My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria

by Codex92


The Crystalling (Part 2)

The infant alicorn gurgled, occasionally moving her big wings around as she began sucking on her hoof. Despite the cute baby laying in the crib, everyone stared at the baby alicorn out of complete shock.

"The baby's an alicorn!?" Twilight exclaimed after finding her voice.

"Sure looks that way," Cadence said in exhaustion.

"But this doesn't make any sense!" Kairi said. "I thought that alicorn wings were supposed to be earned after accomplishing something big like what Twilight did!"

"Yeah," Applejack agreed. "How could she be born with them?"

"The birth of an alicorn is something Equestria has never seen!" Celestia said.

"HUH!?!?!?!?!?" everyone exclaimed as they stared at the princess, ignoring the giggling baby laughing at their shocked expressions.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa!" Sora said, waving his hooves around. "Hang on a second! What do you mean the birth of an alicorn has NEVER happened until NOW!? You two have been alicorns for over a millennia!" Celestia and Luna were both silent, their lack of response slowly giving them the answer as they stared at the two celestial princesses before them. "...You became alicorns back then..." Sora slowly looked at Twilight, who was just as shocked and baffled by this discovery. "...Twilight, you've been living a lie."

"It is true," Luna said. "Celestia and I became alicorns back when the three pony tribes had united as one, the newly developed kingdom requiring rulers where they were unified just like the tribes. Our mentor, Star Swirl, had prophesied two young fillies who had the potential to rule over their ponies, and that was us. Through much training and studies, he deemed us ready and granted us the forms we have today, where Tia was once a unicorn, and I a pegasus back then." Looking down at the alicorn princess cooing, reaching a hoof out to touch Cadence's, she looked back up at the others, sharing their confusion by this impossible birth. "A newborn alicorn is beyond our understanding from what we've known about our powers since our ascension."

"Oh...That's reassuring," Ventus sarcastically said. It soon dawned on him, and the rest of them, when they looked at Cadence and Twilight after what Luna had explained of their ascension, something they had left out of history ever since Equestria's founding. "Wait...If you two had lived for this long...does that mean Cadence and Twilight are also going to live forever?"

"...Possibly, but we are unsure," Celestia answered. "The two of us never expected to live as long as we have...Only time will tell when their expected fate comes."

Thankfully, the baby distracted them from their thoughts of alicorns and their seemingly immortal lifespans, babbling and demanding attention from everyone. "Well, now there's a fifth alicorn princess, but we're going to have to really keep her a secret from others who want to use her power."

"And she's gonna have super unicorn AND super pegasus powers!" Pinkie added. "Those wings look like they could lift her up to the moon with one flap, and there's gonna be a lot of crazy baby magic, too!"

"Well, I know about super-strong flying," Rainbow boasted.

"And I can help keep tabs on her magic," Twilight said.

Sora walked over to the crib and leaned down, the baby filly reaching her hooves out to ask for some cuddles. "She's cute as a button though, even if she is an alicorn," he said. "Riku's missing out if he's going to stick with Starlight." He then brought his wing over the filly and began tickling her. "Coochie coochie coo! Who's a cute little baby? You are!" His feathers began tickling her nose, making her scrunch her face and breathe in, ready to sneeze. She let it out, but as she sneezed, a powerful blast of yellow magic shot out from her horn, surprising everyone as her accidental beam shot through the ceiling, along with several floors above until it shot through the roof of the castle. They looked down at the baby, Sora's jaw hanging from his mouth as he slowly pulled his wing away, holding his terrified expression as he walked over to Kairi, wrapping her hooves around her and began shuddering in fear. "Kairi, hold me..."

Unaware of her incredible magical strength, the alicorn filly sniffled and rubbed her nose, letting out a yawn and closed her eyes, taking a little nap from releasing that big sneeze. "It appears her magic is more powerful than that of a newborn unicorn," Celestia said, stating the obvious as everyone gave her a blank stare.

"Really?" Terra asked sarcastically. "I don't think we noticed the holes the baby made in the ceiling above her."

Luna looked out the window, spotting the crowd of crystal ponies beginning to gather around the castle for the Crystalling. "Looks like everypony's gathering already."

Pinkie blew up a balloon beside the lunar princess, somehow rising up along with it as she held onto the string. "This Crystalling is going to be some party!" she said before the balloon popped, plopping her back to the ground.

"Do you think we should call it off?" Cadence asked in concern.

"...Well, we have faced a lot worse than baby magic," Aqua said, looking up at the blasted holes the infant made. "Powerful baby magic, nonetheless, but if the Crystalling's important to the empire, we can't just cancel for the kingdom's sake."

"And besides, I surely can't imagine cancelling such a beautiful and important ceremony over something so potentially adorable!" Rarity said, the other mares agreeing with her, though Sora leered at her in disagreement after almost getting his head blown off by the adorable baby.

"In light of the little one's abilities, the Crystalling might be more important than ever," Celestia said, knowing it has been so long since the last known Crystalling in the Crystal Empire, the barrier the Crystal Heart created needing to be strengthened soon. "Perhaps you should address your subjects to remind them of that, Cadence."

