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 5
The Elements of Harmony
Princess Celestia was not having a good day…. not at all. First, she gets a letter from her favorite student telling her that she and her friends were attacked by creatures resembling the Heartless, dark malevolent beings that were formed from the darkness in the hearts of living creatures. Then, when she goes to meet the pony that saved her, she finds out he was already corrupted by the Darkness, and was most likely the one who unleashed those creatures on her student and her friends in the first place. Finally, as she was about to have said pony arrested to be interrogated, he escapes and worse yet, she can't follow after him because of the growing crowd of admirers surrounding her, wanting to be in her presence. "Please, everypony, I'm afraid I'm not here on a social visit." Celestia tells the crowd. "Everypony, calm down, and make some room for her majesty!" cried the Mayor of Ponyville, who was currently pushing her way to Princess Celestia.
"Thank you, Mayor." Celestia thanked. Suddenly, the Princess had an idea. She took to the air, using her own Royal Canterlot voice, she spoke. "Listen to me, my ponies." She looked around to see if all the ponies that are there are listening. "There is an Earth pony in this town that I am searching for, he travels with two strange creatures that resemble a duck and a dog. He has a spiky, white mane and tail, and his hair is silvery-grey. I ask that you all keep a look out for him and to please let one of my guards or the Mayor know if you see him or his two companions." She turned her head to face the Mayor, and in her normal voice "I hope I'm not inconveniencing you, Mayor Mare." "Not at all, Princess! It's an honor to be able to help you with anything!" The aged mare assured as she nodded in agreement. Celestia smiled, and took to the skies, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fugitive pony.
As she flew, she happened to spot a certain pink pony hopping around the pastry shop where she once held a large tea party for the whole town of Ponyville. "Pinkie Pie! Perhaps she could help me with the search." She thought. She called out to her as she flew down to meet with the pink mare. "Princess Celestia!" Pinkie shouted in gleeful surprise. She had an incredible large smile on her face as she bounded up to the royal pony. "It is good to see you again, Pinkie Pie," Celestia said as she landed. "But I am afraid this visit isn't for fun, I need to ask of you a favor." Celestia said as she gave the mare a serious look. Pinkie stood straight hooves together before saluting her, as if mimicking one of the Canterlot knights. "Don't worry, Princess, you can count on me, for whatever it is you need!" Pinkie proclaimed.
"Thank you, Pinkamena." Celestia replied while nodding. "I need you to help me look for the pony you and your friends met while in the Everfree Forest yesterday." "Wow, you mean Riku? News sure travels fast, huh? Oh, but don't worry, Princess, I was already going to go look for him since I haven't given him a welcome party yet!" Pinkie said while smiling. Celestia smiled back at the pink pony, almost admiring her naivety. "Thank you, Pinkie Pie, can you let your friends know about this as well? I would like to find Riku very soon." Celestia requested. "Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie Pie agreed as she bounced down off to let her friends know. Celestia looked at the young bouncing mare making sure she was off to find her friends to let them know of the search going on before taking to the skies.
Celestia looked around, spotting many other ponies but there was no sign of Riku or his two comrades. She did mistake Thunder Lane for Riku once, due to the same color of their mane and hair… until he flew off. She was looking for what seemed like an hour, before spotting Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie running around the city. "It seems that Pinkamena was able to speak to some of the others." She thought. "That's good, now if only somepony was able to find him." She looked ahead in front of her, noticing quite a few pegasi were already flying about, searching as well. She saw Rainbow Dash zooming back only stopping to check areas other ponies had yet to look at. She was quite glad to see such loyalty from her subjects; she only hoped they wouldn't find out the situation of the matter. It could lead to a panic after all, and such large scale disorder would only cause an even bigger crisis to possibly happen.
