Gray’s house but she would be further from her family. They were close and had put the money on her loft to follow her dreams as they put it. She did want to meet up with Octavia and Vinyl before the day was up but she needed to ask somepony else first.

She needed to ask Water Color, her mom, first.

60. Manehattan: Princess

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Author's Notes:

Hello there. I'm posting a chapter. Yup... there it is. Enjoy.

Also... Cadence will be given a little more spotlight in this story. Probably.

Also Sixty chapters of Locksmith. No real reason to celebrate but I'd like to thank all of you for sticking around for over sixty chapters of Gray's story. It's a bit disjointed but at the very least it is cohesive and remains consistent in what I portray all characters as.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine a while ago about Gray's character. At first he only could tell me the superficial points. Gray acts like a loner based on his back story for the end of the world. He had a happy life then it slowly faltered till he was the only one left. Even when he came to pony world he was ready to handle things himself. Circumstance pushed him into including others and over time he came to rely on them. I explained how his choices made him change. How he would choose to stay human and face the end fighting to the bitter end.

I've tried to make him a complex character but I don't know if I have succeeded. Though if I've had our attention this long maybe you can tell me. Do you think him a complex character or is he a bit cookie cutter as a cliche magnet? Either way he's probably gonna be the same character you've read for sixty chapters and the foreseeable future.

I meandered my way through town taking care to explore all reaches within my view. It had been that way since the diner. I did notice my entourage following me. The pink unicorn mare and the white unicorn stallion had taken an interest in me for the past two hours. If I hadn't overheard them talk about Luna I would have been worried.

“Just gotta wait… “ I muttered under my breath as I finished my fruit dish. Apparently in a world of ponies fruit was always the main dish.

“Is… one… Luna’s?” Whispers flocked to my ear which were directly behind me.

I made certain not to turn around as I called my waitress over paying for my food and heading out of the diner.

“Did he overhear you?” Cadence muttered as she got in close to Shining.

“Maybe. We should see why he was here. Luna doesn't send her guards out without reason.” Shining postulated quickly paying for their own meal as the two pursued the thestral.

I kept to the ground weaving through the crowds leaving little room between me and my followers. They weren't hard to see whenever I craned my head around to not get hit by traffic.

They were actually pretty good about it as well. As much as I trained caution to not give away that I saw them I noticed that they were getting good at keeping up. Shining Armor would use his physique to keep a clear route for them to follow while Cadence would use her height to keep track of me. We never locked eyes when we crossed sights but I think she knew I knew they were following.

It got a little hairy as I reached the first intersection and decided I needed to be more proactive with my escape. When the light shifted to allow ponies to walk I trotted along till I reached the first alley. Immediately I hopped into the shadows escaping my royal entourage allowing me some peaceful rest.

“Where did he go?” Shining looked through the alley even picking up several of the objects that littered it in case he was hiding within them.

“He knew. He knew we were following him. Hm… why does Princess Luna have one of her Night Guards in this city? She won't be awake for another couple hours so we can't ask her just yet.” Cadence frowned as she lit up her horn casting a spell to locate anypony hiding on the rooftops. No one was there.

“Can't we just wake her up now?” Shining pointed out.

“Yes. But then you're gonna have to deal with her mood when she teleports here and screams at you for ruining her sleep schedule. Banishment doesn't actually allow you to sleep, ya know.” Cadence countered to Shining’s chagrin.

“Well… should we continue with our day? Don't want to let it go to waste over a mysterious pony.” Shining chuckled though he quickly stopped when he noticed the look his marefriend was wearing.

“I want to know why he was here.” Cadence stated resolute in her demeanor. Ever since Luna had returned she wanted to get more involved with the politics of the world. A Night Guard working his way through Manehattan was screaming at her to investigate.

“Yes dear…” Shining rolled his eyes though acquiescing to her wants. As much as he wanted to deny it she was really hot when she was determined.

Vinyl had met up with Ditzy in the Canterlot Common Markets within a few minutes of leaving the studio.

“Hey! Over here!” Ditzy cried out waving her hooves like a crazy mare.

“I'm coming. Hold your apples.” Vinyl grumbled as she joined her at an apple stand.

“I'm holding my apples. Now what?” Ditzy asked as she was indeed holding two apples.

“Never mind. So what's up Ditzy?” Vinyl started realizing her mistake. Ditzy liked to troll her innocently enough through wordplay… but she wasn't as prepared for it as she wanted to be.

“Well aside from the sky nothing really. I just felt we should hang out sometimes. Even with Dinky a mare needs a day to herself right?” Ditzy responded chuckling slightly as Vinyl tried to reassemble some semblance of patience.

“Right. Looks like the adoption went well. How's the little Dinkster enjoying life with you?” Vinyl softened her words since she knew this was something she had wanted to do for a long time.

“It's great! She called me mom. It fluffed my feathers so much I nearly destroyed my house… again. Her sister is going through her rebellious phase but even she started to consider me mom too.” Ditzy pounced atop Vinyl before dragging her up into the air slightly for a grand hug that would end all other hugs. Unless Pinkie showed up then it would have been a hug off.

“I'm… glad… for… you.” Vinyl groaned as she felt her ribs starting to crack before she was unceremoniously dropped to the ground. She almost resembled an accordion at this rate.

“What about you? I heard you got a new colt in your life. Sounds exciting~!” Ditzy nearly sang out before Vinyl dragged her down in her telekinetic field keeping her from singing it out.

“Now, now let's not go crazy. Yeah I'm seeing somepony but it's also in a herd got that?” Vinyl groused as she dragged Ditzy to a small cafe they sat down at. Luckily, hoof traffic was slow that day so nopony was bothering them.

“Oh my. How scandalous? How many ponies are part of it?” Ditzy raised her hoof getting some tea for the two of them. It took Vinyl waiting until the server left to actually respond.

“Six…” Vinyl whispered under her breath.

“Six! T-that's a whole lot of ponies! Two stallions right?” Ditzy reasoned out.

“No… six mares, one stallion.” Vinyl admitted before getting more shocked looks from Ditzy.

“Are you crazy!? No stallion can handle that many mares.” Ditzy slowly calmed to a whisper. “Does he have a brother?”

“Mare, weren't you seeing somepony already?” Vinyl challenged before it got any further into her choices.

“Huh? No I wasn't. I was asked by somepony named Zephyr something but he was really… weird.” Ditzy explained as she drank what was left of her tea.

“Oh… well, anyways no he doesn't. But we could always add one more. Nudge nudge wink wink if you get my drift.” Vinyl joked around.

“Hm… I'll think about it. I still don't think it's possible for one stallion to take care of that many mares.” Ditzy shook it off. “Why are you trying to add more?”

“He's alone right now and we don't like leaving him alone for so long. He has a habit of wandering when on his own.” Vinyl lied, technically. The adventures through the stars had shown that Gray needed to travel. The fact that he was always on the move and sometimes not sleeping unless forced convinced her.

“Oh. Well I’ll think about it I guess. You must be the Alpha then huh?” Ditzy assumed as her eyes focused on a muffin tray coming by.

“Heh… about that…” Vinyl nervously giggled.

“Vinyl…” Ditzy stopped herself from eating her muffin.

“Tavi is the Alpha actually. Though trust me I know they'd want to add more. I'm like psychic about this.” Vinyl insured the confused pegasus.

“I'm probably gonna need to talk to Octavia then what this is all about. Eventually, I have been busy being a mom lately.” Ditzy gushed slightly about being a mom which Vinyl took as an affirmation that she would want to be part of a herd. It just needed a little planing to pull off.

“No Brass, I just need extra tickets for some guests.” Octavia insisted to her fellow musician.

“Octavia you know it's hard to get these. And you want two more?” Beauty Brass, an earth pony with arctic blue coat and brown poofed up mane, hissed out as she adjusted her sousaphone.

“Yes. I've been asking you for the entirety of practice. I know we had extras since some of our guests cancelled due to prior engagements.” Octavia groused clearly upset by the lack of interest in their craft.

“Fine. Just put their names on the guest list and I'll get them ready for later.” Brass rolled her eyes and handed over the list.

Octavia quickly signed down Nebula Gray, Vinyl Scratch, Fresh Coat and Sunshower Raindrops. She would have to talk to Spitfire later about setting up for Redheart.

Unbeknownst to her Treble Clef had been watching her actions. The same dark blue unicorn stallion with the sharp note cutie mark that had confronted her the day in the cafe. He wanted to erase those names but the look his friend Chorus Break, a unicorn with a silver coat and heliotropic mane smack him on the head. Chorus forced him away and the two left the concert hall.

“I see you’re back in good health.” Spitfire answered evenly as her… former coltfriend stood before her.

“Spits I- “ Soarin started.

“Don’t. Look… we tried and it didn’t work out. Let’s try and be professional otherwise we gotta talk to the manager. You know how that will go.” Spitfire held a hoof up taking a deep breath.

“Right…” Soaring answered clearly repentant about how things went. Though he didn’t push it. “I’ll rejoin the ranks then captain.”

“On the wings then, Soarin.” Spitfire commanded as Soarin took to the sky joining the other cadets on their rounds.

“Everything okay there boss?” Fleetfoot flapped down next to Spitfire spreading a wing over her back.

“No… but I’ll get over it.” Spitfire calmly stated as she looked over her clipboard on all the members doing their rounds.

“Hey… at least you found some new stallion right?” Fleetfoot tried to point out. Spitfire only stared at her. “I’ll just get back to my rounds then.”

Spitfire had agreed with Fleetfoot and while she didn’t want to show it… she was kind of a wreck at this moment. They had had good times… one incident tore them apart. A part of her felt as though she was rushing into things with Gray but it was how she would be able to move on. With a quick stretch she took off and joined the others making certain that they practiced their event paths.

Redheart was annoyed. For the past few hours Dr. Stable had been the only ones on call. This left her at the mercy of a bozo who had spent the last few free moments when not doing his job hitting on her.

“Doctor… I’m in a relationship already.” Redheart growled out as she checked on another patient. “Blood pressure seems normal. I suggest resting at home and drinking some more cranberry juice.”

“Thank you Redheart. Always a peach.” The patient chuckled as he laid back down waiting for his release papers. The two trotted away leaving behind the patient and returning back to their rounds and debate.

“Look just give me the chance. You never know, I could sweep you off your hooves away from the herd life. Besides sharing with five other mares? That sounds like you’ll never have the chance to yourself.” Dr. Stable pleaded almost bringing up some valid points.

“I said no. I’m happy with what I’m part of. Now stop.” Redheart demanded honestly not caring about the point brought up. She actually enjoyed how relaxed everything was. There was no heavy stress and a place where she belonged that was so special not even the princesses knew of it.

“But…” Dr. Stable started.

“No buts. Just no.” Redheart cut him off and immediately stomped away.

Dr. Stable waited until she was gone and stepped into an empty room snarling at the events. Him sweeping her off her hooves and leading her to a better life was the only thing that was on his mind. It didn’t go as planned and the only thing he saw which bled into his sight was that blasted thestral frenching his mare. She was his. He slowly left the room replacing his mask back on and letting his facade carry him through the rest of his shift until Dr. Horse came in.

“So… that’s what is going on mom.” Fresh Coat placed her tea cup down. It was confusing that everypony in town liked tea. She prefered colas and the like but her parents were both old fashioned having both tea and coffee and she didn’t want to be heavily wired for this day in particular.

“Oh thank Celestia you found somepony. I was worried when you still were painting and hadn't found an artists to settle with.” Water Color sighed in relief wiping her brow with her nearly paint covered hoof. It was hard to tell what color her coat was at this point though her mane was the same dark ivory as her daughters with the same magenta eyes.

“Mom…!” Fresh Coat shouted causing Color to titter at her daughter’s indignation.

“Come on sweetie. I was young once. So when can I expect grandchildren?” Color immediately brought up.

“Mom! We've barely known each other for two weeks!” Fresh responded knowing that it was more like a month due to all the adventuring.

“And that's two weeks too many. I expect another paintbrush whizzing about soon.” Color stated clearly not caring about how much of a blushing stammering mess her daughter was in. Then her father trotted in.

“What's this about grandchildren?” Steady Palette glared at nopony in particular. He was a unicorn with an eggshell color coat and dark brown mane. His mark was a paintbrush with a bone shaped handle.

“Fresh joined a herd. Finally, right?” Color nonchalantly stated. That made Fresh wince as her father rounded on her.

“Is this true Fresh Coat?” Steady asked sounding intimidating.

“Uh… yes.” Fresh squeaked out.

“Grandchildren. Get on it.” Steady stated so bluntly that Fresh couldn't hold her surprise anymore.

“WHAT!?” Fresh screamed as her whole world view tumbled around her.

Sunshower returned home just as the sun was setting. The clouds had been especially unruly as they rolled in from the sea. After finishing up it was a brisk flight back to Ponyville which was really uneventful in her eyes.

Her adventures had made her more aware of the world at that point. Everything seemed… more mundane. The swirling clouds of Nibel had been… exciting to the point where she flew through the Everfree to get back. It had been exhilarating even when she knew it was dangerous.

Sunshower meandered through town before spotting Redheart trotting to Gray’s home. It was bonding time.

“Hey Red! How's it going?” Sunshower daintily flapped down putting her hoof around her herd mate.

“Huh? Oh… Sunshower, its you. Sorry it's been stressful today.” Redheart groused as the two trotted together.

“What? What happened?” Sunshower stopped their trip before Redheart pulled them into Gray’s home using her keyblade to open the door. When the two made it in she locked the door with the keyblade. It's magic made a seal on the door breaking them out of their silent demeanor.

“Didn't know it could do that… wait. Red, what's wrong?” Sunshower stopped her inquisitiveness and focused on the problem occurring.

“Doctor at the hospital is being pushy. I was this close to kicking him through the roof but I controlled myself. I'm pretty sure at this point I could kick him through the roof.” Redheart harshly sighed releasing all the tension trapped within her.

“Really? I didn't know that doctors were that pushy. Couldn't you talk to your PR manager?” Sunshower stated almost as if it was the most obvious notion.

“I already talked to Pony Resources. They'll step in if he does it again tomorrow but since nopony else saw him they need to catch him in the act. If they don't I'll take matters into my own hooves.” Redheart glared dangerously out into the twilight skies.

“In the meantime since we're here… let's do makeovers!” Sunshower quietly cheered which caused Redheart to cringe.

“Really? You're serious?” Redheart deadpanned.

“Well… since Gray obviously isn't here and we are let's try it out and have some fun getting to know each other.” Sunshower clapped her hooves together as she flew around the room closing the blinds. All of them were heavy and managed to block out the light.

Neither noticed the stallion stalking outside the house. Dr. Stable was going to make Redheart see the truth. He knew he could do it.

A dark crystal shone deeply within one of Rarity’s jewel boxes housing the remnants of the Nightmare Soul. It could feel the darkness emanating from somepony somewhere. With the power it had accumulated it reached out over the magical leylines that dotted the world of Equus until it found the hapless stallion wallowing in his own misery envious of another.

That other had become her mortal enemy, the traitorous thestral who had besmirched his heritage and attacked his Princess of the Night. A conduit for her powers was all she needed.

Carefully attaching to his soul she forced herself deep into his mind corrupting it. Leaving a small shadow to siphon the envious spirit he possessed Nightmare Soul would eventually have enough power for her true plan.

She would corrupt an Element of Harmony.

I watched from the rooftops as several ponies meandered through the highly lit up town. Night had fallen and I had reached a decent vantage point where I could see the building where the keyhole was located.

Hotel Troubadour was what it was called, standing ten stories and packed to the brim with ponies trotting in an out. Unfortunately I also noticed that the two ponies from earlier were part of the crowd. From my memories I knew who Shining Armor and Mi Amore Cadenza, Cadence, and their importance to this world. I really didn't want to have them find me in any capacity. Royalty and Keyblade wielders do not mix well. Atlantica proved that pretty well and the lack of action could cost the entire world.

As soon as the alleyway adjacent to the hotel was empty I flapped down wearing my armor keeping to the shadows. I tapped my keyblade against the door and watched it flung open. As I stepped inside I tapped the door again locking it. Leveling my keyblade out I used it as a dowsing rod letting it vibrate in my wings to lead me towards where the lock could be.

That was when I smelled it… the darkness seeping in from further below the building. Following the staircase down into the basement of the hotel I found the boiler room and several broken walls. Something had been digging through the walls down leaving behind a giant hole. I decided to follow the largest one keeping quiet as I flapped down the ninety degree angled tunnel. The darkness emanating from the hole was actually palpable making me want to wretch. That was how bad it actually felt to be within this place.

I had a long trek ahead of me as the tunnel below wasn’t lit up leaving me to rely on my night vision. I was glad that I was a thestral for all this. Hopefully… it was only heartless down here.

“Sir!” An orange pony with blue mane and orange coat called to Shining Armor keeping his voice down.

“Yes Flash? I thought I made it clear that we were on break for today.” Shining groaned as Cadence tried to keep him from making a scene. “I didn’t even expect you to be here in the first place. Why are you here?”

“Sorry bout that sir. We have had reports of weird creatures with glowing yellow eyes showing up around this hotel. Right now we’ve been evacuating this building carefully until we’ve found what is causing this. We need to get you two out of here now. I have Sergeant Feldspar searching the rooms right now.” Flash Sentry responded.

“We’re not going anywhere. If ponies are in trouble I shall stay to make certain things don’t go out of control.” Cadence stated a fire burning in her eyes.

“Damn… Okay Cadence and I will start searching the area. Keep evacuating the building and make sure that all the ponies remain a block away.” Shining commanded as he took point as the two began to search through the building.

“Captain Armor! We’ve had contacts in the basement!” Sergeant Feldspar called out as several small bipedal creatures make of what looked like ink or shadows crawled out of other shadows stumbling around towards the ponies.

“I think not!” Cadence shouted as she let go several magical beams piercing through the monsters.

Shining grabbed Feldspar dragging him away from the monsters that appeared as the Princess and her knight fought through the shadows into the basement. As they kept going down they noticed that there were several holes in the ground caused by unknown means. They weren’t very big but their appearance was disturbing.

“What are those things?” Cadence whispered as the two made their way around the boilers.

“I don’t know but right now… this place is unstable. We need to quarantine this place off. Let’s get out of here Cadence before we lose our footing down here.” Shining explained as Cadence kept looking over some of the holes in the wall.

The shadows were weak enough to not be in the way but something was wrong. They were coming from somewhere but she couldn’t see anything down the holes. It was like there was no way up from that far below. Charging up her horn she stopped a few from attacking her Shiny which he appreciated. Something was very wrong.

“Cadence! Let’s go!” Shining called out noticed his marefriend wandering too close to the center of the room.

“Coming!” Cadence called out… up until she couldn’t feel her hoof touching solid ground. It took a few seconds before she realized… there was nothing underneath her.

‘Is this a comic thing…?’ Cadence thought as she started to fall. Before Shining could catch her in his magic another shadow came up jumping on his back. The second it took to buck it off his back was a second too long as she fell into the darkness back first.

As she tried to open her wings in a panic they caught on the sides of the holes scraping them up badly. Cadence fell down into the darkness with damaged wings and the light of her horn. She quickly gathered up her magic ready to catch herself as the ground came closer and closer. With a bright flash she formed a hard light slide that caught her allowing her to skid downwards onto the ground.

“Cadence! Cadence! Are you ok!?” Shining Armor almost fell into the hole managing to catch himself.

“Sir! The entire building is secure but the monsters are trying to spill out into the streets.” Feldspar came down warning Captain Armor of the dangers.

“Cadence fell down into the darkness. We have to get down there. Get Flash down here now!” Armor commanded only to get pulled back by Feldspar.

“We can’t sir! Flash was busy keeping the monsters at bay and got injured by these strange balls of darkness with teeth! His wings are shot and the rest of the guards are keeping the monsters at bay!” Feldspar relayed as Shining started to have a conniption.

“Cadence!” Shining cried out as Feldspar was forced to grab his captain and drag him out of the basement as more monsters started to fill the basement.

‘Huh… that’s weird.’ I looked down at the ground to the pink pony princess lying on her back in front of me. I had no idea where she came from. When she saw me looking down at her her hooves were crossed in front of her as if covering up something.

“W-who are you?” Cadence tried to seem intimidating but with her scraped wings and fizzling horn it wasn’t working.

“Let’s just consider me your savior and leave it at that. A better question is who do you think you are?” I changed my voice slightly just to keep it vague in case she did see me out of armor.

61. Manehattan: Reliance

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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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lQiP2rP40k

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?

62. Manehattan: Envy

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I woke up a while later to a very distressed looking Redheart and Sunshower looking over me. My puncture wounds seemed to have been fully regrown in the intervening time. A cure spell was no substitution for actual rest though it was the best alternative for healing.

“Gray? Can you hear me?” Redheart whispered into my ear causing me to crane around my neck just to look at her.

“Yeah… how long was I out for?”

“Two hours. What happened to you? Before the cure spell could take effect I noticed several puncture wounds on your side. Did something show up in Manehattan?” Redheart immediately grabbed my chin forcing me to look her in the eyes.

“Heartless invaded the city… kinda. They found one of the keyholes and were trying to get to the heart. Would have meant the end of Equestria but it was locked by yours truly.”

“They got in? I thought the barrier thingie was keeping them out!?” Sunshower interjected and tumbled into my bed which apparently I was laying in. When they brought me here was beyond me.

“Remember that even in a world covered in light there is still darkness within. Basically the heartless can still grow if there is enough darkness to breed within. Let's be honest… from what I've seen in Manehattan, the city is full of more ruthless ponies.”

“Well… you're not wrong about it. Still for them to actually hurt you? The heartless so far haven't been able to do much to you in the first place. What was it?” Sunshower pondered the state of affairs at the moment.

“Remember how we talked with Yen Sid about how there are different kinds of heartless?”

“You mean the Purebloods and the Emblems right?” Sunshower lifted her head off the bed to look at me.

“Yeah. The Emblem heartless are those that managed to capture a heart which increased their personal power to fit in with whatever world they are on. The Pureblood are made entirely out of darkness and are the more vicious of the two. There are three heartless I really don't want to face alone unless absolutely necessary. The first two are similar enough that you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.”

“Ooh story time~” Sunshower curled up in my blanket with a pillow underneath her. Redheart, after sighing from the sight, reluctantly joined Sunshower. I had to roll my eyes and chuckle at the sight. They were treating it like a sleepover.

“The first is the Demon Tower. The extensive collection of multiple shadow heartless joined together by a large pulsating core. When sufficiently angered it starts flying around becoming the Demon Tide. Same thing only it flies and warps reality to a certain degree.”

“Scary~ what happened next?” Sunshower chimed in completely engrossed by the atmosphere. Redheart wasn't as amused though chuckled despite herself.

“When Nightmare Moon came I had to fight them in succession. They are very difficult opponents usually remaining on the move and out of range of most spells. They almost killed me as well.”

Sunshower remained silent making a little ‘oh’ face as well. Redheart cringed at the thought that I almost died before we met. I remembered having to stumble out of that place covered in blood and nearly catatonic from shock.

“Anyways I survived that encounter by the skin of my teeth. As for this heartless… well the Dark Hide is known as one of the most dangerous of its kind within the Realm of Darkness. I didn't even think that they could spawn here because of how much energy they needed.”

“Gray, honey, we love you but please stop getting distracted.” Redheart cut me off before I could ramble on.

“Right, yes, sorry. Anyways it attacked after I sealed the keyhole and nearly got out into the city. The only reason that it didn't was because the Royal Guard was there on the scene. They kept the heartless within their shield spells but if I wasn't there… well Manehattan might not have been around anymore.”

“I knew one of us should have gone with you.” Redheart grumbled as she rubbed the spot between her eyes. I still didn't know how ponies did that when they didn't have fingers.

“Hindsight… so there's more news…”

“Gray…” Redheart tensed up clearly not knowing where this was going.

“So while there I met a princess, Mi Amore Cadenza. Saved her life and before I could escape the paparazzi took my picture. I think they also got one of me slicing the Dark Hide’s head off.”

Redheart quickly rested her head against my chest and slowly and methodically hit her head against my chest. Sunshower seemed to be tossing ideas if the movement of her eyes was any indication.

“So… what happens now?” Redheart grumbled as she grinder her head against my chest.

“Nothing. I was in my armor and nopony saw what I really look like. Though there might be stories written about a strange knight fighting monsters in Manehattan. I'm sure it won't be a big deal… probably?”

“Well… at least you didn't use any names. Let's just table it for now. I was lucky that I got home when I did.” Sunshower admitted finally understanding the weight of Redheart's worries.

“What did they call you?” Redheart brought up.

“I have no clue… so how was your night? You two seem closer.”

“We just had makeovers… nothing too big.” Redheart blushed as she rubbed a small part of her mane.

“No wonder you two were all dolled up… honestly if I hadn't been injured I would have assumed other things at this moment. And probably taken advantage of it with gusto.”

Both mares blushed and intently brushed their hooves against me as if hitting me to stop. My side was still sore from the claw wounds but if they asked I wouldn't deny to doing anything else.

“You get better first mister flirt.” Sunshower chided me. “Besides I have work in the morning and so does Redheart.”

“Tch… stupid responsibilities.” Redheart growled out under her breath.

While I couldn't do much… my wings were still very flexible.

By morning both Sunshower and Redheart were sleeping soundly with peaceful smiles plastered on their faces. My wings needed to be washed off before I could rest.

“Really need to invest in wing cleaner or something. Probably would make clean ups easier or something like that.”

At this point I was mumbling to myself. A habit I built up from times being alone. One that kept me in a constant thinking state. I was actually worried about the paper coming out. Personally I was hoping that it would remain a local story in Manehattan but at this point I felt as though I was already in debt to fate.

All I could do was wait.

Twilight Sparkle was a very tired mare. After the whole debacle with the Cutecenera that was thrown she wanted nothing more to do than relax for the day reading her newest book.

“Hey Twi! Something weird is going on.” Spike called out only to see Twilight smack her head against her book groaning in frustration.

“It can't be that weird Spike. We always get the newspaper at this time.” Twilight grumbled looking at the rolled of paper.

“No that's not the problem. This is a copy from Manehattan. Apparently teams of pegasi accompanied by certain Wonderbolt members were called in to spread this news around. At least that's what Parcel Post said when he delivered this.” Spike quickly explained.

“That's weird… why would they be sending news from there here…? Let me see that Spike.” Twilight furrowed her brow and picked the paper out of his claw opening it to the front page.

Calamity in Manehattan! A Dark Knight Appears!
Earlier this evening, one building known as Hotel Troubadour, was attacked by strange creatures resembling dark bipedal creatures. Due to visiting royalty the Royal Guard was on hoof keeping the beasts at bay. From rumors floating around that the dignitary was almost killed by these creatures had it not been for the heroics of one pony, one pony who stood alone amongst the monster, whom has been dubbed The Shadow Knight.
Said pony brought Princess Mi Amore Cadenza out of the building safe and unharmed. Though moments later ordered the entirety of the Royal Guard to vacated the plaza outside moments later. Despite insistence of the Captain of the Guard to remain he did as the stranger asked.
From the newly minted wreckage of the hotel came a truly frightening beast as shown in the picture above. With its glowing yellow eyes and monstrous appearance one would be remiss to run away screaming. This pony didn't.
With their own monstrous strength and strange magic that seemed to summon weapons in a cloud of light he bested the beast decapitating it even as the beast’s claws sunk deeper into said pony’s body as seen in the picture below of that moment.
After suffering such a wound one would assume that said pony would need to be taken to a hospital but the a raise of their might keyblade (name pending) they cast a spell that healed their wound almost instantaneously. From this magical prowess one would be remiss that said pony was an alicorn.
Not much is know about the pony in the suit of armor. Many are speculating that they were a pegasus but the instances of magic pull towards unicorns. The physical strength feats of knocking said monster almost forty hooves into the air also make a case for an Earth Pony.. Even then, the wings were part of the armor and no sign of a horn could be seen. Due to the use of magic nopony could tell what kind of pony they were. Not even Princess Mi Amore Cadenza could comment on the status of this pony.
This pony however knows a hero when this pony sees one. Those of Manehattan will be looking forward to more appearances of the mysterious shadow knight and his mysterious keyblade.
Written by Ink Quill

Twilight read through the story once… then twice… then one more time to make certain she hadn’t mistaken what she had read. The monster was horrifying and the fact that it had attacked her brother as well made things a little worse. She didn’t know who this Cadenza pony was but it must have been a big deal at this point.

“Woah… so cool.” Spike muttered as he looked through the story. “This pony blows Rainbow Dash out of the sky with how cool they are.

“I’m sure this is just a sensationalist story Spike. Look let’s send a letter to Princess Celestia about this to get them to stop printing a story like this to get more readers.” Twilight groused clearly unamused by this little prank.

A quick letter to Princess Celestia and Twilight awaited the quick resolution that would come when she put her hoof down. Spike quickly burped up the response and handed it to her.

“Now let’s see what Princess Celestia has to say about this.” Twilight smiled as she read the letter. She reread the letter. Then she did so once more.

Dear Twilight,
This is no mere story. After a thorough investigation and numerous eye witnesses including from Captain Shining Armor it is true that there were monster attacks in Manehattan. Luckily, there were no casualties due in no small part to the rapid response of the guard. It was fortunate, in fact, that this pony appeared out of nowhere, as it were.
After even more thorough investigation we still know almost nothing about either the monsters that attacked, the weapon used to fight them, or the stallion that wielded it. The more dangerous part was that the stallion knew all about the monsters that attacked. For now this matter will be headed by Princess Luna so do not worry about it my faithful student. These matters will be taken care of once we found the stallion in question.
Celestia.

Twilight dropped the letter completely shocked by the news… the news that it was all real. For a moment she completely lost herself to a panic attack since her brother had in fact been in such danger that not even she knew about. Her breathing went shallow and Spike was constantly trying to get her to calm down, even placing a paper bag in front of her muzzle so she could breath into it.

Rainbow Dash was helping Applejack with some minor weather things that morning. Let no one say that she didn’t take her promises seriously. As they settled down for some apple juice the paper was delivered by Parcel Post.

“Where’s Ditzy?” Dash rasped out looking at the stallion.

“Day off I think. Spending it with a friend she wanted to hang out with. Too bad. The story coming in is pretty amazing.” Parcel answered and with a small nod flew off to deliver more of them.

Dash quirked her eyebrow in confusion before taking the paper. She didn’t care about the news except for when the Wonderbolts were mentioned but if it was so awesome that they were delivering it from Manehattan even in Ponyville then it had to be important. She looked through the story… and her scowl intensified when she realized what she was seeing. It was the same knight that had come through for Ponyville… only now in Manehattan, appearing much cooler than anything she could ever be.

“Whatcha got right there, Dash?” Applejack finally got her attention as she took the paper from her distracted hooves.

“Nothing important.” Dash growled out not looking in her direction.

“Woo doggie… that there’s a dangerous lookin critter. And they’re sayin that this knight feller managed to beat it on their own.” Applejack tipped her head back and forth as if in thought. “Reckon this here’s the same feller that saved Ponyville?”

“Probably…” Dash grumbled out.

“What’s got that bee in your bonnet?” Applejack groaned out.

“Look how awesome this pony looks. How am I supposed to compete with that!?” Dash cried out completely lost in her own delusions of awesomeness.

“Dash, it ain’t about looking cool. This here pony did this to protect ponies not to look cool.” Applejack honestly stated.

“I guess… still. What if the Wonderbolts find him? Then my chances of being a Wonderbolt goes down. They did this without even breaking a sweat and appearing badflank as possible. How do I top that?” Dash groaned out as she laid atop the wagon full of apples.

Applejack just rolled her eyes and continued working applebucking for the market that day.

Octavia, Vinyl and Fresh Coat had met up that morning thanks to a quick message through their telepathic network that Gray placed on all of them. Sitting around a small breakfast table in the corner of the restaurant allowed them to speak about whatever they wanted without worrying about being heard. Then the newspapers were stocked and the whole restaurant was full of chatter. Canterlot was all a titter.

“Have you heard about that Shadow Knight?” One pony called out.

“Yeah I heard he’s more than eight hooves tall and so muscular that he could break solid steel.” A mare dreamily sighed.

“I heard he wields several weapons including one that looks like a giant key.” A stallion in another part of the restaurant breathed out almost as if in disbelief.

That got Octavia’s attention which brought Vinyl and Fresh up to speed. Surprised but calm, they gathered one copy of the paper in question… and read.

“What the buck…?” Vinyl’s eyes nearly bugged out of her shades.

“Woah… is this a good thing?” Fresh hissed out already feeling exposed.

“Look… it’s fine. Just stay calm and let’s finish our work before we head home and find out what happened… okay.” Octavia warned as she quietly took a sip of her tea portraying the very picture of elegance.

Vinyl looked under the table noticing that her back hooves were shaking furiously as if she wanted to run off and find out what happened. All of them felt extremely restless when they read the story. The continuing rumors made it worse. Differing stories and opinions clouded their perceptions. All three wanted their day to end already so they could go home.

Spitfire quickly stored away her paperwork as she got ready for a few more routines for the week. It had taken some work but she had finally decided to schedule a day off for herself every week at the very least. The Manager had been very accommodating about the schedule change though she didn’t exactly tell him the reason why. When Soarin had come up… the look on her face made the manager immediately shut his mouth.

The paper soon came in and Fleetfoot handed it to her. When Spitfire read the title… her attention immediately focused on the story and pictures on the page.

“Yeah… that was my reaction. Hope its a stallion. Someone cool like that. Gotta be a catch, am I right?” Fleetfoot giggled.

“Yeah. Quite a catch.” Spitfire rolled her eyes though her back right hoof was shaking slightly and her left wing was twitching. She wasn’t annoyed but maybe a bit territorial about things.

“Still pissed about Soarin…?” Fleetfoot carefully stepped around that issue.

“Huh? No I’m fine. Nothing like that. Just itching to get back into the fray. So beside this, what brings you to my office?” Spitfire quickly changed the subject.

“Oh… uh… just checking on you is all.” Fleetfoot turned her face hoping that her eyes couldn’t be seen.

“The manager put you up to this… didn’t he?” Spitfire growled out.

“Yeah… he was worried you’d put him in traction again.” Fleetfoot admitted wrapping once of her hooves around her shoulder.

Spitfire groaned into her hooves and rolled her eyes when her head finally got back up. “I’m not going to put him in a body cast… again. Look, I found somepony new and I’m gonna stick with him. Besides… he has more staying power so far.”

“Aren’t you in a herd?” Fleetfoot questioned.

“He has a lot of staying power. End of discussion now let’s get out there and run some drills.” Spitfire cut the conversation off right then and there since she was tired of tip hoofing around these sensitive issues. It happened and that was that. There was no need to dig up ancient history.

The two teammates finally got on the field and began practicing Maneuver 24B. Triple helix formation with criss crossing pattern followed by a lightning cloud dismount. In the thick of training Spitfire felt some of the normality returning to her life.

For the life of her… she only felt bored of the situation. There was no challenge and she moved a bit too fast for her team at this point. She needed to find somepony to keep up… keep the team strong.

Celestia sat on her favorite cushion in her private room as she looked over the reports from Manehattan. There were no casualties… but property damage had been extensive. It was the least of her worries though.

Things could be replaced… ponies not so much. Celestia was more worried about the rumors of the Shadow Knight, as her darling niece was quick to call him. Now the story had spread across all of Equestria and she had no idea what the truth of the matter was.

Heartless. The word that Cadence had used to call the monsters that had attacked the hotel. The collective term for the race that had attacked her ponies.

Keyblade. A term Cadence used to describe the weapon that the stallion had used. They had managed to keep gender out of the paper before it was printed.

These two terms seemed to coincide with one another. Luna had poured over the archives and found no mention of either term in any of the books within their extensive libraries. Luckily, there was a spell for that.

Celestia had checked through the forbidden section and all of Star Swirl’s secret sections. She found absolutely nothing. The sheer depth of how much she didn't know was staggering. Pride for knowing as much of Equestria as possible, as much as was reasonably possible, drifted from her mind as she realized that there was nothing about these weapons or monsters.

“Sister! Have you found anything?” Luna called out as she finished another stack of scrolls.

“Luna… there's nothing about this. We have virtually no clue about the threat these monsters pose and we don't know where the one who fought them went.” Celestia grumbled as she laid her head on the table. As much as the cake in front of her tantalized her senses she couldn't enjoy it.

“Then we find this stallion and make him talk.” Luna resolutely stated firmly stamping her hoof down.

“Where?” Celestia instantly shot back.

“Uh… I am unsure. But we shall not do nothing!” Luna exclaimed as she began grasping at straws with ideas. Celestia was certain that Luna mentioning a royal title would draw out the pony of the hour or so she heard amongst the multiple ideas she held.

“I'm certain none of those would work sister. This pony is more mysterious. Even Cadence only was able to glean small tidbits about said pony. The wings appeared to be made of metal and there was no horn adornment on the armor but that doesn't mean that they don't exist especially with the magic we know. Too many uncertainties and so little explanations made it a moot point on what kind of pony they are.” Celestia pointed out quickly bringing up a scroll with everything Cadence had managed to find out.

“Even those are suspect sister. What if they lied about things?” Luna brought up clearly pouring over the list intensely, even if there were only four items on the list.

