(UPDATED 6/7/2018)
Young Xehanort's Keyblade is too complex for me to adequately describe in text. Go to the Kingdom Hearts Wiki and go to Young Xehanort's page, and then scroll down to the "Weapons" section. There should be a picture of the intricate and nasty-looking weapon.
PLEASE SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS
PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE & CHARACTER PAGES
-CHAPTER START-
Canterlot Castle
Night of the Grand Galloping Gala – 9:35 PM
Within several minutes, the scenes inside and around the castle had changed dramatically. Nearly all of the attendees had been sequestered in safe zones in, around, or under the castle, guarded by Royal Guard personnel. Coalition and Equestrian Armed Forces personnel were engaged with the enemy, meeting the Heartless head-on. The three alicorns had entered a contest of sorts: who could take down the most Heartless without flying and without using any magic higher than C-Rank in power; Luna was winning, at the moment. The Mane Six were doing what they could, applying what Gamma Team's girls had taught them along with their own skills. Spike, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and the still-magicless Trixie were watching over the children.
The defenders got a stroke of good fortune as a dimensional transference spell sprang up in the center of the main ballroom, and from it emerged seven familiar figures, five wielding Keyblades and the other two wielding a staff and a shield. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and Lea immediately went into action, splitting up and beginning to carve through the Heartless in droves. Soon, Sora was in the courtyard, fighting alongside Teana and Applejack; Riku was with Ahsoka, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash in a large, wide room decorated by massive stained-glass murals; Aqua and Mickey were with Twilight in the throne room; and Kairi, Lea, Donald, & Goofy were with several Corona agents in the main ballroom.
Suddenly, a new and unwelcome addition to the attackers made itself known. Sora pulled Applejack out of the way of a shadowy claw reaching up from the ground, while at the same time Ahsoka used her lightsabers to deflect several red energy bolts, and Mickey shielded Aqua from a barrage of dark energy blasts.
(The following three events/scenes/battles take place simultaneously)
-Group Sora-
"Who did that?!" Sora shouted, Kingdom Key at the ready. "Show yourself!"
A subdued evil chuckle was heard. "I am not too surprised that you noticed and foiled my attempt to take out one of your companions, Sora" a smooth, deep voice said. "Things are never easy when it comes to dealing with you."
A swirling dark portal appeared on the ground, and from it rose a tall man with long white hair and tanned skin, clad in black robes with the hood down, his hands covered by white gloves instead of the normal black, a calm smirk on his face below gold eyes. Sora scowled and gripped his weapon tighter, Teana and AJ readying themselves as well as they recognized the newcomer; AJ removed her dress for ease of movement, making sure her hat was still in place.
"Xehanort's Heartless…" Sora growled. "What are you doing here?"
"Just trying to find something to relieve a little boredom" the 'man' replied. "I fought Riku during your and his Mark of Mastery Exam, but I haven't gotten to see how much you've improved since your first adventure, when we clashed in that world outside the Worlds. I think I'll test the capabilities of you three for a while."
"You want a fight, you've got one" Teana said, Mirage Longswords at the ready.
Xehanort's Heartless smirked. "Good…"
(BOSS MUSIC: Kingdom Hearts 3D OST – "L'Eminenza Oscura II")
In a burst of darkness, his Guardian formed. It made a few hand-seals, and in response a massive magical barrier – around 28 meters across – formed in/around the courtyard, with the trio and XH at the center. "Now then…" he said. "Let us play…"
His opening move was a Dark Firaga barrage; a Round Shield from Teana and a Reflega from Sora protected the trio from the fireballs. Teana responded with quality over quantity, firing off a Katon: Gōkakyū at the Seeker of Darkness. The massive blast of flame crashed against a Dark Barrier that dispersed about half of the attack's power before shattering, so Xehanort's Guardian was able to blast the weakened fireball away with a burst of dark power loosed by a swing of its arms.
Before the smoke and embers had even cleared, Sora came rushing in, striking out with his Keyblade; 'Ansem' barely managed to dodge it, leaping back and unleashing a shotgun-burst of Darkness bolts. The attack hit Sora dead-on, tearing into him… and, with a burst of smoke, he seemingly transformed into a battered rock that was blasted into chunks by the attack. Xehanort's Heartless was then struck from behind by a Strike Raid, catching him off-guard.
"I knew learning that Substitution Technique from the shinobi before I came here was a good idea" Sora said as his Keyblade teleported back to his hand.
