It was a beautiful day out today, perfect weather for hanging out on the beach and swimming in the ocean. Though it seemed like the perfect time to go on a vacation, for one sixteen-year-old boy, he couldn't afford to take a break. That boy's name was Sora, a goofy, laid back teen, but when push comes to shove, he will do anything to help those in need, especially when his friends are in danger. He had spiky brown hair, wearing his black traveling attire upgraded by the three good fairies to not only make his older clothes fit him, but give him more power to stop the Heartless and Nobodies. He has saved the entire universe several times from the Heartless, a group of Nobodies known as Organization XIII, and a few versions of the man who began seeking Kingdom Hearts several years ago, named Xehanort.

Unfortunately, just a couple months ago, he and his childhood friends, Riku and Kairi, took their mark of mastery exams to become full fledged Keyblade Masters, and he failed. While traveling through the dream realms, Sora was captured by Xehanort and was almost killed, his body to be used in order to create the X-blade the old man wanted in order to take full control of Kingdom Hearts, and all the worlds. Even after all of his feats saving the worlds from Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem, and his Nobody, Xemnas, none of it seemed to matter to immediately make him a Keyblade Master. He did understand, though, and resumed his training, honing his skills as a Keyblade wielder even further, promising to pass the next chance he gets.

Now, Sora spent every day on the island he and his friends played on training, swinging his Keyblade with powerful force on the sandy shore. Since he was by himself most of the time, he was able to go all out and exert himself to exhaustion, casting every spell he knew and every skill he could pull off. After spending hours practicing under the hot sun, the teen took a break, wiping away the sweat on his brow. As he sat down on the beach to rest, he heard footsteps come from behind him.

"Giving up on training so soon, Sora?" The teen lifted his head back until he saw the person from an upside down perspective. That person was his best friend and rival since they were kids; Riku. He wore a pair of blue jeans and a white and yellow t-shirt, his hair a light silver, cut short though slightly messy. His friend had two blue popsicles in his hand, giving his friend a smirk at the frown Sora gave him. "I thought you were supposed to be stronger than that."

"Ha ha, Riku. That's not going to affect me anymore." Riku sat down next to Sora, offering him one of the ice creams, a popular and favorite flavor with a weird name; sea-salt ice cream. He took a bite of his treat, tasting the salty, yet sweet, flavor as it hit his taste buds. "On a little vacation?"

"Sort of. Being a Keyblade Master's pretty hard, but that means we're going to need to find more wielders in order to protect the worlds." Riku took a bite of his ice cream as he looked out to the calm sea. "At least Kairi and I are keeping the worlds safe."

"I've been doing that before it was popular," Sora joked as he scarfed down the sea-salt ice cream, letting the brain freeze cool him down. "...Is Kairi doing ok?"

"You know, you can just tell her you love her, Sora. You two were made for each other." Sora blushed as he looked away. Riku chuckled at his reaction after constantly teasing him about his crush on Kairi. "Come on, Sora, it's obvious. You wanting to share the paopu fruit with her, her heart shared with yours, the charm she made for you...All those love letters you made yet you threw away out of fear."

"W-What!? Who told you about those!?" Riku laughed harder, nearly falling on his back as Sora's blush intensified. The embarrassed teen groaned as he was led into revealing that, hating how easily Riku could get under his skin when joking around. "I hate you."

"I know, but it's your fault for opening your big mouth." Riku finished up his ice cream, holding the stick in his teeth. "But I didn't come around to poke fun at you, as enjoyable as that is. I came to tell you personally that Master Yen Sid wanted to speak to you."

"Huh? Why?" Sora asked, curious as to what the wizard wanted with him. "Is it a retake on my mark of mastery exam?"

"He didn't say. He just told me to come and get you." Riku stood back up, twiddling around with his popsicle stick. "Better get going. I've got to go back to patrolling the north-eastern sector of the galaxy soon."

"Then that means I'm in more trouble..." Sora sighed as he stood up. "I really hope I didn't screw anything up."

"I know you feel disappointed for what happened back there, Sora...In fact, I think you should have been a Keyblade Master more than me." Riku looked down at his hand, clenching it into a fist as he knew the power he wielded inside him. "I have a worse track record than you...Letting Ansem take control of me, using the power of darkness...But, Master Yen Sid knows what's best."

"I guess...So, I'll be seeing you later then?" Sora scratched the back of his head as he asked.

"Yeah. Maybe not for a while." Riku headed back, taking the stick out of his mouth. He stopped and turned his head to his friend. "Also, man up and tell Kairi your true feelings before I do."

"Y-You don't even like her like that!" Sora shouted in jealousy as Riku laughed. The teen slapped himself in the face, always falling for Riku's teasing. "Stop messing with me!"

"That's never gonna happen." Riku waved his arm, saying goodbye as he approached the docks, stepping on a swirling light that transported him to his gummi ship.

Sora sighed, rummaging through his pockets and fishing out a charm in the shape of a star made out of seashells. "I can take on Heartless, faced a three-headed dog on my own, took down a Heartless and Nobody battleship without batting an eye...yet I can't tell a girl I love her." He continued looking at the charm in his gloved hand, Kairi letting him keep it for good luck, even though it was hers. Without Kairi, he wouldn't have gotten to where he was as a Keyblade wielder. And without her light, he would have been lost in a sea of darkness while he was a Heartless. "Guess I better get going and see what Master Yen Sid wants...and if Kairi's at the tower."

Sora navigated his custom made gummi ship through space, making his way toward the Mysterious Tower where Master Yen Sid lives. His space vessel is similar to the blueprints his friends, Donald and Goofy, had when he first began his adventure to the many worlds in his travels. Since he was rescued, he hadn't seen his best friends in a while, though he did receive letters from them from time to time. He understood they had important duties to uphold as King Mickey's royal wizard and captain of the guard. And with everything in the universe not suffering as much from the Heartless or any stray Nobodies, there really wasn't all that much excitement for either of them.

The teen finally reached the Mysterious Tower, exiting his gummi ship and began trekking up the long stairway to his master's study. As he reached the top, standing before the old wizard's door, Sora swallowed the big lump caught in his throat and knocked on the door.

"Enter," Master Yen Sid announced, the spikey-haired teen allowed access as he slowly walked in.

Sitting at his desk, reading through one of his many books, was the wizard he had met several times. He wore blue robes with a purple wizard's hat, littered with white stars. He also had a long gray beard, showing a look of wisdom and seriousness when it came to being an all powerful magician. Sora stood before his master's desk and bowed in respect to him.

"Master Yen Sid, Riku relayed his message from you to me," he said, feeling a little nervous.

"Good. Relax yourself, Sora. You are not in any trouble." Though he believed Yen Sid, he still couldn't help but feel a little intimidated, not knowing what the wizard had in store for him. "I know you have done a lot to help save the worlds, but your actions can be...careless when you grow too concerned about the safety of others. That led to you being captured by Xehanort, and it almost cost you your life." Sora winced, never going to live that down. "You should be lucky you have made many friends to aid you in your journey.

"But now, I believe I should issue you some more training before I decide on what should be your retake of the mark of mastery exam." Yen Sid snapped his fingers, making a small slip of paper appear out of thin air. He levitated it to Sora, the teen taking it as he looked at what was written on it. "Those are specific coordinates to a world far from this one and many others along that direction."

"...Is it infected by the Heartless?" Sora asked.

"No, but there are dangers in that world that you can easily overcome. You have saved the worlds from darkness several times, even keeping Kingdom Hearts from being taken control of." The wizard grinned as he praised Sora for his overwhelming feats. "It will be a long ride over to this location, so I suggest you pack enough for the journey through the cosmos."

"Alright." Sora was about to leave after bowing to Master Yen Sid, but a telekinetic grip on his shirt forced him to turn back to face the magician.

"I must warn you, Sora. You agreeing to take this training means you might be there for a long while. That means you won't see or hear any word from your friends." Sora's jaw dropped at the warning. "If you really wish to go, then you must understand the situation you will be faced in. Do you understand your mission?"

The teen was speechless. This "mission" felt more like a punishment than anything. He always relied on his friends to aide him in battle, and anytime he was alone, he triumphed knowing he friends would back him up, no matter where they are and how far they were split apart. Sora looked down at the note with the coordinates to this new world as if it was a pink slip of sorts, where he would be fired as a Keyblade wielder, though it was a job that non one could quit or get laid off from. Still, if what Master Yen Sid said is true, then it's possible that maybe this was what he needed to grow stronger in several ways.

Making his decision, he looked at his master with a determined look, nodding his head. "I understand, Master."

"Good. Now, prepare yourself for the long journey you will embark on." Sora bowed and made his way out of the study to pack what he needed to this new world. As the teenage hero exited his study, Yen Sid stood up from his chair and headed into the adjacent room filled with mirrors, some of them covered with sheets as they held magical properties. He uncovered one of them, the frame coated in a prismatic light that shimmered like an aurora, using his magic to activate the enchanted reflection. "Sorry for the long hold. I didn't want any of my pupils to know about this magical mirror."

"I didn't expect a sheet to cover our communication be considered 'on hold'," a feminine voice sounded through the mirror, sounding majestic and wise.

"Again, I apologize. But know that I have finally chosen a student of mine to come to your world," Yen Sid said. "I'm sure he will not only help you with any conflicts in the future, but also teach a student of yours a few lessons she needs in life."

"Indeed. Though, I must ask, Yen Sid; who are you sending?" the woman asked.

"You'll see. My pupil will arrive within a few days from my location in the universe. When you meet him, he may not seem like the type of warrior you may expect in attitude, but he has the skill to back up his aloofness." The woman chuckled on the other end.

"I'll believe your word, Yen Sid. Thank you for your assistance," the woman said.

"You are quite welcome, your highness," the wizard said as he bowed in respect to the supposed royal.

Outside of the tower, Sora was busy going through his inventory, making sure he had everything necessary for the long few days of travel he would embark on. While focused on his mental checklist, he didn't notice a gummi ship make a landing not too far from the Mysterious Tower. Stepping out from the vessel was a teenage girl, wearing a pink shirt and skirt that reached up to her knees, her hair long and colored auburn. Seeing Sora here, she approached him and tapped his shoulder.

"Hmm?" As he turned around, Sora stammered as he was staring at his other long-time friend, and crush, Kairi. "K-Kairi! H-Hey!"

"I was wondering what you were doing here," Kairi said, giggling at his surprise. "I thought you were busy training by yourself on the island."

"Uhh...Well, I was. But, Riku sought me out and said Master Yen Sid had some kind of job for me. So, here I am, packing up to go to some unknown world." As much as Sora tried to remain aloof and nonchalant about the whole thing, on the inside, he was a nervous wreck just staring at the girl who had literally dragged his heart out of the darkness, which he gave up to wake her up that day a couple years ago. Their hearts had literally been intertwined since their home was swallowed by the darkness, and he was going to be far away from Kairi, unable to see or talk to ever again for a long time. "It's gonna be a long drive there."

"Yeah." Kairi looked over Sora's shoulder, seeing the variety of supplies he had out of his ship to store. "I can see you've packed quite a bit there...And, Master Yen Sid said you had to do this on your own?"

"It's...more like training for me. Nothing really specific for an objective, really..." Sora scratched his head, unsure how to explain the unfortunate news to Kairi. He let out a huge sigh, deciding on just telling her. "...I'm probably gonna be gone for a long while...I don't know how long it'll be before I come back."

"Oh. I see." Kairi seemed a little upset, but she understood the situation. "Whatever happens, I believe you can pull through. I know you always do." Sora nodded and chuckled, blushing a little. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Kairi's charm, wanting to give it back to her since it was hers from the start. "Why don't you hold onto that for me just a while longer?"

"You sure? You told me to bring it back to you back in Traverse Town, yet you haven't bugged me about it for a long while," Sora said.

"Yeah, I know. I was just messing with you." Sora groaned as he lowered his head comically, hearing Kairi giggling at him. "Besides, if you're going to be gone for a while, I want you to have something to keep to remember us if you forget."

"How can I ever forget you?" Kairi tilted her head in confusion as Sora asked that question in a sort of lovestruck daze. Realizing he was acting more of a goof than normal, he shook his head to get rid of the growing blush on his face. "Uhh, I-I mean how can I forget having to save you from danger all the time!? Sure, I had a blast going to other worlds, but it's you're the princess who gets captured by the evil dragon and I'm the valiant knight who comes to save you!...Actually, that did happen in Radient Garden when it was originally called Hollow Bastion."

Kairi laughed at the ironic twist of their grand adventure. "That is true! But I'm not longer the damsel in distress anymore."

"Yeah. You can take care of yourself now. Oh, woe is me, for I am out of a job!" The two teens laughed as they joked around, spending as much time as possible before Sora wouldn't be seen for a long time. After they calmed down, they were quiet, almost waiting for the inevitable goodbye to just come. Sora sighed, not wanting to waste any time procrastinating and disappoint Master Yen Sid by loafing around. "...Well...I better move everything in the ship...and get going."

"Ok...I need to see Master Yen Sid and give him a briefing on the worlds I visited." Sora nodded, but before he was able to begin packing everything in his ship, Kairi suddenly hugged him tightly. "Take care of yourself."

"...Y-Yeah...Of course I will." He hugged her back, the two teens staying like that for a moment before Kairi let go. Sora wanted to tell her his feelings for her, but the words couldn't come out. When he finally did speak, he was going to chastise himself for the rest of his time gone. "Kairi?"

"Yes, Sora?" she asked.

"...If you see Donald, Goofy, Riku, the king...all my friends in the other worlds...can you tell them I'll be gone for a while?" Sora mentally smacked himself in the forehead as he was too afraid to speak his true feelings.

"Of course," Kairi nodded, though sounding a little disappointed. "Good luck, Sora."

She turned and hurried inside the tower, leaving Sora alone with his supplies and waiting gummi ship. "...Perfect, Sora. You chickened out..."

Sighing in defeat, the teen began loading up his gummi ship. He continued berating himself, even after he was ready to leave, taking one last look the tower where Kairi is speaking with Master Yen Sid.

During the few days of traveling through the galaxy, passing by several worlds Sora had visited in the past, the teen looked out at the vast emptiness of space in boredom, sitting in his seat as the ship had been on auto-pilot. The only thing he could do to pass the time was either do some warm-ups or do nothing, wondering if he should have said no to coming out here. He was already out this far now, so it was too late to turn back.

Before he decided on taking a nap to pass the time, he spotted something out in the distance the ship was headed toward. Looking down at his navigational unit on his controls, he was getting closer to his destination. As the world he was assigned to got closer, he could see what it would look like on the surface: there was a magnificent castle at the top of a mountain city on top, almost like King Mickey's, a small village at the bottom with an overgrown forest nearby, railroads connecting to the two major parts of the world and other smaller locations on the sides, though they were too small to distinguish what they were.

"Huh...This place doesn't look all that bad. It's pretty peaceful." As soon as he got closer and closer to this new world, his ship began blaring its alarms as his panels blinked "MALFUNCTION!" over and over in bold red. "W-What the heck's going on!?" While trying to figure out what was happening, the gummi ship shuddered violently as its flight grew shakey as it approached the world. Sora tired to check everything, but nothing was working. "Darn it! I didn't even touch anything!"

The teen fell out of his seat as an explosion from his ship shook the vessel, one of the engines having blown up on him. There was no way he could have screwed up with the gummi blocks while building his own ship, and somehow, it decides to break down on him. As he slowly got back up his feet, using the console for support, he looked down at the panels and saw that it was about to self-destruct from the heavy damage inflicted from the first engine's explosion.

He couldn't utter a word before the entire cockpit blew apart, his gummi ship blowing to pieces as he was flung toward the world. While Sora fell unconscious, he was lucky to have made it to the world's atmosphere as he fell down like a shooting star, the magic within him keeping him safe from burning up from the terminal velocity and glowing brightly as his body changed to fit the world's inhabitants.

It was the middle of the night down in Equestria, where the inhabitants of the world were just about getting ready to head to bed, the moon glowing brightly beneath them with a figure of a mare etched into the spherical mass that orbited the land. Down in a small town, called Ponyville, most of the lights in all the buildings were turned off as many of their inhabitants were sound asleep. In a small farmhouse with an apple orchard that stretches on for several hundred acres, the family living there was already in bed, except for one little filly.

"But Applejack, it's the weekend!" the yellow earth pony filly whined, her mane and tail a bright red with a big pink bow on her head. "Why can't Ah stay up later!? Ah'm not a baby!"

"Apple Bloom, ya got chores to do tomorrow," the orange earth pony mare said, being strict with the filly. Her blonde mane and tail were tied up to keep her hair from getting too messy when working on the fields. Getting irritated by her sister's fussing, she planted Apple Bloom in her bed as the filly pouted. "Once ya'll finish, ya can play. But now, ya need your rest."

"Ah can stay up all night if Ah wanna!" As the filly grunted, slamming her head down on her pillow, she looked out her window. Her mood shifted when she saw a shooting star out in the distance. "A fallin' star!"

"Huh?" Applejack looked out the window, staring at the burning star. "What in tarnation?"

The star was getting closer and closer, almost heading straight for her family's home. Luckily, it didn't get that far, but it crashed in the middle of their apple fields, the loud crash and small quake, alerting the rest of the family as the two siblings heard an elderly voice shouting randomly in shock. Finding this as a perfect excuse to stay up, the filly bounced out of bed.

"Ah get to make a wish! Ah call it!" she exclaimed, running out of her room.

"Apple Bloom, get back in bed! It could be dangerous!" As the earth pony ran out the room, she accidentally bumped into a taller red earth pony stallion, his mane an short and messy orange-brown color. "Sorry, Big Mac. Ya'll calm Granny Smith while Ah get Apple Bloom before she gets near whatever crashed near our orchard."

"Eyup," was all the stallion said as the two older siblings split up.

Out in the orchard, Apple Bloom ran toward the billowing smoke that rose from where the shooting star landed. There may have been some casualties with some trees completely destroyed, along with some of the land destroyed by the small crater up ahead, but the filly was too excited to make her wish on that falling star that decided to land near her home. As soon as she reached the crater, she was surprised to see that not much damage has been done to any of the trees nearby, and the crater was smaller than it should have been.

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack reached the filly and was about to drag her little sister back to the house, but froze as she looked at what had fallen. "What in Equestria?" Apple Bloom was about to carefully slide down to see what it was, only for the older sibling to grab her tail and drag her away from it. "Stay here."

"But that's mah shootin' star wish! Ah called it first!" the filly complained.

"Shush!" Applejack slowly made her way down the crater to get a closer look at what laid at the bottom.

Instead of a big chunk of space rock that made up the star, she instead saw the form of a pony, lying unconscious, and surprisingly not burnt or injured. From the lighting of the moon, she could see it was a stallion, his coat a light tan, his mane and tail both spikey and colored brown, and he wore a black shirt and jacket that was just as unharmed as the pony. A pair of pegasus wings rested on his sides outside his clothing, and around one of his hind legs was a small red pouch, though what was stored in there was a mystery, and the mare didn't want to snoop through his belongings.

Applejack was startled when she heard the stallion groan as he began to wake up, his eyes slowly opening. His vision was blurry, beginning to fade back into unconsciousness as he looked at the blurry orange mare staring at him. He passed out a second later, still knocked for a loop after whatever happened to him.

"Well, he doesn't look hurt. Ah better bring him back to the house." Applejack lifted the unconscious stallion on her back, his light and lanky body really easy to carry for any other pony.

As she began heading back to their farmhouse, Apple Bloom followed as she looked at the pegasus. "So, ya wished for a coltfriend? That ain't fair! That was mah wish!"

"Apple Bloom, first off, there was no shootin' star down in that crater, just him," Applejack said, chiding her sister. "And second, ya'll are in more trouble for not listenin' to me."

"Aww! That's not fair!" the filly whined.

"Well, ya didn't stop when Ah told ya to, so this weekend, ya'll are doin' your chores, with no playtime after." Apple Bloom groaned, grumbling at how unfair her life was when she clearly didn't listen to her sister to stay inside and stay in bed. After reaching the house, she told Big Mac to take care of Apple Bloom while she helped this mysterious stallion into the guest bedroom, removing his clothing to make sure he didn't have any hidden injuries, which she was thankful there were none. "Ah wonder what happened to him...And what was he doin' in our orchard?"

Applejack left the guest bedroom as she pondered who this stallion was. Whoever he was, she'll get her answers when he wakes up, if he does.

Sora groaned as he stirred awake, his body feeling sore. He opened his eyes, squinting as the sun shone down on his face through the window he was facing. As his vision adjusted to the blinding light, he noticed he was inside someone's home, and he was alive. He remembered, before blacking out, his gummi ship began to fall apart and blew up. He must have landed in the new world, thankfully still alive, though he had taken worse falls in the past.

"Urgh...Note to self: make a pit stop and check your ship before going on a near-week endless journey through space." As Sora climbed out of the bed he was in, he ended up falling on his face from losing his balance on her legs. Grumbling in annoyance, the teen rolled over onto his side to pick himself back up. He finally noticed that his body had changed, not really surprised since this kind of transformation happened several times in the past. "...Ok...This is a new look for me."

Sitting up as best as he could, he moved his arms up to his line of sight, only to have hooves instead of hands and his arms were now forelegs. Getting a better look at his underbelly, he now had fur, a light tan in color, along with a brown tail sitting between his hind legs, similar in style to his own hair. Using his new front limbs, he felt around his head, feeling a pair of ears sticking up on his head through his hair, which thankfully was the only distinguishing feature about him that stayed the same. Moving his hooves lower to his face, it felt a bit longer, like a muzzle.

While pondering this new transformation, he stood up and practiced walking around on his four legs. At least it wasn't as difficult to learn like it was when he turned into a lion cub in Simba's world. The only difference was that he thankfully didn't have short legs, his body a bit skinny and lanky, almost like his svelte figure as a human. He may lack muscle, but he can be pretty strong and agile. Speaking of agility, he felt a strange ticklish feeling on his sides, looking over each side to find a pair of wings, the feathers similar to his coat's colors.

"Huh...I'm a pegasus." Sora unfurled his wings, surprised to feel they were easy to control, almost as if it was a hidden nature of his. He flared them out, checking the wingspan, feeling a little disappointed. "I'm actually a smaller version of Pegasus from Mount Olympus...I hope I don't make bird calls like he does."

Curling his wings back to his sides, he got a good look at the room he was in. It looked like a rustic building, every section of the building probably made out of wood. There wasn't much inside aside from the bed, a side table with a lamp for some illumination in the night, a small dresser for storing clothes, and, to his luck, a mirror. Deciding to get a better look from a reflective perspective, Sora approached the hanging mirror and got a better look at himself.

The first thing he noticed was the size of his eyes. They were pretty big, bigger than an average horse's, or anything else for that matter. He was glad he didn't poke his eye while getting feel of his muzzle. Along with his new facial features, he didn't have a scratch on him from the explosion, or the crash landing he must have had. He also noticed his clothing was gone too, whether they disappeared because of his new body needing to fit in with the rest of the inhabitants, or they burned up or were torn to shreds. Sighing, he felt guilty, having lost Kairi's charm.

"Perfect. I crash land here in this world, my enchanted gear is gone, and I lost Kairi's-" As Sora turned to his side while he began to mope, the moment he looked back at the mirror, his eyes widened as he caught sight of something on his flank; a tattoo of his Keyblade, and it was on both sides of his rear. "...Oooooook! What the heck is this!? I know I can remember never having gotten a tattoo...or two! And on my butt!"

Sora began spinning around in circles, getting a better look at the new marks that were on his flanks. He was warned never to tell anyone he was from another world, and most of the time, he failed to do that and keep the world's order in check. Now his Keyblade was on full display on his rump, meaning he would involuntarily show everyone he was abnormal. While fumbling around trying to look at his hindquarters, in the midst of his spinning, he froze when he saw someone was watching him from the open door.

He slowly turned his head toward the doorway, finding a small yellow pony with red hair staring at him awkwardly. He noticed the pink bow on her head, which made her more adorable than she would be without it, able to tell it was female by the eyelashes along with the bow. Sora slowly sat down, the filly's eyes glued on him.

"...Uhh...hi?" She didn't say anything, the teen highly unsure if she could speak, understand him, or had no clue what to say after seeing him spinning around like a dog trying to chase its tail. "...I'm not crazy or anything. I just kind of..."

"...Did ya hit your head?" she finally spoke, her accent resembling a country accent.

"...Well, that's a way to say hello," Sora mumbled to himself as the filly already thinks he's nuts. "Uhh...Is there anyway you know how I wound up here?"

"Mah big sister carried you here," she said. "Though why she wasted a wish on a stallion Ah'll never know. Ah saw that shootin' star first, and she stole it when Ah called dibs."

"Shooting star?" As Sora pondered what she meant, he realized she must have talked about him and his crash landing.

"Yeah...But there was no star down there. Ah checked while doin' mah chores, and there was nothin' except for you in there from last night." Hearing no sign of any debris from his descent, Sora groaned internally. His gummi ship was long gone, and it doesn't look like there might be any to find or create in this world. "Ah think we're all surprised to see ya'll aren't even hurt! Ya'll must be a lucky pony, mister!"

"...Sure. Lucky. Let's go with that," Sora said as he scratched his neck. "I guess I should introduce myself. My name's Sora."

"Ah'm Apple Bloom." Suddenly, Sora's stomach made a loud, gurgling noise that echoed in the room. Apple Bloom giggled while the teen groaned in hunger. "Well, ya have been out all mornin'. It's almost lunch time." The filly ran up to him and grabbed on of his hooves with hers. "Come on! Ya'll are gonna love Granny Smith's cookin'!"

Sora allowed Apple Bloom to drag him along, guiding him through the house for some lunch and to possible meet the rest of her family. As they walked down the stairs, Sora could smell the mouthwatering aroma coming from the kitchen, smelling like a variety of different apple recipes being baked or cooked. As they entered the living room, a pretty average space fit for those that live on a farm, they heard a barking noise as a brown collie ran at the teen, knocking him over and began licking his face.

"Ahh! Help! I'm being attacked by a cute dog!" Sora laughed, trying to get the excited dog off of him.

"Winona! Down, girl!" Apple Bloom commanded, though the collie didn't seem to listen.

Sora finally grabbed a hold of Winona, placing the happy puppy down on the ground and pet her head. "At least you're not as drooly as a certain little alien I can summon," he whispered, which got a yip out of the collie as she licked his hoof.

"Ah didn't think Winona took a likin' to ya so quickly," Apple Bloom said in surprise. "It usually takes a while for her to like somepony she didn't meet after a couple hours."

"Well, maybe it's a good thing I hang around animals all the time," Sora chuckled, an inside joke for him since many of his friends are animals.

"Really? Then why is your cutie mark a big key?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Uhh, 'cutie mark'?" The teen-turned-pegasus looked at his flanks, wondering if these tattoos were what she meant.

"Yeah. It's a giant key." She walked up next to him and prodded his flanks, finding it awkward for a filly who's probably a few years younger than him touching him somewhere around there. "Do ya even know what a cutie mark is?"

"...Well...No?" Sora said, unsure of how to answer that.

"Ya'll don't know what a cutie mark is, yet ya have one!?" Apple Bloom shouted, practically leaping onto his back. "What kind of pony are ya!?"

"A very confused one. I don't even know where I am, aside from being in your house." That response only made the filly gasp harder in shock.

"Somethin's wrong with your brain...Ah can fix it!" Apple Bloom leapt off Sora's back and ran into a nearby closet. He looked down at Winona as she looked at him, wondering if the collie might have some insight as to what she was up to. The filly came back, but with a hammer in her mouth. "Ah can get a cutie mark in memory fixin'! Ah'll get your memory joggin' real quick!"

Before she could jump back on his back and give him a concussion or a fractured skull with that heavy tool, Sora grabbed the hammer before she could hurt herself with it. "I don't have a memory problem, Apple Bloom. I'm asking because I have no clue what I don't know. Also, don't use dangerous objects like these without permission. You could hurt yourself more than me."

"Aww..." Sora put the hammer up somewhere Apple Bloom can't reach so she doesn't try anything that reckless again.

Before he could ask the filly everything he needed to know, Winona barked happily as she ran to the front door, someone walking in. "Easy, girl! Down! Ah've only been out for a few minutes!" Sora watched an orange equine walk in, the collie leaping up to give the mare affectionate licks, along with a burly red one who seemed far too big to even fit inside the doorway, let alone the house. The two older ponies spotted Sora in their living room, both of them surprised to see him up. "Ya'll are awake."

Apple Bloom ran up to the mare and stallion, then turned to face Sora. "Perfect timin'! Sora, this here's mah big sister, Applejack, and mah big brother, Big Macintosh! Applejack, Big Mac, that's Sora!"

"...Well, guess your sister's done the introductions for me," Sora said as he gave them a sheepish grin, scratching the back of his head. As he got a better look at Applejack, he noticed that she looked like the same blurry figure that must have found him when he fell unconscious. Only instead, she was wearing a brown stetson hat on her head. "...So, your little sister told me you brought me in when you found me."

"Ah did, yeah," Applejack said. "Are ya'll alright, sugarcube?"

"I'm fine. Just a little sore is all." Sora was being honest, though he had to be sure not to reveal his true identity to this family.

"Sora says he has some memory problems," Apple Bloom said. "He doesn't even know what a cutie mark is, but he clearly has one! Ah was tryin' to help him by hittin' him in the head with a hammer, but he took it away from me."

"What!? Apple Bloom!" The filly winced, about to get another scolding from her sister.

"It was my idea!" Sora exclaimed, not wanting to see Apple Bloom get punished for trying to help him, even though he clearly didn't. "I guess I have some amnesia about a few things, including where I am. I asked her to help jog my memory, and by that, I must have said 'Smash my noggin with a hammer,' instead. She was only trying to help."

Both older siblings looked at Sora, then back down at Apple Bloom. "...Well, at least ya weren't more hurt than ya already are. And Apple Bloom, don't take any tools without our permission again. Understand?"

"Yes, Applejack," Apple Bloom said, looking down at her hooves.

"Soup's on, everypony!" an elderly voice called out from the kitchen. Sora turned around, seeing an elderly green mare slowly walking into the living room, her limbs creaking with each step. Her grayed mane and tail were tied in a bun, and the teen spotted what looked like a pie as her, what Apple Bloom called the tattoos on their flanks, cutie mark. The mare squinted her eyes at him, her vision not as good as it used to be. "Big Mac, what in Equestria happened to ya?"

"...Uhh-" The mare, who must be Apple Bloom, Applejack, and Big Macintosh's grandmother, grabbed Sora's cheeks and stretched them to their limit.

"Macy, look at ya! How did ya get so skinny!?" she questioned, the siblings, stifling their giggles at Sora's misfortune. "For goodness sake, colt, did ya forget to eat again!? Ya need more muscle in them bones if'n ya'll are gonna work in them fields!"

"Granny, that ain't Big Mac. He's over here." The elder looked over at the sisters and brother, the red stallion waving to her as all three of them tried not to burst out laughing.

"Huh?" Granny Smith let go of Sora's cheeks, the teen rubbing his sore face, thankful for his constant smiling when around Donald and Goofy. She looked back at him, no longer concerned about which one of her grandchildren she was worrying about. "Well, whoever ya are, ya'll need food in ya. You're all skin and bones!" The mare grabbed his tail in her mouth, Sora's skin crawling as he didn't feel a pair of dentures in the grandmother's mouth, feeling her gums pulling him weakly to the kitchen. "Let's get some food in ya, sonny."

Just the disturbed look on Sora's face broke Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and Applejack, all three siblings laughing uproariously. His first few hours of being awake in this world, and he was greeted by a filly obsessed with cutie marks and an overprotective grandmother who seems more crazy than her youngest granddaughter. Not one of the weirdest beginnings of his venture in a new world, but it was the most awkward.

After the family, along with Sora invited to join them, settled around the kitchen table, they began eating some of the delectable apple meals laid out. As soon as the teen bit into any one of them, his taste buds were on cloud 9, never having tasted anything so delicious in all his life. He grabbed one of everything on his plate and dug in, filling his empty stomach and showing his appetite was more than his skinny frame showed.

While eating lunch, Sora had his questions answered by Applejack about what he didn't know about this world, all of them believing he had amnesia. The world he was in was called Equestria, the town they were currently in was Ponyville, and he was a guest of the Apple family on their farm, Sweet Apple Acres. The cutie marks Apple Bloom mentioned earlier, yet failed to explain, were what the ponies in this world get once they figure out what their special talent in life is. They somehow appeared out of thin air when they discover what it is, though his would have probably appeared a couple years ago when he first began wielded the Keyblade. It was odd to see that Apple Bloom, out of all her family, was the only one without one, now understanding the reason why she was that obsessed with his and wanting one for herself.

As the other Apples were finished with their lunches, Sora chomped down on an apple tart, wanting to know a little bit more about them. "So, the strange thing I noticed about your family, Applejack, is that all of you are named by something related to apples. Is it some kind of tradition?"

"In a way, ya could say that. Though, Ah gotta say. Your name, 'Sora', doesn't sound like any name Ah've heard of in Ponyville. Ya must have lived in another kingdom or somethin' to get that name, right?" Sora chuckled as the farm mare's guess was pretty close.

"Yeah...I think so. Can't really remember all that well." He finished up his last piece of dessert, licking his hoof clean. "Oh. Applejack, was I by any chance wearing anything when you found me last night?"

"Sure did. Ya'll were wearin' a strange lookin' shirt and jacket, and a small red bag that was tied to one of your hind legs. Ah washed your clothes, since they were pretty dirty, and that little bag is up in the guest room in one of the dresser drawers," Applejack said, making Sora breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness," he said. "I thought they got ruined." Sora sat up in his seat as Big Mac took the dishes and began cleaning them. With his clothing still intact, he began to fear Kairi's charm might have gotten ruined when Applejack was doing laundry. "Uhh...was there something that looked like a star in one of the pockets? Made out of seashells?"

"...Sorry. Ah didn't find anythin' in any of them before Ah washed them." Sora felt his heart sink as Applejack told him there wasn't any sign of Kairi's charm.

He promised to keep it safe. He promised he would give it back to Kairi. He promised her he would use it to remember her and his friends if he ever forgot about them or missed them. Was it destroyed when he fell or when his ship exploded? Did it fall out of his pockets and shatter to the ground after he was blown out?

"Wait! Ah think Ah saw somethin' like that!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, quickly running out of the kitchen, her little hoofsteps climbing up the stairs, the floorboards creaking above them.

A moment later, the filly came back down, and to Sora's relief, she had the charm in her mouth. "That's it!" Sora scooped Apple Bloom in his hooves and hugged her tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He took the charm and carefully examined it, finding no cracks in the shells or any part of it out of place. "I don't want to lose this. Where'd you find it?"

"Ah found it near that crater ya'll were in. It probably fell out when Applejack was carryin' ya," the filly beamed as she was glad to have found it. "Ooh! Maybe Ah got a cutie mark in findin' lost stuff for other ponies!" She eagerly looked down at her flanks, spinning around to see if she got a cutie mark, but it was still bare. "Darn it. No cutie mark."

Applejack and Big Macintosh shook their heads at their sister's impatience. "It'll come when ya find out what your special talent is." Apple Bloom ignored her big sister's advice as she got back in her seat at the table. "Might Ah ask what's special about that charm of yours, Sora?"

"...Well...Someone really special to me gave it for me to hold onto." He held the star-shaped charm up for Applejack to see. "Where I'm from, it has a very special legend to it, involving a star shaped fruit called a paopu fruit. They say if you share this fruit with someone you care about, your hearts are intertwined. No matter how far you are, or whatever happens, you'll never be apart from them..."

"Sounds like a romantic thing," Applejack commented, noting the tinge of red on Sora's cheeks as he was lost in thought, staring at the charm. "Does it really work, lover colt?"

"Huh?" The teen saw the smirk on Applejack's face, realizing he was lost in a daydream involving him and Kairi. "N-No! It's just a silly rumor!" he nervously chuckled. "I mean, how can a piece of fruit bring two people-er, ponies together!?"

"Well, by that blush on your face, it seems to have worked." Sora's blush deepened, groaning in embarrassment as he couldn't hide the legend's story come true for him and Kairi.

"...M-Maybe..." The teen sighed as he looked at the charm. "Our hearts were intertwined...but we aren't exactly...in a relationship."

"...That don't make any sense," Apple Bloom said. "Don't ya care about your special somepony?"

"Of course I do. It's just..." Sora sighed again, slumping over the table in misery. "I've known her ever since we were little. We were best friends, and as we grew older, I had a crush on her...I was afraid if I actually came out and told her I love her, I didn't want our friendship to be awkward if she said no." Applejack stared at Sora as she had realized that the pegasus didn't seem to be forgetful of all his memories. She didn't want to pry if he did remember some things with his past while forgetting others, like where he was. "I'm brave enough to face danger head on and laugh at its face, but I'm too scared to tell her how I feel about her..."

"...Maybe when ya meet her again, ya'll can just tell her." The depressed pegasus looked up at Applejack as he lowered the charm on the table. "It's better to be honest with her than hide what you think is gonna ruin your friendship. Even if it ain't meant to be, ya'll can still be friends."

"...I guess...Though, if you knew me well enough, you'll know just how crazy my life was." He grinned as he stood up and stretched. "I'll take your advice though. Next time I see her again, I'm just gonna let it out."

"That's the spirit," Applejack said, getting up as well. "Well, Ah gotta get on back to work. Ya'll are welcome to stay here in our home if ya got nowhere else to go. Maybe ya'll can get a look around Ponyville, see the sights, maybe get some more of them memories joggin' in your head."

"Thanks, Applejack." Sora approached the mare and shook her hoof. "But if I'm going to be a resident here in your home, I don't want to be some kind of slacker. If there's anything I can do around here or on your orchard to repay your hospitality, then I'll gladly do it without any complaints."

"Ah'll take your word for it. In fact, since Big Mac and Ah are gonna be workin' all day today, ya think ya'll can run a few errands for me?" Sora nodded his head as Applejack pulled out a list. "Ah was gonna have Apple Bloom do this, but seein' as last night she chose to run off on me and check on where ya laid unconscious, she's in a lot of trouble."

"Ya stole mah wish!" the filly complained, still sitting at the table.

"Let me guess; you wanted to wish for a cutie mark?" Sora questioned, which the filly immediately nodded in response. "Of course. Well, I'll see what I can do for my first job, boss."

He gave a mock salute as if Applejack was running a military base, the mare rolling her eyes at his goofiness. "If ya need any directions to anywhere on the list, just ask the locals. Ponyville's a pretty friendly town, and you'll find the shops pretty easily."

"Cool. Oh, and, my clothes?" Sora asked.

"They're still dryin'. They should be dry enough when ya get back." The pegasus sighed, though it shouldn't bother him too much to wander around in the buff since he was a pony like the rest of Equestria's inhabitants.

Before he left the farmhouse, Sora gave Apple Bloom a light noogie, messing up her mane, and pat the energetic Winona on the head. Exiting the front door, he could see an old barn not too far from the house to his right, and on the left was the orchard, and it was bigger than any other farm he had ever seen in his youth. With the list Applejack gave him, Sora set out to explore Ponyville and complete her list of errands. Little did the teen know he was being watched as something pink and poofy shot out from a bush near the entrance to the farm, the bushy mass pointing at it as if it had an eye inside of it, watching the stallion head toward town.

As Sora wandered around Ponyville, he was surprised to see just how bright and colorful the world was. Many other worlds in the past he had visited before were unique in their own way, but Equestria seemed to pop out more. It was almost like the 100 Acre Wood in Winnie the Pooh's storybook, only instead of his animal friends, they were replaced with many uniquely colored ponies. Aside from the regular ponies and pegasi flying around, he also noticed some unicorns wandering around. As much as he wanted to learn more about this world, he had a job to do for Applejack.

"Ok, let's see here..." Sora looked down at the list, reading the locations and what he needed to get for Applejack. "From Carousel Boutique, I need to pick up...Big Mac's suit?" He snorted, imagining the elder sibling in any clothing. "Might be for business deals, but I don't think anything would fit him. Uhh...a weather schedule from Rainbow Dash. Medicine for Winona from Fluttershy. And an order from Sugarcube Corner under her name. Doesn't seem that hard...Now, to find out where the heck I'm going."

Sora began asking around to find out where the first location on his list was, and though he was pointed in the direction, they all said he would find it pretty easily. Taking their word for it, he walked along the path until he finally made it to the boutique. The instant he saw it around the corner, his jaw dropped at what it looked like, clearly something anyone could easily find.

On the roof of the clothing store was, obviously, a carousel, making it look like an amusement park ride sitting on top of a house. It looked so out of place, and it made the teen question if this place was really supposed to be a boutique or a ride. He's seen stranger things before, especially in Wonderland, not going to question the aesthetics of the owner's store. He knocked on the door, unsure if it was a store or a house, not wanting to be rude and barge in.

"Just a minute!" he heard a feminine voice from inside, though it sounded pretty young to sound like an adult. A moment later, the door opened, revealing a white unicorn filly, her mane and tail a swirl of light pink and fuchsia. "How can I...help...you...?"

As she looked up at him, she began to blush. "Hi there...Is the owner of the...Carousel Boutique here?"

She didn't respond, still staring at him with those big eyes of hers. If Sora thought that Apple Bloom looked adorable, this filly was far more cuter than anything he had ever seen. He had no idea why she was blushing, though. Before he could ask her if she was feeling ok, she shut the door, leaving him outside. He scratched his cheek in confusion, but he didn't wait long for another pair of hooves approach the door.

"Sweetie Belle, you know it's rude to slam the door on somepony like that!" an older female voice scolded the filly as she opened the door to greet Sora. The mare was a unicorn like the filly with a white coat, but her mane was a dark purple and styled in an elegant curl. Her cutie mark were three blue diamonds that seemed to have a bright gleam to the gems. "I am so sorry about that, sir. I have no idea what got into my sister."

"No problem. I've met stranger peo- uh, ponies." It was difficult to try and blend in with this world when Equestria had only ponies, at least so far. "This is the Carousel Boutique, right?"

"Indeed it is, darling. And this is also my home, though my shop is on the ground floor. My name is Rarity, owner of the Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique," the unicorn proudly announced, flipping her mane with style.

"I'm Sora." The teen pulled out the list Applejack gave him. "I'm doing a few errands for Applejack while she's busy on the farm. I need to pick up her brother's suit...though I don't think any bit of clothing will fit him."

"Hmmm...Applejack has actually hired somepony to help on her farm?" Rarity questioned.

"Actually, I'm more of a guest working for her hospitality," Sora explained. "I...kinda got knocked for a loop last night, and until then, she's allowing me to stay with her and her family."

"Oh. I see. I'm sorry for your inconvenience, Sora. Come on in and make yourself comfortable." Rarity allowed Sora inside, where he got a better look at the inside of the boutique.

Like any boring clothing store Sora always hated to go to back home, it was as he expected it to have: mannequins shaped like ponies, some of them wearing some very fashionable dresses, a variety of designs hanging on some display racks, a couple dressing rooms for customers to try on the clothes, a catwalk for possible fashion shows, and in the back, he could see her workroom, spotting a few designs on sketch paper next to a sewing machine. Along with the hundreds of dresses, there were a few suits meant for stallions, though there didn't seem to be that many stallions in Ponyville from the ponies he saw through town.

Sora took a look at some of the dresses, all of them meant to be worn by ponies. His mind began to wander as he imagined what his friends would look like as ponies. First he thought about what Riku would look like. Maybe his coat would be a pale white, a silver tail to match his hair, though what kind of pony he would be was a mystery, either being a pegasus like he was now or an earth pony. Or his coat would actually be black, since he had used the power of darkness, though that would have made him a little threatening.

His thoughts lingered on Kairi's new look, his cheeks glowing brightly at his imagination. She would be a pink unicorn, since she was more magical than him and Riku combined. He began to imagine Pony Kairi in all these dresses, posing for Sora, winking at him, giggling at his stunned awe. Before his thoughts could go any further, Sora shook his head, staying focused on taking care of the errands assigned to him.

"Here we are!" Rarity finally came out from her workroom downstairs, carrying the large suit in a blue aura, her horn glowing the same hue. "I just hope that stallion doesn't rip it up again with his hulking frame. A pony his size with muscles that big can be hard to make something fashionably flexible."

"Well, you got yourself a repeat customer, at least," Sora chuckled as Rarity levitated the business attire over his back. It was then that he realized that he forgot about his small pouch back at the farmhouse, all of his Munny hidden in there, though he had no idea if Equestria excepted the yellow blocks as currency. "Oh shoot! Applejack didn't give me any money to pay for the orders."

"Don't worry about that, Sora. Applejack already paid for the outfit." Rarity placed a hoof to her chin, examining the pegasus. "Although, with your svelte body..." She then hovered some measuring tape and a notepad and pen over, moving it around Sora. She got his measurements and wrote down his waist size, leg length, wingspan, everything she needed as she seemed intended on making something for him. "Hmm...I think that's everything."

"Wait, you're going to make me something? When I don't have any money on me?" Sora questioned.

"Well, for first time customers, my first outfit for them is always free." Rarity's business practice seemed a bit off to Sora. This was the first time the two have met, and she was just going to make something for him for free, without payment. But seeing as she hasn't gone out of business, her customers must always come back for anything new she creates. He was snapped out of his shock when the fashion designer giggled at his dumbstruck silence. "Yes, I know. A bit strange, but my generosity the first time around brings ponies back to my business. And if they like what I make, they'll come around for more."

"...Huh...It's odd, but I do like the different designs I see right now...I actually can't wait to see what you'll make for me, Rarity." Sora was a bit curious to know what she kind of outfit the unicorn would make for him, but he was going to stick with his usual attire most of the time.

"Perfect! It'll be ready within a couple weeks. It would have been sooner, but with the Summer Sun Celebration coming up, I've got so many orders to fill out," Rarity said with an apologetic look.

"I can wait. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon," Sora chuckled, though he knew he wasn't going to be leaving at all with his gummi ship destroyed. "Well, better finish up the rest of Applejack's errands before the sun goes down. It was nice meeting you and your adorable little sister, Rarity."

As Sora left the boutique, he and Rarity didn't notice that the unicorn's little sister, Sweetie Belle, was hiding around the corner, her cheeks an even brighter red as she heard him compliment her. The teen made his way down the road to his next stop, unaware of someone else spying on him, a pair of binoculars slowly poking themselves out of the branches of a tree next to the boutique.

While asking around to look for Rainbow Dash, it felt more like an annoying chore as the ponies kept telling him she was in some random location with each area he thinks she was at. As he looked back down at the list, he was wondering why Applejack needed a weather schedule for her farm. He understood the trees need water to stay alive and grow their crops, but as he looked up, it was a clear and cloudless day today.

"Hmm...I thought there would have been some clouds." Sora pondered why today seemed like a perfect day, expecting at least a few clouds to be floating around in the sky. "There's no way the skies can be this clear for a whole day."

His ears perked up from underneath his spikey hair, hearing someone shouting in distress. As it got closer, he looked over to the open road clear of any ponies as a rainbow blur nearly crashed into the ground, making a swift ninety degree turn and flying parallel to the ground. Whatever it was, it was headed straight for him, seeing the blur was coming from a cyan pony screaming her head off as she tried to swerve away. Thinking quickly to help her, as soon as she got closer, Sora tossed the suit up high into the air and readied himself to catch her.

Though she was zooming at incredible speed, Sora's reaction timing was far quicker, leaping up over her and spun around, clutching her waist tightly from behind. With a tight hold the pegasus, being mindful of her rapidly beating wings, he flipped over on his hind legs with his spinning momentum and planted them to the ground, skidding across the dirt road as they slowly came to a stop. The ponies that had watched the incredible save were amazed by the new stallion's feats, having stopped the rainbow-maned mare from crashing into a nearby store that Sora managed to stop mere inches away from the wall.

The mare in the teen's grasp squinted her eyes open, thinking she must have crashed, only to have been rescued. "...Whoa..."

"Whoa is right. That was close, huh?" Sora let go of the pegasus, getting a better look at the unfortunate victim of a freefall. What was unique about the blue pegasus mare was her mane and tail the colors of the rainbow, her cutie mark a white cloud shooting out a red, yellow, and blue lightning bolt. "You ok?"

"Yeah. Thanks for the save," she said. "I kinda misjudged my trick and lost control of my flight...But, how did you move so fast? I thought I was going to ram into you."

"I'm a lot more skilled than you might think," Sora said as he held out his hoof, catching Big Macintosh's suit as it floated down to where they were. The pegasus's jaw dropped as this new stallion nonchalantly caught the outfit, as if he knew how to toss it up and have it gently fall down to him. He laid the clothes back on his back and held out a hoof to the mare. "I'm Sora."

"...R-Rainbow Dash," she nervously introduced herself as she shook the teen's hoof.

"Oh, so you're the Rainbow Dash I'm looking for. I'm running an errand for Applejack, and she needs this...weather schedule you have," Sora explained as he pulled out the list.

"Oh...The weather schedule. Forgot about that. Hang on a sec." Rainbow sped off into the sky, nearly knocking him over with her instant takeoff. A few seconds later, she came flying back, though thankfully not as recklessly, carrying the weather schedule. "Here you go."

"...Wow, that was fast." He took the schedule and read it over, seeing the forecast for the next month. "This is...some impressive weather forecasting."

"Weather forecasting? No, that's the schedule for the whole month. That's what Applejack wanted." Sora stared in shock, finding it impossible to have something like the weather being planned out.

"That's impossible!" he exclaimed. "You can't control the weather and make all of these days on here perfect and sunny!" Rainbow Dash gave him an odd look, along with anyone else who heard him. He felt like there was something he was missing, but he had no clue why they were judging him. "...What? That's true, right?"

"...And I thought everypony else thought I slacked off," Rainbow muttered. "Don't you know anything about what we pegasi can do? We control the weather! Manipulate clouds into shapes, move them around in the sky, and even make the clouds themselves for rain, lightning storms, snow, even hail!"

"...Uhh...really?" The mare facehooved, speeding off again and returning back to him with a white and fluffy cloud.

"Touch it," she said in annoyance.

Sora looked around as he was gaining an audience, many of the ponies staring at him suspiciously. It would be impossible for him to touch a condensed liquid turned into a gaseous form, but everyone waited for him to be proven wrong. He reached a hoof out and pressed it down on the cloud, finding it somehow solid; light and fluffy like the softest pillow in all the world. Curious, he leapt up onto it, surprised to feel it able to hold his weight, bouncing on it and making it rain a little bit over the ground it floated over.

As he looked up at the majority of the town watching him, including Rainbow Dash, Sora giggled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Uhh...pretty cool...?"

Rainbow kicked the cloud, making it disappear and causing the teen to fall on his rump. "Where the hay did your brain go when this is all basic stuff pegasi HAVE to know, especially when flying around in the sky!?"

"...W-Well, I kinda hit my head hard the other night, and I don't really know everything that I'm supposed to know," Sora lied. "So, whatever I think seems right is actually wrong, and all I need is a refresher in order to fully understand how things really work."

"Yeah. Sure." Rainbow didn't seem to believe him, but at least Sora kept his mouth shut about being from another world as the reason he didn't know how things worked in Equestria. "Next time you blab about something, try not to humiliate us pegasi with what we do for a living every day."

The mare sped off in a huff, obviously pretty mad at Sora for acting like an ignorant child about what a pegasus can do. He looked around at the ponies still staring at him, giving a toothy grin as he slowly shuffled away, then ran down the road to continue his errands as he fled in embarrassment. From behind the group of ponies that were watching him, a pink pony wearing the goofiest of glasses poked their head up over the crowd, slowly blowing into a party noise blower as they watched the stallion go.

"Ok, before I end up saying stuff that won't make sense in this world, I should have gone to a library and looked up what I needed to before embarrassing myself...And I hate studying." Sora looked over the list as he walked down the dirt road outside of the town. "Next is medicine for Applejack's pet collie, and somepony said Fluttershy lived in a cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville...Must be a hermit or something."

As he walked up to the top of the hill, he spotted the cottage up ahead, not too far away from what looked like an overgrown forest, the foliage in that area wild and unkempt. The cottage was more in tune with nature, a bridge crossing over a small river, with several different animals roaming around the peaceful environment. Birds of all species, squirrels, rabbits, weasels, mice, even chickens in a coop in the backyard of the nature home. It's like this whole area is a nature reserve, or maybe a free roaming zoo with no fences keeping the tame animals contained.

Approaching the door, Sora knocked, hearing someone yelping in surprise from inside. "Hello!? Is there a Fluttershy living here!?"

"C-Coming." Sora could barely hear the quiet voice as he waited.

Slowly, the door opened up a crack, a timid blue eye peeking through. "Hi." The pony squealed in fright and retreated back inside. "...Oh boy. I don't look that intimidating, do I?" Sora messed around with his hair, unable to make it look normal since he liked how it was styled. Before he could knock again, he heard a small door open up from the front door, a small white rabbit walking out and looking up at him. "Aww, what a cute bunny."

The "cute" bunny suddenly glared at him, not looking all cute anymore. It bounded up to him and began thumping its foot against one of his legs, as if it was trying to hurt him or something. Sighing, Sora grabbed the disgruntled rabbit and lifted him up to his eye level.

"I take it back. You're not that cute anymore." The bunny tried to kick his snout, having no clue why he was mad at him. "Look, is there a Fluttershy that lives here or not?" It stopped its flailing and nodded its head. "Ok. So, is this Fluttershy afraid to come out? I kinda need some medicine for Applejack's dog, Winona. Maybe for when she really gets sick, cause that puppy's got energy to spare."

The rabbit sighed, almost as if it was annoyed at something. He pointed his paw down, wanting to be let down, which Sora gladly obliged. It seemed like the animals in this world were pretty smart if a rabbit understood him. He heard some commotion going on inside, wondering what the heck was happening. He got his answer as the front door swung open and the rabbit pushed a yellow pegasus mare outside, her mane a long pink that covered part of her face and almost reached the ground. As she tried to retreat back inside, the rabbit shut the door on her, the sound of a lock clicking as the critter locked its owner out of her own home, Sora saw her cutie mark, being a trio of blue butterflies with pink wings.

"What a rude little rabbit," Sora muttered. The shy mare slowly turned around, her back against the door, trying to hide behind her long mane. If he thought cuteness could kill with Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle, Sora's heart could explode, turn him into a Heartless, and change him back to normal within a minute with this mare. "Uhh, don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you or anything. I just came by to pick up something for Applejack while she's busy working in her orchard.

"Anyway, awkward meetings aside, my name's Sora," he introduced himself, holding a hoof out to the pegasus. She didn't move or look at him, too shy to do anything. "...What's your name?"

"...Umm...M-My name's Fluttershy..." Sora could barely hear her.

"Umm, say again?" he asked, cleaning out his equine ear with his hoof to hear her better.

"...My...my name's...Fluttershy..." Again she whispered, though a lot more quieter.

"Still couldn't hear you." She began to whimper as Sora continued trying to get her name, making him stop pressing before he made her cry. This must have been Fluttershy, since she seems to be the only pony around, and, just like her name states, she's really shy. From the door, the same white rabbit walked out, carrying a bottle in its paws and set it down in front of Sora. "...You know, you shouldn't bite the hand-uhh, hoof that feeds you. And how the heck did you lock her out?" The rabbit began thumping its foot against him again, the teen groaning in irritation as he got his message. "Alright, alright. I'm leaving. It was nice meeting you, miss...Not you, you little demon."

Taking the small bottle under his wing, Sora left Fluttershy and the bratty bunny rabbit alone as he headed back down to Ponyville for the last thing to grab on the list. As the rabbit headed back inside, unlocked the door, and let the pegasus back inside, where she ran in faster than Rainbow Dash took off, from one of the birdhouses, a blue eyeball poked out from the small hole meant for birds. It watched Sora leave until he disappeared over the hill, popping back inside, scaring one of the birds that were currently inside with it.

For the last thing on the list, it was pretty easy to find Sugarcube Corner. Just like Rarity's Carousel Boutique, it was a pretty unique building to find in this town, the locals telling him the bakery is a giant house of sweets. And as he found the bakery, it looked like a massive building that looked like a realistically baked gingerbread house, littered with sprinkles and icing. At least he had the common knowledge not to try and eat it, since it was a REAL building.

Entering the bakery, Sora's senses were struck with the smell of baked goods brought out fresh from the oven and set in the display case. His stomach was already rumbling again after eating a smorgasbord of apple foods for lunch earlier. Unfortunately, since he didn't have his Munny with him, he couldn't buy anything, to his disappointment. Maybe next time, he'll stop by and buy one of the delectable pastries to munch on.

He approached the counter after a customer grabbed their order, watching a gray pegasus mare with blonde hair flutter to an empty table, snacking on a muffin. On the other side, he could see a yellow earth pony stallion with an orange mane in the kitchen area, busy making some more goods to bake, while ringing up the orders was a blue earth pony mare with a pink mane.

"Hello! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!" the chubby mare greeted. "How can I help you, dearie?"

"I'm picking up an order for Applejack," he said.

"Oh. I guess she must be pretty busy on the farm. Wait just a moment." The mare headed into the back of the house to pick up the order, hoping Applejack paid in advance like with her brother's suit. The mare came back with a box that contained Applejack's order. "Here you go. Applejack already paid for it earlier this morning."

"Phew. Good. I forgot my wallet when I left to do my boss's chores. Not exactly smart to send her errand boy out to get stuff that might need to be paid for without money." Sora placed the box on his back as he joked around. "I'll be back at some later date to buy some of these delicious pastries when I have my money on me."

As he turned around to leave, he immediately bumped into someone, though he didn't even hear the pony behind him. "Hi!"

"...Uhh...hello?" Sora backed away, his face mere inches away from the mare's.

He got a better look at her, a pink earth pony with hair as poofy as a cloud, also pink, giving him the biggest grin. "You must be new around Ponyville, right? Huh? Huh? Huh!?"

She began bouncing in place, Sora's eyes following her jumping form. "...I guess so?"

"I knew it!" she shouted, though it didn't seem like the patrons or even the two ponies working in the establishment were bothered by her outburst. She grabbed one of his forehooves and shook it hard, causing his entire body to move up and down along with his shaken limb. "I'm Pinkie Pie, and I'm here to be your new friend!"

She finally stopped shaking his hoof, his body shuddering on its own as if caught in a miniature earthquake. "Y-Y-Yeah...C-C-C-Cool..." After he finally felt control in his body, he managed to get a look at Pinkie's cutie mark; three balloons, one yellow and two blue. "Uhh, my name's Sora."

"Sora? That's a weird name," Pinkie said. "Though, I have heard stranger names before! I mean, my name, Pinkie Pie, that's a strange name, but it's mine, so I like it! But Sora doesn't sound like a pony name, and it kinda sounds like a girl's name too!" The mare kept babbling on about names, some of them having meanings or sounding like food, until her tangent ended up leading her to talking about parties, locations in Equestria, and something about oatmeal. The teen looked over at the blue mare behind the counter, only shrugging her shoulders, giving him no answer for Pinkie's energetic rambling. And he thought he and his friends were goofier than anyone else they met. "And then, there was this one time-"

"Ok! Nice to meet you and all that, Pinkie Pie, but I kinda need to deliver this stuff to Applejack down at Sweet Apple Acres before it gets late," Sora quickly said, interrupting Pinkie before he blabbed his ears off.

"But I need to throw you a party!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Every new pony I meet in Ponyville deserves a party, that way you can make more friends, and have fun, and eat food and drink punch!"

"...How about a rain check on that party?" Sora asked, hoping the mare wouldn't insist on throwing a party for someone she had just met. "I kinda just got here...so, I want to get my bearings in Ponyville before actually having fun."

"...Ohhhhhh...Okie dokie lokie! A rain check it is!" Pinkie bounded over the counter, and somehow appeared in the kitchen next to the stallion, wearing a baker's cap and an apron.

Completely dumbfounded, he looked over to the mare at the counter, shaking her head. "Dearie, it's better not to question Pinkie Pie."

"...I somehow want to...yet I'm afraid of the answers I want to find..." Looking back in the window to the kitchen, Pinkie was busy making something, which was now hidden behind a curtain that wasn't there before. "...Uhh...is she allowed to be back there?"

"Of course! She works here," the mare laughed as Sora scratched his head in confusion. "She may be a bit wild, but she can make some pretty good pastries. Just be prepared for one of her 'Welcome to Ponyville' parties."

"...Duly noted...Uhh, I guess I'll be going now." Sora quickly left the bakery before Pinkie could suddenly appear behind her and give him a headache with her random antics.

With the list completed and the items he got for Applejack, Sora headed back to Sweet Apple Acres. He kept occasionally looking over his shoulders as he passed the other houses and bushes. He was expecting Pinkie Pie to just randomly pop out without warning, though it didn't seem like she was going to surprise him, too busy making something in the kitchen in Sugarcube Corner to do so. Whatever it is she's going to bake for him, he hoped it would be as delicious as all the pastries he saw in the bakery.

The sun was about to set as Sora made it back to Sweet Apple Acres. For his first day being in this world, he learned a little bit about Equestria, including how amazing it was to be a pegasus in this world. Though he looked like an idiot to everyone when he said the weather can't be manipulated, going by what he learned in school and every other world he had been to. He even wondered what it would feel like to sleep on a cloud, probably a lot better than any mattress he ever slept on.

Entering the farm house, he could already smell dinner being cooked, more apple recipes he can't wait to try out. Sora laid out Big Mac's suit on the nearby couch in the living room, making sure it wasn't too wrinkled, and placed the weather schedule and medicine for Winona on the side table next to the couch. Granny Smith was in the room in her rocking chair, fast asleep as she snored and mumbled to herself.

"Sora!" The teen spotted Apple Bloom running down the stairs, carrying his red pouch on her back like a backpack. "How was Ponyville!?"

"It's a pretty good town. Far different than the ones I've ever been in." He messed with the filly's mane, noticing the awkward way his pouch rested on her back. "What are you doing with that?"

"Ah put your charm in there. Ya left it on the table before ya headed out to do Applejack's errands." Sora's ears perked up in shock, having forgotten about Kairi's charm. "Ah also saw some strange small necklaces in here...and green potions...blue ones." Apple Bloom took off the pouch and opened it. "It's like a huge empty space in there."

"It's magical...You didn't do anything to them in there, right?" he asked.

"Ah was just lookin' at them tiny necklaces." Apple Bloom pulled out one of them, a pendant that had a ukulele on it. "They look a bit too small to fit around your neck."

"They're actually special pendants." He looked around, making sure none of older members of the family were around. Since it seemed like magic was possible in this world, seeing unicorns like Rarity and watching her use telekinesis, he didn't think it would hurt to get the young filly excited about what magic he could do, as long as he doesn't show it off. He ushered her closer until his lips were next to her ear. "I can actually call some friends to appear beside me, and depending on which pendant I use, a different buddy will help me."

Apple Bloom gasped, already interested in how it works. "Really!? What do Ah do to call somepony!?"

"That, my little pony, is a secret." He winked and took his pouch back, strapping it to his right hind leg. "Now, I think your sister promised my clothes would have been dry once I got back."

"Oh. They're in your room. Ah gotta tell Applejack about your magic bag and your magic necklaces!" Sora laughed as Apple Bloom excitedly ran into the kitchen to tell her sister about his magical gear.

Just seeing the excitement in her eyes was a heartwarming feeling for Sora to give to a kid, human or creature. Their imagination knows no bounds, and he was still a kid at heart. He walked up the stairs and headed for the guest room he was staying in. Entering his room, he found his shirt and jacket, neatly folded and cleaned. He put them back on, still fitting perfectly around him; not too loose, and not too tight. He still felt the magical enchantments in them to access his Drive Forms, though he had to be careful when using them.

At times, when he relied on them to power his way through hordes of Heartless, sometimes they ended up changing him into a different form, one he might not be able to control. As he looked at himself in the mirror, he saw his reflection, the pegasus he was now wearing his enchanted garments. That reflection soon changed in his eyes, feeling the cold pang of darkness threatening to escape as he shifted forms, failing to contain it as it engulfed him, if only temporarily. Now, instead of seeing himself, he saw a blacker version of him, no sign of color on his body except for the soul-piercing yellow eyes a Heartless has. He was staring at his Anti-Form, the darkness in his heart brought out by his Drive Form, wild and swift, weak, but deadly.

During those moments, all on his own where Donald and Goofy were used as mediums to channel his Drive Forms, they seem to have no memory of what he becomes...but he does. His Keyblade disappears, a bane to his darkened form, using his sharp claws that grew from his nails, striking his foes with blind abandon. He was so fast that if anyone blinked, they wouldn't open their eyes ever again. He could see everything this darkness did, trapped behind a cage as he was forced to wait until his Drive Gauge was fully depleted, feeling how overwhelming that power was.

For the last year, he never wanted to tell anyone about this dangerous form he turns into. He feared they would find him a dangerous threat if it was permanent. Riku was forced to use darkness after he was used by Maleficent back then, making him think Sora had abandoned him and Kairi. He was used by Ansem, changing him into something he didn't want to be, but he was forgiven, now that he was able to control that darkness from hurting himself and his friends. But for Sora, this was different. He had no clue how this form came to be. Maybe it was because he once turned into a Heartless, sacrificing his heart for Kairi to awaken her, and that darkness was trying to swallow him back after he cheated his fate thanks to his crush's light guiding him to her and bringing him back.

Before his thoughts could bring him to the possible scenarios where he would end up killing his friends in that dreadful form, he snapped back to reality after smacking himself in the face. He saw himself as a pegasus again, a normal, tan pegasus stallion. He dug through his pouch and pulled out Kairi's good luck charm, just looking at it recalling how warm her light was in that moment of wandering the darkness.

"...Kairi...Everyone..." He brought the charm up to his forehead and closed his eyes, praying for some light in the charm to help him, though it wasn't really magical. "I wish I could tell you...what I might turn into...But I'm scared..."

"Sora! Time for dinner!" Applejack said from downstairs.

"Uhh, ok! I'll be down in a minute!" Erasing those negative thoughts out of his mind, Sora returned the charm to its rightful place in his jacket pocket and headed downstairs for some more of the Apple family's delicious apple goods.

After dinner, Sora helped clean the dishes, not wanting to be a freeloader in their home, and headed up to his room as the family went to bed early. Being a farming family, it's early to bed and early to rise, taking care of their chores before the crack of dawn. Unfortunately for the Keyblade wielder, he couldn't fall asleep. He began wondering how his friends were doing, having no way to communicate with any of them with his gummi ship destroyed and no way of making another. He wondered if they found out what happened to his ship, unaware of him being stranded in a world practically at the edge of the galaxy.

He sighed, rolling off his bed after trying to sleep for the past hour. Deciding maybe getting something to drink will help him fall asleep, he carefully crept through the second floor hallway and down the creaky steps. At least with his light body, he didn't make much noise, though he did seem to wake Winona up as she slept on a couch in the living room. She wagged her tail, petting her so she doesn't bark and wake the family up as he headed for the kitchen. He snuck a peek in the fridge, finding everything inside basically apple related: chilled apple pie, apple juice, apple apples.

"Sheesh. Where's the orange juice when you need it?" Sora laughed quietly. "Apples as far as the fridge can be stocked, and not a single thing to eat."

Grabbing the pitcher of freshly squeezed apple juice, he took it out of the fridge and grabbed a clean glass from the cupboards, trying to figure out where the Apples put all their utensils. He poured himself a tall glass and placed the pitcher back in the fridge, taking a small sip of the delicious beverage. He had no idea when he might be sick of apples, but if they stay this delicious, it'll become an addiction to the teen.

Before he could relax in the quiet evening, he heard Winona growling. "Winona, shh. You're gonna wake everyone up," he whispered. Her growling grew louder as Sora came into the living room to quiet the collie down. He soon saw what she was growling at, his jaw dropping as he saw a pair of yellow eyes staring at them from the front door. "Oh crap. Heartless? Here?"

The Shadow's antennae twitched as it looked at Sora, quickly ducking into the ground like the shadow it was and escaped outside. If there were more, then he had to take care of them before they could kill any of the ponies in this world and turn them into more Heartless. He ran outside, making sure Winona didn't get out to try to chase the creature of darkness and risk getting the Apple's family dog killed, chasing the Shadow into the orchard.

Under the full moon, he was able to see the Shadow fleeing from him in the small light it gave off. Looking up to it as he chased after the dangerous threat, he noticed the craters made up what looked like the image of a pony. As curious as he was to know about what made a formation like that, his first priority was the Heartless that was going to hurt the ponies in this world.

Sora caught up with the Shadow as it popped up from the ground, staring at him with its creepy eyes glowing in the dim light of the moon. As expected, more Shadows appeared from the ground, surrounding the pegasus to gain the upper hand. He grinned and shook his head, the Heartless never learning not to expect their prey to be as weak as they seem.

"Let's see how well I fight as a pony." Sora opened his mouth and summoned his Keyblade in his maw, the weapon appearing in a flash of light as the silver blade of the key shimmered under the moon's glow.

He crouched low with his wings flared out, keeping focused on his surroundings, an instinct he learned to hone when he first encountered the Heartless in that strange dream he had before his journey started. Just as he figured, the Shadows behind him acted first, lunging toward him while his back was turned. Quickly turning around, he slashed at the group with one strike, destroying the pure Heartless in a single blow. With the incredible speed he has as a pegasus, he was able to smack each one with his Keyblade before they tried to hide under the ground to avoid his strikes.

After the first wave of Shadows were destroyed, another wave came in, this time with the clanking Soldiers twitching about with the Shadows. These were simple Heartless he could easily take down, avoiding their lunging kicks, blocking each Heartless's claws or feet, counterattacking as they were parried and staggered backward. In no time at all, Sora destroyed the second wave, the ground now littered with green orbs and yellow blocks. He looked around, finding no sign of anymore Heartless and sensing no threats hiding from him.

Sora dismissed his Keyblade as he relaxed, walking around to pick up the Munny orbs before they vanished on him. "There are Heartless here...This isn't good. Not in a peaceful world like this. I guess I'm lucky I crashed here. There's no way any of these ponies can defend themselves against the Heartless." He looked up at the night sky, looking at the millions of stars out in the distance, the moon with the depiction of a pony looking down at him. "And I'm doing this on my own...As long as they all come after me, having the Keyblade, then I won't have to worry about anyone getting hurt, or turned into a Heartless."

With the Heartless threat taken care of, Sora headed back to the farmhouse, making sure to stay quiet as he walked inside. Winona was calm again, sensing the danger had been dealt with, the teen giving the collie a pat on the head. He downed the rest of his drink in the kitchen, washing his glass and setting it on the rack for it to dry, then headed back upstairs to his room. After laying down in his bed, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Sora lightly snored as he laid sprawled out in his bed, his legs twitching randomly as he continued sleeping. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, bringing some light into the land. The door to his room opened quietly, Apple Bloom sneaking in with a pot on her back and a wooden spoon on her mouth. She stifled her giggles as she saw the drooling stallion sound asleep, but he was in for a wake-up call.

"Rise and shine, Sora!" Apple Bloom shouted as she banged the pot with her spoon, startling Sora awake as he flailed about in the bed.

"Gah! Fire alarm! Women and me first!" He slipped out of the bed, slamming his face into the ground just like yesterday. Groaning, he lifted his head up, watching the bow wearing filly giggling at his fall. "...Very funny."

"It's time to get up, Sora! Ya got chores to do!" Apple Bloom said.

Sora poked the filly in the snout with his hoof repeatedly, making her giggle more and scrunch her muzzle with each poke. "Where's the sleep mode on this thing?" He received his answer with another loud bang of the pot. "None, obviously."

He poked her nose one last time before getting up on his hooves, stretching out his limbs as he began to wake up. Sora tiredly followed Apple Bloom downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast, where today was going to be his first official day working on the farm to earn his keep while staying with the earth pony family. It should be no problem doing some farm labor, since dealing with the Heartless and Nobodies was more of a challenge than any chores he's ever done.

Even though Sora was full from breakfast, he felt more tired than ever as he woke up earlier than he usually does. He let out a yawn as he stood in front of the barn, where Applejack and Big Macintosh would plan out what they would assign him to do.

"Alright, Sora. Rub out that sleep from your eyes," Applejack said. "Ya'll should have gone to bed early instead of messin' with Winona last night."

"I had a little trouble sleeping. Not my fault I wanted to steal your dog and got her all riled up." Sora wasn't lying about his sleeping problem, though he wanted to make sure the Heartless were kept a secret. He didn't want anyone to panic if they knew heart stealing beings would attack them at any given point. "So, give me something to do before I use the dirt as a pillow."

"We'll start ya off with some apple buckin', though Ah doubt ya'll can do much with them skinny legs of yours." Sora rolled his eyes, the mare having no idea what he was really capable of. He followed the siblings into the hundred acres of apple trees, Applejack and Big Mac carrying several wooden buckets on their backs. They placed them under some of the trees, where several of their branches had ripe apples ready for the picking. "What we do to get all the apples off is to buck the trunks with the right amount of strength, and in the right spot."

Big Mac demonstrated for Sora, stepping up to a nearby tree and turned his back to it. He reared back his hind legs and gave the tree are hard kick, causing the branches to shake as several apples fell down in the buckets. The entire tree was free of any apples, the teen impressed by the silent stallion's strength.

"Well, that doesn't look too hard. Let me try." Sora walked up to one of the other trees nearby, ready to try apple bucking for the first time.

"Well, don't feel too disappointed if ya can't get it on the first-" A hard smack was heard as Sora bucked his tree, sending all the apples on its branches down in the buckets in one go. As the pegasus grinned in success, Applejack and her brother stared at the lanky teen in shock. "...try?"

"That was kinda fun." Sora ran up to the other trees with buckets underneath them, kicking them hard and gathering all the apples in one go every time. The Apple siblings looked at each other, then the buckets full of apples, then at Sora, unable to believe somepony like him was stronger than he looked. "I think that's all the available buckets filled. What do I do with them?"

"...Uhh...W-We bring the buckets to the barn to store them and keep them preserved, or in the cart to sell them at a stand in town." Sora nodded, understanding what to do with the buckets.

"Ok. Buck the apples in the buckets, and carry them to the barn for storage. Easy peasy!" He surprised them again when the teen lifted not one, not two, but five buckets of apples.

He carried one on each of his forelegs, one on his head, and one on each of his outstretched wings. Balancing perfectly on his hind legs, Sora walked back to the barn, both Applejack's and Big Macintosh's jaws dropping at the display their guest was pulling off. He came back a moment later, dropping the empty buckets next to the shocked earth ponies and went for the rest of the full buckets. He carried these ones stacked on top of each other, balancing them on his head.

"...How in Equestria is somepony that skinny that strong?" Applejack questioned, Big Macintosh shaking his head in disbelief, feeling some of his masculinity diminish by the younger pegasus's incredible strength.

Within about an hour, Sora had managed to clear out a few hundred trees of the southern edge of the orchard, placing empty buckets under the trees, bucking the apples down, and bringing them back to the barn. He pretty much dealt with the siblings' quota for the whole week with the amount of apples he brought back, needing to tell him to stop before he took every single apple out of their orchard. They put him on some other chores to do since apple bucking was done for the entire week.

Watering some of the trees that needed some hydration was one of those chores since there didn't seem to have been much rain around the previous few days. Using his new skills as a pegasus, he grabbed some nearby rain clouds around Ponyville and began bouncing on top of them to make them rain under the thirsty trees. While busy making sure the trees that needed water got enough, a certain cyan pegasus flew around the orchard, and she did not look happy.

"Hey!" she shouted, getting Sora's attention. "What the hay are you doing with those rain clouds!?"

"Oh. Hey, Rainbow Dash. I'm just helping Applejack watering some of her trees," he explained, only angering the mare further. "If some of them wither from lack of water, they'll have less crops to sell."

"Then why did you take clouds for tomorrow's storm when you could have just flew around and dumped buckets of water from the air!?" Sora stared at Rainbow in confusion. "Great. Thanks to you, I gotta tell the weather factory to bring in more clouds! The hay is wrong with you!?"

"I thought the clouds were free to use," Sora said. "I found these hanging over Ponyville nearby, and no one was around."

"They were used as a marker for the rest of the clouds we're supposed to build up for tomorrow for the storm!" Rainbow groaned as Sora made another mistake. "Are you doing this on purpose!?"

"No, I swear! I don't know everything that goes on around here." Sora pushed the cloud over to Rainbow Dash. "Here, you can take them back."

"They don't have any water left for the rain! You realize how much of my pay is gonna be slashed off by this!?" He shook his head, having no idea how things work as he was scolded by the pegasus mare. "You owe like thirty bits for messing up the dang schedule!"

"Sorry." Sora dug around his pouch and pulled out a large Munny orb that counted for fifty smaller ones. "I think this should cover your paycheck."

"...What the hay is this!? This isn't even close to a bit!" Rainbow shouted.

"Uhh...what is a 'bit'? A 'bit' of what?" While he asked what exactly the pegasus wanted from him to repay him for his mistake, she leered at him suspiciously.

"...You seriously don't know what a bit is? Our currency?" Sora slowly shook his head. Rainbow's stare intensified, finding him untrustworthy after he blatantly said the weather couldn't be controlled, never touched a cloud in his life, thought that every single cloud in the sky was free to use, and had no clue what a bit was. "...Who the hay are you?"

"...Uhhhh...Hey, look! What's that behind you!?" Rainbow fell for his ruse, summoning his Keyblade while her back was turned. "Sorry about this," Sora apologized as he aimed his weapon at the pegasus. "Stop!"

A small flicker of light shot out from his Keyblade as an illusionary clock surrounded Rainbow Dash, freezing her in time temporarily. He caught her before she fell to the ground, laying her down on the cloud he offered back. Quickly grabbing all the clouds around the sections of the orchard he put them in together in one massive clump, he pushed the giant mass of fluffy whiteness back over Ponyville, speeding off back to the orchard before his spell wore off. As Rainbow was able to move again, she grew confused as she was now sitting on the clouds Sora had mistakenly taken, back over the main square of the town.

"...What the hay just happened?" she questioned. "Just who the hay is that guy?"

As the day wore on, Sora continued to do his chores, though with less enthusiasm than earlier in the day. He finished watering the trees that needed it manually with a bucket he carried and pouring it down on them from above. After that task, he moved on to tilling the fields with the rusted plow the Apples had, slowly pulling it over the soil for the smaller crops they wanted to plant when the apple season goes, like corn. He chided himself for making another dumb mistake, only this time with stealing clouds instead of not knowing pegasi could manipulate them.

"I knew I should have stopped by a library or something the other day," Sora sighed. "And now I used magic on someone to get out of a confrontation about my obliviousness and useless Munny to pay her back for my mistake. Even if it was harmless time stopping magic." He then groaned after detaching himself from the harness connected to the plow, rubbing his forehead. "Where's Donald to scold me for being dumb and Goofy to try and reason with him to go easy on me?"

"Who's Donald and Goofy?" The teen yelped in surprise, not seeing Apple Bloom being next to him with a glass of ice-cold apple juice balanced on her head.

"Sheesh!...Apple Bloom, don't scare me like that." Calming his startled heart-rate, Sora took the full glass off the filly's head and took a sip, wiping some sweat from his brow. "It's kinda rude to sneak up on ponies."

"Ah was by the fence for the last few minutes," Apple Bloom said. "Ah thought ya saw me, but ya'll were mumblin' to yourself."

"...Oh..." Sora sat down to take a break, Apple Bloom sitting next to him as she looked out at all the work he did.

"Ya'll really helped out a lot. It would take all day for both mah brother and sister to get nearly a small amount of the chores done, yet ya managed to buck several hundred apples in under an hour. And ya looked like ya'll were havin' fun." Sora simply nodded as he drank his beverage. "But...now ya aren't havin' fun."

"...Well..." He looked around, making sure Applejack or Big Macintosh were nearby. "Did you see me use some rain clouds to water some of the dried trees around the orchard?"

"Yeah. A whole lot faster than bringin' buckets several acres out to water every single tree if we ever get a drought. Pretty smart, even though we can't fly like ya'll." Though Apple Bloom praised Sora for his efficiency, she didn't know where he got those clouds.

"But, those clouds that I used...They were supposed to be used for a rainstorm for tomorrow, and I thought those clouds left alone over Ponyville were just sitting there." He didn't look down at the filly, knowing she had a face that screamed "Seriously!?" Sora sighed, pressing the cool glass against his forehead. "That Rainbow Dash pegasus found me, saw the clouds, and I got in a little trouble. I was going to pay her back for my mistake, but I guess Munny's not really a well-known currency around here."

"...Uhh...'Munny'?" Apple Bloom asked.

Sora pulled out a small Munny orb from his pouch, something that the filly didn't find in his infinite void of a bag. "This is Munny. Apparently, I needed to pay her in bits for the clouds I took, but I didn't know what she meant...I'm in a bit of trouble because I didn't even know from my lack of know-how of everything in Ponyville."

As Apple Bloom took the orb in her hoof to examine it, she looked back up at the miserable stallion. "What happened after? Did ya give the clouds back?"

Sora tried to think of an answer, not wanting to tell the filly he used magic to freeze Rainbow Dash in time and gave the clouds back with barely any water left in them. "Uhh...Yeah! But to repay her for stealing the clouds and using their water, I have to pay her thirty bits to replace the clouds...Though, I don't think these aren't going to help much."

"Oh...But, what is this strange block thingie?" Apple Bloom asked, spinning the orb around. "These probably aren't gonna help ya buy anythin' anywhere in Equestria."

"Yeah, that's what Rainbow Dash said. Hopefully your brother and sister won't get mad if I ask for an early paycheck for my hard work," Sora said, scratching his head.

"But Ah thought ya said ya'll would work with us just to stay," Apple Bloom said, reminding the teen with what he said yesterday.

"Oh. Right." He sighed, probably needing to find a job if he needed the actual currency in this world. He placed the empty glass back on Apple Bloom's head and stood back up, ready to head back to work. "Now, go bring me back some more apple juice, servant! And a sandwich! I am famished after working so hard for your family!"

The filly giggled at his goofy attempt to sound commanding. "Yes, sir!"

As he watched Apple Bloom run back to get him some more to drink, Sora sighed, hating having to lie all the time. He placed the Munny orb the filly dropped back in his pouch and got back to more chores he was assigned. While carrying the old plow back into the barn, he didn't realize someone above him was watching him from a lone cloud hovering in the sky. Rainbow Dash leered at Sora as he disappeared in the barn.

"There's something suspicious about that stallion...and I don't like it." Before she left, she heard some kind of commotion going on inside the barn, looking back down behind the cover of her cloud. A moment later, her eyes widened as she saw some strange black creature run out of the barn with Sora chasing after it, now holding onto some kind of giant key in his mouth. As soon as he confronted the strange monster, several more popped up around him from the ground. "What in Equestria is going on!? What are those things!?"

Before she could find out, she heard something behind her, sounding like it appeared from a void. She turned around, finding a few creatures that were like the ones Sora was fighting now, only they were different. Resembling the same style as a Soldier Heartless, only they had propeller caps on their head, and their flight is more erratic than that of a bee's. Too shocked by their appearance, all of the flying Heartless slammed into the pegasus, sending her falling off the cloud.

Rainbow tried to fly away, but they were faster, keeping her from escaping as they forced her to plummet to the ground. While Sora was holding his own against the Shadows and Soldiers that wanted to destroy this world again, he looked up as he heard someone struggling up in the sky. His jaw dropped, spotting Rainbow Dash getting swarmed by Heartless as they were about to slam her into the ground.

"Oh come on! Not Air Soldiers!" They were falling too fast for him to fly after them before they hit the ground. He held his Keyblade up in the air to use his magic. "Stopaga!"

A bright light shone from the tip of his Keyblade, brighter than when he used the spell earlier, stopping all the Heartless in a massive area around him. As Rainbow was expecting to hit the ground, she opened her eyes when she didn't feel the Heartless' claws scratching her painfully, looking at the frozen creatures that still have a hold on her.

"...What the hay...?" she uttered.

Sora quickly ran up to Rainbow Dash before his powerful Stop spell wore off, smacking the Air Soldiers off of her, still frozen stiff in the positions they were in. He caught the pegasus before she hit the ground, setting her down on the ground.

"You ok, Rainbow?" he asked, growing worried as he held his Keyblade tightly in his mouth.

"W-Wha...? How in...? What is...?" Completely flabbergasted, she looked over at the other frozen Heartless Sora was fighting earlier. She heard him shout out "Stopaga", which made her think about how she had somehow wound up from Sweet Apple Acres, yelling at Sora, to end up over Ponyville with all the clouds he took, and he was nowhere to be seen. Her shock turned to anger and confusion, looking back at the pegasus. "Who the hay are you?"

"I'm gonna take that as a maybe," Sora said, ignoring the look she was giving him. "Look, just get as far away from here as you can before my spell wears off! These creatures are dangerous!"

"You froze me just like those things earlier!" Rainbow shouted as she got in the teen's face. "How the hay can you use magic when you're a pegasus!? And what is with that stupid key in your mouth!?"

"Listen, don't argue with me about this! Your life is in danger!" he argued back. "Get out of here before they start moving again!"

"Not until you tell me what the hay is going on!" With Rainbow's stubbornness keeping her from heeding his pleading warning, Sora's spell wore off, the Air Soldiers thankfully destroyed as they twitched erratically and blew up into several green and Munny orbs.

The grounded Heartless began running toward them, all of them lunging for the mare, finding her an easy target compared to the Keyblade wielder that was destroying them. She turned around as she heard the clanking sounds coming from the Soldiers, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks as she was about to be attacked again. Sora swiftly got in front of Rainbow, taking the hits for her as he was sent flying back by their combined attacks, sending the cyan mare hurtling back with him.

Sora quickly got back up, brushing off their weak strikes. They rushed at them again and leapt up into the air. The Keyblade wielder held his weapon up into the air again, this time wanting to get rid of the large group with one powerful spell.

"Thundaga!" he shouted, sending powerful bolts of lightning down upon the Heartless, killing them as the Soldiers' released hearts upon being defeated.

Rainbow stared in horrified awe as Sora had called down lightning bolts, with no lightning clouds anywhere above them. As the Heartless were slain, she watched as the Soldiers' hearts flew up into the sky, disappearing in a flash of light by some unknown power. With no other Heartless around to show up and attack them, the teen looked back at the shocked pegasus. Seeing her injuries inflicted on her by the Air Soldiers, he pointed the end of his Keyblade at her, which made her back away from him.

"Whoa, hey! Don't kill me!" she shouted, but before she could fly away, Sora was much faster, appearing in front of the pegasus as she turned away.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you," he assured, pressing the end of his Keyblade against her forehead. "Cure."

Appearing above the two pegasi, a pink bellflower magically appeared in a green light, shaking like a bell as it sprinkled green powder over them. Rainbow gasped, feeling the powder was somehow soothing and pleasant, already healing her scratches and pain until she was fully rejuvenated. The same happened to Sora as his injuries seemed nonexistent as well. After the spell did its job, the flower disappeared in a burst of light.

She blinked as the teen dismissed his Keyblade in a flash of light. "...W-What...?"

"Hopefully, saving your life from the Heartless is enough as an apology for taking those clouds," Sora said as the mare was completely dumbfounded to even say anything. "Sorry again." He walked past her, stopping a few feet away from her. "Pretend you didn't see anything. I don't want anyone to panic if they knew the Heartless were around. If you run into anymore, just flee. I'm the only one who can handle them."

Sora walked back to the farm, thankful to know only Rainbow Dash was the only witness to his Keyblade and the Heartless. As long as she didn't say anything, he wouldn't have to worry about the world panicking under the threat of darkness. While getting back to his chores, he didn't notice the pegasus he rescued speed off somewhere.

As the day was brought to an end, Sora rested in his bed after eating dinner and cleaning up after a hard day's work. He wasn't able to fall asleep, though, still lingering on what had happened between him and Rainbow Dash, even after he rescued her from the Heartless. He had no choice but to show his Keyblade and magical abilities in front of her, otherwise they would have both been turned into Heartless. He only hoped that the pegasus would stay silent and pretend none of this ever happened, but how can one forget something as life threatening as this?

"So much for not showing my Keyblade...As long as I keep quiet about everything outside of this world, it should be fine..." He looked out the window, spotting the same full moon with the image of a mare created by the craters. "Hmm...That's the second night in a row that moon is full. Maybe it doesn't change around this world? Well, Rainbow said it was going to rain tomorrow. I think I might head down to Ponyville's library to study a little more about Equestria, and not feel like an idiot again."

He rolled over and fell asleep, hoping tomorrow would turn out better than today.

Inside of an extravagant castle resting at the top of the mountain several miles from Ponyville, one of the castle's royal guard walked down the halls, carrying a scroll in their magical aura. Unlike the golden armor the others had on as he passed by the sentries, this stallion's armor was purple and gold, signifying his higher rank among the other white stallions, a white horn jutting out from his similarly colored helmet. His cutie mark, a blue shield with a purple star in the center, fit well for his career as a soldier of the castle, his mane and tail two shades of blue. Making his way down the corridors of the hall, passing by murals of Equestria's historic moments in the past depicted on the windows of the hall, he passed through the massive doors to enter the throne room.

Inside, sitting on her throne while going through some paperwork, while also listening to some ramblings from a lavender unicorn mare, her mane a dark purple with a pink streak running down the center, was the kingdom's ruler. She was a tall equine, her coat pure white while her mane and tail, billowing in an invisible, gentle breeze, were a mixture of blues, green, and pink, almost like an aurora, her cutie mark being a golden sun. She had both a pair of wings, far bigger than any other pegasus's, and a long horn that was about three times longer than the average unicorn. She also wore golden regalia as a sign of her status as a ruler.

The mare that was talking to the ruler, her cutie mark a large pink star with five smaller white ones around it, silenced herself as she noticed the guard, smiling and waving at him, knowing who he was. As much as the guard wanted to return the gesture, he had a duty to uphold. He bowed to the ruler, getting her full attention away from what she was reading.

"Your highness, we received a report from what a witness claims to be a threat down in Ponyville," he announced, handing the scroll to her as she opened it. "The witness was...not exactly thorough with her description, her report stating 'This pony is totally dangerous and he almost killed me with his pet monsters.' She gave us a...umm...terrible 'drawing' of the assailant's face...and choice of weapon."

While looking down at the details of this upcoming threat, the unicorn mare was curious as to what this threat was. She squinted her eyes in disgust at the supposed mugshot: a terrible drawing of a tan stallion, his brown hair too spiky to even be considered safe, his teeth comically sharp as he held a badly drawn sword shaped like a key, the teeth of the key sharper than the blade itself. In the background, around the stallion, were small black creatures, also poorly drawn, with mismatched yellow eyes and white fangs.

"Hmm...Interesting," the ruler commented, unfazed by the terrible artwork.

"Interesting?" the unicorn mare questioned. "Princess, this is obviously ridiculous. I've read every single book on every creature known to Equestria, and there are definitely not any kinds of creatures that exist like that. And...is that supposed to be a sword? Shaped like a key? What kind of weapon is that!? It's impractical!"

As the young mare questioned the odd request to capture this dangerous pony and his "pets", the taller mare rolled up the scroll and looked down at the guard. "I would like to see just how 'dangerous' this stallion really is."

Both ponies stared at their princess in shock, actually believing in the possibly fake attempt to gain attention. "Princess, you can't be serious...Right?"

"I am," she said, highly serious despite her calm smile. "Captain, tomorrow, I want you and your guards to head down to Ponyville, find the pony who reported this 'threat', and find this stallion. Oh, and, do use any force if he doesn't come quietly. I doubt he'll resist, but you'll never know."

"...Y-Yes, Princess...As your command." The captain saluted to the princess and left the throne room, both unicorns unsure if they should really believe their ruler's word.

"Princess, what if this is just some kind of ruse? This just might somepony trying to get attention and be a misuse of the royal guard," the mare said, voicing her opinion.

"Oh, it's no ruse, Twilight Sparkle." The princess held the rolled up scroll to the unicorn. "No matter how serious somepony claims anything is, they should always be taken seriously, even if it's a cry for help. Besides, I think our new visitor has finally arrived."

"Huh?" The princess didn't respond to Twilight's confusion, exiting the throne room and calling it a night. "Visitor? What's she talking about?"

As early morning came around, the forecast clearly on schedule as Ponyville was drenched by a massive downpour. Since there couldn't be much work to be done today with the heavy rain, the Apple family decided to take a little day off, especially after Sora did an entire week's worth of apple bucking for them yesterday. The teen loafed around on the couch in the living room, Winona resting on his chest as he pet the sleeping collie. She really seemed to take a liking to him after only a couple days.

Since today was a Monday, Apple Bloom had to go to school, and in this weather, there shouldn't be any school if any of her school supplies got soaked. He looked around the room, spotting Big Mac going through some papers, probably business related over their farm's sales and profits. Granny Smith was napping in her rocker, just like yesterday, and Applejack was in the kitchen making a fresh apple pie, a perfect snack for a rainy day like today. He couldn't wait to have some once it cooled, which would feel like forever once it was done baking.

Suddenly, a knock came from the front door, waking up Winona as she barked. "I got the door, guys!" Sora said, lowering the collie down to the ground as he approached the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see Rainbow Dash, along with some other stallions in golden armor, all of them soaking wet from the rain. "Rainbow Dash? What are you doing out in the rain?"

"That's him, guys," she said, pointing a hoof at Sora. "He almost got me killed with those black monsters yesterday, and his freaky magic!"

"What!?" Sora exclaimed. "What are you doing!?"

"Don't play dumb! I knew there was something off about you the minute we bumped into each other the other day! You're up to something, and whatever it is you're planning, it's not gonna happen!" One of the guards dragged the pegasus back before she could attack the teen.

"Sir," the captain said as he approached the door. "I'm going to ask you to come quietly. Refuse, and we will use force."

"Rainbow Dash, I told you to forget about what happened yesterday!" That made the guards more suspicious than ever, Sora realizing his poor word choice as he smacked himself in the face. "Darn it..."

"What in tarnation is goin' on?" Applejack asked as she wondered what the commotion was. "What are the royal guard doing here?"

"Ma'am, step away from the pegasus. He's under arrest for attacking Miss Rainbow Dash yesterday," the captain said.

"What!?" Applejack exclaimed, looking at Sora in confusion.

"Look, this is all a misunderstanding! Let me just explain everything!" The captain and the guards aimed the spears they were carrying at Sora.

"This is your last warning! Come quietly, or we will use force!" the captain barked, not taking no for an answer at this point.

"I'm not dangerous! Just let me-!" Sora couldn't explain himself as Rainbow Dash broke past the guards to take matters into her own hooves, tackling him back inside the house.

"You're not going to explain anything!" she yelled.

Unable to talk his way out of this, Sora had no choice but to run. Wrapping his hind legs around Rainbow's waist, he flung the pegasus over him, smacking her head down hard on the wooden flooring, knocking her in a daze. With his self defense as an assault to the guards, they stormed in to try to capture him. He quickly ran through the house and out the back door in the kitchen, running out into the rain.

As the guards chased after him, Rainbow rubbed her sore head as she sat up. "Rainbow, what in Equestria is goin' on!?"

"That Sora isn't who he thinks he is, Applejack!" Rainbow growled as the stallion easily flipped her over. "Yesterday, these strange black things appeared out of nowhere and attacked me, and he ended up 'saving' me!"

"That don't excuse him for bein' bad!" the farm mare argued.

"You don't get it. He has magic! And he's a pegasus!" Rainbow explained, grabbing Applejack's shoulders and shook her. "When I confronted him yesterday for stealing some rain clouds I placed out in Ponyville, he somehow managed to freeze me in time and dragged me back in town on the clouds he took! He has this giant key he used to cast that spell! He's dangerous!"

"...Rainbow, that's impossible. Nopony can freeze time! And Sora ain't like that at all!" Applejack shoved the cyan pegasus's hooves off her, unable to believe Sora was evil. "He might know much since he lost his memory when Ah found him that one night when a shootin' star fell down near the orchard, but he ain't evil!"

"Oh, forget it! Believe what you want, but he's got you fooled! I'm gonna stop him before he calls more of those black things to pretend acting like a 'hero'!" Rainbow flew out of the house, too quick for Applejack to stop her.

Sora ran through the orchards, avoiding beams being fired at him from the unicorns in the group of guards chasing him. Of all the worst times for him to be running from something, it had to be on a day like this. Even after he saved Rainbow Dash, she still had the nerve to call him out as the one responsible for calling the Heartless. He saved her life, and she didn't trust him. If only he was given the chance to explain, maybe they wouldn't have to use force, but because of that pegasus's stubbornness and misunderstanding him, he was on the run.

He swerved through the trees, avoiding the magical beams either trying to capture him or stun him, making his way out of the orchard and into town. Looking back, he didn't see any sign of the guards, having given them the slip. Unfortunately, he didn't lose the rainbow-maned pegasus bent on stopping someone who had saved her life from becoming a Heartless. Spotting him from above in the downpour, she grabbed a storm cloud and bucked it hard, sending a bolt of lightning down on him. Unable to react in time, Sora shouted in pain as he was struck, quickly shaking off the electricity coursing through his body.

He was tackled again by the speedy pegasus, both of them tumbling across the muddy road. Sora flipped Rainbow off of him, getting annoyed at this point with the mare accusing him after all he did to help her, both from her nearly fatal crash and the Heartless attack.

"Cut it out!" he shouted. "I told you to forget what happened yesterday!"

"So you could try and destroy Ponyville!? It's going to take a lot of convincing to try and trick me, and I'm not easy to fool!" Rainbow argued, charging at him, only for Sora to hold her back as she flapped her wings hard.

"You don't understand! If those things killed you, you'll turn into one of them!" Sora explained, but his words seemed to be falling on deaf ears.

"To build up your monster army!? Not on your life!" Rainbow Dash tried to headbutt Sora, only for him to toss her down, flopping her down to the ground as he escaped.

"What is wrong with her? She isn't listening to a word I say!" As Sora ran, he avoided another swooping tackle from the swift pegasus. He didn't want to use his magic on her again, which would only get her more angry, and he wasn't going to hurt anyone in this world unless they really do mean to intend harm on others or him. After another dodge, he quickly grabbed hold of Rainbow Dash as he forced them to tumble again, this time Sora holding her down as they stopped close to a schoolhouse. "Stop this! I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Good, cause I'm gonna hurt you!" Rainbow managed to kick on of her hind legs in between Sora's, making the teen yelp in agonizing pain, doubling over and flipped on his back, where the pegasus struggled to give him a black eye.

Inside the schoolhouse, where Apple Bloom and her class were busy with a group assignment, she overheard something coming from outside. "What's goin' on out there?" She looked out the window and squinted through the pouring rain, gasping in shock as she saw Sora getting beat up by Rainbow Dash. "Sora!?"

Hearing the filly's distress, the other students gathered around the windows to see what she was looking at, catching their teacher's attention. "Everypony, get back in your seats!" Apple Bloom's teacher, a dark magenta earth pony mare with a light pink and white mane, her cutie mark a trio of smiling flowers, looked out the window with them. "What in Equestria?"

While Sora was struggling to get Rainbow off of him, along with ignoring the searing pain from where she kicked him, he heard a sound he did not want to hear come from behind them. "Oh come on. Not now!"

Rainbow heard the noise too, seeing more Heartless surrounding them. "I knew it! You are calling those things to help you!"

"No I'm not! Get off me so I can get rid of them!" She wasn't listening as the Shadows got closer. Sora had to slay the Heartless before Rainbow or any other pony gets hurt, even if it meant knocking her out before they both turned into one of them. Summoning his Keyblade in his hoof, he smacked the guard around the hilt against her head, knocking the pegasus out. "Trying to save your life, and you just keep ignoring the real threat."

As he dealt with the Shadows before they could reach the unconscious pegasus, the foals inside watched Sora in awe as he destroyed these strange black creatures with yellow eyes with an odd looking sword, which had appeared out of nowhere. While Apple Bloom's classmates all asked who that stallion was and wondered how he was able to pull off those awesome moves, the filly was more concerned about why he was being attacked by Rainbow Dash and what those black creatures were. She squeezed by her classmates and ran out of the classroom, wanting to help Sora in some way.

"Apple Bloom!? What are you doing!?" her teacher called out, the filly ignoring her to help the teen.

She ran out into the rain and out into the schoolyard, running toward the danger present around Sora. Apple Bloom skidded to a halt as one of the Shadows rose up from the ground, barring her path and staring at her. She screamed in terror, Sora's ears perking up as he looked at the school, finding Applejack's little sister about to be attacked by a Heartless. Growling, he tapped into the power of his Drive Forms, knowing the risks he'll take if they turn him into his Anti-Form.

His body glowed as a mysterious force burst out from him, the sound of crashing glass echoing across the area as the raindrops around him scattered away from him. As the light around him dimmed down, his black jacket now turned blue, his hooves emitting blue sparkles as he hovered a couple inches off the ground as he was now in his Wisdom Drive Form. With his Keyblade in his mouth, he hover skated toward the Shadow about to thrust his claws into the terrified filly. Without needing to utter a magical spell's name in this form, he aimed his Keyblade above him, causing a powerful magnetic force to swallow up the Shadow and all the other Heartless about to attack Rainbow Dash, all of them flailing about as they spiraled together in a clump.

Sora began casting a barrage of different spells, spinning around rapidly as his Keyblade shone brightly with each magical spell he unleashed: Firaga spells spiraling around him as he flew around the black hole of Heartless, Blizzaga spells shot out and freezing the Shadows, Thundaga spells constantly raining down upon them with each strike being stronger than the last. Finishing off the remaining Heartless that managed to survive, he fired hundreds of blue energy bolts from the tip of his Keyblade, guiding them all up in the air and sending them flying straight into them, destroying the rest of the beings of darkness before the Magnega spell faded away.

Seeing no more Heartless coming at them, Sora sighed, ending his Drive Form and reverting back to normal. "...Wow..." Apple Bloom whispered.

Hearing the filly, Sora approached her and knelt down. "Are you alright, Apple Bloom?" She nodded her head, quickly scooped up in his forelegs as he hugged her. "What were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt."

"I'm sorry," Apple Bloom apologized. "Why was Rainbow Dash attacking you? What were them black things? And that key?"

"I can't tell you everything, Apple Bloom." He lowered the filly down, patting her head. "Get back inside before you catch a cold."

"But what about Rainbow? Ya hurt her," she said.

"I know, but I'll make her feel better. Just head inside before you get into more trouble." Apple Bloom reluctantly headed inside, Sora watching her to make sure she didn't stray off and ignored the awed stares from the fillies and colts watching him through the window. He turned back to the unconscious pegasus, wincing a little as the low blow she gave him began to creep back up on him. "Sorry I had to do that, Rainbow Dash. I didn't want you getting hurt."

With his Keyblade in his hoof, he gently rested the tip of his weapon over the pegasus mare's head. But just as he was about to utter the Cure spell to heal her, a beam of magic struck him from out of nowhere, zapping Sora for a second before he collapsed to the ground, unconscious. From across the road, the unicorn captain approached the stallion, panting slightly after running all around the town searching for him. Using his magic, he formed shackles on the teen's legs, chaining them together, while also tying his wings down tightly to his sides.

As the rest of his troops regrouped on him, he checked on the unconscious pegasus mare, who began to slowly wake from the blow to the head. "Ugh...Where...Wha happen?"

"She just has a concussion," the captain diagnosed. "Two of you take Miss Dash to the hospital in town. The rest of you, carry this one to the train station." They saluted to their commander as two of the guards carried the dazed mare off to the hospital to treat her injuries. While the rest dragged Sora to Ponyville's train station, the captain stayed around as he sensed an unknown magical essence in the area. He noticed small shards of ice on the schoolyard's grass, scorch marks from magical lightning bolts, and a hint of a change in gravity in the air above the scorch marks. "What kind of magic is this?"

Sora groaned, his limbs feeling like jelly as he began to wake up. Whatever hit him that knocked him out, he didn't even see it coming. As he sat up, he heard a clattering sound as he moved one of his legs. Looking down, his front legs were shackled together, as well as his hind legs. He couldn't move his wings, which were also tied down by chains, the teen sighing as he was captured.

"Well, how can this possibly go wrong?" As he asked himself a question that tempted fate, his Keyblade reappeared in his mouth, a common thing that happens if he was too far from his weapon or if someone else has it.

"Hey! Where'd the weapon go!?" He heard one of the guards outside in what looked like a prison car for a train, hearing the others looking around for his Keyblade. One of them opened the cell he was in, the captain in purple and gold armor leering at him. "How the hay did you do that!?" The captain swiped the weapon out of Sora's mouth with his magic, only to have it disappear and reappear back to its owner. "Quit fooling around with me! You're already in way over your head after you ran from us!"

"It does that," Sora calmly said, dismissing his Keyblade. "You keep taking it away, it's just going to keep coming back to me."

"You're treading on very thin ice. Hand over your weapon," he commanded.

"Look, I'm not going to use it. I know well enough if I'm caught," Sora said. "I would have come along quietly if Rainbow Dash didn't tackle me and you guys let me explain what happened."

"You can give your explanation to her highness, Princess Celestia when we get to the castle." The train began to stop, Sora unable to brace himself as he fell flat on his face, hearing steam billow out from the engine. Two guards flanked the teen as they forced him to stand up on his hooves, shoving him out of the cell and bumping into the unicorn captain. "Better set your story straight before you meet the princess, otherwise you'll be dealing with her instead of us."

"Yippee. I don't have to meet your queen. You know queens are always the evil members of the royal family if a woman's in charge?" Sora received a hard punch in the chest from the captain for his joke, coughing heavily as he got the wind knocked out of him. "I-I'm just saying."

"Move!" Not wanting to get hit again, Sora hobbled forward until he reached the entrance to the prison car.

As soon as the doors opened, he squinted as the bright light of the sun blinded him for a moment. When he could see again, he was in another part of the world. He was now in a grand city, where many of the ponies walking around wore fancy outfits, acting all haughty and sophisticated. Farther down the road was a grand castle, the same one he saw before crashing into the world a few days ago. There wasn't a cloud in the sky in this city though, assuming the weather scheduled differently for each town or city in Equestria.

Taking too long sightseeing, the guards shoved him off the station and toward a carriage towed by a couple more guards. The captain opened the doors, lifted Sora in the air, and threw him inside, slamming them shut behind him as he fell on his side.

"I guess this is what the special treatment feels like for a prisoner," Sora mumbled to himself as he watched the city pass by through the small window in the back of the carriage. "I hope their princess isn't like the Queen of Hearts. 'Off with his head.' 'Off with his wings.'" While trying to make light of the situation, it failed to make him positive as he leaned against the wall. "I just hope this world's leader will hear me out and not judge me for trying to be a hero..."

Applejack and Big Macintosh ran through Ponyville, the rain slowly letting up, searching around for Sora and Rainbow Dash. The farm mare had a bone to pick with the pegasus for accusing Sora of being some kind of villain, after all the help he did for them on their farm. They had no idea where the royal guard went to either after they chased after the stallion into their orchard. The Apple siblings looked around as they stopped in the center of the town, still no sign of any of them.

"Consarn it. Where could they have gone?" Applejack looked at the time at the clock tower out in the distance, nearly time for school to end for Apple Bloom. "Ok, Big Mac, ya'll keep searchin' for Sora and Rainbow Dash. Ah'll pick up Apple Bloom from school. Come back to the house if ya don't find them in the next hour."

"Eyup," the red stallion said as the two split up.

Applejack headed for the Ponyville Schoolhouse, taking a look around in case Sora or Rainbow Dash were up ahead. Sadly they weren't as the school appeared in the distance. The bell rang just in time as the fillies and colts either ran off to their homes to hide from the rain alone or with their parents. She didn't see her sister leave, wondering if she got in any trouble with some bullies that picked on her in her class. Applejack walked inside and found her little sister being comforted by her teacher.

"Apple Bloom?" Hearing her sister's voice, Apple Bloom ran up to her and clutched her tightly as she sobbed. "Sis, what's wrong?" The filly couldn't answer, trembling against Applejack's leg. She looked up to her teacher, wondering what happened. "Cheerliee, what happened?"

"I don't even know where to begin," Cheerilee said as she was still recovering from the shock of what had occurred moments ago. "The class got distracted by something outside, and we saw Rainbow Dash fighting with some other pegasus."

"Was he a tan pegasus with a spikey brown mane?" Applejack asked, the teacher nodding at the description. "Darn it, Rainbow Dash."

"That's not the worst of it. From out of nowhere, these...black monsters with yellow eyes rose up from the ground and surrounded them!" The farm pony stared at Cheerilee in shock, Rainbow actually being right with there being black creatures. "That stallion knocked her out with a giant key, which was nowhere on him, and he fought those things. Apple Bloom ran out of the school, thinking she could help, but she was almost hurt by one of those things."

"What!?" She looked down at her little sister, wanting to scold her for running toward dangerous creatures, but she was upset enough as it was.

"He saved her though. Both her and Rainbow Dash," Cheerliee continued explaining. "This jacket he was wearing turned blue, and...and he was using magic to kill those monsters!"

"Magic?" Applejack asked. "...Only unicorns can use magic."

"But he did. My whole class saw it. He shot fire, ice, lightning...It was unbelievable." Cheerilee rubbed her head, still unable to process the horrifying yet incredible event.

"Where did they go?" Applejack asked.

"Rainbow Dash was taken to the hospital." The earth pony teacher paused, biting her hoof as she witnessed what had happened to the teen. "...But the guards...they took that young stallion away."

"...They arrested him..." Applejack growled, definitely going to give Rainbow Dash a piece of her mind.

The farm pony marched through the muddy streets of Ponyville, carrying Apple Bloom on her back as she made her way to the town's hospital. Her sister was still a little shaken up, not only from nearly getting attacked by those monsters, but possibly watching Sora getting hauled off over Rainbow Dash's misunderstanding his actual intentions. As soon as she entered the building, she immediately demanded to find the pegasus's room, which the nurses gladly obliged giving. After navigating her way down the many corridors, she found her room.

Walking inside, she saw Rainbow looking up at the ceiling, bandages wrapped around her head. Applejack gently lowered Apple Bloom on one of the seats in the room for visitors to sit down on as she stood next to the hospital bed. The two mares looked at each other, the farm mare leering at the hotheaded and outright ignorant pegasus.

"...What?" Rainbow asked.

"Ya darn well know what Ah'm glarin' at ya for, Rainbow Dash," Applejack growled. "Ya got Sora arrested!"

"Good! That'll teach him not to trick me." As Rainbow seemed satisfied with what she did, Applejack slammed her foreleg down on the pegasus's chest, knocking the wind out of her.

"Ya got somepony thrown in the dungeon for savin' your sorry flank! Cheerilee saw everythin' when ya'll were chasin' after Sora, even mah sister!" Applejack yelled, not caring if the hospital staff kicks her out for screaming some sense into the pegasus patient. "Ah know there wasn't a bit of bad in his soul! He helped on our orchard, without even complainin'! He saved mah sister's life when one of them monsters almost attacked her!"

"S-So what!?" Rainbow said, trying to regain some air in her lungs. "He probably sent one of those things after her just to make him seem likable!"

"...Y-You...ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME!?" Applejack leapt up onto the bed and shook Rainbow Dash hard. "Our family took a likin' to Sora since Ah helped him, and he likes mah sister! Would somepony who cares that much seriously consider havin' somethin' dangerous attack any of their friends!?" She then lifted the pegasus's head up, forcing her to look at the depressed Apple Bloom. "Look at mah sister's face! She watched somepony who saved her life be taken away because of you assumin' he was some kind of bad guy! Why don't ya tell me why he would save your life from them, even after ya attacked him!?"

"...W-Well, he...H-His magic..." Rainbow stammered as she tried to find an excuse, failing miserably. She was still miffed at him for using magic on her, even though he also used it to heal her injuries when she was attacked. But after now learning Sora also saved her after he knocked her unconscious, her accusation was completely wrong, more afraid of what those creatures were and his powerful magic than his heroics. "...You mean...he's not...?"

"Ah hope you're happy, Rainbow." Applejack shoved the pegasus back down on the bed, climbing down and carrying Apple Bloom, now passed out, on her back. "If Sora really gets thrown in the dungeons in Canterlot, ya'll better find some way to bail him out. You owe him for savin' your life."

"...B-But he knocked me out," Rainbow weakly countered, now feeling guilty.

"Good! Ah hope that knock upside the head finally gave you a few more brain cells!" Applejack left in a huff, slamming the door hard.

The pegasus mare sat in silence as she stared up at the ceiling. No matter what thought she tried to come up with to prove Sora was dangerous, it didn't seem to be the case anymore. She rubbed the side of her head, wincing as she felt where he hit her with his weapon, causing no other serious harm aside from knocking her unconscious. If he wanted to, he would have dealt with her himself instead of letting those monsters attack her. Rainbow sighed, resting her head on the pillow as thought of the many questions she was going to ask him.

While Sora enjoyed his ride as best as he could before being imprisoned for trying to save the day, he looked out at the posh city through the small window in the carriage. He watched as the social elites go about their daily lives, lifting their snouts up in the air, practically hearing their necks crack the moment they lift their heads like that. He half expected some of them to run into other ponies or into a wall with their eyes focused on the sky.

The ride ended all too soon as the carriage made a stop, reaching the castle where he would be flung in the dungeon. The doors opened up, the captain dragging the teen out, making him fall hard on the cobblestone road.

"Get up," the unicorn guard captain ordered.

"Is the ride over? I was kind of having fun." Annoyed at Sora's choice to be comical, the captain kicked him, only for the teen to block it with his forelegs. Seeing it as an act of defiance, the other guards aimed their spears at the pegasus as a warning. "I'm getting up! Sheesh. Grow a funny bone."

He got up on his hooves, shoved forward harshly by the irritated captain of the guard, nearly making Sora lose his footing. Being flanked on both sides, front and back, by the golden armored stallions, they escorted him into the magnificent castle. As they walked through the many corridors, surprisingly not heading downstairs to the basement, Sora took a look around at the elegant interior of the castle. It was pretty welcoming, almost like King Mickey's castle, only everything wasn't so warped as to make it look big and wacky. The floors had red carpeting, flowers tended to with care in vases on small tables along the halls, but what really caught his attention were some of the glass murals on the windows as they were approaching what looked like the throne room.

They seemed to depict events in the world's history. One of them showed what looked like two ponies with both wings and a horn, one white and one blue, defeating a dark unicorn stallion in front of a kingdom made entirely out of crystal. Another one showed a strange looking creature that was a mismatch of every type of animal found in a zoo, its paw and talon controlling three ponies, one of each race, like puppets. The next one showed the same two mares from the first one stopping the being as its body began turning to stone, a rainbow light shining down from six mystical gems above them. The last one he saw confused him, the same two winged unicorns depicted again, only they seemed to be fighting against each other. Those same gems used against the multi-parted chimera were on the white pony's side, and in the background was the full moon, showing that same etched in mare like the real moon.

"Keep moving!" one of the guards shouted, snapping Sora out of his awe as he pushed him forward.

"Easy! I can't admire the artwork?" Sora asked, only receiving another hard shove. "Guess not."

The guards in front of the teen opened the throne room doors, where he spotted what appeared to be a living version of the white winged unicorn from the murals. She was busy going through some documents, too busy to hear them come in. Sora figured this must be their ruler, but there was no way she was some kind of princess with her figure. Before he could question who she was, he was kicked forward, falling flat on his face as the guards saluted to their ruler.

"Your highness, we have captured the pegasus," the stallion announced as Sora sat back up, rubbing his sore nose.

"I call guard brutality!" Sora pleaded, his face slammed back down to the marble floor by the captain's aura. "See!?"

"Still your tongue!" the unicorn shouted.

"Relax, captain." The tall equine stepped down from her throne and approached Sora, lifting his head up to look at her. "He has already been captured." Sora couldn't look away from the mare's flowing mane, wondering just how she was making it move like that with no wind inside. "I will hand down my judgement, but I would like to speak to him alone."

"Yes, your highness." The guards bowed to the mare and left the room, leaving Sora alone with this world's ruler.

As the doors closed, the teen got back up on his haunches, looking around the room and leaning over to see if anyone was behind her. "...So, uhh...where's the princess?"

"You're looking at her," she said with a calm smile.

"...Seriously?" The mare nodded, baffling the Keyblade wielder. He inspected every bit of her, finding it hard to believe someone this elegant, this majestic, and quite possibly wise, was a princess. "...You sure you're not a queen and you have a daughter hiding somewhere in here?"

"I am quite sure." The princess levitated a scroll out in front of Sora. "I'm sure you might be aware of your arrest?"

"I think, but it's not what you think," Sora explained.

"Well, somepony claimed to have seen you summon 'black creatures', use magic no pegasus can actually wield, and has a dangerous key shaped sword." The mare unfurled the scroll, revealing the description of Sora. The teen stared at it, his eyes slowly squinting into a leer at the terrible mugshot of himself. "I think you and he are a pretty close match. But, I believe you are not exactly sinister in any sense."

"Close!? That looks nothing like me! And I sure as he-" Sora froze, looking back up at the princess as he replayed the last thing she said. "...What?"

"I said you are innocent." She rolled the scroll back up and made it disappear. Sora was confused, scratching his head with both his forelegs, still chained together. "I would like to see this sword of yours, if you don't mind."

"...B-But, wasn't I just...And the guards...Here..." She waited patiently as the teen's brain began to suffer from a meltdown, giving up finding the answers to the impossible questions he was bringing up and sighing in defeat. "Alright...But I'm warning you. Don't freak out if it comes back to me."

Since his hooves were a bit tied up, Sora summoned his Keyblade in his mouth, the flash of light not surprising the princess. He felt it being gently tugged away from his teeth, the mare grabbing the weapon in a golden aura. She looked over every detail of it, even the chain hanging off the end of the pommel.

"...So, this is what a Keyblade looks like," she said out loud.

"Yeah, it's a sword shaped like a-" For the second time, Sora did a double take as he heard her call it a Keyblade. "...W-What did you just call it!?"

"A Keyblade. A sword of light that can destroy darkness and unlock any keyhole, no matter what size or shape." Sora's jaw dropped, his eye and ears twitching as this mare somehow knew everything about what a Keyblade could do. "Am I correct?"

"...H-How...?" Panicking, Sora called his Keyblade back to him, the princess unfazed by the weapon's teleportation back to its owner and him unlocking the magical chains binding his limbs together. "How do you know about the Keyblade!?"

"I believe your master, Yen Sid, had described to me what they were while we communicated with each other. A while back, I discovered one of the mirrors given to me as a gift several centuries back had some magical properties, and when it was finally active, I met an...odd creature, who happened to be a wizard." Sora's mind went blank, dropping his Keyblade out of his mouth as it clattered to the ground. "I'm glad to finally meet one of his pupils after waiting for a week for your arrival. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of this world. Welcome to Equestria, Keyblade wielder."

"...I'm sorry. I need to knock myself unconscious. Please hold." Grabbing his weapon in his hoof, Sora flung it up high into the air, letting the flat end of the Keyblade smack into his head hard, knocking himself unconscious.

Celestia stared at the unconscious teen, his leg twitching as a comical bump appeared on his head. "...Well, he was right about one thing; his attitude is far different than I expected." She approached the unconscious stallion, poking the bump on his head. "He didn't mention him to be so...goofy."

After Sora woke up from unconsciousness, he found himself in Princess Celestia's personal bedchambers, the ruler of the world sipping tea across from him. She began explaining to him everything she knew about other worlds outside of her own and what Yen Sid had described to her whenever they spoke to each other. It's like they were long-distance friends, and outright so since Equestria and the Mysterious Tower are several days apart from each other via gummi ship. As much as Sora tried to hide everything about the outside worlds, his master broke that important rule. Celestia must have broken the wizard just from her radiance alone.

"...So...you know about the outside worlds," Sora blandly said, the princess nodding her head as she took another sip of her tea. "And everything about the Keyblade and the Heartless?"

"The Keyblade, a little bit...but these Heartless...I was told about them, but never in my life had I ever seen them." Celestia lowered her cup back down on the table between them, looking at Sora with worry. "Those black creatures are those Heartless, aren't they?"

"Sadly, yeah. Apparently, one of your subjects thought I was summoning them, but they come up out of nowhere," Sora explained. "The Heartless are dangerous. They steal the hearts of living beings, infect that heart with darkness, and create another Heartless. Depending how strong their heart is, that's how strong their Heartless will become." Sora moved a hoof to his chest, resting it over his heart. "Every heart has light and darkness in them, but all the Heartless care about is spreading darkness.

"But the Heartless aren't the only dangerous creatures that may appear. When one loses their heart, they leave behind an empty shell, becoming white husks called Nobodies." Celestia gasped at the mention of another dangerous creature that could be as worse as the Heartless. "Nobodies aren't supposed to exist, yet they do. The same rule applies to their strength; a strong heart, inside of a strong body. Some of them with incredibly strong hearts, they can look exactly how they were as Nobodies, far stronger than the grunts. And what's worse is that Nobodies are smarter than Heartless. In combat, they're more strategic than the Heartless, even in large groups."

"...My goodness..." Celestia looked down, her mane shrouding her face from Sora as she stared at the ground.

"But don't worry about the Nobodies. There hasn't been any sign of them much after I took care of the Nobody group Organization XIII. And the Heartless will all come after me, as long as I have this." Sora summoned his Keyblade, Celestia looking up as she heard him call his weapon. He spun it around in his hoof and hefted it over his shoulder. "The Keyblade is the Heartless's weakness, and they fear it. As long as I'm stuck here, I'll gladly defend your kingdom, your world, from anything that'll threaten to turn everything to darkness."

Sora gave the princess a big, toothy grin, highly confident in his abilities and intending to stay true to his promise. Celestia smiled, believing his words.

"...Your master knew exactly who to send. What is your name?" she asked.

"Sora," he responded.

"Sora..." Celestia nodded her head. "Yen Sid wanted to send you here, because I am in need of...assistance with some issues that may arise in the future."

"If they're anything like the Heartless, then I'll do whatever I can to help keep your world safe, your highness." Sora bowed in respect, causing the princess to chuckle.

"I am a bit curious, Sora. I was expecting you to arrive a few days earlier. What kept you from making it to Equestria?" Celestia asked, making the teen chuckle nervously as he sat up straight, putting his forelegs behind his head.

"Uhh, well...My ship kinda blew up just before I could even fly it down into the atmosphere," he explained. "I crash landed in Ponyville, which is why I said I'm kinda stuck in your world. You wouldn't happen to know what gummi blocks are, do you?" Confused, Celestia shook her head, making the teen sigh. "Of course. I figured as much.

"Oh. And about what I told you and what Master Yen Sid said, you can't tell anyone else about the Heartless, or the fact I'm from another world," Sora added.

"Otherwise, it would affect the world order," Celestia finished. "Don't worry. My lips are sealed...Until anypony else finds out and pesters the truth out of you. Don't expect me to have me bail you out of everything."

"Oh, you won't have to worry about that. I get in trouble all the time!" the pegasus laughed. "I can easily get myself out of any sticky situation!"

"Then couldn't you have just escaped captivity from my guards when they caught you?" That caught Sora off guard as he groaned, falling out of his seat comically.

"That would have gotten me in more trouble with your guards!" Celestia giggled as the teen got up, grumbling to himself as his words were twisted around. As Sora leaned back in his seat, he wondered what other dangers were in Equestria aside from the Heartless that were now appearing in this world. "So, since Master Yen Sid has assigned me to come to this world for my own training, I guess that means I'm going to be working for you, Celestia. Whatever you need me to do, I'll obey you like the rest of your guards: angry, violent, and always feeling like a stick's shoved up my butt!"

Sora mimicked the gruff expression of Celestia's royal guard and saluted with his tongue sticking out, causing the princess to laugh at the teen mocking her serious soldiers. "You're quite the comedian, Sora."

"Well, you can blame two of my friends for that," Sora said, dropping his serious guard impression. "They're a bunch of goofs, and one of them is actually named Goofy."

"How coincidental." Using her magic, Celestia made a scroll appear and wrote something down on it with a quill. "Whenever I need you to be on alert for anything, Sora, I will write to you. Though, I can't exactly explain everything in full, it'll be up to you to figure out what it is." Sora nodded, given the scroll with her writing. "Show this to the guards in case they try and stop you. We don't want you to rot in the dungeons."

"Heh. I'll probably just unlock the door myself with my Keyblade." The Keyblade wielder took his leave, bowing to the princess before leaving her room. As he rounded the corner, trying to find an exit, he accidentally bumped into someone. "Whoops. Sorry about-"

"You!" With Sora's unfortunate luck, he ended up running into the guard captain. The stallion slammed the teen into the wall, pinning him tightly. "How did you get out of your bonds!? My spell was unbreakable!"

"Hey, easy! I'm innocent!" Sora pulled out the scroll Celestia gave him. "I'm not a villain! Look! Celestia gave this to me to show you and your guards!"

"That's 'Princess Celestia', you ungrateful little-!" He snatched the scroll in his aura and read what was written. His eyes widened after he finished reading, growling angrily as he rolled it back up and shoved it in the pegasus's face. "I have no idea what kind of magic you have, but if you manipulated her highness-"

"I would never do anything like that," Sora said, remaining calm. "All I did was be completely honest with her. No lies. No manipulation." Just saying the word manipulation angered the teen. After he, Riku, and Kairi were separated when their world was destroyed, Riku had wound up with Maleficent, his best friend believing her lies and forcing him to side with the darkness. It was worse when Ansem possessed his heart, making the troubled teen suffer more and more as he now blames himself for his mistakes, unable to forgive himself for the pain he caused. Sora looked at the unicorn stallion with an angry gaze, not directly at him, but to the wicked witch who tricked Riku. "I almost lost my best friend to someone who fed him lies, making him think I didn't care about him...I'm not that cruel, and I never will be."

The two stared each other down, neither stallion wavering. Eventually, the captain released Sora, giving him a warning glare.

"Cause anymore trouble, and we'll make sure to lock you in a cell for the rest of your life," he warned, going back to his patrol around the castle.

"I never did." After watching the guard captain disappear around the corner, Sora continued on his way out of the castle, wanting to head back to Ponyville and get some rest. He found the entrance and freely left without anymore trouble, flying over the walls and over the city. From the distance, he could see Ponyville down below, the castle and the city he hovered above resting on the side of a mountain. He looked down at himself, realizing just how dirty he was after his tussle against Rainbow Dash. "Well, guess my clothes need another wash...And I need a shower."

The sun began its slow descent upon Equestria, the moon rising up in its place, the figure of the mare staring down at the world. Sitting on one of the clouds above Ponyville was Rainbow Dash, having watched the sun set as she thought about what she did. She was admitted out of the hospital, her concussion not that severe since she had a lot of bad falls during her time practicing her tricks. As hardheaded as she was with arguing, her skull was like steel from a crash into a wall or tree.

The mare sighed heavily as Applejack's words rung in her ears, along with the bruise stinging her chest from when the farm mare struck her. "There's no way he's a simple pegasus...I know he saved me, but that doesn't excuse how the hay he can use magic. Or call that weird key thing..." Rainbow rubbed her bandaged head, groaning in misery as she flopped on the cloud. "I'm just trying to keep Ponyville safe...Though, those black monsters seem more dangerous...He had to have called them. How else could those things have shown up?"

While she pouted, her ears perked up as she heard something behind her. She expected another one of those monsters, not wanting to be attacked by them for a third time. Feeling the cloud shift a little from her attacker's weight, she thrust her hind legs into them with a powerful buck, only to yelp as she was flipped on her back, her back legs flung up by the monster. As she landed on her back, she was about to lash out, only to see Sora standing over her.

"You know, you're a pretty easy pony to find at any time of the day," he said with a grin.

"...Y-You escaped?" Rainbow asked.

"More like let off after a misunderstanding. I spoke with Princess Celestia, told her what really happened, and she let me go." He held out a hoof to the mare, feeling a little skeptical. He didn't have his weapon out, and there was no sign of those weird monsters around. Reluctantly, she grabbed his hoof and he helped her up on her haunches. "I was a little surprised at how tall she was. And I thought she was a queen! She has the attitude of one, only without being all sinister and conniving."

"...Wait. Aren't you supposed to be mad at me?" she asked, questioning Sora's confusing personality. "I got you thrown in the dungeon!"

"Yeah, well, I think that wouldn't have gone so badly if you didn't attack me first back at Applejack's house." Rainbow was about to retort, but quickly shut her mouth. "And maybe if you listened before you decided to tackle me, I wouldn't have had to knock you out to save you. Again."

"But you-" Sora quickly pressed his hoof against Rainbow's mouth, surprising her at how fast he was able to move while he kept her quiet.

"I get it if you don't trust me, but I'm not the one calling the Heartless." He knew he was going to regret this, but if Rainbow Dash didn't get what he was trying to say and be discreet about it, he had to tell her a few things. "Those creatures are Heartless...They steal the hearts of living beings like you and me. And once they take it from your chest, you'll turn into one of them as well.

"That's why I told you to forget about what happened the other day. That's why I told you to run if they come anywhere near you. They're clearly dangerous, and if you kept me from stopping them, I wouldn't have saved you or Apple Bloom!" Sora looked down, breathing deeply to calm himself down as he lowered his hoof from Rainbow's mouth. "...I would never forgive myself if I let a filly like her have her heart turned to darkness by them..."

"...Applejack told me what happened...when you knocked me out..." She rubbed her sore chest, still feeling Applejack's hoof nearly crack her ribs when she defended Sora. "...The school also saw what happened...Word's been spreading around about you stopping those...Heartless..." He looked up at her, having forgotten there were other foals and teachers that saw him, too concerned with keeping Apple Bloom from getting hurt. "...I know I messed things up, but I was freaked out by that magic you used! Pegasi can't do any of that stuff, and I thought you were going to destroy Ponyville.

"...I guess I did deserve it...and Applejack added a bit more for you when she defended your innocence...I was doing what I thought was right, but I only saw what freaked me out and...didn't listen...So...I'm sorry," Rainbow said, lowering her head in guilt.

Sora gently rested a hoof on the mare's shoulder, looking up to see him smiling at her. "Hakuna matata."

Rainbow raised a brow in confusion. "Hakuna what?"

"Ha-ku-na ma-ta-ta," he said slowly, still confusing the pegasus mare. "A little something I learned. It means no worries."

"Then why didn't you just say 'Don't worry about it'?" she asked.

"Hakuna matata's more fun to say. It also means to put the past behind us. So, how about we start over?" Sora held his hoof out to Rainbow Dash. "I'm Sora."

"...And you are the weirdest stallion I ever met in my entire life." He still had his hoof out with the goofiest grin on his face. "...You're actually serious about really starting things over between us...Have you been hanging out with Pinkie Pie?"

"I met her, though I haven't really spoken with her that much after the other day when I did Applejack's errands. Though, I may get an earful from her later when she throws me a party." Sora began to think about what Pinkie Pie was making in the kitchen at Sugarcube Corner, licking his lips at whatever confectionery delicacy she made behind that curtain. "Speaking of, I'm really dying to try one of those sweets in Sugarcube Corner."

As if on cue, his stomach began growling loudly, not having eaten anything all day today. "Yeah, well, Sugarcube Corner's got some good treats there...How about I buy you something to make up for acting like a jerk?"

"...I'm sorry, but ponies I don't know I can't trust," Sora said as he crossed his forelegs together and looked away, unable to hide the smirk growing on his face.

"...Seriously?" He held out a foreleg, Rainbow groaning in annoyance, indulging the weird stallion and shaking his hoof. "Hi. I'm Rainbow Dash."

"Hello, Rainbow Dash!" The mare grumbled, her eye twitching at Sora's upbeat attitude, even after he looked miserable after being worried about their safety. "What do you recommend at Sugarcube Corner? I'm starving!"

"You're even weirder than Pinkie Pie, and she reeks of weirdness." Rainbow leapt off the cloud and down to Sugarcube Corner, Sora following after her as his stomach begged for food.

After Rainbow Dash bought some pastries for Sora at Sugarcube Corner, immediately gobbling the delicious muffins he wanted to try, the two went their separate ways. Even though they had a bit of a rocky start at first, Rainbow can trust Sora, and she really did promise to keep the names of the Heartless and what they do a secret. And if she ever spotted any of them in Ponyville, she'll find him and he'll handle them, not wanting to risk making him feel guilty if he didn't save anyone.

He arrived at the farm, wondering how worried the Apple family was to know he was arrested. They'll be a little surprised to see him back so soon. As soon as he walked into the front door, Winona heard him and yipped excitedly, leaping at him to lick his face. As he pet the hyperactive collie, Applejack stepped in the living room from the kitchen, gasping in surprise as she saw Sora standing there, her dog wanting more attention from him.

"Sora!?" She ran up to him and wrapped the teen in a death-grip of a hug, squeezing out all the air in his skinny frame. "Ah'm so glad ya'll are ok! What happened!? Did ya escape!?"

"N-Nice to see you, too, Applejack." The mare let go of him, Sora taking in a huge gulp of air. "And I thought your brother was the muscle."

"Will ya quit actin' like a goof and tell me what happened?" Applejack demanded. Sora told her what had happened, though he left out the part about Celestia knowing about the outside worlds when he spoke with the princess. She was a little shocked to know that the princess had let him go just for being honest with her, but at least he wasn't as bad as Rainbow thought he was. "Ah can't believe ya spoke casually with the princess like that. Ah'd be too scared to be in her presence."

"I actually thought she was some sort of queen at first, but boy was I surprised to know that she was a princess," Sora said, petting Winona as she curled up next to him. "Uhh, what kind of pony is she anyway? Aside from being taller than us, she had wings and a horn."

"Princess Celestia is an alicorn. She sort of represent the unity of all three pony tribes into one," Applejack described. "And she's powerful."

"Huh...Well, better than calling her a winged unicorn...or a horned pegasus." Sora let out a yawn, a lot more tired than he thought he was. "I'm a little exhausted. I'm gonna need a shower, then I'm gonna crash."

"Ya'll sure could use one. Ya'll are filthier than a pig in a mud hole." The teen shook his head, taking off his shirt and jacket. "And ya need more laundry done than anypony else in this house."

"Well, if I'm going to be staying here, then I should get down and dirty with the family, right?" Sora asked, giving Applejack a cheeky grin.

"Just get upstairs and clean yourself up, or Ah'm gonna place Winona in your room while you take her doghouse." The pegasus responded by sticking out his tongue and pranced over to the stairs. "And Sora? When you're done, Ah think ya'll should check on Apple Bloom...She was really upset when she saw ya get taken away."

Sora dropped his goofy antics, nodding to Applejack, then headed upstairs to the bathroom. Inside, there was a tub, but no shower head for a quick rinse off. He shrugged his shoulders, deciding to take a quick bath instead, getting rid of the dried off mud that covered his body and hair. After he was fully cleaned, he drained the murky water down the tub, then dried himself off using one of the towels stored in the bathroom's cupboard. With his towel draped over his head to dry his hair, he walked through the second floor hallway, finding Apple Bloom's room, the filly laying on her bed, looking out her window.

Sora hated to see someone as adorable as Apple Bloom so miserable. She must have been scared when the Shadow nearly got her. And seeing him get carried off as he fell unconscious must have made her worry about him greatly. He quietly approached her bed, sitting next to it, the filly unaware of his presence. Reaching a hoof out, he gently nudged her to get her attention.

"Hey, don't tell me my mobile alarm clock's all broken." Her ears perked up at the sound of his voice, turning over to stare at Sora with wide eyes. "I don't want to get a new one, now do I?"

"Sora!" Apple Bloom lunged at him, wrapping her little forelegs tightly around his neck as she wept, happy to see him again.

Sora held her tightly as she cried, gently rubbing the filly's back. "It's ok, Apple Bloom. I'm not going anywhere."

As she calmed down a little, she looked up at Sora with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Ah thought Ah wasn't gonna see ya again...D-Did ya escape?"

"The princess let me go once I got to the castle. You will not believe the terrible service those guards gave me when we arrived in that city...Uhh, I don't think I got the name of it," Sora said sheepishly, rubbing his wet hair.

"Canterlot," Apple Bloom said, unable to hide back a smile as Sora joked around.

"Canterlot! I was just going to say that!" That got the filly to giggle a little as he tousled her mane. "But yeah, those guards were rude. Thankfully, Princess Celestia knew I was innocent all along." He leaned closer, as if he wanted to tell a secret to the filly. "Did you know the princess was taller than us? And by tall, I mean massive. She's at least three times bigger than me."

"Maybe," the filly said, earning another noogie from the teen.

"Oh, sure. 'Maybe?'" Sora flopped his wet towel over Apple Bloom, the filly pushing it off her. After a little bit of messing around with the youngest Apple to lift her spirits up, he gently rubbed the filly's head. "You doing ok?"

"Mhmm," Apple Bloom said, nodding her head.

"You sure?" Sora asked. "I know seeing those monsters were kind of scary. Believe me, the first time I saw them, I was scared out of my mind."

"But, Sora...what were they?" she asked. "How did ya beat them? And...when could ya use magic?"

Sora tried to think of something to tell Apple Bloom, but he didn't want to risk upsetting the world order. But, where Rainbow Dash and Celestia were adults, the former ignorant to most of the details and the latter knowing a lot though promising to keep everything a secret, Apple Bloom was only a kid. Would it be too much for her to take in? Can she keep a secret to the source of his abilities?

It would be difficult to hide what he was capable of after today, since many of Apple Bloom's classmates had watched him rescue her and used his skills to destroy the Heartless threat. Maybe the adults might not believe the foals as they were probably excited to see what else he could do, but if Heartless keep appearing in the middle of town, he would have no choice but to break this important rule to keep Ponyville from panicking. As he looked down at the curious filly, he just couldn't lie to a little pony giving him that sad look.

He took in a deep breath and sighed heavily, giving into the cuteness. "...Alright. I'll tell you, but if I do, do you swear you'll keep what you hear a secret?"

"Ah promise," Apple Bloom said, her tail wagging in excitement as she tried to keep quiet in case her siblings would hear them.

"Alright. Now, let's see...I guess I should explain what I used to defeat the Heartless. That's the name of those monsters, by the way," Sora added as he held out his hoof, summoning his Keyblade in a small flash of light. Apple Bloom stared in awe, now knowing how it appeared out of nowhere back at the school. "This is what I call a Keyblade. And yeah...it's also a giant key."

"It's like your cutie mark..." Her eyes trailed down to his flanks, both his mark and his weapon a similar match. "...Does it also unlock big things?"

"Actually, it unlocks everything that has a lock." The filly gasped, looking around for something in her room that has a lock. Sora chuckled, watching Apple Bloom find something to see if what he said was true. She finally found something, a small chest under her bed, locked with a familiar shaped keyhole the teen had seen plenty of times on the random treasure chests he found laying about in the other worlds. The chest's design seemed to fit Equestria's theme to blend it in, colored pink and blue, but on the top of the chest were six gems similar to the ones Sora saw on the murals in Celestia's castle. "Well, that's a peculiar chest."

"Ah found it a couple weeks ago out in the orchard one day," Apple Bloom said. "It was just lyin' in the middle of the field, and it didn't have anypony's name on it. Ah couldn't open it, cause it was locked, but nopony didn't seem to know it was here. Ah took it and hid it away so Applejack and Big Mac won't take it away if it did belong to somepony, but it doesn't. Soooo...Can ya open it?"

"No problem." Sora twirled his Keyblade in his hoof and smacked the top of the chest with the tip of the blade, the chest opening up to reveal its contents.

Apple Bloom's jaw dropped in bewilderment. "...H-How!? Ah thought ya'll were gonna stick it in the keyhole!"

"It's not like any other key, Apple Bloom. But, I do that only for chests. There's another way I can unlock, or lock, things." Sora held out his Keyblade, pointing it at the wall. "This way of opening specific locks, I fire a beam of light into them, and it locks or unlocks, depending on what I want to do with that lock." As he looked down at the chest, he spotted a piece of paper that rested at the bottom of it. "Looks like there was something inside."

"A borin' piece of paper?" Apple Bloom sighed dejectedly. "So much for gettin' a cutie mark as a pirate."

"Why would you want to be a pirate?" Sora asked, laughing at the absurd idea, imagining Apple Bloom dressed like Hook back in Neverland. As he looked down at the paper, there was an image of a blue popsicle with a recipe on how to make it. It was a recipe for Sea-Salt ice cream. "But, it doesn't look like your little treasure hunt was all for nothing. It's a recipe to make a delicious ice cream treat."

"Ice cream!?" Apple Bloom snatched the page and looked at the image of the popsicle.

"Easy there, little filly." Sora grabbed the page before Apple Bloom could drool over it as she imagined how it would taste. "It's already getting late, and you're not going to have any sugar before bed. We'll think about making some tomorrow."

"Aww...ok." Sora dismissed his Keyblade, picking up the filly and laying her down in bed.

"One more thing, Apple Bloom. Don't tell your family everything I talked about with you tonight," the teen said. "I know the Heartless are scary, but I don't want to have anyone else freak out. If you see anymore of them, stay away from them and come find me. I'll make sure to protect you and everyone else in Ponyville."

"Ok, Sora. Ah promise." Apple Bloom yawned, Sora gently tucking the exhausted filly under her covers. "Maybe Ah can get a cutie mark in Heartless findin'."

"Hey, don't get too carried away." He poked her muzzle, then gently patted her head. "Good night, Apple Bloom."

"Night, Sora." As Apple Bloom fell right to sleep, Sora gently closed the chest and pushed it back under her bed.

He quietly exited the filly's room, closing the door softly. He headed back to his own room, unable to stifle his yawn as he was ready for bed too. While he laid down on his bed, Sora pulled out the recipe for Sea-Salt ice cream, staring at the ingredients needed to make it.

"Hmm...I wonder if I can ask Pinkie if she can make this." Shrugging his shoulders, he placed the page on his side table, rolling over onto his side and fell asleep. "What a day..."

A couple weeks have passed after Sora met Princess Celestia, life in Ponyville pretty quiet. Thankfully, for the Keyblade wielder, the Heartless haven't shown themselves during the time, either waiting to ambush him or gather more of a horde to try to take the town over. Even if they did attempt to do that, Sora could easily take care of them.

During that time, it's been a pretty uneventful two weeks, if he didn't count Pinkie's belated surprise party the next day, the whole town officially welcoming him as a member of Ponyville. The party was a blast, one of the best ones Sora had ever had. As childish as most of it had been, he didn't care as long as he enjoyed himself. At least he finally found out what Pinkie Pie was making that day he first met her: a large cake in the shape of his Keyblade, or his cutie mark as she explained, several hearts similar to the ones the Heartless steal or release made out of pink frosting were randomly placed around the cake, and a star-like charm at the tip of the Keyblade. How Pinkie knew exactly how Kairi's charm looked without even noticing it, he didn't question it, taking earth pony mare who ran Sugarcube Corner's advice to not question how she works.

While partying that day, several of the fillies and colts from Apple Bloom's class, who had watched him fight the Heartless, all surrounded him and begged to see his awesome moves again. He had to sadly turn them down, already garnering too much attention and saying more than he should have to a few who knew about what little he did say about himself. Along with the young Apple celebrating, Sora spotted Rarity's sister, Sweetie Belle, though every time he looked at her, she would hide somewhere with a big blush on her cheeks. She must have been as shy as Fluttershy, which was a little disappointing for Sora, since he barely got a word out of the timid pegasus when they first met, and she was nowhere to be seen. Maybe one day, she might warm up to him in time.

At least the party was great. Fun games, though most of them were meant for kids, delicious food, especially that cake Pinkie made, and making some new friends. It was an exhausting day of fun, but it was one of the greatest days of the teen's life. But, as all good days come to an end, it's back to the old grind the next day, helping the Apple family with their chores.

The days passed, many with no dangerous threats, which was good for Sora's case, nothing too special that went on. Today, though, was going to be exciting. While the teen was busy cleaning up the barn, Apple Bloom came running in and rammed into him.

"Sora! Ya'll aren't gonna believe what Applejack heard in town hall!" Sora had to press the bouncing filly back down to the ground before she shot up off the ground.

"Apple Bloom, what sugar did you eat that's going to lift you off like a firework?" he asked, wondering why she was excited.

"Ya know how tomorrow's gonna be our family reunion, right?" Sora nodded, Applejack telling him of their upcoming reunion with their relatives, gladly helping them set things up for the family. "Well, the day after is the Summer Sun Celebration, and Applejack said that Ponyville was picked for Princess Celestia to come down and raise the sun!"

"...Uhh...'Raise the sun?'...I thought the sun and moon moved on their own...or do they?" Sora mentally scolded himself, forgetting to study up on Equestria's differences compared to his world.

"Nope! Princess Celestia moves both the sun and moon every day!" The teen whistled, amazed to know the alicorn was a lot stronger than he expected. It seemed that this world had their own sun and moon, which she actually controls. "And the Summer Sun Celebration is a holiday where we celebrate the defeat of Nightmare Moon, and it's been almost one thousand years since that day."

"A-A thousand years!?" Sora exclaimed, surprised to know how old Celestia really was.

"Uh huh! And there's a story around it too, but it's just an old pony tale." As much as Sora wanted to laugh at the unintentional pun Apple Bloom made, he quickly grabbed the filly and placed her on a pile of hay while he laid on his stomach, resting his head on his forehooves.

"You have got to tell me this story!" Sora said with excitement, curious as to know what had happened.

"Ok! Now, let's see..." Apple Bloom though, making the teen anxious. "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two sisters who ruled the land: the oldest sister, who raised the sun and brought the day, and her younger sister, who raised the moon and brought the night."

"Sister?" Sora questioned, never knowing Celestia had a sibling.

"The two sisters maintained balance in the kingdom and all their subjects," Apple Bloom continued, obviously memorized by heart. "As time wore on, the young princess became resentful as ponies slept through her night and played in her older sister's day. One day, the youngest sibling refused to lower the moon. The older sibling tried to reason with her, but she didn't listen, and let the bitterness in her heart transform her into the most dangerous pony in all of Equestria; Nightmare Moon.

"She threatened to shroud the kingdom in eternal darkness, makin' the night last forever. But before she could do that, the eldest princess used six powerful jewels that banished Nightmare Moon straight to the moon. Those gems were known as the Elements of Harmony, the most powerful magical items in all of Equestria." Hearing this part of the story, Sora thought back to that mural of Celestia fighting again that dark mare, those six gems around her and the visage of the moon with that same dark mare on the surface. Those gems had to be the Elements of Harmony, and, sadly enough, that mare was Nightmare Moon, Celestia's younger sister. Where the story seemed exciting to the others, it was really a depressing tale from a thousand years ago, retelling the distressing events of her confrontation with her little sister over their status as rulers of the kingdom. "And since that day, Princess Celestia has raised and lowered both the sun and moon, and we celebrate Nightmare Moon's defeat on that day, where a lucky town or city is chosen for the princess to raise the sun for all of us to see her amazin' magical power, bringin' a new dawn to another peaceful year. The end."

While Apple Bloom smiled as she shared this story, Sora wasn't. It seemed like he wasn't the only one hiding secrets from everyone. He remembered seeing how upset she got after he explained what the Heartless were, probably reminding her of her banished sister. He couldn't blame her for being scared, watching her sister transform into something sinister, and casting darkness on the land could have meant her heart might be shrouded in darkness, her anger and resentment festering deep inside of her.

"...Wow...That's uhh...That's quite a...pony tale." Apple Bloom frowned, expecting him to have stayed excited throughout the whole story. Sora stood up, lost in thought, rubbing the back of his head, feeling sorry for the princess. "...I'm uhh...I think I got...some other chores to do..."

"Oh. Ok." As Apple Bloom ran off to help her siblings prepare for their family reunion, Sora flopped into the pile of hay, staring up at the barn's ceiling.

"...That's not a good story..." he whispered, unable to believe how Celestia was able to cope with the loss of her sister. As he pondered the alicorn's heart-wrenching past and the difficulties she must have faced, his Keyblade suddenly appeared without his command, forcing his hoof to point it in the air as a small light sparked from the tip. Appearing in a flash of light above him, a rolled up scroll fell and landed on his chest. "...What the heck? That's new..."

He looked at the scroll, branded by Celestia's cutie mark as its seal. Curious, he opened it up and read it to himself.

Dear, Sora,

Sorry for the surprise message. If you are wondering how I was able to send you this scroll, when I held your Keyblade, I memorized the magical energy inside of it, making it easier to send to you than through the mail system. I will be sending you anything I wish for you to do for me to help protect our world and my subjects this way, keeping it confidential between us.

If you have heard, within two days is the Summer Sun Celebration, and I have a bad feeling something terrible will happen. Tomorrow, I will be sending my pupil, Twilight Sparkle, along with her baby dragon assistant, Spike, to Ponyville to oversee the preparations. I want you to watch out for her and five others. I believe they, and you, can save my sister. Just make sure nothing goes wrong for me until then.

Princess Celestia

At least Sora now knew exactly how that happened, Celestia's magic far more vast than his own. But he could see the scratched out line she had crossed out, having a feeling he knew what she wanted him to do. Though how he would save Nightmare Moon sounded impossible. His Keyblade destroys the darkness, and if the princess's heart was too far gone in the darkness of her hatred toward Celestia, it might be too late to save her. That doesn't mean he was going to back down, wanting to reunite the sisters together after a thousand years of separation and banishment.

"Don't worry, Celestia. I'll find a way to free your sister from the darkness inside of her." Sora rolled up the scroll, but had one big question in mind that the princess was cryptic about. "What did she mean about me, her student, and five others being able to help her?"

Early the next morning, Sora headed into the center of Ponyville to meet up with Celestia's pupil, Twilight Sparkle and her assistant, Spike. It shouldn't be that hard to find them if he had to look for a baby dragon, but as long as he wasn't as dangerous as Maleficent in her dragon transformation, he wouldn't have to worry. As soon as he had gotten up, Applejack's relatives from across Equestria had already begun arriving. Apple Bloom wanted him to stay and meet the rest of their extended family, he didn't want to impose, not exactly a member of the Apple family.

After waiting around for a while, he spotted a pair of pegsi guards carrying a chariot behind them through the air, a lavender unicorn mare and a purple and green scaled baby dragon sitting in the chariot. As soon as they touched down, the passengers climbed out, though Sora received a glare from the two guards, probably being a couple of the several guards that tried to arrest him.

"Ok, so Princess Celestia told me we're supposed to be meeting a stallion in a black jacket to guide us around-" As the unicorn mare turned to look in Sora's direction, the teen grinned and waved at her. "-...Ponyville...?"

"Well, he seems like a nice guy," the dragon said as he carried a scroll in his claws.

"And he looks like that weird stallion in that terrible drawing over that red herring of a threat." She thanked the guards for carrying them across the sky as the duo approached Sora. "So, you're the pony Princess Celestia assigned to us to go through everything for the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration?"

"Yes, ma'am. My name's Sora." He held out his hoof to her, though she didn't accept it, staring at him skeptically. "...What? Not the friendly type?"

"...No...You just look like a horrible description the princess was given about a dangerous stallion a couple weeks ago," she said.

"Aww, don't listen to her," the dragon said as he approached the teen. "She's just a little mad about the princess not listening to her 'premonition' about Nightmare Moon. "I'm Spike, and that's Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's pupil."

"Well, glad to meet a friendly dragon in these parts," Sora said as he shook Spike's claw, though he felt a little jealous since he had digits on his hands. "Welcome to Ponyville! One of the friendliest places in Equestria!"

"Let's just get this over with," Twilight mumbled as she passed the two males.

Sora swiftly appeared in front of the unicorn, making her yelp in surprise as she bumped into him. "Come on, Twilight. The least you can do in a new town is to make a new friend." Twilight said nothing and kept leering at him. "Ok, maybe not with me, but how about someone else?" Sora looked around to find a suitable new friend for the grumpy mare, luckily spotting Pinkie Pie approaching them. "How about her?"

"Yeah, come on, Twilight," Spike said, helping Sora. "Just give it a try."

Twilight let out an annoyed sigh, getting it over with so she wouldn't be bothered by the two boys. "Uhh...hello?" Pinkie leapt into the air and let out a loud gasp, speeding off somewhere in a pink blur. Even though Sora had met Pinkie a few times, and all of those times involving random bits of nonsense and unexplainable actions, it was just a normal thing around here. "...Well, that sure was something."

"Ok, Pinkie might not have been the best choice..." Sora felt something off with his clothes, moving his hoof around until he found something he didn't remember putting in one of his pockets. He pulled out a party invitation, chuckling to himself, knowing exactly who's party it was going to be for. "At least someone's going to make a new friend."

"She gasped and ran off," Twilight said in monotone. "Can we please move on with this so I can get to the library?"

"...Alright then. Where to first?" Sora asked, a little disappointed with Twilight rushing to check on the Summer Sun Celebration.

"First, is the food for the banquet," Spike answered as he looked at the list. "Down at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Hey, I actually work with the family on the orchard! Right this way!" Sora lead Twilight and Spike down the road leading to the apple orchard. "You guys are going to love the food the Apple family makes. Best tasting apple recipes you'll ever sink your taste buds into." As they reached the white picket fence along the road, seeing the large number of apple trees across the orchard, they spotted Applejack run up to a nearby tree and buck it, sending all the apples falling into the buckets underneath its branches. "And here's one of them right now. Applejack!"

The farm mare looked over, waving at them as she approached Sora along with the two new arrivals. "Back so soon, Sora?"

"Just for a little. I'm giving a couple of guests a tour of the town as they make sure things are going well for the Summer Sun Celebration." Using a wing, he pushed Twilight forward, surprising the unicorn with how much strength he had for being so lanky. "This is Twilight Sparkle. She's looking into the food for the banquet tomorrow."

"Err, yes, I am, and-" Applejack grabbed Twilight's hoof and began shaking it hard.

"Well, howdy, Twilight! Pleasure makin' your acquaintance!" The moment she let go, Twilight couldn't stop shaking, both her foreleg and her body. Sora assisted the unicorn, keeping her still as she rubbed her sore leg. "Ya'll came by just in time for some good eatin', perfect time to taste what we got in store for tomorrow!" Applejack approached a hanging triangle resting on a nearby post as they headed for the barn, ringing it rapidly. "SOUP'S ON, EVERYPONY!"

In a controlled stampede, all of Applejack's relatives ran up and surrounded them, Sora whistling in awe at the amount of Apples in this massive family. "Were there more of them that came here before I left?"

"I'd rather be in and out before she starts-" Applejack quickly stuffed a ripe apple in Twilight's mouth, silencing her unheard complaints as the mare began introducing her family.

With each one she named, they all had an apple dish related to their names, and each one sounded more and more delicious to Sora with each bit of food piled on the nearby picnic table. Applejack saved her blood-relatives for last, introducing Big Macintosh, then Apple Bloom, and finally Granny Smith, who was sleeping in her rocker nearby.

"Granny Smith, we got guests!" Applejack shouted, startling the elder mare awake as she mumbled to herself, her creaky limbs guiding her over to the table. "Now, ya'll are a part of the family, just like Sora."

Twilight spat out the bits of apple that was thrust in her mouth, completely horrified at the idea. "Uhh, well, I can see the food is all handled well," she said with a nervous chuckle. "We better get going!"

"But don't ya wanna stay for brunch?" Twilight turned to Apple Bloom, giving the unicorn a sad looking pout.

That struck Sora as he felt his heart explode in sadness, comically falling over, but it didn't seem to affect Twilight. "Sorry, but I have a lot of stuff to do before the day ends."

The teen quickly sat up, appalled at how heartless Twilight was being to the Apples' hospitality. "Oh, come on, Twilight! How can you say no to that face!? I can't!" Sora flapped over to Apple Bloom, holding the filly up to her chest as she still gave those sad puppy dog eyes that would easily win him over several times. "You can't just turn down free food, or the depressing look of sadness from a filly like her."

He mimicked the same pout Apple Bloom had, quivering his lower lip for added affect as he affectionately pet her mane. Twilight glared at the random stallion, behaving almost as strangely as Pinkie Pie earlier, if not more awkward. With all of the Apple family's eyes on her, and her guide refusing to continue moving through her list of preparations to check on, she gave a sigh of defeat.

"...Fine. We'll stay." The whole family cheered, even Spike as the little dragon made a beeline for the food.

While Twilight was dragged by the earth ponies toward the table, Sora held out a hoof out to Apple Bloom, giving him a high five. They joined the rest of the family and indulged themselves on the delicious apple morsels laid out for them all.

After eating a brunch of apple goodies, Sora walked along the road with a satisfyingly full Spike, but an overly stuffed Twilight. "Urgh...I think I ate too much pie..."

"You can't deny it was delicious, right?" Sora asked as he looked back at the unicorn. She only glared at him, groaning in agony as her full belly was distended from the food she ate. "...I'll take that as a maybe. So, what's next on that list?"

"Uhh..." Spike opened the scroll after checking off the first item on the list with a quill. "The next thing is a clear sky, a pegasus named Rainbow Dash in charge of that."

Looking up, they saw it was not indeed clear, clouds littering the skies of Ponyville. "...Well, seems like Miss Rainbow Dash is shirking off on her duties. Princess Celestia will surely hear about this."

While Twilight complained, Sora's ears perked up as he heard the pegasus they were talking about flying in low. "Look out!"

Sora shoved Twilight out of the way just in time, Rainbow tackling into the teen hard and knocking them both in a mud puddle. Both pegasi groaned, Sora more than Rainbow Dash after breaking her fall. The cyan mare slowly sat up, shaking off some of the mud in her hair.

"Messed that up again," she said.

"You really love to beat me up, don't you, Rainbow Dash?" Sora asked as he sat up himself, cracking his back, the sound making the mares flinch at the disturbing sound.

"Wait. She's Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked.

"Yo," Rainbow said, raising a hoof up. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you had an assignment to do for the Summer Sun Celebration by clearing the skies for tomorrow, yet you have barely done anything. Lousy, reckless, and outright irresponsible." While Twilight spoke, Rainbow ignored her while she helped clean Sora off, grabbing one of the rain clouds and drenching him clean of the mud.

He shook himself dry, brushing some of his hair out of his eyes. "Actually, Rainbow Dash could clear the sky pretty quickly. She could do it in about a minute."

"A minute?" Rainbow scoffed. "I can clear this sky in ten seconds flat!"

"That's physically impossible," Twilight said, going with logic more than Rainbow's agility.

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet?" Rainbow goaded.

"I don't need to bet. There is no possible way anypony could move that fast and clear a town of this size's cloud cover in exactly ten seconds," the unicorn argued, not noticing Sora appear behind her, carrying a stopwatch.

"Well, how about we see just how much time it takes. I'm warning you though, she is a lot faster than you think." With the timer ready, Rainbow Dash crouched low as she prepared for takeoff. "Ready!? GO!"

As soon as he pressed the button, Rainbow sped off and destroyed every cloud throughout Ponyville, a rainbow blur zooming across the sky. After taking care of nearly every single cloud, the pegasus mare had to show off, flipping around as she destroyed the last cloud and touched down next to the stunned unicorn. Sora had stopped the timer and showed Twilight, making her jaw drop as it read ten seconds exactly.

"See? What did I tell ya? Ten. Seconds. Flat." Twilight was speechless, staring into space, completely dumbfounded.

"...I think we broke her," Sora said, putting the stopwatch away. "Speaking of 'breaking', what were you doing that caused you to almost send Twilight to the hospital?"

"I was practicing a trick to show off to the Wonderbolts when they show up for the Summer Sun Celebration!" Rainbow excitedly said.

"...Uhh...Who are the Wonderbolts?" Sora asked, though regretting to ask as he saw the shocked expression on the pegasus's face.

"You...don't know...who the Wonderbolts are!? Have you been living under a rock!?" The teen stared blankly at Rainbow Dash, the mare remembering he never had a clue about anything from the day they met. "...Oh...Right. Uhh, the Wonderbolts are a group of stunt flyers, performing all across Equestria pulling off awesome moves. I've always wanted to be a Wonderbolt ever since I was a filly, and once they see what I can do, I'm sure to be one in a heartbeat."

"Oh. I'd actually like to see what they can do." Even though Sora could probably run rings around flight performers, he was interested to see what kind of routines they could do.

"Yeah. It's gonna be epic! I'm going back to practicing. I'll see ya later, Sora!" Rainbow flew off to continue working on her own performance, Sora hoping she won't crash into something again.

"Alrighty. Let's get back to the little tour and the next agenda on your list." As the spiky-haired teen turned back to Twilight, she was still frozen in her shock. He walked up to her and waved a hoof in her face, but no reaction. "I think we did break her."

"That was amazing though!" Spike exclaimed. "Can you do any of that, Sora!?"

"Maybe. But, I don't think I want to try and one-up Rainbow. Now, let's see how we can wake up sleeping beauty here." Sora tapped his chin with his hoof, but he couldn't come up with anything. "Eh. I'll just carry her." He wrapped his forelegs around Twilight's barrel, flipping her over belly up and carried her in his hooves, the act making her yelp and snap back to reality. "Oh! Good afternoon! Finally awake?"

"What are you doing!?" Twilight slapped Sora in the face, causing him to drop her by accident.

With her face blushing madly, she stormed off to the center of Ponyville, Spike following after her as he laughed at both Twilight's embarrassment and Sora's failed attempt at being chivalrous. "Is this what I get for being a gentleman?" he questioned himself, rubbing his cheek.

As they reached town hall, the next thing on Twilight's checklist was the decorations. As soon as they entered the main building of the town, the trio spotted Rarity on the far end of the room, going through several decorations to put on for Princess Celestia. The moment Spike caught sight of the unicorn fashionista, the little dragon began seeing hearts, immediately infatuated with the mare.

"Well, decorations are suitable for the princess," Twilight said, both ponies ignorant of the flustered baby dragon fixing his spines to make himself look good.

"Yeah. Rarity's also a pretty good fashion designer. You should see her clothing line." As the lavender unicorn noticed Sora standing too close to her, she used her magic, pushing the pegasus far from her. "...And you're still mad at me for trying to carry you over to the next location."

"Yes. Yes I am." After putting up another ribbon to make the aesthetics of the room to the standards of a princess, Rarity turned to the front door of town hall and saw Sora.

"Sora! Wonderful timing, darling!" Rarity said. "Don't you think this is perfect for Princess Celestia?"

"I think so. Seems like we can cross that off the list, huh, Spike?" Hearing no response from the baby dragon, he looked down at Spike, seeing him lost in a trance as he stared at Rarity with a big, goofy grin on his face. "Oh great. Now we lost Spike."

"What list are you talking about?" the white unicorn asked.

"Oh, just something for Twilight to check on preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. She's actually from Canterlot, and I'm showing her around while they-" Sora was immediately flung into the other end of the room by Rarity, making him crash into the wall while she got up in Twilight's personal space.

"Canterlot!?" she asked with excitement. "You live in Canterlot!?"

"Uhh, y-yes?" Twilight slowly backed away from Rarity as she got way too close to her liking.

"Oh, I am so envious! The glamour! The sophistication! The livelihood! It's always been my dream to go there!" Rarity soon began rambling on and on about what she expected in the city, gushing heavily over what she would do, meeting the elitist ponies that thrive in the popular city, and so on.

As Sora pulled himself together, he shakily walked up to Twilight and Spike, grabbing the love-struck dragon and placing him on his back. "I think we're done here."

"I agree," Twilight nodded as the two slowly backed away and out of town hall, leaving Rarity to ramble to an invisible audience.

As Sora lead Twilight to the outskirts of Ponyville, the next and final thing on the unicorn's list was the music. The only pony Sora knew who was going to be providing music was, ironically, Fluttershy. How someone as shy as her would have the music for Princess Celestia was a mystery to him. They walked up the hill along the path to the shy pegasus's cottage, hearing the sounds of birds tweeting a fanfare in perfect harmony. Leading the birds singing in the tree was Fluttershy, hovering before them with a conductor's baton.

"Huh...Music sounds good. And an actual bird choir, too," Sora said.

"You mean you had no idea what she was going to do for music?" Twilight asked.

"Actually, I don't know much about Fluttershy. She's a pretty timid pony." Sora scratched the back of his head. "I think she finds me intimidating or something."

"She probably dislikes stallions. Especially ones like you who think sweeping a mare off her hooves will get them to like you." Twilight walked past him, smacking his snout with her tail as she approached Fluttershy.

"It's not like I was hitting on her," Sora said. "Maybe she's the one who doesn't like guys."

"Twilight's actually been more...secluded most of her life," Spike said, having snapped out of his love-struck daze. "She doesn't really have any other friends she hangs out with. Always studying, learning magic, studying, giving lectures to me when I say something incorrect, studying."

"...Wow...That's pretty sad...She has no idea what she's missing." Sora and Spike watched as Twilight tried to strike a conversation with Fluttershy, only scaring her bird choir and the pegasus. She tried to introduce herself and get her name, but like how Fluttershy acted around him, she was quiet and hid behind her mane. Twilight eventually gave up as the birds came back to their perch, slouching back to the amused teen. "Guess it didn't work out, did it?"

"Shut it. We're done. Let's get to the library." As Twilight walked on ahead, the moment Sora turned to follow her, Fluttershy saw Spike and immediately pounced on his back, pinning him down to the ground.

"Oh my gosh! A baby dragon!" Fluttershy exclaimed, being the loudest Sora had ever heard the mare speak. "I've never seen a baby dragon before!"

"Well, now you have," Spike said.

"And he can talk!" the pegasus gasped. "What's your name?"

"I'm Spike," he introduced himself.

"Hi, Spike. I'm Fluttershy." Twilight groaned in annoyance while Sora slowly began waking up from his daze. "I must know everything about you!"

"Ok. I don't mind giving an autobiography on my life so far." As Spike began talking about his life from the moment he was born, Sora didn't move, not wanting to spook Fluttershy sitting on his back.

"Well, she made a new friend, at least," he said, though Twilight grew furious with the delays, her eye twitching as she growled.

While Twilight and Sora headed down to Ponyville's library, Spike, sitting on the teen's back, continued telling Fluttershy, following them, about his life. It was pretty interesting and hilarious with some of the details he described, especially with some of them involving Twilight when she was a filly. The unicorn, however, was getting fed up with everything as the sun was setting and what she wanted to do had been constantly delayed by the preparations taking longer than she expected. As soon as the library was in sight, which was a large, hallowed out oak tree named the Golden Oak Library.

"Finally! We're here!" Twilight exclaimed, silencing Spike's storytelling. "It's nice to meet you two, but I think it's time for me to put Spike to bed. He is just a baby dragon after all."

"I'm not tired," Spike said, only for Twilight's faint aura to shove him off Sora's back.

"Oh no! He fell down! Poor wittle guy too sweepy to stay up!" She picked up the dazed baby dragon and carried him inside the dark library, leaving the pegasi outside.

"...Well, that was a bit rude." Sora and Fluttershy looked at each other, the timid mare looking away and moved her bangs over her face. Guess she still needed some time to get to sum up the courage to talk to him. They both soon heard a whistle come from behind the library, spotting Pinkie ushering them into a back window. "Guess it's time for Twilight's 'Welcome to Ponyville' party."

Sora ran up to the window first, then Fluttershy after he disappeared inside the dark library. He was glad he didn't see any glowing yellow eyes, otherwise this surprise party was going to be the horrible kind and not the fun kind.

"You know, you didn't have to do that," he heard Spike say.

"Sorry, Spike, but I had to do that so I can at least get some studying done to stop Nightmare Moon." Sora's ears perked up as he heard Twilight talk about Nightmare Moon. "We've been constantly delayed all day today by these crazy ponies, and that...Sora pegasus was a bigger nuisance than the others!"

"Ouch," Sora whispered, his friendliness not intending to steer her away from him.

"Where the hay is the light switch?" Twilight felt around for the lights, but as she turned them on, everyone hiding inside jumped out from their hiding spots.

"SURPRISE!" everyone shouted, shocking Twilight as she groaned in irritation.

Pinkie popped up in front of her, throwing confetti from her hooves. "Surprise!"

"Oh for the love of Celestia..." Twilight rubbed her forehead, feeling a migraine coming on.

"You were surprised, weren't ya!? Huh!? Huh!?" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing up and down as she followed the annoyed unicorn. "At least my surprise party for your is being described unlike Sora's, only mentioning the delicious cake and the party games and Sweetie Belles infatuation with him! Ugh. Sooooo boring!" As Sora heard Pinkie rambling, he was going to question what she was talking about, but knew better than that. Twilight approached the buffet table, where she poured a bottle of something in a cup, ignoring Pinkie Pie as she continued talking. "But I threw this party because you needed new friends! And making new friends means having more fun, and more fun means even newer friends! That's why I gasped real loud and ran off cause I had to invite all of Ponyville! And Sora was lucky enough to be the pony to guide you around and distract you while I set this all up!"

"...Yeah. Sure, Pinkie. Let's go with that," Sora chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck. As Twilight put the bottle she poured down, the teen's eyes widened at the label of the bottle, showing a picture of a fire burning intensely with the words "Hot Sauce" written above it. "Wait, Twilight! Don't drink-" Too late. Twilight began sipping out of the cup of hot sauce, unaware of the spicy condiment she mistook for a beverage. "-that..."

The moment she realized what she drank, her face lit up as her cheeks were puffed out. She yelled out in pain and ran into a bathroom, dousing out her burning mouth in the faucet. Sora sighed, hating the fact that someone like Twilight was this antisocial. Fluttershy had at least come along, even though she was more of a wallflower and too timid to talk, but the unicorn didn't seem to be interested in having any friends in her life at all. He didn't even notice Pinkie pouring some hot sauce on a cupcake and ate it, not bothered by the spicy taste over the sweet icing of the pastry.

As the party lasted for hours, only until it was almost time for the sun to rise, Twilight holed herself up in one of the library's private rooms, used for the residents that live there. Since no one lived in the library, she didn't care about the rules. Sora walked in the room and found the grumpy unicorn looking out at the window, a pillow over her head to drown out the noise going on downstairs. He brushed off some confetti that got in his hair and hovered up to the ledge where the bed rested.

"Not much of a partier, huh?" Twilight didn't answer, too focused on staring at the moon. Sora looked out the window and saw the image of Nightmare Moon, Celestia's younger sister, trapped on the massive hunk of space rock for over a thousand years. "...I overheard you earlier before the party started. About Nightmare Moon."

"So? Why would you care?" the unicorn questioned.

"Well...it might be due to the fact that Celestia herself has given me a task of my own. Before you even arrived in Ponyville yesterday." She looked at him in confusion, appalled at disrespecting Princess Celestia's title. "I'm curious to know as to what you meant. What did you mean when you said you needed to stop Nightmare Moon?"

"...I-It's none of your business," Twilight said, only to have the pillow gently taken away from her as she tried to cover her ears from the loud noise.

"Twilight, if this is serious, then I need you to tell me." Sora hopped up on the bed, blocking her view of the window for her to focus on him.

Seeing he won't let up until she gave in, Twilight sighed and told him. "The other day, I was reading through the tale of Nightmare Moon. What was peculiar about it was that, as of today, it has been exactly one thousand years since her defeat. I looked through every book in my library in Canterlot, and there was something referenced with the Elements of Harmony and the Mare in the Moon. 'Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aide in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night.'"

"...So, you're saying that Nightmare Moon is coming back?" Sora asked. "Today? As of this moment?"

"Yes...but Princess Celestia disregarded my warning and sent me to Ponyville to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration..." She looked out the window again, staring at the mare shining from the moon. "She told me to come down here and make friends, when she should be preparing for Nightmare Moon's return...Or...maybe she was right all along, and I shouldn't worry."

"I think she's right about one thing; making friends." Twilight looked back at Sora, giving her a grin. "You may not know much about me, but I've made many friends in the past, long before I even arrived in Ponyville. Sometimes, in situations, whether they're dangerous or calm and peaceful, you can't really do everything on your own. Spike told me you never really made any friends when you were little."

"I do have friends," she argued.

"Give me some names, then," Sora challenged, crossing his forelegs over his chest.

"Ok. There's...Umm..." Twilight began thinking, unable to make up anything as the teen saw through her lie. "...There's...uhh...Spike?"

"He doesn't count." She was about to open her mouth, only for Sora to stay one step ahead of her. "Celestia and your family don't count either." Twilight fell silent, giving up. "You've spent too much time studying and learning things that you missed out on hanging out with others and having fun. And sometimes, the best way you can make a new friend is to give them a chance and look past their faults. Try me, for example. What fault of me do you see that you can't stand?"

"...Your...weird and goofy personality." Sora chuckled, knowing that would be the first thing she would mention.

"Well, you better get used to that. Cause that's me in a nutshell." The teen rubbed the back of his head, giving Twilight a goofy, toothy grin. "At least I'm not as wild as Pinkie Pie. She's so random that she could really mess with your head."

Twilight gave a small smile, shaking her head slightly. "I also don't like your mane. It looks like a brown porcupine is sitting on your head."

"Hey! Don't dis the hair!" Sora complained, running his hooves through his hair.

"You said to find faults, and I did," the unicorn said.

"I meant about my behavior, not my do." Sora pouted and finally got Twilight to giggle a little. He began to smile as she warmed up to him a little. He looked out at the sky, nearly time for the sun to rise. "I think it's about time for the Summer Sun Celebration to begin."

"But...what if Nightmare Moon does come back?" Twilight asked.

"Then let me handle that when the time comes." Sora hopped off the bed and hovered down to the doorway, Twilight following after him, the party outside having died down during their conversation.

The two made their way to the town hall, where everyone else in Ponyville waited patiently for their princess to make herself known. The bird choir began to sing, lead by Fluttershy, and Ponyville's mayor stepped up to the balcony to address the town.

"Fillies and gentlecolts!" the mayor said, her name being Mayor Mare, which was an odd name when Sora had seen her in the past. "As mayor of Ponyville, it is my pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration for this year!" The crowd cheered and stomped their hooves, though Sora had a funny feeling something was going to go wrong. "In only a few moments, we will witness the magical sunrise on the longest day of the year! And now, I introduce you all to our ruler, the pony who rises the sun and moon each and every day, Princess Celestia!"

The birds sang as the curtains opened, but there was no sign of Celestia. Everyone began to murmur to each other, wondering what was going on. There was a window that was behind the curtains that showed the moon, but when Sora saw it, his eyes widened as there was no image of the mare on the moon's surface.

"Oh no. Twilight, I think your hunch was right," Sora whispered to the unicorn, who began panicking.

Suddenly, a maniacal laughter rang out in the building as swirls of the night sky appeared on the balcony. The foggy form began to shift into a physical shape, turning into a tall alicorn mare. Her coat was a dark black, the starry visage that made up her mane and tail were ethereal as they were like the night sky, and she wore blue and black armor. She flared out her wings and looked down at the terrified ponies staring at her.

"My subjects," the alicorn spoke, her voice intimidating to everyone trembling under her gaze. "It has been such a long time since I have seen your precious, sun-loving faces. Now, after a thousand years, I have returned to reclaim my throne, and make the night last forever!"

As Nightmare Moon laughed, thunder struck behind her as she reveled in her subjects' fear. "Nightmare Moon..." Twilight uttered. "She's here..."

"Yeah." Sora stared at the alicorn, Princess Celestia's little sister, now returned from her banishment after a thousand years.

He could sense the darkness within Nightmare Moon, which thankfully isn't strong enough to fully corrupt her, but if any Heartless could sense it, then everyone would be in trouble. He had to find some way to destroy that darkness in her heart without killing her, not wanting to make Celestia mourn for the loss of her sister for good. The only problem was how he was supposed to do it with the Keyblade if its light can only eradicate the darkness.

As Nightmare Moon continued laughing, Sora had decided he had enough hearing the corrupted mare flaunting her strength. Even though this was Celestia's sister, right now, she was a dangerous threat that could not only destroy Equestria by making night last forever, but her power could call the Heartless and try to steal her heart. But he didn't want to kill her.

"You were all foals, not knowing the signs of my return," the alicorn gloated. "You shall all bow to me, now."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Sora shouted, hovering up into the air, pointing a hoof at Nightmare. "What did you do with the princess!?"

"A defiant little colt dares to question me? Do you not know who you are talking to, whelp!?" Nightmare questioned, stomping her hoof down. "Those who dare defy me will suffer under my wrath!"

She aimed her horn at him, crackling with magical energy as she began charging her aura. As she fired a powerful beam at the teen, he summoned his Keyblade in his hoof and slashed through the magical beam.

"And you don't know what I'm capable of." As the crowd began to cheer for Sora, Twilight stared at the stallion in shock, looking at his Keyblade. He pointed his Keyblade at the surprised alicorn. "I'm going to be giving you a choice, Nightmare Moon. You either stand down and come quietly, or I'll have to use whatever force necessary to knock you out cold."

"What manner of witchcraft is this?" Nightmare asked, staring at the Keyblade. Some part of her feared it as it emitted some kind of power that was more greater than the mystical gems that had banished her. His magic was unlike anything she had ever known, and this power infuriated her. "Who are you?"

"My name is Sora! And your eternal night will never happen!" Sora rushed at the alicorn, rearing his Keyblade back to strike the mare unconscious. Before he could even get close to her, a void appeared before him, as several Air Soldiers flew out and charged at him. "What!?"

The ponies below screamed in terror, seeing the black monsters that were rumored to have attacked the schoolhouse a couple weeks ago were true. Sora was pinned against the wall, enduring the Air Soldiers' kicks and scratches as he tried to slash them back. Thankfully, they were all focused on him, their instincts telling them to get rid of their bane before it could kill them. While fighting, some other Heartless appeared around Nightmare Moon, the mare looking around at them in shock and confusion.

"What are these creatures?" As she expected them to attack her like they were with Sora, they instead bowed to her, as if their loyalty was to her. Her confusion soon turned to manic glee, chuckling as these new creatures, unknown to her, already obey her command without any question. "How amusing. Whatever they are, they are right in being loyal to my whim!"

Sora managed to give himself some breathing room, looking over at the Heartless bowing to Nightmare Moon. "No! Nightmare, stay away from the Heartless!"

"Heartless?...That is what they are, eh?" Nightmare grinned as she cackled. "A perfect name for my new army! Heartless, kill the whelp who dares to defy me!"

Immediately obeying Nightmare Moon, the Air Soldiers rushed Sora again, surrounding him as they repeatedly pummeled him. As he was slammed down, everyone below them scattered and hugged the walls tightly, staying away from the creatures. The alicorn laughed maniacally as she left to wreak havoc upon the rest of her subjects, turning into a starry mist as she escaped from the town hall.

The rest of the Heartless that had bowed to Nightmare Moon leapt down from the balcony, Soldiers and Shadows joining the Air Soldiers in pounding the dog piled Keyblade wielder. Sora's friends all watched in terror as there wasn't any sign of him under the dark bodies on top of him. Growling, the teen tapped into his Drive Forms, a burst of light exploding from his body, scattering the Heartless as the sound of glass shattering echoed the room. His injured body was rejuvenated by the light surrounding him, his black jacket now turning red as he stood on his hind legs.

He held out his left hoof as he summoned another Keyblade in his Valor Form, a purple blade littered with white stars, a yellow star that made up the teeth, and the guard a small pair of wings; the Star Seeker. Twirling both Keyblades around, he rested his Kingdom Keyblade over his shoulder, and the Star Seeker under his right arm.

"He has two of those?" Twilight continued staring at the stallion, unaware of the danger the Heartless could be. She thought back to that terrible description of the pony that was brought to Princess Celestia's attention weeks ago, and strangely enough, Sora matched that description. His spiky hair, a key shaped sword, now having two, unexplainable magical power coming from him and those swords, the black creatures. "...What is he...?"

The Heartless lunged at Sora again, finding him more threatening than ever. With the power of his Valor Form, his attacks were quick and relentless, his body nothing but a red blur as his flipped around with his combos, attacking from the ground and the air. With each Heartless slain, mainly the emblem Heartless like the Soldiers and Air Soldiers, hearts flew out from their disappearing bodies, while the Shadows died in a puff of smoke. As he heard some ponies scream on the sidelines, Air Soldiers flying in to take the hearts of the defenseless, Sora flung his Keyblades out to the sides, spinning rapidly like blades as they flew around like boomerangs.

The unfortunate Heartless were pulled over to Sora, away from everypony as they hovered in a daze in front of him. His Keyblades returned in his hooves as he stepped forward and spun around rapidly, his blades unleashing a powerful spinning shockwave as they slashed through the remaining Heartless. Spinning back into his battle stance in his Valor Form, he looked around the town hall, finding no more Heartless in the area, and no sign of Nightmare Moon.

"Darn it." He reverted back to normal, his second Keyblade disappearing along with his dismissed Drive Form. "Everyone alright!?" The ponies were all stunned, though they were all unharmed. "...I'll take that as a yes. Everyone, head to your homes and stay indoors! It's too dangerous at this moment! Now, all of you leave in a calm, orderly-" The ponies all began to panic and scream in fright as they all ran out of the town hall and back to their homes. Out of the panicked ponies of Ponyville, only Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash remained inside. "-...fashion...Why does that never work out?"

"...So, when did you have a second one of those things?" Rainbow asked, though her question will forever remain unanswered.

"That was amazing!" Pinkie shouted, bouncing up to Sora. "I don't know how you did all that, but you were all POW, BAM, SLASH, BLAMMO!"

While Pinkie imitated Sora's fight against the Heartless, the teen looked around, finding no sign of Twilight. "Twilight?"

Twilight slammed open the door to the Golden Oak Library, panting heavily as she looked over every book on the shelves to look for some kind of help to stop Nightmare Moon, while also completely baffled at Sora's true identity. As much as she believed Celestia when she said he wasn't as bad as he seemed, just a simple mistake when he was brought in, she couldn't believe how powerful his magic was. No pony should have magic like that, and he's a pegasus, able to call a weapon shaped like a key at will, or even several of them. And those black monsters were real too, but they attacked him, and they obeyed Nightmare Moon.

She was so confused, she couldn't even focus on finding something on a way to beat the Mare in the Moon, throwing a few books to the ground in frustration. "What is going on!? What were those monsters!? What was that weapon!? Just who the hay is Sora!?"

"Twilight!" Sora ran in the library, knowing she would have ended up here. "Twilight, why did you-?"

He was suddenly grabbed by his shirt collar in a lavender aura, flung hard into a nearby bookshelf as Twilight pressed him hard against the wall. "You know something that I don't! I want answers about everything that had just happened in town hall!"

"Twilight, calm down," Sora said, trying to stay calm, but it didn't seem like the confused and stressed out mare was going to at any point. "I can see you're confused and a little freaked out by what happened, but I'm not dangerous."

"Dangerous!? Princess Celestia overlooked everything from that dumb description, which was YOU all this time, and you think you're not dangerous!?" Twilight shouted. "That magic you have...is unnatural. Something even I don't know about, and I've read every single book there is to know about every kind of magic known to Equestria! Pegasi can't use magic like that at all!" She pressed him harder against the shelves, keeping him from attempting to escape. "Tell me who you really are."

Before he was able to say anything, Sora was thankfully rescued, Rainbow Dash and Applejack distracting Twilight as they pulled her away from him. "Now, hang on there, sugarcube! Sora ain't like that at all!"

"Yeah!...And, I had to learn that the hard way, but he's not bad!" Rainbow said as Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy entered the library.

"Not bad!? That magic he has isn't from this world! It's unstable, but he can control it! It doesn't make any sense!" She glared at the teen, slowly getting up as he brushed off Twilight's forceful hold on him. "Were you just trying to get on my good side today to try to avoid the topic of what you really are!?"

"Hey, back off!" Rainbow shouted, averting Twilight's attention on her. "He just saved all of us from those things, so does it matter what he can do!?"

"Well, Rainbow, ya thought the same way too when ya got Sora arrested cause he saved your sorry flank," Applejack said bitterly, still fuming at her for what happened a couple weeks back.

"Can you stop reminding me of that!? I apologized to him, and he forgave me!" Soon, the three mares began bickering at each other, topics of Sora's strange power to Rainbow's mistaken accusation.

Their fighting wasn't going to get them anywhere, and with Nightmare Moon on the loose, she isn't safe from the Heartless either. Even if they obey her now, as soon as she falls victim to her lust for power, with her back turned, she will become one of them too. And if her heart is strong, there could be a Nobody that might appear too, and those can be more dangerous than the Heartless. Twilight wanted to know the truth, as well as everyone else. Sadly, he was going to have to break that one rule about keeping the world order, both to regain some trust in the mare he was assigned to protect, and owing all six of them an explanation as to what is going on, even who he really was.

"ENOUGH!" Sora shouted, silencing Applejack's, Rainbow's, and Twilight's arguing as he got all six mares' attention. "...If you guys want to know what's really going on with what happened in town hall, and a few weeks ago...I'll tell you. But whatever I say, no one else is supposed to know. Ever...I'm going to get in a lot of trouble for this, but if we stand idle for too long, Nightmare Moon taking over Equestria will be the least of our worries."

And so, Sora explained everything to the six ponies. He told them of the Heartless, their intent on destroying everything in their path and taking hearts from living beings and the heart of the world, having to verify to all of them that he in no way is affiliated with them. Rainbow winced as he mentioned that to her again, reminding her of her previous accusations against him. Then, he explained everything about the Keyblade, its mystical powers, his ability to use magic and his Drive Forms, and the purpose of a Keyblade wielder. He didn't tell them exactly what he was, even though he had come from another world, far from Equestria, where the magic he has is unlike any in this world.

After a long explanation, all six mares stared at the teen in shock. Sora held his Keyblade in his hoof as he had told them about what it was, laying it down on the ground in front of him. The knowledge of there being other worlds lingered in their minds, where other lifestyles were lived with different environments and creatures they have never known could exist.

"...So...You're not going to take over our world?" Twilight finally spoke, asking the one question that bothered her as he talked about the other worlds.

"Absolutely not. I was sent here mostly for training by my master, but I guess I'm gonna be staying here to help you get rid of any other threats besides the Heartless." Twilight picked up the Keyblade, looking at the odd design, unable to believe the practicality of a sword shaped like a key could be used as a weapon.

"How did you even get here if you were from another world, Sora?" Rarity asked. "I don't think it's possible to travel through space."

"Well, I did have a gummi ship I used to fly out here, but it kinda blew up after a strange malfunction," Sora sighed, scratching his head as he tried to remember if he missed any important components when he was building his ship. "Maybe I didn't give it enough of a cooldown after five straight days of flying on autopilot. But, I don't have any means of leaving at any time, since there don't seem to be any way to make gummi blocks in Equestria."

"Your ship was edible!?" Pinkie explained, somehow the first to break out of her shock as she nearly bowled Sora over. "What kind of flavor of gummi did you use!? Strawberry!? Grape!? Green apple!?"

"...Pinkie, a 'gummi block' isn't food. It's a building block." Pinkie wilted, backing away at the unfortunate gummi ship not made out of sugar. "And, after it blew up, I crash landed around Applejack's orchard...That explains the shooting star your family had seen, and I apologize for lying about...well, you know. Had to keep my identity a secret and all that."

Applejack nodded, understanding his reasons to hide this from them. While Twilight kept examining the Keyblade, she gasped as it disappeared out of her aura and back in Sora's hoof.

"...What kind of magic is in that?" the unicorn asked.

"As much as I'd like to continue telling you more, even though I'm not supposed to, how about we save this until we stop Nightmare Moon before the Heartless stab her in the back?" Sora dismissed his Keyblade, getting to the important part of this dilemma. "Twilight told me earlier that she knew Nightmare Moon would come back after a thousand years of her banishment, which just happened to be today. From what I was told about the events that created the Summer Sun Celebration, Celestia had defeated her using the power of these gems known as the Elements of Harmony. If there was anymore information on them, then maybe we can find where they are and-"

"Here ya go!" Pinkie said, thrusting a book in Sora's face.

He looked at the cover that was shoved up against his snout, the title reading "The Elements of Harmony: A Reference guide. "...Where did you find this?"

"It was under 'E'!" Pinkie answered as she bounded back to the others.

Sora just shrugged as he opened it up to the possible location of the Elements of Harmony, and what they really were. "Let's see...'There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty. The sixth element is a mystery. The last known location of the five elements rests within the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters, which now resides in the Everfree Forest.'"

The mares all gasped in horror at where the Elements of Harmony lied in the reference guide.

The group of seven stood at the entrance for the wild and overgrown forest, Sora spotting Fluttershy's cottage not too far away. It just looked like an overgrown forest to him, having no clue why the girls were all trembling. At least Spike wasn't with them, the baby dragon having passed out after the party.

"T-T-They're r-really in there?" Fluttershy asked, more frightened than the rest of them.

"Seems so. But why are you girls freaking out? It's just a forest, with a non-threatening name." Twilight suddenly turned the teen around with her aura, making him face the aghast mares.

"Just a forest!?" Rainbow questioned. "You have no idea what's in there!"

"The plants grow out of control, untamed by anypony," Rarity said.

"The animals inside take care of themselves," Fluttershy added, trembling more and more with each second.

"And the weather acts on its own accord," Applejack finally added.