“While possible… I doubt that to be the case. Something tells me that these items are true. They are indeed a stallion; keyblades are something that exists; heartless are a collective term for the monsters that attacked and there is something called the Heart of the World. That last part has me worried that we know next to nothing about our world. And to top it off some pony who is barely a child when compared to us knows more than the entire collective of our own knowledge on the matter. It's stressful enough keeping the nobles pacified and now there are monsters to deal with as well. We don't even know how they got here!” Celestia glowered as she stamped her hooves against the table. It was reinforced to handle even her tantrums though, so it survived the incident and lived another day.

“Worry not sister. We shall find out more about it eventually.” Luna chimed in giving her sister a small smile.

“Of course. To change the subject… have you found the Badland Thestrals yet?” Celestia quietly asked.

“No. No sightings at all. Though I have found a strong example of one living in Ponyville. They have remained a quiet being out of other pony’s sight for the time being. I am… disturbed by the lack of sightings of any other thestral from the Badlands. It is as if somepony erased them all from existence.” Luna growled out scraping at the marble with her hooves digging out a small furrow.

“Calm yourself sister. We shall find them.” Celestia quickly unfolded her wing drawing Luna in for a hug.

Cadence sipped some tea and quietly concentrated on her thoughts.

‘Knight? Are you there?’ Cadence quietly hummed out in her mind.

There was no answer.

‘That would have been too easy I suppose. I kept my part of our bargain… but I don't know if I should have waited till the Gala to do something about this. Already the ponies are panicking… and clinging to a new hero. So few are actually around nowadays.’ Cadence placed her tea down looking over a few brushes she in front of her.

As she got ready for the day her thoughts kept cycling through the entire incident over and over. She couldn't figure out what the motive for helping others was. She was happy it was given but with all the secrets and information blockage there had to be more to it.

The brush swept through her mane as quickly as possible styling it up to her desires. As she looked in the mirror she remembered the light deep within the darkness. It shined brighter than even Celestia’s sun. It was beautiful.

Slowly lowering her brush she kept looking into her eyes trying to see something that she couldn't place her hoof on. Her eyes seemed locked on a conviction she couldn't figure out. All she knew was that it would come to pass no matter what.

The interview for the paper made certain that everypony knew what was going on. It wasn't the best method but it was the most viable at the moment. A choice she would have to live with.

Dr. Stable clutches at her head constantly as he tried to figure out why they were coming so frequently. He had just received the special report from one of the Manehattan branches. Now his head was on fire. Something was building up under the hood so to speak.

‘Kill him…’A voice whispered into his head.

“What!? Who's there!?” Stable cried out into his bedroom. There was nopony there.

‘Kill! Him!’The voice loudly proclaimed bursting into his brain setting it on fire. The prickling in his mind caused him to writhe on the ground in sheer agony.

“Stop it! Stop it!” Stable screamed at nopony in particular.

“Hey! Stable! Are you good!?” Berry Punch called from next door.

Quickly wiping his face off before he looked out the window he noticed his neighbor looking concerned. He needed a cover story quick.

“Yeah. Sorry about that. I was psyching myself out. Needed to get all the negativity out of me.” Stable chuckled awkwardly.

“Right then… try not to psych yourself out through a wall.” Berry chided before closing her window and returning to her business.

Stable rushed back into his bedroom and buried his head into his pillow. The voice had returned.

‘Kill! Nebula! Gray!’ The voice shouted almost ad nauseum delving deeper into his mind. He couldn't suppress it anymore as he screamed into his pillow.

The voice wouldn't stop.

I had spent most of my day alone since Redheart and Sunshower had very long shifts this particular day. My venture into keeping this herd happy while appreciated also made them work harder to get ready.

So there I was… at home listening to more stories from the little crystal iPod that Merlin gave me a while back. Honestly these moments were very peaceful and appreciated.

I looked back on everything I have done so far. Even the bucket list I had was going pretty well. I had hit an evil alicorn upside her face and lived to tell the tale. That was a mark for the ages.

The trip to Atlantis had been a harrowing adventure that had almost ended them before they had made it through to the city proper. The Leviathan especially made it difficult. The fight against Roarke had proven just how dangerous being a keyblade wielder could actually be.

The Forest of Nibel was an experience that showcased the light in the wrong. The anger of a mother who lost her children and the consequences for favoring one over the other. Kuro had been pacified at the very least and not lost to eternity.

“What was that!?”

My senses were assaulted to something dangerous. I could smell the darkness growing… somewhere in Ponyville… then it disappeared. My plans to remain home were quickly left forfeit because of the unlucky break. I summoned my armor and immediately jumped into a shadow.

Pinkie slammed open the front door of Gray’s home with several ponies ready to party… only for nopony to be there. She quickly zoomed around the house ignoring the basement because it wasn’t Nightmare Night and nopony in their right mind would be down there this time of day.

“Uh… Pinkie? I’m all for a party but… I don’t think they’re home.” Flitter muttered as the other ponies she brought stood outside not wanting to break and enter a building without their inhabitant within.

“But he was here! My Pinkie sense couldn’t have been wrong… though I also felt some pinchy knees so that might have thrown off my timing…” Pinkie fumed as her mane started to straighten slightly from the bad luck.

“Just try again later? He’ll probably be home before you know it.” Flitter suggested which got Pinkie to sigh and nod in agreement.

Reluctantly the pink party pony pronked off for the next birthday bash she was throwing that day. Flitter being the kind mare she was closed the door and led the other ponies away from the house. They didn’t need to be accused of breaking and entering as well.

Pinkie kept a brave face but the constant lack of not throwing the newest guest of Ponyville was throwing her off her game. She had already made a mistake of making chocolate cupcakes when strawberry cupcakes were what the party needed. Nopony noticed… but Pinkie did. She noticed it that very moment they exited the oven but it was too late.

It felt like some force outside her control was making this a running gag and screwing with her just because they knew how she would act… but that was silly. She knew there wasn’t some omniscient force writing all her actions and dialogue down.

“Now that would be silly.” Pinkie giggled to herself… before stopping and staring around just in case.

I felt some weird disturbance in the Everfree. After the problem with the Dark Hide I was hoping I wouldn’t get dragged into something stupid. It felt like this was going to be a predicament I never expected.

‘Why does it feel like I should focus on the triangle button…?’ My thoughts raced as it appeared in my mind’s eye.

With a quick spin I dodged a sharpened tree branch… which pierced two tree trunks before finally coming to a stop. I turned to look at my attacker… only to see a regular unicorn stallion with a brown coat and blonde mane.

“Dr. Stable? Why do you… oh…”

His eyes were reptilian with a green tint… just like the Nightmare Creature. Joy… I get to fight a possessed pony. He remained upright though several sharpened branches were held up in his magic and I summoned the shield. I really wished I had the chakrams… but at the same time using them to fight in a forest would have been suicide.

I charged forward using the reaction command to dodge his extremely precise blows. Though it would take several commands just to get in position to destroy one of the sticks. I didn’t want to set the forest on fire and inevitably drag in more ponies to see me. It would be hard enough to deal with being seen within the boundaries of Ponyville… especially since that would be confirmation that I was in Ponyville most likely.

With a few quick dodges I managed to get within striking range switching over to Nightmare Cascade, my keyblade, and striking down the possessed one. Regardless if the Nightmare was possessing him, his body was that of a scholar. He had no combat training at all even if he had fine tuned magical control.

A quick smack from the keyblade sent him to sleep… which seemed to be the power that this keyblade had behind it. Stable convulsed a few times before a large dark cloud with two serpent like eyes glared at me.

“Spark!”

A cloud of light shot from my keyblade tearing through the cloud. It slowly dissipated leaving behind the now unconscious Dr. Stable on the ground… and a pulsating dark orb floating above him.

Slowly I lifted my hoof towards the orb and it shot into my armor. For a few seconds I felt my entire body tingle from the sensations.

Drive Form Attained. Spirit of Envy Mode Available.

“What…?”

Nightmare felt the part of it it scraped together to try and kill Gray falter and be erased. It stung to the point it was forced to cling to the remnants of its imprisonment jewel just to retain cohesion. Those weeks of waiting undone within moments and its puppet falling from its strings.

Still… it was good to see what was happening out in the world… even if it lost more of itself. Information was key and eventually a better plan would present itself. All it needed was patience otherwise all was lost.

It decided now was the time to remain dormant… at least until it had more strength behind it. There would be time to destroy that pesky keyblade wielder someday. It just would require a stronger body… and far more magic.

The plan to possess an Element of Harmony was almost a no go at this point. All of them were too well adjusted at the moment except for the dressmaker. It was viable… but it would take some time until she could break the boon that possessing one of the elements was capable of bestowing on its user. Also wasting it on an envious stallion who wanted the heart of another was a mistake.

With a quick glint out of the gem the nightmare returned to dormancy as Rarity checked over her gem stash. She quietly placed the peculiar gem in a safe spot where she wouldn’t use it on a dress she was making. For what reason she couldn’t fathom… but it felt right.

63. Routes

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I quietly pulled Dr. Stable out of the forest laying him against one of the trees closest to the city. If I was lucky somepony would find him before too long. I didn't want to be around whenever somepony did see him because then they would be asking questions. Questions I didn't have the answer to. Besides… I had my own questions to deal with.

‘Okay… so the Nightmare spirit thing is still around. It's weak but that doesn't mean much if it can possess others. Then I finally have a drive form… what did it mean by Spirit of Envy unlocked though.’ My mind raced as I looked over my options. I didn’t have any other reason than to go head off for Yen Sid’s Tower and ask about these things.

I dove back into the shadows and sat around for a while longer. I almost could hear a piercing scream as somepony yelled out Dr. Stable’s name. At that point the town was in a panic as he was dragged off for the hospital. Nopony was certain what was going on at this point and I merely laid low. Pinkie Pie hadn’t even tried to throw me a party that day so that was a plus for the most part.

Redheart and Sunshower were the only ones to come back that night. We really didn’t get into much that particular night after I told them what Dr. Stable tried to do and what happened to possess him.

“So Nightmare Moon is still alive!?” Sunshower squeaked out till I pulled her close for a hug. It was the only thing I could think of to keep her from panicking.

“No Sun, he said that the Nightmare spirit is still around. Nightmare Moon doesn’t exist anymore.” Redheart clarified patting her on the back to calm her.

“Yeah… and I have no clue where it is right now. It could be anywhere at this point and I would need to find it before I can finally get rid of it.”

“Well… everypony should be back here tomorrow. Are we going to head out once again?” Sunshower shifted in my arms a bit.

“Yeah. We might as well get things done with while we’re out there. Though we’re gonna stop at Yen Sid’s. I have questions for him.”

“Well… let’s get some rest. I’m lucky I have tomorrow off.” Redheart chuckled as she headed off for bed.

“Yup yup.” Sunshower quipped as I remained on the couch and pulled out the Lexicon. They both looked at me and I stared back clearly not ready for sleep.

“Gray? Aren’t you going to sleep?” Redheart glared at me making certain I understood that I was not to stay up so late once again.

“In an hour. I need to look over somethings before tomorrow. When everypony gets back we’ll head out at once.”

I hoped my smile would suffice for an excuse and to an extent it did. She gave me that look to tell me she was serious. Sunshower giggled as I was chided while they both went upstairs to their respective rooms. I had some important things to look through.

It was three hours later when I realized that there had been nothing written in the Lexicon about drive forms. The Lexicon kept everything I thought of archived and easy to bring up whenever I needed it. We had gone over drive forms but there was no explanation why I had any. From what I could tell Sora had them based on his friendships but mine were based on the enemies of the series.

Nightmare Moon was apparently the Spirit of Envy and the first drive form I would get. That brought up several questions on whether I had an Anti Form and if I had more than six forms. Since they were based on sins apparently… which disturbed me slightly. Too many more questions and I would eventually lose it.

I ambled back upstairs and fell into my bed… which I realized was occupied when something, or should I say somepony, grabbed on to me. On my left Redheart glared into my soul. On my right Sunshower giggled at the face I was receiving. Redheart wrapped her hooves around my neck giving me a very tight squeeze… and choking me very tightly. Sunshower did the same to my torso.

“What did I say?” Redheart hissed out.

“Sleep?” I wheezed back eye fluttering between light and darkness.

“Why didn’t you?” Sunshower chirped up giggling slightly.

“Lost track of time…”

Redheart managed to stop and forced my to lay on my back. My punishment was to be their throw pillow for the rest of the night and so on. Not the worst punishment until they both started to squeeze my fore hooves. All circulation was lost well into the morning hours when they finally woke up and I was still asleep. I didn’t get to enjoy sleep as Redheart woke me up leaving me exhausted… I supposed I deserved that.

“Legs… are… jelly…” I muttered as I stumbled around till I got downstairs.

“Hmph… good. Next time don’t think that you know what is best for you. I told you before. We care about you and you rarely take care of yourself. You need sleep even if it is at random times. Please Gray. You need to take care of yourself.” Redheart softly stated running a hoof against my jaw.

“Especially since that Nightmare thing is out there.” Sunshower interjected as well.

“We got to work. I’m pretty sure that everypony will be back tonight and we can leave by then.” Redheart added as she walked towards the door and picked her hat off the small coffee table by the stairs.

“I’m glad I have a short assignment today in Ponyville.” Sunshower chuckled as she flew off leaving me to try and retain feeling in my front legs.

I sat back on the couch with a large yawn… and laid back. I didn’t want to sleep but… even I couldn’t fight the ravages of exhaustion for that long.

Octavia, Vinyl and Fresh Coat all got off the train after taking one of the earliest back. Thankfully work was handled quickly and Brass would send the extra tickets to her home. All they needed to do was ask Spitfire about getting more tickets.

“Really? The Gala? Ech… sounds like a drag.” Vinyl groaned as she remembered the last time she was taken to the gala.

“Vinyl… its to bond with everypony so we can handle any situation. We need to appear classy even while we kick flank.” Octavia explained with a small scowl on her face.

“Tavi just want gray to smack her flank a couple times instead.” Fresh whispered under her breath next to Vinyl who started to giggle. Octavia turned red but quickly rounded on the two.

“Shush you. I want to not hear anything about flanks anymore.” Octavia chided as she tried desperately to stop her blush.

“Fine fine…” Fresh waved off only to continue talking. “I think I’ll be moving into Gray’s home permanently.”

“Woah… really!?” Vinyl nearly shouted only for Fresh to zip her lip before she got too loud. The glare she gave off made Fresh nervous.

“Sorry. It’s more because my job has me go where I’m needed so living in Ponyville isn’t much of a problem since the place gets broken so much from what I’ve heard that having a painting pony around would give me more business.” Fresh Coat adjusted her green cap a bit to let her mane breath.

“Would be good since even I’m not sure how much this town could take with all of Rainbow Dash’s crashes. And I mean that in the most endearing way.” Octavia clarified at the last second.

“You’re just saying that because she broke the roof over two months ago and made certain to pay for it herself.” Vinyl quickly pointed out.

“Yes, well… one at least can say that she is loyal to a fault in paying her debts.” Octavia mentioned before going silent. They stopped at Vinyl and Octavia’s shared home dropping off their suitcases and making some food before they headed out. Gray was an okay host but he didn’t always go shopping when he needed to.

“I’ll probably handle the shopping for him when I move in… ya know, if he doesn’t mind. This plan seemed, I don’t know… better in my head.” Fresh drooped down letting her ears splay down.

“Hey! We’re like family already. We’ve seen and done a lot that transcends what most families do.” Vinyl slammed her hoof against the table.

“While I don’t agree with Vinyl’s wording, she is right.” Octavia muttered.

“Hey! My wording is fine.” Vinyl shot back.

“Yes because it couldn’t be misconstrued as sexual…” Octavia scoffed back.

“Well… there were those things…” Fresh started to say before both Octavia and Vinyl stopped her.

“We don’t talk about them!” The two mares screamed as they hastily covered Fresh Coat’s mouth. Both were a very deep scarlet color which painted their faces entirely. They knew what they did and what was done but they didn’t need to be reminded of it all the time.

“It’s not that bad… It was kind of surprising really. I didn’t even know my horn could feel those kinds of things.” Fresh managed to squeeze out of their hooves.

The conversation derailed into trying to stop Fresh from reminding them all the acts that were caused and that one thing Gray did with his wing that managed to hit a spot that nothing else had ever hit.

Spitfire finally changed out of her uniform. The day was done and the recruits were set for drills the next couple of days. The academy was busy preparing for a few shows over in Canterlot and the Best Flyer’s Competition coming in a few days. Blaze would be filling in for her that particular day. Thankfully they had similar enough mane styles that only the most ardent of fans would realize and if Spitfire styled her mane herself and added the highlight, well, nopony could tell the difference.

Soarin had tried to talk to her before she left. It… went slow and painfully for both parts. It didn’t help when he had still tried to say that he still wanted to be with her. Then the mare that came between them showed up looking for him. It was a cluster and things kept falling south. Fleetfoot and Misty Fly had stopped it from getting worse.

Spitfire just flew off after that through the setting sun. She needed to think… to get away and get all this emotional baggage out. Hopefully they would get to leave on an adventure soon enough. She didn’t want to be around Equestria for the time being.

“It’ll all pass. It’ll all pass.” Spitfire repeated over and over trying to ease her burdened mind.

As she came to a stop at the back door of Gray’s home she looked around carefully before bringing out her keyblade. She didn’t need to break the secret to anypony just yet. With the night upon them as soon as she entered the door she was lucky enough to miss a sleeping Rainbow Dash floating around on a cloud. It was a bit weird but a pegasus did what a pegasus did.

“Gray! Are you home!?” Spitfire called out to the empty house where she noticed a sleeping thestral on the couch. “Oh… you finally fell asleep…”

Spitfire sat down on the ground near the couch looking at his sleeping face. ‘Well… he is my stallion and I knew what I was getting into with this herd thing… yet I’m still angry at Soarin.’ Spitfire tried to figure out what she wanted to say. It was… difficult to really get out.

“So… my day was great. Taught the cadets some new moves and managed to break a few records. Same old same old of course. Though… my ex came back to work finally. It was… tense to say the least. I couldn’t keep my temper though… lost it a couple times. We finally managed to find a good way to work where I didn’t have to talk to him much. I don’t think its working. He… he tried to make amends… fix things back to how they were. Then that floozy he was seeing showed up. I… I just need to get away from her for a while.” Spitfire confessed tears falling from her cheeks.

Gray was softly breathing clearly looking still asleep. She almost started to trot away when she felt a wing pull her back onto the couch on top of the sleeping pony. His wings wrapped around her keeping her stuck in place.

“You know I don’t sleep that soundly. We’ll go tonight when everypony gets here. Octavia, Fresh and Vinyl went shopping for food supplies. Redheart and Sunshower were finishing up work. Apparently Dr. Stable was found in less than stellar condition yesterday. He talked about being possessed. Imagine that, huh?” Gray answered back jovially running a hoof along her back taking care not to mess with her wings.

“Okay… I… I’m not used to all this cuddly crap though.” Spitfire sniffled as she managed to crane her head up to his eyes.

“I know. I’m doing this because I enjoy having ya around. I know that somepony hurt you before and you’d never have dreamed of being in a herd. I never even considered it.” Gray answered.

“You didn’t?” Spitfire quirked an eyebrow managing to cut off her tears from the confusion.

“No. Honestly I didn’t think I would go along with any of this but… after spending time with you I could see why I would. Each of you complete me in ways I didn’t have before… that I lost before. You are my immediate family. My immediate concerns. Honestly, my everything at this point. Just don’t tell the others though. They might think I’m going too soft.” Gray chuckled at his little thought.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep this to myself. So… what made you want to share with me then?” Spitfire reached her hoof up to wrap around his neck.

“You’ve been honest with me about your regrets. I should be honest to you with my heart. To all of you honestly but… well baby steps.” Gray lost the jovial tone and nervousness took over.

“You know… I was worried that this would be another Soarin thing. Knowing you had other mares with you. But since we have been together you’ve actually been extremely considerate for all of us. In more than just intimacy. I compare you and our adventures to the Wonderbolts and my adventures. It’s hard to look at it objectively. I’ve done so much more joining you and without needing to worry so much about coordinating with everypony. We are autonomous in everything we do and you don’t need any of us to bark orders to get things done.” Spitfire seemed to move her muzzle closer… the anger she felt slowly being pushed away.

“I’ve done nothing but let each of you grow individually. I merely provided the means and I get the feeling I know where this is going…” Gray muttered as he summoned the book and left a note on the table. Then he rolled off the couch into the shadows taking Spitfire away into the basement… where the room was sound proofed.

Everypony finally made it back around ten that night. Almost everypony was relaxed and ready to leave… except Spitfire who was asleep on my back. Her leg twitched slightly and every mare knew what happened by the smell in the air.

“Um… Nebby… she needs a shower. You both do.” Vinyl chided though she could understand why I didn’t.

“I would have but she fell asleep. Vinyl, Fresh, can you take her to get clean? Your magic would be most useful. I’ll take a shower afterwards.”

I just gave a weak smile as the two mares reluctantly agreed. Spitfire was picked up in their combined telekinetic grip as they traveled upstairs. I sat down on the ground while the others started to drill in questions about what happened in Manehattan. I answered to the best of my abilities about the Dark Hide and how I had to save the Princess.

“So… A Princess will be joining us eventually?” Octavia lowered an eyebrow clearly confused.

“Kind of. She’ll be an apprentice. I’m not adding anypony to this herd. I’m leaving that up to you girls and how open you feel about it. I’m happy already knowing who cares for me.”

“While I’m glad to hear that what are we going to do about a protege? None of us are masters exactly… not even you are.” Redheart broke the conversation pointing out the problem.

“I know. I’m hoping that before the Gala I would be considered a master. It’s wishful thinking but it will need to be done eventually. I know you all can’t be by my side Twenty-four/seven. So if I can train proteges as well we can make something of a deterrent against the heartless. We know that they either form from the ambient darkness or somepony breaks the barrier slightly to smuggle them in. We need to be prepared no matter what. But I want you all to have your own lives as well. So this is the best compromise I’ve been able to think up in a long while.”

“I guess. Still sounds risky if we’re still not ready to explain anything to the main princess of the land. Eventually Princess Celestia will find a way to find out who the Shadow Knight is. Still find it funny you let Princess Mi Amore decide your name.” Sunshower giggled out thinking how cute the name sounded. It was very edgy… too edgy in fact.

“Yeah… It was probably the first thing she thought of. It’s fine though. It gets the point across and manages to keep any would be ponies from figuring out who I am right away. From what you girls told me everypony things that an alicorn is the knight.”

Spitfire quickly rushed downstairs fully awake as she realized who was washing her. “I’m awake! I’m awake, damn it!”

“Used the loofa too much…” Vinyl chuckled as she and Fresh followed after her both dripping wet… most likely from when Spitfire woke up.

“I’ll go take that shower then. We’ll head out afterwards. Can you explain everything Octavia?”

“Of course. I got everything under control.” Octavia confidently stated.

While I showered and cleaned off anything that may have stuck onto me, Octavia explained all about the heartless that appeared, my choice to train the princess as a protege, and the title they gave me.

“So… do we get titles when we appear in public?” Vinyl immediately asked.

“Probably? We could pick something for ourselves before we do so when we do appear we can be ready.” Octavia pondered out.

“Flare Knight.” Spitfire answered immediately.

“Beat Knight.” Vinyl placed out there.

“Heal Knight.” Redheart chuckled.

“Cloud Knight.” Sunshower cheered.

“Brush Knight.” Fresh Coat smiled.

“You know… we should pick something that doesn’t immediately point to our cutie marks…” Octavia rubbed her temples in her hooves. The obvious naming pattern getting to her. “Let’s wait a while before we fully commit to it. Who knows… we might think of something better.”

There were murmurings of agreement which stopped the moment I entered the room. Everypony seemed to have come to a decision before I could get back to hear it.

“Ready to go?”

“Yes!” Everypony chimed in as we gathered our saddlebags and the provisions and immediately whisked away into the night towards the train station. It was around one in the morning when we got there. Everypony seemed a bit tired but when I mentioned that we would be stopping at Yen Sid’s before we left to our next adventure it made everypony relieved.

One warp later and we landed back at Mysterious Tower. Once again we traveled up the stairs and got back into the main room with the wizard himself, who to my expectations was going over some more tomes.

“Ah… It seems I’ve gotten some visitors today. Welcome back ladies, and stallion. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Yen Sid waved his hand summoning several seats for all of us. They were accommodating to pony anatomy.

“Just stopped by to say hi.” Octavia answered… though I subtly nodded my head back and forth.

“I see. It is very late though. I’m certain that you will need some rest before we can truly bask in each others company. Please retire for the night and relax. You are amongst friends here.” Yen Sid explained as one of the magic brooms he had came to life and offered us a direction to our shared room.

Everypony agreed if only because I noticed him wiggling his fingers and muttering a spell. Most likely to get everypony tired. He knew I needed to talk with him alone. I followed after everypony and as soon as each of them hit their bed they fell asleep. Redheart was the last and made absolutely certain that I fell asleep as well. I didn’t and wandered out into the hall back to speak with Yen Sid.

“So… what has happened that has made you worried?” Yen Sid immediately spoke out.

“I managed to unlock the ability to use drive forms.”

“The Good Fairies did allow your armor to do so… I take it something unexpected happened?” Yen Sid pondered as he stroked his long beard.

“It was a form of one of my enemies from Equestria.”

“Hm… I can only speculate… but it seems that due to being a being of darkness you take on the aspects of your enemies instead of your allies. A boon to you I should say. The other concept for the drive forms would have had you take on the power of one of your partners and use their energy to fight. This method will most likely rely on your own power. Strange… you will have to keep track of what this new power does.” Yen Sid explained seeming interested in what I could find out.

“Understood. There was one more thing as well…”

“Ah. You’re here then Gray.” A dapper old voice called out as I saw another wizard appear from the front door.

“Merlin. Good to see you.”

“Likewise my boy. It seems you missed a spot on your world.” He placed a small blue fragment on the table… just like the one that exploded from Rourke’s body.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes. The same thing that brought the heartless to Ponyville managed to be used once again in this attack. It’s been there for a few days. I’m uncertain how long but you managed to make it in time. I’ve seen others and I’ve disabled them as well. I’ll be doing so periodically to keep your world safe. It seems our enemies don’t have much patience with us, now do they?” Merlin laughed… not uproariously but mutedly, before fixing his glasses with his wand.

“Of course not. That would be too easy. And I still don’t know who they are. The only for certain thing is that they are ponies.”

“We must remain vigilant. We shall be watching as many things as possible to figure out what is going on. The fact that the light is being used to do harm is dangerous already. Heartless aren’t increasing but even at the rate you’ve been fighting they haven’t diminished either. The status quo is being enforced.” Yen Sid muttered the last part.

“I guess all I can do is react… I should probably try to sleep before I get punished by Redheart again.”

“Before you do… how goes progress of your master’s test?” Yen Sid questioned as he looked me over.

“Good. Sunshower and Redheart managed to earn their full keyblades. I might head back to check on the worlds we went to another day. Just in case something is up.”

“Splendid. Have a wonderful night Gray.”

I left shortly afterwards falling asleep and ready for the next day.

“This is very concerning. These pieces are energized with pure light. It’s being used to corrode the shield around Equestria. The only reason Gray and the others have been able to go through is because of Kingdom Key D allowing him access to the back door.” Merlin groused over the small crystal he stole from the battle between Gray and the Dark Hide.

“Calm yourself Merlin. We must keep cool heads in these times. Right now we can only figure out how to keep the damages from going out of control. Thank you for checking on them.” Yen Sid bowed his head slightly.

“Think nothing of it old boy. They have proven to be serious in the field of magic. How could I deny them my help like that?” Merlin wholeheartedly waved off the compliment.

“I shall begin my search for those that would do harm to the world.” Yen Sid stated.

“I shall help you. Of course.” Merlin added as if it was obvious.

“Of Course, old friend.” Yen Sid answered as the two began combing over the known universe to try and find the villain’s hideout.

64. Prydain: Alliances

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I didn't sleep for very long and this time I wasn't mobbed in bed as I was last time. While I waited for the others to wake up I flew around the tower looking at all the different constellations that made up the night sky. They were different than that of an Equestrian night. The stars were fixed in one place and not created by a mare. So that was quite a difference that might have boggles the normal pony mind.

With my wings stretched out I trotted back into Yen Sid’s study to an empty room. Even he slept it seemed. All I had to do was wait.

“Ah Gray, there you are.” Merlin stepped into the room holding a few items under his arm.

“Morning… I think it's morning. What's all that?” I pointed at his clutch of baubles and knick knacks.

“Some components for more spells though I do have something you may need for this world in particular.” Merlin answered as he placed the items on the writing desk and searched through the mess.

“How bad is this world?”

“It is one of the darkest in the history of the Disney Kingdoms history. You may need these items to bargain with the locals there… three in particular.” Merlin grimaced as he pulled out a scroll and an amulet.

“So mystical artifacts for mystical artifacts then? The amulet does something, I assume.”

“Yes and no. It holds a lot of magic but that is it. Without context it looks especially powerful. It merely lights up and replenishes magic when it is used up. It's the scroll that is more important, my boy.” Merlin explained.

I opened the scroll carefully noting several runic characters and several circular seals on it. After rolling it back up I handed it back to Merlin.

“Is it a sealing scroll? It feels like that is what it is.”

“Sort of. I know there is an object there that exudes pure evil. This scroll will keep it from activating and allowing its consequences to blanket the rest of that world. It is indestructible Gray. Don't try to bash it with your keyblade. It would probably win that fight.” Merlin chuckled slightly.

“Would it even work?”

“I don't know. This is merely a precautionary. Even my magic is not omnipotent. I have limitations as well.” Merlin sighed as he gathered up him a things. “I'm sorry to say that none of us will be able to see you off today. We are searching for those who are trying to attack Equestria so ruthlessly. They are very tricky though… fighting our magic with theirs. It's become a stalemate of wills at this point.”

“When you find them I'll make sure to be ready for them.”

“Even I'm unsure if that is a wise plan. Still prepare well and think for yourself. Only you are the master of your destiny.” Merlin bowed slightly before he blinked out of the room with his items except for the amulet and the scroll.

“Morning sleepy ponies… slept a little too well didn't you?”

“Morning Nebby… drop the beat!” Vinyl shouted before falling face first and snoring. Truly she was a lovely vision with her flank in the air.

“Vinyl, wake up! We need to get ready to leave.” Octavia chided as she shook the sleepy mare back to her hooves.

“So… where is everyone? Are they going to see us off?” Spitfire peered around the room noting the lack of old wizard like people.

“Not today. After the attack on Equestria they are using their magic to search out where their base is. It's not going as well as they planned though.”

“Its not? What's going on?” Fresh Coat chimed in stretching out as she did.

“They are fighting them magic for magic it seems. So we don't have a head count for how many they have on their side or how powerful they actually are.”

“Which means even if we help we'd be liabilities instead of assets.” Redheart surmised.

“But we're all really well trained. Aren't we?” Sunshower asked though a part of her didn't feel ready.

“Yeah… you all are but there is always room for improvement and we still haven't gotten you all your official keyblades. I can't exactly give it to you. It's unlocked by you embracing something special.”

“So what would be our specialty? Since wubs are mine, obviously.” Vinyl grinned as she wiggles her eyebrows.

“As true as that is it's not exactly what I meant. This is more along the lines of, well, in Yen Sid’s words: Following your heart and it shall lead you to your truth. So that's what we're trying to do.”

“So adventure and hope we find some stimuli that unlocks that sensation?” Octavia questioned as she took a step forward.

“At this point… yes. I can't figure out what motivates you for you. You'll all find the answers you're looking for as we continue on.”

Everypony accepted the thought as two of the broom servants brought in two trays of breakfast for all of us to enjoy. We eagerly finished it off and I even got to have some steamed fish… which was eaten quickly and without incident except for a couple interested looks from the mares.

“What? I like fish.”

Octavia grimaced but kept her distaste to herself. She was still getting used to seeing meat be eaten. At the very least I finally had some meat of some kind so I was content. Fish was delicious. She reluctantly tasted some… surprisingly she liked it as well. As the very least she was open to it. Her courage actually got the rest to try it and a few liked it as well. Redheart wasn’t a fan though but she managed to keep it down.

I briefly wondered if I was a bad influence on these mares… though with everything that happened it was probably for the better that they grew nerves of steel. So far only Princess Cadence had shown any when they heartless attacked Manehattan. Shining Armor had been hyperventilating throughout the first meeting we had. I was certain that the other princesses were nervous as well about these monsters.

“Come on. Let’s head on out for the next world.”

We left the plated behind as the same two broom servants cleared the table and another opened the door back to the landing area. Vinyl, the ever curious mare she was, poked at the broom who in turn patted her head. It was a strange sight since it treated her like a cat.

“Vinyl! Let’s head out!”

“Gotcha Nebby!” Vinyl cried back as she rushed after me… slamming into me as we rolled down the stairs and landed in a heap at the bottom. She was on top of me with her flank on my head. It certainly wasn’t the weirdest position we’ve wound up in but it was the most awkward.

“Vinyl… please get off.”

“Yeah… sorry.” Vinyl blushed as I rolled my eyes and gave her a one hoof hug just to alleviate any fears she might have been having because of that little mistake.

“I don’t mind ya on me. There’s just better places for it.”

As I whispered that into her ear she got even redder. I would not deny that I enjoy making each mare blush. I prided myself into doing so because it felt like an honor to be able to do so. Everypony was already on the ship as we joined them as well and strapped in.

“Okay… the route is connected with the Lost Empire world. We make a short hop there and the new route should be open.”

“Roger!” All of them called out… acting like we were an actual crew. My heart swelled a little… I think it was mostly pride from how far a lot of them had come.

The first jump went easy enough and we looked out into space at the fruits of our handiwork. The world was safe and no heartless armada was patrolling the area. There were still a few meandering ships but that was to be expected. Darkness was just as necessary as Light. They worked in balance and not even the greatest of keyblade masters could make a world completely pure… in either direction.

I quickly found the route we needed. It seemed to unlock the moment we got closer. I looked at everypony getting an unflinching stare from each of them. They were ready for it.

“Here we go…” I muttered under my breath.

Mausoleum Row

A soon as we started down the gummi ship route several heartless ships appeared though… they looked destroyed, dessicated even. A lot of ghost ships littered the area appearing as tombs for those who could not make it through. Several structures dotted the area appearing like grave markers.

“Ech… this looked like a graveyard.” Spitfire coughed out.

Before I could answered three very large skeletal draconic snakes popped out of the largest tombs and started to fly after us. Right on their forehead was the mark of an emblem heartless. That immediately threw me into high gear as I maneuvered the ship through the debris to the constant screaming of my companions.

The first two pursued from behind as the third surfed around into the debris field leaving me to have Octavia man the turrets and laser cannon. While she fired away from the controls I immediately dove through several of the open tombs using it to break away from the two chasing after us. The third immediately appeared in front of us forcing me to pitch the ship off in a wild course dodging the mashing jaws of the monsters before us.

There was more screaming as I turned the ship further onto its side sliding it through a very thin gap. The two dragons chasing us slammed into the graves dissipating from the impact while the third immediately flew around the junk. It met us halfway between the graves and the planet making a pseudo final stand of sorts. The head faced the ship as I turned on the stabilizers on the ship keeping us stationary compared to the dragon which circled around us.

Octavia handed back controls of the weapons system allowing me full control. The skeleton dragon detached whatever limbs it had allowing them to circle us in a manner resembling a ballista array.

I immediately kept the ship in constant movement strafing through the limbs as I kept the weapons trained on the heartless’ face. The dragon opened it’s bony maw to try and bite us… only to lose its jaw from the constant barrage.

A bright white fire flared out from the skull’s mouth which burst through its eyes as well as it attempted to charge for us. I caused the ship to pitch out of the way knocking into one of the limbs which spun out of control.

Thus started a series of unfortunate events which I didn't believe at first until Octavia pointed out what happened. The limb spun out of control striking one of the grave markers into another limb which cracked in two. The two parts shot out hitting the last two limbs which hit the same grave marker which slammed into the dragon skull. The shock on the skull was slowly stopped as the grave slammed the skull into another marker. It caused the heartless to dissipate.

We were left staring out the viewport of the ship. I tapped at the steering controls ready to zoom off and just leaned back into my seat. Nopony wanted to say anything.

Pinkie looked over her domino surprise only to find that it had been knocked over by the wind. She uncharacteristically glared at the spot still feeling stressed from not throwing Nebula Gray a party yet. It had been nagging and nagging at her and she was frustrated.

“Why does it feel like I've missed something slapstick like…?” Pinkie groused as the feeling washed over her. She continued making her domino surprise for the birthday to be held in a short while.

“We're gonna pretend that didn't happen…”

“Agreed.” Octavia and Spitfire answered.

“Didn't see a thing.” Fresh Coat giggled.

“It's still too early for this.” Redheart groaned.

“See what? I blinked too fast and missed it.” Vinyl shot out.

“That was pretty cool…” Sunshower quietly stated to the look of everypony else. “I mean what happened? I didn't see a thing.” Sunshower quickly covered up.

“Let's… let's just head to the planet already.”

A pig squealed as it rushed around trying to scurry from something that wasn't even there. The young man with red hair wearing a yellow green tunic over a long green shirt and green slacks ran around trying to comfort the pig.

“Hen Wen! Calm down girl! What's gotten into you anyways!?” Taran struggled to keep the pig from racing off for parts unknown as an old man stepped out of the cottage holding a small parchment in his left hand.

“I didn't think it would be so soon. Taran! Bring her in we must be quick!” The old man stated as he hobbled back inside his small hut.

