Friendship is the Key
Chapter 5: Treacherous Sands (Part 2)
by Appending_fic
The guard reappeared to lead them to the palace; he seemed much more respectful to Twilight, calling her 'Lady' and 'ma'am', and walked some distance in front of them, to 'give them privacy'.
Twilight waited only a few minutes before she turned her head to the others. "Why didn't you say anything?" she whispered.
"Why should we? You are Princess Celestia's favored protege," Applejack said.
"And it does smooth over all sorts of problems neatly," Rarity added. "I'm certain if she'd thought of it, Princess Celestia would have given us a letter just for this sort of situation."
"But I don't know how to deal with royalty!"
"Don't worry about it, sugarcube. That's what we're here for," Applejack said. She patted Twilight on the back, which seemed to calm the frazzled woman marginally. "Anyway, I'm sure we can tell the sultan everything he needs to know once we get inside."
"I hope so," Twilight said.
The journey was fairly swift, and when the guard knocked at the massive stone doors to the palace, a place full of even more domes and soaring towers than the rest of the city, they opened right away.
"These people showed up saying they were envoys from royalty," the guard said.
"I am well aware." The man's hunched posture stiffened, and his expression crystallized into a pained grimace. A tall man dressed in robes of red and black stood on the other side of the door, flanked by guards standing ramrod straight. The man's lips curled up in amusement as he looked down at the guard, and he turned his eyes, dark, piercing orbs, onto the ragtag group. He tapped the end of a staff, a long, golden rod, on the stone beneath his feet. "Get them rooms immediately," he commanded. "Come in," he added to Twilight.
Twilight took a few uncertain steps forward. Applejack nudged her, and Twilight almost stumbled. She turned to glare at Applejack, who pointed at the tall man and mouthed 'you're in charge'. Twilight nodded, and, chin held high, walked after him. The others followed more distantly while the tall man engaged Twilight in conversation.
"Welcome to Agrabah, Lady Twilight. I am Jafar, vizier of this kingdom. What, pray tell, is your home?"
"Ah - we're from Equestria. How did you know-?"
"It is my business to be well-informed," Jafar said smoothly. "And what brings you to our land? I do hope it is not our princess; she has yet proven difficult to please."
"Princess? Oh, no," Twilight said, shaking her head. "I have been sent by my monarch, Princess Celestia, to seek knowledge from beyond our borders. I had hoped you would have a library we could examine."
"Research? I believe you will find our library to be very well-stocked," Jafar replied. "I, after all, saw to its recent expansion. But you must be tired from your journey, and you must hold an audience with our sultan before you are allowed on your errand."
With little further time for answers, he delivered them to their rooms - a larger one for Twilight, and two others, one for the men and one for the women. Applejack collapsed on her bed almost as soon as they arrived, and woke to bright light shining in through the room's narrow windows. A knock came at the door, and Applejack realized the sound must have woken her.
They were, a guard reported, expected for breakfast, which led to a flurry of washing up and primping, forcibly, in Applejack and Rainbow Dash's cases.
"You are meeting royalty, and royalty much less understanding than Princess Celestia," Rarity instructed as she pulled a brush through Applejack's hair. "We have to make a good impression, or they might decide we aren't a royal envoy after all."
"Which we really aren't," Rainbow pointed out.
"Well, not formally, no," Rarity said. "But we are on a royal mission, which is good enough, at least if we behave ourselves. Now, is everypony ready?"
They met Twilight outside her room. Somepony had provided her a dress similar to the mis-matched one she'd worn in from the desert. It was loose but concealing, likely in deference to the blazing sun that was likely to be the norm here. The boys proved to look little different than they had the night before, eliciting a sigh from Rarity, but she didn't threaten to force them into a makeover. Applejack suspected she was already straining the limits of her talents with the ponies looking like an entirely different species.
Spike clambered up Twilight to her shoulder, earning a glare from Twilight.
He shrugged. "Donald told me it'd look less suspicious traveling with a dragon if you said I was your familiar."
"I also said it'd be better if you were a snake or a bird or something," the duck insisted.
Spike glowered at Donald. Twilight scratched the back of his head to calm him, and gave Donald a quick frown. "Spike's a little sensitive about birds," she said. "And in any case, we've got to meet the sultan."
The sultan turned out to be a small, fat little man dressed similarly to the guards. The loose clothing seemed to be the style, and one Applejack appreciated for its practicality. The little man hopped off of his throne, an ornate gold chair, to clasp Twilight's hand and flail it enthusiastically.