"...Seriously?" Sora asked. "...That's exactly like my home. Wild forests and jungles, animals surviving on their own in the wild, and the weather rains or shines whenever it feels like it." They were so shocked to hear the stallion speak so casually about the unnatural events of the Everfree Forest like they were home to him. "...Wow. You guys really go through the lengths to control everything...No wonder it's so peaceful."

"Sora, wherever you're from, you're insane for living in something that's like the Everfree," Rainbow commented, which the Keyblade wielder only shrugged.

"I've been in worse worlds to live in. One of them is a world that defies all sense of logic and lives on insanity." Sora shuddered as he recalled the Queen of Hearts, a crazy woman who makes up the rules for anything. "You do not want to live there."

Sora took the lead, the group entering the dangerous forest to seek out the ancient castle deep inside. None of them noticed a starry aura floating past them through the wild and unkempt foliage of the bushes and trees.

While walking along a dangerous cliffside in the perilous forest, being careful not to walk close to the edge. With Equestria still dark, the sun having yet to rise, they had to watch where they stepped as the trees' branches blocked out the moonlight.

"Everyone, stay alert," Sora said. "If you see any Heartless, stay far away from them as best as you can."

"Why can't we fight them off?" Rainbow asked. "You have other Keyblades. Can't you just give us all one?"

"It's not that simple, Rainbow Dash," Sora began explaining. "I can't just give away a Keyblade. Only those who are worthy to wield it can use one. Besides, none of you have any experience fighting the Heartless, and your hooves won't do much to even hurt them. No other weapon can kill them unless it's a Keyblade."

"Then we're completely defenseless." Twilight accidentally bumped into Sora, who stopped suddenly, his ears twitching in every direction. "Sora?"

He heard the faint sound of a void opening from somewhere, a sign of Heartless having appeared. "We got company." Sora called his Keyblade, looking around for the threat before it could reach them. He looked up at the top of the cliff, eyes widening in shock as he saw a Large Body, a heavy Heartless with a tiny head by a fat body, its front protected by armor, leaving its head and back mostly vulnerable. "Look out!"

Sora quickly shoved the mares aside and leapt back right as the Large Body slammed its heavy frame into the ground. The impact caused the cliff they walked along to crumble, sending Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity sliding down the dangerous slope. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash swooped down to help the others, while Sora dealt with the Large Body. As soon as it got up on its stubby feet, it tried to punch the teen, but he easily avoided its wide swing.

As the four non-pegasi mares slid down, Rainbow managed to save Pinkie while Fluttershy stopped Rarity from sliding too fast. Applejack grabbed onto a root on the way down, stopping her fall, but Twilight was unlucky as her lower half slid over the edge, desperately clinging on for dear life. Seeing the unicorn was about to fall, the farm mare carefully slid down and grabbed Twilight's forehooves.

"Ah got ya! Just hang on!" she said.

"I'd rather not!" Twilight shouted, struggling to find some footing to help her back up.

"Ya'll are gonna be alright!" Applejack looked back up the slope, watching Sora deal with the Heartless. The Large Body began glowing as it lunged at the Keyblade wielder to injure him, but he's dealt with every Heartless he came across. She looked down at Twilight, scared out of her mind as Applejack couldn't find any leverage to pull the unicorn up because of the slope. "Ya'll are gonna be safe. Ah promise ya."

Twilight yelped as the Large Body slammed his huge underside into the ground to try to crush Sora, causing her to slip more. "I'm slipping! Pull me up! Please!"

"Ah'm tryin'!" She couldn't hold on for much longer, Applejack feeling herself begin to slide over.

She accidentally dropped Twilight, watching in terror as the unicorn screamed in fright, falling to her death. A heart flew up from the top of the cliffside, the Large Body defeated, and Sora flew off and dove down to the flailing unicorn. He made it under her and caught her in his forelegs, gently hovering in the air as Twilight clung her forelegs around his neck tightly.

"Don't worry. I got you." Sora floated down to the safety of the ground, Twilight shakily stepping her hooves back down on solid ground. He flew back up to the cliff side, helping Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy carry Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack down to the bottom. "Everyone alright? No serious injuries? Cause I can heal those in a heartbeat."

"N-No," Twilight said, calming her breathing as she nearly fell to her death. She looked over at Applejack, having believed the earth pony that she would be safe, though not exactly how she figured she was supposed to be saved. "I think I'm ok...Thank you, Sora."

"No problem. Let's keep going before all of us fall down anymore cliffs," Sora joked as they continued on their way through the forest, on the more safer pathway than the dangerous way they went.

While passing through the shrubbery, everyone stayed alert in case they see any yellow eyes in the darkness. Twilight was still a little shaken up from the fall, but she knew she could rely on Sora to save her and the others. They soon heard a roar up ahead, the lavender mare immediately at Sora's side in fear at what might attack them now.

"W-What was that!?" she asked.

"Sounded like the roar of a lion." Sora was right on the money, at least a third of it, as a dangerous beast leapt out from the bushes in front of them. It was a lion alright, though with a pair of large wings on its back and a scorpion tail; a manticore. It roared at them, the mares quickly hiding behind the teen. "Whoa! Simba, what happened to you!? You got an upgrade!"

"You know that manticore!?" Twilight asked in shock.

"Actually, I was joking. Though, I do know a Simba from another world, a lion, and even I turned into-" The manticore lunged at them, Sora stopping his storytelling as he called his Keyblade again, pressing the blade back into the dangerous hybrid's jaws. It tried to gnaw its way through the metal, but to no avail as Sora pushed it back. "I should practice what I preach."

While Sora was more focused on the sharp fangs and claws of the manticore, he forgot about the scorpion tail as it reared up above the lion. His reaction timing far faster than the thrusting tail of poison, he managed to spin around and avoid the poisonous sting by mere inches, climbing up on its back and holding the tail down between him and its backside. It tried to shake him off, but Sora was clinging on tightly, cheering excitedly as if it was a rodeo ride.

While most of the mares just stared in dumbfounded awe, Fluttershy snapped out of it when she noticed the manticore's front left paw was trying to avoid stepping on the ground. Any time it did while Sora was riding on it, the roar it let out sounded more out of pain than anything. The timid mare stepped toward it, the others confused with what Fluttershy was going to do.

"Sora, can you get off the manticore?" she asked politely, her voice surprisingly stopping the rampaging manticore.

"Uhh, sure? What for though?" Fluttershy pointed down to one of its paws, confusing the teen, but he shrugged and leapt off.

The beast growled as it was about to swat the mare away. "Shhh. It's ok," she assured it, nuzzling its limping paw. Sora was surprised to see Fluttershy was more calm with a dangerous animal like a manticore than she was with him or any other pony. It did make some sense, being around animals a lot from the large variety around her cottage, and the manticore reminded Sora of a certain Beast who looked threatening, but he had a heart inside that monster of a body. "Show me what's wrong."

The manticore whimpered and showed its hurt paw, a thorn stuck deep inside of it. "Ow. Must have stepped through a pretty prickly thorn bush if it went in that deep."

"The poor little guy," Fluttershy cooed, gently rubbing its aching paw. Sora raised a brow at her description of the manticore being "little", the beast at least three times their size. "Sora, you think you can pull that out of him while I keep him calm?"

"...Uhh...sure." Sora dismissed his Keyblade, not wanting to show hostility to the now tame manticore. "I think this is the first time we had a conversation that wasn't one sided." As Fluttershy kept the wild animal's leg steady, Sora grabbed the thorn with his teeth. "Ok. One...two...three!" He pulled the thorn out all the way, spitting out the annoying, painful piece of bramble far into the woods. "There. That wasn't so-"

The manticore suddenly pulled both pegasi in its paws, roaring loudly at them. The others watching gasped and looked away, only to hear the roar turn into purring and Fluttershy giggling. When they did look back, their jaws dropped to the ground, Pinkie Pie's literally dropping to the ground, seeing the manticore affectionately licking the two ponies that helped it.

"Aww, you're just a wittle baby kitty, aren't you?" Fluttershy continued giggling as she was licked.

"Little!?" Sora asked, sputtering as it licked him, his spiky mane slicking back with the manticore's saliva. "I'm afraid to know how big it gets when it's an adult!" The others carefully made their way past the tame manticore, either not wanting to rile it up again or get "attacked" by its tongue. "Ack! Pth! Down, Simba Two! Down, boy!"

The "little kitty" finally let them go and wandered off into the forest, all of them hoping it will watch where it walks and not get grumpy from another thorn. Sora and Fluttershy looked at each other, the mare's mane stuck straight up thanks to the "thank you" grooming from her new friend. The two pegasi laughed at their ridiculous new hairstyles, the stallion feeling a little glad to know Fluttershy has warmed up to her after helping an injured creature.

"H-How?" Twilight finally spoke, speaking for the rest of the group. "How did you two know there was a thorn in its paw?"

"I don't think we did until I noticed how it was limping," Fluttershy answered, fixing her mane back to normal. "Sometimes, it helps to show a little kindness."

"Especially helping those when they need it, even when they hide it." Sora shook his head, his hair back to the way it was.

As they continued on their way through the forest, Twilight couldn't help but smile, learning that valuable lesson and taking it to heart. With the manticore now tamed, they headed deeper in the darkest part of the woods. It was hard to see in this small stretch of trees, everyone sticking close while Sora took the lead.

"Consarn it. Ah can barely see a thing," Applejack commented.

Sora yelped, feeling someone touching his flanks. "Hey! Watch your hooves, whoever that was!"

"Whoops! Sorry!" Pinkie apologized.

"Ick! I think we're walking in mud!" Rarity complained.

"Rarity, we all walk on the dirt road," Sora said, rolling his eyes at the white unicorn's complaints about being dirty. She soon screamed, making him groan. "Rarity, come on. A little dirt's not gonna-" He soon bumped into a tree, but instead of it being like any of the normal ones, it had a really creepy face staring right at him. "...Well. That's a little disturbing." He soon heard the rest of the mares scream in terror, the teen facehoofing himself. "Seriously? Scary faces terrify them?"

While they were huddled up in the center of the trees, Sora heard one of them laughing. They all looked in the direction of one of the trees, Pinkie giggling and making silly faces at it.

"Pinkie!? What are you doing!?" Twilight exclaimed. "Get away from those trees!"

"Oh come on, girls. Don't you see?" Suddenly, Sora began to hear music playing, his ears twitching a little as he enjoyed the little tune.

[Pinkie Pie]
When I was a little filly, and the sun was going down

"Wait, is she-?" Twilight tried to ask as Pinkie moved to the next verse.

The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown

"Yes, she is," Rarity said as they watched Pinkie bounce around, Sora joining the group as his body swayed to the music.

I'd hide under my pillow
From what I thought I saw
But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way
To deal with fears at all

"What's that, Pinkie?" Sora asked, the mare appearing next to him with a grin on his face.

She said, "Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall
Learn to face your fears
You'll see that they can't hurt you
Just laugh to make them disappear."

"Like this?" Sora asked, approaching one of the trees. "Ha. Ha. Ha."

Just like that, the creepy face disappeared in a puff of smoke. He looked back at the surprised mares, giving them a wink as he flew back to Pinkie and joined her with her song, the lyrics coming to him naturally.

[Pinkie & Sora]
Soooooooooo
[Pinkie]
Giggle at the ghostly
[Sora]
Guffaw at the grossly
[Pinkie]
Crack up at the creepy
[Sora]
Whoop it up with the weepy
[Pinkie]
Chortle at the kooky
[Sora]
Snortle at the spooky
[Pinkie]
And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you thenhesgotanotherthingcomingandtheveryideaofsuchathingjustmakesyouwanna-Hahahahahaha! Heh!
[Pinkie & Sora]
Lauuuuuuuuuuuugh

During the song and after, the rest of the girls joined in with their laughing, getting rid of all the creepy faces from the trees. They fell into uncontrollable laughter, falling on their backs as they struggled to control their breathing. With the scary threat gone, they continued moving forward to reach the castle, only to pause as they were blocked off by a raging river.

"Well, this is a problem," Sora said as he began thinking about how they were going to get the mares who could fly across to the other side.

They soon heard crying coming from downstream, where they saw the source of the raging rapids. A purple sea serpent with orange, fancy looking hair bawled uncontrollably, half of his long moustache similar in color to his hair seemed to have been cut off by something. The group approached the upset serpent, being carefully not to get drenched by the crashing waves his flailing body was making.

"Excuse us, sir?" Twilight asked, the sniveling aquatic reptile looking down at the ponies. "What seems to be the problem?"

"My figure is ruined!" the serpent cried. "I was just minding my own business, when out of nowhere, some strange blue smoke flew past me and cut off my mustache! Now I look hideous!"

He bawled again, splashing a wave over the group and getting them completely soaked. "That's it?" Sora asked, shaking off the water, needing the quick bath to rid his mane of manticore saliva.

"What do you mean 'That's it,' Sora!?" Rarity exclaimed. "Don't be so insensitive. Just look at him. Those luminescent scales. His coiffed mane. That fabulous manicure." Rarity's compliments helped to lift the serpent's spirits up a little, feeling flattered by the unicorn's praise. "And it's all ruined without his beautiful mustache.

"Oh, it's true! I just look ugly!" The waterworks came back as the serpent continued crying.

"I cannot let a crime of such fabulosity go uncorrected!" Rarity approached the serpent and grabbed one of his scales.

"Uhh, Rarity, what are you-" Before Sora could finish his question, the unicorn used the scale and cut off her tail, turning the long and luxurious appendage into a short, badly cut stub. "-...Oh."

Sora quickly covered his face with a wing, looking away from Rarity's rear with a blush. Using her magic, Rarity took her tail, shuddering at what she had done to her beautiful tail, ignoring her loss as she tied her lavender tail to the serpent's cut off mustache. It was now fixed, though a bit mismatched and looked awkward, but the serpent felt better.

"My mustache! Oh, thank you so much!" he exclaimed, twirling his new curly half mustache.

"You're very welcome, darling." Rarity looked back at her tail, whimpering a little at the sacrifice she gave. "Well, short tails are in this season. It'll grow back."

"Try saying that to a guy," Sora said, keeping his eyes averted away from Rarity's backside.

With the sea serpent now calmed down, as well as the river, he offered to be a makeshift bridge to help the others cross over to the other side. As soon as they made it across, they said their farewells to the serpent and continued on their way, getting closer to the castle. Though what the serpent had said about a blue cloud of smoke flying past him bothered Sora. If that cloud was Nightmare Moon, then she was somewhere around the Everfree Forest, probably thinking of a way to stop them from finding the Elements of Harmony.

"Look! There it is!" Twilight said, pointing a hoof to the ruins of a castle not too far ahead. The lavender unicorn ran toward it, wanting to find the Elements of Harmony before it was too late. "We're almost there!"

"Twilight, wait!" Sora quickly flew up to her and stopped her just before she reached the edge of the cliff. "I would say 'Look before you leap,' but I think instead of leaping, it would be more like plummeting...again."

"Oh." She let out a nervous chuckle after she saw the foggy cliff side, where a deadly drop would have waited for her. "Right...So, how are we going to get across?"

"Looks like the bridge is out," Rainbow said. "I'll get it back up for us."

Rainbow flew down to grab the other end of the rope bridge at the bottom of the chasm, rising back up on the other side and began tying the bridge back up. From the darkness in the woods, three ponies wearing dark uniforms and yellow goggles approached the pegasus.

"Rainbow Dash," the mare in the trio spoke, alerting the cyan pegasus to them. "We have been expecting you."

"Huh? Why me?" she asked, feeling a little wary of the mysterious ponies.

"We are the Shadowbolts, the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest, but we will soon be the greatest team in all of Equestria with a mare of your talents. A swift, brave, and incredible flyer in all the land." The mare's words began eating at Rainbow's ego as her grin grew wider and wider. "With you as our captain, we will be the most popular team in the world."

"Really!?" Rainbow squealed. "Alright! But first, I need to set up this bridge for the others."

"No!" the mare shouted, turning the pegasus around before she could finish tying up the bridge. "It's them, or us. Make a choice, Rainbow Dash."

Sora growled, overhearing them and not trusting these ponies that seemed to look like Heartless by their uniforms. "Oh no they don't!" He flew off to get rid of them, but the mare saw him coming, her eyes glowing and bringing the fog up to shroud them. Instead of flying through it, the teen slammed into the fog as if it was a solid wall. "For the love of Kingdom Hearts..." He tried to slash his way through the physical wall of fog, but it was like cutting air. "Rainbow Dash! If you can hear me, don't listen to them! They're trying to trick you!"

From the other side of the fog, Rainbow could barely hear Sora as she was stuck between a difficult choice. It was either stick with the others and help find the Elements of Harmony, or leave them and fulfill her dream of being a famous flyer. She finally made her decision, staring at the Shadowbolts' leader.

"...Thanks, but no thanks," she said, shocking and angering the trio. Rainbow finished tying up the bridge, flying up in the air. "Saving Equestria's far more important than having my dreams come true. My friends come first before anything I want."

She flew through the fog, the Shadowbolts disappearing in a blue smoke, fleeing deeper into the forest. As the fog lifted up, Rainbow almost bumped into Sora, the others relieved to see her still with them. While the non-pegasi walked across the bridge, the Keyblade wielder nudged the cyan pegasus mare.

"Glad you didn't get fooled by them," Sora said.

"Please. I never leave my friends hanging," Rainbow proudly said.

"You were going to join them if they weren't going to trick you...but we're glad you're still sticking around." The two pegasi gave each other a hoof bump. "Just be thankful there weren't Heartless, otherwise I would have had to save your sorry butt more times than I should."

"Right," Rainbow chuckled as they flew back to the ground with the others.

The castle was just up ahead, and the Elements of Harmony were somewhere inside. Hopefully, they'll be enough to stop Nightmare Moon, and for Sora, he hoped he wouldn't have to use his Keyblade to end her life if they didn't work.

The castle of the royal pony sisters seemed to have been in ruins for over a thousand years, though most of it seemed to be intact. The group entered the rotted wooden doors that was the entrance to the main hall of the castle, Sora walking in first with his Keyblade out, just in case any Heartless might be lurking in the dim room. No signs of any yellow eyes or dark voids they come out from to ambush them.

"It's all clear...for now." Everyone looked around in awe, seeing what used to be a grand castle in what little glory it still had after a thousand years. With a bit of searching, they managed to find what they were looking for in what appeared to be the throne room. Sitting on a circular, artistic pedestal, resting on individual platforms, were five stone orbs, which must have been the Elements of Harmony. "There they are."

Sora carefully lowered each sphere off their resting places to the ground, placing them in a circle. "But there's only five of them. Where's the sixth one?" Rainbow asked.

"The book said that once the five elements are united by a spark, the sixth one appears," Twilight said, staring at them curiously. "I have no idea what this spark is, but I'm going to figure this out."

"Then let's give her some space, everypony," Applejack said as the other mares headed outside of the room to let her concentrate.

Sora stayed behind, both to make sure Twilight wasn't disturbed and wondering if his own magic was the possible spark they needed. While the lavender mare's horn glowed, trying to find the spell to activate the Elements of Harmony, Sora began to think back on the journey through the forest. Some of the trials they went through were quite odd, almost as if they seemed to be tests. The Large Body causing the girls to slide down the slope and Applejack assuring Twilight she would be ok, Fluttershy's kindness toward the manticore immediately calming it down as he helped pull out the thorn, Pinkie Pie's random song and laughing dispelling the illusion of the scary trees, Rarity giving up her tail to give to the sea serpent to fix his mustache, and Rainbow Dash staying with the group over the Shadowbolts' offer to join them.

That last two were the strangest; the serpent explaining that a blue mist had flew through and cut his fabulous mustache, and the three ponies that actually lived in what the others called the most dangerous place in Equestria. The way the outfits those pegasi were wearing seemed dark and matched Nightmare Moon's body. It was obvious the Mare in the Moon was trying to deter them, but in the end she failed, and ironically gave Sora a theory about the Elements of Harmony. He soon heard Twilight groan, unable to activate the stones.

"I can't get them to spark!" she complained, leering at the five orbs that were supposed to be gems. "This isn't working...If only those books gave us some more information on how they work. And the sixth one is missing!"

It soon hit him as he thought back to the letter Celestia had given him the day before the preparations. Aside from the crossed out writing, the alicorn wishing to have her sister spared, she also mentioned to protect Twilight and five other ponies. And speak of the devil, the five other ponies along with Twilight just happened to be the mares that were with them, the same friends he had made in Ponyville. She knew something about her pupil and the other girls, but before Sora could make his guess, he had to see if it really was true.

"...Hey, Twilight." Twilight looked over to Sora. "You know, there was something weird about the Elements of Harmony I couldn't help noticing. Each one represents an individual element: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, and Loyalty."

"...And? What's odd about that?" she asked.

"Don't the others have similar qualities of each element?" Sora pondered as he looked down at the five stones. "Applejack is an honest, hardworking mare. Fluttershy loves animals and doesn't have a single angry bone in her body. Pinkie is random and hilarious. Rarity's very giving to others. And Rainbow is pretty faithful to those she's close to."

"What are you getting at?" she asked again, not understanding his logic.

"Well, I'm just guessing here, but I think it's possible that they might-" Suddenly, Sora was blindsided by a purple gauntlet that flew in out of nowhere, slamming him hard into the wall.

"Sora!?" Twilight panicked as, from behind the ruined pillars in the room, the other parts of a mobile suit of purple armor joined the gauntlet, the body of it wearing a heart shaped emblem on its chest.

The teen squinted his eyes open, watching the armor form together, an old Heartless he had faced in the past when his journey began. "Nice to see you again, Guard Armor. Time sure does fly."

Soon, they heard Nightmare Moon's laughter echo as she appeared on the steps where the thrones were from her starry mist form. "Nightmare Moon..." Twilight saw her approaching the Elements of Harmony, her horn glowing brightly. "No!"

She ran straight for the alicorn, and as soon as she got close enough, both mares and the Elements of Harmony teleported somewhere else. "Twilight!" Summoning his Keyblade again, Sora slashed the gauntlet keeping him trapped against the wall, making it step back as he landed on the ground. "Darn it...She's all alone with her. How I didn't hear you clanking around, but you're not going to stop me like before."

Suddenly, an invisible shield appeared in a major potion of the room, the teen knowing he was trapped in this arena until one of them would fall. Having heard the commotion from the other room, the rest of the mares ran in, surprised to see the armor Heartless.

"Sora!" Rainbow Dash tried to rush in to try to help, only to run into the invisible barrier trapping them inside. "What the hay!?"

"Girls, don't worry about me! I'll be fine!" Sora flipped backwards as the Guard Armor's arms tried to punch him. "Twilight's with Nightmare Moon! You have to stop her!"

"Come on, ya'll!" Applejack said as she lead the others through the castle to find Twilight.

Sora quickly blocked another punch, watching them run deeper in the castle, hoping they find Twilight before Nightmare Moon could harm her. "Alright. Let's make this quick. I was sick of fighting you the first time, and it was annoying fighting you a second time!"

He shoved the giant fist back, releasing a powerful shockwave as he stepped forward, stunning the limb, and began striking it. While the limb was still stunned, he flipped it around and thrust a free hoof into it, giving himself a temporary arm. He flew toward the body of the Heartless, where the heart was really located, throwing a flurry of punches into its chest and small helmet of a head. With one hard punch, he sent it flying along with the rest of its parts, scattering each body part.

Leaping into the air, he took care of the gauntlet he managed to injure first, destroying it as it exploded into several green healing orbs. While he dealt with the other gauntlet, he avoided the legs as they began to stomp toward him, weaving between the individually moving feet. He blocked one of the feet, causing it to stagger back and knock over its twin, temporarily stunning them as he hacked through each one. Eventually, the rest of the limbs were destroyed, only leaving the head and body of the Guard Armor.

The body began spinning rapidly as it lowered itself to the ground, acting like a top as it charged at the Keyblade wielder. Sora leapt up over it, latching onto its spinning head and twirling along with it. He pulled the head off of its body, kicking it hard and away from its dizzy body. Keeping his spinning momentum, he dove down and thrust his blade deep through the top of the body. While inside its chest, he managed to pierce its weak spot, the Heartless shuddering heavily as it shot out a large heart from where its head was, disappearing from existence.

With the Guard Armor beaten, the barrier around their battlefield disappeared along with the Heartless. His vision caught sight of some magic up in a tower around the ruins, where Nightmare Moon and Twilight had ended up. Flapping his wings, Sora quickly flew toward the tower, hoping the unicorn was ok and able to hold her own against the alicorn. If there were any Heartless in there, she wouldn't stand a chance, neither mare would.

Up in one of the towers that still stood around the ruins, Nightmare Moon, Twilight, and the five stone elements appeared out of thin air, Twilight thrown aside and stuck in a daze after jumping along with the dark alicorn's teleportation spell. Quickly shaking her head to snap out of her daze, the unicorn looked back at the cackling alicorn, staring at the circle of spheres.

"Finally. This was where she hid them." Nightmare Moon was about to touch one of them, only to yell out in shock as she was struck my a magical beam, hitting the side of her face. Growling, she turned her head to face Twilight, the mare stomping her hoof as she prepared to charge her. "You insolent little foal. How dare you strike me!? You wish to rebel against your true ruler, then you'll suffer my wrath!"

A dark aura began to appear around Nightmare Moon by her growing rage, the power making Twilight's skin crawl. She stood her ground, her horn glowing as the two mares ran toward each other. Before they could clash, Nightmare Moon using the new power growing from her to end the unicorn's life, Twilight teleported away from her, confusing the alicorn as she appeared next to the Elements of Harmony.

"Come on," she prayed, forcing every ounce of magic within her to activate the five stones. "Just one...little...spark!"

"No!" Nightmare Moon was too late to try and stop her as Twilight managed to activate the Elements of Harmony, the stones glowing brightly and floating of their own accord. They began to spiral the alicorn, a look of fear on her face as she couldn't escape from the orbiting artifacts. "No! This can't be happening!"

Twilight watched with glee, the Elements of Harmony responding to her magic. She was going to save Equestria, stop Nightmare Moon, and save Princess Celestia. However, that hope was diminished as the elements stopped glowing and landed around the alicorn with a thud. They didn't work.

"No..." Nightmare Moon's panic turned into a malicious grin, laughing maniacally at the now useless gems that had banished her a thousand years ago. Rearing her hooves up in the air, she stomped them down hard to the ground, shattering the Elements of Harmony to pieces. Twilight sat where she stood in defeat, Equestria's only hope destroyed. "They failed..."

"Of course they failed!" Nightmare Moon gloated. "Only five elements, and the sixth was nowhere to be found! You will never see your precious princess or your sun! I will cast Equestria into an eternal darkness, my night lasting for all eternity!" The alicorn's horn began to charge again, her blue aura slowly turning black, dark electrical sparks shooting out from the built up mana. "And for striking my royal face, you will be the first to be punished by my power!"

Twilight couldn't move, too drained of her magic and shocked at their last possible hope to save everyone. As soon as Nightmare Moon fired, unleashing a powerful beam of dark energy at her. She flinched, awaiting her inevitable fate, only for Sora to fly in and stood in front of her, blocking the beam as it tried to push him back. With a powerful grunt, he deflected the beam back at Nightmare, countering her magical beam, casting a barrier around her to block her own attack.

"This is getting out of hand, Nightmare Moon!" Sora said, seeing the dark aura billowing off the mare. "Fight back against the darkness! If you don't, you'll turn into a Heartless!"

"...How did you survive that armor? That's impossible! That was the strongest Heartless that obeyed me!" Nightmare Moon growled, glaring at the Keyblade wielder.

"Nightmare Moon, please listen to me!" Sora pleaded, spreading out his forelegs as he stood on two legs. "You can't let the darkness consume you! You may think the Heartless are listening to you, but they sense the darkness in your heart! They're waiting for the right moment to strike and turn you into one of them, a Heartless as powerful as the Guard Armor! Maybe even more!"

"And you think you know about these creatures more than me!?" the mare questioned. "What more can you even do!? The Elements of Harmony are destroyed! Your magic may be unfamiliar, but it's not as strong as the power I have now!"

"What?" Sora looked down at the ground around Nightmare Moon, shards of the Elements of Harmony littered on the crumbled stone floor.

"It's over, Sora," he heard Twilight say, looking back at the distraught mare. "We failed..."

"No we haven't." His ears perked up when he heard the others climbing up the stairway of the tower they were in, the girls a bit too late to find Twilight before he did. Sora helped Twilight back up on her hooves, staying positive as the Elements of Harmony weren't truly gone. "You haven't won yet, Nightmare Moon!"

"...You have to be the biggest idiot on the face of Equestria," Nightmare Moon said. "The Elements of Harmony are gone! Without the five elements, the sixth one would never appear!"

"That's where you're wrong." The rest of the group had finally arrived, standing behind Sora and Twilight. "Those stones may have been the Elements of Harmony, but those spirits of those elements are standing before you!"

"What?" Twilight asked.

"What!?" Nightmare Moon exclaimed.

"Huh!?" the others behind them asked, highly confused.

"Twilight, remember what I said about the girls earlier? About their personal traits?" Sora asked the confused lavender unicorn. "If the Elements of Harmony represented certain traits, would it be possible for someone to live with that element as their livelihood?"

Twilight looked back at the five mares that had joined them on this perilous journey. With Sora's theory, as well as seeing how each pony shared a familiar trait to each individual element, what the teen had suggested was starting to sound true. Her eyes sparkled, her despair gone as she turned to face Nightmare Moon, baffled by Sora's words.

"Sora's right...The spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!" The shards around Nightmare Moon began to float and glow an individual color, shocking the alicorn as they flew away from her and over to the others. They were glowing orange, red, blue, pink, and purple. "Applejack, reassuring me of my doubts as I was close to falling to my death, represents the spirit of Honesty!" The orange shards floated down to the farm mare, circling around her as she watched them in awe. "Fluttershy, taming an enraged manticore with compassion, not violence, represents the spirit of Kindness!" The pink shards flew around the yellow pegasus, wincing as they hovered around her. "Pinkie Pie, laughing in the face of fear and danger, represents the spirit of Laughter!" The blue shards hovered around the bouncy, smiling earth pony. "Rarity, giving something she deems as value to somepony as a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of Generosity!" The purple shards hovered around the white unicorn, her eyes sparkling brightly as she eyed the glowing shards. "And Rainbow Dash, choosing her friends more than what her heart desires, represents the spirit of Loyalty!"

The red shards, the last of elements, floated over to the rainbow-maned pegasus. "B-But there are only five!" Nightmare Moon shouted, looking nervous and failing to hide her fear. "You're still missing the sixth element! That spark of yours didn't even work!"

"But it did, and it was a completely different spark," Twilight said as she looked at everyone. "I realized what it was after how happy I felt to see you all, how much I cared about you." She looked at Sora, giving her a grin. "That spark ignited in me...and I then realized that all of you are my friends." Suddenly, appearing above them in a flash of light, a sixth stone orb floated above Twilight, Nightmare Moon gasping in shock. "With those elements united by that spark, Nightmare Moon, a spark that resides in our hearts...That brings the sixth element; the Element of Magic!"

The shards and the final element glowed brightly, each of them transforming out of their stone forms and into the true power of the Elements of Harmony. The shards turned into golden necklaces around Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack's necks, a gem on each of them that matched their cutie marks and the color of the shard that surrounded them. The Element of Magic transformed into a golden tiara, a pink star resting on the top of it that matched her own cutie mark.

"No...No! NO! This isn't happening!" Nightmare Moon shouted, the dark aura around her growing more and more. "I'm not going to be beaten by these accursed elements again!"

Heartless began appearing around the alicorn, hundreds of Shadows leering at the seven with their yellow eyes. They charged forward to take their lives, Sora standing in front of the mares to protect them. Before he could swipe at them, he felt a strange source of light come from behind him, and the Shadows all stopped and stared at what was behind him. He turned his head, watching the Elements of Harmony making the six mares glow brightly, making them hover in the air. The gems began glowing, and as Twilight opened her eyes, they glowed white, a light shining out from the elements and formed a powerful rainbow aura.

The magic shot forward, passing through Sora and the Shadows, the Heartless completely eradicated by the light of the Elements of Harmony. As they circled around Nightmare Moon, the alicorn screamed in terror, unable to escape the spiraling magic that had banished her so long ago. While the mare tried to escape, Sora saw a keyhole appear inside of the Elements of Harmony's aura, feeling his Keyblade pulse with light.

"A keyhole?" Before he tried to lock, or unlock, whatever the elements were giving him, he looked into the keyhole, gasping in surprise at what was inside of it. In a dark abyss, he saw a small blue alicorn curled in a ball, surrounded by a small light that was about to fade away from the darkness around it. Through the darkness, he saw a pair of blue reptilian eyes, similar to Nightmare Moon's, looking down at her and getting closer and closer. "That must be Celestia's real sister...This might be my only chance to save her."

Sora aimed his Keyblade at the keyhole, summoning a brilliant light at the tip of the blade, and shot out a beam of light into the keyhole. The light merged with the rainbow aura swirling around the flailing alicorn, Nightmare Moon screaming in agony as the light began destroying the darkness inside of her. The dark aura was expelled out of her body, disappearing into the air as the light grew intense, temporarily blinding the Keyblade wielder for a moment.

After a moment passed, his vision slowly returning, Sora heard the girls behind him gently hit the ground, rendered unconscious from the overwhelming power of the elements they had used. As soon as he was able to see again, he watched as the rainbow whirlwind slowly faded away, darkness and a blue aura dissipating along with it and over the same filly that now laid where Nightmare Moon once stood. Dismissing his Keyblade, he slowly approached the real sister of Celestia, watching her stir awake.

As she looked up at him, she grew scared, unable to move. Unlike Nightmare Moon, her coat was a light shade of azure and her hair wasn't ethereal, a slightly darker shade of blue compared to her body. Her cutie mark was a crescent moon, resting on a black splotch on her flank, almost as if her cutie mark was in the night sky.

"Easy. I'm not going to hurt you." He gently reached a hoof out to her. "You're safe now, Nightmare Moon."

"...T-That...is not my name," she said, still scared of him. "Why are you not mad? Everything I've done...I do not deserve such kindness."

"You can ask Celestia," he said.

Tentatively, the filly reached her hoof out to his, Sora helping the small alicorn back up on her hooves. Soon, the other mares slowly began waking up from unconsciousness, wondering what had just happened. While they were admiring the new accessories given to them by the Elements of Harmony, Rarity having her luxurious tail back to its full length by their magic, Twilight noticed Sora with the young alicorn, thinking she was still Nightmare Moon.

"Sora, get away from her!" Twilight said, trying to drag the teen away from her.

"Wait, Twilight," he calmly said. "She's not Nightmare Moon any longer."

"He is right, Twilight." From the crumbled opening in the tower, everyone watched the sun begin to rise as Celestia appeared from the light, landing gracefully before them. While the others bowed to the princess, Twilight ran up to her and, to Sora's surprise, hugged the ruler. "I knew you could do it. All of you."

"What?" Twilight asked. "But...you told me that Nightmare Moon was just a pony tale. And it turned out true in the end...You believed me?"

"I had always known this day would come," Celestia began explaining. "If you remember what I wrote to you in that letter, I told you to make some friends. I had seen the magical potential inside of you to stop Nightmare Moon, and it would only awaken once you had let true friendship in your heart. Along with the power of light." Sora gave a toothy grin, moving his forelegs behind his head as the princess winked at him. She approached the Keyblade wielder, the younger sister hiding behind him in fear of her older sibling's presence. "Sora, you've done well. And you have saved my little sister, Luna."

"Sister!?" the mares all exclaimed, looking at each other in shock at the alicorn filly hiding behind him.

"Well, I figured that also had to be a special objective you wanted to give me," Sora said. "Though, maybe you should have started over with another letter instead of sending me one where whatever you didn't want to tell me was scratched out."

"I was unsure if your magic could also save my sister." Celestia looked down at Luna, Sora stepping aside so the two sisters could rekindle their relationship after being apart for so long. The white alicorn lowered herself to Luna's level, the blue alicorn trembling in fear. "I'm so sorry, Luna...I wish I could have been a better sister back then. I've made a huge mistake, letting my own ego blind me from your pain. I had only made it worse by banishing you, panicked by what you became.

"After what Sora had told me about the Heartless...I was so scared for you." Celestia began shedding tears, surprising the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, never seeing their all powerful princess showing any sorrow in the past thousand years. "What you turned into...I was afraid your heart would have been forever tainted by your anger and bitterness toward me. You would have turned into a creature of darkness...and I would have lost you forever." Luna's eyes welled up with tears, her heart filled with guilt for all she did, even making her older sister upset at her own actions to try and stop her. "I want us to start over, and be a family again...You deserve to rule alongside me...Please...forgive me..."

Luna's tears finally began streaming down her face, burying her face in Celestia's chest as she hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry, sister! It was my fault...I should be asking your forgiveness, and I don't deserve it!" Celestia hugged her sister back as they both silently wept in each other's embrace. "I deserve to be banished again."

"Don't say that, Luna," Celestia said, holding her sister close. "You're back now. You're no longer the Mare in the Moon anymore."

"I missed you, Tia," Luna sobbed, nuzzling Celestia.

"I missed you, too." The mares got all misty eyed as they watched the alicorn sisters reunite with each other, Pinkie bawling her eyes out as her tears streamed out like waterfalls.

Sora leaned back against the wall, happy to see Celestia and Luna had gotten back together. Even in the most difficult of situations, none of the injuries he's been given mattered as long as he helped bring peace between two friends, siblings, lovers, anyone, saving them from a terrible fate or the darkness that dares to engulf the world.

With the sun now risen back in the sky and everyone headed back safely to Ponyville, the entire town was celebrating the return of their princess, the sun, and even the return of Princess Luna. Celestia had then announced to Ponyville that her pupil, Twilight Sparkle, would stay in town to learn any new lessons in friendship and report them to her. The unicorn was glad to be staying, not wanting to be apart from her new best friends, especially Sora, the Keyblade wielder, a being from another world. Without him, none of them would have lasted long in the Everfree Forest, she wouldn't have discovered how the Elements of Harmony worked, and if he wasn't around, the Heartless could have easily overcome them.

Celestia and Luna headed back to Canterlot via chariot, pulled by their royal guard pegasi, and the celebration went off in full swing. Sora took a little break from the festivities, sitting on top of a cloud as he watched everyone party down below, a popsicle stick in his mouth. After he gave Pinkie Pie the recipe to make Sea-Salt ice cream, it became a really popular ice cream treat for Ponyville, and it tasted far better than how Scrooge McDuck, Donald's uncle, made them.

"Sora!" He looked down and saw Twilight waving at him, wanting his attention. Sora leapt off the edge of his cloudy seat, landing gently on the ground without the use of his wings. "I'm glad I found you."

"I was just taking a small break from the partying. I may be a goofball, but I'm not like Pinkie Pie." He took the popsicle stick out of his mouth, licking some of sticky, frozen treat off his lips. "I have my limits."

"Actually, I just wanted to talk with you a little bit," Twilight said. "...Mostly about what happened at the castle."

"Like what?" he asked. "When you guys shot out that rainbow?"

"Well...yes, but about what you said when our friends were the spirits that embodied the Elements of Harmony." Sora tilted his head as he waited for Twilight to speak after she went quiet. "...Did you know we were the Elements of Harmony?"

"...I actually took a bit of a guess on that," the teen chuckled. "But I had a feeling it would work out in the end."

"...So, if your bluff failed, Nightmare Moon could have killed us?" Twilight asked, glaring at the nonchalant stallion.

"It wasn't exactly a bluff. Just hearing the five different elements kinda reminded me of one important factor with everyday life; friendship." The unicorn only stared at him, the same thing she had just discovered in order to activate them. "Loyalty, Honesty, Laughter, Generosity, and Kindness. All five of them are related to making friends. And having all six elements together, it's like a group of friends that remain inseparable. And one thing I've learned on my travels is that friends can be more powerful than the toughest of foes."

"...Really?" Sora nodded, giving her that same goofy grin that made up his personality. "...Well, if you give an example of all five of those elements when we met...I'll be crossing honesty off the list."

"Huh!?" Sora blanched, letting out a nervous chuckle as he scratched his head. "Well, I wasn't supposed to tell you or the others what I've been hiding."

"Yeah. I know...but you told us anyway," Twilight said. "How can you be sure none of us would tell everypony else in Equestria?"

"Because I trust you girls." Sora stood next to Twilight and wrapped a wing over her back. "And you can trust me now that I told you everything, and I can protect you all from dangerous threats, right?"

"...You haven't exactly told us everything, Sora." Twilight pulled Sora's wing off of her. "But, I guess I can consider you a friend."

"Great! The more friends, the better!" Sora pat Twilight on the back and headed back to the others to continue partying. "Let's get back to the fun! And you have got to try this Sea-Salt ice cream! Pinkie makes it ten times better than the actual creator of this ice cream!"

Twilight just shook her head, never going to get used to Sora's upbeat optimism. "He is so weird..." She couldn't help but think back on this morning's journey through the Everfree Forest to find the Elements of Harmony. He saved her life several times: rescuing her from falling off that cliff, the manticore, nearly running off a chasm when they reached the castle, and even saving her from Nightmare Moon's more powerful and dangerous magical beam. Her cheeks turned red, her heart pounding heavily against her chest. "...But why do I want to know more about him?"

With the Summer Sun Celebration a successful holiday, despite Nightmare Moon's return, things in Ponyville went back to normal. As normal as it could possibly be in a town that now has dark creatures appearing out of the ground or air, a wild and crazy pink party pony, and whatever else could possibly happen. As long as no Heartless showed up, Sora didn't mind anything out of the ordinary, since he too was out of the ordinary by him being an alien to Equestria.

On this day, Sora just lounged around in one of the trees in the orchard, bored out of his mind. Apparently, his bosses, Applejack and Big Macintosh, had a crazy bet. Applejack had to pick all the apples around a certain grove before lunch, and if she did that, her older brother would have to walk around a section of Ponyville in one of their granny's girdles. Just the thought of seeing the stallion wearing something like that made him shudder in disgust.

He spotted Applejack down the way, along with Twilight and Spike, who seemed to have helped the farm mare cheat to win the bet. "Well, so much for being the honest worker, Applejack...But, I guess it won't hurt to poke fun at Big Mac a little bit if I stay quiet." Sora flew off the branches and hovered beside the mares and baby dragon. "Wow! That's a lot of apples! Big Mac's sure gonna be in for a surprise!"

"You can cut the sarcasm, Sora," Applejack said, the teen sticking out his tongue at his boss.

"At least when I made bets with my friends, I play fair," Sora scoffed.

"I'm actually glad we're done with this little bet of yours," Twilight said, her stomach rumbling loudly, the unicorn blushing in embarrassment. "I am starving."

"I could go for something to eat, too." While walking down the path to head back to the barn before grabbing a bite to eat, Spike grunted, letting out a green flaming belch. Sora was in the baby dragon's direction as he burped, quickly ducking before his face was singed. "Hey! Spike, warn me next time you're gonna-" A scroll fell on the stallion's head, landing on his snout. "-do that?"

"A letter from the princess?" Twilight questioned, taking the scroll in her aura and unfurling it. She read it to herself, her eyes lighting up with each word she quickly skimmed through. "Oh my gosh! Princess Celestia has invited me to the Grand Galloping Gala and a guest!"

"The Grand Gallopin' Gala!?" Applejack asked, just as excited as Twilight. "That's comin' up in a couple months!"

The mares began cheering, Twilight knocking Spike off his perch as he belched more flames. This time, appearing in the baby dragon's magical fire were two golden tickets, floating down to Sora's hooves. He picked up the invitational tickets, silently reading the description of the bits of golden paper.

"Uhh...What's this 'Grand Galloping Gala'?" Twilight and Applejack gasped as they stared at the teen in shock.

"You don't know what the Grand Galloping Gala is!?" The unicorn pounced Sora, pressing him down into the dirt. "How in Equestria do you not know what that is!?" He only gave the mare a blank stare, pointing his hoof up to the sky. She looked up, realizing Sora wasn't really from Equestria, laughing sheepishly with a blush on her face. "Right...Forgot about that."

"The Gala's a dumb ball held in Canterlot every year," Spike answered for Twilight as she got off of the pegasus. "It's mostly an event for stuck up nobles to go to, where they meet Princess Celestia, talk about boring business deals, complete with boring music and crummy food."

"Spike, the Gala's more than that!" Twilight scolded. "It's the biggest event in all of Equestria, and everypony has been dying to go there!"

"Ah've wanted to go for a long while, though for different reasons," Applejack said. "Ah'd like to set up an apple stand there, give ponies up there some good eatin'. Fresh grown apples, sellin' all mah family's known recipes and make some big business there. Just imagine how much Ah'll make to fix up mah farm! We can fix that barn roof, replace that rusted plow, and even give Granny Smith a new hip!"

"Hmmm..." Sora crossed his forelegs over his chest as he thought hard about Applejack's reasoning for going to the Gala. With how delicious her apples are, as well as her family's baked apple goods, there was no doubt she could sell a lot. "That sounds like a good idea. And if the food is bland during that party, they'll be hooked on your food, Applejack."

"Yes, that would be a good idea..." Twilight grabbed the two tickets and began blushing as she looked at Sora. "Or, maybe Sora would like to come along and...get to know the castle a bit more?"

"Nah. I'm not into those fancy parties. Not my thing." Twilight's ears drooped, hiding her disappointment.

"Oh...Well, Applejack, I guess I can-" Suddenly, a rainbow blur crash landed around the group, or more like on Sora, Rainbow Dash grinning like an idiot as she sat on Sora's crumpled form.

"Did I hear you guys talk about the Grand Galloping Gala!?" she asked, her wings fluttering in excitement.

"Yes, but how did you hear about that?" Twilight asked. "Were you spying on us?"

"I've always wanted to go to the Gala, cause that's where the Wonderbolts perform every year when it comes around!" Rainbow was oblivious to the stallion underneath him, Sora grumbling in annoyance as she sat on his back. "If I can show them my moves, I'm sure to be a Wonderbolt in a flash! Twilight, you have got to take me!"

While the unicorn was flabbergasted with the pegasus mare's selfish reasons for going to the Gala, Sora flipped Rainbow Dash over in a rapid spin, switching their positions. "Do you just like beating me up or tackling me, Rainbow? I swear, it's like a have a magnet for bringing trouble to me."

"...Can you tell me how you do all that with such speed?" Rainbow asked. "Cause you could beat me in flying if you used that energy."

Before Sora could retort, Applejack shoved Sora off and leered at Rainbow Dash. "Now hold your horses, Rainbow. Twilight already asked me to come with her to the Gala first."

"A-Actually, I technically asked Sora first..." Twilight gently scuffed the ground with a hoof, averting her gaze from the dazed stallion.

"So!? You don't own it, Applejack!" Rainbow said, standing up and getting in the earth pony's face. "I'll hoof-wrestle you for it."

"You're on!" Both competitive mares ran over to a stump and began hoof-wrestling each other for the ticket.

Sora sat up, shaking his head to clear out the cobwebs. "Why does everyone like to hit me?" He noticed the two mares fighting for the ticket, deciding to just ignore them as he dragged Twilight and Spike away from them. "Let's just let them fight. Those tickets are yours to give to whoever you want. Let's get some lunch."

Leaving the two mares to fight over nothing, Sora, Twilight, and Spike headed into town to find a restaurant to get something to eat. While the teen looked around for a place with some good food, Twilight looked at the tickets, trying to figure a way to convince Sora into wanting to go. Before she could speak, she didn't hear Sora warn her before ramming into Pinkie Pie, the tickets floating down in front of the pink mare's snout.

"Are those...?" Pinkie gasped loudly as she read the description of the golden tickets. "Tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!?"

"Let me guess. You want to go too?" Sora asked.

"Yes!" Suddenly, Pinkie ended up pulling Sora into what seemed to be the mare's imagination, freaking the teen out as he saw her randomly running from place to place as confetti and streamers rained down on the biggest party ever seen. "It's the most amazing incredible tremendous super-fun wonderfully humongous parties in all of Equestria! I've always always always wanted to go!"

"Wait a minute, where the heck am I!? What's happening!?" Sora soon heard music playing as Pinkie Pie began to sing, dragging him around her imaginative world.

[Pinkie Pie]
Oh the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me
Oh the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me
Hip hip
Hooray!
It's the best place for me
For Pinkie!

"Uhh, Pinkie!? I have no idea where you took me, and I want to come back to reality now!" His pleas were ignored as the mare continued describing everything she expected to see at a party like the Gala.

"With decorations like streamers and fairy-lights and pinwheels and piñatas and pincushions!" Pinkie smacked a piñata with a stick, sending candy flying everywhere as she dragged the unfortunate stallion over to more of what she wanted to see. "And goodies like sugar cubes and sugar canes and sundaes and sun beams and sarsaparilla! And I get to play my favorite-est of favorite games like Pin the Tail on the Pony!"

Pinkie poked the tail for the game on the board on a wall, only to have Sora yelp as he felt a sharp prick on his behind. He turned around, finding his tail had been replaced by the fake tail, and on the board was his own tail.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME!?" Sora shouted to the heavens, his brain already exploding, several times, falling on his side in the fetal position.

Oh the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me
Oh the Grand Galloping Gala is the best place for me
'Cause it's the most galarrific superly-terrific gala ever
In the whole galaxy
Wheeee!

As Pinkie floated up out of her imagination, she carried the trembling teen out and back to reality. Where Pinkie seemed normal after the odd transition, Sora was stuck in the fetal position, his pupils shrunk as he began brushing his spiky tail.

"Sora? Are you ok?" Spike asked, Twilight and Pinkie looking at the traumatized pegasus.

"Is there any way my memories can be erased from five minutes from now?" Sora asked, squirming in place as he began sucking on his hoof.

"Aww. I thought Sora was silly enough to take what goes on in my mind," Pinkie sadly said, the lavender unicorn and baby dragon having no clue what the earth pony was talking about.

"I've been in Wonderland, a place that's topsy turvy and only makes less sense with the rules it makes up! You...You're worse than Wonderland! By ten times that much!" Sora shouted. He crawled up to Pinkie like a bug, grabbing the mare's shoulders. "How did you even do that!?"

"Yup. I made him crazy. One second, everypony!" Pinkie fished out a large hammer from her mane, large letters depicting it as the "Forget Everything that Made You Go Bonkers because of Pinkie Pie's 4th Wall Breaking", written in large letters. "This will only hurt for a second."

She slammed the large mallet down on Sora's head, making birds swirl around him as his eyes spun in his daze. While Twilight questioned how Pinkie had that giant hammer in her hair, she put it away without leaving a trace of it. A moment later, Sora shook his head, snapped out of his daze as he looked around in confusion.

"...Uhh, I spaced out. What happened?" Sora asked.

"I just sang a song about what I would do at the Gala," Pinkie responded, the tickets resting on her nose.

"Oh." He took the tickets off the mare's nose, only to have them swiped from him by Rarity, held in her blue aura.

"Grand Galloping Gala tickets!?" she exclaimed, squealing with delight. "I design outfits for the Gala, but never have I ever attended!"

"Oh no," Twilight groaned as yet another of her friends wanted to go with their own reasons.

"Oh, how I would love to go to the Gala," Rarity said. "Canterlot. The society and culture...And that's where I am destined to meet...'him'..."

"'Him'?" Sora asked.

"Princess Celestia's nephew, Prince Blueblood." Rarity swooned as she grew lost in her fantasy. "A handsome prince, and an eligible unicorn stallion. I would arrive at the ball, wearing my best made gown specifically designed for the Gala, and our eyes would meet. We would fall in love, courting me like the gentlecolt he is, and then, when the time is right, he would ask me for my hoof in marriage, and of course I would answer 'Yes'!" The unicorn tittered, a deep blush on her white cheeks. "The stallion of my dreams as my husband, a royal wedding, and I will be his princess!"

While lost in her daydream, Sora took the tickets away from Rarity. "Yeah...Let's just hope this 'nephew' of Celestia's is actually a prince like some others I've met." As he was about to give the tickets back to Twilight, a white rabbit the teen recognized when meeting Fluttershy leapt up and snatched the tickets from him. "Hey! Get back here, you little rodent!"

Sora chased after the miscreant of a bunny, skidding to a halt when Fluttershy was seen up ahead. "Oh...H-Hello, Sora."

"Fluttershy, your pet rabbit just stole Twilight's tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala," Sora explained as he glared at the leering rabbit, still holding the tickets in his mouth.

"The Grand Galloping Gala?" Fluttershy asked, sounding a little excited with her quiet voice. "Oh, Angel, that's perfect."

"...His name is Angel?" The teen looked down at the rabbit again. "...I doubt he's actually and angel. He's more like a little devil...wrapped in the body of a fluffy white rabbit." He sighed, wondering what Fluttershy would want to go to the Gala for, but he had a feeling he knew what it was. "Why do you want to go to the Gala?"

"Umm...well, it's not actually the Gala itself that interests me...I'm actually more interested in the gardens at the castle." Sora called it: beautiful gardens, possibly housing several different animals, and she would want to spend the evening there. "There's a lot of interesting flowers there, and even cute little animals, some of them not even anywhere in Equestria. I want to go there and see every single critter and be their friend."

"...Riiiiiight..." Sora snatched the tickets out of Angel's mouth, blowing a raspberry at the evil bunny.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash came flying in, landing in front of Sora and saw the tickets in his mouth. "You think you can just take those tickets for your own, Sora!?"

"Let me guess, Rainbow; Applejack beat you in that hoof-wrestle, didn't she?" The pegasus growled, which meant she did indeed lose.

"Give me those tickets!" Rainbow shouted, lunging at him, only for him to quickly sidestep away from her, the rest of the circle of friends approaching.

"Hey, Twilight gave me her other ticket first, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack exclaimed.

"No, me!" Pinkie said, popping up underneath Sora, bumping his chin with her hard skull.

Soon, the five jealous mares began arguing with each other, all over a ticket to some rich party. It was getting way out of hand, and Sora could see Twilight was having an internal struggle. She was having a difficult time choosing who to pick and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, having never had friends until just recently.

"ENOUGH!" Sora shouted, silencing their arguments, though Pinkie ended up going on a tangent about oatmeal before hushing up. "Ok, look! These tickets belong to Twilight! These are hers to do as she sees fit, which means SHE chooses who gets the second ticket! I will be a neutral party, not wanting to go to this Gala, so I'll be holding onto the tickets for Twilight until she makes a decision."

"Why should you-!?" Rainbow Dash quickly shut her mouth when Sora summoned his Keyblade, holding it up in the air as electricity began to spark from the teeth. "...Shutting up now..."

"Exactly." He dismissed his Keyblade, hating having to do that just to keep Rainbow in line. "Guys, remember that we're Twilight's first ACTUAL friends since coming here to Ponyville. You're not going to make things easy for her just by arguing about it, in front of her, and constantly giving her peer pressure." They looked over at the lavender unicorn as her stomach grumbled loudly. "An no one can make a decision on an empty stomach. So, don't pester, be patient, and she'll give you her answer."

Sora stuffed the tickets away in his leg pouch for safe keeping and dragged Twilight and Spike off to get them something to eat before he succumbs to his own stomach's emptiness.

With some peace and quiet finally given, Sora, Twilight, and Spike sat around a table outside a nearby restaurant, looking through the menu. "Uhh, is there any normal food? I see way too many...flower meals."

"Well, that's what ponies eat, Sora," Spike said, taking a sip of some soda. After the Summer Sun Celebration, the baby dragon knew of Sora's true self by Twilight, unable to keep her mouth shut about him and his intriguing magic. He seemed to take it well, and he was glad to have another male alongside him in their now new group of friends. "Welcome to the club."

"...Eh. I guess I'll just have a non-flower pasta dish." After they placed their orders, they waited patiently for their meals. Sora looked over at Twilight, who seemed a little bothered by her decision over who would go with her to the Gala. "You ok, Twilight?"

"...I-I'm fine." The unicorn barely touched her beverage, messing around with the straw in her glass. "...I just don't know who to choose. I mean, if I go, and I choose one of them, then four of them will be disappointed. But if I give up my ticket to someone else, that still leaves three of them!" Twilight slammed her head on the table, Sora quickly moving her drink away before she spilled it all over herself. "It's an impossible mathematical problem that can't ever be resolved."

"Try not to stress too much about it, Twilight," Sora assured, patting her head. "You need to relax a little more. If anything, I say it's better for none of us to go than only two. Even if they get disappointed, they can understand your decision."

"...I don't know how you can be so aloof over something so stressful," Twilight mumbled, lifting her head up.

"I fight hordes of Heartless on a daily basis. And that's just the average workday for this Keyblade wielder." Their food was finally brought out, Sora with his pasta, Spike's hay fries, and Twilight having ordered a plain daffodil and daisy sandwich. "You should take a little vacation to the beach or something. Learn to have a fun and act like a kid."

"...Maybe..." As they were about to eat their food, they saw ponies begin to head inside for some reason.

"Excuse me," the waiter said, getting their attention. "Are you sure you all want to eat your food in the rain?"

"Rain?" Looking out around them, the entire area was struck with a downpour, but their table was still sunny and clear. "Rain...Rainbow Dash."

"Hey, guys!" The trio looked up, spotting the pegasus mare herself giving them a toothy grin, a hole in the clouds devoid of any rain. "Don't wanna have lunch on such a crummy day, right!?"

"Rainbow, what did I just say earlier!?" Sora asked. "No peer pressure!"

"This isn't peer pressure! I'm just making sure my two bestest friends in all of Equestria are completely dry!" The teen raised a brow, giving the mare above them a dirty look. "So, about that ticket..."

Sora sighed, summoning his Keyblade and aiming it in the sky. "Gravity."

A dark burst of light shot out from his weapon, a small dark bubble appearing around Rainbow Dash. Suddenly, the gravity around the orb greatly affected the mare, sending her falling through the clouds and toward the ground with a hard thud. With the rainbow-maned pegasus incapacitated, Sora went back to eating his lunch.

"...D-Did you just...alter gravity?" Twilight asked, both horrified but equally astounded.

"Mhmm. She'll be fine though. Let's finish eating before the clouds decide to rain over us." Before Twilight could take a bite out of her sandwich, she was suddenly snatched in Rarity's aura.

"Twilight! There you are! I need to ask you something, mare to mare!" She didn't give the starving unicorn a chance, crying out for her food as she was whisked away.

Sora just stared blankly at the empty seat, slowly slurping the noodle in his mouth. "...And none of them listened to me."

While Twilight was kidnapped by Rarity to her boutique, the fashionista put the lavender mare in a beautiful looking dress. "Why, look at you darling. You'll look absolutely radiant at the Gala."

"The Gala?" Twilight asked, growing worried as the white unicorn pulled out a matching dress that she was currently wearing.

"And look at that! I have a matching pair! It'll be like we're twins!" she tittered, unaware of Twilight's panic.

Charging through the doors to her boutique, Sora marched across the room, grabbing Twilight as soon as she took off the outfit. "Rarity. You're really going to be this desperate?"

"Sora! What luck! I have a dashing outfit for you to wear that will go perfectly with your style!" Rarity sauntered over to the teen, batting her eyelashes to try and get him won over. "You could be my escort, until I meet Prince Blueblood, that is."

"No. Bad Rarity!" Sora said, poking her snout. "No pressure on Twilight!"

He quickly flew out of the Carousel Boutique with the lavender unicorn on his back. At least the rain was only a few minutes long, a very quick downpour, something he had never seen in his life. Before he could get too far, a lasso wrapped around his leg, sending him and Twilight falling to the ground, Sora using himself as a cushion for the mare's fall.

"Hey, good thing Ah caught ya!" Applejack laughed at her ridiculously awful pun. Behind her was a cart filled to the brim with apple products, the tantalizing scent making Twilight's mouth water. "Ah got some food Ah was haulin', and Ah thought ya'll might want some."

As much as her stomach's loud rumbling demanded food, Twilight snapped. "NO! If this is some kind of bribe, you're not making this easier for me! I don't know who I want to give the ticket to! I CAN'T DECIDE!"

She ran off toward the library, where she currently resides, tears running down her face in frustration, both in hunger and unable to choose between her friends. Sora leered at his boss, who began to look nervous at his angered expression.

"...Uhh...was that a maybe?" Applejack asked.

"...You know, since you're my boss, I can't be mean to you...But right now, as my friend..." Sora tipped the mare's hat off her head, letting it fall to the ground. "That's for pressuring her. And seriously!? With food!? What is wrong with you!?"

Sora flew off toward the Golden Oak Library, catching Spike as he was heading back there after Twilight was snatched away by Rarity. "Sora, what happened to Twilight!? I saw her running by and she was crying!"

"I don't think her new friends are making her decision making any easier. She's not used to having favors done for her, and over something as stupid as a big ball!" As soon as the two males reached the door and opened it, a group of small animals skittered all over the place, cleaning the entire library. Sora's ears twitched as he heard Fluttershy sing a tune, groaning in annoyance, even though the song was somewhat catchy. "Not Fluttershy, too!"

"Oh, hello, Sora. Spike," Fluttershy said. "I saw Twilight come in the library, and I thought I could help her do some spring cleaning."

"...It's summer," Sora said, trying not to be angry at the timid mare.

"Oh...W-Well, better late than never?" Fluttershy gave him a nervous grin, only making him groan.

"Spike, go and check on Twilight." The dragon nodded, making his way upstairs to the living area of the tree-bary. "Fluttershy, I'm going to have to ask you to leave, along with your animal friends. Please. Twilight does not need this right now." He hated to see Fluttershy sad like that, but she left, along with her little friends. The last to leave was the demon bunny, Angel, leaving a bowl of salad as he wore a chef's hat and apron. "You told her to do this to get the ticket, didn't you?" Angel stuck his tongue out at Sora, then hopped away after his owner, the exhausted teen closing the door behind him. "Can today get any worse?"

The door suddenly swung open as confetti shot out at him from outside. "SURPRISE!"

"Oh no..." Pinkie suddenly grabbed the stallion and flung him into a large group of mares, a song beginning to play as he was lifted up in the air by the mob as if celebrating something about him.

[Pinkie Pie]
Sora is my bestest friend
Whoopie, whoopie!

"Pinkie," Sora said as he was tossed in the air.

He's the coolest, strongest, all around best pony, pony!

"Pinkie." He began to sound a little annoyed as he flipped around from another toss up.

I bet if I throw a super-duper fun party, party!

"Pinkie!" Sora was angry, upside down with his forehooves crossed.

He'll give Twilight's extra ticket to the Gala to meeeeee!

"PINKIE PIE!" While tossed up in the air one last time, the group of mares backed away as he landed on his hooves, glaring at the random pink pony with a twitching eye. "At least the others were subtle, but you have to sing a full blown song about the stupid ticket!?"

"What ticket?" one of the mares asked, prompting Sora to immediately shove his hoof in his mouth a second too late.

"Oh, Sora's just holding onto Twilight's tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala." If Sora could kill Heartless with his mind, he would gladly want to silence where Pinkie hid her speech function in that brain of hers.

Soon, the mares began crowding the teen, all of them offering to do him favors for that ticket. Some of them went out of their way to asking him to be their date for the Gala, which only made their bartering worsen by the second.

"...Well, desperate times call for desperate measures...RUN AWAY!" Sora leapt up in the air, out of the crowding mares' grasp and fleeing into the town.

(Benny Hill Theme)

While running away from the desperate mares, Sora had to avoid them at all costs. He managed to give them all the slip around the corner of a building, pressing himself against the wall as they blindly passed by him. He tiptoed away, only to be caught by a straggler as he got the others' attention. Disappearing around another corner, he found a not so clever disguise in a pair of joke glasses, leaning against the wall as he whistled nonchalantly.

The mares asked where he went off to, pointing in a random direction, and they fell for it. Not feeling safe, he heard the mob coming back with no sign of him in where he pointed himself out. Quickly entering the nearby store, he stood in the display window, wearing a hula skirt, a lei around his neck, and a lotus flower on his left ear. He posed, pretending to be frozen in a little dance with a smile, right as the mob ran by to corner him. As soon as the mares left, he ditched his costume and wound up in an alleyway, thinking he lost them.

Unfortunately, he just can't stay away from them as they managed to corner him from all corners, even in the air. They kept constantly asking to do any favors, complimenting his hair, clothes, even his flanks. This was too much attention he could take, and he can't take anymore. He summoned his Keyblade and thrust it up in the air.

"STOPAGA!" Illusional clocks appeared around all of the mares, freezing them in time temporarily. He breathed a huge sigh of relief, flying by the frozen ponies as he trudged back to the Golden Oak Library. "Pinkie, I think your brain is like chewed up bubble gum. Way too messed up to look like anything but chewy mush."

Reaching the library, with thankfully no more mares chasing him down, he walked inside to see how Twilight was doing. Unfortunately, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity were waiting inside, wanting to hear Twilight's decision.

"Hey, Sora! Where were you!?" Pinkie asked, oblivious to him running away from a bunch of mares she called on and told them about the tickets.

"...You know darn well where I was," Sora grumbled, too tired to argue with them any further. "I thought fighting a thousand Heartless on my own was exhausting. I thought fighting a giant titan was hard enough. But those mares...They were relentless!" The teen collapsed to the ground, groaning in exhaustion. "Thanks for getting me chased by a mob of mares that wanted to try to go out with me for TWILIGHT'S tickets, Pinkie!"

"You're welcome!" Sora slammed his head into the ground at Pinkie's obliviousness to his sarcasm.

They soon heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs, Twilight slowly coming down with a letter in her aura. Spike came down as well as the other girls were ready to hear the unicorn's decision. She noticed Sora laying prone on the floor, approaching him while ignoring their friends.

"Sora? Are you ok?" she asked.

"Please tell me you made a choice," Sora grumbled. "I can't take it anymore than you can..."

"...I have made my decision," Twilight said, only to be interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

"Yes! That ticket is mine!" As she began to celebrate early, Sora poked his head up, summoning his Keyblade in his mouth as he pointed it at the cocky pegasus, growling dangerously in warning. Seeing how furious he was, Rainbow chuckled and hid behind the others, not wanting to get forced down to the ground by that dark energy ball again. "Uhh...sorry."

"Anyway, as I was saying...I decided to choose...nopony." The others gasped in shock, unable to believe Twilight would choose no one. "I decided to take Sora's advice earlier today after thinking so hard to choose which of you I wanted to take. I couldn't find the right solution, and after Applejack...I panicked and ran. But I managed to calm myself down and read a little to clear my head, and none of us going is the best solution to this problem." Using her magic, Twilight pulled out the tickets from Sora's pouch and placed them in her scroll, rolling it up to be sent. "And I'm going to give these tickets back. They've been nothing but trouble to me ever since I got them."

"So...nopony's really going? At all?" Rarity asked, receiving nod from the lavender unicorn.

"I don't want to disappoint all my friends. I want to make all of you happy, but I can't do that with the limited blessings I can give." Twilight gave Spike the scroll, nodding at him to send it. The dragon took a deep breath and burned the letter and the tickets, a magical aura sending it to Celestia. "Inside that letter is exactly what I said out loud. And I don't care if I don't go. It's just a boring ball, anyway."

Sora managed to sit himself up, patting Twilight's shoulder. "Now, I think all of you girls need to say something to Twilight. Putting pressure on her for a dumb event out of desperation wasn't right."

"...He's right. Sorry, Twilight," Applejack apologized, the others apologizing as well.

They all soon surrounded both Twilight and Sora in a group hug, making up for the pressure they put on Twilight and making Sora run around ragged. Spike, unlike Sora, didn't like the mushy make up hug and gagged, only to really gag as he felt a belch coming up.

"Oh, come on, Spike! Don't be so insensitive with getting in touch with your feminine side!" Sora scolded, only to now realize his puffed out cheeks were from his magic flame burps, which dropped another scroll. "...Oh...You know, there's gotta be some other kind of warning for that. Who knows what'll happen if you get a stomach virus and we don't know if it's fire belches or magma vomit?"

"I don't puke up magma," Spike grumbled as he picked up the scroll. "'My faithful student, why didn't you just say so in the first place?'" Appearing underneath the scroll, Spike pulled out six golden tickets. "Six tickets to the Gala!"

"That means we can all go!" Rainbow said, cheering excitedly as each of the mares got their tickets. "Whoo hoo! Wonderbolts, here I come!"

Before they could truly celebrate, Twilight's stomach growled far louder than before, making her groan in hunger. "How about we buy you dinner, Twilight? We owe it to you for acting out like that for those tickets."

"I'd like that, Rarity." As the girls filed out of the library to eat out, they left Spike and Sora behind.

While Spike seemed a little disappointed, Sora stared at the door, his eye and ears twitching as Celestia had just given them six tickets after only giving Twilight two and receiving them back. Spike soon let out another belch, another scroll landing in his claws.

"'And one for Spike and Sora.'" Two more tickets popped out from the scroll, Spike taking one while Sora weakly took his. "...Well, guess we're going too, huh?"

"...Spike? Give me some paper...and a pen...Pretty please?" Spike obliged, giving Sora the objects he requested.

"Why do you need them?" Spike asked.

Sora used his wing to write, acting as a makeshift hand for him, writing Celestia his own personal letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

YOU ARE A TROLL!
Your loyal Keyblade wielder,
Sora

The teen rolled it up and gave it to the baby dragon. "Send it..." Spike obeyed and sent it to Celestia. "Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Sora groaned as his eyes rolled in the back of his head, collapsing to the floor as he passed out. Deciding to let the stallion relax, Spike hurried after the others with his ticket in his claws, feeling giddy as he was going to the Gala.

If there was a worse time for Sora to be fighting the Heartless today, it had to be one where he ended up accidentally getting someone injured. Thankfully, not by creatures of darkness, but by an unfortunate circumstance. Out in the middle of the fields, he was busy fighting the most annoying of magic casting Heartless, along with a couple Large Bodies. Each of the small mage-like Heartless had their own element, and they always kept their distance from the Keyblade wielder: Red Nocturnes shoot out Fire, Blue Raphsodies unleash Blizzard shots, Yellow Operas constantly rain Thunder, and Green Requiems that regenerate its allies health with Cure. And with the Large Bodies as their meat shields, it was annoying to get by them, even if he could fly.

He had just manage to get rid of the annoying green mages, always healing the other Heartless' injuries after he was close to killing any of the others. While dealing with the other mages, one of the Large Bodies slid into him hard, causing the teen to slam into an empty cart, sending it rolling down the hill. Shaking off the hit, he was prepared for the next slide, using his Keyblade to spin the fat Heartless in place, rapidly striking it while in its daze. Sora then smacked it hard into the cluster of mages, getting them all crushed by the Large Body. Using his magic to deal with the remaining Heartless, with no more to ambush him, the teen dismissed his Keyblade, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Well, Ponyville's safe once again. At least this time, no one got hurt or was in peril!" Sora winced as he heard a crash down the hill, looking down to see the cart he was slammed into smash to pieces. Underneath the debris, he gasped as he saw Big Macintosh lying unconscious, struck by the moving cart. He quickly flew down and pulled the stallion out of the shattered wood, thankful to see he wasn't that badly injured. "I had to open my big mouth."

"Big Mac, I am sooooo sorry," Sora apologized as he, Big Macintosh, and Applejack slowly walked through the orchard. The red earth pony stallion's leg was in a cast, which thankfully was the only injury he took with that cart. Unfortunately, even though he could use Cure magic to heal any injuries, Big Mac didn't want any magical help, preferring to heal the old fashioned way. "Are you sure you don't want me to fix that up for you? It'll only take a second."

"Nope," the stallion said.

"It was an accident, Sora." Even though the Apple family had assured the pegasus several times that it wasn't his fault, he couldn't let it go. Eventually, the trio looked out at the vast apple orchard, the hundreds of acres of trees filled with ripe, juicy fruits of the family's hard work. Today, as the Apple siblings told their helper, was applebucking season, all the apple trees having apples perfect for the picking, being one of their biggest harvest seasons in the year. "We sure do got a lot of work cut out for us."

"I have no idea how you guys can manage to take care of thousands of apple trees with just yourselves," Sora commented. "This looks like a lot even for me to handle on my own."

"Are ya kiddin'? Have ya seen how much ya'll did for us on your first day?" Applejack questioned, both her and her older brother still surprised by his impressive feats. "Ya'll have more strength than any normal earth pony, Sora."

"Maybe, but I'm not exactly a god. I do have my limits, even if I don't show it most of the time." Looking back out at the insane amount of trees just from where they stood on the hill, Sora had no clue how they were going to do this. "Maybe we should get some of the others to help us. Twilight can easily use magic to pick off the apples and give you a good harvest."

Big Macintosh winced, slowly backing away from Applejack as the mare slowly turned her head to look at Sora. "...Are ya sayin' Ah can't do this on mah own?"

"Well, not in one day, but-" The mare pressed her snout against his, leering at him.

"Ya'll sayin' Ah can't do this!?" Applejack questioned, unable to give Sora a chance to answer as she found it as a challenge. "Well, Ah'll show ya and your crazy strength that Ah can do this! Just watch me! Ah'll buck all these trees before the end of the harvest! All by mahself, too! So take the whole week off, Sora, 'cause I can do this better than ya'll!"

Applejack ran down the path and began to take that challenge, leaving Sora and Big Macintosh to watch her up on the hill. Sora turned to look at the stallion, who only shook his head at his little sister's stubbornness.

"...I take it we aren't going to help her until she finally realizes she can't bite than she can chew, huh?" Sora asked.

"Eyup," Big Mac said.

"...Well, what my boss says, I gotta do." Before Sora headed off somewhere to take his vacation days, he looked back at Big Macintosh, summoning his Keyblade. "Are you really sure you don't want me to just cast Cure on you?" The red stallion said nothing and began limping back to the farmhouse, his answer obviously a no. "Guess not..."

Sora sighed in boredom, hanging upside down off the branch of a tree in Ponyville. For his first day on his week-long vacation from working on the farm, it was only a few minutes before he was already too bored to find something to do. Ponies passed by him, not questioning why he was just hanging around, though he had to hide in the branches every so often when he saw any of the mares that had chased him for the Gala tickets the other day. He did not want to get mobbed again, or hit on by ponies. It was bad enough for him to not say his true feelings to Kairi, it was worse when girls from a different world, and a different species, chased after him, whether they were honest about what they think of him or not.

Another boring minute passed, but something finally interesting happened as the ground began to quake. "STAMPEDE!" he heard Rainbow shout from above as everyone in town began to panic and flee into their homes.

Flipping off his branch, Sora quickly ran up to the edge of town to help stop whatever was causing the stampede. He didn't have to do much as he saw a large herd of cows approaching, and Applejack and her dog Winona lead the stampede away from the town. The teen found it odd that she was taking a break from apple bucking to help the town from getting trampled, but at least she was quite dependable, even with her heard work. It also looked like the cows were sentient just like the ponies, seeing the leader of the herd talking to the farm pony.

By the next day, the whole town set up a celebration to commemorate Applejack's bravery for saving Ponyville. Outside town hall, after completely decorated to honor the mare's heroic efforts, everyone waited patiently for the event to start. Twilight stepped up to the podium, a deck of cue cards in her aura as she neatly stacked them together. Sora had to roll his eyes at the unicorn's need for preparation over something this small.

"Welcome, all of Ponyville!" she announced as the crowd quieted down. "Today, we are here to honor a pony we can rely on to help in any matter, big or small...Well, except Sora..." She quietly said that last line, averting her gaze from the stallion standing on the stage with the rest of their friends, though Applejack wasn't here yet. She cleared her throat and suppressed her blush, going over her cue cards. "Anyway, she's a pony who-"

Rainbow Dash suddenly shoved Twilight aside, nearly tossing her cards everywhere. "Did you all see Applejack take care of that stampede!? How awesome was that!? But, during this week, AJ's gonna help me out with a sick trick I got planned, and it's gonna be so awesome!"

While the pegasus mare squished her cheeks at the end of her last line, gushing at how "awesome" her trick was going to be, Sora dragged Rainbow away from the podium for Twilight to finish giving her speech. The unicorn got back in place as she tried to remember where she left off.

"Yes. Thank you, Rainbow Dash. And, furthermore-" Interrupted yet again, this time from Pinkie Pie as she somehow popped up from behind the podium.

"This week, I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time in ever!" Pinkie exclaimed, oblivious to Twilight glaring daggers at the back of her poofy hair.

"And how is that even remotely related to Applejack?" Sora asked.

"Oh. Right. She's gonna help me bake some yummy treats, and we're going to be giving out free samples to everypony in Ponyville!" The crowd cheered, unable to wait for that day to happen.

"Great," Twilight mumbled as the pink pony bounced away. "Now, is there anypony else who has something to say before I get interrupted again?" As soon as she asked, Fluttershy stepped forward.

"Well, umm, Applejack's going to help me this week, counting all of the new baby bunnies that were born this season," the timid pegasus said. "Her herding skills will be very helpful, since they can be a little skittish."

"Ok. Perfect," Twilight said, slowly getting annoyed. "Does anypony else have anything they want to say?" She waited patiently for any other interruptions, seeing no one step forward. "Good. Now, as I was saying..." Soon, the mayor stepped forward, Twilight grunting in frustration as she gave up, tossing her cards. "FORGET IT! I don't know why I bothered wasting my time making this speech!"

Twilight stormed away from the podium as Mayor Mare took her place, sitting next to Sora and pouted. "Next time, short and sweet. Not long and complicated."

"Now, it is with great pleasure to award the Pony of Ponyville Award to our dependable and reliable friend; Applejack!" While the mayor introduced the farm pony, pointing out the gold trophy to the crowd, but Applejack was nowhere to be seen.

"...And she still isn't here yet," Sora said. He soon heard someone out in the crowd, making their way forward. He saw the familiar stetson worn by Applejack as she excused herself while moving through the crowd of ponies. "There she is, finally."

"Sorry Ah'm late, everypony," Applejack said tiredly, yawning every few seconds as she climbed up on the stage. "Thank ya'll for the...award thingie..." As she approached the trophy, she was fixated on her reflection. Sora could see bags under her eyes, the mare not having gotten any sleep at all last night. She began laughing, swaying back in forth as she kept looking at her reflection. "Boy, Ah sure do look funny."

She soon began making noises like a siren would, Pinkie joining her at random and mimicking her dazed actions. While everyone just stared at the tired farm pony, Sora began to worry. She actually worked all day and night yesterday, none of the family having seen her come in at all. Applejack tiredly thanked everyone for her trophy and hauled it back home, irritating everyone's ears with the sound of metal skidding across the ground.

With the award ceremony a failure, Sora headed into the orchard to find Applejack. He found her bucking some trees, though she ended passing out, standing on her hooves. Hovering down to the exhausted mare, he shook her awake, snapping her out of her sleep.

"Applejack, what are you doing?" he asked. "You look like you didn't get any sleep last night. Were you really out here all day?"

"Of course Ah was!" Applejack said. "Ah said Ah was gonna do this on mah own, and Ah'm gonna do it!"

She tried to buck the nearby tree, but she was a few feet away from it, hitting nothing but air as she fell on her stomach. "Yeah. You're too tired to even pay attention to where you're kicking. Look, just head back to the house and take a nap. I'll take care of some trees for you."

"Oh no ya don't!" Applejack shouted. "Ya'll is on paid leave, so ya can't help me!"

"...Since when were you paying me money?" Sora asked. "I'm willingly working on your farm for food and a roof over my head...I'm not complaining about the lack of pay since I earn my own Munny, but since they aren't acceptable in this world...I should ask Celestia if I can exchange Munny for bits."

"Well, go on and do that and leave me to mah work." Applejack continued working, spilling apples from the buckets with an unfocused kick or flopping over when she thinks she's behind a tree.

Sora groaned, shaking his head. As much as he wanted to help, Applejack was just too stubborn to accept help and believes she can do this on her own. She's worse than Rainbow Dash when she tried to accuse him of being evil, but at least he isn't getting attacked by the farm pony.

The next day, Applejack was still working, and she still didn't get any sleep. It was driving the teen nuts, being unable to help when she clearly needs it, and over a stressful harvest season. While still stuck on his vacation days for the week, he just wandered around Ponyville, no Heartless showing up and no letters from Celestia. He was still a little miffed out how cruel her prank was when giving Twilight only two tickets to the Gala, but if this was supposed to teach her a lesson on friendship, she could have given her something else that no one else would go crazy over.

While minding his own business, he thought he heard someone screaming somewhere in Ponyville. He looked to where the sound came from, but found nothing, or saw any threats. His equine ears perked up when he heard the screaming again, and was getting closer and closer. The moment he looked up, he was too late to react in time as he was body slammed hard by Rainbow Dash, almost creating a crater from the impact. The both of them groaned, Sora in more agony than the cyan mare as he was used as a cushion for her crash landing.

"Rainbow...You really need to quit bumping into me like this," the teen weakly said, feeling his spine probably snapped out of place.

"Sorry," she apologized, slowly rolling off of him. "My trick was botched the moment I took off." As Sora got back up, he cracked his spine back into place, going to be feeling a painful bruise later. "Applejack kept messing it up."

"Just what were you doing that made you drop like a two ton weight?" Sora asked, using his magic to heal any pain the both of them were given.

"Well, I made this catapult, where I stand on one end and Applejack jumps off and lands on the other end," Rainbow explained. "With the quick lift off, I would be able to pull off this one trick I want to show to the Wonderbolts. But she kept missing and fell on the ground! Then, she thought just pushing it down as a joke would help, and when she let go, I fell down, unprepared for the takeoff. She finally lands on it, and I was flung up into the air, losing all control...And I think you know what happened next."

"...Right. Applejack. I'm gonna talk to her...I hope." Sora flew off, wincing a little as he began to feel that bruise showing up, far too strong for his own magic to heal, he arrived at the orchard. He found Applejack, still working, smacking herself hard in the head by accident with a low hanging branch. While knocked for a loop, made worse with her insomnia, Sora landed in front of her. "Applejack, we need to talk."

"Ya want to go for a walk!?" Applejack shouted, unable to hear Sora properly with the ringing in her ears. "Go on ahead! Just don't buck any trees!"

"No, Applejack! I said we need to talk!" he exclaimed.

"Of course chickens go 'bawk'! That's how they talk!" Applejack continued trying to work, only to make her trip in her delirious state.

Sora picked the farm mare up and pressed her against the nearby tree before she could hurt herself any further. "I need to speak to you! Read! My! Lips!"

"Kiss you!? Sora, Ah like ya as a friend, but there's no way Ah wanna be in a relationship with ya'll!" Sora facehooved.

"Oh for the love of Kingdom Hearts," he muttered. "You flung Rainbow Dash off a catapult and made her land on me! Hard!"

"...Ah don't need to hear any of that! What ya do with Rainbow Dash should stay private!" Sora gave up, letting Applejack go as she kept interpreting what he said into something else every time he spoke. "Now, if ya'll will excuse me, Ah gotta go meet Pinkie Pie!"

She slammed her head into the same branch before heading into town, dropping some apples she was carrying in one of the buckets she lifted on her back. "This week can't get any worse, can it?"

"...I should really keep my mouth shut and stop tempting fate." Sora stood next to Twilight and Spike as they were called over to the hospital, where an epidemic broke out this morning. Every pony inside was gravely ill, their faces green and vomiting, all of them having some kind of stomach virus. "What the heck happened!?"

"There was a little mishap that lead back to yesterday," the nurse said, a white earth pony mare with pink hair, her cutie mark a big plus sign used to show a building is a hospital. "It turns out that the baked goods given out at Sugarcube Corner as free samples were the problem."

"No. Not baked goods." Pinkie was in one of the beds, another of the unfortunate patients that ate whatever she and Applejack made. "They were...baked bads!"

Her cheeks bulged out as she bent over and threw up in a bucket. "Pinkie, you were baking with Applejack! How could you two mess up a recipe and get almost everypony in town sick!?"

"...I-I don't know...I told Applejack what we needed...She got them, but I don't know what happened." Pinkie collapsed on the bed, rubbing her aching tummy.

Sora found one of the "baked bads" they made, which was a really disgusting looking brown muffin. He took off a chunk of the pastry, finding an earthworm wriggling around inside of it.

"Eww!" Twilight exclaimed. "What kind of pastry requires live worms!?"

"Or more like mistaking words and thinking they're saying something completely different." Sora dropped the muffin, which Spike picked up and examined the odd pastry. "We need to find Applejack. Now."

As Sora flew on ahead to find the insomniac mare, Twilight running on the ground after him, the teen caught sight of something out in the distance, a cloud of dust heading for the town near where Fluttershy's cottage was. Sensing it was another stampede, from either another herd of cattle or some other spooked out creatures, he flew down near the entrance to town with his Keyblade at the ready. Where he expected to see a bigger group of creatures, he instead saw a large group of baby bunnies, scattering away from him and toward the gardens around the ponies' homes, munching on the defenseless flowers and vegetables.

"Oh no! Oh dear!" Fluttershy came flying by, trying to round up all the rabbits to no avail. At least none of them were like Angel, otherwise that would be a dangerous scenario. "Come here, little bunny friends! Oh no no no! Don't eat those! They aren't yours!"

"Fluttershy, what happened?" Sora asked, Twilight catching up to him, confused at seeing all the bunnies hopping around.

"Applejack came over to help me round up the bunnies, but she ended up scaring them," the yellow pegasus explained. "She even brought Winona, which was a bad idea and made them more afraid."

"...Ok. That's it! I'm putting my foot down!" Sora said as he stomped a front hoof to the ground. Leaving Twilight and Fluttershy to deal with rounding up the terrified bunnies, Sora flew over Sweet Apple Acres to find Applejack. He found her kicking the last few apples out of a tree, having cleared out a majority of the trees in the past few days. Landing in front of her, he decided enough was enough and was going to help Applejack, even if she keeps saying no. "Alright, Applejack. This has been getting out of hand!

"First, you shot Rainbow Dash into the air and made her crash onto me, injuring the both of us. Then, you made muffins that got many ponies sick, including Pinkie Pie, who clearly saw you put the ingredients in and didn't even stop you, for some reason. And now you scared a bunch of new bunnies with your herding skills, bringing your dog with you to scare them even more, and are now on a rampage in Ponyville eating everyone's gardens until not a shred of green remains in the soil! You're losing your mind from lack of sleep, and need help!" Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears as Applejack kicked the tree, dropping the last of the apples into the buckets on her sides.

"Hah! Ah did it!" she said, feeling proud of herself. "Ah harvested every apple tree of every apple, without any help! Ah did it all by mahself! How do ya like them apples!?"

Sora looked out at the orchard, still seeing several hundred more trees with apples still on their branches. Applejack wasn't even close to done, having probably harvested not even half of the acres of land they had. He hated to prove her wrong, but she had to realize she was out of it and delusional from lack of sleep and rest. The teen grabbed the mare's cheeks, turning her head to the rest of the orchard.

"How do you like THEM apples?" he said, Applejack's pupils shrinking to pinpricks at the trees still bearing fruit. She stammered and mumbled, panicked, then groaned as she passed out from her exhaustion. Luckily, Sora caught the buckets she was carrying before the apples spilled over, placing them down near the empty tree and waited for the farm mare to wake up. It was only a few minutes, but it was enough to finally give her some sense of thought, the stallion looking down at her. "Yo, AJ. You alright?"

"...No...Ah really can't do it on mah own." Applejack rubbed her tired eyes, succumbing to her exhaustion. "Ah need help."

"And I can find us some help." Sora helped lift Applejack up and carried her on his back, carrying her down to the farmhouse. "You need to take a vacation day, boss. I've got way too much time off and need to come back, otherwise I'll get fired."

"Heh...Can't fire a friend who's always helpful," Applejack mumbled before passing out again.

By the next day, Sora got the others to help Applejack harvest all the apples for applebucking season, and it went by a lot quicker than Applejack's method of challenging herself to do it all on her own. After he put the tired mare in bed, he got another few acres cleared out, only taking breaks when he actually needed them instead of exerting himself until his body begged him to stop. With him and Rainbow flying around the trees, bucking or shaking the apples off the branches, or Twilight using her magic to levitate several acres of apples into the buckets nearby, the others carted the hundreds of buckets of apples back to the barn.

With all the trees finally harvested, everyone headed back to the farmhouse, where Applejack had bottles of freshly squeezed apple juice for them, fully rested after sleeping through the rest of yesterday. "Thanks for the help, everypony. And Sora, ya'll were right."

"Well, you learned your lesson, with some minor casualties to some ponies unfortunate stomachs." Sora gulped down his juice, downing the entire bottle in a few swigs. "Don't be afraid to ask for any help. Even if it might not be dangerous."

"Ah'll keep that in mind," Applejack said.

"Hey, guys! You want lunch!?" Spike asked, carrying an armful of those disgusting muffins Applejack made in her tired, delirious state.

"Spike, I threw those away!" Pinkie said, clinging onto Sora as she hid from the "baked bads" "Where did you get those!?"

"From the trash." The mares were all grossed out, even Sora, as they watched the baby dragon bite down on one of them, unaffected by the horrible concoction of a muffin. "It's really good! Maybe you might like them, Sora."

"Worms are not in my diet! As much as I am a guy, and like to get down and dirty, eating something like THAT is not on my list of things as a male to enjoy!" Spike shrugged and continued eating his "snacks", the ponies all walking away from the baby dragon. "I'm not going to eat anything that looks like a muffin for weeks after seeing what those muffins did."

Finished with his assigned chores for the farm really early today, Sora was by himself in the grassy fields outside Ponyville, doing some training out of boredom. He was in the middle of doing wing-ups, which was a strange workout that actually did wonders for his wings. It didn't help that he had to learn how to preen his wings, a pretty awkward thing to do as a pegasus, but it had to be done if he wanted to fly around.

After doing a few sets, he spotted Rainbow Dash flying into a cloud above him. "Rainbow? What are you doing?"

"Don't tell Pinkie Pie I'm here!" she shouted, quickly hiding her rainbow tail inside the fluffy cloud.

Soon enough, he spotted Pinkie Pie coming up to him, bouncing along in her usual way. "Hi, Sora! Have you seen Dashie anywhere!?"

"Hmm..." While he pretended to think, the teen did want to get back at the pegasus for always crashing into him at any point in the past couple weeks. This was a perfect way to get back at her if she was hiding from the pink menace. "Oh, I don't know. She could be in the 'mile high club'. Her head 'in the clouds'. The 'sky's the limit' with that mare."

"...Uhh...did you see her or no?" Pinkie asked, not getting the hint.

"She's up in the cloud above us," he said, pointing up at the cloud with magenta eyes looking down at them.

"Oh! Why didn't you say so!?" Pinkie pulled out a pair of spring shoes from out of nowhere, putting them on, and bouncing up high to the cloud.

"Sora, you traitor!" Rainbow shouted as she flew away.

Sora laughed as he watched Pinkie bounding away, bouncing up to the sky with her spring shoes. After getting his revenge, and some more training done, he headed into town to grab something to eat. Luckily for him, he was able to get some bits in exchange for his Munny with Princess Celestia, though the exhange rate was pretty low. At least he saved up tons of Munny when fighting Heartless, so whenever he needed bits for anything, he would use his Keyblade to magically send any letters to her for some currency in this world. It took a while for him to figure out how to do this in reverse, but he's a quick learner.

While waiting for his order, sitting at the same restaurant he, Twilight, and Spike went to, Sora watched ponies going about their daily business. As the waiter was about to deliver his meal to him, an odd dish called a hayburger that interested the Keyblade wielder, the employee got distracted by something that flew past his line of sight. While looking away, he didn't see a cyan hoof lift up the top bun, while a pink one dumped spicy hot sauce over the entire sandwich. With the bun set in place, the hooves disappeared, the waiter shrugged his shoulders, and finally dropped Sora's food off.

"Hayburgers...Maybe my taste buds change with each world when I transform," Sora pondered as he eyed the sandwich. "I did have a big craving for raw meat as a lion cub...Oh well. Might as well try."

He took a large bite out of the hayburger, humming in satisfaction as it tasted good, to his surprise. However, his delight soon turned to searing pain as his mouth caught on fire, literally and figuratively. His scream alerted the other patrons as flames spewed out of his mouth. Desperate to quench the burning, he tried to down his drink, only for the liquid to evaporate from the flames. He summoned his Keyblade, aiming the end of it up to his face as he cast a Blizzard spell, his head turning into a block of ice.

With the burning gone, he fell back, shattering the ice as he hit the ground, panting heavily as he lolled his tongue out. He heard snickering, which turned into full-blown laughter, two voices that were familiar to him. Rolling out of a nearby bush was Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, and in the earth pony's hoof was hot sauce. Sora sat up and looked at his food, lifting up the top bun to see the spicy condiment soaking every bit of his sandwich.

"That's what you get for ratting me out, Sora!" Rainbow laughed as she flew off to do some more pranking, Pinkie Pie rolling after her while still laughing.

"So, you want a prank war, huh?" Even though Sora's food was now completely inedible, unless he wanted third degree burns in his mouth, he payed for his food as he began to think of a way to get back at the pranksters. "It's on."

Throughout the whole day, it was a prank war between Sora and Pinkie and Rainbow, and both sides went all out on each other. Sora used his Balloon spell, something new he learned when traveling through the dream worlds, tying a string under them to make them look like unique balloons. He let them be, tied up near a post in the park, and waited as he saw Pinkie and Rainbow walked down with some more prank supplies. Pinkie immediately liked the balloons and took one while Rainbow took another. As soon as they touched the strings, he commanded the spell to hone in on them and pop on contact. They were sent up in the air, hitting the other Balloons until they were completely gone.

As the two mares hit the ground, thankfully not being popped too high, they were stuck in a daze as Sora pranced away with a silly grin on his face. But, he was struck back by another prank, though thankfully not as painful. While wandering by the lake at the park, he spotted a few turtles swimming around, though one of them looked a little off. He regretted getting too close to look at it when the "turtle" squirted water in his face, some of it getting up his nose.

All day, they kept pranking each other, all three of them exhausting their ideas as they leered at each other. Sora was covered in molasses and pillow feathers, looking like a gigantic, four-legged chicken, while Pinkie and Rainbow's manes were swept back, Sora having used his Aero spell that trapped them in a small tornado.

"...Well...I think we can call this a draw?" Sora asked.

"Yes. I agree," Pinkie said. "But boy that was fun! What other magic spells can you use, Sora?"

"Uhh...A lot of different ones. But don't tell Twilight about what I did to you guys, as harmless as they were." Sora tried to scrape off some of the sticky molasses, but it wasn't going to get off without a good cleaning. "She would go nuts and pester me to show her what spells I can cast. And take notes on them."

"Yeah. Maybe we should prank that egghead," Rainbow said. "I got some invisible ink we can replace and make anything she writes down disappear."

"So it's agreed!" Pinkie exclaimed as she put Rainbow's and Sora's hoof together, placing hers on top. "As pranksters, we shall be a team and be known as 'The Three Goofballs'!"

"Well, I'm game. To the Three Goofballs!" Sora cheered, though as they tried to pull their hooves away, they were a little stuck to Sora's from the molasses. "Jeez. How sticky is this stuff?"

"Sticky enough to keep those feathers on you, you big chicken," Rainbow snickered, though found it a little annoying that she and Pinkie were now temporarily connected the the teen's hoof. "Uhh, let's find a lake or something to wash this stuff off."

The next day, Sora was busy watering some of the trees in the orchard. It took a lot of explaining to Applejack why he was covered in feathers yesterday, and it was a pain to have to take out all the feathers out of the tub when he cleaned off whatever he could, but he had a blast. It was like his years as a kid playing with Riku, the two would constantly try to prank one another, though Sora always ended up losing in the end.

After hydrating any of the thirsty trees that needed it, he spotted Rainbow Dash speeding off across the sky, along with something else racing alongside her. Since he was done with his chores for the time being, he flew off after them after dropping the pails he carried back at the barn. He found Rainbow and whoever was flying with her sitting on a nearby cloud, that someone being a creature as mythical as a pegasus or a unicorn to him; a griffon.

It was clearly a female by the look of her, a brown coat for the lion body and white feathers for her head. There was a purple tinge at the end of the feathers that made up her fringe, and she seemed to give a blank stare, almost like someone who doesn't seem to have a care in the world.

"Hey, Sora! Good timing!" Rainbow said as the teen sat down on the cloud with them. "Sora, I want you to meet my best buddy from flight camp when we were little, Gilda! Gilda, this is Sora!"

"'Sup," Gilda said, sounding bored.

"Uhh, hi. First time I've seen a griffon here." He held a hoof out to Gilda, but she didn't reach a talon to return the gesture. "...Uhh, you've never shaken hooves before?"

Before he could get an answer, Sora yelped as he felt something bump his rear, sending him flopping on his stomach. He didn't need to look around for the source of the unexpected surprise as Pinkie's head poked up from the cloud.

"Hi, Sora!" she said, disappearing, then popping back up. "Hey, guys!" Pinkie repeated the process, confusing the trio of flyers at how she was getting up to their height. "It's later!"

Sora peeked over the edge, watching Pinkie bouncing high on a trampoline set up below them. "Well, that explains the lack of those spring shoes from yesterday."

Gilda growled, annoyed by Pinkie Pie as she kept poking her head up through the clouds. "Hey, Dash! First one to that cloud over there wins!"

The two soon sped off, surprising Sora that there was someone else that was able to match Rainbow's speed. "Huh. That was...odd." As he expected Pinkie to pop up under the cloud again, she instead began to rise up into the air, tied together by a large bunch of balloons, again out of nowhere. "Pinkie, how do you find the time to do all that?"

"No time! Must hang out with new friend!" she said as she moved her hooves as if she were swimming in the water.

Sora watched from a distance as Pinkie caught up with Gilda and Rainbow Dash. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but it looked like another race was underway. But as the smoke cloud cleared from both of the racers' takeoff, Gilda still hovered in the air. From the look of her expression, it seemed like she was threatening Pinkie, then began popping her balloons, making the pink pony descend to the ground.

"What the heck is wrong with that griffon?" Deciding to figure out what was going on with Gilda's attitude, Sora hid himself inside the cloud and slowly floated over toward them.

He saw Pinkie Pie, still not giving up, driving some crazy whirligig of a machine, pedaling it to make the rotor spin and ascend her higher into the air. Sora was never going to figure out how Pinkie Pie works, and he should stop questioning everything she does. She soon reached them, surprising Rainbow and Gilda, hovering near the cloud they were sitting on.

"Boy, you two are fast! Good thing I caught up with you!" Again, Gilda was getting really annoyed with Pinkie Pie showing up with her random antics.

"Yeah...Hey, Dash, got any new moves since flight school?" Gilda asked.

"Are you kidding, G? You haven't seen nothing yet!" Rainbow Dash flew off and began pulling off her variety of tricks, but the griffon wasn't paying attention.

"Do you have any idea what 'get lost' means!?" Gilda said to Pinkie, poking the mare in the chest with her claw. "Dash doesn't need to be hanging around with dorks like you and that spiky haired dweeb."

"Wait, how is Sora a dweeb?" Pinkie asked. "He's actually really cool. And funny. And really, really strong!"

"That lanky pegasus barely looks like he eats." Sora didn't appreciate Gilda's insults. How Rainbow Dash was friends with a griffon that was mean to her other friends, he'll never know. If they hadn't seen in each other in a long time and Gilda was actually jealous, he could understand her rudeness. "So how about you and that skinny pony make like a bee and BUZZ OFF!"

Gilda grabbed the propeller of Pinkie's contraption, causing the earth pony to spin rapidly until the entire thing broke to pieces. Pinkie screamed as she plummeted to the ground, with no way of saving herself. Sora quickly flew out of the cloud and grabbed his friend, carefully hovering them back down to the ground.

"Thanks, Sora," she said sadly. "I can't believe how mean Gilda is."

"I saw everything." He looked up at the griffon, watching her fly off with Rainbow Dash. "She could have killed you if I wasn't spying on you guys. And Rainbow Dash has no idea her 'best friend' is insulting her newer friends behind her back. I think the Three Goofballs should get back at the new arrival."

"You're right! And I have the perfect plan!" Pinkie exclaimed. "This calls for extreme measures. Pinkie Pie style!"

"Yeah!" Sora agreed. "Pinkie Pie style!"

"...Pinkie Pie style?" The two were now in Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie waving hi to the ponies invited to the party the mare had set up for Gilda. Everything in the bakery was decorated, unsure if this was a good idea to get back at the griffon. "...Pinkie, are you sure this is going to work?"

"Don't worry your spiky mane, Sora," Pinkie said, patting the teen's head. "Just leave all this to Auntie Pinkie Pie."

"...Uhh, how old are you again?" Sora questioned. "It's hard to tell because your personality is that of a five-year-old."

"Ooh! There's the guest of honor!" Pinkie sped off to the front door as she saw Gilda come in, her tail smacking Sora's face as he spat out some of her hair that got in his mouth.

"More like dishonor," Sora mumbled under his breath. While looking around the bakery, Sora spotted Rainbow Dash meddling with something over at the punch bowl. She suppressed her laughter, having done something, maybe setting up a prank. "Hmm..." He soon heard a zapping sound, turning to the entrance as Pinkie tricked Gilda into shaking her hoof, the party mare wearing a joy buzzer on her outstretched hoof. "Yeah...Time for extreme measures, Sora style."

As the party went on, Sora nonchalantly wandered around, messing with a few other things around the room, hoping Gilda will set them off. Nopony even noticed what he did, but if everything went well, he'll show the rude griffon how much of a dweeb he really was. He grabbed a bowl of lemon drops with his wing and approached the griffon.

She spotted the teen giving her a ridiculous toothy grin on his face, hiding her disdain. "Hey...Uhh, Soda, right?"

"It's Sora, actually. Pinkie and I went through great lengths to give you this awesome party, to show you that Ponyville is a really friendly place." Sora held out the bowl of lemon drops, keeping his happy-go-lucky grin. "How's about a tart lemon drop?"

"Uhh, sure." Gilda took one of the drops and chewed on it.

However, Sora rigged the drops and sprinkled some spicy pepper on them. Gilda felt the burning taste on her tongue, breathing out fire as she searched around for something to douse out the fire in her mouth.

"G, go for the punch!" Rainbow said, grinning madly as her best friend ran for the punch bowl.

Blindly grabbing a glass, Gilda tried to drink it, but didn't notice a small hole in it that caused the punch to spill over her chest. The rest of the partiers laughed at the random pranks the griffon was hit with, Sora grinning as phase one went perfectly. Pinkie grabbed one of the lemon drops Sora held onto, eating it and smacking her lips.

"Oooooh! Pepper in the lemon drops and a dribble glass! That's hilarious!" Pinkie said, unfazed by the spiciness of the sour sweet.

Gilda finally managed to drink something, cooling her mouth as she panted. "Yeah...hilarious. I wonder who came up with that."

"Time for cake!" Pinkie shouted, pulling out a large cake from the kitchen. "Time for the guest of honor to blow out the candles!"

"Alright," Gilda said, approaching the tall cake questionably.

As Sora stood next to a clothed table, summoning his Keyblade and held it in his tail, getting a good aim with it between his legs and clear of anyone else. He waited for the right moment, not to injure the griffon, but to give her a little surprise. She took in a deep breath and blew out the candles, half expecting something to happen, only to grin as they were successfully blown out.

"Fire," he whispered, shooting a small burst of fire at the candles and re-lighting them.

Confused, Gilda blew them out again, only for them to be lit up by Sora again. She kept blowing them out, losing more of her breath as the crowd laughed at the hilarious re-lighting candles prank, even though the candles were actually normal. The griffon began running out of breath, giving up before she fell unconscious.

"Huh. I don't remember putting re-lighting birthday candles on the cake, but that sure was funny!" Pinkie said.

"Oh really?" Gilda looked over at Sora, suppressing her anger with the ponies all around her. He saw her approach him, dismissing his Keyblade as he grabbed some punch. With no one looking at her from the direction she was facing, she dropped her grin and leered at the pegasus. "What are you up to?"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, not hiding his grin.

"Don't mess with me, you scrawny dweeb," she growled, struggling to keep her temper in check. "I'm watching you and that pink dork like a hawk."

"Shouldn't you watch me like a griffon?" Gilda brought her talons up, brandishing her claws, but stopped herself before she caused a scene. "Relax. It's a party. Learn to be 'friendly' and have 'fun'."

Sora took a sip of his punch and walked over to the others, waiting in line to get a slice of cake. Phase two was done, getting her all riled up. Now it was up to the final phase, to get her to show her true colors about her behavior around others when Rainbow wasn't around.

"Time for Pin the Tail on the Pony!" Pinkie announced, grabbing a blindfold and the fake tail. "Who's up first!?"

"I'll go first, Pinkie!" Sora said, approaching his friend.

He saw Gilda stomp over to them, anticipating her to shove into him, and she did, knocking him aside. "I get to go first! I'm the guest of honor, dw-uhh, dude!"

"Oh. That's right," the teen said sarcastically, getting back up and blindfolding the griffon for Pinkie. "How insensitive of me! Let's get you all spun around!" Sora spun Gilda around like a top, disorienting the griffon before bringing her to a complete stop. He gave her the tail, facing her in the right direction. "Now, walk straight ahead and pin the tail."

"'Now, walk straight ahead and pin the tail,'" Gilda mocked. "Yeah right. I'm not stupid. I'm going this way!"

Gilda turned around, heading in the opposite direction. He didn't get to warn her in time as she ended up slipping on some icing someone had dropped, sliding into the box of gifts meant for her. She popped her head up out of the pile, the blindfold got loose and the tail was on her beak.

"Uhh, Gilda? You pinned the tail on the wrong end," Pinkie said, getting the rest of the party to laugh at the griffon's new accessory.

That made Gilda snap, roaring like a lion as she ripped the presents to shreds. "This is your idea of having fun!? I have never in all my life met a bunch of lame-o ponies!" She turned to Pinkie Pie, her pupil shrinking as she glared at her. "And you, Pinkie Pie! Setting up this party with all these lame pranks, thinking you could make me lose my cool!?"

"What? I didn't set up any pranks," Pinkie said innocently.

"Don't you lie to me! You planned all this! I'm done with this stupid town! Dash, let's leave this dumb party! She's got more cool than all of you dorks combined!" Gilda was about to leave the bakery, but Sora barred her path. "Get out of my way, you skinny, spiky-headed dork."

"Well, that's not very nice, calling ponies names and freaking out just because of a few pranks. Quite a coincidence that you ended up getting hit by all the ones I had set up." Gilda's eyes widened, looking back at Pinkie, just as surprised as the rest of the group to hear Sora had set up some pranks for the party. She looked back at the pegasus with a scowl, staring at the goofy, toothy grin he gave her, his forelegs resting behind his head. "You must be pretty unlucky to have been pranked by a 'dweeb', huh?"

"...You..." Gilda growled, grinding her claws into the floorboards as Sora finally made her snap completely, the final phase completed. "You think you're so smart, huh? Well...I'll show you not to mess with a griffon, you puny pegasus!"

Gilda lunged at Sora with an eagle screech, her claws pointed at the teen. He dropped his grin, avoiding her sharp claws and grabbed one of her arms with his hoof. Sora then spun around, bringing the griffon's arm behind her back and slammed her into the wall, holding her in place and surprising her with how strong he really was.

"One little lesson about meeting someone, Gilda; never judge a book by its cover. The same can be said about you, now that you've shown us just how aggressive you can be when you think your best friend's not looking." Gilda tried to break free from Sora's grip, but he was far stronger than he looked, not as scrawny as she imagined him to be. "I set up these pranks to not only give you a good laugh, just to see if you had a sense of humor, but I also did it just to see if you would snap and lash out over these 'lame pranks'."

"You tricked me!" Gilda argued.

"And you almost made Pinkie Pie fall to her death after she wanted to fit in with you and Rainbow Dash!" The whole party gasped in shock, even Rainbow was appalled by this. "If I wasn't around, then I wouldn't have saved her after you broke her machine that got her high off the ground! Pinkie was only being friendly, and you lashed out at her just because she was interrupting your one-on-one time with your friend."

"Yeah," Pinkie said. "I threw this party to get you to turn that frown upside down. And it wasn't nice that you popped my balloons and destroyed my whirligig...I could make another, but that's going to take a lot of filler chapters for that to be done."

"You two made me look like an idiot!" Gilda shouted, still unable to break out of Sora's grip.

"You made yourself look like an idiot." She turned her head to face Rainbow Dash, who looked disappointed at her. "I thought you would like my new friends and get to know them, but instead, you're treating them like manure...If being cool's all you care about, and that pranks are lame, then I suggest you make cooler friends somewhere else. Out of all those pranks Sora laid out, mine was that dribble cup...Guess that makes me lame, too, huh?"

The whole building was silent as they all stared at Gilda. Sora could see that Rainbow Dash was upset and was holding back her sadness, but it was obvious by the sound of her voice. He felt that same way when Riku changed from being manipulated by Maleficent and the darkness he allowed in his heart. It wasn't his fault, and in the end, he managed to save him. But for Rainbow and Gilda, it was a completely different story, where she saw her best friend's true nature when she wasn't around her.

Sora let go of the griffon as she looked at her ex-best friend, stammering as she grew utterly speechless. "...W-Well...Y-You're...You're a flip-flop! Cool one minute, and lame the next! If you want to decide not to hang out with these dweebs, which I know is obviously NEVER, come and find me!"

Gilda stormed out of the building and flew off. The party remained silent as Rainbow Dash stared at the door, where her old friend once stood, a friend who didn't care about her anymore.

"Rainbow Dash?" Sora approached the quiet mare, reaching a hoof out to her.

"I want to be alone," Rainbow said dejectedly, exiting the bakery.

As evening rolled around, the party ended as soon as Rainbow Dash had walked out, everyone present feeling sorry for the pegasus as her friend turned out to be someone she didn't expect her to be. She sat at the edge of her luxurious cloud home, Sora landing on the mare's home as he looked at the cloud building. The architecture was almost like it came from Olympus, a waterfall made out of a liquefied rainbow gently splashing in a small pool of the stuff. He sat down next to her as she was too busy looking out at the stars.

"...Sorry about all that, Rainbow Dash," Sora apologized. "You mad at me for...losing your best friend?"

"...No..." Rainbow sighed sadly. "...I didn't think Gilda actually acted like that...We've been through Junior Speedster's Flight Camp together. She was awesome, and fast like me..." She looked down at the ground, rubbing her forehead. "Now I lost my best friend...She made herself look bad...and humiliating me after I told you and Pinkie how cool she was..."

"I felt the same way with my best friend." Rainbow looked up at Sora, who was looking at her with sympathy. "His name is Riku. Ever since we were little, we've been the best of friends. We pretty much did everything together." Sora held out his hoof, summoning his Keyblade. "Then, when our home was destroyed by the Heartless, we were split up, and I looked everywhere for him...When I finally found him, I was happy, glad to know he was safe.

"But as I met him in other worlds...he began to act strange. He wasn't himself, and I had no idea why he kept saying I abandoned him when I've been searching all over universe for him." He held his weapon in his lap, staring at the blade as memories of his journey flooded back to him like a tidal wave. "That's when I realized why he had changed."

"...The darkness?" Rainbow asked.

"That, and he was lied to by a witch named Maleficent." Just mentioning that name made Sora growl. "She kept feeding him lies about me leaving him for my two other friends, Donald and Goofy. She kept telling him I didn't care about him and our other childhood friend, Kairi. She used him, and he believed her...But, after everything that happened...I still believed I could convince my friend that I did care, that I could save him from the darkness that almost threatened to swallow his heart completely...And I succeeded."

"How does this relate to Gilda ditching me, and almost hurting you and Pinkie?" Rainbow questioned, not following where Sora was going with his story.

"Because I think you and Gilda might make up again some day." Rainbow scoffed and looked away, not believing her old friend could change after what she saw. "Maybe she acted out because she was jealous of us getting in the way of your time hanging out with her. Maybe she doesn't like other ponies. Maybe she's insecure about herself and acts like a jerk to hide her true feelings about losing you as a friend."

"...Yeah, right..." Sora patted the pegasus on the back, forcing her to look back at him.

"You want to let it all out?" he asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Rainbow asked.

"Cry it all out," Sora plainly said, which made Rainbow blanch at his meaning. "You looked like you were about to back at the party, and I thought you might have needed some alone time to let out your sorrow."

"I don't cry," she said, looking away from Sora.

"Oh, come on, Rainbow. I did when I was reunited with Riku after trying to find him after we split up about a year and a half ago! He was so different, but it was really him!" Sora gave Rainbow a grin and shook her. "Come on, let the waterworks factory turn on!"

"Nuh uh! I never cry!" Rainbow said, shoving Sora's hooves away from her. "I'm not a sap like you!"

"Yet this sap can admit he can cry, is a guy, and doesn't care how others think of him if he does shed a tear!" He pounced Rainbow and tried to get her to cry, only to make them laugh as they began wrestling. "Pinkie Pie cries too! We're the Three Goofballs! We pranksters have to stick together, that includes crying!"

"Knock it off, Sora!" Rainbow laughed, her mind brought away from losing her friend thanks to Sora's random goofiness.

Even though she had lost one old friend, Rainbow still had other newer friends to back her up. She did have a little hope that maybe she could make up with Gilda, believing in Sora's words, but it would take a lot of convincing for the griffon to win her back after almost making Pinkie fall to her death and tried to lash out at Sora.

"So, tell me again why I'm your magical test dummy, Twilight?" Sora asked as he stood in the Golden Oak Library, in the home area with Twilight Sparkle and Spike.

"Well, you have magical powers, so you must be resistant to some magical spells. Plus, Spike's needed to cross off the different spells I made." Sora looked over at the baby dragon, waving a piece of chalk around as he stood in front of the chalkboard with a list of magical spells, some of them crossed off from some earlier spells cast on the teen. He looked back at Twilight, who had an excited grin on her face. "And, maybe one day, I'd like to see how different your magic spells are compared to Equestria's."

"Technically, I can't resist magic. I can take some hits from them when my enemies use them against me, but I'm not one hundred percent resistant." Twilight had pulled out some parchment and a quill, writing down what he just told her. Sora sighed, knowing he was going to be pestered about his magical potential continuously by the unicorn. "Just hit me with the next spell already."

"Ok. Now, hold still." Sora did as he was told, remaining standing where he had been since this morning.

Twilight's aura charged around her horn as she readied the spell she was going to cast. She then fired a small beam at Sora, aimed at his face, the glowing light disappearing after a few seconds. A second later, Sora's upper lip began growing a bushy mustache, similar in color to his own hair.

"Number twenty-five, hair growth spell!" Spike said as he crossed off the twenty-fifth spell.

"Yay. That would be useful," Sora said sarcastically, touching the magically enhanced facial hair. "Maybe for someone who's bald, but a mustache? Seriously? It's starting to remind me about that serpent we met in the Everfree Forest with that mustache of his." When he looked up at Twilight, ready to have his new features sheared off, the unicorn blushed slightly, staring at him blankly. "...Twilight?"

"Huh?" She quickly shook her head, snapping out of her daze. "What?"

"Can you get rid of this thing? I'm not a big fan of facial hair," he said, pointing at his fake stache.

"But, I like the mustache..." Twilight looked down at the floor, scuffing her hoof along the wooden floor.

"What was that?" Sora asked, unable to hear what the unicorn whispered.

"Nothing!" She fired another beam at Sora, but with her frazzled nerves, not only did it dispell the magical mustache, it sent the stallion flying off the ground, making him slam into a nearby bookshelf. He slid down to the floor, a couple books falling down from the shelves and dropping on his head. "Oops. Sorry."

"I knew reading was evil, ever since I was little." Another book fell down on his head, making him rub the sore bump he was going to get later.

Sora, Twilight, and Spike wandered around Ponyville after taking a small break from the unicorn's magic casting. Spike kept praising the lavender mare and her magical prowess, but she didn't think she was all that great. Sora had no clue why Twilight would bring herself down like that, knowing more magical spells than he could ever learn. His magic may be unique and from another world, but twenty-five different spells without a single mistake on casting them was amazing. She could give Donald a run for his Munny if they ended up in a magical duel.

"Look out!" Up ahead, they spotted two colts running up to them, though they failed to stop as they ended up bumping into Sora, toppling over on their backs.

One of the colts was a lanky orange unicorn with a green mare, his cutie mark a snail. The others was a shorter, chubby unicorn colt, his color palette similar to the other's, though swapped around, his cutie mark a pair of scissors. Apple Bloom told Sora about these two colts when she got home from school one day, being a couple of the many students in her class that had seen him fight off the Heartless on that rainy day. They were named Snips and Snails, and they were the class goofballs, though more because they aren't the brightest of the bunch.

"Hey! It's the key sword stallion!" Snips exclaimed, both colts getting up and bouncing around. "Have you heard there's a new unicorn in town!?"

"There's a new visitor?" Sora asked. "I didn't think Pinkie threw a party already."

"She's a powerful unicorn wizard!" Snails said as the two colts couldn't contain their excitement. "She's in town square!"

The two unicorn colts ran on ahead, leaving the trio to wonder who this unicorn was. "Whoever this unicorn is, I'm pretty sure they're no match for Twilight."

"Spike, please. Cut it out," Twilight said. "I'm sure there are other unicorns out there that are far more powerful than me. Even Sora is, and he's not a pony."

"I'm more based around physical combat, and I use my magic mostly as an emergency or solve puzzles that require magic in a world," Sora said. "Besides, my best friend Donald's a wizard, and he doesn't know half as much magic as you do."

Twilight blushed at the compliment as they headed for town square. They soon saw a crowd of ponies standing before a collapsible stage that was also a caravan. Sora, Twilight, and Spike gently pushed their way to the front of the stage, where they met up with their other friends who were just as curious as the rest of Ponyville.

"So, who's this new unicorn?" Spike asked.

"Come one! Come all!" a feminine voice announced from behind the blue and starry curtains, which began to rise up as they saw the unicorn Snips and Snails told them about. A light blue unicorn mare, her mane and tail a mix of silver and blue, wearing a purple cloak and wizard's hat patterned with stars all over the two accessories. Sora could see her cutie mark underneath the cloak, a star-tipped wand with a blue crescent moon. "Come and witness the magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie! Witness the Great and Powerful Trixie perform magical feats never witnessed by pony eyes!"

Fireworks soon shot out from behind her, the audience already enthralled with whatever she was about to perform. "She must be a traveling magician," Sora pondered. "Though...she just referred to herself in the third person after introducing herself."

"Behold, Ponyville, as Trixie will weave a tale that is true and displays Trixie's magnificent magical prowess! For the Great and Powerful Trixie has vanquished an ursa major by the power of her magic alone!" The audience gasped, Snips and Snails having shoved their way up to the front, many of the ponies already interested in hearing the story.

"That's impossible," Twilight uttered, Sora's ear perking up as he heard her. "Ursa majors are dangerous...Only Princess Celestia has the power to stop one."

Trixie began using her magic to create a visual image of the "true" story of how she vanquished the ursa major. "The ursa major had went on a rampage, the ponies of Hoofington had no means of protecting themselves from the dreaded beast. But, the Great and Powerful Trixie had arrived, hearing the ponies' pleas, and used her magic to banish the ursa back to the Everfree Forest from whence it came!"

"Hoofington's nowhere near the Everfree Forest," Sora heard Rainbow mutter to the others. "Her story makes no sense."

Trixie had heard her, her spell showing her story disappeared as she leered at the front row. "Does Trixie hear a neighsayer in the crowd? Do you doubt the Great and Powerful Trixie's power!? Do you dare challenge Trixie's magic!?"

"We don't!" Snips exclaimed, trying to climb up on the stage to better see the mare.

"Yeah! Trixie's the most talented, most magical, and awesomest unicorn in Ponyville!" Snails announced as the two colts boosted Trixie's ego.

"No! In Equestria!" Snips added, falling back on his rump.

"Yes, yes, it is all true," Trixie said, ignorant of the glares given to her by Rainbow Dash and Applejack, already despising her gloating. "And if none of you believe Trixie, then I challenge anypony here in Ponyville! Anything you can do, I can do better. Who wants to face Trixie first?"

"Anything, huh?" Sora asked. Before Rainbow Dash could jump up there to challenge the magician, Sora flapped his wings and hovered before Trixie. "I'll face you, Great and Powerful Trixie."

"Well, well, well. A skinny pegasus as Trixie's first challenger?" Trixie questioned as she chuckled. "What exactly do you wish to give the Great and Powerful Trixie that you can do?"

"Well, for one, Sora find's Trixie's third-person speaking to get on Sora's nerves very much." The audience laughed as he poked fun at the unicorn's speech, which got her to growl at him. "But that's not really a challenge. But, you did say anything I could do, you could do better, right?"

"...Yes. Anything from magic to physical feats, Trixie can outmatch you." Sora grinned as he had a perfect challenge for her.

"Ok. Then I challenge you, Trixie...to a sword duel!" Trixe's smug grin turned into a shocked frown, the audience curious to see how this would go. Many of the ponies know about his feats saving Rainbow Dash and the school from the Heartless, but only through the words of the foals. "Not with real swords, though. Just a friendly duel. Anyone got some wooden swords!?"

"...T-Trixie has fake swords," the magician said, using her magic to levitate a couple of wooden swords out from behind her stage.

"Must be for those tricks when someone jumps in a barrel or box and you 'stab' them through holes, making it look like you're killing them when they're perfectly safe. I love that trick. So suspenseful and scary." Trixie threw the sword at Sora, quickly catching it with his mouth. "Ok, let's make this a ten point match. First to hit their opponent ten times, in any way with their sword, wins the challenge. And to make it fair, I'll allow you to use magic."

"Fair?" Trixie questioned. "That is not considered fair! You are giving Trixie a handicap!"

"So, you're not all Great and Powerful?" Sora goaded, crouching low as he prepared to duel the mare.

"...More like you have only made Trixie prove herself already." Trixie held the sword in her blue aura, already feeling cocky with the advantage to use magic to aid her in this challenge.

"Ladies first," Sora said, giving the unicorn the first strike.

"Thank you...for letting me win!" Trixie swung her fake weapon Sora with blind fury, easily getting the points she needed to best the pegasus.

Unfortunately, the teen was far better than she expected him to be, dodging her quick stabs and parrying them with his own wooden weapon. Trixie stopped her barrage as she witnessed his flexible dodges, the crowd cheering for Sora as he got out of her attack unharmed. As cocky as the teen may be, he knows he has the skills to prove he was an expert at this sort of thing, giving the audience a bow as they applauded.

"Thank you, Ponyville! But the show's just getting started!" He turned back to the still shocked magician, twirling his sword in his mouth. "My turn."

Trixie blinked, and immediately flinched when she opened her eyes, Sora now standing in front of her. He tapped her on the head with his sword, earning one point. Pinkie in the crowd pulled out a board with two pins on it, Sora's name over one and Trixie's, which was instead named "Ego Boaster Meanie Pants", the party pony placing a slab with the number one on it under Sora's name.

Sora grinned, keeping his sword in his mouth, annoying Trixie. She slashed at him, only for him to sidestep out of her strikes, keeping his eyes closed and further agitating her. After another failed strike, Sora parried and poked the mare in the chest three times, the score now 4-0.

"Let Trixie hit you!" the magician shouted, swinging wildly as he avoided her and managed to get a couple more light taps on her.

"Trixie needs to stop speaking to Sora like Trixie is in a storybook!" Sora countered as he flipped over Trixie.

With another couple pokes on her neck and back, landing directly behind her. He then pulled his weapon back and smacked her in the flank with the blunt side of the sword, making her yelp and leap away from the teen with a bright red blush on her cheeks. The crowd laughed at her embarrassment, which only angered Trixie more as the audience had watched her get spanked by the pegasus that challenged her, taking her spotlight and humiliating her in her public.

Desperate to at least get one hit one him, the magician shot her sword at him like an arrow. He was distracted by his showboating. She would get one free hit off of him. Her desperation attempt failed as Sora turned to her and flipped backwards, her wooden sword barely touching his belly. Before he landed, he grabbed the wooden hilt with his tail, taking Trixie's tossed weapon and grabbing it with a forehoof, now wielding two weapons. Flapping his wings, he rushed at the unicorn, Trixie flinching as she was about to get struck hard, only to feel both the swords press against her neck.

"And that's ten." She opened her eyes, staring at the toothy grin Sora wore on his face. He dropped the swords, victorious as the ponies applauded and cheered for the stallion. "Thank you! Thank you! You've been a wonderful audience!"

Out of all the ponies who cheered, Snips and Snails weren't as they expected the Great and Powerful Trixie to win. Trixie, however, was furious. While he was too busy bowing, she tossed Sora off her stage, making him fall to the ground.

"Trixie has been tricked! Trixie has been dueling with...a spy! From Princess Celestia's royal guard!" Trixie exclaimed, trying to play off the fact she was bested because of Sora's supposed occupation. "Trixie has been hussled!"

Sora sat up, brushing some dirt out of his hair as he looked up at the sore loser of a magician. "Actually, Trixie, you said anything I could do, you could do better. I chose swordplay, and I am really good at it. You claimed you could best me, when everyone in Ponyville knows how good I am, and uhh...What's the score again?"

"Ten to zero!" Pinkie exclaimed, holding up the wooden board. "And we do know how good Sora is! He saved Dashie from crashing, stopped evil black thingies, stronger than he looks for being so scrawny!"

"And I won against a pony who could do anything better than me. Sorry, Trixie, guess you can't win them all, huh?" As Sora shrugged, Trixie threw one of the wooden swords at him, smacking him in the face with it.

"Trixie's show is over! All of you leave!" Trixie disappeared behind the curtains as the stage merged back with the caravan, her show over as some of the ponies were a little disappointed that it ended from her frustrated loss.

As the crowd disperesed, Sora rubbed his sore head, picking up the toy sword. "Cool. I got a souvenir." The angry magician poked her head out of her wagon, snatching her sword back and slamming the door to her caravan. "...I lost my souvenir. Aww."

"Sora, that was awesome!" Rainbow shouted. "You showed her a thing or two!"

"Ah think it would have been more fair if ya went easy on her," Applejack said. "And ya didn't have to show off like that."

"Are you kidding, AJ!? He deserves to! I mean, come on, he's helped us find the Elements of Harmony and fights off those Heartless things!" Rainbow slapped the teen on the back. "But he's not as awesome as me. I'm way more awesome."

"Uh huh," Sora said, rolling his eyes. "But don't take it out on Trixie. She's a performer. She's kinda supposed to show off and be entertaining...I mean, sure, whatever she says is probably false, but I went up there to entertain her, and also prove her that I'm more than what I appear to be. Besides, if you or Applejack got up there, it wouldn't really help that much if you tried to showboat the showboater."

Twilight wilted at Sora's words. With how her friends had reacted to Trixie's gloating and claims of being powerful, she feared they would have done the same to her with her magical feats. Applejack and Rainbow bowed their heads, giving Sora an apologetic look.

"Well, that sure was a fun fight, even though Sora only kept getting points," Pinkie said as she bounced next to the teen. "You guys should have a magical duel! That'd be more fun!"

"If she does have magical potential, then I think she should duel Twilight. I mean, earlier today, she cast at least twen-" Sora's lips were suddenly sealed shut by a zipper that appeared on his mouth, silencing him.

"Ha ha ha ha! Sora! You're so funny!" Twilight said, trying not to sound suspicious. "I mean, me? In a duel? Of magic!? Ha ha! I'm not powerful at all! Just a normal unicorn! Come on, let's head back to the library and get you caught up with how Equestria works! Got a lot of studying to do!"

Twilight then dragged Sora by his jacket, confusing the stallion as well as the others. While the unicorn dragged the Keyblade wielder back to the library, Spike hurrying after them, Snips and Snails watched as they tried to figure out a way to help their unicorn idol.

"That wasn't fair at all," Snips said. "He chose the wrong challenge when fighting the Great and Powerful Trixie."

"Uhh, yeah!" Snails agreed. "We need to find something for the Great and Powerful Trixie to do that he can't...But what, though?"

"Hmmm...Wait...I think I got an idea," Snips said as he pulled his lanky friend's head down to his height, whispering his plan.

"Ohhhhhhh. Yeah! Yeah! That'll work!" The two unicorn colts ran off somewhere to execute their plan to bring Trixie back in the spotlight.

Sora sat in a chair, staring blankly at Twilight as she began setting up the many different books on Equestria she was able to find in the library. Books on the world's history, important figures of the past, magic spells, geographical locations, and many other things. And while he waited for her to finally stop, he couldn't voice out any complaints with her "zip-lip" spell, as he calls it, still attached on his mouth. The unicorn finally gathered all the unnecessary books she grabbed for his "study session".

"Ok, I think that's about everything!" Twilight said as she sat in front of the temporarily mute teen, holding one of the books from the several stacks she had next to her. "Now, let's talk about the history of Equestria." She smiled, acting oblivious as she opened the book up to a random chapter. "How about we start with-"

"Twilight, I think Sora has something to say," Spike said, both males finding her behavior suspicious.

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked.

"Just take off spell number seven on him." The unicorn winced, reluctantly freeing Sora from his silence, unzipping his lips as it disappeared.

"You may number those things, but I'm gonna call that the 'lip-zip'." Sora got up from his seat and gently took the book away from Twilight. "Why did you cut me off earlier?"

"I-I don't know what you mean." Twilight tried to grab another book, but Sora stopped her from avoiding the subject.

"Yes you do. You stopped me from telling the others how good you are with your magic." Twilight's ears drooped, looking away from the pegasus. "Why don't you want them to know? You're amazing!...Even though you used one of those spells on me to shut me up."

"...I don't want to be a showoff..." Tears welled up in Twilight's eyes, still looking away from Sora. "I don't want our friends to hate me...Trixie tried to prove she was better than everypony else, and nopony liked her..."

Twilight sniffled, her tears starting to roll down her cheeks. Sora now realized why she was acting so strangely. She was afraid of losing her best friends because she believed that if she showed any of her magical spells to them, she would immediately be hated by them. She was Celestia's personal student, intelligent and quite powerful, but from her lack of making any friends in her youth, she never knew about what expectations her friends were supposed to make. And after seeing how freaked out she was when the girls pestered her over the Gala tickets, she was clueless to how they don't care about what she does as long as she didn't behave like Trixie.

He quickly pulled the unicorn into his forelegs, hugging her tightly and stopping her from getting too upset. "Twilight, no one's gonna think you're a showoff." Sora didn't notice the growing blush on Twilight's face while he hugged her. "Just because you know a lot of magic spells, it doesn't mean that when you show them to anyone else doesn't mean they'll hate you. Trixie isn't liked because she kept bragging about how good she was, saying she's better than anyone else. You saw how I proved her wrong when she clearly said I couldn't beat her at what I'm good at."

"Sora's right, Twilight," Spike said as Sora let go, the unicorn keeping her blushing face out of his sight, though she was listening to him. "You could have easily one-upped Trixie with the magic you knew. If the others tried to challenge her, and they failed, you would be using your magic to defend them and prove to her you were the better unicorn."

"Exactly!" Sora agreed. "Your friends aren't going to abandon you that quickly. I mean, I was your test dummy for those spells, and I'm one of your friends. Do I hate you for learning a new spell you wanted to try out?"

"...N-No..." Twilight slowly looked up at him, her cheeks glowing more as she looked in his eyes. "...No, you don't."

"Right." Sora dug through his pouch and pulled out an Elven Bandanna, one of many different kinds of accessories the teen had made in the past as a bit of extra defense for when he fights the Heartless. He dried away Twilight's tears with it, hating to see someone with eyes bigger than their head cry. "Your friends wouldn't even be considered friends if they don't care about what you do. That's why I make hundreds of them."

Twilight couldn't help but giggle, feeling a little better with his strong wisdom of friendship over her slowly growing knowledge. "You're so weird."

"And don't you forget it." Sora placed the old bandanna in the unicorn's hoof. "If you ever feel like you need to talk to someone about anything, you can come to me. Don't bottle your feelings, otherwise it'll just get worse." He then pointed his hoof at his head, mimicking something an enemy-turned-friend does and says. "Got it memorized?"

"Mhmm. I got it," she said, nodding her head.

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I better head back to Sweet Apple Acres and get started on the chores you dragged me away from." Sora saluted to the mare, patted Spike on the head, and made his way back to the farm to help Applejack before he got into trouble for slacking off.

"Well, it's a good thing you got somepony else who's able to keep you in check, huh, Twilight?" Spike asked, but received no answer from the unicorn. The baby dragon turned to look at her, staring at the doorway, clutching the bandanna to her chest. Her cheeks blushed heavily, but Spike had no clue if the mare was sick with her face being so red. "Uhh, Twilight? You ok?"

"I think I'm gonna...study," Twilight mumbled grabbing a random book, not from the pile she left behind, and headed upstairs to her room.

"She's been acting so weird ever since they got back after finding the Elements of Harmony." Spike sighed as he began to put the books back up on the shelves.

It was late in the evening as many ponies were getting ready for bed. Trixie, in her caravan, was still fuming, her humiliating defeat against Sora lingering in her mind. She stared at the wooden swords they used, growling angrily.

"I can't believe he actually beat me...Some scrawny pegasus colt, somehow able to move faster than I can blink!" Trixie shoved the swords into the holes of a box for one of her tricks, one that Sora had mentioned before their duel. "I can't even show my face in this town after he slapped my hindquarters like that, in front of all those ponies! Toying around with me like a stupid, ignorant foal."

Before she could get to bed, she heard some kind of commotion outside, along with an annoying thud that felt like several miniature quakes. Someone began knocking on the door to her caravan, groaning in annoyance at the insane ponies that want to disturb someone this late at night. She opened the door, finding the two unicorn colts who had admired her in some kind of panic, though they were also excited.

"Oh Great and Powerful Trixie!" Snips said. "You must help us!"

"Yeah! We got a big problem!" Snails added. "Really big!"

"Do you two have any idea what time it-" Suddenly, a very large paw stomped down in her line of sight, the fur blue and filled with stars, almost like whatever the creature was came from the night sky itself. "-...is?" She slowly looked up and stared at the menacing red eyes of a large bear, the dangerous beast growling as it bared its fangs. "...U-U-U-Ursa m-m-major! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Trixie fled, Snips and Snails following after her, the giant ursa slamming its paw down on the magicians's caravan, shattering it to pieces. As they ran close to the Golden Oak Library, Twilight opened up the window to her balcony, wondering what the noise was. She gasped when she saw the living constellation pass by, chasing after Trixie, Snips, and Snails.

"Oh no. I need to get Sora!" Twilight built up magic in her horn, attempting to teleport herself to the farm to get Sora quickly and return back to the center of town. As soon as stored enough, she cast the spell, successfully appearing in front of the farmhouse. "Sora!" Twilight knocked on the door, hearing Winona barking at the sudden intruder in the middle of the night. "Sora! Applejack! Somepony!"

Sora opened the door, almost bumping into the lavender unicorn, the rest of the Apple family slowly stirring awake as the pegasus tried to keep Winona from leaving the house. "Twilight, what's going on!?"

"No time to explain!" Twilight touched Sora with her hoof and teleported the both of them to the square.

As soon as they had arrived, the teen felt delirious, having felt his body somehow turn inside out and upside down while going through the process of Equestria's style of teleportation. "Ooooook...I have a strong stomach, but warn me next time you do that." Sora shook his head, the nausea finally going away as he looked around Ponyville. "So, what exactly is it that-" They soon heard a scream as Trixie ran past them, Snips and Snails running as well in a panic, and the one thing that made the teen's eyes widen in shock was a giant bear made of stars stomp past them. "...Nevermind. I see why you needed me...What is that, exactly?"

"It's an ursa minor," Twilight said.

"...'Minor'?" Sora gently tapped the unicorn's head, pressing his ear against her head. "Did you put your brain in this evening? Because that looks more major than minor."

"Sora, just help them!" Twilight shouted, slightly annoyed at the stallion's goofiness in a situation like this. "I think I know how to stop it, but I need you to buy me some time!"

"Can do!" Sora flew off and chased after the ursa.

While being chased, Trixie, Snips, and Snails were cornered as the giant, starry bear growled at them. The two colts pushed the magician forward, looking back at them like they were insane.

"You can do it, Great and Powerful Trixie!" Snails cheered.

"Yeah! Show Sora you can take down an ursa major better than he can take out those black monsters!" Snips added, the mention of black monsters confusing the mare.

"What!? You idiots brought that ursa major here to see me vanquish it!?" The two colts nodded in excitement. "...Are you two daft!? I'm an entertainer, not a warrior! I've never beaten an ursa major! Nopony has!"

"B-But you said in your story-" Snips was immediately interrupted, scared out of his mind as the ursa roared at them, sending the unicorns tumbling into the wall of a building.

"It was all just a story to gain your attention! It was just for entertainment purposes, and you two dunces have gotten all of us killed!" The ursa lunged at them, all three ponies screaming in terror as they were about to get eaten.

Sora quickly flew in, summoning his Keyblade, holding it vertically and shoved it in the bear's mouth, blocking its jaws from snapping down on them. He clung onto his weapon tightly as the living constellation shook its head, trying to get rid of the obstructing blade keeping its jaws open.

"I am so glad you don't have three heads! Or are a dog! Or both!" While clinging onto his weapon and avoiding the ursa's paws the tried to swipe him off, Sora spotted Twilight behind the enraged bear, her horn glowing brightly. "Twilight, anytime you feel like helping! I can't distract him for much longer!"

Luckily, he didn't have to distract the ursa for long as they began to hear music being played from the cattails growing in Ponyville Park's lake. The music was soothing and it began to calm the ursa. Ceasing its struggles, Sora dismissed his Keyblade, letting its jaws close as he flew away, watching Twilight's aura go crazy as she went all out on the spells she was casting. Everyone who had heard the bear's rampage saw the unicorn work her magic, lifting the tired, heavy ursa with levitation.

Sora heard something metallic being lifted up in the distance, Twilight "borrowing" the water tower nearby and hovering it over to a large barn, not from Sweet Apple Acres. He then heard surprised mooing from the barn as it passed through, being filled to the brim with milk as it came out the other side. She gave the makeshift bottle to the ursa, which instinctively took it and began sucking out the milk, almost like it was a baby. After another exerting grunt from Twilight, the living constellation was levitated over the town and toward the Everfree Forest, where Sora could faintly see it disappear through the trees and into a cave.

With the ursa now back in its den, Twilight stopped her spells, heavily exhausted, her hooves dug deep into the earth from the powerful aura she had released. Her legs gave out as she collapsed, Sora quickly swooping in and catching her before she hit the ground. The unicorn slowly opened her eyes, feeling a little groggy.

"How'd I do?" she asked.

"That...was pretty cool." Sora dug through his pouch and pulled out a bottle filled with blue liquid. "This should give you some of your magic back. At least, I hope it does."

Expecting to drink the potion, she watched as Sora tossed it up in the air, disappearing above him as the blue energy appeared around her. The liquid, having turned into powder, was absorbed into her body, regenerating a little of her mana, keeping her from passing out.

"...Wow..." As fascinated as she was, wanting to know more about Sora's otherworldly magic and this strange potion he gave her, they heard all of Ponyville cheering for the two, dealing with the threat that nearly destroyed their home.

Trixie was in utter shock, her jaw dropped as she saw how powerful Twilight was. "Impossible...She actually beat an ursa major?" While Twilight's friends crowded around her and Sora, Trixie had to know how somepony like her beat something so dangerous. "How did you do that!? Nopony can stop an ursa major!"

"That wasn't an ursa major. It was an ursa minor. A baby." That was a shock to everyone, especially Trixie. "Seemed like somepony woke it up and made it go on a rampage because it was cranky."

Snips and Snails gave each other a worried look, slowly slinking back into the crowd. Trixie broke out of her dumbfounded daze, looking around at everyone.

"...W-Well, you and him may have stopped that ursa minor, but you have not bested an ursa major like I have!" Sora just sighed and shook his head as Trixie still wanted to prove she was better, even after getting beaten by Sora in a duel and running for her life from the ursa minor. "You have not seen the last of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

The unicorn stomped her hooves to the ground as a cloud of smoke appeared around her. As it cleared, she was able to be seen running out of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was about to fly after her, only for Sora to stomp on the pegasus's tail with his hoof.

"Just let her go. She's not hurting anyone." From his peripherals, he spotted the two colts that praised Trixie slowly backing away from the crowd. He could see the guilty look on their faces, being the true culprits bringing the ursa to Ponyville. "Snips! Snails! Get over here!"

The colts flinched, quickly approached the teen as everyone knew they were in a lot of trouble. "Y-Yes, S-Sora?"

"You two brought the ursa minor here to Ponyville so you could see Trixie stop it, right?" he asked, the colts both nodding their heads. "Well, hopefully you two will learn not to believe every single story you hear. You're lucky Twilight and I took care of the ursa with no casualties and little collateral damage."

"We're sorry," Snails said.

"Yeah. Sorry," Snips said.

"Hmm..." Sora crossed his forehooves and closed his eyes in thought. He needed to think of a good punishment for these two, though since they were just kids, he didn't want to get too severe. "...Alright. I think a punishment is in order. Tomorrow morning, you're going to be cleaning up the mess the ursa left behind. I'll be watching you two, so don't try to slack off."

"Yes, sir," they both said, understanding what they did was wrong.

"Good. Now, head home. Get to bed. And meet me in front of town square at dawn." The two colts groaned, not wanting to wake up so early. "No complaining or I'll have you run laps around Ponyville!"

After knowing the dangerously cranky ursa minor was now safely back home, everyone headed back for their homes to finally get some sleep. Sora escorted Twilight back to the library, still feeling a little tired after using so much magical power to do all those spells to lull the bear back to sleep.

"Sora, what was that potion you gave me?" Twilight asked.

"It's an ether. I sometimes use those in case I run out of magic myself, but I usually wait until my mana recharges itself." They soon arrived at the library, Spike thankfully haven't been woken up by the stomping quakes of the rampaging ursa. "Well, at least another eventful evening has passed. And I told you the others wouldn't shut you out after saving Ponyville with your powerful magic."

"You're right...I'm still not used to how friendship is supposed to be," Twilight said, looking down at the ground. "I mean, there weren't any books that helped me out that much in the library."

"You don't need a book to tell you how to make friends," Sora chuckled, patting Twilight's shoulder. "It comes naturally. You just need a push in the right direction, learn a little from any small mistakes, but don't try to make everything in a relationship perfect. I mean, if we were all the same-" Sora messed with his spiky mane, slicking it back to make it look like it was straight from the front, staring at the unicorn with a bored look. "-then we would look and sound like this. Dull. Boring boring, droll. Humbug and blasphemy."

Twilight couldn't help but laugh at the way he talked and looked. "You are the weirdest stallion I've ever met." Sora gave her his signature toothy grin, his hair fixed back to his messy, spiky style. "...I'm really glad you came to this world. And...thanks...for being there for me."

"Anytime, Twilight," he said. "And remember. You need to talk, just come and find me. I'm all ears." Sora wiggled his equine ears, emphasizing his point, making Twilight giggle again. "I'd better get some rest. Gotta wake up bright and early for those two colts. Have a good night, Twi."

"You too." Sora headed back to Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight watching him leave until he was out of sight.

Sighing, the lavender mare headed upstairs and entered her room. Spike was fast asleep, snoring away in his little bed, a pretty heavy sleeper. She was surprised he didn't wake up when the ursa came into town, but she dismissed it as she crawled into her bed. Tucking herself in, she looked over at her side table, where the book she had taken earlier and the bandanna Sora gave her rested. The book was titled "How to Tell Your Crush has a Crush on You". She just randomly picked it up while lost in a daze, not even paying attention to what the words were on the pages.

She levitated the red and copper cloth, holding it close to her. The fabric was soft, made out of some unknown material that was comfortable. Her heart raced as her cheeks turned pink, slowly succumbing to her exhaustion and fell asleep, her hoof keeping the bandanna against her heart.

Since things had been pretty calm since the ursa minor came into Ponyville, nothing much had gone on. There was an incident involving a dragon that was snoring out smoke on a mountain cave not too far from the town, but the girls had taken care of the matter, Celestia ordering Sora to stay put and let them settle this matter peacefully. He was a bit on edge, not knowing if Heartless would have shown up on their way up the mountain trail, but thankfully there were none. They came back safely, and the dragon had left its roost on the mountain to find a new place to sleep.

To his surprise, Fluttershy was the pony who actually got the dragon to leave. Twilight tried reasoning, but that only got her to breathe in a lungful of smoke. Rarity tried using her charms, which was strange, but she flattered a sea serpent back in the Everfree Forest. Pinkie tried...being herself, and that failed. And Rainbow decided brute force would be a good idea. Against a dragon. That was at least twenty times bigger than her. Sora planned on giving Rainbow some lessons about self-control if she was going to flip her lid and think punching or tackling something would solve all their problems.

Today, everyone in Ponyville was busy cleaning up the trees around the town. There was going to be a terrible storm that'll rain down later this afternoon, and it was going to be worse than any storm the teen had ever been in. They had to make up for the lack of rain the past week, and before the storm starts, everyone had to get rid of the loose branches in the trees before they could get picked up and cause some serious damage to anyone's houses.

Sora was tasked with taking off the branches in the park, along with Rarity and Applejack. The only problem was Rarity kept trying to fix the trees, making them look better than thinking about everyone else's safety. The trio managed to get the branches off just in time as the heavy downpour began to rain down on Ponyville.

"Darn it! Bad timing for it to start raining now!" Sora said, getting completely soaked.

"Oh no! My mane! It's going to get ruined!" Rarity complained.

"Rarity, if ya didn't go and keep fixin' the branches when they should have been taken down, then ya wouldn't have to worry about your hair!" Applejack shouted, getting annoyed with the unicorn's constant nuisances clearing the trees.

"Sora! Rarity! Applejack!" The trio looked over to the Golden Oak Library, spotting Twilight ushering them over. "Hurry! Get inside!"

Not needing to be told twice, the drenched ponies quickly ran to the library, rushing inside to get out of the rain. Twilight levitated some towels to them, drying themselves off before they caught a cold.

"Yeah. You guys have a great system for the weather," Sora said sarcastically, taking off his soaked jacket and shirt. "Let's control it and make it rain on this day, or on some other week. I kinda miss the random weather I know back home."

"Ah'd rather have weather that can be controlled than have a random storm come out of nowhere," Applejack said, wringing out her soaked hat.

"Well, since the storm is going to last until tomorrow morning, you three might as well stay here for the day," Twilight suggested. "Spike's up in Canterlot for the next couple days, so I was going to be alone. But now I've got company." The lavender unicorn suddenly gasped, running over to one of the nearby bookshelves and pulled out a book from the shelves. "This is perfect! We can have a slumber party!"

"Slumber party?" Sora asked.

"Yes!" Twilight held out the book to the three confused pony guests. "'Slumber 101: All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties But Were Afraid to Ask'! I've always wanted to have a slumber party when I was little, but I never had the time! And today's the perfect opportunity to have my very first one ever!"

While Twilight was beaming, her eyes literally sparkling at the idea of a sleepover, Sora took the book and opened it. His eyes widened as he read the table of contents, which literally went through a step by step process of having a slumber party. Applejack and Rarity saw it too as the three of them looked at each other in nervousness.

"...Well, Twilight, darling...A slumber party sounds...fun and all, but...well..." Rarity tried to find the words to let Twilight down easy, but was unable to say anything.

"It's just that...slumber parties are mostly for fillies," Applejack continued for the white unicorn. "Plus, Sora's here, so Ah don't think he would like it all that much."

"Hey, I had sleepovers with my friend Riku when we were kids!" Sora argued. "We stayed over at each other's houses on the weekends! The only difference is that we did boy stuff."

"Then it can be co-ed!" Twilight said, snatching the book back. "This is gonna be so much fun!" She looked through the contents, unable to find anything that would involve Sora in any of the activities inside, all of them mostly girly things. "Hmm...If only this thing was a co-ed edition...Maybe there's one on the shelves I overlooked."

Sora facehooved, approaching the nerdy unicorn and snatching the book away. "Ok, Twilight, one thing you must know is that books can never really give you every answer you need. And a book on how to throw a slumber party..." He tossed the book aside, ignoring the shocked look on Twilight's face. "That's just ridiculous."

"That's the library's book!" she yelled.

"Twi, head out of the evil books," Sora said, gently patting her cheeks to get her to focus on him. "If we're going to make this a fun sleepover, then we're gonna do it without instructions. Right, Rarity? Applejack?" He turned around to look at them, giving them a look that said, "Play along and don't mess it up."

"Y-Yes!" Rarity exclaimed. "We'll make sure your first slumber party goes through without any trouble!"

"Right!" Applejack chuckled nervously, all three of them going to have a pretty awkward evening together.

"Alright! Now, let's see what we can do first." As Sora turned back to look at Twilight, his hooves still pressed against her cheeks, her face was bright red, feeling his strong, yet gentle hooves on her face. "...Uhh, you ok, Twilight?"

"...I think I hear my laundry upstairs. Excuse me!" Twilight immediately bolted up the stairs, Sora, Rarity, and Applejack hearing her bedroom door slam shut.

"...Ok...?" Sora looked back at the other two mares, both of them shrugging their shoulders, having no clue what happened to Twilight either.

First up on Sora's mental list for Twilight's first sleepover was something that all of them could play; Truth or Dare. Though he never really played this game all that much with Riku, or Kairi whenever she wanted to join in, he mostly got involved with doing any stupid dare their young minds could think up. The rules were pretty simple for Twilight to follow once she came back downstairs after doing her laundry, which he doubted she had since many ponies don't wear clothes.

"Alright, Truth or Dare, Applejack," Sora said, starting the game off first.

"Dare me," the farm mare challenged.

"I dare you to hop around the room on one leg! You fall over or land on any other limb, you're gonna have to start over!" Applejack gulped, unsure if she could do something like that. "You've got a minute, starting now!"

Applejack managed to do the dare, looking a bit silly as she hopped around on one of her hind legs while trying to stay balanced. Rarity and Sora heckled the earth pony to get her to slip up and start over, but she succeeded, sitting back down with the group.

"Ok, mah turn. Rarity, Truth or Dare?" Applejack asked.

"I'm going with Truth," the white unicorn answered.

"Have ya done anythin' in your life where ya got filthy, and loved it?" she asked.

"Absolutely not!" Rarity received looks from both Applejack and Sora, knowing she wasn't being completely honest. And with Applejack as the Element of Honesty, there was no way anyone could hide anything from her eyes and ears. The unicorn eventually broke and gave a truthful answer. "...W-When I was a foal...my father took a picture of me playing in mud and kept it...Apparently, I had fun in it."

Applejack burst out laughing and fell on her back, but Sora couldn't help but imagine what Rarity looked like as a baby and wanted so desperately to see that picture. "There any way I can find out where your dad is and ask for a peek at that picture?"

"NO! I don't want anypony to see that! It's embarrassing!" Rarity leered at Applejack, still guffawing as the fashionista who cared about being clean and neat was a messy and dirty foal just like everyone else as an infant. Groaning in embarrassment, she ignored the farm mare's chortling and turned to Twilight. "Twilight, Truth or Dare?"

"...Ummm...Truth?" Twilight was a little worried, having no clue what crazy dares any of them could give her that she couldn't do, or whatever questions she had to answer honestly.

"Hmmm...Have you ever embarrassed yourself in front of Princess Celestia?" Rarity asked.

"...Uhhh...W-Well..." Twilight gulped as she began sweating in nervousness. Applejack finally stopped her uproarious laughter and stared at the lavender unicorn with Rarity and Sora, all of them waiting for her response. "...W-When I was late to meet with the princess for my first study session with her...I got so overexcited that I accidentally spilled the writing ink I brought with me...all over her room...and her face."

As Twilight hid her face in her hooves at the embarrassing moment, Sora chuckled as he imagined how that had turned out. "I have got to ask Celestia to give me the details about that."

"No! Don't ask her!" Twilight pleaded with the teen. "It was so embarrassing! I thought she was going to banish me to the sun after I ruined her room and splashed ink on her face! I thought she was going to expel me as her personal student! I thought she would put me in magic kindergarten for the rest of my life!"

Seeing how Twilight suddenly went serious over the embarrassing slip up, Sora gently pet the stressed unicorn's head while Applejack and Rarity seemed a little worried. "Twilight, relax. Why would Princess Celestia, a kind and just ruler who doesn't even look like she could hold a grudge against someone over a little accident, want to disown you?"

"S-She...She's powerful, and-" Sora quickly pressed a hoof to her lips before she could ramble and panic even more.

"You're overthinking everything. I mean, if anything, I think Celestia herself is a goof behind closed doors." Twilight's eyes widened, shocked to hear the stallion say something about their ruler, and still sound casual addressing the royal alicorn. "You will not believe how casual she was when she knew much about the outside worlds that she shouldn't know. And she made a point when I captured and brought up to Canterlot; I was able to escape all this time, but I stayed caught so I wouldn't cause anymore trouble. Not to mention those dumb Gala tickets..."

"Oh goodness," Rarity said, quite surprised as Sora gave a brief description of his captivity. "I hope you weren't too roughed up, Sora."

"Eh. I've had buildings thrown at me that did worse than a punch to the gut." All three mares stared at the Keyblade wielder in shock and awe, surprised to see him still alive after getting struck by several hundred pounds of stone, wood, concrete, whatever those buildings were made of. Though he did take on tougher foes in the past, maybe one day, he could actually tell him about what worlds he's been in and what foes he's taken on. "Ok. Now, let's continue with the game. Twilight's turn."

"...Ok...Sora, Truth or Dare?" Twilight asked.

Sora crossed his forelegs together in thought, comically wasting time as he hummed over what he wanted to decide. "...You know, I'm gonna go with Truth. I've done too many dares from Riku in the past."

"Ok...uhh..." As Twilight tried to think of a question, she looked at Sora and couldn't shift her eyes away from him.

She found him so awkward when they first met, his happy-go-lucky attitude and grin that could rival Pinkie Pie's, his odd antics and jokes, even in a serious situation, and always so relaxed and confident while constantly being friendly to the point of irritation. But after going through the Everfree Forest, saving her as she fell and being there to protect her from danger, along with his incredible skills as a fighter and magical ability unlike anything she had ever read, she can't stop thinking about him.

Her eyes trailed over his body, his clothes taken off so they can dry, giving her access to every hidden feature of his upper body that was covered by those garments. Even though he was skinny, he was really fit from all the fighting he's done in the past and constant training every day, Twilight's eyes lingering on his slightly muscular chest. Her face lit up, unable to contain her blush as she imagined being hugged by him again, only without his clothes to get in the way of feeling his fur brush against hers. His strong forelegs wrapped around her, feeling his heart beating against his firm, toned muscles. He might not be like the muscular stallions in the royal guard, but he wasn't as intimidating, and he was far stronger than all of them combined.

She slowly moved her gaze away from his body and up to his face. His blue eyes, his brown, spiked mane, that goofy grin he always makes. He always acts like a child, goofing off and always joking around, but he has a level of maturity that overrides that silliness when he saves those that are in danger. Even when she was overwhelmed by any of her stress when it came to her friends, he always knew what to say to reassure her and help her. She got lost in those eyes of his, his pupils sparkling like tiny stars in the lighting inside the library, or it might be her imagination, but she didn't care if it was an illusion or if they were really twinkling.

"Uhh, Twilight?" She was snapped out of her daydream, shaking her head to clear out her thoughts, trying to remember what she was doing. Twilight looked at the three guests stuck in her home as the powerful storm outside kept them trapped until tomorrow, all three of them concerned about her sudden silence and reddened cheeks. "You ok? I didn't think it would take that long to come up with a simple question."

"Huh?" Finally realizing what they were all doing, she let out a nervous chuckle, playing around with her mane as she tried to play off her dazed dreaming as best as she could. "S-Sorry...I think I overthought what question I wanted to ask, and began thinking of too many."

"And this is why you need a vacation," Sora said. "If I need to, I'll drag you onto the train to the beach, or I'll just carry you there myself."

"M-Maybe..." Twilight's blush just couldn't disappear, part of her wanting to be whisked away by the otherworldly stallion to a nice vacation spot. She shook her head again, not wanting to get lost in another daydream and continue having fun on her first sleepover. There was a question she wanted to ask him, but she was unsure if she should just ask him right here and now when Rarity and Applejack were around. She swallowed the lump growing in her throat and decided to just ask. "...D-Do you...have a...special somepony?"

"...Uhhhhh...Y-You mean...someone I care about?" Sora asked to clarify what Twilight meant by her question.

"Ooooh!" Rarity squealed. "Do you have anypony you hold dear, Sora? And don't lie!"

"Oh, he does, Rares." Both unicorns looked over at Applejack, Rarity with excitement, Twilight with slight fear. "He told me about this mare of his the day after he crashed in the orchard. He didn't give any name, but he was fixated on that little star she gave him."

Rarity gasped, lunging at Sora and shaking him. "TELL ME EVERYTHING! A warrior such as yourself must have had one mare that caught your attention, and I must know! I love tales of romance!"

Sora escaped from Rarity's shaking, feeling his brain rattle around in his head. And since he picked Truth, he had to be honest. Applejack already confirmed them with what he told her and the rest of her siblings, so he couldn't really back out.

"Well...Heh, yeah...Applejack's right. I...do have someone I...really like." Sora winced as Rarity let out a squeal, already enthralled. He blushed, scratching the back of his head as he began to talk about his biggest crush. "Her name's...Kairi. And I've been friends with her when she arrived where I was from. Apparently, to me, that friendship wanted to be something more...but I've been too afraid to tell her how I felt."

"So that's her name," Applejack said.

"Yeah...And...well, Twilight, if your question meant if I was going out with her or anything...No...We're not." He looked over at the lavender mare, staring at him blankly as she began to feel her hopes dashed away. Sora sighed, thinking back on the long and tiresome journey he went on, just to find Riku and Kairi. "...I kind of had a rough road to travel when I was traveling around the worlds to find my friends...And there was a lot that all of us went through.

"When the Heartless took over my home, I got separated by Riku and Kairi...That's when I discovered the Keyblade, and began looking for them." Sora's memories went by in a blur, remembering all the worlds he had visited: meeting new friends, defeating the Heartless, stopping villains from taking over their own worlds with the Heartless, meeting with Riku, only to have him turn against him because of the lies he was told and the darkness in his heart, but his mind lingered more on when he finally found Kairi on Captain Hook's ship in Neverland. "After so long, I finally found her...but...she was like a puppet. Her heart was gone."

"Her heart?" Rarity gasped. "What do you mean?...Did the Heartless take it?"

"...Not exactly." Sora slowly moved a hoof up to his chest, placing it over his heart. Before he continued his story, he excused himself and went over to his damp clothing, pulling out Kairi's charm from one of his pockets. If he was going to fully explain what happened to her, he needed to tell them about the legend of the paopu fruit, a legend that wasn't much of one anymore. As he sat back down with the other three mares, he held out the handmade charm made of seashells. "This is a charm she had made before everything went down back on our island...It's supposed to give good luck for sailors out at sea. But it's also shaped like a star-shaped fruit called a paopu fruit.

"There was a legend that went with it. They say if you share a paopu with someone you care about, it's said your hearts become intertwined as one." He placed the charm down for the others to get a good look at it as he rested a hoof back over his heart. "No matter where you go, or how far apart you are from the one you shared the fruit with, you'll always have their heart with you."

"That's so romantic," Rarity said, holding the charm closer to look at the design. "Was this a gift?"

"Not at first, but she constantly teased me by saying, 'Be sure to bring it back to me!'" Sora chuckled, rubbing his neck. "I think she meant to give it to me as a gift, but I have no idea what she thinks."

"So, what happened next?" Applejack asked. "Her heart was gone, but she didn't turn into a Heartless, like ya said how it's supposed to happen...right?"

"Yeah, you turn into a Heartless if you lose your heart to them...but Kairi's heart was special," Sora continued. "Riku and I didn't know this, but Kairi's actually a princess." Rarity let out a loud gasp, accidentally dropping the charm, but Applejack caught it before it hit the ground. "Yeah. Shocking. She's one of seven unique princesses with hearts made of pure light. No ounce of darkness in them at all."

"You're like her knight in shining armor, and she's your damsel in distress." As much as Rarity swooned over the thought of Sora and Kairi as the perfect couple to be, Twilight's ears drooped as she continued hearing Sora's tale.

"I guess it seems that way..." Now was the part that was sure to get them upset, and hoping they don't tell anyone else about what had happened to him. "...Then, I finally found her, trapped inside of the castle where an evil witch, named Maleficent, had taken not only Kairi, but the other princesses too. While there, my heart acted strange, as if I knew this world when I had never been there. But when I found her and tried to wake her up, Riku, who was being controlled by a Heartless named Ansem, told me what had happened to Kairi's heart; it was in mine."

Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight gasped in shock. "So, that legend from your world...It came true?" Applejack asked.

(Sora's Sacrifice)

"Mhmm..." The fight against Riku Ansem played back in his mind. He had to fight his corrupted friend by himself, struggling his hardest to keep Kairi's heart away from the dark Keyblade in his friend's grasp, made out of the six other princesses' hearts. "I fought against him, with no help as my friends, Donald and Goofy, were blocked out by a barrier. I had to do this on my own, and as I fought with everything I had, I won.

"He had a Keyblade that was made from the hearts of the other princesses, able to open any heart to release them." He then summoned his Keyblade, mimicking exactly what he did with the dangerous blade. "I wanted to wake her up...I wanted to save her...And, as stupid as it was, I didn't care as long as I knew Kairi was ok. So, I took the Keyblade, and I plunged it right in my chest, right in my heart...her heart." Sora saw the mares' eyes widen, seeing them well up with tears. He couldn't blame them, his sacrifice trying to save the girl he loved being so stupid that it ended up killing him. "It was...quite painful. But I ignored that pain as I unlocked her heart and watched it fly out of me. And back into her.

"I heard my friends calling out to me, faintly, as I began to fade away. I even heard Kairi's voice...I was glad to see her awake again, disappearing with a smile on my face." Sora sighed, dismissing his Keyblade. "But, as I've told you girls, when one loses their heart...they become a Heartless...And I had turned into one." He could see their tears rolling down their faces, all of them wanting to ask so many questions but were so sad at his sacrifice to even speak. "I know what you're all thinking...and I honestly have no clue how I'm still here.

"The last thing I could remember when I gave Kairi my heart was floating in an endless sea of darkness. Then, I felt this bright light, shining out in the distance, hearing her voice trying to call out to me. I flew toward it, getting closer and closer, fighting back against the darkness that tried to swallow me until I was a part of it. When I finally grabbed it, I was out of that darkness, holding Kairi in my arms. Her light brought me back, freeing me as the Heartless I turned into." Sora grabbed the charm and held it up to his face. "It's kinda funny. I saved her, yet she saved me...She had always been with me since that day we got split up, and I never knew until I actually found her in that world.

"But, guess she doesn't need me to save her anymore, now that she has a Keyblade too." When he looked back at the girls, their tears were flowing down their cheeks at the tragic, romantic sacrifice they had ever heard. Sora let out a nervous laugh, moving his forelegs behind his head. "Well, that simple yes or no question ended up turning into story time. Heheh. I think now calls for a slumber party snack. I'm gonna see if Twilight's got some stuff to make s'mores!"

Sora excused himself and headed into Twilight's kitchen to grab the ingredients to make s'mores, leaving the unicorns and earth pony to recover from the sad story. While they were glad to have meet a stallion who was selfless enough to give up his own life to save someone he loves, Twilight was greatly conflicted. Her crush on him either meant one of two ways: Sora would return her affections she has to him, or he wouldn't and it would break her heart. It fell under the latter, but she didn't have a chance since he was already in love with another girl. As much as she wanted him, she didn't want to ruin the friendship she already had with the pegasus.

As it got late in the evening, Twilight laid in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. For her first slumber party, it was enjoyable, though she hid her sadness after Sora's story about him and Kairi. They snacked on s'mores, Rarity the only one of them who tried to be clean with eating a messy, gooey snack that's a delight for camping, then they had a pillow fight, mares against Sora, though the teen ended up losing as he was ganged up by the girls, then some pretty spooky stories they shared with each other, the lightning shooting outside perfect ambiance for the scary tales.

Sora was downstairs, deciding to take the couch, while Twilight had pulled out a spare bed for Rarity and Applejack in her room. Even though Spike could have probably used this bed instead of the small pet bed, he didn't mind sleeping in the smaller bed. Her two pony friends were already fast asleep, but Twilight couldn't. She held onto the Elven Bandanna Sora had given her, tears welling up in her eyes as she realized she would never be with him.

Twilight climbed out of bed, wiping her eyes with the bandanna. She headed downstairs, hoping a drink would help her fall asleep. Being careful not to wake anyone up, she made her way to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of milk.

"Can't sleep?" Twilight yelped, nearly losing her focus on the bottle and glass of milk in her aura, turning around to see Sora standing behind her.

"D-Don't do that," she whispered, almost getting a heart attack from Sora's surprising stealth. "You scared the hay out of me."

"Sorry." He took the bottle and poured himself a glass, putting the milk away for the unicorn. He also had a plate of some leftover s'mores on one of his wings. "Kinda wanted a midnight snack. Want some?"

Reluctantly, Twilight nodded and followed Sora into the living room, both ponies sitting down on the couch that was the teen's temporary bed. She needed some more comfort food, taking one of the s'mores and nibbled on it. They sat in silence and munched on the marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker delights. Twilight occasionally looked over at the stallion, her heart aching as their love wouldn't come to be. She wanted to be jealous of Kairi, but she couldn't, not after Sora had literally given his heart to her.

"...That was a really sad story." Sora stopped munching on his snack, looking over at Twilight. "...Kairi must be really lucky."

"...Heh. Yeah. Maybe," Sora said, his cheeks turning red. "She means a lot to me."

"...How come you never told her how you felt?" Twilight asked.

"Uhh..." Sora looked up in thought, licking his lips of some marshmallow. "...I don't know. Nerves, I guess."

"Nerves?" she questioned. "Somepony like you being nervous?"

"Yeah," he chuckled, giving Twilight that same grin he always makes. "I've taken on Heartless of all sizes, I've beaten an organization of Nobodies, but I'm too nervous to tell a girl I like how I feel about her and ask her out on a date." His grin slowly melted as he looked down at the floor. "That, or maybe it's also because I now know she's a princess and I don't want to screw up our friendship."

"...Does she like you the same way?" Twilight asked.

"...I think so?" Sora scratched his cheek with a hoof. He had a feeling the answer was yes when he walked back in their Secret Place back on the island, finding the drawings he and Kairi had made when they were younger. He was surprised to see she had added more to the "quality" portraits of each other. When he added him giving her a paopu, she did the same thing when she must have returned back to Destiny Islands after stopping Ansem. "She's really good at hiding stuff from me though...But I'm sure she likes me the same way. Kairi's probably been waiting for me to tell her first, and I get too nervous that I end up acting more silly than ever just to try to hide my nerves.

"Last time I talked to her was when I left to come to Equestria...I didn't think I would have crash landed here, cause I told her that I might be gone for a long while, and none of my friends know I'm stuck here until they come here." Sora took a sip of his milk as Twilight continued listening. "I wanted to tell her how I felt, just in case I don't see her again...but I choked. At least now I know she can protect herself if I'm not around to come to her rescue, already becoming a Keyblade Master just a few months ago. I'm happy as long as she's safe...That's all that matters to me."

Sora downed the rest of his glass, Twilight looking down at her own, completely untouched. "...What if they never know you're stuck?" she asked as he gave her an odd look. "What if Kairi meets somepony else? What would you do if you remained here in Equestria, unable to leave and go back to her?"

"...Well..." Sora really didn't think that far ahead. With no one realizing he hasn't reported to Master Yen Sid, he might be stuck in Equestria for a long while. He was already the jealous type, always being teased by Riku when he wanted to fight over Kairi's affections, but if she found someone else? Maybe it would happen, maybe it wouldn't, but he would never know. Sora sighed, running a hoof through his hair. "...As long as she's happy, I don't care who she ends up with if it's not me. And if I never leave Equestria...maybe I'll find someone else. I mean, Kairi was from a different world. It wouldn't be that weird to me if I dated a mare in this world."

Twilight gave a faint smile, the teen unaware of her slightly lifted mood. She didn't bring her hopes up too high if Kairi ever finds out and searches for him, but there was a slim chance. She gulped down her entire glass, levitating both their glasses into the kitchen sink.

"Kairi's lucky to have someone like you, Sora," Twilight said as she stood up. "You've got a heart of gold."

"Actually, it's made of light," he joked, making the unicorn laugh.

"That too." Twilight yawned, finally feeling tired. "I think I'm going to head to bed."

"OK. Night, Twi," Sora said, laying back on the couch, unaware of the unicorn's blush as he called her "Twi".

"Good night, Sora." She headed back upstairs, quietly heading into her room and slipping under her covers.

She might not be able to tell Sora how she feels about him, but maybe in time, things could change. Even if Kairi does arrive in Equestria one day, she won't fight with her and be happy knowing that the stallion would be with the mare who stole his heart, just as he would be happy for her if she was happy. Feeling her eyes starting to droop, Twilight rolled on her side and closed her eyes with a content smile, holding the red and copper bandanna close to her chest as she fell to sleep.

It's been a couple days since that heavy downpour and Twilight's first ever slumber party, the ground finally starting to dry up and no collateral damage was done to any of the houses in Ponyville. As fun as it was for Sora to be a part of a slumber party with only girls and keeping it co-ed for his masculinity's sake, he did find Twilight's behavior odd. Every time she looked at him when she wasn't about to have a mental breakdown, her face would turn red, she'd stare off into space, and mumble something that he couldn't hear. That, and the odd questions she had asked him that night. He didn't bother questioning it all that much, though it did make him think about what possibilities would happen if he couldn't leave Equestria for a long while.

While he walked down the streets of the town, unaware of how barren it somehow is at this point in time, he thought really hard about Twilight's questions. He hated how cowardly he was when he tried to tell Kairi how much he really loved her, wishing he just blurted it out at the least and make the scene awkward just for both their sakes. But with how much Equestria needs him here now, a peaceful world of talking ponies being invaded by the Heartless, there's no way they could defend themselves against them. And what if Kairi does find someone else while he's been gone? If that were to happen, he was honest when he discussed it with Twilight; be happy that she's happy.

Deciding to break out of his thoughts on this subject, he finally paid attention to the town, only to find not a single pony out and about. "...Ok. It's quiet...Too quiet." A tumbleweed slowly rolled by him, having no clue how a rolling, dried up weed got in a town filled with plant life. "Where is everyone?"

As Sora walked down to Sugarcube Corner, the moment he walked past the door, a pair of pink hooves grabbed his tail and pulled him inside. Yelping in surprise, he was flung inside of the dimly lit bakery, rolling into the counter, leaning upside down. Shaking out of his daze, he looked at Apple Bloom, surprised to see her after she and Applejack went into town early this morning. Along with the farm mare, the rest of their friends were here too, excluding Twilight, looking out the window in fear of something.

"Hi, Sora," Apple Bloom said, not as terrified as the other mares.

"Hi. What's going on?" Sora asked.

"I see Twilight!" Pinkie zoomed up to the front door of the bakery, ushering Twilight and Spike inside.

"And I am ignored." Twilight soon walked in with Spike on her back, just as confused as he was as to why everyone was hiding.

"We're all hidin' from Zecora," Apple Bloom explained to Sora. "She comes to Ponyville sometimes, and everypony runs and hides when she shows up."

"Who's Zecora?" Sora asked.

"There she is!" Everyone gathered around the window to look outside.

Walking alone in the middle of town was a cloaked figure, the cloak thankfully brown and not black, to Sora's relief. The figure seemed equine, though it was hard to tell what the pony looked like under the cloak except for their hooves. She seemed to be stomping the ground, looking for something, though what it was was beyond them. She looked over at the window, everyone except for Sora, Twilight, Spike, and Apple Bloom hiding away from her gaze.

"That's Zecora," Rainbow said. "She's creepy, sinister, completely mysterious."

"And spoooooooooky!" Pinkie added. "She does everything evily!"

"Oh please," Twilight groaned.

Looking back outside, Sora saw Zecora pull back her cloak's hood, revealing her face. Her coat and mane were black and white, patterned in stripes, her mane styled into a mohawk. She wore golden earrings and several more gold rings around her neck, looking more like it was a tribal fashion than a crazy fad she was trying to start.

"Oh, just look at her fashion sense! Stripes!" Rarity exclaimed.

"She's a zebra," Sora said before Twilight could explain first. "Zebras are born with stripes. And she doesn't look evil. I think she looks pretty cool." Rarity fainted, more at the thought of being born than stripes than anything. "Does she live anywhere in Ponyville?"

"Hay no!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"She lives in the Everfree Forest," Fluttershy said, shivering in fright.

"Zecora is an evil enchantress, and does lots of evil stuff that every evil pony does!" Pinkie said. "Why, she's so evil, I even wrote a song about her!"

"Oh boy," Sora groaned as he began hearing fast paced music and Pinkie dancing out her song about Zecora.

[Pinkie Pie]
She's an evil enchantress
She does evil dances
And if you look deep in her eyes
She'll put you in trances
Then what will she do?
She'll mix up an evil brew
Then she'll gobble you up
In a big tasty stew
Soooo, watch out!

Pinkie posed on a table, panting heavily as she finished her song. Sora and Twilight looked at each other, unable to believe someone's that evil, then back at Pinkie.

"So, how exactly do you guys know she's evil?" Sora asked.

"Sora's right," Twilight agreed with the teen. "All of this just sounds like a bunch of rumors. Have you talked with Zecora?"

"Just look at her!" Applejack said as they looked outside again. Zecora was stomping around, scuffing the dirt, almost like she was digging for something. "Every time she comes around, she lurks around the markets and digs around for somethin'."

"And how is that a bad thing?" Twilight asked.

Sora drowned out the mares bickering as Twilight argued with the others about their rumors on the zebra. The stallion backed away, sitting next to Apple Bloom, who was getting as annoyed as Twilight. He was slightly curious about what Zecora was doing, and if she lived in the Everfree Forest, he wondered where she lived and how she managed to survive in a dangerous forest. He leaned over Apple Bloom, slowly picking her up in his foreleg, getting her attention.

"Wanna find out more about Zecora?" he asked the filly.

"Ok." Placing the youngest Apple on his back, Sora snuck away from the group and headed for the back of the bakery.

It was a bit odd that the ponies running the bakery, Carrot Cake and Cup Cake, weren't here. Maybe they were taking a vacation or they went out somewhere. As long as he didn't pilfer any of the baked goods in the display case or stole any of their kitchen utensils, he was sure they wouldn't mind them for going through the kitchen to sneak out the back door.

"Alright. Time for Operation Spy, Apple Bloom. Follow my lead." Sora gently lowered Apple Bloom to the ground and snuck around the bakery.

The filly mimicked his movements as best as she could, both ponies hiding behind buildings and inside bushes as they followed Zecora. She began heading out of the town, walking in the direction of the Everfree Forest. As soon as she walked inside the entrance to the dangerous forest, Apple Bloom poked her head up from a nearby bush, while Sora hung upside down from a branch.

"Oh no. Ah'm not supposed to go in the Everfree Forest," Apple Bloom said.

"Well, you got me around. I'll keep you safe." The teen lifted the filly back on his back. "If anything comes after us, I'll fend them off."

"Ah'll scope out the area from a higher vantage point!" Apple Bloom said, feeling safe with the Keyblade wielder, rearing up on her hind legs as she leaned against Sora's head.

The two walked inside and made their way after the zebra without getting caught. Sora stayed on the path that Zecora walked down, finding it a little easier to navigate without having to cut through the wild foliage. Up ahead, they watched her walk around a field of bright blue flowers. He followed her, unsure if those flowers were poisonous. If she knew about the forest, then maybe she could help explain some of the flora that's dangerous or safe.

"Excuse us, Miss Zecora?" The zebra gasped and turned around, not realizing she had been followed. "Sorry for startling you."

"Why do you follow me?" Zecora asked. "Do you not know the dangers of the Everfree?"

"...Uhh, is it just me, or did she just rhyme?" Sora asked Apple Bloom, who did hear her rhyme as she spoke. "Well, I've heard some...things about you from my friends, but I don't believe any of those rumors. I'd like to get to know the real Zecora. I'm Sora, and this is my annoying little alarm clock that wakes me up in the morning when I sleep in, Apple Bloom!"

"Hey! Ah am not annoyin'!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, leaping off his back and leering at him. "It's your fault ya don't go to bed early sometimes!"

Sora stuck his tongue out at the filly playfully, only to make her do the same to him. "A stallion who acts like a child...Surely a fitting image, matching a mane so wild."

He looked up at Zecora, pulling his tongue back in his mouth. "Wow. You really do speak in rhyme. Must be hard to do that...all the time!"

Zecora chuckled, laughing at his silly personality. "You are unlike the ponies back in town. All they do when I appear is glare and frown."

"They probably don't know you that well because they're afraid you'll curse them with some kind of enchantment or something." Sadly, Zecora nodded, having heard many rumors about her every time she comes to Ponyville. "Don't worry, Zecora. Apple Bloom and I will try to convince everyone that you're not really that bad."

Suddenly, a lasso latched itself around Sora's tail, a sharp tug pulling the teen back, landing him in the blue flowers. "Sora! Apple Bloom! Get away from her!" Sora looked up, the others running toward them through the field of flowers he was pulled in, Applejack grabbing her little sister and placing her on her back. "Ya'll stay away from mah friend and mah sister, Zecora!"

"Beware! Beware, you pony folk!" Zecora warned. "Those leaves of blue are not a joke!"

"Back off, Zecora!" Rainbow shouted, about ready to charge at the zebra as she began backing away, disappearing into the mist as she kept saying "Beware".

"Sora, what the hay were ya thinkin' bringin' mah sister in the Everfree Forest!?" Applejack shouted. "And bringin' her to Zecora!?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie said, popping up from the blue flowers that Zecora warned them about. "She could have put a curse on you two, just like my song!"

Pinkie was about to sing more of the annoying chant, only for Sora to shove a hoof in the pink mare's mouth. "Guys, Zecora's not bad! Apple Bloom and I were talking to her, and you scared her off!"

"No, we saved you from getting cursed by that witch!" Rainbow said, floating low to the flowers as her hooves brushed by each petal.

"You don't even know her!" Sora argued, getting annoyed at everyone distrusting Zecora just because of her being a zebra and digging at the ground while wearing a cloak to conceal herself. "And there's no such thing as a curse anyway."

"You don't know that," Rarity said.

"...Ok, then. Tomorrow, I'm going to find Zecora, talk to her, get to know her better, and when I come back to Ponyville, I'll tell you everything about her before you keep making assumptions over somepony you don't know." Sora looked over at Rainbow Dash, leering at her as he recalled her accusing him of being evil when he was around for a week. The cyan pegasus winced, having forgotten about that important lesson. "Now, let's get out of these flowers she was warning us about. If I get a rash all over my body, all of you girls are buying the ointment.

As soon as they had left the Everfree Forest, the group continued on with the rest of their duties as the day wore on. When night fell, Sora had taken off his clothes and took a bath, fearing that the pollen from those flowers might have lingered on him when he was forcefully pulled back into the field. As soon as he got out of the tub, he began feeling a bit woozy and nauseous. Maybe he had some kind of allergic reaction to those flowers, even though he's never had a single allergy problem in his life.

After drying himself off, trying not to collapse under his suddenly weakening limbs, he headed for his room and flopped down on the bed. Sora groaned in pain, his body feeling like jelly and growing hot. He pulled the covers over himself and went to sleep, hoping that whatever illness he had somehow caught would pass in the morning.

The sound of the rooster crowing woke the groggy teen up. The wave of sickness that struck him last night was almost gone, though his limbs felt a little bit weak. He sat himself up and yawned, smacking his lips, his mouth dry. He figured he must have been dehydrated and needed something to drink. The pegasus got out of bed and slowly made his way downstairs, heading for the kitchen. He must have gotten up before the rest of the Apple family, or maybe they were already up and he slept in, knowing he was sick.

He opened up the fridge door, feeling the cold air brush against his face. He swayed his hips as he looked around the beverages, unsure if he should have apple juice or milk to drink. While busy looking for a drink, Big Macintosh walked into the kitchen from the backyard, having been up earlier to prep up some buckets for apple bucking. He spotted Sora rummaging the fridge, only to freeze and stare at the pegasus, his pupils shrinking.

"...Uhhhhh..." Sora's ears perked up, hearing Big Macintosh.

"Morning, Mac," he said, surprised to hear his voice sounded a little higher. He cleared his throat, but it wasn't sore in the slightest. "Oh wow...My voice must be messed up today. What kind of bug did I catch last night?"

Sora finally decided on apple juice, taking the freshly made pitcher and pouring himself a glass. He was unaware of the shocked expression on the red stallion's face, or the blush that was hidden underneath his red fur. The teen drank down the entire glass, sighing in relief as he sated his thirst.

"...S-Sora?" Big Mac asked.

"Yeah?" Sora turned around, but the farm stallion did not see the same teenager that's been living with his family for the past month and a half. Instead, he was staring at a female version of the pegasus: his mane longer, eyelashes on the lids of his blue eyes, his muzzle more rounded, and his height a little shorter. What really freaked Big Macintosh out was what he saw underneath the teen's swaying hips and tail. "...What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"...Nope!" Big Macintosh backpedaled out of the kitchen and back outside. "Nopenopenopenopenopenopenope!"

"The heck's his deal? Do I have something on my face?" Sora raised a hoof up to his nose, surprised to feel his muzzle was a bit smaller and more round, unlike how it was supposed to be as a stallion. "What in the world?" He felt around more of his face, feeling the longer eyelashes on his eyes and the longer strands of his spiky mane. "What happened to my face? Did Apple Bloom pull a prank on me?"

Sora quickly headed upstairs, spotting Winona on the couch, who gave him a confused yip as she tilted her head at him. Reaching his room, he looked at himself in the mirror, only to not find him in the reflection, only "her". The teen panicked, moving his hooves around his face as he was now a mare. He couldn't believe this was happening and must be experiencing some kind of hallucination from a fever, or he was dreaming. But he was wide awake.

He gulped, hoping that this really was a dream as he wanted to be one hundred percent sure that what he turned into wasn't real. Sora slowly looked down and between his legs, his pupils shrinking to pin pricks at what he was looking at. A second later, he let out a loud, girlish scream, horrified at the fact that he was now a mare. His scream alerted Apple Bloom, running into his room in a panic.

"Sora!? What's wrong!? Are ya o-" The filly froze as she instead saw a female version of Sora, hyperventilating in panic as he/she stared at him/herself in the mirror. "...Sora?"

"Apple Bloom!?" Sora looked down at the young Apple, his face blushing madly as his tail instinctively covered his rear, feeling the hairs tickling his new anatomy.

A moment of awkward staring later, Apple Bloom burst out laughing, falling on her back as she clutched her sides. Sora's face turned bright red, dying of embarrassment as a filly was laughing at him now transformed as a mare, and he had no idea how it happened.

"Y-Y-You're a-" Apple Bloom could barely talk as she kept laughing at Sora's new look, the filly rolling around and annoying the teen.

"Yes. I'm a girl," Sora growled, almost on the verge of tears. "What the heck happened to me!? Why am I a girl!?"

"Zecora cursed us!" Sora perked up his ears, hearing a squeaky voice over Apple Bloom's uncontrollable giggling. "Whoa...Sora, that you!?"

The pegasus looked down, spotting a speck of orange that was as big as an ant, lowering her head to get a better look at the strangely tiny creature. "...Applejack?"

"Eyup! Ah'm somehow tiny!...And ya'll turned into a mare!" Sora held out his hoof, letting the now shrunken farm mare jump on as he slowly lifted her up to his eye level.

"Applejack, what's happened!? I am so confused!" The pegasus winced, struggling to keep the hairs of his tail from brushing against his hindquarters. "And I don't know how you girls deal with an attached appendage made of hair brushing against there without feeling awkward!"

"It was Zecora! Ah told ya she was no good! She cursed us, and possibly everypony else!" Sora ignored his new feminine body, groaning in annoyance as Zecora was once again accused as the cause of all this.

"Seriously, Applejack!?" he questioned. "Zecora did not curse us! And if she did, I think all of us would have the same curse, and Apple Bloom should also be afflicted with something too!"

Apple Bloom had finally stopped her laughing as she heard Sora's theory. "Hey, he's right. Ah don't feel different or funny...or changed."

It was then that Sora now realized what might have happened to him, Applejack, and possibly the others. "Those blue flowers...They must have done something to us! Zecora warned us about them too late...and you dragged me into them while you all stepped over them!"

"How in the hay do flowers cause a curse!?" Applejack asked.

"We're gonna find out after we get the girls...At least I hope none of them were gender-swapped like me." Sora carefully carried Applejack in his hoof as he and Apple Bloom headed downstairs.

Before leaving, the teen grabbed his clothes, clean and dried, and put them on. They were a bit bigger for him in this new body of his, but he didn't care at the moment, wishing he also had his shorts that appeared with him when he crashed to Equestria. He then placed Applejack in one of his front pockets, making sure she doesn't get crushed or get flung off. It was a really embarrassing walk to the Golden Oak Library as he passed by a few stallions in Ponyville, all of them giving him a perverted look as they kept staring at his flanks. He really wished he had his shorts right now.

As they finally made it to the library, they heard some commotion going on inside, mostly the sound of something smacking into the walls and shelves. Opening the door, Sora, Apple Bloom, and Applejack stared at the others, having sought Twilight for some advice on what had happened to them. Pinkie Pie's tongue was bloated and coated with blue spots, keeping her from speaking normally and spitting profusely. Rarity's coat and mane grew out into long strands, almost like she glued streamers matching her hair colors all over her. Rainbow Dash was flapping all over the place, her wings upside down and on her stomach, crashing into everything. Fluttershy doesn't look changed, but she's been really quiet, either fully mute or something else.

"Oh-" Apple Bloom said.

"Sweet-" Sora continued.

"Celestia." Applejack finished.

The other girls noticed them walk in, all of them staring in shock at Sora's new body. "Sora?"

The teen blanched when he heard a deep masculine voice, and it came from Fluttershy. "Oh come on! Fluttershy's voice changes but the rest of her doesn't!?"

"Sora's here!?" Twilight asked as she headed downstairs with Spike, carrying several books from the shelves in her room. As soon as she saw him, her jaw dropped, along with the pile of books she carried on her back and not with her magic. "...Oh my..."

Twilight had also been affected by the blue flowers' curse, but what had happened to her, Sora couldn't stop staring. The unicorn's horn was coated in the same blue spots that were on Pinkie's tongue, but instead of the appendage being a solid appendage, it was flopping around limply. It was so awkward and disgusting, Sora having no clue whether to laugh uproariously, cover his eyes as if it seemed indecent, or flee in fear at catching whatever was causing her horn to turn flaccid.

"Oh my eyes!" Sora finally shouted. "That is so disturbing!"

"Sora, are you really a mare!?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yes, but...I don't-" Sora couldn't help but keep staring at Twilight's horn as she kept making it flop around with every movement she made with her head. "STOP FLOPPING THAT THING AROUND! IT'S SO WEIRD!"

"I can't believe Zecora cursed you too! I can't find any way to fix this!" Twilight panicked as she was forced to use her hooves to look through the books with her hooves, her magic useless like her floppy horn.

"I think I found something!" Spike said, holding out a green book with an herb on the cover, titled "Supernaturals".

"Spike, that book is nothing but a bunch of nonsense!" Twilight exclaimed. "Like spirits, ghosts, and zombies, curses are nothing but make-believe!"

"Bth ith iths uh crthhss!" Pinkie said, or more likely sprayed, spitting all over Sora as she appeared next to him.

"Eww! Pinkie, please don't talk!" Sora said, wiping off the splattered saliva on his face. "And it isn't a curse! Look, Zecora knows a thing or two about those flowers, those plants being the actual cause of our...abnormalities..."

"How exactly are flowers the root cause of my hair grown out like this!?" Rarity complained, blowing some of her mane our of her face.

"Because if all of us, including Apple Bloom were cursed, then she would have suffered from some kind of change too." The others looked at the filly, completely normal. "Zecora warned us about those blue flowers when you girls scared her off, and when Apple Bloom and I followed her, she avoided that small field. Because we stepped in those flowers, or dragged into them in my case-" Sora looked down at Applejack, the tiny earth pony looking down as she got him transformed when trying to "save" him. "-they did something to us, and Apple Bloom didn't touch a single one."

"Nope," Apple Bloom confirmed. "Applejack carried me on her back over them flowers."

"Right. So, we're going to find where Zecora lives, NOT attack her, and ask her to help us. Got it?" Everyone nodded, the teen, unfortunately, unable to stop staring at Twilight's flopping horn. "Ugh...We need to find something to cover that flopping horn of yours, Twilight!"

"Then stop looking at it!" she shouted.