“Okay Dallben.” Taran groused as he carried the frightened pig into the hut.

This was Caer Dallben. A small farm situated in the middle of the forest far from prying eyes in the land of Prydain. The world was stuck in crisis as the dreaded Horned King was looking for a mystical item known as the Black Cauldron. A seemingly ordinary cauldron that holds power over death. A body tossed into the cauldron would create the aptly known army of the Cauldron Born. That was what the monster known as The Horned King was looking for.

“Place Hen Wen on the floor. I hate having to use this but we must be prepared for what is to come.” Dallben muttered as he placed a bowl of water on the floor.

“What are you going to do Dallben?” Taran wondered as he placed Hen Wen down on the ground.

“This is something that needed to be kept quiet. You must be made aware of something… this is to be kept secret from everyone and you have to remain vigilant. Taking care of Hen Wen is more important that you could possibly know. That means this must be kept secret.” Dallben stressed as he looked Taran in the eye.

“I understand. I’ll keep mum about it.” Taran swore.

Dallben nodded and took his staff and slowly stirred the small bowl of water.

“Hen Wen, from you, I do beseech… knowledge that lies beyond my reach, troubled thoughts beyond your heart. Pray you now those thoughts impart.” Dallben chanted.

Within the bowl of water images started to appear. The visage of the Horned King… followed by the sight of the Black Cauldron. As they kept watching the appearance of a large blade that looked like a giant key. After that seven small equine shaped things floated through the waters… until the Horned King reappeared looking even more menacing than before.

“That explains everything… Taran, you must get Hen Wen out of here before his forces appear. It is far too dangerous for her to stay here. Take her off into hiding before they come. You will receive aid in a short time.” Dallben quickly got supplies for Taran to get on his way.

“Who is it?” Taran quickly asked as he placed a leash on Hen Wen to get ready for anything out there.

“A Master. You need to quit dreaming to make certain that Hen Wen remains safe. I’m worried where your dreams will take you.” Dallben quietly whispered as Taran gave him a quick hug.

“I know I can do more Dallben… but I will do my best. I will prove to you that I can be more than an assistant pig keeper.” Taran proudly raised his head.

“For now boy, focus on keeping Hen Wen safe.” Dallben hushed him off. “Stay safe please Taran. The Horned King’s men will be searching for you. Do not think you can handle them just as you are.”

Taran gave a confident nod as he placed the leash around Hen Wen and led her outside. It was time to head out on his adventure. The world wasn’t going to save itself.

The Castle of the Horned King rested in the darkest area of Prydain amongst a dead wasteland full of crag like monoliths. The boisterous guards all ate and enjoyed their food and drink while their lord and master remained up in the highest tower… with his strange guest.

The Horned King was a tall figure with a skeletal face and two curved horns. He walked with a low gait from what appeared to be a dead body. The large robe and hood covering his body made it an uncertain showing. Those that looked into his eyes noted the blood red glare and the look of death beaming from his visage. Most would assume he was nothing but a dead body. Those same people would also be dead.

Across from him was a woman… with green complexion wearing a large black robe with a fitted hood with horns upon it. On her shoulder was a dangerous looking raven and in her off hand was a long staff with a glowing green orb atop of it. She remained quiet but her cold stare kept on the Horned King pondering her next move. This was Maleficent, the Mistress of all Evil.

“So… you wish me… The Great Horned King to join your… little collection of powerful figures for what was it? The heart of all worlds if I recall right?” The Horned King growled out.

“Yes, your highness. I have collected several figures to assist in these events from gods to mortals. With your impressive magical ability we should be able to handle those wretched keyblade wielders like that foolish mouse king. What do you say?” Maleficent quietly asked wrenching her fingers over her staff.

“Fine… Give me those heartless creatures and once I have my army I shall put them into your service and plan. They will be more dangerous than these shadow creatures.” The Horned King waved his hand which Maleficent took as a sign summoning several Neoshadows who stood at the Horned King’s side.

“A word of caution. Never show weakness. They prey on it.” Maleficent warned before opening a portal into the darkness. “I shall send my assistant later to check on you. He is a bumbling oaf… but he is useful as a meat shield.”

“As you wish…” Horned King muttered as she finally left the room. “You heartless witch. Join a cadre of worthless beings who want to make the Heart of All Worlds theirs. I will make it my own through the Cauldron Born while you shall assist me in getting the Cauldron.”

The heartless merely bobbed in place waiting for more concrete orders and with a wave of his hand they dive into the shadows. There were more important matters to handle at the moment. He needed to find that pig. He growled out as his two pet Gwynthaints out to hunt for the oracular swine.

“Keep track of anything that looks like a keyblade. If nothing else that wench has at least given me the information necessary to deal with them.” Horned King muttered as new heartless appeared out of the ground. Each dressed in bone style armor holding lances. The Bone Lancers remained up and raced out the window picked up by the gwynthaints to assist in the endeavor.

Caer Dallben

We landed around a small wooden farm situated in a small copse of trees alongside multiple animals of varying sizes. I seized up slightly as the smell of darkness permeated the air and remained for a short while… then mysteriously disappeared shortly after that. The heartless had found their way somehow into this world. It was certainly dark before but something had occurred to make it even worse than it was.

“Hello! Is anyone there?” Vinyl called out to the farm waiting for any sign that someone was within.

“Coming! I’m coming! Hold your horses!” A voice called out. Everypony looked offended for some reason… which clicked in my head since whorses was an awfully poignant insult of epic proportions.

I had a few seconds and quickly explained what it meant… to deaf ears. When an old man waddled out of the hut it made all the mares ease up slightly. They couldn’t control the thoughts of an old man.

“Ah… so you are what I foresaw earlier this evening… and you are all pastel colored ponies. Didn’t expect that, that’s for sure. Though Merlin said he would be sending someone along eventually.” Dallben answered as he took a seat on an overturned wash tub.

“You know about us?” Spitfire glared slightly uncertain of whether he was a threat or not. Merlin’s name merely made us tense slightly.

“So… what’s wrong with being a pony?”

“Nothing really. Just wondering how you’ll be able to carry anything with hooves. A real mind puzzler there but I think it best you head out now. I sent my protege out to protect our pig and it would be important for you to get out there and find him before our enemy does.” Dallben explained as he lit up a small pipe and smoked it.

“Why would you send him away?” Redheart asked completely ignoring the interest about hooves. A child was in danger and that was all she needed to know.

“That.” Dallben pointed behind him as several Neoshadows and a strange knight heartless dressed in bone armor warped in through the darkness.

Bone Lancer
A medium sized knight wielding a lance made from a very large femur and sharpened to incredible means. It enjoys riding atop other quadrupedal heartless to charge its enemies down skewering them without remorse. Tends to forget to attack when there are no rideable heartless are around.

65. Prydain: Mistakes

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Vinyl and Fresh Coat took point as they charged in against the Neoshadows. The few that didn't dive into the shadows were stuck in an uncompromising loop of being smacked by a keyblade or struck by magic. Spitfire and Octavia kept close to Dallben making certain that the heartless didn't get any closer to him.

That left the large bone knight heartless with the serrated tipped lance against Sunshower, Redheart and myself. With a deep breath I charged in followed by the other two as the heartless shook its head around as if it wasn't attached to its body and jumped into the air sending the lance downwards towards me.

A quick reflect spell knocked the lance off course where it regrew in our opponents hands within a few seconds. Redheart fired off a magnet spell dragging it back down to the ground only for it to use the momentum to lunge for us with its lance.

Sunshower took the initiative firing a blizzard spell to freeze it as we rolled out of the way. The lance embedded into the ground leaving it wide open as I flapped up and swung my keyblade around. Three hits into my combo though and it managed to knock me out of my rhythm meeting my swings blow for blow. The lance managing to meet the keyblade and lock with it in turn.

Unfortunately the heartless wasn’t strong enough to keep its footing and watch the multiple opponents on the field. Sunshower knocked the heartless into the air while Redheart released a stream of thunder spells striking it and the Neoshadows still wandering around the field trying to attack anypony who was within range. As the bone clad heartless fell towards the ground each of us managed a swing on it embedding our keyblades into it as it dissipated into darkness.

“Done.” Redheart muttered as the rest of the shadows soon fled into the darkness.

“So… Dallben was it? You know about keyblades then?”

“To an extent. It seems as though Yen Sid has chosen some promising students. Each played their part without complaint not letting personal stake or pride get in the way of their duties.” Dallben muttered to himself. “Still there is room for improvement and that usually comes with no end.”

“So this guy is like Yen Sid and Merlin then?” Octavia quietly whispered into my ear which I quickly nodded to wanting to hear what exactly was going on in this world.

“Ah yes, I am forgetting myself here. I am Dallben, a simple man who runs a farm out in the middle of nowhere.” Dallben bowed slightly clearly finding it hard to bend his back.

“Gray. This is Octavia and Redheart the earth ponies, Spitfire and Sunshower are the pegasi, Vinyl and Fresh Coat are the unicorn pair.”

“And you are a?” Dallben lowered his hand as if to coax out some information.

“A thestral or a bat pony I guess you could say.”

“Interesting. So the seven of you are handling the role of keyblade warriors then?” Dallben placed his index finger and thumb underneath his chin stroking his non existent beard in contemplation.

“Is there something going on around here? It seems like something bad is going on around here. I can smell it.”

“Hm… so you can tell. Yes there is something wrong going on around here and it is all due to the monster known only as the Horned King.” Dallben explained as he sat down on a nearby crate wringing his hands around the walking staff he carried. “He… it… I don’t know what that being is. He has been working towards a goal looking for the Black Cauldron.”

“The Black Cauldron? What in Tartarus is that thing?”Spitfire questioned taking a few steps forward.

“Sounds evil… Is it evil?” Sunshower brought up flapping idly off the ground.

“Yes… and no. The Black Cauldron is just that… a cauldron. But that doesn’t mean that those who created it weren’t trying to make something evil. Should it be found by him it would end this world blanketing it in a typhoon of undead which would slaughter everyone. The introduction of the heartless makes it worse should the Pureblood ones find a way here as well.” Dallben explained as he tapped his staff against the ground nearly gouging through the sod around the crate.

“We’ll head out to handle it. I’m certain we can do so.”

“Yeah. We’re all totally awesome at taking down heartless now. Some weirdo raising zombies has no chance against us.” Vinyl grinned as she hoof pumped a bit.

“Confidence is nice… but never forget that he is a dark magic user capable of bringing death to those around him. Don’t let arrogance overshadow your abilities.” Dallben warned. “First things first though. I sent my protege out to the next town over but he is a dreamer.”

“Nothing wrong with being a dreamer.” Fresh Coat muttered under her breath making certain Dallben didn’t hear her.

“Is that bad?”

“Not by itself no… but I entrusted him with the key that would lead towards the Black Cauldron. He is a danger to himself but I needed to show him I trusted him to handle these problems. I cannot stress enough how dangerous this truly is. You must head out now to make certain nothing happens to him or the key to the Black Cauldron. You must head out now… you’ll know who you are looking for because the key is actually a pig.” Dallben chuckled at the confused look from the ponies though I noted that he noticed I wasn’t surprised.

“We’ll head out then… got a direction he headed in?”

“I sent him west right now. Should he not get distracted then he would reach the town within a day. Seeing as you are far more mobile I’m confident you’ll run into him quickly. Try not to take his words personally… he’s a child still and slightly still naive about his own abilities.” Dallben grimaced as he pointed us in the right direction.

“Ok let’s head out then. We’ll find your protege and get him to safety.”

“My thanks in advance. I shan’t worry with keyblade warriors on the job.” Dallben smiled as he waved us off and I raced off in the direction he pointed out.

Forest of Idris

It took a few minutes before we entered the forest proper. Several times over we were accosted by more heartless similar to the strange skeleton one though these held either an axe or a sword. They moved almost as erratically as the first though the axe one lumbered around like a snail while the sword one spun around arcing its blade like a top.

“These things get annoying… “ Vinyl muttered as she took a spot next to me in our trek.

“I take it you don't like the undead?”

“Not even a bit. Most of the time they are fake and look like rubber masks. Now these wannabe heartless are trying their… claw, at this and it looks like they're mocking us.” Vinyl groused as she clenched onto her keyblade tighter.

“That is the point though.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Vinyl stopped in place which attracted the attention of everypony else.

“The heartless take on goofy forms because you wouldn't take them seriously. Look at how they move around exaggerating actions or just acting extremely silly. They do that because they know that acting that way makes anyone they face lower their guard. They revel in that since they know their prey can be extremely stupid when they think the threat is negligible.”

“That makes sense though some of them were really scary looking. Especially those we fought in Nibel.” Spitfire mentioned as she remembered the pictures she was shown from the Lexicon.

“They can't always be goofy. They are intelligent enough to know how to psychologically attack anyone. They know how to travel between worlds and break through the barriers. There are exceptions to that but those are exceptions not the rule.”

“So those things were the combat forms they take?” Redheart questioned which caused each of the ladies to ponder things over.

“Pretty much. That's from everything I was able to read from Yen Sid. There's probably more to it but for now we should find this kid.”

“Did that guy tell us what they looked like?” Vinyl brought up.

There was a tense silence after that question. I hadn't asked him anything of the young protégés appearance. I saw the looks of incredulity on everypony’s faces and I knew the most appropriate answer to this. My right forehoof went up and connected to my forehead. There were six other slaps which followed and everyone else did the same thing.

“How did we forget to ask something as important as that!?” Octavia shouted as she buried her head into her hooves.

“Wait! He mentioned something about a pig, didn't he?” Fresh Coat shouted out dragging our attention to her.

“He did? He did!” Sunshower remembered as relief washed over everypony.

We immediately set off looking for somebody with a pig… it was vaguer than I wanted but it was the only lead we had.

Taran walked along at a brisk pace keeping a decent eye on Hen Wen as they escaped through the forest.

“If only they'd give me the chance. You'd know I could do it, right Hen Wen.” Taran sighed aloud as he swung the small birch branch he managed to find.

Hen Wen merely smiled and nodded. Confidentially, she was a little uncertain of his prowess… seeing as a goat easily took him out when he wasn't paying attention.

“I would take that Horned King like it was nothing. My skills have no comparison.” Taran boasted slightly though from her perspective she could still see the uncertainty hidden beneath his gaze.

He was still young, reckless, inexperienced even but she knew that he would do something to cement himself as a brave individual. The two stopped at a stream drinking from the crisp clean source.

“Oh, why does Maleficent give me all the hard jobs… I reckon she needs a masseuse or something.” The large cat like figure muddled off as he traveled around the forest. “And now I gotta take orders from that freak with the skull mask. Geez, that guy is scary enough as it us and he wants to make more of him.”

This being was known as Pete, also known as Peg Leg Pete, a.k.a. Big Bad Pete, a.k.a. Pistol Pete, a.k.a. Bootleg Pete. He had had a varied history that had led him throughout the worlds around him using the Corridors of Darkness to create the legions of heartless. Now he was on brat detail and finding a random pig… it was humiliating.

“Where is that brat…? Dang forest here, spookier than the days when Peg makes chili. Wait a minute… there he is. Heh heh ha ha!” Pete guffawed as he summoned up some of his heartless soldiers including a large collection of Gargoyle heartless and one Wyvern heartless. “Come on boys. Let’s get us a new heart now!” Pete commanded raising his arm out as the heartless started to swarm.

“What is that?” Taran muttered as he strained his ears.

“Run! Run fast! Or else you’ll get the smashing and the crashing!” A voice called out of the underbrush. A small man beast ran through the brush jumping onto Taran as several ghastly figures tore through the forest.

The first ones were dark grey bipedal flying creatures wearing blue bodysuits with green sleeves and bright pink horns. Each were adorned by flame like orange and yellow wings that seemed to enhanced their deep yellow eyes and large broken maw. Each dove down trying to capture the running beast man and as soon as Taran was in sight they charged after him.

“Come on Hen Wen!” Taran shouted as he picked up the scared piglet and raced off while being followed by the beast man as well.

Hen Wen squealed in fear as Taran swiftly raced over the river they had passed by. While he attempted to keep himself from screaming but when the large wyvern, a draconic heartless with wings and legs swooped down upon him he couldn’t safely get away. The heartless surrounded him and kept watch as both the beast man and the pig clung to Taran.

“Well lookie here. Seems as though I found me a lost boy. Heh… if Hook were around you'd walk the plank or something but for now… gimme that pig.” Pete stepped forward using his size to his advantage and menacingly stomping up to Taran.

“Never!” Taran answered in response keeping Hen Wen trapped in his embrace.

“Suit yourself kid. I'll make sure you regret those words.” Pete answered in kind as he grabbed Taran by his head lifting him off the ground and with a little shaking managed to get Hen Wen to drop from his grasp.

Before she could race off and try to escape the wyvern heartless grabbed her in its talons and kept floating in mid air. Pete dropped Taran and the mystery beast man who cowered from the monsters surrounding him… and to Taran’s shock he began to get frightened as well.

“Well I reckon we've done business well. The Horned King said he needed some pig so we'll see if your pig is the lucky winner… if not, well, we could always use more bacon!” Pete guffawed as he snapped his fingers and the wyvern flew off for the encampment of the Horned King’s men.

“You'll not get away with this!” Taran defiantly shouted as he stood back on his feet.

“Heh heh ha ha! That's what everyone says! Don't worry you'll be joining me soon enough, once these heartless take your heart.” Pete explained as he snapped his fingers again and the collection of gargoyle heartless swarmed down ready to attack.

As they did so there was a whistling shriek speeding through the air. Pete looked around utterly confused… until a large axe like weapon slammed into the gargoyles sending them flying. They even managed to appear like stars in the night sky when Pete focused on their form.

“Well… they sure got some distance.” Pete muttered as seven pastel colored ponies stumbled into his sight. “What?”

“Why do all the forests we go to feel so weird?” Octavia muttered as she felt the trees noting that they were all full of wild magic, growing without any discernible assistance.

“This is how it is for almost every world. Only Equestria and maybe a few more are exceptions not the norm.”

“So every world is like the Everfree forest? I mean I was starting to get that over at Nibel but I didn't really think that would be the case for all of them.” Vinyl announced which several mares agreed with.

“That's nature for you. It's always naturally complicated. This place though… it's actually pretty tame overall. Nice weather… it just feels real dark right now.”

“Gray?” Fresh Coat tapped my shoulder breaking me out of my little trance. I could smell darkness once again… and it was growing.

“Spitfire. Sunshower. Can you survey the area? I think there are heartless conglomeration somewhere nearby.”

“Sure thing.” Spitfire answered.

“You got it.” Sunshower replied as the two flew straight up and began flying in concentric patterns getting wider with every rotation.

“Got it! Northwest from where we are!” Spitfire yelled out while Sunshower shook her head vigorously.

“Well let's get a move on in case there’s any wounded.” Redheart announced as the lot of us galloped to the source.

Spitfire and Sunshower kept up highto surprise any heartless that might try to escape. I stayed to the ground in case there was any need for support or surprise strikes that necessitated a lower angle. Redheart and Octavia kept somewhat ahead of me since they were the strongest strikers of the group. I only hit harder whenever the tomahawk was equipped. Vinyl and Fresh kept somewhat behind me since they enjoyed their role as artillery. I could use more magic but they were precise with their shots.

For the most part I found myself as the jack of all trades. The only area I found myself being expertise in was using darkness to my advantage… albeit I hadn't had need of using it yet. The farthest I've reached with the skill is sensing the general direction that those feelings came from and rushing head first into the fray.

As we got closer we noted a young boy being accosted by several heartless and… Pete?

‘Huh… so that's what he looks like in person… or is that pony? Whatever. I better strike first and get rid of those heartless before it gets any worse.’ I mused as I summoned my tomahawk and threw it out as our foes.

It spun in a wide arc shifting around the trees before swing straight for the heartless surrounding the young man and the beast looking guy clinging to him.

“Seems like we got here in the nick of time.”

“What is that? Is that a cat? Do we have any balls of yarn to keep him distracted?” Vinyl questioned as she looked out at the large portly knight who immediately took offense to that.

“Hey! Watch what you're saying! The name’s Pete and don't you forget it!” Pete steamed as he shook his fist and stomped around. “Hey wait a minute… you all got keyblades. This'll be my chance!”

With a quick chuckle and a stomp he summoned several more heartless. The young man and beast man immediately ran for us as the heartless all turned their attention to us make by their escape a bit poorly timed.

“I'll just make ya all give up your hearts and give them over to Maleficent and I'll be getting that raise for sure. Heh heh ha ha!” Pete guffawed as he immediately stared us down. “You little girls dream gifts are going down!”

“Hey!” Each mare shouted clearly offended at implicitly being called a toy.

Without a word from me we jumped into battle striking at the gargoyle while Pete took his chance throwing bombs at us as he lumbered away to get some distance. I charged forward casting an aero spell before the explosives could go off. Vinyl followed suit as we charged ahead leaving the constant stream of heartless for the others to deal with.

As I tanked the explosions, diminishing them down to firecracker pops instead of grenade level strength, I managed to connect with Pete smacking him upside the head with my keyblade. When he stumbled back Vinyl followed suit striking him back to me. Before I could strike again Pete managed to get his wits back about him.

“Get out of my way!” Pete shouted as he slammed his fists against my blade knocking me back into a skid against the forest floors.

Before Vinyl could strike again he raised his arms out and summoned a shield around his body. Vinyl struck the sphere and began shaking around like she hit a gong.

“W-w-what w-w-was t-t-that?” Vinyl vibrated in place while Pete pointed and laughed at her.

“Heh heh ha ha! Look at the prancing pulsating pony promptly plunging down!” Pete guffawed as he did.

I didn't take that lying down and I was certain Vinyl wouldn't either… had she control over her body at the moment. I immediately got up close noticing that the triangle button was once again appearing in my head. As I focused on it I jumped up and using my keyblade slammed the sphere from above sending it hurtling against one of the gargoyles which was turning into its ghost fire mode… which shattered the shield sending Pete flying.

“Woah… anyone got… the number of that… bus.” Pete dazedly stated as he stumbled around.

Vinyl quickly shook her head regaining her senses as she raced forward slamming her keyblade into Pete sending him into a flurry of combos before sending him over to me. I answered in kind with my own flurry of combos and slammed him into ground sending him bouncing around until he came to a rest against a tree. The heartless all disappeared as soon as Pete landed clearly not liking the odds they were now against.

“Hey! I was enjoying that fight.” Spitfire called out as she and Sunshower landed.

Both seemed excited as their wings twitched and flapped from the adrenaline coursing through their veins. Octavia and Redheart looked a bit more surly since their gaze was focused on Pete instead. Fresh Coat merely smiled as she waved over to the young man and beast man who nervously returned the wave clearly uncertain of what was going on.

“Why do pastel colored ponies hit so hard…?” Pete groaned as his eyes rolled around and… tweeting birds circled around his head.

“So… what were you planning to do here Pete, was it?”

“Huh? I wasn't doing anything but my job. And if you think I'm saying anymore than that then you got another thing coming.” Pete growled out as he managed to get back on his feet though he didn't look as confident when he noticed everyone but me was wielding their keyblade.

“I don't think you got a choice right now.” Vinyl smirked while she lifted her glasses focusing her red eyes on his.

“Now hold up buddy! Don't do nothing drastic! We can talk about this like civilized gents!” Pete tried backing up as he realized that his back was up against a tree.

“Then talk!” Spitfire growled out.

“You got it! I'll tell you what you want to know.” Pete stammered out… then grinned maliciously.

A small collection of small explosives rolled from Pete's hands at our hooves forcing us to quickly back up as they went off. With that distraction Pete rolled around the tree dodging the explosion and ran off.

“See ya suckers!” Pete called out as a Corridor to Darkness opened up letting him race through without too much trouble. “Oomph… my poor back…”

“Damn! He got away.” Spitfire groused as she kicked up some dirt as she landed.

“Uh… excuse me… “ A voice called out behind us.

“Ah hello there. Sorry about that. Are you the one we were looking for?”

“Uh… I don’t… what I mean is… um… what are you?” The young man asked while the beast man creature kept quiet and slumped next to him shyly looking around as if something was wrong.

“Oh… right. We’re friends of Dallben and we’re magical creatures… so we’re exactly what we are on the tin.”

“You’re tiny pastel horses…?” The boy muttered.

“Ponies actually.” Redheart corrected him.

“Right… um anyways I don’t have time for this. Hen Wen was taken by that weirdo directly to the Horned King.” The young man stated.

“And we’ll go save her soon. But first things first… you are?” Vinyl piped up and then looked at both beings.

“Taran.” The boy mentioned and stared over at the beast man.

“Gurgi is Gurgi master swordsman. With the whacking and the smacking you managed to beat those monsters back. But going to the Annuvin leads to death. Please… please don’t go to that place. Gurgi would never see you ever again.” Gurgi uttered in a gravelly voice.

“Sorry… but we have to go. That pig is apparently important.” Octavia uttered though the truth was that we had no idea how it was.

“I'm going as well. She was my responsibility!” Taran shouted and with a headstrong stride raced off in the direction he thought the pig had gone.

“Hey! Don't rush ahead!”

With a quick trot the seven of us chased after the boy hoping his nature wouldn't get the better of him.

“Oh no… oh no, oh no, oh no. Gurgi can't go there. Gurgi wishes he was not afraid…” Gurgi muttered as he watched all of us race off for Annuvin and the home of the Horned King.

66. Prydain: Council

View Online

Taran rushed off head strong and most likely half cocked with how fast he was running. It was the look in his eyes that told me what he was about. He needed to prove himself to himself that he was more than he was. That was a dangerous combination when it came to growing up.

It made everyone stupid. Even I had succumbed to the thrall when I was still in high school and decided I would work with my hands. Then the power saw I was using slicing through the table and I wisely decided that it wasn't my destiny anymore.

“Gray! He's moving too fast!” Octavia hissed out as we chased after him through lands we knew nothing of.

Spitfire and Sunshower remained on hoof for the moment. The fact that we were sneaking into a very dangerous place was perfect incentive to keep under the radar. After fighting Pete though… well I couldn't say if we were all that well hidden anymore.

“Just keep him within eyesight. If he does something stupid I'll intervene!”

I would have to jump through a few shadows but I would be able to handle it. The problem was more along the lines of what we were facing here. With Pete came the chance of meeting extremely dangerous heartless even if Pete himself was a pushover.

“He's slowing down.” Vinyl breathed out as she started to heavily breath from the strain of keeping up.

I looked over the girls noting that both Octavia and Vinyl were the most winded of the bunch. I would endeavor to make certain they ran with me every couple of days. A few wild nights did not in fact make up for training.

“Taran… you need to stay with us.”

“But I can fight too. I can handle myself.” Taran protested.

“That's fine but we are working together and sneaking through things will be our way right now.”

“But Hen Wen…” Taran started to protest.

“We are sneaking. That's final.”

My voice had been very deep at that point… something I noticed when he looked a little shocked at me. The rest of the ladies were as well. I clenched my jaw slightly to hold in my frustration. I knew what happened whenever a partner of my went rushing in never went good, gunned down in the middle of the street…

“Gray?” Vinyl waved her hoof in front of my eyes dragging my attention back.

“Hm? What?”

“You're spacing out again. Got something rattling around your head?” Vinyl questioned me as I noticed everypony else scouting the area with Taran patiently waiting for us to move on.

“Yeah… sorry. Just remembering what happened to others when they rushed in to danger without thinking about things.”

“Ah back when you were different. So quick question and feel free not to answer but… if we're safe in Equestria why not be a cop instead of this knightly figure? I mean, wouldn't it be easier?” Vinyl parsed out actually lifting her shades up to look me in the eyes.

“When I was a cop… I watched as several of my fellow officers were taken out by extremists because they rushed into a kill zone without considering our options at the time. I saw my mentor, who was trying to fix the system, get shot in the back of the head with his own weapon by our superior who was corrupt. As much as I find it something I want to do to help others… I would rather have more control in the situation outside of the confines of that little concept known as the red tape. In Equestria, it would probably be much easier and little to no corruption… probably, but I enjoy this more now. Being my own boss, the travel, and of course, the lovely ladies all of which encompasses a somewhat better life than I had.”

“Dude… that sucks.” Vinyl muttered as her shades fell back over her eyes.

“Sucks indeed Vinyl, sucks very much indeed.”

“Hey! I found it!” Spitfire called out as she flapped back down from the tree line.

“You found where the pig went?” Taran cried out jumping to his feet ready to dart ahead.

“Not exactly… I found a spooky castle with heartless flapping around it. If I didn't know any better that would be the bad guy’s lair.” Spitfire chuckled as she folded in her wings.

“The Horned King. He's the one trying to take over this world. Most stories tell that he is a powerful sorcerer who gave up their humanity to turn into an undead lich. It gave him power supreme… but it made his body frail in compensation.” Taran explained.

“So he'd be easy to deal with because he wouldn't be able to do much to fight then. We could excise him from his seat of power before he starts getting any ideas with the heartless.” Redheart muttered as she cut down some brush with her keyblade revealing a path towards the mountain that the castle was on.

“Maybe. I don't know about that. Hearing something like the Horned King sounds a lot more threatening than that.” Sunshower chided though her voice was low. It looked as though her fight with Rourke was now on her mind.

“So how do we handle this then? I doubt all of us could go rushing in like this… and I doubt they would be that ignorant to think they wouldn't get invaded.” Fresh Coat brought up tapping her hoof against her chin.

“One step at a time.”

With those words we trotted off towards the large mountain that held the fortress atop it. There were several lakes surrounding the entire castle and not a lot of places to actually sneak in. There were even heartless floating around the upper levels. It was fortuitous that Spitfire and Sunshower remained on their hooves. Taran looked as though he wanted to rush off but Vinyl held him back with Fresh Coat’s help.

“So… who has a good idea?”

“And that's what I saw out there. You know how dangerous those palookas are when they gather.” Pete bellowed out. He had raced away but instead of heading to the Horned King he decided to join up with Maleficent.

“Those meddlesome pests! Always getting in my way. Are you certain that there weren't any rodent problems?” Maleficent growled out as she waved her hand over the table revealing seven pastel colored ponies.

“Mick? No way that guys around now. These tiny horses were summoning up keyblades left and right. I barely escaped from them. Maybe we shoulda sent more people out there to deal with them?” Pete managed to get out as he twisted his fingers in worry.

“You lumbering oaf! You know that these imbeciles would sooner cut their ties with us than work towards the fall of all worlds. No! You shall return and make certain those fools fall. Am I clear!?” Maleficent raised her arms summoning up green flames that coated the room.

“Yipes! Alright, alright I got it. I'll deal with those keybladers no problem. I'll even straterigize before I get there, show them what happens when you mess with Ol’ Pete.” Pete boasted as he opened another portal and lumbered through it.

“Useless moron…” Maleficent held her head as if nursing a headache.

“Eh heh heh heh heh. Looks like you need better minions.” A mechanical voice laughed out from above as a new figure stepped down the staircase feet clinking metallically against the cobbled stone.

“Quiet Bagular. At the very least my fool can utilize the darkness without that tech you require so much.” Maleficent spat out.

“At least I have more than one loyal lackey witch!” Bagular shot back.

“Both of you shut it! You're messing with my scientific genius here.” Another voice called out. “Now what have you called me here for, hm?”

“It must be important if they want to waste our time so thoroughly here. I needed to go destroy a few more enemies today and this… distraction is ruining my day.” Another voice from above answered in kind.

The first unknown voice was a diminutive scientist with three tufts of hair sticking out of his head and a giant N on his forehead finishing up into a thick goatee. This was Dr. Neo Cortex, a scientist working for the betterment of his own life by mutating animals into loyal soldiers to conquer his world.

The next slithered from up above revealing a large purple dragon with large bone like horns on his head and an impressive wingspan. Parts of his body looked as though they were regenerating slowly from freshly opened wounds.

Bagular, leader of the five dastardly bombers and world conqueror, stood against one of the nearby walls. With arms crossed over his blue body and large bushy white beard he strode over to the table looking at the ponies trotting along towards the castle.

“So these are the threats we're worried about? Seven little animals! Are you serious?” Bagular held his head on his hand looking dispassionately bored from the supposed threat.

“Oh look at this guy over here. So blue boy thinks keyblade wielders are easy to deal with. Hm?” Another figure walked in covered in a dark toga with a scalp covered in blue flames.

“Hades, you decided to join us?” Maleficent chuckled as she closed her staff in on herself.

“What can I say? It's either appease those deadbeats or have these deadbeats appease me. Now what's this all about? There’s seven of them now? Jeez and I thought my luck was rough.” Hades created a smoke throne and sat on it completely calm about the appearance.

“Now I feel out of place.” Cortex muttered as he looked at the ponies as well. “Seriously they're not even mutated or anything and you're telling me they can fight us off.”

“Maybe you. I doubt they could even handle the power of a dragon.” Malefor boasted as he looked over things uninterested at the sight. “Nothing more than children trying to play heroes. There are more important things to discuss. Why send an olive branch to this failed lich. He is uselessly superfluous if we have the living torch over here.”

“Watch it purse or I'll be showing you how strong this torch gets!” Hades stood up turning red from anger.

“Bring it!” Malefor roared back.

“Enough!” Maleficent shouted using her magic to stop the two from fighting.

“So besides the two children fighting what are we doing about this? Are we assisting him or leaving him to prove his worth.” Bagular hissed out as his red eye with the cross engraved on it glowing a deep red.

“Let's just leave him. You may have extended a hand to him but I doubt he would uphold his own word.” Cortex bitterly stated clearly speaking from experience.

“I agree with the shrimp here. Anybody who tries to fight death doesn't deserve the ambrosia on the side.” Hades piped up. “Now… I heard you had gotten more people or allies for our cause Maleficent. I see three here but where’s the one from that one wizard’s world.”

“Urgh… the old goat is more annoying than I figured and his opposite is unwilling to join us. She said too many cooks spoil the broth. Bagular have you figured out about the other two from your world?” Maleficent growled out as she took place at the head of the table wiping the image away as she did.

“Sirius is stubborn but agrees with me. The other one is being obstinate and trying to desperately fight against my forces. He wouldn't succeed for very long. Eh heh heh heh he.” Bagular laughed as he finally stood up proudly.

“Then we have an alliance of sorts, do we?” Maleficent smirked as she awaited his answer.

“Yes. We've got a deal.” Bagular waved it off clearly not caring.

“Agreed.” Cortex answered as he started to tinker with a few remotes.

“Fine.” Malefor growled out as he made to leave disappearing into the aether.

“A fine bunch of allies you all are.” Maleficent muttered under her breath as she turned to darkness to get more allies to her side.

“So we have our plan then?”

Vinyl, Spitfire and Redheart all nodded while Octavia, Fresh Coat and Sunshower started to get a new fallback position for us to return to. Taran would be going along with us but needed to remain quiet.

“I find this plan utterly crazy.” Octavia spoke up before we left.

“Crazy enough to work or just insane?” Vinyl brought up as she got picked up by Spitfire.

“Both!” Octavia shouted.

“It'll be fine Tavi. We got things covered.” Vinyl waved her off.

“We'll be working together. It should be fine.” Spitfire answered with a resolute state making certain that she could see her eyes to show her confidence.

“So why am I going along?” Redheart groused as I lifted her on my back.

“In case there are wounded. I'll be acting as the distraction of things go wrong… because I dive into shadows pretty easily. Taran you'll be following us so I expect you to follow orders. Since you fancy yourself a knight and all that you can follow orders can't you?”

“Yessir. It'll be easy and I'll show you I'm capable of doing this.” Taran answered immediately though I noted that uncertainty still painted his visage.

I wasn't convinced that he could handle this problem. There was too much riding on us and we were only going to find a pig. The pig had oracular powers capable of seeing the future or hidden things so that wasn't as far fetched as it seemed. I flapped my wings and lifted my hooves up and Taran took that as lifting his arms up. I grabbed his arms and he grabbed mine as we flew off for the castle of Annuvin.

Pete reappeared with the Horned King who was busy working on something in particular. Remaining quiet he made his way down looking over some of the other things.

Luckily, thanks to his height no one made any attempt to stop him. The men under his Horned King seemed rude, crude and unlike anyone he trained back in his heyday. Disgusted by the barbaric nature of the men he continued through looking for something in particular.

“Ah there you are Pete. Master was waiting for you.” A small green goblin with a purple cloak and uneven red eyes.

“Creeper I've already seen him and I don't need your backtalk right now.” Pete growled out staring down the little goblin.

“Ah yes but I need to make sure you have. I really don't want to be strangled again.” Creeper cringed as he tried to lead Pete back.

“Ah calm down. I'll go see him in a bit, just got to get my nerves settled.” Pete chuckled though his eyes were still scanning for things.

“Fine I'll wait by the stairs for you. Don't take too long… I don't want to be strangled just because you don't want to see him.” Creeper crossed his arms trying to appear in charge… something Pete rolled his eyes at.

“I got it.” Pete answered as Creeper walked off.

Ignoring the urgency in his voice Pete wandered off looking for something. Maleficent had given him something a while back after their first meeting with the Horned King.

“Listen you fool. When you work for this fake king you will search for any magical artifacts he may have. Do not come back empty handed.” Maleficent growled out.

“But how ‘m gonna find those magical hoozits and doohickeys anyways? I ain't got anyway to know what he got there.” Pete groused as he kicked up some dirt.

“Here. Use this item to locate any magical artifacts he might have. Grab them and throw them into the portal.” Maleficent handed over a small pendant which flowed when next to her staff making absolutely certain the buffoon understood what was needed.