"It's a delight to meet such esteemed visitors!" he said. "Jafar told me you were from...Equestria? And you must be Lady Twilight. Ooh, is that a spitting lizard?" He poked Spike's belly inquisitively.
"It could be," Spike said darkly.
"Oh, please don't do that...sire," Twilight said. "Spike doesn't like being touched, much."
"Oh." The man drooped a little before looking around at the others. "But certainly I can meet your retinue?"
"Certainly. This is Rarity, she's my stylist. Applejack and Rainbow Dash here are..."
"Security," Applejack said hurriedly.
Twilight smiled at her gratefully before continuing. "Fluttershy is an expert zoologist. Um..." She glanced at Pinkie before pointing to Riku. "Riku, Sora, and Goofy here are the rest of my bodyguards, and Donald's a magician."
"Lovely, lovely!" the sultan exclaimed. He turned to Pinkie. "And this enchanting young lady?"
"That's my...social planner, Pinkie Pie."
"Excellent!" the sultan said. "You must all meet my daughter, and tell me all about Equestria. You all have such exotic names."
He swept them into a large dining room, just smiling broadly when anypony tried to protest. It seemed he was used to getting his way, and in the end, Twilight submitted to it. They were shortly all seated, and the sultan clapped his hands, summoning forth a small army of servers to present platters of fruits, pastries, and delicate-smelling flowers.
Applejack reached for a dark, shriveled fruit on a platter near her, only for Rarity to slap her hand away. Applejack opened her mouth to protest; Rarity just jerked her head at the sultan, who hadn't put anything on his plate yet. Applejack sighed.
"I am sorry for the delay," the sultan said. "I think Jasmine must just be out in the gardens."
"Gardens?" Fluttershy asked, perking up.
The sultan chuckled, smiling at her. "You must be a botanist, too," he said. "But I would expect such refined tastes from a woman of your beauty."
"O-oh...that's nice." Fluttershy ducked her head, and Applejack could see her cheeks redder than a Red Delicious. She was saved by further attention when two people arrived from opposite ends of the room. One was Jafar, dressed immaculately in his robes. A parrot clung grimly to his shoulder. The other newcomer was a young woman, wearing much less practical clothing than anyone else Applejack had seen. Light blue scraps clung to her chest and lower torso; she seemed comfortable, but despite her somewhat dark skin tone, she didn't look like she spent much time in the sun. She'd tied her long black hair back with light blue ties, and her neck was adorned with gold. The princess, Applejack decided. The young woman gave the Equestrians a brief smile, but when she caught sight of Sora and Riku, she compressed her lips into a tight line, and she glared disapprovingly at the sultan.
"You said there were people here I'd like to meet, father," she said, "not more suitors."
"Suit - oh! Goodness, no, dear," the sultan said. "These are all a part of the Lady Twilight's retinue! She's visiting from a distant land, and I thought you'd like to meet her. You, too, Jafar. This is my daughter, Jasmine, and my vizier, Jafar."
"If your majesty has not forgotten, it was I who told you about our visitors. I let them into the palace last night." The man's eyes remained entirely expressionless, but he sounded displeased, or downright angry. The sultan just laughed, apparently unaware of the man's annoyance.
"Well, you hardly could have taken the time to get to know them. Sit, sit!"
Jasmine sat across from Twilight, while Jafar settled himself closer to the other ponies, nearest to Riku.
The sultan grabbed a pomegranate from one of the plates near him and began popping seeds into his mouth. Happy to have official permission, Applejack began piling her plate with food. She missed most of the next few minutes of conversation, although she did perk up when the sultan clapped his hands.
"Lady Twilight, I wonder if I might trouble you for a moment...for a little advice."
"Your majesty, we hardly need to burden these find people with our problems," Jafar said. "I have everything well in hand."
"Of course you do," the sultan said. "But it never hurts to ask someone else for help. You see, Lady Twilight," he continued blithely, ignoring his adviser's protests, "we have been beset by monsters. Terrible creatures with gold eyes that have been multiplying beyond all reason."
Sora glanced at his companions at that, and he raised his hand, slowly. "We know about those things. If you like, Donald, Goofy and I can take a look around and see if we can help get rid of them."
"Would you?" the sultan asked. He turned to Jafar with a wide smile. "Did you hear that? They're happy to help!"
"I heard," Jafar said between gritted teeth.
"Then you can stop your digging around for that old legend to stop these things," the sultan said. "Will your other bodyguards be joining them, Lady Twilight?"