Xehanort's Heartless responded with several whirling disks of purple energy, all of which flew at Sora, tracking him. Sora flew into motion as the homing attacks went at him, dodging and running, blocking with his Keyblade against any he couldn't avoid. While this was happening, Xehanort's Guardian had to act fast in order to block Teana's attacks, Crossfire Shot bolts and strikes from Mirage Longsword battering the human-form Heartless' defense. With his guardian entity thus occupied, Xehanort's Heartless was caught off-guard by Applejack, who landed a full power double-kick; the dark being conjured a shield and reinforced his body with magic for protection, but the former shattered like glass while the latter barely saved him from serious injury.
Applejack then leapt out of the way, avoiding being skewered by the Guardian's claws by a matter of inches. By this point Sora had managed to deal with the last of the energy disks, and he leapt in with a flurry of blows. Teana joined in, and together they overwhelmed the Guardian, landing several strikes on Xehanort's Heartless, though his supernatural nature meant that it didn't do anything serious, the effects of Teana's blade-strikes being converted to magical damage rather than physically cutting him, while Sora's Keyblade dealt magical damage by default (it being the only way to kill a Heartless such that it wouldn't spontaneously resurrect at a later date, which a Heartless killed by non-magical means always would).
Xehanort's Guardian growled as it loosed an all-directions pulse of dark power, blasting Sora & Teana back; they landed on their feet unharmed, but their assault had been stopped. The dark Guardian then detached from Xehanort's Heartless and dove underground, while XH unleashed a barrage of violet energy bolts. Applejack kept in motion, dodging any bolts that came near her, while Teana either blocked with her blades or intercepted with precise Crossfire Shots. The Guardian suddenly popped out of the ground right behind Teana, only for Sora to hit it with a Strike Raid, stopping its attack and stunning it long enough for Teana to hit it with a magic-supercharged punch, knocking it back at Xehanort's Heartless. Another Strike Raid from Sora then hit Xehanort's Heartless dead on, sending him reeling.
XH quickly recovered, and with a snarl he manifested Xehanort's Keyblade, the large spiky evil-looking black-&-silver weapon appearing in a burst of blackness. XH then pointed the blade at the trio, dark magic gathering at its tip and then releasing in the form of a massive wave of life-seeking bolts of Darkness magic. Sora countered by casting Ragnarok to intercept some of them, while Teana used Fire-type Sagitta Magica to shoot down others. They both then cast Shield spells around themselves and AJ to weather the rest of the bolts. Immediately after their shields lowered, however, Sora had to act fast, bringing his Kingdom Key up to block a downward strike from Xehanort's Heartless that nearly made his knees buckle from the force. The Guardian moved to block Teana's attempt to help Sora, leaving XH open to a bone-crushing blow from Applejack, which allowed Sora to land his own counter-strike.
Xehanort's Heartless vanished underground in a burst of Darkness, reappearing several meters away. He was beginning to really feel the effects of the blows dealt to him. After several seconds composing himself, he gripped his Keyblade and charged, and Sora ran forward to meet him, the two clashing in a hectic duel. Applejack jumped in, focusing on keeping the Dark Guardian busy, stopping it from attacking/distracting Sora. AJ dodged claw-swipes and lashed out with high-strength blows, while Sora parried and blocked XH's attacks and launched his own counters. Neither duo was able to gain the advantage over the other. Sora gritted his teeth as he batted away a swing made at his shoulder, and then struck out with a punch to the gut that knocked XH back a bit, stunning him for a brief moment. Sora and Applejack leapt away…
…just in time for Teana, Rasengan in hand, to smash her attack into XH's chest. The violent sphere of chaotically rotating chakra pushed and grinded against Xehanort's Heartless for several seconds, and then 'detonated', sending him hurtling/spinning back with great force into a wall. After several seconds, he pulled himself free from the him-shaped indentation he'd left, one hand clutching at the wound in his torso which leaked purple and black miasma instead of blood. He took a few steps, and then he summoned a Dark Gateway and staggered through it, his Guardian following. As the dark portal closed, the barrier surrounding the immediate area faded away.
"C'mon" Teana said. "Let's go help the others take out the Heartless foot-soldiers."
-Group Riku-
Ahsoka looked all around, trying to find who had shot those bolts. Riku pointed up, and the quartet looked up to see a lone, black-robed figure standing atop a statue of some famous Equestrian military leader from a centuries-past war.
"I was not expecting that you and your companions would be here, Riku" the hooded man said with a deep, smooth voice. He reached up, pulling his hood down to reveal himself. "Though, by this point, nothing connected to you or Sora surprises me anymore."
