Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic nor any character used in this story.

Note: This Fic is written, assuming the reader HAS played the Kingdom Hearts game series. (Especially I, II, Re:Coded, and Birth by Sleep.) And has watched the first season of MLP:FiM at the least.

Special Thanks: I would like to thank Siegfried432 for helping me with the editing of this chapter.

Chapter 2

The Chosen Path, New Friends and New Enemies

It was warm… that was the thought that ran through Riku's mind as he fell into the light and suddenly landed on a platform. No, more like a pillar just like before, though something was different. Riku looked around the surface of where he was standing. He noticed it was a picture of two creatures resembling horses. But they had wings and horns. One was pure white with mane-like rainbow, looking as though it was chasing a picture of the sun. The other was dark blue with a mane resembling the night sky full of stars; chasing after what resembled a crescent moon. As he looked around, Riku wondered. What could this possibly mean? What were these two horse-like creatures? While continuing to observe the picture he heard rumbling, yet the pillar he was standing on didn't shake. He did, however, notice three pedestals rising from the ground. They were near the edges in the Northern, Eastern, and Western directions. On the pedestals, three different objects appeared. Riku approached one to get a better look at the object.

The one he approached resembled a horn with a swirl design on it. He was puzzled, not knowing what to make of it. Approaching the next one, he sees a pair of bright white wings. Now he was even more confused, what were wings doing here? Was he supposed to wear them or something? He thought about Sora. "If he was here, he'd probably grab it to try and put it on to fly. Heh" He thought. The familiar sullen feeling hit him as Riku remembered what happened to Sora. He shook off the feeling and came back to focus on the task at hand… now was not the time. He decided to move on the the third and final pedestal; what was on it came as a shock to him. Aghast at the site, he couldn't believe it but… it was the dark symbol of the Heartless! "Wha-What's going on here!" Riku cried out "Why is this here!" He looked back at the symbol, afraid. Dark mist started to envelop him. "NO!" He thought "I will not lose to the darkness again!" He closed his eyes, calming himself… thinking back to those good old days with Sora and Kairi. He opened his eyes to see that the mist was gone but the symbol remained.

He approached it with some apprehension, observing it; still clueless as to the origin of it being here amongst the three. Suddenly, a light shined down on him as a voice called out to him… a voice unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time… he couldn't place where though. "So much to do. So little time." Riku heard the voice say… "Take your time. Don't be afraid." Riku walked to the middle of the circle, wondering what was going on. "Where was this voice coming from." He thought. "The power that sleeps within you." The voice continued. "It will give shape in the way you desire. But you must choose how."

Riku walked back to the pedestal with the horn. Then he heard the voice. "The power of Mastery, the abundance of Magic can give way to Generosity. Giving unto others what you can, you can create a bond of magic that will last forever. Will this be your form?" The voice asks Riku. He shook his head. Riku knew he was never that great with magic. Most of his magical skills came from the darkness that he wielded. That power was nothing like Donald's or even Sora's, he just knew it wasn't his skill. He moved away from the Horn of Magic and moved onward to the wings.

He pondered. The voice out of nowhere spoke again. "The power of Flight, the wind's kind and gentle breeze, and abounding strength in its loyal gust to keep afloat your heart. Faith from others, granted to you, becoming your strength. Is this the form you choose?" The voice asked. Riku refused once again. Others… having faith in him? How would that be possible? He had succumbed to the darkness… he doesn't even have faith in himself… how could he ever expect others to have faith in him? He walked away quickly. Although upon reaching the last pedestal, he felt the woe of the past wash over him.

