Down at Sweet Apple Acres, right at the crack of dawn, Applejack was raring to begin her day as she looked out over the orchard. Sora stood beside her, not as enthusiastic as she was, but ready to begin his daily grind working on the farm to help the Apple family with their long, endless chores and apple bucking. Soon, the small rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon and the rooster crowed, the morning had arrived, signalling the start of the day.
"Yee haw!" Applejack cheered as she reared up on her hind legs. "Time for us to buck some apples!"
She ran on ahead as she looked at all the ripe apples ready to be picked, Sora calmly approaching some of the closer trees that were ready to be bucked of their fruit. "I'm starting to wonder if apples are the only thing that Applejack has on her mind every day. Oh well. I'm an honorary Apple, so I better get to work." He turned and bucked one of the trees of their apples, only to hear them hit the ground with a splat instead of a thud. Confused, he looked around the ground, surprised to see the apples that fell were all shriveled up as if the juices were sucked out of them and making them look rotten. "What the heck?"
Sora's ears perked up when he heard squeaking up in the tree, that sound coming from some bats that made their homes in the branches and eating the fruit. He looked up, expecting the fruit bats to be hanging around instead of in the west orchard, but what he saw shocked him. These bats weren't shaped like fruit at all; they looked like normal bats, though they all looked more sinister and creepy.
"They're back!" Sora heard Applejack cry out, running up to him in a panic. "The vampire fruit bats have come back!"
"Vampire fruit bats?" he asked. One of the bats grabbed a fresh apple in its jaws, sinking its teeth in the skin and began sucking out the juice from it. Once it was dried out, it spat the ruined fruit at Sora, splatting all over his face. "Hey! Get out of the trees, you dumb bats! You're eating the orchard's crops!" He kicked the tree harder to shake them out, only agitating them as the group in the branches swooped down and began attacking him. "AHH! Get off! These aren't your trees!"
The teen flailed around, trying to swat the biting bats off of him, but they kept attacking. He had no choice but to retaliate in the most humane way possible; he called his Keyblade and cast Aero over himself, flinging the bats away from him with the protective magical wind. They finally laid off him, flying back to the tree to continue eating the apples.
"This is bad," Applejack said. "We need the others! And fast!"
"You mean everyone? Why not just Fluttershy?" Sora asked. "She can probably handle these giant rats with wings." They heard the bats screech and spit apple seeds at the Keyblade wielder, but the Aero spell around him was still up as they did nothing to him. "Hah! Nice try, furballs!"
"Sora, them varmints are vampire fruit bats, and they're far more dangerous than any other critter that threatens to ruin our apples," Applejack explained. "The last time they came, before me or even Big Macintosh were born, Granny had seen them bats eat up an entire section of the orchard. Because of them one year, we had to ration out apples to all of Ponyville for the winter."
"Oh...That is bad." Sora looked up at the vampire fruit bats, all of them leering at him in spite.
"Besides, Ah don't want them to know about mah blue ribbon apple Ah've been growin' this year for the harvest festival in a week." She pointed at one of the trees close to the barn, where a tree was heavily bent over by what appeared to be a very large red apple underneath a sheet.
"How did I not notice that?" the teen questioned. "And is that healthy for the tree to be bent like that?"
"Just help me bring everypony here so we can get rid of them!" Doing as his boss commanded, Sora flew off as he and farm mare split up to gather up their friends.
After gathering everyone at Sweet Apple Acres, including Riku, Kairi, and even Aqua, the others were told of the situation going on. Applejack even showed them her prized apple, amazed at the size of the Red Delicious apple that caused the tree it was still firmly attached to the tree it grew on. She quickly covered it back up, not wanting to risk having any of the flying pests spot it and suck out the quart of apple juice inside of it and ruin her chances of getting a blue ribbon.
Fluttershy agreed to speak to the vampire fruit bats and convince them not to cause anymore trouble. Unfortunately, as they had responded to Sora, they did the same to the animal loving pegasus, spitting seeds at her after she asked them to leave. She flew back over to the others, shaking the seeds out of her pink mane.
