//------------------------------// // It Ain't Easy Being Breezies // Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria // by Codex92 //------------------------------// Not much had occurred that was life threatening in Ponyville through the next week. Fluttershy had gone off on a week long trip after receiving an invite from the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures to observe creatures called Breezies, rare creatures that are small bug-like ponies, though thankfully harmless unlike the changelings. Twilight was able to show a picture of one from a book on rare creatures in Equestria, and they were pretty small and fragile: reaching about a hoof's length in height, thin wings that were a lot more clear than a normal insect's, and had antennae on their heads. They are also sentient, speaking in their own language and, as they are named, use the light breeze that blows against them to travel across the land to reach their homeland in an unknown location. As Fluttershy returned, she grouped everyone together to tell them about the Breezies, along with the fact that they were going to be traveling across Ponyville to deliver pollen to their home. They're known as Breezies mainly due to their magic using the light breeze in the air, or created by a small group of pegasi, protecting their pollen they carry and keep it from being destroyed as soon as they reached their land. Soon, word got around about the Breezies passing over their town, everyone waiting in anticipation as they would witness seeing them for the first time. They were given warning to remain quiet and have a couple pegasi create a small breeze for the group of Breezies to help them along as their bodies were as fragile as their long wings. Before their estimated time of arrival, Sora walked around the park for a little, mainly out of boredom. He finished his chores on the farm, training was cancelled in case Twilight's practice fights wound up making her subconsciously activate her D-Link and cause a tornado to wage the town and ruin the Breezies' course. "Great. Nothing to do, and we're going to see some tiny pony butterfly things. And the name 'Breezie' sounds really silly, too...Then again, this is a world filled with colorful ponies with a lot of interesting or odd names for the ponies themselves." As Sora walked down the dirt road, he didn't see a red snake-like tail slip out of the bushes beside the road in front of him, tripping the stallion up as he hit the ground. The owner of the tail slithered out of the bushes, Discord chuckling mockingly as his muzzle was inches away from the pegasus's. "Well, hello, Sora," the draconequus greeted. "Been a while, eh?" "Discord," Sora grumbled, slamming his hoof down on his face to get back at him for tripping him. Discord moved away though as he anticipated a retaliation. The teen stood back up, leering at the untrustworthy deity of chaos. "What are you doing out here? Doesn't Celestia have you on a leash and keep you on your reformation?" "Why the cautious hostility? I thought it was fun to pull pranks on 'friends'." Putting the term "friend" so loosely didn't convince Sora that Discord was here for a friendly chat. "I still don't trust you," the teen grumbled. "You nearly turned Equestria into a chaotic world, manipulated the girls, almost manipulated me, abused your freedom when reforming you into being good, made me get a concussion after ticking me off enough while also stealing my clothes, and you did nothing to help Twilight stop your own vines that failed to work a thousand years ago. So, us being 'friends' is more 'ally I'm forced to work with and get fed up with his stupid shenanigans'." "I had to at least have some part in the middle of this season," Discord argued, Sora tuning the draconequus out as he looked at the screen. "You leaving out 'Three's a Crowd' destroys all the fun I could have had messing with Twilight and Cadence with my 'sickness'. And instead of any other chapter episodes, you wound up putting more focus on Sora and his little friends more than me! And now there's two more of those blasted Keyblade wielders I need to be careful of!" He poked the screen, glaring at the writer of the story. "I have a feeling you don't trust me either." "Discord, I don't care what you're saying, knowing you're logic breaking is worse than Pinkie's, but if there's a Heartless attack somewhere that you can't do on your own, which isn't much of a problem for you and your magic, I'm heading back into town." As Sora passed by the draconequus, Discord slammed his tail down in his path, barring him from moving forward. "Actually, I do have a little favor I want you to do for me." The pegasus growled, hearing him out just to get their meeting over with so he wouldn't see the insane creature for a longer while. "You see, Fluttershy and I usually have some tea on Tuesdays, at least after I do more 'good deeds' for the day to meet my quota Sun-Butt's expecting me to do." With a snap of his fingers, Discord made a cup filled with steaming hot tea appear in front of Sora. "You see, I came up with quite a delicious tea blend I want to share with Fluttershy, but since I'm not a pony, I can't exactly get the right critique for an equine's taste buds. Of course, nothing happened to me, but I'm biased as I'm a giant zoo." "So, you 'made' a tea blend, with your own power, and you want me to taste test it to see how it 'actually tastes'?" Discord nodded his head, but Sora wasn't buying the draconequus's odd request. "Yeah right. You probably poisoned this thing with something so you could trick Fluttershy, or me if I actually drink this gunk! And it doesn't affect you because you're probably immune to whatever random stuff you create out of thin air!" "Why would I want to poison the first friend I ever made?" Discord replied with his own question, though his tone sounded more serious than coy. "Seeing as you were knocked for a loop-" "Which you actually did by making a brick wall appear behind you and almost crack my skull," Sora interrupted, but Discord continued, ignoring the teen's complaints. "-I was ACTUALLY touched hearing Fluttershy call me her friend, even after all I did to irritate her and get on her nerves. We talk about a lot of things, and she checks in on my progress being reformed. So, if she can give me the benefit of the doubt, you can too." Sora continued leering at Discord, not believing the little sob story he was giving. "You did the same for your friend, Riku, right?" "That's because I know he would never hurt me or Kairi, and he was taken over by the Heartless of the man who tricked him and many others to open Kingdom Hearts," Sora explained thoroughly. "You, on the other hand, are completely insane and intended to cause harm to all of us. Just because you didn't have a single friend back before you tried to take over Equestria doesn't excuse the fact you toyed with my mind and manipulated the others so you could win." "I swear, this isn't harmful and I just want your opinion. I'll even do that dumb promise thing Pinkie Pie does, ensuring I am being honest with you. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Discord made the motions of the Pinkie Promise, though he really did slam a cupcake in his face that appeared in his paw. Sora grumbled, sensing he had something hidden up his sleeves, but if he knows the rules of the Pinkie Promise, he could be telling the truth. "...Alright, fine. Give me the stupid tea." He gave in and grabbed the floating cup, the steam from the fresh blend gone as he took a tentative sniff. Smelling nothing, he looked up at the draconequus, seeing the innocent look on his face, complete with a halo, proving to him this isn't a joke. Sora sighed and downed the tea blend, smacking his lips as he tasted...nothing. "Uhh, that's weird. Doesn't taste like anything at-" Suddenly, Sora saw the world around him begin to grow around him, his body shrinking as he began to panic. "W-What the-!? Hey! HEY! I'M SHRINKING!" Unable to do anything, Sora had now shrunk down to the size of an insect, the cup he held falling beside him with a loud thud. It disappeared, and as he looked up, he heard Discord laughing hysterically, his prank taken effect, the stallion feeling like a complete idiot for fulfilling his "request". Discord stopped laughing for a moment to pick Sora up between his fingers, lifting the shrunken pegasus up to his face. "So, that's what it does to ponies: shrinks them down to the size of a little ant," he said. "Discord, you broke the Pinkie Promise!" Sora complained. "Change me back before I sic Pinkie on you!" "I said it was harmless, and it was," Discord corrected him, poking his muzzle with one of his gigantic paw's digits. "You didn't suffer any bodily pain, and you're teeny tiny now. So, in hindsight, I kept my promise. And you were so gullible as to taste it." "So you're going to shrink all of us and trick us!?" Sora exclaimed. "Of course not! Just you. I barely know how to make anything that doesn't make any sense, so you should blame yourself for going along with it." Sora summoned his Keyblade and began whacking Discord's talon, but due to his small size, his hits barely did anything to him. "Now, now. No need to be so violent. I think you should go for a little flight and clear your head." "Wait, what?" Discord aimed Sora out into Ponyville, flicking him hard and sending the pegasus soaring as he screamed out, his body flipping around rapidly as he failed to stop himself. "Bon voyage, sucker!" Discord chuckled as he disappeared, having his fun for the day before returning home to laugh at Sora's gullibility. Out in the center of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash instructed a couple pegasi to lessen the amount of wind they made with their wings, which was a harder process to do as they had to hover in the air while also keeping the wind speed at a safer flow. Everyone was bustling with excitement as they would see the Breezies fly over them, witnessing the creatures for the first time ever. Fluttershy had finished telling Mr. and Mrs. Cake the reason why the breeze was important to the Breezies to protect their pollen when Rarity showed up, wearing a very bright and flashy outfit that reflected the sunlight to near blinding. "Umm, Rarity?" Fluttershy squinted as she tried to look at her friend, putting on a pair of blue-tinted sunglasses she kept on her in case her spa buddy ever decided to go out with something that was literally blindingly bright. "I...don't really want to be mean with your choice of fashion, but...what you're wearing...?" "What? Is there too much purple?" Rarity asked, unaware of the blinding reflection that came off the sequins of her outfit. "No, but...I think there are too many sequins," Fluttershy said. "Ohohoho, darling! Please! One can never have too many sequins!" Aqua approached the mare, wearing her own pair of shades to keep the blinding light out of her eyes. "Rarity, those sequins reflecting the sunlight could alter the Breezies' course and send them scattered about," Aqua reasoned. "I know you put a lot of work in that, but we're not going to be wearing anything that reflects so much light or makes a small breeze that can veer them off their route to their home." "Oh...That does sound reasonable. I better take off my jacket, then." Rarity took off her clothing of bright sequins, only to reveal an even brighter dress underneath that was practically filled with sequins. "Really, Rarity!?" Aqua stripped Rarity out of her bright outfit, the fashionista yelping in surprise as the Keyblade Master nearly ripped the whole dress off her body. "I know fashion's on your brain, but did you not pay attention to what Fluttershy warned us all about and what I just said!? No more sequin dresses for the next week!" "But sequins are in this year!" Rarity complained as Aqua teleported the dress and jacket back to her boutique. "I wanted to wear something nice for the Breezies." "How about nothing too bright when they come around again?" Fluttershy suggested. As Twilight stood in front of the podium with her dozens of cue cards to ready herself to introduce the Breezies, she looked out in the distance and saw the small pack coming this way. "Everypony, it's time," she whispered to everyone as they all went quiet. "Please welcome the Breezies!" The pegasi working the light breeze flapped lightly as the large pack of Breezies flew into Ponyville. Everyone gasped in awe as they saw the tiny pony-like creatures passed overhead. They were like butterflies, though their wings didn't flap to keep themselves airborne. Their wings were so light and thin that they were able to carry them where the wind takes them like a spider traveling via their webbing as a makeshift parachute, sending them from place to place. One of them spoke in an odd language, a blue Breezie with a pink frizzy mane and tail and wore a black outfit with white fuzzy trimming around the legs and neck, commanded them to stay in formation, or whatever it was it said. "Wow," Kairi whispered. "They're so cute." "And the little bags they have. There's the pollen they're carrying," Ventus pointed out, everyone noticing the small saddlebags filled to the brim with flower pollen from different species of flora they grabbed on their journey. "Hey, has anyone seen Sora?" Riku asked, having seen no sign of his friend at all today. From the park, some ponies heard a yell growing louder as it got closer. Sora flailed about after Discord flicked him hard, tumbling through the air uncontrollably as he was on a direct course toward the Breezie's path. The blue Breezie heard him, looking over at the shrunken pegasus and gasping in shock as he came straight for it and the latter group of its kind behind it. Sora rammed into the Breezie, sending him flying out of formation as the speed he was sent flying caused a tailwind that made the other Breezies flail about and spin uncontrollably, getting separated by the rest of the group as they continued moving through the gentle breeze. "Oh no!" Fluttershy quickly flew up to the Breezies and caught them all, being careful not to move and injure their frail bodies. Sora, meanwhile, had managed to gain some ground after accidentally ramming into the Breezie, who was spouting panicked and angered Breezie language he couldn't understand. As they reached the ground, Sora quickly flipped over on his back, taking the full brunt of the fall as he skid across the ground, protecting the Breezie from harm until they finally stopped. The fragile creature looked up, having survived the fatal fall, looking down at the stallion that