The pink alicorn nodded in agreement. Before leaving she leaned down and gave her baby a kiss on the cheek, stirring the filly from her power nap as she tried to reach her tiny hooves out to her. As the princesses left, leaving the guests, baby alicorn, and a passed out Shining Armor sleeping against the crib with loud snoring, Twilight approached her exhausted brother and shook him awake.

"Shining, do you need anything else for the ceremony?" she asked, the stallion looked at her tiredly before opening them wide from the reminder.

"Ah! Oh no!" Shining exclaimed, beginning to pace back and forth as he panicked. "I still have to interview the honor guards, choose the purity crystal, and pick a crystaller!"

The panicked stallion plopped his behind down to the ground, whimpering pitifully as he began feeling helplessness. "So, does panicking over important things run in your family, Twilight?" Ventus asked.

Ignoring the teen, Twilight calmly approached her brother. "Take it easy, Shining. Pinkie, Kairi, and Sora can stay here with me and keep an eye on the baby."

While Pinkie ducked her head down in the crib, lifting her head up to find the filly latched onto the mare's face with a playful giggle, Sora balked, having somehow gotten under Kairi while still clinging to her. "Wait, what!? Sora who!? Huh!?"

"Oh, cut it out, Sora," Kairi said, pulling the scared pegasus out from under her legs and stood him upright. "You're great with kids. And you've dealt with Pumpkin's magic surges, right?"

"Kairi, I don't think you noticed how wide of a beam that was that came from that little filly's horn!" Sora reminded, even waving his hooves at the new sunroof for the upper floors to emphasize the problem. "She could have blasted my head off my shoulders! This is baby unicorn magic multiplied by one hundred!"

"I'm sure the four of us can handle her," Kairi assured, peeling the baby off Pinkie's face with her magic and levitating her in front of him. "How can you not say no to watching this little cutie?"

The filly giggled as she floated in front of Sora, the stallion letting out a groan as her big eyes, pudgy cheeks, and flailing hooves reaching out for a hug began to win over the horrifying experience earlier. "...Oh, fine. You're lucky you're really cute...Uhh, Shining Armor, did you and Cadence give your daughter a name?" Looking over at Shining Armor, the stallion had fallen asleep again. Sora facehooved, making the baby laugh as he hurt himself while letting out a groan in exasperation. "Did he somehow get hit with a case narcolepsy if he's this tired?"

"Well, we'll try to help him out," Applejack said. "Providin' he can stay awake long enough to tell us how."


Riku sat in his seat, staring blankly in front of him as Spike ended up telling the ponies around them how they defeated Sombra. It didn't help that more of the crystal ponies came flocking to Spike the Brave and Glorious as he recounted his feats. Looking at Starlight, who actually was interested in knowing what happened, she was lounging and munching on her popcorn, hanging on every word. He knew she was stalling, and despite how humble Spike was being about letting the fame get to him, it slowly dwindled as his pride swelled as the ponies gave him their attention.

"...and that's how we found the Crystal Heart, defeated King Sombra, and saved the Crystal Empire." Spike's tale concluded with a round of applause and cheering from his audience.

"Whoopee," Riku muttered sarcastically.

"Tell us about the Equestria Games next!" a filly asked, Riku finally having enough as they wasted too much time already.

"Ok, story time is over!" he announced. "We have places to be! Starlight's got an important lesson to learn by Princess Twilight Sparkle, so all of you go about your errands or head to the castle to get ready for the Crystalling!"

The crystal ponies groaned in disappointment as they dispersed, even Starlight as she not only wanted to prolong her friendship lesson, but she really did want to know what happened during the Equestria Games. "Come on, Riku! I want to hear about the Games too!"

"The games got interrupted by gray, rubbery creatures called Nobodies, which are the shells of those who lost their hearts by the Heartless, one of the archers accidentally shot an ice arrow into a cloud that turned it into a giant, spiked meteor threatening to fall on everyone, and Spike was the one who get rid of the countless army of them by using his fire breath, infused with the light of the Crystal Heart while he's in the kingdom to make it turn white, melting the frozen cloud and sending shards of the glowing ice into the Nobodies and saved the day after embarrassing himself when he failed to light the torch to begin the Games," Riku summarized in one breath. Starlight grumbled as she got the short version. "Quit pouting like a three-year-old and get up. While Spike was busy with the story you roped him into, I found out where Twilight wrote your friend's address...At the bottom of the list."

"Fine," the unicorn grunted, getting up from her lounge chair and throwing her half-eaten popcorn in the nearest trash can.

"We know you're nervous, but in Step 3, it said...uhhh..." Spike looked at the scroll, finding the step he was mentioning. "'Deal with your fears by facing them, not putting them off.'"

"I could have said that without looking at this confusing mess," Riku said. "And I know you were putting this off on purpose because you're afraid."

"Ok, ok, fine! Let's just get this over with!" Starlight exclaimed. "Just...take me to where his address is..."

