//------------------------------//
// Mother's Day In Equestria 
// Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria 
// by Codex92 
//------------------------------//

	Sora woke up bright and early an hour before the crack of dawn, feeling refreshed after the long day in Griffonstone. He fell asleep during his massage Kairi gave him, more exhausted than he thought considering his whole body went through a tougher workout after fighting Heartless Arimaspi and surviving the onslaught of Gravity spells weighing him down heavily. She didn't end up staying with him in bed, both of them winding up in his bedroom in the castle last night to enjoy a little evening together. As much as he wanted to give Kairi a little morning wake-up call, it was really early in the morning, so he decided to let her sleep. Sora decided to take a little break today, still feeling a little sore, but he'll make up for skimping out on his chores on the farm tomorrow.

When he entered the throne room, unable to fall back asleep, he saw Aqua sitting on her throne as she observed the other worlds. The Keyblade Master levitated a journal, noting down the different worlds by their worlds, the kind of Heartless they'll mostly encounter, who lives there, and how often the worlds will get overrun by the Heartless. She heard Sora's throne appear, keeping her focus on the Galactic Map as she acknowledged his presence.

"Morning, Sora," Aqua said.

"Hey," he replied. "When did you and Ven get back?"

"Close to midnight, I think," she said. "Some Heartless gave us a bit of trouble, but we managed. They would have been dealt sooner if Terra came along, but I know he's still a bit worried about Xehanort."

"Wish this map can pinpoint him for us so we can finally put an end to him." Aqua nodded her head in agreement, though she doubted the map could locate people with the power of darkness. Sora leapt up into his seat, watching the unicorn swipe through several worlds and jotting down notes of the different worlds they visited. "So, yesterday, we had a little friendship problem needed to be solved in Griffonstone. Riku, Pinkie, Rainbow, and I were called there and fixed it."

"That's good news," Aqua said.

"But, there was also some bad news; we encountered a Heartless near the city." Hearing this brought the mare's attention away from the world as she looked over at Sora. "And aside from this one, there were two others that were both kind of similar and different that I fought before."

"...What exactly do you mean?" Aqua asked.

"Well, it wasn't exactly a regular Heartless," Sora began explaining. "I came up with calling them 'Corrupted Heartless', as in the corruption of one's actions creating a darkness that threatened to consume their hearts. It happened before with Twilight and Sunset: Twilight when she was extremely jealous of Kairi when she had a thing for me, and Sunset when she was incredibly angry and hated not getting her way. And just yesterday, the Heartless we fought looked like a cyclops goat monster named Arimaspi, a thief who swiped away a treasure called the Idol of Boreas-"

"Which was a golden idol the griffons had carried for a few generations that brought them prosperity in their kingdom," Aqua finished. "I took a look at that book Twilight had gushed over involving the griffons and their culture."

"...Right. But, that book's not exactly accurate with how things were going in Griffonstone now. Kind of a dump without that golden idol." The mare's eyes widened, sort of glad Twilight didn't go as much as she said she had when she told her about the heart of the griffon kingdom. "Anyway, there was one odd thing these Heartless had aside from looking like who they came from; it was their eyes. Heartless have glowing yellow eyes that can be seen in the deepest of darkness, but these ones had a colored iris in the middle: Twilight's was green, Sunset's red, and Arimaspi's was a pale yellow."

"That does sound odd..." As Aqua mulled over this new information, she began putting the pieces together by Sora's description of these new Heartless and calling them Corrupted. "...Green for envy, red for wrath, and pale yellow for greed...Three of seven sins any one person or sentient creature should heavily succumb to."

"Has anything like this happened before?" Sora asked.

"No. Not even in anything historical from the Land of Departure that I can remember." Aqua brought a hoof to her chin, writing down this new version of Heartless appearing on a separate sheet in her journal. "And all this has only happened to beings in or have come from Equestria, right?"

"Yeah, but with Twilight and Sunset, their Heartless was purged out of them before they were corrupted," he said. "Arimaspi's, from what I think, was dormant, even after several years upon his actual death when he fell in the Abysmal Abyss."

Aqua began writing down possible theories, leaving the outcomes of the other four remaining sins' possible features until they knew what they saw. "Hmm...Nothing like this has happened in other worlds...It could be that Equestria is a much more peaceful world with its own kind of magic that any corruption of greed, envy, wrath, pride, gluttony, sloth, or lust could lead to anything in this world falling to darkness...But, considering how rare these Corrupted Heartless had appeared, there's no telling who will have any of these corruptions and when it'll come to light."

"So, should we be cautious in case another one shows up?" Sora asked.

"If you can deal with them, then they shouldn't really be much of a problem," Aqua answered, closing her journal. "They're just like any other Heartless; stop them before they cause anymore trouble."

"Ok. Just making sure you knew in case it got out of hand." Sora hopped down off his throne, ready to begin his day of relaxing until his muscles didn't feel like they were ready to explode. "Hey, did you get any sleep when you got back?"

"I took a little nap when we got back, but I was so restless, so I wanted to continue studying these maps a bit more," she said.

"...Alright. Just make sure to get a full night's rest so you don't get too loopy." The pegasus made his leave out of the throne room, only to bump into Terra as he opened the door. "Hey, Terra. If you're looking for Aqua, she's inside."

"Thanks. I was just wondering if she got back last night with Ven." Terra walked past Sora into the room while the younger stallion made his way out of the castle to get some breakfast. "So, how'd everything go?"

"Ran into a little trouble on my end, but the Heartless were dealt with," she said, leaping off her throne as she yawned. "I think I need a bit more sleep."

"Yeah, you need it." Terra guided Aqua back to her room so she can get a bit more rest before the sun came up, only to end up carrying her on his back when she passed out halfway down the hall. He sighed, disappointed with himself as he was still worried about Xehanort when he could have helped Aqua or Ven against the invading Heartless. Reunited with his best friends after everything that happened to them, only for him to feel like a coward as he hid away from an old man who was stronger than he looked. "Sorry, Aqua. Next time, I'm not going to make anymore excuses and keep hiding in this world forever...I just hope I'm strong enough to face Xehanort again when he shows himself."





As the next day rolled around, he got himself motivated, dressed in his attire, and made his way down to Sweet Apple Acres. After a quick breakfast, he, Applejack, and Big Macintosh began working on their chores, getting apples picked and trees well watered. As Sora and Applejack carried buckets of apples back to the barn, the farm mare told the Keyblade wielder what had happened in their time at Appleoosa for the rodeo.

"Wow. So, Troubleshoes was actually a misunderstood guy with some unfortunate luck, huh?" Sora said.

"'Fraid so," Applejack said. "Never thought mah sister, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle would be the ones to defend him from arrestin' somepony who just wanted to enjoy the rodeo. And it turned out what he thought was bad luck for his upside down horseshoe cutie mark could have been a good thing when he dressed up as a rodeo clown." She chuckled as she recalled all the random slip ups and crashes the larger stallion bigger than her older brother made when none of them realized it was Troubleshoes in the first place. "Y'all should have come along with us and saw for yourself."

"Too bad I had a Cutie Map conundrum with Riku, Pinkie, and Rainbow in Griffonstone. But, was Troubleshoes really that tall?" he asked. "I'm a little glad Big Mac didn't come along. He probably seemed like a midget compared to a stallion who's nearly as tall as Luna or Celestia."

At least we got the rodeo cancellin's solved. All thanks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders of all ponies." As they were just talking about the Crusaders, Apple Bloom was finally awake and walked out of the farmhouse, making her way over to the clubhouse. "Though, Ah did make sure to give them a punishment for sneakin' out of Braeburn's sight in the middle of the night to find Troubleshoes."

"Maybe you should have found someone who seems a bit more responsible rather than your cousin," Sora suggested. "Braeburn's not exactly the best stallion who shows responsibility when we first met him when the buffalo tribe caused some trouble."

"Ah know, but there was practice needin' to be done, and Troubleshoes was around when we thought he was still dangerous. Didn't have enough time to find a foalsitter," Applejack said.

A moment later after delivering a few buckets of apples to the farm, Sora spotted Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle running into the orchard to the CMC clubhouse. Curious to know what those fillies were up to after their little adventure in Appleoosa, he decided to check up on them and get the details on the rodeo from their point of view. As he poked his head in the window, he watched as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were in the middle of crafting something while Apple Bloom was busy working on more cutie mark crusades to take on.

"Hey, girls!" he greeted, surprising the trio as they didn't even hear him arrive. "Heard you three got into some trouble in Appleoosa the other day."

"Yeah. And we didn't get a cutie mark as sheriffs or doing anything rodeo related either," Scootaloo complained.

"We probably wouldn't have gotten in trouble if you two didn't want to find Troubleshoes," Sweetie Belle said. "I suggested staying put with Braeburn, but nooooo! We got lost trying to find where he was, and in the middle of a terrifying thunderstorm, too!"

"But it was kind of worth it to help Troubleshoes out," Apple Bloom said. "All his life, ever since he got his cutie mark, he thought he would always have bad luck. His clumsiness still gave him his dream of bein' part of a rodeo, but as a clown instead!"

"Wish we took pictures of his first time as a rodeo clown," Scootaloo said. "He was hilarious!"

"Even if I went with you guys, I would have been called back to Ponyville since the map called me. Never go mountain climbing in a dangerous gorge named the Abysmal Abyss." Sora noticed Apple Bloom begin drawing a mountain on her long list of crusading activities, not allowing them to even think about attempting something that dangerous. "Hey! Cross that off, Apple Bloom! No mountain climbing!"

"Darn it," the young Apple grumbled, scribbling away the mountain drawing she made.

"And no grumbling, little filly. You can climb mountains in your dreams, but not in real life. It's very dangerous stuff." As Apple Bloom continued thinking of more ideas, Sora looked back at the little project the other two crusaders were up to. "So, you trying to get cutie marks in art or something?"

"Actually, we're making cards for our moms," Scootaloo said.

"Are they sick?" the stallion asked.

"No. It's Mother's Day today!" Sweetie Belle answered, using her magic to levitate a glue bottle and dab some glue around the crudely crafted card she made, followed up with some glitter to decorate it.

"Wait, is it today?" Sora looked at the calendar the fillies had in their clubhouse, and today's date was circled with the words "Mother's Day" written underneath. "Huh. Time flies pretty quickly with everything in Equestria."

"Did you make anything for your mom, Sora?" Scootaloo asked. "I'm making my card just as awesome as she is! But, not as awesome as Rainbow Dash. That's a different kind of awesome."

"Well...I've been pretty busy, and I haven't had the time to...send her a...letter..." Sora cringed, completely forgetting his promise to keep her updated on how he's been. Now that's been nearly a year since he last saw her, he groaned, figuring she was going to be cross with him after he forgot, though the blame was mostly with all the dangerous and eventful moments in Equestria that made it slip from his mind. "Aww, man. I keep forgetting to write letters to her. She's gonna scold me like I'm five again..."

"How do you forget to write to your mom?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I thought you'd have time when no Heartless show up." The pegasus stallion gave the unicorn filly a blank stare, pointing his hoof up into the sky. "...Oh. Right. Other world. Almost forgot."

"How far away is your home from Equestria anyway?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Pretty far. But if I go back home and see her, she's really gonna chew me out..." An idea suddenly popped in his mind, and it was a dumb idea. He could get in serious trouble with Aqua and Master Yen Sid, but since the rules involving keeping the outside worlds a secret had been broken several times, there wouldn't be any harm in doing it. "...I'll be right back, girls. I need to do a little something outside Equestria."

"What are you going to do?" Scootaloo asked.

"You'll see...if I don't get into trouble." Deciding to go through with his plan, Sora flew off to the outskirts of Ponyville to his Gummi Ship. "I'm definitely going to get in a lot of trouble for doing this, but hopefully, Aqua will understand...I really, really hope."





In no time at all, Sora landed his ship outside the town on Destiny Islands. After cloaking his spacecraft, he made his way to his house, passing by his old neighbor's homes. He spotted some of the other kids hanging around their mothers, spending the day with them as they got them either flowers or a homemade card to show how much they appreciated them. Sora spotted his house in the distance, a little worried about how his mom would react after his neglected letter sending, but he hoped his plan would make things up to her.

He knocked on his own door, wondering if she was awake this early or not. "It's open!" she called out.

Sora opened the door, finding his mother in the middle of cleaning the kitchen with her back turned to him. "Hey, mom!"

She stopped cleaning and turned around, surprised to see her son back after a long while. "Sora!" Putting down her cleaning supplies, she approached him, but instead of a welcoming hug, she konked him in the back of the head with her hand. "Nearly a year away again, and not a single letter or visit."

Sora rubbed his head, expecting to be scolded as he giggled nervously. "Well, I've been busy. It slipped my mind."

The woman let out a frustrated sigh and shook her head. "You know, you're lucky Kairi comes by to visit more than you and at least keep me updated on how you're doing. I know fighting darkness is dangerous and very serious work, but there has to be some time where you can take a break and come back home every once in a while."

"I do have time, but so much had happened the past year," Sora reasoned. "Not to mention the recently appearing castle in Ponyville that has a map that actually helps us Keyblade wielders figure out where Heartless are appearing in the worlds."

