A couple days after returning back to Ponyville, the Equestria Games ended fairly well despite the sudden Nobody attack near the end. Many of the Equestrian teams had won a majority of the events, Pinkie taking the time to tally every medal for first, second, and third place won by which team, but it was an exciting year with the inclusion of the Struggle tournament. It was still a mystery to Sora, Riku, and Aqua who The Unknown was, but if he shows himself, maybe they'll be able to find some answers as to who he is and what he was doing in the tournament.
Today, however, was another event that was sure to be fun for everyone. The Dream Festival at Disney Castle was going to be held, and whatever kinds of games that would be available there excited the Mane Six. Aqua and Ventus wanted to come along too, the latter looking forward to taking part in the festivities again while the former thought it would be a good idea to unwind and not worry about anything. After confronting The Unknown, she couldn't stop thinking about him, imagining him to be Terra when he was probably long gone no thanks to Xehanort.
After gathering by the Gummi ships, Sora, Riku, and Kairi strapped themselves in their seats with two mares riding in the remaining two, Aqua and Ventus activated their armor and transformed their Keyblades into gliders, where the others saw the young teen's like Sora's, only with a different color scheme. "Ok! Everyone ready!?"
"Just take off already!" Rainbow said impatiently. "The longer we wait, the earlier this Dream Festival will end!"
"In other words, yes. Here we go!" Aqua and Ventus flew on ahead, their gliders faster to travel, while the three blocky ships slowly took off and reached the atmosphere.
As the Gummi ships activated their Warp-Gs to transport to Disney Castle/Disney Town, Aqua and Ventus talked to pass the time. "I can't wait to see Disney Town again. I wonder if they still have that awesome musical ice cream making machine."
"I don't really know," Aqua said. "I hope we'll see Mickey in town. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to fight back against Vanitas."
Under the protective visor of his helmet, Ventus grimaced as the deadly battle against his own darkness came back to the forefront of his mind. "I guess I caused a lot of trouble for the three of us. No thanks to Xehanort." Aqua nodded her head, but she couldn't blame Ventus for what happened. While flying through the emptiness of space, Aqua began slowing down as she saw the Keyblade Graveyard in the distance. Just looking at that world brought back those horrible moments, herself, Ventus, and Terra taking on Vanitas and Xehanort in a final confrontation to stop the old man's horrendous schemes. She wondered what happened to Terra up on that pillar of a mountain, what Xehanort did to steal his body. "Aqua?"
She looked away from the depressing world, seeing Ventus had turned around after he realized she wasn't flying beside him. "...Sorry. I just..."
He looked over to the world, letting out a sigh as he hovered up to the depressed woman. "I know...I wish I could have done more back there..." Ventus clenched his fists, remembering a third member among their two great foes who caused them more problems back in that graveyard. "I hope we don't see that assassin as well. Through Sora's eyes, he was one of Organization XIII's strongest Nobodies, named Xigbar. But if he's dead along with his Heartless, he just might come back too."
"Yeah..." Aside from the assassin's sudden appearance back then distracting them from Xehanort and Terra's fight, she never wanted to see him around her or Ventus ever again. Aqua began thinking about her days with Terra when they were younger, missing him more and more, wishing she could have saved him in time. It didn't help when The Unknown reminded her of her friend, and the small crush she had on him, making those memories hurt more than when she felt alone without either of the two boys in her life. "...Let's keep going. The others are going to wonder why we're late when we're supposed to be the first ones there."
"Right." They continued flying, Aqua keeping herself from looking back at the deserted world. "So, at the last Dream Festival, who exactly won?"
"You won't believe this, but the three of us won in a tie." Ventus looked at Aqua in shock, never knowing that she and Terra had also gone there and entered the contest. "I accepted the reward for us, and also got some ice cream from Queen Minnie; a special flavor that was quite beautifully made and absolutely delicious."
"What!? You got to taste a new ice cream flavor with the award you took for us!?" Ventus groaned in frustration. "That's not fair! And I messed with that ice cream/music machine for the usual flavors in it!"
Aqua couldn't help but laugh at his reaction, knowing he and Terra would have probably gotten jealous of her if they knew. Eventually, they managed to reach Disney Castle and Disney Town, Sora, Kairi, and Riku's Gummi ships already there and waiting for them. They must have taken a while to get there as they saw Rainbow Dash in Sora's ship fidgeting impatiently, shouting something at them when they couldn't hear her from inside the cockpit's dome. They would have to eventually make something so they can communicate with them when taking the Mane Six with them.
They flew down into the world and landed outside of Disney Town, where they could hear the citizens already enjoying the fun events inside. The ponies looked up at the castle in awe as it stretched over the walls around the town. They walked through the doors and got a better look inside, a first for the others while Aqua and Ventus saw that nothing had changed. In the center of the main square was a gazebo, a walkway surrounding it with cartoonish light poles, a blue, slightly warped mailbox, a few buildings on the left that lead further into the town, and on the right was a stage where a strange musical device sat in front of it.
