Chapter 171: The Digital Circus Part 2: Abstract Terror
In the Haunted Graveyard, Applejack was with Pomni and Ragatha, having been put into a game with a few others due to Caine wanting to welcome Applejack into the circus, believing she was a human brought into his world and was then put into a game as a way to welcome her, but the game took a turn for the worse as several Search Ghosts had surrounded them, Applejack having called her Keyblade to protect herself and her new friends as the ghosts looked at them, waiting for one or the other to make a move. A moment later, one of the ghosts disappeared, which Applejack knew they would usually disappear and reappear behind the attacker if they weren't paying attention, waiting a few seconds for the ghost to reappear and as she hear the sound of it reappearing, she swung wide, aiming for her back and successfully hitting the ghost, turning it to dark mist and releasing a pink heart, leaping up as another tried to attack her, but failed as she was still in mid-air, swinging her body around and slicing the head in two, the Heartless turning to mist as the other two circled the group, Applejack landing on ehr hooves as she looked at them.
"Wow, that was... how did...?" Pomni asked, looking at Applejack.
"Ah had some practice." Applejack said, looking at the Heartless.
"What are these things?" Ragatha asked.
"They're Heartless." Applejack replied. "They're born from ponies and people's hearts to darkness and devoured by these varmints."
"What do we do!?" Pomni asked, looking like she was about to panic.
"Stay close to me and keep calm." Applejack replied, holding her blade up. "Ah'll keep ya safe."
The two defenseless people looked at Applejack, both feeling scared as they looked up at the Search Ghosts, moving closer to Applejack as they watched the ghosts circle them. In the forest, Kinger and Gangle were already three items ahead, having found them right off the bat as they made their way to the graveyard, walking towards the gate, but as they walked in, a couple of the Gargoyles eyes started to glow, looking at the two of them, which Gangle looked back, but the Gargoyles were quick, returning to their normal positions as she looked, getting creeped out.
"Kinger... I don't like this." Gangle said. "Something feels off."
"I know." Kinger replied. "There aren't any Jack-o'-lanterns out here!"
Gangle looked around and found there weren't any, but she looked back to the Gargoyles, still feeling unsure about them as she followed her partner through the graveyard, but the Gargoyles moved again, looking behind them as they watched them walk through the graveyard, looking wround for what they were looking for until they reached a box, a black box with yellow zig zag on the bottom with another box next to it, but it was white with black strips on the top, but both had a button on the bottom left corner of the boxes.
"I wonder what's in these boxes." Kinger said.
"M-maybe we shouldn't look." Gangle said. She then looked closer at the box and noticed the Heartless symbol on it. "What does this mean?"
"Maybe it means what we're looking for is inside." Kinger said. He pressed the button and a moment later, the tops opened up and out came a large pumpkin head with two arms and each had a weapon, the right hand holding an axe and the left held a large knife, scaring Gangle as she unraveled, falling to he gorund. "Oh goodie, we found a Jack-o'-lantern!"
However, as Kinger was reaching for the pumpkin head, the eyes glowed and came to life, screechign at them and spooking them both as the other one popped out, laughing at them as the Gargoyles turned around, flying in te air and moving towards them.
"That is not a Jack-o'lantern!" Gangle said.
"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" Kinger shouted.
The both of them ran away as the pumpkin headed Heartless, which is known as a Graveyard, swung the axe, just missing Kinger as they looked to the two of them running away, the Gargoyles rushing after them while the Graveyards hopped along after them. Meanwhile, in the middle of an actual graveyard, Jax and Zooble were looking around for their items, Zooble not exactly enjoying the hunt while Jax seemed to be more than enjoying himself, having brought along a slingshot and firing rocks into the Jack-o'-lanterns there, breakign them.
"You do realize we need one of those, right?" Zooble asked.
"Oh relax, I'm just destroying all but one, that way the others don't win." Jax replied.
"You realie there isn't a prize, right?" Zooble asked.
"There isn't?" Jax asked, tossing the slingshot away. "Then what's the point?"
"Hey, I think we need that skull over there." Zooble said.
She pointed to a skull next to a pedestal, but on the pedestal was a Wright Night, standing still, pretending to be a statue as the two fo them approached.
"I got this." Jax said. He walked up to the pedestal and knelt down, grabbing the skull and a moment later, the Wright Night started to move, raising it's arms up and getting ready to attack as Jax stood back up, looking at the Heartless as it was readyt o attack, but Jax just laughed. "Hey Zooble, check this thing out. Must be one of Caine's NPC's trying to scare us."
"Uh, Jax..." Zooble said, backing away. "I don't think that-"
"Oh, scary!" Jax said, mocking the Heartless, thinking it was a harmless NPC. "I bet ya Caine coded these things to jumpscare us. Hey, why don't we take one of these with us to Pomni and scare the living daylights out of her!"
"Jax, wait!" Zooble shouted.
However, Jax didn't listen as he grabbed the Heartless and carried it with him, running to find Pomni while Zooble ran after him, knowing that something was wrong with the thing that her friend was carrying to try and scare Pomni with it, but as they ran after their friend, several more Wright Nights appeared from the darkness while some of the statues came to life, holding axes and swords as they watched the two of them run to find their friends. Meanwhile in the crypt, Pomni and Ragatha were running as fast as they could to find an exit while Applejack was right behind them, the Search Ghosts appearing in front of the, so the farm mare ran faster, slashing through the ghosts as they tried to get in their way, but the farm mare kept on going through the monsters, looking for an exit until they found what they were looking for, a door in the crypt that would lead them out.
"There, a way out!" Pomni shouted.
"Hurry Applejack!" Ragatha shouted.
"Keep goin'!" Applejack shouted. "Ah'll keep ya safe!"