saved him, only to leer at him. "Makasuri dan pa rapdinku!" the Breezie shouted, clearly sounding like it was yelling at him for almost killing him. "Uhh, what?" Sora asked. "Akura shintu marupruf esentur-" In the middle of its angered Breezie speaking, it gasped as it looked up. Sora looked up as well, seeing they landed by one of the Baby Cakes, and that twin was Pumpkin Cake. She was looking down at them curiously, the one-year-old baby pony towering over Celestia at by a few inches from their point of view. She lowered herself down to look at them, cooing curiously at the tiny pegasus teen and terrified Breezie, who hid behind Sora as the baby unicorn stared at them. "Uhh, hi, Pumpkin," Sora said as he waved nervously. Recognizing his voice, the filly tilted her head in confusion, wondering how one of her favorite foalsitters was now smaller than her. "Pumpkin, can you get your mommy or daddy, or maybe Auntie Pinkie Pie?" Instead of listening, Pumpkin began giggling and picked Sora up in her mouth. "Ahh! No! Bad Pumpkin! I'm not a toy!" Hearing Sora, Cup Cake looked down at her daughter, watching her swinging her head around, shaking the small pegasus around. "What in Equestria!?" The mother quickly grabbed Sora, taking him out of Pumpkin's mouth, the baby whining as her favorite foalsitter toy was taken away from her. The teen was covered in baby slobber, keeping himself steady until his head stopped spinning. "Sora!? Is that you!?" "Mrs. Cake?" He shook his head, along with his body of drool, looking directly at the taller, pudgy baker. "Thank you." "How did you get so small?" she asked in confusion, Carrot Cake looking at his wife in confusion when he heard her talking. "Holy sugar frosting!" he exclaimed as he saw the shrunk teen in his wife's hoof. "It's a long story, and I think only my friends should know." He looked down and saw the blue Breezie shivering in fright as Pumpkin had her eyes on it. "Can you pick up that Breezie too before Pumpkin tries to use it as a chew toy?" Carrot Cake quickly, and carefully, picked up the Breezie, who thanked the lanky baker stallion for saving it from their foal. "Now, take us to one of my friends. We gotta get this...uhh, I have no idea what gender this Breezie is, but we need to bring it back to the rest of its friends." "It's too late," Cup Cake said. "The other group got too far away, and there were some that got left behind after that unexpected rock threw them into a spiraling frenzy." "Some that got left behind?" Sora winced as that "unexpected rock" was him, and he slammed right into the Breezie. He looked at it, again glaring at him with its hooves crossed. "...Oops...Sorry. I didn't mean to." Fluttershy and the rest of Sora's friends approached the Cakes as they were looking for the last Breezie that got struck and knocked the others around, the rest of the pack that got separated clinging onto Fluttershy's body after she saved them all. Once they managed to see them on the Cakes' hooves, the ponies gasped in shock as they saw Sora with the last Breezie. "Sora!?" Kairi exclaimed as she approached Mrs. Cake, lowering her head to look at him. "Heheh...Hey, Kairi." He leapt onto the unicorn's muzzle as she got close enough. "I'm not really having such a good day today." "How did you get so small?" she asked. "Well, I didn't exactly do this to myself," he said. "And...I'm also the reason the other Breezies got split up from the other group. But it wasn't my fault." "Iinfuruop caramu toopal!" the blue Breezie shouted angrily, Fluttershy approaching it and picking it up from Carrot Cake. "I'm sure Sora didn't mean to get in the way and separate you from your other friends," Fluttershy said, surprising the Breezie as she understood exactly what it said. "Mugudi saikendus?" it asked. "Oh, I understand the language of all kinds of creatures," Fluttershy answered. "Well, you must be so proud," the Breezie said, speaking normally. "Wait, you can actually speak our language!?" Sora asked in surprise. "Why were you yelling at me in Breezie!?" "Because you rammed into me!" it responded. "At least I can understand you better than the lot hanging onto her AND speak your language. They aren't the brightest of the bunch." The other Breezies exclaimed angrily at their leader in their language, but it ignored them as he felt they were incompetent. "And now, because of you, tiny pegasus, there's no way we can catch up with the others!" Sora growled, trying his hardest to explain to the Breezie that it wasn't his fault he was flung into him. "Hey, listen here, missy-!" "I am a male Breezie! Not female!" The teen's jaw dropped shock, being mislead by the Breezie's gender due to the eyelashes and the pink hair. "And my name is Seabreeze!" "...Ok. Getting your name and gender figured out, I didn't mean to hit you and send your friends off course!" Sora explained. "If anyone, you should blame Discord for shrinking me and flicking me in your way!" "Discord was here?" Fluttershy asked. "That freak did this to you!?" Kairi exclaimed, growling angrily. "Where the hell is that draconequus!?" "I don't know. He's probably somewhere else in Equestria by now." Kairi exhaled heavily and sat down, promising to get back at Discord whenever he showed up around them. "He tricked me into drinking a tea he made, and it made me shrink. I should have just ignored him or beat the heck out of him, but he wanted to do something for Fluttershy, and I actually believed him." "I'm going to pound the crap out of him if I ever see him around town, and he will turn you back to normal," Kairi said. "Hey!" Seabreeze shouted. "Who cares about him!? We don't have any time to waste! The portal to our home will close tonight, and we need to get back before it's too late!" Unfortunately for Seabreeze's dilemma, the other Breezies began complaining, still startled from the terrifying ordeal they went through. "I think your friends need a moment or two. You all went through such a scary tumble." The leader of the Breezies slapped his forehead, mumbling obscenities in his language as he heard his brethren agreeing with Fluttershy. Fluttershy escorted all the Breezies to her cottage for them to take a breather, Rainbow Dash and her breezing team ready to help them out at her call, being the expert on them more than they were. Kairi came along as well, seeing as Sora was their size and couldn't do much on his own, even if he could fly on his own and brave the dangers around him. He wound up shrinking in Wonderland inside of a randomly small room through a tasteless bottle of liquid on that table and was used to being smaller than his environment, but he didn't stay in one place for that long as he entered another place beyond that room to other parts of the topsy-turvy world. He had to wait with the rest of the Breezies until Riku, Aqua, and Ventus found out where Discord was, drag him back if they had to, and have him change Sora back to normal. It was unfortunate that Aqua wasn't able to bring him back as Mini spells shrink only opponents and it was only temporary, so he had no choice but to hang out in Fluttershy's home. Sora rested on a shelf that was level to Kairi's height if she was sitting beside it, watching all the Breezies being pampered by Fluttershy as she went around her home. Seabreeze, however, did not