"Wow. So this is what the town looks like," Sora said. "I only got a tour of the castle when Heartless attacked the place."
"It's...kind of what I expected of this world after meeting Donald and Goofy," Twilight said, taking note of the incredibly cartoonish buildings.
On the other side of the entrance toward the castle, the doors opened as Mickey walked into the square along with his queen Minnie, Donald and his girlfriend Daisy, and Goofy. Sora was a little surprised to see them wearing casual clothing, especially with Minnie and Daisy: the queen wearing a red blouse and skirt with white polka dots, a red bow that matched her clothing, and a pair of yellow heels, the duck mage's beloved wearing a purple blouse, a pink bow, and light lavender heels. Even Aqua and Ventus were shocked to see the queen dressed in regular clothes out in public among her subjects. The royal couple and their servants/protectors spotted them, Donald and Goofy rushing toward Sora.
"Hey, you guys made it!" Goofy shouted as he and Donald tackled Sora into a group hug.
"Dog pile hugs!" Pinkie cheered as she jumped onto the pile of friends, making the teen wheeze from the mare's weight plopping on top of them.
"Pinkie, that wasn't necessary," Sora said with a gasp, pushing his battle buddies and the bubbly earth pony off him.
"It felt like forever since we last-" Donald paused when he looked at Aqua and Ventus. His beak dropped in shock, recognizing the two Keyblade wielders. Even Mickey and Minnie were both surprised to see them again, mostly at Ventus as he hasn't even aged when the king last saw him when he lost his heart. "...Uhhhhhh..."
"Aqua? Ventus?" The king approached the two long lost Keyblade wielders, hearing from his Master Yen Sid that Aqua was back, but had no idea Ventus was awake.
"It's been a long while, your Majesty," Aqua said.
"...Wow...I don't even know how you managed to survive being trapped in the Realm of Darkness for that long on your own," Mickey said, happy to see her again, and still alive after last seeing her. "And Ventus. You're finally awake, but you haven't aged a day."
"Yeah, but you'll never believe where my heart was all this time." The teen tilted his head over to Sora, who managed to stand up after his lungs were nearly crushed by the weight of Donald, Goofy, and Pinkie Pie.
"Huh...Even when he was young, Sora helped save someone. At least you two are back, safe and sound." Minnie walked up next to Mickey, utterly speechless as she stared at Ventus.
"My goodness," she said. "I know I haven't seen you two in a long time, but...Ventus, was it?" The teen nodded his head. "I...expected you to look a little older..."
"That's quite a long story, but we're all here to enjoy the Dream Festival and see who will win the Million Dreams award." Ventus dropped to his knees and brought his hands together. "Aqua told me she, Terra, and I had won the award when we last attended back then. Do you still have that ice cream you gave her along with the reward?"
Aqua and Minnie giggled as the teen begged to try the flavor for that year. "Sorry, Ventus, but if you want to have the special flavor of ice cream, you'll have to get the most votes for the Million Dreams award."
"Aww man!" Ventus whined, slumping over in despair. He lifted his head up, staring at the musical ice cream machine. "Well, I better start winning some votes fairly and at least have fun at the festival until then."
After meeting with Aqua and Ventus again after a long fifteen years, Minnie and Daisy were introduced to Riku, Kairi, and the Mane Six, getting to know a little more about Sora's best friend, girlfriend, and the ponies from another world. They first made their way over to the stage with the musical machine able to shoot out different flavors of ice cream when a song plays. Manning the stage and the ice cream shop next to it were Donald's young nephews: Louie, Huey, and Dewey, the triplet duck brothers wearing green, red, and blue shirts and caps respectively.
"Hey, there's Donald's nephews," Sora pointed out. "I didn't know they came back here. They ran different shops back in Traverse Town, then Radiant Garden."
"Hey, boys!" Donald called out as he approached his nephews.
"Hi, Unca Donald!" the triplets greeted simultaneously.
Aqua and Ventus were really surprised to see those three hadn't aged at all when they were gone. The triplets spotted them, though they were surprised to see Ventus more, remembering him instantly after about fifteen years.
"Holy smokes!" Huey said.
"Ventus!?" Louie exclaimed.
"Wow, you haven't changed at all!" Dewey said as they approached the teen.
"It's been a while, guys. And it's quite a long story." He looked at the ice cream machine, ready to give the little device a try. "That thing all set up for some tunes and sweets?"
"Yup!" Huey ansered.
"And we got plenty of new flavors set up in there, even the flavor specially given to the one who accepted the three way tied reward," Dewey said.
"Yeah, that would be me," Aqua said as she approached the triplets and knelt down in front of them. "I've been away for a long while, but I'm back to see if I can win again and get the newest flavor."