"How can I not when it keeps moving!? It's so distracting and looks gross! I want to laugh, but I'm too upset about turning into a girl to joke around!" Sora panted, the others girls and Spike staring at the female stallion in shock. "...Oh gosh. Am I getting mood swings or something? I've never been this angry before..." He tried to regain his composure, but being a girl right now was not helping matters, especially after getting ogled by other stallions like he was a piece of meat to a pack of wolves. "...Let's get going and get this solved. Fast."

Sora lead the way as they headed down the safe pathway in the Everfree Forest. They saw the blue flowers, Apple Bloom making sure she doesn't touch them, not wanting to have herself get affected by whatever those plants did that made them look ridiculous. A little bit further ahead, they caught sight of where Zecora lived as they saw lights on inside of a crooked tree, hollowed out and made into a home.

"This must be where she lives." The group peeked in through the window, spotting the zebra cooking some kind of liquid in a large black cauldron.

She poured in some herbs, stirring whatever she was making with a wooden spoon, humming some kind of song. Ironically, it almost sounded like Pinkie's song about her, except slower and in some language none of them could understand.

"Sthe shthle muh sthnng!" Pinkie sprayed, getting Sora drenched with her saliva.

"Oh for goodness sake," he muttered. "And what do you mean she 'stole your song'?"

The pink mare was about to perform her little song, but with her swollen, blue-spotted tongue, she could barely talk without constantly blowing raspberries. She looked over at Fluttershy and begged her to sing for her, when the timid pegasus's shy and high-pitched voice was now deep and baritone. She gave in to Pinkie's whining, letting out an annoyed sigh.

[Flutterguy]
She's an evil enchantress
She does evil dances
And if you look deep in her eyes
She'll put you in trances
Then what will she do?
She'll mix up an evil brew
Then she'll gobble you up
In a big tasty stew
Soooo...watch out.

With Fluttershy doing the singing, Pinkie had done the dance, which to Sora's surprise, was a lot better than when Pinkie sang it. "...Well, as good as that was, Zecora's not some kind of enchantress, Pinkie."

Sora stepped up to the front door to the zebra's home and knocked. The others hid, except for Apple Bloom, who stood next to the gender-swapped stallion. Zecora opened her door, surprised to see guests.

"...This is a shock for me to see," she said. "Ponies crazy enough to enter the Everfree."

"Yeah. Crazy," Sora said. "By any chance, you don't happen to recognize me, do you, Zecora?"

The zebra squinted at him, to get a better look, opening them wide in surprise as she recognized his clothing. "Oh my goodness. Is that you, Sora?" She soon laughed at the stallion's sudden change, making the teen groan. "Seems like you got tricked by the blue flora."

"Yeah! He turned into a mare!" Apple Bloom giggled, Sora ruffling her mane with a wing.

"Yeah, and, unlike my friends, who are currently hiding from you for no reason-" He looked over at the other girls, calling them over, slowly stepping into view of the zebra as he pulled out Applejack from his jacket pocket. "-I knew it was those flowers you warned us a bit too late about that did this to us. What exactly were those?"

After seeing just how ridiculous the rest of the afflicted ponies were, Zecora couldn't hold back her laughter. "Oh, how unfortunate for you pony folk. All seven of you have been affected by Poison Joke."

"Poison Joke?" Sora asked, the others also staring at the zebra in confusion as they had never heard of such a plant.

"Do not be dismayed by the look of this blue flower. It may look innocent, but it has incredible power," Zecora explained, still rhyming. "It is kind of like poison oak, though instead of a rash, it pulls off a joke."

"Prankster flowers?" Sora groaned. "Darn it! The Three Goofballs have been foiled by a harmless looking plant!"

"I believe I can make the cure to fix this mess. Please, come inside, my new guests." Zecora allowed them inside as she approached a bookshelf, looking through the many different books she has stored.

Inside the zebra's tree hut, it looked like something from a tribal land Sora believed could have been borrowed by the monkey sage, Rafiki, in the Pride Lands. Some creepy looking tribal masks were hung on the walls, flasks and glass bottles filled with different herbs and spices hung around the ceiling, several other ingredients in jars rested on the several tables and shelves in her home, along with some memorabilia from Zecora's native homeland. The Keyblade wielder was a bit curious about this world's equivalent of the Pride Lands. He looked over at the bubbling cauldron, a green liquid boiling above the fire in the black pot.

"This is some weird looking soup you're cooking, Zecora," Sora commented, taking a whiff of the scent coming from the cauldron. "Huh. Almost smells like my healing potions.

"It is a new potion I began to mix in my brew," Zecora said as she found the book she was looking for. "A healing liquid that revitalizes, too. As for the cure to end the flowers' spell, inside this book, "Supernaturals", has a recipe that can tell."

She held out the same book Spike had pulled out back at the library, the same green cover with an herb on it that Twilight dismissed. "...The cure's in there?" Zecora opened it up to the page the cure was on, and surprise surprise, Poison Joke was in there, along with the remedy. The lavender unicorn chuckled nervously, now regretting dismissing a book just by its title alone. "Uhh...I do have this book...but I didn't look at it because...well, the title said it all."

"Next time, before you take a look," Sora said, mimicking Zecora's speech. "Never judge the cover of a book. Right, Zecora?"

"Indeed, my pegasus friend, more wise than I know. Lessons you all should hear and follow," Zecora said to the six mares, while Sora wrapped a hoof around the zebra's neck. "I can mix up the cure for you, I will, but I am missing some herbs that are from Ponyville."

"That explains why she was diggin' around the ground in town," Apple Bloom said. "'Cause everypony's so afraid of her, they close their shops and hide from her."

"Well, let's change everyone's perspective on the 'evil enchantress' and get ourselves cured!" Sora exclaimed. "I want to go back to being a boy!"

As the group headed back into town, the mares, Apple Bloom, and Sora managed to convince the hiding ponies that Zecora was not as evil as they thought she was. They managed to gather all of the ingredients the zebra needed, the cure not a potion to drink, but an herbal bath. They headed over to Ponyville's spa, where the hot tub was a perfect size to fit all of the pranked ponies to be healed of their hiliarious ailments. Applejack, however, needed a smaller tub since she was as small as a bug, otherwise she might tread water in the massive ocean that was the hot tub, at least for her size.

The spa employees, a pair of twins named Aloe and Lotus, earth pony mares where one had a pink coat and a blue mane while her sister had a blue coat and a pink mane, helped Zecora stir the ingredients in the warm water. With the remedy all set, the mares quickly filed in and dunked themselves completely under the water. When they resurfaced, the jokes placed on them were gone: Twilight's horn was no longer distractingly floppy, Rainbow's wings were back where they belonged, Rarity's hair was back to the way it was, Pinkie's tongue was no longer swollen, and Fluttershy obviously has her timid voice back. Sora heard the smaller tub meant for Applejack break as she grew back to her full size.

Sora took off his clothes, not wanting to get them soaked, stepping into the tub with the rest of the girls. As awkward as it was to be bathing with several ponies of the opposite gender, he didn't care as he dunked his entire body under the herbal bath. A few seconds later, he resurfaced, his face back to normal as he was back to being a stallion again.

"Thank goodness I'm back to normal!...Wait, hold on." Sora dunked his head in the water and got a better look at himself, poking his head back up and shook the water out of his shorter mane. "Oh yeah. I'm definitely a boy again." When he looked back at all the girls around him, they give him a mischievous grin. "...What?"

"You know, Sora, if we ever have a girls day out, we can rub some Poison Joke on you so you can be a part of the group." The teen's eyes widened, not wanting to touch those flowers again.

"Ohhhh no! No no no no no! Heck no!" Sora shook his head rapidly. "I've spent far too long as the opposite gender! I'm staying as a boy! Forever!"

The mares all laughed while the teen grumbled, sinking his head back down in the water. He was never going to live this down, and after Big Macintosh was the first to see him as a mare, it was going to be very awkward few weeks between them before they would forget about what happened this morning. At least Zecora isn't feared by the town anymore, provided no one else spreads any rumors about her again. He might come and visit her if she ever finishes making those potions, wondering how well they can be useful compared to his own hidden away in his limitless, magical pouch.

It was a Friday afternoon in Ponyville, a sunny day out as not a single cloud could be seen in the sky. Sora walked down the path and headed for the schoolhouse to pick up Apple Bloom. He and Big Macintosh were trying to look past the embarrassing moment with the Poison Joke incident, though the red stallion might not be able to look at the teen the same way again. Applejack and Apple Bloom would constantly tease them about it, but all in good fun, even though it wanted Sora to crawl into a tiny hole and stay hidden for the rest of eternity.

He heard the bell ring as school was just getting out, watching the schoolponies run out as they escaped from the confines of learning for the weekend. He saw Apple Bloom trudge out, walking next to a cream colored earth pony filly with a curly red mane, wearing a pair of purple glasses. Sora waved them over, though Apple Bloom looked a bit miserable.

"Hey, Apple Bloom. Why so down?" he asked, only to hear the young Apple sigh in misery.

"Sheth's being picked on in classth," the other filly said, speaking with a lisp. "She wasth caught pasthing a note, but Diamond Tiara didn't write anything and made fun of her not having a cutie mark."

"Ah. Bully problems." He gently patted Apple Bloom's head. "Don't let a bully's words bring you down. They do that to get attention and make themselves feel better over some kind of insecurity."

"Not Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon," Apple Bloom grumbled. "They're rich and can do anything, even cause trouble."

"Oooh. Two bullies." Sora picked up the yellow earth pony filly and gave her a quick hug. "Just ignore them. They'll get bored of you at some point. How about I buy you and your friend some ice cream to cheer you up?"

"Yay! Icthe cream!" Apple Bloom's friend cheered. "And the sthallion hero who sthaved the sthchool isth buying me sthome too! I'm Twistht!"

"Well, Twisthththtsth," Sora said, making Twist and Apple Bloom giggle as he tried to speak like the glasses wearing filly, only to have his tongue tied. "Ugh. Can't pretend to have a lisp. Anyway, off to the ice cream parlor!"

"Urgh. What a boring lecture about cutie marks today." Exiting the school, Sora spotted two fillies walking out with a smug and arrogant aire about them. Both of them were earth pony fillies, one with a pink coat and a purple and white mane, wearing a diamond tiara on her head, the other with a gray coat and a silverish-gray mane, wearing a pair of blue glasses. On the pink filly's flank was a diamond tiara, and on the gray filly was a silver spoon. These two must have been the bullies Apple Bloom talked about, and found it ironic that their names match their cutie marks. "I mean, why exactly should we learn about them when we already have ours?"

"Knock it off, Diamond Tiara," Apple Bloom said, already fed up with her teasing.

"It's so sad how you and Twist are the only ponies without a cutie mark," Diamond Tiara teased. Before she could make fun of the two cutie markless fillies, both the bully and her friend, Silver Spoon, noticed Sora standing behind them with a serious look on his face. "Oh. You're with that weird stallion who just somehow showed up in Ponyville."

"I'm sorry, but I don't think we've met," Sora said. "You two must be Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the bullies that were picking on Apple Bloom today?"

"So? Why should you care?" Diamond questioned, oblivious to his stern gaze. "You're just some weird oddball like Pinkie Pie, with some stupid key that you somehow call out."

"Yeah! And a cutie mark that's a giant key!?" Silver Spoon added, pointing out his Keyblade cutie mark. "That's got to be the lamest talent to have; opening locks!"

The two rich bullies laughed, but Sora wasn't bothered by this. They have no clue what he could do, probably only hearing about him and his giant key sword and not witnessing him take out a horde of Heartless that could have killed their classmate. He summoned his Keyblade and leaned over it like a crutch, silencing the bullies as they watched it appear out of thin air.

"Oh, really? Opening locks is a lame talent, huh?" he asked, relishing in their surprised states. "I'll have you know my giant key does more than unlock big locks on doors. I'm sure you two have seen what I did to save Apple Bloom from those black monsters, right?" He received no answer, their silence obvious as they didn't see him fight. "Hmmm...I guess not. You two missed out on an epic fight."

"...S-So!?" Diamond exclaimed, ignoring the smug look on the teen's face. "Even if your cutie mark is lame, why are you hanging out with blank flanks!?"

"...Blank flank?" He looked down at Apple Bloom and Twist, both fillies hiding behind him, trying to cover their bare flanks. Hearing how the young Apple filly was teased for not having a cutie mark, calling her a blank flank must have been some kind of insult. He kept his composure, not wanting to lash out at fillies who were younger than him. "...You're really making fun of someone who doesn't have a cutie mark?"

"Yeah! They have no talents at all!" Sora's eye twitched, the bullies still making fun at them, in front of someone who's far older than them and has magic that could make their heads spin, and they had the gall to call them talentless because of their lack of a cutie mark.

"Well, if they don't have a cutie mark, and my cutie mark means I have a lame talent, then what do YOUR cutie marks tell me what you do?" Sora asked, pointing his Keyblade at them. "A diamond tiara and a silver spoon...Ooh! I know what your talent is! Your names!...Oh wait, that's not a talent!" The teen raised his rump up, wiggling his flanks back and forth, lifting Apple Bloom's spirits up as he mocked the bullies. "At least having a 'lame' talent is actually a talent! Come on, Apple Bloom, Twist! Let's go and get some ice cream and see if we can find out a talent that's not just an object that tells everyone what your name is!"

Sora picked up both fillies and placed them on his back, giving a scoff as he lifted his head up in disgust like one of the elites he saw when he was in Canterlot, holding his Keyblade in his mouth. Apple Bloom and Twist giggled at his silly antics as he kicked a little dirt in the bullies' direction, sauntering off down the road as he left the angered pink bully and her companion behind. He carried the fillies up to the ice cream parlor in Ponyville, buying them some ice cream.

"Wow, Sthora," Twist said after taking a big spoonful of peppermint ice cream. "You sthure are funny! And you sthowed Diamond Tiara and Sthilver Sthpoon."

"Just don't let their words get to you. You know the old saying, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.' So, let's find some sticks and stones to throw at them." Twist nearly choked on her ice cream as she and Apple Bloom were appalled at the idea. "Aww, come on. I'm kidding."

"I hope stho." While Twist ate her ice cream, Apple Bloom sure didn't feel like eating any as some of it began melting in her bowl.

"You ok, Apple Bloom?" Sora asked.

"No..." The young Apple laid her head down on the table, still miserable. "It's not fair. Ah want to get mah cutie mark now."

"Well, you just need to be patient, Apple Bloom." Sora took a drink out of the shake he ordered, coated with chocolate chips on top of the whipped cream and vanilla and chocolate swirl ice cream. "I may not know much about cutie marks, but your sister's told me that it'll come when you discover what you're really good at."

"But Ah don't wanna wait! Ah want it now!" Apple Bloom slammed her forehooves on the table, frustrated at the lack of her cutie mark. "Ah want one before Diamond Tiara's dumb cute-ceañera comes up on Sunday! I hate her pickin' on me cause Ah don't have one!"

"Do you want a cutie mark that's a ridiculous object that doesn't have any meaning to what your talent really is?" Sora asked, the filly slowly shaking her head no. The stallion pet Apple Bloom's head, ruffling her mane a little. "You'll find something. Just because you don't have your cutie mark yet, doesn't mean you're useless. You can do anything that little mind of yours can think of, and when you find your special talent, your cutie mark will be far better than Diamond Tiara's and Silver Spoons."

"...Maybe as special as yours?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Even better." He gave the filly his silly grin, slowly reaching his hoof out to Apple Bloom's ice cream. "Or, are you gonna be mopey and not eat your ice cream? Because I think I'm gonna eat it before it goes to waste."

"Hey! That's mah ice cream!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, slapping his hoof away and stuffing her face in the bowl.

"Well, I bought it," Sora laughed, happy to keep the filly from feeling down in the dumps and hoping she'll ignore her bullies in the future.

The next day, Sora had the day off today as he wandered around town. Since Apple Bloom was with Applejack today, selling apples in Ponyville, he hoped the filly would discover her talents while staying patient. The teen looked around to figure out what he should do and where to go, stopping as he heard the sound of buzzing up ahead of him. In the distance, he could see what looked like a filly riding on a scooter, zooming in pretty fast and dangerously. At least she was wearing a helmet in case she ends up falling.

Unfortunately, the filly began to veer out of control from the speed she was going, steering into a sizable rock that tripped her up. She screamed and flailed her legs about as she was flung into the air. Thinking quickly, Sora ran toward her and caught her before she hit the ground.

"That was a close one," he said, gently lowering the filly back on the ground. She was an orange pegasus, her mane a dark purple, hiding underneath her blue and white helmet. "You alright there?"

"Yeah. That was awesome!" The filly took off her helmet and looked up at Sora, her hair styled almost the same way as Rainbow Dash's.

"Awesome? You could have gotten hurt." Sora looked over at the scooter she was riding on, the front wheel thankfully still intact even after flying into that small rock at around thirty or forty miles per hour. "How fast were you going?" When he looked down at the filly again, her eyes were twinkling as she stared at him in fascination. "...Uhh, hello?"

"Oh my gosh...A-Are you Sora?" she asked.

"Yes...Do I know you?" She began bouncing around, squealing excitedly as if she was meeting with a popular celebrity.

"I know everything about you! You saved the school from evil black creatures that showed up from the ground and the air, and with a giant key and awesome magic! I even saw you fight some of them near Sweet Apple Acres, and saved Rainbow Dash!" Sora's eyes widened as this filly had actually been around to see that day where he chased off the Heartless that attacked Rainbow Dash for the first time, and he didn't even notice her.

"...Uhh...Really?" he asked, rubbing his head in a bit of confusion. "Where...were you watching that?"

"I was hiding in the bushes while I was watching Rainbow Dash," she explained. "I followed after her when she sped off, and I wanted to talk to her, but she was up on a cloud, and I can't exactly fly yet." The pegasus filly flapped her wings, making quick movements and buzzed, which was where that buzzing sound came from when she came zooming in on her scooter. "I saw those black things appear around you, and you attacked them with a giant key in your mouth! Then Rainbow Dash was beaten up by those things, and you saved her, and used magic! It was so cool!"

"...Heheheh. Well, seems like I've got some more fans." Sora was at least glad the Heartless didn't sniff this filly out back then. She was lucky they didn't go after her, otherwise she would have been an easy target. "So, what's your name?"

"I'm Scootaloo!" The teen looked over at the scooter, finding it coincidental that Scootaloo would have shown up while riding on a scooter. "Can I see that giant key sword!?"

"Sure." Sora held out his hoof and summoned his Keyblade, the filly's eyes widening in awe as it appeared in his hoof in a flash of light.

"Coooooooool...How do you do that?" Scootaloo asked. "You're a pegasus, not a unicorn."

"Well, I have my own magic," Sora simple said, twirling his weapon around. "I mean, you did see me freeze those monsters in time, right?"

"I did! That was awesome!...But, you're not as awesome as Rainbow Dash." Sora groaned and fell on his back comically, wondering how his skills weren't more than impressive to Scootaloo's eyes.

"How am I not as awesome as Rainbow Dash?" Sora asked as he sat back up.

"You may be fast when fighting, but Rainbow is much faster when she flies!" The teen drooped his head, giving up before he makes himself look like an idiot trying to impress the filly. "I hope I get a cutie mark like hers, and someday be able to fly as fast as her and be a Wonderbolt!"

"Good luck with that." Sora watched as Scootaloo ran back to her scooter and put her helmet back on, zooming off using her wings to ride off. "Hope she doesn't hurt herself...If she wants to be like Rainbow Dash, then we're gonna have a lot of problems."

Later that evening, Sora sat in the living room in Rarity's home. She sought him out earlier today and asked him if he could watch her sister, Sweetie Belle, while she was out in town to gather some more fabric for her lines. She would be back in about an hour, but she wanted someone to watch the filly just in case. When he arrived, Sweetie Belle was the one who answered the door for him again, giving him the same shy treatment like the first time by slamming it in his face.

They both sat on the couch, just sitting in silence for the past few minutes. He caught her looking at him, and when he turned to look at her, she turned away and blushed heavily. She must be really nervous around him, either too shy to talk to new ponies, or she likes Sora and is a bit timid around him. His guess was mostly the latter from her reddened cheeks.

"...So, Sweetie Belle," he said, hoping to strike a conversation with the shy filly. "Got any board games we can play?" She didn't answer. "...Want me to make some food? I may not be a good cook, but I can learn." No response. Sora sighed, tapping on the sofa, trying to get some way to make Sweetie Belle talk. "You good with magic, or are you still learning?"

"You're really cute," Sweetie whispered, though it was barely audible.

"Hmm?" Sora thought he heard her talk, though it was just as quiet as Fluttershy's voice when he first met her. While looking around, trying to pretend he didn't hear her, the teen slowly scooched across the couch, moving a little closer to her. "You know, I think you like me. You're just a little nervous, huh?" Sweetie's blush grew more red, her white cheeks almost threatening to turn her entire coat red. She squeaked when she felt his hoof tickle her ear. "Is it my hair? Is it too spiky?

"Or is it because I'm a stallion?" Sora stood up from the couch and sat in front of the shy unicorn filly. "You know, I'm not sure if your sister told you, but I was tricked by a flower and was turned into a girl. That was so embarrassing." He looked around, finding a few dresses hanging up next to a folding screen. Getting an idea to make the filly laugh, Sora ran behind the screen and took off his clothes. "I mean, it was so embarrassing, I actually woke up in a frilly outfit, almost like this!"

As soon as he walked out from behind the screen, Sweetie Belle stifled her giggles as the teen now wore a blue dress, prancing around the room as he began acting like a mare. It actually fit him quite well with his skinny frame, swaying his hips in an enticing manner to impress some imaginary stallions. The unicorn filly couldn't hold it back anymore and laughed at the goofy teen's antics.

"I think you look better with some makeup," Sweetie suggested.

"Really? I'd rather go au natural." Sora stripped out of the dress, glad that no one else was around to see him wearing something so girly. It was bad enough he turned into a mare. It would have been a nightmare if anyone saw him wear a dress as a stallion. "Finally getting you to break out of your shell. Though we have to work on the door slamming in the face thing. Worst way to meet a new pony."

"Sorry...I-I just...I..." Sweetie stammered, finally speaking to him, but only a little bit. "...I really...like your mane?"

"Thanks. I like yours too," Sora complimented, making the filly blush more. "It's like a swirl of cotton candy...I wonder if it tastes like cotton candy. Time to test it out!" Sweetie squealed and leapt off the couch as Sora leapt up to her. "Hey, come back! Let me eat your hair!"

"My hair's not cotton candy!" she giggled as she ran around the room, fleeing from the crazy teen wanting to take a bite out her curly pink and fuchsia mane.

After being chased around, Sweetie Belle warmed up to Sora as he finally saw her real personality instead of the shy, quiet unicorn she was. For the rest of his babysitting, they did a few fun activities. They drew each other's picture, Sweetie's drawing a picture of Sora with his Keyblade, fighting off the Heartless from what she heard of from the other foals in her class, while Sora hilariously drew him chasing the unicorn around with cartoonish fangs, gnawing down on her tail. Her art was a lot better than his though. Ending their small hour together, they had a tea party, the teen wearing one of Rarity's sunhats to look fashionable at the "posh" gathering with Sweetie Belle and a few stuffed animals.

"Miss, Belle of Sweets, this party is absolutely divine," Sora complimented, sounding almost like Rarity as he sipped the water that was supposed to be tea. "Though, I must say, our wait staff is absolutely horrid. I had asked for a salad ten minutes ago, and I see no meal in front of me!" Sweetie Belle giggled as he lightly banged the small table. "Waiter! My salad! You shall receive no tip from me!"

The front door opened up, Rarity having returned with her new rolls of fabric. "Sweetie Belle, Sora, I'm back from-" The unicorn froze as she saw the two having their tea party, Sora blinking twice as he looked at the fashionista. "...Sora? Are you wearing one of my sunhats?"

"...Uhhhh...Noooooo..." Sora slowly grabbed the hat off his head and put it on Sweetie Belle's, the filly looking at him after she was now wearing her sister's hat. "Sweetie Belle was."

"You put it on my head!" the filly exclaimed.

"Nuh uh," Sora argued.

"Yeah huh!" Sweetie countered.

"No I didn't!" he said, crossing his forelegs.

"Yes you did!" she said back, the two continuing bickering as Rarity watched them go back and forth.

"Ugh. Maybe it was a bad idea to ask Sora to foalsit for my sister," the unicorn mumbled to herself, rubbing a forehoof against her forehead.

By the next day, everyone in Ponyville headed down to Sugarcube Corner for Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera. Sora figured there must be a party for almost everything in Equestria. Win against Nightmare Moon; party. Celebrating someone stopping a stampede of cattle; party. Stopping a rampaging ursa; party. Doing a headstand; party. Or maybe it was just Pinkie Pie who throws a party for just about everything. He didn't mind it if he's enjoying a good party.

Though, celebrating a colt or filly earning a cutie mark was something, if only it weren't for the party being thrown for Apple Bloom's bully. And he spotted the spoiled brat, the star of the show, wearing a fancy looking dress, which ironically hid her cutie mark she had gotten. Aside from her and Silver Spoon, Sora managed to spot Sweetie Belle on one side of the bakery, hiding her flanks from her other peers, and Scootaloo on the other side doing the same thing. They were both looking at Diamond Tiara, who must have also picked on them too.

He figured Apple Bloom could get along well with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. All three of them don't have their cutie marks, they all have lots of energy to burn, and they're each a different pony: earth, unicorn, and pegasus. Sora walked around, first heading to Sweetie Belle, carrying a cup of punch in his wing.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle." The unicorn filly noticed him and waved at him. "What'cha doing being a wallflower?"

"Oh...Well, I don't really want to be here," she said. "And Diamond Tiara invited me just to show off her cutie mark."

"Well, sucks to be her, since she's wearing a dress," Sora pointed out. "Can't show a cutie mark when you got something covering your rear, right?"

"...I guess that's true." She looked down at her flank, groaning in misery. "I wish I had my cutie mark."

"Hey, how about I introduce you to someone who feels the same way? Follow me." Sora left his drink on the nearby table and crawled underneath it.

Sweetie yelped as he dragged her under, both of them making their way to the other side of the party. As soon as they made it to where Scootaloo was trying to stay hidden, Sora reached a hoof out and gently tugged on her tail.

"Huh?...Sora?" The teen grinned, waving to her. "What are you doing under the table?"

"What are you doing NOT under the table?" he asked back. Confused at his question, Scootaloo didn't have the time to answer as Sora pulled her down under the table with him. "Got my own little party going on. The party where we ignore the real guest of honor at this party."

"Diamond Tiara," Scootaloo grumbled. "I'd rather party somewhere else than here."

"Perfect. And, I'd like you to meet a little friend of mine." Sora pulled Sweetie Belle forward. "Scootaloo, this is Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo."

"...Uhh, hey," Scootaloo greeted, noticing the unicorn filly's bare flanks. "Wait, you don't have a cutie mark either?"

"'Either'? You too?" Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo's flanks, no cutie mark. "I thought I was the only one."

"Me too!" Scootaloo exclaimed, her wings fluttering in excitement.

"And there's one more pony I want you two to meet." Sora peeked out from under the cloth, scoping out the last member of this new trio of friends. Luckily, he spotted Apple Bloom, wearing a table cloth as a makeshift dress while speaking with the bullies. As the filly tried to walk away, she tripped and caused the cloth to fall off her hips, revealing her cutie markless flank. "And cue the rich bullies acting like jerks."

"Oh wow! What an amazing cutie mark!" Diamond Tiara said sarcastically. "Nice try, blank flank!"

Sora heard Scootaloo growl, the pegasus filly unable to take the two bullies' heckling anymore. "Hey! You got a problem with blank flanks!?"

Scootaloo crawled out from under the table, along with Sweetie Belle, both fillies sick of being pushed around. "Yes, cause they aren't special," Silver Spoon said.

"Oh really?" Sora said as he crawled up from underneath the table, some of the other parties wondering what he was doing. "So you're saying someone with no cutie mark isn't special? Well, if Apple Bloom isn't special, then I guess these two fillies aren't either." Both fillies turned to their sides, showing off their blank flanks, the young Apple sibling gasping in surprise as she wasn't the only one without a cutie mark. "I beg to differ, Diamond Tiara. I believe these three fillies do have something special, and the best part is, they can be whatever they want."

"Yeah! Like be a story writer!" Sweetie Belle said.

"Or a daredevil!" Scootaloo added.

"But not a stuck up pony who makes fun of others and call them 'blank flanks'. In fact, this is supposed to be a cute-ceañera. Aren't we supposed to see your cutie mark and not a veil that hides it?" Diamond Tiara growled, fed up with Sora and his words. "What's your special talent again? It's supposed to be a 'diamond tiara', right? Does that mean you're a spoiled little princess who whines to get what she wants?" The pink bully had enough and screamed, running at the teen and began punching his forelegs. "Ooh. Free massage.

"Here, get my lower back." Sora turned around as Diamond Tiara kept trying to hurt him, doing absolutely nothing to the stallion while the rest of her peers laughed. "Little lower...No lower. Lower! Nope, too low. And hit a little harder."

"You are ruining my cute-ceañera!" Diamond shouted.

"No, not really," he said, picking up the flailing brat and sitting her down in a corner of the bakery. "Now, you stay right there until you learn it's not nice to pick on others because they don't have their cutie mark yet."

"You're a big dumb idiot!" she yelled.

"And that's five more minutes for calling me names." As soon as he turned around, the pink bully grabbed his tail and tried to pull him back, only to slid across the floor and slip as she lost her grip, smacking into the table and causing Sora's cup of punch to fall on her.

"Ahh! My dress! You'll hear about this from my daddy!" The spoiled princess stormed out of her own party, her friend and counterparting chasing after her with some napkins to dry her dress.

"Oops. That was actually unintentional." Sora shrugged his shoulders, finding Apple Bloom getting to know Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo at a small table. The party had continued on without Diamond Tiara, apparently everyone disliking the spoiled filly as much as he did. He approached the three fillies and sat down at their table. "So, you girls getting along ok?"

"Sure are!" Apple Bloom said. "Apparently, we got a lot in common."

"Yeah. We don't have our cutie marks," Scootaloo said.

"Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon drive us crazy," Sweetie Belle added.

"And we can work together to find out our special talents are, but we don't know what to call our group." The trio of fillies began to think of what they would call their little friendship group.

"The Cutie Mark Three?" Scootallo suggested.

"The Cutastically Fantastics?" Sweetie Belle chimed in.

"I think I have one." All three fillies looked at Sora. "I think it'll fit perfectly. You girls together, on a quest to find your cutie marks...How does the Cutie Mark Crusaders sound?"

"It's perfect!" Apple Bloom said, the other two nodding their heads in agreement. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders! Friends 'til the end!"

The three fillies hoof bumped as they cheered, Sora smiling happily as he helped bring these three ponies together. "Now, how about we celebrate your new friendships with some delicious cupcakes?"

Sora pulled out a plate of cupcakes, Apple Bloom gasping in shock as the teen took one for himself. "Wait, Sora! Don't eat-!"

He chomped down on cupcake, immediately regretting it as his eyes widened in surprise. He spat out the pastry, which had been badly burnt, was too crunchy, and tasted awful, even with the icing. He couldn't get the burnt taste off his tongue as he tried to scrape off any of the bits of burnt crumbs out of his mouth.

"What the heck is wrong with this cupcake!?" Sora questioned, putting the offending pastry down. "Did Pinkie actually burn these and give these out for the party!?"

"Actually...Ah made those cupcakes," Apple Bloom said, giggling sheepishly while Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo giggled at Sora's misfortune. "Ah tried gettin' a cutie mark in bakin' cupcakes a while ago, and...those came out."

"...Yeah, you're definitely not getting a cutie mark in baking." Sora stuck his tongue out, unable to get the burnt taste off his tongue. "Please tell me you didn't bake the cookies, at least." Thankfully, Apple Bloom shook her head. "Ok, good. Let's celebrate with some cookies instead."

The fillies ran off to get themselves some non-burnt cookies and have fun at the party, Diamond Tiara still gone to their delight. Sora looked down at the burnt cupcakes, taking the plate and throwing them in the trash. No one will ever be subjected to tasting the disgusting treats burnt by an eager filly desperate to get her cutie mark...unless all three of them decide to try baking together. He couldn't help but feel like he would be the cause of many future disasters that involve those three fillies, but he ignored that strange feeling and just enjoyed the party.

Inside the Mysterious Tower, Kairi was busy going through some advanced spells in one of her master's many spellbooks. Her patrols in the sectors she looked over were all clear of any Heartless, and any of Sora's several friends she had met in the past, including his friends at Disney Castle. She told all of them he might not be back for a long while, sent on a mission that could leave him maybe several years away from everyone. Including her.

Sighing, she closed the book, unable to focus on the spells, putting the book away in Yen Sid's study. Kairi hasn't really seen much of the old wizard that often, always hearing him talking to himself in his private chambers. She was curious about the mirrors covered with sheets, unable to move them due to a magic spell that only he can unlock. She could feel some strange power emanate from the several mirrors, but one of them felt dark and sinister. Whatever was in that mirror, she wanted to stay far away from it.

With nothing to do, she wandered around the study, looking around for something to occupy her mind away from Sora and how well he was doing. She couldn't help but worry, wondering why he never sent a letter telling him he was alright. He could take care of himself, but he was sometimes a bit of a wreck when it came to her safety or any of his friends he holds dearly. She needed to see him again, and since she's a Keyblade Master, she could go wherever she wants as long as she can help protect any nearby worlds.

While blindly searching around for a random book, she found one without a title on the spine. Curious, she pulled it out and looked it over. Opening the first page, it showed the map of the universe, but out of all the coordinates that were pointed out, one of them lied on the edge of the universe, the word "Equestria" written in bold black letters above the specific star. Turning over to the next page was what seemed like an entry of sorts, written in Master Yen Sid's handwriting.

Quite an odd world to be placed out on the edge of the universe. There is life there, I can feel it, though I sense a magic there that is unlike any other. What was odd was that one of my mirrors had activated, the frame glowing a myriad of colors like that of a rainbow. And to my shock, I was staring face to face with an elegant creature that seemed to have come from this one world that has intrigued me. Whatever magic has affected this mirror, it must have activated some sort of communicative network between my tower and her world. I tried not to seem hostile, despite speaking with her through a portal, though I may be intimidating just by my stern gaze. Her name was Celestia...and her homeworld is called Equestria...A land filled with talking equines. Quite a dream to have if one were a little girl obsessed with the creatures.

"Equestria? I've never heard of this world..." Kairi looked over her shoulder, making sure her master didn't come out from his room, then flipped over the entries to one that was dated a couple months ago, around the same time Sora left.

Celestia has been a little worried. She has told me quite a bit about her world's history, her existence lasting over a millenium and her wisdom far more vast than my own, but only in her world. She told me the sad story of how she banished her own sister, Luna, to the moon of her world, losing herself to the anger and envy toward her in her heart. It was bad enough when I told her what little information I was allowed to give about the Heartless, and she was on the verge of tears. She must have been afraid her own sibling would turn into one with the darkness of her emotions. She has asked for help, and I will give her that help. Tomorrow, I'll have Riku fetch Sora. He will be perfect to keep that world safe, as well as assist her in any problems she may have that may threaten her peaceful world.

"Sora was sent there?" Kairi flipped over to the next few pages to an entry about a week from the last one, her eyes widening as she read it to herself.

Sora had finally reached Equestria, though it took a lot longer than I thought. Apparently, he had arrived in the estimated time I figured he would by five days, but it took him another few to speak with Celestia. His Gummi ship exploded from a malfunction that not even he knew was the cause. And since her royal highness has no clue what a Gummi Block is like, there would be no way for him to leave Equestria. I wouldn't want his friends to panic if they hear the unfortunate news, but I don't want to speak of my communications with another being from the world Sora had gone off to. I know Kairi would understandably worry, but his mission is classified. Maybe, after a few months, I will tell Riku and Kairi to both deliver Gummi Blocks so he can make his ship once again. And with quality blocks so they won't malfunction again and strand him in another world.

"...He's stranded...and he knew?" The Keyblade Master flipped back to the first page and wrote down the coordinates. "I need to see if he's ok...He almost got killed."

Placing Yen Sid's journal back where she found it, she hurried outside of the tower and to her Gummi ship. Little did she realize that the door to the wizard's private chambers were slightly ajar. Yen Sid had watched her look through his entries on Equestria and any news on Sora, grinning as he had planned for her to find it. Looking out the window after closing the door, he saw her Gummi ship fly off and head for Equestria. He walked over to the mirror, where Celestia was seen waiting for him after he went to check on his pupil.

"Well, Celestia, it seems like you're going to have another guest come in to your world," he said, stroking his beard. "I think it's about time for those two lovebirds to be reunited."

"I'll be sure to keep an eye out for Kairi," Celestia said. "Although...my student, Twilight Sparkle, also has some infatuation toward Sora. She spoke of him a lot in the letters she had sent me involving any lessons she's learned about friendship."

"Your race, if I understand right, is polygamous, correct?" Yen Sid asked.

"Yes...though that practice is not exactly common nowadays. I just hope my student does not grow too envious if her love for Sora does not come true." Celestia sighed as she shook her head. "She is still learning about friendship, but her experience in romance is very little. I just hope she doesn't hurt herself, or anypony else."

About a week has passed in Equestria, the Gala was close to arriving as the girls were all excited about the upcoming day of the grand ball. It had been quite stressful for Rarity, having made the perfect outfits for the girls, though they didn't seem to meet their standards. She had to make newer dresses with the ideas they had, which ended up turning out horrible as they were the worst designs anyone had ever seen. Even Sora was disgusted by the horrible dresses: Twilight's constellation dress made her look like an alien, Pinkie's was way too much like a dessert party platter, Applejack's looked like she was ready for a country dance, and she wore galoshes of all footwear for a fancy party, Fluttershy was literally wearing nature over her outfit, and Rainbow's was more like she was heading off to a war than a dance.

Thankfully, no one actually saw any of those horrible dresses when he came by to see how Rarity was doing. The unicorn was so stressed, having to write down everything the others wanted while drawing out hundreds of possible designs to make them what they wanted. Sora did see what Rarity did make for them earlier, and they fit them perfectly in their unique style and tastes: Twilight's dress was blue, some stars etched onto the lower part of the dress, Applejack's was more fitting for a royal ball while staying to her country roots, Pinkie's was pink like her, patterned with fake candy that fit her love of sweets, Rainbow's a long rainbow dress that matched her hair, a simple outfit that doesn't make the pegasus look too girly, and Fluttershy's was a lot better to show her nature loving side, the dress green with a pattern of flowers around the clothing with a fake butterfly accessory to wear on her ear.

Rarity was thankful for Sora as he burned the terrible outfits with his Fire magic, though thankfully far away from her home and place of work. With the stress of making her friends' dresses finally out of the way, she had enough time to make her own dress, an elegant ruby red, making her look like the Canterlot noble she always dreamed of being. Now that the hardest of her friends' and her own outfits were out of the way, it was time for Sora's suit for the Gala.

"Ok, Sora. I know it took me a while, and the Gala is coming up in another month, but I've finally finished you outfit," Rarity said as she lead the teen into her workroom.

"As long as you got some rest, Rarity," Sora said. "I know you've been on edge with the others' constant demands and...how ugly those commissioned dresses were. Whatever you make, I know it's gonna make me look good, even though I've never really worn a tux before."

"I may have gotten a little inspiration from your clothing, but wait until you see it." Rarity pulled out a stallion mannequin that was around his build, staring at his outfit for the Gala.

Rarity really did take some inspiration from his jacket's design, a black tuxedo jacket with the same patterns, a white undershirt resting inside the jacket. A black bowtie was tied around the mannequin's neck, a fake silver flower fashioned to look like his Keyblade resting in the front right pocket of the jacket. On the back of the jacket were several hearts that were made out of rubies, looking like the same hearts the Heartless release when he killed an emblem Heartless. The gems shimmered just like them, too, almost like they could pop off and float away at any time.

"Whoa...This is really nice." Sora looked at the rubies, touching them with a hoof. "Are these actual rubies?"

"They are! And don't worry about them digging into your back when you wear it," Rarity assured. "I made sure they were cleanly cut to make them smooth before sewing them in. I find gems outside of Ponyville with a little spell I learned when I was a filly, using some of the best ones for my designs."

"Wow...real gems." Sora looked at the heart-shaped rubies, seeing just how accurate they were to being the hearts he sees from killing a Heartless. A moment later, the teen tried on his new clothes to see if they fit him, and they did comfortably. He examined himself in the mirror, already liking his fancy new suit. It may not be like his usual clothes, preferring casual wear, but for anything formal, he wouldn't mind wearing this. "Oh yeah. I look pretty good. I wonder what Kairi would think if she saw me wearing this."

"I'm sure she would love it, Sora. Oh, if only I had the chance to meet her. I would definitely make a dress for her that will match your suit." Rarity sighed, still remembering the romantically tragic sacrifice Sora had made to wake Kairi when he rescued her. "You two are the perfect couple. I'm still surprised you two aren't even going out yet."

"Heh. I doubt we might be that perfect," Sora said, messing with the small Keyblade-shaped flower in the jacket pocket.

"But you are!" Rarity exclaimed. "Both of your hearts, connected as one, your noble sacrifice to save the one you love, you two were destined to be together!" As flattering as it was for Rarity to believe Sora and Kairi would make a good couple, the teen looked troubled. He wanted to be with her, but not only was he too afraid to tell her how he felt, he was more afraid of having his darkness show itself when he used is Drive Forms, turning into a wild and out of control Heartless. This was something he didn't want anyone to know, and if they did, he would probably lose every friend he had, including Kairi, whether it was by the knowledge of his Anti Form or if he accidentally hurt her in that state. "I will make it my mission to make sure you two get together, announce your love for one another, and be the happiest, most romantic couple in all of Equestria."

"Really?" Sora asked in confusion. "What about you and this Prince Blueblood? From how you sounded talking about him, you two would be the more romantic couple."

"My romance with Prince Blueblood is a dream I want to make into a reality," Rarity stated. "Yours, however was always a reality. You just need some confidence."

Sora gave the unicorn a look, raising a brow at her. "...I have faced Heartless, Nobodies, many of them threats that have outnumbered me or tower over me by several hundred feet. I am practically filled to the brim with confidence."

"Not when speaking your feelings to your crush." Sora groaned, unable to argue with the romantic of the group of pony friends he has.

He began to take off his outfit, not needing to be fitted up, placing it back on the mannequin. "Ok, how about this? If Kairi does find out where Equestria is, and that's a big IF, I'll tell her how I feel about her if I see her."

"Good!" Sora put his clothing back on and left the boutique, unsure if he actually would pull through with telling Kairi his feelings.

Out in the vast void of space, Kairi sat at the helm of her Gummi ship, getting closer and closer to where this Equestria Sora was at. For the past week, she had to make sure she didn't run her vessel and cause her ship to blow up, just as a precaution in case long flights through space could cause any problems. Up ahead, she found the world, amazed to see the tall castle on top and the small town on the bottom.

"There it is...I hope I land in the right area in this world. No idea how big it really is." Kairi steered her ship down to the village, starting off small.

As soon as she reached the atmosphere of Equestria, she saw her body began to change to fit in with the world's inhabitants, knowing this would happen, but a first for her to actually transform. She didn't pay attention until she made sure she landed safely, slowly descending into an empty field, far from any sign of civilization. Once she reached solid ground, she activated the Gummi ship's cloaking device, making sure no one sees the strange ship.

She stood up from her seat to see what she looked like, only to fall on her stomach as she quickly lost her balance. Groaning, she shakily sat up and looked down at herself. Instead of hands, she saw hooves, her body now covered in pink fur. Her blouse and skirt seemed to stay with her as she changed, though the skirt didn't really cover her rear all that well. Kairi stood up, her legs shaking as she had to learn how to walk on all fours.

"I have no idea how Sora managed to do this when he told me about turning into a lion...I wish I'd seen what he looked like. I bet he was cute." Kairi managed to reach a mirror she placed in her ship, using it to fix her hair when waking up after a night's sleep. She saw herself as a pink mare, her mane still styled the way it always was, though the biggest change was her big blue eyes that were as big as her head, a rounded muzzle, and a horn protruding from her forehead. "Oh my gosh. I turned into a unicorn."

She turned to her sides to get a better look at herself, noticing the strange mark on her flanks. It showed her Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace, along with a white heart behind the weapon. Her blade was orange, the teeth of the key shaped like flowers, while the guard was one half a sandy shore, climbing partway up the blade, and the other half an ocean wave gently crashing down. She summoned her Keyblade, finding it a perfect match to the marks.

"Wow...I'm adorable," she giggled to herself. "Guess Master Yen Sid was right in his journal; a world that every little girl dreams of being in. I can't wait to see what Sora looks like."

As excited as she was to find Sora and explore this land, she had to get used to walking on all fours than on two. She managed to catch on quickly as soon as she left her ship. The moment she stepped onto the grass, she could see this world was definitely fitting for a little girl to want to live in. The colors were so bright and vibrant, so much more lively compared to the other worlds she's seen. Spotting the small town nearby, she began walking down to see if the locals have seen a spiky haired pony, someone that would be highly impossible to miss.

It was incredibly difficult for Kairi to hold back the giddy, excited little girl inside of her. Everywhere she looked, she saw colorful equines all over the town: unicorns, pegasi, and even normal ones, young or fully grown. She wanted to squeal in delight, run up to any one of them and hug them, pet them, cuddle them, and freak out as she was living a dream every other little girl wanted, but she had to keep her composure. Hearing them all talking and behaving as sentient beings, it would be awkward if she began doing that when she was one of them at the moment. As soon as she found Sora, she was going to give him a good bonk on the head for coming here by Yen Sid's orders first and not her.

While wandering around the town, she realized she had no idea where everything was since this was the first time she came here. If she had a map of this part of Equestria, she would be able to navigate this town easily. She was a little afraid of speaking to any of the ponies, unsure if she would begin squealing with glee and bounce up and down while babbling about how adorable they were and make herself look like an idiot. She didn't have to wait long as she was being spied on by Pinkie Pie, though she was spying mere inches away from the new pony.

"Ok. Where should I look first?" Kairi turned around, finding herself staring into the lens of a pair of binoculars. "Ahh!"

"Hello!" the party pony greeted, tossing the binoculars aside. "Welcome to Ponyville! I'm Pinkie Pie!"

"...Uhh, hi?" Kairi waved her hoof, only for Pinkie to grab it and shake it violently, also shaking the poor teen.

"I know when new ponies show up, and when a new pony arrives, I have to throw them a big party!" The excited mare let go as the Princess of Heart-turned-unicorn, finally stopped shaking and fell on her side. While struggling to stop her legs from vibrating, Pinkie noticed her flanks. "Ooooh. Nice cutie mark!"

"Huh?" Kairi looked down at her flanks, wishing her skirt was a bit longer. She tried to move it down to hide her rump as she blushed in embarrassment, instinctively using her horn's magic to try to drag it as if it was natural for her to do. The aura of her magic was pure white, glowing around the hem of her skirt. "Uhh, m-my uhh...What?"

"You don't know what a cutie mark is?" Pinkie asked. "Ooooh! Just like him when he showed up!" While Kairi pondered who this "him" the pony was talking about, Pinkie helped the teen up. "I think you'll like him! He's kinda got the same cutie mark, only not as flowery as yours!"

"...I have no idea what you're talking about," Kairi said as she was utterly clueless.

"Exactly! Come on, new friend!" Pinkie began pushing her across the ground in another part of the town. "Let's throw you a party to welcome you to the new world!"

"Wait, what!?" Kairi asked in a panic.

"I said let's throw you a party to welcome you to Ponyville!" The Princess of Heart was about to question change in her welcoming statement, but maybe she had misheard her.

"I-I can walk on my own, you know," she said as she was pushed along by the energetic mare. "And I'm kind of in the middle of finding someone at the moment, so can I take a rain check on that party?"

Kairi yelped as Pinkie stopped pushing her, falling to the ground. "Huh. That's exactly what he said when I first met him too. Well, after I was spying on him and figuring out where he was going, I officially met him at Sugarcube Corner, and he was doing errands for my friend Applejack. Ooh! Maybe he's down at Sweet Apple Acres! I'm sure you two would have a lot in common with your Keyblade cutie marks!"

"Look, whoever you want me to meet, I'm sure he-" Kairi paused, turning to look at the mare in shock. "...W-What was that last thing you said?"

"I said I'm sure you two would have a lot in common with your big key cutie marks," Pinkie said, again changing her words around from the last statement. "Do you need your ears cleaned? I know I sure do. You will not believe how much candy winds up in there, and I know I don't leave any in there for a quick snack. I keep them in my mane!" The random mare dug through her hair and pulled out a tray of cupcakes. "Cupcake?"

"...I think I'm getting a headache," Kairi said as she went cross-eyed, rubbing her aching temples.

Twilight sat alone in the park, taking a break from all of her studying. Well, what little studying she could as Sora always kept popping up in her head. Every time she looked at a fictional novel with a picture depicting a hero with a sword and a princess or damsel in distress, she envisioned Sora as that knight and herself as that mare. Sora was right when the unicorn needed a vacation, unable to think straight or concentrate on anything else, many of her friendship reports being so long as she wrote not only what lesson she learned about friendship, but also her thoughts on the otherworldly stallion.

She needed to clear her head and stop thinking about him, but even while she was outside with some fresh air, she still couldn't stop thinking about him. He was already in love with Kairi, a mare who he had physically given up his heart for, and it only made her love for him complicated. Should she tell him how she feels about him, just to get the heartache over with if he doesn't return her affections? Or should she wait until Sora becomes more interested in finding someone else and stay anxious until her fantasies make her go insane?

"Ooogh! Why can't I stop thinking about him!?" Twilight yelled, thankfully alone since the foals were in school and everyone in Ponyville was busy working or running errands. "I should just tell him...but how? I don't know anything about romance, and the only books that can give me any clues are more in fictional novels and not in informational ones! Just stupid hints over how they feel, or what not to do on a first date! None of them tell me how to actually tell somepony I like how I feel!" The unicorn grumbled, controlling her emotions before they got out of hoof. She looked down at the red and copper bandanna, unable to leave without it today as her mind was on Sora. "...I'm losing my mind...

"I'll just tell him...if not, then I tried. That's roughly a C-...I think." Twilight took in a deep breath as she began to think of what to tell Sora. "'Hi, Sora. Good to see you. Me? Oh, I'm fine. But...can I ask you something? Uhh...I know we've been friends for the last couple months, but...is it possible that friendship could be more than that?'...No, that would just be awkward...'Sora, I can't deny it, but I'm in love with you. Do you love me?' No. That makes me sound desperate..." She began to sway her hips and flutter her lashes, pretending Sora in front of her. "'Oh Sora, ever since you saved me against Nightmare Moon, you've done so much for me and I should give you something in return for your heroic efforts. Maybe a lovely night out together, just you and me, under the stars and moon?'...NO! Urgh, that's even worse! Seduction is not asking him out on a date!"

Twilight flopped on her belly, groaning in irritation, unable to think of anything to say to her crush. This was a lot harder than making friends, the only simple way to do so was to just say hello and talk about stuff. With romance, it was an entirely different level, where her nerves can get the best of her worse than a last minute study session, her stomach flopping around like a swarm of butterflies were fluttering to escape when he was around, and she blushes and mumbles whenever he touches or speaks to her. How did couples handle these nerves when they feel like their heart will explode?

"Please, can you give me some peace, Pinkie Pie!?" Twilight's ears perked up as she heard a mare's voice coming up toward the area of the park she was in. Looking over in the direction of Ponyville, she saw a pink unicorn with long auburn hair being tailed by a bouncing Pinkie Pie. Twilight felt bad for the mare, being harassed by Pinkie and her random antics. "I would love to enjoy your party you want to throw for me, but I need to find someone!"

"He might be at the party! You never know!" Pinkie continued insisting.

Wanting to spare this newcomer to Ponyville, Twilight approached them. "Pinkie, if she doesn't want a party, you don't have to throw one to everypony that's new in town."

"But she's new! And new friends!" Pinkie whined and pouted, her pupils growing wide in sadness.

"Maybe not everypony wants to have a party. Kind of like me when I first got here," Twilight said. "I'm sorry about Pinkie. She's a bit...different compared to everypony else."

"Yeah. I kinda guessed that when she pulled out a tray of cupcakes out of her hair!" The unicorn looked at Pinkie, her heart exploding at the sad look the hyperactive pony was giving, though thankfully her inner child was nulled out by the confusing abilities that was the pink menace. She moved closer to Twilight, not wanting to insult the pouty earth pony. "I'm already so confused, and I didn't want to eat any of those cupcakes. So unsanitary."

Twilight giggled, understanding her confusion. "You get used to it after a while. Anyways, welcome to Ponyville and all that. My name is Twilight Sparkle."

"I'm Kairi." Twilight blanched, staring at the pink unicorn in confusion and fear.

"...Uhh...What...was your name?" the lavender mare asked.

"Kairi. And, as much as I'd like to stay and chat, I'm in the middle of looking for-" Kairi froze as her eyes caught something from behind Twilight. Part of the scenery looked slightly blurry, and it was slowly sneaking up on the unsuspecting unicorn. A pair of eyes began glowing white from the blurry form, seeing the yellow of its actual eyes in the center of the lights as they twitched erratically, looking more at its prey. "Look out!"

The lights fired off from its eyes as beams of energy homed in on the lavender unicorn. Kairi quickly spun Twilight around, taking her place as she summoned her Keyblade, creating a barrier around herself as she blocked the dangerous beams. Carrying her weapon with her aura, the creature let out a distorted growl as it fully revealed itself. The creature was a large chameleon-like Heartless, its body green with a sharp horn on its nose. On its underbelly was a heart symbol, a definite sign that this was a powerful Heartless, leaning forward to keep its weak spot from being vulnerable.

"Oh no!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Don't worry! I'll get help!"

She zoomed off before Kairi could tell her that no one else could deal with something like this, focused more on the Heartless staring at her. "Stealth Sneaks...Very dangerous Heartless predators. Twilight, just stay far away from this thing, ok?"

Twilight didn't listen, or even speak, staring more at the unicorn in front of her than the dangerous Heartless leering at them with its twitchy eyes. Or more specifically, the Keyblade that had appeared in her aura. Her cutie mark matched her weapon, she was a Keyblade wielder, and her name was Kairi. Her heart sunk, fearing that this unicorn was Sora's crush and her chance to tell Sora how she felt were dashed.

The Stealth Sneak screeched as it shot its long tongue out at Kairi, who slapped it away with her Keyblade and ran toward it. Aiming her weapon at the Heartless, she fired a barrage of Blizzard spells, massive blocks of ice that shot out from the tip of her Keyblade. The Stealth Sneak was more agile, avoiding the blocks of ice that were its size as it fired more beams of light out of its eyes. Kairi herself avoided the homing beams and charged again, smacking its horn a few times before leaping away from its fists.

The Stealth Sneak turned invisible, sneaking around as a blurry haze, Kairi looking around to try and find it. Her ears twitched as she heard it slowly step around, quickly turning around an shooting a massive Firaga fireball out toward it, only for it to fly out to into the field and explode a distance away, missing it by mere inches. She was too slow to react as the Heartless rushed at her, headbutting the Keyblade Master hard and sending her tumbling across the ground. Before she could get up, it lashed its tongue out and pulled her toward it, punching her hard and sending her flying across the ground.

Kairi skid across the ground, trying to ignore the pain as she stood up, looking around for the invisible Heartless. She was about to use Cure to heal her injuries, but she didn't get the chance to cast it as the Stealth Sneak grabbed her again with its tongue and pulled her toward it. She was then struck by a point blank shot of the energy beams fired out of its eyes, tossed up high in the air, and punched hard again. The pink unicorn fell unconscious, tumbling across the ground and past Twilight, finally snapped out of her shock and watched the unconscious Keyblade wielder slow to a stop, her weapon disappearing in a flash of light.

Twilight heard the Heartless let out its distorted growl, turning back to face it as it now decided to choose her as its prey, fully visible. She tried to back away, but the Stealth Sneak kept getting closer, unable to defend herself from the creature made of darkness. It lashed its tongue out at Twilight to attack her, the unicorn flinching, but as she anticipated getting struck, Sora flew in and slammed his Keyblade down hard on the Stealth Sneak's tongue, making it shriek in agony as the tip of its tongue was barely inches away from touching Twilight.

"Stealth Sneaks...I really hate these things." Sora grabbed its tongue, and with all of his might, flung the large Heartless over, slamming it headfirst into the ground. "Especially when they're smart enough to hide where their hearts are!"

While its head was buried in the ground, Sora took the opportunity to strike the emblem weak point on the Stealth Sneak's stomach several times. He backflipped away as its tail tried to smack him aside, pulling itself up from the ground and turning invisible. The pegasus waited, his ears swiveling around as he heard it failing to be stealthy, almost seeming desperate to get the jump on the bigger threat. He waited patiently as it got behind him, quickly turning around and blocking its fist with his Keyblade.

Sensing its surprise, Sora took advantage of its shock and cast an Aeroga spell, slashing the Heartless repeatedly with deadly wind, dispelling its cloaking ability. While it was caught in the deadly tornado, the stallion flew straight into it, flying around with the vortex, adding more deadly strikes to its back and chest. As the Aeroga spell ended, Sora flew up in the air and dove down at the immobile Stealth Sneak, thrusting his Keyblade deep through the emblem on its underside, its agonizing screeches growing silent as it was defeated. He pulled out his weapon, releasing the large heart from inside the Heartless as it faded away.

Dismissing his Keyblade, he ran over to Twilight, who still seemed to be in shock. "Twilight? Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"...I-I'm fine..." She tried not to look at the unconscious pink unicorn behind her as Sora examined her, making sure she wasn't hurt.

"Ok. You're fine. I'm glad Pinkie Pie found me before that thing hurt-" Sora paused, spotting an unconscious unicorn mare, greatly injured. "Oh man! Someone got hurt!" He quickly ran up to the mare, calling his Keyblade again to use his magic to heal her. He paused before casting his Cure spell, looking at the unicorn closely. "Wait a minute..."

His eyes trailed along every part of the mare, finding her somewhat familiar to him. The color of her hair, the style it was in, the scuffed outfit she wore. The one thing that shocked him was when he looked at her cutie mark. It was Kairi's Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace, and a heart in the background that looked like it was filled with a bright light. Sora looked back at the mare's face, staring in disbelief, hoping that this pony was who he thought she was.

The mare groaned, slowly opening her eyes, her vision slightly blurry as she looked up at the stallion looking down at her. She saw a tan pegasus, wearing the same black jacket and shirt she remembered Sora now wore, his spiky brown mane, and big blue eyes. He was staring at her, mouth agape, surprised and shocked.

"...S-Sora?" she asked before passing out again.

"...That voice...No way! Kairi!?" Sora quickly cast Cure over them, healing Kairi's injuries, though she remained unconscious. "How did she know where I was?" He picked up his unconscious friend/crush and hovered in the air. "Twilight, I'm gonna take Kairi to the library!"

Sora flew off into town to help the unconscious mare, leaving a disheartened Twilight behind. "...No...It really is her..." Tears welled up in her eyes, clutching the Elven Bandanna tightly in her hoof. "...I'm too late..."

Inside the Golden Oak Library, Sora sat patiently in the living room, watching Kairi as she laid on the sofa, still unconscious. So many questions ran through his head, many of them more about how she had found out where he was. His orders were meant to be secretive, and Master Yen Sid had kept silent about it, unless Celestia told him the teen crash landed and was stuck here. He had completely forgotten about the able communication between Equestria and the Mysterious Tower, but he didn't want his friends to freak out and make sure he didn't lose half of his face when he blew up. Guess it's too late to hide where he was. If Riku found out he's living in a world of talking, colorful horses, he would be constantly teased until the day they die.

He looked at Kairi, now a unicorn mare, and was surprised to see she looked exactly how he imagined she would look in this world. Her mane and tail remained the same color and style as her hair, her coat was a bright pink, not like Pinkie Pie's, and he wasn't going to lie, she looked incredibly cute. Now those thoughts of her wearing all those dresses in Rarity's boutique could come true, depending on which outfits would make her look adorable or cute. As much as Sora had an inner child, that Poison Joke turning him into a mare must have left behind a little feminine essence in him.

"Hey, Sora." Spike came walking into the living room with some warm water in a basin and a washcloth. He saw Sora carry in the unconscious unicorn and laid her on the couch, helping him take care of her. "She doing ok?"

"Yeah. She's just knocked out...I'm really glad Pinkie came to get me before that Stealth Sneak got them." Sora took the washcloth and gently pressed it against Kairi's forehead, being mindful of her horn.

"Do you know her?" Spike asked.

"Sure do," he replied. "This is Kairi. My...f-friend..."

"Oh. So this is that mare you like so much." Sora blushed as he glared at the baby dragon, having no clue how he knew that when he wasn't in the library during that sleepover. "Hey, Twilight wrote her letters to Princess Celestia and mentioned her when she asked me to pre-read it for you."

"Oh for goodness sake," Sora grumbled. "Is Twilight telling Celestia everything about me in those letters? Not everything in my life is supposed to be known in other worlds. Especially what I did to save Kairi."

"Well, I thought it was a pretty heroic thing to do." Spike's praise didn't help lift Sora's mood. "I mean, giving your heart to somepony you care about? That definitely shows you like her and want to be with her...If only I could do that for Rarity."

"Yeah, I wouldn't if I were you, casanova." Sora groaned, remembering what Rarity had said to him earlier if he ever saw Kairi again, and she was laying right on the couch. He scratched his frazzled head, regretting ever making that promise. "This is going to be harder than I thought..."

"At least you can finally tell her how you feel. Can't be that hard." The teen leered at the baby dragon, unaware of his own infatuation with Rarity being more obvious than a piece of hay in a stack of needles.

"Have you told Rarity how you felt about her?" Spike stammered as his cheeks turned red, giving no response. "Yeah. Not that simple, is it?" While Sora was too busy talking to Spike, Kairi had squinted her eyes open. Both boys were too busy talking to each other to notice she had woken up. She stayed still as she listened to Sora. "I want to tell her how much I love her, but I just can't."

"Why?" Spike asked. "Is it because she's a princess from another world?"

"I don't care about that," Sora said. "I liked her before I knew she was a princess. Ever since Riku and I became friends with her when we were little, I've had a crush on her, and I didn't care what she was back then or who she is now. I cared about her, worried about her safety when she was lost out in the worlds, heck, I even begged a member of Organization XIII when they told me they were holding Kairi hostage! I love her too much to let anything happen to her, and like I had done to give my heart, her own being inside mine, I would gladly give up my life to make sure she's perfectly safe!"

"Then why won't you tell her?" the baby dragon asked.

(Simple and Clean Music Box version)

"Because I don't want to hurt her!" Spike backed away as Sora shouted, both the baby dragon and Kairi staring at him in confusion. The pegasus sighed, knowing he was going to have to explain why. As long as he can trust Spike to not tell anyone else, he could at least get this worry off his chest a little bit. "I know what you're thinking. How can someone like me, someone who will risk his life to save anyone from danger, sacrifice himself to save the one he loves, and keep fighting for his friends until he breathes his last breath, hurt someone he cares about?...It's...a part of me I'm afraid will come out.

"Twilight told you about my Drive Forms, right?" Spike nodded his head, recalling the lavender unicorn mentioning his clothes changing color and using two Keyblades at once. "Well...that's the reason why."

"You mean you lose control of the magic from those transformations?" Spike guessed, but Sora shook his head.

"Not the ones I can turn into at will." The teen pulled out Kairi's charm, staring at it for a while before he continued. "Five of my forms I can use to gain more power if I'm overwhelmed by my foes: a form of strength, Valor, a form of magic, Wisdom, two forms that use both, Master and Final, and a form that recalls my first ever journey with the Keyblade, Limit. Using any one of these forms, my style of combat changes, as well as my physical and magical power...But, sometimes, they might force me to turn into something else..."

"Something else?" the dragon asked, Kairi straining not to move her ears as she wondered what Sora meant.

"...Every heart has two sides; light and darkness. It's up to the person to decide which path they want their heart to travel down, some of them wishing they could turn back and go down the other road...It's obvious mine is light..." He held the charm up to his chest, over his heart. "...At any point, I'm scared that my Drives will end up twisting the light of my heart and unleash the darkness inside...A dangerous form I don't want anyone to witness or be around me if I'm forced to change into it; a form of darkness, uncontrollable, wild, and deadly...Anti Form, a temporary Heartless form."

Spike gasped in shock while Kairi's eyes widened. "A-A H-Heartless!?"

"I'm still me right now...but when I turn into that thing...I'm like a wild animal on the loose, escaped from its cage and causing havoc, while the real me is trapped in that cage and forced to watch the horrible actions the darkness in my heart does." Sora trembled as tears welled up in his eyes, the deadly speed and ferocity of his Anti Form terrifying him, even though he's normal now. "Back when I first used them...I thought using my Drive Forms would be helpful. I gained the ability to use the others, utilizing all the power they had to aid me in combat, using my friends' power to give me that strength I need...But one day, I tried using one of them, but as the light was about to give me my form, the energy backfired and darkness formed around me.

"Both my friends' power were used, and I'm thankful they don't remember what had happened to them...but I always have." His tears began flowing down his cheeks, clutching Kairi's charm tightly to his chest. "I can never forget...how dangerous it is...I move so fast, my hands turning to claws as my Keyblade rejects the form I've taken. My Anti Form can't tell which is friend or foe, and it goes on a rampage...Darkness is uncontrollable, even if someone who uses that darkness thinks they can truly empower it.

"That's why I can't tell Kairi I love her, or I want her to be with me. I don't want to hurt the ones I care about if I turn into that thing. I don't want to hurt her..." Sora sobbed, Kairi watching in pity as she saw his tears drip to the floor.

She had no idea he was suffering from his own darkness for a while, and even after hearing him admit his love for her, he was afraid of losing control and hurting her. He and Riku are so much alike, but their serious friend had been forced to travel down that path of darkness due to envy and anger. Where Riku was able to fight back against the darkness, freeing himself from the form of the Heartless that took control of him back then, Sora couldn't when he uses his powerful forms when it happens against his own will. Though temporary, it really seemed to affect him greatly, his voice practically shaking as he mentioned how scary it was just to see himself move on autopilot and attack without any self control. Kairi wanted to comfort him, assure him he would never hurt her, but only when he was alone with no one else around.

She closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep as Sora wiped away his tears, calming himself down a little. Spike felt bad for him, not knowing how badly it was. From Twilight's description, floating around in a sea of darkness when becoming a Heartless, it was a scary thought.

"...Sora..." The baby dragon was speechless, unable to find the words to help console the Keyblade wielder.

"Spike, I don't want you to tell Twilight, or anyone else about what I just told you, ok?" Sora pleaded. "I don't want anyone to know about this. They would panic...or think I'm dangerous..."

"...Ok. I promise. I won't tell anypony...But, what if you do turn into that...thing?" Spike asked, growing worried.

"...Then I hope none of you are in my line of sight if I do..." Sora turned back to look at Kairi, gently taking one of her forehooves in his own.

Twilight slowly trudged along sadly through Ponyville, heading back to her tree library home. She had spent the last hour crying to herself, having taken too long to tell Sora her feelings. Kairi had found Sora, and no she had no chance of confessing her love to him. Her eyes were red and puffy, ignoring the looks from the other ponies as she passed them.

"I can't believe this is happening so soon...I should have said something. Now I can't," Twilight mumbled to herself as a fresh wave of tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

She finally reached her home and walked inside. Sora sat by Kairi as he wringed out some water from a washcloth in a basin of water, gently placing it on the pink unicorn's forehead, while Spike brought out some tea. The dragon noticed Twilight walk in, but as he was about to greet her, he noticed her puffy eyes.

"Whoa, Twilight. You ok?" he asked in concern.

"...Yes...I'm fine," Twilight lied. "Just...allergies."

"Allergies? I don't remember you having any-" Spike's lips were quickly sealed by Twilight's "zip-lip" spell, shutting the dragon up.

Sora looked back at Twilight, noticing her red and puffy eyes. "I ended up smelling some...uhh...lilacs on my way back to the library. Heheh...Bad idea."

"Well, at least that's a lot less dangerous than Heartless." They heard Kairi begin to stir, finally "waking up" after being knocked unconscious by the Stealth Sneak.

She opened her eyes, seeing the cheery expression on Sora's face, relieved to see she was ok. "Sora?" Kairi sat up, taking off the washcloth off her forehead, looking back at the spiky-haired stallion. "...Is that really you?"

"Kairi!" He lunged at the unicorn, hugging her tightly with a big, doofy grin on his face. She hugged him back, happy to hear his voice and be around his silly personality. Both ponies didn't notice the jealous gaze Twilight gave them, leering at Kairi intensely. "How did you even get here?"

"It's a bit of a long story." Kairi then explained how she found out about where Equestria was, even what had happened to Sora from Yen Sid's journal entries on this new world.

"I had no idea Master Yen Sid was actually recording everything Celestia told him," Sora said, staring blankly at the ceiling. "So much for keeping order in this world anymore."

"I was worried sick about you, Sora!" Kairi scolded. "When I read your Gummi ship malfunctioned and blew up, I thought you were badly hurt!"

"I've gone through worse." The pink unicorn conked Sora in the back of the head, the stallion rubbing the sore spot she hit him at.

"You're not invincible," she said. Her stomach soon began growling loudly, her cheeks turning bright pink in embarrassment. "Heh...I'm not either. I haven't eaten anything at all today."

"Ooh! I'll be back in a little bit with some food! Trust me, Kairi, you are gonna love what I'll get." He hugged her again, Twilight's eye twitching at their short embrace. "Chat with Twilight and ask her all about Equestria while I'm out. She knows everything, and she's awesome with unicorn magic!"

Sora flew out to get his crush some food, leaving Kairi alone with Twilight and Spike, the baby dragon unzipping his lips dispelling the "zip-lip" spell. Spike poured the girls some tea, the pink unicorn gladly taking a sip. The three sat in silence, Twilight keeping her envious gaze on the Princess of Heart.

"...So, Twilight...Did you get hurt by that Stealth Sneak?" Kairi asked.

"...No...Sora came in and saved me," Twilight said. "You're not exactly good at taking care of Heartless."

"Physical combat's not exactly my cup of tea," Kairi giggled as she levitated her teacup around, accenting her terrible pun. "I'm more useful from long range with my magic. And Stealth Sneaks...That was the first time I ever fought one."

"Mhmm." More silence lasted for a while, Kairi feeling a little awkward with the glare Twilight was giving her.

"...Anyway, since you seem to know I'm from another world...is it wrong for me to say that I want to pet you?" Kairi asked with a giddy grin on her face. "A world filled with colorful horses, unicorns and pegasi, all of them so cute! And I love your hair! That pink streak makes you look adorable!" Spike chuckled at Kairi's excitement, yelping in surprise as she picked him up with her aura and squeezed him. "And Spike is so cute! I didn't think a baby dragon could look so adorable! He's got chubby cheeks!"

"Yeah. Cute," Twilight grumbled.

After a few minutes, Kairi occupying herself by cuddling Spike, who didn't seem to mind her attention, Sora came back in the library, carrying a few of his favorite apple meals, freshly made by the Apple family. "Early dinner is here!"

The pink unicorn dropped Spike, her nostrils flaring at the delectable apple products invading her senses, her mouth watering in hunger. "Mmmmm...Those smell good."

"And they taste good, too," Sora said. "I should know. I've been eating this stuff for the past couple months, and I can never get enough."

As soon as he laid down the dishes of apple goodies, Kairi immediately dug in, carrying one of each piece in her telekinetic grip. Her taste buds exploded as she moaned in delight, each bite of each meal feeling like heaven. Sora watched his friend/crush enjoying her food, grinning at her face as she stuffed her cheeks full of apple strudel, apple pie, apple fries, apple sauce, and apple cinnamon rolls. Within at least ten minutes, Kairi had surprisingly finished off every single plate, even licking each one clean.

After having her fill, she noticed the odd reactions from Twilight and Spike, though Sora was grinning like his usual self. "...Uhh, I guess I was a lot more hungry than I thought."

"Were you starving yourself?" Sora asked, receiving a light bump on the shoulder from the pink unicorn.

"I forgot to eat today," Kairi said. "You should probably eat something too, Sora. You're a lot more skinnier than I am."

"Hey, I've got muscles! I've been working on the farm for a while, and I think I've got some more meat on my bones!" Sora flexed, though it didn't seem like his appearance had changed much.

"Yeah. Your stick limbs are only a few centimeters thicker," Kairi teased as she shook his forelegs.

While the two giggled, Twilight grumbled, struggling to keep herself from blasting Kairi with her magic. She soon realized that she was actually getting mad at the otherworldly unicorn mare, shaking her head in confusion at her depression suddenly turning into a small flicker of rage. She had to remember that Sora was in love with Kairi, and that no matter what happens, she would be happy for him and try to move on. The only problem was that it was hard to move on if her crush was also her friend, afraid to make their relationship awkward if she tells him how she feels.

"Twilight?" The lavender mare snapped out of her thoughts as Spike called out to her. "Are you sure you're feeling alright? You're acting really strange."

"...I'm fine...I think I'm just tired. I'm going to bed early." Twilight headed to the stairs, though she wasn't sure if she could sleep tonight. As soon as she reached her bedroom, she climbed up on her bed and looked down at the bandanna Sora gave her. A tear slowly trickled down her face, her emotions so conflicted as the friendly gift was something she wished was more, and her sudden mood swings as she looked at Kairi with almost an intent to harm her. "What's happening to me...?"

(Kairi)

Later that evening, Sora and Kairi walked out to the fields, the unicorn leading him to where she left her Gummi ship. Sora didn't really have enough time to show her every part of Ponyville, but maybe tomorrow, if no Heartless decide to interrupt them. The two sat in the fields, looking up at the stars and full moon.

"It's really beautiful out tonight," Kairi said. "Almost like it is back on the islands."

"Sure is..." They sat in silence, sitting closely together. Sora looked over at Kairi, unable to hide his blush as her body glowed under the moonlight.

This was the perfect setting to finally tell her, but he just can't do it. He could practically feel his Anti Form breathing down his neck, his darkness feeling like it could break free at any moment without accessing his Drive Forms. So many terrible scenarios flashed through his mind, and all of them were worse than the last. Sora wanted to be with Kairi. He loved her so much that he gave her his heart, but he's so afraid of what could happen if she knew of his dangerous form that could come out at any moment in the heat of battle, where he needed to use his forms in case it got too life threatening.

Kairi looked over at Sora, seeing the pained expression on his face. She knows how much he loved her, even before he told Spike about how he felt. Ever since their hearts merged into one, she had seen everything Sora had gone through trying to search for her and Riku. She even felt how madly in love he was with her as he plunged that Keyblade made of the other six Princesses of Hearts' hearts, almost screaming at him not to do this to save her. He sacrificed so much, and in the end, he felt like he was suffering from his own darkness. Now was a perfect time to confront him about this, and finally bring their relationship closer as something more.

"Sora?" He snapped out of his stressed out state and looked at her. "...I heard what you told Spike earlier when I woke up in the library."

"H-Huh!? W-What are you talking about?" Sora asked, feigning ignorance.

"I woke up and heard you talking. And I don't want you to ignore this, Sora. I know you care about me a lot, and I didn't know you were suffering so much from your own Drive Forms." The pegasus's face went pale. Everything he said to Spike was heard by her, everything from his love to her and his fear of his darkness threatening to come out to hurt her. He looked away from her, feeling her hooves wrap around his foreleg. "Sora, please talk to me."

Sora was on the verge of tears, Kairi moving herself closer and nuzzled his shoulder. "...K-Kairi..."

"I didn't know you were so scared," she said, feeling his body shudder as he struggled not to break down. "You don't have to be...No matter what happens, Sora, everyone will still be your friends. And I won't leave your side. Never." Kairi gently wrapped her hooves around Sora, his emotional walls crumbling as he leaned into her embrace, his tears streaming down his face. "I know you can fight this dark form of yours. You fought so hard to save me, and even when you turned into a Heartless, you found me and didn't attack us."

"But I can't control it," Sora said, his voice trembling as he sobbed. "I tried...and I tried...I can only wait until it wears out before I'm myself again...I can't break free..."

"Then let my light save you like it had back then." She gently rested a hoof on his cheek, turning his head to face her. "Our hearts are connected. Remember? We made the legend of the paopu fruit come true." Kairi gently brushed her hoof against Sora's cheek, wiping away the tears that stained his face. "And when I found our Secret Place when our island came back...I saw what you had added...It was really sweet, seeing your hand giving me a paopu fruit, and I completed it by giving you one."

"...I saw it..." Sora gave her a small smile, letting out a sad chuckle. "I must be pretty pathetic, huh? Unable to tell you how I feel about you, face to face..."

"You didn't need to. I had already known ever since our hearts became one." The stallion's eyes widened, being pulled closer by the mare as he looked at her eyes. His cheeks turned red, unable to look away from her twinkling eyes, shining brilliantly under the glow of the moon. His forelegs finally wrapped themselves around her, holding her tightly, never wanting to let her leave ever again. "We both rely on each other...and I don't want you to ever think you're dangerous. Your heart is strong, and so is your light. You can fight back your darkness. I believe in you. Do you believe me?"

"...Of course. Always," he said, feeling Kairi's other hoof gently wipe his other cheek free of tears.

"Good." She then placed her forelegs around Sora's neck, slowly inching closer to him. "Would you like to tell me how you feel about me now? Knowing I will be there to save you from your darkness?"

Sora nodded, pulling Kairi closer. "...I love you, Kairi. I'd do anything for you, even at the cost of my own life. I will protect you, keep you from harm...I wouldn't know what I would have been without you in my life, and I'm glad I got to know you."

"I love you too, Sora. With all my heart." Sora and Kairi gently inched their heads closer until their lips met, sharing their first kiss with each other.

Both their eyes were closed as they were lost in pure bliss, finally admitting their love for one another as fate had destined them to be. All of Sora's worries melted away, gently caressing Kairi's back as he kissed her luscious lips. They could feel each other's hearts beating as one, their connection strong and now forever unbreakable. They slowly broke away from their first kiss, both their cheeks blushing heavily as they lightly panted, staring into each other's blue eyes.

"Wow," Sora finally said, their foreheads gently pressed together as their muzzles softly nuzzled each other's. "...Is it weird to say our first kiss was shared while we were ponies?"

Kairi giggled, still being silly even after they relished their first official romantic kiss. "You're such a goof." She gently kissed his nose and nuzzled him. "And you're cute as a pegasus. Wish I could keep a big plushie of you as one in my room, or on my Gummi ship."

"You're cuter as a unicorn." Sora gently moved his hooves up, gently squishing her cheeks as he giggled. "You looked adorable making those faces when you ate earlier."

Kairi's blush deepened, moving his hooves back down and leaned forward for another kiss, catching Sora off guard as he fell on his back. Their kiss grew deeper and more passionate, both lovers rolling on their sides as they held each other close, their lips locked tightly with one another. They had no idea how long they were lost in each other's embrace, but they wished their make out session would last for an eternity as they laid together under the beautiful, starry sky.

The sun slowly began its ascent along the horizon as Celestia began the day. The morning light shone down on Sora's face, stirring him awake. He stared up at the partly cloudy sky as the morning rays shone over the world. As he sat up, he noticed he wasn't in Sweet Apple Acres or in the Apple family farmhouse, but instead in an empty, grassy field. The teen let out a yawn, wanting some more sleep before figuring out what he did last night. He laid back down, and as he looked up at the sky, he saw Kairi looking down at him, having not heard her sneaking up on him.

"Gah!" He quickly sat up too fast, falling flat on his face. He heard Kairi giggling, groaning in annoyance as he sat back up and turned around, rubbing his sore chin. "Can't you give me a break, Kairi?"

"I couldn't help myself." She approached the pouty pegasus, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek, making his face light up.

Now that Sora was wide awake, he remembered what had happened last night. He had finally told the love of his life his true feelings, even though she had known for a long while, heard him when he thought she was still unconscious, and even overheard him talk about the darkness of his Anti Form threatening to hurt her. That fear still lingered a little, but if Kairi believed he could fight back against it and her light could save him, he wouldn't have to worry too much. He shouldn't have let his fears get to him, knowing his friends, and lover, would never abandon him when he needed help.

Sora grinned, wrapping his forelegs around his girlfriend's waist. "I think I would have preferred a different kind of wake-up call besides being stalked by you."

"Oh really?" Kairi asked. "Then how would you want to be woken up if you sleep in?"

"Maybe something like this." Sora leaned closer and surprised the pink unicorn with a deep kiss, her surprised eyes slowly closing as she kissed him back. As soon as he pulled away, Kairi's pink cheeks turned a darker shade. "And be a little creative every morning. No small pecks on the lips or nose."

"You are such a goofball, Sora." She gave him a light peck on the nose, snuggling up to him as she rested her head on his shoulder. The two sat in silence huddled close together, but that silence was soon interrupted by both of their growling stomachs. The couple looked at each other, letting out a sheepish giggle. "Well, so much for that."

"I didn't think you would have the appetite of a guy." Kairi grumbled, moving her head up and nipped one of his ears, making Sora yelp in pain. "Ah! Ow! I'm joking! I'm joking!"

"I know," she said as she let go, giving him another kiss on the cheek. "But I'll let it slide. I'm actually starving."

Sora rubbed his ear as he grinned sheepishly. "You know, that felt weird when you bit my ear...but I kinda liked that. Is it because we're horses and their so sensitive? I mean, usually I think it's supposed to be males who give love bites on the ear to-" Sora was immediately silenced as Kairi pressed her lips against his, giving him a light kiss. He stopped his rambling as his grin grew more goofy. "Right. Food. Shutting up now."

Kairi giggled again, Sora draping one of his wings over her back as they walked together to Ponyville. Today was going to be a good day for them, beginning their first day as a true couple after the last couple years of being apart from each other.

The first stop on the little tour of Ponyville Sora wanted to give to Kairi was at Sugarcube Corner. Their stomachs demanded food, and they were going to get some of the tastiest pastries the unicorn will ever eat. Luckily, the line today wasn't too long, the bakery a pretty popular spot to pick up some breakfast during rush hour, especially on the weekends. As soon as they entered the giant gingerbread house establishment, Kairi was nearly drooling at the overwhelming scents of baked goods wafting inside. While waiting in line, Sora noticed Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo sitting together at a table, the Cutie Mark Crusaders eating some muffins as they seemed to be planning something.

"Hey, girls!" Sora said, waving to them.

"Hi, Sora!" Apple Bloom said as she and her friends waved back. "Where were ya yesterday? Ya didn't come back to the house."

"Sorry. I was kinda...busy last night." Sora chuckled with a light blush as he scratched his head.

"With what?" The fillies soon noticed Kairi standing next to him, the pink unicorn's eyes lighting up at the sight of the three crusaders. "Who's she? Is she new around Ponyville?"

"This is Kairi. She's-" Kairi ran up to them and pulled all three of them toward her, squeezing them tightly as she gushed at their adorableness.

"Oh my gosh they're so cute!" she shouted, alerting the other patrons as she cuddled the confused fillies. "I wanna keep them so bad! I just wanna put them in a little pen and cuddle them forever!"

"...Uhh, we need an adult?" Scootaloo questioned as Kairi squeezed them tighter.

Sora chuckled nervously, grabbing his girlfriend, letting her drop the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and dragged her back in line. "I know this is a dream come true for you, Kairi, but you're kind of causing a scene. Everyone here is actually sentient."

"...Oh." The unicorn blushed, losing control of the little girl in her brain wanting to hug and squeeze anything equine, small, cute, and adorable. "Oops."

"I think I might need to put a leash on you," Sora said, receiving a hard nudge in the side by the mare. He laughed at her reaction, draping a wing back over her. "If you want to hug something, hug me. You did say I was cute, right?"

"But you aren't a small pony. They're cuter." While the couple waited in line, Sora making sure to keep Kairi in check so she doesn't run off and make herself stand out as the second friendly pink mare in town, the fillies stared at them.

"What was up with her?" Scootaloo asked.

"And why is Sora holding that unicorn with one of his wings like that?" Sweetie Belle asked, sounding a little jealous.

Apple Bloom noticed the Keyblade cutie mark that was on Kairi's flank, then the strange pink outfit she wore. They almost seemed like Sora's clothes, something that had never been seen in Equestria or even thought of being made. When she took a better look at the unicorn's cutie mark, she noticed a small star hanging off a chain from her Keyblade's pommel, shaped almost like the pegasus stallion's charm his special someone gave him.

"Oh my...Girls, Ah think that's Sora's special somepony." Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom in confusion while Sweetie Belle was shocked.

"How do you know that?" the pegasus filly asked.

"He showed me this little star charm somepony he cared about made for him, and she's got a star on the end of her Keyblade cutie mark." They looked at Kairi's cutie mark, the couple already standing before the counter as the pink unicorn browsed the delicious morsels in the display case. "Hers almost looks like Sora's cutie mark, only it looks different and there's a heart with hers."

"So he's already taken?" Sweetie Belle whined, lowering her head to the table as she whimpered. "Darn it..."

"What the hay's that supposed to mean?" Scootaloo asked as she and Apple Bloom stared at the white unicorn filly awkwardly.

"Nothing!" Sweetie said with a blush, stuffing her face with one of her muffins.

The other two crusaders ignored their friend's odd behavior and got back to planning their next possible chance to earn their cutie marks. As Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were too busy thinking of ideas, Sweetie Belle looked back at Sora, he and Kairi buying some breakfast to go and headed out of the bakery. The unicorn filly sighed sadly as she munched on her breakfast, but that didn't deter her much, knowing she was probably too young for him. His marefriend seemed perfect for him since they almost had the same cutie marks.

Kairi ate a muffin held in her white aura, enjoying the crumbly goodness as she walked along with Sora through Ponyville. Hopefully, for the stallion, she would control herself better with all the ponies around them. But if she met Celestia, she would probably freak out even worse and try to "kidnap" the alicorn to keep forever and ever. Sora found it a bit ironic that, considering he was more of a goof than Kairi, she acted even sillier and childish than he does when something cute and adorable is in her line of sight.

Since she had already met Pinkie Pie and Twilight, the former too busy working on helping her employers in the kitchen and the latter not feeling well when they stopped by the library, Sora lead Kairi out of the town and toward Fluttershy's cottage. While walking, he told her that the other girls in the stallion's circle of friends in the world were the only ones who knew about the outside worlds and the Heartless aside from Celestia. As they reached the cottage, they found the yellow pegasus tending to her dozens of animals around her home.

He could feel Kairi fidgeting under his wing, her inner child wanting to break free again at all the animals surrounding the even more adorably shy pegasus feeding them. "Down, Kairi. Down girl," Sora said jokingly, patting her head. "Calm down before you try to scare Fluttershy off."

"...Fine." Kairi grabbed another muffin from their bag, taking another bite as they slowly approached Fluttershy, being careful not to disturb the other critters.

"Hey, Fluttershy." The pegasus mare looked over at them, waving at Sora, though began to be shy when she saw Kairi. "So, where's that little demon of an 'Angel' at?" He got his answer as the white rabbit seemed to have heard him, bounding up to him and thumping his paw against his leg. "There's the little monster. Here, Kairi, why don't you snuggle Angel to death?"

Sora held up the rabbit, Angel flinching as Kairi squealed, snatching him up in her magic and squeezing him tightly. He grinned as the bunny leered at him, knowing he deserves to be tortured to cuddling for being terrible to his owner.

"Angel's not that bad," Fluttershy said. "But...who's she?"

"This is Kairi. She's from outside of Equestria, and is a Keyblade wielder like me." Kairi waved, Angel struggling to break out of her grip. "She arrived yesterday and she and Twilight almost got hurt by a Heartless. I took care of it though."

"Oh, thank goodness. I hope they don't go after my little friends." Angel finally slipped out of Kairi's grasp, only for her to grab him with her magic and squeeze him again. The rabbit gave up and glowered at Sora, chattering to himself in his animal language. "She seems to like Angel."

"She likes anything cute and furry. She kind of made a bit of a ruckus at Sugarcube Corner when we saw Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. In fact, as soon as we climbed up the hill, she was about to run down and hug you." Fluttershy hid behind her mane, exactly the kind of reaction Sora expected to see from the timid mare. "Don't worry. I'll make sure she doesn't go too crazy."

"And yet I'm the one who has to keep you in line when you and Riku act out when you fight over something," Kairi said, bumping her flank against his. "You two bicker more like a married couple than an actual married couple."

"Tell Riku to quit teasing me all the time, then. It's his fault." As Sora tilted his head up haughtily, his Keyblade suddenly appearing in his mouth as a light shot out from the end, surprising both mares and scaring off some of the animals. Celestia seemed to have decided to give him a personal letter as a scroll appeared from the light, dropping down in his hoof. "Huh. Wonder what her royal highness wants."

"Princess Celestia sends you letters too, Sora?" Fluttershy asked as the stallion unfurled the scroll.

Dear Sora,

I had heard from your Master Yen Sid that your friend Kairi has left for Equestria some time ago, probably having arrived at some point or another few days. I have left another Gala ticket with this letter, in case she stays a while before the Grand Galloping Gala begins. I would like to meet her personally if given the chance, though I might not talk much during the event as many guests would like to meet me, despite a majority of them are returning guests from the previous year, and so on. Hope no Heartless are causing Ponyville much trouble, and you keep helping this world stay away from the darkness.

Princess Celestia

P.S.: Is Twilight feeling ok? She seems to be having some troubles in her last letter she just sent me last night. Please check on her for me. Thank you.

Attached to the bottom of the scroll was another golden ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala. "Well, looks like Celestia's invited you as well, Kairi."

"The Grand Galloping Gala?" Kairi took the ticket and looked over the description written on the small slip of golden paper. "Is it some kind of dance?"

"A fancy ball, apparently. I'm going too." Sora sighed, recalling the annoying day he had with the "lesson" the princess wanted to teach Twilight. "Worst day of my life while here with those annoying tickets." He looked back at the scroll, feeling worried with the last bit at the end of Celestia's letter. "Hmm...Twilight's been acting funny...Maybe it's because she's sick. I guess we'll come back and see her later this evening, until she's feeling a little better."

"Did Twilight get hurt by that Stealth Sneak?" Kairi asked, growing just as worried as Sora.

"No. She was unharmed. She probably caught something with that allergy of hers when she came back." Sora rolled up the scroll and placed it in his pouch while Kairi placed her ticket in one of her pockets. "Well, I better introduce the rest of the girls to Kairi before the day ends. See ya later, Fluttershy."

Kairi reluctantly let go of Angel as they headed back to town, Fluttershy waving to them as she went back to taking care of her animals.

The couple walked down the road, traveling along the white picket fences next to Sweet Apple Acres' vast orchard. "There are so many apple trees here. How many acres are there?"

"Way too many to count, and I work here with the family that runs this orchard." Sora spotted Applejack over at the barn, talking with Rainbow Dash. "Ah. Perfect. Two birds with one stone." He lead Kairi up to the barn, the unicorn greatly fascinated by all the trees that surrounded the farm. "Applejack! Rainbow Dash! Got someone I want you to meet!"

"Sora, where in tarnation were ya last night?" Applejack asked. "Ah thought ya went and ran off somewhere and didn't tell us."

"Sorry, AJ. I was a little busy last night with a...surprise guest who arrived yesterday." Sora draped a wing over Kairi and gently moved her closer to him. "Girls, this is Kairi. Kairi, Applejack and Rainbow Dash."

"Kairi?" Rainbow questioned. "That's a weird pony name."

"...Ah don't think it's a pony name," Applejack stated. "Ah'm gonna take a guess and say she's that mare ya had a huge crush on."

"Eyup!" Sora grinned with a blush, rubbing the back of his head. "And 'had a crush' is the right answer. Last night...I finally said it, and we're officially together."

"Finally," Kairi added, giving the stallion a kiss on the cheek, making his blush deepen. "It took him a long while to say it, but I knew he loved me. He was just really nervous. Boys are complicated when it comes to telling girls how they feel about them." She then turned his head to face her, giving him a soft peck on the lips. If Sora's face couldn't get anymore red, his head would threaten to explode. "Sora's not exactly subtle when he tries to hide it."

Applejack and Rainbow laughed at Sora and his embarrassment as he used his other wing to hide his face. "No wonder ya'll were gone all night."

"Yeah. Bet you two had a good time." Sora groaned as he was being teased by the two mares, Kairi not helping matters by nuzzling her face into his neck.

"Why am I always getting picked on with stuff like this?" the stallion asked himself.

"Hey, Kairi, you wanna hear something hilarious that happened to Sora a while back?" Rainbow asked, Sora's ears perking up as he peeked through the feathers of his wings. "There's this strange plant called Poison Joke that we all stepped in, and it does something random to somepony as a joke. And for Sora, he turned into a mare!"

"What!?" Kairi exclaimed as she burst out laughing, imagining how Sora would look as a girl.

"Darn it, Rainbow Dash!" Sora pounced the guffawing pegasus, his face burning red. "You really had to say that!?"

"Aww, come on, Sora," Kairi consoled, dragging the greatly embarrassed teen away from Rainbow with her magic, unable to silence her giggling. "I bet you were a pretty mare."

"I had other stallions ogling me when I carried Apple Teeny in my pockets, and I freaked out her older brother when I had no clue what happened to me." Sora looked over at the orchard, spotting the red stallion he mentioned carrying some buckets of apples on his back. The moment he saw the teen, he slowly backed out of sight behind the barn, looking away from him. "And I think I've given him a reason to go to therapy."

"What exactly did you do?" Sora leaned his lips over Kairi's ear, whispering what had happened to her with a wing covering his mouth so Applejack and Rainbow Dash don't read his lips. The unicorn snorted, trying her hardest not to laugh as he finished explaining. "Oh, Sora...That was a bad idea."

"I didn't know I turned into a girl in the middle of the night! I didn't even feel anything wrong with me before I felt a difference with my nose after he freaked out..." All three mares soon burst out laughing. Sora wanted to die in the humiliating embarrassment of that crazy Poison Joke filled day. He had to carry Kairi on his back as they headed off to one more stop before they checked on Twilight, and he wanted to get as far away from the guffawing mares before they could tease him more. "You are not telling Riku about that either. It's bad enough he'll make fun of me for being in a world of ponies, and me turning into a girl...I'll never ever hear the end of it..."

Sora had to carry Kairi at least halfway to Rarity's home at the Carousel Boutique before she could finally stop laughing. His day ended up turning from great to outright humiliating, hoping to recruit Pinkie and gang up on Rainbow Dash with a prank for mentioning his gender-swapped day. The pegasus pouted with his head hung low, glowering at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Sora, but that was just too funny," Kairi giggled, trying to help get him out of his funk. "What happened to the others with this...'Poison Joke'? Maybe that might make you feel better."

"Rainbow Dash's wings were on her stomach and upside down, Applejack was the size of an ant, Rarity's mane, tail, and coat grew out and looked like she was wearing streamers, Pinkie's tongue was swollen and she couldn't talk without spitting all over the place, Fluttershy's voice turned deep, and NOT turning her into a guy, and Twilight's horn went all floppy. Mine was apparently more hilarious, and I also seemed to have the emotions of one while transformed." Sora grunted, kicking the dirt as they walked. "I wanted to laugh at their problems, but I was really moody and freaking out. And you have no idea just how badly I wanted to kick a stallion in the teeth when I felt their eyes looking at my feminine rear!"

Kairi stopped Sora and tilted his head up to look at her. "Hey. At least you got rid of what that Poison Joke did to you. I'm actually a little curious about what would happen to me. Maybe I might turn into a guy? Or maybe grow younger and look like one of those fillies back in the bakery?" She wrapped her forelegs around his neck and gently kissed his nose. "What other silly things could possibly happen to me?"

"I would rather not find out," Sora said. "And when Rainbow said we all stepped in those flowers, I went around them. Applejack caught me with her lasso and dragged me into the flowers." He sighed, still unable to believe how all this started was because of some made up rumor of a zebra who lived in the Everfree Forest who makes potions from the flora around her. "Sorry if I'm sour about all that...You do NOT want to know what it's like to turn into the opposite gender."

"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. In fact, I have no idea what we were just talking about right now." He gave Kairi a blank stare. She nuzzled him and gave him a light peck on the lips. "Don't be all grumpy. Where's that weird boy I love? Did you finally grow up?"

"He's out at the moment. Can you leave a message?" Kairi giggled and kissed Sora again, seeing that warm smile of his back on his face. "Ok. One more pony. And boy is she gonna have a field day when she finds out who you are."

The two continued heading for the boutique, the pink unicorn staring at the odd building shaped exactly as it was named. Sora knocked on the front door, hearing the fashionista inside as she opened the door.

"Sora! Good to see you!" Rarity looked over at Kairi. "And somepony new to Ponyville. What can I do for you?"

"Mind if we come in? I think you'll be surprised to know who this is." The couple walked inside and made themselves at home.

After explaining who Kairi was and what happened yesterday, Rarity's squeal seemed to reach all of Ponyville as many ponies questioned who was scream-squealing. "Oh my goodness gracious! You two are finally in a relationship! And I'm meeting your princess for the first time!"

Kairi rubbed her sore ears, feeling like she had gone deaf, while Sora blushed and brought his forelegs behind his head. "Yeah...I didn't exactly tell her right away, but it took me a while to say it. And, I was kind of wondering if you'd like to make that matching dress for Kairi since Celestia gave her a Gala ticket today."

"REALLY!?" the white unicorn squeaked, her eyes lighting up brightly. "Come, Kairi! I need to get your measurements!" The Princess of heart yelped as she was swept away to the small stage in the boutique. "I'll get the measuring tape, darling. I need you to take off those clothes of yours so I can fully get your barrel."

"Uhh, ok..." Kairi was about take off her clothing, her cheeks tinting bright pink, she saw Sora was watching, completely oblivious to what was happening. "...Sora? Do you mind?"

"No...Wait, what do I mind?" Her blush intensifying, she used her magic and pulled Sora's hood on his jacket over his face, making him yelp in surprise as he was forcefully blindfolded by his own jacket. "...Oh. Now I get it."

Keeping a hold of his hood, Kairi began to take off her clothes, finding it a little awkward undressing herself as a pony. She managed to do so, her blush growing as she couldn't help but look at Sora, still blinded by his jacket's hood by her aura. Rarity finally came out with her tools and began taking the embarrassed unicorn's measurements.

"Ooh, this is going to be so exciting!" Rarity exclaimed with giddiness. "I have had so many designs drawn out that would make the two of you match perfectly, and not just for formal wear! Some casual wear, winter clothing, with accessories that will accent your romantic relationship!"

"Speaking of different seasons, I can't wait to see what other holidays you guys have here in Equestria!" Sora said, still blinded. "I hope there's one that's like Halloween. Or Christmas!"

"'Halloween' and 'Christmas'...Odd holidays," Rarity mumbled. "I don't suppose you mean Nightmare Night and Hearth's Warming, do you, Sora?"

"...Well, I guess those kind of sound the same. I cannot wait for this Nightmare Night if it's like Halloween." Sora rubbed his forehooves together in delight. "I'm gonna make a costume that I end up being in from a world called Halloween Town. I look really cool." Rarity soon finished up taking down every measurement from Kairi and placed the notepad and measuring tape back to her workroom. The pink unicorn put her clothes back on and let go of her hold on Sora's hood, the stallion lifting it off his head. "You know, Kairi, ponies don't wear clothes."

"It's the principle of the matter, Sora," Kairi replied. "And you wear your clothes."

"These are enchanted. I have to wear them in case I need to use my Drive Forms." The pegasus wilted, his ears drooping as one specific form that could be helpful was also the most dangerous. "Although, I'm not sure if I really should use them again...I was lucky the last couple times, but that luck's gonna wear out."

Sensing his distress, Kairi stepped down from the stage and approached Sora. "If you need them in case you're in trouble, you should use them." She hugged him tightly, feeling his hooves wrap themselves around her, along with his wings. "We have no idea when that might happen, but you can control it. You just need some help."

"Yeah...I just can't stop worrying." Sora sighed, feeling Kairi nuzzling his neck. "I can't help thinking about what might happen...I sometimes get nightmares, seeing myself as a Heartless and forced to watch as that part of me...Well, I think you can guess what happens next."

"That won't happen." She kissed his neck, making the stallion shudder, pulling back a little to look him in the eyes. "You're stronger than you think."

"Maybe...Can you convince me?" Sora asked, Kairi giggling as she nodded her head.

She leaned closer and gave him a tender kiss. He kissed her back, his hooves slowly trailing up her back and running one through her hair, pressed closely together in their embrace. Their moment was ruined when they heard Rarity sniffling, breaking their kiss as they saw the fashionista dabbing her teary eyes with a tissue.

"Oh, I can't help but feel envious of you two," Rarity said. "I wish I was in your horseshoes, Kairi, though not with Sora. But, once the Gala comes around, I will meet my prince and we will fall in love. It's going to be a magical evening." Sora rolled his eyes while Kairi stifled her giggles at the white unicorn's "love-at-first-sight" fantasy, both of them knowing it might not really become a reality. They could let her dream though. "I'll have your dress done in a few days, Kairi. And I know Sora's eyes will roll with what she will wear for the Gala."

"Oh, I bet," Sora said, unable to wait for the Gala to come up.

Twilight laid on her bed, staring out the window in sadness. She didn't move from her bed at all, or even leave her room. She didn't want to do anything at all, not after what she had written to her mentor in her last letter. It was supposed to be about what she learned about taking a thoughtful gift made by someone who worked hard on it, that gift being Rarity's design for her Gala dress, the moment she began to talk about Sora and Kairi, she ended up writing so much profanity, all about the mare who's heart belonged to the stallion she fell for. She hastily scratched out all those hateful words, her report a complete and utter mess, uncaring about remaking it and insuring that the letter was one hundred percent perfect.

This was not a part of her that she liked. She really wanted to tell Sora how she felt, but she can't out of fear of losing him as a friend. She tried to be friendly with Kairi, but instead she acted cold and heartless. And now, she wanted to hurt her and take her stallion as her own, not caring if he returned her affections or not. She wanted him, but she knows she can't, and it's changing her into a different pony.

While the lavender unicorn stared at the bandanna Sora had given her when she was upset that she would lose her friends if she showed off her magic, she didn't notice green flames appearing in her room, revealing a black cloaked figure appear from those flames. A green face could be seen underneath the horned hood, a horn jutting out from their forehead, glowing a pale green as it levitated a long staff with a green orb of the same color glowing dimly in the dark bedroom. The being grinned as it approached the bed.

"What a poor, unfortunate creature." Twilight gasped and sat up, now noticing the mysterious intruder in her room. "Feelings of hatred and envy linger in your heart, but you keep holding it all back."

"W-Who are you? How did you get in here!?" The figure chuckled, standing before the startled mare.

"That does not matter. What I can see from you is that you are suffering from a broken heart," she said. "Feelings for someone you wish to be with already taken by another. It's sad, isn't it?"

"...H-How do you know?" Twilight asked.

"I can see what your heart desires. You wish to be with the one you love, do you not?" Twilight hesitated, but nodded her head, feeling tears well up in her eyes as she looked at the bandanna. "Then get rid of the competition."

"What?" The mysterious mare took the bandanna from Twilight, levitating it in front of her.

"If you want him, then get rid of the one who stole your love from you. She doesn't deserve him." She grinned as she could see Twilight giving in to her depression and listening to her words, sensing a growing darkness in her heart. She held out her staff, a magical aura swirling around inside the orb as Twilight's eyes were transfixed on the staff. "He belongs to you...Let your anger out on the girl who took him from you. Unleash it and use that power to eradicate her, then take back what is yours."

"...Take back...what's mine," Twilight repeated, as if she was in a trance. "...Eradicate...her..."

The figure chuckled and backed away, disappearing in a torrent of green flames surrounding her. As soon as the fire disappeared, Twilight snapped out of her daze when she heard a knock come from her door.

"Hey, Twilight? You in here?" She gasped as she heard Sora's voice, wearing the Elven Bandanna around her neck. She opened her bedroom door a small crack as she saw the Keyblade wielder's face from the other side. "You doing ok? Spike said you haven't come out at all today, and Celestia was really worried about you."

"Oh...I'm fine. I'm just...really tired is all," she lied, her heart racing as she stared in his eyes. "I do feel a little lonely though..."

"Well, Spike's been here the whole time. He's good company." Twilight opened her door a little, showing Sora the bandanna he gave her worn around her neck. "Oh, hey. You finally decide to put that cool bandanna on?"

"Yeah...I mean, I didn't want to wear it all the time, and it was only used like a handkerchief." Her aura gently tugged Sora in her room, the teen highly confused at what she was doing as she gave him a sultry look. "Is there anything else about me that interests you?"

"...Uhhh...Why are you asking me that?...While looking at me that way?" He gently pressed his hoof against her forehead to see if she was running a fever, the unicorn shivering as she felt him touch her. "No fever. Did you eat anything?"

"No...But I'm hungry for something. And I'm looking at it." Sora raised a brow, slowly backing away as she got closer.

"Ok, maybe you are sick. You're probably a bit delirious with those allergies." The door to her bedroom slammed shut, the sound echoing throughout the library. Sora turned around to open the door, but it was locked tightly. "Uhh, Twilight? Why did you lock the door?"

"Because I know you want me, Sora. Don't deny it." Twilight leaned in closer to Sora, the stallion standing on his hind legs as she stood on hers, embracing him as her face was mere inches from his. "You don't want Kairi. She's not worthy to be your marefriend. I care about you more than her."

"Twilight, you are freaking me out," Sora said, trying to gently push the delusional unicorn away from him as he began to put the pieces together over Twilight's odd behavior. Even the last few times he was with her, he didn't realize the signs, or the odd questions about him and Kairi at the sleepover. "...Do you...have a crush on me?"

"I do, Sora...I really do." Twilight fluttered her eyes, her chest brushing against his as she tried to kiss him. "I love you, Sora. Kairi doesn't. You give up your life for her, and she does absolutely nothing for you. Forget her."

"Twilight, what is wrong with you!?" Sora tossed the unicorn on her bed, the mare looking at him with a pained, heart aching gaze. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but I only like you as a friend. Not like...that. I should have realized how strange you reacted around me, but I didn't know you felt that way about me." He summoned his Keyblade and unlocked the door, shooting a small beam of light until he heard it click. "I'm really sorry, but I think you need some time to clear your head a little. I love Kairi...and...I told her how I felt about her last night."

"...W-What?" Twilight asked, tears slowly streaming down her face, her heart sounding like shattering glass as it broke.

"If things were different, maybe I would consider giving you a chance," Sora said, feeling bad for having to break this to the love-struck unicorn, wishing he could have been more gentle with her if she didn't throw herself at him and force him. "But, Kairi's here now. I wanted to tell her I loved her for so long, and now we're together...I'm really sorry again, Twilight, but I still want us to be friends. I know it hurts, but time heals all wounds, including heartbreak." Sora opened the door, unable to see the dark aura being emitted from Twilight's body with his back turned. "I'll see you tomorrow and see how you're doing."

Before he could leave the room, he was shot by a lavender-black beam of magic, sending Sora flying and tumbling down the stairway and slamming his head against the wall, knocking him unconscious. "Sora!?" Kairi ran up to him, shocked to see what had happened to him. "Oh my gosh, what happened?"

"Get away from my stallion." Kairi looked up the stairs, gasping in shock as she saw Twilight at the top. She could feel a darkness growing stronger by the minute, and it was coming from the lavender unicorn. She glared at the Keyblade wielder, her eyes glowing green as a dark aura surrounded her, her horn's aura a mixture of lavender and black, her darkness fusing with her magical aura in a twisted power that made Kairi's skin crawl. "He's mine."

The darkness around Twilight began to grow unstable as she growled, leering at Kairi as she kneeled next to Sora, having been knocked unconscious by the lavender unicorn. Twilight's change in eye color showed she was under some kind of spell, but how that happened was beyond the Princess of Heart.

"Twilight, what happened to you?" Kairi asked.

"Shut up! You stay away from him! He belongs to me!" Twilight shot a beam of dark-lavender magic at Kairi, the pink unicorn quickly summoning her Keyblade and casting a defensive barrier around herself.

The beam reflected back at the darkness corrupted mare, casting her own barrier to nullify her own attack. Spike came in from the kitchen, wondering what the noise was.

"Hey, what's going-" The baby dragon gasped as he saw Twilight and the dark aura around her. "Twilight!?" He ran up the steps and grabbed her foreleg. "What happened to you!?"

"Get off of me, you pathetic lizard!" She flung Spike down the stairs, Kairi quickly catching him in her white aura.

"W-Why did she throw me?" Spike asked, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Spike, Twilight's not herself right now." Kairi set the distraught baby dragon down, stepping forward, ready to block another beam if needed. "I need you to find somewhere safe until this is all over. I promise she'll be ok."

Spike looked back at Twilight, seeing she was definitely not herself with her angry gaze and throwing him down the stairs. He ran out of the library, needing to tell someone what was happening, leaving Kairi alone with the angry unicorn.

"Back away from him!" Twilight shouted.

"Twilight, listen to me! Your heart's shrouded in darkness! You need to fight it!" Twilight fired another beam, quickly deflected by another barrier. "You're not acting like yourself! Please, hear me out!"

"I'm not listening to a single word you say, you hussy!" She fired another beam, quickly deflected by Kairi as she slowly descended the stairs. "Sora doesn't deserve you. He deserves somepony who can actually love him, unlike you!"

"What?" Kairi looked back at Sora, still unconscious, then back at Twilight in shock. "Twilight...you have a crush on Sora?"

"It grew to something more, but then you just had to show up! All he can think about is you, when you don't even return his affections after all he's done for you!" Another beam, another deflected shot. "I won't let you take him from me. He is mine! Not yours! And if I have to kill you to make him mine...then so be it."

(Night of Fate)

Twilight stomped her hooves hard on the stairwell, sending dark spires shooting out from all around her as they homed in on Kairi. Quickly snatching Sora in her aura, she carried him away and avoided the spikes, heading out the door. Twilight chased after her, firing beams at her as Kairi led her out of town. She didn't want to get anyone else hurt, heading out to the empty fields far from any buildings. Kairi didn't dare look back as she heard Twilight getting frustrated, firing more beams erratically.

One of them managed to hit one of her hind legs, causing her to trip and drop Sora, both of them tumbling across the ground. Kairi quickly got up, but as she was about to reach him, she slammed into a barrier that appeared around her and a large area of the fields. Sora was thankfully outside and out of harm's way, but Twilight was stuck inside of it too, panting heavily as her horn glowed, the aura turning darker. The Keyblade Master held her Keyblade in her aura, having no choice but to fight the corrupted mare.

"Twilight, I don't want to hurt you. I want to help you." Kairi's attempts to help Twilight fell on deaf ears as her words only seemed to anger the unicorn more. "Don't let the darkness consume you!"

"Shut up shut up SHUT UP!" The aura around Twilight grew more, almost enshrouding her completely.

Stomping her hooves down again, the dark spikes were bigger than before as they homed in on Kairi. Using her magic, she cast Thundaga, shattering the spires. Growling, Twilight used her aura to create a weapon out of darkness, transforming it into a broadsword. Kairi anticipated her to charge at her, only for Twilight to smirk as the blade and hilt began to shift into a longbow, an arrow of darkness appearing as the string was pulled back.

Letting go, she fired off several arrows as the single one split apart, raining down on the Keyblade wielder. Kairi avoided and deflected each arrow, shooting her own repertoire of magic spells at Twilight. Unfortunately, Twilight's magic seemed far more powerful, her barrier deflecting each offensive spell she fired off.

"Darn it. I need to get in close," Kairi muttered to herself. "But my melee combat's not that good. I need to try. I have to save her before she turns into a Heartless!"

Kairi rushed forward, avoiding more arrows and dark spires shooting up from the ground, cartwheeling and flipping over each projectile and magical spike with elegance and agility. "You really think you can fight me when you can't kill a Heartless by yourself!? You're a pathetic excuse of a Keyblade wielder! No wonder Sora has to save you; you're weak!"

Twilight transformed her dark longbow back into a sword as Kairi slashed her Keyblade downward, both blades clashing as their magic sent white and black sparks shooting out from their weapons. They soon exchanged blows, their blades striking each other as sparks lit up the area around them. Magic was fired off at point blank range, slashes were avoided or blocked, both mares completely evenly matched with their lackluster combat style.

Twilight's aura began to grow darker as her heart was close to being completely consumed by the darkness. Shooting up another dark spike, this one a lot larger than the last ones, Kairi backed away before it hit her. But as it went down, she expected Twilight to lunge at her from the other side, but she disappeared. The lavender unicorn teleported behind her, kicking her hard in the back of the head and sending her tumbling far across the arena. Her blade shifted back to a longbow, drawing the string back as she fired an enormous arrow of darkness up into the air. It exploded and rained down hundreds of arrows, all of them homing in on Kairi.

Getting back up, she cast her defensive barrier again as the arrows flew down and struck hard. "Grrr! Twilight! Please! Stop this!" Her barrier began to crack, her focus slowly waning as she can't keep it up for much longer. "Think about what you're doing!?"

"I am." The arrows soon managed to break through, shattering Kairi's defenses as the remaining arrows struck her. Twilight heard Kairi scream out in pain, getting sent flying back as the last of her projectiles hit her. As the pink unicorn hit the ground, she struggled to get up, grabbing her Keyblade with her hoof as she used it to keep herself standing. "You're weak. You can't even defend yourself.

"Sora wants somepony who can actually help him. You're nothing but a worthless princess that always needs saving." Twilight began approaching Kairi, shifting her bow back into a sword, twirling it around as her green eyes glowed in the night. Seeing her already beaten without a scratch, the corrupted mare chuckled sinisterly. "He's all mine now. But as long as you're still alive, he'll always keep thinking about you. I'll treat him better than you ever will."

Kairi looked up, seeing the aura around Twilight having grown more powerful. The darkness was about to swallow her completely. She needed to do something, and she hoped that her heart of pure light might save her. Standing up completely, the pink unicorn aimed her Keyblade at Twilight, the corrupted mare laughing at her feeble attempt to still fight.

"I'm not going to let the darkness destroy you...You care about Sora, but this isn't the real you." Kairi pressed a hoof to her heart, a bright light shining from both her Keyblade and the white heart cutie mark on her flanks. Twilight backed away as the light grew brighter, Kairi slowly waving her blade in front of her, creating a heart out of the light between the two of them. As the outline was made, the heart glowed white as her Keyblade aimed at the center, lights building up at the tip of her blade. "End the suffering of this corrupted soul, and free their heart back to light."

A small beam fired out and struck the heart, the glowing light shooting out to Twilight as it engulfed her. Kairi could hear Twilight screaming in agony as the darkness in her writhed and struggled to flee from the light of the princess's pure heart. A dark form of the unicorn began to pull itself free, the real mare kept inside of the protective light as it expelled her darkness. Eventually, the shadow escaped as Twilight let out one last cry of pain, the heart disappearing into small orbs of light and faded in the night sky, the lavender unicorn's aura back to normal as she fell to her side, unconscious.

The barrier keeping the two mares contained disappeared, but the threat wasn't over. Kairi watched the dark form of Twilight slowly rose on its hooves. The Heartless looked up at her, but there was an odd green color inside of the yellow eyes normal Heartless have, the dark pony growling with disgust at her specifically. It didn't even pay attention to the host it was separated from, more focused on the Princess of Heart. It charged straight for her, the pink unicorn unable to defend herself as the last of her energy faded from her attempt to rescue Twilight.

Before it could reach her, Sora flew in and thrust his Keyblade straight through Heartless Twilight's chest. It looked at him with a pained expression in its soulless eyes as its body weakly twitched. It reached out a dark hoof to him, as if reaching out to him, asking him why he did this to her. He gave it no response as the Heartless faded away, disappearing into nothingness. As soon as it was gone, Sora dropped his Keyblade, the weapon disappearing as he grabbed his head, feeling the massive headache he had from when he was forced down the stairs.

"Kairi, are you alright?" he asked, ignoring his own injuries as he helped his lover up.

"I'll be ok." Sora hugged Kairi tightly, being careful not to hurt her.

"I was so worried," he said. "I woke up and saw those arrows falling down on you...I couldn't break through that stupid barrier..." Sora looked back at Twilight, having fallen unconscious, but hopefully back to her normal self. "What was that you did to her?"

"A little something I just came up with," Kairi explained. "Being a Princess of Heart, and also a lot different compared to the other princesses, I thought of maybe using my own light as a magical spell. It worked, but it's left me drained." Her hooves shook and nearly gave out, Sora thankfully holding her up before she hit the ground. "I think I'll call it 'Heart of Light'."

Sora chuckled at the named, digging through his pouch and pulling out a large green potion, tossing it up in the air, green powder sprinkling down on the both of them, giving them back some energy. As they were reinvigorated, Sora walked up to Twilight and picked her up in his forelegs, both he and Kairi heading back to town. They were unaware of a couple pair of eyes watching them from afar, having watched the battle take place with the results they didn't expect.

"Of all the rotten luck," a masculine voice said, sounding irritated. "That dumb brat's here in this world too. No wonder the Heartless haven't taken control of it yet."

"A minor setback, but at least we know just how easy these equines can be manipulated," the mysterious female said. "We will have to bide our time until then."

"That little twerp is gonna keep ruinin' everything." The male began to chuckle. "At least those two friends of his aren't around to help him. All he's got is his little girlfriend, and she can barely hold her own."

"She may seem fragile, but her heart is pure light," the female said. "As expected for young Kairi, a Princess of Heart. Her light is far stronger than any of the other princesses. If she masters that light to use as her own magic...we are in for some complications."

Back inside of the Golden Oak Library, Sora gently laid Twilight down on the couch in her living room. At least she didn't cause too much damage in her home, but she was sure to suffer a lot of emotional turmoil if she realizes what she had done. He still couldn't believe that Twilight actually had feelings for him and he never noticed it. She became jealous after she found out about Kairi and how much she meant to him. At least no Heartless, aside from the Stealth Sneak, appeared around her, otherwise she would have easily lost her heart, and he would have to tell Celestia her student had turned into a Heartless.

Kairi walked into the room, feeling tired after exhausting her magic saving Twilight from her fate, sat down next to Sora. "She ok?"

"She won't be if she recalls what she did," Sora said.

"What happened up there?" Kairi asked, wanting to know exactly caused Twilight to attack her boyfriend after checking on her.

"...Twilight, oddly enough, has a crush on me," he explained. "I went to check on her, she looked ok, nothing out of the ordinary. Then she pulled me into her room and locked the door on me."

"I was wondering what that slam was." The pink unicorn looked at Twilight, fearing to know what happened next.

"She began telling me she loved me...and got too close to my personal space...She tried to kiss me, trying to seduce me, and even kept telling me to forget you." Sora rubbed his head, not looking at his lover as he knew she had a shocked expression. "She practically leapt on me...I tried to let her down easy, but forcing herself on me made me say I didn't share her feelings. Next thing I knew, I was about to walk out of the room and was knocked unconscious."

"...I can't believe she would do such a thing." Sora gently grabbed Kairi's hoof and held it tightly.

"I know we're both supposed to be mad at her, but we can't," Sora said. "She really wasn't herself...What happened after I fell unconscious?"

"She attacked me, and almost hurt Spike," Kairi began explaining. "She was under some kind of spell. I carried you away from the town so she doesn't hurt anyone else...Her eyes were glowing green."

"Just like that Heartless that came out of her." Sora growled, recognizing that exact shade of green from Heartless Twilight's yellow eyes. "Maleficent's here."

"What? In this world?" Kairi asked.

"A peaceful world where anyone could easily be manipulated, their darkness easy to pull out over their emotions they keep bottled up." He looked down at Twilight, the unicorn having gone through a similar situation like Luna had, only the alicorn was able to hold on to what little light there was in her heart. Twilight was manipulated, something that Sora can't stand to happen to anyone. "Maleficent must have found her and sensed her darkness when she was jealous of you and upset over us reuniting. If only I knew before it came up to this."

"She'll probably cause more trouble in this world." Kairi leaned against Sora, her exhaustion coming back to her, even after the Mega Potion he used to revitalize them. "I guess staying here was a good option, even if your ship blew up. Who knows who she'll hurt next?"

"As long as Xehanort's not around, I can handle that witch." He draped a wing around the drooping unicorn, pulling her close and letting her head rest against his shoulder. "I'll bet Pete's here too...Wish Donald and Goofy were here. It'd be like old times."

Instead of hearing a tired giggle from Kairi, he heard her gentle breathing as she passed out. He carefully lifted the exhausted unicorn in his forelegs, gently setting her down on one of the comfortable chairs, laying her down as best as he could for her to rest. He took off his jacket and gently laid it down over her, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek.

Sora stayed up for a while, waiting for the moment Twilight would probably wake up, going through some of the books in the library. He soon heard the lavender unicorn stir awake, putting whatever book he was skimming through back where he found it and sat next to the couch. Twilight sat up, rubbing her head, feeling really weak as if part of her life had been sucked out of her. She opened her eyes, looking at a worried Sora as she felt her head pound.

"Sora?" she groaned, trying to remember what happened to her. "...What time is it?

"A little past midnight," Sora said. "Are you alright?"

"...What...happened to me?" Her eyes widened a moment later as she recalled everything that happened. The strange mare that appeared in her room out of nowhere, her voice somehow very convincing as she gave her advice on dealing with a problem she couldn't solve. The strange staff she had that made her mind go blank, dragging her into the recesses of her mind as her body seemed to move on autopilot. "...Oh no...D-Did I...?"

"Twi?" She knew, just as Sora predicted, seeing her eyes well up with tears as she began to hyperventilate.

(Dearly Beloved)

Twilight saw everything she did while under the control of someone else, a darker version that she would never be. She tried to seduce Sora, trying to lock him in her room with her and convince him to love her by force. She even wanted to use a spell to hypnotize him if he kept resisting, but that thought had been turned away when he tossed her onto her bed in rejection. She wanted to stop herself, she wanted to beg for forgiveness, but she couldn't do anything.

When he told her they should stay friends and he doesn't share the same feelings in the most painful way possible, something she deserved after she forced herself on him, her heart gave in to her sorrow and lost complete control to the darkness taking her form. Twilight was forced to watch as her own body was controlled by the clone of her anger and jealousy, attacking Sora and knocking her unconscious, throwing Spike down the stairs, calling the baby dragon pathetic, and even tried to kill Kairi after hearing her crush say he was now with Kairi after all this time.

Her heart was broken, and she allowed the darkness to give her in to her envy, slowly breaking her ever since Sora had told her, Applejack, and Rarity about his love and his sacrifice to wake her. Seeing Kairi before her the other day only sparked that darkness in her heart to grow, first starting out with fear of the two of them meeting each other again, then hatred for the mare for just being around her, growing more enraged as she watched them interact with each other. She had that chance to get rid of her with that darkness, but she didn't want it anymore and couldn't break free, too far gone in her despair.

Then, while chasing after her, stealing Sora from her, but more out of protecting him for what she turned into, Twilight had trapped her with some magical force field that was like the one Sora had been stuck in when fighting that large, animated suit of armor. Her anger grew, her darkness grew powerful, and the real Twilight was being sucked further and further in the depths of darkness. She watched as she attacked Kairi, both of them clashing blades, shooting magic spells, but she was far stronger with magic, and fused with the darkness seeping out of her, it only made her stronger. She hit Kairi, and nearly killed her, but even after her attempts to do so, she ended up saving her with the light of her own heart, wishing the pain would last forever as she was dragged out of the darkness, her Heartless's screeches echoing in her ears as she was pulled free of her nearly consumed heart.

Tears streamed down her face, staring at Sora, the stallion she loved, but she could never love. She didn't deserve to be anywhere near him, or Kairi, or Spike, or any of her friends. Not even Celestia will look at her the same after this. She had turned into a cruel and heartless monster, all because of her jealousy, her mind being twisted by the mare that showed up with no warning or compassion, and her attempt at killing someone just to force Sora to love him out of her confused and spiraling emotions.

"...I-I..." Sora reached a hoof out to her, flinching and backing away from him, undeserving of his kindness. "I'm sorry!"

Twilight ran upstairs, sobbing as she fled from Sora, who began to chase after her. "Twilight, wait!" She escaped into her room and slammed it in his face, locking the door with several spells to seal her inside. She fell on her bed and cried her heart out, wailing into her pillows, unable to ever forgive herself after what she did to him. To Kairi. To Spike. She cried harder when she heard Sora knock on her door, clutching her pillow tightly. "Twilight, please open up! Let me help you!"

"Leave me alone!" she shouted. "Just leave me...I-I don't-"

She heard Sora's Keyblade shoot a light in the lock on her door, dispelling all of her magical seals to keep anyone out with an echoed click. He walked in and saw the terribly depressed state she was in, backing away from him until she fell off her own bed.

"Twilight, stop!" Sora leapt over and grabbed the flailing unicorn before she could try to run away from him. He held Twilight tightly as she cried, struggling to escape from his gentle but firm embrace, her mind unable to think clearly to teleport away from him. "It's not your fault, Twilight. You weren't yourself."

"G-Go away!" Twilight tried to hit Sora with her hooves, doing nothing to him as he held her until she calmed down. "Leave me alone!" Her smacks began to grow weaker as she ended up giving up running away from the stronger stallion. "I-I don't...deserve..."

"It's not your fault." Twilight had ceased her struggling and cried, Sora gently holding her closer as he let her cry into his chest, her tears staining his shirt. He slowly rocked back and forth, gently rubbing the bawling unicorn's back. "You're ok. Everything's fine. You weren't yourself."

Sora gently shushed Twilight, cradling her against him as she let it all out. It took a while for Twilight to finally calm down, her muffled wailing turning to quiet sobs, sniffles, and whimpers. He carefully untied the Elven Bandanna around her neck, using it to gently dry the unicorn's tear-stained cheeks. She was so confused. She expected him to hurt her for what she did to him, what she almost did to Kairi, but instead, he was trying to comfort her.

"W-Why?" she asked. "Why...aren't you mad?"

"Because it wasn't your fault," Sora simply said, drying away more tears as the endless waves of them kept threatening to spill out from Twilight's eyes. "Kairi told me you were under some kind of spell. Acting out from what your heart wanted, as well as the darkness that festered inside from your jealousy toward her." She turned her head away, her ears pressed against her skull, Sora gently turning her head back to him. "Twilight, remember what I said when Trixie came around? You can tell me anything that's bothering you. Even something as silly as a crush on me."

"B-But...But I-" He gently pressed a hoof to her lips, silencing her protests.

"You didn't mean to do any of that," Sora gently assured. "What happened has already happened. The good news is that all of us are ok, none of us were too badly hurt, and Kairi saved you from the darkness." He gently rubbed her back, feeling her flinch at his touch. "You're not to blame for what happened...Tell me everything. And I mean everything. No more keeping your feelings held back. That includes you loving me."

Twilight was hesitant, but she began to tell Sora everything that had been bugging her. How her feelings for him grew in an instant after they saved Luna from her own darkness as Nightmare Moon. Her thoughts drifting to him every time he was around her, wanting to know more about him and even learn about his magical powers. The bandanna he gave her when she was afraid of losing her friends for showing off her own magic, thinking it was a gift of affection as she admitted sleeping with it held close to her chest. And the horrible, unfortunate truth about his love for Kairi told in the most heroic sacrifice she had ever heard, the two of them meant for one another as he actually gave his heart to the girl he loved.

She was conflicted about her feelings with him, hoping that if Kairi never showed up after some time, she might have that chance to be with him. Even if she did, she really wanted to be happy for him if they were together and confessed their love for one another, just like he would be if someone else had confessed to Kairi before he could. Sora had helped her when she needed him, whether it was friendship advice or rescuing her from the Heartless or any other dangerous creature. Twilight admitted she was distraught when she met Kairi and was jealous of her, but her heart wanted him more, and it forced her to become bitter toward her and turn her personality into a love-crazed maniac who would do anything to get his attention and get rid of other mares after her property.

Twilight had cried as she poured her heart out to him, even when she knew his answer would still be no and hear the rejection again. "I-I'm sorry, Sora." She wiped her eyes with the bandanna, apologizing to the stallion. "I just...I don't know what to do anymore...I don't deserve to be your friend after all of this...I deserve to be alone."

"Don't say that," Sora said as he rubbed the mare's back. "I know you think you should be alone forever after that, but you don't. Riku felt the same way after he was rescued from his own darkness, thinking he could never face us again after all the trouble he put us through. You just got to think positive and look at the better side of the situation instead of sticking with the guilt of your past."

"...I still don't understand you," Twilight said, sounding annoyed. "How can you always be so positive about something like this!? You should be mad at me! Yell at me! I attacked you and Kairi! I almost hurt Spike! I ended up jealous and had darkness taking over every action I made, just like it had with Nightmare Moon!" She sobbed and threw the tear soaked bandanna at Sora, lightly smacking against his chest as it fell to the ground. "Why should you and Kairi spare me after I almost killed her!? Your...Your lover!?"

"Because I don't give up on my friends," he said with complete seriousness. Twilight was only more confused. "Twilight, tell me what happened before you attack me. Someone cast a spell on you that made you act out like that and unleash your darkness. Do you have any idea what they looked like?"

"...Sora, you're not answering me." She kept looking at the stoic, serious expression on the Keyblade wielder's face, something she never expected Sora to have with his personality. Twilight sighed, giving up on his strange philosophies. "...I don't know. It was pretty dim. All I know was that, she seemed to wear a black cloak, two black horns on the hood she wore along with a green horn from her forehead, and she had a thin staff with a pale green orb at the end...I ended up believing her words...She sounded...so convincing..."

"I knew it." Twilight stared at Sora in confusion. "Maleficent."

"Who?" she asked.

"The witch who kidnapped Kairi and caused Riku to turn to the darkness," Sora explained. "She was the one who manipulated you and placed you under a spell, releasing your desires with me and your anger toward Kairi, manifesting those emotions to spark the darkness in your heart to erupt. She's caused me and my friends so much trouble in the other worlds, and now she's threatening to shroud Equestria in darkness because of how peaceful this world is.

"That's why Kairi and I aren't mad at you for what you did. Because she manipulated you and broke through your inhibitions to trick you into using darkness to kill the both of us." Sora pulled Twilight into another tight embrace, holding her closely, while the unicorn couldn't believe how easily she was tricked. "This won't happen again. The one thing I hate the most is one of my friends' being controlled like a mindless puppet by a manipulating witch...I'm just glad Kairi managed to save you in time before your heart was truly swallowed up by the darkness in you. I wouldn't forgive myself if any of you in Equestria were turned into one of those things."

"...S-Sora..." Twilight still couldn't believe that she should be forgiven so easily. He was always too nice to those who needed him, even when those who don't deserve his kindness after doing something dangerous that threatened him or those close to him. "...How is it somepony like you exists?"

"I was born like this?" She couldn't help but grin at the terrible joke, but it turned into a frown a few seconds later. Twilight nuzzled his chest, wanting him so badly, but she can't. "I'm really sorry, Twilight. I'm kind of flattered you've got a thing for me and all, but I don't really share the same feelings for you."

"...I know..." Twilight didn't want him to let go, just wanting to let this little moment last as long as possible, but he did, gently patting her back.

"That doesn't mean we can't stay friends. I'm sure there must be some stallion out there who may win your heart over...though I don't think they can do what I do, or have the hair for it." He gave Twilight that same goofy grin. She will never understand him, why he always stays so happy all the time, and make up the dumbest jokes or the silliest of actions that always bring a smile to her face. It hurts to have their love never coming true, but still being friends was ok for her, though it would feel awkward between her and Sora, and even Kairi. "Well, it's getting late. Kairi's zonked out and I don't want to disturb the Apples and have an excited Winona wake everyone with her barking. You don't mind if we crash here tonight?"

"...I don't mind," Twilight said, feeling exhausted herself after crying a river of tears. "...Where's Spike?"

"Kairi mentioned he ran off to one of the others' places. And don't worry. He won't be mad at you for what happened. He's pretty mature for a little guy." Sora chuckled, which then turned into a yawn, rubbing his sore head. "I'm gonna hit the hay. I suggest you sleep in tomorrow, relax, eat some ice cream, try to get your mind off the worst case scenarios. Hakuna matata."

"...Hakuna what?" Twilight's horn glowed, levitating a dictionary as she tried to look for the odd words. "...That...Those aren't even real words."

"That's because I learned it from another world," Sora explained, giggling at her confusion. "It means 'no worries'." He grabbed the book of definitions and placed it on one of the random shelves. "And when I mean relax, that means no books." Twilight pouted, knowing he was only teasing her. "I'll see you in the morning, Twilight."

"Ok...good night..." Sora left Twilight's bedroom, leaving her alone.

She sighed, looking down at the Elven Bandanna she threw at him. Levitating it back up to her, slightly damp by her tears and torn a little from her corrupted state when fighting Kairi. She moved it onto her side table as she climbed into her bed. She didn't want to sleep with it anymore, not wanting to bring back any feeling of envy toward Kairi anymore. It took her a while to finally get to sleep, worrying about what she should do to relax that didn't involve reading, and what kind of ice cream she felt like eating.

Sora walked down the stairs and entered the living room, hoping Twilight would be ok and not blame herself for the rest of her life. She really needed her friends, though trying to tell them that she ended up falling into the clutches of darkness and almost killing him and Kairi was something they shouldn't know. He knows they won't abandon her, but they would be a little surprised. As long as Maleficent doesn't show up, or her loyal minion, Pete, they won't have to worry about that witch or the bumbling, tubby doofus of a sidekick.

He spotted Kairi, suppressing a snicker as he found her in a completely different position from earlier. She was hanging upside down on the cushy chair, his jacket draped over her face. Sora shook his head, approaching the sleeping unicorn and gently carried her in his forelegs. He hovered over the couch and carefully laid down on his back, moving his jacket over her back. She curled up next to him, letting out a soft sigh as she felt his hooves rubbing her back. He closed his eyes and fell asleep, knowing he's going to have a lot of work cut out for him to keep Equestria safe from the darkness, and Maleficent's schemes to take over this world.

Morning light shone down in the windows of the Golden Oak Library, slowly creeping up along the floor of Twilight's room to her bed. The light hit her face, stirring her out of her slumber. Last night's corruptive actions still haunted her. She was still scared about how the others will react to what happened, or how Spike and Princess Celestia would think of her. She even wondered if her power as the Element of Magic was tarnished, being the catalyst to power all six of the elements. Would the gem of her crown reject her, as the Elements of Harmony were a power of light in this world that could stop those with evil intentions?

Even though Sora told her not to worry, that annoying phrase "hakuna matata" stuck in her head as she imagined it to be an annoying, but catchy, song, she can't stop worrying. She felt darkness in her heart. It felt powerful. And the sad truth was that it felt amazing, and she was scared of having that darkness come back to her. Maybe she should have some kind of comfort food, wondering if there was anything her fridge she could eat that didn't involve cooking anything. She wanted to eat something delicious, not overcooked, burnt, or mutilated.

As she reached the living room, Twilight paused when she heard light snoring coming from the couch. She looked over, feeling her heart wrench as Sora and Kairi were still sound asleep. His jacket was draped over the pink unicorn, her face nuzzled up against his chest with his hooves wrapped around her. She wanted to be happy for them, and she was, but she sadly knew that would never happen to her with Sora. She quickly entered the kitchen before any lingering darkness in her heart overtook her mind to try and break them apart, already feeling awful after almost killing them.

Pulling both the doors to her fridge opened, she looked through what was inside to fill the empty void in her heart. There was a large tub of chocolate-vanilla swirl ice cream in the freezer, taking that out, wanting to eat the entire thing in hopes of helping her feel better. Grabbing a large spoon in her aura, she opened the tub an dug out a big scoop, quickly shoving the frozen treat in her mouth. She swallowed the large lump of frozen dairy, regretting it as she gave herself brainfreeze.

"Eating ice cream for breakfast?" Twilight nearly choked on her second bite, turning around to find Kairi standing nearby, her mane a frazzled mess as she had just woken up. "Not exactly the best thing to have in the morning. But, you're free to eat whatever since this is your home."

"...I-I'm not that good of a cook," the lavender mare mumbled, slowly eating her "breakfast". "Spike usually makes breakfast for me...but..." Tears began to well up in Twilight's eyes, recalling how harshly she flung him down the stairs under her Heartless's control. She took a smaller bite, her tears flowing as her fears crept up on her again, imagining Spike avoiding her and scared of being anywhere near her. "...H-He doesn't like me anymore..."

"No he doesn't, Twilight," Kairi assured, gently grabbing the tub of ice cream away from the depressed mare, putting it away before she got herself sick. She hugged Twilight, the lavender unicorn sobbed into her shoulder as her emotional dam broke yet again. "I told Spike you weren't acting like yourself. He knows you would never hurt him."

"But I did," Twilight sadly said. "Why are you being nice to me? After what I did to you and Sora?"

"That wasn't you. You were under a spell that forced your darkness to come out." Kairi's gently rubbed Twilight's back, hearing the same kind words that Sora told her last night. "I don't think we realized you liked Sora so much...I don't blame you if you're jealous. I would have been too if I saw you two together." She pulled away and smiled at the upset unicorn. "Sora's a pretty silly goofball, but he's a sweetheart. Loyal, brave, always willing to get into danger just to save anyone from harm. He's like the perfect knight, but with the personality of a five-year-old, energetic boy."

"...I still can't understand how forgiving you two can be," the lavender mare mumbled.

"Because you're not an enemy of ours. You're an innocent who was forced to use the power of darkness." Kairi opened up the fridge and pulled out some eggs with her magic, looking around the cupboards for a skillet. "How about I make us some breakfast and we get to know each other a little more? I don't want us to be enemies at all, and maybe you can teach me a few things about Equestrian magic."

"...I...guess we can be friends...But what if I get jealous again?" Twilight asked.

"Then come and talk to us whenever you upset about something. Sora's a good listener, and can be helpful to pick someone up when they're down." The pink unicorn finally found a skillet and placed it on the stove, turning the heat on as she prepared breakfast for them. "Go and wake that lazy bum up before he smells the food."

Twilight just sighed, basically getting a refresher of what Sora told her from Kairi, walking into the living room to wake the sleeping stallion up. His jacket was folded neatly on the arm of the couch by the pink unicorn, his wings fidgeting at his sides while he slept. Before she could wake him, the front door opened as someone walked inside. She was about to tell the unexpected visitor that the library wasn't open yet, but instead of a pony looking for a book, it was Spike.

"Hey, Twilight," the baby dragon greeted. "...You feeling better now?"

"...Spike..." Twilight teared up again, running up to him and pulling the little dragon into her forelegs, hugging him tightly. "I'm so sorry...I don't know what was wrong with me...I'm so so sorry, Spike."

"It's ok, Twilight. I forgive you." Spike hugged her back, making the unicorn feel a little better. He didn't hate her. Both Sora and Kairi were right. No matter how much she doubted herself, no matter how guilty she wanted to feel, none of them hated her for what she did. "Umm, Twilight? Are you cooking something?"

"Huh?" She let go of the baby dragon as he ran into the kitchen to check on what "she" was cooking.

"Oh! Kairi!" Spike exclaimed, surprised to see the otherworldly mare in the kitchen.

"Morning, Spike," Kairi greeted. "How do you like your eggs?"

"Uhh...sunny side up?" The dragon watched as Kairi's magic floated around the stove, already making a plate for herself and Twilight. "Wow. You're a good cook. Not like Twilight. She almost burned down our place back in Canterlot when she tried to make toast."

"Did your toaster malfunction?" she asked, giggling at the absurd accident.

"More like toasting bread with her magic," Spike said. "She missed the bread and caught the stove on fire."

The two soon heard a crash in the living room, followed by several hundred books falling off the shelves in the room. Spike and Kairi peeked into the room, a complete mess as books littered the ground, one of the windows was broken into, and while Twilight was only buried under some of the books, Sora was groaning in agony on the flipped over couch, Rainbow Dash sprawled out on top of him in a daze. Fluttershy poked her head up in the window outside.

"Rainbow Dash, you rock. Whoo hoo," the yellow pegasus quietly cheered, her eyes widening in shock as she looked at the carnage inside. "Oh my. Did my cheering do that?"

"Rainbow...please get off me," Sora groaned, having the worst wake-up call in history. "Am I some kind of magnet for you to run into like your safety cushion when you make an entrance?"

"Sorry, Sora." Rainbow flapped off of the flattened stallion, hovering over the mess her sudden entrance made. "But that was a pretty bad performance."

"I thought you did pretty well," Fluttershy said.

"Not my routine! You're cheering, Fluttershy. That was the worst cheering ever!" Rainbow sighed, ignoring the slightly disappointed look on the timid mare's face. "I wish the rest of the girls could join us in Cloudsdale for the Best Young Fliers Competition tomorrow."

"What the heck is that?" Sora asked, rubbing his sore chest from getting slammed by the rainbow-maned pegasus for the umpteenth time in a row.

"It's a competition held every year where Fluttershy and I were born, a city of clouds named Cloudsdale," Rainbow explained. "Young fliers come to the arena and show off their flying skills, whether it involves speed, style, tricks, anything. And not only will the winner of the competition get a trophy, but they also spend an entire afternoon with the Wonderbolts!"

"Rainbow Dash is sure to win when she shows everypony the sonic rainboom," Fluttershy added.

"A sonic rainboom?" Kairi asked, her magic automatically working on her cooking while she seemed interested in what the strange move was.

"Well, I was only able to pull it off as a filly," Rainbow chuckled, sounding pretty nervous. "But I can do sonic rainbooms in my sleep! It's pretty much a sonic boom, but I break the light spectrum and shoot off a rainbow shockwave that spreads out across the sky! It's awesome!"

"Ooh! I'd like to see that!" Kairi said.

"Well, if only you had wings. Cloudsdale is a city made of clouds...so, you won't be able to stand on them unless you're a pegasus," the cyan mare explained. "I better get back to practicing for the competition, and Fluttershy needs to practice her cheering."

Rainbow flew out of the window she crashed out of, but Fluttershy sighed, shaking her head. "Rainbow Dash has been practicing the sonic rainboom over a hundred times, and she hasn't come close to doing it. I hope I can cheer loud enough before she performs...She's really nervous and scared she might not pull it off."

Fluttershy flew off after Rainbow Dash, leaving the library and its scattered mess of books. "Huh. A sonic rainboom," Sora pondered, grabbing his jacket from under the sea of books. "I think all of us should be there to cheer her on."

"Sora, out of all of us, only you can go up there since you're a pegasus," Twilight explained.

"Unless there's some kind of spell that can give non-pegasus wings." Sora grabbed a random book, luckily picking up a spellbook. He flipped through the pages and found the spell he was looking for. "Oooh. This looks pretty good."

Twilight brought the spellbook to her with her aura, cringing at the characters on the page that explained how to cast it. "Oh boy...this looks like a really complicated spell...It might drain me of all my magic."

"Then let's wait until tomorrow morning, and we'll bring the others and tell them we're going to cheer Rainbow Dash on and see that sonic rainboom!" Sora's stomach began grumbling, his nose picking up the scent of cooked eggs. "But first, I demand food!"

As he flew over to the kitchen, Kairi cast a barrier around herself, making the pegasus slam into it. "How do you want your eggs before you run in and eat ours?"

"...Surprise me?" he asked.

"Ok. But you're going to have to be blindfolded." Kairi used her aura, grabbing Sora's jacket and wrapping it around his eyes. "No peeking."

"Aww, not again," Sora complained as he felt around where he was going, only to fall back into the littered pile of books in the living room.

Twilight snorted as she watched the goofy teen flail about as he tried to swim through the books while blinded by his own clothing with Kairi's aura, she looked down at the page with the spell. She had no clue if she could actually pull this off, but when tomorrow comes, she'll give it a shot. If anything, she wanted to help her other friends as best as she can, repenting for giving in to her darkness under the influence of Maleficent's spell.

By the next day, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew over the skies of Equestria together, reaching their home of Cloudsdale, the mobile cloud city where most pegasi live. Cloudsdale was an important city to the world, home to the weather factory, which creates all the weather for the land: rain, snow, storms, sometimes hail. The two mares touched down on the cloudy surface, happy to be back in their hometown.

"Ok, all we need to do is get to the coliseum, check myself in, and show off my moves," Rainbow said, her voice a little shaky from her nerves.

"Well, look who it is!" Both mares flinched as they saw three pegasi stallions wearing white uniforms and safety helmets flying toward them. One had a yellowish-orange coat, part of his brown mane obscuring his face, his cutie mark a trio of basketballs, the second had a purple coat with a black mane, also covering his eyes, his cutie mark a trio of footballs, while the third had a dark brown coat with a light gray mane, his cutie mark a dumbbell. "If it isn't Rainbow Crash!"

"Oh great," Rainbow grumbled. "What do you three want?"

"We heard you were gonna be competing in the Young Fliers Competition today," the stallion with the dumbbell cutie mark said. "Though how they allowed a drop-out like you to compete is beyond me!"

"I didn't drop out, Dumbbell," Rainbow said, glaring at the stallion.

"What are you gonna do at the competition, Crash?" the stallion with the basketball cutie marks asked. "You gonna pull off that sonic rainboom?"

"Yeah right!" Dumbbell scoffed. "That's nothing but a pony tale! Rainbow Crash doesn't have the skills to pull off something like that!"

"Well, I think she does!" The five pegasi looked up as they saw Sora hovering down to them, surprising Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.

"Sora? You came to cheer Rainbow Dash on?" Fluttershy asked.

"What kind of name is Sora?" Dumbbell asked. "And you're one of Crash's friends? A lanky pegasus with a hair shaped like a porcupine's behind!?"

As the three pegasus stallions laughed and mocked Sora, he brushed off their insults as he rushed a hoof over his spiky hair. "Well, if my hair looks like a porcupine's butt, then yours is obviously the white stripe off a skunk's tail. Seriously, did you stuff its stink spray on your head as a cologne? I could smell it from the opposite end of the world."

"Oh, a wise colt, huh!?" Dumbbell stomped up to Sora with a glare, bumping his chest against the smug teen's with his wings flared out, the other two stallions ganging up on him. "You really want to mess with me, Twiggy?"

"Ugh!" Sora gagged, trying to pinch his nose. "And your breath smells like you gargled that same spray along with moldy asparagus! You really kiss your mother with that rancid breath!?"

"That's it! Get him!" The three stallions jumped Sora as a dusty cloud appeared around them, sounds of struggling coming from inside.

Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at each other, knowing Sora wouldn't get that badly hurt by the bullies since he had faced worse in the past. Eventually, the cloud disappeared, the teen completely unharmed while the three stallions laid in a crumbled and bruised heap around him. They groaned in pain, barely able to budge.

"Was that it? That wasn't fun," Sora said. He grabbed Dumbbell's mane, lifting him up to his eye level. "And neither is picking on my friend. Either learn to keep your thoughts, that includes insults, to yourselves, or act like the brainless bullies that get nowhere in life by poking fun at others because of your own self-esteem issues." He dropped the pegasus to the soft, cloudy ground, only to pick him up again. "And don't call me Twiggy."

Dropping Dumbbell again, Sora pranced over his back and approached Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, trying to stifle their giggles. "I think you went overboard, Sora."

"Oh no. Overboard is if I smack them with my Keyblade," Sora stated. "You knew those three jerks?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Rainbow admitted. "They picked on me at flight school. And Fluttershy, too."

"Well, it's a good thing I dealt with them," Sora said. "But don't worry, Rainbow! We're all here to cheer you on for the competition!"

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" the cyan mare asked, unaware of Fluttershy looking up at the sky in shock and awe.

"R-Rar...Rarity?" Rainbow Dash looked up, her jaw dropping at what she saw.

"Hello, Rainbow! Fluttershy!" Flapping down to meet them was Rarity, only now she had large butterfly wings, the appendages letting out a beautiful glow as the sun shone down on the translucent wings.

"R-Rarity's flying!?" Rainbow exclaimed. "Wait...Are the others actually here too!?"

"They should be rising up soon." No sooner had Sora said that, a pink hot air balloon rose up from the cloudy floor. Inside the large basket were the rest of the girls. "And right on time."

"Oooh! So this is Cloudsdale!" Pinkie leapt out of the basket, the pegasus mares gasping in horror as their friend was about to fall from the sky.

Instead of passing through the cloud, the party pony landed on the cloud, bouncing around while giggling on the fluffy surface. "W-Wha...?"

"Yeah. Twilight couldn't pull off the same spell she gave Rarity several times, and Kairi's not exactly good with the magic she has as a unicorn." The rest of the land-walking mares stepped out of the basket, all of them standing on the clouds for the first time as they admired the softness of the condensed water. "So, we managed to find another spell for them that allows them to walk on clouds."

"I wish I was a pegasus!" Pinkie shouted as she rolled around on the cloud ground. "It's so fluffy!"

Kairi began bouncing around, never expecting to actually touch a cloud in all her life. "This is so fun! It's like a city made out of a slightly moist trampoline! So springy and bouncy!"

Sora gently stopped his girlfriend from getting too bouncy, not wanting to make her create enough force with each bound to break through the cloud. "Easy, Kairi. Don't want you to actually make a hole you can fall down."

"Well, if I fall, you can save me," she retorted, giving him a light peck on the cheek.

Twilight tried to ignore the couple's flirting, quickly pulling up a map of Cloudsdale she grabbed in her library. "Hey, Rainbow Dash, how about you show us the weather factory?" she asked, wanting to avoid seeing Sora and Kairi being the romantic couple they were. "I'm sure we're all curious about how the weather is made, especially Sora and Kairi since they're not from Equestria."

"Uhh, sure. I think we got time to spare. The competition doesn't start until around noon. Follow us." The group followed Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, knowing the city since they were once locals when they were little. Rarity fell behind as she looked at herself in the mirror, too enraptured with her new, temporary wings. "Rarity!"

"Oh! Coming!" she called out, fluttering after the others as her wings caught the attention of many pegasus stallions along the way.

Turns out the tour of Cloudsdale and their well known weather factory started out well, only to end up with misery for Rainbow Dash. At first, it was pretty interesting to see how the weather was made in this world, something Kairi was smart enough not to ask and look like a doofus compared to Sora's logical sense from their own world. As they entered the factory, all of them had to wear safety gear as a precaution, but Sora didn't dare ask why they needed to wear them after seeing the lightning bolts they store for storms held in glass jars. They saw how they made snowflakes for the winter, each pegasus creating the special patterns for each individual flake. The liquefied rainbow water flowing around one section of the factory was how they made rainbows, which ended up in a comical moment where Pinkie Pie tasted it, her face changing into the colors of the rainbow as her mouth caught on fire. Apparently, liquid rainbow was spicier than the spiciest of spices. They even saw the machine that created the clouds, each fluffy mass of whiteness spouting out from the smokestacks of the strange device.

But as the tour was fun, Rarity had ended up causing more trouble for the employees working there, and freaking Rainbow Dash out even more. While all the pegasi stayed on the ground in the snowflake sector, Rarity kept flapping her magical wings, the wind she let out sending all the snowflakes flying about the room and the workers running around to catch them before they escaped and winter would be ruined for this year. Not only was she constantly flying around, but the sun kept shimmering down on the translucent butterfly wings, distracting many of the employees as they created a colorful light show. To make matters worse, those same three stallions that were picking on Rainbow Dash earlier, apparently working at the weather factory, suggesting to the praised unicorn to enter the Young Fliers Competition.

She stupidly said yes, too caught up in all the attention she was getting with her enchanted wings. Now, instead of supporting Rainbow Dash to assuage her growing anxiety, Rarity made it worse by competing with her. And since everyone would be too fixated on her magical wings, which she shouldn't even be allowed to compete in since she's supposed to be a unicorn, none of the pegasi that had agreed with Dumbbell and his cronies even cared about the rules of the event.

"Unbelievable," Sora grumbled. "Rainbow Dash is far more stressed out than ever now. I regret finding that stupid spell, and having Rarity volunteer to have it cast on her. Should have tried it on Kairi, first."

"Did you just want to see me with butterfly wings just to look at how pretty I was with them, Sora?" Kairi asked, making the stallion blush and look down at his hooves. "Yeah. I thought so."

"At least you wouldn't show them off and steal everyone's attention," he mumbled.

Everyone sat in the stands of the grand coliseum as the entire city awaited for the Best Young Fliers Competition to begin. The announcer brought everyone's attention as a group of pegasi wearing blue flight suits that covered every part of their bodies aside from their mane and tails, muzzles, and wings. Smoke trails flew out from behind them, some sort of magical enchantment to make the results of some of their stunts visible to the audience, the Wonderbolts flying overhead as the crowd went wild. As they split apart after their entrance, three of them, possibly the highest ranking of the stunt team, they hovered down to a cloudy table as the celebrity judges for the competition.

Not only were they there, but Sora spotted Celestia in her own royal cloud booth, accompanied by a couple of her royal guards. She noticed him and waved, which he politely waved back. Unfortunately, the guards had taken notice of his being in the stands, leering at him intensely.

"Wow, those guys still hold a grudge against me," Sora said to himself. "Good thing their captain's not here, since he's a unicorn."

Soon, the Best Young Fliers Competition was underway as many of the competitors performed their different routines to impress the Wonderbolts. So far, there were a few good performances, but out of all of them, Rarity and Rainbow Dash haven't come out yet.

"Huh, that's weird," Twilight said. "Shouldn't Rarity or Rainbow Dash have come out by now?"

"Maybe they're saving the best for last?" Applejack pondered.

"Or she chickened out." Sora turned his head as the same three bullies from earlier had sat next to them. "I knew she would drop out."

"You know I'm right next to you guys, right?" Sora asked. "You want another lesson on messing around with my friends?"

"You were lucky, you skinny punk!" Dumbbell threatened, though it didn't deter the teen.

"Luck had nothing to do with skill. I'm far more powerful than you think I am. So if you want to tussle with me again, go ahead," he goaded, riling up the three bullies. "Or would you want to get caught by the royal guard for hassling someone in a public place? I know the princess quite well, and she knows me. I'm sure she'll understand I acted in self-defense and protecting my friends from your constant heckling." The three pegasi looked terrified, slowly scooching away from Sora and the girls before they could really get in trouble. "That's what I thought."

"Alright, mares and gentlecolts!" the announcer spoke. "Our final competitor of the day, contestant number fifteen!" Rainbow Dash slowly and nervously flew out, along with Rarity, both mares wearing a number over their cutie marks, Rainbow with a fifteen and Rarity with a four. "And...contestant number four as well..."

The group gawked at Rarity, the attention starved fashionista wearing the most ridiculous of of outfits for her last minute entrance for her performance. It was supposed to match the beauty of her wings, but it was so bad that many ponies seemed to question the unicorn's taste. She even has so much makeup on her face that it only made her look like a stallion trying to dress in drag and covering their masculine face with cosmetics.

"Oh dear lord," Sora groaned, voicing everyone's opinion on the unhelpful fashionista's choice in clothing. "Someone please blind me! That looks awful!"

"And Rainbow Dash looks like she'll crack," Kairi added, all of them seeing the cyan pegasus shaking under the pressure.

The duo routine began, classical music playing over the stadium, which did not seem suitable for a competition like this. Rarity soon began an odd dance as she hovered about, flashing her wings to the audience. Rainbow Dash began her own routine, though only more pressured because of the white unicorn's sudden entrance, her outfit and makeup that wanted Sora to gouge his eyes out, and the music that wasn't fitting for the speedy pegasus. She weaved through columns of clouds at a quick pace, but fell out of rhythm by the classical music playing loudly, slamming into one of the pillars and spiraled out of control.

The audience groaned as they watched the wipeout, though she was thankfully unharmed thanks to the cloudy walls of the stadium. Shaking off the accident, Rainbow moved on to the next part of her routine, flying around a trio of clouds placed out for her, making them spin rapidly in place. Her nerves ended up getting to her again and slipped up, sending the cloud she was spinning around hurtling toward Celestia. The princess managed to duck out of the way in time, but doing that only made the pegasus's anxiety and nervousness worsen as most of the crowd was appalled by the accident.

"She's already cracking," Sora said as they watched Rainbow fly up into the air for the final phase of her routine, which was supposed to be the sonic rainboom. Rarity fluttered up too, shining her wings down upon the crowd with the reflection of their translucent colors. "And Rarity is taking up Rainbow's attention."

Suddenly, dark voids opened as several hundred Red Nocturnes appeared around the unicorn, the audience gasping in shock at the Heartless' sudden appearance. Rarity reacted too late as the red mage Heartless shot fireballs at her, only striking her butterfly wings, burning them to ashes. She began falling and screamed at the top of her lungs, everyone staring in horror and fright at the strange creatures.

"Heartless!" Kairi shouted.

"Kairi, climb on my back!" The pink unicorn leapt up on Sora's back, both of them summoning their Keyblades as they took care of the Heartless, the three Wonderbolt judges swooping down to save the flailing unicorn falling to her death.

The Heartless focused their attention on the ponies with their greatest weakness, shooting a barrage of Fire spells at the Keyblade wielders. Kairi cast a reflective barrier around them, deflecting the spells back at the majority of Heartless, stunning them as they were struck with their own magic. Sora tossed her up high in the air and slashed through the ones around him, while Kairi cast a flurry of Blizzard spells into the Red Nocturnes floating around her.

Down below, Rarity constantly flailed her hooves and screamed her lungs out as she fell. The Wonderbolts tried to help her, but her hooves ended up knocking them all unconscious. Up above the coliseum, Rainbow Dash stopped her ascent to pick up enough speed to pull off the sonic rainboom, hearing Rarity's screams from several miles up.

"Rarity! Hang on! I'm coming!" Ignoring her routine, Rainbow flew down and flapped her wings hard, picking up speed as she safely flew past the Heartless.

Sora and Kairi alternated attacking together or solo, the stallion tossing his girlfriend up into the air to let her fire more of her magic spells. "We need to get rid of these things. There's too many," Sora said to himself. He caught Kairi in his forelegs, protecting them again with a barrier as they were attacked by more fireballs. "Hey, Kairi, how about we combine our power together into a Limit?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Kairi agreed. "I'm not sure my magic's fully healed after saving Twilight."

"Then I'll loan you my magic." Sora clinked his Keyblade with Kairi's, a bright light shining out between the two blades as their combined magic became one. "Let's go!"

Their bodies began emitting a white aura as the two ponies spun around rapidly, their hooves connected together in a speedy dance as their Keyblades hovered around them. A shockwave of light shot out from their Keyblades, stunning or killing the many Heartless around them. They stopped their spinning as they hovered in the air, a hoof connecting them together with a small orb of light shining in their fetlocks. Moving swiftly, they acted as one unit, sending out slashing shockwaves out of their Keyblades while also striking them, while also shooting out small orbs of light in a white blur, defending them from the spells fired at them or running through the Heartless.

They soon ceased their attacks, slamming their hooves holding their Keyblades together, a bright light shining on them as they now held each other's weapons. Now Sora, holding Destiny's Embrace, shot out powerful magic spells, while Kairi, holding the Kingdom Key, lead the fury of combos for their physical strikes. With the end of their combined magic coming to an end, the couple tossed their Keyblades in the air as a light began to form at the end. Bringing their other forehooves together, the same bright orb of light appeared like in their already connected hooves.

A light shone from their chests, leaping out from their chests as they gently pressed their foreheads together, their Keyblades shooting a beam of light at the growing orb and forming a massive heart of pure light, blinding the ponies that watched the two and eradicating all of the Heartless in the exploding light. With the creatures of darkness gone, their Keyblades disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the hovering couple up in the skies above. The glowing light around them dimmed, Kairi's body finally succumbing to gravity, but Sora quickly lifted her up in his forelegs.

"That...was...amazing!" Kairi exclaimed, nuzzling Sora's cheek. "I didn't think we could unleash that much power together!"

"Surprised me too when I did this with my other friends." Before they could officially celebrate their victory, and their combined Limit, they and everyone in the stadium looked down as they heard a massive explosion close to the ground far below. A massive shockwave of rainbow lights spread out through the land, a rainbow trail shooting up at a ninety degree angle as it flew up over the coliseum and made a large rainbow. "What was that?"

"A SONIC RAINBOOM! SHE DID IT! YEEEEEAAH!" Out of all the stunned ponies staring at the massive rainbow above them, Fluttershy was bouncing up and down, and was cheering far more loudly than she ever had for being so quiet.

"That's a sonic rainboom?" Sora asked, hearing Rainbow Dash making that rainbow trail as she flew at a faster speed than she ever had before cheering, carrying the unconscious Wonderbolts and Rarity on her back.

"That's pretty cool," Kairi said. "Though, I guess that's up to the audience to decide who put on a better show."

"But we aren't competing. It's supposed to be a solo performance, not a dual one." The unicorn giggled at her lover's obliviousness, wrapping her forelegs around his neck and kissed his cheek.

Sora chuckled, hovering the two of them back to the stands as the audience cheered Rainbow Dash as she touched down with her idols and friend safely caught. A couple pegasi carried the now flightless Rarity off the cyan mare's back, the Wonderbolts slowly waking up from unconsciousness. Rainbow was giddy with excitement as she not only was being cheered by the audience as she saved the four ponies, but also with the fact she had just performed the impossible move she had pulled off as a filly.

"Best day ever!" she shouted. "I finally did it!"

As the day came to a close, Rainbow Dash had won the competition, not only receiving a gold feathered tiara as the trophy for the Best Young Flier, but she also received praises from the leader of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire, for saving their lives and pulling off the move of pegasi legends. She even shocked Dumbbell and his friends, having witnessed her pulling off the sonic rainboom and apologized to her for making fun of her. The pegasus then hung out with her idols for the remainder of the day while the rest of the group headed back down to the safety of the ground back in Ponyville, sitting together at a restaurant, their food already ordered.

"You and Dashie should have seen Sora and Kairi fighting those Heartless, Rarity!" Pinkie exclaimed as she talked about the Keyblade wielders' combined Limit ability. "They were all glowy and flew around, shooting light and magic and energy waves! Then they shared their Keyblades and attacked more and that huge heart blew up and got rid of the baddies! I think that ending would have been better if they kissed each other when the light exploded. That would have been a far better finish."

"...I'm going to ignore that statement," Twilight mumbled. "But how were you able to do that? It was like your magic had combined together into one powerful force...and you two were in sync with each other as if you practiced something like that for months."

"It's called a Limit ability," Sora explained. "In exchange for all of my mana, I combine my magic with a a partner, and we unleash our combined power. The stronger my connection with my friends when using those Limits, the stronger it is to take out Heartless." He draped a wing around Kairi and pulled her closer. "And seeing how close Kairi and I are, you could see just how powerful we can be together. We could take over the world if we were able to!"

The pink unicorn bonked the stallion on the head, giggling at his silly antics. "But I have to keep his lust for power under control, or else he'll blow everything up."

"I will not be contained!" As he lifted a hoof while shouting out his "unstoppable force", Kairi turned his head to face her, giving him a soft kiss on the lips. She pulled away, his hoof slowly resting on the table as he grew a goofy grin on his face. "My weakness..."

The others laughed, Sora bested by the power of Kairi's love. Twilight tried to ignore the two lovers and focused on eating her food. It was going to be tough to try and not be mad and jealous of Kairi, unable to get her mind off of Sora. They did say she could talk to them about her frustrations, but how could she when she still blames herself for hurting them? Even if it was an accident, it doesn't excuse her from losing control of her emotions and allowing Maleficent, the witch that had done so much to Sora and his friends in the past, to manipulate her like that. If she could have used her like that, she was afraid it could happen again.

"Twilight? Ya'll ok, sugarcube?" Twilight looked up at Applejack, having noticed her playing with her food more than eating it. "Ya seem down about somethin'."

"...I-I'm fine, Applejack. I guess I'm just tired." The unicorn sighed as she looked at Sora and Kairi, feeling that pang of jealousy coming back. She needed to stop before she acted out again and let her darkness come back to control her. "Maybe I really do need a vacation..."

The next day, Twilight had decided to take some time away from Ponyville, taking that vacation idea from Sora. She still felt like she might turn back to her darkness if she spent anymore time around him if Kairi was around. Though, she didn't exactly say where she was going for her vacation. With her saddlebags filled with what she needed for the long week ahead of her, she headed off to the train station, Sora and Kairi unfortunately coming with her.

"I'm glad you're finally gonna give yourself a little 'me' time, Twilight," Sora said. "You really need it after being cooped up in the library every single day. You gonna head to the beach or something?"

"Uhh, I think so," Twilight lied. "Maybe some relaxing on the beach might clear my head."

"Great!...Oh wait, what time is it right now?" Sora asked.

"It's almost nine," the lavender unicorn said.

"Darn it! Applejack's gonna kill me if I don't help her out with the chores! I've been slacking the past week!" He gave Kairi a quick hug and flew up. "I'll see you girls later!"

"Have fun!" Kairi called out as Sora flew off toward Sweet Apple Acres. When the pink unicorn turned to look at Twilight, she could see she was still feeling miserable, wanting to be with Sora. "Twilight, are you feeling ok?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," Twilight lied, letting out a nervous laugh.

"Twilight, remember what I said? Don't hide anything from us if you're feeling upset about something, and you're doing a bad job hiding it." Twilight wilted, looking down at the ground. "You still want to be with Sora, don't you?"

"...Yes..." The two mares continued walking, Twilight feeling guilty, her heart still set on being with Sora. "I can't help it...I don't want to break you two apart, but every time you and Sora being romantic...I want that from him."

"Sorry," Kairi apologized. "Sora and I have gone through a lot in the past couple years. Dangerous situations with the Heartless, Organization XIII and the Nobodies, Xehanort, other enemies. I think the both of us want to spend as much time together as possible before something happens that causes any one of us to get separated again...or worse."

"...I guess I can understand that..." They soon reached the station, the train coming up in the distance as Twilight purchased her ticket. "...Hey, Kairi? I know this is going to be a dumb question...but, is there any way...we can both share Sora?"

"...Uhh...I don't know what you mean." Twilight sighed, needing to explain what she was talking about.

"Well...In many of the history books I've read in my life, there were herds, ponies in multiple romantic relationships with more than one mate." Kairi's eyes widened, now realizing what the unicorn meant. "Most times, it was a stallion with multiple mares, and it's not exactly a common thing in the present than it had been several centuries ago...Maybe, if Sora is accepting of it...do you think we might both share him as our coltfriend?"

"...Oh...Oh my..." Kairi rubbed her forehead, her cheeks tinting red out of embarrasment. "...Twilight, I don't think that's gonna work with us."

"I know Sora said we should just be friends, but maybe with time, we could both-" The pink mare brought a hoof to Twilight's mouth, ceasing her hopeless reasonings.

"Twilight, I know this might be a thing for ponies like you, but we're not from this world, remember?" Kairi lowered her hoof, seeing the pain in Twilight's eyes. "Where we're from, we're only allowed one person in our lives. And, there are animals that may have several mates at once, but that's not something Sora and I actually do. If you told him that, he would just say the same thing, making this whole talk just as awkward as it already is for me." The train soon pulled up at the station, blowing off steam as passengers began to disembark. Kairi gently patted Twilight's shoulder, the unicorn more miserable than ever. "I know it's hard for you right now, but it's best to just take this time to relax and clear your mind. You're starting to seem a bit desperate at this point, and love is a pretty complicated emotion."

"...It's not fair," Twilight mumbled.

"I'm sorry, Twilight. You can't exactly force someone to love you back. It wouldn't really feel like love, only more like manipulation." She gave the depressed unicorn a quick hug, both of them hearing the conductor calling passengers aboard for their next destination. "I'll tell you what. If Sora and I are both here in Equestria, we'll try to keep our romance down so you don't get too upset. Sound good?" Twilight nodded, though it would seem impossible to ever find anyone else that was like Sora. "You'll find someone else. Time heals all wounds. Now go have fun and enjoy yourself this week."

"I hope so." Twilight got on board the train as Kairi saw her off.

The lavender unicorn sat in near the window of the car she entered, watching the scenery as the train began to chug off to its next stop. She looked up at the mountain city of Canterlot, where the locomotive was headed on its scheduled route, hoping Princess Celestia could help her with her problem...and hope even more once she tells her about what she had done a few days ago.

After riding the train for an hour, it reached its destination in the grand city of Canterlot, Twilight's hometown. She did feel a little better as she felt homesick, being back in the city with all the noble elites wandering about the streets, wearing their posh clothing and haughty behavior. Her family wasn't exactly like that, mostly a middle class family, but being Princess Celestia's personal student almost made it seem like she was higher than a noble, but lesser than a royal. Unfortunately, she was afraid her time as the princess's pupil was about to come to an end once she knows what she had been forced to do.

Twilight wandered down the familiar streets leading down to the castle, still just as big as it was ever since she was a filly. Reaching the gates, the guards allowed her access inside, the mare well known throughout all the castle. Many of the servants seemed to be getting the castle prepared for the Grand Galloping Gala in only a few more weeks, part of her unable to wait for the best night of her life, but it wouldn't be after today.

Since there were no meetings for the princess today, Twilight expected Celestia to be in her bedroom, making her way through the grand halls to reach her teacher's chambers. Her guards weren't stationed at their posts in front of the door to her room, which was pretty odd. The unicorn knocked on the princess's door, but didn't hear a response. Worried that something might have happened to her, she walked in, but aside from the royal room she had always been in when being tutored by the alicorn, there was no sign of her.

"Hello? Princess Celestia?" Twilight wandered the room, finding nothing out of place: Celestia's massive bed that was comfortable for her to lay in, the furniture for guests clean and spotless, even all her books and trinkets from several hundred years in the past remained untouched on their resting places. The only thing that seemed different was an open book on a nearby podium. It was a strange pop up book, something that she had never seen before in her life. "What is this? And why does the princess have a pop up book?"

The pages began glowing, Twilight backing away, having no clue what kind of enchanted book this was. A light soon shot out from the book and began forming the shape of Celestia herself, her back turned to the lavender mare as she looked at the book.

"That was a fun experience," the princess said, the book closing on its own. "I'll have to send this back to this Merlin that Yen Sid spoke of. Hopefully he won't be too mad at him for stealing such a wonderful storybook."

"Princess Celestia?" The alicorn gasped, completely startled as she turned her head to look at Twilight. Before she could ask the princess what that book was, she noticed a sticky yellow substance on Celestia's muzzle, which smelled really sweet. "...Uhh, is that...honey on your face, your highness?"

"Hmm?" Celestia went cross-eyed as she looked down at her snout. She licked her lips, tasting the honey that had been on her face for a while. She chuckled gleefully, levitating a washcloth from her private bathroom, wiping off the sweet substance. "Must have forgotten about sharing that snack with those little creatures."

"...What?" Twilight questioned.

"Oh, nothing to worry about, Twilight. Just an enchanted storybook that literally pulls you into the story." Celestia levitated the book up to the unicorn, gasping in shock as the picture, underneath the title called "Winnie the Pooh", had what looked like a bipedal version of Sora sitting next to a tree with a yellow stuffed bear wearing a red shirt, both of them looking up at the starry night sky. "I think Sora might appreciate jumping back in here. Everypony there is so friendly, and that honey...I don't blame Pooh. It's irresistable."

"...I-Is that...?" Twilight couldn't ask her question, too confused by what she had seen and baffled by what Sora must have really looked like.

"I didn't expect you to show up so soon. I figured I would meet you and your friends later during the Gala." Celestia levitated the book aside to send back to this "Merlin" she talked about earlier. "Is there anything you wish to talk about?"

"...W-Well...kind of," Twilight said. "...A lot of things, actually..."

"Well, go ahead. I've gotten many of your friendship reports, and you're doing a wonderful job learning about friendship...Though I was a bit concerned about the last one. Are you feeling ok?" The unicorn shook her head as that night kept coming back to her like a never-ending nightmare. "What's wrong?"

"...I don't know what to do...I made so many mistakes, and the pain won't go away..." Twilight soon began to explain to Celestia what had happened in the past week.

(Treasured Memories)

Aside from all the letters where she included her feelings for Sora told to her teacher through writing, she poured out everything to her again with her voice. But as she had heard about Kairi and the stallion's sacrifice to save her, her heart felt like it was close to shattering as his heart belonged to someone else. She admitted being jealous of her, but taking Sora's own advice to her over the scenario of Kairi ever falling for someone else; just being happy that he's happy. But as Kairi finally arrived in Ponyville, Sora was happy to see her again, and she saw how close of a bond they both had just from their small bantering. It tore her apart, and a sick, twisted side of her wanted to just end her life and take back what was hers.

She then explained the worst part, tears streaming down her face as Celestia listened, the events shocking the alicorn; her heart giving in to the darkness of her envy and her will manipulated by the evil witch, Maleficent. She had hurt Sora and Kairi, almost killing the otherworldly mare and losing herself to the darkness of her heart, her hatred and jealousy. She still can't believe that, even after almost killing them and being controlled into giving into the darkness, they saved her and still called her their friend. Her guilt still weighed heavily on her heart, fearing one day she'll end up turning back into the monster that controlled her, and she still wanted to be with Sora. She feared she will never get over her crush, and the pain will only keep growing worse every single time she saw him and Kairi together.

"...Twilight..." The unicorn broke down, fearing her mentor would punish her for turning evil, disowning her, banish her, all over her jealousy and attempted murder. Celestia didn't think that at all. She felt pity for her pupil. She walked over to the sobbing mare and gently used her wing to pull her into a comforting embrace, letting her cry against her chest. "I am so sorry you had to go through so much pain...I'm so glad Sora and Kairi had saved you from yourself."

"Why are you three not mad at me!?" Twilight screamed out of frustration, undeserving of any forgiveness, especially from the alicorn she studied under. "I should be punished! I hurt somepony, and I turned to darkness!"

"None of this was your fault, Twilight," Celestia assured, gently rubbing her back as her student cried. "Luna had felt the same way the past couple months after you and your friends saved her from her fate. Even after I had forgiven her, she has had some relapses where she believed she didn't want to be anywhere near me, afraid she might turn back into Nightmare Moon. I know it's going to take some time before she can finally see that what happened has already passed, and she shouldn't linger on her past mistakes. We forgive...and forget, even if it takes years to truly let go of that past.

"The good news is that you are ok, and you haven't been lost to the darkness for good." Celestia nuzzled Twilight, her sobs slowly quieting as she heard her mentor telling her the exact same thing Sora and Kairi had. Unbeknownst to the two mares, Celestia's bedroom door was opened a crack as someone listened in on them, a starry mane slowly billowing behind her head. "And your love for Sora...that also has to be let go."

"B-But I can't...I just can't..." Twilight sniffled, unable to get rid of the stallion who had helped her in so many situations, wisdom or danger. "I want to be with him..."

"I know, but he is not of this world. His customs with romantic situations are different from ours, even with old ways long since ignored for several hundred years and slightly practiced in rare instances." Celestia levitated some tissues, wiping away Twilight's tears. "I know you care about him, but he is from another world. His relationships with others not from his world or species should only remain as close friends. Nothing more. He values you as a friend, and without him, the Elements of Harmony would have been useless without his light destroying the darkness in my sister's heart.

"I don't want you to hold any ill will toward him or Kairi, where their love had been set in stone, starting as friends and growing closer with each year. Love is a very powerful emotion, but if you cling onto that love from a pony who doesn't return them or if they are already in a relationship, you'll only feel misery and grow desperate." The pony listening outside lowered their head, slowly leaving down to the other side of the hall in another room. "It's best to let go and no longer cling to that pain, knowing Sora's a close friend you can depend on to aid you should be enough."

"...It's hard to forget about it though...I still blame myself for what I've done...and Sora..." Twilight blew her nose with one of the tissues. "I wish I never met him, so I wouldn't go through all this..."

"If you never met him, then you wouldn't have met your friends in Ponyville," Celestia said. "And without him and Kairi, you would have lost your heart to the darkness, and I would never forgive myself if I knew you turned into a Heartless. I was scared over my sister when I knew how dangerous that darkness could have been if I didn't intervene using the Elements of Harmony...I banished my sister and blamed myself, but I kept her safe for a thousand years, keeping the darkness from getting close to her heart. If Sora wasn't around, then Equestria would have easily fallen to Nightmare Moon with her unstoppable power. Not even I could be strong enough to stop her on my own."

Celestia was right. Without Sora, Equestria would have fallen to the Heartless. Twilight may have been miserable with being controlled to unleash her darkness in her heart, but Sora had gone through worse. He lost his home once to the Heartless, his friends had gotten separated, he fought several threats that were dangerous, and he even turned into a Heartless, all to save the girl he loved. He had suffered, but he didn't show it, always acting weird, goofy, and silly. He looked at the positive side of the situation, even if things looked bleak, looking forward to what peaceful future might come when this never-ending war ends.

They were all right. Sora wanted her to forget about what had happened to her, Kairi looked past her jealousy and wanted to be her friend, and Celestia advised her to let go of the past and her hopeless, desperate feelings for the stallion; put the past behind her. Hakuna matata, the words Sora used that meant "no worries", to leave everything in the past and look forward to a brighter future, and someone who actually can show the same affections she would to them. She needed Sora, but not out of love. Out of his friendship and heroic efforts.

"...Thank you, Princess Celestia." Twilight gave a legitiment smile, slowly feeling better. "I've been told the same thing by Sora and Kairi...but I don't think I really paid attention. I guess I needed to hear it from somepony I look up to. From our world."

Celestia chuckled, happy to see her student was feeling better. "I'm glad I could help let the information sink in, Twilight. Was there anything else you wished to discuss?"

"No...but, I can't exactly go back to Ponyville yet," Twilight said. "I told my friends I was going to take a vacation from my stress, and they think I'm somewhere relaxing. Not here in Canterlot."

"Hmmm..." The princess looked back at the enchanted storybook, getting an idea. "How about we jump into a book?"

"But Sora said no books if I'm on a break." Twilight grumbled to herself, disliking Sora's method of relaxation when books always made her relax.

"Not exactly reading it, per se." Celestia levitated the book and opened it up to the popped up pages inside. "You'll see what I mean when it works its magic."

Twilight stared at the book, the pages suddenly glowing as she felt the light wash over her, sucking her inside the pages as an orb of light floating down to the pages. Celestia levitated it back to the podium it was once on as the same effect happened to her too, chuckling with delight as she jumped in for the second time.

Twilight screamed as she fell down to the now large book beneath her, somehow shrinking to a smaller size by the enchanted spell in the book. Unable to stop her descent, she closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable. As soon as she was about to land, her body slowed down until she was a couple inches from the pages. Opening her eyes, she looked down, then plopped down on her rear, safely landing in the strange storybook.

She looked around, Celestia's room far bigger than all of Equestria at the size she was, unable to believe that she was actually sitting down on a book that was as big as a house. The alicorn herself descended too, not using her wings as she landed gently like a feather, standing next to the surprised unicorn.

"Princess?...Are we really...standing on a book...while we're the size of ants?" Twilight asked, both unsure if this should be a good thing and excited to have one little fantasy about literally jumping into a book coming true.

"We are," Celestia answered. "Welcome to the 100 Acre Wood." The pictures of the different settings of the storybook popped up from the page-like ground the two mares stood upon, a strange aura emitting out of them from some kind of magical spell. The alicorn princess approached a cutout of a small tree with a house built inside it. "This way, Twilight."

Before Twilight could ask what Celestia was doing, she gasped when she saw her walk straight into the flat cut out, a bright light shining as she went inside of it. Confused, and also curious, the unicorn followed after her, the flat cut out of the area slowly turning into an actual forest environment. Birds could be heard chirping, the sun's warmth over her coat, the scent of wildlife, it all looked so realistic when it was really just an illustrated pop up page.

"Oh...my...gosh," Twilight gasped in awe, a small twinkle in her eyes. "I need to find out how this enchantment works...So many possibilities to literally be in a book. And all my favorite stories come to life...Am I dreaming?" The unicorn slapped herself, feeling pain, still awake, and still in the living fantasy world inside of the storybook. "No. I'm not. This is really happening."

Celestia and Twilight walked down the path until they reached the physical house seen on the illustration, and sitting in front of the house on a log was the same yellow bear that was on the cover. It had its paw tapping its head, in the middle of thinking about something. It heard the mares' hoofsteps approaching, looking up from its thinking.

"Oh, well hello again, Celestia," the red shirt wearing stuffed bear said, surprising Twilight as he spoke. "It hasn't been that long, has it?"

"No, but I brought a guest with me." The princess gently shoved Twilight forward with a wing, making herself present in front of the animated toy. "Twilight, meet Winnie the Pooh, or just Pooh for short. Pooh, this is my pupil, Twilight Sparkle."

"It's very nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle," Pooh greeted, holding a paw out to shake her hoof.

"...Uhh, hi?" The unicorn shook his paw, unsure if she should be freaked out that a walking, talking stuffed bear was moving on its own or fascinated and curious about how it was possible.

They soon heard a growling sound, and it was coming from Pooh. "Oh bother. It seems I have a rumbly in my tumbly."

"Of course you do, Pooh Bear," Celestia chuckled. "And I'm guessing you ate all your honey as soon as I left?"

"Wait, how can he eat!?" Twilight asked. "Isn't he a stuffed bear!?"

"Stuffed full of honey." The alicorn laughed again, approaching the hungry bear. "Let's go and see if Rabbit will let us borrow a small smackerel at his burrow."

"That sounds like a brilliant idea. Rabbit loves to share." Celestia and Pooh began to walk down the other path in the area, heading deeper into the storybook world.

Twilight sighed, ignoring making any sense in a fantasy story enchanted to be a real world. "Might as well make the best out of my 'vacation'," Twilight said to herself, following after her mentor and the animated bear, feeling her own stomach rumble. "I doubt honey in a made up, imaginative world could really be considered food...but I am curious to know how it tastes if it's that good."

Throughout the whole week, Twilight seemed a little weirded out by being a part of a foal's book, but as the days progressed, she began to relax more and had fun with Celestia and Pooh, along with his other stuffed doll friends. The first of them she had the unfortunate pleasure to meet was Tigger, a bouncy tiger that pounced her, almost acting like Pinkie Pie. The others weren't as annoying at the tail bouncing tiger, and were very friendly: Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Gopher, Eeyore, Kanga, and Roo. It was odd that their names almost matched with what creature they were, but they were a delight, except for Eeyore, who always sounded miserable, even when he was happy.

There was a lot to do that was actually fun, even if they seemed pretty terrifying. Bouncing on a trampoline to pop balloons, riding on a honey pot that she could somehow sit on without any trouble that went through every section of the fantasy world, and even snacking on the delicious honey from the 100 Acre Wood, tasting far better than any honey she ever tried in Equestria. It was also awkward to see Celestia actually acting like a filly, having fun, laughing out loud, all while Twilight joined all the odd games in each area of the storybook. After a whole day of having fun, they had spent the evening cooling down under the same tree and sky on the cover, all of the gang from the 100 Acre Wood, Celestia, and Twilight looking up at the stars.

With her vacation time ending, Twilight left the castle with a smile on her face, all her problems no longer bothering her, though she would not forget those memories. And she's moved past her crush on Sora now, though it would take some time before it could truly be gone. He's a dear friend, but he's technically an alien from a far off world. That's all he is, but that didn't mean he wasn't dependable and cared greatly for the friends he makes.

The train arrived at Ponyville station, Twilight disembarking with her gear and headed off to the Golden Oak Library. "Hey, Twilight!" She looked up and saw Sora wave at her, landing next to her and walked with her. "How was your vacation?"

"It was what I needed," she said. "I feel a whole lot better now."

"Great! I told you you would finally get your head cleared out with some fresh air." As they walked, Sora seemed a little nervous about something, his wings ruffling in the anxiety he was showing. "Uhh, when you left...Kairi told me about what you suggested to her...and me...I mean, I really don't want to-"

"Don't worry, Sora. I'm over it," Twilight said. "Being friends with you is the better option anyway, since you're not really from this world."

"...You sure?" he asked. "If you still feel that way, I don't want there to be anymore trouble between the three of us as friends."

"I'm absolutely sure, Sora. I was just being a bit silly and became a helpless romantic. I'll find somepony when the time comes, just not anytime soon." She giggled as Sora let out a sigh of relief. "So, how was your week? Any Heartless?"

"Well...let's see." Both ponies stopped as Sora crossed his forelegs together, deep in thought. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders put on some kind of song for their school's talent show, and it was the worst show they pulled. I thought for sure they would have found their talents and worked together to make it happen, but no: Sweetie Belle has a beautiful singing voice, but she made the backgrounds and costumes, terrible ones, Apple Bloom is good with crafting, but she ended up making the choreography for their routine, which looked more like some karate moves, and Scootaloo was perfect to come up with the dance moves, but she sang and made the lyrics, which were horrible!

"Then, a day later, Rarity got kidnapped by disgusting mutts calling themselves the Diamond Dogs. They used her very cool gem finding spell to dig out the different gems in their underground caverns, but we didn't even need to save her since she actually whined them into submission. It was pretty funny, and we helped her carry back a huge haul of gems for her clothing line. And just yesterday, we managed to stop a feud down in, as Applejack's cousin named it, AAAAAAPALOOSA!" Sora reared back on his hind legs and kicked his forelegs as he shouted out the name of the location, making Twilight snicker. "A herd of buffalo have lived in the desert region and the land the ponies had to cultivate their apple trees were being used, covering their religious stampeding grounds.

"It would have ended fine if an ambassador from both sides came to a compromise, but Rainbow Dash and Applejack ended up arguing with each other and caused a war between the tribe and Appaloosans! Pie was everywhere, lives were lost to the appley baked goods! IT WAS MASS CHAOS!" Sora exaggerated the "terrible" war, only to immediately return to his normal self. "But we fixed that by moving the trees off the path, and the apple orchard in the desert will be spared as long as the buffalo get a share of the pies. They had to learn to share. They had to learn...to care."

"Hey!" Pinkie shouted, popping up between Sora and Twilight. "That's what I said!"

"You sang a song about it, which only made the feud worse," Sora glowered. "As catchy as it was, songs don't help a situation that involved the lives of a tribal herd of buffalo and settlers of Equestria going through a Manifest Destiny moment." Pinkie and Twilight stared at Sora in confusion, making him groan. "Never mind that last part. The point is, we stopped the fighting before it got worse...So, out of all of that week in a nutshell, nothing out of the ordinary."

"I'm afraid to know what 'out of the ordinary' actually is to you," Twilight joked.

"A Shadow actually behaving like a person, no taking of Hearts, and we see its mouth...THAT will be out of the ordinary for me. But, it's a good thing you're fully de-stressed." Sora wrapped a hoof around Twilight's neck, also catching Pinkie as she hugged the both of them tightly.

"Hey, Twilight smells like honey," Pinkie said, sniffing the unicorn for the source of the sweet nectar. She nosed through her saddlebags and pulled out a pot with her mouth. "There's where it's coming from! Smells good."

"Wait a minute." Sora looked at the honey pot, finding the look of it somehow familiar. He opened the lid, sniffed the honey that was inside, quickly smacking Pinkie's hoof before she decided to dig in and eat the evidence. He dipped a little bit of honey on his hoof, tasting the sticky liquid, smacking his lips as he savored the flavor. "...Where exactly did you get this honey?"

"From my vacation." Twilight put the lid back on and swiped the pot away from Pinkie, her eyes welling up with tears as she wanted to taste the honey too. "And you two aren't going to eat it all. I'm going to make sure to hide this and get back to my studies. I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

Twilight trotted merrily down to the library, but even though Sora was glad to see the unicorn feel better, he couldn't help but find that honey pot and the taste of that honey familiar. "That's so weird. I know I've seen a jar like that before."

"You know the weird thing?" Pinkie asked. "There was a name on it, but it didn't read 'Twilight'. It read 'Pooh'. Who names their foals 'Pooh'!?"

"Wait, Pooh!?" Sora exclaimed, looking back at the library, then at Pinkie, then back to the library. "TWILIGHT! HOW DID YOU GET THAT HONEY POT!?"

Pinkie watched as Sora flew off after Twilight, shrugging her shoulders, her stomach suddenly growling. "I got a rumbly in my tumbly! Heeheehee! That's a funny rhyme! Rumbly in my tumbly!" Pinkie sang as she bounded down to Sugarcube Corner for a snack to fill up her rumbling tummy.

Sora laid in his bed early in the morning, feeling a bit bored. There weren't any chores needing to be done on the farm, Twilight and Kairi are having a mare's day out, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were busy trying to get their cutie marks, and failing in the process with whatever crazy ideas they have, and there were no sign of Heartless anywhere in Ponyville. Thankfully, Celestia had informed Sora that no other sightings of the Heartless were seen in other parts of the world, only showing up around him, Kairi, or the other girls. Having the Keyblade as a magnet to attract them to him was a good thing at least, since no one else would get hurt.

Winona was in his room, bumping her nose against his hoof to get his attention. He lazily patted the collie on the head, the dog yipping with satisfaction as she got attention. He rolled over on his side, looking at the Apple family pet, her tail wagging excitedly.