appreciate the kind gesture, mostly due to the fact that he wanted to get home before it was too late. The grumpy leader sulked on top of one of Fluttershy's birdhouses, leering at the spoiled Breezies being given water through a small dropper, blankets of small bits of tissues, and even fed large crumbs of a cookie. If anything, it seemed to Sora that Seabreeze hated his brethren for delaying their return back home. "Seabreeze looks like he's about to explode at any moment," Sora said. "Well, unlike you, Sora, the Breezies haven't really encountered much dangerous things that are a hundred times bigger than them," Kairi said. "And even I'm worried about your well being at this height you're at. They better find Discord soon." "Celestia's definitely going to hear about this little 'prank' of his." He began to subconsciously rub his flanks, still feeling the stinging pain of Discord's flicking him after he shrunk him. "And save some parts of him for me to beat up too. I still don't see how having him around after all the trouble he caused in the past will help benefit Equestria. I don't know what Celestia is thinking, but, even if she's a powerful adversary, she's absolutely nuts if she thinks he can be tamed by Fluttershy." "Yeah...And, sadly, it looks like the Breezies are taming her," Kairi noted. Through the couple hours of waiting, the others had began wondering when the Breezies were ready to go. Fluttershy had insisted on them staying for a while longer, but every time they had the time to finally leave, they made up some excuse like they were sick, making the pegasus feel bad for them and continue treating them like defenseless pets who couldn't survive outside her home. The waiting only further agitated Seabreeze as he made his complaints, even calling the group he was left with incompetent losers who don't care about his desire to be back home where it was a lot safer. He even cursed a few of them out in their native tongue, shocking Fluttershy at his poor choice of words and making the others disregard him as a leader. Now, they were throwing a party in the middle of the living room, only making Seabreeze more irate with time constantly being wasted as evening was getting closer and closer. "Grrr! Mapa rrashusin!" He had enough of the party and floated down to a Breezie playing a small saxophone for entertainment for the others, swiping it away and throwing it. The others groaned in disappointment as they turned their attention to him. "What is wrong with you idiots!? Every minute we waste, the closer the portal gets to being closed!" He looked at Fluttershy, hating how gullible she was believing his kind when she wanted them to go home just like he did. "Why are you even listening to them, Fluttershy!? Quit treating them like little babies so we can finally go!" "You know, Seabreeze is right, Fluttershy," Kairi said. "It's already been a few hours since you brought them here. If it's too late, then their home will remain closed until they have to gather pollen again." "Exactly!" Seabreeze said. "Somepony who understands! I don't even know why we need the stupid breeze to protect our pollen! I could have probably flown off on my own, but no! I had to get left behind by these idiots!" Sora flew up to Seabreeze, having enough of him talking down to the other Breezies. "Hey, Seabreeze, chill out! I know you want to go home, but calling them names and talking down on them like that isn't going to help things!" "It was your fault in the first place!" Seabreeze argued as he pointed his hoof at him. "If you didn't knock us off course, I could be home right now! Not later! NOW!" "I told you it was an accident! It was Discord's fault for flicking me in your path!" Sora argued back as both pegasus and Breezie butted heads. Kairi pulled Sora back with her aura, not allowing him to pick a fight with the fragile Breezie. "Sora, stop instigating. We know it was an accident." The tiny pegasus scoffed and turned away, ignoring the leer of the leader Breezie. Kairi walked over to Fluttershy, being careful to avoid stepping on the other Breezies on the ground as she led her over to the kitchen to talk. "Fluttershy, I know you care about them, but you can't keep them. They're not pets." As she talked to the pegasus in the other room, Seabreeze had enough, muttering to himself in Breezie as he flew over to the peephole on the front door. He slipped through and made his outside, intending on getting home by himself and leaving the others behind. The other Breezies noticed him leaving, all of them spouting out words in their language to try to get Sora's attention. When he wasn't paying any attention, along with having no idea what they were saying, one of them flew up to him and turned him to the door. "Mapooshka na pulrri!" it said. "Look, I have no idea what you guys say! Seabreeze, you think you can-?" He turned to look for the Breezie, but found no sign of him in the house. "Seabreeze?" "Mapooshka! Na! Pulrri!" the Breezie repeated, pointing at the peephole of the door. Sora gasped, finally getting an understanding of what the Breezie was trying to tell him. "Seabreeze went outside!?" It nodded rapidly, the others mimicking their friend's motion. "Oh no. Go warn Fluttershy! I'm going after him!" He quickly flew through the peephole and looked around for any sign of the escaped Breezie. He heard him crying out in his native tongue, flailing around helplessly as the wind carried his thin wings away from where he was supposed to go. He was heading straight for the nearby woods, thankfully nowhere near the Everfree Forest, Sora flying off as he fought against the stronger than normal wind currents to reach Seabreeze. Seabreeze flailed about until he finally stopped, though he wound up intruding in a beehive, were several hundred bees leered at the creature that dared to break into their colony and steal their honey. "Uh oh..." The bees buzzed angrily, Seabreeze squirming out of the hole he made in the hive as he landed on a branch below it. He backed away as the swarm flew out and menacingly approached him, unable to fly away or else get swept up by another gust of wind. Seabreeze wound up near the end of the branch, nearly falling off and stuck with nowhere to go. The bees struck, but Sora flew in and blocked the stingers with his Keyblade, sending the insects flying past them as he defended the Breezie. "Yeesh! And I thought the bees in Pooh's storybook were mad when he tried to take their honey!" Sora smacked more of the swarm away, not really doing much to them with his size's diminished power and not risking hurting them with magic, making them more angry as they had another intruder around their home. "Ok. I've taken on a thousand Heartless on my own. I've even defeated most of my enemies by myself without and help...But against a swarm of bees this big as the size of an ant...I'm not going to last that long." As they were about to fly in and attack, Fluttershy appeared behind them after she got the news from the Breezies. "Excuse me, bees? Can you please leave my friends alone? They don't mean you any harm." The bees hovered in place, staring at the mare, though they didn't look like they were going to leave their intruders alone from a request. "I was actually working on a bee-type dance, and I was wondering if you could help