"...There aren't any here, are there?" Sora shook his head to the woman's relief. "Good. If anything like that storm hit us again, I have no idea what I'd do." Looking over her son, she noticed the shoulder pauldron on Sora's left shoulder, almost missing it since it blended in with his black clothing. She reached out and touched it, feeling the tough metal armor piece resting on his shoulder. "What is this?"

"Oh. It's actually something Riku, Kairi, and I never even knew about," Sora said. "It's enchanted Keyblade armor. And I can also turn my own Keyblade into a glider, making it a whole lot faster to get from world to world. I don't know why we never knew about this ever since we got our Keyblades sooner! It's awesome!"

"Ok, settle down. I'll take your word for it." The woman chuckled in amusement at her teenage son still acting like an excited five year old. "So, what brings you by aside from being reminded by your girlfriend today was Mother's Day and forced you to come all this way to see me and wish me a happy Mother's Day?"

"Uhh, actually, it wasn't Kairi who reminded me of the date," Sora admitted. "It was actually three little fillies I hang around...and keep safe from their wild crusading. But...I did come by to give you a little surprise vacation, even though I know I'm going to be in so much trouble when the others find out."

"When do you ever NOT get in trouble?" she asked with a grin. Her smile faded when Sora mentioned taking her on a vacation, putting two and two together as she stared at him in shock. "...Wait...Exactly where is it you were going to take me? Like...not in this world? As in another world beyond Destiny Islands?"

"Uh huh," he said with a nod. Sora brought his hands behind his head and grinned, awaiting his mother's reaction as he revealed where they were going. "Since you liked Pinkie when she was here, Riku, Kairi, and I did plan to bring her and the other girls here one day for a summer vacation, or maybe during the winter on any warmer days we have here. But...how would you like to spend Mother's Day in Equestria?"

Her jaw dropped, Sora's grin growing wider as he got the exact expression she would have given. The woman stammered, both excited to visit the colorful world of talking ponies she and every other girl dreamed of, but she was also a bit concerned about the consequences. She knew Sora was supposed to keep everything about the other worlds a secret, along with the Keyblade and Heartless, but she was told of what had happened to them after that terrible storm and where her son and best friend had been for over a year.

"...S-Sora," Sora's mom uttered. "Are...are you sure you can do that? Bring someone else to another world? What if you get into serious trouble, like having your sword taken away?"

"I'm sure the others will understand," Sora said, though his mother could detect a hint of nervousness. "...I hope." She began having second thoughts on this idea of a wonderful Mother's Day gift. She could see Equestria for herself and see Sora's pony friends, but she didn't want to jeopardize his career as a Keyblade wielder just to let her have a good time. "I don't think I'll worry too much. Besides, that man who started all this, Xehanort, he leaked secrets about the Keyblade and the Princesses of Heart to that witch, Maleficent, which was how she knew about the Keyblade and the seven princesses with pure hearts. Including Kairi. So, that rule about keeping the world order was already broken, probably even before Xehanort's time, too."

"...Well...I really don't want to get you into trouble..." After some thought, the woman let out a sigh. "However, you always do find a way out of the trouble you get in, even though I make sure you properly punished for the stupid ideas you get in that lackadaisical brain of yours." Sora giggled sheepishly since he was always the troublemaker between him and Riku when they were kids. "...Alright. Since you're offering, I'll go."

"Great! Let's head out of town and board the Gummi Ship!" Sora and his mother left their house, making sure the door was locked before heading out as she watched the Keyblade wielder run on ahead.

As she finally reached the outskirts of the town, Sora uncloaked the ship so she could see it. She was a little apprehensive getting into it, the only kind of ship she had been on was the small boats out on the ocean. Climbing up the ramp, she made her way into the cockpit, seeing the inside of the blocky space ship for the first time.

"Wow," she gasped in awe. "How do you know how this thing works?"

"I had a little practice when I was with Donald and Goofy when we traveled the worlds together," Sora said. "I don't think you've met them."

"No, although they sound like characters from a really old cartoon show when I was younger." The woman sat down in one of the available seats as she heard the engine roaring to life. Finding the safety belt, she quickly strapped herself in, feeling nervous about flying in the Gummi Ship. "Uhh, is this thing really safe to fly?"

"It may look clunky and blocky on the outside, but it flies perfectly fine," he assured. "It won't be a long flight once I activate the warp drive as soon as we leave the atmosphere."

"Wait, 'warping'?" She yelped as the Gummi Ship began moving, already feeling her stomach drop as it hovered up and out toward the sky. Daring to look outside the glass dome, she could see the town of Destiny Islands getting smaller and smaller as they moved farther from the world. "Oooooooh boy...This is...quite a thrill. Is that what our world really looks like?"

"Sure is. All of them seem to show some major locations from out in space." Once they were far enough away from Destiny Islands, Sora put in Equestria's coordinates and held his hand over the Warp-G to enable the warp drive. "Hang on tight, mom. This'll only be a few seconds."

The woman braced herself in her seat as Sora pressed the button, sending the Gummi Ship flying at light speeds. Her back was immediately shoved against the back of her seat, every part of her body feeling like jelly as she let out a scream from the terrifying warp travel. As quickly as the sudden G-forces came at her, they arrived in front of the equine world as they slowed down to a suitable cruise, her heart racing and her organs slowly returning back to where they belonged in her body. Sora looked back at her, not even affected by the same daze she was in right now, forcefully pulling her fingernails out of the seat she tightly clung onto for dear life.

"...H-How...are you...used to that?" she asked as soon as she was able to control her breathing.

"Warp traveling to so many different worlds several light-years away can build up an immunity to this kind of thing," he said, turning back around and waving his arm out to the world. "Welcome to Equestria; a world with bright and colorful ponies, magic, and the magic of friendship."

After recovering from her first ever ride across space through warp speed, straightening her swept back hair, she gasped as she got a better look at Equestria from afar. Sora flew them down toward the village at the bottom of the planet as his mom stared in awe at the bright and colorful land coming into view. She barely noticed the flash of light come from the pilot's seat as the world looked like it came straight out of a coloring book. There were no ponies just yet as they landed in an empty field outside of Ponyville, Sora turning off the engine and opening the ramp for them to get off.

"Oh my goodness," the woman uttered. "This place really is more lively than back home." Sora stood up from his seat, making his mother's jaw drop when she saw him now as a pegasus. "...Sora!?"

"What?" She pointed at him, unable to find the words to say anything about his pony transformation. The stallion touched his face, realizing he had changed while his mother didn't due to not having the ability to use magic. "Oh. Right. I get so used to my magic passively transforming me to fit into certain worlds, I nearly forgot. The only humanoid creatures around here are primates or minotaurs. And no, the monkeys don't talk."

As swift as Sora was able to move in combat, his mother had quickly unbuckled herself, already recovered from the shaky flight, immediately pulling him into a death grip of a hug. "Oh my gosh, Sora! You're so adorable as a pony!"

"Ahhh! Mom!" Sora flailed his hooves, unable to escape from his mother's hold.

"And you're so much smaller, just the same size as Pinkie!" she continued gushing. "Ooh, I want you to stay like this forever!" The excited woman finally let him out of her crushing hug, the stallion groaning as his head lolled back, almost feeling his bones getting squeezed to death by his own mother. She got a better look at her son as a pony, noting the wings at his sides and how lanky his body was, almost like how he looked as a human. "You're a pegasus, huh? And you're so scrawny! Are you even eating at all?"

"I'm eating fine," Sora slurred, shaking his head as he forced himself out of his mother's hands. "And try not to do that too much to the other ponies you see. They may look like animals to us, but they can talk, remember?"

"Oh, I know that, but what kind of animal doesn't like getting petted, scratched, or cuddled with?" The pegasus sighed and slumped over, flinching as his mom scratched a spot behind his ear that made his legs feel like jelly. "Even you seem to like that, Sora."

The woman chuckled as the stallion blushed, moving his head far away from her hands. "And when I turn into an animal, I end up having some instincts of what I transform into...No wonder why pets like that."

"Well, I had my fun teasing you a little. Now, let's go find your friends." Sora blanched, watching his mother about ready to leave the Gummi Ship.

"W-Wait, mom!" Sora quickly flew over to the exit, barring her path as he hovered in front of her. "You can't just go out there as a human! Who knows how every pony in town will react when they see you walking around!"

"Oh, right! I need to blend in with the world!" Sora's mom tried to figure out how she was supposed blend into a world of talking ponies, only to have no idea how to do such a thing. "...How do I do that?"

"You don't have the same kind of magic we do...Should have thought this through a bit more..." As Sora pondered how to fix this issue, an idea came to him as he remembered how he and Kairi helped Spike during the Dragon Migration. "Aha! I got an idea. Mom, just stay here for a little bit longer. I'm going to find Kairi and get her help."

"Ok, but make it quick! I can't wait to see everything!" Sora exited his ship and flew off to the castle to find Kairi, praying his mom would stay put long enough for him to come back.

As soon as he arrived at the Castle of Friendship, Sora began searching for Kairi. Seeing it was still pretty early in the morning, he figured she would be in the dining room eating breakfast. His hunch was right, although, his luck went sour as everyone was also inside as they ate or discussed today's special holiday for mothers all over the world. Even Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were here too, the latter of the two finished with their Mother's Day cards.

"Hey, Sora!" Scootaloo said. "About time you got back! Did you do what you remembered you needed to do?"

"Wait, where did Sora go to?" Riku asked curiously. "I thought he was still on the farm with his chores."

"Well, he did finish them, but he didn't tell me where he ran off to," Applejack said. She looked over at her sister, Scootaloo confirming that the three fillies did see Sora last. "Apple Bloom?"

"He didn't say where he was goin'," Apple Bloom said with a shrug. "Just somethin' he needed to do out of Ponyville."

"Exactly!" Sora said, thankful for Apple Bloom still keeping her knowledge of everything about him secret from the others. "And now, I need Kairi for a moment!"

"Umm, why do you need-?" Kairi yelped as the stallion picked her up in his forelegs and carried her out of the castle, confusing the others.

"...Uhh...ok. Sora's acting weirder than usual today," Riku uttered. "What's he up to?"

"Maybe something special for Mother's Day?" Sweetie Belle guessed.

"Then why would he want to take Kairi with him back to Destiny Islands?" Riku questioned. He soon shrugged his shoulders, having no idea what crazy idea he had for his mom today. "A card and just visiting her would be a better, simple idea, but whatever."

"Shouldn't you see your mom today as well, Riku?" Twilight asked.

"I actually saw her and dad yesterday," he said. "They know I'm always gonna be busy, and my mom has to work today. I gave her an early Mother's Day card and spent some time with my folks before coming back."

"You think I'll meet them someday?" Twilight asked.

"...Maybe not as a pony. It'll be a bit awkward if a talking pony waltzed right in and introduced yourself as my girlfriend. Not exactly a normal thing that just happens around our home." The alicorn pouted, wanting to see what Destiny Islands looked like and at least meet his parents when he met hers. "But, if they met you as a human with a little transformation magic, that could make things a little bit better."

"Turning myself into a human?" Twilight groaned, looking down at her hooves as she imagined herself as a human again with those odd digits called fingers. "As if I wasn't already awkward enough when we went through the portal to Canterlot High. Fingers are weird! And so is everything else about being human!"

"You think that fingers are the weirdest part of the human body?" Terra questioned. "I'd think they would be helpful for anyone without opposable thumbs to grab stuff."

"I was a unicorn before I ascended, and I could easily lift stuff with magic," Twilight explained, lighting up her horn and levitating a plate as an example.

"Maybe for earth ponies and pegasi, that would benefit them rather than hold a lot of things in their mouths." Terra grabbed a fork with his hoof, also questioning how non-unicorns could actually pick up things with them. "Now to ask how hooves in this world actually work. I just went along with it for a long while, but there has to be a reason."

"Magic?" Ventus answered with a shrug.

"...Eh. Makes sense to me," Terra said, digging his fork into his eggs as he resumed eating his breakfast.





"Sora, where are you taking me?" Kairi asked as Sora continued carrying her to the outskirts of Ponyville.

"Ok, I know this is going to sound a little crazy, but do you remember how we turned into dragons when we watched Spike during the Dragon Migration?" he asked.

"Yes...Why?" she asked.

"Well...it's kind of a funny story," Sora said with a nervous laugh. "I went back home to see my mom, being Mother's Day and all, but..."

"But what?" He didn't give a response as they arrived where their ships were parked. "Sora, what did you do?"

"Oh my gosh! Kairi!?" The mare's ears perked up as she heard a familiar voice in Sora's Gummi Ship. Turning around, she gasped in shock as she saw Sora's mother standing at the top of the ramp and waving at her. "Is that you!? Oh my goodness, you're so cute as a unicorn!"

The unicorn was absolutely speechless. She slowly turned her head to her boyfriend, who gave her a nervous grin.

"Ta da," he said, waving his hoof to his mother. "I brought my mom to Equestria for Mother's Day."

