> Give it back: A kingdom hearts/MLP crossover. > by Bronyz4ever90 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The end has come > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: An idea came to me a while ago, and I was thinking about where I could go with it. A thought of: What would have happened if instead of the remaining at the Keyblade Graveyard, The Lingering Will was sent somewhere else? Here’s seeing where such an idea could go. ============================================================== “Mmmm, tis another beautiful night…and almost no pony around to enjoy it” sighed the saddened Princess of the night, gazing out with a mournful gaze at Canterlot. She could sense that a few ponies were up and about enjoying the night. It gave her comfort, and yet the majority of Canterlot were asleep in their beds. Backing away from her balcony, Princess Luna turned back towards her room. Night court had ended a while ago, and she was trying to see what she could do to help make the night more fantastic. Perhaps if she were to send several of the stars to shoot across the sky, more ponies would awaken from their slumber to witness such beauty. “And if they don’t, we can make them awaken”. “Silence” Luna whispered to herself, never pleased when her other half made itself known. When she had been purged of the darkness that had been plaguing her heart, Luna had become overwhelmed by a sense of regret towards what she had done. However, traces of former bitterness remained still within her mind. “Why? T’was I that gave thee comfort when thou ungrateful wretches refused to gaze upon thy hard work?” whispered the dark entity. “Thou went too far..I went too far. I made the mistake in trusting you once, never shall I do so again” Luna argued back with the disembodied voice in her head, thankful that Celestia was not here to listen to this. When she had become tempted, and accepted the darkness in her heart; she had become Nightmare Moon. When that happened, she had become a puppet in her own body. So when Celestia banished her to the moon, she had become saddened but, grateful. Nightmare Moon had been stopped for the time being, and no pony else would be hurt because of Luna’s selfish decision. “Who was it that accepted thy offer? That came to me when no pony else would even appreciate what we had done for them” echoed the voice in Luna’s head. “Thou worked so hard every night, doing whatever you could do to make everypony happy? Did they appreciate what we...?!” “Enough” hissed Luna, not about to fall into this argument once more. She knew what had happened, and she knew why she had made her decision at the time. “I was jealous; bitter…I wanted to feel the same love that my sister received when she raised up and created glorious days”. Every heart, no matter how pure and good that they were contained darkness. Depending entirely on what sort of pony they were, the darkness would be either overwhelming, or merely a tiny sliver. Once upon a time, Luna’s heart had been stemming in darkness, corrupted by her own jealousy. However, thanks to the intervention of Twilight Sparkle and her friends; the darkness had been returned to a tiny fragment..but it was still there. Plus, because not a lot had changed, where most preferred to sleep then enjoy the night; the darkness had been growing over time. Luna could still feel it at times, whispering in her sleep and offering her everything she wanted and more. “I shall never fall again, this I swear” she promised herself, finding solace in staring out at the sleepy town. ============================================================ Meanwhile, on a distant world in another universe… “Your body submits, your heart succumbs, so why does your mind resist” demanded the newly born Terranort, furious at the resistance of what was left of his former “apprentice”. The sky was a golden yellow, transparent chain’s locking the outside world out. The desolate landscape picked up high winds that surrounded the two warriors. The Keyblade Graveyard was a barren wasteland, where the fate of three would be changed forever. Terra, a former keyblade wielder’s body had been stolen to be used as the aging Xehanort’s vessel. His body was stolen, his heart completely snuffed out in darkness. But his mind and will remained his, and had transferred itself into his armor. Terranort glowered at the insolent armor, a cruel smile coming to his lips. Casually spinning his keyblade in place, he remarked coldly “I’m not surprised. Your will has always been strong, but strong enough to resist in your current state? Unheard of”. Pausing, Terranort chuckled “It intrigues me, you’ve lost and yet you still fight? Why?” No words were spoken from The Lingering Will, as it slowly arose from where it knelt. Drawing it’s keyblade, it pointed it at Terranort; it’s message clear. “Thief…not take…without..fight” thought the being, it’s mind unable to form coherent sentences. Lowering its blade, it silently dashed towards it’s target, locking keyblades with him. Terranort grunted heavily, showing signs of struggle against The Lingering Will. Assuming that his powers now greatly surpassed Terra’s, he started to push back his foe. Sneering, Terranort brought down a free hand, darkness gathering within it before he slammed his fist into the armors chest area. The Lingering Will flew backwards, coming up from a roll. It gazed out at Xehenaort, who was charging towards it. Bringing it’s keyblade up, it backed away, parrying and deflecting Xehanorts succession of thrust towards it’s head, sparks flying left and right from the collision of blades!! “You can’t defend forever” mocked Terranort, loving every moment of his revitalized youth. Pushing back the armor towards the edge of the battlefield, he coldly asked “What seems to be the problem? You locked us in here, and yet you can’t seem to stand against me”. “Return...it” thought the armor, using shield in the middle of the attack. Throwing off Terranorts balance, Lingering Will counterattacked, slashing three times across Terranorts chest; sending the arrogant evildoer skidding backwards. Going in for a fourth slash, it’s blow was parried away; silently grunting from the dark shockwave damage it got from Terranorts overhead slash. Laughing from the opening he was given, Terranort sliced away at Lingering Will, smirking whenever his keyblade connected with it’s body. It’s helmeted head moved against it’s will from each strike, unable to strike back. When it felt Terranort halt his attack for a moment, it clashed it’s keyblade against Terranorts, pushing away Terranort’s blade. Taking advantage of the moment, Lingering Will slammed it’s armored fist against it’s enemies cheek. Grunting from the surprise attack, Terranort jumped backwards from his foe. Aiming his keyblade, he shot out a flurry of dark bolts. “YIELD” demanded he at the sight of The Lingering Will deflecting and blocking the darkbolts. When he finished firing, his body was surrounded by similar looking aura before dashing across the field. Sending the darkbolts flying away from itself, The Lingering Will flinched and staggered from a few stray bolts that managed to slam into it. Touching where the burn marks appeared, it thought to itself “It..dosent..hurt”. But what did hurt was when Terranort rammed himself into it, sending it onto it’s back. Terranort didn’t let up from his attacks, continuing to dash and crash his body against Lingering Will’s armor. Each blow started to make knick’s and dents appear on the armor. Becoming bolder with his dashes as time went on, he thrust his keyblade forward in an attempt to skewer The Lingering Will!! Lifting it’s helmeted head up, Lingering Will instinctively raised it’s keyblade up towards the sky. A prism shield blocked Terranorts attempted skewer attack. Seizing the moment, Lingering Will threw itself at Terranort, clashing it’s keyblade against Terranorts, the two proceeding into a back and forth block and slash. In the midst of the slashing, Lingering Will rolled underneath a cleave towards it’s head. Getting up behind Terranort, it shot out several pyro balls, all which scorched Terranorts back. Not done, it then ran forward and brought up it’s keyblade towards Terranorts neck, striking him hard. “Urgg” grunted an injured Terranort, sliding forward across the ground. Lifting himself up shakily, a hint of anger crept into his eyes as he slowly smirked. “You’re making me very angry” he declared in a low tone. A dark aura started to cover his body, calling upon his darkness to aid him. “And for you, that is the last thing you want to do” Terranort warned the living armor. The Lingering Will’s only response was beckoning for Terranort in a taunting way to fight him. If it had eyes, it would surely blink in shock when Terranort suddenly vanished, and reappeared via portal behind Lingering Will, ramming the back of his keyblade into where it’s spine would be. Staggering forward from the blow, The Lingering Will whirled around, swinging it’s keyblade in an arc towards Terranorts head only to hit air. Turning it’s head left and right, it was struck once more!! Turning around in all direction to find Terranort, it failed to notice the pool of darkness appear below it; Terranort coming out swinging as it was sent flying onto where it’s stomach would be. “Humph” humped Terranort, having expected more from Terra’s lingering will. Raising his keyblade into the air, a slew of molten, yellow boulders appeared in a circular fashion around The Lingering Will’s still form. “METEOR” he called out, lowering his keyblade; sending the powerful looking rocks flying towards Lingering Will!! Getting itself up, Lingering Will resorted itself towards dodging and fleeing from the approaching meteors. Struggling to keep it’s balance from each shock wave explosion from the impact of the missing meteors, The Lingering Will turned to face the final meteor. Rather than run, The Lingering Will neatly sliced the meteor in two, twin explosions appearing behind it. Glancing at the surprised Terranort, Lingering Will aimed it’s own keyblade at Terranort’s body. A dark volley of it’s own bolts, shot out towards the thieving and treacherous keyblade wielder. However rather than firing in a quick succession, the bolts homed in on Terranort. “Ha!! You think that will do you any good” demanded Terranort, preparing to deflect and block away at the bolts. He got a pretty big shocker when the bolts suddenly started circling around him, striking him from all sides. “Aggh!! Cursed fool” growled Terranort, leaping high into the air to strike down Lingering Will. Slamming his keyblade into the ground, a small crater appeared from the damage of his keyblade, shooting Lingering Will backwards. Skidding across the battlefield from the surprise attack, it became more determined than ever to end this battle. Lingering Will wasn’t given much a chance to react when Terranort appeared before him!! Crying out in silent pain, Lingering Will’s armored form became more and more dented from the combo attack that ended with a dark purplish hand made of aura, emerging from Terranorts keyblade and punching him across the field!! “You don’t belong in this world, or the next. Submit, and I promise that I will make this as painless as possible” declared Terranort with a cruel smile, eager to destroy the obstacle in his way. “Back…” thought The Lingering Will silently, as he began to walk towards Terranort. Slowly going into a jog, and then finishing with a sprint; The Lingering Will ducked underneath an impaling strike towards his head. Ignoring the gasp of shock from Terranort, The Lingering Will jammed his keyblade into Terranorts chest. “Wh..what is this?!” Terranort demanded in shock, his body immediately glowing white. He could feel..his heart…Terras heart, slowly beginning to leave his new found body. How had In that moment, he realized he had become too arrogant in his new form, thinking himself invincible. This was unacceptable!! “N..no” he gasped, watching as the hybrid heart slowly began to leave his body. The Lingering Will looked up at the departing heart. It was barely able to feel any sort of emotion, the floating heart filling it up with a sense of needing. “Give..back…my…heart” it thought, slowly reaching with an outstretched hand to take it. Watching the Lingering Will’s fascination with its former heart, Terranort furrowed his brows in anger, his rage giving him strength. He could feel himself starting to vanish without his heart, soon he would not exist. He did not spend all this careful planning, all of his efforts to be undone because of his brief moment of carelessness. “ENOUGH” he angrily declared, striking the heart with his keyblade!! The hybrid heart shattered into pieces, a tiny bit absorbing itself into The Lingering Will whilst the majority rejoined Terranort. Staggering backwards from the unexpected turn of events, Terranort clutched at his chest; feeling his mostly completed heart beat strongly. “That was close..but you’ve taken