"Ah-" Twilight glanced at Rainbow and Applejack, and then at Fluttershy, who was discussing something animatedly - at least for Fluttershy - with Jasmine. "I don't believe so, your majesty. I was planning to explore your libraries, and I think Fluttershy has designs on your gardens. If your problems are as bad as they seem, I'd prefer someone familiar on hoof in case of an emergency."
"Oh, perfectly, understandable," the sultan said, even as Jafar looked like he wanted to say something.
"If you don't mind, Rainbow, I'll go with Twilight to the library," Applejack said quietly.
"Sure; I bet I'll have better luck finding a nice place to bask outside, anyway."
Applejack rolled her eyes. "You're supposed to be looking after Fluttershy," she said.
"I can relax and watch out for her at the same time," Rainbow said defensively. "Besides, Rarity said she's coming, too. I think she wants to talk fashion with the princess."
"And no offense, Twilight, but book-diving doesn't sound all that exciting," Pinkie said.
"Well, if you all have decided what you'll be doing, I'll be taking my leave. Kingdoms don't just run themselves." The sultan left the room, chuckling to himself as he walked. Twilight could see Riku arguing in hushed tones with Sora, but as they were friends, she decided to stay out of it. They presumably knew how to handle each other.
Twilight glanced at Applejack and gave her a bright smile. "I'm ready to go if you are," she said.
"I'm right behind you," Applejack said, pushing herself up from the table. "Only...where are we going?"
"Oh, I can show you, Lady," Jafar said. Applejack yelped when the voice came from right behind her; she hadn't even seen him move. "But be warned: there are rumors our library is haunted."
"Oh, I don't worry about ghosts," Twilight said easily. Applejack followed her and Jafar, glumly wondering where that brave Twilight had been when they'd first ventured into the Everfree Forest together. Regardless, after Jafar led them down a few twisting corridors to a dim, cool set of rooms full of scrolls, Applejack saw no reason to worry. Ghosts only came out at night, right?
Twilight made her way immediately to a stack of actual books near the rear of the first room. Jafar stood watching her, eyes gleaming.
"Don't you have a job to do?" Applejack asked.
"Indeed," the man replied. He did not, however, move.
Applejack set her jaw, recognizing the sort of passive-aggressive attitude learned by the pre-adolescents of every intelligent species. The man smirked at her when he saw her watching.
"Is something the matter?" he asked.
"Naw. I'm willing to sit here with you all day," Applejack replied. She leaned back against a bookcase and folded her arms. Jafar nodded and remained where he was. Applejack began humming a tuneless melody, letting the noise waver when she hit high notes.
"If you're trying to drive me away, ma'am," Jafar said, "You'll find that I have nigh-infinite patience when it comes to tolerating irritating dolts."
"If you please," Applejack said. "How's it going, Twilight?"
"I found a fascinating treatise on the magic of mythological beasts," Twilight said excitedly. "The books aren't organized well, though. It's stuck next to a bunch of books on the history of Agrabah's politics; did you know it used to be a republic until the first Caliphate dissolved a corrupt triumvirate over their actions during some sort of world war? Of course, it's framed as some sort of old mare's tale, but the metaphor is clear..."
Jafar seemed to be trying to pay attention to Twilight's rambling, but after less than a minute, his eyes started to glaze over. Applejack tried not to smirk. The man obviously had no experience with a real bookworm. She just let the words wash over her while Twilight jumped from book to book.
Jafar at last snapped his fingers, a startlingly loud sound that stopped Twilight mid-word. "I can see you ladies are settled in. Dinner may be taken in the lounge next to the kitchen, and supper is traditionally served at sundown. I trust you won't have any problems."
Applejack sighed when the man turned and left. "I thought he'd never leave," Applejack said.
"What?" Applejack laughed when she realized Twilight hadn't noticed anything.
"Nothing, sugarcube." Applejack stayed a few moments to make sure Twilight and Spike were all right before wandering away on her own.
The library was a small cluster of rooms, scrolls and books scattered haphazardly in small alcoves and piled on desks. There was no apparent order to it, suggesting there wasn't a librarian, or at least that whoever was in charge of this place had worse habits than Twilight, who was known to upend her library researching the simplest issues. But Applejack knew she wasn't going to find what she was looking for by using an index. There was a woman named Belle hiding in a library, and somewhere among all of these books was the answer she was supposed to be looking for...
But after nosing through three rooms, Applejack had yet to meet the woman, or see anything that looked like some great secret. She sighed and sat on one of the chairs uncertainly.
"I suppose it would be too much to ask that Belle'd be hiding here," she said. to herself. "But couldn't we have gotten better advice than 'she's hiding in a library?'"