Looking back at the gushing woman, her eye twitched before giving Sora's mom a fake grin. "Excuse us for just one second." Kairi began walking over to a nearby tree, dragging Sora across the ground by the collar of his jacket with her magic until they were out of his mother's sight. She gave him a hard smack on the head, the woman wincing as she heard it from inside the ship, figuring Sora would have gotten into trouble with someone eventually. "Are you crazy!? What were you thinking bringing her here!? Or did she 'unexpectedly stow away' like Pinkie did!?"

"...Ow. Saw that coming," the stallion muttered, rubbing the bump on his head. "And no. I really did bring her here."

"Why!?" Kairi questioned. "You're not supposed to bring someone from another world to another! Protecting the world order is our job as well as dealing with Heartless, remember!?"

"Yes, but how many times has that rule been broken with Xehanort, Maleficent, Ansem, and Organization XIII?" Kairi was about to retort, but sadly, Sora did have a point. Maleficent had come from another world that wasn't supposed to have any knowledge of the Keyblade or any of the Princesses of Heart. She even managed to control Heartless and enlisted Pete as one of her henchmen, along with other villains from several other worlds to try to take Kingdom Hearts for herself. Not to mention the many times Sora had made friends with several different people in the worlds he's rescued from the darkness, sometimes interfering with their troubles when they were in serious danger against the Heartless or someone cruel. "It's Mother's Day, and I want to do something for mom. Ever since I got my Keyblade, I've been so busy trying to find you and Riku, and helping other worlds.

"And Aqua and the others don't have to know she's here. We'll change mom into a pony, give her an Equestrian name, and no one would be the wiser." Sora fell to the unicorn's hooves and grabbed them, practically begging her to help him. "I'll do anything if you help me transform mom. She'll have her fun here, and as soon as the sun sets, I'll send her back home. Just please don't let anyone else know I did this. I know I'm in a lot of trouble, but it's worth it to make my mom live out a childhood dream every girl has, including you."

Kairi groaned, unsure if she should even go through with Sora's crazy idea of a Mother's Day gift. She had grown up most of her life without her parents after Aqua saved her from the threat of darkness in Radiant Garden, barely even remembering what they looked like. Sora's mother was like a mom to her when she hung out with him and Riku. She knew he was taking a big risk, but knowing him, he always found some way out of whatever trouble he gets himself into. He gave up his heart to wake her, and took that risk knowing it would end his life, luckily brought back thanks to her light after finding his Heartless.

She let out a sigh, allowing this to happen despite how brainless Sora's plans can sometimes be. "Alright. I'll help." Before he could cheer, Kairi gripped Sora's muzzle with her aura tightly, keeping his mouth shut as she lifted him up and stared directly at him in the eyes. "But if Aqua finds out about this, she'll end up reporting this to Master Yen Sid as well, and you'll end up in even more trouble."

She let go of him, Sora rubbing his sore snout as he spoke. "I know. But I'd rather have that happen than any of them finding out what I can accidentally turn into with my Drive Forms."

Even after over a year since that mishap showing off his Drives, Kairi could still see that fear of his Anti Form being discovered by Riku, and now Aqua, Terra, and Ventus, worrying how they'll react upon seeing him as an out of control Heartless. Still, he had been through other depressing moments before and after becoming a Keyblade wielder, and his mother was the only family he had left. The couple returned to the ship where the pegasus's mother waited patiently for them to finish their private conversation.

"Ok, so, welcome to Equestria and all that," Kairi said, still a little adamant with having the Sora's mom around. "Let's get to working on that spell."

"I assume you gave Sora a good whack in the head for this idea of his. I heard it from all the way over here." Sora rubbed his sore noggin, confirming her assumption. "I knew it was a bad idea, but I went along with it, so that makes me crazy as well. Do I need to do anything to make this magic transforming thing work?"

"Just hold still and let us work our magic." She kept herself as still as a statue as she watched Kairi's horn light up while Sora summoned his Keyblade. "Luckily, I still remember how Twilight did this for us and changed us into dragons."

As Kairi aimed her horn at the confused and slightly worried human woman, Sora aimed his Keyblade at her as well, holding it a couple inches beside the mare's horn. He drew light into the end of his Keyblade, merging with Kairi's unicorn magic as both light auras shined and fired a beam of light straight toward the woman. She flinched as it struck her, her body engulfed in a bright light, though surprisingly without feeling any pain as the spell shifted her form.

Her silhouette in the light began to shrink down as her human body began turning equine: hands and feet replaced with hooves, a tail growing out behind her, ears poking up on top of her head through her mane, and everything else until her transformation as a pony was complete. Once the light faded, Sora and Kairi saw the results of the spell as a light tan pegasus mare stood at the top of the ramp, her hair similar in color and style to how it looked when she was a human, though her clothes were no longer present. They could see the cutie mark on her flank, which was an image of a palm tree on a small island in the middle of the ocean.

"...Did it work?" the mare asked, her eyes closed from flinching along with the blinding light that was around her.

"Yep. It worked," Sora said. "Just open your eyes, mom."

She squinted her eyes open and looked down at herself. Lifting up a hoof, she was a little surprised to now be a pony, but it soon turned to excitement as she grinned. She then looked at her sides as she unintentionally ruffled her wings out of her excitement, spotting her wings and frowned in disappointment.

"Awww," she whined. "I wanted to be a unicorn...Or do I have both!?" She reached a hoof up to her forehead, though only more disappointed as she pouted like a little kid when she felt a flat forehead. "Nope. Why'd you make me a pegasus? I wanted to use magic!"

"We helped transform you," Kairi said. "We didn't exactly pick out what you would turn into."

"And you with magic while you're this excited...We're kind of lucky you aren't and trying to use random spells you make up in your head," Sora added.

"Oh well. Probably won't find much use with these wings after flying in this-" The transformed woman tried to walk down the ramp, only to yelp and trip over her hooves. She tumbled down the ramp, landing at the bottom in a painful heap, one of her back legs twitching in the air with her face planted in the ground. "...Ow..."

"Should have taught you how to walk on all fours first before you tried walking on your own." Sora helped his mother up, having a little trouble trying to keep her balance on four legs like a newborn foal until she just sat down on her haunches. "You ok?"

"Not the most embarrassing thing I've done, but that was one of them." She looked down at her hooves again, then down at herself, her eyes growing wide as her clothes were missing. "What happened to my clothes!? I'm naked!" She shoved her hooves in front of Sora's eyes, forgetting that ponies never wore clothes in the first place. "Sora, don't look!"

"Mom, ponies don't wear clothes," he said.

"Well, you still have yours!" the embarrassed mother exclaimed. "...W-Well, only your shirt and jacket, but still!"

"Clothes either come with you when you transform, or it doesn't," Sora explained, moving his mother's hooves away from his face. "So far, only as a pony do my own clothes stay. I've turned into a lion cub and a half-man, half-dolphin/merman thing, but no clothes for either of them."

"You get used to it," Kairi said. "As well as walking on four legs."

She grumbled as she stood up, trying to ignore her lack of decency as she got a look at her wings. Her eyes soon spotted her cutie mark, remembering seeing Pinkie have one of them on her flanks.

"Huh. That's a weird tattoo," she said.

"It's a cutie mark," Sora reminded her. "They're supposed to show a pony's talent. Although, a palm tree looking out at the ocean is...a little weird."

"At least it's something," Kairi said. "Better for a grown mare to have a cutie mark in something than nothing. But the beach?"

"I do like taking walks on the beach from time to time," Sora's mother said. "Maybe these cutie mark things also show someone's favorite hobbies?" Sora and Kairi looked at each other, both of them shrugging their shoulders as it could be a possible example. "Oh well. Let's get to learning how to walk like this and see everything I can. Ohh, this is the best Mother's Day gift ever!"

"Please don't get too excited and start petting everyone if we see anyone, mom," Sora warned. "It'd be awkward. I felt like I had to keep a leash on Kairi when she saw the Cake Twins when they were born." The pegasus mare squealed at the thought of seeing baby ponies, only to be booped on the muzzle by her son. "Focus, mom. Oh, and we need to give you your pony name."

"Can't I just introduce myself since your names are well known?" The couple shook their heads, not wanting to leak her name out with Riku around, the only one of their friends who actually knows her name. She sighed and began thinking of a name, looking back at her cutie mark. She gasped and came up with a name that fit her "talent". "I know! My pony name will be Ocean Breeze!"

"'Ocean Breeze'," Kairi repeated. "Guess that fits with a pegasus with a cutie mark like that. Ocean Breeze it is."

As Sora and Kairi began teaching "Ocean Breeze" how to walk properly, avoiding teaching her how to fly so she doesn't wander off through the air, none of them noticed someone watching them from a distance. "So, that twerp does have family. And he brought his mom here in this world." Pete poked his head through the bushes he hid in, chuckling darkly to himself. "Oh, this is perfect. If I kidnap her, he won't say no to giving himself up for her safety. Just gotta pick the right moment where she's all alone, and then nab her."





After "Ocean Breeze" got used to walking around on four legs, she followed Sora and Kairi into Ponyville. Her head turned to every single inch of the town as they walked: staring at the buildings, the colorful ponies walking around or selling their wares, even up at the skies as she watched pegasi flying around and moving clouds around. She so desperately wanted to just run up to the nearest pony and just hug them like a stuffed doll, but she kept her composure, not wanting to embarrass herself or get her kicked out for being too friendly with the sentient equines.

"Oh my, this place is amazing!" Ocean exclaimed. "It's like I jumped into an old coloring book I had as a little girl, only without all the colors drawn out of the lines sloppily!" Her stomach suddenly began to rumble, pressing a hoof to her starving belly. "Heh. Guess I forgot to eat breakfast before I did some early cleaning. Is there anywhere around here that serves anything but grass or hay?"

"I guess we can head off to Sugarcube Corner," Sora suggested. "I only hope Pinkie doesn't recognize you in your disguise."

"Oh, I want to see Pinkie again!" Ocean said. "I want to know how she's been doing. I just hope the rest of your friends aren't busy." They soon spotted the bakery, the pegasus mare chuckling to herself at the perfect designed structure for a place that sells sweets. "Wow. Is that actually a really big gingerbread house or meant to look like one?"

"It's a building, mo-uhh, Ocean Breeze," Sora quickly corrected, not wanting anyone else to know this new mare was his mother. "Don't try to eat it."

"Did you try to eat it?" she asked with a smirk.

"Of course not," Sora said. "I'm not that crazy to eat part of a house shaped like that."

The trio walked inside, the smell of freshly baked goods hitting their nostrils the moment they opened the door. Luckily, Cup Cake was working the counter, which meant Pinkie was either in the kitchen baking with Carrot Cake, or she was still at the castle with everyone else. In a corner of the bakery was a small play area for the twins, a perfect spot for the Cakes to watch after their foals as they work. Pound and Pumpkin were playing with their toys when they saw Sora, Kairi, and Ocean walk inside, the unicorn filly squealing gleefully as she ran up to Sora.

"Sowa!" Pumpkin greeted excitedly, giving her favorite foalsitter a hug to his foreleg.

"Hey, Pumpkin!" Sora pat the toddler, picking the little unicorn filly up in his hooves. "Oof! You're getting so big! Better not be eating too many sweets, or we'll bake you in a big ol' pumpkin pie!"

Pumpkin giggled and waved her hooves around happily as she was held by him. Ocean squealed in awe at how cute the filly was, and her twin brother who had rolled his eyes at his sister's excitement over Sora.

"She's so adorable!" she said. "Ahh! Babies are my biggest weakness! I wanna hold her!" She looked over at the pegasus colt playing around with some blocks. "Or maybe I can hold this little guy!" Ocean Breeze approached Pound Cake and crouched down beside him with a look of glee, the toddler looking up at the new stranger staring at him. "Hi, cutie! You playing with blocks? You must be a smart little boy if you can spell lots of words!"

Pound tilted his head in confusion, feeling a little nervous with this new mare talking to him. Cup Cake chuckled as she watched the new pony in Ponyville interacting with her son, looking at her to give an answer as to who this mare was.

"Well, at least the twins are getting some attention," she said. "Sora, Kairi, what brings you here today? And who's this?"

"Just showing a new visitor around town," Sora said, carrying Pumpkin on his back. "Her name's Ocean Breeze. She...clearly likes babies." He looked at his mom, making silly faces to get the colt to laugh, but failed to do so since Pinkie was better with the silly faces. "Ocean, I thought you were hungry for food, not cute and cuddly baby ponies!"

The mare's stomach reminded her of her hunger, giving a little boop on Pound's muzzle before walking up to the counter. "Sorry. Your babies are just so cute! It must be hard work raising twins, though it can't be as bad as raising a rambunctious little boy who kept getting in more trouble than he should."

Sora resisted the urge to groan and roll his eyes while Cup Cake laughed in amusement. "I didn't know you were a mother. Hopefully your day isn't spent wandering around without your family to celebrate today."

"Oh, don't worry about that. My son offered a vacation here, and I'm enjoying it already." Ocean's stomach grumbled again as it demanded to try some of the baked goods lined up on the shelves in the display case. "And my stomach would love some of these pastries."