something that..” he started to monologue. “Shut…up” echoed a voice from the helmet, slamming himself into Terranorts body. Utilizing it’s ultimate tech: The Ultima Cannon, The Lingering Will made a noise that sounded like an angry growl. It’s keyblade morphed into a giant sized cannon, holding it over his shoulder. Locking onto it’s target, a massive orangish-yellow beam shot out and slammed into Terranort!! “GAAAAAAAHHHH” cried out Terranort, feeling excruciating pain from the beam. Terranort was sent flying into the air before slamming down into the ground, his body covered in burn marks. Lifting his head up weakly, Terranort reached out with an angry grasp towards The Lingering Will, before his head fell back into unconsciousness. Terranort temporarily defeated, The Lingering Will looked up as a massive wave of pure white energy slowly started to encompass everything. Watching as Terranort was engulfed by the wave, it planted it’s keyblade into the ground, lowering it’s head. It knew there was no point in running, the effects of it’s best move draining it. As the wave started to engulf it, images flashed through it’s mind of the two people that it cared about more than anything in the world. “Aqua…Ven…someday…I will…set…thing..right” it thought, sadness overtaking it as the wave engulfed it. It thought that for now, this was the end. Little did it know, this was just the beginning. > A night wanting to forget. (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A night wanting to forget. Disclaimer: Well, I’m really glad with the response I got from the first chapter. I only hope to continue to live up to doing well for this fic.Anyway, here’s the next chap. =============================================================== Luna smiled awkwardly at the passersby, convinced that this had been a very good idea. After a few hours into night court where no pony showed up once again, she decided to skip out and go have some fun!! For tonight, she figured to try something a little different: having fun on the same level as her subjects. “Besides, it’s not like any ponies even going to show up for the evening…just as no ponies showed up at all for the last five days” she grumbled to herself in bitterness. Honestly, when you had no pony around save for your guards who would not even talk with you casually, things tended to become boring really fast. Which is why for tonight, she needed some excitement. In order to do this, she cast a spell that made her look like a regular unicorn to any pony that looked at her, that way she would be treated like a normal part of pony society. While most of the establishments after dark were pretentious as Tartarus, a few places were more down to earth. So she figured the Frosty Quoi, would be a good place to go for the evening. She knew that this was abit irresponsible on her part, but she honestly needed a night where something different happened!! Approaching the Frosty Quoi, a wide grin split Luna’s face at the sight of the long line of ponies. She bopped her head up and down from the pounding music coming from within. Getting into the VIP line, Luna couldn’t help but feel a sliver of excitement race through her. “I can’t believe I’m doing this! The last time I snuck out of work in order to have fun was...was...oh I can’t remember, it was so long ago.” “Name” requested the large and imposing bouncer stallion, allowing other big named ponies into the club. “Prin...” Luna started to state easily, before clamping a hoof over her mouth in alarm. She couldn’t announce who she really was!! If she did, she’d end up outing herself and every pony would change how they acted. They would get nervous, and perhaps even scared. Some ponies nowadays still associated her as Nightmare Moon, despite how much she had changed. “Worse of all, Tia would find out,” Luna thought, almost panicking on the spot at the image of a foreboding Celestia, looming down at her with a gaze of severe disappointment. No doubt she would never hear the end of it for a very long time from her big sister, and Tia would use it as ammunition against her whenever they got into an argument about responsibility. Coughing several times, Princess Luna responded, “Errr…Sha..Shady umm..Deiv!!! Yes umm, Shady Deiv is my name”, as she had pulled that name outta her flank. Raising a brow at the name, the bouncer looked over the list he held, shaking his head. “I don’t see you on the list, regular line please,” he instructed. Indignation filled up Luna, as she opened her mouth to demand in the royal canterlot voice that she be given entrance, she remembered. Reaching into her satchel, she removed a pendant that displayed her cutiemark, proving she had connections to the princesses. The bouncer changed his tune on the spot, nervously stating “O..Oh!! Y..you’re connected to…p..please go inside,” he smiled weakly, stepping aside to let Luna pass. However, as she started to pass, a lecherous smile came to the bouncer’s face as he patted his hoof against Luna’s departing flank, not about to resist patting the flank of a royal connected pony. “HOW DARE THOU TOUCH THY…” bellowed Luna, her booming voice knocking the bouncer off of his hooves before realizing that others were now looking at her. Letting out a weak laughter, she coughed, ”A… ahem, I mean, that was very rude, d..don’t..goodbye” before she hastily made her way inside, leaving the stunned bouncer by himself. Luna was immediately greeted by blinding multi-colored lights!! The air was thick from most of the ponies dancing to the beat provided by Vinyl Scratch, who was performing for tonight. The mirror ball above was showering every pony in a mixture of colors, a positive source of energy bursting through the air. Away from the dance floor sat a bar, where some ponies were having fun getting themselves wasted and chatting it up. Beaming, Luna announced happily “Huzzah! This is a place I can truly appreciate…and that appreciates the night life given by me,” whispering that last part to herself. Making her way onto the dance floor, Luna’s eye’s swept it as she observed at how some ponies were dancing. Some seemed to be professionals at it, and others were just doing whatever the hay they felt like. She was unsure herself on how good she was at dancing since it had been a while. Closing her eyes, she moved her body to the beat, at first feeling a bit stiff. As time went on though, it started to feel more and more natural. “This feels great!! No wonder everypony comes here at night.” she smiled to herself, realizing she needed to come to the dance club more often. “What are you doing?” Opening her eyes to the sound of the speaker, Luna suddenly realized that despite the music still playing, ponies had stopped dancing and were now staring at her strangely. “That’s strange, why are they looking at me like that?” thought Luna, as she slowly stopped her dancing. No pony said a word as the small crowd continued to stare at her, a few of the dancers coughing from the awkwardness. “Where did you learn to dance like that” asked some pony from the crowd. “Why, I merely mimicked how my friend Twilight Sparkle danced. Why do you ask” responded Luna to the crowd. Instantly, a few snickers of amusement rose from the crowd, prompting Luna to rub the back of her mane. “Odd, why are they laughing?” she thought to herself, as the dancing slowly resumed. Though strangely enough, they seemed to be keeping away from her now. “Perhaps I’m such a good dancer that they’re jealous.” thought Luna, praising her “amazing” dancing skills. She had always been a fast learner after all, since she had been able to readjust into society after 1000 years. “Or perhaps they’re laughing at how foolish you look.” hissed the darkness. “Silence” hissed back Luna, but she kept an eye open as she danced, seeing how some ponies were still looking at her funny and indeed still laughing. Feeling a light blush come to her cheeks, she muttered “P...perhaps it would be best if I stepped off the dance floor for the moment,” she convinced herself. “I’m getting a bit thirsty anyway” she told herself. Retreating over towards the bar, she rubbed her flushing cheeks and tried to calm herself down. She tried to ignore the nervous sensation in her stomach, but she couldn’t deny it. Those ponies had been laughing at her. Laughing at her!! “T’was all in good humor, they..they didn’t mean anything by it,” she told herself weakly, shakily ordering a moonlight swirl from the bar. With drink in hoof, she tried to ignore her embarrassment, but some pony wouldn’t let it go… “How dare they?! How dare they laugh at us like we’re some kind of joke?! You’re far too lenient Luna. You need to show these ponies that you will not take anything from them. Do you want your subjects to believe that you are ruled by them, instead of vice-versa” demanded her other half. “What would you suggest? Remove the tongues of every pony in this place that dared use it to laugh at me” snorted Luna in response towards Nightmare’s dribble. Raising a hoof, she quickly cut off “Don’t answer that. I came here tonight as a regular pony, not a princess.” “I’m telling you, it’s not fun. It’s just sooo boring”! Perking her ears up at the raised chatter of some of the other customers, Luna turned her head and smiled in surprise. A few of the royal night guards that were off duty seemed to be enjoying themselves here, as three of them were all gathered away from her. “I mean every single night, you know what exciting stuff happens? Nothing!! Absolutely nothing,” complained one guard, downing his drink. His buddies slapped him lightly on the back, the unicorn one stating “Well what do you expect? Hardly anything exciting happens around this time of night. If I could get a job coming here, and having fun all the time; I’d probably never wanna leave” he joked playfully. “Yeah, maybe..seriously Star Shower, I feel like I’m going bonkers working night shifts. I’ve tried too many times to count now to change shifts, but Captain Shining Armor just doesn’t listen. He claims that “Canterlot can sleep soundly at night due to my sacrifice” he mockingly stated. “Tch, well at least Shining Armor and Canterlot are both getting some decent sleep. My shift’s seem to be getting longer and longer Swift Shot” complained Star, chugging down his own glass. Raising a brow at the third one, he asked “Say why haven’t you said anything yet, Meteor?” Meteor Crash just glowered bitterly at his drink in silence, the pegasus raising his head up before commenting “I tell you, it just isn’t fair. All of our friend’s get the easy and more active day time shift whilst we’re stuck guarding that...that monster.” Luna’s eye’s widened, turning her face away to try and hide her hurt from the world. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I know that she’s supposed to be all reformed and stuff; but how are we to know that it’s not just an act, huh” Star suggested, beckoning for his friends to lean in closer. “Maybe it’s all just a ploy, pretending to be good, get into the good graces of her sister and then try to take control of Equestria” offered Swift thoughtfully. Meteor slammed his mug down against the bar, shutting up his friends for a second. “All I know is that all this constant kissing up, and being forced to show respect to some pony who had once been, and probably still is a devious, cruel sneak, is really getting under my fur. At least Celestia is somepony you can actually trust, and those fools who actually get bought by Luna’s sob story on being possessed by her own bitterness can shove it.” “Yeah, guarding the night princess is a pain.” “I bet that during the day time when she’s supposedly asleep, she sits in her chambers and continues to plan on how to overthrow her sister.” To find out that this was how some of her own guard ponies even viewed her was devastating. They whispered lies, and slander behind her back. Despite all the good she had been doing, and how she had been working hard to change the views of others; they saw her as a villain. “No, no, no..I..I would never do such a thing. I can be trusted” insisted Luna, whispering to herself. She clamped her hooves over her ears in an attempt to drown out the hurtful things they said, but she could still hear them. The cruel laughter of the group echoed throughout Luna’s ears. At the moment, she should have felt pain, and sadness that came from not knowing who on her staff saw her as a kind ruler. She should have felt guilt stricken from not doing a better job. All she felt was a dark ball of anger building within her. “Ungrateful louts…I do the best I can. I make each night more beautiful than the last. I do everything I can so they won’t see me as some sort of fiend…this is the thanks I get” Luna angrily whispered, her horn starting to glow an ominous blackish-purple color. “Fools!! They will suffer tenfold for spewing such pain. If these whelps will not love us, they will fear us instead” hissed the darkness, taking advantage of the moment and of Luna’s anger. “W..wait” Luna