//------------------------------// // CHapter 42: Clear The Air // Story: Kingdom Hearts: Harmonic Connections // by Mr Curious Writer //------------------------------// Outside the library, Sora made his way over to Fluttershy, Donald, and Goofy as his two bipedal friends were talking with his shy quadrupedal one. Though it was mostly just Donald trying to free himself from Fluttershy’s hug as she continued gushing over how he cute he looked. “Hey, guys.” He trotted up to them while smirking at Donald. “I see you and Fluttershy are already fast friends.” “Don’t even start.” Donald glared at Sora as he finally managed to break free. Sora laughed and stepped over to Fluttershy. “Sorry, he can be grumpy sometimes, though you shouldn’t hug him so much. Fluttershy gave a sheepish grin. “I know, and I do apologize but I’ve never seen a duck like him before. You're so different compared to the ones I normally see.” She said to Donald. “For one, your wings, they aren’t wings! They’re uh… hands and arms, like Sora’s when he isn’t a pony. Yet, you have feathers all over… How do you fly?” She then gasped. “C-can you fly?” “Of course I can fly!” Donald thrust both his fists in the air, shaking them angrily as he hopped up and down. “Really?” Goofy and Sora asked simultaneously while looking at the wizard. “Of course!... Well, with pixie dust anyway...” Donald looked away, arms folded, leaving Sora and Goofy to fall over from his statement. “Then you might as well say we all can!” Sora groaned. Fluttershy, remembering the pixie dust from Sora’s stories of his adventures couldn’t help but giggle at their reaction. After sharing that silly moment Sora got to the point of why he was there and started explaining, to the best of his knowledge, what they missed from the earlier conversation with Black Scale in the Library. “This Black Scale guy rubs me the wrong way,” Donald said. “Nothing feels right about this.” Sora put a hoof to his chin. “I can’t say I don’t agree with you, Donald. Rainbow made sure to say something similar when he said he wanted to help us.” He then shook his head. “But something in my gut says to let him, so I think it’s ok.” Knowing what this meant, Donald just groaned as Goofy chuckled before saying. “Well gawrsh, Sora, it’s not like we expected you to do anything but follow your heart.” Then Donald butted in. “It’d be nice if you followed your brain more, lunkhead.” as he said this he jumped up and knocked Sora “firmly” on the head. “Ow!” Sora lurched forward from the strike before rubbing the sore spot. Fluttershy smiled “Well if it’s any consolation. I don’t think anyone resents you for doing what you feel.” She then mumbled “I certainly admire you for it” before speaking up. “So I support you for it.” “Fluttershy…” Sora slowly grew a smile from what she said. “However, if we’re on the subject of making friends… is there nothing we can do about Discord?” “Hm?” Sora was confused on her question. “What do you mean. We caught him and he’s back to stone again.” “Yes, but, this time around, I don’t think he was as mean as he was before” She was quiet when saying this as rubbed her foreleg with the other one and stared off to the distance, too nervous to give eye contact. Sora had to admit he had been having thoughts on the subject. “Well, for someone with his reputation, He didn’t seem as bad as I expected him to be either.” He rubbed his chin. Fluttershy spoke up. “I don’t know if it’s ok to bring him back or give him his powers back, but…. Maybe it’d be nice if we did.” She then immediately shook her head “Or not, n-nevermind” At this, she started flying towards the library “L-let’s hurry inside. The Princesses should be here soon.” Sora watched her fly off. She looked like she wanted to say more… He turned to Donald and Goofy. “Come on guys, let’s go join them.” (Stop music here if you’d like) ~~~ A Little Later When the Princesses and their guards finally arrived at the library, there was much to explain. However, when they noticed the “mystery attacker” Sora and the girls spoke of to be Black Scale they were shocked and immediately commanded their guard to hold off on transferring Discord and Black Scale to Canterlot. What followed was a very long discussion amongst the involved parties, starting off with Sora and the girls telling the Princesses what occurred that day. Once they were brought up to speed, the Princesses turned toward Black Scale. “All this just to test young Sora’s abilities? Could you not simply have come and asked us directly?” Celestia asked the dragon. “We could’ve avoided this situation entirely.” The drake sneered in response. “And walk into that cesspit you call a city? No thanks, too much noise and too many ponies staring and trying to get in your business. The last time I came to you was out of necessity. Had I any other choice I never would’ve set foot in Canterlot.” Black Scale replied. Luna sighed. “Tis a pleasure to see you haven’t changed since then, Sir Black Scale.” “At least I wasn’t stuck on the moon for a thousand years, YOUR HIGHNESS.” Black Scale retorted. This got Luna to scowl at him. “Oh, it appears I’ve struck a nerve there,” Black Scale said with a smirk. “How wouldst thou even know of that when you vanished all those years ago?” Luna demanded. “I’ve kept myself up to date, princess.” He replied. “And why did you leave?” Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow. Black Scale shrugged and replied casually. “Because I knew you’d look for me after the deed was done.” “But why?” She asked. “Why leave Equestria? I understand your choice to be a recluse, but was leaving this place the best choice to do that?” Before Black Scale could reply, they heard Sora clear his throat. “Uuh, sorry to interrupt, but do you guys mind clueing the rest of us in on what you’re talking about?” “Also,” Twilight stepped up. “Could you tell us why you haven’t mentioned Mr. Black Scale here before now, Princesses? I mean, from how I see it at least, finding him should’ve been a top priority when the beasts were broken out of their prison.” The room grew silent as the Princesses looked at Sora, the girls, Spike, Donald and Goofy who simply stared back at them with curiosity. In time Luna hung her head slightly as Celestia sighed. “I suppose an explanation is in order for you all,” Celestia replied. “Make no mistake, 'twas not of ill intent that we withheld such information from thee,” Luna added. “We only assumed that informing you of him would have been a pointless endeavor.” “How so?” Sora asked. Both Princesses glanced at each other before looking at Black Scale. Celestia spoke first, “As you might be aware of now, he outclasses even other dragons in terms of how anti-social he can be.” “No arguments there,” Rainbow grumbled. “Yes…” Celestia nodded. “Well, you see, by the time the beasts had been captured and sealed away, our original plan was to then confront Black Scale and discuss the matter and even thank him for his aid in stopping the threat.” “And…” Black Scale leaned back and folded his arms, giving a suspicious stare at the princesses. Luna frowned. “Despite what you think Black Scale, sister and I truly did wish to thank you for this deed.” Then her gaze softened. “However, we can only assume that you caught wind of some of our subjects that still held ill feelings toward you.” “I did indeed.” Black Scale replied. “Busybody nobles that can’t even wipe their own bums, they were “concerned” for the safety of the ponies living in your domain.” He smirked. “Apparently they feared I’d become a threat myself. Some thought I never betrayed my former brother and comrades at all and was just lying in wait to free them and take over the kingdom. Some even claimed that I would undo the seams of Equestria as I did them and betray you all.” At that, he laughed. “That one always gets me. I’m afraid I’d have to actually like you ponies first in order to betray you.” In time his laughter died down and he wore a more serious face. “But in the end, all those claims were just propaganda and empty speeches to get the masses to huddle behind their word. We know what they really wanted, don’t we?” Both Celestia and Luna couldn’t look him in the eye when he said that. “What?” Twilight asked, her curiosity was screaming at her now. “What did they really want?” Black Scale grunted. “I’ll give you a hint, it was me they wanted.” This ended up confusing everyone, save for the two alicorns that were involved. Goofy scratched his noggin. “But uuh, why go through all that trouble of making you a villain if they didn’t want to scare you away?” “Your guess is as good as mine, dogman.” Black Scale replied. “Yet throughout time, there have been people that think that is the best way to do it.” “Did they want you for your powers?” Sora asked, to which the dragon nodded. “I mean I can get that having a boost like that would be really useful to a person, but I don’t see why they would go that far just so you can bulk someone up.” “It’s more than that,” Luna added, which caught everyone’s attention. “Black Scale’s ability is far broader in range then you would think.” “Huh?” Sora was unsure what she meant. “You see, in the battle to claim one of the beasts, the Minotaur to be exact, Black Scale was able to use his enhancing powers on an entire battalion of our soldiers in order to aid in subduing him.” “Whooooa!” This echoed from the shared voices within the library “You can do that?!” Pinkie asked excitedly. “That’s like a High-level party buff right there!” Everyone stared