Ocean Breeze pointed out which treats she wanted as Cup Cake grabbed them, Sora paying for his mom's breakfast since she didn't have any money from this world to buy anything. With her food, she picked a table and began eating her breakfast, moaning in delight at the far more delicious baked goods here than back at home. Sora and Kairi sat at the table with her, the stallion setting Pumpkin down on the table to join them. Ocean gave the filly a piece of her muffin, giving her a snack making Pound jealous as he flapped his wings and hovered up to the table with a whine. He begged for a bit of the mare's sweets, which ended up causing a jealous struggle between the twins, Sora and Kairi quickly separating them from each other before they got in a fight.

A moment later, Pinkie walked through the door, finding Sora, Kairi, and Ocean in the bakery. "Hi, Sora, Kairi, Pound, Pumpkin, somepony I don't know!" She passed by them as she greeted them, only to freeze in place and walk backwards, a beeping noise coming from her as she stepped back. She took a better look at the new mare, finding it odd that there was someone new, yet her Pinkie Sense should have gone off to warn her about this as soon as she arrived. "Wait a minute here...Who are you?"

Sora gulped as his eyes shifted left and right, quickly coming up with an excuse. "Uhh, she's a visitor! Her name's Ocean Breeze!"

Ocean swallowed the mouthful of muffin in her mouth and looked at the pink earth pony. "Hi, Pinkie! How have you been!?"

Sora facehooved as his mother completely forgot to stay in character as a new pony who didn't know anyone, which included Pinkie Pie. "But...I just met you right now. And if there was anypony new in Ponyville I never met before, then my Pinkie Sense should have gone off. But you know me, and I'm supposed to know everypony I meet really well, except for you..."

"W-We told her about how great of a friend you can be!" Sora quickly answered before his mother made the situation worse. "And your awesome parties! But she's not going to stay long for a big party, so sadly, she's going to miss it!"

"But we-" The stallion quickly kicked Ocean's shin, making her wince and glare at him. His expression told her she was screwing up what she promised earlier, realizing her mistake and corrected herself. "I mean, yes! Sora has told me so much about you and your other friends! And I have to head back home by sunset. So, those famous parties of yours I'm unfortunately going to miss out on."

Pinkie raised a brow, growing suspicious as she looked at the new mare closely. Her hairstyle looked familiar out of the many other ponies who had a similar style she knew of, her hair color matches Sora's, along with their eyes being the same shade of blue, and Ocean had the scent of the ocean, but the only ocean she had even been at was around Destiny Islands when she stowed away on Sora's Gummi Ship. Not to mention her voice sounding familiar as well. Sora began to sweat nervously, praying to whatever random thoughts were going on in Pinkie's mind she would not see that Ocean Breeze was his mother.

She soon let out a gasp, everything finally clicking as soon as she took a glance at Ocean's cutie mark. "...Oh..." Pinkie looked at Sora, who let out a groan and bang his head on the table; she figured it out. "...Sora, is this your-?"

"Yes," he said, his face planted to the table sounding muffled.

"...That explains why my Pinkie Sense didn't go off!" Pinkie said. "I have met you before! Phew. For a moment, I thought my Pinkie Sense was broken, but it's never ever steered me wrong!" She hugged Ocean, but pulled away as a question popped in her head. "Wait, why are you here in Equestria?"

"Well, a certain young man thought it would be fun for me to have a little intergalactic vacation for Mother's Day, and I love this place so far!" Ocean said. "I wish I could stay here forever, but I don't want to get Sora in trouble for bringing someone else to another world."

"Huh. That's funny," Pinkie said. "Sora, Riku, and Kairi brought us to other worlds, and they didn't get in any trouble with Aqua or their Keyblade Master, Yenny Cid."

"His name is Yen Sid, Pinkie," Kairi corrected.

"At least his name wasn't spelled backwards," Pinkie added. "Don't know if that was meant to be ironic or intentional, but it's not all that subtle. Try harder, Disney!"

Despite the weird tangent, Ocean couldn't help but giggle at Pinkie's overthinking. "Oh, I missed you, Pinkie. You made the day more lively back home a year back. A nice change of pace than just Sora, his friends, and myself for...the last several years..." Her glee shifted to sadness as she let out a sigh. Sora's ears drooped as he looked down at the table sadly, knowing what his mother was talking about. After bringing back Destiny Islands and the other worlds that were swallowed by darkness, his mother had been all by herself for over a year since he came back, and even longer during his Mark of Master exam and being sent to Equestria to help keep the world safe from darkness. "I've never had as much fun as I used to when my husband...passed on."

Pinkie's smile flipped upside down at the mention of Sora's father, never once seeing him during her stay at their home or in many of their pictures. "Oh...What happened to him?"

"...Let's just say there was a terrible storm one day about ten years back that was worse for any ship a quarter the size of a cruise liner to survive in." Pinkie's mane deflated, getting the picture as she looked at Sora, the stallion just as miserable as his mother was. Ocean looked at Pound, not sure why his and his sister's foalsitters were sad as he looked at them, giving the little colt a pat on the head. Staring at the pegasus colt reminded her of Sora as a baby, raising him as he grew up from a wild and mischievous boy to a responsible, though still quite silly adult. "Sora was all I had left...and he didn't fare too well when he heard the bad news. He even missed a few months of school, which I thought was understandable in the depressed state he was in...

"I was so worried about losing him, too. And now that he's a Keyblade wielder, fighting deadly monsters that could kill him if he wasn't careful, it scares me half to death if I heard he was killed by one of them." She looked up at Sora, reaching her hoof out to touch his with a smile. "But I know he's a tough kid. Facing a lot of those things with such little practice aside from his playful duels against his friends, he's definitely grown to be a strong warrior after facing possibly millions of those Heartless things." He looked up at her, unable to help but smile a little at his mother's praise. "I'm sure if your father were still around, he'd be proud to see you as the young man you turned out to be."

"I know, mom," he said. "I just wish he didn't leave that night."

"Me, too." Ocean let out another sigh, looking down at Pound Cake and gave his mane a little ruffle. "But, no matter how much you want it, you can't change the past. Who knows what'll end up happening if anyone tries to deny fate?"

"That's already happened once when Xehanort tried to recreate the thirteen seeds of darkness, bringing back his Heartless and Nobody as two of the thirteen vessels," Kairi said. "If only we knew where he is and finally stop him once and for all."

"Well, whenever you do face him, I know you two and Riku can take him if you work together," Ocean said.

"We also have a couple other Keyblade wielders we didn't know were still around who actually fought Xehanort several years ago," Sora said, pointing at his pauldron. "That was how we figured out about our armor and turning our Keyblades into gliders."

"Even better. Not even a one man army can handle several experts in their skills to save the worlds from impending doom." Sora stifled a chuckle at how wrong his mom was after he himself took on a thousand Heartless on his own back in Radiant Garden during the sudden attack from Organization XIII.





After Ocean Breeze ate her bevy of breakfast pastries and saying goodbye to the Cake Twins, Sora and Kairi continued giving the mare a tour of Ponyville, now with Pinkie bouncing along beside them. Aside from the Castle of Friendship they could see no matter where in town they were, they passed by the Carousel Boutique, visited Fluttershy's cottage and met her animal friends, the schoolhouse, despite it being a Sunday and none of the foals were in school, and were now on their way to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Wow. That is a big orchard!" Ocean complimented. "And so many delicious apples. I can't believe you actually stayed here, Sora."

"The Apples were quite hospitable when I crash landed in their orchard," Sora said. "They thought I was hurt, but I was just knocked unconscious. Luckily, I didn't damage a lot of their trees, and the area I fell in has recovered. Hopefully you don't mind that they adopted me as an honorary member of the family."

"Not really. Now you have siblings to annoy you that can keep you distracted," the mare teased.

"Applejack has definitely acted like the sister I never had to annoy me, but Apple Bloom is more like a toddler always needing an eye kept on before she gets into any trouble. As well as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo." They soon heard a trio of fillies giggling as they ran across the orchard, the Crusaders were in the middle of their next cutie mark crusade, Sweetie and Scootaloo already dropping off their Mother's Day cards to their mothers while Sora gave his mom a tour around Ponyville. "Speaking of, there are the three troublemakers who reminded me what today was."

"They must be quite the handful if they get into a lot of mischief. Remind you of anyone, son?" The mare giggled as her son grumbled in response. "Not so easy, is it?"

"At least I can keep up with them faster than their siblings can," Sora said. "Or honorary sister for Scootaloo." As they watched the trio of fillies play, Pete poked his head around the side of the farmhouse and chuckled. He snapped his fingers, summoning a Bulky Vendor Heartless in front of the fillies, a non-threatening Heartless shaped like a gumball machine, but with random prizes in the glass dome on its head. "What the heck!?"

"Is that one of those Heartless things?" Ocean asked.

"Yes, but that's a Bulky Vendor," Kairi said. "It's...relatively harmless. With lots of rare materials inside it if anyone can catch it and turn the knob."

"But if one of those things are here, it could be possible there might be more around the farm. Come on, Kairi, let's do a sweep after we scare that thing off." Sora and Kairi both summoned their Keyblades. "Pinkie, watch mom and stay close to the farmhouse."

"Aye aye, Sora!" The two Keyblade wielders quickly ran out to the fillies as they stared at the oddly terrified Heartless.

"I guess Equestria's not all lollipops and rainbows after all, huh?" Ocean figured.

"I wish!" Pinkie said. "But even without Heartless, there would have been a lot more dangerous villains running around without us! Like Nightmare Moon, who was actually Princess Luna, Discord, who's now friendly even though he kinda-sorta betrayed us-" While Pinkie Pie listed off the numerous villains in Equestria they had faced, Pete creeped toward the two mares from behind. "-and then there was Tirek, who was a magic stealing centaur who actually took everypony's magic! Which is how we got that castle after we beat him and Twilight mastered her new powers we call Harmony Links, and it's kind of funny because she ended up acting like-!"

Pete stood behind Pinkie and slammed his fists down on the pink earth pony's head, surprising Ocean Breeze as she fell unconscious. The older mare turned her head to glare at the beast who dared hurt her pony friend, only to stare in shock with her jaw dropped at the strangest minotaur she could ever imagine.

"Whaaaaaaa...?" she uttered, gawking at the tubby, cat-faced biped wearing the ugliest of body suits with its dark blues and reds. "...What kind of minotaur are you supposed to be!? And why did you just hit her!?"

"Ain't none of your beeswax, little pony," Pete said. "Or should I say, 'Sora's mother'?"

"Wait, how do you know Sora? Or me?" the mare questioned.

"Oh, I know your kid all too well," he answered. "And if I'm gonna get him to finally quit messin' with me and Maleficent's plans, then I'm gonna use you as a bargaining chip." Ocean gasped and tried to flee, stumbling over her hooves as she turned around and tripped over her hooves, still not that used to running on all fours. Pete chuckled in amusement and grabbed the helpless mare, quickly clasping his hand over her mouth as she tried to call out for help. "This is just too easy! Hehehehahaha!"

Ocean Breeze struggled, but the henchman of Maleficent's grip was stronger than hers as he carried her away from the farm, leaving a note on Pinkie's face before leaving.





"What in Equestria is this thing?" Apple Bloom asked after she, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo stopped panicking over the nervous Heartless that appeared in front of them.

"Uhh, is this a Heartless?" Scootaloo asked as she looked at the Heartless emblem on the glass dome. "Shouldn't it be attacking or something?"

"It looks scared," Sweetie Belle noted as its eyes shifted warily between the fillies. She looked inside its dome, finding strange looking materials neither of them have ever seen before. "Is it a prize capsule?"

"Girls, get away from that Bulky Vendor!" Sora's warning startled the Heartless as it disappeared, quickly hiding nearby right as the stallion was close to catching it. "Dang it! That thing's hiding somewhere."

Before the fillies asked Sora what that Heartless was, he flew around the nearby trees and gave them a whack with his Keyblade. Kairi quickly stood in front of them, keeping watch of anymore Heartless that could ambush them.

"Girls, stick close to me," Kairi cautioned. "There could be more Heartless around."

"What was that thing Sora called it?" Scootaloo asked. "It didn't look dangerous."

"That's a Bulky Vendor, but if that thing showed up, there could be other dangerous Heartless around." They watched Sora fly around the nearby trees until one smack against one revealed the Bulky Vendor's hiding spot, the Heartless jumping in fright as it ran away from him.

"There you are, you little bugger!" Sora ran toward it, diving into a tackle as he grabbed it and rolled across the ground. He then planted the Heartless into the ground, keeping a firm hoof down on its dome to keep it from fleeing as he turned its knob. After a few twists, the Heartless exploded into prize boxes, dropping some materials useful for the Moogle shop to synthesis into items. "I hate those things when they show up. Harmless, but always running away when their caught in their hide and seek game."

After picking up the dropped materials, Sora looked around for anymore Heartless. With a distraction of a Heartless like that, he expected there to be an ambush of others that would attack Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo when they weren't aware.

"Aww, did it have to die after it got caught?" Apple Bloom asked. "What did it even drop, anyway?"