me see if I get it right?" "A bee dance?" Sora asked as he turned around, now seeing Fluttershy putting on a bee outfit; a pair of antennae on her head and a large bee abdomen on her rump, wiggling it around as if to entice them. "Does this bring to mind any images to you? Perhaps a bee?" Sora wanted to question how that was going to help, hearing the bees buzzing louder and turning back to them as they were about to attack them. Fluttershy was getting fed up with them ignoring her, turning around and leering at them with her Stare. "Excuse me! I have tried to be nice to you, but it doesn't seem to be working! You bees know better than to hurt a tiny pegasus and a defenseless Breezie! I demand you to go away, or you'll be dealing with me!" Eventually, the bees obeyed and flew back into their hive. Sora relaxed and dismissed his Keyblade, yelping in surprise as Seabreeze hugged him. "Menkyulen! Thank you both for coming after me!" the Breezie thanked, shocking the teen with his sudden change. "I thought those bees were going to kill me, but...you saved me? Even after I blamed you for what happened to us?" "Well, it sort of was my fault, but not really on purpose," Sora explained. "If I was able to, I could have recovered, but moving that fast and flipping out of control, I wasn't able to do that until I accidentally smacked into you." "You could have gotten hurt," Fluttershy scolded. "Ponyville's too dangerous for a creature like you." "I know! That's one of the reasons I was trying to get us all back home!" Seabreeze exclaimed. Fluttershy's ears drooped, remembering the conversation she had with Kairi earlier. She had been so focused on taking care of them, trying to protect them, that she didn't really want them to get hurt as soon as they left. Because of her kindness, she let the other Breezies walk all over her and want to stay with her, feeling more safe in her cottage than trying to get back home after the startling experience they had. "Be that as it may, you had no right to talk to the other Breezies like that," Sora said. "They don't listen to me! Nobreezie ever listens to me!" Seabreeze said. "I always have to yell at them in order for them to even pay attention! I want to go back home to my wife and little one, otherwise I'll never see them again until the portal opens back up!" "You have a family waiting for you!?" Sora asked in shock. "How old are you?" "Seabreeze, none of them will ever listen to you if you yell at them," Fluttershy said. "I understand how upsetting it is for you, but you're not giving them the exact message you want by shouting and insulting them." "But what about those bees?" Seabreeze asked. "You were not nice to them, and that was the only way they could listen to you." "Yes, but they HAD to go after they weren't listening to me." Fluttershy soon had a realization at her own words. As she looked down at the shrunken pegasus and Breezie, she saw a rainbow glint come from the light off of Seabreeze's wings, her eyes shimmering a rainbow light for a brief moment that Sora caught. That meant there was another piece of light for Twilight, but what it will be would be up to whatever Seabreeze gave her. The mare picked both of them up and placed them on her back. "We need to head back now!" She flew off as gently as she could to prevent Seabreeze from falling off as he clung onto her mane. They made it back to the cottage in no time at all, Kairi staying behind to watch over the other Breezies, though not giving into their whining demands. Once they were safely inside, Sora flew off Fluttershy's back and hovered onto Kairi's nose. "Are you ok, Sora?" she asked. "I'm fine. I've dealt with bees before, but they're a lot scarier when you're small." His description made Kairi worry as she shoved him up to the bridge of her muzzle, her eyes leering down at the reckless stallion. "You were attacked by bees!?" Kairi exclaimed. "Fluttershy saved us from them before they did any harm to us!" he reasoned, making the mare groan in irritation. "Do you love to find trouble and get in it for the thrill?" she questioned, only to receive a nervous laugh out of her boyfriend sitting on her nose. "Sora, what am I going to do with you?" "Have I ever told you your eyes are really pretty?" Sora complimented. "Especially up this close when our noses don't get in the way." Kairi closed her eyes with a blush, slowly pressing her hoof down on him in an attempt to squish him on her muzzle. "Hey! I'm not a fly! Don't kill me!" "You dumb goofball," the unicorn mumbled, teasing Sora a little before she moved her hoof away. As soon as Fluttershy got the Breezies' attention, she prepared herself to do something she was afraid to do. Even though this would hurt both her and them, it was for the best for the Breezies to get back home, and time was running out for them. "My Breezie friends, I had to rescue Seabreeze and Sora from serious harm, and I know now that you all must leave before it's too late. None of you will be able to survive living here in Ponyville." All the Breezies began to groan and complain, but Fluttershy wasn't going to give in this time, even as her heart began to break. "No. I can't help you anymore. In fact, I wasn't helping you just because I wanted to be nice...But I have to be firm now. All of you must go back home! Now!" The Breezies didn't want to go, but Fluttershy stood her ground and opened the door. Kairi began to head out as the small, fragile creatures followed after the unicorn and small pegasus. Seabreeze was grateful for Fluttershy helping talk some sense into them for him as he left last, but as Fluttershy closed the door, she teared up and sobbed as she leaned against the door. It was hard to let something go, no matter how much she wanted to keep them, but eventually, some of her animal friends had to go out without her protection anymore. She only hoped her kindness didn't waste too much time, leaving the lost Breezies out into the dangerous world of Equestria until the portal to their home opened up again. "No, it's too strong! Slow it down!" Rainbow commanded the two pegasi she picked for the Breezies earlier, their wing strokes creating too strong a wind for the waiting Breezies sitting all over Kairi's body. The rest of the Mane Six, except for Fluttershy, watched them as they slowed their flapping, but now there was barely any gust of wind. "That's still too strong!" "We're making it was weak as we can!" the mare said, who was named Flitter. "Urgh. Ok, fly back and I'll see if I can slow it down!" As the trio of pegasi tried to get the right amount of power for the breeze, Fluttershy arrived after recovering from her painful, but firm stand kicking the Breezies out of her home. "They can't make a weak enough breeze," Sora said. "And I don't think Aero spells can help much with how frail a Breezie's wings are." "It's because there's so few of them," Fluttershy said, giving her insight on her prior studying on the Breezies. "They always travel in bigger groups to face the breeze together." "So the more Breezies there are, the less of a chance the breeze carrying them could split them up and make them spin out." Twilight began pondering how they were going to help get the Breezies back with two pegasi creating the wind and find more Breezies to join the pack, even though there