"You know, Winona, you're lucky you don't get bored so easily. You just eat and sleep, and whenever you get excited, you run around trying to chase your tail." To prove his point, Winona began running around in circles, trying to chase her tail. "Like that." Sora sighed, leaning over his bed in boredom, looking at the room upside down. The hyper puppy licked his face, making him sputter. "I'm so bored! Winona, give me some ideas!" She licked him again. "...Good try."

The bored teen sat up and wiped his face of the dog slobber. Laying down on his side, his ears and tail twitched in rhythm to a ticking clock, almost like that creepy crocodile that has a hankering for evil pirate captains in Never Land. He looked down at his sides, staring at the Keyblade cutie mark. He always did wonder why cutie marks were important in this world, aside from showing everyone what their special talents are. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are going nuts trying to get their cutie marks, and that show they put on for their school's talent show was a terrible example of them thinking they had a talent with comedy. Their true talents were staring them in the face when he helped them fix up Applejack's old clubhouse, making it their new clubhouse and meeting spot for their little group.

"Hmm...I didn't really 'find' my cutie mark. It was already there." Sora blew a raspberry, thinking that he had gotten a forced tattoo when he woke up in Equestria. "I'm a jack of all trades, but my real talent is keeping the worlds safe from the Heartless. The Crusaders don't have theirs, and a colt or filly gets them when they discover their talents." The teen hummed as he laid upside down over the edge of his bed again, Winona having left his room a while ago as he pondered how the other girls got their cutie marks. "Wonder how they got their cutie marks. And when."

Suddenly, his Keyblade appeared in his mouth as a light shone from the tip, making a book appear from the light and dropped down on his stomach. Sora groaned, wishing there was a better way for her to transport letters or objects that didn't involve his Keyblade appearing against his own will just to tell him something. Maybe she heard his boredom and gave him something to read to entertain him, even though he wished for something that didn't involve reading.

Curious about this mysterious book, he sat up and looked at the cover, or what lack of a cover there was on the pink and purple book. "Huh?" There was no illustration, but there was a title. "'The Cutie Mark Chronicles'? That's an...interesting title. Is it some sort of adventure story?"

Setting the book down on the dresser, he opened it up to the table of contents, but there was none. No words, no other illustrations, nothing but blank pages. As he was about to give up trying to figure out what kind of terrible, blank book this was supposed to be, he finally found something of interest that were in the center pages: it looked like a map of Equestria, though there were certain locations that were more defined than the rest of the kingdom, and there were the gemstones of the Elements of Harmony, one over each specific location.

As he questioned what this all meant, the book's pages began glowing. His body was soon engulfed in the light, his eyes widening in shock before he was turned into an orb of light, floating down into the book. While Sora had disappeared, Winona ran into his room with a squeaky ball in her jaws, wanting to play fetch with the stallion. She let out a confused whine, finding no sign of him when she clearly knew he was here just a moment ago.

Sora fell, looking down at the pages of the book as its magic had shrunk him down to a smaller size, just like it had done for him with Pooh's storybook in the past. It did surprise him when Twilight finally told him she actually went in the 100 Acre Wood with Celestia, knowing that honey pot was familiar to him. He touched down, landing gently, but there was a big difference with him; he wasn't a pony anymore. The teen stood up at his actual height as a human, looking down at his original body, flexing his fingers and his toes hidden in his black and yellow shoes.

"Huh. Finally glad to be back to how I used to be outside of Equestria." Sora started stretching out his human limbs, somewhat happy to get out of a four-legged magical form for a short while. After warming up his muscles, he looked around at the opened pages. "This feels kind of like the storybook. I hope no one tears the pages out. I really don't want to find them spread out across the world, or worlds, just to piece it all back together. Two times is already enough."

On the eastern portion of the illustrated map of Equestria, one of the locations had popped up like the homes of his friends from the 100 Acre Wood. What stood up was a city near the coast, Applejack's apple cutie mark hovering over the skyscraper buildings, but the colors were dulled gray. Seeing no other location popped up, Sora walked up to the paper cutout of the city and walked through.

The Keyblade wielder opened the barn doors, which was odd from where he figured he was supposed to enter in the city, finding himself on Sweet Apple Acres. Sora scratched his head in confusion, wondering why he was here in Ponyville, far from where the city was. He saw some ponies up near the entrance of the orchard, but as he got closer, he was surprised by what he saw. Standing near the archway at the end of the dirt road was Granny Smith, a younger Big Macintosh, and a filly Applejack. The orange filly didn't have her hat, she had a pair of small saddlebags on her back, and she didn't have her trio of apples cutie mark.

"What is going on?" Sora walked up to them, though none of them seemed to have noticed him as Applejack talked to her granny.

"Applejack, are ya sure ya want to do this?" the senior asked. "Ya won't like the big city of Manehatten."

"Don't worry, Granny! Ah'll be fine!" Applejack said. "Besides, ah wanna try and be sophisticated like Aunt and Uncle Orange! Ah don't know if Ah really like workin' on the farm." Sora gasped in shock. Hearing Applejack actually say she didn't like being on the farm, with her family, that was unlike her. But seeing she was a filly, maybe she was like Apple Bloom, just as confused as what her special talents were. "Ah might come back soon. Tell Apple Bloom big sister's gonna be a city pony!"

Granny Smith and "Little" Macintosh watched her go as she headed east, all on her own. "What is Applejack thinking?...Is this some kind of memory from her past? How did something like that even get into an enchanted book?" Sora looked around, no sign of Apple Bloom, desperate to know what the filly looked like as an infant, or even the Apple siblings' parents. "And where the heck are her parents!? They shouldn't even allow this to happen!"

Sora ran past the weeping earth ponies, completely invisible to them as the teen wasn't part of the story, and chased after Applejack. As he followed the dirt path she took, the environment took a drastic change of scenery as he was now in the city he originally entered. Applejack was right in front of him, admiring the sights of Manehatten, passing by the tough city ponies. She was definitely out of her element.

She soon arrived at a posh apartment complex, heading inside and up the stairs to a door with an orange on it. The door opened, revealing two earth ponies on the other side, an orange stallion with a green mane, and a pale yellow mare with a brown mane, both of them having cutie marks that represent oranges, clearly Applejack's relatives.

"Why, if it isn't little Applejack!" Aunt Orange said, the couple letting their niece in.

"Thank ya'll for lettin' me stay with ya, Aunt and Uncle Orange!" The two relatives chuckled at her accent while the filly lowered her saddlebags next to the door.

Sora had to duck as he stepped inside the elite apartment building, his height far taller than the door frame. Since he could actually touch the walls, he didn't want to smack his head on anything. He watched quietly as Applejack was now in a fancy gathering of rich ponies for a dinner party, her mane done up in almost the same style as her Aunt Orange. When the older mares and stallions asked questions about the filly, she spoke like them, completely dropping her southern accent and talked about how she lived on the farm. The teen groaned and facepalmed when one of them asked what a rooster was. It made him want to find this pony, drag him down to the farm before the crack of down, point his head in the direction of the bird and open their ears to hear it crow as the light of the sun comes up.

After the horrible party, with food portions that disappointed the filly, too small for even a termite to munch on, Sora sat next to Applejack as she looked out at the window of the guest room at the crack of dawn. As soon as the sun peeked over the mountain where Canterlot rested, she let out a rooster call, though sad, feeling homesick.

"Yeah. This kind of life isn't for you, Applejack," Sora said, feeling pity for the filly. "I wonder what made you change your mind and go back home..."

Suddenly, they heard a small explosion out in the distance, both of them watching a rainbow trail light up the morning sky, heading straight in the direction of Ponyville. Her home in Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack made her decision, running for her belongings, placing her saddlebags on, and left her Orange relatives' home. Sora followed after her as she ran through the streets of Manehatten, and back into Ponyville. Her older brother and grandmother saw the filly run up along the path as they were about to begin the day's chores, both of them meeting Applejack halfway and hugging her tightly.

Now she was back home, where she truly belonged. Sora noticed her flanks shine brightly, and right on her blank flank were her trio of apples. Her earned cutie mark.

The teen exited the city and was back on the book. Looking up, he saw the apple-shaped gemstone regain its orange color, now looking like the Element of Honesty. He then heard another section of Equestria pop up, this one being a field filled with animals, a gray butterfly gem hovering above it.

"Are these...memories of how the girls got their cutie marks?" Sora asked himself. "Celestia, if you somehow heard me...You're probably going to kill me with cuteness, seeing all of them as fillies...Well, I hope Equestria has insulin, cause I might get diabetes if I have to see all of them be as adorable as the Crusaders."

Sora walked into the fields of animals, but now found himself standing on a bunch of clouds hovering above the world. From the formations of the cloudy ground and buildings, it almost looked like some kind of flight school. There were large, soft clouds down below a group of smaller ones high above to get young fliers to learn how to use their wings in a freefall, and there were also several cloud rings littered about as an obstacle course for coordination and precision flying. Several colt and filly pegasi were flying around while being guided by the teachers either flying with them and encouraging them.

"Wow...This must be the flight camp Rainbow Dash talked about." He looked down at his feet, standing on the clouds as if he was still a pegasus. He didn't know if it was because his ability of being a pegasus was the reason or if it was just a memory and the rules of logic for Equestria didn't apply to him. "Hmm...I wonder if I can still..." Sora leapt up high in the air and tried to hover in the air. Luckily, he still held onto the abilities he had mastered with mastering his Drive Forms, his Glide ability thankfully not lost to him. "Yeah. This is perfect! Now I won't have to worry about falling too far from the sky and make it to the farther clouds!"

He soon heard a yelp from a familiar voice, turning just in time to see a filly fly into one of the flags, knocking it off its post as she fell to the cloudy surface below. She untangled herself from the flag, revealing the pony to be a younger Fluttershy. She was pretty lanky, and even more adorable than she was fully grown.

"Oh gosh," Sora mumbled, feeling a heart attack. "I think I just got diabetes just from looking at filly Fluttershy! Why is she so cute!?"

His gushing was halted as he heard familiar male voices, though slightly younger, coming from two of Rainbow's and Fluttershy's bullies back in Cloudsdale, though they were young too. "Good job, Klutzershy!"

"My baby brother can fly better than you can, and he's an infant!" The two colts laughed, Dumbbell and the orange colt the only ones there, making Fluttershy cry.

"Picking on adult Fluttershy, that's a big no," Sora said. "Picking on filly Fluttershy is not right!" He flew down and tried to grab the two colts and pick them up, but his hands phased right through them as if they were holograms. He lifted his hands up, unable to make any changes with the memory playing out. "You two are lucky. But not in the future."

"Hey! Leave her alone!" A blue blur flew down and slammed down into the cloud the three ponies were on, a young Rainbow Dash standing up for Fluttershy.

The rainbow-maned filly's hair was a frazzled mess, far more messy than it looked when she was older. Sora noticed both fillies didn't have their cutie marks yet, and he couldn't help but grin as he now got a look at what Rainbow looked like when she was younger: small, adorable, and huggable.

"Oh, I am so going to tease Rainbow Dash after this." The teen rubbed his hands together with a sinister smirk on his face, a good way to get payback on her if she ever uses him as a cushion when she crashes.

Soon, the two bullies and Rainbow met up at a starting line for an obstacle course, their other peers watching as the loyal filly was going to race the two colts to defend Fluttershy. The timid filly was on a cloud ahead of them, holding a flag in her mouth to signal their race. As soon as she waved it, the three sped off and zoomed past her, making Fluttershy spin and send her careening off the edge, falling to the ground several miles below.

Sora gasped in shock and dove down after Fluttershy to save her. She couldn't flap her wings, too scared to open them and save herself. He tried to grab her, but his arms just phased right through her. He couldn't bear to watch as he clasped his hands over his eyes, not wanting to see her fall to her death...only realizing that the real Fluttershy was still alive. He peeked through his fingers and watched from above, and by some miracle, a huge flock of butterflies caught the filly and saved her. Sora breathed a sigh of relief and fell to the ground, landing softly as he watched the filly being carried by the butterflies stare at everything the ground had in awe, music suddenly starting to play around them as he felt a song coming on.

[Fluttershy]
What is this place
Filled with so many wonders?
Casting its spell
That I am now under
Squirrels in the trees
And the cute little bunnies
Birds flying free
And bees with their honey
Hooooooneeeeeeeeeey!

As Fluttershy sang, Sora watched as she began flying, without any fear or trepidation. Animals all came out from their burrows, nests, any home they were in and came up to the pegasus filly, immediately taking a liking to her and her song.

Ohhh, what a magical place
And I owe it all to the pegasus race
If I knew the ground had so much up its sleeve
I'd have come here sooner, and never leave
Yes, I. Love. Everythiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

Despite having nearly fallen to her death, Fluttershy's fascination with the ground had dispersed her fears, being around so many animals. Suddenly, a large explosion and a shockwave of rainbow lights lit up the sky, startling everyone, including Sora, the animals all fleeing from the loud noise and hiding in their homes. The teen looked up and saw the sonic rainboom, shocked to see that again.

"Wow. Rainbow really did create the sonic rainboom when she was a filly. How fast was she going in that race?" Sora groaned as he shook his head. "I was too busy worrying about Fluttershy that I completely forgot to see. Maybe when I see how Rainbow got her cutie mark, I'll see who won."

Looking back at Fluttershy, he saw her whispering to the frightened critters, urging them to come out now that the rainboom had ended. With all the animals now out of hiding, a bright light shone from the filly's flanks, her trio of butterflies appearing from her love and care for the timid creatures. Sora laughed at the irony; the timid and shy pegasus taking care of the timid and frightened animals.

Back on the pages of the book, Sora looked up and watched the gray butterfly gem turn pink, the Element of Kindness glowing brightly. Another location popped up, this one featuring a quarry with a large boulder on a hill with a small crack in it, the large dull diamond hovered above the area. Sora began to think after going through two of his friends' memories, how they got their cutie marks, and why their elements were floating above where they got those cutie marks.

"This is pretty strange," he said. "Do any of those other illustrations have something to do with the Elements of Harmony in some way?" Sora grew curious, wanting to know a bit more before he could make a guess. "Guess I'll have to wait and see, while also trying not to keel over from cuteness overload."

Entering the next memory, finding himself in Ponyville, Sora saw a stage set up at the schoolhouse, where a rehearsal for a play was taking place. The fillies were wearing hoof-made costumes, and the Keyblade wielder could see the designer of the outfits behind the stage with the class's teacher; a filly Rarity. Even when she was little, her mane and tail had a slight curl.

"Oh my, Rarity," the teacher said. "These costumes you made are really good."

"Good!?" filly Rarity asked. "I want them to be spectacular! Nopony's going to like them, and the performance is tomorrow! They need to look better!"

Rarity ran off the stage, Sora quickly following after her as she headed inside what looked like her home growing up. It seemed like the Carousel Boutique wasn't owned by the young fashionista yet. He entered the filly's room, watching her working on remaking the costumes she had just made, trying to make them better than they already were.

"Wow. Even when you were little, you kept striving for perfection," Sora said, though he knew she couldn't hear him.

Suddenly, Rarity's horn began glowing, her head being forced to follow as whatever spell she had subconsciously cast dragged her outside. "Ahh! What is my magic doing!? Stop, horn!"

Sora chased after her as Rarity was dragged comically across and out of town. He tried not to laugh as he ran after her, seeing the bored, annoyed look on the filly's face as her hooves were dragged across the ground, her magic pulling her out to a rocky mountain range, which was thankfully not too far away from Ponyville. She finally stopped, slamming into a large rock near the edge of a cliff.

"...Her horn lead her to a rock?" Sora asked.

"A rock!? That's my destiny!?" Rarity shouted. "You dragged me away from my costumes to bring me to a stupid rock!?" She kicked the big rock, groaning in annoyance. "Dumb rock."

A large explosion shocked both the unicorn and Keyblade wielder, a shockwave of rainbow light spreading out across the sky. The large rock in front of them began to crack from the explosive force, Rainbow's sonic rainboom close enough to break it in half. Inside of the halves of the boulder, they both gasped when they saw the large amount of gems and diamonds that were trapped inside it.

"Whoa! That must have been the spell Rarity mentioned when she needed to find gems for her fashion lines." Sora stared at the many sparkling gems of all kinds resting inside. "And I have a feeling these are going to be used for her new costumes."

Sure enough, time had skipped forward to tomorrow evening, where the play was underway. The fillies performing had worn their updated costumes, the gems Rarity found sewed into them making them all sparkle and shimmer under the spotlights. The crowd enjoyed them, even Sora was impressed. He looked over at Rarity, beaming as everyone enjoyed her costumes, her flanks glowing and her three blue diamonds cutie mark appeared.

Back outside "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" book, the diamond above Rarity's memory turned purple, the Element of Generosity shimmering brightly as the crack in the rock began sparkling a rainbow of colors on the inside. The next location to pop up from the pages was up in Canterlot, a paper sun peeking up from behind the large spire on the castle, a gray star hovering above the city and castle.

"Did Rainbow Dash make a second sonic rainboom?" Sora questioned as these events seemed coincidental. "She said she only pulled it off once though...Did all of them see the sonic rainboom?"

Walking up to the popped up city on the book, Sora was now in the city of Canterlot, though it looked like it was pretty early in the morning. All the nobles living in this grand city were grouped up around a stage, a golden sun resting on a pole at the top was what they were all staring at, along with Celestia herself. He heard some of the ponies grunting as someone tried to push their way forward to get a closer look.

"Excuse me! Pardon me!" he heard a filly say.

"Wait...Is that Twilight?" Sora leapt up and glided over the mass of ponies, noticing a carnival being held in the city. This must have been the Summer Sun Celebration if the sun hasn't come up yet and the princess herself has made an appearance. Landing gently on the stairs, he looked out at the crowd, and standing right at the food of the steps was a filly Twilight, staring at the princess with anticipation. "It is, and ow my heart!" he exclaimed, clutching his chest. The teen looked at Celestia and pointed a finger at her. "You are so evil for being so nice!"

Celestia hovered up into the air and floated in front of the pole, her horn glowing a golden aura as she raised her hooves up, metaphorically raising the sun up beyond the horizon. The crowd was really astounded, but when Sora looked down at Twilight, her eyes sparkled as she gazed up at the princess. Watching the sun being raised by her future teacher must have inspired her to study and learn about magic.

The scenery soon changed to a library, where the lavender filly was reading through stacks and stacks of books while also practicing her magic. "Twilight!" Sora and Twilight looked over at the entrance to the library, a unicorn couple walking in, and judging by how similar the mare looked like Twilight, they were her parents. Twilight's father had a blue coat, a darker blue mane, and his cutie mark was a crescent moon, while her mother had a pale gray coat, her mane purple with white highlights, and her cutie mark a trio of purple stars. "We have a little surprise for you."

"A surprise?" the filly asked, ignoring what she was reading and approached her parents.

"We know you have been studying and want to learn more about magic, and are advancing pretty quickly," Twilight's father said.

"But, we think you might be special enough to maybe...enter Princess Celestia's School for Magically Gifted Unicorns?" Her mother pulled out some enrollment papers from behind their backs, and it showed that Twilight was approved to be a part of the school.

"Really!? Yay!" Twilight cheered, bouncing around her parents. "This is the best day ever!" The library soon turned into a classroom, where the prestigious school was. Twilight's parents were on the sidelines, giving her their support, a group of ponies in the seats as they would watch over what appears to be an entrance exam. The filly, unfortunately, was really nervous. "This is the most stressful day ever."

"Miss Sparkle, for your entrance exam, you will be hatching this dragon egg, using only your magic," one of the judges said as a stallion pushed a cart with a purple egg resting on some hay.

"And I'm guessing that egg must be Spike." Sora could see Twilight was getting stressed, not knowing she had to pass an entrance exam to enter the school. He helplessly watched as the filly tried to spark her horn to life, but her nerves made her lose her focus as she struggled to try and hatch Spike's egg. After about twenty minutes, she gave up as the judges wrote down negative reviews on Twilight's magical potential. "And, let me guess. Sonic rainboom?"

As Sora predicted, the sonic rainboom exploded, the shockwave able to be seen outside the window in the distance. Unfortunately, the sudden blast spooked Twilight as her horn lit up and shot a beam at the egg, hatching the infant baby dragon. The lavender unicorn's magic went haywire and her eyes glowed white, her aura surging out of control as beams of magic struck everything around them. She turned her parents into plants, levitated the judges, and made Spike grow to gargantuan size, making his head burst through the roof of the building.

Before Twilight's magic could cause anymore trouble, Celestia had walked in, having sensed the magical surge, gently resting a hoof on the filly's shoulder. As she looked up at the alicorn, her magic calmed down as all her sporadic spells had ceased: the judges flopping to the ground, Twilight's parents were back to normal, though her father seemed scarred, and Spike reverted back to his infantile form, suckling on his tail. She winced and lowered her head, thinking she was in trouble.

"Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said, Twilight's ears pressing down against her head as she waited for the possible scolding she was about to receive. "You have an incredible gift. I have never come across a unicorn with latent magical power like yours." The filly's jaw began to drop lower and lower, confused and shocked as the alicorn praised her. "But, seeing how unstable it is at this moment, you will require a lot of focused studying in order to fully harness that potential. Which is why I would like to make you my personal student at this school." Just the expression on Twilight's face made Sora laugh, too stunned to speak or even move. "Do you accept?"

"YES!" she cheered, and as she jumped for joy, Sora noticed her cutie mark had appeared, probably when her body began glowing under her powerful aura.

"One more thing, Twilight." Celestia ceased the filly's cheering as she pointed out her flanks.

Twilight gasped, her eyes sparkling more as she looked at the bright pink star and six small white ones. "My cutie mark! Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!" she cheered again, bouncing around Celestia with excitement as she was now the princess's pupil and earned her cutie mark in magic

The pink star for the Element of Magic regained its colors, leaving only two more mares to see how they got their cutie marks. The next of the locations popped up, which looked like a dull looking farmhouse, but it was livened up with confetti shooting everywhere, balloons tied to the fences and house, and even pastries lying on a picnic table, a gray balloon gem hovering above the oddly lively farmhouse of boredom.

"They had to have seen the same sonic rainboom," Sora pondered. He looked around at the map of Equestria, each location being the spots where Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Twilight saw the sonic rainboom. The last one that still remained drawn onto the pages was the same flight school, which must have been the center point of the incredible shockwave, able to be seen from the farthest portion of the kingdom, which happened to be the party on the farm. "And...if that balloon is supposed to be for Pinkie Pie...What made her get her cutie mark, and why did she live on a farm like Applejack?"

Sora walked along a dirt path, where all he could see on this dreary farm was nothing but rocks. Big ones, small ones, some as big as his own head. If Pinkie lived in an environment like this, she shouldn't be happy all the time. She would have been miserable, seeing nothing but dark and gray colors. Speaking of misery, he spotted little Pinkie Pie, and as he expected, she was indeed a miserable little filly.

"Oh no." Pinkie was pushing a stone with her hooves, setting it in a certain part of the land, and she was far different than she was as a grown mare. Her coat and mane colors seemed dull, a dark pink color, she didn't look like she was having any fun, and her mane and tail weren't as frizzy and poofy, instead draped down and straight in a boring and lifeless style. "Aww, Pinkie looked like this? That's not cute. That's sad.

"Sad Pinkie is making me feel sad." Before the teen could shed a tear, pitying the used-to-be happy mare, an explosion from the sonic rainboom shocked the filly, and the shockwave of rainbow lights seemed to nearly knock Pinkie off her tiny hooves. Her mane and tail were now in the frizzy state Sora remembered seeing, and her colors brightened up a little as she looked up at the colorful rainbow that flew by. "There's the Pinkie I know," he said, only to have his grin turn into a shocked expression at the creepy, happy smile growing on the filly's face. "...And that is going to be nightmare fuel for the next year."

Little Pinkie looked over at the teen and waved to him, somehow able to see him. "Hi, Sora!"

"...And I'm not going to question how she's the only one who can see me in a memory...Or, what if I did go back in time and this is more than just a retelling of what happened to them when they got their cutie marks, but I'm invisible because I don't exist to them?" Sora immediately got a headache, rubbing his hair with his hands. "Stop questioning logic when it comes to this filly, me."

"Yeah, and you need to stop talking to yourself." Pinkie was not helping matters as she approached him, trying to touch him, but her hoof went through his foot. "Aww. I wanted to get hugged."

"You have no idea how much I wanted to for all of you," he said, kneeling down to the filly. "So, how exactly did you get your cutie mark?"

"I don't know." Sora groaned and fell on his back comically. "But I do know I want to spread my new happiness to my family! My sisters and parents need some fun, and I know just what to do! Follow me!"

Filly Pinkie bounded off to her family's farmhouse, bouncing off to the silo not too far from her home. Sora stood up and ran after her as he began hearing some odd construction noises coming from inside the storage building.

"Is she using power tools?" Sora asked, about to open the door to the silo, only for a pink hoof to try to slap his hand away.

"No peeky!" She closed the door, the teen giving up as he waited outside.

Eventually, Pinkie's family began to come out of the farmhouse, hearing the same odd noises, which now turned into party music, the party crazy filly having finished preparing whatever was inside. He got a better look at the four ponies approaching the silo, her father's coat a tannish-brown with a gray mane, his cutie mark a hammer, her mother's coat a dull grayish color with a grayish-green mane tied in a bun, her cutie mark a trio of rocks. Pinkie's two sisters seemed to have had the same droopy hairstyle she used to have, but one of them was a dull purple with a gray mane while the other was gray with a darker gray mane. They both didn't have their cutie marks yet.

"Pinkamena Diane Pie!" Pinkie's mother called out, Sora snickering at hearing the filly's full name. "What are you doing in there?"

"Mom, dad, Limestone, Marble, come inside! I got something to show you!" The door finally opened up, the Pie family curious as to what Pinkie was doing. As they walked inside, Sora peeked around the corner, all of them seeing a private party set up by the energetic filly. How she managed to create a big cake, some cupcakes, other sweets, and set up the decorations without having any supplies to set everything up. The teen was a little frightened to know if Pinkie had the ability to defy logic at birth or if the sonic rainboom did something to her. "Surprise! It's called a party!"

Pinkie's parents and sisters were surprised alright, though their facial expressions told her they didn't like what they saw. They looked at all the colorful decorations that was blinding compared to the lifeless, dull land they lived on, almost as if it seemed alien to them. Sora walked inside and saw their lips quivering, no clue if they were trying to stay stoic or they were about to scold the party-throwing filly.

"I don't think they like it," Sora said.

"...P-Pinkamena," her father said, Pinkie wilting as she prepared for a scolding. "T-This...This is..." Suddenly the entire family instantly beamed a big smile, which was less awkward than Pinkie's big grin earlier, though it did seem out of place for a serious family like hers. "Amazing!"

"Really!? Then let's party!" Soon, the family began to enjoy the party, dancing, listening to the upbeat music, and eating the delicious sweets Pinkie had somehow made without even using an oven.

Sora just shook his head as he watched the Pies having fun. He noticed Pinkie's flank shine as she earned her cutie mark bringing happiness to her family, her three balloons making themselves known. As much as the teen wanted to enjoy the festivities, he really couldn't since this was just a memory, and everything that wasn't a solid wall would just phase through his hand.

The balloon gem turned blue and brightened up the depressing rock farm, the Element of Laughter raining confetti down on the land. Sora looked over at the flight school, watching it pop up from the page as the last element appeared above it, the dull lightning gem hovering above the cloudy school.

"...I think I get it now," Sora said. "The moment Rainbow Dash pulled off that sonic rainboom, every single one of them had seen it, or heard the explosion. They all got their cutie marks at around the same time, their talents or unique skills realized to them...It was like fate wanted the girls to be friends since the day they were born." He looked over at the other hovering gems glowing over where the Mane Six had been when they saw the sonic rainboom, where their elements were known since they were little. "Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Magic, Laughter..." He looked up at the dulled Element of Loyalty, where Rainbow Dash defended Fluttershy from their bullies, their race ending up with the filly pulling off a sonic rainboom. "...Loyalty."

Back in the flight camp, Sora was now going to see the race between filly Rainbow Dash and the two colt bullies. As much as he hated to see Fluttershy fall again, he knew she was going to be ok with the butterflies catching her down below. The race began, the timid yellow filly fell off from the racers' start, and Sora chased after them, gliding as fast as he could while using the clouds as an extra boost of height if he was about to fall out of the sky. He watched them zoom around the cloud rings, Rainbow's smaller frame giving her a better advantage of speed and dexterity than the two colts.

One of them had managed to lose control and slammed through a cloudy pillar, that colt being Dumbbell, the bully knocked out for a loop. Rainbow Dash was out in front, but the other colt caught up with her and bumped her off course, sending the filly spiraling wildly.

"Later, Rainbow Crash!" the orange colt mocked, speeding on through the rings.

"Hey! You cheater!" She sped off after him and managed to catch up without any effort.

"Yeesh! And I thought she was fast as an adult," Sora groaned, unable to keep up with the young pegasi as he sat down on one of the clouds. "She's a speed demon."

He had no choice but to watch them race, but he got a good vantage point of their race. Rainbow was too busy focused on winning the race, she didn't notice she had let out a sonic boom that knocked the other colt off balance, slamming him headfirst into a cloud. Sora watched as the filly dove down to a cloud ring next to the surface of the ground down below, his eyes widening as a mach cone formed tighter and tighter around her. As soon as she reached the ring, she broke through the the sound barrier, and light spectrum, unleashing the sonic rainboom.

The instant she pulled off the legendary move, she flew up at a perfect ninety degree angle before she hit the ground, a rainbow trail flying after her as the shockwave of prismatic lights spread across a huge radius of the land. He could hear her cheering loudly, along with the other fillies and colts in the flight school as they had witnessed her make a sonic rainboom. Dumbbell and his bully friend must have been still knocked out, both of them the only ones who didn't see it happen. Even though it was hard to see, Sora could tell Rainbow Dash had earned her cloud and lightning bolt cutie mark as she flew past him.

Back on the book, Sora watched as the Element of Loyalty turned from gray to red. A sonic rainboom shot out from the red lightning bolt, the shockwave reaching out to hit the other elements. All of the Elements of Harmony began to shine brightly as they were pulled closer to the lightning bolt gem, uniting them as if they were long-lost friends finally together again.

"...Did Celestia know they would become the Elements of Harmony?" Sora questioned as he watched the gems floating together above the map of Equestria. "She knew Twilight had the potential to wield powerful magic. And, the others actually showed some form of their element in the memories: Applejack now realizing where she truly belonged, Fluttershy's kind heart to the animals that were scared, Rarity's dedication to her work to show how much effort she puts into making her designs, Pinkie bringing a smile to her family and lighting up the dreary lifestyle they lived, and Rainbow Dash sticking up for Fluttershy against their bullies and beating them...

"They were destined to be the Elements of Harmony." The Elements of Harmony began to shine brightly, their colored lights meeting together in the gap between them, his Keyblade appearing in his hand. "...They were destined to be best friends."

Taking hold of his Keyblade, he aimed it up at where the lights met, forming a prismatic keyhole. Light appeared at the end of his weapon, firing a small white beam up to it. As it entered the keyhole, it began to form an orb as it disappeared, slowly floating down to Sora as the Elements of Harmony went back to their original places where their bearers saw the rainboom. He reached his hand out and caught the mysterious orb, glowing a prismatic array of colors as he lowered it to get a better look at it, the colors shifting about the sphere like an aurora. Inside the orb were the silhouettes of the Elements of Harmony.

"Is this...a Drive Form?" The orb slowly sunk into his hand, merging with his enchanted clothing as he felt a powerful light come from it.

He wanted to know what it looked like, but he couldn't gain any access to it. It was as if something was missing that was required to activate this new form, but that key to unlock it wasn't given to him. Sora shrugged it off, hoping one day he'll find it, heading over to the green circle of light in the bottom right corner of the page, using it to exit the enchanted book.

In Sora's room on the farm, Winona sat on the teen's bed, chewing on her ball, hearing it squeak with each clamp of her jaws. The book began glowing, catching the collie's attention. An orb of light flew out and began to shift into a pony, bringing Sora out and back into his pegasus form. As soon as he had returned, Winona yipped and leapt off the bed, pawing at his legs as if worried about him. He gave her a scratch behind the ears, calming her down before she could leap up and lick his face.

The book closed on its own as it flipped back to the cover. The teen watched as the cover glowed and created an illustration underneath the title. Now taking the blank space's place were the Elements of Harmony, and inside those gems were their bearers, their eyes closed with content smiles on their faces. The magical artwork was similar to those platforms Sora remembered seeing when he wound up in that dark realm before he acquired the Keyblade. A rainbow frame made up the edge of the cover, signifying the sonic rainboom, the same rainbow also connecting each mare's gem to the others, all of them having been connected before they ever met each other as fillies.

Sora smiled, picking up the book as he looked at the cover. "Pretty interesting stories, Celestia."

"Sora!" He looked over to his doorway as he saw Scootaloo panting heavily, strangely enough without Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom with her. "Please please PLEASE tell me how you got your cutie mark!"

"Uhh, why?" Sora asked. "And where's the rest of the Crusaders?"

"Never mind that!" the pegasus filly shouted. "You have no idea how crazy today went! Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and I went around Ponyville to know how everypony else go their cutie marks! We went to Applejack, then Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight, Pinkie, and FINALLY Rainbow Dash, but all of their stories were so boring! Even Rainbow Dash's story was sappy as they all saw this sonic rainboom she made and talked about being friends before they met!" The Keyblade wielder laughed at the irony as he had just finished reading about their cutie mark stories in the enchanted book Celestia gave him. Scootaloo ran up to his forelegs, looking up at him as she begged. "So PLEEEEEEAAAAAASE tell me your cutie mark story is full of action and awesomeness with no sappy stuff!?"

"Well..." Sora looked down at his own cutie mark, though how he could have gotten his could have been from any point in the past couple years: fighting the Heartless in that dream, getting the Keyblade as his home was destroyed, saving the worlds, stopping Ansem or Organization XIII. But, seeing as he had no clue and he couldn't tell his story without the other two Crusaders around, he ruffled Scootaloo's mane. "Sorry, Scootaloo. I can't exactly tell you."

"Why not?" she asked. "Just tell me how you got your cutie mark."

"To be honest, I really have no idea how I got mine." Scootaloo gasped in shock. "When I arrived in Ponyville, I just woke up and saw my Keyblade cutie mark was already there. The only thing I can tell you is that your cutie mark will appear when you discover what it will be. Time and patience is a virtue, young pegasus."

Sora patted the filly on the head, ruffling her hair some more as she groaned. "That's just great. I'm gonna try and get a cutie mark in zip lining again."

"Wait, did you just say 'zip lining'!?" Scootaloo ran out of the room and out of the farmhouse. "Scootaloo, stop! That's way too dangerous for you!"

Sora quickly set "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" back on his dresser and chased after the daredevil of a filly. He could swear that Scootaloo was Rainbow Dash's little sister if they really were related, both pegasi reckless and always looking for trouble. While the two ran off, Winona chasing after Sora, the enchanted book disappeared in a flash of light.

Princess Celestia read through the latest friendship letter from Twilight about the odd coincidence that she and her friends had both witnessed Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom, where their destinies had been intertwined before they even met. She heard a light thump in front of her, looking up from the letter.

"Ah. So he's read through my prototype book." Celestia lifted up "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", looking at the illustrated cover. "A beautiful cover. I guess I can say that this little experiment for enchanted books is a success." She levitated the book on one of her shelves in her room. "It's a shame this book wasn't as interactive as 'Winnie the Pooh', but I hope he enjoyed himself, nonetheless."

Tonight was the night of the Grand Galloping Gala, and throughout the whole day, the girls were unable to hold their excitement about the event all of them will be attending. Everyone arrived early in the morning as they all got themselves ready, Twilight deciding they should arrive in style. Using an apple, she cast a spell on it and turned it into a chariot, but it seemed their mode of transportation was a bust. Fluttershy brought a few of her mouse friends for Twilight to turn them into horses, which was an odd sight to see, and Rarity's pet cat, named Opalescence, found the mice as big prey to sink her fangs into, scaring off the transformed critters. Sora never knew the fashionista had a cat, never seeing the feline anywhere on the bottom floor of her boutique, and he could see Opal was not a nice kitty cat. So instead, Sora offered to pull the chariot for them, able to carry all seven mares and Spike.

With his special, custom-made tux worn in place of his normal clothes, left back at Sweet Apple Acres, he strapped himself in, though as the girls got in after getting their outfits on, Rarity told Spike to blindfold Sora until they were all inside. He did ask why, only to be answered with "It's a surprise." Maybe it had something to do with Kairi's dress and he didn't want to be spoiled before they reached the castle. Before long, the long ride from Ponyville to Canterlot was made as they had arrived just as night fell, Sora guiding the carriage with Spike at the reins, despite him being whipped from time to time by the baby dragon.

"So, Spike, you and Twilight have lived in Canterlot, right?" Sora asked as they entered the city.

"Yeah, for as long as I can remember." Spike wore a small, simple tux jacket with a red bow tie. "It's not that bad of a city to live in, as long as you don't act like many of the nobles that live here."

"No kidding. Hey, you think if they stick their noses up as high in the air as they could, their necks could snap and stay in place like that forever?" Both boys laughed at the hilarious idea, getting some dirty looks from some of the nobles that did hear him.

"Sora, what are you gonna do at the Gala?" Spike asked. "I don't think anypony like you would even like something like a ball."

"Well...I think this could be considered a date for us. Being somewhere fancy, enjoying each other's company...maybe dance?" Sora blushed, remembering that one daydream he had back in Halloween Town where Jack Skellington and Sally danced with each other, replacing them with him and Kairi. He really was a lovesick fool, unable to deny his crush he had for her. "I thought giving a tour of Ponyville for her was considered a date, but this is something that I want to make sure tonight is a very special night."

"Good luck with that." Sora soon stopped the carriage, parking it down the long stretch of road leading up to the castle, several other carriages lined up as other nobles with their tickets headed for the castle. "Ok, guys! We're here!"

Sora unhitched himself as Spike leapt down from his seat and opened the carriage for the mares, each of them stepping off one by one. They were all in their dresses Rarity had made for them, fitting their personality and style as they looked ready to be a part of the Gala. The only one missing was Kairi.

"Uhh, is Kairi still inside?" Sora asked.

The mares all giggled, confusing the pegasus stallion. "Turn around and see your princess, Sora."

As he looked back at the carriage, Sora's jaw dropped as he stared at Kairi in awe, the pink unicorn stepping down from the carriage and stood before him. The Princess of Heart actually looked like a princess, at least in his eyes. She wore an elegantly made white and light pink dress, small pink hearts patterned along the hem of the sleeves and dress. Along the dress were different colored gems that were cut to look like hearts the Heartless release, a bigger heart made out of diamond in the center of the smaller hearts, which shaped a larger heart around the diamond. Her hair was tied in a pony tail, draped over her right shoulder, wearing a faux white rose shaped like a heart on her right ear. On her hooves, she wore glass slippers that went along well with her outfit.

"How do I look, Sora?" Kairi asked, her cheeks turning a bright pink at the stunned stare Sora gave her.

"...Uhhhhhhh..." The stallion couldn't even think of any words to say, too speechless at the sight of his lover looking more beautiful than he could have imagined.

"I believe that says it all, Kairi," Rarity said as the rest of the girls giggled at Sora's reaction.

Kairi approached the paralyzed goofball of a boyfriend, gently patting his cheek with her hoof to snap him out of his daze. His face immediately lit up in a deep blush, chuckling nervously as he struggled to keep his composure around the beautiful unicorn standing before him.

"Uhh, y-you...look great, K-Kairi," Sora stammered.

"Thanks. You're not that bad yourself, though I did see your outfit before leaving Ponyville." Kairi gave him a small peck on the cheek. "I like this better than your casual clothes."

"Hey, those are the same clothes I had before our island was swallowed, only made better thanks to the Good Fairies." Sora scratched his head, wanting to look away from Kairi, but he can't stop staring at her. "...You actually look like a real princess...I like it."

"Don't get used to it for too long, Sora," the pink unicorn said. "Even if I am a princess, that doesn't mean I want to be treated like a princess 24/7."

"I never knew you as a princess when you showed up in Destiny Islands almost ten years ago. You were a friend to me." Sora gently grabbed Kairi's hoof, giving it a kiss as he looked in her eyes. "But you're more than a friend now. So long as we're together, I'll be your knight, and I'll save my princess from any danger."

Kairi blushed, giggling at the terribly cheesy line. "Sora. Never, ever change."

"You made me promise that nearly three years ago, and I'm not breaking it." He stood next to his girlfriend, entwining his foreleg around hers. "Shall we, madame?"

"Let's." As they headed down the road toward the castle, Kairi's ears twitched as she began to hear music. "Uhh, am I hearing music playing?"

"Yup. Sounds like a song's coming up." The unicorn stared at her date in confusion. "Don't worry. It kinda happens around here. Sometimes, you can't help but sing along, even without knowing what the lyrics are. But, I think we're just gonna listen."

"I can't believe we're all finally here!" Twilight exclaimed as they all looked up at the castle. "Everything that we've imagined, the reality of this night is sure to make this the best night ever!"

[Twilight Sparkle]
At the Gala
[Choir]
At the Gala
[Fluttershy]
At the Gala
In the garden
I'm going to see them all
All the creatures
I'll befriend them at the Gala
[Choir]
At the Gala
[Fluttershy]
All the birdies
And the critters
They will love me big and small
We'll become good friends forever
Right here at the Gala!
[Choir]
All our dreams will come true
Right here at the Gala
At the Gala
[Applejack]
At the Gala (It's amazing)
I will sell them (Better hurry)
All my appletastic treats (Yummy yummy)
Hungry ponies (They'll be snacking)
They will buy them (Bring your money)
Caramel apples, apple sweets (Gimme some)
And I'll earn a lot of money
for the Apple family!
[Choir]
All our dreams and our hopes from now until hereafter
All that we've been wishing for will happen at the Gala
At the Gala
[Rarity]
At the Gala
All the royals
They will meet fair Rarity
They will see I'm just as regal at the Gala
[Choir]
At the Gala
[Rarity]
I will find him
My Prince Charming
And how gallant he will be
He will treat me like a lady
Tonight at the Gala!
[Choir]
This is what we've waited for to have the best night ever
Each of us will live our dreams
Tonight at the Gala
At the Gala

A fanfare played out from the castle as they all saw the Wonderbolts fly overhead, pulling off a performance for those watching from inside the castle or walking toward the castle.

[Rainbow Dash]
Been dreamin'
I've been waitin'
To fly with those great ponies
The Wonderbolts, their daring tricks
Spinning round and having kicks
Perform for crowds of thousands
They'll shower us with diamonds
The Wonderbolts will see me right here at the Gala!
[Choir]
All we've longed for
All we've dreamed
Our happy ever after
Finally will all come true
Right here at the Grand Gala
At the Gala
[Pinkie Pie]
I am here at the Grand Gala
For it is the best party
But the one thing it was missing was a pony named Pinkie
For I am the best at parties, all the ponies will agree
Ponies playing
Ponies dancing
With me at the Grand Gala!
[Choir]
Happiness and laughter at the Gala
At the Gala

Flying up at the top of the central spire, Princess Celestia flew over as sparkles were left behind as she made an arch above her castle. As the alicorn disappeared back inside, Sora and Kairi couldn't help but feel like that reminded them of something, but they shrugged it off as it was Twilight's turn to sing.

[Twilight Sparkle]
At the Gala (At the Gala)
With the Princess (With the Princess)
Is where I'm going to be (She will be)
We will talk all about magic and what I've learned and seen (She will see)
It is going to be so special
As she takes time just for me (This will be the best night ever!)
[Choir]
Into the Gala we must go
We're ready now, we're all aglow
Into the Gala, let's go in and have the best night ever
Into the Gala, now's the time
We're ready and we look divine!
[Choir and Fluttershy]
Into the Gala
[Fluttershy]
Meet new friends
[Choir and Applejack]
Into the Gala
[Applejack]
Sell some apples
[Choir and Rarity]
Into the Gala
[Rarity]
Find my Prince
[Choir and Rainbow Dash]
Prove I'm great
[Rainbow Dash]
As a Wonderbolt is
Fluttershy: To meet!
Applejack: To sell!
Rarity: To find!
Rainbow Dash: To prove!
Pinkie Pie: To whoop!
Twilight Sparkle: To talk!
[All]
Into the Gala
Into the Gala
And we'll have the best night ever!
At the Gala!

"Yeah!" Spike cheered as he slid before the group. "And this is going to be the best night ever, cause we'll be spending time at the Gala-" The Mane Six all sped off in different directions throughout the castle before Spike could finish, wanting to do what they always dreamed to do while at the Grand Galloping Gala, as mentioned in the epic song. "...together...Or not."

As Kairi and Sora walked inside the grand castle, the former new to the palace while the latter only got a small glimpse when he was being "escorted" by Celestia's royal guard to her throne room, the pink unicorn was still reeling from the sudden musical number. "Wow. It's so weird. I felt like singing along with the other ponies during the chorus."

"I know. It's so tempting! It's kind of like that musical Donald, Goofy, and yours truly were a part of in Atlantica." The couple noticed Spike seemed a bit down, sighing dejectedly as he began to walk out of the front doors. "Hey, Spike, where ya going?"

"I'm gonna go down to Donut Joe's," the baby dragon said.

"And not enjoy the Gala?" Sora questioned. "As soon as you got a ticket, you acted like a giddy kid that got a new toy."

"I was actually hoping the others would at least think about hanging out with each other instead of doing what they wish will happen at the Gala." Spike grumbled as he kicked the ground. "Fluttershy wants to meet the animals in Celestia's gardens, but all of them are timid around everypony, especially during the Gala. Applejack won't sell food because there's already food given out at the buffet line, even though what they serve isn't really considered tasty. Rarity wants to meet Blueblood, and she doesn't know who he really is personally unlike me and Twilight. Rainbow wants to hang out with the Wonderbolts, but several hundred ponies already here would already be crowding around them, so she'll have no chance of talking with them for even a second. And Pinkie thinks the Gala's a big party, but it's a FORMAL party."

"...And Twilight's dream, talking to Princess Celestia?" Kairi asked.

"She's pen pals with her via my dragon fire. Even Twilight's wish is just going to fail since everypony's going to want to see Princess Celestia and shake her hoof." Spike rubbed his forehead, slowly getting a headache at the possible outcomes of their friends' disappointments. "I think it's better to just be together with friends and have a good time that have your expectations shot down when you try to have things go your way."

"Oh." Sora and Kairi looked at each other, then back to Spike. "And Celestia probably doesn't want us to do anything to mess up the yearly plans always set up for the Gala."

"You two don't have to worry about me," the dragon assured. "I'd rather be at Donut Joe's than be here at a boring party. I don't want to ruin the others hopes, and you two deserve to enjoy an evening together as a couple. When you're done, just find a building with a big donut on it out in Canterlot. Can't miss it."

The couple watched as Spike head back out in Canterlot, no longer interested in taking part in the formal ball. "Poor Spike. You wouldn't have minded if he came along with us, Sora?"

"No. But I do see he does mean well for the others," Sora said. "Let's just hope the girls don't get too disappointed."

With the night already under way, Sora and Kairi began their evening together in the Gala, though if any of their friends needed any cheering up from their expectations shot down, they can help in any way they could. The first part of the Gala they decided to do was have Kairi officially meet Princess Celestia. There was a big line of nobles that were waiting to meet her, and the line seemed to go on for about a mile. Twilight stood next to the alicorn, unable to spark a conversation with each pony in the line replacing the last every few minutes.

"Wow. Is she really that popular?" Kairi asked.

"Unfortunately." The watched as the last pony that had just shook the princess's hoof walked all the way to the back of the long line to "meet" the princess...again. "Are you kidding me? No wonder the line goes on for so long. These nobles are trying to kiss up to her...Or they just wanted to come to this party just to constantly see Celestia in all her glory." Sora looked back up at the top of the steps, seeing the annoyed look on Twilight's face as her conversations with the princess that moves the sun were always interrupted by a "new" guest. "Huh...Where's Princess Luna?"

"Who's Luna?" Kairi asked.

"Celestia's sister. I helped the girls save her when she had darkness in her heart and was known as Nightmare Moon. She should be here too." Sora took his girlfriend's hoof and guided her up to the steps. "I don't think these "guests" will mind if we cut in line, since I know the princess personally." He ignored the looks and complaints the other ponies in line gave them as they climbed up the steps. "Princess Celestia!"

"Sora. Good to see you personally again," the princess said. "Looking pretty fancy. What happened to your old clothes?"

"Well, I had to wear this monkey suit to fit in a formal gathering," he said, straightening out his bowtie.

"Excuse us!" one of the impatient ponies said in the line. "We were here first!"

"So?" Sora asked as he turned back to the line of annoying nobles. "How many times have all of your "met" the princess more than once? In the past hour?" The one who had spoke to him was about to retort, but he quickly shut his mouth as almost every single one of them couldn't find a response. "Yeah. That's what I thought. How many of you in this line have actually been to this Gala before in the previous years? Show of hooves? Hmm?" To Celestia's and Twilight's shock, several ponies in the line had raised their hooves, some guilty, some with a snobby aire to them. "How about you give other ponies a chance then!? Stop going back in line and spending your whole evening trying to kiss Celestia's royal flanks! It's never gonna happen!"

Many of the guests were appalled by Sora's language, but Celestia brought a hoof to her mouth as she suppressed her laughter from the nobles' reactions. Since a majority of them were disgusted by the pegasus's behavior, most of the line had dispersed, leaving only the actual first time guests to stay and officially meet the princess face to face for the first time.

"That was...quite a surprise," Celestia said, giggling a little. "I couldn't have said it better myself, but I'm not supposed to appear uncouth."

"Then I'm happy to help, your highness." Sora bowed, and as he looked back up, he saw Twilight's shocked expression. "Hopefully I helped your evening a little bit, Twilight."

"You certainly helped mine. Ugh, I loathe the Gala when it comes around every year." The lavender unicorn looked up at her mentor in even more shock, her jaw nearly dropping to the ground. "I always stand around in one spot, which is always right here, greeting ponies left and right. I'd also like to join the party too."

"What about your sister?" Sora asked. "Shouldn't you two switch places every once in a while?"

The princess's glee quickly turned into sadness, her eyes looking up to a section of the castle. "...Luna's...not going to be at the Gala. She's still afraid to know how everypony else will react seeing her return." She sighed sadly and shook her head. "Ponyville may had been accepting of her coming back, but Canterlot is not really a good place to make herself known...The nobles here are..."

"Stuck up and will try to get rid of your sister when she's been cured?" Celestia nodded. "Yeah. After what happened to me, I can see just how paranoid your guards can be in a crisis. And that one stallion really loved to beat me up when I was clearly in chains and willing to receive my judgement."

"I know in time they will accept her, but she has missed out on over a thousand years of time while she was banished. Not only has she just recently recovered from her depression from the darkness affecting her, but it's a struggle to get her caught up with the changes of today." Sora, Kairi, and Twilight could understand Luna's struggle. They couldn't imagine how difficult it was to be in one point in time, then be thrust forward or back several years to try and fit back into what changes had been made. "Maybe one day, she'll feel confident enough to reveal herself to the kingdom and everypony will look past her crimes."

"Well, I hope she can pull through," Sora said. "After all, even after a thousand years of being Nightmare Moon and having that darkness in her, she was able to fight it back with her inner light before it was too late."

"And I can't thank you, Twilight, and your friends for saving her." The pegasus gave a toothy grin as he brought his forelegs behind his head. Celestia's mood lightened a little, looking down at Kairi, who was too busy looking at the alicorn's flowing mane. "And is this Kairi?"

"Oh, yeah! Introductions! How rude of me." Sora grabbed the awed unicorn's hoof and gently pulled her forward. "Princess Celestia, this is my long-time friend, and girlfriend, Kairi. Kairi, meet Celestia, the ruler of Equestria."

"It's nice to meet you, Kairi." Celestia held out a hoof to shake Kairi's, but the pink unicorn kept looking at her hair. "...Is there something the matter?"

"...How is your mane doing that?" Kairi asked, which brought out a delighted chuckle out of the alicorn.

"Magic," she simply answered.

Kairi was about to reach a hoof out to touch Celestia's mane to feel if it was actually her hair, but Sora gently lowered her hoof back down. "Easy, Kairi. Restrain that inner child of yours."

"I just wanted to see if it's really her hair or if it was ethereal," the unicorn pouted.

"Maybe when we're not surrounded by hundreds of other guests and making things seem awkward." He gently patted her her hoof. "Come on. Let's take a look around the castle and enjoy ourselves. You and Twilight enjoy your little chats, with hopefully no more interrupting nobles that want to be all over you, Celestia."

The couple headed down the stairs and wandered off to another part of the the Gala, leaving the princess and her student with only a few actual ponies who were new to the Gala. "With Sora's little bit of help, I don't think I'll have as many guests to come up and shake my hoof this year. After this group, how about we walk around and we can talk about everything, Twilight?"

"...Sounds great, princess," Twilight said, still pretty shocked at what she had heard from Celestia about the Gala, but was thankful for Sora helping make her evening better.

Sora and Kairi wandered around the castle, the Gala mostly packed with rich nobles in each area. The Gala tickets have to be pretty expensive for anyone who wants to be in a fancy castle party like this. Many of them seemed to be around the popular settings of the castle, which happens to be Princess Celestia herself and the Wonderbolts. It seemed like the nobles only cared about business deals and promotional deals for them to earn more money or increase their business.

They could clearly see the VIP section where the Wonderbolts were, and it looked like the red velvet rope fence surrounding them was full to bursting. Rainbow Dash was going to have a difficult time trying to get their attention after all, seeing the pegasus mare trying to talk to them and try to impress them with randomly small tricks. There was no way the couple could help her out with that, or with Fluttershy as she was in the gardens trying to find any of the animals that live there. While walking outside to get some fresh air, they saw the yellow pegasus trying to befriend them, only to be too excited and scare them off as she rushed toward them.

They also spotted Rarity with the prince she had talked about, also being Celestia's nephew. He was a white unicorn with light auburn hair, wearing a black tuxedo vest and a blue bowtie. The two unicorns were over by a rose bush in the garden, though as the stallion plucked a rose, instead of giving it to the fashionista, he instead put it in his vest pocket. She looked a bit upset as Blueblood looked happy with himself, oblivious to Rarity's shock. So much for being the perfect prince she wanted.

While in the garden, Sora grabbed a luxurious pillow, plenty of them stacked up near the doors for those who wish to take a seat outside to enjoy the scenery. Finding a good spot, he laid the pillow down, letting Kairi sit down on it so she doesn't ruin her dress. He sat next to her as they looked at the beautiful gardens, watching the night sky, the pink unicorn resting her head against the stallion's shoulder.

"Such a beautiful night for a ball like tonight," Kairi said, breaking their silence. "I didn't think pegasi would actually control the weather, but after seeing that weather factory in Cloudsdale, it's pretty amazing."

"At least you didn't say out loud that it's impossible to control the weather. I embarrassed myself in front of Rainbow Dash and a few others in Ponyville." Sora let out a sheepish chuckle. "Boy, did I look stupid when I actually jumped on a cloud for the first time."

"You should have learned a little bit about Equestria while you were here. There was a library." The pegasus groaned, drooping his head in irritation.

"I completely forgot to do any research." Kairi giggled, nuzzling Sora to make him feel better. "I usually hate studying."

"Unless the book has pictures or if you're learning new fighting skills or magic spells," Kairi teased, making Sora grumble.

"Yeah, yeah." He gently draped a wing around her back, pulling her closer as he grinned. "That's why you're the smart one."

"I know." Kairi leaned closer and gave Sora a kiss on the cheek, feeling his wing gently rub her side. They stayed cuddled close together, enjoying the quiet of the garden. Rarity and Blueblood had moved elsewhere in the castle, hoping the mare's wish won't give him the prince he dreamed who had the personality of a selfish jerk. The silence was broken again, only this time by Kairi's growling stomach. "...Hehe. I forgot to eat breakfast today."

"Or lunch by the sound of that growling monster of a stomach." That comment earned Sora a light smack on the snout, grinning goofily at the playful glare Kairi gave him. "I'm just joking. Come on. Let's see if Applejack's got some good food. I'd rather have something tasty than eat a bland meal that's an eighth of a serving size."

"Alright. But you're paying." The two stood up, the stallion picking up the comfy pillow, and they headed back inside the castle to find where Applejack had set up her apple stand, Sora placing the pillow back with the others before walking in.

It took Sora and Kairi a while to find where Applejack had set up her stand filled with delicious apple goods made from the freshly grown trees in Sweet Apple Acres. She had set up her stand on the other side of the castle, and Sora wondered how she even brought all her food and built a stand when she didn't bring anything in the carriage. However the farm mare pulled it off, he was more concerned about getting some food for him and his girlfriend, and they were going to get some.

"Hey, Applejack!" Sora called out, getting her attention. Applejack wasn't all that happy, and there was still a plethora of baked goods still set up on the shelves of her stand. "Working hard, or hardly working?"

"Barely made any sales," Applejack complained. "All Ah got was one sale, and it was an apple pie. That was it."

"Well, now you got three total sales." The pegasus pulled out some bits and laid them down on the counter. "A couple apple fritters, my good madame."

"At least y'all are havin' fun." The earth pony grabbed a couple fritters and took the bits, the couple grabbing one and digging in to the delicious snack. "Wish everythin' was a whole lot simpler and those snobby ponies actually tasted somethin' with flavor."

"Their loss," Kairi mumbled with a mouthful of apple fritter.

"Kairi, ya'll are a princess, right?" The unicorn ceased nibbling on her food, giving Applejack a monotone stare. "...Well, ya are, right? Sora told me when he talked about ya."

"...I am, but I'm not exactly a princess by title where I'm from. I'm just a girl who was thrust out from her home, losing many memories of where I was born, and found out only a couple years ago that I'm one of seven special princesses whose hearts are made of pure light." Kairi finished up her snack, sighing in satisfaction and sadness. "If you're going to ask how I can help you get more customers, I'm not exactly like the ponies who live here, or are here at this party."

"Shoot. So much for any ideas," Applejack mumbled.

As Sora finished up his fritter, he noticed Rarity and Blueblood approaching the stand, the former more angry than earlier as she leered at the latter. "Hello, Applejack, darling. Any luck with your sales?"

"Sadly, no. Just one other along with Sora and Kairi," Applejack said. "Need somethin'?"

"Two apple fritters, please." While Applejack waited for one of them to pay, Rarity expected Blueblood to pay, but the prince kept clearing her throat, as if expecting HER to pay.

The two white unicorns kept clearing their throats at each other until Rarity gave up and growled. "Don't worry, Rarity. It's on me."

"Wait, hold on a second, Applejack!" Sora said, stopping the farm mare from giving out her food for free, mostly to a pompous prince who wasn't going to pay for himself and a lady. "You're seriously going to let my friend pay for your food?"

"And who are you?" Blueblood asked.

"Someone who finds you completely spoiled, and you're a prince! I think the right thing to do for a lady is to be a gentlema-err, gentlecolt and buy your date and yourself food, with your own money." The unicorn stallion scoffed, Sora's words ignored by the spoiled and immature prince.

"As if I, a prince, will pay for some hussy's meal." The mares' jaws dropped, Rarity highly appalled, while Sora leered at Blueblood. "I pay for nothing. And...eck. Is that commoner food? My taste buds will not taste anything made by a filthy peasant. I'm going to get me some hors d'oeuvres at the buffet line." Before the stallion could go any further, Sora stomped down hard on his tail, making him yelp in pain. "Get off of my tail, you horrid, lanky brute!"

"...I'm sorry. But, do you mind repeating what you just called both my friends?" the teen asked, his voice low and threatening. "My unicorn friend who wished to find her perfect prince, and my earth pony friend who is also my boss and proprietor of this food, which she and many other farm families grow to feed your ungrateful stomachs?"

"Are you deaf!? I said let go before I have you thrown in the dungeons, you stupid-" Sora summoned his Keyblade, holding it up to the racist and spoiled brat of a grown stallion, shutting him up as he whimpered in fright and confusion.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What were you going to call me? Hmm?" Sora asked, pressing the blade up to his neck, despite his Kingdom Key was more rounded than flat and sharp. "Do you have any idea just who you insulted, you pitiful excuse of a stallion!? You have just spat on the Elements of Generosity and Honesty, two of six mares who are known as the Elements of Harmony, are here at the Gala, and are the heroes who stopped Nightmare Moon! Out of the worst pricks I've known in the past, you are by far the worst, and you haven't even swung a punch at me!...That's a new record."

"H-How...? W-Where did that-" Sora began stomping down on Blueblood's tail again, making him yelp and whimper as Rarity and Applejack stared at the Keyblade wielder in shock.

"Pay attention to what I'm saying, not what you're seeing!" he shouted. "I know someone who was a prince, but he turned into a monster, yet he has more class than you do! I'm going to give you until the count of three to apologize to these two mares, these two HEROES for your KINGDOM that saved YOUR SPOILED BUTT and everyone else from a madpony who had lost control of her emotions, and you better behave like a proper prince!"

"Sora, stop," Kairi said calmly, gently moving his Keyblade away from the terrified stallion. "Calm down. Take a few deep breaths."

"Kairi-" The pink unicorn quickly shushed him, gently pressing her forehead against his, putting all his focus on her.

"I know. What he said is inexcusable. Let me handle this." Sora managed to calm down, but he still held his gaze on the unicorn stallion. He lifted his hoof that held his tail down hard into the ground, but before he could run away, Kairi held him still with her aura, walking in front of him until she was in his line of sight. "What is your name?"

"...B-B-Blueblood?" the prince squeaked.

"Blueblood." Kairi went silent for a few seconds, only to lift up a hoof and smack Blueblood hard in the face, leaving behind a red hoofmark on his cheek. "You should know better than to speak to girls like that. You're supposed to be a prince, yet you're acting like your five years old, thinking he can get everything he wants at the drop of a hat, relying on the silver spoon born in your mouth. You need to learn some manners and show respect to others, even if they're complete strangers to you."

"W-Why did you-" Kairi raised her hoof again as a warning, silencing Blueblood, not wanting to get slapped again by the even scarier unicorn scolding him.

"Blueblood, I'm going to give you two different choices," she said. "Either you apologize, to all of us, for your rude behavior and act like a mature prince mares expect to see you as, including Princess Celestia, or you can continue acting like this and have your name tarnished by two ponies who helped saved Equestria, destroying your reputation by being the immature brat who insults the opposite gender and those of lower classes than you."

The prince gulped nervously, looking at Applejack, then Rarity, then Sora, regretting looking at the pegasus stallion still glaring at him. He began sweating as the Keyblade wielder tapped his Keyblade against his hoof. More concerned about the fear of what Kairi would do to him rather than Sora's threatening stare, he turned to face the two mares he insulted.

"...I-I apologize f-f-for i-insulting you two...l-lovely mares...I-I-I s-should not have s-said those w-w-words, a-and I am a disgrace as a...p-prince." Blueblood gave a nervous, terrified grin, though they knew he was apologizing because he was scared, not out of actual sincerity. "I-I'll buy us those...d-d-delicious a-apple fritters, m-miss..."

"...You know what? Forget it, Prince Blueblood," Rarity said. "I expected you to be the prince I dreamed of meeting, where I could at least get to know you during the Gala and maybe we might like each other. Instead, I met the real you, a pompous little colt who speaks out of line and shows no respect to mares or anypony who is not royalty or of noble birth." The fashionista approached Blueblood, his smile dropping as he shivered in fear, scared of getting hit by someone else. "If there is a mare out there who actually likes you and can tolerate your immaturity and rude behavior...I wish her the best of luck."

Rarity walked off and headed to another part of the castle to enjoy the rest of her evening without her perfect prince. Blueblood stood in silence, watching her leave, then turned to look at the remaining ponies that had watched him get shot down by the mare that once liked him and now wants nothing to do with him. He felt humiliated, and he knows he deserved it. He felt like Sora should have done something physically violent to him rather than be scolded and told off. Sighing, he approached Applejack's stand, pulling out a few bits.

"May I have that last apple pie, please?" he asked.

"...Uhh, sure." Applejack took the bits and gave Blueblood the last pie on display.

"Thank you." Holding the pie in his magic, instead of eating it, he instead slammed the tin in his face, smearing the pastry all over his head. Pulling the tin away, his mane and face were covered in pie, some of it dripping down to his bowtie and vest. As he looked back at the others, they were kind of shocked to see him slam a pie at himself. "...I think this is a suitable punishment to fit my uncouth behavior..." Blueblood instinctively licked his lips, tasting the ruined pastry he smeared on himself. "...It's not that bad."

The self-punished prince placed the tin down on the counter of the stand and walked off, ignoring the odd looks from the other guests at the Gala. "...Uhh, ok?" Sora looked at Kairi and Applejack, all of them utterly speechless. "That was...weird..."

"Sure was..." Applejack looked back at her wares. "At least Ah know now why nopony's buyin' may apples. Ah'm gonna need to make somethin' fancy that Ah know they'll come to."

The farm mare closed up her stand and wheeled it inside the castle, planning to make something fancy for the nobles to sell as she tried to find the kitchen.

Sora and Kairi stood around in the ballroom, listening to a random song Pinkie had asked the orchestra to play, which she called the Pony Pokey. It was definitely not suitable music to play for the Gala, and many of the nobles present didn't seem to like the party pony's idea of a good party, only ruining the fancy ball by being loud, rambunctious, and wild. Even though she had been told that this was a formal party, she still insisted on making it a bash.

The couple were sipping some punch as they watched Pinkie try to make the ballroom into a dance club, somehow pulling out a DJ booth from behind the stage the orchestra was on and ruining their piece. Sora and Kairi were in an awkward silence after what had happened with Blueblood. The pegasus didn't know if his girlfriend was mad at him for blowing up on the prince and threatened him to apologize for insulting Rarity and Applejack. Granted, he did deserve to have been scolded and slapped sense into his empty brain for his rude behavior, but Sora went a bit too far, which was unlike him.

"Sora?" He looked up from the floor and at Kairi. "You've been really quiet...and a little distant after what happened earlier."

"...Sorry. I kind of lost it back there." Sora placed his punch down on the table they sat next to, slowly rubbing his forehead. "I was getting sick of hearing him talk like that...Though, I guess I overreacted a bit, huh?"

"A little," Kairi admitted. "But Rarity looked like she was about to kick him where the sun doesn't shine if you didn't intervene. Heck, I was about to threaten him with my own Keyblade after he insulted her, right in her face."

"At least you stopped me from going too far," Sora mumbled.

A while later, Pinkie ended up going crazy, cranking up the volume on the DJ booth and forcing the nobles to try to dance like her. As she got the party started in the formal ball, Applejack came walking in, pushing a cart that held a giant apple cake to appeal to the tastes of the rich ponies.

"WHOO HOO!" Pinkie shouted. "STAGE DIVE!"

The party mare leapt up into the air, accidentally falling down on the cart Applejack was pushing, sending the large cake flying into the air. Everyone in the ballroom watched it soar up and fall, where Rarity wound up in its trajectory as she entered the doorway.

"Rarity, look out!" Sora warned, but it was too late to save her, the icing exploding around her and ruining her Gala dress.

"AHH! Of all the worst luck!" Rarity ended up slipping on the frosting, slipping and sliding against a statue nearby, sending it teetering back and forth.

It soon began to fall, threatening to crush some of the unfortunate guests, only for Rainbow Dash to come flying in and catch it on her back. She grinned as she seemed to have impressed the Wonderbolts from the other end of the room, but she began to lose her balance with the heavy statue tilting over. Sora flew in and tried to help her, keeping it balanced before the cyan mare caused more damage than there already was.

"Sora, back off! I got it!" Rainbow said.

"No you don't! You were about to drop it!" While the Keyblade wielder tried to keep it steady, Rainbow moved a hoof to regain her footing, only to accidentally step on some splattered icing and slip up.

"Whoa!" She began staggering, Sora trying to lift the statue off of her, only to be backed up into a pedestal, knocking it over along with several others.

"Oh crap." Luckily, no one else was around as the pedastals were all crumbled to pieces around the two pegasi. The statue soon broke in half, their attempts to save it fruitless as the ballroom was now a mess. Sora noticed Twilight and Celestia walking in, shocked to see the state of the room. "Urgh...Can things get any worse?" As the teen decided to tempt fate with a question he should never dare ask, the ground began to shake. Outside in the gardens, everyone heard what sounded like a stampede heading toward the ballroom. "Me and my big mouth."

The wall burst open as several different animals ran inside, scared by something as they ran amok in the castle. Behind the slowly dissipating dust of the destroyed wall was Fluttershy, her mane and dress a frazzled mess, and she was outright terrifying as she had an enraged expression on her face.

"You're...going to LOVE MEEEEEEEE!" Fluttershy shouted, only scaring the animals more.

"...Well, guess that's our cue to get out of here!" With the Gala's guests in a panic, Sora, Kairi, and the rest of the girls quickly fled from the castle, their best night ever having been turned into the worst night ever.

After escaping from the castle, the group walked down the streets of Canterlot to find Spike. They found Donut Joe's donut shop, Twilight leading them to where it was since she was a local of the city. Entering the establishment, run by the unicorn stallion that still ran his bakery late in the night, they spotted the baby dragon sitting by himself on a stool, his face covered with sprinkles as he dunked a donut into a glass of milk. Their entrance caught his attention, all of them sitting around a table with a baker's dozen of donuts, the ponies retelling everything that had happened at the Gala for Spike.

"Wow. That has got to be the worst night ever," the baby dragon said.

"It sure was." They all turned to the entrance of the bakery, surprised to see Celestia not at the castle and approached them. "But it was one of the most exciting Galas I have ever been a part of."

"Exciting!?" Twilight exclaimed. "It was a disaster! We nearly destroyed your castle!"

"Define 'we', Twilight, cause you and Kairi weren't a part of the destruction," Sora said, earning him a nudge in the side by his girlfriend. "Hey, it's true. You two were innocent."

"Even though everything you all had expected didn't go as planned, it didn't turn out so bad, right?" Celestia asked.

"I think you're right, Princess Celestia," Twilight said. "Friends can make the worst of times turn into something amazing."

"Yeah!" Pinkie agreed. "We probably should have all just hung out! I mean, the party was so boring! Did you see the entertainment we got!?"

"That's exactly what I was trying to say before you six ran off," Spike said as he munched on another donut.

"Being together now after going through the Gala really was the best night ever." The girls all agreed with Twilight as they enjoyed the rest of their evening.

As it got late, Sora pulled the still enchanted apple carriage along the road back to Ponyville. It was a really tiring walk back, but they finally made it back home. He dropped each of the mares off at their homes, taking the time to grab his casual clothes at Applejack's farmhouse, then brought Kairi to where her Gummi ship rested outside the town. After Kairi stepped out of the carriage, the enchantment wore off, turning it back into an apple.

"Huh. Midnight snack." Sora chomped down on the apple, spitting out the core as he helped escort the exhausted pink unicorn inside her ship. "You had a good time?"

"Aside from that disaster and Blueblood's attitude, I did a little bit." Inside the ship, Kairi carefully took off her Gala dress while Sora stripped out of his. "That was the first time I ever went to a ball."

"Yeah." Sora's eyes widened, slapping himself in the forehead. "Oh darn it. We didn't even get the chance to share a dance."

"We can do that tomorrow." Kairi yawned, climbing into her bed and got herself comfortable. "I hope one of the girls has some romantic music to play."

"I'll ask Rarity. She's the helpless romantic out of all of us." As the stallion chuckled, he felt his hoof being dragged by the unicorn's white aura toward the bed, forcing him to lay down next to her.

Kairi snuggled against Sora, sighing contently as she fell right to sleep. He himself yawned, wrapping his hooves around her, giving Kairi a kiss on the forehead as he fell asleep. It was a night none of them would ever forget, and they hoped that the next year, if both Keyblade wielders were able to be invited again, would be even better.

It's been a few days since the Grand Galloping Gala. News about how chaotic the fancy ball was spread out throughout Equestria, which Celestia had apparently deemed it the best gala when the ponies that "caused" the disasters in the castle were bold enough to change traditions of how the Gala was for the past several centuries. She had decided to invited the Elements of Harmony and any of their friends again to make another exciting Gala that can be entertaining for any guest, not just the nobles rich enough to buy at least ten of those golden tickets.

Since the Gala was over, Kairi unfortunately had to leave Equestria, if only for a little while. She still had a duty to uphold to protect the worlds, and if Riku found out she had been in Equestria for about a month slacking off, she wasn't going to hear the end of it. She promised to return, along with some Gummi Blocks for Sora to recreate his own ship, though she was going to have to make sure he built it right so that it wouldn't blow up on him again.

Today was just another average day for Sora, working on the orchard and helping Applejack and her family with the chores. Apple Bloom was up in Canterlot on a field trip with her class, taking a tour around the castle to learn a bit about some history of their kingdom. While the teen was busy working on watering the trees, something else rained down on them, the water looking brownish.

"What the heck?" He looked up and saw a strange pink cloud raining the liquid down on him and the trees. Some of it got on his tongue, his eyes widening in shock and confusion. "Chocolate milk? Why's that cloud raining chocolate milk?" Figuring this had to be some kind of weird prank, he flew up to the cloud. "Ha ha, Rainbow Dash. A cloud raining chocolate milk. How did you and Pinkie come up with that?"

As he reached the top of the cloud, there was no sign of the pegasus around. He then began to smell cotton candy, and it was coming from the oddly colored pink cloud. Sora pressed a hoof down on it, feeling the odd stickiness coming from it as he pulled a chunk off. He gave the piece of cloud a small nibble, feeling chocolate milk spurt in his mouth while tasting strawberry cotton candy.

"...Ok...That's actually a really good prank. A bit scary, but tasty." Down below, he heard popping sounds and thuds. Looking down at the trees, his jaw dropped as the apples on the branches had grown to a gargantuan size, bending the trees over with their weight. And the sound of the popping came from the cornfield near the Apple family home, the corn turning into popcorn and flooding the field, along with Applejack struggling to swim out of it. "On second thought, this isn't a prank. There's no way Pinkie could do all of that." A stampede ran by the trees, a large group of rabbits running by, with extremely long legs. Sora's eye twitched as all this randomness was bringing back Wonderland flashbacks. "What is happening!?"

Getting his answer, Sora's Keyblade appeared in his hoof and shot out a flash of light, a letter from Princess Celestia falling in his hoof. He quickly opened it, hoping the alicorn can give him some clue as to all of this nonsensical chaos.

Sora,

Find Twilight and the others and head to Canterlot immediately. You need the Elements of Harmony. I'll explain everything once you all arrive at the castle.
Princess Celestia

"Ok, whatever you say, princess!" Discarding the brief letter, Sora flew down to gather the girls, avoiding the cotton candy clouds and any other random thing that could pop up and delay him.

Celestia paced around the grand hall, waiting for the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and Sora to arrive. She looked up at the murals on the windows, mostly at the one with the strange chimera controlling the ponies beneath it like puppets. After almost an hour after she had sent Sora her message, he and the Mane Six ran into the hallway where she was pacing.

"Princess Celestia, what's happening!?" Twilight asked. "I tried to use my fail-safe spell to stop everything that's been going on, but it failed!"

"I have called all of you here for an important reason," Celestia said. "It seems that an old foe of mine has been freed from his imprisonment, and I alone cannot stop him. It has been a thousand years since his defeat, but he has returned." She looked up at one of the murals, the others following her gaze. "Discord, a being of chaotic power, causing disharmony and havoc all over Equestria."

Sora did recognize the mural, passing by it when he was taken captive. That odd creature controlling the ponies beneath it must have been Discord, which would make sense with all the chaos in Ponyville. There were other murals about him, especially one with him grayed out, as if he was turned to stone.

"He broke free?" Sora asked.

"I thought that the spell Luna and I cast on him using the Elements of Harmony would have kept him as a stone statue forever, but they are no longer in out power anymore. The spell has been broken, and he was able to escape." Celestia lead the group down the halls until they reached a tower connected to the corridor, a sealed door that seemed to hold what they expected were the Elements of Harmony. "With the elements returned to us, I've kept them here in this high-security safe, where nopony can access them except myself. Now, I ask you and your friends, Twilight, to wield the Elements of Harmony and defeat Discord before he thrusts this our world into chaos."

"But why us?" Twilight asked.

"Hey! Look at this!" Pinkie exclaimed as she pointed at a mural that looked like it was made recently. "We're famous super heroes!"

On the window, it showed the mares and Sora on the ground, Nightmare Moon flying above them as a rainbow aura surrounded her, which was supposed to be the rainbow lights that were shot out from the Elements of Harmony. The girls wore their elements, a colored beam of light matching their gems shining from their necklaces and crown, while Sora had his Keyblade pointed up above him, shooting a white light into the aura with the others. A dark cloud was seen seeping out from the Mare in the Moon as it was destroyed by the light.

"Twilight, you and the others showed the potential to being the Elements of Harmony." They turned back to Celestia after looking at the mural commemorating all of their efforts on the Summer Sun Celebration. "Because of the magic of friendship you had harnessed, you were able to save my sister and wield the elements. And with Sora's help, their power was strong enough to free Luna from the darkness in her heart. I knew you could help her, and I know now that you all will be able to stop Discord before he causes more trouble throughout the world.

"You can count on us, Celestia," Sora said. "We'll stop Discord before he-" Pinkie suddenly pounced on the teen's back, her weight making him collapse to the ground as she faced the rest of their friends.

"Wait! Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain!" the mare said. "Think about it! Endless supplies of chocolate rain coming from the heavens! It's my life-long dream to live in a candy covered world, and it's coming true!"

Sora flipped Pinkie off of him, flicking her nose and making her whimper. "No. Bad Pinkie. Chaos bad."

While the pink earth pony wilted, Celestia looked at the safe containing the Elements of Harmony. She stuck her horn in an indent in the sun etched in the center of the door, casting a spell into it as her horn glowed. She pulled away as the door itself began glowing the same aura as her magic. With the door opened, the safe revealed a pedestal with a blue chest, Rarity's eyes sparkling at the glimmering box. The alicorn held the box with her levitation and held it out to them.

"Take the Elements of Harmony, and use their power. You are Equestria's only hope." She opened the box, but the elements weren't inside. Celestia gasped and dropped the chest. "B-But how...? That chamber is protect by a powerful spell only I can unlock!"

Suddenly, they heard laughter echo in the room, everyone looking around to find out where it was coming from. "Oh, Celestia. Do you not recall what I am capable of doing?"

"Discord," the alicorn growled, looking around the corridor to find him, glaring angrily. "Show yourself!"

"So you have missed me, Tia." Sora summoned his Keyblade as he looked around. He felt something around them, sitting in one of the windows. He soon spotted the chaotic deity, disguised as part of the murals in one of the windows. "I sure missed you."

"What have you done with the Elements of Harmony!?" Discord flew into another mural, hovering around the window where the seven ponies stopped Nightmare Moon.

"I took them," he simply answered. Discord began poking around Sora's image, his eyes trailing up to look at the stallion glaring at him. "And there was an added edition to the Elements of Harmony, too."

"You seem to be nothing but talk, Discord!" Sora exclaimed. "How about you show yourself and take me on one-on-one instead of hiding in the window!?"

"I'm not a fool, Sora." The ponies gasped in shock as he had said the Keyblade wielder's name without even knowing it, but the pegasus stallion wasn't deterred in the slightest. "That's right! I know just about everything about you all, including who each element each of these mares own: Twilight Sparkle is Magic, Fluttershy is Kindness, Applejack is Honesty, Rainbow Dash is Loyalty, Rarity is Generosity, and Pinkie Pie is Laughter, my personal favorite."

"So what? Are you actually scared of me? That's pretty pathetic coming from a freakshow that can control anything," Sora mocked, goading Discord to come out.

"Oh, why thank you for the lovely compliment, but I'm not afraid in the slightest." Discord snapped his fingers, stealing Sora's Keyblade out from his hooves. He swung the odd weapon as he examined it, which quickly came back to the teen. "Hmmm...What otherworldly magic...You might be more troublesome than you look."

"I get that quite a lot. Now, how about you tell us where you took the Elements of Harmony before I find a way to jump in there and force you to talk!?" Discord sighed in annoyance as he floated back to where he first appeared.

"Might as well, but I'll tell you...via riddle." The chaotic being chuckled as he tapped his claw's and paw's fingers together. "To retrieve your missing elements, just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the elements back where you began."

Discord's mural flashed as it was now once again a permanent piece on the window, his laughter echoing as he disappeared. "What did he mean by that?" Rainbow asked.

"'Twists and turns...Back where you began...'" Twilight looked out the window and spotted the hedge maze out in the gardens. "...Wait. I think I know where he hid them! In the hedge maze in the castle garden!"

"That close to the castle? Knowing who were able to use the Elements of Harmony?" Sora didn't think that the maze was where someone like Discord would hide artifacts that could easily kill him or turn him to stone.

"It's the only lead we have. Let's find the elements and stop Discord!" The teen shrugged, unable to think of anything else Discord had meant in his riddle, but he followed after the others as they ran out and to the labyrinth.

Staring at the entrance to the tall hedge maze, Sora felt that this must have been some kind of elaborate trap. Considering the amount of villains he's faced in the past who were smarter than they seemed, there was no way Discord could have placed the Elements of Harmony so close to where they were. He tried to figure out his riddle, but he couldn't find the solution. And if he knew everything about them, through some unknown means while he was encased in stone, then he must have known they would have blindly gone for the closest location.

"Twilight, are you sure Discord hid the Elements of Harmony in a hedge maze?" Sora asked.

"He had to. The labyrinth is full of twists and turns, and they have to be somewhere in there in the dead ends," Twilight figured.

"But that last part of his riddle doesn't fit. 'Find the elements back where you began.' That would mean they have to appear at the entrance of the maze after going through whatever he's set up in there." Sora thought hard, but there was nothing else he could think of that fit his cryptic puzzle.

"Well, if they're in there, then Discord forgot about the three pegasi that can fly." Rainbow Dash flew up into the air. "We'll get those Elements of Harmony in no time at all!" Suddenly, her wings flashed and disappeared from her sides, causing her to fall back to the ground before she even made it over the hedges. "Ow...W-What!? My wings!"

Fluttershy's wings disappeared too, the timid mare screaming in fright as she looked at her back. Twilight's and Rarity's horns also disappeared, both unicorns screaming as they lost their ability to use magic. Sora looked back at his own sides, watching his own wings disappear, leaving everyone an earth pony. He was a lot more calm about it since he was born without having wings. Soon, they heard Discord's uncontrollable echo around them, the being of chaos appearing before them, clutching his sides.

"Y-You should see the looks on your faces!" Discord cackled as he rolled around in the air.

"Then you should see my face." Sora summoned his Keyblade and flung it using Strike Raid, smacking the chaotic chimera, flipping him around in the opposite direction. "Give back our lost appendages!"

Discord stopped spinning and leered at Sora. "So, you want to play rough, do you? You're already breaking the rules before I explained why I took away your wings and horns." He snapped his fingers, causing the teen's Keyblade to disappear. Sora tried to call it again, but he couldn't. "If you want to find your precious Elements of Harmony, then you will follow these rules: Number one, no flying, no magic, and no Keyblade."

"How do you know what it's called!?" Sora questioned.

"Word travels fast when you're a living statue trapped in her royal sun butt's garden for a millenium." The teen had to slap himself in the face, unable to believe Celestia would actually keep Discord, an unstoppable creature with the power to defy logic and cause chaos, as a lawn ornament. "Number two, every single one of you has to play, otherwise this little hunt is over, and I win."

Discord snapping his fingers and disappeared, leaving the wingless pegasi and hornless unicorns at the entrance of the labyrinth. "Wow. He got really mad after you hit him, Sora," Pinkie said.

"Because he knew I actually did some damage to him. He may seem powerful, but my Keyblade can deal with just about anything aside from the Heartless and Nobodies." Sora looked down at his hoof, shaking his head. "I can handle myself without it. Let's just go in there, stick together, and find the Elements of Harmony." Just as they all stepped forward, a large hedge popped up behind them, trapping them in the maze, along with several more that shot up between them all, splitting them apart on separate pathways in the now expansive maze of shrubbery. "Or he's going to split us up..."

"Everypony, head for the center of the maze!" Twilight shouted. "Find your Element of Harmony if you can and regroup in the middle!"

Everyone, except for Fluttershy, who was scared out of her mind, nodded and ran down the path they were forced to run down. Sora ran down his path, which was oddly enough just a straight line that seemed to go on forever. After only making it what he felt was halfway through the endless path, he stopped and looked up.

"This is ridiculous. Did he alter the maze?" The teen groaned. "It's like Wonderland all over again. As long as he doesn't give me a bottle that I have to drink that shrinks me to the size of a mouse, I'm good." Sora leapt up high in the air to get a better vantage point, only to slam his head on an invisible ceiling at the height of the hedges. He fell on his rump, rubbing his sore head. "Well, so much for that plan. He really wants us to go through this maze. How is this a maze if there's only one direction!?"

Up ahead in the direction he was running, a doorway appeared out of nowhere. When Sora heard the door appear, he stared at it, finding it familiar. It was exactly like the door he had seen in that dream and before he fought Ansem years ago. Whatever tricks Discord had for him, he wasn't going to be fooled that easily. Taking the challenge, Sora opened the door and walked in, ignoring the blinding lights shining through the doorway.

(Dive into the Heart)

As soon as Sora's vision returned after passing through the doorway, the teen gasped at where he was now. "No way..." He was looking out at the sea on Destiny Islands, where his and Kairi's secret place was. The sky was dark, just like it was when the Heartless first came and destroyed his home. While looking around, he noticed he was back as a human. "...Wait. This is just an illusion. Discord's trying to trick me. This isn't real. I'm still in Equestria."

Lightning struck in the distance as thunder rumbled out over the ocean, the teen feeling a shiver up his spine as the atmosphere reminded him of that fateful day. The Heartless appeared, he was split up from Riku and Kairi, found the Keyblade, and lost his home. It was a scary evening, his adventure truly began under the setting of this dreary sky and dark tone. Sora walked along the shore, wondering where the exit is in this illusion of his home.

"Quite a lovely home you have here." Sora gasped and turned around, finding Discord having appeared behind him. "Like what I've done with the place?"

"Discord!" The teen tried to summon his Keyblade, but it wouldn't come to him.

"No need to be violent, Sora," the chaotic creature said. "Besides, that really hurt, just hurling that Keyblade at me."

"Good! I'm and eager to give you more of a beating!" Sora cracked his knuckles, deciding to go against Discord with just his fists if he can't call his Keyblade by the chimera's magic.

"Naive, bold, and outright stupid." Discord snapped his fingers, summoning hundreds of Shadows that surrounded the Keyblade wielder. "How a child like you managed to save everyone from certain destruction by Heartless, I'll never know."

"How do you know so much about me!?" Sora asked, staying far away from the Shadows, having no clue if they really were real or were fakes. "Who are you!?"

"I believe the question you wish to ask is 'What I am?' And to answer that, I'm a draconequus. And I can read your mind like an open book." Another snap of his talons, a book appearing with an insulting illustration of Sora appeared. It had him in a terribly drawn style, looking angry as his mouth was wide open, with sharp jagged teeth. "And quite literally too. You've been on quite the adventure in every single world in the cosmos."

"Right. So you break all sense of logic. You're Pinkie Pie with unstoppable power," Sora said, leaping back as a Shadow tried to lunge at him.

"Yes. I know...but you're not all that innocent, are you?" Discord's question brought the teen's attention to him. "Turns out you're hiding a...'dark' secret from all your friends. Except your little girlfriend."

"...W-What are you talking about?" Discord snapped his fingers, sending Sora through a portal of darkness underneath him. He was now in a realm of darkness, seeing nothing but blackness all around him. "Now where am I?"

"Sora, stop!" The teen turned around as he had just heard Riku's voice, the sound of steel clashing with something in the darkness. He heard his best friend grunt as he fell next to Sora through the darkness, his body covered in deep cuts and his clothing was torn. Riku weakly got up on his knees and turned around to his attacker, unaware of his friend right next to him. "Why? How did you turn into this?"

Yellow eyes appeared in the darkness, then lunged toward them. Sora gasped as he watched a dark arm thrust into Riku's chest, the silver-haired teen gasping in shock as they both watched the Heartless pull out his heart. That Heartless was Anti Sora, clutching the shimmering heart in its claws as its victim, Sora's best friend, disappeared in a flash of light.

"...No...No, this isn't real," Sora said, starting to grow terrified as his fears of his darkness hurting his friends. "This is just a trick..."

"It's no illusion." Sora's face went pale and his skin crawled, hearing his own voice coming from the Heartless. It looked up at him, a creepy red smile plastered on its face as it held Riku's heart. "I am you, Sora...Your darkness, which you are unable to control." Anti Sora squeezed the heart and shattered it to pieces. "You cannot control your own darkness, let alone save your friends from yourself."

The Heartless disappeared in the darkness, laughing maliciously as he ran around the never-ending realm of blackness, Sora cringing as he heard the sounds of all his friends screaming and the sounds of hearts shattering. He tried to tell himself that this was just an illusion, that his friends are all ok and covered his ears from the sounds. It didn't do much to help quiet the destruction of their hearts as they called out to Sora to stop him or scream as their lives were snuffed out. One scream he heard made his heart stop as Kairi came into view, badly injured as she was flung to the ground.

"Kairi!" Sora saw the glowing yellow eyes of his Anti Form staring at him, his grin faint in the darkness he hid in. The teen growled and ran at his darkness. "Don't you dare hurt her!"

He thrust his fist forward, but instead of hitting himself, Sora heard a feminine gasp of pain. When he looked at what he expected was his Anti Form, he stared in horror as he had just thrust his fist through Kairi's chest, his girlfriend staring at him with the terrified eyes. His skin was dark, as well as the rest of his body. Looking behind him, he saw himself looking at them with a dark glint in his eye, smirking at what he was seeing.

"...S-Sora...W-Why...?" He turned back to Kairi, seeing tears roll down her cheeks.

"No..." Against his will, he pulled his arm back and stole Kairi's pure heart of light. He couldn't move to catch her as she fell, her body disappearing in a flurry of lights. "No!" Sora's other hand grabbed the other side of Kairi's heart, both claws squeezing down on the glowing heart. "No! Stop! Please, stop!"

"You're not in control anymore," Anti Sora said, forced to watch as his own hands rested on his dark claws. "Your friends will all fall by your own hand. Your darkness is as strong as your light, and your friendships will end when you blow up like the ticking time bomb that you are...And Kairi, our precious lover, will meet her end, even after she believed you could stop me. When you. Just. Can't!"

The dark version of himself laughed as he squeezed his hands against his, causing Sora to shatter the heart of the girl he loves. Sora's hands shook as Anti Sora had merged his body back into his dark form, bringing him back to normal, but he crushed Kairi's heart with his own hands. Anti Sora's laughter echoed loudly in his head, tears rolling down his face as he believed the illusion was all too real. While lost in his despair, Sora didn't notice he was back in the hedge maze, back to a stallion, staring at the ground while Discord watched the broken pegasus, relishing in his distress.

"Oh, how terrible it must be to have that much darkness waiting to be released and go on a rampage," the draconequus said, his words unheard by the broken teen. "So many friendships, so much heartache...so much pain." He gently poked Sora's forehead with his talons, forcing him to look up at the swirling eyes of Discord. "It's better not to have friends, so you don't hurt them when you lose control of yourself. Safer to live alone in misery than suffer in despair at the losses you'll have by your own hooves."

Sora's eyes began swirling the same was as Discord's, forcefully being hypnotized as he believed in the chaotic being's words. Slowly, his body began to turn slightly monochrome, starting with his tail and leading up to his face. He didn't want to hurt anyone. He didn't want to harm his friends with the darkness inside of him. He wanted to be alone.

Giving up already? Come on, Sora! I thought you were stronger than that!

(Hand in Hand)

Sora's faded colors stopped just before they reached his eyes as he heard Riku's voice.

Sora, don't ever change.

Kairi's voice spoke to him, the hypnosis dispelled as his love's words back then brought some sense into him. He remembered the private conversation that had just a month ago, where he admitted to her his feelings, and the fears of his darkness threatening to hurt her. Her reassuring words calmed him, believing he was strong enough to fight back against the Heartless inside of him.

Don't give up, Sora!

Come on, Sora!

Donald and Goofy, the two oddballs who he befriended by pure chance when Sora wound up in Traverse Town after his home was taken by the Heartless. Though they had their spats, he would never want to give them up for anything. His body slowly began to turn back to normal, shocking Discord as his spell was failing.

"What is happening!?" The draconequus began pouring more magic into his spell to fully manipulate Sora, but the voices of his many friends, from home and from the other worlds, kept calling out to him. "Why are you resisting!? You saw your precious little love get slain by your own hoof! You're broken!"

Sora growled, glaring at Discord as he grabbed his claw with both hooves, fighting back against his hypnosis. The words of all his friends echoed in his mind, all of the memories he had in each world, befriending new allies, helping them save their worlds from the Heartless and villains threatening to destroy them, rescuing Riku and Kairi, everything he strived to fight for the safety of everyone he knew. Even the friends he had made here in Equestria that depended on him, that he wanted to help from those with evil intent, which happened to include the draconequus trying to control him.

Discord was unable to pull his arm away, or even teleport away as the stallion fought back against his control. With a grunt, Sora shoved Dicord's talons away from him, keeping a firm grip on his arm as he flipped the lord of chaos over his shoulder, slamming his back down hard to the ground. Lifting him back up, he tossed the dazed deity up in the air, bucking him hard across the endless pathway of the maze the teen was stranded in.

"Nice try, Discord," Sora said, shaking his head as he cleared out the last of the spell out of him. "You can't fool me with your tricks. I know that won't happen to me. I'll never hurt any of my friends! Even without my Keyblade, I'll still fight back!"

He charged after Discord as the draconequus got back up. Growling in defeat, he snapped his fingers, shooting a hedge barricade in front of Sora, making him run into it like a brick wall as he teleported away. Groaning in pain, the teen rubbed his sore nose as part of the walls around him sunk to the ground. Twilight ran up to the now opened passageway, spotting Sora.

"Sora!" The hornless mare nearly tackled Sora as she hugged him tightly. "I heard you shouting. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He cracked his neck, rubbing his head as he slowly began to feel a headache coming on. "Discord tried to lure me into a trap, but I broke free. Trying to hypnotize me and cheat his way to winning...If only I could summon my Keyblade and just burn these hedges."

Twilight looked down at his path, only finding it to be just one straight passage. "You get the easiest section of this labyrinth while the rest of us are running around corners and dead ends?"

"Did you find the others?" The mare shook her head. "Then I have a feeling he might be after the others, with me supposedly being his first victim. Too bad he failed." Sora got up, still feeling a little woozy from the attempted mind control, but he could still stand. "Let's find them before it's too late."

While Sora and Twilight searched around the maze looking for the Elements of Harmony, they did manage to find the other girls. Unfortunately, Discord got to some of them first, and it was not a good time. First was Applejack, finding her talking to herself, and when questioned about who she was speaking with in the large open space of the maze she was found, she lied. And Applejack was a horrible liar, her eyes darting all over the place, away from theirs, scrunching her face.

Next was Pinkie Pie, and it was a nightmare seeing her so angry about everything. She didn't smile, grin, or laugh. And whenever she heard them talking, she would always think they were mocking her and she lashes out verbally at them. Sora had noticed that Applejack and Pinkie Pie's coat and manes were slowly beginning to lose their bright colors and turn gray.

Rarity was next, and they found her lugging around a giant boulder that she thought was a large diamond. Anytime anyone tried to get near her "diamond", the fashionista would leap in front of them and protect it like it was her baby. It was then Sora noticed that how the three mares were behaving. They were acting like the exact opposites of their elements: Applejack was honest, but is now a liar, Pinkie Pie was always happy and bubbly, but now she's all grumpy and angry, and Rarity used to be generous, but now she's hoarding what she thinks is a precious gemstone, really a heavy rock that would break her back, acting like a greedy money grubber.

Fluttershy, for Sora, was by far the worst. The once kind and timid pegasus now acted like a jerk, and her first victim in her manipulated state was the teen. She whipped him in the nose with her tail, and while he was distracted, she grabbed the hood of his jacket, flipped it over his face, slammed his face into the ground with some unknown strength he never knew she had, and got kicked hard in between the hind legs. It was far worse than when Rainbow hit him there in their struggle, Fluttershy actually aimed with perfect precision and made him crumble to the ground in a curled, whimpering in agony as he tried not to move and make the pain worse.

After slightly recovering from the hard blow to the biggest weakness every male has, Sora hobbled behind the girls, Twilight walking next to him as she carried the heavy boulder for Rarity. "Ow...Ow...Ow...I wish I had my shorts appear with my shirt and jacket..." Sora winced and nearly fell over as a wave of pain struck him. "I hate being a guy sometimes."

"You...could touch some...Poison Joke," Twilight suggested as she struggled not to topple over from the weight of the heavy boulder.

"Never again!" The group seemed to have rounded the umpteenth corner in the endless maze over the past couple hours they've been wandering around, only to reach another dead end. "Urgh. Rainbow Dash better be alright. Discord better not mess with her head on us now. If her element is Loyalty, he'll find some way to make her betray us."

"Hey, look! Rainbow Dash really is abandonin' us, flyin' away into the sky!" Applejack pointed out, sounding sarcastic.

"Applejack, cut it out!" Twilight shouted, dropping the boulder. As she looked up, Applejack wasn't actually lying, surprisingly, as Rainbow Dash somehow had her wings back and flew out of the hedge maze. "Wait, how is she flying!? She's not supposed to have wings because of Discord."

The hedges sunk back into the earth, leaving nothing but an empty crater where the group had constantly wandered around. Discord appeared before them, laughing his head off, both literally and figuratively.

"It seems like somepony broke the 'no wings, no magic, no Keyblade' rule!" The draconequus snapped his talons, giving back everyone's limbs that had been stolen. "Game over, my little ponies! You didn't find your precious Elements of Harmony, and now, we are finally due for a hurricane of chaos!"

Discord laughed as he pulled out a pink umbrella and opened it up, only it opened the opposite way as if it had been blown backward by a harsh wind. "You cheated!" Sora shouted, ceasing the deity of chaos's guffawing as he summoned his Keyblade, a foolish move on Discord's part to give him back his power. "I knew the Elements of Harmony weren't in here, and it was all a trick to screw us over!"

"...Oh, I cheated, eh?" Discord asked. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"You're worse than Hades, making up a rule where no rules don't apply! You tricked Rainbow Dash, gave her back her wings, and won by using her manipulated mind to fly away and automatically win!" Discord smirked, only angering Sora more and more. "I have a mind to slice through every single part of you until you're nothing but tiny pieces of animal limbs!"

Sora flew at Discord, the draconequus pointed one of the digits of his pawed hand at the Keyblade wielder. "Bang."

After flicking his paw back as if it was a gun, Sora yelled as he was sent flying back into the air, sent blasting off toward the castle. "Sora!"

"And it's a homer!" Discord exclaimed, an audience of the draconequus cheering and wearing shirts with his own face on them.

"He'll be fine, Twilight. Sora wasn't sent that far," Applejack lied, making the unicorn growl.

"Discord, you said the Elements of Harmony were in the maze!" Twilight shouted.

"No. I said nothing of the sort." The clones of Discord all voiced their agreements with what he said, though one of them said something about oatmeal when the rest of them quieted down. "If I recall, I said this; Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the elements back where you began. I never said anything about them being IN the maze! You just assumed they were in there, and you believed I would hide something that could defeat me within less than a mile from where they were hidden. Not so smart for being Tia's prized student, huh, Twilight Sparkle?"

Discord disappeared, along with his cheering fans of himself, leaving Twilight with a lying farm pony, a mad party pony, a greedy fashionista, a cruel pegasus bully, and a mare who had ditched them all to who knows where. And with Sora flung back at the castle, she had no choice but to try to figure this out on her own.

"'Back where you began...' Wait, did Discord mean...back in Ponyville? At the library?" She looked over at her corrupted friends, finding them annoying with all of their bickering, lying, and getting smacked around by Fluttershy. "They have to be there. Come on, guys! We're going back to Ponyville!"

"And we're going to leave that skinny punk here? Good idea, Twilight Stupid." Fluttershy tugged Twilight's tail hard, sending the unicorn flopping down on her stomach. "I'm going to miss my punching bag, though."

"This is going to be a long day," Twilight groaned as she headed off to Ponyville with her friends, completely focused on how they were behaving more than Sora's own well-being.

Celestia paced around nervously in her room as she waited for her student, her friends, and Sora to stop Discord. Things have already gotten a bit chaotic as the draconequus's influence began to spread more the longer he was freed. His riddle on where he hid the Elements of Harmony was questionable when Twilight suggested her garden's labyrinth. She knew he was a cunning trickster and can plan two steps ahead of his opponents with his illogical sense, never placing the artifacts that could defeat him so close to where he stole them and in an obvious maze he could make into a twisted torture chamber and trick them.

She looked out of the window to her balcony, finding her hedge maze was now nothing more than a huge crater. "Of course he wouldn't hide them so close to his enemies." Celestia couldn't tell what was going on down in the center of the crater that used to be her garden. She then heard a scream as a tan figure grew closer and headed straight for her tower. "What in the world?"

Her eyes widened when that figure was Sora, sent spiraling out of control and unable to right himself back up in the air. The alicorn teleported out of the way as the teen crashed into her room, bouncing all over her furniture, the walls and ceiling, finally stopping as he slammed down onto one of her tables, smashing it to pieces. He groaned in pain, but at least his whole body began ignoring the slow, agonizing pain of a certain part of him.

"...Ow." Sora slowly sat up, grunting and fighting through the pain, brushing off the bits of table he shattered. "That...wasn't smart..."

"Sora, what happened!?" Celestia carefully levitated the debris off the injured Keyblade wielder.

"Discord tricked us," he said. He called his Keyblade to him after he dropped it once he made a dynamic entrance in the princess's personal chambers. While he tried to cast his Cure spell to heal himself, he couldn't cast it, or any spell at all. "Dang it...Discord must have kept my magic sealed...Smart."

"Are you alright?" Celestia asked.

"I will be, after a little potion." Sora dug around his red pouch and grabbed one of his handy potions. He tossed it in the air, and as the bottle disappeared, instead of the healing powder that comes from it, green slime splattered all over him, the stallion yelping as he was drenched in the slimy, freezing cold muck. "Oh come on! He even messed with my potions!?" He tried to shake off the sticky substance, unable to get it off him. "And why does this stuff smell like strawberries!?"

"Discord is even stronger than you," the alicorn muttered, growing more concerned. "Are Twilight and her friends alright?"

"Define alright." Sora stood up, ignoring the slime covering him. "Twilight's fine, but she's beginning to lose her patience with the others...He got to them and corrupted them, and he almost got me earlier." Celestia gasped in shock. "We need to find the Elements of Harmony, and we need to find some way to get them back to normal. But where did he hide them!?"

The teen tried to pace around, but the slime around his hooves caused him to slip, making him fall flat on his face. "I think that slime can be washed off. Use my shower and we'll both figure out what Discord's cryptic riddle means."

"Thanks." Sora carefully made his way across Celestia's room, unable to help but drip the green slime on the princess's carpet, entering her regal bathroom and immediately jumped into the shower.

He turned on the water, not caring what temperature, thankful that the shower didn't pour anything that made him even more filthy. While letting the water wash off the strangely sweet smelling slime, Sora began to think about Discord's riddle. The "twists and turns" portion was misleading and led them into a trap, but the last part had to be the clue where Discord hid the Elements of Harmony. "Find the elements back where you began." The longer Sora had focused on figuring out the last part of the riddle, the more it slowly began to dawn on him.

"'Back where it began...' Back when we found the Elements of Harmony. Back where Twilight found her destined friends. The library in Ponyville...That's it!" The pegasus turned the water off, completely cleaned of the slime covering his body, and ran back into the room, not bothering to dry himself. "The Golden Oak Library! The elements are there!"

"Are you certain?" Celestia asked.

"They have to be there! Send a message to Spike, tell him to find the Elements of Harmony and keep them safe!" Sora was about to fly off, only to wince and fall back to the ground.

"Sora, you aren't in any condition to move," the princess said, concerned about his injuries. "Without your magic to heal yourself, you won't last long if you fight Discord again."

"I've faced worse. I actually turned into a Heartless, and that was more painful than running into everything like a ragdoll." The teen grunted and stood back up, approaching the balcony. Looking down at the crater, there was no sign of Discord or the rest of the girls. "I hope Twilight figured out where they're hidden. If she gets corrupted, then the Elements of Harmony won't really work."

"Be careful, Sora. Discord's a lot more powerful than he seems," Celestia warned.

"Yeah. I think I got a taste of that when I was flung into your room, and the fact he nearly manipulated me into thinking I killed my friends." Sora leapt off the ledge of the balcony and flew off to Ponyville, where he could see the small town was greatly affected by Discord's chaos.

Ponyville was a chaotic mess as soon as Sora arrived. The ground was randomly splotched with checkered patterns in random colors, buildings and ponies were hovering randomly in the air, buffalo wearing tutus and dancing like ballerinas as they passed by. Discord was even more chaotic than Wonderland, but a thousandfold. While the teen was too focused on the ground, the sun quickly went out and his eyes failed to adjust to the sudden darkness.

"AHH! Who turned out the sun!?" He slammed into something, groaning into the object he blindly flew into. "Urgh...Why does this tree smell like peppermint?" The sun popped back up into the sky, and he saw what he ran into. It was indeed a tree, only it looked like a giant tree-shaped peppermint stick. "Oh. Right. Discord. Why am I not surprised?"

"Sora!" Twilight and the four other corrupted mares approached him, the lavender unicorn relieved to see him. "Are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah. Fine...if you can call me being bounced around and crashing into Celestia's room, further injuring me, Discord blocking my magic to keep me from healing myself, and swapping out my healing potions with green slime to further prevent me from recovering, then I'm just peachy." Sora peeled himself off the sticky peppermint tree, needing to take another shower after all this madness is over. "So, I'm guessing you figured out where the Elements of Harmony are located. Here in Ponyville."

"I think so." Twilight rubbed her head, looking back at her "friends". "They're starting to drive me crazy."

"It'll be over soon. While I was with Celestia, I told her to send Spike a message, telling him to find the Elements of Harmony. At least I hope he gets it." While Sora was focused on Twilight, Fluttershy grabbed the hood of his jacket again, but he quickly flipped the manipulated pegasus over, as much as he didn't want to hurt her. "Fool me once, shame on you. Now cut it out, Fluttershy."

"Make me, dork," Fluttershy said, kicking Sora hard in the chin.

"Why am I the one being hit!?" They continued walked down the path, being careful not to slip as it suddenly turned to soap, until they finally reached the library, which was thankfully unharmed by the chaos.

"I hate libraries!" Pinkie shouted, her coat suddenly turning more monochrome.

The others headed inside, Fluttershy's and Applejack's bodies turning gray too, but Rarity stayed outside with her "diamond". "Rarity, will you please get in here!?"

"Oh, I know what's going on here," the white unicorn said, her coat and mane turning more gray like the others. "You want me to just waltz right in and let you take Tom away from me! Well that's not happening, you money grubbing colt!"

"...You seriously called a rock 'Tom'?" Having enough of Rarity's greed, he summoned his Keyblade. "Say goodbye to Tom, Rarity! He's going bye bye!"

"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" As Sora tried to rush past the corrupted mare, she bucked him hard in the face and sent him crashing through the window of the upper loft in the library.

He slammed into a bookshelf, several books raining down on him as he slumped against it. "...Today just isn't my day, is it?"

"Sora?" The Keyblade wielder looked over at the bedroom door, where Spike came upstairs to investigate the strange noise. "...What happened to you?"

"Ignore me and my sudden crash entrance." Sora slowly stood up, stepping over the books littered around him. "Did you get Celestia's message?"

"I did, but I've been looking all over for the Elements of Harmony," the baby dragon said. "I don't think they're here...and why are they? I thought they were safe in Canterlot."

"Well, apparently Discord, the one causing all this chaos and stole the elements, placed them here." The pegasus picked up one of the books, which happened to be the reference guide for the Elements of Harmony Pinkie had found before entering the Everfree Forest to search for them. "And before you ask, I'm completely useless right now. My magic's been sealed, I'm badly injured and I can't recover, and I'm getting beat up by everything. Including the kitchen sink." Both boys headed downstairs, where Twilight had just slammed through the wall with Rarity's "diamond" named Tim. "Twilight, we better hurry before-"

A loud gonging sound rang out in the library, Sora's words cut off as Fluttershy smacked him on the head with a frying pan, for no reason whatsoever. Birds chirped in his ears as his eyes spun around in his head, slumping forward and tumbling down the steps, dropping the reference guide as he hit the ground floor.

"Too slow to react, Sora? I thought you were good at being fast," the non-timid bully mocked, swiping the book up. "Yoink!"

"Fluttershy, cut it out!" Twilight shouted.

"Keep away!" Fluttershy called out, throwing the book away from Twilight to Pinkie.

"I hate books!" the grumpy earth pony said, tossing it to Applejack, the lying farm mare balancing it on her snout.

"Applejack, give me the book!" Twilight demanded.

"Ah don't have any book!" Applejack tossed it back to Fluttershy, but before she could grab it, Sora snapped out of his daze and dragged her to the ground, catching the book in her place.

"Alright, enough keep away! Fluttershy, if you hit me again, I will not go easy on you!...But I will apologize because this isn't-" Rarity suddenly snatched the book away from him with her magic, running past him.

"MINE!" The teen grumbled as Twilight chased after the greedy unicorn, snatching the book away after tackling her.

"I am getting SICK AND TIRED OF THIS!" The lavender mare threw the book, the pages opening as a metal clanking was heard instead of a thump. Sora gasped, the Elements of Harmony were lying on the floor, hidden inside of a hollowed out section inside of the book. Twilight noticed and picked them up with her magic. "They...They were in the book?"

"...Well, that was lucky," he said, scratching his head. "I just grabbed it while I was somewhat delirious and not thinking clearly...And the pain I'm in isn't really helping me think straight either."

He received a hard kick in the side by Fluttershy, leering at him for dragging her down. "That's what you get."

"...I can't believe this is happening," Twilight said. "My friends have become nothing but jerks!" Grabbing the Elements of Harmony, she clasped the elements to the right bearers and put on her crown. "Let's get this over this and end this madness!"

"T-Twilight," Sora coughed, struggling to get up on his hooves. "We're missing Rainbow Dash. The elements won't work."

The unicorn clasped the Element of Loyalty around Sora's neck, confusing the teen. "There. You're the new Rainbow Dash. That's everypony: the ACTUAL loyal friend, the grump, the hoarder, the liar, the brute, and me."

"Twilight, I'm not the Element of Loyalty," Sora said. "I'm not a part of this world!"

"I don't care. You're Rainbow Dash. You're a pegasus like her, and you're a lot more dependable than all of these ponies combined together!" The teen grew worried, knowing Twilight was starting to succumb to their friends' change in behavior.

Before she could throw Tom out of the window to get Rarity moving along with the rest of their corrupted friends, Sora stopped Twilight from exiting. "Twilight, the girls are being manipulated. Discord hypnotized them just like he tried to do to me earlier. They're not themselves, and you can't let them get to you."

"Well, it's working, and I want to get this over with before somepony ticks me off anymore than I should be!" Twilight growled, putting emphasis on her last few words as she glared at the four mares.

"Twilight, if you get corrupted like them, then the Elements of Harmony won't work!" Sora tried to reason. "I can't fight Discord by myself, and we need the Elements of Harmony to stop him. I'm useless with his hold on my magic. He could easily beat me and win."

"You hit him with your Keyblade," the unicorn pointed out sourly.

"Because he was too busy laughing to pay attention. I'm only able to get a hit on him out of luck, and it's already run out." He placed his hooves over Twilight's shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "Please, you have to calm down and not let him get to you."

She ignored him, sliding him away from her with his magic and threw Tom out of the library, leaving a gaping hole in her home. "Either you help me, Sora, or give that element to Spike. I want this over with so I don't have to deal with them anymore."

Twilight exited the library, the others following after her, Fluttershy getting a good smack on the back of Sora's head before flying after her. He didn't bother trying to retaliate against the grayed out yellow pegasus. He watched the purple unicorn up ahead, slowly following after them as he sighed.

"She's already about to crack," he mumbled. "Discord got to her without even trying to manipulate her...How can I save them?"

After navigating their way through the chaotically struck town, they found Discord standing in the center of the square, wearing a smug grin on his face. "Oh no! You actually found the Elements of Harmony!" he said sarcastically. "Well, I guess I know when I've met my demise." The draconequus made a target appear on his snake-like abdomen, blindfolding himself as he stuck a small peppermint stick in his mouth. "Fire when ready."

Growling, Twilight began charging her magic into her element to activate the powerful artifacts. The girls began glowing, along with their respective elements, but the Element of Loyalty didn't glow with Sora, not being the true bearer of the red gem he was currently wearing. He knew it wasn't going to work, looking away as their power failed and the five mares fell to the ground.

"Of course they wouldn't work," Sora mumbled, hearing Discord guffawing as he peeked out of her blindfold and saw the Elements of Harmony failed.

"Well, it turns out the Elements of Harmony are now completely useless," the draconequus laughed.

"Mine's workin' just fine," Applejack said, her eyes darting back and forth with her lies. "All of y'all's must be broken!"

"I hate the Elements of Harmony!" Pinkie shouted, throwing her element at Sora's hooves.

"Mineminemineminemine!" Rarity dove in to try to take the Element of Laughter, but the teen snatched it away and took hers, not wanting to let the greedy unicorn hide something as important as the elements.

Applejack dropped hers as she walked past him, Fluttershy throwing hers at his face. "I'm sick and tired of you losers. I'm out of here."

"Eyup! Ah got better friends than any of ya put together!" Applejack said as each of the girls split up.

Twilight's eye twitched, and after having the elements fail on them, along with the girls throwing away their necklaces, she exploded. "FINE! GO ON AND LEAVE! I don't care about any of you stupid jerks anyway!" Tears welled up in her eyes as she shouted. "With friends like you...who needs...enemies..."

(Tears of the Light)

Sora gasped as he saw Twilight's body slowly turning gray. "Twilight, no!" Ignoring the Elements of Harmony, dropping the Element of Loyalty on top of the pile of necklaces, he ran up to the depressed and manipulated unicorn, grabbing her cheeks and forcing her to look up at him. "They aren't behaving like they should! Discord manipulated them, remember!? You can't let him win! Your friends are trapped inside their hearts, their minds warped into being the opposite element they represent! It's not them you should be mad at! It's Discord!"

"...You're not my friend either." The monochrome colors crawled over her shoulders and were reaching her head, her tears running down her cheeks. "You're from another world...You make so many friends, but you'll end up forgetting them."

"Twilight, that's not true! That's Discord's influence talking! You have to fight this!" Sora pleaded, unable to do anything to stop her manipulation.

"You'll forget about us...Just an outsider...who only came here to help us...nothing more..." He was too late to help her, Twilight now fully gray, losing the color in her purple eyes. Her crown fell off her head, her aura now gray as she lowered his forehooves. "You don't care about us..."

"I do care." Twilight turned around and sadly walked back in the direction of the library, leaving behind a teardrop, creating a broken heart as it splattered to the ground. "Twilight!"

"Just go," she said. "We're nothing but a distant memory to you...Everypony you knew...Everypony you befriended...Only to be forgotten...and lost..."

"...Twilight." Sora reached out to her, but she kept walking. As soon as she disappeared down the road, the Keyblade wielder looked down at the broken heart tear, slowly dried up by the earth it touched. He reached a hoof to his chest, placing it over his heart, recalling the words told to him by Leon after stopping Hollow Bastion's/Radiant Garden's castle from leaking out powerful Heartless. "'We may never meet again...but we'll never forget each other.' You never forget those you hold dear in your heart...No matter what..."

"A pointless sentiment if you ask me." Sora's ears twitched, his saddened gaze turning to anger as Discord loomed over him.

"...You tricked them," the teen muttered. "You used your magic to twist them around, forcing them to be something they don't want to be..." He slammed his hoof down in the ground, the same spot where Twilight's tear landed, grasping at the earth to try and dig out that metaphorical broken heart, wanting to mend it and make everything better for the depressed unicorn. "You're as sick and twisted as Maleficent and Xehanort combined!"

"That old hag of a witch that can turn into a dragon and an old geezer who's more powerful than he seems?" Discord asked. "Just how am I worse than them?"

"You forcefully manipulated them!" Sora shouted, turning around to glare at the draconequus. "You broke apart their friendship and made the Elements of Harmony useless! You cheated your way to getting what you want, by using magic to turn my friends into their opposite element, and you shattered Twilight's heart and hopes of ever having friends who care about her! Because of you, she thinks that I would just abandon her and the others if I ever leave, but it's not true! I never forget any of my friends, as long as their memory stays in my heart!

"That's how I was able to break out of your little hypnotic spell when you tried to break me with that illusion! My friends all rely on me, and I need them just as much!" Sora summoned his Keyblade, crouching low as he glared at Discord, who still held a smug grin. "Now, these girls need me to be their light to free them from the curse you put on them! You haven't won yet, Discord! I'll still beat you, even without the Elements of Harmony!"

Sora charged at the draconequus, leaping up in the air to slash him through. "Ascend, heartless angel."

Discord snapped his talons after saying those words, a dark void appearing around Sora's chest as it began compressing around him. The Keyblade wielder's eyes widened, having heard this spell cast by one of the most dangerous of swordsman he had ever fought in his life, far too late to stop Discord or even attempt to avoid the spell. His whole body exploded, screaming in agony as every part of him felt like it was on fire, burning him from the inside out.

Sora fell to the ground, dropping his Keyblade as he laid in the dirt, still alive, but barely able to move. His very life had almost been sucked out of him, every bit of strength he had in him destroyed by that one deadly blow that had actually struck his heart. His limp body was lifted up by Discord's magic, bringing the battered and greatly injured teen up to his eye level.

"You will beat me even without the Elements of Harmony, eh?" the draconequus asked. "You are not the brightest of the bunch, are you, Sora? I am Discord, the lord of chaos and disharmony. I can bend time and space, throw all logic out the window, and come out unharmed from anything deadly. Your magic may be unique from an otherworldly perspective, but in the end, you are just an ant compared to the giant that I am.

"Now look at you." Appearing around Sora's vision were strange blue boxes at the bottom left, each one having a different word in them: Attack, Magic, Item, and Drive, all of the white letters grayed out. At the top left was a green bar with about ten small blocks underneath it. On the top right was a grayed out images of the six mares: Applejack looking like she was trying to hide something and failed to do so, Pinkie Pie leering angrily at something, Rarity grinning maliciously like a greedy thief, Fluttershy smirking evilly, Rainbow Dash's back turned to him, and Twilight looking miserable with tears running down her face. His ears had finally picked up the blaring alarm sounds as he looked down at the bottom right, seeing a curved bar around an image of himself as a stallion, looking pale with his eyes closed. The bar was black except for a small sliver of green at the end, red waves flying out from his image as it pulsed with the alarms. Along with the nearly empty green bar was a smaller one above it, though there were chains held tightly against it, and another one above that, this one being yellow, with the word "Drive" and the number "9", nine total orbs of light circling around the number. "Even the player controlling you has no idea what to do. I think they might have just given up, but they're not going back to their last save point.

"I can control all of reality, and even if you could stop me, how will you do it?" The strange boxes and images disappeared around Sora's sight, Discord dropping the weakened Keyblade wielder to the ground. "You can't. I'm unstoppable." The teen desperately reached out to his Keyblade, but he was too weakened by the near-death blow to call it back. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time I make Ponyville the chaos capital of my new kingdom. Farewell, 'hero'."

Discord laughed as he teleported elsewhere, his laughter echoing as he began to spread more chaos. Sora weakly pulled himself across the ground to his weapon. As he reached out for it, he pointed the tip to the ground and struggled to lift himself back on his hooves. With enough effort, he was back to standing, though his legs threatened to buckle out on him, using his Keyblade as a crutch. He slowly limped over to the Elements of Harmony, lifting all six up in his shaking hoof.

"...H-He's...too strong...I...need to...save them..." The gems lightly sparkled, Sora gasped as he began to feel a strange pulse of light in his heart. It was like the Elements of Harmony were trying to tell him something, showing him the colorful orb he had gotten when he was in the enchanted book Celestia gave him to see. They focused his vision on the silhouettes, blackended versions of the gems they represented. "...Are you...trying to tell me something?"

The lights from the gems gleamed, now realizing what he needed in order to awaken this new Drive Form he had gotten. He needed six specific keys, and those keys were in his hoof, but he needed to find a way to extract those keys. Fighting through the pain, he limped off to the Golden Oak Library, needing to save the one mare who needed help the most.

He made it to the door and walked inside, hearing someone groaning in agony nearby. A familiar belch was heard, along with a green flame making a scroll appear nearby, which had come from Spike, though he groaned more. Sora approached where the baby dragon was curled up, finding him in a lot of pain as he clutched his belly.

"Spike? You ok?" he asked.

"N-No," Spike moaned. "P-Princess Celestia...s-she keeps...sending these scrolls since Twilight got back." He belched another scroll out, only worsening the pain of his stomach. "Auuugh! M-Make it stop!"

"Sorry, little buddy," Sora apologized. "If I could use my magic, I could heal that stomach ache. Is Twilight upstairs?"

"Y-Yeah." Spike's cheeks puffed out, but it thankfully wasn't a belch, though it almost seemed like he would vomit. "She said...we're moving back...to Canterlot...She didn't tell me why..."

Sora looked at the amount of scrolls Spike had burped up from Celestia, taking one of them and opening it up. It was one of Twilight's friendship reports. All of them must have been her reports she sent to her, hoping she would read them and realize that her friends do care and they aren't the way they're acting now.

"I know why." Taking an blank scroll nearby, Sora wrote out a quick message to Celestia, telling her to stop sending reports and ease Spike's aching belly. "Here, Spike. Breathe fire on this and send it to the princess."

"B-But my stomach," Spike whined.

"She'll stop once she reads this. Just relax and rest your stomach." Sora held the message over the baby dragon's mouth, able to weakly breathe out a plume of green flames, sending it to Celestia.

The teen slowly limped up the stairs to Twilight's room, her door wide open as he saw her crying, packing up some of her belongings in a suitcase. "I shouldn't have come here," she said, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "Having friends only brings misery...when none of them care..."

"I do." Twilight gasped, turning around to see Sora standing there, more beaten up than the last time she saw him. "And the others care too. Discord turned them into the opposite element, but he hasn't won yet. His spell can be broken."

"Leave me alone." The unicorn turned away and continued packing, but Sora stopped her, placing the Element of Magic on her head.

"No. You need to remember one very important lesson when it comes to friendship, Twilight." Sora felt his Keyblade pulse, along with the Element of Magic. Appearing over Twilight's chest, over her heart, was a keyhole, shining the same fuchsia light as the element on her head. "No matter what happens, your friends are always in your heart. They'll never forget you, and if you remember them, you'll never forget them either."

He aimed his Keyblade at the keyhole, thankful to see his Keyblade's own light magic still existed as it wasn't connected to his own mana. Light built up at the end and fired a beam inside it, Twilight gasping as her eyes widened, feeling the light swirling around her broken heart and making her remember all the good times she's had with the five mares and Sora. Slowly, her colors began returning, eliminating the monochrome shading of her body. As she was fully colored again, the keyhole on her chest glowed and shot a small orb of fuchsia light out.

Sora held his hoof out and caught it, the orb turning into the same star as the Element of Magic and Twilight's cutie mark. It hovered over to his chest and flew into his heart, his eyes widening as he felt it merge with his new Drive Form, feeling his magic return to him. Deciding to test it, he cast his Cure spell again, being bathed in green healing powder coming from the magical pink bell flowers above him. His injuries were now fully healed, his magic now back and unsealed.

Twilight groaned as she shook her head, looking around at her surroundings. "...Sora? What happened?"

"You're back!" Sora wrapped his hooves around Twilight's barrel, lifting her up and spinning her around as he laughed with glee. "I can't believe it worked! I broke Discord's spell on you!"

"Sora! Let me go! I'm getting dizzy!" The stallion reluctantly let go, grinning like the goofball that he was as the unicorn slowly got her bearings. "W-What happened? Why am I back in the library?"

"There's no time to explain. We gotta find the others, change them back to normal, and stop Discord!" Without giving Twilight much information to many of the questions she wanted to ask, Sora grabbed the unicorn and placed her on his back. "Hang on tight!"

"W-Wait, Sora! What were you-" Her words turned to screams as Sora flew out of the balcony of the tree library as they flew off to gather the rest of their corrupted friends.

It took Sora and Twilight a while to find a majority of their friends, especially with all the random chaos happening in Ponyville. Their flight had ended suddenly after the unicorn smacked Sora repeatedly in the sides, now experiencing a fear of heights. He did apologize, too excited to rescue the others from their opposite personalities and figure out just how his new form would be.

Their first stop was Applejack, her whole farm gone completely wild. Big Macintosh and Granny Smith had also been corrupted too, the former acting like a dog while the latter was dancing around, despite her old age. Sora found it hilarious when Winona, unaffected by Discord's influence, stared at the red stallion in confusion, shaking her head as if he was embarrassing her own species. The two found Applejack leaning against her barn, completely oblivious to Sora and Twilight approaching her. Sora quickly slapped the Element of Honesty on the slumbering mare, holding her down before she woke up and aimed his Keyblade at her chest, the element creating an orange keyhole next to her heart. Firing a beam of light, he turned Applejack back to normal, reminding her of her life as an honest, hardworking mare and gaining an orange light shaped like an apple, entering his own heart and merging with his new form.

Next was Fluttershy, though with her, it was a little difficult to get her down. Luckily, Sora was able to keep the pegasus held down as he put the Element of Kindness around her neck. With Applejack's help, holding her hind legs down so she wouldn't kick him in a certain part of him, a pink keyhole appeared over her chest, and just like before, he shot a beam of light from his Keyblade into her heart. She was reminded of her kindness as she returned to normal, a pink butterfly made of light entering his heart and giving power to his new form. He startled Fluttershy when she came back to her senses, almost scaring her with his weapon aimed at her while standing over her.

Rarity was more bothersome, having hoarded everything in her boutique and made a fort out of it, with Tom as her head guard. Sora easily slashed through the hundreds of clothes, measuring tools, silverware, and the giant boulder, easily pinning the greedy mare against the wall as he put the Element of Generosity around her neck and shot a beam of light from his Keyblade as the dark purple keyhole appeared over her chest. With the fashionista back to her normal, generous self, tossing Tom out of her home while the teen absorbed the purple diamond light.

Pinkie Pie was easy as she just sat around and did nothing. Putting the Element of Laughter around her neck, he fired another beam of light into the blue keyhole against the grumpy mare's chest. The old Pinkie Pie was back to her pink, giggly, happy self, laughing as she felt the blue light peel itself off of her and turn into a balloon. Sora now had five different lights shining in the new Drive Form, and all he needed now was Rainbow Dash's and the Element of Loyalty's light, but where the cyan pegasus went to was a mystery.

As they found Rainbow's house, Sora and Fluttershy searched around, but found no sign of her. "Darn it. She's not here."

"There she is!" Pinkie shouted, pointing up to a lone cloud, where Rainbow Dash was resting on it without a care in the world.

"How did we miss her when we got up here?" Sora asked, receiving a shrug from the yellow pegasus. "Rainbow Dash!"

"Yo," Rainbow said, not turning to face them

"What are you doing on that cloud?" the teen asked.

"Protecting Cloudsdale, duh," she answered. "Ponyville's already a mess, so I'm just gonna stay here at home where everything is awesome."

"How in Equestria does she think that tiny tuft of cloud is Cloudsdale?" Rarity asked, where she received stares from the rest of the group.

"Remember 'Tom', your boulder of a 'diamond'?" Rarity blushed in embarrassment, Applejack and Pinkie giggling at the unicorn's reaction. Sora pulled out the Element of Loyalty, hovering over the relaxing pegasus. "Rainbow, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Put your element on so I can help you and we can stop Discord."

"...Well, how about..." Rainbow quickly grabbed the cloud she was on and sped off, leaving the Keyblade wielder in the dust.

"Hard way it is." Sora flew off after her, pouring all of his strength in his wings as he chased after Rainbow Dash.

The group watched from the ground as the pegasi flew around the chaotic skies of Ponyville, Sora actually catching up with the speedy mare with each pass around. Eventually, he managed to grab a hold of Rainbow Dash and send them diving down to the ground. The two slammed down into the ground next to the other girls, the mares running up to them to help restrain the bucking pegasus.

"Get off of me!" Rainbow shouted, trying to knock Sora off her back as he managed to get the Element of Loyalty around her neck. "I don't need any of you guys! Let me go!"

"You actually do need us, Rainbow Dash." The girls managed to tie the cyan pegasus up and restrain her, giving the Keyblade wielder freedom to snap her out of her senses. "And right now, we need you."

A red keyhole appeared against Rainbow's chest, directly over her heart. Summoning his Keyblade, he aimed it at the keyhole, light building at the tip of the blade. He fired a beam of light into it, Rainbow gasping as she was reminded of her loyalty to her friends, her colors returning to her coat and multicolored mane and tail. As she shook off the dizziness, the light of the keyhole shifted into a red lightning bolt, hovering over to Sora and entering his heart. With all six of the lights merged with his new form, he could feel its power allowing him to access the Drive Form.

"Sora, what was with those lights?" Twilight asked, having been surprised when she first saw him do that with Applejack, but was more focused on saving the others from Discord's corruption. "Is...that supposed to be normal?"

"It's actually a first for me, but I can feel magical power come from the Elements of Harmony." Sora slammed his forehooves together. "Let's go and get Discord. He's gonna be in for a big surprise when he sees what we can do now."

Discord sat upon his throne as he overlooked the chaos he had unleashed in his new kingdom's capital. "Ahhh...Now this is what I'm talking about. Endless chaos as far as the eye can see." He snapped his fingers, summoning a glass, a pink cotton candy cloud raining chocolate milk filled the glass, though from top to bottom instead of the logical sense. "Here's to me, the newest king of the world."

The draconequus took a swig of his drink right as Sora lead the Mane Six up to his throne. "Hey, Dipcord!" Discord spat out his drink, which ended up being his glass, as he looked at the group of ponies, surprised to see the Keyblade wielder was fully healed. "Miss us?"

"That's impossible!" Discord clapped his hands together and spread them out, bringing up the same boxes and images Sora had been forced to see earlier. The bar around the teen's image was now fully green, his face grinning as he was in perfect health, the sealed off bar above the green one was unlocked as it was now blue. The images of the mares in the upper right corner were back to their original color with different poses: Applejack tipping her hat as she grinned, Pinkie Pie giving a big toothy grin, Rarity giving a soft smile with her eyes half-lidded, Fluttershy looking nervously with a grin, Rainbow Dash smirking cockily, and Twilight giving an open mouthed smile. "...How?"

"You haven't won yet, Discord. You made a big mistake not finishing me when you had a chance." Sora summoned his Keyblade, spun it around in his hoof, then hoisted it over his shoulder. "Now you're going to regret messing with me and my friends."

"Hmph." The pictures and boxes disappeared, the lord of chaos stepping down from his throne, looking amused. "Well, I guess that was one small error, but either way, your feeble attempts to stop me won't work."

"We do have the Elements of Harmony back together, but just blasting you with a powerful rainbow doesn't seem to be enough." Sora stretched his forelegs out to the six girls at his sides; three on each side with one of each race in both groups. "Girls, grab my hooves."

"Uhh, why?" Rainbow asked, all of them still clueless as to what Sora had planned.

"Just trust me. You girls are going to see how my Drive Forms work." They hesitated, but they did trust him, all of them touching his hooves.

"What are you gonna do?" Discord asked with amusement. "Huddle around each other and sing 'Kumbaya' to annoy me to death?" Sora didn't give an answer as he closed his eyes, focusing on tapping into his new Drive Form. The Mane Six gasped as they felt the same power inside of him, all seven of them slowly hovering into the air, their elements' gems glowing as their colored lights shrouded them. "Wait, what is happening? Why are you glowing?"

Sora unleashed his new form, a powerful shockwave of light spreading out over a mile in radius, the mares disappearing as their lights flew into the Keyblade wielder. Discord had to shut his eyes from the intense light that shot out of the teen, the sound of shattering glass echoing around him. As the draconequus's eyes readjusted, his eyes widened at the sight of the stallion. His black jacket had changed in a multitude of color, shifting around to different ones every few seconds like an aurora.

The teen opened his eyes, smirking at the shocked expression on Discord's face. He could feel new power coming from inside of him, a warm, light feeling, his strength and magic far more powerful than any of his other Drive Forms. Sora lifted up his left hoof and brought it down to his side, summoning not one, not two, but three Keyblades, then did the same with the right, three more Keyblades on the other side. One pair were in his hooves, the one on his right an orange blade, the teeth and guard in the shape of a red apple, the one on his left was a blue blade, the teeth a trio of balloons, two blue and one yellow, the guard in the shape of a cupcake. Another pair hovered behind his back like a second pair of wings, mimicking his hovering flaps, the one on the right a red blade with the teeth shaped like a lightning bolt, the guard a multicolored cloud, the one on the left a pink blade with the teeth and guard shaped like a butterfly, the hilt in the guard colored blue. The last pair hovered above his head, making it looked like he has two horns floating a few inches away from his forehead, the one on the right a fuchsia blade, the teeth and guard shaped like a bursting star, the one on the right a dark purple blade, the teeth made of three diamonds, the guard a large blue one.

Able to manipulate the Keyblades hovering above and behind them, he spun all six of his new Keyblades, clashing them together above him, then brought them back down in a fighting stance. He opened his mouth and summoned another one, this one his most powerful Keyblade in his arsenal. The blade was covered in white and blue thin threads of metal, crowns making up most of the hilt, the guard and teeth, and a heart shaped indentation above the pommel.

"It's time for you to take me on with the powers of the Elements of Harmony on my side: the Keyblades of Honesty, Laughter, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, and Magic, combined with my Ultima Keyblade!" Sora hovered to the ground and stood perfectly on his hind legs, readying himself to fight against Discord. "Prepare to feel the wrath of my new power; Harmony Form!"

Discord stared at Sora, now in his newly acquired Harmony Form, wielding seven Keyblades total: two in his hooves, as a second pair of wings, two horns, and one in his mouth. He couldn't believe that the six mares who were the Elements of Harmony, having somehow been freed from his spell, merged with the stallion and changed those elements into weapons. He looked down at the bottom right of his vision to see Sora's image had changed, wearing a smirk as he glared intensely, the bit of clothing that could be seen on him changing colors just like the real one. Growling, he flicked that part aside.

"So, you think you can take me on, thinking you can use all of the Elements of Harmony in a ridiculous form that makes you look like a living rainbow?" the draconequus asked.

"You scared, Discord? Afraid I'll do a lot more than just annoy and tick you off?" Sora taunted, spinning the Keyblades of Harmony around.

"I'm not scared of you. Do you not remember that I can bend anything at will? I can kill you with just a snap of my talon. Or even a paw! In fact, I'm going to use my paw." Discord held out his bear paw arm, pressing the digits together to snap them. "Ascend, heart-"

Sora suddenly appeared in front of the lord of chaos faster than he could blink, the Keyblades as his second wings lashing out and halting his deadly attack he mimicked from the one-winged angel the teen had been able to survive against in combat. Discord couldn't teleport away in time as the Keyblades of Loyalty and Kindness repeatedly thrust through him several times in rapid succession. The Keyblade wings flew back behind Sora as he gave the chaotic deity a hard buck in the face, sending Discord flying back and tumbling against the ground.

"Nice try. That's not happening again." The Keyblade wielder cracked his neck, crouching low as he waited for Discord to get back up and attack him. "You should have just gotten rid of me when you had the chance. Now you blew it, and you're going to pay for manipulating me and my friends, sealing my magic, and almost killing me."

(Rage Awakened)

The draconequus slowly got up, looking up to leer at the teen. "You can't keep a Drive Form for too long. I'll just have to toy with you until it's worn out, and all seven of you are easy pickings!" He snapped his fingers, twelve cards appearing around him, all of them bearing the Nobodies symbol. "It's too bad I can't exactly mimic the thirteenth one, since he's obviously you, but the other twelve in this Organization XIII has some very interesting choice of weapons. Ooh. How about I start with the annoying one first!?" He picked one of the cards, flipping around to reveal the numeral "IX". The card transformed into a blue sitar, Sora's eyes widening as he recognized the strange instrument that was actually a weapon. "Dance, water! Dance!"

"Oh come on," Sora grumbled as Discord began playing a song on the instrument.

Several aquatic clones of the draconequus with the sitar all began to pop up from the ground, surrounding the Keyblade wielder as a timer above the real Discord counting down from one minute and a counter of how many clones he made. Sora hated this ability, and it came from the laziest and whiniest member of Organization XIII he had ever met in the past. Wanting to get rid of this annoying skill and destroy that annoying sitar, the Elements of Generosity and Magic began sparking as he used them to cast his magic spells, surrounding himself in a massive wall of fire. The flames spread out and evaporated every single clone, stopping the timer and stunning the draconequus.

Bursting through the flames, Sora flew toward Discord, snatched the instrument, and slammed it into the ground. Taking the Keyblades of Honesty and Laughter, he began unleashing a powerful combo strike that juggled the lord of chaos into the air, apples and balloons sparking out with each connected blow. While flung up in the air, Discord chose another card, this one with the numeral II. A pair of crystal guns appeared in his hands, taking aim as he fired a barrage of energy bullets down on the stallion.

His attacks were reflected back, the Keyblades of Harmony floating above and spinning rapidly as a protective barrier. Discord teleported behind Sora, taking the card with the numeral IV, transforming it into a blue shield. Taking the element of surprise, the shield began to charge Blizzard magic inside, but just as he unleashed the magic, Sora was quick to defend himself, a powerful Aeroga surrounding him as a protective barrier. Through the hurricane-like wind surrounding the teen and the frigid gust of air shooting out from Discord's shield, the Keyblade wings lashed out and broke through the defensive shield, shattering it to pieces and striking through him.

"AGH! Darn it!" Taking another card, the numeral V showing on the other side, it transformed into a heavy sword ax, hefting the massive weapon over his shoulder. "Let's see those flimsy blades stand against this!"

Discord swung the heavy red and yellow blade down on Sora like a hammer, but the Keyblade wielder blocked it, without any needed effort, parrying the blade. Taking the sword out of the draconequus's hands, the Keyblades of Honesty and Laughter hovering beside him, a powerful aura burst out from the teen as he held the sword ax, swinging it around and smacking Discord with the blunt side of the weapon, sending him flying far across the town and over his chaotic influence. Controlling all six Keyblades of Harmony around him, they slashed through the heavy blade, slicing it to pieces as it disappeared.

"There anymore weapons you want to mimic from Organization XIII, or are you just going to actually try and fight me with your own power?" Sora asked, teleporting before the angered lord of chaos.

"I'm not even close to done!" Discord exclaimed. "I know how those little Drive Forms of yours works, and sooner or later-" He opened up the images and boxes again. "-you're not going to stay in that form forev-" Discord froze as he stared at what used to be the yellow bar that read "Drive 9". It was now a shimmering and shifted colors just like his clothing, and the bar wasn't counting down or shrinking. "W-W-W-WHAT!? WHY IS IT NOT GOING DOWN!?"

"I think the Elements of Harmony are helping me sustain my Harmony Form." Sora crossed his forelegs against his chest as the six magical Keyblades made an orbit around the pegasus. "I'm pretty new to this form, but I can tell they want me to use their power to stop you. I could toy with you forever if I wanted to, just to give you a taste of your own medicine for toying with us and my friends' emotions." Discord snarled, slamming the smug image of Sora hovering at his bottom right into the ground. "So, entertain me. What other tricks do you have?"

"Oh, I'll give you a trick alright." Discord had eight large cards remaining, choosing the one with the numeral XII, turning them into small yellow daggers fitting between his fingers. "You won't even see it coming!"

The draconequus moved swiftly and surrounded Sora with multiple physical clones of himself. They closed in on him, but his Keyblades were faster, blocking each one of them while spinning rapidly like saw blades, stunning the several Discords. The pegasus quickly grabbed one by his legs and spun him around, swinging him into his clones and merging them back together, followed by slamming him down into the soapy ground they hovered over.

Shaking off his daze, the next card he chose had the numeral X, splitting apart into several smaller cards in his hand. Discord threw the cards, surrounding the teen around a room made of larger cards, four of them around his size appearing in front of Sora as they all quickly switched between X's and O's at a rapid pace. With quick precision, he made all four cards stop on the O's, stunning Discord, slicing through the room of cards and speeding after the draconequus. Using all six Keyblades, the blades in his hooves slow but powerful, the blades as his second wings swift and blindingly fast, and the blades making his faux horns added some elemental blasts, he made an inescapable combo that greatly damaged Discord, keeping him from fleeing from the Keyblade wielder. Using his Ultima Keyblade for last, he swung the powerful Keyblade down, creating a few orbs of light around him, making them explode and send the lord of chaos flying back.

Growing desperate, Discord continued using the remaining mimicked weapons of Organization XIII to land a hit on Sora, only to fail in the specific order he called the rest of them in: XI, III, VII, VI, and VIII. XI was a deadly pink scythe, making a small counter from ten appear over Sora's head in a Doom status, but Discord was unable to land a hit, only to have his weapon taken from him and used against him. III called forth six lances, three in his hands and three hovering around him in a dangerous whirlwind. The swift lunges of the lances only missed as the teen dodged them, giving him strange glowing orbs that appeared over his head, using the Jump command to teleport over the draconequus and dive down on him, using each of the Keyblades for every reaction command he made.

While knocked for a loop, VII was formed as a long blue and silver claymore, but before Discord could use the berserking power it gave him, Sora had grabbed one of the stray ones he dropped and attacked him with it, destroying it along with injuring him worse than the teen's own Keyblades. VI created a book, swallowing Sora inside of a dark realm as three lights shone down on him, all red, but one of them shifting to blue at a rapid pace. He quickly made it to the blue light, protecting him from the explosions that appeared outside of the magical shield, and as soon as they stopped, he combined both the Elements of Honesty and Laughter together, making a double ended Keyblade staff, throwing it out into the darkness and spinning it like a saw blade.

Sora heard the shredding of the book Discord had, freeing him from the strange realm and knocking the draconequus back. The numeral VIII appeared in a burst of flames, two chakrams appearing in his hands. Roaring in frustration, Discord shot out pillars of fire as he slammed the two flaming discs to the ground, homing in on the Keyblade wielder. The Keyblades of Magic and Generosity glowed and emitted a frigid aire, aiming toward the flaming pillars coming straight for him. He fired off a large block of ice that was several stories tall, extinguishing the fire and flew straight at the draconequus. Discord's eye twitched as he let out a whimper, getting hit by the massive ice block as it pushed him back into a tree, slamming him into the bark as the block shattered to pieces.

While he slid down the imprint of his back from the tree, Sora hovered over to the dazed draconequus, weird looking yellow birds making "kweh" sounds ran around his head. "Had enough, Discord?"

Discord shook his head, smacking the birds away from him, looking at the last card with the numeral I on it. "...I still have one more trick up my sleeve." He snapped his fingers, teleporting away from Sora as the card disappeared. He stretched his arms out to the side, making thousands upon thousands of red beams surround the pegasus. "Try to avoid this!"

Sora shook his head as Discord thrust his arms forward, sending the beams raining down on the teen from all angles. Unable to see what was going on in the trap while laughing insanely, Sora controlled the Keyblades of Harmony around different sections of the red blurs of death while using his Ultima Keyblade in his hoof to deflect the ones that got past the other six, flipping around and dodging stray shots in the center of the dome of red beams. The beams shot down faster and faster, but he was able to keep up with them.

Outside, Discord could see a dust cloud form as the beams kept firing. With the last of the beams finally shot out, the draconequus waited for the dust to clear. There was no sign of Sora in the big crater of destroy land where he was trapped. Having defeated the teen, Discord laughed in triumph, dancing around in victory, unaware that his enemy was slowly hovering down behind him.

"Yes! He's gone! I defeated him, and the Elements of Harmony in one sitting!" Discord cheered. "Equestria is mine!"

"I'm sorry, but what was that?" The draconequus blanched, slowly turning his head around as he looked at Sora, waving a hoof to him. "Hi."

"...H-How? Discord asked.

"Yeah, if you remember reading through my life, you should have known I actually survived that," Sora said. "With my best friend...Two Keyblades...And it exhausted us." The seven Keyblades in his possession slowly floated down and orbitted the teen. "I had seven and made it out unharmed. Soooo...Good effort, but not good enough." Sora grabbed the Keyblade of Honesty, the rest of the Keyblades hovering behind him. "Now, let's end this."

Using the orange Keyblade, his stance shifted to that of a heavy warrior, his strikes slow, but incredibly powerful. Discord was too flabbergasted to retaliate, being struck hard into the ground as if he was getting crushed by a skyscraper. Sora replaced the Keyblade of Honesty with the Keyblade of Laughter, slamming the teeth into the ground and sending the stunned draconequus flying in the air by a massive balloon that appeared underneath him. Leaping up after him, each strike inflicted with the blue Keyblade was aimed at a different part of him than where it made contact.

Next was the Keyblade of Loyalty, increasing Sora's speed as he soared off in a rainbow blur. Discord didn't react after a few passes, but as soon as the pegasus stopped, he flinched repeatedly as lightning bolt slashes wracked him and sent him falling back to the ground. The Keyblade of Kindness replaced the red Keyblade as Sora dove down after the lord of chaos, his strikes light and weak, but they were as swift as the last. Slamming the pink blade into Discord's abdomen as they hit the ground, spires of earth beneath him shot up and struck his back, hearing and feeling his spine snap at the painful pillar.

The Keyblade of Generosity appeared in Sora's hoof next, his style of combat more elegant as he floated down to the ground, approaching the earth spire that stayed in place. He gave it a light tap, shattering the earth as it shot out different gemstones shaped like daggers, repeatedly thrusting into Discord as he hit the ground. The draconequus groaned, his chaotic magic being absorbed by the gem-shaped knives as he shakily stood up.

"Is it over?" Discord asked, looking up at the green bar on his upper left, only one full bar remaining.

"Not yet." He turned around to see Sora now holding only the Keyblade of Magic, glowing brightly as the magic within the transformed element coursed into the Keyblade wielder. "Let's see how powerful the Element of Magic is in its natural element."

The fuchsia Keyblade shot out a small orb of light. Discord was about to laugh, only to be incinerated by a large pillar of fire that rose up from underneath him, lightning repeatedly striking down on him as it revealed his skeleton, which was just as odd as his mismatched limbs, freezing in a frigid blizzard several times, cracking out of the ice and refreezing into solid ice, gravity crushing him flat like a pancake on the ground and pulling him up into the air repeatedly, and getting caught in a deadly tornado that flipped him over, under, and upside-right as the air sliced at him like millions of needles piercing through his skin. As the magic stopped, Discord fell and shakily got back on his legs, his body scorched, cut up, and bruised.

Seeing Discord has had enough, Sora called all of the Keyblades to him, the Keyblades of Harmony aimed at the dazed draconequus while he held onto the Ultima Keyblade in his hoof. The six colorful blades began to shine a light matching their design, shooting six beams together in front of the pegasus as their lights merged, forming the rainbow aura that was unleashed by the Elements of Harmony. Sora flipped back, spinning his Keyblade around and aimed it at the rainbow.

"Your chaotic reign ends, Discord!" The Ultima Keyblade began shining a bright light at the tip, his eyes glowing white like Twilight's had the first time the Mane Six had used them. Glowing specters of the mares appeared where their elements hovered, their hooves touching the hilt of the Keyblade of their respective element. "Time to turn you back to stone!"

His Keyblade shot out a bright white light, merging all the beams together as the rainbow aura was shot out from the built up energy, heading directly toward Discord. He couldn't flee or teleport away in time as the energy spiraled around him, trapping them in its vortex as he screamed in defeat. Slowly, his body began turning back into a stone statue like it had a thousand years ago. Starting from his feet, the draconequus panicked as the spell crawled up his body, unable to avoid his fate yet again. His face was permanently frozen in fear as he was back to being the lawn ornament he was, trapping his chaotic magic inside and dispelling his influence through Ponyville and Canterlot.

With the chaotic deity beaten, the Keyblades returned back to their positions around Sora, his Ultima Keyblade back in his mouth. He dismissed his new form, changing him back to normal and giving him back his Kingdom Keyblade. The bearers returned from merging with the teen in a flash of light, their Elements of Harmony still worn on them as they shook off their daze and overwhelming awe of what they had just experienced.

"That...was...AWESOME!" Rainbow shouted.

"Can we do that again!?" Pinkie asked excitedly. "It was like we were all one pony, but Sora controlled all of us. Can I be leader next time!?"

As the rest of the group felt exhilarated from being a part of a Drive Form, Twilight was highly fascinated with what had happened. It was an odd experience to actually be used as a medium for a transformative spell that increased Sora's strength, but it was incredible. It was like they were all a part of him, all working as one unit as everyone involved grew powerful with the bond they shared. Her body may have turned into light, but she had also felt like she fought alongside Sora as one of the Keyblades, each of them giving him unique attributes that fit each of their personalities or strengths. After seeing his Valor Form and feeling the magic that came from it, and now being a part of his Harmony Form as he called it, she wanted to know more about the rest of his magical properties and forms, wanting to learn about the outside magic never known to her own world.

With all the chaos magic Discord had unleashed in what little of Equestria he managed to take over, the seven ponies who managed to stop him were given a congratulatory celebration in Canterlot. Discord's statue was returned back to the gardens, no longer a threat now that he was sealed away once again. The heroes were thrown a party in the castle, hosted by Celestia herself, commemorating their bravery and struggle to stop a chaotic being from taking over the world. Thankfully, it wasn't as formal as the Grand Galloping Gala, the party as wild as a Pinkie Pie party with actual food and sweets to eat, and everyone who knew them were invited, not just stuck up nobles.

As it got late in the night, the six mares and Keyblade wielder took a break from the festivities as they sat around one of the balconies. Each of them were eating some Sea-Salt ice cream as they overlooked Canterlot, either sitting on the railing or leaning against it. They were all very quiet, especially Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. Sora could tell they had something on their minds, whether it was the incredible power of his Harmony Form as they were fused with him to unleash that power, or if it was about what they remembered when they were corrupted.

"...You know, this is supposed to be a party. We beat Discord, so we should be happy," Sora said. "...But none of you seem like it right now."

"We are, darling," Rarity said, being the first to speak. "But...we still remember what we did after that...abomination of a creature tricked us."

The others nodded, though Fluttershy hid behind her mane as Sora looked her way. It was a pretty awful thing to happen to them, being the opposite of who they were. Even though the teen's healing magic cured his injuries, especially from the timid pegasus's hard buck to his tenders, he still felt some small wave of pain that needed to be numbed with some ice.

"Well, the good news is that it's over, and we saved the day again." Sora munched down on his popsicle, pulling the stick out of his mouth.

"More like you saved the day," Rainbow corrected. "I mean, that was pretty cool and all, being a part of you in that awesome form of yours, but that was all we were. And...I had to screw us up when we were in the maze."

"But you take the credit too. Without all six of you, I wouldn't have been able to use my new Drive Form, and without the Elements of Harmony, I couldn't beat Discord on my own." The stallion looked down at the garden, staring at Discord's statue placed back where it once was. "What happened to you girls is nothing but a distant memory now. Just a bad dream that was forced into your minds by a crazy tyrant. I'm willing to look past what you became when he manipulated you. Nothing can truly break your friendships, even if all of you split up in the future.

"Someone from one of the worlds I've been in had told me something that was always true." Sora looked serious as he held a hoof up, pretending to be the serious, gunblade wielding man he first met in Traverse Town. "'We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other.'"

"How does that relate to us breaking up from Discord's influence?" Twilight asked.

"It basically means you'll never forget your true friends in your hearts," the teen said as he patted his chest. "Back in the maze, I was almost corrupted by Discord when he managed to break me after...what he showed me." Sora shuddered as he could recall the illusion the draconequus gave him, showing him what could happen with his uncontrollable darkness. "I managed to break free as my heart made me realize that what he showed me wasn't ever true or would ever happen. I heard the voices of my friends calling out to me, all of them me encouraging me to fight back against his spell, and I succeeded in fighting him off. If I did fall, then Discord could have easily won."

The girls were all lost in thought as Sora's words sank into their heads. They all looked at each other, remembering their unbreakable bond from Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom, their destinies intertwined as fillies before they ever met each other altogether.

"Heh. Ya ended up savin' all of us, Sora," Applejack said, the others agreeing with the farm pony. "Don't know what we'd do without you."

"We would have been living in a chaos crazy world that rained endless chocolate milk from cotton candy clouds!" Pinkie exclaimed. "If only Discord wasn't such a big, crazy jerk, then my dream for a candy coated world would come true."

"We're all glad you did come here, Sora," Twilight said. "Even though you're not really from here, you're just as important to us as we are to each other. Maybe you saw the sonic rainboom from your world too."

"Heheh! Not exactly, but I'm just happy to help keep your world safe." Sora stepped back down on the balcony, only to be quickly caught in a group hug by the six mares. He grinned and reached his arms around a couple of them returning the hug. "Now, how about we get back to partying? The night's still young, and I want all of us to actually be celebrating."

"Hay yeah! Let's party!" Rainbow shouted as the others cheered along with the cyan pegasus.

While the rest of the girls headed back inside to continue partying, Twilight stopped Sora before he could chase after them. "Sora, thanks for helping us."

"It's no problem. Just helping friends realize who they really are." The teen grinned while rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah...Also, I've been a little interested in your...otherworldly magical spells. Is there any way you can...teach me how to cast them, and let me take notes on them and your Drive Forms?" Twilight asked.

"...Uhh...Well..." Sora hesitated for a moment, not willing to risk showing the studious mare her Drive Forms, or else risk turning into his Anti Form. He still believed in Kairi, where he could stop himself before he lost himself, but he still had a few doubts. "...I guess I can show you the magic spells, but I think I need to recharge my Drive Gauge after using Harmony Form. It might take a while for that to happen though."

"Great! I kind of want to help if any Heartless show up, since my own magic isn't exactly all that useful and only the Keyblade could hurt them, and taking care of every single attack could wear you down if Kairi isn't here, making your time fighting a waste of-" Sora quickly pressed a hoof to Twilight's lips, ceasing her rambling.

"Learning purposes only," Sora said. "I'm not letting you or anyone else fight the Heartless. Got it?" The unicorn nodded, understanding his concerns for their safety. "Good. Now, let's keep on celebrating."

Sora and Twilight headed back inside to continue partying with their friends. Twilight was really excited to learn more about the Keyblade wielder's unique magic, but deep inside, she felt a little miserable. She was manipulated again, and the pain of losing her friends still hurt her. Discord didn't even attempt to control her by his own tricks, only letting his influence on the others take their toll on her and corrupt her from her friends leaving her and making her feel more alone than ever. As much as Sora told her she should talk about what she was feeling to him, she didn't want to be too much of a burden. She could only hope she didn't get manipulated again, otherwise she would never be the same again.

A couple of weeks had passed since Discord's defeat, and Equestria was back to its peaceful, normal self. Aside from the occasional Heartless attacks in Ponyville, it was nothing out of the ordinary. During that time, Kairi had returned after doing some patrolling in the universe, and, to Sora's delight, she brought several Gummi Blocks, just enough to make a small ship for himself, and with better pieces that won't break down or blow up on him. Though the Mane Six were fascinated and confused at the odd blocks, they did help him rebuild his ship, though they had to build it by hoof and not through the simple tools in a Gummi Garage. So far in the fourteen days, it was halfway built, and if no Heartless interrupt them, it could be fully built within the next week.

The seasons slowly began to change from summer to autumn, more clouds being pushed in and bringing a slight chill, helping decrease the temperature. And to Sora's delight, in just a few days was the holiday equivalent of his favorite time of the year; Halloween, or Nightmare Night. While taking a break from rebuilding his vessel, he had gotten the face paint and made a couple of important accessories to go along with his costume, and he turned in his outfit idea earlier in advance to Rarity. Until that day comes, it'll be exciting to see what differences are seen in Nightmare Night.

As soon as the sun rose in the sky today, Sora was up bright and early, working on building his ship. Later today, there was going to be a picnic in the park with the others, a perfect time to relax and hang out with friends. He was in the middle of figuring out which of the blocks he should fit next on the body of the ship for the cockpit to sit around, his back turned to the pink unicorn of a girlfriend as she snuck up on him. Using her magic, she covered his face with his hood, blinding him from staring at the Gummi Blocks.

"Guess who?" Kairi asked, turning him around and seeing that dopey grin on his lips.

"Is it...Donald?" Sora asked.

"Nope. Not even close." The mare giggled as he stuck his tongue out as he tried to "guess".

"Pinkie Pie?" He received a poke on the nose, obviously a wrong answer. "Pete?" Another poke. "Hmmm...I give up."

"You are such a goof." She moved in and kissed the pegasus on the lips, slowly lifting his hood off him as he kissed her back.

They broke their kiss, Sora nuzzling Kairi's snout as he chuckled. "I'm just messing around. I knew it was you because I saw the white aura."

"Well, if I use my hooves, then you're just going to throw me to the ground and 'attack' me." The couple giggled and embraced each other, Sora giving Kairi a few more kisses. After the mare got some breathing room, she looked up at the half completed Gummi ship. "Wow. It's looking good so far."

"Would have been a lot faster with a Gummi Garage, but doing this manually isn't all that bad. At least I won't have to worry about blowing up with the careful building and scare you again." Kairi rolled her eyes as Sora wrapped a wing around her. "But, maybe we can think about expanding our ships."

"Why?" Kairi asked. After a moment of silence, Kairi sighed, shaking her head. "Sora, we can't take them outside of their world."

"Try telling that to Twilight. She's asked me about learning how to use the magic we use when fighting the Heartless, but I'm only teaching her because of her curiosity." Sora rubbed his head as he groaned. "I've...kind of been delaying those lessons because she thinks she can help me fight the Heartless. I don't want any of them getting hurt, but she's a scholar who's persistent on learning...She even wants to see how my Drive Forms work after using my new Harmony Form when we stopped Discord."

"I know," Kairi said, getting many of the details about Discord's short reign on Equestria from the others. When she heard about what had happened to Sora, unable to recover from the injuries inflicted on him and nearly dying from a dangerous spell cast by the draconequus, she was understandably worried, unable to leave his side for at least a week. She hugged him tightly, pressing her cheek against his. "Why do you always get yourself into situations where you almost get killed?"

"I am a survivor. I can take on anything and live through it with a broken rib or arm." He grinned at her, trying to be comical, but seeing how serious Kairi was when she looked at him, he dropped his silly persona. "Actually, when I tried to fight Discord...it was impossible for me to even hit him. He could bend reality with just a snap of his fingers, and he knew of my worst moments where he could have broken me with his illusions." Sora could still remember that fake vision after the last couple weeks. He swallowed the lump trapped in his throat as he hugged Kairi tightly, his body shuddering at the scenario that felt more real than a nightmare. "It was like that dream I had a couple days before the island was destroyed...It was so real...I-I...I actually-"

"Sora, it wasn't real," the unicorn assured the panicked pegasus, kissing his cheek softly. "It's just a horrible nightmare, and I know you won't do anything wrong."

"I know. I just can't help but constantly worry. I was lucky my newest Drive Form didn't backfire." The couple sat in silence, holding each other tightly as Sora began to calm down a little. "I just hope my luck doesn't run out."

"It won't. You'll be fine," Kairi said. "Now, how about we get our minds off the negative and get some breakfast?"

Sora was about to retort, only for his growling stomach to answer for him. "...Well, maybe a full stomach can get my mind off things. And I can afford a day off from building my ship. To Sugarcube Corner!" he said as he pointed in the direction of town and ran on ahead.

"And he pulled a complete one-eighty just like that," Kairi sighed as she shook her head.

The unicorn hurried after him before he got too far ahead, not wanting him to leave her out with whatever the bakery had to sell for breakfast today.

Sora and Kairi walked together into town after the small race and headed for Sugarcube Corner. As they walked inside the bakery, they spotted Twilight and Spike at the counter, the baby dragon holding a long list and a quill.

"Hey, Sora and Kairi!" Spike greeted.

"Uhh, what's with the list?" Sora asked. "Grocery shopping?"

"Yes, but it's mostly a checklist," Twilight explained. "And right now, I'm waiting for the cupcakes I ordered."

Sora took a look at the list and read it out loud. "Quills. Parchment. Ink. Extra ink. Extra extra ink? Double-check checklist? Double-check the double-check checklist to triple-check?" He and Kairi looked at each other oddly, then back at the unrolled list, which rolled out of the bakery and down into Ponyville. "...Oh wow. Twilight? Is this for the whole week?"

"No! For this morning!" Both ponies' jaws dropped, looking over at Spike for confirmation, which he just simply shrugged.

"This morning?" Kairi questioned as Sora rolled the list back up. "Twilight, do you really have to put down...ten different double-checking parts just for...a few items?"

"Kairi, I know you're smart. One can never overlook perfect planning." Sora facehooved, shaking his head as Twilight was giving herself more stress.

"Here we are, Twilight," Mrs. Cake said as she brought out a box with Twilight's order.

The unicorn opened the box, filled with vanilla cupcakes with strawberry frosting. "Wait, I see thirteen. I ordered a dozen."

"There was an extra made, so it's a baker's dozen," the chubby mare giggled.

"I can fix that!" Spike said, but as he tried to reach for one of the cupcakes, Twilight dragged him away as she looked at the pastries again.

"The extra cupcake's getting icing on the others and making them completely uneven," Twilight complained, making Sora facehoof again.

"Twilight, it's just icing. That kind of stuff happens. It's not a big deal." Spike winced as he backed away, along with Kairi as a bad feeling crawled up her spine.

"Not a big deal!?" Twilight nearly shouted. "I don't want anypony else getting more icing than the other when we're at the picnic!" Using her magic, the lavender unicorn grabbed a spatula from the back of the house and began trying to even out the icing on the cupcakes. "Ok, now, I just move this over here, and that little bit there..."

While Twilight mumbled, her icing spreading slowly began to grow more wild, sending pink frosting randomly flying out from the box. Some of them managed to hit everyone except for the unicorn, her face contorting to a manic expression, too engrossed with making everything perfect. As soon as she was satisfied, all that was left on the flaky pastries was a small dollop in the center of each one, barely enough to give them any flavor from the dry mini cakes.

"...Oh dear," Mrs. Cake worried, wiping some of the icing off her face.

"Perfect!" Twilight closed the box and carried it on her back. When she looked at Spike, Sora, and Kairi, the baby dragon was covered in icing, while the two Keyblade wielders' had some on their faces. "Oops. Maybe we should add 'Give Spike a bath' on the list." Using his long, reptilian tongue, Spike licked the frosting off of him, licking his lips as he tasted what would have been part of the cupcakes. "...Still giving you a bath. That was gross. We'll see you two at the picnic later!"

The lavender unicorn trotted off happily, Spike following after her with the mile long list as they left Sora, Kairi, and Mrs. Cake, their faces and part of the bakery splattered with icing. Sora looked at Kairi and grinned, licking the pink unicorn's cheek and tasted the frosting.

"Sora!" Kairi exclaimed, blushing in embarrasment.

"What? It's good." The pegasus licked his lips, tasting more of the delicious icing.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed a few napkins, wiping her face off of the sugary frosting. "You had to lick my cheek?"

"Your fur matched the color of the icing. And you taste delicious, by the way." Kairi cleaned her goofball of a boyfriend's face of any remaining icing.

"You're a doofus." Sora crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue, receiving a poke to the snout. "But, I'm a little worried about Twilight. No one is ever that crazy with making a checklist where they have to double-check it so many times."

"Right. Let's get something to go and figure out what's up with her." After Mrs. Cake had cleaned herself of the splatter of icing Twilight made a mess of, they ordered some breakfast pastries to go and hurried after the unicorn.

Sora and Kairi entered the Golden Oak Library and found Twilight and Spike up on the second floor. They entered just in time to see them finally finishing up that long checklist, the couple snacking on some freshly made bagels.

"Ok," Spike said. "'Triple-check checklist to make sure we didn't miss anything when we double-checked the checklist.' Uhh, check!" As soon as the baby dragon checked off the last thing on the ridiculously long checklist, he winced and dropped the quill, his writing hand badly cramped up. "Agh! I've been holding that quill for so long that I got a claw cramp. Good thing we don't have to write friendship letters to the princess this week."

Twilight suddenly gasped, tackling Spike to the ground. "You mean we didn't send a friendship report to Princess Celestia this week!?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Sora asked, only to have him be tackled by the lavender unicorn.

"Bad!? BAD!? Of course it's bad!" Twilight shouted. "I'm supposed to send Princess Celestia a letter every week! Not every month, not every ten days! Every! Single! Week!"

Just as she was about to run off to find a calender, Sora grabbed Twilight's tail and pulled her back to him. "Twilight, I don't think Celestia even said anything about a due date for your letters."

"What day is it today!?" she asked.

"Tuesday," Kairi answered.

"Spike, when was the last time we sent a letter to her!?" Twilight asked in more of a panic.

"Umm...last Tuesday?" Spike walked over to one of the drawers in the room and pulled out the calander, finding the last date they sent a letter to Celestia. "Yup. Tuesday."

Twilight began to panic, trampling over Sora as she ran to the window, watching the sun move across the sky as it it was the second hand of a clock. "No! I can't let this happen! If I don't send a letter to her by the end of today...I'll be tardy!" She fell on her bed and kept whining and complaining. "She won't take my studies seriously, and she'll send me back a grade!...No, worse! She'll send me back to magic kindergarten!"

While Sora got up and rubbed his stomped on chest, Kairi grabbed Twilight's sheets with her magic and pulled them hard, sending the lavender unicorn flopping onto the ground. "Twilight, you already went through school. How can someone throw you back that far in a grade when you're being taught by Princess Celestia? When you're a fully grown mare?"

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "You won't be sent back that far in school unless you dropped out at an early age. Which I doubt ever happened."

"...You're right, Sora." Sora, Kairi, and Spike sighed in relief as the unicorn finally understood. "Which is why I'm going to find a friendship problem before sundown!" Or not, the trio falling over comically as they groaned in exasperation. "Ooh! Maybe this week I'll send a relationship problem as extra credit!"

"A what?" Sora asked.

"So, Sora, Kairi, you two having problems with your romance? Any arguments, disagreements, verbal assaults, or any dislikes toward each other that need a third party to help solve those disputes and yelling?" Twilight asked, beaming brightly as she was growing desperate.

"...Twilight," the pegasus warned, having a theory as to why she was asking those questions.

"Don't worry, Sora. I'm not going to just steal you away from Kairi. I mean, I'm not that heartless, even when I almost turned into one out of jealousy, but that's all out the window and we're just good friends who help other friends with their issues!" Sora wasn't all that sure, and neither were Kairi or Spike. "Soooooo...?"

He sighed, rubbing his forehead as he felt a headache coming on. "Twilight, Kairi and I are doing fine. No problems between us...At all."

"Are you sure?" the unicorn asked. "Is she cheating on you with Riku?"

"Twilight!" Kairi exclaimed.

"Well, nopony knows what you've been doing when you were gone, Kairi," Twilight said.

"I haven't seen Riku at all while I was gone! What is wrong with you!?" the pink unicorn shouted, completely appalled by Twilight's accusation.

"Kairi, calm down. I'll try to talk some sense into her." Sora hugged the disgruntled mare, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Go see if there are any Heartless in town, take out your anger, and join us in the park later for the picnic." Kairi wanted to argue further, and maybe smack Twilight in the face for thinking she would ever abandon Sora after everything they went through together, but she held herself back. She kissed him deeply, his hooves gently caressing her back as he returned the kiss slowly calming her. She broke the kiss and left, snatching another bagel from their take-out bag, munching on it angrily. "...Twilight, that was the stupidest thing you could ever say, and you're lucky I'm holding her back while I'm the voice of reason for Kairi."

"B-But, it's possible, right?" Sora growled, making Twilight drop the subject entirely.

"Look. You're starting to get desperate, and you're close to losing it over this stress. All your constant scheduling, wanting every single thing to be perfectly done, it's going to give you a heart attack before you're as old as Granny Smith, or even younger." Twilight murmured something, half listening while half panicking. "I'm sure Celestia would understand if you were late one day, but I know she didn't say anything about you making a report on friendship for her on a weekly basis."

"But I'm never tardy," she whispered.

"Twilight, listen, you need to relax. I think you need another vacation, though not in Pooh's storybook. I mean a real vacation, like the beach." The teen reached a hoof out, gently resting it on her shoulder. "I know you've gone through a lot, and I can tell you still feel a bit guilty about...what happened between the three of us. And after what Discord did to you and the others, you're in a lot more pain when you believed your friends had turned against you.

"I'm here to help you, in more ways than one. You have to learn to have faith in others and see your problems solved, where you never have to face them alone." Twilight looked up at him sadly. She did have some things she wanted to tell him, but after having to be saved by him several times from her own self-consciousness and manipulated state of mind. She wanted his help, she wanted to tell her how she was feeling, but she didn't want to be a constant burden to him. "...You really want to consider trying to find some friendship problem before the end of the day and face Celestia's 'wrath' for being late for an assignment for one day?" Twilight nodded, making Sora groan with those big eyes of hers pleading him to help her. "...Alright. Let's find out if anyone needs our help."

"Thank you!" Twilight yelled, hugging the pegasus tightly.

She then ran out of the library, leaving both Sora and Spike on the second floor. "This isn't going to end well for any of us, is it?" Sora asked.

"Nope," Spike said.

While Twilight and Sora wandered around Ponyville to find the unicorn a friendship problem to solve for a simple report, it ended up becoming a bit of a stressful day for her when she shouldn't be stressing out. The first pony they tried to help was Rarity, hearing her screams from inside her boutique, almost as if she was being murdered by someone. Twilight was the first to respond, bucking her door open and leap in heroically as the fashionista's savior. Apparently, Rarity's "problem" was a lost diamond encrusted purple ribbon for a dress. Before she was able to look for it, Sora found it lying on the floor, in plain sight, Rarity thanking him and went back to work.

Next was with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the two walking up to the orchard as they saw the rainbow-maned pegasus mare flying through the old barn, tearing it apart. Sora knew exactly why she was doing that, but Twilight was too quick to jump the gun and think the two mares were fighting, and Rainbow Dash was destroying Applejack's property. The unicorn had the cyan pegasus lying down on a bench, acting like a psychiatrist as she tried to help solve the mares' issues. Sora quickly intervened before she allowed Twilight to give Rainbow prescriptions for her anger issues, telling her that the barn was supposed to be torn down, and Rainbow Dash agreed to help. They watched her destroy it, creating a massive mushroom cloud of rainbow dust, sending bits of debris around them, Sora protecting him, Twilight, and Applejack nearby from the pieces of wood and metal.

Next was Fluttershy, where the unicorn figured the timid pegasus would have some kind of fear she tried to overcome. When they reached her cottage, the two of them found her out back, and to their shock, was wrestling with a grizzly bear...and was winning. Fluttershy kept tripping it up and putting it in several different holds, bending its limbs and making it pound the ground in pain. The final straw that broke them was when she twisted the bear's neck, all of them hearing a painful snap as it fell and lied prone to the ground. Twilight had left after snapping out of her bewilderment, stuck in more of a panic, while Sora was frozen solid, mouth agape, his eyes glued to what he just saw. Miraculously, the bear was still alive, Fluttershy's "wrestling" more of a massage as she cracked out the kinks in its back. As soon as she noticed Sora watching them, he fell on his side in a flabbergasted state.

After he woke up, and met with Barry the grizzly bear, who wasn't as dangerous as he thought he was, the teen ran off to find Twilight, wherever she ran off to. Luckily, she was found near the park, though not too far away from where they agreed to set up their picnic. Unfortunately, the studious unicorn looked like a wreck as she laid on the bench: her mane and tail were frazzled, tears streamed down her red and puffy eyes, and she was muttering to herself in a blind panic.

"It's fine," Sora heard her say. "The day's not over yet, but it will be soon!" Twilight looked up, watching the sun tick by and groan in frustration. "All of my advanced studies, being in Ponyville, it'll all be over. No no, Twilight! You're an excellent student! You can pull this off!" Twilight began changing attitudes like she had a split personality, though she seemed to be harbored more on her insanity. "But what if I can't? You can!" she shouted at her reflection in a puddle of her tears. "You just have to keep it together! Keep! It! TOGETHER!"

"Oh boy. She's lost it again," Sora muttered. "...Only this time, no one's mind controlling her." Spike came walking up, carrying the box of cupcakes they had ordered earlier this morning, watching Twilight glare at herself in the puddle. "Has she really focused all of her time studying and keeping a schedule?"

"Unfortunately," the baby dragon answered.

They soon heard giggling coming from across the dirt path, a group of fillies playing jump rope. Twilight stared at hem, her ear flicking randomly and her eye twitched. She was about to have a nervous breakdown, and Sora quickly intervened before she lost it, lightly smacking her cheeks.

"Twilight, wake up!" The unicorn shook her head, hyperventilating as she looked around in confusion. "You're starting to lose it. Take some deep breaths, calm down, relax."

She didn't listen to him as she looked over at the fillies playing, rubbing her delusional eyes. "Yeah, Twilight. Sora's right." Spike held out the box of cupcakes to her. "You forgot about these when you left. Just go down to the picnic, hang out with the others, and-"

"PICNIC! Wonderful idea!" Twilight shouted, snatching the box out of the baby dragon's claws and ran off to meet the others.

Sora sighed, unable to break through to her. "Spike. Letter."

"I'm on it." While Spike began writing a letter to Celestia to help Twilight bring some sense to her student's stress, Sora followed after her before she could blow something up in her frazzled, mental state

"Unbelievable!" Rarity said in shock. Kairi sat around the picnic blanket with the rest of the girls, having told them about Twilight's accusation of her cheating on Sora with Riku, both of them friends with him. "Why in Equestria would Twilight say something like that!?"

"She's apparently lost her mind," Kairi said. "I can clearly understand her being jealous of me involving my relationship with Sora, but making something up like that!? I actually wanted to slap her, almost as if she WANTED to cause a problem between us!" She drank her bottle of water, downing every last drop and crushing it in her hooves. "Until she comes back to her sanity and apologizes for trying to force Sora and I apart, I don't want to see her for the rest of the day."

She heard a thump behind her, the others gasping in shock at what was behind her. Kairi turned around to see Twilight, but before she could lash out at her, she was just as shocked as the others as she saw her appearance. The lavender mare looked like she ran through an insane asylum, became admitted into it, then escaped from it. She gave everyone a creepy smile, only making her look more out of it, accenting her messy and out of place hair. Sora walked up behind her, knowing how surprised the others were to see their friend so messed up.

"Uhh, Twi? Ya'll alright, hun?" Applejack asked.

"No! I'm not alright!" Twilight shouted, on the verge of tears. "It's just awful. I really really need your help before the worst happens!"

"Well, what is it, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked as the others were concerned about her well being.

"Twilight's freaking out because she didn't send a friendship letter to Celestia this week and thinks she'll be sent to magic kindergarten for missing a whole day, even though the princess didn't even say she had to send one every week," Sora answered for the unicorn before she could delay the true reason any further.

The rest of the girls just stared at Twilight in silence, Kairi rubbing her forehead as she began to get frustrated. "Seriously, Twilight? You're still going on about this stupid thing?"

"It's not stupid, Kairi!" Twilight shouted. "My whole life depends on it!"

"Failing an assignment is not the end of the world, Twilight! Your constant stress and looking at worst case scenarios are making you completely insane!" Kairi stood up and approached Twilight. "No one will ever take you seriously if you keep following those stupid, overblown checklists and worry about failure! That's life, Twilight! Life's not meant to be followed perfectly to a schedule! Things happen, mistakes are made, and you forget about it! Quit being so pessimistic and get your nose out of those stupid books you hoard yourself under!"

The picnic was quiet as the two unicorns leered at each other. Sora could feel a confrontation coming up, between a mentally unstable scholar and a princess who was furious as said scholar accused her of cheating on the boy she loved. Before he could step in, he was too late as Twilight was the first to act, punching Kairi hard in the face and staggering her backward. The others gasped in shock as the pink unicorn turned her head back to face Twilight, rubbing her sore cheek.

"Don't you dare mock me, you useless excuse of a princess," Twilight growled, only further agitating Kairi.

"...Oh, useless, am I?" the pink unicorn questioned. "I'll show you useless you bookworm!"

The two unicorns soon began fighting as they kicked up dust around them. "Twilight, Kairi, stop!" Sora jumped in to try and stop Kairi while Applejack and Rainbow Dash helped pull Twilight away. "Kairi, I know you're still mad at Twilight, but you don't have to instigate a fight!"

"She hit me first!" his girlfriend shouted. "Are you seriously siding with her over me!?"

"I'm on no one's side! I'm trying to stop the both of you from killing each other when Twilight believes her problem really is serious and you yelling at her isn't helping with her mental state right now!" Sora pulled Kairi far enough away from the group while they tried to calm Twilight down, the pegasus turning his girlfriend around and force her to look at him. "Kairi, Twilight's been a student all her life. She's far too focused on being a grade 'A' student, putting that logic before relaxing for anything. You saw how much of a wreck she was after she came back to her senses after Maleficent manipulated her. She takes everything seriously, including a small assignment that isn't all that important for anything.

"She's still struggling and suffering, still learning about friendship and an emotional mess after being manipulated not once, but twice. She's still hurting, desperately needing her friends' help, including ours." Kairi pouted and looked away from Sora. "I understand how you felt about that hurtful comment she made back in the library. I was just as mad as you were. But Twilight's not like us, where we can let some bygones be bygones."

"She's just so frustrating to deal with," Kairi muttered. "Not one person can actually dedicate their lives to being perfectly organized, studious, and on time with everything. She needs to learn to grow up and quit freaking out over everything."

"Just take a breather, walk around Ponyville a little, and calm down. I'll try to bring Twilight back to Equestria, then everything will go back to normal. Ok?" The unicorn hesitated, but she slowly nodded. He hugged her tightly, peppering her neck with kisses. "Good. And don't worry. I'll get her to apologize after she realizes she went a little nuts."

"It's gonna take a long while before I talk to her again after all this. She so much as tries to punch me again or make up dumb rumors about me, I will zap her with Thunder." Sora lifted a hoof up to her head and began scratching one of her ears. "...What are you doing?"

"Calming you down by scratching your ear...Is it working?" While flicking her ear away from his hoof, she couldn't but smile a little, unable to hide a grin whenever Sora does anything silly.

"If by working, you mean slightly annoying...then yes." Taking her boyfriend's advice, Kairi went for a walk, staying far enough away from Twilight until she was brought back to her senses.

Sora headed back to the others, but there was no sign of Twilight anywhere. "Uhh, guys? Where's Twilight?"

"We tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't listen and teleported away somewhere," Rainbow said.

"What!? Where did she go!?" Sora asked.

Down at the other end of the park, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were busy having fun, playing catch with a ball. Unbeknownst to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a pair of purple eyes as small as pinpricks stared at them, twitching slightly under the guise of a bush. Twilight poked her head up from the foliage, a birds nest resting on her head, looking more desperate and insane than before.

"If I can't find a friendship problem..." Using her magic, she pulled up an old, ragged looking gray donkey doll wearing a pair of blue pants with white polka dots. "I'll make a friendship problem. Genius, Twilight. Pure. Genius." The crazed unicorn teleported into their boll, popping it and freaking the fillies out. "Hi, girls!"

"Twilight? What are you doing here?" Scootaloo asked.

"I'm fine! Just great actually!" Twilight's eye twitched, completely ignoring the question. "In fact, I'm sure a couple of GOOD FRIENDS like you three are practically inseparable! But not for long." She held the doll up in front of the confused Crusaders. "This is Smarty Pants! She was mine when I was your age, and now I want to give her to you three! Isn't that exciting!?"

"...Uhh, Twilight? Are you ok?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yeah, ya seem a little-" Twilight continued ignoring them, holding out a small notebook and a toy quill.

"And look! She comes with her own quill and notebook!" The lavender unicorn hovered the notepad to Scootaloo and stuck the quill over Sweetie Belle's ear. "That way, you can make sure she 'pretends' to do her homework!" Twilight began laughing with insanity, tilting her head awkwardly and scaring the fillies. "I only hope she won't be a problem, seeing as there's three of you and only one of her, and I don't want to cause a rift between GOOD FRIENDS!"

"...Twilight, I think you've gone crazy," Scootaloo voiced all three of their opinions. "As much as we...like Smarty Pants, none of us actually want her."

Twilight began to panic, her brain running a marathon as she tried to think of something as the sun was beginning to descend. Finally finding an idea, she turned back to the fillies, holding Smarty Pants up before her.

"Oh, you three are going to LOVE Smarty Pants, whether you want to or not!" Her horn began to glow as she began to cast a spell.

"Twilight, what are you doing!?" Twilight turned around just as her spell was fully charged, aiming a beam of magic that struck Sora as she called out to her. He fell to the ground, thankfully unharmed, though unsure of what spell he was hit with. As he looked up to the unicorn, she seemed to have snapped out of her insanity, staring at him in fear. "...What? What happened to me?"

"Sora, don't let anypony see you!" It was too late as the Cutie Mark Crusaders noticed the teen, though they began staring at him strangely.

"Twilight, what were you trying to do?" Sora asked.

"Ah want him," Apple Bloom said, her eyes turning into hearts.

"I need him," Scootaloo said dreamily.

"I really love his mane!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

"...Uhhh..." The three fillies ran up to him and crowded him, grabbing onto his forelegs.

"Hey, he's mine!" Sweetie shouted at the others.

"No way! I saw him first! He's my coltfriend!" Scootaloo argued back.

"Twilight!? Answers!?" Sora fell to the ground as they pulled him down hard, the fillies fighting on top of him while some of them tried to sneak a nuzzle or a peck on his cheek. "I love these three to death, but not like this!"

He quickly flew up out of their reach, the fillies jumping up to try to reach him as Twilight began to panic, dropping her Smarty Pants doll. "Oh no. This wasn't supposed to happen!"

While Sora hovered in the air, he didn't notice Ponyville's mailmare, a gray pegasus mare with blonde hair known as Derpy Hooves, fly by. As ditzy as her name was, she's always a hard working pony, even if she makes a lot of mistakes. The moment Derpy saw the teen, she was struck by the spell cast on him, her misaligned eyes replaced with hearts as she dove in after him.

"MY MUFFIN!" The mare tackled the Keyblade wielder and sent him falling back to the ground hard.

The fillies clambered on top of him and began fighting with Derpy over him. "This is worse than being chased around for those Gala tickets." Sora squeezed his way off of the mare and fillies, running up to Twilight. "Twilight, what did you hit me with!?"

"I-I'm sorry! I casted a Want-it Need-it spell, but it was meant for my doll! I just wanted to make a friendship report so badly that I...I wanted to make a friendship problem as a desperate resort!" Sora wanted to be mad at Twilight, but he had to focus on avoiding the enchanted females pining for him.

"Please tell me you can reverse this!" he pleaded as he leapt over Derpy, the gray mare sliding across the ground as she missed.

"Just hold still, I can cast the counter spell!" Before Twilight could even get the chance, Big Macintosh walked along the park to get Apple Bloom, only to be affected by the spell.

As soon as Sora landed, the red farm stallion charged into him, his eyes now hearts under the influence of the enchantment cast on him. "Howdy, Sora."

"Oh no. It affects stallions too!?" The teen felt Big Mac's hooves trying to unzip his jacket, thankfully failing because of his big hooves, but this felt more awkward than when he turned into a mare and he saw his newly changed behind. "I need an adult!"

"Ah am an adult," the hypnotized stallion replied.

"NOT LIKE THAT!" Sora quickly flipped Big Macintosh off of him and fled, the stallion unfazed and took chase after him along with Derpy and the Crusaders.

Twilight quickly chased after them, freaking out more as she just turned Sora into a magnet where anyone except for her is infatuated with him and want him. As he kept running or flying off, he caught the attention of a majority of the town, everypony leaping up at him and trying to drag him down to fight over him. The rest of her friends heard the commotion from the picnic spot, wondering what was going on.

"What in the name of all things oats and apples is goin' on around here!?" Applejack asked, right as Sora fell to the ground next to them after being tackled by more pegasi mares.

Before any of them could be charmed by the spell cast on him, Twilight quickly diverted their eyes away from him. "No! Don't look at Sora!"

"Why? What's happening?" Fluttershy asked.

"I accidentally shot a spell on him that was meant for my doll, and now everypony's crowding him, unable to resist him!" Twilight said as she tried to aim her horn at the dogpiled teen, but couldn't get a clear shot of him. "I was so desperate to make my friendship report that I wanted to make a friendship problem, and the day's nearly over!"

"Uhh, actually..." Applejack pointed up at the sky, the sun slowly setting on the horizon as it began to turn to night.

Twilight sank to the ground, her time was up as the day ended. She failed to turn in a report on time, and she was sure to be in a lot of trouble.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" Appearing above Ponyville in a flash of light, Princess Celestia hovered down as she looked at the carnage of ponies fighting down below.

Her horn glowed as she dispelled the enchantment on Sora, the ponies all ceasing their fighting as they looked around in confusion. Looking at the center of the circle, they found Sora lying on the ground in a daze, his eyes spinning in his head while he was covered in bruises from being roughed around. They soon dispersed and headed back to town, not wanting to speak of this again, Big Macintosh picking up Smarty Pants where Twilight dropped her, running back to the farm to hide it. The alicorn landed and approached Twilight, looking down at her with disappointment.

"P-Princess...?" Twilight shuddered as she awaited the scolding she would receive.

"I wish to speak with you in the library. Now." Celestia walked off, the lavender unicorn's head hung low as she sadly trudged along behind her.

As the others watched Twilight leave as she was prepared to suffer whatever punishment she would get, Kairi came back after her calming walk, spotting Sora on the ground while badly beaten. "...Uhh, did I miss anything?"

(Roxas)

Twilight sat on the balcony of the library, leaning over the railing, now calmed down from her manic state. She didn't get in any trouble at all, only making herself look foolish. Sora was right when Celestia told her that she didn't have to send her a friendship report every week after telling her mentor why she went crazy, and the princess herself specifically said only "when" she found something about friendship to send her at any time. Her friends barged in to try to help Twilight, pleading to Celestia that they were to blame for not helping the lavender unicorn with her problem, even if it wasn't life-threatening or dangerous. She gave them all a "punishment"; if any of them find an important lesson they learned on friendship, that one pony who discovered it will write a letter to the alicorn and give them their own reports.

Because of her spell, with everyone in town chasing Sora around and trampling him repeatedly as they fought over him, the stallion was badly bruised, but he was relatively ok. She had no clue where her old doll disappeared to, but since Smarty Pants was pretty old, maybe it was best to let go of her old toy, though who would want to take it was beyond her. If the Cutie Mark Crusaders didn't like her, then who did?

"So, you back to being normal, finally?" Twilight yelped as she heard Kairi next to her, leaning against the railing with no warning of her coming into the library.

"H-How did you get up here?" she asked.

"I climbed up. Being a Keyblade wielder, my stamina's increased more and I can pull off some feats I couldn't before." Both unicorns stood in awkward silence, Twilight lowering her head as she felt stupid for causing so much trouble for everyone. "Hopefully you realize that you shouldn't worry about every single thing that goes on in your life."

"...I do now...I'm sorry." Twilight didn't need to look at Kairi, knowing she still doesn't fully trust her. It was obvious the pink mare wouldn't after she had made an accusation about the couple's romantic life ending because of her selfless desperation to make a friendship report. "I really am stupid. Every single thing I've been doing in the past couple months has been nothing but mistakes and constantly panicking over the smallest things..."

"And what you said earlier today. Was that because you still have feelings for Sora after you've told me you finally got over it while also getting that 'relationship report' you were desperate to send?" Kairi asked.

"No...I don't think I deserve anypony after something like today..." Twilight looked at Kairi, flinching as she saw the stern glare she still held. "...I really am sorry, Kairi...I just...I didn't want to fail...I don't want anypony see me as a failure...but I have. So many times..." Tears began to well in the unicorn's eyes as she looked away. "I wanted to give up finding a way to stop Nightmare Moon when Princess Celestia didn't believe me about her return. I couldn't find the spark to awaken the Elements of Harmony, and Sora helped me find it. I kept my feelings for him inside after I heard about you and him, and I let it eat away at me until my conflictions were ripe for Maleficent to control me and almost kill the both of you.