"Oh no you don't, Aqua!" Ventus exclaimed.
Aqua giggled as she teased him. "I'm not sure if I will win though. It depends on who gets the most votes from everyone."
"Hey! Let's cut the chatter and get to the ice cream songs!" Pinkie grabbed several ice cream cones, bouncing around everyone and giving them one. "Make sure to pile mine super duper high, Venny! I want all the flavors!"
"You sure this thing is able to be played?" Riku asked, feeling a bit skeptical of how the machine looked. There was a seat for the player, in front of it was where the ice cream was shot out, and on the sides were two piano keyboards set at an angle. "This thing just screams weird to me."
"And yet we hang around Pinkie Pie, who can actually play several different instruments in a one man band, without a mouth on any blowing instruments to play a tune," Sora reminded Riku during Trixie's return a while back.
"...Then this is strangely normal to me," Riku admitted, restating his previous argument.
"Well, let's not waste any time! Cones out and let's get playing!" Ventus jumped into the seat, remembering how to activate it after he helped fix it for Huey, Louie, and Dewey last time. "Hopefully Pete doesn't show up pretending to be a superhero. That was an awkward first meeting with him."
He cracked his knuckles, making sure everyone around them was ready to witness his musical skills. The song began to play, and already, those who had never seen this machine work in action already liked the one Ventus decided to pick. It was really uplifting and hard not to dance to, being as catchy as it was. The young teen really began to play as he followed the timing of the beat, pressing his fingers down on the right keys as it moved around and began to fire different ice cream flavors the better he played. It was able to move around three hundred and sixty degrees, having been modified since he had last used it after all these years.
Each scoop that fired out perfectly landed on the cones, even as some of them danced to the catchy beat. The Mane Six especially, couldn't help but dance, swaying side to side along with the beat as plenty of scoops of ice cream of varying flavors flew out to their cones. Ventus even made sure to give Pinkie a tall mountain to sate her endless hunger for sweets as he spun around. Riku was quite amazed, and every other person in town came to hear the song, even getting a few scoops on their cones they grabbed as he played expertly.
As soon as the song was finished, the crowd applauded at the classical masterpiece of the machine. Ventus stepped out of it and bowed as he not only entertained his public, but also provided them with several scoops of frozen soft serve dairy flavors to enjoy as well. As everyone enjoyed the ice cream they got, Pinkie especially as her long tongue trailed up the ten foot tall tower of ice cream on her cone, Aqua walked up to Ventus, giving him his cone as she held two.
"That was impressive, Ven," Aqua complimented. "Didn't know you were that talented with music."
"Eh, I mostly winged it the first time around," he admitted. "But it's not that hard once you hit the right notes. Though, the full rotation was a new thing they added when it only faced the entire stage. Nearly threw me off when it could do that now."
"That was a really wonderful song, too," Fluttershy said. "I felt like singing along to it as well."
Pinkie quickly ran up to the yellow pegasus, her ice cream wobbling back and forth, but still staying stacked as she pressed a free hoof to her mouth. "No! Don't sing any of the lyrics! Not even a single line!" She leaned over to Fluttershy's ear and whispered quietly. "It's copyrighted, and it's not allowed in here unless it's a song from our world..."
Daisy and Minnie stared at the pink mare, none of them having a clue what she meant. "What is she talking about?"
"It's better not to ask what Pinkie Pie does, Minnie," Mickey said. "Don't question whatever she says or does."
"But...that doesn't make sense," Daisy said, only getting more confused by the answer.
"Just don't, Daisy," Donald said. "Trust us. She's more wacky than Goofy, Sora, and me. Combined."
"...Ok..." Daisy just went along with what her boyfriend and king said, lapping up her ice cream before it began to melt.
After everyone had their ice cream, they moved on to more of the town. They headed into a smaller block nearby, where there were flags hung around the square court, a banner reading "Fruitball Scatter" hanging on a wall. There were two goal nets, one on either side, both of them floating in the air by specialized fireworks that moved the goal around in different directions. Sitting on the sidelines, right where a red painted line on the court separated it in two halves, there were odd looking machines that shot out an infinite supply of fruit stacked inside the glass case they were in.
"Ah. Here's a fun game that's challenging," Goofy said. "Fruitball!"
"I remember playing this game when I was here," Aqua said. She then spotted the familiar looking anthropomorphized horse who she met back then who introduced her to the competitive sport, Horace Horsecollar. He wore a red long-sleeved shirt under a pair of blue overalls, a horse collar around his neck, tan shoes, and a small brown hat on his head. Aqua walked up to him as he got the fruit shooting machines ready for a game. "Hey, Horace."
"Hmm?" Horace turned around, recognizing Aqua after last seeing her so long ago. "Hey! Uhh, Aqua, right? How've you been!?"
