"Nine hundred ninety-one........nine hundred ninety-two...." The morning after the Grand Galloping Gala, Ventus was nearly done with the rigorous workout as his punishment for the flameless firework that set off as he tried to prove Terra and Aqua were in a romantic relationship. Granted, he was right, and the fireworks from Cranky and Matilda's wedding were harmless, but Aqua wanted to punish him since there was a probability it could have failed to shoot up and accidentally blow up in her face. She forcefully woke the teen up bright and early and made sure he ran every single lap and made every single push-up and sit-up a complete one. "Nine hundred....ninety-nine........one thousand!"
Ventus collapsed on his back, panting heavily in exhaustion as his body ached. "Good. All one hundred laps and a thousand push-ups and sit-ups each," Aqua said. "Hopefully, you learned your lesson, young man."
"I'm a man trapped in a teenager's body," Ventus argued tiredly.
"And yet you still have the mindset of a teenage boy," she countered, the pegasus groaning in defeat as he flopped his forelegs. "Go and get yourself cleaned up and enjoy the free time we have. We won't know when we'll have an attack in another world or another friendship call around Equestria."
"Yes, 'mom'." Aqua chuckled as she watched Ventus stand up and sulked back to the castle.
After cleaning himself off, he trudged through the castle until he wound up in the lounge area. Ventus plopped onto the couch with a groan, thinking he shouldn't have used a firework after all for his plan to see if he was right about his best friends and just asked them, even if they said no if that were the case. While stewing in his thoughts, Twilight walked in, surprised to see the young teen.
"Hey, Ven," she greeted. "Why so gloomy?"
"A lesson never to use magical fireworks to prove his two friends are in love with each other," he answered. "I guess I got a bit too excited at the thought of Aqua and Terra actually being in a relationship that I came up with a stupid plan like a stupid teenager who didn't think first...Or I inherited Sora's insane planning with anything either without much thought put into them or just going by my gut."
"Well, better than being set up on a blind date with a fan-crazy mare, right?" Ventus growled in response. Twilight giggled as she teased him. "I'm just messing with you."
"And yet Sora was actually serious about that," he said.
Spike soon walked in, pulling off a pair of rubber gloves as he wore a cleaning apron and a red bandanna. "Hey, Twilight, you know the worst thing about you being the Princess of Friendship?" he asked. "The dishes. Can't we get a cleaning staff? We already have the guards, and you're one of them."
"Yeah, you actually should get some hired help," Ventus said as he sat up, leaving room for Spike as he jumped up and sat beside him on the couch. "With how big this castle is and how busy we can be, there needs to be someone else to clean up after us if we don't have the time."
"Exactly! We can ask Celestia if we can borrow some of her maids," Spike said. "There's only so much I can do on my own in this castle, and I'm not exactly the fittest of dragons here."
"Maybe if you quit scarfing down gems and sweets every day and stopped sitting around and reading comics on your breaks." Ventus pulled out one of Spike's comics hidden behind one of the couch cushions, another issue of his "Pony Fantasy: Dissidia" comics showing a young earth pony colt around Spike's age wearing red knight's armor, the helmet looking like an onion with the several white feather plumes sticking up at the top. "You could probably join me for some workouts so you don't have a pudge for the rest of your childhood years."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Spike said, snatching his comic back. "Your kinds of workouts are...hard. Case in point, Twilight doing them when she got a Keyblade." Twilight nodded with a nervous giggle, her training really tough as she needed it to survive when confronting Heartless. She was about to levitate one of the books from the shelf in the lounge over to her before Spike spoke up again. "You know, getting back on topic with the castle, it's kind of funny how everypony's coming to you for advice, Twilight."
"Why's that so funny?" Twilight asked curiously.
"Should we remind you how you were so grumpy trying to make friends when Celestia sent you to Ponyville when you tried to find a way to stop Nightmare Moon?" Ventus reminded. "Not exactly the friendliest pony around until Sora managed to get it through to you. While you were in dangerous, no less."
"And she was a pretty bad friend back in Canterlot," Spike added, opening the pages of his comic.
"What are you talking about?" Twilight questioned offensively. "I had good friends in Canterlot."
"Well, do you see any photos we took before we moved to Ponyville?" She looked over at a shelf that held several different framed photographs of her and the others, many of them important parts of her life that helped lead her to become the princess she is now.
They weren't in any specific order, but they all surrounded the central picture of her coronation with all her friends above her or at her sides. There was the group picture of the former unicorn with the rest of the Mane Six and Sora in Ponyville, the end of the "best night ever" at the Gala a couple years back at Doughnut Joe's where Kairi began entering the pictures, Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding after defeating the changelings with Riku joining in at that point, even a recent photo of Twilight with all six Keyblade wielders posing for the camera with their Keyblades held out in front of the Castle of Friendship.
There weren't any pictures from before she ever became the Element of Magic and met her friends in Ponyville like Spike had said. Panic struck Twilight, barely remembering anything about her old friends she somewhat hung out with before moving during the Summer Sun Celebration that year except the fact she was in the same class as them at Celestia's School for Magically Gifted Unicorns.
"Oh, no," she said. "This is a disaster!"
"And now you freaked her out, Spike," Ventus muttered, giving the baby dragon a blank stare. "Great job."
"I can't even remember any of my old friends' names!" Twilight exclaimed, pacing around in her panic as she tried to recall their faces and names. "Do you guys think they think I'm a bad friend!?"
"I only meant you came so far," Spike corrected himself. "You're a great friend now, and you've got Riku as your coltfriend-"
"I just feel awful!" Twilight interrupted as the baby dragon's words were unheard. "I have to make it up to them! Pack a bag, Spike! You, Ventus, and I are going to Canterlot!"
"Wait, why am I going?" Ventus asked, but it went unanswered as Twilight ran out of the room. "...And she's off."
She poked her head back through the doorway with a sheepish grin. "And make a list of my friends' names while you're packing. Thank you!"
"But why-?" Twilight ran off before Ventus could repeat his question. The pegasus groaned and slumped over the armrest in disgruntlement. "Why did I bother trying to ask again?" Looking back at Spike with a leer, even he was a bit annoyed how he should have just kept his mouth shut. "Why do it?"
After gathering a few things, Spike writing the list of Twilight's old friends from Canterlot, and the alicorn randomly running around trying to find Riku to let him know she was taking Ventus and Spike with her to Canterlot, to the stallion's confusion as to why she didn't want him to come along while getting a rushed kiss goodbye in the process, Twilight and Ventus flew off to Canterlot late in the night, Spike clinging onto Twilight as he rode on her back.
"You know, Twilight, I think you're freaking out over nothing," Ventus said. "I don't think leaving abruptly by the princess's orders without telling your old friends doesn't make you a bad friend."
"Forget it, Ven," Spike said. "Twilight's a bit too stubborn to listen in a blind panic. Remember what happened when she was a week late trying to send a friendship report a couple years ago?"
"Yeah. That ended awkwardly with that spell she accidentally hit Sora with." Ventus shuddered, recalling how every single pony suddenly wanted him. Especially the look Big Macintosh gave Sora that was a lot more awkward than seeing him turned into a mare from the Poison Joke incident. "I think I had nightmares about that with Sora after that day."
They reached the mountain city of Canterlot, flying over the many buildings as Twilight lead Ventus to where she took them. "There it is," Twilight said as they approached a tower with a spiral staircase rising around it from the outside. "The only logical place to start is at the beginning."
The trio made their way inside, not surprising Ventus as the inside was practically a library filled with all kinds of books. "So, this is where you used to live before coming to Ponyville. Figured you would have been surrounded by books."