"A mistranslation, I suppose." Applejack yelped at the unexpected voice, falling out of her chair. When she raised her head, she saw a pale-skinned woman with brown hair draped over he shoulders. She was smiling gently, hazel eyes focused on Applejack. She knelt down and held out a hand. "Sorry for startling you."
"My fault, I guess. I wasn't paying much attention," Applejack allowed as the woman helped her up. "I didn't see you come in."
The woman's smile grew by a tiny margin. "Ah. That's because I didn't use the door. Whoever told you I was hiding in a library had it almost right - I've been hiding out inthe library."
Applejack stared at the woman, who must be Belle. "I don't follow."
Belle laughed. "Neither did I, at first. But it's a useful little trick, especially if you're trying to get around without being noticed. There's something...particularly magical about books. Get enough of them in one place, and they start to change things. And if you've the right talent, you can travel from one library to another without every going out-of-doors."
Applejack wrinkled her nose. "That sounds more like Twilight's department."
"But you're the one looking for me," Belle replied. She reached out a hand. "I'm Belle."
"Applejack." Applejack grasped the woman's hand and shook it uneasily. She'd never been happy with the plea to seek out research and women hiding in libraries, but it looked like she was stuck with it. "I thought you might be able to help," she said. "Somepony told me I needed to find research that had been lost..."
Belle's eyes narrowed. "If you've arrived here and met one of the others, there's only one researcher I can imagine you're looking for. Well, six," she amended.
"Six?" Applejack demanded. "I really don't want to have to dig through six boring old researchers' books."
"Don't worry," Belle said, and at this, she sounded a little weary. "There isn't much of anything to read. All I've been able to find are the abstracts of their research, and that's bad enough."
"What do you mean?"
"I think...your friend should be here with you when I tell you," Belle said.
;;;:::::{-]
Jasmine had shown them all around the garden, and they'd met her tiger, Rajah, before she sat on the edge of a fountain and gestured for them all to sit. Fluttershy did so carefully, nervously. Something in Jasmine's expression, so solemn, suggested they weren't going to be getting good news.
"Look, I know you didn't come here just to visit," Jasmine said.
"What makes you say that?" Rainbow demanded. "You don't know anything about us!"
Jasmine shook her head. "Maybe not you, Rainbow Dash. But Fluttershy and I have met before." She glanced at Fluttershy, who felt a momentary tug at her heart. A faint trace of a memory, a room holding seven ponies, occurred to her.
"You...don't look the same," Fluttershy said at last. Jasmine smiled.
"We wanted to make you feel comfortable. We had to reach you before you got in too deep."
"You're not making any sense!" snapped Rainbow Dash.
"You're right," Jasmine agreed. "But it's hard to explain. I suppose I have to start at the beginning."
;;;:::::{-]
"The Heartless are a natural phenomenon, of sorts. When a heart is mired in anger, fear, despair...it becomes swallowed in darkness. Whatever remains is no longer quite a heart, because it only knows its own pain, and the hunger for more hearts."
Twilight shivered at the words.
;;;:::::{-]
"I began having dreams where I met six other young women...sisters, they called each other. They told me about a threat spreading over every world, a darkness that threatened all of our spirits."
;;;:::::{-]
"One of them, named Aurora, knew more than that. She told us every world has a heart, something that contains everything good about that world. The heart can be consumed, and if that happens - the world comes to an end."
;;;:::::{-]
"The Heartless appear wherever dark emotions threaten, and they hunt tirelessly for the strongest hearts they can find. They're pests, or would be, if it weren't for-"
;;;:::::{-]
"Maleficent. Aurora didn't have much good to say about her. But she said the woman was strong. She commanded Heartless as a queen commanded her own people. Aurora told us to go into hiding because of her. Snow and Aurora ran off together. Alice...got lost. Jasmine said she has to stay to protect her people. Ella's trying to lay low. I went into the library. And Kairi...we haven't seen her since this started."
;;;:::::{-]
"She wasn't content to ruin her own world; she had to ruin every other one she found. And she has friends - dangerous ones."
"Cruella. Tremaine. Grimhilde," Rainbow said. "Applejack found letters."
"I bet she did," Jasmine muttered. "Yeah. There are others, but those are...the worst. After her, of course. They've been scouring the worlds for their hearts, and we've been looking for a way to stop them."
;;;:::::{-]
"And there is. Legends speak of a weapon called a Keyblade, the only thing that can defeat the Heartless." Belle dropped a book on a table, and Twilight drifted close, peering at a simplified drawing of a key the size of a human arm, if the hand gripping it was anything to go by. "More than that, it can seal the hearts of worlds away from the darkness, protecting them from the Heartless."