“Gotcha boss lady. He won't know what he lost after I'm done with him!” Pete let out one of his trademark laughs before entering the Portal of Darkness.

Pete slowly walked through the halls as the pendant he held on started to warm up and emit a little light as he stepped near a cast iron door.

Grinning, he started opening the door only to notice it was locked. Groaning, he summoned a heartless known as a Defender who saluted and attempted to break open the door while he went off to meet with the Horned King before he got too suspicious.

We slowly made our way across the water keeping low enough in case any of the guards that the Horned King could have on his payroll if he actually paid them. Taran struggled slightly to keep up above the water though I managed to hold him without too much problem.

Spitfire and Vinyl moved ahead finding a landing spot first allowing the rest of us to make it. I placed Taran down first who was breathing heavily from the sudden flight. Redheart climbed off my back and immediately went over to the boy checking on him before things got out of control.

“I didn't see many guards around here. The heartless either didn't notice us or were busy doing someone else's bidding.” Spitfire informed us as I peered over the edge into the water… I had a very important question at this point.

“How many of you can swim?”

“Yo.” Spitfire and Vinyl raised their hoof. Redheart didn't… Taran raised his hand.

“Keep close to me then Red. If we have to escape most likely there would be too much interference flying away. We're gonna have to swim.”

“I knew I should have switched with Octavia.” Redheart muttered as she realized that that water wasn't going anywhere.

“Nah. We needed you here mare. Besides if somepony is hurt, you've got the strongest healing power.” Vinyl assured Red placing a hoof on her shoulder.

“When we get home we're going to make sure you all know how to swim.”

“Home? Where is home for you?” Taran brought up as I looked towards him.

“It's far away. Should you meet with Dallben again, he'll explain better and in more detail.”

“But I - “ Taran started only for me to hold my hoof up.

“Look. We need to focus right now. If the heartless are here you're not going to fight them. You have no weapon and no experience. You are to get, Hen Wen was it, and keep her safe. When we are in a safer venue we'll talk more about us with whatever we are comfortable with. Okay?”

Taran looked a bit uncomfortable with my assessment but nodded in agreement. As much as he wanted to argue and he did want to, I was right. The four of us were to keep things off his and the pig’s backs while looking for the keyhole of this world. The trinket Merlin had given me still weighed on my mind as well. Someone here would find it irresistible if I needed to trade.

“We ready to bring this house down?” Vinyl nearly shouted out only for Spitfire to muffle her voice through her wings.

“Vinyl wait till after we get caught to yell.” Spitfire deadpanned.

“Killer idea. I'll wow these bozos with my mad skills.” Vinyl nonchalantly brushed off Spitfire’s brusqueness.

“I'm regretting my decision to be part of the infiltration team Grey.” Redheart confided in me.

“Don't worry too much about it. We're on a simple mission we just got to pay attention and never use any cliches which will get us killed.”

“You mean like - “ Vinyl started only for my to cover her mouth with my hoof.

“I'm just gonna say yes and ask you not to tempt fate. We've gotten this far without too many horrible things let's not jinx it.”

Even then I still felt as though I had tempted it too much by being savvy about infiltration missions. I even felt some of them during the stakeouts back when I was looking over certain cases. By then, I knew the biggest problem with my plans.

Plans never survive first contact with the enemy.

67. Prydain: Trouble

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It took a few minutes before we were ready to head out and figure out where they were keeping Hen Wen. I slowly edged into the first room noting that the walls were all poorly maintained and crumbling from what looked to be age. Spitfire and Vinyl kept pace with me in a small V formation while Taran and Redheart remained behind us.

It had taken a bit to get Taran to understand that he shouldn't rush into the danger and it was made more apparent when several heartless were roaming the halls with human handlers. The humans looked gaunt and were covered in very heavy armor. There were few instances of close calls as the heartless also brought in Rabid Dog types using them as hunting dogs.

“Quiet you! Let's head back!” A guard growled out pulling the heartless with them down another hall. It barely listened to them almost looking as though they were about to attack only to stop and follow quietly along.

As he left Vinyl sighed out in relief. She looked a slight bit bored with all the sneaking. I waited a bit before speaking about it.

“Vinyl?”

“Huh? Yeah what?” Vinyl shook her head seemingly waking up from her stupor.

“Bored? You know stealth is important.”

“Yeah… but there are heartless. They probably know that we are here, ya know?” Vinyl muttered as she pointed out the Rabid Dog heartless as it followed the guard along.

“I don't think it matters if the guards aren't able to understand them.” Spitfire brought up.

“Why do you all know about those monsters? I've never seen any of them before or even heard about them.” Taran quietly asked as suspicion brushed against his eyes.

“We come from a faraway place and these creatures are only taught about if you are fighting them. We are fighting them but for now this is a rescue operation.”

“Hmph… as you say.” Taran mumbled under his breath.

“I'm a little worried about the guards here though.”

“What? Why would you be worried Gray?” Redheart managed to get out before the other three could ask their way.

“Heartless are opportunistic. The moment you show any weakness they tear your heart out of you without remorse. Anyone who tries to rule them usually winds up getting devoured by the darkness. And every evil being that says that they control the heartless are usually very deluded or loss to their hatred to understand that they will soon lose their heart.”

“So the guards… “ Redheart grimaced as she came to realize what I was implying.

Vinyl and Spitfire both joined her as their smiles hardened into glares. Taran seemed a bit more horrified at the implication as a guttural shriek sounded out. The guard that had walked past ran back towards us.

“Help me!” He screamed as he fell before us looking at us with a mixed look of confusion and shock.

Before he could voice anything else the heartless jumped on him. The Rabid Dog rammed into his chest pulling out a token of a crystalline heart token. Within seconds the guard was absorbed into darkness and slowly shifted into a new heartless. He resembled the Bone Lancer from earlier only it wielded a very large scimitar.

With a quick lunge it raced forward meeting my blade in the act. The clashing of one against metal cause the others to react with a quick blast of fire magic. I shoved it back causing it to fall into a writing pile of bone. It got back up charging once again as Spitfire took point knocking it up into the ceiling while Vinyl went low striking at the torso knocking it back. Redheart immediately fired off a short volley of fire magic burning the heartless as it released the heart token back into the aether.

“And that is why you don't want to turn to darkness. You need constant control and clarity to use darkness for anything and it's always a tough path to continually walk along. I haven't met anyone who could reliably do so and I wouldn't recommend trying it.”

“Geez… and I thought our training was tough.” Spitfire mumbled as she pulled back and returned to formation ushering the other two into their positions.

“Much worse than nursing school for sure.” Redheart muttered as she stood near Taran.

“What… what was that?” Taran whimpered slightly before smacking his face with his open palms to cause himself to hide the fear he was showing.

“It's what happens when you mess around with darkness without taking the proper precautions.”

Taran kept quiet and seemed to contemplate everything I had explained. In truth I didn't know the exact specifics given how most of this information came from a game world which I only had the information of up to a certain point. Darkness and Light were in an internal balance but like most stories when one got too high the other did something to balance it back up. It was in fact the impetus of what occurred most likely between Eraqus and Xehanort in the first place. At least that was my understanding as far as I knew it.

“Let's keep looking. No point in standing still. We just need to be careful since if that guard had trouble with the heartless that is probably a good indicator for the rest of them.”

Everypony nodded and Taran agreed with a quick nod. The building was still somewhat quiet and that meant that the guards were still none the wiser.

“So ya wanted to see me Horned King? Something important I guess?” Pete rumbled into the room making absolutely certain that something was up.

“Yes… your help has been killing my people. They need to stop that. I need them for later.” Horned King growled out as he channeled magic into a small crystal ball.

“They're under your will. If you stop thinking about them they go out of your control. Gotta keep a strong mind when dealing with heartless.” Pete answered before doing his low guffawing.

“You don't say. You are the pinnacle of a strong mind.” Horned King deadpanned. His voice was dripping with so much sarcasm he was surprised at Pete’s response.

“Thanks pal. I do my best.” Pete proudly stated.

“Quiet! Take the heartless and scout the area before those idiots keep trying to make them out to be pets!” Horned King screamed causing Pete to fall over in shock.

“R-right! You got it boss!” Pete cried out as he rushed away.

Even as he ran the Horned King’s eyes burned a deep crimson as he watched the fat slob of a being rush off to control the heartless better. His relief was short lived as the scampering of more feet drew his attention.

“Sire! Sire! We have a multitude of problems. The guards are thinking that they are pets and taking them too lightly.” The shrill voice called out that he knew was his lackey Creeper coming to bother him with another thing he already knew.

“I know.” Horned King muttered as he grabbed Creeper by the neck to stop him from speaking.

“Sorry… sire. I'll… be good.” Creeper struggled to say as the hand gripped tighter around his neck.

“Get them ready. We've found the pig we needed.” Horned King growled out before tossing Creeper to the floor.

“Yes sire. I'll get to it now.” Creeper bowed and pleaded as he backed into the hall once again.

The Horned King growled out some more as he channeled more magic through his body. It looked as though his body was slowly ebbing away from the constant battle against time. With a deep roar of power he disappeared into his magic ready to join the rest of his troops and finally find the Black Cauldron.

Octavia looked over their impromptu campground hidden in a small glade where they could overlook the large castle off in the distance. She had made certain that the cottage like tent Gray had brought with him to keep them safe. Supposedly he had received one from talking with Stiltzkin.

“We're ready now Octavia. There’s been some weird things happening nearby though.” Sunshower called out as she flapped back down from her position.

“Really? You think it's the heartless or something else?” Fresh Coat spoke up as she came out of the cottage.

“Hm… what is it Sunshower?” Octavia asked as she came back from her viewpoint.

“There were weird lights floating over towards the forest but there weren't any heartless I could see. Still we should probably stick around here until the others get back.” Sunshower muttered the last part under her breath waiting for a decision to be made.

“We could check it out now, maybe? I don't think we've been fully prepared for all this though.” Fresh Coat announced in a slightly higher tone.

“What do you mean?” Octavia turned to her herd mate confused by her statement.

“We have been trained but we've mostly followed somepony else's lead. I think that we're being trained to be more independent, ya know? We're getting there from what I can tell but he’s hesitant to give us that chance just yet.” Fresh Coat parsed out trying her best to voice what she wanted to say.

“I can see that. Any idea why though? I mean we all have reasons for doing what we do. What about his?” Sunshower replied as she summoned her keyblade. “I think you can see where I'm getting at.”

“You really think we each need to earn our own keyblade first?” Octavia brought up.

“It's something to think of that's for sure. We don't exactly have much insight to how a trained keyblade master works but we are figuring some things out just by going on these adventures.” Sunshower exposited as she hid her keyblade again.

“Well for now let's stick around here. As interesting as it sounds we don't exactly know what this world entails. If heartless appear too close to us though we'll spring into action.” Octavia ordered and the two mares agreed.

As quiet as it was Fresh Coat decided to pull out her easel and quickly paint out the castle. It was interesting enough to do so since nopony had ever been to this world. While she painted Octavia and Sunshower continued to discuss what it meant to be a keyblade wielder and whether that insight would help them or not.

I knew it had gone a bit too smoothly as soon as we entered the castle. All the guards had been stuffing their face in a makeshift mess hall. We had managed to see it from one of the broken walls which looked down on its entirety.

“Jeez… look at all those losers. Any look threatening?” Vinyl smugly stated puffing up her chest fluff which I lightly brushed to get her to calm down. She had to hold her head down as her blush threatened to overtake her face.

“What's with her?” Taran quizzically stared at the small white unicorn.

“She's being cocky right now. This is something I’ve decided to do when any of them get that idea of charging in recklessly.”

“Oh really? I'd like to see you do it to me.” Spitfire chuckled as she kept just out of range without flying about.

“That'll have to wait till later.” I quietly turned to back to look over the guards eating away.

I did notice the sad look on her face until Redheart stopped her. I cursed the fact that she had noticed that I was smirking and waiting for her to get closer. Spitfire’s grin came back but she held back the sultriness due to Taran being around.

“Well let's get to it already. I can't wait to see what this guy thinks that he's doing.” Spitfire slyly chuckled as she trotted ahead ready to face whatever was in her way.

“Wait… something's happening.”

I ushered everyone back to the hole in the wall as a bright light pulsed into the room and stopped at one of the highest points in the room. Everyone remained quiet as a figure in a red robe with four curved horns appeared. His face was hidden in shadow but his deep red eyes balefully gazed upon the soldiers who all quieted down and did their best to kneel before their master… even if they were in an awkward position to do so.

With careful steps he walked through the crowd as a small green goblin creature ran up to him. It looked as though as if someone had beaten him with an ugly stick with the position of his eye bulging slightly. He, from the tone of his voice, sounded like a sniveling coward.

“Sire, we've found it! We've found it! That blasted cat found the pig!” Creeper called out laughing like a loon the entire way through.

“So I've been told.” Horned King growled out.

“Is that the Horned King?” Redheart spoke up as light finally reached beneath the hood revealing a ghastly skeletal face. She immediately shook her hoof and looked away not wanting to see that visage anymore.

“Yes. We have to find Hen Wen before this gets out of hand.” Taran scowled as he placed his hands against the edge of the hole.

“We need to move before things get out of hand. He doesn't know how the pig works so we just get her when they try to cook her. It allows us the easiest way to get Hen Wen and escape with the least resistance.”

There were a few reluctant nods but it would at the very least get us out of the castle quickly enough. Taran was still looking out the holes when Hen Wen was dragged back into the room before the Horned King who watched with vested interest.

“Okay pig! You'll tell us what we want to know and if you know what's good for you you'll tell us!” Creeper called out as he got in the pig’s face. She turned her head and ignored the goblin and his ranting.

“So you won't do so…?” The Horned King coldly stated.

As the threats started Taran immediately rushed off while we were still watching, silently running towards the dining hall apparently. When I turned to make sure he was still close by, he was nowhere to be seen.

A loud clang came from somewhere in the hall which caused the guards there to immediately stand back up and look around. The Horned King looked at his hesitant guards and he jumped to his feet, his eyes swirling with hatred as he gazed out upon the masses.

“Intruders! The lot of you find this rat immediately! Stop standing around and do something!” He screamed as he summoned three more of those bone knight heartless. The one with the lance and sword were familiar enough… but the third apparently had a large bone axe hefted in its grasp.

All parties scoured the room as Taran snuck under the tables using the darkness to his advantage. As we watched from the upper hallways I placed my hoof on Spitfire which she took as an order to stand by with the others as I dove into the shadows near Taran.

“We gotta get ready to run ladies.” Spitfire whispered under her breath getting Vinyl and Redheart to gulp at the prospect.

“I would have expected one of us to rush in honestly.” Redheart shifted her eyes towards Vinyl who noticed.

“Hey… I'm not that dumb. Even I know that that was a bad idea.” Vinyl admitted knowing that she was the one most itching for a fight till Gray took the wind out of her smug sails.

“It's fine. I wanted to fight some more too but let's take this one step at a time. We'll get our chance.” Spitfire added as she peered into the hole overlooking the hall and held open her wing, three feathers extended.

I appeared near Taran using the shadows to my advantage as he stood a small distance from Hen Wen. The goblin was still too close and meandered on the spot as he was want to do. He never seemed to wander far from his master unless forced to. Instead of waiting for a better chance Taran rushed out from under the table before I could grab onto him. Cursing silently I remained under the table in the shadows as Taran kicked the goblin off to the side and grabbed the pig before trying to run off into an adjoining hallways.

“Well well well… our rat has come out for their cheese. How about you join us boy?” The Horned King sneered at the child as the guards surrounded him menacing him with their weapons. “Fools rush in where heroes fear to tread.”

“Wait sire! I think this is the one who we stole the pig from if that fool’s information was right. He might know.” Creeper sinisterly snickered as the guards forced him forwards.

“Talk boy. Show us how this pig can see the future.” The Horned King ordered making absolutely certain to keep his eyes trained on the boy.

“But - but I don't know how… I was never shown.” Taran winced under the gaze doing his best to lie.

“Do you now? That's too bad. Creeper it seems the men shall be devouring ham in the near future.” The Horned King sneered as one of his guards brought out a very disturbing looking axe which had notches on the blade… as if to make it hurt even worse when it struck something.

“No!” Taran shouted as I watched. I wasn't entirely helpless to help him but timing would be everything.

“Then reveal that which I seek!” Horned King yelled as Creeper forced a small bowl of wine before Taran.

Reluctantly… Taran urged Hen Wen near the bowl placing her about at the edge. Hen Wen slowly went into a trance as Taran swirled his finger in the liquid and recited the short spell he learned.

“Hen Wen, from you, I do beseech… knowledge that lies beyond my reach, troubled thoughts beyond your heart. Pray you now those thoughts impart.” Taran uttered out as Hen Wen brought to bear images of the Black Cauldron and three other figures holding on to it.

“Of course! That's where it is!” The Horned King cheered as his face emerged from his hood revealing a skeletal visage and burning red eyes. It was so disturbing that Taran immediately freaked out throwing the wine in his face as he grabbed Hen Wen and rushed off.

I burst from under the table tackling the two into the shadows as we appeared near the girls. They got the idea as we rushed back to the parapet that we descended from as the guards all mobilized rushing grouch the castle.

“Sorry… but we got Hen Wen back. That's good right?” Taran weakly stated but I stared at the boy. He knew I wasn't happy but I didn't say anything about it. There was no time as I urged the two to rush ahead of me.

As we reached the edge of the balcony I noted that the wyvern heartless were circling the sky. That left Spitfire and I in a very bad position to fly. I looked over the edge into the water. With a great sigh I urged Spitfire to jump.

“Right now? Argh… okay I'm diving in. Don't take too long will ya?” Spitfire groaned as she stepped up to the edge.

“Right behind ya. Redheart you're with me. Vinyl make sure Taran follows closely.”

“Gotcha. I'll take care of it.” Vinyl answered with a smug grin.

Spitfire nodded quietly and jumped off the edge in a perfect dive into the water. I followed afterwards with Redheart next to me. The sheer height made her shy away from the edge. I wrapped my wing around her and forced us to hop over the edge into the water below. She was so rigid from fear that she didn't scream because of how far we fell from.

“C’mon we need to follow them!” Vinyl commanded Taran and Hen Wen as she noticed the cries of the guards. “Now! Today!”

“Let me get Hen Wen over first.” Taran answered with a worried tone as he placed her on the edge. “I know you're scared but we need to jump. Just do it Hen Wen we need to get out of here.”

“There's the intruder! And he has an accomplice! Capture them now!” Creeper, the tiny goblin, screamed out sending both the regular guards and some heartless as well rushing for the two. Taran quickly pushed Hen Wen into the water as the wyvern heartless dove down upon them.

Before she could pull out her keyblade she was tackled down by a very burly wyvern heartless. Taran attempted to shove it off her tackling into it… only to be brushed off by the wings.

“We have them! Quickly throw them in a cell until master knows what he wants to do with these interlopers!” Creeper ordered as the two were locked in chains and carried off into a cell. Vinyl didn't make it easy as she kicked the human guards whenever she could forcing a Bone Lancer to carry her instead.

The heartless were restless but the malice of the Horned King complied them to obey. And they carried out their order faithfully.

It had taken Pete an hour to break through the reinforced steel door. Apparently magic had been used to strengthen it that the Defender heartless had nearly mangled its shield leaving the face on it looking sad and lifeless.

“Good work. Maybe now we can see what this guy has hiding around here then.” Pete guffawed as he stepped through the threshold finding several tomes resting upon pedestals within.

The Defender heartless dissipated leaving him to scowl alone at the meager prize before him. He had wasted all this time on some worthless books and Maleficent would most likely bonk him on the head for the waste of time.

“Aw dang it all. If Maleficent knows I didn't come back with something she's gonna let me have it. Oh whatever… I'll just take these books for her. Maybe this will be enough to not get in trouble.” Pete groaned as he grabbed the books and placed them in his satchel ignoring all the sparks that came off of them as he grabbed them. It wasn't that important at the moment before he ducked into a portal of darkness. He decided that he might as well check in with Maleficent.

I swam back up with a panicky Redheart who was grabbing hold of me, nearly choking me by the neck. Spitfire came up behind me spitting up water as she looked around.

“Uh… Gray? I think we're missing somepony and someone…” Spitfire muttered as her eyes went wide.

“What!? Augh… Red, calm down!”

Redheart kept kicking at the water as I grabbed onto a rock just to get her to stop being in the water and from choking me. It barely worked as she looked around and finally started to relax… it just didn't relax her grip. Spitfire came over patting her back which helped immensely as I regained my ability to breath.

“First thing when we get back… swimming lessons… “

“Gray! It's Vinyl, she's not here!?” Redheart cried out as she started to notice how quiet it was.

“What!? Fuck!”

“Should we go back?” Spitfire looked up as the heartless started to swarm around the castle.

“Not yet… we regroup with the others first. Then I'll sneak back in and get them. I'm more worried what's gonna happen if Vinyl decides to fight back. I'm certain they didn't give her a chance to pull out her keyblade… which means she has the element of surprise.”

“I doubt that would last long.” Spitfire muttered as she realized what she was saying. “We're on a time limit then…”

“Oh Celestia… she's gonna go buck wild in there.” Redheart coughed out as she was starting to realize that she was still near water.

“We'll get her back soon… let's just hope she won't do what I think she'll do.”

68. Prydain: Jailbreak

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“And your hands are clammy you bucking horseapples!” Vinyl yelled out through whatever hole in the wall she could find.

“Will you stop yelling already… ugh… I can't believe this happened.” Taran rested his head against his knees.

“That's because you decided to run ahead without a plan. Even I've been getting better about it.” Vinyl pointed out clearly annoyed at the chained cuffs around her forehooves. She glared at them even though she knew that she could take them off at any moment. The problem was more that she didn't know where she needed to go to escape the place and Taran wasn't privy to that information as well.

“What else did you expect me to do? Hen Wen was gonna be made into bacon.” Taran growled out causing her to grimace from the thought.

“Listen to us when we had a plan in the making, duh! They needed her to see the future apparently and if we did nothing they wouldn't have gotten anything at all.” Vinyl countered tension rising down the back of her neck.

“Ugh… “ Taran sighed, resting his head in his hands. His shoulder sagged as some weight pushed down on him.

“We need to get out of here… but I haven't been able to see a good way out of here.” Vinyl muttered.

“But we're chained up already. What can we do?” Taran groaned as he tried to move his legs faster only for the chains to rattle when he did so. Sighing, he let his legs curl up against his body and rested his head against his knees.

“I can get us out but only in the sense we won't have chains anymore dude.” Vinyl responded pulling at her chains in her magic. She was unsure whether or not to bring out her keyblade in case they were being watched.

“We could fight our way out?” Taran lifted his head seemingly raising his hopes.

“I can fight my way out. You don't have a weapon and they'll use you like bait if they see you. We need a better way to get out of here.” Vinyl summarized and lowered her shades. Her eyes had stung and she need to drown out the inefficient light from the sconces on the wall.

“Are you crying?” Taran wondered aloud since the shades over her eyes kept them hidden.

“Pshaw… I'm fine. Just tired is all. This has been a very long day.” Vinyl lowered her muzzle and looked away. She must have been more tired than she had once thought.

“Red… please… ugh… stop with the choking.”

I was coughing at this point since we had nearly reached the shore. She had been extremely anxious throughout the entire swim. Spitfire was very calm in contrast swimming besides me while we escaped from the fortress and the heartless. The tiny goblin had focused on the ones he did capture which meant that we had some time to get to safety.

I hated that we couldn't do anything yet. We had left Taran and Vinyl behind while the pig was close to us. Spitfire had picked her up on her back as we finally reached the shore. Red still wouldn't let go as we trotted back to our rendezvous point.

“Red… we're on land… stop… choking… me!”

Spitfire managed to get Redheart off of me prying her hooves from around my neck. It took a few moments before she could smell the dust she kicked up from beating at the dirt. I coughed slightly brushing my hoof through the air to clear away the small cloud she formed. Redheart stood with a sheepish grin on her face and cheeks fully flushed from embarrassment.

“Oh… we're on land. Yay… heh heh… “ Redheart pulled her little nurse cap over her face just to escape our gaze. I wouldn't needle her over this but I was certain Spitfire would.

“Let's get back to the others and from there we'll make a plan to get back Vinyl.”

“Jeez Red… you and me… we're gonna go swimming until you got it.” Spitfire muttered to Red while I pretended to tune them out.

“Can we not and say we did? I hate swimming.” Red protested trying to swerve the conversation away from water.

“No. C’mon mare, we need you to be prepared for anything. What if Gray wasn't here to save your flank? You could've drowned then.” Spitfire brought up though it sounded like she was channeling her drill sergeant nature.

“Buck that's horrifying. I don't want to think about it.” Redheart quivered as I turned to the pair and covered their mouths with my wings.

“Heartless in the area. Let's be silent so we could sneak around them.”

I lied as quickly as possible. While I was of the opinion that Redheart needed to learn to swim the conversation was going south with how pale she looked because of her encounter. Swimming could be brought up later. I would do it myself as well so I could ease the blow or be as blunt as possible if she tried to run away from it.

“There they are!” Octavia shouted as I saw her silhouette wave to us in the distance… which quickly shift to holding her hoof to her mouth.

We galloped over forcing Hen Wen to hold on to Spitfire’s back. A short rush to a very heavy silence followed suit as Octavia seemed horror struck when we did.

“Where’s Vinyl?” Octavia rounded on me first.

“Captured. I'll be heading back in to carve a path to her in a moment.”

“Not without me, you won't.” Octavia glared into my eyes which made me flinch. She was scary when mad.

“Wouldn't think of it any other way… “ I muttered before turning to Spitfire and Redheart. “Fill in Sunshower and Fresh Coat about what happened and we'll be right back with Vinyl and Taran.”

“You got it bosscolt.” Spitfire mock saluted me as she led a still shaken Redheart to the tent they had set up.

Apparently the other two had decided to take a nap in the interim. I couldn't blame them when this place was this peaceful. Though I couldn't think of that as Octavia climbed on my back urging me into the shadows.

“Ease up Tavi. She's tougher than she looks and we’ll get her back.”

Octavia froze at mention of her nickname and buried her muzzle into my neck. She shook slightly but I couldn't tell whether or not she was crying or shaking in rage. I kept quiet and dove into the shadows taking her with me back into the fortress.

“Okay… so we can relax for a bit then?” Redheart looked to Spitfire who nodded and flopped down on one of the mats inside the tent.

“For now. We'll wait for a signal and then… then we'll make sure to get them out of there.” Spitfire yawned as she laid her head while Redheart found a spot and flopped down resting her body from the fear she was forced to face.

After making certain everything was clear Vinyl summoned her keyblade and tapped it against the locks releasing the two of them from their shackles. Taran rubbed his wrists as the red band around them chafed under the strain.

“Why didn't you do that earlier?” Taran groaned as he glowered at the small unicorn.

“Because we needed to not be watched. It's obvious that they would have stopped me too quickly if they noticed me doing anything. That sort of thing happens all the time… in films.” Vinyl coughed the last part out muffling it with her hoof.

“What was that?” Taran brought up, his suspicion rising.

“Nothing. Don't worry about it. Now let's get out of here.” Vinyl waved it off looking around the cell more clearly now that she was free from her bindings.

Before Taran could try to bring up her comment again the floor began to shift. Vinyl’s training took root forcing her stance low as her keyblade floated closely in her telekinetic hold. Taran picked up a nearby rock trying to look intimidating. A small little light flew from one of the holes on the floor surprising the two as Taran launched his rock at it. The rock harmlessly sailed through it.

“Stop panicking! We're fine!” Vinyl hissed as she watched the floor since the small bauble of light floated around.

Taran stopped flailing around as the floor opened up and a young woman with blonde hair and fair figure popped her head up. She looked around noticing the unicorn and she nearly squealed from the sight.

“Oh my! A unicorn!” The young woman climbed out of the hole startling Vinyl enough to drop her keyblade. Luckily, the lady merely snuggled into her giving her a great big hug.

“Hey! Look lady I don't know what you heard but this ain't college and I ain't experimenting anymore.” Vinyl belted out then covered her mouth.

“College? Is that a unicorn thing? Also did you just talk!?” The lady held Vinyl out at arm length, hands underneath her fore hooves.

“Oh look a distraction! That hole leads out of here right?” Vinyl quickly cried out but managed to reign in her volume before she broke the tough character she was trying to pull off.

“Huh? Oh yes I think so. I've been trying to find the right path for a while now and my little bauble here was leading me to the closest exit. I suppose I just got lucky and found some more captives at the very least. Come on let's head on out.” The young lady waved at the group to follow as she jumped back into the hole.

“Hey!? Wait a moment. At least tell us your name.” Taran called out as the second into the hole.

“Ah yes. Sorry about that. My name is Eilonwy.” She gave a polite bow. “I suppose you could call me a princess but please keep it casual. No need to go gloating about a title and such.”

“You're a princess? Huh… you got any magic?” Vinyl called out as she raised her hoof regaining her keyblade and followed after the other two into the catacombs beneath the fortress.

“I suppose I can cast a few spells. Mind you I never really fought anything and those shadow creatures are proving to be terrifying. I've never seen creatures like them either. They keep twisting the darkness and I think some of the Horned King’s guards were also killed when they tried to tame them.” Eilonwy muttered under her breath.

“Okay… well since I got the weapon right now I'll stick to the middle and Eilonwy will be up front lighting our way.” Vinyl ordered as Taran reluctantly took his position. This wasn't going to get him trained as a knight and he knew it.

We landed in the shadow of the fortress close to the water. I clung to one of the extensions while Octavia held on closely to me to not fall into the water. She watched for any heartless that might get too close though I had made sure to remain at the lowest possible place I could without touching the water. The flying heartless guards seemed to double since our escape but they kept up beyond the fortress parapets.

“I feel lightheaded… “ Octavia muttered since we were technically upside down.

“Sorry. We'll be inside in a bit.”

I dove back into the shadows keeping Octavia tightly in my grasp. For some reason every jump got me on the ceiling and she was looking uncomfortable from the constant defiance of gravity. Eventually we managed to find a safe spot within the fortress high above the dining hall. There were no guards within but the heartless had grown as several of the Bone Knights and Lancers were roaming the halls. I carefully placed her on one of the sturdier chandeliers making certain that the chains holding it up weren't likely to break except for the hardest blows.

“We won't be able to get anything out of these heartless Gray.” Octavia hissed out to me as I searched for any sign of the goblin, his master, Pete, or even the human guards.

“Yeah… even if we were to race through this place it's not like we'll find them like that. Especially if she decided to break out before we came.”

“You'd think she'd actually think this through though. I've known Vinyl almost all my life and while she has had that odd clever plan to get her out of trouble it never got this bad.” Octavia pondered as she noted that several of the heartless started to leave the room letting the human guards in.

“I think she'll be fine… let's listen for now.”

I didn't actually know if she would be but I needed to keep up a brave face regardless of what might have happened.

“I hate those creepy things… makes us look bad, I tell you what.” One guard muttered.

“Oh shut it. They're fine. So long as you don't be stupid they don't attack. You be stupid then you deserve it ya right doff bastard.” Another guard chortled out.

“You lookin to fight there jackass.” The first guard replied getting up to his feet as he looked at the other.

“Well seeing as you ain't a woman… “ The other guard slyly held a finger to his chin before a fist slugged him down to the ground before they broke out into an outright brawl.

“Charming… “ Octavia glared at the scene before her.

“And we have no idea where we could looks for her.”

I locked my hooves into the ceiling surprisingly my internal magic allowed me to channel it into keeping hoof holds within the ceiling. I shook my head to Octavia as she slowly worked her way onto my stomach as I crawled along the ceiling and being a long and very arduous search for Vinyl.

Octavia kept her head across my shoulder as she kept watch for any anomalies. We weren't exactly in the best situation since I could only see so much from how I was positioned. I was forced to look ahead and the blood rushing to my head while mitigated by being a thestral, apparently which is something I need to look further into, I had to dodge any of the dividers and strange stonework on the ceiling.

“I didn't think ponies could do this outside of Pinkie Pie.” Octavia whispered to me as we entered another room.

“I think any pony can do this if they try it out. Magic can bridge the gap and make the impossible possible.”

“So we could learn to do this? I think that might be the craziest thing I've ever heard… then again I've also been to four other planets now so what do I know.” Octavia groused as she gripped my shoulder to make me stop. Several human guards were walking around at this point patrolling the halls.

In my time as a cop I had learned that people never looked more than forty five degrees up whenever they enter a room. During one of my cases one of the criminals had one of his associates hang in the corner to ambush us. One patrol officer had gone down because of that which hammered into me to always watch the corners including the ones near the ceiling.

“Gray… there’s a staircase over there maybe we should check the lower levels.” Octavia whispered as she pointed her hoof towards the right that led downwards. “Let's face it… she's probably in the dungeons.”

“Well this place is quite lively isn't it?” Vinyl deadpanned as they passed through more of the crypt. The dead were in full attendance even though she wasn't disc jockeying that evening and she doubted that the skeleton crew would be that open to joining them that night.

“Truthfully, I've been searching for a passage out but I didn't have the leverage to actually take them. Too many cast iron gates you see.” Eilonwy mentioned as she kept ahead of the pair and looked over the grand expanse of waterways that covered the catacombs. “This is where the first King was buried so long ago if I remember correctly. He united the people and when he died cut up the land between his heirs so each would rule a section in relative peace and stability.”

“That didn't last long.” Taran brought up as he noted several different crests that adorned the tombs that littered the wall.

Vinyl felt uncomfortable. Like most ponies, she had never dealt with death personally. Even during the trip to Atlantis, all the fallen had fallen when they weren't around. The Forest of Nibel was more pronounced but she hadn't been present within the Forlorn Ruins when the mass grave was uncovered.

“Let's just get out of here. We’ll have plenty to talk about when we find the others.” Vinyl lowered her shades again and trotted ahead of the light keeping an eye on her hoofsteps. The floor had proven to be a bit disturbing to look at at this point.

“Alright… sounds like you've got an entire group with you.” Eilonwy mentioned somewhat longingly at the thought.

“Yeah I do.” Vinyl muttered as she summoned her keyblade to her hoof and waded further into the darkness.

Taran, meanwhile, got distracted. Off on a large pedestal was a large bronze ritual pedestal covered in a mummified remains of what was most likely the most recently deceased king. Resting in his hands was a large sword with the word Dyrnwyn engraved in runes along the edge. Gingerly, Taran released the sword from the corpse’s grip and took it with him.

“I'll make sure to pull my own weight.” Taran muttered as he rushed after the bauble and the two ladies who were taking the lead.

“Gray? Couldn't we link with Vinyl telekinetically?” Octavia whispered into my ear as we searched yet another hall of the building to no avail.

“I've been trying for the past couple of rooms. Something has been blocking me from doing so and I'm not even sure if the others have been trying to reach us either.”

I had tried the moment we had entered the dining room because something had been kneeling against a small portion of my brain. It wasn't painful but it made itself known every time that I tried to call out to her. From that point I would attempt it again every room unless it was a hallway. Something was causing problems for me and I had no idea what was causing it in the first place.

“You wise guys got it? Keep up your hocus pocus while I keep an eye out for those pastel glue bottles.” Pete guffawed as his trio of wizard heartless connected their staves and channeled their magic into several runes.

Pete had gotten a few extra weapons on his side including his special knuckle dusting beaut. It was a boxing glove filled with iron and fashioned into an iron gauntlet. It would certainly give him a strong right. He had a need. A need to pay back some stuck up smart mouth ponies who thought they could pull a fast one over Good Ol’ Pete. His following laughter was ignored by the heartless who kept up their spell while he walked alongside the outskirts of the lake outside the fortress.

“Good thing those wyvern heartless saw that weird bat one somewhere near the edge of the water.” Pete mumbled as he wandered around the lake making certain to look for any sign of those interlopers that had tried to stop him earlier.

69. Prydain: Disturbance

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“You remember when we were in the forest and we were nearly crushed all those times?”

“Yes… I had many panic attacks about it and wanted to cry the entire time.” Octavia shivered at the thought. “Why bring it up?”

“It was exciting at the very least, right?”

“I suppose so… oh yes I get what you mean now.” Octavia sighed.

For the past ten minutes guards stormed through the hall I had taken. Luckily, the candlelight was far too shoddy to handle illuminating the ceiling. It still didn't mean I didn't get tired. I may have had the ability to hang from the ceiling because of magic but the blood still rushed to my head albeit slowly. The long time we had been hanging around had taken its toll on my brain forcing me to focus on movement and transportation.

“I think I see an opening. Ready?” Octavia pointed in a general direction which I slunk across the ceiling towards. “Mind the divider. You need to make a large step.”

“Got it.”

I had nearly run into one on the way down the staircase due to how shoddily it was made. The ceiling was irregularly shaped. My hoof had caught it before my head did though so for my sake it was no harm no foul. Octavia had to point them out after that incident though. While the guards hadn't found us… heartless were aware of us. The only reason an alarm hadn't sounded out was because the human guards were far less aware thinking that they were just acting up.

Our search for Vinyl had taken us to the courtyard which made sneaking almost impossible. There was no ceiling to use to bypass the guards and the lack of shadows was disconcerting. We could hide in them thanks to my dark coat and her grey coat and brown mane. We blended into shadows much easier. At this point I was more worried about the lack of telepathic communication due in no small part to how it was accomplished.

The only beings who could do so were the Horned King and Pete. The former only knew of one of us while the latter fought us making him the most likely of suspects.