"I even failed to stop the chaos Discord left, failed to save my friends, failed Equestria, the princess, even myself!" Twilight's tears streamed down her face. Kairi dropped her glare, hearing the depressed mare let out more and more insecurities about herself. "I'm intellectual when it comes to science, math, magic, history, anything you can read in a book...but I'm not smart...when it comes to doing things on my own...I-I always...needed somepony around...to help me...Spike's been the one who's kept me on track as he got older...I know I annoy him with my perfect organizational schedules, but he knows I'm practically useless without his help...

"And Sora...He helped me, even after what I said to you two...I don't deserve him as a friend after every selfless he's done to try and help me..." Kairi felt awful and pitied her.

Twilight has so many internal issues she struggles to try and solve on her own, but like today, they only festered until they got worse as she relied on her strive for perfection as a pacifier to keep her sane. It only did the opposite, stressing her out more to where she lost her mind and grew desperate to keep that perfection, even when it was impossible. And since she keeps them to herself, she has to be coaxed to tell others how she's feeling in order for her to finally let go of her struggles, to know that she doesn't have to be independent all the time and that it was ok to rely on friends or loved ones to help when she's ever in trouble. But during this afternoon, when the others didn't worry like Twilight had, she felt like she was all alone on this and no one would take her seriously.

Sora told Kairi about how Twilight got her cutie mark, actually seeing her at a young age go on a study binge in a book that held hers and the other mares' memories on how they got their cutie marks. She was so devoted to studying that it was pretty much all she did for a living in her youth. Books upon books upon books, reading every single piece of literature her hooves could grab, never taking a break from her work to hang out with friends or have fun. And after being manipulated twice, one over her chance of finding love with Sora and the other over her friends leaving her and driving her crazy while they were under Discord's influence, she's now afraid to lose those friends, or be taken advantage of by someone again.

"...Twilight..." Kairi reached out and hugged Twilight, gently patting her back in the comforting hug. "I'm sorry, too."

"W-What? Why?" Twilight questioned.

"For not realizing you're struggling a lot more than I thought." Twilight was still confused as Kairi pulled back from the friendly embrace. "You're still keeping your problems bottled up. If you just told us you were having serious issues about yourself, and not with an unimportant assignment, then maybe we all would understand. You have some bad self-esteem issues, but that doesn't mean we're going to shun you because YOU think you're a failure and we would think the same thing.

"Sora and Riku both have things they're afraid to tell me, but they know I'm not going to turn them down just because of one thing that threatens to ruin our friendships," Kairi explained. "I mean, Sora had a huge secret he didn't want anyone to know because he was afraid of being rejected by everyone, and he didn't want to risk hurting me."

"...What secret?" Twilight asked, unaware that the goof of a stallion actually had an internal struggle aside from telling Kairi his love for her.

"That's something only he will open up to when he wants to." The lavender mare stared at the pink mare in more confusion, her words contradicting themselves. "I know what you're thinking, but his secret is a lot bigger than yours, so he has every right hide it until the time is right. The point I'm getting at, Twilight, is to not be afraid of telling someone what you're scared to talk about. It's scary just to try and say it, but it's better to let it all out sooner rather than later some years down the line."

"...So...you're not mad at me anymore? After...I told you what I felt just now?" Twilight asked.

"Not as badly as this morning or at the picnic, but I've simmered down enough to keep myself from blowing up in rage," Kairi said. "It's going to take me a while to completely forget about that remark, but we're still friends." She patted Twilight's shoulder before leaping up onto the railing. "Try to get some sleep. And...try to stay away from the books for a while. All this stress is going to give you gray hairs."

"...I'll try," Twilight muttered as she watched Kairi leap down and head off to her Gummi ship outside of town.

Back alone on her balcony, Twilight sighed as she looked up at the night sky. She still felt guilty about everything, but at least Kairi didn't get back at her as she expected her to do after both thinking she was going behind Sora's back with Riku and punching her after being told to stop freaking out and relax. In some way, she deserve to get hit back harder, but Kairi was far stronger than her, both physically and mentally. She probably needed another vacation, far from her studies and books before she ended up snapping again.

Growing tired, she walked back in her room to get some sleep. Nightmare Night was only a few days away, and she figured until the holiday comes, she would just be lazy until then. Just lay in bed, sleep, eat, do something that didn't involve studying or reading a novel. Be as aloof as Sora or Rainbow Dash and destress.

"...I have no idea how Rainbow Dash can stand lying around for hours and nap all day," she complained. "Relaxing's going to be harder than I thought..."

Tonight was Nightmare Night, and Ponyville was bustling with excitement of the scariest holiday of the year. As soon as night was about to fall, everypony set up the decorations, bringing a horror themed feel to the town, along with stands with spooky, yet tasty, food, games, and once that's all done, they got into their costumes. As the light of the sun sank in the horizon, colts and fillies in their outfits ran around, accompanied by a chaperone as they ran around trick-or-treating.

Sora was in his room at the Apple farmhouse, his door closed as he put on his costume and applied some added features to match his outfit from Halloween Town. They matched his casual clothing, though they were more darker, the shoulders of his black costume's jacket gray, a pair of small black bat wings on his upper back. On his forehooves, he wore white gloves with fake clawed fingers, and on his back forehooves were a pair of black pointed shoes, black and red bandages wrapped around his hind legs.

To accent his ghastly appearance, he dyed his mane and tail a little darker, as well as painted the upper part of his face black, making it look like his eyes were peering in the darkness. As soon as the dye and face paint was dried, he put on a small jack o' lantern mask over his right eye. The mask had two pointed horns at the top, its teeth were jagged and out of place in a grin, and its right eye was green, the left one scarred as if it was cut out. For the piece de resistance, he put a pair of fake fangs in his mouth, giving his jaws a few test chomps, fitting perfectly with his now flat teeth. He looked over at himself in the mirror, staring at himself in his Halloween Town as a pegasus stallion.

"Yeah. Perfect!" Sora hissed at himself, showing off the fake fangs while trying to look scary. Admittedly, the goofy orange mask over his eye seemed to ruin the illusion of him looking like some double winged vampire, but this was what he had when he entered the holiday world. "Wait until the girls see me."

"Sora! Are ya done yet!?" Apple Bloom asked outside of his closed door.

"You're taking forever!" Scootaloo called out impatiently. "All the good candy's gonna be given away!"

"Oh, I'm ready, little girls," Sora said in a creepy voice, creeping up to the door and turning off his lamp. He slowly pushed the door open and hid in the shadows, seeing the Cutie Mark Crusaders in their costumes: Sweetie Belle was dressed like a real vampire, Scootaloo was a werewolf, and Apple Bloom was the bride of Frankenstein. "Ready to sink my fangs into little fillies who's bold enough to face...ME!"

He leapt out of the shadows and hissed, the fillies screaming in fright and running down the stairs. It was all in good fun though, for tonight was a night of fear, terror, hauntings, spooks, and free candy. As he pranced downstairs, hearing the fillies giggling with delight, they got a better look at the teen's costume.

"Wow, Sora, your costume would have been a little scarier without that silly mask over your face," Sweetie Belle commented.

"What? It's part of my costume." He tilted the mask a little to easily keep his right eye covered, though he was able to see through it thanks to a little magical enchantment by Twilight. "And if you make fun of the pumpkin mask I worked hard on, I'm gonna steal all your candy and devour it in front of you."

"No way! That's our candy!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

Suddenly, a knocking came from the front door of the farm house. Sora opened the door and saw a group of colts and fillies in random costumes, along with Pinkie Pie in a chicken costume.

"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!" they all chanted, holding bags and pumpkin-shaped buckets as they begged for candy.

"Well, happy Nightmare Night!" Sora grabbed the nearby bowl of candy for the trick-or-treaters, giving some candy to the foals, but when Pinkie popped up with her own bucket, he hesitated. "Pinkie, aren't you a bit too old to be doing this?"

"You're never too old for free candy!" Pinkie said. "Now, enough chit-chat! Time is candy!"

"...I think you've had enough sugar...for a decade." He pulled out some candy, but instead of giving it to the sugar-crazed party pony in the chicken suit, he dropped it in a small white earth pony colt's bag, dressed like a pirate.

"Hey! No fair!" Pinkie tried to leap for the candy, only for Sora to shut the door on her, making her hit the wall.

After placing the bowl back on the small table nearby, he opened the door and let the Crusaders out, joining the rest of the group he agreed to chaperone. At least Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon weren't a part of the group, probably engorging on their own expensive candy while having a party wherever they lived. As he closed the door, Pinkie was still glued to where she slammed into it headfirst, finally sliding down it and plopping to the ground.

"Come on, everyone! Let's get some candy!" The foals all cheered as they ran on ahead, eager to get more candy. One of them, the small pirate colt, ended up tripping over his hooves and dropped the toy sword he had in his mouth. Sora helped him up, noticing he had some brown spots on parts of his coat. "You ok, little buddy?"

"Yeah! I'm just so excited since this is my first ever Nightmare Night!" the colt said with a cockney accent. "Well, my first Nightmare Night in Ponyville."

"Oh. Where you from?" Sora asked as they hurried after the rest of the group.

"Trottingham! My name's Pipsqueak. Pipsqueak the Pirate!" the colt introduced himself.

"Name's Sora." Pipsqueak gasped in surprise.

"Wait. You mean the same Sora my classmates talked about, with a sword shaped like a big key!?" Pipsqueak asked. "No way! I'm being chaperoned by a hero of Equestria!"

"Hero? Against Discord?" Pipsqueak nodded enthusiastically. "Oh boy. Guess there were some ponies who saw me fighting against that guy. I wonder what the new window looks like at the castle."

As the two caught up with the group, they walked along the road to other houses to get some more free candy. Sora noticed all the decorations hung up around Ponyville, seeing some stands set up for refreshments, a DJ booth where some ponies were dancing to the music playing out in the square, some games involving a spider toss and pumpkin chunking. The next house they came up to was the Golden Oak Library, the kids all shouting the same chant to get some candy, surprising Spike as he opened the door.

Sora had to roll his eyes at the baby dragon's idea of a good costume; a purple dragon...which he already was. It would have been hilarious if his costume was black and purple, he'd look like a chubbier, smaller version of Maleficent in her dragon form. He spewed out green flames just like she did, though if they were actually related, Sora would lose his mind. Spike went to get the candy while Twilight took his place, wearing a wizard's costume littered with stars, bells jingling off the end of the hat, and wearing a fake white beard.

"Sora? Is that you?" Twilight asked.

"No, I'm Big Macintosh with bat wings." The foals all laughed at his joke as they got their candy from the baby dragon dressed as a baby dragon. "Uhh, Twilight? Why do you look like my Master Yen Sid, only without all the stars and bells?"

"I'm Star Swirl the Bearded," she replied, only getting confused looks from the teen and the foals around him. "Father of the amniomorphic spells?" Still no response. "The famous unicorn wizard who made at least a thousand different spells in his lifetime?" Nothing. "Seriously!? How do you not know about him!?"

"...Maybe it's because I'm not exactly from here, Twilight. You kids know who Star Swirl is, kids?" Sora asked.

"No!" they all replied, making the lavender unicorn groan.

"Welp, we're all unedumacated! Let's all call you Grandpa Twilight!" The foals all laughed at the silly name, Twilight sighing in defeat as she murmured to herself. "So, where's Kairi? I haven't seen her in the last few days after that weird spell."

"She's here...getting ready," Twilight said. "Though why she chose something like that for a costume..."

"Hey, I didn't know Halloween came early around here, so I didn't have much time to plan on a costume!" Sora heard Kairi shout from inside the library. "Besides, I think he'll find me irresistible."

"She bought a costume from a store?" Sora asked.

"And some face paint." Soon, Kairi came walking out of the library, making Sora's jaw drop at what she was wearing.

"Hi, Sora." Kairi stood in the doorway, wearing a cat costume. She was in a white, furry body suit that matched the fur of a feline, a fake tail hanging off the end while her real tail was stuffed in the suit. She wore white cat paws on her hooves and a pair of cat ears over her own, her face painted to look like a cat's nose and whiskers. She raised up one of her hooves, looking cute as she made Sora's slightly darkened cheeks turn bright red. "Meow."

"...Woof?" the pegasus squeaked, too speechless to offer an actual response.

"Interesting costume design, Sora." The white and pink "feline" approached the blushing stallion, the foals all backing away from the couple as Kairi brushed her fur against Sora's. "Though, I don't think you're some kind of dog. What are you supposed to be?"

"...A-A uhhh...v-vampire?" Kairi looked back at the fake bat wings behind his shoulders, then down to his ruffled pegasus wings at his sides as he stood flustered by her kitty costume.

"I see. And, does this specific vampire you decided to dress up as have a weakness to pretty kitties?" Kairi asked, fluttering her eyes.

"...Meep." Sora fell on his back, frozen like a statue, almost feeling his heart stop at the gesture.

"That answers that question," the pink unicorn giggled.

After Sora's fainting spell, the group of foals, baby dragon, and the adults/teens headed off to the square to enjoy some of the attractions in the square. Thankfully, many of the kids were busy snacking on some of their candy or playing the games held for the holiday, keeping them in the stallion's sight. Out of all their friends who are taking part in the festivities, Rarity and Fluttershy couldn't attend, the former too exhausted from all the orders she's made for Nightmare Night, while the latter was greatly terrified by the holiday. Applejack was out near her farm, dressed as a scarecrow, while Rainbow Dash was seen flying around the air with a storm cloud, scaring random ponies with a storm cloud as she wore a Shadowbolt costume, the same pegasi that they ran into back in the Everfree Forest.

With Nightmare Night in full swing, it was about time for something that Sora and Kairi were surely new to; hearing how the holiday began. The mayor had called for all the foals to come forward to the stage as Zecora would tell them a tale of Nightmare Moon. The zebra wore a dark cloak, but to everyone's surprise, her hair was draped down instead of in her usual mohawk style, fake spiders clipped to her hair like it was a spider web. It was the first time Kairi had seen and met her, and was a bit curious when she spoke in rhymes.

The foals, Sora, and Kairi followed Zecora toward the Everfree Forest, Pinkie Pie trailing behind them while acting like the animal she's dressed up as. Thankfully, it wasn't a dangerous part of the forest as they walked up to a statue of Nightmare Moon. Zecora pulled out a small bag, pouring some green dust into her hoof.

"Listen close, my little dears, I'll tell you where you got your fears. Of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary. Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary." She blew the dust, shrouding everyone in a green mist, making the scenery of the forest more eerie as the foals shuddered in fright. "Every year, we put on a disguise, to save ourselves from her searching eyes." Through the mist, a pair of eyes and razor sharp teeth appeared behind some of the foals, the image of the Mare in the Moon forming from the green mist. They saw the terrifying alicorn and screamed, fleeing from the illusion. "But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing: to gobble up ponies in one quick swing!

"Hungrily, she soars the sky." Zecora blew more powder to continue her magical illusion as the first wave of it disappeared. Mist Nightmare Moon appeared, but began searching around for the foals right in front of her, unable to see them. "If she sees nopony, she passes by. So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe for another year."

The mist illusion flew up into the air, failing to find any of the foals and disappeared into the night sky. Green sparkle exploded from Mist Nightmare Moon, slowly floating down on the fillies and colts.

"Wow. That's a scary story," Kairi said, huddled close to Sora.

"Yeah, but Nightmare Moon's gone," Sora said. "We turned Princess Luna back to normal. Come to think of it, I haven't heard anything about her from Celestia since we saved her. I hope Luna's doing alright."

"Umm, Miss Zecora?" Pipsqueak asked, approaching the zebra. "If we wear our costumes to hide from Nightmare Moon so we don't get gobbled up, how come we still have to give her some of our candy?"

"A perfect question, my little friend. For Nightmare Moon you must not offend." Zecora blew out some more of her mist as the Nightmare Moon illusion flew up into the air. "Fill up her belly with a treat or two, so she won't return...to come eat you!"

The misty alicorn dove forward and opened her carnivorous maw, chomping down on the tiny earth pony colt as she exploded into mist. "AHHH! Everypony dump your candy and run!" Pinkie shouted as she lead the young ponies to dropping some candy in front of the statue.

"This is a weird tradition," Sora commented.

Suddenly, a light shone from the full moon above them as something began flying down toward them. From the moonlight, it looked like a pair of pegasus stallions pulling a chariot, a hooded figure riding on it. What was odd about these pegasi was that they seemed to also be part bat by the look of their wings. They flew down low, everyone ducking as whoever was on that chariot was heading straight for Ponyville.

"Sora, who was that?" Kairi asked.

"I don't know, but if their shrouded by a cloak, then they might be bad news. Come on!" Sora ran on ahead with Kairi, leaving Zecora and Pinkie with the foals.

While the Keyblade wielders ran, they were overtaken by Pinkie and the group of foals as they screamed in terror past them. The rest of the town looked up as they heard lightning strike from above, watching the chariot fly in over Ponyville. The figure leapt down from their ride, spreading its wings as it looked down on the other ponies with its eyes glowing white. Everyone began to panic as the figure unveiled their face concealed by their hood. To Sora's surprise, the figure was a blue alicorn mare, her mane waving in an invisible breeze like Celestia's, only her hair was like the night sky, a dark blue with small white stars inside. On top of her head was a black tiara, obviously a princess.

The ponies all bowed in fear as the alicorn stepped forward, her cloak turning into a flock of bats, fluttering off in the distance. "Is she...evil?" Kairi asked.

"No way." Sora squinted his eyes, getting a better look at the mare intimidating everyone. He recognized the crescent moon cutie mark on the splotch of black on her flanks, the same mark that Celestia's younger sister, Luna, had. "Is that Princess Luna? She hit a big growth spurt in the last few months.

"Citizens of Ponyville!" Luna said with a booming voice at was almost deafening. "We have graced your village with our presence for you to behold the princess of the night! We are a pony who seeks your love and admiration, no longer the demon who wishes to terrorize! Together, we shall turn this holiday of dreariness into a glorious feast in our name!"

"Oh no! Nightmare Moon said she's going to feast on us all! EVERYPONY PANIC!" Pinkie screamed, causing everyone else, including the foals around her, to scream in fear.

"What!?" Luna exclaimed in shock "Neigh, children! You do not need to fear us anymore! Your princess desires screams of delight, not fear!" No one listened to her as they continued screaming in terror. The princess approached the mayor, who was wearing a clown costume that made her look creepier than Sora. "Mayor Mare, they princess of the night hath arrived!" She tried to reach a hoof out to shake the mayor's hoof, only for the older mare to flinch and cower in fear. Confused, she tried to reach a hoof out to the others, only to have them react in the same way. "W-Why do you still fear me? I-I am not..."

Though many of the other ponies had looked away from Luna in fear, Sora and Kairi could see the painful expression on the alicorn's face. She held back the tears welling in her eyes as she stormed away from the town, away from all the ponies that shunned her out of fear.

"Is she ok?" Kairi asked.

"I don't think she is. Luna...had almost been engulfed by the darkness a few months ago, when she came back from being banished after a thousand years. Saving her seemed to be one of those little objectives of mine when Master Yen Sid sent me here for more training. She's actually lived with that darkness close to engulfing her heart, but the Elements of Harmony had kept that darkness from getting closer for a millennium." Kairi's jaw dropped as they watched Luna stomp down to the park. "She's not bad now, but no one else thinks so.

"I'll see if I can cheer her up. Go to Twilight and try to help her convince the others that Luna's not the Mare in the Moon anymore." Kairi nodded, the two splitting up to help the young alicorn sister fit in and convince everyone else Luna was not who she was anymore.

As Sora entered the park, he began to search for the alicorn. Luckily, the area was pretty empty since all of Ponyville was in the town celebrating the holiday. Luna was sitting by herself in an empty field of grass, poking around at the blades beneath her hooves. She seemed really upset, understandably so after everyone freaked out, with no help from Pinkie Pie as she caused the chain reaction of screams and fear.

"Hey, Luna!" The pegasus approached the princess, looking over in his direction. "It's been a while. You look...very different."

"...Dost we know thou?" Luna asked, not finding Sora recognizable.

"It's me, Sora. Back when the girls and I saved you?" He lifted up the pumpkin mask covering his eye. "I'm wearing a costume, a little outfit I would always end up in when I ended up in a certain world. Like it?"

"...Thou hast two pairs of wings, wearing two different types of hoofwear, one pair looking like claws unfit for equines and the other making thou look like a jester, false canines in thy maw, and a cardboard drawing of an orange fruit with a face that has no purpose to fit with thine outfit." Sora wilted as Luna had criticized his costume more than admired it.

"Well, that's a bit...harsh." He chuckled, putting the mask back down over his eye. "Anyway, odd criticism aside, you doing ok?"

"We are not," the blue alicorn sadly said. "Our subjects fear us still, even though the Nightmare has been expelled from our heart...Our sister thought it was a good idea to have us appear in Ponyville to celebrate this holiday...A night of...lies, and slander of us."

"...Uhh, 'our'?" Sora asked as he questioned her way of speaking. "Are you speaking in some olden language?"

"Yes. It is how we spoke one thousand years ago," Luna said. "And we use the Royal Canterlot Voice to address our subjects in the traditional royal 'we'!"

Sora was nearly blown off his hooves by Luna's booming voice. "Ahh! I think I've gone deaf!" He shook his head, his hearing slowly coming back to him. "I think I know one reason why everyone thinks you're intimidating: that Royal Canterlot Voice of yours."

"And what is the problem with our voice!?" Luna asked in her loud voice.

"You sound like a drill sergeant terrorizing a litter of newborn puppies." Sora dug a hoof in his ear as he almost went deaf again. "We can fix that. And maybe get you out of speaking in Ye Olde Equestrian."

"T-Thou would...help me?" the princess asked. "But, after what we had done to thee-"

"You weren't yourself, and the girls and I rescued you from what you became. I'm more than happy to help, and we'll get you fitting in to the new era after a whole thousand years." Luna nodded her head, wanting to be liked by her subjects instead of feared. She had heard of how friendly Sora was from Celestia, and if there was anyone that could help her, it was him. "Now, let's start with a simple greeting. Hello, my name is Sora."

"Greetings, subjects, thou art thine princess of the night, Luna!" The pegasus fell on his back after being shoved from Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice.

"...Ok. Good start, but still too loud." He sat back up, his mask somehow turned over to the back of his head. "Try to drop the booming voice this time and repeat how I spoke, only introducing yourself and not calling yourself Sora." Sora chuckled at the last correction, though he would have found it comical if Luna really did repeat what he had said. "Try again."

"Ok...H-Hello, we art Princess Luna," Luna tried to repeat, thankfully a little softer, but still speaking in the old language.

"A little better. You're getting it. One more time," Sora said.

"...Hello, my name is...Luna?" she said in slight confusion, finding it odd to speak like her subjects of today.

"There we go! Perfect!" As he praised her, Luna snatched the stallion in her forelegs and gave him a back breaking hug.

"Oh, joy!" Luna said as she reverted back to her Royal Canterlot Voice. "We thank thee, oh hero of our world and soul! Our normal speech shall win the adoration of our loyal subjects!

Sora hung limply in Luna's legs, feeling like his entire spine was turned to mush. While dazed, Pinkie Pie and the group of foals ran up to them as they tried to find the teen.

"Sora! You gotta help us from-" The chicken-suited mare clucked in fright as she and the foals saw the pegasus stallion in a broken daze, Luna staring at them in confusion. "Oh no! Nightmare Moon's got Sora! She stole his voice so he won't call out for help before she eats him! RUN AWAY!"

They all ran away, only making Luna more upset as she dropped Sora to the ground to reach out to them. "Neigh, children! Wait!" She quickly silenced herself, automatically reverting to using the loud, intimidating voice. "I-I mean, wait children. You do not need to fear me..."

"This is gonna be harder than I thought," Sora slurred as his limbs twitched, trying to feel the nerves that were broken by the bone crushing hug Luna gave him.

After Sora recovered, the two walked through Ponyville, the ponies spotting Luna cowered in fear or hid behind something. "It is no use, Sora. Nopony will ever love us, not even in another millennium."

"Don't worry, Luna. I'm sure there's something we can do to help everyone realize you're a changed pony." While looking around the square, he noticed some of the games set up for Nightmare Night. "Hey, how about some fun games?"

"'Fun'?" Luna asked. "What is this 'fun' thou speakest of?"

"...Wow. You have no idea how to have fun?" Sora asked in shock. "Follow me." He lead the princess over to the spider toss. A bowl of fake spiders were in a bowl on a table, set at a distance from a cobweb to throw the toy arachnids. "Here. Let's play some spider toss?"

"...'Spider toss'? What is the purpose of throwing spiders?" Luna picked up one of the fake spiders, feeling the fuzzy toys in her hoof.

"It's just a fun little game. The point is to toss the spider onto the web, and if you get it closer to the center, then you win." Sora picked up a spider and tossed it, overshooting it as it barely grazed the top of the web. "Darn. I missed. Your turn."

Reluctantly, the princess of the night took aim and tossed the spider. She managed to get it directly on the center of the web on her first go.

"Ha...That was actually...enjoyable," she said. "What other ways may we experience more of this 'fun'?"

"...Well, I definitely lost. Let's move on to some pumpkin chunkin'." Sora lead Luna to where the small catapults were, along with a bevy of pumpkins, all of them perfectly sizable for the launchers. The few devices were aimed toward some targets, where some of them had bits of the big fruits splattered on or around them. "Same rules like the spider toss, only instead, you launch a pumpkin with one of these catapults and smack the target." He grabbed a pumpkin and placed it in a nearby catapult, winding the launcher up until it was ready to fire. "Fire in the hole!"

The teen released the medieval machine, sending the pumpkin flying into the air, splattering just a few inches shy of one of the targets. Luna decided to give it a try, placing her own pumpkin on a free catapult and wound it up to fire. She took aim and fired, hitting a perfect bullseye.

"Hah! The fun has been doubled!" While beaming with excitement, she noticed that the ponies had been watching her and Sora, slowly warming up to Luna.

They were all noticing her as the old princess that she was back then, not Nightmare Moon. While feeling appreciated, Luna had noticed that one of the foals across from the pumpkin chunking station, Pipsqueak, trying to grab an apple from the apple bobbing tub. With his small size, he had to lean over while standing on the small edge of the large wooden tub. He accidentally slipped in, making the alicorn panic, not knowing if the colt could swim, running up to the tub to help Pipsqueak.

"Hey, has anypony seen Pip?" Pinkie asked as she lead the colts and fillies. "We lost him after we got away from-" She froze when she saw Luna grabbing the pirate costumed colt in her mouth. "Nightmare Moon! She's gobbling up Pipsqueak! RUN AWAY! AGAIN!"

"Pinkie!" Sora couldn't stop her in time as she began screaming and running away, the others following suit.

"Ahh! Help!" Pipsqueak shouted. "My backside is being gobbled!"

Luna put him down, watching in sadness as the colt she saved ran from her. "Tis a lie! Thine backside is whole an ungobbled, you whelp!" Lightning struck behind her, making her look threatening as everypony backed away from her. She quickly controlled her anger, not wanting to lose her subjects' affections. "W-Wait, fair villagers, let us make merry in fun!" Looking around, she found one of the spiders that had been tossed too far from the spider toss, tossing it at them to try and have fun with them, but they only backed away. "I-Is it not enough? T-Then, how about this?"

Using her magic, she began animating the spiders, all of them skittering about and freaking the ponies out. Kairi and Twilight appeared, all of them unsuccessful with trying to tell everyone that Luna was no longer Nightmare Moon, but with Pinkie Pie randomly making assumptions and scaring the fillies and colts, along with the alicorn's spell to animate the fake spiders, it was only making her look more terrifying than ever.

"Oh no. This is really bad," Twilight said.

Soon, the whole town was in a ruckus as the spiders began crawling around on some of the ponies, making them all run around in a blind panic, smacking into things and causing a mess. Luna watched, feeling her chances of making amends slipping away into an endless void, unable to get it back. This holiday, dedicating to her as Nightmare Moon causing nothing but sorrow and despair, both to her and everypony she ruled. She would forever be feared, and no one wanted anything to do with her, just like a thousand years ago.

"ENOUGH!" Luna shouted, using her Royal Canterlot Voice, everyone stopping as they stared at the princess.

"Luna, wait! Remember the shouting!" Sora warned, trying to get her to calm down.

"No, Sora!" she yelled, her eyes glowing white as she looked at the pegasus. "We must use the Royal Canterlot Voice so everypony will listen to us! Everypony fears me, and with this accursed holiday, it only makes our image worsen! And this had gone on for a thousand years, when we were banished!?" Tears began rolling down Luna's cheeks as she flew up and looked down at Ponyville. "Since you all fear your princess instead of love her, then I decree that this...this stupid holiday that insults us shall be canceled!FOREVER!"

Everyone gasped in shock and horror as Luna flew off somewhere, heading off toward the Everfree Forest. All the ponies, especially the foals, were miserable as the scariest holiday of the year was now forever cancelled by the princess. Sora groaned in annoyance as Pinkie had continued instigating fright in everyone, making Luna's reputation worsen.

"Everything was going so well...and Pinkie had to go and escalate the problem," the pegasus grumbled. "You two find Pinkie and find out why she kept screaming like a banshee. I'll go and get Luna."

"Ok," Kairi answered as both she and Twilight nodded. "I hope you can convince her not to get rid of a holiday the whole world celebrates."

Deep in the dangerous forest near Ponyville, at the ruins of the old castle where the Elements of Harmony were once held, Luna flew over the trees and landed in what used to be the foyer. Tears streamed down the depressed alicorn's face, her anger and frustrations turning to sorrow as everyone would only look at her as Nightmare Moon.

"T-Tia...You lied to me," she sniffled as she walked down the ruined halls of her former home. Everything she had ever known before her banishment was all gone, the essence of herself having vanished along with the castle ruins. "Nopony cares about me anymore...I shouldn't have come to Ponyville...They all just see me as that monster I became."

"Well, then why don't you show them lousy ponies the respect you deserve by asserting that authority of yours, princess?" Luna gasped in surprise, looking around to find who else was in the ruins. She found where it came from as the male voice stepped forward. The alicorn was looking at what appeared to be a fat minotaur, most of his black fur covered in suit colored blue, red, and black. The only odd thing about this minotaur was his face, looking more like some kind of cat or dog, not a bull as minotaurs are half bipedal and bovine. "You're the leader of your kingdom, so why not give those idiots a little shove to show you're no pushover?"

"...Who are you? And how do you know me?" Luna asked, feeling wary about this odd minotaur.

"We know a few things that go on here in this here world of yours. And I can see you're pretty bitter, having everyone think you're still a crazy psychopath by being that evil Nightmare Moon, and no one believes you've changed." The alicorn growled, firing a beam of magic to silence the offending creature. Before it struck him, a red barrier appeared around him, making him invulnerable for a short time. "Ooh. You're a bit feisty."

"Answer my question, you foul mouthed cretin!" the princess demanded. While the two spoke, Sora flew down at the gates of the castle's front door, hoping to find Luna safe inside the ruins and not out in the forest. Before he could walk in, his ears perked up when he heard her speak. "What are you, you obese demon!? What did you mean when you said you knew about my world!?"

"Aww, is that any way to talk to someone who wants to help you?" Sora's jaw dropped, recognizing the owner of that voice. "You want to be appreciated, right? Then why don't you show some force and be that Mare in the Moon everyone's scared of? They'll respect you more that way."

"...N-No...I don't wish to be her again," Luna whimpered. "Never...Never again..."

"But you do. I can feel it." The pegasus growled as he peeked around the corner, looking through the crack in the wall. He saw the minotaur and recognized the clothing he wore, and seeing him trying to manipulate Luna into turning back into Nightmare Moon only made him angry. "That darkness in you is wanting to come out. All that sadness will go away if you accept it again."

"No! Leave me alone!" The minotaur snapped his fingers, summoning Heartless in front of him as they slowly approached the frightened princess. Seeing the black creatures again brought her back to commanding them as Nightmare Moon, that terrible power she felt something she never wanted to be around. "N-No. No! Stay away from me! I don't want to go back in the dark!"

"It's not that bad. You just have to give in to it, and you won't feel a-" Sora leapt in and threw his Keyblade at the back of the minotaur's head, smacking him hard and making him fall flat on his face, alerting the Heartless to the bane of their existence.

"You stay far away from Luna, Pete!" Sora shouted, casting Thunder spells to destroy the Shadows, Soldiers, and strange bat looking Heartless called Hook Bats. He stood before Luna to defend her, watching Pete slowly stand back up. "I knew you and Maleficent were here in Equestria. After she tried to brainwash Twilight, I'm not going to sit by while you follow her every move!"

Pete growled, rubbing the bump on his head as he glared at the pegasus. "You never learn to just quit, don't ya, you brat? Why can't you just let us take over one world!?"

"Oh, sure. Like I'm going to have a world covered in darkness by a fatso like you," Sora mocked, making the trasnformed henchman more angry. "Seriously, how much weight have you gained since the last time I saw you? Fifty tons?"

"That's it! I've had enough of you getting in my way, but no more! Time for you to get a taste of the new and improved Pete!" Pete charged in as he let out a battle cry, taking Sora on solo.

Unfortunately for him, the fight against him ended sooner than expected. Luna visibly flinched as she watched Sora pummel Pete repeatedly, the minotaur yelping and grunting in pain as he was wailed on by the teen's Keyblade. After one more hit, Pete tumbled backward until his head smacked into one of the pillars, his eyes spinning in his head as he was defeated, yet again.

"By new and improved, you mean fatter and the same annoying Pete you always were. I still don't know why Maleficent even keeps you as a sidekick if you can't even take me on, or even land a single hit on me." Pete slowly got up, grumbling in irritation.

"You're lucky I'm not used to being a minotaur, twerp. I'll be back, and I won't hold back!" The doof of a henchman escaped, Sora not bothering to chase after him.

"He never learns," Sora said, dismissing his Keyblade. He turned back to Luna, helping her back up on her hooves, making sure she was unharmed. "You ok, Luna?"

"...Y-Yes...I am unharmed...Thank you, Sora." The teen raised a brow, actually hearing the princess not speaking in the royal "we".

"Wait. You're speaking normally...You had some trouble with that earlier, and now you're not?" he asked.

"...I-I had only recently stopped speaking with the royal "we" a week ago," Luna admitted. "...I...I was nervous, and scared of what my subjects thought of me..."

"Oh...I thought it was weird, seeing as we haven't seen you in the past few months when you were freed. Celestia might have taught you how to speak normally and some events that have happened in the last millennium," Sora thought as he tapped his chin with a hoof. "I guess it must have been an old habit to fall back on, seeing as you missed out on a lot."

"I wished I'd miss more of my life passed over this horrendous holiday." The alicorn growled, stomping her hooves on the ground. "They celebrate their fears of me as Nightmare Moon, make up some false story about me eating ponies, and it only keeps bringing back those horrible memories of what I turned into back then! Hurting my sister, terrorizing our kingdom, threatening to destroy the world by making the night last forever! I mean, what was I thinking!? I could have frozen Equestria into an ice age and kill everypony! All because I wanted to be loved by everypony just like my sister, but I let my anger and envy only made me into something worse, and nopony will ever forget what I've done! Not in a million years!"

Luna began to weep as her sins continued to trouble her, always reminder her of what she became and wishing to stay in solitude for the rest of her life. Sora felt pity for her, having lived with a guilt of being a villain for over a thousand years. He never did think about the consequences of having an endless night until she had mentioned it, a lack of sunlight for several years would definitely freeze an area of the planet over and eventually causing an ice age. And if there was a sun and moon just for the world that can be controlled, the other side would suffer from a deadly heat wave that could have destroyed the land by shriveling up plant-life and quickly evaporate any body of water in its rays. Even if she had succeeded as Nightmare Moon, she would have destroyed the world she tried to rule over.

The teen gently patted Luna's shoulder, consoling her, hating how darkness has caused so much pain everywhere it always showed up. "Luna, don't blame yourself. The good thing is that you're not Nightmare Moon anymore. I'm sure everyone will see you as the princess you were before, but if only Pinkie Pie didn't keep instigating everyone's fright over a scary story! Back in my world, we have a similar holiday like Nightmare Night, called Halloween.

"It's pretty much the same thing: dressing up in costumes, trick-or-treating for free candy in the neighborhood, spooky decorations, parties with a haunted theme as well as the snacks and games. The whole point of the holiday is to just have fun being scared, enjoying the thrills and chills of the things that don't-" Sora paused as a thought suddenly crossed his mind as he explained Halloween. His eyes widened as he realized both these holidays are one and the same, the only difference being a scary tale about Nightmare Moon on Nightmare Night, and to everyone, being scared on this night was supposed to be the point. Because of Luna trying to make ammends on a night that everyone "feared" her, she didn't notice that was the point of Nightmare Night. "...Oh my gosh."

"What?" Luna asked, confused at the sudden pause he took.

"Luna, no one in Ponyville's actually scared of you!" That only confused the out of place alicorn more. "Nightmare Night's supposed to be about having fun while being terrified! The scary story about Nightmare Moon, which all of us know isn't really the truth, scary decorations and costumes, the entire holiday is meant to be about having a good time scaring and being scared!"

"That does not make any sense. How is instilling terror on my subjects considered 'fun'?" the princess asked.

"I'll show you when we get back to Ponyville. I've got an idea." Sora rubbed his gloved forehooves together, wearing a silly, malicious grin. "And it's gonna be a Nightmare Night everyone in town will not soon forget. But first, you know any illusion spells that can change us into something else?"

Back in Ponyville, Twilight and Kairi found Pinkie Pie, after leaving a trail of candy to corner her in an alleyway. In the oddest of answers as they questioned her why she kept causing a panic, the pony chicken just plainly said it was fun to be scared. That wouldn't help them, or anypony else, since Luna had just gotten rid of Nightmare Night forever, being too sensitive and serious about wanting to find adoration in her subjects in the way she wanted.

"Well, I guess this is going to be the last Nightmare Night in Equestria," Twilight said as the two unicorns wandered around town, many of the foals upset that one of their favorite holidays was going to end forever. "Unless Sora finds some way to change Princess Luna's mind."

"Since she was corrupted by darkness, it's understandable if she reacted like that if she wanted everyone to like her. Sora can turn her around...at least I hope so." As they found their way back to the square, they saw Sora hovering down, but there was no sign of Luna. "Sora! Did you find her!?"

"I did, and don't worry. I got this covered." The pegasus lifted up his mask and winked at them, heading flying back up in the air over the town. "Attention, fillies and colts of Ponyville! I know Princess Luna had said that Nightmare Night was forever cancelled, but don't let that stop you! Follow me and we'll have the last Nightmare Night be the best Nightmare Night you'll ever have in your lives!"

"He still wants to celebrate Nightmare Night?" Twilight asked.

"Whatever he's planning, this is probably gonna be scary." The lavender unicorn looked at Kairi in confusion. "Trust me. I know that face he's making. He has that every time on Halloween when he has a big trick up his sleeves."

The foals all listened to Sora and began following him, the teen leading them all down back to the Nightmare Moon statue in the Everfree Forest. "Alright, kiddies," Sora said in a slightly sarcastic tone, his eyes glancing up at the statue every so often. "If we want to appease Nightmare Moon, we must offer a tribute of candy to the terror that is the Mare in the Moon."

Though they tried to be enjoy the last few moments of the holiday as best as they could, they sadly offered some of their candy from their bags in front of the statue. "Goodbye forever, Nightmare Night," Pipsqueak sadly said as left some of his candy.

Before he could leave the statue, he saw the form of the evil alicorn's shadow move under the moonlight. Looking up, Pipsqueak gasped as the Mare in the Moon was actually posing as the statue, leering down at the foals. Sora let out a fake gasp as the foals all stared in fear, quickly leaping forward, summoning his Keyblade to defend them.

"Your offering is insufficient for my belly, little foals!" "Nightmare Moon" said. "To sate my appetite, I must eat you all!"

"Oh no! Nightmare Moon has come back!" Sora acted, quite terribly, though the kids didn't notice as they cowered behind him. "Fear not, kids! I, Sora, the hero of Equestria, shall smite the evil alicorn back to the moon from whence she came!"

"You were only lucky in stopping me, peasant! I have grown stronger than that tiny key your call a sword!" The armored alicorn shot a beam of magic at Sora's hoof, knocking the Keyblade out of his hoof. He let out a gasp in shock, watching his weapon fly out into the forest. "You may be too large for me to digest, but you make a suitable minion for my future reign of Equestria!" She fired another beam at the pegasus, engulfing him in her aura, veiling his body as he let out a fake scream of defeat. Stopping the spell, Sora fell to the ground, his body and outfit more dark than before, the stallion slowly getting up on his hooves, his head hung low. "You are now under my control now."

"Yes, my princess," Sora said in a darker tone.

"Now, my first order. I command you to grab one of these foals, so that I may consume them and sate my growing hunger!" Sora let out a sinister chuckle, slowly turning his head to the right.

"As you command, princess." The pumpkin mask over his eye had changed, its color now blue and black with a glowing yellow eye, looking like a manic, twisted form of Luna's face. The foals, including Twilight and Kairi who followed them, gasped in shock as Sora's face was now completely dark, his visible blue eye now the same shade of yellow as a Heartless's, the fake fangs in his teeth more sharp than before. "Now, which of you will be your new princess's first course?"

The kids all screamed and ran away, not wanting to get gobbled up by Nightmare Moon, or caught by the now turned Sora. The pegasus didn't chase after them, however, focusing on the two mares watching in shock. He couldn't hold the charade any longer and began to laugh.

"...Wow, Sora. That was...not as convincing as I thought it would have been," Kairi said as her boyfriend approached them.

"Hey, they believed me, so I think I got a good career in acting," he said, flashing his illusionary teeth. "Think this looks better on me, or does my old look fit better?"

"Neither." Sora fell over comically, the illusion cast on him and Luna disappearing, the alicorn spitting out a pair of fake fangs into her hoof.

"Sora, I don't think this had worked," the princess sadly sad. "How was this supposed to be fun if we both scared the children?"

"Umm, Princess Luna?" The alicorn flinched as she felt someone pulling on her starry tail. Looking down, she saw Pipsqueak getting her attention. "Even though you cancelled Nightmare Night forever...can you come back next year and scare us again?"

Surprised, she looked over at where the foals had fled, hearing them peeking around some bushes as they looked at her, not as scared as they were earlier. "...Y-You...You actually like to be frightened?"

"Yeah!" Pipsqueak said excitedly. "It's scary, but it's fun! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year!"

Luna smiled as tears welled up in her eyes, quickly brushing them away with a hoof before they fell. "W-Well then...I guess I have no choice but to bring Nightmare Night back!"

"Yay!" the little colt cheered, hugging the princess's foreleg tightly. "You're my favorite princess ever, Princess Luna!"

Pipsqueak ran back to his friends to tell them that Nightmare Night was brought back, greatly excited for the next year for the holiday to come. Hearing somepony, especially a young colt around his age, saying that she was his favorite princess made her heart swell with joy, threatening to bring her to tears again. Sora approached the awestruck alicorn, nudging her side to snap her out of her daze.

"See? Told you so," he said. "Now you've got yourself a little fan, and plenty more with the scares you can come up with."

"...You are right, Sora," Luna said. "I...I guess I should look away from the past and focus on the present...My sister told me some strange phrase Twilight Sparkle had written in one of her letters to her...What was it again?"

"Hakuna matata," Sora answered. "It means no worries from another world, but it's a pretty universal term I want to help spread."

"Hakuna matata...I love it!" the princess exclaimed, making Twilight facehoof. "It is catchy, yet it sounds made up!"

"Indeed it is," Sora agreed. "Now, how about we really celebrate Nightmare Night, for real this time."

"Yes! Let us make merry and have fun at the festival, and wallow in misery as I best you in the spider toss and pumpkin chunking!" Luna pranced off back to Ponyville, the foals all crowding around her as they looked up to her as their favorite princess.

"Well, seems like Celestia's gonna get an earful, hearing her little sister has some very loyal subjects," the pegasus chuckled.

"Sora, that hakuna matata phrase is spreading faster than the common cold," Twilight grumbled. "Now you have Princess Luna wanting to make it a thing here in Equestria."

"Perfect!" He draped a wing around both unicorns with a big grin on his face. "Now, let's all enjoy the rest of the night! We got some celebrating to do, and I want a rematch against Luna on that pumpkin chunking. She got lucky!"

"Easy, Sora," Kairi calmed the teen, kissing his cheek. "Just be glad Riku isn't here. You two would end up destroying all the pumpkins before anyone else would get a turn shooting them."

The trio headed back to Ponyville, where the festivities was back after Luna announced that Nightmare Night was here to stay. It was a lot more enjoyable for everyone now that the blue alicorn princess was actually having fun. She had let the holiday dedicating her evil persona as Nightmare Moon go and instead saw it as just a holiday to spread terror in an exciting way. For the remainder of the night, Luna celebrated with all of Ponyville, actually finding one positive outlook as her dark persona created this fun holiday she couldn't wait to come again next year.

After the events of Nightmare Night, things have gone back to being relatively normal in Ponyville. The next couple months went by, some days just being a typical normal day, others with Heartless trying to attack the town, only to be stopped by Sora and Kairi. Some of the oddest of days were the craziest in the Keyblade wielder's opinion.

One of them involved Apple Bloom, always being desperate to earn her cutie mark, made a potion out of a plant known as Heart's Desire, giving her what her heart desired by giving her a cutie mark. Only, the potion got out of control as it began constantly giving her cutie marks all over her body, giving her the talents that came with it. This little epidemic, though it wasn't at all contagious, was known as the Cutie Pox, the young Apple filly forced to do all those talents, even though it seemed hilarious at first when he saw her tap dancing in her room, speaking French, lifting weights with her tail, just about everything. Thankfully it stopped when Zecora brought some seeds that are from a special flower that can cure anything when someone, Apple Bloom, told the truth about how she caught the Cutie Pox. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to learn her lesson that much, going back to hunting for her cutie mark with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

They all celebrated Twilight's birthday a week after the Cutie Pox incident, though during that time, Rarity was up in Canterlot gathering supplies she needed to make her newest lines, and Twilight's birthday dress. Since the fashionista might not be back in time, they decided to move the party up to the castle, where Rarity was staying during that time. At first, she was a bit shocked and fainted when they showed up, and she wore a fancy dress, almost as if she was going to go out somewhere. During the party later that evening, Twilight wore her new dress, which was nothing more than a plain article of clothing, Sora had noticed Rarity going between the birthday mare's party to a formal one out in the garden. It turned out, during her stay in Canterlot, she had been hanging out with the elite nobles, mostly spending her time being in their company than making Twilight's dress. Out of all of the stuck up stiffs after crashing their garden party, only one of them was actually likable to the teen, a white unicorn stallion by the name of Fancy Pants, and ironically, he wore no pants. The rest of the nobles seemed to be more like kiss-ups, agreeing with anything the richer noble says, even after showing their disdain for the uncouth ponies that invaded their party.

A couple weeks later, there was a point where Rainbow Dash began to get on the others' nerves when she let her ego get the best of her. After doing a few good deeds, saving some ponies from unfortunate circumstances, her heroics and the praise she received kept inflating her ego, making her a major nuisance as she acted like a famous celebrity getting too caught up in the fame. The rest of the group had formed a plan to teach Rainbow a little lesson on humility, Rarity creating a blue and purple outfit for Sora to disguise himself as a mysterious hero who would help those in trouble while staying humble and leaving as soon as his heroic efforts were done. Using Pinkie Pie's odd Pinkie Sense, which were strange twitches and movements the earth pony has that tells different things that may happen, Sora not questioning how it works and leaving it as a Pinkie Pie thing, he was able to reach the unfortunate accidents and save the ponies caught in them. Rainbow Dash began to get furious and grew desperate to try and be heroic, and when Sora, known as the Stallion of Mystery in his disguise, was given a celebratory parade for his heroism, she chased him down and unveiled his mask, shocked to see him as the Stallion of Mystery. How she never even realized it was him, while he clearly used a black Keyblade, called the Oblivion Keyblade, to help him slash through the collapsing construction site, he will never know.

Then, just a week later, it was a disaster of a day when Spike caused some trouble in Ponyville. The day before, it was the baby dragon's birthday, and it was his first birthday celebrated in the town, where he admitted all he ever got for his previous birthdays were books from Twilight. The next day, however, he caught some kind of massive growth spurt, along with a serious case of greed as he had begun hoarding a bunch of random stuff. Spike wasn't himself at that point, only getting his greedy claws on anything that caught his attention, that also included a dust bunny under furniture. He didn't care if it was valuable or not, only wanting to fuel his insatiable appetite to take everything. He went from barely reaching the adult ponies' necks to a gargantuan behemoth of a dragon. He definitely rivaled Maleficent's dragon form in height, able to crush the evil witch with a simple stomp. Sora tried to stop him, but the greed made him unstoppable and indestructable. Luckily, he had kidnapped Rarity and turned back to normal after staring at a red gem Spike had actually grown for his birthday to snack on, called a Fire Ruby, that was in a necklace on the white unicorn's neck. He gave the gem to her out of selflessness, only it seemed more like Rarity had flirted her way to getting it, and remembering that moment turned him back to his tiny size. Sora quickly caught them before they hit the ground, though there was a lot of collateral damage from the dragon's rampage.

Ponyville was quickly rebuilt, and today was the first day of winter, snow slowly floating down from the clouds above early in the morning by the weather team. As soon as he felt the cold chill in his room at Sweet Apple Acres, Sora sat up in his bed and looked out his window, watching the snow fall along the now bare trees in the orchard. Leaping out of bed, he ran up to the calendar he had bought a month ago, the start of winter beginning on December 1st in Equestria. On the 25th, written in big, bold letters in the block was the word "Christmas", the teen's other favorite holiday. In another week and a half was Equestria's equivalent of the winter holiday was Hearth's Warming, where everyone was invited up to Canterlot to not only see the play of the historical event, but to also play a part in the play. Grabbing a red marker, Sora marked a big "X" on the first day, counting down the days remaining until Christmas.

"It's finally winter!" he cheered, grabbing a black scarf Rarity had made for him hanging over his mirror, wrapping it around his neck. It was in the same design as his jacket, though it wasn't needed since his clothing was able to protect him from the elements when he was in the Land of Dragons as he and his friends were up on the frigid mountain with the army they helped in stopping Shan Yu. "And Christmas is right around the corner! I cannot wait to show the others about this amazing holiday, especially all the kids! I hope Santa can make it to Equestria...Oh, who am I kidding!? Santa lives in Halloween Town!...Or, Christmas Town...Hmmm...Maybe we should rename that world Holiday Central.

"Oh well. Time for the first day of winter fun! If there's enough snow, I'm gonna get the Crusaders into a massive snowball war." With his scarf matching his clothing wrapped snuggly around his neck, Sora skipped down the steps to greet the rest of the Apple family. He reached the kitchen, expecting the Apple siblings eating breakfast already, but the only one present was Granny Smith. The elder mare was busy making some apple soup in a big pot on the stove. "Morning, Granny Smith! No apple breakfast this morning?"

"Just some good ol' fashioned soup," the senior Apple said. "Ah know when the flu season's comin' round, and it sounded like mah grandfoals caught a nasty cold."

"Wait, they're sick?" Sora asked. "Winter just started."

"That bug spreads around fast. Soup's just about done. Can ya help me give them some hot soup and a cold glass of apple juice, deary?" Sora was a little disappointed to know his boss and her siblings were sick, but he nodded and brought out three trays, three bowls for the soup with three spoons, and three tall glasses for the juice.

He was given a mask from the older mare, not wanting to let anyone else get sick around her home. He put it on to protect himself from the germs of flu bug. After pouring the soup and full glasses of apple juice, Sora balanced the trays on his head and wings, heading upstairs to give the Apple siblings their warm meals. Big Macintosh's room was first, the ill stallion sleeping off his sickness, hearing him sniffling as he slept. Not wanting to disturb him, he placed the tray down on the red stallion's side table, but before he left, he spotted Twilight's doll, Smarty Pants, at the foot of his bed.

"Huh...So that's where Twilight's doll went to," Sora whispered to himself. "Why does he have it?"

After a few seconds of pondering, the pegasus shrugged his shoulders and left the room. He left Applejack's tray in her room, the farm mare also fast asleep, seeing a large amount of used tissues next to her bed. Sora soon entered Apple Bloom's room, hearing her coughing from outside her bedroom door. As he walked inside, the filly was already awake, probably by her flu waking her up. Her cheeks were flushed red, blowing her nose into a tissue. She looked really miserable, knowing that no one wants to get sick, especially on a snow day.

"Mornin', Sora," Apple Bloom said, her stuffy nose making her sound nasally.

"Morning. Granny's made you guys some soup." The teen rested the tray on the filly's side table, feeling bad for the sick pony. "Kinda sucks you got sick. I was hoping we could go out and wait for a decent amount of snow to cover the ground and have a big snowball fight with the others."

"Me too. Ah hate bein' sick." The filly sneezed, sniffling heavily as she wiped her nose with a clean tissue. "Of all the days to get sick when it's startin' to snow."

"Sorry, Apple Bloom. Just get some bed rest, eat that soup, and drink plenty of liquids." Apple Bloom grabbed her bowl of soup and began eating the warm broth. "Hope you feel better. I just hope you won't get too jealous if I take your fun when Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle have a snow war against me."

"Throw a big snowball at Scootaloo for me," she said, her giggling turning to coughing, groaning in annoyance from her flu.

Sora left Apple Bloom's room and headed back downstairs. "I hope no one else got sick too. That would really be terrible if everyone was ill on the first day of winter."

He took off the face mask and tossed it in the trash, heading outside in the chilly winter air to greet the others.

The snow fell gently all across Ponyville, slowly littering the ground with powdery whiteness. While Sora walked along the slightly covered dirt pathways, the teen stuck his tongue out to catch some of the snowflakes on his tongue. He walked down to Rarity's boutique, wondering if Sweetie Belle would be up for a snowball fight. She could be a challenge since her coat could blend in with the piles of snow, assuming her swirly pink and light fuchsia mane didn't give her away. The store was open today, the fashionista selling her winter fashion line for those who need a bit more warmth that a pony's fur couldn't match.

The Keyblade wielder walked inside, shaking off some snow that got in his hair, inspecting all the winter garments on display. "Hey, Rarity!? You and Sweetie Belle home!?"

"Don't come any closer to the stairway, darling!" Rarity called out from upstairs. She came down the steps, wearing a face mask, obviously aware of the sudden flu bug. "Goodness. Of all the worst times for winter to start up."

"You're sick too, Rarity?" the pegasus asked.

"No, though I wish not to get sick. It's Sweetie Belle. She must have gotten ill last night, and it's showing now." They heard a squeaky sneeze come from upstairs, the sound either coming from a large mouse or a little filly. "I just gave her some medicine. She has it pretty badly."

"Aww man," Sora whined. "Apple Bloom's sick too. I'm guessing Scootaloo's also sick, and maybe all of Ponyville is too. Some first day of winter this turned out to be." He pouted, falling on his stomach as he sneered at the the wall. "Too bad my healing magic only heals injuries. Not viruses or sickness."

"Well, you'd better keep one of these on." Rarity levitated another face mask and put it over Sora's face, the teen rolling his eyes in annoyance. "You don't want to get sick either, right?"

"I haven't gotten sick in years. I'm perfectly healthy." The teen tried to take off the mask, only for the white unicorn to pull his hooves back down to the ground.

"Even with perfect health, you can still get sick. If Kairi weren't here and Heartless attacked while you were bedridden, who would save us?" He was about to retort, but he couldn't think of an answer. If he was out of commission, whether he was sick or suffering from a serious injury, he wouldn't be able to save anyone. "I thought so. Now, keep that on and stay warm."

"Fine, 'mom'. I won't get sick." With the disappointment of having most of Ponyville sick with the massive bug flying around, Sora left the boutique and wandered about the town. "I hope everyone else didn't get sick."

Far off in the universe, in the grand Disney Castle, the palace and the town overlooked by it have winter decorations set up for the Christmas season. Enchanted broomsticks were going about the halls, either cleaning the many rooms and corridors or setting up decorations for the holiday. Inside of the study of the castle, a small black mouse sat in a chair as he looked over some documents. His ears were big and round, wearing a red and black jacket and a pair of red shorts, along with a pair of big yellow shoes. He had just finished signing his name, King Mickey Mouse, on one of the important documents, a quill in his white gloved hand.

"Oh boy. Doesn't seem like the Heartless are going to stop attacking anytime soon," he said to himself as he looked over a recent letter he had gotten from Riku, explaining the details of some of the worlds being randomly attacked by the dark monsters. "Too bad I'm too caught up in my own duties as king, especially after we had figured out what was missing in Jiminy's first journal..." He looked away from the royal papers in front of him and at the cards resting nearby, eager to make Christmas cards for his friends and queen. "I think I can afford a little break."

Before he could reach out to the blank cards, the doors to his study opened as a tall anthropomorphic dog wearing armor and a duck wearing a wizard cloak and hat walked in, both standing at attention to the mouse. "Your Majesty, you summoned us?"

"Donald, Goofy, good to see you," the king greeted, leaping off his seat. "Everything going alright in the town?"

"Yes, sir!" Goofy said. "Decorations are all being set up, and everyone in town is all ready for Christmas in the next few weeks!"

"And the castle is nearly finished," Donald added.

"Excellent. And, you two can relax, you know. We're friends. You don't need to address me as your king all the time." The loyal mage and knight hesitated, but they did relax their stances a little. "You two heard anything from the outside worlds?"

"No. Not really," Donald said. "We haven't even heard anything from Sora in the last few months."

"Maybe he's been busy training?" Goofy questioned, tapping his gloved finger to his chin. "He was a little out of it after...well, you know."

"I had actually gotten word from Master Yen Sid about Sora's whereabouts." Donald and Goofy looked at their king, eager to know what's happened to their friend. "He's been sent on a mission to continue his training at the end of the universe. Even from our world, it's a pretty long flight to reach where he is."

"Gawrsh. I hope he's doing ok on his own." Both the mage and knight were really worried about Sora. They knew he was strong enough to take care of himself in a dangerous situation, but they couldn't help but fear for his safety sometimes after all he's been through. "Maybe we should visit him some time. That would be a good surprise Christmas present for him."

"But where is he exactly?" Donald asked. "Did Master Yen Sid say where he was?"

"I think he told me about the world Sora's in now, though he didn't really give that much information about it. It's understandable if it's supposed to be hidden, saying it was a land that was once untouched by the darkness for a thousand years. At least, until a few months ago when Sora made it there." Mickey looked around his study, pulling out a charted map of the universe. Donald and Goofy approached their king's desk as he rolled out the large map, watching him trail a finger around each of the stars. He finally found the right one from the coordinates Yen Sid had given his pupil. "There it is. Right here on the edge of the cosmos."

"Whoa. That's far for a long trip," Donald commented as he calculated the distance between their world and the one Sora's in right now. "If he began from Master Yen Sid's tower...It would have taken nearly a week with occasional breaks to keep a Gummi ship from overheating."

"But Donald, we don't have that many vacation days," Goofy said. "We would have to turn around as soon as we reached it."

"That won't be a problem." As his loyal friends stared at Mickey in confusion, the king walked over to one of the bookshelves. Pushing a certain set of books deeper on the shelves, part of the shelf they rested in sank down, revealing blue shard shaped like a star with a smaller green one in the center, a circle surrounding that star inside the shard, a piece of it missing and replaced by the green energy, which replaced the missing point as a green lightning bolt. Mickey grabbed the special shard, holding it out to Donald and Goofy. "You might be able to reach that world with this."

"Is that the Star Shard?" Donald asked. "Where did you get it, Your Majesty?"

"After...'borrowing' it from Master Yen Sid, I gave it back to him. But, after a few years of maturing as a Keyblade Master, I began studying the properties of the Star Shard to figure out how it really worked," Mickey explained. "So, he gave this back to me to learn how to travel to different worlds without jumping into one at random. I didn't want to risk a test run after discovering how it works, but now I understand how to perfectly travel using this. All you have to do is let your heart guide you to where you want to go, more specifically, to your close friends. Not where you actually want to go to."

"Really?" Donald took the Star Shard, looking at it closely. Being the kingdom's head mage in the castle, he had heard about this mystical gem from Mickey before, even reading about it in some books pertaining magical artifacts. "So, if we think about Sora, we'll be able to travel to the world he's in?"

"Exactly. And, I think you two should go and see Sora, while also giving you two your winter vacation a bit early." Donald squawked in shock as both he and Goofy stared at their king with excitement. "I suggest you start your vacation now. But, before you two leave, I want you to give Sora an early Christmas card."

Mickey headed over to his desk and grabbed one of the empty cards. Letting it rest horizontally on the desk, he cracked his knuckles together, flexing his fingers as he was preparing himself to use some non-Keyblade magic he had learned from Yen Sid under his tutelage. His hands began glowing as he channeled magical energy, thrusting his palms forward and sending a flurry of stars over the blank card. Within minutes, the emptiness of the folded paper began to turn into a holiday card, a pine tree littered with ornaments in the center with presents circling the festive plant, silhouetted images of Mickey's, Donald's, and Goofy's heads above the tree in a starry sky as snow floated down in the background.

The card opened up on its own as more magic filled out the card, creating more festive themes on the inside, along with a small message from Mickey, wishing Sora a merry Christmas. After it was fully complete, the king ceased his magic, the sparkling stars disappearing into thin air. He picked up the card and handed it to Goofy, seeing how awestruck Donald was with Mickey's natural magical talent.

"Gawrsh, King Mickey. Are you sure you want us to leave so early?" Goofy asked, seeming unsure leaving their kingdom unprotected.

"I think I can handle everything in both your places. Plus, the Cornerstone of Light downstairs will keep the world safe from Heartless." Donald and Goofy looked at each other, then back at Mickey. "Go on and get into your traveling attire and have fun. I'm sure Sora will be glad to be around you two again."

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty!" Donald said. "We'll be taking our leave now! Come on, Goofy!"

"Right behind ya, Donald!" The knight and mage laughed with joy as they ran out of the study to change their clothing, excited to see Sora again.

With Mickey alone back in his study, he looked down at his hands, clenching his fists. "It's been a long while since I've used my own magic...I should probably brush back up on it, and make some good cards for the others." He looked back at the desk, staring at a picture of himself and his queen in their royal attire. "And a romantic one for Minnie."

Sora leered at the sky as he laid lazily in the park, a thin blanket of snow layered around him. He had gone everywhere in Ponyville to see if everyone else was up for some fun in the snow, but a huge majority of the town seemed to have caught the flu bug. While heading to Sugarcube Corner for some breakfast muffins, he could hear Pinkie Pie sneezing from upstairs, while also hearing what sounded like a party noise blower going off every few seconds. Rainbow Dash was fine, though she had a lot of weather duties to attend to for the later days of snowfall in the future. Fluttershy was healthy, though she was busy taking care of her non-hibernating animal friends with their own colds. Even Kairi was sick when he visited her in her Gummi ship, the pink unicorn an utter mess, unable to move from her bunk. He couldn't even spend the first day of winter with his girlfriend because of this sudden epidemic.

He gave up as soon as he arrived in the park, not seeing many ponies out and about, not even any foals. There were a few pegasi flying around, but they were mostly part of the weather team, checking on the clouds that were sprinkling snow down beneath them. Sora subconsciously moved his legs up and down along the ground, boringly making a pony snow angel until he sat up. He brushed off the snow that built up on him and stood up, trdging blindly around the park in irritation.

"This day has just been absolutely boring," the teen grumbled. "Strange how a bug could fly around one place like a plague, before the worst of winter actually comes around...I could see any of the nearby worlds around Equestria, but there weren't any other worlds around that could only be reached in about an hour. Wish Donald and Goofy were here."

Up in the sky, a white light moved erratically down into Equestria's atmosphere. The light exploded and made two figures appear above the clouds from the Star Shard, Donald and Goofy transformed to fit in with the world. Donald was a small griffon, though his body was all white like his actual feathers, the tips of his wings tinged the same color of blue his traveling hat and jacket, though his face had retained his duck bill. Goofy had turned into a diamond dog, a bit taller and lankier than an average one, wearing his orange travel hat on his head and a green turtleneck sweater, a black combat vest resting over his sweater, his face remaining the same. The two were a little delirious after landing, seeing stars blinding their eyes.

"D-Did we make it?" Goofy asked.

"I hope so," Donald moaned, feeling his stomach lurch from the erratic movement the Star Shard had made while traveling through the universe. He shook his head, looking over at his friend and battle partner, noticing the odd change the both of them had. He looked down, now realizing they were standing on a cloud. "Uhhh...Why are we standing on clouds?"

"Huh?" Goofy looked down, his feet only able to feel air through the fluffy cloud. "...Uh oh."

He fell through the crowd and yelled as he plummeted to the ground, Donald surprisingly able to stand on a mass of condensed water vapor. Down below, Sora's ears perked up as he heard a familiar voice above him screaming, getting louder and louder as it got closer to him. He looked up in confusion, only to suddenly have something slam down him hard. Both he and Goofy groaned in pain, Sora more as he felt his nearly body was nearly flattened into the snowy ground.

"Urgh...Why me?" Sora questioned the forces of nature, as if his life ever since coming to Equestria wanted him to get crushed by someone or something on a daily basis.

Donald hovered down, flying coming natural to him after he turned into a tropical bird in the Pride Lands. As he landed, he helped Goofy up off of the unfortunate spikey haired stallion beneath him.

"Sorry about that crash landing, sir," Goofy apologized, rubbing his sore back.

"I get enough pain from Rainbow Dash crashing into me. Now I've got other pegasi wanting to make me a permanent part of the earth." Sora slowly got up, cracking his back painfully. He turned around to face the new pony that landed on him, but as he was about to complain, his jaw dropped at the sight of the odd looking griffon and diamond dog. He recognized the clothing and hats they wore, as well as their faces, nothing like any other griffon or diamond dog from the teen's knowledge. "Donald!? Goofy!?"

"Sora?" Donald and Goofy recognized the pegasus's outfit and signature hairstyle, the Keyblade wielder highly shocked at his friends' sudden appearance. "Hey, it is Sora! What a coincidence landing on you, huh?"

"W-Wha...?" Sora was still in shock as he questioned how they got here, why they were here, if anyone told them about where he was, what they had been up to, every single question in his head that weren't being cooperated by his mouth.

"Well, he's definitely surprised," Goofy said with a chuckle.

Sora slapped himself in the face to see if he was dreaming, but he still saw his best friends and teammates standing there. Ignoring finding the answers to his questions concerning how they got here, the teen beamed and tackled into them, pulling them into a group hug. He managed to pick up both of them in his forelegs and spun them around with glee, the trio laughing as they were reunited once again after so long.

Sora lead Donald and Goofy to Sugarcube Corner to grab some lunch as they caught up on old times. They explained how they got here without their Gummi ship while the Keyblade wielder told them everything that had happened in his stay in Equestria and the reason why he was sent here.

"Gawrsh, Sora. You sure do have a lot on your plate," Goofy said as he munched down on a cupcake on "his" plate.

"Nothing I can't handle," Sora said. "I mean, I always did pull all three of our weight in the past."

"Yeah, sure," Donald grumbled. "You caused us more problems back then. And you're bringing more here in this world."

Sora opened his mouth to speak, but the duck-turned-griffon did have a point. "...I guess I did. Well, if I didn't come around, then this world would have fallen to darkness. So, problem solved, right?"

"Right!" Goofy agreed, earning a nudge from Donald. "Hopefully you don't mind us staying around for a week and catch up, right, Sora?"

"I don't mind it at all! It's been a boring day today. Most of my friends here are pretty sick with this flu spread around." Sora took a sip of his hot chocolate, warming him up a little from the cold creeping in the bakery from outside. "Even Kairi got sick, and she's a mess. I should probably bring her a thermos of Granny Smith's apple soup."

"So, Kairi's here?" Donald asked as he snickered, wearing a teasing grin. "You finally told her your little crush?"

"I did, and it's been a little awkward after getting together with her as a pony, but our relationship has only grown stronger." The small griffon's grin melted, failing to torment Sora with teasing about his crush on Kairi. "So, have you finally got some time to be with your lady in waiting, Donald?"

"Yes," Donald said.

"Uhh, Donald? Didn't you have a lunch date with Daisy planned out today?" Goofy asked.

"...I-I did?" The mage tried to recall when he promised that date to his girlfriend, his pupils shrinking as he looked down at the table. "Uh oh..."

Sitting alone outside of a cafe in Disney Town, a white duck sat at a table, wearing a purple ball gown and a tiara on her head. Her legs were crossed as she leered angrily at the empty seat across the table. She looked up at the clock tower to see the time, huffing angrily.

"He's skipped out on another date...again," Daisy muttered angrily. "Donald, you have a lot of explaining to do for running off on me again..."

Donald began sweating as Sora and Goofy stifled their snickering, knowing he was going to be in a lot of trouble. "...Uhhhh...I-I'm sure Daisy will understand." He chuckled nervously, only to slam his head down on the table. "She's gonna kill me."

While Sora and Goofy laughed at their friend's future consequences for leaving his love alone on their scheduled date, none of them noticed a blue barrel of a small cannon poking up from underneath the table. It fired off, scaring Donald and Goofy as they yelped and fell out of their seats, confetti and streamers flying out and littering the bakery. Sora wasn't at all surprised, recognizing Pinkie Pie's party cannon when she used it at Twilight's birthday party, the sick mare herself popping up from underneath the table, somehow having enough energy despite her illness.

"Surprise!" Pinkie said, only to quickly cover her mouth as she coughed. She pulled out a handkerchief from in her mane, blowing her nose into it as she sniffled. "My Pinkie Sense told me new ponies were here, and I have to throw a pa-pah-paahaahaaaaaaaaAAAAAACHOO!" As Pinkie sneezed, somehow able to send confetti flying out of her nose, sniffling again as her nose began to get runny. "Party..."

"Pinkie, for goodness sake," Sora mumbled, rubbing his forehead. "You want to throw a party for them? While you're sick?"

"You can never stop a party!" Pinkie shouted, irritating her throat as she began coughing again, thankfully moving her mouth away to keep from giving Sora, Donald, or Goofy her flu.

"W-Where did she come from!?" Donald asked, trying to control his heart rate from the surprise blast of a cannon right next to him.

"She does this kind of stuff," Sora simply said, not wanting to try and explain how Pinkie Pie functions. "Anyway, this is Pinkie Pie, one of my new friends here in Equestria. Pinkie, these are my friends Donald and Goofy. They're also from...not around here, if you know what I mean."

"Ohhhhhhhh...Their faces look weird on a griffon and diamond dog." Sora really couldn't deny that fact, especially with what they turned into in Atlantica and the Pride Lands. Donald only leered at Pinkie for the rude comment while Goofy scratched his cheek. Pinkie sniffled again, wiping her nose as her sudden energy quickly disappeared as it had appeared. "Ugh. Being sick is not fun."

"Which is why you should stay in bed and not get others sick. You don't want any other customers who come around to get sick, do you?" Pinkie shook her head, being pushed by Sora as he brought her to the stairs. "Get back up in your room, stay in your bed, and don't eat any sugary stuff. It's not good for your stomach."

"Ok, 'dad'. I'm going." Pinkie walked up the steps to the second floor, back to her room. She stopped and looked back at the pegasus. "By the way, have any of you seen my pet, Gummy? I lost sight of him when I came down to try and throw a party. Party pooper."

"I didn't know you had a pet. What do you have for a companion?" Sora asked.

"Uhh, S-Sora?" Goofy stammered as he pointed at something behind him.

The teen's skin suddenly crawled as he felt something wet and squishy clamp onto his tail. He lifted it up and turned his head to look at what it was, his pupils slowly turning to pin pricks as his face went pale. Attached to his tail was a baby alligator with purple eyes, each one staring in a different direction. It was terrifying to have something this dangerous roaming around inside of a building, but it was horrifyingly scary to actually feel not razor sharp teeth gnawing on him. It had no teeth, the supposedly dangerous reptile's gums scraping disgustingly on his tail, hanging on tightly like a immobile ornament.

"AHHH!" Sora whipped his tail, sending the alligator flying up the stairs, clamping its toothless jaws on Pinkie's mane.

"There he is! Boy, Gummy, you sure do get lost when I pop up in random places," she said to her "pet". "Maybe I should put a bell on you. And a leash. With a cute little collar."

Pinkie continued walking up the stairs and into the hallway, entering her bedroom to get some rest. Sora, Donald, and Goofy stared at the stairway in utter shock, the teen slowly looking over to Mr. Cake, manning the counter and the kitchen, no sign of Mrs. Cake downstairs.

"Gummy's relatively harmless," the baker stallion said. "Cup and I were a little surprised too when we saw him crawling around, but seeing no teeth on him, it made us feel...a little safer. It's better not to question her reasons as to why she has a pet alligator."

"...I have so many questions as to WHY she thinks an alligator's a good idea for a pet!" Sora's shivered, still feeling the disturbing gums of a gator on his tail. "Urgh...That's Pinkie Pie, though...I'll never understand what goes on in that head of hers..."

After recovering from the surprise of Pinkie's pet Gummy, the trio of friends walked together down the snowy pathway toward the Golden Oak Library to see Twilight, if she was healthy. Donald was interested in what magic Equestria had, especially after hearing about the lavender unicorn Sora had talked about along with the other mares he had befriended. Since her home was also a public library, they walked inside warm tree library and out of the cold snow. Sitting in the living room reading through one of her many books was Twilight herself, too engrossed on the story to hear guests walk in.

"Hey, Twilight! You know it's rude not to welcome customers into your library without saying 'Welcome to the Golden Oak Library,' right?" She finally looked up from her book as she heard Sora's voice.

"Oh. Sorry, Sora. I was just a little lost in-" Twilight paused, noticing the two new guests that were standing at the pegasus's sides. Her jaw tried to process the words floating around her brain, looking at the odd faces on the small griffon and lanky diamond dog. "...Uhhhhhh...W-Who are they?"

"Oh, right! Twilight, I want you to meet my two best friends who traveled with me to help find my friends!" Sora exclaimed as he pulled Donald and Goofy closer to him in his forelegs. "This is Donald and Goofy."

"...I see," Twilight finally managed to say. "I thought their faces looked...odd. Not like the griffons or diamond dogs I've read about in books."

"Gee, thanks for the compliment," Donald said sarcastically.

"Uhh, is Donald's voice ok?" the unicorn asked in concern. "His voice sounds a little...screechy."

"Hey, this is how I talk!" the small griffon shouted, wriggling out of Sora's grip as he felt insulted. The teen quickly stepped his hoof down on Donald's tail as his temper began flaring. "I do not screech!"

"Yeah. It's more like a squawk." Donald squawked angrily as he looked back at Sora, both the pegasus and Goofy chuckling at his reaction. "But his annoying voice aside, Donald's actually a pretty talented mage. Far better than I am. I think you two can be great friends and share some magical knowledge with each other."

"Otherworldly magic outside of Equestria!?" Twilight squealed with glee, her horn glowing as she grabbed the griffon in her telekinesis. Donald yelped and quaked in surprise as he was flung over to Twilight, dropping him in front of her as she brought a quill and a long scroll from upstairs in her magical grasp."Tell me everything! Leave no details about every kind of magic you know!"

"...Do I have to?" Donald asked, only receiving a pleading gaze from the studious mare.

"And any offensive magic you use when fighting the Heartless!" Sora cleared his throat, the unicorn turning to him, seeing him give her a stern gaze. "...F-For scientific purposes?" He still gave her that look, knowing how desperate she was with trying to learn how to defend herself using magic from outside of her world. "Well, you haven't taught me anything about your magic, Sora! I'm still waiting for that day to come!"

"Until you realize I won't teach you after you actually stop asking." Twilight pouted, looking down at her hooves.

"Well, Sora, if there are Heartless here in Equestria, then someone here should learn how to use magic to defend themselves," Goofy said. "Plus, how can you say no to something like that?"

"Try a filly who's a lot more adorable when they give you the sad puppy stare. I've been struck by that so many times by Apple Bloom, it's become my weakness." Sora thought back on the several times Apple Bloom, and even Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, gave him those sad looks when they want his help with something, mostly if it involved getting their cutie marks in something dangerous. "I love those fillies, but I swear they could give anyone a heart attack over how cute they are doing that."

"...I guess I can teach Twilight some spells, but only the basics." Donald was suddenly pulled forward by Twilight's magic and into a bone crushing hug, the griffon squawking as his eyes bugged out of his head like a stress toy.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Twilight squealed, dropping the limp and dazed mage as stars began floating around his head and his eyes rolled around in their sockets. "When can we start!? I want my friends to see and maybe learn how to use your magic if it's possible!"

"S-Sure...why not?" Sora facehooved, seeing Donald easily gave in, and was going to be giving a lesson to not just Twilight, but everyone else.

"And, I want to see Sora in his Drive Forms really badly. Think you can convince him to show us and let me examine the magic of his transformations, Donald?" Twilight pleaded.

"Twilight, I'm not showing off my Drive Forms!" Sora denied. "You knew what it was like in my Harmony Form, you and the other girls were fused with me when we fought Discord!"

"Aww, come on, Sora," Goofy said, bringing his paws up to rest on the Keyblade wielder's shoulders. "Them forms of yours ain't that bad. All you're doing is just showing her how they work. What's the worst that could happen?"

Sora knew exactly what the worst case scenario would be. Donald and Goofy have had no clue in the past when he borrowed their power to transform into his Drive Forms when he turned into his Anti Form. They just black out and have no memory of what he becomes, or how dangerous he could be. He didn't want to risk using his Drives anymore, knowing that at any moment he could change into his darkened form and possibly hurt everyone around him. Even if he did try to break free, it might be too late if Anti Sora gets to them.

He looked back at Goofy, nodding at him, then back to Twilight and Donald. Sora did tell his friends that only Twilight, her friends, and the rulers of the kingdom in this world know about the other worlds, and they knew they should tell them more if the world order was somewhat broken. The pegasus sighed in defeat, unable to keep saying no anymore, even with Twilight's thirst for knowledge on a subject she excelled at.

"...Alright. I'll let you study my Drive Forms, too...along with what I can do in each one." Now it was Sora's turn to get a hug from Twilight, though his frame was a lot stronger than Donald's since he was just a few inches taller than the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Thank you! I promise I won't show anypony else. Only Princess Celestia...maybe?" Sora only sighed again as Twilight released him, knowingly going to regret it if any one of his transformations backfires on him. "So, when can we begin learning?"

"...Maybe in a couple days," the teen said. "Most of our friends are sick or trying to avoid being sick..."

"Ok! I can wait until then. In the meantime..." The unicorn lifted Donald back up, having slowly snapped out of his daze as he now sat on the couch. The small griffon looked over at Twilight, holding her quill and parchment as she waited for her new magic tutor to begin teaching her, wearing a big grin on her face. "Can I get some information on your world?"

As Donald, and even Goofy, began talking about their world, Sora began to dread the day they would all learn about their magical power. He only hoped that he was lucky enough to keep his Anti Form from popping up unexpectedly. But if he did turn into that monster that's inside the darkness of his heart, even with Kairi around to try and help him, he still doubted he could fully control it in time.

The flu bug had finally passed within the next few days, everypony back on their hooves, though still slightly weak as they had just recovered. Ponyville was lively again as ponies went about their business and foals ran around playing in the snow. The clouds above had continued sprinkling snowflakes down, adding another couple of inches of snow layering the ground, enough snow around a colt or filly to build up snowballs and have a snowball fight.

Outside the town in an empty field of snow, Sora stood before the Mane Six with Donald, Goofy, and Kairi next to him, today being the day he, his best friends, and girlfriend would teach them about defending themselves with the magic they knew. Along with showing their magical skills, if any one of the six mares could use them aside from Twilight and Rarity, Sora was going to show them all of his Drive Forms and how each one of them gives him a different fighting style, magical and physical capabilities, and power. He was not ready to do this, knowing just one transformation could make him lose control of himself, and he knew they were all powerless to stop him if it happens. While the nervous pegasus continued to fear the worst, Donald and Goofy had already introduced themselves to the rest of the mares.

"Sora?" Kairi snapped Sora out of his thoughts, looking at him with concern as he trembled slightly. "Are you ok?"

"Y-Yeah...I uhh...I'm just...nervous about teaching," he lied. He chuckled nervously and gave a sheepish grin, failing to hide his fears. "I guess the only thing I'm good at under pressure is fighting and saving the world."

"...Sora..." The pink unicorn knew exactly what he was afraid of. Twilight had persisted to learn about their magic, and Donald and Goofy broke him down into agreeing to show off his Drive Forms. Kairi gently rubbed Sora's shoulder, assuring him everything will go smoothly. "You'll be fine. Maybe it won't happen."

"My luck is already at its limit," Sora mumbled. "I have a bad feeling it's going to happen again, and Donald and Goofy are going to see it now that I can change without using their help."

"We can stop you if you do turn into that, and my light can help free you if you can't regain control." She kissed her worried boyfriend on the cheek, nuzzling his neck to calm him down. "You can fight it."

"Hey, you two don't start making out when we're about to learn about your awesome magic!" Rainbow yelled out, the couple grinning nervously as they scooched away.

"Ok. Now, to understand our magic, it has to be used responsibly," Donald began as he held his wizard staff in his claw, the end of his weapon a blue curved bolt with a brown mage's hat on top, the hilt black with a red gem on the pommel. "There are a large variety of spells I can use, but we'll start with the basic and easiest spell; Fire." The small griffon mage cast the spell, summoning three fireballs around him as the flames orbited him, melting the snow around him in a temporary barrier. Twilight took notes as she watched, the others staring in awe. "Fire is the basic of elemental spells to master. It's simple to control, manipulating it into a defensive shield in case Heartless lunge at you. To cast it, focus on the heat of the magic, bring that burning energy out around your body, and unleash the Fire spell in an orbit around you."

Twilight scribbled down everything Donald said, along with a spell algorithm to cast the spell using her own magic, though the others seemed a bit lost. "...Did anypony know what Donald said?" Pinkie asked. "All I heard was quacking."

The mage fell over and squawked, grumbling angrily to himself as he stood back up. "Am I really that hard to understand?"

"Oh wait! Somepony didn't turn the subtitles on!" Pinkie Pie pulled out a controller from her mane, being the only one to see a menu pop up after pressing a button. She navigated through the features until she found the subtitle function, turning them on to see words pop up at the bottom of her vision. Exiting the menu, she put the remote back in her mane. "Ok! Say what you said again!"

Everyone stared at the random earth pony, Donald and Goofy highly confused after only meeting her a couple days ago. The two of them looked over at Sora and Kairi, both of them just shrugging their shoulders and shaking their heads.

"Just don't ask, guys. It's just Pinkie being Pinkie." Goofy scratched his head, just taking Sora's advice, but Donald was skeptical as he tried to figure out Pinkie's randomness.

"...Anyways, I'll just continue teaching, though I don't expect all of you to cast it perfectly. And you're only learning the first levels of each spell!" Donald shouted, pointing at the eager Twilight Sparkle. "You won't learn the advanced spells until I know you're able to move up to the next level!"

"...Maybe if I master it soon, can I learn the advanced variations of the spells?" the lavender unicorn asked, only receiving a glare from the duck billed griffon. "...Or a lot later...Right."

Donald continued teaching each of the different spells, having Sora or Kairi take over to give an example of how the spells worked if any one of them needed to wait a while for their mana to regenerate once it was fully consumed. Twilight continued writing everything down as she and her friends watched each spell, even using Goofy as a test dummy for some of them. The mares panicked a little when Goofy just took the spells, but Sora and Donald assured them he could live through them, especially after that almost traumatizing moment in Radiant Garden during the Heartless swarm after defeating a member of Organization XIII, taking a giant rock to the noggin and living after falling unconscious.

They eventually went through every spell they all knew, Twilight's scroll of notes completely filled out, her eyes sparkling as she couldn't wait to practice using the new spells. She pulled out another empty roll of parchment, this one for Sora's Drive Forms to learn how the magical enchantments in his clothing transformed him into a stronger style. The others, except for Pinkie, seemed to be a little lost with how exactly they could cast the magic spells, a majority of them unable to use magic without a horn or some magical weapon.

"I actually want to try that fun balloon spell!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Only, is there a way to not make them pop when somepony touches them? Makes setting up balloons for a party a lot easier than blowing into each one, then running out of air and getting lightheaded when blowing too much!"

"No, Pinkie. Balloon is not a spell used to set up parties," Donald said. "It's meant to stun opponents and knock them in the air as they pop when they touch them. It can't be modified to do that."

"Aww," Pinkie whined. "There goes that idea..."

"Ok, enough about the boring magic," Rainbow said, after nearly dozing off a few times from the long-winded explanations Donald gave them. "Let's see what other Drives Sora's got on him! I want to see some Keyblade swinging!"

"...Uhh...W-Well, I can't actually show them all," Sora said nervously, sweat slowly forming around his forehead as he dug a hoof into his pouch. He pulled out a glass container that held a large yellow orb, these types of orbs able to quickly refill his Drive Gauge more than just striking Heartless or getting injured. "I...kind of don't have enough Drive Recoveries if I run out. I might not...show you all of them?"

"I think you have plenty of energy to turn into all of them, and there's enough of them orbs you got stored in case you need to use them again," Goofy said, not helping Sora's nerves and fears. "I'm kind of curious as to how he looks on the outside instead of Donald and I merging with him."

"Yeah! Come on, Sora!" Donald agreed.

The other mares agreed as Donald, Goofy, and Kairi sat next to them. Sora gulped, unable to back away from the inevitable now as he put the Drive Recovery back in his pouch. All of them watched him, Kairi being the only one who knows of his hidden form that comes up at random chance. They were awaiting an explanation, Twilight especially, the teen wishing to all the stars in the universe that luck would be in his favor and he wouldn't turn into his Anti Form.

"...O-Ok." Sora cleared his throat, sweat beading down his face as he was about to begin explaining his Drive Forms in full detail, examples and all. "S-So, as you girls have seen when Nightmare Moon first appeared...I used my Valor Form to take care of all the Heartless. It's also one of the few forms that gives me the ability to dual wield Keyblades, and each one actually gives me different strengths, so not all of them are the same." Twilight wrote down that little note, where the different Keyblades he can use each have their own attributes. "V-Valor Form gives me more power with physical strength. So, all my magic is fueled into my attacks, and my style changes to-"

"We get it already!" Rainbow shouted. "We saw what it looks like! Just transform into it before Twilight explodes from impatience!"

"Hey, I am writing down important notes, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight scolded the cyan pegasus mare. "Maybe you could learn a thing or two about paying attention and listening to every single detail Sora says. These enchantments are incredibly powerful, and we all knew first hoof how it felt to be a part of his Harmony Form with the Elements of Harmony."

"...Yeah, I tuned you out the moment you said 'writing'. Just change already before you make us freeze to death!" Twilight grumbled as Rainbow Dash completely ignored her.

"...A-Alright then...Here goes nothing..." Sora hesitated a little, but went through with changing into his Drive Forms. The light built up in his chest and unleashed it, a shockwave of light exploding out from him as the sound of glass breaking echoed around them. The light faded from his clothing as it was now red, even his scarf had turned red as he was now in his Valor Form, his Kingdom Keyblade and the Star Seeker appearing in his hooves. Sora breathed a sigh of relief, but he still feared his luck would finally backfire. "Thank goodness..."

"Hey, his scarf also changed color too!" Pinkie pointed out. "Rarity, you didn't tell us you actually knew how his Drives worked to make anything else change with him too!"

"I didn't," Rarity admitted. "This is actually inspiring. I wonder if there's a simple spell I can use to make my designs change color depending on the wearer's mood."

"I'd buy something like that," Fluttershy said.

"Sora, do you know how that's possible?" Twilight asked, now noticing the change in his scarf's color after writing down the magical algorithm she focused on for his Valor Form.

"...I...actually don't know," Sora said. "The same thing happened when I was in my changed outfit in Halloween Town, my mask actually turning to a black mage when I went into my Wisdom Form...Maybe any other accessories or articles of clothing change too." Since they had seen his style of fighting in his Valor Form, he reverted out of it and prepared the next one. "Ok, next is Wisdom Form. This one is more based around magic."

"Oooh," Twilight said in awe, finishing up writing the details of his Valor Form's style of combat from memory of the Summer Sun Celebration.

"When using this form, I do have a ranged attack where I shoot energy beams out of my Keyblade, but it's more useful with casting quick magic spells. Along with that, I have free mobility across the ground, my feet...or hooves, rather, hover above the ground by blue sparkles, almost like skating on ice." Sora rubbed the back of his neck, dreading the possibility of his next Drive Form. "Unfortunately, I only use one Keyblade, so...nothing...special..."

The teen hesitated, afraid to transform again, feeling like it will backfire on him the next time he did so. The others waited, wondering why Sora wasn't changing, but Kairi knew. She needed to be ready in case Sora's Drive backfired on him.

"...Well, Sora? We're waiting," Twilight said.

"...Right...Sorry." Taking in a deep breath, Sora began to shift to his Wisdom Form. The light built up around him and exploded, his clothes glowing brightly. He felt his form slowly building up as the light began to slowly fade, but he felt something go wrong, his eyes widening as he felt the enchanted transformation sucking away the light. "No. No! NO!"

Sora panicked as the Drive Form ended up backfiring, the light quickly fading and replaced by an orb of darkness that surrounded him. The others gasped in shock, hearing the pegasus scream in terror just before he was shrouded in the darkness.

"Sora!?" Donald exclaimed, both he and Goofy watching as their friend was being absorbed by the darkness.

"What's happening!?" Twilight asked, unsure of what was happening.

The sphere of black disappeared, shooting Sora out to the ground, his body smacking the ground hard. Instead of the blue clothing and magic sparkles they were expecting to see, the pegasus was now black: his clothing, his coat, his hair, every part of him was a very dark shading of black. Everyone had no idea what to do, if they should help him up or wonder if he would wake up.

Donald and Goofy were about to run up to Sora to help him up, but Kairi stopped them with her telekinesis, her white aura latching onto their clothes and pulling them back to them. "Wait...Don't go near him," she said, stepping in front of them with her Keyblade at the ready.

"Kairi, what's going on!?" Goofy asked. "What happened to Sora!?"

"That's not his Wisdom Form!" Donald added.

"I know...It's something much worse." The others stared at the pink unicorn in confusion, Sora slowly coming to, his limbs twitching slightly. "I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone else about this form...but now that he's like this, he's not going to be himself right now."

"But...why is he black?" Twilight asked.

(Aqua)

"Just look" Sora had just gotten up on his hooves, his head drooped down as his body twitched every so often.

Even though Kairi knows about her lover's Anti Form, this was the first time she and the others have ever seen it. His front hooves now had sharp claws that dug into the snow covered earth, forelegs twitching and flexing erratically. He slowly lifted his head up, everyone gasping in horror as they saw his eyes: yellow, glowing ominously on his darkened face, staring at them as if they were a predator having trapped its prey in a corner.

"Oh my goodness," Rarity said, being the first to speak over the other speechless ponies, diamond dog, and griffon. "Sora's a Heartless!"

"Not permanently," Kairi said before the others could make any negative assumptions. "I heard Sora when he spoke to Spike after I was knocked out by that Stealth Sneak. He knew about this form, which he called his Anti Form, and ever since he had turned into it, he's been afraid to show it to anyone around him. That's why he hesitated earlier; he knew it was going to happen."

"Spike knew about this!?" Twilight asked. "Why couldn't he tell us!?"

"How do you think you would have reacted if he told you he could turn into a Heartless by complete accident?" Kairi asked. Twilight couldn't think of an answer, but after what she experienced after having darkness plague her heart, she would have kept it hidden if she was Sora. "Sora isn't all that perfect. No one is. Not even me. He's kept it hidden for a long while, and during that time, he's been haunted by what would happen to those around him if they were around him in this form...which was why, after we finally reunited again after defeating Organization XIII, he's been afraid to tell me how he really felt about me...He was afraid he would hurt me."

"But, we didn't even know about this," Donald said.

"You two didn't have any idea what happened once he turned into this form, Donald, Goofy." Kairi looked at Sora, the transformed pegasus staring at her, his body randomly twitching as he stared back at her. "It was like you two had dozed off, having no memory of what happened...You two are lucky you didn't have to hear him explain just how terrible it is.

"He's had nightmares about turning into his Anti Form, killing everyone around him, even taking their hearts and crushing them in his hands. The worst thing about this...is that he actually sees what he does, from inside of his heart." Sora had began to twitch more, unable to keep control of his darkness as it began bucking its legs and stomping its front hooves down, like an animal on a leash struggling to break free from its bindings. "He see's the dangerous power he wields, attacking without any restraint with speed no one Heartless could keep up with...He's strong, and I know he can fight back against this, but his fears made him vulnerable, making him lose that control and unable to break free from the cage he's trapped in. Sora may be brave and determined, but when he told me how scared he was, he broke down when he explained why he couldn't tell me he wanted to be with me. He's been through a lot like Riku, but unlike him, Sora actually lost his heart and turned into a Heartless, where Riku had his heart taken over by Ansem."

"...So...His 'Anti Form'..." The Mane Six looked at Sora in sadness and pity, Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity having known about his scarifice, where the other three didn't and were shocked at the unfortunate event. Sora was going crazy, still staying in place, but his hold was going to be broken on his darkness at any moment. "...Is this his Heartless trying to break free? When he was supposed to...stay heartless?"

"That's what he thinks...I honestly don't know, Twilight..." Kairi slowly stepped forward, staying cautious as she carefully approached Anti Sora. "But maybe I can bring him back. My light guided his Heartless to me, his instincts as one nullified by his heart, making him one of very rare and docile Shadows." The unicorn stopped before him, the dark pegasus stopping its thrashing as it looked at her. "Sora...I want to help you...It's ok."

(Another Side, Another Story-battle version)

He slowly tilted his head, processing Kairi's words as she held her hoof out to him. Sora slowly reached his own clawed hoof out to hers, both of them gently touching each other's hooves. She figured he was finally able to take control of himself, moving a little closer to embrace him and let him seek salvation in her light.

"K-Kairi..." Sora spoke, his voice sounding warped and dark, even though he had no mouth to speak with. Kairi smiled, but it quickly disappeared as she felt the sharp claws of his hoof grip hers tightly, the sharp nails made of darkness penetrating her skin. His grip squeezed harder, causing her to wince in pain. "G-Get...away...from me!"

"S-Sora...!" The pegasus finally lost control of his darkness, moving his other hoof to grab the hoof he was already holding.

He spun Kairi around and threw her back to the others, Donald and Goofy quickly catching her before she hit the ground. Anti Sora began thrashing the ground and snow around him, trying to regain control, but it wasn't going to last long. The pink unicorn looked at her hoof, a little blood trickling out from the small wounds Sora's dark claws left in her.

"Kairi, are you ok?" Goofy asked.

"...He really can't fight it...His voice sounded...like he was in pain." Donald used his Cure magic to heal her wounds, the mage and knight stepping forward to defend Kairi, Goofy pulling out a small shield with their king's insignia on the front. "...The only way he can really be freed is when his Drive Form runs out of energy."

"Kairi, we'll hold Sora off!" Donald exclaimed. "You get the others out of here and stay safe!"

"You're not going to kill him, are you?" Twilight asked as she and the rest of her friends worried about the pegasus stallion about to go on a rampage.

"We're just gonna stall until he runs out of steam," Goofy answered. "We're not gonna lose our best buddy after all we've been through."

"I'm staying," Kairi said, gripping her Keyblade in her aura. "Sora needs my help. Twilight, get your friends far away from here."

"But he's our friend too!" Pinkie shouted.

"None of you can defend yourselves against the Heartless! How can you six think you can take on Sora like this!?" Kairi shouted. "Get out of here before he comes to you first!" Sora stomped his hooves down hard to the ground, creating a powerful quake and formed a dark barrier around a large area of the field, trapping all of them inside. "Oh no...This is not good."

"We're trapped!" Fluttershy screamed and began to panic.

"Just stay out of his line of sight! We'll hold him off until he returns back to normal." Kairi gulped, feeling scared as she still felt her hoof throb a little in pain from Sora's claws. She wasn't sure any of them could survive if he had power that outmatched any other Heartless ever created. "...I hope..."

"We've fought tougher foes in the past. We'll stop him!" Goofy took his shield and threw it at Sora like a frisbee.

As it reached the dark pegasus, he quickly side-stepped out of its trajectory, missing him by mere inches. He crouched low and ran toward them, becoming a blur of darkness as he zigzagged his way toward them. Donald and Kairi began shooting off spells to try to slow him down, but he managed to avoid each one, even the large range of their Thundaga spells that were impossible to dodge. Anti Sora's first target was Donald, repeatedly slashing and thrusting his hooves into the mage as he squawked in pain. His speed was too fast, even rivaling Rainbow Dash's speed after pulling off a sonic rainboom.

Goofy quickly intervened, his shield returning to him as he began to ride on it like a skateboard. He rode straight into the teen, only managing to shove him away and became his next target. The diamond dog knight couldn't block the pegasus's swift strikes, moving too fast for him to even blink let alone move his shield to protect himself. Sora bucked Goofy up into the air, leaping up after him to continue circling him and attacking like the blindingly quick blur of darkness he was. Finishing the devastating combo of slashes, Anti Sora hovered over the diamond dog, thrusting his forelegs down on him as dark energy shot out from an orb that appeared between his hooves.

Goofy yelped and fell hard to the ground, still conscious but badly injured. Above, Sora dove down as a dark cone of air formed around him, diving straight for the downed knight. Before he could reach him, Kairi leapt at him, swinging her Keyblade hard into his face, sending the Heartless stallion flying across the arena. He quickly flipped right back up, landing on the ground while cracking its neck.

"Sora, please! You have to fight it! You can control your darkness!" Her words didn't reach out to him as he zipped up to her, standing directly in front of her as he stared into her eyes with his own yellow ones.

She swung her blade again, only for Anti Sora to strike her horn, grabbing onto it tightly. He sent a wave of darkness straight into her appendage, the unicorn screaming in pain as the energy sealed her horn, along with any magic she could use. Her Keyblade fell to the ground as she staggered from the painful pulse of darkness, only to be stuck in a painful flurry of scratches from the pegasus's claws. After giving her body several hundred scratches, Anti Sora bucked Kairi hard in the face, sending her tumbling across the snow until she skidded to a halt, laying unconscious and vulnerable as he began to slowly approach her.

"Oh no. Sora's too strong like this," Twilight said, the lavender mare and her friends unable to believe the horror that was the unstoppable Anti Form. "We have to do something."

"But what can we do?" Applejack asked. "Kairi, Donald, and Goofy can't stop him. What can we do?"

"If only we had the Elements of Harmony, maybe they could destroy his darkness...Or it would do the exact opposite and possibly kill him or backfire!" The mares looked around themselves in the dark barrier they were stuck in: Donald was struggling to get back on his feet, Goofy couldn't move as he still laid in the crater he made as he crash landed from Sora's earlier attack, and Kairi was about to be the stallion's first victim, completely helpless. Twilight needed to do something, even if what she had planned was going to be the dumbest. She lowered her head and aimed her horn at him, her aura glowing as she focused. "Blizzard!"

Twilight shot a large snowflake out from her horn, the magical spell flying toward Anti Sora. It hit its mark, making him stagger a little, his head quickly turning in the direction of his attacker. Ignoring Kairi for now, it ran straight for the lavender mare that struck him. Before he could even reach her, Pinkie's party cannon popped up in front of him, his head running straight into the barrel, his upper body stuck inside of it as he wriggled his body to try and slip out.

"Fire in the hole!" Pinkie shouted as she pressed the button on her cannon, shooting Anti Sora out along with a blast of confetti and streamers, sending him tumbling across the snowy field in a crumpled heap. "We got to save our friend, even if he's dangerous right now!"

"Pinkie's right! If we work together, we just might wear his Drive Form up and he'll turn back to normal!" Anti Sora began to get up, shaking off the snow and confetti on his body, tearing a streamer hanging in front of his face to pieces.

"Or if we knock him out!" Rainbow Dash jumped in Pinkie's cannon, aimed directly at the charging Heartless stallion. "Pinkie, fire away!"

"Okie dokie lokie! Extra speed boost coming up!" Pinkie fired her cannon again, giving Rainbow a boosted takeoff as she flew toward Anti Sora.

He quickly dodged the rainbow blur, but the pegasus mare flipped over, landing on the side of the dark barrier, then leapt off with a faster momentum. She slammed into him, dragging the dark pegasus across the ground. Twilight helped by casting Magnet, dragging Anti Sora faster across the ground as the two pegasi were pulled toward the gravitational force. She dropped the spell, Rainbow gaining more speed as she grabbed Anti Sora's waist, flying them both up into the air.

Taking the initiative while he was still dazed, the athletic pegasus mare dove back down and flipped rapidly. "Applejack! Over to you!"

Rainbow flung the stallion down hard over Applejack, the farm mare rearing her powerful legs back, waiting for the right moment to strike. Anti Sora snapped out of its daze, thrusting his claws forward to quickly take down his prey below him. However, his quick claws weren't quick enough as Applejack bucked him hard, a loud crack echoing around them as her hooves struck his chest. The impact sent him flying, as well as shattering his form as Sora returned back to normal, the orange earth pony knocking him unconscious as he flew across the ground, tumbling repeatedly as he hit the dark barrier, shattering it and freeing everyone from the dark form's trap.

With the Keyblade wielder's Anti Form "defeated", the mares finally relaxed as Donald and Goofy snapped to their senses. "Ooogh...That hurt much worse than getting hit in the head," Goofy groaned, pulling himself out of the imprint of his body in the ground. "Is Sora ok?"

"Yeah. We helped," Rainbow said, helping the injured diamond dog up.

Fluttershy helped Donald stand up, the mage picking up his staff as he limped over to Goofy. He used his Cure spell, healing the two of them from the very painful injuries they received from their friend.

"He was tough," Donald said. "There was no way we could have kept up with him..."

Twilight approached Kairi, thankful to see her breathing, but her injuries looked a lot more severe than Donald's or Goofy's. She lowered her horn over the unconscious pink unicorn, focusing her magic to cast the Cure spell. It was a harder spell since it had to use up a majority of her mana just to cast it, but she managed to do it, calling a pink bellflower to sprinkle green healing magic down over the two of them, though the amount wasn't as spread out in a wide radius like Donald's.

She began to wake up, still feeling pain, but her injuries were at least gone. Twilight helped her sit up on her haunches, keeping her steady as she regained her senses.

"Kairi, are you ok?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah...thanks." Kairi gasped, quickly standing up, only to nearly double over in pain. "W-Where's Sora!?" She looked all over the field, spotting the pegasus stallion laying unconscious far from them all. Ignoring her body screaming at her to stay still, Kairi limped over to him, stumbling a few times into the snow. She finally reached him, thankful to see him back to normal and tried to shake him awake. "Sora? Sora!"

Sora groaned, his chest burning in pain from getting bucked in the chest as he squinted his eyes open. He looked at Kairi, relieved to see him back to his old self, but he was far from relieved. He saw everything from inside his body: having hurt his friends, almost injured Twilight and her friends, gravely injured Kairi, and was about to kill her. Everyone gathered around him and looked at him, all of them looking concerned, but he knew they were afraid of him.

"Sora? You ok?" Goofy asked.

"...No." Sora's voice cracked, tears welling up his eyes as he pulled his hood up over his face, ashamed to look at his friends and girlfriend. "...I'm not."

Night slowly came to a crawl across Equestria, the magic lesson ending abruptly after Sora's unfortunate Drive Form backfired. While the others were back in Ponyville, Sora wanted to be alone, sitting in his fully built Gummi ship. He sat in a corner of his cockpit, the hood of his jacket still worn over his head as he looked down at his hooves. Everything that happened today kept replaying over and over in his mind. He could never forgive himself after what he did, his fears had come true with the loss of control over his Heartless.

Sora had truly struggled deep inside of himself to free himself and fight back, trying to take back control of himself. He only managed to hold back for a short while, losing his control and shut away deep in his heart as he watched his darkness go wild and attack Donald, Goofy, and Kairi. He was forced to watch, trapped inside of a cage that had immobilized him, unable to turn away, flinching with every single slash Anti Sora struck on them. He felt every single blow he inflicted on them in his own hooves. Kairi tried to save him, but she couldn't; he saw her light from inside, he tried to reach out to it to return back to normal, but it couldn't help him.

He practically felt her hoof against his, he reached that light, but it didn't bring him back to normal. He couldn't break free of this darkness, and he threw her far away from him after warning her to stay away. They didn't heed his warning. They tried to fight him to bring him back. He trapped them inside of a barrier, against his will, the only way it would disappear is if he killed them or he ran out of time for his Drive Form or get killed by them. Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack may have been able to stop him, but they were lucky he didn't harm them.

His ears instinctively perked up as he heard someone entering his ship. Hoofsteps echoed in the quiet, empty, and freezing vessel, the pony entering stopping in front of him. He looked up slightly, recognizing the pink legs, curling himself up in a ball as he looked back down, hiding his face from her.

"Sora?" He didn't respond, trying to scoot away from Kairi, but he was already pressed against the corner. "It's freezing in here. You're going to get sick." Again he remained silent as he shuddered not from the cold, but from his sorrow. Kairi sat next to him, feeling him flinch as she laid her hoof on his shoulder. "Sora, it's ok now. We're fine."

"...I hurt you..." Sora mumbled. "...I couldn't stop it...It didn't work...Your light...couldn't help me..." Fresh tears rolled down his face, dripping onto his forelegs. "I tried, Kairi...I really did...but I can't...I can't beat it...I almost killed you..."

"Sora, you were able to hold back for a while." Kairi gently hugged the depressed pegasus, his trembling increasing as he sobbed, weakly trying to escape from her forelegs. "You did fight it for a while. We're all ok. Everyone's not hurt, and the others understand you weren't you as that Heartless." Sora eventually gave in as the pink unicorn pulled him closer to her. She pulled his hood down and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "We can help you. You can grow stronger, and control that form. I know you're scared, but your friends won't abandon you after an accident like that. I won't abandon you. Ok?"

Sora reluctantly nodded, believing Kairi, even though part of him told him to get away before he turned into Anti Sora again. She gave him a light peck on the lips, hugging him tightly. Kairi then helped Sora up on his hooves, leading him out of his Gummi ship and back into hers, where it was a lot warmer, getting them out of the freezing cold. It was going to be a long while before Sora could recover from this emotional ordeal. His friends still trusted him, even after what he turned into and almost killing them. Donald and Goofy were still loyal to him as friends, Kairi never stops believing in him, and Twilight and her friends didn't turn him away as a member of their friendship circle. Sora wondered how he was this lucky to have understanding friends when he didn't deserve them after accidentally revealing his dangerous form.

Even though Donald and Goofy's vacation had ended within the next couple of days, the quickly returned after telling King Mickey their reasons for staying with Sora for a little while longer. They left out the details as to what happened to him, knowing just how upset he was after he turned back to normal. As the knight and mage came back to Equestria using the Star Shard, though Donald had come back with a bump on his head. It seemed as though his love, Daisy, sought him out when they came back and gave him a good wallop for forgetting his date with her a week ago. He was going to have to work hard to make it up to her, but after he helped his friend turn his frown upside down.

Today, though, everyone was going to head up to Canterlot, since tomorrow was Hearth's Warming Eve, and on the night, they were going to be taking part in the play depicting the events that made Equestria. Everyone got on board the train headed for Canterlot: Sora and his two best friends, Kairi, the Crusaders, Big Mac and Granny Smith, Spike, and the Mane Six. While the rest of the group talked excitedly about the mares performing tomorrow, all of them having taken up an entire car, Sora didn't seem to be in a festive mood. His thoughts still lingered on what happened a few days ago.

Winter was one of his favorite seasons, where he would always mark down the days on his calendar until Christmas was here, but he gave up doing that. Though the others had accepted that this was all just an accident, just like Kairi had when she overheard him, he believed he shouldn't be around them if it happens again. The pegasus sighed sadly, looking out the window as the land rolled by. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had noticed the stallion's depression after the young Apple filly told them he wanted to have a snowball fight with them, all three fillies having gotten sick at the start of winter.

"Apple Bloom, do you know what's wrong with Sora?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yeah. He's never been miserable before," Scootaloo said. "He's always wild and goofy, almost like Pinkie Pie, except not as random as her."

"He didn't come back to the house a few days ago. Ah think he was spendin' time with his marefriend." The trio of friends approached the depressed teen, sitting down in the seat in front of him. "Hey, Sora. Ya'll doin' ok?"

"Hmm?" He looked over at the fillies, all of them staring at him with concern and worry. "...Oh...Yeah, I'm fine...Just a little down."

"Did your marefriend break up with you?" Sweetie asked.

"No...It's just...something personal. No big deal." Sora tried to smile, but it ended up looking more sad than happy. "I'll get over it. Like a terrible...nightmare..."

"Ok." The four ponies sat in silence, the wheels on the train car clacking on the tracks as they began to slowly climb up the mountain to Canterlot. The Crusaders looked at each other as they thought of a way to get the old Sora back. "...So, you gonna be a part of the Hearth's Warming pageant, Sora?"

"...Uhh...I'm not sure. I don't even know much about Hearth's Warming." Sora scratched his head, the only similarity on this holiday with Christmas is mostly a day of being with friends and family, presents and sweets, though he did doubt that a jolly old fat man with a white beard wearing red and white comes around late in the evening to deliver presents all around the world. "I do like winter a lot, but if only it didn't involve a time where it's easy to get sick."

"What's 'Christmas'?" Apple Bloom asked. The teen looked at the earth pony filly as Apple Bloom and her friends were curious about a holiday he didn't tell anyone about in full detail yet. "Ah saw a calendar in your room at the farmhouse, and on the 25th, ya wrote 'Christmas'."

"Is this 'Christmas' a relative of yours that's coming?" Scootaloo questioned.

Sora laughed a little, shaking his head. "No. Christmas is...actually a holiday I celebrate where I'm from. It's kind of like Hearth's Warming, only with a few differences."

"What's it about?" Sweetie asked, all three eager to know what this other version of Hearth's Warming was about.

"Hmm..." The Keyblade wielder tapped a hoof to his chin as he thought about telling them. Just from seeing the fillies' eyes staring at him, wanting to know something that interested them and would be desperate enough to pounce information out of him, it reminded him when his mother told him about Santa Claus when he was little. Children have a curiosity that always made them want to know everything about something, especially when it was a day of free gifts from some unknown, magical old man. His smile was genuine this time as he decided to enlighten them. "Alright. I guess I can tell you about Christmas...and Santa Claus."

"Santa who?" Scootaloo asked.

"Santa Claus, spelled C-L-A-U-S," Sora said. "And he's the best part of Christmas. He's the one who goes around all of the world in his magical sleigh, pulled by eight reindeer that could fly through the sky, with a large sack filled with presents!"

"PRESENTS!?" all three exclaimed.

"Yes! Presents!" His excited expression turned serious as he gave the fillies a stern stare. "But, that doesn't mean he gives gifts to every little girl and boy. He only gives those who have been good all year round presents, and those who are naughty...get a big ol' lump of coal in their stocking."

"He gives coal to bad foals?" Sweetie Belle questioned. "Why?"

"To teach them a lesson: act mean to others, be selfish, and not care about those unfortunate than they are, then they don't get a new toy or game. That coal, depending on its size, shows just how bad you behaved." Sora gave an example of the size with his hooves, starting small, then spreading them wider. "I think Diamond Tiara would get a big lump of coal the size of this train for being a spoiled little filly."

"But how can he tell if there are...millions of foals he has to give presents to?" Apple Bloom asked as all three questioned how one person could tell how all the kids in the universe were being good or bad.

"He knows just from instinct," he said. "He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He even knows if you've been bad or good. So, you three better be good, for goodness sake." Sora ruffled all three of their manes, making them giggle. "And he makes sure he knows which boy and girl has made his super long list, always checking it twice before he sets off on Christmas Eve.

"And once he makes his runs, he flies to every single house in the world, making perfect stops on the roofs of the building. And do you know how he gets inside the house without disturbing anyone inside?" Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo shook their heads, having no clue. "He slides down the chimney!"

They gasped, Scootaloo slowly raising her hoof to ask a question. "What if a house doesn't have a chimney?"

"He finds a way inside, since he's magical." Unknown to Sora, he seemed to be getting the others attention, too distracted telling the curious fillies about Santa Claus. "And before you go to bed and he shows up, it's nice to give him a little snack for him. Leave a little plate of freshly baked cookies, a glass of ice cold milk, and maybe some carrots for the reindeer. Delivering presents is hungry work, and boy can Santa wolf down delicious cookies.

"And...between you and me..." Sora lowered his head closer to the fillies and whispered to them. "I actually met him. Personally."

"No...way..." All three fillies stared at the grinning teen, feeling jealous as they had met what sounded like the greatest magical being in all the world.

"Oh yeah. I really did." While he gloated, the teen noticed that the rest of the car had been utterly quiet. Looking around from the seats, everyone seemed to look relieved to see him back to his oddball self. "...Uhh, what?"

Pinkie Pie suddenly dropped down from above him, being caught in his forelegs. "Tell me more about this 'Sandy Claws', Sora!"

"Yes, Sora. Why don't you tell us?" Kairi asked, smirking at him.

He dropped Pinkie, making the pink earth pony yelp as she landed on her rump. "...W-Well, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are the right age to know about this stuff. No older ponies are allowed to know."

"Says the stallion who acts like a colt." Sora sighed and drooped his head.

"If only the Poison Joke actually turned me into a kid and not a girl." Everyone laughed, Donald and Goofy more so than the others as the two imagined a female Sora fighting alongside them.

Sora's blushed in embarrassment, never going to have that moment be let down. And it gave Donald some more ideas to constantly tease him. Kairi approached the flustered pegasus and nuzzled him.

"Feeling a little better, Sora?" she asked.

"Kind of," he said. "I guess I needed something to get my mind off of the worst things that happened...But still-"

Sora was interrupted by a soft kiss from Kairi, quickly averting his thoughts away from his Anti Form. "Does that help too?" All the stallion could do was nod his head dumbly, grinning like a dope. "Good. Happy to help. Now, about Christmas...Got anything special for me yet?"

The pegasus blanched, snapped out of his daze as he darted his eyes back and forth. "Uhh...Yeah! I sure do!...It's..gonna be amazing, you won't believe what I got you!"

Kairi giggled and nuzzled her flabbergasted boyfriend. "It doesn't have to be something fancy. Or shiny. You still have some time left."

"I hope so." As the couple cuddled, Scootaloo was the only one who didn't like to see the mushy love between them, sticking out her tongue and gagging.

With Sora somewhat back to normal, he joined in on the conversations, even explained more about Christmas, the train slowly chugging along up the mountain up to the grand city of Canterlot at its summit. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were really excited, unable to wait to tell their friends back in Ponyville about another winter holiday where they can get presents. But that would have to wait until the pageant tomorrow.

The train made its stop in Canterlot, everyone stepping off onto the station and into the city. The city streets were heavily decorated for Hearth's Warming, the nobles all dressed in festive winter clothing, wreaths wrapped around light poles, and snow blanketing every single inch of the ground and buildings. Aside from the mares' worst variation of the game "I Spy", actually calling out everything they spy instead of giving hints, their main destination was the grand theater, where Canterlot hosts its performances, mostly opera pieces.

As the group all walked inside, Donald and Goofy staying with the Crusaders, Big Mac, and Granny Smith as they explored Canterlot, they saw some ponies working on the stage, creating the set for the Hearth's Warming pageant. Overlooking the crew setting everything for tomorrow was Princess Celestia, looking over what appeared to be the script for the play. She looked up from the many pages, spotting the performers for the major roles walking down the aisle.

"There you are. Right on time," Celestia said. "The costumes are all set and we're about to rehearse. Here are the scripts for each of you."

She levitated the several copies of the script to the mares, even one for Sora and Kairi. "Whoa. We're going to be performing too?"

"Of course. I added in extras for each member of the tribes that take part in the story, just to make the story a little interesting." Sora and Kairi both looked at the scripts, reading the names of the characters they would be playing as.

"Wait. All three tribes?" Sora asked. "I'm a pegasus. Kairi's a unicorn...But, who's going to play the extra earth pony?"

"Right behind you." They turned around and saw Luna, only she was now just as tall as Kairi was, no wings or horn, looking like a normal earth pony. "I am ready for my debut in the spotlight for my subjects to adore me."

"Easy, sister," Celestia warned. "Don't get an inflated ego."

"You're just jealous because you're the director and everypony will be looking upon me as I act out as part of the Hearth's Warming history," Luna said, flipping her normal mane as if she was a diva. "Come, Sora, Kairi. Let us away to practice our lines!"

Before the two could have a chance to voice their opinions, Luna dragged them off to the stage to practice with the others. The solar princess shook her head, amused by her younger sister's enthusiasm, even if she was trying to act like a showoff. While looking over the script again, she noticed Twilight approaching her, having probably memorized her lines.

"Princess, can I talk to you?" the unicorn asked.

"Sure, Twilight." Taking the momentary break from overseeing preparations, Celestia and Twilight headed for an empty room outside of the massive theater to speak in private. As she expected to hear something she learned in her studies, she didn't expect to see her student look upset. "Twilight? What's wrong?"

"...It's about Sora." The princess mumbled something, thinking she was reverting back to falling for the Keyblade wielder again. "It's not that! I've moved past that, I swear. It's something else about him."

Celestia sighed in relief, grateful to avoid that painful topic again. "Ok. So, what's happened?"

"Well...It's about what happened a few days ago...Please don't be mad with what I'm going to tell you, and you can't tell anypony else..." Twilight fidgeted, her ears drooping as she thought back to the past few days where Sora was downright miserable, hiding himself away from everyone as they wanted to help him. "...Sora doesn't want anypony else close to him to know about this."

"What is it?" Twilight began telling her mentor everything that happened a few days ago. Celestia was shocked to hear what had occurred as their magic lesson about the spells Sora, Kairi, and Donald knew and the pegasus's Drive Forms almost turned into a disaster from his transformation into Anti Sora. She explained how dangerous this dark form was from an accidental shift in his magical enchantments, releasing the Heartless that was kept in the darkness of his heart. The speed, the overwhelming power with each small slash of his claws, and the terror of his form brought a shiver down the alicorn's spine, and it was all from just the words of her student. "...My goodness..."

"His transformations are only temporary, and we managed to stop him." Twilight looked down at her hooves, still surprised to know that Sora had his own secrets that he wanted to hide. After everything he told her about keeping a problem inside, he doesn't exactly follow his own advice. "He may look better now, but I know he still blames himself...He distanced himself from us, thinking we're all going to turn him away after turning into...that..."

"...I see." Celestia never expected someone like Sora to ever hide something this dark, or even have this dangerous secret at all. Twilight did tell her that it was a complete mishap, his transformation an unfortunate change that was out of his control. "I completely understand, Twilight. I know Sora's not a threat, and I hope you and your friends can help him in his time of need."

"I know, Princess Celestia," Twilight said. "I owe him after he and Kairi saved me when I lost myself with my darkness."

The unicorn shuddered at the memory, never wanting to have something like that happen to her again. The two headed back to the stage, the princess going back to supervising everything while her student went back to practicing her role. Even though Celestia swore to keep this knowledge hidden, she can't help but think she should speak with Sora's master about this dangerous form the teen could turn into by random chance.

After many hours of memorizing lines and practicing where each of the cast will be for the pageant, Hearth's Warming Eve was already here as evening arrived in the blink of an eye. Ponies from Canterlot and beyond, who wish to see the capital city's historical retelling of their kingdom's history, filled in the seats of the large theater building, awaiting the yearly performance with anticipation. It was a full house, every single seat taken up, Celestia up in the royal section along with her special guests from Ponyville, Applejack's family, Rarity's sister, Rainbow Dash's number one fan, and Sora's otherworldly friends. The princess was delighted to meet Donald and Goofy, now knowing where he got some of his silly behavior from.

Where the audience were ready to watch the play, backstage, however, was a completely different story. Sora, Kairi, and Luna were in their costumes, all set to play their parts, but the other mares ended up bickering with each other over minor things. Fluttershy was a nervous wreck, knowing there would be thousands of ponies that would be watching them, trying to hide in fear. The window outside opened and made the room freezing cold, but as Rarity asked Rainbow Dash to close it since she was closest, she was too busy pretending the crowd was cheering for her only. It was already mass chaos with the Mane Six all fighting against each other, something Discord would surely love if he was freed from his stone prison again.

"This is going to be a good play," Sora sarcastically said, deciding to close the window for them. "Judging from the script, Hearth's Warming is a tale of how all three pony tribes formed Equestria through friendship, yet we're seeing the opposite of that with them. And over a window."

"Alright, everypony! We're on in five!" the director announced, taking Celestia's place to oversee everything will run smoothly for the play.

"I'm pretty nervous," Kairi said. "I've never really performed anything before."

"Don't worry about it, Kairi. Just imagine everyone in the audience is in their underwear." Luna and Kairi stared blankly at the pegasus stallion. It took Sora a moment to realize his error. "...Oh. Ponies don't wear clothes...Pretend they're wearing underwear?"

"That's makes it even more awkward." Sora just grinned while Luna snickered, Kairi's nerves only getting worse as she began to take his "advice", imagining every single pony watching on the other side of the curtains were wearing underwear.

Eventually, the others had gotten into their costumes as the show was about to start. Spike entered stage left, being the narrator of the story, wearing a purple suit and hat, something that seemed to fit the old style of the past when the story took place.

"Once upon a time, before Celestia's rule over the land and the discovery of the kingdom, ponies did not know about harmony," the baby dragon began. "It was a dark time in the land back then, as the three tribes were torn apart by hatred toward each other." Some sets began to move out, the curtain sill closed to hide the major settings, some fake clouds with a group of pegasi flying in, a cliffside with a group of unicorns, and a patch of fake grass with a group of earth ponies. They each wore different styles of outfits, only furthering their cultures: the pegasi were more like warriors, the unicorns as nobles, and the earth ponies as peasants. "Each of the tribes - pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies - cared only for the well-being of their tribes, not the struggles of the others.

"Each tribe had done their part to try and compromise with living through their daily lives." The earth ponies behind Spike brought out a cart of fruits and vegetables, all the food fake, the ponies looking irritated as the pegasi and unicorns came down. "The earth ponies grew the food for all three tribes, pegasi controlled the weather, and the unicorns moved the sun and moon to change the time of day. In exchange for the unicorn and pegasus tribes to do their jobs, the earth ponies give them a portion of their harvests for perfect weather to grow more crops and to bring day and night to the land.

"Unfortunately, something unexpected happened, the three tribes' forced time of peace ruined as a terrible blizzard rolled onto their home." A gust of wind blew in from the right of the stage, fake snowflakes blowing in as the groups of ponies fled off the stage. "The harsh wind and cold made each tribe grow hungry and cold. The earth ponies couldn't grow any food, the pegasi can't control the blizzard, and the unicorns were unable to warm the land as they brought up the sun. All three tribes blamed each other for the terrible storms. And the more they argued, the worse the blizzard became.

"So it was decided that all three tribes held a summit to solve the issues and find out what was causing this horrible blizzard. Our story begins with the leaders of the tribes, along with their strongest of champions to defend their tribe from the dangers outside of their homes, meeting together and sparking the historical event known as Hearth's Warming." Spike stepped off stage as the curtains pulled up, beginning the events of Hearth's Warming's creation.

In the harsh blizzards of the land, the many members of the three tribes slowly entered a lone building in the center of their villages, far from their rival ponies. Inside, as a majority of the council were seated in the rafters above, all of them leering at the ponies not like them, their leaders and strongest of their tribe's defenders from any dangerous creatures entered. Each of the leaders and fighters were played by the casted actors playing their roles. For the unicorns, Rarity was Princess Platinum, wearing a fluffy purple and white dress with a platinum crown on her head, and Kairi was one of the added characters named Aurora, wearing a pink and fuchsia cloak with a white heart pinned to her chest, the symbols for the basic elements of nature circling around it. For the pegasi, Rainbow Dash played as Commander Hurricane, wearing black and bronze battle armor similar to the armor used by the soldiers of Equestria today, Sora marching in after her with all black armor and a short sword in a sheath attached to his hip, playing as another included character named Speedy Missile. And for the earth ponies, Pinkie Pie bounced in as Chancellor Puddinghead, wearing a brown and yellow outfit almost similar to Spike's, though on her head was a hat that was shaped like a cup of chocolate pudding, Luna walking in behind her and rolling her eyes as she wore an azure tunic while hefting a heavy looking sword on her back, playing the added character known as Lunar Eclipse.

The six ponies approached the table in the center of the room, the leaders taking off their headgear as they looked at each other. They were silent for a while, just staring each other down, while their champions looked at each other, none of them seeming to hold ill will during a moment where they need to come together to solve this blizzard. Finally, the leaders spoke, only to try and shout over each other as they complained, making the three warriors groan.

"I demand to know why the earth ponies are hogging all the food!" Rainbow yelled, slamming her hooves on the table. "We're starving, and you're holding out on us!"

"We're not hogging the food, you are!" Pinkie yelled back, Luna smacking her forehead in annoyance.

"Chancellor, we do have the food in storage," the blue "earth pony" corrected. "But the reason why is because there is barely enough to trade to your tribe and the unicorns, let alone feed ourselves."

"Oh. Right," Pinkie said. "But still, we can't grow anymore food until you pegasususesususes get rid of this storm!"

"Chancellor, we've tried to stop this blizzard," Sora spoke up before Rainbow. "No matter how many clouds we destroy, more and more snow clouds keep appearing, and the storms just keep getting worse for us to handle."

"Hey, Speedy, I'm the commander here! Stand down or I'll demote you down to Private!" Sora sighed and remained quiet, leering at his "commanding officer". "Besides, I'll bet its the unicorns and their freaky magic causing this stupid blizzard!"

"How dare you!" Rarity shouted. "We have nothing to do with this at all! You think we enjoy freezing ourselves to make you all miserable!?"

"Granted, some of the more powerful mages, such as myself, know some blizzard spells, but they are only used in retaliation to the threats on our kingdom," Kairi explained. "My own magic isn't enough to cause a blizzard of this magnitude. Just directly at my opponents."

"Oh great," Pinkie groaned, slamming her head on the table. "If you non-earth ponies have no clue what's going on, then I'm out of ideas."

"Big surprise. An earth pony with no ideas, just about as useless as a unicorn in combat!" Rainbow's words began sparking another argument as the leaders bickered again.

Sora, Kairi, and Luna, all three of them shaking their heads simultaneously, left their "calm and collected" leaders to their argument as they headed into a quieter room. "Urgh...I am so sick and tired of taking orders from Commander Blowhard. Every time he speaks, he makes so many more issues."

"Be glad your leader is not so blindsided with...wild antics," Luna said.

"Please. Princess Platinum is a spoiled brat," Kairi said. "She barely even helps the rest of us unicorns raise the sun and moon. And she's very demanding, in an annoying way."

The three champions laughed, surprised to know that they each hated their leaders. They soon grew silent, unsure of what to say, knowing they all should hate each other because of the different races they were.

"...Uhh, so...Name's Speedy Missile," Sora introduced. "First lieutenant of the pegasus army and, unfortunately, Commander Hurricane's second in command. Or I should say not in command, since he makes all the decisions."

"Lunar Eclipse, strongest earth pony of the tribe, and head of the defenses for our village," Luna introduced as well. "Though don't let the giant sword on my back make you think I am a barbarian. I'm a good strategist when on the battlefield, not a simpleton like Puddinghead."

"I'm Aurora, the unicorn's strongest mage, only second to Star Swirl the Bearded," Kairi said as she introduced her character. "I was able to master the strongest of elemental spells we knew at the age of ten, and appointed as one of her highness's personal magicians...Unfortunately, I'm more of a servant to her than a guardian."

"...Wow. Seriously?" Sora asked the pink unicorn. "Hey, why don't you show me one of those spells? Try it out on me?"

"Y-You actually want me to strike you with a spell!?" Kairi blanched, even shocking Luna.

"Just use a spell that's got some lightning in it. Pegasi are pretty resilient to getting shocked from lightning clouds. Fire away!" The pegasus warrior stood still, awaiting the spell.

Taking his word, Kairi charged her horn up to cast one of her magical spells on the stallion. She fired a powerful lightning bolt that shot out from above him, shocking Sora and making his skeleton show through the flashes of light from the magical attack. As soon as it stopped, his spiky hair stood up more, body lightly scorched, his limbs twitched as small electric shocks coursed through his muscles.

"Goodness, Speedy Missile. You still stand?" Luna asked.

"Did I overdo it?" the unicorn asked as she feared her spell was too powerful.

"...Whoa," Sora finally said after some silence. "That was powerful alright." With his muscles finally stopped spasming, he shook himself to get some feeling back in his limbs. "Far more powerful than a bolt from a cloud."

"...You're a strange stallion, Speedy Missile," Kairi uttered.

"You can just call me Speed, Miss Aurora." The mage was quite surprised by the stallion's behavior, unlike the rough pegasi she's always been told about in her youth.

Their friendly chat ended abruptly as Rainbow Dash slammed the door open. "Lieutenant! What are you doing fraternizing with the enemies!?...And why are you burnt!?" Before Sora could explain what happened, the commander smacked him upside the head. "We're heading back to the base. And you're going to be on cleaning detail for trying to flirt with a filthy earth pony and a stuck up unicorn!"

Luna and Kairi looked insulted, even Sora as he was forcefully dragged off by his commanding officer. Eventually, the other two leaders called their champions back to them as their meeting had ended with them fighting over who would leave the building first. Their mutual friendship was short lived as the trio of fighters split up with their leaders, heading back to their homes. Little did any of them realize the ghostly equine apparitions floating in the sky, hidden in the thick clouds of the snowstorm.

"For the last time, commander, I was not flirting with those mares," Sora said as he and Rainbow flew across the skies in the blizzard, the pegasi village of clouds seen in the distance. "I was told to keep quiet around you, so I decided to move away from your arguments with the other leaders, and it was a coincidence that the other two wanted to get away from you three."

"And what is that supposed to mean!?" the pegasus actor questioned, flying in front of her lieutenant. "Are you disrespecting my authority!? You're looking at severe punishments for insubordination!"

"No, Commander Hurricane," the stallion sighed.

"Good. But you're still on cleaning duty for speaking out of line." Sora grumbled as they continued flying over the cloud village. They reached the army base, where Fluttershy in the same uniform as Rainbow Dash tried to destroy one of the snow clouds, but failed miserably. "Private Pansy!"

The pegasus yelped, actually kicking the cloud hard enough to destroy it and fell to the cloud ground beneath her, quickly standing up and saluting. "C-Commander Hurricane, sir! H-How did the summit go?"

"Our great leader just instigated a fight with the other two tribes, and insulted them." Rainbow leered at Sora, the stallion not batting an eye. "Well, you all assumed each other tribe is the cause of this blizzard, and you just pointed hooves at them instead of figuring out what to do."

"They disrespected us pegasi! They have no idea just how powerful we are as mighty warriors!" As soon as the cyan pegasus turned her head away from Sora, the stallion made rude faces behind her back. Fluttershy, as Private Pansy, snickered at the faces he made, making the commander turn back to face her lieutenant, who quickly ceased his mocking. She turned away again, unaware of Sora's tongue sticking out at her. "We won't be associating with those earth ponies and unicorns again! They should know not to cross with us, or else we'll bombard them all with lightning bolts!"

"Yeah. Sure. Great idea, oh mighty leader," Sora sarcastically said. "Instigate a war and take their land. That'll work. Say, how about something more rational? Like making a compromise and finding the cause of this endless storm!?"

"Speedy, your demoted to Private for backlashing." He facehooved, both Sora and Fluttershy groaning on the inside at their terrible leader's stubborn ego.

"You know what, Commander Hot Head, I'm resigning from being a part of your army and your irrational ideals!" Sora grabbed one of the many storm clouds, kicking it hard to drop every ounce of snow inside of it on Rainbow's head. "Pansy, I pray you leave this blowhard and get out of this blizzard before he brings an end to our kind!"

"Mutiny!" Rainbow shouted as she watched the stallion fly off. "Go on and run, coward! If you show yourself here, you shall face a death sentence!" He disappeared in the distance, leaving the two mares alone. "Forget him. We don't need that traitor."

"But, commander, Speedy Missile is our strongest soldier. What will we do without him if we're ever in danger from...wild beasts?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'll deal with them!" Rainbow exclaimed, pulling out her sword and thrusting it in the air. "Until then, we're going to find a new place to call home, away from this freak storm and those land-dwelling ponies!"

Walking toward a royal castle in the distance, Rarity and Kairi trudged through the storm, the unicorn mage creating a barrier around them to try to protect them from the icy chill of the blizzard. They walked inside the warm halls and headed through the corridor's to the princess's chambers. Inside, going through a few books was Twilight, wearing a brown cloak.

"Clover the Clever!" Rarity called out. "I need you immediately!"

"You're welcome, your highness," Kairi muttered, not thanked for escorting her ruler back home safe and sound.

"What happened, Princess Platinum?" Twilight asked, playing the role of Clover the Clever, levitating a tub of warm water for the princess to warm her hooves. "Did the other tribes see reason to band together to solve the crisis upon us?"

"The opposite, actually," Kairi answered for the white unicorn. "They ended up fighting with each other, Princess Platinum included, only making the situation worse with no answers to the blizzard's never ending reign."

"I had every right to yell at them!" the princess complained, shoving her hooves into the tub. "They accused us of causing this storm with our magic! We will not be associating with those filthy earth ponies and brutish pegasi...Though, I wonder what you were doing with that pegasus stallion and earth pony mare in that other room. Were you planning on turning your back on us after everything you've done for me?"

"We were just talking and getting away from the real problem in all of this, which just so happens to be you!" Kairi shot a blast of ice at Rarity's hooves, freezing them to the tub of now frozen ice. "I'm just going to come out and say this right now. Princess Platinum, you are the WORST excuse of a ruler in our kingdom! You're nothing but a spoiled brat, having your leadership handed down to you by your father once he stepped down! I protected you and our tribe from dangerous threats, yet a majority of you don't appreciate what I had done to save you all! In fact, you're so lazy to even use your own magic to help aid the others to raise and lower the sun and moon!"

"...And your point is, Aurora?" Kairi screamed in frustration, blasting another shot of magical ice at Rarity's hooves, making her more cold than how freezing it was outside.

"You are so dense! I'm leaving, getting far away from you and your mindless, irresponsible rule!" She turned to Twilight, pressing a hoof to the lavender unicorn's shoulder. "Clover, I know you're a smart mare. Leave Platinum before she causes the downfall of our tribe, and ruins any chances of you becoming a mage like myself. Farewell."

The pink unicorn stomped out of the room, slamming the doors shut with her magic. Twilight sighed, the unicorns having lost a valuable unicorn magician in their tribe.

"Forget Aurora," Rarity said. "She wasn't appreciative of my genius, anyway."

"Princess, Aurora was our strongest magic user," Twilight said. "She actually filled in for ten other unicorns that had gotten ill when we needed to raise the sun a few months ago. Without her, our kingdom will suffer under this blizzard, and any dangerous creatures that thrive in the tundra we seem to be permanently stuck in."

"Which is why we are going to move elsewhere, somewhere far away from those dirty earth ponies and warmongering pegasi. And if Aurora shows herself in our new kingdom, then she shall be thrown in the dungeons for life!" Rarity tried to pull a forehoof up, but her hooves were still frozen stuck in the tub. "...Umm, Clover? A little assistance? I can't feel my hooves."

"Yes, your highness," Twilight sighed, focusing on a spell to free her princess from the block of ice, wishing she had the guts to leave just like the pink unicorn had.

Inside one of the tall huts in the earth pony village, Applejack waited impatiently, wearing a brown tunic and hat. Her ears perked up when she heard something walking on the roof, then something sliding down the chimney. Plopping down onto the fireplace was Pinkie, covered from head to hoof in soot.

"Chancellor!? What in the hay were ya doin' enterin' through the chimney!?" the orange mare asked.

"Please, Smart Cookie. I'm the chancellor. If I can think outside the box,-" Pinkie poked her head up the chimney stack, ignoring more soot coating her body. "-I can also think inside the chimney."

"...Uh huh," Applejack droned, playing the part of Smart Cookie. She looked over at the front door, expecting someone else to come in with the pink mare. "And where's Lunar Eclipse? Wasn't she with ya?"

"Yeah, but she left," Pinkie said, exiting the fireplace as she shook the soot off her. "She said she had enough of my lack of planning, being lazy, and totally irresponsible as a leader. So she just walked out on the tribe, saying something about you doing the right thing and leave too."

"What!? Lunar left!? What about what happens when monsters begin attackin' the village!?" Applejack questioned.

"Never fear, Smart Cookie, for I got an idea. An idea so smart my head would explode into cupcakes if I even began to know what I was talking about." The orange mare groaned, unsure if whatever plan the chancellor had would actually be a good idea. "We're gonna move away from the rest of those non-earth pony jerks! We have all the food, and we'll find a better land to grow new food, and none of them will ever have any."

"So, negotiating with the pegasi and unicorns to find out what's goin' on with the weather was completely ignored?" Pinkie ignored Applejack as she skipped over to the door. She opened it, only to have a small avalanche fall down on top of her as it had blocked the doorway with a large pile of snow. "And that answers mah question since y'all ignored me...No wonder Lunar left..."

As the next couple days passed, the three ponies that escaped from their homes to discover a new land away from their incompetent leaders. They admitted it was selfish of them to leave the rest of their tribes behind, some of them not deserving to suffer under the terrible blizzard, but if they were to blindly follow the ones in charge, then there was no way to change their minds. They had soon discovered a peaceful land, far from the harsh winter winds of the deadly snowstorm that threatened to end their tribes' lives.

Sora floated around, relishing in the warmth the sun gave as he looked over the land on a fluffy cloud, which was just as warm as the rays of the sun. "Oh yeah. This is nice. No wild clouds filled with snow. Perfect temperature to bathe in the sunshine. And best of all, no taking orders from someone crazy enough to start a war over everything."

As he rested on a cloud, Kairi wandered into the land through the mountains, glad to be far away from the snow as she observed the scenery. "This is beautiful." She noticed some hidden gems from within one of the cliffs, levitating the sparkling gems up to her. "No more harsh winds. A bountiful amount of gems in the mountain region, many of them holding some powerful magical properties. Please tell me this isn't a dream."

Down below the mountain Kairi stood on, Luna looked around the grassy plains, scooping up some of the fertile soil around her. "This place is amazing. Warm sun, clouds free of snow, and the perfect land to grow bountiful crops. And with the seeds I've managed to save from the cold, I'll be able to grow food within the next few months."

"This is the perfect place for me to live!" all three said at once.

They were surprised as they heard others nearby, all three of them looking around and spotting their supposed enemies not too far away from each other. Sora flew down to the ground while Kairi leapt down the cliff, the three warriors meeting together, staring each other in awkward silence. None of them had any idea what to say, or if they should try to fight for land they had found.

"...So...I'm guessing you two had done the same thing I did?" Sora asked, finally speaking up after what felt like an eternity of silence. "Leaving our loyalty to our leaders and forcing the rest of our tribes to fend for themselves in the dangerous blizzards?" Both mares nodded, the stallion scratching his head at the irony. "...Huh...This is so weird."

"Yes. Quite the predicament." More silence, the three ponies staring at anything but each other.

"...Well, maybe this is a good thing," Kairi said. "Our tribes had been fighting for a long time. All over food, weather, and bringing the sun up in the sky. We're supposed to help each other, but we always end up bickering with each other because of our differences."

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "I mean, we're all ponies, right? We just have different appendages...or none at all. No offense, Lunar."

"None taken. Though I admit I am jealous I cannot fly or use magic, but without our knowledge on cultivation, none of our tribes would have survived." Sora and Kairi nodded.

"Right. And since all three of us have a few things in common, and we're not like our insane leaders, we can maybe...create a new home? With all three tribes combined together?" Sora and Luna thought about the idea, both of them nodding in agreement.

"That sounds like a good idea," the pegasus said. "Lunar Eclipse can teach us how to grow food, I'll keep the skies cleared for the food to grow and pour rain water on the land, and Aurora can use more of her amazing magic to aid the both of us."

"...Y-You think my magic's amazing?" Kairi asked the stallion, her cheeks tinting a brighter pink than her coat.

"Of course! You won me over with that...'shocking' spell." He winked at her, which made Luna roll her eyes at the pegasus stallion's attempts to flirt with the unicorn mage.

"A pegasus falling for a unicorn? Should I build you two a house for some privacy?" the blue mare asked, both her new friends and former enemies blushing at the teasing remark.

"Hey, we're all friends here! It's not my fault Aurora's beautiful for a unicorn." Sora quickly slammed his hoof against his mouth, pupils shrinking to pin pricks as he let his compliment slip out.

"I think that answers that question," Luna giggled as Kairi's blush deepened. "I say we celebrate our newfound friendship and claim this land as ours. Three pony tribes, united together instead of separate because of race. Any suggestions for a name to this land?"

Before they could think of what to call their new future land, they felt a sudden chill wind brush past them, snow slowly falling around them. The snow clouds came rolling in above them, the winds growing harsher and the air growing colder as the perfect, warm climate became just like their old home.

"Oh come on! Not again!" Sora complained.

"I don't understand. This place was free from the blizzard!" Their ears perked up as they heard what sounded like arguing coming not too far from where they met up. When they looked over to the shouting, their jaws dropped as they found their leaders fighting with each other, again, along with their subordinates. "You've got to be kidding."

"Did they follow us?" Luna asked, shivering as the harsh winds began dropping more in temperature.

"Knowing how dimwitted they are, they thought the same thing we did to get away from the blizzard, and it somehow found us! We have to find shelter, and as much as I hate to say it, we need to help our former bosses." The trio of warriors ran up to the tribe leaders and subordinates, surprising them as they finally stopped yelling at each other.

"So, you did follow me here, Speedy! You have a lot of nerve infiltrating Pegasopolis!" Rainbow shouted, oblivious to the blizzard around them.

"You want to yell at me somewhere where we don't freeze to death!?" The leaders finally agreed on something, seeking shelter to get out of the snowstorm.

The nine ponies quickly flew to one of the nearby caves in the mountain. They were unaware of the spirtual equines floating above them, circling the mountain they hid inside of. Even though the eight mares and stallion were safe inside, the freezing air managed to sneak inside the caverns, each group split up by their tribe. They were all in mortal danger, but the leaders continued to ignore the real threat outside that was slowly creeping in and focused more on their enemies.

"Commander Hothead, can you please get out of my royal space?" Rarity said as she tried to shove the pegasus leader away.

"Oh, I'm in your space, huh, you prissy unicorn!? Private Pansy! Outline Pegasopolis's territory!" Fluttershy meekly stepped forward and began dragging her hoof across their side of the cave slowly. Annoyed by the slow outlining, the commander picked up the private by her waist and dragged her along with her hoof. "This is Pegasopolis soil! No earth ponies or unicorns allowed!" Rainbow dropped the mare to the ground, turning her attention to Sora. "And no traitors!"

"And here we go again," the stallion grumbled.

"Well, we're not letting a pegasus on our territory! Clover the Clever!" Rarity called out.

"Smart Cookie! You too!" Pinkie shouted.

Both the followers still heeding the commands of their unicorn and earth pony leaders began drawing out lines for their territories. Sora, Kairi, and Luna all groaned in annoyance as they watched the unfortunate ponies still following orders from three incompetent leaders that cared more about what they want than the lives of their tribes. They soon began fighting over a rock of all things, their arguing growing worse and the chilling cold somehow getting worse.

"This is absolutely ridiculous," Sora mumbled as he and the other six watched Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity fight. "And why is it getting colder!?"

He got his answer as they all heard ice crackling at the entrance of the cave. It was being frozen over by a wall of ice that trapped them inside. Kairi cast her most powerful fire elemental spell at the ice, but none of it melted, somehow resistant to the burning fireball.

"W-What is happening!? My magic can't destroy it!" she exclaimed, the non leaders beginning to panic.

"Oh great! This is all your faults!" Rainbow shouted.

"My fault!?" Rarity asked. "You two deserve this fate! Not me!"

As the leaders continued yelling at each other, ice began to slowly encase the caverns from the walls, crawling up the leaders as they were still unaware of the dangerous, unexplainable phenomenon. The others backed up into the center of the cavern, Sora and Luna holding out their weapons as they tried to slice through the sheet of ice crawling toward them while Kairi cast fire spells to melt it away. Their efforts were in vain as it kept crawling toward them as they watched their leaders begin to turn to ice.

"Earth ponies are numbskulls!" Rainbow said as the ice finally froze her solid.

"Pegasi are brutes!" Rarity said as the same thing happened to her.

"Unicorns are snobs!" Pinkie said, also frozen into a block of ice.

"Well, at least they finally shut up!" The six ponies huddled close together, unable to escape their fate. They soon heard an eerie, ghostly roar from above them, three spiritual equines floating down and circled over them, making the cavern's temperature drop drastically. "What the hay are those!?"

"Windigos," Twilight muttered.

"What in the world are Windigos?" Applejack asked.

"Spiritual equines made of ice and snow," Kairi spoke up, her eyes focused on the spiritual demons getting closer. "Star Swirl had told me about them. These spirits feed off of the anger and hatred of their prey, bringing a harsh blizzard the worse the hatred becomes." They all looked at each other, now knowing what was the true cause of the blizzard and how the storm followed them when they left their homes. "...Our tribes fighting had caused this..."

"And our fighting has caused nothing but destruction upon our old home, and now this land as well..." The ice began to slowly creep up on them as they were about to become frozen statues just like their leaders. "We will all die because of our hatred toward each other."

"...You know what? I don't hate any of you," Sora said, surprising the mares. "Ever since I was little, I always wondered why our tribes have always stayed separated. We're all ponies, just born differently. I wished that one day, all three tribes can get over their differences and live peacefully, since we all need each other to survive anyway. The only one I hate out of all of us is Commander Hurricane."

"But, he's your commanding officer," Twilight pointed out. "You would rather despise him and risk being imprisoned for insubordination?"

"I'd rather rot in a prison cell than hear another word that comes out of his mouth!" Sora pulled his ears down, emphasizing his disdain toward the cyan pegasus trapped in ice. "I've risen up to the highest ranks very quickly at a young age, and I feel I could be a better commander than he ever would be. In fact, I appointed myself to protect my home from anything that could threaten us pegasi, and all he does is sit around, barking orders and trying to instigate a fight with the other tribes! It's so frustrating!"

"...He's right," Fluttershy said. "I really don't like Commander Hurricane...He's too loud and rude."

"Ya'll think he's loud? Try Chancellor Puddinghead," Applejack said, pointing a hoof at the frozen pink mare. "All of his ideas are so nonsensical that Ah'm the one who has to fix his mistakes!"

"And our food storages are always dwindled for our tribe during the trades because of our 'genius leader'," Luna added. "He eats more food than the rest of us. Combined."

"Princess Platinum is so demanding and obnoxious!" Twilight let out. "I have been doing all of her bidding for so long, all while under Star Swirl's tutelage to learn more about magic, and she's been holding me back and treating me like a servant, not a mage!"

"And not once has she ever been thankful for anything the unicorns do for her," Kairi said, putting in her two bits. "She thinks she rules everything because of her father's lineage, and she's done absolutely nothing productive to help our tribe. Just whining and complaining."

The six ponies, oblivious to how close the windigos were getting, all stared at each other. They all hated their leaders and realized the root cause to all of their suffering. They all grinned and began to laugh at the irony, three tribes who were supposed to hate each other, but there was no need to when they all had similar issues in their homes while also relying on the other tribes to survive. They huddled close together in a group hug as the ice slowly began to crawl up their bodies.

"Well, if this is how we're going down, then I'll go down saying I'm glad to have gotten to know you all," Sora said. "Better to freeze happily with friends than alone and bitter."

The rest of the mares nodded in agreement, all of them willing to die in the embrace of their new friends from rivaling tribes. "Speed?" The stallion looked over at the pink unicorn held under his left foreleg, noticing the blush on her face. "...If this is going to be the end...Then...I want to ask you one thing before it's too late."

"...Uhh, sure, Aurora." Kairi's blush deepened as the others around them watched, Luna's lips turning into a smirk, knowing what the pink unicorn mage wanted.

"...I've...never really met a stallion like you who's actually appreciated my magical talents, and didn't treat me harshly like the rest of your tribe because I'm a unicorn." Sora chuckled as he grinned, hearing what the mare had to say about him. "And...because of my studies and protecting my tribe, I've never had a chance to...relax. Find romance...So...when we freeze...will you kiss me?"

While the other mares' jaws dropped, excluding Luna, Sora's cheeks turned bright red, his wings flaring out in surprise. "...U-Uhh...K-Kiss?" Kairi nodded as the others giggled at the stallion's bashfulness. "W-Well...Since we're gonna freeze...Oh, what the hay? You only live once."

The pegasus stallion and pink unicorn mare moved their heads closer, their lips pressing together in a gentle kiss. Their eyes were closed, ignorant of the other mares watching them and the ice slowly covering them all. They were all soon frozen by the windigos deadly magic, forever locking the newfound lovers in their kiss. The spirits of ice seemed to have succeeded, only for their grins to disappear when they saw the two unicorn mages' horns begin glowing, a powerful blast of white and lavender fire shooting out from them, melting the ice covering them.

The magical flames burned the windigos, screeching in pain as their power had failed and sent them fleeing from the sudden fire. Twilight's and Kairi's horns stopped glowing as the flames began to form together, shaping into a purple and white heart, melting the ice around them, freeing them from the ice wall that trapped them in the cave, and quickly warmed them all up. The two unicorns stood up after having this unexpected magic come out from them, all six friends looking up at the heart of fire.

"What kind of magic was that?" Luna asked.

"I don't know. Nothing like this has ever happened before," Twilight pondered. "...But I think I know that it wasn't just me, or Aurora. It was all of us, joined together in love and friendship."

"Well, I definitely felt love in that," Sora said, wrapping a wing around Kairi. "I guess our dying wish has turned into a blessing for the two of us. Right, Aurora?"

"...Yeah. I think so." She suddenly grabbed the stallion's cheeks, turning his head to face her. "Pucker up, you 'brutish' stud."

Kairi mashed her lips against Sora's, the stallion flailing in surprise from the sudden kiss. Eventually, he relaxed and kissed her back, pulling her closer and deepening their kiss. The white flames on the heart had increased in temperature, further warming them all up and unleashing warmth outside of the cave. They began powering the heart as they spent time getting to know each other more, telling jokes, singing songs, enjoying each other's company. Eventually, the fire of friendship and love melted the leaders from their icy imprisonment and all the snow outside. Not only were they rescued, but the coldness in their hearts against the other tribes had melted, changing their perspectives toward the other leaders. After making amends, the nine ponies walked outside, seeing the calm and peaceful land they all had found free of snow and frost, the magical fire of friendship saving them from their fate.

And so, the fire of the six ponies' friendship and the love shared between Speedy Missile and Aurora melted the land of the windigos icy blizzard and freed their leaders from their frozen fate!" Spike narrated as the main cast stood together as they set up Equestria's national flag on the fake patch of land on the stage. "With the pony leaders now united together, agreeing to share this beautiful land and live in harmony, they named this land-"

"Equestria!" the main actors exclaimed, the audience cheering as the pageant has come to an end.

The ponies and dragon all took a bow as the crowd applauded their spectacular performance. Music began to play around the theater as one of the Hearth's Warming songs would always be sung after the end the play every year.

(All)
The fire of friendship live in our hearts
As long as it burns, we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arrive, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through (will see us through)
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end

With the play now over, everyone began to get out of their costumes backstage. Sora had decided to get some fresh air outside of the theater, letting the icy chill of the cold cool him down from the warmth of the building.

"That was kind of fun, playing a part in the Hearth's Warming pageant. Though I highly doubt the characters Luna, Kairi, and I played were actually part of that historical event." The teen tapped a hoof to his chin as he looked up at the night sky, clouds gently sprinkling snow beneath them. "But...those windigos in the story...Do they really exist?"

He soon heard an eerie whinny come from above the clouds. Looking up, he gasped as he saw the ghostly equine spirits from the story floating around, his ears twitching to the sound of arguing from the window in the the theater's backstage. They were getting closer, bringing the temperature down further as they got closer to the bickering. Sora quickly summoned his Keyblade, flew up at them and cast several Firaga spells, the flames around him making the windigos flinch and fly away from the otherworldly magical flames that threatened to burn them.

The spirits fled, staying far away from Canterlot and disappearing in the distance. "Well, I guess anything known as legends in this world aren't really legends after all. Good thing fire magic outside of this world also scared them off like the Hearth's Warming flame."

After scaring off the windigos, Sora flew back down to meet up with the others to spend the rest of Hearth's Warming Eve with his friends. Even though he had a depressing few days, he was back in the holiday spirit, enjoying playing a role of a character for a show and even explaining to the Cutie Mark Crusaders about Christmas. If Santa doesn't really come around for the holiday, he wanted to at least spread some of the Christmas spirit to Ponyville at least. And he couldn't wait for Christmas Eve to come around with what he had planned.

It was Christmas Eve morning in Ponyville, snow falling lightly to the ground as the sun peeked through the small holes in between the clouds. Through the following weeks after the Hearth's Warming Pageant, Sora had been busy planning to bring the foals of the town a taste of his version of their winter holiday. He commissioned a similar suit and cap Santa Clause wore from Rarity, a pretty simple costume that was done in a day. After getting himself fitted into his Santa suit, leaving a big pillow underneath to make it seem like he had gained some weight around his stomach, he hid it away in his ship, keeping it hidden from any foals' eyes. It was difficult with hiding it from Sweetie Belle, since she was around the boutique most of the time, but the two managed to keep it a secret.

Next came the gifts for all the good kids, and lumps of coal for the naughty ones. As the teen had expected, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had told all their friends about Christmas and Santa Claus, which had excited a majority of them. The only ones who thought the holiday was stupid was, obviously, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They didn't believe somepony could travel around the world in less than a few hours to deliver gifts to every good filly and colt, and it was impossible for someone so fat to squeeze down a chimney. The other classmates ignored the two bullies, unable to wait for Christmas day.

So, while everyone was busy, including the foals, Sora gave Celestia a lot of Munny in exchange for bits to buy gifts for the kids. One day at school, while he was visiting them while they had recess, he made a mental list of what each of them wanted, as long as they were good. Diamond Tiara, on the other hoof, still didn't believe all of this, knowing she was going to get a big lump of coal with a little note from "Santa" about her naughty behavior. After that, he got a list of the students in the school from Miss Cheerilee, making his checklist of the nice and naughty colts as he went shopping at Barnyard Bargains.

It was a surprise to know that Diamond Tiara's father owned this large franchise of stores all across Equestria, ironically named Filthy Rich. He was also a pony he heard Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith talk about sometimes at the farm, a business partner who buys some of their apple products to help sell in his super marts, where they receive a percent of the sold apple products. He even met the stallion while shopping, recognized by his spiky mane when Diamond Tiara talked about him. At least he wasn't as snobbish and rude as his daughter, so he was a pretty likable pony. After buying the presents, he made sure the cart he had borrowed from the Apples was covered by a dark cloth, hiding what goodies he had from any young prying eyes. He also got some coal, knowing there were a few ponies who had been bad.

Today, the Keyblade wielder was going to be observing the foals. It was a school day, so all of them would be busy in class, giving him enough time to prepare everything for tonight. Donald and Goofy helped Sora place all the gifts in a large white sack, along with a black satchel for the coal to be tied to the belt on his suit. Each wrapped present had the name of the filly or colt that deserved them, having taken the past couple weeks to learn where they all lived to deliver the right gifts. With everything all ready for tonight, the sack of toys were kept safe in his Gummi ship along with his Santa costume, fit with a fake, bushy white beard to fit the illusion.

"Ok, that should do it, guys," Sora said. "Glad to know you two are gonna help me deliver these gifts. Unlike the real Santa, if all the foals really did leave out some cookies and milk, I don't know if I could stomach it all."

"Happy to help, Sora!" Goofy said, finishing tying up the sack. "But, uhh, there's only one Santa costume."

"Yeah. What are we supposed to be?" Donald asked.

"Well, Santa can't get his job done without his helpers...Sooooo..." Sora pulled out out a pair of deer antlers with some bells on vest and a green tunic and cap with fake pointy ears. "You two are going to be my elf and reindeer!"

"What!?" the small griffon exclaimed. "That's not fair!"

"Sorry guys, but if the kids want to believe in a Santa Claus, he as to be a pony. It would make sense if he actually did come to Equestria." Donald sighed in defeat, knowing that was a plausible explanation. "By the way, guess who's going to be playing who."

"...Uhh, am I the elf?" Goofy asked, both Sora and Donald falling over comically at the wrong answer.

"No, Goofy. You're the reindeer." The teen tossed the reindeer outfit to the goof of a knight, while he gave Donald the elf costume. "Donald's obviously the elf since he's shorter than us.

"Hey!" Donald squawked.

"Well, it's true." He heard the short griffon mumble something as he put on the ridiculously pointy ears. "Make sure they fit you right. If not, then sneak over to Rarity's so she can help you fit into them. Now, if you'll excuse me, I got a list to check twice."

Sora exited his ship with the list of foals in Ponyville and a pen and headed off to the school. As the two friends put on their outfits, Goofy laughing at Donald at how silly he looked compared to him.

"Sora is right, Donald. You do look like an elf. Ahyuck!" The mage smacked Goofy in the shin with his staff, making him yelp and bounce as he held onto his injured leg, the bells on his vest jingling with each step he took.

Kairi walked into Sora's ship, having just missed the teen as she found Donald and Goofy in their outfits. "Oh wow. You two look silly," the mare giggled, only making Donald groan.

"Don't remind me," the mage grumbled.

"If you're looking for Sora, Kairi, he already left for town," Goofy said, rubbing his sore shin. "He's got some last minute checking for tonight."

"Good. I still have a few things to prepare for a little surprise I want to give him once he's done playing Santa." Kairi levitated a box she had carried on her back down in front of her, placing it far underneath the bed out of Sora's reach. "As soon as he leaves to deliver presents, I'm going to put what's inside on and give him his little gift. Along with a little redecorating to fit the festive mood."

Donald's curiosity was peaked as he crouched down, staring at the box. "What's inside?"

"Hey!" Kairi quickly pulled the griffon away with her aura, holding him upside down. "Stay away from there. That's Sora's gift, and I don't want you two to spoil the surprise." She let Donald go, the mage squawking as he fell to the ground. "Hope you two have fun tonight."

Kairi left the ship, leaving Donald in a daze as he landed on his head while Goofy had a feeling she and Sora were going to spend some more alone time together. "Well, at least he's been catching up with Kairi for lost time. I sure am glad they finally got together."

Floating up above the school's playground, Sora hid inside of an empty cloud as he waited for recess to start. After waiting long enough, the bell rang and the young ponies all ran out of the schoolhouse, enjoying the small amount of freedom in between their lessons for the day. Since they were distracted by playing on their school's jungle gym, playing tag or any other games, the teen poked his head up from the cloud, pulling out the list as he took note of all the foals present.

"Ok, let's see. Who here's been naughty or nice?" Looking down, he checked each one who were good and placed X marks next to the bad ones. "Peachy Pie, nice...Lickety Split, nice." He spotted the Cutie Mark Crusaders running around, having a little snowball fight. "Those three are definitely on the nice list, even though they seem to cause trouble...At least they aren't picking on others." Sora's ears perked up as he heard two familiar voices as they mocked someone. And just as he expected, there were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the two bullies heckling a pale violet unicorn filly with a blonde mane. That filly was Dinky Doo, who happened to be Derpy Hooves's daughter, the ditzy mailmare of Ponyville. "Speaking of..."

He placed big X marks next to the bullies' names while leaving a check next to Dinky's. While they still picked on the little unicorn, Sora finished going through the list, seeing a lot of nice colts and fillies except for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. He had to think about Snips and Snails for a while, remembering the two dolts for colts brought an ursa just to see Trixie defeat it. He let it slide since they were overly curious, and no one got hurt, except for Trixie's pride. They were going to get a big warning not to let their expectations run high with a performing wizard with an over exaggerated story.

With his double checked list made, knowing twice was more than enough for him unlike Twilight's constant checking, Sora put his list away. He was going to give Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon one last chance to try to redeem themselves, hovering down into the playground and hearing the bullies making fun of Dinky.

"Stop making fun of my mommy!" the unicorn said. "She's not dumb!"

"She keeps bringing mail to the wrong addresses, and she always screws things up," Diamond said, surprising Sora as the two were making fun of Derpy instead of Dinky. "I don't think she can even see where she goes half the time with those messed up eyes of hers."

"Stop it!" Dinky shouted.

"I'm surprised her stupidness isn't even hereditary," Silver Spoon added. "But don't worry, Dinky. You'll be as stupid as her when you get older."

"Excuse me, girls." Diamond and Silver yelped and turned around, finding Sora standing behind them, and he was not happy with the insults the two made over Derpy. He did have a few run ins with the ditzy mailmare, but she was in no way mentally impaired, just clumsy with a strange physical condition. "You do know it's not nice to pick on someone, especially someone else's family, right?"

"You again," the pink earth pony filly growled. "You ruined my cute-ceañera and ruined my perfect dress!"

"Ruined? Maybe. But your dress? That was all you," Sora said, poking the filly on the nose. "You tried to tug my tail, and you ended up slipping and spilled my punch on your dress. That's called bad karma."

"There was nopony named Karma at my party!" The teen rolled his eyes, the spoiled brat oblivious to the term. "Why are you even here anyway? You trying to stalk us or something?"

"I came down to help little Dinky Doo here from you bullies after hearing you two making fun of her mom." He hovered over to the unicorn and ruffled her mane a little. "It's one thing to pick on others, but it's outright rude to make fun of someone who has a serious physical or mental condition. That's worse than being a bully; that's being an outright mule." He heard braying come from across the fence, noticing a donkey was walking by, making the teen wince as he overheard him. "No offense, sir!"

"None taken," he said as he continued along the path.

"Huh. Didn't even see him from the air..." Ignoring the odd appearance of the donkey, Sora turned his attention back to the two bullies. "Anyways, you two do know what tomorrow is, right?"

"Saturday?" Silver asked.

"Yes, but a certain holiday is coming up, and you two are ruining your last chance to behave yourselves." Diamond Tiara groaned in annoyance.

"That stupid 'Christmas' holiday you made up!?" she yelled. "Everypony in school keeps talking about it, and it started when you told those three blank flanks about it, and this 'Sandy Claws'! He gives presents to those who are only good, and he does it all in one night!? That's impossible!"

"Oh? Impossible you say?" Sora questioned, looking down at Dinky. "Dinky, what do you think? Is Santa Claus real?"

"Mhmm, and I've been really good all year. Honest," she said.

"Good! And I know Santa's gonna give you a special present tonight," Sora said, messing the filly's mane more. "And what do bad foals-" The teen began coughing as he muttered Diamond Tiara's name between coughs. "get from Santa?"

"Umm...Coal?" Dinky responded.

"A big FAT lump of coal. Something that very naughty children deserve for their bad behavior, like picking on others." He hacked even harder this time, repeatedly saying the names of the bullies in a comical fashion. He could feel the glares coming from the two irritated fillies, clearing his throat as he pounded his chest. "Oh jeez! Anyone got something to drink? I must have got something in my throat."

"You're an idiot," Diamond insulted Sora, but he ignored it, knowing she'll get her just desserts later this evening. "And this stupid holiday you made up is stupid. There is no such thing as a Santa Claus, because nopony who's supposed to be fat can crawl down a chimney, have magical flying deer that pulls a heavy sleigh full of toys, and nopony can actually fly around the world in one night to deliver those toys to every single house."

"Oh, there is such a thing as Santa Claus." Sora approached the rich pink filly, lowering his head down to her level. "Are you saying you don't believe in Santa? You think he's just a made up character?"

"Yes, and you're stupid," she said.

"...You know, there's a little saying one pony says to another who doesn't believe anything they think is nothing but fiction. 'Seeing is believing.'" Sora moved his head back up, avoiding Diamond Tiara's hoof from trying to smack him. "But, sometimes the things we do believe in are the things we can't see. That means, no matter how much someone wants to seek the truth to prove anything one says doesn't exist, you don't need proof to believe in miracles, or dreams."

"...That makes no sense!" Diamond shouted.

"It does make sense, because I believe, Dinky believes, all your classmates believe, but you don't," he said as he poked the pink filly's nose again. "By tomorrow morning, when you see a big lump of coal in your stocking from Santa, you may change your mind...Hopefully." The bell soon rang, signalling the students to head back inside as recess has ended. "Well, enjoy the rest of your day. And remember, Dinky; make sure to leave a tray of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa when he comes tonight."

"Ok! But, we don't have cookies at home," Dinky said sadly. "Do you think Santa would like muffins instead, Sora?"

"Hmm...I think Santa would like some muffins," Sora said, perking the filly up. "I think eating cookies at each house can get really boring, so a change in sweet, crumbly pastries won't make a difference."

"Yay! Santa's gonna love my mommy's muffins!" The Keyblade wielder chuckled as he watched Dinky bound back to the school with a gleeful step in her hooves.

"He doesn't exist! And I'm going to prove it tonight!" Diamond Tiara said. "I'm going to stay up all night and watch my mansion's chimney! I am not getting coal from somepony who breaks into ponies' houses just to leave gifts behind!"

Sora grinned as the filly just told "Santa" about her little plan to try to catch him in the act, watching the bullies head back inside the school with their classmates. The Crusaders spotted him and waved before walking back inside, waving back at them.

"I smell a challenge," the teen uttered. "Well then, little miss spoiled princess...Challenge accepted."

After school, all the kids quickly ran out of the schoolhouse, both to enjoy the weekend and prepare their homes for "Santa Claus's" arrival. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, however, trudged along the snow covered road into town.

"That spiky-haired dimwit of a pegasus has been giving me so many problems!" Diamond exclaimed. "Now he's really gotten this stupid holiday in everypony else's heads when we've already gotten our presents when Hearth's Warming came a couple weeks ago. Like I'm going to get coal for a present."

"I don't know, Diamond. He was pretty serious about all that stuff he said," Silver Spoon said with worry. "He looked like he wanted to hurt us after you said there was no such thing as this 'Sandy Claws'."

"Well, he knows he can't hurt me, otherwise he'll be facing a lawsuit with my daddy. Maybe even get thrown in the dungeons." The two rich fillies reached Diamond's home, a large manor surrounded by a tall brick wall, the path leading to the mansion blocked by iron gates. They were open during the day, allowing any business ponies or visitors access, but only visitors the rich filly wanted to come in, which was only her best friend, Silver Spoon. They walked inside and headed for the sitting room, where the chimney was kept. "Now, to prove to that dimwit and everypony else 'Sandy Claws' doesn't exist.

"You're staying here at my place tonight and helping me keep watch of anything that tries to come in through the chimney. And, to alert us if we fall asleep, we'll set up booby traps." While Diamond Tiara ran off to her kitchen, Silver Spoon stood in front of the fireplace in confusion.

"Wait a minute, we're going to try to stay up all night?" the gray filly asked. "Does that mean you actually believe him and this fat pony will show up?"

"No! I still don't believe him!" Diamond came back in the room, carrying a few pots, pans, and lids, dropping them all to the floor with a loud clatter. "Sora's a big idiot and probably going to try and rob my house. You can't trust somepony with a mane style like his while he always wears a black jacket."

"But, he's saved Ponyville from those black monsters, and he even stopped Discord," Silver said. "How exactly is he bad?"

"He's defending those blank flanks, and made me look stupid at my important party. I can trust him as far as I could pay somepony throw him." Diamond Tiara scattered the pots and pans around to have "Santa" trip up on them and make noise. "There. That's it for the alarm. Now for my instant camera to get a picture in case that pegasus breaks in. And I won't get coal in my Hearth's Warming stocking, because that's the dumbest punishment gift anypony could give. Coal can turn into a diamond with the right pressure and heat, but it's more cheap than a real one, so 'Sandy' is actually a big idiot for giving me jewelry."

"...You're really serious about doing this, aren't you?" Silver Spoon asked skeptically, fearing her friend's slightly lost sanity.

"Duh. Now get in the kitchen and find the sodas. I'm gonna get my camera and stocking, and put it up next to the fireplace for 'Sandy Claws'." The pink filly ran out of the large living room and upstairs to her room, her friend sighing as she obeyed her command.

"All this over a dress when she has dozens more like it?" Silver began to have second thoughts about her bullying and following Diamond Tiara. No one else would be her friend since she came from a rich family and picked on others with Diamond, and she didn't want to lose her best friend. She walked into the kitchen and looked through the expansive fridge for the caffeinated beverages to keep them awake for the night. "...I didn't like talking about Dinky's mom like that, but Di didn't seem to care...It was so mean too."

She grabbed a couple of the two liter bottles, carrying them on her back as she headed back to the living room. After placing them down on the coffee table next to the couches, she was about to head back to find some cups for them to pour their sodas in when she noticed some blank sheets of paper and some colored pencils on the short table. Silver looked down at the hallway where Diamond disappeared to, still upstairs and searching for her camera, then back to the papers and pencils.

Night fell across Equestria, the moon shining brightly through the partly cloudy sky. It was close to midnight, all the colts and fillies in Ponyville gone to bed after they had left cookies and milk for Santa Claus. The time was right as they were already sleeping soundly in their beds, and it was time for Sora to get to work. He donned his Santa outfit, dyeing his mane and tail white to match the fake beard. The suit hid his cutie mark in case any curious children were still up or startled awake managed to see "Santa" in their homes.

He looked himself in the mirror, looking as close as possible to all the kids favorite adult if he was a pony. Aside from what his actual coat would be, and the lack of a larger belly Santa was most known for, second to his suit and hat, it was the best he could do to imitate him. Though, seeing how Jack Skellington from Halloween Town tried impersonate Santa Claus after growing bored of the same Halloween planning for several years, Sora hoped that the jolly old man wouldn't scold him for spreading Christmas in Ponyville.

"Ho ho ho!" the Keyblade wielder laughed, making his voice sound deeper to match Santa's laugh. "Eh, guess that's close enough to the real deal." He headed outside of his ship, where Donald and Goofy waited for him with the sack of toys, wearing their elf and reindeer costumes. "Alright, guys. Time for Santa to visit Ponyville."

"I got the sack," Goofy said, hoisting the bag over his shoulder.

"And we'll handle the lookout while you enter the houses," Donald added, having gotten over his silly elf outfit.

"Perfect. Let's go, Santa's Helpers!" The trio hurried off into town, though none of them noticed Kairi sneaking into Sora's Gummi ship to prepare her surprise gift for her boyfriend.

With the cover of night, the street lights giving the road some luminescence along with the moon, Sora, Donald, and Goofy snuck along the outskirts of Ponyville. The first house on the list was Sweet Apple Acres, being a lot closer to the fields outside of town. Following Santa's example, the teen leapt up to the roof of the farmhouse, with Apple Bloom's present on his back. Since his wings were stuck inside his red and white suit, he had to carefully jump up to the roof without making too much noise, reaching the smokestack and began to climb down. Luckily, it was pretty wide for a pony to slip through, and with his skinny build with a large pillow pudge around his stomach, it wasn't a tight squeeze while sliding down. At least the fireplace wasn't thankfully lit, otherwise he would have choked on smoke and got his rump burnt by the flames.

Peeking his head out, the house was dark and quiet. As he had expected, Sora spotted Apple Bloom on the couch, fast asleep, trying to stay awake to see Santa Claus come down her family's chimney. Being as quiet as he could, Sora crept out from the fireplace and placed Apple Bloom's present next to the slumbering filly. He noticed the plate of cookies and milk for him, helping himself to a little snack, but before he could munch on the apple shaped sweet, someone turned on the light from the kitchen.

"Ya know, ya could have just used the door or window, 'Santa'," Applejack whispered. "Was it really necessary to actually climb down the chimney?"

"Hey, that's what Santa does, AJ. Besides, it was kind of fun doing that." Sora bit down on the cookie, never knowing how the Apple family can make every dish always taste like apples but not questioning it since they were delicious. "And you're not supposed to be up either. Santa is not very pleased with you, Miss Applejack."

"Try not to make a mess with all that soot on ya." The teen only grinned, grabbing the milk and chugging it down. He grabbed the remaining cookies for Donald and Goofy, placing them in the red pouch he still kept tied around his back leg to keep them from getting dirty for them, then climbed back up the chimney. Applejack shook her head at the odd method of exiting the house. "This kind of thing is somethin' Pinkie Pie would do just to throw a surprise party for somepony. Christmas is a weird holiday."

Sora climbed back up to the roof and leapt back down to the ground, meeting up with his friends as they continued on to the next house. Their next few stops weren't thankfully delayed this time as the teen got in and out, leaving behind presents and swiping the cookies. He didn't leave Donald and Goofy out on the variety of delectable cookies, grabbing them from his red pouch of endless inventory space and giving them to his best friends as they took a small break.

The next home on Sora's list was Dinky's, climbing up onto the roof of the house and make his way downstairs. Inside, the unicorn filly was slowly startled awake when she heard hooves stepping on the roof above her room. Her ears perked up when she heard bells outside, gasping in surprise as Santa had come to her house. Being as quiet as possible, she crawled out of bed and tip-hooved out of her bedroom. Reaching the stairwell, she peeked behind the railings and watched the fireplace in her family's living room, hearing the Keyblade wielder crawling down.

Even through the dim lighting, Dinky had to stifle a gasp of excitement when Sora poked his head out to examine his surroundings. He crawled out and took a look around the living room, spotting the freshly baked muffins waiting for him instead of cookies. While distracted by the delicious aroma, the little filly crept down the steps, being careful not to let any of them creak under her small weight. Sora took one of the crumbly pastries, getting a hint of blueberry and chocolate chips. He took a bite, his taste buds exploding at the most delicious muffin he had ever tasted that wasn't from Sugarcube Corner.

Dinky made the mistake of getting too close, stepping on a very squeaky part of the floorboard that could have woken the whole house up. Sora slowly turned his head around to the sneaky filly behind him, swallowing the mouthful of muffin and put it back down on the plate. He knew at some point one of the foals would end up spotting him, quickly getting into character as he turned around to look at Dinky, surprised to see "Santa Claus" up close.

"Ho ho ho ho. Well, hello there, little one," Sora said with a deep voice. "What are you doing up so late?"

"...S-S-Santa?" He nodded his head, stifling his real laughter at the filly's amazement.

"Yes indeed. And you must be Dinky Doo." Dinky gasped, her jaw dropping as "Santa Claus" knows her name.

"Y-You know my name?" she asked.

"Of course. I have a list of every little girl and boy in the world," Sora said. "I know all of your names. And I know you have been a good little filly this year."

"D-Do you like the muffins?" Dinky asked. "I-I know you like cookies, but Sora said you like muffins too."

"Oh he did, did he?" Sora questioned. "Well, they sure are delicious. I appreciate the little change of snack. I sometimes eat the same cookies, and my big belly can take so much of the same kind of yummy snack," he said, patting his pillow stomach. "Hope the missus doesn't hear about that, cause she bakes me trays upon trays of cookies." Dinky giggled as Sora pretended to fear "Mrs. Claus" finding out about his change of diet. "Now, you should get back to bed. I can't exactly give you your present if you're still awake."

"Oh. Sorry, Santa," Dinky apologized, receiving a slight tussle of her mane.

"Don't worry. I'd be surprised too if someone made noises on the roof. My reindeer can get a bit too noisy when making their landings. Now, enough stalling. You, in bed, and no opening your present until sunrise." He gently nudged Dinky over to the stairs. "I'll know if you snuck a peek inside it as soon as I leave."

"I know, Santa." The pale violet filly headed over to the stairs, unable to wait until morning to open her gift and tell the others she saw Santa Claus and talked to him.

As soon as Dinky disappeared up the stairs, Sora stayed quiet to make sure he heard her head back to her room and fall back asleep. Hearing no tiny hooves walking around upstairs, he laid the filly's present down on the couch, chomped the rest of his eaten muffin and stashed the rest in his red pouch. With Donald and Goofy's portion safely put away, the teen climbed up the chimney and leapt down to the ground where they waited for him.

"You alright in there, Sora?" Goofy asked. "You were in there for a while."

"I got caught, but the filly was none the wiser as I played Santa pretty well." Sora dug out the muffins and gave them to his friends. "You gotta try these muffins. I told Dinky that 'Santa' would accept muffins instead of cookies, and these are so much better than the ones in Sugarcube Corner."

Donald and Goofy both took a bite of the blueberry and chocolate chip muffins, eyes widening in surprise as they were indeed quite scrumptious. "These are good."

"Let's keep moving while you eat. We gotta spend a little more time before heading off to a certain filly's home." They continued on their way to the rest of the houses before the last stop on their list. "And knowing Diamond Tiara, I'm sure she's gonna try to stay up all night to try to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus."

Diamond Tiara sat on her parents' lush couch in her mansion's living room, her body twitching from the amount of caffeine in her system from the several cups of soda she drank. Her eyes were wide open, staring at the fireplace, clutching her camera in her forehooves. While wide awake on the sugary beverages she constantly drank, her hind legs were clutched tightly as she squirmed, her bladder threatening to explode if she didn't relieve herself soon.

"Grrrr...Stupid soda. I need to pee!" She looked over to her right, finding Silver Spoon having fallen asleep on her, being smart enough not to drink so much. "Darn it, Silver Spoon. You're not helping!" Diamond eventually gave in to her body's demands, placing the camera down on the couch and leaping off of it. "If you're not awake by the time I come back, Silver, I'm going to dump freezing cold water on you."

The pink filly quickly ran through her home to the nearest bathroom before she had an accident, leaving her sleeping friend behind. The gray filly rolled over onto her back, moving off of a folded sheet of paper she was sleeping on, the words "To Santa" written in black colored pencil. A few seconds later, Sora had climbed down the chimney and poked his head out from the fireplace. He saw the scattered pots and pans laid out erratically around the fireplace, the teen smirking at the failed attempt at making a homemade security system to alert anyone of "Santa's" arrival.

Crawling out from the fireplace, he easily stepped over the metallic alarms, getting a good look at the inside of the mansion of the bratty filly. It was pretty spacious, possibly filled with a lot of fancy and expensive materials he couldn't see with the very faint lighting from the moonlight seeping into the windows. As Sora turned around, he noticed Diamond Tiara's fancy stocking hung up for him. Before he could graciously give the rich bully her biggest lump of coal she was going to get, he froze when he heard a snort and mumbling coming from the couch.

He turned his head, staying perfectly still, finding Silver Spoon, thankfully fast asleep. "What's Silver Spoon doing here? These two have a sleepover or something?"

Stepping over the pots and pans, he approached the slumbering filly, her glasses resting on the small table, along with a couple plastic cups and a few two liter bottles of soda. That much caffeine in a small body could make them hyper, as well as give them several trips to the bathroom, though Silver didn't seem to have that much if she was zonked out. Sora knew he was supposed to not like either Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon since they always picked on their classmates, but he hated the fact that a sleeping pony, mainly little fillies, could look adorable like a kitten or a puppy.

Figuring he could end his last stop by giving both bullies their well deserved coal, he dug into the coal satchel to pull out both fillies' lumps. He stopped when he noticed a piece of paper next to her, written out to Santa. Curious, he gently took it and opened it up, wondering what was written inside.

Dear Santa,

I don't really know if you are real, since Diamond Tiara doesn't think so. But if you are real...well, I think I can believe it. I know I've been bad. Sora had told those blank flanks Apple Bloom and her friends about you, then the whole school, and it's driving my friend nuts with all the stuff you do. We've been making fun of others because they don't have their cutie marks, or they aren't as rich as we are, or...making fun of their families...I didn't want to make fun of Dinky's mom, Derpy Hooves. She's Ponyville's mail carrier, and...she's not really good at her job, but she's always trying to help even if she fails. She has...strange eyes, and we called her stupid.

I know she isn't, but Diamond wanted to make fun of her as soon as we got to school today...or yesterday. Whenever you read this. I really really didn't want to, but I'm too afraid of losing my best friend if I don't do what she says. She's the only friend I ever had, and it's hard for me to make friends when you're one of the rich ponies in a small town like Ponyville. Sometimes, ponies only liked me for what I had, not who I am...I had a problem with that during a birthday party a few years ago. I met Diamond Tiara that day, being the only pony who didn't like my stuff because she was also rich like me.

Even though we're friends, I don't like how she always thinks the world revolves around her. I just follow whatever she does because I don't want to be friendless. If you have seen the way I've been acting, then maybe I deserve coal just like Diamond does. Maybe the biggest lump you can carry. I don't know if I ever will be on your nice list in the future if you come by Ponyville again, but I hope you understand why I've been bad. I know nopony else will be my friend after what I've done, and I don't want to lose my best friend.

Silver Spoon

Sora silently sighed as he lowered Silver Spoon's letter to Santa, looking down at the filly. He knew there were some reasons why some people, or ponies, wind up doing things they don't like doing. Luna had grown jealous of Celestia in the past and turned into Nightmare Moon, only wanting their subjects to see her as an equal to her sister on the throne. His best friend Riku had turned his back on him only by Maleficent's manipulation after getting split apart from their destroyed home. And Silver was acting like a bully because she had a bad experience with other foals who focused more on the toys and games she had than on her and her birthday.

"And I thought Xehanort and Maleficent were evil..." he whispered.

He was a little happy to know Silver Spoon at least had a friend, she just ended up choosing the wrong kind of friend. Someone as bossy and demanding like Diamond Tiara, always doing whatever she wants without caring about anyone else's feelings, that wasn't the kind of friend anyone should have unless they were ordered by a superior or drill sergeant. Sora wasn't going to give Silver any coal, but he wanted to give her a little something to know that he read her letter and heard her reasons.

Spotting the instant camera on the couch, he picked it up and placed it down on the coffee table, making sure it aimed at the filly and "Santa Claus". Setting the timer, he got in position and leaned into the frame, the flash going off as the picture came out from the device. Thankfully, Silver Spoon was a heavy sleeper, the click of the camera sounding and the blinding flash not disturbing her as she still slept. Placing the camera back where it was while taking the picture, he grabbed a blank sheet of paper that was on the table, took a green and red colored pencil, wrote a little something for her, and placed the undeveloped photo inside of the folded message. He carefully put his letter under Silver Spoon, replacing her letter to Santa where he had found it.

The teen headed back to the fireplace, put the biggest lump of coal he had in his satchel in Diamond Tiara's stocking, and climbed back up the chimney. A while later, Diamond Tiara came stomping back into the living room, grumbling to herself as she sat back down in her spot, holding her camera in her hooves.

"Still sleeping...Forget the stupid water. I'm too tired to care." She didn't see any differences that had been made while she was gone. No intruder. No clattering kitchenwear. No Santa Claus. "Sora's a big doofus. 'Sandy Claws' wouldn't even fit down the chimney. And if he did, he'd be too fat to avoid my alarm. And I'm not even sleepy. I beat that stupid, spiky headed, lanky-"

Diamond TIara immediately passed out, falling on her side as she kept her hooves around her camera, snoring loudly as her head rested on the arm of the couch.

With the presents all given to the foals in Ponyville, Sora headed back to his ship with an empty sack over his back, his body completely covered in soot from climbing through the several chimneys. Donald and Goofy headed to Twilight's library, the unicorn gladly letting them stay with her while they were here in Equestria. As the teen reached his Gummi ship, he flew up to a nearby snow cloud and slipped inside it, ignoring the freezing cold moistness as the frozen water droplets melted around his warmer body, washing off some of the soot caked on his fur and clothing. After getting somewhat clean, he flew back down and walked inside his vessel, ready for bed and to turn in his Santa Claus costume.

As soon as he walked inside, he noticed something odd. One was a strange, peppermint aroma, almost like the scent was coming from a scented candle. Not to mention some Christmas decorations were set up in different parts of the ship. When he reached the bunks, his jaw dropped at what was resting on his bed.

"Hello, Santa," Kairi greeted. "I've been up all night hoping to see you."

Sora was speechless, only uttering a squeak at his girlfriend in pony form and what she was wearing. She was definitely fitting the holiday spirit: a red Santa cap on her head, mistletoe tied around her horn, a pink bow like those on presents around her neck, and on her legs, she wore red and green striped stockings that covered every inch of her limbs. If there was anything that confused him, it had to be Kairi's surprise outfit making her look more adorable than if she pulled this off as a human.

The pegasus finally swallowed the massive lump stuck in his throat, finding his voice again with a heavy blush on his cheeks. "K-Kairi...W-What is this?"

"My little surprise gift for you." Kairi climbed off the mattress and approached the stunned stallion. "I asked Rarity to help make the stockings. They're very snug." She slowly lifted a hoof and traced it against Sora's cheek, making him shudder at the incredibly smooth stocking over her hoof. "And silky smooth."

"...Kairi, you're killing me," he whimpered, unable to look away from her. "Why must you be adorable as a unicorn and torment me with cuteness?" His brain finally processed why she was wearing all this, his eyes widening in shock. "Oh no! Gift!? Aww man! I didn't get you anything, or even make you something! I was too busy with spreading Christmas to Ponyville, I completely forgot about-"

Kairi gently pressed her socked hoof to Sora's lips, shushing him before he could panic. "Sora, don't worry about it. I don't want you to go all out and get me something expensive, or even if you forgot to make something for me. Giving or receiving presents aren't what Christmas is about, remember? It's about being with family. Friends." The unicorn leaned closer, using her magic to pull down the fake beard on his face, and gave the pegasus a soft, deep kiss on the lips. Sora closed his eyes and kissed Kairi back, wrapping his hooves around her and pulling her closer. She soon pulled away, nuzzling her muzzle against his. "Lovers."

"...R-Right...Forgot about that." Kairi just shook her head and kissed Sora's nose, shivering slightly as she now felt how freezing cold the stallion was.

"Why are you as cold as ice?" she asked. "Did you roll around in ice before you finished playing Santa?"

"I was dirty climbing through the chimneys," Sora said. "I flew into a cloud to wash up since it's really late and I didn't want to wake anyone up and ask to use their shower."

"That explains it...Well, I guess the only way we can warm you up is either burning you with Fire magic...Or we can share body heat if you get out of those clothes." The moment she turned around and headed back to Sora's bed, Kairi heard him flailing around, tossing his Santa suit haphazardly across the floor. He tried to tackle her, but she caught him in her white aura, flinging him upside down on the mattress. He looked up at her with a silly grin on his face, poking the doofy pegasus in the nose. "Don't be so impatient, Sora."

"What? I just wanted to tackle hug you." He rolled over and scooched back to rest his head on the pillow, Kairi slowly crawling up to him, her sock covered hooves brushing along his skin with each tantalizing step. She laid down next to him, nuzzling his chest while intertwining their tails together. "Can you blame me for wanting to snuggle a pink unicorn that looks like a lifelike Christmas plushie?"

"Hmm...No. I would have done the same thing." Sora lazily wrapped his hooves around Kairi, letting out a yawn after feeling all the sugar from the sweets he munched on make him feel lethargic as he cuddled his girlfriend. "So, did you save any cookies, or did you, Donald, and Goofy eat them all?"

The next morning, the sun's morning rays shone down on the town, waking everypony in their homes. Many of the foals had woken up early on this Christmas Day, finding a present left by Santa Claus in their living rooms, finding the cookies and milk they left out for him were gone. They all eagerly opened their gifts and got what they asked Santa to bring them.

Inside Diamond Tiara's mansion, both her and Silver Spoon were still asleep, the pink filly drooling on the armrest of the couch with her camera still clutched in her forelegs. Silver was the first to wake up, rubbing her eyes as she sat up, squinting through her bleary vision to find her glasses. She felt her letter underneath her, a little disappointed to know that Santa Claus didn't really exist, grabbing her glasses from the coffee table. She looked down at it as soon as she could see, only to stare at the folded piece of paper in confusion.

Written on the outside was someone else's writing, and it read "To Silver Spoon: For your eyes only." She looked up at Diamond Tiara, still asleep, then back down at this letter to her. The gray filly unfolded it, an undeveloped photo from her friend's camera slipping out as she opened it. Curious about the photo first, she picked it up, only finding black images. She shook the photo a little to see what was on it, and as soon it was fully revealed, she gasped when she saw what looked like an old stallion wearing red and white with a white, fluffy beard, sitting in front of the couch with asleep next to him.

She rubbed her eyes again, wondering if she was still dreaming, but the picture didn't change. The stallion in the picture was Santa Claus. He came to Diamond's mansion and gave her a picture of the two of them, all while she was asleep. Silver Spoon looked at the letter again, reading what he wrote to her.

Silver Spoon,

Thank you for being honest. I know you're not a bad filly, you just make some bad choices. Even though you were on my naughty list, I will let it slide. I understand you are afraid of losing your best friend, but you have to stand up to her if you feel that whatever you two do is wrong. If she does something you think is bad, don't follow her, even if you have to. If you two can change your ways, then I'm sure your classmates will see the difference, and you won't have to resort to being mean to get attention.

Have a Merry Christmas.