"Stuff you three aren't going to comprehend even if you figure out what they are." Sora and Kairi dismissed their Keyblades since the Bulky Vendor was the only Heartless around. "Let's hope that no more show up and-" As Sora looked back over to the house, finding Pinkie knocked out on the ground with his mother nowhere in sight. "Pinkie!?"

The stallion flew off to the downed mare, Kairi and the Crusaders quickly running after him when they saw Pinkie on the ground. Sora helped the mare up, dropping the slip of paper on her head as Pinkie groaned in agony.

"What happened?" Pinkie asked in her daze.

"That's what we want to know!" Sora said. "Where's my mom!? Please don't tell me she was the one who knocked you out and ran off somewhere else! She could have gone into the Everfree Forest! As natural as it is for her, she has no idea what dangerous creatures roam around in there!"

"Sora, calm down!" Kairi exclaimed, grabbing the panicked stallion and slapping him in the face to slap some sense into him. "I know your mom's smart enough not to wander around in a new world if she saw something dangerous that we had warned her about. And she wouldn't knock Pinkie Pie out if she likes her."

While Sora tried to breathe and Pinkie rubbed her sore head, Sweetie Belle picked up the piece of paper off the ground with her magic and read it. "...Wait, who's this 'Pete'? And...he has Sora's mom?"

"What!?" Sora quickly swiped the paper out of the unicorn filly's lime-green aura, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo surprised to hear the stallion brought his mom to Equestria.

"So that's where you went earlier," Apple Bloom said. "Ya brought your ma here? Back from where ya live?"

"Is she as awesome as you?" Scootaloo asked excitedly, but he didn't answer as he read the ransom note the dastardly grunt left him.



Hey, twerp! If you want your mom back safe and sound, meet me out by the mountain in the distance, where that large Heartless ran toward after Maleficent summoned that portal of darkness. If you don't, then she'll become a Heartless in our little army instead. Come alone without your friends, or that blue haired Keyblade wielder, or I'll turn her into a Heartless on the spot.
Your ol' pal, Pete



"Pete," Sora growled angrily, threatening to tear the paper in half. "Of course. First he tried foalnapping Pound and Pumpkin, and now he's kidnapped my mom! How low is that fat cat going to go just to get me to give myself up!?"

Sora shot up into the air, dropping the note and flew straight off to the location he mentioned, the same place Aqua ended up fighting the Dark Hide last Nightmare Night. Kairi picked up the note, feeling worried that Sora was going to fall for a trap.

"Ugh. I need to tell the others. Even tell them Sora's mom is here and in peril." Kairi called back her Keyblade and cast Cure over Pinkie, healing her headache and snapping her out of her daze. "Pinkie, we need to split up and find everyone else. Girls, you stay in town. I have a bad feeling it's going to be dangerous."

Pinkie and Kairi split up to find the rest of their friends, regretfully needing to tell them the situation despite wanting to keep Sora's mother being in Equestria a secret. As they headed into town, the CMC began to worry about what was going to happen to Sora's mom.

"I think we should try to help," Scootaloo suggested. "Somepony taking away somepony else's mom? That's just not right!"

"Didn't Kairi just tell us to stay here?" Sweetie Belle said. "What if this Pete stallion is as dangerous as I think he is? What if he can actually call Heartless?"

"Well, if Sora's part of mah family, then his ma's part of mah family, too!" Apple Bloom said with a snort. "Let's go teach that jerk a lesson!"

"Yeah!" Scootaloo cheered as she and Apple Bloom ran after Sora.

"Girls, wait!" Sweetie Belle called out, only to groan and facehoof as she followed after them. "Not again...It's just like when we tried to find Troubleshoes, only this pony is more dangerous this time..."





As Sora flew over the area by the mountain Aqua fought the Dark Hide, he spotted Pete down below, holding his mother hostage as he began tying her wings tightly to her sides and her legs together. Diving down, he landed to the ground with a hard thud, Keyblade in his maw as he leered at the fat minotaur. Pete turned around as he heard Sora land, a sinister smirk on his lips.

"Well, well, took your sweet time reading that note I left behind, eh?" Pete asked.

"You've got a sick mind, Pete!" Sora shouted. "Give me back my mom!"

"Sorry. Not gonna happen." The pegasus growled and began running toward him, but Pete snapped his fingers, summoning Lance Soldier Heartless beside Ocean Breeze. He skid to a halt as he saw the erratic lance-wielding Heartless aim their weapons at the bound mare, grunting in frustration at Pete's cruel hostage tactic. "I wouldn't get too close, or else I'll have her turned into a Heartless for Maleficent's army."

"Let her go!" Sora demanded. "Quit bringing others into your schemes to get to me!"

"I know I can't even win in a fight against you, but that doesn't mean I can't play dirty in order to win," Pete said. "This ain't a little kid's game. There's no rules when it comes to real fights."

"You're despicable, you know that?" Ocean said. "Sora, just beat this heavyweight minotaur-cat thing. You're clearly better than him."

"Hey, I'm watchin' my figure!" Pete exclaimed in offense. "If he gets any closer, you'll end up losin' your heart, so don't act so brave!"

"What do you want from me anyway!?" Sora asked. "If you think I'm going to turn myself in or work for you, that's not gonna happen!"

"You've been in our way for far too long, twerp," Pete said. "What Maleficent and I want from you is to finally give up and fall into darkness." He chuckled and snapped his fingers, creating an impenetrable barrier around Sora as several Heartless of varying kinds suddenly appeared around him: Morning Stars, Fat Bandits, Large Bodies, Graveyards, Toy Soldiers, Living Bones with Shamans riding on them, and even more of the tougher, more annoying Heartless Sora faced in the past. Even the two Lance Soldiers disappeared and reappeared in the barrier, ordered to attack the Keyblade wielder now that he was trapped in the large arena. "And the best way to do that is an endless gauntlet that exhausts you until your heart is finally taken out of you!"

The Living Bones struck first, lunging at Sora as they tried to sink their teeth into the pegasus. He jumped high into the air to avoid them, distracted by them butting heads to notice the Toy Soldiers popped out of their boxes and fired at him. The shots from their fake muskets hit their mark with a blast of compressed air, the "gunshots" powerful enough to knock him out of the air and back down to one of the Fat Bandits. The Arabian Heartless took in a deep breath to try to burn the Keyblade wielder with its fire breath, but Sora flipped away from its range, backing up into a Morning Star with its fists readied to take a swing at him.

Turning around, he managed to block its arms, stunning it as he slashed away at the spike-ball Heartless. He was shot at again by the annoying Toy Soldier's guns, sending him straight for one of the Graveyards as it popped out like a jack-in-the-box, slashing at him with its scythe arms. Sora countered by shocking it with Thundaga, quickly dodging out of the way of a spinning Living Bones heading straight for him. The Shaman on its back began casting blue flares where he stood, making it harder for him to get a breather as the beast it rode on continued spinning around to hit him. It eventually did, along with the blue pillars of fire rushing up around his hooves, the Toy Soldiers constantly popping up their surprise musket dolls and hitting him with one hundred percent accuracy from how far he is from them.

While Sora struggled to survive, Pete guffawed as he watched the stallion get hit every time while his mother began to worry he wasn't going to win after all. Running up to the fields, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo spotted Sora getting attacked by so many bigger Heartless, the trio yelping as they flinched from a Fat Bandit's fireball shot heading toward them as they aimed at Sora. The fireball disappeared as it struck the barrier trapping them inside, which meant they were safe to some extent.

"There's so many Heartless in there!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Come on, Sora! You can get them!"

"Hey, look!" Apple Bloom pointed toward Pete and Ocean Breeze, the former too distracted as he watched the show with the tied up mare unable to look away. "That must be Sora's ma!"

"And there's the guy who took her!" Scootaloo added. "But, what kind of minotaur has a face like that?"

"I don't think we should stick around here for long," Sweetie Belle warned. "What if those Heartless find a way out of that strange barrier?"

"It looks like the same one Trixie made when she had that Alicorn Amulet and attacked Sora to get revenge for her own mistakes," Apple Bloom said. "So they can't get out until somepony wins. Which means we can attack that no good bully for fillynappin' Sora's ma! Let's get him!"

Scootaloo ran with Apple Bloom to attack Pete, Sweetie Belle letting out a sigh and shook her head before chasing after them to help. "Hey, you big, fat, cow!"

"Huh?" Pete turned his head toward the galloping fillies charging at him, reacting too late as Apple Bloom gave him a hard buck right in the shin. "YEOW!" he yelped, grabbing his leg with both hands as he hopped up and down on the other. "Ow ow ow ow ow! You little-!"

Pete grunted as Scootaloo tackled him, knocking the wind out of him as he fell to the ground. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Hostage Rescuers!"

Hearing the pegasus filly, Sora looked over to his mother and Pete, watching Scootaloo and Apple Bloom jumping up and down on the minotaur's gut. "Girls!? What are you-!?"

One of the Lance Soldiers began flying around erratically as it held onto its lance, smacking Sora around and bringing his attention back to the Heartless surrounding him. He grabbed onto the lance, controlling its flight as he rammed into a few other Heartless before slamming it down into the ground. He had managed to kill a few of them, but another new Heartless took its place as he was bombarded with attacks, especially from the long-ranged Toy Soldiers sticking to firing at him with their muskets.

Pete finally got some air back in his lungs, staring at the two fillies who attacked him. "Why I oughta-!" He swiped his hands at them, but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were faster than the taller minotaur and leapt off his stomach. He got back up to grab them, only to feel one of his legs get swept and trip him in a split by Sweetie Belle's magic aura pulling his leg. Pete groaned in agony and fell over on his stomach, feeling unbridled pain in his groin. "Ooooooogh! That hurts!"

"Good!" Scootaloo said, kicking Pete hard in the nose.

With him down for the moment, the Crusaders ran up to Ocean Breeze and tried to untie her bondings, but the rope Pete tied her up with were too tight for them to pull apart. "What are you three doing!? This is really dangerous, in case you didn't notice!"

"Don't worry, Sora's ma!" Apple Bloom said. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders are here to help!"

"Oh boy. You three must really drive my son ragged if you do this stuff dangerously on a daily basis." Pete recovered from the slipped split as he stood up, glaring at the fillies as he stomped toward them.

"Get over here, you stupid horses!" He grabbed all three of the Crusaders by their tails, hanging them upside down as they flailed around to try to flee from the angered minotaur. "And I thought those two younger ones were a bigger pain! And they were tots!"

"Let us go, mom-stealer!" Scootaloo shouted. "You're in big trouble when the others show up!"

"Oooh! I'm so scared!" Pete said in mock fear, only to scoff in their faces. "Am I going to face your whole class of puny little pipsqueaks like you three?"

"Pete!" Running up to them and around the barrier, Pete's jaw dropped as he saw the Mane Six and the other five Keyblade wielders approach them. He was even more shocked to see Terra and Ventus back, clearly remembering them after recognizing Aqua from the Everfree Forest last Halloween. The Keyblade wielders had their blades out, unable to help Sora through the shield keeping him inside the onslaught of Heartless, though seeing Twilight with a Keyblade only irritated him further. "Let them go!"

"Oh you have gotta be kidding me!" Pete exclaimed, pointing at Twilight. "Are you guys just giving those Keyblades away like candy to a kid!? Might as well just give everybody in the worlds one if that were the case!"

"Even after all these years, you really love to keep causing trouble," Terra said. "Hard to believe you teamed up with Maleficent, I almost didn't believe Aqua when she told me. Now, unhand those three fillies and release Sora's mother."

"Guess he didn't understand the part about not bringing any help, especially with these three little runts." Pete held out Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo in front of him, jostling them around in his grip as he continued holding them by their tails.

"Let go of mah sister, ya no good varmint!" Applejack warned.

"And mine as well!" Rarity added.

"Gonna give you such a pounding if you so much as messed with Scoots, you fat jerk!" Rainbow shouted, putting up her forehooves and jabbing the air.

"If you want these three back and Sora's mother, then you better stay back and hope he does the right thing and get slain by the Heartless so I can finally be rid of one of you annoying brats!" Hearing Sora grunt in pain brought everyone's attention, the stallion getting slammed into the barrier as the Morning Stars spun around on one of its spikes like a top and rammed into him.

Sora had used up his magic healing himself earlier, but the bombardment of attacks brought him back down to being heavily injured once again. No matter how many he killed, even getting rid of the Toy Soldiers' constant barrage of shooting him didn't help much as he avoided their close-ranged slashes from the jack-o-lantern part of it to kill them, more of those Heartless appearing just like the others to irritate and injure him. All he could do was block and evade, but the swifter Living Bones always caught up with him with their lunges and spin attacks, leading him to get ambushed by the other Heartless Pete summoned to try to kill him.

"Ok, I'm getting real sick of these potshots and being chased around like prey," Sora uttered. "I'm getting rid of all of you right now!" Activating his Drive Forms, Sora's body burst in a flash of light as his clothing began glowing, the shockwave sending the nearby Heartless flying away from him. His clothes began turning yellow as he shifted into his Master Form, but he gasped as he felt the light backfire on him, unable to stop the inevitable change he would undertake in front of everyone. "No! No no no!"

