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 13
Hoedown Showdown
The night sky was beautiful, shining like gems on a cloak of black velvet upon Ponyville, where the only light source are the streetlights, and one bright light in an apple orchard, where four ponies gathered, two of them tied up to a tree.
"You two low-down snakes in the grass! Ah knew you two were behind alla this!" Applejack practically screeched in anger upon seeing these two.
"Now now now, Miss Apple, there's no need for names." Flam reprimanded, as the two walked up to them.
"So what do you plan to do with us now?" Riku asked.
"That, my boy, is none of your concern." Flam answered mockingly.
"Yes, since you won't be going anywhere for the next week." Flim continued.
"You can't just leave us here!" Applejack cried in protest.
"Oh yes, we can." Flim answered back smiling smugly,
"And that we will!" Flam continued.
"So long as YOU are gone, Applejack, everypony in town will think you up and deserted them. Meaning, since that naturally assumes you couldn't find out the truth and just ran instead with your tail between your legs, we get the farm." Flim explained.
"And that's all that matters." Flam finished.
"You two are disgusting." Riku spatted, "Using Heartless, to corrupt the apples here just to run her family off it. You're no better than thieves!"
"We have no idea what you're talking about." Flim said mockingly
"But this is the best chance we have ever since these 'Apples' made such huge fools of us last time we were here in Ponyville." Flam said with as much venom that he could muster to the Apple name.
"That's right, brother! Now we'll get what we deserve and ridding ourselves of the Apple pests all at once. Perfect!"
"You won't get away with this! Our friends will know we went missing and they'll come looking for us!" Riku retorted.
"Of course, we know that and we'll just tell them you two left together leaving town. Like they'll ever know that you're actually here, and there we have it." Flim proclaimed.
"They'll just go off out of town looking for you, even though you'll be right here." Flam finished explaining with a smug smile.
"It's practically foolproof! Wouldn't you say, brother of mine?"
"Indeed I do agree oh brother!" Flim acknowledged.
"Now then, if you'll excuse us, we have to prepare when we get your farm." Flam stated.
"So then toodle loo!" Flim waved his hoof to them good bye as they walked away laughing.
The two trapped ponies could only grit their teeth as they watched their captors walk away laughing at their misfortune, until they faded away from their view in the dark of the night.
"Ya won't get away with this! Our friends will find us! Just you see!" Applejack yelled out at them. "They'll find us… they'll definitely find us… right?" she said quietly, almost a whisper to herself. Riku didn't answer, as he wouldn't know, there was no way for them to contact any of the other ponies. "Riku?" she called to him the silence unnerving her.
"Sorry, Applejack, I was thinking there might be a way to get help after all but it'll take some time." He answered her.
Sighing with a relieved look on her face she asked. "So what's the plan?"
"Well I-" Riku started before he was interrupted.
"I suggest we get you two out of those ropes!" Pinkie Pie said suddenly appearing.
"Pinkie!" Both ponies cried out in unison upon seeing their friend.
"Hey guys! I figured you could use some help. Well, more like, I thought you guys could use some help because I saw you guys tied up but only after I found you guys after coming back here, after thinking about whether or not Applejack needed help because there's a bunch of Heartless on the Apple Farm and I know that she lives with her family, so she'd be the only one who could protect them if they got attacked and that got me worried, so then I figured if I was there I could at least help out so she wouldn't fight alone if they did attacked and-*gasp*" Pinkie stopped for a moment to catch her breath with a large gasp of air. "that's when I decided to come back to the farm and when I got to the farm, I went up to your house and Big Mac told me that you went out to investigate the noise you heard from outside, so I looked around and then after a while I finally found you two tied to this tree and I was about to call out to you but then Flim and Flam showed up, so I hid myself and waited till they left." Pinkie finished with a smile. "By the way, that was a really sad story, Applejack." She added with a frown.
"Awww shucks, sugahcube, that was mighty swell of ya, and Ah honestly think we could use the help too." Applejack thanked. As for Riku, he had a surprised look on his face,
"What's wrong, Riku?" Pinkie asked. "Did ya need me to explain it again?"
Riku shook his head before speaking. "Pinkie Pie… how are you doing that?"
Pinkie Pie only tilted her head and asked "Doing what?"
