4. Party Rock Anthem

[buymedumplings]

Characters: Party People
Content: Bolin hosts a block party in Twilight Town. Food, fun, and partying! Whoo!
Location (including world): Twilight Town, The Sandlot
Time of Day: Late afternoon and into the night
Warnings: Excessive partying?
Notes: Feel free to start your own sub-threads, thread-jack, and just have fun. Open free for all is the style for threading.


Bolin, with the help of Spirits, Moogles, and various other people had finally finished setting up the party. There were tables laden with different kinds of food of course and decorations everywhere. They'd made sure to clear a space for dancing and Perry the Platypus had volunteered to DJ with some equipment borrowed from the moogles for the night. Bolin wished there could be more people so they could have games and stuff like a proper street festival...but for what he had he felt it was pretty good.

Now they just needed people to show up for the fun.

Comments

[letteropener]

"Darkness in the form of Xehanort, whose deeds are reviled by those who bear the Keyblades," Celestia said with calm patience. Eraqus might not wish to discuss it, but the Princess had picked up plenty through patient investigation and listening -- enough to know how much she didn't know. She had decided to treat the secrecy as an entrenched enemy, one she couldn't move against directly without too much harm -- but this was a test of those defenses, a demonstration of strength, to see what would come.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Eraqus's tone became grim. He was starting to get used to the idea that even when he wanted to avoid it most, he could never truly get away from reminders of Xehanort, and all the horrible histories that accompanied him. "Yes...yes, like Xehanort. He is anything but common, though." And he was not yet convinced that all this wasn't somehow Xehanort's doing...

[letteropener]

Defenses probed, no ground given. Celestia was starting to think that these people would sooner condemn the worlds to darkness than actually share information with somepony not part of their circle...

But, she admitted to herself with a mental sigh and a slight relaxation, that might very well just be the ego of a princess who had ruled a world reasonably well, and thought that entitled her to interfere wheresoever she chose. "Equestria is not free of such darkness either, though I believe it has no connection."

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Truthfully, Eraqus was not all that certain what Celestia wanted from him in terms of information, considering even he didn't have the whole picture. But he was much more likely to give a direct answer to a more direct question.

"What sort of darkness do you find there, then?" He doubted Xehanort had visited such a world (although not outside the realm of possibility), but that didn't mean there hadn't been Heartless there, too.

[letteropener]

The truth was, she had no idea what to ask. She only knew that she didn't know enough... not what she didn't know. All she could do was chisel away patiently at the wall of silence, waiting for cracks to form and information to drain her way.

"I am told Xehanort took over the body of a Keyblade wielder, and now uses it for his own. In a similar fashion, on our world, a force of darkness inhabited a pony and, while we have some debate on what exactly occurred there, I believe it functioned in much the same way -- the pony was overtaken by a personality within the darkness, or one was shaped from it, which from then on controlled her actions until it was banished from her."

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Eraqus started, and didn't respond for a bit. It was more than obvious that the mention of such was causing him anguish. He didn't want to think of that happening to his student...not to mention the lingering belief that he was at least partially responsible.

"Yes...that's what I've heard, too. Although I haven't seen it myself." No doubt Aqua had told some of her other friends here.

It was easier now to focus on a different -if related- problem. "But not one of Xehanort?" If it was, then Celestia would likely already know who he was, anyway. "How did you manage to banish it from her?" He didn't think that any Keybearers had visited such a world, but maybe he was wrong.

[letteropener]

"It was a different darkness, one that sought to bring eternal night to our world. My sister and I differ on its true nature, but I know it to be nothing of Xehanort's. As for its defeat... On our world, we have powerful artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony. Six ponies, each of whom embodied one of the Elements, took up their mantles and wielded them."

She offered him a sympathetic, sad smile, all thoughts of point and counterpoint gone. "The truth is, I am much to blame for what happened, both in allowing the darkness to arise as it did, and in being unable to properly deal with it when it did. A thousand years passed before my mistakes were made right again. But they were made right... and so too will we put Terra to rights again. This I promise you."

[hiptobe_eraqus]

It was strangely comforting to hear of at least one place where darkness taking hold hadn't been Xehanort's direct doing. Although it did leave some questions as to what exactly it was, since that didn't sound like the Heartless, either. And if Luna's realm was for the night, it wasn't surprising that she'd look at it differently. "I see." He paused, remembering the other two ponies here, both with very...strong personalities. "I don't suppose some of those wielders are here, too?"

Well, those feelings he could certainly understand. It was a little funny to hear them coming from someone else, under very different circumstances. There wasn't much of a response he could give to the assurance other than a small smile and a "Thank you."

"I suppose, even if we don't see it in our lifetimes...things have a way of eventually turning towards right."

[letteropener]

Insightful. "Pinkie Pie holds the Element of Laughter, while Rarity is the Element of Generosity. The actual, physical Elements of Harmony, though, are not with them. Luna and I were their previous wielders, as well."

She spread her wings slightly, so that the one on the side facing him encompassed him ever so slightly. A distant little way of offering comfort beyond the verbal. "I would like to think I will see it, but then again, I have already lived a long time already. But whether I see it or not, I know that the good will win out over the bad in the end."

[hiptobe_eraqus]

Hmm, both of those did seem to fit the ponies in question. Although having them not be here would seem to imply that these elements were artifacts of some sort. "Are those sorts of things typically passed on to new generations?"

He smiled. "If you've already gone a thousand, I don't imagine it would be that difficult to go another." At least she was far more likely to see that good than he was; something he'd come to accept.

[letteropener]

"It is not a question of difficulty, but of wisdom," she said, the only hint at the many, many years of deep thought she'd put into her life choices and how much good she was doing Equestria, versus how much harm. "And there is little precedent for the Elements in any circumstance, but I think it wisest that they be passed on."

[hiptobe_eraqus]

So these elements weren't typically passed down from generation to generation. On the other hand, he wasn't entirely sure how long a 'generation' lasted for a pony as compared to most people, but even then this sounded different. "I'm sure it was for good reason. Wisdom of any sort is intended to be handed down."

[letteropener]

Complicating the answer was just how darned long Celestia (and Luna) had lived, as well.

"Better to have a world in which the Elements are not needed... but that, I think, may be another several thousand years in coming, if indeed it is impossible. But you are right, and indeed it is better this way. I shall never take the Elements up again, not when my little ponies can use them better than I could."

Good place to stop?

[hiptobe_eraqus]

"I think we would all like to see a day where tools used to fight darkness are not necessary," he replied. "But until that day comes, all we can do is pass them on to the young, along with what wisdom comes from using them."

Works for me!

[letteropener]

"And never stop fighting ourselves... in whatever ways we need to," she said, satisfied that if nothing else, they were at least in perfect accord on that most important of matters.