Chapter1: ponies and humans

View Online

It had started no different than any other day, Twilight Sparkle had gotten up bright and early before dawn, eaten breakfast and made herself ready to go out for another ordinary day in Ponyville.

She laughed to herself at that sentiment. “An ordinary day in Ponyville”, maybe when Tartarus freezes over. But all in all not much had happened since Rainbow dash had went off to the Wonderbolt’s academy. In fact, all of her friends were out of town for one reason or another. Rarity was off to see a fancy fashion shoot. Applejack was off to visit Breaburn. Fluttershy had been called to tend to some sick animals in a far off forest because there were simply too many to bring home from that distance. Rainbow Dash had either been practicing with the Wonderbolts or teaching scootaloo how to fly, and even Pinkie pie had gone home to see her family on the rock farm.

“Spike we are going to be late if you don’t hurry up.”

“Late for what? It’s not like we BURP!”

And in a flash of green fire there was a letter, written on old parchment and sealed in red wax.

Spike was genuinely surprised to be receiving a letter at this time of day “Either Princess Celestia has urgent news for you or you just got your letter to Hogwarts School for gifted unicorns”.

Twilight unrolled the scroll and read it to herself silently. Her eyes went from a look of anxiety, to one of disbelief, to one of urgency.

“Spike, you’re going to have to look after the library today, I’ll need you to help me pack for a trip.”
Spike had known Twilight long enough to just roll with it “Okay, what will you be needing?”

Twilight looked like she was thinking about that herself before looking up, “Everything. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I wasn’t prepared for this”.

Spike deadpanned, “You’ve proven you’re more prepared than you think”. Although he was trying to act convincing, he knew that Twilight only said those words when she was really anxious. Well, even more than usually anyway.

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

Twilight walked into a makeshift military camp that was literally being assembled as she arrived. For earth ponies to build such a thing would take months at least, but with Celestia’s royal guard of unicorns the whole thing had been built only in the last nine or ten hours by the looks of it. Twilight felt out of place. She was a scholar, not a soldier. Sure she was magic and had saved Equestria more than once, but this still really wasn’t her cup of tea.

A wave of relief washed over her when Celestia walked up alongside her and gestured for her to walk with her. “So what’s the situation here?” Twilight asked, trying to get some idea as to why Celestia’s letter had only said to come prepared to “study an anomaly”. Celestia looked down at Twilight with an uncertainty on her face deeper than twilight had ever seen on her mentor “a ship from another world crashed in Equestria last night. We found one survivor and took him into custody without a fight; so far he has been extremely cooperative with us and has answered all our questions honestly, but…”

And just like that the wave of relief evaporated off of Twilight. She would have gone into panic mode if her natural curiosity hadn’t gotten the better of her. “So you’re saying there is an alien here?” Twilight asked her mentor in a mix of terror and excitement. “Yes, no, kind of, he is an alien in the sense that he is not from this world, but he isn’t from outer space either, he is from a different dimension”.

Twilight’s eyes grew to the size of saucers, but before she could ask any of the hundreds of questions she had, Celestia continued, “What scares me is not where it is from, but rather what it is: human”. Celestia turned her head away from Twilight and spoke more to herself than her student, “Of all the monsters that could possibly have crossed the dimensional wall, why oh why did it have to be humans”?

Twilight knew what a human was the same way we know anything from our own mythology - as just a myth. “What IS a human, Princess?” asked twilight, far too scholarly to let pure myth lead her to any real conclusion. “Ask him yourself” said celestia pointing straight ahead with an anxious look on her face “There is your subject.” Twilight whipped around to see a human, almost just like myth said they looked like. He was sitting in a black metallic chair bound by restraints that had been developed to hold beings like Nightmare Moon or Discord. What Twilight was drawn to however was his expression. He had a look of a kind, patient, understanding father figure, and was as composed as Celestia normally was, despite his position. Twilight did not remove her studying eyes from this strange creature, but asked her mentor “Why did you choose me to question him instead of …well, anyone else in your employ.” It was no secret that Celestia could have gotten anyone, anywhere to do the job; she was a demi-god of the sun for crying out loud.

Celestia looked down at her student with some portion of her normal composure, “Because what I need is someone who is smart enough to study him properly, but is also well-versed in friendship. This man represents an entire race; anything out of line could potentially have huge consequences. We want to stay on good “friendly” terms with them, and the best person to meet both criteria is… you Twilight.”

Twilight soaked in this new insight for a second, and realized that this was something she had to do. She was terrified, but walked towards the anomaly in the chair and sat in the chair on the other side of the desk that had been brought in for them. The staff had already laid out a recorder, paper, pens and pencils, and had hooked the human up to a spell that would tell if he was lying (with 100% accuracy by the way).

Twilight was frozen. She had no idea how to start this “interrogation” off right. Thankfully, it was the human who spoke first. “My name is Soran. Don’t be afraid, I am not your enemy. Ask me anything and I will answer.” Twilight glanced over at the “truth crystal”. If he was lying it would blaze red, yet there it was, totally calm. Twilight felt the weight of the world lift off her shoulders, “Nice to m-m-meet you Mr. Soran. My name is Twilight Sparkle and I just want to ask you a few questions.” Soran nodded his head, “Just Soran please, and before you start asking any questions, let me volunteer the basics.

Number 1: We come in peace. I swear to you that none of your kind will suffer any hardship beyond this little exchange because of us.

Number 2: My Nakama and I do not represent any world, group, or organization, we are just 7 friends that have a ship capable of traveling between worlds, and we like to explore. Ergo, we are not scouts, soldiers, or invaders - just explorers passing through.

Number 3: Any mess made by us, will be fixed by us. And we will adhere to your jurisdiction while we are in your world.”

Soran then leaned in and for the first time since twilight had seen him looked very serious, “Have you yet had any contact with any other member of my crew? I have played nice, given in to all your demands, and have and will answer all your questions, but there is one thing I must demand of you,” his eyes now burning with seriousness, “I must know what happened to them”.

Celestia walked right behind Twilight and responded for her, “Forgive me, I never told my student about that.” Celestia looked at Twilight who was now focused on her mentor, and answered Soran in a manner that also informed Twilight of what she had missed, “As per your demands, we are looking for your comrades, but there has been no sign of them. Believe me, we want to find them before anypony else does to avoid causing a panic. We have already swept over everything within a 50 kilometer radius of your crash, but we have yet to find them”.

Soran looked shocked, “Only a 50 kilometer radius! No wonder you haven’t found them. We were blown apart while coming out of warp. They could be almost anywhere on this side of the planet. Of course you haven’t found them.”

Celestia deadpanned; she realized that would mean that Soran’s teammates had not “fallen out of the plane”. They had fallen through the atmosphere, like meteors. “I hate to say this Soran, but if what you say is true…” Celestia may not have liked humans, but to tell any sentient thing that it’s comrades were most likely dead, was just…

Soran smiled warmly, “No fear of that” he said, reading into what they must be thinking. “There is no one among my crew that could be killed by something as harmless as plummeting through the atmosphere into the ground,” saying ground like saying the word “cotton”.

Twilight had been frozen in surprise when Soran had suddenly become so serious over his crew (which she hadn’t even heard about) and had been caught up in all that was going on; but she remembered her mission and felt the time to really begin the integration was now.

“Why and how did you Crash?” Twilight asked like a true scientific investigator, which she was.

Celestia backed out of the conversation and Soran looked back to Twilight with his usual composure, “We were on our way here when we were attacked by Enforcers. We did battle while coming out of warp, and that caused everything to scatter apart upon breaking the dimensional wall. That is why we all got scattered.”

Celestia was becoming enraged. This so called “peaceful” human had been warring with something right outside their world. Things were getting out of hand. She had to do something.

“Second question, what is an “Enforcer” and why were you fighting them?” asked Twilight.

Celestia looked down at her pupil. Twilight’s fear was gone and her angry was not about to be kindled either. She had gone completely into a state of pure concentration. Her scientific and reasonable nature demanded of her that she remain totally calm and gather all information immediately and only then allow herself to feel anything. Celestia marveled at her student’s diligence and calmness and remembered why she had left it to her in the first place.

Celestia turned to leave, “You seem to have it under control now. Update me when it’s all over.” The sound of the door sealing behind Celestia immediately gave way to a concentrated silence. Now there was nothing in the room except the setup, a pony that a pure concentration, and a human that was pure, honest calmness. This was no longer an interrogation. It was a scientific interview.

“I repeat, second question, what is an “Enforcer” and why were you fighting them?” asked Twilight.

Soran answered, “To tell you that I have to tell you everything. Do you want that?”

“Yes.”

Soran nodded. “Then it all started one hundred years ago, at the end of the great keyblade war. Sora, Kairi, and Riku had just defeated Lord Xehanort. Only this time it was for real. Xehanort would not be coming back to life this time. The heartless and the nobodies had finally been destroyed, for good. All the worlds destroyed by the heartless were restored and balance returned to the omniverse. But, there was one real problem, the passageways between the dimensions had widened and universal travel was now at its easiest. Anyone with Gummi blocks could now travel the whole omniverse with ease, as long as they had a Gumi ship, a keyblade, and someone to navigate.

To preserve order, Sora and King Mickey formed an organization called the Omniverse Alliance, starting with all the allies that Sora had made in his journeys between worlds. Then by chance, they found a whole new layer of the omniverse, one filled with stranger and stronger new worlds, unlike any that Sora and his friends had ever seen.

A world where shinobi and tailed beasts fought for control, a world where shinigami fought with hollows, a world where pirates sailed a strip of seas called the grand line, a world where “dragonballs” could grant any wish, a world where mysterious creatures called pokemon were the heart of commerce, and even a world where gourmet food was a source of great power. And these are all just a small sampling, of over a hundred new worlds at least that they found in this new layer.

But there was a new threat, one that the alliance thought was worse than the heartless: the omniverse itself. More than one of these worlds contained warriors in them so powerful, that destroying entire worlds was not impractical. Still more contained magics that were so horrible or easy to abuse that they simply should not be allowed to exist. Some kind people from these worlds joined the alliance and agreed that their worlds were much too powerful in comparison to the rest of the omniverse.

They agreed to make a standardized magic system. Magic you see is so different from one world to the next that it had to be done. The new system is strong, but believable. It has spells, but relies on leverage and form as opposed to blunt power. Its users can fight, but more importantly can defend themselves from just about anything.

But then, a small band of the alliance, without consent from its founders, put a terrible plan into motion.

They realized that they could never be safe in an omniverse with such monstrous powers, so they built a device with the power to exterminate all life in the omniverse that had the potential to grow to a level above level 100 of the new standardized system.

They fired it.

And it worked.”

Twilight had been listening carefully. She wasn’t sure what some of the things that Soran had mentioned were, but had simply made a note to ask later. But this was different. She had done a good job accepting that they lived in an omniverse, and that this alliance existed, but exterminating all the powerful things in the omniverse, even the things so powerful that they could destroy whole worlds!

Twilight intervened, “If these beings were really as strong as you say they are, then they couldn’t have been wiped out so easily. Didn’t they fight back?”

Soran shook his head, “Hard to fight something you don’t know is there. Less than a thousand people in the omniverse even knew about the omniverse. And those strong people agreed, a massive amount of power was needed to fire the machine up, they were the ones that powered it. Of the 100 people that donated their power for the machine to work, I understand that prince Vegeta was the weakest donator, and he had billions of kils energy. Just so you know, 300 kils can destroy a world in a flash.

They did it because they realized it would just take one maniac with 300 kils and a gumi ship and the whole omniverse could have been destroyed. They did it in the name of peace.

But that was all over a hundred years ago. About ten years ago the alliance got it though there head that they should “enlighten” the universe. And they set up an omniversal government with heartless, mindless monsters called “Enforcers” that do their bidding.

And that is what an “Enforcer” is”.

Twilight’s head was about to explode from the onslaught of new and revolutionary information cascading over her. But she had to stay focused, she couldn’t let Celestia down.

Twilight calmly asked, “Third question, you said that you were fighting these “Enforcers.” Why? What do you have against them, and what do they have against you?”

Soran looked at Twilight like he expected her to know already, “Forgive me, but I have no desire to join forces with someone who thinks they are better than someone else, let alone better than everyone in the omniverse. We are explorer. We like to run wild and free, and make new friends with people from strange and wonderful new cultures. They want to break and enslave everyone and crush all enemies conquering, and deleting all cultures other than their own. We are exact opposites, so we fight them.”

Twilight began to lose her temper, “And you brought them here?”

Soran looked sad, “We didn’t mean to, but yes we did. I know that it is no consolation, but they would have come here sooner or later anyway.”

Twilight lost her temper, “That still means that Equestria is on the brink of war with these things, and we are definitely not prepared for that!”

Soran looked calm but serious, “You seem to have forgotten my third point. I said that any mess we caused or had a part in, we would clean up. We will not let these things lay one finger on anyone in your world, and we will make sure they never bother you again. That is a promise that will be kept to the letter.”

Twilight didn’t know why, but she knew that he meant it. Not just because the lie detector hadn’t gone off, she just knew he and his crew could do it. “I believe you, what do you need?”

Soran answered, “First, I need your leader’s permission to move as I wish. Second, I need to fix my ship, and third I need to gather my crew. Then we will fix everything.”

Twilight nodded, “I will see to it that you can do those things, but tell me about your crew.”
Soran smiled,

“Well there is a pilot, a musician, a doctor, a teacher, an old monk, a priestess, and a chef.”

Chapter 2: Honesty and Trustworthiness

View Online

Applejack looked out the window of her guest room at her cousin Braeburn’s house. The local Pegasus rarely made it rain as far out as Appaloosa, but when they did it came in a torrent. It had rained all of the day before but was beginning to die down and was now no more than a drizzle. Applejack called out, “Come awn Braeburn let’s head out, Little Feather is waiting for us.”

It was no secret that Braeburn needed no persuasion to go and see Little Strongheart (wink, wink), but he didn’t want to meet up in the rain, “But cousin what about the rain?” Applejack gave Braeburn a sour look, “It’s almost stopped already. It will definitely have stopped by the time we get to the buffalo village.” Braeburn smiled and put his satchel on, “You’re right, let’s go”.

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

Applejack and Braeburn walked along through the super light drizzle. Applejack didn’t mind, but Braeburn just wasn’t as used to rain, “You said it would have stopped by now Applejack.” Applejack looked at Braeburn in disappointment, “Oh stop your whining. I know it doesn’t rain often here, but this doesn’t even count as a small, yet cloudy drizzle. It’s not like the sky is falling.”

BOOM!

All of Appaloosa looked up and saw a massive ball of fire sporadically hurtling through the clouds. It was falling at a 30 degree angle. The core of the fireball was not much bigger than a pony but the trail of fire and smoke billowing off of it made it seem much larger than it was. More than that it was evaporating the cloud that it had fallen through, turning the moisture in the air to steam. Applejack frantically grabbed her cousin and pulled him to the ground to brace for the nearby impact. That was a good idea too, because when the ball hit, gale force wind brimming with steam gushed over them, and would have knocked them down if they hadn’t already braced themselves.

Braeburn looked up with wide eyes “what in Equestria just happened”.

Applejack stood shaking like she did the first time pinkie sang the “evil enchantress song”. She looked over at the crash and could only manage to say “the sky just fell”.

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

Applejack and Braeburn made their way over to the crash site which was only 40 meters away from where then had been. As they got closer they heard something groaning in pain, within the crater. “Applejack, do you hear somepony?” asked Braeburn. “Eeyup” was all that Applejack could manage. Braeburn froze up “that either means that that thing hit somepony, or that IT was somepony”. Applejack thought hard about that. She didn’t know much about the local Pegasus, but she knew that they supposedly had different customs than those back home. And after seeing her friend Rainbow Dash break the speed of sound and control nature, and create rainbows. Well in short, the idea that a Pegasus spinning out of control and making such a spectacle was certainly far-fetched, but not out of the question.

“Whatever or whoever it is, we gotta help um,” said Applejack. “Now, on the count of three. One, two, three …”

Something stood, coated in fire. It clapped its hands together and the flames vanished without a trace. It stood almost twice as tall as either of the ponies standing before it, a monstrosity that the two had only heard of in stories to scare little colts and fillies. Human.

Applejack looked over at Braeburn. Apparently the shaking is an apple family trait.

The human looked down at the two, a look in her eyes that was that of a lost person trying to get their bearings. Applejack and Braeburn braced themselves and were prepared for anything that this monster could dish out.

“Daaww! Little ponies, that’s adorable,” except that.

Braeburn’s shook made him speak first, “Are you a human? Like, a real one?”

The human girl’s eyes widened, “You can talk! Ponies can talk! Ponies can talk in this world!” She composed herself and bowed gracefully to them in a very ladylike fashion. “My name is Dea, and yes I am a human. Don’t worry I am not going to hurt you; I am just a passing explorer. Would you two excuse me for just one second?” Applejack and Braeburn exchanged a looked. It wasn’t like they could object to the mythical beast standing in front of them. They looked back to the girl and simultaneously uttered “eeyup”. Dea nodded regally and turned around. She then burst out, “Ponies! A world of talking ponies; this is the best world ever!” She regained half of her previous composure but couldn’t hide her smile.

Applejack looked over to Braeburn and asked, “Well, she doesn’t seem hostile. Peppy maybe, but after being friends with Pinkie this is nothing. We should help her.” Braeburn whipped back horrified, “You want to help it! It is a foreign monster that we know nothing about and could overturn our way of life! Do you know what it could turn out to be?!”

Applejack sadly looked back at Braeburn, “Just like Little Strongheart, maybe.” Braeburn realized his mistake far too late.

Applejack continued, “You, of all people should have learned by now to give new and different people a chance.” Applejack looked down and reflected on her own past, “Like I learned back during that incident with Zecora.” Braeburn sighed. He didn’t like it, but he knew what had to be done and was going to do it, “Alright, you win, we will help her.”

Dea was moved, and it showed, “Thank you both. We haven’t gotten such a good reception everywhere we have gone.”

Dea suddenly gasped, “My friends, my crew, I have to get back to them! Have you two seen six more of my kind? They're all boys except for me. Oh, and the ship, have you seen a giant orange ship that looks like a bath toy coated in a bubble except that it can really fly and …”

“Whoa Nelly, slow down. We ain't seen any more than you, but we’ll help you find your friends,” Applejack intervened. Dea calmed down, but saddened, “We may not be related, but we are family. I need to rendezvous with them ASAP.” Applejack would have walked up and put a caring hoof around Dea, but Dea’s shoulders were way too high up for that to be possible. “Don’t worry we know how important family is. We will help you.” Braeburn had agreed to help, but not to let his guard down, “But you have to promise not to hurt anypony, alright”. Dea looked over at the two ponies with the perfect innocence of a little child, “Nope, can’t do that.”

Applejack was the one who spoke first, “WHAT!?” Dea looked back at them still in pure innocence, “Look nothing personal but I never make promises. Let’s say that I agreed to that promise. I know nothing about your kind, but I assume that at least one of your kind could be bad. If I promise not to hurt anypony and I meet such a pony, then I can only either break my promise or let the bad pony do as he pleases. I am not comfortable with either of those options. I believe that the most important virtue that a person can have is trustworthiness. If I say yes I mean yes, and if I say no I mean no. All I can promise you is that I mean what I say, and that I will always be true to my heart. That is my truth. I am not with you or against you, I am on truths side.”

Applejack didn’t know what to say to that, but her element of honesty told her that Dea was serious. Applejack tried to say something, “I …”

But that thought was never finished, because at that moment a warship came over the horizon, sailing in the air. Braeburn stared at it in disbelief, “Friend of yours?”

Dea became very serious, “Trust me. I will never, ever be friends with the likes of them. That is an Enforcer ship.”
Braeburn did not know or care what that was, “It’s over the Buffalo village, Little Strongheart!”

All three ran in unison straight toward the certain meeting place. Dea looked down at the ponies, “If we keep running at this speed, how long will it take us to get there?” Braeburn answered, “We were already only five minutes away from the village. It will only be half that if we run like this.”

Dea grabbed Braeburn up under her right arm and Applejack under her left arm, much to the sudden surprise of both. Dea spoke, “That will take way too long. I’ll carry you there.” In terms of tallness, Dea was almost twice that of the other two, but in terms of mass and weight, the three were almost the same. The ponies were sure they would only be slowed down by this new arrangement. “Let’s go” cried Dea, and their speed picked up to at least 25 miles an hour. “Or not” thought the ponies. Just how strong were these humans?

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

The buffalos had known foreigners to come into their land without permission and set up camp before but this was different. Although the ship had set up camp in the air just outside their village, they had sent one member of their crew to “greet” the locals. The Enforcer now standing in the middle of the village was a grey, rubbery looking being. It had no real features and looked like a human wearing a white, rubbery leather, full body suit. Except it wasn’t a suit, it was skin. Despite its look of being made of elastic, its surface definitely had a metallic shine. It had no facial features at all, so it was impossible to tell what it was thinking or feeling.

It was not hard to tell what the buffalos were thinking or feeling though. Anger and intrusion, like the problems they had experienced with the settlers, were happening all over again, but this time it felt even worse. The chief had seen enough. No questions were asked. He gathered his four strongest troops and had them surround the intruder. Before anyone had tried to offer a single word, the chief gave the only word they needed - “CHARGE!” The four giants lowered their heads and rushed into the lone enemy. One aimed for its chest, one for its back, and the other two for its sides. There was a decisive crash, several smirks, and victory cheers that went up from the buffalos and the few ponies that were visiting (since they had made peace, Braeburn wasn’t the only one who had made friends and liked to visit).

Their cheers died down when they saw what had happened. The grey anomaly had caught the heads of the two that had rushed its sides, stopping them in their tracks. As for the two that hit it in the front and back, they were now reeling back as though they had run headlong into a solid steel wall. The thing itself, looked like it hadn’t even noticed the attack, but to be fair it was hard to tell with that poker face it had. It flicked its wrists and tossed the two buffalo it had caught four buffalo lengths away from itself.

The buffalo were scared now, but the few ponies were even more so. Other than dragons, manticores, star beasts, and alicorns, there really weren’t much in all of Equestria that was physically superior to a buffalo warrior. And this, this, whatever it was had just brushed four of their best off like they were dust bunnies. The ponies had, until the last year, been enemies with the buffalo and had all learned by heart that if you had to fight one, fight it in any kind of battle other than one of muscle. Even a super earth pony would easily lose to an average buffalo. They knew that after it had endured that, there really wasn’t much else they could do.

The chief knew this too, and he knew he had to renew morale, “Don’t panic. They obviously sent out the strongest warrior they have to intimidate us. If we can just defeat it, the others will get scared and leave us alone.” The chief’s speech had renewed some hope among the natives that they could still win, key word being “some”. As if to crush their hopes, the anomaly liquefied its right arm, molded it into the shape of a sword blade, and re-hardened it until it turned dark silver, all before crouching into a battle stance.

Equestrians are not naturally hostile. Even when they went to war to defend their own homes they seldom used anything more deadly than a pie fight. The mere sight of a sword sent pure terror down the spines of all who looked on. They may have become totally frozen by fear if the moment had not been interrupted by the sounds of Braeburn and Applejack running into town, asking what was going on.

The only one not distracted by these newcomers was the anomaly itself. It did not let the moment to distraction go to waste, and lunged blade first right towards the chief.

In the next moment several things all happened in the span of a few seconds. The chief lowered his head and entered a fighting stance. Little Strongheart, knowing that her father couldn’t survive the hit, dove in front of him. Braeburn grabbed Little Strongheart to use himself as a living shield against their certain doom. The chief realizing what was happening rushed to get the two youths out of the way, and the anomaly suddenly stopped mid-air and fell to the ground, destroyed.

As said, these events all took place so fast that nopony or buffalo fully grasped what had happened. One brave (and/or stupid) buffalo walked up and inspected the beast. It had been ripped into by something and had claw marks unlike had ever been seen. What caught his eye was that the thing had no “innards”. It was filled with the same rubbery, metallic material that its body was made of.

A collective gasp went up, as several ponies and buffalos had just noticed Dea; who had virtually appeared in all the commotion. She spoke loud enough that everyone who had been present could hear, “First off, that thing is a pawn class Enforcer, the lowest rank. Second, it is not a “creature”. It is a “construct”. Its body is logia, meaning that if it is distorted or damaged. It will gelatinize and reform as good as new. Third, unless the phrase “Haki of Armament” means anything to you, you had best stay out of their way. Finally, relax; I will take care of this.”

One of the buffaloes was not pacified by this and demanded answers from the (in its eyes) equally strange and dangerous anomaly that was Dea, “What do you mean by this stranger? Explain yourself!”

Dea looked out over the crowd like a mother calmly trying to explain something to little children, “I will only repeat the last part until I send these guys packing. I will take care of this. I am on the side of truth and those guys are not. You cannot fight them. I can. This is your home. So, since you cannot win, I will fight for you. Trust in me for now.”

Applejack turned to face the chief, but spoke so that everyone could hear her, “It’s alright, she’s with us, let’s trust her.” The chief wanted answers, but knew this was not the time or place, “Very well. Good Applejack, we will leave the offensive to you and your …friend. But we will fight to defend our homes should they reach us,” that last part spoken more to the herd than to Applejack.

Applejack turned pleadingly towards Dea and for the first time really got a good look at the human. She had only noticed the basic form of human, but not really paid attention to what Dea looked like as an individual. Dea was not muscular, but was clearly very fit. She was fair skinned but had a healthy tan from living out in the sun, something a hard worker like Applejack could appreciate. Her hair was as black as midnight, but as shiny as the moon, and she had it up with a decorative red hairpin made of slick metal decorated with a Chinese motif. Her nails looked to be freshly painted with a polish just a little brighter than natural human color, but shiny. Applejack, then noticed something else, grey liquid rubber dripping from the fingers on her right hand.

It was then Applejack realized what had happened. Dea had run by, clawed the Enforcer in two and gained some high ground. Applejack stepped forward and asked, “So what now Dea?”

Dea looked at Applejack like she was worried about something less serious, “Is magic normal in this world?”

“What?” asked Applejack, but continued, “Yea sure, any unicorn can use magic, why?”

Dea sighed with relief, “Oh good, then you wouldn’t get scared if I use magic to beat those guys?”

Applejack just assumed that magic was normal. Just because she couldn’t use it didn’t exactly make it rare. And even earth ponies had some magic, just nothing like a unicorn’s. “No of course not, go ahead.”

Dea smiled and fire gushed out of her hands, coating them in orbs of fire, “Good, then this will be easy.”

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

The Enforcers were now on the move. There were over a hundred of the “pawns” and at least a hundred more detailed ones called “scouts”, as well as one thousand “soldier” class, each one increment above the previous. Dea rushed into the fray and pulled a dagger out of her hairpin (which was actually a sheathed dagger in disguise). What is interesting is that the dagger became a sword with all the majesty of a bankia. Dea began cleaving the soldiers in half, and the occasional scout. Whenever one would get too close for comfort or she would find herself overwhelmed, which happened frequently, she would fire bend waves of fire infused with the Haki of Armament that would melt the things so that they could never reform. After she had finished off the last soldier, she reverted her sword back into a dagger for about five seconds before it grew into a long spear, with the original dagger’s handle where the fulcrum point would be. With this new longer sweeping weapon, she proceeded to literally sweep up the remaining pawns and a few scouts with relative ease.

Applejack and the others watched the distant fight, at first suspecting to be fighting of all the Enforcers that got past Dea. But they had realized several things.

One: The Enforcers knew that they were going to have enough trouble dealing with Dea herself, and weren’t stupid enough to divide their forces.

Two: That once (if) they got Dea, that even if only one of them was left, that they would be able to single handedly beat the village’s inhabitants.

And most importantly, Three: That Dea was awesome! She was a fire bending, Haki using, weapon master extraordinaire. Even when she was in a bind she kept a level head, a calm disposition, a burning passion (and fire), and seemed to do so all with grace.

Obviously, Dea won the battle but was badly hurt. Even she was not invincible, and had needed to go all out to get this far. She staggered her way back to town. She thought to herself, “These are a peaceful people. No doubt they will hate and fear me now that they have seen what I am capable of; but I stayed true. I was a good as my word. I can leave it at that.” Dea never would have expected what happened next. The ponies and the buffalo alike ran out to welcome their hero back with open arms. She was cascaded with thank-you’s and praise of every kind. She didn’t know what to think or whom to respond to. Thankfully, one of the buffalo asked a question, and those were the easiest things to respond to,

“How did you make fire so hot that it evaporated them? No amount of magic could make fire so hot!”

Dea answered, “It’s not about heat; it’s about fuel. If you burn wood, you get fire and smoke. If you burn poison, you get fire and poisonous smoke. I burn Haki infused magic, so I get Haki hardened flame.

That’s also how I tore up that pawn earlier. I didn’t “rip him with strength”; I “cut him with sharpness”. I’m really not THAT strong, and my fires not THAT hot. It’s just enforced with Haki is all. It’s not the power. It’s what you can do with the power.”
The whole crowd responded with a sigh of “ooohhhhh”.

Dea noticed that Applejack was not here, “Where is Applejack?”

Little Strongheart answered her, “After you beat the last of them, she figured you would be wanting some cold apple cider to cool off after your fight. She is getting you some. We should head back and ...”

“ENFORCER!”

Everyone looked back towards town. That had sounded like Applejack. One must have gotten through. Dea rushed in to help, but it was too late. An Enforcer had Applejack’s neck in the grip of its right hand. It literally held her life in its hands. What was worse, this Enforcer was different. It looked like a human wearing silver metal armor but that was its skin. Upon seeing it, Dea choked up and uttered something quieter and more ominous than a whisper, “one of the Soldier Class got past me”.

It responded in the most mechanical voice possible, “Throw me your weapon now or she dies first.”

Dea threw the solider her shape-shifting weapon without a word. The Soldier continued, “I will exchange her for you. Surrender.”

Dea looked stern. Trusting an Enforcer NEVER worked well in the long run, or the short run for that matter. But trying to negotiate with one worked even less often. Instead she turned and stared Applejack in the eye, “Do you trust me?” Applejack looked at her and nodded as much as she could. Dea looked even more serious, “Do you trust me with your life?” Applejack knew that Dea was going to try something and that if it didn’t work, well, she didn’t want to think about that. But she did, she did trust Dea, “Eeyup”. It didn’t come out the way she wanted. Kinda hard to talk with your neck in someone’s grip, but it got the job done.

Dea fired the largest fireball she could straight at them. It was the greatest show of firepower that most of the bystanders could imagine. It was hot. It was fast. It was concentrated. It was a big as a bus flying at them like a meteor, and it was definitely going to hit the Enforcer AND Applejack. Applejack watched in terror as the blast washed over them both. She saw the Soldier burning up, being completely destroyed, being turned to ashes and crumbling away under the force of the blast. The other thing Applejack noticed was that it didn’t hurt. It felt warm and nice and bright, but there was no pain, even her Stetson was no warmer than normal. The solider had now been reduced to nothing, but she remained. She then noticed that the one who had fired it had collapsed. Totally out of power, Applejack ran to her new friend and asked,

“How did you make the fire do that!?”

Dea responded with what little strength she still had, “It’s not about the fire, it’s about the fuel. My magic comes from my will. So my will is my fuel, so my will is my fire. It won’t burn oil unless I want it to.” She then nodded off to sleep, but not before uttering, “That’s the truth.”

Applejack carried Dea inside, “I’ll get you back to your friends, I promis ...”

She stopped herself, “I will get you to your family, that’s the honest truth.”

Chapter 3: Kindness and Self-restraint

View Online

Fluttershy made her way through the forest. She was out paying visits to the sick animals, gathering herbs, and admiring the beauty of nature native to this area. An epidemic had broken out in the forests just south of the volcano where the dragons went during the great dragon migration, and since the dragons had all already left that area, Fluttershy was more than happy to go and help the poor little critters.

But today she stumbled across a new critter, one she had never seen before. It looked like a human from mythology. Although Fluttershy wouldn’t know these terms, the boy she had found looked a lot like Trunks from Dragon Ball, except that he had jet black hair.

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

The boy, whose name was Matsu, woke to find himself on a large cot, in a quaint little cottage in the forest. Matsu had been bandaged, but that was really unnecessary, due both to the fact that his injuries were not warranting of anything more than some rest and due to the fact that his natural healing speed would have already healed him without treatment anyway. But the sentiment was there. At that moment as he was looking about his new arrangement, Fluttershy walked back into the room, and the two immediately locked in eye contact. There was a moment of silence, but only a moment, because they both broke the silence thereafter.

“Oh my, a human, I’ve never seen a real human before. That’s just so wonderful I just don’t know what to say.”

“Oh my, a pony! I’ve never seen a real pony before. That’s just so wonderful I just don’t know what to say.”

They both registered what the other had just said, and both laughed at the irony of the situation. Matsu spoke up first “My name is Matsu. I take it you’re the one who helped me?” Fluttershy walked over to Matsu, “Oh yes, I found you in the forest, and you looked like you were hurt, so I brought you back here and tried to treat you; but you didn’t have any real injuries so I just got nervous and ended up bandaging you without a real reason. Oh forgive me, my name is Fluttershy. I am just so excited, I specialize in different kinds of critters big and small, but I’ve never seen a human before.”

Matsu laughed “well I am a human alright, what would you like to know?” Fluttershy gleefully responded “oh everything”.

So that is what Matsu did. He told Fluttershy everything about humans that he thought was important, but it wasn’t much of a history lesson. Matsu wanted to spare Fluttershy the darker side of human kind, so his talk was pretty much what humans were like as a whole as opposed to any particular society of them. But he gave special emphasis to his own crew, and used them as examples of humankind. Fluttershy for her part also told Matsu everything about ponykind, and the two compared and contrasted the two species. Fluttershy told Matsu all about Ponyville and her friends and their adventures and everything, and finally asked Matsu, “And that’s pretty much everything about where I come from. You know you’ve said a lot about humans in general, but you haven’t told me anything about where you came from, or about your homeworld Matsu. You’ve told me all about all the worlds you’ve visited, but nothing about the one you’re from. What’s it like?”

Matsu’s expression was just like Fluttershy’s. He was reserved, but very kind, and a little bit shy (not as much as her), but now he seemed melancholy and sad. “I was born in a place called Transverse Town, and that is where I spent my childhood, but I will never think of that as my home, or my homeworld. My home is the gummi ship, my family is my crew, and I have no homeworld or nationality. I am just an orphan, but that is my family. So I am not alone.”

Fluttershy gasped, “I am so sorry, I didn’t know.”

Matsu insisted that it was alright, “No don’t worry about it. I’m very happy where I am now. I’m not the only one either; all the members of my crew grew up as orphans in that trashy town. The priestess and her father, the old man, were slightly better off. But not much, Enforcers don’t like religious matters; competes for what people believe you know. They had to go into hiding, but the old man always offered us sanctuary. He was always there for us all; the only parent we ever had.”

Fluttershy looked like she felt a little better, “So this old man is like a father figure to you? I mean is he the one who brought you all together?”

Matsu shook his head “no, we were all poor in our own ways, but more importantly we all felt helpless. We were all scared of the Enforcers and would have fallen apart and given up.”

Matsu smiled, “If it weren’t for that one brave soul that couldn’t give up.”

Fluttershy leaned in wide eyed and curious, “Who?”

Matsu looked up happily, but serious, “The boss.”

Fluttershy had clung to his every word but was now confused, “You told me there was a pilot, a priestess, an old monk, a scholar, a doctor, a musician, and a chef. You didn’t say anything about a boss.”

Matsu just brushed this off, “Doesn’t matter, you can have more than one job you know. The boss is the ...”

Whump!

Matsu looked to see that a small white bunny that looked much meaner than a bunny should, had thrown a cabbage at him, and was now thumping his foot on the ground.

Fluttershy gasped, “Oh my goodness, look at the time,” I should have made my rounds over an hour ago. Have we been talking that long? Oh I am so sorry; I have to go check on all the animals. Oh and I still have to fix all their food, oh dear. So much to do.”

Matsu put his hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder, “Relax, I helped make the problem and I can help fix it.” Matsu smiled, “I am the crew chef, leave the feeding to me.”

Fluttershy still looked worried, “There are a little over a hundred animals, and some of them require a lot of food. It will take a while.”

Matsu was still smiling, “I can cook enough to feed 500 people in one hour. I’m pretty sure I can do this.”

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

One hour later, Fluttershy sat at her table. The treating of the animals had been difficult, but the food had been finished in record time. What’s more, all the animals were in an incredibly good mood, and were all full. Matsu walked up and put a plate of vegetarian pasta before Fluttershy. They exchanged a look, but Matsu said nothing and merely waited for Fluttershy to taste it. Fluttershy took one bite and her eyes widened like Pinkie Pie’s had the first time she saw a Sonic Rainboom. It was bar none the best thing she had ever eaten. Instantly all the weariness she had gathered from the days caretaking washed away. She found herself wondering if what she had eaten until that moment had always been spoiled or rotten. She turned to Matsu, her eyes asking what her full mouth couldn’t.

Matsu got the hint, “Special cooking knives, special everlasting cooking oil, and special cooking techniques from the gourmet world that we visited in our travels. The real trick is infusing the food with your healing magic so that it grows to its perfect state before cooking it. I’m personally a vegan, and since I’m the cook that’s usually what the crew ends up eating. So I had to learn magic techniques that make vegan food taste many times better than the best of meats, which trust me, isn’t easy for omnivores like us humans.”

Fluttershy was officially impressed, “Thank you so much Matsu. With you here to cook I can get on with the treatment and we can have all these little guys better again in no time.”

Matsu’s smile went away, “I’m very sorry Fluttershy, but I have to rendezvous with the boss. I’ve tried to stay until I repaid your kindness, and I’m very glad I got to meet you. But I must get back to him ASAP.”

Fluttershy was saddened by this, “You, but you, oh. Do you have to go already?” Fluttershy’s pleading was joined by that of ALL the animals, who had grown to like Matsu just as much Fluttershy had. Even Angel had gotten attached, and that’s saying something.

Matsu looked more worried than anything, “I don’t want to leave, but you don’t understand the situation. This isn’t about the Enforcers, or even the crew, this is about the boss. The boss is the only one who can stop me without hurting me.”

Fluttershy didn’t understand, “Stop you? Stop you from what.”

Matsu looked down and shook his head, “I cannot explain. I’m so sorry.”

Fluttershy still didn’t understand, but she knew she couldn’t keep her new friend here, “It’s alright. It was really nice to get to meet you. I was able to open up to you right away because I saw you as another critter. Normally I’m very shy, but there isn’t anyone out here but little critters and I’m not shy with them. But now I think that your soul is very similar to a pony’s even if you don’t look like one. I guess I started thinking that way when I found out you were an orphan too.”

Fluttershy gasped. She had unintentionally just told Matsu her deepest darkest secret. Fluttershy had kept secret that she had no family from everyone, even the Pegasus’s ponies in Cloudsdale. Only several older Pegasus and Rainbow Dash knew that she had no parents. She hadn’t even told her friends. The animals knew, and Fluttershy thought that Twilight had figured it out. After all, parents don’t let little fillies leave home to go live in the woods alone with animals. Twilight probably knew, but hadn’t asked, so Fluttershy hadn’t told her.

Matsu looked like he was trying not to cry, “I really am so sorry, but that’s actually all the more reason I have to go. I don’t want to hurt you so I have to go.”

Suddenly all the birds in the forest flew together in fleeing chaos. Anyone who knows anything about animals would know what that meant. Something was happening that was scaring the animals away. Fluttershy couldn’t feel power levels or life forces but Matsu could.

“Enforcers? What in the world are they doing all the way out here? Unless they are after me. They generally like to conquer places but this is in the middle of nowhere.”

Fluttershy had already learned everything about the Enforcers and the old alliance and everything else relevant from her earlier talks with Matsu. Her sorrow turned to fear for her little animal friends.

Matsu turned back to her. He was as serious as he had ever been around her, “Get all of your animal friends and get as far away from here as quickly as you possibly can. I’ll hold them off.”

Fluttershy entered the state she was in when she talked down that dragon that one time, “Now see here Matsu, we are not going to run and leave you behind with those things!”

Matsu looked away from Fluttershy and towards the enemy, “I didn’t tell you to run so that you would get away from the Enforcers. I told you to run to get away from me. Now run!” Matsu ran off in the enemy’s direction.

Fluttershy gathered up all of her little animal friends and organized them to run away or to carry the animals that couldn’t move as fast. Once she had done that, she ran too, towards the Enforcer’s camp. She had to help her friend. Some of her animals ran with her. She wanted to stop them, but a series of animal complaints that only Fluttershy would be able to understand told her they were not about to go anywhere. So off they went after Matsu.

