KH: Fragments of Friendship Chapter 9

Chapter 09: It's Not Over Yet

Soon, everyone traversed through and up the Canyon, as it continued to make the rumbling noises.  Luckily it wasn't an earthquake, but just a slight rumble.  As they managed to reach the top, back to the outside, everyone began to catch their breath, with Sora and the others unaware of Rainbow Dash being the first one to make it out of the canyon before anyone else
"That was a close one." Sora said.
"Yeah..." Spike said as he dropped to the ground.
"Well, it took you guys long enough." Rainbow Dash said as she approached the group.
"Wait, you got out of there before we did?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, I'm pretty fast." Rainbow Dash said as Twilight came from the group.
"Everypony alright?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, we're good sugarcube." Applejack said.  "You ok?
"Yeah, I'm alright." Twilight said.
"Good, cuz as long as you're ok, we're good." Applejack said, and then she quickly gave her another hug, much to Twilight's surprise, but she understood why, after everything that transpired.
"Thanks." Twilight said.
"Sorry about that..." Applejack said.
"It's fine." Twilight said, but then she looked at her brother, who looked at her, but then turned his head, much to Cadance's notice.
"Well, we should find that Crystal Empire." Sora said.
"But where would it be?" Goofy asked as he saw the snow falling down a bit rapidly.
"Oh dear, I knew I should've packed some scarves... oh wait, I got one in my luggage." Rarity said, but then looked at Spike.  "Spikey-Wikey, didn't you have my bags?"
"Pinkie Pie told me to give it to her." Spike said, as the white unicorn looked at Pinkie Pie closely.
"Don't worry Rarity, I have it in my Party Bag." Pinkie Pie said as she pulled out a small bag out of nowhere.  Rarity understood, because although Pinkie Pie's party bag may be small, it can fit anything!  As everyone else was wondering where to go, Cadance looked at the sky, but then felt something.  She felt that the magic was strong, and it was far ahead.
"I feel a strange magical surge far up toward our direction." Cadance said.  "The Empire must be the source."
"So we just have to that way." Rainbow Dash said.
"Come on everypony, let's go." Twilight said, but before they took another step, they heard a voice echoing in the snowy wind.  It was a woman's voice, and it was laughing evily.
"What was that?!" Spike asked as he hid behind Twilight, who quickly stood her ground.
"Well, what do we have here?" The voice asked.  "A bunch of colorful ponies and some keyblade wielding scum..."  Sora and Riku suddenly recognized the voice.
"I know that laugh." Riku said.
"Me too." Sora said.  Then suddenly a fire appeared behind the entire group, catching them by surprise.  The fire was burning green, with dark energy emitting from it.
"What is that?" Shining asked.
"It's some kind of Dark Magic!" Cadance said.  Soon the fire cleared, as it revealed a tall witch, cloaked in a black and purple robe, her skin pale green, and two black horns over her head.  It was the evil, wicked, and merciless Maleficent.  The ponies were surprised, and Fluttershy was the most terrified as she was almost face to face with her.
(Villains of a Sort plays)
"Boo." Maleficent said, which Fluttershy shrieked and hid behind Sora.
"Who is that?!" Fluttershy asked
"Maleficent!" Sora and Riku called.
"And she's not alone either." A voice said, which revealed to be a big humanoid cat, wearing protective armor.  It was Pete, who walked up beside her, making an evil laugh.
"Pete?!" Donald and Goofy asked.
"What are you doing here?!" Donald shouted.
"Funny you should ask." Maleficent said.  "We've recently discovered powerful magic coming from this world, and it led us all the way here in the Frozen North of Equestria."  Sora looked at the witch and her accomplice.
"You knew about the magical forces here?" Sora asked.
"Of course..." Maleficent said.  "Every magical individual, such as myself, can feel the energies that form from this world.  The disruption of the Elements of Harmony and the power of the Crystal Empire brought out attention.  And now that the empire has returned, that means, the Shadow King, King Sombra has returned as well."  Goofy looked at Sora.
"We just saw Sombra's spirit in that canyon, right?" Goofy whispered to Sora.