"Xemnas…" Riku gripped the Road To Dawn, while Ahsoka held her lightsabers at the ready, Rarity's horn pulsed with magic ready to be unleashed, and Dash flexed her wings and eagerly awaited the chance to deal an aerial beatdown. "Why are you here?"
"Originally I came to scout out this world's magic-users, to evaluate their potential threat level" Xemnas said. "But since you're here, I wish to test your ability, and see how much you have improved since I fought you and Sora in that realm on the edge of Nothingness. …Your companions are, of course, welcome to join you; fighting you and them at the same time will be an excellent test of my growth in power."
"You really think you can take on all four of us at once?" Ahsoka asked.
Xemnas smirked as he slowly raised his arms out to the sides. "There is only one way to find out."
(BOSS MUSIC: Kingdom Hearts II OST – "The 13th Reflection")
A pulse of power emanated from Xemnas, rapidly encompassing the entire large room and its five occupants in a magical barrier. Then, he leapt down, using a basic spell to transfer his kinetic energy from the 30-foot drop into the floor instead of his leg-bones, cracking the tiles beneath his feet upon impact. Landing in a crouch, he formed his crimson energy blades from his hands, and then in a burst of speed he charged.
Immediately Ahsoka moved to intercept him, and he launched into a dancing flurry of blows, trying to circumvent her defense. She managed to hold him off long enough for Riku to move in, forcing Xemnas to leap back and gain some distance. Xemnas fired several red energy bolts, crashing against a Dark Barrier quickly formed by Riku. Rarity channeled her magic into the ground beneath Xemnas, and the stone tiles of the floor warped into large spikes that shot upward, forcing him to cut off his attack and leap high to avoid being skewered. While he was in midair, he was hit by a high-speed tackle from Rainbow Dash that knocked him back through the air; he landed on his feet near the far wall, and immediately countered with a barrage of energy bolts, only for the nimble pegasus to dodge them all as she returned to the others.
Riku rushed Xemnas, Keyblade in hand, and Xemnas ran to meet him. The two met halfway, clashing blades in a frenzy of lethal movement. Ahsoka soon joined in, and together the two gradually pushed Xemnas back. After a short while of this, Xemnas formed a semi-transparent Barrier Shield between him and them, and then pushed it towards them, shoving them back. His following attempt to charge and fire a tightly-clustered 'shotgun' burst of energy bolts was foiled by Rainbow Dash hitting him from the side, throwing his attack wildly off-course, missing Riku & Ahsoka by at least eight feet. Dash then threw herself backward to lessen the blow from the kick that Xemnas lashed out with, the attack only grazing her and not doing serious damage.
Ahsoka went on the attack, channeling lightning chakra through and around her lightsabers as she dueled Xemnas. As their swords clashed, he summoned a swarm of crimson energy bolts around the two of them and psychically commanded them to converge on Ahsoka from all directions at once, only for a Dark Barrier from Riku, reinforced with a basic Shield spell from Rarity, to spring up around Ahsoka and block the bolts. The barrier then exploded outward, stunning Xemnas for a brief moment. Ahsoka lunged forward and struck a glancing blow with the extra half a foot of lightning chakra that extended from the tip of one of her lightsabers.
Xemnas flash-stepped back, gaining distance from Ahsoka, and then barely reacted in time to avoid a telekinetically-launched stone dart to the face from Rarity. He retaliated with a single large explosive bolt of crimson energy that nearly shattered the rock wall she quickly conjured to protect herself. Ahsoka charged Xemnas again, and he managed to exploit a brief flaw in one of her attacks to hit her hard, sending her flying toward the wall; she had reinforced her body with the Force to stop any serious damage from being dealt. She landed halfway up the wall, using chakra to cling to it. Then she gasped as she saw a massive storm of red energy bolts coming at her. She burst into motion, running along/on the wall as the huge barrage blasted into the wall right behind her, keeping pace. As she ran across a large stained-glass mural, she heard the glass shattering under the assault. Finally, just when it was about to catch up to her, a blue blur plucked her out of harm's way. Xemnas attempted to lock on to Rainbow Dash and fire a seeker barrage, only to be caught from the side by a Darkness-enhanced punch to the face from Riku. He was sent tumbling several meters before regaining control and flowing into a flip that landed him on his feet.
"Not bad" he said. "Rather impressive, actually."
"There's more where that came from" Ahsoka replied.
Xemnas smirked. "I don't doubt it" he said.