As Fluttershy left the forest, she saw an Enforcer camp, complete with several warships and already thousands of Soldier class Enforcers were on the ground, accompanied by thousands of Pawn class Enforcers that were preparing camp. She then noticed that they were all staring about 30 degrees away from her direction at Matsu. Matsu’s hair suddenly spiked up and his eyes whitened out. A coating of magic rushed over him.

Fluttershy may not have been able to sense magic, but she had taken care of enough critters to tell how high one was on the food chain, and how strong a predator it was. That’s why Fluttershy found herself second guessing herself. This couldn’t be right. She could feel that Matsu, whom she would have said was at the same spot on the food chain as a pony, was suddenly much mightier than a dragon or even an Alicorn.

Matsu spoke but his voice sounded different. It was deeper and meaner, “Ha, it’s been a long time since I got to come out to play. I’m going to have some fun and kill all these guys to work up my appetite. And then,” Matsu turned his head and looked in Fluttershy’s direction, even though she had not revealed herself and it had seemed even the Enforcers hadn’t noticed her until then, “I’m going to eat you!”

Fluttershy froze. She had no idea what was happening; not with her or the Enforcers, but most especially with her new friend.

Matsu lunged into the enemy camp and started destroying the Soldier class Enforcers. Whenever a Scout or Pawn would attack him he would just look in their general direction and they would fall “dead”. Fluttershy’s animals offered different plans as to what they should do, but the majority vote was to run away now. Fluttershy just stood and watched until Matsu had “killed” his one thousandth Soldier Class Enforcer. Matsu then raised his head and let out a bone chilling battle cry. All the remaining Enforcers shut down and collapsed, never to rise again. Apparently even the pilots of the warships had been hit by this, because shortly after, the ships began to steer into each other before crashing into the old dragon territory. Matsu’s hair fell back to its normal position, and then he fell to the ground.

Fluttershy was frightened. Dragons were proof that Fluttershy was somewhat afraid of being eaten, which is what Matsu had promised to do to her. Anypony else in Fluttershy’s position would have run away. But anypony else wasn’t the element of Kindness. Fluttershy flew down to Matsu’s side and shook him awake.

As Matsu came to, he saw Fluttershy and quickly put the metaphorical puzzle pieces together as to what had happened.

Matsu turned his head aside like he was ashamed, “You stupid pony. Why did you not run? I could have hurt you. When my other nature comes out I kill and eat everything I can find. Do you have any idea how horrible I would have felt for the rest of my life if I had eaten you!?”

Fluttershy looked down at Matsu with kind eyes, “But you didn’t. You said you would but you didn’t.”

Matsu screamed back at her, “That’s only because I exhausted myself of all my power and had to forcefully revert in order to heal! If I had still had even one percent of my power left after beating those things, then I assure you I would have made good my offer! I would have done something unforgivable! That’s why I must find the boss. The boss is the only one who can revert me to this form without hurting me! There are only three ways for me to revert: 1. Become completely exhausted of all power, 2. Destroy and/or eat everything so that nothing is left, or 3.The boss!

And, several things can set me off: blood, booze, severe pain, anger, fear, danger! I’m a loose cannon! I’m not safe! I would never want to hurt you, so I have to find the boss!”

Fluttershy cradled him, as per her caring nature, “Shh, it’s okay. You’re not a bad pony, er person, Matsu. You're very kind, and you can’t help it that your other side isn’t. I’ll help you find your boss.”

Matsu looked back at Fluttershy dumbfounded, “You’ll help me! Didn’t you just hear what I said? I could hurt you without meaning to. Why would you help me?”

Fluttershy looked down at him “Well, because you're my good friend Matsu. And friends help each other.”

Matsu looked up, awestruck, “Friend. Only my crew has ever called me friend AFTER seeing me like that.” Matsu reached up and returned Fluttershy’s hug, “Thank you so much Fluttershy, you have no idea what this means to me.” He gently sent the tiny amount of magic he had recovered in this time through the pressure points on Fluttershy’s temple, and she was out like a light. Matsu gently laid her down, “But that’s all the more reason that I could never hurt you now. Your animal friends will take care of you now. I hate it, but this is the only way I can repay your kindness.”

As if on cue, Fluttershy’s animals came running up to get her, some ready to fight Matsu to save her, but all knew they couldn’t beat that thing. Matsu looked up at them, “I used the conquerors Haki to beat the Enforcers, but it wasted all my power. Take her to safety, and tell her to go home once her job here is done.”

With that, Matsu stood and briskly walked away. He could allow himself to cry because he didn’t have enough energy to go berserk now anyway. Matsu had more than one friend he had to look out for now.

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

Fluttershy awoke on the same bear-cot that she had put Matsu on earlier that day (she couldn’t put him on a pony sized cot; it would have been too small). Her animal friends had brought her back. She thought about all that had happened and figured out approximately what just happened. She looked up at her animal friends and asked, “Where’s Matsu?” they just shook their heads, they didn’t know exactly where he was, but he was gone. Fluttershy braved up, and went to check up on all her little animal patients. The mixture of her treatment and Matsu’s cooking had all but cured them all. Some of them still need some rest but that was the full extent of it. After seeing that everything was ok, Fluttershy gathered up all her little animal friends and spoke to them, “Everyone listen up. All of your conditions have stabilized. You should all able to pull through with some rest. My job here is done. I know I said that I would stay with you longer, but that was on my own vacation time. I’m going to have to end my vacation early. I have something very important to do, and I think you all know what it is.”

One of the birds chirped something to her, “Yes, that’s right, I have to help my friend, and the rest of his crew if possible.” One of the bears growled something, “Yes I know it’s risky but I have to do it. He is my friend.” Angel bunny motioned as if to ask how, “That actually is a good question, one that I’m not smart enough to answer, but I know who is. I have to find Twilight Sparkle. She’ll know what to do.”

Fluttershy was now on her way back to Ponyville. She had no way of knowing that Twilight was off helping Rain at that moment. She had to get help. Angel Bunny was the only one of “her” animals that had come with her, and he was now riding on her back. Angel bunny may have seemed like a huge jerk sometimes, but he knew when to be himself and when to be helpful, and now was a time to be helpful. There wasn’t much he could do but stay strong for her right now though, so that’s what he was doing.

Fluttershy found herself remembering back to her night at the gala, where she had gone crazy on all those little animals. She then found herself remembering that it wasn’t the first time it had happened. It was years before Twilight Sparkle had come to Ponyville. At that time, Fluttershy was already friends with Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. But to be fair, Pinkie Pie was mostly her friend because Pinkie Pie befriends everyone. They had all three come to see Fluttershy because she had been having a lot of problems with her animals for about three months in a row at that time. Fluttershy had snapped. It was just as bad as the grand galloping gala but the difference was there was nowhere to run.

At that time Rainbow Dash had managed to calm her down. If there is a testament to Rainbow Dash’s courage, it’s not flying or bucking dragons; it’s staring crazy Fluttershy down without a hint of fear and calmly asking her to compose herself.

After Fluttershy became composed, she became scared. What would her “friends” think of her now? They would hate her. They would throw her away! But they didn’t, they were there for her. They forgave and forgot just like that. Fluttershy never forgot that.

Fluttershy realized why she was thinking about all this now; Matsu was in the same boat. The hardship of being kind is that when you are kind to others and others are not kind back to you, it wears on one’s patience. And when it snaps, very, very bad things usually happen. Matsu wasn’t cruel. He was kind, and people usually repaid him with fear and rejection.

Fluttershy knew more than most how hard that could be. People that had done good most of their lives and were judged as “bad” or “crazy” people because of one little uncharacteristic thing they had done one or two times! It was enough to drive anypony to the edge of reason. After that one party they had thrown for Pinkie Pie, someponies had started saying she was crazy or dangerous. Rainbow and Applejack had put down those rumors, but the stigma stuck. It made Fluttershy mad that after a lifetime of being the happiest and friendliest Pony in Equestria that people could think badly of Pinkie after just one uncharacteristic thing.

It made her more than mad. It had her want to show everyone that everyone makes mistakes, and that you shouldn’t overlook a lifetime of good for a day of bad.

She had already forgiven and forgotten what happened with Matsu and she was going to help him.

Nopony and nobody should be without forgiveness if they deserve it, and Matsu needed it now more than most.

“Angel” said Fluttershy, “Kindness is about more than being nice to everypony. It’s about forgiving and forgetting the little things everypony does, and looking for the good in everypony. If you can see the good in anypony it’s hard to not be kind to them. There’s a whole lot of good in Matsu and I’m going to help get his crew back together, if I have to fight past all the Dragons and Enforcers in the Omniverse myself!”

Chapter 4: Loyalty and Honor

View Online

Rainbow Dash sat on a cloud high up in the sky. She was doing her third favorite thing, which of course is being lazy and doing nothing at all. The First was Winning and the second was flying in general. She had earned this rest after her prosperous time at the Wonderbolts Academy a few weeks ago.

Suddenly she looked up and saw somepony flying really fast. Unless it was one of the Wonderbolts, then it could only be Lightning Dust. It was golden like her and everything. Rainbow Dash decided to watch but then noticed that it was flying straight down! It could be that one of the Pegasus was falling, but nothing fell that fast. It would have had to have fallen from the stars themselves to have picked up that speed. She decided to fly out and interact with this thing.

As she got within less than 10 meters of it, she thought that it looked like a human, but it was hard to tell with it falling that fast. The second thing she noticed was that it was singing,

“I am freeeeee, free falling”.

Rainbow Dash flew circles around it to create a twister and slow its speed. As she flew around it, it slowed, but not nearly enough. It was going to hit the ground. She couldn’t catch it. At these speeds that would do more harm than good. The thing about gravity is, it doesn’t really give you time to think.

CRASH!

Rainbow Dash felt terrible. She had failed. Pegasus were designed to be able to withstand a fall from great heights, but she let this thing drop like a meteor! She had to make sure it was ok, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, are you ok? Are you alive?”

She walked up to the crater and listened.

“HA HA HA HA Staying ALIVE!!”.

The creature, which was definitely human, stood out of its crater. It had golden hair with lightning shaped bangs and hair spiked like a Jolteon. Its muscles were very well toned but not big enough that they would make it non-aerodynamic. Its eyes were as blue as the azure sky, and as fierce as dragons. It had with it an electric guitar, which was primarily black, and but had gold patterns embroidered across it. Its edges were smoothed, they were very sharp turns, but it had no corners along its main body. The most unusual thing about the guitar is that it had no strings at all, leaving no visible way to actually play it.

It turned and looked at Rainbow Dash, “I appreciate how you helped to slow my fall back there, and am impressed that you even could. My name is Musica. What’s yours?”

“Rainbow Dash,” she responded. She had no idea why, but she was in awe of him. It had nothing to do with the way he looked or the way he held himself. It was in his voice. Rainbow couldn’t tell what it was, but when he spoke, you had to listen. When he complimented her it felt the same as if Spitfire had, and Soarin’ had agreed. And when he had asked her something, it felt the same as when Celestia had. She knew that she was talking to a royal, and so even a simple question carried the weight of a royal order that could not be refused; but it’s not like she would have refused anyway. They deserved to be treated and answered with respect. She realized that she was talking about Celestia and Musica like they were the same rank.

Musica smiled and responded, “Well then Rainbow Dash, it is an honor. We should swap information. I know nothing about this world and you know nothing about the Enforcers. We really should talk.”

So they discussed everything. Rainbow Dash told Musica everything there was to know about Equestria and Musica told Rainbow everything relevant about his crew, the Enforcers, the Crash, and the Omniverse. They talked for hours. When they had said everything that was relevant, Musica stood up.

“Well then Rainbow, I’m thirsty. Where around here can I get some water?” Rainbow smiled, “Hold on a sec.” She flew up and pulled a cloud down to the level they were on. Even with equestrian physics, clouds were still made of water. Pegasus had the ability to drink clouds like they were just floating water bottles. She would probably need to make the cloud rain so that Musica could drink it though. But before Rainbow could say anything Musica bit into the cloud and drank a third of it like a Pegasus would, a before giving a satisfied, “Thanks.”

Rainbow dash didn’t know how he had done that. She hadn’t been surprised like that since Twilight and her friends had just walked onto the clouds for the young fliers’ completion. She flew down and started to ask, but Musica asked his question first. “Hey you were standing on this thing like it was solid, right?” Rainbow just nodded. Musica turned and jumped up on the cloud. He nearly fell through it, but it sprung back like a trampoline and finally he stood firmly on it. Rainbow dash was thunderstruck, “How did you …?”

Musica admired his work, “It’s a whole lot easier than using the water-walking technique. These things have some stability to 'em. I feel like I could keep this up indefinitely as long as I didn’t expend energy for anything else.”

Rainbow had to ask, “What kind of magic are you?”

Musica turned back towards her, “This is nothing. It’s just a variant of the wall-climbing and water walking technique, and not even as hard. As for my voice …” and suddenly he said something as faint as one of Fluttershy’s speeches. Rainbow Dash hadn’t heard that last part, “What?” Musica spoke audibly again, “I said that’s how loud I speak normally. I am currently amplifying my voice using the conqueror’s Haki. My particular field of magic is that I can manipulate sound with my voice, but that’s only one of my powers.” Musica pulled up his guitar and the gold lines on it where the strings should have been started lighting up, accompanied by sound. “I can also create and control electrical energy and can use it to play my guitar. Since I can create sound with electricity and I can also control sound, I can combine them to use incredible new abilities.

In short, I control thunder and lightning.”

Rainbow Dash looked on at this guy. Pegasus could do that too, but that just meant that Rainbow knew firsthand just how powerful this guy was. He controlled sound and electricity, and even though Pegasus could bring lightning out of a cloud, controlling the forces that Pegasus lived by made this guy all the more impressive.

Rainbow Dash felt like she had forgotten something. She remembered what, “Scootaloo, I told her that I would teach her how to fly today! Sorry Musica, but I have to stay loyal. We should meet up here tomorrow.” As Rainbow spread her wings to leave, Musica turned nonchalantly and pointed at a nearby bush, “Would she happen to be one of the three tiny ponies hiding in that bush over there?”

Rainbow Dash turned and looked at the bush in question. Out came Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. “I told ya’ll they'd find us,” said Applebloom. “Well it’s not like we could have left with them settin' right over there. Besides I didn’t want the alien to know we were here,” said Sweetie Bell. “Hey if it was dangerous Rainbow Dash would have mopped the floor with it. Besides, if Rainbow Dash says that this thing is ok, then it’s ok,” said Scootaloo. Rainbow walked over to the three little fillies, “What were you three doing there?”

Applebloom and Sweetie Bell pushed Scootaloo out front. She had led them here and it was going to be her problem now. “Uh well,” started Scootaloo, “We noticed you and that thing fallen out of the sky and thought that we should come check it out. And then we got here and you and it were talkin', but since we had never seen anything like it before we didn’t want to leave you alone with it. So we hid and waited to see if you would need any help. But we barely heard anything. Just something about the Omniverse, and the Enforcers, and humans, and a crew, but you know nothing much.” Scootaloo put on the worst poker face since the one Applejack had tried against Pinkie on Pinkie’s birthday.

Musica laughed, “I like these Cutie Mark Crusaders, full of spunk and ready for adventure. Just like my crew.”

Applebloom deadpanned and looked straight at Musica, “How'd you know we were the Cutie Mark Crusaders? We ain't introduced ourselves yet.”

Musica answered matter-of-factly, “My hearing extends as far as my ability to sense life force. I can hear everything up to two kilometers away, further if I stretch out my power hard enough. I heard you guys talking right after I crashed. Something about protecting Rainbow Dash and seeing what that thing was that fell out of the sky and becoming, and I quote: "Cutie Mark Crusaders fallen object investigators!”

The creepy part was that when Musica said that last part, he sounded EXACTLY like the three of them. He even produced all three of their voices at the same time like he was three different people. All four ponies now looked at him in shock. Musica again answered matter-of-factly, “Sound manipulation and supersonic hearing remember?”

Musica suddenly flipped about, a serious look on his face, “Sounds like they want to finish the job and finish us off.” Musica turned to Rainbow Dash, “Get the kids out of here. Those Enforcers that I told you about are on a plateau about two kilometers south and one point five kilometers east of here.”

Rainbow Dash jumped, “That’s where the Wonderbolts Academy is! They probably want to make it a landing and takeoff zone. It would be perfect for that!”

Musica ran that way, “Take care of the kids, I got this.”

Rainbow turned back to the Crusaders, “I’m really sorry, but can you three get back to Ponyville on your own from here? I really, really, really don’t want to leave you three on your own, but he will never make it in time. I have to go and help them.”

Scootaloo looked conflicted, “But we ...” Sweetie Bell interrupted, “Alright Rainbow Dash we understand, GO!” Rainbow Dash ascended, “Thanks. Musica may control sound.” She flew off in the direction of the Wonderbolts Academy, “But I can fly FASTER than sound.”

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

At the Wonderbolts Academy, things were in chaos. The Wonderbolts and their recruits were doing their best to fight of the Enforcers but weren’t able to damage any of them, even with lightning from clouds, so they basically had to lead them away so that the weak could escape, or try to lead them into the obstacle courses that the recruits had to go through. Spitfire made her way back to the runway, where she rendev with Soarin’, “What's the situation here Soarin’?” Soarin’ looked despairing,“Not good Spitfire. We haven’t managed to harm any of them. We've tried everything and nothing works! Maybe they can’t be hurt. And you?”

Spitfire reported, “I just lead them through the obstacle course and had the boys fire it up right behind me. They just got the thick of it, so it should slow them down considerably”… THUD! Spitfire and Soarin’ looked about and saw that they were surrounded by the dozen Scout Class Enforcers that had just finished the course in what would have been and all time record. Spitfire deadpanned, “Impossible, WE couldn’t have finished the course that fast!” Two of the Enforcers spat green blasts of energy like bullets that hit Spitfire and Soarin’ and they fell, paralyzed temporarily by the blast.

Almost all the other Pegasus had already been caught and those that hadn’t had no chance of escape. The Enforcers grabbed Spitfire and Soarin’ by the back of the necks like a cat and dragged them towards the ship. The dragging hurt their bodies a little, but it was searing pain to Spitfire’s pride.

The kind that where dragging them looked like humans, but had wings like cell, that she would have sworn you never be able to grant any level of flight (and wouldn’t have been able to if it weren’t for magic). Other than that they were just like the Pawn class Enforcers that now patrolled the grounds.

Suddenly many of the nearby Enforcers looked up. A light blue green Pegasus with yellow hair was diving trying to pick up speed. At the last second she turned parallel to the runway, and kamikazed right into one of the Pawns, tearing its head off.

Despite this little victory, the Pegasus in question was very, very badly hurt by this foolish move. She spiraled out of control and landed at Spitfire’s side. It was Lightning Dust, and she was critically wounded. Spitfire yelled at her, “You foal! Do you realize that you could have killed yourself?”

Lightning Dust looked at her instructor, “You know me, always pushing my limits and putting myself and those around me at risk.” With that she passed out. Soarin’ looked to the one that she had destroyed, “At least she got one of ‘um. It means that they can be ...” Right before their eyes the “destroyed” Pawn reformed as good as new. None of the other Enforcers had seemed to take any notice of these events other than one lone Pawn making its way to collect Lightning Dust.

It wasn’t like Soarin’ could move anyway, but if he could, he would have fallen flat. It was truly hopeless. These things were invincible, and the ones that could fly were better fliers than the Wonderbolts themselves. Plus, one thing about Enforcers, they are not specialists, they are perfectionists. Each new rank gets new strength and abilities, but they never lose the powers of the previous ranks. The Soldier class hadn’t even bothered to leave the ship, and the Gladiator Class Enforcers had only left to take inventory of their new territory. Truly, completely hopeless.

Whoosh!

Rainbow Dash had flown with a sonic Rainboom and scooped up Spitfire and Soarin’. She chided them, “You know this is the second time I’ve had to swoop down and save you two.” They were going to make it, they were going to get away and have time to regroup.

ZAP!

Or not. Rainbow had been shot down by the same stunning magic that the other two had. She still had some momentum, so she was still moving but she couldn’t move her body the way she wanted to. The Scouts flew up and caught the runaway Pegasus, which of course meant that they were moving at nearly sound speed, and carried them back to the Gladiator, not wasting any more of the patrol than it took to carry the three back. Once again the other Enforcers hadn’t paid any attention to this display. They all just knew that the others would do their jobs right, so they stayed at their own posts all the while, never lowering their guard or their post. A perfectly well-oiled conquering machine.

The three Pegasus were brought before the Gladiator class just like the other captured Pegasus. It sat there completely unmoving, not giving the new arrivals any notice. After all there was nothing special about them as far as it was concerned. Totally hopeless.

Just at that moment, the Gladiator stood, its gaze looking to the end of the runway. For once, all the Enforcers had left their posts and were buzzing about an intruder as though he was the center of their world and they were orbiting him. They threatened but dared not rush him. It was Musica, and he was mentally calculating how he was going to beat them all, AND save the Pegasus. Suddenly he vanished. None of the Pegasus knew what had happened or where he had went. But the Enforcers knew he was right beside the Gladiator Enforcer.

Musica turned to Rainbow Dash, “You remember I told you I could combine sound and lightning to create incredible new abilities? Well those abilities are called SONGS and I have five of them. But first I need to charge up.”

Musica held his guitar ready to play, “Thunderstorm Tuning.”

Suddenly all the clouds surrounding the Wonderbolts Academy (and there were a lot) began to boil and lightning flowed out of them before converging within Musica himself. The Gladiator drew its sword and went to kill the hostages. Musica wasn’t about to let that happen, but he didn’t move.

Musica sent a bolt of lightning out of his guitar and fried the Gladiator, not enough to kill it, but it saved the Pegasus. Any Enforcer that tried to get close was fried by a bolt of lightning.

“This power calls electricity to me like my body was a lightning rod. Lightning always strikes the nearest object. So if anything I deem hostile gets close to me, lightning comes out of me and strikes it. This allows me to charge up and to defend at the same time.

Now let's start the concert!

First song: Waltz of the Soaring Lightning Spirit.”

Musica disappeared and a moment later he was sparing with the Gladiator. The other Enforcers were rushing him like hornets with their hive disturbed. But he was fast, too fast to keep track of. His body was coated in a coat of electricity, as was his guitar. Rainbow now knew why his guitar had no edges, it turned from a smooth musical instrument to a blazing lightning axe meant for cleaving Gladiator Class Enforcers in half with when coated in lightning. One of the Enforcers rushed the hostages, ready to detonate itself to destroy them. Since it was going to blow up, it wouldn’t matter if Musica cut it. It would still explode and take the Pegasus with it. Better to destroy the Pegasus than let Musica save them. Suddenly the Pegasus vanished. They reappeared across the runway, their bodies coated in electricity that did not hurt.

“This song coats me in my electricity and lets me move at electric speeds over relatively short distances, and super speeds up my reaction time. I can also move other things or people at this speed, but the drawback is that it seriously strains my body.

Second song: Lightning Dragon’s Howling.”

Musica’s coat of lightning went away and he roared, producing a blast of white hot lightning. It was not sporadic like regular lightning because it was contained within, and amplified by, sound manipulation. He then reeled back and sent out waves of white lightning orbs that tore apart the soldiers that had now entered the fray.

“This song lets me compress my lightning into solid orbs or blasts of energy. It’s much slower than lightning or sound, but is much stronger.

Third song: Mind-blowing concert.”

Nothing seemed to be happening. Everything was relatively quiet and there was no “music”, but the Enforcers started acting drunk. They were all jumping the Gladiator like it was the enemy. Those that were afar off couldn’t fly straight anymore.

“Sound is just a signal to your brain. The brain works by sending bioelectric pulses to and from the body. By controlling both, I can control something’s mental processing. Mess with their senses, even their sense of reality and reason.

Fourth song: Angelic Chorus of Valhalla.”

Suddenly Rainbow Dash could move again. Based on the looks of it all the other Pegasus could too. Not just move either, they felt revived, reborn even. They were all awestruck. They felt inspired and filled with pure bliss and wonderment.

“This song heals everyone that hears it, but the amount of healing done by the song is the same every time I use it, no matter how loud or quiet I sing it. Meaning that I can sing louder to heal more people, or sing quietly to a few people to heal them more effectively. Any healing magic left over heals me.”

The Gladiator rushed Musica, but Musica was better now. The healing had put him at 100%, and the Gladiator had been struck by Haki infused lightning, sparred with, hit by two lightning orbs and was staggering from the last song. Musica threw a rough uppercut into its gut, destroying it at last. But there were still swarms of Scouts flying overhead, and waves of Pawns and Soldiers on the ground.

Musica continued, “And last but not least, Luffy with the Conqueror’s Haki took out 50,000 powerful fighters with a shot of willpower, but that was just fainting. But Enforcers aren’t alive, there puppets. If they are knocked unconscious, they “die”. This technique only works on Enforcers below Gladiator Class, and cannot take out too many Soldiers at one time. Those that are my enemy will fall at my feet.

Fifth song: Trumpeting Ballad of the Conqueror!”

Musica screamed his technique's name so loud it could be heard for miles. The Enforcers all fell down beaten. And the Pegasus fell down at the same speed as their jaws. They were not affected by the fifth song, but the awe of it all floored them. They would have stayed awestruck for a really long time if they hadn’t heard three voices in the background, “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS PEGASUS SAVERS YAY!”

The Crusaders had used a magic lift that Twilight had engineered to help non-Pegasus ponies arrive at the Wonderbolts Academy after the air balloon approach had nearly killed them.

Rainbow yelled at them “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE I TOLD YOU TO RUN!”

Scootaloo interjected, “But we had to help you. And we haven’t been here long. We didn’t see anything. Especially anything about five songs that he just used to beat those guys and…”

Applebloom had to divert the attention away from them, “Hey, isn’t that Pegasus over there really bad hurt?”

Spitfire gasped, “Lightning Dust! We forgot about Lightning Dust! You human! Can you use your
fourth song to heal her?”

Musica was already on it, but as soon as he looked her over, he realized just how bad it was. He could not hear her heartbeat, and he could hear everything. He could hear her body failing “mental death doesn’t occur for five minutes after physical death unless the brain is the thing that was hurt. There is still some time.”

Musica turned to the Pegasus, “I can save her, but it will cost me every last drop of power I have and I’ll have to go into a coma to heal completely. In short, I’ll be helpless. You all have to promise me you’ll protect my body.” A wave of “We promise” came from all the Pegasus. They already owed him and they wanted Lightning Dust to be saved.

Remember, only people who hear the song get healed, and the healing is better the quieter it’s sung; therefore, Musica has to get closer to someone to perform superior healing. Closer equals better healing.

“Fourth song: Angelic Chorus of Valhalla

Perfect Remix: Kiss from a Superstar of Rock N’ Roll

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

Musica Kissed Lightning Dust and her whole body shone with the intensity of lightning. All of her critical injuries went away and she sat up gasping for air. She didn’t know why, but she felt wonderful beyond anything that she could imagine. It felt as good as being on fire feels bad, and it soaked through to every cell in her body. Why did she feel like this? And, what was that strange creature unconscious next to her? All the other Pegasus ran up either to take care of the sleeping musician or making sure she was okay. She thought it was strange that some of them were blushing or otherwise looked embarrassed. She looked up at Rainbow Dash, “Ok, someone’s really going to need to fill me in.”

Rainbow Dash picked up Musica and answered Lightning Dust, “They can explain it to you. In the meantime, I’ve got to get him to someone who can heal him and the Wonderbolts doctor wouldn’t know best how to heal him. I’m going to take him to Twilight.

Chapter 5: Laughter and Jollyness

View Online

Pinkie Pie had made her way back to Ponyville. Pinkie Pie knew everyone in Ponyville and thus, everyone in Ponyville knew Pinkie Pie. That’s why everyone knew that Pinkie had returned early. Rose, Lily, and Daisy made their way up to Pinkie and Lily asked, “Welcome back Pinkie, aren’t you home early?”

Pinkie Pie rushed up, hugged all three in superfast succession and landed back in front of them with wide eyes, a wide smile, and arms wide open to hug anyone else that came by. “You’re right. I am home early. I was planning on staying away another week, but my Pinkie senses told me that something was going to fall, and that there was going to be another doozy. And there was a BOOM, and I found this guy.”

Pinkie turned around and pointed at a human that she had brought back with her from where she found him on the rock farm. The three ponies named for flowers and several other bystander ponies all deadpanned at this strange new creature. He would easily have been twice Pinkie's height, but he was old and slouched by age a bit. They probably would have been outright terrified of him if he hadn’t seemed as happy as Pinkie Pie. The old man clearly was just as happy as Pinkie but was not energetic like Pinkie. Whether it was his nature to be that way or whether age had worn him out and made him mellow was anypony's guess.

The human spoke in a voice of a sweet and gentle old man, “Pleased to meet you, my name is Santo. It’s so good to get to meet all of Pinkies friends. She’s been telling me all about you all and your town. I know I must look strange to you, but I will bring you no ill will.”

The mayor had stepped out front by now and was trying to figure out what to do next about all this. Pinkie zipped up to the mayor and stated, “Don’t worry; my Pinkie senses told me that he is a nice old man. We can trust him.” The mayor wanted more answers, but knew the first thing she had to do was calm down the other ponies. If she made a scene it could cause a village-wide panic. She said the only thing she could think of that would make everypony return to their regular business, "It’s just one of Pinkie’s. Well, this is just one of those Pinkie Pie things.” Everypony sighed or exclaimed, “OH!” knowingly and returned to their normal business.

The mayor turned back to face the human. He had a head of white hair and a Santa-like white beard that was not very long and the whole thing looked as puffy and white as a cloud. He wore a white monk’s robe that was equally plush. Santo had a warm smile, friendly eyes, and exuded a gentleness that really can’t be found in someone who is not a kind old man.

Pinkie zipped over to the mayor and spoke, “I’m going to take him to see Twilight! Santo is looking for his crew. I wanted to find them and bring them back here. Gotta' catch 'em all! And then,” the mayor interrupted, “Pinkie Pie, calm down. Twilight is not in town at the moment. She left out yesterday without saying a word to anyone but Spike. If you must speak with her you should go see him.” As the mayor began to think about it, this was actually working out very well. Pinkie had managed to get the alien under control. Telling Spike meant telling Twilight, which meant telling Celestia! Which meant all there problems would be solved! The mayor mentally patted herself on the back for coming up with such a great plan.

As the mayor looked up, she noticed that the pair of oddities had already gone. “Curses, how did I miss something like an alien and Pinkie Pie slip by me?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Humans likely would have strayed away from a strange new beast, but thankfully ponies were generally more excepting. Already some of the younger ponies as well as the braver one, as well as those who just knew Pinkie Pie that well, began to circle the strange new creature and ask it waves of questions. Santo treated them like a kind old man treated little children, with tenderness, love, and acceptance. Santo may have been old, but his voice wasn’t hoarse or worn. It was sweet and had a jolliness to it that sounded like anything he enunciated could have turned into a warm laugh at any second.

Everypony could see how he would have made fast friends with Pinkie Pie so easily.

Pinkie suddenly gasped and sprung into the air, waving a hoof straight ahead, “Oh look Mr. Santo, LOOK. We are here! This is Twilight’s Library house! “You ...” Santo did something that might have been impossible: he mellowed Pinkie Pie! Santo just put his hand on Pinkie’s shoulder and gave a gentle grin. She stopped bouncing and giggled.

EVERYPONY in Ponyville got as wide eyed as possible. They didn’t know what this monster was, but to be able to pacify Pinkie Pie! Impossible! They just stared on as the two made their way up to the Library and knocked on the door. The other ponies stayed behind. No way were they going to miss out on seeing this.

“Sorry, Library’s closed until further notice, please come back late …” was as far as Spike managed to get before he got the door open and noticed Pinkie Pie, an alien, and all of Ponyville in the not too far distance. “Err,” Spike finished before looking around at the multiple anomalies. Spike leaned out and addressed the town, “Pinkie Pie thing?” Everypony nodded. “Come inside and make yourselves comfortable then.”

Santo was pleasantly surprised to see that ponies had furniture just like humans. It was going to make the stay so much more comfortable. Spike turned to them, “Make yourselves comfortable.” Santo took a seat on the couch and got comfortable, making ready for all the questions that were no doubt on their way. Spike may have seemed inpassive, but he knew that he would need to report to Twilight soon. Thankfully, Twilight was with Celestia, so sending a letter would take care of two problems at once. Pinkie zipped up to Santo, “Ow, ow, ow! can I tell him, O please Santo!” Santo looked over and noticed the town ponies were eavesdropping, “As long as you make sure to speak up so our guests can hear.” There was a sound of someone falling over like they had been leaning against something for support and had lost balance from shock. Santo turned to Pinkie, “Go ahead.”

Pinkie gave the speech about what was going on but spoke so fast that she skipped the important parts. All that Spike and the eavesdroppers really found out was that the human crew were dimensional travelers that had standardized magic (whatever that was), and were fighting some bad guys called Enforcers. They did not learn anything about the Omniverse or the purging of powerful beings or really anything more than the aforementioned material. Pinkie paused and asked Santo, “How was that?”

Santo thought. It wasn’t good to tell the common people that there were more than two or three universes, or about the extinction of super-powerful magic, or about the now ancient keyblade wars. Santo answered, “That will do.” Pinkie smiled and continued, “and Santo here already beat back a whole lot of those Enforcer guys right after he arrived. And once the danger was over back there I told him we should head on and find Twilight because she would know what to do. And then we came here and I started telling you this great story about ...”

Spike didn’t want to hear the same story all over again, so he interrupted, “We know Pinkie, we know what happened after that.” Spike then turned to Santo, “So you crashed a while back huh? How long ago?”

Santo looked up at the clock, “It has been nearly a full day since we arrived in this world now.”
Spike finished scribbling something and wrapped up the scroll before sending it to Celestia, "Well, that’s all we need to know I guess.”

At this point Spike let his curiosity get the better of him. Spike knew he shouldn’t have let his guard down around this guy, this alien, but Twilight had worn off on him. The idea that there was a whole different system of magic, totally different from unicorn magic, intrigued him. Spike asked, “So what is the standardized system of magic anyway?”

Santo leaned back like an old man about to tell little children gathered around a story (which was the case to him), “Long ago, the alliance got together and decided that no one world had an ideal system of magic, so they set out to build one. The standardized system does not have anything original. It’s just the best bits of multiple systems combined together. All magic systems draw on natural energy in the air around the user. In other words, every user of magic is subject to restrictions and entitled to bonuses from the natural energy of the world they are in.

But hearts are fickle and prone to instability. The hearts of entire worlds are not an exception. Magicians are at the mercy of the nature of the world they live in. Unicorn magic works fine in this world because that’s what this world is wired for. In other worlds, magics that would be considered rare or even impossible here are common because that is what those worlds are wired for.”

Santo leaned forward and pointed towards himself, “But standardized magic users filter out the particular world they are in and draw the pure, natural energy of the Omniverse. And, there are seven tiers in the standardized system: elasticity, durability, spiritual resistance, armament, speed, spiritual pressure, and strength.

Elasticity refers to the property of anything to return to its original shape should it become distorted. This gives our skin properties like rubber or gum, and means that physical force will be negated rather than absorbed. In short, it’s physical resistance.

Durability refers to how hard something is. The word hard is defined as the ability to cut something and not be cut yourself. This gives our body steel-like properties and makes us resistant to damage from things like blades or arrows.

Spiritual resistance refers to one’s resistance to magic, force, or energy. We emit a spiritual field that dilutes such things other than our own.

Armament is the offensive side of durability and refers to the ability to sharpen the body. When we Karate chop an Enforcer into two pieces, it’s not because of strength, it's because of sharpness. The real benefit of this is that the blade is sharpened with magic, and thus is able to cut magic. That is why we can cut the Logia Enforcers. We sever the bonds of magic in them and they cannot stitch themselves back together.

Speed is the ability to move quickly obviously, but it’s a bit more complicated. We can use the bio-electric energy in our bodies to speed ourselves and our reaction times up, potentially to the speed of Lightning. You move faster the stronger your “speed magic” total is, and to move as fast as lightning without using a technique would require your power level to be hundreds of times higher than the limit. Because having electricity run through you can hurt, this magic is limited by how rubbery (rubber doesn’t conduct electricity) you are, so this power is limited by one’s elasticity.

Spiritual pressure is the strength of your magic power. It is also what determines what spells you can use. You cannot WIELD anything bigger than what you can HOLD. This power is limited by how much spiritual resistance you have, or your own power would break you.

Strength finally is all aspects of the body: stamina, lift, etc. combined.

Suddenly Rainbow Dash burst in, “Twilight we have a situation!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and took notice of the prismic pony. Spike responded, “Twilight isn’t here right now, and we kinda have an alien in here.” Rainbow Dash motioned back towards the doorway, “We have an alien right here, and a hurt one at that!” The Wonderbolts had a flying transport similar to the one Twilight came to Ponyville in, but less regal and more practical; able to transport more ponies, or in this case humans. Musica lay on the transport; his hair grayed, his body comatose. Pinkie Pie put her hoof to her mouth in worry. Spike spoke up, “We should get him to the hospital”. “No” said Santo, “We have such high natural healing speed that it would be a waste of time, but we need calories and all types of nutrition to do so. We need food.”

Pinkie smiled, “That wouldn’t be a problem!”

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

The Cakes were generally more excepting than most even by pony standards. Soup was not their specialty, but it’s the best thing to feed someone who wasn’t conscious. Mrs. Cake asked Santo, “Do you need anything else?” Pinkie Pie spasmed and Santo spoke the same words at the same time that she did, “You should probably make enough for one more. Someone else just got here”. Mr. Cake raised an eyebrow, “How could you possibly …?” Pinkie answered, “I know because the Pinkie sense told me so, and Santo knows 'cause he can sense life forces.

Santo had run out already to intercept the other approaching life forces. When he made it to the street, his eyes locked with the gaze of an earth pony wearing a Stetson, pulling a cart with a human girl in it. Both of them knew that the other was the one they were looking for. Applejack spoke, “Is this girl one of your crew?” Santo walked around and picked Dea up like she was as delicate as a soap bubble, “She is my daughter.”

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

With the two humans now fed and coming to so that they could feed themselves, Pinkie spoke, “Both of them are going to be fine, but are tired, and need solid nourishment. We gave them some multivitamins, and now I can only clean and wrap their wounds and wait.” She turned to Santo, “Is there anything else that we can do for them? We still don’t know much about humans.”

Santo shook his head, “No, you did quite well. All any of us can do is wait now.”

Redheart had been called in to bandage the wounds, and finally spoke, “Fine then, but now you should let us treat you. I know you’re hurt too and trying not to show it. It’s my special talent. Don’t try to deny it.”

Santo frowned, “I’m not as badly hurt as they are. They wouldn’t have gotten hurt over measly little Enforcers' droppships either, if they hadn’t been fighting AND guarding ponies at the same time, right after their fall might I add.”

Rainbow Dash and Applejack hung their heads. Their new friends were hurt because they risked themselves for their sakes. They took notice that they both felt this way. Some “best athletic ponies in Equestria” they had turned out to be.

Santo looked at them like he had read their hearts, “It's not your fault. Even if you were strong enough to pluck a mountain out of the ground and toss it like a baseball, you couldn’t leave a paper cut on one without armament.” The Wonderbolts that had pulled the transport were still present and looking over the weakened humans. Soarin’ asked, “We tried to hit them with lightning from Santos and it did nothing to them. But then Musica hit 'em with it and they incinerated. Was that Armament too?”

Santo nodded, “They are Logia and they have no human component to dilute its full effect. No matter how they are destroyed, their magic will force them to resume their original forms. Armament severs this magic and because Logia is not part of standardized magic, it cannot ever be recovered. The moral of this story is that it doesn’t matter how strong you are. A spark of armament is worth more than a sun of might against those things.”

Spitfire looked afraid and calculating, “So you’re saying that you guys are the only ones that can do anything about those things?”

Santo said nothing, and his silence answered them. It was the Wonderbolt academy fight all over again. The Enforcers may as well have already won. It was just a matter of time before they won. Face it, even if you outnumber the enemy a million to one if it was IMPOSSIBLE to EVER damage them at all. They would eventually win. Seven super-humans might be able to mop the floor with them, but there were only seven, and no matter how strong they were, they could only be in seven places at a time, and the Enforcers could be everywhere.

Santo held out a hand as if he was handing out hope itself, “But there is one way we can win!”

All ponies looked up wide eyed. It didn’t matter if they were Pegasus, bakers, or friends. The fate of Equestria was on whatever Santo was going to say next.

Santo answered, “The keyhole of the world’s heart.

Every world has a heart, and every world’s heart has a keyhole somewhere in that world.

Whoever gets the keyhole can lock it with a keyblade, and that person becomes the keeper of that world.