"Well? What did they say?" Applejack asked.
"I...I really don't know," Fluttershy admitted. "This is the first vampire fruit bat I've ever met, and it'll take me a while to understand their language."
"So the answer is quite clearly no," Sora translated.
"And in the meantime, those pests are goin' to go after mah prized apple and every other apple in our orchard! These vampire bats are nothin' but a bunch of monsters!" Fluttershy gasped in shock at Applejack's harsh words.
"Applejack, don't you think that was a bit harsh calling them 'monsters'?" Fluttershy asked.
"No, I do not." Dark and creepy music began to play around them, confusing Aqua at the sudden song appearing out of nowhere and no one playing any instruments.
"Uhh, what's with the music?" the unicorn asked.
"It's time for a song," Sora said, the four Keyblade wielders ducking as some vampire fruit bats flew over them, the atmosphere around them getting darker to match the tone of the music. "This happens sometimes in Equestria. You get used to it."
[Applejack]
Those vampire bats will give you a fright
Eating apples both day and night
They rest for a minute, maybe three
Then they're eatin' every apple in your apple tree
Applejack pointed up to one of her apple's trees, a pair of vampire fruit bats flying by and snatching some apples. They sucked them dry and spat them all over the ground, the mare disliking the bats more as they continued to eat her crops.
They don't care about nada, not zilch, no, nothin'
'Cept bringin' about an orchard's destruction
Fluttershy didn't like how Applejack was blaming the vampire fruit bats for destroying her crops just because of their survival instincts. Knowing more about animals, she knows that bats of any kind could benefit in helping her orchard with the seeds they leave behind. She joined into the song, the tone becoming more cheerful and the atmosphere a little brighter as she tried to show her friend the good things instead of the bad that came from the vampire fruit bats.
[Fluttershy]
Now wait just a minute, there's another side to this
And if I did not defend them, then I would be remiss
These bats are mamas and papas too
They care for their young just like we ponies do
There was a cuter, far more tame bat family in one of the trees, not exactly like the vampire bats that were attacking the orchard. The baby bat flew up to Fluttershy and nuzzled her, but Applejack wasn't going to be friendly to animals that were destroying her family's profits, the music going back to its dark tone.
[Applejack]
Oh, give me a break, you're bein' too kind
These creatures have a one track mind
The orchard is not their restaurant
But do they ever think what others may want?
As the farm mare pointed up at one of the trees, one of the vampire fruit bats tried to steal an apple from one of the others, picking a fight with them as she proved how horrible their manners were. They steal and take what wasn't theirs, either eating the food or letting them go to waste when any of their kind tried to pick a fight with them over an apple.
No! They don't! And that is just a fact
These bats, they simply don't know how to act
Some of the bats tried to swoop down to a nearby apple by Sora, the teen slapping them away to quit eating up any of the remaining fresh fruit still alive from the infestation. Fluttershy's cue came in with the music's lighter shift.
[Fluttershy]
That's where I have to disagree
They're loyal to their family
The same cuter bat couple were together, sharing an apple as they sunk their fangs into the skin and sucked out the juice. An explosion of seeds flew out, spreading out apple seeds all across the bright orchard.
Spreading seeds both far and wide
[Applejack]
You see one comin', you'd better run and hide!
Applejack stepped in, holding a tattered cloth behind her, stepping forward toward the other ponies and baby dragon. Her shadow created a large, foreboding bat-like silhouette behind her, its eyes glowing red as the music went back to its low and menacing tone.
They're big and ugly and mean as sin
Will you look at the state my trees are in?
She stepped away, the shadow disappearing as she showed her orchard in shambles. The trees were in ruin, all the fruit was either rotten or none showed at all, almost as if the fields were now a graveyard filled with dead apple trees. Fluttershy flew in the background, a small glimmer of a positive outlook of the field behind her as she lifted her hooves up, raising a tree as it grew fruit in the blink of an eye.