“Hey Gray? Did you ever do something like this before? You always seem so sneaky though I can tell you hide more than you should.” Octavia brought up out of the blue.

“What brought this up? I mean I don't mind answering, I'm just curious why.”

“I'm just curious. Also as the Alpha mare I should know the most about you. It only seems natural.” Octavia shrugged against me.

“Oh… ok. Well I was mostly a detective working on cases with my mentor. I never actually participated in any raids or infiltrations. Those weren't exactly in my job description. I was more trained as a homicide detective. It was also why I've been forced to deal with more than my share of killers over the few years I worked there. I've only had to infiltrate somewhere once though… it went bad quickly. While it turned out fine in the end I was still reprimanded for jumping the gun so soon even if a would be victim was saved. Still it was a learning lesson.”

“What lesson did it teach you?” Octavia seemed a bit startled that I was a homicide detective… or she was worried that I had dealt with death so much before based on my blase approach. I couldn't tell at this point mostly due to the blood finally stoppings its rush into my head.

“Be aware of your surroundings… “

I dove into the shadows and reappeared at another section of the courtyard beneath one of the darkened stairwells that littered the area. We were still trying to find Vinyl. I just hated how slow it went.

“This sucks, this sucks, this sucks… “ Vinyl continued ad nauseum, her little mantra being heard by her two companions.

“So you've said for the fiftieth time.” Taran muttered as he kept the sword he had taken hidden on his back for the moment. The others didn't need to know.

“She's right though. We haven't found the exit out of her and I keep hearing screams from somewhere. Should we go help whomever it is that's screaming?” Eilonwy mentioned as her bauble started leading them towards the sound.

“Beats going nowhere. Lead on.” Vinyl announced glad to find something better to do. She had reached her threshold of boredom minutes ago and had settled into finding someway to keep herself entertained. The heartless hadn't been a problem for the most part with nothing but the lack of light being the only obstacle they faced.

A door suddenly started creaking as Vinyl grabbed Eilonwy in her magic dragging her back and around the corner. The three looked on as a large cart was rolled into the now open door. Before it fully entered a hand fell out of the tarp that covered it. It was a mottled grey with dedicated fingers barely holding onto the arm it was attached to. Each gulped as they dealt with their anxiety, Taran, their disgust, Eilonwy, and their fear, Vinyl.

“Gross… what are they doing with… with that.” Eilonwy shuddered at the thought. She honestly didn't want to know.

“Must be something with the Black Cauldron. It does make the dead rise once again.” Taran mentioned as his fingers gripped the rock wall a bit harder.

“Don't care. As soon as the door closes we rush by and try climbing up higher. We should find the way out sooner rather than later.” Vinyl stopped the discussion and as soon as the door closed the three rushed by leaving their thoughts to the wind.

As they passed the area they entered a staircase finally heading up… towards a door with an eerie glow behind it. Instead of taking to caution the three charged through… where an old man was strung up to a large wheel.

“Help! Please help me!” The old man screamed out not realizing the three were in the room. The guard did which Vinyl quickly slung a stop spell at and knocked him upside his head. As soon as the spell ran out the guard hit the floor unconscious.

“Keep it down! We’ll get you out you just need to stop screaming.” Vinyl hissed out as Eilonwy got to work untying the man while Taran dragged the unconscious guard to a more inconspicuous section of the room.

“Oh thank you. Thank you. I just was serenading my way through the forest when these brutes captured me. I am merely a humble bard, you may call me Fflewddur Fflam.” Fflam announced up until the harp near his side had the string snap strangely without any physics intervention. He scowled at the instrument but held his tongue as it magically came back together. “Though forgive me for speaking out of turn but why would you all be here in this… dreadful place.”

“Captured.” The three answered while Vinyl checked outside the door. There were patrols but luckily no one had heard the commotion.

“Okay I think we might have a chance to get out of here. We just need to play our cards right and everything will be right as rain.” Vinyl chuckled as she could see a light outside. Even with everything looking to have a red tint that not even her glasses could created she could she light through one of the doors off in the distance. There were heartless and she had two non combatants but with her skills and the princess being capable of magic they just might get out of there mostly unharmed which was the best she could hope for.

“Why is there a talking unicorn?” Fflam seemed stunned now that his life wasn't in danger.

“No time just get ready.” Vinyl growled out forcing the bard back on his guard.

Spitfire was glad she only needed a light nap. It had been a long day already with the infiltration and constant threat of being discovered which had taken a toll on her stress. At the same time it was exhilarating. The Wonderbolt routines had started getting monotonous and for some reason felt as though they were blending in together.

Though that modicum of peace and serenity was broken as the four woke up to the laughter of a familiar threat. One that wasn't too bad to deal with but still required a bit of care when fighting.

“Gwahaha! So this is where you mugs were hiding! Now that I got ya where Ol’ Pete wants ya, you'll be coming with me.” Pete commanded… up until a keyblade flew out of the tent from a very angry Sunshower sending him sprawling on the dirt. “Yeowch! My jaw was sent a spinning.”

“You big jerk! I was trying to try before things get out of hoof again!” Sunshower cried out as the heartless he summoned charged forward. Several of them were the Bone Knights each wielding their scimitars menacingly while several wyvern heartless circled around ready to dive at the group.

“I thought we'd get a bit more rest before things go down.” Redheart stumbled out of the tent followed by Fresh Coat and Spitfire.

“This seems more fun. I guess Sun and I got the sky and you and Red got the ground then?” Spitfire looked over their opposition.

“Seems like it. I've been wanting to try out that gravity spell. Now I got the chance.” Fresh gushed as she did a little happy dance on the spot.

“Please calm down and get ready.” Redheart sighed as she summoned her keyblade in tandem with everypony else.

“Ooh… you pastel glue bottles are gonna regret messing with Pete! I'll show ya what for!” Pete roared out as he got back to his feet and thrust out his hand ordering the heartless to charge.

Spitfire and Sunshower immediately took off keyblades raised as they clashed with the wyvern in the air. Thanks to how they were made the wyvern couldn't bank easily through the air. Spitfire took advantage by using her size to curve through the air slicing the wings off any of the heartless before they could figure what was going on.

Sunshower alternates between magnet spells and thunder spells literally showering the skies with magic. While thunder hit multiple foes it was still on the weakest level merely stunning the wyvern.

The two coordinated through the air making certain to keep at each other's pace while surfing the skies. The wyvern charged too easily leaving them open after their corkscrew dive left them kicking at the air to break. When Spitfire got up close first she would plunge her keyblade into its body and using her momentum would toss them groundward. Sunshower preferred magic using several chain spells to immolate, freeze, or crush her opponents back into darkness mist.

“Think we can do it?” Spitfire called out to her wingmare as they circled each other.

“Right now? I guess so.” Sunshower seemed unsure until the two connected their keyblades.

The two glowed their respective colors of orange and green. Spitfire immediately caught fire while latched onto Sunshower’s keyblade as she was lead around like a blazing comet. When the fire burnt out Spitfire came close and charged her magic into Sunshower. With a blast of energy she released several ice crystals which exploded into a cascade of ice shards leaving few wyverns behind from the emergence of their limit attack.

On the ground Redheart became the vanguard of their side using her keyblade she waited for the foe to get close. When they attacked she would block and immediately parry the heartless up where Fresh Coat fired a barrage of spells knocking the Bone Knights down to the ground. Redheart wasn't the aggressive type. Her whole life had been for the betterment of others and while the fight against heartless was stress relieving she still wanted a good nap every once in a while. She had catered her fighting style to counters after the fight with Kuro and her immeasurable strength had nearly speared her through the torso several times.

Fresh was still learning forced to work a bit harder than the other experienced mares. She shot out several gravity spells knocking the Bone Knights into the ground. The ones that got knocked down had Red charge up and plant her keyblade into their squished face. It was funny and left her smiling as she got better at magic, at the very least this magic system. It was strange that throughout her time on Equestria she hadn't even tried to do more with her magic. At the most she had mastered levitation of several objects and even some color illusion spells for customers but the range of attack magic she had learn had awoken something inside her. She wanted to know more.

“They're getting flashy up there, aren't they?” Fresh Coat called out as another Bone Knight got crushed in her gravity spell.

“And? You want to do it too?” Redheart grimaced as she knocked another heartless to the side.

Pete summoned up some more looking highly disturbed with how easily those pastel ponies were pummeling his powerful heartless crew. He backpedaled slightly ready to escape through a door to darkness before things got any worse than possible.

“Can we?” Fresh Coat pleaded as soon as Red was next to her.

“Fine…” Redheart groaned since they had never tried any maneuver like the others had done before.

Fresh Coat and Redheart charged up their magic and released together. Fresh took charge sending out several gravity spells which pulled in the heartless… sometimes even tearing them in half. As they got smaller and smaller Redheart sent out several spark spells letting the light magic zoom around the arena and destroy the last of the heartless that had been pulled into the gravity wells.

As the magic pooled back into the two they each burst with a pulse of gravity and light magic sending waves out that destroyed the remaining ground heartless while Spitfire and Sunshower wiped out the aerial threats. That left Pete all alone.

“The heck is with you lot. You're all prissy ponies meant for the little girls around the world. How are you this strong? I'm getting outta here… “ Pete growled out as he rushed through the door to darkness leaving the four still up and raring to go. They needed another fight.

“Woo! What in Tartarus did we just do?” Fresh Coat looked around at her fellow herdmates completely confused at what they had accomplished.

“No clue… but it was powerful.” Spitfire called out doing a few aerial loops before she landed once again.

“We should move spots now. I doubt we haven't been spotted after all that.” Redheart chuckled mirthlessly since they had defeated the heartless… but gave away their position.

“Right… I'll get our stuff.” Sunshower zipped off into the tent and started to pack up whatever they still needed while the others watched the skies for any eventual assaults from the wyvern heartless still patrolling the skies.

“I'm a bit disheartened… “ Octavia admitted after we had searched the courtyard for anyway down to the dungeon area.

It had taken us close to twenty minutes due to all the patrols. The guards were antsy and it certainly wasn't because of intruders. Each one eyed their heartless thrall with high levels of suspicion and did their best not to show weakness. The heartless would prey on them in an instant.

“It's getting annoying. I'm thinking of breaking the floor and just seeing if I can find her like that.”

“That might hurt her.” Octavia chided me.

“I know. That's why I'm only thinking and not doing.”

The patrols had thinned out and the sun was starting to set. At least I think it had. With how desolate everything around Annuvin was it was hard to tell if time actually flowed around it. It took a modicum of patient as I dipped us into the next shadow looking everywhere for some clue of sorts. Octavia shifted around on my back holding her keyblade over her shoulder. She was also as anxious as I was to do more than we were doing.

“Okay… we have what we're gonna do down right?” Vinyl looked over her less than stellar support ready to charge out into battle.

“Of course madame. I shan't be thinking of anything but escape.” Fflam regally muttered out. His harp didn't break at his admission.

“I'll cast some spells if they get too close. Though I don't know how powerful they'll be. At most I can distract them from attacking.” Eilonwy grimaced as the small bauble floating around shivered at the thought of combat.

“And I shall support you in combat.” Taran haughtily stated.

“No. No you won't. You are to make sure to keep ahead and make openings for us to go through. His arms are still rough around the edges because of how they tied him up.” Vinyl reprimanded as she pointed at Fflam who was still rubbing his wrists from rope burn. “You make sure we can escape and not decide to fight without reason.”

“But I can do it.” Taran hissed. “All I need is for you to give me the chance.”

“This is not the best time for chances when we are trying to escape… alive preferably.” Vinyl chided the stubborn child.

“Then when? When there are no enemies to fight? When everything is said and done and I can't prove to you that I am capable?” Taran argued sternly staring at the red eyed unicorn. Whether it was from anger or natural color no one could say since she had dawned her shades the entire time.

“When it is more controlled and Gray can assess you better. Also when you have a weapon you can use.” Vinyl countered as she stepped up to the door. “Now get ready we need to move soon.”

“I can do something better.” Taran whispered under his breath disappointed that his drive to be a knight and no longer a pig handler wasn't being taken seriously.

“Escapees! Over here!” A voice called out from behind the four as a guard finally rounded the corner.

“Oh buck me… “ Vinyl muttered under her breath.

“Ready to check the next section?”

“Wait…” Octavia stopped me as her ears swiveled around searching for something.

“Escapees! Over here!” A guard cried out from the southwestern quadrant of the courtyard before a large explosion of ice burst from one of the walls. Apparently there had been fake walls formed into the stonework of the castle.

“Damn it… should have expected there to be secret passages. Octavia prepare for combat. I'm going in loud for them.”

“Oh dear.” Octavia held on tight as I dove into the shadows and appeared slightly askew of our destination where a familiar white unicorn was racing along with… even more humans of this world while a deluge of heartless and guards chased after them.

“After them! Don't let them escape or the master will have your heads!” Creeper called out riding atop a very large heartless shaped like a wolf but on fire. The flames didn't even burn him either.

“Octavia, hop off and join them. I'm coming in high.”

“Got it. I shall endeavor to keep them all safe.” Octavia announced as she pulled out her keyblade from over her shoulder and galloped into the fray holding said weapon in her jaw.

I took off pulling out the tomahawk and dove straight behind the group where all the heartless were and with a sickening crack of air I slammed the head of the weapon into the ground. The sheer size of the shockwave knocked the pursuers away and dissipated several of the heartless except for Creeper’s mount.

“You fools! Get up and capture them before the master gets angry!” Creeper shouted desperately as the guards and heartless started to pour in from other sections of the fortress.

“Vinyl!” Octavia shouted and rushed to her side.

“Tavi!” Vinyl cried out back as the two hugged in relief.

“Um… miss unicorn, not that I'm deriding your heartfelt reunion but we should take care of that later.” Eilonwy stage whispered to Vinyl getting her realize what she was doing.

“Ugh… showed how uncool I am. Anyways let's leave this pop stand.” Vinyl chuckled as the group rushed for a large iron gate off at the end of the courtyard… surrounded by countless guards and heartless.

I kept flapping into the air and dive bombing the area using the tomahawk to create large waves of earth to knock out the opposition. As much as I wanted to greet Vinyl in my own way it wouldn't exactly be discreet. So I opted to blast a path for everyone to run charging ahead and switching between the tomahawk and daggers. The daggers were thrown against walls using the ricochet to knock out any well defended heartless using the terrain to its advantage.

“Rush towards there and stop gawking at the sights.”

The group of humans who had been mesmerized by my strategy immediately shook their sights off me and ran for the iron gate while Octavia and Vinyl knocked out any guard that got too close for comfort.

As we reached the gate I noted that it had to be lifted up by the crank to the left and had Taran start the process. He reluctantly did so making certain to keep his eye on the combat. I joined the forefront bringing out my shield and firing off the ice shards it created to keep the heartless at bay.

It took a bit of a disparity in our numbers to notice that Taran had left the crank… with a sword in hand. Before I could call him back the sword seemed to magically tear through one of the heartless dissipating it. As a guard came at him the sword lifted in time to block the strike as if ethereal strings were guiding it. The sword vibrated through the other weapon melting everything in its way.

“Well that was surprising…”

I threw the tomahawk out knocking away an entire line as I ushered everyone who was still gawking at us as we fought. It took some doing but I managed to get Taran to leave the battle. He seemed a bit stunned at his weapon but a quick tap to the head made him realize he was standing still at this point.

“Vinyl, let's try that thing.” Octavia called out to her close friend as they each had their keyblade ready.

“Now? Well… fine but don't go crying when it gets weird.” Vinyl groused clearly uncomfortable by whatever they were planning. I was still leading the humans out as they rushed over the bridge.

Octavia slammed down her keyblade sending a wave of quake magic across the stone floors knocking enemies over left and right. Vinyl lit up her keyblade and horn as clocks appeared over several targets stopping them in place. Octavia sent another wave of quake magic knocking large pieces of earth into the frozen targets where they exploded into shrapnel hitting even more heartless and guards. When stop wore off all of the targets that were hit felt each blow all at once knocking them out of the fight or dissipating them if they were heartless.

“Hm… limit breaks too? I really need to see how well you handle fighting with one another.”

I was actually really impressed. Limit breaks were powerful magical spells between two beings who had created a close bond. It was something that needed time to create. I briefly wondered if the others could do the same before noticing how drained the two were. I dove in grabbing the two and slinging them on my back.

Using the card weapon I kept any pursuer stopped in their track usually turning them into cards. It was hilarious to see guards panicking from the sudden morph into a two dimensional being. Still I didn't wait long to chuckle at their plight. As soon as I reached the gate I switched to the keyblade and flung it into the chain holding open the gate slicing it in two. I rushed underneath though I think I lost a few tail hairs in the process.

The roars and cries of the guards who couldn't make it in time rang out as I joined Taran and his small crew whom had made it to the end of the bridge and waited. In the distance I noted a few flying figures of the orange and yellow variety.

“Finally… Spitfire and Sunshower are coming to help.” Octavia muttered over my shoulder.

“When do we get back into the sun?” Vinyl groaned as she tried to get off my back… only to be too tired to move.

“Soon. Let's get out of here for now.”

A quick tap on my shoulders from the two got me moving as we left the fortress castle of Annuvin behind us and traveled on to meet with our friends once again.

70. Prydain: Dire

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We raced along the rolling plains for the forest while my two mates rested on my back. Vinyl was exhausted from leading apparently and her small party was just as varied and insane as she was. Truthfully it was an attractive quality since I was insane already to begin with.

Octavia was finally calm once again. Apparently being best friends accounted for a lot amongst these two. I would have to get the story from the two of them someday. Prim and proper and wild and vibrant were a strangely common pairing amongst friends.

The partners that Taran found within the fortress were some of the oddest people I've met in a very long time and we were friends with a mercenary who held dirt from every country in the world he had been to. The young lady by the name of Eilonwy gushed slightly at the appearance of Spitfire and Sunshower. Apparently pegasi and unicorns were not seen in this world which made me cringe slightly. We were an anomaly but all the better for us to surprise whomever here was after us.

The other one Fflewddur Fflam was an enigma to me. He called himself a bard but everytime he did the harp he played broke. It would magically fix itself but that in of itself was a strange sight. The other problem was the manner in which he carried himself. There was a sense of nobility in his actions which Octavia made certain to remind me of.

Needless to say I was not looking forward to leading such a big group of ponies and people. It didn't help when I noticed the small dog man Gurgi was standing near Fresh Coat and Redheart. He was trying to make himself seem smaller as we rushed towards the others.

“We have to keep moving in case someone decides to come after us. I'll bet Pete might try against us.”

“We dealt with him. He tried to fight us but we sent him and his heartless flunkies packing.” Spitfire informed us taking a few celebratory flaps to show off that pride.

“We should still get out of her anyways. Where though?” Octavia wondered aloud making certain that the snoring Vinyl wasn't too distracting.

“I have an idea. We could find the path of the fairies. It should give us some time to gather our strength.” Eilonwy spoke up gaining the attention of all of us.

“Works for me. Any different ideas to go off of?”

Octavia, Spitfire and Sunshower all shook their heads at me. Fflewddur said nothing either merely following her lead. Taran seemed to be lost in thought but didn't voice an opinion. Getting agreement from the majority we followed through on our next path.

“Where were you!? Things went nuts while you were gone!” Fresh Coat called out as I waited for everypony to rush into the forest past her.

“Going for a leisurely stroll through the castle courtyard. Too many jerks walking about though. Everyone wanted to pick a fight.”

“Same here. Only we were trying to nap for a bit.” Fresh Coat chuckled as I trotted past her to which she quickly followed by my side. Vinyl and her were nearly face to face.

We quickly trotted into the forest clearing making certain to cover our tracks. Fresh Coat did an admirable job using her telekinesis to smash the dirt and flatten it once again hiding our trail. It was a small thing but it made me feel a bit better that we had a small hiding spot from the Horned King’s forces… which seemed to be growing in size by the minute given how many heartless had appeared both for us and for the girls who had remained in the tent.

“You know something weird happened when you guys were gone.” Sunshower spoke up while we took a short break within a hidden copse in the trees. It was a small enough glade where we could all relax after all the trouble we had been through.

While the humanoid partners of ours rested nearby stretching out and napping I remained awake and on watch. Octavia was watching over Vinyl who was still exhausted and snoring. Spitfire and Sunshower were sparring outside the copse of trees keeping their battle to keyblades. Redheart seemed to be working on a small book of notes. From what I could see the notes were detailing the anatomy of our human companions. My eyes quickly refocused on Fresh Coat.

“What happened? Was it good weird or bad weird?”

“Uh… good weird probably. See when we were fighting that Pete guy we felt this magic welling up inside us. When we were at a decent point we just got in sync with one another and released all that magic at once.” Fresh Coat explained using her hoof to emphasize some of her explanations.

“Oh… you did a limit break.”

My nonchalant tone surprised her… and got those who were awake to actually surround me. I was certain that it had been explained already.

“You don't remember from what Yen Sid spoke of? When your bonds of the heart are strong you can call forth power through those bonds. These are known as limit breaks.”

“Uh… when did he talk about that?” Octavia looked at the others trying to remember.

“Was it before or after he talked about the balance of the world?” Fresh Coat pondered.

“Maybe it was after we spoke about the Nobodies?” Redheart offered but was still completely flummoxed about this talk.

“I'm sure he spoke about it when we were training. We spent three days there. It has been a while so I wouldn't fault anyone for forgetting.”

The three still seemed unsure… and it was unlikely we never spoke of this. Those days spent training were very intense and it didn't help that they had trained within what I affectionately dubbed the time bubble with Merlin. As it was even if they didn't remember this was a good callback to that moment.

“Ugh… how come we didn't have one of those limit thingies with Kida or Ori? We were close weren't we?” Vinyl groaned as she stood back up on her hooves.

“Sleeping till noon again Vinyl? We do have things to do.” Octavia playfully chided her still tired friend.

“Yeah yeah… buck you too Tavi. What'd I miss?” Vinyl coughed and spat something off to the side as she kept smacking her lips from all the sleeping she had done.

“We escaped and we’re heading somewhere else right now. Also discussing those abilities you all showcased when we escaped as well.”

“Oh right. That thing… I was sort of listening but you called it a limit break right?” Vinyl questioned me joining the other four.

“Yup. Basically close bonds of the heart make strong magic happen. It's how magic works most of the time. When I talked with Merlin he basically made it clear that any spellcraft comes from a few sources. There's emotion based spells which come in handy with elementalists, those who specialize in elemental spells. There's clarity of mind which influences healing spells. I know that there's a keyword based system where knowing a chant or phrase activates spell work. There are more but we should really keep going to this secret route.”

“What secret route?” Vinyl frowned seeing that she missed out on something.

“A route for the fae. The girl you saved mentioned it.”

Vinyl looked over at Eilonwy who was resting against a tree while Taran, Fflewddur and Gurgi rested against another. She caught herself smiling and lowered her shades. Tavi always had a tendency of taking them off her whenever she passed out. Sighing she waited with us till everyone woke from their rest.

Creeper slowly trudged up the stairs. Since the incident within the fortress he had been called up to meet with his master. The Horned King hated to be kept waiting but Creeper knew what was to happen to him. Everytime failure occurred he would be horribly strangled until he turned a bright shade of purple. Instead of zooming up the stairs Creeper meandered as long as possible. While it wasn't a sure thing that he would be strangled the anticipation of it happening made him break out into a cold sweat.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no…” Creeper muttered over and over as each step got him closer to his painful resolution.

As soon as he reached the top of the staircase he gingerly opened the door. Standing at the edge of one of the parapets was his lord and master looking over the ruins of the courtyard in bemused disgust.

“Creeper… get over here.” Horned King growled out… his voice dripping with vainly hidden contempt which was stressed with the utterance of his name.

“Yes sire… you see… it's just… we underestimated the weird shaped horses… heh heh…” Creeper groveled with each step knowing that he was grasping at excuses. Before he could offer anymore excuses the bony hand of the king swooped down and grappled the diminutive green goblin in a tight embrace. With that one hand Creeper was lifted off the ground to look deeply into the red dead eyes of his master and the anger that leaked from them.

“You blithering idiot! You were supposed to keep them until we could find the Black Cauldron but now they've escaped! I should throttle the life out of you and leave your worthless corpse for the gwythaints!” Horned King roared as the two wyverns atop their perch licked their chops at the offering of meat.

“Si-sire… please… wait…” Creeper choked out before being thrown to the ground.

“What Creeper? What do you possibly have that will keep your life from being torn limb from limb.” Horned King took a step towards the goblin who was still regaining his breath.

“I used the heartless… to keep track of them. Their path leads them towards the swamps of Morva.” Creeper tried to appease his monarch.

“So the witches had the Cauldron then… of course… perhaps you can survive Creeper. Gather the troops… do not capture those fools. Let them succeed. There's no need to worry about it.” Horned King relaxed taking stock of the courtyard which the heartless managed to restore.

“Whoa… what happened here!?” Pete gasped as he stepped into the room through a portal of darkness.

“And where were you? You bumbling oaf… as you can see those horses you spoke of broke my home. Where were you!?” Horned King yelled as he stomped up to Pete making him cower from his glowing red eyes.

“Uh… fighting the horses and making them leave their camp so they wouldn't stick around one place…” Pete offered trying his best to keep those eyes from staring into his.

“Seems you actually accomplished something.” Horned King glared at Pete not wanting to allow the buffoon too much credit.

Pete remained silent. He was actually trying to capture them but his gut had told him to say that it was something different. While it was never always right it had its moments. With a nervous grin he found purchase again as speaking.

“Speaking of accomplishments… Maleficent seemed to want to talk to you about your own magical prowess. If it would be convenient I was to escort you to meet with the other guys of this troupe.” Pete twiddled his fingers mostly because this guy was scary and did not sit well on his emotion.

“Fine… Creeper… remember what I have told you. Failure will be met with consequences.” Horned King rounded on his servant once more who began groveling at his feet begging for forgiveness.

“Uh… just put this here thing on and you can enter the portal no sweat.” Pete offered a cloak which the Horned King wrapped around his shoulder. With a snap of his fingers Pete opened the portal and the two entered it.

“So… this is the way towards the Cauldron and the path of the fae right?”

“Yes quite. It should give us safe passage while the Horned King’s forces are still unorganized.” Eilonwy offered. I think her dealing with a small thestral pony was getting to the young lady. She had already cuddled each and everyone of us at least twice already. Fresh Coat, Sunshower and Redheart didn't mind. Spitfire started flying out of reach though. Octavia and Vinyl politely declined more than one cuddle. I was too intimidating apparently so she hadn't tried to cuddle me though her hands would reach out trying to only to be pulled back on impulse.

“So why were you two down there in the dungeons anyways?” Vinyl spoke up. She was rested enough from the nap she had on my back that she was now trotting circles around everypony.

“I thought I told you already madame?” Fflewddur questioned.

“Yeah but tell them in your own words.” Vinyl clarified making the old bard sigh.

“Fair enough. I was traveling through the land and ran afoul of the wrong people. They took me for a spy and immediately captured me for trespassing around their land. One thing led to another and I was tied up in that contraption ready to be branded for something.” Fflewddur explained tapping his fingers against his harp which prompted the ponies to look at the harp. It didn't break this time and calmed them down. We turned to Eilonwy after we were satisfied with his answer.

“Oh me? Yes it's because I'm a princess. A princess from a lesser noble family but apparently I was important enough to be a bargaining chip. Fortunately, they are all a bit stupid so I managed to escape my bonds and hide away from the guards in the catacombs beneath the castle. Did a good job of keeping me hidden.” Eilonwy answered which was surprising. All the mares aside from Vinyl were a bit more surprised at the presence of a princess.

“You're a princess!” Five voices called out not including Vinyl’s.

“Uh… yes?” Eilonwy cringed slightly before looking in my direction.

“Our country is ruled by a princess who has magic capable of moving the sun and another who can move the moon. Suffice to say princesses are important in our world.”

“Wow… that sounds… impossible.” Eilonwy gasped.

“Is that why most of your fighters are women?” Taran whispered in my ear.

“Yes but they are highly capable as you can see.” I whispered back making sure to give him a look to keep him from saying anything more than that. He seemed to understand that saying anything out loud like that would give him a really bad time.

“Do you mean to say that our sun and moon are…” Fflewddur started only for me to hold my wing up.

“Let's just say that we come from a realm of magic that has different rules.”

“Yeah… really different. We actually don't have any humans where we are from.” Redheart informed them. I was worried that was too explicit.

“Ah so a magic spell that opened a dimensional portal then.” Eilonwy filled in the gap which abated my worry from growing any further.

“Something like that.” Spitfire added on clearly taking cues from my facial expressions.

“Sounds exciting~!” Taran yelled out as he fell down a long tunnel in the ground forcing me after him… though not alone.

“Gurgi save master!” Gurgi called out and dove into the tunnel… whether from bravery or wanting to keep out of sight was hard to say. The rest followed after a moment hesitation.

“Damn it… underground again…” Spitfire grumbled.

“I know, right?” Sunshowered added as she slid down as well.

“Tavi… underground seems like the big thing right? So… does that mean my wubs are mainstream now?” Vinyl questioned as she slid down next.

“Sweet Celestia I hope not…” Octavia muttered following after her friend.

“Fresh… are we crazy for just randomly going wherever we want without a care in the world?” Redheart stopped before the tunnel.

“At this point, does it matter? We are pretty tough and I'm pretty sure we've all grown as ponies. Though I will admit that I've been a bit more… adventurous since we started.” Fresh Coat admitted jumping in first followed my Redheart.

“We shan't be left behind. Come along my dear!” Fflewddur flew down the tunnel and Eilonwy sighed before following after.

The twisting tunnel kept us sliding for quite a while. It wasn't steep nor as wild as I expected. It was just really goddamn long. Eventually we were deposited out in front of a load of structures made from twigs, leaves and spider webs. Several glowing lights started to blink out and I was about to stop them… when several pony plots landed atop of me. Taran had swiveled out of the way at the last second with Hen Wen who was keeping close to her keeper.

“Y'know… this feels like this is going to just be a thing from now on, isn't it?”

The giggles and apologies sounded out like usual and I quickly stretched my back out. Eilonwy and Fflewddur were the last to meet us… and they managed to slow down enough not to fall on me. The weirdness of pony physics as I called it still baffled me. Rule of funny was in effect and physical comedy was one of the high demand pieces. That was something I stowed away for future thoughts.

“I think this is it… “ Eilonwy muttered as she released her bauble back into the air. The sudden light brought more light out of hiding. Suddenly we were surrounded by several dozen fairies all of different shapes and colors.

“Breezies? I didn't know they were here.” Redheart muttered in my ear.

“Breezies? No they are fairies. Breezies are still equine in shape aren't they?”

I knew somewhat from the knowledge of the show but I needed to seem unaware of the future. It was a weird tightrope to walk and I didn't much care to deal with it all the time. Still, I toughed it out like a trooper regardless since getting frustrated about things wasn't going to help me out here.

“Are they? I've only heard of breezies from Fluttershy so I wasn't sure what they look like.” Redheart admitted… which I returned with a shrug.

Before we could speak any further a small yellow glowing fairy descended from on high. From what I could see he wore a fanciful red robe and large red hat with white trim. Beneath the robe was a blue dress shirt as he flapped his wings about before coming up to us.

“Fair travelers… be ye friend or foe?” The fairy called out.

“Friend. We seek passage to the swamps of Morva.” Taran spoke up seeming to showcase a bit more confidence in his demeanor.

“The swamps!? No one lives there but the witches. Traveler you must reconsider. The path there is fraught with the Horned King’s forces and the new darkness which plagues the land.” The fairy warned. “Take it from I, King Eidilleg, that it is a fool's errand to travel within those areas.”

“We still need to go. We might have a way to stop the Horned King.” Taran answered causing a large stir amongst the fae.

“They have a way!?”

“Impossible!”

“What if it's true!?”

I noticed that the entire population was in an uproar at the possibility of being free. That made me worried… but grateful he didn't put a definite answer that we didn't have yet. The obvious way to stop this would be to destroy the Black Cauldron. Though given it was a magical artifact… I doubted we could deal with it so easily.

“Hm… a way to stop it for good? Doli! Doli! Get out here!” King Eidilleg called out amongst his people gaining the attention of a cantankerous old fairy who looked ready to beat him over the head for bothering him.

“What is it you ijit!? Can't an old man get any sleep around here?” Doli grumbled before turning an eye to all of us. “Who let in the mutant horses and humans?”

There were a few glares directed at him but he didn't seem to care. The king frowned slightly but picked himself up to deliver the news.

“We may have found a way to destroy the Black Cauldron but I need you to lead these adventurers into the swamps.” The king stated keeping his tone even.

“I'm sure they do.” Doli deadpanned clearly not trusting our word on the matter.

“Please assist us.” Eilonwy added turning on her charm which Doli rolled his eyes to.

“Fine… let's get a move on then. I want to be back home before long.” Doli grumbled as he started to fly towards a specific tunnel.

I turned to my herd only to note that they were utterly fascinated by the fae. Everypony was examining them closely making me wonder whether they could handle leaving or not. A whistle from the king caused all the fae to disappear leaving six stunned mares gawking at where they were. I coughed to gain their attention gathering six highly embarrassed ponies twirling their hooves in the dirt.

“Come on… we have a lead now.”

I didn't call them out on their behavior. If both sides were going to be like that then it was fine. Vinyl was still full of energy and joined at my side. For some reason she had been gung ho for a while now. She had taken the lead and it seemed to have stuck with her for some reason.

“C'mon you ijits! We got a while through the tunnels and I can't have you lot slowing down until we reach the swamps. Fools errand if’n you ask me. Those witches are a nasty bunch turning folks into frogs and what not.” Doli explained loud enough for all of us to hear.

“What do you know of them?”

“Whatzat? I know enough to stay away from them. They're powerful and stuff but they also don't care much for anyone. They're on no one's side but their own and they enjoy making bargains for things. You better have something good cause they don't give things for free.” Doli growled out the warning in his voice clear as crystal.

“Wait they don't care about joining anyone?” Vinyl called out.

“No. They live their lives in the swamp and they're powerful enough to give anyone a run for their money. Only thing is is that they don't want to deal with the Horned King anymore than the other kingdoms around here. His dark magic is dang near lethal to everyone.” Doli stated quickly clearly annoyed at the prospect of answering questions. “Now if’n you don't mind let's get moving already. Long way to go.”

The Horned King stepped out of the portal into a large castle hall. Off to the side was a large dark purple dragon whose scales seemed to shine like obsidian when he took a step forward. Near him was a diminutive man with a giant N on his forehead.

“You must be the new one… “ The dragon spoke. His tone cold… dread inducing and full of contempt.

“Easy there Malefor. Any ally is a good sight to see for our respective sides. No need to judge him on sight alone.” The small man called out though he hadn't looked up from the device he was examining.

“Perhaps you should raise your head Cortex before you open your mouth.” Malefor growled out causing the scientist to glare at him.

“I resent that. How bad could it - whoa! I mean… nice to meet you.” Cortex nearly screamed managing to get himself under control before he did a stupid… again.

“Charmed I'm sure.” Horned King deadpanned as Pete stepped up behind him.

“Welcome Horned King. I take it you had a safe trip?” Maleficent’s voice rang out as she floated down from on high.

“Quite… your stooge has proven useful in what he does.” Horned King answered taking a few uneven steps up to the table that everyone was at. “Is this all your have?”

“No dear king. These allies are of the few to join. The others are busy with their own conquests. I merely… coordinate them to better suit the goals on conquering everything. Those miserable rabble that count themselves amongst the masses deserve to be nowhere else… but under our boot.” Maleficent giggled as her fingers tapped against the crystal ball on her staff. “It is also surprising that Pete has done a good job. Are you certain?”

“Yes. He did something I wanted that I didn't even ask him to do. It was useful. Now enough prattling about those times. What is your concern that you need me here?” Horned King tapped his bony fingers against the table. Cortex was a bit unnerved at the sight but kept it together while Malefor looked away uninterested in the turn of events.

“Quick to business I see. I called you here because it seems you are having trouble with your keyblade interlopers.” Maleficent softly mentioned as she sat at what was most likely the head of the table.

“Trivial. They shan't be a problem for much longer. It seems the heartless have given me a bit more power. A strange one popped out of the darkness and seemed to have joined my ranks easily. It shall deal with them in due time.” Horned King waved off the concern though he suspected that it was mostly feigned to get on his good side.

“Maybe. Though I wish to give you a gift. A just in case something goes wrong.” Maleficent stated pulling out a large crystal ball from her robe.

“And this is?” Horned King looked over the dubious object.

“Insurance.” Maleficent growled out with a smirk on her face.

71. Prydain: Swamplands

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“What is this?” Horned King looked at the orb he was given.

“Like I said… Insurance. It will do something that will keep you alive should anything go wrong.” Maleficent answered slightly annoyed that her gift was looked at with scorn… though a small part of her chuckled that she had met someone who knew not to accept what could have been an obvious looking trap.

“An explanation if you please.” Horned King demanded steepling his fingers as his red eyes glowed ominously.

“Ha ha ha… the clever humanoid knows what he wants. Listen well necromancer. This is a Soul Orb I've created. It shall save your soul and reincarnate your body to the form you are in when you use it. There are very few I've made for this… legion of like minded peers. My contribution if you will.” Malefor announced. “All you need do is make your copy here and it shall keep you safe from even death itself… something I've long conquered.”

“Interesting. Fine… insurance is always welcome.” Horned King muttered as he touched the orb.