If we can get to the world’s keyhole and lock it, we can become the keepers of the world. The keeper has the power to banish all beings from that world that were not native to that world. If we become the keeper, we can ban the Enforcers from this world and they will never bother Ponykind again.”

All the ponies got bright eyed and smiled ear to ear. There was a mini celebration. Spitfire walked up to Santo and whispered so that the other ponies couldn’t hear, “Is that what the Enforcers are after too?”

Santo nodded, he didn’t want to worry everypony else either.

Spitfire put two and two together. No wonder the Enforcers were not attacking capital cities. They didn’t need to enslave anypony. They just needed to find one thing and they could control everything! Spitfire didn’t want to lose morale, but she had to do something. The fate of Equestria hung in the balance. She turned, “Let it be known that the Wonderbolts will be putting aside EVERYTHING other than helping these humans for now! And that will not change unless Celestia herself says otherwise!”

“It looks like we’ve made some good friends.” All turned to see that Dea and Musica had made their way to a proper table and were now chowing down. Santo spoke, “You're right Dea. We have. We should rebulk and rendezvous to the ship.” Pinkie and Applejack exchanged a look and spoke together, “If you need more grub, we can handle that.” They could barely handle that. These humans ate enough to feed 7-9 people. To be fair, fighting like that would have to expend a few days’ worth of calories, so they really needed that much more just to avoid starving. Once they were done, they decided to head for the library to plan their trip to Twilight and the ship.

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

Even though they made their way straight to the Library, it was hard to avoid forming a crowd when you’re a friendly alien. All was going well and the humans conversed with those gathering even if they did not stop. Only Musica didn’t speak and that was because his throat hurt from “singing” too much yesterday; but he could have if he wanted to.

Suddenly all three humans stopped. Stopped walking, stopped talking, stopped moving. Pinkie at this time was spasming with “the doozy”.

Spitfire asked, “What’s wrong? Enforcers?”

Pinkie was the one to answer, “No, too strong for one of them. But it’s bad, really bad!”

The humans looked up, and the ponies followed suit. There above Ponyville were two Enforcers. One was standing on the back of the other Enforcer that was shaped like a kite, but was otherwise a black dragon with silver lines along its “frame”. The Enforcer riding it looked a lot like the muscular structure of a human, but was made of a black version of the stuff normal Enforcers were made of and had seams of silver. It had no face except its eyes, which were shinning pure red with only a black pupil.

Pinkie found herself short on breath. Her Pinkie senses had just fathomed how strong this one was. Applejack turned to her and couldn’t help but ask, “Pinkie, calm down. How many dragons would it take to amount to one of him?” Pinkie’s lower lip trembled before she burst out, “It’s over nine thousand! “ “What? Nine thousand! There’s no way that can be right!” cried Applejack.

Dea spoke, but did not let her eyes leave the intruder, “He is an Ambassador Class Enforcer and the one he's riding is a Swordbearer Class Enforcer. The Swordbearer is literally just a puppet he controls, but is just as strong as he himself: level 100 standardized system.”

The Ambassador had its legs spaced out past its shoulder’s length and had its arms crossed. Along with the eternal poker face all Enforcers donned, it turned its gaze down toward the humans, but caught the whole town in its peripheral vision.

Think about those guns with laser pointers. You know that when that little red dot moves over you, you’re doomed. As the Ambassador looked down, the metaphorical red dot was felt by everyone. It was as if the sunlight itself was its red dot. It was flaunting its Conquerors Haki so that even those who couldn’t sense power levels could feel the threat it represented. If this was chess, just having this piece of the board would count as a checkmate. All ponies froze and the three humans put up their guard, sweating bullets.

The Ambassador spoke in a pure machine voice, “Where is the keyhole?”

Santo spoke, “Even if we knew, we would never help you!”

The Ambassador spoke, “With just the three of you, the probability of defeat is only 2% and the probability of village destruction is 100%.”

Santo flaunted his conquerors Haki back to the Enforcer, “What’s the probability of your defeat when I promise you I will sacrifice my life to destroy you if you hurt anything in this village?!”

The ambassador calculated, “Probability of defeat against finally burst and two calculated rebels, 6%, statistically significant, but irrelevant. If you do not have the Keyhole, fighting you would be jeopardizing the mission. You live for now.”

Spitfire said nothing, but wondered to herself why this thing was going to let them go when it had such good chances of killing all of them.

The Ambassador couldn’t read minds, but it could read hearts, “Only the mission is important Wonderbolt. Killing you will not gain me the keyhole. And you are no threat in the long run.

HOPE IS DEAD. YOU CANNOT WIN PONY. DEALING WITH YOU IS A WASTE OF TIME BECASE YOU CAN DO NOTHING.”

With that, the Ambassador’s ride flew of at twice the speed sound instantly.

The humans fell to the ground. Musica spoke, “Curses! Even if we were at 100% that wouldn’t have gone well! Where’s that stupid doctor of ours when somebody actually needs him?!

At that very moment, the human doctor had just finished healing a patient of his, “You’re better now, so I need you to lead me to my friends. Lead on Chrysalis.”

Chapter 6: Sins and Forgiveness, part 1

View Online

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kai smiled, “How much do you need?”

Chrysalis shot him a confused look, “Pardon?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 6: Sins and Forgiveness, part 2

View Online

Kai went in first to motion for Chrysalis to follow him. This came across as strange to those who were watching, sure that the queen should be in front and this funny looking thing should be behind her.

To their left sat the House of Commons, to the right the House of Nobles, and the royals on the dais straight ahead.

Cadence sneered at the Changeling queen, but regarded the human as something she was totally unprepared to deal with.

Cadence spoke in a watered down version of the Royal Canterlot voice, “Queen Chrysalis, you have been charged with crimes of invasion, kidnapping, acts of violence against officers, acts of violence against civilians, multiple acts of attempted kidnapping, desertion of property, attacks against two royals, and several other war crimes. How do you plead?”

Kai turned to Chrysalis with kind eyes and she answered them with harsh words, “I don’t want to do this you know.” Kai whispered back, “You don’t do the right thing because you want to anyway. You do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Guilty,” replied Chrysalis.

Cadence didn’t know what she had been expecting, apparently the Nobles didn’t either.

Kai made a graceful bow towards the Crystal Princess, “If I may, I would like to say something your highness.”

Cadence may or may not have agreed under different circumstances, but she wanted to find out as much as she could about this strange creature and allowing its question was the best way to find out what it wanted. “Speak,” Cadence commanded.

Kai looked up at Cadence with pleading and reverent eyes, “I assume you have been told about the Changelings ‘debt’ and

I have been told about your Crystal Heart. The Crystal Ponies more than anyone else are experienced in giving love away for free. They do so with the Crystal Heart every Crystal Fair. No one can be commanded to love and even if they could, it wouldn’t be a gift anymore. It would instead be a tax.

I want you to plead with your people to ‘adopt’ the Changelings as neighbors, thus donating them enough love to pay off all of their debt and break their curse once and for all.”

“YOU WHAT?!” screamed the two royals of the Crystal Kingdom. The Nobles present likewise began debating fiercely, “AND WHY WOULD WE EVER DO THAT?”

Kai explained, “They were once ponies just like you. If you became one wouldn’t you want someone to help you?
Unconditional love is doing for others just because it’s the right thing to do.

And, if you cannot let go of your grudge,” Kai put his hand over his heart like he was pointing to himself, “then punish me. I will take any vengeance that you have in their place.”

The only living thing in the room that had any certainty left was Kai. Everypony else was speechless because they had stopped thinking. They had no idea what to think of this, let alone what to say or do.

No one had ever done anything like this for her kind. Cadence stared at Chrysalis and remembered the last time she saw the Changeling queen. She felt like she was boiling inside, but no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, she still saw Kai standing there. Kai pacified her just as much as Chrysalis enraged her, leaving her feeling numb.

“Court will take a three hour recess,” said Cadence. Everypony needed a chance to take a breather.

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

Cadence paced in the judge’s chambers. Shining Armor stood nearby, unsure what to say. Cadence pleaded with her husband, “What am I going to do Shining? We were the ones she hurt the most, but she tried to destroy our whole way of life! She’s a monster! But I can’t deny, that human has a point. Even if their queen is a monster, does that give us the right to turn our back on her subjects, subjects who used to be ponies and are now hurting?”

Shining answered, but it seemed he was trying to convince himself as well, “I’m not sure I can forgive her either, but I agree that we shouldn’t punish all the Changelings just because of her; but it isn’t like they are innocent either.”

Cadence growled at him, “If you’re trying to make me more certain, you’re not doing a good job.

If you think about it, HEALING the Changelings means BEING RID of the Changelings. Once the curse is broken, the Changelings will be no more. We can be free from there kind forever.

But on the other hoof, we would essentially be pardoning them of their crimes and aiding them in their goals, the same goals that they nearly ruined Canterlot to achieve.”

Shining Armor finally spoke, “I know. I feel the exactly same way.”

KNOCK, KNOCK.

Shining scowled, but answered calmly, “Come in.”

The doors opened revealing several Nobles from the Crystal Empire. The eldest, Old Ways, addressed Cadence, “Your majesty, we have been talking this over, and if you do not have an ideas, we may have the solution.”

Cadence had already been having problems with the Crystal Nobles before this trial. They were doing their best to make her a mindless puppet of a ruler so that they could rule from behind the scenes. Cadence was weary of their advice, but couldn’t deny the influence they had. Cadence asked, “What?”

Old Ways grinned, but it could not be seen under his beard, “We know that you have the power to reach into other ponies, or in this case, humans, and draw out the love they have deep down in their hearts and draw it to the forefront of their thoughts and feelings.

This human has taken the Changeling’s side and for reasons I personally don’t understand, the common ponies seem to have taken a shine to him; but neither the human nor the common ponies have heard much about her crimes.”

Cadence was growing impatient, “Get to the point, Old Ways.”

Old Ways bowed gently, “My apologies. In short, we want you to use your power on the human, but to draw the fear of the Changelings out of him, rather than love. Kai was not hurt by Changelings; let us give him some of your pains and he will turn on her, winning us the case.”

Shining roared at the Nobles, “What you're talking about is King Sombra’s magic! We would never ...”

Old ways continued, “It’s just one little spell. If he agrees, despite having your pain, she must be worth helping. If not, then even if her allies turn on her, we win. It’s simple.”

Cadence had been through enough. She didn’t want to start a civil war with the Nobles, she didn’t want to aid the Changelings, nor did she want to use Sombra’s magic. Cadence put her hoof down, “I will not force that tyrant’s magic on anypony! I guess he’s a human, but still I ...”

Old Ways interjected, “Then you will be happy to know that he agreed.”

Shining Armor and Cadence froze, “What?!”

Old Ways continued, “So what will you do? We got his consent and we’ve already excited the common ponies about this brilliant plan.”

Old Ways bowed and the Nobles left the room, “It’s your call of course, your majesty.” With that, he was gone.

Shining screamed to himself, “That fiend! That old goat already went behind our backs, tricked the human and rallied the commoners to agree with him!”

Cadence moved towards the courtroom doors, “We will simply have to make do.” She tried to sound confident, but Shining didn’t need to look hard to see she didn’t have a clue what to do. She had run out of ideas. Shining followed. For better or worse, he was always going to be by her side.

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

Cadence had the least confident eyes in the royal court and she was staring into the eyes of the one with the most confident eyes, Kai. Cadence wanted to plead with him one last time, “Are you sure about this? I’m going to give you all the bad memories and fears we collectively have of the Changelings. The Crystal Ponies may not have any, but we have many here from Canterlot to help us rebuild the Empire. We’re talking about dozens of Ponies worth of fear and mine alone is …”

Kai remained confident, “You’ve already said this a dozen times. I’m ready to do it.”

Cadence had lost. Old Ways had talked everypony and the human into this foolish plan. She had done everything she knew to talk him out of it, to no avail. “Alright then,” and with that Cadence’s eyes became like Sombra’s and she struck Kai with the magic of fear itself. It didn’t work at first because Kai was so powerful. He literally had to work to absorb the (comparatively) weak magic through his natural resistance to spells.

Kai began to remember events he had never experienced. He felt what all the ponies of Canterlot felt for the Changelings. Kai feared them and that drew out his wrath. He turned on Chrysalis with fury in his eyes, “You did this. You are responsible.”

Kai turned on Chrysalis and made ready to strike.

Chrysalis would normally have run away, but she knew that escaping from this Titan would prove impossible. Besides, their plan had failed. Without the help they had come here to get, restoring the Changelings would be impossible. Chrysalis closed her eyes and awaited her end.

SMACK!

Chrysalis felt that she had been hit with the same blast that knocked her out of Canterlot. Kai had swatted her across the face so hard she felt she might never breathe again. She might even have been sent reeling if he hadn’t brought the same hand back to backhand her and balance out the forces that were seeking to move her.

And yet, that was all there was. No stab through the heart, no mountain shattering blow, just a slap that knocked the wind out of her, accompanied by a furious look.

Kai screamed at her, “Chrysalis! We do not hurt ponies! Apologize right now or so help me I’ll beat some sense into you the hard way!”

Chrysalis was more afraid of the scream than the actual hit. She turned to Cadence and Shining Armor, “I’m sorry! I was just trying to help my people! I want to make things right. That’s why we came here!”

Kai’s eyes, which had (almost) completely turned like Sombra’s, now became his usual ones, and he resumed his perpetual calm.

Kai turned back towards Cadence with a bow, “I beat your Nobles challenge; now please keep your word.”

Cadence knew she should have felt defeated by this, but she didn’t. She felt glad that she hadn’t made friends tear each other apart. She spoke with purest happiness, “Yes of course, but why did you leave it at that? Not many are that forgiving.”

Kai raised an eyebrow like it was obvious to him, “Because she is my friend. When friends do something wrong you bring them to justice for their own sake; but even if your friend sells their soul to the devil, that doesn’t give YOU the right to change. You never give up on your Nakama. Never.”

All were speechless, until the leader of the common ponies of the Crystal Empire stepped forward and spoke, “You have proven to me that your will is unbreakable and your love unconditional. We Crystal Ponies live by the power of love, as we have for generations. We know that unconditional love is the most powerful and rarest kind. Even if no one else will, I will give you my support.”

Cadence stepped forward and addressed the Changeling Queen, “We certainly have our differences, but we are both ponies whose people live on the power of love.”

Cadence turned to the Noble Crystal ponies, “Let us help them.”

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

Chrysalis had spent lifetimes planning every possible way to get the love needed to heal her people, but she wasn’t prepared for this. The Changelings had been gathered and the Crystal ponies had been assembled.

They had been told about the Changelings curse and had all come out to help, each of their own accord. Cadence walked up and stood alongside Chrysalis before addressing her, “They were under a curse until recently too, you know. They also need the power of love to survive. Kai was right. They are the perfect ponies to help your people.”

Cadence turned, teary eyed, to the Changeling Queen, “Forgive me for nearly letting a grudge ruin so many lives.”

Chrysalis turned back towards the heart, “You should thank Kai for now, but when my heart comes back, I will forgive and forget and say my apologies as well.”

Shining Armor approached the two and said the only thing he could, “It’s starting.”

Indeed it was. The Crystal ponies had begun what they had done before with Sombra. The power of love filled the Crystal Empire and the Changelings basked in its warmth. It was more love than they ever could have gathered but more importantly, it was a gift. It wasn’t love meant for someone else and it wasn’t being stolen or loaned, it was a gift.

But it still wasn’t enough.

Chrysalis spoke, “This is still not enough. It’s very close, but not enough. We still need a little over a hundred ponies more.”

Cadence wasn’t going to give up that easily, “We are almost there. We can’t fail because we’re short by just that much!”

Chrysalis lowered her head, “There is only one way. I can reduce the number of Changelings that need to be healed. Then there will be enough to go around.”

Cadence looked betrayed and growled at the Queen, “I was right about you! You’re talking about killing your own people so that there will be enough to save the rest of them. You …”

Chrysalis’s eyes began to glow and she backfired the spell she had powered up straight into her cranium.

All the Crystal Ponies gasped in terror and shock. The heartless queen had just made the ultimate sacrifice for her people.

The Changelings all began to glow with pure white light. Their queen’s sacrifice had worked. The Changelings all began to turn back into ponies of various races, right before passing on. Everything had worked. They Changelings were all healed, except one - the Queen.

Shining had run to his wife’s side. She had certainly needed it. She stared at him with guilty eyes, “She sacrificed herself.
She gave up her life for her people and the last thing I said to her was that she was a monster and that I never should have helped her. She may have made some bad choices, but she lived and died for her people. I was the monster.” Cadence then wept bitterly as her husband cradled her.

Kai had made his way to Chrysalis’s corpse and checked the pulse in her temple. “Stupid girl” said Kai “You hit your brain. You went straight into mental death. Do you know how hard that is to heal?”

Kai put his hands together as though he was praying, “But you have only died in the last half a day; so I can still heal you. Rinne rebirth - art of resurrection.

Kai placed his hands on Chrysalis and looked much, much older, his hair as white as snow, his skin as worn as leather.

Chrysalis on the other hand looked much better - alive! Chrysalis looked over to see her healer, who hushed her to say what he had to in what small time left till unconsciousness, “I won’t live unless you get me back to my crew. And they should be enough to heal you too.”

“You’re better now, so I need you to lead me to my friends. Lead on Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis lifted the human onto her back before turning back to Princess Cadence, “The ‘Changelings’ won’t remember anything more than a passing dream when they awake. Take care of them. I have three debts to repay now.”

Chapter 7: Generosity and Charity

View Online

Rarity was frantic. Of all the most horrible things that could happen, this was THE – WORST – POSSIBLE - THING!

She was running late and at such a time no less! She had been on her way to Canterlot for a big fashion show that was supposed to be later that day, but her horn had told her that gems were nearby. In all the rush to ‘just check them out’ Rarity had grown fashionably late and all she had to show for it were saddlebags full of diamonds. What could be worse than that?

Rarity tried to calm herself, “Calm down Rarity dear, it’s not like the sky is falling.”

BOOM!

Rarity turned around to see that a crater had appeared just behind her. Within it was a bipedal creature that Rarity first assumed was a Diamond Dog. She couldn’t help but notice however, that it seemed gleeful, despite its obvious injuries.

Furthermore, its posture was much too polite to be mistaken for one of those ruffians. She also admired the way it was dressed. The shoes may have been a little too big and the pants were slightly baggy, but she was sure you could do worse. Most viewing it would say its outerwear was just simple fabric, but Rarity recognized it as the rarest and strongest of all threads - spider’s silk, cleansed of all stickiness. (1)

Also, his eyes were not like a Diamond Dog’s at all, but rather those of a pony. They were colorful, crystalline and as bright and curious as a newborn foal; and they were looking right at her. (2)

The creature spoke, “A unicorn? A unicorn! That’s amazing, and it’s so pristine!”

Rarity liked this thing already, “Why thank you darling. How flattering! ‘Amazing’ is compliment enough, but Pristine? Marevelous dear, really.”

The creature looked shocked, “And you’re sentient no less. In that case, I should introduce myself. My name is Sol and I am a scholar of everything.”

Rarity now seemed skeptical, “A scholar you say? You seem a bit too, well too …”

Sol finished her thought for her, “Childish, young? Yeah, I get that a lot.”

Rarity looked embarrassed, “Sorry dear, I didn’t mean to be rude.”

Sol shook his head, “It’s perfectly alright, but there's sort of a situation here. Here, let me fill you in.” Sol walked over and touched Rarity on the forehead and suddenly she ‘remembered’ things she had never been told. She remembered the Enforcers, and the crash, and that Sol had to find his crew. She didn’t have visions; it was pure information, like reading a book. She had to imagine what it looked like herself.

Sol removed his hand from Rarity’s forehead and Rarity questioned him, “How did you do that dear?”

Sol smiled, but that's not saying much, since he was usually ALWAYS smiling, “I am a psychic. I can speak directly into people’s minds. It takes a lot longer to have a conversation than to remember the same conversation. The brain just works like that. By skipping straight to the memory, I can save a lot of time.”

Rarity gave Sol an evil glare, “That’s just fine, but you didn’t read my thoughts did you? I won’t have you invading a lady’s privacy.”

Sol shook his head defensively, “I won’t deny I could have, but I only do that with my crew or my enemies. Crew because we are all friends and it helps us communicate better, and enemies for obvious reasons.”

Sol’s gaze instantaneously shot towards Canterlot, still far off in the distance, before immediately returning to Rarity, “I was headed that way,” pointing in Canter lot’s direction, “I’ll have to say farewell.”

Rarity clapped her hooves, “Well good. It happens I’m going that way also. Let’s go.”

Sol looked worried, “Um, oh alright. I guess I’ll have to tell you then. I’m also something like a fortune teller. I don’t know what’s in that direction, but it’s going to be in grave danger soon. I …”

Rarity didn’t let him finish “WHAT! Well, all the more reason. Let’s go!” and with that she was on her way.

Sol didn’t like the way things were going, “I don’t predict I can talk her out of it, but I didn’t foresee her death, so I’ll have to make do.”

The two sentient life forms with a keen eye for detail were now on route for Canterlot.

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

Elsewhere Princess Luna was fighting off mixed feelings of glee and suspicion. Celestia had run out suddenly a few hours ago and had left Luna in charge of everything. While this pleased Luna greatly, she was not a foal and knew that something must be going on. They have divided up the ruling since her return, and Celestia had already given Luna a few days of absolute rule; but those were planned months in advance and this was literally instantaneous.

Luna however was no ordinary pony and could sense ... something. That’s all there was, just something. She didn’t know what. It wasn’t good or evil, but it was strong, and it wasn’t alone. Some other force, totally different from the first had also appeared, but she had long ago last any trace of it. Luna was sure that this was what Celestia had departed to handle.

Luna wanted to go too, but she couldn’t very well leave Canterlot without either monarch, not without a plan at least, and right now she was too tired to make one. It was the middle of the day now after all, and she would have preferred to be asleep. What she would give for a nice dark place to doze off.

Suddenly she got her wish. The Sun was blocked out. Luna stared up at the thing, but it was impossible to tell what it was in this lighting. One instant later a green patterned light washed over all of Canterlot and the next …

ZAP!

It didn’t hurt, per say, but as soon as the flash passed over her, even Princess Luna fell to the ground, totally unable to move.

“Stunning magic. They're trying to paralyze us,” cried Luna. Forget trying, they did it. All across Canterlot all ponies were snoozing away. Only Princess Luna was still conscious but she couldn’t feel her magic anymore at all. She managed to half stand, but just fell down again.

Suddenly the Enforcers descended all around her. They were human shaped. Human with wings, human with armor, and now a bulky armored one with black markings (as opposed to standard silver) made its way to the Moon’s keeper.

The Gladiator Class Enforcer now in front of her spoke mechanically, “You appear to be the only one still conscious. You must be Princess Luna.”

The Gladiator picked her up by the neck and held her right to its face, “Where is the heart of this world?”

Luna tried to blast this thing right in the face, but no magic would come. She still couldn’t feel any magic at all.

The Gladiator continued, “All non-standardized, or non-Enforcer type magic, is nullified by our stunners and can never be recovered without healing from standardized magic. Resistance is futile. Where is the heart?”

Luna felt like she had died inside. Her magic would never come back? She had thought if she stalled, it would return in a moment. But to never wield magic again?!

She did the only thing left to do.

She spit in the Enforcers face, “I know you not demon, but I will not aid one who hurt my people.”

The Enforcer’s thoughts were a mystery. Without more than empty eyes it was impossible to read the expression it had, if it could be said to have an expression at all.

It dropped Luna before turning to a Scout Class, “Fly up to the mother ship and request a Knight Class Enforcer.” The Scout took to the air at nearly the speed of sound.

The Gladiator left to investigate but Luna was not in any better a situation.

How could she let this happen? Why hadn’t she sensed the ship before it got that close? What would Celestia have done? What would Celestia do when she got back and found things like this? Would they take her magic away too? Who would raise the Sun and Moon if both of them lost their powers? Even if they won, would her powers ever return?

These questions went on and on in Luna’s mind and none of them had good answers. She had no idea what to do. It had only been one minute and all of Canterlot had been completely conquered. Celestia turns her back for literally one measly minute and the whole kingdom falls!

Luna’s mind continued in this direction of thought.

One of the Enforcers had noticed and spoke “Our defining feature is that all hope is lost for those that oppose us Princess. Tell us where the heart is and you may be able to join us.”

Luna growled at the Pawn, “I don’t even know what you are talking about, and I certainly won’t help you.”

The Pawn had never moved, and did not now. It had done its job and was no closer to the Heart, so it just stood.

Luna pleaded, not with anyone in particular; she just pleaded.

“Oh please, don’t let it end like this! Somepony, anypony, help us!”

ZAP!

Luna Looked up to see the Soldier Class Enforcer in front of her had a bullet sized hole in its head and was falling dead to the ground. Soon after that, about a dozen more Soldiers were similarly gunned down.

Luna turned in the direction of her hero, “Oh goodness and I are glad to see…

Rarity!”

Indeed, Rarity was the one who was zapping the Enforcers, usually with a comment as to their lack of courtesy, and always referring to them as ‘ruffians’.

Rarity then zapped Luna herself. It hurt, but it also restored Luna back to full power and mobility.

Luna tore through the Enforcers and made her way to Rarity’s side, “Of all the things under the stars that could have saved me, you are not what I would have guessed at all.”

Rarity waved a hoof through her hair, “Well after all Princess, I couldn’t sit idle while these ruffians did as they pleased. So uncouth, I dare say!”

Luna was furiously blasting back the Enforcers, keeping them from getting too close until Rarity motioned for her to stop, “You're just wasting your strength Princess. They cannot be hurt without Armament.”

Sure enough, the ones Rarity shot stayed down, but the one’s Luna incinerated reformed as quickly as she vaporized them.

Luna turned to the fashion mare, trying to discover why she, of all ponies, could do that and noticed that there was a glowing mark stamped around Rarity’s horn.

Rarity spoke, “Sol gave me memories of his own training to learn Armament and now I ‘know’ how to do it. The problem is that it’s temporary, and I have to use my own magic.

Luna touched her horn to Rarity’s, “If you need more magic, have mine. You’ve already done better than me. Where is this friend of yours anyway?”

BOOM!

Luna looked up to see what had happened and Rarity would have, if she could have looked away, “Sounds like he destroyed the Dropship, just like he said he would.”

Suddenly, Sol fell right into the fray, cleaving two Soldier Class Enforcers apart as he hit the ground.

Luna was wary. This thing was a human! Luna would have tried fighting it, but she quickly put together what was happening and decided joining humans (however crazy) sounded a lot better than joining the Enforcers.

Rarity scolded him, confirming to Luna that this human was in fact Sol, “Why are you so late? You said that you would be back soon. I had to save Luna all by myself. Some hero you are.”

Sol sighed, “Sorry, but I never claimed to be a hero anyway. I’m a scholar and a fortune teller. Besides, I didn’t predict anypony getting hurt here today, so I knew you would both be safe. And I just took out the Dropship and all the Enforcers in it, so we are all much safer now.”

Rarity started to go into one of her rants but the mark around her horn disappeared, and with it her confidence, “For some reason I suddenly realized just how reckless I was just now.”

Sol was powering up and firing little blasts of energy to shoot down the remaining Enforcers as he spoke, “Time’s up. I can send pure information straight into your mind permanently, but only as clear as words written on a page. To give memories or skills, I have to give you my own experiences temporarily. Don’t worry though, I fought so many of these I have plenty of experiences of how to fight them.

As for your confidence, you had my training, which involved not being afraid of something you knew you could beat.”

Suddenly the Gladiator returned. Sol smiled, “Oh Gladiator, that will work. Rarity, remember how I said I could read minds?
Well I can do mind control as well, as long as I stay in close range of the target.”

The Gladiator began to spasm and Sol approached it fearlessly. The Gladiator stopped spasmming “awaiting programing”.

Sol turned to the ponies, “We just got a new ally, but don’t trust him if he gets more than fifteen meters from me.”

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

Luna now led Sol and a newly ‘re-marked’ Rarity through the castle, awakening all the palace staff that wouldn’t panic and could help reorganize things. Only Standardized Magic was useful for waking them up though, so many remained unconscious. Sol assured everypony that it would wear off and that when they could walk again he would personally give them their magic back.

Rarity noticed that Luna wasn’t wandering about the Castle looking for ponies to help. She was going somewhere. They eventually arrived at the vault where the Elements of Harmony were kept.

Even Sol gasped in Shock at the sight of the vault torn open like an envelope and its contents missing.

Luna was frantic. She looked about for something that simply wasn’t there anymore.

Sol spoke, “I calculated that there were two Enforcers too few. Dropships always have a thousand Soldiers, a hundred Pawns and Scouts, and one Gladiator. Scouting ships have a thousand Scouts, a hundred Soldiers, and one Gladiator, but you only got one Dropship here. I calculated that we were missing a Soldier and a Scout. One of them must have slipped away and done this.”

Luna turned around and yelled in the Royal Canterlot Voice, “This vault was sealed with a spell that my sister and I had to work together to open! We improved it after Discord broke it so easily!”

Sol looked surprised, “You can use the same trick Musica does to amplify his voice?”

Sol then scolded himself, “Sorry, that’s for a different time. As for your vault, if you didn’t seal it with standardized magic, it wouldn’t matter how sacred or powerful it was. Any Soldier Class Enforcer has control over a cancerous death magic that kills any non-standardized force, other than Enforcers of course.

Luna’s eyes shone. Storms formed around the castle, “And how much more grief will these things you have brought to our doorstep cause? They trample on our sacred things and toy with our people.

And you have put us at war with them!”

Everypony froze. War. It was something unheard of in Equestria and against things even the Princesses couldn’t handle, no less.

Sol shook his head to disagree, “No, this is not war. If it were war, you would all already be dead. The Enforcers didn’t ‘spare’ you. You are nothing to them, nor for that matter are the inhabitants of any world.

The Enforcers always do the same thing - enter a world, pillage what they want, take the world's heart, and move on to the next one.

They are less an invading army and more like Vikings. You’re not their enemy. You’re their victim; just another house to rob.

They don’t kill you because you’re no threat. If they had thought you were dangerous, they would have nuked the planet first. Not that they ever have, not that they ever needed to.”

The silence was broken by Prince Blueblood, “If they’re just thieves, then why don’t we just let them have what they want? We can’t fight something that the Princesses are helpless against! Let’s just give them the goods and then they’ll go away.”

Sol shook his head, “What they want is the heart of your world. If they get it then your world wouldn’t exist anymore. Giving in is not an option.”

All were trembling, not so much from fear, but from helplessness. Rarity asked, “You didn’t give me all the information did you? What do you mean the world won’t exist anymore?”

Sol ignored Rarity and asked Luna something instead, “Princess, that accounts for one Enforcer, the Soldier. Do you know where the Scout is?”

Luna scowled at the insignificant question until she remembered the answer, “Now that I think about it, the Gladiator asked it to go get a Knight Class.”

Sol for the first time looked worried, “What?! You should have said so from the beginning! The runts we’ve been fighting here are just to handle the common problems! Above Soldier Class they grow stronger exponentially! Gladiators are nothing compared to Knights! Plus, Knights can do mind control, but it’s nothing like my version. My mind control never intrudes on the heart and soul of a person. It’s temporary puppeteering with good intentions. I couldn’t cause someone permanent mental scarring even if I tried, because my magic is one that soothes the mind; and my mind control is a gentle trance.

When that guy gets here he’s going to reach into your mind’s deepest fears and control you with them until you completely lose who you are, and become just as mindless as they are!”

Everypony was still trembling but it was mostly fear now. Luna spoke, “They must want to probe my mind and find out everything I know that could be useful to their hunt.”

Sol sighed, “Well yeah, that’s what Knights are for.

Listen carefully. Even I can’t fight a Knight Class. I told you. They get Exponentially stronger. Even with this Gladiator as a puppet I’m no match. If I had my crew we could beat it together, but not alone.”

Everypony now had the perfect mix of helplessness and fear causing their trembling. Even Luna was scared. Heck, she was the most afraid. It was her responsibility and everything was going wrong. Then Luna had the best idea ever.

“You gave Rarity the skills to wipe out Soldiers. Give me those powers and I can help you wipe out a Knight!”

Everypony plus Sol looked up at her. Sol stared off into space for a moment, “Let me explain my powers while I calculate.

I am a psychic. Of all my crew, my magic is most similar to unicorn magic. Telekinesis, telepathy, mind manipulation, pure psychic power, etc. I have it. But I also have a power to see across all the spectrums of light and I can see things no one else can.

I cannot see into the future. I’m calculating the most probable future.

Prediction and foresight are not the same thing.

Foresight means you saw a vision of the future before it happened. I can’t do that.

Prediction means you calculated what could happen and moved accordingly.

In chess, you see where all the pieces are and make predictions about what your opponent will do based on what you do; but real life has more uncertainties than a chess board.

I can see these variables in my mind’s eye and find the value of them. Life to me is just like playing chess. I can predict what will happen later, so I move accordingly.”

Sol now walked up to Rarity, took the mark he had given her, and gave it to Luna,

“Your power is not standardized so it’s a rough estimate, but I would say you approach level 100.

I’m a 50 myself, and that knight will be a 75.

I have Armament. You have raw power.

It’s just a prediction, but I think we can win!”

Luna fired off a few shots to get the feel of her new temporarily standardized magic. She raised an eyebrow at Sol before asking, “You seem to be in a good mood now. I can’t tell if you’re childlike or very scientific. Your words are calculated, but your tone is playful. You confuse me.”

Sol shrugged, “Childlike and scientific are both symptoms of my personality, ‘Curious.’

I’m curious and wide eyed, and I like being that way! The world, all worlds are so fascinating, but I can’t help but feel bad that I’m one of the few that gets to see them. When this Enforcers thing blows over, I’d like to teach what I’ve learned. There is so much I’ve learned that could benefit all sentient life and I’d really like to teach it someday.

‘Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.’

Generosity is good, but I prefer Charity

Don’t just give to others, give of yourself to others.

That’s what I feel.”

Rarity seemed to be wearing a bittersweet smile, deep in thought.

Luna walked to Sol and got his attention, “That’s fine, but first things first. Let’s make a game plan.”

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

A lone Enforcer descended out of the heavens like a demon falling from grace. Its body was a hybrid between a human and a dragon, a human skeletal form with dragonlike features. It was primarily blacker than night but its seams were silver. Its wings were small, no more than a meter wingspan, but they were powered by magic. For anyone who had seen an Enforcer though, the most dangerous feature was its eyes. They were not plain white spheres like other non-pawn class Enforcers, but perfect red and shinning like coals of fire. They also had pupils, a spot of black like its body, set against them.

It didn’t fly like a bird; didn’t need to. It merely descended in the direction it wanted to go with its arms crossed. It was just a little faster than sound, faster than the screams it provoked.

At last it slowed, standing upright, right over the palace gardens and hung like an omen of death.

Its gaze had never been met by another. None dared look into the eyes of the demonic thing. But if Enforcers could feel anything at all, this one would have been shocked. Its gaze was finally met by not one, but two sentient things. It could not help but study these brave and foolish eyes.

One was cold, serious, shining turquoise, and the other, bright, confident and curious.

Sol looked at Luna, “Let's fly.”

Luna scowled, “It would work better if you didn’t insist on riding sidesaddle.”

Sol Looked back to the Knight, “I’m not that bold. Besides, you know the plan. Fly.”

Luna shot at the Knight, carrying the source of her newfound armament and confidence on her back. The Knight did nothing. The speed at which Luna closed the gap was tremendous, but she felt as though it took an eternity. Just as they got within hitting distance of the Knight it reappeared behind them, firing with a wave of instant death magic. It hit them, but they hit back, burning a hole through its chest. Sol was fine, but Luna was gasping for any breath she could get.

Sol spoke straight into her mind instantly, “Be careful. Standardized magicians are immune to his certain death magic, but you’re only half standardized. Don’t become overwhelmed.”

The Knight tried to hit them but Sol had telepathically told Luna how to dodge, and they were safe for a moment, firing blasts rapidly. With its left hand it quickly deflected all the projectiles and with its right blasted at Luna with death magic. Sol used himself as a human shield, saving Luna from the overdose.

Luna released all her remaining charge. The Knight dodged but Sol quickly used his telekinesis to send it back at him, destroying his left shoulder blade.

The Knight flew high into the air. It had played enough, and then started firing its death magic back and forth from one hand to the other, creating an endless loop. This loop soon formed into a house sized sphere of black energy.

Sol screamed, “Fly away from the palace, I’ll cover you!”

Luna flew out over the hedge maze and the Knight tossed the sphere at them. The ponies in the palace stared in disbelief as the blast burst into an explosion that gave off darkness rather than light, and the whole world seemed to go dark for a moment.

When the lights returned, Rarity could see that the palace gardens were gone, not blown away, dead. Everything had rotted or corroded into nothingness, rotting dust billowing in the air.

And also, an orb of psychic energy.

Sol asked aloud, “You ok Luna?”

Luna was, but was shaken, “Sol, let’s switch to plan B.”

Sol was skeptical, “Alright. I’ll mind control you and fight all out, but I’ll leave you with your consciousness. I don’t take anyone’s freedom away. If you don’t like me controlling you, say anything.”

Luna felt all the tension in her body melt away. Her body moved with the flow. She knew what Sol was thinking all the time.

Both spoke, “Round 2.”

It was a round the Enforcer started. He dropped at them like a meteor. Luna’s body shot at him. Right before they hit, Luna barreled to the right, dodging an axe-like chop only by a millimeter. She blasted into its side with all her might, rending it in two at the gut; but the Knight smote them anyway. Luna had not been hit like that ever. The Elements maybe, but they were a force of good, not pain. This hurt.

The Knight blasted a death beam which Sol took, just like the Knight wanted. It now went to cleave him in two. Sol telekinetically flipped Luna upside down, saving himself. From this new position, Luna blasted all she had into the opening where the Knight’s lower body used to be. It soared up through its chest and riddled its body.

It reached down with all its might and grabbed Luna’s head. It was going to try to mind control her.

Luna had been told that the mind control of this thing would be different, but she didn’t realize the extent. This felt horrible.

Sol’s version was calming and never trespassed one’s since of goodness. This was nightmarish and felt like something was coiling about in her mind, dripping with fear.

“Don’t give up Luna! I’ll cancel both of our controls over you, and you blast him!”

The Knight raised its hands over its head, powering up another death bomb.

Luna, now totally free, barreled up, spent all of her armament, and severed the Knight’s head.

The blast powered down and the bits of Knight tumbled to the rotten ground.

Luna and Sol flew down beside the head, which was still alive, but unspeaking.

Sol sighed, “Told you we could win. If the fate of the world hadn’t hung on it, it would have been a lot of fun!”

Luna was too busy thinking how she was going to protect her world, “Sol, can you mind control this thing?”

Sol thought, “Um, I guess, since it’s just a head I should be able to, but for the same reason, it wouldn’t be much use. It doesn’t know anything I don’t. Its Intel is useless you know.”

Luna chided, “Just get into its head and make it dream. I’ll take over from there.”

Chapter 8: Moonlight and Firelight

View Online

Luna paced about in the palace court room. She had ordered everypony with consciousness to fan out and extend her orders to anypony else gaining consciousness. These orders were:

1. Spread these orders to anypony becoming conscious.
2. Have everypony come to the palace to have their magic restored.
3. Assure everypony that the thing that had done this was taken care of, and that they were not in any danger.

Only standardized magic could heal the binding on the Canterlot ponies (and any magical creatures they may have had), so Sol had ‘blessed’ Rarity and a few other good unicorns with his magic temporarily to help with the curing. Sol would normally have been enough to handle it himself, but a certain Princess was tasking him with something else.

Luna stopped pacing only to ask, “Are we ready yet?”

Sol healed a pony, motioned to another, and answered, “Not yet. We still need to get the healing stations set up properly. It’s an easy process but can’t be done without standardized magic. Your little project will take a while, so while I’m away, I need to know that the healing is running smoothly.”

Luna didn’t use the royal Canterlot voice, but spoke with the same commanding presence, “My so called little project is to go into the Enforcer’s dreams, learn all they know, and maybe even shut all of them down if they really are just puppets as you claim!

But as you said, they are puppets and do not dream, so I need you to use your mind control to make it dream, albeit unnaturally, so I can trace their ‘puppet strings’ as it were.”

Sol healed another pony, and motioned to the next, “It’s a waste of time. Their puppet strings can’t be cut that easily. My crew already knows any information you’re going to find out, and worst of all, if you really are successful you will be in grave danger. Their collective mind is strong enough to control all of them and you think you can outsmart it!”

Luna spoke very quietly, “It’s certainly worth a try.”

Sol healed another pony, “Well, I suppose everyone has to satisfy their curiosity. Rarity, can I leave you in charge here?”