"How… how are you hanging upside down on the very tree we're tied to?" Riku asked still dumbfounded.
"Oh, well, I just crossed my two hind legs together like an X so that way I don't fall silly." She answered smiling.
"But… but how did you get up there in the first place?" Riku asked still confused.
"I climbed silly!" Pinkie Pie said giggling.
"But… how does a pony climb a tree?" Riku wondered out loud.
"Riku, there's one thing Ah've learned livin here in Ponyville. If it involves Pinkie, don't ask." Applejack explained simply.
"I think I'll keep that in mind." Riku said, shaking his head. "We should probably get out of these ropes. Pinkie, can you figure out a way to undo these?" Riku asked.
"Sure! Shouldn't be that hard." Pinkie said as she dropped down from the tree. She walked around behind them to find a knot tightly tied to the trunk and with her teeth started to pull it in different directions. "Thif nof if ftouf." She mumbled.
"How's it lookin back there, Pinkie?" Applejack asked after several minutes had passed.
"Ah fink Ah ahmosh gof if." Pinkie answered right before it came loose and the ropes dropped down.
"Alright, now that we're free, let's go find those twins." Riku said calmly.
"Yeah, Ah reckon those two no good liars need a good lesson and Ah think Ah'm the one that oughtta give it to em." Applejack growled.
"Yeah, I want to give them a piece of my mind." Riku agreed. "Right after I give them a piece of my keyblade." He thought right before Applejack and him ran off where the twins went.
"Hey guys wait for me!" Pinkie cried, chasing after them.
As the trio ran, they stumbled into a clearing.
"Hey, this is the West Orchard's garden area." Applejack replied.
"You guys have a garden? We could have picnics!" Pinkie said excitedly.
"Pinkie, focus!" Applejack scolded. "We can plan for a picnic later, I want to know where those two varmints went." Applejack and Riku scanned the area, but to no avail; they couldn't find them.
"I don't see a trace of them." Riku sighed. Applejack was about to say something when they heard a scream.
"Somepony's in trouble!" Pinkie cried.
"Ah know that voice! That was Applebloom!" With a frightened look on her face, Applejack dashed to where the sound seemed to originate and ran as fast as she could. "Ah'm coming, Applebloom!" she cried out as she ran. Riku and Pinkie followed.
As the two followed after Applejack, they slowed and started to run back when they saw her jump back out of the woods looking like she just saw NightMare Moon again. "Applejack what hap-" Riku started before he saw what started to come out of the woods. He and Pinkie quickly turned and ran as well. The large machine came out into view of the moonlight. The creaking sound its wheels made as it moved and the clunking sound the inner engine made as the machine started to crawl to a stop. The three ponies turned around saw the same machine before only this time it had arms out with a saw for one hand and a scoop for the other.
"How in Equestria did you two get free?!" Flim yelled from atop the machine.
"Wait, who is that?! Oh, that's just not fair, you two had help!" Flam continued after seeing Pinkie.
"Says the creeps who decided to tie us up to win a bet!" Riku yelled.
"Well, you're going to wish you stayed tied up, you little pests, isn't that right, brother of mine?" Flim said.
"Yes, indeed, brother of mine!" Flam agreed. And with that, the machine's gears started to crank incredibly fast, making loud cranking noises and steam released so quickly, it caused an incredibly loud whistling like it was roaring a battle-cry.
"CHAAAARGE!" the brothers cried loudly, and the machine roared, the wheels spun out and then charged at the three ponies. Applejack ran to the right of it, Pinkie Pie jumped to the left, and Riku, ever the bold one, went head on and countered the mechanical beast. As he summoned the darkness, a purplish black aura emitted from him as he disappeared, only to reappear right behind the brothers, on the top of the machine, with the keyblade in his mouth, ready to deliver a strike to Flim.
However, right before Riku swung, Flam cried out as he moved a lever with a hoof "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" and to the left side of the machine slid opened a door, revealing a cage with a small pony inside, one with a yellow coat, red mane, and bow on her head!
"Applejack! Heeeeeeeelp!" cried Applebloom, as she wrapped her hooves around the bars of the cage.