[Fluttershy]
They'll help your trees, they'll grow stronger faster
[Applejack]
They've turned my life to a total disaster!
Applejack smacked the fake tree over, knocking it down, Fluttershy's voice still unheard to her. Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Aqua could both see their points having these bats around, both the good and bad. Though, the others seemed to be siding with the negative outcomes Applejack sang, taking her side over Fluttershy's or staying neutral.
[Rarity]
Well, I for one don't have a doubt
These vermin must be stamped right out
[Rainbow Dash]
I second that, they've got to go
These bats, they've got to hit the road
[Applejack]
It comes down to just one simple fact
They've crossed the line, it's time to fight them back!
Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Twilight began to circle Fluttershy as they began to chant.
[Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Twilight]
Stop the bats! Stop the bats!
Make them go and not come back!
Stop the bats! Stop the bats!
Make them go and not come back!
Stop the bats! Stop the bats!
Make them go and not come back!
[Applejack]
Yes, it comes down to just one simple fact
They've crossed the line, it's time that we attack!
With the song finished, Aqua was still very confused, even though the song itself was eerily catchy. "...So, does this happen often?"
"We haven't had a musical number in a while, so not really," Sora said. "Plus, I think Applejack's right. We need to round up these bats before they eat anymore of the apples. Sorry, Fluttershy."
"Fruit bat round-up, fruit bat round-up!" Pinkie sang as she bounced around everyone.
"Well, what if instead of rounding them up...we let them have a part of the orchard?" Fluttershy suggested.
"Are ya crazy, Fluttershy!?" Applejack exclaimed, horrified of the idea. "Ya want me to give a part of mah family's orchard to these pests!?"
"They're only here because they're hungry!" Fluttershy argued, surprising everyone with her bold defense against the wicked vampire bats. "We could build a sanctuary for them. They'll have their own apples to eat, and since they spit out the seeds, they can help grow better and stronger apple trees, producing more fruit than you could imagine."
"Fluttershy, Ah know you're tryin' to look out for every animal known to pony kind, even them varmints messin' with mah apples, they'll end up destroyin' the orchard before we get them new trees in the next few years. Without any apples this year, there won't be enough for everypony when winter comes around. Not even warm cider." Rainbow Dash gasped in horror, flying into Applejack and staring her dead in the eyes.
"No cider!?" she asked, the mare shaking her head. "That's it! Round up the flying rats!" The vampire fruit bats screeched and flew at the cyan pegasus, Rainbow flailing about as they heard her insult them. "AHH! What the hay!?"
"I don't think they like being called that," Fluttershy mumbled. Sora helped the swarmed mare, casting Aero around her to repel the bats away and fly back to the trees. "M-Maybe your whole family should vote on what to do with the vampire fruit bats?"
"Actually, it's just us here on the farm," Sora said. "Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom are in Appleloosa for the produce competition this year. Plus, if Granny was here, I'm sure she would tell us to get rid of them." Fluttershy wilted, completely alone with her idea to help the bats and Applejack's orchard. "Sorry, Fluttershy. If we had another way to keep them from eating the apples, they could probably stay, or move elsewhere."
"Wait, maybe there is a way!" Twilight said. She teleported back to the library and appeared back in the orchard a few minutes later with a spellbook. She flipped through the pages, finding the exact spell she was looking for. "Ok, there's good news and bad news. There's a spell in here that can get the vampire fruit bats to stop sucking the juice out of the apples, but in order for the spell to work, I need their full attention." The alicorn looked up from her book, staring at Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus not liking the idea already. "Which means we're going to need you to do your Stare on the bats, Fluttershy."
"The 'Stare'?" Aqua asked. "What is that?"
"It's something that Fluttershy's able to do to immediately make any animals listen to her," Twilight explained. "She just stares at them with wide eyes, and within seconds, they stop what they're doing and obey her."