A moment later, several more Search Ghosts appeared from the darkness and mlved towards Applejack, drawn to the Keyblade like moths to a flame as they attacked, Applejack dodging the attacks while also striking the ghosts, destroying them with a slice or two, turning them to dust as pink hearts flew into the air. Pomni immediately grabbed the door handles and started pulling, trying to open the door, but it was locked shut, Pomni giving up as she walked back as an image of Caine appeared before them.
"Congratulations young scavenger hunters!" Caine exclaimed. "You found the way out of this world! Unfortunately, you haven't gotten everything on your list, so you're gonna have to go back and find everything on your list!"
"Are you serious!?" Pomni shouted. "We're about to die and Caine's not even gonna give us an emergency escape!?"
"It's Caine, what do you expect?" Ragatha asked.
"Ah expect that for a guy who's supposed to care about ya'll to actually care!" Applejack said, slashing the last ghost as she breathed heavily, sitting down. "Phew, ain't easy fightin' these things in mah condition."
"Hey, you did pretty good for a human in a pony avatar." Ragatha said.
"Human?" Applejack asked. "Hate to break it to ya sugarcube, but Ah'm an actual pony, not a human."
"Now's not the time to try and get into character!" Pomni exclaimed. "We need to find the stupid items on Caine's list and get out of here before those things show back up!"
"Well, we do have the Jack-o'-lantern, don't we?" Ragatha asked.
"Who has time to pick it up when you're being chased by monsters called Heartless!?" Pomni asked.
"It's alright sugarcube." Applejack said. "No need to get yerself into a frenzy. Maybe we should head outside and see if we can find any of the items Caine wants us to find."
"Anything to get us away from this place." Pomni said.
They continued to walk around to try and find the exit out of the crypt, finding the door they needed and going outside to find they were in the graveyard now, looking around to find what they needed when Kinger and Gangle came around the corner, screamign their heads off in fright as they ran.
"Kinger, Gangle?" Ragatha asked, both of their friends stopping and catching their breaths. "What's wrong? Why are you running?"
"Monsters... chasing us!" Gangle shouted.
"Monsters!?" Pomni asked. "What monsters!?"
"Hey everybody." Jax said.
Pomni turned around to look at Jax, but when she did, she saw thew Wright Night in front of her, screaming in absolute shock as she fell to the ground and her eyes started swirling out of fright as Jax laughed, having a laugh while everyone else gave him irritated looks.
"Jax, what is wrong with you!?" Ragatha asked. "You know Pomni hates jumpscares!"
"Of course I know." Jax said. "I just wanted to see how much she hated them."
"Jax, put that thing down... now." Applejack said.
"Oh, what, you afraid of a harmless NPC as well?" Jax asked.
"Harmless nothin'!" Applejack exclaimed. "That's a Wright Night! Get rid of it!"
"Wait, you know what this thing is?" Jax asked.
A moment later, the Heartless decided to make it's move and spun itself around, slashing the unsuspecting rabbit across the eye and making him yell in pain, dropping the Heartless as it got ready to attack, but Applejack aimed the Keyblade and fired a fireball, hitting it in the back and makign it look at her before she uppercutted it, splitting it in half as a pink heart flew into the air, everyone rushing to Jax's side as he held his eye, removing it to show it was bugging out, abstracting a bit, but not badly.
"Jax, your eye!" Pomni said.
"Eh, it''l be fine." Jax said, looking to Applejack. "But I want to know why the heck you knew what that thing was and how you destroyed it."
"It's a Heartless." Applejack replied. "A monster born from people's hearts when they are lost to darkness. Spyro taught me how to fight and recognize them."
"Right, and did he tell you how to heal an injury, or is fighting the only thing he taught you to do?" Jax asked.
"Oh, he taught me a lot of things." Applejack replied. "But one of the things he taught me was how to use the magic that comes with this Keyblade I have."
"Wait, Keyblade?" Pomni asked, looking at the blade and remembering what Maleficent said.
[Flashback]
"Remember Pomni, those who have a Keyblade are liars." Maleficent said. "They cannot be trusted."
"But why?" Pomni asked. "Why can't they be trusted?"
"Because they bring destruction and chaos wherever they go." Maleficent replied. "They nearly destroyed my home and they will most surely destroy this one as well."
"I don't care if this world is destroyed or not." Pomni said. "This world is nothing more than a prison!" She clenched her fists and as she did, darkness started to come off of her fists, making the witch smile as she looked at the desperate girl. "I'll do anything to get out of this place. To leave and never look back. I'd even destroy this world myself if I could!"
"I'm glad to hear that." Maleficent said, putting her hand on the girls shoulder. "But remember, if you see one, keep your distance and don't listen to their lies. Only the darkness can set you free from this wretched place.."
Pomni looked at Maleficent, listening to every word she said as someone knocked on her door, Pomni looking to the door as Maleficent disappeared, Pomni looking ot the door before hiding behind the bed to avoid being seen, the door knocking a second time before she heard the door opening, Ragatha and Applejack walking into her room to look for her.
[End of Flashback]
Back in the present, Pomni was starring at Applejack, looking at the Keyblade in her mouth, backing away from the pony as voids opened up, several Gargoyles appearing from them along with a few more Wright Nights appeared, surrounding the group as they got ready for a fight, Applejack holding up her Keyblade ready for the fight she had ahead of her. In the Grid, Spyro was piloting the tank backwards, firing the cannon as the hoard of Heartless while Sora was busying himself with the Carrier, which it continued to drop more and more Heartless the more Spyro shot at them, their forces replenishing everytime and firing back, making Spyro hiss in anger as he kept on moving backwards as the ponies remained behind Spyro.
"Tron, I'm in a very bad position here!" Spyro said. "I need something more powerful to handle these Heartless and something to destroy that Carrier! It's producing Heartless as fast as a bunny!"
"Most of the vehicles in the armory are not equipped for shipt o ship combat." Tron said.