"Is this truly the only path I have left? Is darkness the only path I can walk?" he thought. The voice spoke once more. "The power of Memories" "What?" Riku thought. "Isn't this…. The Darkness?" he thought. The voice continued with no avail of Riku's question "The happiest of memories that brought laughter to you will be your strength, and the honesty in the truth they hold is where your faith lies. Accepting the darkness inside you embraces the light, your experience is your power. Is this the form you choose?" "Happy memories?" Riku thought. He remembers… how could he not? That's all he has left of him, the friend he let down because of his carelessness, he remembers his bright light, the strength he had. The trust he showed to others, his kindness to all, the loyalty he had to his friends, the simple-minded honesty he had, his laugh that could bring frowning faces to smile, not to mention the generosity he showed to others. That strength… that memory of him… he wanted to make sure he'll always remember it.

Out of his reverie, he realized he had already touched the symbol. As he did, the symbol floated up before disappearing to the dark background. "So this is the form you chosen… but with every power comes sacrifice, what will you give up for it?" The voice asked. Riku looked back at the two pedestals… wondering what the voice meant. "Wait… could it be I have to sacrifice one of the remaining two?" That thought ran through his head for a bit. Then, hesitantly, he walked towards the wings, faith from others, how could he trust that. He still could not trust himself. The truth in his memories told him that. He touched the wings without a second thought. Much like before, the wings floated up before disappearing into the darkness.

"You've chosen your form, you have chosen the power of Memories, you have sacrifice the power of Kindness and Loyalty… as you wish, Let your form become" Light suddenly flashed all around Riku, startled he looked at himself before he suddenly felt some pain. Riku cried out in anguish as it cover every nerve of his. The pain was almost unbearable, but as soon as it started, it stopped just as sudden. He dropped to his backside, then put his hoof to his eyes… "Wait a minute… that's not right" Riku thought… "Hoof? Wh-What is this? W-Why do I have hooves?" Thought Riku, he didn't know what was going on, but he did know this: he became something like a horse. He looked at himself trying to figure out what he looked like. He was colored silver and his hair white. He tried to get up only to stumble, taking his first steps. Getting up again, his legs got tangled with his hind legs causing to trip again. Determined, he got back up, slowly getting used to his new form.

The voice from before once again spoke to Riku from the void. "This is your form. This is what you will be throughout this world. You'll have to get used it." In the silence after, shadows crept into the circle. "Oh no! You got to be kidding me!" Riku thought. "HEARTLESS!" He had to fight Heartless in a form he wasn't used to. How was he going to hold his keyblade? Not wasting any time, Riku got up on his hooves and tried to ready in a stance. Unused to it, he felt awkward but at least he was ready. He summoned his weapon, the Way to the Dawn, appearing in his mouth he griped it tightly with his teeth, he charged.

He noticed something different about the keyblade; it no longer had its devil-like wing guard, and the position of where the chain was moved. Instead, at the bottom, it was placed near the end of the angel wing guard. Also, the spot where the key chain was supposed to be had changed. It curved outward like a pair of devil wings. Between them, something that resembled a shovel's handle. It felt awkward trying to hit with it. Moving his neck, he tried to aim for one of the Heartless only to miss as it delved into the ground, flattening itself before scurrying away and popping up again. Another went for a kick at him. Unable to dodge correctly, he was kicked in the face.

He felt like such a novice. He just couldn't move his body the way he wanted to. Then again, he wasn't human right now… he had to remember that. Like a ton of bricks, an idea had came to him as he grinned, he readied himself facing the heartless again. He charged and, instead of trying to slash, he swerved his neck to turn hitting the shadow into the air, and leaped back striking it again before landing a finishing blow from the air once more. That's right… this is it. The experiences he's had from fighting before: don't move your limbs, move your body. Also, as a pony, he had hooves. Leaning onto his front legs, he noticed two shadows about to jump him before he kicked them with his hind legs and in one fell swoop, swerved his body around into a full circle slicing apart the two shadows. Yes, he had it down fast.