After the time wasting story Spike retold for the crystal ponies and Starlight, the trio continued making their way down the roads to search for Sunburst's house. Once they found the right street, it didn't take long to find his house, which was different compared to the ones around it. A green building with an orange roof in the shape of a wizard's hat made out of crystals, it was obvious to spot since Sunburst was a wizard after graduating from Celestia's prestigious school. Starlight gulped nervously as they approached the door, her limbs locking in place as she stopped before the small flight of steps. Taking a deep breath, she willed her legs to approach the door and lifted a hoof to knock on it.

"Wait!" Spike quickly said, startling Starlight as she turned to glare at the baby dragon.

"Now what!?" she exclaimed.

"Knocking on the door isn't the next thing on the list!" the baby dragon said.

"Oh, will you give me that!" Riku said, snatching the list away again. "Look, this thing is just a complicated guideline. Twilight may be the Princess of Friendship, but if you're going to learn about making friends, you're not going to learn everything about it in a book or through lectures. Just be yourself, and if you're on the verge of losing it, you've got the two of us as backup."

"But before they can see each other, she has to highlight the importance of the meeting," Spike argued, taking back the list and pointing at the first step. "Skip anything, and the whole lesson will go south!"

"We can skip that since we know the importance of their meeting: reuniting after many years split apart," Riku argued back. "Besides, every single step leads to backtracking or going forward for each different scenario Twilight seemed to have managed to imagine in her big brain. So, highlighting the meeting is checked off."

Spike huffed and crossed his arms, the list taken back yet again. Starlight rolled her eyes at the boys' argument, turning back to Sunburst's front door. Her nerves began to get to her again, but wanting to see him again won over her fears as she tentatively reached a hoof out to the door, giving it a few knocks. She waited a few seconds, shrugging her shoulders and turned away as there was no answer, only to curse to herself as she heard the door open and turned back around.

"Uhh...Sunburst?" she called out nervously.

"Yes? What can I do for you?" the stallion inside asked.

"It's...it's me, Starlight," she said. "We used to be friends?"

Starlight began fearing Sunburst didn't recognize her anymore. He began to think for a moment before, to her relief, he grinned and stepped out as he remembered her. He was just like she remembered with his orange coat, white fetlocks and a white stripe of fur on his muzzle, and his vermilion mane. His hair was a mess, barely keeping it tidy from all the studies he's done, and he also grew a goatee, which was just as unkempt. Sunburst also wore a pair of glasses on his muzzle and a star-patterned blue and aquamarine cloak.

"Starlight! Of course!" he said, sounding just as nervous as Starlight, surprised to see his old friend again. "My goodness, it-it's been a long time! What, uh, what have you been up to?"

"Me? Oh, you know! Some of this, some of that...different...stuff," she said. "Right now, I'm kinda Twilight Sparkle's new pupil."

"The Princess of Friendship?" Sunburst gasped in awe, looking behind Starlight and noticed Spike and Riku, the princess's number one assistant and her royal guard and coltfriend.

"Yeah," Starlight said with a nervous laugh. "It's...actually why I'm kinda here. Although, I can understand if you're very busy."

"What do you mean?" Sunburst asked.

"Well, I figured after magic school, you'd go on to do important wizard work," Starlight said, guessing his successes in school lead him to being a powerful unicorn.

"Oh. No," Sunburst said, only to backpedal as he began stammering. "Y-Yes! Uh, t-that's me, yup! Important wizard!" He laughed nervously, which made Riku suspicious by changing his response and his sudden anxiety. "I've been...really busy with lots of, uh...w-wizarding stuff..." A moment of silence passed, neither pony able to continue their reuniting conversation. Riku had a feeling Sunburst was hiding something as well, something he and Starlight seemed to have in common along with their awkwardness. "...Right. Well, uhh...good to see you again."

"Yeah. Same." Their meeting ending, Sunburst walked back inside and closed the door as Starlight let out a sigh of relief. "Well, I guess that's that! Friendship lesson over!"

Riku held out a wing, stopping Starlight and turning her back around. "Oh, no you don't," he said, pushing her back up the steps. He knocked on the door, making Starlight panic as Sunburst opened the door again. "Hey, Sunburst, how would you like to catch up with Starlight after you two haven't seen each other for years? I'm sure the two of you have some very 'interesting' stories to tell since then. And I'm a bit curious myself."

"Uhh...Sure," Sunburst said nervously. "You're...Riku, right? Princess Twilight Sparkle's right hoof knight and lover?"

"Yes, but she doesn't always need my protection twenty-four seven. She was able to take care of herself before we met." Waiting for Starlight to say something, he looked at her to only see her grinning nervously. Rolling his eyes, he pushed her forward, accidentally bumping her muzzle with Sunburst's, catching them both by surprise as they blushed heavily, Sunburst quickly backing up as the nervous tension was only made worse by the pegasus pushing her toward her friend unintentionally. "Why don't we check out your place and get to swapping stories?"