;;;:::::{-]
"They hunt the Keyblade as intently as they do the hearts of worlds. If they could, they'd eat the heart of the bearer and turn him into something like themselves."
;;;:::::{-]
"But I've been looking for something else. The Ansem Reports."
Twilight felt a perk of curiosity, and tried to look at the scrolls Belle was carrying, but they revealed pretty much nothing.
"What're they?" Applejack asked, in an uncharacteristic show of academic interest.
Belle just smiled at Applejack and spread a scroll out in front of them. Twilight bent in, peering at blocks of text. They looked all the same - a few paragraphs headed with a long title. Spike clambered onto the table and began examining them in earnest.
"Darkness-Induced Catatonia? The Construction of a Mechanism to Induce Artificial Atrafication? What's all this supposed to mean?"
"It means Ansem was researching the Heartless," Belle replied. "It's taken quite some time for me to find even his abstracts, and those are worrying enough."
"But why?" Twilight demanded. Looking at the paper, she could see that Ansem and his apprentices had learned a great deal about the Heartless. She could see everything Belle had said - how the Heartless reproduced, what they wanted - if the abstracts were this informative, she could hardly imagine what the full reports would be like! "There's enough in here to tell us how to stop the Heartless!"
"But I reckon the price was too high, Sugarcube," Applejack said.
"What?"
"The mean tolerance of an adult human is 350 millifiends, and this resilience falls by 50 millifiends for every decade of life. At the other terminus, tolerance increases at an exponential rate. One subject held out until exposure reached 3,000 millifiends, a feat enabled by the subject's unusual optimism and youth." Belle sounded like she was quoting something; it took Twilight only a few moments to find the phrase written in the text, and the shock of it sent her recoiling from the scroll.
"He really..."
"Him or one of his students," Belle said quietly. "They were studying darkness, and in the process, decided to see what made a Heartless. 'Atrafication' - it's their way of saying 'a heart falling into darkness'. And the millifiend...well, I don't quite know how they were measuring darkness, but I imagine the full reports go into more detail. I imagine they might shed light on what they're attempting, and why."
Twilight shuddered, and she saw Applejack do the same. It couldn't be possible that anypony could be so cruel...
;;;:::::{-]
Riku, sitting on one of the walls of the palace, was glowering at the markets below. He'd watched Sora head off in that direction with his new friends an hour ago, but now there was no sign of them. Not that he cared. Just because Sora had a fancy new magic sword didn't mean he was better than Riku. If Riku had one of those, he was sure he'd be twice the fighrter Sora was.
A shadow drifted over Riku's face. He glanced up, expecting one of the ponies-turned-women, but found instead Jafar's austere face looking down at him. The man smiled, a thin, barely-visible smirk.
"Riku, I believe?"
Riku rolled his eyes and tried to shift back into the sun. Jafar had positioned himself, however, so that the only way for Riku to manage would be rolling off the edge of the wall. He turned to Jafar, resigning himself to humoring the old man.
"Yeah?"
"Why aren't you with the rest of your friends?" The man's tone was casual, but he was leaning close, as if trying to establish a bond with Riku. It was just as bad as every school counselor who'd tried the same thing with him.
"Wasn't invited," Riku said. "Thought I'd catch some sun."
"Ha," Jafar replied. The parrot on his shoulder joined in. "Ha!"
"Of course, I don't blame them," Jafar added after a moment of pause.
Riku, who'd been letting his mind wander, felt a shock at the man's words. He'd expected Jafar to pretend to be nice to him, not insult him. "What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, nothing to do with you, certainly," the vizier said hurriedly. He bent a little closer and put a comforting hand on Riku's shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with you. They've all just lived...sheltered lives. They see you've delved into the Darkness and they fear it. The princess is likely already poisoning them against you. And your other friend..." He trailed off.
"What about him?" Riku was sitting up fully, giving the man his full attention. "Sora's just showing off for his new friends."
"He told you, though," Jafar said, "about the Keyblade. It chose him. Why not you?" The man gave Riku a brief smile before continuing, answering his own question. "It, like he, fears the Darkness. They will tell you it will corrupt you, destroy your heart. But you know better. A strong heart can use the Darkness and never yield to it."
"Snow told me it was dangerous," Riku said. He knew he should have more arguments, but he could only remember the exhilaration of spinning between worlds.