As she scanned the area, she thought back to what her student, Twilight Sparkle, had written in her letter. She had met the pony in the Everfree Forest. "That's it!" She thought. She flew towards the Everfree Forest sure enough as she looked down she noticed a certain purple unicorn rushing into the forest. "Twilight Sparkle must have found him, I should find the other Elements of Harmony; their powers should be able to contain the key bearer. Or perhaps, at least, drive off some part of the darkness that possesses him." She flew back to where she first saw Rainbow Dash. It didn't take her long. Surprisingly, she was still searching around the area. "Rainbow Dash!" She called out. "Oh! Princess!" Rainbow cried in surprise as Celestia came flying up to her. "Don't worry, your majesty, I got every Pegasi in Ponyville to help with your search. By the way, if you don't mind me asking, how come you're looking for Riku?" "I'm afraid I do not have that much time to talk, Rainbow Dash. I'll have to answer your questions later when this whole fiasco is over… For now, could you please find your friends and head to the Everfree Forest? I have something to give you and your friends once you all arrived. Oh! And don't worry about Twilight Sparkle, she's already in the forest." Celestia instructed. "Uh… Okay… gotcha, I'll gather up everybody and meet you there, your Highness.!" Rainbow Dash affirmed before dashing off.
As soon as she was gone, Celestia headed back to Twilight's Library, she landed near her Chariot, with one of her Pegasus knights nearby guarding it. "Your Majesty!" The Soldier saluted with his wing. She nodded as she approached the chariot. Using her magic, she brought out a yellow box. It didn't look very special; it had the designs of a sun on the top and moons on the bottom corners acting as stands. She left as soon as she got the box, telling the knight to remain at his station. As she once again took to the skies, she checked the contents of the box, inside were five necklaces and a single tiara crown. "I hope it wasn't a mistake to bring these here." She thought. As she closed the box, she sped up heading back to the spot where the entrance to the Everfree Forest is. Upon reaching there, she noticed Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack were present, though Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy seemed to be absent. As she approached, Rarity pointed at her with a hoof, and the two earth ponies looked up before bowing.
Princess Celestia had gracefully landed in front of the three ponies, descending upon them as if sent from the heavens themselves. "I'm glad to see that you three were able to get the message, but where are Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy?" She asked the three. Applejack spoke first "Rainbow Dash went to get Fluttershy, your majesty." She answered. "I reckon they'll be here soon since Fluttershy lives near the Everfree Forest." Nodding the Princess ruler spoke "I see… then we shall wait fo-" "Hey, we're here! Oh, Princess Celestia!" Rainbow Dash cried in surprise as she flew to the group landing in a bow. "H-Hello, your Highness." Fluttershy stuttered, as she did the same as Rainbow. "I'm glad to see that you both, made it, I can give you these now then." The Princess said before opening the box she was carrying.
Inside were five different necklaces and a single crown tiara, each one of the necklaces were adorned a gem in the shape of the five ponies' respective cutie marks. "The Elements of Harmony!" the ponies cried in surprise. "But Princess Celestia," Rarity asked nervously "surely we don't require the power of the Elements of Harmony to look for a single pony." "No, I did not bring the Elements of Harmony to help search for Riku, Rarity." Celestia started. Rarity had a relieved look on her face, thinking that the pony was not lost somewhere and in some severe danger. "I brought the elements of Harmony to use against him once he is found." "WHAT!" The five ponies cried in unison, surprised. "I'm afraid there is little time to explain, please just take them and put them on, we must make haste." Celestia commanded the elemental mares, before she started galloping into the forest.
The five friends looked to each other wondering what was going on, they decided to put on their respective Elements of Harmony necklaces on before chasing after their goddess ruler, hoping that perhaps she could explain exactly what was wrong and why would she deem him so dangerous. "Your Highness!" Rarity cried after the large alicorn ruler. "Please excuse us Princess, but could you possible tell us why would you want to use the Elements of Harmony on Riku?" Rarity asks Celestia. "I'm afraid you all might have been deceived, my little ponies." She replied as they ran. She continues and explains what she essentially told Twilight Sparkle about Riku and the connection he might have to the Heartless. "I knew there was something fishy about that pony!" Rainbow Dash stated as she glided alongside her friends. "There was something about that guy like he was still hiding something from us." she thought.