S. C.

Silver couldn't believe her eyes. Santa had responded to her letter, and gave her a picture of him, letting her behavior in the past slide after telling him why she was so mean. He believed her, even when he shouldn't after being on his naughty list. He really was real, and if he gave her this, then that meant Diamond Tiara has coal placed in her stocking hanging by the fireplace.

Hearing someone walking into the room, one of Diamond's servants, Silver Spoon quickly hid the photo in Santa's letter, hiding the folded paper underneath her body. The stallion was too busy looking over at the young mistress of the manor and her friend on the couch, along with the several empty bottles of soda, tripping over the pots and pans near the fireplace. The noise startled Diamond Tiara awake as she flailed around in her spooked daze.

"Intruder! I got him!" The pink filly quickly grabbed her camera and aimed it at the fireplace, but she held it the wrong way as she took a picture. The flashing light blinded Diamond, forcing her to drop the camera as she rubbed her sore eyes. "Ahh! Darn it! Where is he!? Where did-AHH!"

She slipped off the couch and fell to the floor, groaning in pain and tiredness, her face pressed against the expensive carpet in the room. The servant got up, looking down at the mess of kitchenware, picking them up to put away in the expansive kitchen.

"Miss Tiara, what were you and your friend doing last night?" he asked.

"None of your business," Diamond grumbled, picking herself up off the floor. Shaking off her daze, she ran up to the fireplace, yanking her stocking down from the fireplace. Coal rolled out from the hole, making the flabbergasted filly more angry. "I-I-I can't...WHAT!? Who the hay actually put coal in here!? There's no way! I was up all night! Nopony came in through the stupid chimney! There was no noise!"

"...Uhh, Di?" Silver Spoon tried to get her friend's attention, keeping her letter and picture hidden from both ponies' line of sight, but Diamond Tiara was too mad to listen. "...Never mind. I'm gonna head back home...I...need to do something."

The gray filly excused herself and left her best friend's mansion. With her small "gift" from Santa, she walked through the snowy path back to her house to put away the letter and picture. Even if no one else believed her, that Santa Claus really was real and he came to see her, she truly believed it. Silver would try to follow Santa's advice, but with how bossy Diamond Tiara could be, it was going to be difficult for her to stand up to her and help her change.

Christmas had come and gone, as well as New Years, a new year for new goals and whatever surprises the future will throw at everyone. Winter was still around, snow still falling across Equestria, though not as much as the weather team tried to limit the amount of snowfall for Ponyville. Sora and Kairi walked along the snow covered roads to Sugarcube Corner, wanting to grab some breakfast for the day. Thankfully, there haven't been any Heartless attacks in the past few weeks, or any sign of Pete and Maleficent around to plot some way to take over Equestria.

The couple walked inside, but the bakery was pretty quiet, not a single customer in sight. "Huh. That's odd. No breakfast rush." Reaching the counter, Sora noticed no sign of the Cakes in the kitchen, or Pinkie Pie assisting them or running the shop for them. "And Pinkie's not here either."

"Hey, there's a note on the door," Kairi said, pointing at the closed door behind them.

"Why put a note on the inside of the door?" Sora asked as he and Kairi approached it. "'Sora and Kairi, come to the hospital immediately. Mrs. Cake is having a baby and we're all waiting to see the Cakes' baby!?' Mrs. Cake was pregnant!?"

"Baby ponies!?" Kairi squealed. "Let's go! Now!"

Without giving Sora a chance to respond, the pink unicorn grabbed him in her aura and carried him out of the bakery and toward the town's hospital. Kairi was unaware of her telekinesis dragging the stallion across the ground as they reached Ponyville General Hospital, running straight in while slamming Sora hard into the wall outside. Ignoring checking in as a guest, she headed to the maternity ward, where the other mares stood in the hall looking through the glass window in the nursery.

"Kairi, you got my message!" Pinkie said excitedly, only for her smile to falter as someone was missing. "Wait. Where's Sora?"

The door to the viewing hall opened, Sora walking up to them in a daze, his steps staggering as his eyes spun in his head. "Twinkle twinkle, little bat. How I wonder what you're at?" He fell to the ground, sprawled out on the sanitized flooring, sporting a few scuffs from being dragged by his overly excited girlfriend. Twilight and Kairi helped him back on his hooves, shaking his head roughly as he came back to his senses. "Is there any way I can find something to temporarily stop Kairi's magic before she abuses it and uses it to abuse me by accident? She hurts me more than the Heartless."

"Sorry, Sora," Kairi apologized, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Better?"

"A little, but I'm putting a leash on you." The pink unicorn grinned sheepishly with a blush, forgetting to keep control of herself over her inner child's wishes. They all looked back at the window, watching all the newborn foals inside, colts wrapped in blue blankets and fillies in pink. "So, how was it Mrs. Cake never mentioned she was pregnant? I know she was a little on the...chubby side, but I didn't know she had a baby on the way."

"Maybe it was a surprise," Twilight pondered. "I can't wait to see what Mr. and Mrs. Cakes' baby will be."

"Ooh! Ooh! Is it that one!?" Pinkie asked, pointing at a random baby. "Or maybe that one! That one? That one!? This one?"

Soon, Carrot Cake walked in as he stood in between a colt and filly foal. "Meet our son, Pound Cake." The proud father pulled back the comforter over the cream-white colt with a tuft of brown mane, the baby yawning and stretching out his tiny wings. "And, our daughter, Pumpkin Cake."

He pulled the comforter down from the pale yellow unicorn filly, a small tuft of orange mane sticking out from her pink blanket. The group on the other side were surprised to know the Cakes had twins, and they were both a pegasus and a unicorn. Pinkie somehow managed to get in the room with Carrot Cake through unknown means, highly excited to meet the Cake twins.

"Two babies means two times the fun!" the hyperactive mare shouted quietly. "Let's celebrate their birthdays since they were just born!"

Pinkie pulled out a party noise blower and was about to blow into it, only to be stopped by the nurse. "SHHH! The babies are trying to sleep."

"But I-" the nurse shushed her again, giving her a stern glare. The employee soon left to attend to some other patients, Pinkie slowly peeking over to see if she was gone. "...Happy happy birthday to you and you today-"

The nurse knew Pinkie well enough not to leave her be, grabbing the party mare and kicking her out of the nursery. "Wow. Twins. That's gonna be a handful and a half, huh, Kairi?" Sora didn't get an answer. He looked at the pink unicorn, seeing her eyes lighting up with stars twinkling in her pupils, her jaw dropped in a big smile as she stared at Pumpkin and Pound Cake. "Oh boy. Here we go again."

"They're so cute!" she squealed, pressing her face against the glass, trying to get a closer look. "I wanna hold them! I want all of them!"

Sighing, Sora grabbed Kairi and pulled her away from the window, her hooves flailing out to them to try and reach the babies on the other side. "You know, there's something that's bugging me. Mr. and Mrs. Cake are earth ponies, but their newborns are a pegasus and a unicorn. I'm not exactly good with science, but I know a little bit about genetics to know this doesn't make much sense."

"Well, that's easy," Carrot said. "My great-great-great-great grandfather was a unicorn, and Cuppy's great aunt's second cousin twice removed was a pegasus...That makes sense, right?"

The stallion's eyes darted left and right, somewhat unsure if he was even correct about the genetic makeup of his foals' DNA. That response had made the others somewhat uneasy, though Kairi and Pinkie didn't seem all that deterred.

"...I don't think it should," Sora said.

"Well, congratulations all the same, Carrot," Twilight said. "But be careful with unicorn foals. They can have magic surges that come up at any moment."

"And make sure you keep Pound Cake grounded," Rainbow added. "Newborn pegasus foals will start flying all over the place once he starts to use his wings."

"Time to blow out the candles!" Pinkie appeared back in the nursery again, holding out a cake with no candles on it. "It's easy, since you're zero years old, which means zero candles!"

The nurse grabbed Pinkie again and threw her out of the nursery for the second time. "Pinkie Pie, leave the hospital now before I have to issue you a restraining order for disrupting the babies when they shouldn't be disturbed."

"I just wanted to-" The disgruntled mare pointed her hoof out the door, not taking any of Pinkie's excuses.

Pinkie slumped out of the corridor and out of the hospital before she could get in more trouble. Unknown to the ponies inside, someone from outside the building spied on them through the window. The fat minotaur from another world, Pete, watched them, a wicked grin growing on his face as he chuckled to himself, forming a plan to easily get rid of Sora once and for all.

As the next month passed, a whole lot had happened. Strangely enough, it was the end of winter, where everyone in Ponyville participated in an event to clean up winter called Winter Wrap Up. It was an odd sort of event that all of Equestria does, since the weather was made by the ponies and cleared away by them as well. Each pony played their part, and Ponyville had a tradition where no magic would ever be used to clean winter up quickly, doing things the old fashioned way. Earth ponies all helped clear the snow out of the fields to plant seeds and grow food, unicorns, without using magic, help clear the snow in the town or wake up animals with Fluttershy, and pegasi were in charge of clearing away the snowy clouds for the sun to shine down and melt the snow and ice, and bring back the birds from their migration.

It was a complete mess when Twilight was too eager to help, being her first Winter Wrap Up where she can't use any magic whatsoever. However, any attempts to help the different groups ended with little to disastrous results: being a unicorn, she couldn't help with duties in the air, her attempt to make a bird's nest ended up in poor quality and made Rarity have a nervous breakdown trying to fix it, she crashed into the snow while trying to help Pinkie skate over the frozen lakes to make the ice melt easier, she got sprayed by skunks when trying to help wake the animals up with Fluttershy after getting spooked by snakes, and ended up ruining the earth ponies' work when she used magic to push a snow plow, causing an avalanche of snow to rush down over the soil and bring them back to square one. She felt awful for trying to help and gave up, too ashamed to show herself after ruining so much hard work.

She perked back up when she realized how disorganized every group was, where their attempts to do their jobs would end up delaying winter's clean up. Being the organized scholar that she was, she managed to fix all the issues and set up proper planning for spring to arrive on time. With everypony following her orders, winter was officially wrapped up and spring was here, and Twilight was appointed her own special vest as all the teams' head organizer. And she didn't have to use her magic to aid the other groups with their work, just on a list of what needs to be done and a quill to check them off.

Then, a few days after Winter Wrap Up, the school had a Family Appreciation Day, where the foals would bring a member of their family to explain anything about their jobs or something majorly historical in Equestria no one else knew of. During that time, at Sweet Apple Acres, Sora had learned about the oddest of crops that gave the Apples a lot of business with a fruit that only comes around on certain times of the year; Zap Apples. A very specifically routine type of apple that showed certain signs that tell when the apples are ready to be picked, even when the trees sprout up from out of nowhere. Once they were ripened, he helped Applejack and Big Macintosh pick as many of the rainbow colored apples as they could before they disappeared from their branches. An odd, magical fruit, but when made into Zap Apple jam, it was a delicious condiment for bread and toast.

Even though it was a pretty amazing few days, witnessing the signs and changes of the Zap Apple trees and having Filthy Rich buy a majority of the jam to sell in his own stores, Apple Bloom didn't seem to enjoy the event taking place at her school. She was next to have a member of her family come down to tell them what they do, but the only one available who wasn't too busy with the harvest was Granny Smith. The filly pestered her siblings to come, but they had to make sure they took care of the magical trees and pick the fruit when the time comes. Apple Bloom began to beg for Sora to come down instead, but he wasn't a member of the Apple Family, even if he was an honorary member. The teen could understand the young Apple was embarrassed by her grandmother, since family can do some pretty humiliating things to make their kin want to hide in a corner.

What really irritated him about Apple Bloom's evasion to bring Granny Smith to school was by one specific filly that hadn't learned her lesson after Christmas. Diamond Tiara teased Apple Bloom and even made fun of her grandmother because she was old and senile. He had enough of the spoiled brat's insults and making the young Apple sibling deter her grandmother from coming to the school, stopping the elder Apple from getting on a train to see a relative of hers from their "letter". After helping guide Granny Smith to the school, he stayed behind, keeping Apple Bloom in her seat and kept Diamond Tiara quiet before she said something she'll regret.

Sora had expected Granny Smith to talk about what her family does on the farm, but instead, she talked about a little history lesson on the founding of Ponyville. It turned out that, when she was a young mare, her family had actually founded the town nearly a century ago, her parents and relatives settling down in the area after requesting for land to grow their crops from Celestia herself. And, along with Ponyville's creation, Granny Smith had also discovered the Zap Apples from the Everfree Forest, being the first pony to discover the signs and, in the strangest of ways to make the jam using said apples, prepared making the jam to make it taste perfect. And in an ironic twist of fate, without the elder Apple selling her jam to Diamond Tiara's great grandfather, Stinking Rich, her family's chain of supermarkets would have never been made and she wouldn't be the rich brat she was today.

Even after hearing about Ponyville's history and the Apple family's legacy in creating the town, Zap Apple jam, and helping create Barnyard Bargains, Diamond Tiara still had the gall to make fun of Granny Smith. Sora was lucky Apple Bloom stepped up and defended her grandmother before he said something. Filthy Rich was told about how his own daughter had insulted his business partners' senior founder, giving her a proper punishment on the farm; making Diamond wear a bunny suit and force her to help the other students willingly bouncing over watering cans while singing their ABCs, hoping it would teach her humility of her heritage and respecting her elders and classmates. Sadly, it didn't work, but it was a bit of comeuppance for the spoiled filly for making fun of a founder and the genius old mare behind her own family's successes.

Today, Sora headed down to Sugarcube Corner for a small snack. Since Kairi, Donald, and Goofy had to go back to do their jobs, the teen was by himself in Equestria for a little while. As he walked into the bakery, he could hear the sound of two one-month-old foals giggling as they played with Pinkie Pie. The pink mare was busy playing peek-a-boo with the twins, popping out of the doorway of the Cakes' stock room as the parents were busy preparing some orders. As soon as he was in their peripheral vision, Pumpkin and Pound ran up to Sora excitedly, wanting him to pick them up as they craved their unrelated uncle's attention.

"Where's Pinkie Pie? Here I-" Pinkie froze when her little friends were clambering over Sora, ignoring the mare who was entertaining them. "Hey! That's my job to play with the babies!"

"Sorry, Pinkie, but these two really seem to take a liking to me." The teen picked up Pumpkin, the little unicorn foal nuzzling him affectionately. "And I think Pumpkin likes me a lot more than Pound does." To prove his point, the pegasus colt slammed a forehoof hard against one of Sora's back legs, the hit actually quite painful as he yelped, feeling his leg go limp. "Urgh! Little guy sure loves to hit things...and he hurts."

Pound was about to hit Sora again, but he avoided the strong colt's hoof. Pinkie scooped up the little pegasus and blew raspberries in his belly, sending him in a fit of giggles and weakly flailing hooves trying to flee from the endless tickle torture. Cup Cake peeked her head out from the doorway, glad to have Pinkie and Sora take the time to watch her foals for her and her husband whenever they had important work to do.

"Does anypony need a diaper changing?" she asked.

"I don't think so." As soon as Sora replied, the moment he breathed through his nose, he regretted doing so. He pupils shrunk as his face contorted with disgust, the source of the disgusting smell coming from the little unicorn in his hooves. "Bleck! Scratch that! Pumpkin needs one!"

"EWW! And Pound Cake!" Pinkie exclaimed, keeping the colt far away from her in her forehooves. "What have your mommy and daddy been feeding you?"

"I got them, honey-bun!" Carrot called out, walking out of the storeroom with a couple fresh diapers, some wipes, and some talcum powder.

The earth pony father picked up his son and daughter and placed them down on the changing table, giving the twins a diaper change. Sora watched Carrot Cake, almost losing his lunch as he watched the stallion taking off their dirty diapers with his mouth, and he didn't even bat an eye. If the teen was able to give out medals, he would definitely hold a banquet for the baker and give him an award that read "Best Dad of the Century" for changing two diapers with his mouth. After discarding the old diapers in the trash, Carrot sprinkled some talcum powder on the foals' behinds, then put them in a fresh diaper.

"...Wow...That was gross, Mr. Cake," Sora commented, shuddering at the thought of ever doing that if he ever foalsat for them, or if he had kids of his own. He was lucky he had hands, and even changing a messy diaper with his old appendages still seemed gross. Thankfully, his train of thought was interrupted by a couple rumbling tummies from the twins. "And it sounds like feeding time."

"But I already had a big breakfast," Pinkie said, making Sora facehoof.

Cup Cake came out with a couple bottles of formula, tossing them over to Pound and Pumpkin, both foals catching the bottles in their mouths and suckled their lunch greedily. They must have been really hungry, downing their bottles within minutes. After eating their fill, a little too much, they began to make strange faces from the gas built up in their little stomachs. Pinkie began making dumb faces, unaware of the fact the twins had upset bellies and needed to be burped.

"Pinkie, seriously?" Sora questioned the random mare. "I don't know much about babies, but I know they need to be burped after eating."

"They can't do that on their own?" Pinkie asked.

"No." The teen picked up Pumpkin and Pound Cake and lifted them over his shoulders, taking care of the babies burping while the parents were busy with their work. He gave them some light pats on the back until he heard two loud burps from the twins, Pumpkin's a lot louder than her twin brother's. "Ooh. Those were good ones."

Pumpkin and Pound began crawling over Sora again, no longer bothered by the gas bubbles they couldn't let out on their own and continued playing. The unicorn filly climbed onto the stallion's neck and clamped her mouth down on his ear, making him flinch as she began gnawing on it with her toothless maw as if she was teething. He gently tugged her off, wincing from the baby slobber, then yelping as he felt Pound punch one of his legs again.

"Pound Cake, no pounding things or ponies!" Cup Cake scolded, dragging the heavy hitting infant away from Sora. "That's not nice."

"Or putting things in your mouth, Pumpkin," Carrot said, taking the filly from Sora.

"Yeah! Only food goes in your mouth!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Or if you're carrying something, but that's only if you're an earth pony."

"Oh no!" the blue mare said. "I completely forgot about the catering order we have to deliver for a banquet today!"

"That's today!?" Carrot asked. "Oh gosh. Because of the twins, we've been so busy taking care of them that it slipped our minds! We need to find a foalsitter!"

"Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! I'll do it!" Pinkie volunteered.

The couple stared at Pinkie with worried gazes. They knew Pinkie Pie was good at keeping their twins occupied while they worked, but with how random she is, they didn't think she was responsible enough to watch them by herself for a whole day. There was no telling what she could do, and it scared them to death to imagine what could result leaving their foals alone with a mare who acts like a filly.

The Cakes turned the heads to Sora, playing with the twins as they managed to squirm out of their hooves. Though the teen was not as silly as Pinkie was, he had a bit of a goofy streak, especially with his odd looking friends that come by Sugarcube Corner with him. But unlike their employee, he seemed more mature than he looked, hearing how he was able to stop Discord and these strange black creatures they heard about. They looked back at Pinkie, highly eager to watch Pumpkin and Pound, then back to Sora.

"...Uhh, Sora?" Carrot called out, the teen looking up as he carried both foals on his back. "Are you by any chance busy today?"

"No. I've already done my workload at Sweet Apple Acres, and I don't have anything else to do," he said.

"Can you watch the twins for us until we get back this evening?" Cup Cake asked, Pinkie's grin melting to a frown as her employers were asking Sora to watch the babies.

"Hmm...Well..." He turned his head to look at the babies. Pumpkin was giving him a pleading look with her blue eyes, begging him to stay with a heart-wrenching whimper, while Pound only leered at his twin in annoyance. "...Sure. I'll be glad to watch them."

"Thank you, dearie!" Cup Cake thanked, the couple disappearing into the stockroom faster than Pinkie at a buffet of endless sweets. She came back with a schedule for the twins while Mr. Cake carried out the cake they had pre-made for the banquet they needed to deliver it to. "Now, here's the schedule on when to feed them, when they need to take their naps, everything."

Sora took the list and unfurled it, which was a lot longer than it seemed. "Wow. That's a tight schedule. Never fear, Mrs. Cake. I've dealt with far worse things than taking care of babies. Consider your twins safe in my hands...er, hooves."

"Hey, why can't I do it?" Pinkie asked.

"Pinkie Pie, taking care of a baby is a big responsibility," the mother explained. "You can't just play with them. They need to be fed, cleaned, watched over. It's a lot of hard work and...well, don't take this personally dear, but...Sora's a bit more mature than you are."

"I am too mature!" Pinkie shouted. "In fact, since there are two babies, I can take care of one, and Sora can take care of the other!"

Mrs. Cake was about to retort, only to have Sora yelp again as Pound struck his back with one of his hooves. "OW!...Actually, I think I may need some help. Pound doesn't seem to like me all that much." Another pound, this time on one of his wings. "AHH! Bad Pound Cake! No hitting!"

"See, even Sora agrees with me on this! It would be perfect!" Pinkie ran up to Sora and snatched Pound off the teen's back before the colt could give him another potential bruise. The little pegasus seemed to like Pinkie more, quickly crawling up and riding on her back. "Two responsible ponies, taking care of two foals! We'd be like second parents to Pound and Pumpkin!"

"Pinkie, we're just babysitting," Sora said. "I want you to help because I know these two are going to be hard to handle on my own, and I know when I'm in over my head with anything."

"...Well, ok." The Cakes soon headed out to deliver the order. "Take care of our little gingersnaps!"

"We got this in the bag, Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie called out as the couple left. "They don't call me Pinkamena 'Responsibility' Diane Pie for nothing!"

"Since when did you have a second middle name?" the Keyblade wielder asked. With the parents gone to do their jobs, it was time for Sora and Pinkie to begin foalsitting the Cake Twins. They turned to look at the babies, looking confused as their mommy and daddy had left. "Ok! So, who's ready for a fun afternoon with Auntie Pinkie and Uncle Sora!?" A moment later, the foals began crying, already missing their parents. "...No one, apparently."

"I got an idea!" Pinkie quickly ran over to the swinging shutter doors. "Where's Pinkie Pie!? Where's Pinkie Pie!?" Her attempts to play peek-a-boo with the twins didn't work as they continued crying. "That always works! Why isn't it working!?"

"They miss their parents," Sora said, scooping both foals in his forelegs, bouncing them up and down a little to get them to calm down. "You can't just expect them to forget about having them gone for a short while."

"...Ohhhhh...That makes perfect sense!" Pinkie disappeared into the stockroom, leaving Sora alone to deal with the twins. She came back a moment later, and as the teen looked at her, his jaw dropped in utter shock. "Hello, Poundy and Pumpkin! Mommy's back!"

Pinkie Pie had somehow managed to dye her coat blue and change her hairstyle to look like a clone of Cup Cake, only younger and not as plump as the baker. She even had a picture of the mare's cutie mark taped over her own, wearing a matching pink apron the elder mare wore. The twins stopped crying, but they only stared at Pinkie in confusion.

"...Pinkie...what are you doing?" he asked.

"Well, duh! I'm Mrs. Cake! If I pretend to be her, then maybe they'll stop crying! And it worked!" Unfortunately, it didn't work for long as they began crying again, highly confused and upset.

"For goodness sake, Pinkie. Clean yourself off before you confuse them!" While Sora tried to get the twins to stop crying, again, Pinkie disappeared and reappeared, now out of her Mrs. Cake cosplay.

"I got another idea!" She disappeared again, all the lights somehow turning off around them. A spotlight shone down on a stage that appeared out of nowhere, Sora and the babies sitting at a small table, Pinkie walking out behind the curtains with a broom, holding it out like it was a microphone. "Hello, ladies and germs, so glad you could all be here tonight!? Where are you from!?"

"Oh for the love of Kingdom Hearts," Sora muttered.

"You know, I used to have an ant farm, but I had to get rid of it...because I couldn't find tractors that small!" Pinkie zoomed over to a drum set, making a rim shot to emphasize the terribly made joke. Pumpkin and Pound weren't laughing, and neither was Sora, all three of them staring at the pink mare as she slipped back in the spotlight. "Get it?" She waited for a response, but only received silence. "...So, the other day, I spilled spot remover on my dog, and now I can't find him!"

Another riff, with no laughter. The twins began crying again, Pinkie starting to sweat as her stand-up routine was failing.

"Pinkie, they're a month old. They don't understand what your jokes are supposed to be," Sora said, rubbing the colt and filly's backs to calm them down. "And those are the worst jokes I've ever heard in my life."

"I worked hard on that routine," Pinkie mumbled. "But don't worry! I got a doozy of a show stopper that everypony will love!"

She disappeared behind the curtains again. Soon, music began playing, stopping the foals' crying, and Pinkie popped her head out, wearing a pig snout over her nose and began bouncing around while singing along with the tune.

(Pinkie Pie)
First you jiggle your tail! Oink oink oink!
Then you wriggle your snout! Oink oink oink!
Then you wiggle your rump! Oink oink oink!
Then shout it out! Oink oink oink!

She kept singing the same lyrics repeatedly, but her "Piggy Pie" song only seemed to make things worse. Looking down at the twins, Sora could see them looking up at him, scared out of their minds at the strangely giant pig bouncing around, singing, and being crazy.

"Yeah. I'm scared, too." The Cake Twins cried again, making Sora want to cry out in exasperation over Pinkie's failed attempts to make the babies feel better. She sang faster to try to make it more comically, but her bouncing slipped up as she flew off the stage and rolled into the nearby cupboard. The impact caused a bag of flour to fall and blow up on her, turning Pinkie Pie into Whitey Pie. Seeing her covered in flour made the twins giggle, clapping their hooves together at the messy mare. "Well, that got them to stop crying."

"See?" Pinkie said, her eyes spinning. "I can do this foalsitting stuff, no problem."

It turned out to be a bigger problem for Pinkie to deal with the foals than she expected. After the twins had calmed down, it was time for Pumpkin and Pound's mid afternoon snack, Sora setting the two in their high chairs while Pinkie got their food. Pumpkin was just about to go for her bowl of orange much, but instead reached down to the tablecloth and began nibbling on it. Sora gently tugged the cloth out of her mouth, which made her start crying, and Pound joined in too after slamming his hooves on the little table, tossing his bowl up and splattering his food over his head. They had to resort to using the flour spilling gag to make them laugh, only it was Sora that became the victim instead.

Then came bath time, and the rambunctious little foals began playing hide and seek from the foalsitters after slipping out of their diapers. Sora managed to snatch the two up and place them in the tub of warm water and bubbles. At least they were a little bit calmer, playing with the bubbles while the pegasus and earth pony washed them, only to begin crying again when a big bubble popped on Pumpkin's horn. Pound ended up smacking the faucet of the tub, splattering water over the two older ponies. Pinkie thought it would be a good idea to smack Sora with another bag of flour again, but he tried to stop her from unleashing the baking ingredient from pouring all over him. They both ended up getting covered in flour after ripping the bag, the water soaking them being absorbed and turning them into hilarious muck ponies, which the twins enjoyed much to their displeasure.

After Pumpkin and Pound Cake were fully cleaned up, Sora and Pinkie put the foals in a fresh diaper and put them in their cribs for their nap. With all the excitement they had, they fell asleep pretty quickly as they clutched their favorite toys, Pumpkin chewing on a stuffed chicken's head. With the little bit of peace and quiet, the baby sitters headed downstairs to clean up the mess they had made, especially all of the flour they wasted. The door to the twins' room was shut quietly, leaving the babies in a peaceful slumber.

That peace was momentarily ruined as the window to the room slowly opened up by a red and blue gloved hand. With the window opened all the way, Pete poked his head in, finding no sign of Sora or Pinkie anywhere. Chuckling quietly, he slipped inside, able to fit through despite his fat body, tip-hooving over to the sleeping infants.

"Aww. Ain't that cute? They're fast asleep," he whispered to himself. "And they're the perfect age to begin molding into my new little troublemakers. Maleficent will be glad to have some new servants, and they can grow up and embrace the darkness. That, and I'll use them to get to that brat, Sora."

The overweight minotaur gently scooped up Pumpkin and Pound Cake, carrying them in one arm and escaped out of the window he came out from. Being careful not to wake the twins up, he climbed back down to ground level and snuck away from the bakery, heading straight toward the Everfree Forest and in the line of sight of one of the ground floor windows of the building.

Inside, Sora and Pinkie had just finished cleaning up the bakery and kitchen, both ponies breathing a sigh of relief. "Now do you see how hectic it is to be responsible, Pinkie?"

"Yeah. Maybe the Cakes were right in leaving you in charge," Pinkie said. "Though, without either of us helping each other, it would have probably been a lot more difficult." Sora nodded his head in agreement. As Pinkie looked out the window, she spotted Pete in the distance, finding the strange minotaur odd from his clothing to his non-bovine head. "Hey. That's a weird looking minotaur. He looks like he has cat ears, and some kind of red and blue outfit. And he's fat."

"Weird looking minotaur?" Sora looked out the same window, spotting Pete as he looked over at the bakery with a smug grin on his face. "That's Pete! What's he doing out in Ponyville!?"

"A friend?" Pinkie asked.

"Far from that. He's been causing Donald, Goofy, and I a lot of problems, working with Maleficent." Before he saw the henchman turn back around to continue walking down the path, he spotted a familiar small tuft of orange mane poking over his arm. "What the heck is he holding?" Sora soon began to fear the worst, looking up to the twins' room in a panic. "Oh no. He didn't!" The teen flew up to the second floor and barged into the baby Cakes' room, no sign of them in their cribs. The window was wide open, the stallion looking out to see Pete begin to disappear in the distance toward the Everfree Forest. "He did... Dang it, Pete!"

(Rowdy Rumble)

He ran back down the stairs, barging through the door and chased after the minotaur, Pinkie following after him. "Sora, what's wrong!? Heartless!?"

"Pete kidnapped the twins!" he said, growing angry at the despicably evil deed Pete had done.

"WHAT!?" Pinkie began growling like a wolf, feeling just as mad as Sora. "GET THAT FAT BABY STEALER!"

While chasing Pete down, he had Heartless come out and attack them, forcing Pinkie to stay behind Sora so he could take care of them. Along with Shadows, there were blue canine Heartless with red spiked collars wrapped around their bodies, named Rabid Dogs, and air horn Heartless known as Crescendos, using their musical magic to call more Rabid Dogs or heal them from any injuries they sustained. Sora quickly dealt with the distraction, both ponies continuing their pursuit, entering the Everfree Forest.

Pete could hear Sora and Pinkie behind him, smirking as he had them right where he wanted him. He ran out to an empty, open area in the dangerous forest, stopping directly in the center of the clearing. With nowhere to go, the Keyblade wielder leered at the henchman with Pinkie, the mare ready to pounce on him and beat him into a bloody pulp.

"Give back those kids, Pete!" Sora exclaimed, aiming his Keyblade at the minotaur. "You can't run away forever!"

"Hey, quiet, twerp," Pete said. "The kiddies are still sleeping. You make so much noise and they'll get cranky." Pumpkin and Pound Cake stirred in Pete's arm, waking up from their small nap. "Uh oh. Too late."

"Kidnapping kids just to lure me out? That's a low blow, you sick tub of lard!" The evil cat in a minotaur's body just laughed, further angering the teen.

"Hang on, Pound and Pumpkin! Auntie Pinkie Pie will save you!" Pinkie ran toward Pete, intending to trample him and save the twins before he could hurt them.

Pete brought a free hand to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle, summoning more Rabid Dogs around him, causing Pinkie to skid to a halt. Sora was about to run in and deal with them, but quickly stopped when he saw the minotaur take the baby Cakes in his hands, holding them over the Heartless, the dark canines barking and jumping to try and get at the free meals.

"Not another step, you two, or else the little ones are gonna be newborn Heartless." Sora growled, forced to stand down and lower his Keyblade.

"You're really sick, you know that?" Sora glowered.

"Hey, when you gotta do something to get what you want, you do anything." Pumpkin and Pound Cake were curious about the blue doggies bouncing up to reach them, unaware of the danger they were in. "But I ain't no monster. Who would want to hurt cute little babies? Not I. But...I'm willing to make a wager for their safety."

"What do you want, Pete? You and Maleficent taking over Equestria?" Sora asked, dismissing his Keyblade, not wanting the twins to get hurt.

"That'll happen in due time," Pete said, the Rabid Dogs stopping their jumping as they looked at Sora. "But in exchange for these little ponies, I want you to surrender...and lose your heart to the Heartless."

Pinkie Pie gasped in shock. "That's evil! Sora will never do that! He gave up his heart once already, and he's not going to-"

"Fine, then." The earth pony blanched as she turned to look at Sora. She couldn't believe he was agreeing to sacrifice himself just to save the twins, knowing he could easily take Pete on. "And leave Pinkie Pie alone too. You just want me...So, go ahead..."

"Heheheheh! Good." The Rabid Dogs all charged at Sora, knocking the stallion over as they dogpiled him. Pinkie gasped in horror, unable to help as she backed away from the Heartless. "And don't worry! I'll stay true to my word! Until your heart comes out and gets swallowed by darkness."

Underneath all the Rabid Dogs, Sora was being constantly bitten by the Heartless as they slowly drained away his health, hoping someone would come and help. Pinkie Pie was too distracted by the horde of blue canines to try to fight back against Pete, unsure of what kind of magic he might have. Pumpkin and Pound watched as one of their foalsitters was being attacked by all the strange dogs, not wanting to lose the silly stallion to the tubby minotaur that was holding them.

Pumpkin was the first to act, scrunching her face as her tiny horn began to glow blue, using her magic for the first time. Her aura grabbed a tall branch near one of the many trees, levitating it over the unsuspecting henchman's head. She looked over at her twin, Pound nodding his head as if they telegraphed their plan in their slowly developing brains. The pegasus colt began flapping his wings hard, pulling Pete's arm with incredible strength for being so young.

"Ahh! Hey! What are you doing, you little-" Pumpkin slammed the tree branch down hard on the minotaur's head, giving him a nice sized bump on the noggin. "OW! Why you little-WHOA!?"

Pete made the mistake of putting his attention on the filly, now being dragged across the ground by Pound Cake as he flew low to the ground toward Pinkie. He dropped Pumpkin by mistake, but the baby unicorn caught herself with her own telekinesis, levitating her body and flew after her brother. Pinkie heard Pete's grunting, watching the Cake Twins dragging him along the ground and smacking him hard in the face with a tree branch.

"Holy guacamole," Pinkie said in surprise as the one-month-old infants were beating Pete up, and bringing him straight for her. After another hard whack in the head by the branch, Pete let go of Pound Cake, receiving a very painful pound of his hooves on his hand, the minotaur screaming in pain as the entire forest could hear the bones crack in his digits. Pumpkin and her brother flew to Pinkie, clutching her tightly, now safe in the hooves of their silly aunt. "Sora! Fight back! I got the twins now!"

"G-Good!" Sora summoned his Keyblade, deciding to use his Drive Forms to deal with the large horde of Rabid Dogs piled on him.

His clothes glowed as a shockwave of light shot out from him, scattering the Heartless around him. After he had turned into his Anti Form a couple months ago, his chances of turning into it again were greatly lowered, so it was safe for him to use them a few times. As the light around him dimmed down, his black clothes had changed to the same style as his old attire a couple years back, his jacket red, white, and black, but no second Keyblade appeared. He stood on his hind legs and widened his stance, holding his weapon in both hooves as he eyed the Heartless and Pete, the minotaur getting back on his feet, though his right hand was useless.

"Those little brats." He looked over at Sora, his jaw dropping at the Drive Form the teen had taken, transforming instantly healing his injuries. "Oh no."

"Oh yes. You're gonna get it, Pete!" Sora began using Strike Raid in his Limit Form, throwing his Keyblade at the minotaur.

Pete began running away, avoiding each fling the Keyblade wielder made, his weapon returning back to him in a flash of light after it got too far away. Even though he kept missing, he didn't care, still holding a few more tricks up this form's sleeve. He heard Pinkie shriek as the Rabid Dogs surrounded the mare and baby twins, quickly rushing in and using Ragnarok on one of them that leapt up in the air. He slashed at it repeatedly, then as he backed away in the air, red light built up at the end of his Keyblade, unleashing a hail of energy beams that homed in on the surrounding Heartless, blowing them to black dust and releasing their hearts.

As soon as he landed, he unleashed his next skill Sonic Blade, thrusting his Keyblade forward and speeding off in one direction, aiming at the cluster of Rabid Dogs and destroying them in quick succession. Pumpkin and Pound cheered as they watched Sora fly past them and kill the bad dogs that tried to hurt him. Pinkie, on the other hoof, watched in awe at the new Drive Form the stallion was in and all the cool moves he made. After one final thrust, he destroyed the last of the Heartless, turning his sights on Pete.

"Uh oh. Uhh, mercy?" he begged.

"...How about no?" Sora rushed at the minotaur, Pete prematurely casting his temporary invulnerability barrier on himself. The teen waited for the shield disappear before he unleashed his last ability used in his Limit Form. "Ars Arcanum!"

Moving swiftly, the Keyblade wielder smacked Pete around in an dangerous combo attack, making him unable to break free with his quick and powerful strikes. After dazing the fat minotaur, Sora slammed his Keyblade down hard, smacking Pete's face into the ground, the force of the impact bouncing him up in the air from the finishing blow of the teen's Ars Arcanum. He bucked Pete hard in the face, sending the evil follower of Maleficent soaring through the thick foliage.

With no way of being able to tell if he was still out there or if he fled, Sora reverted back to normal now that the threat was gone and Pete was dealt with. For now. He turned back to Pinkie, getting tackled by Pound and Pumpkin Cake as they babbled excitedly, wrapping their tiny hooves around his neck as best as they could.

"That was cutting it close," Sora said, sighing in relief knowing the twins were safe and sound. "Pinkie, how did you deal with Pete?"

"...I...didn't. It was Pound and Pumpkin. They were the ones who beat him up." The teen looked down at the infants, finding it hard to believe the babies actually gave Pete those scuffs, bruises, lumps on his head, and a broken hand.

He noticed Pound flapping his tiny wings, hovering a good height for his size, and Pumpkin using her magic to fly around. "...Huh. I guess I got help from some unexpected little saviors." He gave the twins a pat on the head, grabbing them in his forelegs. "I think we've all had a little too much excitement for one day. Let's get you two back home before your parents find us having a field day in the Everfree Forest."

The sitters made their way out of the dangerous forest and headed back to Sugarcube Corner with the twins. Once they got inside, the babies needed a diaper change, and another bath. They reeked of Pete's disgusting scent, not wanting to let Cup and Carrot Cake to smell a fat minotaur lingering on their babies' bodies. After getting cleaned up, again, fed their bottles of formula, the little pegasus and unicorn were exhausted and sleepy, Sora and Pinkie laying the twins down in their cribs to let them sleep.

As the sun was about to set, the Cakes arrived back home, the couple surprised to see their bakery was spotless. "Oh my. Look at how clean everything is."

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Cake," Sora greeted, both he and Pinkie coming down the steps. "The twins are in their cribs sleeping. You will never believe the day we had."

"I hope they weren't too much trouble, were they?" Cup Cake asked as she walked upstairs to check on their foals.

"It was a rocky start, but boy have I learned a little more about responsibility," Pinkie said. "As fun as it is to play with foals, it's a lot of hard work taking care of them. If Sora or I took care of them alone, we would have probably gone loco in the cocoa."

"...That's...quite mature of you to say, Pinkie," Carrot complimented, both bakers having doubted Pinkie Pie too much. "So, do you think you two can be our permanent babysitters when we need you?"

Pinkie was unsure at first, not sure if they could handle another crazy day like today. They thankfully withheld what happened earlier when Pete tried to kidnap them, but the earliest part of the day watching them was a bit of a struggle, especially with all the bags of flour the two wasted to make the twins laugh. From behind the small crack in the door to Pound and Pumpkin's room, the couple and sitters heard the foals mumbling in their sleep.

"Pinkie..." Pound said, the pegasus colt saying his first words.

"Sowa..." Pumpkin said, both twins actually beginning to talk.

Just hearing the twins saying their names, calling out to them in their sleep, warmed Sora's and Pinkie's hearts. "Awwwww...Who can say no after hearing that?" Pinkie nodded as the teen pulled his friend into a hug. "Sora and Pinkie, the dynamic babysitting duo, will accept this offer."

"Yes indeedily," Pinkie agreed.

Out in Maleficent's homeworld, the Enchanted Domain, the witch sat in her throne in the ruined castle she dwelled in many years ago. Since the loss of her old castle in Radiant Garden, once known as Hollow Bastion, and constantly traveling around for a new castle to rule over, she had no choice but to come back to her old home to regroup. She was busy plotting a way to take over Equestria, a perfect land to easily take over, but with Sora residing there now, it was going to be a lot more complicated than she imagined.

She began to hear grunts entering her throne room, finding Pete in a gravely injured state, her loyal minion collapsing to the ground as he saluted to her. "...What happened to you?"

"Ugh..." He lifted up his head, on the verge of passing out. "Babies...They're...evil..."

Pete smacked his face to the hard stone floor, passing out from exhaustion. "...Imbecile," Maleficent sighed, rubbing her forehead as she began to feel a migraine. "Why am I always surrounded by morons?"

It was very early in the morning, the sun not scheduled to rise within another hour. Down on Sweet Apple Acres, Sora laid in his bed in the guest room, having an enjoyable dream involving him and Kairi having their date on Destiny Island, the two finally sharing a paopu fruit as they sat together, watching the sun set. His love was still away doing her part as a Keyblade Master, protecting any worlds from the Heartless. As much as he would love to join her, he couldn't leave for a couple reasons. One of them was the fact that he had to obey Master Yen Sid's orders, not wanting to disobey him and risk having his Keyblade taken away, if the old wizard was able to do so. The other was more because of how vulnerable Equestria was. Without someone staying in the world, darkness could easily swallow it, and having Maleficent and Pete show up in this world made it more important to stay and keep everyone safe.

The teen rolled over in his bed, mumbling in his sleep as his dream began to get a little more romantic. "Mmmm...That's a nice swimsuit you're wearing, Kairi. How'd you put that on so quickly?"

The door to his room opened, Apple Bloom, quietly sneaking in with a couple pot lids. She heard Sora muttering in his dream, giggling silently as he kept talking in his sleep. The filly reached the edge of the bed, holding the lids in her hooves and took in a deep breath.

"Wakey wakey, Sora! Cider Season's here!" Apple Bloom shouted, slamming the lids together, making a loud clanking sound.

"AHH!" The teen was woken out of the best dream he had ever had, flailing out of his bed and landing on his head. Sora squinted his eyes tiredly, his ears ringing with the headache from smacking his head on the wooden floor. He saw Apple Bloom, giving him a beaming grin, his living, mobile alarm clock going off a few hours too early. He poked the filly's muzzle with his hoof repeatedly, making her giggle. "Snooze button. Why you no work?"

"Sora, ya gotta get up! It's Cider Season!" Apple Bloom yelled, slamming the pot lids together.

"Mrf...Cider Season?" Sora asked, falling over to his side, slowly getting up on his hooves. "What's 'Cider Season'?"

"Applejack can tell ya downstairs! Big Mac's got the press all ready and Granny Smith's already got all the good apples set for makin' the best cider all of Equestria will ever taste!" The stallion quickly picked up the filly before she could bang the lids again.

"Please don't bang those again," he said. "I'm already awake. And you're a bad at being one of those windup monkey dolls with the cymbals they clack together."

"Ah was?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yeah. But you're a lot more cuter than those freaky things." Sora began swinging the filly around while screeching like a chimp.

"Ah ain't a monkey! Ah'm a pony!" she said with a giggle as she was swung around.

"What's the difference?" After taking the time messing with Apple Bloom to wake himself up a little, Sora lowered her back to the floor and followed after the filly to meet up with the rest of the family. Heading outside to an empty patch in the orchard, finding a rolling press squishing apples underneath the grinding wheel, Big Macintosh running on the treadmill that powered the press. While the cider being made poured out into the wooden barrels to store the liquid, Applejack switched the barrels around after each one was filled, at least a dozen barrels were filled with the apple cider. "Hey, Applejack."

"Mornin', Sora," the farm mare said. "Hope ya weren't plannin' on sleepin' in this week. Cider Season's here."

"So, Cider Season is...selling apple cider?" Sora asked, eyeing the dozen full barrels stacked like a pyramid next to them.

"Our special brew of apple cider. Most of our profits every year comes from this season, aside from the Zap Apples." Applejack grabbed a mug and poured some cider into it from the cider press. She gave the pegasus the frothy mug, the teen looking at the brownish liquid questionably. "Go on and try a sip. It's the best darn cider y'all will ever taste."

"...Well...Ok, then." Sora shrugged his shoulders, trusting Applejack and took a small sip. The moment the cider hit his taste buds, his eyes widened at the surprisingly delicious taste. He slowly downed the mug, savoring the apple scented beverage until there was not a single drop left. "Wow! This is delicious! I can see why you sell this stuff once every year. I bet ponies would kill just to grab a barrel full of this stuff."

"Actually, Sora, we don't sell the barrels," Apple Bloom said. "Ponies actually buy a mug, all of them linin' up at a stand we set up down by the road to taste it."

"Plus, with how delicious it is, everypony all over Equestria wants at least one mug. Sadly, we don't really have enough every year, and many ponies go home without even tasting it at least once for the whole week." Applejack finished filling up the last barrel for the first day of Cider Season, stacking the barrel with the others. "Kinda doesn't help that the first batch for the last few years are mostly taken by Pinkie Pie. She buys almost three dozen mugs."

"Then why don't you make more than just this much?" Sora asked. "It can't be that hard to make enough for thousands of ponies."

"Are ya plum crazy!?" Granny Smith yelled, appearing behind the press with a rotten apple in her hoof. "Our famous cider for Cider Season is made with care and quality! One bad apple in the bunch will make the whole batch taste bad! As much as we want to serve everypony, it's better to have less of somethin' with good taste than a lot of somethin' that tastes like toilet water marinated with mud."

"...So, I drank mud?" Sora asked jokingly, earning a stern glare from the entire family. "...Ok, I get it. Quality over quantity. Though, if we're going to get most of the populace coming here to try this cider, Pinkie is being limited to one mug if she's in the line. She's not going to hog a full barrel to herself...or five. However many barrels three dozen mugs make up."

Sora helped Applejack and Big Macintosh carry the barrels of cider over to the stand set up near the road outside of the orchard. As they reached the road, they all stared in surprise, the path lined up for at least a mile, tents set up at the start of the line. Some ponies seemed really desperate to camp out the previous night, the Apple family's cider starting to sound more like an addictive drink than a tasty beverage to die for. While they set the barrels they were able to carry down, Rainbow Dash flew in, her jaw dropped in utter shock at the massive line.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Rainbow shouted. "I woke up early to try to get in line first, and everypony else thought about CAMPING in front of the stand!?"

Coming out from the first tent, along with a few balloons, was Pinkie Pie, her frizzy mane more frazzled from bed head. "Hi, guys! Beautiful before sunrise this morning, huh!?"

"Pinkie!?" Rainbow landed before the pink mare, growing frustrated. "You're at the front of the line!? AGAIN!?"

"Well, I couldn't wait to taste this year's yummy cider. So, I had this great idea to have a little camping party! It was a fun night last night, Dashie! You should have joined us!" The irritated pegasus mare looked like she was about to blow up, her face turning from blue to red. "I am ready to taste me some cider!"

"Sorry, Pinkie, but your binge drinking over the cider ends now," Sora said, making Pinkie's jaw hit the ground in shock. "Applejack told me you buy several mugs and waste up a lot of cider, where the other ponies waiting far in the back might not get some because you buy up a large percentage of what the Apples already made."

"B-But, it's so good," Pinkie whined.

"Yeah, so I heard," Rainbow growled, leering at the depressed earth pony.

"Rainbow, if you want any cider, get a spot at the back of the line before it gets worse." The pegasus mare grumbled, flying over the line to get a spot at the end before anyone else moved in before her. "Sheesh. Rainbow's got a serious attitude."

"Well, Rainbow Dash has been tryin' to buy a mug of cider every year, but every time she reaches the stand, we always run out," Applejack explained. "Other ponies get mad too, and...most of that anger comes from both Pinkie buyin' out a couple barrels and making small batches of high quality cider. That, and Ah think the same ponies who already got a mug end up comin' back to buy another."

"Alright then." Applejack opened up the stand, placing one of the barrels under the tap to pour it out from a spigot, several clean mugs ready to fill with the delicious apple beverage. Sora flew up in the air, letting out a silent whistle at the massive line, bringing his hooves up to his mouth. "ATTENTION, EVERYONE! CIDER SEASON IS OPEN!" The crowd had cheered, finally time for the lucky ponies to drink the tastiest drink the Apple family always makes every year. "THERE'S GOING TO BE A FEW RULES IN PLACE SO EVERYONE CAN HAVE AT LEAST ONE MUG OF CIDER! RULE ONE: ONLY ONE MUG PER CUSTOMER! AND RULE TWO: IF YOU ALREADY BOUGHT A MUG, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE ANOTHER THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WEEK!"

Most of the ponies in the queue all groaned, the teen knowing that some of them had been selfish enough to get back in line the next few days. With the new rules set in place, Cider Season officially began, with Pinkie at the start of the line. The pink mare pulled out a large sack of bits, but Sora leered at Pinkie and shook his head, not allowing her to have more than one mug. Even though she gave him a sad look, he stood his ground and stood by what he announced, wanting at least everyone for today to have at least one chance to drink the cider. She sadly pulled out a couple bits from the large bag, receiving one mug only, filled up by Apple Bloom.

The line began to move as the sun ascended into the sky, each customer paying their bits for a fresh mug of Sweet Apple Acres cider. A couple hours had passed, and already the Apple family was down to the last barrel, having pleased several ponies, many of them from Ponyville. Rarity, Twilight, and Spike were in the line and got themselves a drink, though Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were just a few ponies behind the stand. Fluttershy was up next after a while and got her cider, Rainbow slamming a couple bits down to wait for hers, panting like a dog with her tongue lolled out of her mouth.

Apple Bloom tried to pour a frothy mug for the eager pegasus mare, only for the last barrel to fizz out, barely leaving a drop and foam. "Uh oh. That's the last of it."

Rainbow's excitement turned from miserable to furious in the span of a milisecond. "Oh, you're all out again! Surprise surprise! And every single time I'm up, you just so happen to run out!"

The rest of the crowd began complaining too, hounding the Apples over how they never make enough for everyone, even with the rules Sora called out to the mile long line. "Ah'm sorry, everypony. But don't worry! Tomorrow, we'll have some more ready to sell!"

"Is there gonna be enough for everypony, or are you just going to run out like today!?" Rainbow continued complaining, the angry mob joining her as they continued spouting insults.

Sora had enough, summoning his Keyblade and shooting out Thundaga spells around the crowd, spooking them and ceasing their complaints. "Listen up! As good as the cider is, there's a reason why it's so good that none of you seem to have the patience for!"

"Wait, you gave Sora cider, and not me!?" Rainbow shouted, earning another Thundaga spell that silenced her.

"Rainbow Dash, don't start it up again," the teen warned. "As I was saying, it takes time in order to make something with utter perfection! Whether it involves art, buildings, food, or beverages, you can't rush everything, otherwise it'll be a mess!"

"Sora's right, everypony," Applejack said, thanking the stallion for his help. "Our cider's made from the freshest, high quality apples on our farm. Our recipe takes time, love, and integrity. We've been tryin' to supply more for ya-"

"Which you don't!" Rainbow yelled, Sora quickly slamming into the pegasus, both to keep her quiet and getting some payback for her past tackling.

"Which is why we can't rush supplyin' what ya'll demand. Ah'm sorry, everypony, but ya'll will have to come back tomorrow!" The crowd murmured, still mad at the fact that none of them got a sip of cider.

Suddenly, coming down the path, everyone went silent as their ears perked up, hearing machinery noises coming from a cart rolling along the road. It moved on its own, the machine it carried looked like some kind of collector of sorts. It made a sudden stop, purposefully bumping into the white fence separating the road from the orchard, making the end tilt. Sitting on lush couches were a pair of unicorn stallions, and they appeared to be twins with the way they looked and what they were wearing.

The two stallions stepped off as everyone approached the strange machine and traveling ponies in curiosity. Their coats were a pale yellow, manes and tails striped red and white, both unicorns wearing blue and white striped shirts with a black bowtie and a matching hat, making them look like they were part of a barbershop quartet and split up with the other two members. The only major difference between the two were their hairstyles, cutie marks, and one of them sporting a red mustache. The one with the mustache's cutie mark was a whole apple with a slice missing, while the other seemed to have that slice for his cutie mark. Sora began to hear music playing, following with the rhythmic noises from their machine, feeling a song coming on from the shady twins.

[Flim]
Well, lookie what we got here, brother of mine, it's the same in every town
Ponies with thirsty throats, dry tongues, and not a drop of cider to be found
Maybe they're not aware that there's really no need for this teary despair

[Flam]
That the key that they need to solve this sad cider shortage you and I will share

The crowd began to grow excited at the prospect of getting cider, but the Apples and Sora seemed a bit wary of these two unicorn brothers as they entertained everyone with their song.

[Flim and Flam]
Well you've got opportunity
In this very community

[Flam]
He's Flim

[Flim]
He's Flam

[Flim and Flam]
We're the world famous Flim Flam Brothers
Traveling salesponies nonpareil

"Nonpa-who?" Sora asked, the moustacheless brother, Flim, approaching the confused teen.

[Nonpareil, and that's exactly the reason why, you see
No pony else in this whole place will give you such a chance to be where you need to be

Flim picked up Apple Bloom in a foreleg and gave her a peck on the forehead.

And that's a new world, with tons of cider
Fresh squeezed and ready for drinking

[Flam]
More cider than you could drink in all your days of thinking

"I doubt that," Rainbow said skeptically.

[Flim and Flam]
So take this opportunity

[Flim, Flam, and Crowd]
In this very community

[Flam]
He's Flim

[Flim]
He's Flam

[Flim and Flam]
We're the world famous Flim Flam Brothers
Traveling salesponies

[Flim, Flam, and Crowd]
Nonpareil

[Flim]
I suppose by now you're wondering 'bout our peculiar mode of transport

[Flam]
I say, our mode of locomotion

[Flim]
And I suppose by now you're wondering, where is this promised cider?

[Flam]
Any horse can make a claim and any pony can do the same

[Flim]
But my brother and I have something most unique and superb
Unseen at any time in this big new world

[Flim and Flam]
And that's opportunity

[Flim]
Folks, it's the one and only, the biggest and the best

[Flam]
The unbelievable

[Flim]
Unimpeachable

[Flam]
Indispensable

[Flim]
I-can't-believe-able

[Flim and Flam]
Flim Flam Brothers' Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000

While everyone else was excited to see their machine in action, Sora only leered at it. Just from hearing their names alone, Flim and Flam, he knew combining those two together could only mean trickery and con artistry. Plus, these two having an apple related cutie mark didn't mean these two were in any relation with the Apple family, having met their extended family, all of them being earth ponies. There were no unicorns in their family, and these shifty stallions were definitely not on the nth number of times removed in the family tree.

"What do you say, brother?" Flim asked, standing next to the Keyblade wielder, the teen rolling his eyes as the facial hairless twin approached Applejack.

[Crowd]
Oh, we got opportunity
In this very community
Please, Flim, please, Flam, help us out of this jam
With your Flim Flam Brothers' Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000

"Pardon me, miss," Flim said. "It would be a great honor if my brother and I could borrow some of your delicious, and sellbindingly fragrant apples to demonstrate what our beautiful machine can do?"

"Uhh, sure, Ah guess," Applejack said, though a bit unsure with all the attention the Flim Flam Brothers were getting.

Opportunity, in our community

[Flam]
Ready, Flim?

[Flim]
Ready, Flam?

[Flim and Flam]
Let's bing bang zam!

Both brothers charged their horns, glowing a green aura as the shot a beam into their cider making machine, powering it up as it began to whir to life. "And show these thirsty ponies a world of delectable cider!"

The crowd began to chant "Cider" over and over as they watched, Rainbow Dash more focused on getting her cider, already believing Flim and Flam's machine could make lots of apple cider for everyone. The funnel on the device automatically moved on its own, hovering over one of the apple trees in the orchard, sucking up all the apples from their branches and into the tube leading into the Cider Squeezy 6000.

"Watch closely, friends!" Flim said.

[Flam]
The fun begins

"Now, this is where all the magic happens, folks!" Flim began explaining the functions of the machine as he stood on it. "Inside of the heaving, rolling, cider-press-boiling guts of our machine, the apples that have been plucked fresh from the trees, as we speak, are being turned into Grade-A, top-notch, five-star, blow-your-horeshoes-off, one-of-a-kind cider!"

Feel free to take a sneak peek!

The ponies all crowded around to get a better look at the machine doing its job, sorting out the good apples from the bad with the blinking green and red lights, but Sora leapt in front of them, glaring at the twins and stopping the chanting.

[Sora]
Now wait a second, hold it!
You two just over-sold it!
I guarantee that what you have just won't compare
Cause the very most important ingredient
Can't be added or done expedient
And that's quality, friends, Apple-Acres quality and care

[Flim]
Well, sir, I'm glad you brought that up, my friend, I say I'm glad you brought that up
You see that we are very picky when it comes to cider if you'll kindly try a cup

Flim gave Sora a mug of his and his brother's machine's freshly made cider. He tasted it just to humor them, only for his pupils to shrink as he drank it. It was surprisingly delicious, and better than Sweet Apple Acres' brand, even though they used the same apples. He failed to hide his shock from the brothers, sliding the mug back on their cart.

[Flam]
Yes, sir, yes, ma'am, this great machine lets just the very best
So what do you say then, Apples?
Care to step into the modern world
And put the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 to the test?

The crowd began chanting again, Flim and Flam easily winning the ponies over. "So, what do you say, folks!? Do you see what this young stallion or the Apples can't?" Flim asked as Sora looked back at Applejack and her family. Aside from Apple Bloom, who was enjoying the song, the adults were just as worried as the pegasus was. "I can see it clear as day! I know that mare does, and so does he! Come on, Ponyville, you know what I'm talking about!"

]Flim and Flam]
We're saying you've got

[Flim, Flam, and Crowd]
Opportunity
In this very community
He's Flim, he's Flam
We're the world famous Flim Flam Brothers
Traveling salesponies nonpareil

[Flim and Flam]
Yeah!

Apple Bloom suddenly leapt up in front of Sora as the song ended. "You got a deal!"

"What!?" Sora exclaimed, the crowd cheering as they would finally get their cider. He held the excited filly down, keeping her still. "No deal!"

"I'm sorry, but who exactly are you, sir?" Flim asked.

"My name's Sora, and you're not going to be doing any business here on this farm!" Apple Bloom squirmed out of the teen's grip.

"But Sora, with their machine, we could make enough cider to please everypony," she said.

"So, are you an Apple relative, Sora?" Flam asked, the pegasus slowly shaking his head. "Then why are you questioning our proposal when you aren't one of the owners of this farm?"

"...I-I...I work with them..." The brothers ignored Sora and approached Applejack.

"So, are you willing to agree to having our assistance in cider making?" Flim asked the orange earth pony.

"...Ah don't know," Applejack said. "We've always made cider the same way, takin' the time to make it perfect, not fast."

"How about we sweeten the deal?" Flim bartered. "If you can supply the apples, then we'll supply the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000."

"And we'll throw in the magic to power the machine for free," Flam added.

"Splitting the profits 75-25," they both said.

"Wait...who gets the 75%?" Applejack asked.

"Why, us, naturally," Flim smugly said.

The owners of the farm gasped in shock, the deal nowhere near equal or close enough to share the profits between both sides. The Flim Flam Brothers barely lift a hoof and use their magic to power their machine, quickly making the better cider for them. The Apples do all the harder work, caring for the thousands of apple trees needed to make said cider: make sure the orchard was well watered, keep out pests that threaten to ruin the ripe apples, even take care of old trees that have died and remove them before the decayed roots could infect the other nearby trees.

Sora stepped in for his boss and her family, making Flim and Flam back away as he landed in front of them. "That's unfair! A better share would be splitting it in half, not taking three quarters over a lazy machine than hard working labor!"

Flim and Flam looked at each other, undeterred by Sora's words. "Well, kiddo, it's actually quite a fair share if you look past the 'lazy machine', as you so put it."

"It actually takes quite a lot of money just to build something like the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000," Flim said, pulling out the blueprints of their machine. "There are all the parts needed to build and replace any if it malfunctions, combined with the expenses of repairs if physically damaged by an odd occurrence, like, for example, a hoofball comes flying in and breaks one of the tubes charging energy that makes our machine run."

"And since this baby requires magical power for it to run, you'll need us around in order to use it anyway," Flam added. "We've spent quite a lot of bits going through prototypes, and in case it runs down and we need to make another, 75% of the profits is quite reasonably sound."

"...W-Well...E-Even so, that..." Sora couldn't think of anything to counter the brothers' argument. He knew that making a machine that quick to make cider needed a lot of money to build and repair if needed, but Applejack's family needed the money during this season. Living with the Apples, he knew they couldn't afford a lot of hired help, always fixing their home and barn, buying new farming tools, and hoping they had enough to make due during the winter when crops couldn't grow in the cold weather. Filthy Rich was a good business partner, sharing the profits for their Zap Apple jam equally, but Flim and Flam knew more about business deals than he did. "...That...is a good point..."

"Exactly." Flim rolled up the blueprint, levitating it back on their fancy cart. "And we are dealing with business between the Apple 'family', not employees that work for them." Sora sighed and lowered his head, stepping aside, letting Flim and Flam through to speak with the Apple family. "So, Apples? Have we got a deal?"

The earth pony family all looked at each other, all of them silently agreeing on their answer. "No deal."

"...Very well, then," Flim said, not sounding disappointed in their failed business deal. "If you're refusing our generous offer, then that means we're going to be competitors."

"Fear not, everypony!" Flam exclaimed. "There will be plenty of cider for you all tomorrow!"

As the brothers headed back to their cart and machine, Flim pulled Sora closer to him and spoke to him in a low tone. "If I were you, I'd suggest quitting and find another job. By tomorrow, we're going to run Sweet Apple Acres out of business."

The pegasus's jaw dropped as he watched the smug, arrogant twins ride off down the path in their vehicle. As much as he wanted to tear the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 to pieces, doing so would only cause more problems, and a lawsuit for destroying someone's property that would really run Sweet Apple Acres financially dry. Tomorrow was not going to be a good day, where more unhappy customers might break out into an angry mob if they ran out of cider again, and their new competition will ruin the Apple family and drive them out of their home.

The next morning, the Apples tried to make some more barrels of cider before the crack of dawn for the town, but they made a few less barrels than yesterday. It seemed like the pressure from Flim and Flam as competition had gotten to them, making them nervous and make less cider out of trepidation. Sora was both terrified and upset at the unicorn twins, Flim's threat to destroy Applejack's family legacy for over a century still lingered in his mind. He was busy fixing the fence post the brothers knocked over on purpose while the family served the others. Unfortunately, the amount they made was about to run out as they were down to their last barrel.

The rest of the mares, except for Rainbow Dash, waiting in line for her chance to get some cider, noticed the stallion was really tense as he worked on the fence. "Sora, are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," he uttered, nudging the fence to check if it stayed perfectly still.

"You don't sound fine," Twilight said. "Did something happen yesterday?"

"...It's the Flim Flam Brothers. They're what's bugging me." Sora sat down, feeling his blood boil at the two conniving salesponies.

"I loved the song they sang! It was catchy!" He leered at Pinkie, her cheery demeanor disappearing at the spiteful glare he gave. "...Or it...wasn't?"

"What did they do that's gotten you so riled up?" Rarity asked. "They seemed to have a good business deal with Applejack and their machine."

"Yeah, it's a good idea and all, but splitting the profits that cheaply, their machine winning over their hard work toiling away in the fields, it's not right! I don't care if it's expensive to make!" Sora groaned, rubbing his temples as he felt a migraine appearing. "Applejack and her family need the sales from Cider Season along with the rest of their profits for the winter, when they can't grow anything. Now, they're going to compete with a hardworking family because they can just sit on their butts and let a device do everything for them!"

"It's innovative, Sora," Twilight explained. "I'm actually interested to know how their Super Speedy Cider Squeezy functions."

"I know it is, Twilight...But the cider that they made...What I tasted..." The Keyblade wielder looked over at the Apple family, afraid to even utter the words he was about to say behind their backs. He looked back at the other girls, swallowing the lump in his throat. "...It was better than their cider."

"It was!?" Pinkie asked, her mouth quickly forced shut by Sora's hoof.

"Pinkie, shush!" he hissed. "It's bad enough those two lazy unicorns, having an apple related cutie mark, are causing problems for Applejack and her family. I don't want to tell them and freak them out even more than they are right now. And with how much they made today, there's not going to be enough for this whole line."

Just as Sora had predicted, the last barrel fizzed out, completely ran out of the small batch they made for the day. "Sorry, everypony! That's all for today!"

"OH COME ON!" Rainbow shouted from the middle of the line.

"This is a nightmare," Sora grumbled. "This cider's like a drug no one can get clean of." As the crowd waiting in line began to complain again, the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 rolled up along the path. Flim and Flam purposefully ran into the corner post again, ruining Sora's work fixing the fence. "Seriously!? I just fixed that, you quartet dropouts!"

"Sorry! Didn't see where we were parking!" Flim "apologized", Sora's eye twitching in anger as they could clearly see where they were going, able to navigate their vehicle with their magic. "Such a shame you're out of cider. Yet again."

"Fear not, Ponyville! We will make some delicious cider for all of you within ten seconds flat!" The brothers activated their machine, making it whir to life as ponies gathered around the machine.

Rainbow immediately flew up to the front, not willing to chance being last or in the middle of the line to finally get her cider after so long. The funnel moved over one of the trees, Flim and Flam practically taking Sweet Apple Acres's apples without the owners' permission to do so, sucking in the fruit and making a barrel full of cider. Flim pulled out a mug and poured a full cup, giving it to Rainbow Dash as she licked her lips in anticipation. Sora was furious and he couldn't take them stealing his boss's apples, becoming a blur as he slid past the cyan pegasus with his Keyblade in his mouth. A sharp slice rang out in the air, silencing the crowd, Rainbow's mug cut cleanly through, spilling the cider to the ground as it soaked up the liquid.

Rainbow was heartbroken, finally moving as she tried desperately to scoop the absorbed cider from the ground, chewing on the dirt to try to taste some of the cider with tears in her eyes. "Ish thish a cruel joke?"

"Flim! Flam! You just stole Sweet Apple Acres property and are trying to sell a stolen product!" Sora aimed his Keyblade at them, both brothers shocked to see how fast the teen was and how he made his weapon appear while he was a pegasus. "I'm going to give you one chance to get off of this property before I break your stupid machine!"

"Sora, calm down!" Applejack exclaimed as she ran up to the teen, placing a hoof on his shoulder before he jumped the gun. "Don't blow your top. But he is right. Ya'll just stole our apples."

"Fine. Whatever," Flim said, snapping out of his shock. "There are plenty of other apple orchards around. We'll be able to make more cider than the Apples ever can in a decade."

"Alright, that's it! I'm breaking it now!" Sora tried to fly after Flim, Flam, and their cider squeezing machine, but was held back by Applejack, holding on tightly to his tail. "I'm not going to let you ruin Applejack's orchard and run them out of business! Her family deserves a lot more than you selfish, lazy, no good-"

Applejack slammed Sora down hard to the ground, spitting out his tail. "Consarn it, Sora, what is eatin' ya!? Ah know Flim and Flam are rivals, but you're lettin' this get out of hoof!"

"I don't want these lowlife con artists to take away everything you and your family had made of this land for nearly one hundred years! And I don't want anyone else to know their cider tasted better than yours!" Sora gasped and quickly shut his mouth, accidentally blurting out what he didn't want to tell them.

The crowd all stared at Sora in surprise, Rainbow out of anger for knowing how good it was when they offered him their cider, and the Flim Flam Brothers smirked as they looked at each other, their cider faster to make and better than the Apples'. He slowly looked over at Applejack, her eyes expressing shock and slight disappointment.

"...What?" the farm mare asked.

"Well, it seems as though your little employee doesn't feel confident enough in your cider anymore, Applejack," Flim taunted, snapping Applejack's gaze up to the unicorn brothers. "We all witnessed him drink our cider, and Flam and I both saw just how much he liked it."

"Trying to play it off after the first sip, but he knows he wants more of it. Right, Sora?" Flam asked.

The pegasus stallion looked down at the ground in shame, dragging his hood over his head. He couldn't deny the machine's cider was delicious, but he didn't want to drink anymore of their brand. He only made Applejack's cider business worse, knowing everyone else was going to get their drinks from Flim and Flam and their cider squeezing device. He didn't notice Applejack, her siblings, and even Granny Smith were leering at the brothers, having enough of their competitors sudden appearance and stealing their customers.

"Alright, Flim and Flam. How about we make a little wager?" Applejack asked, intriguing the twins. "We'll have ourselves a cider makin' contest. First team to make more barrels in an hour wins, and the winners will have full rights to sellin' their cider. Permanently."

The audience gasped, Sora looking up through his hood in shock at what he had just heard. "Very well, Applejack. We accept," Flim and Flam both said.

"Good. We begin tomorrow mornin'," Applejack said.

"Excellent. We bid you all adieu until tomorrow, Ponyville, with hundreds of barrels of cider ready to be sold!" The brothers sped off on their machine back down the road again, the crowd eerily quiet.

Applejack turned around and looked down at Sora, the teen averting his gaze from her. "Sora, look at me." He reluctantly obeyed, sitting up as he forced himself to look at his boss. "Was their cider really better than ours?" Sora nodded, lowering his hood over his eyes. "How come ya didn't tell us?"

"...I didn't want you to panic," he sadly said. "They threatened to run you out of your home if they took over Cider Season...I didn't want everyone else to know what I thought, because then they'd automatically go to them for cider when they don't do as much hard work as you and your family does."

"I'd rather take having my cider now than wait another year to not get any!" Rainbow complained, Pinkie bouncing on top of her and slamming her body into the ground.

"Dashie, you're not helping!" Pinkie said. "Remember what happened to Sora when he got all sad!? He lifted the hood on his jacket over his head! The hood equals sadness!"

Ignoring Rainbow Dash, Applejack lifted Sora's chin up to get him to look at her. "Sora, Ah don't care if ya think their cider's better. Ah'm glad you're stickin' up for us like ya did yesterday and today, and, to be honest, Ah wanted to punch their lights out, too, just comin' up out of nowhere as if they planned on arrivin' to try and take over."

"...You're not mad?" Sora asked.

"No. Just a little disappointed that ya lied, but Ah know ya didn't want to upset us. Y'all have done a lot for us on the farm." Applejack pulled Sora into a hug, patting his back to ease his worries. "And don't listen to a thing they say. Even if they see you as a hired hoof, y'all are an honorary Apple to us. Ya became part of the family when ya crashed in our orchard back then."

The stallion was a bit confused, but he snapped out of it, letting out a small smile. "I'm part of the family, even if I'm not an earth pony?"

"Sure as sugar. Besides, Apple Bloom could use another older 'siblin'' to make sure she stays out of trouble when Big Mac and Ah can't watch her." They both chuckled, Sora slowly taking the hoof off from over his head.

Soon, the crowd began to disperse, tomorrow going to be a day that decides who will sell apple cider to Ponyville. The ponies were once interested in Flim and Flam's Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, able to make more cider than the Apple family could, though they now realized that the reason why they went for their cider in the first place was to not only taste it, but help keep the family's livelihood. If they were run out of their own orchard by the traveling unicorn brothers, then they wouldn't have the same apples when they buy any from their stand. And with Applejack being one of six major heroines who saved Equestria a few times, it would be sad to have her and her family leave and be away from her other friends.

The next day, the duel between the Flim Flam Brothers and Sweet Apple Acres in the cider making competition was about to start. At least this time, the unicorn salesponies didn't knock the fence over again. All of the town had gathered at the southern edge of the orchard where the cider squeezing battle will take place. The Apples were getting themselves ready, Sora holding onto a heavy sandbag in place for Applejack as she bucked it hard, warming herself up.

"Applejack, are you sure you don't want me to help with this?" Sora asked. "I know you want to defend your orchard out of pride, but there's no way you can outlast a machine without my help."

"Sorry, Sora, but after showin' off your speed to Flim and Flam, we don't want them to think we're cheatin'," Applejack explained, bucking the bag hard and almost knocking the wind out of the Keyblade wielder. "Ah know Ah said y'all are part of the family, but them two expect only the true owners of our farm to compete."

"They're going to win. I don't want you guys to lose everything your grandmother and your ancestors worked hard to make." Applejack bucked again, knocking Sora off the sandbag.

"All we can do is try our hardest," the farm mare said. "Machines can break down at some point, but us farm ponies are too stubborn to rest."

Sora coughed, rubbing his sore chest after getting kicked away from the sandbag."It certainly shows..."

"Attention, everypony!" Mayor Mare announced, speaking through a megaphone to get everyone's attention, standing next to a large hourglass. "We are about to begin the competition! Each team has one hour to produce as much cider as they can! After the barrels have been counted when time is up, the winner will be the sole provider of apple cider for all of Ponyville!"

Sora sighed and walked over to the crowd, looking back at Applejack. "Good luck, boss."

"Thanks...we're gonna need it..." Applejack gulped, her family all getting into position.

"Are both teams ready!?" the mayor asked.

"We're ready!" Applejack called out.

"We've been born ready," Flim said nonchalantly, both he and his twin lounging on the sofa on their cart.

"Then let the cider making...begin!" Mayor Mare flipped the hourglass and began the timer, starting the cider making duel.

Flim and Flam shot magic into their machine and let it run on its own, sucking up apples on their side of the orchard for the match. On Sweet Apple Acres's side, Applejack began bucking the trees hard, sending all the apples falling off, while Apple carried a wooden bucket on her head, catching them as they fell. When it got full, the filly ran over to Granny Smith and poured the bushel out next to her, where the senior mare inspected each good apple from the bad, placing the perfect ones onto a chute leading to their presser while tossing the rotten ones away. Big Macintosh ran on the treadmill to grind the wheel into the fresh apples, pouring out cider into a barrel. As soon as it was full, the red stallion placed the lid on top of it and rolled it aside, putting an empty one in its place and continued running.

"Alright! We got a full barrel! We'll beat them Flim Flam Brothers in no-" As soon as Applejack looked over to the brothers, her jaw dropped as their Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 had already made three barrels over their one. "...time?"

"Don't celebrate so soon, Apples!" Flim taunted as the two unicorns sipped some of their cider they poured from their slowly growing stacks of barrels.

"You're already falling behind!" Flam added, both brothers clinked their mugs together.

"Hypocrites," Sora grumbled, forced to watch from the sidelines as the Apples were falling way behind. After only near half a dozen barrels, the earth pony family were already starting to get exhausted: Applejack's bucking was getting weaker, Apple Bloom's burst of energy began to dwindle, Granny Smith exerted more energy than she should at her old age and was slowing her inspection, and Big Macintosh was a panting mess, his legs growing sore from constantly running, getting off and on the treadmill, and moving the full and empty barrels in their place. Sora began pulling his hair, the score between the two 15-5. "I can't take this anymore! They need help!"

"Even with the speed they're going, they'll be making one barrel to their three." Twilight pondered, the turned to the mayor. "Mayor Mare, are honorary family members allowed in the competition!?"

"...Uhh, well, I'm not exactly sure." The political mare looked over at the brothers. "Flim and Flam, do you object to honorary family members to help?"

"Psh! We don't care!" Flim said.

"Not even all of Canterlot could beat us!" Flam said as well.

"Then, I guess it's ok as long as Applejack is ok with it." Applejack ceased her bucking and looked over at her friends.

"...Yeah. Ah'd love to have the rest of mah 'family' helpin' us out." Sora and the rest of the mares grinned, leaping over the fence to help Applejack and her family.

"Alright, everypony, I'll assign your stations and stack each full barrel," Twilight said, marching in front of the other stoic helpers. "Fluttershy, help Applejack knock the apples out of the trees."

"Got it," Fluttershy said as she flew off to help Applejack.

"Pinkie, you've got apple catching duty," the unicorn ordered the party pony.

"Yes sir!...Ma'am?...Sir Ma'am!" Pinkie bounded off, grabbing an empty bucket from out of nowhere and caught the apples Fluttershy shook out from the branches.

"Rarity, help Granny Smith with quality control." Rarity nodded and ran over to help sort the good apples with the elder Apple. "Rainbow Dash, you help Big Mac press the apples into cider."

"Got it, Twilight!" Rainbow flew off and ran on the treadmill along with the red stallion, quickening the presser's speed and squeezing more cider.

"Sora, since you're well rounded with your skills, you can help the others when they run out of steam." The teen saluted with a grin, ready to show the Flam Flam Brothers not to underestimate them.

Without another word, he sped off and helped collect the apples. With his agility, he slammed his back legs into the trees, catching all the apples without losing a single one. Calling his Keyblade, he flew over to the sorting area, casting a light Aero spell on himself to sweep the apples in his bucket around his defensive cyclone barrier. He commanded the wind magic to fling out the rotten apples while tossing the good apples into the chute with the others. While continuing the same process, more barrels of cider were being produced for their side, quickly catching up with the Flim Flam Brothers and their machine. Now they were making five barrels to their six, and right now, they were in the lead with twenty four barrels to their nineteen.

Seeing how quick they were going, Flim spat out his mouthful of cider in shock, both brothers beginning to panic. "Come on, brother! We need to double time it! We can't lost to them!"

"But how is that Sora kid doing all that!?" Flam questioned.

"Forget that runt! Double the power, now!" They both poured more magic into their cider squeezing machine to make more cider. However, their idea backfired as the funnel began sucking up entire trees out of the ground, turning all their apples into mush along with bits of wood, dirt, branches, and rocks, the machine rejecting everything that came in. "Oh no! What do we do!?"

"Wait! I got it!" Flam flipped a switch, changing the priority for the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 to take everything thrown inside of it to make cider, no matter what was inside it. "There, now we're back in business!"

Sora spotted the two cheating unicorns changing their tactics, making barrels of muck instead of cider with each barrel it shot out. They were focusing more on beating them than caring about making quality cider now. He finished going through another batch and flew down to Rainbow and Big Mac, both of them tired, though the pegasus mare noticed the unicorn twins' cheating plan.

"I can't believe those guys!" Rainbow complained.

"Forget about what they're doing, Rainbow Dash. All they care about is making a quick bit, their arrogance and faith in their machine will be their downfall. You two tag out with me and help sort or gather apples. I'll handle the rest of the pressing." They both nodded and swapped out with Sora, the teen running faster than the two of them combined, creating more cider while they assisted the others.

It was a pretty close call, the barrels all stacking pretty evenly, the Sweet Apple Acres team pouring their all into beating the machine. The pyramid stacks on both sides were getting higher and higher, at least reaching thirty barrels simultaneously. Eventually, the last few grains of sand in the hourglass fell to the bottom, the hour finally coming to an end.

"Time is up! Stop production!" Flim and Flam turned off their machine while the others, excluding Sora, collapsed in a heap as they caught their breaths. Sora skidded to a halt on the treadmill, stopping the press as they made one last barrel before time elapsed. He watched Mayor Mare tallying up the barrels on both sides, though he could tell that it was a tie. Though their cider was in higher quality with the speed they put in to make it by working hard, a large majority of the barrels on top for Flim and Flam was filled with disgusting mush that had a small hint of apple, with a side of bark, leaves, and rocks. "It appears to be a tie!"

"What!?" Flim and Flam both exclaimed, highly shocked as they didn't even pay attention to how much both sides produced.

"A tie?" Applejack asked, panting heavily from her exhaustion. "T-Then who wins?"

The brothers looked at each other and smirked, knowing a surefire way to tell who was the true victor. "We have an idea. We'll have three random pony judges test each one, and the one with the most votes wins."

"Seems fair enough," Sora said.

While the others continued resting, the teen grabbed one of the barrels from their side while Flim and Flam levitated the top most and 'freshest' batch. The mayor chose three random judges in the audience as both sides poured three separate mugs. Sora recognized the ponies, having seen them around Ponyville every so often: an earth pony mare with a cream colored coat and pink and blue hair named Bon Bon, her friend Lyra, a green unicorn mare with white and pale green hair, and a black pegasus stallion with a blue and white mane styled in a mohawk named Thunderlane, one of the weather ponies that worked with Rainbow Dash. Sora and Flim approached the three ponies, the unicorn stallion smirking, already claiming victory when he was oblivious to all the twigs and rocks in his mugs held in his aura.

"How about the losing team goes first, knowing that the BEST cider, which you claimed to be ours yesterday, will obviously win?" Flim gloated, ignored by the Keyblade wielder.

"Don't celebrate too soon, Flim." The pegasus gave out Sweet Apple Acres's cider to the unbiased judges, each of them taking a sip.

"Mmmm! This is perfect like last year's!" Bon Bon said

"Yup! Tasty!" Lyra added, downing her mug. "Can I have more?"

"Lyra, we're supposed to be judging, not begging," the unicorn's friend scolded. "...Though I do admit it makes me want another cup."

"You two took the words out of my mouth," Thunderlane said. "Delicious cider as the Apples claim."

"Yes, yes, their cider is 'acceptable'," Flim interrupted, bumping Sora out of the way as he replaced the judges empty mugs with his. "But, as Sora had suggested, ours is far better because it's a lot more fresh! Have a taste, and you'll see just how true it is!"

The two mares and stallion stared at the Flim Flam Brothers mugs, spotting the floating bits of tree in the liquid, smelling more like mud than cider. The three judges took a tentative sip and immediately regretted it, spitting it out at Flim in disgust.

"AGH! What the hay did I just taste!?" Thunderlane questioned, dropping his mug and trying to scrape his hoof over his tongue, desperately trying to get the taste out of his mouth.

"Eww! Why am I tasting mud!?" Bon Bon asked.

Lyra gagged and spat out a rock that got past her throat. "Ugh! Why are there rocks in here!? I could have choked on that!"

It was clearly obvious to the rest of the crowd who the real winner is after watching the three unfortunate ponies drink the fresher batch of cider the brothers made. The judges threw their mugs at Flim, the stallion quickly ducking from them as he and Flam were both completely flabbergasted. They looked over at Sora, holding his own smirk.

"T-This isn't fair! Y-You must have cheated!" Flim exclaimed.

"No. I did no such thing. You two are the big cheaters, and you're swindlers!" Sora summoned his Keyblade, pointing it at them. "You two were so focused on winning and trying to kick my friend and her family out of their farm that you forgot the one thing you should have paid attention to: quality control! You decided to speed up your machine to get more apples, but you ended up sucking out at least two dozen trees out of their roots, destroying every apple. So what do you do next? You flip a little switch on that giant excuse of a vacuum to make it accept anything that isn't a fresh and ripe apple, and you make muck instead of cider!"

"We have other barrels of better cider!" Flam began tossing the barrels that were made with the cocktail of earthy water, pointing his hoof at the now lesser amounts of their cider stock. "See!? Our better cider right here!"

Flim facehooved, the brothers unable to win the crowd back with their inventory dwindled to only twenty barrels and showing they cared more about winning and earning bits than caring about giving their customers quality beverages. As the facial hairless stallion looked up at the crowd of ponies, he chuckled nervously, stretching out the collar of his shirt as he began to sweat.

"Well, taking out your bad cider, it looks like we win." Flim turned back to Sora, the teen patting the blade of his weapon against his hoof. "So, Sweet Apple Acres stays as Ponyville's cider provider, but you two aren't off the hook just yet. Hey, Applejack!? You think these flimflamming twins should compensate for not only destroying your property, but also destroying your family's legacy!? The same legacy that had founded this town and built it from the ground up since Granny Smith was younger!?"

Sora, Flim, and Flam turned to the others, all of them having caught their breath as they held the same smirk the pegasus stallion has. "Oh, Ah believe they should. Ya did steal one of our tree's apples yesterday, and ya uprooted a couple dozen healthy trees in our orchard. And before the two of ya try to weasel your way out of a historical fact, Granny really was there when Ponyville was built."

"As sure as Ah'm over a hundred years old!" the old mare said, earning an odd look from most of the crowd, even Sora. "...Oh, come on! Ah ain't that old! That's impossible."

"...Sure, Granny. But, Ah don't think ya might have any bits on ya on account of that fancy little machine of yours that caused more trouble than it did help anypony." Applejack brought a hoof to her chin as she thought hard about how Flim and Flam could pay them back. She looked at Sora's Keyblade, her grin widening as she found her idea. "...How's about havin' that darn invention of theirs broken? One slice per tree ought to be fair."

"S-Slice?" Flim and Flam saw the crazed look on Sora's face as he held his Keyblade tightly in his mouth.

"Ah suggest ya'll get away before he moves. It's probably gonna be messy." The pegasus flew off at blinding speed, both brothers fleeing out of his way and away from their cider making machine.

Sora hacked into the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 exactly fourteen times, his slashes a blur while spinning around the machine. As soon as he was done, he hovered over it with a grin on his face, giving the top of the machine a light tap with his hoof. From that small bit of contact, the entire wagon crumbled in on itself, turning it into nothing more than scrap metal and broken pieces. Sora landed on the ground and pranced over the shocked Flim Flam Brothers, their jaws dropping as their invention was quickly torn apart. Dismissing his Keyblade, he grabbed both their heads and pulled them closer to his.

"If you two ever come back here and try to steal my boss's business and destroy her home with another stupid invention of yours, I'll do more than just break whatever you make." Flim and Flam looked at each other in fear, then back down to the surprisingly strong sword wielder with unknown magic. "I think this is the part where you two run away with your tails between your legs. Now."

Not needing to be told twice, Flim and Flam fled for their lives down the road and out of Ponyville. He waved his hoof as they disappeared, then headed back to his friends, relieved to get rid of the unicorn swindlers and destroy their dangerous machine.

"Ah think ya went a little overboard, Sora," Applejack said, though some of the group were pretty amazed at his feat.

"Well, now you've got some scrap metal to sell along with all the cider we made." He looked up at their stack of barrels, far more than the Apple family had made in the past couple days. "And it looks like there's enough for all of Ponyville, right?"

"Sure is! Now, everypony won't have to worry about missin' out on Cider Season this year!" The crowd all cheered, both glad to know that everyone present could have the chance to drink Sweet Apple Acres's grade-A cider and that the Apple family won't have to leave town.

Cider Season ended as everyone had all paid for their mug of cider, and no one went home disgruntled and crabby without one drink. Even Rainbow Dash finally got her cider after so long, but she didn't savor it like the rest, nearly swallowing the entire mug along with the beverage. As night set in on the world, Sora helped Big Macintosh drag the cider presser back in the barn for further use he next year Cider Season comes around. After covering the hoof powered machine with a tarp, the stallions were about to head back to the farmhouse when Applejack came up to them, rolling a barrel of cider along the way.

"Hey, we got an extra barrel," Sora said. "We must have really gone overboard with making that cider, huh?"

"Yeah, and next time, we're gonna invite you guys to help us make a lot of cider so we won't keep disappointin' everypony again. So, as thanks for helpin' us with them Flim Flam Brothers-" Applejack rolled the full barrel in front of Sora. "-Ah think ya deserve to have the last barrel."

"Huh? Me?" She nodded, Big Mac as well when Sora turned to look at him. "...Uhh, should I after the other day?"

"Even after ya said their cider was better, ya stuck with our family's instead. Besides, Ah'm sure your friends outside Equestria would want a little taste." He was utterly speechless, only able to nod his head, touching a hoof to the full barrel. "Now, hurry and hide that back at that ship of yours before Rainbow smells it and chugs the whole thing down. Dinner's almost ready, and we don't wanna start without all our honorary family members."

"...Yes, ma'am." Sora lifted the barrel up on his back and hurried off to his Gummi ship to save it until Kairi, Donald, and Goofy came back to see him.

He might save some for King Mickey, Riku, maybe even Master Yen Sid. It would be a shame to have to tell all of them that this cider can only be made once a year. Hopefully Sora would never have to see Flim and Flam again, heeding his warning and never showing themselves in Ponyville ever again.

It's been a couple weeks since Cider Season had ended, and there had been a few odd events within the fourteen days. There was a major event that's held in Ponyville for siblings, more specifically, sisters. Sweetie Belle had tried to impress Rarity, trying to be helpful and do chores to get her to notice her younger sister, but Rarity only saw her assisting as more of a nuisance. The sisters began fighting with each other and broke up as siblings, Sweetie Belle storming off to Sora and venting her feelings on the matter to him while helping him with his chores. Even if they made a few mistakes, the teen just shrugged it off and fixed the problem that had occurred.

It soon turned into an odd moment when Rarity tried to apologize to Sweetie Belle for over exaggerating over what the filly did for her to try and be a helpful little sister. She kept rejecting her and decided that Sora would be a better sibling after the fun they had doing chores and setting things up for the Sisterhooves Social the next day. By the time the Social began, only sister siblings allowed to compete in many of the major events, Sora had come up with an idea to get Sweetie Belle and Rarity back together, though he needed Applejack's help since, being a boy, he couldn't compete with Sweetie in the events. She was going to race with Applejack through the obstacle course, but as they reached the mud pit at the start of the race, she would "fall" in and tag out with Rarity inside the pit, wearing Applejack's stetson hat to hide her horn.

It was a pretty close race, but they managed to get in second place. Sweetie Belle found out she raced the entire course with Rarity after knocking the hat off her head. It was a bit of a dirty trick, literally and figuratively, but the unicorn siblings were at least back together like the happy family they should be. Though, if Rarity was too busy with her orders, the unicorn filly would sometimes sneak off to find Sora and hang out with her "big brother", just to enjoy a day of playing around while also getting dirty.

Then, there were some moments with Rainbow Dash. The first during the two weeks was her finding herself a pet to join the others with their pet play date. Rarity had Opal, her fussy cat that hates everyone except for Fluttershy. Fluttershy had her demon brat of a bunny, Angel. Applejack with Winona, who swapped between playing with her real owner and Sora, who had come along even though he himself didn't have a pet. Pinkie Pie and her odd pet alligator Gummy. And Twilight with an owl as her pet, having adopted him one evening some time ago, naming him Owlowiscious.

At the mention of Rainbow Dash wanting a pet of her own, Fluttershy practically dragged her childhood friend back to her cottage with excitement. However, instead of finding her pet, she decided to hold a contest with many of the species that were able to fly, along with a tortoise Fluttershy brought along, wanting to find the reptile a good home. There were a lot of events that tested their strengths and skills, none of them relating to what it means to have a pet to the cyan pegasus: responsibility, love, and care. Not matching what she could do or how "awesome" she was.

She even had the gall to give the qualifying competitors a race, with her, in a dangerous canyon known as Ghastly Gorge. Along with Rainbow and the flying pets, the tortoise had joined in too, despite not being as quick or athletic as the others. While going through the gulch, at the finish line on the other side, the animals made it through, but the cyan mare was still stuck in the gorge. Thankfully, her savior was the tortoise, who managed to rescue her and was chosen as her ideal pet. It was ironic how the speedy pegasus picked a slow moving reptile, but it seemed like a perfect choice to help her learn to slow down a little with her new pet, who she named Tank.

Then came a terrible accident that caused Rainbow Dash to sprain her wing, sending her to the hospital where she would have to spend a day resting at so nothing serious was wrong. And, being unable to fly or do anything, bored out of her mind in the hospital, Twilight suggested her to read a book. Sora had seen the cover of the suggested story, titled "Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone", showing a tan pegasus mare with gray and black hair, almost resembling Rainbow Dash, having a similarly sprained wing as she swung on a vine in a jungle setting. An adventure book definitely suited her, but with the mare being illiterate, she thinks reading is for eggheads.

She proved her theory wrong the next day in the middle of the night, trying to sneak her way back into the library to take the book and continue reading the story. The hospital staff chased her, thinking she was some kind of slipper thief, Sora unable to find it believable that someone would be crazy enough to steal slippers, until Rainbow finally got caught and admitted she liked reading. Now, she was hooked on the Darin Do series and enjoyed reading, though if the Keyblade wielder had Pooh's storybook, she wouldn't like the cutesy atmosphere in there, even if they literally jump into the book.

Today, however, was a very important day, just like it was with Hearth's Warming and Christmas a couple months back. Equestria held a holiday that was similar to Valentine's Day, simply named Hearts and Hooves Day. It's pretty much the same: a holiday where cards are given to others, heart shaped candies and chocolates shared with that special someone, and spending the whole day being together with said special someone on a romantic date. And for Sora, he was going to spend the day with Kairi and give her the most romantic date he would ever make.

He had gotten the supplies he needed days earlier, deciding on doing a simple picnic with some delicious apple recipes he made himself and some fresh apple juice. As he headed off to meet with Kairi, having arrived back in Equestria a couple days ago, he noticed the Cutie Mark Crusaders heading off to school this morning, dragging a very large heart shaped card on their wagon, no doubt for their teacher, Cheerilee. Sora only shook his head at the oversized gift for the mare, the three fillies having gone all out to show how much they care about her.

Reaching the empty fields where their ships rested, Sora knocked on the side of Kairi's Gummi ship, getting her attention. "Kairi! You in there!?"

The ramp to the ship opened up, the pink unicorn poking her head out to see who was calling for her. "Hi, Sora." Kairi noticed the picnic basket carried on his back along with his trademark dopey grin that told her he had something planned. "Uhh, what's with the basket?"

"Well, today's Equestria's version of Valentine's Day," he said. "I know we kind of missed it a few days ago when you were off doing your duty as a Keyblade Master, but I thought we could finally celebrate the holiday with what they call Hearts and Hooves Day. It's pretty much the same thing, just with us as ponies. So, you wanna go on a Hearts and Hooves Day date with me?"

"Hmmm..." Kairi pretended to think about it, unable to hide her grin. "I don't know. I mean, I just got back a while ago, and I'm kind of tired from traveling around the universe and-Let's go!"

Without giving Sora the chance to internally cheer, she ran out and dragged him back to Ponyville with her magic. "Kairi! I can walk on my own! Control your unicorn magic!"

At the school, all the foals in class chattered among each other as they gave Hearts and Hooves Day cards to their best friends and Cheerilee. The dark fuchsia mare stared with wide eyes at Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo's massive card, littered with glitter, ribbons, drawings, frilly lace, everything they could have gotten their hooves on to make their heart stand out above the rest of their classmates.

"...Oh my, girls," Cheerilee said. "...It's really...nice...and big."

"Well, we just wanted to show ya just how much we really really love ya, and we want ya to have the best Hearts and Hooves day ever!" Apple Bloom said, her and her friends beaming.

"Why, thank you. I love it." The teacher left the card that was slightly bigger than her leaning against the wall, not wanting to get her hooves covered in the large amount of glitter that seemed like it was poured out on the paper heart.

"But I bet it's not as good as any gifts from your very special somepony, huh?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Oh. I don't actually have a special somepony." The three fillies gasped in shock.

"What!?" Sweetie squeaked. "How can somepony as amazing as you not have a special somepony for Hearts and Hooves Day!?"

"I don't really need somepony in my life to have a good Hearts and Hooves Day, Sweetie Belle," Cheerilee explained. "I have you girls, your classmates, and several friends of mine to enjoy the holiday. I'm not sure if I'm ready for romance just yet, anyway."

Cheerilee wandered off to her other students as they gave her their cards for her. The Crusaders were surprised to hear such a thing as they looked at each other.

"Why would she not want to find a special somepony?" Apple Bloom asked. "Miss Cheerilee deserves one for all she does for us."

"I got it!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "Maybe we can find a special somepony for her! There has to be a single stallion out there who might like Miss Cheerilee!"

"That's a great idea! Let's find Miss Cheerilee's special somepony before the day ends!" Since Hearts and Hooves Day was considered an early day, the Cutie Mark Crusaders hurried out of the school to find their teacher a stallion for the most romantic holiday of the year.

"But remember girls, it can't just be any stallion. Miss Cheerilee deserves one of the best stallions in Ponyville." As the fillies looked around the town to find their teacher the perfect date, music began to play as a song was coming on.

[Sweetie Belle]
Cheerilee is sweet and kind
She's the best teacher we could hope for
The perfect stallion you and I must find
Want to really maker her heart so-o-oar

They soon began finding random stallions in the town, though not many of them they met the standards they expected for their teacher.

But...
This one's too young
This one's too old
He clearly has a terrible cold

The sick stallion Sweetie Belle came up to sneezed, quickly backing away before she caught his cold.

[Apple Bloom]
This guy's too silly
He's way too upight

"I say!" a fancy stallion scoffed as Apple Bloom practically insulted him with her verse, the three coming up to a stallion sitting behind a tree in the park.

[Sweetie Belle]
Well nothing's wrong with this one
He seems alright!

The stallion turned around as he heard Sweetie Belle singing, which actually turned out to be Sora. "Huh? Hey, Sweetie Belle."

"Sora!?" The filly gawked, Kairi leaning over to see who walked up to them, nibbling on an apple pastry Sora made.

"Was she singing?" the pink unicorn asked.

"Yeah, though it seemed to be something about me, I think?" He gave Sweetie a playful leer. "Are you and the others up to something?"

"Nope! Gotta go! Bye!" The filly gave a nervous giggle and sped off back into town, the couple shrugging it off and resuming their date while the Crusaders continued their search for Cheerilee's significant other.

How about this one?

[Apple Bloom]
He's much too flashy

[Scootaloo]
He might do!

[Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle]
If he weren't so splashy

[Apple Bloom]
Too short

[Sweetie Belle]
Too tall

[Apple Bloom]
Too clean

[Scootaloo]
Too smelly

[Sweetie Belle]
Too strangely obsessed with tubs of jelly

Sweetie slinked away from the oddly disturbing stallion coated in jelly, the trio of fillies meeting up and sighing sadly, unable to find the right stallion for Cheerilee.

[Apple Bloom]
I don't think that we're mistaken
It seems all the good ones are taken

[Sweetie Belle]
I really feel that at this rate
We'll never find the perfect date

[Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom]
Don't want to quit and give up hope!

While the three fillies bounded up on a pile of haystacks, they noticed Big Macintosh stacking said haystacks. "Hey, Big Mac. Doing anything for Hearts and Hooves Day?" Scootaloo asked him, all three of them praying for a miracle at this point.

[Sweetie Belle]
Oh please, oh please oh please say-

"Nope," Big Mac said, the fillies gasping as their hope for their teacher was rekindled by the farm stallion's single status.

We did it girls
We've found the one
Who will send our teacher's heart aflutter!

As excited as they were, Apple Bloom finally realized who they had just found to be Cheerilee's blind date. "Wait a minute, let me get this straight. Are ya talkin' about mah brother?"

The music ended, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looking at Apple Bloom as she held a skeptical look. "Well, duh. Who else is perfect for Miss Cheerilee?"

"Well, Big Mac's not exactly the most talkative pony, so gettin' him to ask her's gonna be a problem," Apple Bloom said.

"I got an idea for that too," Sweetie said. "Let's set up a romantic setting, and maybe Miss Cheerilee can ask Big Mac out on a date. It's foolproof."

Back in the park, Sora and Kairi cuddled together under the shade of the tree where they set up their picnic. Kairi rested her head against Sora's shoulder, a content smile on her face as she felt his hoof rubbing over her side. Despite the slight interruption from Sweetie Belle's singing, it didn't ruin their date that much as they snacked on the stallion's cooking, which wasn't all that bad as he got some help from Applejack.

"I don't think I'll ever get sick of apples while being here in Equestria," Kairi said. "I never knew you could cook either, Sora."

"Heh. I had a little bit of help. Not bad for a beginner, huh?" Sora hugged her tightly, moving his hoof down to lightly rub at his girlfriend's full stomach.

"It was delicious." She moved her head up and surprised the stallion with a soft kiss on the lips. The couple deepened their kiss, eyes closed as they pulled each other closer. Sora gently rubbed Kairi's back while she teased his wings with her hooves, making the pegasus shudder from the light tingling sensation, instinctively making his appendages slowly flare out. Kairi broke the kiss after feeling his wings move and stiffen, surprised to see the reaction that gave. "Wow. Those books in Twilight's library about pegasus wings were right. Are they that sensitive?"

"When you touched them like that, yeah," Sora admitted with a blush. "You have no idea how odd it is to preen the feathers for new ones to grow in. It's so weird, but it feels really good."

"Well. You learn something new every day." Kairi giggled, kissing Sora's nose, then another light one on the lips. The couple looked in each other's eyes, nuzzling their noses together. "I love you."

"I love you more," Sora said back, sticking his tongue out to instigate a playful argument.

"Oh, don't you dare go there." He chuckled as it worked, only to yelp when he felt Kairi's hooves gently knead into his stiff wings. Her soft hooves massaged the muscles in his appendages, under the mercy of her pleasurable touch. She laughed as Sora was practically putty in her hooves, squirming against the tree while trying to stifle his moans. "You want to pick a fight with me over who loves who more? Hmm?"

"N-No?" Sora gasped as Kairi pressed her hoof into a very sensitive spot on both his wings. "Ahhhhhhh. I-I was! I was! Too good! Please stop!" She stopped her torturous massage and rubbed her hooves against his chest, leaving him a panting mess, his cheeks flushed heavily. "T-Too much...You win."

"Girls rule, boys drool," Kairi taunted, poking his snout with a hoof. Sora pouted and stuck his tongue out at her, receiving a similar response from her, though more playful. Their attention soon turned out to the park when they heard three familiar fillies across from their spot near the park's gazebo. They were setting up a picnic of their own, though it looked more set up for romance than a friendly hangout. "What are they doing?"

"...I have a bad feeling those three are going to be up to some trouble. Though what exactly, I have no clue." Kairi gave Sora a confused look, the stallion rubbing his head as he feared what plan they might have to get their cutie mark, or whatever kind of scheme they had for a fun time. "Those three have gone through some pretty crazy things. Scootaloo thought it was a fun idea to try zip-lining, Apple Bloom gave herself a cutie mark with a strange flower, only to have several all over her body and do every activity that had appeared. They even put on this musical performance that was...not good: the singing, the choreography, and the setting and costumes were outright cringe worthy."

"Oh my," the unicorn uttered.

They continued watching as Cheerilee and Big Macintosh approached the set up picnic, their poor excuses to bring them out for what appears to be a blind date. The fillies left the two ponies alone, Sweetie Belle setting up a record player as it played romantic music, though it was scratchy and slightly out of tune. It was already awkward enough just from seeing the teacher and farm stallion, the former trying to spark some conversation while the latter only gave one word responses.

"I hope they don't try to get cutie marks in matchmaking," Sora said. "So far, it's not going so well." They could see the Crusaders hiding in a nearby bush, their eyes peeking out from the leaves as they watched Cheerilee and Big Mac "converse". Sora was suddenly proven wrong it seems as the teacher leaned closer to the stallion. "Or I am sadly mistaken."

"Big Mac," Cheerilee said as the five ponies watching them listened in.

"Eeyup?" Big Mac asked, with his "highly extended" vocabulary.

"...You have something stuck in your teeth." As she said that, the record scratched and cut the music off.

"OH COME ON!" Sweetie Belle complained, poking up from the bush and dragged back in by Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

Sora couldn't help but burst out laughing at the unicorn filly's exasperation and the comment Cheerilee made. He fell on his back, clutching his sides, while Kairi only shook her head. Cheerilee and Big Mac eventually went their separate ways, the Crusaders disappointed that their blind date plan had utterly failed. The fillies slumped off elsewhere, leaving the picnic they set up alone.

"Oh man, that was too funny!" Sora guffawed, trying to catch his breath. "She just leans forward, almost ready to kiss him, and then just goes 'You got something in your teeth!' That scratch was perfectly timed too!"

"Were they really trying to get two ponies together?" Kairi asked. "Are those three desperate to get those marks or something?"

"More like obsessed." The stallion managed to calm down and sit back up. "Cutie marks show the talent a pony has, and for ours, it's pretty obvious. Even though we automatically have ours, I think we would have gotten them within minutes being in this world."

Sora leaned back a little and snuck a peek at Kairi's flank, only for the unicorn to cover her cutie mark with her tail. "Eyes up here, mister."

"What? I was just looking at your cutie mark," Sora said, feigning ignorance.

"And it happens to be on my...my hips." Kairi blushed heavily, her aura trying to pull her small skirt over her flanks.

"You still self conscious about that? Ponies don't exactly wear clothes, remember?" She sneered at him, growling a little, warning him not to push it. "...Ok, ok. Sorry. But you know, teenage boy? Hormones constantly distracted by combat against the darkness and never having a break to let it all out? Trying to save the princess while being the doof of a knight I am?"

"Mhmm. Sure. Excuses, excuses." Kairi's white aura reached around Sora's back, putting pressure on the sensitive spots in his wings, making them flare out as he bit his lip, stifling a moan. "Oops. My magic slipped."

"Ha ha. Funny." He forced his wings back down to his sides, hearing the love of his life giggling, getting payback for his perverted ogling of her rump. He reached into the picnic basket, groaning as he couldn't feel around for what he was looking for inside. "Darn it. I can't believe I forgot to get us some chocolates. I'll head in town and get a large heart shaped box of it."

"Ok, but hurry back." The Keyblade wielding couple shared a small kiss before Sora left to get them their chocolatey dessert. Kairi looked down at her flanks, grumbling at her short skirt's length from her casual outfit she now wore as her battle outfit. "Wish this skirt was at least a little bit longer. Maybe Rarity can make me some matching shorts or something so I don't feel so...vulnerable as a pony. I don't know how Sora dealt with it for nearly the past year here."

Sora bought himself one of the biggest box of chocolates from a nearby sweets shop in town, filled with an assorted variety of different bite sized chocolates that they can share. While walked back to the park, he noticed Twilight walking down the road, a little miffed about something and by herself.

"Hey, Twilight," he said, approaching the unicorn. "Spending Hearts and Hooves Day alone?"

"Sadly, yes. Though, after what happened between us months ago...I kind of don't want to dwell on getting romantically involved with somepony for a long while." She groaned and rubbed her forehead. "I just ran into the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and they didn't bother hearing me out about learning the history of Hearts and Hooves Day."

"Oh. Care to tell me how it started?" Sora asked.

"Well, it's pretty simple," Twilight said. "It all started with a love potion. They took the book I showed them and willingly gave, and they just ran off to who knows where. The recipe for the potion is in that book too."

"...Wait. Did you just say the recipe for a love potion is IN the book they 'borrowed'?" Twilight nodded her head, prompting Sora to slap his forehead. "Oh no. Twilight, what have you done?"

"What?" she asked, highly confused by the teen's reaction.

"Those three fillies tried to get Big Mac and their teacher Cheerilee together earlier today, and now that they know they have the recipe to make two ponies forcefully fall in love with each other, they're going to try that again." Twilight realized her mistake, chuckling nervously as her thirst for knowledge and teaching said knowledge to others overriding the dangerous antics the Cutie Mark Crusaders could get themselves or others into. "Come on. I know where they're going to try to get those two together."

Sora lead the way as he and Twilight headed to the park. As they arrived, Sora didn't see any sign of Kairi at their picnic spot, the pegasus figuring she might have gone off somewhere to use the bathroom or chase off Heartless that may have appeared. As luck would have it, they spotted the fillies at their still set up picnic area, this time pouring two small cups of a pink liquid, which must have been the love potion they made. Cheerilee and Big Mac came back to the spot again, being called by the Crusaders yet again, knowing what they were trying to do.

"Hello again, girls. Big Mac," Cheerilee greeted. "Would you three like to tell us about what you-"

"PUNCH!" Sweetie Belle blurted out. "We made you two some punch, and we want to know what you two think about it!"

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom agreed. "We wanna try sell some punch and try to earn salespony cutie marks! So, you two drink it and tell us what ya think before we sell any!"

The trio ran off and hid in the same bush like last time, spying on them yet again. "Oh dear. I'm really sorry about this, Big Macintosh. I told the girls I didn't have a special somepony for Hearts and Hooves Day, and I think they're trying to get us together."

"Eeyup," the red stallion said, the two earth ponies chuckling at their overly curious minds.

"Well, we might as well indulge them. Besides, the punch does look good." They were about to pick up the "punch", Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo waiting for the moment they would finally fall in love with each other, but Sora flew in between them, stopping them before it was too late.

"Cheerilee, Big Mac, don't drink that!" Sora exclaimed, surprising the two.

"Sora? What's going on?" Cheerilee asked.

"Trust me, I don't think you two want to try something those three fillies had made so suddenly," he said, Twilight approaching them as she looked at the drinks. "I know they mean well, but seeing as they're trying to force you two to be a couple, they should learn not to try and force others into falling in love with each other."

"What is Sora doing!? He's ruining our plan!" Sweetie Belle whispered as they continued watching.

"I guess you're right, Sora," the teacher said, Big Mac nodding his head in agreement. "I think I'd better head back to the school, again, and pack up all those cards my students made. I'll see you later, Big Mac. And make sure to give your little sister a little lecture on not forcing two ponies to like each other when they don't have the same feelings toward each other."

"Eeyup," Big Mac said, both ponies heading back to their daily duties and leaving the fillies hiding to groan as their plan backfired again.

"Phew. That was pretty close," Twilight said. "We could have avoided a disaster."

"I'll say. It's bad enough to manipulate someone into doing something, but it's worse when they do it against their own will," Sora said.

"Please don't remind me of that evening." Twilight subconsciously levitated one of the cups and waved it around in the air. "I still feel guilty after what I almost did to you and Kairi, and it didn't help that I saw what I was doing under my darkness's control."

"...Sorry. I guess you went through a bit of both." Sora picked up the other cup, both of them forgetting that the liquid in them was the potion. "But that's all resolved, and we're good friends."

"You're right. To friends?" Twilight held her cup out to Sora.

"To friends." They tapped their cups together and drank the potion. The Crusaders all gasped, too late to stop Sora and Twilight from drinking the love potion as they smacked their lips at the strange taste. "Wow. That's some weird tasting punch. It's pretty bitter."

"...Wait...did we just-?" Both ponies hiccuped, releasing a magical pink gas bubble that flew out of their mouths. Their eyes widened, now realizing that wasn't supposed to be punch. "Oh no!"

"We drank the-!" The gaseous magic formed together and turned into a heart, silencing Sora as he and Twilight's heads snapped in each other's direction, purple hypnosis swirls lighting up in the sclera of their eyes.

"Uh oh," the fillies worriedly said.

Slowly, both Sora and Twilight's eyes drooped as they grinned, the potions effects forcing them to fall in love with each other. "Sora? Will you be my special somepony?"

"Uh huh," he replied, the Crusaders leaping out of the bush in a panic and ran up to the "lovesick" ponies.

"Sora? Twilight?" Neither one heard Apple Bloom call their names, too entranced by each other as they stared in each other's eyes.

"You're my shmoopy-doopy sweetie-weetie pony pie," Twilight said.

"No, you're MY shmoopy-doopy sweetie-weetie pony pie," Sora said, their lovey-dovey talk making the fillies cringe in disgust.

"Oh no! What have we done!?" Scootaloo exclaimed. "We just made Sora fall for Twilight!"

"And if Kairi finds out..." Apple Bloom looked back over to Ponyville, yelping in shock as the pink unicorn herself was walking back into the park. "And here she comes!"

Kairi headed back to hers and Sora's spot for their picnic date, spotting her boyfriend over where the fillies had their spot set up. What was even more weird was Twilight was there, and she and Sora were looking at each other. She approached them, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo running up to her to try and stop her.

"Kairi, don't come this way!" Scootaloo shouted.

"It was an accident! We didn't mean to!" Sweetie added.

"What are you girls talking about?" Kairi asked, getting her answer as she heard the love potion afflicted ponies speak to each other.

"You're my huggy-bunny wuvvy-duvvy love bug," Twilight squealed, squishing Sora's cheeks with her forehooves as she nuzzled his nose.

"You're my hearty-smartie smoochy-woochie baby doll." Kairi's jaw dropped when she heard Sora, marching up to the two in shock as the spiky-haired stallion nuzzled Twilight back.

"What is going on!?" the pink unicorn shouted. "Sora, what did you just call Twilight!? And why are you looking at her like that!?"

"Wait, Kairi, don't be mad at them! It's our fault!" Apple Bloom said.

She ignored the fillies and pulled Sora away. "I am going to knock some sense into you after whatever stupid spell Twilight cast on-YIPE!"

Kairi was flung onto her back by the love potioned pegasus, fluttering back to Twilight as they continued ogling each other while calling each other cringe inducing love names. The Crusaders helped Kairi up, the pink unicorn highly confused and furious. She looked down at the fillies, giving her a look that warned them to explain now before they get punished.

"We made a love potion from a book Twilight gave us so we could get our teacher and Apple Bloom's big brother to fall in love with each other because Miss Cheerilee didn't have a special somepony and we didn't want her to be alone for Hearts and Hooves Day so we tried to get them to drink it but Sora stopped them and they both drank it and now they're acting this way because it was our fault and we just wanted to help our teacher really bad please don't tell on us!" Sweetie Belle let out a huge gasp after explaining everything in one sentence to Kairi.

The pink unicorn's ears and one eye twitched, hearing her boyfriend and unicorn friend continuously spouting mushy words at each other, leaning her head down as she leered at the terrified Crusaders. "...Where's. This. Book?"

"H-Here." Scootaloo pulled the book in question, Kairi swiping it with her magic as she looked through its contents.

She skimmed through the pages until she found the recipe to make the spell. "Is this it? 'Take a tuft of cloud, a bright rainbow's glow, stir with a pegasus feather fast, not slow, and serve to two ponies who aren't in the know?'"

"Yeah. That's the one," Apple Bloom answered.

Kairi's eyes widened as she looked at the name of the recipe, looking back at the lovestruck couple, then back to the book. "Girls, did you even read what the recipe was before you made this potion!?" She turned the book around to the page of the recipe, pointing a hoof at the top of the ingredient list. "You didn't make a love potion! You made a love poison!"

"Love poison!?" the fillies exclaimed.

Kairi flipped over to a page referenced on the recipe list, telling the tale of how this failed potion came to be. "According to this book, this love 'poison' was made by a prince who loved a princess he wished to be with. So he ended up making it, they both drank it, and instead of them falling in love, it did so, but the two were infatuated with each other that they couldn't look away from each other's eyes, causing both of their kingdoms to fall into ruin because of their unbreakable love!" She searched the pages for any way to fix this, grumbling to herself at the dangerous potion actually printed in a historical book. "Next time you three try to do anything like this, read EXACTLY what you're going to make before you do something crazy!"

"Sorry, Kairi," they said, lowering their heads in shame.

"It's alright...It was just an accident. But if this keeps up any longer, I'm going to end up smacking Twilight upside the head by this accident." She finally found the page explaining how to cure the love poison, sighing in relief. "Ok, there is a cure, but we have to keep Sora and Twilight away from each other's eye contact...for an hour."

"That shouldn't be too hard," Scootaloo said. "We'll be able to pull that off in a second!"

"That isn't even possible," Kairi muttered. As she went quiet, she noticed that they weren't listening to Sora and Twilight acting like lovesick puppies toward each other. She looked over at where they were, only to find an empty picnic blanket and the dropped box of chocolates her boyfriend got for her and him. "...Uhh, where did they go?"

"They vanished!" Sweetie said. "Oh no! We're all doomed! Without Sora, we all might be attacked by those black monsters if they show up in Ponyville again!"

"Ok, I have an idea...And it might get me badly injured in the process, but I should outlast Sora for a while. I want you three to head out into the fields," Kairi began explaining. "You'll see two large blocky structures Sora and I call Gummi ships. I'm going to try to teleport Twilight in mine, colored pink and white, and you three are going to lock her in there while I deal with Sora."

"Gummi ship?" Apple Bloom asked. "W-Will she be able to break out?"

"She'll probably be too love struck to find the button to unlock it and try to force her way out...providing she's not smart enough to use magic under the poison's effects. Make sure she stays in there for an hour, and if she does, try to stall her in any way possible." The Crusaders nodded and ran outside of Ponyville to their ships while Kairi ran into town to find Sora and Twilight. "I am so screwed if I have to fight an enraged, lovesick fighter who's better in physical combat than I am."

You take the first sip, cuddle-muffin," Twilight said, pushing a special milkshake order to Sora, the "couple" in Sugarcube Corner as they shared the bakery's Hearts and Hooves Day only menu item.

"No, you, schnookie-lumps," Sora said, pushing it back to her.

They were completely oblivious to the cringing patrons inside, along with the Cakes, the twins staring at their favorite stallion foalsitter in confusion, even Pinkie Pie was freaked out by their sudden romance. "Mrs. Cake, did you put anything in those special couples shakes that made them like that?"

"No...And they haven't even touched theirs," the plump baker said. "I thought Sora was dating that pink unicorn, Kairi."

"He is, and still is. Why in the name of heart shaped gumdrops is he acting like that with Twilight?" The two finally began to consume their shake, only instead of slurping it through the twin straws, they licked the whipped cream, still looking each other in the eyes. "Ok! This is freaking me out! Somepony tell me what is going on with those two!?"

Kairi entered the bakery, spotting the poisoned ponies sitting at a table, sharing a milkshake. "Ok...Time to save them, and not release the urge to punch Twilight." She approached the two, ready to face the inevitable as she charged her magic. "Here goes nothing."

Her aura grew brighter as she wrapped it around Twilight, sending the lavender unicorn far away from Sora and locked away in her ship. The hour long timer began, and the instant she disappeared, her afflicted boyfriend suddenly panicked, looking around frantically for his poisoned "lover".

"Shmoopy-doo!? Where'd you go!?" Sora began looking under the table, then everywhere in the bakery, finding no sign of Twilight. He approached Pinkie and shook her hard. "Where's my shmoopy-shmoo!?"

"I am so confused! I don't know what is right-side purple anymore!" Pinkie pushed herself away from the crazed stallion and hopped into a cupboard, shutting it tightly, Carrot Cake opening it back to find no sign of the mare inside.

"Sora, this is for your own good!" Kairi exclaimed, getting Sora's attention. "You and Twilight are under a dangerous poison, making you act like...lovesick weirdos! The both of you are staying apart for one whole hour to let it run its course, and I am not going to tell you where I put her!"

Sora's eyes turned purple, the magic of the love poison telling him to find his love, and if it meant killing his mare's kidnapper, he obeyed its command. He soon glared at his real lover, summoning his Keyblade and slowly approaching the "evil" mare that swiped Twilight from him.

"Where did you take my honey-bunny?" he growled.

"Sora, calm down. I know you can break out of this," Kairi softly said. "It's not like you-know-what."

"Give my schnookums back!" Controlled against his own will, Sora unleashed a Drive Form, the explosive light shoving the tables and surprised patrons against the walls.

The light disappeared around him, changing his clothing from black to yellow, now in his Master Form. His Kingdom Keyblade was replaced by a differently shaped one that didn't have edged teeth like any others with bandages wrapped around the base of the blade, known as Fenrir. The second Keyblade that appeared, hovering in his left hand and spinning around by a magical force, was a silver blade, the teeth shaped like a part of a crest with the end of the blade and the chain off the guard shaped like a lion's head, called the Sleeping Lion.

"Yup. I am so screwed," Kairi mumbled, summoning her own Keyblade to defend herself from Sora's more powerful forms.

The stallion ran forward on his hind legs, letting out a battle cry as he chased after the pink unicorn mare, fleeing from him to keep him from causing anymore damage in Sugarcube Corner and Ponyville. After this was over, if she made it out alive, she was going to apologize greatly to everyone caught in the unwell Keyblade wielder's sudden rage.

"Let me out!" Twilight screamed, slamming into the closed off ramp inside Kairi's ship. "I want my pookie-bear!"

Outside of the ship, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo cringed every time the unicorn slammed her body into the ship. It sounded like she was trying to break through harder and harder with each attempt, fearing she might hurt herself.

"Urgh. How long has she been at this again?" Scootaloo asked.

"Half an hour," Apple Bloom answered as she looked up at the sun. "Just another thirty minutes and they'll be back to normal."

"Sora's gonna be really mad with us, isn't he?" Sweetie Belle asked, all three fillies afraid to know what he'll punish them with after he's back to his old self. "We're probably going to be grounded when this is all over."

Another loud bang against the inside of the ship and another scream from Twilight. "That love poison is so dumb. I can't believe it makes ponies say those...gross, mushy names. I don't think real couples even say stuff like that."

"Maybe nicknames, but not like...pookie-bear." The fillies all shuddered as they cringed. Looking up at the glass dome of the cockpit, Twilight tried to break through that instead of the ramp, though thankfully she didn't think about using her magic to get out. "I hope Kairi's keeping Sora distracted enough."

They soon heard sounds of magic far across the fields, more close to Ponyville than to them. "Or it's turning into a disaster."

(Desire For All That Is Lost)

Magic spells were being cast left and right on the outskirts of Ponyville, lightning, fire, and ice shooting off in every direction. Kairi kept her distance from Sora as he continued to get closer, mixing his attacks between physical and magical as he ran on his hind legs. His Master Form may not have been as swift as his Anti Form, but his attacks were powerful, his combos with two Keyblades far more devastating than a pair of sharp claws. She quickly flipped away, shooting Thundaga spells from above to get some breathing room.

Panting heavily, she gripped her Keyblade tightly in her aura, her body already badly scuffed up from a few of his spells and strikes. "Only twenty more minutes...I'm doing ok so far." She quickly cast Cure on herself to heal her newest injuries, using up her remaining mana. "I shouldn't jinx myself. I barely managed to fight back against a Stealth Sneak and Sora's darkness."

Sora charged forward again, Kairi quickly casting a defensive barrier around herself as he struck. He was able to manipulate the Sleeping Lion in a telekinetic grip, sending it swinging wildly in front of him while he attacked with Fenrir in his hoof. Her shields didn't last too long as he began spinning around in midair, creating an energy cyclone around him that sucked her up. Her barrier broke as she was struck by invisible blades in the magical whirlwind, unable to escape as she spun around uncontrollably. Sora broke the cyclone, sending the unicorn flying off across the field, quickly righting herself up as she skid across the ground.

He ran forward again, leaping up into the air, grabbing hold of both Keyblades and plunged them down over her. Thankfully, his Drive Form ran out of power, making Sora flail about in confusion at his worn out power. Given the opportunity to strike back, Kairi leapt after him and kicked him hard in the stomach. Stunned, she swiped away his Keyblade and dual wielded it with her own, giving him a taste of his own medicine. Flipping over him, she kicked him down to the ground, diving after him while slashing at him, making sure not to overdo it and end up killing him.

Reaching the ground, Sora landed on his forelegs and flipped away, Kairi landing after him and continued pouring on the offensive. He was far more flexible than she was, contorting his body to avoid each pair of slashes coming toward him. The hour mark was almost there, just another few minutes left before the potion wore off. Unfortunately, as she attacked, Sora managed to sweep himself behind her, kicking her hard in the back of the head, causing her to lose her hold on his Kingdom Keyblade as she stumbled across the ground. Grabbing his weapon again, he lunged at her, pinning her down on her back.

"Where is my love dove!?" Sora shouted, Kairi quickly blocking his Keyblade as he slammed his down over her.

"S-Sora...stop..." His strength was stronger than hers, her aura quickly giving out as he parried her Keyblade away from him.

He pointed his Keyblade at her head, growling dangerously as Kairi was completely defenseless. "I'm going to give you five seconds to tell me where you took my honey-bunny, or else I'll end your life. One." Kairi tried to punch him, only to have him block it with his own and slam her hoof down hard in the ground, a sickening crunch echoing around them as he nearly cracked her hoof under the powerful amount of force. "Two...Three...Four!" She began to beg, hoping time would end up and free Sora from this curse of a potion meant to make two ponies pine for each other. "FIVE!"

The clock tower chimed in Ponyville as Sora raised his Keyblade up to thrust it into her. He froze as the purple swirls dissipated, his blade disappearing in a flash of light. He slowly came to, shaking his head while rubbing his temples, feeling like he was suffering from a powerful headache out of nowhere. Kairi sighed in relief, wincing as she carefully moved her injured hoof over her chest to avoid the waves of pain.

"Thank goodness," she said, causing Sora to look down at her.

"...Kairi?" He looked up and noticed his surroundings, nowhere near the park as he stood over his girlfriend. Sora noticed her injuries, as well as her broken hoof she held protectively under her other. "...W-What just happened? Why are you hurt?"

"I'll explain everything after we get Twilight. It's going to be a really interesting discussion." The unicorn chuckled, her adrenaline completely drained, barely able to sit up. "...Can you help me up, please? I don't think I can move."

After getting Twilight from Kairi's Gummi ship, the lavender unicorn just as confused as Sora was after a full hour had passed and the poison's effects wore off. Her shoulders were pretty sore after feeling like she kept trying to ram into something, managing to safely exit the ship after pressing a simple button that lowered the ramp and exit the ship. As curious as she was to find out how the futuristic ships worked, she wanted to know what had happened to her and why she wasn't at the park.

Sora carried Kairi out in the fields, being careful with her forehoof as they met up with Twilight and the Crusaders. The poisoned ponies got the answers they needed from Kairi as she and the fillies explained what had happened to them and why she was badly injured. Sora and Twilight were mortified, both ponies moving away from each other as soon as they mentioned the cursed infatuation they were under, along with the mushy names they called each other under that state. They were at least thankful they didn't end up kissing each other, just acting like lovesick goofs who had no inkling over what romance and being in a relationship really meant.

It was worse on Sora when he found out he hurt Kairi again, for the second time. Granted, it wasn't from his Anti Form again, but he had no clue what he had done this time under the love poison's effects to find his significant other. Even though Kairi had assured him she was ok, he didn't think so, almost breaking her hoof seconds before he almost impaled her with his Keyblade. Since he was unable to say anything with his guilt over attacking his girlfriend, Kairi and Twilight decided to give the Cutie Mark Crusaders their punishment: cleaning up the library, doing chores at Sweet Apple Acres, and run a lap around Ponyville every day for the next week. They understood without any complaints, learning their lesson not to mess around with dangerous potions they neglected to read through thoroughly and forcing others to love each other, letting them alone choose who they want to be with.

Hearts and Hooves Day started out great, but it ended up turning sour the moment Sora and Twilight stupidly drank that potion. Sora moped around the park, slowly packing up the picnic blanket he set up for his date. He spotted the box of chocolates he bought and apparently dropped after he fell under the potion's effects, nothing but an empty box with wrappers littered around it, wild critters and birds having snatched the free treats when no one noticed. After he finished packing the basket up, he slammed his head into the tree they had sat under, groaning miserably.

"I can't believe we blindly drank that potion when we knew it was the potion," the teen mumbled. "Just that one moment being oblivious to our surroundings, and while under its spell, I almost kill Kairi...again..." He banged his head against the tree a few more times, making a red mark appear on his forehead. "Why is it I always put her in danger? Losing the island to the Heartless, Kairi getting kidnapped by Organization XIII...My Heartless side almost killing her..."

"Sora, don't blame yourself." Sora lifted his head away from the tree, turning his head to face Kairi. Her injured hoof was in a sling, having been checked at the hospital to see if it was broken. She also had a box of chocolates with her, the same one he had bought earlier. "Everything that's happened to me, life threatening or not, isn't your fault. At first, I was really mad at you two, but you weren't acting like yourself under that potion."

"...Is your hoof ok?" Sora asked.

"I'll be fine. Just need to stay off it for a few days." Kairi fidgeted her slung hoof a little. "At least I managed to last an hour against you in a real fight. My own training's getting a little better, huh?"

"...That's not funny, Kairi." The pegasus slumped down against the tree, slamming the back of his head into it. "I almost killed you. Again. While I wasn't in control of myself with no idea what I was doing. Even without my darkness threatening to hurt anyone, I'm still finding some way to hurt you by complete accident..." Sora sighed sadly, rubbing his forehead, starting to feel it bruise up from smacking his head repeatedly into the tree he leaned against. "Our date was going so well...and then I ruined it...Perfect Hearts and Hooves Day date today."

"Sora. Look at me." He did as he was told, feeling Kairi's lips press against his for a brief, but tender, kiss. "Don't let what happened today make you miserable. It may have ended our date abruptly, but that doesn't mean it actually ended. We still have a nice evening out. We can continue where we left off, though you'll have to be a little bit gentle with me and my bad hoof."

"...How is it you're still optimistic after you watched me act like a completely worse moron than I ever was with Twilight, made googly eyes with her and talked like a dork to her by a potion I drank by accident, and almost killing you while the poison made me want to attack you because you were helping me get rid of its effects?" he asked, highly confused.

"Because you're the one who's more optimistic than Riku or myself. Someone has to fill in when you feel like giving up and the world is ending." She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, nuzzling him gently. "I've been trained to take hits as bad as what you gave me. Being a Keyblade Master, I have to expect getting hurt every so often. Just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I'm a delicate little flower that needs protection twenty-four seven." Kairi moved a bit lower, being careful not to put any pressure on her injured hoof as she rested the back of her head on Sora's lap. Levitating the heart shaped box up to him, she opened it up, revealing the variety of chocolates inside. "Now, feed me. Your princess demands chocolaty sustenance."

She opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, awaiting one of the different chocolates to be fed to her. Sora shook his head, unable to hide the grin growing on his face. He held the box, letting Kairi drop her levitation on it.

"You never seem to give me a break, do you, Kairi?" he asked, grabbing a random chocolate as he lowered the heart shaped container to the ground next to him.

"Hush and feed me!" the unicorn whined. Instead of giving her one, Sora popped the chocolate in his mouth, making her pout as he chewed on it and swallowed. "Hey! I waited long enough for the dessert you promised me earlier! How dare you eat my chocolate that I bought!?"

Kairi yelped as she was lifted up, Sora pressing his lips deeply against hers in a passionate kiss. She slowly closed her eyes and kissed him back, feeling his forelegs gently wrap around her, pressing her closer to him while being careful of her hoof. He made her gasp as he brushed his tongue against her lips, the unicorn gently parting them to allow him entrance inside. Kairi moaned as their kiss deepened, feeling his tongue tease her own as she tasted the chocolate he purposefully ate in front of her. Her whole body shivered in delight and bliss, trying to wrestle his tongue with hers, but failing as she melted under his touch, feeling his heart beat against his chest.

Their kiss ended sooner than she wanted, a thin line of saliva connected by their lips slowly breaking apart as she stared up at Sora with half-lidded eyes, her mouth slightly agape with a deep blush on her cheeks. "What would I do without you?"

"...Be an uncontrollable goofball and get beaten all the time by Riku?" Kairi asked, grinning as her eyes pleaded her lover to kiss her like that again. He grabbed another chocolate, this time lowering it down to her lips. She opened her mouth, letting him gently place it on her tongue, and slowly ate it, savoring the delicious sweet's different flavor compared to what she tasted from his lips and tongue. After letting it melt in her mouth, she swallowed her piece, her blush burning hotter and brighter as she looked at Sora through the light of the moon shining down on the land. "I love you, Sora."

"I love you too, Kairi." The pressed closer and kissed each other again, their tongues playfully wrestling for dominance in each other's mouths as they grew lost in each other's loving embrace.

They spent the rest of the evening together, alone in the empty park, no one to watch them except for the nocturnal animals that only paid attention to the couple for a few seconds. The chocolates were slowly devoured, alternating feeding each other one until there was none left, sharing a few kisses in between. No more words were needed to be said between them, just spending the evening together under the night sky.

After a while, Kairi had fallen asleep, sleeping against Sora's chest. Being careful not to wake her up and move her broken hoof, he carried her in his forelegs after placing the empty box of chocolates in the picnic basket to throw it out later, flying off to their Gummi ships and entering his own since Kairi's was a bit of a mess from Twilight's tantrum from the love poison's spell. He laid the sleeping unicorn down in his bed first, then climbed in next to her, wrapping his hooves around her barrel with her back pressed against his chest. Kairi stirred a little in her sleep, Sora gently kissing her neck to ease her back into a deep sleep, hearing her sigh as she buried her head in his pillow. He frowned slightly as he looked at her hoof, slowly rubbing her sides, feeling that pang of guilt for hurting her coming back. He cast that thought aside, not wanting to dwell on it for too long as he fell asleep, not wanting to spark anymore nightmares like his Anti Form going berserk and hurting everyone he cared, being unable to control himself in that form.

Hearts and Hooves Day had come and gone as Ponyville went about its normal daily routine. Sora and Kairi headed into town to Sugarcube Corner, seeing the aftermath of us transformation inside the bakery from his poisoned state. He offered to pay for any of the damages he made, though the only thing broken were a few chairs and tables. Never again was he going to drink anything bright and colorful or bubbly and dark by accident unless he actually knew that there was nothing wrong with it.

"Well, at least I didn't cause too much damage while poisoned," Sora said as the couple left the establishment, walking slowly with Kairi as she had only three legs to walk on at the moment. "Except almost killing you."

"Sora, don't dwell on it. I only have a broken hoof, you're back to your normal, not-a-lovesick-doofus kind of goofball self, and we spent a romantic day and evening together while ignoring that little mishap." Kairi heard him grunt, visibly wincing at the terrible day yesterday.

"A mishap Twilight and I tried to stop and ended up turning into idiots by drinking that potion." They stopped in the center of the town, Sora sitting down as he continued to feel guilty for his poisoned mind's attempt to kill the real girl he actually loved. "It would have been worse if I had no clue what I did to you."

"No more, Sora," Kairi said, hugging the stallion with her good leg, nuzzling his neck to ease his worries. "Accidents happen, and I managed to stand against you when you were in one of your Drives. Maybe once my hoof's all better, we can have a little sparring match and see how much better I've gotten in combat."

"You still have a long way to go before you even stand a chance against me when I'm not out of control," Sora said, draping a wing over the unicorn. "I've managed to take on Tidus, Wakka, and Selfie back on the island, three-on-one, and beat them without a scratch."

"Riku did that several times, and each time he came out without getting hit. You got hit a lot, caught off guard by Wakka and his ball while Selfie and Tidus attacked you while you were stunned." Sora leered at Kairi, puffing his cheeks angrily, not wanting to be reminded of his failed attempts in a three-on-one match with their other friends on Destiny Islands or Riku's flawless matches. She giggled at his reaction, kissing his cheek. "But you're far better than Riku. Saving all the worlds and us more than makes up for your losses."

"And yet he and the rest of you guys saved me from Xehanort, so that overruled any heroic efforts I made after almost giving him the X-blade." Kairi let out a sigh, tugging his ear hard in her white aura. "OW!"

"You gonna stop being grumpy and turn back to the real Sora?" she asked, keeping a firm grip on the pegasus's sensitive ear.

"Yes! Yes! I'm done moping! I swear!" She finally let go, Sora rubbing the sore equine appendage with a hoof. "Even after hurting you by complete accident, I'm questioning who's the more abusive in this relationship." Kairi tugged both of his ears this time, making him yelp as he was forcefully reared up on his hind legs. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding!"

"Attention, Ponyville!" Twilight announced as she stood on the bridge over a small river in the town, catching everyone's attention. "We have a serious crisis on our hooves, and it could mean the very future of all of Equestria!"

"What is it, Twilight?" Sora asked.

"I was visited by myself in the future!" Everyone around who heard her out stood in silence, only to begin laughing at the absurdity. "This isn't a joke! I am one hundred percent serious! My future self tried to warn me about a horrible disaster that's going to happen by next Tuesday!"

"EVERYPONY RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Pinkie shouted as she began screaming, flailing her hooves as she floated in the air by some balloons tied around her barrel. She stopped in front of Sora and Kairi as everyone stared at the random earth pony. "Hi, Sora! Hi, Kairi! Wanna panic with me!?"

She didn't give them a chance to respond as she continued screaming, floating off to who knows where. "...Ok. Ignoring Pinkie Pie, first off, there's time travel magic in Equestria?" Sora and Kairi winced, both of them having heard Riku explain Xehanort's younger self able to travel through time when he fought him back in the dream realms. They really don't want to mess with changing the past, even if it was only a week back. "And second, what exactly is this disaster?"

"...Uhh, well...I didn't exactly let my future self explain what exactly the disaster was." Twilight chuckled nervously, her cheeks tinting pink. "I got too excited about there being a time travel spell Star Swirl the Bearded made, which was how future me managed to go back in time and try to warn me." Sora facehooved, groaning in annoyance as Twilight's pestering for learning about magical spells prioritized over a serious event the future holds for them. In the next week. "But, not only was I there, but you came with future me, Sora."

"Wait. I traveled back in time with you?" Sora asked. "What exactly happened?"

"Last night, I was busy going through my schedule, going through which books I should read at specific times and other events I listed for the next month," Twilight said, making the Keyblade wielding couple roll their eyes, the lavender mare's perfect scheduling making her more stressed out than she should be. "So, while trying to fix that schedule, you and I from next week appeared in a flash of light, though you appeared after I ended up leaving abruptly after a few minutes. I was a mess, but you were normal."

"...Define mess?" Kairi asked.

"Future me wore a black jumpsuit that was slightly torn, a bandage around her head, her mane was in a wild hairstyle, sticking up and cut badly, an eye patch, and a scar on her face. It was like she came from a deadly future!" Twilight looked at Sora as she began to panic again. "But the strange thing about future Sora was that he wasn't as badly injured as I was! I know you're a talented fighter, but there was no way what future I was from could have been as peaceful!"

"...So, what? The only thing you can go by after seeing yourself a week in the future is that something dangerous will happen, but future me was perfectly fine?" Sora asked.

"How come you and Kairi aren't freaking out about this like I was!?" Twilight practically screamed, greatly worried about the future of their world.

"It's better you don't know," Sora said. "But you're probably freaking out over nothing. Maybe if you let future you explain to you instead of having a nerd freak out as to why she was there last night, then you would have known what would happen."

"...R-Right...But meeting yourself from the future! It was exciting!" The couple gave the unicorn a blank stare. "...You would freak out, too." Twilight gasped as she remembered something else, pulling out a folded piece of paper. "Before future Sora left, he told me to give this to you."

Sora took the paper and opened it, a small list of something from himself to himself. "'Sora, be careful with a certain canine during this week, along with someone from another world. Just listen to Twilight and go along with keeping Ponyville safe from the "disaster". Also, you will lose in a duel against Kairi when her hoof gets better.' Huh?" He flipped the paper around to see if there was anymore writing, but that was all that was listed for him. And it was in his handwriting, or hoofwriting in Equestria. "Since when did I make cryptic hints?"

"I'm just as confused about it when I read it myself. But if they're hints to any disasters that may happen, then I'm not risking anything." Sora kept looking at the paper, scratching his head at the odd occurrences his future self warned him about.

"Why did I tell myself I was going to lose against Kairi?" he asked. "Thanks for the vote of self confidence, me. I'm not going to lose against her."

"You never know, Sora," Kairi said as she looked at the paper herself. "Maybe you went easy on me just to let me win."

"Oh no. If I'm going to duel you, I'm not going to hold back at all." Sora gently pressed his muzzle against the pink unicorn's, leering playfully at her as he smirked. "As soon as your hoof is better, you and I are going to have ourselves a little match, no holds barred. Loser does whatever the winner wants for a whole week."

"Ok. It's a duel." Kairi kissed Sora's lips, sealing their little deal for their "lover's quarrel". "But don't feel too disappointed if you do lose. After all, if future you says you'll lose, you'll lose."

"I don't know what I'm talking about. I'll prove myself wrong and win against me!...Uhh, you...I...?" The pegasus's brain was frazzled, rubbing his hooves against his head as he ended up confusing himself. "Wait, what did I just say?"

"You can figure that out later," Twilight said, interrupting his friends' romantic bantering. "Right now, we need to safety proof every possible catalyst that can cause havoc in all of Equestria to keep the disaster from happening!"

With Ponyville backing Twilight up, everyone split up into groups to fix anything that could end up destroying their world. The pegasi flew off in different teams, flying off to different sections of Equestria to spot any possible dangers in the other cities and towns. The rest of the non-pegasi got to work repairing or safety proofing the town. They fixed up the dam's cracks out in the distance from Ponyville, filling in cracks in the walls of buildings, pretty much anything Twilight thought to be a hazard. Within the next few hours, Ponyville was perfectly safe, Rainbow Dash flying down to the others to report the pegasi teams' findings.

"I just got word that everything is all clear from Fillydelphia to Las Pegasus," Rainbow said.

"And the Everfree Forest has nothin' goin' on," Applejack added after coming back from the direction of the dangerous forest.

"And that's everything on Twilight's list." Kairi rolled up the long list of possible hazards the lavender unicorn had made, unable to do much help with her injured hoof. "Though, with how you described your future self's look, Twilight, shouldn't the danger be more life threatening? Like a wild beast?"

As if Kairi decided to tempt fate, something big stomped across the ground, shaking the ground with each step it took. Everyone looked in the direction it was coming from while trying not to fall, spotting a large three-headed black dog. Its heads barked and growled, staring down at the ponies as they all stared back in fear.

"Ok, everypony. Follow my lead." Pinkie screamed and ran off, the others following suit as they ran off to hide from the dangerous canine.

"Cerberus!? How did he escape from the gates of Tarterus!?" Twilight asked, her shock slowly turning into a grin. "This must be the disaster!"

"Bad time to get excited over something as dangerous as a three-headed dog, Twilight," Kairi said.

As Cerberus was about to go on a rampage through Ponyville, the beast stopped as the heads sniffed the air. They looked down, their sights set on Sora, standing alone as he looked up at the canine, unable to shake the feeling they've met before.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Sora asked. The heads crouched low to get a better look at him, sniffing at him, nearly pulling him toward their muzzles. Their eyes widened and they began growling, their eyes turning completely red as they glared at him. "Why do those eyes look familiar?" Cerberus stood back up as a guttural rumbling came from its stomach. The heads reared back as black miasma began forming in their maws, the Keyblade wielder's eyes widening, recognizing that dark mist coming from their mouths. "Why does that look familiar!?"

They lowered their heads and wretched up the black miasma built up from their stomachs, seeping into the ground and disappearing. Sora quickly ran, avoiding dark spires that began shooting up from the ground under his hooves, rolling out of the way and leaping up as soon as one shot up underneath him. Twilight's jaw dropped, having read up on Cerberus before, but never knowing it could do something like that.

"W-What? What is happening!?" she asked, demanding answers to the baffling inconsistencies of the guardian of Tarterus with a sickening black sludge vomit she never knew it had.

"I think I know why!" Sora called out, avoiding the last of the dark spires and now evading the homing fireballs Cerberus shot out of their mouths. "What I'd like to know is how the heck this stupid mutt got here in Equestria! It's impossible!"

"'Got here to Equestria?' What does that mean!?" Twilight yelped as a fireball came hurtling toward them, Kairi quickly getting in front of her and cast a barrier around them, deflecting the attack back at one of the heads, standing on her hind legs with her Keyblade out.

"It means this Cerberus is the same one I kept running into in the past from another world!" Sora summoned his own Keyblade to defend himself, avoiding the three heads' razor sharp teeth as they tried to bite down on him. "He really doesn't like me! And it definitely shows!"

The side heads reared back and tried to slam into Sora, the stallion pushing them back with his hooves, trapped between the stronger heads as they tried to squish him with their skulls. The middle head opened its jaws and thrust forward to bite him. He managed to avoid getting chomped, holding his Keyblade out to block the maw from biting him, gripping his weapon tightly as he was flung around. Unlike with the ursa minor, the other two heads lunged at the free meal while their center head was struggling.

He leapt up high into the air, avoiding the side heads as they crashed their faces into each other. Sora dove back down and aimed at the shoulders where their necks were connected, slamming his Keyblade down hard to stun Cerberus. It collapsed to the ground, the heads groaning as its body twitched. Kairi used her magic to create a leash made of her white aura, connecting it around the three unconscious necks of the demonic canine. Sora leapt back down to the others as they stared at the dog that was somewhat subdued.

"...So...this Cerberus...is from another world?" Twilight asked, trying to process what she had just witnessed.

"Afraid so. I recognize those attacks anywhere." The pegasus looked back at Cerberus as it slowly began to wake up. "Though, it looks a lot different. Its heads aren't supposed to look like bulldogs. They were...dobermans, I think where I fought them."

"Twilight said Cerberus escaped from Tarterus," Kairi said, keeping a firm hold of the aura leash in case the dog began to act out. "That's similar to the underworld back home."

"And that means there's some sort of gateway in Equestria that leads to the Underworld in Mount Olympus." Sora groaned, putting two and two together. "And if there's some connection between Equestria and Olympus, then that means...Hades can show up here if he wants to. Of all the rotten luck..."

Cerberus shook its heads, shaking off the dizziness from getting stunned by the familiar spiky headed teen that beat them several times in the past. It looked down at them growling as it approached the Keyblade wielders and terrified ponies that were too scared to run away. Kairi decided this mutt needed some obedience training, tugging the leash hard with her telekinesis and pulling the three heads down.

"Down, Cerberus!" It didn't obey, pulling back to try to free itself from the magical leash they were attached to. Her magic was far stronger, pulling harder and slamming their faces down to the ground. "I said down!" Cerberus growled, the rumbling building up again from their gullet to unleash the same sludge that created the spires that almost impaled Sora earlier. The pink unicorn levitated her Keyblade over their noses, giving them a hard smack, making them yelp in pain. "Don't you dare vomit that sludge again! Do you want to get neutered!?" They whined, shaking their heads no as their tail failed to cover their lower extremities. "Then I suggest you swallow that gunk and obey me."

The heads swallowed the dark sludge, whimpering in fear of the scary pink unicorn that threatened to take away a vital part of their body. "Wow. You actually tamed Cerberus." Sora looked over at his girlfriend, surprised at how quickly she was able to beat it compared to him nearly getting chomped on just to knock it unconscious. "You ever had a dog before, or what?"

"No, but I do know a disrespectful pet needs to know who's in charge. And a little threat with neutering may do the trick with something as big as Cerberus." Kairi tugged the leash, forcing the canine to sit up. "And if Cerberus continues to misbehave, I'll also consider castration too if he attacks my boyfriend like that again."

Cerberus whined again, covering his lower half with his paws, not wanting to anger Kairi. "Ok then...So, we'll just take Cerberus back to where he belongs, and hopefully avoid seeing Hades again. Where are the gates to Tarterus, Twilight?"

"Tarterus is far to the southwest of Ponyville. It's several miles away, located in the middle of an empty wasteland. Cerberus needs to head back to the gate before any dangerous creatures imprisoned there could escape try to destroy Equestria." Sora and Kairi nodded their heads, the former carrying the latter on his back as they lead Cerberus in the direction to where he escaped, leaving Twilight to finish dealing with any other hazards she may have missed.

Sora walked along the barren lands where the gates to Tarterus lie, having spent the last several hours carrying Kairi on his back while she dragged Cerberus along. The overgrown, three-headed dog tried to fight back from the leash bound to her aura a few times, only to receive a forceful tug down and firm smacks on the nose with her Keyblade. They stopped trying to break away a while ago, following the teen they fought several times in the back and the scary mare sitting on his back.

"I think we should be getting close. We've been walking for a while," Kairi said.

"You mean I've been walking. You're riding on my back." The unicorn giggled and stood up on her hind legs.

"Onward, my trusty steed! To the gateway leading to the bowels of the land to return the canine to its rightful home!" Sora looked up at her, Kairi giving him a silly grin.

"...Ok, you leave the silly stuff to me. I'm supposed to be the goof in this relationship." Kairi pouted and plopped back down on Sora's back.

"So I'm not allowed to have fun?" she asked, poking one of Sora's wings. "Boo. I've been bored the past few hours, and the only thing that snapped me out of napping on your back was keeping the disobedient Cerberus from trying to break free from my grip." One of the heads on Cerberus growled, making Kairi turn her head to them and leer at them. The side heads nudged the center head hard, keeping it quiet before she could bop them on the nose again, or give them that threatening neutering she promised them if they acted out. "Don't you dare growl at me! Do you want a lightning bolt shooting down at your jewels, or should I just use my Keyblade to do the deed, swift and painlessly!?"

"And that explains why you weren't allowed to have a puppy," Sora said, earning a bop on the head from the unicorn. "Domestic abuse!"

"Oh hush." They soon climbed over a ridge, finally reaching their destination. Down below at the bottom of a chasm was the gateway to Tarterus. It was a tall portal, seeing the inside of Equestria's version of the afterlife/prison for demonic souls. It looked just as gloomy as the Underworld in Mount Olympus, though it looked like a section that was unexplored by Sora when he accidentally wandered around in the energy draining realm of the dead. "Whoa."

"That's the Underworld, alright." Sora headed down the hill leading down to the portal, noting the many prison cells littered all over the place. In each one, they held some kind of dangerous mythical creature that were from Equestria, their feeble attempts to try and break free from the dark stone cells halting when they saw Cerberus being lead back by a couple ponies. As Sora and Kairi headed through the portal, their bodies began glowing as they shifted forms. They turned back into humans, the couple falling at the sudden change in their limbs' anatomy. "...Well, glad to finally be the real me again."

The two slowly got up, Kairi being careful with her arm. "Ugh...Why do I feel like my life's slowly drained away?"

"That's the affect of being in the Underworld," Sora said. "Unless you have the power from the Olympus Stone given to you, it won't affect you all that much. I guess I still have it since I'm not that exhausted." They soon heard Cerberus growling, completely forgetting about the dangerous dog. Turning around, the three-headed canine was back to the way Sora remembered seeing it, Kairi's unicorn magic diminished now that she was a human now. "Oh great. Here we go again."

"CERBERUS!" The beast winced as it heard its true master call him. Appearing around the corner was Hades, the God of the Underworld in Mount Olympus. His entire body was blue, including his flaming hair, wearing a black toga, his steps nonexistent as black mist seeped out underneath his robes. "For the love of my goody-goody brother, Zeus, I leave you alone for a few hours, and you wind up-" The God froze, spotting Sora back in his realm along with someone he didn't recognize. "Oh perfect. The brat's back. Again."

"Nice to see you too, Hades," Sora glowered. "We brought your mutt back for you."

Cerberus growled as the heads leered at Sora, but Kairi put a stop to them. Summoning her Keyblade, she shot a powerful bolt of a Thundaga spell behind it, the beast's heads yelping as it struck their tails, making it flee to its master, cowering in fear at the girl.

"She another one of those little Keyblade buddies of yours, kid?" Hades asked. "Cause I'm kind of getting sick and tired of you guys messing around with my plans."

"Do you have any other plans?" Sora asked back, getting in front of Kairi in case the blue flaming-headed God decided to strike.

"I've run out and just gave up. So, I'm just doing what I usually do, which is looking after prisoners sent here." He looked around at the cells of Equestrian prisoners, scratching the back of his head while deep in thought. "I guess this part of the Underworld is a bit neglected. But I don't work well when it comes to equines that have added appendages and whatnot. Herc the Jerk's already got a birdbrain pegasus he treats like a pet, and I don't want to deal with any this stuff...Wait, how did you even get in here?"

"The gates to Tarterus in Equestria. By the way, you're welcome for bringing back your lost dog. No need to reward us with anything." Hades grumbled at the snarky comment, controlling his temper.

"I see...Equestria's a land I haven't seen in quite a long while, though I really don't like the look of the place. Too colorful for my taste." He disappeared in a puff of smoke, Cererus quickly hiding behind a large rock to hide from Kairi as Hades reappeared in front of them. "Why are you two back in that world of colorful horses?"

"None of your business. We just came to bring Cerberus back to you, found out that Equestria has a connection with your world, and we're just about to leave before you think of a way to take over Equestria." Sora gently turned Kairi around, escorting her back out before she could collapse from the Underworld's draining influence, only for Hades to appear in front of them.

"Oh, you won't have to worry about a thing with that world. With all the do-gooders that tall princess of theirs has, barely anything happens that warrant me to try and do anything there," Hades said. "Besides, my focus is more on Hercules and taking over my own world. So the only thing you have to worry about is me when you're trespassing in my domain...again. So...vamoose. Before I sic Cerberus on you again."

"Good luck with that. He doesn't seem to like me, but he's dreadfully terrified of Kairi." Sora wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist, grinning at Hades as he pressed his cheek against hers. "I'm not going to get attacked with my own bodyguard kept by my side. Have fun getting your butt whooped by Hercules! And say hi to him for me!"

The couple walked past the God of the Underworld, watching them leave through the portal back to Equestria as they turned back into ponies. "Pth. And stay gone." Hades looked back at the Equestrian underworld cells, sighing in defeat as he twirled his hand around, forming a checklist out of black smoke. "Might as well check the inventory, just in case. This area's cluttered, anyway." He walked over to each cell, snapping his fingers to command Cerberus to stay at his post in Tarterus. He checked off each cell with a specific dangerous creature that once lived in Equestria, but one cell in particular was opened, one of them having escaped. Looking down at his list, his eyes widened at the cell's number and the name of the creature that resided in there. "Uh oh...Well, that can't be good...Oh well. He's not my problem outside the Underworld."

After checking the rest of the Equestrian inmates, Hades whistled nonchalantly as he walked back to his chambers, planning another attempt to take down the son of Zeus, and strongest fallen God from Mount Olympus, Hercules.

As Sora and Kairi made it back to Ponyville, things seemed to only go from bad to worse around Twilight. The evening they got back to report to the lavender unicorn at her library, Spike had accidentally belched a scroll from Celestia, sending it flying at her face and giving her a paper cut. Ironically, that same cut matched the scar on future Twilight's face. It didn't help that she kept panicking about what horrible future will arrive, even after Cerberus was taken back to his home.

The next few days were even more hectic for Twilight with her different plans to try to halt the future's supposed demise. Her next plan was to remain absolutely still so she won't end up causing whatever will happen. While the unicorn went with her "genius" plan, Spike decided that if Twilight was going to stand completely still and not do anything, he was going to eat a tub of ice cream by himself. Then, Rainbow Dash stopped by to give Twilight more word on the pegasi teams inspecting the other towns, only to join in the baby dragon's in tormenting her when she was greatly serious about their situation. Spike went a bit too far, tickling Twilight with a feather to try and make her laugh. She flung him away with her magic, forcing him to breath out green flames as he smacked into the bookshelves, burning the unicorn's hair to match the same manestyle future Twilight had.

The next day, she tried to speak with Pinkie to see if she can foresee the future using her Pinkie Sense, hoping her odd twitches can give her some clue as to what may happen. Unfortunately, Pinkie was of no help, saying her Pinkie Sense only happens when it does. Her tail began twitching erratically, which meant something was going to fall. Then, by pure coincidence, a flower pot fell on Twilight's head while inside of the random pink earth pony's tent for her Madame Pinkie fortune telling odd job, wrapping a bandage around her friend's head that matched the same one on future Twilight.

She held herself up in her library for the next couple days, whatever she was doing completely ignored as the only dangerous future that will happen is Twilight constantly getting herself hurt. By that time, Kairi's hoof was already feeling better, amazed at how quick Equestria's medical practice was compared to their own. The unicorn walked along the path to Sweet Apple Acres, looking for Sora as he helped Applejack and her family's farm. She found Big Macintosh putting the plow away in the barn.

"Hey, uhh...Big Macintosh?" The farm stallion turned around, recognizing the pegasus teen's girlfriend. "Have you see Sora anywhere?"

"Eeyup," he said, pointing over to a direction in the orchard.

"Thanks." After thanking Big Mac, she headed down to a section of the orchard where the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse was located.

As soon as the tree house was in sight, she found Sora repairing a hole on the roof, the fillies standing outside as they watched him hammer the new patch of roof in. "Can you three remind me how exactly you managed to blow a hole in your clubhouse's roof with fireworks? You know it's not exactly safe to light one off inside a building, or out in a vast orchard filled with flammable trees."

"We were trying to get a cutie mark in firework production," Scootaloo said. "But I...kinda accidentally lit one up before we could take one of them apart, and it messed up the roof."

Sora groaned as he hovered back down to the ground, finishing his work as he looked at the mini-Rainbow Dash clone. "No more fireworks. And if you buy anymore, I'm confiscating them. They're dangerous, even if you dismantle them!"

"Aww man!" Scootaloo complained.

Apple Bloom's ears perked up as she heard Kairi approaching them. "Hi, Kairi! You're hoof's all better now!"

"Yes, it is, thank goodness." Kairi walked up to Sora and hugged him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "All the better to actually cuddle with Sora." The stallion grinned as he scratched his head in bashfulness. "And now that I'm all better...Sora, I would like to have a duel with you. Today."

"Really?" Sora asked. "After you just got better?"

"What's wrong, Sora? You scared your marefriend's gonna beat you?" Scootaloo taunted, backed up by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

"Pth. I'm not scared," he said, ignoring the smirks on the fillies' faces.

"Oh really? Are you sure you're not worried that future you's little warning about me kicking your butt in a little duel?" Kairi asked, goading Sora as she pressed her side against his. "You afraid you'll get beaten by a girl?"

"Nice try, Kairi. I'm not falling for that. Nothing you can say or do will get me to fall for a possible event that may or may not happen." He stuck his nose up in the air, drowning out any taunts that could get him to crack and have a duel with his girlfriend.

"Well, future you was right about Cerberus coming to Ponyville, and Twilight's slowly starting to look like how she described her future self a few days ago." The fillies nodded, the stallion's ears perking up as his defensive walls slowly cracked. "The future does look like it's coming true, though things could change if you actually did beat me. I guess I should wait a little longer for future Sora to show up and whisk me off my feet, obviously tough enough to admit defeat when he loses a duel against his girlfriend. Come on, girls. Let's go into town and get ourselves some ice cream."

The girls giggled and began to leave the orchard to head into town. Though her back was turned to Sora, she knew he managed to get to him, always easy to tease and goad into a bet or fight. Counting down from three, he suddenly appeared before them, scowling at Kairi while she bore a smirk on her lips.

"You and me. Duel. Right now," he said, mentally berating himself for falling for her trick.

She gave him a light peck on the lips, though his expression remained unchanged. "Now was that so hard?"

"You and Riku are evil." Kairi giggled and kissed his muzzle, nuzzling his neck while he looked down at the giggling fillies watching them. "So are you three."

Their duel would take place out in the fields to avoid damaging any of the trees in the orchard, the couple staring each other down with wooden swords in their hooves. The Crusaders stood on the sidelines, making themselves some popcorn before the fight, acting as the judges and audience.

"This is gonna be fun!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Ah think Kairi will win!"

"No way! Sora's got more skill! I should know. I watched him when he saved Rainbow Dash from those Heartless things," Scootaloo praised.

"I'm going with Kairi," Sweetie said. "Sora may be better, but Kairi might have a few tricks up her sleeves."

"Hey! I thought you two liked me!" Sora shouted, able to hear the fillies predicting who would win, and it was two-on-one favoring Kairi over him. "Ugh. I can't believe I fell for this."

"Don't complain, Sora! You made a promise this week that we would duel, no holds barred!" He groaned, regretting ever making that promise.

"Fine," Sora grumbled. "Ok, for our duel, we're not going to fight until we batter ourselves to a pulp! We're gonna do a ten point match, each strike worth one point! To make this fair, we will not use our magic!"

"Is unicorn magic allowed?" Kairi asked.

"...Yes. Telekinesis only!" he pointed out, not wanting there to be any loopholes to break through on either side. "Girls, you're counting each point to make sure none of us cheats. On your call, Crusaders, we'll begin our duel."

"GO!" Scootaloo shouted, catching Sora off guard.

(Bustin' Up On the Beach)

"Not right-" While he was distracted, Kairi ran in and smacked the flat side of the blunt training sword against his flank, making him yelp in surprise and leap back.

"You said they would start the fight, and it's started," Kairi pointed out, waving her sword around tauntingly as she grinned at Sora. "One point for me."

"...Alright, then. But I gave you that hit, and that's the only one you're gonna get!" Sora rushed forward, a little miffed at the cheap shot, but he should have expected Scootaloo's impatience when it came to watching anything with action, especially a sword duel.

Their wooden blades swung wildly, making an echoing clack as they connected, Kairi backing away while Sora went on the offensive. Though the stallion was far more experienced, Kairi was able to keep up with him after spending her time keeping the worlds safe from the Heartless. She may not match him in speed, but with her unicorn magic aiding her, she was able to move her toy weapon around to block each strike. She quickly ducked from a high swing, spinning around and tripping up on of Sora's legs, causing him to stagger as he was caught off guard.

Unable to react in time, he was smacked in the flank again, giving Kairi another point, but quickly retreating before she got another hit on him. Rushing back at her, he struck again, parrying her sword and forcing her to stumble backward. He thrust forward, but the unicorn flipped backwards, avoiding his lunge and rushed forward, clashing wooden blades again. They both pushed back against each other in the stalemate, Sora easily overpowering her with brute strength as he dragged her back. But as he was about to try to make her stagger again, Kairi's aura suddenly grabbed his hood and slammed it over his face. Temporarily blinded, he was struck twice before flipping away, uncovering his hood from over his head.

"Four points for me," Kairi teased, lightly bouncing on her hooves as she waited for his next move.

"Hey! That was cheating!" Sora said.

"Technically, I used telekinesis. So, I didn't exactly cheat," the pink unicorn corrected. "You didn't specify what I could use that magic on, not just my sword."

"She has a point," Apple Bloom said, the other two fillies nodding in agreement. "Fair play!"

Sora smacked his forehead, regretting not making anymore rules before their duel began. "Of course there was a twist with what I meant. You girls are all out to get me!"

"Don't lose your focus, Sora!" Kairi yelled, rushing at the distracted pegasus.

"That's it." She thrust her sword at him, but Sora flipped up and landed on the fake sword. "No more Mr. Nice Guy." Before he could slash Kairi, the pink unicorn was faster to react, flicking her sword hard in her mana, causing Sora to flip rapidly in midair and fall to the ground. While he was down, she skipped over to the pegasus, gently poking his stomach with the tip of the sword, giving her another point. "...I hate you."

"Five to zero. You must be losing your touch, 'honey-bunny'," Kairi giggled as she reminded Sora of one of the embarrassing mushy nicknames he and Twilight gave while they were love poisoned, the Crusaders, wretching on the sidelines at the disturbing memory of Hearts and Hooves Day.

"...Must you bring that up?" Sora asked, quickly spinning around on his back and tripping Kairi up.

Losing her footing, the stallion flipped back up and smacked Kairi up in the air with his sword, finally giving him a point. Chasing after her, he managed to get a few more hits on her in a devastating combo, bringing the score 9-5 now. Before he could land the final hit, Kairi managed to avoid Sora in midair, slamming her sword down hard on him and making him fall to the ground. Her aura guided her weapon over him and managed to get in another couple hits, evening out the score with nine points each. He rolled out of the way as the unicorn nearly landed on him, both fighters staring each other down.

"And the score is nine points on both sides!" Scootaloo announced. "They both need one more point to win! Go, Sora! Kick her flank!"

"Go, Kairi!" Apple Bloom cheered. "Fillies rule, colts drool!"

"Apple Bloom, you're gonna be in for a rude awakening with one of my friends if you betray me!" Sora scolded, knowing a perfect way to not only get back at her cheering for Kairi and not him, but for also waking him up if he had slept in.

"Ok." The young Apple sibling reached behind her, and with Sweetie Belle's help, held up a banner depicting Kairi beating Sora in their duel with her sitting on his back, the unicorn wearing a fancy crown while the pegasus wore a dunce cap. "Beat Sora, Kairi!"

"Fight with all your might!" Sweetie Belle cheered.

Sora slumped his head down, glowering at the little fillies he will eventually get back at later. He turned his attention back to Kairi, gripping his sword tightly in his mouth as both ponies slowly circled each other, the last point in their sights, but they had to be extremely careful. They waited for the other to make the first move, until after nearly a few minutes of trying to intimidate each other, they both rushed forward. Swords clashed, slashes were blocked or dodged, many close hits only to be missed by mere inches.

The fight ended with a shocking turnout. As Sora and Kairi's toy swords clashed, he tried to trip her up like she had done to him earlier, but she flipped over him, wrapping her hooves around his neck. Using her momentum, she flung him backwards and slammed him down hard on the ground back first. He was completely caught off guard by the sudden suplex that he let go of his sword, sending it flying across the field. After Sora shook the stars swirling around his head, he was staring cross-eyed at Kairi's wooden sword pointed at his nose. She poked him with it, earning her victory point.

"I win." Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle cheered while Scootaloo groaned at the results of the duel.

Sora couldn't believe he lost to Kairi. The mare moved the sword away and grinned at him, his brain trying to process his loss. Just like his future self warned him, he was going to lose his duel against Kairi, and it came true. It was a surprise to see how far she had come with just a physical sparring match, even though she won partly due to her telekinesis as a unicorn helping her by going from close combat to long range in a second.

"I can't believe I lost," he said. Sora wasn't really all that mad, just shocked as the girl he wanted to protect was stronger than he thought. That, and a little of his pride was destroyed as he was just beaten by said girl. If Riku found out about this, he was never going to live this down along with living in a world of colorful talking ponies. "Well...I guess future me was right. You win, Kairi. Good match." Kairi held her hoof out to help him stand up. He took it, but he smirked as he pulled her down and rolled over her, pinning her legs down to the ground under his. "Sneak attack!"

"Hey! You sore loser!" Kairi exclaimed, trying to squirm out of her boyfriend's stronger grip to no avail. "The duel's over!"

"Yeah, but you know me. I always want a rematch until I actually win. Though, not right now, since you're the winner, I have to do what you say for the next week." Sora lowered his head to Kairi's muzzle, the mare blushing heavily as his kissed her lips while keeping her in a vulnerable position under him. Even though she was splayed out on her back by his hooves, she felt safe under him, closing her eyes as she kissed him back. Sora's gentle, firm grip on her hooves loosened, giving her freedom to move her limbs, which she used to wrap around him tightly as she deepened their kiss, pulling him closer to her. The pegasus pulled his lips away as he grinned, staring at the blushing mare beneath him. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"...Well, there is one thing," Kairi said. She looked over at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, gripping his neck tightly and pulling him down onto her. "Girls, help! I'm being attacked by the loser!"

"Hang on, Kairi! We're comin'!" The three fillies roared out a battle cry as they ran up to them, tackling Sora off the "pinned" unicorn.

The stallion flailed about as the Crusaders "attacked" the attacker. "Traitors! You three will pay one by one!"

Kairi giggled as she watched Sora getting dogpiled by Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, the three fillies trying to wrestle the stallion, laughing as they "attacked" him. She leapt in and pinned Sora down, leaving him open to a triple team tickle attack by the fillies. He was completely powerless, defeated by his girlfriend and three little fillies as he was taken prisoner, forced to buy everyone ice cream as they made their way back in Ponyville.

By midday on Monday, just one day away before this unknown disaster that Twilight was warned about. Sora hadn't seen the unicorn in the past few days after getting clonked on the head by a flower pot, so he decided to check up on her to see if she was doing ok and not having another one of her panic attacks. Approaching the library, he saw Pinkie bouncing up to the tree library as well.

"Hi, Sora!" Pinkie greeted. "You here to see if Twilight's excited about that amazing birthday present she'll get in a few months still?"

"...Uhh, no? I'm kinda worried," Sora said. "She hasn't come out at all for the last few days, and neither did Spike. She better not be having a meltdown in there." The two walked inside, their jaws dropping at the chaos ensuing inside the Golden Oak Library. "...Scratch that. She's gone mentally insane."

Inside the main foyer of the library, stacks and stacks of papers littered the floor, a few odd devices Sora couldn't name were running, and Twilight was running to each one, checking whatever was on them. There were bulletin boards with graphs, equations, coordinates, and any other type of miscellaneous problem written out on them as the unicorn added or erased something. Watching her from the stairway was Spike, swallowing big spoonfuls of ice cream right from the large sized tub, several empty containers of the frozen dairy treat littered around him.

"Wowie. She must really want that present." Sora facehooved, both at Twilight's stress over all of this data she's making and Pinkie's obliviousness to the situation.

"Hey, guys," Spike said, stuffing his mouth with another spoonful of ice cream. "What'cha been up to?"

"Spike, how much ice cream did you just eat?" Sora asked.

"This is my eighth tub this week. Twilight's been so busy about this future stuff that that's all she keeps worrying about. So, I'm gonna eat as much ice cream as I want without her scolding me for eating too much." To emphasize his point, Spike stuffed his face in the tub of ice cream, eating at least half of the vanilla and strawberry swirl ice cream. "She warned me about that tummy ache, but that's future Spike's problem."

Sora facehooved again at the absurd theory the baby dragon had. "You're going to be future Spike, Spike. That stomach ache's going to be all on you when that ice cream comes back to haunt you."

Spike just shrugged and continued stuffing his face, Twilight looking up from her endless bout of data collecting to find Sora and Pinkie in her home. "Sora! Pinkie! Perfect timing! Pinkie Pie, can you help me recalibrate the apertures on the nine-and-quarter catadioptric telescopes?"

"Okie dokie!" Pinkie said, bouncing over to one of the telescopes, though having no clue what to do with it.

"Twilight? Are you alright?" Sora noticed how bloodshot the unicorn's eyes were, not only from the constant skimming of pages upon pages info, but from the lack of sleep. "Have you even slept?"

"No! I haven't slept since future me came!" Twilight exclaimed. "You see, I had an epiphany after I got hit in the head by that flowerpot. Doing things to save Equestria didn't help, NOT doing anything didn't work either, and there's no way for me to predict the future. So, I came up with a smart idea; monitor EVERYTHING!"

Twilight had gotten a bit too close as she explained what she had been doing, her muzzle mere inches away from Sora's, giving him a clear view of her tired and crazed pupils. "...Uhh, Twilight? Personal space?" He gently pushed her back, reminded of her manipulated state when she tried to kiss him months ago. "And you really need some rest."

"I can't sleep! I only have three days until next Tuesday, and I need to prevent the disaster from coming!" Sora shook his head, Twilight having completely lost track of time from her constant fears of what the future held.

"Twilight, next Tuesday is tomorrow." Twilight gasped in horror at the realization and began panicking more.

"TOMORROW!? Pinkie, did you finish recalibrating the telescope!?" she asked, Pinkie just standing around like the clueless goofball she was.

"I have no idea!" Pinkie said happily.

"Grr! Move over!" Twilight shoved Pinkie aside and looked through the telescope she asked the pink earth pony to move. Her frantic recalibrating caused the unicorn to look up at the sun, blinding her as she accidentally poked her eye into the small end of the viewing device. "AHH! My eye! OW! OW!"

"Hang on, Twilight!" Pinkie ran over to the fireplace and pulled out an eye patch from out of nowhere. "Good thing I keep eye patches hidden in case of eye patch emergency!" She put the patch over Twilight's injured eye, another feature that seemed to match up with her future self's look. "Now you look like a pirate! Or maybe a stealthy spy who has a deep, gruffy voice who was a clone of another pony who was a normal soldier. All you need is a stealth suit, and if you were a stallion, then it would be perfect! Solid Sparkle!"

While Pinkie began slinking around, humming an odd spy theme as she pretended to be a covert spy, Twilight looked at herself in the mirror. "Oh no! Another sign! And the disaster's going to happen tomorrow morning! Sora, please tell me that nothing else has happened that future you warned you about!"

"...Well, Kairi and I had a duel a couple days ago...and I did lose, just like I said I would." Her jaw dropped while Pinkie stopped pretending to play secret agent hearing the news, somehow wearing a red bow tie that looked like a walkie talkie. "It was a pretty close match, and I really didn't hold back against her."

"Aww! I missed your fight!?" Pinkie whined, her voice sounding like an alien as she spoke into the bow tie. "Oh well, I'll read how it went down when I scroll up this chapter later today. It better be a good fight and not lazily written!"

Sora, Twilight, and Spike ignored Pinkie, the unicorn grabbing the pegasus's jacket and pulling him toward her. "This is bad, Sora! It's coming true! There's only one thing to do to prevent the disaster from happening; stop time!"

"You can't stop time, Twilight," Sora said, gently pulling Twilight's hooves off his clothes.

"You can! Your Stop spells! If I can find some way to power it in order to permanently stop time until we can stop the disaster-" Sora stopped the unicorn from whatever crazy plan she had in mind for using his Stop magic, squishing her cheeks in his forehooves and forcing her to face him.

"Twilight, don't even think about it!" he exclaimed. "My friends and I have already dealt with a young Xehanort who was able to manipulate time for a short moment, bringing back other versions of himself to recreate Organization XIII to get a powerful Keyblade that's far more powerful than any other! We are not messing around with time, or time travel, or freezing time! Stop is only used on opponents, freezing them in place for a short amount of time to deal damage to them or temporarily stop them from doing anything reckless!"

"...Oh." Sora sighed, finally getting through to her. "Then we'll find a spell in the Royal Canterlot Archives that can help me stop time!" And the pegasus smacked himself harder in the face once again, groaning in irritation as Twilight didn't even listen to the dangerous outcomes of his and Riku's time through the dream realms. "Come on, guys! We're going to Canterlot and stop this before it's too late!"

"Yay! Super secret spy time!" Pinkie cheered as she and Spike followed after Twilight outside the library. "Dun dun, da-na-na! Dun-dun-da!"

"Dang it, Twilight," Sora grumbled, feeling the red hoof mark forming on his forehead. "I better follow them and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid and make things worse for herself."

Later that evening, Twilight, Pinkie, Spike, and Sora rode the train from Ponyville to Canterlot, following the sleep deprived and manically panicked unicorn to the castle. Inside was a special library only given access to those under Celestia's approval, where they would find the powerful spells Twilight needed, deep in her favorite idol's section of the archives. The former three were wearing black full body suits to camouflage them under the cover of night, though how Pinkie's mane was able to fit underneath her hood was beyond Sora. He couldn't really understand why they were sneaking around the castle since Twilight actually visited Celestia on a daily basis as her personal student and any guests she brought with her were welcomed, but it was mostly due to her being so tired that her brain can't think straight.

After hiding behind a bush, Twilight leapt out of it, the branches digging into her suit and creating tears in it, now making her look like future Twilight. "This is ridiculous. We don't need to sneak around, Twilight."

"Shush! Do you want us to get caught!?" Twilight scolded Sora, the pegasus sighing in defeat, just going along with her plan.

Spike followed after her, carrying an ice cream cone, constantly putting a fresh scoop on the cone after licking his umpteenth amount of frozen dairy treat for the whole week. "Pinkie, I think Twilight needs another vacation. You have any ideas where she can go to, like a beach somewhere?" Sora didn't get an answer, turning around to see no sign of the pink mare anywhere. "Pinkie?"

In his peripheral vision, the teen spotted movement on his right, noticing an oddly placed cardboard box just lying in the middle of the courtyard. He saw a fluffy pink tail stick out, rolling his eyes as Pinkie hid in the worst hiding place of all time. Sora approached it and picked the box up, Pinkie flinching as she was spotted, a large red exclamation point appearing over her head as a loud alarm blared for a second.

"My cover's blown!" she shouted, earning a bonk on the head by the stallion's hoof.

"Pinkie, quit fooling around," he said.

"But I love playing as a spy. All I need are gadgets and I'm all set." Sora dragged Pinkie by her tail, the earth pony flailing her hooves as she tried to grab her box disguise. "Noooo! Without my box, I'm gonna be called Naked Pink!...And I'm wearing a stealth suit!"

Meeting back up with the sleep deprived unicorn and the ice cream guzzling baby dragon near one of the open windows of the castle. The group "snuck" in and began searching around for the archives. Twilight lead the way, Spike and Pinkie following after her while avoiding guards down one of the corridors, Sora staying behind when he looked directly ahead of him.

The Canterlot Archives were directly in front of the window they all snuck in through. "Well, I guess Twilight really has lost it if she can't pay attention to where everything in the castle was...when she's been in the castle for many years since she was little." Sora walked up to the locked door, seeing the many important scrolls and tomes stored away through the golden bars. Calling his Keyblade, her aimed it at the lock, shot a small beam of light into it and unlocked it, a quiet click echoing in the halls. "I hope I don't get in trouble again with the guards over Twilight's pointless plan."

Sora walked inside and kept it unlocked for when the others made their way around the castle and realized they had found the archives as soon as they broke in. Shelves were filled with many years of Equestria's historical events, spells, recipes, important ponies, everything either kept for the world to know or locked away from any evildoers who wish to get dirt on someone or discover a dangerous spell they could use to take over the kingdom. Navigating his way through the many shelves, he found a wing dedicating the unicorn wizard over a thousand years ago that Twilight had talked about; Star Swirl the Bearded. There was even a statue of him, showing those who were curious as to who's work lied beyond the golden statue.

The teen glossed over the many old scrolls of spells the old wizard had made, far too many cramped in different sections and completely unorganized. If there was a time spell in here made by Star Swirl, it would be a pain to find it in this mess, almost being as cluttered as Twilight's book reading binges. As he peeked around the corner, he spotted a large treasure chest, the same type that Apple Bloom had found, only it was colored gold and blue with white stars. It was a bigger than the other one, meaning it must hold something of great importance, and since it was not of this world, it probably didn't belong in the archives.

Sora gave the chest a hard tap on the lid, opening it up to see what was inside. Hidden away in the golden chest was what looked like a spell orb. Inside of the orb was what looked like a clock, though the hour and minute hands spun around in opposite directions from each other. The orb was soon being absorbed by him, Sora feeling its power radiate within him and filling his mind with what it is and how to use it.

Reverse/Forward
Transports caster to different time periods. Uses a massive amount of mana, but is only available when it is needed to balance the flow of time.

"Whoa..." Sora looked down at his Keyblade, feeling the new time traveling spell in his own power. It almost feels like the same kind of power Young Xehanort had used to bring his other selves to create Organization XIII, along with bringing the old man who started all of this back with him. "This is something I can't abuse. And I know better than to mess around with time...But, will it only work here for Equestria or when it's needed?...Like...me going back a week to give Twilight my list of things to look out for me specifically." Sora scratched his head, already getting confused with all the complicated time travel logic. "Time is a lot more confusing than wondering what other worlds there are out in the universe."

He soon heard a commotion down one of the many shelves of Star Swirl's wing, peeking around the corner to see Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike searching around the thousands of scrolls for the spell to stop time. "Sora! There you are! Where were you!?"

"...I was in here. The archives were obviously in front of the window we jumped in," Sora said.

"Well, don't just stand there! Tuesday morning is about to come! We need to find that time stopping spell!" Twilight began skimming through hundreds of scrolls by the minute, finding no sign of the spell she was looking though. Sadly for her, the sun was already rising from outside the window, Tuesday morning already here. "No. We're too late! Take cover!"

The unicorn plopped on her stomach and took cover, awaiting the inevitable disaster that would destroy the world. Nothing happened. Twilight had panicked for no reason to receive a message from her from the future and not pay any attention because she saw herself travel back in time. Now, she was future Twilight, meaning there was no disaster, just an unfortunate message unheard while she looked like she came from a deadly timeline ahead of the past version of her she met.

"Hello, Twilight. Sora." Twilight's peeked out from under her hooves while Sora looked over at the entrance to the archives. Princess Celestia walked by to greet them. "Lovely morning today, isn't it?"

"Sure is, Celestia," Sora said. "Lovely, and peaceful." Twilight slowly stood up and looked out the window, confused as to where the disaster was. "No disaster."

"...But, did that mean I was frantic the whole week for nothing?" the lavender mare asked.

"Afraid so. Now, you are future Twilight." She looked down at herself, looking absolutely ridiculous, almost as if she came back from a war zone after being imprisoned by the enemy. "You let your panic about what you should do in the next month or so that you ended up freaking out over the 'disaster' that you were 'warned' about."

"...Right...I'm going to stop worrying about the future and just go along with what's going on now," Twilight said. "If only I could just go back to tell myself not to worry."

"Hey, Twilight! I found something!" Pinkie said, pulling out a scroll from one of the shelves. "It's not exactly a time stopper spell, but it can take you back in time! The only thing is that it can only be used once and lasts for only a few moments!"

"I think that's all I need." Twilight grabbed the scroll with her aura and looked over the spell. "Now to tell myself not to constantly worry about a disaster that will never happen. See you guys in a little bit!"

Twilight cast the spell and traveled back in time by a week to meet with her past self to warn her of the disaster that would never come. "She's not going to get the message out to her."

"What makes you say that?" Pinkie asked, Spike too busy eating more ice cream to bother caring.

"Because we wouldn't be sitting here in the Canterlot Archives right now with any memory of what happened the past week." Pinkie seemed to understand as she nodded her head, or she was nodding just to pretend she understood.

Eventually, Twilight did come back in a flash of light. "-waste your time...worrying...about the..." The unicorn groaned, rubbing her forehead in irritation. "I can't believe I did that. Future Twilight was me trying to tell myself not to panic about the future, but I didn't listen to myself! Urgh. I am so annoying." Sora and Pinkie laughed, Twilight now seeing from another perspective over how annoyingly curious and stubborn she was. "Now I'm going to spend the next week freaking out...Unless...Sora, can you cast the spell?"

"Well...I'm not really a unicorn, but I did manage to find a spell similar to it that was in a chest in here." Sora held his Keyblade out, wanting to test out his variation of the time travel spell. Before he tried the spell, he found an empty slip of paper and an abandoned pen, writing out his warnings to his past self just like the one written out to him. "I'm itching to test it out, though I can only use it at certain times. I'll be right back. I hope." Holding out his Keyblade, Sora spun it around in a counter-clockwise formation, as if reversing time on an invisible clock. He stopped, holding it vertically as a light sparked from the tip. "Reverse!"

A clock portal appeared over the teen and slid down over him, making him disappear as it passed through him, sending him back to the time he requested to go, keeping the timeline from messing up.

Sora appeared in a flash of light in the Golden Oak Library, making past Twilight yelp at his sudden appearance. "Whoa. That was a trip."

"S-Sora!?" she exclaimed. "W-What the heck is going on!?"

"I'm from a week in the future," he said.

"Wait, the same future the future me came from!?" she asked. Twilight dragged Sora toward her with her aura by his shirt. "I got too excited that I didn't let myself explain why she was so messed up! What kind of disaster is going to happen next week!?...And why don't you look banged up like her...me...I'm already confusing myself."

"Well, given the fact I can't exactly tell you because of possible paradoxes, which I really don't want to make, I can't tell you." Completely baffled, past Twilight let Sora go, the teen giving the unicorn his message to himself later in the day. "Make sure to give this to past me. He's not gonna believe any of it, but he will soon." He stepped back, dug into his red pouch to pull out a bottle of ether, regenerating his mana with the blue sparkles glowing around him. "Later. Forward!"

Sora spun his Keyblade around clockwise to move forward back to the present, the same clock falling over him and sending him a week forward back to the others, leaving a very confused past Twilight behind.

As soon as Sora returned back to the present in the archives, he felt mentally drained from casting his time traveling spells twice in a row. He couldn't feel the magic anymore, unable to be used right now, just as the spell had described to him.

"Well?" Twilight asked. "Did you tell me?"

"Nope." The unicorn's jaw dropped in shock. "I can't change the past, Twilight. Since everything's normal, that means I did my job as well."

"You've got to be kidding me," she groaned. "I'm still going to panic."

"Twilight, if I made any changes like you tried to, then you probably wouldn't exist right now," Sora began explaining. "I may not be smart at stuff like this, but I do know that messing around with time can create paradoxes and alternate the timeline to a different future. I really don't know how Xehanort was able to bring back multiple versions of his past self without screwing the timeline up, but we're lucky it didn't have any repercussions."

"He does have a point," Pinkie said. "We'll just leave that panicky stuff for past Twilight."

The ponies heard groaning nearby, seeing Spike curled up in a ball, clutching his stomach. "Oooogh. My stomach..." He dropped the ice cream cone, not wanting to be anywhere near the cause of his upset stomach. "I thought...this stomach ache would be...future Spike's problem."

"You are future Spike now, Spike." Twilight, Pinkie, and Sora chuckled, the unicorn carefully picking up the baby dragon. "I'm ready to sleep the whole day after a week of insomnia."

"I'll fly on ahead to Ponyville, guys," Sora said, fishing out one of his summoning pendants from his pouch, specifically the one with the ukulele. "I need to teach one of the two little fillies a lesson on cheering for the wrong crowd."

The sun was peeking up along horizon, bathing Ponyville in its light and warm glow. Down at Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom was still asleep in her bed, sleeping in from the long day she had yesterday. Her bedroom door creaked open softly, a light pitter-pattering coming from the ceiling and not the floor. The skittering stirred the filly awake, sitting up with sleepy eyes to see what was scratching around. Finding nothing invading her room, she laid her head back down on the pillow to fall back asleep.

Her eyes widened when she saw something looking down at her from her ceiling. It looked like a tiny blue koala-dog creature with black eyes, long ears, a short, stubby tail and it hung on the ceiling like it was a bug or a lizard. It just stared at her, blinking its eyes. Apple Bloom didn't dare move, having no clue what kind of animal this is or if it was dangerous, and wondered how it managed to get in her family's home.

"Banzai!" the creature shouted, dropping down on top of the filly.

Apple Bloom screamed as she was attacked by it, being licked and slobbered all over as it crawled all over her. From outside her room, Sora leaned against the wall with a grin as he heard the panicked filly trying to get away from his little friend. She came out of the room fleeing for her life, tackled by the blue ball of fluffiness and licked to death. After another moment of sticky, slimy licks, the odd little canine skittered up to Sora and sat on his head.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Sora said, Apple Bloom groaning in annoyance as she sat up. As she leered at him, the pegasus began laughing as he saw the state she was in: her fur and hair were coated in saliva, huge clumps of her hair sticking up out of place, making her look like a disfigured pony porcupine. "I see you met my little buddy, Stitch. He's got quite the slobbery tongue, huh? Say hi to Apple Bloom, Stitch."

"Hiiiiii," Stitch said, waving his paw at the filly.

"...Why?" Apple Bloom asked, sneering at Sora.

"Because you cheered for the wrong fighter when Kairi and I sparred. But don't worry. Sweetie Belle will get the same treatment." Sora chuckled, patting Stitch on the head. "Come on, buddy. Let's go meet another new friend."

"Ooooooh! Agabita magunta!" Apple Bloom had no idea what Stitch had said, but he held the same sinister grin that Sora had as they left the farm to see Sweetie Belle.

Her eye twitched as she grumbled, heading into the bathroom to clean herself of the sticky slobbering she got. "Sora, y'all are gonna get it later." She walked inside and closed the door, only to open it again and poke her head out in shock. "Did that blue dog actually talk?"

Today was the day for a once in a lifetime opportunity for any lucky ponies to witness every generation; the dragon migration. Since there were other dragons aside from Spike and the one dragon the Mane Six had met when Ponyville was almost shrouded in smoke nearly a year ago, there had to be more in Equestria. And by Twilight's calculations, the migration pattern for the dragons would be directly over Ponyville.

Donald and Goofy had arrived in Equestria just in time for the migration to arrive, helping Sora and Kairi dig out the trench for them all to hide in as the dragons passed. Eventually, the otherworldly group finished making the trench, along with steps to walk in and out instead of having to climb up and jump in.

"Oh boy. I can't wait to see this fancy dragon migration," Goofy said, digging his shovel into the ground outside the trench.

"As long as we don't see a certain witch who could turn into a dragon," Donald grumbled, flapping up out of the rectangular hole they dug out after making sure it wouldn't collapse. "Any sign of her yet, Sora?"

"So far, just Pete mostly. Though he's probably learned his lesson not to steal the Cake Twins. Those babies are more trouble than they seem." Kairi pouted as she looked at Sora, feeling jealous over him as he was the twins' favorite sitter.

"I wish I could watch them." Sora rolled his eyes, though his girlfriend noticed his expression. "Hey! I can be a good babysitter!"

"Kairi, you would focus more on cuddling them and putting them in silly outfits while gushing over how cute they are," Sora said. "Trust me, you do NOT want to foalsit a rambunctious little pegasus colt with strength that could beat Applejack in a hoof wrestling match and a unicorn filly with erratic bursts of magical energy, causing things to fly around, herself included, and even phase through walls with that magic. It. Is. Hard."

"...Are you exaggerating?" Kairi asked.

"Hey, y'all!" They turned over to the direction where Ponyville was, spotting Applejack, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash approaching the trench. The cyan pegasus mare, however, looked like she was beat up by something or someone, clutching her abdomen. "Looks like everything's all set!"

"Uhh, what happened to Rainbow Dash?" Sora asked.

"Well, Rainbow tried to get Fluttershy to come along to watch the dragon migration with us, and tried to force her to come along," Twilight answered. "She instead escaped, but not after running through Rainbow, hitting her hard in the chest, then again as she stomped on her and fled out her window."

"She stood up to a fully grown dragon and yelled at it, yet she's too scared to watch them fly several thousand feet above us while we stay far enough away from them," Rainbow groaned, rubbing her slowly bruising chest. "And she made me watch a dumb, boring butterfly migration a few months ago."

The group climbed down into the trench, Twilight pulling out several binoculars for everyone to get a closer look at the dragons from afar. So far, they haven't come yet, and the only ones missing were Spike and Rarity. Pinkie Pie popped up in the trench from out of nowhere, her body and hair covered in camouflage body paint to conceal herself from everyone, not just the dragons.

"So far, no dragons," Sora commented as he looked up at the sky with his pair of binoculars. "You sure it's today?"