at her. “...What? It’s like, the perfect skill to use for a raid!” After a moment of silence, Black Scale decided to speak his mind. “The pink one concerns me, but I vaguely see the meaning of what she says.” He turned to the others. “These certain “nobles” and some military officers saw value in how I was able to strengthen such a large group of soldiers during that battle. I can only assume they wanted that kind of power at their disposal whenever they pleased.” He then smirked. “Fortunately for me, ponies live such short lives. I merely had to leave and outlive them, simple as that. In time I would either be forgotten entirely, or their descendants simply wouldn’t care enough to seek me out.” “My sister and I had always assumed that this was his reason going into hiding, even to the point of somehow leaving this world for over a thousand years,” Celestia added. “While I can understand his reasoning and had no right to stop him, the very least he could've done was let us thank him properly for his aid before going off to who knows where.” Dark nodded in agreement. “It’s a shame all these worlds are so closed off from one another. Imagine the cultural exchange if travel between them were easier and more widespread?” Sora, Donald, and Goofy thought of a certain wealthy Duck with the same idea in mind. “I thought you were a recluse?” Sora stared at the dragon suspiciously. “I am. I never said I was gonna join that little social gathering, I just claimed that it would make everything better.” Black Scale replied. “A real barrel of fun this one.” Donald rolled his eyes, all the while he was fending off another hug from Fluttershy. She just couldn’t help herself, she wanted to hug the adorable duck wearing people clothes! Sora already had his fill laughing at the scene earlier, however, he still gave the occasional smirk whenever he looked over at his mallard comrade dealing with his animal-loving friend. “Indeed.” Luna sighed. “Then he decides to galavant off into the stars to goodness knows where for over a millennium.” “Well, it certainly opened my eyes to things one would never see staying in one place all the time. So I like to believe I came out the better for it.” Black Scale shrugged. “...Well, seeing you still sitting here and speaking with us could be considered a good change, I suppose.” Celestia brought up. “Atta girl.” Black Scale pointed to her before his expression became serious. “Though as it turns out, I have something I need to talk to you about as well, regarding that book that bug queen took.” This got the two Princesses to take on similar expressions. He then turned to Sora and the others. “Of course, I still intend to help you all as well. Somebody needs to fix this mess your diarchy managed let happen.” And now the serious look on both Princesses was gone, a Scowl on Luna while Celestia avoided eye contact. “So, how about this, I’m gonna head with these two back to their lovely castle for a bit to talk about… grown-up things. Then, every now and then I’ll drop on by and get you all ready for the train wreck this innocent little world is about to experience.” “Wait, that’s it? Are you just gonna leave now? Just like that? After this whole conversation we had?” Twilight asked. Rainbow butted in. “Yeah, what’s the big deal?” It was obvious that she girl bore no trust in this dragon, already expecting all this to be a trap or something. Black Scale just turned to look at the Princesses, then back at the group. “Uuuh, yeah… I am…” He then pointed at Sora. “Other then the kid over there, I could care less about any of you. Heck, the kid only has my attention because he can slay heartless with that keyblade of his.” This got some of the girls as well as Donald to share a mean look at him. “What? Never said we were all gonna be friends. You all should’ve picked that up by now. This is all just me dealing with an ancient problem for the sake of my conscience, and I’ll use any tool necessary to do so.” The dragon stood up. “So, Princesses, lead the way. I have no intention of leaving this time.” True to his word, Black Scale got up and joined the two sisters as they escorted him out of the library with Discord’s statue in tow. But just as they got through the door Sora raised a hoof. “Hold on, what about that guy?” He pointed a hoof at Discord. “What about him?” Rainbow asked. “I mean sure he’s a jerk and all from what everyone tells me about him and from what I’ve seen, but are you really not gonna give him his powers back?” “Why would you even want him to have his powers back?” Rainbow had a dumbfounded look on her face, and for good reason. The rest of the girls were sharing her opinion as well. “Honestly Sora, it’s probably for the best that he is left as is.” Rarity replied. “You’ve