"Ah jus can't believe it, Ah mean saving us so he could betray us? If he was so powerful, why didn't he just take us out when he had the chance?" Applejack said, unable to understand why anypony would want to go through all the trouble. "M-m-maybe it was just all a misunderstanding?" Fluttershy squeaked as she tried desperately to keep up with the others in the back. Celestia was about to answer when she heard laughter up ahead from where they were running. She started to have a very bad feeling as the voice sounded familiar. "No… it couldn't be! She shouldn't be here she should be back in Ponyville! She's changed… she's not like that anymore!" Celestia thought as she took flight, practically leaving the other ponies behind like a freight train zooming past cars. She recognized that voice but it shouldn't be possible… The Elements of Harmony drove the Darkness out of her… she shouldn't be like this anymore. She flew to a small clearing and what she saw had frightened her; tears started forming on her eyes at the scene she was seeing.
Twilight Sparkle had seen her once and only once, but their first meeting was all it took to scare her. "Luna!" Celestia cried. Twilight Sparkle turned around to see her beloved mentor and ruler standing near the few trees that were around the clearing they were in. "Princess!" she cried. She wasn't sure if her mentor heard her, as Celestia's gaze was fixated on Princess Luna. No, that pony wasn't Princess Luna. She is the nightmare that had tried to bring an endless night to all of Equestria over two years ago right here in Ponyville. "Princess Celestia! That's not Princess Luna! It's Night Mare Moon!" she yelled back, desperately hoping her voice could bring her beloved mentor's senses back. "AHAHAHAHAHAHA! How wonderful it is to be back, and this time NOTHING can stop us!" The black mare haughtily proclaimed.
Over at least millennia, that was how long it took for her to be released from her celestial prison on the moon. She had fallen from grace when she attempted to bring about the Endless Night the first time, then to fail again the second time, losing to the Elements of Harmony on both accounts. Now that she was back, she thought about first what she could do… Ah, yes, the element of Magic, the little brat filly whom Celestia took as an apprentice, the last pony that sealed her away. "She will pay for what she did to me, sealing me away." Nightmare Moon thought. "No, No that's wrong! She saved us, she drove you away!" another voice was heard in her head. Her eyes widened in shock. It could not be, the little princess whose body she holds, her mind is still conscious!
"Impossible" she whispered, "How could thou still be here, thou should be pushed away far into slumber!" "Luna!" Celestia cried as she ran up to the jet black mare. "Luna, please don't go back to this, you were doing so well before." Celestia pleaded. "Silence! Away from us traitor! Of all the ponies in Equestria, thou we had expected to at least understand how we felt!" Night Mare screamed. As the royal ponies bickered, Riku had ran to Twilight, he was very confused thinking of things like why hadn't Princess Luna turned into a Heartless? Who is this pony that seemed to have come from nowhere?
"Twilight!" he cried "Do you know what's going on? What happened to Princess Luna? Who is that black pony arguing with Princess Celestia?" He asked. With worried eyes, she turned to Riku about to explain when suddenly, two ponies tackled down Riku, it was Rainbow Dash and Applejack! "Rainbow Dash? Applejack? What are you two doing?" Twilight cried. "Don't you worry none, Twilight, we got this lying rattlesnake tighter then a cap on a pickle jar" Applejack told Twilight full of confidence. "Yeah, Twilight, we came here after Princess Celestia to help you catch this guy." Rainbow Dash followed up. "I knew there was something fishy about you, and Princess Celestia told us all about you." "No no no!" Twilight interjected "You don't understand! Quick, let him go, he didn't do anything!" Twilight pleaded, trying to convince her friends to let go of Riku. "What the hay are you talking about? Princess Celestia over the-OH BY CELESTIA'S MANE!" Rainbow Dash had nearly screamed.
"What in tarnation are you screaming for Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow Dash's jaw was slacked open as she moved her front hooves, grabbed Applejack's head and turned it to face the scene with Celestia and Night Mare Moon. "Oh, by Granny Smith's Farm! It's Night Mare Moon!" Applejack cried in shock. "Uhhh… not to interrupt but could you get off me now?" Riku cried out. "Riku!" Donald quacked as he awkwardly ran and waddled at the same time to him, followed by Goofy, "Gwarsh are you okay?" The bucked-tooth dog asked. "I'm fine." Riku assured. "I just would very much like to stand now." as he decided to force the two shocked ponies off of him. "Twilight! Rainbow! AJ!" Pinkie Pie yelled as she, Rarity, and Fluttershy came into the scene out of breath, breathing hard.