were no others around. She gasped, finding inspiration in the magical transformations that happened with Sora, Kairi, Aqua, Riku, and Ventus when they enter certain worlds, including the spell she used on Sora and Kairi to help Spike during the dragon migration. "Wait. I have an idea! Kairi, do you and Sora remember what we did to temporarily turn you into dragons to protect Spike from the other dragons?" "Yeah...Oh! We can become Breezies and make it easier for the pegasi to make the right breeze and help them back home! And we might get to see it, too!" Kairi summoned her Keyblade, her movement causing the Breezies to fly off her and to a safer spot on a nearby stump. "We should have enough if the seven us of change." "Seven?" Sora asked. "I'm not changing as well?" "You're already small," Kairi said, picking Sora up with her magic and dropping him down next to the Breezies. "I'm not going to risk mixing chaotic shrinking magic with transformation magic and turn you into an even tinier Breezie if that happens." "Alright, girls, gather around," Twilight said. "This is going to feel odd at first, but it's pretty safe." "Hooray! Now we finally get to transform like the others! Except in our world instead of to others!" Pinkie said excitedly as she bounced up and down. Twilight summoned her own Keyblade as the seven mares gathered around in a circle. Both Keyblade wielding unicorns charged their horns, crossing their Keyblades together to better increase the spell's power. Their auras merged with the light of the Keyblades that formed at the ends of the blade. The lights soon shot up, mixed together as one as it shot up into the air like a firework. It soon split up into seven separate rays, arcing back down to the ground, aiming for the seven mares. The light struck them as their bodies began glowing brightly. In the blinding light, the Mane Six yelped in surprise as they physically felt their bodies being turned into something else for the first time. Their limbs shrunk along with their bodies, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow's wings growing longer and thinner while Twilight's, Rarity's, and Kairi's horns remained on their foreheads, though a slot smaller to fit their transformed states. As the light disappeared, the transformation worked as the mares were now Breezies, frail wings, lanky bodies, antennae grown on top of their heads through their longer manes, the whole deal. "Wow," Sora said as he looked at Kairi. "...You look a lot better as a unicorn. Breezie form does not suit you." "It's only for a while until we get to their home," Kairi said, her voice a pitch higher and squeaky, which made the stallion snicker at her new voice. "Oh, and by the way-" She flew over to the smirking pegasus and punched him hard in the shoulder, still retaining her usual strength despite being a frail Breezie now. "THAT'S for picking a fight with a bunch of bees!" "Ow...I was protecting Seabreeze from them," Sora reasoned. "Bees...Always causing me some kind of trouble." "Maifo flai batendud!" Fluttershy said, speaking Breezie on instinct, confusing the others with her animal/rare creature linguistic skills. "Oh. I mean, let's go!" "Too bad Fluttershy can't understand Heartless as quickly as any new creature she meets," Sora uttered. "We might have an easier time with any of the worst we might encounter." With the Breezies all grouped together, the girls joining with them, Flitter and the other pegasus began creating the breeze for them. The wind caught their wings and carried them off back on the course they were taking, Sora flying after them to support them with some extra wind in case they were flown off course or need a bit more speed. Throughout the journey, they passed by many of the different terrain, the sun nearly an hour away from setting, and from Seabreeze's eyes glinting with hope, they had to be getting closer to their homes. One of the Breezies began to fall behind out of exhaustion, but Seabreeze noticed and flew down to help him/her. "Don't give up! You can do this!" He winced when he saw the irritated look on the tired Breezie's face, still pretty sour at him for everything he said to all of them. He sighed, wanting to fix the wrongs he made and try to rekindle their cooperative relationship with all of the Breezies he was left with. "Look, I am really sorry about everything I said. I didn't even mean any of those things. I was desperate to go back home and I lashed out at you for no reason." "Urt magurphn gi lur malfrrorra," the Breezie said. "I know I was a horrible leader, but I promise I will not be that spiteful ever again," Seabreeze promised. "I know that you all can do this. We can make it in time. I believe in each and every one of you." He held out his hoof, the Breezie taking it as he helped them back with the group. "We're almost there! Just a little further!" After a bit more gliding, they soon reached what appeared to be a canyon. Further along down the pathway, they reached a hole in the wall where a portal was slowly shrinking just beyond it, everyone making it just in time. Once all the Breezies flew inside, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Kairi, and Sora flew in, gasping in awe at the Breezies' home. It was like its own little world hidden deep inside Equestria: small homes made from mushrooms or built houses, a small lake in the center of the town, and what looked like more of the expansive world of the Breezies that stemmed further on than how far the hole went inside of the canyon. "This place is beautiful," Twilight said. "So! Stinking! CUTE!" Pinkie squealed. "Oh, how I wish I had a sketchpad right now," Rarity said. "Just the wonder of this place is inspiring me to make fashionable dresses around this new world." "Rarity, I don't think their home should be known to others outside," Kairi said. "We humans can sometimes think a place like this is too perfect, only for it to be destroyed by either expansion after tearing it down or extorting the landscape to make a profit." "Well, we can at least keep it a secret from everypony." Kairi and Sora sighed and slumped their shoulders, the fashionista apparently too enraptured by the naturesque homeworld for the Breezies. As Sora looked up, he saw Seabreeze flying off to a home not too far from where they were, approaching an orange Breezie with a long purple mane. She was also carrying a baby Breezie in her hooves, clearly his wife and child as he hugged them tightly. Seeing their reunion reminded him of his youth with his own parents: playing with his dad when Riku was elsewhere or sick, enjoying an evening out as a family as they sat on the beach and watched the stars, even the times when his father came back home after a long day at work. Sadly, it made the memories worse when he never saw his dad again the past several years. "Sora?" Kairi snapped him out of his thoughts, looking concerned as she saw his happiness and awe turn to depression. "What's wrong?" "...I-It's nothing important," he assured, though after concealing his Anti Form from everyone and having it show up by chance, nearly killing his friends, she didn't stop pressuring him until he finally told her what was on his mind. Sora sighed and gave up trying to hide it. "...I miss my dad." "Oh..." She looked over at Seabreeze as he held his