"Applebloom! Don't worry, little sis! Ah'ma comin!" Applejack yelled back, hoping to comfort her little sibling all the while wondering just how was she going to do it.
Riku growled, as he jumped right back to the ground away from Flim and Flam
"Hey, that's not nice! Let go of Applebloom right now!" Pinkie Pie yelled actually showing anger for once.
"Don't worry, Applebloom, I'll get you out of there!" Riku yelled as he teleported again, aiming his keyblade at the cage as a beam of light fired onto it, causing the cage to open.
"Ah'm free!" Applebloom cried out joyfully as she hopped out running towards her sister.
"Give it up, Flim and Flam, if you do, we might take it easy on you!" Riku warned them
"Hahaha, oh, that's funny but I've a better idea!" Flam said as he moved in to grab Applejack, who was distracted and worried about Applebloom, with a mechanical arm. Applejack, just in time, pushed Applebloom out of the way and was grabbed.
"Applejack!" the three ponies cried out.
Applejack struggled with the grip of the machine arm, but it was no use, she couldn't get out and was thrown into the cage. This time though, as the cage bars closed a thick glass window slid down on it and was glowing.
"Don't worry, Applejack, I'll get you out!" Riku cried, but as he pointed his keyblade in order to unlock the door, the beam hit the glass and bounced off. "What the?! Why didn't it work?!" he yelled in confusion.
"Ah ah ah, not this time." Flim said with a smug face as he waved his hoof "I made sure to keep you from doing that again with my magic." He explained.
"Give us back Applejack, you creeps!" Pinkie Pie yelled as she aimed her party cannon at them.
"Don't worry, sis, we'll get ya out!" Applebloom cried to assure her sister, "I wouldn't go and get any bright ideas, if I were you three, other than giving us the deed to Sweet Apple Acres little Apple, or we'll keep doing this!" Flam said grinning like smugly. As he pulled another lever on the control panel the machine began to moan and popping noises, as an arm with an attached hose came out, the arm then pointed the end hose at Applejack and the glass barrier from before slid up and the hose let loose a spray of yellow liquid.
"Arrrgh! Blah Ptooey!" Applejack spewed as she tried to cover herself from the liquid. "What the?" she said as she licked her lips in thought and realized. "This is Apple Cider!"
"Huh?!" The four ponies cried in confusion.
"Heheheheh, this isn't normal Apple Cider, it's made from the rotten apples those strange moving trees make." Flam explained to them
"Yes, and it tends to have a strange side effect when drank or doused with." Flim continued. The three ponies looked to Applejack worried and wondering what could possibly be happening to her.
"Applejack! Are ya okay, sis?!" Applebloom cried to her sister.
"Ugh, Ah'm fine Applebloom don't chu worry none now." Applejack replied, but her voice seemed weak. In fact, she looked like she was starting to have trouble standing as it is, her hind legs trembled and it looked as though it's taking all her strength just to stand.
"What's going on?! What did you do to her?!" Riku demanded,
"Tut tut, don't you worry none now you see, the little Apple just has a new friend inside her now, a little friend taking all her energy away to grow into a nice big new apple tree." Flim said with a sinister sneer.
"What?!" The three ponies gasped.
"Oh no! Oh no! Riku, we gotta hurry and save Applejack." Pinkie said as she shook Riku's shoulders violently.
"I know, I know, Pinkie! Calm down!" Riku told her, "I'll bust her out of there, and-"
"Ah ah ah, we told you before if you made any sudden movements we'll blast her with more cider remember?" Flim reminded Riku.
Riku, gritting his teeth in frustration, thought "How are we going to save her? If we try anything they'll blast her with more cider and who knows what else that'll do to her. I… I don't know how to save her at this rate." As he pondered, his eyes had wondered over to Applebloom and they widened by the sight. Applebloom was trembling, knees shaky, with tears in her eyes as she looked up to her sister in the cage weakened by the corrupted cider. "She's scared, she probably thinks Applejack is in danger because of her…" Riku looked back at the brothers, fury in his eyes, and as his teeth gritted, he felt so helpless! He hadn't felt like this since the time he couldn't help Kairi when she was without her heart, or when Sora's heart cracked. He looked to Pinkie, hoping her usual randomness might help somehow, but alas, Pinkie was just as frightened for Applejack as Applebloom, she was even biting her hoofs making a pile of hoof clippings. He could only watch as Applejack's strength was being drained, he noticed though something like a little plant sprouted on her back. "It's starting!"