cried out in protest, realizing her mistake too late as her horn was about to fire at the jeering guards. Turning her head away, her horn fired a beam that struck a nearby table. A fruit punch bowl which had been lying on the table was sent flying into the air and… Silence filled the entire club, the music stopping as every pony turned to stare at the strange spectacle. Lying on the floor, completely soaked was the distraught looking Luna, all eyes on her. For a moment, no pony said a word. Than a snicker came from the crowd, followed by another. The snickering was contagious as every pony started to do it, before it turned into full blown jeering laughter. The whole world was spinning, and it didn’t seem to be stopping. Everywhere she turned her head, all she could see were more ponies laughing at her. They thought she was a joke, and something to serve as their amusement. Lowering her head to hide her crying, Luna’s horned glowed its normal color, and with a flash of light; she was gone, leaving every pony confused on who this mare was. ============================================================= Reappearing in her private gardens, Luna allowed her tears to fall as she dropped her disguise. That had to have been one of the most humiliating moments of her life! Those things her guards been saying about her, calling all those hurtful things about her, laughing at her misery. “I thought..I thought I was a good princess. I thought that I was making most ponies happy” she wept bitterly. “You see, this is why you need me. Why we need each other..” whispered the voice in an almost comforting tone. Luna tried to ignore the voice, but as time went on, she found herself wanting to hear more. “You’re alone Luna. Apart from Twilight Sparkle and her friends, your sister, Cadence, and Shining; who else cares about you” continued the voice, going for the low blow “You claim that you hate me, but I think you need me now more than ever, and do you know why? It’s because apart from those I listed; you don’t have any other friends.” Luna flinched; Nightmare’s word’s cutting deeper than a knife. Some ponies stargazed, and partied at night. They went out for walks, celebrated Nightmare Night. They enjoyed the nights she made..but didn’t enjoy Luna herself. “I..it’s not tr-” she tried to argue. “Don’t fool yourself Luna, they don’t care about you because they don’t love you the same way they love your sister” Nightmare cut her off. Nightmare’s taunting haunted her night princess up to the point where it felt like she was in front of her. Luna couldn’t think of any retort, slumping her head down in defeat. “It’s true, they don’t love me…” she whispered sadly. Around her, a fog of darkness started to come together, her sadness bringing something forth. Slowly, the fog started to take shape, feeding off Luna’s depression. It appeared that she would be lost in her own misery. Fate had other plans, it seemed. A bright flash of light blinded Luna, snapping her out of her depressed state as the fog vanished just as fast as it had appeared. Raising her hooves to block out the light, she asked in an alarmed tone “W..what is this?!” As the light slowly vanished, Luna’s vision cleared up. Narrowing her eyes, they widened in a mixture of awe and wonder at the..thing standing twenty yards away from her. It was tall, whatever it was. It stood on two instead of four. Its body was covered head to toe in some sort of armor that consisted of red, gold, and black coloring. Instead of hooves, it had five digits on each of its..whatever they were. Finally, resting in one of its things, was a strange looking weapon that looked like a mix between a large key, and a sword. Having forgotten her own sorrow for the moment, Luna gazed at the creature in wonder. Questions filled her head. What was it? Where did it come from? Why was it here? She watched as the creature slowly looked left and right, not knowing what to make of where it was. She couldn’t see it’s face due to its helmet, but the way it was looking made it look..lost, confused even. For a few moments, she kept her distance, as she wanted to see what it would do. But when she saw it slump in an almost..sad state, she felt herself wanting to get closer to it. Her sudden want to go talk to it overtaking her caution. Perhaps this mysterious creature was lost, and lonely. Perhaps, it needed a friend. ============================================================== “W..where…am…I” a voice echoed from the helmet. It sounded male, young…the owner being in his late teens, early twenties. What had happened to it? Slowly, it raised its hand to its helmeted head as it tried to remember something, anything at all. After a few moments, a few things came to its fractured mind. “Terra…keyblade…light and darkness…” it thought, unable to piece together anything else. A wave of gloominess washed over it, feeling angst as it lowered its head. Why couldn’t it remember anything else apart from those things? Terra..was..was that its name? His name? Slowly, he raised his keyblade in a curious manner. He could remember about light and darkness and..how they existed in all. He could remember that a keyblade was a weapon that was used to do battle against darkness..but nothing more. Why? GREETINGS!!! WOULD THOU WANT TO BE THY… A booming voice through him off, as he whirled around and stared at a strange looking creature. Narrowing his vision, the first thought that came to his mind was “A winged…and horned…horse? Yes, a horse with wings and horns”. Its pelt was a dark blue, its mane a lighter shade, transparent and almost wavy. It had a strange symbol on its rear of the moon. It looked sheepish, perhaps embarrassed for its loud entrance. “I mean greetings. Who are you” she asked gently. Terra just stared at the pony creature silently. “…Ummm, are you lost and…do you need a friend” she offered in a friendly manner. Cocking his head in a manner similar to a confused puppy, It..Terra stared in a curious manner at the talking horse. A..a friend? For a moment, his hazy and fractured mind brought forth an image…an image of a young boy in his mid-teens…a woman in her late teens…and then the images vanished just as fast. Reaching out towards the creature, he could sense light and darkness within it. Yet..something was there. He could feel a lingering presence within the horse, a darkness that felt..familiar somehow. It felt similar to… Xehanort… Suddenly, an overwhelming wave of anger washed over him at the mentioning of the name. He didn’t know why this was, but the name brought forth great anger within him. This creature’s darkness felt similar almost exactly like Xehanorts darkness, whoever it was. “Xehanort” he repeated louder, grinding his imagery teeth in fury. His armored hands clenched rage. He remembered the name Xehanort, and it was because of feeling this creature’s darkness. Was this creature Xehanort?! Luna reached out towards it outstretched hand, her smile having washed away her angst. It must have felt the same way as her, and wanted a friend. Her smile vanished when it raised, and pointed its weapon at her. “W..what are you doing” she inquired, nervousness sweeping into her as she took a step back. “Xehanort…Xehanort” growled Terra angrily, an urge to rip this horse…Xehanort into pieces. Leaning back, he charged towards the creature with his keyblade held high. “XEHANOOOOORT” roared Terra furiously, filled with a desire to tear Xehanort to pieces!! > Quelling a fractured mind (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Keeping in consistency towards the game, certain attack names shall be called out during battle whilst others will be thought. Well, I'm on my last day in Ireland and am glad I was able to finish this up before I go home!! Anywho, here yah go!! PS: Play this whilst you read ^_^ ================================================================================= “XEHANORT” roared Terra, overwhelmed by the anger that burned within him, bringing his key blade down to strike down his foe. He let out a grunt of anger as Xehanort managed to shield himself from his blow, letting out a pitiful grunt. “Your time...has come...” Terra sneered. Luna had reached forward with an extended hoof, offering this stranger her friendship. Perhaps it was because she felt deep down inside, they were alike in some ways. That despite their differences, they could be friends. Letting out a gasp of shock from the creatures sudden roar, she stepped back when the armored being launched itself at her. “What art thou doing” cried out an alarmed Luna, barely having brought up a dark blue energy shield to protect herself from the powerful sword key. Moments ago she had been offering her hoof in friendship towards this strange creature. Now it was attacking her, calling her Xehanort!! “I am not Xehanort, your confused” she insisted, letting out another wince of pain from the beings weapon, as it collide against her shield a second time, a third time. It's physical strength was staggeringly powerful! From Terra's point of view, he wasn't seeing the alicorn princess from before. Instead, he was a stranger...a man that he couldn't recall meeting and yet..the sight of this yellow eyed, and elderly man...the very sight of this man who he assumed to be Xehanort made him bubble with anger Confusion raced through Terra, as he paused from his strikes. The old man was waving his hands in a gesture of peace, calling out for him to stop this. Terra's body started to glow, darkness surrounding his armored form. “.....Die Xehanort” he bluntly stated, bringing his keyblade up to shatter the shield,and put an end to the man!! Striking nothing but the ground, Terra made a sound that sounded like a snort of annoyance at seeing Xehanort levitate above him; his shield still up. The dark energy continued to surge around his armored being. Gasping in horror at the sight of the incoming keyblade, Luna reacted as she took off into the sky to avoid getting struck. Her eyes widdened in awe as the strange sword key made a small crater, demonstrating it's power! “Oh wow! That was close” Luna panted, having barely dodged the strange creature's attack. Her shield had almost shattered into pieces from the constant strikes!! The ground beneath the creature, then crumbled into pieces from it's mighty weapon. Just how strong was this thing?! Again, she pleaded with the creature, calling out “I am not your enemy!! Lay down your weapon". She spread out her hooves in a gesture of peace towards the being, not wanting to fight it. "Tch" responded Terra in disgust. Once more, Xehanort was trying to stop this fight. Xehanort had taken..something important from him. He had taken many things that were important from him, and for this; he would pay!! “Here...goes” Terra growled, aiming his keyblade at the airborne Xehanort, ignoring the gesture. “FIRA” he shouted, a fire ball shooting in an arc towards Xehanort. Smirking in satisfaction at the mini-explosion, Terra sprinted towards Xehanort; keyblade dragging against the ground as sparks flew from the blade. "I think I'm reaching him" thought Luna, a smile coming to her face as hope rose. The smile vanished just as fast at the sight of the approaching fire ball. "Oh no" she cried out, quickly raising her shield in time as the fire ball collided against her shield. “Oof” grunted Luna, landing roughly as she shrugged off the effects from her dissipated shield. Seeing the approaching armored being, her saddened gaze narrowed. It seemed she needed to beat it in order to get it to listen. It's anger for this Xehanort, whoever he was, was creating a powerful darkness within the creature. It felt similar to Nightmare Moon in this regard So be it...she would quell it's anger. She would calm him and remove this energy that was corrupting him. “Blizza” cried out Luna, her horn firing a chilling snow flake shaped attack at the armor. Terra leapt into the air, dodging over the attack as he connected his weapon with Xehanort's keyblade. Struggling against Xehanort, he felt surprise at how Xehanort seemed to be struggling against his might, Wasn't he supposed to be all powerful!? “Errrrgh!! Grrrrrr” Luna grunted, digging her hooves into the ground to push back against the keyblade. It's strength was unbelievable, and was taking a strain on her horn. She needed to resort to magic, taking it head on wasn't very wise. “Blizza Sword” she commanded, her horn forming an ethereal sword made of ice in the air. If he could smile, Terra would as he pushed back against Xehanort's keyblade. It would seem that whatever darkness that had lended it's strength to Xehanort, had left him. A low growl erupted from his helmet as he started to overwhelm Xehanort. “W..what” Terra gasped in alarm, finding himself on the receiving end of slashes and thrust from the sudden ethereal ice blade as he blocked and deflected attacks!! Feeling the blade knick against his shoulder pad, Terra collapsed to a knee for a moment, gripping his frozen shoulder pad. Xehanort, that coward!! Did