Hello, fellow readers! Here with another side project, mainly to get me into the swing with a familiar franchise that I recently got back into. And since I'm doing two EG stories, why not add another one?
I'm saying this now, this story won't be set at the same time as the others. You'll see what I mean.
As for the KH side, it's set during the Remind DLC Secret Episode.
Now with that said, let's get started!
Prologue: Disappearing Stars
"One sky, one destiny."
Upon hearing a familiar voice echo in his thoughts, it was enough to wake the boy from his slumber. Looking up towards the sky, it was a clear starry night in what he recognizes as the 'Final World.' Slowly sitting up, he then glances down at his hands to see that he was normal again.
"At least, I'm all here this time." The boy mutters to himself before getting up to his feet.
Looking around at the endless horizon, he admired its beauty for a moment and felt an urge to call. For some reason, he doesn't feel alone here and must find out. Cupping his hands around his mouth, his voice bellows throughout as it echoed from his call.
"HEY! Is anyone out there!?"
He kept quiet soon after, waiting for some sort of response. When none came, he tries again.
"HELLO!?"
Moving his hands again, he holds his right one near his ear in order to try and hear something. Anything would due at this point as he kept even his breathing low to hear a sound. He kept this pose for some time, having this gut feeling that there was-
"Hey."
Wait, was he right? Or is his mind just messing with him, giving him a-
"Hey."
There it was again! His feeling was right, there was someone else! But, who could it be?
"Where are you?"
The voice spoke again, asking a question that he immediately answers with a call of his voice.
"Over here!"
After saying that, he sees a figure far off in the distance walking in his direction and runs towards it in order to make contact as the voice spoke once more.
"I see you."
This wasn't an illusion! The boy was glad to see another face in this world and eventually stops a few feet away as he gets a good view of the figure he saw. The excitement he felt then turned to shock as he recognized who the figure was. If that wasn't enough, the moonlight shined down just right to reveal the figure's face.
"Wait, aren't you..." It couldn't be, he saw this guy in a video game in one of the worlds he visited before!
Speaking of which, the man's face showed a brief look of confusion before understandably asking about this.
"You know me?"
"Yeah, you're Yozora right?"
"How do you know that? Who are you?"
The teen realizes that he didn't introduce himself, "Oh, I'm Sora."
"Sora... You're Sora?"
It was now Sora's turn to be surprised, "Wait, do you know who I am?"
Yozora was quiet for a moment before answering, "Sure. I've heard of you."
Weird, how do they know each other? Or rather, how does Yozora know him? A thought then occurs to him.
"If you're here, then this can't be the real world... can it?" Sora then recalls the star he talked to before, "But, that girl... she mentioned you, so maybe it is?"
Yozora simply stood there, listening to what Sora was saying to himself and simply retorts. "Are you done?"
When Sora stayed quiet in response, he continued. "No, this isn't the real world, but I am here."
He then gestures to himself as he admits something, "However, this isn't what I really look like."
Now that had Sora very confused. If that's the truth, then-
"How'd you recognize me as Yozora? And why are you using Sora's name?"
Those two questions threw him through a loop, but manages to answer. "Because I am Sora. And this girl I met when I came here last time, she mentioned you."
"Girl...?" That had Yozora pause for a moment, most likely thinking about what he meant.
Before their conversation continued, the two then heard a very faint sound coming from somewhere that slowly started to grow louder. Sora wasn't sure what to make of this before hearing Yozora speak.
"Below us."
Looking down, the two saw a small light through the still water beneath their feet. The sound they heard was most likely coming from there as they saw streams of energy firing out of it, emerging from the water around them to reveal their nature.
Light and darkness, two sides of the same coin, shot out into the sky as the still water ripples from each one. The light below was now glowing brighter until shining the entire floor beneath them, blinding the two in the process.
A strong wind blew against them as their feet was not on solid ground anymore, indicating that they're in free fall. Sora looks around to see a similar night sky and Yozora falling nearby, looking down to see a new location altogether far below. Readjusting his body, he moves to close the distance to Yozora, reaching out his hand to help out.
"Grab on!"