child in his hooves, who was happy to see their daddy return home. "Just seeing Seabreeze with his family again...It brought back some of the good times I had with both my parents..." Kairi wrapped her hooves around him, remembering what had happened on that day a few years after she arrived on Destiny Island thanks to Aqua's protective spell. It was a horrible accident out at sea, the weather too dangerous for any ship to sail in, and when Sora and his mother heard the horrible news, Sora had felt broken and didn't leave the house for months except when he had to go to school. He managed to recover after his depression, and even after losing one of his parents, he didn't let it bother him and moved on, even if he repressed all of the pain of his loss. "He taught me so many things...He even told me that silly story about the paopu fruit he shared with mom when they were teens and that fruit's legend...At least we proved it to be true." "Mhmm," Kairi agreed, nuzzling the stallion lovingly. "Are you ok?" "I'm fine...Just a bit of sad reminiscing, that's all." Sora wasn't aware of Applejack hearing them while the others were distracted by the Breezies' home, never knowing he experienced his own loss with a family member he held dear. "Uh oh!" Twilight said, alerting the others. "The portal's about to close soon!" "I guess this is goodbye, Breezies." Fluttershy began to follow her friends, but Seabreeze stopped her for a moment, holding out a blue flower to her. "To remember us by," he said. He placed the flower in her mane above her right ear, the pegasus tearing up at the gift. "Thank you. I'll miss you all." She quickly flew out before the portal got too small to fit through, the Breezies waving goodbye to their new friends. Once the group settled outside of the canyon where their home was safely hidden, Twilight and Kairi used their magic to turn the mares all back to normal. Sora, unfortunately, was still small, Discord's magic still preventing him from growing back to normal size until Aqua, Ventus, and Riku found him and forced him to return him to normal. While they all walked back, Sora and Kairi felt light come from the flower in Fluttershy's mane as it shimmered a rainbow light for a moment, but Twilight didn't even notice it just like with Rainbow's gift when it appeared for a slight second. As they returned home that evening, outside of the Golden Oak Library, Discord was slammed roughly into the ground, Ventus and Riku holding the draconequus down. Discord was heavily bruised from head to tail, groaning in agony while Aqua stood before him. "Finally, they're here!" Riku complained. "Where the heck were you guys!? We were waiting here for the past couple hours!" "Sora, Riku. We needed to help the Breezies get home before it was too late," Kairi said. "How many more of you have those infernal Keyblade things?" Discord asked, receiving a kick in the snout by the stoic blue unicorn. "Maybe next time, you shouldn't disregard my skills unless you want me to show you every single ounce of my power," Aqua scolded. "Oh, and thanks for that potion a few months ago. I needed to catch up on what I missed." "Potion?" Discord gasped in surprise, looking up at the Keyblade Master. "You took that potion from me!? How!? You were nowhere near me!" "I was," Aqua corrected. "I have plenty of spells I have memorized over the years, including the magical capability of freezing my opponents in time with Stop." The draconequus sputtered in shock, but before he could complain, the unicorn grabbed him by the throat and pulled his head up to meet her calm, yet angered gaze. "Now, return Sora to his proper size, or else you'll be dealing with a blizzard that'll do more than pummel you with my hooves after thinking I'm defenseless without a Keyblade." "Ok, ok, ok! I'll do it! Don't hurt me again!" As Aqua dropped Discord's head, Sora flew off Kairi's head and landed on the ground, the others giving him plenty of space for the draconequus's magic to work. With a snap of his fingers, the teen grew back to his full size, not a single hair or limb out of place. Aqua nodded to Ventus and Riku, both stallions getting off of him as Discord disappeared with his tail between his legs, reminding himself never to mess with the Keyblade wielding woman again for the rest of her life. "So, what exactly happened with you guys?" Sora asked. "Don't ask," Riku and Ventus both said. "Discord was quite a challenge, but I know my way around combat aside from just a weapon," Aqua said as she pounded her hooves together. "So, you finally got the Breezies home?" "Yes, and there was another object that gave out light again, just like the last few times," Kairi explained. "Seabreeze, the Breezie Sora accidentally rammed into, gave Fluttershy a flower, and that was the next piece for Twilight's Keyblade and her D-Link with Fluttershy." "It happened again?" Twilight asked. "How come I didn't feel it when Fluttershy was right there???" "Maybe you're not fully in tune with the power of light just yet," Aqua theorized. "It may take a little time for you to feel it like we do, unlike how I guided you to find the light within your heart when you all crafted your Keyblade armor." "So, Twilight's D-Link with Fluttershy...What's that like?" Riku wondered. "Hmm...Seeing as Fluttershy is supposed to be the Element of Kindness, my best guess is that she'll have abilities pertaining to healing and defensive spells, which means her combat abilities would be diminished as she behaves like Fluttershy." Aqua wanted to test her theory on Twilight's new D-Link, although it was odd to hear the alicorn didn't even sense the light when she was so close to Fluttershy's gifted flower. She looked at Riku, thinking it would be a perfect idea to test her new abilities. "Riku, how about you and Twilight duel this time?" "W-What!?" Riku exclaimed. "Me against Twilight!? Don't tell me you actually WANT me to fight her!" "Yes. And don't hold back on her. In order for them to be unleashed, she needs to be attacked." Riku did not want to go along with this plan. He didn't have much of a choice, seeing as Aqua was dead set on her theory and the others were dying to find out if she was right. "...Alright, fine...But if I seriously hurt her doing this, I'm going to hate myself." "Riku, I can handle getting smacked around. Plus, I think I'm improving with my combat..." Twilight soon frowned, summoning her Keyblade in her hoof. "However, my D-Links always come up out of nowhere in the middle of practice, so I'm not sure if I'm really improving at all on my own. I do not want to act like Pinkie Pie again! Just being her for a minute makes me feel like I'm going to pass out!" "D-Links are only supposed to activate by a Keyblade wielder whenever they want, not when your life is in danger as a last resort," Ventus explained. "If her Keyblade really does activate them on her own, then it might have a mind of its own and react when its owner is in trouble." "That would be scary if this thing began to talk to me," Twilight grumbled, leering at her Keyblade and the gems that made up the chain. "We can figure this out once we find the other two lights for you and Applejack," Aqua said. "For now, you and Riku start fighting until Fluttershy's D-Link activates." Riku sighed as he forced himself to get into