"O-Ok," Sunburst said, nervously fumbling with his glasses as he lead his guests inside, Starlight's heart racing as her lips almost touched her crush's no thanks to Riku trying to push her inside.


"Dearest citizens," Cadence announced, her voice amplified by her magic for the crystal ponies to hear as Celestia and Luna stood beside her, trying her hardest not to look or sounded tired. "I am sure you are all just as thrilled and ready for this Crystalling as myself and Shining Armor."

The crowd cheered, expressing their excitement to their princess. Shining Armor watched from behind the curtains veiling the Crystal Heart and his choices for the honor guard, pure crystal, and the crystaller, panic setting in as he began hyperventilating. Behind him were a line of six stallions in Crystal Guard armor, standing at attention as they watched their prince/captain panting while having his freak-out episode.

"I'm not ready!" he exclaimed, failing to control his breathing.

"Shining Armor, relax," Terra said, approaching the unicorn as he held up two helmets in his hooves. "Going through the Crystalling's preparations aren't that hard. Just pick the soldiers you think are worthy of being honor guards."

"R-Right...Right." Shining took the helmets, then looked back at the six stallions as he seemed to have gotten his head back in order. Unfortunately, it was short lived, tossing the helms at two of them randomly, making them stagger as they were worn backwards. The others winced and backed away to help their newly promoted honor guard captains put their helmets on right, leaving Shining to collect himself again. Terra sighed and shook his head. "Sorry. Fatherhood's got me more stressed out than I thought it did."

"I guess that's true," Terra said. "Master Eraqus had raised me and Aqua when were were training under him. I can't imagine how he's had to stress between being a teacher and a father figure to us."

Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Ventus, and Aqua snuck into the veiled section underneath the castle, the white unicorn mare approaching Shining as she carried a case in her aura. "Now, I know choosing the purity crystal is a very important decision," Rarity said. She then opened that case and revealed five equally cut blue crystals inside. "So I went through the trouble of arranging them in order from incredibly pure to outrageously pure."

Ventus looked inside the case, unable to tell which order Rarity exactly placed them. "They look exactly the same. What's the point in making a choice?"

Rarity laughed, patting the young pegasus on the head. "Oh, Ven, darling, they're clearly different if you've got a keen eye. How else were you able to get those communicators in the first place?"

"Well, I still say these ones look the same," Ventus said, even though he did see Rarity's point as he subconsciously touched his communicator with a hoof.

"What do you think, Shining Armor?" Rarity asked, holding the case out to the prince.

Her similar-looking crystals only made him panic more, letting out a cry in anguish. "I don't know! I can't decide!"

The others sighed as Shining Armor fell in the fetal position, sucking on his hoof, his mind completely broken. "I hope Twilight, Pinkie, Sora, and Kairi are having better luck with the baby," Aqua muttered to herself.

"I think they can handle one alicorn baby altogether," Rainbow said. "What could possibly go wrong?"


"Well, at least she's having fun!" Pinkie said, watching from the sidelines as Sora screamed, holding onto the baby alicorn while she dragged him along, flying around the room.

"This isn't fun for me!" Sora screamed, trying to pull the incredibly strong foal down, letting out grunts as his legs kept hitting the furniture in the room.

The baby thought it was all a game, giggling and babbling excitedly as she flew around, along with shooting random blasts of magic from her horn. Twilight and Kairi were busy running around, trying to cancel the lavender alicorn's niece with their own and keep the rest of the nursery from getting anymore holes. Even though there were two of them blocking the baby's random magic firing, she was shooting them left and right without even taking a break.

"Pinkie, help Sora pull her down to the ground!" Twilight exclaimed, yelping as the filly's magic nearly struck her as she ducked.

"I could, but this scene's supposed to be funny, and Sora getting dragged around is a lot more hilarious than me!" Pinkie said. "Or...would it be more funny if we were both dragged around?"

"Pinkie, for goodness sake, you're not helping!" Sora shouted, grunting in pain as the baby dragged him right into her crib. "Ow! My shin!"

"Sora, try to hold her still!" Kairi said, shooting several beams the baby fired as they the duo flew by her.

"What do you think I'm trying to do, woman!?" Sora continued trying to pull the baby down and ground her, but the giggling foal was far stronger than Pound Cake, even stronger than him or possibly Terra. "How does she have so much strength for a baby!?" he asked aloud, yelping as his dragged hind legs kept hitting furniture. While keeping a firm hold on her, he had enough abuse on his legs and began leaping and swinging his legs to avoid the obstacles the filly was randomly flying over. "Ha ha! I'm learning!" Not paying attention to where she was flying, she flew up and lifted him in the air, smacking his face into the closet. "Ugh! Maybe not."

Squealing playfully, the baby flew around, dragging Sora as he yelled, flailing him around like a rag doll as he slammed into the floor, the walls, and the furniture yet again. The girls winced as he struck a hard surface, surprised to see his hold still firm around the baby alicorn's waist.

"Ok, I think now I should tag in," Pinkie said.

