Luminous Dusk

Development and design

As for her cutie mark design, I had to really think hard of what her cutie mark would be. I don't know why I decided to go with a vaporwave sunset, but then an Idea popped into my head of how I can best explain her cutie mark. Essentially, her cutie mark represents the darkness slowly taking over her heart. With the dark purple sun acting as the darkness controlling her and the broken aqua lines representing her actual self slipping away from the light.

Name

"Luminous didn’t know much about life even though she’s old enough to venture out on her own. Yet she was a shining star to them. A star that illuminated in the darkness of their lives."
— Night of Fate – A Prologue to Fading Light

The name Luminous Dusk is of two words: Luminous, meaning full of light or bright and Dusk, which according to Wikipedia, occurs at the darkest stage of twilight, or at the very end of astronomical twilight after sunset and just before nightfall. Her name can be interpreted as multiple hidden meanings, either of which is her light slowly fading away from her heart as she succumbs to the Darkness, or Herself being the one that saves Caelan and others from the Darkness. Ultimately, it is up to one's thoughts to form their own opinions on the meaning of Luminous' name.

Story and Appearances

Fortress Hearts: Fading Light

"The outside world is more colorful and vibrant… I wish to see more…To know what lies out there…"
— Luminous Dusk, Night of Fate – A Prologue to Fading Light

Luminous is a young pony that lives in Dark Hollow, a Bat-Pony colony situated inside a giant deep cavern. Her family owns a mango farm in which the bat ponies depend on for some their food supply. Luminous's life revolves around playing with her friends and working on her magic skills to carry on the long family legacy of mango farmers. Occasionally, she sits in front of the cavern entrance and dreams what life is like outside of Dark Hollow. Later her childhood friends, Umbra and Vesper invite her to explore the deep unlit parts of the cave system. She hesitates but after being convinced by her inner thoughts, she decides to explore with the two friends. Later deep in the tunnels, the trio gets attacked by Shadows. Luminous gets scraped up by their claws but was saved by Umbra. The trio get surrounded by the Shadows but Luminous in a defensive act, creates a shockwave of dark magic to dispel the dark creatures. They eventually flee back to the village with The Heartless chasing after them. In the midst of the Heartless invading her hometown, Luminous separates from her friends and goes to her home. Thinking that she will find safety inside, she calls out for her parents but once she approaches her house, a Darkside rises from the abyss and crushes the house with its massive hand, killing her parents inside. As the guards of Dark Hollow approach the Darkside with spears in hooves, she is forced to leave Dark Hollow and seek refuge in Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria.

While inside the capital city, Luminous tries to find her friends, thinking that they also had made it to Canterlot, but to no avail. While wandering around the city, she meets two ponies, Ellie and Mendy at the Bakery. Meanwhile, the Darkness are spreading throughout Equestria and eventually invade Canterlot. Causing Luminous, Ellie, and Mendy to evacuate the city and head into hiding within the Everfree Forest. Meanwhile, a squadron of Berserker and Dusk Nobodies chase after a lost princess. The trio of ponies and the princess eventually meet at a crossroads, with the Nobodies cornering them.

Before the Nobodies got to attack the ponies, Timberwolves ambushed the squadron, forcing them to retreat to their Masters, "Organization XIII", who have recently began their work in Equestria. After the recent failed attempt at capturing Storm Star, the Organization decides to monitor the group's movements from now on. The "Superior" of Organization XIII deploys Bounty Hunter Folke, with The Scientist, Lysandre to keep an eye on the ponies until the other members give the greenlight to capture Storm Star and deal with her new friends.

With the threat of the Darkness seeping in Equestria and Organization XIII working in the shadows of this new world, two Keyblade Wielders come to the aid of the Ponies. One was sent to aid the Royal Sisters and the other to help civilians escape the Heartless. Zain, disguising as a unicorn went to the aid of Luminous and friends. After a battle with the Timberwolves that sent them fleeing away, Zain tells them of a portal leading them to another world where they will be safe there. The group is hesitant to trust him, but Luminous agrees to follow Zain to the said portal.