"Well there has to be something!" Sora said, avoiding getting hit by the Carrier as it fired at him. "Is there any kind of bomber that can handle this thing!?"
"There is a larger version of the Light Jet, but it's larger, slower, and needs a three man crew to fly it." Tron replied.
"Fantastic." Spyro said, firing the weapon continuously. "Bloody fantastic! We're outnumbered, out gunned, and out of options! We need to break through that hoard and we need something that'll bust through that firewall! Man, what I wouldn't give for a Scarab right now."
"What's a Scarab!?" Sora asked.
"You're a human and you don't know what a freaking Scarab is!?" Spyro shouted. "Did you ever play Halo!?"
"Here it is, a Scarab." Tron said. "It appears to be a war machine used by an alien faction called the Covenant and use it as a heavy assault unit in an invasion of Earth during the video game series, Halo."
"Oh, what I wouldn't give for one of those now." Spyro said. "They have heavy armor and have a powerful Anti-Air cannon that could bust through the heaviest kinds of armor."
Spyro continued to back away as Sora did his best to try and bust through the Carriers armor, but it proved to be too strong for his jet and the fire on the carrier was too much for him, needing to back away as a couple of Devastators fired on Spyro, getting a lucky hit on the tank and forcing him to jump out, the tank exploding and throwing him away as more Devastaros fired on him, Forcing Spyro to hide behind the hull of the destroyed tank as the two ponies looked back.
"Spyro!" They shouted together.
"Tron, I'm pinned!" Spyro shouted, looking out and ducking as a blast came at him. "If you have something that can turn the tide of this battle, now would be a good time to use it!"
"I believe I have something that'll help." Tron said. "It's fifty micro meters away from yout position. Close to the ponies."
Spyro looked out and saw a green data cube appear on the opposite side of the ponies, a long distance away as several Magnum Loaders appeared, moving to the cube.
"Couldn't you have brought it a bit closer!?" Spyro asked, avoiding being hit.
"Any closer and the Devastators would have destroyed it." Tron replied. "I put a lot of work into downloading and designing this machine. I think you might like it."
"I hope it's worth it." Spyro said, getting up. "Rarity, I need your cycle!"
"All yours darling." Rarity said.
She hopped off of her cycle and Spyro ran over and hopped onto the cycle, turning it around and racing to the green cube, which he floored it to get there first as the Magnum Loaders were closing in, aiming their weapons at the cube, but Spyro threw everything into the thruster, reaching it as the Heartless aimed their weapons, hitting the cube as the light shined out and a moment later, a massive mechanical leg came down, hitting the ground and causing a mini quake that caught the ponies off guard, looking to what it was as they saw a massive Scarab, it's head turning as it opened up a bit and a massive green plasma beam shot out, hitting the group of Heartless and vaporizing them, releasing the hearts they had trapped as Spyro yelled out in pure joy.
"Tron, you beautiful son of a gun!" Spyro shouted. "You actual, mad man of an AI unit! You actually coded a freaking Scarab into the Grid!?"
"It was difficult, seeing as the game is old, but I managed it." Tron said. "Your welcome."
"No fair!" Sora shouted. "How come he gets a super weapon!?"
"Hey, at least your vehicle can fly." Spyro said, taking the controls. "Mine? Mine has a massive Plasma Cannon."
The Anti-Air cannon on the top of the Scarab turned and opened fire ont he carrier, the plasma chewing through the armor as it melted it, forcing the carrier to aims it's cannons at him and firing, but due to the height of the carrier away from Spyro, the blasts were inaccurate, hitting the ground around him as he aimed the head up, firing the main cannon and hitting the underside of the carrier, which it caused it to flicker a bit, drifting a bit before stabilizing and getting back up, this time aiming the cannons at the Scarabs Anti-Air gun and hitting it, causing the Scarab to shake a bit, but Spyro kepts his calm, aiming the head again as he fired the plasma beam, hitting the carrier again in the reactor core and destroying it, causing a chain reaction across the entire vessel as it fell, exploding in a cloud of black smoke as the massive pink heart shot out, heading into the air as the Magnum Loaders backed away, retreating after loosing their heavy hitter.
"That... was... awesome!" Sora shouted. "Dude, do you have one of those in Equestria!?"
"If I did, the Princess would have a meltdown about why I can't keep it." Spyro replied. "And by the look of it, the Scarab has enough firepower to destroy the firewall."
"Well what are you waiting for, a written invitation?" Sora asked. "Fire away!"
Spyro grinned like an idiot, moving the Scarab close enough to the wall and as he did, the head started to charge up it's weapon and a moment later, fired the weapon, hitting the wall and causing some cracks to appear on it, which it started to spread wider and wider until the wall completely shattered, creating a massive hole in the wall, which made him smile as the Scarab lowered down, allowing Spyro to hop out and approach.
"Tron... we're in." Spyro said, seeing the digital circus.
"Acknowledged." Tron said, making the Scarab disappear and the Light Cycle disappear. "I wish you luck in saving your friend. But remember, once you're in, I cannot help you to get out. You'll need to rely on that backdoor exit you made."
"I know Tron." Spyro said. "I know." He looked to his friends, who looked as ready as he was as he looked back to the circus. "Let's do this."
They started walking towards the circus, going past the firewall and as they stepped through, the firewall reappeared and cut them off from the Grid, cutting off their only way out until Spyro had the backdoor set up. As they all walked towards the Digital Circus, a light shined out and caused everyone to close their eyes tight, keeping them closed as they continued to walk until the light died down, everyone opening their eyes to find that they had all arrived in the Digital Circus, appearing in the massive big top and finding that the place had large walls and some furniture everywhere, looking around until they found the stage, seeing it in the middle of the room and walked towards it.
"Wow, this place is huge." Sora said.