Within seconds he felt as if his body was on fire as everything that made him was ripped strand by strand. As the heat slowly ebbed back he looked into the orb noticing a copy of his own soul, darkened and corrupted he could see his true self in all its entirety. It was beautiful.

“It is done. Should the worse come to pass… you shall not die.” Malefor stated as he idly let his wings fold back.

“Quite. Take me back stooge. They should be reaching the prize soon and I shan't let them get out of my grasp.” Horned King growled out glaring at Pete who got his cloak ready. Pete summoned a dark portal and led their honored guest back to his world.

“Was that wise, witch?” Malefor roared out as soon as the portal closed. “He is a fool who think he can match us.”

“I don't know. If he has most of his world subjugated just by his power alone, then he might be able to match us.” Cortex spoke up rubbing his chin with his finger.

“Leave it be. This is insurance like I said. While I am hesitant to trust other sorcerers I will not allow these new alliances to fall to ruin. I have learned from experience, gentleman, that keyblade wielders are unruly, misbegotten lot of goodie two shoes who get in my way one time too many. I must stack the deck in our favor lest we get caught unaware. You would agree that having more power on our side is worth the risk… would you not?” Maleficent explained as she chuckled, looking deep into her staff as Pete dropped off the Horned King within his fortress. He would return soon.

“At least now I know the meaning of those orbs you had me make.” Malefor breathed out understanding the full depth of his actions.

“But I don't use magic.” Cortex piped in.

“You are our technology expert are you not? You will probably survive better due to your human nature.” Maleficent growled out. Her real thoughts were how pathetic the doctor was but kept that snide comment to herself. There was no need to alienate her guest and ally… at the very least not at that moment.

“Indeed. It seems that I have matters to attend to. An army doesn't raise itself up.” Cortex announced as he placed on a strange jet pack.

“Of heartless?” Malefor cocked an eyebrow at the diminutive scientist.

“Well there are those… but I meant my own personal one. I'm thinking genetically mutated animals right now. Well no matter I shall get one for my own uses.” Cortex chuckled as he pulled a ripcord on his jet pack which seemed to create a rift in the fabric of reality which he confidently blasted through.

“Useful toys but a sheer buffoon of a living being. How you tolerate is nothing short of impressive.” Malefor coughed out as he started opening his own portal of darkness and leaving through it.

“Years of practice… you overgrown iguana.” Maleficent snarled under her breath as she looked over the orb that the Horned King left. Placing it next to the others she had gotten from several of the members she convinced to ally with her.

It was a shame she missed out on two worlds already but with a foothold in this world it didn't matter who won the conflict that was brewing. All that mattered was that she was prepared for anything that came her way.

It took us a few hours to finally get out amongst the swamplands. Doli had actually made us go a bit faster though with the larger group we had to bunch up with one another. Then the exit was above us meaning that for Sunshower, Spitfire and I had to play taxi service to get everyone out into the swamplands.

The dismal sight of gnarled trees bent unnaturally by the shifting of the muck and mire only painted a desolate picture of where we were going. The few trees that weren't overwhelmed by the swamp held sweeping canopies that left little pockets of cover from any rainstorms. We were lucky that the skies were merely overcast and nothing more.

“So where do we go?”

“This way… let's hurry up. This place is always bad news.” Doli cringed as he started to fly off in a certain direction.

“Sir Gray? A moment of you please.” Eilonwy called out to me surprising me. I wasn't a knight.

“I'm no sir. I was never knighted. What's on your mind though?”

“Ah well… it's more… do we actually have a plan here? While I don't doubt that we should find the Black Cauldron, would it not be best to leave it where it is? Taran seems so gung ho about acquiring it but this seems very short sighted.” Eilonwy invoked her worries which did make me think of our motivation.

“Not to be a bother but I have been having doubts as well.” Octavia spoke up which caught the attention of Vinyl whom was still sticking close to me.

“Plenty of doubts but he needs to learn. Actions have consequences. I will not shelter him from any shortsighted venture into being a knight. Not because I don't want to crush his dream… no. I want him to realize just how big a problem he can cause by running head first into a problem.”

“You're training him?” Vinyl gasped clearly uncertain of my actions.

“No. I would have been more hooves on in this case. I am merely guiding him to where he is going and from there we shall see what happens.”

“Hm… Gurgi think bay pony cruel as teacher.” Gurgi spoke up giving me a strange stink eye which I ignored.

“I know. But I'd rather he learn it on his own merit that drill it through his thick skull. He is stubborn and like most males, sticks to his guns whenever he wants to prove himself. He'll have his chance like my own father gave me mine.”

“Your father?” Octavia pried as me to get me to elaborate a bit more.

“Yeah. Good dad… he made sure I took responsibility for my actions and made me keep on the straight and narrow. Look… I'll talk about it later. Let's focus on finding out where the witches live.”

“If you say so Gray.” Vinyl chimed in.

I didn't feel like it was appropriate time to talk of my family. I briefly did wonder if I was acting like him by going along with Taran’s plan but when I fully thought about it I wasn't. He would have had a back up plan rather than charge in foolishly. Honestly I think I was trying to figure out whether or not he could handle being a warrior of any kind.

It was clear that he wasn't the one swinging the sword. It moves of its own accord and while that made him dangerous… that skill was not translated back into Taran. Throughout the walk I noticed a little bit of his immaturity leaking out. I had also stopped him before he made a big deal about gender which thanks to a little foresight from me didn't wind up with him regretting his words. I just needed to keep an eye out for him… as I did the others. Even I did stupid things when I was younger.

“We found something!” Spitfire called out as she and Sunshower zoomed back down to meet with us.

“Whatcha find then?” Vinyl spoke up lifting her glasses off her eyes.

“It's this weird treehouse thing over the next hill. It kind of reminds me of the Golden Oaks Library… only, ya know, more decrepit.” Sunshower giggled most likely from remembering something.

“Sounds promising. Let's head there at once. I've been having a bad feeling lately.”

“You've noticed it then?” Spitfire whispered in my ear. I did my best to keep calm from the suddenness. I merely nodded my head as I urged everyone to keep walking before asking her.

“What did you find?”

“There have been these weird bird things flying around at random. There's only been two but they haven't flown close enough for me to see. They're also flying at much higher altitudes than we were. I'd go up there and smack them out of the sky but that might cause too much trouble and we have two non combat members too many.” Spitfire groused.

Both Gurgi and Fflam were capable of keeping the group distracted but neither could fight. Gurgi especially was cowardly but I never said a word of it to is face. When Taran was about to I shut him up. It did not good to complain about another when the situation required multiple eyes and ears.

I looked up looking for the birds Spitfire mentioned barely seeing the glint of one that she mentioned. Even with my eyesight being on par with a pegasus… I couldn't see what kind of bird it was. And as quickly as they appeared they immediately changed course flying off for parts unknown. I would have ignored it if this was Equestria or even Nibel. Unfortunately with the abundance of heartless on this world made that notion nonexistent.

“Tell the girls to keep an eye out. We're not safe here. We were never safe on this world.”

Spitfire nodded flying off for the rest while I really took a good look at our surroundings. The swamps were murky and a low fog had rolled in behind us. Dusk looked to be coming and we were barely reaching the witches home.

They were the wild cards in all this. We had no idea how they would react or even act when we came barging in. Still there was no time like the present.

Creeper held on for dear life as the Gwythaints flapped back for the fortress. Ever since the master has returned Horned King had become emboldened to his own ideas. He had forced him onto one these wretched beasts all to spy on those weird pastel colored freaks. They would lead them to the Black Cauldron.

He just wished he could have more air. The height at which he needed to fly had nearly made him dizzy every single time and he was certain that they didn't care enough to catch him if he had fallen. The forces he had mustered were ready to catch them since the heartless were still being unruly towards the human soldiers they had.

He needed to get the men ready for a sign. The witches were extreme with their methods and the heartless would be unable to remain still… except for the newest one his master had managed to summon. He knew what needed to be done since the majority of the group followed the bat winged one. His crooked smile shone amongst the twilit skies only to grimace as the gwythaints dove towards the encampment.

It was one of the largest trees in the area that they had found. It also was built atop a large mound of dirt and for some reason it made my skin crawl. Something dark was coming from the tree and I could smell it somewhere under the ground. I ignored it for the most part due to needing to see the witches but it was prevalent no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.

“So which of us will enter this… abysmal domicile?” Fflam asked as he eyes the tree warily.

Vinyl, Fresh, and Spitfire all raised their hooves. I was going obviously as were Taran and Eilonwy. Octavia, Sunshower and Redheart declined with a simple shake of their head. Gurgi and Fflam actually played rock, paper, scissors and since Fflam lost he was forced to go.

“Huh… that was easier than I thought it would be.”

“What did you expect to happen Gray?” Fresh Coat asked me as I turned to her.

“An argument followed by some back and forth until the person who didn't want to go was tricked into going.”

“Hm… we could still do that if it makes you feel better?” Fresh Coat offered though she was uncertain about how things would actually go if it was forced rather than fluid.

“Nah… moment’s passed and it wouldn't feel the same.”

Fresh shrugged to Spitfire who merely rolled her eyes and brushed it off with a light hearted chuckle. The small laugh got everyone a bit more pumped to head into the monster’s den. At least from an Equestrian perspective this would look like a monster’s den. My little ploy seemed to calm everyone’s nerves though how well it did was varied since anxiety was still on our human companions’ faces. I stepped forward bravely sacrificing myself to whatever awaited at the door.

Taran joined me seemingly taking from my demeanor what it could mean to be a knight. I would have been more akin to a hedge knight… though I certainly wasn't poor thanks to my adventures already. Though I couldn't overwhelmingly use much of those riches due to how suspicious it would have appeared to be.

Breaking from my flowing thoughts I threw open the door of the home and jumped in… to absolutely no one within the home. Taran followed suit nearly tripping over me when I stopped. The tripping didn't stop with just him as everyone who followed tripped into me as well though they didn't land on me since I had kept my legs locked. I was still standing though everyone was squished together behind me.

“Warn me next time you stop…” Taran muttered as he pushed back against the crown slipping out of the pile up… albeit barely.

While everyone grumbled about the pile up I started to look around for any sign of the witches. The dusty furniture and crooked bottle that lines the pantry gave off the feeling that the tree had been either abandoned or made to look like no one had lived there.

“Jeez… who leaves boxes of frogs laying around like this.” Vinyl called out as she lifted a box using her magic while keeping whatever was inside still inside.

“Maybe they like to keep pets?” Fresh offered though the amount inside that were barely able to move was unconvincing.

“Think they're food instead?” Spitfire posited since a lot of them looked overfed.

“Blugh… savages. Who would eat frog? Even then only their legs are edible.” Fflam mentioned before bumping into one of the boxes accidentally releasing several dozens of frogs. “Oomph… oh bother.”

“Well so much for stealth then.” Eilonwy sighed as she stayed looking for cover. I whistled into my wing causing my herd to do the same.

It took some coaxing as Taran was still ready for a fight. I needed to break that somehow without doing something drastic. Still I got him into cover as a loud cackling broke the silence outside.

‘Octavia… can you hear me?’

‘Ah of course… why is it working now? No matter. Gray three beings are soaring from a large procession of dark clouds. It's them. We're going to hide before we get spotted.’ Octavia mentally sent to me before the line went down. Some force or magic was making it hard for our telepathic links to actually work and it needed to stop.

I jumped up to the ceiling hiding within the shadows as three figures strode in through the blasted open door in a haze of smoke. Two skinny crones and a larger built female all with varying lengths of red hair. The tallest had the most pronounced nose and seemed to be leading the other two. The smallest kept their face hidden by a cloak while their large pointed nose stuck out. The largest seemed to be the most calm though mischievousness still painted her eyes.

“Ah… someone has been messing with our dinner!” The hunched over one scowled out looking around for any sign of intruder.

“And here he is!” The large female chuckled as she pulled Fflam out of his hiding spot… which wasn't a really good spot in the first place. “And my… so handsome as well.”

“Madam I implore you not to handle me in such a way.” Fflam muttered as he was buried within her cleavage more than once. He at the very least seemed unperturbed at the position he was in.

“A thief deserves to be punished.” The shortest growled out and waved their hand turning Fflam into a frog.

“Hey! Stop that. That cutie is mine!” The largest zapped Fflam again turning him back to normal and gripping him. “He's mine!”

“Stop getting twitterpated you dang fool!” The shortest yelled back turning him back into a frog. The fight continued until Taran was dragged into it bringing his sword out to stand in front of Fflam. I jumped down as well ready to reflect their spells with my own as Vinyl, Fresh, Spitfire and Eilonwy behind us startling the witches… if only for a moment.

“Ah there are our guests. I was wondering when they would get here. That sword… hm I see you've come from far and wide.” The tallest mentioned. “Ah where are my manners I am Orddu.” She pointed to the large woman. “This is Orwen and the other is Orgoch.”

“Charmed.” Orwen immediately grabbed onto Fflam holding onto him in a loving embrace.

“So… how did you know?”

“Come now. We're magic. Of course we can tell when things are happening in the world. And we know you are in the market for a Cauldron.” Orddu mentioned offhand as she started summoning up random cauldrons.

“No we’re here for the Black Cauldron.” Taran let out to my chagrin.

There had been many a rumor in the department, especially in the DEA, about dealers setting their price based on what you said. It was a ‘you demand it, we supply it… for a price’ kind of deal. Now they had all the power to dictate what they wanted and how to pay for it.

“Ah that old thing. What could you possibly want with that thing. You can't even use it for anything.” Orddu waved them off attempting to foist off other sundries and knick knacks that they had around them. “Now come choose something useful my boy. After all only a fool would go after that dreadful thing.”

“That is all we want. Please madam just grant us this request.” Fflam spoke up even though he was desperately trying to get out of Orwen’s embrace.

“Unfortunately, there's nothing any of you possess that could compare to the price of the cauldron. A bargain must be struck. Although… a unicorn would fetch a worthy price.” Orddu leered at Vinyl while I instinctively placed myself in front of her. Already I was ready to pull out my keyblade but stayed my wing. As useful as it would be, others would suggest to barter with it. I was lucky that everypony didn't summon their keyblades at mention of haggling with Vinyl.

“How about a sword?” Taran immediately stepped up diverting the witch’s attention to himself. He held out the longsword which had saved his life and assisted in our escape which did catch Orddu’s eye.

“Ah the first sword… if that is your offering then I shall gladly accept.” Orddu smirked as her sisters used their magic causing the very tree to fall apart leaving us around the mound it was buried at.

The sword disappeared into the clouds alongside the witches as power ripped through the landscape leaving us around a large black cauldron that had sprouted from where the tree once stood. The others immediately ran to us as we wondered what we could possibly do to it.

“Taran, were you certain of giving up the sword?” Eilonwy vocalized what a few of us were thinking.

“She was looking at the others way too closely for our own good.” Taran quickly mentioned doing his best to not look disappointed. Still… I was proud that he placed another before his dream.

“Now how do we take care of this…?”

“Ha! The fools think that they can destroy the cauldron!” Orddu laughed from out of nowhere until her astral image appeared in the sky. “Nothing can destroy that thing. It was made with only one way to disrupt its power. A being must willingly throw themselves into the cauldron but once they do their soul shall never be released!”

And with those words the witches retreated elsewhere, cackling the entire way as we were left with a useless cauldron and a dilemma of what to do with it. The utter realization that we had to protect it dawned upon a few of us. At the same time I found this perfect.

As much as keeping the cauldron out of the Horned King’s clutches was important, it didn't actually deal with him. Even without it, he now had access to the heartless and if Pete had helped him… that meant Maleficent was pulling the strings. My memories of her plans had her travel world to world to find allies wherever they could be. With Disney villains being the brunt of her forces I was more worried about what other threats she could find. It was a big multiverse and as the Forest of Nibel proved even game worlds were possible. My memories of those weren't as clear as the kingdom hearts lore I held in my brain.

For the moment we all huddled together around a fire Spitfire created. We had to come up with a plan.

“We should take it off world. Give it over to Yen Sid.”

It had taken us until the sun started to set to come to an agreement. The other options were to toss the thing into the ocean or a volcano so no one could ever touch it but there would always be a chance that someone stupid would use magic to get it back.

“Yen Sid did seem powerful enough to deal with this.” Redheart mentioned. “But first we would need to get it onto the ship.”

“That thing looks heavy. I mean we could probably carry it but with the heartless roaming we would be takin chances.” Vinyl chimed in while Fresh Coat nodded in agreement. I assumed she was thinking of using their magic to carry it.

“I should have kept my sword.” Taran muttered under his breath. I patted him on the back. I wasn't mad about the decision since it got us closer to what we needed to do, fight the Horned King.

“All we need to do from then to now is keep it safe. We will deal with the Horned King as he comes. The Black Cauldron will not be his.”

Affirming nods and accompanied chatter all filled the small campsite. It wasn't the most joyous position and melancholy about our decisions was still ambiently there.

“Gah! Gotta report to that blasted fool of a king.” Doli called out and before we could stop him he disappeared with a little flash of light.

“Guess we should - “

My ears swiveled around and my nose started to burn. Something was coming through the swamp water. The darkness was heavy creating what I almost confused for a miasma of swamp gas but there was no mistaking that it was darkness.

A large scorpion like heartless with crab claws and a snake tail swarmed into the camp grabbing me in its right claw and dragging me into the water. I barely summoned my armor as the cries of my herd and our companions broke the silence as the armies of the heartless tired through the swamp. It was clear.

They knew where we were and they were after one thing, the Black Cauldron.

72.Prydain: Crisis

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All around me was dark muddy water of a horrifying swamp which the heartless kept me deeply entrenched within. I didn't know if I was upside down anymore since the armor kept me from noticing it in the first place. It was hard to see the large snake head trying to chomp my head off.

The large scorpion heartless with the crab claws and snake headed tail kept me clutch tightly in its grip. I was lucky that the armor was magically created to recycle air otherwise this would have been an impossible task. Actually I would have been dead within a few minutes stuck at the bottom of the bog and no one would have ever found my body as it slowly dissolved from the horrible conditions of the swamp.

‘That was incredibly dark… even for me.’

My thoughts were fleeting as the claws came down upon my armor leaving me slightly unprepared as I was flung partially away until the snake tail grabbed one of my wings dragging me back into its range. I raised my hoof and fired several blizzard spells around us encasing us both in darkened ice. The heartless broke through its encasing leaving us within a large chamber of ice deep beneath the swamp.

“Finally some room… now let's go then.”

My taunts were lost on the heartless for the most part. It recognized that I had called it out but aside from that it did the same exact thing and charged straight for me. Whipping out Nightmare Cascade I rushed forward on my hooves using the weight of my armor to make hoofholds in the frosted mud. The frost had made the ground slippery leaving the two of us desperately trying to keep our footing.

My blade shot out catching the snake head at the last moment as it snapped its jaw closer and closer to me. The beast attached to the wild tail pushed forward using its pincers to pull itself towards me. It was smarter than most heartless, using its size to its advantage to try and push me into a corner. With how small our arena was it was actually working.

I couldn't fly anywhere. I couldn't make it charge into me with it cracking the ice and letting the water flood us. It had even kept to low sweeps making certain that the ice above it wasn't broken. This heartless was smarter than the rest had been.

The pounding of my chest seemed to get more intense when my back stopped going back. I had hit the wall of ice behind me and the heartless had pulled its pincers out of the ground. They hung menacingly around my torso. It reared back both pincers as I slid downward from the force of the snake head snapping at me. I only had one chance.

Letting myself slide further down, I pulled back my back legs and kicked it beneath the mandible sending it upward. I was surprised that I even had the lower body strength to do so as the pincers went barely above my head. I kept kicking my legs up against the heartless as it fell back down keeping it from getting a solid bead on me.

Holding my hoof out I fired off a magnet spell on the snakehead keeping it in place. That sudden stop forced it to be yanked back. I used that opportunity to stab Nightmare Cascade into one of the pincers before dragging it up the arm.

The loud chittering of pain from the heartless made my ears fold in on themselves within the armor. When I pulled the blade out the arm dissipated leaving me jumping back as it flailed its other pincer in my direction. I barely made it out of range as the snakehead snapped where I had been moments ago.

I had hurt it and it was angry. Without warning it rushed into the ice letting the water outside to rush into the opening. I raised my keyblade and shot several more blizzard spells. The small arena I had was now even smaller than before. I could hear the movement of water outside the icy shell before a large impact shook it. A large pincer pierced the shell and another stream of water poured into the opening.

I didn't even waste time on using another set of blizzard spells. It would just break through and let more of the swamp back in to reclaim its space. The scorpion heartless rushed back in charging with the water and keeping the snakehead hidden beneath the scummy water. I readied my own run, switching over to the shield weapon letting frost coat the front of it.

I wouldn't be able to stop the water flowing in but that could be used to my advantage. As the scorpion heartless charged forward through one of the streams of water rushing towards me. I swung my shield through the rushing water where the shards of ice that were flung from the shield grew in size and impaled the heartless in several places on its carapace. The sudden impact stopped the heartless in its tracks as the ice attempted to freeze it in place.

It stopped and attempted to use its claw to tear the large icicles out of its body. I took that chance racing forward and summoning the tomahawk slamming it into several of the icicles causing the wounds to open up even further. The damage was too much for its body to handle as the darkened mist flowed from the wounds. It dissolved back into darkness leaving me behind in a hollow ice shell deep below the swampy water all above me.

I looked around the slowly filling cavity of ice as the swamp water finally reached my calves… all four of them. It was times like these that I had forgotten that I was in a pony body. I banished my keyblade back and truly assessed the situation. As far as I knew, my armor protected me from drowning and I could potentially swim up. I was also in a swamp where the muck in the water would sink me faster than I could swim up especially in heavy armor. There weren't any light sources either. I could only see because my eyes were specially made to see in the dark.

“Right then… Spark!”

A large blast of light illuminated the section. I took my chance and dove into the shadows. Hopefully I would reach the others before too long had passed.

Thirty minutes earlier…

Vinyl immediately stepped up with her keyblade drawn as a horde of heartless swarmed the group. Fflewddur and Gurgi were the only non combatants of the group though with Taran not having his sword anymore made that number grow.

“I'll take the ones on the left.” Vinyl confidently stated as she shook her keyblade within her magical grip.

“Vinyl, there are less on the left…” Octavia sighed out as she gripped her keyblade in her teeth.

“Yeah… I'm meeting my odds that's for sure.” Vinyl haughtily answered back making Octavia groan from the very blunt answer she was given.

Several of the Bone Lancer heartless dove towards the pair forcing Vinyl to lift up a reflect spell. The sudden jolt knocked the attackers back to the ground letting the pair take on their respective targets. Vinyl, true to her word, took on the heartless on the left.

Spitfire and Sunshower kept to the air knocking the Wyvern heartless from their divebomb routines. The two carefully placed shots with their only magical talents of flames and ice. Even then aerial combat remained hectic and either were forced to play the healer role whenever they were caught unaware.

“Is this always gonna be a thing?” Sunshower called out as her keyblade tore through another Wyvern heartless wing.

“What thing!?” Spitfire yelled back.

“Aerial battles! I mean seriously, this is ridiculous!” Sunshower flapped up landing on the back of one of the heartless and kicked downward. She wasn't too strong but with the disruption of the muscles around its wings the Wyvern slowly spun out of control to its eventual destruction.

“This is great! I've never felt so alive!” Spitfire cried back and a vicious grin rolled across her muzzle. Everything about the moment screamed into her soul. It was enjoyable, exhilarating, and exciting. All of those were words that were used to describe what she went through as a Wonderbolt.

This moment didn't even compare to what she had done for most of her adult life. At most it was a pale imitation of what the Wonderbolts once meant. Fighting for the safety of Equestria was what it was founded on… now though. Now, it was little more than stunt flying and putting on shows for stuck up nobles. There was very little else to it… and the prestige she once felt for it had diminished with every mission she took that had her wielding her keyblade.

Sunshower, however, was the opposite. The danger and excitement was… excruciatingly difficult to handle. Everyday when out and about was met with constant danger mostly highlighted with the fight with Kuro. Nibel had awoken her warrior spirit… but now it was difficult to turn off anymore. Everywhere she looked she could only see combat, combat and more combat.

“Well at least you're enjoying it.” Sunshower muttered under her breath.

Redheart glanced up as the heartless were tossed about through the tide of battle. Using Angelic Grace, she steamrolled through the mass of shadow and soldier heartless while Fresh Coat cleared up the stragglers. Even then they kept close to the human party letting Eilonwy use her own magic to distract and stupefy the heartless that got too close. This let them funnel the heartless into their killzone.

“When will it end… ugh… this is so annoying.” Redheart grumbled as she sliced through another shadow heartless.

“It's not so bad is it? We're winning aren't we?” Fresh Coat muttered as she cast another thunder spell wiping out some of the stragglers that got too close.

“Well… yeah, but it feels so… easy. Too easy. They knocked Gray away dragging him to Celestia knows where and even though they are going all out, we're winning.” Redheart mused as she blocked another soldier from swinging its Ruby red claws. “That rings suspicious to me. They aren't fighting to win… they're fighting to distract.”

“Oh…? Oh… oh I see. Maybe we should-” Fresh Coat got cut off as two large avian raptor beasts flew down from the sky with a tiny imp upon its back.

“Hurry you nitwits! Grab it before things go wrong!” Creeper ordered as one of the gwythaint grabbed the Cauldron carrying it off into the sky. Before any of the mares could react two of the human berserker guards raced forward grabbing Eilonwy and Fflewddur.

The distraction was enough and allowed the gwythaint to grab the Cauldron whisking it away into the sky while Fresh Coat and Redheart stopped the charging berserkers. Vinyl eventually got a telekinetic shield around the party. With Creeper getting away with the Cauldron, Spitfire and Sunshower attempted to smash the gwythaint out of the sky.

Several wyvern heartless swung in striking the pair out of their chase. The sheer chaos created from the attack was nothing more than pandemonium given physical form. Creeper’s laugh echoed out amongst the billowing screams of the berserkers and the roars of the heartless. Before anything else could be said several more of the scorpion heartless that had dragged Gray into the water materialized into being racing towards the group making certain to keep everyone distracted.

“Damn it all! Keep them back!” Vinyl yelled out using her unicorn magic to shift the heartless off course.

“This is crazy! Eep!” Redheart squeaked as one of the snake heads snapped close to her flank.

“Don't get distracted!” Fresh Coat shouted out as she stepped forward smashing the snake head back.

Reeling from the sudden shock, the heartless attempted to restore its stance. It was a difficult maneuver for the heartless as Vinyl and Redheart peppered its hide with several spells slung from the tips of their keyblades. As the Scorpion like heartless was pushed back several Darkballs materialized into view trying their best to stop the spells from reaching their target. The massive flurry of darkness spreading from the Darkballs being destroyed left visibility poor for everyone involved.

“We need to get back!” Vinyl yelled out grabbing Redheart as the darkness enveloped the area.

“Girls!” Fresh Coat gasped out until the two flopped down before her. “Oh… you’re okay.”

“I truly feel the love.” Redheart muttered as she picked herself off the ground and dusted her hat off.

Before the three could do anything the cries of their friends got their attention as Eilonwy and Fflewddur were picked up by two of the human berserker soldiers. As Vinyl turned to strike at them another of the soldiers immediately blazed through grabbing her from behind. A small heartless creature crawled off of his back affixing itself to her horn as the three rushed off with their prey.

With the Darkballs zooming around Redheart and Fresh Coat were unable to see the three get whisked away by the Horned King’s human troops. Taran, on the other hand, noticed and ran after the group.

I quickly jumped from shadow to shadow trying my best to get through the muck back to the others. It had been slightly more unsettling than I had thought it had been. The Scorpion heartless had dragged me through several miles of muck all in the small attempt to keep me away from the main prize they were after, The Black Cauldron. Truthfully, it was an annoying venture with how many problems that the heartless brought to this world in particular. With the Horned King being the main factor in how bad this place got I could only compare him to the other figures I remembered from the other games in the series from my memories.

It had been strange that after all this time I still remembered the life I once had. It was a sobering thought in my mind washing its way through my memories. The first swamplands I had dove out of was too far from the group though I could see the clattering of lightning and flames bellowing out from the distance leaving clouds of dissipating darkness flowing through the atmosphere. I was oddly calm even throughout the entire debacle, as if I felt that the others could watch out for themselves competently enough. I was certain though that there was going to be one snag in the plan regardless since that is what usually happens when you become too trusting or… maybe complacent was the better word. I dove into the next shadow appearing even closer to the battlefield.

The first heartless scorpion creature didn’t even realize when I brought the shield down upon the snake tail until it froze solid. Switching to the tomahawk left it a shattered mess a moment later. Octavia was the first to greet me with a lovely smile before she flipped over my back and bucked a wyvern heartless from tackling me. A toss from the tomahawk quickly ended that threat.

“Where have you been?” Octavia called out over the roar of magical explosions peppering the area.

“Swimming… Water was dirty though.” I muttered under my breath. There wasn’t time for sarcasm but I was slightly more tired than I thought from being forced underwater for so long.

“What was that?” Octavia perked her ears up and got closer.

“It took me longer than I thought to deal with that heartless than I thought.” I quickly answered changing my tone completely.

“Yeah… that’s what I thought you said.” Octavia quietly chided me which I could only smile nervously at. “Oh… don’t worry. I won’t punish you… at least not yet.”

I mentally sighed. Her eyes said it was punishment but her smile said that it was much more than that. With the heartless around she quickly cut it off and galloped off to the next fight. I did the same pulling out my keyblade trading technique over power. With that I rushed out into the fray once again… a little slower but still capable of fighting on.

The battle was a muddlesome mired trek through constant swampland and I decided it was time to end this. Pulling out the large axe I slammed it on the ground sending a wave of earth through the heartless spearing them as they attempted to attack us. The flying heartless were taken out swiftly by the combined might of Spitfire, Sunshower and Octavia. Strangely Redheart and Fresh Coat were busy looking around for something while Vinyl was nowhere to be seen. My heart started to sink lower when I noticed that none of the humans were around either. Gurgi was hiding beneath a bunch of plants he had gathered to act as makeshift cover. It didn’t do much to actually hide the goof but it didn’t make things harder at the very least.

The adrenaline slowly pumping down and letting us all assess the situation made things more difficult when we actually started to look around. I had finally noticed that the Black Cauldron was gone. Fflewddur and Eilonwy were both gone… as was Taran and Vinyl. When I looked under the brush for Gurgi I found no one there.

“What!? Where are the rest of our group!”

The suddenness of my outburst got everypony’s attention and in turn caused everypony to rush around looking for our missing members. It was met with sheer uncertainty and several measures of anger as well. The five of them all came back to me with similar looks of disappointment and anger. All of them had turned up the same thing with similar answers.

“Do you think something happened to them?” Octavia muttered under her breath and looked around slightly worried. The heartless didn’t return either. That never meant anything good at all since one of our own were gone at the moment.

“Doesn’t matter. We know where the monsters are. We need to go get them now.” Spitfire growled out clearly worked up and bristling at the very notion that one of us were taken.

“Right. Let’s head out now.”

I immediately grabbed Octavia and Red Heart in my hooves while Spitfire and Sunshower helped Fresh Coat up. We immediately took off through the skies soaring through the swamplands back in the direction of the castle. My jaw clenched and tightened from the sheer anger that was coursing through my mind.

The six of us worked our way across the darkened skies making certain to use the cloud cover as barriers from any wandering eyes. I felt something building up within me that I couldn’t fully understand.

Dread? Perhaps… though I felt that once before and this didn’t feel like it. Fear? My hooves weren't shaking and neither was my core. Anger? It was in the back of my mind seething and simmering but that would cause problems if unleashed. Whatever I felt I couldn't truly describe it. Still we soared on for that castle where our friends had been taken.

Vinyl sat back up as she was unceremoniously dropped on the floor alongside Eilonwy and Fflewddur. Unfortunately they had also been dropped in front of the Horned King himself. Standing there, eyes glowing red from the sockets, he quietly pointed to one of the rafters. A second later the Black Cauldron was dropped into the room by the flying draconic creatures she had seen.

The three were tied up well and hung from the rafters as the lid was lifted off the Cauldron. Inside was nothing… there was no bottom to see leaving an infinite darkness that radiated its intent. It was hungry. Vinyl couldn't smell the darkness since that was Nebby’s schtick. She instead felt that overwhelming dread prickling up her spine sending cascading waves of fear throughout her core.

“Sir! We found another one!” One of the human berserkers called out.

Vinyl paled as Taran was brought forth slightly bruised but still in one piece. The Horned King waved him off and pointed to the others where he was hung as well. If she didn't know any better she was being hung like an offering. For what she couldn't tell.

“Taran, are you okay?” Vinyl whispered out while the other two looked on in worry.

“Yeah… only thing hurt is my pride.” Taran answered to a slight scowl from Vinyl. “And my face… that stings too.”

“I'll bet. You at least told Gray what was going on right?” Vinyl shook off the anger only to feel it building up again when he wouldn't look her in the eyes.

“No…” Taran sighed.

“Right then.” Vinyl bitterly held her tongue. It wasn't out of kindness though. It was out of wanting to let Gray be the one to chastise him. She couldn't exactly speak of doing something dangerous without telling anyone since she did that sort of thing on a near daily basis. “New plan then. We wait a bit till I figure something out. We either escape, get rescued or die. Easy peasy.”

“Those seem like horrible choices madam.” Fflewddur called out in a low hiss.

“I can't use magic right now. This stupid thing on my horn won't let me.” Vinyl growled out back.

“Enough!” The Horned King called out staring up at the four. “It is time. Time to show this world was true power means!”

With nary a word and a wave of his hand a large wheelbarrow was brought out of the basement. On it laid the desecrated corpse of a long dead warrior. He gingerly picked up the pile of bones and deposited it into the inner depths of the Cauldron.

At that moment the magic within took over and a sickly green light shot into the sky above the castle. Vinyl felt the unnatural energy suffocate her figuratively. It was wrong, wrong, wrong on so many levels. No amount of wubs could ever calm it down.

The green mist eked out of the cauldron as several corpses climbed out of the depths of the Cauldron. Each more grotesque than the last leaving little to the imagination of what exactly the Cauldron actually did.

The human berserkers and soldiers all cheered… up until the first couple were piled in corpses and slaughtered. Their blood spilled the corpses of the human soldiers got up all the same marching alongside their new brethren. The humans who had been loyal immediately rushed off. They knew their place finally at the very end. Vinyl wanted to puke but held together… if only because it would have stained her chest and she'd rather not have to explain that to anypony. As if to only confirm what the Horned King was thinking she let fury be her guide.

“Kill!” He called out as the Dead all stumbled off towards their next would be victims.

I could see the light in the distance. I could feel the darkness in the air. My companions said nothing but faced the darkness with grim determination.

“Let's go then.” I grumbled out as we took off through the sky for the castle heights.

73. Prydain: Desecrated

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Vinyl immediately started kicking her back hooves up and about until they found purchase against Taran.

“What are you doing!?” Taran freaked out slightly.

“Improvising. Just keep still, this is harder than it looks.” Vinyl growled out as she used his body to kick her legs up. It was going to hurt.

With a swift thrust she kicked her legs against the small heartless that had latched on to her horn. All she needed was one kick and it gave her enough room to let magic flow from her horn. Then the heartless dissipated from a beam of magic flying out of her horn.

“See. What did I tell you? Easy peasy.” Vinyl grunted from the effort. She had wanted to look a little cooler but being free was more important.

It took a bit more magic then she wanted to use as she untied her own ropes first. Before she could do anything else something hopped down from the rafters. Vinyl stifled her own scream before anyone else could hear her.

“Quiets pony. Quiets. I will get the master, yes. You gets the others.” Gurgi called out as he turned over to Taran.

“Right. Thanks.” Vinyl curtly nodded as she got Fflewddur and Eilonwy down from their bindings. The Horned King was far too busy reveling in the dead walking around that the five of them managed to find some cover to hide behind. Even the undead were busy walking towards the front door… ready to spread darkness over the land.

“Crap… where’s the others when you need them. How are you supposed to stop that…?” Vinyl grumbled not noticing the sad look starting to appear in Gurgi’s eyes.

Vinyl couldn’t attack it alone… and with several non-combatants as well. She was lucky that the undead were ignoring them even now. She needed to wait until the others came before she could charge in. It sucked to be waiting but she needed to keep them safe otherwise they too would join an undead legion.

“We’re punching through. I’ll be the spear and you all follow my lead.”

“Right.” A chorus of agreements rang out behind me.

We had landed a short while away from the castle bridge. Undead had already been pouring out. We had a plan in place for the moment but the undead caused that plan to sink. I had to also take into account the fact that the heartless were sulking far above the skies ready to dive down. It was madness but the kind of madness I actually found exhilarating.

“Ready? Fire magic on spam and keep them from bunching up. No hooves just keyblades.”

“Let’s go.” Octavia answered as everypony nodded. Grim determination plastered their expressions which was a bit uncanny to see. Ponies rarely did grim and so far I had only seen that a few times.

I charged forward as several spears appeared out of nowhere. All that time and I now had Xaldin’s weapons in tow. Forgetting any trepidation I remembered how they worked and decided to use them to my advantage.

Powered by wind currents and surprisingly telekinesis the spears moved independently from my hooves knocking the undead off to the side where one of the others would quickly auto focus fire spells on said target. It was slow going because even with seven spears attacking I needed to remain relatively still while they attacked.

Of course, intrigue was oozing out of each of the girls but they remained focused on the task at hand. Spitfire was a bit more cocky about looking at one of the spears that I reluctantly allowed her to hold on to it. That left me with only six weapons attacking.