Rarity had been standing right beside them both the whole time, resting up for her upcoming task and watching the process meticulously, “You can count on me dears.”

Sol gave Rarity standardized magic temporarily before heading into the next room. It was lined with guards and in the center was the head of the Knight Class Enforcers. Luna’s throne had been set on one side and a regular chair on the other for Sol.

Both sat.

Sol went over the plan again, “Alright, since you insist on this here’s what we’re going to do.
1. I’m going to mind control him, and make him ‘dream.’
2. I’m going to mind control you, so that if something goes wrong in there and you can’t get out, I can ‘pull’ you out.
3. You’re going to use your power to enter dreams to investigate to your heart’s content, but be careful.

Luna waved an impatient hoof in his direction, “Yes, yes we’ve be over this a hundred times already, now let’s get started.”

Sol corrected, “Five.”

Luna looked at him puzzled, “Pardon.”

Sol shrugged, “We’ve been over this five times now, not a hundred. I’m the scholar remember.”

If looks could kill Luna would have destroyed Sol so completely that no one would even have remembered him. Sol mentally brushed it off and started the controlling. Luna, safely “harnessed” with Sol’s mind control, could now dive into the Knight’s dreams.

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

Luna “awoke” in the dream.

She had been in thousands of dreams, but none like this.

The Enforcers “dream” was that it was a leaf on a tree. This tree was galaxy sized by the looks of it and it branched out farther than Luna could see in all directions. None of the leaves were in clusters. Each had its own little outcropped branch, all by itself. Each one also had something else; the tree equivalent of a vein and an artery. These were also unconnected to each other. The leaves had veins like a computer chip rather than leaves, but Luna knew there was an organic component to it somewhere.

Luna heard Sol talking, “What do you see in there?”

Luna relayed what she saw and added, “I was hoping that the strings controlling the Enforcers would all be tangled up in a ball or something. Each one of these leaves must be an Enforcer. I was kind of hoping I would be able to find a master control switch or something.”

Sol sounded annoyed, “If there was something that easy I think we would have found it by now.”

While busy studying the veins and arteries going to each leaf, Luna spoke to herself, “These veins and arteries may not be connected to each other, but they must eventually go to a heart somewhere. There must be a heart of all the Enforcers.”

Sol screamed, “Don’t even think about it! It’s way too dangerous! Get out of there now!”

Luna was already flying down the branch towards what she hoped would be the ‘roots’ of the tree. She flew faster and faster, and Sol’s voice got more and more distant. Eventually she couldn’t hear him at all.

Luna never was very good at listening to advice. Ask Celestia.

Luna came across what must have been the ‘Trunk’ of the tree. Billions of arteries and veins wrapping around each other all converged here and made their way straight down to the ‘roots’. Still none of these ever touched each other. They were all dependent on the same heart, but no Enforcer was ever dependent on anything else, not even another Enforcer.

Translation: nothing could shut down ALL the Enforcers except whatever was at the bottom of this ‘tree’.

Luna dove into the dark, not realizing she had wandered so far that Sol no longer had any connection to her at all.

Luna could fly, but for the first time ever she found herself blacking out from a fall.

The dream was changing.

When Luna “awoke” in this new dream she was flying over the ruins of a city. She then noticed a massive white fortress hovering in the distance.

What unsettled Luna was the time of day. It was neither day or night here, nor anything like either. There was no Sun, no moon, no stars, and no clouds, not really much of a sky.

But high above, hanging where the moon should be, there was a moon-sized, heavenly body. Luna knew the moon well and knew that this moon was receiving no Sunlight at all, a Sunless moon.

It was well lit though because lava was gushing all across its surface and its millions of volcanos never rested.

If you have ever been in the dark with only a roaring firelight to light your way, that is what the lighting of this whole world was like. Not Sunlight or moonlight, but firelight.

Luna didn’t like it at all, but the veins had led her here and she was going to check out that fort over there. Besides, she didn’t sense much of a population around here.

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

Luna investigated the fort. Everything was white but she couldn’t be sure what the building was made of. Investigating revealed that the place was deserted. She found no signs of anything.

She couldn’t have noticed the Emblems of the NOBODIES, torn down and made into gravel for the palace gardens. Only the hooks the emblems used to hang on were a reminder of the fort’s old masters. The fort had been built upon since that time and though it was no taller, it had widened and structures half the height of the main structure now made it seven times more massive.

Luna finally wandered into a large room with black and white marbled tiles. The back wall had racks designed for hanging swords on. There were thousands of them, each complete with its own display, plaque and everything. The strange part was, none of the swords in question were present.

What good was it to build such a nice place to hang all your swords if you didn’t put your swords on it?
The room had a glass wall that gave a perfect view of the horrible burning sphere in the sky but had its own good lighting otherwise and gave the room a nice, livable atmosphere.

If Luna had to be here, this was comparatively the nicest place to be.

But the most important thing that Luna noticed was that in the middle of the room, was a human. The man sat on a large throne-like couch and had a desk in front of him kind of like a coffee table.

The human himself wore black pants that were much too baggy for anyone and a white robe that was several sizes too big for someone so thin.

The human was all skin and bone, the most sickly and scrawny person imaginable. He was tall and slender, even more so being so bony. The human’s hair came down to the bottom of his shoulder blades and fell evenly all around his head, even over his face and eyes. The hair was thin, gray, and stringy, hanging like it was wet, but spiky.

Only his eyes were strong. They were as green as greed, shining like fire,

and looking at Luna.

The human held out his hand to welcome her in, revealing that his fingernails were naturally black claws, “Curious, I don’t get many visitors. Come in, sit down and enjoy some hospitality. You must have been through a lot to be here. My name is Senza. May I help you?”

Luna wasn’t about to trust this guy, “I am looking for the heart of the Enforcers. I won’t say more than that.”

Senza motioned for her to come closer, “Well then you’ve come to the right place. This is the Enforcer homeworld.”

Luna approached with no nonsense, “I will ask you what the Enforcers asked me. Where is the heart?”

Senza leaned back, “You don’t even know what the Enforcers are. You know that they are Logia right? That means that if they are hurt, they melt and reform. Like starfish or worms, if you cut them up they regenerate, so cutting one in two makes two of them.

But Enforcers need to consume life-force to split such. But understand, they are not breeding or dividing like cells, they are reforming the same way that a starfish or worm would.

In short, all Enforcers are just reformed parts broken off of other Enforcers.

There is no heart.

The only way to kill all the Enforcers is to kill the original Enforcer.”

Luna pondered, “You’re saying the original Enforcer controls them all?”

Senza corrected, “I’m saying that all the Enforcers ARE PARTS of the original. Pieces of it broke off and grew into little monsters of their own. But to answer your question; yes, killing the original Enforcer would destroy them all.”

Luna put her hoof down on the table, “Then tell me where the original is!”

Senza gestured to himself, “Here.”

Luna did a double take, “Wait, what?”

Senza picked up a knife off the table and cut himself. The wound gushed black blood and immediately repaired him.

Senza spoke, “My power is that I am a Logia, so I learned a way to make more of myself,”

Senza half laughed as he spoke, “and all it cost me was one heart per Enforcer!”

Luna went over that last part in her mind, “They are human. The Enforcers are humans, aren’t they?”

Senza corrected, “Not necessarily. Any sentient life will do. It doesn’t have to be human; ponies like you will work fine. The Enforcers are no more human than the Heartless were.”

Luna feared for the ponies back home, “If you’ve turned even one pony, into one of those things, I swear I’ll …”

“No, no, no,” interrupted Senza, “that’s not how it works. I have to get your world's heart first. Once I do, your world will dissolve. All the sentient life in it will give new life to my Enforcers and all the planet’s energy will help evolve them into higher class Enforcers. That’s how it works.”

Luna couldn’t believe what she was hearing, “No. Impossible. Sol said that you wanted to bring order to the universe, govern it, not … this.”

Senza laughed, “How can you rule people that won’t listen? Using them to create something that never breaks the rules is the best way to enforce the rules.

But that’s all just a farce of mine anyway. See that planet up there?

One hundred years ago, I was friends with Sora. Old Sora told me all about his adventures. I particularly liked the one about how on his first journey, he came to a place where the remnants of worlds destroyed by the Heartless gathered. I wondered, if all worlds were destroyed, would enough parts gather there to build a whole new world? I did the math and the answer is yes! Exactly enough.

I come from one of the worlds Sora didn’t discover until his adventures were over. You’ve never heard of it. It was the most awful place you can imagine. Pain, fear, and corruption were all that kept that world going. I was so happy when Sora rescued me and I got to see the omniverse.

But I soon learned that all worlds are full of pain, fear, and corruption.

So I devised a plan, to create one perfect world, where there will be no pain, fear, or corruption.

All I needed was someone to enforce my plans and to get all those that could stop me out of my way.”

Luna used the royal Canterlot voice, “It was you! You tricked the Alliance into ‘purging’ the omniverse of all those who could exceed level 100! You made the Enforcers! You’re responsible for all this!”

Senza smiled coolly, “That’s funny, I’m sure I’ve heard that before. Oh yes, I remember where I heard that!”

Senza looked Luna in the eyes,

“That’s what Sora said to me;

as I killed him.”

Luna froze, “You killed him?”

Senza looked at his wall of frames, “Not just him, all the Alliance. You didn’t really think that a group started by Sora would do such terrible things, did you?

On the bright side, the Alliance managed to collect every Keyblade and every keychain in existence before I betrayed them, so I managed to collect them all without working for them.

The Swordbearer Enforcers have them now. I can’t go personally to every world in the omniverse, so I lend out my Keyblades and let them handle it.

I still have all but one.

And just look, every second my perfect world flows with new lifeblood from new worlds they send in.” Senza was now gesturing to the burning planet in the sky.

Luna had had enough and was going to put this freak in his place. She tossed her strongest magic before diving horn first into him.

Senza didn’t dodge, block, or take notice. The assault left him no worse for wear and he chided her, “I am The Emperor Enforcer. Did you really think that would work?”

Senza revealed that he had a life support cord sticking out of his back, like an i.v. drip, which ran down beneath the tiles.

Senza tore the life support cord coming out of his back and grew stronger.

“I’m not getting life support from the Enforcers. I’m kind enough to give my life force to grow new generations of them.”

Senza’s body grew several times bulkier. Muscles now formed all over him, making him the fittest of men. With a sweep of his hand he combed his hair back and it grew jet black and spiky. His green eyes never changed at all.

The Emperor then did something Luna wouldn’t have believed; he ripped off one of his own arms! With his remaining arm he snapped his figures and several Gladiator Class Enforcers appeared. They all melted down and reformed his arm, giving up their lives to do so.

The Emperor now held Luna’s neck in his new arm’s grip. The Emperor teased her, “You can’t beat me, even with armament. My body is the original. As long as a single cell of my body remains, the Enforcers can rebuild me, and so long as I exist, the Enforcers will never stop.

I will become the Keeper of the perfect world.”

Luna howled at him, “You're just a traitor! Sora called you friend and you betrayed him. You don’t deserve to live, let alone rule!”

The Emperor starred into Luna’s eyes, “Well you’d know all about traitors and unrightful rule wouldn’t you Nightmare Moon.”

Even killing her wouldn’t have hurt like those words. Senza let Luna go, summoned the box containing the Elements of Harmony and spoke, “One of my Enforcers pillaged this recently. They’re always sending me nice things like this. Less than ten have ever made their way to my world. Even if you are just a dream, it would be rude not to reward you, so you can have these back.”

Senza shattered the Elements of Harmony and gave the box with their fragments to Luna.

Luna was puzzled. Why would the Emperor allow her to leave or to have back the elements? Even in pieces Luna knew firsthand they were dangerous.

The Emperor plugged his ‘life-support’ back in and shriveled up, “I have conquered 98% of the omniverse and each Keyblade I have sends back a new heart every 96 hours on average.
Everything will eventually be mine anyway. Letting you go, giving you your relics, letting that fool crew with my missing Keyblade run around; all of it is irrelevant. I will win. It’s just a matter of time.

This is my absolute confidence.

Maybe I’m overconfident, but it’s hard not to be when you’ve beaten the omniverse so effortlessly.

Run pony. Cling to your life, and tell that fool crew to just enjoy themselves while there is still time.”

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

Sol was shaking Luna like a ragdoll. The guards would normally not have let him treat their Princess like that, but they were now all franticly trying to wake Luna up.

Sometime during Luna’s experiment, Celestia had returned to Canterlot, and was now being filled in on what had happened by Rarity.

Celestia blamed herself for what had happened. She had stepped out to handle Soran and all this had taken place. She had been gone for most of her day, but had come back when she didn’t get any messages, or responses to her own messages.

Rarity tried to calm her, “It’s alright Princess, there wasn’t anything you could have done. Sol said that the Enforcers were blocking all transmissions. There’s no way anypony has even heard about the Enforcers yet unless they met them personally. If you hadn’t been with Soran you would have met the same fate as Luna and Canterlot.”

Celestia maintained per perpetual calm, but Rarity could tell it was Celestia’s version of screaming, “Is that really supposed to make me feel better? Am I supposed to take comfort knowing that my whole world is at risk and that there isn’t anything I can do about it? Am I supposed to be relieved that the only thing that can save us from certain doom is a band of outsiders; a band that, even if they save us, will become our new masters?”

“They are not like that,” defended Rarity, but now she was worried also. If the humans got the keyhole first, then they would be safe, but the humans would be the new keepers of their world. In a way, Celestia was right.

Celestia stared through the open doors into the room where Luna was. She wanted to go in, but it would only prove how helpless she was when she got there.

Suddenly Luna sat up, gasping for air like she had just woken out of a nightmare.

Celestia and Rarity rushed into the room to check on her and all the guards seemed relieved as well.

Celestia nuzzled her sister, “Are you okay, dearest sister?”

Luna quivered a moment before lunging up and embracing her older sister as tightly as she could, “Oh sister, I was so frightened. And look.”

Luna conjured up the box that contained what was left of the Elements of Harmony. Luna herself was equally surprised to see it because it was proof that her dream was all too real.

Luna meekly turned to Sol, “Please, please help us. You can’t … you can’t let that man … anyone but him. The Emperor must never, never … you mustn’t let him get away with it. You’re the only ones who can.”

Everypony felt their heart sink in their chests. What could Luna have seen that would make her tremble so? Luna couldn’t even complete a proper sentence.

Sol spoke, “Don’t worry, we won’t. We really aren’t heroes you know. We told the truth when we said we were just adventurers, but we don’t take kindly to the Enforcers. We won’t let them win.”

Sol put one hand on Luna’s shoulder and the other on Celestia’s, “But even if we fail, you have nothing to worry about.”
Early in our travels we visited a wonderful world and the Keeper of that world told us not to be afraid, prophesying that we would win in the end and put everything back the way it’s supposed to be.

That world was Kingdom Hearts and its Keeper is light itself.

Even if we fail, light can never be defeated.

Someday Senza will have to try to destroy Kingdom Hearts if he wants to build his world and it is on that day that he will realize he was doomed to fail from the start. On that day we will have peace.”

Sol removed his hands from the Alicorns and punched a clinched fist into his palm, “But until that day, we might as well show them they can't mess with our friends!”

Celestia was in awe of the sheer faith these humans seemed to have. Soran was the same way and Celestia was willing to bet the other humans were too. She spoke, “I promised your friend Soran that I would reunite you all. I will keep that promise.”

Celestia now turned to Luna, “Luna, night should have fallen half an hour ago. Please raise the moon now and I will try to assemble the humans.”

Luna nodded and started to walk to where she could see the sky. It wasn’t necessary, but it felt proper. Just before she left, Sol spoke, “Luna, the Enforcers represent hopelessness. They derive their confidence from the fact that all who oppose them become helpless and lose hope.

Don’t lose hope, any of you.”

The Emperor may have the shadows of thousands of worlds on his side, but we have Kingdom Hearts on our side.

I predict a 100% chance that we’ll win!

You can’t be hopeless with odds like that!”

Helplessness is contagious, but so is hope. Sol had restored hope to all the royals and their guards and one particular dressmaker.

Sol stepped out of the room ahead of Luna, “While I’m at it, I also predict that my crew will assemble completely in one more hour.

Hold on tight, we’re about to go on the offensive.”

Chapter 9: Reunion and Assembly

View Online

Twilight Sparkle flew about wide-eyed like a filly in a candy store. No really, she was flying about! She asked Soran again how he was doing that, “I’m telling you, telekinesis on this level would be impossible for any unicorn. To levitate everything like this is incredible.”

Soran was floating about his own body height off the ground, levitating broken pieces of the Gummi ship back into place. He fired a misty flame into the cracks and ‘welded’ them back together. Twilight could tell that it was some sort of magical fire and not similar to normal fire at all.

Soran answered, now that he wasn’t concentrating, “I told you, it’s not telekinesis. It’s flight magic. Gravity defying magic. I can make things fly, but they have to stay within thirty meters of me. If they are more powerful than me they can resist. You’re not levitating, you’re flying.”

Soran then lifted different blades and carved the ship back to its proper shape. Once he got it the way it was supposed to be, he levitated the dust and torn pieces of the ship, melted them, and reapplied them to the ship. Not even a particle of the ship was lost.

Twilight flew about the ship asking questions. Soran had set it so that she could move it however she wanted and appreciated her curious nature. Whenever she asked a question, it would draw his attention to whatever she was asking about and he would have to look to see if that system was still working. Many times when she asked about something, Soran would come look and see that the thing in question was damaged.

Twilight asked about EVERYTHING, so Soran had to check everything. Everything got fixed, although it took a little longer because of the detours and questions.

When the ship was finally completed, Soran ‘pulled’ Twilight back into the bridge of the ship. There in the center of the room was what Twilight thought looked like a large crystal ball, except it had markings inside of it. Soran motioned to the ball in question, “This is a Sphere Oscillo-finder. It will help us track our friends.”

Twilight resumed her curious questioning, “How does it work?”

Soran activated it, “No idea, but if it’s bigger than a dog, has as much energy as a campfire, or is in the ships database, then this will track it.”

Seven dots now appeared on a detailed map of Equestria. One of these dots overlapped a not-to-scale image of the Gummi Ship. Soran pointed at that dot, “That’s where we are and the other dots are the rest of my crew.”

Twilight pointed at the nearest dot, “There’s one in the Crystal Empire. My brother lives there. We should head for it first.”

Soran spoke loud enough for anyone to hear as opposed to addressing Twilight, “Autopilot, set course for nearest crew member.”

A mechanical voice spoke over the ship’s intercom, “Acknowledged. Time to arrival: 4 minutes.”

Twilight laughed, “4 minutes? It may be closer than the others, but it would take half a day to … ”

Twilight was knocked back by the ship’s sudden movement but was caught in Soran’s power.

Soran walked back into the ship, “I’ll need to double check all the systems on the ship. Either stay here or come with me, but don’t get lost.”

The auto-pilot spoke, “Target life force is waning. Preparing healing chambers.”

Soran continued his checks but was very worried.

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

Chrysalis had not even had a chance to move before she saw a bright orange ship appear directly above them.

Shining Armor was naturally defensive at this unnatural sight. His training had taught him to be ready for anything. Whatever came out of that ship was going to have to go through him.

Twilight Sparkle and Soran descended standing upright and stood right in the middle of the Crystal Empire. They both noticed Shining Armor still defending Cadence and Chrysalis with a dying human on her back.

Both Twilight and Soran shouted the same word, but each addressing a different person,

“Brother!”

Twilight was shocked by the word Soran had said and would have turned to face him, but Soran was already taking Soran from Chrysalis. Soran looked over Kai before speaking, even though he knew Kai couldn’t hear him, “Stupid, you used Rinne Rebirth didn’t you.”

Chrysalis spoke, fear in her tone, “Kai gave his life for mine. Can you save him?”

Soran levitated himself and Chrysalis up to the ship, “Yes, but I’ll have to put him in the healing chamber, NOW.”

Twilight had been left behind, but she knew she had not been forgotten completely. She made her way to her own brother, “Someone is really going to need to explain what is going on here.”

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

Soran finally returned. It had only been about twenty minutes, but felt longer. Twilight had just finished hearing everything about Kai and the Changelings but was having some trouble staying calm. She howled at Soran, “Your brother is helping the Changelings! What was he thinking?”

Soran maintained his eternal calm, “That’s just how my brother is. You can ask him yourself when he wakes up but right now we need to pick up the others. You’re with your family now, so you can stay with them or come with me. Which do you want?”

Twilight didn’t even have to think about it. She answered, “Celestia told me to oversee you and that’s what I’m going to do, but I’m going to be keeping an eye on Chrysalis.”

Soran answered only by levitating them both towards the ship, but Shining Armor called out to him, “Wait! Take me with you. Someone from the Crystal Empire needs to see this through to the end.”

Shining looked at his wife whom solemnly nodded. Shining was suddenly whisked up off the ground and towards the ship. As soon as all were inside, the ship rocketed off in a blur.

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

Inside the ship, the two unicorns, the Changeling, and the human returned to the bridge. Soran turned to the new ponies, “Alright, you two can stay as long as you don’t bother anything. Twilight is in charge of all of us for now. My first priority is to assemble the crew but the healing chamber won’t save my brother. Therefore, there is one member we have to get immediately.”

Soran spoke to the ship, “Auto-pilot, set course for Matsu.”

The Auto-pilot complied, “Acknowledged. Time to arrival: three minutes.”

The four minutes that it took to reach the Empire had gone by in a flash, but the tension in the air between Chrysalis and Twilight made this a very uncomfortable ride. Twilight warned, “Brother told me your situation but I haven’t had time to forgive you yet. I don’t trust you.”

Chrysalis never stopped staring into space, “I have decided that I will serve the human Kai until my debt is repaid. Nothing else matters anymore now that he healed my people.”

Soran dropped out of the ship the moment it came to a stop and hovered over the wayward chef. Matsu was ecstatic,

“Soran! Am I ever glad to see you!”

Soran calmed Matsu and got straight to the point, “My brother is dying. I need you to cook something that can give him the nutrients and magic he needs to live.”

Matsu mentally went on red alert, “Then hurry. We have no time to lose!”

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

Luna and Sol walked out onto a balcony in Canterlot.

Luna was presently asking Sol a question, “How can you be so sure that your crew will assemble in the next hour?”

Sol made it to the balcony first, “Because the ship just pulled up.”

Sure enough the Gumi ship was parked right outside the balcony. Luna had woken up only about a minute ago, at this point in time.

Soran flew out with Twilight at his side. Twilight embraced Rarity and Soran Embraced Sol.

Celestia approached both newcomers, “I see that you got your ship working. I have just decided to leave everything to you and your crew. I still remember the promises you made in the beginning Soran.

Soran repeated the promises he had made back then,

“Number 1: We come in peace. I swear to you that none of your kind will suffer any hardship beyond this little exchange because of us.

Number 2: My Nakama and I do not represent any world, group, or organization, we are just seven friends that have a ship capable of traveling between worlds, and we like to explore. Ergo, we are not Scouts, Soldiers, or Invaders - just explorers passing through.

Number 3: Any mess made by us will be fixed by us, and we will adhere to your jurisdiction while we are in your world.”

Celestia stared Soran down, “You’ve already borderlined on breaking the first promise and if you really are going to try to take the heart of this world, then you will break the second.

Keep your third promise by saving us from the Enforcers.”

Soran was even calmer than Celestia, “Don’t worry Princess. As far as I know, nopony has serious injuries or lost things we can’t get back. We are not going to conqueror or rule you when we get the heart. We’ll give it back, and be on our way. And, we will definitely beat the Enforcers.”

Sol stepped in and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, all within hearing distance of the ‘snap’ were fully informed about what had happened to everyone else in hearing distance for the past day.

All except Soran turned to see Sol. It was just super convenient that he could do that!

Rarity decided to go with the ship and Celestia and Luna stayed behind.

Right before they flew away though, the Gumi ship gave of a strange sound. Sol turned back to the Princesses, “This will restore anypony else that still needs their magic back. We’ll fix everything ASAP, so relax yourselves and we’ll do the rest.”

With that, Luna raised the moon and the Gumi ship was headed for Ponyville.

Celestia took notice of how easily they had fixed everything. All the magic had been restored and only the rotting hedge maze and torn vault showed any signs that the Enforcers had ever been there.

Celestia sighed. If she was not the calmest thing in Equestria, that sigh would have been a scream, “What are we going to do Luna? These humans are powerful enough alone. What are we going to do when they’re all together and back at 100%?”

Luna remembered Senza, “Sister, believe me, they are infinitely better than the alternative.”

Celestia wasn’t feeling better, “But sister, they’re going to become the Keepers of this world if they win. That means the world will belong to them. They … will … own …us ….

Are you really ok with that?”

Luna wasn’t, but she had more experience with these humans than Celestia, “I don’t think they’re like that Sister. I think we should stay hopeful. It’s all we can do.”

Celestia looked defeated, “Yes, it’s all we can do.”

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

Meanwhile in Ponyville, Fluttershy had just arrived and was staring down Santo. She spoke to him the way she spoke to the dragon that nearly covered Ponyville in smoke, “You don’t understand,” Fluttershy insisted, “Matsu is my good friend and he’s out there hurting. That’s why I’ve got to get him back to his boss immediately. Matsu said that the old man wasn’t the boss, so I know it isn’t you Mr. Santo, but we have to find this ‘boss’ and Matsu as soon as possible!”

Santo had fought against the Emperor Enforcer himself but had never encountered a force like he saw in Fluttershy’s eyes.

Santo answered her, “Believe me Fluttershy, we’re doing all we can to put the crew back together ASAP, but our best bet is the ship. It has the power to track each of us and is faster than anything but light. We need the ship to get back together. Also the boss’s identity was never a secret. We all refer to each other by our names, not our ranks. Nobody in the crew gets special treatment, not even the boss. We all love each other like a family. The Boss is…

BOOM!

The Gumi Ship had just arrived over Ponyville. Normally everypony would have been surprised, but they had been told to expect it.

Also, this was Ponyville. This sort of thing just happened around here.

Everypony was surprised however to see Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Shining Armor flying down to them. Shining flew a little too far ahead and fell to the ground (which was only 4 feet away). Soran flew down to his side, “I told you not to get more than thirty meters from me. That’s the limit; any further and my flight power can’t reach you.”

Everypony in Ponyville gathered around, and the Mayor spoke, “So, what do we do now. What’s been going on?”

Sol elbowed Musica, who used his sound manipulation to make the sound of Sol’s snapping fingers loud enough that everypony could hear.

With Sol’s Psychic power, everypony and the humans now knew everything that had happened with each of the humans since the crash.

Twilight still couldn’t get over how convenient that was.

Ponies everywhere started discussing the new information.

Many were terrified that one Pawn could beat four buffalos. Others felt sorry for Fluttershy or Matsu and also wanted to eat this super food. The Pegasus were scared knowing that the Scouts could fly at the speed of sound and really wanted to hear Musica sing now. Most already knew about Santo, put now everypony did. All were shocked and amazed at what Kai had done for the Changelings, as well as Chrysalis’s change of heart and new allegiance. The younger were talking about Luna’s fight with the Knight. And some were trying to guess who the Boss was.

No one needed to discuss anything; everyone was completely up to speed. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around her best friends and the humans, “This is so amazing! You know, we should write a book about this! We’ll call it:

Kingdom Heart Next Generation: Friendship is Omniversal.

Wouldn’t that be great?”

Dea corrected, “It should be ‘Kingdom Hearts’, Pinkie dear.”

Pinkie explained, “No. See, I have a picture that goes with it. It’s of the heart from ‘Hearth Warmings Eve’ in the Middle of the Universe! The ‘Heart’ in the title is referring to love!

It’s a pun, get it?”

Musica disagreed, “I get it, but everyone will just think you spelled it wrong. Besides, Sora had a scribe named Jiminy who wrote about Sora’s journey and called it Kingdom Hearts.

People will think your story is a sequel to that story or something.”

Pinkie whined, “Oh come on! It’s a great idea. We could name the chapters after the virtues the ponies and people in it represent and everything!”

Rarity shook her head, “It’ll never work.”

Pinkie stuck out her lower lip, “Fine. I’ll give it to my friend Starry and have him publish it.”

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

Musica had assembled all the Pegasus with the help of the Wonderbolts. Musica used sound manipulation so that everypony could hear “alright everypony listen. We are about to go to battle against the Enforcers, and I need Lightning to fight. I want ever able bodied Pegasus to start making Thunder clouds. Even trillions of them won’t be too much. I need lightning, every cloud improves our chances.”

Spitfire spoke, “This plan is fully endorsed by Celestia and us Wonderbolts. Any Pegasus that is willing to help, come with me.”

Every Pegasus except Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, and Fluttershy left. Those three stayed because Santo and Musica asked them to (Lightning stayed because she wanted to hear Musica sing more). Musica addressed the Element Bearers, “Alright, listen you two. The Enforcers haven’t bothered anything in Equestria except for the places that we were; but they didn’t go after Kia. This leads us to believe that they only attacked places that had both and Element of Harmony and a human.”

Rainbow asked, “Why didn’t they go after Twilight and Soran then?”

“They didn’t meet until nine hours after the fall,” answered Santo. “All the other ponies and humans met immediately after the fall.”

Santo continued, “Furthermore, the Enforcers never dropped directly to where you were. They weren’t invading the places the landed. They were setting up base camps and taking hostages.

They did what they did, preparing to fight off the humans and collect the Elements of Harmony.”

Rainbow smiled, “So they're scared of elements hu, then let’s fix em and bash those Enforcers!”

Musica laughed and Santo spoke, “No, they aren’t scared of them, just interested. They wanted to send them to the Emperor, and they did. You are just treasure to pillage, not threats to be dealt with.”

Rainbow was disappointed, “Is there anything their scared of?”

Both humans spoke, “Nope, but that’s also their weakness.”

From a distance, Dea motioned for them to come to the Ship.

Santo looked at the Pegasus, “Come on, you three can fly. Let’s go to the ship.”

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

Other than the Pegasus, the mane 6 were gathered in the meeting room of the ship. Chrysalis and Shining were also there and Sol was using psychic power to transfer more complete memories from everypony and the humans to everyone.

Spike was also there and now that he had ‘lived’ all of the events leading up till now he had to ask “so what level are the Pawns?

They are the weakest Enforcers but they're still monstrously strong. What level are they?”

Sol answered “level 1, plus logia”

All non-humans responded in shook “WHAT!”

Applejack asked “that’s impossible! Just one took out 4 buffalos easy! You’re saying that was a level 1!”

Sol defended “I said it was a level 1, plus logia. Without armament they can’t be hurt, regardless of their level. Even an Ursa Major (1) wouldn’t have hurt it. As soon as it had smashed the Pawn and retracted its paw the Pawn would be better. Abilities don’t count toward level, only the strength of your body adds up to your level.”

The Pegasus now arrived with the other humans. Rainbow asked “what level does that make me. I can fly faster than sound!”

Sol answered, “You're less than 1. Your flight is an ability not just strength. But if it makes you feel better, sound speed flight is generally a level 50 power.”

Rainbow Dash strutted up to Sol “well if I’ve got level 50 abilities why am I still less than 1?”

Dea stepped in “your level isn’t determined by the best thing you can do, it’s measured by how easy you are to beat.”

Less than a heartbeat later, Dea had drawn her shape shifting blade, made it a scythe, and held it curved around Rainbow’s neck. Rainbow retreated in shock. Dea spoke calmly “your speed helps you flee, but not fight. You can run away, but in a fight, you just died. I didn’t want to scare you, but you need to know your weaknesses before we fight the Enforcers.”

Sol continued, “A level one means that it takes ten professional hunters with rifles and full high tec body armor to bring it down in a fight.

Pawns are level 1 with Logia, and have stunning magic.

Scouts are the same as Pawns, but can fly at the speed of sound and turn on a dime.

Soldiers are the same as Scouts, but negate all non-standardized magic, and can use death magic.

Gladiators are the same as Soldiers, but are level 40, and use standardized magic.

Knights are the same as Gladiators, but are level 75, and have mind control.

Swordbearers are the same as Knights, but are level 100, fly at twice the speed of sound, and can grant their superiors Keyblades.

Ambassadors are the same as Swordbearers, but have artificial minds of their own rather than programing, have the conqueror’s disposition, and can wield Keyblades.”

Santo interrupted Sol “and the Emperor has all those powers, but was instrumental in the purging of those higher than level 100, and was not affected by it personally. Senza’s level is 10,000, he is the Keeper of the Enforcer homeworld, controls all Enforcers, and has mastered all the ways of standardized magic. Other Enforcers can rebuild him as long as at least one cell of him remains, and he has all Keyblades other than ours.”

Everypony absorbed this new insight, and realized just how impossible it was for them to fight these things. Everypony also realized that they had made friends with some incredible people if they could mop the floor with most of them, and were prophesied to beat the Emperor.

Only Spike was thinking about something else “so get to the point: what level is a dragon?”

Sol smiled and faced Spike “which dragon? The big ones or you?”

Spike rolled his eyes “I know I’m less than 1 you don’t have to say it. But what level is a full grown dragon, full power and everything?”

Sol calculated “well dragons differ from one world to another, but as for the dragons in this world.”

Sol paused a while to calculate before continuing “well your teeth can cut diamond, and diamond hardness is the pinnacle of level 50, so there’s that to consider. And you can fly and are immune to heat up to 1500 degrees Celsius, but those are both abilities rather than raw power, and won’t help your level unless you’re fighting a minefield or a flamethrower. And your magic fire is incredible and should be considered to your level. So all things considered…

The ultimate adult dragon

Would be no more than level 10.”

Spike was really disappointed “Oh come on!”

Sol shrugged “really sorry little guy. Your bite would hurt a level 50, you can fly, swim in lava, breath magic fire, are as hard as rock, and can crush buildings…

But it wouldn’t stop a level 10 dragon slayer from sneaking up on you with a sword sharp enough to glide through rock, and removing your head in one swing.

Spike wasn’t giving up, “come on. What’s stronger than a dragon?”

Sol automatically answered “anything level 11 or higher.

Don’t feel bad, level 1 is monstrous, and a level two is usually immune to mere rifle fire, so it takes two level 1 monsters to bring it down. By level 5, elephant rifles won’t usually hurt you at all. and by level 9 and convoy of high-tech tanks would be mere toys!

Level 10 isn’t anything to be ashamed of, it’s really strong.”

Spike felt better but was pouting “so how strong are you guys?”

Santo answered “we’re all level 50. Matsu is level 100, but when he’s not berserk he can’t hurt a flea, and when he is berserk he couldn’t care less and only kills stuff that makes him mad or looks tasty. I’m also level 100. I’m Dea father. She is only 18 years old, and look how old I seem. I’m only 40. I speed up my age to accelerate my growth in magic. I’m level 100, but I’m 100 years older than I should be because of it.”

Some ponies gasped, other put their hoof to their mouth in shock.

Chrysalis dashed into the room “I’ve been spoon feeding Kai the special magic food Matsu cooked, and he just became conscious enough to eat it himself!”

Almost everyone present was overjoyed at the news, but Applejack could help but repeated those words to herself “she was spoon-feeding him? Chrysalis?” Lightning Dust shot Musica a look but said nothing. Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Fangirls.”

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

In the dining hall of the ship, Kai was eating the best smelling food that you can possible imagine. Kai looked up to see the whole crew and all the ally ponies. Kai swallowed “come on and get some before it’s gone. It stinks compared to how it tastes, and it’s all pure nutrition that’s vegan.”

Shortly thereafter, everyone was chowing down. Fluttershy firstly was crying from sheer joy. The food Matsu had made earlier was trash compared to this, and it had been the best she had ever had. The other ponies were thunderstruck by this, but the humans actually seemed disappointed. Sol spoke “Matsu used medicine cooking. It’s great for healing but doesn’t taste good. The stuff we usually eat is triple this good.” Dea shook her head “don’t complain, it’s not like we can eat even this well anywhere else.”

The ponies were speechless. This was the diet food that wasn’t as good!

Fluttershy wiped the happy tear off her face, and asked anyone who knew “um, where’s Matsu?”

Only Musica with his perfect hearing could hear her “he’s coming this way.”

Matsu walked in fuming mad. Matsu’s dark side was coming out to play.

Matsu roared “you animals think you can eat my food? Well now that you’re stuffed, let’s see how YOU taste.”

Santo was the closest “Matsu, calm down! This isn’t the real you!”

Matsu barred his teeth “your power level is the highest old man. Bet you taste the best. Yes, bet that magic will be delicious!”

One of the humans looked Matsu in the eyes and spoke “that’s enough, Matsu. Come back to yourself.”

Matsu looked like he just realized what he was doing. Tears streamed down his face and his malice was nowhere to be found. Matsu went over and embraced the one who had calmed him and wept.

“I’m so sorry, Boss.”

Chapter 10: Those Who Pray, and Those Who Fight For Them

View Online

All ponies looked on, not sure what to say. Only Fluttershy had met Matsu prior to that, but all could see a wrath surpassing that of all the villains they had ever fought combined pouring out of him. And with just a word and a glance, no trace of that wrath was left. All that they could see was gentility and kindness. And it was all because of the boss.

It was all because of Kai.

Chrysalis was the only one who had expected it.

Lightning Dust interjected “Wait, Kai is the boss? I thought that Musica would have to be the boss. He’s a rockstar and has the conquerors disposition.

Twilight had thought that Soran was the boss, on the grounds that he was the one that organized the crew, and made promises on behalf of the whole crew. Twilight had to ask, “If you’re not the boss, how can you make promises for your whole crew?”

Soran thought that was obvious, “We have a code of conduct that we keep regardless of which world we are in. obviously we all have enough faith in each other that we will keep our word.”

Twilight now had another question, “Well then, why were you so compliant with us? In retrospect, you got the ship together almost immediately, once we let you. Why did you put up with us when you have the power to blow us all away?”

Soran was disappointed, “If you have to ask, then you don’t know us at all. This is your world. It’s just common courtesy that when you are a guest in someone’s house, that you play by their rules. You’re sentient beings; you deserve at least that much.”

Twilight felt bad for asking, “Sorry, I really didn’t mean it like that.”

Kai had managed to assure Matsu that everything was fine and now stood.

Kai spoke, “We have to find the Keyhole of this world as soon as possible. Every second we waste here that Ambassador gets that much closer to ruining this world. Does anybody, er anypony, have any idea where to start?”

Spike spoke, “Well for starters, if we include dragons referring to everyone will be way too hard. Can we start saying ‘anyone’ when referring to ponies, humans, or dragons?”

Everyone liked that idea and went with it.

Sol continued on his boss’s behalf, “Alright, that’s good, but I think I know the only pony who has a clue about the Keyhole.”

Everyone looked at Sol expectantly.

Sol met those expectations, “Celestia of course. From what I’ve gathered, she knew what humans where before we arrived. Jiminy’s old records indicate that there were a rare few powerful people in the worlds they visited that already knew about the Keyblades and the Omniverse beforehand. These people have powers similar to a Keeper. Celestia moves the sun. It’s still not quite at a Keeper’s level, but if there is anyone in this world that would have a clue; it’s Celestia.”

Applejack couldn’t quite believe that, “Moving the sun is ‘not quite at a Keeper’s Level’. Well then what in tarnation can a Keeper do? I though you said that level 100 was a strong as it got anymore.”

All humans turned to Kai. It was evident that they wanted the only one who had been a Keeper to explain it.

“Keeper’s get to go over the ‘level 100’ limit. But that isn’t their claim to fame. Celestia and Luna at full power are only at level 100, yet they control the heavens. They’re not ‘lifting’ the planets with strength; they are ‘bending’ the heaven to their will.

Keepers have infinite mana. Sometimes it’s called mana, chakra, Ki, but basically it’s magical stamina. That doesn’t mean they have infinite spiritual pressure. Compare it to having infinite stamina. Let’s say you can lift a one ton box and never, ever get tired, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can lift a two ton box, it just means you never tire out.

All magicians get power ‘from’ the world they live on, but Keepers ‘control’ the powers of the world they live on.

Thus, Keepers control heaven and earth, the nature of their world’s magic, as well as the flow of evolution and life.
In short the world is their sandbox and they can mold it into whatever they want. They have infinite mana, all possible magical abilities, eternal youth and semi-immortality.

Celestia has control over the sun and moon, and everlasting youth. Not quite as good as a Keeper, but close.”

The ponies just nodded, some more hesitantly than others. Rarity most of all was deep in though. So that was what Celestia had meant by these humans becoming their new masters. Even if they beat the Enforcers and got the Heart first, Kai would be the new Keeper of Equestria. Kai would control the sun and moon, nature, weather, magic, everything! The Alicorns would lose control of the sun and moon. The earth ponies would lose control over life and nature. The Pegasus would lose control over weather and seasons. And the unicorns would lose control over magic. Because Kai would control them all on a whim.