"It's exactly how I left it, too," Twilight said. Nothing really had been moved around, or even shifted, since she and Spike left it after Celestia told her to go to Ponyville to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration that year. All the books, the shelves, furniture, and even the floor was coated in a layer of dust. Ventus had no idea why Twilight didn't find the time to ask someone to keep her old house clean, but seeing how stubborn she must have been with her studies and discovering a way to defeat Nightmare Moon back then, she didn't bother asking or always had Spike doing the chores. Twilight approached a pedestal with an opened book sitting on it, blowing off the dust as she remembered the exact page of the exact book she had resting there. "Look! It's 'Predictions and Prophecies'! And it's still open to the Elements of Harmony!"
Spike noticed an opened gift laying on the floor, running up to it as he examined it. "Hey! It's the gift I was going to give Moon Dancer that day!" Unfortunately, the package was ruined when his tail had gone through it after Twilight knocked him over with the door that day, a brown teddy bear with a hole in its belly with stuffing ripped out of it laying beside it. "Huh. Guess she won't be needing this thing now," Spike uttered, tossing the destroyed bear over his shoulder. Looking at the rest of the present, he saw something else he had put in that was still intact. "Hey, the rest is still here."
"What else were you planning on giving this Moon Dancer?" Ventus asked. Spike pulled out what appeared to be a picture frame and showed him what was on it. His jaw dropped at what the picture held: on the far right was Lyra, apparently one of Twilight's old friends, followed by four other unicorn mares, and Twilight herself on the far left, too busy concentrating on a book instead of the camera taking the picture. From right to left after Lyra, there was a blue mare with dark blue and white hair, a white mare with pink hair, a yellow mare with light blue hair, the three of them having some fun as they ate some cupcakes. But beside Twilight was a unicorn mare that had the same hairstyle as her, only with a pale yellow coat, her mane red with light and dark purple highlights, and wore a pair of black glasses. "...Uhhhhhhh...Did Twilight have a twin sister she forgot to tell us?"
"No, that's Moon Dancer," Spike said. "It is weird how alike they are, but she isn't really Twilight's twin."
"I'm glad she doesn't pass off as her Nobody," Ventus uttered. "Just take away the glasses, and you have a recolored Twilight Sparkle."
"Kind of like Sora and Roxas being the same?" Spike asked. "Or you and Sora? Because you two are kind of alike."
Ventus opened his mouth, but Spike did have a point, even though he was supposed to be older than Sora, and Roxas ended up becoming his Nobody. He didn't think on that topic too much, otherwise he would have given himself a migraine with how that was even possible after becoming a part of Sora's heart. He and Spike looked over to Twilight, who looked out the window toward the city, feeling miserable and guilty for leaving her home a complete mess and leaving the friends she did have, but never acknowledged, in Canterlot.
"How could I have let this happen?" she said to herself, pressing her cheek against the window in regret. "I left this place, and it's a total mess...just like my friendships."
"Twilight, don't blame yourself," Ventus reassured. "The princess gave you a job to do, and it was short notice, right? They can't fault you for doing something important for the ruler of Equestria."
"Maybe...but I need to at least make it up to...umm..." Twilight looked to Spike, her eyes pleading him to name her friends for her.
"Oh. Uhh, Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Lyra Heartstrings, and Moon Dancer," Spike said, listing the names of the other three unicorns in the picture.
"Are you sure they were your friends if you can't even remember their names?" Ventus asked curiously.
"Well, you and Sora have a lot of different friends," Twilight reasoned. "Can you name all of the friends you made from any worlds?"
"Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Dopey, Sneezy, Bashful, Snow White, Jacques, Cinderella, Lea, Isa, Hercules, Zack, Stitch, Peter Pan, Slightly, Cubby, Tinker Bell," Ventus listed without needing to think of them. He grinned, shocking Twilight as he remembered their names, despite some of them not exactly considered names. "Even after so many years, I still know the friends I personally made back then. And don't get me started on the ones Sora knows...Or should I?"
"Ok, I get your point," Twilight said in annoyance. "I was too focused on my studies to really pay attention. Don't rub it in."
"Too late," Spike said, both boys laughing as they hoofbumped, further irritating the alicorn.
The next morning, Twilight, Spike, and Ventus made their way through Canterlot to find the alicorn's old friends' homes. Since Lyra was back in Ponyville, she'll make amends with her when they get back. Twilight had stayed up all night figuring out where the other four mares lived, barely getting any sleep while Ventus and Spike failed to get much with the lack of sleeping arrangements made before arriving. After a bit of searching, they found one of the mare's homes, which happened to be Minuette's home as they stood before a house with a large hourglass sitting on top of the doorway.
"I'm gonna take a guess and say Minuette's cutie mark might involve hourglasses," Ventus said as he pointed at the decor.
"Uhh, maybe it's not too late I opened my big mouth," Spike said, already too late as Twilight already knocked on the door.
"No, Spike, I'm glad you opened your big mouth," Twilight said. "These ponies must have been suffering ever since I left and wondering why their supposed friend treated them so badly!"
Ventus rolled his eyes at the alicorn blaming herself for something that she didn't mean to do. The door slowly opened up, the house scarcely lit and slightly filthy from what they could see. Suddenly poking her head out was the mare, Minuette, a big grin on her face as she saw Twilight.
"Twilight Sparkle!" she greeted happily, the opposite reaction the alicorn expected as Minuette stepped out and approached her, her cutie mark an hourglass just as Ventus predicted. "You old so-and-so! What are you doing here!?" Minuette finally noticed Spike and Ventus, the latter chuckling in amusement at the mare "suffering" from being forgotten by Twilight. "Hey, Spike! It's been forever since I saw you! And you're...Sora, right!?"
"Wrong," Ventus said. "That's the other pegasus with the spiky hair. I'm Ventus, but you can call me Ven."
"Are you by any chance Sora's twin?" Minuette asked curiously. "You look just like him. Do you also have one of those cool key-sword things?" Humoring the excited unicorn, Ventus held out his hoof and summoned his Keyblade. "Oooooh. That's so amazing how you two can summon a weapon when you're pegasi!" She then pulled out a camera, holding it in a yellow aura glowing from her horn and shoving it toward Spike. "Spike, get a picture of the three of us! I try telling my co-workers I was actually friends with the Princess of Friendship, but they never believed me! And they'll be jealous when they see me with one of Equestria's heroes' look-alike brother!"
Ventus slumped over, chuckling and groaning simultaneously in amusement by Minuette's personality and finding it ironic how others see him as Sora's younger brother. "Yeah, Twilight. Your friends are so miserable after you left. Minuette's so depressed right now."
While Spike fumbled with the camera as he aimed it at the three ponies, Minuette grinned widely while Ventus and Twilight stood beside her. "Wait, wait!" Minuette said. "Twi, fluff up those wings, and Ven, pose with that sword of yours!" Twilight nervously flared out her wings a bit more while Ventus obliged the unicorn's request, holding his Keyblade out in a triumphant pose as he grinned for the camera. Spike to the picture as soon as everyone was ready, Minuette taking back her camera to develop the rest of the pictures later when the film is all used up. "So, what brings you here? I mean, I know you're here all the time, but you never came by to see me!"
"Well, Twilight here was hoping to see her old friends," Ventus said for Twilight, still in shock from how cheerful Minuette was to see her after a long while. "Spike and I came along as baggage because she's a nervous wreck without someone there to keep her lungs intact from hyperventilating."
"That's a great idea!" Minuette said, ignorant of the irritated leer Twilight gave to the teen. "Let's go find Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine and catch up on some old times! Come on, let's fly!" She made a big leap in the air, emphasizing her expression with a giggle. "Get it!? 'Cause you two have wings!?"
"Let's just hope the others aren't as 'traumatized' as Minuette was," Spike muttered as they followed the unicorn to gather Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts.
After gathering Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine, their cutie marks a trio of hearts, two blue and one green, and a trio of stars respectively, the three unicorns, alicorn, pegasus, and baby dragon stopped at Doughnut Joe's for some breakfast. The girls had a table to themselves as they reminisced about some fond memories they had while Ventus and Spike sat at their own table. As Spike scarfed down a plethora of doughnuts, Ventus watched Twilight interacting with her old friends, the three mares letting bygones be bygones after she unexpectedly left without telling them.