"I've been pretty busy, so I missed out on a few Dream Festivals when it came around." He nodded, wondering what had happened to the young woman, only now she was more mature after they last met. "So, is it all set for a game or two?"
"Just tuning it up a bit, but it's all ready!" he said. "You remember the rules?"
"Of course," Aqua said. "Though, you may have to explain them to some of the newer players."
"It ain't Pete, is it?" Horace asked. "Heard he was banished, but now he escaped and wound up free from His Highness's warnings a while ago."
"Thankfully, we won't see 'Captain Justice' try to steal anyone's votes this year." The others were ready to try out the strange fruit sport, walking up to Aqua and Horace.
"Ok! We decided on who would be on which team, so let's play some Fruitball!" Sora cheered.
"And how exactly does this game work? We just toss fruit in those goals like it's dodge ball?" Riku asked.
"It actually kind of is like dodge ball," Aqua said. "You just smack the fruits into the goal, but it'll move around, so you have to make your shots count. But, it's not as easy as you think."
"How hard can it be?" Aqua smirked, knowing the newcomers to the sport will see just how crazy the game can get with the fruit that gets flung out.
They decided on having a girls versus boys, Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rarity sitting on the sidelines cheering while the others stood on their ends. Sora, Riku, Ventus, Donald, and Goofy stood on the left half of the court with their respective weapons out to use to smack the fruit, while Kairi, Aqua, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack stood on the right half, the former two using their Keyblades while the three mares decided on using their hooves.
With three minutes on the clock and counters ready to tally the scores, Horace rung the bell and began the game. The two fruit machines began to shoot out some fruit, starting with a couple large apples and a pineapple. Rainbow Dash was the goalie for the girls' side while Goofy and Ventus were the goalies for the boys. Sora dove in first and smacked an apple toward their goal, which Rainbow kicked away.
"Nice try, Sora!" Rainbow called out, only to hear something fly past her, another apple hitting their goal with a dinging sound as the boys got their first point.
"Actually, that was a distraction," he said, giving Riku a quick high five as he hit the second apple that wound up on their side.
"The game doesn't stop when you get points, boys," Aqua told them, lobbing the pineapple up into the air that rolled on their side.
Kairi leapt up after it and struck it, the pokey fruit smacking into Sora, knocking him in a daze. "Sorry, Sora!" The pineapple bounced back on the girls side as she fell, quickly striking it toward the goal.
Goofy managed to smack it away, Riku quickly picking up his dazed friend and shook him back awake. Sora came back to his senses, reminding himself to be aware of fruit they could use against the girls instead striking them to the floating, mobile goal. It was back and forth chaos as the game went on: so much fruit was shooting out from the machines, the goals moving around in random patterns sometimes screwing up their spike shots, and even using the fruits themselves to gain an advantage and knock one of them out for a couple seconds. It was hectic when the bananas and grapes came out. The former breaking apart into peels that spread out on either side after getting hit so many times, causing some of them to slip when they weren't paying attention to where they were running, creating some messy slip-ups, especially on the boys' side where Donald and Sora both slipped on a peel and rammed into each other. The latter, after getting struck, scattered the grapes off the vine, sending them flying about and ending up in the goals too fast for the goalies to pay attention to.
Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity rooted for the girls, winning by a few points over the boys, while Mickey, Minnie, and Daisy watched and enjoyed the match. Even though the boys had Ventus and Goofy as defenders, Aqua always purposefully aimed a pineapple or a watermelon at them when she struck, and when they weren't paying attention, she knocked one or both of them out, giving Kairi, Pinkie, or Applejack a chance to shoot for the goal with a random fruit, or any of the scattered grapes still lingering on the court.
"Come on, guys!" Mickey shouted. "Put some teamwork into it!"
"Then why don't you join us, Your Majesty!?" Sora called out as he dove to smack a banana away, only to break it into more peels for the boys to slip on if they weren't paying attention.
"I'd rather watch if the girls are winning!" he replied.
Pretty soon, the three minutes passed, Horace ringing the bell to signal the end of the game. All the fruits left on the court disappeared, the score 48-37, the girls winning by eleven points. The mares and female Keyblade wielders cheered and high fived each other, the boys slumping in defeat.
"Ok, that was horrible," Ventus said. "Who kept breaking those bananas and made the peels harder to move around on the court?"
All the guys looked at Sora, blanching in shock as the blame was put on him. "Hey, it's not my fault! They kept spiking them right at me! And they kept hitting us with giant watermelons and pineapples!"
"It's weird how they act as a team in a fight for their lives, yet they don't when competing together in a friendly sport," Aqua said with a shrug. "Boys. What are you going to do?"
"Can't live with them, can't live without them," Kairi said.
"Yeah...That's incredibly true." While the guys bickered over who messed up with what in their blame game, Aqua couldn't help but drift back to her memories with Ventus and Terra.