he think he was not worthy enough to face one on one?! He would pay for that” thought Terra furiously. Shooting his eyes up to see the blade about to slice him in two, Terra acted. “Stop” ordered Terra, his blade creating an ethereal clock. Time came to a screeching halt for all, save for Terra. Moving out of the swords path, he thought “Strike Raid”, heaving his keyblade like a boomerang in Xehanorts direction. "H..How did he?! This creature isn't a unicorn, so how is it using such powerful magic" thought a distraught Luna, struggling to move a single muscle. Shivering internally at seeing the spinning sword key, she gasped when the sudden magic in the air vanished. “Sweet Equestria” Luna eked, ducking her head in time to avoid having it taken off from the combination of magic and his weapon. Raising her head up, she failed to notice the kyblade coming back towards her, as the blunt edge of the blade rammed against her back; causing Luna to skid across the ground. “Agggh” Luna hissed in pain, glowering at the being. “Ignorant cretin!! Thou shall suffer dearly for that” thought her darkness, feeling it threaten to overtake the fight. All she had to do was give in, and she could end this fight in one swift attack... Luna however resisted, forcing herself up to her wobbly hooves. This wasn't easy, but she wasn't about to use something that would end up hurting her in the long run later. She would rely on her own power. Closing her eyes, her horned gathered energy together, forming a deep blue ball. “Lunar beam” she shouted, shooting the ball out into the form of a beam. "He's down" Terra smugly thought, feeling amusement at seeing the hurt keyblade master. "Yes, feel the same pain that you've caused me" Terra whispered to himself, before running to reach the old man. Unfortunately, he dropped his guard when the lunar beam shot out towards him. Terra attempted to put up a shield in time; but failed as he was struck. “GAAAAH” yelled Terra, the blast sending him smashing against her fountain. Laying on his backside in silence, he lifted himself up slowly, going to sprint but stumbled to his knees. The effects from the blast were clearly more powerful then he had anticipated. “I will..” Terra started to proclaim, when Xehanort appeared in front of him and pressed his keyblade against his armored chest. Feeling anxiety fill him up, Terra froze on the spot. “W..w..what” he gasped, when images started to flash in his head. “Mind Hunt” Luna declared, teleporting herself in front of the living armor and placing her horn against it's helmeted head. In a quick flash of light, she was combing through it's memories, and was horrified to say the least. It's memories were scatted, shattered and an incoherent mess. What had happened to this thing?! Choosing a random memory in hopes that it would reveal something about the creature she could use to stop it, she paused at what she saw. Pain..this creature's pain was unlike anything she had ever felt before!! It felt like an ocean of sadness and despair, similar to how she felt whenever she was lonely. She could feel its angst and misery, emanating from having lost something dear to it. Whatever it had lost, it perhaps it was it's source of anger. But she wasn't certain this was the source, nor what it had even lost. For a brief moment, she could see what looked like the memory of...a courtyard somewhere...a castle floating in the sky. Two people stood in the court yard, Both we're wielding similar weapons to the creature. One of the beings looked young, early twenties...short, messy brown hair, dressed in a traditional outfit..the other was an older fellow in his fifties...long black hair, dressed in similar clothing The two men were shouting at one another, arguing it seemed. The older creature had collapsed to it's knees, whilst the younger one was reaching out to it. He went to reach the older one when.. “ENOUGH” bellowed Terra, his darkness flaring around him in fury, shaking off whatever attack Xehanort had been trying to pull on him. Panting heavily for a few moments to catch his breathe, he snarled “W..what was..?! What...make me see?!?!”. Gripping his chest where the keyblade had been, he growled “You...won't fool...Xehanort”! Silently lowering keyblade whilst sprinting, he went to cleave Xehanort in two. He hit air as he found himself delivering a series of thrust towards Xehanorts body, growling as all the old man did was dodge his attacks! "Who were those two" Luna thought, forced away from the creature. She had peeked into this creature's memories, and had seen something precious towards the creature, whether it knew it was precious or not. Squating down when the creature came to cleave her, she moved herself left to dodge the cleave. It didn't save her however from the flurry of strikes towards her. “I..I can't keep this up forever” panicked Luna, being forced further and further back away from it's thrust. She kept up dodging and avoiding the creatures strikes, but she feared that she would wear herself out eventually. Thinking quickly, Luna's head perked up at an idea, leaping back away from the creatures sword reach. “Lunar Mist” thought the Princess, as a dark mist erupted from her horn. For a few moments, the moon was eclipsed. The mist became thick, as it spread itself out and enveloped the garden; blinding any foe who dared be in it. "Where...are you” Terra bellowed, sweeping the shroud that had taken away his ability to temporarily see. Feeling a looming presences glowering at him, he turned in time to catch a blast to the chest. “Gah” he grunted, stepping back from the tiny blast that struck him. Then another struck him, and another!! Soon, a flurry of lunar blast were striking against him repeatedly. Acting, he started to strike and send the blast flying away in an attempt to defend himself from the onslaught of attacks. However, because of the lack of vision, his moments to react were few as eventually he messed up and was sent onto his back, his armor covered in burn marks. Pushing himself, Terra went to respond but was cut off when he started to get struck once more!! “Lunar Shot” Luna simply said, her horn shooting a rapid onslaught of mini blast like a Gatling gun. The blast themselves weren't that powerful, but being fired at such a fast pace did cause some relevance of pain towards whoever was being struck by it!! The blast would hone in around, and attack from different directions to confused the foe. Deciding to give it a chance, her horned stopped firing as she stepped back from the mist. “Your being far too lenient with this thing. Don't stop, your merely giving it an opportunity to pick itself up and strike back!! Is this what you want” demanded the darkness incredulously. She flinched at the words, knowing that there was some truth to what she said, but that didn't mean she was going to act upon them. “DOES THOU SURRENDER” demanded Luna from outside the mist, not wanting to cause anymore unnecessary damage to this stranger. "This dosen't hurt" Terra thought to himself, ignoring the pain from the blast. Slowly, he raised his keyblade up towards the sky. “.....Aero” was the respond, as a massive whirlwind erupted from nowhere. The mist slowly started to spin in place, gathering up within the whirlwind before being sent up into the sky. Terra silently stared in the direction of Xehanort, the darkness having vanished from his body. He became as still as a statue, not moving at all. Slowly, he fell to a knee. "What art thou" Luna whispered as her mist was swept upwards, and away into the sky. Her horn glowed dangerously at the creature, daring it to attack as she watched it slowly fall to a knee. Luna took this for a surrender, sighing gently. That had been difficult, but she was glad it was now willing to stop and listen. Trotting over towards the creature, her darkness suddenly screamed in warning. “Look out, you fool” snapped her darkness, as the creatures head snapped up to face hers. “AGGH” Luna gasped in pain, a powerful shock wave causing her to slide backwards away from the foe. Opening her eyes wearily, she gasped at what she saw. Terra's armored form had a black, purprlish aura surrounding his being, that seemed to be pushing out darkness in a powerful manner. Slowly, Terra got to his feet, shifting into a stance as he raised his keyblade high up into the air. “...Sonic...Shadow” he stated simply, as he was suddenly gone in the blink of an eye. “W..what” gasped Luna, looking left and right for the stranger. Where had he gone?! Before she could think too long on it, she flinched from the sudden slice against her shoulder, staggering to the left. “W..what was that” she cried out, when another slice towards her left hoof suddenly appeared. “He's using his own darkness to accelerate his attack speed” informed an alarmed Nightmare, hissing at the pain she felt from the link between her and Luna. Searching around in all directions, it proved useless!! Soon, she started to feel the slices coming from all directions, placing up a shield to protect herself. All it did was add more stress and pain to her, as she closed her eyes wishing for it to stop!! “Let me take control” hissed the darkness in her mind!! “I said n..” Luna tried to protest, but was silenced when he connected a final time against her shield. Like expected, her shield shattered into pieces; the combined stress from holding her shield and absorbing the blows having drained Luna's strength. Skidding roughly across the garden, Luna tried to get up when she her head was knocked back down. The creature had planted it's foot on her chest. “N..No” she moaned in pain, tiredly lifting her head up to meet the armored beings head. She tried to power up her horn to attack, defend herself, anything. But she couldnt gather the strength to do so. Was this the end?? “...It's over” answered Terra simply, bringing his keyblade down to slay Xehanort when.. “AAAGGGH” Terra spasmed in pain, his armored form crackling from the light beam that struck against his chest!! Staggering backwards from Xehanort, he glowered up to meet the gaze of the one who dare stop him from finishing off Xehanort. Reaching out to feel what sort of being this was, he gasped. T..this energy!! It felt..familiar too!! A name formed in his mind, as he spoke out in shock. M..Master..Eraqus?? > A sun goddess's benevolence (Edited ending) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For a brief moment, Terra remembered the name Master Eraqus. Images flashed through his head of a young boy, charging across a courtyard, his wooden sword held high as he swung at an elderly man, who effortlessly blocked the boy’s strikes. When the boy attempted to lunge his wooden blade at the man’s chest, he simply sidestepped aside and knocked the boy’s sword from his hands. The boy bent down to pick up his wooden key blade, the man knelt down next to him and gave the boy a kind smile. The aura from this creature was swirling with light and wisdom, that which matched this Master Eraqus. Could it be that… this creature was Master Eraqus?! “Is…is it really you,” Terra’s voice cracked in a mixture of sadness and relief, letting his keyblade slip from his fingers. Stumbling forward, he reached out with a shaky hand towards what he thought was his mentor. “I…I don’t understand, I thought you were...” Terra whispered distraughtly, sounding close to tears. Silently, Master Eraqus pointed his keyblade at Terra. “Ma-.master? What are you…GAH!” Terra jerked back, his armored form struck by a vibrant beam. His whole world slowly began to blur and shake; causing Terra to stumble forward towards what he thought was Master Eraqus. “Master..Eraqus..wh-why?” whispered Terra. His legs suddenly felt like rubber, collapsing to his knees weakly. Grasping his mentor’s leg, his vision slowly shifted as Master Eraqus blurred into what appeared to be a pure white hose. The horse looked almost identical to the one he had seen before, save for its white pelt and rainbow mane. “Who...” Terra tried to ask, before all strength left him and he collapsed onto the ground unconscious. Princess Celestia gazed down at the creature before her, an indifferent expression on her face. Her face scrunched up, her eyes flashing anger before it ebbed away into a sorrowful gaze. She didn’t know at the moment whether to feel anger, relief, or sadness as all three emotions raced through her mind. When she had first arrived on the battlefield and saw this creature attacking her sister, she had blasted it out of anger and a desire to protect her sister. It was an invader, and wanted to hurt Luna! It would not do so without a fight! But when it relinquished its weapon, and called her Eraqus; her anger shifted too confusion. Who was this Eraqus that this being mistook her for? Snapping back to reality, she had struck the creature with a powerful sleep spell that would hopefully keep it asleep until she could figure figure out what next to do with the creature. When it grabbed her leg, she let out a light gasp from the