"I got her!" Sora said, grunting as he smacked into the cabinet again. "I-I think I'm wearing her down!" His words began to slur, still remaining conscious as he bonked into everything. "I'm...winning the game...She's getting-OOF!" His gut hit the side of the crib, knocking the wind out of him, but he still held on for dear life. "Nope...She's winning..."


Inside Sunburst's house, the stallion gave them a tour of the small home, where there were shelves of books lining the walls, a simple kitchen for cooking, a bedroom and bathroom, the usual necessities that made it livable. Sunburst, Starlight, Riku, and Spike sat around a small, round table in the middle of what was the wizard's living room, a pot of tea and some empty teacups placed in front of each pony and dragon. Unfortunately, once they sat down, the whole room was silent. Riku looked at Starlight and Sunburst, expecting them to start some kind of conversation, but the two of them just sat awkwardly, looking at anything in the room besides each other.

He looked at Starlight, tilting his head at her to tell her to say something, but Sunburst beat her as he finally said something after what felt like hours of silence. "So, uhh...That's a neat...necklace you have on."

"T-Thanks," Starlight said. "I...thought I could use an accessory to...accentuate myself among everypony, and it...really suits me."

As the mare giggled nervously, Riku let out a groan and rubbed the bridge of his muzzle from both terrible response and the irony of her statement for standing out after creating her cult of equal ponies. "Neat...And the Princess of Friendship wants you and I to be friends again?"

"I thought I just established that to you right at your front door," Riku grumbled.

"But I don't understand. Did something happen to you after I left for magic school?" Sunburst asked Starlight.

"What? No!" Starlight exclaimed, quickly snatching the teapot and filling up her teacup while avoiding the topic. "I-I don't see what that has to do with anything! W-Why would you even ask that?" She didn't realize she was overfilling her cup, letting the warm liquid pool out onto the table. Riku had to stifle an irritated groan, wishing she would get it over with instead of constantly delaying telling her friend the truth, scooting his chair away as the tea began to leak over to his side of the table. "I mean, did something happen to YOU after you left for magic school?"

"What? Oh, no!" Sunburst exclaimed. "L-Like you said, I'm a...an important wizard."

Spike began to panic, looking over the list of steps to find a solution, while Riku tapped his hoof impatiently at the awkward conversation. More silence followed, feeling like torture to him while it was also torturous for Starlight since she was the one who was hurting over Sunburst leaving her. Curious to hear about their relationship from Sunburst's side, and sparking some kind of conversation topic to get them to get to the real problem they were both avoiding, Riku turned to Sunburst as he used a small tower to clean up the spilled tea.

"You know, I'm kinda curious about both of your magical prowess," Riku said. "I've seen how powerful Starlight is when we first met her, even managing to rival Twilight's a few times." Starlight winced, keeping silent while praying Riku won't tell Sunburst what she did. "But, Starlight's told me you knew everything about magic when you were kids. A magical prodigy who helped her when she struggled with some magic you two practiced, perhaps?"

"W-Well, that is true," Sunburst said humbly. "Whenever we hung out back in our old home, I would always bring a book with me for us to read, most of them magic books. Unicorns develop their magic differently, but...I always thought Starlight would be known for her talents as well and...join me in magic school."

"Hmm...Interesting." Riku looked at Starlight, blinking at Sunburst with a blank stare as she carefully sipped at her full cup of tea. "She was powerful as a filly?"

"Sort of, but not right away," the unicorn stallion said. "For example, Starlight was practicing levitation with some blocks when we had a little picnic. She struggled with it at first, but when I showed her the method of the levitation spell, she tried again and managed to perfect it. O-Or when we had snacks at my house, she accidentally spilled a glass of juice, and I showed her a cleaning spell after I cleaned up her mess! One magic spell later, she managed to clean the entire kitchen without any problems, leaving it spic and span far better than my mother was able to clean anything!" Neither stallion noticed Starlight blushing as Sunburst complimented her. "She had a lot of potential that she never took advantage of unless I showed her, but she's a really quick learner, and now she's Princess Twilight Sparkle's pupil."

"Huh..." Riku tapped a hoof to his chin in thought, finding it odd how Starlight never went to Celestia's school as well if she had that much magical potential as a filly. He figured she probably didn't think about it along with writing to Sunburst back when he left her or bothered figuring out where he lived. "That's odd...Starlight SHOULD have been enrolled along with you...Did she hide her magic power from everyone except for you?"

"I don't know, but she was incredible and stunned me with how strong her magic was." Sunburst cleared his throat as his cheeks began to turn pink, righting his glasses as he grinned nervously. "But we were really good friends...Until I moved, but I never thought I'd see her again after all these years. Starlight must have been pretty busy practicing improving her magic by herself so she didn't have to rely on me a lot, huh?"

Starlight laughed nervously, her ears pressed sadly against her head as she lowered her half-drank teacup. "Yeah...A lot of improvement. You got that right..."