Even while trapped in the Realm of Darkness, she took that saying to heart, more specifically, being unable to live without them. So many years, isolated in a realm from a mistake she regretted to make, she hated to feel alone after all she had went through. Ventus may be back, still the same age as when he lost his heart, but Terra...Her mind went back to The Unknown again, unable to get his fighting style and power out of her head. He was just like Terra in combat, and she began imagining him being under that cloak more and more. She shook her head, reminding herself she was here to have fun and forget everything that happened at the Equestria Games and the events leading her to being trapped in the Realm of Darkness. She surely didn't want to worry the others anymore with her depressing life and promised herself and everyone else she had moved on, but it was harder to do so when that mysterious fighter had fought; that mysterious Keyblade wielder.
Once the feud between the boys that lost against the girls finally stopped, they moved on to the last section of Disney Town. This area was much bigger, the buildings reaching several stories high, and also sported the large course for Rumble Racing. Depending on the kind of race that'll be set, racers in hover vehicles of any kind will run through a set course laid out for them. Even Keyblade gliders are allowed, but they'll have to act as hover vehicles; if they jump off a ramp, they'll eventually fall to the ground after reaching the apex of their jump. And along with speed boosters to help give racers a burst of acceleration to catch up to their opponents, there are moving twisters as obstacles that can easily disorient anyone if they get caught in their winds. It's also a pretty violent race; racers able to attack others to reach the lead, but they can also block these back attacks with a temporary barrier that lasts a couple seconds, so timing is important for both attacking and defending.
"Whoa! This is a huge racing course!" Rainbow exclaimed as she flew up to see the entire course.
"And if you want to race, you've got to be in a vehicle," Mickey said. "So that means you can't be out on the course, considering how dangerous it would be if you got hit."
"Aww man!" the pegasus whined, landing back on the ground with a pout.
They walked over to the entrance of the racetrack, where a pair of familiar chipmunks stood on the entrance and exit gates into the stands or down on the track to race. The little engineers who aided Sora, Donald, and Goofy with Disney Castle's commandeered Gummi ship are named Chip and Dale, easy to tell them apart from their work uniforms and their furry bodies: Chip has a black nose and one buck tooth, while Dale had a red nose and two buck teeth.
"Hey, Sora!" Chip called out, both chipmunks jumping and waving as the entourage approached the gates.
"It's been a long while!" Dale added.
"Hey, guys," Sora greeted. "So, you guys been up to anything these past couple years?"
"We've been trying to modify the Gummi ship to make it travel faster through space," Chips said.
"But, so far, no luck," Dale said. "A shame you and your friends got your own Gummi ships to work with."
"Although, we did get a little readout on the older Gummi ship you had, Sora." The teen winced, giggling sheepishly with a nervous grin. "Unfortunately, we had no idea what happened to you since you wound up off the radar, going too far out of the galaxy for us to pick up on your ship's GPS."
"Uhh, long story about that, but let's get to racing!" he quickly said before the little expert engineers could lecture him on his poor handling of his old ship.
Confused by Sora's behavior as he passed on through to the race track, Chip and Dale looked to the others for some answers. "Sora overheated his Gummi ship's engine and it ended up exploding after five consecutive days of traveling to a world far out in the galaxy called Equestria," Riku answered as he moved, showing their Equestrian guests to the chipmunks. "He never bothered giving it a break."
"With the engine as old as that a couple years back?" Dale asked.
"That was going to die out at some point, but for it to explode?" Chip looked at his partner, both of them shrugging their shoulders, having no idea how it could have caused his ship to blow up as well. "Probably a faulty connection with the electrical circuits when the engine gave out."
"But, oh boy, Sora really survived something like that," Dale whistled. "Nothing can stop him, huh?"
"Anyway, anyone else who wants to race head right on through or make their way to the seats and enjoy the race!" They soon made their way inside while Chip and Dale stayed to make sure others who wish to see the race or join were guided in the right direction.
Unfortunately, since the extra biplanes for any new racers who don't have their own vehicle requires hands to steer and press any of the buttons to activate their attack or defensive barriers, Twilight's friends couldn't race all that well. The alicorn could if she wanted to, but she just decided to watch and cheer for Riku to win to make up for rooting for the girls' side in Fruitball. Without needing to use their armor, the Keyblade wielders transformed their blades into gliders, showing Mickey something he didn't even know was possible, and lined up at the starting line. Even Minnie and Daisy were going to take part along with them, Donald, and Goofy, enjoying their little time off from their duties in the castle.
While the race was about to start, up on one of the many tall buildings in the town, a mysterious person hidden under a brown cloak exited a hidden passage that was found in the sewers of Disney Town that lead to one of the roofs of the buildings. The only parts of him that could be seen are his hands, his skin tan as his left hand wore a black fingerless glove, along with a small part of a gauntlet he wore underneath the long sleeved cloak, and he wore dark brown and gold boots on his feet. He stood by the corner of the roof looking out to the racecourse, eyeing the racers down at the starting line.