The undead roared in an unnatural bellow that seemed to shake our very souls. Those that got close were impaled with complete prejudice. Soon after cinders were all that was left for their funeral pyres. Even then the tide of undead kept creeping along followed by an acrid green mist billowing along the ground. I did hear some dry heaving behind me forcing me to use a cure spell to keep it from getting any worse.

“Thanks… “ Fresh Coat muttered as she kept up pace once the spell did its work.

“What do you mean they are being incinerated!” Horned King roared as he smacked Creeper nearly five feet back.

“Sire those pony creatures have started to storm the castle! We can’t stop them from making their way here!” Creeper cried out ducking low to keep from being strangled.

“You look ta be in a perdictment. I’ll help ya out boss.” Pete called out as he summoned several Bone Lancers into the fray. The undead ignored the heartless.

“See to it.” Horned King growled out as he started to siphon magic off the Cauldron allowing some of his bones to turn blacker than the infinite voids of space. His eyes kept a darkened look with two pinpricks dots of red left from the over billowing cloud of magic rippling through the sockets.

Vinyl wasn’t freaking out. She had seen worse back on Atlantis and even in Nibel. Though this she could feel. Any being with magic could feel it. The skeleton below was overflowing with magic which was wildly lashing out all because of the Cauldron.

“Vinyl… I don’t think there’s much we can do about that.” Eilonwy pointed out as she was shivering. Vinyl remembered she could also feel and manipulate magic.

“I hate to concur but at this point all I see is doom.” Fflewddur groaned as his hand ran down his face. Taran didn’t say anything and Gurgi had remained quiet.

“Look… we just need the others here and everything should be alright. Trust us… we got something planned.” Vinyl assures the others. She wishes her glasses weren’t broken because her eyes were betraying how frightened she was at this point.

We smashed through a long hallway as more undead were crawling around like animals. They twisted their bodies in unnatural positions just to make it closer to us. The spears did their job but the tighter corners made it harder to stop them from slamming into a wall.

I was forcing to keep four on my person while the other three flew out to attack. I was lucky that Spitfire’s curiosity was sated after everything was said and done. I still hadn’t figured out how the wind effect of the spears activated leaving me with physical weapons. It got to the point where I couldn’t use my magic for anything other than healing with how much the smell affected everypony.

Only Redheart was fine with the smell due to her work within the medical field. Albeit she still found it disgusting. She had just been the most tolerant. Fresh Coat on the other side was dry heaving every other room.

We made it to one of the dining halls where we had seen Hen Wen be used to show where the Cauldron had been. The undead were in steep decline within the room since most of them went the long way, probably for any stragglers that had remained within.

Several Bone Lancers popped into being raising their lances to battle. Spitfire and Sunshower stepped forth.

“Here. We’ll take care of this.” Spitfire announced as she got into her usual cocky stance.

“Yeah. We need to hurry before anything stupid happens.” Sunshower chuckled. My jaw clenched shut and I wanted to voice dissent. I instead sighed and nodded.

Octavia, Redheart and Fresh Coat followed after me. They left a respective wave and we rushed ahead towards the next couple rooms.

“We seem to get the easy job now.” Sunshower groaned. “I mean, even I don’t think I could have handled that smell anymore.”

“Yeah… but we’re doing this for a different reason. Since you have a full keyblade, any heartless would be drawn to you. The way I see it, we keep them busy with our badassness and that jerk gets what’s coming to him.” Spitfire explained as she pulled her keyblade out.

“Yeah yeah… I feel like we’re getting too used to danger now.” Sunshower sighed out as she pulled Cloud Nine.

“And you say that like it’s a bad thing.” Spitfire chuckled as she launched towards the closest cluster of heartless with Sunshower taking a defensive position in the air firing off volleys of magic.

Sunshower sighed and kept her mouth shut. She needed to focus on keeping Spitfire alive. There would be time to call her out on her daredevil tendencies later.

We rushed through the next hall taking care to keep the undead at further range. Due to our diminished numbers the need for more focused fire attacks meant a longer wait between encounters. We regenerated magic but the smell of burning flesh was becoming slightly unbearable. I was used to it due to my detective background. I had that instinct beaten out of me from those three cases in particular.

The others were not so lucky. Octavia neared the brunt of it because of her need to lead by example. She had thrown up in the second hallway before I could get a cure spell cast. Fresh Coat was in the same boat but she had managed to keep it down better due to keeping her distance with magic.

Redheart remained peerless in this regard. Even so, she didn’t relish other ponies getting sick around her and was turning green at the more mundane sickness the other two were feeling. I really needed to find a better way to get them used to this sort of trouble but there wasn’t any decent way to handle any of these problems.

“We’re almost near where we have to go. Just hang in there a little longer girls.” I assured the three.

I could finally smell the darkness through all the other carnage that seeped into the corridors. It was heavier than usual… and growing. I didn’t notice at first due to all the rotting corpses traipsing around like they owned the place, but at this range it was undeniably foul.

A sickly green glow illuminated the next doorway. The door had been cracked off its hinges. I took a deep breathe through my mouth as to avert the smell before I rushed in. I couldn’t tell what lay beyond the threshold.

We burst through the entrance to the sight of a larger skeletal man standing near the Cauldron. Immediately we could tell that it was the Horned King but something was different… wrong even.

Where once stood a man too feeble to actually move without stumbling around was a more empowered looking monster. The bones of his body glowed a sickly green and seemed almost three times larger than what they were. His horns were far more pronounced and sharpened to deadly levels. Several spinal spikes ripped through his cloak which now was barely held together due to his skeletal nature not allowing the material to rip so easily. His eyes were still blacked than the deepest night but when his eyes turned to us; there in the center of that void were two blood red pinpricks. Those soon overwhelmed his eyes and small amounts of blood leaked out of them, as if he had just burst a blood vessel. The darkness also started to leak out of the upper portions of his eyes.

“So… a pack of barnyard animals is what is to blame for this taking so long. One rejected flying rat and a bunch of breeding posts. Worthless wretches… for standing in my way all that awaits, is death!” Horned King viciously ordered as several heartless came to his aid.

Severa Bone Lancers had popped in but covered in several more plates of bone armor. The Horned King lifted his hands as fire formed on his palms.

“Scatter!”

Octavia ran off towards the left while Redheart and Fresh Coat ran to the right. I decided to fly straight up and pulled out Nightmare Cascade. There was only one target on my mind and the instigator we needed to deal with. I met the blasts of the Horned King head first swinging my boss through the fire.

Octavia has opted to find Vinyl immediately. It was the plan she had come up with the moment that she had found out that she had been taken. It didn’t take long as she heard that same irritating nickname she always had used against her.

“Hey! Tavi! Up here! Hey! Move your flank already, I ain’t getting any younger!” Vinyl screamed out as she waved wildly towards the now irritated earth pony.

“Yes, of course. This was the plan.” Octavia snarkily muttered to herself now completely derided from her quest to save her best friend.

The two met and even through the frustration she had managed to give the unicorn a hug. Vinyl reluctantly returned it. Not due to any preconceptions on the concept of cool like some ponies would say but because there was a large heartless charged up towards the two.

“Okay, okay… enough hugging. We got heartless to deal with.” Vinyl pushed her to the side as the two pulled out their keyblades.

“Hey! I was worried about you.” Octavia countered before hopping back dodging the lance breaking through the stone of the stairway.

“I noticed. Let’s get through this and then we can be all touchy feely about it.” Vinyl answered in kind using an aero spell to shield the two.

Taran watched the battle in rapt attention unaware of where Gurgi’s eyes fell. Eilonwy kept hold of him though her eyes scanned the room as ponies fought monsters and Gray attacked the Horned King.

I flapped my wings to reorient myself back so the ground was the ground. The fire that he had conjured had knocked me back a fair distance. Not only was he beefier than he looked now, it wasn’t all for show either. Whatever magic or darkness he used to strengthen himself had done wonders in making him a legitimate threat.

I raced across the ceiling, a peculiarity of my species to cling to ceilings apparently, as fireballs slammed against it leaving scorch marks where I had just galloped over. I dove down to the floor kicking up debris with a strike from my keyblade.

The impact of fire against stone caused a premature explosion and I rolled off to the side. The blast was not enough of a distraction. As Horned King compensated for my movements increasing the size of the fire. I had my armor on still, like everypony else, but it still singed me. I could feel the heat bake itself into my bones.

I pushed forward striking the magic fire with the full force of my keyblade… only for the fire to explode each time washing me in flames that seemed to lick my body. I quickly stopped getting behind a pillar as he stepped closer towards my position. A quick cure spell made the ache and what felt like boiling skin ease.

This plan wasn’t working. I quickly switched to the shield and covered it in a thick layer of blue ice, the hardest ice ever. At most the permafrost would give me a short amount of time to bridge that gap, I hoped.

After a short volley he seemed to stop and move positions, most likely bored when I stopped doing anything. I rushed out only to be met with a stream of flames. They were made of darkness itself from what I could tell.

My shield was raised high and I forced my way forward. The sudden shift in temperature caused a small implosion the moment the flames hit the ice but what would have resulted in a fine mist spreading across the battlefield left something else. The darkness was eating away at the ice keeping it from truly melting. It was slow enough that I was still able to push through.

His arms seemed to buckle slightly, the strain of keeping his magic up for so long affecting his judgement. He stopped his spell just as the shield was reaching the end of its lifespan and I jumped up to the platform with him, keyblade in wing.

“A fool to the bitter end. I have killed countless knights who attempted to stop me. What makes you any different?” Horned King scoffed as a large staff appeared in his bony hand. It resembled a large shepherd’s crook but the head was an ornate runic symbol I had never seen before.”And now… now you will die here.”

Several beams of darkness flew out from the staff forcing me back even further until my back hit the ceiling. I was forced to keep up several reflect spells just to keep the flames from smothering me. I didn’t even get the chance to banter back as the Horned King took me far more seriously and purposely than any other threat I had faced.

The animals I faced had followed their instinct and even Rourke had been turned animalistic in his bid to turn things to crystal and smash them. This was something far different. He kept the beams either focused on me or on any route I could use to escape and with impunity fired them as fast as he possibly could.

Octavia and Fresh Coat has knocked the Bone Lancers that had come towards them quickly. While more heavily armored they didn’t change their tactics nor their speed. Fresh held them down and Octavia slammed her keyblade through their heads. The Horned King seemed to not know how to fully command the heartless fully or even how to use them as soldiers. They were just here to padded out his time and keep him safe from multiple keyblade wielders.

Vinyl remained with the other people keeping them safe at a higher elevation. Octavia and Fresh Coat were disruptive enough that they didn’t seem to notice that small group. Vinyl groaned at the sight since she couldn’t exactly go all out at the moment. She had to be responsible. It was a new feeling entirely and she wanted to make certain she lived up to that expectation.

That started to buckle when the Horned King cornered Gray. So smugly he stood there raining magic upon him that she could only glare.

“Fresh… switch with me!” Vinyl called out causing Fresh to blanch slightly.

“Now!?” Fresh answered slightly surprised.

“Yes now! Please!” Vinyl cried out as the reflect spells started to break too fast.

“Go for it!” Fresh answered as she took up guardianship of the others.

‘Crap… running out of magic. This’ll hurt…’ My keyblade started rumbling in my hoof. The constant barrage left me in poor condition to do more than that.

“What that witch saw in you wielders is laughable! Nothing more than animals being led to slaughter. At least the pig would have sense to turn away but you are lower than them!” Horned King laughed almost heartily as he increased the power of his staff and the number of beams he was firing.

“Hurry up Tavi!” Vinyl screamed as she rushed ahead using her magic to merely toss the Bone Lancers aside.

“I’m hurrying!” Octavia shouted using her own earth pony strength and the enhancement from her own training to bulldoze over several of the heartless in her path.

Vinyl jumped onto the platform the Black Cauldron was on. The Horned King was too busy laughing at Gray to notice the lone unicorn on the platform with him. Octavia was forced to knock away more Bone Lancers leaving her to plan this alone.

She gritted her teeth, thinking back to all the trouble he caused for her in particular. She had been forced into changing how she acted leaving her heart slightly lighter. Taking care of others outside of her felt better than she thought it would have. Having been through bullshit friendships outside of Octavia had left her reluctant to do much talking let alone making friends. In some ways she was thankful a jerk like the Horned King existed because it proved to her that even for all the times she acted aloof and without fully caring of another’s situation she was still better than most. Not by much but enough that it made a noticeable difference.

Without rhyme nor reason she pulled out her keyblade and rushed forward. Unbeknownst to her, her blade started shining a deep light blue color twisting in shape. What was a simple key shape made the blade a ivory white while the hoof guard turned into an ornate bridged eighth note. The teeth of the key had turned into several musical notes sharp and flat together.

She still didn’t notice that her keyblade had come into fruition. She didn’t even notice that she now knew the name of it was Bass Drop. She did notice that keyblade A was now hitting bad guy B. It also made said bad guy drop his staff thingy letting Gray go.

The elation didn’t last long as Horned King recovered quickly enough making a mad dash for said unicorn intent on throttling the life out of her. Unlike his body before, he had the presence to actually look physically intimidating.

I finally got off the ceiling. There was a small imprint of where my body had been pushed hard enough to warp the stone above me. How that was even possible was beyond my comprehension. I still hadn’t figured out the physics of Equestria. Learning the rules of another world was something I didn’t want to entertain.

As Horned King went after Vinyl, whom I assumed was the one who stopped him, I switched to the axe and tossed it towards him. The large weapon flew in a sharp arc which he noticed at the last minute. Bringing his arms up he caught the blade only allowing the momentum to carry him backwards instead of suffering the blow.

I flew down landing next to Vinyl while Octavia joined us after dealing with another wave of Bone Lancers.

“Good work. Let’s keep him from doing that again.”

“Right-o Nebby.” Vinyl practically neighed an affirmative forgoing all logic and grasping the two of us in a hug.

“Vinyl! Wait till later!” Octavia shouted as she pushed us apart.

It was well timed as a lance nearly skewered where my head was not a second ago. Octavia continued her fight which Vinyl joined in shortly. The two dances around the battlefield while I marched on towards the King.

The Cauldron spewed forth more undead. The fact was not lost on Taran or the rest. It continued to twist the very laws of nature all for the sick satisfaction of forcing this taboo upon the world. Fresh Coat had been busy using her magic to keep any stray heartless from coming closer with Eilonwy providing light support during the entire debacle.

“We need to do something.” Taran states to Fflewddur and Gurgi. “We can’t just stand around allowing others to fight our battles for us.”

“Be that as it may, we haven’t the means to fight anything right now. Your sword would have been the perfect offense against the undead.” Fflewddur answered making the young boy wince.

He was right. Taran was beside himself at this point. His actions hadn’t portrayed the visage of a knight at all. He had been childish to think that he could be one. Even Vinyl seemed a bit perturbed with him but she managed to be less dismissive of his dream. His brain wracked with indecision made the two not notice that Gurgi hadn’t said anything.

“Gurgi… where are - Gurgi?” Taran stood shocked as he saw Gurgi standing over the precipice that led to the Cauldron. “What are you doing?”

“Sorry Master… but Gurgi’s been thinking and sinking and smashing and crashing his brain. Wes all know what someone needs to do.” Gurgi answered a frown across his countenance. He looked over the edge. “The witches saids it… one must willingly go to stop it.”

“Gurgi… Gurgi no! Stop!” Taran stepped forth like a man possessed. He felt faint… not to the point of fainting but figuring out what Gurgi meant to do.

“Gurgi was useless… but now… now Gurgi will be useful to master.” Gurgi stated and with a sad smile he fell over the edge. Taran and Fflewddur rushes for him only now noticed by Fresh and Eilonwy during a quiet moment in combat.

“What!? No!” Fresh cried out as she tried to latch her telekinesis around Gurgi. Even though she had gripped him, the force already acted on him would be enough to get him into the Cauldron. She couldn’t stop his momentum and Vinyl wasn’t around to help her with her own telekinesis.

Eilonwy covered her mouth in shock as Gurgi entered the Cauldron. It immediately cut off Fresh Coat’s magical field and the Cauldron exploded in a pillar of green flames which destroyed the ceiling.

My keyblade danced around impacting against the Horned King’s own arms. He had weathered each blow as if nothing had happened. Infuriated at how much he enhanced his body I switched to the spears and used them for different angles of attack. While weaker, they were excellent at hitting smaller points on his body. That barely made a difference since he kept walking towards me forcing me to keep a spear in my wing to block his own strikes.

As we clashed, the room suddenly exploded in a rush of green light. It envelopes the room before everything died out. The undead around the room and the heartless that had been summoned were being sucked into the Cauldron.

“No! No! You fools! What have you done!” Horned King screamed as he felt his own body start to shudder.

The magic he absorbed rushed out of his body leaving behind the same skeletal appearance he held before he had absorbed whatever the Cauldron possessed. Before I could strike him again the Cauldron released an explosive wave of energy from the opening sending me and him flying off.

I landed unceremoniously near Octavia and Vinyl as one of the Bone Lancers were sucked into the Cauldron. They helped me back up even though I now covered them in soot from the explosion. The Horned King was nowhere to be seen.

Fresh Coat trotted up to us tears streaming down her face. Taran and Eilonwy looked completely distraught while Fflewddur remained a near stoic except for the developing frown that threatened to take over.

“What’s wrong?” I called out. Very few things could make her cry. In fact there were few things that could make any of them cry.

“Fresh… where’s that little dog guy… Gurgi?” Vinyl asked her tone serious as she looked around.

“... he stopped the Cauldron didn’t he?” I answered what everyone was thinking.

There was no answer. Just silent nods and quiet lamentation throughout the hall. Before I could comfort anyone the Cauldron went into overdrive and started sucking us in as well. I grabbed Octavia and pushed her towards the humans. She got the message and placed her armor back on. With a bit of effort she pushed Eilonwy and pulled Fflewddur allowing him to cling to the plates on her armor. Fresh Coat followed suit helping with Fflewddur since he was a bit more frail than the others.

That left me to assist with Vinyl and Taran. I pulled Vinyl close and pushed Taran forward. We had made it a few feet when Vinyl stopped moving.

“Vinyl? Vinyl!” I called out as the Horned King grabbed her back leg dragging her towards the Cauldron.

“You helped take this from me. I’ll take something of yours before this day is done.” Horned King stated in a cold fury and even tone.

I summoned my keyblade ready to throw it at him when Taran jumped forward. The Horned King was back to his regular form but he was still a lich like being. Vinyl tried to grip at the floor for any loose piece of brick for a hoofhold.

“You won’t have anyone!” Taran called out as he grabbed Vinyl and viciously stomped his foot into him.

“Augh!” Horned King called out as he stumbled back. The vortex was working stronger and he reached the center of the destruction. “No! No! NOoooooo!”

Horned King gripped the edge of the Cauldron and flames erupted from his body. His flesh was torn strip by strip and his bones started burning into ash while he was still conscious. He kept muttering on how things went wrong… or that was the vortex ripping his bones in such a way they made a whistling sound from how fast he was torn apart. I opted not to figure it out.

Grabbing Vinyl and Taran I forced us to move back the way we came. My hooves were tired. Far more than they should be. Part of me wondered if it was due to being shot with all those magical beams of death earlier. It probably was but there wasn’t time to dwell on it. The fortress or castle had seen better days and the Cauldron looked to be trying to take everything with it.

The walls cracked and boil into molten sludge around the Cauldron and the random piles of debris circled the vortex around the opening. The last moments of the Horned King was of his jaw being ripped off into the Cauldron before we headed down the corridor.

“What took you so long!? This place is shaking like a sale for Apple Cider at home!” Sunshower yelped as Spitfire pulled her back.

“No time for crying, we need to leave.” Spitfire breathes heavily and her wings didn’t seem to be in the best shape.

I cast cure once more but stamina wasn’t replenished through it.

“I have an idea! Follow me!” Eilonwy shouted as she rushed off for another staircase.

We followed close after seeing as most of our flyers couldn’t fly at the moment. The act of moving my wings caused me to wince from the pain. I didn’t notice it at all during the fight. Adrenaline truly was the epitome of all painkillers.

We rushed further into the castle until we reached a large sluice gate that emptied out into the lake that the fortress was built around. I pulled out my new spears and with some careful maneuvers and finagling pried off the grate that blocked us from freedom.

One of the larger posts fell down and I ushered everyone onto it. As soon as everyone was seated I got in the back and used the spears to push us forward.

Several walls came collapsing after us as we cleared the tunnel. The darkness was enveloping but the light at the end of the tunnel became our guiding post. It was red but that was still preferable to death.

We shot out of the tunnel into the vast lake as the sun started to set over the mountains. The red hue vastly enhanced the area. We looked behind us as the castle went up in flames and destruction and the heartless that had been guarding it fled back to the darkness from whence they came.

I paddled us towards the shore and Redheart had started looking over our wounds. There were lots of bruises but with liberal use of the cure spells we were at the very least no longer wounded. Fatigue threatened us all but we couldn’t fall asleep just yet. We still needed to find the keyhole.

As we recuperated to the best of our abilities I noticed the Cauldron slowly floating over to us.

74. Memoirs: Prydain

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Burning skies and reddening hues as smoke acridly filled the world. Crumbling… crashing… tumbling… a fortress gone in an instant. Hooves stepped over the remnants of the crumbled home. A horn lit up and moved the debris around careful to keep them low to the ground. There didn’t need to be any witnesses to the acts happening around here now. The presence of the lich like being was finally gone.

“Now where are you…?” The voice looked around tossing a few more loose bricks away. The magic surrounded a large section of the ceiling lifting it far above his head and over to the side gently enough to only cause a few displacements of the surrounding rubble.

“Ah! There you are.” The voice triumphantly stated picking the staff that the Horned King once held in his hands. “A fool and his treasure are so soon parted I suppose. And there was no bigger a fool than he. Seriously, using necromancy as a base for your powers when it has the chance to steal your soul if you fail. Honestly, amateurish at best.”

The stallion stepped over the rubble cradling the staff in his magic. He adjusted his hat making the bells ring out slightly. Gritting his teeth, he peered around carefully hoping no one had heard that. The sound suppression spell had worn off far too quickly. Eight days straight and he needed to recast it already. He groaned at the thought that his spells needed a little more work.

“Bah! I have what I came for and all is well. Thank you fake pony for all your hard work. Also thank you mares for providing a large enough distraction for me to use.” He replies with a sarcastic wave and salute to top it off.

Star Swirl lit his horn and ripped a tear in the world. On the other side was a large fortress suspended in the anther surrounded by legions of nobodies of various shapes and forms. A triumphant smirk on his face he stepped through the tear across a long catwalk while the nobodies all bowed at his hooves.

With staff in magical grip he closed the portal. The rubble was still there almost untouched by any kind.

“Yeowch! What the heck happened?” Pete grumbled as he rose from part of the rubble. He had been trying to break into another door only for the whole building to collapse. If he wasn’t a tough guy like he was it could have hurt.

“Jeez Louise… I ain’t cleaning this mess up that’s fer sure. Oh no… now I gotta tell Maleficent what happened to tall, dark, and gruesome. Crud…” Pete opened a portal of darkness stumbling through as he clutched the bruises on his arms and side. Though as he was leaving he noticed the small goblin guy, Creeper, he was certain lying unconscious nearby. He dragged him in with him.

Maleficent was standing by almost as if waiting for him. Though her back was turned and her gaze effectively focused on the glass orb in front of her. Pete stepped up careful not to stumble or look anymore foolish than he did at the moment.

“Uh… your eminence-y.” He grumbled out keeping it low enough not to be heard. He really didn’t know what else to call her at the moment and buttering her up at least meant the least amount of consequences later. “I’m back… in one piece.”

“Oh you survived. Thought I was going to have to search for a new peon. Isn’t that right Diablo?” Maleficent carefully crooned as her raven landed upon her staff looking frightfully sinister. It let out a screeching caw before flying back up to the rafters. “No matter. As far as I’m concerned this mission has been a success. Have you seen how many keyblade wielders there were so far?”

“Yeah. Over half a dozen. All of them petite puny ponies. Though they do pack a wallop.” Pete admitted as he rubbed over the sores that he received.

“A keyblade’s power to be sure. And what of you Horned King. Easy prey, were they not?” Maleficent chuckled as she ran a hand over the gem of her staff.

Out of the haze of darkness in the glass orb was the remnant spirit of the Horned King. Diminished but still alive in some form it growled in place clearly unhappy with what occurred.

“The Cauldron was mine! How did a pack of colorful ponies do something like this to me!” Horned King roared as he thrashed around within the confines of the glass orb.

“Calm yourself. Cortez is building you a new body as we speak. I can’t have you sitting there like a useless paper weight. But now you see, don’t you? A keyblade wielder is more dangerous than any for you face. They cut through our darkness like paper and you now know. We need strength in numbers. So… do you agree… or shall I shatter you and erase your wasteful mistake?” Maleficent cruelly smirked as she placed the tip of her staff against the orb ready to tip it over.

“No!” Horned King shouted before he rested into place. “I shall agree. So long as I remain somewhat autonomous in my personal goals.”

“And that is all I ask. You shall empower our small army then to more glorious heights. You may keep your world under your own thumb so long as you assist me in my own goals.” Maleficent smiles as she removed her staff and stepped forward.

“And that is?” Horned King questioned as he grumbled and waited.

“Kingdom Hearts. That is what I am after. The heart of all worlds.” Maleficent admitted as she tapped her staff.

All the braziers lit up in green flames as several figures stood up around the orb. Cortex and Malefor stood around the orb stepping out of their respective shadow. Bagular stepped up as well.

The old man dressed in blue armor that covered his entire body let out a dry laugh. If they didn’t know better his laugh sounded mechanical. It was ignored as several other figures stepped out in the arena surrounding them. All different shapes and sizes each working towards their unified goal.

Pete merely chuckled as their plans started to move forward with an army of beings standing around from multiple worlds all wielding darkness in their hearts. He then remembered he was still carrying the little goblin guy and forced some of the White Mushroom heartless to carry him off for healing.

There it was. The Cauldron floated along before washing up on the shore of the lake. It was empty once again and we stood there shocked that nothing remained within.

I attacked it with my keyblade only to reverberate against the shell making me shake in place as if I was living through an earthquake. Vinyl and Fresh managed to stop me with their magic making me so glad that their magic was so versatile.

“Thanks. Guess that plan is out then.” I muttered the last part returning my keyblade back to its pocket dimension space or wherever it was kept. I didn’t have a keychain ring and while I didn’t doubt it came from my heart; that place was crowded enough at the moment.

“What now?” Vinyl came up clearly uncertain of what to do. In fact, nopony seemed to know what to do. The people of our group were still reflecting from their loss and his sacrifice.

“Honestly… I don’t know. We can’t leave this thing here and we can’t destroy it. If we bring it with us then we are setting ourselves up for a similar invasion of undead. With the same price necessary to stop it…” I cut off myself near the end too little too late.

Everypony looked mortified and a bit worried at how much trouble one Cauldron could have on an entire world. Still we needed to figure something out. Redheart was busy tending to Taran when we heard her yelling.

“Incoming! Something’s here!” Redheart shouted as I rushed to the edge of the lake with everypony that had a weapon.

Billowing storm clouds floated across the skies, lowering to our level as if to meet us eye to eye. Taran stepped forward as well making certain that he would meet it first though I silently didn’t approve.

“Well, well, well what have we here? It seems that you’ve kept this Cauldron safe, haven’t you?” Orddu called out as the three witches from the marsh appeared almost ethereally from said cloud.

“What do you want then? We’ve made a deal already!” Taran yelled out frustration laced his voice and threatened to burst open to tears it seemed.

“Perhaps but you have no use for the Cauldron in the first place. So we propose a trade. You, boy who so desperately wants to be a knight, should you bequeath the Cauldron back then this sword, the sword of the first king of Prydain, shall be yours once more. Take it in your grasp and you shall become the knight you were always meant to be.” Orddu announced as the sword fell from on high floating daintily before Taran. His eyes focused on the blade and his hand reached for it.

Vinyl attempted to step up and stop him but I placed my hoof on her shoulder and pulled her back. I shook my head which she grimaced at. This was his decision and we shouldn’t make it for him or try to dictate it for him.

Taran reached for the hilt… only to curl his fingers back. His frown overturned any desire to choose the blade.

“No… I don’t deserve to be a knight. I haven’t proven anything except for my brashness and ineptitude at swordplay. I know the sword fought my battles for me. No… I want my friend back.” Taran announced standing boldly against Orddu.

“A life taken by the Cauldron is not so easily brought back and it is not feasible to raise the dead as such.” Orddu waves it off.

“Now see here madam! Are you saying that you have no power to do such things!” Fflewddur yelled out which caused all three of the witches to glare directly into him. I pulled out my keyblade and stepped in front of him just in case… though that didn’t stop him from voicing his opinion. “You have no power! Charlatans the lot of you!”

“How dare you! We shall show you just whom you are messing with!” Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch all screamed as they poured their magic into the Cauldron itself.

A burst of light exuded from the depths as the small dog man slowly descended from on high. Taran rushed over as did everyone else to welcome him back to the land of the living. I didn’t.

I still had something that Merlin entrusted to me to use. I flew up before the witches could disappear since it was the last time I would probably see them.

“Hold up!” I urged them as the three stared at me. Their piercing gaze made it evident that they weren’t in the mood for chitchat. “I’ve come to bargain.”

I held out the small locket and a scroll. They eyed the items in slight interest.

“And these are…?” Orwen spoke up first clearly more interested then the other two.

“Merlin made these. I think you may like the bargain.” I stated with no level of certainty.

“And what do you wish to bargain for. Certainly they seem useful but there is nothing we have for trinkets like that.” Orddu waves it off clearly fishing for something better.

“The sword.” I bluntly informed. She glared at me as well but with the Cauldron back in their possession they weighed their options.

“Fine. We have made a bargain.” Orddu growled out as the sword landed in my outstretched hoof.

The three witches flew off creating a tornado with their magic with the Cauldron, locket and scroll in their possession. I flew back down to the group who noticed what I did.

“Taran, get over here.”

Taran stepped before me clearly uncertain of what I wanted. I was unsure of this as well but this was something I had always had when I was a child. Something my parents had given to me.

“When I was younger… my parents allowed me the freedom of choice. The freedom to make a decision on what I wanted to do. You, you are still a child to me. But you’re growing older and eventually you’ll have to decide what you want to do. So… I’m handing you this sword. This is in no part a guarantee you will be a knight or if you even want to be anymore. This is merely an… option. An avenue for you to travel if you so wish to. I will not decide for you. They will not decide for you. No one but you can decide what you do for you.”

The sword lay gently in his outstretched hands still kept within its scabbard. He moved his mouth like a fish but produced nothing but babble. I flapped my wings and knocked him on the forehead gently.

“Ow! What was that for!?” Taran rubbed the small bruise that had formed.

“Wake you up from daydreaming once again. Gotta work on that if you want to succeed later on in life.”

“Right… I… I don’t think I’m ready for this.” Taran admitted.

“No one is. So guess what? You decide what happens next so long as you keep this sword. Even if you do nothing with it but mantle it above a fireplace it is still going to be your choice.”

“Okay… thanks Gray.” Taran smiled.

The sword began to glow and floated out of his grasp. I grabbed Vinyl who I had realized was playing with her new keyblade finally.

“Your turn!” I shouted as she yelled into my grasp and the keyhole appeared above our heads.

We all saw into the infinite vastness that was the heart of Prydain. Weak but still kicking Vinyl pointes the tip of her blade up into the void and a beam of light fired out. The keyhole sealed and a locking sound echoed out into the emptiness of the lake as we all stood triumphant over saving a world from extreme forms of darkness.

“What was that!?” Eilonwy shouted only for me to cover her mouth with Taran’s hand.

“Don’t worry about it. Just know the world is saved that’s all.” I chuckled as the four heroes of this world and the rest of us finally had one of those sappy laugh scenes that happen at the end of movies.

Our goodbyes were quiet and subdued with the four all traveling hand in hand for greater adventure. The seven of us flew over to our original base camp where a save portal awaited us. We returned to the Gummi Ship and warped off back to meet with Yen Sid before returning to Equestria.

“What are you playing at Merlin…?” Orddu quietly muttered to herself as she looked over the scroll and the locket.

Certainly magic coursed through the interior of the locket but she couldn’t open it. She could feel the magic coursing within. Orgoch has placed the Black Cauldron further away from them keeping anything away from the lidless soul container. Arawn, the Horned King’s true master, had had his soul bound to the molten metal when it had first been forged. No one knew but the three and they certainly hoped everyone who did was gone now.

“Open the scroll then.” Orgoch smirked as she looked it over. “We know the locket has magic but the scroll has a seal. It was the one he was supposed to deliver to us.”

“Very well I’ll do it.” Orwen sighed as she opened the scroll.

Several runic formations and sparks of magic emanated off the scroll before surrounding the Cauldron. A large black lid slammed on the top and the edges melted into one another. They could hear the spirit within screaming bloody murder before going inactive once more.

The locket opened revealing Merlin zooming out of it.

“Merlin… is this your idea of a joke?” Orddu growled out as she rounded on the old wizard.

“A joke? Certainly not. It took years just to get that seal right without destroying the necessary spells to make the lid become part of the whole. You did once ask me to do this, didn’t you?” Merlin growled back certainly not one to be cowed into backing down.

“Could of given us warning cutie!” Orwen launched herself into Merlin making him stumble as he struggled to keep his balance. He wasn’t as ready as he usually was, and neither was he prepared when she deigned to cover him in kiss marks.

“Enough Orwen. That old fool’s too gone to be romantic.” Orgoch cackled as Orwen did at least get off him.

“Regardless… I see you made new students.” Orddu quickly brought the conversation back on track.

“Good ones it seems if he got you to agree to a deal.” Merlin smiled as he fixed his glasses with his wand.

“More like took advantage of our frustration! That was a shark in sheep’s clothing if I ever saw one!” Orgoch cried out.

“You mean a wolf- “ Merlin was cut off.

“I know what I said!” Orgoch screeched back.

“Right. Anyways, the threat of the Cauldron at the very least is taken care of. Even if only for now.” Merlin sighed trying his best not to show she had busted an eardrum.

“Merlin… next time do this yourself or there will be consequences.” Orddu warned which Merlin just snorted.

“As you wish Madam!” Merlin stomped his foot before placing a finger against his nose and shooting out into the stratosphere.

“Our talks are nice, aren’t they ladies?” Orddu asked her compatriots who merely smiled and nodded as they repaired their swamp lair once again for the next hapless schmuck who came to them.

We made it back quickly with the warp function allowing our instantaneous travel amongst the stars. When we landed it was five in the morning. Four hours had passed from the moment we left to the moment we returned. It had been a few days in Prydain but the warp function once again proved that Merlin was overpowered in some sense.

We trekked back to the house just as the sound of roosters crowed in the morning sky. We decided that today was a sleeping day and while I thought that we would be in our own beds I was wrong.

As soon as I laid back every mare made their place holding onto me in a veritable pony pile palooza. I thought it would go further but instead they all fell asleep. They also made sure I couldn’t escape either.

“Damn… my limbs will be feeling like jelly again…” I muttered to the sleepy chuckles of everypony as fatigue washed over all of us.

75. Endeavor

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Once again the sun shined upon the very Equestrian landscapes. Birds were singing, foals were playing and the government was moving along like it usually did. That actually meant that nothing was going on and everypony was a panicking mess due to everything that was going on.

“Princess Celestia we’re investigating more into the Shadow Knight but there have been next to no sightings of him.” One noble shouted over the rabble.

“Princess Celestia, is it true that this rogue knight is blaspheming your name by handling problems out of your control! And what of these monsters? What are they? Inquiring Equestrians are itching to know!” One newspony cried out before being dragged out by one of the guards.

“Princess Celestia, my business has taken a dive after the attack on Manehattan. Please do something to ensure that the common pony can live through this… horrible drabble.” Another noble feigned concern as they were to do.

“Auntie Celestia please you must make sure my townhouse is protected from anymore incursions!” Blueblood shouted over the other ponies clearly trying to make himself heard.

“Enough! Please. I shall take care of everything but for now Solar Court is now over. Leave in an orderly manner.” Celestia commanded almost breaking out the Royal Canterlot Voice.

The herd of ponies all left the throne room after light prodding of the guards around the area. It had taken five minutes before Celestia could finally release a sigh of relief at least in some form.

“Lieutenant Mourning Mist please get Princess Cadenza so we may begin.” Celestia ordered to one of the few ponies still in the room.

“At your leave.” Mist saluted before trotting off to get her charge.

Mourning Mist was not a morning pony, something her fellow guards would rib on her because her first name was Mourning. It was funny the first time but then it got old real real fast. A unicorn with a white coat and black mane she fit in with the guards all too well looking almost exactly the same. The only thing going for her were her amber eyes and gravestone cutie mark. Even then she had hated the attention since it went against her special talent. Nopony could find her when she didn’t want to be found. She had yet to meet her match in a game of hide’n’seek.

As she was part of the unicorn corps under Shining Armor’s command it was her duty to protect Princess Cadenza from any harm that would befall her. They had done a piss poor job during the Manehattan incident. It didn’t piss her off that she had to run laps for days after that. She wasn’t frustrated that their entire regiment was forced into new training programs due to the pony that saved them and did everything by themselves.

“Mist your crushing your helmet again.” Sharpened Wit mentioned as he trotted pass.