"Well, things actually turned out better than Twilight seemed to have expected," Ventus said. "Now we need to find out where Moon Dancer lives, Twilight apologizes to her next, and then find Lyra when we get back to Ponyville." He turned around and grabbed one of the doughnuts on their plate before Spike ate them all. Before he took a bite into it, his eye caught some movement over by one of the windows of the restaurant. He could have sworn he saw something light purple duck or run off as soon as he looked. "What the...?"
"What?" Spike asked with his mouth full, sprinkles sticking to his mouth and bulged cheeks. "You saw something? It's not Heartless, is it?"
"No...I thought I saw..." Looking at the window again, Ventus shook his head. "Never mind. Maybe I'm seeing things."
He bit into his doughnut, keeping an eye on the window as if he was expecting that same bit of heliotrope pass by again. Ventus had a really bad feeling that might have been Starlight Glimmer, and she was being careless trying to spy on them when they could easily catch her and haul her off to jail after what she had done to them and the ponies of Our Town. Even with her cutie mark stealing magic spell, now that they know what to expect from her, they won't lower their guard to someone like her again. Or maybe he was just being too cautious, the pleasant trip far too pleasant to his liking as he expected some kind of disaster to happen.
"Hey, Ven." Twilight snapped the young stallion out of his thoughts, turning around to face the alicorn. "You ok?"
"...Yeah. I thought I saw something out the window, but it must have been in my head," he said. "What's up?"
"Well, I apologized to Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts, and they surprisingly weren't mad at me," she said. "And we're about to go to the school to really look back on the past...Well, from what I can recall where I wasn't looking at a book twenty-four hours a day."
"Ok. Let's get going, then." After paying for the doughnuts, the group made their leave and walked down the road to where Celestia's School for Magically Gifted Unicorns was located.
During the walk, the other three mares got to know a bit about Ventus. Despite being thought as Sora's younger brother by two more ponies, he was glad to tell them a little bit about himself, leaving out a lot of details about who he truly was to at least avoid having others in Equestria know about the Keyblade and the Heartless. Part of him couldn't help that they were being watched, and he always glanced behind him, only seeing other ponies that lived in Canterlot walking along.
They soon reached the school, which was a lot more suited for higher learning than a public school for foals. Looking through the window, Twilight spotted a science classroom, memories of all her scientific studies coming back to her.
"It's our old science lab," she said. "I have so many memories of this place."
Minuette began giggling as a memory came to her about the room. "Do you remember when Lemon Hearts got her head stuck in that beaker that day?"
Twinkleshine laughed with Minuette, though Lemon Hearts didn't find it as funny as she leered at them. As Ventus wondered how someone could get their head stuck in a glass beaker, Twilight was too busy reminiscing as she looked in the classroom.
Inside the classroom, fillies were busy with some free time while the teacher at the desk looked over the latest assignment she gave them. Filly Twinkleshine and Minuette chased after Lemon Hearts, her head surprisingly getting stuck in one of the glass beakers in the science room. How that was possible was baffling, though that wasn't of any concern with two fillies they passed by at a lab table, both of them with their noses deep in advanced science books.
"But according to this book, you're supposed to add the sodium chloride first," a filly Twilight Sparkle said as she put her book down.
The other filly, a younger Moon Dancer without any glasses lowered her book as she pointed at the page she was on. "I read ahead, and to make a proper salt lick, you need to add the molasses first."
"Well, I read ahead too, Moon Dancer," Twilight argued. "And I'm sure it says sodium chloride first."
Moon Dancer looked down at her book, leering at the pages as the ingredients for a salt lick weren't the same as Twilight's book had. "Oh. I've got the wrong book," she said dryly. "That's so hilarious."
Their conversation ending, both highly studious fillies picked up their books and continued reading, ignoring their other friends still trying to get Lemon Hearts to stop so they could that beaker off her head.
Twilight still felt guilty for Moon Dancer as she pulled herself out of her thoughts. She knew she didn't interact with the others all that much, but Moon Dancer and her shared the same interest in studying. If she knew just how important friendship could have been back then, they could have probably been the best of friends. And she even skipped out on the party she threw without telling her she couldn't come. She looked back at the three unicorns, looking back on good times and laughing at how silly they were as fillies.
"Hey, what happened to Moon Dancer?" Twilight asked.
"Moon Dancer?" Lemon Hearts asked.
"Oh! I remember her!" Minuette said. "She was just as studious as you were. We kind of lost touch with her after you left."
"Do you still remember where she lives?" Ventus asked.
"I think she went to live out by the stadium, right?" Twinkleshine asked.
"Let's go see her." The unicorns lead the way with Twilight, Ventus, and Spike following behind.
It didn't take them long to find where Moon Dancer lived, but when they saw her house, Twilight was a bit shocked at the state it was in. The walls were slightly cracked, the lawn was slightly overgrown with weeds, the roof seemed to be falling apart. It was as if the home was abandoned and never taken care of for years, the alicorn doubting Moon Dancer lived here anymore.
"Wow. What a dump," Ventus said, earning a hard jab in the side from Twilight.
"I think this is the place," Minuette said. "Didn't used to look like this, though."
Feeling more nervous than before, Twilight approached the door and gave it a couple knocks. The wood of the door gave way as she accidentally punched a hole in it, either not knowing her strength or the door could end up crumbling with more abuse. She was about to turn away, only to see a purple eye hidden behind the lens of a pair of glasses peeked through the hole with a leer. The door slowly opened, but the inside seemed a lot worse than the outside in the very dim lighting of the house.
"Moon Dancer?" Twilight called out.
"What do you want?" Moon Dancer poked her head out, glaring at the intruders at her door, but her look was nothing like Twilight or Ventus expected. Her mane was tied up, keeping her bangs out of her face and no longer hanging down like Twilight's, it was also unkempt as she never seemed to take the time to brush it, and she wore a wrinkled black turtleneck sweater. "I'm trying to study."
"It's us, your old friends!" Twilight said as she, Twinkleshine, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, and Spike got together as they grinned.
"And a potential new one?" Ventus added, still a bit surprised to see the Twlight look-alike's new look. Instead of being happy to see them, Moon Dancer let out a loud, irritated groan, slamming her door on them as she headed back inside. The mood suddenly went sour, Minuette not as flabbergasted as the others like it was a normal thing, but when Ventus looked at Twilight, that was clearly not the case. "...Ok. Maybe that was the kind of reaction you were expecting from the others, Twilight."
"That's old Moon Dancer for you," Minuette said. "She always did like her books. Kind of like how you used to be, Twilight."
The alicorn had a horrible realization at Minuette's claim. Her ears drooped as Moon Dancer's behavior was just like her own before discovering the values of friendship: a shut-in, constantly studying, never being social with anyone else aside from only those she had a close connection with like her family or someone they always see on a daily basis.
"Exactly how I used to be," Twilight muttered to herself.
Wanting to understand why Moon Dancer was so irritable with them, Twilight spent the next couple days spying on the unicorn to see where she went. Minuette joined her, Spike, and Ventus, the four of them sitting at a table outside a diner across from a library the shut-in unicorn always entered every single day, bringing out new books when she left. Lowering their menus, Twilight and Minuette wearing different styles of glasses to remain inconspicuous, Spike groaned in boredom, tired of the same monotonous routine they were doing the last couple days.
"Twilight, this is getting ridiculous!" Spike complained. "We've been watching her doing the same thing for three days! Library, house, library, house! That's it!"
"Minuette, has Moon Dancer always been like this?" Ventus questioned. "It's like no one else notices her passing by, and she's always keeping to herself with a book hovering in front of her."