He then thrust his hands forward, and a wave of bizarre thorny vine-like constructs corkscrewed through the air toward the quartet, moving in an unpredictable fashion. Riku and Rarity formed Shield spells, but the tendrils simply went around them, forcing the duo to join Rainbow and Ahsoka in moving about to dodge the attack. The tendrils of Nothingness were sharp and strong enough that when Rarity conjured a slab of rock from the floor to block them, they rapidly coiled around the rock, their thorns piercing into the stone, and then crushed it, and then went right back to pursuing her. When Ahsoka cut them with her lightsabers, they grew right back and kept coming. Finally, Rainbow Dash managed to make it stop by attacking the source, striking at Xemnas and forcing him to cut the attack off and dodge to avoid a bone-breaking blow.
Riku fired a triple Firaga blast at the white-haired Nobody, who formed a transparent red energy shield that withstood two of the fireballs before failing, forcing him to twist out of the way of the third. Ahsoka was in next, lashing out with one Lightning-charged fist and one lightsaber, battering at his one active energy blade and quick-formed mini-shields. Finally Ahsoka landed a deep slash with her lightsaber, but Xemnas' powerful magical defenses and not-quite-human nature managed to convert what would've been fatal injury to a 'normal' human into magical damage. He took advantage of her surprise, kicking her away hard enough that it almost fractured something and then firing a condensed blast of explosive magic at her. Rarity telekinetically yanked the young Jedi out of the way and to safety, and then launched another fusillade of sharpened stones that Xemnas shielded against.
Xemnas charged at Riku, putting the young man on the defensive with a flurry of dancing blows. Focused on blocking the energy blades, Riku was caught off-guard by a rising knee to the gut that made him double over; Xemnas then dispelled his crimson energy blades, brought his fists down in an axe-blow to the top of Riku's head that slammed him into the floor and stunned him, and then reformed his blades and made to swing downward. However, Rainbow Dash tackled him from behind, making him miss, and then started whaling on him with powerful hoof blows, while Ahsoka rushed in and got Riku out of the way, using what little Force Healing she knew to get him back on his feet. Dash abruptly dropped to dodge a horizontal spinning slash that had been aimed at her neck, and then launched herself backward to avoid a follow-up kick.
Riku and Rarity began building something up, carefully weaving their magical energies together, so Ahsoka and Rainbow Dash double-teamed Xemnas to keep him busy. The teenage Togrutan lashed out with a directed Force Push that sent Xemnas staggering back, barely keeping his balance, and then Dash hit him from behind, knocking him into an electrified punch from Ahsoka. He scowled and released a pulse of his power that knocked both girls back, and then conjured dozens of red energy bolts all around Ahsoka. They all started rushing in at her, and her lightsaber skills were pushed to the limit as she worked frantically to block them all. Meanwhile, Xemnas was blocking and dodging a rapid series of blows from Dash, giving ground to avoid taking any hits.
Suddenly, Dash broke off, with Ahsoka (who had just barely managed to escape the blast barrage unscathed) following. Xemnas found out why a moment later, as the carefully-merged combination of Riku's Fire-type magic and Rarity's Earth-type magic was unleashed in the form of a Lava-type spell, a torso-sized sphere of molten rock soaring out and right toward Xemnas. The Nobody's eyes widened in panic as he formed the toughest Shield spell he could manage. The 'lava bomb' impacted the shield and detonated with great force, and the shield shattered as it deflected most (but not all) of the superheated rock. The concussive force blasted Xemnas back several meters, his gloves and robe-sleeves smoldering as the rest of the lava was magically dispelled before it could melt all the way through the floor.
"I believe that's enough for now…" he murmured.
With that, he formed and stepped through a Dark Portal, vanishing; the barrier he summoned around the area dispelled.
"Guess we scared him off…" Riku surmised.
"C'mon!" Dash said. "Let's go help with the small-fry!"
The quartet left, on the way to assist against the ever-dwindling Heartless horde.
-Group Aqua-
Aqua, Mickey, and Twilight looked all around the throne room, trying to pinpoint their attacker. Then, they found him: a black-robed human figure, sitting in a lazy slouch on Celestia's throne.
"You have commendable reflexes, King Mickey" the man said as he got to his feet, slowly walking down the steps. "That was one of my best sneak-attack spells, with Darkness bolts of great speed and utter silence; few can even sense it coming, much less react in time to stop it."
He pulled his hood down, revealing a youthful face framed by locks of silver hair.