"I'm positive," Twilight said. "They should be arriving any second now."

"Here I am, darlings!" Rarity finally arrive, fashionably late, along with being fashionably stood out with what she wore. It looked like a camo styled dress, though it was purple and gold instead of dark shades of green, which would make her stand out in every kind of environment that wasn't a catwalk. "It took me forever to get this to work, but I make camouflage look good."

"Rarity, the whole point of 'camouflage' is to blend in," Sora said, being the first to speak out everyone's opinion. "The dragons will spot you a mile away. In a pile of gems. Even if they were blind."

"Hmph. Boys have no sense of fashion functionality," Rarity scoffed as she walked down the dirt steps as the only males in the trench gave each other blank looks.

They soon heard loud roaring echoing in the distance as the migrating dragons began flying overhead. Everyone quickly ducked low and looked through their binoculars, watching the massive group of dangerous creatures of varying colors and sizes. Each of them had different wingspans, differently shaped spines and spikes, some skinny some overweight, it was an amazing sight to see, even if they could swoop down and try to eat them for a quick bite. The onlookers had to duck as a couple dragons began fighting with each other, one of them breathing fire at their foe, the flames reaching their trench and burning the grass around it.

Sora was the first to poke his head back up after the torrent of flames died down, wearing a big grin at the close call as the migrating dragons flew past them and far to the east. "That was awesome!"

"More like terrifying!" Rainbow exclaimed. "They nearly singed us!"

"So? Donald, Goofy, and I fought Maleficent when she turned into a dragon, and she spewed flames at us." Sora looked back up at the sky at the dragons disappearing in the distance through his binoculars. "As long as I don't see a black dragoness with a purple underside, green eyes, black curved horns, and breathing out green fire, then we're good. She'll be a lot worse than any other dragon."

"Well, we dragons are pretty scary," Spike said as he came walking over to the trench. The baby dragon wasn't exactly showing off the scary side of his species with what he was wearing. As he pushed a cart filled with sweets he made for everyone as they watched the migration, he was wearing a pink apron with a red heart in the middle. "We're a force to be reckoned with."

"Yeah, Spike. You look really scary in that frilly apron of yours." Rainbow began laughing as she teased him.

"So? Do you have any idea how badly blueberries can stain your scales? It's impossible to get out!" The cyan pegasus began laughing even harder while Sora, Donald, and Goofy felt bad for Spike.

"Rainbow Dash, don't make fun of Spike," Rarity scolded. "He doesn't have to be like other dragons. Spikey-wikey's just perfect the way he is."

"Wait. I'm not like other dragons?" Spike asked.

"Of course not! You have something those other dragons don't have." The fashionista approached Spike and squished his cheeks with her forehooves. "You have the cutest widdle chubby cheeks!"

Spike blushed and pushed himself away from his crush's hooves, though his embarrassment was more out of feeling degraded. "C-Cute!? Dragons aren't supposed to be cute at all!"

"They aren't as cute as you, Spikey, especially in that little apron." Rarity was not helping with her compliments, humiliating Spike more as the other mares giggled at his reaction.

"I'm not cute!" the baby dragon shouted, tearing off his apron and stormed off back to town.

"Oooh, even when he waddles off in anger, he's so adorable," Rarity squealed.

"WADDLE!?" Spike screamed in frustration and ran, trying not to waddle as he escaped the tormenting compliments that made him feel more insecure by the minute.

While the girls found the purple dragon cute, the males only shook their heads. Sora knew Spike had probably grown up with mainly other girls most of his life, and being in Ponyville, there were barely any colts he made friends with that weren't as clueless as Snips and Snails were. He may seem young, but he's a lot wiser than he appears, and his masculinity seemed a little too low being around the girls so much.

"Hey, girls, can't you cut Spike a little bit of slack?" Sora asked, the mares all turning to face him. "You all kind of shattered his pride a little as a dragon, and as a boy, no less."

"We were just messing around," Rainbow said. "He's a tough little guy. He can take some teasing."

"He looked really confused and frustrated." Donald and Goofy nodded their heads, backing Sora up. "Spike's grown up around ponies while raised by Twilight. Have you even told him anything about dragons? Their culture? Other than the fact that they're greedy, dangerous beings that should be avoided?"

"...Well...no," Twilight said. "There's never been any books explaining the behaviors of dragons or what they do."

"Anypony who did that would have to be absolutely loco in the cocoa!" Pinkie added. "They're dangerous no matter where they go!"

"That's why Spikey-wikey's special, unlike the other dangerous ones that just passed us." Sora gave Rarity a look, remembering the time Spike had gotten too greedy on his birthday, took everything, and grew to gargantuan size with the massive growth spurt he had. Rarity did save him from himself, wearing the fire ruby he gave her that brought him back to his senses, though that moment did confuse him for a little while. "...Though, after that little greed incident...He was bigger than most of those dragons..."

"We might not know much about the dragons here in your world, but we know one thing," Goofy said. "He'll eventually want to find out who he is and why he was raised by you guys, wanting to understand his kind a little more."

"I'll try to see if there's anything in the library that might have some answers, but back in Canterlot, there was absolutely nothing on dragons except in fictional novels. I just hope Spike doesn't try to think of anything drastic." Everyone got out of the trench, the migration having passed over Ponyville and gone to wherever their meeting grounds were.

While the went about their days, Twilight couldn't help but worry about what how Spike was feeling. She raised him and hatched him, though the latter was made possible thanks to Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom. She was just as curious about dragons as well, resorting to any books she could get her hooves on to help learn how to raise a newborn dragon hatchling. Though there was little to no information on them, Twilight had to rely on herself to know what to do. As she walked back to her library with trepidation, Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy watched the lavender unicorn, sensing her growing worries.

"You think Spike will be ok, Sora?" Kairi asked.

"I think so," he said. "Even though he isn't born into a dragon family, he still has a family here with his friends. I'm sure he's not going to do anything stupid."

"I can't believe I let him do something so stupid!" Twilight chided herself as Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy met with the unicorn the next morning.

Since Rarity and Rainbow were at the library that morning, Twilight told the otherworldly ponies, diamond dog, and griffon what had happened. She and Spike went through every book in the library that had something about dragons, but their search ended up turning south with no information on them. The baby dragon decided that he would go off on a dangerous quest to find out who he was, following the dragon migration to learn more about himself. As much as the girls wanted to keep him from going, Twilight thought it would be a good idea for him to do this and discover his dragon roots on his own. Now, she regretted doing such a thing, knowing Spike probably won't stand a chance against any of them if he finds them.

"He's a determined little dragon, I'll give him that," Kairi muttered.

"I should have said no. Why didn't I say no!?" Twilight questioned herself, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Don't worry, Twilight. We'll find him and look out for him," Sora said. "We've dealt with more dangerous creatures in the past, and we know how to deal with dragons."

"But they might tear you to shreds!" Rarity said. "Even if I was able to make a dragon costume to hide any of us, I don't even know what to even make it look like! It'll probably just be a strange, ditzy looking piece of fabric that won't even fool them!"

Sora began to think while the three mares panicked. As he put a hoof to his chin, he looked down at that hoof, staring at the appendage. He soon got an idea, but he hoped that it would work outside of the theory running through his head.

"Hey, Donald. I think I have an idea." He pulled the small griffon over and whispered something in his ear.

"Uh huh...Yeah..." Donald's eyes widened a moment later, looking at his friend in shock and awe. "That just might work, but it would only work with you and Kairi. Goofy and I would stick out too much if we did that."

"Perfect! Can you pull it off?" Sora asked, the others having no clue what the pegasus was talking about.

"Maybe, but I'm going to need a little help from Twilight," the griffon said. "I'm going to need a lot of mana to pull this off for you two."

"Sora, what do you have planned?" Kairi asked, knowing her boyfriend can come up with some crazy schemes, and this was one of them.

"Just prepare to like a new, temporary body," Sora said, giving everyone a big grin. "I know this is gonna work."

"I sure hope so." The Keyblade wielding couple stood side by side as Donald pulled out his wand and Twilight charged her horn, aiming their weapon/appendage at the pegasus and unicorn.

Spike traveled long and far as he followed his dragon brethren on foot, with nothing but a bindle that carried some food for the road. It took the little dragon a couple of days to trek across the land to reach the lands where the dragons lived, far from any pony civilization. With the Dragon Lands found, the migrating beasts resting at the top of a wide, dormant volcano, Spike slowly began to climb his way up to learn more about his kind, maybe make some friends around his age.

On the other side of the volcano, however, someone else made their way up, appearing at the base in a plume of green flames. Maleficent held an annoyed expression as she looked around where she teleported.

"That imbecile is more trouble than he was worth saving him from the prison he was thrown in," the witch grumbled. "How is it someone like him is too afraid to come back to this world again when these colorful equines are practically ripe for corruption? 'I was attacked by two crazy babies that were stronger than they looked. I thought they would be perfect little apprentices for me and maybe bring some color in your dreary castle.' Pete, you are looking to be thrown back in the dark void I broke you out of for your insignificance.

"I need new followers. Someone more fierce. Someone who's strong enough to defeat Sora without taking a single scratch." Maleficent heard a roar come from on top of the volcano, looking up to see several dragons fly in and roost at the top of the dangerous mountain. "...Someone like a dragon. Hmhmhmhm. Perfect." Her grin soon turned into a frown as she looked down at herself, her body forced to change into a pony as she appears in this world. "Though, I do not thing creatures like them will take me seriously in this equine form...That can change, though."

Using her magical power, her body was shrouded by a pillar of green flames, growing taller as well as her frame from inside the transformative flames. Once she reached a bigger size, taller than the trees in the nearby forest, she spread out her black dragon wings, the fire dispersing from her dragon body. She looked down at her sharp claws, nothing different about her powerful form has changed except for her eyes, actually having pupils instead of being completely green.

Stretching out her wings, Maleficent flapped herself up off the ground, slowly getting used to her transformation's form after not using it for a long while. After getting her bearings, she flew up to the top of the volcano, looking out at the massive group of dragons down below. There were smaller dragons down inside the crater, pools of lava scattered about and still boiling hot, while the larger dragons rested at random spots on the lip of the mountain, holding onto a hoard of treasures while watching the younger of their kind. Maleficent flapped down and watched the smaller dragons down below, many of them fighting with each other to prove their strength among their peers.

"Perfect. These younger dragons will be easy to control and mold into potential Heartless." While pondering her scheme to use these dragons as her loyal minions in this world, she heard a growl come from beside her. Maleficent turned her head, staring at a male red dragon that was slightly taller than her. "...What do you want?"

"Never seen you around here before," he said, giving the witch a sharp, toothy grin. "You new to the migration?"

"...Leave my sight or you shall suffer my wrath," Maleficent warned, focusing her attention on the young dragons.

"Ooooh. Fiesty." The dragon eyed every part of her body, grumbling low in his throat, approving what he's seeing. "Quite a sight for a potential mate."

Maleficent blanched and turned back to the dragon, glaring at him with a threatening growl. "I suggest you watch your tongue around me, you oaf. Leave me, or else."

"That green in your eyes makes you stand out from your dark scales." Having enough of him, the witch breathed out a powerful blast of green flames directly in his face. The dragon was unfazed, snorting out a smoke ring shaped like a heart. "I think I'm in love."

While the dragoness kept trying to give the male a hint to leave her alone, on the other side, Spike managed to climb up the top of the volcano. He panted heavily as he reached the top, wiping some sweat off his brow as he looked down at the crater of the volcano.

"Wow. Teenage dragons! That's a bit to my liking...I hope." Spike slid down until he reached the filled in crevice, making his way to the wrestling dragons. "Uhh, excuse me, guys?" The red teenage dragon fighting against a fat brown one slammed him to the ground before they stopped fighting when they noticed the small dragon. "Uh, hi there. I'm Spike."

"More like Shrimp," a skinny dark purple dragon said, the other teens laughing as they mocked the baby dragon.

"N-No. It's Spike, not Shrimp," Spike said, failing to stand up to the taller, dangerous dragons.

"He looks more like Peewee to me!" the fat teen mocked, earning more laughter."

"Hey, come on, guys, take it easy on him," the red teenage dragon said. "You might make him fly away...if he had any wings!" He picked Spike up and hung him upside down by the tail as they continued making fun of Spike. "You look like you just hatched from your egg! Bet you guys my hoard that he still sucks his claw at night."

"Hey, I haven't sucked my claw in months!" Spike didn't help his case as he instinctively sucked on his claw in fear, humiliating him further.

Before any of them could make fun of Spike any further, a tan blur flew in and kicked the red teen holding the baby dragon hard in the gut. The impact made the dragon wheeze and fling Spike up into the air, quickly caught by a white one that leapt up after him. The bullies were caught off guard by the sudden blurs, staring at the intruding beings that stopped them. Standing before them were a tan male teenage dragon with brown, spiky hair that looked sharper than the spines going down his back, wearing a black jacket, and a white teenage dragoness that caught Spike, her long red hair matching her spines, wearing a pink shirt. The male had wings while the female had aquatic frills and webbed claws.

"So, you guys are picking on my little brother, Spike, huh?" the tan dragon asked as he sneered at the bullies. "You wanna mess with someone, then try a dragon your own size!"

The red dragon stood up, clutching his stomach from the low blow. "Urgh...You're so going to pay for that!"

He roared and charged at his attacker, but before he could punch him, the spiky-haired dragon teen blocked the fist with his claw. Clenching down hard, he pulled the bully toward him hard, giving him a hard knee to the gut, making the red teen gasp, letting out squeaky grunts of pain. The tan dragon let go, letting his opponent fall to the ground, the other dragons knowing not to mess with him as he was better than their group leader.

"Unbelievable. Spike just wanted to meet some other dragons, yet instead, he met a bunch of cows who pick on a little dragon as if he were a tiny fly," he said, cracking his knuckles. "If you guys want another tussle, you know who to fly to."

While the two teens walked away, the female carrying Spike in her arms, hiding at the top of the lip watching them were Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity, wearing an odd looking dragon costume that looked like it was rushed to be created, and Donald and Goofy hiding in a mobile bush. "Phew. Thank goodness Sora did something before those awful dragons hurt a single scale on Spikey-wikey's head."

"I can't believe we were able to pull off a transformation spell that not only changed their appearance, but also their abilities," Twilight said in awe, writing notes down from inside the three-pony dragon costume. "Maybe we can finally get something on dragons after all this time. I just might have a book published for all of Equestria! This is exciting!"

"Don't get too happy, Twilight," Donald warned. "What we cast on them is temporary. When we arrive in any world where we need to change to adapt and blend in with our surroundings, we stay what we are so we don't cause suspicion."

"Yeah! The world porter needs to be protected!" The griffon slapped his forehead and grumbled at Goofy's poor choice of words.

"World order!" Donald squawked. "How hard is it to say!?"

Goofy just chuckled, whether he was doing it on purpose just to tease Donald or not was a mystery. Back down below, Sora and Kairi headed over to a dragon-less side of the crater, Spike looking at the two of them in confusion. The baby dragon knew the two from somewhere, but he just couldn't put his claw on it.

"I didn't know I had a dragon brother," he said, scratching his head. "I thought it was just me and-"

"Spike, it's us. Sora and Kairi." Spike gasped in shock, recognizing the voice coming from the male teen. Kairi put the surprised baby dragon down on his feet and stood next to Sora. "We turned into dragons."

"Huh!?...Now way!" To prove their point, both teens held out their claws and summoned their Keyblades. "It is you two!...B-But, how!?"

"Let's just say we had magic on our side," Kairi answered, dismissing their weapons before any other dragons spotted them. "Since Sora and I are from another world, our magic turns us into what the world's inhabitants are to better adapt into society and not stick out like a sore hoof, or claw in our case now."

"And Donald's and Twilight's unique magic was able to change us into a different sentient species in the world, though Donald believes it's limited," Sora finished as he scratched the back of his scaly head, glad to finally stand on two legs again and have fingers.

"Wait...if you're here...then..." Spike suddenly groaned and dragged his hand down his face. "Twilight sent you two to take me back home, didn't she?"

"Not exactly. She wanted us to make sure you were safe," Kairi said, kneeling down to the little dragon's level. She pat his head, making him groan in irritation. "She really wants you to figure out who you are, just with some bodyguards to keep you from getting hurt. Especially by bullies like those dragons."

"I don't need a babysitter," the baby dragon grumbled. "I could have taken them by myself."

"You were being hung upside down by the tail like a sack of potatoes," Sora stated. Spike glared at him for reminding him of the embarrassing moment that just happened a moment ago. "Well, you're not exactly as rough as those jerks, Spike. They could seriously hurt you with their size compared to you." The tan dragon looked up, spotting the group of dragons approaching them, their leader wanting a rematch after just getting beaten a few minutes ago. "Speaking of which, here comes trouble."

The teenage dragons stopped and leered at the trio, Sora quickly getting in front of Spike to protect him. The red one stepped forward and approached the spiky-haired teen, both males glaring daggers at each other.

"...You know what, new guy?" the leader said, his scowl turning into a smirk. "You're not that bad."

"...Uhh, what?" Sora asked, all three of them confused by the sudden outlook the dragons had on them.

"You're a pretty tough dragon. You know, for being an outsider. Name's Garble." Garble looked over Sora's shoulder, eyeing Spike and Kairi. "So, you're supposed to be the runt's older brother?"

"His name is Spike, and yes. We're related." Sora looked back at Kairi, both of them having planned ahead to give themselves a different identity in case they befriended any dragons, and it seemed like they were going to be friends with the rowdiest of the bunch. They thought up names for their dragon personas, taking the names of a couple of people the vaguely remember from when they were younger. "My name's Ventus. And that's my mate, Aqua."

"Your mate, huh?" Garble asked, his smirk growing wider as he looked at Kairi. "Never met an aquatic dragon before."

"Don't even think about it," Kairi warned as she stood up.

"I like her already." The other dragons behind Garble muttered agreements, though they were mostly staring at her physique than directly at her. "Where you three from?"

"We're from Ponyville," Spike said, Sora and Kairi mentally facepalming at the baby dragon's answer.

"Ponyville!?" The dragons began laughing uproariously. "You three live in Ponyville!? No wonder I could smell ponies on you three!

"And what's wrong with that?" Sora asked as he crossed his arms. "You got a problem with where we live?"

"I bet you're just a trained dragon, Ventus, by those wimpy little ponies. You just got lucky beating-" Garble ate his words as Sora grabbed the red dragon's arm and twisted it hard, making him whimper and collapse on his knees. "Ahh! Ow! Ow! Ok! I give!"

"Sure you do." Sora slammed Garble to the ground, keeping a firm grip on his twisted arm. "You know, I can't stand any creature that doubts what others can do and act like jerks by beating up those weaker than them. You and your friends are falling in the category of beings I'd love to beat up if they mess with anyone I know. So, if you want to speak, think before you make fun of us. Are we clear?" The pinned dragon nodded his head, yelping as he felt his arm start to hurt. "Good."

Sora let Garble go as he let the rude bully get back up, rubbing his sore arm. "Ok. You're really tough. But, if you three are gonna join us, you're going to have to prove to us that you're really dragons and not ponies in a dumb dragon costume."

Up above watching them, Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity flinched, trying not to act suspicious in their terrible dragon disguise. "Ok, maybe I should have taken the time to make this look better than rush," Rarity whimpered.

"Ok, then. Let's begin the trials," Sora said. "What's first?"

"Belching contest!" Garble exclaimed.

"A belching contest?" Kairi asked. "Seriously?"

"Yes, Aqua. Even the girly dragons have belching contests. Or are you too much of a pony to be gross?" The dragoness glared at Garble, Sora and Spike stepping aside as they knew he had just given Kairi and excuse to injure him in some way.

She took in a deep breath, feeling her temporary draconic breath building up from the pit of her stomach. She released it and let out a deep belch at Garble and his friends, shooting out a flurry of bubbles from her maw, popping on contact with the group of dragons as they froze on different parts of their bodies. Kairi ceased her incredibly disgusting belch, clearing her throat as she felt a slight chill in her throat that quickly faded as it had appeared. Sora and Spike stared at her, jaws dropped, the former highly shocked that his girlfriend could do something that gross after knowing her for as long as he had.

"How was that?" The dragons were as speechless as Sora was, though up on the ridge, the others watching them were appalled, aside from Rainbow Dash.

"That's disgusting," Rarity said. "Kairi's a princess. She shouldn't behave that way, even if she's a dragon."

"That was awesome," Rainbow said, keeping her voice down before she gave away their position. "Do dragons have different fire breath?"

"I'm not sure, but maybe certain types of dragons have different breath abilities." Twilight wrote down more notes on the differences between Kairi's aquatic dragon form and the other dragons they've known about. "Since Kairi had turned into a dragon that can live on both land and water, it would make sense for them to have some ability to attack at long range with magical bubbles. And they have an ice attribute as well, freezing their prey in place. Or it was possible for her to do that because of her own magic mixing with her new body to give her that ability."

"...You just made something so cool sound so boring, egghead." Twilight growled, stomping her hoof down on Rainbow Dash's back for ruining her logic on a dragon's magical breath if her former theory was true.

The tests for the Ponyville dragons continued on after recovering from Kairi's surprisingly winning belch, though when it came to Spike's turn, his light and weak burp made only by a message from Celestia sent for Twilight. Before he could even read it, Garble swiped it and read it to himself, then mocked Spike for being pen pals with a namby-pamby pony princess. He threw the letter in a nearby pool of lava, which had upset Twilight, not knowing if the letter was of grave importance.

Next, they had a tail wrestling contest, Sora and Kairi easily trouncing their opponents with their own strength, and Spike was up next. Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity tried to help Spike fit in, waddling around in their odd dragon costume, taking the challenge against the baby dragon. Ironically enough, their horrible outfit was foolproof, disguised as a similar looking dragon that looked like it, the bully dragons thinking it was Crackle's cousin. The ponies took the fall as soon as the fabric tail was connected with Spike's, winning the dragons over while Sora and Kairi couldn't believe how dumb they were from the mares' flopping as a loss from a tail wrestling match. Feeling confident, he decided to go with a pretty small dragon around his size, but he overestimated the massive, spiked tail he had, easily flung off toward the other side of the dormant mountain's wall.

Then there was king of the hoard, all the teenage dragons clambering up a massive pile of treasures and jewels to reach the top and claim dominance. With Sora's and Kairi's aid, they fought their way up to the top, knocking down the other dragons while Spike climbed after them. As soon as the couple reached the top, they fought each other, only to slip and fall when the little dragon gave them a shove over the side. His reign ended too soon as he celebrated, tripping off a gem and tumbled down the treasures.

Lava cannonballs was a big challenge. Dragon scales are pretty impervious to fire and lava, as Garble and his friends dove off a high cliff in a pool of lava and showed it was possible. However, with the disguised ponies and Kairi, there was no way they could do that, the former would easily burn in the boiling molten liquid while the latter would suffer worse as an aqua dragon. At least the other dragons had an understanding with Kairi's predicament, not complete jerks against their kind from a different variant of their species. It was either that or the fact that she was the only pretty dragoness they didn't want to see get burnt to a crisp. Sora was perfectly fine when he dove in, not making a big enough splash like the fat one of the group, but when it was Spike's turn, he instead flopped down into the pool on his belly, everyone within earshot cringing at the loud slap, feeling the burning pain he was experiencing. Even though it wasn't a cannonball, the teenage dragons were impressed to see Spike still conscious after belly flopping into the lava.

After going through Garble's tests, the group of teens welcomed them into the group. They soon began to celebrate the new members of their group, munching on the treasures they used for king of the hoard. For Sora and Kairi, with their bodies temporarily changed, they could actually eat the gems, which tasted like a similar flavor to any fruity candy depending on the color of the jewel. It was no wonder why Spike loved to eat gems so much; it was practically sweets for dragons only, not just a pretty mineral to take out of greed.

"This was a great party," Spike said as he lounged around the treasure pile with the others.

"Great? Yeah right," Garble scoffed. "Better than being around those namby-pamby ponies. In fact, I think this is the perfect time to show you three a real dragon raid."

"A raid?" Kairi asked. "On what?"

"There's a nest of phoenix eggs out in the forest near the base of the volcano. We're gonna find them, and steal them!" The Ponyville dragons gasped in horror at the thought of stealing defenseless eggs from their nest, and eggs from a bird of fire that can resurrect itself from its own ashes.

"How many times do I have to say no to get it through your thick skull!?" The dragons all sat up and looked up at the ridge of the volcano, a large black dragoness backing away from a red dragon taller than her.

"The more you say no, the more it makes me want you," the male replied, getting spewed at with green flames.

Sora gasped, recognizing the dragoness's body, growing worried the longer they stayed here. And with her voice matching similarly to a certain witch he didn't want around, it was obvious that dragon was Maleficent.

"What the heck is she doing here?" Sora asked, Kairi turning to him in confusion.

"Wait, is that really Maleficent? What's she doing here in a place filled with dragons?" Maleficent kept getting frustrated at the male dragon trying to hit on her as she continued backing away. Unfortunately, the witch had lost her footing and slipped down into the crater, tumbling down and flipping down to where the teens and Spike were lounging. "Incoming!"

The dragons scrambled out of the way as the black dragoness crashed into the diminishing pile of treasures. Green flames burst around her and reverted the witch back to a pony, her magic worn out from keeping her dragon form stable and the heavy impact against the gold and gemstones. Maleficent groaned, slowly climbing back on her hooves, wincing as her back ached.

"...I hate dragons," the witch muttered. As she looked up, she spotted the teenage dragons staring at her in shock, Spike in confusion, Sora and Kairi with anger, and the dragon that was trying to make her his mate was mortified, his jaw dropping at his dragoness turning out to be a pony in a magical disguise. "...What are you all staring at!?"

"...I am so confused," the large male dragon sadly uttered, plopping onto his stomach with a loud thud.

"There's a pony here? In the Dragon Lands?" The dragon teens leered at the intruding pony. "Ok. Change in plans. Instead of a raid, let's get this puny pony!"

"You fools think you can defeat me!? The mistress of all evil!?" Maleficent used her magic to summon her staff in a veil of flames. "Bow before my power!" She thrust her staff forward and shot a bolt of lightning at Garble, but instead of it being as powerful as she claimed it to be, she only made a light shock. It didn't affect the red teen, her mana completely drained from using it all in her dragon form. The witch's eye twitched, sweat beading down her forehead as she was completely powerless against several dragons younger than her that surrounded her. "...This...is not good."

"Get her!" The dragons rushed toward Maleficent, the mare quickly ducking as the teens all slammed their heads into each other, getting out from under them as they fell in a daze.

They were quick to snap out of their stunned state, having very thick skulls, they chased after her out of the volcano. The older dragons didn't seem to pay any mind, too busy watching their hoards of treasure they brought with them on the migration. Spike was about to run off after them, only for Sora to step his foot down on the baby dragon's tail.

"Spike, what are you doing?" he asked.

"We gotta help that mare!" Spike said.

"No way, Spike! That's Maleficent! That's the same witch who manipulated our friend, Riku, and is trying to take over your world!" Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity in their disguise approached their friends, the lavender unicorn stared in shock as the mare that was running away from the dragon teenagers was the same mare that tricked her and cast a spell on her that made her almost kill Kairi. "I'd rather appreciate it if those dragons actually got rid of her for good."

"But she's completely defenseless and in trouble! Even if she is the bad guy, does that mean she should die without any way of defending herself?" Sora and Kairi looked at each other, feeling conflicted with the point Spike had made.

Even though Maleficent had tried to take over every world in the universe and find Kingdom Hearts, there were some moments where she actually helped Sora in the past. In Radiant Garden, when Organization XIII sent an endless swarm of Heartless to get him to release their hearts to create their own Kingdom Hearts, the evil witch helped him escape from Saïx when he was in despair, realizing he had been helping the Nobodies with their plan and knowing they had Kairi. Then she and Pete helped them in The World That Never Was when millions of Heartless began charging into the Organization's palace, distracting them long enough to stop Xemnas.

As much as he hated to admit it, Sora growled, waving his arm to Donald and Goofy to have them follow the dragons and witch as they watched from the ridge. "I hate how nice I can be. We're helping Maleficent."

"What!?" Kairi and Twilight both exclaimed.

"I think we both still owe her for helping us in The World That Never Was, Kairi," Sora said. "And I still owe her for rescuing Donald, Goofy, and I in Radiant Garden. When Saïx told me I was helping Organization XIII and you were held hostage, she tried to distract him to help us escape, but did it for us when I felt like giving up fighting with the Keyblade.

"I know she only did all that because Organization XIII was threatening to ruin her own plots to take over the worlds, but she actually helped us." Twilight was about to argue on the topic of Maleficent being nice, but she didn't want Rainbow Dash and Rarity to find out about her being manipulated by the witch. She was still self-conscious about what she did under the control of her darkness, even though Sora and Kairi forgave her. "This is going to be the only time I'll ever help her out. After this, we're back to being enemies. Let's hurry."

The group made their way out of the volcano, the mares discarding their dragon costume as soon as they reached the base of the mountain. They met up with Donald and Goofy in the forest, both of them unsure about rescuing someone who nearly took over their own world, but with how Maleficent was completely defenseless and was about to get mauled by dragons, along with Spike's point on helping those who were in peril whether they were good or bad, they reluctantly agreed and gave chase.

Deep in the forest far from the base of the dragons' nesting grounds, Maleficent panted as she ran for her life, swerving through the trees to avoid the teen dragons flying after her. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually wish that fat oaf Pete was here to distract these imbeciles!" She called out Heartless to try to stop them, but the ones she called were all burnt away by their flame breath, none of them even batting an eye at the dark creatures that could kill them as they easily took care of the summoned beings of darkness. "Not even the Heartless are stopping them!?"

"Get back here, you stupid pony!" Garble shouted, catching up to her. "Your dumb magic shadows aren't gonna scare us!"

The teen breathed fire on Maleficent's backside, sending her flying far into the forest, partially thankful her power gave her some immunity to any flames. Her body flew into a large branch at a nearby tree, bending it back, though it didn't snap. It whipped back in place as soon as she hit the ground, smacking Garble and his friends, sending them flying back into a tree, slamming their bodies through it as they hung in the trunks through the holes they made.

"Urgh. That hurt," one of them said.

"Shut up!" Garble scolded.

The tree suddenly creaked as it fell over from their combined weight, their faces slamming into the ground as their groans were muffled by the dirt and grass in their maws. Maleficent got up on her hooves, wincing as she had injured one of her legs from getting flung by Garble's fire breath. Unable to run any further, she quickly hid in some nearby bushes, letting her cloak and green coat conceal her in the foliage, hoping none of them were smart enough to spot her horns sticking out. The teenage dragons were relentless, getting up after lifting themselves out of the tree they were crushed by, flying past where she hid to find her.

"This wasn't a bright idea after all," she said, limping out of the bush, holding herself up with her staff. "Finding any simple allies outside of those equines is troublesome. I'm not going to bother turning those ungrateful whelps into Heartless." Maleficent tried to teleport away from Equestria and back to her world, but all that came out from her staff was a spark of green embers. "Curse my dragon transformation eating away my magic. I can't escape."

"That would be a good thing, wouldn't it, Maleficent?" The witch flinched as she looked behind her, finding Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, Spike, Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. She recognized the two Keyblade wielders, unsure how they became dragons when Pete told her they turned into ponies like she had while in this world, even Sora's companions with their faces remaining the same while their bodies had changed. And out of the ponies and baby dragon with them, she recognized Twilight, the lavender unicorn leering at her with caution and fear. "Guess you're not as powerful as you were when we actually fought you in the past."

"You're lucky my mana has been drained, child," Maleficent said, glowering the annoying teen. Donald and Goofy held their weapons out in case the witch had something up her sleeves. She looked over at Twilight and grinned, seeing her slowly move behind Sora. "At least I managed to almost get one of you pathetic equines to turn into a Heartless. Too bad the Princess of Heart freed you from my spell."

"Don't bring Twilight into this, or anyone else in this world, Maleficent!" Sora warned, summoning his Keyblade and stepping forward. "How about you be grateful that we're trying to save you from those dragons instead of trying to get me to kill you right here and now!?"

"Save me? I can take care of myself." The witch felt her legs buckle from her injuries, gripping her staff tightly before she collapsed to the grounds. Spike tried to help Maleficent back up, but she pushed him away. "Get away from me. I've already had enough with dragons for a lifetime!"

"But you turned into one," Spike said. "Why?"

"So I could make more Heartless with powerful creatures," Maleficent explained. "I thought finding the youngest and powerful of the bunch in that mountain would be useful, but I wasn't able to observe because of that perverted dragon that couldn't take a hint!"

"That was actually pretty hilarious," Rainbow laughed, Sora, Donald, and Goofy joining her at her outburst and tumble down into the volcano.

"Bite your tongues or I will smite you where you stand!" The green unicorn tried to shoot more lightning from her staff at the pegasus, but all she made was a small spark of lightning barely reach anyone. Maleficent growled, her legs finally giving out on her as she fell to the ground. "This is already humiliating enough. Just end me."

"Oh how I wish I could," Sora said, dismissing his Keyblade. "Unfortunately, because of a certain little dragon who has more sagely wisdom than Twilight-"

"Hey!" Twilight exclaimed, Rainbow snickering at the lavender mare's reaction.

"-it would be wrong for any of us to easily take you down in the condition you're in. For now, we're sparing you, paying you back for helping us against Organization XIII." The tan dragon dug into his jacket pockets, pulling out an ether. He tossed it in the air, blue sparkles falling over Maleficent and restoring her mana a little bit. The witch stared at her enemy in confusion, though she didn't show any gratitude for the strangely kind gesture from the boy who had stopped her plans before. "That should be enough to get you back to where you and Pete are hiding now, right?"

"...I don't need your pity," she said coldly, shakily standing back up as she sneered at Sora. "You'll always be a gullible fool with that heart of yours, Sora. How the Heartless haven't gotten to it is beyond me."

"I did turn into a Heartless though, Maleficent." The witch raised a brow as he looked over at Kairi. "When you had the Princesses of Heart in your lair back in Hollow Bastion, now renamed Radiant Garden, you were missing Kairi's heart. Her heart was with me the whole time, so I came to your palace with the last pure heart gift wrapped to you, and killing me would have given you access to Kingdom Hearts."

"You had her heart all that time?" Maleficent asked, never knowing how she couldn't find Kairi's heart when she and her comrades searched everywhere for it in the other worlds.

Before she could demand answers as to how Sora had two hearts in him, Garble and his dragon friends pounced on her and the other mares, holding them hostage and surprising the group. "Hey, nice going! You three found the stupid pony and her other little friends spying on us!" Maleficent tried to use her regained magic to shock the red teenage dragon grappling her, but Garble smacked her horn hard, dispelling even her own unique magic with the painful blow. "Now to take care of these dumb ponies. Spike, you go first."

"W-What?" the baby dragon asked, the dragons unaware of Donald and Goofy in their presence as they snuck around them out of their sight.

"We were gonna plan a raid for all three of you to do with us to take one of those phoenix eggs from that nest and break them." Everyone was appalled at the horrible idea of a raid Garble had in mind. Even Maleficent was disgusted by the obscene plan, killing an immortal avian chick of fire and revival one of the dumbest things to do when it can be trained to be a loyal pet that can never die. "But I think killing one of these ponies is just as good. So go on, Spike. Prove you're not like these namby-pamby ponies."

"Y-You mean...if we did the raid...you wanted me to break a phoenix egg?" Spike felt sick, just the thought of killing one of his friends was bringing back his horrible greed frenzy he went on, where he could have possible hurt someone during that time. And killing a defenseless hatchling, where that hatchling was a mystical bird of flames, almost made him throw up his snack of gems back in the volcano. "T-That's not right."

"So what? It's fun!" The other dragons agreed with Garble, which only angered Sora and Kairi more. "And killing these ponies will be even better!"

"Alright, I've had enough of this," Sora said, stepping forward. "You guys realize that killing something in an egg is like killing a part of yourselves, right? You guys were born from eggs! How would you feel if you broke a dragon couple's egg before they're even ready to hatch!?"

"Who cares?" The crossed the line between him and Garble, Sora clenching his fists.

"...You know what, Garble? I've been tolerating your obnoxious behavior for far too long," Sora said, leering at the teen leader. "It was for Spike's sake, just to have him learn a little more about his dragon roots and what dragons really are...And you've proven to me, him, and the rest of us what you guys really are." He suddenly disappeared with a burst of speed, getting behind Garble and wrapped his arms around his middle, pulling the red dragon's arms away from Maleficent as he dropped her. "You're nothing but a bunch of monsters! To everyone!"

Sora leapt up in the air and flipped backwards several times, carrying the screaming Garble with him. As they fell to the ground, the Keyblade wielder slammed Garble's head down hard into the ground, knocking him senseless. Donald and Goofy jumped in and attacked the dragons holding the other mares captive, the former freezing the ones holding Rainbow and Rarity with a Blizzard spell while the latter clonked the one holding Twilight hard in the skull with his shield, the dragon dropping like a log as stars flew around his eyes. Before the frozen dragons could break out of their icy prison with their fire breath, Kairi rushed in and broke the ice, grabbing their heads and slamming them together, knocking them unconscious.

With the teenage dragons subdued, Sora and Kairi picked up Maleficent as they all ran far from the forest and the Dragon Lands as they could. As soon as they were clear enough away from Garble and his group, they stopped and took a breather. After the teens lowered the witch to the ground, the magic that kept them as dragons wore off, turning them back into a pegasus and unicorn. Maleficent backed away from her saviors, calling her staff to her in a veil of green flames.

"...I should thank you, but I could have handled those brats myself." Sora rolled his eyes, knowing full well she was completely helpless and too injured to even move. "Though I find it hard to believe my mana was disabled after getting smacked in this...appendage on my forehead."

"Unicorn horns channel the magic to cast spells," Twilight explained. "It's also pretty sensitive, meaning any hard contact into it while channeling mana disables magic use for a small amount of time. That might have also affected...your own magic..."

Maleficent glanced over at Twilight, quickly stepping behind Sora, not wanting to be affected by her manipulative spells again. Rainbow Dash and Rarity noticed their friend's odd behavior, wondering if the two had actually met some time ago, especially when the otherworldly villain mentioned doing something to Twilight.

"I think this makes us even, Maleficent," Sora said, diverting her attention back to him.

"...Very well then." Green flames spiraled around the witch as she began to teleport away. "Next time we meet, I will have a massive army of Heartless with me to take this world over."

Her body disappeared behind the growing flames, and as they died to embers, there was no sign of Maleficent. "Good luck with that."

"Well, I think we learned a lot about dragons today," Rainbow said. "They're jerks."

"But not Spikey-wikey," Rarity said, grabbing Spike and hugging him tightly, making the dragon blush. "He's nothing like those monstrous brutes."

"Yeah. I'm not like them at all. And I think I finally figured out who I am." Spike squirmed out of Rarity's grasp, looking up to the ponies around him. "I may have been born a dragon, but I realized who I am isn't the same as what I am. I know where I truly belong; with my friends in Ponyville. My family."

Twilight, Rainbow, and Rarity scooped Spike into a group hug at the heartwarming sentiment, Goofy picking up Donald and hugging him as he watched the moment. "Hey! Let me down, ya big palooka!"

Sora and Kairi laughed at Donald, the small griffon grumbling as he was hugged like a stuffed doll by his taller friend and companion. The group began to make their way back to Ponyville, Spike's quest to discover who he was having been in Ponyville with Twilight and their friends all this time. Even though they learned a little bit about dragons, the adolescent teenage dragons were by far the worst kinds of dragons to deal with, holding no morals over life, even to their own kind.

"Urgh...my head..." Garble woke after being knocked unconscious, rubbing his aching cranium as he sat up. He found his buddies laying unconscious, one of them sporting a painful bump on his head while the other two had ice melting around them. There was no sign of the other ponies, Sora, Kairi, or Spike anywhere, the dragon teen growling angrily. "Those stupid, pony loving traitors. If I see them around here again, they are so going to get it."

He slammed his fist into a nearby tree, shaking the branches and causing a nest to fall down on his head. Chirping noises rang out on his head, along with the sound of a pair of avians screeching. Garble looked up at the nest, being the phoenixes he and his friends planned on raiding earlier, all the eggs hatched with small orange and red phoenix chicks. Hovering down in his point of view were the fully grown parents of their babies, their bodies igniting with bright flames, screeching as they flew down and pecked at him. Garble flailed about and ran from the angry parents, dropping the nest as the phoenix chicks flew up to their branch, chirping excitedly as they watched their mom and dad attack the bad dragon that knocked their home out of the tree.

"Maleficent!?" Pete wandered around the castle in the Enchanted Domain, wondering where his boss had disappeared to. "Where did she run off to? Not even leaving a note or anything." The minion decided to check the throne room again, and as he entered the room, Maleficent appeared in a pillar of green flames. The witch flinched, clutching her staff as she held herself up. "Maleficent!"

Pete ran up to her and tried to help her up, only to get smacked in the face by her staff. "I don't need your help."

"Owwww! You know that hurts, right?" he asked. Not wanting to anger his boss, Pete had no choice but to watch Maleficent limp up the stone steps to her throne and sit down. He noticed her injuries, somewhat concerned about her well being and where she disappeared to. "What happened to ya, anyways?"

"It's none of your business," she said. "Just get me something to drink. I need to recover after...trying to seek potential minions in that colorful world." Without a word, Pete nodded and walked off to give what his boss wishes. Maleficent leaned back in her throne, recalling Sora's response to her back in the forest about where Kairi's heart had been during her first attempt of conquest throughout the universe. "So...that boy had turned into a Heartless?...How did he come back after losing his heart? That is impossible...Unless..." She scoffed, figuring out what had saved him, or in this case, who saved him. "Their relationship...Their hearts being one...He's very lucky, but eventually, that luck will soon run out."

Yen Sid paced around in his study in the Mysterious Tower, waiting for Riku to report in with his scouting across the different worlds. Earlier, he had spoken with Celestia earlier, something about an important matter with a threat from her world that would dare trespass on a very royal event within the next couple weeks. She hadn't received any word from her student about the message she had sent earlier, afraid that her letter went unnoticed and Spike forgot to give Twilight the urgent message. All she knew of the threat was that they were going to arrive at some point, though when or what their purpose is, there was never a description depicting the villain's goals.

Sensing that if the enemies struck and Sora and Kairi can't stop them on their own, the wizard couldn't help but agree as he too knew that there would be a massive battle that may take place. As strong as Sora was, he can't handle everything on his own. Yen Sid didn't have to wait much longer, the door to his study opening as the silver-haired teen walked in, bowing respectfully to the wise old man after closing the door.

"I got your message, Master Yen Sid," Riku said. "What's going on? Is there a world in trouble?"

"Yes, unfortunately. But instead of Heartless, it is more against a threat to a kingdom of that world. A world that is far too peaceful to ever be tainted by evil and darkness." Yen Sid pulled out a book and opened it up, showing the world that was in trouble. "This world is where I had sent Sora for his training, but also for him to keep the world safe from the Heartless that have begun to appear."

"So that's where Sora's been." Riku looked over the world, eyeing the grand castle on top and the small town at the bottom. "It does seem peaceful, but looks can always be deceiving...But, why send Sora somewhere that's been peaceful? And so far from every other world?"

"I've actually made contact with this world's ruler, though I've withheld this information since the world is quite far from here, practically on the edge of the cosmos." Riku wrote down the coordinates of the world from the book. "I'll let them know you're arriving within a week. Head for the castle that you see in the world, and you'll find the ruler there. She isn't hard to miss."

"I'll be on my way." The teen bowed again and headed for the door. He paused before putting his hand on the doorknob, looking back at the wizard. "By the way, Master, have you heard anything from Kairi? Aside from her coming back to your tower to report any Heartless activity, I have no idea where she's been."

"You may find her soon enough, Riku. I assure you that she and Sora are perfectly alright." Riku nodded, not wanting to question his master, taking his leave to head out for this new world. Yen Sid watched from his window as Riku's Gummi ship flew off into the sky, headed out to Equestria. "I better let Celestia know he's on his way now. He's going to be in for quite the surprise when he makes it there."

The wizard chuckled as he headed into his chambers with the magical mirrors to give the alicorn princess his news. Whatever dangerous threat would attack Celestia's castle, he had confidence that his three pupils would be enough to stop them.

A week of traveling through space was pretty boring for Riku, occasionally making a few stops on other worlds for a while to gather any supplies he needed and rest from flying around for hours on end. The teen looked at his map, noting how far this new world Yen Sid had known about from even the farthest of worlds that seemed closer than this one. He had spent nearly away from his best friend/rival, though that wasn't as bad as knowing Sora was kept in a comatose state for almost a year, his memories being put back together after he climbed up to the top of Castle Oblivion. How he didn't lose his own was a mystery, but since he had to climb up from the deepest part of the basement in that castle, it didn't seem to count as he escaped from the darkness and back into the light.

Eventually, his ship finally came upon the far off world, recognizing the same design like it was in the book. "There it is. Wonder what Sora's been doing here in this world. I bet he's probably gone insane from a lack of a challenge." As Riku steered the ship up toward the castle, he couldn't help but wonder what his master meant about meeting with as well as Riku. "Did Kairi know where Sora went to? Is that why I haven't seen her back at the tower or on the islands?" His lips curled into a smirk. "Did those two finally get together when I wasn't around? Heheh. Sora, you're going to be teased three ways from next year."

Flying the Gummi ship into the world's atmosphere, Riku felt his body change from his magic, fitting him in to the world's inhabitants. He didn't pay it much attention as he flew down toward the castle. Unfortunately, there was a large pink barrier that surrounded the entire palace and the city it stood before on the mountainside. Because of this important event that shouldn't be disturbed, this world's ruler must have taken precautions to keep the peace and keep out the intruders that threatened to enter. He flew his ship down to a flat stretch of land at the base of the mountain, making sure no one noticed the odd spaceship hovering down to their planet.

After landing the Gummi ship, cloaking it to keep it hidden from the unknown inhabitants, Riku got up from his seat. He suddenly fell flat on his face, groaning in pain as he had somehow lost his footing. His limbs trembled as he tried to sit himself up, and as he looked down at his hands, they were now hooves. This time he let out a groan of annoyance, forced to learn to walk on all fours with his transformed body, approaching the mirror placed in his cockpit. He got a good look at himself, brushing some of his bangs out of his face.

"Oh, great." Riku stared at his new form in this world: a white pony with big blue-green eyes, his silver hair still stayed the same style and his white and black vest remained unchanged, though he was lacking any other clothing below his waist. He shuffled as he felt something shift around his sides, turning to his side as he spotted a pair of wings, having turned into a pegasus. What made him flinch, however, was what was on his flanks, which looked like a tattoo of his Keyblade, Way to the Dawn. It matched his weapon perfectly: the blade a red, purple, and blue, almost looking like a demonic wing, the teeth an angel wing, and the guard is curved around the hilt with an angel and demonic wing. "...This is...weird. I'm a horse...or, pegasus...and I have an odd tattoo of my Keyblade...on my butt."

After pondering the odd mark that was on his behind, he finally steered his vision away from his new body, reminding himself of his mission to help this world's ruler. Riku left his ship and looked up at the protected castle. He looked down at his wings, moving them about as if he had known how to control them since he was born. Giving them a test flap, they responded well to his movements, leaping up and hovering in the air for a little. After getting a feel to flying, he rose up the mountain to the protected city.

Riku landed near the entrance to the city, noticing a few stallions in gold armor protecting the gates outside of the barrier. Before he could walk through, the guards crossed their spears, barring him from entry.

"Halt!" one of the said. "State your business being here in Canterlot!"

"'Canterlot'? Odd name for a city." Riku sighed, knowing he was probably going to be searched by the guards before they allow him access inside. "I'm here to see your kingdom's leader. I have an important meeting with him...or her. Whoever's in charge."

"What business do you have with the princess?" the second guard questioned.

"It's about the threatening message your princess received some time ago." The guards pointed their spears at Riku, assuming him as the one who sent the threat. "I'm here to help you guys, not cause any harm!"

"Then step through the barrier," the first guard said, both armored stallions bringing their weapons back to their sides. "Our captain's magical bubble is keeping Canterlot and the castle safe ever since we had received the threat. It pushes out anypony with evil intentions, keeping those who wish to ruin the royal wedding between our captain and his fiancée." After hearing what the barrier was meant to do, Riku swallowed the lump in his throat, hoping he wasn't considered one of those evildoers. "Go through and we'll see. If you don't pass, then I suggest you leave or risk getting taken into custody if you want to pick a fight."

The teen took in a deep breath, easing his nerves and praying with all his might that his darkness wouldn't prevent him from entering. He slowly approached the magic barrier, feeling the defensive shield pulse as it was strengthened by whoever their captain was. Riku shut his eyes tightly as he shakily pushed his hoof into it. His foreleg passed through, the rest of him slowly walking through, cringing in anticipation for an alarm to blare out or to be forcefully shoved out. He made it all the way through, the guards grumbling in annoyance as the stallion was telling the truth.

"Darn it. You're allowed into the city, but don't hope you can enter the castle so easily with all the preparations slowly being made for the wedding." The guards stood back at their posts, Riku breathing a sigh of relief as he walked through the streets of Canterlot.

"That was close," the teen uttered. "I thought for sure that barrier would have sensed my darkness, even if it is controlled...And it's a royal wedding between the guards' captain and a princess." As Riku wandered around the city, aside from the rich noble ponies acting haughty and high above those without any money, there were several guards stationed every few blocks on the roads, observing every pony that passed them. "No wonder security's this tight. Anything royalty does always attracts attention, and if the threat is to hold the bride hostage, then whoever wants to ruin this wedding must want a big ransom or rule over this world."

The Keyblade wielder made his way through the streets until he reached the castle. There were a lot more guards keeping watch of the walls protecting the palace, which meant there was no way he could just walk through the gates and see the princess. Although, a princess ruling the kingdom was odd for Riku, most kingdoms he knew of ruled by a king or queen, not the offspring of said king or queen. If he was going to meet with this princess, unsure if the ruler was the captain's fiancée or not, he was going to have to sneak in.

Riku walked along the walls, nonchalantly passing by as his eyes scanned for an opening. He found his chance around the back of the castle, leaping up over the wall and running into the gardens. Sneaking past the guards by hiding in the foliage, he crept inside the castle, which didn't have many guards patrolling on the inside. In fact, the halls were all surprisingly empty: no maids, no servants, no nobles or guests, at least not in the halls. Riku spent a while wandering around, trying to figure out where to find the throne room or even the princess's bedchambers.

He managed to find the throne room, entering through the massive doors, and no one was around. Riku figured everyone inside must be busy setting the wedding up in a different section of the castle, or they were out to get those supplies. Deciding to take a look around, he looked at the window murals, the sun shining through them as they told some kind of tale of the kingdom's past. He raised a brow as he saw a couple of them that had Sora in them, one where he and six other mares beat a dark winged unicorn, or horned pegasus, and another where he attacked an odd looking creature that could make a zoo with all the different animal limbs and appendages, though his jacket was a rainbow with seven Keyblades around him.

"Sora, did you meddle with this world? Full of talking horses?" While he stared at the mural, his ears perked up at the sound of hooves clacking from the throne room doors. Acting in self defense, he stood on his hind legs and summoned his Keyblade, holding his weapon next to his head while his left forehoof pointed at the guard. "Who's there!?"

"I think I should be asking you the same thing." Instead of it being a royal guard, Riku stared at a pink mare, though unlike the unicorns he had seen outside, she had a horn and a pair of wings. Her mane and tail were in yellow, dark pink, and lavender streaks, wearing royal gold regalia. "Who are you?"

"...Are...you the princess of this castle?" Riku asked, lowering his guard a little.

"No, though my aunt is. What do you want with her?" she asked.

"I've been called to help her with the one who threatened to attack the castle during this wedding I heard about." He didn't notice the mare's frown deepen for a second as he looked back at the windows. When he looked back at her, he fell back on all fours, dismissing his Keyblade, which had shocked the mare for a moment. "Just make sure not to try to sneak up on me. I get a bit jumpy."

"...I see," she said nervously.

"So...who's the captain of the guard marrying? Your aunt?" Riku asked.

"No. That would be me. I'm the bride-to-be." The Keyblade wielder was a little surprised, though it did make more sense since this pony was pretty beautiful. "So, you've come to help the other guards protect my wedding from the...threat?"

"Yes, ma'am. My name's Riku," he said as he bowed to the princess, showing his respect as he introduced himself. "Don't let my age fool you. I'm a powerful warrior where I'm from."

"Yes...especially with that...sword of yours that mysteriously disappeared." The teen mentally facepalmed, or facehooved with his new body in this world. "I'll show you to Aunt Celestia. She and my future husband could use some extra help."

"Thank you...Umm, I don't think I got your name, your highness," Riku said.

"...Mi Amore Cadenza. That is my name," she said, walking over to the throne room doors. Riku followed after her, Cadenza leading the pegasus down to a corridor, though not in the direction where Celestia was currently at right now. Her lavender eyes flashed green for a brief moment, looking back at the teen who had come to help her. She stopped in front of a random room after traversing through a few corridors, reaching into the back section of the castle. "She's just through here, checking any other RSVPs from actual guests for my special day."

"Thank you, Princess Cadenza." Riku opened the doors and stepped inside, but it was just an empty room. "Wait, your highness, I thought you said-"

Suddenly, Riku was shot with a beam of green magic aimed right at the back of his head, rendering him unconscious as he flew into the wall. Cadenza slowly stepped inside, giggling maliciously as she slowly closed the doors.

"You're not going to ruin my special day, Riku," she said coldly. "I've waited a long while for this moment."

It was a beautiful day in Ponyville as the gang decided to have themselves a picnic out in an empty field, enjoying the cloudless sunny sky while snacking on some food they brought. Donald and Goofy had to return back to their world after returning back to Ponyville from Spike's dragon quest, though not without getting a sample of some of the cider Sora still saved after Cider Season a couple months ago. As disappointed as they were hearing that this cider was only made once every year, the two couldn't wait until Cider Season came up next year, hoping to buy themselves a barrel to share with King Mickey and their other friends back home.

While the mares were busy conversing and eating sandwiches, Sora looked over at Canterlot far in the distance on the mountainside. It was odd that no one else seemed to notice the strange pink bubble that surrounded the entire city. He didn't have to ponder on it much when everyone heard Spike running up to them from Ponyville.

"Guys!" the baby dragon called out, panting and wheezing as he tried to catch his breath. "H-Hey...T-There's a...Phew! Hold on. Gotta...catch my-" Spike's cheeks suddenly puffed out as he belched out green flames, a letter from Celestia appearing on the picnic blanket.

Twilight unrolled the scroll and read what was written out loud to everyone. "'Dear Twilight, I am sure all of you are just as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot.'" Everyone looked at each other in confusion, except for Spike as he struggled to breath after forcefully burping, none of them having no clue about this wedding. "Weird. I wasn't informed about any weddings."

"Maybe it was that one letter that dragon Garble threw in the lava pool back in the Dragon Lands," Sora said.

"I hope it wasn't," Twilight said, loathing how careless those dragons were. "'I will be presiding over the ceremony, but I would like to have you and your friends help with preparations for this occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to perform the music.'"

"Oh my," Fluttershy gasped. "Such an honor."

"'Pinkie Pie, I don't think there would be anypony else who could host a perfect reception like you.'" Pinkie cheered and cartwheeled all over the place, Kairi quickly pulling a plate with a cake on it away from her tumbling before she ruined it. "'Applejack, you'll be in charge of the catering.'"

"Great! Finally, every one of them hoity toity types who will attend will finally taste what real food tastes like!" The others agreed, unable to wait to taste what the farm mare would make.

"Pth. Count me out. Weddings are boring," Rainbow said with a yawn.

"'Rainbow Dash, I would appreciate if you could perform your sonic rainboom after the bride and groom speak their vows.'" The cyan pegasus stuffed her hoof in her mouth as she yawned after hearing her being asked to pull off the sonic rainboom for the engaged couple.

"...I take it back! This wedding's going to be awesome!" she cheered.

"'Rarity will be responsible for designing the dresses for the bride and her bridesmaids.'" Rarity stammered, seeming delirious at such an important job. She soon passed out on the grass with a wide grin on her face. "'Sora and Kairi will help out with anything the others need, along with making sure the bride and groom are protected from any suspicious activities.'"

"Suspicious activities?" Sora asked.

"Considering this is a royal wedding, Sora, I think some ponies might try to do something to hold the couple hostage," Kairi said. "Or maybe Heartless could appear if they can sense the strong hearts radiating love from the couple."

"But we have that and they haven't attacked us yet," Sora joked, wrapping a wing around the pink unicorn's back.

"'And for you, Twilight, you'll play the most important role for the wedding: Make sure everything is going according to plan. See you all very soon. Princess Celestia.'" Twilight stared at the letter in confusion, flipping it around to see if there was anything else she missed. "But, I don't get it. Who's getting married?"

"Oh. I think I was supposed to give you this first," Spike said, grinning sheepishly as he pulled out another scroll.

The lavender unicorn rolled her eyes, Sora snickering at her reaction as he took a sip of punch. "'Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and-'" Twilight gasped at who was going to be marrying this princess. "My brother!?"

Sora nearly choked on his drink, turning his face away from everyone as he did a spit take, the others just as shocked as he was. "You have a brother!? Since when!?"

"Oh yeah. We didn't mention him at all since we came to Ponyville," Spike said. "He's more Twilight's actual brother than mine, since I'm not a pony and all."

"Well, congratulations, Twilight," Kairi said. "Your brother's going to marry a princess. That's great news!"

"...Yeah. Great," Twilight sarcastically said, lowering the letter to reveal her digruntled expression. "He is such an idiot! He couldn't bother to tell me about the wedding himself, but instead, he sends me a stupid wedding invitation! A piece of paper! Thanks alot, Shining Armor!" The unicorn stomped around the picnic blanket, levitating a sandwich that comically looked like a face. "I mean, honestly, how hard is it to tell me personally!?" She then used her magic to move the food like it was talking, deepening her voice to sound like a male. "'Hey, Twilight, I thought I'd let you know I'm going to make an important decision in my life that could change everything. Oh! Never mind! I'll just give you a letter cause I'm the biggest doofus on the face of Equestria and don't share everything with my sister like I always did when you were a filly!'"

Twilight slammed the sandwich to the ground, wasting a good amount of food while snorting angrily. "...Uhh, Twilight? You got some issues with your brother or something?" Sora asked.

"...No," she sighed, her anger melting away to disappointment. "Shining Armor and I have been so close ever since we were young. He's my B.B.B.F.F." Twilight was met with silence, everyone except for Spike staring at her in confusion over the odd acronym she made up. "...Big Brother Best Friend Forever." The ponies now understood what it meant, but that only made the lavender mare sigh sadly. "Before I came here and learned about friendship from all of you, Shining Armor was the only pony I ever accepted as a friend when I was little."

Sad music began to play around them as Twilight looked at Canterlot sadly. A bird flew down to her, stretching her hoof out for it to land and nuzzled it.

[Twilight]
When I was just a filly, I found it rather silly
To see how many other ponies I could meet
I had my books to read, didn't know that I would ever need
Other ponies to make my life complete

But there was one colt that I cared for
I knew he would be there for me

My big brother, best friend forever!
Like two peas in a pod, we did everything together

He taught me how to fly a kite (Best friend forever!)
We never had a single fight (We did everything together!)
We shared our hopes, we shared our dreams
I miss him more than I realized
It seems...

[Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Sora, Kairi]
Your big brother, best friend forever
Like two peas in a pod, you did everything together

[Twilight]
And though he's, oh, so far away
I hoped that he would stay
My big brother best friend
Forever...
Forever...

Tears fell down Twilight's cheeks as she looked up at the castle when the song ended. Sora felt bad for her, not really knowing what it was like to have an older sibling, but from seeing the relationships between Applejack and Rarity and their little sisters, she really looked up to Shining Armor. He approached the sad unicorn, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry, Twilight," Sora assured Twilight. "I'm pretty sure he misses you too. And you should really be happy for him. He's lucky enough to marry a princess!...Whoever this Mi Amore Cadenza is."

"Maybe." Twilight dried away her tears as they headed back to the others. "My brother is pretty special though. They don't let just anyone be captain of the royal guard."

The stallion blanched and looked at Twilight in utter shock. Thoughts around Sora's first week in Equestria came back to him, meeting the royal guards after being accused as a threat to the entire kingdom when the Heartless appeared. That white stallion in the gold and purple armor was the captain. That captain was Shining Armor. Shining Armor was Twilight's brother. Her brother had a vendetta against him, still suspicious of him and his abilities, and that same stallion was his unicorn friend's brother.

"...Please tell me you're joking," Sora pleaded.

"No. He's the captain of the royal guard. Unlike the others with their gold armor, his rank his known with his purple and gold suit of armor. He even lead a group to Ponyville to find the stallion who was leading the Heart-" Twilight froze, the others all staring at Sora, the unicorn now realizing that her brother and the pegasus stallion had met before. She looked at him, seeing his face turned a bit pale. "...Oh...That was you..."

"Yup. I met your brother alright," Sora said. "This is gonna be a fun little reunion."

As the ponies and baby dragon got on the train headed for Canterlot, most of the group were excited about the wedding. Twilight was still peeved at her brother, having information on his daily life withheld from her, almost going around borderline obsession over the stallion. Sora fidgeted in his seat, knowing just how awkward it was going to be to officially meet Shining Armor, though he had a feeling there was going to be some confrontation, but it would be between him and the unicorn stallion or Twilight and her brother. He hoped it would be the latter.

Kairi sat down next to her boyfriend, a little curious as to how ended up meeting Shining Armor without knowing who he was. "So, Sora, what exactly happened to you after you crash landed here in Equestria?"

"You can thank Rainbow Dash for introducing me to Twilight's brother," he said, Rainbow hearing him from a seats ahead, sinking to the ground as she nervously chuckled. "When the Heartless first showed up, they got Rainbow and almost killed her. I helped her, but she thought I was working with them when she clearly saw me fighting them off. She called the guard, they managed to catch me and put me in chains after saving her again from the Heartless, and I met Princess Celestia that same day. I would have gone willingly not to cause anymore trouble, but SOMEONE had to instigate Shining and his comrades to chase after me!"

"I said I was sorry!" Rainbow shouted. "Please don't bring that up again!"

"Too late!" Sora laughed as the cyan mare groaned, never letting that first week knowing him go away. "When I was captured, Shining was a bit...violent. I took the hits though, just messing with him a little bit."

"Then why didn't you try to escape?" Kairi asked, making the pegasus frown. "You know you could have gotten out easily, right?"

"...I could have, but being around authority with magic none of them had ever seen before, trying to break out?" Sora gently poked Kairi's forehead. "I think you can put two and two together and get the solution to that problem."

"...Right. I see what you mean." The train chugged up along the mountain and reached the magnificent capital city of Canterlot. The locomotive passed through the magic barrier, everyone gasping in surprise as they phased through the pink bubble. "Whoa. What was that?"

"Didn't you notice Canterlot was protected by that shield back in Ponyville?" Sora asked. "It must be a barrier to keep out uninvited guests, if you know what I mean." The train stopped at the station, which was packed with royal guards. The group left the car, being cautious of the stoic stallions on full alert for any suspicious activity, though a majority of them looked at Sora. "Well, this really is gonna be a fun reunion. Can't blame these guys for being on patrol every single minute of the day. Weddings seem to bring out the weirdest of people."

Pinkie suddenly sneezed, shooting confetti out of her nose, though not minding it as she bounced on into the city. "...Or someone like Pinkie Pie."

"You girls all go on ahead and help get things started for the wedding," Twilight said as she went on ahead. "I got a brother to 'congratulate'." Sora and Kairi caught up with Twilight, passing through the streets until they reached the castle. The guards recognized Twilight and let her through, the trio entering the courtyard as they saw the captain ordering his soldiers to different posts on the balcony above the entrance to the castle. "Shining Armor! I got a bone to pick with you, mister!"

"Huh? Twily!" Shining Armor took off his helmet and looked down to see his sister. "You finally-" The captain stopped as he saw Sora, his happiness replaced with anger as he leapt down to them with his spear in his aura. "You again!? Why are you here!?"

"Oh boy. Here we go." Sora was about ready to defend himself, but Twilight stepped in front of him.

"Shining Armor, Sora is here, as a friend. He is not the enemy!" she said.

"He's caused trouble with my soldiers when he fled from us in Ponyville!" Shining argued. "I know Celestia gave an order not to attack him, but I'm not letting somepony with strange magic like his come in and ruin the wedding!"

"He's here to help, and he's not dangerous!" Twilight argued back. "He's saved me and my friends several times in the past year, and he and Kairi are going to help keep this wedding going, which I don't think I rightly approve!" The lavender unicorn grabbed Shining's spear and tossed it aside, the older sibling backing away as his little sister was more dangerous than the teen he still didn't trust. "How dare you not tell me about the wedding, Shining!? I'm your sister!"

"B-But, Twily-" Twilight pressed a hoof to her brother's lips, silencing any protests he had.

"No more stuff against Sora! I demand an explanation for all of this written on a piece of paper!" she shouted.

Shining Armor sighed in defeat, putting his grudge on Sora behind him for now. "Sorry, sis. But I've been really busy. You've seen all the security around the city and castle, right?"

"Why yes. I have. From a mile away," Twilight grumbled. "A big wedding's coming up, with you and some princess."

"That's not exactly the major problem. The princess had received a threatening letter, where the sender plans on trying to take over Canterlot, or whatever it is they plan to do. I've been assigned to give additional protection, which you need to see." Shining Armor took in a deep breath and charged magic into his horn. Aiming his appendage up to the sky, a pink beam of light shot up and hit the barrier, the energy in it growing stronger to better protect the city. After the spell was cast, Twilight, Sora, and Kairi watched as the captain cringed, rubbing his head as he received a headache from releasing the powerful spell. "It's been my top priority to protect Canterlot until this blows over."

"...Oh. I see. I can see how important it is to protect Canterlot." Shining lead the three through the castle until they reached an archway after he gave his demonstration on strengthening the barrier he created. "Do you even know who's threatening the kingdom?"

"I thought that it would have been him," the unicorn stallion grumbled, looking back at Sora. "But he passed through my barrier, which means he isn't the threat I thought he was."

"You know, if you want my help, you're going to have to be nicer to me," Sora said. "I did help save Equestria a few times in the past, so I deserve at least a helmet so all your troops know I'm the good guy."

"Don't you start with me," Shining warned.

"Shining Armor, stop it. Without Sora, we would have suffered under eternal darkness and chaos." The captain winced, hating having to argue with his little sister. "I'm still upset that you didn't even tell me you were getting married. Am I not important to you anymore?"

"Of course you are." Shining hugged Twilight, nuzzling his baby sister. "You're my little sister. You're always important to me, no matter what." He pulled away and smirked at her. "But, I can understand if you don't want to come to my wedding and be my best mare."

"B-Best mare!? Me!?" The stallion nodded, getting pulled into a tighter hug by his sister. "I'd be honored!" Twilight quickly shoved him away, back to being the angry little sister. "But I'm still mad at you! You're marrying somepony I don't even know! Who the hay is this 'Princess Mi Amore Cadenza'!? I don't know anypony like that!"

Shining only chuckled at Twilight's response, only further confusing her. "Twilight, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is your old foalsitter, Cadence."

"...C-Cadence? Really?" Twilight smiled, Sora and Kairi having no clue who they were talking about. "Oh my gosh! Cadence is only the most amazing foalsitter in the history of ever!"

"Who's Cadence?" Kairi asked.

Shining pulled out a few pictures from inside his armor, holding them to Sora and Kairi. "This is Cadence. She foalsat Twily for our parents, and we were a couple growing up in school. She doesn't really like using her full name all that much and goes by Cadence. I'm a little surprised Twilight didn't realize it until I told her."

Twilight blushed in embarrassment, Sora and Kairi looking over the pictures. In all of them, they showed a pink alicorn mare, her hair and tail streaked purple, yellow, and dark pink. Her mane was tied in a pony tail, looking about as young as the Keyblade wielders in the photos. One alluring pose of Cadence winking to the camera, something clearly meant for Shining to ogle at to remember his lover, they saw her cutie mark, which was a blue heart that seemed to be made out of crystal. The other pictures had her with Shining Armor as a teenager, filly Twilight, and even with their parents and Celestia.

"Wow. You're a lucky stallion, Shining Armor," Sora complimented.

"I sure am. Cadence is wonderful. She's sweet, beautiful, kind-hearted, beautiful, smart-" As Shining got lost in his bride-to-be's beauty, Kairi quickly shoved the pictures back to him, stopping his lovesick ranting.

"We get it. She's beautiful," Kairi giggled.

"And she has unique magical power!" Twilight added. "What other unicorn can spread love wherever she goes!? Nopony but Cadence, and my brother's marrying her!" The lavender unicorn began bouncing around Shining like a little filly excited about getting a new doll. "You're marrying Cadence~! You're marrying Cadence~!"

She soon bumped into the pink alicorn they were talking about, though her hair was longer and hung down almost to her hooves. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Cadence!" Twilight then began to do some odd dance, like it was a kind of greeting. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

As she singsonged her child-like greeting with her ex-foalsitter, she pranced in place, then crouched low while covering her eyes, then sat back up, moving her forelegs forward to clap Cadence's hooves, which the alicorn didn't do, and ended it by turning around and shaking her rump at her. Sora nearly lost it at the last part, stifling his snickering when Twilight waggled her behind right in the alicorn's face. Unlike the other ponies amused by the hilarious motions the unicorn made, Cadence didn't seem all that interested, mostly annoyed, unlike how she appeared in the photos.

"...What are you doing?" Cadence asked

"Cadence, it's me! Twilight!" The alicorn just walked past Twilight, not even caring about her.

Sora and Kairi found this odd. If Cadence loved to watch over Twilight when she was little, she had to have at least recognized her, but she didn't. The princess brushed past the Keyblade wielders, but as she did, Kairi felt something off about the alicorn. It might be due to her abilities as a Princess of Heart, but she sensed an air of cold-heartedness in her, not a single ounce of love to be seen from her heart. Cadence stood next to Shining Armor, her fiancé wrapping a hoof around her and nuzzled her lovingly.

"I've got to get back to my station," he said. "While I'm working, Cadence is handling all of the preparations for the wedding. I think I speak for the both of us when I say we're both excited to have you here, Twilight. Isn't that right, hon?"

"...Absolutely," Cadence said with a suspicious smirk.

"Great. And, don't mind Sora or Kairi watching over your shoulder, Cadence. Princess Celestia assigned them to be our personal bodyguards, even though I can take care of myself." Sora rolled his eyes at the slight ego Shining had. "Is there somepony you prefer to watch you?"

"Hmm..." Cadence looked between the two otherworldly stallion and mare. Her eyes trailed down to their flanks, looking at their cutie marks. Though she didn't show it through her expression, her wings fidgeted slightly out of nervousness, something Kairi seemed to notice. "...I don't think anything will go wrong. It's probably just a dumb prank some dumb colts pulled off to get some attention."

"Well, whatever you say, Princess Cadence," Sora said, bowing to the alicorn.

"Call me Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," Cadence corrected harshly.

"Oh...Whatever you say, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." Shining headed back to his post, while Mi Amore Cadenza walked off to another part of the castle. Sora and Kairi looked at each other, finding the pink alicorn's behavior quite odd when she stared at them. "Ok...She's really...demanding."

"Yeah," Kairi agreed. "And...I can't help but feel like...something was wrong with her."

"Of course there is," Twilight said. "My old foalsitter and future sister-in-law isn't who I thought she was back then."

"Let's just make sure everything goes smoothly for your brother's wedding. Maybe he'll drop the whole misunderstanding of me back then and get to know the real me for once." Twilight and Sora went on ahead to oversee the preparations throughout the castle.

Kairi couldn't help but feel like there was more to Cadence than she appeared to be. From her pictures, she seemed so nice, and Twilight looked up to her when she was little. Now, though, it seemed like she was rude, haughty, and didn't show any affection toward her future husband. What really bugged the Princess of Heart was her eyes: cold and uncaring, almost as if the mare was under a mask, pretending to be the mare that used to be who Twilight had known. She eventually shrugged her shoulders, thinking maybe the princess was going through a lot of stress making all the preparations by herself when Shining Armor was busy protecting the castle. She hurried and caught up with Sora and Twilight, hoping she was entirely wrong.

Overseeing the wedding preparations was a great annoyance to Twilight. Everything was going perfectly well so far with what she managed to get checked off, but Cadence seemed to hate everything. First was Applejack's station, helping the chefs in the kitchen make the food for the reception. Her apple fritters were delicious as always, one stuffed in the lavender unicorn's mouth to snap her out of her grumpy mood. When the bride came in to check on the food, she tried one, but almost seemed disgusted after taking a bite, lying to Applejack about how much she "love-love-loved" them. Even when the farm mare gave Cadence a bag of the fritters to take, knowing how starving she must be for all the stress she's going through, Twilight watched her toss the bag in the trash before she left to check on anything else.

When it came to checking on Rarity making the dresses for Cadence and her hoof picked bridesmaids, the demanding princess didn't like the unicorn's designs when it looked perfect enough for her. Kairi was with Twilight at the time, and when her bridesmaids thought they looked beautiful, Cadence overruled their opinions and demanded the train to be longer and a different color. What Kairi found odd was that the three mares the alicorn chose to be her bridesmaids didn't seem to be close friends to her, just some random ponies she picked out of the blue.

Then came the party for the reception, Sora assisting Pinkie Pie with setting up her Pinkie Pie Style wedding reception. Though it seemed a bit childish, it could definitely liven up the wedding, everyone celebrating the newlyweds marriage and having fun at the same time. Though, when Cadence came to see how it was going, she practically insulted the party pony's reception relating to a six-year-old's birthday party. Pinkie took it as a compliment, ignorant of the fact that the pink alicorn bride hated it. Sora was shocked that someone who actually liked to watch over kids, especially Twilight when she was little, hated to be around a party like this.

With none of the others needing assistance, the pegasus stallion wandered around the castle, hoping to find Celestia, or even Luna. "This is turning out to be a really stressful royal wedding," Sora muttered to himself. "Twilight isn't all that happy with every decision Cadence, or Mi Amore Cadenza, is making. And Shining said she hated to be called that, too." As he turned a corner, he accidentally bumped into Kairi, both teens falling over each other. "Oof! Sorry, Kairi."

"No, it's fine," she said, Sora helping the unicorn back up on her hooves. "Quite a busy day, huh?"

"More like stressful." The stallion scratched his head, recalling the fun party Pinkie planned that Cadence had disliked. "She didn't like the party Pinkie had planned out for the reception. I know it's more suited for...kids, but I thought it was fun. I know Cadence wants everything perfect, but she didn't have to be that harsh."

"Well, she does have to make all the decisions for her big day on her own. Shining Armor's a bit too busy protecting the castle and the princess is the one who's going through all the stress." Sora nodded his head in agreement, knowing an event of grave importance resting on one's shoulders could be really taxing for one's nerves. It didn't help her knowing that there was someone who threatened to ruin their wedding and take over Canterlot. "In fact, I'm feeling a little stressed too."

"Eh. We've fought Heartless a lot worse than having a drama princess bark out complaints on her special day." Sora looked down the hall, oblivious to the slightly confused expression on Kairi's face. "I wonder where Celestia's at. I'm curious about what exactly we're supposed to be on the lookout for. Barely any Heartless appeared in Canterlot, though they might with us being around until the wedding actually starts."

Before he could walk down the hall Kairi had walked in from, the unicorn grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back, nuzzling his cheek. "That can wait for a little bit. I think the both of us deserve a little...'break', if you know what I mean?"

"Uhh, I think our top priority is to-" Sora gasped as he felt one of her hooves tease one of his wings, pressing into a very sensitive spot that made him shudder.

"Oh my...So much tension in your muscles," Kairi purred, kneading her hoof into his flaring wing while peppering his neck with soft kisses. "When have you ever truly relaxed, Sora?"

"Mmmmf...K-Kairi..." She dragged the slowly relaxed teen off into an empty room in the corridor, unable to think clearly with the light stimulation from the massage he was receiving.

"Shhhh," Kairi shushed, closing the door so no one would disturb them. Before Sora could protest, her assault on his outstretched wings continued, pressing him forward until he was on his hind legs, his back pressed against the wall. "Kiss me, stud."

He didn't have much of a choice as the unicorn pressed her lips against his in a deep kiss. Sora began to grow lightheaded from the ministrations to his wings and the feel of his lover's soft lips. His eyes closed, giving in to the sensations, wrapping his hooves around Kairi. Lost in the passion, he didn't notice her eyes open up, her lips lightly curled in a smirk as her blue eyes turned green. Her horn began to glow a green aura, the magical spell she cast flowing into the pegasus's head.

Later that evening, everyone gathered outside a cafe to relax after doing whatever Cadence requested for her wedding. Twilight came out of the building with her drink, sitting down with her friends with a scowl on her face.

"I know what you're all thinking," she said. "Cadence is the worst bride-to-be ever!"

"'Who, me?'" Spike asked in a high-pitched voice, holding onto a small figurine of the pink alicorn in a white dress.

"Spike, that's supposed to be for the cake!" Applejack scolded.

"Twilight, I don't know why you think Cadence is being awful," Rarity said. "She may be a little bossy, but this is a very special day for her. She just wants everything to go perfectly for her wedding and it's stressing her out."

"That doesn't excuse her for what she did today!" Twilight argued. "Applejack, when Cadence said she 'love-love-loved' your hors d'eouvres, she threw the bag of food you gave her in the trash!"

"...Ah think she was tryin' to spare mah feelings," Applejack said.

"AJ, I don't think that counts for hiding how she felt about your cooking," Kairi said. "That's disrespecting your food and being insincere."

"Well, Cadence did raise her voice at one of my birds during our rehearsal." Twilight was glad someone else thought she was rude, but her excitement died when Fluttershy brought one of her birds she had used for her bird choir. "But, he actually was singing a bit off-key."

The bird let out a shrill chirp that made everyone cringe, though Sora didn't seem to be affected, almost staring off into space, his drink untouched. Twilight grew frustrated as the others didn't seem to agree with her: Pinkie ignored the unicorn and began playing around with Shining's wedding cake figurine, Spike assisting her as they mushed the figurine's faces together while making kissing noises, and Rainbow Dash was too busy practicing pulling off her sonic rainboom the whole day.

"Darn it! Sora, Kairi, you two can-" As Twilight turned to face the Keyblade wielders, she noticed the blank expression on Sora's face. As soon as they all met up at the cafe, it looked like he was on autopilot. "Sora?...Sora!"

The stallion snapped his head up and shook his head, somehow feeling a little dizzy. "Uhh, what? What were we talking about?"

"Were you even paying attention!? Cadence has been acting awful to everypony, and she doesn't deserve to be with Shining Armor! Or anypony!" Twilight slammed her hooves down on the table, knocking everyone's drinks over.

"...Maybe you're being a bit too possessive of your brother," Sora said, only angering the lavender mare further.

"I am NOT possessive!" she screamed. "I can't believe all of you are too caught up with this stupid wedding, not realizing that there shouldn't even be a wedding!"

Twilight ran off, leaving the others as she headed down the street to where her brother lived. "Sora's right. She's a little bit too possessive of her older brother."

"It's quite a shame." Everyone turned to find Cadence walk out from behind the building, having overheard their conversation earlier. "I thought things were going so well, but I guess my stress has just gotten to me."

"Sorry about Twilight, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza," Applejack said.

"It's fine. She'll come around eventually," Cadence said. "But, I wanted to give you girls some good news. I've decided to make all of you my bridesmaids instead of those other three mares."

The mares all gasped in surprise, finding it an incredible honor to being the princess's maids of honor. "But, what about your other bridesmaids?" Kairi asked. "Why did you let them go?"

"I just thought it would be better if Twilight and her friends filled in while she stood by Shining as his best mare. Even you can be one of my bridesmaids, Kairi." As much as Kairi would love to be a maid of honor in a wedding, she didn't seem to trust Cadence all that much to stand by her side.

"Thanks, but I'd rather be part of the royal guard and keep watch over suspicious activity," Kairi said.

"Whatever suits you. Now, why don't you girls get to work on those dresses before the wedding?" The mares all quickly ran back to the castle without another word, wanting to get started getting their bridesmaids dresses designed and fitted. "Quite eager. I'd better head back to Shining's before he realizes I ran off without telling him. He can be a little overprotective of me."

Cadence flew off down the same path Twilight took, leaving the Keyblade wielding couple alone. Kairi noticed Sora was watching her leave with the same blank expression on his face.

"Sora, are you ok?" she asked, lightly shaking the stallion out of his daze.

"Huh?...Oh, uhh...yeah," Sora said, rubbing his head in confusion. "I think I'm just...tired...Did we do anything today?"

"...Like, overseeing preparations for the wedding? No, not that I know of." Kairi began to grow suspicious, not having seen Sora after they met with Cadence for the first time. "Did we do anything?"

"...I don't know..." Sora just sat in his seat, his mind drawing a blank as he tried to remember what happened. "...I'm probably going to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow at the rehearsal ceremony."

"Ok." As he stood up, Kairi gave him a light peck on the cheek. "Love you." Sora just grunted tiredly and headed back to the castle, somehow not returning the affection. As she watched him disappear down the road, the pink unicorn can't help but feel something was wrong with him. "Why did it feel like he wasn't really there? What is going on?"

The next morning, Kairi headed for the wedding hall with the others, finally meeting Princess Celestia again as she waited for them. Twilight, unfortunately wasn't with them, either having slept in or didn't want to take part in the wedding anymore. While the mares took their places to practice the ceremony, the Keyblade Master approached the white alicorn princess.

"Kairi. Good to see you again," Celestia greeted. "I'm glad you and Sora have come to help."

"Yeah, though not everything seems to be in order." Kairi looked over at Sora, his expression more blank and empty as he just stood next to Shining Armor as one of his best ponies. "There's been no trouble so far, but I can't help but feel like it's already here."

"I hope not. This wedding is important for my niece, and with Luna and I too busy looking over Canterlot to spot the threat from above, we need all the help we can get." Celestia looked around the wedding hall, almost concerned about something. "I thought that one of your friends would have shown up too, but he hasn't seemed to arrive yet."

"Someone else was supposed to help us?" Kairi asked.

"Yes. Yours and Sora's childhood friend, Riku." The unicorn gasped in shock. "Your master informed me that he was supposed to have been here a couple days ago, but I haven't heard of his presence since then. Maybe he got lost in another part of Equestria."

"Riku was supposed to be here?" If Master Yen Sid sent Riku to Equestria, then whatever this threat was must have been serious if they needed all three of them here.

Before she could question where their friend was, Celestia began the practice ceremony. Kairi stepped back to watch as their pony friends walked down the aisle, taking their places as Cadence's bridesmaids. Soon, Cadence came in, a couple guards opening the doors for her as she walked down to her husband-to-be, Shining grinning as she stood before him.

"Ok, then I will say a few words and you two will say your vows," Celestia said, watching her niece and future nephew-in-law nuzzle each other. She turned over to where Twilight was supposed to be as the best mare, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Twilight?"

The doors slammed open, Twilight standing defiantly behind them as her magic seemed to have crush the guards standing at attention from inside. "I'm right here! And I am NOT going to be standing next to her!"

Shining Armor cringed, chuckling nervously as he looked over at Cadence, unamused by Twilight's outburst. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's gotten into her."

"Maybe we should just ignore her," she said, yelping in surprise as Twilight appeared in front of her.

"I have something important to say! Cadence is evil!" She walked toward the pink alicorn, Cadence backpedaling away from Twilight as the others stared at the unicorn in shock. "You've been mean to my friends, you did something to your bridesmaids, and you clearly did something to my brother that made his eyes do this!" Twilight turned to everyone and rolled her eyes around in opposite spirals. "She cast some kind of spell that did that to him, and she's nothing but evil!"

She turned back to Cadence and smirked at her after calling her out. Tears welled up in the alicorn's eyes as she struggled not to break down.

"W-Why are you doing this to me!?" she asked, unable to hold back a sob.

"Because you're evil!" The bride ran out of the wedding hall crying her eyes out, Twilight teleporting at the entryway, feeling proud for getting rid of the mare that would ruin her brother's life. "EVIL!"

She turned back to tell the others everything was fine, only to bump into Shining Armor. The stallion was not happy at all, leering at his little sister, everyone else staring at Twilight in disappointment except for Kairi.

"You want to know why my eyes went all-" Shining rolled his eyes around like she had done earlier, regretting it as he winced, clutching his head with a hoof. "Because of my protection spell! I have to use up so much of my mana and focus on keeping the barrier strong, and I get terrible migraines after each top off! She wasn't casting spells on me! She was using her magic to HEAL me!"

"B-But she-" The unicorn stallion interrupted her, not wanting to hear her poor excuses.

"She replaced her bridesmaids because all they wanted to do was meet Canterlot royalty when they became a part of the wedding!" he continued scolding. "And maybe the reason why she's been acting up with you and your friends is because of the stress she's going through planning our wedding! Since I've been so busy, she's the one who has to make those decisions by herself! She wants our day to go perfectly, and it can't be helped if she lashes out because this is an important day for us, which doesn't seem to concern you at all!"

Shining winced as his headache got worse, rubbing his temples to try and soothe the pounding in his head. "I was just-"

"I don't want to hear it, Twilight!" he shouted. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to comfort my bride." Shining walked past her, stopping at the doorway. "You can forget about being my best mare." He turned his head to look at her, staring at Twilight with a resentful gaze. "In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all."

Kairi could practically hear Twilight's heart begin to crack as her brother spitefully kicked his little sister out of his wedding. Sure, she may have gone a bit too far, accusing Cadence without any physical proof of her being evil, but hearing her brother scolding her like that hurt her emotionally. Twilight said they never fought at all, over anything, only now it struck her hard, feeling like her brother would hate her forever. The lavender unicorn turned to her friends to back her up, but they were all on Shining's side.

"Come on, y'all. Let's go check on the princess." Applejack lead the way, the others ignoring Twilight, only making her heart break all the more as her best friends didn't believe her.

Even Sora was leaving with them, Kairi quickly running up to him to stop him. "Sora, what are you doing? Twilight's already emotionally wrecked after being told off by Shining Armor."

"Twilight doesn't have any proof to the princess being evil," he said. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is just going through a lot of stress, just like you said, and she made it worse on her."

"...When did I say that to you?" Kairi asked in confusion. "Rarity was the one who-"

Sora walked past her, ignoring the pink unicorn as he hurried off to help the others with Cadence. Greatly confused, Kairi turned back to look at Twilight, Celestia beginning to walk out of the wedding hall with a disappointed look on her face.

"You have a lot to think about," the princess said coldly, her heart shattered to pieces as she stared at Celestia with a broken expression on her face.

The only ones left in the room were Twilight and Kairi, the former having lost all her friends' and mentor's faith in her, the latter highly confused and concerned about what had just happened. Twilight didn't acknowledge Kairi staying with her, thinking she would eventually leave her too as she turned away, approaching the small flight of steps where the bride and groom would stand before the audience later for the wedding.

"Maybe I was too overprotective," Twilight muttered, collapsing on the steps, her voice breaking as her eyes welled up with tears. "I could have gained a sister. But instead...I just lost my brother..."

[Twilight]
He was my big brother best friend
Forever...
And now, we'll never do anything
Together...

Twilight began sobbing, regretful of her actions as she felt all alone. Kairi, being the only one who was able to give her that benefit of the doubt, approached the grieving unicorn and hugged her. Twilight buried her face in her shoulder and cried, Kairi soothing the upset mare as she let out her sorrow. Kairi couldn't believe how heartless Sora was being, knowing full well how much pain Twilight had been through in the past, and having her brother disown her, her friends shrugging off her warning like it meant nothing, and Celestia being disappointed in her for accusing her niece was far worse than losing her mind to a witch's manipulative spell.

They heard hoofsteps echoing in the hall from the balcony. Kairi looked up and saw Cadence approach them, looking at Twilight with a look of forgiveness. The pink unicorn found it odd that the princess's eyes weren't bloodshot, or her face stained with tears. Twilight looked up, leaving Kairi's embrace as she approached Cadence.

"I'm so sorry," Twilight apologized, begging for her forgiveness.

While her head was bowed low, Kairi noticed Cadence's eyes flashed green for a second, her smile turning into a scowl as she leered at Twilight. "You will be."

Her horn began glowing green, summoning a circle of green flames around Twilight, trapping her inside with no way to escape. Kairi leapt away before the fire burned her, gasping in shock as she watched her friend slowly be engulfed by the flames.

"Twilight!" She summoned her Keyblade and tried to slash her way through, only for Cadence to shoot up a wall of green flames in front of her. As the fire disappeared, Twilight was nowhere to be seen, just the alicorn who was just as her friend said she was. "What did you do with her!?"

"Another one of those magically appearing swords," Cadence said. "So you two are just like that other pony who showed up, claiming to 'protect' the castle from the threat."

"I knew there was something up with you the moment you brushed past me the other day." The Keyblade wielder growled, both mares circling each other, waiting for their opponent to make the first move. "I'm guessing the other pony who arrived was Riku. What did you do to him?"

"You'll meet the same fate as he has, as well as all of Equestria once my plan finally comes to fruition." Cadence lit up her horn again, surrounding Kairi in the same flames that engulfed Twilight earlier. Kairi tried to shoot Blizzard spells to douse out the fire, but they didn't go away. Not even slashing through them was any good, completely trapped. "Farewell, Kairi. You won't be missed, just like them."

The fire created a dome around the unicorn, keeping her trapped inside as the flames made her sink down into the ground. The only thing she saw and heard before blacking out was Cadence cackling madly as she watched her be sent into the void her magic forced her into. Wherever she was being sent to, she hoped Twilight wasn't in any danger, or even Riku, whatever she did to hers and Sora's friend.

Kairi groaned after waking up from unconsciousness. She opened her eyes, finding herself in nothing but darkness. Lighting up her horn, the white glow of her aura brightening the dark place she was thrust into. She looked like she was in a cavern, the walls and ceilings covered with gems and crystals of varying sizes, reflecting the light coming from her horn.

"Where am I? Where did that witch take me?" Kairi summoned her Keyblade, looking around to see if Cadence had teleported in to deal with her.

"Kairi!? Is that you!?" She spotted a purple glow from across the dark caverns.

"Twilight!?" Kairi quickly ran into the direction of the light, finding Twilight thankfully unharmed and trapped in the same caves she was. The unicorns hugged each other, glad to not be alone in the dark caverns and uninjured by Cadence's flames. "Thank goodness you aren't hurt. I thought she burnt you to ashes."

"I knew she was evil! I was right!...And no one believed me..." Twilight shook her head, brushing off the painful loss of faith everyone had for her. She was right, and she will prove to the others that Cadence was not who they think she really is. "I can't be upset now. We need to take that heartless monster down."

"That's going to be impossible for you to do, Twilight." Appearing in the crystals was Cadence, grinning maliciously at the unicorns she took captive. "You two are trapped deep in the abandoned crystal mines, far below Canterlot. Greedy unicorns left this mine, who tried to claim all these gems for their own, but now, this will be your prison." The evil alicorn giggled, her image switching to a different gem. "And don't bother trying to call out for help. These caves have been long forgotten, and no one will even know you disappeared."

"What are you planning to do to Canterlot!?" Kairi questioned, pointing her Keyblade at the mare. "What do you intend to do with Twilight's brother!?"

"Oh, I have some major plans for him...though, I think I might change them for that cute pegasus stallion. He really seems to care about you a lot. So, I decided two is better than one." Both unicorns growled, Twilight's horn glowing brighter and sparking dangerously while Kairi focused on casting one of the most powerful of spells she had at her disposal.

"What have you done to Sora?" Kairi demanded. "What have you done to them!?"

"You want to find out? Then I suggest you try and stop me." Cadence cackled, disappearing to different gems, mocking the mares.

Unleashing their anger on the wicked alicorn, Twilight shot a dangerous beam of magic at one of them. Instead of breaking it, the gem managed to bounce the magical beam off, ricocheting around the cavern until it struck the ground next to them. That only made Cadence laugh uproariously at their attempts to try and attack her, only getting them more furious. Kairi shot powerful Firaga spells at any crystals she spotted the alicorn's face was in, the large fireball exploding in a massive radius, shattering it to pieces.

They each continued firing magic until they both shot one at a large crystal, blowing it away to reveal a path out of the room they were trapped in. Ironically, sitting on the other side was...Cadence. Only instead of mocking them, she seemed shocked as the wall had been blown clear open. She was also really dirty, her mane and tail unkempt, tear streaks on her cheeks, and she looked really frail.

"There you are!" Kairi and Twilight rushed the pink alicorn, intent on getting back at her for what they did to Sora and Shining Armor.

"Wait! Don't!" she begged, her pleas unheard as she was tackled by the unicorns. Kairi held her Keyblade at Cadence's throat, the alicorn looking up at Twilight, standing over her. "Twilight, it's me! You have to believe me. That isn't the real me. She's an imposter."

"I don't believe you for a second!" Twilight exclaimed, her horn glowing brightly.

"I swear, it's me." Cadence squirmed out from beneath the unicorns and stood up. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake," she said, doing the same odd motions Twilight had before when they saw the pink alicorn back at the castle. "Clap your hooves, and do a little shake."

"...T-That's..." The alicorn looked back after the "do a little shake" part, smiling warmly as she saw Twilight now realized it was really her. "...Cadence...You remember me!"

She ran into Cadence and hugged her tightly, Kairi lowering her blade as the two had found the actual bride, not the mare impersonating her up above. "Of course I do, Twilight. How can I ever forget the filly I loved to sit for the most?" The two nuzzled each other, Cadence happy to see Twilight again after so long. The fake Cadence's laugh echoed throughout the mines, all three mares looking up, unable to see the imposter anywhere. "We need to stop her..."

"Princess?" Kairi got Cadence's attention, her and Twilight breaking their hug. "I apologize for earlier. Do you know who exactly that was that was impersonating you?"

"Yes. She's not a pony." The alicorn glowered at the ceiling, where the fake mare was probably doing something to her beloved husband-to-be. "She's the queen of a group of bugs called Changelings. Chrysalis."

"Changelings?" Twilight asked.

"They're nothing but heartless monsters, taking the form of the pony they love and suck the love magic out of them. I was held prisoner here for weeks, and nopony even noticed I was gone." Kairi's eyes widened as Cadence explained what a Changeling was.

"So, they're like a succubus," Kairi muttered. That explained why Sora looked drained the other night and his behavior earlier. He was in contact with this Chrysalis, having shifted her form to the unicorn's and sucked his love from him. "That's it. She's going to get it this time."

Before Kairi could run off to take down Chrysalis, Cadence stepped down on her tail to stop her. "Wait, there's somepony else down here we need to save. I can't do anything in the predicament he's in, being trapped down here having weakened me physically and magically."

"Somepony else?" Twilight asked. "Who is it?"

"I'll show you." The alicorn lead the way, struggling to stay standing in her weakened state, but she persevered. After making her way through a few splits in the winding pathways of the caverns, they made it to where the pony Cadence saw was trapped. "There he is."

Twilight and Kairi gasped, seeing a stallion trapped inside of a green pod of sorts, almost like a cocoon. Kairi recognized the pony just from some of his features and what he wore: short, silver hair, a white and yellow vest, but what gave it away was his cutie mark.

"Oh my gosh! Riku!" Kairi ran up to the pod, pressing her hooves into the green chrysalis. She moved her hooves away as it secreted some kind of disgusting green slime on the outside. "What happened to him!?"

"Wait, did you say Riku?" Twilight asked. "As in yours and Sora's best friend?"

"Yes! I recognize his Keyblade as his cutie mark!" Twilight walked over to examine the pod while Cadence stood next to Kairi.

"He showed up unconscious a couple days ago," she explained. "Chrysalis must have knocked him out and brought him down here. But I don't understand why she put him in a cocoon."

"I know why." Kairi levitated her Keyblade, aiming it at the green pod. "She must have known Riku, Sora, and I were strong fighters, sent by Celestia to try and thwart her plans. Too bad she made a fatal mistake. Never mess with my boyfriend, or my friends!"

The pink unicorn hacked through the cocoon with one swing, breaking it in half as green slime spewed out from it and dropped Riku down to the ground. The moment he was freed, the white stallion opened his eyes and breathed in a lungful of air, hacking up the mucus-like goop that he inhaled and swallowed while trapped inside of the pod. After he managed to get enough oxygen back into his lungs, spitting out any of the slime still lingering in his mouth, he slowly stood up, groaning in exhaustion and annoyance as he got his bearings.

"I hate this world already..." Riku looked up and noticed Twilight, Kairi, and Cadence. When his eyes were locked on Cadence, his last moment before unconsciousness was getting knocked out by the only pony he was with when he snuck in, and that was the backstabbing princess. He quickly stood up in his hind legs and summoned his Keyblade. "You! You attacked me when I was trying to help you!"

"Riku, wait!" Kairi swiped the white pegasus's Keyblade out of his hoof, forcing him to sit down on his haunches. "She's not the one who attacked you."

"...Kairi? Is that you?" The mare nodded as Riku got a better look at her. "...What exactly happened?" After being introduced to Twilight, she and Kairi told him what had occurred in Canterlot and what they were doing down in the mines. Cadence was told of who the two Keyblade Masters were and what their weapons were called, along with them being from another world, as much as Riku didn't want to let that information leak out. "Ok. I think I got it all now."

"Great. Now, let's hurry! The wedding's going to start soon, and my brother's going to marry a Changeling!" The four ponies quickly hurried off to find their way out of crystal mines and stop the wedding before Chrysalis succeeded in whatever she had planned.

"Hey, you guys hear music playing?" Riku asked as he could hear music echoing around them, even though they were the only ones in the caves without any musical instruments.

"Cadence" walked up to the mirror in her room, wearing her custom made wedding dress as she smirked at her reflection. "Everything's going exactly as planned," she said, levitating a rose up to her ear as she began to sing.

[Chrysalis]
This day is going to be perfect
The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small
Everypony will gather 'round
Say I look lovely in my gown
What they don't know is that I have fooled them all

Down below the caves, Riku, Kairi, Twilight, and the real Cadence ran through different passageways, the pink alicorn singing the aria after they heard Chrysalis sing out of nowhere.

[Cadence]
This day was going to be perfect
The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small
But instead of having cake
With all my friends to celebrate
My wedding bells, they may not ring for me at all

"Ok, what's with the random singing?" Riku asked. "And how are we hearing her from several miles above us?"

"This kind of stuff happens, Riku," Kairi explained as simply as she could. "Sometimes, there may be a moment where you can't help but join in."

"...Is it bad that I kind of like this song?" he whispered to himself as they continued finding their way out.

[Chrysalis]
I could care less about the dress
I won't partake in any cake
Vows, well I'll be lying when I say

That through any kind of weather
I'll want us to be together
The truth is I don't care for him at all

No I do not love the groom
In my heart there is no room
But I still want him to be all mine!

[Cadence]
Must escape before it's too late
Find a way to save the day
Hope, I'll be lying if I say

"I don't fear that I may lose him
To one who wants to use him
Not care for, love, and cherish him each day"

The escaping group soon found an abandoned mine cart up ahead, Cadence running ahead to try and push it out of the rocks the wheels were trapping it underneath the cart. Unfortunately, because of her weak state, she was unable to even budge it.

For I oh so love the groom
All my thoughts he does consume
Oh, Shining Armor, I'll be there very soon

Twilight smiled, touched to know that her favorite foalsitter really does love her brother that much. Ever since she was little, she always saw them together and knew one day they would be together forever. Seeing just how worried Cadence was about Shining Armor proved to her that their wedding shouldn't be ruined, all the more determined to stop Chrysalis before it was too late.

Kairi and Twilight helped Cadence inside the empty cart, leaping in after her while Riku smashed the rocks with his hooves. He pushed the cart and clung onto the edge, letting gravity do the work for them as they spiraled down the tracks, leading further down into the caves. The rails ended all too soon at the bottom, the cart slamming into a barricade meant to keep it from flying off the tracks, sending everyone flying off into the air. Twilight clung on to Cadence as she used what strength she still had to glide the two of them over to safety while Kairi did the same with Riku.

In the wedding hall, the ceremony was underway as the room was filled with ponies. Some of them were relatives to the bride and groom or close friends to them, while the rest were the nobles that had been lucky enough to attend. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy stood on the bride's side, wearing unique bridesmaids outfits Rarity managed to make before the wedding began, some of their family having arrived as invited guests. The doors opened up, the Cutie Mark Crusaders dressed up as the flower girls, skipped down the aisle spreading flower petals along the way for "Cadence" as she followed after them.

[Chrysalis]
Finally the moment has arrived
For me to be one lucky bride]

[Cadence]
Oh, the wedding we won't make
He'll end up marrying a fake
Shining Armor will be...

"Mine. All mine." Chrysalis giggled, her voice echoed in the mines as Cadence feared the worst was already happening.

"No. We're not going to make it in time," she said as she wept, losing her love to the heartless witch that replaced her.

"There's still time!" Riku exclaimed. "We've got to be close to the exit. How deep could this mine have possibly gone?"

"There's the exit!" Twilight pointed to a cavern, sunlight shining through from the outside.

Before they could make their way out, the three bridesmaids that Chrysalis had were found, leaping out from the rocks as they barred their path. They had an evil look on their faces, eyes glowing green as they approached them menacingly.

"You're not going anywhere," they said, Riku and Kairi stepped forward with their Keyblades at the ready.

Celestia, acting as the presider for her niece and captain's marriage, spoke to the crowd to honor this momentous occasion, unaware of the smirk on "Cadence's" face. Standing across from the bride was Shining Armor in his formal soldier's uniform for important ceremonies: a red suit with a blue sash cross over his left shoulder. What no one seemed to notice was the captain of the guard's eyes were green and staring into space, lost in a trance, not even Celestia herself, standing right next to the unicorn stallion. The girls acting as the bride's maids of honor noticed a few ponies missing during the procession.

"Hey, where's Sora and Kairi?" Rainbow asked. "I haven't seen them since the rehearsal."

"Maybe they have a stomach flu?" Pinkie wondered.

"Sora didn't even get sick when the first day of winter came around," Applejack said. "Ah don't think he's ever had a sick day since he got here."

"Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to pronounce you two-" Celestia was interrupted as the doors to the wedding hall opened up, Twilight, Riku, and Kairi walking in as the audience was surprised by the sudden halt in the procession.

"Stop the wedding!" the lavender unicorn exclaimed.

"Ugh! Not again! Why do you have to ruin my special day?" As Chrysalis fake cried, she was snapped out of her acting when a dark fireball flew right at her, quickly ducking as the dangerous ball of black flames was fired from Riku's hoof.

"Cut the lies, you cockroach! This isn't your wedding day! It's hers!" The trio stepped aside as the real Cadence stepped forward, everyone gasping in shock as they saw two pink alicorns in the room.

"W-What!? How did you escape!?" Chrysalis asked both Cadence and Riku.

"You have no idea how easy it was to get past your 'bodyguards'," Riku said.

The hypnotized bridesmaids continued walking forward, Kairi and Riku backing away, not wanting to hurt them. "Ok, so do we whack them or avoid them?"

"Wait, I have an idea." Cadence pulled out her bouquet she had kept before she was kidnapped by the Changeling queen.

Even though it was slightly withered, it still looked good enough. She levitated it out in front of the mares, overriding their command as their eyes were glued on the flowers like dogs to a ball. The alicorn tossed the bouquet far into the mine, the mares clambering all over each other to chase after it.

"Girls," Riku scoffed as they were easily distracted by a bunch of flowers that signified the lucky mare who catches it will get married next.

"HEY!" Riku, Twilight, and Cadence complained, leering at the stallion.

"What?" The mares ran on ahead, leaving Riku behind in confusion. "You girls get excited over the dumbest things, like a bunch of flowers..."

"...Oh," Chrysalis groaned. "Stupid mares."

"W-What's goin' on!?" Applejack asked. "Why are there two of them!?"

"Because she's an imposter!" Cadence said, stepping down the aisle. "She's a Changeling! She turns into the pony you love and steals the love from them, gaining power from it!"

"She did the same thing to Sora the other day, turning into me and practically draining him of almost all his energy!" Kairi added, pointing her Keyblade at the disguised mare. She looked around the room, finding no sign of Sora anywhere. "Where's Sora!? What did you do to him!?"

"Wait, he wasn't with you!?" Rainbow asked, their friends shocked as Kairi had no clue where he went if they weren't together.

Chrysalis growled, surrounding herself in green flames, causing Celestia and the five mares next to her to back away in surprise. The fire burned away the wedding dress as her body and features began to change as everyone watching stared in fear: Her fur turned black and sleek like the carapace of an insect, her hooves now had holes through the limbs, her wings were now thin and see through, sporting holes just like her legs, her mane mane a dark blue-green, her horn jagged and curved, fanged teeth in her maw, and when she opened her eyes, they were green like the flames around her. With her transformation into her real form revealed, the Changeling cackled as the audience cowered in fear, Kairi and Riku leering at the villainess with their weapons ready, and the others in complete shock at her form.

"Well, you are right about me, princess," Chrysalis said as she looked over the frightened ponies. "As queen of my subjects, it is up to me to find food for them. And where shall I find enough love to feed an entire army than in Equestria, in a royal wedding, no less. Even as we speak, my army is breaking through that flimsy barrier!"

Those near the windows or balcony looked up in the sky, seeing a large black cloud looming over the pink barrier. It wasn't a large storm cloud, more like several thousand Changelings, all of them smaller than the queen with no manes and blue, beady eyes, all of them slamming into the barrier to break through.

"Shining Armor's protection spell is stronger than you think!" Cadence said. "They'll never be able to break through!"

"Oh, won't they?" Chrysalis brushed her holed hoof against Shining Armor's cheek, the stallion unresponsive as he stood like a mindless puppet. "I've been feeding off of Shining Armor's love for a long while, and every moment he grows weaker, so does his spell. Isn't that right, dear?" The stallion slowly nodded his head, Cadence staring at her husband-to-be in sadness, wishing he wasn't tricked by the witch that turned into her. Riku had enough and was about to step forward, only to stop as the Changeling queen dragged her sharp horn to the mind-controlled captain's neck. "I wouldn't take another step if I were you. Or would you rather have the bride become a widow before she even gets hitched?"

"No! Don't hurt him!" Cadence shouted as Twilight feared for Shining's life as well. "Riku, please don't!"

Reluctantly, the pegasus stallion backed away, keeping his glare on the Changeling. "That's better. With Shining Armor under my control, we'll take over Canterlot, then all of Equestria!"

Chrysalis nearly fell over as Shining mysteriously teleported away from her, shot in the side by a golden beam of magic. "No, you will do no such thing." Celestia stepped forward, staring the queen down. "You foolishly revealed yourself to us. You tricked my subjects with your deceptive transformations, you made me believe my own student was making up lies about you, and you have the gall to kidnap my niece and impersonate her for your own evil deeds!" She rushed forward and butted heads with Chrysalis, their horns clacking as they knocked into each other. "You may have rendered Shining Armor's spell from functioning, but I will not allow you to make my subjects suffer! I will protect them from the likes of you!"

The princess of the sun flew up and fired a more powerful beam down at the queen, Chrysalis countering with her own. The beams crossed and Celestia's was winning, pushing Chrysalis's back as the evil mare struggled to push back. When it seemed like the alicorn was about to win, a sudden burst of magic shot out from the Changeling's horn, overpowering Celestia's and pierced through it. She gasped in shock as the green beam struck her, creating a massive explosion around her, sending her flying to the ground in a crumbled heap. Her crown fell off her head, along with the rest of her regalia, her body heavily scorched from the sudden burst of power from Chrysalis's magic

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight screamed, the others panicking as their princess was bested by the Changeling queen.

"...Heh...Heheheheheh..." Chrysalis grinned, looking down at her hooves at the magnificent power she never realized she had stolen. "This is incredible...But this power didn't come from Shining Armor...It came from Sora. I'm even more powerful than Celestia!"

As the queen cackled with delight, the Mane Six ran up to Celestia, thankful to see her still alive, but barely able to move after getting struck by that powerful beam. "Princess Celestia..."

"Y-You...have to get...the Elements of Harmony," Celestia weakly said, barely able to stay conscious. "They're...our only hope..."

The princess passed out, the mares nodding to each other in agreement with their ruler's command. "Riku, Kairi, we need you to come with us in case the Changelings make it through."

"And what about her?" Riku asked, keeping his glare on her. "Or Sora? What happened to him?"

"We don't have time to dwell on that. We have to move now!" The group of eight hurried out, the dressed up mares discarding their outfits as they ran out into the streets of Canterlot. Above them, the barrier was broken through as the army slammed down hard on it, buzzing down and trying to dive-bomb down on them. "Riku, cover the rear! I'll take the lead with Twilight!"

"Got it!" Riku held back until he followed behind the mares, Kairi and Twilight at the front as they ran for the castle to where Celestia locked the elements safely away.

"Wait! We need an alicorn to unlock the safe!" Twilight realized.

"No worries! Our Keyblades can unlock anything, no matter what seals are set in the lock!" Kairi assured, all of them avoiding incoming Changelings.

The group managed to evade the Changeling missiles slamming down into the street in front of them, the mindless drones leaving them open to get stepped on as they tried to recover from the harsh landing they made. They soon reached the location where Celestia stored the Elements of Harmony, only to stop as the entryway was guarded by hundreds of Changelings waiting for them.

"Looks like we're going to have to fight our way through!" Rainbow sped forward and was about to ram into one of them, only to find herself doing the same thing. The two mares looked at each other in confusion, but the fake acted first, punching the real pegasus mare back toward the others. "W-What the hay!?"

Soon, the rest of the Changelings, now surrounded by the fleet, transformed into them in a flash of green fire. Now, several clones of the mares and Keyblade wielders stared them down, the real ones grouped together to avoid getting mixed up. Some of the Kairi and Riku clones stepped forward, the real teens looking at each other, only for their looks to turn blank as they looked back at the transformed insect-pony hybrids. If they could transform into them, that didn't mean they had the abilities that they were able to do.

"You know, you guys aren't that smart," Kairi said as she and Riku held out their forehooves. They both summoned their Keyblades, shocking the clones. "Can any of you guys do that?"

All the clones looked at each other, many of them disguised as the Keyblade wielders sweating as their choice of impersonating was a failed attempt. "Guess that answers that. And, as for the rest of the girls-"

Both teens nodded at each other, aiming their Keyblades at the Mane Six. They cast an Aeroga spell on them, making it easy to tell which of them was the real one and give them a little help injuring any Changelings that tried to hurt them. The army grew worried, none of them able to pull off magic like these two had, or even make a weapon similar to theirs appear out of thin air.

"CHARGE!" Pinkie yelled, pulling out her party cannon as all of them, except Fluttershy, ran in different directions, charging head first into the enemy army.

With the mares surrounded in magical wind, the Changelings were unable to use their transformative magic to confuse their opponents to overwhelm them in sheer numbers. Twilight used her magic to stun the insect-pony monstrosities, even using the basic magic spells she was taught by Donald months ago. Applejack had her bone-shattering bucking power to their chitin bodies, the force of each kick only increased by the miniature whirlwind blowing around her. Rainbow Dash slammed through her side with her swift speed, only increased by the Aeroga spell cast on her giving her an added boost of agility, bouncing off each Changeling soldier like a pinball against a hundred bumpers.

Rarity was able to hold her own, despite always striving to be a lady, though each of them, a majority of them being male, were too enraptured by her beauty to even focus on stopping her. It was a bit odd to see the Changelings disguised as herself and her other friends ogling her with their jaws dropped, the fashionista unsure if she should be flattered or disgusted. Pinkie Pie blasted her party cannon at point blank range in each Changeling's face, shooting out confetti everywhere, though one unlucky drone got smacked by a bowling ball that had mysteriously gotten inside, the sound of bowling pins crashing as that shot managed to hit several of them unfortunate enough to get in the way. Fluttershy cowered under the protective wind spell, perfectly safe as the Changelings tried to break through the barrier, getting struck by the dangerous air as they made contact.

Over on Kairi's side of the invading fleet, spells flew everywhere as Changeling bodies were scattered around the spiral of powerful magic: some burnt and singed, paralyzed as electricity coursed through their spasming muscles, frozen in blocks of ice, or even crushed down to the ground by heavy gravity forced down on them. The pink unicorn evaded each chomp and kick from the enemy as they tried to rush her, flipping and twirling elegantly as her aura made her Keyblade orbit around her, smacking any that were out of her line of sight. Grabbing her weapon in her mouth, she ran up to one of them and unleashed a flurry of slashes. Before ending her combo, her magic began sucking in some of the drones up to her, all of them confused as they now stood around her, unable to move their limbs. Kairi spun in place, her blade smacking each one in the face as light built up around her, unleashing a powerful shockwave of light as soon as she stopped, sending the trapped Changelings flying off in different directions.

Riku swiftly took out his larger group of enemies with ease, moving far too fast for any of them to realize they had been hit. The white pegasus had to limit how much he used his Dark Fire spells, going with just brute force and regular spells. One of them managed to get a lucky hit on him and knocked the teen on his back, but he flipped right back up, smacking his attacker with his hind legs, slashing a few more around him as he got back up on his hind legs. He stood still and waved his hoof forward, taunting any of them to try and hit him again. One was dumb enough to do so, having its slightly holed hoof to be parried by Riku's Keyblade, knockup high into the air by his hoof. Aiming his weapon in the sky, he cast a powerful Magnega spell above him, drawing the flung Changeling and several others still standing into the gravitational pull. The teen leapt up after them, flew past them, and dove right back down. In a blur of white, dozens of slashes were heard from the sky, Riku landing on his hooves as he stood perfectly still. A moment later, the Magnet spell imploded, shooting the trapped Changelings everywhere as they plummeted to the ground, unconscious.

Eventually, the group took out the attacking fleet that had chased them and stopped them. The Aero spells on the mares had worn out, all of them taking a breather from fighting off a lot of Changelings. At least they weren't Heartless, otherwise they wouldn't stand much of a chance.

"We're almost there," Twilight panted. "Now, we just need to get in there and put our elements on."

As soon as they opened up the doors, their glee turned to misery, the entire hall literally a hive of Changeling drones covering most of the room. They hovered in the air with their clear wings or hung on the walls and ceilings like the giant insects they were.

"Oh great. We only took out the welcoming committee," Riku sarcastically said as he and Kairi were ready to take down the next group. They waited for them to attack, but the Changelings just stood where they were, staring at them. "...Why aren't they trying to swarm us?"

The ones on the ground slowly moved away, having surrounded something they were concealing from the group. Standing in the middle of the Changelings was Sora, his back turned to the entrance.

"Sora!" Kairi tried to run up to him, but Riku stopped her.

"Hold on. Something's not right." Sora was completely unharmed from what they could see, and if he was fighting the Changelings, they should have attacked him. Riku cautiously stepped forward, being wary of the army of pony insects around them, slowly closing off their only means of escape. "Sora? What are you doing here?"

As Riku was far enough away from the girls, a magical barrier appeared around the two pegasi stallions, trapping them in a big enough space for a duel. Completely caught off guard, the Changelings finally swarmed them, far too fast for any of them to fight back as they were completely overwhelmed. He looked back, unable to see what was happening by the thousands of black pony bodies covering the impenetrable magic barrier trapped him with Sora, leaving space above them to give them some light inside.

(Vanitas Battle theme)

Riku turned back to his friend as he heard him summon his Keyblade. With Sora's weapon in his mouth, he slowly turned around. As soon as his eyes were visible, they were glowing green, holding a blank expression as he too was trapped under Chrysalis's control.

"Of course. Chrysalis has Sora under some kind of mind control after pretending to be Kairi to get to him." Riku got in his unique fighting stance, staring down his best friend obeying the evil queen's commands. "Well, this feels like deja vu. Except I'm the one who's sane while you're under someone else's control." Sora gave no response, crouching low to prepare fighting against the "enemy". "Time for me to return the favor and save you."

Both pegasi rushed forward and swung their blades, clashing into each other hard as sparks flew out from the contact. Even though he was under Chrysalis's spell and had his love drained, Sora still moved as fast as he always had in battle, controlled like the brainwashed soldier the queen had created. Every single one of their duels in the past were always for the fun of competition, just to see which of them was the strongest among their circle of friends, always keeping score over who won and lost. Nowadays, their friendly battles became life and death situations, using their newly discovered powers with their Keyblades to actually hurt each other. Riku had been the first to instigate these fights, being tricked by Maleficent and had the Heartless Ansem invade his heart, but Sora struggled to fight back to save him. Now, his friend was in trouble, trapped in his mind as his body moved against his own will under the control of a madmare who is using him to take over the city.

The Changelings surrounding the barrier watched the battle unfold, the others capturing the mares dragging them off back to the wedding hall. Keyblades clashed, neither teen backing down as they fought with all of their strength, one to defeat their opponent while the other wanted to snap them out of the spell they were under. Each strike was blocked, evaded, parried, but neither stallion had gotten hit once with their blinding flurry of slashes.

Riku flipped back, distancing himself as he shot Fire spells at Sora. The mind controlled teen smacked the fireballs away, sending some flying right back to Riku, avoiding his deflected spells as he rushed Sora again. The teens clashed again, but Sora tapped into his Drive Forms, the explosive light shoving Riku back against the barrier. The light faded from the stoic pegasus's clothing, now silver and black as he hovered in the air without the use of his wings. The two Keyblades hovering around him in a telekinetic hold next to his hooves were the Oathkeeper, a white blade, the guard a pair of angel wings while the teeth was in a symbol that represented "light", and Oblivion, a Keyblade contrasting the Oathkeeper: a black blade, the guard a pair of bat wings, and the teeth in the symbol representing "darkness".

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Riku grumbled, Sora now in his Final Form, the strongest and more powerful of his Drive Forms.

Sora rushed forward and commanded his Keyblades with the actions his hooves made, both blades flying erratically around Riku. He tried to block and evade them, but they were faster than he could blink. One second, he was blocking one Keyblade, the next, he was struck from behind by the other. It didn't help that Sora was able to freely hover around, barely lifting a hoof as he somehow was able to move them around by his mind-controlled will alone, becoming a blur of silver light as he added a few punches with his weapons. Riku was completely defenseless, even with his defensive barrier he was able to put up was broken through immediately.

Riku was being tossed around like a rag doll under Sora's Final Form. Any chance he had to escape the onslaught of swift slashes, he was only struck by powerful magic spells that stunned him. And any chance to avoid the spells, the tan pegasus would rush in and strike him down, trapping him in a hurricane of swipes. The battle was soon over, trapped in a devastating combo in the air. Sora hovered above Riku, thrusting his hooves above and beneath him, creating blades of light from his hooves, the bottom one constantly hitting the trapped teen. The blades disappeared, the mind controlled pegasus flipping up in the air, then finally dove down into Riku, slamming him down hard to the hard marble floor of the hall.

Riku groaned, struggling to move his limbs, but his energy was completely drained as he passed out, his Keyblade disappearing. With the white pegasus defeated, the barrier trapping them faded away, Sora's form reverting back to normal. The Changelings flew down and dragged the beaten pegasus back to the castle to their queen.

"Wow, this pony is really powerful," one of the drones said as they lead Sora back to their queen.

"At least Her Highness had placed him under her spell," another said. "He could have done a lot worse with those other two."

Chrysalis smirked as she watched Cadence struggle to break free of her bindings to the floor, her hooves stuck in a green slime that rendered her immobile. The pink alicorn tried to fight her, but due to her weakened state, she couldn't do much. One of the heroes that had left should have stayed behind to fend her off, but with the power she had from Sora's love for Kairi, she could easily take over the world if she wanted. Looking up, she saw Celestia waking up from unconsciousness, trapped inside a green cocoon hanging above the ceiling.

"Don't think you've won!" Cadence said, giving up trying to break free. "When Twilight and her friends come back, you'll-"

The doors to the wedding hall opened, the mass of her Changeling army tossing the mares in, their limbs and horns or wings covered with the same green slime Cadence was trapped in. "Oh my. They did come back. But they seemed to have lost."

"It's not over, Chrysalis," Kairi said, sitting up as she leered at the queen. "You hypnotized Sora too, but when Riku beats him and snaps him out of your spell, you won't be so smug when he's back with us!"

A moment later, the drones carrying Riku through the balcony dropped the unconscious teen to the ground. The girls gasped as they saw how badly injured he was, Sora flying inside and landing next to the queen, still expressionless and still under Chyrsalis's control.

"Well. That's disappointing, isn't it?" she asked, gently nudging the tan pegasus stallion over to where Shining stood. "Looks like I've won. Even if you had been able to defeat my army, it seems as though none of you had ever stood a chance against this little guy." The queen dismissed her soldiers, sending them out into the city to feed on the love of the ponies outside. "It's quite funny. Twilight and Kairi seemed to have suspected me of my behavior and the rest of you were so focused on the wedding. And Sora was easy to trick, teenagers so quick to let their hormones win them over, no matter how much they try to resist."

"Then why choose them over us?" Kairi asked. "Cadence is a mare that gives love. My heart is practically more pure than Sora's. You could have fed off of us instead, tricking us."

"I could have, but there was a big problem with that," Chrysalis explained. "You and Cadence were far too smart to fall for my hypnotic spell. Sometimes, a stallion can be so easily fooled with beauty, seduction, and with a little persuasion, control." She wrapped her hooves around the mindless puppets that were stallions, pulling them closer to her. "Sure, you two could have given myself and my hive an infinite meal, but I wouldn't have the chance to feed the rest of my subjects. A captain with a powerful barrier spell to keep anything out, a skilled warrior that's saved Equestria from the likes of Nightmare Moon and Discord by himself, and I have myself the perfect little puppets to take over the world."

"And she tricked everyone," Twilight added. "She planned everything perfectly. We were five steps behind, and she's won..."

"I have, haven't I?" Chrysalis giggled as she walked over to the balcony, music beginning to play as she overlooked the invasion her soldiers were wreaking havoc upon the ponies.

[Chrysalis]
This day has been just perfect
The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small
Everypony I'll soon control
Every stallion, mare, and foal
Who says a girl can't really have it all!?

Everyone can hear the chaos going on outside. Ponies fleeing in terror, royal guards caught off guard from the invading forces and were trapped in the same slime that bound the mares' limbs, and all hope seemed lost as Equestria would soon be taken over by the Changelings. Cadence and Shining Armor's wedding was ruined, he and Sora were both still held under Chrysalis's spell, and there was no possible way to stop her without the Elements of Harmony or the three Keyblade wielders' power. Cadence and the Mane Six felt hopeless, none of them able to fight off the massive army and a powerful Changeling queen with unimaginable power.

(Dearly Beloved)

Kairi, however, didn't give up. The slime coating her horn may have disabled her unicorn magic, but Chrysalis forgot to realize she had her own unique magic that wasn't a part of this world. With her distracted by watching her subjects feed on Canterlot's ponies, the pink unicorn summoned her Keyblade in her mouth, cutting her hooves free with the teeth of her blade, then sawed off the slime coating her horn. Being quiet, she crept up to Cadence, Sora and Shining as still as statues as they weren't given any other commands from their leader, freeing the alicorn.

"Cadence, we have to get them free from her spell," Kairi whispered.

"But how?" Cadence asked. "I don't have any magic in me to free them."

"I don't think we need a counter spell. If fake love made Sora and Shining fall under her spell, what if our love for them is able to free them?" Cadence's eyes widened, finding Kairi's idea crazy enough to work.

"...I-I think...we can try it. I only hope it works." The two freed mares approached their stallions, being careful not to alert Chrysalis.

Cadence stared at the blank, glowing green eyes of her fiancé. It pained her to see her royal guard captain in this state, the stallion having been unaware of the fact that his real bride had been trapped in the abandoned mines for weeks. Tears welled up in her eyes, not blaming him for falling for the impostor. The alicorn tried to get his attention, but his mind was too far gone to notice her standing right in front of him. Cadence embraced Shining, nuzzling him affectionately as her horn began to spark.

Kairi couldn't snap Sora out of his daze physically either: nuzzling him, hugging him tightly, nothing worked. At least he wasn't in the lovey-dovey state like when he and Twilight drank the love poison, but Chrysalis's spell must have been strengthened when she absorbed his love for her. She could hear Cadence weeping softly, the alicorn's face buried in Shining's shoulder. The unicorn brushed a hoof along his chest, stopping her hoof over one of his jacket's pockets as she felt something flat inside. She pulled out what was stored in there, which happened to be her charm she gave to him.

"You still kept it." Kairi looked up at Sora, holding her hand-made charm up to his eyes. "You never did break your promises to me. Always keeping them, even if they seemed impossible to." She took his hoof and placed her charm in his hoof. She gently moved his hoof over to his heart, pulling herself closer to him as her chest and white heart cutie mark began to give off a light glow. "Sora...Remember what else you promised me? That you would never change who you were. That you would never forget me...Please. Wake up, and be the same, silly boy I fell in love with."

Kairi pressed her lips softly against Sora's in a passionate kiss, the light in her chest glowing brighter as their lips connected. Cadence's horn began glowing blue, her magic subconsciously shooting out a pink heart. The light from Kairi's chest shot out a white heart made out of pure light, both the magical hearts hovering over them and floating toward each other. They joined together, both mares' magic strengthening each others as the blue and white mixed heart of magic exploded, sprinkling healing light around the room.

The mares all looked up as they saw the bright lights coming from Kairi, staring in awe as the sparkles floated down on them. It felt calming and rejuvenated them, even melting away the green slime from their bodies. The cocoon keeping Celestia contained melted away as well, freeing the alicorn from her prison as she floated back to the ground, still feeling woozy after getting knocked unconscious. Riku began to wake as well, his injuries disappearing as he slowly stood up, feeling just as surprised as the others. The sudden healing light had alerted Chrysalis, the queen turning around in confusion as she gawked in shock at her prisoners now free and standing.

As the lights landed on Sora and Shining Armor, their eyes slowly returned to their normal colors, both stallions slightly confused as they came back to their senses. Sora looked down as he felt a pair of lips against his, seeing Kairi holding him as she kissed him. He pulled away, trying to wrack his brain over what was going on.

"Kairi?" Kairi hugged him tighter, nuzzling his neck while the pegasus looked around him. He spotted Twilight and her friends, Princess Celestia, and a pegasus stallion that looked strangely familiar to him. "Wait...Is that Riku? What's going on?...And why is he here?"

Shining Armor was still pretty dazed, shaking his head as he had his love absorbed more than Sora had. "Ugh...What's happening? Is the wedding over?"

"That's impossible!" Chrysalis exclaimed, Sora and Shining looking over at the Changeling queen. "My spell was unbreakable with the love I had taken!"

"...Who the heck is that and why do her legs look like blocks of swiss cheese covered in black mold?" The queen growled, taking offense to Sora's question.

"That's Chrysalis," Kairi growled, pressing herself closer to her boyfriend as she glared at the Changeling queen. "She's a Changeling. She hypnotized you and Shining Armor, stole your love by transforming into us, and in your mind controlled state, you stopped beat Riku and stopped us from getting the Elements of Harmony."

"...I was manipulated?" Sora's shock turned to anger, leering at the arthropod mare. He summoned his Keyblade, pointing it at Chrysalis. "That's the one thing I really, really hate. Villains like you that control others and use them. And you used me to hurt my best friend!?...Even though I still have no clue why he's here! You're going down!" The teen tried to rush forward, but his legs began to give out on him. Sora fell to the floor, dropping his weapon, still feeling heavily drained from all the love Chrysalis greedily sucked out of him. "...Or I'm going down."

"Shining Armor! Your spell!" Twilight called out. "You have to cast your shield spell!"

The guard captain nodded and lit up his horn, only for it to sputter as his power was practically running on fumes. "Urgh! I don't have any strength in me either. I can't repel them."

"My love will give you strength," Cadence said, hugging Shining tightly.

"What a ridiculous sentiment!" Chrysalis cackled. "No matter what any of you try, there's no chance for you to escape or fight back! My army is unstoppable, and my power overwhelms even that of Celestia's by tenfold!"

"You may be strong now, Chrysalis, but you should know a thing about the love you and your kind devour." Kairi helped Sora back up on his hooves, levitating his Keyblade back to him. "You have no idea just how strong a heart can be with light and love being someone's drive to fight. It may seem ridiculous to you, but you seem to forget about one saying that isn't just a cheesy line in fictional romance tales: Love conquers all."

"Oh please! You really think that will defeat me!?" the queen asked. "I consume love! Any you give off will only make me stronger!"

Chrysalis charged her horn to fire a powerful beam at the two couples and destroy what confidence they all had in Kairi's words. Before she unleashed her power, Riku flew at her and twisted her head up just as she fired, sending the beam of green aura flying out of the balcony. They heard a shriek come from one of the Changeling soldiers outside, having been struck by it and fell to the ground. He struck the queen's horn, disabling another chance for her to use her magic again.

"That's for turning my friend against us!" The silver-haired pegasus wrapped his forelegs around Chrysalis's barrel, trapping her wings to her sides as he suplexed her hard to the hard floor. She was knocked in a daze, landing head first. "And that's for the cheap back attack when I tried to 'help' you." Riku brushed the dust off his vest as he turned back to Sora, Kairi, Cadence, and Shining Armor. "Hope you know what you're doing, Kairi."

"I know exactly what I'm doing." Kairi looked over to Cadence and nodded to her.

The alicorn nodded back as she looked at her groom, their horns glowing as they gently touched each other. Their auras mixed and grew in strength from their love, swirling around them and a warm embrace. Surprised at first, the engaged couple hadn't expected this to happen, but they smiled when they looked at each other, powering the magic around them more to strengthen the barrier spell beginning to form from their combined magic. Shining and Cadence began to float up in the air, their eyes glowing white as they began to form a heart shape with their bodies.

Chrysalis snapped out of her daze and sat up, feeling the powerful love magic as soon as she awoke and stared at the couple in shock. "No! NO! This isn't happening!"

"It is." Kairi held her Keyblade in her hoof, aiming it at Shining and Cadence as a heart shaped keyhole appeared between them. She looked over at Sora, the stallion taking the hint as he pressed his hoof against hers at the handle. Their combined light appeared at the tip of the blade, an outline of a heart forming as they took aim. "You may be able to steal love, but what you can't take is the light that comes from that love. Your power means nothing when it comes to true love!"

The Keyblade couple shot the heart-shaped beam of light into the keyhole, unleashing the power of Shining Armor and Cadence's combined spell and increasing its strength. The magical pink barrier shot out from the unicorn and alicorn, phasing through those not considered a threat to Equestria. As soon as the shield touched Chrysalis, she was shoved out of the balcony and sent flying off and out of Equestria, along with her Changeling soldiers as they were all scattered. Their screams could be heard as they disappeared off in the distance, the ponies trapped by the insect equines freed as they were bathed in the warm light that expanded around the city.

Shining and Cadence hovered back down to the ground, the alicorn now looking a whole lot better than she had being trapped in the caves beneath Canterlot for so long. The couple embraced each other, the enemy finally gone and out of the city thanks to their love, along with the light of Sora and Kairi assisting them and powering their spell. Twilight grinned as her brother and favorite foalsitter were reunited, looking back at her friends and mentor, all of them looking at the lavender unicorn apologetically.

"Twilight, we're really sorry about earlier," Applejack said. "We should have given ya a chance when ya called Chrysalis out."

"Indeed. Even she had fooled me," Celestia added. "You persisted in the face of doubt and brought the real Cadence back to us. You trusted your instincts, and they were true, a very important lesson to learn, even if none of us had believed you. Including myself."

"That is a good lesson." Sora, Kairi, and Riku approached them, the tan stallion leaning against his girlfriend, still feeling a little weak as his strength slowly returned to him. "I went through the same thing you did, Twilight. And it involved Riku when he lost himself to the darkness."

"Please don't remind me, Sora," Riku groaned. "I still hate how I could have been so gullible back then."

"I know. Being gullible is my job." Kairi giggled as Sora grinned at his friend. He earned a hard punch in the shoulder by Riku, wincing in pain as the white pegasus stallion grinned back. "Ow."

"You deserve that," Riku said.

"Yeah, yeah. Worth it, though." Sora wrapped a free hoof around his best friend and pulled him closer in a friendly hug. "So, did you introduce yourself to the rest of the gang, or were you too busy stopping what was happening?"

Suddenly, the wedding hall was filled with the sound of rumbling stomachs that came from Riku and Cadence. "I think we can introduce each other during dinner," Celestia said. "After everything that's happened, it's better for us to rest up and make the real official wedding plans for Cadence and Shining Armor."

Before they left, Luna walked inside the wedding hall, having missed everything that had happened. "Hello, everypony! Did I miss the wedding!?" Everyone stared at the princess of the night with blank stares, some of them facehooving as the blue alicorn hadn't noticed the invasion or even bothered to help. "...What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

In the castle, Celestia and Luna treated their guests to a large feast in the dining hall, celebrating the defeat of the Changeling queen, Chrysalis, and her army, along with the rescuing Cadence from her captivity. It would take some time for everyone in Canterlot to calm down after the attack, and a little delay with the actual wedding. Though, with Twilight and her friends taking charge of preparations, the wedding between the rulers' niece and captain of the royal guard will be back on schedule within the week.

As they ate, Cadence was scarfing down food like a vacuum, nearly rivaling Pinkie Pie's endless pit of a stomach. It was understandable for her huge appetite, having been trapped in the abandoned mines in Canterlot for so long, nearly starved to death if Chrysalis was cruel enough to leave the pink alicorn to die down there. While the bride had her fill of seconds, turning into fifths, Twilight, her friends, and Kairi explained everything that had happened when Shining Armor and Sora were under Chrysalis's control, and Luna had been asleep during the invasion, while also introducing Riku to everyone. Both Sora and Shining Armor felt guilty as they were reminded they had ended up cheating on their significant other unknowingly.

"Why did none of our guards wake us from our slumber!?" Luna questioned, slamming her hoof down on the table. "If the kingdom was in danger, why did they neglect to alert us that the threat was here!?"

"Maybe because, when the shield broke, the Changelings went after the guards and overwhelmed them?" Fluttershy predicted.

"Plus, there was a lot of noise," Rainbow added. "Even I couldn't sleep through all that during a power nap."

"My sister is quite the heavy sleeper," Celestia said, the young alicorn sibling leering at her older sister. "One time, I placed several alarms all around her bed when she was asleep when we were a lot younger, every single one of them loud enough to blast a pony's eardrums and make them go deaf. She still had her hearing, but she didn't even budge. After knowing that, I drew some silly marks on her face while she still slept, and Luna didn't even realize what was on her face until a few hours after being awake."

"So that was you all those years ago!" Celestia giggled while Pinkie and Rainbow Dash guffawed at Luna's reaction. "Have you been doing that to me whenever you had the chance?"

"...Maybe." Luna scowled as her sister stuck her tongue out at her.

"You better sleep with one eye open, Tia! I shall prank you so hard it will affect you a millennium into the future!" While Luna swore vengeance on Celestia with a prank she would never expect to come, Cadence finished eating her last helping of food, her stomach now full as it showed with her distended belly.

"I am so full," she said, patting her bloated stomach as she leaned back in her seat. "Hope there's dessert. I could go for anything made of chocolate."

"You think you had enough to eat, Cadence?" Shining teased as he poked his fiancée's belly."

"I haven't eaten in weeks. I deserve to stuff myself until I'm full to bursting." Cadence lightly smacked Shining's hoof away, playfully glaring at the stallion. As she relaxed and digested her food, she looked across the table to Sora and Kairi. During dinner, the Keyblade wielders had explained who they were for Shining Armor and their adventures throughout the worlds. Cadence was actually surprised to know that the pink unicorn was a princess as well, albeit one of seven special princesses with hearts of pure light. And sensing the amount of love both of the teens had for each other, it was no wonder Chrysalis had been interested in Sora as well. "So, Kairi, how long have you and Sora been together?"

"What do you mean?" Kairi asked, Sora looking up as he was too busy to speak with a stuffed mouth.

"I'm just a little curious. Princess of love and all that," Cadence said. "It's like you were sweethearts since you were little."

Sora blushed, swallowing his food as he fidgeted nervously. "W-Well...We started officially going out about...seven months ago? Eight?"

"Really? Doesn't feel like it to me." Sora giggled nervously, scratching the back of his head. "It's like your hearts are both one and the same."

"You're not that far off, Cadence," Kairi said, leaning into her boyfriend's shoulder. "Destiny has a strange way of telling us we belong together."

"It didn't help that Sora immediately had a crush on her the moment she wound up where we lived," Riku said, earning a scowl from his best friend. "I can't believe it finally took him this long to finally tell Kairi how he felt, and in a world of talking ponies, no less."

"I had my reasons not to say anything yet!" Sora argued. "I...had other stuff I needed to...take care of before I really said how I felt."

"Or you kept losing your nerve and act like a bigger nutcase than usual." The tan stallion grumbled as he endured more teasing from his best friend.

"It's actually really strange," Cadence interjected before Sora could lunge at Riku and fight with him on the table. "Your relationship is closely similar to how Shining and I behave."

"We do?" Sora and Shining Armor asked.

"Of course. Kairi and I are princesses and are more calm and collected, while you two are our knights in shining armor-" Some of the mares giggled at the pun Cadence used with her husband-to-be's name, including the princess herself. "-and are the biggest goofballs we've ever met for the first time."

"Hey! I am not that goofy!" Both stallions said at the same time, both pegasus and unicorn staring at each other in confusion. "Cut that out. No you! You stop first!"

Sora and Shining leered at each other, the others laughing as they mimicked each other, facial expressions included. "Shiny, you were a tad bit goofy when we were teens. The first day we actually met each other in school, you stared at me like a deer in a spotlight, and the first thing you said to me was 'H-H-Hello', then you ran down the halls with a blush that could rival a bright red tomato's skin."

"N-No I didn't!" Shining lied, shifting his eyes around to the others as he slowly sunk behind the table.

"What a coincidence," Kairi said. "Sora did the same thing, though he lasted a few seconds longer, looking awkward." Even though Sora's first meeting with Kairi was a bit embarrassing, he beamed proudly as he outlasted Shining Armor. "And then he ran headfirst into the wall when he tried to flee, knocking himself unconscious."

The teen's confidence faded away as he too sunk down beneath the table, his cheeks blushing madly as he hid underneath with Shining Armor, hearing the mares all laughing at the hilarious memory. "Guess we are pretty alike."

"Yup," the guard captain agreed. "Guess I was wrong about you, Sora. You're not that bad of a stallion...or whatever you actually are."

"I told you so." The two stallions looked at each other, sitting in silence while the rest of the party continued hearing all of the embarrassing stories Kairi and Cadence were talking about their lovers in the past. "...I guess we're both pretty lucky. Kairi and Cadence seem to keep us in line, dragging us out of any danger we put ourselves in, whether we do it on purpose or not."

"That's true. So, think we can let that whole mishap almost a year ago slide and start over as friends?" Shining asked.

"Sure. Already forgiven." The two bumped hooves, though their private conversation was interrupted as the stallions were dragged back up in the seats by their lovers.

The rest of dinner went by with more conversation and some more embarrassing tales, everyone having their fill and making their way to the guest rooms in the castle for a good night's rest. The Changeling invasion had left the Mane Six exhausted after fighting off hundreds of the love-sucking creatures, and Sora and Shining Armor still needed to recover from the energy drained out of them from Chrysalis. Tomorrow began the preparations for the real wedding, and with the real Princess Cadence to decide what she wants for hers and Shining's perfect wedding day.

It had taken just a few days, but the royal wedding was back on schedule, the minor damage done to Canterlot from the Changelings cleaned up before the big day began. Shining Armor still had his duties as a royal guard captain, he and his soldiers keeping a lookout for any stray Changelings that may have slammed into one of the buildings in the city when the barrier shoved them away while also fixing up the craters in the streets the enemy had made as they broke through. Sora and Riku assisted the groom and his troops with the cleanup, while Kairi helped Twilight with Cadence's decisions for the wedding.

Applejack made more of her recipes for the reception, and Cadence actually did love-love-love them, scarfing down a few of the delicious fritters. Rarity's own design for the princess's wedding dress was perfect for her, looking at herself in the mirror with it on as the fashionista fit it to the pink alicorn's frame. Even with all the food she ate the night the invasion was defeated and a few fritters from the kitchen, Cadence still kept her figure. And after hearing the bird choir Fluttershy trained, which was beautiful to hear after that one little bird that was off-key worked on his chirps, they headed down to Pinkie Pie, where her childish reception party was still in full swing. Cadence even joined in with Pinkie as they danced to the silly music, the alicorn's passion taking care of colts and fillies and even acting like a filly at heart.

Now, the wedding hall was back to being full as the threat was officially gone, though some of the nobles were still a little shaken up from the attack. Twilight wore her formal dress made by Rarity, her friends wearing the same ones they previously wore before realizing Chrysalis was impersonating Cadence. Kairi wore a similar looking outfit like the others, though in a bright pink that matched her coat, chosen as the bride's first maid of honor. Sora and Riku stood on the groom's side as Shining Armor's best stallions, Twilight standing next to her brother as his best mare, just as he promised. The two pegasus teen wore similarly designed tuxedos with a red rose in the lapel of their jackets, Sora's black while Riku's was white.

Twilight looked over at her brother, straightening up the star sparkle crest that was their favorite uncle's over his formal guard uniform, replacing the boring blue sash he was forced to wear by Chrysalis when she was in disguise. Soon, it was time for the bride to walk down the aisle, Fluttershy's bird choir tweeting the Wedding March as the doors opened up. The Crusaders skipped forward in their flower girl dresses, spreading petals along the red carpet, Cadence walking down the aisle toward her husband-to-be.

"Shining, I got a little question," Twilight said. "I can kind of understand why Chrysalis wanted to be with you, but how were you able to get someone like Cadence to marry you?"

"I told her she was going to not just have me as a husband, but she would also get a pretty amazing sister, too." Twilight giggled as she nudged her brother's side, flattered by the compliment and proud to know he was going to marry an amazing mare.

Cadence stood before Shining, the choir silencing as the ceremony began, Celestia proudly looking down at the couple. "Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to celebrate the real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza-"

"Just Princess Cadence, Aunt Celestia," Cadence interrupted. "I don't really like my full name."

"Yup. That's the real Cadence," Sora whispered to Twilight, the lavender unicorn shushing him as he silently giggled.

"The union of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor," the sun princess continued. "The strength of their commitment is quite clear. Their love is true and pure, that not even Chrysalis, the Changeling queen, was able to steal, sending her and her followers far to the wastelands with their spell, strengthened by their combined magic. Of course, the spell wouldn't have been possible without the help of another pair of ponies, helping increase the barrier's power with their light." As Sora and Kairi grinned, Spike stepped up to Celestia, holding out a pillow with the wedding rings placed delicately on it. She levitated them over to her niece and soon to be nephew-in-law, both ponies taking them in their own magic. "Shining Armor, do you take Cadence to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do," Shining responded, placing the ring he held in his aura around Cadence's horn.

"And do you, Cadence, take Shining Armor to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Celestia asked.

"I do," Cadence answered, placing her ring around Shining's horn.

"By the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife." Celestia didn't need to give any permission as Cadence quickly wrapped her forelegs around Shining's neck and pulled him into a deep kiss, sealing their marriage as the guests applauded their matrimonial union.

Taking that as her cue, Rainbow Dash flew out of her dress and soared up into the sky. Reaching the specific height she needed, the pegasus dove down and performed a sonic rainboom, lighting up the clear skies with an explosive rainbow spreading out from the city. Everyone watched in awe at the magnificent spectacle, even the newlyweds after sharing a kiss they both desperately needed after being so long apart. Riku were speechless, finding the phenomenon impossible to pull off, creating a sonic boom that also broke the light spectrum.

"W-What the heck was that?" Riku asked.

"That's something called a sonic rainboom," Sora answered, wrapping a hoof around his astonished best friend's neck. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"...I want to ask how doing that is possible...but since we're in a different world, I'm not going to bother questioning." The white pegasus stallion looked over at the maids, more specifically at Pinkie Pie, remembering how she managed to pull out a small, mobile cannon out of nowhere when they fought the Changelings. "...Though I am starting to wonder how... Pinkie works. Is that her name?"

"Oh no! You do not want to know how Pinkie Pie's mind thinks!" Sora warned. "Just go with it whenever she does anything. Your brain will turn to sludge if you do that."

With the ceremony complete, everyone headed down to the courtyard outside the castle to enjoy the reception. The sun had set and the night sky settled over the land, Luna making sure the evening for Cadence and Shining Armor was filled with bright stars with the full moon shining its light upon the castle. The newly married couple, their friends and family, and other guests enjoyed the food and music as they celebrated the new royal couple's marriage.

It was soon time for the newlyweds to share their first dance as the DJ playing the music, a white unicorn mare that Sora had seen in Ponyville a few times, her mane and tail striped blue and cyan and her cutie mark a double quaver music note. While on stage, her name was DJ Pon-3, but her real name was Vinyl Scratch, easily noticed by her signature sunglasses, tinted purple and hid her red cerise eyes. Shining and Cadence were out in the center of the dance floor as a soft melody began to play. They stood on their hind legs, taking each other's forehooves and swayed to the gentle rhythm, their eyes locked on each other's. Even with several ponies watching them, the only ones that mattered was each other, sharing a small kiss every so often and nuzzling each other.

"It's kind of funny," Sora said as he stood alongside his friends. "From all the worlds I've been to, there's many of them where I actually see some couples get together once we save them or the world from anything evil, like the Heartless or Organization XIII."

"You have?" Riku asked with suspicion.

"Yeah. There's Belle and the Beast at his castle, Ariel and Eric in Atlantica, Jasmine and Aladdin in Agrabah. And that's just a few at the top of my head." Sora brought his forelegs behind his head, looking up at the starry sky. "It felt great to see them get together after going through disaster after disaster. Now, they have their happily ever after. And so do Shining and Cadence."

"And we might have our own someday," Kairi said, nuzzling her cheek against the spiky-haired teen's.

"That's not going to happen until we finally get rid of Xehanort and Maleficent." Riku rolled his eyes as his friends hugged and nuzzled each other.

As the song was close to ending, Pinkie Pie zipped off to the DJ booth, bringing Vinyl back up to her post. "Let's get this party pumping!"

The unicorn DJ placed a new record on, the song that was playing now more upbeat and bass thumping as it played over the speakers. Pinkie grabbed a microphone and tossed it at Twilight, the unicorn catching it as she began to sing, everyone around bobbing their heads to the beat or joining Shining and Cadence on the dance floor.

[Twilight]
Love is in bloom
A beautiful bride, a handsome groom,
Two hearts becoming one
A bond that cannot be undone because

Love is in bloom
A beautiful bride, a handsome groom
I said love is in bloom
You're starting a life and making room
For us (For us, For us...)

As Twilight sang, a photographer went around and began snapping memorable pictures for the royal couple. They got a few pictures of their relatives and friends, having fun and dancing around, though Riku in a couple pictures didn't seem that interested in being a part of the picture, even when Sora wrapped a hoof around his neck with a big grin on his face. With the song still playing, Kairi grabbed a microphone and joined Twilight.

[Kairi]
Your special day
We celebrate now, the pony way
Your friends are all right here
Won't let these moments disappear because

[Twilight and Kairi]
Love is in bloom
A beautiful bride, a handsome groom
I said love is in bloom
You're starting a life and making room

[Twilight]
For us

[Kairi]
For us

[Twilight and Kairi]
For us

The party cheered, having enjoyed the duet between the unicorn mares, Twilight and Kairi giving each other a friendly hug, their picture taken by the wedding photographer. The party continued on through the night until it came time for the married couple to head off and enjoy a little time to themselves in privacy, desperately needing that alone time after the stress they've been through. Twilight headed over to their carriage to see them off.

"Twily, none of this could have been possible without you, or your friends not from this world," Shining said. "Love you, L.S.B.F.F."

"Love you too, B.B.B.F.F." The unicorn siblings hugged, their relationship remaining unbroken, even after the heartbreaking argument Twilight had with Shining when Chrysalis had fooled them all a week ago.

The captain climbed inside the carriage with his wife, ready to begin their long awaited honeymoon. "Ready, Cadence?"

"Oh wait! I forgot something!" The pink alicorn held up her new bouquet, fresh flowers to replace the old one she used to distract the brainwashed mares, who thankfully found their way out when the spell on them broke.

Cadence poked her upper half out of the side window of the carriage and tossed her bouquet out to the group of mares waiting to catch it. "It's mine!" Rarity shouted, scrambling to get it as she tried to push the others out of the way. "It's all mine!"

Unfortunately, the bouquet flew too far over them and instead landed in Kairi's hooves, the mare too busy talking with Riku and Sora to notice. Completely surprised, she looked down at the flowers, then back up to Cadence across the courtyard. The alicorn obviously cheated, winking at the pink unicorn as she used her magic to give it a little push over to her, wanting the Keyblade wielder to catch it.

"Hey! Kairi caught the bouquet!" Pinkie pointed out. "That means she and Sora will get married someday! I call party planner for their wedding!"

The couple blushed heavily, Sora looking away while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "W-Well, that's not gonna be for a long while!" He suddenly flinched, looking back at Kairi as she still looked at the flowers, her cheeks growing brighter. "I-I mean, not that I don't want to marry you, Kairi, I'm just saying that...not now...but...someday?"

"I think she gets it, Sora," Riku said, clonking his panicky friend to shut his mouth before he kept babbling on. "When that day comes, you better make me the best man."

Sora grumbled, rubbing the bump on his head. "Not with your violent attitude. Why don't you find yourself a girlfriend and feel what it's like to freak out over something as serious as marriage?"

"I'm not interested in love just yet, Sora." The tan pegasus stallion shrugged, wrapping a wing around Kairi and snapping her out of her thoughts. As they walked over to Twilight and the rest of the girls, Riku sadly sighed and looked down at the ground. "Though I doubt any girl would want to be with me after what I've done..."

The others up ahead watched as the carriage pulled out and headed down the road, a sign reading "Just married" written on it as horseshoes tied to the back clattered across the stone streets. "Now this was a great wedding."

"Oh yeah? Wait until you see what I've got planned for the bachelor party!" Spike exclaimed, the mare's rolling their eyes and shaking their heads while Sora blanched.

"Uhh, Spike? Bachelor parties are supposed to be before the wedding starts," Sora explained. "And they're not exactly the kind of party you should even try to plan at your age."

"Why? What's so bad about it?" Sora leaned in to whisper what a bachelor party was, trying to make it not sound too mature for the baby dragon. Spike's eyes widened in shock, chuckling nervously. "Oh. Well, that's not...what I thought it was."

The ponies all laughed at Spike's embarrassment, fireworks shooting off into the sky as they sparkling light show created unique images. Despite having Equestria nearly taken over by the Changelings, the royal wedding wasn't completely ruined. Shining Armor and Cadence were now officially married, and could never be happier being with the pony they loved. Their bond was even stronger than it was in the past thanks to Sora and Kairi giving more power to their love barrier with the light from their own hearts. Their happily ever after was made into a reality, and their happiness together will never end.

With the reception having ended, the wedding guests headed back to their homes if they were locals or in any of the hotels in Canterlot. The special guests, being the heroes of Equestria and their family, stayed in the guest rooms in the castle. The courtyard would have to wait to be cleaned up until tomorrow, the maids definitely getting a raise with the wild party's aftermath. Everyone was too exhausted as the celebration wound down, stripping out of their clothing and immediately crashing as they plopped onto the comfortable beds.

Unfortunately, one of them was still wide awake, though not out of the excitement of the royal wedding. Riku laid in the bed in his room, his tuxedo discarded on the floor as he stared at the ceiling. He did have a good time taking part in a wedding from another world, though watching Cadence and Shining Armor, Sora and Kairi, and many other couples that were invited to the wedding, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Though he never showed it physically, he wished he could experience what they had. His obsession with finding out what other worlds there were out from their own years ago, his time being jealous of Sora as he had sided with Maleficent and being controlled by Ansem, retrieving Roxas to bring Sora's memories back, helping stop Organization XIII, and going through the dream worlds to stop Xehanort had distracted him from trying to enjoy his life as a normal teen.

Sighing, Riku climbed out of his head and approached the window in the room, opening it up to let the cool evening air roll in. He looked out at the stars up in the night sky, leaning against the window sill. He was exhausted, but sleep just wouldn't come to him, his thoughts nagging at him over the question Sora had asked him.

"Find myself a girlfriend," he muttered. "That's never gonna happen. Not in a million years." He looked down at his hooves, his memories bringing him back to all the terrible things he had done in the past. The ones that really scarred him were his moments of jealousy over Sora when he had been traveling with Donald and Goofy, thinking he had forgotten about him and Kairi. Every moment he felt envious of him, every single hateful comment he gave his best friend, every slash of his darker Keyblade against him, that guilt would never leave him. Even if Sora forgave him, his actions would never be forgotten. "What kind of girl would like me if they knew I almost killed my friends and used the power of darkness?

"...Sora...How is it that I found a best friend that can forgive someone who almost got him killed?" Memories of their days as kids ran through Riku's mind, unable to keep the smile growing on his face.

All of the times they played on the island, before and after Kairi mysteriously arrived, the duels, pranks, friendly banters, they were all memorable. Both teens had pushed each other to their limits every single time they fought, Riku taunting Sora to get better, and at times, he had lost to his friend, though he had more victories under his belt. But when it came to their separation when they lost their home, Sora was the one who was stronger than him after Riku stole his Kingdom Keyblade away from him. He was strong enough to wield it, and thanks to Terra, the mysterious young man who claimed to have been from another world who made him his successor with a Keyblade, he was able to use it, but Sora took it back as the cliché line he said about his friends being his power was far stronger. Because he lost sight of the friendship he had with his best friend, he lost himself to the darkness, which was a big mistake when he let Ansem in his heart willingly.

Even after nearly two years being apart from each other, Sora had been desperately searching for him as soon as he woke up. Seeing him as Ansem after he gave in to the power of darkness to apprehend his friend's Nobody, Roxas, Sora felt the real Riku inside the shell of the man that threatened to tear their friendship apart. And once they defeated Xemnas and wound up stuck in the realm of darkness, their relationship was rekindled, though it was surprising to hear Sora say he wanted to be like him, when he wished to be like his friend. He still wished that was possible, maybe find some way to stop his younger self from listening to Maleficent.

After they went through the dream worlds to stop Xehanort, which almost failed once Sora was taken hostage, Riku had passed his Mark of Mastery exam while his friend had failed. It didn't seem fair after all he did in the past: saving the worlds, stopping the Heartless and Nobodies, rescuing him from Ansem and saving Kairi. His friend was the one who defeated Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody, but one small mistake getting captured by their enemy cost him his status as a Keyblade Master, a title he rightfully deserved more than the silver-haired teen. Sora's made more friends, he's stronger than any foe they've ever faced, while Riku nearly thrust the whole universe into darkness, his actions to try to redeem himself for his transgressions unsatisfying.

Riku soon began to give in to his exhaustion, letting out a yawn as he trudged back to the bed. "At least I made up with him. As long as I can still keep my best friend, I guess it doesn't matter." He climbed into bed, not bothering with the covers as he rested his head on the soft pillow, closing his eyes as he drifted off to sleep. "Would be nice to have someone like me and look past what I've done..."

The sun began its ascent into the sky by Celestia's power, bringing the morning to the kingdom. The wedding the previous night was one to be remembered through all of Equestria, a royal wedding nearly taken over by an invasion by a strange group of insect-pony creatures called Changelings. Everyone would want to have some security measures set in place in case there were any stragglers that had been flung out of the capital city, so they can prevent anymore possible invasions.

The light from the glowing star shone into the opened window in Riku's guest room, shining down on the teen's face. He rolled over, averting his face from the sunlight, wanting some more sleep after stayed up longer than he should have last night. As soon as he rested his head back down on the pillow, the scent of strawberry cotton candy struck his nostrils. Though it was pleasant, the smell wasn't there before when he headed for bed last night. Squinting his eyes open, he stared at a pair of blue eyes on a pink body, the creature way too close around his personal space. His eyes opened wide as he saw Pinkie Pie laying next to him.

"Good morning, Riku!" the pink earth pony greeted cheerfully.

"AHHH!" The pegasus leapt back out of his bed, falling off the mattress and landing hard on his head.

Pinkie slowly peered over the side of the bed, Riku groaning as he began to slowly wake back up. "You ok?"

"...What were you doing on my bed?" he asked. "And how did you get in here?"

"Well, duh. The door." Pinkie pointed at the doorway, which Riku couldn't see in the position he was in. "You know, if you wanted to sleep in, you should have locked the door."

"I did lock it," Riku grumbled.

"Huh. Guess you didn't LOCK lock it." Riku sighed in annoyance and rolled on his hooves, cracking his neck from crashing on his head. "You know, cause you have a Keyblade like Sora and Kairi? And it can be used to lock and unlock anything?"

"I got it. Now, as a word of warning-" The teen grabbed Pinkie by the tail, opened the door to his room, and threw the pink earth pony out into the hallway. "-don't do that again."

"How else was I supposed to wake you up for breakfast?" Pinkie asked, completely ignorant of Riku's twitching eye and annoyed glare.

"Knock on the door, not scare the heck out of me by laying next to me in a bed." He slammed the door shut, ready to get back to bed as it was too early to wake up or have breakfast. Before he reached the soft mattress, he quickly backpedaled and opened the door with a frightful expression, seeing Pinkie still where he last tossed her. "...You didn't do anything to me while I was asleep, did you?"

"Nope! Just said, 'Good morning, Riku!', and then you screamed and fell off the bed!" The mare grinned, a squeaking sound ringing in the teen's head as she smiled at him like an innocent child.

"...Ok then." He closed the door again, though he didn't head back to bed. With his mind finally waking up, he couldn't fall back to sleep when Pinkie's little wake-up call spooked him. He was desperate to know what made that pony tick, but at the same time, he didn't want to know. Riku put his vest back on and opened his guest room's door again, Pinkie still sitting there, as if she knew he was going to come out at some point. "...You're kind of scaring me...and I don't know if I should be afraid of something that's completely pink and acts like a little kid."

"So, does that mean you're coming down to have breakfast with the rest of us?" Riku dumbly nodded, fearing another random jump scare from Pinkie's instantaneous appearance out of thin air. "Hooray! To the dining hall!"

Pinkie bounded down the corridor, Riku slowly following after her, trying to tell himself exactly what Sora had warned him about her. "Just ignore whatever Pinkie Pie does...Sounds more impossible than fighting back against the darkness..."

After eating the bountiful breakfast fit for royalty and loyal guests of the rulers of Equestria, it was time for the heroes of the kingdom to leave and head back home to Ponyville. Sora and Kairi convinced Riku to stay and see the town, take a little vacation from traveling around the worlds and fighting Heartless day in and day out. There was a big lack of Heartless in the other worlds for the past few months, and with the excitement from the wedding and the invasion, he could use a little break. It took a while to convince him, and by convince, Riku was given the sad puppy dog eyes by the three little fillies, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, and Pinkie Pie, guilt tripping him with those big eyes to have him stay.

While the others took the train, Riku headed down the mountain to his Gummi ship and flew it down to the small town in the distance. He spotted his friends' ships parked out in the open in a field far from the Ponyville and parked it alongside theirs. With his vessel out of sight from any other pony, he made his way into town and searched around for the train station to wait for his friends. The train from Canterlot had arrived right on time, the Mane Six, their families who had showed up for the wedding, and his two friends walked out of the cars, Sora wearing a big smirk on his face as he and the Crusaders approached him.

"I hate you," Riku said. "Using three little ponies and Pinkie to do that to me. That's cheating."

"Tugged your heartstrings, huh?" Sora nudged his annoyed friend's shoulder, the fillies smiling innocently. "You got a soft spot for cuteness, Riku. Don't deny it."

"I went along with this because of her." Riku pointed at Pinkie, the party pony waving her hoof wildly at him. "I'm afraid if I didn't, she would find some way to pop up in my ship and cause it to crash on a moon. Several thousand miles from any nearby world. While struggling not to die from irritation."

"You'll warm up to Pinkie after a few days...or weeks. She throws a pretty good party, and you may want to be alert for one in the future." The moment Sora gave Riku the warning, Pinkie zoomed off into town to plan out a certain party for a new friend. "Speak of the pony devil."

As they left the station, the girls went about their business, leaving Sora, Kairi, and the Crusaders to give Riku a tour of Ponyville. The first place to look at first was where Sora had been residing since he arrived in Equestria: Sweet Apple Acres. As soon as they caught sight of the mass expanse of apple trees in the orchard, Riku just stared at the thousands of trees that stretched on for over a mile.

"Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Where mah family owns and runs the farm, sellin' the freshest and tastiest apples ya ever sunk your teeth into!"

"And judging by most of the apple-based food at the reception yesterday, I assume those same apples that made them came from this orchard." Sora and Apple Bloom nodded, Riku taking their word for it as he looked back at the vast orchard. "And...you're the only ones who take care of all the thousands of trees?"

"We do, but Sora does a lot of work to help us. He's even stronger than mah big brother for bein' so scrawny." Sora tussled the yellow filly's mane, making her giggle as he messed her red hair and her pink bow up.

"And you three are more trouble than you look." Their tour soon took them out to the western side of the orchard, where the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse was. "And out here in this section of the orchard is where Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo hang out for their Crusaders meetings."

"'Crusaders'?" Riku asked.

"We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Scootaloo spoke up. "We're on a never ending quest to find our cutie marks!"

"...What is a cutie mark?" Sora began to snicker, knowing how awkward it will be for his friend to find out what a cutie mark was.

"I think you've seen it already," Kairi said, pointing at her flank, showing him her Keyblade and white heart cutie mark.

Riku took the hint and looked at his own flanks, now knowing why there was a picture of his Keyblade etched permanently on his rear end. "...Oh...That's what this is...What exactly is the purpose of these...'cutie marks'?"

"Cutie marks show a pony's true talents and appears when they find it," Sweetie Belle explained. "And for us to find out what our talents are, we do a bunch of different things to see if we can get our cutie marks!"

"Like taming a manticore!" Scootaloo shouted, giving out a poor example as Sora stopped snickering.

"No! No manticore taming! Nothing dangerous, you little daredevil!" Sora scolded. "Can you think of anything that doesn't involve you three getting into deadly encounters with creatures that come from the Everfree Forest?"

"...Nope!" The tan pegasus groaned and hung his head in exasperation.

"You're going to drive me up the walls, Scoots," Sora grumbled.

"Are these three really that bad?" Riku asked Kairi.

"You have no idea," Kairi said. "When Hearts and Hooves Day came around, a holiday similar to Valentine's day, these fillies tried to make a love potion for Apple Bloom's brother and their school teacher. It turned out to be a poison, and Sora and Twilight drank it by accident, turning them into lovesick idiots who couldn't look away from each other. The only way to break the cursed creation of alchemy was to separate them for an hour...and the result was me getting badly beaten by Sora trying to get information on where his...'shnookums' was."

Riku felt his spine shudder in disgust. He may not be a lovesick romantic, even if he would like to know what being in love felt like, but giving awkward nicknames like that to someone was just embarrassingly cringe worthy.

"I'm surprised you two didn't break up after that." Riku watched the Crusaders and Sora, the fillies spouting out random ideas to get their cutie marks, though many of them involved something too dangerous for them to do, alone or with a chaperone. "I'm guessing I'll have to help watch what they do and stop them if they go too far, huh?"

"Yup." The two continued watching as Scootaloo suggested another dangerous activity involving a hydra, prompting Sora to noogie the pegasus filly's head hard to get his answer through her thick skull.

As the tour guides gave Riku more sights to see in Ponyville, the white pegasus stallion wasn't all that amused with the town. Out of all the worlds he's been to, Equestria was a lot more like a little girl's fantasy come to life in his opinion, though it made sense when Sora told him how Kairi freaked out the first time she came here. He was surprised to see she was this calm now, though seeing his best friend for the last half year and being in this world several times would possibly drown out the frantic little girl inside her.

Their next stop was at Rarity's boutique, where they met up with the fashionista busy with her orders. Riku dreaded being in a clothing store with all of these differently designed dresses, though there were a few suits for stallions on display, though not many and too elegant for his tastes. Rarity had been working on a little side project with her new fashion line and showed it to the Keyblade wielders. Taking inspiration from Sora's clothing, she made a line that matched his exact clothing design, though they were all in different colors, in sizes for adults and foals, and even a blank patch on the back if anyone who buys one wants to add their cutie mark sewn into it. The Crusaders acted as models for the smaller jackets to show off their functionality: Sweetie Belle in a light lavender, Apple Bloom in a bold red, and Scootaloo in a dark azure. With how well known Sora was, anyone who knew of him and were big fans of his would surely buy one and wear something that matched the heroic teen's clothing, sans the Drive Form enchantments that his has. Unfortunately, the fillies didn't get a cutie mark as runway models, to their dismay.

Next was at Fluttershy's cottage outside of town. All of the timid pegasus mare's animal friends scurried about in and around her home, taking care of them after she had been gone to Canterlot for the wedding for a whole week. At least some ponies were kind enough to feed them while she was out, and they were all pretty happy to see their caretaker again. But out of all the animals, her pet rabbit, Angel, immediately disliked Riku the moment their eyes met. Sora could sympathize with his friend, the little white bunny not as cute and fluffy as he appeared to be. It was a surprise to seeing an actually grizzly bear in Fluttershy's home, and quite shocking for Riku to know that he isn't all that dangerous and was really tame. Not many of the animals seemed to come close to the silver-haired teen, possibly sensing his darkness, even though it wasn't a threat to him or others any longer.

The sun was about to set as they headed back into town, on their way to Sugarcube Corner for something to eat. Riku was completely neutral on the tour he was given, though he did admit Equestria was peaceful if they took out the sudden, life-threatening moments that had occurred.

"You're gonna like what Sugarcube Corner has in stock," Sora explained to Riku, the Crusaders and Kairi having gone on ahead after they left Fluttershy's home. "Applejack and her family may grow the best apples, but the Cakes bake the most delicious pastries you could ever eat."

"I'll take your word for it. Just as long as nothing has any flowers or grass in them." For breakfast back in Canterlot, the silver-haired teen never knew that some of the food laid out for them was made of edible flowers, hay, anything that herbivorous creatures mainly eat. Surprisingly, it was oddly delicious, though he wouldn't want to make it a habit to try them all with his body's odd taste palate. "I'd like to at least retain what humanity I do have while I'm here."

"Well, you can't eat meat, so that's a downside," Sora agreed. "But I don't mind it."

"Being here for nearly a year, and you don't mind eating grass...You're the weirdest friend I've ever made." The long time friends laughed as they nudged each other. The gingerbread house shaped building was in sight, the two pegasi walked through the door, but there was a lack of customers inside. In fact, the lights were off too, the bakery slightly dark as the last rays of sunlight shone through the windows. "Why are the lights out? I thought you said the place was still open."

The lights suddenly turned on and almost all of Ponyville popped out from their hiding places all around the front of the house. "SURPRISE!"

"Surprise!" Pinkie said as she was the last to pop out. "Darn it!"

Instead of being surprised, Riku just stared at the ponies in confusion. There was confetti hanging along the rafters, sweets littering the big buffet table on the other side of the room, ponies he had never met before having jumped out to try and startle him, almost like some kind of birthday party, when it actually wasn't. He looked over at Sora, the pegasus grinning at him like the others.

"...What is happening?" Riku asked.

"It's a surprise party!" Sora said. "Remember when Pinkie ran off earlier? She was getting your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party all set up. I did warn you."

"And good thing he didn't believe you!" Pinkie exclaimed, having somehow appeared next to Riku. The white pegasus yelped and leapt into his friend's forehooves, staring at the random mare that managed to teleport from behind the counter and appear next to him when he didn't blink. "Were you surprised, Riku!?"

"...I'm more surprised by how you keep managing to do that!" As soon as he realized who he was holding onto, Riku looked down at Sora, his friend smirking at him. "...Wipe that grin off your face."

"You're actually scared of Pinkie Pie? She's harmless!" Riku growled, leaping out of Sora's forehooves.

"Well, at least he was surprised about something." Pinkie put a white and black striped party hat on the guest of honor's head, the stallion sighing in annoyance. "Now, let's party!"

(Destiny Islands)

The party planner zipped over to the phonograph, setting the needle down and played some music for the party goers. Soon, everyone began to either dance to the catchy song, conversing with others while also eating the variety of snacks laid out for the party, having a good time as they welcomed Riku. Riku, however, wasn't the kind of person to enjoy parties, especially one that seemed a bit too childish. He took off his party hat and laid it down on a nearby table, feeling embarrassed wearing the festive cap at his age. Sora and Kairi didn't seem to care, though the two were a bit more outgoing than he was.

While some of the other ponies greeted him, which he returned with a little less enthusiasm, Riku approached the punch bowl and poured himself a cup. After getting his drink, he grabbed a paper plate and filled it with a bunch of random assortment of goodies, then proceeded to the back of the party to munch on his chosen snacks. He wasn't alone for long as Twilight noticed him acting like a wallflower, uninterested in Pinkie's party.

"What are you doing over here, Riku?" the lavender unicorn asked. "You're not enjoying the party?"

"I'm not really much of an outgoing partier, but it's not that bad." He took a bite of a cupcake, enjoying the crumbly texture and sweet icing giving the pastry some flavor. "Sora's more of that kind of person than I am. I just hang out with him and Kairi, and our other friends back on Destiny Island."

"Oh. I see," Twilight said. "What's your home like?"

"Didn't Sora blab enough about every other world he's been to?" Riku asked.

"Well...First, it was more our fault forcing him to tell us when the Summer Sun Celebration came around last year. Things were a little...crazy as soon as I moved here." The mare giggled at the wild first day in Ponyville that she had, along with having Sora around to make things more strange. "And second, he only explained he was from another world. He didn't give much detail on where you, he, and Kairi came from, or what the other worlds were like aside from any he had mentioned based around holidays."

"...And you want to know what the islands are like?" Twilight nodded. Riku sighed and finished the cupcake, taking a small sip of the strawberry punch. "Not really much to talk about home. We don't exactly live on what we call Destiny Island. It's just a small island not too far from the coast where the town is. It's just a small hangout where we've heard legends of the tree on small island platform with the paopu fruit."

"That same legend that brings the hearts of two ponies together, intertwining them forever?" Riku nodded in agreement. "It's a weird legend...though it did come true for Sora and Kairi. Even though...what he did to save her..."

"...Yeah." Riku remembered that moment, being forced to watch through his own eyes as Ansem took full control of his body back in the clockwork castle that was in Radiant Garden, formerly known as Hollow Bastion.

Riku and Sora clashed blades in front of the technicolored gateway that would complete Kingdom Hearts and unleash more powerful Heartless in the world in the grand hall where the princesses were held captive. The Heartless taking complete control of him, Ansem, had crafted a black Keyblade, forged by the six other princesses' hearts to take Kairi's, held safely inside Sora's. All the teen could do was watch, feeling guilty and regretting ever acting like he had, terrified of the power controlling him. Both sides had fought heavily, Sora sporting several bruises from the swift impacts Riku's darkness had given him.

Eventually, the spiky-haired teen managed to avoid his quickest and dangerous attacks catching Riku-Ansem off guard and knocking him into an unbreakable combo. With one last, hard strike, he flew back and disappeared, dropping the dark Keyblade, though he didn't retreat. Instead, he hid in the shadows and watched, overhearing Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they hovered over Kairi. Sora tried to lock the gateway, but because it was incomplete without Kairi's heart, it won't close.

"...It's not working," Sora uttered. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Maybe we need to wake up Kairi," Goofy suggested.

"Right...but how?" Sora looked down at his chest, placing a hand over his and Kairi's heart. Riku felt Ansem smirk, intentionally being defeated and left that dangerous Keyblade on purpose. He tried to break free from the Heartless's hold, but his darkness was far too powerful for him to escape. Sora looked back at the black Keyblade lying on the ground behind him. "A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts..."

"No! Sora! Don't do it!" Riku shouted, but his words couldn't be heard.

He was forced to watch as his best friend approached the Keyblade and held it in his hand. Donald and Goofy tried to reason with the teen, but their words fell on deaf ears. Sora turned to his new friends and grinned at them, taking the black blade and plunging it in his heart. His chest began glowing as his heart was released, the Keyblade shattering and returning back to the six hearts of the other princesses down below, flying back into their rightful owners. Sora's heart floated over to Kairi's unconscious body, entering her chest and waking her from her comatose state.

Riku didn't want to see anymore, but Ansem forced him to watch. Sora began to fade away as he slowly fell back, Kairi quickly getting up on her feet as she watch him disappear. She ran up to him to catch him, but he faded into dozens of bright sparkles, slipping from her fingers as they floated up to the sky. His best friend had died, bringing Kairi back, and the corrupted teen was responsible for causing all this pain to her, Donald, and Goofy.

Everything around him went silent as Riku fell to his knees in the dark abyss of his heart that was now his prison. Sora had cared about him and Kairi, and he was too stubborn to realize he was telling the truth. He just killed himself, gave up his heart for the girl he loved, his guilt building as he began to fade into the darkness. Ansem soon made himself known in his real form, using his body as a host after lying to him about growing stronger if he embraced the darkness. He was about to kill Kairi, hearing his voice echo that she was of no use to him. Growling, his body began to glow as he used what remaining light that was in his heart, hoping to repent to his friends and keep Kairi safe from harm. For Sora.

While he was lost in the past, Riku's eyes finally noticed a lavender hoof waving in front of his face. "Riku? You ok?" Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked over at Twilight, who seemed worried. "You look like you spaced out for a moment."

"...Oh...Sorry...Just...thinking about...the past." He stuffed a cookie in his mouth, though the small pastry didn't help keep his mind occupied with the horrible mistakes in the past.

Twilight could tell he was hiding a lot from the nervous expression on his face, almost like how she seemed whenever an important test popped up unexpectedly or pressured to find a way to fix a problem. "The bad moments?" Riku ceased his chewing, though the answer was obvious as he looked down at the floor, looking a bit miserable. "...But, that's all behind you and Sora, right?"

"...Maybe...but you can never forget what you've done, no matter how long it takes for it to be nothing but dust in the wind," Riku said, brushing some of his bangs away from his eyes. "Sora's always so positive about everything. He never gave up on me when I was against him and listened to everything Maleficent told me about him, he kept searching for me even when I didn't want him to, and when we defeated Organization XIII for good, he believed we would find a way out of the realm of darkness after being trapped in The World That Never Was..." He looked out at the dance floor, watching Sora and Kairi dancing together to the music that still played, though the song fell deathly silent for him. "I sometimes wonder how I can have a friend like him when I really don't deserve to be his friend."

"I thought the same thing." Riku looked over at Twilight with a questionable stare. "I was also tricked by Maleficent, and I almost got Kairi killed."

"...That witch has been here?" the pegasus growled. "What happened?"

"...Well, before Kairi arrived...I was friends with Sora when I officially stayed here in Ponyville," Twilight began explaining. "After we stopped Luna, who was Nightmare Moon when she came back, Sora had...saved me from several things back then. I thought he was annoying at first because of his outgoing and hyper personality, but he was a lot more heroic than I thought...I had a crush on him, but, since I was so new to friendship during that time, I had no idea what to do to try to...tell him."

"You had a crush on him?" Riku asked, unable to believe someone like Twilight would like someone as hyperactive as Sora.

"Yeah...I know. I'm over it now though," Twilight nervously giggled. "One day, I grew a bit confused over what I should do when I had my very first slumber party in my life, and Sora, Applejack, and Rarity were a part of it by a dangerous lightning storm keeping them in the Golden Oak Library with me." The stallion raised a brow, questioning why the unicorn, at her age, would think of having a slumber party when she was now at adulthood. "...I've been focused on my studies and magical skills all my life! Don't judge me!

"Anyway, while playing 'Truth or Dare', he chose Truth and I asked him if he had a marefriend. It was a yes and no answer, and he told us about what he did to save Kairi that day." Twilight felt herself tear up, remembering every single detail Sora had explained with his noble sacrifice for the Princess of Heart. "After hearing that, I was so confused. He still loved her, and I didn't want to take somepony away from another after something like that. Soon, Kairi actually came down to Equestria and reunited with him after they haven't seen each other in months, but I began to grow jealous of her, thinking so many negative thoughts against her.

"Then, the next day, while I holed myself up in my room, scared of what I had been thinking, that's when Maleficent appeared." The unicorn swallowed the lump in her throat, recalling the evil witch's words, the spell cast upon her to unleash her pent up frustrations, and attack both Sora and Kairi when she was denied her desires. "I became...something else. I watched everything my body did, controlled by a darkness in my heart I never knew...Kairi saved me, and they both forgave me, even when I shouldn't deserve their friendship." Twilight let out a sad laugh as she looked at Riku. "I'm still a complete novice when it comes to friendship, but Sora seems to be an expert on it. I don't know what any of us would do without him."

"...That's true..." They both looked back out to the party, the dance floor cleared out as Sora played against Rainbow Dash in a game of Twister. The tan pegasus had his body contorted in a twisted form with his hooves placed on the assigned, though the cyan mare over him was struggling to stay standing with her limbs in random spots. Many of the party guests cheered for Sora, the teen not breaking a sweat as he was given his next move. "I envy Sora sometimes. He's a barrel of laughs, cocky and arrogant, and he's not exactly the brightest out of us. But what I'm jealous about most is his personality. Always being optimistic, loyal to his close friends. A perfect best friend to have."

"RIKU!" Pinkie shouted as she appeared next to Riku again, startling the pegasus as he leapt away, accidentally ramming into Twilight and sending the two tumbling over each other. "Wow, you're more easy to spook than Fluttershy. And she's supposed to be timid."

"How the heck does she keep doing that?" Riku grumbled, untangling himself from Twilight, the unicorn mare having wound up on top of him while he was on his back. "What do you want?"

"You've been hanging out in the back of the party when you should be in the center of it! Show Sora a thing or two about flexibility and beat him in Twister!" Ignoring any complaints he might have tried to voice, Pinkie grabbed Riku's vest and pulled him out into the middle of the circle. She ran back to her place as the spinner, making the white pegasus plop down on the game mat, opposite where Sora stood. "Ok! Time for a good match between two bestest of best buddies!"

"...I'm never gonna get used to her, am I?" Riku asked.

"Nope, but I know I can kick your butt in a simple game like this," Sora taunted, though his words didn't bother him.

"You couldn't even beat me in a race." Pinkie spun and called out the first color and which hoof for Riku, the teen stomping his hoof down on the assigned spot as he stared Sora down with a determined gaze. "You'll lose every single time, just like when we were kids."

"Oh yeah? Bring it on!" Pinkie called out Sora's move, the tan pegasus stomping his hoof down on his spot as he leered back in the friendly competition.

As the party dragged on, Riku began to like his welcoming party, if only a little. During the little game of Twister, he manage to triumph over Sora, being far more flexible than he was, despite the skinny frame his friend had. He didn't really join in the dancing, though he did like the music, just standing around and talking with his new pony friends, though he steered clear of Pinkie Pie, knowing she could probably annoy him to death with a tangent. Even though his past mistakes still haunted him, those thoughts would always be quelled whenever Sora snaps him out of his dreary mood, helping him look forward to a positive outcome than dwelling on his dark actions of the past. He couldn't have been more lucky than to have a friend like him in his life, forever promising his best friend to be a better person, with or without him around.

Far to the frozen wastelands up north in Equestria, a constant blizzard blew down upon the land. Walking through this dangerous snow storm was Maleficent and Pete, the witch unaffected by the buffeting snow with her inner fire magic while the minion shivered violently, his snot frozen down his nostrils as his hooves shuffled across the few inches of snow littering the ground.

"W-W-W-Why are we o-out h-here in the c-c-c-c-c-cold!?" Pete complained. "I-I-I thought w-we were gonna -f-f-find someplace n-nicer!"

"If we are going to have ourselves a base to go to if we are ever in peril in this world, then we have to distance ourselves from any civilization where Sora and his friends could hunt us down." Pete tried to keep up, though his body didn't want to function properly, his limbs starting to shut down from the blistering cold, despite his fur and outfit trying to keep him warm. Maleficent climbed up the snow banks and stood at the top, staring in fascination at a gleaming city made out of crystal before them. "Ahhh...What have we here?" Pete crawled up to the top, still violently shivering as he looked down at the crystal buildings down below. "It looks like a kingdom of pure crystal. How interesting."

"G-G-Great. L-Let's hope there's w-w-w-warmth." Pete began to make his way down to the perimeter of the area, not caring if anyone sees him as his body demanded a fire, or a sauna.

Before she could walk down herself to take the castle as her own, the witch froze as she felt a dark force emanating around the crystal city. The power brought a chill down her spine, terrified at the overwhelming darkness that came from whatever was seeping out the power. Her equine ears perked up when she heard a low, demonic growl echo throughout the land, drowning out the harsh winds of the blizzard around them. Using her magic, she levitated her staff in front of her loyal minion, dragging him back to her.

"Did you feel that?" she asked, surprising Pete with how scared she sounded.

"F-Feel what? M-M-My body's all n-n-n-numb," he said.

"Then did you hear that growl? Your ears should still function, you idiot." The growl echoed around the land again, Pete hearing it this time as he began shivering more in fright than freezing cold.

"W-What was that?" Pete asked.

"...There's something lurking out here...It's power is...unimaginable..." Maleficent looked down at the crystal buildings and palace through the snow blurring their vision. As much as she would want to liberate this kingdom as her own, whatever was out there was probably thinking the same thing as she was. And if they had to fight it, even with Heartless fighting for them, the level of darkness from what monstrous creature that resides in this icy wasteland was far stronger than anything the witch had ever dealt with. "...As magnificent as this palace may be for a new kingdom of darkness, I don't want to know what's out here. If there is anything that actually lives down there...they won't survive..."

The duo quickly head back down the steep snow bank, getting far enough away from the land cursed by the powerful monster that haunts the kingdom. Through the blizzard, a dark mist began to rise up from the snow, though it was faint as if it was barely strong enough to stay floating in midair. A pair of red eyes appeared, the sclera green as purple mist seeped out from the sides. The strange mist growled as it weakly floated around the land, slowly regaining the strength it had lost as it looked out to the kingdom.

It had been a few days since the royal wedding of Cadence and Shining Armor had occurred, the exciting news having spread all throughout Equestria, along with the Changeling invasion thwarted by the newlyweds, the Elements of Harmony, and the heroic stallion and his companions with their key-shaped weapons. In Canterlot's castle, Celestia was busy going through her usual duties as the ruler of the land: dealing with all sorts of paperwork, the nobles that request her audience over pointless accusations or meaningless changes to the city, hiding her annoyance at her millennium long work as a princess. While going through another bill from some stuffy snob from her council, the doors to her throne room burst open as a guard ran in, panting heavily and looking distressed.

"Your highness! Urgent news from the north!" he said. "Scouts from the northern base had reported something that had just recently appeared a few days ago...It has returned."

The alicorn dropped the scroll she was reading in shock, gasping in horror as she knew exactly what her guard meant. "Find Cadence and Shining Armor immediately! Tell them to head where it has reappeared and keep that land safe until then!" The guard saluted and hurried off to find the newlywed couple. Celestia began to panic, dismissing her other guards from the throne room. "This is bad. The kingdom's come back...as well as...him..."

She grabbed a couple blank scrolls, writing out a hasty message for both Twilight and Sora individually. After writing out her urgent, yet brief, news, she called forth a black tome with her magic, a very special spellbook that's seen much age, though still kept in pristine condition. She had plans for this book for Twilight, but with the news of a kingdom she knows of having returned, it seemed too perilous at the moment for her student to look into it. As she was about to send Sora's letter, she heard hooves echo against the floor of the throne room. She looked up with a pained expression on her face, her sister, Luna, approaching her, tears welling up in the blue alicorn's eyes.

"...It has returned, hasn't it?" she asked.

"...Yes," Celestia admitted.

"...And...so has he..." Luna's tears began to fall as memories of someone she had thought to never see again has returned.

Down in Ponyville, out in the empty fields far from the town, Sora and Riku were in the middle of a friendly duel using their Keyblades, the Mane Six, Spike, and Kairi all standing by and watching the two friends fight. The two expert fighters were evenly matched, their blades clashing with less power than they would against a real opponent. They've already gone through a lot of moments where they tried to kill each other, so it was fun for them just to have a normal fight for competition's sake. The match was immediately interrupted as Sora's Keyblade pointed up in the middle of a swing, a scroll from the princess appearing above him and dropping onto his muzzle.

"What the heck was that?" Riku asked, disappointed that their match was interrupted by an odd spell.

"Darn it, Celestia. Now of all times." Sora unfurled the scroll and read it to himself while the others approached the two stallions. "Seems like the princess has something important for me to do."

"Aww man!" Pinkie whined.

"What is it that she wants you to do?" Kairi asked.

"No idea. She wants to me meet up with her in the castle to tell me personally." Sora rolled the scroll back up and stuffed it away in his red pouch. "I'll be back soon."

The teen flew off and headed toward the mountain city, leaving the ponies and baby dragon behind. "I hope it's nothing serious." As they watched Sora leave, Spike suddenly belched out a scroll, the rolled up parchment dropping from his magical fire breath. Twilight grabbed it with her aura and read it, her eyes widening as she began to panic. "Oh my gosh. Princess Celestia's giving me a test! Today! Oh no! I didn't know she was going to give me a surprise test! I need to get ready!"

Twilight ran off into town, dropping the scroll while the others watched her leave. They hurried after her as they arrived at the Golden Oak Library. The lavender unicorn ran around, blindly grabbing random books, parchment, quills, blank flash cards, anything her magic could get as she stuffed them in her saddlebags.

"Oh boy," Kairi muttered. "She's freaking out again."

"Is she really freaking out about a regular test?" Riku asked, Twilight stopping her packing as she slowly turned her head toward the pegasus stallion.

"...A 'regular' test?" she asked, her eye twitching as she was on the verge of blowing up. The others all backed away from Riku as Twilight stomped up to him. "This is more than just a 'regular' test! Princess Celestia, my mentor and Equestria's leader, is giving me a very important test! And I'm not ready for it!"

"It's just a test. Calm down," he said.

"...J-Just a test? JUST A TEST!?" Twilight shouted. "This test may very well spell the future of my studies under her tutelage, and you're telling me to calm down because it's just a test!?"

"Yes." The library was deathly silent, the unicorn leering at the silver-haired stallion as her horn began glowing brightly. "...Uhh, you ok?"

Twilight let out a loud grunt of frustration that could be heard all throughout Ponyville, her magical blast causing the entire library to leap out of its roots several yards into the air. As soon as the large tree building fell back down, the inside was a mess, the others slightly shaken by the impact while Riku's body had been shot into the wall of the tree.

"...Well, I think she took that well," Applejack commented as Riku groaned in pain, slowly slipping out of the pegasus-shaped indent he made.

Sora entered the castle as he reached Canterlot, flying past the city over the stuffy nobles walking about down below. Since he was now fully welcomed as an honorable hero by the royal guard instead of being considered skeptical, the Keyblade wielder was able to come and go whenever he pleased. Celestia said she would be waiting for him in the throne room, not hesitating to walk inside to see what urgent news she had to tell him.

As he walked down the long stretch of the room to where Celestia stood next to a newly placed stain glass window, Sora was surprised to see Luna standing next to her as well. The window showed the events of their victory against the Changelings: Shining and Cadence making a heart shape with their bodies, pink barrier formed around them as the many drones that were part of Chrysalis's army were flung by the light emitting from barrier. They seemed to be discussing something before he walked in, though it looked like Luna was greatly distressed about something. Both princesses didn't hear him come in as they argued.

"Luna, I told you several times, you're not going with them," Celestia said sternly. "I didn't want you to know about this, but it's too late for that."

"You know how much he means to me," Luna argued. "Sora was able to save me. He can surely save him too."

"He's not the stallion you once knew anymore. He's long gone. And saving the empire is more important than-" As Celestia turned her head to look at her stubborn sister, noticing Sora standing right next to them. "Sora. You're here."

"Uhh...Should I let you two argue in private, or should I intervene before an alicorn fight happens?" Sora asked, hoping the latter event wouldn't actually happen.

"No. It's fine." Luna leered at Celestia, turning away from her sister with a disgruntled scoff. The white alicorn sadly sighed. "I really don't want to fight with Luna again. Verbal or physical...Anyway, on to the issue we were discussing earlier. Sora, we have an assignment for you, and Riku and Kairi if they are able to assist."

"Of course. If it's a Heartless problem, we can handle it," Sora said with confidence.

"Yes, but...I think it's a lot worse than what you may think." Using her magic, Celestia summoned a bright crystal, shining her golden aura into it. The light reflected off the mineral and created a light holographic image of a magnificent kingdom on the ground before Sora. The teen's eyes shimmered as he stared at the many buildings and the palace in the center gleaming, made entirely out of crystal. "For a thousand years, a kingdom has been lost to Equestria. A kingdom made out of crystal, known as the Crystal Empire, has now returned."