"Now now, we're not complete monsters here, in fact, here, we'll give you another opportunity to save her." Flim said calmly with a smile.
"What? What do you mean?" Riku asked them, though he had an idea of what they were going to ask.
"We want little Applebloom to get the rest of her family and to bring them here, along with the deed to Sweet Apple Acres." Flam stated as he gave his demands.
"I knew it!" Riku growled
"Ooh the next time I have a party, I'm not inviting you two!" Pinkie cried out frustrated.
"We don't hav'a choice, it's all mah fault, if Ah just stayed inside like Applejack told me to, this wouldn'ta happened. " Applebloom said crestfallen eyes watery, "Ahright Ahright! You two win Ah'll bring them over here just don't hurt Applejack anymore!" she shouted, relenting.
"D-Don't do it Applebloom, whatevah… whatever ya do, don' give these two bit-snakes our farm." Applejack weakly said, just loudly enough for the three ponies to hear.
"Ah can't do it, Applejack… Ah can't jus leave ya here like this!" Applebloom shouted back before running into the woods.
"Applebloom, wait!" Pinkie yelled after her but the little filly was already out of sight. As her little figure retreated away in the darkness of the trees, Pinkie and Riku turned back to face the dreaded driven automaton the twins sat upon.
"There has to be something we could do." Riku thought. He looked between the machine and Flim and Flam and Applejack stuck in the cage. He wracked his brain as much as he could but he just couldn't figure out how to get her out of this situation.
"Y'all…" Applejack started to speak but weakly as she tried to get up. "Y'all gotta stop her, Riku, please… this farm it's all we have left… it's all we have left for Applebloom to remember our parents!" She cried. Those words had rung through Riku's ears in-between the weak sobs of Applejack's cries.
"That's right", he remembered what Applejack said to him before… Their mother passed away while giving birth to Applebloom, and she was only a baby when her father passed away. She couldn't have any memories of them because she was too young to remember them
"Y-y-you-ya don… ya don't have to worry about me, Riku… This cowgirl… can handle anything these two can dish out… so please… stop mah sister, from making the biggest mistake of her life, okay? Please, Ah'll be fine." She said as she looked down with a smile. pretending to be strong, but Riku could tell just how much she's struggling just to even stay awake.
He would know… he made that same smile all the time back when he was a kid, whenever Sora and him got into trouble or if he got hurt protecting Sora… he'd always smile to keep him from getting worried, it was the smile of someone trying to be strong, to become strong for another
"Riku!" Pinkie Pie uttered his name. He turned to her. He saw her still staring at Applejack with tears rolling down her face. "Riku, please…. Please help Applejack! That smile I know it's not her real smile… her real one is so much more different then that! I know she's just trying to make us think she's okay so we'd go to stop Applebloom but... I can't… I can't stand seeing my friend being forced to smile like that!" She cried as she shut her eyes as tears flowed, her voice so pained and sad, sadness for her friend. Then it happened… Riku saw it happened again… both Applejack and Pinkie Pie's Elements of Harmony were glowing and making a beaming light aiming at him. His own keyblade forced itself to appear in a flash of light and was making itself glow as well.
"A Chain Link!" He thought, and just like before his keyblade and the girls necklaces glowed in sync brighter then just as before they disappeared as light beaming into his keyblade causing it shine incredibly bright.
"Aaaaah! I can't see a thing, it's too bright!" Flim yelled.
"Me neither! I knew I should've brought sunglasses!" Flam cried as well, both brothers were shielding their eyes from the light.
Apart from that a certain little creature was sending a video image of this scene to two certain individuals. "I figured as much, it's actually kind of predictable at this point." The hooded figured said with a bored tone.
"Of course, they would, it was like this last time as well." Vanitas replied. "Why are you doing this again?"
"Doing what?" The hooded figure asks.
"That again… on the screen." Vanitas replied as he pointed to the screen showing a transformation sequence of Riku's Keyblade. The blade was his normal Way to the Dawn Keyblade, however, it had two lights, a pink one and an orange one, encircling as the hilt and hilt guards of the keyblade changed shape.