"Yeah..." Sora said, and then looked at Maleficent.  "Just what do you want Maleficent?"
"What do I want?" Maleficent asked.  "I wish to rule this world is what I want.  Sombra possesses the most powerful of Dark Magic throughout the entire universe.  With him at our side, we will rule the Crystal Empire, then Equestria, and then, the entire universe, all the worlds!"
"Yeah, what she said!" Pete said.  "But first, we're gonna get him out of this icy cell he's in."
"You're messing with dark forces you don't fully understand." Riku said.  "Just like what happened to Master Xehanort, the darkness will steal you both away as well.  Sombra is beyond what you wish to gain."
"Such fools you are, both of you." Maleficent said.  "You may have prevented him from harboring a vessel, but it only takes a while for him to restore at full power!"
"But Dark Magic is impossible to control!" Twilight called out as she stepped in front of the crowd.  "You can't just use it and expect it to use it whenever you please!"  The witch looked at the lavender unicorn.
"Say what you wish... Twilight Sparkle." Maleficent said, surprising the unicorn.  "That is your name is it?  From what I've heard from the stories, you have such powerful magic, almost as strong as the Sun Princess and the Moon Princess's combined.  You would've made a good edition to our cause."  Twilight let out a disgusted sigh.
"I would never join you, no in a million years." Twilight said.
"That's right you old hag!" Pinkie Pie called out.  "Twilight can beat you in a cage fight in just two-"  But then, Twilight used her magic to seal Pinkie Pie's mouth closed before she could go overboard with the insults.
"Such a fool to turn down an offer." Maleficent said.  "No matter, for soon you will all feel my wrath, and fall to the Shadow King's power!"
"Well, you'll have to get through all of us first!" Sora said as he, Riku, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons, ready to fight.
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash called.  "Us Too Miss Haggie!"  The witch gave a wicked smile.
"You fools... you will meet your end." Maleficent said.  "But first, it is time for a wake up call..."  Then without hesitation, Maleficent rose her staff in the air, and fired a lightning bolt into the canyon, causing it to rumble, crumble, and break open!  Seeing this brought fear into Cadance's eyes.
(Apprehension plays)
"Oh No!" Cadance called.  "She's broken the Canyon!  Sombra will get Lose!"
"Uh oh..." Goofy said, and then soon they heard a sinister demonic growl.  Then it happened.  Coming out of the cracked open canyon, was a huge black cloud, with eyes glowing green with red irises, a mouth with a pair of sharp fangs, and a red horn on it's forehead.  It was King Sombra, in his shadow form!
"Whoa..." Sora said.
"QUACK!" Donald shouted as he jumped onto Goofy's back, and the ponies were shocked.
"Now Sombra... vanquish them!" Maleficent called.  The shadowy spirit charged toward the group.
"Run!" Donald shouted as they all started to run, but then Maleficent fired bolts of lightning down to the ground in their path, causing them to stop, and some of them to trip.
"Look out!" Sora called as another lightning bolt and Sombra's shadow came down, as the ponies quickly moved out of the way, but Twilight suddenly tripped onto the ground.  Luckily she dodged the attacks before falling.
"Twilight!" Spike called.  The lavender unicorn slowly lifted her head up from the snow and couldn't help but look up dazed.  But soon that vanished when she saw Sombra's shadow almost right in front of her, getting bigger and bigger by the second.  Seeing this brought fear on her face as he mouth dropped and the irises in her eyes shrunk down to the size of pencil tips.
"Twilight get out of there!" Sora called, bringing the unicorn back to her senses as she tried to get up.  But soon the shadow came charging toward her.  From the crowd, Shining quickly charged toward her.
"Shining!" Cadance called.
"NO!" Shining shouted as he jumped between Twilight and the shadow, casting his shield spell around himself and Twilight, hoping to prevent the shadow from attacking.  But once the shadow struck, the shield quickly shattered to pieces, causing Shining to almost faint.
"Go!" Shining called.
"But Shining!" Twilight said.
"I Said Go!" Shining called as the shadow rose back up, and charged back down, and this time, it hit Shining right across the head, causing him to scream in pain and get blown across the snow.