"Rarity! Pinkie Pie! Fluttershy!" Twilight cried, she ran up to their friends, finally noticing that they were wearing their Element of Harmony necklaces. "The Elements of Harmony? Where did you guys get those? Did Princess Celestia bring them? Wait, where's mine then?" Twilight rambled on asking questions before Rarity put a hoof in Twilight's mouth before trying to explain. She also levitated from the ground the box Princess Celestia was carrying before. Opening and taking out the Crown Tiara of Twilight's Element of Magic. "Oh…" was all Twilight could say as Rarity levitated it onto Twilight's head. "Now then, back to the matter at hand. What in the name of Equestria is going on?" She suddenly screamed. "Yeah! Why is Night Mare Moon back? I thought we made her okay again when we turned her back to Princess Luna with the Elements of Harmony!" Pinkie Pie asked. "It was another pony!" Twilight explained.
As Twilight explained what had happened earlier, Donald and Goofy were checking Riku to see if he was okay, thinking he might have been hurt. Fluttershy headed over to them. "Um… Riku? Umm Donald? Goofy? Are you three alright?" The Pegasus meekly asked. "Yeah, nothing a cure spell won't fix anyway." Riku answered. "We're alright, Miss Fluttershy, but I don't think Princess Luna is… she changed and turned all black." Goofy said worried. "You can say that again." Donald quacked irritably. "Who was that pony that attacked us, Riku? It seemed you knew him." "I met him in my dream." Riku said "It was when we crashed and I was knocked out. That's when I saw him and we started to fight. He said he needed to test me to make sure I was ready for what's coming up or something. Wait… where is he?" Riku looked around, Donald and Goofy did the same but there was no sign of the mysterious colt anywhere."Wh-Where'd he go?" Donald quacked surprised. "Umm excuse me…" Fluttershy meekly said. "What is it, Fluttershy?" Riku asked. "T-To answer your question, that pony is actually called Night Mare Moon." Fluttershy answered pointing to the black mare. "It was a long time ago… at least a thousand years ago, from what Twilight told us." "What do you mean?" Donald quacked.
The group looked back to Celestia and Night Mare, they were both still arguing, tears running down Celestia's face, and Night Mare angrily screaming at her. Saying how she had always knew that she was never wanted to be her sibling, whereas Celestia pleaded to her to come back as Luna while denying her claims. Fluttershy continued her story. "Long ago, when Equestria was established by the two great sister Pony goddesses who ruled the land. The eldest, Princess Celestia, controlled the sun, moving it to create day, where all the ponies play and work. Princess Luna controlled the moon and brought the night, that's when ponies slept. But Princess Luna became jealous and bitter because all the ponies kept sleeping at night, not bothering to even appreciate the beautiful night sky. Oh Poor Princess Luna..." Fluttershy said showing empathy to the dark mare, she knew how it feels to be ignored. She understood it all too well with her meekness, she was often left in the background because of how shy she was.
She looked to her friends while still listening to Twilight, explaining what had happened upon coming into the Everfree Forest. "I-I'm really grateful to have them as friends… Rainbow Dash always standing up for me… Rarity always being generous and giving me time to share my feelings with her… Applejack always telling me the honest truth on anything I ask about… Pinkie Pie always making sure even I would laugh whenever we were together, and Twilight… oh if it wasn't for her… we probably wouldn't even have become friends… Twilight was the bond that became the connection to all of us…". She turned back to Riku's group before continuing. "Princess Luna had decided that she wouldn't let the sun come up, to make sure that everypony would finally notice her night sky. She decided she would never bring it up, because she was tired of ponies always sleeping whenever it was night. She just wanted her subjects to notice her too. She must have been so lonely." Fluttershy explained in a sad voice, her eyes started to water. She looked back to the black mare Princess. All of the sudden, she no longer felt scared of her, like she did two years ago, in fact, she pitied her. She wanted to help her, to make her pain stop.