"So is fire, boy." Jafar snapped his fingers, bringing a flame into existence, letting it dance along his fingers before crushing it in his fist, snuffing it out. "But we can control that. Darkness is the antithesis of light, but a world without night is a lifeless desert. Fear and anger have their places. And the power of Darkness can be harnessed. I can teach you more tricks than that ferryman thing they've roped you into."
Riku opened his mouth to reply, but then a fanfare cut through the hypnotic spell of Jafar's words. He looked out over the wall, peering out to see what the commotion was. He heard a squawk from Jafar's direction, but then Riku caught sight of the source of the noise, and his attention was officially caught. A parade was approaching the palace, elephants, dancing girls and marching soldiers dragging a dancing crowd behind them. And music was drifting up to the highest part of the palace.
"Make way..."
;;;:::::{-]
Rarity carefully took a bite of her custard. Somepony coughed.
"So, Prince Ali," Twilight said brightly. "Where are you from?"
"Nowhere you'd have heard of," the richly-dressed young man replied quickly.
"Oh."
The dining hall returned to silence. Jafar, fork clenched in one hand, was glaring at Ali. He had been ever since the prince had arrived. Rarity couldn't quite understand it. Surely, he'd be happy somepony was still seeking Jasmine's hand. Jasmine had admitted she'd been...harsh on the others. And he may have been insufferable, but he was nowhere near as bad as Prince Blueblood. Still, she thought, glancing at Jasmine's empty chair, he could have done better. They all, gathered to meet the prince, had witnessed Jasmine's furious outburst. Rarity narrowed her eyes at the prince. Jasmine had been right; sitting around talking about winning her had been gauche. Still, it didn't explain why Jafar had been so annoyed with the boy even beforenthat. Maybe he came from a country Jafar's family had a feud with.
She abruptly set her shoulders. If anypony was going to save this social nightmare, it would be her.
"Your Highness, I do hope Sora and his friends were able to assuage some of your fears."
"What? Oh, yes. He apparently has a marvelous device called a Keyblade. Cuts right through those bandits we've been getting." The sultan smiled at Sora brightly. "A shame you aren't royalty, boy. I think you'd get along with Jasmine."
"Really, Your Majesty. That goes too far," Jafar protested. "A common mercenary?"
"I appreciate the compliment, sir," Sora said, flushing. "But I'm not - well, thank you, anyway. I know how hard your daughter is to please."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ali demanded, slamming a palm onto the table.
"All right, sorry to cut this thrilling conversation short, but the Lady Twilight does so need her beauty rest," Rarity insisted. "Co me along ladies, Spike." Smiling brightly at the non-Equestrians, she hustled their gang out of the dining room and back to Twilight's room. There, she collapsed dramatically on a couch. "Thank goodness that's over. I cannot stand drama."
"Did you see the way Jafar was looking at that Ali guy? If looks could kill...zap!" Rainbow declared with great enthusiasm.
"I think he likes Princess Jasmine," Pinkie said.
"Of course he does; he came thousands of miles just to meet her," Spike said from his Twilight-top perch.
"From a land I'm not likely to have heard of!" Twilight mimicked. "What does he think I look like?"
"No, sillies! I think Jafar's sweet on Jasmine!" All other conversation stopped.
Rainbow Dash wrinkled her face. "Really? But he's so...old."
"And creepy," Spike added.
Pinkie giggled. "He just has to act that way because it's his job. I think it's sort of sweet."
"Well, it would explain why he hates that guy," Rainbow agreed. "But there's no problem. Jasmine was furious with Ali."
"Well, she is now. But no romantic heroes are successful right out of the gate," Pinkie said. "But now he's going to sweep her off her hooves with a grand romantic gesture, like a midnight flight or slaying some terrible beast! Jasmine told us there's alway been rumors of a creature called Kurt Zisa lurking out there."
"And she also said taking it on was suicide," Rarity interjected before Ranbow would be tempted - again - to go after it.
"This is interesting and all," Twilight said, "but I think we have more important problems to talk about. We met this woman in the library, and she told us all about these monsters called the Heartless-"
"Jasmine told us all about them, too!" Rainbow said. "She also talked about this weapon called a Keyblade that's the only thing that can hurt them for real. Only the most awesome people get Keyblades, you know." She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, grinning widely.
Rarity lolled back on a chair while Rainbow chattered. She was almost an enamored as the idea of Keyblades as she was of the Wonderbolts, if the way she nearly slapped Fluttershy with an effusive sweep of her hands was any indication. It took a firm hand on her arm from Applejack to calm Rainbow down, and even then she was twitching.