"But I can't just take the Stare's power too lightly," Fluttershy said. "I vowed to only use it in dire situations."
"Fluttershy, this is a dire situation!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Think of the cider! I don't want to go a winter without any cider!"
"Rainbow, calm down!" Sora forcefully dragged the pegasus away from Fluttershy, keeping her sat down and out of the yellow mare's face. "What is it with you and apple cider? You have a bad addiction to it, even if it is delicious."
"And if we don't do this, there won't be any apples left for all of Ponyville before winter comes." Fluttershy looked at her friends, all of them pleading with her to do this, even if she knew this wasn't the right thing to do for the vampire fruit bats.
Outnumbered and overwhelmed, Fluttershy sighed as she gave in. "Ok...I'll use the Stare."
"Thanks, Fluttershy," Applejack said. "Now, let's round up them varmints and stop them from ruinin' more of the harvest!"
While Twilight read over the spell and Fluttershy preparing herself mentally for using the Stare on the bats, the others gathered them all up to one of the trees. Where the other members of the Elements of Harmony lured them with fresh apples for them to sink their fangs into, Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Aqua used their magic to snatch them away while avoiding getting swarmed and scratched or bitten by them. The stallions cast Magnet on the mana groups, pulling them off the branches they hung off of while the mares used their levitation to drag the magnetic spell. As disturbed and angry at the ponies taking them away from their territory, the scent of apples caught their attention more as the Magnet spell wore out, allowing them to flap off to the baskets of fruit waiting for them.
After gathering every last vampire fruit bat, they were ready to change their instinct to feed on apples to sustain themselves. Fluttershy let out another sigh, taking her cue to fly up to the tree so Twilight's spell will be used.
"I really don't want to do this," she said to the bats. "I hope you can forgive me."
She opened her eyes and glared intensely at the vampire fruit bats, unleashing her Stare. The animals hissed as she leered at them, only to silence themselves, unable to look away from the the pegasus's pupils.
"Alright, it's working. Let's see if this spell works, Twilight," Applejack said, the alicorn nodding as her horn glowed.
Twilight's aura surrounded the colony of bats, altering their minds to not eat apples as they continued staring in fear of the pegasus glaring at them. None of them noticed the lavender magic spell's light shone in Fluttershy's direction, directly at her pupils. With the spell cast, Twilight's aura disappeared as the bats blinked in confusion. Fluttershy still hovered in the air and leered at them, unaware of the spell having ended.
"Fluttershy? You can stop using the Stare now." The pegasus's ears perked up, quickly shaking her head as she snapped out of her daze. "Let's see if it worked."
"Right." Sora grabbed a ripe apple and flew up to the bats as they recovered from the blinding lavender light. He held the fruit up to one of them, looking at it curiously. It sniffed the apple a little bit, only to turn away in disgust, sticking out its tongue while making a squeak of disapproval. "It worked! They're not going for the apples!"
"Mah crops are saved!" Applejack cheered with relief. "Thanks for the help, y'all."
"Now we get to have delicious cider!" Rainbow squealed, Kairi dragging the excited pegasus down with her white aura before she blasted off.
"If the apple cider is as good as Rainbow Dash says it is, I need to try some," Aqua said. "Maybe something on the hard side if Applejack can make any."
"Well, since today was a bust for bucking down any apples, let's clean up these shriveled up cores and spread them seeds around," Sora said.
"Actually, do you think there's room for another helper out in the orchard?" Aqua asked.
"Well, sure. Mind if Ah ask why, Aqua?" Applejack wondered.
"I've...been pretty restless for the past few days. I've gotten so used to being ready for an ambush to ever fully relax, and I have so much energy I want to burn off to help me try and relax." The older mare looked down at her hooves, still very shaken up after having her unicorn magic unleash itself and nearly destroy the Golden Oak Library. She needed something to distract her from so many years of isolation in the Realm of Darkness and losing her two friends, as well as blaming herself for continuing Xehanort's plans when he almost succeeded back then. "As exciting as it is to model for Rarity whenever she needs me for one of her pieces, or listening to Sweetie Belle talk about her friends, school, and endless, yet somewhat dangerous, activities trying to get their cutie marks, I'm starting to get antsy."