The man blinks, processing what he said before eventually grabbing his outstretched hand. Looking down to see the distance closing in fast, Sora made sure to focus and times his next move just right, using his Glide ability to slow their descent towards the nearest building that looks to be a school of some sort. Once the two landed on solid ground, it didn't take too long to hear some commotion nearby.
"Twilight! You can't do this!"
A new voice was heard as the two ran to the edge to see what was going on. The sight was very interesting and confusing at the same time as they see one of the many students facing off against a corrupted individual, the surroundings having fissures of energy in various places that reveal another world through them. Sora was getting the picture now as a familiar feeling rose from inside himself.
"Why not? There's a whole other world beyond our own, filled to the brim with magic!"
The corrupted student fires a beam of energy at another fissure that emerged earlier, cracking it open like the rest as the student with fiery hair is trying to talk her out of it.
"But you're destroying this world to get to it!"
"So what!? There's much more there that I want! And I want to understand it all!"
Upon saying that, the demon fires a much bigger beam than before at the ground below, forcing the fiery student to dive for safety as the impact destroys the concrete. A massive hole was what remains, the damaged substance cracking away at the edges as nearby students were too flabbergasted and finds themselves hanging for dear life.
"Come on! We gotta help!" Sora has seen enough as he jumps to the ground below to assist the others.
Yozora kept quiet the whole time as he analyzed the situation. If the exchange between those two were correct, the demon is likely a fellow student that got corrupted by darkness who the other one was trying to stop. Although, her efforts are proving futile so far.
Only a second pass with that whole process as Yozora follows his lead, leaping down into the courtyard as well.
The two landed with a graceful roll, getting into the action as they ran towards the nearest ones. Sora reaches a student who was pulling up two at once before the weight was a bit too much for her, almost getting pulled into the hole before Sora grabs her hand she reached out with to grab something.
Yozora was quick to grab another student who was really close to falling in, pulling her back to safety before running off to help any others. Thankfully, other students were helping out during this, so it didn't take long until everyone was a safe distance away.
Focusing back on the demon overlooking the chaos, the fiery-haired student spoke up again in another effort to stop this.
"This isn't the way! I know you're feeling powerful right now, like anything is within your reach! But I've been in your position before back then, when I put on a crown and was overwhelmed by its magic! I also thought I can get anything I ever wanted!"
Despite this, the demon is still not convinced by her words as she retorts right back. "Oh, how wrong you are! Unlike you, the power I have CAN grant any wish I desire!"
"You're wrong! Like I said, despite all that power, you're only gonna end up alone!"
OK, now Sora has seen something like this before. Visions of past memories surfaced with feelings of nostalgia for mere moments as he watches them, briefly replacing the two with other familiar faces. These visions disappeared as he saw the student holding some sort of device above her head.
"True magic comes from Honesty!"
After saying that last word, a stream of orange energy flowed towards the device, followed by other streams that had a different color to each one as she continues.
"Loyalty! Laughter! Generosity! Kindness!"
The five streams combined into an orb in the device, that was now opened, along with the fiery student levitating off the ground as they do.
"I understand you, Twilight! And that's why I want to show you the most important magic of all!"
Shutting the device shut, she threw it to the ground below, summoning a burst of magic that emitted a bright light. It came and went just as fast, revealing the other student has a similar transformation now. In comparison, the two were night and day in a literal sense.
"Woah..." Sora has seen a lot, but can't help but be impressed sometimes when something like this happens.
The demon was rather surprised at this, allowing the angel enough time to seal up the fissures around them. Realizing what just happened, the demon retaliates with a magic orb and lunges at her, the angel responds in kind with the same attack. The two clash, creating a strong gust of wind and light upon impact before breaking away.
Yozora notices one of the girls that the energy stream came from, deducing that she is friends with at least one of the two who are currently fighting.
"Hey!" He calls out to the rainbow girl, getting her attention. "Who are they?"
The girl took a second to process his question before answering, "Sunset just transformed and is fighting Twilight who was forced into becoming that! Or more like Midnight and... Daylight?"
Forced? So, the darkness was from an outside source? Either way, he looks back at the angel and demon-
"Wait, who are you!?" The rainbow girl just realizes that he isn't anyone she knows.