"SHINING!" Twilight called as she quickly approached her brother, who was hurt badly.  He wasn't bleeding, but he was unconcious, and his horn was covered with black smoke.
"Shining!  Shining, Speak To Me!" Twilight said as she tried to wake her brother.
"Twily.... I'm sorry..." Shining said with a weak voice before laying back fully unconcious.  But that wasn't just all, black crystals began to form on his horn.  Twilight was shocked and almost horrified.
"Twilight!" Cadance called as she and the others ran to Twilight's side, as she was too shocked to notice.
"We have to get out of here!" Spike said.  They all saw the shadow rise into the air again and come down onto them.  But suddenly, Sora appeared in front of them and quickly summoned his keyblade.
"REFLEGA!" Sora shouted as he summoned a shield around himself, and this time, once the shadow attacked it, the shadow was instead blown back into the sky.  Since the shield was summoned with Keyblade magic, the shadow couldn't strike it without a problem.  Soon, Sora was joined by Riku, Donald and Goofy, who all had their weapons out.  Maleficent gave a growl.
(Squirming Evil plays)
"Don't think you're all safe yet!" Maleficent said.
"Yeah, because we got some backup!" Pete called.  "Heartless Squad, Come On Out!"  And this time, four Armored Knights, A Defender, three Wizards, and two Wyvern heartless appeared in front of the two villains.  Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy were ready to fight.
"We'll deal with them." Sora said.  "You guys get to the Empire."
"Alright." Cadance said.  "I'll signal you guys once we find it."
"Got it!" Sora called.  Cadance and Twilight, who was still horrified of her brother's current state, used their magic to magically lift him off the ground, and carry him as they, the rest of the mane six, and Spike head off to their direction, while the four heroes stayed to fight the heartless.  Pete gave a smile.
"Heartless... CHARGE!" Pete shouted as the heartless charged toward them, as our heroes fought back.  The battle was indeed challenging for them, but Sora fought against the armored knights, using his Rising Sun reaction ability to jump into the air and then dive down onto the enemies, one by one, eliminating each one.  Riku jumped into the air to deal with the Wyverns, using his Dark Splicer attack to teleport around the Wyverns, freezing them in place, using several combos to attack them, and as he finished the last combo, the Wyverns evaporated from existance.  Even though there were three Wizards who cast magic attacks, Goofy held out pretty well, using his Bash Raid and Turbo Slide abilities to slide along the floor with his shield, attacking the wizards, and throwing his shield at the last one, taking them all out.  The Defender may had a big shield, but luckily for Donald, it was immuned to two attacks, Gravity, which sunk the enemy flat into the ground, sapping most of it's energy, and thunder, which came down on it violently, as the duck finished it off quickly.  As the heartless disappeared, Sora then saw something far behind him, which was a sky blue light shining far off.  It was Cadance's signal, showing that they're at the Empire.
"The Signal!" Sora called.
"Let's Go!" Riku called as he, Sora, Donald, and Goofy quickly evaded the area, as Pete and Maleficent watched them run for it.
"Wha, they're getting away!" Pete hollered, as Maleficent gave a smile.  Suddenly, Sombra's shadow appeared behind the two as the witch turned her head toward it.
"Sic them." Maleficent told the shadow, as it let out a loud roar and charged chased the group.  Luckily the group was a bit far from the shadow's reach, but he demonic pressence began to increase his speed slowly.  The four heroes kept running and running, not looking back, knowing that it wouldn't help.  Soon, Goofy saw something up ahead.
"Look at that!" Goofy called, as they all spotted a huge sky blue glowing wall up ahead.
"It must be a magical Barrier!" Riku called.  "If we get inside, we should be safe!"  Donald couldn't help but turn his head slightly, seeing that the Shadow was catching up quickly.
"AHHHCK!" Donald shouted as he ran far ahead of the two boys, toward the barrier and made a jump inside the safe zone, followed by Goofy, and then they turned to see Sora and Riku running quickly as the shadow catched up.