The light around him suddenly turned dark as his body was surrounded in a sphere of darkness. Everyone gasped in shock at what was happening, Kairi and the Mane Six already afraid as they've seen Sora's Anti Form before and barely managed to beat him back to normal. The darkness disappeared as Sora dropped to the ground, his body now a dark black from head to toe, his forehooves bearing claws, his body hunched low with his tail twitching erratically.

"W-What in the world just happened!?" Riku asked. "What happened to Sora!?"

"Oh no," Kairi whispered. "Not again..."

Sora slowly lifted his head up, his legs and head twitching as it began to slowly turn toward his friends. Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack began backing away from the barrier while Aqua, Terra, and Riku gasped in horror when they saw his yellow eyes staring back at them.

"He's...turned into a Heartless!?" Aqua exclaimed.

Pete was utterly baffled, dropping the Crusaders in shock as the fillies stared at Sora in fear, wondering what had happened to him. Sora's mother stared at her son, utterly terrified by his sudden transformation as the creatures he destroys.

"Not good," Rainbow uttered. "This is so not good!"

Ignoring the Heartless around him, Anti Sora focused on the six Keyblade wielders, his darkness's instincts kicking in and taking over as he run at a blur toward them, smacking into the barrier as he furiously clawed at the magical trap containing him as if he were a rabid animal. Startled, Aqua, Terra, and Riku had stepped back, almost forgetting about the barrier, though Kairi and Ventus stared in horror.

"What happened?" Terra asked. "What was he trying to do!?"

Kairi and Ventus looked at each other, the former understanding how the younger pegasus stallion knew of Sora's dark secret since he was a part of Sora's heart for a decade and a half. "...His Anti Form."

"'Anti Form'?" Aqua questioned. "Sora had another of these Drive Forms? One that could turn him into this?" Looking back at the mares, they clearly knew about this just as much as Kairi and Ventus. "...How long have you known about this!?"

"I've known because I was inside Sora's heart as I was recovering," Ventus responded, turning to his friend. "It's happened before. Several times as he used his friends' powers to activate his Drive Forms before he was able to master them and use them at will." Anti Sora gave up trying to break through as he heard the other Heartless rush at him. Everyone soon saw the extent of the dark form's power and speed as he zipped past the tough Heartless with his claws, slashing at such blinding speed that neither Keyblade wielder could ever keep up with. It was terrifying to experience as he slashed through each Heartless, moving too fast for the Toy Soldier's to even shoot at, unleashing barrage after barrage of swipes, dark energy blasts, and killing off some of his foes in the goriest way possible if they ever spewed blood from their torn ligaments or hoof-sized holes in their bodies. "It's something that appears by random chance, and his luck gets worse every time he uses his Drives. He's not himself as his darkness takes complete control while the real Sora is trapped inside, watching the carnage he unleashes upon anything, no matter if it's friend or foe."

"And the rest of you?" Aqua asked the others who knew.

"...Last winter," Kairi answered. "Donald and Goofy were there, too. He was pressured into showing off his Drive Forms, and it went horribly wrong. He can't stop himself, and he attacked us...The only way it'll end is if is Drive Form runs out of time or if we knock him out." Looking at the barrier, Anti Sora was relentlessly killing Heartless as they continued appearing to try to stop him. Unfortunately, none of them barely left a scratch on this form of his, and their numbers were dwindling. Kairi looked over at Pete, desperate to know if he brought enough Heartless to keep Sora distracted until he reverted back to normal. "Pete, you need to keep calling more Heartless!"

Snapping out of his shock, he leered at the unicorn. "Why should I listen to you!? What the heck is going on here!?"

"Pete, I'm serious! If you don't want Sora to kill you, keep calling more Heartless!" she begged.

"Is this some kind of practical joke?" As Pete scratched his head, still trying to figure out what was happening, Anti Sora destroyed the last of the Heartless. The barrier fell, now causing a lot of concern now that the wild Anti Form was free to leave the area he was trapped in. He looked over at Pete, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo quickly running behind Ocean Breeze for protection, despite her being tied up. "Oh. That's not good, is it?" His question was answered as the Heartless pegasus sprinted toward him. "Yipe!"

Pete quickly cast his protective barrier up in defense right as Anti Sora was right up in his face. He scratched wildly at the magical shield, unable to break through, but the minotaur was absolutely terrified. He should have listened to Kairi, but that was all the Heartless he had with him, and they were all slain. While being rolled around by the attacking stallion, Rainbow and Ventus ran up to the Crusaders and Sora's mother to save them.

"Rainbow, get these three back to town!" Ventus ordered. "I'll help her!"

"Got it!" Rainbow grabbed the fillies and flew back to the others, Applejack and Rarity taking their sisters while she carried Scootaloo. Knowing just how dangerous Sora was last time, the mares quickly fled for safety to let the Keyblade wielders handle this, but Twilight stayed behind. "Twilight, come on!"

"...No. You girls keep going," the alicorn said, the chain hanging off her Keyblade glowing as she accessed all  six of her Harmony Links. "I'm staying to help."

"...Ok. Just be careful." Twilight nodded as she watched her friends leave, looking back at the darkness-controlled pegasus still attacking Pete.

"Ok, I'd like this to end now!" Pete begged as he was constantly bashed around. "I'm starting to get sick!"

Anti Sora smacked into Pete's barrier hard, sending him rolling off toward Ventus and Ocean Breeze with a yell. Ventus looked behind him, holding his hooves out to stop the minotaur's rolling, but Sora warped forward and gave the shield a hard buck, Pete's hold on his barrier giving out as he smacked into the young stallion, sending them both tumbling across the field. Anti Sora turned his head to Ocean, the terrified mare desperately squirming away as Ventus failed to untie her before getting smacked by a heavy minotaur. He began stalking her like a hungry predator, his body twitching as he crouched low, ready to pounce on the defenseless mare that was his own mother.

"Sora, stop!" Riku shouted, flying in front of his friend's mom. "Get out of that-!"

The white pegasus barely blinked before Anti Sora suddenly appeared in front of him, catching him off guard as he swiped at his friend against his will at mach speed. Riku couldn't even see him or counter as the Heartless stallion moved swiftly in his blind spots, juggling him back and forth across the ground until he knocked him in the air. Before he leapt up to thrust his claws into the falling stallion, Aqua teleported behind Anti Sora and blasted him with a Blizzaga spell at point blank range, freezing him in a block of ice.

"There, that should-" He suddenly broke free of the ice faster than Aqua expected, catching the mare off guard as she went on the defensive when he lunged at her. She evaded his slices, casting a barrier around herself as he tried to get behind her, but his hoof burst through her shield as she quickly dove away. "H-How was that even-!?"

She turned around to swing her blade at him, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Aqua, behind you!" Terra called out as he rushed forward, Aqua turning around to only get smacked hard in the face by a hard kick, sending her spiraling across the plains. She planted a forehoof down on the ground, using the momentum to right herself back on her hooves, rubbing her sore face from the swift side kick. Terra dashed forward, spiraling like a corkscrew in his second dash as he swing his Keyblade down on the Heartless, but despite being a form of darkness, Anti Sora stopped the blow by grabbing the heavier Keyblade with both forehooves. "Urgh! H-How...strong...is this form!?"

Riku landed on the ground after recovering from getting knocked up in the air, rushing forward to attack from behind. He thrust his blade forward, catching Anti Sora's head twisting back to look at him as he pushed Terra's Keyblade aside. The stallion leapt into a spiral, dodging Riku's Keyblade as it missed him by mere inches, flapping his wings to dash into the white pegasus as he tackled him to the ground. Pinning his friend to the ground, Anti Sora choked Riku with one clawed hoof as the other reared back to run through his heart.

Before he killed his best friend, Twilight slammed into Sora in a purple blur, sending the dark stallion rolling across the grass before landing on his feet, charging into the alicorn as her enhanced speed managed to keep up with his with each block she made. While on the defensive, the tip of her Keyblade lit up as she set random Mine traps around them for him to step on, hoping any of the statuses from the blasts would hinder him a little bit. She couldn't keep up with him after he began warping around her, each pass he made striking her as she yelled out in pain before getting bucked hard in the chest, sending her tumbling back toward Riku, who caught her before she skid to a painful stop.

"Twilight, are you ok!?" Riku asked.

"Yeah," Twilight said with a wince. "Let's see if he can last in the little minefield I set up around him."

Her plan, unfortunately, didn't work out as well as she thought. As soon as Anti Sora stepped on her mine, it blew up in an explosion of colors, but nothing had affected him at all; not even a slight change in color from his blackened body and yellow eyes. He zipped past the Mines only Twilight could see, setting them off without getting so much as a scratch on him.

"He's way too fast," Riku uttered. "Why isn't he changing back to normal!? Is he messing with us!?"

"No. He can't change back," Twilight said. "The only way this will end is if we survive long enough or knock him unconscious." Anti Sora began sprinting toward Twilight and Riku, focused on attacking the mare who hit him last. The alicorn quickly held out her Keyblade and surrounded herself and Riku in a pink barrier, protecting them as the dark pegasus pounded his hooves into it. "I don't think we'll be lucky enough to make either solution possible with how aggressive he is!"

Twilight's barrier counterattacked as a wolf's head roared and lunged at Anti Sora. He grabbed the magical animal's jaws as it bit down on him, shattering the defensive counter with a hard punch to its maw, sending the couple flying back from the backfired shockwave. Before he tried attacking the downed pegasus and alicorn, his ears twitched as he heard a whirring noise behind him. Turning his head, he spotted Terra wielding an incredibly large and heavy cannon similar in shape and design to his Keyblade, a large sphere of energy building up at the end as he aimed his Shotlock, Ultima Cannon, at the Heartless.

"Let's see you avoid this!" The Ultima Cannon fired the energy sphere, making contact and blowing up around Anti Sora. Keeping his grip on the massive cannon, he charged up another shot as the Heartless stallion leapt out of the smoke and charged straight toward him. "Jeez! How tough is he as a Heartless!?"

Terra fired the last round at point blank range, only to miss as Anti Sora leapt over it and head straight for Twilight and Riku. Kairi quickly ran in front of them and deflected the shot with Reflect, sending the large energy ball flying in the air until it blew up. Terra turned the Ultima Cannon back into his Keyblade as Anti Sora dive-bombed him, blocking his sharp-clawed hooves, only to get bombarded by a small energy ball of darkness that formed in between his fetlocks and fire salvos of dark energy on the earth pony stallion.

Ventus groaned as he came back to his senses, pinned under Pete's body, his eyes spinning from being rolled around like a hamster in an out of control hamster wheel. "Get off of me, Pete!" The young pegasus grunted and managed to pull himself out from underneath the dizzy minotaur.

Pete soon came to and sat up, rubbing his head as he shook the cobwebs out. "Ugh. I'm glad I know that spell, but I hate when it can knock me around like that." They heard Terra yell as he was struck by Anti Sora again, sent sprawling to the ground by a powerful throw toward Aqua, the unicorn jumping over him as she tagged in to distract the dark stallion until the form's time wore out. "Oh, this is not good! He's more dangerous than ever! I don't think even Maleficent can control him!"

"You have to help us stop him!" Ventus said.

"Are you kiddin'!? You're on your own!" Pete summoned a portal of darkness, fleeing for his life as Ventus gawked in bafflement. "Good luck! You chumps will need it!"

"Hey! Get back here, you fat chicken!" Ventus chased after the minotaur, but he ran through the portal as it disappeared. Growling, he ignored Pete's cowardice and flew over to Sora's mother, still bound and fearing for her life. "Hang on, ma'am. I'll finally get you loose."

"What happened to my son!?" Ocean exclaimed. "Is this permanent or something!? Why is he attacking everyone!?"

"He can't help it," Ventus explained. "His Anti Form is like a caged animal on a rampage. The real Sora's still in there, but his body's being controlled by his darkness after he tried using his Drive Forms."

He heard Aqua let out a grunt as Anti Sora breached through her defenses again, knocking the blue unicorn hard across the field with a hard kick in the chest, sending her tumbling into Terra as he struggled to get back up. His eyes were set on the pegasus teen, sprinting toward him and Ocean Breeze. Kairi tried to distract him by firing spells from a distance, but he avoided the Thunder spells raining down on him and the volley of Fire and Blizzard spells aimed in front of him. Ventus didn't have time to cut the mare's bonds loose as he held his Keyblade out to defend himself.

"Sora, stop!" Kairi called out, teleporting beside Ventus to help assist him. "Fight back! You have to try! Don't give up on us!"

The stallion didn't listen as he warped between the two Keyblade wielders, both unable to react as he grabbed both of their necks and gave them a powerful shock of dark energy. Kairi and Ventus screamed out in pain, their muscles going limp as their bodies were paralyzed, dark electricity sparking over them. Anti Sora threw them aside, staring down at his mother as his limbs twitched. He stood over her, grabbing the mare by the neck and held up a hoof, aiming directly at her chest.

"Sora, please stop," she begged. "I don't know if you can hear me, but if you are, you must find some way to break free from this thing you turned into." Anti Sora tilted his head in confusion as Ocean thought he was able to hear her. "You've gotten yourself out of trouble before, and you fought worse Heartless things from what you, Riku, and Kairi have told me...I know you can fight this..."