As the journey continues to look for the Portal, Luminous and the rest of the gang battle enemies and help innocent ponies along the way, She also becomes much closer to the gang to the point that she becomes friends with them. Along the journey, Luminous reminisces about her old friends and wonders if they'll ever meet each other again. She misses them but is happy that she gained new friends who look different than herself.

In the meantime, Lysandre and Folke had been spying on Luminous' group for a while now. Lysandre reveals to Folke that after the extraction of the other half of Caelan's heart, the boy has grown ever weaker and would not be able to continue on his journeys. Folke questions as to why he cares for Caelan, to which Lysandre explains without the Hero's journey, the Organization's true plans will never be completed and thus, Caelan would need to have another heart in order to become stronger again. Lysandre requests a bounty on Luminous, for the sake of his experiments. Folke rejects him, saying that he only takes orders from the "Boss" and other higher-ups of the Organization.

As Luminous and friends make it to the Portal, which is located inside a giant and abandoned sandstone palace in Somnambula, Folke and Lysandre stand at the entrance of the Portal, weapons drawn. Zain readies himself with his keyblade. Folke makes a cocky remark at Storm Star before firing his revolver at her. Zain quickly tries to block it but Luminous gets in the way of the laser shot, it hits her right in the side between her chest and stomach. Luminous falls down to the ground in pain with her vision becoming blurry. The friends huddle around her trying their best to help her. Their voices slowly become faded and Luminous passes away.

Later Luminous wakes up in Caelan's Dive To The Heart, dazed and confused for a moment. A mysterious voice calls out to her, telling her to seek refuge within the Heart of Caelan, and to help him in times of dire need. Luminous does not understand at first, but then comes to realize her fate and agrees to remain within Caelan's heart. Vowing to help Caelan whenever she can and hoping to meet her friends once again.

In -Re:Ignited-, The story is mostly still the same with several more characters and locations added.

Fortress Hearts III

"How's the new vessel treatin' ya, Luminous?!"
— Folke to Luminous at the Keyblade Graveyard, Fortress Hearts III

From Fortress Hearts 2 and onward, Luminous continued to live on through Caelan. Even though she could not be seen or heard by anyone, she continued to try and protect Caelan and his friends throughout the many worlds he visited during Fortress Hearts 3, as the journey he endures would be challenging, now that the Organization was stronger than ever with the return of their true master, Xerxes-Lazarus and the eventual climactic battle at the Keyblade Graveyard was now on the horizon. The fate of the universe was in Caelan's hands, and Luminous was there with him through it all.

During Caelan's fight with his darker half, Noctis, Luminous was able to convince him to return to Caelan. Afterwards when Caelan fought Folke, Luminous with the help of Noctis, was able to have Caelan forge and dual wield two keyblades: Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

In the mod Project: Green Star, Luminous took a critical role in ultimately turning the tide of the war, when she summoned Storm Star through Caelan's willpower to face Xerxes-Lazarus and his Fragments on the Tower of Endings.

Fortress Hearts IV: Dark Tides

Luminous is seen in some cutscenes when playing as Caelan and Noctis.

Fortress Hearts V

Luminous makes a return in Fortress Hearts 5, this time as an aethereal spirit who can communicate with Caelan, often being able to be seen by him or supernatural beings like the Legendary Devil Hunter, Dante. This is due to "Quadratum" being on a different plane of reality, therefore beings within it can change their overall abilities and even appearances. Additionally, Luminous manifests a part of herself in the form of wings when the player activates Caelan's "Angel Trigger", which lets him heal, jump higher, and glide through the air.