"HURRY!" Donald shouted.  Sora and Riku then quickly made a jump, right into the barrier, just before the Shadow caught them, as it hit it's head on the barrier, causing it to fly back a bit.  Sora and Riku quickly caught their breath.
"You alright?" Riku asked.
"Yeah." Sora said as the two gave a chuckle, with Donald and Goofy looking back at the outside of the barrier, seeing the shadow grumbling.
"Aha!" Donald called.  "Not so tough now aren't ya you Dumb Shadow!"  He let out a funny face, but it resulted with the shadow to charge up to the barrier, and let out a demonic shriek, causing Donald and Goofy to become terrified and hide behind Sora and Riku.  The four saw the shadow, with his red and green eyes glowing, his horn and fangs.  Soon the shadow began to morph all on it's own, shifting into a tall stallion, slightly taller than Shining Armor, except that his skin was dark grey, and his black mane was flowing with magic.  He was also wearing some red cape and silver armor.  He gave a growl, as the four heroes were a bit startled, but also ready.  Sombra, the Shadow King took a step back from the barrier and gave another growl.
"Don't think you're safe yet..." King Sombra said.  "Your barrier won't last forever..."  He then morphed back into a shadow and fled the area, leaving the four confused for a second, as Donald and Goofy trembled, as Donald gave a frightened quack.
"I'm scared too Donald..." Goofy whimpered.  The two boys in front of them looked at each other.
"That was close huh." Riku said.
"Yeah..." Sora said as he looked at the barrier and then face forward.  "So... that was King Sombra...  How long do you think this shield will last?"
"Hopefully long enough for us to think of a plan." Riku said, as the two behind them gave a sigh.  Goofy was the first to turn around, but he quickly gasped, as if he saw something shocking and amazing too, much to Donald's notice.
"What are you looking.... at... HUH?!" Donald quacked as he turned to see what Goofy was looking at , and his expression was the same too.  They both tapped Sora and Riku, causing them to turn around.
"Huh?" Sora asked.
"What's wrong?" Riku asked as he turned around, but soon his attention was drawn to what they were looking at.  He gasped in surprise and amazement, and Sora... not only was he surprised, but he was smiling too.
(Miracle plays)
"WOW!" Sora said.  What they were seeing was no snow, but plain green grass, and beyond that were houses, all made out of crystals, many of them have windows, and in the middle of the large area, stood a giant crystal castle in the center.  This was indeed the Crystal Empire.
(Radiant Garden plays)
"The Crystal Empire!" All four of them said.
"Gee, it looks magnificent." Goofy said as Donald gave a quack of awe.
"You think the others are in the Kingdom?" Riku asked.
"I hope so." Donald said.
"Come on, let's go!" Sora said as he was about to take off.
"Hey, where are you going?!" Donald asked.
"That way, to the Empire." Sora said as he pointed toward the Crystal Castle.  "Unless you're scared."
"Don't be silly!" Donald said.  "I'm not scared."
"What about when Sombra was catching up to us?" Riku asked.  "You looked terrified."  Donald was about to say something, but gave a quack in defeat.
"Well, let's get goin' fellas." Goofy said.  "The others are waiting for us."
"Then let's go!" Sora said as they headed off to the Crystal Empire, hoping to meet up with everypony else.

The empire is beautiful, but it was indeed lacking something the feature that crystals have... Sparkles.  The empire wasn't sparkling at all, not even the Town's Square as our heroes entered in.  They looked around, seeing some crystal ponies, with a tiny bit of grey to them, walking in town.
"So... these are the Crystal Ponies?" Goofy asked.
"Why doesn't the place look all sparkly?" Donald asked.  Sora and Riku looked around, seeing a crystal pony walking near them.
"Excuse me miss?" Sora asked, as the crystal pony stopped and looked at the boy.
"Can I help you?" The pony asked.
"Yes, we were wondering if everything was alright here." Sora said.
"Oh, everything is quite fine thank you... I think." the mare said, who was named Amethyst Maresbury.  "Why do you ask?"
"Well, we came here to... ask some questions." Sora said almost hesitately, not wanting to worry anypony.