The stallion's claws flexed as he moved his foreleg back to take her heart. Ocean Breeze winced and shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable. She waited for what felt like hours, the others watching as they could barely stand after getting bested by the Anti Form. Finally, something happened after several minutes, the trapped mare gasping as she felt something wet hit her face. Looking up at Sora, she saw a tear running down from one of his cheeks, his poised hoof ready to strike shaking as if he was unable to go through with the deed he was about to do.

"...R-Run...away...from me," Anti Sora said with an eerie distortion in his voice.

He thrust his hoof down, slashing his claws through his mother's bindings, catching her off guard at the clean cut her made, yet didn't harm her in the slightest. Anti Sora backed away, clutching his head as the real Sora inside began struggling with his darkness, keeping himself from hurting the only family he had. He began thrashing around, slamming his head into the ground to knock himself out and end his Drive Form, but his darkness was more resilient every chance his Anti Form appeared.

His mother scrambled to her hooves, desperate to help her son in any way she could, even though she didn't know what to do. "Sora, honey-"

As she got close, she yelped as he forcefully shoved her away from him so he wouldn't hurt her. All she could do was watch as her child struggled, writhing on the ground as he pounded his head with his hooves to fall unconscious. Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the darkness around him dispersed as his body flashed a bright light, returning him to normal as he gasped and panted heavily on the ground. Sora rolled over onto his stomach and slowly stood up, his head hung low as tears flowed down his face, his darkness now revealed to Aqua, Terra, Riku, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and his mother. He heard his mother's hoofsteps as she approached him, unable to look at her after she saw him turn into a Heartless.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, slowly dragging his hoodie over his head. "I'm so sorry..."

"Sora...sweetheart, it's-" Ocean tried to reach out to him, but Sora flapped his wings and fled, heading straight to the Castle of Friendship and lock himself in his room. "Sora!" The mare tried to run after him, but he was too fast in the air and couldn't fly after him with no practice using her new wings. She slowed to a halt, sighing miserably as today went from great to absolutely horrible this Mother's Day. The others slowly stood up, heavily injured, but thankfully alive, Twilight cast her Kindness Harmony Link's healing butterflies, the curative insects fluttering over everyone as they healed their injuries in a bright pink glow after landing on them. The concerned mare looked at Kairi, seeking answers to what had happened to her son. "Kairi, what happened to Sora? How did he turn into...that?"

Kairi sighed, needing to explain to everyone else who saw Sora's Anti Form for the first time in as much detail as she could. "Let's find the other girls and talk at the castle. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are going to need to hear this, too..."





After gathering the others and arriving at the castle, everyone sat around the Cutie Map in the throne room as Kairi gave Aqua, Terra, the CMC, and Ocean Breeze how Sora's Anti Form was created. Sora may have been able to explain it in better detail, but being unable to control his darkness and watching him attack his friends and mother left him depressed as he hid away in his room. It was a shock for the fillies and Sora's mother to hear he had once become a Heartless to wake the Princess of Heart from her slumber, their hearts connected as one for so long after Destiny Islands was destroyed by the darkness.

"...So, that explains how a form like that was created," Aqua pondered, knowing Sora had given up his Heart for Kairi thanks to that potion, though it still shocked her to know this had happened several times after he gained the ability to use his Drive Forms. "And it happens by random chance...No wonder he doesn't resort to using it in every encounter against the Heartless."

"Wow," Sweetie Belle uttered, wiping away her tears after listening to the sacrifice Sora made for Kairi. "He must really love Kairi that much if he...actually gave his heart to you."

"But...does that mean he's in a lot of trouble?" Scootaloo asked. "I mean, that Anti transformation thing was all an accident, right? It's not like he meant to turn into that thing on purpose."

"But he couldn't change back," Riku said. "He can freely revert back to normal after the fight's won...but his own darkness tries to take over him, even though its existence is temporary." He sighed, leaning his back against the side of his throne. "Why didn't he tell me about this? We both clearly suffered from the darkness in some way, but where I had once accepted it and regretted using it, his keeps coming back by force on a gamble..."

"What did you think when Sora found out you used the power of darkness?" Kairi asked.

Riku grumbled, the answer plainly obvious: his best friend would hate him. But Sora didn't give up on him when he tried out of listening to Maleficent's lies and influences. Now he was afraid everyone would hate him after accidentally showing his Anti Form out of bad luck, possibly getting reprimanded by Aqua, and eventually Yen Sid. What was worse for him now was that he had almost attacked his own mother against his own will, fearing she would never look at him the same after that terrifying moment.

Ocean was scared, but for her son with whatever consequences he would face over his darkness than being brought to another world. She knew Sora all too well; a young boy who grew up getting himself into trouble, but when he behaved, he was always the happy-go-lucky one with a big imagination, naive at times, though he has a big heart and cares about his friends and family. That didn't mean he never got upset at anything, though. Ever since his father's death, he had lost his cheerful nature and barely left the house. It took a visit from Riku and Kairi one day to bring that part of Sora she loved so much back. Now that he's older and taking on a responsibility that can result in the lives of millions being lost to the darkness, he was deadly serious about everyone's well-being, though he still retained that goofiness not only as a part of his behavior, but also to hide his true feelings.

She was still reeling from the thought that her own son had once turned into a Heartless before, and to save the girl he pined for ever since they first met in school when they were younger. She never knew he had given up his life, and neither he, Riku, nor Kairi ever told her he made a sacrifice just to save Kairi, someone he cared about dearly. As stupid as it was to do such a thing, it was still noble of him to rescue the ones he loves if it meant the cost of his life. But his Heartless, after coming back thanks to the young girl he cherished with all his heart, still haunts him as that beast still lives inside of him, waiting to come back out when he's in peril and shifts to one of his Drive Forms. But he did fight back; he struggled to take back control to stop his darkness from harming his mother with his own hands, only to feel guilt and pain for hurting everyone and hiding this dangerous form from everyone.

"Ma'am?" The mare looked up at Aqua as the room was silent, everyone seemingly waiting for her input on the matter. "I know this is all a bit much to comprehend, but..." The unicorn let out a sigh, having an internal struggle with her decisions after witnessing Sora's transformation. "...Sora has done a lot for every single world he's been in. Saving lives from the threat of darkness, making friends with their inhabitants, and putting himself at risk for anyone in need...Are you still shaken up by what he had turned into?"

"...Honestly...I'm mostly shocked to hear that my Sora, my baby, gave up his own life a few years ago," Ocean said. "And while my home and everyone, including myself, were just...gone..." After hearing Sora's voice come from the dark stallion that loomed over her earlier, she could hear the pain that came from him; fear of being hated by her after her life was almost ended by his Heartless. She could never hate him; it was an accident that couldn't have been helped, no matter how hard he tried to prevent it. "I'm scared, but not by what happened. I'm scared for him."

"I think all of us are," Kairi said. "That darkness that could come out at any time was one of the reasons why he was afraid to ask me out. He was afraid of hurting me, plagued with terrible dreams of what would happen if he wasn't stopped." She looked over at the others, the Equestrians greatly concerned for what would happen to Sora now that Aqua, Terra, and Riku have seen his Anti Form and were attacked by him. "Even though it was an accident, he feels utterly responsible for something he can't control...I tried to help him with my light, but his Heartless is just as strong as his own heart, even stronger than anything he's faced in the past."

Ocean looked back at Aqua, known as the more experienced Keyblade Master of the group from what Kairi had told her while discussing Sora's Anti Form. "...Sora's not in any trouble because of this...is he?"

"...He should have been in trouble for meddling in affairs of the other worlds in the past, but then again, all of us had to blend in and take action at some point," Aqua said. "Bringing you to another world, along with speaking of who he truly was and what the Keyblade could do to the Heartless with this six mares, and now these three fillies-" Aqua waved her hoof at the Mane Six and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "-is supposed to lead with consequences, but Celestia, the ruler of this world, has been in contact with Master Yen Sid when I had spoken with her when we first met, it doesn't seem to matter at this point if everyone can at least keep a secret..."

A moment of silence passed, everyone already dreading it as they felt a "but" coming on. "...But...?"

Aqua sighed, tapping her hoof against the surface of the map. "...But, after seeing just how dangerous Sora's darkness is from the power of his Drive Forms...I will have to report this to Master Yen Sid since Sora was given this ability in his tower." The others gasped in shock, unable to believe Aqua would think of giving Sora a serious punishment, or at worst, planning to take away his Keyblade permanently after all he's done for everyone. "I know what happened was accidental, but we can't look away from this. Sora's Drive ability is far too dangerous with that Anti Form lying in wait to come out on account of bad timing. But the call will have to go to Master Yen Sid, since he was the one who gave Sora this power in the first place."

"Aqua, you're not planning on actually confiscating his Keyblade permanently, are you?" Terra asked. "Not after the struggles he's faced, able to take down foes we ourselves have had trouble stopping."

"I don't want to do that to him, Terra," Aqua said. "He's just as important as any one of us here. But we need to do something about that Heartless form of his: either rid him of his ability to use those Drive Forms, find a way to contain his Anti Form when it appears, or revoke him as a Keyblade apprentice. He could have taken any of our hearts, or anyone else's if he can't be stopped."

"...If Sora does lose his Keyblade, can he still stay in Equestria?" Apple Bloom asked hopefully.

"...I'll think about it, Apple Bloom, but I doubt he will if there are Heartless in any of the worlds he decides to visit. Equestria included." The young Apple wilted, which clearly meant no from Aqua's disappointing news let down gently.

"Well, if Sora ends up getting punished, then can you at least wait until tomorrow for you and your master to hand down your judgement?" Ocean pleaded. "He's already upset as it is, and if has to end up going back home after being 'fired' for being hero protecting the innocent from the Heartless, I want to at least help him feel better and realize what happened earlier wasn't his fault. I'm not going to let this Mother's Day end horribly when my baby's down in the dumps after he risked getting in trouble just to bring me to this world for a day of experiencing a childhood dream I thought wouldn't be possible."

"Yeah. Tomorrow would definitely be better," Aqua agreed, rubbing her cheek, still feeling a little sore from getting kicked upside the head earlier. "I've had enough excitement for one day, and there's already too much stress from this problem."

"Thank you," Ocean said. Kairi soon escorted the pegasus mare through the castle to Sora's room, while the others tried to relax from the terrifying Anti Sora attack. As much as the mother wanted to explore the castle and see everything in the crystal palace, but her son's needs came first before hers, and he needed some reassurance. "Some day this turned out to be. Then again, our home was destroyed by darkness before, so some worse things have happened."

"I think most of us would have expected you to scream or panic a lot more than being this calm," Kairi said.

"My heart was pounding out of my chest after I thought I was close to meeting my end, but I believed Sora could pull through...Or, maybe I was lucky...?" Ocean Breeze let out a sigh, completely unsure herself if it was luck or not that Sora had finally found the strength to stop himself. "He can't really take the reigns on that Anti Form, can he?"

"No," Kairi said with a shake of her head. "He said it felt like being trapped in an unbreakable cage in his heart. He could see, hear, and feel everything his darkness does. He was a mess the first time it happened, and he was afraid of hurting anyone if we were in the middle of a fight and his Anti Form replaced whichever other form he decided to take."

They reached the depressed stallion's room, but as Ocean Breeze tried to open the door, the knob wouldn't budge. "Oh, he locked himself in." She knocked on the door lightly to get his attention. "Sora, honey? It's me and Kairi." No response. "Oh dear...How are we going to-?" Kairi summoned her Keyblade and aimed it at the lock, firing a small beam of light that went into the keyhole, unlocking it for them. "...That's actually very convenient."

"They're shaped like keys for a reason," the unicorn said. "Though not all locks can be opened so easily like the chest that created this castle."

"Not very useful as skeleton keys if that's the case..." With the door unlocked, Ocean opened it and got a look at Sora's bedroom, which seemed almost similar to his own room back at Destiny Islands. He was laying in his bed, the covers pulled over him, his clothing tossed against the wall in a small pile on the other side of the room. Both mares walked inside, hearing Sora sniffle under his sheets as they approached the bed. "Sora?"

The pony-sized lump winced, clutching the sheets tighter over himself. "Go away," Sora mumbled.

"Sora, none of us are mad at you," Kairi said. "It was an accident, just like the last time."

"Only I could have killed mom, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo," the stallion grumbled. "And I hurt you again...I hate using those stupid Drive Forms! Why does that one have to keep coming out at the worst possible time!?" Sora tossed around, keeping the covers held over him as if trying to remain invisible to his mother and Kairi. "Now Aqua knows, and she's going to tell Master Yen Sid, and I'm going to lose my Keyblade and head straight back home!"

Sighing, Ocean sat down on the bed beside Sora, gently rubbing his back. "Sora, I don't think that's going to happen."

"Yeah. Sure. And I'm not a danger to my friends when I turn into a heart stealing creature of darkness using a power that's supposed to help me in a pinch!" Sora tried to swat his mother's hoof away while trying to keep himself curled under the covers. "Why does this keep happening? Why can't I win against it?...I can't even fight my own darkness for control."