"I agree Sora." Spyro said, turning to him. "This place is definitely AAH!"
Spyro fell down as soon as he looked at Sora, finding he was dressed in a red and black jester suit with bells and some face paint, freaking Spyro out as he backed away. He looked to the ponies and found that Rarity looked to be made up of white diamonds for her body, her cutie mark remaining as the three blue diamonds, and her mane and tail looked to be made of Amethyst, the fashionista looking at herself and admiring what she looked like now. While Fluttershy seemed to be her regular self, but she had flowers and bushes growing on her forelegs, her mane and tail looking like cherry blossoms that was growing from her flank and head. As for Spyro, he was wearing Jedi robes, but instead of being a human, he appeared to be a dragon person, looking at himself while seeing his tail, waving it around as he flared his wings, feeling his head and feeling the horns, looking as his friends.
"Good thing I know you can change into a dragon Spyro." Sora said. "Otherwise I'd be freaked out right now."
"Believe me Sora, I am freaking out." Spyro said. "But not from this. From you."
"What!?" Sora shouted. "What's that supposed to mean!?"
"I hate clowns Sora, remember?" Spyro asked.
"Hey, I'm no clown!" Sora exclaimed.
"You sometimes act like one though." Spyro said.
"Why you-!" Sora said
"Hello there!" Caine exclaimed. Everyone screamed in fear, jumping back as Sora and Spyro instinctively called their Keyblades and swung at Caine, which they missed him as he floated away and out of their reach. "Geez, that wasn't very nice of you, now was it?"
"W-who are you?" Sora asked. "No, scratch that, what are you!?"
"Oh, my name is Caine!" He replied. "I am the curator and creator of the Amazing Digital Circus!"
"Wait, you... you created this place?" Fluttershy asked.
"Why certainly!" Caine replied. "I made this incredibly, fun filled, Youtube friendly world for everyone to enjoy! And I see you just got here, which means you're new to this place, aren't you!?"
"We are." Spyro replied. "You see, we-"
"Splendid!" Caine said. "Allow me to give you the grand tour!" A moment later, their Keyblades disappeared, spooking Spyro and Sora as they were all suddenly teleported outside of the tent, everyone floating in the air as they looked around. "Over here is the tent, which serves as your living quarters and hang out with your fellow players. Take a leisurely dip in the digital lake, or come down to the Digital Fair and ride the coasters, the ferris wheel, whatever your pleasure be. Day, night, it's alright, your can have it either or!"
"Yeah, we just got done dealing with out home being both day and night." Rarity said.
"Hi Caine." The Moon said, freaking them out. "Why don't you come up and we can have some fun."
"Yipe!" Caine exclaimed. "Better move on before the moon get's any friskier!" He then pushed them off screen and made them appear in an empty space, looking around and seeing it was nothing but white. "And here we have... The Void! it's basically where I haven't yet come up with what to put here, so don't travel out here any time soon!" He then warped them back into the tent, which Rarity felt sick and puked, barfing up a black liquid and making everyone back away. "Oh, clean up on aisle you!"
"I'm on it boss!" Bubble said.
She then started to lick the barf, grossing everyone out as they gave the bubble a strange look, Caine starring at the bubble in disbelief as he smacked his head.
"Ok Bubble, seriously, you need help." Caine said.
"Uh, thank's for the tour and all, but we can;t stay long." Spyro said. "We're looking for our friend, Applejack."
"Wait, you're Applejack's friends!?" Caine asked excitedly. "Well why didn't you just say so!? She off on an adventure with the rest of the cast in the Haunted Graveyard doing a scavenger hunt!"
"A what!?" Spyro asked, clearly spooked.
"Oh relax, it's not actually haunted." Caine said, relieving Spyro's worries. "In fact, they should be done by now. Let's check their progress!" Caine pulled out a large television and pressed a button on the set, turning it on as an image of everyone appeared, except it showed they were surrounded by a large Horde of heartless, Applejack doing her best to keep everyone safe, but she looked like she was running out of steam, Spyro's heart stopping when he saw what was happening. "Huh, I don't remember adding those NPC's into the game."
"They're Heartless!" Spyro exclaimed. "Caine, get us in there!"
"Sorry, no can do!" Caine replied. "You arrived a little late for the adventure, so I can't allow you to go in. It'll throw everything off."
"Get us in there, or so help me, if my pregnant girlfriend dies, I'll-" Spyro said, Caine looking at them.
"Wait, Applejack's you girlfriend?" Caine asked, processing everything when his eyes shrunk t the size of pin needles. "And she's pregnant!?"
"Caine, please, send us there immediately!" Spyro said.
"No sooner said than done!" Caine said.
He tossed his cane into the air and a moment later, a door dropped down for them and a moment later, it started to open for them, creating a way for them to get into the graveyard and they all rushed through the door to help their friend befoe anything else happened. In the Graveyard, Applejack was doing the best she could to protect her friends from the Heartless, slashing and striking them while they sought cover, trying to hide from the Heartless, not sure of what to do, but as Pomni was hiding, one of the Wright Nights found her, she screamed and backed away, but it just looked at her, not attacking before looking to Applejack and running at her, focusing more on the pony with the Keyblade and leaving the girl confused about why it left her alone. For Applejack, the Heartless were coming at her nonstop, appearing from the void one after the other, trying to overwhelm her, which it was working as she was breathing heavily, loosing steam as the horde of Heartless kept on coming, surrounding her as she raised the blade up, but a Wright Night knocked it out of her muzzle and grabbed her neck, holding uer up and slamming her into the wall as it choked her.
"Applejack!" Ragatha screamed.
Applejack did her best to kick the Heartless, trying to free herself, but the Heartless had extended it's arm to where it couldn't be hit, Applejack feeling dizzy as she felt the monster squeeze harder on her neck, lifting it's other arm to kill her, but then another Keyblade flew by, cutting it's arm off and making the dark beast looked, seeing it had lost an arm and looked around.