It was certainly an improvement over the alternative but, still.

Kai sighed, and his words sounded tired, “Look, I know you’re worried. This happens in every world we visit. But do I look like an almighty Keeper to you? I always appoint representatives to take the power on my behalf. I’ll become Keeper, appoint Celestia and Luna as my representatives, and let them keep the afore mentioned powers.”

Twilight scowled at Kai, “If you’re going to do all that, they why only appoint them? Why not just give them their world back?”

Kai summoned his Keyblade. It was the first time he had done so in this world.

Kai pointed to the Keyblade, “Because I have the Keyblade. Even if I ‘give’ the powers of the Keeper to the Alicorns, I can’t give this to them. And it’s the Keyblade that determines the Keeper, not the powers. I could take the powers back as long as I have this, so I can’t give ALL the power back even if I want to.”

The ponies weren’t sure how to take that. They could see Celestia’s point now.

Musica chimed in, “Don’t worry. In the event this loser abuses his power, I’ll beat’em up! And then I’ll be the boss.”

Rainbow eyed Musica suspiciously, “I thought you were the loyal one?”

Musica corrected, “I’m the honorable one. I’m loyal to what I believe is right, not to a person. I’m the most loyal to the crew, but the least loyal to the boss.”

Pinkie Pie spasmed and the crew all looked wary. Pinkie spoke “time to go!”

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

Everyone arrived on the deck of the ship. It was already night time, but the Pegasus had made such thick cloud cover that it would have been pitch black anyway.

Out of the blackness fell 6 Knight Class Enforcers, one to 'collect' each element of harmony.

Twilight gasped, “They must want to finish what they started.”

Rarity was panting, “What will we do? Sol and Luna could barely beat one! How will we…”

Santo fired of 6 energy blasts, and incinerated the 6 Knights before they could reach the ship. Everypony’s jaw dropped.

Santo relaxed again “I told you, Matsu and I are level 100, and the power you’ve seen from the others is nothing. They were hurt, tired, malnourished, and lost. All of us are at 100% now, so relax, we’ve got this.”

Spitfire flew onto the ship, only briefly (and gratefully) taking notice of the Knights’ ashes. She saluted, “We have covered the sky in thunderclouds as you requested Musica. This should produce enough electricity to power anything. Do you still want more?”

Musica automatically responded, “Of course, this isn’t nearly enough.”

Spitfire was shocked. This was enough to produce hundreds, maybe thousands of lightning bolts. She was much to self- disciplined to talk back though, “I’ll have them continue until we have added triple the current amount. We have backup from all over Equestria, we can get it done.”

Musica nodded, “You do your best to fuel me, and I’ll do my best to protect you. That’s all anyone can do anyway.”

Suddenly the moon went down and the sun rose to the center of the sky. The problem was that it wasn’t even close to morning time.

Everyone knew this, and wondered what the Princesses were doing.

Just as suddenly the moon also began to rise, without lowering the Sun first!

Twilight began one of her breakdowns, “What are they doing! You can’t have the sun AND the moon at the same time!”

Dea spoke, “You can, and it’s called an eclipse.”

All the ponies looked at her like she was crazy. They had never even heard the word ‘eclipse’ before.

Soran looked towards Canterlot, “We don’t need Sol’s fortune telling to tell us that the Enforcers got to the Princesses.”

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

Minutes before, the two Princesses had been trying to reestablish order, and make plans for dealing with any possible action that the Enforcers could take next. They had not expected an Enforcer to walk right into their throne room. No alarm had been tripped, Nopony had even noticed. Only Luna wasn’t surprised, “They can’t be detected by our magic, and they move at least as fast as sound, hardly as surprise we didn’t notice this one until it was here.”

The Enforcer spoke in a more human voice than most of its kind, “If you know that much, you must also know that we are unbeatable. I have combed every inch of this planet with my scanners, and still there is no sign of the Keyhole. You two are both ‘Half-Keepers’, so you should know where the Keyhole is.

Celestia approached the monster, “I’ve had it with all of your kind! I don’t know where the Keyhole is either, but I won’t let you get it!

So as not to frighten my little ponies, I usually keep my power sealed away. After my defeat to Chrysalis, I decided to ‘re-awake’ my true power!”

All of Palace Canterlot shook with the power of the re-empowered Princess, “I was only at 1% before! You’ll pay now that I’m back at my prime!”

The Enforcer wasn’t impressed, “I supposed you should be commended for having powers like those of a level 100 standardized magician, but I can’t find it in my heart to care. Without Armament you can’t even damage a Pawn with that power of yours. Since you don’t know where the Keyhole is I won’t bother asking again.”

The Enforcer flashed by, grabbed Celestia’s head, pulled her over next to Luna, grabbed Luna’s head, and began mind control. The Ambassador spoke “Your memories may not contain what I want to know, but they may contain hints that I need to know to find out.”

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

The palace ponies were now frantic! Celestia and Luna had been defeated effortlessly, and were now under the enemy’s total control. Some of the guard tried to attack the Ambassador, but it paid them no mind, and was unaffected by their attacks, others tried to grab the Princesses out of its grip and run, but they fell under its control as well just by contact with the two, and were made to retreat. But most just panicked or watched.

The Ambassador was reading both minds like books. Suddenly he stumbled upon something interesting. The Ambassador asked, “Why do you never create an eclipse?”

Celestia answered like a zombie, “An eclipse means the end of Equestria.”

The Ambassador took his hands off of the Princesses, but not his control over them, “Make an eclipse, right now.”

The Princesses complied. It took the moon about a minute to fall into place along with the sun. though controlled, Luna had never done this before, and had to proceed cautiously. Eventually, it was done. A perfect eclipse.

The only difference was that light shone THROUGH the moon. Not through all of it, just through a glasslike, keyhole shaped middle of the moon.

The ambassador laughed, “Very clever, hiding the Keyhole’s guidepost somewhere that nothing could ever find it. You even made it so that the glasslike element of your moon was completely unnoticeable. No, more than that, your moon ISN’T glasslike until an eclipse.

I’ll bet the world that if we go to where that keyhole-shaped light is pointing, we’ll find the Keyhole of this world.”

The Ambassador slung the two Princesses over his arms and jumped out a stained glass window, landing on his Swordbearer. The Swordbearer now flew of at twice the speed of sound towards the shaft of light coming out of the moon and descending into the Everfree Forest.

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

Pinkie was studying the lens-like middle of the moon, “Hu, can’t believe I never noticed that that the moon had a glass-filled donut hole in the middle of it, shaped like a keyhole, until just now.”

Kai spoke, “It doesn’t. What you’re seeing is the work of magic, not nature. Your moon will go back to normal when the Keyhole is found; even should the Princesses decide to make another eclipse.”

Pinkie noticed that everyone else was looked at the shaft of light as large as all of Everfree, shinning on the forest near Ponyville.

Applejack frowned, “Really? It’s been right outside town the whole time!”

Twilight defended, “Well, it was where the Princesses used to live. I don’t find it too surprising.”

Dea spoke seriously, “We’ve got to get over there before the Ambassador does.”

Other than the shaft of light breaking through them, the skies all around Ponyville were still covered in black storm clouds. Descending thorough that hole came thousands of Enforcer Dropships. Many of these were now headed straight for Ponyville!

Kai nonchalantly turned to Musica, “Musica, without cloud cover over Everfree, it would be best if you stayed here and protected the village along with the ponies. We’ll leave Gummi here as well to help you out.”

Kai now turned to Dea, “You should stay here too. Musica can’t handle them by himself. Matsu has to go where I go, I need Santo’s power and Sol’s knowledge, and only Soran can make us fly. This means that you two are our best bet for protecting the village.”

Dea responded hurriedly, “Sure whatever, but GO! Where kinda on a schedule here!”

All nodded. Soran touched up off the ship, and soon after Kai, Santo, Sol, and Matsu were floating by his side. Sol clapped his hands together and everyone present was ‘mind linked’ so that they communicate just by thinking about someone and talking as if that person (or pony) could hear you (and they would). Matsu’s fierce side came out, but it behaved when near the boss. Matsu and Santo got in front, due to them being the strongest. With all preparations complete the seven humans all looked at the oncoming force and all used their Conqueror’s Disposition (Haki) at the same time.

300 Enforcer Dropships fell out of flight! All the Pawns, Scouts, and Soldiers, in them ‘dead’. The Gladiators had not been affected though, and were now flying towards the village.

“We’ll take those out before we look for the Keyhole” Santo assured, “You two should easily be able to handle the next wave.”

Musica held his guitar as though tuning it and chanted; “Lightning Tuning.”

Hundreds of bolts of lightning struck him and he shown like the sun, “If you only leave a fleet, it’ll be too easy.”

That had been a friendly joke, and once it was said, the attack squad flew into battle.

Twilight wasn’t the sort to remain helpless, “Anypony who can, we’re making more electricity for Musica, however we can!”

Chrysalis was starring the opposite direction. It was as if she had heard or seen something that everyone, even the humans, had completely missed. She spoke to herself, “That power, it’s one I’ve not felt since…”

Chrysalis saluted to Musica, “Permission to take leave, Vice-Admiral Musica sir.”

Musica automatically answered, “Granted.”

Twilight wasn’t going to let the Changeling Queen go that easily, “NO! You can’t just let her…”

Dea calmed Twilight, “It’s fine, we can all read hearts. We know she has no ill intent, it will be fine.”

Twilight wanted to protest, but the Changeling Queen was gone, the humans didn’t care, and the Enforcers were gaining ground. “Fine” Twilight relinquished, “But those clouds are still going up!”

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

The attack team was flying through waves of incoming Gladiators. Santo and Matsu were rapid-firing pure magic bolts into the enemy, never once missing. The lesser warriors were picking of those that got past the two powerhouses, and otherwise being supportive however they could. The Gladiaotors were quickly depleted, but a new wave of 200 Dropships descended, and a plague of all flying Enforcers descended upon them. They had already used up the Conqueror’s Haki, so there was no easy way left to beat them all at once.

Sol then noticed that the Ambassador Class Enforcer had used the bedlam to his advantage and snuck into the ruins of the old palace of the Princesses.

Sol telepathically spoke into everyone’s minds, alerting them of the plan instantly.

“Kai, Santo, and Matsu need to follow the Ambassador. The others will meet up with Musica again, and go on full counter-offensive against everything else.”

Soran disagreed, “If we send our two tanks and our healer away from the battle we’ll be overwhelmed here.”

But Sol insisted, “And if the Ambassador wins, we all lose. We need our best fighters to go against him, and Kai is a given since only he has a keyblade. But the rest of us will be useless down there, and invaluable up here. Get it?”

All agreed and Soran literally dropped the three remaining attack team members off at the castle. Soran gave a worried look that any brother would have, and shot back towards Ponyville, tearing up Dropships on the way.

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

Back at base camp, everypony was doing their best to make electricity for Musica. Earth ponies were carting water to the Pegasus, the Pegasus were making clouds (they didn’t need to carry the water to Cloudsdale first since they were using them for power rather than whether), and the unicorns were helping Twilight use magic to amplify and the lighting producing abilities of the clouds.

Musica was obliterating the waves of Enforcers (including Gladiators) that got that far effortlessly, but it was costing him a lot of energy. Musica could have drawn more power from the Gummi Ship, but the ship was using that power to put up a barrier around Ponyville, as well as automatically shooting down any Enforcer it could, all while donating Musica half the energy he needed.

Although most of the cost of his ‘songs’ was paid in lightning, some magic so also required, and that’s what Dea was providing. She couldn’t fly without Soran, and wasn’t as good at long range combat as Musica, so it was all they could do.

Twilight used the power Sol had left to speak directly to Musica, “We’re doing our best, but the earth ponies just can’t get THAT much water to the Pegasus, the Pegasus can’t make that many clouds even with water, and our magic is helping only by 20%. We’ll never beat them all this way!”

Dea answered because Musica was much too busy to respond, “That’s fine, the Calvary is here!”

Sure enough, Soran and Sol had made it back to the ship. Soran allowed Dea to fly, and the three shot back into the Enforcers destroying them by the thousands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

The Ambassador and his puppets made their way down through the seemingly never-ending spiral staircase towards the Keyhole. Just like in Sombra’s castle, there was a stairwell that only appeared when the right type of magic shown upon it, and this staircase only revealed itself when the eclipse shown on it. They entered into a large chamber, filled with pillars holding up the roof. There were 100 Pillars per row, and 100 rows. Each pillar was a meter radius, made of Diamond, and 5 meters apart from each other. It should have been pitch black, but the ceiling was enchanted to shine like eclipse light, making the room very well lit but not bright. The ceiling was two stories tall, and the Stairs they had descended by put them out in the dead center of the room.

The Ambassador could sense that the humans were getting to close for comfort. It got down on one knee and appeared to be praying. “Enforcer technique: Prayer to a Devil” it chanted, and the room grew dark and eerie. Senza’s voice could be heard echoing throughout the room, “What is it?”

The Ambassador remained in prayer, “My Emperor, the rebels are fast approaching. I will not be able to take them all. Yet I have a plan. Let me use these ponies to fight, and they will be slowed down enough.”

Senza hesitated, “I have a better idea. Release them.”

Enforcers never question or talk back. The two Princesses regained their sense of what was going on.

Senza spoke in an amused tone, “First, we’ll preoccupy the little one. Then we’ll turn the big one into an ally. A Celestia version of Nightmare Moon if you will.”

Both Princesses screamed, “WHAT!” and Luna felt the same as she had when the Enforcers had stunned her last time. Celestia fell semiconscious and shook like she was having a bad dream.

Senza tried to speak as he laughed, “The younger one fell to her jealousy, and where one is jealous there is usually another filled with pride.”

Senza spoke like he was whispering in Celestia’s ear, “Celestia dear, bad men are on their way to steal your world. Your little ponies will reduced to nothing more than pack mules. We can’t have that can we? Don’t think about the Enforcers, don’t even consider them. All you need to think about is destroying the bad men.”

Celestia howled like a monster. Her mane turned to scorching fires, her eyes shining white hot like the sun.

Luna tried to speak, but no words would come. She was being restrained by some invisible force.

That force continued to speak, “Well that takes care of one of them, but maybe a little sabotage on the side would be a lot of fun. Luna dearest, go to Ponyville and tell them that the black rain is poisonous.

Oh and by the way; I told you so. I win everything eventually. Even though I let you go, see how easily you were defeated again? That’s my absolute confidence proving that it’s justified!”

Luna could hear Senza’s fingers snap, and she was teleported into the throne room of the ruins. There she saw Kai, Matsu, and Santo. Before they could speak Luna did, “You have to help! They corrupted Celestia, are nearly at the Keyhole, and Senza said something about black rain being poisonous.”

Matsu gasped, “WHAT! Senza is sending black rain! Unless I feed them the antidote, even our own crew will die from it in less than an hour!”

Kai put his hand on Matsu, “Matsu, your berserk right now, but I still trust you. Promise me Matsu, promise me you will save everyone, not hurt them.”

Matsu looked conflicted, “I promise… I promise… to… try.”

Kai ran towards the stairs, “Then I have faith in you Matsu.”

Matsu glared at Luna, “Well then pony don’t just sit there, Fly!”

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

Back in Ponyville, things were as hectic as ever. No matter how easy to beat the Enforcers were for them, each ship had a thousand Soldiers, a hundred Pawns and Scouts, and a Gladiator. And there were hundreds more ships.

Most importantly, the Mothership had dropped into view, and was spraying out thick black clouds which immediately began to rain. The rain felt oily, and though it was so faint that a bloodhound could barely smell it, it smelled like rotting leaves. And it was jet black.

Rainbow telepathically asked, “Can’t you do that trick where you make all the ships fall down just by looking at them again?”

Dea shook her head, “No it doesn’t work that way. They don’t fall because we look at them, they fall because we cast the Conquerors Haki, but we can’t do that again for a while, not on any noteworthy scale.”

Matsu flew in riding Luna, and both now stood on the ship. Matsu told Musica to use sound manipulation, and Sol to use mind manipulation to make sure his speech reached all under the rain. Matsu ordered, “Alright weaklings listen up, that black rain is poisonous! Even just breathing the air around here will definitely kill ya. I’m going to cook you the antidote right now, and you’re going to have to make sure that anything you don’t want to die eats it! Don’t worry, berserk me can cook 10 times more than peaceful me. I should have more than enough by the hour. Don’t do anything to speed up your heart rate until then!”

Well of course, telling someone that they are going to die unless the calm down, is about the worst way to calm someone down.

It was raining poison, and there was another wave of Enforcer Dropships on the way. Things weren’t looking too good.

At least it wasn’t raining over Everfree, they would never be able to feed everything in it also.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Meanwhile, Kai and Santo descended into the palace to put an end to the struggle once and for all, and Chrysalis was elsewhere getting ever closer to the life-force that she knew she had felt before.

Chapter 11: Doubt and Faith

View Online

Kai and Santo rushed down the spiral stairwell going down to what they were sure would be the Keyhole of Equestria. They had already descended at least a few miles when they finally made it to the room filled with diamond pillars. Other than the stairs they had descended by, the only other way in or out of the room was a large open doorway straight ahead of them, at the back of this freakishly large chamber.

Despite being about 350 meters (about 1148 feet) away, it would have seemed close for two beings capable of running at the speeds that Kai and Santo could. But it now seemed infinitely far away, as a berserk Celestia was standing between them and the doorway. A white hot fireball rocketed out of her mane; making it abundantly clear that she meant to kill them.

She laughed sinisterly when it hit them, but stopped when she noticed they were unharmed.

Santo brushed his robes off, “Sorry Princess, but we can’t be harmed by fire. Do you have ANY idea how many people in the Omniverse have fire manipulation? It’s like one of the go-to powers, right up there with super strength and energy blasts. We make it a point to build up magical defenses against the things were most likely to run into.”

Santo’s cheek was then grazed by a blast of gold energy, and a drop of blood trickled down his face. Celestia smiled, “That may be. But no matter how much you prepare, you’re not invincible. Damage is just displacing the target’s body in some way. If I can’t burn you, I’ll blast you with my magic until nothing is left”, and with that she fired a barrage of gold energy blasts at them.

Kai and Santo ducked in cover behind one of the diamond pillars. It was a good thing the builders of this place had made it out of the toughest stuff in the world, because things were about the get messy.

Kai turned to Santo, “Go after the Ambassador, I’ll come after you when I’m done here.”

Santo objected, “That’s a terrible plan. You’re the only one with a Keyblade Kai! You need to go ahead and get the Heart of Equestria. I’ll stay.”

But Kai was already sure, “I’m level 50, and the Ambassador and his Swordbearer are both level 100, just like you. You don’t have to beat the Enforcers, just stall them until I get there.

But there’s and even better reason for me to stay: someone has to fight Celestia, and it may be a death match from the looks of it. If you stay, she could die, and Equestria will lose its ruler. But even if I have to kill her, I can bring her back with Rinne Tensei.”

Santo really hated this plan, but knew better than to question it. Once Kai got it in his head that he was going to protect something, all the Enforcers combined weren’t going to get him to give up on it.

And though not the most logical plan, it had a point. Only Kai could transcend life and death, but even he couldn’t fight an Ambassador.

Both Humans were forced to separate in retreat, as Celestia skidded around the corner firing blasts, “Fine Kai you win, but I’m going on record as having said this was a bad plan.” And with that Santo was headed for the Keyhole.

Celestia was in hot pursuit, but was blindsided by a Keyblade to the head from Kai. She fired a few blasts at him, all of which he deflected with the Keyblade.

Celestia looked like she wanted to scream with anger, but composed herself and laughed at this fool instead, “You fool. Your powers are nothing compared to mine. Or did you forget that my sister and I are both level 100?”

Kai starred down the wrathful Princess, “You can’t be any standardized level unless you’re standardized. You’re only magically equivalent to level 100.”

Celestia would have rolled her eyes if they weren’t perfectly white at the moment, “Your point?”

Kai answered, “My point is that it’s not the same. We’ve been to worlds where people had tremendous powers. Some of those people could destroy entire cities, and wielded an amount of magic almost on your level. But those same people could be killed by a bullet if they didn’t block properly!

Standardized magic prioritizes defense. Your level is measured by the weakest thing that could kill you. You have power like a level 100, but don’t have defenses to match.”

Celestia held her head high, looking down on Kai, “Then you should know that now that I am at 100%, my skin is leathered by my magic so that even a dragon’s bite wouldn’t hurt me.”

Kai screamed, “YEAH, leathered with magic! Know anyone that can cut magic? Like perhaps a crew full of humans that you entrusted to save your world! Unless you’re standardized, our Armament can cut you and any magic defenses you have, like cutting through paper!”

Celestia crouched into her battle stance once more, “So what you’re saying… is that the winner will be whoever hits first.”

Celestia sent out a wave of razor-sharp blasts, and Kai ducked in cover behind a pillar while deflecting what he could with his Keyblade.

Celestia circled the pillar, firing more blasts.

Kai ran as fast as he could, zigzagging through the pillars trying to lose his pursuer, but Celestia was too quick.

Kai was managing to block all the deadly shots, but many still grazed him. Still more of the shots he managed to deflect back at Celestia, hoping her own magic wouldn’t kill her. Celestia wasn’t hurt much by her own blasts, but they did leave burned places on her.

Kai would occasionally lose her, and heal his wounds. They were sharp, deep, sizzling hot, and were starting to become too numerous. And it was never more than a few seconds before Celestia would find him and start firing again.

Kai would already have been dead if there weren’t so many pillars to hide behind.

Celestia was getting tired of these infernal pillars blocking all her better shots.

Celestia’s mane fired up, and erupted fire in all directions. Soon most of the room was covered in fire. There were no flammable substances in this diamond chamber, but her magic kept the flames going anyway. Luckily Kai was fireproof.

But not explosion proof. Celestia made her fires explode, either damaging or destroying the pillars. Damaged pillars could be destroyed by Celestia’s blasts. Thankfully, destroying the pillars distracted Celestia, making it easier for Kai to move freely.

But that didn’t fix the problem. Kai worried, “Sorry Santo, this is taking longer than I thought. Hope you’re doing better than me.”

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

Santo was doing much, much worse.

The Swordbearer Enforcer was slithering around him like a stingray, occasionally lunging its razor sharp body at Santo, or firing at him with energy blasts, or both.

Worse, the Ambassador was sparing with him. Whenever the Ambassador needed to dodge an attack, it would jump into the distance and let its puppet lunge. And whenever the Swordbearer fired at Santo and missed, the Ambassador was always standing where he could deflect the blast right back at Santo again. And both of them were as strong as Santo.

The Ambassador began its favorite tactic: psychological warfare, “You are a fool old man. All of us have the highest power level outside the Keepers. You should realize that you cannot beat us both, not even now that you have full power again.”

Santo replied, “You understand nothing Enforcer. Of all the worlds we’ve visited, 95% have less than a hundred people with a level higher than 30. Heck, 90% of the worlds we visited had no one above level 20, including their best warriors!

But I’ve seen enough worlds to say for certain; that level doesn’t mean that much. I’ve known heroes in those worlds, that weren’t more than level 1, yet they went up against impossible odds and triumphed! I’ve seen such people take on monsters dozens of levels higher than themselves and win!”

The Ambassador mechanically tried to correct, “Inaccurate. Those were not standardized levels. They won because they exploited a weakness, used a tool of greater power, and/or took advantage of dumb luck. It is not uncommon among the non-standardized to have destructive force superior to their own survivability.”

Santo smiled, “Say what you want. I say where there’s a will, there’s a way. If those brave young souls could pull off a miracle, you can bet I can.”

Santo lunged, “And I will!”

All of Everfree shook with the sheer force of the collision that followed.

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

Chrysalis now flew out of Ponyville away from the Everfree Forest. She didn’t really know what she was expecting to find.

She then came across a small clearing; and was terrified at what she found. The clearing hosted 43 Knight Class Enforcers! There had originally been 50, and 7 had been destroyed so far.

Each one had flown in on an Enforcer Dropship, each with a full crew.

Chrysalis could hear the Knights talking, “The Ambassador has confirmed that Santo will not be in Ponyville, and the black rain will preoccupied Matsu. There will be no problems; the other humans are no match for us.”

One Knight stepped out of ranks, “Let’s destroy them all.”

The Knight vanished, and Chrysalis could hear it talking behind her, “Starting with this one.”

SLASH!

Chrysalis’s first thought was “I’m dead”,

The second was how impossible and stupid the first one was.

She turned to see… nothing.

There was a dead Knight on the ground, and no sign of whatever had destroyed it.

Chrysalis turned back to see that the Enforcers appeared equally surprised. A wave of energy surged through the air, seemingly coming from everywhere. Yet neither Chrysalis nor the Enforcers could figure out where this power was coming from.

There was only one thing they were all certain of;

It was the most powerful magic any of them had ever been this close to.

Whoever was producing this energy must have used the Conquerors Haki, because with one pulse of incalculable power, all the Enforcers fell lifelessly to the ground.

Chrysalis, perhaps foolishly, flew into the clearing, and looked about frantically for… whatever or whoever was responsible.

She then heard a giggly girl’s voice behind her, “Chrysalis, long time no see.”

Chrysalis turned around to see a 19 year old girl (one year older than everyone in the crew except Santo and Soran, who were 40 and 20 respectively) wearing a black cloak.

The Girl reached her hands out of the cloak to hug Chrysalis, revealing that she wore a gold ring around the middle figure of her right hand. It was set with a smooth purple stone, and had gold wings folded against its sides. On her left hand she wore a large black watch, which Chrysalis could swear was pulsing gently.

Her eyes were blue and bright. Her hair was jet black, just past her neck in length, and she was smiling like a filly on Hearth’s Warming Eve.

Chrysalis didn’t recognize her personally, but knew who she was associated with, “You’re with the Mare’s Clan aren’t you.”

The girl stopped hugging Chrysalis, “You don’t know my name do you? I helped save your whole race from dying; and you don’t remember my name.”

“That’s not true!” lied Chrysalis.

The girl put on her best troll face, “What is it then?”

Chrysalis really didn’t know. The girl sighed, “You can call me Cloud until you remember my name. But listen, I’m on a tight schedule.”

Cloud reached into her cloak and pulled out a blue, shinning sphere, “I want you to give this to Soran. I know he can win without it, but this will allow him to handle things with minimal property damage. Don’t tell him about me though. If anyone asks, say that you promised a friend you wouldn’t tell. They’re the type of people that will leave it at that.”

Chrysalis was surprised, “You don’t want anyone to know you’re here do you? I’m the only one that even knows about the Mare’s Clan aren’t I?”

Cloud giggled, “In this world anyway. We make it a point not to let anyone know about us.”

Chrysalis was a bit mad at this, “Why? The way you handled those guys, you must be at level 100. Kai’s crew could really use your help right now!”

Cloud just shrugged, never becoming serious, “Well when time travelers start poking around, history goes nuts! So I tend not to change too much.”

Chrysalis gasped, “You’re from the future! Do we win?”

Cloud gave Chrysalis and disappointed stare, “What did I just say about changing the past? Besides, weren’t you listening to Kai and his friends? Kingdom Hearts prophesized that they would win. Isn’t that better than the word of someone from the future anyway?”

The crafty trickster that she was, Chrysalis smiled, “It is, but you strongly implied just now that you come from a time when Kai has beaten the Enforcers.”

Cloud realized that she had slipped up, “Oh drat.

Don’t tell anyone ok. Kingdom Hearts is never wrong, and it foretold that they would win, and that no innocent lives would be lost, from the beginning; so what I say is nothing compared to that.

Cloud’s watch began to beep, “Whoops! Almost out of time! Gotta go Chrysalis, and remember, talk to Luna first, you’ll regret it otherwise. And if you get word that Kai’s crew is dead, ignore it, it’s not true.”

Chrysalis was doing her best to take notes, “We’re going to hear that they’re dead soon?”

Cloud ran off into the forest, “Not yet, in the sequel!”

Chrysalis was really confused, “Sequel?”

Cloud yelled out, because she was now a good distance away, “I wrote down all the old crew’s adventures. This would be in book one. Book two is better though.”

And with that, Cloud was gone.

Chrysalis took the Sphere Cloud had left in the grip of her telekinesis, and literally flew back towards the Gummi ship at top speed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

The mane 6 had managed to get everypony to take shelter from the black rain. Only they themselves, Spitfire, Soarin’, Lightning Dust, Princess Luna, and Shining Armor remained in the black rain.

Dea dropped out of the sky, and fell among the afore mentioned ponies. “What are you doing out in this stuff? Didn’t you hear the announcement, this stuff is pure poison!”

Applejack tilled her hat, trying to keep the rain out of her face, “Well we just had ta make sure everypony else was in the dry first ya’know.”

Soarin’ spoke through his Wonderbolts uniform, which he had pulled up over his mouth to avoid breathing the poisoned air, “And besides, EVERYONE already has this stuff in them anyway. Sol informed us that all it takes is one drop, and that after that the others don’t matter much unless you inhale until you can’t breathe. Might as well stay out here with you.”

Dea started to object, but Soarin’ had a point.

“Fine, they’re your lives, do what you want with em. But if you’re going to choose to be stupid, you might as well go help Matsu out.”

After exchanging a look, the ponies nodded, and were on their way.

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

Musica had just destroyed his 30,000th Soldier Class Enforcer of the day. ‘Mind Blowing Concert’ mixed with ‘Trumpeting Ballad of the Conqueror’ had allowed him to kill 30 aircraft carrier sized Dropships worth of Enforcers of every low rank just by giving them seizers. More than that, since he had used an attack that affects the mind, rather than the body, he had not damaged the Dropships themselves. This was very important, because the ships would have fallen, and Ponyville was right below them. The Enforcers would surely have nuked it if the Gummi ship didn’t have the barrier up.

Musica had become tired, much too tired to continue. And now, he was out of lightning clouds.

But there were still hundreds of Dropships left to go.

Dea jumped up onto the ship, released a wave of fireballs that incinerated a dozen Gladiators that were closing in, and went to check on Musica.

“Musica, you’ve done all anyone can do. Go rest in the healing chambers, we’ll get the rest of them.”

Musica wasn’t giving up that easy, “I’ve only gotten 30 ships worth, and there are hundreds more. You can’t beat them all you know. Your fire and swords, plus Sol’s psychics aren’t going to beat them. And Matsu is too busy making antidote.

The only way we can beat them is to have the Gummi nuke them, but that will destroy Ponyville.”

The Pegasus had carried the other ponies up to the ship in time to hear that.

Lightning asked, “Wait, you could just have nuked the fleet the whole time? The Enforcers really aren’t a danger to you guys at all are they? You’re just doing this to help us.”

Musica looked at his first pony fan, “Well duh. If we wanted to relax, we would have stayed in one of the worlds that Kai became Keeper of.”

Dea smiled warmly to the ponies, “It’s because you’re our friends. That’s all the reason we need.”

Nopony was sure what to say, but Pinkie just smiled back, so the others tried to do the same.

Soran and Sol flew back to the ship. Having just defeated their own 30th ship and crew.

Sol reported, “We’re doing pretty good, but I’m sure that we can’t keep this up much longer.”

Musica stumbled towards the door leading to the inside of the ship, “Fine I’ll rest. Soran; you’re the strongest of this group, take over.”

Some of the ponies had doubts about Soran being stronger than Musica, but were too polite to voice those opinions.

Thankfully, Pinkie Pie has no self-restraint, “EWW, you’re stronger than Musica, Mr. Soran? I thought all you could do was fly stuff around.”

Rainbow Dash was appalled, “Oh my Celestia, Pinkie Pie, you can’t just ask someone if all they can do is fly stuff around.”

Soran laughed. It was good that the ponies weren’t worrying to much, “Well, I am a support type magician after all. But flying is just a magic I learned to help my crew, and amplify my own fighting.”

Soran summoned several dozen swords, which Twilight had seen him carve the ship back into shape with. Soran had already proven that he could not only destroy things with his swords, but was also a master carpenter.

Soran asked Twilight a question, “Twilight, did you know that your stance plays a big role in swordsmanship?”

After all his years of being in the guard, Shining Armor had to be the one to answer, “That’s just obvious Soran.”

Soran flew his own body height off the ship, “Anyone that I allow to fly, is ‘standing’ on my flight magic. I always have perfect footing, because I create it. My swordsmanship isn’t the best in the Omniverse, but my stance and footing are.”

The Enforcers hadn’t been doing nothing this whole time. The next wave of them had assembled, and were rushing the ship by the thousands.

Suddenly they started popping like balloons as soon as they neared the ship.

Soran flew in their direction, cutting them to pieces with the sword that he was either holding in his hands or in his magic.

“But one thing you have to watch out for with flight magic is pressure. Changing altitude rapidly can give you altitude sickness, so I also have to have the power to control pressure, just to survive. I’m disrupting the pressure in the Enforcer’s bodies, causing them to expanded and burst.

Plus, I can expand the radius of my ‘Flight Sphere’. The 30 meter radius is my 1%, radius, so I can go up to 3000 meters (1.86411 mile spherical radius) at 100%.”

With that Soran shot his swords at the enemy. Each sword skewered one Enforcer before slicing to the side killing the nearest other Enforcer.

Shining Armor remembered falling out of Soran’s flight Sphere before, “You can expand your magic that far and you didn’t catch me earlier!”

Dea looked worried, “It’s not that he couldn’t have, but you didn’t get hurt, and he doesn’t like to expand the radius if he doesn’t have to. The percentage doesn’t just measure how long the radius is, it also measures what percentage of his strength, magic, and concentration he has to expend to keep it that wide.

At 1%, he can maintain it as easily as breathing, but by 50% he is only half his normal strength, magic, and mindset. Just 2% doubles the strain. 50% and the strain is terrible. By 80% some of the internal strength needed to make his organs function is being used to maintain it. If he were to go to 100%, he could move mountain ranges around, and make it rain upwards… but he would die.

Right now, he’s at 60% (1.118468 mile spherical radius), but that also means that his power is only at 40%. The Pawns, Scouts, and Soldiers are no match for him, and he can kill them like flees. But at this state of weakness, a Gladiator could easily kill him.

As quantity goes up, quality goes down. As radius goes up, might goes down. Soran is really at his best when he uses 1%.”
Soran was staying close enough to the ship that the other humans could fly up to help once they had caught their breath.

Sol was ready for the next round, “Come on Dea, Soran needs guards right now. I predict that well win by unexpected means.”

Dea scowled, “Why does your fortune telling have to be so cryptic?”

Sol was already flying, “because you never really know what’s going to happen next, at best you just know what to expect.”

Dea drew her sword and set it ablaze with magic, “Fine then, let’s get em.”

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

There was an earthquake in the Everfree Forest. The worst in the history of Equestria. All the animals had been evacuating since Fluttershy had warned them about the circumstances, long before the battle started. But these tremors were so intense that Ponyville was feeling it’s effects. They could even faintly be felt by those in Appleloosa. Whole sections of the forest were caving in to the underground caverns beneath the old ruins.

And that was all just side effects of the fight between Santo and the Ambassador.

Santo had managed to kill the Swordbearer, but was now nearing complete exhaustion, and the Ambassador was taking full advantage of this.

“Just die you miserable old fool!” screamed the Ambassador as it lunged to kill Santo.

Santo was nearly cut in two, but vanished without a trace. The Ambassador blocked an attack coming from the rear, and turned to face the clever old warrior.

“I’m not old, I sped up my ageing to sped up my power level growth.

And I did it with my magic: Time-Space manipulation.

You’re moving in Slow motion Enforcer. And that’s a problem when fighting someone whom distance means nothing to.”

Enforcers don’t worry about anything, they are much too overconfident.

“Big words from someone who can’t CONTROL Time-Space. You may be able to play with the fundamental forces of the omniverse, but you don’t command the power of Time or Space. If you did you would have won immediately. But it appears that moving between the dimensional fabric strains your body. All I have to do is drag this battle out.”

Santo wasn’t overly worried. Dragging the battle out was kinda his goal after all. But he knew he couldn’t keep it up much longer.

“Darn it Kai, you better be close to the Heart by now.”

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

Boom!

Kai had just been shot through a wall.

The Structure, diamond or not, couldn’t take this kind of a beating. Celestia had started blowing up Pillars a long time ago, and with the earthquakes Santo and the Enforces were causing the whole place was falling apart.

Kai took note of his new surroundings.

He was in a large, circular room, about the size of a football stadium’s width, but circular. Where the ‘Stands’ would be in a football stadium, there were giant stairs leading down to the floor of the room.

The Ceiling was a perfect dome, and was enchanted to look like the sky above it, which was currently an Eclipse.

The ‘Keyhole’ in the moon, shown down from the enchanted ceiling, and fell perfectly into a giant keyhole in the center of this chamber’s floor.

Kai had been blasted into the room housing the Keyhole of the world!

Kai noticed however, that the floor had a large crack running through it, right through the middle of the Keyhole. This caused the Keyhole to ‘leak’ magic, and the air was saturated with it.

The sound of Celestia screaming in rage brought him back to his senses, and he just barely blocked a shot that would have incinerated his head.

Celestia lowered her head and rammed Kai, sending both of them down to the floor of the chamber, just a few feet from the Keyhole.

Kai would have been killed if he hadn’t dodged the horn and blocked with his keyblade.

Celestia was so mad that she hadn’t paid attention to where the now where.

“Celestia, look around you. This is the Keyhole to the Heart of your world” Kai spoke softly.

Celestia looked around, realizing the importance of their new location. Her distraction had given Kai time to stand up.

“Celestia, we can save Equestria right now. The Heart is right here.”

Kai held his Keyblade’s handle out so that Celestia could take it, “But I don’t want to take the heart from you by force. So please Celestia, come to your senses.”

Celestia blasted at Kai, but this time was different. Kai made no attempt to block, and the blast cut right through his heart with a loud popping sound, followed by steam gushing out of the wound.

Celestia gasped. What little sanity she had left was appalled that she would willingly inflict such a horrible wound on any sentient creature.

Kai coughed up some blood, but did not scream. Partly because he was trying not to, and partly because it hurt too much to scream.

“It’s…Alright…Princess. I can heal death itself as long as it’s recent…I’ll…survive this. But please…I have to…protect…my friends’…world…first.

Celestia was moved by Kai’s innocence and willpower, but not enough to revert. She pushed her horn into his forehead until she felt skull. Her magic flared up and she readied it for the final blow, “Don’t worry, this blast will destroy your head. The pain will end.”

Kai stared right into Celestia’s eyes. Kai’s eyes where filled with concern for his friends, faith in his assailant, understanding, forgiveness, willpower, and love. Celestia looked for any sign of fear, anger, hate, suffering, or any kind of doubt, but there was none to be found in Kai’s eyes.

Kai could have cut Celestia in two with his Keyblade, become Keeper, and Revived her before her soul was gone, but he couldn’t bring himself to hurt his friend. Celestia knew all this.

Celestia cried.

Her tears made her eyes go back to normal, but she was clearly not fully cured yet.

“I don’t want to be owned Kai.

I don’t want to lose control again.

I don’t want to be powerless like I was with Luna.

I don’t want you to be our Keeper.”

Kai put his hand on Celestia’s shoulder to comfort her, even though her fiery mane burned his hand terribly.

“You…don’t need to…worry about that. I’ll give it all…back…to you.”

Celestia was weeping bitterly, “I’ve seen humans before. The powers of a Keeper let me know about other worlds. They’re greedy and cruel, and they don’t keep their promises. How do I know you’ll keep your word? Why would you give Omnipotent power back to me?”

“I try…to do what’s right. You’re…good. The way…I see it…that makes you…my Friend.”

Celestia’s whole world seemed to stand still. But she knew that at that moment, Santo was fighting the most dangerous thing that ever walked the world, Kai’s crew was running out of power fighting unwinnable odds, Ponyville was being poisoned, The fate of Equestria hung in the balance,

And Kai was about to die.

So Celestia passed judgment, and decided the fate of her world.

Chapter 12: Assurance and Fatherly Kindness

View Online

The ponies really weren’t sure what to make of it. Matsu had cooked five thousand golden rice mochi rolls in the last forty-five minutes. Even as impressive as that sounds, it was magnified by the fact that each one had to be handmade, one-by-one.

Plus, it was a magical dish. The temperature, cooking time, force and angle at which the rich was beaten into dough, and moisture level all had to be absolutely perfect in every way, or the magic would be lost and the whole roll would be spoiled and poisonous.

What’s more, each grain of rice was magical, and each was different, like snowflakes. Depending on the way the grains looked, they had to be exposed to different levels of heat, force and angle of beating, and moisture. If just one grain of gold rice was ‘mistreated’, the whole roll would be spoiled, and if the roll wasn’t big enough, it wouldn’t work anyway.