"Sora, you have," the pegasus mare assured. "That thing controlling you could have killed me right then and there, but you pulled through and held yourself back. You saved me from yourself."

"I was losing, mom," Sora uttered with a sob. "I tried, and tried, but I can't do it...I was lucky it ran out of time before it won back control again...That's all I have is luck, but I don't have any when it comes to this Heartless..." His grip on his sheets loosened, squirming away from his mother's touch as he tried burying his head under his pillow. "I'm dangerous to everyone..."

"It was an accident," Ocean Breeze reassured, moving closer to him despite his protests. "Accidents happen. No one else blames you for that one hiccup."

"So it's ok for me to think killing you, my own mother, all my friends, and my girlfriend when I 'accidentally' turn into a monster is ok? Yeah! That's fine!" Sora said sarcastically. "Might as well find Xehanort and tell him, 'Hey, I just killed all my friends by turning into a Heartless! Let's team up and shroud the worlds in darkness!'"

"...Just like it was ok for you to sacrifice yourself by turning into a Heartless to wake Kairi?" Sora let out a choked gasp, his body frozen stiff at his mother's question. Slowly, he poked his head out from his covers, his teary eyes staring at the pegasus mare in shock. "Apparently, on all your misadventures as a Keyblade wielder, traveling to all kinds of worlds, you left out the part where you killed yourself." Sora slowly looked at Kairi, only for Ocean's hoof to stop him and force him to look back at her. "She told me everything about that just a moment ago. I understand you did it out of love for her, but for goodness sake, Sora, what were you thinking?"

He looked away from her, unable to find a reason why except it was the only one he could think of to stop Radiant Garden, formerly known as Hollow Bastion, from having swarms of Heartless being released. Slowly, he crawled out of his bedsheets, staring down at his hooves while avoiding eye contact with his mother.

"...I-I wasn't," he said after several moments of silence. "...Because...our home was destroyed...I didn't think it could come back after closing the Door to Darkness..."

"And why hide something like this from me?" Ocean questioned. "I hear now that my baby ended up killing himself when I had no idea what was happening. What if I was still around with the islands and it wasn't truly gone? I would have heard from Riku or Kairi, if either of them made it back, that my only son gave up his heart and turned into a Heartless just to save the girl he loves. I can't bear losing you just as much as we lost your father."

"But I almost killed you!" Sora argued. "It would feel even worse than knowing dad's gone if I took out your heart with my own hands! You don't have any idea how painful it is to have that kind of power control you like that! I felt my hoof clasp around your neck, I saw myself ready to plunge my other hoof in your chest and take away your heart! When I'm like that, I'm nothing but a mon-!"

Ocean slapped Sora hard across the face, stopping his emotional outburst as he blankly stared into space. Kairi stayed silent, highly shocked as she watched the two pegasi arguing, unsure of what to even say. He slowly turned his head back to look at his mother, ignoring the red mark burning on his cheek, Ocean Breeze tearing up as she leered at her son with a sorrowful, sympathetic gaze.

"...Don't you dare say that," she said. "Don't ever think that, Sora..." The stallion was speechless, still in shock from the slap to his face, watching his mother's tears spill down her cheeks. She then pulled him into a tight embrace, confusing him as she held him close. "That thing is not you. You're a brave, strong young man, risking your life for everyone you hold dear. All that I care about is that you're still you, even inside of that creature you become by complete accident. Your friends do as well. Who would ever leave someone with a heart that big, finding the strength to fight back against their own darkness to keep the ones he loves safe?" Sora's lower lip quivered as fresh tears streamed down his cheeks. He buried his face against his mother's neck and hugged her tightly, feeling her hooves caress his head and back to console him. "Don't ever let that demon make you think you're just like it. I will always love you, no matter what."

Kairi grinned as she watched the heartfelt moment between Sora and his mother. She could see he was slightly better from her words, assuaging his fears of being abandoned for a power that was dangerous and out of his control. She was a little jealous, never having much recollection of her real parents as a child and wishing she had a mom like Sora's, but being around him and Riku was more than enough for her new family. She backed away, leaving mother and son alone until they both calmed down. However, just as she opened the door, she heard a few yelps as a few ponies that leaned against the doorway fell into Sora's room.

Sora and Ocean looked at the doorway as Pinkie, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were on the ground in a pile, the others standing out in the hall as they were all eavesdropping on them. "How long were you guys there for?"

"What!? What are you talking about!?" Pinkie asked as she and the Crusaders quickly stood up with innocent grins on their faces.

"They were clearly eavesdropping," Riku said. "We...also wanted to make sure Sora was alright."

"...Really?" Sora asked. "But...after I-"

"It was an accident," Aqua spoke up, interrupting Sora. "If I had known about your Anti Form from the start, we could have avoided the surprise and the pain that came along with such a powerful form." The stallion's ears drooped as he felt like hiding his face against his mother's shoulder in shame. "However, we do understand why you wanted to keep it hidden after Kairi explained your reasons, but-"

"But there's no way we're going to think any less of you because of your darkness haunting you and fearing you'll hurt everyone," Riku finished, walking into the room and approached the flabbergasted stallion. He then gave Sora a hard punch in the shoulder, making him wince. "You're too stubborn to give up on me when that happened, and we'll be doing the same so you can understand we only care about you being you, not an uncontrollable Heartless or someone possessed by one."

"...Riku..." Sora's eyes welled up with tears as he smiled, ignoring the pain in his shoulder from the jab and hugged his best friend.

Feeling a bit awkward, Riku patted his emotional friend's back. "Ok, ok. Just don't start bawling on me."

Pinkie and the trio of fillies ran toward them and joined in the hug, trapping Riku in Sora's hooves as he groaned in annoyance. "We still love you, Sora!"

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle agreed with Pinkie.

"Y'all are still family to me, and Ah'll help ya feel better like ya do for me," Apple Bloom said.

"And as scary as what you turned into was, it kinda looked pretty cool," Scootaloo added. "Too bad you can't control it, but that would be awesome if you could!"

"Can I not be squished in a group hug with you guys?" Riku asked, though his question remained unanswered as Pinkie only squished him harder against Sora's hug. The rest of the Mane Six, Kairi, and Sora's mother joined in on the group hug just to spite Riku, his annoyed sigh making them laugh. "Guess not..."





The rest of the day went by without anymore complications, thankfully for Sora's sake. Despite the surprise of his Anti Form appearing as he activated his Drive Forms, his mother still had her day in Equestria and enjoyed it until sunset. She got to know the rest of the mares a lot better, though Rainbow tried to teach her how to fly with her wings even though she only had a few hours left before she headed back home. She preferred keeping her feet on the ground after her first experience flying in the Gummi Ship, along with the warp speed it had that brought her to this world.

She even got to know the previous generation of Keyblade wielders, even if she wanted to chew Aqua out for making a difficult decision involving Sora staying as a Keyblade wielder or not. There was no doubt she did have some wisdom, despite looking a bit too young to be around her age, but after hearing what struggles these three have gone through, it was a lot worse than what Sora had been through. She also noticed just how strangely similar Ventus looked compared to her son: aside from the hair, voice, and style of wielding their Keyblades, he could have been Sora's younger brother if she ever had a second child.

Eventually, the day had come to an end as the sun began to set. After saying goodbye to everyone, unable to wait for them to come by Destiny Islands for a visit and spend a nice summer day on the beach, Sora started up his Gummi Ship as his sat down in one of the seats.

"Well, aside from a little kidnapping and an accidental transformation, I have had a blast," the mare said. As she began putting on her belt, she realized she was still a pegasus. "Uhh, Sora? There any chance you can turn me back to-?" Her body began glowing brightly, the spell on her finally wearing off as she was back to being human. "...Never mind. As fun as it is being a pony, I missed having my hands to grab things."

"Twilight didn't find having hands all that fun when we went to an alternate universe of Equestria through a portal," Sora said. "It was pretty weird being in Canterlot High, having our friends as humans while also being in a school again."

"And you ended up missing a couple years while you were out protecting worlds," the woman reminded, making the stallion groan. "I guess that doesn't matter now that you're pretty busy saving worlds and all that."

"I doubt I'll be doing that anymore after today..." The ship took off and left Equestria, Sora's transformation upon leaving the world making his mother wish he was a pony permanently.

"You can't stay as a pony for me just a little while longer?" she teased.

Instead of a retort, Sora said nothing as he began setting the Warp-G up to warp them back to Destiny Islands. He was still a bit upset about what will happen to him tomorrow, knowing he would pay a price for his darkness, whether it be a slap on the wrist or be punished. She sighed, clutching onto her seat as the Gummi Ship warped through space until they slowed once they caught sight of their home. The second time wasn't as bad as the first, a little surprised that she got used to it so quickly, though it could be her worries for her son overriding the exhilarating thrill of traveling at light speed.

The ship touched down outside of the town, far enough from the civilization to not be seen as he opened the ramp. "Well...I hope next year I'll make next Mother's Day a little bit...safer..."

The concerned mother got up from her seat and approached Sora, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Honey, it's ok."

"How can you be so sure?" Sora asked as he looked up at her. "I just know I'm going to fall even further behind as a Keyblade Master now. Or, at worst, be forced to stay home and never see any of my other friends outside of this world again."

"Well, wasn't Riku in the same boat as you?" she asked. "You two both had your share of darkness controlling you, and he's still fighting Heartless with a Keyblade. I have a gut feeling that your master will still keep allowing you to fight if they can figure out how to solve this Anti Form problem." Sora looked down with a sigh, his mother gently lifting his chin up and gave him a smirk. "Come on, Sora. Don't be like that. You're a master at getting yourself out of trouble. You'll be able to get out of this mess, this funk you're in, and one day, finally show that dark side of you that it can't control you."

"Easy for you to say," Sora muttered, but he couldn't help but grin. He stood up from his seat and hugged her, feeling her return the embrace. "I love you, mom."

"And I love you, too," she said back. As she pulled away, she gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you for today, Sora. Best Mother's Day gift I've ever had. A lot more than the time you gave me those weeds you pulled out of the front yard when your were six."

"I forgot what day it was and wanted to get you something," Sora argued. "...When I had no money of my own to buy any nicer flowers for you."

The woman giggled at his failed attempt to reason his actions that year. "Well, it was the thought that counted. Though, that needed a bit more thought than it should have."

The Keyblade wielder chuckled sheepishly, bringing his arms behind his head. "So, you need me to walk you back home?"

"I can take care of myself," she said. "It's not that late in the evening and the town's not that dangerous, you know?"

"R-Right. Just making sure..." Even though his mother told him she could walk back home by herself, he stayed by her until they walked down the ramp. "I...guess I'll let you know how everything goes tomorrow."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," she said. "If you're still a Keyblade wielder, you and your friends better come by Destiny Islands for a vacation someday. That includes your pony friends, too."

"Yeah. Count on it." The two of them gave each other one last hug before Sora left again, both of them not knowing whether he would be back home for good or he will continue being a protector of light and a defender against the darkness. "Happy Mother's Day."

"Thank you, Sora." They broke the embrace, Sora's mother watching him walk back inside the ship as she stepped back.

She could tell he was still worried, but she knew everything would turn out ok. If he sacrificed his heart to save Kairi and be brought back to life after that, he could make it through just about anything. She watched the blocky spaceship fly up as the ramp closed, rising up high until it zoomed off into the orange sky of the slowly setting sun in the distance. After seeing a twinkle of light shine in the fading sunlight, she returned home, praying her son will be ok.

As she walked inside the house, she grabbed a photo album from the living room and made her way outside on the backyard porch, overlooking the island Sora, Riku, and Kairi played around on as kids. She turned the pages, looking back on the memories she kept from her youth up until now. There were pictures of her as a girl playing on the very same island, running around on the shores with her friends, though as she became a teen, there were photos of her with a boy who soon became her boyfriend, then husband several years later.

She then flipped over to pictures of Sora, from the day he was born to the most recent picture of him, Riku, and Kairi when they finally came back after what felt like forever since their home was destroyed. Each photo played back those fond moments of her baby boy almost as if it had just happened yesterday, bringing a nostalgic smile to her face. Unfortunately, that grin turned into a frown as she looked through the pictures during the time of her husband's death. Even though Sora was grinning in some of them after several months without any memories since that day, she could see a glint of sadness in his eyes. Nothing had felt the same without his father around anymore, Sora sharing the exact same personality his father had when she met him many years ago: wild, silly, a bit of a naive nuisance, but had a big heart and cared greatly for her.

She had lost track of time as the sun had finally set, closing the book and looking up at the night sky as it was filled with millions of stars. "Sora," she uttered to herself, wondering which one of those stars out there was Equestria. "You have so many wonderful friends who helped you, from when you're feeling down to when you feel like you've been beaten. Always let them give you the strength you need to get back on your feet. Never push them away, even after what happened today." She held the book tightly to her chest as she headed back inside, stopping in the living room to stare at a picture of herself, her husband, and five-year-old Sora standing together, the young boy grinning widely for the camera. "We won't abandon you. Never forget that, Sora..."