“Huh? Oh, right.” Mist absentmindedly replaces her helmet back on her head after smoothing out some of the crumpling she managed. Gold plated armor was a bit too weak in her magical grip.

Trying her best to be professional, she returned back to her task at hand at getting the Princess to meet with the other princesses. It was a practiced route that came from the months of drills she had been put through. She was certain the only reason she was chosen to get Princess Cadenza was due to being one of the few mares on the squad.

There were a few jokes that the guards were all stallions because Celestia liked staring at younger stallion flanks but not even Mist knew if that was true. She had tried to find out… but Celestia had been so subtle that she still didn’t know what half the gestures she made actually meant yet.

“Princess Cadenza! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna require you for counsel!” Most knocked on the door breaking her thoughts before a slightly ragged princess trotted out of the room.

“Um… yes. Right away.” Cadence coughed as she used her magic and brush to get the knots out of her mane.

“Princess… have you seen Captain Shining Armor?” Mist asked almost poignantly.

“He’s busy… on a secret mission of unparalleled importance.” Cadence quickly answered as she teleported her brush back to her room and looked… presentable. She also lit her horn up and the strange smell had also disappeared. “Don’t worry about him, worry about you if he sees what you did to your helmet… again.”

“Yeah…” Mist cringed as she got the message of ‘stop asking questions’ laced in her warning.

With a quickened gallop the two appeared before the doors. Mist saluted and waited outside the door which Cadence took meaning that only she was supposed to enter.

“Sister, Calm thyself!” Luna shouted as she tried to stop Celestia from gorging herself on triple banana deluxe cake. The very comfort food of alicorns everywhere… unless you were Luna, or Cadence.

“I am calm! I’m the very picture of calm!” Celestia claimed as she stuffed another slice down her gullet. She was covered in frosting and fallen banana slices as she paced around with general fear stricken on her face.

Cadence entered the room and quietly tiphoofed over to Luna’s side. Celestia was too worked up to notice but Luna gave her new niece a quick hug.

“Did you get Blueblood back yet?” Luna asked as she held up another cake to keep Celestia from freaking out about another thing.

“He’s playing up his playstallion image right now to keep the media focused on something stupid. He should join us in ten minutes or so.” Cadence admitted. She had sent a small note to him before she had gotten distracted with Shining’s visit.

“Hopefully he remembers to keep it only an image.” Luna balked at the notion that one needed to have an image instead of being who they were outright.

“Auntie Luna, please… he’s not that dumb. I’m pretty sure.” Cadence slowly trailed off Clearly not wanting to put any words on stone at that point.

“Okay… I’m fine. I’m fine. See. I’m fine.” Celestia mumbled as she used her magic to peel off the excess that she had gotten on her coat. Then she flopped down on her flank and stared off at the door as if waiting.

“Auntie Celestia?” Cadence stepped up hoof ready to touch her when Luna stopped her.

“Let her be. She’s in safe mode right now. Her happy place to be sure.” Luna mentioned as she sat down as well.

“Why aren’t you freaking out?” Cadence brought up before sitting as well.

“I have had many nights and dreams to freak out. I stretched out a dream long enough for me to freak out the freaking out out of me.” Luna explained as she gave a little flourish of her hoof. Her mane was slowly regaining its ethereal feel.

“I have returned.” Blueblood announced as he stepped into the room.

“Good. We can begin.” Celestia places her mask back on becoming the very picturesque image of a princess of Equestria. Luna stifled a giggle as she cleaned off several more slices of banana that had got into her mane. Celestia ignored it as she summoned up a ghostly image of the knight in her magic.

“Yup… that’s him.” Cadence pointed out as obviously as she could.

“This is the knight. Age is unknown. Gender is stallion. Race is unknown. Cutie Mark is unknown. We can only tell his gender… is this really all we have on this figure? Isn’t there more?” Celestia balked at the lack of information.

“Honestly I’ve been trying to find his dream in particular but it has been difficult. The knight either doesn’t sleep or is a lucid enough dreamer to hide his thoughts well. I’ve met many a foal who’ve expressed interest in becoming a hero of justice like he was.” Luna droned on a she rested her head on her hoof almost looking bored. “There have been some developments in that department though due to one filly in Manehattan though.”

“Do tell. This sounds important.” Blueblood chimes in as if it was a gossip circle though his eyes sharpened… clearly ready to take in any new information.

“One, Babs Seed, saw a thestral upon a building. She has forgotten what the cutie mark was but she clearly saw them dawning the armor of the knight in question.” Luna smiled and pride beamed from every part of her. “Truly best ponies have made great strides once again.”

“Quite… but we now have a lead. We have a foothold into the identity of this mystery stallion and we can find him and make him tell us about the threat we face.” Celestia quickly hopped on that train of thought with a quick clop of her hoof against the table they were currently sitting at.

“What if he is part of the Badlands thestrals we still can’t find?” Blueblood spoke up quickly dashing Celestia’s supposed cunning plan.

“He also seems highly resistant to dream walking and scrying. I’ve also not met him personally outside the armor so I wouldn’t know what he looks or sounds like.” Luna added quickly afterwards.

“He also made me make a deal with him. I still don’t know what that entails just yet but it seemed serious.” Cadence sunk the dagger even deeper into Celestia’s plan.

“So… we are at the mercy of another for the protection of ponies everywhere because these monsters have proven more formidable than our own guard!?” Celestia cried out which made Luna glad she had cast a sound protection spell over the courtroom.

“It doesn’t seem like mercy. They are willingly giving their help if the blood that spilled from their body meant anything.” Cadence quickly pointed out. It silenced the small gathering… and while they had collected blood samples something went wrong.

“Blueblood… did you find anything out about the blood?” Luna grasped at straws.

“Yes… the royal alchemist tested it… but it came back inconclusive. Tainted by the shadows that had been attacking that day. Whatever these heartless are they are a corruptive influence on ponies if the sample we got was anything to go by. The ponies also affected by his healing spell were fine as well… though they noted that they were still tired from all the running. So it doesn’t restore stamina.” Blueblood listed out as he looked over whatever notes he received from the alchemist. “And that is all we know.”

“That is almost nothing!” Celestia wailed as her head hit the table.

“We have one lead!” Cadence shouted out to make Celestia stop wailing in frustration.

“Niece… do you know what you are asking us to do?” Luna questioned giving the young alicorn a stern look.

“Yes cousin. You are involved with that stallion already. I don’t think offering you for information is a good idea.” Blueblood announced his disgust with the aforementioned plan. “We don’t even know if he wants you for said purposes.”

“Yes thank you cousin for putting those images in my head.” Cadence grunted in disgust. “Besides if it saves Equestria then so be it.”

“Cadence no one will fault you for saying no. In fact I’m vehemently trying to make certain you go on with your life. One of us shall offer ourselves to get more information.” Celestia mentioned trying to get the young alicorn to change her mind.

“We are assuming the worst…” Luna groused slightly. “What if we are overreacting?”

“I know we are! Luna I know! But we need to protect our little ponies and we can’t do that if we know nothing of these enemies. This is a desperate measure beyond all desperate measures. I was even going to offer myself for that if Cadence didn’t stop me!” Celestia belted out before resting her head on the table.

Blueblood patted his aunt on the back. He didn’t know what else to say and there were no words to make this better. The sound of sobbing broke the silence.

“Celestia…” Luna softly whispered.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I have nothing to go on. All these creatures are an unknown. We’re not even certain of what they are after except for what Cadence spoke about. How do you quantify a heart… even a heart of the world? Is it not just an organ that pumps blood? Is it not the symbol of love for one another? There is too much we do not know.” Celestia quickly dabbed her cheeks with a conjured up handkerchief. “Sorry… I lost myself.”

“Don’t worry Aunt Celestia… I know what I’m doing.” Cadence quietly countered though whether it was to comfort Celestia or erase the doubts she was feeling.

The whole aspect of going through with this was… honestly an overreaction. She knew this. She knew it was wrong to assume since the stallion did nothing but save her life.

She also knew the paranoia and wrongness was only her fault. She had only told both Princesses the bare minimum like she was told. She never mentioned anything about Star Swirl or the secret reports that he wrote. She had even been told that she would eventually help save Equestria. Honestly, it would be better to just tell the truth… but she needed to earn trust.

He had said trust is earned, never given. That sparked a small curiosity in her. The circumstances that led to a pony thinking that way must have been astronomically horrible. Even in this day and age love and friendship seemed to get the world through a rough spot regardless of what was happening.

For somepony to be so utterly opposed to immediately give trust to a fellow pony… it was a strange yet not unwelcome train of thought. Cadence had already seen how naive the common pony could be… something Blueblood took advantage of to keep the really unsavory elements out of the limelight.

There was a reason that he was their foreign diplomacy expert. It was something she would never forget because she had nearly bucked up once with a meeting with the deer officials and he managed to change her life threatening faux pas into the story of the evening channeling all his charisma to weave a tale that won their hearts. He was still a flankhole from time to time but he did care for Equestria at the very least.

“If only we could contact this knight… maybe we could broker an alternate deal.” Blueblood mused aloud breaking Cadance from her own thoughts.

The meeting continued on in meandering circles until they had worn a groove in the floor metaphorically. Nopony got up from the table. It was still afternoon and the servants had brought in their late lunch. Luna was slightly haggard and exhausted but Night Court had been cancelled that night in particular so she could rest.

Cadence was certain that it was more due to the fact that Celestia wanted Luna around more often to make sure she wasn’t dreaming that she was there with her. She didn’t ask though. Celestia was more tight lipped about her joy only getting caught prancing like a little fully every once in a while.

“Honesty, we should adjourn the meeting. We’ve made no progress and we have no actual way of confirming or denying anything. Until then we shall have to wait upon Cadence’s success.” Blueblood summarized and stood from the table.

“Yes… I suppose so. Cadence should you make any progress please inform us. I wish this knight to speak in the flesh with Luna and I.” Celestia informed her niece.

“Of course. I’ll work hard.” Cadence agreed as the ponies dispersed from the table back to their natural schedules.

Blueblood quickly shook his shoulder and face until the mask he wore returned. Cadence kept her smile as natural as possible thinking about anything other than her task. Celestia and Luna also replaced their masks to hide the turmoil their imaginations wrought upon them.

‘Princess Mi Amore Cadenza… pleasure to mindchat with you again.’ I called out to the newly bewildered princess who stopped her trot but hid her surprise.

‘Now!? But the Grand Galloping Gala isn’t for a few more months!?’ Cadence slightly panicked in her mind while I just chuckled.

‘Oh this isn’t about you becoming a keyblade wielder just yet. I suppose… this is a test to see if you are truly ready for seeing what I’ve seen. Do you accept?’ I asked as my mind decided where we could meet.

‘Do I have a choice?’ She mentally muttered or the equivalent of said action.

‘Yes. I won’t force you. It is in your best interest to learn though I admit I’ll be kidnapping you technically for an unknown set of time. So whether you wish to inform your aunts is up to you. You’ve earned a measure of trust for not mentioning Star Swirl yet.’ I congratulated her on keeping the secret. It must have been tough.

‘Well… all you have is one paper signed by him so I couldn’t in good faith push that forward when our own search proved fruitless.’ Cadence mentioned though she needed to amend something. ‘Mind you I never said anything about him. They just looked to his works in case he met these creatures before.’

‘Understandable. If he did… he hid their presence well. Either by himself… or another. It’s hard to say.’ I admitted though not even I knew the breadth of his involvement other than that he knew of them alongside these Pillars of Equestria.

‘So what do I have to do?’ Cadence chimed in clearly wondering what she needed to do.

‘Go to Downtown Canterlot outside of a jewel store called Shiny Baubles. I’ll pick you up for your first test into the grander world.’ I announced before cutting off the line.

Earlier…

I woke up very much stuck in a pony pile. This was a common occurrence whenever we were all together. The fact my bed was made for Minotaurs just incensed them to do it more often.

“Can’t feel my legs…” I mumbled though luckily everypony was still sound asleep. At ten in the morning it was surprising though we had been put through a ringer. Fighting off the undead and meeting with what could constitute as a lich. It was a hell of a way to spend our time together.

From the looks at the calendar Fresh Coat had placed within the room everypony would be stuck in work detail for the rest of the week. Spitfire was an obvious reason since she was the leading Captain of the Wonderbolts. Octavia had practices set up for the GGG. Vinyl did as well but for a club out in Las Pegasus. It wasn’t till Friday but I was planning to join her to set up a wider net for places that I could jump to.

Redheart and Sunshower had shifts at their respective jobs. Fresh Coat seemed to get a gig painting Twilight Sparkle’s treehouse which was a bit weird. I didn’t ask about it though. There wasn’t any point to worrying about the implications and whatever happened would come at a later time.

That left me… alone for a short while. I would have to make my own time. As much as I wanted to go out of my way to find keyholes I had been effectively grounded on that front due to Spitfire. She had been very clear on the fact that I needed at least one wingpony with me at all times. The puncture wounds that the Dark Hide has caused were still fresh on her mind.

I didn’t argue that point. I just nodded. Even with my dislike of being ordered this was reasonable enough to follow. She didn’t command so much as demand which was enough of a difference to me.

That left me with either going out into town and talking to other ponies… or doing something else entirely which was more preferable every second. Pinkie was still out there and like a shark smells blood; she was ready to frenzy.

My constant escapes had probably driven her a little batty. The irony wasn’t lost on me since my wings were bat like.

It took another hour before everypony woke up and finally let me stretch. I fell on the floor flat on my face as my legs tried to readjust to circulation. A few giggles with the express intent of helping me up and we all trotted downstairs.

“So… whatcha gonna do today Nebby?” Vinyl spoke up as we sat around the table. Fresh Coat was busy making our late brunch.

“I don’t know. Lotta options but I have nothing concrete.”

In truth, I had nothing I wanted to do. It wasn’t apathy that made me say it, but it was uncertainty that led it. Too many options but not enough to actually commit to.

“Perhaps it’s time you go out to meet more ponies?” Octavia offered.

“If the eldritch being known as Pinkie is out there, there are better ways to walk to my doom.” I cringed at the thought.

“Oh right. She still hasn’t thrown you a Welcome to Ponyville party.” Redheart places a hoof against her mouth. “She must be going nuts because of that.”

“Heh heh heh… you see Gummi. My plan is foalproof. I lead him here and the. Using this industrial light bulb take away his shadow. Then using this cellophane wrap I keep him nice and fresh until his party is thrown. Genius!” Pinkie laughed unhingely as her mane turned straight and her eyes slowly rotated in different directions.

Gummi licked his eyeballs slowly which got Pinkie’s attention.

“I’m not crazy! You’re crazy!” Pinkie shouted point a hoof accusingly at Gummi.

“I think you’ve hit your peak.” A ghostly image of a cupcake appeared before her.

“Shut up ghost of cupcakes I have eaten!” Pinkie shouted.

Mr. Cake took a deep breathe and shot Pinkie with a tranquilizer dart. The message on the dart bow read, in case Pinkie starts talking to imaginary cupcakes, before Mrs. Cake and him placed her back in bed to rest.

I looked around half expecting Pinkie to try kidnapping me before I even realized what happened. She didn’t but it didn’t dull the edge I felt I was walking on.

“Yeah… let's keep that as a plan… Z.” I muttered out.

“Hm… well we’ll figure something out before we have to head out. We should get you a day job…” Spitfire mentioned before remembering how nocturnal I was. “Maybe a night job would be better.”

“We could see if we have any openings in the hospital… though it wouldn’t be anything glamorous.” Redheart cringed.

“Nah… I’m pretty sure Dr. Stable hates me. Also I had to beat him up because he was possessed by a remnant of Nightmare Moon.” I laid my head against the table as Fresh Coat places several grilled fruit plates on the table. Grilled fruit was weird but they were still pretty juicy for some reason.

“Oh right… he’s still being checked for dark magic.” Redheart frowned as she remembered what had happened.

The nonchalant nature in which we spoke of things made me realize how much I had changed these six. It was for the better though there was always that small twinge of regret whenever I noticed that they treated their regular life as wholly mundane.

I liked some mundanity… if only because my old life was one roller coaster ride downhill with no stops. New life still had some downs but there was more ups lately that it evened out.

“I would suggest coming with me but you mentioned Twilight wanted to study you. I’m all for a mare showing some interest but she seems like the kind to try something invasive.” Fresh Coat voiced her discomfort.

“We still don’t have a night group for the Wonderbolts but then again most thestrals prefer Luna’s Guard.” Spitfire shook her head.

“Tavi and I are practicing so all you’d be doing is being there smiling and nodding.” Vinyl spoke around munching on her food which Octavia covered her mouth with a napkin.

“Please swallow before you speak. You’ll choke… again.” Octavia reminded her which made Vinyl swallow before rolling her eyes.

“I’ll figure something out don’t worry too much about it.”

After food had finished everypony got ready. I had to take Spitfire outside past a part of the Everfree Forest if only because she didn’t want to be swarmed by fans. Vinyl, Octavia, Redheart and Sunshower left together through the front door. Since my home was so far off the beaten path it at least looked casual for them to sneak away home. Fresh Coat took the longest as her things had been shipped to me. They arrived around noon and I was the one who set them up in her room.

“Thanks Gray. I have to head out to handle my gig. I’ll be back tonight.” Fresh called out as the door closed.

Thus I was on my own. It didn’t take long before I had set up her things. When she had decided to move in was not ringing any bells but it was nice to have someone else living in this big house.

After finishing her room I slowly traipsed room to room cleaning up anything that needed it. It didn’t take very long and at two I ate some apples. I settled into a very… mundane style of living. The solitude was stifling though. As much as I would have wanted to speak to others… I didn’t have anything really to say.

I trotted downstairs with the intent of getting the small music player Merlin gave me to listen to some more books on tape. I was in the middle of one before I had fallen asleep when something caught my eye.

There on the pedestal was the small book that Merlin had gifted me with the star embedded within the cover and each page I found. Two pages which seemed to hold some magic behind them had been added. I looked at how they were added and several pages had come from only one page.

This was what I was going to do. I had it figured out now. There was still the problem of figuring out who could go with me though. Everypony I knew who knew about me was busy… except that one.

Cadence had made a deal and while I hadn’t answered her previous attempt at a conversation perhaps now was the time to make that attempt. It was nowhere near the Gala as I remembered but that could be amended by making this a test to prove her trust. A small stretch since a part of me selfishly wanted to go exploring more locales but until Vinyl came back from practice Las Pegasus wasn’t an option.

All I needed to do… was contact her under the premise of making it a test. A half truth honestly, but at the same time it would be a good chance to see how she would react to something like a different world.

It was something that was going to happen eventually. With this being a test for the future development and the fact I wasn’t leaving the house made it technically fine.

...I was going to get yelled at later. I just knew it.

After our conversation I placed my armor on and went up to Canterlot. It was already turning to dusk and I was ready to take her for her first mission. Before anything else happened I messaged everypony.

‘Everypony read me?’ I called out in my mind.

‘Yup/Yes/Uh-huh/Reading ya/Huh?/Yes.’ Several replies came at once but thanks to our long time of doing things like such made it not give me a headache.

‘I decided what I’m going to do for a bit. I have that book in the basement and I’m going to use it.’ I explained.

‘Gray…’ Octavia was the first to speak up.

‘I’m going to use it to test the princess.’ I quickly cut off any ire for going out of my way to find danger. ‘I know that eventually we’re going to need more ponies to help us in this fight. In fact I need to make sure we have at the very least one of every race being a keyblade wielder. It’s the only way I can be sure that we’ll have this world completely safe. I can’t be everywhere and neither can all of you. Eventually whomever is out there messing with the barrier that surrounds this world is going to break it. I will get this world prepared before that will ever happen.’

‘Is it safe?’ Octavia questioned as did everypony else.

‘As safe as it could possibly be. Nothing is truly safe though.’ I admitted since I had never used the book yet. ‘This will only be a preliminary adventure since I only have two pages of the book.’

‘Okay… when we get home, should we be in armor in case she comes out?’ Fresh Coat asked immediately.

‘Yes. As much fun as it would be to bask in glory… we are technically working in secret. Eventually we will be out in the open but until then we keep a low profile.’ I stated in simple to understand terms. They knew attention would only make things go bad for everypony there. With the eyes of everypony on us we wouldn’t have a chance to really do anything. Maybe later on we would reveal ourselves but until then secrets need to be kept.

‘Be careful Nebby… who knows what the princesses will do to meet with you.’ Vinyl chimed in before she cut off the link.

There were several ascents voicing the same opinion but the trust they placed in me made my actions seem vindicated. I saw Princess Cadance trotting along with a small detachment of guards.

“This seems unnecessary.” Cadance mentioned as she was escorted by several guards. All under Shiny’s orders. It had proven to be a real pain in the flank.

“I’m sorry Princess Cadenza but Captain Armor made it clear that we are to capture this knight after he made it very clear that he was going to, in your own words, kidnap you.” Mourning Mist chided her making the problem very obvious that she messed up the wording. “Still… I wonder why this place.”

“You think he frequents this place Mist?” Private Feldspar brought up. He was the highest ranked private and was instrumental in keeping the Manehattan incident from becoming an even worse problem.

“Nah… I think it’s just the easiest to get lost on. I mean look at this street. Almost everypony uses this street to get from the entrance to the castle. This is probably just a ruse to put us on guard while he does his magic. Keep an eye on all shadows.” Mist ordered as she kept her horn lit.

Cadance was about to say something when said knight swooped in from the alley right in front of the group without nary a care in the world. He was holding a book that seemed to glow… but nopony seemed to notice.

‘I see you brought a contingent with you. They can’t see me by the by. This book has the power to make illusions reality. Honestly I never thought I’d ever get to use it but her we are.’ I chuckled slightly as I stepped around the guards and stood before her.

‘So… it would have been this easy for you to get me if I stayed in the castle?’ Cadance thought as she looked at her guards continuing their patrol with a slightly translucent Cadance following with them responding to their queries while nothing else seemed remissed.

‘No. I can’t get into the castle through the shadows unless I’ve been there already. Also the fact that you cake outside means you were either looking forward to this or you were planning to capture me. No matter what I probably would have escaped either way.’ I explained as I spread my wings in my armor stretchin out slightly.

‘Yes… so what now? I mean I get you’re taking me away but what are you going to do with me? I know you said that you would make me your protege but what does that entail? Do I have to sleep with you just to get power?’ Cadance stumbled over her emotions letting forth a lot of frustration.

‘What!? Who ever said that was what I was going to do must be either really horny or sick in the head. Or both. You are going to help me save a world and I’m going to gauge your reactions on how you fare in a different world. Your test is to remain rationally calm no matter what happens and show me you have the ability to be a warrior. Sleep with you indeed.’ I muttered in indignation at my portrayal in whichever princess’ mind conjured up that particular image.

‘Sorry… Auntie Celestia was just panicking since she had no information about the heartless, the hearts of world or anything else. I haven’t said anything about Star Swirl either because her own research with Star Swirl never said anything about heartless yet that page you showed me had his signature in his horn writing word for word.’ Cadance profusely apologized trying to justify the labels. I laughed it off.

‘It’s fine but now is the time for your test all I ask is… do you trust me?’ I placed my hoof out for her. She looked at it warily.

‘I… I… Yes, I trust you.’ She grasped my hoof and instantly I pulled her into the shadows.

“That coward did nothing, eh Princess?” Mourning Mist boasted only to receive no answer from Cadance.

She looked at her noticing something was off even though it looked like Cadance was smiling. Then she vanished in a shimmer of light and all that was left was a piece of paper.

Got her.

Mourning Mist felt faint and Feldspar shaking her shoulders wasn’t helping. She had just failed… and the knight had captured a Princess. Hyperventilating was the only course of action.

We landed in my basement where I pointed to a book with a star on it. She was too busy gaping at the treasures I had brought from Atlantis to actually note the book.

“Cadance. Pay attention.” I belted our breaking her from the trance she was in.

“Where the buck did you get all that!? You’d tank the economy faster than a strawberry daiquiri gets Twilight sloshed!” Cadance announced loudly. You were glad you sprung for the noise dampening walls.

“My adventures so far… now pay attention. This book is magic. You get magic, right?” I mentioned almost disparagingly. If she noticed she was too surprised to voice umbrage with it. “Now we are entering this book and before you ask it’s magic. So long as you follow orders and keep things about other worlds to yourself, you’ll get information about the heartless, the World Order, and what hearts are. Break the very simple rules of follow orders and you get less and less info. Got it?”

“Uh… what are the rules? Sir. I meant to add sir.” Cadance fumbled with her etiquette.

“Follow orders. Don’t mention other worlds. The second rule just requires you to be vague. First rule, for now follow my orders to the letters. When you’ve earned your keyblade then you can afford to be a little reckless.” I admitted though this was the bare minimum.

“I don’t get one now!?” Cadance squeaked out though just as quickly quieted herself.

“This is a test. Your first test. When you got the handle for something like this I’ll give you test two at a later date. Then test three and if you pass that one you get a keyblade.” I explained and opened the cover of the book.

The book continued to glow heavier and heavier drowning the room in a bright light. Cadance covered her eyes while the lenses over my eyes on my helmet blocked out the glare. We were pulled into the book and All Cadance could do was scream as the vortex pulled us further into the story.

76. Paper Mushroom Kingdom: Hub

View Online

Screaming… that was what I heard for the last couple of minutes as Cadance got it out of her system. She had a very good set of lungs though so that was something, I guessed at the time. When we landed she was still panicking and I looked over the two of us.

Apparently we were wafer thin. A piece of paper was what we most resembled. It helped that I was layered due to my armor giving me some more bulk. I even was fully made back and front which was surprising. Judging by how Cadance’s eyes were black dots now made me think about my own eyes being the same as well.

Eventually I got tired of the screaming and pushed her down on the ground holding her by her barrel until she calmed down. She squirmed a lot but soon the screaming stopped until it was followed by a long awkward pause.

“Can I get up now?” Cadance shakily asked clearly not fully composed.

“Are you going to calm down?” I countered as I stared into her now soulless black dots of eyes.

“Gimme a few minutes… “ Cadance clarified as she started sobbing and wailing about losing her curves and never seeing Armor again. So on and so forth were her lamentations that I tuned her out.

We were in a small forest somewhere. I would have to fly above the trees to see where we were but my wings felt a bit off. It was probably because they were paper as well but I couldn’t say for sure.

“I’m calm… I’m calm. I’m cool like a cucumber.” Cadance was taking deep breaths clearly trying to wrap her mind around what was happening.

“Are you?” I quietly growled making certain to keep my tone from coming across too harshly. It wasn’t easy though.

“Y-Yes… I’m good.” Cadance finished nodding, whether to me or herself I wasn’t sure.

I stepped off her barrel and let her stand. She was still shaky but the screaming had stopped at the very least. We were surrounded on all sides by forest but there was an obvious path at the very least.

“So where are we…?” Cadance spoke up only to trail off as something appeared behind us.

It was a small chestnut looking creature with feet. A Goomba in fact. It also looked to be wearing a small cap but something was wrong. It had yellow soulless eyes and shadows leaked out from its mouth. It immediately charged us head first as it hit my blade something changed.

The entire world shifted so that the two of us were on a stage. A group of random creatures all appeared out in the audience filled with Goombas, Koopas, Bom-ombs, Boos, and many more I had only seen during my childhood. Cadance stood behind me in formation gawking at what was happening.

The goomba or what I assumed to be a representation of one mimicked by the heartless stood across from us. We were players on a stage and it took a moment until I realized that I couldn’t move from my spot. Even flapping my wings made me hover in spot instead of fly off. Cadance noticed and tried to rush off, only to do the same thing as I did.

I stepped back on the floor, a now wooden floor, and took stock of everything. It was obvious to me at least that we were subject to the rules of this world. Battles were turn-based affairs and superseded all rational thought.

“What the buck!? What. The. Actual. Buck!? Why can’t I move!?” Cadance started to freak out since she couldn’t move.

“This seems to be the rule of this world. Battles play out turn based and on a magical stage. I’m sure you can see that right? Let’s play along since it seems pretty easy all things considering.”

“I don’t even know what’s going on!?” Cadance screeched back.

“Adapt. That’s your lesson for our training. This is probably the most different thing in a world that has occurred to me yet. So for your first lesson we learn to adapt to the rules of a new world to not stand out. Very few beings know about the worlds beyond the stars and I’d rather keep it that way. Too many evil creatures out there have already tried to consume worlds for their own gain, and we don’t need more.”

Cadance clammed up but was fidgeting in spot. She took deep breaths as I turned to my opponent. It was just a goomba… albeit a shadow goomba. A heartless imitating a goomba maybe but that still made it more dangerous than a regular goomba.

A strange wheel appeared above my head showing me options. Attack, Special, Tactics, and a square that said Do Nothing appeared to float in my mind.

“Why are there thought bubbles above your head!?” Cadance pointed out keeping her composure to the bare minimum. Her voice still peaked squeaking as she did so.

“Options.” I answered calmly as I chose attack.

I whipped out my keyblade and charged forward. One slash and a button prompt appeared letting me combo into a small flurry of moves. The Shadow Goomba burst into a plume of darkness. At that point we were compelled to pose to the audience as the stage went dark once again.

We were back in the small clearing capable of moving once again. Cadance, for the most part, was breathing heavily and keeping her calm to the best of her abilities. I looked over the area once more and took stock of what had happened.

A heartless had appeared in this book, at least to my knowledge, and attacked us instantly. That meant heartless were either a thing here or something else was happening. No heart token flew up from the plume of darkness and I doubted the pureblood heartless would go through the trouble of copying one of the weakest creatures in the Mario universe.

“C’mon. We should investigate this place.”

“Where are we going?” Cadance groaned out clearly not sure what was going on.

“Closest sign of civilization as we can find. We just follow the path.”

For the next few minutes we trotted along a yellow path that seemed to cut through the forest. Cadance had been quiet while we moved on the path. I wasn’t singing a few songs which caught her attention.

“What kind of song is that?” Cadance asked finally breaking out of her trance. She had been too quiet which made me worry she was having a nervous breakdown.

“Which one? I sang three. First one was called Stressed Out. Second was Wayward Son, and last was Big Iron.”

“Yes.” Cadance snarked back clearly snapping a bit at how nonplussed I was at the situation.

“One is about looking back on the good times of being a child before responsibilities came with a reality check. Second was about a father telling their son how things are tough but coming home would allow them a measure of rest from the weights of society. The last was just a fun song about a ranger hunting down an outlaw. It wasn’t the deepest but it makes me smile.”

“I liked the first one.” Cadance admitted looking down.

“Most ponies would. I don’t really think most ponies understand what it means to be an adult but I’ve met Pinkie Pie who exudes an exuberant amount of childlike wonder.” I answered only to cringe at the fact I admitted to knowing who Pinkie Pie was.

“I’ve never met that pony… is she that child like?” Cadance asked as I saw the small twinkle in her eye. The small hook she stuck into that info immediately tried to drag it out.

“From what I saw when I was fighting off heartless around that area, yeah she is.” I brushed off quickly. I had never seen her around any heartless attack but thankfully my face was covered by my helmet. Even if I cringed I could at least keep my tone straight.

“I see. That sounds nice to have that sort of innocence.” Cadance admitted curtly looking disappointed. It allowed me some measure of relief that I didn’t give away something that obvious.

“Regardless I suppose we should talk about what you really wanted to talk about, shouldn’t we?” I sighed as I prepared my lecturing mode.

“Yes. You need to tell me about these creatures. Anything and everything.” Cadance perked up trotting right up to me trying to look intimidating. She wasn’t but I wasn’t going to say anything.

“Yes. So how much do you think you know after everything that happened in Manehattan?”

“Heartless hunt hearts, Worlds all have hearts that the heartless want, and if that heart is devoured by darkness then the world will cease to be.” Cadance summarized quickly keeping things simple and concise.

“That is the bare bones of what happens… but since we have the time I’ll go into history lesson mode since this is important.” I nodded before stopping under the shade of one of the trees around the path.

“I’m ready… how do I take notes though?” Cadance questioned as she sat down nearby ready to listen.

“I’ll give you some notes later.” I waved off her concerns before thinking back to my starting point.

Truthfully, there was a lot to go over and very little ways to say it in a concise enough story… history was a myriad of messes all in one place. Still it needed to be said since fools who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat them.

“Long ago, there was Light. It formed the world and was known to all as Kingdom Hearts. Everything was good… until others started fighting over until the one known as the 𝝌blade. That’s pronounced key but it’s spelled C, H, I, before you think otherwise. The conflict was horrible and the 𝝌blade was split into thirteen hearts of darkness and seven hearts of light.”

“It was made of light and darkness? How!?” Cadance interjected.

“That particular keyblade is known for being a perfect mesh of a pure light heart and a pure dark heart working together. Though in the end the fanaticism of being with the light destroyed it. One being known only as the Master of Masters eventually decided enough was enough. He soon built up five different groups known as Unions. Vulpes, Anguis, Leopardos, Ursus and Unicornis are the groups that he created each headed by an apprentice hand picked by the Master of Masters.”

“Unicornis!? Does that mean…?” Cadance started only for me to stop her.

“No that doesn’t mean unicorns were in that union or that there were unicorns there. Let me finish. Now there was one other apprentice by the name of Luxu, who didn’t have his own Union. Over time the Master of Masters gave each of his apprentices a special item known as the Book of Prophecies. It foretold everything that would happen, including a war of keyblade against keyblade.”

“War!? There was a war over keyblades!?”

“Yes… it was foretold in the Book of Prophecies including the scathing remark of a traitor amongst the ranks of the unions. This information created a dissonance amongst the leaders of the unions and soon fighting broke out. It was brother against brother, sister against sister. Families once united to fight the darkness seeped into their own darkness as war broke out. Eventually when the ash settled only one leader was left. She was the leader of the Vulpes Union. Using what little power she had left she spread the light amongst the children of the next generation creating what were now known as the Dandelions.”

“Dandelions? Why that… wait is it because they spread their seeds to the wind?” Cadance burst out before composing herself once again.

“Yeah… a metaphor to allow all worlds to continue on with keyblade wielders to slowly show the way. Unfortunately… most of these keyblade wielders are long gone… at least for the moment. Something is happening but not even my mentor will tell me. Regardless, that is a brief summation of the history of keyblades. It’s not a comprehensive read but it’ll suffice for now.” I finished my lecture though I left out plenty of details.

Cadance was still going over everything in her head. Though I couldn’t blame her for reeling from the revelation. The fact that Celestia and Luna didn’t know anything about keyblades made it either more unbelievable on my part or more damning of my story being a fabrication.

“Why don’t Celestia and Luna know? They are some of the oldest beings around. Shouldn’t they know this?” Cadance questioned me trying to find a hole in my story.

“They might have been too young to really know anything about this. For all you know they might know and are just not telling you. I doubt that because even they aren’t omnipotent. And before you ask, I’m not omnipotent either so I don’t know everything that has happened or could happen.”

Cadance shut her mouth returning back to silence as I waited for her question. She didn’t say anything and as long as I waited nothing was said. I looked over to my eventual student but she was lost in thought completely lost to the world.

“As I said there isn’t any evidence for them but I do know that there was a pony that managed to figure things out about the heartless. The problem is that the only idea I’ve had is the few reports from this Star Swirl.”

“Star Swirl the Bearded was the greatest wizard throughout the creation of Equestria. He had been lost a long time ago after the unification of the pony races and the legitimization of the rule of the two sisters. The three founders pushed for it and their advisors also worked behind the scenes to make it come true.” Cadance explained finally managing to look me in the eye.

“Unless you have some of their writings then I’m afraid the information about the heartless was lost with them. The real problem is that until now at this very moment, the heartless were nonexistent on this world. They’ll keep out of towns for now because positivity can make them falter. The moment hatred takes root the heartless will make their foothold. Manehattan was the first experience in that regard. Negativity makes them sprout faster from what I remember… but fat chance in making everyone happy.”

“How could you say that? As a ruler we should always strive to make our citizens happy.” Cadance challenged my tone.

“And what of the ones who hate spicy food while others love spicy food? Do you get rid of it or keep it? Honestly I’m thinking the most mundane rather than something serious.”

“I… I don’t know.” Cadance admitted becoming quiet once again.

“I’m not disparaging you, mind you. I’m just stating a truth I learned a long time ago. You can’t make everyone happy. You can only do your best.”

We went quiet again and the walk became a brisk stroll through a forested path. Cadance hadn’t said anything during the trek. A large town came into sight filled to the brim with so many different beings walking around. From my memories I could recall every single race that appeared throughout the mario canon. Toads walked around conversing with one another. Goombas lined the small stalls alongside the Mousers and Koopa Troopas. Boos flew around looking at sundries while Paratroopas.

This looked exactly as I thought the Mushroom Kingdom would be as every race in the entirety of the kingdom would come through the central hub that is Toad Town. Several dozens of races traveled around and for the lucky part neither of us looked out of place amongst the beings wandering the street.

“Well Cadance… welcome to an entirely new world.” I gestured lightly at the hustle and bustle of the crowd. I also pulled the small tiara she wore on her head off putting it in my bag.

“Hey!” Cadance argued but didn’t use her magic to try and get it back.

“Remember… we’re trying to blend in. No princessing while we’re here.”

“Oh right! Good idea. Warn me next time before you do that.” Cadance groused slightly but she seemed to accept the idea.

“Let’s just walk around for now and figure out what’s going on around here. That shadow creature made me a bit worried.”

“Right… lead on boss.” Cadance lifted a hoof onward and I immediately stepped forward.