Yozora summons his blaster and sword before aiming the former, answering right back. "An ally."
Sora sees Yozora taking a battle stance and decides to do the same, summoning his signature Kingdom Key keyblade before running into the fray.
Midnight charges up two orbs this time, one in each hand, before firing them to unleash a barrage of them that started to home in on Sunset before a burst of equally strong orbs stops them in their tracks. Distracted by this, a red laser grazes one of Midnight's wings, making her lose altitude before recovering just above the ground.
"Who interferes!?" She bellows before setting her gaze upon the duo who has entered the battlefield.
Sunset was also confused as she floats down to where the two are, mainly out of curiosity when the one in black spoke to her. "Sunset, right?"
"Uh, yes." She answers, "And you are?"
"I'm Sora!" The one that wore primarily red and black answers this time, "And he's Yozora. We're here to help!"
Sunset wasn't sure what to make of this, but decides to have them join if it means stopping Midnight. "Thanks."
Sora flashes her a friendly smile before facing their foe, "Let's do this!"
As the battle officially commences, a barrier surrounds the courtyard that kept the other students and staff out of it.
"Doesn't matter, you won't stop me!" Midnight proclaims, her horn glowing in the process.
Energy then flows into her hands before swinging them like vicious claws, sending energy waves at the trio. Sunset took the forefront as she summons a shield to cover them, managing to block the attacks as Yozora took the opportunity to retaliate. Leaping into the air, he focuses his sights on Midnight before firing a concentrated beam in a vertical arc.
Midnight manages to see this and leaps to the side, barely avoiding it as it almost hit the feathers of her wing. Yozora was quick to follow it up with a barrage of lasers, making her fly upwards to avoid the rapid fire rate while he uses the barrier as a wall to run upwards horizontally on to keep up the pressure.
Sora activates his Flowmotion to track Midnight, leaping off the barrier halfway to get some height to intercept her flight. She was caught off guard by this, barely able to block an incoming attack of his as he swung his keyblade down. Knocking her off course, Yozora practically teleports as he left an afterimage behind for a moment and continues the combo by swinging his blade downwards to try taking her out of the sky.
The rule of three applies here as Sunset completes it by firing an energy beam, hitting Midnight dead on to make her fall out of control until hitting the ground. Sora and Yozora lands on the ground a few feet away, staying on guard for any sudden movements. They didn't have to wait too long as Midnight starts to get up to her feet.
"All right... you win."
She said that through her teeth, making it less believable than a fake apology as the two didn't let their guards down once. Seeing her start raising her hands up in mock surrender, Sunset saw a flicker of magical energy in between her fingers before getting a premonition through a brief vision.
It showed her that Midnight was planning to surprise the two with a blast of energy to knock them off their feet, hoping to gain the upper hand.
"Look out!" She flew fast towards the two, arriving just in time as Midnight does what she just saw.
Countering this, Sunset puts up her shield to protect the two as the energy blast went through the area. A bit annoyed that her ploy didn't work, she makes up for this as she summons a swarm of magic orbs above herself. Pulling her arm back in a ripping motion, pieces of the earth around them broke away and reforms around the orbs in the process before sending them up sky high.
Sora was quick to stop the attack as he jumps into the air, his keyblade glowing blue at the tip and aims it before shouting out:
"Water!"
A ball of energy launches out as it was surrounded by a spiraling torrent of water, going right for the rocks in the middle.
SPLASH!
The spell burst upon impact, letting out a blast of water that manages to bust the rocks wide open, leaving only shards and dirt in their place.
However, that was just a distraction as Midnight slams her hands into the ground, causing it to shake before having the earth start to form around them. Walls of rock came out like it was creating a maze of sorts, trapping them while Midnight took this opportunity to think.
"Those boys proved to be more trouble than I thought. Guess I just have to separate them, and I know just how to."
Channeling the surrounding energy into her own, she then conjures two shadowy clones of herself that resembles her only in form. Glowing green eyes with equally green flames framing them, she smirks to herself before issuing orders.
"Get rid of the two, Sunset is mine."
Meanwhile, the trio look at their surroundings as Yozora spoke, "Careful, this may be an ambush."