"She was a little bit shy back then," she said. "But, for a while, she was really starting to come out of her shell. Twilight, you remember when she threw that party a couple years back?" Twilight did, which only made her feel worse by the fact she blew off Moon Dancer's party before she was told to head to Ponyville. She lied and said she had a lot of studying to catch up on when she was desperate to find a way to stop the return of Nightmare Moon after discovering the signs and reading the story of the two alicorn sisters. "Oh, right. You were busy that day.
"I kinda thought that she might have finally let her guard down with that party. We tried inviting her out a few times after, but she was always too busy studying. So, eventually, we stopped asking." Twilight stared at the library, unable to handle the guilt of making somepony end up so reclusive.
"I had no idea that party was so important to her," she uttered. "I need to find a way to make it up to her."
"And how are you going to do that?" Ventus asked.
"...I have no idea, but I need to do something." Taking off her glasses, Twilight approached the library to speak with Moon Dancer.
"I'm gonna follow her and make sure she doesn't do anything too crazy to try to be friends with Moon Dancer again," Ventus said, chasing after Twilight as she already walked inside.
Poking his head through the doorway, he spotted the alicorn walk casually by her, feigning a gasp as she noticed her passing by Moon Dancer, busy studying and writing notes from the pile of books she had. "Moon Dancer!? Is that-!?"
She was quickly shushed by the other ponies inside, forgetting that she needed to be quiet in a library. Twilight fled with a nervous grin, Ventus letting out a sigh as he shook his head. He walked inside and approached the table Moon Dancer sat at.
"Moon Dancer?" he whispered, getting the irritated mare's attention as she looked up from her reading.
"What do you want?" she asked. "I'm really busy right now."
"Well, you could stand to take just a little break from studying, right?" She only glared at him, remaining silent as her response. "...Ok. You could also say, 'No thanks.'"
Moon Dancer looked back down at her books, but just as Ventus was about to leave her be, the two of them were stuck in a lavender bubble that spanned out the length of the table. Twilight, who had snuck up to them, stood up beside Moon Dancer.
"Moon Dancer, can I talk to you for a min-?" Moon Dancer shushed Twilight, the alicorn grinning as the unicorn wondered why no one else was telling her to be quiet.
Looking up, she noticed the same bubble all three of them were inside of. "What is this?"
"Eh. Bubble of silence," Twilight said nonchalantly. "I haven't seen you in a while, so I thought it would be nice for us to catch up."
"For what purpose?" Moon Dancer questioned, trying to get back to her reading.
"You two were friends before," Ventus stated. "And maybe you should get yourself a bit of fresh air...and a change of clothes, a day at a spa to freshen up, relax a little?"
Moon Dancer stared at the two of them, lighting up her horn and popping Twilight's magical bubble. The loud noise alerted the others as they shushed them. The unicorn glared at Twilight, taking that as her cue to leave her be as she walked away. She then turned to Ventus, still standing across from her.
"I'm not taking a break, either," she whispered. "Now, can the two of you leave me alone. You're ruining my concentration."
"I don't think Twilight's going to stop anytime soon," he said. "If you know her as long as I have, she'll keep trying to solve a problem, even if it seems impossible. She's kind of stubborn like that."
"And so are you. Now get out of here. This is a library, not a social club." Moon Dancer closed the book and reached out for the next one in her pile, but Ventus pressed his hoof down on the book she was about to grab.
"Sorry, but have you seen yourself in a mirror?" he asked. "You look like you just got up out of bed, and haven't even bothered changing that turtleneck, or even washed it after a few days." She growled silently at the teen, both of them unaware of the book they were touching glowing slightly before it dimmed away. "I'm just saying it can't hurt to take a break. Turning into a workaholic can be bad for your own health."
"I can take care of myself," Moon Dancer argued, swiping the book, nearly making Ventus lose his balance and slam his face into the table. "And I'm not a workaholic."
She opened the pages of the book, and waiting inside for her was Twilight as an illustration, surprising both ponies. "I'm sorry I missed your party."
"AHHH!" Moon Dancer screamed, slamming the book shut as everyone around her shushed her. Growing irritated, she looked at Ventus, who shrugged his shoulders with a sheepish grin, completely innocent with Twilight's stubborn plan as she opened the book to where the alicorn was. "Why can't you two just leave me alone!? You've got the wrong pony! I don't have parties!"
"You did once," Twilight said. "I was so caught up in my own studies that I didn't take your feelings into account."
The unicorn let out an exhausted sigh. "Look, Twilight Twinkle-"
"Sparkle," Twilight corrected.
"Whatever. I just want to be left alone so I can study without some crazy ponies trying to make friends, all right!?" Twilight finally decided to give up as she began to walk off on the page, but Moon Dancer began to grow curious as to how she was able to actually be a part of the book. "Wait. How...did you get into the book like that?"
Managing to get the mare's attention, Twilight grinned as she peaked Moon Dancer's interest.
Ventus followed Twilight and Moon Dancer as the two mares actually began talking to each other. He had no clue what they were even talking about, but that didn't matter as they were both highly studious and discussed a bunch of topics on literature, science, magic, etc.
"I've actually been studying a new technique with that spell," Twilight said. "It's kind of hard to explain, but I've actually jumped into a fictional storybook before. You actually experience so much more when you're literally in a book."
"That sounds like one of Hayscarte's methods," Moon Dancer said. "But even a powerful unicorn wizard could only stay in there for five minutes at most."
"Well, let's just say there's some magic I came in contact with that can make it possible to stay in a book for more than a day. I'm more than just a princess now." Twilight stopped and showed Moon Dancer her Keyblade, surprising the unicorn as it appeared in a flash of light in the alicorn's hoof. She didn't see any spells cast, yet the strange looking sword came to her as if summoned by will. "I'm not sure if you've heard of Sora, but he and a few of his other friends can use magic and call Keyblades before I did."
"...How did you even do that?" Moon Dancer questioned in awe. "You don't even have any runes magically imbued on you or...that weird sword..." She then looked at Ventus, finally taking the time to actually notice his appearance. "...And...he can summon one, too?"
"Yup," Ventus said, calling his Keyblade and twirled it around in his hoof.
Moon Dancer's jaw dropped in shock, wracking her head around this new magic she's never heard of. "That's impossible! He's a pegasus! The only kind of magic pegasi can use is manipulation of the weather: breaking clouds, making them rain or shoot lightning depending on what type of cloud it is, even creating wind currents with their wings depending on how high their wing power is!"
"It's a long story, and we can't really explain every detail about our Keyblades, or how a simple pegasus or earth pony can use magic as well as use these in a fight," Ventus said.
Twilight and Ventus could tell that Moon Dancer has so many questions, everything baffling her as the logic of magic for the young stallion shouldn't be physically possible. Moon Dancer reminded Twilight of her own shock with Sora and his own power, her logical side wanting to figure out how it all worked and use the magic to test for the sake of knowledge. Withholding everything else, they continued down the road back to Twilight's old house, the unicorn's attention diverted to the inside of the alicorn's old house of a library.
"What's this place?" Moon Dancer asked.
"This is where I used to live," Twilight said. "...Didn't I ever bring anypony over?"
"I doubt there was anyone else aside from you and Spike that ever entered your old home," Ventus said, earning another jab in the side. "Ow! Stop hitting me!"
"Oh my gosh!" Moon Dancer exclaimed. "A first edition of 'Principles of Magic'!" The unicorn pulled the book off of the shelf, her excitement only turning to suspicion at the state of the book. "Wait a minute, didn't I give this to you?" Twilight winced, now remembering where she got that book, never bothering reading it and stowed it away in one of her many bookshelves. "I did! I even wrote something on the cover."
"Y-You did?" Twilight asked nervously.
"'To my friend, Twilight Sparkle,'" Moon Dancer read. "'Thanks for introducing me to the classics.'" Grumbling, she closed the book in spite and pushed the book back where it was, the dust on it explaining a lot about how much Twilight seemed to care about her gift to the alicorn. "I can see by the fact you left it here that it meant so much to you."