"Xehanort's younger incarnation" Mickey gripped his Keyblade. "What's this all about?"
"I wish to fight you three, so as to gauge your skills and power level. And, also, I am somewhat bored, and a good fight will give me something to do."
"And if we refuse?" Aqua asked.
"You don't get that option" Young Xehanort replied.
He snapped his fingers, and a Barrier Field sprang up, encompassing the throne room and the four individuals in it. In response, Aqua and Mickey readied their blades, while Twilight's horn glowed with magic.
(BOSS MUSIC: Kingdom Hearts II OST – "The 13th Struggle")
Young Xehanort gave a subdued chuckle as an aura of dark power erupted around him. He held out his hand, and his Keyblade – an intricate combination of blues and blacks, covered in spikes – formed in a flash of Darkness. "Let's play" he said.
He then made his opening strike, moving so fast as to leave an afterimage. Aqua bit back a curse as she barely brought the Master Keeper up in time to block a downward swing aimed at her head. She kicked him in the midsection, pushing him back, and he then flash-stepped back to avoid her follow-up swing. YX pointed his Keyblade at the group, and a barrage of black-tinted blue energy bolts shot out. Aqua formed a Barrier Shield around herself, Mickey, and Twilight, deflecting the attacks. As soon as the shield lowered, Mickey fired a blast of Light magic that raced through the air right towards YX, who leapt to the side to dodge it. He fired a freezing blast of ice magic at the trio, only for a burst of conjured fire from Twilight to cancel it out.
Aqua went on the offensive, charging Young Xehanort and meeting blades with him. They dueled for a short while until Mickey leapt in, YX flipping back to avoid a strike aimed at his neck by the king. He made a lunging motion with his Keyblade, and the glowing blue shaft transformed into magical energy connected to the teeth/head, forming a whip-like weapon that he began swinging, slashing, and thrusting at the duo, pushing them back and keeping them on the defensive. Twilight put a stop to that with a rapid-fire barrage of magenta-colored magic bolts, and YX had to recall his weapon and use it to deflect them.
Mickey took the chance to rush forward and attack, launching a whirlwind assault of Keyblade strikes that Young Xehanort was only just able to defend against. After a little of this, YX conjured three pillars of flame around himself, forcing Mickey back, and then rushed forward at the trio while the flames moved with him. The three scrambled to get out of the way, Twilight feeling the tip of her tail get singed as she barely avoided a hit. A few more repetitions of the flaming charge failed to score any blows, and YX transitioned from the last into a flurry of Keyblade strikes at Aqua, who blocked as best she could.
Aqua formed a Barrier Shield around herself and then made it 'detonate', shoving Young Xehanort back. She then followed up with a diagonal swing, only for him to flash-step away, reappearing directly behind Mickey and striking… only for the little king to vanish in a burst of magenta light, Twilight teleporting him out of harm's way and over to her side. Mickey then took aim and cast Ragnarok, three successive waves of magical projectiles curving through the air towards YX. He was able to shield against or dodge most of them, but a few of them hit. Once he'd weathered that storm, he charged his Keyblade with power and then swung, unleashing a slicing wave of dark magic that raced towards Twilight and Mickey. Aqua flash-stepped in, using the Master Keeper to block the attack and then throwing the Keyblade in a Strike Raid. YX threw his own, the two weapons bouncing off each other and teleporting back to their owners' hands.
Young Xehanort went on the offensive again, flash-stepping toward the trio in a zigzag pattern. He appeared directly in front of Aqua, and the young woman barely managed to block in time. In the middle of his ensuing barrage of strikes, he broke off and flash-stepped towards the other two. Twilight suddenly experienced the world around her speeding up, enough to almost make her dizzy… No, she realized, the world hadn't sped up; she'd been slowed down – hit with a Slow spell! There was a blur of motion as Mickey intercepted Young Xehanort's attempt to strike a finishing blow on Twilight, and the little king slowly forced YX back, keeping him busy long enough for Twilight to cast a counter-spell, returning her to normal temporality.
Calling up one of her new combat spells, Twilight concentrated, taking hold of her magic and converting it into its affinity while spinning it. The result was a quartet of whirling disks of fire floating around her. She gave the mental command, and they shot forward, spinning through the air towards Young Xehanort with considerable speed. YX leapt out of the way, one cutting/burning the edge of his coat; no sooner had he landed, however, than he saw the four disks change course, coming back around and heading at him again. He started running and flash-stepping around, and they chased him. He fired a Blizzaga spell at one of them, snuffing it out, and then struck another with his Keyblade, taking it out as well. After a little more cat-and-mouse, he took the third one down with another Keyblade strike, and then leapt over the other one… which King Mickey 'caught' with the edge of his Keyblade, spun, and then launched straight back at him, only for the attack to impact a Dark Barrier shield-spell formed in front of YX's outstretched hand.