"It's not just about Keyblades, sugarcube," Applejack said. "Belle - the woman we met - told us it's a lot worse than that. Cruella and...Maleficent...are trying to goad the Heartless into eating every world there is - not that they'd need any encouraging."
Everypony quieted at that pronouncement. Rarity looked at her hands, which had each gripped the other without any thought. She wasn't certain if the others had thought about it, but she couldn't forget the panic that had engulfed Ponyville when Nightmare Moon had returned. How much worse would things be when the threat was eating hearts, instead of endless night? What would happen to all of their friends? Her heart stopped abruptly. Who was going to look after Sweetie Belle?
"And...they're in Equestria?" Rarity asked. She saw Applejack's head snap around to face her, and Rainbow Dash's prancing falter.
"No - of course not," Twilight said hurriedly. "Remember, Luna told us to leave so the Heartless couldn't follow. She knew what was going on, and told us how to get out without risking anypony else." Rarity almost asked why sending Equestria's best warriors against darkness was supposed to protect anypony, but shut her mouth before she could speak. The others looked too hopeful; and in any case, the princesses had proven themselves smarter than anypony else before.
"So now what are we supposed to do?" Rainbow asked. "Entire worlds are being threatened by heart-eating monsters. Are we planning to sit around and talk about it?"
"Of course not!" Pinkie Pie said. She bounded to Twilight's bags and began rooting through them. "The worlds are being threatened by darkness and discord! So who better to save them but the bearers of..." She triumphantly lifted the Element of Magic above her head. "The Elements of Harmony?"
They all stared at the tiara for a single stunned moment before Rarity spoke. "If you'd warned me about this, I could have packed your dresses from the Gala."
;;;:::::{-]
Riku was pacing in one of the gardens, wondering if it was worth it trying to get some sleep when a hand landed on his shoulder; he tried to spin away from it, but the hand tightened, holding him in place.
"I want to talk to you, Riku," Jafar said.
Riku reached up and shoved the hand off of his shoulder and turned so that he could actually look the man in the face. The vizier was smiling, thin lips turned up at the very edges, eyes sparking with something Riku couldn't place.
"I'm sort of busy right now."
"Doing what?" Jafar asked. "Hoping your friend will decide to take you along on his grand adventure? Hoping those young women will overlook your dabbling in darkness and take you back? They've all but forgotten about you."
"And what? You need me? What could I possibly do for you?"
"Prince Ali is no prince," Jafar said, bringing Riku up short. "He did not come by his wealth or power honestly."
"Nothing like you, then," Riku replied.
Jafar threw his head back and laughed uproariously. "You missed your calling, Riku. You should be in politics. But you see, Riku, I knew Ali before he was a prince. He was a street rat - a common orphan with nothing except a monkey and the clothes on his back. He found something, Riku, something fantastic. It could give you everything you've ever dreamed of." He raised his hands above his head to the stars.
"And you want to give it to me?" Riku asked. "Do I look that stupid?"
Jafar dropped his hands, and turned his piercing eyes on Riku. "I certainly don't think that. But I think you are intelligent enough to realize that not every resource cannot be shared. Ali found a lamp, Riku. In it are three wishes for anyone who holds it. Two, if you want to pass it along afterwards. Two wishes, Riku. Can't you think of two things you want that you never can have?"
Riku couldn't stop the hitch in his breath, even though he knew Jafar was looking for it. Jafar didn't respond, however. He didn't push Riku to do anything. He just raised one eyebrow and walked away. His parrot called out, "Polly want a lamp!"
Riku resolved to forget about it, but he didn't have anything better to do than sit next to one of the fountains. The stars wheeled slowly overhead, twinkling like candle flames about to go out. Sora had left soon after dinner to sleep; apparently, fighting Heartless took a lot out of you...assuming they didn't take the one thing that mattered. He scowled, his mood turning sour. Sure, maybe giving Jafar the lamp would be stupid. No, there was no maybe about it. But what could it hurt for Riku to borrow the lamp for himself? He could do a lot with two wishes.
Of course, if he had something like that, Riku'd keep a close eye on it. He'd have to be careful, sneaky, or very, very lucky to get it away from Ali.
Speaking of luck...Riku sat up when a dark shape flitted across the moon, something that looked like two people standing on a - carpet? He considered for a moment. Most people who had three wishes would pick up an artifact or two, and flying was pretty awesome. The carpet was drifting in for a landing, and if Riku had figured out the layout of the castle, he could get there practically as soon as Ali landed. He sprinted through the palace's corridors, hitting the entrance to a garden as the carpet, now with only one passenger, landed on the grass.