He flipped the keyblade, chomping down on the bottom handle, yelling muffled by the handle. "SONIC BLADE!" Riku charged at one of the shadows, piercing it and following through, causing it to dissipate, continuing to do this at a rapid pace with each shadow. As the last one fell, he heard the voice again. "Wonderful, you learn fast… that's good… proceed on… you need to know what hurdles you must overcome." Stairs appeared before Riku. Bravely, he went up with no hesitation. They seemed to stretch on forever, until he reached a door.

He pointed his keyblade at it as light blasted forth on the door, causing it to glow as a large 'click' was heard. The doors swung open and another pillar with another picture appeared. It was picture of a purple unicorn, sleeping. Above her, five other faces of different ponies, a white unicorn, a blue pegasus, a yellow pegasus, an orange pony, and a pink pony. Obviously, he never saw them before, so he wondered what it meant to see them. "The elements… they bring peace to this world… and… at the same time… they also hold its destruction." the voice spoke, Riku just looked at the faces wondering who they were and how were they connected. Were they friends? Family? How did they connect to him? He placed his hoof under his chin as he pondered.

"Boy, you sure seem pretty clueless for a bearer." Another voice from the void, Riku turned around looking where it came from. He heard taps like a footstep that just landed behind him. He turned around he came face to face… with a masked boy. Mask though didn't seem right. It was more like a helmet. Silver in color, it covered over in dark glass, hiding his face from view. The boy wore an outfit similar to his when he was being control by Ansem. He was also quite muscular as well. Riku tensed up, he had a bad feeling when the boy approached him. "Who are you?" Riku demanded "What did you mean by bearer?" Riku took a step back catiously. "Me? No one you know, but… in a way… you know all about me. Heh" The boy held out his hand and with a flash of purple flame summoned a keyblade. The keyblade was dark, with crimson lining, and mechanical looking in nature with the gears that decorated the blade, hilt and chain and with two blue slit eyes on the blade and hilt looking as though they could pierce your soul.

"A keyblade!" Riku shockingly cried. "That's right" the masked boy replied "and you know what's going to happen now, right? So… Take out yours!" he leaped as he held his weapon high. Riku summoned his own weapon, parrying the blow just in timing and countered… only to strike an afterimage. "Too slow…." the masked boy teased as Riku rolled to avoid the blow that smashed the ground. Riku swerved his key to point and casted "FIRE!" as a ball of blackish blue fire erupted from the tip, speeding towards his foe, who easily dodged it "Pathetic." The masked boy teased once again before he sunk into the ground, forming a dark mist-like hole. To Riku's surprise, the hole moved. In fact, it practically zoomed to him with lightning speed. He barely had enough time to dodge before his adversary popped out of the ground with an upward slash of his keyblade. Riku retaliated by mimicking the move, the blows clashed; Riku found his opportunity.

The boy now turned pony spun his entire body in a horizontal fashion, bringing his keyblade down like an aerial axe-kick. Riku followed up by dropping, pointing his keyblade downwards "Not bad, but still too slow." Appearing above Riku this time, the masked boy slammed his weapon down hard on Riku's head. "Argh!" Riku cried in pain, it hurt a lot more then he expected it to. Riku got up and tried to maintain his stance, the masked boy simply circled around Riku, pointing his weapon at the pony boy. Riku was at a lost, an opponent that teleports like this… the only other fight he ever experienced against teleportation was when he fought Xemnas with Sora… Whenever Xemnas teleported, either Riku or Sora would manage to get behind him while the other made a beeline for his side. But he's alone now, how can he stop his teleporting?

An idea came to him, if it goes as he plans, he should be able to take him down fast and easy. He made a charge for the boy, who in turned leaped away and pointed his keyblade at Riku, then a flaming ball appeared. "Let's see how ya dance!" the masked boy taunted as he fired off a slow moving ball before it burst into 3 speeding fireballs. Riku dodge roll just in time, barely singing his back. "Tch" Riku grunted in pain. In response, he took his keyblade, brought it to his side with his eyes placed on his foe. "You're kidding right?" The masked boy asked. "Do you realize that move is REALLY-" Riku interrupted yelling "ZANTETSUKEN!" a flash of light, changing places to behind the masked boy with his keyblade extended . At that point, the masked boy faded and warped behind above Riku. "Predictable!" Riku's masked adversary finished before he brought down his keyblade again. "You're one to talk." Riku muffled, smiling smugly as he spun around and brought up his keyblade to parry right before his foe's blow landed. The sudden bump knocked the veiled individual's balanced up and Riku saw his opening to attack!