"This sure brings back some memories." He spotted the Keyblade wielders on their gliders, watching them speed off as the lights turned green. "All that's missing is an idiot in dark spandex to cause trouble for the town, and we'll have some deja vu." The Unknown watched the racers go about the track, running through the shorter course as it can branch off to certain sections of the town and even in the castle grounds. His eyes mainly focused on Aqua and Ventus as they raced, avoiding any stray attacks when they took the lead or tried to hit the ones in front of them. He could see Aqua was enjoying herself in the competitive race, letting out a sad sigh. "At least you're having fun now..."
As they were rounding about the third lap, Aqua spotted him standing there, not paying attention to where she was going as she flew into a twister, sending her spiraling out of control. He took that as his cue to leave, jumping down from the high roof to the empty streets and into the main square. When Aqua got her bearings, she looked back at the building, no longer seeing him there. She brushed it off and continued racing, being taken over by the others from her distraction and near wipe out.
The Unknown slowly walked around the square for a moment, noticing the ice cream stand run by Dewey. He hadn't sampled any of the flavors they had here for a long while, and finding the ingredients to make them that were dropped by rare Unversed were a pain sometimes. Luckily, they had a lot of different flavors on sale, and he wanted a few of them for later to snack on. They always stayed frozen and cool thanks to these ingredients used to make them, so he could wind up in a volcano and they wouldn't melt a single drip. Lowering himself to his knees in order to be seen, keeping his hood shrouding his face, the blue-shirted triplet noticed him.
"Hey there!" Dewey greeted. "What'cha looking for?"
"Let me get...a dozen Rockin' Crunch ice cream bars, please." The young duck quickly got his order as he placed the exact amount of Munny on the counter.
"You new around Disney Town?" Dewey asked. "We got a whole bunch of attractions going around for the Dream Festival today! And don't forget to place your vote for who will win the Million Dreams award!"
"Oh really? Where do I vote?" the mysterious man asked.
"Just fill this ballot out with a name on it, and I'll turn it in for you!" Dewey said, handing him a small slip of paper and a pen.
"Great. I don't really have much time to stay long. I'm pretty busy." He wrote down the name "Aqua", and along with the ballot, he gave the young duck an envelope. "Also, if you meet someone with the same name as who I chose to win the award, give her this for me."
"Oh. Ok." Dewey took the ballet entry and letter, exchanging the ice cream for the Munny on the table.
"Thanks." The Unknown grabbed his ice cream and headed for the town's exit.
Once the race ended, everyone made their way back to the main square for some more ice cream. It was a close race, but Sora managed to win first place with Riku in second, followed by Ventus, Minnie, Daisy, Kairi, Aqua, Mickey, Goofy, and Donald. While the teen gloated on his victory, annoying Donald with how poorly as he always kept getting caught around the moving tornadoes, Aqua couldn't help but feel distracted after seeing The Unknown again. He wore the same cloak, but with how far away he was, he couldn't see any other features aside the face he was indeed human, not Equestrian. He was following them, watching them, but she had no clue as to why as he began bringing back her paranoia.
"Boy, that race sure was fun," Goofy said.
"Speak for yourself," Donald grumbled. "All of you ganged up on me and kept flinging me into the tornadoes!"
"You do know you're able to defend yourself, right, Donald?" Sora questioned. "If you did that when you got up in front of someone, you would have been able to avoid getting stuck in dead last."
The duck mage squawked angrily, held back by Goofy before he could pounce Sora and get into a scuffle. "You know, Donald, he does have a point."
"Wish we could have been able to race," Rainbow grumbled.
"Well, those vehicles do have small controls," Twilight said, seeing what she could have spotted from up in the stands. "I don't think your hooves would be able to press any one of them. And it looks uncomfortable sitting in those kinds of seats for any of us."
"I'm surprised you didn't want to race, Twilight," Applejack said, nibbling on a Sugary Skies popsicle. "Ya got one of them glider things like the others."
"Or maybe played Fruitball on our team!" Pinkie added while eating a Bueno Volcano. She took a lick of it, her mouth on fire for a moment before it was cooled off a second later. "You've got some moves we didn't know you had that could have beaten the boys by a landslide!"
"I still want to rest after what happened with Rarity being possessed by a cursed book Spike brought back, which she shouldn't have opened concerning it was dangerous just from the cover alone." The alicorn looked at Rarity, eating a Vanilla Glitz, the unicorn giggling sheepishly at the damage she caused when she was freed. "That, and I didn't want to end up cheating when my D-Links keep activating on their own. I still can't control them, and two sometimes end up appearing. I appreciate the extra help, only if it didn't exhaust me more than simple training."