The hilt transformed into something that resembles a tree trunk even with a decal like a tree hollow, the front guard of the hilt changed from being a wing to chained party streamers of different various colors green, pink purple, yellow, and so on.
Where the blade and hilt meet changed to resemble a green bushel decal resembling a tree's leafy branches. The usual bat-like wing as the blade of the keyblade morphed as well, resembling instead party ribbons being extended from the bushel swirling around each other like a multi-colored horn, and at the end, the usual wing that acted as the key's teeth changed to look like three apples, Green, Red, Yellow.
The handle on the bottom of the keyblade changed as well although it wasn't much it now resembled more like a normal shovel's handle made of intertwining roots from a tree. The chain close to the bottom of the hiltguard seemed to be attached not to the guard itself but to a large cannon decal that the streamers are coming out of. The chain was also connected to the cannon decal in a way that it resembles the cannon's string, bottom of the chain splits into three separate chains each carrying a symbol. One of Riku's original keyblade chain, another resembling an apple and the last one resembling a balloon.
Words appear on the screen "Honest Smile?" Vanitas said in a questioning way as he turned his head, facing his visor to the cloaked figure.
"What? It's a great reference to that one song!" The figure said in an as-a-matter-of-fact voice.
"What song?" Vanitas asks.
"You wouldn't know, but I bet our readers do." The figure said in a know-it-all way.
"Readers? What readers?!" Vanitas asked confused and frustrated with the cryptic nonsense babbling of his partner.
"Don't worry about it here, let's see where things go with this." The figure said as the figure snapped his fingers as the words and bright flashy animations leave the screen, leaving the screen back to normal. Grumbling to himself, knowing he wouldn't get a complete answer, Vanitas grudgingly just watches the screen.
Back in Sweet Apple Acres as the light subsided, only Riku was there standing still as he stares as his new keyblade, which honestly looks more like a toy now then a keyblade like before. "Why do I feel like Pinkie is somehow involved in my Keyblade looking more like a toy then an actual keyblade?" Riku thinks to himself.
"Hey! I think it looks cool!" Pinkie's voice rang through his head.
"Gah! Pinkie don't do that!"Riku cried in surprise.
"Whoa nelly! What in tarnation is going on here?! Where am I?! And Pinkie, was that you and Riku?!" Applejack cried out surprised.
"Applejack! That's right! We merged through a Chain Link! So you're safe now!" Riku explained.
"Ooh! Ooh! Chain Link is that thing where you, Twilight, and Fluttershy did cool thing where you three combined right?! This is NEAT! We should have a Chain Link PARTY!" Pinkie cried very Loudly.
"Uhh another time Pinkie" Riku interrupted. "Right now, I think we got more important things to worry about. Applejack, how are you feeling right now?"
"Ah'm… huh funny Ah don't feel any pain anymore. In fac,t Ah feel great! Ah feel like Ah could buck over a hundred trees!" She said in a bright cheerful voice.
"Well, I guess we don't need to worry about you anymore." Riku replied. "Interesting so being Chain Linked can cure bad ailments as well." Riku noted.
"Sure looks like it." Applejack affirmed what Riku was thinking.
"This is great! Now we don't have to worry about Applejack being sick anymore! We totally need to do a party later!" Pinkie cried joyfully. Riku could already imagine her hopping around excitedly in his head.
"HEY! Don't go ignoring us!" Riku looked up and faced where the voice came from, which was Flim and Flam yelling at them, then remembered "that's right how they could have forgotten so soon". Two certain brothers were waiting for him, staring down at them from their machine.
"Oh yeah! That's right! Those two snakes in the grass! Ooooh Ah'm gonna buck their hides so hard their GRANDKIDS are gonna feel it!" Applejack cried out angrily.
"I'm with you Applejack and when we're done let's see how they like being put in a cage!" Pinkie Pie cried out in agreement.
"Yeah! Let's take down these two stuck up jerks before Applebloom and the rest of your family gets here. Time to save the farm!" Riku thought. The three minds were synchronized and were about to prepare one of the biggest hoedown beat-downs in Sweet Apple Acres. "You two should surrender now, like I said before we might take it easy on you." Riku replied calmly in fact he was pretty smug about it as well as he took his keyblade with his mouth.