The other two nods in agreement before Sunset realizes that the top is uncovered, "We can surprise her-"
"What!?"
She finds herself get cut off as she sees the boys get pulled into a ripped portal in an instant, soon to get caught off guard by a beam slamming against her into one of the rocky walls. Recovering to her feet, Midnight floats down from above with a confident smirk on her face.
"What did you do?" Sunset couldn't help but ask, which Midnight answers for her own amusement. "Don't worry, they were just guinea pigs for interdimensional travel."
Finding himself off his feet once again, Sora was being dragged by the hood before being thrown to the ground. Quickly recovering, he stood up and sees that he's in another place entirely as it was now a grassy field in the middle of a forest. Refocusing on the fight, he sees a shadow of the Midnight they were fighting. Honestly, replace the green eyes with yellow and it was a humanoid heartless.
With that in mind, he decides to go on the offense this time. Dashing in with an air step, he rushes the shadow with a spiral spinning slash before following it up with a short combo. The demon broke away before he finished it, countering by blasting a barrage of orbs at him that he was quick to block to minimize damage, swatting away the rest with a wide counter slash and closes the distance again with another air step.
The shadow tries to blast him with an energy beam, which Sora gracefully flips over before landing his feet on the beam to slide towards it in an instant. The demon was wide open as he throws his keyblade ahead and leaps foot first into it, slamming the humanoid upon impact into the ground below. Dirt debris and smoke emerged from the point of impact as Sora leaps away soon after, calling his keyblade back to his hands.
"Despite its power, it doesn't know how to use it." He mutters, noticing this from observing its fighting style.
The dirt cloud was then blown away as the shadow summons a massive orb above its head, the earth surrounding them breaking away as it was sucked into it to form a makeshift meteor like before. Already seen this attack before, he can blast it away again or...
A smirk forms on his face as he sprints forward, the shadow throwing the meteor soon after to make it come down upon him. In a flash, he activates Second Form and performs Sonic Blade, piercing right through the meteor and hitting the shadow Midnight dead on in no time flat. He continues his attack with the follow up raves before channeling light into his final lunge, destroying it as the shadow fades away and lands on the ground with a simple roll to boot.
Standing back up, he waited a couple of seconds to see if anything happens, hoping that a portal will show up and take him back. Though, it didn't take long for him to realize that it was only separating him from the others.
"Sunset wasn't taken like us, but Yozora was also pulled in too. He's likely in the same world I'm in right now. But, where?"
"That was quite the spectacle to see. Tell me stranger, who you might be?"
Turning around, he sees a zebra walking in for a moment before stopping. He wasn't surprised as he has seen stranger things, but he doesn't have time to stay around as he spoke up.
"I'm Sora and I was brought to this world by force. Would you happen to know how to travel portals?"
"Sadly, I do not. Although, Princess Twilight in Ponyville may prove your offer isn't for naught."
"Really!? Where's Ponyville?"
"Right behind me, go straight on this path. Beware, as the dangers ahead of you may incur their wrath."
"That won't stop me." Sora was determined at this point, "Thanks by the way, miss..."
"Zecora is my name and I see within you a great flame. Keep it burning bright and your spirit will always fight."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again!" With that said, Sora sprints down the path at full speed with his keyblade in tow.
Yozora was a bit annoyed after that sneak attack. He knew that it was a trap, but didn't expect a simple separation tactic until he was halfway in the portal. Slashing at the shadow holding him while they were falling, he gets some good damage in before landing harshly on the ground below. Rolling to ease the sudden stop to his feet, he already knew he was in a different world again as he kept his focus on the shadow above.
Speaking of which, it dives down at him while firing orbs wildly upon its prey. Yozora easily dodges the few orbs that even came close before leaping over the shadow as it tried a lunging horn attack that proved fruitless. Firing a slow moving beam angled downwards, he does a sweeping motion like it was a long blade and lands a devastating hit as it slices off its right wing, forcing it to crash into the ground.
"Powerful, yet reckless. Sad combination." He comments, mainly to himself.
He then notices that the shadow was now panicking as it fires a massive beam straight at him, which he simply dodges by teleporting away. Soon after the energy beam faded, he reappears behind the shadow and traps it inside a sphere from his blaster.