"I kind of would have guessed that just from looking at this place." He reached a hoof out and tried to touch one of the buildings, his limb phasing through the illusional representation of the crystal city.

"The Crystal Empire has powerful magic," Celestia continued. "Luna and I don't know everything that it has, but it was once an important part of Equestria. If love and hope fills the kingdom, it will spread through all of Equestria...However, hatred and fear once took hold of the kingdom by a unicorn tyrant." The city zoomed in onto the palace in the center, though the Crystal Empire seemed to turn a bit grim compared to how it was supposed to be. Standing on the balcony was the tyrant, a dark gray unicorn stallion, his mane black, wearing a red cape with tattered white fur trimming and silver regalia worn to show his royalty. What was disturbing about this demonic looking stallion was his curved red horn, red eyes, and fangs. "This is the stallion who attempted to take over the empire many years ago: Sombra."

"...Yeah. This guy definitely screams 'bad guy'. Just the way he looks and what he's wearing gives it away." Sora's comment angered Luna, dragging the pegasus by his jacket collar through the illusion and hung in the air mere inches from her face.

"He is not evil!" the alicorn shouted. "Don't you dare listen to a single thing my sister says about him!"

"Whoa, hey! What's with the hostility, Luna!?" Sora asked in confusion. "Why are you defending someone who tried to take control of a kingdom?"

"I was about to get to that," Celestia said, gently dragging Sora out of her sister's telekinetic grip and away from the possible thrashing he would have gotten.

"What? Are you going to tell me that your sister had a thing with Sombra?" The room was silent, neither princess giving an answer. It took Sora a moment to realize he had answered his own question, his jaw dropping as he looked at Celestia and Luna with shock. "...Whaaaaaaaaat!? You seriously liked this guy, Luna!?"

"He wasn't like that before we had to..." Luna looked away, her eyes welling with tears.

"...I really don't know much about their relationship, since Luna had tried to keep their love a secret from me," Celestia said, putting the shocked stallion back down to the floor. "We've only been in the Crystal Empire a few times in our lives, and Sombra was indeed a different stallion than what I've shown you. He was born the only unicorn in the empire, though he was not like the other crystal ponies that lived there."

"'Crystal ponies'?" Sora asked. "They're actually made out of crystal?"

"Their magic, filled with love and happiness, give them a crystalline appearance. They were all mainly earth ponies with incredible magical power only native to the empire." Celestia continued showing the events through the crystal that had come from the Crystal Empire, showing all of the crystal ponies held captive under the dark unicorn's rule, all of them in chains as they stepped in line to a section of the city. "We didn't know what had caused him to turn to the dark magic he wields now, but Luna and I managed to stop him before he could attempt to take over the rest of Equestria."

Celestia and Luna both appeared in the crystal's illusion, both alicorns using their combined magical power to stop Sombra. They didn't use the Elements of Harmony, which either meant they either stopped Discord before or after defeating Sombra. Their magic sent the stallion in the shadows as his body shifted to a gaseous form, roaring as he was sent into the shadows he had become. The Crystal Empire disappeared along with him, the dark unicorn having cursed the kingdom to vanish along with him, until now where it has come back, along with the evil king.

After giving the Keyblade wielder everything about the Crystal Empire that they know and what had happened back then, Celestia placed the crystal back near her throne. "So, you two managed to beat him without the Elements of Harmony. But, now he's back, and the Crystal Empire is in trouble...again."

"Sadly, yes," the white alicorn. "I have already sent Cadence and Shining Armor hours ago to help protect the empire, their protection spell strong enough to keep Sombra at bay for a little while."

"Boy. Their honeymoon must have ended earlier than it should, huh?" Sora asked as he brought his forehooves behind his head.

"Sora, I need you and your friends to stop Sombra, and to keep Twilight and her friends from any harm," Celestia said.

"By stop, you mean save, right?" Luna questioned.

"Luna-" The blue alicorn ignored her older sister and stomped up to Sora.

"Sora, your light had freed me from Nightmare Moon and brought me back to normal. That light can destroy darkness and free those who were overwhelmed by its power." Luna placed her forehooves on the pegasus's shoulders, staring at him with pleading eyes. "I don't know why Sombra had gone down this path, but I wish for him to return to the stallion he used to be. Please save him from the darkness..."

Hearing a request like that was really conflicting to Sora. There was a possibility to save someone if their hearts were shrouded with darkness, but depending on how strong their light is, they can easily be taken over if it's too late. Riku's heart was strong enough to fight back against his darkness, Sora had saved the Beast when Xaldin tried to manipulate him into succumbing to his rage, even Twilight was rescued by Kairi after she nearly lost her heart to darkness. But there was a big difference that had taken place between Luna and Sombra after a thousand years of having darkness fester in their hearts: the former had been struck by the Elements of Harmony, artifacts that were basically considered holding the power of light, suppressing her darkness along with her banishment. However, with Sombra, he was banished into the shadows for the same amount of time, a terrible place to be when one uses the power of darkness. It would only make him stronger and his heart would already be lost to darkness, not considered a Heartless, though he might as well be one if he's more powerful than he was in the past.

Sora sighed, seeing the disbelief in Luna's eyes as he was about to give his possible theory. "I'm not sure if I can...but I'll try. It may already be too late."

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "Light defeats darkness! How is it too late!?"

"Both you and Sombra were affected by darkness," Sora began to explain, hoping Luna would understand. "I managed to free you with the help of the Elements of Harmony. Your heart's light was kept away from the darkness for a thousand years until you came back from your banishment. With Sombra...you and Celestia banished him to the shadows. Without the elements' magic. That strengthened his darkness, and it might have already taken full control of his will."

"...N-No..." Luna backed away from the Keyblade wielder, tears streaming down her cheeks at the horrible realization. She shook her head, wishing that what she heard, the serious yet sad expression on Sora's face, was all just a horrible nightmare and it was all a lie, but it was a terrible possibility. "...No...W-What have I...?"

Celestia was just as shocked as her sister, both alicorns having doomed a stallion they had known that was once a normal pony. She tried to comfort Luna, but the lunar princess teleported away, most likely to her room to grieve over her guilt. Sora felt awful, seeing just how much Luna cared about Sombra, but there was no chance of saving someone with a thousand years in darkness.

"...Should I have lied?" Sora asked.

"No," Celestia said. "It would have been worse to hear the news of his demise when claiming you could save him...But, if there's any possible way..."

"If we have to fight him, and if we try to use light...It'll just kill him, just like it would to a Heartless." The teen shook his head in pity, then looked up at Celestia. "We'll save the Crystal Empire. You can count on me."

"I know." Suddenly, the throne room doors opened up as the two looked over to the sudden intruder.

"I'm here! I'm ready for my test!" Twilight ran up to them, sweating profusely as she tried to pull out a dozen study supplies from her saddlebags. She dropped a long piece of parchment, the paper rolling out a couple dozen yards across the room, stopping at Celestia's hooves. "Sorry! Sorry!"

The lavender mare tried to roll the parchment back up, though with her muzzle instead of her magic. Sora and the princess sighed as Twilight was so overly stressed that she forgot she had magic to help organize her unorganized organization. While Celestia rolled up the paper, Sora approached Twilight and lightly tapped his hoof against her head.

"Twilight. Breathe. None of us want you to go all crazy on us again," the pegasus teased.

"Did Celestia give you a test too, Sora?" Twilight asked. "Did she not tell you you had to take a test in your message too!? Wait, when did you become her pupil!? What's going to be on the test!? I don't think I'm ready! Why wasn't I-!?"

Sora quickly shoved a hoof in Twilight's mouth, silencing her stressed out rambling. "Relax, Twi. You'll find out everything you need to know from the princess."

He took his leave to allow Celestia to explain to Twilight what's going on, though her "test" is also going to be the most dangerous she would have to take. Sora navigated his way to the front doors of the castle, accidentally smacking Spike in the face as he paced around the entrance in anxiety.

"Ow...Where was Pinkie when I needed her?" Spike asked the heavens, the stallion helping the baby dragon up on his feet.

"Next time, just stay away from any doors," Sora said. "So, are the others here too? Did Celestia call everyone?"

"As soon as you left, Twilight got a message about a test the princess was going to give her," Spike explained. "The others are waiting down at the station, mostly because Twilight was freaking out over the exam she was going to be taking...Did she pass?"

"I think her test just started...Though we seem to be on a bit of a time crunch." Luckily, Spike didn't hear Sora with his last statement as he sat down on the stairs. "I'll go ahead and meet up with the rest of the gang while you wait for Twilight."

The small dragon nodded as Sora flew up into the sky and headed for the station. Before he reached the train station, his flight took longer than it should have, lost in thought of the new threat that had appeared in Equestria. Even though what he heard from Celestia and what he saw from the crystal, Sombra seemed far more dangerous after a thousand years trapped in the shadows of the frozen north. Luna had begged him to save the unicorn tyrant, and even though it didn't seem like Sombra radiated any darkness, there was no denying he had a lot of it just from his eyes. He had two objectives: save the Crystal Empire and stop Sombra from taking it over again, while also trying to save him from the darkness. The second of them seems to be impossible if he was right, and for Luna's sake, he hoped he was wrong.

Once Sora and Twilight grouped up with the rest of their friends, they told them that they were going off to the recently returned Crystal Empire, all of them understandably confused since no one has ever heard about it since its disappearance. As they boarded the train heading northbound to where the empire was located, they explained who was trying to take control of the crystal kingdom, though Sora had told Kairi and Riku about Sombra and his darkness in private, keeping his and Luna's relationship to himself. It would be bad enough for the young alicorn sister if word spread that she had been dating a madpony with darkness at his disposal. Heartless would definitely show up around Sombra, and with a millennium of being trapped in darkness, there's no telling what powerful Heartless could appear.

After several hours riding on the train, the locomotive arrived at the closest station in the frigid northern tundra of Equestria. A harsh blizzard blew through the area, lowering visibility as the land was pelted with the uncontrollable snowstorm. Everyone left the cars, being the only passengers headed northbound, searching around for any sign of the Crystal Empire.

"I can't see a thing out in this blizzard," Twilight said as she squinted her eyes from the frigid winds.

Rarity was the last to come out onto the station with Spike behind her, carrying several bags of luggage that belonged to the fashionista. "And all of you made fun of me for bringing too many scarves."

"Rarity, is now really the best time to think about packing clothing to someplace when we're in the middle of a crisis!?" Rainbow complained, the others agreeing with the pegasus. "What's the point of trying to look fashionable when it'll just get ripped to shreds if this Sombra stallion shows up!?"

"Well, Sora, Kairi, and Riku wear clothing when they battle," Rarity pointed out.

"That's because, for us, we need to wear something to not feel...exposed, both through combat and for public decency," Riku explained, trying not to reveal to them what the Keyblade wielders actually are. "And Rainbow's right; those clothes and scarves you brought along just to be someplace where we're only going to be at for a short while is ridiculous. Kind of pointless."

The white unicorn huffed, ignoring the criticizing pegasi. Since the only way to know if they'll get to the empire through this blizzard was going forward from the station, they trudged through the harsh winds and several inches of snow, Riku and Kairi watching everyone's back while Sora took the lead. The Keyblade wielders felt a very grim chill run down their spines, sensing a very powerful dark force somewhere out in the frozen wastelands. This darkness is far powerful than anything they've ever faced before, even rivaling that of Xehanort's.

"This is not good." Sora summoned his Keyblade, feeling like they were being watched through the blizzard. Suddenly, a low and guttural growl echoed around them, prompting Riku and Kairi to summon their Keyblades while the others huddled close to each other in fear. The stallions and pink unicorn slowly backed up, keeping their friends safe in a triangular formation, highly alert to where the growling came from. "Neither was that."

(Night of Fate)

The darkness seemed to be getting closer, Riku spotting a black fog slowly approaching them through the blizzard. "He's approaching from my direction!" A pair of red and green eyes opened in the mist, leaking out a purple aura. The eyes leered at the three Keyblade wielders, sensing the light in their otherworldly weapons, making it growl he faced the demonic looking mist, black shadows began to rise up from the ground and surrounded them, but these weren't just normal Shadows. They looked like Shadows, only they seemed to take an equine form. "What the heck?"

"Pony Heartless?" One of the Heartless charged at Sora, the teen smacking it away with his blade. The others soon began to follow the defeated one's attack, trying to swarm the group, though the defenders were able to kill each one before they reached the mares and baby dragon. These Pony Shadows were stronger than the originals, and with Sombra around, more and more just kept coming. "There's too many! Girls, keep going forward! We'll cover you!"

Not needing to be told twice, the mares ran forward after Sora cleared a path for them, dragging a majority of the Heartless toward him with Magnera and destroying them with Thundaga. The black mist began to chase after them, hundreds of thousands of Pony Shadows leaking out from the gaseous shadow as the Keyblade wielders retreated.

"I think that thing might be Sombra!" Kairi shouted. "I didn't know anything could be this powerful! It's almost terrifying!"

"Guess that's the result of a thousand years of being trapped in darkness would do to you!" Riku added.

They kept running through the blizzard, Sombra and his Heartless creations slowly inching closer. Up ahead, Twilight spotted a familiar looking stallion appear out of nowhere in the middle of the blizzard, wearing a black scarf to protect him from the cold.

"Shining Armor!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Hurry! This way!" the recently married stallion shouted. "Sombra can't get through to the empire with the barrier set up!"

As the mares all ran in, disappearing through an invisible barrier that seemed to have kept the kingdom protected, Sora, Kairi, and Riku continued holding off the Heartless while avoiding Sombra's dark beams fired out from a curved red horn that grew out from his forehead. Many of the Heartless surrounded Kairi, sensing her heart of pure light a threat to them. The unicorn shoved them all away, unleashing a shockwave of light around her, causing Sombra to roar at the deadly light. The dark stallion flew toward her, intent on snuffing out that light before it could be used against him.

"Kairi! Look out!" Sora quickly flung his Keyblade, smacking Sombra hard in the face, distracting him long enough to grab Kairi and flew back away from him.

Riku stood by Shining Armor, slashing through more Heartless as they waited for Sora and Kairi. Sombra was hot on their tail, roaring angrily as he chased the two. Both stallions quickly leapt in as the spiky-haired pegasus and his girlfriend slipped through the barrier just in time, the dark gaseous form of the evil king slamming his face into the protective barrier of light, hurting him and keeping him and his dark minions from getting close. Sombra hovered around the barrier like a predator keeping its prey from finding a way to escape, leering at the newly arrived group as it disappeared in the furious blizzard behind him.

As the mares caught their breath, Sora and Kairi untangled themselves after crash landing into the safety of the magical barrier. "Thanks, Sora. What would I do without you?"

"Be a meal for a dangerous monster worse than the Heartless?" Sora grinned, earning a hard jab in the shoulder by the unicorn.

"And you still make jokes after a life-threatening moment." The couple now realized that the temperature inside the barrier was warmer, grass beneath them with barely a hint of snow around them. Kairi looked over to the others, her eyes widening at what laid far behind them in the distance. "Whoa...Is this the Crystal Empire?"

"Yes, it is," Shining Armor said. In the large blue barrier, the sun shimmered down on the crystal buildings and palace from the fields they stood in. The weather was sunny and warm, a complete contrast to the frigid snow and storms outside. The newly arrived ponies all stared at the crystal castle, Rarity with sparkles of excitement in her eyes, as Shining Armor stood before them. "Welcome to the Crystal Empire."

As Shining Armor lead his sister and her friends through the streets of the Crystal Empire, the road also made out of some type of crystal just like the buildings, everyone stared in awe as they got a closer look. Rarity was struggling not to squeal in excitement at all of the crystalline landscape, where pretty much everything seems to be made out of crystal. There were some earth ponies they spotted wandering around, though if they were the crystal ponies, they sure didn't seem all that happy. All of them looked miserable and half conscious, unaware of the dangerous threat that's lurking outside of the magical shield protecting their home. It was apparent by their dulled coats and hair, their mane and tail drooped and lifeless.

"Wow. These ponies look depressed," Sora said. "Are they the crystal ponies?"

"Yeah, though none of them have been much help," Shining said sadly. "Since Cadence and I arrived here to help keep the Crystal Empire from being taken over by Sombra, they don't have any idea what happened to them after they were banished along with that thing out there for a thousand years."

"Then Sombra must have done something else to them if they're this gloomy," Twilight figured.

They made their way inside of the crystal palace, Shining leading them through the shimmering corridors to the throne room. Inside, sitting in the throne of crystals was Cadence, her horn constantly unleashing a blue aura, the one responsible for keeping the barrier up to prevent Sombra from getting in. She looked exhausted and was about to pass out, but as she noticed her husband with their guests, her spirits were lifted as she walked over to them.

"Twilight! You're all here!" she said, relieved to have some help from her sister-in-law and her friends.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Cadence and Twilight giggled and hugged each other after their little chant and dance.

Riku groaned as he had just witnessed one of the most childish and girliest of chants, having to turn his head during the shaking part. "How old is Twilight supposed to be again? Five?"

"Hey! Don't you judge me!" Twilight scolded. "That's how Cadence and I greeted each other when I was a filly!"

"...Can't you just hug each other instead?" Riku asked, only to receive a smack upside the head by Twilight's aura, the unicorn leering at the teen questioning her motives.

"Then it wouldn't be fun," Cadence answered, only to nearly collapse as her legs gave out on her.

Shining quickly ran over to the pink alicorn and helped her back up. "We can really use some help, everypony. Cadence's love and light is keeping the barrier held up and keeping Sombra out of the empire, but the magic she has to hold is draining her. I try to help with my own magic, but it doesn't seem to be doing much help since my power is easily shattered by that darkness of his."

"We can tell," Kairi said. "Sombra's darkness is stronger than any normal Heartless any of us have encountered. I don't think my own light, or our combined light, is strong enough to stop him either."

"But you said you were a pure-hearted princess, or something like that, right?" Rainbow asked. "Isn't light supposed to get rid of dark stuff and shadows?"

"That may be true, but the same can be said in reverse," Riku answered. "Light and darkness are two sides of the same coin: one can't exist without the other, both sides are always in an eternal conflict, and the side that does win is the one that's more powerful." The stallion looked out at the balcony, the other mares following his gaze as they saw Sombra's dark aura outside the barrier, along with the new Heartless trying to burst through the barrier of light. They barely made a dent as they were shocked by the powerful protection spell, though the Pony Shadows seemed like they were weakening Cadence, the alicorn struggling to pour more magic into the barrier. "And since Sombra's darkness is superior to anyone else's we've faced, we need some kind of powerful light to match him in combat."

"There has to be something," Shining said, gently rubbing Cadence's cheek to keep her awake. "The Crystal Empire has survived out here in this dangerous landscape without freezing to death by some kind of power. But because Cadence has to keep the barrier up and me keeping watch near the perimeter, we've barely been able to find out how."

"We'll find out!" Twilight exclaimed. "This must be part of my test: gather information from sources, either the crystal ponies or their library, and give that information to you! I love research papers! So much fun!"

While the unicorn stallion stared at his little sister in confusion, the others either stared blankly at the overly excited Twilight or face hooved at studying at a time like this.

The group split up to different sections of the empire to see if any of the crystal ponies could give them some information on how their kingdom came to be. Unfortunately, all of them had told the same tale; they don't know anything that had happened before Sombra took over, and they don't want to remember his rule. Just mentioning the evil unicorn's name terrified them, dwindling their hope and forced to continue wallowing in despair. He must have known their inner light came from their happiness, and from what Sora, Kairi, and Riku had seen from their reactions, Sombra had cast a spell on them to make them stay miserable.

After getting what little info they could, everyone met up at the Crystal Empire's library. Twilight, Spike, Sora, Riku, and Kairi were the first to arrive, seeing their intelligence gathering had been useless.

"I guess none of us had any luck, huh?" Twilight asked.

Sora reached a hoof over his head, a zipper sound opening up as the pegasus turned into Pinkie Pie, wearing a Sora disguise. "My cover was blown! I've been compromised!"

"Pinkie!?" Kairi shouted while Riku stammered, unable to express words as to what had just happened. "Where's Sora!?"

"What's going on?" Flapping down next to his flabbergasted girlfriend was the real Sora. Before he was able to confirm what details he was able to gather from the inhabitants living in the empire, he noticed the odd costume of him by Pinkie's hooves. "...Uhhh...Did I miss something?"

"...You know what? I think I'll take my chances being outside and fighting Sombra than witness anymore random shenanigans made by Pinkie," Riku said, grabbing his head as all sense of logic in his brain cells slowly began to die away.

The rest of the mares arrived, all of them getting no results as well. Applejack was the only one who seemed have tried while Rarity kept getting lost in a fantasy about being a crystal pony, Rainbow Dash badgered the crystal ponies in a threatening way, and Fluttershy was too timid and quiet to be noticed or heard. Even if the ponies were unable to help, the library was still intact, and with all the books that were inside, there was bound to be a few that Sombra overlooked, being his downfall for his second attempt to take over the empire again. The ponies and dragon walked inside, Twilight gasping and squealing at the massive shelves filled with books from a thousand years still kept in pristine condition.

"Oh my," Twilight uttered. "There are no words...I don't even..."

"You kinda said a few words already, Twilight," Sora joked, Pinkie giggling along with him as they poked fun at the oblivious unicorn's awe.

One of the crystal ponies, possibly being the librarian of the building, approached them, though looking just as grim as the others. "Excuse me, miss? We're looking for a book."

"We have plenty of those," the older mare said.

"You do," Twilight said dreamily as she began to twirl around, staring at all of the books she so desperately wants to read. "You really do."

Sora and Kairi snickered as they watched Twilight, though her love for knowledge made Riku roll his eyes. "Look, miss, we're looking for something involving the Crystal Empire's history. Something about how your kingdom has been kept safe a thousand years ago?"

"Oh, yes. History...let's see..." The librarian went quiet as she seemed to have lost her train of thought.

"...Well?" Riku asked, twirling his hoof, telling her to get to the point.

"...I can't remember. I don't even know if I work here." Everyone groaned in annoyance as Sora, Kairi, and Riku hung their heads, except for Pinkie.

"I like her!" the pink earth pony exclaimed.

"Alright...Guess we're going to have to split up again and find anything related to the empire's history." The mares, stallions, and baby dragon all split up and went through the many aisles of the library to find what they need.

While the others looked into how the Crystal Empire used to be way back before Sombra and its disappearance a thousand years ago, Sora began searching around for something else. As important it was to figure out what kind of magical force the empire used to shield the kingdom from the harsh winter tundra of the northern part of the world, he needed to figure out what caused the dark unicorn stallion to be what he is now. If there were any historical events written about Sombra and any of his feats before turning to darkness, or even something involving his romance with Luna, he hoped there would be something to give him and the princesses their answers.

After what seemed like hours of searching through his chosen aisles, Sora growled in frustration, having skimmed through so many books, with only a few of them being related to history. "This is going to be impossible. What could have possibly made Sombra go mad with trying to use darkness and take over the empire? Most of the ponies in Equestria aren't exactly the type to make bad choices, give or take a few of them who are mostly arrogant and stuck up." The teen flipped through the pages of the last book on the shelf, but it held nothing informational to what they were all looking for. Sighing, he placed the book down with the other piles, scratching his head in confusion. "How am I supposed to save someone that powerful? We should have brought the Elements of Harmony just in case...Or..." Sora placed a hoof to his chest, still feeling his Harmony Form still able to be accessed whenever he desired, even without the necklaces and crown near him. "...Maybe the Keyblades of Harmony might be powerful enough..."

"Yes!" Twilight cheered, everyone poking their heads out of the aisles of bookshelves they were in. The unicorn held a single book in her aura, and whatever it was, it must have the answers they need. "'History of the Crystal Empire'. This must have what we need to know to stop Sombra!"

As they all headed back to the castle, Twilight went on ahead to tell her brother and sister-in-law the good news. It turned out that the Crystal Empire celebrated an annual event titled the Crystal Faire, a tradition set by the first queen which, as quoted in the book, "Renew the spirit of love and unity in the empire so they could protect it from harm." Twilight met back with the others in a conference room, the ponies all standing before a round table, music beginning to play as the lavender unicorn entered.

[Twilight]
Princess Cadence needs our help
Her magic will not last forever
I think we can do it
But we need to work together

We have to get this right
Yes, we have to make them see
We can save the crystal ponies with their history

Everyone soon got to work on creating the Crystal Faire, making sure everything was just like they were described in the history book.

[Rainbow Dash]
It says that they like jousting

[Rarity]
They flew a flag of many hues

[Applejack]
Made sweets of crystal berries

[Fluttershy]
They had a petting zoo with tiny ewes

[All except Riku]
Oh, we have to get this right
Yes, we have to make them see
We can save the crystal ponies with their history

"What is it with these songs?" Riku asked as Pinkie held out a strangely designed double horned trumpet, which seemed to be made out of crystal, the earth pony blowing terrible notes through it right in the white pegasus stallion's ear.

[Pinkie Pie]
There was a crystal flugelhorn
That everypony liked to play

[Twilight]
And the crystal kingdom anthem
Can you learn it in a day?

[All except Riku]
Oh, we have to get this right
Yes, we have to make them see
We can save the crystal ponies
With their history

The Crystal Faire was fully set up with all the necessary attractions to help raise the crystal ponies' spirits. The food was prepared, the petting zoo of colorful ewes and the jousting arena built, and the decorations were just like how they were back in the day. The one thing that was missing was the main setting for the Faire: the Crystal Heart. Sora and Riku finished crafting the heart and pillar from a large chunk of crystal, set underneath the castle for the ponies to admire. The white pegasus grumbled, finally getting his hearing back after Pinkie's "beautiful" flugelhorn skills.

"Ok. I think that should do it," Sora said as they finished placing the heart directly in the center beneath the arching palace. "You know, you could have joined us when we sang, Riku."

"I don't sing," Riku grumbled. "How the heck does the music just randomly come up and everyone just bursts into song like it was a planned musical number?"

"...Magic?" Sora guessed, shrugging his shoulders.

"...Well...that might make sense. More than Pinkie Pie." The two teens soon heard Pinkie playing the flugelhorn up on the balcony where Twilight, Shining Armor, and Cadence stepped forward, Riku clutching his ears to his head to avoid his eardrums getting blown up by the horrible musical instrument. "I am going to take that stupid thing from her...but knowing her, she'll have a second stashed away in a tree trunk, or her hair."

"Hear ye, hear ye!" Twilight announced, the crystal ponies having heard their kingdom's instrument, though if it was supposed to sound like that would greatly irritate Riku to no end. They all looked up at the balcony, wondering what was going on. "Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor cordially invite you all to attend the Crystal Faire!"

At the mention of their empire's annual event, they began chattering with each other as they regained the fond memories of the momentous occasion. For a brief moment, their bodies began to glow and turn crystal for a couple seconds, their moods lifted as the spell on them began to slowly break. Excited, they all wandered about the Faire, approaching the kiosks set up for the food and many events set up for them.

"Cool! It's working!" Sora exclaimed. "There's a lot of light these ponies have. Maybe it'll be enough to stop Sombra."

"You know, there's one thing I don't get," Riku said, the tan pegasus turning to look at his friend in confusion. "Sombra's incredibly powerful, but he's keeping his sights on the Crystal Empire. And if he's returned with this much darkness flowing through him, why is he going for a place he can't get through instead of every other part of Equestria?"

Sora began thinking for a moment, realizing Riku was right about his theory. "Yeah...He managed to conquer the Crystal Empire before, and he could have easily taken over the rest of the world if Celestia and Luna didn't intervene...He should have given up trying to break through Cadence's barrier after countless hours trying. He could have had enough time to go after Canterlot...Unless..."

"Unless...there's something here he hid in the empire that would end him," Riku finished. Sora looked out beyond the barrier in terror, watching Sombra floating around as he continued holding his gaze on the palace. His Heartless minions continued trying to break down the barrier, making Cadence weaker and weaker with each destructive impact. "Sombra's practically a Heartless after a thousand years banished in darkness. So, whatever's in the kingdom-"

"Is a source of light that he doesn't want anyone to find." Sora looked up at the palace, which was what Sombra has been glaring at for the past couple hours. "If it gets destroyed, then Sombra would take over the empire, all of Equestria, and destroy the world." Riku nodded, just as worried as his best friend, though he was better at hiding it. "Was there anything else in the book Twilight forgot to mention involving the Crystal Faire?"

"No idea," Riku said as he shook his head. "She's been holding onto that thing throughout the whole process." Sora began fidgeting in place, which began to concern the silver-haired teen. "What else is there you want to know, Sora? Is there something you're not telling the rest of us?"

"Of course not!" he exclaimed. "Why would I hide anything!?" Sora gave a wide grin, failing to hide his trepidation. Riku crossed his forelegs together, leering at his friend with a suspicious gaze. The spiky-haired teen tried averting his eyes elsewhere, but he eventually gave in, knowing he was going to be pestered with his strange behavior. "...Alright, I'll tell you, but you can't tell the others."

"Alright. Spill it." Sora approached Riku and whispered the information he withheld to everyone on the train ride over. Riku's eyes shrunk to pinpricks as soon as he mentioned Luna and Sombra were once in a relationship, backing away from his friend as he stared at him in shock. "...Sora...That's suicide."

"I know trying to save him is impossible." Sora looked out in the distance, watching Sombra's form hover around the empire. "I don't think there's even a small grain of light in him...The Sombra Luna knew is long gone. The least I can do for her and Celestia is find out what made him turn to darkness." He looked up at the underside of the castle, something of grave interest to the dark stallion kept in his gaze. "Maybe there's something inside the castle he kept hidden away that might have explained why he did all this."

"Good luck with that." Riku watched his friend fly off and enter the castle, hoping there was an answer Sombra may have left behind. It was clear to see that there was no hope of saving Sombra, no matter how badly Luna wants him to return to normal. Deciding to keep the ponies entertained while the Faire was going on, Rainbow Dash suddenly flew up to the crystal heart statue he and Sora made, covering it up with one of the flags. "Rainbow Dash, what are you doing!?"

"We got a really big problem!" she said. "Where's Twilight at!?"

Inside the large crystal palace, Sora rummaged through the many empty rooms to find something Sombra had kept hidden during his rule over the empire. "Come on," he growled. "There has to be something. A journal? A diary? An event log!?" After the umpteenth room in the hall he had checked, he turned a corner to find more rooms. "Why is it that castles have to be so huge with so many rooms!? And I thought King Mickey's castle was bigger than normal..."

Giving up looking around the massive castle, he headed back down to the throne room. He spotted Shining Armor and Cadence as he walked in, though the alicorn was close to passing out. It was bad enough to hold a spell for so long to protect it from dangerous forces, but having the magical spell being constantly poured into the barrier to keep it held up for a continuous amount of time while something outside keeps draining its power. Sora could help strengthen the barrier, or maybe Kairi could since her affinity is more around light than his and Riku's combined.

Wandering around the room, thinking of some way to try to find an answer to a hopeless cause, he spotted something off about the back of the throne. He turned his gaze to the odd wall behind the crystal seat, finding one spot not gleaming in the sunlight like the throne or wall. Curiosity taking over him, Sora approached the wall and felt around it. When he touched the odd, non-crystal spot, it moved slightly and felt like metal and wood, not crystal. He dragged the object out from its hiding place, which happened to be a large treasure chest, something otherworldly though designed to match the location it was in.

Summoning his Keyblade, Sora tossed it up in the air, the blade spinning rapidly as it came down. He grabbed it, giving it an extra twirl as he smacked the top of the chest hard, opening it up to reveal what secrets it had in store. He expected some kind of spell, but instead, there was a red and black journal resting inside. Sora dismissed his weapon and held the book up, showing no title on the front cover or the spine. It also seemed to be a little tattered, having been used for a few years, though not by a thousand if it had faded along with the Crystal Empire when Sombra was banished. He opened the first few pages and read what was inside.

(At Dusk, I Will Think of You)

Hello. My name is Sombra. This is my first ever journal entry for my class, and my teacher says I can write whatever I want to express myself and speak my mind...though, I think I have a lot to say, being the only non crystal pony in the Crystal Empire.

I'm the only unicorn here in the empire, and I'm an orphan. I don't know what happened to my mom or dad, but I'm grateful to have a roof over my head and staying out of the cold weather outside of the city. I...don't have many friends in school. Everypony here doesn't like me all that much. I wish I had a friend, but at least they aren't picking on me, so I don't have to worry too much.

Well, enough about sad stuff. I want this journal to be filled with good thoughts. Let's see...I want to be part of the Crystal Guard, maybe be the captain...It may be cheating if I use my magic, but I won't use it. Promise with all my heart...Everypony's staring at me weirdly again. Maybe it's because I'm using what's called "telekinesis", holding my quill in my red aura instead of my mouth. I don't know if they're jealous or scared, but maybe I can learn how to use my magic to help ponies. Maybe they'll see I'm not as bad as I look, since my coat is pretty dark, and my hair's all black and messy. It's not exactly bright or colorful, and I can't turn to crystal like the others can. I wonder what it feels like to have your body turn all crystaly?

The rest of the entry continued talking about other things about Sombra. "This is Sombra's journal...He actually kept this thing when he was a kid?" Sora was surprised. From the sloppy hoofwriting that was common for young children, it seemed like the dark unicorn outside wasn't that much of a bad pony after all, just looked down upon by others. He didn't even care and wanted to prove he was part of the empire, even if he didn't hold the same magic as the crystal ponies had. "Let's see how long you've been writing in here."

Sora flipped over a few entries skipping past the ones that were his foalhood entry assignments and into his young adult entries.

I haven't written in here for quite a long while, but I think I should keep writing when I have the chance. I got some good news I wanted to share; I made it into the Crystal Guard. Yes. After many months going through basic training, I made it out on top of my squad with flying colors. And I didn't even use my magic to cheat, just like I promised myself all those years ago.

Unfortunately, I'm still not quite as liked as I hoped. I'll give them some time and prove to everypony that I won't let anything happen to the Crystal Empire. Maybe in a few years, I'll be promoted to captain. But, for now, my duties have to start at the bottom of the crystal barrel before I reach the top, and that's guard duty for the Crystal Heart.

Yesterday was the first time I've ever seen this powerful relic up close, feeling the warmth of light radiating from it that came from the joy and hope of the crystal ponies in the kingdom. I still haven't been able to figure out how I could help transfer my own happiness to aid everypony else during the Crystal Faire, mostly because there was no literature in the library about how it works. Maybe it's just an instinct the ponies here have that only they can utilize. But it's an amazing sight to see: ponies enjoying the festivities, the food, the entertainment of the jousting tournaments the guards enter, sharing their light and love to power the protective barrier keeping the empire safe from the harsh tundra outside.

Maybe tomorrow for this year's Crystal Faire, I'll enter the joust. I might have some fans if I win. Maybe even receive a kiss from the lovely mares that feel impressed by my strength?...Or maybe not...Oh, how I long for a beautiful mare to see me as me, not as the unicorn outcast that shouldn't belong. Or anypony for that matter.

"Wow. He must have been desperate to find a friend," Sora said to himself, flipping over to the next few pages. "He mentioned something about the 'Crystal Heart' used in the Faire...and...it's a real relic?" The teen let out an audible gulp in shock, his eyes roaming across the words in a slight panic. "We're in trouble if they find out about the crappy fake Riku and I made...Does he know where the real one's hidden?"

I have had...quite an interesting few weeks since my last entry, and I could never be happier! I don't even know where to begin!

You see, a couple months ago, Equestria was under attack by some strange being that caused a lot of havoc in the kingdom. He was called Discord, and he was somehow able to turn clouds into cotton candy that rained chocolate milk, snatch away horns or wings, turn roads into soap, anything that didn't make sense. I'm glad the Crystal Empire was safe under the protective barrier at that time. Nothing of evil or destruction is allowed past, otherwise they might receive a little shock.

Anyway, the best part was that the queen was going to visit the newly built castle in the honor of meeting the heroes and the true rulers of all of Equestria. And she had chosen me to come along and escort her! I was recognized by her highness, and she trusts me to defend her with my life! I calmly agreed to come along, and boy, was I lucky to go.

After a long trek across the land, we found the castle and were welcomed in by the guards. We met the rulers AND heroes of the kingdom, and my jaw dropped as I saw them. They were both known as alicorns, bearing the strength of all three of the pony races made equal from the Hearth's Warming holiday stories I've heard as a colt. They were named Celestia and Luna, and when I looked at the younger sibling, I think my heart had beat faster than my endless training days in basic.

Her coat was a dark blue, her mane and tail shimmering like that of a clear night sky, flowing in a wind that only she was gently brushed with, her cutie mark a crescent moon, resting on the splotch of black fur on her flanks, I admit to catching a glimpse of when I shouldn't in front of royalty. I couldn't stop staring at her, the princesses and my queen I serve noticing my slackjawed silence and ogling the dark blue mare. I felt so embarrassed, but Princess Luna was not offended, admitting she was flattered she made somepony so flustered and speechless under her royal figure.

During our stay, she had sought me out when my queen was busy discussing matters with Celestia, though Luna had always dragged me when night came around. She spoke casually with me, even though I'm not worthy to be in her presence, and soon, we began talking as if we were normal ponies. I was shocked to hear that Luna was able to raise and lower the moon, even create the stars and constellations in the night sky. I don't think I mentioned this in my previous journal entries, but I love the evening. It's always so calming when the sun sets, the weather cooler as the nocturnal creatures crawl out from their dens. I told her how I felt about her ability to make such wonderful nights, and I was shocked to hear I was the first pony she ever met who ever complimented her night.

We both had so much in common with each other from our time together, though having to sneak out in the evening. I haven't felt the thrill of being rebellious since I was a colt, and being with Luna for our private dates was always exhilarating. The night before I had to take my leave back to the Crystal Empire, I could no longer hide my affections and admitted my love for her. Even if we weren't meant to be, being a commoner while she was a princess, she didn't care and returned my feelings...with a kiss.

I will never, ever forget that night. Our love was a secret, but I don't care. The two of us were considered unimportant to our own homes, never given any acceptance by the ponies we wish to gain from them to prove our worth. In the end, the both of us had met, as if fate brought us together, finding us as friends with common backgrounds, ending up as secret lovers, knowing we would find comfort in each other whenever we feel depressed or frustrated from our daily lives.

It was hard to part from her, but we can always write letters to each other. Even if nopony here in the Crystal Empire can see what good I can do for the kingdom I call my home, I'll know there's somepony out there who would want me to keep defending it.

I miss her already...Maybe I should send a letter to her first? Or should she send it first?...We didn't plan on that part, did we?

"And this is when he and Luna became a couple." Sora turned over through the pages, finding no details of where the Crystal Heart was kept away in the castle. As soon as he reached the last few pages, his eyes widened when he saw the crumpled state of the paper and the sloppy writing Sombra made. "Oh no!"

(Organization XIII)

I...made a horrible mistake...I don't have long before this...cursed power eats away at me, and turn me into something else.

Luna came crying to me some time ago...It's hard to remember when while this...monster, inside me, finally takes control. She tried to express her sorrow to her sister, but Princess Celestia didn't pay her any mind. No one still appreciates the beauty of her night, always sleeping before the stars and moon appear in the dark sky...I wished there was more that I could have done to help, ease her pain, comfort her in her time of need, but with no one bothering to care for what she brings every evening, it's taken an emotional torment to her heart.

I did the best I could to calm her, promising her I will try to help spread the beauty of her nights to the empire, so she won't have to feel miserable. If only I knew how to help...That's when some mysterious stranger appeared a couple days later while I was assigned to perimeter watch.

I could not see his face, hidden under the veil of a strange cloak. It was...foreign, something that doesn't seem to have come from this world. He sensed my distress and knew what I wished to do to help my beloved alicorn feel accepted, claiming to have powers over the night just like Luna. If I had this power, then maybe I could help her show the world the late evening was a beautiful time. I was desperate and agreed to his terms, the mysterious pony calling a strange key shaped sword out of thin air. He pressed the blade to my chest and cast some kind of spell, which was painful and made me pass out...

...I was a fool...When I woke up, I found myself in the castle, a sword made out of darkness held in my telekinetic aura. I felt...power...from inside me...and I'm scared of it. I realized I was in the queen's chambers, and her highness was under the sheets...not moving. All around me were the pieces of armor worn by the Crystal Guard, but their bodies were nowhere to be found. That's when I looked at the mirror in the queen's room: terrified, mortified, and horrified at who I was looking at. My eyes were once green, now completely red, purple mist spilling out of my sockets, a sense of darkness radiating from my aura and body.

This was not the power I thought the pony had given me. It was dark magic, and what I had done, against my will, would give me a death sentence. Even then, I felt that darkness slowly begin to eat away at me, hiding inside the castle while trying to force the servants out and dispose of the queen's body without any suspicion. The days had passed, and I slowly began to lose more of my will as this dark monstrosity that had committed such a heinous crime is winning.

Right now, it's a struggle for me to write this. I had asked a letter to be sent out to Luna a few days ago, after so many attempts to write one without me losing control and tearing it slightly, or dripping any tears on the parchment out of fright and the thought of losing my soul to this power. I wrote to her...saying I can never see her again...Not because I don't love her. I still do with all of my heart...a heart that will soon be devoured by this inner demon festering inside me. I just don't wish to hurt her...or anypony else...

If anyone were to find this...Please...Kill me...For I will only do more harm and destroy Equestria. I just wanted ponies to notice me...and now they will...in the worst way possible...I don't even know what happened to the Crystal Heart...My other self must have hidden it where I don't even know where it lies. The barrier still stands, though it's weak and useless, but it keeps the blizzards out still...My only regret...was that I loved Luna too much to see her cry, and I was willing to do anything to help her...

Luna...Please, don't find me...I don't want to hurt you...I'm so sorry...I love you...so...much...

Sora just stared at the final words that Sombra had written before the cause of his darkness awakening to turn him into what he is now finally swallowing his heart completely. From some of his studies from Yen Sid's study in the Mysterious Tower, he, Riku, and Kairi had read the tale of a Keyblade War that had came to be many years ago. Keyblade wielders that sided with the light or darkness clashed with each other, leading to possibly thousands of fighters slain. And a thousand years ago, one of those Keyblade wielders sought to destroy the world by turning one of their hearts to darkness, making them a dangerous threat to a peaceful world like Equestria was. The fortunate news was that it couldn't have been Xehanort, even though the description of the mysterious figure was vague, knowing Young Xehanort didn't go back that far in time, only gathering several versions of the old villain to recreate Organization XIII.

"...Sombra..." Sora closed the journal, staring at the blank cover as he felt pity for the stallion. "...You don't deserve this..." He grit his teeth, clutching the book tightly in his hooves. "Even back then, someone who used darkness to fight had to stoop so low as to destroy lives by spreading it across the worlds...Was it just to take over Kingdom Hearts? Or did that person only care about spreading destruction wherever he or she went?"

"Cadence!" He quickly looked out to the balcony, Twilight standing with her brother and sister-in-law with the history book in her aura, opened to the last part of the book that had torn out pages inside.

Cadence had fallen over, the exhaustion taking its toll on her as her aura began to fizzle out. The barrier protecting the empire fell, giving Sombra the chance to try to float in with his Heartless charging ahead of him. Thinking quickly, Sora stashed Sombra's journal away in his pouch and pulled out a golden potion bottle, running up to the family and throwing it at the nearly passed out alicorn. The Elixir disappeared as golden light showered the alicorn, shocking Twilight and Shining Armor from the sudden healing light around Cadence.

Fully rejuvenated in both health and mana, Cadence stood back up and quickly recast her barrier. Sora watched as some of the Pony Shadows were destroyed by the blue barrier blocking them from getting any closer, the dark stallion outside staring in shock as he tried to rush in. He didn't get through as he roared in agony, the light of the magical shield cutting off part of his red horn and landed in the barrier. None of them noticed that piece of Sombra sunk into the ground, tainting the small patch of grass it was on into darkness.

"Phew. That was close." Shining Armor turned to Cadence now that her barrier has come back up, wondering what that that light was that appeared around his wife and gave back her strength. "What the hay was that?"

"An Elixir," Sora said. "Fully revitalizes health and magic, though making those requires very rare ingredients."

"Sora, we have a problem," Twilight said, holding up the history book to the torn out pages. "I can't believe I didn't notice these pages were missing sooner. I had no idea the crystal ponies were supposed to power the actual Crystal Heart. We need to find it before Cadence passes out again."

"I'll be ok, Twilight," Cadence assured. "That Elixir's like an energy booster." That burst of energy the alicorn had quickly faded as she leaned to her side, Shining catching her before she fell again. "Or not..."

"Well, wherever it is, it has to be in this castle, somewhere. Every moment I see Sombra floating around, he's always eyeing the castle." The four ponies looked up, barely able to see the tall spire of the castle. "...And seeing how big this place is, it's going to take us all day to flip this castle upside down to find the Crystal Heart."

"When Rainbow told me the bad news, I told her to warn the others and keep the crystal ponies distracted," Twilight said. "If we can find it in time and they pour their light and love into the Crystal Heart, we just might be able to save the Crystal Empire."

"I'm gonna help too!" Spike ran up to them, panting heavily as he must have ran a long distance to the castle.

"Spike, finding the Crystal Heart must be part of my test. Sora and I should be the only ones searching for it." Sora facehooved, unable to believe Twilight's still worrying about her test.

"Twilight, did you not hear what I said about 'how big the castle is'?" the teen asked. "I think an extra claw might do us some good."

"...You're right. You can come along, Spike." The baby dragon grinned, thanking Sora for helping assist them. "But you're only looking. Not a claw."

"Right! Not a claw! Got it!" Spike crossed his arms and held them against his sides.

The trio ran out to begin searching for the Crystal Heart, though Sora hoped it would be somewhere closeby.

"...This armor makes me look ridiculous," Riku muttered as he stood in the jousting arena, wearing a suit of armor native to the Crystal Empire's Crystal Guard design.

When Rainbow Dash told him that the Crystal Heart they needed was supposed to be an actual relic needed to power the protective barrier it makes, the empire was in more peril than ever. Applejack and Kairi decided to take watch over the fake he and Sora crafted as the others kept the crystal ponies happy and steer their attention away from the looming stallion ready to charge in. Riku stood on one side of the arena while Rainbow Dash stood on the other, wearing similar armor like he was, both of them carrying a lance attached to their sides.

While the ponies were cheering for their favorite jouster, Rainbow soaked up the attention, feeling overly confident in beating someone who could easily trounce her in a normal fight. Fluttershy hovered over the arena, holding up a sign to signal the first match. She was thankful Riku took the opponent spot against Rainbow Dash, not one to enjoy a physical sport like this if she was forced to compete for the sake of the other ponies watching.

"Don't try to go easy on me, Riku!" Rainbow yelled out. "I'm not as prissy as Rarity!"

"Whatever," the stallion mumbled. "Don't say I was too hard on you."

From the sides, Pinkie blew into the flugelhorn to start the first match, both pegasi running toward each other at top speed, their lances pointed at their foe. As they got closer, they made contact, though Rainbow was the loser of this round, sent flying back over to her side and landed in a pile of hay. The crystal ponies cheered for the victor. Rainbow poked her head up from the hay she landed in, deliriously stumbling out, her helmet tilted slightly as she tried to steady her legs.

"Ok. You got lucky," she said. "Next round, I'm getting back at you."

While the jousting match continued, out near the barrier, the small bit of darkness began to grow from where Sombra lost a part of his horn, growing a black crystal from the center of the small portal. Sombra grinned and tried to channel his dark magic from the other side, adding more power into sapping away the caster's mana to take the barrier down once again.

Inside the castle, Sora, Twilight, and Spike searched every single part of the castle for the Crystal Heart, but they found no trace of it. They met up in the throne room again, having searched all the empty rooms.

"This is impossible," Sora said. "There's nowhere else left in the castle to search."

"We need to find the Crystal Heart fast before it's too late..." As Twilight examined the throne room, her eyes stopped when she stared at the throne. It somehow seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't put her hoof on it. Then, the words Princess Celestia had told her about how the Crystal Empire is affected by the magical emotions: light and hope bringing peace and prosperity, and fear and hatred creating a dangerous land of darkness. "...Wait...I think I know a place we haven't looked at."

"Which is what?" Sora asked. He and Spike watched as Twilight stared at the throne and began charging her magic. Her aura went from purple to black as she strained to cast her spell, the darkness coming from it worrying Sora as he quickly stopped her. "What are you doing!? Are you seriously tapping into the power of darkness, Twilight!?"

"But it's the only way to get to where we haven't looked!" Twilight argued, panting as the strain of using that forbidden magic she watched her mentor cast to demonstrate earlier taking its toll on her. "If Sombra had ruled over this place, then he must have hidden it with darkness. Doesn't that make sense?"

"Yeah, if you want to turn into a Heartless." The pegasus tapped her horn, warning her not to try something like that again. "When did you learn to do that!? Or even be crazy enough to try that!?"

"...Princess Celestia showed me what happened if darkness took hold of the empire with that crystal that held what the kingdom looked like." Sora groaned, needing to have a stern talk with Celestia about what other magic she might know.

"Well, you're not trying that again," he said. "I'm not going to let you risk your heart being shrouded in darkness again." Twilight wilted, but understood why she shouldn't have done that. Being so focused on saving the Crystal Empire while trying not to fail this test made her lose her sense of logic. Sora looked back at the throne, knowing he won't tap into any darkness just to open up a possible passageway. He remembered Sombra's journal, pulling it out from his pouch. "...Maybe...this might help us..."

"What's that?" Twilight asked, looking at the blank black and red cover.

"Sombra's journal...I found it in a chest that was hidden...behind the throne..." Thinking there must be more to the back wall behind the crystal throne, Sora approached it, walking past the empty chest where he found the journal.

Twilight and Spike followed Sora and watched him. The pegasus held the journal out to the wall, the book flashing a small light as it shot a beam of light into the wall. A keyhole appeared against the wall, Sora summoning his Keyblade and unlocking the magical lock with a shot of light from the end of his blade. The wall disappeared and revealed a door hidden behind it. He approached the mysterious door, light shimmering around the cracks as an enchantment on it brought them to a different section of the castle, somewhere they haven't searched before.

"Wow," Spike said as they walked through. They looked up, finding a large spiral staircase leading from the bottom to the top, almost as tall as the castle itself. "Oh great. Now we gotta climb up thousands of steps."

"That won't be necessary," Twilight said. "I tweaked the Gravity spell Donald taught us with my own magic to help us get there faster, and it won't be as draining on my magic like teleporting."

"Twilight, those spells were meant for you to use in self-defense against the Heartless," Sora scolded. "You weren't supposed to experiment with them without our supervision."

"It's not going to squish us into the ground under heavy pressure." He raised a brow at the overly excited unicorn, unsure if she should trust her magical skill after trying to use dark magic to open some kind of passageway Sombra had set up, which could have lead them into a trap. "It'll be fun."

"...Fine," Sora said, giving in to the eager expression on her face. "But if I feel my insides turning to mush, I'm going to fly up."

"Great! Just stay right by me. Spike, on my back." The baby dragon obeyed and got up on Twilight's back, still holding his hands under his armpits. "I thought this would be on the test, but I'm excited to do this, regardless!"

Her horn glowed, thankfully only a lavender aura, as she cast her modified Gravity spell. The non-elemental sphere of pressure appeared began to float up around them instead of down, flipping them upside down as it inverted their gravitational ground, landing on the ceiling of the staircase and slid "down" to reach the top. Spike broke the rule of using his claws to hold on to Twilight for dear life as the unicorn cheered in excitement as they quickly made their way up to the top. While Twilight had balanced herself on all four of her legs, Sora, by his normal instincts, stood on his hind legs as if he was on a skateboard, or like in Deep Jungle while he slid on the branches of the trees.

"Ok, I should probably scold you for doing something as crazy as this, Twilight, but I have to admit! This is the coolest spell you've created using Gravity!" The ponies and baby dragon soon reached the top, the spell wearing out as they landed right-side up at the top of the staircase before flying off into the atmosphere. As soon as they got their bearings from the inverted gravity, they looked out from the top of the castle, standing on the tall spire that seemed to pierce the skies. "Whoa...Nice view..." The barrier suddenly began to flicker, Cadence's magic being drained far faster than it had earlier. "Except for Sombra still being here and Cadence's hold on the spell about to give out."

Twilight turned around and gasped, spotting what appeared to be the powerful relic they were all seeking. Floating in the center of the roof of the castle was a large blue heart made out of crystal. It was gleaming brightly, radiating a powerful light that felt safe and comforting.

"Sora! Spike! I think this is the Crystal Heart!" Twilight exclaimed, approaching the magical relic of pure light. "We saved the Crystal Empire!"

Sora quickly turned around, gasping in shock as the floor beneath where the Crystal Heart hovered began to turn dark. "Twilight! Wait! It's a trap!"

Down below, Sombra's roar echoed from outside the barrier, the powerful wave of darkness he unleashed from inside and out shattering it, knocking Cadence unconscious down on the balcony near the throne room. Sora was too slow to react as dark crystals shot up from the ground, trapping Twilight inside as the Crystal Heart was knocked out of the dark mineral barrier, clattering to the ground, thankfully indestructible. Twilight tried to escape by teleporting out, but the dark crystals forced her to stay inside her new cell until Sombra says otherwise. Sora summoned his Keyblade and tried to break through the crystals while he and Spike avoided smaller ones that jutted out from beneath their hooves. Not even his own weapon was strong enough to even create a small crack in the pure dark wall of crystal.

"I can't get out!" Twilight said.

Unable to break through, Sora looked back out to where Sombra was near the broken barrier. The gaseous stallion hovered down to a spot of darkness that was inside as Pony Shadows charged forward, spreading more darkness around them as they approached the Crystal Faire. The ponies all spotted Sombra and his new army, the crystal ponies and the mares all fleeing to the castle while Riku stripped out of the armor he wore, summoning his Keyblade and protected the ponies from the new Heartless. The evil unicorn absorbed the dark crystal where his broken horn laid, regenerating it back to its original red and curved state as his body slowly began to turn physical.

"Not good..." Sora watched as Sombra observed his old body, his eyes seeping out purple mist as a black aura radiated from his body.

He was wearing the same outfit he wore before his banishment into the shadows, the stallion chuckling as he looked up at the spire, staring directly at him. "I have returned to reclaim my throne," Sombra said, his horn glowing black as he summoned a dark blade, holding it in his aura. "This time, the Crystal Empire shall cease to exist."

The crystal ponies screamed in terror and fled for their lives to the castle for safety, Riku right behind them, defending them from the Pony Shadows closing in around the city. "Keep moving! Head to the castle! Don't look back!"

While Riku continued to protect the ponies, resorting to using magic to take care of the Heartless too far for him to fight at close combat, everyone gathered around the center underneath the castle. Kairi cast spells at any of the Heartless that got past Riku, the crystal ponies all crowding around the veiled "Crystal Heart", the rest of the Mane Six trying to keep them all back.

"We need the Crystal Heart!" one of them said, all the crystal ponies trying to pour what happiness and hope they did have into the ancient relic.

"Hey! Get back!" Rainbow shouted, unable to shove the earth ponies back enough.

One of them managed to get by Fluttershy, unable to keep anyone back, knocking the fake heart over. The heart piece attached to the crudely made pedestal broke off and slid across the ground, the crystal ponies staring in shock at the fake relic.

"This...This isn't the Crystal Heart," a mare said, their hope slowly dwindling as Sombra, their tyrant of a leader, was about to take his place back on their throne.

"Uhh, yes," Rarity said, trying to think of a lie. "That's clearly not the Crystal Heart. The real one-"

"Is on its way!" Applejack interrupted, which only made the crystal ponies worry even more.

"I was about to say 'being polished' to buy us more time," the white unicorn hissed at the farm mare.

Applejack chuckled nervously, wishing she could lie better without her perfect record of being honest. Everyone huddled close underneath the castle, watching the creatures being destroyed by Riku and Kairi, running around in different sections to keep the Pony Shadows from getting closer, using their magic spells if the closest ones were too far to strike. On the balcony, Shining Armor was desperately trying to wake Cadence up, but the magical backlash from the shattered protection spell had knocked the alicorn out cold.

"Come on, Cadence, wake up!" he pleaded, unable to get her to budge. She's exhausted too much magic in one day, and the Elixir Sora gave her seemed like it helped, but Sombra's power was too much and had drained her. The stallion looked out from the railing, watching the mass of black shadows with yellow eyes come from never-ending voids out in the blizzard, spotting Sombra slowly approaching the empire, savoring the moment he would destroy the Crystal Empire. "Sora, Twily, please hurry."

Sora watched from atop the spire, spotting dark, jagged crystals shooting up from the ground as the Heartless ran across the grassy fields, the darkness spreading across the ground and buildings, even creeping up along the castle's walls. With Twilight trapped inside the wall of dark crystal keeping her held hostage inside, he can't free her, but it didn't seem like the smaller crystals shooting up around him and Spike appeared in her cell. Sombra was slowly walking toward the city, wanting to instill as much fear and darkness as possible on the crystal ponies.

"This is not good. We have to stop him!" Sora leapt up onto the edge of the railing, turning his head back to Spike. "Spike, I'm going to distract Sombra! You have to bring the Crystal Heart to Cadence!"

"What!? Why me!?" Spike asked. "Can't you do it!?"

"I need to keep him distracted. If he makes it to the castle, everyone down on the ground will probably get killed!" As he looked back at the stairway they all "climbed" up, the dark crystals blocked the passage, keeping them trapped up on the roof. "It would have taken hours for you to climb down the stairs, so you're going to have to climb down from outside."

"But what about Twilight's test!? I don't want her to fail!" Sora was about to retort, but Twilight beat him to it.

"Saving the Crystal Empire, and all of Equestria is more important than a dumb test!" she said. "I can't escape, and only you and Sora can stop this!...But, Sora, you, Kairi, and Riku said that defeating Sombra's impossible now, even if you fought him together. How can you stop him?"

"With the same form I used to stop Discord." Sora held out his hoof and began summoning all six of the Keyblades of Harmony individually: starting with Loyalty, then Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, and finally Magic. Twilight and Spike stared in awe as he summoned the six Keyblades that represented the Elements of Harmony, thinking he was only able to call them with his Harmony Form. "Whatever Keyblade I need in certain circumstances, I can call forth at any time. I can even summon the Keyblades that hold the powers of the Elements of Harmony, but they're strong when all six come together. And since I mastered using my Drives without the aid of my friends, I can access it whenever I need to. I'm not sure if I can stop him, but if my Harmony Form can at least slow him down, then I'll do anything I can to keep Sombra from getting closer."

"...Just be careful, Sora," Twilight said.

Sora nodded, though he can't make any promises. As the pegasus turned back to the city down below, Spike grabbed the Crystal Heart and leapt up onto the railing, gulping in fear at how high they were.

"Is it too much to ask for a lift?" Spike asked.

"Sorry, Spike," Sora apologized. "But I need to hightail it before he reaches the town."

The Keyblade wielder leapt off the edge and dived down to the earth, picking up speed as he flapped his wings hard. As he tapped into his Drive Forms, everyone down below, even the Pony Shadows looked up as they saw a bright light flash in the grim sky created by Sombra. The dark unicorn looked up and saw the light too, shielding his eyes as the light expanded and shattered like glass, the white illumination shifting to a myriad of colors, streaking down across the sky like a rainbow aurora. The crystal ponies felt the light radiating from Sora's Harmony Form, feeling their hope renewing as their dull coats slowly brightened.

"What the heck was that?" Riku asked, taking this small moment to breathe while the Heartless dumbly stared at the dangerous light above them.

"That's Sora!" Pinkie cheered. "He's in that Harmony Drive Form thingie!...Wait, doesn't he need us, and the Elements of Harmony, too? Did he swipe them from the castle and use other ponies that looked like us with the same personality!?"

"No idea how he's able to do it, but he's gonna kick some Sombra butt!" Rainbow exclaimed. "GO SORA!"

Sora flew out to the fields where Sombra was watching the speeding blur approach him. With his enhanced speed and power, the pegasus teen dove down in front of the dark stallion, Sombra leaping back as Sora left a crater in the ground where he stood. The dust around the pegasus cleared as the two stared each other down, Sora standing on his hind legs as his jacket's colors shifted to that of a rainbow, flowing like an aurora.

"...You're that child that blindsided me earlier," Sombra said, Pony Shadows dragging themselves up from the ground around them. "Those weapons you have are familiar to me."

"Yeah. I read in your journal." Sora pulled out the black and red book, though it seemed to not phase Sombra. "You used to have a good life, despite being ridiculed as a unicorn in the empire. And it fell because of someone who used those weapons on you for the worst reasons."

"...Ah, yes. I recall..." The unicorn chuckled as the Heartless drew closer to Sora, the teen doing nothing but keeping his gaze on Sombra. "There is no possible way somepony could live for a millennium, unless they were deities themselves. I should thank him for giving me life in this pathetic stallion's heart. Such a pathetic stallion."

"How exactly was the real Sombra pathetic!?" Sora shouted, stashing the book back in his pouch as he pointed at the Heartless stallion. "He had a perfect life with what he was able to have when no one appreciated him! He didn't let anything bother him, he was a member of the Crystal Guard, and he and Luna were a couple! You destroyed that life of his because of that Keyblade wielder that came to your world a thousand years ago and brought you to life!"

"Keyblade...So that's what those odd blades were called...How amusing..." Sombra grinned, the aura of his sword glowing darker with the power in him. "And also weak. That bit of light in you will not be enough to kill me."

"I know...but I don't care. One way or another, I will stop you, and try to free the real Sombra deep inside your darkness infected heart!" The unicorn stallion laughed maniacally at Sora's claim.

"He's dead! I'm the real Sombra, now! Darkness is the supreme power anypony could ever use, and his heart was too weak to fight me!" He thrust his sword down into the ground, the Heartless rushing at Sora and building a wall around the teen.

The darkness from his weapon rushed through the ground and struck the Pony Shadows, trapping the teen inside an impenetrable block of dark crystal. Sombra smirked as he trapped the pegasus inside, only for it to fade as lights began to crack through his mineral barrier of darkness. Three slashes to his left hacked through, then three on the right, until it finally broke through in the center of the slash marks. The crystal shattered, revealing Sora with seven Keyblades in his possession: the Keyblades of Harmony, all in their respective places by the original bearers' of the elements race, two in his forehooves, two as a second pair of wings, and two hovering over his head like horns, and the Ultima Keyblade held firmly in his mouth, having thrust it through to free himself.

"You know, someone else told me the exact same thing, and he was a Heartless that controlled my best friend's heart." The Keyblades of Harmony began to hover behind him as the Keyblade wielder held his powerful weapon in a hoof. "Dark beings like you never understand, so I'm going to repeat what I said when given that statement full of horseapples. The heart may be weak, and it may give in to the temptations darkness gives...But I know, deep down in that darkness, there's a light that never goes out!" He aimed his blade at Sombra, the six floating Keyblades mimicking his motions as they pointed at him. "There has to be a sliver of light in your heart, Sombra! I will find a way to bring him back, and you won't get any closer to the castle until you're defeated!"

"...Your pitiful attempt will be futile...but, if you wish to be my first victim for my return, then so be it."

(Darkness of the Uknown-Xemnas)

The Keyblades flew back in position as Sora and Sombra charged forward. The seven blades of light and harmony clashed against the blade made of pure darkness, white and black sparks flying off the weapons as their power tried to overwhelm the other. Both sides were evenly matched as the older and more experienced ex-soldier and the younger and greatly skilled teen pushed against each other. The two soon began teleporting around the field, blades clashing as they reappeared in different parts of their battlefield, creating shockwaves with each connective strike.

Back near the top of the castle, Spike carefully slid down to the side of the palace, taking small breaks on some of the stable, jagged platforms as he held the Crystal Heart tightly in his claws. He had to be careful with the dark crystals that began shooting out of the walls and platforms he stood on.

"Why wasn't I born with wings!? I'm not built for climbing something so steep!" Spike looked down, starting to feel like he was getting vertigo at how high up he was, steadying his nerves as he held the powerful relic to his chest. "I can't complain. Everypony's depending on me to bring this down to them all safely...I can do this."

Filled with confidence, feeling the light radiate from the Crystal Heart, the baby dragon continued slowly making his way down the side of the castle. Twilight was depending on him, unable to escape from the dark crystal prison she was trapped inside, as well as the crystal ponies down below and the rest of their friends. He suddenly stopped as a dark crystal nearly impaled him, instinctively breathing his fire at it to destroy it, the flames turning a brighter shade of green as it was powered by the Crystal Heart he held. Thankful to know the relic was helping him fight back to return to its rightful place, Spike continued on, destroying any other crystals that tried to knock him off or bar his path.

Down below, the Pony Shadows grew in number as they tried to attack the defenseless ponies cowering in fear. Kairi was doing her best to try to distract them by unleashing her light, baiting a majority of the Heartless to attack her. She and Riku had run out of mana and need to recharge, resorting to using physical attacks, but with the never-ending numbers still coming in, they weren't going to last much longer.

"This is insane," Riku said, slashing a few more Heartless, only for ten more to appear in their place. "Sombra's like some sort of portal to darkness. There's too many."

"We need help, but none of the others can fight back against them." Kairi staggered back as one of the Pony Shadows got a hit in, only to be hacked through, disappearing into black mist. "And there's no way we can get in contact with anyone else here."

Outside of the large mob of Heartless, an erratic light fell from the sky landed behind the dark equines. The light exploded as repeated slashes sped through a large section as it was coming straight for the castle. The Heartless in front of Riku were all destroyed, the white pegasus spotting a glimmer of gold through the mist that was the Pony Heartless' forms. As it disappeared, his eyes widened, recognizing the gold Kingdom Keyblade held in a small anthropomorphic mouse's gloved hand.

"Your Highness!?" Riku exclaimed, Kairi turning to face the unexpected ally.

King Mickey still kept his original form, the magic used to transform one to fit into a new world not applied to the royal mouse. "Need a little help?"

They soon heard a whooping sound nearby as Goofy rode on his shield like a board, slamming into Heartless as he approached the castle. On the other side, powerful blasts of Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder spells were shot out, sending Heartless flying and evaporating into mist. Donald came walking in casually, twirling his staff around as he stood beside his king along with Goofy.

"Donald! Goofy!" Kairi said. "What are you three doing here!?"

"Master Yen Sid called us," Mickey said. "He said you my have needed some assistance in this world from the princess. I think her name was...Celestia, right?"

"Celestia asked Yen Sid to send more help?" Riku asked.

"And it looks like you need it!" Donald shot more Blizzard spells, keeping some Heartless off of them as they talked.

"Where's Sora at?" Goofy asked, he, Mickey, and Donald turning their heads to the clashing shockwaves out in the distance, spotting Sora appearing randomly in the sky against Sombra as they continued fighting. "Oh. That's where he is."

"That's a lot of darkness coming from one being," Mickey said.

"The only thing that we think can stop that pony Sora's fighting is the Crystal Heart," Kairi said. "One of our friends here, Twilight Sparkle, and Sora were trying to find it, but we have no idea where she went."

"Then we'll help you out and hope Sora can buy some more time against Sombra." Mickey dug into his pockets and pulled out a Megalixir, tossing it in the air as the golden healing light replaced the powerful bottle, rejuvenating Riku and Kairi's energy. "Let's go! We've got a kingdom to save!"

Riku and Kairi went back to fighting while Donald, Goofy, and Mickey ran off in separate directions to help and ease the burden off of the young Keyblade Masters. As they fought, the ponies being protected were shocked as they had seen an odd looking griffon and diamond dog, along with the unknown walking, talking mouse whose height reached up to their necks if they included the big round ears.

"Hooray! More help!" Pinkie cheered. "And wow, was that a big rat!"

"Actually, he looks more like a mouse," Fluttershy corrected.

Sora and Sombra finally landed after trying to strike each other down in the air, the dark unicorn roaring as he shoved his sword into the ground. The aura flowing from his body flailed erratically as he poured darkness through the ground, sending a trail of sharp crystal pillars to shoot up toward Sora. The pegasus backflipped away, the Keyblades of Loyalty and Kindness providing backup for him as they slashed the crystals getting close to him. He quickly leapt up into the air as one of them rose up underneath him, diving back down toward Sombra, firing off powerful magic spells. The unicorn slipped into the ground like a shadow, hidden underneath the crystals as his shadow split apart.

As Sora landed back on his hind legs, seven of the crystals shattered as clones of Sombra broke free, charging straight for the teen. Each Keyblade of Harmony floated around Sora to fight back against one, while he held the Ultima Keyblade in his hoof, the six clones of the unicorn deflected by the hovering Keyblades while the real one attacked Sora. Both stallions parried each other's strikes, evading and blocking stray blows, neither side backing down as they both managed to fight for so long without sustaining any damage. The Heartless clones of Sombra were not as strong as the actual stallion, each one destroyed by the hovering Keyblades of Harmony.

They clashed again, trying to push each other back, but Sombra was clearly defenseless. The Keyblades floated over the dark unicorn, aimed right at any vulnerable spots on his body not protected by the little armor he wore. Sora had the chance to end this, to stop Sombra right here and now, and free the crystal ponies from this pony infected with a thousand years worth of darkness. He had the opportunity, but he couldn't do it. Sombra sensed his hesitation, taking Sora's distraction to his advantage as he shoved the teen back. Sora staggered, but was saved as Sombra's thrust was blocked by the six Keyblades, Sora leaping back as he panted heavily, growing exhausted while the unicorn stallion barely broke a sweat.

"...You hesitated," Sombra said. "You had a chance given to you, and you let it slip away. You're pathetic as a warrior if you can't finish off your opponent!" Sora winced, not in pain, but at his failure to kill the unicorn. Sombra noticed the expression on the teen's face, shaking his head as he chuckled darkly. "You can't be serious. You still think you can save him? You're wasting your breath. There's no chance of saving him. That stupid speech of yours about a light that never goes out is all talk. There is no light left."

"There has to be..." There was one other way he could try to spark the small glimmer of light that has to be shrouded under all the darkness in Sombra's heart, and it was a last ditch effort that he hoped would work. Sora reached a hoof out to him, hoping he won't have to kill him if it fails. "Sombra! I know you're in there! You have to fight back against the darkness!"

"What are you doing?" Sombra asked, growing frustrated at the pegasus's attempts to free him.

"You had so many goals in life to try to make the Crystal Empire a better place!" Sora continued, ignoring any complaints the Heartless had. "Everything you wrote in your journal, all of the moments you wanted to write that were all happy memories, you have to remember! Your time as a soldier in the Crystal Guard, wanting to prove you can help the empire despite being different compared to them! Think about Luna! She misses you and still cares about you! Think about her love for you! It'll strengthen that spark of light in your heart, but you have to fight back!"

Sombra rolled his eyes, Sora's words failing to reach out to the stallion lost to the darkness. "Just give it up, you pathetic foal! Like I said! He's dead! The stallion I used to be will never come back!"

(The Other Promise)

"...I can save him..." Sora had no choice now, but with the powers of the Elements of Harmony in Keyblade form, there might be a way to awaken that light in his heart. The Keyblades of Harmony twirled in midair, stopping as they aimed at Sombra as the tips of the blades began to charge a powerful glowing light, each light shining similar to the colors of the gems they represent. The teen aimed his Keyblade at Sombra as well, a bright and powerful white light shimmering at the end as his eyes began glowing white. "I will save him!" The floating blades fired their beams in front of Sora, the lights shining to create a large orb of multicolored light. "I'm not giving up on you, Sombra! I'm not going to let Luna down!"

The Ultima Keyblade fired a white beam in the orb, causing it to explode as a rainbow of light shot out and flew straight toward Sombra. The stallion didn't move as he eyed the light, the beam connected with his body as the harmonious magic exploded, kicking up dust around the dark stallion. Sora panted heavily, having unleashed all the energy and magical power he had in his Harmony Form with its strongest attack, reverting him back to normal as the Keyblades disappeared, leaving his Kingdom Keyblade to return to his hoof. As soon as the dust and colorful energy dissipated, there was no sign of Sombra, the power having killed him and left no trace of him.

Sora fell back on all fours, heavily exhausted and feeling extreme guilt, trying his hardest to save Luna's long lost lover. "...I couldn't save him..."

"I told you." The teen gasped as his ears flicked up, too late to react as Sombra, miraculously unharmed, slashed the tired Keyblade wielder with his dark sword. Sora was unable to defend himself as the Heartless stallion was faster than him. Any chance he did have to swing at him only ended with slashing at air, Sombra sinking to the ground like a shadow to avoid the teen and appear behind him, putting every ounce of power he had into each strike. "Your light is far too weak to even leave a scratch on me! Anything you or anypony else will try to do to stop me will be futile!"

"H-How?" Sora asked, his question unanswered as a pillar of dark crystal shot him up high into the air.

Sombra slashed through the crystal, shattering it to shards as he transformed them into dark blades similar to his own. Throwing his head up, the swords flew up and surrounded the knocked up Keyblade wielder, and as he snapped his head down, the blades flew into Sora, repeatedly slashing him as he screamed out in pain. One last blade flung him back down to the ground, his body tumbling across the ground until he skidded to a halt. His body was covered in deep cuts from the several blades that pierced through him. He struggled to get up, only for Sombra to kick his chest hard, knocking the wind out of him and kicking his Keyblade far from them.

Another swift kick rolled Sora on his back, the same hoof slamming down on the pegasus's chest, holding him down as the dark sword hovered over his face. "Ponies like you don't know when to just give up when everything you struggle to fight for will be fruitless. You're only delaying the inevitable." Sora weakly tried to shove Sombra's hoof off him, but he didn't have the strength left in him to fight back against an impossible foe. "The Crystal Empire will fall, and this kingdom will be mine. Nothing can stop me. Not even your friends, and not even the-" Sombra went silent as a gleam of light caught his peripheral vision, which came from the crystal castle. Halfway down the spire, he noticed Spike climbing down, the Crystal Heart in his claws. "What!? That's impossible! My fail-safe was supposed to keep the Crystal Heart trapped along with whoever steals it!"

"You remember when I said I'd stop you?" Sombra turned his head back to Sora, the teen grinning as he saw the expression on the stallion's face. "I meant stopping you from getting closer to taking the Crystal Heart back. Your security's not good when the relic you tried to hide could get knocked out of the trap's perimeter."

"...No...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sombra ignored Sora and ran toward the castle as fast as he was able to.

Using his magic, he spread more dark crystals out on the side of the castle, one of them managing to shove the baby dragon off as he slid down to the next platform. His scream alerted the ponies and fighters stopping the Heartless, watching Spike and the Crystal Heart falling from several hundred feet in the air.

"SPIKEY-WIKEY!" Rarity yelled out, no one able to do anything as he fell.

Sombra summoned a massive crystal pillar, lifting himself off the ground as he rose after the relic of light. As he readied his sword to slice the Crystal Heart in two to destroy its power forever, Cadence began to wake up, groaning as her head began to throb.

"Cadence, are you ok?" Shining asked, helping his wife up on her hooves.

"What happened?" As she looked up, she saw the Crystal Heart falling toward Sombra, her eyes sparkling as the relic had been found. "...Shining, throw me."

"What?" Cadence spread out her wings, not wanting to answer her husband's confusion as the fate of the Crystal Empire, and all of Equestria, depend on that heart.

"Throw me!" she shouted, Shining quickly obeying as he lifted the alicorn over his head in his forehooves, throwing her hard into the air like a javelin.

Spike tried to reach out to the Crystal Heart, gasping in horror as Sombra was getting closer as he fell. Before the unicorn could reach it, Cadence snagged the relic and baby dragon before he could hack them in two.

"NO!" Sombra shouted, suddenly knocked off his pillar as it was cleaved in half.

Bouncing off from the castle wall, Sora flew straight into Sombra, tackling the stallion in the air and dive-bombing the both of them to the ground. With what strength he had left in him, the tan pegasus managed to fish out a potion from his pouch, healing his injuries and giving him a little boost of energy. He only needed to give Cadence a little more time to fly back down and set the Crystal Heart. Sora slammed Sombra down hard to the ground, the crash landing barely stunning the unicorn as he struggled to hold him down.

"You should have finished me off," Sora said. "It's too late now."

"Get off of me, you brat!" Sombra kicked Sora off of him, pouncing on the teen and pressed his hooves down hard on his neck, choking the pegasus to death as the dark aura grew dangerously wild. "You are the biggest pain in my flank! I'm going to kill you!"

While Sora kept distracting Sombra, struggling to breathe as he tried to shove the unicorn off of him, Cadence flew back around to the bottom of the castle, avoiding the Pony Shadows below as she carried Spike on her back and the Crystal Heart in her telekinesis. The crystal ponies watched as the princess landed in the center, smashing the fake heart under her hoof.

"Citizens of the Crystal Empire! The Crystal Heart has returned! Use the light and love within you all to power the Heart, and release its protective power to defeat Sombra!" The crystal ponies all willingly obeyed, their bodies turning bright and transluscent as they bowed before the alicorn.

The crystal pony mares had their manes tied up while the stallions' manes looked smoother and combed neatly. As Cadence placed the Crystal Heart in the center underneath the castle, blue crystal spires shot down from the bottom of the crystal palace and underneath the heart, keeping the relic in place. The light from the ponies poured out to the ground and roamed over to the Crystal Heart. Sombra ceased strangling Sora as he felt the light coming from the castle.

"No. No!" The Crystal Heart began to spin rapidly in its resting place, unleashing the light gathered by the crystal ponies into a protective barrier. Those deemed friendly to the empire were left unharmed, their bodies turning to crystal just like the denizens of the kingdom, their bodies shimmering in the sun, the sky cleared out by the Crystal Heart's power. The ones that weren't so lucky were the dark crystals around the empire and the Pony Shadows, all of them obliterated by the light. Up on the spire, Twilight was freed from her crystal prison and turned crystal as well, running over to the edge to see what had happened while trapped. The light passed through Sora and Sombra, the former turning to crystal and his injuries healed while the dark stallion felt immeasurable pain. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Sombra was flung off of Sora, the darkness around his body fizzling out from the light as he tumbled across the ground, slowing to a halt on his side out in the fields where the two fought. The energy from the Crystal Heart shot up into the air, unleashing peaceful magic out into the sky as it spread out to every part of Equestria.

In Canterlot, Celestia paced impatiently back and forth in the throne room, hoping things are going well in the Crystal Empire. Even though she did have confidence in Sora, Riku, and Kairi's abilities, knowing how dangerous Sombra was now compared to back then left her worried. She hoped the Keyblade wielder wouldn't be cross with her for asking for backup from his other friends through their master Yen Sid. Suddenly, she felt a powerful wave of magic spread over Canterlot, looking to the north to see a colorful aurora of magical light spread out across the land.

"...They did it...The Crystal Empire is saved..." She should be happy. The Crystal Empire had returned and was back to its former glory. But if they had won, then that could have meant two different fates for Sombra: he either returned back to normal, the light purging out the darkness in his heart, or he was killed, unable to be saved. She prayed that the latter wasn't the right answer, the alicorn looking out at one of her castle's spires, where Luna's room was. "...Sora...please bring back good news. For my sister's sake..."

(Dearly Beloved Reprise)

Sora squinted his eyes as the bright lights temporarily blinded him, along with the sun glaring down on his face. He sat up, feeling no pain as the Crystal Heart's power had healed his injuries and gave him back his strength. Looking down at himself, his body shimmered in the light, as well as his clothing, having turned into a translucent pony made of crystal. Testing his new skin, he still felt his fur, so his body wasn't really as hard as the minerals used all over the empire. Even his hair felt a little different, feeling the spiked mane feel soft and smooth while keeping his hairstyle in place.

"Whoa..." He looked back at the castle, hearing the crystal ponies all celebrating as their ancient relic was returned to them by their new ruler and defeating the Heartless and Sombra. Sora gasped, remembering Sombra had been blown away by the light, looking out to the fields he was flung out into. Getting back up on his hooves, he ran out of the city and out into the grassy plains, spotting the unicorn laying unconscious, but what made him worry was the dark and light aura floating out of his body. "Oh no. Please no!"

Sora ran up to Sombra's side, fearing the worst as he rolled the stallion on his back, lifting his head up in his hoof. There was nothing that he could do, just watch as the unicorn's life was about to fade. Sombra weakly groaned and opened his eyes, no longer red, but green. He looked up at the bright, clear sky, a small smile appearing on his face as a tear slowly fell down his cheek.

"...Sunlight...I-I see light again..." He was oblivious to his body fading away, happy to be freed from his dark torment. "A thousand years of darkness...I'm finally free..." Sombra looked up at Sora, remembering him from deep inside of the darkness of his heart as the monster that came from that darkness fought him. "...You...saved me...Thank you..."

"...I only tried to stop you," the teen admitted. "The Crystal Heart destroyed your darkness."

"...I see..." Sora soon heard a light cracking sound that almost sounded like glass lightly shattering. He looked down at Sombra's legs and tail, staring in shock as the light of the Crystal Heart began to make lines of light appear on his body. "I can...die happy, knowing I'm no longer a monster."

"No! Don't say that!" Sora summoned his Keyblade and cast Cure over Sombra, the healing bellflowers sprinkling its magical powder over the unicorn. Unfortunately, his magic wasn't able to stop the cracks from forming on his body. "It's not working...This can't be happening...I promised Luna."

"Luna?" Sombra asked, weakly clutching Sora's foreleg with a hoof. "She's still alive?" Sora nodded, the dying stallion giving out a joyous chuckle as more tears streamed down his face. "Thank goodness...I could never forgive myself if I had done anything to her..."

Sora heard more cracking as the light began crawling its way up to Sombra more, the teen tearing up as he couldn't save him. "She really misses you...Luna and Celestia fought your darkness a thousand years ago, and when they banished you...they had no idea they only strengthened that side of you and snuffed out your light...She blames herself for doing that."

"...Luna...The fault was mine, not hers," Sombra said. "She did what she thought was right...Did she rule peacefully with Celestia, at least?"

"No...She had darkness take over her heart, and she changed into Nightmare Moon, some time after you were defeated." The unicorn gasped in horror, looking up at the sky as he felt guilty, his promise to help her unfulfilled so long ago as her anger festered in her heart. Without him, she had no outlet to release her frustrations, nopony to seek comfort and understand her problems, and sending her a letter that was only meant to keep each other apart because of what had become of him only upsetting her all the more. "She's fine now. I saved her...I only wished I could have done the same for you...but..."

"...The darkness had consumed me for too long..." The light crawled up his forehooves, Sombra wanted to embrace that light, let it take him away to pay for his sins. He wished he could see his beloved's face one last time before he disappeared, but he didn't have the strength to move, or any time left to make the long journey to the princess' castle. "...What is your name, warrior?"

"Sora," the pegasus said.

"...Sora...I have...a last request I wish to be granted." Sombra strained to use his magic, a bright shade of red as his original aura flickering to life as he pulled out a black box from underneath his red cape. He levitated it in front of the teen, Sora holding his hoof out for it to land in. "Please...give this to Luna...I found this rare gem when I was assigned to overlooking the crystal mines a few days before I was tricked...I know she would love it, and...I was going to propose to her with it one day."

"P-Propose?" Sora's tears began to fall, hearing Sombra was going to ask Luna to marry him if none of this had happened.

"Yes...sadly, there won't be any wedding bells for us." The cracks of light began appearing around Sombra's face, the stallion weakly laughing sadly as he looked back up at the sky. "All I ever wanted to do for her was make her happy...For others to see she's just as important as her sister. The night as equally accepted as the day...My only regret now...is that I will only make my love more upset than ever..." The cracks began to grow more and more as light began to shine from his body. "My dearly beloved princess of the night...Forgive me..."

Sora flinched and shut his eyes as Sombra's body shattered, leaving only his heart behind as he faded to the light. When the teen opened his eyes, he saw the stallion's heart, still tainted by darkness, but only by a little. The hope he had disappeared as quickly as Sombra had when he heard the heard crack, lights appearing over it like it had to him. The darkness in it disappeared, but the heart shattered to pieces as well, the light floating up into the sky.

Sora stared at the sky, watching the last of the lights disappear beyond the sunlight. There would have been a slight chance for Sombra to come back one day, his Heartless and his Nobody would one day reunite, just like it somehow had for Xehanort, and even Lea, formerly known as Axel from Organization XIII. But that won't ever happen; his body had shattered, destroyed by the light of the Crystal Heart, along with his heart. He still kept his body as he became a Heartless, but he never lost his heart. The darkness had completely taken over, Sombra forever gone as the light destroyed every piece of him.

He looked down at the box with Luna's ring inside, the only other thing left as a memento of Sombra along with the journal of the happiest moments in his life and his final message to the world before the darkness overtook him. He had no idea how long he sat there, looking at the object that held the "saved" unicorn's dying wish, his well-being worrying the others back at the castle. Everyone ran out to the fields and found Sora, still translucent by the Crystal Heart's light magic.

"Sora!" His ears perked up as his friends approached him, wiping away his tears as he hid the box in his pocket.

When he turned to face everyone, he was surprised to see Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey was here, his best friends and the ruler of Disney Castle shimmering like himself and the ponies. "Donald? Goofy? Your Majesty? When did you three get here?"

"We came by to help you!" Goofy said.

"Master Yen Sid spoke with the princess of this world, asking for some extra help to stop a dangerous darkness threat that could destroy Equestria," Mickey explained. "And boy, did you all need the help. I haven't seen that many Heartless since the Heartless invasion back in Radiant Garden. I'm quite interested in meeting her."

"...Thanks...We really needed the help," Sora said, though he sounded downhearted, even though he looked genuinely glad. "Sombra was...a really tough opponent."

Kairi approached him, able to tell something was wrong. "Sora, are you ok?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," he assured, though his girlfriend didn't really believe him. "I just...wanted to make sure Sombra was really...gone..."

"Sora..." The pegasus winced at Kairi's tone, the pink unicorn not going to let him hide anything from them if something that's depressed him had occurred while they were at the castle. "What happened?"

With the Crystal Empire saved, everyone boarded the train as Cadence and Shining Armor stayed to rule over the kingdom, helping the crystal ponies catch up to modern times and return their peaceful way of life under the protection of the Crystal Heart. Before they left, Sora had told everyone what had happened earlier with Sombra once the relic was returned to its rightful place. It was depressing for the others to hear that Sombra wasn't that bad of a pony before he became a tyrant, and hearing how he and Luna were once in a relationship only made it that much sadder. As much as they should celebrate, the train ride back to Canterlot was filled with silence.

Once the train stopped in the capital city of Equestria, the ponies lead Mickey, Donald, and Goofy to the castle, many of the Canterlot nobles giving the new, otherworldly guests odd looks. They reached the entrance, but Sora, Kairi, Riku, Twilight, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy walked inside while the others stayed outside. Twilight lead everyone to the throne room, Princess Celestia having been waiting for them eagerly for the news. She was introduced to King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, the newcomers showing their respect to the ruler after hearing from Yen Sid how reliable his oldest pupil and his comrades were. Twilight soon began retelling everything that had happened in the Crystal Empire, leaving out Sombra's fall for Sora to tell.

"I am happy to hear that the Crystal Empire is safe," Celestia said as she praised Twilight. "I know it was difficult for you to try to find the Crystal Heart and bring it back to its rightful place, but having Spike bring it for you while you were trapped in the tower was the right choice. Better to show the meaning of self-sacrifice than to focus on benefits made only for you."

"Really?" Twilight asked. "Does that mean...I passed my test?" The princess nodded, the lavender unicorn gasping in surprise. "I passed? I passed!" She pulled the closest pony next to her, that pony being Riku, under the mercy of her death grip as she celebrated her passing her test. "I passed my test!"

Twilight let go of Riku before he suffocated, quickly running out of the throne room to tell her friends she passed. "She really gets excited over anything involving studying," Riku grumbled. "You have to tell her saving a kingdom is a test just to get her motivated to do anything?"

"Actually, Riku, it was a test for Twilight, but for something much more than just returning a kingdom to its former glory. She is destined for something greater, and I believe she is ready for what is to come." Riku scratched his head in confusion, unable to tell what Celestia had in mind for Twilight with her vague statement. "Now...I believe there is more news I must hear about a certain...somepony."

Sora sighed, knowing the inevitable was going to come. "...Is Luna around?"

"I am here." Entering the throne room was the princess of the night herself, though she didn't look good. Luna looked tired, her eyes red and puffy from crying, greatly depressed over her and Celestia's mistake of banishing Sombra to the shadows when his heart had been shrouded in darkness. "I saw the lights come from the north a while ago...The Crystal Empire is saved...and that means...Sombra was slain, wasn't he?" Sadly, Sora nodded his head, the alicorn looking down as she stood next to her sister. "...We doomed him...He died long before we took action...What made him turn to darkness?"

"Luna, did Sombra send you a letter before you and Celestia confronted him a thousand years ago?" the spiky-haired pegasus asked.

"...Yes...I still remember it," Luna said. "He said he didn't want to see me anymore. I don't understand why...After sharing so much with each other, everything he had done to help me in my time of need...You know why he sent it?"

Sora nodded as he pulled out Sombra's journal from his pouch. "Sombra wrote in this, holding onto it when he got it as a kid." Luna took the journal in her aura, getting a closer look at it. She opened the first few pages, being mostly his writing assignments when he was in school. "There were a lot of memories he had that were happy, never letting any of the bad ones bother him. His last entry...explained what had happened, and why he broke up with you by a letter."

The alicorn skipped over the other pages, Celestia reading over her sister's shoulder as they found the last journal entry. Just from seeing the slightly crumpled pages told them something terrible had happened to him. As they read his last thoughts, both alicorns were appalled to know that someone from another world, with a Keyblade, had forced the power of darkness on him, changed him into the Sombra they banished, and all the things he had done under its control.

"W-What!?" Luna exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this!? I thought those with Keyblades were supposed to be saviors and vanquishers of darkness, not side with it and cause harm unto others!"

"Please don't blame us, your highness," Mickey said out of respect, hoping to keep the disgruntled alicorn from striking. "Light and darkness war against each other, and have done so for many years. And several hundred years ago, there was a devastating war that cost thousands of Keyblade wielder's lives, two sides fighting over Kingdom Hearts. There were those on the side of light, wanting to keep the heart of all hearts protected from dark and evil forces, while there were those who sided with darkness, wanting to take control of Kingdom Hearts and cover all the worlds in darkness. The war was fought on a world we call the Keyblade Graveyard, the aftermath of the deadly war apparent with all the Keyblades that were left in the wasteland of that world.

"Even back then, some Keyblade wielders who were with the darkness wanted to destroy any worlds they could come across. They start out small, finding someone or summon Heartless to slowly cause trouble, then, as the years progress, that world could end up destroyed by the darkness. I'm sure whoever did this to Sombra had taken part in the Keyblade War and had died in the conflict." The explanation didn't help calm Luna much, wanting to avenge Sombra and hunt down the person that did this to her stallion, causing them both pain. "Just know that we're all on the side of light, striving to keep the peace of each world and fight back against the darkness."

"...What pony in their right mind would do something like this?" Luna asked, her tears renewed as she stared at the words of torment Sombra had written before he lost to the darkness. "He suffered...and hid this from me...I could have helped him...but instead...I-I..."

Celestia draped a wing around her sister and held her tightly as she wept. "He only wanted to protect you. It would have been too late for us to try anything, Luna."

"T-This isn't fair...Why did this have to happen?" Luna buried her muzzle in her sister's shoulder, clutching Sombra's journal tightly against her chest as she cried for the loss of her beloved stallion.

Sora's ears drooped against his head, wishing he had found a way to save him. He still intended on granting Sombra's request, pulling out the black box he gave him that was for Luna.

"Luna...I'm really sorry," he said. "I wished I could have saved him before it was too late...Before he...passed on, he asked me to do something for him, and he wanted me to give you this."

Luna looked at Sora, staring at the black box he held in his hoof. She took it in her magic and held it in front of her, her hooves shaking as she dreaded to see what she believed was inside it. She opened it up, gasping in shock as she choked back a sob, her tears flowing more as she pressed a hoof to her lips. Inside was a ring with a very special gem Sombra had found: a dark blue gem expertly cut into a crescent moon, though what made it special was it was like a reflection of the night sky, stars shimmering in the gem when the light shone down on it. Celestia was just as shocked, never seeing anything like it, the ring able to fit perfectly around her sister's horn.

"Oh my goodness," Celestia said as Luna levitated the ring out of the box.

"...S-Sora," the emotionally shocked alicorn stammered. "...I-Is this...? W-Was h-he...?"

The teen nodded, answering her questions about Sombra's final gift to her, quite obvious with the small box holding a beautiful ring for the mare that stole his heart. Luna's lips quivered as she looked at the ring the unicorn intended to propose her with, her legs shaking as her emotions shifted from happiness and sorrow. She couldn't hold back her tears as she cried, Celestia hugging her tightly as she grieved over her stallion that could have been her fiancé if everything back then never happened.

Sora backed up next to his friends, Riku and King Mickey bowing their heads, Donald and Goofy getting misty-eyed as they watched Luna mourn for her loss, and when he looked at Kairi, the mare hugged him tightly, tears rolling down her cheeks at the heartbreaking scene. Sora hugged her back, holding her closer as he he couldn't hold back his own tears. He only wished he could have saved Sombra, found some way to pull him out of his darkness without the Crystal Heart destroying him along with it.

It was late in the night, Luna sitting in her room as she stared at Sombra's journal and the ring he made for her resting inside of the opened box. She was emotionally drained, but even after all her exhausted crying, she couldn't fall asleep before she raised the moon. Her eyes were glued to the majestic crescent gem, the moonlight shining down through her open balcony doors and reflected off the ring, the stars twinkling back to her night sky. It was almost as if the gem was Sombra's way of saying how much he loved the night, forever reflected off of the rare, but beautiful gem, reminding her that he would always care about her, no matter what may happen.

She levitated the ring and brought it up to her horn, sliding it through until it fit snugly near the base. Luna stared at her reflection, her starry mane matching with the starry gemstone. She shed a few tears, happy to have met somepony like Sombra, but sad to know she will never see him again. He had done so much to prove his worth as a member of the Crystal Guard, but he would mostly be recognized by the Crystal Empire as a monster only by the monster that controlled him.

She looked out to her balcony and stepped outside, looking up at the night sky she had made this evening. The moon shone down on the land, but there was a lack of stars in the clear sky. Her horn began to glow, her dark blue aura reflecting off the gem on her ring as it shimmered with stars, and she began to create and move the stars to a unique design that only a pony with her power could master. After a while of arranging them, her work was complete as she made a constellation of both her and Sombra facing each other, hooves held as they looked in each other's eyes.

"Sombra...you were the only stallion who had truly cared about me a thousand years ago," she said, hoping her voice would reach him up in the heavens. "Now I understand why you did not wish to see me...I wish you didn't have to suffer so much, and I only made it worse for you when my sister and I saw what you became. And, if things were different...I would have said yes in a heartbeat when you would propose to me." Luna brought a hoof to her lips, kissed it, and blew on it, her magic sending more stars up into the sky as they turned into a heart, resting above the constellation of them. "I love you, Sombra...May you rest peacefully, free from the darkness that bound your heart for so long."

A week had passed since the Crystal Empire returned and was rescued, thanks to the efforts of Twilight and her friends, Sora and his companions, but mostly, Spike. During that time, Celestia had received a letter from Cadence and Shining Armor, where the crystal ponies couldn't stop talking about the heroism that came from the baby dragon, and from the pegasus who was evenly matched with Sombra. A new window was placed in Canterlot castle, depicting the momentous event: Spike set in the center of the mural, holding the Crystal Heart above his head, Sombra at the bottom, though in his gaseous form to keep the stallion's image from being tarnished by any who see it, dozens of pairs of yellow eyes staring through the dark mist that belonged to the Heartless, and up top were the rest of the heroic ponies that helped save the empire, Sora in the center as he pointed his Ultima Keyblade down to the relic, his clothes shifting colors from his Harmony Form.

Looking up at the new window of historical art were Celestia and her guests from across the universe: Sora's friends Donald and Goofy, and the mage and knight's king, Mickey. "Seems like Sora's getting pretty involved in your world, Celestia. He isn't supposed to and risk breaking the world order."

"Though order is never really all that kept protected, isn't it?" Celestia asked. "Even in a world as peaceful as ours is, there has to be something to mess what every world strives to keep. Except when it involves someone who is practically chaos incarnate that lives in Equestria, then what purpose is there to keep order when he just makes more chaos in his wake?" The four of them looked through one of the normal windows, staring at the gardens outside. In the center of a variety of plants was Discord's statue, still as terrified as he was when he was turned to stone again from Sora's unimaginable power with his Harmony Form. "Peace is never kept for long, which is what can bring utopias to ruin...It almost had back when Luna and I were supposed to rule together, but my carelessness and disrespectful arrogance to her feelings almost brought the kingdom to its downfall."

"Well, your sister's at least back to normal, and you two are ruling your world together again," Goofy said. "And thanks to Sora, your world is perfectly safe from the Heartless and any other evildoer who wants to destroy it."

"But not all alone!" Donald added. "He may be strong, but nothing can't be done without good friends to help him, like us!"

"Right!" Goofy agreed with a chuckle.

"The same can be said for your student as well," Mickey said. "Just from hearing about her magical abilities and her heroics, she clearly deserves what you have in store for her."

"Indeed. I knew she had potential when I first met her as a filly, the magic she had in her greater than any foal wielded at a young age." Celestia remembered the day she met Twilight fondly, feeling just how strong her magical surge was when the sonic rainboom spooked her years ago. That moment had brought the destinies of the six mares involved in such a spectacle to be Equestria's saviors in the years to come. And thanks to Sora going through the book of the Elements of Harmony's bearers finally found, she was able to see what had happened to the other five mares. "I know she'll do great things for what we have in store. But, for now, I think all of them need a little while to recuperate after saving the Crystal Empire."

"Yeah. The Crystal Empire was rescued, but after we got back..." Donald and Goofy looked at each other, both of them looking really worried.

"Yes...It will take some time for Luna to recover, especially with the engagement ring Sombra wanted to propose her with." Celestia sighed, hating how her sister has been constantly suffering, feeling unappreciated by their subjects a thousand years ago, the stallion she loved fallen victim to the darkness and couldn't be saved. Any time Luna had felt happy, something had to come around and take that happiness away, only leaving behind anger and sorrow. "If only everything had gone differently...both for my ignorance to her feelings and Sombra's change."

"We can never change the past, and even if we did, there's always going to be something terrible to balance out the good like it would have," Mickey said, recalling his own experiences when he was Yen Sid's apprentice, helping a couple young Keyblade wielders nearly a decade ago. He hadn't seen them since they split up, with him returning to his home world as a Keyblade Master and assisting Ansem the Wise with his studies on the Heartless, along with traitorous apprentice, Xehanort. "I'm sure things will get better with time."

"I know," Celestia said, shaking her head slightly as she wanted to avoid the depressing topics of the past. "Well, I'm sorry to see you all leave so soon. I'm glad I have gotten to know you three a lot better during this week, along with your own world."

"I have my own duties as king back in my castle," Mickey said. "That, and I don't want to worry Minnie again. Having to leave her and everyone else behind to stop the Heartless and not come back after a couple years wasn't a smart decision, but she understands. Maybe I'll bring her along with me when we use the Star Shard to visit Sora again."

"Gawrsh. Sora..." Goofy and Donald worried about their friend, knowing he seemed to have taken what happened in the Crystal Empire almost as badly as Luna had. "I hope he's ok."

"Me too," Donald pondered as well.

Resting on a cloud down in Ponyville and a beautiful day, Sora stared at the sky, lost in his thoughts. Even though it had been a week since they saved the Crystal Empire, but what happened to Sombra still clouded his mind. Out of all the villains he's face, he didn't show any mercy to those who's intentions were to spread darkness without a care about anyone else's lives, or the world they destroy. Sombra and Luna were one of the few in Equestria with an exception, both of them completely innocent, one forced into darkness by a Keyblade wielder's hand and one from unappreciation and neglect. Not everyone was considered bad without a reason, but those like Xehanort or Maleficent would never see any sympathy from him if all they care about is conquering a world while spreading darkness wherever they go.

The pegasus sighed sadly, rubbing his eyes as he felt tired, but had slept restlessly for the past few days. Sleep just wouldn't come to him, his mind too distracted to pay attention to anything else after watching Sombra's heart and body shatter and disappear into light. Sombra was just a young soldier, desperate to prove his worth as part of the Crystal Empire's populace, became Luna's friend and lover, and before he had the chance to tie the knot and become husband and wife, that dream was snuffed out by a mysterious, dark Keyblade wielder who abused his desperation to help his lover be appreciated by her kingdom. In the end, there was nothing he could have done to save him: calling out to his light, fighting him, unleashing the powers of the Elements of Harmony with his own light to help, not even the Crystal Heart could save him, only eradicating what darkness loomed over the empire.

"...We won...stopped 'Sombra'...but I feel like I failed..." Sora sat up on the cloud, shaking his head as he felt like he was about to pass out. His insomnia was catching up to him, but he didn't want to sleep. "If only there was some way I could have saved him...If he was given a second chance...He can't now. His heart's destroyed...and his body...Not even Kingdom Hearts could save what's been destroyed by the light."

He soon stood up and looked down at the town, spotting Sugarcube Corner not too far from the cloud he stood upon. Maybe a lot of sugar and caffeine will help wake him up and keep him from randomly zoning out. Sora leaned off the cloud lazily and plummeted to the ground, spreading out his wings as he glided above the rooftops to the bakery. Hopefully what the Cakes had for sale today would give him the energy boost he needed, and maybe the Cake Twins might cheer him up and distract his thoughts.

Sure enough, as he walked inside, he heard the sounds of giggling from Pumpkin and Pound Cake as they played in their playpen and the parents busy at work until the twins needed them for something. They noticed their favorite pegasus foalsitter walk in when they heard the jingling bell, Pumpkin floating out of the pen with her levitation from her little magic surge and on the teen's back, babbling gleefully as she enjoyed the ride. Sora just shook his head and bounced a little with each step, hearing the unicorn foal giggling at the bumpy ride her gave her as he approached the counter.

"Hello, Sora!" Mrs. Cake greeted. Her smile disappeared as she saw the dark bags under his eyes. "My goodness. You look horrible, dear."

"Uhh...didn't really sleep that much the last couple days," Sora said, hiding the real reason for his sleepless nights from her. "You know how it is working on the farm. Can't stay up too late, otherwise you'll regret it when a certain little filly bangs pots and pans in your ear to wake you up before the crack of dawn." Pumpkin crawled up on the teen's head, his hair tickling the baby's belly as she looked down at him. "No, you're not the filly I'm talking about. Though you're probably gonna be wild with that little horn of yours shooting spells randomly when you get older."

"You should probably take a nap and relax," the earth pony suggested.

"I'm not one to sleep in the middle of the day. Just get me something tasty that has a lot of sugar and something to drink with a gallon of caffeine." Sora grabbed Pumpkin off his head before she accidentally fell off, holding her in his forelegs and pet her head. "And I'm gonna steal Pumpkin while you're back is turned and have fun with her forever and ever! Mwa ha ha ha!

The filly giggled at Sora's silliness as the mother rolled her eyes at the joke. As Mrs. Cake got the pegasus's request, Pinkie suddenly burst through the door, panting heavily and smacked into the counter, alerting the other patrons and waking Sora up a little.

"Hi, Sora!" the pink mare greeted, acting a lot more strange than usual. "Doing anything fun!?"

"...Uhh...no?" He looked down at Pumpkin, hoping the baby could give him some insight into Pinkie's stranger than strange behavior, but the filly was just as confused as he was. "Why?"

"Too much fun...not enough time...to get to the fun..." Pinkie let out a heavy sigh and fell to the ground, collapsed in exhaustion.

"And there's your Aunt Pinkie being weird as usual," he said to Pumpkin.

Sora placed Pumpkin back in the playpen with her brother and helped Pinkie into a chair. Mrs. Cake brought out Sora's order, along with a glass of water for her hyperactive employee. With Pinkie finally breathing normally, inhaling her water instead of drinking it, she began explaining why she was running around trying to find fun.

"It is so hard to have so many friends," Pinkie said. "Everypony's doing something fun, or not, and I'm not there to have fun with them. I may be random, but I'm not fast! I can't keep up with all the fun to be a part of!"

"Pinkie, you don't have to have fun with everyone in the short time span each event plays out," Sora said. "Sometimes, you have to make a choice to go somewhere for the day."

"But that's the problem!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I mean, just today, Twilight was doing some spells in town, and she made a birdie turn into an orange!" Sora nearly choked on his diabetically sugar-coated latte, hearing the unicorn experimenting magic spells on birds that turned them into fruit. "And Rarity showed up after making a beautiful dress that I missed out on seeing! So I began running around to see what everypony was doing for fun, got tired when I met up with Fluttershy, then Applejack and Rainbow Dash said they were going to fun things, like the barn raising today at Sweet Apple Acres and Dashie hanging out at the lake in the park, but they're gonna happen at the same time and I can't decide where to go for fun!"

Pinkie let out a loud gasp and slammed her head on the table after her long winded explanation. Sora's tired brain tried to process everything she had said, remembering the barn raising Applejack was having to rebuild the old barn, again, was today. Even though she said she got it covered with some other earth ponies along with Big Macintosh, Applejack knew he was still troubled over what happened in the Crystal Empire and wanted him to relax. He couldn't help it; Luna begged Sora to save Sombra, and even though he couldn't promise that he might succeed, he felt that promise felt like it was officially broken.

The pegasus quickly shook his head, diverting his thoughts away from that and back to Pinkie Pie. "So, why exactly were you running around?"

"I was trying to time myself, racing from Sweet Apple Acres to the lake in record time before the barn raising and relaxing started," Pinkie explained. "But I kind of dropped my stopwatch on the way and came here to find another one."

"That...sounds impossible. The only way to do that is if you were able to teleport, or if there were two of you." Sora took another sip of his latte to keep him awake, but as he looked at Pinkie, her head slowly began tilting, almost like a hand on an analog clock, while also making a ticking noise with each twitch. "...Uhh, Pinkie? Are you going to explode?"

Thankfully, to Sora's relief, she didn't as her head straightened up as her body shuddered, alarm bells ringing as she shook. "That's it, Sora! The legend of the Mirror Pool!"

"...What?" Sora asked, having no clue where the mare got the sudden idea of his theory of being in two places at once with a pool.

"The legend of the Mirror Pool!" Pinkie repeated. "It's a special pond that my Granny Pie told me about all the time when I was a filly! And when it comes to legends nowadays, they always come true!" Sora just stared at Pinkie, his sleep addled brain failing to respond with what this "Mirror Pool" was supposed to do. "And since you've been having trouble sleeping and can't do anything, maybe there can be two of you just like I'll make two of me!"

"...Am I on a sugar high and crashing, or am I just so tired that I have no clue if you're being serious or not?" He didn't get his answer as Pinkie grabbed him by his jacket collar and dragged him out of the bakery, forced to follow the random and confusing earth pony to wherever she was taking him.

The two wandered around the Everfree Forest, where Pinkie claimed that the Mirror Pool was located, given a bit more detail as to what it does. With a rhyme told in her grandmother's story when they find the magical pool, they're supposed to pull out their reflection from the water and make a clone of themselves. It was hard for Sora to believe Pinkie, mostly because he was so tired to know if it really is a true legend or just a story.

"Ok, so let's see if I remember the rhyme where it's located. 'Where the brambles are thickest, there you will find a pond beyond the most twisted of vines.'" The duo had indeed been going through thick brambles like the rhyme said, their fur and Sora's jacket getting snagged by the sharp foliage.

"A magical cloning pool in a dark, creepy, and dangerous forest. Makes perfect sense," Sora muttered. He winced as a bramble caught some of his hair, growing frustrated as he sliced through them all with his Keyblade. "I have no idea what you're granny was like, Pinkie, but I think you may have gotten the weird genes from her if you believed a story like-AHHHHHHHH!"

Sora didn't pay attention to where he was going as he fell into a hole. He grunted as he bounced down the tunnel, tumbling down the slope into a light up by nocturnal flora, the light reflecting off a small pond in the cavern. Skidding to a halt, he groaned, berating himself for not paying attention to where he was walking, and not using his wings to recover. As he began to stand up, Pinkie came sliding down and landed on top of Sora.

"Whee! That was fun!" Oblivious to the grumbling stallion underneath her, she bounded off of him, staring in awe at the cavern. "Sora, I think you found it! You're really good at finding secrets!"

"Yippee," Sora sarcastically cheered, stretching out his sore limbs from the crash landing and Pinkie using him as a cushion.

Pinkie approached the Mirror Pool and stared down at her reflection. "Now, let's see. How did the rhyme go? 'And into her own reflection she stared, yearning for one whose reflection she stared.'" Sora walked up to her, both curious to see if it actually does work and frightened at the idea of two Pinkie Pies in one room. "'And solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared.'"

She reached her hooves into the water, and to Sora's shock, another pair of pink hooves was being pulled out from the water. Now fully dragged out was another Pinkie Pie, the pool actually having magic, or he was hallucinating and the sugary snack and beverage he took had something else in them.

"Whee!" the clone cheered, bouncing in the air as she was just like the real Pinkie.

"It worked!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Fun!" the clone said, repeatedly saying "fun" and began bouncing all over the place.

"And the apocalypse begins," Sora mumbled, snapped out of his shock by the real earth pony pushing him over to the Mirror Pool.

"Ok, Sora! You try it! Just say the rhyme and pull yourself out! It's pretty fun!" The clone stopped bouncing around the cavern and zoomed over to them, wanting to see fun.

"Do I have to say it exactly like you did, and do I have a choice?" Sora asked, only to see two Pinkies staring at him with big grins on their faces. He's already lost track of who the real Pinkie was, mostly due to his vision blurring as the sugar in his system isn't helping him pay attention. "...I'm taking that as a probably for the first and a no for the second..." He sighed and approached the edge of the water, staring down at his reflection. "'And into her reflection she stared, yearning for one whose reflection she shared, and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly mared.'"

The teen cringed as he had to refer to himself as a girl, but he reached a hoof into the water to grab another hoof. As soon as he touched the Mirror Pool, it began to grow brightly, blinding the three ponies as it didn't do that with Pinkie. Sora suddenly felt something pour out from inside of him and out through his hoof, finally feeling something as he struggled to pull his clone out of there.

"What is going on!?" Pinkie asked.

"Fun!?" the clone questioned, apparently more clueless than the original.

"W-Was this supposed to happen!?" Sora asked, trying to pull himself out of the brightly glowing water.

With a hard pull, he managed to pull the clone out, throwing the two stallions back. Sora smacked his head against the wall, knocking the teen out cold as his body finally found the sleep he needed, even though he was rendered unconscious. The pool finally dimmed back down to the light of the glowing flora, Pinkie and her clone rubbing their eyes as they began to see again.

"Wow. How come that didn't happen with me and other me?" she asked. They heard a groaning noise as Sora's clone stood himself up, but there were a lot of differences to him than the real stallion, not like her Pinkie clone. "What in Equestria? That doesn't look like Sora's double."

The clone had Sora's tan coat as he sat on his haunches, but everything else about him was completely wrong. Pinkie saw the cutie mark on his flanks, being two Keyblades, one white and the other black, the jacket he wore closely resembled Sora's, except it was a pale silver with a black undershirt beneath it, and his mane and tail were a golden blonde instead of brown, styled differently compared to the unconscious stallion's. He groaned and rubbed his head, having landed on his head as well, though not as badly as Sora did.

"Ow...What happened?" As he opened his eyes, he looked at his surroundings, then at his hooves. "...I-I have a body?" He looked over at Sora, his question answered as he looked back at his body. When his eyes trailed up to the two Pinkie's staring at him in confusion, he stared back. "...Uhh...Hi?"

"Fun!" the clone cheered, bouncing on the other pegasus while repeatedly chanting the only word she seems to know.

"AHH! Hey, get off of me!" He shoved the newly born Pinkie off of him and stood on his hind legs. He flailed his forelegs, a big mistake as he lost his balance, landing hard on his back. Pinkie hovered over him, only for him to crawl back and stand up again, losing his balance yet again as he landed on all fours, legs wobbling at the new body he was in. "Why the heck is it so hard to stand like this!?"

"Who are you?" Pinkie asked. "And how come you came out of the Mirror Pool instead of another Sora?"

"...I...really have no clue how I got out of him," he said.

"'Out of him?' What's that mean?" Pinkie questioned. She got a closer look at his eyes, the same exact shade of blue like Sora's, even looking very similar to him. "This is weird...You're kind of like Sora, only...not."

"You're not that far off." Unable to stand on his shaking legs, the pegasus sat down, glaring at his body. "My name is Roxas. I'm Sora's Nobody. And...I'm somehow in my own body."

"Fun?" Clone Pinkie suddenly popped up next to Roxas, the pegasus yelping and leaping away, falling down on his back.

"Roxas, huh?" Pinkie scratched her chin at the odd name, gasping when she thought of something. "That's Sora spelled differently with an 'X' in it!"

Roxas sat up, staring at Pinkie in shock. "How do you know that after just meeting me!?"

"Simple!" Pinkie pulled a chalkboard out of nowhere and began writing out the letters to Sora's name, spacing them out as individual letters. "His name has four letters, and yours has five, and aside from the 'X', you have the same letters! Rearranging the letters 'S', 'O', 'R', and 'A' to other names wouldn't make much sense, but Sora told us about Nobodies and this Organization XIII, being ponies that are an empty shell with no heart. No heart means non-existence, which means the existence of the letter 'X' comes in to give you a new name, making you look almost like the real pony but with differences in every way. And making more names while adding in the 'X', we get 'Roxas' as it sounds like a better name with the jumbled up letters!"

Pinkie grinned, making a squeaking sound after going through mathematical formulas that could even baffle Twilight with making up a name using Sora's name. The clone of the mare stared in awe at the lesson, but Roxas's eye twitched, his brain immediately growing a migraine, completely and utterly lost the moment she spoke. He had known everything that had happened to Sora after finally merging back with him after they thought they defeated Xemnas back in The World That Never Was, and Pinkie was one of those new friends in Equestria that he left Sora to deal with when she did whatever made her tick. Now that he had his body back, though not knowing if it was permanent or temporary, he wished he was back inside the unconscious teen.

"...I don't know if that was supposed to be brilliant or just random," Roxas said, deciding to go with the route Sora does with Pinkie: don't question Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie lead the way out of the hole to the Mirror Pool and out of the Everfree Forest, her clone bouncing behind her while she walked normally, along with Roxas as he carried his unconscious other on his back. As they walked, Pinkie talked about her friends to her double, and Roxas, even though he knew all of them through Sora.

"Ok, me! Ponyville's just up ahead, and-" The mare was interrupted by her clone as she hyperactively bounced around them.

"Ponyville!? That's where the fun is! Where's the fun!?" Clone Pinkie asked, unable to stand still.

"Well, Applejack's having the barn raising at-" The clone ran off in a random direction, having no clue where exactly Applejack lived. "Wait, it's back that way!" She zipped off in the direction Pinkie pointed in, the real earth pony grabbing the other her's tail, pulling her back to her. "Don't forget to tell me everything that happened, like I was there myself!" Clone Pinkie nodded, the real Pinkie squealing with joy. "This is the greatest plan ever!"

The Pinkie's split up to go about their day of fun, leaving Roxas to stare, mouth agape, as they left him with Sora. "Hey! What am I supposed to do with...Sora..." He sighed, grumbling to himself, the first meeting of someone from Equestria in person having to be the wild and crazy party pony. "Great...I don't want to carry Sora all day."

Having no choice, Roxas made his way into Ponyville, using what knowledge he had of the world from inside Sora. He hoped that he didn't encounter Riku again, still holding a grudge against the teen after their fight in The World That Never Was. It took a while for him to get used to walking on all fours, though it still felt awkward to walk like a pony, and the wings on his sides randomly fluttering with each twitch of his muscles as he walked. As grateful as he was to be allowed freedom from Sora, he wished he was a human Nobody and not a pony Nobody.

He reached the closest place he could in town to drop Sora off, which happened to be the Golden Oak Library. Twilight and Spike lived in this giant tree, though with some of the worlds he had been in while in Organization XIII, he's seen stranger places to live in. Roxas walked inside, finding no sign of the unicorn or baby dragon in the main lobby/living room. He walked over to the nearby couch and tossed the unconscious pegasus onto it, not even stirring awake from being flung off.

Roxas groaned and stretched out his back, and while he looked around at the several books on the shelves, Twilight walked down the stairs as she heard guests walk into the public library. "I'll be right with you! All the books on the shelves are organized by-" Twilight froze when she spotted Sora asleep on the couch and the new stallion staring at her. "Sora? What are you doing here?" The unicorn walked up to the sleeping pegasus, trying to shake him awake. "Sora?"

"He's out like a light," Roxas said, Sora's snoring confirming his response. "His fault for not sleeping for the past few days."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Twilight asked.

"My name's Roxas," he said.

"Roxas?...Unusual name..." She got a better look at Roxas, finding it peculiar that he looked somewhat familiar. She stared at him and Sora, finding odd resemblances between the two, the only differences she noticed was his clothing, mane, and cutie mark. "...Are you...Sora's twin or brother?"

"Well...not exactly...Has Sora told you about Nobodies? The shells of those who lost their hearts?" Roxas asked.

"Yes..." It took Twilight a moment to understand what he meant when he brought a secretive topic up, gasping in shock as she realized who, or what, she was talking to.

"Yeah. I'm Sora's Nobody, which explains why I kind of-" Roxas was suddenly flung into the bookshelves by Twilight's magic, held firmly under her power as he struggled to break free. "Wait! I'm not as bad as you think I am!"

"Why should I believe you?" Twilight approached the pinned Nobody, not willing to let something more intelligent than the Heartless Sora warned her and her friends about have a chance to attack.

"If I wanted to attack you, or Sora while he's out cold, I would have done it already." She didn't believe him, pressing him harder into the shelf. "Look, I have no clue how I even came out of Sora when I was back to being a part of him completely! Sora followed Pinkie Pie in the Everfree Forest, found this Mirror Pool she talked about in some story her grandmother told her, and somehow, I have my own body outside of his when he tried to make a copy of himself!"

"...Mirror Pool?" She dropped Roxas, the Nobody rubbing his back after it was almost smashed to pieces from being flung into the bookshelves. "What the heck is a Mirror Pool?"

"I don't know everything about it. Pinkie just talked about it, dragged Sora, made a clone of herself, then made him try to create one of himself too." The unicorn leered at him, unable to trust him, despite being another version of Sora. "I know I should be considered suspicious, but I'm on your side. And I have no idea if I'm on a time limit or not after being pulled out of that water. I'm not really supposed to exist anyway...At least, outside of Sora."

"...Fine." Twilight backed away, putting away any of the books that fell when she tossed Roxas into the shelves back in their place with her magic. "But if you try anything, I'll fling you into the walls and ceiling like a ragdoll."

"Yeah. I know how powerful you can be when you get ticked off." The mare raised a brow in confusion. "I know everything Sora does. I am him, just his empty shell that also has his memories. Though, now they're a lot clearer than randomly showing up when they want to since I'm fully connected with Sora again."

"Oh...That...kinda makes sense...I think?" With the room cleaned up of any scattered books and the tension between the Nobody and unicorn settled, the library was pretty quiet for the building's standards. Twilight brought some tea for them as they sat on couches opposite each other, though Roxas didn't accept any, mostly because he has no idea how he was supposed to grab anything with hooves instead of hands. The two sat in silence, aside from Sora's breathing and stirring, finally getting his sleep after being knocked unconscious. "...So...Is it true what Sora told us about Nobodies? Are you really just a body without a heart?"

"Yeah," Roxas said. "But don't think we actually are living beings. We may express emotions, but it's mostly from the memories of our true selves giving us an idea of what that emotion is. We think we have hearts, but that's what we desire. And powerful Nobodies, like myself and those in Organization XIII, retain a form of who we used to be when they lost their hearts."

"...That's odd." Twilight looked at Sora, then back at Roxas. "Is there supposed to be slight differences when you appear? Aside from your physique and eyes, everything else about you is nothing like Sora. Even your voice is different." The Nobody nodded, agreeing with Twilight's theory. "And, if you're not like the Nobodies that aren't strong like you are, then you shouldn't think that you're heartless."

"We aren't supposed to exist," the pegasus stated. "Light and dark have an existence in the world, a part of the heart that lasts for all eternity. Nobodies are basically nothing, just empty shells thinking we exist, but we're just a piece of who we were. So it's best not to give Nobodies any pity or sympathy. It's who we are."

"...It's still pretty depressing. Why were you even a part of Organization XIII anyway?" Twilight asked.

"Because I can use the Keyblade." He held out his hooves and summoned the Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades, Roxas a little surprised his hooves were able to grip something despite them being flat while Twilight stared in shock and awe as the Nobody called two Keyblades without shifting into Drive Forms like Sora. "Some of my memories in the Organization are a bit fuzzy, almost like I'm missing some pieces of them from the one year I was there. I was tasked to hunt down Heartless to take the hearts they release, to make Kingdom Hearts and give us the hearts we desired to have. The only friend I had there was Axel, always looking out for me, and he was part of the Organization much longer than I had.

"After each mission I was tasked, we would meet up at our usual hangout and eat Sea-Salt ice cream. And I'll tell you this: each place I went to to hunt Heartless, some of them were a pain to take down on my own." Roxas dismissed his Keyblades, leering down at his legs. "Though, I ran away after...something happened. I can't exactly remember what it was, but I was so angry. I ran back and decided to take out Organization XIII after being treated like a tool for nearly a year. But before I could make it back to the castle, that's when I met...Riku."

"Riku helped you?" Twilight asked.

"We actually fought. He won, caught me, threw me into an illusion of where I thought I lived in with the friends I thought were real, finally realized who I was, the memories of Sora that kept popping up, and having to fight against my best friend after thinking I was too far gone to be brought back to the Organization." Roxas rubbed his forehead, remembering how severe his migraine was with all his memories returning to him that day. "Worst case of an identity crisis I ever had. Then, I met Sora for the first time after beating Axel, trapped inside of a capsule where he had been sleeping for a whole year, waiting for me to bring the remaining pieces of his memory back together. Before he confronted Xemnas, I fought him to see if he was a far better other than I was...I lost, caught off guard when he was able to call back his Keyblade."

"You were surprised by that?" Twilight questioned. "You have two Keyblades! How did you get caught off guard by bringing them back to you if you dropped them!?"

"I didn't know I was able to do that," Roxas said in embarrassment. "I just thought summoning and dismissing them were the only things I could have done."

"And Sora said Nobodies were supposed to be smart," Twilight grumbled.

"Smarter in combat, not understanding what the heck the Keyblade can do," he corrected with a glare, taking offense to the unicorn's insult. Suddenly, they began hearing a commotion outside of the library, as if the whole town was rioting. "What's going on out there?"

"I'm not sure." Both ponies got up from their seats and checked on what was going on with Ponyville. As soon as they walked outside, everyone began complaining about something, trying to talk over the other to see if Twilight can solve their dilemmas. "Ok, everypony, quiet down! What is going on!?"

"Like hay we should be quiet!" Applejack exclaimed. "Our barn raisin' got ruined by a stampede of Pinkie Pies!"

"They ransacked my boutique!" Rarity added.

"And they ruined our critter picnic!" Fluttershy included, surprisingly as upset as the rest of the town.

"Wait, you're saying two Pinkie Pies made that much of a mess in the span of an hour?" The crowd went silent as everyone stared at Roxas, being a new face in the town and somehow knowing about the Pinkie Pie incident. "...What?"

"Ya'll know what's goin' on?" Applejack questioned, approaching the somewhat familiar looking pegasus. "And just who the hay are ya?"

"Uhh...I'm Roxas...a visitor who knows absolutely nothing over what's going on?" Roxas chuckled nervously, already being cast as suspicious with whatever crazy plot Pinkie had.

"Don't try and backpedal on me!" The farm mare approached the Nobody, backing him up into the library's trunk. "There weren't two Pinkies, there were dozens of them!"

"Dozens!?" the pegasus exclaimed in shock.

"Applejack, calm down," Twilight said, Pinkie suddenly appearing next to her and silently mimicking her words and movements. "We can figure this out, and nopony's going to blame anypony else."

"Uhh...Twilight?" Roxas pointed at the pink earth pony standing beside her, still mimicking her.

Soon, more Pinkie's began popping up around the crowd, all of them erratically chanting fun while doing everything random and out of the ordinary. The Nobody's jaw dropped at the amount of Pinkie Pies there were, definitely a lot more than just two: a clone and the original. Now there were at least three or four dozen Pinkies, and they all looked, sounded, and behaved identically.

"Oh my gosh...Roxas, in the library. Now." Twilight dragged the Nobody inside the treebrary, leaving the rest of Ponyville to suffer under the chaotic nature of the Pinkie clones running amok. "Roxas, you did say only two Pinkie Pies existed with that Mirror Pool thing you mentioned, right? Were you lying to me, or were you being honest?"

"I'm telling the truth!" Roxas defended. "I swear, there were only two before Sora pulled me out and knocked himself out! I don't know how there's more of them now!"

"Ok. Let's not panic too much! We have the library at our disposal! Let's go through books on legends and find out what we need to do to get rid of all these Pinkies!" Twilight began floating several different books off the shelves, all of them pertaining to legends of Equestria.

Roxas began looking around too, skimming through different books, though none of them seemed to have any information on the Mirror Pool. The only thing he knew was Pinkie Pie's knowledge from a story her grandmother told her as a filly: where to find it, and how to make the clones pop out. Groaning in frustration, both of them unable to find anything on the Mirror Pool, Roxas shoved a book back into one of the shelves, hearing a hollow thump as it hit the wall.

Curious, he moved the book aside and tapped on the wall with a hoof, knocking on a hollow section and a completely solid wall next to it. He pushed the hollow part forward, the fake wall lifting up as what lied inside was another book. Taking it out of the odd hiding spot left inside of a tree building of all places, Roxas brushed off the cobwebs that covered it from some years of spiders making it as a post for their webs and opened it up. He flipped through the pages and found a section on the Mirror Pool.

"I think I found it!" Roxas said, Twilight taking the book out of his hooves with her magic. "Did you know there was a secret compartment behind these shelves?"

"No. Spike and I haven't even noticed there was one. Must have been in placed a long time ago." The unicorn read through everything on the Mirror Pool, and the solution to get rid of the Pinkie clones was simple. "Ok, it has a spell in here that can zap the other Pinkies back to the pool, but...if I shoot the real Pinkie, then I'll end up sending her back by mistake." Twilight and Roxas looked at each other, worried about this simple method, and the fact that all the clones behaved like the real Pinkie: wild, random, and hyperactive. "...You do know which one's the real Pinkie, right?"

"I had no idea which was the real one when I came out of the real me," he said, both of them hearing Sora snoring, still asleep, even as the clones all chanting "Fun!" outside caused mayhem. "...How are we going to tell the real one from the fakes?"

As the two tried to think of an idea to discern the real Pinkie Pie from the Mirror Pool ones, a couple Pinkies had managed to sneak inside of the library without opening the door or windows. They both whispered "Fun" as they approached the sleeping pegasus on the couch, one of them spraying whipped cream on his hoof while the other had a feather. The clone tickled the teen's nose, his instincts forcing his hoof to smack whatever was bugging him, slapping the creamed hoof over his muzzle.

"Gah!" Sora shouted as he sat up on the couch, feeling wide awake after getting pranked. "What the heck!?"

"Fun!" One of the clones said as both of them bounced around and began making a mess of the library, more of them intruding and shocking Sora.

"W-What is happening?" he asked, Roxas and Twilight trying to force the clone Pinkie's out of the library. Sora saw his Nobody somehow out of his body, more than two Pinkie Pies running around like lunatics, and he was sleeping in the library, nowhere near the Mirror Pool. "...Am I dreaming still, or am I awake?"

"Fun!" A clone popped up next to Sora and slapped more whipped cream on his face, speeding off with the rest of the pink pack to search for more fun.

He looked over at Twilight and Roxas, highly confused, though feeling slightly refreshed from his "nap". "...I need answers...And a paper towel."

After Sora was given an explanation of what had happened while he was out cold, and cleaned his face off the whipped cream smacked on his face, the trio sought out the other mares to wrangle up the Pinkie clones. Each of them split up and used the Town Hall as the perfect location to hold the wild pink earth ponies to distinguish the plan Twilight came up with to tell which is the real Pinkie. Sora teamed up with Roxas, Twilight thankfully keeping the Nobody's actual identity secret from the others, not wanting their other friends to worry about him being dangerous. Or threaten him, even though he was able to defend himself. While on the lookout for more Pinkie's, Roxas explained how he was now physically here.

"Oh. Now I get it," Sora said. "Seems like the magic in the Mirror Pool must have mixed with my magic, and in sensing you, it pulled you out as my clone instead of another me."

"I guess. But that Mirror Pool thing is dangerous," Roxas said. "Why did Pinkie make so many clones of herself when all she needed was just two?"

"Did you see her go back and clone herself again?" Sora asked.

"I was busy carrying your unconscious body after she and Pinkie Number 2 ran off, Twilight attacked me when I told her I was your Nobody, we talked about myself and gave her a better understanding of what kind of Nobody I was, and then we heard the town freaking out about all these Pinkies running around." The Nobody leered at Sora, blaming him for Pinkie's idea of being in two places at once. "You know, you could have stopped her from making another her."

"I was tired and wasn't thinking straight! Don't blame me!" Sora exclaimed.

"I unfortunately am you, so I'm blaming you and me." As the duo made their way to one of the restaurants in town, they spotted another Pinkie Pie sitting at the table, though she didn't behave like the others. She looked miserable, drawing sad faces in the dirt with her hoof with her head laying sadly on the table. "There's another one. This one should be easier to drag off without her slipping out of our hands...hooves. Urgh, whatever we have!"

"Wait a second, Roxas." Sora stopped his Nobody before they nabbed the sad Pinkie. "Isn't it weird that the other Pinkies kept bouncing around and shouted 'fun' over and over, acting like kids on a sugar high, while this one's depressed and sitting there doing nothing?"

Roxas was about to make an excuse, but he did find it strange. "...Actually, yeah. That is a bit weird." The pegasi approached the sad Pinkie, the mare looking up at them as she finished drawing another sad face. "Pinkie?"

"Hi, Roxas. Hi, Sora." Pinkie sighed sadly as she made the frown on her latest face bigger and more depressing.

"This has to be the real Pinkie if she's not acting like the others," Sora said.

"Maybe. I don't even know myself," Pinkie said. "If I said I was the real Pinkie, no one would believe me. If only I didn't make clones of myself, and they made clones of their clone selves, and the clones of the clones made more clones of themselves to clone and cause so much trouble." She slammed her head down on the table hard, making Sora and Roxas wince, feeling their skulls hurt just from watching. "Stupid Mirror Pool. I made too many Pinkies, and I ended up making Sora make another him, but instead of another Sora, I made his Nobody a real pony."

"You sure that's the real one?" Roxas whispered to Sora. "What if these clones are actually smart and faking it?"

Sora nudged the Nobody hard in the side, knowing Pinkie well enough to tell if she's really upset about something. "Well, Pinkie, Twilight has an idea that can prove you might be the real one. Let's head down to Town Hall and take a little test."

"Ok." The pink earth pony slumped out of her seat and sadly followed Sora and Roxas down to Town Hall.

On the way to the center of the town, there didn't seem to be any other Pinkies left wreaking havoc in Ponyville. The others must have caught the rest of the few dozen duplicates that were made. As soon as they walked in, Twilight was about to address to the Pinkies all sitting in front of a stage, surprisingly sitting still for once.

"Wait, hold on Twilight! We got one more!" The sad Pinkie walked past the pegasi stallions and sat down with the rest of the other Pinkies.

"Ok. That must be all of them," Twilight said to herself. "Now, I'm sure all of you Pinkies are wondering what you're all doing here."

"For fun!?" one of them said, the others all hoping for the same thing.

"Nope! The opposite, actually! All of you are going to be taking a little test!" The Pinkies all groaned, immediately disliking what they were going to be doing. "It's really simple, and the one who passes gets to stay! Your test will be..." Using her magic, Twilight pulled the curtains back, revealing a plastered wall with wet paint dripping to the floor. "Watching paint dry!" They all gasped in horror while the rest of the Mane Six, Sora, and Roxas facehooved. "If any of you get distracted and look away from the wall, you fail."

"Watching paint dry?" Roxas grumbled. "That's the best she could come up with?"

"Well, if you know Pinkie Pie, it won't be easy staying patient." Sora looked out in the crowd, spotting the sad Pinkie they brought in looking determined. "But if the real Pinkie is desperate to pass and stay with her friends, she'll even watch grass grow if she got in a fight with a friend and said hurtful things to them."

"Your test begins...NOW!" As Twilight began the boring test, all the Pinkies leaned forward and stared at the wall of drying paint.

It had already been a few minutes, and the test was already wearing its toll on everyone else. None of the Pinkies had looked away from the wall, even though some of them fidgeted in place as they tried not to fail. Thankfully, something happened, as one of the opened windows showed a red robin perching on a branch outside, tweeting and catching the eye of one of the Pinkies.

"Ooh! Look at the birdie!" Twilight immediately fired a beam of magic at the distracted clone, the spell causing her to inflate like a balloon and be sent back to the Mirror Pool.

"One down, and too many to go," Roxas said.

"You're as optimistic as Riku," Sora said sarcastically. "You sure you're my Nobody?"

"Shut up. I'm just glad he's not here at the moment." The Nobody Keyblade wielder sighed and sulked. "And her as well."

Sora smirked, knowing exactly who he was talking about. Since they were the same person, so was Kairi and her Nobody, Naminé. They continued watching the boring test, the Pinkies all slowly dwindling down in numbers as they kept getting distracted by something: one of them getting bored and doing something fun, others ending up watching the one having fun or pointing something out, some of them doing something weird or disturbing, like blowing into their hoof and making small, stubby fingers on the other, or rearranging their face to look almost realistic, cartoonish equine head. Twilight fired shot after shot of the returning spell, sending distracted Pinkies back to the magical water from whence they came.

Eventually, it all came down to two Pinkie Pies, both of them still sitting perfectly still as they continued staring at the paint drying. There were no other distractions outside to get them, none of them doing anything to stave off the growing boredom in them, just having their eyes glued to the wall and doing absolutely nothing. It's already been an hour since the test began, but everyone else is getting impatient, unable to wait any longer.

"Ok. These two are really good. Time to pull out...the secret weapon." Sora summoned his Keyblade and cast a Balloon spell, nudging the dangerous balloon forward into the sky. "Hey look! Free balloon! First one to touch it gets an unlimited supply of fun!"

It took a moment for something to happen, one of the Pinkies sweating bullets and shaking, nearly ready to explode, while the other remained stoic and serious. The one that cracked squealed and leapt up at the balloon, sending her crashing back down as she touched it and shot by Twilight, sending the doppelganger back to the Mirror Pool.

"Thank goodness!" Rainbow said. "I couldn't take this boring waiting any longer."

The real Pinkie didn't notice she won, still staring at the wall like a statue. None of them were sure if she even blinked when the test began. Twilight waved a hoof in front of the pink pony's face, but she still didn't move.

"Pinkie, you can look away now," she said.

Pinkie finally blinked and looked at everyone. "I passed?"

"Well, you were the only one who kept staring at the wall," Roxas pointed out.

"But I had to!" the pink mare exclaimed. "I couldn't leave my friends. I had no choice but to keep staring for the sake of all of you guys!...And, sometimes, I have to choose which of you to hang out with for anything fun to do together."

"And you learned not to make clones of yourself from a mysterious pond of magical water and cause more chaos than Discord had, right?" Sora asked, his eyes flicking over to Roxas, giving her a subtle hint to Pinkie after his different cloning incident earlier.

"...Heheh. Yeah. Learned my lesson. No more copies of me anymore." Pinkie let out a nervous laugh, vowing never to use the Mirror Pool again.

Walking through the Everfree Forest, Sora, Roxas, Twilight, and Pinkie headed to where the Mirror Pool was hidden, ready to close it up so no one else can stumble upon it. The others didn't come along as they didn't need to know much more about Roxas than the fact he was another "friend" of Sora's, only traveling around the worlds on his own without the help of anyone else. After carefully going through the tunnel system leading to the magical pond, Twilight stared at the water's reflective surface, making sure not to touch the water or say the enchantment that creates a clone.

"This definitely has some magic we don't want anypony else to stumble upon," the unicorn stated. "The Everfree Forest sure has a lot of dangerous and enchanted creatures or objects. It's a mystery how anypony's crazy enough to find some of them without thinking of the consequences."

"I'm sorry!" Pinkie apologized. "I just didn't want to have fun with all my friends, and I got carried away! And then I made Sora try to make a clone of himself because he looked really tired and couldn't fight Heartless if he randomly fell asleep, and that's how Roxas appeared when the Mirror Pool shined brightly and blinded us."

"And Sora actually went along with it after you made your one copy?" Twilight asked as she leered at Sora.

"I was tired and loopy from lack of sleep!" he defended. "Excuse me if my train of thought derailed and my brain was too slow to tell me 'Bad idea! Don't do it, you idiot!' No one can think straight when they're tired, sleep deprived, or overly stressed. You know how that feels when you freak out over something as small as a test, Twilight."

The unicorn growled, shoving Sora's jacket hood over his head and slamming him down to the ground. "You're still a bit ornery from your lack of sleep the past week, and I'll have you know my stress is eustress, not distress. That stress keeps me focused on my studies, which is how I got perfect scores on all my tests."

"Hey, go easy on him," Roxas said to Twilight. "He's still a mess about what happened with Sombra."

"H-How do you even know-?" The Nobody pointed his hoof at Sora, then back to himself, interrupting Twilight's question. "...Oh. Right. You know what he knows...He still feels bad about being unable to save Sombra, huh?"

"He thinks he failed to keep a promise to Luna to save him, even though he knew it was impossible to keep. I know you think I should be feeling as bad as he is right now, but I surprisingly don't." Roxas shrugged his shoulders as the unicorn gave him an odd look. "What's important was saving the Crystal Empire, and it's been saved. He'll get over it at some point, but for his sake, he'd better sleep, otherwise he'll do something even more crazy. Like Pinkie Pie crazy."

"Hey!" Pinkie shouted. "I'm not that crazy!"

"You wrote math equations to explain how you figured out my name is Sora's with an 'X' all jumbled up! That makes no sense!" Pinkie just stuck her tongue out at the Nobody, though Roxas didn't stoop to her childish level as Sora sat up, moving his hood off his head.

"Wait, is your name really Sora's, just rearranged?" Twilight asked. Roxas sighed, dragging his hoof in the dirt, separating the letters of his name and Sora's, showing the unicorn the simpler version that was easy to understand. "Oh. I never even realized that. That's...kind of clever. Just like Sora, but with a differently arranged name and personality, giving you your own type of identity."

"Kind of, but I'm still a Nobody, something that exists as nothing. As fun as it was to be in my own body again, I'm not sure if I should be out any longer." Sora approached Twilight and Roxas, nodding his head in agreement. "I'm not sure if I might steal his memories again from being outside of him."

"Ok. Hopefully the same spell used to fling the Pinkie duplicates back works on you." Twilight began to charge the spell, but not before Pinkie gave Roxas a quick, death grip of a hug. "It was nice meeting you, Roxas, even if it was only for a day."

"I'm not exactly going to be gone forever," Roxas said. "I'm going to be inside this clown for the rest of his life."

"Hey, you're me, so you're also that same clown you called me!" Sora said as he nudged his Nobody, he and Pinkie laughing at the irony. With the spell ready to be cast, Twilight fired it at Roxas, but instead of making him inflate like a balloon and fly off into the Mirror Pool, his body began to glow and slowly disappear. As soon as he faded away, the light shone on Sora, quickly disappearing as it appeared. The teen shuddered, feeling that same sensation just as weird as the first time back in The World That Never Was. "That's the second time that's happened, and I still feel like I might get a split personality with Roxas taking over my life at any random moment."

"That would be funny if that happened," Pinkie said. "Maybe we can bring Roxas back again one day and I'll throw him a party!"

"We are not using this Mirror Pool again," Twilight chided

"Awww..."Sora, Twilight, and Pinkie exited the cavern and made sure to cover the only entrance to the magical pond of cloning duplicates with a giant rock, looking almost similar to the large boulder Rarity had named Tom when she was corrupted by Discord's magic.

No longer needing to worry about others accidentally stumbling onto the Mirror Pool if anyone was insane enough to wander into the Everfree Forest on their own, the trio headed back to Ponyville. They went their separate ways back to their homes, everyone exhausted from the madness that was the storm of Pinkie Pies that raided the town. Sora made it to Sweet Apple Acres, still very tired, and this time willing to go to bed as the sun was setting on the horizon. He didn't bother eating any dinner with the rest of the Apples, needing some more rest, and his bed in the guest room was calling his name. As soon as he flopped down on the bed, he immediately fell asleep.

While he slept, he didn't notice Apple Bloom sneak into his room, carrying some whipped cream on her back and a feather in her mouth. "Ah told ya Ah'd get back at ya for sickin' that strange blue dog of yours, even though Ah have no idea where ya hide him from us. Maybe Ah'll get a cutie mark for prankin', too."

Being as quiet as possible, the vengeful filly sprayed some of the delicious creamy topper on Sora's hoof, being careful not to wake him. With a good, big thick amount of it resting in his hoof, Apple Bloom tip-hooved up to the pegasus's head, and with the feather held in her teeth, began to tickle his nose. She was ready to get her sweet revenge, but it backfired as his hoof lightly smacked her snout, making her yelp as he rubbed the whipped cream all over her face.

"Nice try," Sora said, opening an eye. He brought his hoof to his lips, licking off the small bit of whipped cream smeared on it. "I got hit with that prank earlier today. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

"Darn it! Ah will get back at ya, Sora," Apple Bloom warned.

"Keep dreaming, kiddo." The filly just leered at him, her face coated white from her failed prank. "Looks like you need a little cleanup. I wonder where Stitch is." Apple Bloom winced, slowly backing away. Sora pulled out Stitch's summon charm, calling him forth as it glowed brightly. From underneath the bed, Stitch poked his head out, staring at the whipped cream masked earth pony filly with his black eyes. "Stitch, why don't you help clean Apple Bloom up? I bet she tastes delicious."

"Those pendant thingies work? So that's where he came from." Her surprised awe soon turned to horror, hearing Stitch lick his lips and began drooling. "And ya'll can call him whenever ya want!"

"Yummy whipped cream!" Stitch said and began crawling toward Apple Bloom.

"AHHH! Not again!" Apple Bloom ran for her life as the blue alien gave chase. "Applejack, help! Sora's dog is gonna eat me!"

As the filly ran down the hall to flee from Stitch, Applejack came up a moment later and appeared at Sora's doorway. "What in tarnation is mah sister goin' on about? When did ya get a pet, Sora?"

"Let's just say he's sort of like a pet." The pegasus held up Stitch's summon pendant, glowing a little as it was currently being used. "You know I use a different kind of magic, and that includes summoning some very helpful friends when I need them, or if I just want to hang out with them. Apple Bloom tried to prank me by making me smack my face with whipped cream she put in my hoof while I was sleeping, but I didn't fall for it. So, Stitch is helping clean up the backfired prank, and she's getting her just desserts."

Apple Bloom squealed, rolling out of her room and into the hallway, Stitch clutched onto her tightly as he licked every single inch of whipped cream all over her face. Applejack stared at the odd blue "canine" as it slobbered all over her sister, drenching the filly in his saliva. After she was all "clean", Stitch skittered off the dazed filly and approached Applejack.

"Hi," Stitch greeted, then crawled over to Sora.

"Uhh...What kinda dog is he supposed to be?" she asked. "Ain't no breed of canine Ah know of."

"He's a special breed," Sora said. "He's kind of...out of this world, if you know what I mean."

Applejack had no clue if what Sora meant was that Stitch was some kind of alien or his kind was actually from his own world. The blue "dog" grabbed the can of whipped cream and sprayed a big dollop of it on his tongue. As he ate it, some of it got smeared on his lips, giggling a little as he pretended to act like a rabid dog, growling and snarling as he skittered about like a wild animal.

"...He ain't gonna break stuff, is he?" Applejack asked.

"He's well behaved. The only thing he'll want to break are Heartless." Stitch crawled out into the hallway and began chasing Apple Bloom again, Sora chuckling as he heard her scream and flee again. "My summons have a sort of time limit, so he'll disappear in a little while. Besides, he's fluffy. Who doesn't like fluffy?"

"I like fluffy!" Stitch said, surprising Applejack as she saw him somehow clinging to the walls.

"Applejack, save me! He's crazy! Sic Winona on him!" Winona heard her name, yipping excitedly as she ran up the stairs.

Instead of helping, however, she noticed Stitch, both collie and alien experiment staring at each other in silence. Stitch walked up to Apple Bloom and sprayed some whipped cream on the filly's muzzle, where Winona walked up to her and licked it off, making her groan in annoyance.

"Guess they became friends." Sora yawned, wanting to get back to catching up on his missed days of sleeping. "Now, if you all don't mind, I need some sleep. Finally tired enough to do so."

"Eyup. Y'all really need it." Applejack looked down at Apple Bloom, scrunching her nose at the disturbing stench that came from Stitch's saliva. She took the spray can of whipped cream out of Stitch's claws before he eats it all. "And somepony's gonna need a bath. A good, long one, too."

The young Apple grumbled and marched off to the bathroom to clean herself of the disgusting alien slobber. Again. Applejack closed the door to Sora's room so he can sleep, the stallion out like a light as soon as the door closed. He really needed a wild and crazy day to forget about the worst of days a week ago, and boy, did they ever get the craziest of them all.

Sora was up bright and early after finally getting a good night's sleep, feeling fully refreshed after a whole week of tossing and turning and small bout of insomnia. As he headed down the hall, a towel hanging off his wet mane, he spotted Applejack standing outside of Apple Bloom's room, the filly running around her room, trying on a random assortment of outfits from her closet.

"Oh! What am I gonna wear!?" Apple Bloom panicked as she tripped over some discarded clothes, making Sora wonder how a farm filly like her could have so many different outfits when her family works in a dirty environment.

"Apple Bloom, your cousin ain't gonna care about what ya wear," Applejack said, sounding annoyed. "We're gonna be late to the train station to pick her up! And with ya frettin' about clothes, Ah can't afford to skimp out on all my chores today!"

"But Applejack, this is the first time Ah'm gonna be meetin' a cousin from Manehatten, and Ah need to make a first impression!" Apple Bloom began putting on swimming gear as Applejack sighed.

"You got relatives coming over?" Sora asked.

"Just our cousin, Babs Seed," Applejack said. "The Apple Family Reunion's comin' up again, but Babs is just comin' over to stay for a while. And seein' how late it is now, Ah need to get started on mah chores."

"I can pick her up for you. I don't think I have anything aside from my own chores, which I can do in record time," the pegasus gloated.

"Thanks, Sora." The two looked back at Apple Bloom, now wearing something that made her look like a rich diva. "Come on, Apple Bloom, Ah'm sure you two are gonna get along great. You two have somethin' ya got in common."

"And what's that aside from bein' Apples?" the filly asked.

"She doesn't have her cutie mark." Apple Bloom gasped and looked back at her older sister.

"What!? Why didn't ya tell me about this sooner!?" The filly scrambled out of her latest outfit and tried to squeeze through Sora's and Applejack's legs. "This changes everythin'! Ah gotta get Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo! Ah'll meet ya at the station, Sora!"

Apple Bloom ran out and went to fetch her friends, leaving behind a room cluttered with clothes and accessories. "Ya know you're cousin's supposed to sleep in here!"

"Well, I better catch up with her before she gets too excited and bounces on the train tracks to see her cousin. Who should I be on the lookout for?" Sora asked.

"Babs is around Apple Bloom's age," she described. "Her coats a slightly dark brown and her mane's a sort of dark red-pink color."

"Got it. We'll be right back with the visiting Apple, and two extra fillies." Sora discarded the towel on his head in his room and hurried after Apple Bloom, leaving Applejack to clean up the mess the young Apple left behind in her presentational panic.

Once the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were gathered and told of another blank flank filly related to Apple Bloom that would be coming to stay for a while, the excited fillies, followed by Sora, waited impatiently at the train station. The teen just watched them while waiting for the train from Manehatten to arrive as they talked about all the excited things they planned.

"You really think you're cousin's gonna join the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom!?" Scootaloo asked.

"Of course she will! She doesn't have a cutie mark like either of us!" Apple Bloom fidgeted excitedly, looking down both sides of the railroad tracks for the train to arrive.

"I'm so excited I could burst!" Sweetie exclaimed, her horn sparking a green aura a little before it faded away.

The fillies didn't have to wait much longer as the train finally arrived. The passengers all filed out or waited for their next stop, Apple Bloom bouncing around and trying to figure out who of the many riders were her cousin.

"Is that her!? No wait, that's a stallion." Sora rolled his eyes as he dragged the excited filly back by her tail.

"Apple Bloom, you don't even know what she looks like," he said.

As some of the passengers filed out, Babs Seed made herself known as she walked out of one of the cars, carrying a small suitcase in her mouth. She looked just as Applejack described her: a brown coat a bit darker than his, dark red-pinkish mane and tail, her bangs hanging over her right eye, and just like her cousin, she didn't have a cutie mark. Before Sora could call the Apple relative over, the Crusaders rushed over to Babs and crowded her.

"Hi, Babs!" Apple Bloom greeted as they got too close in the filly's personal space. "Ah'm your cousin, Apple Bloom! And this is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and we are gonna have the bestest week ever with you here!"

Sora grabbed the Crusaders' tails and hoisted them up into the air, hanging them upside down in his hooves. "Girls, for goodness sake. Give her some room to breathe. She's had a long ride over, and swarming her isn't going to help." He placed them down, away from Babs, leaving the three fillies standing on their heads as he looked back at the Apple relative. "Your cousin's a little bit too excited to see you."

"Uhh, who are you?" she asked, her accent sounding like someone raised in the big city more than a country one.

"I'm Sora. I help your cousins here in Ponyville with their farm, and Applejack asked me to pick you up for her while she's busy with her chores." Babs gasped as he introduced himself.

"Wait. You mean THE Sora!?" she asked. "The same stallion that saved Equestria several times in the past year!?"

"Hmm...maybe." Sora scuffed off his jacket and messed around with his hair a little, the filly obviously another one of his fans. "Did my hair or clothes not give it away?"

"I didn't even notice!" The pegasus fell over and groaned in exasperation, the Crusaders giggling at him as they flipped right side up. "You stop all these strange monsters that appeared in Equestria, and just recently in the news, you saved the long lost Crystal Empire from an evil unicorn!"

"...Right...Let's not mention that...ever." The fillies didn't notice Sora's sudden shift in attitude as Babs reminded him of the Crystal Empire, no one but those involved during Sombra's return knowing the tragic loss of the innocent stallion that was forced to be evil. He shook those thoughts out of his head and picked up Babs's suitcase. "Anyway, let's get you settled in."

"And you're in luck, since the Summer Harvest Parade's going on!" Sweetie Belle said. "You'll get to ride in a float!"

"And we've got a special surprise for ya!" Apple Bloom added as the Crusaders blindfolded Babs Seed, leading her after Sora as they headed down to Sweet Apple Acres.

As soon as they reached the orchard, the Crusaders dragged Babs down to where their clubhouse was, probably to initiate her into their cutie mark crusading club and add another member. He was a little surprised they decided to finally find other ponies to increase their numbers since there were a few other ponies at their school who didn't have their cutie marks, like Dinky. Sora just shrugged off whatever they had planned, though he hoped it wouldn't involve anything dangerous. He entered the farmhouse and dropped Babs's luggage in Apple Bloom's room, now cleaned up after Applejack did the cleaning for her.

Sora got to work on some of his chores, most of them cleaning up around the farm, especially in the barn, pigpen, and chicken coop. With the Summer Harvest Parade coming up, the Crusaders had made their own float for the parade, which ironically was a giant pumpkin and not an apple. It was pretty impressive, considering those three fillies made this on their own, and it looked mobile with all the hard work they put into it. If there was a reward for the best float, this would definitely win first place.

After cleaning up the scattered tools the fillies had used to craft their giant pumpkin float, the teen headed out to clean up the muddy pigs, though why they always needed cleaning when they would just get filthy again within seconds was a questionable chore. While he was busy cleaning the dirty swines, he didn't notice the Crusaders leading Babs into the barn, or Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon trespassing on the orchard and approaching the barn. Several minutes of cleaning later, he got the last of the pigs squeaky clean, spraying himself of any excess mud that got on him.

"Ok. Clean piggies that are gonna get dirty anyway, check." As he predicted, they pigs all rolled around in their pen, getting filthy again. "...Well, at least I did it. Now, on to the-" Suddenly, the pigs all began squealing, though not out of the enjoyment of getting muddy. He looked over to them, all of them looking frightened as they were trying to warn him about something. "What's gotten you so riled-?"

He heard a heavy thump come from the direction of the barn and turned around. Somehow, the pumpkin float the Crusaders had made came rolling down, the front wheel somehow broken off and came down toward him and the pen. Sora quickly flew into it, though a bit too hard, smashing the giant fake pumpkin to pieces. He winced, the float just as sensitive as the real thing, having destroyed the fillies' hard work with the help of the heavy bounces it took as it rolled down toward them.

He was going to have to make it up to them and build them a new float, though how its front wheel got broken baffled him. It was well made, and the wheels were tightly placed on the pumpkin, yet something caused it to roll out of the barn. Sora flew over to the barn doors, but stopped before he walked through as he heard the fillies inside, along with a few others along with Babs.

"Looks like your pumpkin's been squashed!" Babs said, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laughing at the Manehatten filly's insult.

"Ah'm gonna tell Applejack on ya!" Apple Bloom said.

"Oh really? You gonna be a snitch, you little baby!?" Babs threatened, shocking the teen as he heard the Apples' little cousin act this way, nothing like the filly who was nervous when she first arrived.

"Come on, Babs. You should be hanging out with the cool ponies, not these blank flank babies!" Sora quickly flew up on the roof as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon lead Babs Seed out of the barn. "Let's show you around to our favorite hangouts."

"Sounds better than hanging out with the Cutie Mark Crybabies," Babs said, though instinctively flicking her short tail over one side of her flanks when Diamond said her insulting catchphrase.

"What...just happened?" Sora peeked through one of the windows, finding Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo as confused as he was, and also hurt emotionally.

"I think Babs just turned to the dark side," Scootaloo said.

"We have to tell Applejack, or Sora," Sweetie said.

"We can't! We're snitches!" Apple Bloom protested.

"And we're definitely not babies!" Scootaloo pouted.

"Then why do I feel like crying?" Sweetie asked as tears welled up in her eyes.

Sora looked out toward Ponyville where Babs walked off with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. "Is Babs some kind of bully back in Manehatten?" he asked himself. "I hope not. She was really excited to see me and really shy when she came down here by herself...Maybe when Diamond Tiara showed up and began insulting them, she joined them to avoid being picked on?" He watched the Crusaders sadly leave the barn and head down to their clubhouse. "I hope I'm right, otherwise I'll have to tell Applejack myself."

He flew over the orchard and hid in one of the trees near the CMC clubhouse. He heard them through their window as he observed them while also figuring out what happened to their float.

"Ah can't believe Babs ruined our pumpkin float!" Sora winced as the culprit was indeed Babs, only making the Apple relative's credibility worse from his first impressions of her. "Ah'm related to a bully!"

"This stinks," Scootaloo said. "And I'll bet you if we try to rebuild our float, she'll just wreck it again."

"We need to tell somepony. Sora will listen to us." Sora nodded with Sweetie Belle's plan, even when he had also witnessed it and stopped the pumpkin float from rolling onto the pigs.

"NO!" Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shouted, making the teen droop his head.

"We're not going to be a bunch of tattle-tales," Apple Bloom said. "Besides, Babs is only going to be here for a week, until the Summer Harvest Parade's over. All we gotta do is just avoid her until she goes back home."

Sora slapped his forehead at the ridiculous idea, finding that more worse than just telling an adult or a responsible older figure someone's picking on them. "You girls love to make things difficult, and either cause havoc to yourselves or others."

The teen heard music as a song was coming on, the Crusaders sneaking out of their clubhouse with Sora following them from a distance.

[Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo]
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

They made their way to Sugarcube Corner and got themselves milkshakes as they sat at a table. Sora snuck around without being seen by them, hiding a couple tables away as he held a newspaper in front of him in case they spotted him, bouncing his head along with them at the upbeat tune.

[Apple Bloom]
First we thought that Babs was so really, really sweet
A new friend to have, and it seemed like such a treat

The door to the bakery slammed open, Babs appearing on the other side with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon behind her. She approached the Crusaders, spun their table around and sent them flying out of Sugarcube Corner, the three bullies stealing their milkshakes.

[Scootaloo]
But then, we found the truth; she's just a bully from the east
She went from Babs, yeah, to a bully and a beast

Sora still couldn't believe Silver Spoon would still follow Diamond Tiara, even after reading her letter to Santa about her reasons why she follows her. And with Babs being the one starting to pick on the fillies, it only made their bullying worse.

[Apple Bloom]
Everywhere we turn, she's just a step ahead

[Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo]
Babs Seed, Babs Seed, what we gonna do?
Got a bully on our tail
Gotta hide, we gotta bail
Babs Seed, Babs Seed, if she's after you
Gotta run, we gotta flee
Gotta hurry, don't you see?
Babs Seed, Babs Seed, she's just a bad, bad seed

Sora followed along, watching as Babs constantly bullied them while Diamond and Silver watched. As they headed off toward the cinema, giving the bullies the slip, the teen hated watching this. As much as he wanted to help them and stop this, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had to learn to tell an adult about their bullying problems and not resort to going down the same route, or keep ignoring it if they don't stop.

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

As the Crusaders snuck into one of the theaters, after paying for a ticket, of course, Sora hid far in the back in the shadows as the fillies shifted from row to row, being cautious of Babs if she found them.

[Apple Bloom]
Hiding from a bully, we know it isn't right
But the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we aren't looking for a fight

[Scootaloo]
Oh, she'll go home soon, and then we'll have some peace again
But for now, we're staying out of her way 'til then

Babs had popped up from the front row as the Crusaders were too focused on what was being played, even eluding Sora's sight as he didn't even notice her sneak in after them. She began hassling them again, forcing them to flee, the bully hot on their tails as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon continued to watch and laugh at their misfortune.

[Apple Bloom]
Everywhere we turn, she's just a step ahead

[Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo]
Babs Seed, Babs Seed, what we gonna do?
Got a bully on our tail
Gotta hide, we gotta bail
Babs Seed, Babs Seed, if she's after you
Gotta run, we gotta flee
Gotta hurry, don't you see?

Everywhere the Crusaders went, Babs was really a step ahead of them: picking on them, throwing fruits at them, popping up and scaring them, anything physical that Diamond Tiara hasn't done to them with Sora's knowledge on her bullying the cutie markless fillies. The only thing they did was ignore her or run away, which is only making things worse, making him pull his hair out as he forced himself to stay out of it until they finally decide to tell someone, especially Applejack.

Why so mean? Why so crude?
Why so angry? Why so rude?
Can't you be nice? Can't we be friends?
Isn't it sad? Is this how it all ends?

Unable to have any fun without Babs getting in their way and making their day miserable, the Crusaders ran back to Sweet Apple Acres, but the Manehatten filly continued to harrass them.

Babs Seed, Babs Seed, she's just a bad, bad-
Babs Seed, Babs Seed, she's just a bad, bad-
Babs Seed, Babs Seed-

[Scootaloo]
She's just a bad, bad seed

As they reached for sanctuary in the barn, Babs had tossed a banana peel at them, all three fillies slipping on that one peel and crashing inside. Babs, Diamond, and Silver all hoofbumped and headed back into town. Sora hid above a cloud as he had watched, the Crusaders' whole day going from great to horrible in such a short amount of time.

"This is just crazy," he said to himself. "I can't take it anymore. I need to tell Applejack."

Sora flew down and headed into the farmhouse, where dinner was being prepared in the kitchen. Walking inside, he found Applejack cooking, the table already set for the family. Winona alerted the farm mare as she heard him walk in, yipping excitedly.

"There ya are, Sora," Applejack said. "Where in Equestria have ya been? Ya skimped out on cleanin' the pigs or the chicken coop."

"First of all, I did clean the pigs," Sora corrected. "Blame them for wanting to get dirty again. It was the chicken coop I forgot to clean, boss. Second...the reason why I neglected to do that simpler chore is because...I was spying on the fillies."

"...Spyin'? Whatever for?" Applejack asked.

"Well...it's mostly because of...Babs Seed." The Keyblade wielder sighed, having no choice but to be the Crusader's saving grace, as much as they should have been the ones to tell Applejack about the bullying cousin. "Earlier today, after I finished cleaning the pigs, which I did do, their pumpkin float rolled out of the barn and nearly crashed into the pigpen. I stopped it...and broke it by accident, so I headed over to the barn to tell them the bad news. That's when I overheard Babs make some sort of harsh fruit pun and was the one responsible for making the float roll out. To make it worse, she's been hanging out with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and all day in Ponyville, I watched Babs picking on Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, and...to my shock, she was the one starting it all, not Diamond Tiara."

The kitchen was silent, even Winona had stopped yipping. Applejack stared at Sora, unsure if she should believe him or if this was supposed to be some kind of joke. Since Babs was family to her, he expected Applejack to yell at him making a ridiculous claim, but he was being honest, and she was the Element of Honesty.

"...Babs is the one pickin' on Apple Bloom and her friends?" she asked in confusion. "...That don't sound right at all."

"I saw everything that happened," Sora said. "I swear I'm not lying."

"So then why didn't ya try and stop them?" she asked.

"Well, I think it's better for them to actually tell someone else about their problems instead of holding back their torment until it gets worse and worse." Applejack raised a brow with a blank look. "Hey, my Anti Form was something I actually did need to keep a secret so I wouldn't hurt others! That's different!"

"Did ya tell Riku about that whole incident yet?" Sora was about to retort, but his pause said otherwise. He had no idea how Riku would react, but seeing as they've experienced darkness in two separate ways, he may understand. He sighed sadly, staring at the floorboards, knowing sooner or later he'll have know. Seeing the distressed look on the pegasus's face, Applejack decided to change the topic back to her cousin, even though she couldn't believe Babs Seed was a bully. "Anyway, Ah don't think Babs has a bad bone in her."

"She threatened them if any of them tattled on her, which Sweetie Belle seems to be the only one on board with that idea, she threw fruit at them, stole their milkshakes, kept scaring them, anything that would hurt them physically or emotionally." Applejack shook her head, still unable to believe him, even though she knew he was telling the truth.

"Babs wouldn't even hurt a fly," she said, defending her cousin. "When Ah got word from our relatives in Manehatten about her, her folks thought it would be helpful for Babs to get out of Manehatten and take a breather from the big city. She's also bein' picked on at her school, and Ah thought it was a good idea for her to hang out with Apple Bloom since they both have a lot in common."

"...Babs has been bullied too?" Sora groaned, dragging a hoof over his face as his suspicions on Babs's behavior after Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon showed up were true. "Oh gosh...No wonder she's acting like that. She was so shy when she arrived, and when she found out who I was, she was really excited. And she's bullying the Crusaders to avoid getting hurt like back home."

"Ah've had first hoof experience bein' in the city, and it's a whole lot worse bein' around ponies there than here." Applejack checked on the food, all ready to be served as she turned off the stove and oven. "Ah'll have a talk with her, and maybe this will blow over. Babs will apologize and they'll get along like family."

Sora sat down to wait for the rest of the Apple family to come in for dinner, patting Winona's head, the collie sensing his uncertainty as she nuzzled her face against his side. "I hope it does..."

The next day, it was back to working on the farm as usual. Last night, Babs was given a talking to by Applejack, though she tried to deny she did anything wrong. The farm mare was skeptical, but she warned the filly nonetheless. As noon came around, Sora was busy working on the section of the orchard several yards, tending to the trees and bucking the bushels that were ripe enough for the picking. He was about to kick another tree, only to stumble when he heard an ear piercing shriek come from the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse.

Fearing there might be Heartless around, Sora dashed off to the tree house with his Keyblade ready. As soon as he arrived in the small clearing, he saw Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle run off, the latter bawling her eyes out while the others ran after her. In their clubhouse was Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and Babs Seed, all three fillies laughing at them as they took over their clubhouse. It turned out Applejack's warning didn't reach Babs as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon did their hoofshake, Babs joining them as she hid her flanks with her tail.

"Alright, that does it," Sora muttered. "That's all I can stands, and I can't stands no more!" He stomped his way over to the tree house, the head bully and her lackeys ignorant of his arrival. He made his presence known by leaping up onto the railing, surprising them. "Hello, girls."

"Oh great," Diamond groaned. "It's the spiky idiot again."

"You are looking for another lump of coal for Christmas in another few months if you keep up that attitude, Diamond Tiara." The tiara wearing filly just stuck his tongue out at him, behaving like the spoiled brat she'll always be. "I believe you and your friend are trespassing on Sweet Apple Acres ground, and stealing property from one Cutie Mark Crusaders."

"No we're not," she said. "Babs let us in, cause she's cooler than dorks like you."

He looked over at the Manehatten filly, noticing her trembling in his presence. Either Applejack must have told her Sora had seen her harass her cousin and her friends, or she knew she was in trouble and what she did was wrong.

"At least we 'dorks' know the difference between being nice and being complete jerks. Leave. Now." He pointed his hoof out to the town, disliking the haughty scoff the pink bully made.

"Whatever. This tree house is stupid like those blank flanks." Sora suppressed a growl and the urge to trap the rude brat in a Magnet spell while letting her float around flailing her hooves while he set up a booth for foals to throw rotten tomatoes at her for a bit.

"Am-scray." Diamond stepped down the ramp in a huff with Silver Spoon following after her. At least Sora was able to tolerate Silver, only following Diamond Tiara because the two were best friends and didn't want to lose the only friend who really cared about her for her, but that spoiled earth pony filly will forever be on his list of people/creatures he meets that won't be friends of his anytime soon. Babs tried to sneak off, trying to pretend he meant all three of them, but he stopped her before she reached the ramp. "Not you, Babs. We need to talk."

"Uhh...A-About what?" she asked, remaining ignorant as she began to sweat out of nervousness.

"I think you know what it is. Applejack talked to you about this last night, right?" Babs shrugged her shoulders, though she was just as bad a liar as the Apple family. "Don't lie to me, Babs. I saw you picking on your cousin and her friends yesterday, in the barn and in Ponyville."

"...Y-You really did see?" Sora nodded, the filly backing away until she bumped into the wall of the tree house.

"Stealing their shakes in Sugarcube Corner, throwing fruit at them, scaring them, making them trip, I watched every single thing you did. And knocking the float and sending it rolling down nearly broke the pigpen, injured the pigs, and even me." Babs lowered her head, feeling guilty and no longer able to run from what she had done. "If I wasn't around to stop that float, I'm sure you would have been in a lot more trouble for hurting the pigs and destroying the pen." She didn't say anything, keeping her eyes glued to the floorboards while scuffing her hoof against the platform. "Babs, are you acting this way because you're being picked on back in Manehatten?"

"...Y-Yeah." Babs blew her bangs out of her eyes, still averting her gaze from Sora's.

"Babs, I'm not mad at you. I'm just...a bit disappointed you decided to go down the same route as your bullies back home." He gently rubbed the filly's head, feeling her tremble under his touch. "You know what you're doing is wrong, but two wrongs don't make a right. And you're picking on your own cousin, who's probably a year or two younger than you. Do you think it feels good to hurt your own family like that? Even when Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo wanted you to be a part of their friendship circle?"

"N-No," she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Then why did you think hurting your cousin by throwing fruit at them, calling them names, and destroying their float would help you keep from being bullied by that snobby little brat, Diamond Tiara?" he asked. "What do the bullies in Manehatten do to you? The same things you did yesterday and just a moment ago?"

"I didn't mean to break the float," Babs admitted. "I just broke the front wheel, but the rest of it rolled out, and I didn't push it. I didn't want to be picked on again...and...and I hate being called a blank flank!" She began to sob as her tears began to fall. "Everypony in my class has their cutie mark, but I don't yet. Those stupid colts kept picking on me, saying I'm not good at anything, and I hate it! A-And when Diamond Tiara showed up...and she...picked on Apple Bloom..."

"You didn't want to get picked on again while you were here." The filly nodded her head. Sora hugged Babs as she sobbed into his chest, gently rubbing her back as she let out her emotions. After a while, she calmed down a bit, the teen drying the filly's tears with one of his extra Elven Bandannas he made in the past. "You know, you shouldn't let what others say get to you. They might mock you for not having a cutie mark, but they don't even realize just how lucky you are."

"How am I lucky for being a blank flank?" she asked, hiding her flanks with her tail. "I don't even know what my talent even is."

"But that's the best thing about it," he assured. "You still have time to find that talent of yours. Apple Bloom felt the same way, and with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo having the same problem, they made the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a club dedicated to finding their special talents and have fun doing it...provided they don't do anything dangerous."

"Yeah...they told me about that when they showed me the clubhouse." Babs looked back at the clubhouse, having stolen her cousin's hangout out of fear of being picked on by the rich filly. "I don't think they'll want me to hang out with them again after yesterday...and taking their clubhouse from them."

"The best thing you can do is apologize to them and explain to them why you were so mean to them," Sora suggested. "Those three can get a little bit crazy with their antics, and they may be a bit too impatient to pay attention to what they're really good at, but I'm sure they'll understand."

"You sure?"Babs asked quizzically. "I destroyed their float, picked on them yesterday, and I scared them out of their clubhouse."

"They'll forgive you. You can't really hold a grudge from family or friends if they know the truth about their problems they've been having," Sora said, messing up Babs's mane. "Now, let's go find the Crusaders and apologize."

"Uhh...I don't know..." She looked nervous, feeling unsure as she began to head down the ramp. "Should I really talk to them after I made Sweetie Belle cry? They probably don't want to see me, let alone talk to me after that."

"...I see your point." Sora crossed his hooves over his chest as he looked up at the sky in thought. "Maybe it's better to give them some time to cool down. And when you feel ready to talk, how about I get to know the real Babs Seed instead of the bad seed from yesterday?

"Ok, I guess." The two headed off to town as Babs told Sora everything about her, including everything she knew about him from his heroics spread throughout all of Equestria.

Late in the evening, everyone was sound asleep in the farm house. Babs had a fun day with Sora, telling him about Manehatten, all the sites to see, and gushing over how amazing he was. Granted, the teen did see a little of Manehatten from Applejack's memories as a filly when she thought being in the city was her calling. It was a bit of a surprise to hear that the city sold action figures of him, many of them with differently designed Keyblades that came separately from his figurine other than his Kingdom Keyblade. She had nearly one of every small Keyblade they made, but meeting him personally was exciting for her, apparent from their first meeting at the station. The two enjoyed themselves, the filly's troubles a terrible dream, though they haven't seen Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, or Scootaloo.

While they all slept, one filly was wide awake. Apple Bloom laid on the floor of her bedroom while Babs slept in hers, the latter too unsure if she should apologize to her cousin now or wait until she and her friends were around. She grumbled as she felt uncomfortable sleeping on the hard ground. There was a mooing sound that came from outside, the yellow earth pony getting up and looking out the window. Outside were Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, the unicorn filly making the mooing noise as a signal for them to begin whatever they had planned.

Apple Bloom snuck out of the house, making sure not to wake everyone, then met up with her friends as they headed into the barn. As the trio walked inside, they stared at the beginning structure of the new float they were going to build. Sweetie Belle rolled out some unused fabric from Rarity's boutique to use to craft the outer side of the float once it was fully built up with the mechanisms set in place.

"Ok, we got everything we need?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yup!" Scootaloo soon blew gold powder that she brought, covering the unicorn filly in the dust, making her look like a living pony made of gold. "Oooh!"

"Luster dust from Sugarcube Corner," Scootaloo said. "They use this stuff for decorating cakes."

"That must be what Rarity uses on her emergency edible boots!" Ignoring the odd possibility Sweetie Belle made with her sister creating edible outfits, Apple Bloom pulled out a kitchen timer shaped like an apple.

"And Ah got Granny Smith's kitchen timer," Apple Bloom said.

"What's that for?" Sweetie asked.

"You'll see." Scootaloo and Apple Bloom chuckled maliciously at what they had planned. "Let's get to work on making our new float."

The fillies soon got to work on making their float, building away into the night, the noise they make thankfully far from the ponies sleeping in the farmhouse.

The next day was the Summer Harvest Parade, everyone in Ponyville bustling with excitement. Stands were set up selling food and beverages, glimpses of some of the fruit and vegetable themed floats resting on one end of the town, preparing to start the parade. Babs wandered off on her own, looking at all the banners and smelling the delicious food being sold.

"Hey, Babs!" The filly winced as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon approached her, her tail reflexively trying to cover her flanks. "Where were you yesterday? Did that idiot Sora get you in trouble or something?"

"Uhh...Not really," she said.

"You should stay away from him. He's nothing but trouble." The two rich follows continued to follow Babs, no longer wanting to hang around with Diamond Tiara and stay as a bully she became. "Where were you? Messing with those blank flanks?"

She ignored the question, pressing her tail tightly to her flanks. They soon came across the floats, watching ponies double checking everything before the parade began. Babs spotted her cousin and her friends, staring in awe at their new float they had made so quickly: a giant golden apple.

"Uhh, hey, Diamond Tiara. How about you and Silver Spoon find a good spot somewhere for the parade?" Babs asked. "I'm gonna nab the Cutie Mark Crybabies' float and drive it, leaving them in the dust."

"Oooooh. That sounds like fun," Diamond said. "Ok! Come on, Silver. Let's get ourselves a front row seat!"

While the pink filly skipped back into town with glee, Silver followed with a sigh. As soon as they were out of sight, Babs swallowed the lump in her throat, caught between keeping herself from being bullied by anypony else and having to hurt her cousin and her friends again. She needed to apologize to them, hoping that they would forgive her as she approached them.

"Hey, guys." The Crusaders looked over at her, Sweetie Belle quickly ducking back inside of the apple float to tinker with something.

"Oh, hey, cousin." Apple Bloom said. "Like our new float?"

"Yeah. Though, how did you make something like this a couple days after...well, I broke your float?" Babs asked.

Scootaloo rolled out from underneath the float, finishing checking on something near the front wheels. "We like to improvise. Besides, a giant pumpkin? On an apple farm?"

"It was pretty silly for an idea, so we decided to make this instead." Babs was really surprised, never knowing her cousin in Ponyville was this talented. How these three didn't get a cutie mark in building something this fast and well crafted. "And, Ah think we got off on the wrong hoof. How about ya drive in the float in our place?"

"...Really?" the Manehatten filly asked, blowing her bangs out of her face as she stared at her cousin and her friends in confusion. "After everything I've done to you, you forgive me for picking on you?"

"Of course!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, bouncing out of the float.

"We're a family, and we Apples represent family." While the three fillies allowed Babs inside, Sora had walked up to where the floats were to check on Babs and see where she wandered off to, carrying a couple balloons under his wing.

He watched the Crusaders letting Babs in their newly crafted golden apple float, both surprised to see they made another float so quickly and happy to see them having made up. The parade began to start as the floats drove off down the road for the crowd to see. With the three fillies backs turned, he didn't see the mischievous looks on their faces as he walked over to them, Babs driving off along with the rest of the floats.

"Wow, girls," he said, catching their attention. "You're letting Babs drive your new float?...That you somehow were able to make in a couple days...Boy, you three work fast."

"Yeah, well, Ah think she deserved a little more...attention." The trio giggled and bumped hooves, though Sora was oblivious to their conniving grins.

"That's really nice of you three. I'm sure glad she finally told you girls about why she was being so mean to you the last couple days." The trio's evil smiles dropped as they looked up at Sora.

"Uhh, what?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Babs has been picked on by other bullies back in Manehatten," he said. "Applejack told me her parents sent her up to get away from all the teasing about not having a cutie mark and give her some peace. I may not have been raised in a city, but I know it's a lot more hectic no matter where you are than in the countryside."

"T-Teased?" Scootaloo asked.

"Bullied?" The Crusaders all soon began to feel guilty, Sora ignorant of their depressed looks as he continued talking.

"I'm glad she finally found the courage to speak with you girls about her problems," he said as he tied a balloon around their forehooves. "I know it's hard to trust her, but I'm happy you gave her a second chance and understand what she's going through. Seeing Diamond Tiara teasing you made her think being a bully would keep her from getting hurt, but I talked with her yesterday about that, and she's definitely learned that making two wrongs won't make everything right." Their balloons suddenly deflated, flopping down to the ground next to the miserable Cutie Mark Crusaders' hooves. "...Wow, those are some defective balloons."

"Oh no," Sweetie Belle said. "We're in trouble."

"Hmm?" Sora stared at the unicorn filly questioningly. "What do you mean you're in trouble? Babs did tell you before she drove off, right?" They didn't respond, looking down at the ground or anywhere else that was the teen's direction. "...Did she?"

"No," Apple Bloom said. "Ah didn't know she was bein' bullied, too."

"And...we thought we could get back at Babs for..." Scootaloo gulped, all three of them realizing they made a huge mistake, and that worried Sora.

"Girls?...What did you do?" he asked them.

"...We rigged our float to steer out of control when she reaches the turn near the cliff leading down into the lake!" Sweetie Belle blurted out.

"You did what!?" Sora looked down the road, spotting the golden apple float far ahead of the others and heading straight for said turn. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had had enough being picked on by Babs, thinking they could get revenge, and instead, their getting back at her could seriously injure her. "Darn it, girls! Why would you do that!?"

"She was picking on us, and we didn't want to be tattle-tales," Scootaloo answered.

"I suggested telling you or Applejack, but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo didn't want to," Sweetie Belle said.

"Oh for the love of Kingdom Hearts, girls! This whole mess could have been handled with sooner if you just told an adult, otherwise something like this could escalate!" Sora leapt up into the air and hovered over the buildings. "After I get Babs out of there, you three really are in big trouble if she winds up getting hurt!"

The pegasus flew off to reach Babs before whatever the Crusaders had set up caused the float to steer off course. In the float, Babs was enjoying herself as she had waved to the crowd, though avoiding Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's gaze. Despite being unable to tell Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo her bullying problems and apologize for hurting them, she was happy to know Sora was right and they didn't hold a grudge on her. As she began turning the wheel to steer herself at the curve, a ringing sound spooked her and the wheel began moving erratically on its own.

"What in Equestria!?" She tried to move the wheel, but it wouldn't budge in the way she wanted it to go as the float began to veer off over the slightly steep hillside facing the lake.

She could barely make it to the door of the float as it began to roll down the rocky hill, sending the filly stumbling back and forth. Sora quickly flew down and got in front of the gold apple float, pushing against it as his hind legs skid back against the rocky slope, slowing it down a little, but still heading for a collision course into the water.

"Babs! Jump out!" he shouted. "Oh jeeze, this thing's heavier than it looks!"

Finally getting her footing, Babs reached the door and leapt out safely. The slight shift in weight caused Sora to lose his own footing and stumble back, the float falling on top of him as they both slid down into the lake. The float landed, unharmed in the water, while the teen splashed into a muddier section of the lakeside. He groaned and sat up, covered in mud as pigs rolling around in it nearby went for the float, licking off the golden dust that decorated it. He had no clue if any of them were the pigs from the farm that managed to sneak out, but ignored them as he looked up, thankful to see Babs was safe.

"Sora? Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah. Just a bit dirty. And really upset at a couple disaster-spawning fillies." Sora climbed out of the muck and walked up the hill to Babs Seed. They heard the others who heard the crash run up to them, the Crusaders glad to see the Manehatten Apple was ok, though when they looked at Sora, he was greatly disappointed. "I think we all need to have a little talk."

After Sora got himself cleaned up, his clothes needing a thorough washing with all the mud seeped into them, he and Applejack sat the fillies down to make sure this conflict was nipped in the bud. Apple Bloom told Babs they rigged the booby trapped float to get back at her for picking on them. Babs explained to her cousin and her friends about her problems back home, both sides apologizing and making up with each other. Though all four fillies deserved a punishment, Sora had the perfect idea to teach them not to pick on their peers or getting back at the one that picked on them and almost cause worse bodily harm than getting smacked by thrown tomatoes or slipping on banana peels.

At the clubhouse, Sora witnessed Babs's initiation into the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the founders of the club wearing red capes, a crudely sewn on blue shield with a filly in front of it as their symbol. Scootaloo thumped her forehooves down on a pair of timpani drums in a slow rhythm, only to start banging on them in an erratic fashion, hurting everyone's ears and nearly making them topple over from the small quake she made. The pegasus filly finally stopped, slamming her hoof down once more with a serious look on her face.

"Well, we know one cutie mark Scootaloo's not gonna get," Sora said, rubbing his sore ears.

Sweetie Belle cleared her throat as she read through a scroll that held their initiation speech. "'We, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, elect Babs Seed to join us as a sister, friend, confidayte...alley?'" The unicorn filly looked over the long speech, unable to read what was written down on it. "'Boss-um buddy, gal pal, compader...chum of chums...'"

"Wow, this speech is horrible," the teen commented.

"Scootaloo was the one who wrote it, not me! I can barely read what she wrote on this thing!" Scootaloo chuckled nervously as Sweetie skipped past all of the synonyms she put down in the lengthy speech. "Ok, here we go! '...and fellow Cutie Mark Crusader! You are solemnly sworn in, here this day, in witness of your fellow sisters, friends, confidantes...' Ugh, the same thing! Did you actually use an entire thesaurus for all these words when you could clearly use just one!?"

"And another talent Scootaloo won't get a cutie mark in," Sora teased as Babs giggled at the light jab.

"Congratulations, Babs! Y'all are a Cutie Mark Crusader!" Apple Bloom tossed an extra cape over to her cousin, the filly excitedly tying it around her neck as the Crusaders applauded their newest member.

"Congrats, Babs Seed. Now that you're a Crusader, I think it's time for all four of you to finally receive your punishment for the past few days." The fillies smiles turned to frowns, knowing they would all would pay for their actions. The stood in front of Sora, ready for whatever he had to give them. "Now, I know two of you are familiar to a little friend of mine, but I think he's a suitable enough punishment, and a warning in case you fillies act naughty."

He pulled out Stitch's summon pendant, Apple Bloom staring at it in shock as she began to back away. "Oh no! Not again! Why Stitch!?"

"Who's Stitch?" Babs asked.

She got her answer as the charm began glowing, the blue alien being summoned as Apple Bloom tried to make a break for it. As soon as she opened the door, Stitch came flying in, knocking the filly over as they both tumbled across the clubhouse. The blue "canine" began licking Apple Bloom, lathering her in his slobber as she was helpless to escape from him.

"Yay! I love this punishment!" Sweetie Belle cheered, actually liking Stitch after she was attacked by him when the unicorn sided with Kairi when she and Sora dueled each other.

"Hey, this is a punishment, not a luxury cruise, Sweetie Belle," he said. "And your punishment is not getting licked by Stitch, or hugging him."

"Awww! No fair!" the filly pouted.

After Stitch was finished "cleaning" Apple Bloom, he turned his sights to Scootaloo. "Oh no. No! Not me! Go for Babs first!"

"Taka bagishka!" Stitch yelled, leaping on the pegasus filly and began licking her face.

"AHH! It can talk! And it's eating my face! Help!" Scootaloo tried to pry the clinging alien off her, but failed and flopped on her back, getting the same treatment as Apple Bloom.

Soon, Babs Seed was given her punishment, taking it and staying still until Stitch tackled her. Sweetie Belle whined, wanting to be licked by the fluffy, talking blue dog. But as soon as Stitch was done with Babs, he crawled over to Sora and climbed up on his head.

"That should do it," he said.

"Can I snuggle Stitch now?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Stitch answered for Sora as he shook his head. "Sweetie Belle in trouble. No free snuggles."

"Why does life have to be so ironic?" the filly complained, falling on her back as she whined.

The next few days passed quickly, Babs hanging out with her cousin and new friends, being a part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Sadly, it was time for her to head back home as the Crusaders, Sora, and Applejack saw her off at the station.

"So you promise you'll start a Manehatten branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, right, Babs?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yeah, and I'll also promise to talk to my big sister and parents about the teasing back home," Babs said.

"That's good," Sora said. "And don't let what they say get to you. You still have time to find your talent, while those jerks might not have any clue what their own talents might be." He pulled out one of his stored bandannas and wrote his name down on it with a pen, giving it to Babs. "And if they keep bugging you, tell them you know me and I'll come to Manehatten and have Stitch deal with them."

"Wow." Babs's eyes sparkled, given a souvenir from her favorite idol. "Thanks, Sora!"

"Oh, this is just perfect." Everyone turned to face Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the rich pink filly leering at Babs with disgust. "I thought you were cool, Babs, but you're just as lame as those blank flanks. Should have known you would have been like them."

Babs subconsciously dragged her tail over her flanks, having forgotten she still wore her Crusader's cape that his her flanks well. In the midst of her self consciousness, she looked down at the Elven Bandanna Sora had just given her, giving her confidence as she glared at the spoiled brat.

"You know what, Diamond Tiara? I never liked you the moment I met you!" She stepped forward, her sudden change in behavior startling Diamond as she backed away from Babs. "I've had enough of getting picked on back home because I was a blank flank, and I'm not going to let you, or anypony else, say I'm lame, or my friends! You know what I'm gonna do?"

"W-What?" Diamond Tiara asked.

Babs looked back at Sora, the teen smirking as he got what she had in mind, reaching out for Stitch's pendant. As he summoned the alien, the Manehatten filly looked back at Diamond Tiara.

"Nothing," she said, confusing the pink filly. "I'm just gonna ignore your hurtful words, and if you keep bugging me, I'll tell your mom you've been messing with us."

"...Wait, you mean you're not going to hit me or something?" Babs shook her head as she looked up at the ceiling of the station's protective dome from rain or snow.

"Nope. Two wrongs don't make a right." Stitch crawled above Diamond Tiara, giving Babs a thumbs up with his claws as he got in position. "And I'm going to be 'looking up' instead of down."

"...What does that mean?" Diamond and Silver heard a roaring sound from above, Stitch landing on Diamond Tiara's back and snatched her tiara off her head. "Ahh! Hey!" The alien leapt off her back and ran to the edge of the platform, standing on his head while shaking his rump at her, her tiara resting on his rear end. "What the hay are you!? Gimmie back my tiara!"

"Nuh uh! My tiara!" The filly growled and ran at Stitch, quickly righting himself up, still keeping a hold of the tiara. He leapt up onto the railing, wearing Diamond's tiara and swayed his hips as he mocked her. "'Ooooh! Me Diamond Tiara! Me a big doodie head! Blah blah blah blah blah!'"

"Gimmie back my tiara, you stupid blue animal!" Diamond shrieked, trying to leap up to Stitch as the fillies and Sora laughed.

"Stitch not stupid!" he said. "I'm cute and fluffy!"

The filly managed to leap up on the railing, misjudging her jump as she flew over the rail and fell into a mud pit nearby. Another pig wallowed in the mud, snorting at its new pink friend. Stitch flipped the tiara over, landing perfectly on the swine's head. The alien leapt off the railing and walked up to Babs, the duo hoof/fist bumping as Diamond Tiara got her just desserts.

"Sora, that wasn't a smart idea," Applejack said as the summoned partner crawled back up on Sora's back.

"I believe that's what is called karma, AJ. Do bad unto others and bad stuff shall happen to thee," Sora quoted as he raised his hoof, Stitch copying him, making the fillies giggle. "She needs to learn to stop picking on other ponies, otherwise she's going to end up having bad luck with her bad behavior."

Soon, the train heading for Manehatten had arrived. They all said their goodbyes to Babs as she boarded the train, unable to wait to tell her family the fun she had with her relatives.

"I'm sure gonna miss that 'bad' seed," Sweetie Belle said.

"'Bad' seed?" Applejack asked. "Ah thought all of y'all were friends."

"They are, Applejack. Its ironic because her name is Babs Seed, and what she did standing up to Diamond Tiara made her a 'bad seed', as in cool, not bad as in bad," the teen explained. "Got it?"

"...No. No Ah don't." The Crusaders giggled at the mare's confusion as the train began setting off to the city in the east.

Sora can't wait to see Babs again when the Apple Family Reunion comes around to know how she's been back at home in the next couple months. It was odd that he didn't meet her at the reunion nearly a year ago, though he assumed not every Apple family member might have been able to make it. He was a bit nervous to find out how many other relatives they had aside from Babs and her family and the Oranges in Manehatten, and her family in Applaloosa with her wild and hyperactive cousin spouting out his town's name every time he feels like announcing it. Though, it could be fun if he was invited, being an honorary Apple after saving their farm from the Flim Flam Brothers.