Aqua went on the attack, showing the results of her training in the form of a Suiton: Suikōdan aimed at Young Xehanort. YX fired another 'sword beam' from his Keyblade at the shark-shaped flying mass of water, but it did little good. He hit it with a Slow spell followed by the strongest Blizzaga spell he could muster; that did the trick, the resulting animal-shaped hunk of ice falling to the floor with a thud and breaking into pieces. Ice gave way to fire, as a Firaga spell from King Mickey impacted a hastily-formed Reflera spell in front of YX, the small explosion shattering the defense and shoving him backward. He growled as he channeled his power for something big. A large amount of his blue-and-black Darkness projectiles formed around the trio… along with several more of the same attack, snatched from their points in time and brought to the present, forming a massive dome of death, hundreds of Darkness bolts ready to converge in on the heroes.
"Well, this stinks" Twilight said.
Young Xehanort snapped his fingers, and the entire all-directions wall of Darkness and death came rushing in at the hero trio all at once. They were obscured by flashes of light and a cloud of smoke as the barrage continued for several seconds. When it ended, YX slowly walked toward the slowly-fading smoke cloud. He then got the shock of his life when a Strike Raid from Mickey hit him in the back, nearly knocking him over. He turned around, and saw Aqua, Mickey, and Twilight standing a few dozen feet away.
"I can teleport, remember?" Twilight said. "Though I'll admit, I almost didn't get us out of there in time; I had, like, a third of a second to spare. You almost did us in."
"…Hmph" Young Xehanort smirked. "I'd say that's enough for today. You three have proven yourselves an entertaining diversion. I can sense that Xemnas has already pulled out, and the 'Seeker of Darkness' is preparing to as well, and the Heartless are being routed as the Royal Guard regroup; I have no further reason to stay here. We'll be keeping an eye on you…"
A Dark Portal formed behind him, and he stepped backward through it, the gateway closing after he'd passed through. The barrier-field encompassing the room faded away.
"We'd better go help the others" Mickey said.
The other two nodded, and followed the little king out into the courtyard.
-SCENE BREAK-
Clean-up was proceeding without any serious hitches. All things considered, the castle had gotten off fairly well. There were some injuries, a few serious, but no fatalities from the Heartless attack. The 'Main Group' had regrouped at a donut shop, accompanied by Gamma Team and by Vinyl & Octavia; Rainbow Dash was very surprised that her prim & proper friend Rarity was cousins with the DJ P0N-3, and the two had hit it off splendidly.
Pinkie was telling her cousin Octavia of her various misadventures; she had reluctantly told her about Pinka, who'd popped out to say hello before retreating into the safety of her & Pinkie's mindscape (she wasn't very good with crowds, hence she'd been taking the backseat for most of the Gala as well). Teana, meanwhile, was trying not to sulk at not getting the chance to reveal either of her two new big trump-cards.
The three alicorns walked in the door, quickly making themselves comfortable.
"Well," Celestia said, "while it wasn't exactly how I planned it, I'm so glad that something broke up the monotony of the Gala. …Even if I didn't win our little contest…" she muttered.
Cadence simply sat there with an uncharacteristic smug grin, content in her victory; this was the first time she'd ever beaten Celly at anything.
"I didn't think they'd be so bold as to pull what they did tonight" Sarah said.
"I kinda saw it coming" Shion replied. "If only because of what happened the last time we went to a fancy shindig in a major capital protected by military forces. At least the Gala didn't end as badly as New Ostia."
"Amen to that" Marie murmured as she bit into a glazed donut.
"So whaddya think's gonna happen to us next?" Rainbow Dash said.
"With our luck?" Teana replied. "We'll run into one of the Dark Voice's Hybrids, or whatever corrupted Princess Luna a millennium ago, or something along those lines. Or that Checker bitch will pop out of hiding with a power-up, or the Prophet of Truth will come back from the dead, or some other crazy thing."
"Eh, it'll probably be something minor" Pinkie said.
As the night went on, they all forgot their worries for a while and enjoyed the pleasure of each other's company. And donuts; everything's better with donuts.
-CHAPTER END-
Next time: Loosely-connected developments further the story.