Personality

For a pony who had never explored what had layed beyond her cavernous home, Luminous is very curious about everything but was too hesitant to actually go out and explore for herself. Luminous might not understand everything the world has to offer, but she would gladly be interested when either someone explains it to her, or she gets to learn it herself. When being confonted with choices, Luminous tends to be neutral on sides and would try to come up with a compromise that two parties would both agree on. After stepping out of Dark Hollow, She is loyal to her friends and hates to leave anypony behind. She cared for ponies who have been affected by the Darkness often trying to think of ways to help. When Luminous agreed to stay with Caelan, she influenced him to keep going even when times were difficult and when he was at his most lowest. In Fortress Hearts V, When Caelan lost his memories, Luminous tries to help Caelan piece together and remember their friends. Overall, she is a compassionate character.

Abilities

With Luminous being an alicorn bat pony, she can fly and use magic like any alicorn would. She also has enhanced hearing abilities, being able to hear and sense danger a mile away. With bat physiology, Luminous can use echolocation to percieve danger just by screeching. Though she tends to use it when no one is around.

Light Magic

Light magic is common among the ponies of Equestria and is the basis for Keyblade magic. Keyblades and their magical essences derived from Equestrian magic. Luminous has the spell to heal others and her family has the ability to magically grow mangoes, even in the darkness, as seen in the Prologue. In gameplay, Luminous uses Light magic for defensive and supportive situations, like healing party members.

Dark Magic

Dark magic is acquired when one's heart surrenders to the darkness. Darkness is powered by fear in Equestria, so with the constant fear of danger everywhere, Luminous tends to use this form of magic more than her light magic. Dark Magic is used as a way to fend off the Heartless in gameplay. In the World of Equestria, Dark magic is known to drain the energy of the user.

Positivity Bar and Weaknesses

"Monitor your Positivity Gauge at all times. A drained out gauge will give you a game over."
— Fading Light's Game Over tip on the Positivity Gauge

Much like the rest of the party members Luminous leads, she is weak to Darkness, which in some cases can poison the player and party. The Positivity Gauge is a unique gauge system that monitors the consquences of the player's actions in both the Orignal and Remake versions of Fading Light. Any negative actions or choices that the player makes will affect the positivity gauge poorly, while any positive actions and decisions will increase the positivity of the gauge and increase the player's XP points while eventually leveling the party up as a whole. If Positivity is completely drained, Luminous's health will start to deplete.

Quotes

"Mango."

"I always try my best to smile... It... just... takes my mind off of... well, bad things."

"H-Hi! M-My Name’s L-Luminous."
— Luminous Dusk, Night of Fate – A Prologue to Fading Light

"You can still exist, Noctis! Through Caelan. Look at me! My body perished, but i'm still here! And besides... His heart isn't fully complete without you."
— Luminous persuading to Noctis to return to Caelan's heart at the Keyblade Graveyard (Fortress Hearts III)

My dearest friends. I want to be able to see you and embrace you again... Even for just one day."
— For One Day. Comic

Gallery

Trivia

-Luminous' voice actress, Kimiko Glenn, voiced several horse related characters: "Izzy Moonbow" from My Little Pony: A New Generation and "Horse" from Centaurworld. She is also a very good singer!

-Luminous is partially inspired by two Kingdom Hearts characters: Roxas and Xion.

-Despite her love of mangoes, Luminous' favorite drink is Orange Juice.

-Luminous does not like green mangoes. To her, she despises the sour flavor of them. She prefers mangoes to be rippened before eating.

-There is an unlockable Keyblade in Fortress Hearts 3 that is heavily based on Luminous, revealed as a promotional item for the remake of Fading Light.

-There was a running joke for a short time that Luminous had a british guy named Dren, acting as her conscience.

-Ghost prefers to call her "The Mango".

-Luminous will sometimes pop up in Discord Voice Chats to say hello or place the mango emoji in text chats.

-In Fortress Hearts V, only demons, users of the force (Light and Dark sides), and beings of the supernatural can see her.

-Out of the three familiars V has, Luminous only hates one: Griffon.

-She can be chosen as the Style Announcer Voice in Fortress Hearts V.

-Her birthday is on March 23rd.