conflicted emotions that she felt swimming around within its mind, giving her pause. Her specialty may not be sensing, and repairing the turmoil of emotions within one, but she didn’t need to in order to know that this creature was in a broken state. What in Equestria had happened to this creature? Before she could think any further on the matter, her thoughts were interrupted by the galloping of the royal guard rushing in to protect their princesses. “Better late than never,” Celestia smiled to herself in amusement, watching her guards surround the fallen creature. Turning back towards the creature, her gaze hardened once more, her sympathy for the creatures fractured state ebbing away. Whatever it was, whatever had happened to it; did not excuse what it had tried to do to her sister. Clearly, it had shown that it was capable of hurting others when angered. A battalion of unicorn guards encircled the creature, whilst a group of pegasus guards hovered above it. All of them had their spears pointed at the fallen creature, in case of it waking up. “It’s alright Lulu; I’ve cast a sleeping spell on it” Celestia assured her approaching sister, never taking her eyes off the unconscious creatures’ form. Whilst she was glad that her sister was alright, she was curious on how Luna’s night had gone from nightly court towards fighting a stranger in her own garden. “Why did this creature attack you?” Celestia’s asked in a firm tone that demanded the truth and nothing else. “I’m not sure myself sister. We were..I mean, I was merely returning from night court to my gardens for some time to myself when this creature,” she paused to point at the armored figure, “Suddenly appeared from nowhere in a flash of light. It seemed confused at first when it saw me, but then it called me Xehanort and attacked.” Luna explained, gazing at the creature with an almost sorrowful look. “It appeared out of nowhere,” repeated a surprised Celestia, a curious hoof touching her chin. “Sister, we’ve both lived for many years now, we’ve traveled all over Equestria, and yet in all my years Luna, I’ve never seen a creature like this before.” Levitating the creature in front of her, Celestia touched the digits on its hand curiously. “Perhaps this creature is an extraterrestrial? That would certainly explain why I’ve never seen something like it before,” she hummed gently, dropping it's armored hand. Attempting to remove the creatures helmet so she could look at it's face, her golden aura shimmering around it's masked face, trying to pull it off. "What's this? Why won't it budge" Celestia mused, meeting resistance as she upted the ante of her power; surprised that their wasn't even any sort of struggle with the armor; it simply refused to budge. It was almost like the armor was fused together; acting as the creatures skin. “An alien?!” exclaimed Luna eagerly, “Oh that would be most exciting sister! An alien.” Luna suddenly resembled a young filly opening presents on Hearth’s Warming Day, before coughing to hide her embarrassment at her sister’s bemused stare. “I think that makes sense because it attacked me with this.” Luna pointed towards the creature’s weapon. Using her magic to hover the weapon in front of them, she asked with awe, “Have you ever seen something like this before? This weapon appears to be a mix between a sword and…a key of some kind.” Reaching out to touch it, she noted with a curious smile, “What a bizarre weapon”. Celestia held her gaze on the strange sword key hybrid, before it fell down towards the alien.She let out a gasp when a flash of light from the weapon blinded her, and when the light vanished: the weapon was gone. "W..how did? Where did it go" gasped Luna, amazed at what sort of magic was in the weapon. The sun goddess however, wasn't focusing on the disappearing weapon. Celestia's gaze shifted into brief anger before she stated, “The question now, is what should be done with this stranger? By all accounts he attacked you, and almost killed you. For this, he must either be banished from our world, or imprisoned so he can’t harm anypony else.” Her childlike fascination shifted into horror, as Luna protested “N-no we mustn’t do that”!! “Why not?” argued back Celestia.“Why would you defend this creature? Did it not try to strike you down sister,” pointed out Celestia, her previous pity for this creature now gone. “But it didn’t kill me! You managed to stop it, and now it’s asleep” interjected Luna, before pointing a disbelieving hoof at the creature. “This is an alien Celly!! A being from another world!! Yet, you would banish or imprison something that hasn’t ever be seen in Equestria before? You’d pass up the opportunity to learn about this creature?” “You would put the seeking answers about the unknown, before the welfare of our subjects?! What you’re asking for is too much Luna!! We know nothing about what this thing is or where it even comes from to take such a risk” argued Celestia. Celestia pointed towards the destroyed garden. “You’ve seen first hoof what it’s capable of when it gets violent, and yet you’d want to keep it around? It tried to end your life, so I think that tells what sort of creature it is,” Celestia continued to argue. “I don’t think that it’s evil!! Confused perhaps, but not evil! Before it started to attack me, it called me Xehanort. This Xehanort, whoever he is, must have caused him great pain in his life in order to achieve the amount of pain he’s feeling,” Luna responded sternly, eyes falling to her hooves. “It either wasn’t seeing correctly, or its mind was clouded, but I’m certain that it’s not evil. We can’t just get rid of it,” Luna gently insisted. Remembering how it had called her Eraqus, Celestia admitted gently, “The way it spoke the name Eraqus. Whoever he is, he obviously means a lot to this creature. It sounded like he was going to start crying when he saw me”. “You see,” Luna smiled at having won her sister, before continuing, “This is why we need too..”. “But those powers it used,” interrupted Celestia, gazing at the creature. “That chilling darkness that’s resonating from its body is disturbing. It feels similar to when you were possessed by Nightmare Moon,” finished Celestia, looking her sister firmly in the eye. “Don’t you see? This is why we need to send it back to where it came from. Perhaps it’s not in control of itself yes, but in the time it takes to help it; it could succumb to this dark power.” Celestia sternly spoke before smiling apologetically “I feel for this creature, but it’s not our concern”. Luna let out a disappointed sigh, “So, when I was possessed and controlled by my own darkness, you’d see if you could help me. Yet when it’s another, your first response is to send it away? Do we only help those who are like us sister?!” “Th..that’s not true, I, ” Celestia tried argue back. “When we we’re possessed and corrupted by our own darkness, you didn’t give up. You did everything you could to help me before resorting to what you had to do. Yes, it took the elements of harmony to free me, but the point is that I was helped. I was freed!!” “This is different,” insisted Celestia, mouth opening to continue. Stopping her sister from speaking, Luna lowered her hoof before fiercely stating “Sister, it is our concern because he is on our world now, and for us to send him away whilst he’s in this state is wrong. He reacted violently due to his confusion, and he would react in a similar manner on other worlds I’m certain. Sending him away like this, would condemn other worlds to a similar fate due to our irresponsibility.” Her fierce tone left, as Luna’s gaze softened at sight of her sister’s guilt-riddened face. “Tell me Luna,” responded Celestia quietly, before she looked up to meet her stare. “Why do you want to help this creature so badly” she questioned in a tone that had no judgment, merely curiosity. Luna glanced away sadly, sorrow filling her eyes before she gave a simple answer. “It’s because this creature in some ways, reminds me of me.” Celestia said nothing in return, silence filling the air. After a few moments, she let out a heavy sigh before her voice requested with authority, “Captain,” calling her guard captain. “Escort this creature to the palace dungeon... for now,” ordered Celestia, before giving her sister a firm glare. "I don't trust it sister. We've just met it, and irregardless of it's state of being; it's proven that it's capable of destruction. It hasn't exactly put itself in a good light either. It tried to attack and kill you; and might have succeeded if I hadn't intervened. I'm curious on what it is too, and we will see if can help reach an understanding with the creature; but the safety of our citizens always comes first. If this creature tries to harm you, or anypony else whilst in our care; I won't hesistate to banish it from our world" stated the sun godesss bluntly, in a deadly calm manner. Raising a hoof to cut off any protest from Luna, Celestia informed "Our little ponies always come first". Turning away from Luna, she sighed, “I just hope we don’t come to regret this decision.” Summoning a parchment, ink and a quill into the air; she began to write. Dear Twilight Sparkle… > Prequel to determination > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Well here it is after so long. I’m gonna be doing more of this since I’m gonna need practice on story telling/writing if I’m going to make a career out of it!! Without further ado, here you go!! =============================================================== Dear, Twilight Sparkle, I hope you are well, my faithful student. Last night after night court had ended a strange looking and mysterious being appeared in Luna’s garden. It attacked her with a strange weapon that appeared to be a mix between a sword and a key. We have managed to detain this creature, but our efforts in finding out more about it have been less than successful. I have sent word to Princess Cadence and your brother, as I feel they will be able to assist. We don’t know what we’re dealing with for the time being, so whatever I am about to tell you; please keep it to yourself for now. I believe that this creature is an alien, since all of our reference guides lacked anything similar or related to this creature. We do not know whether its intentions on this world are good or evil, as according to Luna; it was very confused when it attacked. For this, we are keeping it locked up for the time being. Please, come to Canterlot and bring your friends with you. I feel that if this creature truly does need help like my sister claims that it’s going to need all the help it can get. Your mentor and friend, Princess Celestia. PS: Bring the Elements of Harmony. Twilight re-read the letter for the tenth time, eyes narrowed in focus as her mind highlighted certain parts of the letter. Particularly, the words; alien, attacked, alien, intentions, alien, and not from this world. Did she mention alien? A light heat swept over Twilight, feeling her cheeks turn a vivid red from embarrassment, the memory of her first reaction still clear in her mind. She had pranced all around her library, shouting yes over and over again. She had forgotten that Spike was in the same room as her, so when he asked her what she was doing she’d quickly tried to regain her dignity and managed to fumble out the word, “Nothing”. “Sweet Celestia, you find out about an alien in Equestria and how you’re going to meet it, and your first reaction is to get all giddy like a school filly,” she gently scolded herself, before allowing a smile to come to her muzzle. Seriously though, who wouldn’t be excited at the idea of meeting an alien? She had stayed up all night after her mortifying dance, questions plaguing her mind. What was it like? Where did it come from? Was its kind anything like hers?! A foalish fantasy of her standing in front of Canterlot Castle, shaking a four eyed, tentacle monster’s tentacle raced through her head, the creature spouting out a garbled mesh of words, its saliva splashing onto her face. “TWILIGHT! WHATCHA READING?!” “AAHH!!” shouted an shocked Twilight, frantically looking around for the source of the shouter!! Her eyes narrowing into a half liddled, glare directed at a certain pink bundle of energy with a wide grin on her face, oblivious to the annoyed glare she was getting. “Pinkie Pie, please don’t do that,” Twilight requested, exhaling a breath of relief, trying to put her mind back to what she was reading. “Hehehe. Sooooorry Twilight. I couldn’t resist since you were really focused on that letter,” giggled Pinkie Pie. She had looked really funny, her eyes getting suuuper big, leaning closer and closer towards the letter. The hungry look she had, almost made it look like she wanted to eat the letter. How silly. Muttering incoherently to herself, Twilight let out an eep as Pinkie Pie pushed the letter out of Twilight’s face. “Aww c’mon Twilight, you’ve had your muzzle in that note this entire time. It’s no fun doing so, when your friends here here,” pouted Pinkie, crossing her