"That's actually pretty weird to have two different links used at the same time," Kairi said. "Aqua said you could only use one, but you can use two...What if...you could use more than two?"
"I don't want to think about that," Twilight said with a shudder. "Being two of my friends in one is tiring enough, but you have no idea how exhausting it is to be Pinkie Pie alone!"
"Yeah, I can be pretty exhausting," Pinkie said casually, not even slightly offended by Twilight's comment on her D-Link with her.
"But do you think it's possible?" Kairi asked. "With that much power, I don't think any Heartless, Nobody, or Unversed could stop you...Maybe even Xehanort wouldn't stand a chance."
"I'm not sure...I am tempted to try it if I can figure out how it works, but right now, I don't want to end up in a coma with five personalities of my friends turning me into a super soldier with multiple personality disorder for a few minutes." Twilight called her Keyblade in her hoof, staring deeply into the gems hanging on her weapon's chain. The last one, being her own cutie mark and Element of Harmony, was the last to be found, but how can one form a D-Link with themselves confused her. "But what will my D-Link do? It's impossible to form a link with only one point that's the same as the one reaching out to it."
"Maybe you'll be super powerful with magic and blow up things the size of a skyscraper!" Pinkie said, putting her wild thoughts in. "And like Aqua, create huge ice towers, or shoot a giant lightning bolt down on ten miles worth of land! Ooh, ooh! Maybe even-!"
"Ok, Pinkie, we get it," Applejack interrupted, stuffing more of the pink mare's spicy and cold treat into her mouth to silence her. "We ain't gonna find out until it happens. Though we're sure it's magic, bein' her Element and all."
Aqua had tuned everyone else out, still wondering who this Keyblade wielder was and why he was now following them. While lost in her thoughts, Mickey and Minnie stepped up to the stage where the musical ice cream machine sat. Everyone's attention immediately went to the king and queen of Disney Castle as they got the crowd's attention, not even surprised to see them wearing anything outside of their usual royal clothing.
"Ladies and gentleman of Disney, it gives me great pleasure to say this year's Dream Festival is just as enjoyable as it has since the founding of this kingdom!" Mickey announced. The crowd cheered and applauded as their favorite events of the year was a success. The king held up his hands, quieting his subjects to continue. "And, as always, at the end of the festival, we count up all the votes to see who will win this year's Million Dreams Award! We've got plenty of votes and they have been tallied!"
Handing the king and queen the envelope that held the winner's name was Mickey's pet dog, Pluto, prancing up onto the stage with said envelope in his mouth. This was the first time the Mane Six had seen the king's loyal pet before, unlike any normal dog with a thin black tail like the mouse's, wearing a loose green collar around his neck. Pluto stood between his master and Minnie, the queen taking the envelope while Mickey pet his best pal on the head.
"And this year's Million Dreams winner is-" Minnie opened the envelope and pulled out the slip inside that held the name. "-Aqua!"
Cheers rang out in the square, Ventus groaning in agony as his name wasn't called. "Aww man. I wanted to win this year's award and taste the new ice cream."
Aqua had snapped out of her thoughts as her name was called, a little confused at first with everyone looking at her and cheering for her at first. She didn't know how she won, but the woman stepped up to the stage and grinned to the audience, thankful for a little distraction from the mystery Keyblade wielder.
"Congratulations, Aqua," Minnie said. "Seems like a lot of the town remembers you after so long."
"I'm surprised I won at all," Aqua responded as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I expected someone else to win, like one of the boys or Kairi."
"Actually, you had won by one vote, beating Ventus out of a tie," Mickey said, making the younger teen groan loudly as he said the outcome aloud. "We had one vote from an unknown guest that voted for you, and Dewey said he wanted to give this to you."
Mickey pulled out the folded letter with her name on it, along with the warning "For recipient's eyes only." Aqua took it, wondering who wanted to give her a letter, but decided to wait to read it until she was alone.
"And now, for this year's Million Dreams Award for Aqua; our new ice cream thought up by the king!" Minnie went over to the ice cream stand and grabbed the special ice cream cone. Mickey's inspiration for this treat came from Equestria from the design: a large scoop of vanilla and orange split ice cream, each half representing a sun and moon, flavored soft candies placed around the ice cream to form a circle, shaped like the Mane Six's cutie mark as the Elements of Harmony, in the center of them was a white chocolate heart, dark chocolate on the outside forming pony ears, a unicorn horn, pegasus wings, and a short tail, and set on it was a rainbow waffle cone spiraling down to the end. "He calls it the Equestrian Eclipse!"
"Well, I wonder where he found the inspiration to design something like this," Aqua said aloud, her friends giggling to themselves at her statement, knowing exactly where it came from. She took the cone, which seemed to look good as art, though she wondered if it tasted just as good as well. Taking a small bit of the ice cream, she hummed in delight, even better than the Royalberry ice cream cone she had several years ago. "Wow. This is really good."