seen what he could do with what little magic he had left. He’s just too dangerous.” Sora scratched his head. “I dunno, it just seemed like he went through a lot of trouble to do it the way he did.” Seeing that no one was getting what he was trying to say he continued. “I mean, other than those “Trials” he set us up with…. Was anyone in Ponyville actually hurt? Or worse?” He looked around. Twilight was about to say something but had no answer. “What’s more, he refused to let the heartless into town to wreak havoc. He could’ve easily done so, right?” Sora turned to Black Scale. Black Scale was silent for a moment. “Dealing with someone such as him, you have to be perfectly clear what he can and can’t do… However, now that you mention it, I never set any ground rules in regards to the town and the citizens, I was really only focused on you guys. If he wanted to he could’ve done any number of evil acts on the other townsfolk since it didn't break what I told him.” Sora looked around. “So… he’s not really a BAD guy… just a jerk like I said before, right?” For a moment everyone was silent until Celestia cleared her throat. “While what you’ve said may be true, there is some… history regarding him that you are unaware of that leave us skeptical of the idea. However, I do believe that anyone can change,” She then turned to the statue “Even him” then back to Sora. “For the time being, let's just shelve this conversation for later. It’s not like he’ll be going anywhere till then.” She smirked at that. Feeling that this was the best he was going to get, Sora eventually nodded and agreed. “Fine, but we won’t forget.” “I will!” “Well, Rainbow will,” Sora said while rolling his eyes. Rainbow huffed. “So long as he’s back to being a pidgeon’s bathroom, he’s not my problem anymore.” She shrugged. “Thank you, Rainbow, I think we get it,” Twilight responded. “We will keep that in mind, rest assured. Meanwhile, I suppose after coming back from Manehatten and dealing with this, you would all like some rest. So please, take your time and recover before you come to see us, it's not like we’ll be going anywhere after all.” Celestia said as she gave a bow to them all, which was mirrored by her sister before they both headed out. “Hopefully when you do visit It won’t be another battle for the kingdom again.” Luna smiled. In truth, everyone sort of felt like that was warranted, given their past trips to the capital. With the Princesses and their guards finally heading home and the town now back to the way it was, this left Sora, the girls, Donald, Goofy, and Spike to think about everything that had happened in the span of a single day. Looking outside, they could see that after all the distractions, the Princesses remembered their daily routine and started trading the Sun for the moon. “Man… How long have we been here?” Seeing the moon caused Sora to yawn. “I’m beat.” “It HAS been a long day I suppose.” Rarity stated. “Perhaps some sleep is just what we need right now.” A round of agreement was shared amongst the group. Sora then turned to his friends Donald and Goofy. “What about you guys? If you want, you can crash at my place.” “Your place?” Donald raised an eyebrow. At this point, he seemed to have given up on stopping Fluttershy from hugging him. It seemed futile with this girl, and it was relatively harmless anyways, even if his pride might have taken a hit from knowing WHY she was like this with him. “You mean you own a house here?” Sora nodded. “Yeah, they decided to build me one since I’ll be here for awhile.” “You sure that’s the ONLY reason?” Donald folded his arms, eying Sora suspiciously. “W-what do you mean by that?” Sora took a step back, genuinely confused why his friend was looking at him like that. Donald looked at the girls, then back at Sora again before grinning.  “Oh, nothing…” Later that Night Surprisingly enough, the majority of the villagers actually managed to get some shut eye. Whether that’s a testament to their fortitude or simply a sign that they’re getting used to these strange events is anyone’s guess. Over at Sora’s house, Donald and Goofy had taken their transformed friend up on his offer to spend the night in his equestrian home. Mogson threw a bit of a fit about more mouths to feed, but Sora assured the moogle that they were only staying for the night and then they’d be off. They took some time catching up and telling each other what had happened while they were apart before sleep finally claimed them. It appeared that while Sora was away, his other friends had been keeping busy. His best friend Riku had been sent out with the king on some covert operation by Master Yen Sid. Axel and Kairi were well on their way with their training and making great progress for beginners. When it came