"Look, Moon Dancer, I didn't bring you here to pull up more reminders how much of a bad friend I was. At least I didn't bring it with me before Tirek destroyed the Golden Oak Library," Twilight whispered to herself, dreading to find out how Moon Dancer would have reacted if that book was burned away with the tree library if she took it with her. Ignoring that terrifying scenario, she pulled out the key to her home, holding it out to the unicorn. "I brought you here to give you this. You can come here whenever you want and study to your heart's content."
"Really?" Moon Dancer asked with a gasp.
"But first, you've got to do something for me," Twilight said. Seeing the eager look on Moon Dancer's face, she was willing to do anything to study in this tower. "If you want to study here, I want you to have dinner with our old friends tonight."
Moon Dancer didn't like the idea, her enthusiasm vanishing as she began to walk out. "I can't. I'm going to be reorganizing my biology scrolls."
Ventus quickly stood in the mare's way, not allowing Moon Dancer to keep herself holed up in her decrepit home to constantly study and miss out on life. "Come on, Moon Dancer. It's not going to be that bad hanging out with some old friends," he assured. "Twinkleshine, Minuette, and Lemon Hearts were a bit concerned for you, and it wouldn't hurt just to have a friendly chat."
"I already told the both of you!" she said. "The last thing I need is a bunch of pointless friend-making keeping me from my studies!" Moon Dancer coated Ventus's body with her aura, dragging him away from the doorway as she made her leave. "Now stop distracting me!"
"Moon Dancer, wait!" Twilight said, teleporting down in front of her old friend. "A wise pony once told me there was more to life than dusty old books!"
"I tried friendship and it's not for me," Moon Dancer said as she brushed past the alicorn.
Twilight panicked, needing to find a way to let Moon Dancer know that having friends is more important than always reading and studying every day for the rest of her life. "Wait! What if I taught you Hayscarte's method?"
Moon Dancer stopped and looked back, her curiosity on Hayscarte's spell to literally jump into any book laying before her making her reconsider, if only to endure being around others. Ventus let out a sigh in disbelief as Twilight was sorely determined to commit to bribing Moon Dancer to hang out with friends for the key to her old house.
"This is not gonna end well," he mumbled.
Later that evening, Twilight managed to succeed coaxing Moon Dancer to come with her and Ventus to dinner with them, Spike, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Minuette. After ordering their food, the whole evening was spent in awkward silence as they tried to get Moon Dancer to interact with everyone. She was mostly annoyed, remaining silent as she poked at her food in boredom.
"...So, uh, what are you studying these days, Moon Dancer?" Minuette asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence around them.
"Science, magic, history, economics, pottery. Stuff like that," Moon Dancer said.
"Wow. You planning to become a professor?" she asked again.
"No," Moon Dancer responded, ending the topic quickly so she could end this dinner faster. "Can I go now?"
"Moon Dancer, please," Twilight begged, making the mare groan in frustration.
"It's ok, Twilight," Minuette assured. "We're all having a great time, right?"
Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were a bit unsure how to respond, though Ventus could see that the night was not going so well. "She's really not going to open up," he mumbled to himself, nibbling on the salad he ordered.
While trying to figure out a topic that will get Moon Dancer to speak up a little bit more and converse with everyone, he looked up from his food and looked around at the busy restaurant. His eyes suddenly fell on someone with a menu covering their face, but sticking up at the top was a familiar looking purple mane with pale aquamarine highlights and a horn jutting out from their forehead. The menu lowered, the pegasus nearly choking on his food as said pony was indeed Starlight Glimmer, glaring at Twilight intensely. She noticed Ventus staring at her, quickly putting up her menu as if she could try to make herself invisible.
"So, Ventus, are you really as good as Sora when it comes to fighting monsters?" Twinkleshine asked curiously, momentarily diverting Ventus's attention away from the spy watching them. "I mean, he's done a lot of great feats saving Equestria and that amazing duel in that Struggle competition at the Equestria Games, but with one of those Keyblade things, you must have some skills he might not have."
"Uhh..." Too busy worried about the fact Starlight Glimmer was nearby and watching him and Twilight, Ventus was too distracted to come up with an answer. He looked back at where the cutie mark stealing unicorn sat, she left the table and began to make her way out of the restaurant. "Uhh, can you hold that thought? I need to use the bathroom. Excuse me!"
He got up from his seat and made his way across the room to chase after the wanted mare. "Wait, aren't the bathrooms that way?" Lemon Hearts asked, pointing in the other direction.
"Oh, so he can freely leave while I have to keep staying here?" Moon Dancer questioned irritably.
Twilight groaned, her plan not going so well as she wondered what had gotten into Ventus to just bail on them right now. "Please tell me he saw Heartless and he's taking care of them..."
Ventus hovered above Canterlot, searching everywhere for Starlight Glimmer out in the lit up capital of the kingdom. Despite the many buildings creating alleyways for someone to possibly hide from someone searching through the air, he spotted a flash of blue light out in the park.
"There you are," he muttered, calling his Keyblade as he flew off toward where the unicorn teleported to. Taking aim as he approached the park, he threw his blade, spiraling dangerously through the branches of the trees. He heard Starlight yelp as he struck the tree she was by, diving through the branches and charged her straight into the same tree by surprise. He pulled his Keyblade out of the trunk of the tree, holding it at the unicorn's horn as it began glowing her blue aura, keeping her pinned with his free hoof. "I knew you were somewhere around here a couple days ago."
Starlight didn't move, knowing how swift Ventus's and the other Keyblade wielders' reflexes can be. She leered at the teen, keeping her horn lit to prepare a spell just in case.
"I was sort of hoping for a peaceful dinner tonight, but I guess I'm still on the run," she said. "Didn't expect you to look in my direction."
"I can recognize your hair and coat so easily," Ventus said. "I would have laughed if you showed off your cutie mark while you were sitting there. Or did you paint another equal sign on your butt to try to mask your identity?" Starlight growled in annoyance, hitting a nerve, but the pegasus was in no way pleased with her reaction. "Why are you spying on us?"
"Gathering intel," she answered vaguely. "As to what? None of your business."
"It's clearly about us. You want revenge on us for stopping you from taking away cutie marks and saving that town of ponies you manipulated into believing you. And now you're just walking around in the open, where you're pretty much wanted for your crimes." Starlight scoffed, only to feel Ventus press her harder against the tree.
"What crime is there in leading other ponies to lead a peaceful life where no one has to worry about talents getting in the way of friendship?" she questioned.
"How about when you stole our cutie marks?" Ventus asked back, keeping his composure despite his anger telling him to beat some sense into this metaphorically blind unicorn. "Our abilities to use our Keyblades? Our magic? Do you have any idea just how much danger you put this whole world in if darkness began to spread? You wouldn't have your little town of mind controlled equalists if it weren't for us taking care of the Heartless, saving millions of billions of lives from an even worse fate."
"...Those black creatures, right?" Starlight asked. "Somepony showed me what they looked like after the twelve of you ran me out of my village."
Ventus grunted in shock, bringing his Keyblade down to her neck as he pressed her harder against the tree. "Who!?"
"I-I didn't get her name!" Starlight answered. "She was some green unicorn in a black robe that had curved horns on top of her hood!"
"...Maleficent spoke to you?" Ventus suddenly grew worried at the information, but from the look of Starlight, and taking a quick look around to see any glowing yellow eyes lurking in the foliage of the park, she didn't seem to have any darkness in or with her. He eased his grip on her, but kept her firmly held with his Keyblade still held by her neck. "She didn't try to persuade you, did she?"
"She tried, but I'm not an idiot," Starlight said. "I know dark magic is taboo, and whatever this darkness power is is highly dangerous. I'm not going to stoop that low just to get my revenge on Twilight and Sora. She wasn't even that tough against me after I took her cutie mark away." She laughed mockingly at Maleficent's words when she tried to persuade her in teaming up with her. "She should just retire from her craft if she's not strong enough to handle one pony."