"Let her go now!" Spyro shouted.
The Heartless looked up and from the top, Spyro came down and cut the creature in half, making one of his halves slide down as it turned to black dust, Applejack coughing as she looked up, seeing Spyro standing in front of her and smiling for joy.
"Spyro." Applejack said.
Spyro spun his blade and a moment later threw it, wind and fire appearing on the blade as it unleashed a storm of destructive flames to the heartless, destroying several of them as he dodged a Gargoyle trying to hit him, jumping back as he caught his blade while Sora flew down, slashing through it and charging the ground of dark monsters. A moment later, Rarity landed on the ground and started to attack the Heartless, jumping over them and around them as she hacked and slashed through them, Fluttershy being in the air as she raised her blade and nervously summoned a storm of lightning, shooting down and eletrocuting the smaller Heartless and destroying them. The ones that remained backed away, looking at one another and nodded as they disappeared into clouds of darkness, Spyro and Sora finishing off the same Heartless at the same time as they watched the rest flee, breathing a sigh of relief.
Spyro then turned to see Applejack, who seemed to be alright as she got up and the two of them looked at one another, both happy to see each other as they ran up and hugged one another, glad to see each other again, even though it hadn't been for that long.
"AJ, I'm so glad you're ok." Spyro said.
"Oh, and who's this?" Jax asked.
"Oh, this is Spyro." Applejack replied. "Mah coltfriend."
"You mean boyfriend?" Jax asked, looking unamused.
"Hi-ho everyone!" Caine said. "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to postpone this activity for a while until I get rid fo these hostile NPCs!" A moment later, a portal opened up for all of them, which they hurried through to get back into the tent where Caine was waiting for them. "Oh, thank goodness you're all safe and sound. I was worried that those things had gotten you."
"They almost did." Jax said, showing his eye. "Look at my eye!"
"Oh, that is bad." Caine said, snapping his finger and the eye was then fixed. "There, all better!"
"Caine, since when did you add those hostile monsters as NPCs?" Kinger asked.
"He didn't." Spyro replied, walking towards them. "Those monsters appear whenever they want. They follow those whose hearts are dark and filled with bitterness, hatred, and anger."
"Wait, so anyone who's a bad guy can make those things appear?" Gangle asked.
"Anyone whose got a dark heart, yes." Spyro replied. "They listen to that person until they have the chance to stab them in the back and turn them into a Heartless. And this world has someone whose heart is falling into darkness."
"But... you can get us out, right?" Pomni asked, rushing to him. "You know... before those things come back?"
"I can protect you guys, yes." Spyro replied. "But taking you out of here is questionable."
"Spyro, they ain't from this world." Applejack said, getting his attention. "Pomni told me she's from another world."
"We all are." Ragatha said.
"Well, in that case, i can see if I can alter my back door program to take all of you out of here." Spyro said, Pomni's eyes lighting up. "But it will take some time."
"I don't care how much time it will take, we're getting out of here!" Pomni exclaimed in delight.
"Wait, you can't leave!" Caine said.
"No, we're leaving and that's that!" Pomni shouted. "I may not have been here that long, but this place is a litteral prison! All I ever wanted to do was leave, to go home to my parents and see my friends, my real world friends, again. All you ever did was keep us here against our will, putting us through these adventures to keep us sane, but every day there's a chance we'll abstract and get thrown into the cellar like the others you threw down there!"
"Wait, others?" Spyro asked.
"They're the folks who abstracted." Jax replied. "Poor guys, lost their sanity and abstracted, turning into monsters and getting throw into the cellar by Caine for everyone's safety."
Spyro looked at Caine, who seemed to be upset as he flew away from them, making Spyro wonder where he was going as he went after him, wanting to understand more about him.
"Where's he going?" Pomni asked.
"Must be going to check on Caine darling." Rarity replied. "He's like that. Kind hearted and always looking to help others, no matter what. Anyway, where can a lady go about getting herself cleaned up after such an ordeal?"
"Oh, there's the Digital Lake." Ragatha said. "We can go and swim there while your friend get's to work on getting a back door made."
"Then let's get going!" Rarity said. "I could use a relaxing bath right about now."
Everyone walked towards the exit to get to the lake, but Jax and Zooble both just rolled their eyes and went towards their rooms to relax after what they had gone through. For Spyro, he was looking around, trying to find Caine, but he couldn't find the floating choppers, rolling his eyes and started to look for a good place to set up the back door, finding a suitable location right where the stage was at, using the Force to lift the stage up and move it away from the center of the room, setting it down gently as he got to work on the back door, taking a cable out from his bracers and placed it on the ground, which it started to to allow for blue data streams to flow through the ground and towards the center of the room, his bracers showing that the upload was starting and turned into a loading bar, showing one percent and slowly rising as the bits and pieces of Data rose up into the air and started to construct something.
"Well, upload was successful, but the process will be slow." Spyro said to himself. "This'll take a while."
"It won't matter in the end." Caine said, floating down, yet looking sad.
"It will matter Caine." Spyro said, getting up. "Pomni is miserable here. I can sense how upset Ragatha is, Kinger is haunted by the memory of loosing his wife, Gangle and Zooble don't want to be here anymore, this place is a prison!"
"I... I'm sorry." Caine said.
However, as he said it, the entire room started to glitch out, shocking Spyro as he looked around, finding that the world was destabilizing and looked to Caine, seeing how upset he was as he backed away, but a moment later,t he world stabilized and Caine looked at him.
"Y-you... you're the heart of this world." Spyro said.
"I manage this place." Caine replied. "My creator created this place for people to come to and enjoy, given a safe place where they could be themselves."
"Wait, you... you're an AI unit?" Spyro asked.