"It's over."
Those were his only words as he swung his blade up diagonally, slicing the orb in two before it dissipates with the shadow along with it. Looking around, he sees that he was on a path to a town that has some sort of crystallized treehouse towering over it. Dismissing his weapons, he didn't waste any more time as he heads there for any way to get back to the previous world.
It did not take very long for him to reach the town, though what lives there is quite... interesting to him to say the least. Yozora couldn't really believe his eyes as he saw ponies going about their daily lives like humans do. He found himself staring for a bit until remembering his objective, seeing the crystallized tree up ahead when he heard his name.
"Yozora!"
Turning towards the familiar voice, he sees Sora running over to him and stops to catch his breath for a second.
"Good to see you're all right."
Yozora simply blinks at this before speaking, "Yeah. Do you know where we are?"
Sora fully recovers from his run through the forest before answering, "Well, a zebra told me that this town is Ponyville and we need to find Princess Twilight if we're gonna have any chance of getting back."
"Excuse me?"
The two then finds themselves looking at what looks like a unicorn and a pegasus combined, who then continues to speak. "Are you two new around here?"
Yozora just stood there as Sora answers for the two, "Yes, I'm Sora and this is Yozora. Not to be rude, but do you know where Princess Twilight is?"
"You're talking to her." The winged unicorn clarifies for them, a friendly smile on her face as she said this.
Luck was on their side as Sora was also smiling, "Great! Oh, I mean-" He then does a brief bow before standing up straight, "Honored to meet you."
"No need for that. I'm just princess in title." Twilight admits before wondering out loud, "Is there a reason you're looking for me?"
"Definitely! Long story short, we were dragged here to be separated by someone named Sunset who's fighting her friend that was corrupted by darkness!"
The princess was now on full alert upon hearing this, seeing that he's dead serious about this. "What!? Then we better go right now!"
"Let's go." Yozora finally spoke, right to the point as the three made a mad dash towards her castle.
Earlier...
"Twilight, you have to stop this! This isn't you!" Sunset wants to try and get through to Twilight, only for Midnight to scoff at this. "You're way too late for that!"
Sunset didn't want to believe that, but if words seriously can't reach her at this point...
"You may be strong, but you lack the most important thing for it." She holds up her left hand as she said this, light flowing into her palm when it stopped near her wing of light.
"If you say friendship..." Midnight was grinding her teeth a bit, expecting the obvious.
Sunset simply stares at her as she held her hand in front, the light taking form. "No."
The form completes itself, becoming a rapier made from pure light as she held its handle firmly. "Experience."
Midnight was rather offended by this, "What do you mean by that!?"
"I've told you already. I've been in your shoes before... and I was originally from the world you so desperately want to go to." Sunset was blunt with the second truth.
It was now at this point that something was growing inside Midnight, a feeling that she hasn't really felt until now. What was it called? Anger? Sadness? Envy?
Sunset notices a dark aura surrounding her corrupted friend before she lets out a scream, unleashing a shockwave that forces her to use her shield as the rock walls around them were destroyed in the process. She kept her guard up as she sees Midnight has replaced her cocky smile with a vicious scowl.
"Rrraaaggh!" A roar of pain and anger came out of her mouth before warping the earth around them again.
Sunset took flight this time as Midnight threw a swarm of meteoric rocks she formed from her magic, homing in on her like they were a controlled wave of water. Going up high in the sky, she then makes a U-turn straight downwards before proceeding to glide around doing loop de loops and spiral circles along with twists and turns. Midnight tried her best to keep up with her opponent as Sunset finally glides near the ground and towards her, catching her off guard as she goes around her to make the meteors hit their controller instead.
Some of them hit Midnight before the rest were blocked by a barrier she creates, making a large dust cloud appear in her place for a moment before disappearing from said barrier bursting. Midnight was now the one to take flight as she fires countless magic orbs at Sunset, who avoids almost all of them by dodging and even slashing them with her rapier or even her wings which only makes them disperse.