"Wait, did you just say you'll get revenge on Twilight and Sora?" Ventus asked quizzically. "...Aren't you supposed to get revenge on all of us?"
"Yes, but getting back at the 'Princess of Friendship' and that moron with the spiky hair is more important, seeing as they're the leaders of your large group." The pegasus took offense to Starlight's comment on Sora, his hair just as spiky, but he grew curious as to why only those two and not him and everyone else. Starlight scoffed, recalling what she overheard about Sora from other ponies while she was in hiding. "Everypony always keeps telling me just how great Sora is, one of them saying he's easy to make friends with because he's always so cheerful and friendly. I bet he doesn't even know half the names of every single pony he meets.
"I kind of thought you would have been willing to join me, Ventus, but it seems as though I should have been more wary," she continued. "Appearances always can be deceiving, I guess."
"The same can be said for you," Ventus said. "I was never going to even consider joining you and your failed philosophy on friendship."
"Why is that?" Starlight asked curiously.
"...Because I was manipulated by someone when I was younger," he said, clenching his teeth at the horrible training he recalled by Xehanort's command to become the vessel for the X-blade. "...Someone who's more of a threat than you. And taking away his cutie mark will be impossible for you to do if you know him as much as we do. He's someone you never, ever want to underestimate."
Starlight chuckled, surprised to hear that Sora, Twilight, and their friends were afraid of someone when they've fought worse villains and came out on top. "Well, that might be a challenge, then. Probably won't after I finally got my hooves on something I was hoping to find while I was here. The castle's not really all that well guarded, especially a certain wing involving a certain unicorn wizard's magic spells." She feigned a gasp, bringing a hoof up to her mouth. "Oh! I wasn't supposed to say that out loud."
"What?" Ventus questioned. "What did you steal?"
"Can't say...because you're not going to remember anything we said when you began trying to find me." Before Ventus could react, Starlight fired her spell she had ready to cast once he moved his Keyblade away from her horn. It struck the pegasus in the forehead, his pupils shrinking as his eyes widened for a moment before growing back and his pupils dilated. "You should have knocked me out or put an inhibitor on my horn before talking to me, kid. Now, you are going to forget everything about seeing me at the restaurant and what we discussed. Is that clear?" Ventus nodded his head dumbly, obeying the spellcaster in his trance and receiving a pat on the head. "Good.
"Now, sleep." Casting another spell on Ventus to knock him unconscious. He fell over, dropping his Keyblade beside the mare. Starlight picked up the smaller blade compared to the other five, waving it around like a normal sword. "Weird way of holding it, almost like a back-hoofed dagger. Maybe I can finally study these-" She gasped as the Keyblade suddenly disappeared out of her hoof, noticing its shimmering appearance as it returned in Ventus's hoof. "...So, that's what happened before. They return to their owners if someone else takes possession of them...That means I can't ever steal them at all if they don't see I'm worthy enough to even hold it.
"...Forget it. It doesn't matter. It wouldn't even be possible to hold onto one to figure them out anyway." Starlight levitated a scroll she hid on her, slowly and carefully unfurling it as she looked at the spell and its description inside it. "Won't even need to with this spell. It just needs a little bit of modification for it to last longer, and my revenge will finally be complete...But I'm going to need to figure out when the time is right after testing this new spell's variation."
Rolling the scroll back up, Starlight left the unconscious pegasus in the middle of the park, unfortunately needing to find somewhere else to get some food to avoid getting caught by Twilight as well.
As the morning sun's rays hit Ventus's face, the pegasus groaned and squinted his eyes open. The moment he saw blades of grass, his eyes widened, sitting up to look at his surroundings. He had no idea what happened to him last night or why he seemed to have fallen asleep in a park of all places. All he could remember was that he was at a restaurant with Twilight, Spike, and their old friends, trying to get Moon Dancer to interact with ponies and have a great time, but everything else after some point in the evening, Ventus could only draw a blank as to what happened after.
"Why am I out here?" Ventus asked himself. He rubbed his head, trying to wrack his brain to figure out what he did, but he couldn't remember. "Did I actually experience what it was like to get drunk? I don't have a splitting headache, so that's not it. And I don't remember seeing anyone with alcohol...unless one of them spiked the drinks."
"Ventus?" Hearing Lemon Hearts, the teen poked his head out from the bushes as he ended up passing out in the bushes away from the dirt path in the park. He saw the yellow unicorn, along with Twinkleshine, both mares confused seeing him here after last night. "What are you doing over here?"
"I think we should be asking where he went," Twinkleshine said. "You left the restaurant last night and didn't come back, and you said you were going to the bathroom."
"Unless he's one of those survivalist ponies who actually uses nature whenever it calls him," Lemon Hearts pondered with a grimace.
"Ok, that's disgusting," Ventus said. "And I wouldn't do that in a public park." He stepped out of the bushes, tapping his head to try to remember what he did after the two mares witnessed him leave the restaurant for some reason. "I can't remember what I was doing. Everything else is a blur after some point during dinner."
"He doesn't have amnesia, does he?" Lemon Hearts asked Twinkleshine, quickly putting up both her forehooves. "How many hooves am I holding?"
"I don't think losing my memories will make me forget how to count," Ventus uttered blankly. "You're Lemon Hearts, and that's Twinkleshine. The others names are Spike, Twilight Sparkle, Moon Dancer, and Minuette...Speaking of, did Moon Dancer enjoy last night?"
Both mares looked at each other, the unsure looks giving him the answer he needed. "Well...Moon Dancer left a few minutes after you did. Twilight chased after her, but we don't know what happened next."
"We left with Minuette after eating and Spike hurried off to find her," Twinkleshine said. "Maybe they went off to look for you, too, but I guess they didn't think to look in the park."
"So dinner didn't work out at all." Ventus let out a sigh, looking back at where he woke up at. He scratched his head, wondering what he did last night. "I have a bad case of deja vu right now, but it didn't end with me getting a painful migraine and falling into a coma." Looking back at Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts, he forgot they were still standing there, both mares completely shocked that a colt his age ended up in a coma. "...Oh...Uhh, it's a long story. It wasn't that serious though."
"Hi, Venny!" Pinkie suddenly called out, poking her head out from the bushes behind Ventus.
"AHH!" he screamed, instinctively summoning his Keyblade and swinging at whoever had snuck up on him. He stopped mere inches before accidentally smacking the pink earth pony in the face, highly confused by her being here. "Pinkie!?"
"Hey, Pinkie Pie!" Lemon Hearts greeted as she and Twinkleshine waved at her.
"Twinkleshine! Lemon Hearts! It feels like forever since you've last been in Ponyville!" Pinkie said.
"Wait, you know them?" Ventus asked.
"Of course! Twinkleshine was actually a part of Cadence's wedding with Minuette and Lyra as her bridesmaids before we took over that role after they ended up getting mind controlled by Chrysalis, and Lemon Hearts works in the castle!" Pinkie said.
"I guess it was a good thing I was busy helping set up the wedding that day," Lemon Hearts said.
"Lucky," Twinkleshine muttered.
"...Ok. So, why are you here in Canterlot?" Ventus asked.
"Twilight brought me!" Pinkie said. "She wanted me to help her throw a party for one of her old friends, and I'm gonna need some more extra hooves! Minuette's already getting the confetti, and we need to get the rest and set it up!"
"That sounds like fun!" Twinkleshine said. "Let's get going!"
"Wait, what about Twilight and Spike?" Ventus asked.
"She's getting the guest of honor! Now come on, Venny!" Pinkie wrapped her tail around the pegasus teen's barrel, dragging him along while Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts followed.
"Hey, I can walk, you know!" he exclaimed with a pout, his rump dragged along the ground as he was pulled. "Why do I always get dragged into something while trying to figure out something else I really need answers for?"