hooves in front of her. “Ah gotta agree Twi. You’ve been so focused that letter ever since we got on this train, you’ve hardly said more than two words,” Applejack agreed, sipping down a can of apple juice; concern etched on her face. Twilight smiled sheepishly; relieved that her mind had snapped back to the here and now. It was true, she had gotten pretty wrapped up in re-reading the letter over and over again, trying to fill in the gaps towards the questions that had plagued her dreams last night. “I’m sorry girls, I didn’t mean to get so wrapped up in what I was doing.” Apologized Twilight, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “Pssh, it’s all good Twilight. You’ve got a lot on your mind obviously, that would get any pony really focused,” shrugged a nonchalant Rainbow Dash, hovering backwards. “Maybe you’d feel better if you told us what was up,” Dash suggested, opening an eye slowly as she tried to keep her tone from sounding under hoofed. The lavender unicorn wasn’t buying Dashes’ subtlety, however, shaking her head and explaining in a tired tone, “Rainbow Dash for the last time, I’m sorry; but I’m not allowed to tell anypony what the Princess wants.” Dropping the sneak act, Rainbow Dash zoomed down in front of Twilight, protesting impatiently, “Oh c’mon Twilight, I gotta know!! Whatever the Princess wrote, it’s obviously something big since you’re not telling us. Please!! The suspense is killing me.” “Umm..I don’t mind waiting to find out,” Fluttershy softly spoke up, hiding behind her mane. “I mean…that’s just me anyway...” “Aww, I can’t though!! Whenever somepony knows something that I don’t, I just gotta know. I hate being kept out of the loop of things. Please, you can tell us!” Dash insistently asked in a tone that almost sounded like begging. Almost… "We all wanna know sugarcube. Landsake, it's been plaguing me ever since we we're asked to come along last second" offered Applejack, placing a comforting hoof on her friends back. "But c'mon, we can wait just abit longer right? The princesses aren't gunna keep us in the dark forever. Twilight smiled sympathetically at her rambunctious friend, giving a weak shrug before stating, “I’m sorry, but I was asked to keep this information to myself for the time being. I made a promise.” She had to stop herself from grinning at using the big “P” word around Pinkie. “Come now, Twilight. Surely you can give us a teeny, tiny little hint Twilight,” Rarity questioned, her curiosity getting the better of her just like all of the others. Pinkie Pie dramatically gasped, zooming up in front of Dash as rambled hyperactively, “She made a promise Dash!! If she told us, she’d be breaking that promise. If you break a promise, you lose some ponies trust. If you lose that ponies trust, you lose their friendship forever!!” “Yeah, but...” Rainbow tried to respond, but was silenced by Pinkie’s hoof over her mouth. “Fooooreeeeveerr...” she dramatically hissed, narrowing her eyes at the stunned Pegasus. Dash nervously gulped, letting out a contented sigh. “Alright...I guess I can wait a bit longer,” she begrudgingly accepted. Turning away from the others, she tried to channel her impatience away by tapping her hoof against the floor. “Yah won’t have to wait fer much longer. We’re almost there. Hopefully, we’ll get sum answers,” Applejack pointed out, as the distant city of Canterlot slowly started to get closer. Hopefully once they arrived, they’d be able to get some answers on what exactly the big news was all about. ============================================================== “Twily!” beamed Shining Armor, galloping over to pull his sister into a brotherly hug. Twilight giggled gently as she hugged her brother back, glad that he and Cadence we’re the ones escorting them towards the castle. It had been awhile since she and her brother had last been in the same place. After helping to save the Crystal Empire, he and Cadence had both been busy running the place. “It’s good to see you again B.B.B.B.F.” grinned Twilight, pleased to see her brother once more. Pulling away from the hug, she nudged his side playfully “How’s married life been treating you?” “I think it’s safe to say, that it’s been treating us both well,” Cadence smirked, the crystal princess hugging her sister in-law and friend. Pulling away, both of them grinned before chanting, and dancing “Sunshine, Sunshine; Ladybugs awake!! Clap your hooves, and do a little shake!” Giggling, Cadence turned to the sight of Twilight’s friends. “I’m glad that you’re all here. That means we can get things underway. Follow us please,” she said as she turned, and started to lead the way to the castle. “So soon? But we just got here. I thought that we could talk a bit on how you’ve both been doing, what’s been going on?” asked Twilight, surprised at how quick they were getting to business. Yeah, she was really looking forward to seeing the alien; but surely finding out how her brother and sister-in-law we’re doing wouldn’t be too much trouble. Noting the surprised look on his sister’s face, Shining apologetically responded, “Sorry sis, I know that you have a lot of questions and that we do have some catching up to do; but what’s been found has kind of put everything else on hold for now.” Twilight reluctantly nodded, agreeing that the situation did call for urgency. They couldn’t very well talk about what’s been discovered so openly in public, since Princess Celestia wanted to get some unanswered questions before everypony else found out what was being stored in the castle, and whether it was dangerous or not. “Well, obviously it is, if it attacked Princess Luna,” Twilight told herself, loyalty towards the Princesses sparking anger within her. To be honest though, she was a bit conflicted upon what to feel. The alien had attacked her friend, so that had diminished any nice thoughts about it at first. After stewing in her anger for a while, she tried to think about what had happened from the alien’s point of view, and felt a twinge of sympathy for it. Appearing out of nowhere in a foreign world, not knowing who or what was friend or foe; that would make anypony unpredictable. Obviously hoping that Shining and Cadence would be a bit more revealing than Twilight had been, Rainbow Dash suddenly blurted out, “Sooooo, do you guys know what’s so important that we all need to be here.” Clamping a hoof over her big mouth for not being more subtele, she let out a shaky laugh. No such luck, as Cadence coyly responded, “Sorry Rainbow Dash, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer”. “Oh c’mooooon,” Dash started to object, before the hiss of, “FoooorrreEEveeeer,” filled into her ears. That quickly silenced any further protest from her. “I mean ahh…umm,” she coughed softly. “I can understand how Rainbow is feeling” pipped up Rarity, who had kept her thoughts to herself for awhile. “We were asked to come down here literally at the last second, with nothing other than ‘Come see us.” Cadence offered an apologetic smile to the group, wanting to say more clearly but was unable to do so. “I’m sorry. It was last minute for us as well. But according to Celestia and Luna, this is something that requires all of us.” As they neared the castle, Shining’s expression furrowed into a solemm gaze; stating softly, “All I can really tell you is this. We’ve found something that’s not been seen in Equestria since…well, I think ever. It’s unpredictable, unknown and for the sake of Equestria; we can’t let anypony find out about it until we’re certain whether or not it can be helped, and if it’s a threat to us or not”. “Ooooo!!! What is it?! What is it?!” Pinkie Pie sporadically let out, eyes lighting up at the thought of meeting something that’s not been seen since ever!! “…Nope, nopedy nope, no!! I can’t ask, I can’t assssk. They all made a promise,” she scolded herself, although on the inside, she was probably bouncing all over with excitement from wanting to know. Whilst everypony was smiling bemusedly at Pinkie, Twilight was deep in thought on what Cadence had said. All of them were required, which meant that the Princess’s must already have some sort of plan on what to do with the alien. The question was; what was the plan? ============================= …..Is it really necessary to keep it in this state? …Don’t know…how strong it is… Consciousness swept back into Terra, his senses slowly reawakening. Blinking a few times to make sure that he was awake, he tried to reach up and rub his forehead, in order to comfort his aching headache. “Mmpf” he grunted, unable to move his shackled arms and legs, suddenly realizing the position he was in. He was standing straight up; both his arms and legs spread and shackled against the wall, before him a set bars lined up, preventing him from leaving. His eyes adjusting to the darkness, the warrior frowned at the sight of the bars; deducing his location. “A prison” he realized, sounding more annoyed then worried. Immediately, he began to struggle against his bonds to free himself; disappointed that they refused to budge. His mind raced with questions, demanding answers. How had he gotten here? What magic was keeping him from using his key blade? Who had trapped him here? “This is isn’t exactly the proper way to keep a creature from another world contained. We're keeping him locked up like he's some sort of criminal” argued an irritated voice from the darkness. “A creature who upon arrival, attacked the first thing it saw; this is necessary sister.” responded back another voice with a huff. Realizing that he wasn’t alone, Terra turned his gaze ahead; his eyes widening lightly in alarm at the two beyond the cell. They both appeared to be horses, yet their faces were shorter, and rounder then a horses long and slender face. Their eyes were larger and closer to each other, rather than separated completely. Both of them had large, feathery wings, flowing manes, and long horns; complete with crowns. The one on the right was a cream white, with a sun symbol on her flank, and a light blue mixed with a light purple mane. She seemed to be a polar opposite in appearance of the one he had met a while ago. The other being was hidden in the shadows, so he could not make out what her features looked like; though she appeared to have the same shape as that of the other one. “So, you’re awake” stated the white one, in a matter-of-fact tone; her hardened stare never leaving him for a second; her hoof pushing something someone back and out of his sight. Terra responded with silence, still trying to get a grip on what was happening, and why he was in prison. Tilting his head in a similar matter of a confused puppy; Terra just stared. “Strange. Her light…her aura feels familiar to Master Eraqus….Eraqus? Why..do I know that name? Who is that?” thought Terra confusingly. Scrunching his eyes in focus, he tried to concentrate, and force the answers that were locked away in his head. It was strange, but it felt like there was a fog of some kind; hazing over and blocking out bits and pieces of his memories. Not only that, but the harder he tried to force the answers to submerge; the more difficult it became to focus. He could only remember a collection of names and thing. Aqua… Ven… Keyblade… Eraqus… “What is your name, and where are you from” the horse questioned in a direct tone. Still, Terra said nothing; so focused on trying to clear the fog in his head, that the pony before him that seemed to be his captor; was almost insignificant in her questioning next to wanting to unclouded his mind and memory. “Are you feeling well?” asked a new voice, stepping forward and into the dimly light room. “Luna, keep back!! We don’t know how it will react if..” instructed the first voice harshly. Terra froze, feeling his body go numb as that familiar feeling of anger slowly started to fill him up again. This creature’s aura..her darkness felt similar to Xehanort’s!! There it was again, that name. He didn’t know why, but that name made him absolutely livid!! Whatever this Xehanort had done to him; it felt unforgivable. If this creature’s aura felt similar…no, exactly like Xehanorts; hence it must be Xehanort! In that case, it had to pay! Grinding his teeth furiously at the creatures question, his anger threaten to smother all self-control as he started to yank again his bonds furiously, filled with the desire to tear this creature apart!! Growling at the ponies, he continued to hiss and snarl “Xehanort…Xehanort!!...XEHANORT!!!” over, and over again. "Calm down. No pony is going to hurt you" insisted Celestia, hoping to reel in the aliens anger. Frowning since assurances of him not being harmed we're ignored, she tried a different tactic. “Calm yourself! Your letting your anger of this Xehanort control you” ordered Celestia angrily, hoping to calm the alien. The rebuttal she got was a continuous series of snarls. When the alien didn’t listen, she powered up her horn; ready to send the creature back to sleep when she felt her jaw almost drop in shock at the sound of metal