She tried to continue her story. Riku put a hoof on her shoulder. "It's okay, Fluttershy, I think I understand… no… more like I completely understand." Riku said as he gritted his teeth, as he delved into his own head. "The loneliness… It's horrible to feel alone, and even worse when it's people you care about." He understood that feeling, back when he was trying to gain Kairi's affection, and when Sora and Kairi made a special promise to each other without including him… making him feel left out… the pain was unbearable. The pain must have been worse for her, all her subjects, all those ponies that she cared for, practically ignoring her. "I don't think anyone could handle that." "ENOUGH!" Night Mare screamed. Everyone looked back at the two, Night Mare Moon's face had a look of rage upon it. On Celestia's, it was fear. "We will not be denied this time, we shall bring forth the endless night. No, pony will stop us!" She yelled. "We got to stop her!" Twilight cried. "Come on girls! We can use the Elements of Harmony like last time!" "Right!" The five ponies ran and surrounded Night Mare Moon, "Princess Celestia, please stand back, don't worry, we'll bring Princess Luna back!" Twilight assured her teacher. Celestia with teary eyes looked to her student and her friends all prepared to stop Night Mare Moon and to save her sister. She closed her eyes to calm down before speaking "Yes, I understand do what you all need to do." Celestia said as she agreed to stay put to watch her student's friends and her friends save her little sister once more.
Night Mare Moon smiled, she took a few steps up towards the ponies before asking "So what does thou think this group of five are going to do?" "It's nine!" Fluttershy cried in a tiny voice behind her. Behind Fluttershy were Riku, Donald and Goofy, as they were in a ready position with their weapons waiting for the battle to start. "Ahahahaha, Go right ahead, in fact we'll even give thou a free shot." She calmly said. The ponies looked to each other, wondering why Night Mare Moon wasn't scared at all, Riku glared at her, stared at her wondering why she was so full of confidence. The girls activated their Elements sending their magic to Twilight Sparkle, the purple mare started to glow a bright white light, her eyes suddenly lost their pupils and started emitting a bright white light her friends had followed suit as well. "No way." Riku barely whispered "All that light! It's… it's like Kingdom Hearts!" he thought. He remembered when he first saw light that bright, it was when he had closed the door to Kingdom Hearts, Riku "Wooooooow." Goofy and Donald muttered as they witnessed the incredible scene. Princess Celestia was nearby looking on worried with fear for her sister. The light that surrounded the six ponies condensed to Twilight's horn before shooting forth a beam of rainbow light upon Night Mare Moon, the Light encompassed her circling around her until completely covering her.
"Ahahahahaha, AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Thine precious Elements of Harmony are USELESS!" Night Mare Moon's voice could be heard from inside the rainbow sphere. Twilight and the girls had confused looks on their faces, and as did everyone else. "W-What's going on?" Twilight stuttered. "You… you should be gone by now… The last time the Elements-" "The Elements are now powerless against the darkness of my new power!" Night Mare cried as she broke the sphere of rainbow light spreading her wings, releasing a torrent of black lightning all around. The six ponies dropped to the ground exhausted from releasing all that energy from before. They looked up, and to their horror, there she was, Night Mare Moon, in all her glory, sending waves of dark lightning. "This can't be happening." Twilight said. Princess Celestia ran to her student covering her and her friends with her own large wings like a mother hen trying to protect her little chicks. "Hahahahahahaha! Whatever will thou do now, thine little ponies? How does thou suppose thou will stop us now? Now, that thy precious Elements no longer affect us. We will carry out the vow we have made to bring THE ENDLESS NIGHT!" She cries out to the heavens, pointing a hoof up as if pointing to the sky, and sure enough, the sky had been transformed the sun nowhere to be seen in the sky, scattered everywhere were twinkling stars and, in all of its glory, the moon in its crescent shape shone down, it's light upon the forest. All of Equestria was being blanketed by a dark night sky. The Elements of Harmony had failed, and Night Mare Moon was finally about to bring about her promise a thousand years ago. "The Endless Night…" Celestia whispered in horror as she stared upon the sky and the mare that was once her sister.
It had begun….