"Where the hay did you disappear to!?" Twilight exclaimed at the setup for Moon Dancer's party. Ventus, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts already set up the tables and got some food and beverages just as the alicorn arrived with Spike. Upon seeing the pegasus, Twilight was glad to see he was ok, but she was also understandably upset with him leaving so abruptly last night. "What happened? You saw Heartless? Did you just ditch us because amending my friendship with Moon Dancer was pointless!?"
"I don't know!" Ventus said. "I can't remember what happened!"
"You walked out of the restaurant!" she reminded.
"And I don't know what I was doing at that point when I did! I blacked out through dinner and woke up outside in the park with no clue what happened, where I went, and why!" Ventus rubbed his forehead, slightly irritated that he's lost some of his memory again and being reminded he left the others. "Sorry I left, but I swear, I don't even know why I did in the first place."
Twilight lit her horn, surrounding her aura around Ventus to check him over for any spells that may have hit him. Considering Canterlot was home to a prestigious school for unicorns with special magical talents, there could have been a possibility he was accidentally struck by a stray beam if he wandered by the schools or a random unicorn practicing spells from their home. She winced, sensing two spells that had been used on him not too long ago: one that put him to sleep that wore off after a time, helpful for those with insomnia, but the other erased a part of someone's memory, which was only used to hide information or something a pony had seen and/or heard.
"...Oh no...Ven, somepony hit you with a spell that really did erase some of your memory," she said.
"Oh, come on," the teen groaned. "Can I get it back so I can figure out what happened to me?"
"No...it's actually gone, and it can't be regained...At least whoever did this to you only took away memories at a certain point, which explains why you don't remember leaving the restaurant." Ventus sighed in irritation. Messing around with memories was dangerous as it could lead to practically destroying someone's mind. He'd rather not have it fixed than risk finding a way to get it back, even if it was impossible. "The others need to know about this when we get back."
"No! Don't tell them!" Ventus begged. "It was just one night, and it probably wasn't even all that important anyway." Twilight gave him a nervous look, unsure if withholding this was a smart idea. "Look, Aqua and Terra already worried about me when I first met them when the same thing happened to me before. Aqua's already done enough worrying and panicking to last a lifetime, and I don't want her or Terra to keep a close eye on me when I can take care of myself."
"...Well, alright," Twilight reluctantly said. "But if the memory loss gets any worse, then I'm going to tell Aqua."
"Fine," Ventus said with a nod. "...So, this party for Moon Dancer. You think it'll work?"
"It has to. And just to make sure she'll come, I left her a little crumb trail to guide her here." Ventus raised a brow at her meaning.
"What?" They heard Moon Dancer gasp as she finally arrived dropping several books she had carried with her. Ventus noticed a few books that were already laying on the ground in front of the unicorn lead toward them. He gave Twilight a blank stare. "...You wouldn't be able to convince her, so you really laid out a trail of books to entice her and bring here here."
"Yes, and I knew it would work," Twilight said, the stallion face-hoofing at the alicorn's crazy plan.
"What is all this?" Moon Dance questioned, readjusting her glasses on her muzzle.
"It's a party for you," Twilight said.
"Surprise!" Pinkie shouted, popping up out of a cake that rolled up to her from out of nowhere with confetti raining down on Moon Dancer, placing a party hat on her head and a noise blower in her mouth.
Growling angrily, she spat out the noise blower and threw the hat off her head with her magic. "Thanks but no thanks. I don't do parties."
She tried to leave, but Twilight teleported in her way. "I know, and it's all my fault. Back when we were in school, you invited me to that party. I was so focused on my studies that I didn't show up."
"Big deal," Moon Dancer said with disdain.
"It was a big deal," Twilight said. "Now that I realize just how important friendship is, I'd like to make up for my mistake with a new party. A party in honor of my friend Moon Dancer!" Moon Dancer looked out to the decorated party, the same place she once tried to throw a party before. It bothered her greatly as she stared at the balloons, the food and drinks on the table, the others ready to have a good time. Twilight levitated a stick out to the unicorn, lowering down a piñata down the branch of a nearby tree. "Please, Moon Dancer, you've got to let me make this up for you."
Moon Dancer leered at Twilight before giving in and taking the stick with a disgruntled sigh. "And you really think this is going to do it, huh?" she asked. The alicorn nodded her head nervously, feeling some hope that it would. Moon Dancer, however, didn't have the same feeling as she approached the piñata, giving it a light whack, barely leaving so much as a dent in it. "Oh, sure. Why wouldn't it? That was the only time I ever put myself out there,-" She suddenly turned to face Twilight, pointing the stick at her. "-and then you didn't even bother to show up! Then you left town without so much as a goodbye, even though we were supposed to be friends!
"I was humiliated!" Tears began welling up in Moon Dancer's eyes as she vented out her past frustrations toward Twilight. "I felt like I wasn't important! I never wanted to let myself be hurt like that again!" She pointed the piñata stick at Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts behind the alicorn, them and the others a little shocked at hearing the upset unicorn's reluctance on trying to make friends again. "Those three had finally convinced me that I had value! That other ponies might like me and want to be my friend! And you! Didn't! Show! UP!"
Moon Dancer let out a frustrated scream, throwing the stick at Twilight. She didn't even bother blocking it with her Keyblade as it struck her nose, wincing in pain, but she felt she deserved it. Moon Dancer began to cry as she moved away from them, collapsing on her stomach and buried her face in her forehooves. Everyone looked down in pity at the unicorn, feeling sorry she felt that way. Twilight, however, felt worse, as if her friendship with Moon Dancer would never be regained as her words stabbed her in the heart; more painful than taking the stick flung at her head.
Twilight lowered her head in shame, feeling responsible for making one of her friends who actually wanted to be her friend want to live alone for the rest of her life. Ventus could see the alicorn struggling with herself, desperate to make things right, but anything she tried would only make things worse. He decided to help make things right, Pinkie whispering something to Spike as she had an idea to help as the teen approached the sobbing unicorn.
"Moon Dancer?" he said.
"Leave me alone," she wept, curling herself in a ball as she continued sobbing.
"...I can't. Not when you're this upset." Moon Dancer tensed up when she felt Ventus rub his hoof against her back. "I know none of us can really know just what you've been through, but don't let Twilight's mistake cloud your head on what it'll be like to make friends. Not everyone's perfect, and we sometimes do things unintentionally that can hurt others. Twilight's the Princess of Friendship, but it took her a long time to realize just how truly important it was in her life to make friends.
"You don't know it, but you still have friends who worry about you." Moon Dancer looked up at Ventus, her tears still flowing down her face as his words slowly reached her. He pointed at Minuette, Twinkleshine, and Lemon Hearts, all three mares smiling at her, showing they did care when they came to her first party she threw. "Those three were your friends once, right?"
"And we'd be honored to still be your friends now," Minuette said, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts nodding their heads and voicing their agreements.
Moon Dancer stood up, sniffling a little, but she at least gave them a little smile. As she tried to wipe away her tears, Ventus noticed a couple more late-arrivals with Spike leading them to the unicorn's party approach them. One of them was an older pale blue unicorn mare, her black hair with gray highlights tied in a bun, and wore a pair of orange glasses. Next to her was a younger unicorn mare, about the same age as the other unicorns already here, her coat a bright pink with orange, yellow hair, wearing a pair of pink glasses and a pink hairband. The last one was a unicorn who had a similar coat and hair color as Moon Dancer, but her mane and tail were tied in a bun while the highlights were slightly paler than the guest of honor's. It didn't seem to be that surprising to Ventus to guess that the last mare must have been a relative, possibly Moon Dancer's older sister.
Moon Dancer turned around as she noticed Ventus tilting his head at what he was looking at, gasping in surprise as she recognized all three mares. "The librarian, bookseller, and my sister?"
"Hey, Moon Dancer," the unicorn's sister greeted. "This little dragon told me there was a party for you out here. No idea how he found me, but I'm kinda happy to see you trying your luck at making friends again after the slump you've been in the past couple years."