"Then you better be up an hour before dawn, because farm work begins when the sun rises and ends when the sun sets." Sora chuckled, patting Aqua's withers. "I'm sure a Keyblade Master like you can handle getting up really early and work several hours in the sun."
"I think I can manage." Everyone began to pick up the cores the bats had sucked the juices out of, some of them wondering if Fluttershy's expertise on animals was true about the seeds they spat out could help grow them into more productive trees.
Before the pegasus helped, Fluttershy's eyes trailed down to a fresh apple lying on the ground. She stared at it for a long while, her mouth suddenly salivating, unable to look away from the juicy fruit lying there.
An hour before the sun was about to rise the next morning, Aqua made her way to Sweet Apple Acres to help Sora and Applejack. She knocked on the front door of the farmhouse, Sora opening the door with a tired look on his face.
"Hey, Aqua. Right on time." The teen yawned, scratching his already messy head.
"Not a morning person?" the unicorn asked as she walked inside to get a better look at the inside of Applejack's home.
"I got used to waking up early, but I'm always woken up by Apple Bloom. Of all the days for that filly to be gone to wake me up and annoy me in the morning, she isn't here to give me a wake up call." Sora tiredly chuckled, guiding Aqua to the kitchen where Applejack was making breakfast for them.
After eating and waking up a little bit, the trio headed out to the fields, the farm mare waiting for the sun to rise over the hill. "Alright. Take two."
The sun rose over the fields and shone its rays of light down on the orchard. Applejack hollered out and ran into the orchards, this time hoping on a good day of bucking apples.
"And there she goes again," Sora said as he and Aqua strolled down the rows of apple trees. "Hopefully we can get some progress done."
"So, you've been staying here and working with Applejack and her family since you arrived here?" Aqua asked.
"More like crashed in their orchard after a slight problem with my old ship," he said. "It blew up on me after flying across the galaxy for a few days straight. I...didn't really stop and let it cool down when I found a nearby world."
"Not a smart idea." The teen giggled nervously, knowing not to do that again in the future. The Keyblade wielders approached a tree ready to be picked, Sora placing a basket down underneath it. "Ok, so you guys just kick the trees and the apples fall?"
"Pretty much. Give it a hard kick." Aqua turned her back to the tree, lifting herself on he forelegs and bucked her back legs back hard into the tree. She heard the apples fall, only to yelp in surprise when something smushed fell on her flanks. She looked back and saw a rotten apple, Sora gasping in shock as the bats had struck again. "Oh come on! That spell should have worked!"
Flicking off the sucked out fruit off of her, Aqua looked up in the trees, but found no sign of any vampire fruit bats in the tree they were at. "Uhh, where are they?"
Sora looked up, surprised to see no bats hanging on the branches. "What the...?" Confused, he flew around to find where the vampire fruit bat colony was at, spotting them all on one lone tree, though they weren't eating the apples around them. He grabbed a ripe one and held it out to one of the bats, only swatting it away in disgust. "...Uhhh...Ok? What the heck is going on now?"
After gathering the others back to the farm, everyone was still surprised to see this odd epidemic of sucked out apples. Even Twilight had no clue how this happened. The spell had worked, seeing as the bats aren't going for the apples, but they were still being sucked of their juices and turned to mush. If the vampire fruit bats weren't the ones still causing the problem now, the only way they were going to find out who or what was doing this was to stake out the entire orchard.
As night fell, everyone gathered around as they prepared to stakeout the unknown creatures that were taking the bats' places in destroying the crops. "Oooooooooh! Witching hour!"
"Cut it out, Rainbow," Applejack scolded. "If ya want any cider this winter, y'all are gonna have to be serious."
"Maybe we should call this off," Fluttershy said. "I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm...really...hungry..."