"Give up!?" laughed Flam "It's just you! The other two abandoned you when they had the chance! Like-"
"They didn't abandon me, just so you know, they're around you just can't see them." Riku interrupted. "Now's let's get this party started." Riku put himself into a ready stance.
The brothers were shocked at what happened earlier but quickly got back into composure and started fiddling with the controls to their machine. They flipped a few levers and pulled a couple of switches and pressed a lot of buttons. The machine began to whirl itself around and popped out several arms, two with hands, one with a chainsaw, another resembling a vacuum and one last one holding a barrel. The machine gears moved and cranked loudly and let off a loud high pitched whistle from the steam. Riku made the first move, he dashed in quickly, hopping to hide himself from the brother's view from all the way on the top, and was about to try and strike at one of the axles of the wheel but a fist came flying straight at him from the brother's machine. He luckily dodged it by leaping back, but as soon as he did, he heard a large buzzing sound and had to duck as he saw the chainsaw arm coming for his head.
"Whoa!" Riku cried in surprised as he rolled out of the range.
"Whoa nelly! That near took off your head!" Applejack cried.
"That was close! You were about to become the Headless Pony of Ponyville!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Not helping, girls" Riku said softly. "You two wouldn't have any ideas on how to deal with those arms by any chance? When I try to get in close, those brothers just swing them at me."
"Ah don't even know how they know you're there." Applejack replied.
"Oh I get it!" Pinkie said.
"You do? Wait, what did you get?" Riku asked, as he was running, circling the large machine ducking and dodging attacks.
"You were aiming for the wheels right?" Pinkie asked.
"Yeah I was, because it seemed like a weak spot." Riku answered.
"That's why! It was a weak spot and they knew it was so they figured you'd go straight for them!" She explained
"Ah get it, they made it obvious where to attack so they'd know the spots to defend it easily." Applejack said furthering Pinkie's point.
"Okay, but how am I going to get to them?!" Riku asked again. "We need a way to prevent those lousy arms from reaching us." He looked at the machine again and saw it had up to five limbs. "We need to find a way to keep them from moving or find a way to destroy them, but with so many limbs if I go for one the others will attack me, and I don't have any attacks that could damage all of them at once."
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Maybe your new key thingy could help! It did something cool when Twilight and Fluttershy Chain Linked with you right?" Pinkie asked.
"Yeah! Ah bet there's some special power with us too! Just gotta figure out how ta make it work!" Applejack chimed in as well.
Riku had to admit he thought the exact same thing. Because the previous Chain Link he had with Twilight and Fluttershy DID actually have a special ability, so this one should have one as well. "But that's the thing, I've been trying to figure out what the special ability of this Keyblade is the entire time we've been fighting, and so far, it's just like my normal Keyblade." Riku explained.
"What's the matter, are you just going to run around?! We can keep this up the whole night, you know!" Flim yelled down to Riku as he was still flipping switches, activating the arm with a barrel to try and scoop up Riku, who skillfully back flipped away from it.
"They're right, girls, I can't keep dodging them forever, I have to attack!" Riku gritted through his teeth.
"Ah I got an idea! Try to aim for that barrel arm one maybe we could knock it inta wonna the other ones!" Applejack suggested. With that in mind, Riku went straight for the barrel arm and attacked, making a straight strike, sending it knocking back and hitting one of the other arms.
"It's working!" Riku said, before getting punched by the other fisted arm.
"Hahaha! I call that one the 'Sucker Punch'." Flam said as he laughed
"Haha, he's a sucker, indeed, brother!" Flim laughed along.
"Grrrrrrrrr, those two are really getting on my nerves." Riku growled.
"Same here, sugahcube. Pinkie, you got any ideas?" Applejack asked
"Search me; I've been too busy wishing I still had my party cannon to shoot some dough at those two. But then I remember I'm not even there, so even if I had my party cannon, I wouldn't be able to fire it off anyway, and besides…" Pinkie replied and continued rabbling.
"This isn't good, we're not getting those two down and I don't know how much longer we have with our Chain Link." Riku stated.