"I am." Caine replied. "I was created to be the caretaker of the Amazing Digital Circus, given free reign to create and expand this world to keep everyone happy, give them something to do while they lived here."
"Well Caine, unfortunately, they aren't happy." Spyro replied. "They want to leave, to go home."
"But is home any better for them than this place?" Caine asked. "The real world is filled with hate, anger, missery. Here, they can be happy, be themselves, live a life they always want. Besides, i can't keep them alive if they leave."
"Wait, alive?" Spyro asked, a chill running down his back. "What do you mean by alive?"
"Some of them have been here for years." Caine replied. "Their original selves probably left by now."
"Wait, they're copies?" Spyro asked.
"They are." Caine replied. "The VR headset they all put on scanned their brainwave patterns, downloading their subconcious and placing them in the virtual world, into the Amazing Digital Circus. If they leave, there's a chance they won't survive. Not without a body."
Spyro was shocked, sitting down as he thought it over, not believing that they were just digital copies of their original selves and that if they left and tried to leave the digital world, there was a chance they wouldn't survive. He looked at his bracers, seeing that the coding was twelve percent complete, sighing in defeat as he put his head on the temple of his forehead, his brain going into overdrive as he tried to figure out what to say to Pomni and the others, knowing that what he had to say would crush them. At the Digital Lake, everyone who went there in the first place were having a fun time, jumping into the lake, swimming, splashing one another, having a joyous time while Rarity was laying on the ground, enjoying the sun as it shined down on her and created a show of color and beauty from her gemstone body, enjoying the moment as Applejack jumped in, splashing everyone before popping up and laughing with them.
"Oh, I haven't had this much fun in ages." Ragatha said. "Feels good for us to actually have time for ourselves rather than have Caine whip around, whisk us away for another one of his adventures."
"They aren't so bad." Kinger said. "They help to build some character for everyone. But... I will miss this place."
"You kidding, I'll be happy to leave this disgusting world and go about my life like normal." Pomni said. It'll be great to see my friends and boyfriend again."
"Ah'll just be happy to get home again." Applejack said. "This place is not what Ah'd call a good environment for myself and mah baby."
"Wait, baby?" Pomni asked.
"Yes, darling, baby." Rarity said. "Applejack is pregnant."
"Wow, that's some coding if Caine can make you feel pregnant." Ragatha said.
The ponies looked at one another in confusion, wondering why they would think it was coded in when they remembered they were in the digital world, so anything was possible.
"Uh, actually sugarcube, Ah really am pregnant." Applejack said. "And, we ain't code. Ah was pulled from mah home by some purple lightnin' that was comin' off of Spyro's terminal in his Gummi garage."
"Wait, so, you're saying are really pregnant?" Ragatha asked.
"Just bring some coffee and let me smell it and I'll vomit if ya like." Applejack suggested.
"NO!" They all exclaimed hastily, surprising Applejack.
"Trust me darling, you do not want to puke inthis place." Rarity said.
"So, how long will it take him to get the back door ready to go?" Pomni asked.
"Ah don't know." Applejack replied. "Ah'll go ask."
She then got out of the water and shook it off of her, flicking her tail as she flicked the last of the water off and trotted alogn the path to head back to the tent. In the tent, Spyro was checking his bracers, seeing that the back door was fifty percent complete as he looked up, still trying to figure out a way to help the inhabitants of the Digital Circus, but takign them out would be lethal to them and it would disrupt the world order as the world they were in was their legitimate home, meaning taking them out would be disruptive to the order. As he was thinking, Applejack was trotting into the room, seeing that his back door was being constructed, looking like a train to her, but she was just glad to be out of this world soon as she approached, Spyro seeing her and smiling.
"Hey AJ, how are you holding up?" Spyro asked.
"Well other than bein' forcefully pulled into this place, Ah'm holdin' up very well." Applejack replied. "How's the back door comin'?"
"Well, it's almost ready." Spyro said. "But... we got a bit of a complication."
"What kinda complication?" Applejack asked.
"It... has to do with our new friends." Spyro replied, worrying Applejack. "They... they can't come."
"What, why!?" Applejack asked.
"AJ, they belong here." Spyro replied. "I did some looking and... Caine told me they're copies of their original selves."
"Wait, copies?" Applejack asked.
"The machines they were put into, whether willingly or unknowlingly, it copied their consciousness." Spyro replied. "Basically, it copied their brain and turned it to data."
"Meanin'?" Applejack asked, not liking where this was going.
"Meaning... there's a chance if we take them out of the digital world and into the real world, they won't survive." Spyro replied, making Applejack's heart drop. "I'm sorry AJ."
"B-b-but there has to be a way." Applejack said. "Couldn't ya use yer magic to make them new bodies?"
"It's not that simple." Spyro replied. "Magic can do many things, but making a permanent, flesh and blood body? That's a stretch, even for me. This entire this is more technical than magical."
"Then can ya find a technical solution or somethin'?" Applejack asked. "Yer the smartest pony Ah know, there has to be somethin!"
Spyro didn't know what to say, looking down at the ground as he didn't have a solution, breaking Applejack's heart as she plopped down, knowing that this was going to break their hearts, but as she sat their, they heard someone laughing above them, looking up and seeing Maleficent above them, laughing at them as Spyro and Applejack calling their Keyblades.
"Maleficent!" Spyro exclaimed. "I should have know you'd be behind this!"
"Spyro, what a pleasent surprise." Maleficent said. "I must say, I wasn't expecting you to be here, but then again, I wasn't expecting your little girlfriend to be here either."
"Who is that?" Caine asked.
"Maleficent." Spyro replied. "The biggest pain in the neck in my entire life. She controls some of the Heartless."
"Indeed, and pretty soon, I'll be in control of something even better." Maleficent said. "Behold, the power of darkness in this wretched Digital Circus. The Abstract!"