"And Rainbow Dash already freaked Fluttershy out. Way to go, cider addict." No one realized Fluttershy was staring at the apples around the untouched trees they were in in some kind of trance.
"Ok, girls, stay in groups while we go through the rows of trees in the orchard," Twilight ordered. "Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Aqua, you four can head off on your own in case the animal we find could potentially be dangerous."
"Can Heartless eat apples?" Pinkie asked as she raised her hoof.
"Heartless don't eat, even if some of them have mouths," Kairi explained. "There are some that can trap their prey and kill them that way, but they don't actually digest anything."
"In the dead of night like this, anything could happen," Aqua warned. "Stay close, and if you see anything suspicious or encounter any Heartless, signal us and we'll be there if it gets too dangerous."
They soon split up and searched around the orchard. Fluttershy stayed where she stood, not paying attention to anything else as her group buddy, Rarity, wandered ahead of her. She still stared transfixed at the apples on the tree, her mouth watering as she licked her lips.
"That apple...It's so...juicy." As drool slipped out of her open maw, her flat teeth suddenly began to grow fangs as her mind was focused on the apples, her body slowly changing under the dim lighting of the moon.
While the others cautiously looked around the dark and creepy orchard, they split up into separate sections of the fields to search through every tree that still bore fresh apples. Sora had his Keyblade out, holding it tightly in his jaws as he scoped the rows of trees around him.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he taunted. "Nowhere to hide you apple sucking...whatever you are." Suddenly, a shadow flew over him, quickly looking up, but missed what flew overhead. As he looked around, he heard shrieks come from the Mane Six as they either heard something or saw the same shadow he did. He caught a glimpse of it fly across the treetops, chasing after it before he lost it. "Oh no you don't!"
Sora continued after the swift creature through a few more trees, finally reaching it as it stopped and hung upside down on one of the upper branches. In the silhouette of the moonlight, he could see a large, bat-like creature grabbing one of the apples, sucking out its juices and spitting out the core. He had no idea if vampire fruit bats could grow that big or if it was something that behaved like them, but he wasn't going to allow Applejack's farm go under and have Ponyville go without apples for the winter. The teen crept low to the ground, casting a Firework spell up in the air to signal him finding what was eating the apples last night.
As soon as he got closer, the clouds moved away from the moon to bring a bit more light down onto the orchard. He got a better look at the creature, but only to gasp in shock as he saw what, or in this case, who it was. It was Fluttershy, but she looked a lot different: her fur and mane were a bit darker, fangs stuck out from her mouth, her wings were bigger and lacked feathers, resembling a bat's wings, and her ears were a lot more furry than usual. She spat out the apple in her mouth, the sucked out fruit hitting the ground with a splat at Sora's hooves, the bat-mare hissing at him angrily.
"Oh sweet applesauce...Fluttershy?" She hissed again, lunging for another apple as she sunk her new fangs into it, slurping up all the juice inside of it. "...What the heck happened!?"
"Sora, are you alright!?" Sora heard the others arrive, all of them gasping as they saw Fluttershy was the culprit and transformed into a bat. "Oh my goodness!"
Pinkie suddenly dropped down from above and hung on the same branch Fluttershy was on, shining a flashlight in her face. "Suspicious!"
She hissed, smacking Pinkie out of her territory, making the pink mare land on the ground hard. "What is wrong with her?"
"I think something did go wrong with that spell, Twilight," Sora said. "And it affected the pegasus that was helping you, making her think, and look, like a vampire fruit bat."
"How in Equestria did that happen?" Rarity asked, squealing in shock as Fluttershy spat out an apple and splattering it in the unicorn's mane. "Ahh! That's so disgusting!"