He wasn't sure just how much time Chain Link can last, however, he looked back to his keyblade, and just couldn't understand it. Last time, the power of the Chain Link was incredible, and although unorthodox it really made it easier for him to fight as a pony while using a lot of his old fighting style, but this new keyblade was just like his original keyblade only different in size and shape, and-
"Huh? Hey… did the cannon on the hilt just get… bigger?" Riku mumbled. He thought he was seeing things.
"Riku, look out!" Pinkie yelled in his head, breaking Riku out of his concentration on his keyblade, as ducked from an incoming fist, and a backflip from an attack from the chainsaw arm, he pointed his keyblade again to fire off a few blizzard spells, hopping to stop the teeth of the saw from spinning. Sadly it didn't work as the ice broke without so much as a dent to the saw itself.
"This isn't going to work my attacks aren't affecting it at all." Riku stated, it was weird especially for Riku, all that damage he was throwing it wasn't damaging the machine at all, "Something is off about that machine. Even if I'm not using much magic, I should be making at least a dent on my swings but that thing is barely even scratched, just what is it made of?" Riku thought,
"Ah gotta admit, that is strange, with all those hits from your keysword that thing doesn't even have a dent." Applejack agreed with his thoughts.
"Ooooh maybe it's made of rubber?!" Pinkie chimed "Hey that'd be pretty funny, it's a rubber robot a 'rubberot' that's why it's not dented, since rubber can't be dented!"
"I really doubt that, Pinkie." Riku disagreed. Considering how hard it was, it was definitely made of metal, he just can't figure out why it's not taking damage. "Could it be because of my keyblade?" He thought, maybe his keyblade isn't used for direct combat it could be one more for magic. No, that's impossible as well, it's still a keyblade, it should nonetheless do some form of damage when used like a blade. Just what is protecting that machine?!
The fight continued with no change for a bit, and Riku was really feeling tired. Applejack and Pinkie were feeling his exhaustion and noticed he was getting hit much more often, and worst yet with all the time that passed the Chain Link effect that they were in might soon give up they weren't sure how much time they had left to stay linked. The brothers were taking great delight in knowing they had such an upper hand. They themselves were pretty much fine, not using much energy just flipping switches pressing buttons and pulled levers. They, of course, made jabs at Riku whenever they could hoping to make him riled up and cause him to make even more mistakes. It looked like it was going to be over soon, and not in favor for the three heroes.
"This isn't good, I think I might have hit my limit." Riku said. Breathing very heavily, no matter what damage he tried to do the machine it came out unscathed. He just couldn't figure out why, that and he can't figure out why the Chain Link Keyblade that was created wasn't doing anything special at all.
"Ah can't believe this, even with a Chain Link we can't beat this thing? Just what is it made of?!" Applejack cried, she literally felt like crying at this rate she wasn't going to just lose this fight, but her family's farm as well.
"I'm feeling pooped too and I'm not even doing anything!" Pinkie complained. "But come on guys we can't just give up! Come on Riku! Me and Applejack are here too Raa! Raa! Raa! Fight on! Go Riku Go! You can do it!"
"Thanks for the cheer, Pinkie, but I don't know how much more I can take. I'm so tired." Riku admitted, he was exhausted, trying to stay awake, and all the dodging and moving he's been doing, it's left him extremely exhausted on top of running around all day. It all looked like it was over. Perhaps this time… no matter how much friendship mattered…
"NO! I won't believe it!" Pinkie practically screamed.
"Pinkie?" Applejack said, this was different Pinkie was never really acted like this before that jolly pink pony actually… sounded angry.
"I won't let you give up! You can't give up! If you do, Applejack will lose her family's home and farm! You have to keep fighting!" Pinkie screamed.
"But… Pinkie, no matter what I do, I can't seem to stop it, what are we supposed to do?!" Riku questioned.
"It doesn't matter!" Pinkie said loudly. "We can't give up! We just can't. Applejack, if you lose your farm, you said yourself, your farm is the last thing you have left from your parents to give to Applebloom. But there's more to it than that!"
"Pinkie..." Applejack said softly touched by her friend.
