Double

Equestria Divided - The War for Harmony

Name: Sir Skyshine "Sky" Brightburn

Appearance:


Race: Unicorn Pony

Faction: House Moon and Star

Skills: As a former Knight of Celestia, Sky is battle-hardened warrior who's sense of pride is matched only by the conviction of his faith in the Celestial Sisters. He carries two weapons with him, the standard Morning Star of a knight and a sword that he is curiously hesitant to ever wield or draw. Along with those he carries a kite-shaped shield of a knight, his bearing a crimson blazon in the shape of a rising sun. This same blazon can also be seen etched into the breastplate of his armor, and is the easiest way to tell him apart from other knights on the battlefield. He wields the Radiant Glory and Blinding Light spells with a strong conviction, viewing his rising sun blazon as a symbol of hope, the light that comes after the darkest night.

History: Born to the strong and prestigious Dawn family, their sense of honor and pride were drilled into Sky's mind for as long as he can remember. The Dawn family has served the Celestial Sisters for generations, going all the way back to a legendary Knight, Burning Dawn, who is said to have sworn his fealty to Princess Celestia herself, and vowed that he and all his descendents would take to the battlefield in her name and in the name of honor. Celestia, in turn, was said to have rewarded Dawn's loyalty with a beautiful blade she christened the Sword of Solaris. Since then, descendents of Burning Dawn have been acting as Captains and Commanders of the Canterlot Guards, even after they were reformed into the Moon and Star Army, and have remained unshaken in their loyalty to Archmagistrate Twilight, who they view as the rightful successor to Princess Celestia. The Dawn family became known for two symbols, their crimson rising sun symbol, and the Sword of Solaris. The sword has been past down through the generations, whoever holding it being revered as both leader of the family and a leader of the knights as a whole. The blade itself is said to be enchanted, but it's real power comes from the sheer amount of respect and authority it carries with it. It is, and always shall be, the Dawn Family's most prized possession.

Sky himself was the eldest of two sons, the other being his brother, Blaze. Growing up, they competed in all things, but none more fiercely than for the Sword of Solaris itself, for they were next in line to inherit the mighty blade. Earning the sword was no small feat, as both Blaze and Sky participated in a battle against House Earthborn, using it as a means to decide who was the better warrior. Sky won the contest, but only after ordering the slaughter of Earth Ponies who surrendered, intending for the act to be a message to all those who dared challenge the might of the Dawn Family. With this, combined with him being the elder brother, Sky was favored over Blaze and was awarded not only the sword, but his father's position as the family patriarch. But it was the very night after this that he started having the dreams. They started as vague, but became increasingly vivid with each passing night. The dreams carried with them naught but a name: Redheart. Sky knew of this name, for Redheart's Refuge was the most well-known and well-defended refugee settlement in Equestria. But why would we dream of this place? The more he dreamed, the more he felt like he was being called by some mysterious force. Eventually he could fight it no longer, and so on one cold and rainy, he secretly took flight from the Dawn Family Manor in Canterlot and journeyed to Redheart's Refuge, taking the Sword of Solaris with him.

Other: The reason Sky is so hesitant to use the Sword of Solaris is because of how recognizable it is, and he knows that the moment he draws it from its scabbard, somepony from his family is bound to recognize it and start gunning for him, for his taking the sword has been viewed as a heinous crime against the family and is as punishable by death as treason itself. In other words, carrying the sword makes him effectively marked for death by the House of Moon and Star.

Equestria Divided - The War for Harmony

Well, the only real question I could bring up then is what happened to Discord. He's supposed to reawaken when there's enough chaos, and surely these wars would have provided said chaos for him to be revived again, right?

Equestria Divided - The War for Harmony

Question: Is this pre-Season 3? I'm just noticing that the Crystal Empire doesn't seem to be playing any role in all this.

Equestria Divided - The War for Harmony

Interested as well. I rather like the calculating nature of Moon and Star, but I'd be lying if I said Fluttershy wasn't the most interesting of the Leaders.

Kingdom Hearts: Darkness Reborn

"Hm? Oh, that's Sven." said Kristoff, approaching Simo and the elk, "He's a reindeer," he then glanced around swiftly and added in a whisper, "and if you ask me, he's way better company than most people I've ever met. Right, pal?" he said the last bit while patting Sven on the neck, "Yeah, we go way back, Sven and I. Practically grew up together. He's my best friend in the whole world."

Meanwhile, Olaf the snowman giggled when someone picked up his head, "H-hey, stop it. That tickles!" when he put his head back on he gave it a good spin, causing it to make a full rotation before coming to a stop. The Princess herself also giggled at the antics of Olaf and then just shrugged at Elim's question.

"I don't know. I only just found out about her powers last night. As for Olaf," she gestured at Olaf, "he was definitely not alive when we first made him as kids. So I honestly can't answer your question. Sorry."