Even the Pegasus ponies that made snowflakes every year would have needed years of training in the technique, and even then they would have had to make the rolls one-grain-at-a-time, each taking as much as an hour.

Matsu had the ponies bring him baskets filled with uncooked rice, which they set to his left. In front of him was a huge pot filled with boiling water. Matsu would scoop up a basket worth of the rice, stir and beat it in the pot by hand, stretch it as far as his arms, and put the product into the empty baskets of the right. Once there, they were cut into individual servings by Matsu’s magic.

Twilight’s brain was screaming, “IT! IS! IMPOSSIBLE!”

She knew that Matsu was using magic, sure; but even with magic, to be able to have such precision and technique was just...well, it was just impossible!

The only thing the ponies were contributing was bringing the baskets of rice around to Matsu.

Matsu had just made the last of the rice into rolls, “Well ponies, that’s the last of the stock. Anyone who eats one of those rolls will have any toxins in their body decompose into something harmless, or if they’re lucky, into vitamins. Plus, each roll will keep working, preventing you from becoming poisoned again for thirty minutes.”

Applejack wasn’t going to waste any time, “Well then we gotta get this stuff down to Ponyville, pronto!”

She took the first tray of rolls in her teeth and sprinted for the door. The others were about to follow suit, but a cooking skewer flew across the room and speared the ground in front of Applejack. The skewer was steaming gently. She didn’t dare move.

Matsu’s hand was outstretched, as if he had thrown the skewer; but there were no obvious kitchen appliances lying around to throw. Rarity had noticed earlier that the only kitchen items in view were pots and pans and silverware.

Applejack would have bucked Discord or Sombra under the same circumstances, but making berserk Matsu miffed was like making the Hulk furious. Applejack’s fearful shaking had returned, “Is uh, something wrong, Sugarcube?”

Berserk Matsu had promised his boss that he would try not to eat anyone. ‘Try’ being the key word here. Telling berserk Matsu to ‘not hunt whatever moved’, was like telling Rainbow Dash ‘give up flying, stop being awesome, and betray your friends’.

Do I need to say more?

Matsu snapped his fingers and the Skewer vanished.

“You know, I haven’t got to eat any meat the whole time I’ve been here.”

Matsu reached out his hand like he was grasping for something that wasn’t there. Suddenly he was holding a new cooking skewer, gently steaming like the last one.

Twilight ran in between the berserker and her friend. She turned to see if Applejack was alright but noticed that there were holes in the floor where the first skewer had hit. Not singed places; holes. That meant that Matsu was conjuring solid weapons, not firing energy blasts. The skewer hadn’t been steaming, that had been magic leaking out of it.

Twilight looked up to check on Applejack and then turned to give Matsu a piece of her mind. She lost that confidence when she saw that he was only one inch away.

“I wonder what unicorn tastes like.”

Somepony put her hoof on Matsu’s shoulder, “You’ll have to find out what Pegasus tastes like first.”

Matsu turned to be met by Fluttershy’s stare. For some reason she was the least afraid of Matsu.

“Now see here Matsu, these are my friends! So you’re going to have to be friends with them too.”

Matsu bared his fangs at the little pegasus, “I’ll eat anyone I want. Give me one reason I should be friends with these ponies.”

“Because you’re friends with me, Matsu. So you have to be friendly to my friends!”

Matsu roared at her. A Manticore would have run away and had nightmares that night.

Fluttershy just hovered there with her arms crossed and her stare active.

Matsu spoke in a growl, “You think you can tame me? I am the king of all predators. I am the top of the Omniversal food chain. I eat everything and nothing eats me, and you think I’m going to let you all off the hook because you say so?”

Fluttershy shook her head, “No, not because I said so; and not because you promised the Boss you wouldn’t.

Do it because the real Matsu says don’t do it!”

Matsu smiled sinisterly, “I am the real Matsu. That other guy is the split personality. Ask the crew. I’m not lying.”

Fluttershy put her hooves on Matsu’s shoulders, “I believe you, but I don’t care. Even if that other Matsu isn’t the original, he’s still a good person. He’s my friend and I’ll protect him from anyone. Even you!”

Matsu became wide eyed; he remembered the first time the Kind Matsu appeared.

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

Matsu had just destroyed an entire village. Everyone had gotten word he was coming and had all evacuated before he arrived. Matsu had no real memories, not because he had amnesia, just because this was his entire past. For as long as he could remember, he had always been a monster. This was his entire life in microcosm. Some had tried to kill him, others to reform him. Both had failed.

Suddenly a young boy about his age approached him. Matsu had never met anyone this composed before, but that didn’t matter.

Matsu lunged at his prey like a hungry lion. The boy caught him and flipped him over his shoulder before pinning him to the ground.

The boy starred into Matsu’s eyes with palpable concern, “Is this what you want? Does this make you happy?”

Matsu exerted all his power at once, forcing the boy off of him.

Matsu couldn’t speak as properly back then, “You try tame too? Waste time, waste you. Eat you.”

The boy took off his satchel, “I will feed you if you’re hungry little one.”

Matsu crept up on his prey, “Food better if hunt. Not just for food. For fight, for hunt, for kill. Am predator. Must hunt, must fight, then eat, fight for eat, appetite from battle only.”

The boy threw his satchel against a nearby ruin, “Then fight me and build up an appetite. Then we’ll eat the food I brought you, together.

It was a good battle, but Matsu wasn’t as strong back then. The boy won easily. Matsu had finally been defeated by something; he was no longer the top of the food chain. He knew what happened in a battle like this: the winner ate the loser. But that’s not what he did. The boy fed Matsu, but Matsu didn’t want to accept it.

The boy spoke, “You can’t have your way. You live by power and now you think you can talk back to the winner? The Winner makes the rules. Play by your own code.”

Matsu didn’t like it, but he took the food anyway.

The boy asked again, “Now tell me, does this make you happy? Is this what you want?”

Matsu howled at him, “Is what am! Is what do! You no tame me!”

The boy just kept eating as he spoke, “I don’t want to tame you and I don’t want you to become something else. I just want to know if you like what you are. Is this what you really want out of life? Just answer that question and I’ll leave you alone.”

Matsu wasn’t as strong back then, less so in his childhood. He had to crouch like a lion and watch his prey. Most predators prey on the weak and the small. Matsu had watched normal children, normal families, but for some reason it spoiled his appetite to watch them. They had…something.

Matsu answered, “No predator ever happy. At war with nature. But is what am.”

The boy shook his head in disagreement, “Even if that’s so, WHAT you are doesn’t determine WHO you are. What would you like to become?”

Matsu roared, “Is what am! Cannot change that!”

The boy was always calm, “Why? Are you saying that your own nature is the one opponent you can’t beat? What good does it do you to be able to beat any opponent if you can’t even beat yourself?”

Matsu was uneducated, but not naturally stupid, “Can’t beat self. Self is strong as self. And no can kill self and win. So not win, no can beat self.”

The boy stood and offered Matsu a hand, “If you can’t beat your nature alone, then draw strength from your friends. My name is Kai. I’ll be your friend.”

Matsu starred at Kai, “For why?”

Kai looked at the ruins, “I’ve heard about you. You’ve never eaten anyone who didn’t attack you first. For someone as wild as you, that must be very hard. You just need someone to help you.

If I were you, I would want someone to help me.

So when I see you, I want to help you. That’s my reason.”

Matsu for the first time in his whole life looked ashamed, “I…want…be…good. Have kind. But am predator.”

Kai helped Matsu stand, “It’s not about where you’re from, it’s about where you’re going.”

Matsu bowed to Kai, “You is Alpha now. Is top of pack.”

Kai forced Matsu to stand, “I hate that. I’ll never accept that. You are my friend.”

Matsu repeated, he needed to hear that word again, “Friend?”

Kai put his arm around Matsu and started walking, “So long as you want me to, I’ll protect you from everything, especially yourself.

By the way, we’re going to have to name you little guy.

But I’m no good at that. Let me take you to meet my friends…”

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

Matsu was back to his kind form again. The first thing he did was hug Fluttershy.

Matsu spoke softly, “Thank you Fluttershy. You’re the only one other than the boss to ever remind me of what I really am.
We can talk later. We have a village to feed.

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

Matsu and the ponies had just stepped back onto the deck of the ship. They had arrived just in time to meet the other arrivals. Chrysalis had finally arrived with the sphere that Cloud had given her, and Soran had brought Sol and Dea back to the ship to eat the antidote that Matsu had finished.

Soran was relieved to see that Matsu was back to his usual self, “Matsu, thank goodness. We’ve only got ten minutes until that poison does us all in.

Princess Luna, you and the Element bearers are crucial to this world’s order. You should eat first.”

The sound of Luna’s name had not only drawn her own attention, but Chrysalis’s as well. Chrysalis remembered that Cloud had told her to talk to Luna first, lest she regret it later.

But what exactly did that mean?

Why did people who knew the future always have to be so darn cryptic?

Chrysalis decided that, just to be totally safe, she would always address Luna first from now on, should the choice be there.
She also decided that she was going to interrogate time travelers from now on and make them say what they mean!

Chrysalis started, “Princess Luna. I have a magic sphere in my possession that I think can help us beat the Enforcers, once and for all.”

Luna of course wanted to know more about this, “What makes you think that?”

Chrysalis didn’t actually know what the crystal sphere did, “I um…I don’t know.”

Luna was rightfully confused, “Then what makes you think it will help?”

Chrysalis had promised not to tell anyone about Cloud, “Someone told me it would, but I really don’t know much about that…being.” Chrysalis had started to say ‘person’ but that might imply that it had been a human. She then started to say ‘pony’ but that wasn’t right. So she settled for ‘being’ at the last second.

Luna was getting frustrated, “Ok fine, but what does it do?”

Chrysalis realized this wasn’t going well, “I don’t know.”

Luna was frustrated, “What do you know?”

Chrysalis perked up some, “That Soran can use it to beat the Enforcers with minimal property damage.”

Luna was confused again, “Then why didn’t you just give it to Soran in the first place?”

Well obviously Chrysalis couldn’t say it was because she now had a mortal fear of addressing anyone but Luna first,

“Um…whoops.”

Luna frowned and telekinetically floated antidote rolls to everyone on the ship, “Well, go give it to Soran and stop wasting our time.”

Chrysalis awkwardly walked over to Soran, “This is…Oh forget it. You heard all that, I don’t know what it does, just take it.”

Stupid, stupid, stupid Cloud! Chrysalis knew she had made herself look like a complete idiot, right in front of everyone. This was all Cloud’s fault. If she had just said what she meant none of this would be happening. Why do prophesies and foresights always say ‘look within when the crest of old shines beyond the higher way’ instead of just ‘go left at the fork in the road’?

If Cloud had just given her some actual directions to follow rather than just saying to ‘give the sphere to Soran, talk to Luna first (or you’ll regret it later), and to ignore rumors that the crew was dead’. When, why, how?

Soran ordered her, “Tell me about the person who gave you this, Chrysalis.”

Chrysalis told Soran exactly what she had been told, “I promised that I wouldn’t tell.”

All the humans thought for a second, exchanged a glance, and all spoke together, “Ok, fair enough.”

Twilight was just about to eat her antidote roll, “WHAT!? You’re just going to let it go at that?”

All the humans ate their rolls and nodded in agreement. They were just that sort of people.

Twilight angrily bit into her antidote roll.

“Oh sweet Celestia! Delicious!

Get! In! My! Mouth!”

The others all ate at least as happily as Twilight did. Matsu ate his while frowning like it tasted terrible.

Matsu swallowed, “Needs magical salt, but I was fresh out. But after all, this is for medicine, not taste. Once this whole thing is over I’ll make you some real food.”

The ponies (and Spike) just nodded happily. This moment of bliss couldn’t be interrupted by anything.

CRACK!

Except maybe the barrier keeping the ship and town safe cracking.

The Enforcers were a persistent bunch and they had just cracked the barrier wide open!

The humans couldn’t really have stopped it at this point. They were really tired after killing tens-of-thousands of Enforcers in the last hour. Soran gripped the crystal sphere Chrysalis had given him and it activated on its own.

Soran’s ‘Flight Sphere expanded to 100%, but he felt relatively no strain on his body.

Soran was at 100% power and 100% ‘Flight Sphere’.

But there was more, “Princess Luna, this is just a theory of mine, but would you try ‘raising’ that Enforcer ship like it was the moon?” Soran asked.

Luna tried it.

The ship shot into the sky like a bullet, flung into space.

Sol whistled, “Impressive! The sphere makes anything in Soran’s Flight sphere ‘a heavenly body’ as far as the Alicorns magic is concerned.”

All smiled. Now they had an ace up their sleeve.

Soran took to the air, “Sol, Dea, you two cover me and I’ll enclose ships in my Flight Sphere. Luna will send ‘em into orbit.

Meanwhile, Matsu and the ponies will land the ship in the village and start feeding the ponies.”

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

As soon as they landed, the ponies noticed the faint earthquakes.

Matsu turned towards the ponies, “Don’t worry. That’s probably just the old man fighting the Ambassador.

Fluttershy gasped, “But, if they make an earthquake!”

Fluttershy flew up and began looking into the Everfree forest.

The whole forest was falling apart, semi-literally. The earthquake was knocking trees over and caving in the landscape. The forest was going to become a wasteland if this continued. Sure, they might have been able to make it livable again in a few years, but the animals wouldn’t be able to return to it until then.

Fluttershy was devastated. She had to land.

Fluttershy cried.

Matsu’s full attention was drawn to her, “Wait. Don’t cry.”

Fluttershy was sobbing too bitterly. Matsu couldn’t stand it,

“All my little critter friends. Where will they live? They have no home. All their little…”

Fluttershy just sobbed.

Matsu was getting desperate, “Don’t worry. Once Kai becomes Keeper he can put everything back. You’ll never even know the difference.” Matsu knew what he was saying was true, but it didn’t sound confident with a weeping Pegasus in front of him.

“Ok”, was all Fluttershy could manage.

Matsu’s hair spiked up like he was berserk, but his eyes didn’t turn.

Trembling with rage he looked to the sky, “You abominations.

I’m so mad. I’m so mad I can’t even go berserk.

This is different from my normal anger. You’re breaking my friend’s heart.

This is wrath!”

Sol sensed what was going on, “Back to the ship.”

Soran and Dea looked at him like he was crazy. They had just started their raid.

Sol shot them a worried look, “Matsu is going into Wrath mode.”

The other two’s eyes got as wide as dinner plates, “Back to the ship,” they all said.

Soran could fly at the speed of sound, so it was mere moments before they stood on the ship next to Matsu.

Matsu looked at Soran and spoke softly, “Soran, how many warheads do we have?”

Something about him talking so quietly was more terrifying than if he were screaming. It meant he was too mad to scream.

Soran stuttered, “We...we have…a full stock. Four hundred warheads…just like we had back in…”

Matsu walked to the edge of the ship.

Shining Armor noticed that the Enforcers had stopped advancing suddenly. Were they afraid of Matsu? Nah, that couldn’t be it. Wild as he was, he was just a cook. Right?

Matsu was looking up at the hundreds of ships above him, “Soran. Have Gummi fire 10 Warheads.”

Soran knew what Matsu was thinking, “Matsu I don’t think that’s…”

“Do It.”

The Gummi fired up on Soran’s whim.

Matsu chanted as quiet as a whisper, “Tool make: Potenza Mestolo”

Matsu conjured up a giant steaming soup ladle.

The Gummi fired ten warheads, all of which Matsu caught in the ladle. They exploded, but the blast never left the Ladle.

“Energy cannot escape this ladle of mine unless I want it to”, Matsu informed the ponies, “And now it has the power of ten nuclear warheads.”

Matsu didn’t need Soran’s flight magic. He just jumped, and was rocketing into the heavens.

Matsu spun the Ladle like it was a sling and flung energy blasts from it like it was a sling too.

Matsu never bothered going after individual Enforcers. He just nuked entire fleets of them. Whereas the others took out Enforcers by the dozens, Matsu took them out by the thousands at a time.

Sol kept the others focused, “Soran, flatten your Flight Sphere into a disk so that when those ships fall, Luna will be able to send them to space.”

Everyone just nodded. Matsu was awesome and terrifying.

Matsu spoke, but no one could hear him except the Enforcers he was incinerated, “Listen to me you freaks.”

Matsu had destroyed 30 ships.

“You can mock me. I try to put petty things like that behind me now.”

Matsu had destroyed 50 ships.

“I probably deserve it anyway; I know I’m not a great person.”

Matsu had destroyed 70 ships.

“But you don’t oppose my boss. He and Musica don’t exactly get along, but they’re friends, and real friends fight sometimes. I don’t mind that. I’m a lot more trouble for the boss than Musica is anyway.”

Matsu had destroyed 100 ships.

“I don’t follow the boss because he opposes the Enforcers. The original me couldn’t care less if the Omniverse is destroyed. I follow the boss because he believed in me. I was evil when he found me, but he saw good in me. Kai called me friend. Forget scrolls, I could write a whole book on Harmony. Kai showed me what friendship is all about.”

Matsu had destroyed 120 ships.

“It’s easy to be friends with friendly people. Being friends with people like me requires something special.”

Matsu had destroyed 140 ships.

“I believe in Kai, because he believed in me when he had no reason to. The others believed in me because Kai did. It’s not their fault, but it’s just not the same.”

Matsu had destroyed 160 ships.

“Kai was the only one who knew everything about me and still had total faith in me; until Fluttershy decided to believe in me too.”

Matsu had destroyed 180 ships.

“I know better than anyone else that true friends are the best treasure in the whole omniverse. I’m not perfect, but I’ll do anything for my friends. I’ll protect them from anything, just like they protected me.

You made Fluttershy cry.

You. Made. My. Friend. Cry.”

Matsu had destroyed 200 ships.

“You!

Do!

Not!

Make!

Fluttershy!

Cry!”

Matsu threw the ladle at the Mother ship. It burrowed into the core of the ship before detonating two nuclear warheads worth of destructive force.

Matsu had just destroyed 200,000 Enforcers, give or take, and the Mother ship.

The ones that luckily got away were taken care of on the way back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

All of Ponyville had the same reaction - totally speechless.

The only pony left that wasn’t awestruck was Princess Luna. And to be fair, she was busy sending any ships that Matsu shot down into orbit with her magic.

“Hurry up Luna! I can’t hold this many ships for long!” Soran was doing his best to ‘juggle’ the fallen ships so that none of them fell on Ponyville, but only Luna could send them into space.

“I’m trying! It’s really hard to ‘raise’ this many things all in such a short time.”

“You raise the moon! Don’t tell me a few hundred ships gives you trouble!”

“As it turns out, it does give me trouble! Deal with it!”

Dea and Sol meanwhile were walking around Ponyville with relaxed expressions, handing out antidote rolls.

Musica had come out of the healing chambers healthy enough to get around well, and was running a stand that handed out the antidote.

The humans had seen this all too many times before: Matsu, fleets being destroyed, poison raining from the sky, miracle food, fate of the universe in the balance.

Or as the humans called it - a weekday.

The black rain was still falling, but with the power of the Sphere added to Soran’s power, it acted like an umbrella, diverting the rain.

Sol spoke directly into everyone’s minds, “Attention Everyone. Don’t be scared. We’re getting things under control. Looks like things are pretty much wrapped up here. I now this is scary for you, but this is our regular work schedule. Matsu made enough antidote rolls for all of you, and we’ll definitely have leftovers. So relax, all we need to do is wait for Kai.”

Sol then spoke only into his crews minds, “Enforcers are never this easy to stop. There must be more on the way. Now that even Matsu is used up, we’re defenseless. All we can do is wait for the boss.”

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

Santo was out of time. Literally.

Santo had used up too much of his Time-Space manipulation. It had taken all he had to beat the Swordbearer, and beating the Ambassador was just impossible at this point. They had already destroyed the ceiling and were now standing under the sky. Most of Everfree was destroyed and the underground chambers of the castle were all either caved in or had the ceiling incinerated by the two titans. Only one domed chamber had been built to survive, and it was now buried in the cave-in.

Santo was now completely on the defensive. It was no longer about stalling or looking for the Keyhole, this was now solely a battle to stay alive.

“Your rebellion against us is at an end, fool. Time for you to die.”

Santo couldn’t say anything. All he could do was put up a guard and draw out the inevitable.

The Ambassador raised its sword, arm over its head readying for the finale.

But something gripped its wrist.

It was gentle, but firm enough that the Ambassador couldn’t move at all.

The Ambassador turned to see Kai.

Kai’s body was ablaze with white fire, his eyes shining like coals of fire, but orange. Although the fire was white, its outline shown with all the colors of the rainbow. The fire also had a second layer, which wrapped around him like a cloak, with a mantle of white fire billowing against his back like a cape. The cape said

留守居

on it (Keeper).

Next to him stood a white Alicorn filly with a pink mane.

She spoke in a stern tone, “As I said to you before, abomination, I’ve had it with your kind! I told you I wouldn’t let you get to the Keyhole. I may not be able to beat you,

But I recently hired a Knight that I think can do the job.

Kai, take out all the Enforcers.”

Kai spoke in a voice as soothing as a babbling brook, but as powerful as lightning, “As you command, Princess.”

The Ambassador knew that the whole Enforcer fleet wouldn’t last a moment against a Keeper, “This changes nothing. You may be a Princess and her Keeper, but Senza is the Emperor of the Omniverse and will soon be Keeper of everything. You only delay utopia eternal.”

Kai didn’t move. He merely willed that the Ambassador turn to dust. It looked less like a battle and more like Kai had just stood there and watched the Ambassador blow away in the wind.

Instantly Kai, Celestia, and Santo all stood in Ponyville.

Kai clapped his hands once.

All the Enforcer ships melted into dust and vanished without a trace.

Needless to say, that had got everyone’s attention.

Musica was never speechless, “About bloody time, you darn doctor. What took you so long?”

The other humans all dropped whatever they were doing and sat down to relax. The fight was as good as over.

Kai reported to his superior, “It is done Princess. Your orders?”

Celestia flew up so that everypony could hear her, which was useless considering Musica amplified her voice and spread it out across town anyway.

“Is everypony alright? We can put anything back the way it was, so anypony with a problem please speak up now.”

Fluttershy walked up to them, “PRINCESS!”

Fluttershy was terrified that her voice was that loud. She turned to see Musica, who was amplifying her quite voice so that everyone could hear.

She motioned for him to turn it down some, “Um princess, could you let Kai put the forest back. The little critters need somewhere to stay. That is, if it’s not too much trouble.”

How Fluttershy managed to make Musica’s amplification sound quite was a mystery never solved.

Celestia nodded, “Kai, please put Equestria back the way it was before you arrived here. Every particle you disturbed; put it all back.”

Kai looked like he was praying, and was concentrating on it with all his might.

The fire on him expanded like a bubble and covered all of Ponyville.

It didn’t stop there though, it kept going. It washed over Everfree and on to Appleloosa, past the frozen north well beyond the Crystal Empire. It washed the whole planet and kept going, even covering the moon!

Kai put back everything, every rock, every blade of grass, every building and construct, even the footprints they had made while walking.

Kai restored all the plants and healed all the animals that had been involved or disrupted by these events.

Once it was finished, the fire simply went out. Only Kai was still engulfed in it.

“It is done.”

Twilight murmured, “Amazing.”

Sol shook his head, “True, but that’s a Keeper’s power.”

Rarity wasn’t as happy, “If his power is so great, then why is all this yucky black stuff still here. It’s really making the place dirty darling.”

The humans were shocked to see that the poison rain was still there.

Sol couldn’t calculate the reason, “That’s impossible. It should be gone. Nothing can resist a Keeper’s power.”

“Except the powers of another Keeper of course.”

Luna and the humans trembled.

Luna spoke, “That voice, that voice I will hear in my nightmares.

Senza.”

Chapter 13: Harmony and Light

View Online

Luna had been in hundreds of thousands of dreams. Even during her time in the moon, she had always been able to roam dreams. More than just roam, she could change them to her will. She had seen the worst of nightmares and had gotten to the point where even the worst dream wouldn’t frighten her.

In the years to come, Luna would have occasional nightmares about Senza.

Senza was here, somewhere in Ponyville.

Luna looked about trying to find him.

“You don’t need to look dear, I’m everywhere. Nothing is faster than light, but nothing is as large as darkness. Darkness is everywhere. It spreads to the end of the Omniverse. Darkness is everywhere that light is not.

Without light, there will be darkness. Without hope, there will be despair. Without love, there will be hate.

I am everywhere.”

Celestia also looked about, but often looked back to Kai to see what he was going to do about this.

The black rain all floated up off the ground and flowed into a single point. It materialized into Senza.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but laugh a little at the sight of this boney little guy being Senza.

Applejack didn’t know what to think, “Y'er kiddin'! Even Applebloom has ten times as much meat on her bones as this guy.”

Fluttershy felt sorry for him, “He doesn’t look healthy.”

Rarity was thinking how tacky his baggy clothes were. Sol pulled the baggy clothes look off, but Senza did not.

Twilight was calculating how it was impossible that the amount of black rain that had fallen could fit in a small lake, let alone in this scrawny brat.

Celestia was looking to her left, taking notice that Kai was prepared for war, and that Luna was terrified.

Celestia also underestimated Senza, but knew to be wary of anyone that Kai and Luna both feared. Celestia spoke, “Everypony stand back. This man is not our friend. Twilight, get the Elements. Kai put everything back; that means they should be in Canterlot again.”

“Oh, that would take too long. Here you go, have your precious Elements” said Senza. And with a snap of his fingers the Elements of Harmony were already being worn by their respective bearers.

Senza couldn’t help but laugh, “Pitiful. Simply pitiful. To think that such weak magic is your world’s trump card; but I suppose I couldn’t expect any better from a filthy half-species.”

The ponies already didn’t like this guy. Senza had just insulted everything they stood for: their Elements, their world, their race - everything.

Senza summoned six copies of himself. Each one was wearing a copy of the Elements of Harmony, but instead of the gems that were normally set in them, there were black coals burning with black fire. Each of these coals had the Keeper symbol on it, burning scarlet.

Senza spoke to the ponies as if he were a narrator, “Gather around Everypony! We’re going to reenact a timeless tale.”

Senza’s voice sounded almost like mocking, “Once upon a time, there were two princesses who took over control of the sun and moon. They brought peace to the three pony tribes, defeated Discord, and civilized the backward ways of the tribes.”

Senza addressed Kai, “Kai, would you be willing to play Luna in this reenactment?”

Senza didn’t wait, “Good.

So, anyways, the princesses ruled the land in peace and harmony.

But, even though the younger princess worked just as hard as the older, not just in moving the heavens but also in other royal affairs, the ponies would not love her. So in time, she gave into her torment.

You see little ones, when someone is hated, they grow to hate the ones who hate them.

Everyone hated Luna, so Luna hated everyone.”

Kai had heard enough, “Stop it Senza!”

Senza kept going, “So Luna, hated by all, went to the one pony that might still help her - her beloved sister.”

Luna tried to stop this ‘reenactment’, but found that she could not move, which probably meant no one could move. She couldn’t speak either.

Senza’s clones approached Kai as Senza continued, “But Celestia could not help her. By then it was too late. Luna had become a threat to the whole world. She had to be stopped, no matter what.”

Sure enough, only Kai could move or speak, “ENOUGH SENZA!”

Senza activated his ‘Elements’, “So the eldest exhausted the only remaining option - to seal her away!”

Senza’s ‘Elements’ mixed into a spinning wave of darkness, wrapped around Kai, and shot him towards the moon like a black meteor with a white core.

All spectators felt their hearts sink at the sight of Kai being banished to the moon.

Senza took a bow as he finished, “And that Everypony is how Celestia banished Luna to the moon.”

Senza released everyone from his total paralysis, “Now then, who can tell me who the villain of this story is?

Luna? No, Luna was a victim. She did her best and only received hatred.

Celestia? What would you have preferred she do? Let all Equestria freeze just to save one pony?

Discord? Fools, he was already lifeless stone!

But someone is to blame. Now we can stand around pointing hooves all night, and certainly some are guiltier than others.

But, if you really want to know who is guilty, you need only look around you.

It was your kind that hated Luna without justification.

It was your kind that convinced Celestia to abandon her sister.

It was even your kind that created Discord with your squabbling.

I’m not justifying anyone. I’m condemning everyone.”

Senza approached the ponies. The humans tried to run surround Senza and defend Ponyville from him. Many ponies tried to run away. But for some reason, no matter which way or how fast they ran, no one ever got closer to or farther away from Senza. It was like time and space were looping around so that everyone only got into a better position to see or hear Senza, and anyone who spoke was only heard as background noise. Senza now stood in the middle of the crowd, all eyes facing him, the humans in the distant background.

Senza was always nonchalant. He barely cared enough about anything to keep breathing. Although he never became tense, at least it was clear he was sincere.

“The truth, little ones, is that hearts are the source of all pain, fear, and corruption. Each and every heart is a seed of such things.

Good and Evil? Perhaps hearts are capable of both. But I don’t see how that matters.

As long as hearts exist, pain, fear, and corruption will also exist. Hearts may be capable of good, but what good is goodness if you must also have these afflictions?

I am working to create a world without hearts, without Kingdom Hearts. A world of happiness. Why would you want to oppose such a world?”

Rainbow Dash stepped out of the crowd, “Because you’re giving up on everyone, throwing everyone away just to be happy. Being loyal means sticking up for your friends and never giving up, never giving up on what you know is right!”

Applejack couldn’t let Rainbow stand alone, “Because the world you’re talking about is a lie! Even if you don’t like the way things are, you have to realize that it is the way things are. By being honest with others and accepting their feelings allows you to make a real peace and happiness.

Rarity stepped in, “Besides, you’re just trying to make yourself happy. Sure the world is filled with needs that sometimes go unmet, but that gives us the chance to be generous to others.”

Fluttershy fluttered in, “It’s true that everyone misunderstands one another, and that sometimes it can be heartbreaking. But when we see others hurting, it compels the goodness in our hearts to be kind to them.”

Pinkie bounced in, “Joy isn’t being happy because everything is great; it’s being happy despite the fact things aren’t. Sometimes overcoming hardships with others helps you to laugh alongside them, which can lead to greater friendships.”

Twilight completed the Elements, “And the world you’re trying to create has none of those things, Senza! But your world will never exist, because we’re going to beat you with the power that your world can’t have:

Harmony.”

The bearers of the Elements joined their powers and when the magic had converged, it showered over Senza.

Senza sat totally still and allowed himself to be turned to stone.

Everypony breathed a sigh of relief. Senza was beaten.

Twilight turned to the Princesses, “We have to try to get Kai out of the moon.”

The humans had encircled the statue of Senza now that they could move again.

Sol spoke, “Get out of here! Senza isn’t beaten! Kai can get out on his own, RUN!”

Rarity reassured her friend Sol, “Oh don’t worry dear, we got him with the Elements. Nothing can…”

“Nothing can what?” asked Senza, who was sitting right behind her.

Twilight stuttered, “You, how, but we, you can’t.”

Senza’s muscles began to grow. They grew until his clothes were no longer too small for him. With the sweep of his hand he combed his hair back and it flowed jet black again, hanging like icicles down behind his head. Not only his body, but also his magic grew again. Senza’s power level of 10,000 was only the level he had in ‘sickly’ form while the rest of his power cultivated top class Enforcers. With his power restored, his level was one-million, and he hadn’t even used Keeper power yet.

Senza marched towards Twilight, a hand outstretched as if to strangle her. Twilight ran away, but Senza was warping the laws of distance again and thus no matter how Twilight ran she never got farther away from Senza, but he still got closer.

Matsu channeled all his magic, “Ultimate Tool Make: Vongola Forchetta”

Matsu had created a seven foot trident, overflowing with magic.

Matsu threw it at Senza with all his might, so fast that it produced a sonic boom.

Senza caught it in his teeth.

“Beg your pardon; but isn’t the chef supposed to put a cheese cube on the toothpick before giving it to the taster?” mocked Senza.

Celestia was desperate, “Do something!”

Sol answered her, “We can’t, he’ll just warp Time-Space, and even Santo can’t outdo him in that kind of battle.”

Twilight had been running at top speed and was now exhausted. When she looked up, she was standing exactly where she had started. She looked back to see Senza reaching out to grab her.

But someone grabbed his arm, “I said; enough Senza.”

Celestia was shocked, “How did you!”

Kai bowed, “Forgive me Princess. I would have broken out of the moon another way, but there was no time. Don’t worry, I’ll put it back.”

Even Senza looked up with the others to see that the moon had been sliced in two!

Kai addressed Senza, “Let’s take this somewhere else Senza.”

Senza thought for a moment, “…sure. Why not?”

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

Senza snapped his fingers and all seven humans, both Princesses, and every pony that had been on the Gummi ship at one point or another, were standing on a great white field.

The field stretched on as far as they could see in all directions, and was perfectly flat. It looked like white chalk, but was just rock. About a hundred miles above them was a ceiling that was identical to the ground, and stretched on similarly.

It was also cold, deathly cold, but the ponies felt as though they were wearing a full body, invisible mantle of warmth that made them all feel safe and made it so that they barely noticed the cold. Not only could they feel the invisible force around them, they could breathe it. Every breath was of clean, warm, somehow confronting air saturated with magic. They could feel that it was Kai producing these invisible mantles.

Luna was shivering, but not because of the cold.

“I never thought I would come here again, especially like this.”

Luna turned to the others, “We’re standing on one of the halves of the moon that Kai cut open. That thing above us is the other half.”

Poor Twilight’s brain was tired of continually encountering impossible things. She just turned to her brother, “I think we got mixed up in something bigger than we can handle.” Twilight’s brother and friends just looked back, “Ya don’t say.”

Senza summoned back his six ‘Element bearing’ clones, took the ‘Element of Magic’ off the clone that had it, and wore it before that clone disappeared.

Senza spoke, “Alright, this is what we’re going to do.

As I’m sure you guessed, none of these are the real me. The real me is still at home, taking a nap. But for the purposes of this game, we’ll say that the ‘Magic Element’ me, is the ‘Real’ me.

The rules of the game are simple: draw blood, or in this case poison rain, from ‘Real’ me. I suppose significant damage of any kind will also do.

My clones will attempt to stop you. You don’t get any sort of reward for beating one of the other ‘Elements’. We will refer to them as ‘Deceit’, ‘Cruelty’, ‘Despair’, ‘Selfishness’, ‘Treachery’, and ‘Real’. With ‘Real’ being me.

But be careful. Even though we are just fakes, the Keeper’s Mantles we are wearing are real. As you know; A Keeper has a standardized Level of

1,000,000,000

On top of that, Keepers also have infinite mana, and control over nature. But you already know that, don’t you Kai.”

Kai sighed like he really didn’t want to do this, “If we must. I don’t understand your sense of ‘fun’ Senza, but if it’s the only way to pacify you.”

Kai lunged at Senza like a meteor. White blasts of pure energy already flying at his clones at light speed. But no matter what speed they shot at, Senza just predicted the future and warped Time-Space so that they never reached him.

‘Deceit’ blocked Kai, but Kai managed to spar with him effectively enough to push him back and run by him.

‘Selfishness’ then swept a horizontal swing at Kai with the same force that Kai had used to cut the moon in half.

Kai ducked, only to get hit by an uppercut by ‘Despair’, who had tunneled under the ground where Kai was.

As Kai was sent rocketing up by this hit, ‘Treachery’ flew up and exchanged fierce blows with Kai in close range combat.

This distracted Kai, and he didn’t see ‘Cruelty’, who was already standing on the other half of the moon, ready to cut Kai in two when he arrived. Kai somehow managed to realize this, and managed to deflect the blow at the last moment.

This took all his concentration though, and he was not able to block ‘Deceit’, which had also caught up, from smiting Kai with all his might, driving him straight into the moon.

‘Despair’ and ‘Selfishness’ were also there, and combined their powers to fire a beam of magic down the hole they had blasted Kai into.

The blast hit Kai and pushed him straight through the moon and out the other side of this half.

Here he was caught by ‘Treachery’, which proceeded to resume hand-to-hand combat with him.

10 seconds had pasted since this fight had started.

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

Not even the humans had been able to keep up with what was going on.

All they knew for certain was that with Kai now far away, they had been left with ‘Real’ Senza.

Senza was very far away, but when he spoke everyone heard him as though he was beside them.

“Pretty impressive right? Kai may be Keeper of this world, but I’m Keeper of many, many thousands of worlds. If I want I can clone myself and give each one a Keeper’s Mantle. If I wanted to I could have thousands of clones like this. Power like what I have has never been matched, not even before the purge. I’m omnipotent. You should just give up.”

Dea wasn’t putting up with this loser, “Oh please. If you were really omnipotent you wouldn’t have had to trick the Alliance into agreeing to the purge. You’re just a cowardly thief who swindled and lied to remove everyone you were afraid of from the power. And none of this awesome power you’re using is your own. It’s all power you stole from the people you tricked and the worlds you exploited.

And you’re going to ruin everything good about life just because you’re too weak willed to endure the bad in life. Suck it up loser, bad things happen, deal with it!

No one has a higher opinion of you than I do Senza. And I think you’re the lowest, foulest, most pathetic, poor accuse for a lifeform in the omniverse!”

Everyone took a step away from Dea. They totally agreed with her, but didn’t think it was smart to antagonize the man who nearly destroyed the omniverse.

Senza noticed their fear, “Don’t worry, I’ll spare you.”

Senza then magically scooped out a ball of rock from the moon as big as the barrier that Shining Armor had put around Canterlot (not a coincidence), and rolled it at them.

Senza laughed, “Spare you. Get it? It’s a pun.”

Pinkie Pie yelled back, “IT’S NOT FUNNY!”

The humans didn’t speak. They were such a well-oiled fighting machine they didn’t need to. Soran gave Dea the power to fly coupled with perfect ‘footing’. Musica ‘sang’ his first song; endowing her with the speed and force of lightning. And Sol mind linked her, maximizing her concentration and thus her magic power.

Matsu had summoned his ultimate tool, Vongola Forchetta, but he and Santo were standing back, ready as backup.

Dea flew at the mountain sized rock, stabbing it. It was instantly turned into ruble which was sent reeling back towards Senza from the force of the blow.

The display had distracted ‘Real’ Senza long enough for Kai to lunge at him from above. It wasn’t good enough though, because ‘Selfishness’ flanked him, sending him back to where he started. The other dark Elements also resumed their original positions. The fight was right back where it had started.

Senza spoke mockingly and half-yawning, “Oh no, Kai is losing. Whoever could have predicted this turn of events? It’s so strange that the guy with six Keeper’s Mantles and no weaknesses is beating the guy with one Keeper’s Mantle and a herd of ponies to protect on the side. Whatever shall we do?

Oh wait I know. Let’s give him the Heart of Equestria and the Keeper’s Mantle that goes with it. Then he’ll let us go. Who cares about ponies anyway?”

Celestia was in despair. Senza was just too strong. She looked at the other ponies and saw that they felt the same way she did. She decided to say nothing at all. She wanted to order Kai to keep fighting, but it was pointless. At this point, no one could hold it against Kai if he did give up. After all, it was hopeless.

Kai laughed.

Not like mock laughter or gone crazy laughter. Real, bright, warm laughter, though it had some pity in it.

“You actually think that sounds like a good deal don’t you Senza? Man; I really pity you. You think I would sell my friends to save myself? You think I’d be afraid of you just because you have infinite power?”

Senza answered, “Yeah. Duh.”

Kai just laughed to himself, “I love my friends a lot more than I love being alive. Offering me escape in exchange for betraying them isn’t a good deal to me.

Plus, what do I have to be afraid of? Kingdom Hearts promised me I would beat you, and that any damage you caused would be undone, and that everything would be made right. What do I have to worry about?”

Senza rolled his eyes, “Oh please. Kingdom Hearts is just an old relic from the past. You don’t really believe everything it tells you do you?”

Kai smiled warmly, “100% I do.”

There you have it. Kai had no doubt at all. They were in checkmate, yet he was sure they were going to win.

Fluttershy turned to Matsu, “I see what you meant.”

This got everyone’s attention, even Senza’s.

“You said that you all felt like giving up, that you couldn’t find the strength to push on. But that the boss inspired you, that he refused to give up. I see what you meant Matsu.”

The crew smiled. That smile spread to everypony. Kai’s confidence was contagious.

Senza facepalmed, “Stupidity must be contagious. You can talk all you want, it changes nothing you know.”

Kai flashed over to his friends, “You’re right Senza, talk is cheap, action is where truth is.

Twilight, let’s use the Elements on him.”

Twilight shook her head, “Won’t work. We already…”

“Let’s try again.”

All six Element bearers stepped into formation after a moment, “OK.”

Senza groaned like a kid that had lost all patience, “Oh fine, but hurry up! I may be a clone but I don’t have time for pure stupidity!”