During this, Midnight tries to get in a hit by lunging in with an orb in her hand as Sunset was distracted. By dumb luck, the latter turns just in time to see her coming and deflects the attack with her rapier, the resulting clash emitting a bright light before the knockback took effect, pushing the two back quite a distance.
With a harsh glare, Midnight charges up energy into her hands before firing a powerful beam at Sunset. The latter quickly puts up her shield to block it, but the beam proves to be rather strong as she was struggling to keep her ground-
CRACK!
She heard the sound as soon as she saw it, cracks start to appear on the shield as the beam was getting stronger. Midnight grins from ear to ear as she sees how close to winning she was, pushing more energy one last time that did the job.
SHATTER!
Sunset raised her rapier and arms in a desperate attempt to block the beam... but felt nothing hit her. Taking a peek, a new barrier had replaced hers as Sora held his hand out towards it, looking behind himself to address her.
"You all right?"
"Y-Yeah. Nice catch." Hearing that she was a little winded, Sora then held up his keyblade up for a moment before a green aura went over her, restoring her stamina and any wounds she obtained.
Midnight was flabbergasted at this as the barrier disappears, which left her wide open as a trap in the form of a pyramid entraps her, bombarding her with a barrage of lasers before blowing up soon after. At this point, she finds herself worn down from the duration of the fight as her dark aura faded away.
"Are you done?"
Yozora stood behind her, his blaster and sword held firmly in his hands in case it wasn't. Sora and Sunset walks over to join him, surrounding Midnight in a triangular formation as Sunset tries one more time.
"Twilight? Are you there?"
"...Sunset?"
Her voice wasn't anything like it was before, recognized by Sunset as Sora and Yozora deduces that she was back to her senses.
"Twilight! Are you all right?"
"...I saw it. All of it."
The three felt her heavy heart as she spoke, "All Midnight has done to you, and I couldn't do anything to stop it..."
"Yeah, that is scary." Sunset sympathizes with her there before looking right at her, "Tell me, how do you feel now?"
"...Horrible... Very horrible." Twilight was now on the verge of tears as she admits it.
Silence fell upon them for a second before Sora spoke up this time, "That's good."
The other three look right at him soon after, which he goes on to explain why.
"If that's how you feel, then it shows that you haven't lost your heart yet. A friend of mine almost got consumed by the darkness way back then, but I knew deep down that there was a way for me to save him somehow. And you know what happened?"
His question was rhetorical as the three stayed silent, following it up with where he's going with this.
"He did everything he could to make up for it, even willingly using the darkness if it meant that me and my other friends were safe in the end. Now, he's one of the strongest people I know." Sora then rubs the back of his head after realizing how long he was going, "In short, you can always make up for your mistakes."
Twilight processed what he had said and blinks before speaking, "B-But, how can I?"
"Your friends will show you the way."
Turning her head towards the voice of Sunset, she sees her right hand holding itself out towards her with a kind smile. "Trust me."
After taking time to come to a decision, Twilight finally accepts her hand. As they connect hands, a spiraling light of violet and red emerges brightly enough to engulf the entire area, blinding Sora and Yozora in the process.
"I've been having these weird thoughts lately..."
"These dreams... are they real, or not?"
"The pieces are scattered again... I want to line them back up, yours and mine."
Opening his eyes once again, Sora finds himself laying down on concrete and slowly pushes himself up to his feet. Taking a moment for his vision to become clear, he looks around to find himself somewhere that was both familiar and new at the same time. Seeing a sign over where the streets behind him were, he read the name of the school he was at.
"Canterlot High."
And done! Alrighty, it's been awhile since I've done a more bombastic start to a story.
Some things I'll say right now, what I have in mind for Yozora isn't just one and done. I really like his character and want to use him in one of my stories. And no, he won't be at superboss levels since that's boring to read.
It's been a long while since I've written for Sora, but I think I still got what I'm going for with his character. His powers will also be different compared to what was in the games, but that's gonna be elaborated on later.
Daydream vs. Midnight could have been more interesting in terms of a fight, but the time it came around in the movie was too short. As you can obviously tell, I had to get creative with some of their powers.
Ending this off, I did something similar to the original secret ending from the base KH3. Plus, it sets up what I'm thinking of for the first arc.
With all that said, thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next chapter!