to talking about Kairi, he couldn’t help but recall some rather special memories of her. The day they met, their life growing up on the islands, his growing crush on the girl. And of course, the crazy adventures he had while looking for her when he was first cast out of his world, as well as the brief times where they were reunited. He sure missed everyone, especially her. However, one thing that he neither expected nor understood was that while he was thinking about Kairi, his mind kept drifting back to Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie. He wasn’t sure what this meant honestly and started to ponder it as he lay in his bed, absently noting from their snoring that Donald and Goofy seemed to already be fast asleep on the couch and armchair in the living room, respectively. However, before he could think about it too deeply he ended up falling asleep without even realizing it. Regardless, his dreams didn’t seem to let up on the subject as random memories of the girls (Kairi included) started appearing and disappearing one after another, very fond memories that he enjoyed reliving since it was with them. Over at the library, however, it wasn’t nearly as peaceful, seeing as the girls had something that they needed to discuss before they could even consider sleep. It was a conversation they had all seen coming. Two wanted to avoid it, two wanted to talk about it, and two wanted to nip this in the bud before it made things even more awkward between them, or worse, made it so that they’d find it difficult to work with each other in the days to come. “Ok, now that the town is back to normal and there is no immediate threat in front of us or anything… Let’s talk about Sora.” Twilight sat in a circle with her longtime friends. Each of them was either blushing, trying to avoid eye contact or both. “Does anyone wish to say anything before we continue?” Rainbow, true to form, decided to use this opportunity to state her case first. “I dunno why we’re acting all shy about it, we already said back in Manehattan that we all like the Spiky dope.” This struck a chord with everyone as they were reminded of that breakfast back in the city. While Fluttershy seemed to shrink into herself, Applejack seemed tongue-tied, wanting to make a comeback at Rainbow but coming up blank since she made such a strong point. Pinkie raised her hoof. “I’m not shy about it. I wanted to tell Sora as soon as I realized it!” She said in a noticeably more bubbly and happy tone than normal, and that's saying something in her case. “Then why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Twilight asked curiously as her heart rate started to pick up at the thought of one of her friends going for Sora before she could come to terms with her own feelings. “Because the author was caught up in making the battle in Manehattan super awesome!” “What?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Because I was waiting for you girls!” Pinkie said, continuing before anyone could ask her about that previous statement. “You’re all my best friends. You didn’t honestly think that I wouldn’t notice each of you looking at him the same way, did you?” She waggled her eyebrow and elbowed Twilight, making the lavender mare’s blush spread from her cheeks to the rest of her face. Of course, Fluttershy wasn’t far behind, and even the other girls were a bit flustered, Rainbow included. Applejack eventually sighed. “Ok, fine, so we all like the fella.” She admitted. “So... what now?” At this, Rarity seemed to have a thought which caused her to smile. “Well dearies, I suppose we could always just tell him.” Upon hearing such a bold proposal, Fluttershy started having a DOES NOT COMPUTE moment, Pinkie smiled and nodded at the notion, Rainbow and Applejack tensed up and Twilight began fumbling with her words. “I uh, I mean we-That is um… uuh-w-w-we can’t just do that!” “Well, why not, Twilight?” Rarity asked with a sly smile. “We all admit to having feelings for the stallion. Why not just go up to him and confess?” “B-because! Uh…. I mean, you heard what Black Scale said. What if he was right about Sora!” At this point, she was rambling, still incredibly flustered by the idea of confessing. “I mean he said Polygamy might not be a thing with him, and Sora is technically an alien! Maybe it would push him away even more, or he never thought about having such a relationship in the first place. And then there’s that Kairi girl from the stories he told us about his adventures, they seemed really close too. We never bothered to ask about their relationship with each other! Also, what if he’s just not into mares? Maybe he would rather stick with his own race when it comes to dating, or maybe he just isn’t interested in pursuing a relationship, or