Twilight flew up beside Soran, who was now floating at the top of a hexagon formation with the other Elements. Kai was in the center of this Hexagon with Celestia.

Celestia asked her student and her friends a question, “So everypony, what have you learned about friendship form these humans?”

Twilight started, “Soran taught me that before friendships can being, someone has to make an attempt to understand each other. Friendship is Magic, but it has reason to it. By coming to understand one another, Harmony is created.”

Applejack held her hat to her heart, “I learned from my friend Dea that there is more to Honesty that just being straight with others. Ya gotta know the Truth in order to be trustworthy. If it anin’t the truth, then it’s a lie. We should just be trustworthy with one another, that way we won’t find ourselves trapped by what we’ve said or done, because the truth will set us free.”

Fluttershy spoke up, “I learned from Matsu that being kind sometimes takes hard work. It’s not always easy to be kind to others, either because of who they are, or because you just find it hard. But that we should always be kind to others, no matter what, we should be unbiasedly kind. Even if it’s not easy.”

Pinkie Pie spoke more calmly than normal, “I learned from Santo that you can be happy even if things aren’t going so well. That if you have something worth believing in deep down inside of you, that it will keep you brave when you’re scarred, joyful when you’re sad, and serene when you’re angry. And that if you can persevere through all those things, then you can endure just about anything life throws at you.”

Rarity chimed in, “I learned from Sol that giving things is good, but it’s not enough. We have to give of ourselves to others. Sometimes they just a moment of your time, your care, and your help can do more good than all the material things in the world.”

Rainbow Dash spoke with pride, “I learned from Musica that you gotta be careful who you’re loyal to. Anyone can change, and everyone is in the wrong sometimes. So if you’re just blindly loyal to anyone or any group, they are definitely going to do the wrong thing sooner or later. Having a well-tuned moral compass and the ability to think for yourself allows you to not just follow along when others do something you know is wrong. And we should be Loyal to what is right more than we are loyal to anyone in particular anyway; that’s honor and integrity.”

Kai’s mantle a resonated with the Elements, “Now let’s and pure Light energy to the mix. Let’s add love.

“First, there is parental love; the bonds between parents and children.

Santo has always been like a dad to me.” A stream of magic flowed from Santo to Kai, and the magic of the Elements seemed to mix with it.

“Second, there is brotherly love, the bonds between siblings.

Big bro Soran has been by my side my whole life, and I know he will be for the rest of his life.” Another stream of magic began to flow, and the Princesses exchanged a knowing look.

“Third, there is love between friends.

Matsu is my best friend in this life. We don’t have to stay by each other’s sides, but we want to because we are friends.”

The Elements really seemed to react with the stream of Matsu’s magic, and the mixing created a whole new type of magic. Brighter than they could describe.

“Forth, there is caring love, the love between those that want the best for each other.

Sol is my student, but he is also my teacher. We have always nurtured each other to be the best we can be.” Celestia exchanged a look with Twilight as another magic stream converged.

“Fifth, there is romantic love, the love between partners.

I love you Dea, I always have. This love springs up when all you can do is think of is giving your heart to another.” Everypony let out a ‘Daww’ as Dea’s magic converged.

“Sixth, there is respectful love, the bonds between people that acknowledge others as their equals

Musica and I don’t get along well, but we acknowledge and respect one another, and treat each other as equals; as we would treat ourselves.” Musica’s magic completed the circle. There was more magic than any of them could comprehend.

Kai turned to face Senza, “And finally, there is unconditional love. Love that is given regardless of whether someone deserves it, unbiasedly to everyone.”

Kai flew out towards Senza, “Senza; I’d really like to do something about all that bitterness in your heart someday.”

Senza scowled, “You can’t ‘fix’ me Kai. Nor do I want to be changed. There is no light left in my heart.

Lest you forget, I’m the man who betrayed your ancestors Sora and Kairi.”

Kai seemed sad but hopeful, “Maybe so, but to betray anyone you had to have been their friend at one point. That means that at one point you were their friend Senza. You sure have turned corrupt, but you must have had some light in your heart at one point, otherwise Sora wouldn’t have called you friend.

I believe that you just lost faith at some point. I’d really like to help you get it back.”

Senza finally got mad, “Don’t mess with me brat! I’m Senza! I’ve destroyed tens-of-thousands of universes. I’ve corrupted trillions of sentient lifeforms. I betrayed everyone that Sora ever loved and all the heroes of the old alliance. I’m trying to destroy Kingdom Hearts! Why do you care so much?”

Kai looked up at Senza with no doubt in his eyes, “If I ever lose my faith, I sure wish someone wouldn’t give up on me. I sure hope they would help me.

If I were you, I would want someone to help me; therefore I want to help you.

I want to help everyone, just because it’s the right thing to do.

That’s what unconditional love means.”

The Elements of Harmony resonated.

Their lights mixed together, creating a sphere of light identical to the kind that Kai was wearing; white light with a prismic rim. But it was different, infinitely warmer and brighter than can be imagined or described.

Twilight realized that this magic was truly unfathomable, “This Light. This power is infinite.”

Dea responded, “Oh course Light is infinite. Kingdom Hearts is Light. This is Kingdom Hearts mixed with Harmony. Of course it’s infinite.”

Rainbow basked in this power, “I can’t believe we ever doubted that we would win. There isn’t even a chance Senza could win.”

Kai stretched out his hand, gesturing the power towards Senza, “See you in the next universe Senza.”

Senza’s clones tried to block the Light, but it was fruitless. All parts of Senza were reduced to nothing. But not before he got in one last word, “Light may scatter darkness, but when Light goes out, darkness will be there again.”

Nothing was left of the clones.

Kai flew the whole company back towards the planet below. When the had made it a significant distance, Kai turned his focus on the moon, and put it back the way it was at the dawn of time; with no hidden keyhole, no prison for Luna, and no battle scars. Kai put the two halves of the moon back together like closing double doors behind them.

Kai, turned to everyone, “Let’s go home.”

Chapter 14: Peace and Adventure, Part 1

View Online

Ponyville was awakened before dawn to a sound like a brass horn. It was something of a jazzy sound, loud and thunderous, but not too loud or annoying.

Twilight and Spike both awoke to this sound, just like all of Ponyville. They couldn’t describe why, but they agreed it was a good way to wake up. They didn’t feel tired at all, even though they hadn’t gone to bed until after midnight.

After Kai had brought everyone back, Celestia and Kai had somehow miraculously managed to calm Ponyville down and assure them that the danger was REALLY over this time.

If anything good came out of the whole affair, it was that Luna had gotten a lot more supporters. Senza’s retelling of the story of Nightmare Moon, however malicious his intent, was technically correct. In a way, it was the common ponies’ fault for the events that happened back then. The ponies weren’t going to let the same mistake happen twice. Luna had been welcomed back with genuine concern and a newfound appreciation.

But as heartwarming as the night before had been, it was mostly tiring. Everypony desperately needed a break; anyone would after the universe nearly got destroyed right in front of him.

Musica had sung all of Ponyville to sleep with a seemingly omnipresent, angelic lullaby, and all had dreamed calming dreams. As Twilight and Spike looked about the house for the source of this trumpet sound, they concluded that it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once and from nowhere at all.

Twilight and Spike made eye contact and concluded the same thing most of Ponyville had by now, “Musica.”

“Of course it’s me. Who else can control all the sounds in a village?”

The voice sounded as though Musica was standing beside them, but he was probably on the Gummi ship at that moment.

Twilight rolled her eyes and spoke as if Musica were standing next to her, “It’s rude to eavesdrop you know.”

“Kinda' hard not to when you can hear a pin drop from two miles away. Besides, I tend to tune private conversations out; I can do that. I’m calling you to give you a message.

Rarity wants to go by the spa for some R&R. Dea is already there and so are Rainbow and Fluttershy. They wanted me to tell you to go join them if you wanted.

Anyways, I’m planning a concert later today, so I’ll be busy. I can hear everything but that doesn’t mean I can pay attention to everything at once. It’s kinda’ like when you’re in a room full of people … er, ponies in your case, and everyone is talking at once. You can ‘hear’ everything but not ‘understand’ everything. But if someone says your name, it gets your attention, and if there is something you particularly want to hear you can listen in. My hearing is the same, just much better.

So if you need me, just talk as if I’m in the room and I’ll answer you. Well, gotta go.”

There was a sound like a phone being hung up, and Musica was ‘gone’.

Twilight wasn’t sure what to think of that, “Don’t you think it’s a little… unnerving that he can hear all that?”

Spike thought for a few moments and finally shrugged, “Maybe a little, but he’s right. It would be hard not to if you were him. Besides, he has to fight Enforcers. It probably comes in really handy in big fights like that.”

Twilight supposed she could live with that, “Fair enough. I’m going to the spa with the girls. Want to tag along?”

Spike shook his head, “I would, but I smell something. Something great. I’m going to go investigate.”

Twilight could now smell it too, “It’s probably Matsu making breakfast. Well, have fun Spike, but we’re still expecting a letter from Kai, Sol, and the Princesses, so be on call. Have Mr. Sound-Control relay anything important.”

“Who?” but Spike realized that she meant Musica? They couldn’t say his name because he would think they were calling him, “Gottcha Twi’. Go have fun.”

And with that the two were on their way.

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

“Tool Make: Marea Wok.”

Matsu had summoned a Wok that could have held all the water in the Ponyville pond. Matsu had decided to make everyone soup, salad, and breadsticks to eat at the concert, which was going to happen around 11:00 A.M.

“So you see Pinkie Pie, that is how you can use one kind of soup as a substitute for water to start making another type of soup. This gives the soup layers. So let’s say that you started by straining vegetable soup, and used that instead of water for making another type of soup. Then you have a layer of vegetable taste in your new soup.”

Pinkie Pie was watching every move Matsu made, “That’s so cool, but sounds really hard. You make it look so easy though.

By the way, are you absolutely sure you’re not going to go berserk anymore?”

Matsu never took his focus off his work, “For the hundredth time Pinkie, I don’t just go berserk all the time. Only a few things set me off and none of them are here right now. Besides, even if I did, Kai and Fluttershy are here somewhere, so there isn’t anything to worry about.

By the way, stop drooling. And tell those ponies to wait until the soup is done.”

Matsu had set up his soup making outside Ponyville in a field large enough to contain his wok, but the smell had attracted a lot of ponies, and one baby dragon.

The rice rolls served earlier were easily the best food ever consumed in Equestrian history. So everypony wanted more of Matsu’s cooking.

The smell was already better than the taste of the rolls, and kept getting better. Everypony that could smell it was drooling uncontrollably. At first it had been really embarrassing, but the soup now smelled so good that nopony cared whether they looked silly or not. They weren’t about to leave that wonderful smell. A few even lost control and tried to dive into the Wok to drink it, but Matsu stopped these attempts by conjuring up walls.

“Oh be patient, all of you. This is only 300 layers deep. I’m making you a dish called 1,000 layer soup.

So just be patient and wait. There will be more than all of you can possibly eat when it’s done.”

Pinkie wiped away drool that immediately returned, “We can’t help it Matsu; it smells so good!”

Matsu still never lost his focus, “Well then, at least go to Musica’s concert first or something; this should be done by then.”

Pinkie objected, “But we’re drooling now Matsu, feed us!”

Matsu couldn’t let them go hungry, “Alright, go to the Gummi ship and ask Santo for any leftover rolls we have if you’re hungry. Your drooling is just your appetite crying tears of joy.”

Pinkie and the other ponies walked away a little disappointed.

Matsu stifled a laugh, “I never would have gotten them to leave if I had told them I already made gourmet bread rolls and Garden of Eden Salad for them to go with this. I’ll have to remember to get some Shining Cosmos Nectar for them to drink with it. Then again, if I do that the soup won’t be as good by comparison. Oh what the heck, the salad and rolls are already as good as the soup anyway.

Maybe I should make them some desert, just for being patient."

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

When Twilight finally arrived at the spa, she found that Rarity and Applejack were already standing in the front lobby. “Hi girls. Is everypony here already?” asked Twilight. The others hadn’t noticed her enter, “Why hello, Twilight. So glad you could make it.”

“And ta’ answer your question, we’re still waitin' on Pinkie Pie,” added Applejack.

Rarity continued, “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy got here first along with Dea. They are in one of the baths now.”

Pinkie Pie bounced past them, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

Twilight hadn’t noticed Pinkie arrive, “Pinkie, how did you get here?”

“Because I’m Pinkie Pie of course!”

The other three knew there was no arguing with that.

Applejack followed Pinkie into the room where the baths were, “Well howdy ya’ll, how are ya' SWEET CELESTIA! YOU’RE ON FIRE!”

Dea was bathing in one of the tubs that the ponies often used. The only abnormality was that instead of water, Dea was bathing in some other fluid; one that was currently ablaze. The flames were short, only a few inches high, but looked red hot. It looked like she was bathing in fire.

“What? This? Don’t worry about it. I like to bath in exotic wines and perfumes. I set them on fire with my magic. Would you like to join me? This is a public bath.”

Twilight reflexively took a step away at the offer, “Absolutely not! You may be able to defy nature, but we’ll burn to a crisp if we get in that!”

Rainbow Dash emerged out of the bath nearest the new arrivals. She had been shampooing her hair in the perfumed ‘water’, and her mane was now a flowing rainbow-colored fire, “Oh, hi girls. When did you get here?”

Everypony was speechless.

Rarity finally worked up the nerve, “How are you doing that Rainbow? And where is Fluttershy?”

Rainbow frowned and looked to one of the other tubs, “Fluttershy is too scared to get in this stuff. But Dea said it wouldn’t hurt; and it doesn’t.”

Applejack walked up onto the raised platforms at the baths and noticed Fluttershy trembling in the other bath. There was no water in that bath, so Fluttershy was using it as more of a hiding place than a bath. For once Applejack couldn’t blame her, bathing in fire was a terrifying idea.

Applejack gulped like she was afraid, but nonetheless took her hat off and walked over to the edge of the bath. Cautiously, she looked at Dea for reassurance, but Dea wasn’t looking back at her. Applejack closed her eyes and jumped into the burning bath.

It felt good, and it didn’t burn at all. Dea was clapping to congratulate the faith Applejack had just demonstrated. “I told you it wouldn’t burn. My fire is my will. It doesn’t burn anything unless I want it to, and right now I want it to burn away any uncleanliness or impurities.

Even things like viruses or tumors. Anything that needs to be removed from the body. All of that stuff will burn up completely.

Plus, the ‘water’ in this bath is consists of wines and perfumes that will saturate your skin with vitamins and minerals while it disinfects, anti-ages, and perfumes your skin all the way down to the pores.”

Rarity perked up at that last part.

Sitting next to the bath were two identical light brown jars. They had handles on both sides, and the rim was designed to have a grip as well. They were cylinders, each about one foot high. The only difference was that ‘Perfume’ was written on one and ‘Diamond Wine’ was written on the other.

Dea reached over and picked up a small jar. She turned it up and exotic wine flowed out of it. She meant to add some to the bath, but decided to drink some as well. What she did drink immediately burned up, so she got the taste but none of the alcohol.

Twilight’s curiosity got the better of her, “Alright, that does it. You filled the bathtub with the contents of that tiny little jar, drank out of the jar, and there is still more in it. It’s not that big of a jar.”

Dea explained, “It’s a magic jar. It can hold up to a hundred tons of anything you want, no matter how much stuff that implies; but the downside is that the jar still weighs as much as all its contents.”

Twilight noticed that Dea was moving it with one hand like a regular empty one foot tall jar, “So how much does it weigh right now?”

Dea responded matter-of-factly, “99 tons and a few hundred pounds. So does the jar of exotic perfuming oils.”

Twilight got into the bath, “I give up completely. You humans can do anything. You have defied gravity, nature, even death. You broke the moon and put it back together.

You’re telling me to bathe in fire with you? Why not? Nothing else has made since or been normal, why should we start now?”

Rarity was trying to convince Fluttershy that it was ok to get in the bath with the others, partly because she didn’t want Fluttershy to miss out, and partly to reassure herself.

“Come on Fluttershy dear, it will be alright. We all came here to relax after all these recent ordeals.”

Rainbow Dash soaked her hair again causing it to burst back into rainbow flames, “Nah. I came here cause Dea said I could bathe in fire. I mean seriously, if you can say you’ve bathed in fire, that’s worth ‘you’re totally awesome points’ for like, ever!”

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

Meanwhile at Castle Canterlot, Sol was busy keeping himself from becoming too bored. Some people do crossword puzzles when they’re bored. Sol had balanced the nation’s budget, updated all their scientific journals with perfectly complete information that would have taken thousands of years of research to compile, and had created a day planner for Celestia for the coming year that contained his predictions of how the market was go to fluctuate, and what policies would be best to adopt (all of which was correct 99% of the time, and never completely off).

One of Celestia’s royal guards and one of Luna’s night guards had been sent to oversee him.

“It’s amazing! How can he use unicorn-like magic to write that much at once? It’s like he giving us a whole library worth of priceless information!” The one speaking was the day guard named Jay. Jay was a white Pegasus guard with blue hair, probably named after the bird (blue jay).

“Well you kinda' have to expect it from these humans. Anyone who Luna admires has to be really special.” That voice belonged to a small fruit-bat pony from Luna’s guard. She had the same color scheme as Luna, but was fluffy like a fruit bat and was about as outgoing as Fluttershy. Her name was Lilly Moonthunder.

Jay was in awe of Sol, but a little afraid of him too, “The princesses ordered us to ‘escort’ him, but does that mean ‘escort’ like guards escorting a prisoner, or ‘escort’ like he is a king and we should bow to his every whim?”

Lilly meekly answered, “Well, um … let’s put it this way.

If he started doing something bad like… tearing the castle apart, what could we possibly do about it?”

“Nothing. Why did they leave him to us? We can’t handle him!”

Lilly looked back at the bored psychic, “Sol won’t do anything bad; Luna trusts him. Besides, it wouldn’t matter which guards they left to guard him; the whole Equestrian guard couldn’t pin him down anyway.”

Sol looked up from his writing like someone reading a book looks up to check the time.

He turned to the two guards, “It’s about time for the sun to rise. I want to go speak with Kai. Let’s go.”

The guards exchanged a look. On the one hoof, the Alicorns (Cadence and Chrysalis included) were in a meeting with Kai right now and were not to be disturbed. On the other hoof, what the hay were they going to do to stop Sol?

So they stepped aside and let Sol lead the way to the throne room.

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

Kai hovered in the center of the throne room, facing the throne. Cadence sat on the steps and Chrysalis stood where one of Celestia’s guards normally would. The royal sisters sat together on Celestia’s throne. Normally Luna had one of her own, but it was in her own court. Sitting together wasn’t professional, but this wasn’t technically a formal meeting.

Kai was in a meditation stance, sitting on nothing. All but his head, hands, and feet were still covered in white fire with a prismic aura. The Keeper’s mantle was literally dripping white fire, which seemed to vanish when it touched anything else.

Kia spoke, “My crew and I will leave before Luna raises the moon tonight; but before that there are some issues we must settle.

First to be considered is the issue with the crack in the Keyhole.

Celestia, do you remember how the Keyhole was cracked open when we arrived?”

Celestia nodded and Kai continued, “That explains a great deal about your world.

From your perspective, moving the sun and moon, controlling the weather, and having dominion over nature must all seem quite natural and common. But, in the worlds we’ve visited, seldom did anyone have such powers, even among their strongest. Only Keepers are meant to wield such power, and yet, ponykind uses them daily. You said yourself that before you came along, the unicorns were the ones that moved the sun and moon.”

Luna corrected, “That is the Hearth’s Warming Eve story, yes. But unlike my sister and I, it took thousands of Unicorns working together to raise the sun and moon.”

Kai looked stern, “Doesn’t matter. If you’re not the only ones that can raise the sun and moon, that means the Keeper’s powers are spread out to anyone who can claim them.

The crack means that the Keeper’s powers were leaking out all this time.”

Celestia corrected, “Just anyone cannot move them anymore. The sun and moon only listen to the strongest. Luna and I have bonds with both the sun and moon that cannot be undone by any number of Unicorns. Discord was only able to move them because he did so before Luna and I defeated him. Discord also has those bonds.”

Kai repeated, “Doesn’t matter. Regardless of why you can move the heavens, it is still not something only you can do. Maybe something only you and Discord can do WHILE YOU LIVE, but still something anyone talented enough could do if you weren’t around.

Sol. I sense you. Come in.”

Sol had finally arrived, “I predicted that you would want me here.”

Kai snapped his fingers, “Sol, I just made it so that unicorns, or the like, can raise the sun and the moon again, even while the Princesses live. This effect will wear off in about a minute though. It’s time to raise the sun.”

Sol stared out the only window deep into the horizon, while stretching out his hand as though reaching for something vastly beyond his grasp. Celestia and Luna couldn’t believe it, but they could feel it. The sun was responding to Sol, wanting to rise. The sisters exchanged a look, and Luna lowered the moon. With a place prepared for it, the sun rose into the morning sky. Sol was completely exhausted, but jubilant.

The only one in the room who wasn’t surprised at all was Kai. Even Sol wasn’t sure he could do it.

Kai felt he had made his point and looked at the Princesses, “The point is that Equestria’s Keeper’s Mantle is up for grabs. You two may be the majority stock holders in its power, and thus have final say so. But it is still stock, available to anyone. No one can get the majority because you two have it; but you get my point.

Most ponies fear the Everfree Forest because nature functions on its own there, but I’m telling you that ALL other worlds we’ve visited are completely like Everfree. Well, maybe not in the respect of all the monsters, but you know what I mean.

When I give you back the Keeper’s Mantle, I want you to slowly begin expanding Everfree’s effect. I won’t force you, but it’s a good idea. You could live in a world where the sun and moon take care of themselves; where the seasons change themselves; where animals take care of themselves.

Keepers have control over the natures of their worlds.

That crack essentially put nature on ‘pause’, thereby causing the powers to leak to everyone.

That’s why ponies need to run nature manually.

I’m not suggesting that you do it all at once. If you did that it would take lifetimes for ponies to adjust. They would think that you were doing it with your magic instead of setting nature to take care of itself. They would fear you and feel betrayed, because they would not understand, and could not adjust.

I merely need you to know about this. What you do with it is your own decision.”

It was about a minute before Kai got a response. The implications of what he had told them undermined the laws of nature as they had always understood them.

Cadence was finally the one to speak, “That’s … that’s crazy. If nature took care of itself, everypony would be out of work. What would we do?”

Sol answered, “I actually wrote a few books on that subject for you. There is no limit to what you could do, but you will need to work hard to build any of it.”

Kai reassured them, “Look, we’re not suggesting you do anything in this generation. We are merely suggesting that you observe the facts.”

It was another minute before anyone spoke again, and then it was Cadence who asked the question, “Um, changing subjects slightly; why is Chrysalis here?

No offense.”

Chrysalis politely responded, “None taken. I’m also curious why Kai wants me to hear this.”

Kai turned his attention to the Changeling, “Celestia and I made a deal before I became Keeper.

It’s a deal I suggested and one I’ve made many times.” Celestia bit her lip, wanting Kai to just say it and get it over with. She was clearly unnerved by what she knew was coming.

“Long before coming to this world, Senza and I made a deal, one that all the people I appoint to be Keeper are included in.”

Cadence, Chrysalis, and Luna screamed, “YOU MADE A DEAL WITH SENZA!?”

Celestia spoke up for him, “It’s less a deal and more a threat, actually.”

Kai nodded sadly, “Senza won’t actively try to kill anyone (excluding those indirectly killed by war, and that number kept to a minimum), but in exchange…

In exchange.

You have to forget you ever met us.”

Celestia gave a sorrowful sigh, and the other Alicorns didn’t have a clue what to say.

Chrysalis finally managed to gasp, “What?”

Kai stayed calm, “When we leave, Celestia and I will cast a memory spell over all of Equestria. No one will remember anything that happened because of us or because of the Enforcers. We will be a chapter of your history that never happened, and you will continue with your lives as if we were never here. Only Celestia and Luna will remember us, and that only because they will get the Keepers Mantle. This is what happens in all the worlds we visit.”

Chrysalis flew up an inch from Kia’s face and screamed, “Then it was all for nothing! You and your crew gave my changeling the love they needed to revert, and will soon revert me also. But if I don’t remember where I got the love from who’s to say that I won’t just revert? I could rebuild the Changelings if I don’t remember what happened!”

Cadence gasped, “You wouldn’t.”

Chrysalis answered, but didn’t stop looking at Kai, “Kai gave me a change of heart. I’ve realized that I was wrong, and that I should have done things differently. But if I forget all the things that happened in the last two days, then I might revert to my old self.

In more ways than one.”

Kai put a hand on Chrysalis’s shoulder, “You are my friend. I believe in you.”

Chrysalis thought carefully for a moment.

Even if she forgot Kai, she didn’t think she would forget Cloud or the Mare’s Clan. Why? Because she had meet them before Kai’s crew had arrived. Kai said the spell would make everyone forget all that happened AFTER their arrival.
Plus, Cloud had told her to talk to Luna first.

Chrysalis looked at Luna, but she didn’t know what to say.

“Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, I would like to hope that I remain the way I am now after Kai leaves, but in the event I do not, I only request that you remember how I have proven I can be.”

Luna thought for a moment, “Celestia, let’s watch over Chrysalis after Kai leaves.”

Celestia wasn’t as accepting, “If she does revert, I will defend my little ponies from her, even if I must destroy her. I hope that it will not come to that, but that is what I would do.”

Luna looked back at Chrysalis, “I missed the events of the royal wedding, but from what I’ve seen of her, Chrysalis seems like she just wants a chance. She comes across to me as being desperate, and I can’t help but feel sorry for her. I wouldn’t let her hurt Equestria either, but I’d like to give her the benefit of the doubt if possible.”

Chrysalis said nothing, but was thinking about these things.

Desperate? That’s how she came across? Why? She was so outgoing, why would Luna think…

Of course, Cloud. Cloud had told her to ‘talk to Luna first’. In the past two days, every time Chrysalis had meet Luna, she had always talked to Luna first, even if it meant making a fool of herself. This meant that, from Luna’s perspective, Chrysalis was somepony who respected her authority, always went through proper channels, and was desperately trying to please her and just wanted some help in exchange.

In short, Cloud’s advice had caused Chrysalis to act just out-of-character enough to get on Luna’s good side. And it was now paying off since Luna was sticking up for her.

“Very cleaver Cloud; you irritating trickster” Chrysalis muttered under her breath.

Kai touched down so that he was standing, “That’s all I needed to discuss with you. This is your world, so now that you are well informed, what you do with it is up to you. You handle Equestria and leave the Enforcers to us.”

Kai lightened up, “Well I’m sure glad that’s over. Being serious really isn’t the strong suit of anyone in my crew. We can be serious if the situation calls for it, but we’re all pretty laid back usually. Come on, let’s all take the day off. Musica will probably throw a concert, and Matsu’s cooking is to die for. Let’s go!”

And with that Kai magically whisked the four Alicorns, the two guards, Sol and himself to Ponyville in an instant.

Chapter 14: Peace and Adventure, Part 2

View Online

Kai had just teleported the four Alicorns, the two guards, Sol and himself into the center of Ponyville. Not because it was the middle of town, but because that’s where Twilight was at the time. Kai could sense her (and anyone else he wanted) all the way from Canterlot, and had saved time by teleporting everyone straight to a Rendezvous point.

Twilight had already given up being surprised no matter what these humans did, and was pleased to see them.

“Princess Celestia, what a surprise that you would show up. Oh no, I should have arranged a celebration for your arrival. I’m so sorry.”

Celestia looked around Ponyville, “From what I can see, it looks like there already is a celebration. I haven’t seen everypony this happy in a long time.

And as much as I hate to say it, Kai is technically Keeper of Equestria right now. And even though that is temporary, it still makes him the highest ranking official in this universe right now. The party should be for him, and his crew of course.”

Kai frowned, “I really don’t like being in the spotlight. I’ll be glad when I’m back to normal again.”

Celestia galloped off, “Well you’re going to have to deal with it. You’re in charge, which means I get a vacation. I haven’t been able to just play in a thousand years. Come on Luna, let’s have some fun!” Celestia’s voice was practically beaming with joy.

Kai was glad she wasn’t worried anymore. It hadn’t been that long ago that she had been heartbroken over the idea that Kai would be Keeper, but now she seemed carefree. Kai knew that it meant she had accepted him as her friend.

Twilight walked up to Kai and Sol, “Um, I was just wondering, when will Celestia and Luna’s manes go back to normal? Seeing Celestia with her pink mane and smaller body is so strange to me.”

Sol reassured her, “Don’t worry about it. They lost their majority of the Keeper’s powers is all. Just being an Alicorn doesn’t make you a Keeper; just look at Cadence. When Kai gives it back, everything will go back to normal.

By the way, where is Soran? I can’t sense him.”

Twilight smiled, “Soran took some ponies flying. We’ll have the concert as soon as he gets back.”

Kai spoke happily, “Perfect! We have until then to add the finishing touches.”

Twilight tilted her head curiously, “to what?”

Kai turned his head to look at Chrysalis.

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

Scootaloo was flying at the speeds that would make the Wonderbolts proud, and wasn’t even breaking a sweat, “This is awesome! I’ll get my cutie mark in flying for sure!”

Applebloom flew up beside her, “Uh, Scoots, I don’t think you can get your ‘flying cutie mark’ if you’re not able to fly yet.”

Sweetie Belle flew a circle around the both of them, “Who cares? I know I’ll never have a flying cutie mark, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t the most fun ever!”

Soran had taken ponies that couldn’t fly (or at least not fly yet) and was letting them experience what it was like to touch the sky. Soran had started off by letting ponies in his flight sphere fly about at their leisure while he remained on the ground. Once they became comfortable, he had allowed those that wanted to really fly come with him.

Poor Soran had his flight sphere opened to 20% (about a 0.37 mile radius) to safely accommodate all the ponies, but he endured it because he knew how many people (or in this case ponies) dreamed of flying and would never get the chase, and he was going to give them the chance if it killed him.

But they had been flying long enough, and Soran knew it was about time to head back, “Well everypony, I’m afraid that we’re going to have to call it a day. I’m beat; let’s all go to the party.”

There was a resounding wave of disappointed “awes”, but they liked the idea of a party. So at half the speed of sound, Soran flew them all back to Ponyville and dropped them off.

Soran was about to fly back to the Gummi ship to rest (he could hear Musica sing and eat Matsu’s food anytime), but three little ponies were still following him.

Scootaloo spoke for all of them, “Wait! It can’t be over, it just can’t!”

Soran was nothing if not understanding, “I’ll make a deal with you. I know how much you like Rainbow Dash. Would you call it a day if I let you fly as fast as a Sonic Rainboom?”

All three crusaders got wide eyed. They were going to fly as fast as any pegasus ever had and ever could! They all shook their heads for ‘yes’ so fast they nearly got a headache.

Soran and the three touched up off the ground and flew into the horizon. They picked up speed until the air flowing around Soran’s ‘windshield’ (Soran’s magic produced one naturally) was pointed like an arrow.
“Ready?”

The crusaders held hooves and nodded.

Soran accelerated to the speed of sound. Kai may have been far away, but he could sense everything and was Keeper, so he let a miracle happen. Without any explanation other than Kai’s magic, a rainbow gushed out of the three fillies manes just like Rainbow’s mane when she performed a sonic Rainboom. The three fillies were shocked at first, but then squealed in uncontainable happiness.

All the ponies that were gathered for Musica’s concert suddenly watched in awe as a rainbow arc formed on the horizon behind the stage where Musica had set up. This awe turned to cheering when Soran descended the three fillies out of the sky and onto the stage.

Soran himself didn’t want to steal their moment, so he didn’t let himself be seen.

Musica spoke to him in the distance though, “Good job Soran.”

Musica hummed the fillies some victorious background music, and once they were off the stage, Musica readied to sing. Everypony was very excited, none more so than Lightning Dust, who had been waiting to hear Musica sing like any rockstar’s devoted fangirl.

Musica began to play. It was a mix of Third song: Mind-blowing concert, and Fourth song: Angelic Chorus of Valhalla. It felt as reviving and inspiring as the Fourth song, but was only a feeling created by the Third song, thus allowing Musica to sing without getting tired. In short,

BEST. MUSIC. EVER.

As if that wasn’t good enough, Soran was now floating whole tables already set with all of Matsu’s food and placing them all throughout the field outside Ponyville (where the concert was taking place).

It cannot be properly described just how unbelievably good that food smelled, and it was sure to taste better.

Matsu walked over to the table where the mane six were sitting, “Hope you like.”

Matsu poured their glasses full of some fluid that looked like the starry night sky, “Enjoy.”

All the ponies were on the verge of crying tears of joy both because of the music and the food they were eating.

Rainbow chugged her whole first bowl of soup, “AWWWWWWWWWWWW YEEEEAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!”

“It’s a whole lot better than changeling jelly” came a heartfelt compliment.

The friends turned to see a white Alicorn with butterfly wings.

Rainbow did a double take, and stared for a moment before realizing, “Chrysalis, is that you? What happened?”

Chrysalis set down her food, “Kai properly introduced me to his crew. It’s incredible how much love they have. It was enough that when combined with what little support I got from Ponyville it was able to cure me completely. Though, I may revert to my old self someday.”

Twilight had grown to trust Chrysalis now, “Well it just shows you that anyone can change from bad to good.”

Kai realized something, “Ah yes that reminds me.

Celestia, you should let Discord free tomorrow.”

Ah poor Twilight. The soup was so good that she couldn’t have spit it out if she tried, but that last statement made her reflexively want to. The result was a mini-seizer that lasted about five seconds until she swallowed. Thankfully by now Rainbow had asked what Twilight wanted to know, “Why for the love of Equestria would we do that?”

Kai remained calm and sure, “With the Keeper’s Mantle under control, I can set up a defensive spell that will prevent him from distorting nature. Well, at least beyond his immediate grasp, which I should mention is quite extensive. But the point is it will limit him.

You know my policy: If I was if someone’s position, I would want them to help me. I certainly wouldn’t want to be stone forever, and Discord isn’t evil. Chaotic, dangerous, twisted, uncontrollable, but not evil. Therefore; I want to help him. You should try to reform him, I’ll even cast a spell that will make it so he can’t steal the elements from you anymore.”

Rarity spoke, “Even if we agreed to this crazy plan of yours, how would we reform Discord?”

Kai pointed at Fluttershy, “Her.

Anyone who can calm Matsu down, can sooth any beast. No exceptions.”

Kai now looked at Celestia, “Again, you don’t have to do anything, but I recommend it.”

Celestia thought, “Well, maybe tomorrow. After everything… after everything is back to normal.”

Kai nodded, “Well until then, Let’s party!”

Pinkie finished her bowl and jumped onto the table, “Yeah everypony! Let’s party!”

There was a resounding cheer from the ponies and humans alike. Everyone celebrated for hours on end. Musica played his music and took requests when asked, and Matsu was kept busy when requests for ‘seconds’ even though that sometimes meant ‘thirds or fourths’. Neither of them minded, these were their friends. Matsu was even gracious enough to pack enough for Cadence and Shining to take home to the crystal ponies, as well as enough for Celestia and Luna to take back to Canterlot, all of which Kai teleported with the Keeper’s power so that transport wouldn’t be an issue.

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

Chrysalis was busy enjoying herself. She knew she might not be this happy again for a while. Santo had finally joined the party and decided to talk to her, “Are you sure you’re going to be okay Chrysalis? After we leave, what are you going to do?”

She breathed a heavy sigh, “I’m not sure. I can’t honestly say there isn’t a seriously good chance that I’ll revert. But I’ll do my best to hang on for as long as I can.”

Santo stretched out his hand to put it on Chrysalis’s shoulder to comfort her. Chrysalis didn’t pay any attention to what he said next though, because she was staring at his watch (which came into view when he outstretched his hand). It looked EXACTLY like Cloud’s watch. It was even pulsing gently like Cloud’s watch. It might just have been a coincidence, but Chrysalis never even considered the possibility that they weren’t the same.

“Where did you get that watch?”

Santo had been right in the middle of a motivational speech that she had missed completely. Santo politely answered anyway, “I didn’t ‘get’ this watch anywhere, I made it. It is a part of me, and the fulcrum of my ability to manipulate Time-Space. It is the only one of its kind in the omniverse.”

Chrysalis couldn’t mention Cloud, so she had to find a way to ask why Cloud had it without asking ‘why does Cloud have it’ directly.

“But… if it manipulates Time-Space, couldn’t there be two at once if someone... O say, just hypothetically of course… if someone were to used it to travel through time?”

Santo smiled. It was obvious that he knew more than he let on, but exactly what he knew was a mystery. “Yes Chrysalis, someone else COULD have my watch if they got it from me after I died and moved through time. But, the watch itself does not have the power to go back in time. So if they went back, they did it via a different method.”

Chrysalis now DEFINITELY knew that Santo knew more than he let on.

Santo still had his hand on Chrysalis’s shoulder, “Now come on, let’s go back to the party.”

Chrysalis smiled. She had more questions, but this was going to be one of the happiest days of her life, so she didn’t want to waste any of it. They returned to the party.

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

Musica was busy talking to his new fans. It saddened him that he couldn’t write any autographs. If he did there would be evidence of their visit, and their code demanded that they not leave any such reminders. But there was one mint green unicorn with a lyre that wanted one so badly he couldn’t just send her away.

Musica reached out his hand, gesturing that he wanted her to hand him her lyre, “May I?”

Lyra floated it into his hand with unicorn magic.

Musica held the lyre aloft with both hands, the most serious look on his face. The clouds overhead began to stir, and a magnificent bolt of lightning burst forth from the heavens. The struck the Lyre, causing it to shine like a star. Its strings were vibrating supersonically, giving off an orchestra of sounds.

Musica held it out for Lyra to take, and leaned in to speak softly, “I have blessed your Lyre with the powers of the spirit of RockN’Roll. It shall sing in ecstasy with the vocals of thunder.”

Lyra was so giddy she felt like she was going to burst. She took the Lyre back and ran to go show Bon Bon and her other friends. She had a strange fondness of humans after that.

“That was awfully sweet of you, but can you actually do that?”

Musica turned to see Spitfire leading all the other Wonderbolts up to speak with Musica.

Musica had been expecting them; he could hear their heartbeats, breathing, and chatter from far away and had been waiting patiently for them to arrive. “It was partially true. I really did tune it with my Lightning Tuning, and it really should play better. But music comes from the soul; music that doesn’t is just noise. I can’t possess the lyre with magic that will make it sound great, I can just tune it and give the one who plays it the motivation to do their best.

Now let’s get down to business. Your heartbeats are anxious but not nervous. That means that you have something important to tell me.”

Spitfire had underestimated Musica’s hearing, but she quickly recovered from the shock and spoke, “We the Wonderbolts just wanted to commend you and your crew for what you’ve done. Your bravery, selflessness, and leadership have brought us through a tough time. None of us would be here if it weren’t for you humans. We know that Kai is the boss, but you were the one who saved us at the academy. You were the one who organized us to make clouds so that we could actually contribute something to fight those guys. You were the one who saved Lightning Dust’s life. You were the one who stayed behind and protected the village. So on behalf of the Wonderbolts, and all of Equestria…”

The Wonderbolts saluted in unison, “Thank you, Musica. You and your crew will always be close friends of ours, and we will never forget you. Since you’re not a pegasus, and can’t fly, you can’t technically be a Wonderbolt. Even if you could, we know you have your own job to do. But we are truly grateful, and would like to make you all official, honorary Wonderbolts.”

Musica had mixed feelings. On the one hand, he appreciated it, but on the other he knew that they wouldn’t be able to keep their promise to ‘never forget’ him. So, he said the only thing he could.

“I’m honored.

And I promise, that no matter what happens, I will never forget you.
My friends.”

Musica turned to the crowd, many of whom had joined in and were now saluting as well.

“Hey, none of that now. You guys know that I’m not the serious type. Friends shouldn’t part on serious terms. I’ll treat you to another song. How ‘bout it?”

There was a cheer, and Musica began to play again.

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

Matsu made his way through Ponyville. True to his word he had made more than could be eaten, even by all the ponies in Ponyville, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire combined. But he was only pretending to be checking whether anypony needed a refill or not. What he was really doing was trying to find Fluttershy one last time. When he did, she was busy talking with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

“Hey there Fluttershy. Do you have a moment?”

Fluttershy hadn’t noticed him (Matsu has an instinctual habit of moving about as quietly as a hunter on the prowl, and even though he wasn’t hunting at the moment, it was a habit), but was glad to see him.

“Oh hi Matsu. That food you made was delicious. You have to give me some recipes so that I can cook it for my animals.”

Pinkie liked the sound of that, “Oh good idea! Teach me too so I can make some for my parties!”