"Eh, it's probably not all that important anyway." said, Jared, speaking up from his current position ahead of the others. As he walked, his arms were rested behind his head in a relaxed position, "He's pretty friendly, so how evil could he possibly be, right?" as he said this, he came to cliff edge and stopped, gazing forward in silent amazement, "Whoa, check it out..." was all he could say as he now pointed forward at the thing he was staring at. Across the cliff was the peak of a neighboring mountain, but that wasn't the amazing thing, not by a long shot. A crystal-like stairway of ice connected the peaks, and lead directly to what could only be described as an palace of ice, the setting sun giving it a reddish-pink shimmer as it sparkled like crystal.

Jared's wonder was cut short as he spotted something. Three unrecognizable figures crept into the palace. Evidently, they were not the only ones in search of the Queen, "Someone's going inside! Come on!" he told the others, and with that began running up the icy staircase. Surprisingly, it was not slippery at all, the weather being too cold for the ice to melt and become slick as a result.

Kingdom Hearts: Darkness Reborn

Thundercat is on a field trip and isn't coming back 'til Sunday. So feel free to post, Card, since I know you generally wait to be last in the order.

Kingdom Hearts: Darkness Reborn

Jared noticed Elim's harsh remarks toward Kasus, but simply ignored it... for the moment. For now, he nodded his agreement with Kristoff and even helped him get some stuff out of the overturned sled, even taking the initiative to add some of the gear to his own so that Kristoff wouldn't be forced to carry everything. On a similar note, Jared also flagged his friends over had them carry a bit as well. After all, the more supplies they could carry away from the sled, the better. It was at about this time that the little snowman finally decided to come out of hiding, his sudden appearance even startling Jared, "Hello," it said, staring at the group with wide eyes and naive smile, "my name's Olaf. Anna and Elsa first made me when they were little girls, but earlier today Elsa made me again but used her powers to give me life. I found Anna after that and..." at this point Jared realized that if he didn't say something the snowman would never shut up.

"Oh, OK. That's great." he said with feigned interest, "Speaking of Elsa, we better go find her now, right?" this seemed to be enough to get the snowman to stop talking in favor of moving along, "Phew... thought he'd never stop talking." he muttered under his breath as the group now seemed ready to start up the mountain trail.

As they did so, Jared realized there were a couple of things he needed to take care of among his friends and chose now to do so. First he adjusted his pace to walk with Serene, "Did you lose your nunchaku?" he asked her suddenly, "It's just, well I kind of noticed you weren't using them in the last fight..." he paused, thinking of an idea and suddenly just gave his spear to her, "...here, take mine for now. I'd feel better if you at least had something to use besides your fists." and before she could have a chance to give it back or refuse, he went off on his own again.

Next up was Kasus. It was pretty apparent that the poor guy was feeling down, especially after his "conversation" with Elim, that term being used very loosely. And so, Jared decided to try saying something to help, "Hey, don't listen to what he says." Jared whispered, not really wanting Elim to hear and start an argument, "I mean, we're all kind of new to this sort of thing. Heck, even Elim was a rookie at some point, even if he'd probably never admit it. If we just stick together it'll turn out okay, I'm sure of it." with that, he was about leave but stopped himself, wanting to say one last thing, "Oh, and next time let me know if you lose something so I can help you find it, OK?" that last thing was referring to the swords Kasus lost back in the Kingdom, and as he walked away Jared made a note to himself to help Kasus find them before they left.

And finally, Jared saved the most difficult thing for last. He wasn't sure how he was going to do this, even as he approached Elim, but he knew he had to do something. The last thing he wanted was tension among his friends, and if that meant playing mediator then he'd just have to knuckle down and do just that, "Hey," he said to Elim when he got to him, "that was completely uncalled for you know." there was no need to elaborate, it was pretty obvious what Jared was referring to, "I don't know how long you've been on your own, but since you're with us you really should cut the Lone Wolf routine, and cut us a little slack while you're at it. Maybe you have a bit of experience with fighting, and if so, great. But the rest of us, myself included? If you think we should improve somehow then just say so, you don't have to go slapping someone and making a scene about it." he was about to leave Elim to his thoughts when he added, "One more thing. Since you're clearly the most experienced fighter, if you could maybe help us with some training, I think we'd all appreciate it."

Maybe he could have sounded more stern, reminded Elim just whose ship they were riding on or something as a warning, but Jared chose not to. This wasn't some military squad where he needed to be a harsh drill instructor to keep everyone in line. They were just a group of kids who, thanks to a rotten twist of fate, were effectively stuck together and only really had each other to rely on. That meant they would all have to start by trusting each other.

Kingdom Hearts: Darkness Reborn

I'll be posting later today and moving us along. If you haven't posted yet then you have until then to do so. I'm just starting to feel like we've been on the same world for a bit too long and would very much like to move on to other things.