"I think I know why." Twilight's horn lit up, creating a holographic grid in front of everyone. She made an image of herself on the bottom, Fluttershy on the upper right, and the vampire fruit bats on the upper left. Pink waves came from Twilight and hit the bats, while Fluttershy's stare was depicted as a blue wave. "While Fluttershy used her Stare on the bats, I used the spell to affect the bats to change their instincts to stop eating the apples. But, the spell must have backfired-" A gray wave bounced back from the bats and straight to Fluttershy, a pink aura around that wave as it hit her, changing the yellow pegasus to a gray-yellow silhouette of what the mare was now. "-causing the instinct of the bats to bounce back and return to another source that brought all of their attention."
"Well, that explains the problem last night and tonight, but now we need to figure out how to bring Fluttershy back." Twilight dispelled her charted example as they all looked up at the bat-pony, Fluttershy leering at them with her red eyes.
"I think we can hold her down," RIku said. "Sora, on three, we rush her and pin her down."
"Right." Fluttershy's ears perked up, hearing them as she kept her gaze on the two stallions.
"One...two..." Sora and Riku crouched low to the ground as they prepared to take off. "Three!"
The two pegasi sped off, grabbing the transformed pegasus as they forced her to the ground. She began struggling under their weight, hissing and flailing her wings and legs.
"Ok! We got her!" Sora called out. "Twilight, change her-!"
Fluttershy suddenly flailed harder, making the two stallions' hold on them weaken as she somehow gained more strength than she appeared to have. She turned her head and sunk her fangs into both their hooves, taking their momentary yelps of pain to smack them both hard into the trees, flapping off and taking to the skies.
"Wow," Riku groaned, feeling his back nearly break after slamming into the tree from Fluttershy's new strength. "Stronger than she looks."
"She bit Sora and Riku!" Pinkie screamed. "They're gonna turn into vampire ponies! Everypony run!"
Kairi grabbed Pinkie's tail as she tried to dig deep underground, pulling her out of the tiny hole. "Pinkie, there's no such thing as vampires. You can't turn into one if you get bitten by someone who's turned into a vampire bat...right?"
"I hope not." They heard Fluttershy screech, diving down to attack them. "Incoming!"
While the mares ducked, Aqua stood firm, summoning her Keyblade as she stared the bat-pony down. She flipped back, avoiding the swooping bite Fluttershy made as she flew over her. The unicorn began to chase after her, zapping her with light Thunder spells to stun or weaken her, but the magical attacks only angered her more. Another dive, but Aqua flipped over her, grabbing the pegasus's waist and flipped her over, slamming her down to the ground on her stomach.
"Aqua, don't hurt her!" Applejack called out.
Fluttershy bucked the unicorn off of her, sending Aqua back to the others, flipping back on her hooves as she skidded to a stop. "I don't think that'll matter with how tough she is at the moment." Fluttershy soon began to fly off, getting away from the ponies that were constantly bothering her. "Yeah, subduing her is going to be hard to do with brute force. We need to find a way to lure her to us..."
Aqua began to think while Kairi and Twilight helped Sora and Riku back up on their hooves. With the menacing gaze Fluttershy has, it could easily intimidate and freeze anyone in place out of fear, having that slight chill from her bat-like glare of hers. If they could set up reflections around her to keep her in place for the counter spell to work, they could make it work. And there was the perfect bait to use to attract an apple loving vampire pegasus: Applejack's large prized apple.
"I didn't think somepony that meek could smack two stronger stallions pinned down on top of her," Sora groaned, rubbing his sore leg from the puncture bites he and Riku both received. "Good thing I'm not craving apples. Or blood."
"Guys, I have an idea," Aqua said. "And we're going to need that giant apple as a sacrifice."
"Mah apple for the Appleloosa state fair!?" Applejack exclaimed.
"Do we want to save the orchard and Fluttershy or not?" Aqua argued.
Applejack sighed, knowing her friend was more important than winning a competition she could try again the next year. "You're right. Let's hurry and get her back to normal. Ah'm startin' to think the sanctuary would have been a better idea after goin' through all this."