Riku could clearly see Starlight was upset by Sunburst's compliment, reminding her of her cutie mark stealing, but Sunburst didn't even notice. Not only that, but he also found it strange how Sunburst admiring Starlight's magical prowess back then got him a bit flustered. Aside from whatever secrets he expected the two unicorns hid from each other, there seemed to be something else he was unaware of. At least he was learning a bit more about these two, and hopefully they'll start talking to each other normally and not change the subject until they sat in awkward silence.

"Well, how about I make some more tea for us?" Riku offered, taking the empty teapot in his wing. "Starlight must have been thirsty. I'll leave you two to catch up in private...Unless you don't mind Spike sitting there trying to figure out how to read that scroll." Leaving the ponies and baby dragon, Riku made his way into the kitchen to prepare another pot of tea. After filling up the metal kettle and putting some new tea leaves in the tea pot, he placed the steel pot on the stove to heat the water up to boil. While waiting, he decided to check in on Twilight to see how things were going, and whether or not they met the baby or not. "Hey, Twilight. Any good news?"

"Uhh, not a good time, Ri-AHH! Look out!" Riku winced, starting to get worried about Twilight's predicament as he heard thuds and magical beams being fired.

"Twilight, what's going on?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing! Just my niece playing with Sora!" Twilight said, the stallion swearing he could hear Sora screaming from Twilight's crystal communicator.

"So it's a girl. Congrats for Shining and Cadence," Riku said to himself. "And...what kind of game is he playing with your niece? Wreck the bedroom?"

"Kind of a long story, but you're not going to believe it when you see her!" Twilight said. "Kairi, catch that! Sorry, Riku, but I need to help Sora. He's taking a really bad beating. Pinkie, move the crib out of the way if Sora's too stubborn to let go of her!"

"...Ok. I guess I'll see you and the baby when Starlight finishes her friendship lesson." After cutting off his conversation with his girlfriend, the water was fully boiled as he turned off the stove. "What the heck was going on over there? It's not supposed to be that crazy taking care of one unicorn filly...Or, a pegasus...?" Before he poured the water in the teapot, he paused as he realized Twilight never told him what the baby was, or even gave a name. "What kind of pony is the baby, anyway?"


Shining Armor took in deep breaths to calm himself, slowly relaxing after having his mental breakdown. Aqua brushed the stallion's hair into a presentable state, unable to believe someone like him ever had freak-outs like this.

"Shining Armor, for goodness sake," Aqua said. "You were a captain of Equestria's military. Weren't you supposed to be trained to keep a level head?"

"Easy for you to say," Shining said. "Talk to me when you have kids and find out your baby's a powerful alicorn who can run you ragged in just one day."

"How about you talk to me after you try to survive a WEEK in the Realm of Darkness with a Heartless beast hell-bent on hunting you down, with no way out, no light of day, and feeling like time has stopped where it feels like that entire week was actually more like a year?" Shining opened his mouth to speak, but after hearing Aqua's questioning argument, he couldn't top that over raising an alicorn baby and shut his mouth in defeat. "Yeah. That's what I thought."

After brushing Shining's hair back to its usual style, the princesses walked out from the castle, Cadence now a bit more relaxed and presentable for her subjects. Shining turned to face his wife, feeling a lot more calm in the presence of the pink alicorn as she approached him.

"Ok. I chose the honor guard, picked the purity crystal, and I know exactly who I want to be our crystaller. So, all we need now is...uhhh..." Shining Armor tried to think of what else he forgot about, making Cadence roll her eyes as they needed a crucial part of the Crystalling.

"The baby?" she reminded.

"...Oh. Right. The baby." Before he could panic again, his little sister came to the rescue.

"We're here!" Twilight announced, Shining breathing a sigh of relief as she, Kairi, Pinkie, and Sora brought the new parents' overly-energetic alicorn foal out to them.

The two unicorn mares were a bit tired, Kairi keeping the foal in a white bubble with Sora still holding onto her as she flew around, still having fun while swinging him around like a rag doll.

"She's a really strong flyer," Pinkie mentioned. "And super duper strong strong. Sora couldn't even hold her down."

"Oh, wow," Ventus said as the others were quite surprised by the fact. "Uhh, Terra, you want to try holding her down?"

"Not sure if I could if Sora couldn't," Terra said. "I may be pretty strong, but...I'm not going to risk getting flung around like that."

"It's ok!" Sora said tiredly, yelping as the infant alicorn flicked him around in the protective magic bubble while giggling and speaking happily in baby talk. "I...got her! She...can't...beat me!"

"I got her," Cadence said, mixing her magic to create her own bubble of blue aura to mix with Kairi's, creating a bright azure color bubble around them.

"Ok, Sora, you can let go of her now," Kairi said.

Sora let go, sighing in relief as he fell limp, Kairi pulling her aura away from the combined bubble, floating her boyfriend down in her white aura while the baby was stuck in her mother's. The alicorn filly whimpered, reaching her forelegs out to her new playmate as she helplessly watched him float to the ground. As he touched the ground, he plopped on his behind, rubbing his sore limbs from all the objects and solid walls he ran into. The baby mumbled sadly, tears welling up in her eyes as her mommy split her away from her funny friend, everyone noticing the inevitable crying about to come.