Kingdom Hearts: Darkness Reborn

Oh and my fight ability update from the last fight.
power up on my Fire
and aireal Kick
from the one we are in when its finished
Ferocious Lunge
Ragnarok

Er, we're only supposed to gain abilities from Boss Battles. That wasn't a boss encounter, otherwise I would have specified it as such. Still, just let the Fire spell be a full one anyway since... well, honestly it's just more convenient for us.

Kingdom Hearts: Darkness Reborn

With the fight now basically over, Jared relaxed a bit, first breathing a sigh of relief, "Okay, is anyone else starting to think we're attracting those things like a magnet?" he asked, making the suggestion sarcastically but not actually realizing how accurate the assumption really was. Heartless had always been attracted to the strong of heart, and it was those with the strongest hearts who were oft chosen to wield the Keyblade. So Jared's joking remark was shockingly on the mark without his knowing it at the time.

"Um..." started an unfamiliar voice. It was the girl who had been riding in the sled, "...who exactly are you guys?" she had a curious, but skeptical tone about her.

"We're no one... really," answered Jared, now approaching the sandy-haired redhead, "you know... just passing through and all that, and thought we'd offer to help find you... Your Highness." at the last part he gave a quick bow to the girl he was now certain was the lost Princess Anna.

"How did you-?" the Princess began to ask, but she was cut off by the blond man who had driven their sled.

"Uh huh..." he said skeptically, "...'Just passing through'? Yeah, right. How do I know you're not some kind of bandit gang looking to make quick money on a ransom or something?" as he talked, he was quick to put himself between the Princess and their others as if he were some kind of bodyguard.

"Kristoff!" snapped the Princess, very quickly coming out from behind him and having no intention of playing damsel in distress, "They just saved us from those... things, and your way of thanking them is by accusing them of being bandits? Geez, did you have to practice to attain such rudeness or does it just come naturally to you?"

"Hey, I was just-"

"Actually," Jared said, "we're here because Prince Hans requested it."

"There, see?" said Anna to Kristoff with a huff, "They're here because my beloved Hans was worried about me and sent a search party. I told you he loves me!"

"Again with that?" protested Kristoff, "Look, all I said was I thought it was kind of silly to want to marry a guy you just met. Would you let it go already?"

"Er, anyway," Jared said, desperate to change the subject, "I'm Jared. This is Elim, Kasus, Serene, and Simo." he gestured to each of his friends as he introduced them, "Since we found you, Your Majesty, I must insist that you come with us. I promised to bring you home safely after all."

"Not without my sister." Anna replied quickly, "I'm not going home without her, and you can't make me."

"I never said that, Your Majesty, I simply said I wished for you to stay with us... so we could find her together."

"Oh, in that case, Kristoff and I were just about to head up this mountain. We'd be delighted if you came with us. Right?" she elbowed Kristoff in his side as she said the last part.

"Uh... right. Sure. Why not?" he said with a shrug and started digging various things out of the sled, "Here, we'll need some of this stuff to make it up. I've got a climbing kit and some rations on me, let's just hope that'll be enough. Now, if everyone could just follow me, we've got a mountain to climb."

---

Meanwhile, back in Arendelle, Hans was sitting at the table, about to partake in a bowl of stew when a servant came bursting in, "M'lord, something's happened!" he announced, urgency in his tone. Hans put down his spoon and looked expectantly at the servant.

"Well, what is it?" he asked, trying to keep composed but a small bit of impatience trickled through.

"It's Weselton, sir. He's gone! His men, too!"

"What? When?" asked the Prince, genuinely surprised by this news.

"Hard to say. Their rooms appear to have not been slept in, though. And a few horses from the stable are also missing."

"I only spoke to Weselton last night after the incident, he must have departed during the night while we slept." deduced the Prince, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. The Duke of Weselton had acted most alarmed at the Queen's show of... power... at the incident. As Hans recalled, he insisted that she must be an evil witch and that they should hunt her down before she could cause any more damage. Hans had tried to reason with the man, but it seemed diplomacy was not enough to sway him from his intentions.

"Should I raise the alarm, sir? Shouldn't we go after him?" asked the Servant.

"No." said Hans coldly, "If Weselton is truly hellbent on going through with his foolish plan, then he should suffer the consequences for it."

"M'lord, what of the party you sent? Should they encounter Weselton there could be-" he was stopped by Hans raising a hand.

"There will be no need. If Thatch and his group encounter Weselton then chances are good they will set him straight... or at the very least stop him."

"Then... what should we do, sir?"

Hans shook his head, "What we've done from the start. We wait." and with that, he sent the servant away with a wave of his hand.

No alarms were sounded, no news or word spread about what had happened. As far as Arendelle was concerned, the Queen and Princess were still missing, and Hans would be the one they would have to turn to in their absence.