Rainbow chimed in, “Yeah give them the recipes so I can eat it!”

Matsu couldn’t help but laugh at that last part, “Well, unfortunately I can’t give you my recipes, crew policy. You couldn’t duplicate them without magic anyway.

But listen we need to talk. The Enforcers don’t beat themselves you know. We have…”

Rainbow Dash interrupted before Matsu could continue, “Yeah no kidding. Did I mention you guys were awesome by the way? Cause you guys were awsome! The way you took down the whole fleet by yourself like that, OH YEAH!”

When he is not berserk, Matsu generally has a similar temperament to Fluttershy. Matsu tried to resume speaking, “Yes well, as I was saying…”

Pinkie bounced around him, “Oh, are you going to tell us how to make that super-yummy food after all? That’s great!”

Fluttershy spoke in a voice that only Musica could have heard, “I think he’s trying to say something.”

Matsu spoke in the same voice, “I’m just trying…”

Applejack approached, “Well hey there ya’ll. What are ya talkin about?”

Pinkie proceeded to recount everything that had been said in a way only Pinkie Pie could. Matsu realized that he wasn’t going to get a word in, so he did the only thing he could.

Matsu dropped onto his knees and embraced them in a warm, gentle hug.

This made all the ponies go silent instantly, and Matsu finally got a chance to speak, “Thank you. Thank you all. You may not realize it, but you’ve given me more than I’ve given you. I’d like to believe that we’ll return someday. I promise that I won’t forget you.

You are, my friends.”

Matsu was hugging all four of the ponies, so his hug didn’t wrap all the way around any of their necks like a proper hug. But Fluttershy was in the middle of the hug, so Matsu’s neck was perpendicular to hers. Fluttershy got over the initial shock and nuzzled into the hug. She then stepped a little closer and wrapped her wings around Matsu.

“Shhh, it’s okay. We are friends Matsu. We’ll be waiting for you when you get back. Have a safe trip.”

Matsu laughed. It was a tearful laugh but a warm one. Nopony would be waiting for them to come back, and there would be NOTHING safe about their trip. But they were friends, that much was true, and that was enough.

Sadly, Matsu was also a very powerful warrior, and could sense that Soran was nearby. Matsu gently pushed the hug apart, “It’s time for us to go.”

Soran stepped out from his hiding place, “Let’s go, we’ll talk more on the way to the ship.”

Soran and Matsu began walking along side each other. They did not speak out loud, but there was an understanding between them. Soran was the pilot. It was time to go when Soran said it was time to go, not a moment before or after. But Soran was understanding above all else, and wasn’t about to deny Matsu a rare chance to see their friends.

They passed by a table where Sol, Lilly, and Derpy were sitting together. All three were laughing and having a great time.

Soran smiled warmly, “Having a good time?”

Sol turned to see the others, “Yeah! Lilly felt bad about watching me like a criminal earlier, and even though I said it was completely fine, she insisted on introducing me to her old flying buddy Derpy. These ponies are great!”

Lilly looked over to her friend, “Well after all, it’s not a party until Derpy arrives.”

Derpy smiled, “I’m just so glad that I got to be in the story! I just don’t know what went so right!”

Everyone seemed confused, “What story?” They all asked in unison.

Pinkie Pie answered, “The one I’m sending to my friend Starry of course.”

Everyone was even more confused, “What?”

Soran didn’t understand that at all, “Well uh, we should be heading for the ship.”

So with that, they all resumed there walk back.

Pinkie bounced alongside them, “You would like Starry. I meet him this one time when I was breaking the fourth wall…”

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

The last of the humans had arrived back at the Gummi ship. Many of the friends that they had made were already there, and the ones that weren’t were starting to arrive. There was Braeburn and Little Strongheart, who had come all the way from Appaloosa, All of Fluttershy’s little critter friends, the Wonderbolts, Cadence and Shining Armor, the guards for both Celestia and Luna, and of course, the mane six. Much of Ponyville had also come to see the humans off.

The humans themselves were not accustomed to having so many come out to see them. In most of the worlds they visited, they had usually just made friends with a small band of people or even just one person, but now they were literally surrounded by friends on all sides. It was strange that it was both wonderful and sad.

Kai himself stepped into the middle of his crew. Kai turned to his friends, all of them, “We have to go now, but we will not forget you. Celestia, Luna, you two need to come with us to the halfway point so that I can give you back the Keeper’s Mantle.”

The princesses nodded.

Soran levitated the crew and the princesses onto the ship. Twilight was one of many who felt a little strange. Soran had removed the effects of his ‘Flight Sphere’ from them. But that shouldn’t have been surprising, it’s not like they could have gone with the crew.

All partings are bittersweet by nature, but for the humans, this one was outright sad. Kai didn’t need to be Keeper to sense this, he felt it to. So he said some last words before leaving, “Even if we grow apart, even if we forget each other, we will always be friends. And when we meet again we will have a new adventure, and become friends again. Be well until then.”

This speech was given to the ponies, but was really to sooth the crew.

The humans and princesses were now on the Gummi ship. Soran was so in tune with the Gummi ship that it would move on his will alone, and thus, it wordlessly began to rise into the heavens. There was a chorus of cheers coming from the ground. Kai summoned his Keyblade and aimed it at an empty space in the sky. The keyblade fired a beam which seemed to drill through the very fabric of reality, opening a keyhole shaped portal to the astral sea which flows between dimensions.

The ship only flew into the ‘doorway’ of the portal, but did not cross over. Celestia walked over to Kai, “Now then, give us the Mantle; we’ll take care of the rest.”

Kai walked to edge of the ship, looking down on the planet far below, and outstretched his arms like a conductor about to make the world sing, “We both know that would be cruel. I can’t ask you to brainwash your own people… er ponies. I’ll give it back after I do the hard part. Once their memories are gone, ponies like Princess Cadence and her husband will be afraid if they wake up in Ponyville and don’t remember how they got there. I’ll cast the ‘Return to the beginning’ spell again like I did with with Equestria earlier, and later the moon. But this time I’ll have it affect the living things as well.”

Kai folded his hands like he was praying, and once again his aura expanded until it covered the world. Everypony was put back where they were before the whole mess started, they didn’t think anything of it, or rather they couldn’t. Kai didn’t put them to sleep, but he made it so that when they woke up they would register the past few days as uneventful, and remember them no better than anyone remembers there earliest years of life. The food was still there, but everypony would just think the princesses made it, and it would all be eaten and forgotten (also thanks to the spell, that food is otherwise unforgettable) soon anyway.

Only then did he turn to the Princesses and put his hands on their heads. Their horns went between his thumbs and index fingers. The ‘fire’ on his body flowed off of him and into them. Their manes returned to their normal ethereal forms, and they could feel the powers over nature returning to them in higher quantities than before. Kai himself was just a doctor with a Keyblade and a great crew again.

Kai strangely seemed to like it, “Ah I have general soreness again. O how I missed that feeling. It isn’t good, but it feels natural, you know? I am the weakest member of the crew after all, it feels weird to me wielding cosmic powers that aren’t mine.

Celestia laughed to herself a little.

Dea was standing nearby, “What’s so funny princess?”

Celestia regained her normal composure, “I have seen humans with my powers before. You are a twisted race. Strange then that the first ones I actually meet, would be some of the bravest, noblest, and most loving souls I have ever had the pleasure to meet in my long life.”

Kai smiled and looked up, “You’ve ruled the sky for so long. Let me encourage you to look at that.”

The princess looked beyond the portal that the crew was about to fly into. It was a deep sea of swirling stars and nebulas. It seemed to have a lifeforce so thick that it was a liquid and for some reason, they felt like it was all close enough to touch.

Kai continued, “That is the omniverse. For every star you see out there, a world exists. Each world has a heart, and life, and more friends to make.”

Both princesses stared in awe for a moment, but Luna’s smile faded, “And Senza already has over 90% of those stars.”

Kai nodded, “Yeah, he does. But when we beat him they’ll all come back. There is no end to our adventure, because there is no end to the number of friends we can make, and the number of lives we can help. That is why we sail. We are selfish like that. We won’t stop until we’ve partied on every world in the omniverse, or died trying.”

Celestia now joined Luna, “And you don’t have any doubts at all?”

The crew exchanged a confident look and an adventurous smile, and all spoke in gleeful unison, “None.”

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

Celestia and Luna stood on their balcony at their palace. Luna raised the moon to where the portal had been, but it had closed quite a while ago.

Celestia began walking. Luna turned back to her, “Where are you going sister?”

“To arrange for Discord to be taken to Ponyville first thing in the morning. I won’t waste any time.”

Luna ran to catch up with her, “Sounds good, I’ll go with you.”

Celestia looked guilty, “You… really think it’s a good idea?”

Luna looked puzzled, “You suggested it.”

Celestia looked forward, “Because Kai did. What if it doesn’t work?”

“No matter how bad he is, I’d rather cuddle with Discord than step within a hundred miles of Senza” Luna said, shivering both in fear of Senza and disgust at the idea of cuddling Discord.

Celestia laughed a little, “Well alright. I’ll write a letter to Twilight before she can go to bed telling her to prepare for tomorrow. It’s a shame that since she won’t remember this she won’t be able to write a letter.”

Luna stopped walking, “You shouldn’t ask others to do what you are unwilling to do.”

Celestia stopped, “Pardon?”

Luna looked at her sister, “What did YOU learn about friendship Celestia?”

Celestia hadn’t been expecting to hear that question, ever.

“I learned that you should give everyone a chance. Sometimes we meet others and judge them before they can show us who they really are. Everyone can be bad, but everyone can be good too. We should give others the benefit of the doubt, try to help them, and see the best in them, and if possible be unconditionally good to them, just because it’s the right thing to do.

That’s what I learned.”

Luna clapped.

Celestia looked guilty again, “I wish I could tell Kai and his crew.”

Luna looked up into the stars, “I believe they already know.”

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

Soran was in the pilot’s seat. Everyone else was resting. Suddenly the next world showed up on the monitor. They had been in flight for about ten hours. Soran had been sleeping in the Pilot’s seat, steering with autopilot. Soran had a room, but he usually slept in his seat. With a push of the intercom button, he announced to the crew, “Alright everyone, we are approaching our next world. Estimated time to arrival: five minutes.

The crew began to stir from sleep. Everyone began to get into position for departure. Santo and Sol walked side by side. Santo stretched, “Ah it’s nice to arrive peacefully for once, right Sol?”

Sol had a mischievous smile, “It would be nice, but I calculate a 98% chance that it won’t be so easy.”

BANG!

The ship rocked. Anyone else would have been sent flying to their deaths by the sheer shock, but if the crew could be hurt that easily they would all have died years ago.

“Told you so.”

The whole crew assembled and made their way to the deck.

1,000 ships dotted the horizon. Each one with 1,000 Soldiers, and hundred Pawns and Scouts, and one Gladiator. The Soldiers alone would add up to 1,000,000 strong.

Musica readied his guitar, “Good chance for a tune-up before we arrive.”

Sol calculated, “Certainty of death, small chance of success. What are we waiting for?”

Matsu went berserk, “I lost so much manliness in that last world I’ll have to kill the whole fleet just to make up for it.”

Santo rolled his eyes, “Are we going to have to do this every time we want to visit a new world?”

Dea ran towards the ships edge like a giddy schoolgirl, “Oh come on Pops, it wouldn’t be any fun if we didn’t.”

Soran headed back to the bridge, “Well at least out here I can fire warheads to my heart’s content. I’ll stay behind and watch the ship like I always do.”

Kai ran after the others, “Don’t go too fast, I’ll heal you.”

Musica yelled back, “Don’t hurt yourself by overdoing it like last time you dumb doctor.”

Matsu dived in first, “Looks about the same as last time to me. Soran, 20 Warheads, now.”

Dea unsheathed her shape-shifting weapon and made it the biggest spear she could. It stretch a hundred meters long, with the spearhead alone being ten meters long. It had one axe-like side and one scythe-like side which converged into to spear-like tip, and would have weighed over a hundred tons. “Can’t use this one on land, too many people could get hurt.”

Kai smiled, “Alright, do what you want. But remember we have friends to get back to, so don’t die okay.”

Everyone chimed in, “No way we’re gonna die.”

A virtual plague of Enforcers flew at them.

All screamed, “Let’s go!”

Author's Notes:

I would like to thank everyone who made this possible.

Starting with my good friends who shot me the screenplay in Chapter 0. Though he wishes to remain anonymous, he agreed that I could give him credit. the Screenplay in Chapter 0 is his property entirely. The story is mine, but that is his, so please use with permission.

Next I would like to thank Lauren Faust, without whom none of us would be here. Thank you for making ponies awesome. You rock!

Next I would like to thank my two editors: Keybrony and Moonthunder.
Seriously you two are beyond awesome. Every single word in my story that is spelled right because of one of them at least. I stink at English, not a single 'i' would be dotted if not for them. Any mistakes you find are because I pushed the deadlines and didn't let them work. Keybrony did 90+% of the editing (when I didn't jump the gun and publish first) and Moonthunder co-wrote the last chapter with me.

I would like to thank both Shonen Jump and Nintendo. They provided me with the materials and the inspiration to build all this. If you are not familiar with their works, go look them both up now!

And most importantly, You. My readers, this is all useless without you. I hope to write you better material from now on.

Thank you all.

Bonus Chapter 6: Original Part 2

View Online

Cadence sneered at the Changeling queen, but regarded the human as something she was totally unprepared to deal with. Cadence spoke in a watered down version of the Royal Canterlot voice, “Queen Chrysalis, you have been charged with crimes of invasion, kidnapping, acts of violence against officers, acts of violence against civilians, multiple acts of attempted kidnapping, desertion of property, attacks against two royals, and several other war crimes. How do you plead?”

“Guilty,” replied Chrysalis.

Cadence didn’t know what she wasn’t sure what she was expecting, apparently the nobles didn’t either.

Kai made a graceful bow towards the Crystal Princess, “If I may, I would like to say something your highness.”

Kai looked up at Cadence with pleading and reverent eyes, “I assume you have been told about the Changelings “debt” and I have been told about your Crystal Heart. The Crystal Ponies more than anyone else are experienced in giving love away for free. They do so with the Crystal Heart every Crystal Fair. No one can be commanded to love and even if they could, it wouldn’t be a gift anymore, but a tax instead.

I want you to plead with your people to “adopt” the Changelings as neighbors, thus donating them enough love to pay off all of their debt and break their curse once and for all.”

“YOU WHAT?!” screamed the two royals of the Crystal Kingdom. The nobles present likewise began debating fiercely, “AND WHY WOULD WE EVER DO THAT?”

Kai explained, “They were once ponies just like you. If you became one wouldn’t you want someone to help you?

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That is unconditional love.

And if you cannot let go of your grudge,” Kai put his hand over his heart like he was pointing to himself, “then punish me. I will take any vengeance that you have in their place.”

Cadence stared into the determined eyes before her, more imprisoned by them than staring at a cockatrice. She couldn’t even bring herself to want to object to him. Cadence noticed Chrysalis behind him was even more shocked than the others. No one had ever done anything like this for her kind. Cadence stared at Chrysalis and remembered the last time she saw the Changeling queen. She felt like she was boiling inside, but no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, she still saw Kai standing there. Kai pacified her just as much as Chrysalis enraged her, leaving her feeling numb.

“Court will take a three hour recess,” said Cadence. Everyone needed a chance to take a breather.

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

Cadence paced on the balcony. Shining Armor stood nearby, unsure what to say. Cadence pleaded with her husband, “What am I going to do Shining? We were the ones she hurt the most, but she tried to destroy our whole way of life! She’s a monster! But I can’t deny that human has a point. Even if their queen is a monster, does that give us the right to turn our back on her subjects? Subjects who used to be ponies and are now hurting?”

Cadence growled at him, “If you’re trying to make me more certain, you’re not doing a good job.

If you think about it, HEALING the Changelings means BEING RID of the Changelings. Once the curse is broken, the Changelings will be no more. We can be free from there kind forever.

But on the other hoof, we would essentially be pardoning them of their crimes and aiding them in their goals, the same goals that they nearly ruined Canterlot to achieve.”

Shining Armor finally spoke, “I know. I feel the exactly same way.”

Cadence got mad, “If you don’t know any more than I do then you can’t help me. I need some time to think, alone.”

Shining Armor hung his head with helplessness and made his way out of the room. Cadence felt terrible for sending him out. She hung her head and wept bitterly, alone.

“AH, I THOUGHT HE WOULD NEVER LEAVE. I’VE BEEN WANTING SOME ALONE TIME WITH YOU.”

Cadence felt a chill run through her whole body. She knew that voice. It was Sombra. Black smoke billowed up from out of the floor and the unmistakable eyes of the tyrant appeared from the haze.

“FEAR NOT CRYSTAL PRINCESS. THIS IS NOT MY REAL BODY. IT IS JUST ONE OF MY ILLUSIONS. BUT REAL OR NOT, I AM HERE TO HELP YOU.”

Cadence accused, “You want to help me, you monster? I know you’re up to no good. Illusion or not, you’re too dangerous to discuss with.”

The illusion congealed, quieting its voice and size and continued, “Please Princess, all that is left of the real me is a piece of my horn. If you acquire it you will be able to take my powers and I will not be able to repair my real self without a host body.”

Cadence accused, “Ah-ha! So that’s your catch! You want a host body so you can restore yourself.”

The illusion leaned in, “I will make you an unbreakable promise, that I will not possess anything that is of this world. If I break this promise, I will die.”

Cadence would normally have fought fiercely with the fiend, but she wasn’t thinking clearly then. She stuttered, “Y ...you promise? You promise that if I find your horn and revive you that you wouldn’t possess anypony?”

The illusion bowed, “Not just anypony. Not anything alive, or dead, or inanimate or anything else that is of this world.”

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

The court room was filled again. The two that were on trial stood in the center of the room. Suddenly Princess Cadence walked in. She was thirty minutes late and looked tired. She took her place on the dais. She finally passed judgment, “I have the power to strengthen the bonds of love, but King Sombra had the power to strengthen fear. I don’t think you really know what you have allied yourself with human. Traces of King Sombra’s magic still linger here. I shall use such to instill in you the fear that Chrysalis instilled in us. I shall give all the fear and pain that Ponykind feels for her kind on you and let you decide.”

Shining Armor’s response summarized what everyone was thinking, “WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT CADENCE?! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?”

Cadence levitated out a small shard of a red horn, a magic seal wrapped around it. The horn melted into smoke which formed up into the fog-like form of King Sombra. It encircled the human and descended upon him. Chrysalis protested, “What are you doing? Run! Fight him off!”

Kai did nothing but speak, “She said that if I did this, your people would be healed. I’ll take it.”

As the smog curled around him, Kai began to remember events he had never experienced. He felt what all the ponies of Canterlot felt for the Changelings. Kai feared them and that drew out his wrath. He turned on Chrysalis with fury in his eyes, “You did this. You are responsible.”

Sombra began to sink into Kai, “Yes. So much power. Even the Alicorns that banished me didn’t have power like this one. I won’t be revived. I’ll ascend! I’ll become more powerful than anything!”

Shining noticed that Cadence’s eyes were possessed like Sombra’s and turned to scream at the phantom, “You monster! You possessed her!”

Sombra continued possessing the human but spoke anyway, “I didn’t possess her. I entranced her. She is easier to influence, but not directly possess. I promised that I wouldn’t possess anything from this world.”

Chrysalis screamed, “But Kai isn’t from this world!”

Sombra spoke, “Funny thing about that. He was so busy telling the Crystal Royals about your kind, that he forgot to tell them he wasn’t from this world. There are records of humans, so it makes sense that a human could be from here. Cadence just thought he was a monster. She never considered he might also be an alien, and since he is not of this world, I wouldn’t be breaking my promise if I possess him and regain my body.”

Sombra slipped completely into Kai. Kai now had eyes like Sombra’s, and was cloaked in a dark aura. Kai turned on Chrysalis, and made ready to strike.

Chrysalis would normally have run away, but she knew that escaping from this titan would prove impossible. Besides, their plan had failed. Without the help they had come here to get, restoring the Changelings would be impossible. Chrysalis closed her eyes and awaited her end.

SMACK!

And yet, that was all there was. No stab through the heart, no mountain shattering blow, just a slap that knocked the wind out of her, accompanied by a furious look.

Kai screamed at her, “Chrysalis! We do not hurt ponies! Apologize right now or so help me I’ll beat some sense into you the hard way!”

Cadence began to cry. The tears washed away the curse Sombra had put in her eyes and she began to come to, “It’s okay. You were trying to help your people, but I betrayed mine. I let Sombra in here. I’ve killed an innocent human and given into darkness. I made Sombra stronger and doomed us all.”

Kai turned back to Cadence, “Hey princess, if it’s alright with you, I’m going to pull this guy out of my body now.”

Cadence looked back in disbelief, “Uh …sure. Go… Go ahead.”

Kai braced himself and was engulfed in an aura like flames. Sombra could be heard screaming and soon after was retreating out of Kai’s body. Kai reached out and grabbed hold of the black vapor that was Sombra, prompting the phantom to shriek in shock, “What are you doing?” Sombra cried, “No one can hold smoke.”

Kai powered up some healing magic in his right hand before speaking, “You’re just a Logia. I can hold you even if you turn into a fine mist; but you’re also a zombie, of a short, and ghosts don’t belong in this world.” Kai stretched out his healing hand, “I’m going to resolve all your hate and misunderstanding and finally grant you rest.”

Sombra vainly tried to pull away, “I don’t understand. With power like yours, you could rule all of Equestria …”

Sombra washed away into the gentle light the healer had produced. Kai turned his back on where the phantom had been and spoke the last words it would ever hear, “Please, I’m only level 50 and am the weakest of my crew. As for ruling, only those who wish to follow should. Anything else is just slavery.”

Kai walked away from Sombra’s last traces as they disappeared and approached Cadence, “I beat your challenge, now keep your word. Help me heal the Changelings.”

One of the nobles interjected, “Wait. She was possessed by Sombra when she made you that deal. She didn’t even know what she was saying. It was all ...”

“No,” spoke Cadence, “Sombra was my doing. I will honor my deal with the human. But just out of curiosity, why did you not kill her if you truly had all that hate?”

Kai raised an eyebrow like it was obvious to him, “Because she is my friend. When friends do something wrong you bring them to justice, for their own sake; but even if your friend sells their soul to the devil, that doesn’t give YOU the right to change. You never give up on your Nakama. Never.”

All were speechless, until the oldest noble of the Crystal Empire stepped forward and spoke, “You have proven to me that your will is unbreakable and your love unconditional. We Crystal ponies live by the power of love, as we have for generations. I know that unconditional love is the most powerful and most rare kind. Even if no one else will, I will give you my support.”

Cadence stepped forward and addressed the Changeling Queen, “We certainly have our differences, but we are both ponies whose people live on the power of love.”

Cadence turned to the noble Crystal ponies, “Let us help them.”

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

They had been told about the Changelings curse and had all come out to help, each of their own accord. Cadence walked up and stood alongside Chrysalis before addressing her, “They were under a curse until recently too, you know. And, they also need the power of love to survive. Kai was right. We are they are the perfect people to help your people.”

Cadence turned to the Changeling Queen, teary eyed, “Forgive me for nearly letting a grudge ruin so many lives.”

Chrysalis turned back towards the heart, “You should thank Kai for now, but when my heart comes back, I will forgive and forget and say my apologies as well.”

Shining Armor approached the two and said the only thing he could, “It’s starting.”

Chrysalis spoke, “This is still not enough. It’s very close, but not enough. We still need a little over a hundred ponies more.”

Cadence wasn’t going to give up that easily, “We are almost there. We can’t fail because we’re short by just that much!”

Chrysalis lowered her head, “There is only one way. I can reduce the number of Changelings that need to be healed; then there will be enough to go around.”

Cadence looked betrayed and growled at the Queen, “I was right about you! You’re talking about killing your own people so that there will be enough to save the rest of them. You …”

Chrysalis’s eyes began to glow and she backfired the spell she had powered up straight into her cranium.

All the Crystal ponies gasped in terror and shock. The heartless queen had just made the ultimate sacrifice for her people. The Changelings all began to glow with pure white light. Their queen’s sacrifice had worked. They all began to turn back into ponies of various races, right before passing out. Everything had worked. They Changelings were all healed, except one: the Queen.

Shining had run to his wife’s side. She certainly needed it. She stared at him with guilty eyes, “She sacrificed herself. She gave up her life for her people and the last thing I said to her was that she was a monster and that I never should have helped her. She may have made some bad choices, but she lived and died for her people. I was the monster.” Cadence then wept bitterly as her husband cradled her.

Kai put his hands together as though he was praying, “But you have only died in the last half a day; so I can still heal you. Rinne rebirth: art of resurrection.

Kai placed his hands on Chrysalis and looked much, much older, his hair as white as snow, his skin as worn as leather. Chrysalis on the other hand looked much better, alive! Chrysalis looked over to see her healer, who hushed her to say what he had to in what small time left till unconsciousness, “I won’t live unless you get me back to my crew. And they should be enough to heal you too.”

“You’re better now, so I need you to lead me to my friends. Lead on Chrysalis.”

Author's Notes:

This is the alternative ending to chapter 6 that I have been promising you all. Sorry that there isn't much new content, but after all, it isn't new content. This was the original chapter 6, the one I finally went with is a revised version. I felt that Sombra was somewhat forced into the story. This version does have one important thing that I could throw away though: Why did Kai (the most gentle person ever) hit Chrysalis? In the other version, it seems like he would hit his friends if he was mad (something he would never do), but in this version, it feels more like he only did it because he was possessed, and would never have acted aggressively otherwise (What I was going for). In retrospect, I was really rushed back then, definitely not my best, and this was the most controversial of all for me. In the end, I decided that this hinted too strongly that Kai was the boss. So I waited.

P.S. there will be another Bonus soon. So please stay tuned until the end.

Bonus Chapter: a get together among Bronies

View Online

A cloaked earth pony walked through dimensions. It wasn’t much different from when Pinkie Pie would open the 4th wall, except that this pony lived in the “hallways” between the 4th walls. This was his special talent, and was similar to the way that Luna could walk through dreams.

Under his cloak, all that could be seen of him was his Starry Eyes. They shone rose-colored like the center of a Galaxy.

Starry Eyed warped his surrounding as if they were just a dream, and his surroundings changed so that he now stood in a grassy clearing.

The clearing was in the middle of a forest under a starry sky. Though it was night, Luna’s moon was at its brightest tonight, so the field was well lit.

It is debatable whether this place was ‘real’ or not; it was as real as a dream, but was something else entirely.

Starry couldn’t help but smirk. This was a place only he could reach unless he allowed someone else in.

“Hi Starry, you’re late.”

Starry quickly turned to see Pinkie Pie, Lilly Moonthunder, and a white Alicorn with black hair, feathers, tail, and horn named Sora (no relation to the one from Kingdom Hearts) sitting around a round, mirrored table.

Starry was shocked, “How did you get here? I thought only I could get to this place.”

Sora’s horn began to glow, and he pulled a Keyblade wrapped in magic out of thin air before twirling it about, “Hard to keep a Keyblade master locked out.”

Lilly slumped in her seat a little, “Oh I’m sorry. It’s just that this place is kinda like a dream, and well, I am pretty good friends with Princess Luna.”

Pinkie Pie pulled a cake out of nowhere, “And I got here because I’m Pinkie Pie”, and with that she swallowed the whole cake.

Starry was a little disappointed, but was glad his friends could attend, so he just shrugged it off, “Well, I’m glad you’re here. We’ll get started as soon as I call my other friend.”

The others looked like they had no idea who was missing.

Starry merely turned his head, looking into the forest, and called out, “Over here.”

As though it was Starry’s dream, at his call somepony stepped out of the forest, called by Starry’s magic.

This fifth pony was wearing the same full body cloak as Starry, but also had a spell cast on himself that made it impossible to notice his features, so even though those gathered could see him, as soon as they looked away they would forget what he had looked like.

Starry was again disappointed, “Really? You cast the ‘unknown features’ spell on yourself? Are you really THAT much of a closet Brony? Come on, we’re in good company.”

‘Unknown’ greeted his friend, “I told you, I will help you out, but I have to remain anonymous. That’s the rule.”

Pinkie rushed over and pulled Unknown’s hood down to get a better look at him. She exclaimed “AH-HA!” but to no avail. Even with his face exposed, the ‘unknown features’ spell made it impossible to realize any of his features. “Oh, you’re really good” Pinkie had to admit.

Unknown pulled his hood up and smiled, “Always good to see you Pinkie, and nice try.”

Pinkie returned to her seat, “Wish I could say the same about you.”

Starry laughed a little, “Well, we should get down to business anyway.

Unknown, this is Lilly Moonthunder. She is a fruit-bat vampony that works for Princess Luna. She has the powers of a Baku, which means she can eat bad dreams, leaving of course, only good dreams. She really helped me get my act together recently and finish the story.

And this is Sora, but not the one from Kingdom Hearts, a different Sora. He’s a fellow dimensional traveler like us. Sora here may look like an Alicorn, but he’s actually just a dimension traveling shape shifter. His cells regenerate indefinitely, giving him an infinite lifespan and perfect health, as well as the ability to shape-shift. He’s lived so long he has a whole lot of different magics from across the universe. I call him Keybrony. He’s been helping me edit the story Pinkie gave me, you know how bad I am at Grammar.

And you’ve already met Pinkie Pie.

Everyone, this is Enigma. The poor guy is a little too humble, but has been my friend for a long time. He helped me build this place.

Pinkie motioned them to sit down, “So, what’s on the agenda for today Starry?”

Starry and his friend took their seats, “I have been in contact with someone named Cloud. She is from the future, and gave me a memory she got from Twilight in the future. A memory that, from our perspective of time, hasn’t happened yet. And I’d like to share it with you.”

Lilly spoke, “Um no offense Starry, but if you sit here and just tell us it’s going to be a little boring.”

Starry smiled, “None taken. Remember, I’m a Green Mage. My power is that I make other people, er ponies, stronger or more knowledgeable.

Let me show you what I remember.

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

Kai and Princess Twilight ran side by side.

They were in the fortress of Senza, but unlike when Luna had come here as a dream, they were actually there in person. They had broken all their great enemy’s lines of defense, and were making their way towards him.

Twilight, ever watchful, was worried, “This is way too easy. Shouldn’t we have run into some guards by now?”

Kai kept looking forward, “Senza is omnipotent now, he doesn’t need guards.”

Twilight had lines on her face from where she had been crying, but she was all cried out. She wanted to scream, or cry, or sleep, or something, anything! But right now the whole omniverse hung in the balance, so she just ran alongside Kai, trying to stay prepared for anything.

She couldn’t help but ask again, “Kai, I know you’ve said it before, but you really don’t have a plan do you? You’re just counting on Kingdom Hearts being right, and you winning with a miracle like the prophesy said aren’t you.”

Kai simply nodded.

Twilight looked down the long hall they had just entered, “But Senza is omnipotent now. Do you really understand what that means? It means that the whole Omniverse combined can’t beat him anymore. It means that he has surpassed infinity itself. Senza can do anything, and everything! How are we going to fight that?”

Kai half smiled and glanced adoringly at Twilight, “You worry too much. Kingdom Hearts said it would be okay, so it will. Everything will be alright.”

Twilight didn’t know whether to hug Kai or to kick his teeth in. She both loved and hated how he never worried about anything, even the fact they were about to have a death match against an almighty foe.

They exited the tunnel they had been running through, and came out in a giant arena. It would have been totally dark if the ‘moon’ in the sky hadn’t been on fire, spreading its eerie firelight over the world.

And like all coliseums, there was a booth were the king sat.

And in it was Senza, now in his strong form.

They all just stood there and looked at each other for a few moments, starring each other down.

Twilight thought she had no tears left to cry, but hot angry tears did begin to gush down her cheeks again. She let out a sound that was something between a whiny, a scream, and a roar. It was a hard sound to imitate, but its message was clear: anger and frustration.

“You evil freak!” Twilight screamed. She would have broken into sobbing if her anger wasn’t focusing her. “It’s all your fault!

Equestria is gone! The whole Omniverse is gone! There isn’t anything left! This twisted world of yours is all that still exists! Kai and I may be the only living things left in the Omniverse! Everything else is one of your monsters! I had to destroy the Enforcers that you turned all my friends into personally! Do you have any idea how much that hurt? Of course not, what am I saying? You couldn’t know because you killed all your friends for power! You… YOU FREAK!”

Twilight lowered her head and panted. What little comfort she had obtained from getting that off her chest was washed away by the gravity of the situation.

Kai was filled with empathy, “Oh Twilight.”

Senza yawned, “Is that all you have to say?”

Kai shot Senza a disapproving look, “Senza, be a bit more sensitive at least. Twilight is hurting right now, don’t make it worse.”

Kai then turned to Twilight, “Calm down Twilight. I’ll end this quickly; and everything, and everyone, and everypony that Senza ‘Enforced’ with come back.

Senza raised an eyebrow, “You say that like you can erase me at any time.”

Kai turned towards Senza, “It isn’t a question of whether I’ll win or not, it’s a question of how much pain can I help my friends avoid. You will lose, and everyone and everything you ‘Enforced’ will come back. But I’d like to save everyone if possible.

Even you.”

Senza couldn’t be provoked. Having infinite power tends to make you cocky. But if one thing did bother him, it was whenever Kai would talk about redeeming him.

“I’ve let you squirm long enough. But you really are a fool.”

Senza fluxed down into the ring, just a few inches from Kai’s face, “Let me tell you how this will work.

I will give you any weapon you want. It’s the least I can do since I destroyed your Keyblade earlier. You may even chose a Keeper’s Mantle if you want. Think of it like being granted a wish. I will then fight you on equal terms to whatever you have chosen. But the difference will be that unlike you, I have infinite power. I will take no damage as this otherwise equal fight drags on, nor will I grow tired. In time you will grow so weak that you will die of exhaustion.

Then I will fuse all worlds together, and rule as a deity over all existence for all eternity.

No matter what, you lose.

Now choose fool.”

Twilight looked up to see hundreds of billions if not trillions of Keeper’s Mantles, all of which currently belonged to Senza, floating like stars in the heavens. Also, thanks to Senza’s magic, they could distinguish all of them form each other, and tell what they all were, even though there were billions at least.

Twilight looked at her friend, “Choose wisely Kai.”

Senza looked back at Twilight, “Ah yes, Princess Twilight. If you want I could give you the Keeper’s Mantle of Equestria and let you and your friend fight together. It really wouldn’t matter anyway. You won’t add anything to power level difference.”

Twilight actually thought that was a good idea, “What do you think Kai? Sounds good.”

Kai looked like he was thinking something else, “Twilight, you can get Equestria’s mantle if you want, but as for me.”

Kai faced Senza, “Nothing. I choose nothing. I don’t want it to be remembered that I beat you with power I took from you, that proves nothing. I want to fight you as me.”

For the one and only time, Twilight and Senza agreed, and spoke together, “Are you insane!?”

Twilight rushed over and literally begged at Kai’s feet, “Please Kai! Pick better than that! I know you’re confident, but he’s omnipotent. He’s an evil, omnipotent, omniverse conqueror!”

Kai smiled and looked Senza in the eye, “That may be. But Kingdom Heart is Light. And that’s a whole lot stronger.”

Senza was furious, “Fine you fool. Have it your way.”

Senza snapped his fingers and Twilight was warped to the booth to watch the fight.

Senza flew into the air, absorbing billions of Keeper’s Mantles. Senza looked over his shoulder at Twilight, “Sora had a mouse king, and you have a pony princess. You’re as big a fool as he was.”

Kai nodded, “Thanks.”

Kai cracked his knuckles and approached his archenemy, “It all ends here and now Senza.”

And so began the fight for the Omniverse.

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

Starry ‘awoke’ from the ‘memory’.

The others likewise came to.

Pinkie blinked a few times, “Does, that mean I die?”

Starry frowned, “No, Yes, Kinda’. But if Kai wins then everything will come back.”

Sora looked around, “Where’s Lilly?”

Starry rolled his shiny eyes, “Pinkie, could you…?”

Pinkie reached under the table and pulled Lilly out from under it by the tail.

Lilly looked around, “Is…Is he gone?”

Pinkie pated her friend on the back, “Was never here. It was all a time travelers’ memory.”

Lilly looked around, “I don’t like scary stories; I like them to be sweet and nice.”

“It’s not scary.” Starry insisted. “You know the good guy always wins at the end of the story anyway.”

Lilly felt better, “Well, I suppose if everyone is safe and happy at the end, then I guess it’s okay.”

Sora conjured a clock, “Well, it’s time for me to go. I have an appointment with the Doctor.”

Starry asked, “Who?”

Sora put the clock away, “Yes.”

Starry was confused, “What?”

Sora answered, “Doctor Who.”

Pinkie tried to help, “Doctor Whooves is on a date with Derpy today, you’ll have to wait till tomorrow.”

Sora corrected, “Not Whooves, Who.”

Starry got frustrated, “That’s what I’m asking you!”

Enigma finally spoke, “No what’s on second.”

Starry was really confused, “Who?”

Enigma corrected, “No Starry, What’s on second, Who’s on first.”

Lilly asked, “Who are we talking about?”

Enigma liked messing with Starry, but was nice to Lilly, “I think he means Doctor Who.”

Sora confirmed, “Yes.”

Starry slamed a hoof down, “That’s what I’m asking!”

Pinkie corrected, “No Starry, What’s on second. Who’s on first.”

Starry quit trying, “I don’t know.”

Sora joined the game, “He’s on third.”

Starry asked, “Who is?”

Pinkie corrected, “NO! Who’s on first, I don’t know is on third.”

Starry asked, “Then why are you asking me?”

Lilly looked concerning at Sora, “You poor thing. You aren’t sick are you? I could get Luna’s physician.”

Sora facehoofed, “I appreciate your kindness Lilly, but I have infinite regenerative powers. I’ll live forever unless I’m killed instantly, never age, and never get sick. I might look 20ish but I’m over a thousand.”

Starry asked, “Then what do you need a doctor for?”

Sora snapped, “I don’t need a doctor.”

Starry leaned back in his chair, “Then this doctor is strange.”

Enigma corrected, “No, Doctor Strange is form Stan Lee and Marvel.”

Starry couldn’t think of what to say, “Wha?”

Enigma put an end to this, “Lilly, is there any of Matsu’s food left?”

Lilly turned back to face the others, “Oh yes, of course. Would you all like to come eat some over at the castle? I’m sure Luna wouldn’t mind.”

That sounded like a great idea. Everyone agreed, “Yes please.”

Pinkie bounced on ahead, “Oh boy! Party at Luna’s place!”

Sora thought for a moment, “Well, I suppose I could spare another hour.”

Starry waved to the others, “You all go ahead. I have one last thing to do.”

The others all walked through a portal Enigma made, and were at the castle.

Starry turned to the spirits that had found their way to that place.

“Thank you everyone for seeing this story through to the mid-way point. Kai and his crew still have a long way to go, but you may rest assured that not only will they put everything back the way it was, but also that once everything is restored, there will be an infinite number of stories to tell.

For every story that has a good heart, there is a world in the omniverse. And every one of those worlds has new friends to make, and thus, new adventures to go on. Worlds vary tremendously, and the laws and magics of those worlds vary even more. But Friendship is Omniversal, and we should always hold such things in our hearts.

I’ve been friends with Enigma for a while, but I met Lilly and Keybrony over the course of this story. If you would like to join us around this table in the future, I will try to find a way to invite you, just like Lilly got a chance to be in the story for winning my contest.

But I’m busy dealing with the affairs of many worlds, so it will be a while. Until then keep the elements of Charity, Benevolence, Devotion, Integrity, Optimism, and of course, Magic, close to your hearts.”

And with that Starry rushed through the portal, eager to join his friends.

Kingdom Heart next generation: Friendship is Omniversal

by Starry Eyed

chapter 0: authors notes

Chapter1: ponies and humans

Chapter 2: Honesty and Trustworthiness

Chapter 3: Kindness and Self-restraint

Chapter 4: Loyalty and Honor

Chapter 5: Laughter and Jollyness

Chapter 6: Sins and Forgiveness, part 1

Chapter 6: Sins and Forgiveness, part 2

Chapter 7: Generosity and Charity

Chapter 8: Moonlight and Firelight

Chapter 9: Reunion and Assembly

Chapter 10: Those Who Pray, and Those Who Fight For Them

Chapter 11: Doubt and Faith

Chapter 12: Assurance and Fatherly Kindness

Chapter 13: Harmony and Light

Chapter 14: Peace and Adventure, Part 1

Chapter 14: Peace and Adventure, Part 2

Bonus Chapter 6: Original Part 2

Bonus Chapter: a get together among Bronies