breaking. If one looked closely enough, they could see the shackles holding the alien were starting to break. Both sisters watched this display of power in shock. What this alien was doing, wasn't supposed to be possible!! “I..Impossible!! What sort of alien are you” Celestia demanded, her mind trying to think up a reason on why it capable of ignoring the magical suppressing binds. Those binds were meant to suppress the magic within any creature, and drain it of its physical strength. Yet physical prowess seemed to be this alien’s magic!! Perhaps being an alien, it was immune to Equestrian magic, or more resistant? If it was able to resist the suppressant magic of the binds, who knows what else it could do! “XEHANORT! XEHANORT!!” screamed Terra, pulling harder and harder against his binds; eager and determined to get his freedom. Suddenly remembering what was happening; Celestia snapped out of her surprised stupor and hit the alien with a sleep spell. Her jaw nearly dropped when the creature, despite being dazed; continued to pull and resist. “ENOUGH” roared Celestia; firing another sleep spell at the aliens armored face. Watching the creature cease its struggle, she smirked in a smug manner; proud of her brief victory before letting out an annoyed sigh. They weren’t going to be able to speak with this creature; as long as it’s emotions we’re out of control, and its mind in such a broken state. That meant that they wouldn’t be able to find out any information on what it is was, where it came from, what its weapon was called and why it had attacked Luna in the first place. “Wh…what was that? How was it able to do that?” Luna gapped, stepping up and placing her hooves against the bars to get a better view of the slumped alien. “It almost broke through. It shouldn’t have been able to do that, and yet it did” quarreled Celestia with herself, in an irritated tone. Removing a thoughtful hoof from her chin, she said “We’re going to need to get his binds replaced. We’ll..” “It did it again” Luna cut off, dejected. Her sorrowful tone never left the creature’s unconscious form. “What in the world happened to you” she asked, wishing it was awake and calm enough to answer. Letting out an annoyed groan, Celestia tried to mask her obvious dislike and distrust for the alien, and placed a comforting hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “We shouldn’t have to wait too much longer sister. Once Cadence and Twilight arrive; we may be able to reach an understanding with this otherworld being” Celestia spoke softly. Appreciating the gesture, Luna thought “This Xehanort obviously is somepony whose caused him a great deal of distress. Yet, he seems to only identify me, and no pony else to being like him…why is this?” “Perhaps this creature got the raw end of a deal with Xehanort, and is simply pouting over what he got stuck with” huffed Nightmare nonchalantly. Frowning, Luna harshly spat “Go away. I don’t want to hear anything from you.” “And just where am I supposed to go exactly” Nightmare sarcastically asked. “Just leave me alone. Dealing with you today, is going to give me a headache” murmured Luna. “Aww, that really hurts me” Nightmare mock pouted, clutching her chest where her heart would be, if she had one; before stating “Anyway, you keep thinking that this Xehanort is the villain? How do you know that this alien is not the true threat, and he’s just bitter that he lost in whatever occurred between the two of them.” “No..no, that can’t be right. If it was truly evil, then why did it call Tia, Eraqus? The way he spoke that name…it sounded like whoever Eraqus is; he’s very dear to this alien” Luna insisted, defending the alien from her darkness’s attempts to besmirch him. “You don’t know that though. You don’t know anything about what happened to it, where it’s from, or if he’s even really good or evil; yet you seem to be favoring towards it being good; despite not even knowing it at all. This is really foolish” Nightmare scolded. “You don’t know what you’re talking about” responded Luna, eyes down casted in a dubious manner. Whilst she mostly sympathized with this being, some of what Nightmare was saying was true. But she wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of being right. “Oh? And you know for certain” teased Nightmare slyly, persisting in pushing Luna’s buttons. “SHUT UP” roared Luna, having enough of this conversation. “Lulu? Are you alright” Celestia asked in a concerned manner? Luna looked really deep in focus, and seemed to be having an argument with herself with how she had been muttering under her breathe in an angry fashion. Snapping out of her thought argument, Luna gave a faux smile “Oh yes, I’m fine. Just abit tired I suppose”. Celestia opened her mouth to say something else, when the door opening at the end of the long hall, cut her off. “Your highness, Princess Cadence, and Prince Shining Armor have retrieved your guest” called the guard. Pleased at getting to her student again brightened Celestia’s spirits, as she allowed a kind smile to reach her face. “Excellent, send them all in” she ordered. A few moments later, The Mane Six plus Princess Cadence, and Prince Shining Armor entered the hall. All of them looked restless, and eager for some answers. Trotting up aside Princess Celestia and Luna, the group gazed within at the unconscious creature; the reaction of all save the rulers of the Crystal empire; ranging from shock, to excitement to wariness. “I’m certain you all have questions about what exactly this creature is” Celestia stated, cocking her head back at the sleeping alien. “All will be answered in due time; I summoned you six here because I need your help” informed Celestia softly. > Breaking it down, and entering a new world > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When she was a little filly, Twilight had a big imagination. During class, when she was supposed to be concentrating on how to levitate objects with magic; her mind was sometimes on another planet that she had created. Her visits would usually involve her meeting a tall, funny looking alien, making friends with it and learning all about its kind. When class ended, she’d race home happily, eager to practice what she learned in school and afterword’s; she’d read sci-fi novels of ponies in space, visiting other planets. Sometimes, she’d pictured herself in the ponies place, gazing upon an alien planet in a mixture of shock and awe. She’d have adventures all, and make friends with an alien; exploring his home planet and learning everything there was too learn about him. However, as she grew up; her day dreaming lessened and her imaginative mind was replaced by one of logic, and reason. An explanation existed for why things happened, and anything unknown could be hypothesized and turned into a theory. This all changed when she came to Ponyville, where she learned that something’s couldn’t be explained, no matter how hard you tried to break it down into an explainable form. She learned that during her obsessive episode of not being able to accept Pinkie sense. So whilst for a long time, she had not thought about aliens, nor considered how they might not exist at all; the child like fascination with them never really left her mind. This was why Twilight was staring down at the unconscious, armored being in glee!! “A real, live alien” she excitedly thought, clapping her hooves in a giddy fashion. “And I’m one of the first ponies to meet it!! Oh this is so exciting.” Inhaling deeply, most likely to let out a string of long, logical questions; Twilight was halted by her mentors raised hoof; indicating for silence. Inwardly, her enthusiasm deflated at having to wait abit longer before getting to ask the alien her questions. “But it’s just a little bit longer” she assured herself, feeling some of her giddiness return. Twilight wasn’t the only one who was stunned by the alien’s presences. The rest of her friend’s expressions were a varied mix; ranging from shock, to excitement to wariness. “I’m certain you all have questions about what exactly this creature is” Celestia stated, cocking her head back at the sleeping alien. “All will be answered in due time; I summoned you six here because I need your help” informed Celestia softly. Turning back to face the armored creature, she relayed “Last night, my sister had returned from night court for some solitude in her gardens. All was well until a flash of light that appeared from nowhere. When it faded away, this creature was standing in its place.” “It appeared from nowhere? B..but what is your highness” interjected Rainbow suddenly. A collective “SHH” from her friends quickly silenced her, wanting the Sun Goddess to finish her story before they started barraging her with questions. “Upon sighting my sister, it ignored her greeting and attacked her on the spot. It called her Xehanort, and unleashed a flurry of attacks using its own variation of magic. It used it from its weapon that seemed to be a mix between a sword and a key. I am uncertain on its proper name, so for name it shall be called a Keysword.” “Ooh!! Oooh!! Does it do anything else? I bet it can be used to unlock a huuge supply of” Pinkie Pie suddenly butted in! Another collective “SHH” from her friends quickly cut her questions off; as she smiled weakly before fumbling out “Sorry.” “Whatever this creature is, it’s certainly powerful since it was able to match blow for blow with my sister. It very nearly killed her” stopped Celestia for a moment; allowing that bit to sink in. She could picture the looks of terror from that statement, appearing on her little ponies faces. “I arrived, and was prepared to fight this stranger…but it stopped fighting upon seeing me. For some reason, it called me Master Eraqus and laid down it’s weapon. In that moment, I utilized a sleep spell and put it to sleep. Afterword’s, I had it placed here and have been keeping it locked up for the time being; at least until we can determine whether or not it will threaten anypony else… Fluttershy took a good look over the armored creatures form. Its various dents, burn marks, and nicks suggested that the creature had been in a serious fight before showing up in Equestria. Her empathy with animals, helped develop her sense to where she could feel how somepony else was feeling. Maybe that could work on aliens too. Closing her eyes, she tried to get a quick feel on the creature’s emotions. She was bombarded with a whirlwind of emotions, varying from anger, to sadness, to worry. It was too much for Fluttershy to handle at once; snapping her eyes open with a gasp. “Wh..what is it Princess” she meekly asked, finding the courage to speak up. “I cannot determine what sort of species it is exactly” Celestia confessed softly, feeling a twinge of regret for not knowing what it was. “But from its appearances, mannerisms, and seeming to have its own form of magic; I can safely say that this being is not from our world. We haven’t been able to identity what it looks like because of…” She tried to say. “Not from this world?!?! Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh!! An alien! A visitor from beyond the stars! THAT..IS SO…AWESOME” Rainbow Dash cheered, suddenly not able to hold back her enthusiasm any longer! She knew that the Princesses we’re hiding something big, probably for every ponies safety. But an alien?! That was so totally cool!! “I can’t wait any longer! I’m sorry Princess, but I have to know! What planet does it come from? Have you managed to establish an understanding through its language? What’s its culture like” Twilight joined in. The questions that had been plaguing her all last night, spilling out like a never ending river. “U..Ummm..girls” “What ah wanna know is if whether or not it can be trusted” voiced Applejack, making her displeasure of the creature clear. “Ah mean it did attack one of the Princesses, so I think that pretty much says whether or not it’s good or bad” she sardonically pointed out. “I don’t think it’s that bad Applejack!! Maybe on its planet, attacking somepony is their way of saying “Hello-do-you-wanna-be-my-friend.” Gosh, that sounds really funny, if that’s the way it is; then that’s the way it is. Oh!! Oh, maybe it likes parties!! We’ll throw it one as soon as he’s back from dreamland” quipped the energetic Pinkie Pie. “..Girls….” “The craftsmanship of its armor is very impressive, along with its vibrant mixture of red, yellow and black coloring” Rarity hummed aloud, finding the aliens armor to be very fascinating. “I wonder if it would permit me to take a closer look at it, once it awakens? Would that be acceptable Princess Celestia?” Fluttershy couldn’t help but frown lightly at the scene. Princess Celestia was trying her best to answer each of her friend’s questions, but she couldn’t even finish explaining to any one of them because some pony new kept jumping into the conversation, and diverting it towards them. If her friends could only just reel in their excitement just a bit, then she was sure the Princess would be willing