"It's not just the last thing of your parents you can give to Applebloom, remember you live here too! You have memories here, memories of your parents! If you lose that… you'll lose the place where all those memories are! And not just you! Your family too! Big Mac and Granny Smith, all their memories are here on the farm and home! The only thing you guys have left of them are the memories you all made here! I… I'm not gonna just sit back and let you and your family lose probably the most important place to you all… especially my best friend!" She cried in between, small hiccups that were her sobs.
Riku gritted his teeth as he wanted to kick himself, Pinkie was right… if he gave up here, Applejack, his friend, would lose a place filled with important memories to her. What was he doing thinking of giving up…
"I know what's like to miss your family, but I can't ever imagine what it's like for you Applejack… I could still visit mine back at the Rock Farm because they're still there, I can still make more memories with my parents and sisters… but your parents are gone, Applejack, you can't make any more memories with them… So you have to treasure the amount of memories you have now, as your friend I won't let those… those… those bullies take that away from you!" Pinkie cried. Her sobs more clearly heard.
"Pinkie, Thank you…" Applejack sobbed, she was honestly grateful from the bottom of her heart, to have such a wonderful friend who cared so much. If she could have, she would have given the biggest hug she could bear hug so big that it could make even her brother feel small. The connection she had with her friend as they shared their emotions together was immense. It was sad but great feeling. At that moment, a miracle occurred. Riku's keyblade was glowing, very brightly. "The keyblade!" Riku muttered, mesmerized by the shining light it emitted.
"WAAAH! What the heck not again?!" Flim cried in shock covering his eyes.
"I can't see! It's too bright!" Flam said as well. Riku looked at his keblade while the brothers were distracted, and he noticed something.
It was a rather large change, the small cannon at the bottom of the hiltguard had grew longer, in fact it had completely covered the streamers that were the front hilt guard.
"Riku! Pulled the chain!" Pinkie said.
"Huh?" Riku asked a little confused. But quickly understood what she meant, the chain looked as though it was meant to be pulled in order to fire the cannon that was on his keyblade. He pointed the Keyblade at the machine in front of him, still and unmoving due to its controllers being blinded by the keyblade's light. Riku pulled the chain and the keyblade transformed once again. The canon on the keyblade dislodged itself, and the back part of the canon opened up and placed itself onto Riku's right arm. He looked to the rest of his keyblade, the blade started to grow and unravel itself, the ribbons started to wrap around his waist, hind legs, the hilt started to transform as well, the roots of the shovel-like handle grew and became rather large, splitting into two parts, as they grew and grew, the took shape, resembling the transformation wasn't finished though, the roots also grew up following his back, straightening his back as he if he was to stand upright on his back legs, the roots then extended to his arm, and wrapped around the end of his hoof forming a familiar limb he knew he had when he was a human, a hand.
The last part of the keyblade of the teeth of the key, the three appels, they grew in size the red one especially and they somehow opened up, and placed themselves onto his shoulders and his head, forming a protective armor and helmet. Essentially, Riku had gained full body armor, with an arm cannon as a weapon. As the transformation finished, the only thing Riku could say was "Whoa."
"Wha-What in Equestria is that!?" Flim cried loudly after he rubbed his eyes and saw what happened to Riku.
"Th-That's not fair! We're the only ones that are supposed to have an advantage here!" Flam agreed with his brother.
"Well, not anymore." Riku said calmly, more confident than before, as he could feel an enormous amount of power coming from his now transformed armor and weapon. Riku wasn't sure why he actually said this, it was completely out of character for him, but, for some reason, he felt it was the right thing to say as this was an appropriate line for the situation.
"Yeah, LET'S ROCK!"
Author's notes: So yeaaah, it took a while, and unfortunately still haven't finished this arc. Sorry to say real life once again kicking my rear, I'm surprised I even finished this chapter. In fact, I'm surprised I let it get this long in the first place, no worries though, next chapter for sure, it'll be the end of this arc, hopefully anyway. _;
I know, I know, I promised that the next chapter was supposed to be the Doctor Who filler chapter, to be honest though I wanted to finish this arc on this chapter, but it just kind of grew larger and larger as I was kind of trying to give more details to the feelings of the characters. But I definitely promise next chapter this arc ends, and speaking of feelings, there's a lot more emotion coming in the next chapter as well. As for what it is, you'll all see.
P.S. +2 internets to the ones who got the references I added in here for this chapter. :P