what about that Kairi girl and-wait, did I already talk about her? I think I, uh, um...” During that pause in her rambling, she finally noticed the looks her friends were giving her. They were all staring at her wide-eyed, and Rarity was holding a hoof to her mouth while her eyes seemed to sparkle with barely contained... Glee? Amusement? Mirth? ...Twilight wasn’t actually sure what it was. “What?” Rainbow almost tripped over her words when she replied. “Wha-what do you mean what?! You said it like it was just going to happen!” “Huh?” Twilight was utterly confused. “The-the, thing! The…” Rainbow looked at the other girls, then back at her. “Twilight… are you saying you want to...” She was having trouble saying it so Pinkie decided to but in. “You want us to be in a herd with Sora?!” She blurted so loudly that it was a surprise the little dragon upstairs didn’t wake up from his sleep. Now the librarian was put on the spot, and it was her own words that did her in. “Wait, you mean you all weren’t thinking the same thing?” She turned to Rarity. “I thought that’s what Rarity meant!” Despite still being oh so giddy at what she’d heard, the fashionista still managed to speak. “I only meant us confessing and seeing how he would respond, but you would rather have he accept all of us!” She started fanning herself. “I don’t know if that’s a testament to how much you value our friendship, or if you’ve been harboring secret thoughts about us all this time.” “What?!” If Twilight’s face wasn’t red enough before it was borderline glowing at this point. “Twilight… do you really feel that way?” Fluttershy couldn’t stay quiet after hearing that. Great, now she was getting the wrong idea! She could then see it in their eyes. Those assuming looks, the bashful glances and her own trouble responding. No matter what she said at this point, this was the moment when the conversation would take a turn for the strange between them all. And they had Sora to thank for it. ~~~ Meanwhile Sora’s dreams were taking a strange turn as well. He found himself standing on the beach back home, the very island where he and his closest friends used to play.  Getting a good look around reminded him how much he missed coming here when he left to answer Mickey’s call to the mastery exams. He was also reminded of everything that had happened in his life since the moment he had that strange dream when he was 14. He didn’t even notice that he was suddenly lying on his back as if waking from a good nap. He closed his eyes for a moment… It was pretty comfy, once you get used to the fact that you’d get sand in places you really wish you wouldn’t. When he opened them, he saw Kairi hovering over him. “Whoa!” It was a familiar shock to his system as he was startled into a sitting position. “Even after all this time, you’re still as lazy as ever.” She said before laughing. After his heart calmed down he started laughing as well. “Well, you know me...” He started to respond, turning to face her only to be surprised when he saw a mare instead. “Huh?” “What do you mean, huh? Are you still half asleep?” The Mare with Kairi’s voice was now giving him a knowing smirk. It was odd. Same red hair… or mane would be the proper term, as well as a matching tail. Same blue eyes, same voice, but instead of a human, it was a pony. “Kairi, uh-“ “Sora!” Instantly was tackled by a pink blur, tumbling a short ways before landing on his back, looking up to see the party pony herself ( :Yay! First! ) (Technically Kairi beat you to that…) ( :Rats! Foiled by plot points!) (Indeed… can I? *points to the story*) ( All you boss! *salutes and hops back into the story*) “Pinkie?!” Sora couldn’t even begin to comprehend why she was here right now. “Pinkie! Do you really need to tackle him like that every time?” Hearing that familiar voice he turned to see Twilight as well. “Huh?” Sora wasn’t sure what was going on as Pinkie finally hopped off him, only for him to notice a blue pegasus hovering over him. “I swear, you’re gonna wreck him one day, and then who am I gonna train super awesome moves with?” The pegasus said. “Rainbow too?” He was so confused. “Well duh, me too. Did you forget we’re all here?” “All?” He got up and sure enough, the rest of the girls were there as well. Applejack was inspecting a coconut, Fluttershy was speaking to a seagull, and Rarity was examining some seashells, putting the prettiest ones in her saddlebags which were placed off to the side. Sora was confused as to why and how the girls, sans Kairi, were here of all places. “What are you all doing here?” He asked. “What do you mean, Spiky?” Rainbow seemed confused by this. “We live here, you dope.” “What?” Sora wasn’t sure what she meant by this until he blinked, suddenly finding himself in the middle of