Once again, Riku readied his Keyblade, placing it by his side, charging, swinging down hard, following up with an upper slash on the opposite side. Riku continued the onslaught of slashes. Eventually after seven quick slashes, he turned around and kicked his foe with his hindlegs. Followed by spinning his body, keyblade in his mouth, bringing it down, finishing with a sudden flash appearing behind the masked boy, Riku's blade extended again, quietly saying "Ars Lunarum"(1) Without warning, what seemed to be a thousand strikes started to appear on his foe, only for his target to fade with another afterimage. Once again, the masked boy teleported again this time on the ground, not even breaking a sweat. His arms crossed, the keyblade nowhere in sight. Riku readied his stance again, facing him. "Not bad, I'll admit, but you got a long way to go before you can match up. I'll give ya props considering you aren't in your normal form right now. Heh" The masked boy mocked. "Hey! Hold on! What was the point of all this then?" Riku asked the mysterious boy. "Just a test," The masked boy replied. "Gotta make sure you're capable of the task ahead. Oh yeah… you might want to get up soon, your friends are gonna be in some trouble."

"Wha?" was all Riku could say before the ground before him shattered, falling into the light… though this time, he woke up hearing an alarm. bwoop, bwoop, bwoop Riku got up with a start, placing a hoof onto his snout. "Why is my nose so long? Wait a hoof?" Riku thought "I guess that wasn't just some dream… but why a pony?" He wondered. The alarm was really getting on his nerves as he got up. "Wait a minute… Goofy! Donald! Where are they?" Riku panicked. Right as he thought that, he heard a voice. "Donald!" "That was Goofy!" Riku thought. "They're in trouble!" Riku bolted for the door and ran down the corridor to the airlock, and galloped through the open portal.

Upon exiting the gummi ship, Riku saw something that made his heart jump to his throat. There were six ponies huddled closed to the ship, all were crying out in fear. The reason was because both Goofy and Donald are trapped under large purple armored limbs. "Those look familiar." Riku thought. Like a light bulb turning on he remembered. "The Guard Armor from Traverse Town!" He realized. He looked up and saw it hovering over them, readying the other two limbs to finish the job. "Or a tortilla, or a flapjack, Or a-" "We get it, Pinkie!" Twilight interrupted, Riku looked down to see six ponies watching the scene in fear and worry. "Not for long." Riku thought, as he leaped down, yelling. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY FRIENDS!" Riku summoned his keyblade as he thought about his promise to protect his friends, he felt a familiar warmth as he summoned forth Oathkeeper. "ZANTETSUKEN!" Riku yelled as he flashed past the two limbs holding his friends down. A moment of silence had past before the armored limbs dissipated. Both Goofy and Donald called his name "RIKU!" Riku looked back and nodded to them as acknowledgment that they were fine, though he was not in good mood, especially with all the events that occurred earlier. Riku faced the giant specter-like knight. Standing on all fours, he held his key blade in his mouth then turned his head from left to right, doing so his body followed making a full three sixty turn. At the end of it he pointed his key to the sky and yelled as best as he could muffled by the handle "Light, bring unto us SALVATION!"