She glowed green as she sent a wave of sickly green magic into the ground, and as she did, it started to crack open and from it, a single leg with eyes on it came out, an Abstract coming out of the hole and as it came out, more tried to follow, but Caine tapped his cane on the ground and a moment later, the ground closed up, sealing the rest up again.
"What is that thing?" Spyro asked.
"An Abstract." Caine replied. "It's what happens when one of the characters looses their sanity, turning into one of them."
"And if Maleficent is after them, they must be destroyed." Spyro said.
"But... what if they can still be saved?" Applejack asked.
"I'm sorry AJ, but they're long gone." Spyro replied, raising his blade. "We're gonna have to fight."
As he said it, the Abstract charged towards them all, Spyro leaping into the air and dodging the charge while Applejack dove for cover, Caine flying around and trying to grab the Abstract, but Maleficent sent a fireball at him, knocking him to the ground. Spyro then landed on the ground and slammed his fist into the ground, causing a wave of rock to shoot out and hit the Abstract, stunning it a little bit before shaking it off and roaring in rage, attacking again, but Spyro just turned to water and was uninjured, turning back to normal as he threw his blade, striking it in the back and making it screech again, turning to Spyro and scrapping it's digital hoof on the ground, ready to attack again.
"Spyro, you in here?" Fluttershy asked, everyone that went to the lake coming behind her. "We were waiting for Applejack and-"
They then saw the Abstract, which it spotted them and roared out, causing Fluttershy to scream in fear and fall on her back like a goat, the goat noise going off around them as it charged. Everyone backed away, trying to find some place to hide but Kinger tripped, falling down as the Abstract got ready to destroy him, but it then stopped, looking down at Kinger bracing himself for death, but then looked up, seeing the Abstract not attacking and knew instantly who it was, getting up.
"Queenie?" Kinger asked.
"Kinger, run!" Ragatha shouted. "Get away from that thing."
"Queenie, is it you?" Kinger asked.
He reached his hand up, being slow and cautious as he placed his hand on the Abstract, which it closed it's eyes as he touched her, the Abstract calming down.
"What trickery is this!?" Maleficent shouted. "Destroy them you mindless beast!"
"Queenie, it is you." Kinger said.
"Kinger, you know who that thing is?" Spyro asked.
"It's Queenie." Kinger replied. "My wife."
Spyro looked up at the Abstract, seeing that it was completely calm and was now domesticated, extremely gentle, shocking everyone.
"You foolish monstrosity!" Maleficent shouted. "You're completely useless!"
She then disappeared in a flash of sickly green flames and flew out of the tent, leaving as there was nothing there for her at the moment while Spyro approached the Abstract, seeing how calm it was and as he walked to it, he could see a light in it's chest, his eyes widening in surprise.
"There's... a light." Spyro said, shocked to see it. "This abstract has a light. It's heart, Queenie's heart is still in there!"
"Wait, yer sayin' that... that...?" Applejack asked, looking back at the Abstract.
"She can be saved." Spyro said. He took his Keyblade out and dashed towards the Abstract, leaping up and landing on it's back, which it screeched and roared out in rage, trying to buck him off of it's back, but Spyro raised his blade and looked to the light, seeing it fading before him. "Queenie, wake up!"
"Stop, don't!" Kinger shouted, Pomni and Ragatha running to stop him. "Don't hurt her!"
Spyro then plunged the blade into it's back, making it screech in pain as a bright white light shot out, Spyro pushing through as he plunged himself into the Abstract, falling down into the darkness, but not finding a heart like normal, only darkness and glitched out bits of data. He walked through the darkness, trying to find the heart wne he stepped out into a light, finally finding what he was looking for, but the platform was glitching out, slowly fading as he looked around, but instead of a door appearing, he heard someone screaming, turning to his right and finding a queen chest piece, colored brown with a red royal robe, trying to escape a storm of corrupted data. He approached the storm, trying to push through, but the data ended up cutting his arms, making him yelp in pain as he looked at his arms, seeing several cuts, but his body healed up, his magic healing the wounds while looking back at the storm and back to Queenie.
"Queenie, can you hear me!?" Spyro shouted.
In the storm, Queenie was struggling to keep going, trying her best to get free of the storm, but it was overwhelming her, causing her to fall to the ground and scream in fear, crying as she wanted to return to Kinger and to her friends, praying that someone would help her as she laid on the ground, crying as she felt helpless.
"Queenie, can you hear me!?" A voice said, Queenie looking up and around to try and find the source.
"Who's there!?" Queenie asked, trying to get up. "Where are you!?"
"It's alright." The voice said, calm and soothing to her. "I'm right here. I'm right in front of you."
"I can't see you." Queenie said, looking around. "Where are you?"
"Don't worry, I'm here." The voice replied. "My name is Spyro. I'm a friend of Kinger's."
"Kinger." Queenie said, putting her hand on her chest. "He... he was there for me. When I abstracted, he hide me in his impenetrable fortress." She then chuckled a bit, remembering how silly her husband was as she smiled. "He's goofy, yes, but that's what I love about him. He was there for me when I needed him. I really, really want to see him, one more time."
"And I can help you with that." Spyro said, his voice echoing for her. "I can help you. Unabstract you, but you need to trust me."
"I do trust you." Queenie said.
"That's good." Spyro said. "Now... take my hand."
Queenie looked around, trying to find him and then saw a glowing white light, looking closer at it as it turned into a white eye, much like the Eye of Sauron, but instead of being menacing, it was calm and soothing, a white figure in the eye holding out his hand, which Queenie walked towards him. She pushed through the storm, going through the data as it pelted her with corrupted data, trying to stop her as it got worse and worse, slowing her down, but she kept on going, pushing through, but as she got closer to the figure, she collapsed, loosing strength as she looked up, the figure still there holding out his hand.