The young stallion looked at Pinkie with a knowing smirk, the earth pony shrugging her shoulders with a toothy smile. Moon Dancer was speechless, unable to tell her sister that she really didn't want to be here. But after hearing Minuette say they were still friends, even after distancing herself from them, she felt like maybe she wasn't as worthless as she thought she was after Twilight didn't show up at her party. Ventus looked over at Twilight, seeing a bit of hope return to her eyes, waving his hoof to bring her over as he looked back at Moon Dancer.
"Sometimes, your closest friends might be someone you've crossed paths with, or maybe even family," Ventus said. Moon Dancer looked back at him, still in shock. "Maybe we can be friends too, if you'd like."
"...B-But...I barely know you," she uttered.
"So we can know each other some more and see where that road can take us," he said. "You don't need to have the same interests or hobbies to make friends. Some might be interested in what you like doing, and vice versa. Though, since you're a lot like Twilight in the studying department, I think that makes things easier for me."
Ventus chuckled and brought both his forelegs behind his head, giving Moon Dancer a grin. Twilight stood beside the teen, greatly worried if Moon Dancer would finally accept her apology now that she was looking at her.
"I really am sorry, Moon Dancer," Twilight apologized. "I've faced magical creatures, the end of Equestria, even the threat of darkness. But seeing how my actions had affected you, that was one of the worst feelings I've ever had."
"...Thank you, Twilight," Moon Dancer said, wiping away her tears with her sleeve. "I never realized how much I needed to hear that." Twilight felt elated as her friend accepted her apology. She pulled Moon Dancer into a hug, surprising the unicorn a little. She eventually hugged Twilight in return, both friends making up after the troubles they both went through. Ventus was glad to see they made up, reminding him of Aqua and Terra's argument over the misunderstanding of Aqua's intentions to bring Terra back home. It was a shame they had to make up in the Keyblade Graveyard of all places, before confronting Xehanort and Vanitas. Twilight and Moon Dancer broke the hug, the unicorn facing everyone with a new mindset on making friends, even if they're ponies she had known before. "Come on, everypony! Let's party!...Uhh, right?"
"Right!" Pinkie answered, pulling out her trusty party cannon and shooting it off, raining confetti all over the party area.
Moon Dancer's party went off pretty well as everyone had a good time. Then again, it was a party planned out by Pinkie Pie, so it was obvious everyone would have fun with all the games there and eating the delicious treats made by the party pony herself. The party eventually began to wind down as it got late in the night, the partygoers slowly leaving after they said their goodbyes. The only ones remaining were Twilight, Ventus, Pinkie, Spike, and Moon Dancer after cleaning up the mess.
"I think it's time for us to go," Twilight said.
"Yeah. I'm sure Aqua's going to worry where I ran off to after the last time when I went after Terra to try to tell him something important," Ventus said.
"Thanks for helping me make some new friends," Moon Dancer said. "Even if they were my old friends."
"We'll come back and see you, that is if we're not busy," Twilight said. "And if you send us an invitation to anything, I swear I'll send back a letter if we can't come and not blow it off."
"Great. And you still need to teach me that Hayscartes technique you promised me." Twilight giggled, nodding her head as she promised to teach Moon Dancer the spell to literally be in a book.
"Hey, Moon Dancer?" The unicorn looked down at Spike, who was holding onto the present he had wanted to give her a while back but wasn't able to due to the Summer Sun Celebration and Nightmare Moon's return. "It's a little bit banged up, but here's something I wanted to give you back at the first party you threw."
Moon Dancer took the gift with her magic and unwrapped it. Tears welled up in her eyes, smiling at the picture frame that held the photo of herself with Twilight, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, and Lyra.
"T-Thank you, Spike," Moon Dancer said. "I love it."
"Well, there was also a stuffed bear that was supposed to go with it, but that got ruined by complete accident," the baby dragon said.
"This is just fine," the unicorn said, clutching the picture to her chest.
"We'll come visit soon!" Pinkie said. "And don't be a stranger around Ponyville! I'll throw you a big welcome party a million times better than this one!"
"I think I can look forward to that. Thanks." Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike began to leave and prepare themselves to head back home. Ventus began following them, only for Moon Dancer's aura to grab hold of his tail. "Wait...Ventus, was it?"
"Yeah, but you can just call me Ven," he said, turning around to face her. "What's up?"
"I just want to apologize to you for...well, being cross with you the past week," Moon Dancer said. "I was still pretty upset with my last attempt at making friends that I didn't want anything to do with you or Twilight...And you were kind of right back at the library. I didn't notice how long I was wearing my sweater until I got back home. And I needed a bath."
"Heh. Seems like you kind of did take my advice," Ventus said with a chuckle, Moon Dancer giggling with him at the irony. Looking at her mane, the teen wondered about her odd choice of styling, something that didn't seem to be presentable in any way. "So, was your hair really hung down like in that picture?"
"Yeah...but I keep it up so my bangs don't get in the way of my studying," she said.
"And maybe the fact you and Twilight seemed to look like twins back then," Ventus added. "Was that by pure coincidence or did you purposefully match Twilight's hairstyle?"
Looking back at the picture, Moon Dancer giggled as she now realized just how similar she looked compared to Twilight back then. "I think it was just a coincidence. Never really did get asked by anypony if Twilight was my twin sister or my cousin who looked just like me. And the same can be said between you and Sora not being related?"
"Tell that to the mares that live in the Crystal Empire. Sora made most of them around my age chase me around the kingdom after saying that I was his brother, and he did it on purpose just to get them off his back." Moon Dancer snickered, unable to hold back her laughter after imagining Ventus fleeing for his life from a bunch of mares that wanted him. Ventus sighed, waiting for the unicorn to stop laughing at the hilarious incident. "Yeah. He's like a brother, and he's annoying like one, too."
"I figured you would have taken all of them instead of running from them," Moon Dancer said.
"I'd rather not get into that annoying drama with romance. So far, most of my friends are in a relationship. Even my two best friends I had known like family are dating each other after all three of us got separated for over a decade and a half." The mare tilted her head curiously at the mysterious past Ventus and his friends had. "...It's a long story."
"Oh...And it doesn't look like I'll have time to hear it." Ventus shook his head, not going to tell her regardless of her questioning.
"Sorry. I'd better hurry and catch up with Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike before they notice I'm way behind them." Just as Ventus flapped his wings, Moon Dancer pulled out a camera while simultaneously keeping him grounded.
"Before you go, can we take a picture?" she asked. "I think I want to try and make a new friend who wasn't my old one, and keep a memento of you."
"Oh. Sure, Moon Dancer." Moon Dancer levitated the camera out a fair distance as she and Ventus stood together.
"Ven, can you hold out your sword thing as well?" Moon Dancer asked, the stallion obliging as he summoned his Keyblade in his hoof. "Wow. I'm still not going to get used to seeing that."
They both stared at the camera and smiled, Ventus planting his Keyblade in the ground in front of him with one hoof on top of the guard while he and Moon Dancer draped a hoof around each other. Before she took the picture, the unicorn took out the hair tie keeping her mane up, letting her bangs droop down. After the camera flashed, Ventus turned to look at Moon Dancer, surprised to see her bangs hanging over her face, momentarily back to being Twilight's look alike before she tied it back up.
"Now it's my turn to say I'm not going to get used to seeing you with your hair down." The two shared a laugh until they both had to go their separate ways.
Ventus flew off to catch up with his friends while Moon Dancer went back home. She reminded herself to send a copy of their picture to the stallion when the film was developed. Until then, she promised to herself that she'll start off slow hanging out with her old friends whenever she has a break from her reading, but before that, she needed a plan to clean and tidy her house up if she ever had any guests over, which might take a while with how much of a mess it was from the inside and outside. As soon as she got home, she placed her gifted photo on one of her shelves in the living room before heading to her room to go to bed.