"Let's give a round of applause to our Million Dreams winner for this year, everybody!" Everyone clapped for the Keyblade Master as she enjoyed the new ice cream recipe as her reward.
As the day came to an end, everyone returned back to Equestria to get some rest after the fun they had. While many of them were exhausted and headed straight for bed, Aqua sat in her room in Rarity's home, finishing up her stitching on her Wayfinder. At least the day didn't end badly as she and the others did have fun, and the Equestrian Eclipse was delicious. But seeing The Unknown there, standing on one of the buildings and watching them, it made her nervous. So many questions ran through her head, demanding answers as to who he was and why he was now following them.
She put away her sewing materials, setting her new Wayfinder around her neck. As much as she wanted to get some sleep after the fun day today, she still couldn't get that Keyblade wielder off her mind. Looking through her pockets, she pulled out the letter Mickey gave her, thinking it had to have been The Unknown who left this for her, including giving her the extra vote for her to win. Curious, she opened it up and read what was written in it, wanting it to explain everything he refused to tell her back in the Crystal Empire.
Aqua,
Before you question who I am, I cannot tell you, nor show my identity to anyone. In time, I will tell you what I know and who I am under my disguise. One thing I know is everything about you, including your past as a Keyblade Apprentice in the now lost world, the Land of Departure. And I could not answer your questions in the Crystal Empire. I don't want you to hear my voice until we meet again. You were already irritated enough when you searched for me, your magic threatening to explode from a magical surge unicorns go through when under extreme stress, emotional outrage, or psychological torment...and from the look in your eyes, you show signs of all three. But understand that I am not your enemy. Xehanort has ruined my past just as badly as yours, all of us having a common enemy. I will send you another letter, giving you the location of where I reside here in Equestria so we can meet face to face.
The Unknown
P.S.: Hope you won the Million Dreams Award. You deserve it for all you've done for the worlds.
P.P.S.: I found this in Radiant Garden. I recognize the Keyblade you used, but I know it isn't yours.
At the bottom of the letter, Aqua noticed a photo taped face down, hiding the image from her. She remembered losing her Keyblade along with her armor when she tried to save Terra back in Radiant Garden, but she never had the chance to try to search for it. Lifting the picture out with her levitation, she flipped it over, her eyes growing wide at what was on it. Resting against what looked like the wall of a log cabin was her Keyblade, Rainfell. Wherever The Unknown was hiding in Equestria, he has her old Keyblade, thinking someone in Radiant Garden might have taken it after she sacrificed herself.
"H-How...?" Aqua didn't know if she should be grateful or angry knowing this Keyblade wielder she has never met has her Keyblade. "...Who is this person? How does he even know it's mine when he's never seen me?...Or...has he been watching me...?"
Feeling more paranoid than ever at the thought of The Unknown as a stalker, Aqua made sure her room was entirely sealed so no prying eyes would watch her while she sleeps. She even looked under her bed and every hiding area a grown stallion can conceal themselves behind or under something. After triple checking to make sure her room was secure, she finally crawled into bed and fell asleep.
Out in the middle of a forest glade in Equestria, there was a log cabin built in the center of the glade. The Unknown laid on the roof looking up at the clear night sky, looking at the stars twinkling out beyond the world. He grabbed a Rockin' Crunch ice cream bar he took from the dozen he bought in Disney Town with him, taking off the protective wrapper and taking a bite out of it. His eyes lazily looked out at the stars, ignoring the always full moon of Equestria risen by Luna's magic.
The stallion let out a sigh, enjoying the treat, but it was more out of sadness. "I miss the good old days," he uttered. "If only they stayed that way..." The Unknown continued stargazing as he reminisced on his past, occasionally licking or biting his frozen treat, savoring the nutty, bittersweet bar. Turning his head to the right, he looked at Aqua's Keyblade, Rainfell, laying beside him. Finishing the last of the bar, holding the stick in his mouth, he took the blade by the handle and held it over him. Memories came to him, good, bad, and worse as he sat up, holding it in both hooves. "...Aqua...How did you survive that dreadful realm for so long? Why did you do it?"
He spent the next half hour on the roof of his cabin, playing with the ice cream stick in his mouth as he wondered how Aqua still lived in the Realm of Darkness. He pulled out the stick, grabbed the wrapper, and climbed down from his roof, heading inside to turn in for the day. Tossing the paper and stick in a trash can, The Unknown rested Rainfell against the wall in his living room, furnished with only a couch facing a fireplace. He then moved to his bedroom, blowing out the candles that were the only source of light in his home before taking off his cloak and hanging it on a nearby coat rack. His silhouette from the moonlight veiled his body as he climbed into bed, lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling.
"...I'm sorry," he apologized. "I should have been trapped in there, not you, Aqua..."