"Uh oh," Pinkie said. "She already misses Uncle Sora."

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Everyone winced and covered their ears as the baby's crying wail was more of a deafening screech, popping Cadence's magic bubble as her voice sent out shockwaves that nearly threw everyone off their hooves. They didn't know if any of the crystal ponies mere yards away from where they were heard that, but if they didn't, then the curtains veiling the bottom of the castle must have been enchanted with a soundproofing spell. After the alicorn's wail finally stopped, everyone's ears rang, feeling like they were in close proximity to an explosion that temporarily broke their hearing.

"Augh!" Sora groaned, shaking his head as everyone began to get their hearing back. "Sheesh! This baby's really, really strong with everything! I'll be afraid if we find out what happens if we change her diaper." Suddenly, all ears perked up when they heard a cracking noise come from nearby. "Uhh, am I still deaf, or do I hear something about to break?"

Hearing it again, everyone slowly turned their heads to the source, ignoring the alicorn filly hovering above them sniffling after she let out her sadness. It was coming from the Crystal Heart, everyone staring with wide eyes as they saw several cracks begin to form around it. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the ancient relic of the Crystal Empire suddenly broke into a thousand pieces. Gasps and exclaimed cries of shock rang out, unable to believe that they all just witnessed the Crystal Heart break into pieces, and by the newborn filly's supersonic cry of all things to shatter it.

Utterly speechless, they all stared in abject horror, the barrier around the empire fading away, and the crystal ponies nearby didn't seem to notice it was gone. The alicorn filly whined and hovered down, Cadence catching her in her foreleg without even looking at her little filly.

"...W-Wha...WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" Ventus screamed.

"The baby...destroyed the Crystal Heart," Celestia uttered in shock. "This is bad..."

"Ah'm guessin' this is gonna make it harder to do the Crystallin'?" Applejack asked, the answer clearly obvious, though she dreaded hearing the worst.

"It's worse than that," Twilight said, pulling back the curtains to reveal the section of the city in the distance. Dark storm clouds began to appear, rolling closer to the castle as the weather began to drop, lowering more and more the closer the storm got. "Without the Crystal Heart, the Crystal Empire will be buried under a mountain of ice and snow!"

Looking back at the baby, who began babbling innocently as everyone's attention was on her, they knew she didn't know any better and it was an accident. However, that meant the Crystal Empire was doomed, and with no means of recreating such an important relic that kept the kingdom safe from the harsh weather of the frozen north. Suddenly, the Keyblade wielders gasped in shock as they felt a massive presence of darkness in the area, coming from out in the harsh clouds slowly approaching them.

"There are Heartless here?" Kairi asked. "But how? They weren't anywhere near the perimeter of the barrier when we arrived."

"Anyone have a pair of binoculars?" Aqua asked. Pinkie raised a hoof, digging into her mane until she found a pair of binoculars, always finding them handy in case of binocular emergencies. Quickly taking them from the pink earth pony, Aqua looked through them and enhanced the sight to look further out in the clouds. She grunted as she could see the Heartless lingering in the uncontrollable clouds, slowly approaching like an army as if waiting for the opportunity to ambush the Crystal Empire. She could see Shadows, Neoshadows, Armored Knights, Surveillance Robots, Blue Rhapsodies, Icy Cubes, and a few Blizzard Lords leading each split up group like generals. "They're hiding in the storm...The Crystal Empire's being invaded by the Heartless..." Aqua growled angrily, wishing she anticipated the Heartless' appearance if the Cutie Map wasn't broken. "We should have seen them coming. If Starlight didn't mess around with time and screw up the map-!"

"Aqua, we didn't see much activity in Equestria back on the Galactic Map," Terra interjected, steering his girlfriend away from blaming Starlight even more. "They must have shown up moments after we left, so don't keep finding more excuses to put Starlight down when she's already stripped of using her magic and kept under constant surveillance."

"This is awful!" Rarity exclaimed. "Not only are we not going to take part in a fabulous ancient ceremony, but we're also going to be frozen solid and invaded by Heartless!"

"What about when Sombra ruled the Crystal Empire and the Crystal Heart was missing?" Fluttershy asked. "It wasn't covered in snow back then, was it?"

"No. The Crystal Heart was still in the castle, so its protective field was still there without the barrier," Twilight said.

"I'm afraid Twilight is right," Celestia said, looking out to the growing storm clouds approaching the castle. "And the clouds are starting to grow bigger, along with the threat of the Heartless invasion."

"I'll just fly up there and bust those clouds apart! No sweat!" Rainbow tried to fly off, but Celestia's golden aura snatched the pegasus and kept her still.

"I wouldn't advise it, Rainbow Dash," the princess warned. "Those are not ordinary storm clouds."

"Being this far north, the weather has a will of its own," Luna explained.