"I... I can't!" Queenie shouted, looking down. "I'm not strong enough!"
"Yes you are." Spyro replied. "You're stronger tha you believe. You were strong enought o keep your Abstract from harming your husband, you're strong enough to push through this storm and come back to Kinger." he lowered himself, holdig out his hand as Queenie looked at it, looking up at Spyro, reaching her hand up to his, hesitating a bit, but then took his hand, a light shining out as she took his hand. "Your husband is waiting for you."
The light shined brighter and brighter, causing the storm to subside and the Abstract to roar in pain as the light shined out, engulfing them both as it engulfed the entire room. Outside, the Abstract was roaring in pain, collapsing to the ground as cracks started to appear across it's body, making it screech in absolute pain as it then exploded, everyone looking at the explosion in horror as it happened.
"Queenie!" Kinger shouted.
"Spyro!" The ponies shouted.
They looked at the cloud of smoke and data, not noticing a pair of pink claws grabbing some of the Abstract fragments before disappearing around a corner and a purple flash appeared, indicating he or she had just disappeared, leaving everyone to look at the smoke. They believed that Spyro and the Abstract had perished at the same time, but from the cloud of smoke and ash, they saw a couple of figures moving, everyone's eyes widening for joy as the smoke cleared and reveal Spyro was safe, helping Queenie to move out of the smoke and towards Kinger.
"Q-queenie?" Kinger asked.
"Kinger!" Queenie exclaimed.
She regained her balance and ran towards him, Kinger running to his wife and the two embraced one another, hugging each other as they both cried for joy, everyone looking at the married couple and then to Spyro as he smiled at them.
"You... unabstracted her?" Ragatha asked.
"It wasn't easy." Spyro replied. "There was a glimmer of light left in that thing's heart, meaning she could be saved."
"Can you save the others!?" Gangle asked, finding hope.
"I don't know." Spyro replied. "I only managed to save her because her heart still had some light in it. I don't know about the rest."
"All that matters is you brought Queenie back to me." Kinger said, looking at him. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I don't know how I can repay you."
"Don't worry about it." Sora said, walking up to them. "We're more than happy to help."
"We?" Spyro asked, Pomni walking over to see the construct. "All you did was go swimming."
"Is that... the back door?" Pomni asked.
They all looked to the construct, which it appeared to be a Light Rail, a tron version of a train.
"That's the back door Pomni." Spyro said, looking down at her. "That's it."
"Then... we can leave." Pomni said, excitedly as she approached it. "We're free. We're finally free."
"Pomni... you can't come." Spyro said, making ehr freeze and look at him in shock and horror. "None of you can."
"W-why not?" Pomni asked.
"Because... this is your world." Spyro replied, turning to everyone. "You are inhabitants of this world."
"But... we're from different worlds!" Pomni shouted. "Why can't we come!? We can return to our original bodies and-"
"Pomni, you're bodies aren't there!" Spyro shouted, shocking her. "You've been here for a few days, but it would have been anough time for your original self to leave the machine that scanned your brain and sent you here!"
"Wait, what are you saying?" Ragatha asked. "We're-"
"You're copies." Spyro replied, seeing the horrified looks on their faces. "The machines you were all in copied your brains and placed you here. In short, you're digital copies of your original selves. If we tried to return to the real world, you'd surely die without a physical body to go to." He saw how horrified everyone was, seeing how heartbroken they all were before turning to Pomni. "I'm sorry Pomni. I know I said you'd come, but-"
"But?" Pomni asked, turning to him as she started to abstract. "There are no 'buts!' You said you'd take us with you, but now you're telling me you can't!?"
"I'm sorry Pomni." Spyro said. "But for your safety, and the safety of the World order-"
"I DON"T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID WORLD ORDER!" Pomni screamed, a dark aura surrounding her and making everyone back away.
"Pomni." Spyro said, calling his Keyblade.
"I trusted you." Pomni said, abstracting as the darkness entered her. "I trusted you and Applejack to get me out of here. Do you know how badly I want out of this freaking prison!?"
"Pomni, calm down sugarcube." Applejack said. "We can just-"
"No, I'm done listening to you!" Pomni screamed, her eyes turning dark as she continued to abstract. "I want out! I want to return to the real world! And if I have to use the darkness to get out... then so be it!"
A moment later, a pillar of dark magic shot into the air, causing the entire world to start to glitch out as it caused all of the Abstracts in the floor below to float into the air before being grabbed by the pillar, entering Pomni's body as she screamed in pure rage, Abstracting herself as she turned itno a litteral dragon, thousands of eyes all across her body as the symbol for the Heartless appeared on her head, dark data streams of red light shot across her body, entering the symbol as it created a massive red barrier around her, the massive Abstract roaring in rage as it looked down at them.
"What... is that?" Sora asked.
"The mother of all Abstracts." Caine replied. "A Giga Abstract."
"What's with all the screaming?" Jax asked, he and Zooble walking out of the hall. "We heard Pomni scream and..." They looked up and saw the massive Abstract, their eyes widening in shock as it turned and roared at them, turning to leave. "Yeah, no. Not dealing with that. Later loosers."
A moment later, a barrier appeared on the hall as another appeared over the Light Rail, cutting off any escape for them as they looked at it.
"Spyro, what do we do bud!?" Sora asked.
"We have no choice." Spyro said, raising the blade. "We need to fight our friend."
They all looked at the dragon, which it roared again while Maleficent appeared on the highest point of the circus, smiling as the rubbed the crystal on her staff.
"Well, this is an interesting development." Maleficent said, looking at the battle field below her. "Young Pomni has finally Abstracted and let the darkness in. Wonder how it will turn out."
Maleficent remained up high, looking below as the Keyblade warriors took a battle stance, standing in front of Applejack to put some bodies between her and the Abstract, ready to do what was necessary to protect their friend and get her out of there.