to answer each of their questions. “BE SILENT” echoed Luna, the royal canterlot voice silencing the group. Silence filled the room, none of the ponies feeling brave enough to voice any of their questions or concerns. “I know you are all eager, but please for the love of Faust; let my sister finish her thoughts.” Recollecting her thoughts, Celestia spoke “I fear that for the time being, we won’t be able to find out about its kind, where it comes from, or what its people are like”. Turning back to the face the imprisoned Terra, she narrowed her eyes before stating “At least, not until we discover what’s causing it’s emotions to run rampant, so we can have a civil conversation with it.” “Ummm..could it be possible that something is influencing it? Maybe, in the same way that uhh…Princess Luna was” asked the element of kindness, noting Luna lift her head at her mentioned name. Stepping up to the cell, Luna explained “During our battle, I was able to take a peek inside of its memories.” Pausing, an uncomfortable look made its way onto her face, as she struggled to speak “Ne-needless to say it’s a mess in there. His memories of who he is, what he is, where he’s been and everything else..It’s a jumbled mess. Since his memories are in such a chaotic mess, they’re causing confusion and in that sense; frustration.” Looking up, Luna finished “The frustration the alien feels..it’s angering it. We’re not certain but; it may be possible that its anger is being amplified to the point where no pony can reason with it. What’s amplifying it; it may be the darkness within it.” Watching the alien continue to sleep, Rainbow suddenly asked “Hey, how come its armor hasn’t been removed anyway?” Sure, talking about the alien was fascinating; but she really wanted to see what it looked like under the armor!! A faint blush came to her cheeks, suddenly realizing what she said. “Umm, I didn’t mean it in that way” she corrected inwardly. “I tried to remove it Rainbow Dash. Perhaps it’s because its magic is foreign, or perhaps it’s because it’s shielded from our magic in some way; but in any case; we can’t remove its armor from its body. It’s almost as if its..fused together.” Celestia explained, her gaze darkening as it fell upon the alien. “What really surprises me is its own unique resistant to our worlds magic. It almost broke free when it awoke, and saw Luna. The bonds holding it, are meant to shackle even the most powerful magic users; yet…” Celetsia’s tone trailed off; nodding towards the mangled shackles lying in the corner. “It’s that strong? Nelly, umm..beggin your pardon Princess” Applejack spoke up, sounding almost embarrassed. “But are ya’ll sure it’s locked up tight fer now? Ah mean, Ah know that we should try to help it; but how do we know whether it’s friendly or not? It did attack Princess Luna after all.” Making her thoughts on the alien clear, she continued “Even after it recovers; it could still attack and could prove to be more dangerous with a clearer head.” “Oh c’mon AJ. Maybe whatever’s wrong with him, darkness or not; is possessing him like what happened when Discord messed with our heads” protested Dash, defending the alien. “Ah’m just being a realist Rainbow. Ah know that how you wanna talk to it, but the matter is; we don’t know anything about what is it, where it comes from, or even if it’s friendly. I wanna give it a chance, but…sumthing about it just doesn’t make me trust it.” Insisted Appejack “Or, maybe your just scared of it and don’t wanna take any chances” snorted Dash, taking a shot at AJ. Eyes flashing with indignant anger, Applejack spat “Ah ain’t scared of nuthin. Ah’m just saying we should”. “I did insist “Celestia cut in suddenly, wishing to stop any further arguing before it broke out into something bigger. “That we place it in a larger cell, with more guards..Luna was against it, so we had to compromise for this so long as in the time it was here; we keep an eye on it.” “That isn’t a bad guess Rainbow” Twilight agreed, ignoring the triumphant smirk that Dash was shooting an annoyed AJ. “I can still remember how all of you acted, when you were under Discord’s control.” The unpleasant memories, sparked sadness into her voice, as she softly continued “No amount of reasoning, or convincing I did was able to snap you girls out of your possessed state, at least until I remembered I realized one of the most important things about friendship.” Facing her friends, Twilight smiled lightly; stating “Friendship isn’t always easy, but there’s no doubt that it’s worth fighting for. In the end, we didn’t give up on each other and because of that; we were able to stop Discord. Maybe we can use a similar method to help the alien.” “Well said Twilight” praised Luna approvingly. “It would be unkind to leave, or send this creature away without offering a hoof, at the very least. At first, we considered using the elements of harmony on the alien.” The Mane Six straightened up, and mentally readied themselves, figuring that was the plan. “However, due to this being an..unusual case; we’ve decided to use that as a backup plan. The effects of the elements on the alien would be unpredictable, and could possibly cause more harm than good. So in order to find out what’s wrong, my sister, Princess Cadence, and myself we’ll travel into the alien’s mind to see what’s wrong.” “Huh” was the collective response from the Mane Six, stunned by this declaration. Travel into the aliens mind? Was that even possible? “I-I’ve never heard of that kind of magic before” Twilight admitted begrudgingly; wondering why she had never found it in any of the books she had. “Long ago, such spells we’re necessary; before the three tribes of unicorns, earth ponies, and Pegasus had united” started Celestia, a note of disapproval entering her voice as she resumed “It’s one of the more advanced, if…frowned upon spells. You can imagine why it would be frowned upon, since a pony of weak moral character could travel inside one’s memories, gaining information, or intruding upon something they weren’t meant to see”. Silenced filled the room, the group feeling uncomfortable with the sudden idea of some pony viewing, or exploring their memories without permission. “Once inside, we’ll locate whatever darkness that’s influencing the alien’s actions. We’ll see if we can mend it’s memories, and bring it’s emotional state to one where it’s more..controllable.” Luna spoke. “That will be my job” Cadence spoke up for the first time. “If I bring down it’s emotions to a point where the alien can control them again, then hopefully it won’t lash out at anything it sees. Whether or not it will stay that way after I’m done, we’ll just have to see once we’re inside.” “Ummm…Princess, something seems a bit off” Pinkie suddenly pointed out. “If the three of you are going to be poking around its memories, and looking for whatever the problem is; what are we supposed to be doing?” Shining Armor cut in “Whatever’s possibly influencing it, we’re not sure how it will react when strangers are suddenly looking around inside the aliens head. It could get violent and attack. So if worse comes to worse, and for some reason we can’t reason with it; it’ll be up to you six.” “It’ll be my job to keep it shielded, so it won’t be able to break free from its bond. Just as a precaution” cleared up Shining to the confused looks on the girls faces. “But if I fail..then..” Shining paused. “Then, the six of you will need to stop it with the Elements of Harmony” Celestia finished, stone cold seriously. Closing her eyes to the sound of the Mane Six gasping, she apologetically spoke “I understand that all of you are fascinated by this being, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t. This is the first time we’ve ever made contact with something from another world. But the safety of Equestria, and every pony living in it, outweighs our curiosity. So, if this creature proves to be a threat; you will need to use the Elements to stop it from wreaking havoc.” Opening her eyes, she asked “Can I count on you six to do this, even if it means squandering the chance to learn about whatever lies beyond our own world.” The group of friends looked at one another, uncertainty written all over their faces. They honestly wanted to find out as much about this creature as possible. But if curiosity was pushed up against the safety of the world…they would have to choose the safety of the world. “It isn’t easy to answer at first, Princess Celestia” Twilight honestly answered; head downcast towards the hard floor. “Learning something new every day is a passion of mine, and finding out that we have an alien right here in Canterlot; in the excitement I wanted to learn about it at any cost” she continued. Bringing her face up to meet her mentors, she solemnly responded “But if you’re asking for us to do this for the worlds sake…then yes; we’ll do it.” Glad that she could count on her student, Celestia gave a motherly smile; nodding “I know that you won’t let me down.” Opening the cell door, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence entered and surrounded the unconscious beings body. “Let’s get started then. I will use the spell, and bring the both of you in with me. I don’t think I need to remind you both this, but everything that we’ll see is events that have already happened. So don’t get too caught up in what’s happening; no matter how painful it is.” “I-I understand” nodded Cadence, eyes filled with determination. She might have been a princess for only a short time, but she wasn’t gonna let anypony down. “I am aware of this already sister” Luna responded with a bit of a bite in her tone, feeling that Celestia was more addressing her then Cadence. “She’s certain that I’m going to get too caught up in anything tragic, or horrifying we find. Humph, good to know that she has faith in me.” Trotting up to his beloved, Shining pulled his love into a comforting hug. “Please be careful while you’re in there” he instructed softly, wishing that he could go with her. If anything happened to her whilst she was in there, he honestly didn’t know what he’d do. Smiling at her husband’s concern, she lovingly whispered “Don’t worry about me so. I’ll be alright, and back before you know it.” His worrying for her was touching, but she’d be fine. “Alright, here goes” readied Shining, closing his eyes. Slowly, his horn lit up in a light rose aura. His closed his scrunched up, showcasing the concentration rushing through him. A tiny ball of light began to gather upon the tip of Shining’s horn, the rising energy increasing every second. Just as it reached its peaking point where nothing else could be gathered; the ball disappeared and out shot a powerful beam!! The beam collided with the alien’s form, slowly encompassing it in an aura similar to Shining’s. The aura spread itself out, bathing the armored being in its own radiant brilliance. Soon, its entire form was completely covered. Shining slowly raised his horn up high, the alien following its movement. Lifting it off of the ground, the alien hovered in place, as Shining nodded towards the Princesses. Nodding in return, Celestia shut her own eyes, her fellow princesses following suit. The corridor seemed to darken more so than usual, the light fading away from it. The Mane Six looked around in wonder, and shock as the light grew dimmer and dimmer. Soon, it was pitch black. Through the darkness, three separate horns lit up in yellow, blue, and pink aura. The room slowly regained its light, the glowing horns from the three alicorns the only source of light. The energy from the Cadence and Luna slowly transferred towards Celestia; lifting her off of the ground as her horn slowly grew brighter and brighter. Her eyes shot open, revealing her pure white pupils. The light from her horn became so bright, that it was almost blinding. Everypony else, save for Shining, Cadence, and Luna; flinched at the display before them. The transferred energy combined with Celestia’s own energy; spun around her horn like a whirl wind. Aiming her horn at the aliens form, a mismatched beam of light shot out and struck the aliens form. A vivid light slowly surrounded the alien’s shielded form, its brilliance so great that it lite up the entire room. It just got brighter…brighter…until the whole room was swallowed up in it!! Then as if somepony had flicked off a light switch, the room was plunged into darkness… > Update 2: Offer still stands > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello everyone. I hope you've been well. This may get deleted, but I felt like I wanted to get it out in the open anyway. I hope you've all been well. I've noticed quiet abit of favoring my fimfiction lately, and although it makes me happy to provide entertainment and joy; it also fills me with guilt due to being unable to finish this. I still do not want to see this fic die however. My offer still stands: Does anyone here, whom has a great deal of knowledge of Kingdom Hearts, feel confident enough to take up and finish my story?