Later as the light subsided, Riku had approached his two friends and helped them up. "Are you two okay?" He asked worried and concern for his two friends. "Ahyuck, I'm alright." Goofy replied as he dusted himself. "Me too!" quacked Donald happily. "Gwarsh, Riku, that was amazing! I never you do that before ! In fact… I'm pretty sure I never seen Sora do that either." Goofy said wondering. "I'm just glad you're alright." Donald said. Riku agreed "So am I." he replied. "Wowiee Zoweey! That was amazing!" Pinkie Pie said as she bounced straight up to the three. "THAT WAS TOTALLY RADICALLY AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash cried as she flew up to them. "How'd you do that?" "Hold your feathers there girl," said Applejack "don't want to frighten the poor pony." "Frighten?" Rainbow dashed argued "Applejack, he just BEAT that giant monster that was about pound those two flat, who beat ALL the other monsters around." "Forget about that, Rainbow," Rarity protested as she trotted up to the group "we should be thanking these wonderful heroes who came to our rescue right when we needed them. I must say what you all did was simply marvelous!" "That certainly was amazing." Twilight agreed as she joined the group "we really owe you a debt of gratitude for helping us. But what was that light you created? And that giant key? How did you do all that when you're not a unicorn pony?" I mean it made sense, her suspicions, since when does an Earth pony suddenly know how to use magic. Also, it looked like that giant key was full of magic, it was all very fishy to her.

"Hey! Hey! Do it again, do it again!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she hopped in place. "Whoa, hey wait calm down everyone" Riku interjected "I-I can't answer all your questions at once like this." "Yeah," Donald quacked irritably. "We don't even know your names!" Coming up next to Goofy, Rarity spoke apologetically "OH my goodness! I can't believe how ruuude we've been, I must apologize on behalf of my friends and I. Please… allow me to introduce myself, I am known as Rarity." She stuck out her hoof for a hoofshake. Goofy took her hoof in his hand and shook happily. "Gwarsh, we should introduce ourselves too! Well Hooooowdy everypony! My name's Goofy." Goofy said he waved to everyone and still shaking Rarity's hoof vigorously. "This here is my friend, Donald Duck!" Goofy said pointing to Donald. "Eh heh heh, hello everybody." Donald quacked shyly. "And that pony over there is Riku." Goofy said as he went up to Riku and put his arm around him and Donald. "Ummm Hello." Riku said a bit confused and unsure exactly what to say. "They're my best friends." Goofy finished.

At that, Rarity went up to each of her friends introducing them one by one. "Well as you know I'm Rarity, this purple unicorn pony here is Twilight Sparkle." "Pleased to make your acquaintance." Twilight said with a smile. "This colorful pegasi pony is Rainbow Dash." Rarity introduced. "Also known as the greatest flyer in all Ponyville AND Equestria." Rainbow Dash proudly boasted. "And this is cowgirl pony is Applejack." Rarity continued, "Howdy y'all, great ta meet'cha." Appljack said as she tipped off her hat." Rarity continued. "And this is-" "Hold it!" Pinkie interrupted while holding a hoof up. "I'd like to introduce myself, as Pinkamena Diane Pie. But everyone just calls me Pinkie Pie, and my friends call me Pinkie!" Pinkie said as she smiled broadly showing her bright, white teeth. Rarity smiled at Pinkie, giving her a look that gives off the feeling she's used to Pinkie being Pinkie. "And this is… Wh-Where's Fluttershy?" Rarity asked looking around.

"Hey yeah, where is she?" Rainbow asked, she flew around trying to spot her in the forest. Riku raised his eyebrow at the ponies, wondering who this Fluttershy is. 'rustle rustle' "Hmm? Is there something in the bushes?" Riku thought. He took a look back at the ponies and they were frantically searching for their friend, even Donald and Goofy went to join them. Riku decided to approach where bush that caused that rustling. As he got there, he stuck his head in wondering what was in there, using his hoof he spread out the branches, coming face to face… with a yellow pony with a long pink mane. "Oh! Are you Fluttershy?" Riku asked. "Eeep!" was all she squeaked as she hid herself deeper into the bush. "Oh! I'm sorry… I didn't mean to startle you, don't worry… I'm not going to hurt you or anything… I just want to be friends." Riku said showing his most friendly smile holding out his hoof in a friendly gesture.