Ali, eyes unfocused as he hit the ground, was smiling at nothing in particular. Riku smiled to himself and hurried into the garden. He slammed into Ali, eliciting a startled grunt from the other man as the two of them tumbled to the ground. Riku caught Ali's hat and handed it back to the prince.
"Sorry," Riku said. "You might want to watch where you're going, Your Highness."
"No problem," Ali said genially. He looked happy; Riku suspected he'd been spending time with Agrabah's resident princess. Which meant, Riku thought, as he bid Ali good-bye, that the guy didn't need his lamp anymore.
Keenly aware that Ali probably knew the streets better than Riku did, Riku stayed within the palace, ducking through twisting corridors until he found an unused store-room and slipped inside. He took a deep breath, reached down, and rubbed the lamp he'd stolen when Ali had been distracted.
Blue smoke billowed out from the lamp, coalescing into a tall blue...person whose legs trailed off into smoke.
He grinned at Riku. "So, Al, how'd the big...date...you're not Al!"
"Look, I'm sorry about this," RIku said. "I don't want to make any trouble, but I need help, and I knew Ali had this lamp..."
The creature sighed. "Not much I can do, anyway. Anyone who has the lamp gets three wishes, courtesy of its resident genie-"
"I want a Keyblade," Riku blurted.
The genie's mouth dropped open. After a moment, it pushed its mouth closed, and looked at Riku sidelong. "Oh. Well, you see, when I say three wishes, there are a couple of provisos, quid pro quos-"
"You can't do it?" Riku demanded. He'd thought for a moment there he'd finally match up to Sora. "What sort of genie are you?"
"Look," the genie said quickly, "There are things I can't do. I can't kill. I can't bring people back to life. And I can't...meddle with the heart." He settled in the air as if sitting on a stool. He gestured, and a chair appeared next to him. Riku sat, still feeling numb. "The Keyblade isn't a real weapon. It's a projection." A movie projector appeared next to the genie, throwing out an image of a cartoon mouse steering a boat. "You can't make a projection if a machine isn't set up for it, or if the projector doesn't have enough power." The image flickered and died, and the genie held up the projector's power cord. "And I can't...give you that boost. It has to come from here." He poked Riku's chest. "You have to feel it yourself."
"Great," Riku said. "Fine. Then find my friend for me."
The genie nodded, and rolled his arms up from his hands like they were sleeves of a coat. "All right. Who is it?"
"Her name's Kairi. She's got brown hair, nice smile...wears pink a lot."
"Give me just a moment and I'll find your girlfriend." The genie raised his hands to his forehead and closed his eyes, making a humming sound. After about a minute of this, he opened one eye. He ducked his head and smiled weakly at Riku. "I...ran into a bit of trouble," he said.
"Don't tell me you're supposed to respect people's privacy," Riku snapped.
"No, it's not that. And she's probably not dead; I usually find bodies when that happens." The genie gave Riku what was presumably supposed to be a comforting smile. He leaned closer and put a hand on Riku's shoulder. "It's just...look, kid, I've got a secret to tell you. Genies aren't...quite all-powerful. There are creatures that can make genies look like stage magicians." The genie absent-mindedly pulled a quarter out of his ear and handed it to Riku. "Let's call them, for purposes of this conversation, gods."
"You said Kairi wasn't dead," Riku said. "So why would she be with a god?"
"Not with, necessarily. Just...hiding. Someone's blocking my semi-omniscience." The genie pressed a hand over his eyes. "But...she's not far away, exactly."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
The genie shrugged. "Heck if I know. I just felt like she was close. This sort of thing isn't my area of expertise. I'm more of a cosmic butler than a thaumaturgical theoretician." He winked. "But I'll call this one a freebie, because you're a nice kid, and I couldn't deliver as promised. So what'll those three wishes be?"
Riku growled and shoved himself away from the chair, knocking it to the floor as he did so. "What's the point?" he demanded. "I'm stuck out here without any way to help anybody fight the Heartless and Kairi's missing! What the hell am I supposed to ask for? What would you ask for?"
"Me?" The genie drooped a little in the air. "You know, you're the second person to ask me that in ten thousand years. But I guess...look, kid, I'm not doing this job for my health. I'm stuck here. So what I wish for most is...to be free. To be able to do exactly as I wish, when I wish."
"All right," Riku said with a shrug.
"What?" the genie said.
Riku smiled at the genie. It might not have been what he was out to do, but if the genie couldn't help him, he might as well help the genie. And that was something Sora hadn't done. "Genie, I wish..."
;;;:::::{-]