"Like what?" Amethyst asked.
"Well, we were wondering if you could tell us about ...somepony by the name of... King Sombra." Sora said, whispering the name of the Shadow King, as the mare looked at him with a bit of curiosity.
"I'm sorry, I don't know who that even is." Amethyst said, with the four giving a surprised sound.
"But... didn't he take over your kingdom a thousand years ago?" Sora asked.
"No evil king took over our Empire years ago." The mare said.  "It hasn't even been a thousand years yet, because Discord was defeated almost 20 years ago."  Sora looked at the mare and was confused.  He remembered Yen Sid telling him that Discord was defeated over a thousand years ago, and was defeated again a year ago.  Either this pony had short term memory loss, or was it something else.
"But... he... huh?" Sora asked.
"I'm sorry but I must return to the library." Amethyst said.  "Five ponies came by today asking for some history on our kingdom.  I should go check if they're still there."  She then headed off from the four, who were all confused.
"What was that about?" Sora asked.  "How could she forget about King Sombra?"  Donald and Goofy, and Riku looked at each other and began thinking.
"Hmmm... well Master Yen Sid said that Sombra cursed the Kingdom a Thousand Years Ago." Goofy said.
"But it only caused the Empire to vanish." Donald said.
"Wait a second... I think I know." Riku said, as the others looked at him.  "Sombra cursed the empire, making it disappear for a Thousand years, but when it returned, it also messed with the Crystal Ponies' memories, making them forget about Sombra's reign.  So that way, when Sombra comes back, the Empire won't prepare itself."  The group gave a nod in agreement.
"So that must means... we need to find the Empire's magic source, quick!" Goofy said.
"Right!" Donald said.  "But where could it be?"  Sora then turned to see the castle up ahead.
"How about the Castle?" Sora asked.
"Yeah." Riku said.  "The kingdom's magic has to come from inside the castle."
"Ok, let's head into the castle." Sora said as the others nodded.  Then the four headed to the Crystal Castle, hoping that the secrets are lying within the castle.

Meanwhile... back at Yen Sid's tower, the sorcerer and King Mickey were seeing through the cloud, which displayed Sora, Riku, Donald and Goofy heading into the castle.  Mickey let out a sigh.
"They made it to the Crystal Empire." Mickey said.
"Yes they did, and they managed to restore the Elements of Harmony." Yen Sid said.  "But a new problem has arisen.  Maleficent and Pete have appeared in Equestria, and must be working with King Sombra to take over the Crystal Empire.  If those villains succeed, they'll soon have Equestria within their grasp.  The four must find the source of the Crystal Empire's magic.  It's the only way to do so."
"We must do something about it." Mickey said.
"I agree with you Mickey." Yen Sid said as he summoned a book from the shelf.  "There may be something that can help them, and hopefully they'll find the information at the Empire as well."
"What is it?" Mickey asked.
"A thousand years before the Empire Disappeared, there was a royal family that ruled the empire for a many years, before Sombra took over.  The royal family was the Amore household, as they were once the beloved rulers of the Crystal Empire, with Princess Amore as the last one before Sombra took over.  She and her remaining family escaped Sombra's iron grip and went into hiding.  I have traced down the family tree, and managed to find the last member of the Amore family tree."  Mickey was surprised.  Over a thousand years of in hiding and being hunted, an Amore has survived.
"Who is it?" Mickey asked, as Yen Sid gave a hopeful smile.
"It is Princess Cadenza Mi Amore, but most know her as Cadance." Yen Sid said, as Mickey was then surprised even more.
"Wait... isn't Cadance Celestia's adoptive niece?" Mickey asked.
"Yes, and she is also Twilight Sparkle's former foalsitter, and Shining Armor's fiance." Yen Sid said.  "This will give them the advantage, for Cadance is the only one who can harness the Crystal Empire's magic to it's former glory.  But they must find the source of it's magic quickly if they are to prevail."  Mickey then began thinking, knowing that they're gonna need some backup.
"Master Yen Sid." Mickey said.  "I know this may sound crazy, but can you send me to the Crystal Empire?"