Fluttershy was really scared, nervous, embarrassed, did I mention she was really scared? In fact she's surprised she hasn't fainted yet. First, she was attacked by what she thought was a cute little rabbit, but instead it was a monster. Then, as her friends were in trouble, even bigger monsters came out. Even though, those two…, whatever they were, saved them, she was so scared for them when they were caught by that even bigger armored monster. Then there was the sudden, loud voice yelling.

Then came the large, booming sound. Ooooh it was sooo frightening for her. Now she was face to face with the pony who did all that! Fluttershy meekly turned her head, trying to speak as best as she can… which usually ended up sounding more like a barely audible whisper, she was always like this whenever a new pony showed up trying to introduce themselves to her. She'd always end getting so nervous, unable to speak her mind.

Whenever she brought up the courage to speak, one could barely hear her. Keeping his smile, Riku was a bit puzzled, realizing she must be REALLY shy. "Just like her name." He thought. He moved his head, which startled Fluttershy a bit, saying. "Don't worry, if you'd like, you can just whisper to my ear if that's okay." Fluttershy's cheeks flushed, no pony, no mare, much less a stallion, had ever been so close not counting her friends of course, or even suggested something like this before. Then again, most ponies never really noticed how nervous she gets when they first meet her. She was a bit… happy to say the least. She thought, maybe he's actually a really, nice pony. She went up to Riku's ear saying "Thank you… I-I hope we can become good friends" as she smiled. Smiling back, Riku answered her "So do I, it's nice to meet you, Fluttershy."

Poking his head out of the bushes, Riku called out to the others. "Hey! She's over here!" Fluttershy poked her head and wings out of the bushes, accidentally bringing out her tail as well making her resemble a Chia pony. She waved her hoof, and smiled meekly "Hello everyone." She said. "Fluttershy!" The other ponies cried as they went up to her, "You had us all worried darling!" Rarity said as she went up to hug her friend. "What happened? Why were you hiding in the bushes?" Twilight asked her voice full of concern. "Oh, I was a bit… scared when I heard the large boom from before." Fluttershy answered, giving an embarrassed smile. "Ha! I'm not surprised since it's you, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash said smugly yet relieved to see her friend unharmed "but come on! You spoke out and faced down a dragon! You even out stared a cockatrice!" "Oh, those weren't anything" Fluttershy answered humbly, cheeks flushed.

"I mean, at those times, you girls were in trouble, so I felt like I had to help, and so were Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle." "Well Gwarsh," Goofy said smiling "From what I just heard I think you're plenty brave, Miss Fluttershy. I mean it takes a lot of courage to be able to stand up for your friends." "Really? I never thought of it that way." Fluttershy said shocked hearing those words… brave? her? The little mare that's afraid of her own shadow? "I definitely agree." Riku said. "It takes a lot of courage to defend another, especially when it's a lot easier to just look the other way." Fluttershy looked at her new friends, smiling and said "Thank you very much." "Ummm not to ruin the mood or anything" Pinkie Pie suddenly declared.

"But… I have a few questions." "That's right!" Twilight interjected "Just who are you three? Where did you come from? What were those creatures. And what is that large candy looking… thing there?" Twilight pointed her hoof at the gummi ship. "Oh…" Riku said, feeling a bit awkward "Ummmm this might-… Uhhhhh It's kind of… It's a little hard to explain." He rubbed the back of his head with his hoof nervously. "Uhh guys, a little help here?" Riku looked to his friends. "Ummmm hmmm, well let's see…." Goofy started, scratching his head while pondering. As for Donald, he had a sudden interest in the clouds. Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle gave them suspicious looks. They definitely both had the same idea: these three were very suspicious… something was very, VERY fishy.

After notes:

(1) I actually made this one up to give Riku some extra flair instead of always copying attacks from the previous series.