Aqua began explaining her plan to the others, Sora, Riku, and Rainbow flying off to get several mirrors to reflect Fluttershy's Stare back at her while the others hid around the large apple. Applejack took the sheet off of it, the pegasi returning with the mirrors, placing them around the others' hiding spots as they waited for Fluttershy to get closer. Seeing her fly around in the distance, Aqua used her Keyblade, slicing through the apple and releasing some of its juices, releasing its scent for the bat-pony to smell. The bait worked as she got closer, smelling the tantalizing fruit invading her nostrils.
"Now!" Aqua called out, levitating a mirror in front of the apple.
Fluttershy hissed as she stared at her reflection, slowly backing away as her hypnotic gaze began to affect her. The others quickly moved in and surrounded her before she could escape, keeping her from fleeing while staring at herself until she hovered in front of one of them. With her constantly staring at her reflection, Twilight quickly cast the counter spell, engulfing her in a purple aura. Fluttershy began to change back to normal, levitating to the ground as the light around her exploded into a flurry of bats, disappearing into the sky.
Fluttershy shook her head, looking around the mirrors surrounding her and her friends staring at her. "Where am I?"
"Fluttershy's back!" Pinkie leapt onto the pegasus and hugged her tightly. "You turned into a vampire pony and bit Sora and Riku!"
"I did what!?" Fluttershy questioned in shock.
"To avoid getting confused, Twilight's spell worked on the bats, but it backfired and turned you into a vampire fruit bat from how close you were to the bats when you used your stare," Aqua explained. "You were pretty tough to take down, not even I could handle you on my own."
"Oh my..." Fluttershy stood up after Pinkie Pie let go, rubbing her stomach as she felt incredibly full from all the apples her instinctual bat self had sucked out. "I don't think I'll be able to eat apples for a while."
"Fluttershy, Ah'm really sorry Ah didn't take your suggestion before all of this," Applejack apologized. "This'll probably go in the journal, where Ah realized mah short-term solution as a bit short-sighted, and not to pressure ya too much into doin' somethin' ya don't want."
"I should have said no, but I didn't want to disappoint you or anypony else," the yellow pegasus said with an apologetic look. "I was worried about the bats and their instincts to survive."
"Well, tomorrow, we'll get to work on makin' a little habitat for them, and hopefully they'll consider helpin' spit out the seeds to make new apple trees in the future." Fluttershy grew excited, both mares hugging each other as they managed to come to a compromise.
The next morning, Applejack set up a section of the orchard for the vampire fruit bats to stay in while Fluttershy managed to communicate with them to help agree to the farm pony's terms. It had worked and the bats listened after they got back their thoughts on loving the Sweet Apple Acres apples. After that, Applejack and Fluttershy both wrote in the journal, detailing the past couple days from both sides.
After Aqua watched how quickly Fluttershy and Applejack made up the previous night, she wished that she was able to make up with Terra after trying to bring him back to the Land of Departure when the trio met each other in Radiant Garden. If only she wasn't so strict with following the rules and obeying Master Eraqus's orders, maybe there could have been a way to bring both Terra and Ventus back home. Sure, she may have reconciled with them after their master died, the Land of Departure shrouded in darkness, and wandered through the Keyblade Graveyard, but it seemed too short-lived, even after hearing the truth from Terra's reasons why he killed Eraqus and believed Xehanort.
Aqua sat in Rarity's boutique on one of her couches, staring at her untouched cup of tea as she was lost in her thoughts. She wished she could go back in time and end Xehanort's life with her own hands, saving everyone from his apocalyptic plans to unleash the power of Kingdom Hearts and the X-blade. Tears began to well up in her eyes, knowing such a feat would be impossible, and revenge wouldn't bring Terra back. Revenge wouldn't bring Ventus's heart back, wherever it was, or if its light was snuffed out. She pulled out her wayfinder, now fixed up thanks to Rarity's help, staring at the one of three star charms she had made for herself and her two friends.
"Terra...Ven..." She held her wayfinder between her hooves and brought it to her forehead. "I'm sorry...I wish there was a way to bring any of you back..."