Ponyville. “Huh?” As if that wasn’t strange enough, he noticed that he was back in his pony form. He turned to the girls and Kairi was back to being human, but so were the other girls. Twilight was as he remembered seeing her human self last time, with the other mares taking on similar changes, respective to their original appearances. Same mane- or rather hairstyles, all wearing their elements of harmony like always. Applejack had her stetson, but other than that they all seemed to be wearing the same outfit as Twilight for some reason, even if they were palette swapped to match or simulate their coat color. At least they weren’t all naked like when Twilight first visited the Hundred Acre Wood, he wouldn’t know how to handle that other than turning into a tomato. “What is going on here?” He looked at them all, flabbergasted beyond belief. “Well, it’s time to go,” Kairi said as she walked up to Sora. “You promised to show me around, remember?” Sora didn’t remember saying anything like that, but before he could respond either way Twilight chimed in. “Actually, he’s supposed to help me out at the library today.” Sora didn’t remember saying that either. Rainbow butted in. “What are you, nuts? I just told you all that he has to train with me today. We still gotta fuse and stuff!” “Um, if it’s not too much trouble. I was hoping Sora could take me to that storybook he mentioned.” That one he recalled, Fluttershy seemed really excited to visit it. If only they weren’t called away to that Manehattan job so suddenly. “Hold on now ya’ll, I was going to ask him I help me with some apple buckin’. There’s a fresh pie waiting for ya at the end of the job.” Applejack said her piece. Pinkie scoffed. “Bribery? For shame Applejack.” She shook her head. “You’ll have to do better than that.” From out of nowhere, Pinkie pulled out a catering cart piled high with cakes, pies and some kind of beverage. “All this could be yours, Sora, for the low, low price of having fun with me today!” Sora was now wondering when and how fun became a form of currency. Rarity raised her hoof. “Wait, I was hoping to invite him to some tea at my boutique, I still have so many things to ask him about the fashion of the worlds he’s visited.” She then blushed a little. “Though honestly, it’s merely an excuse to enjoy his company.” And NOW Sora was blushing. It became clear from that statement and looks on the other girls' faces that these “Promises” and “Requests” were just excuses to speak with him. In all honesty, he couldn’t choose. “Well, he can’t be in all places at once,” Twilight stated then turned to him. “Who is it going to be, Sora?” “What?” He was caught off guard by this question. “It’s simple, you’ll have to decide on one of us,” Kairi said as all the girls formed a close circle around him. “Choose.” “Why are you saying it like that?” Sora wasn’t getting a good feeling from that phrase. She clarified. “It’s simple, you can’t possibly be everywhere at once. You’ll have to pick who you want to go with.” “Pick? But then, what about the others?” Sora asked. It seemed straightforward, sure. It's true he could only do one thing at a time, but the way the conversation is headed, it was making him feel uneasy. Like there was more to what they were saying, and he didn’t like it. “So… who’s it gonna be?” Rainbow added. “One girl, one chance, Mr. Hero.” She trotted right up to him. “I, uh...” He looked unsure. As if what Kairi had said wasn’t enough, Rainbow’s words were setting off a lot of red flags. “Or, perhaps you’d rather choose none of us at all.” This time Fluttershy was the one to speak, nearly startling him with how quietly she’d snuck up behind him. “I-if that’s what you want.” But she wasn’t the only one. Looking around, it seemed the other girls had gotten closer to him and were closing in on him. At this point, he could only look around as the girls would keep asking him to choose. Yet the whole time, he couldn’t come to a straight answer. After a while the only thing he could say was “I-I don’t know!” that was when all the girls stopped and stared at him. Suddenly they all turned away in unison and started walking away. Before he could say anything or even reach out to any of them, they all said “Fine, then don’t bother deciding at all.” and the floor beneath him vanished, causing him to start falling. Falling deeper and deeper into a dark abyss. However, the shock of suddenly falling into darkness was enough to snap him out of his dream. He shot up in a sitting position on his bed in a cold sweat and panting. After taking a moment to regain his senses he looked around. “A dream?...” He rubbed his face with his hooves before eventually laying back down as he simply stared off into the distance. “What was that all about?...”