his fighting stance, the others backing away to give them space as he called forth his Keyblade. "Well, at least any arguments we have don't involve us beating each other up with our Keyblades...Aqua, is this really necessary?" "Afraid to get beaten by a girl?" Sora teased with a mocking grin. "Says the guy who got beat by his girlfriend in their own duel," Ventus countered, making Riku snort at the hilarious outcome, Sora lowering his head as he let out a disgruntled groan of embarrassment. Twilight prepared herself, giving Riku a nod as soon as she was ready. He hesitated for a moment, but he rushed forward and struck. The alicorn showed perfect defense, her training having improved her senses and strength over the last few months, keeping her focus on Riku while backing away or leaping from side to side. She didn't have as much stamina as he did, but she was able to last for a bit longer. Twilight hoped her link with Pinkie won't show up, otherwise she'll wind up in more trouble if this was a real fight. "Riku, you're still holding back!" Aqua noted, seeing the white stallion showing signs of hesitation as his strikes were slower than normal. "Use all your strength! Use magic! Actually fight her as if your life depended on it!" Riku growled, feeling ashamed that a master of higher experience noticed he was holding back. He didn't want to disappoint her, but he didn't want to hurt Twilight. He shook off his worries and really began giving his all, backing Twilight as he swung with more force and speed. If she was going to be just as skilled in fighting back against her enemies or the Heartless, she had to learn that her opponents won't be holding back either. Twilight was forced to block each attack, nearly getting struck as she began to panic. Eventually, her Keyblade's chain began glowing again, this time making the pink butterfly gem glow. She felt it's power flow through her, flinching on instinct as Riku was about to hit her. In a bright flash, a lavender shield appeared around her milliseconds before the stallion's blow struck her. As he made contact, he felt a powerful jolt of lightning course through his body as magical barrier countered with an electric field. While he was stunned, part of the barrier in front of Riku began to shift into a wolf's head, glowing pink eyes glaring at him before lunging out and biting him. As it bit him, the shield exploded, sending the white pegasus flying back until he hit the Golden Oak Library. "Whoa," Sora, Riku, and Ventus uttered, Twilight's D-Link abilities from Fluttershy quite powerful, despite the barrier being defensive. Twilight gasped when she heard Riku groan, barely able to move from both surprise and his limbs refusing to move in his paralyzed state. "Oh no." She ran up to him, feeling absolutely mortified that her countered shield did that to her lover. "Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry Riku. Please don't hate me." Her voice was barely at a whisper, speaking similarly to Fluttershy's timid tone. She held her Keyblade over his body, focusing her magic to heal him. The light shone around them, but instead of healing flowers, pink butterflies made out of light fluttered out and circled the two of them. The bright insects then flew off, two staying behind to land on Twilight and Riku while the others landed on the other four Keyblade wielders. Suddenly, healing light began seeping into them, stuck to them like leeches, but instead of taking away energy, it gave healing and restorative energy to them. It was surprisingly warm, Riku's injuries fading away as he was able to move his body again. "Regeneration," Aqua mumbled, gently touching the butterfly attached to her chest. "Just as I thought: defensive spells and healing spells, but with unique animal forms." "That does sound a lot like Fluttershy," Sora said. "But I don't think defense is her forte...unless you count her rage back at the Gala the other year as her aggressive side, I guess I can believe that, then..." As the light faded from Twilight's Keyblade chain, the regenerating butterflies disappeared as well. Twilight didn't feel like she was getting lightheaded or woozy when it faded away, mostly due to the healing spell she had cast increasing her tolerance to the sudden rush of her D-Link styles when they time out or fade away. Riku looked at her, and she looked back, the stallion definitely underestimating her abilities thus far and didn't expect that unique type of counter attack. "...That was...definitely something," he said. "You've gotten a lot better." "I guess I was improving, even with those D-Links getting in the way." Twilight giggled, feeling a little proud of herself, even if Riku had went easy on her for a little bit. "I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" "I've been hit by worse," Riku said, rubbing his side at the memory of fighting Xemnas, saving Sora and getting struck hard by one of the Nobody leader's ethereal laser blades after saving him. "Well, that's another ability Twilight just gained," Sora said. "So, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that for her gift, she'll shoot powerful magical spells that won't strain her, and Applejack's would be more around stamina and strength." "I guess..." Twilight looked down at her Keyblade, wondering what her own power would be since she can't D-Link with herself. But aside from her new powers coming to light with each piece of light that she couldn't sense, there had been no luck with figuring out what was inside of the mysterious chest or any of the keys. "As much as I'm getting better at fighting, we haven't been able to find any keys for that chest back by the Tree of Harmony." "A chest?" Aqua asked. "You can't open it with the Keyblade?" "We tried, but it didn't react," Sora answered. "No light into the lock, no tapping, and there are six keyholes in it." "It's been more than half a year, and we still haven't found any keys," Kairi said. "And I don't think six Keyblades can open it at once either. None of ours made any reaction to it." "But, seeing how it's a chest that came from the Tree of Harmony, I doubt we'll actually find said keys to a chest it created in return for saving it from Discord's vines," Riku added. "That giant tree is grateful, but it never left us a clue as to where to find the keys and what they look like." "We'll search for them after the Equestria Games are over," Sora said. "The two of us need to be at our best for the Struggle tournament and cheer Ponyville on in the events. Just don't feel bad if I beat you." "Yeah, right. I've always been better than you at fighting, so I'm clearly going to win," Riku argued. "Who's saved hundreds of worlds from darkness and has more experience with the sport?" Sora countered, Riku standing up and approaching his friend. "Yet I had to save your hide when you got caught by Xehanort in the dream worlds," Riku countered back. The two friendly rivals continued arguing over who was better than whom, Aqua, Twilight, Kairi, and Ventus shifting their eyes to both pegasi. "So...any bets on who would win the tournament?" Aqua asked. "Sora," Twilight, Ventus, and Kairi said simultaneously. "Same here," Aqua said as they continued watching the two teens gloated and tried to win their never-ending argument over who the better fighter was.