"So it's a chaotic blizzard?" Sora asked. "Is Discord behind this?" A piece of paper materialized in front of Sora, startling him before reading the floating sheet aloud. "'I'm not part of this two-parter premiere for this story, and the only chaos I make is meant to be funny, not deadly like a harsh blizzard. That job is for the Windigoes. Discord. P.S., don't bother asking for my help, otherwise it would be too much of a plot convenience and resolve this issue far too quickly. Give everyone some drama without being overpowered. Including you and your anime horseapples, Sora.' Huh?" The note disappeared, leaving everyone baffled. "...Uhh, we weren't even planning on calling Discord...Were we?"

"We're going to assume Discord either can't stop it, or he's too lazy to help us at the moment," Twilight said. "But there's no time to mull over that draconequus and his insanity! We need to find a spell to fix the Crystal Heart!"

"There might be something in the castle's library," Cadence said. "It's just as extensive as the one in Canterlot, but there's a good chance we'll find something in there!"

"Ok, the best thing we can do is split up," Aqua said, already formulating a plan. "Keyblade wielders will head out to deal with the Heartless getting closer to the kingdom. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, you three keep the crystal ponies calm and guide them back to their homes to stay safe while keeping the Crystal Heart's shattering out. We don't want them to start panicking and risk them getting too close to the Heartless if they try to flee." The trio of mares nodded and quickly left to try to warn the crystal ponies. "Celestia, Luna, you two think you can keep the blizzard from getting closer?"

"We will do what we can," Celestia said, lighting her horn and created her ethereal blade of fire. "I've been itching to do something after Nightmare Night the year before."

"Don't get cocky, sister," Luna chided as she summoned her ethereal scythe. "Those vile creatures of darkness will probably attack us if they get too close...But I do agree that sitting around on our thrones can get boring. Let's go."

The two alicorn sisters flew off, making the curtains flutter as they avoided the crystal ponies' gazes, hovering up in the air as they used their ethereal weapons and magic to destroy the constantly spawning snow clouds. "Twilight, you're going to have to stay behind with your brother, Cadence, Rarity, and Pinkie to find that spell," Aqua continued. "As useful as your Harmony Links can be, you know your way around a library better than myself."

"What about Riku?" Twilight asked. "He needs to know about this, and he has to tell Starlight, Spike, and Sunburst, if they found him, to make their way to the castle so he can help-"

"Starlight needs to be kept watch by one of us," Aqua interjected. "Even though I've sealed her magic, I still don't trust her to wander around while being watched by Spike."

"It's not like she can run away from us with Heartless surrounding the Crystal Empire," Kairi reasoned. "She's been living in the castle for a week now, but she's been trying to show she isn't going to do anything bad anymore."

"The day I start trusting her is the day hell freezes over," Aqua said coldly. "What if the same thing were to happen? That innocent facade she pulled off in that town when we first met her, lulling us into a false sense of security, then caught us in a trap with her cutie mark stealing magic? Who's to say that she isn't acting again and waiting for the opportunity for me to take that choker off her neck, then blast me in the face?"

"But she wants to change," Sora argued. "Starlight was afraid of making friends and have any of them leave her when they got their cutie marks. She was just a kid and didn't know what to do."

"And you're taking her side after witnessing the futures she could have given, where you died in some horrific way!?" Aqua argued back. Growling furiously, she took a few breaths to calm herself before losing control of herself in another magic surge. It was bad enough that a blizzard was approaching, and she didn't want to make things worse by going into a frenzy of ice. "...You all think what you will of her. For me, I wouldn't trust her with my life if we ended up in a dangerous situation by ourselves."

"You won't even give her a chance?" Terra questioned, making the unicorn turn to face him, who seemed disappointed in her.

"She lost her chance when she left us powerless," Aqua said. "There's no chance of redemption for her."

"What about with me when Xehanort possessed my heart?" The unicorn grunted, balking at Terra's question. "Despite me almost killing you while I wasn't in control, you gave me a second chance by saving me from being trapped in the Realm of Darkness...I'm worth being redeemed when I ended up walking down a dark path by what Xehanort had told me about controlling the darkness in me, but Starlight isn't because she was lost by her own misery? Under no one's influence or 'helpful' advice as she believed what she thought was the truth about having friends?" Aqua stammered, Terra using her words against her. He continued leering at her, her mind telling her that what happened to him wasn't similar to Starlight's issues, but the gaze he gave her was the exact same one she gave to him back when they were younger; back when they first met and he tried to prove he was better than her as a Keyblade wielder. "If you didn't give me a chance, would you have killed me to stop me from losing myself to the darkness?"

"B-But...Terra, you're not-" Terra walked past Aqua, bringing back the harsh moment of misunderstanding they had experienced before back in Radiant Garden years ago. She would never doubt him and trusted him with her life, even if he walked down the wrong path in life. She was already fearing their relationship was going to end the same way she had misspoken her reasons for bringing him back to the Land of Departure several years ago after being given that same look. She turned to watch him, not wanting things to end the same way. "Terra?"

"We'll discuss this later, Aqua," he said, summoning his Keyblade in his mouth as he walked outside. "We need to save the Crystal Empire, first."

Dashing forward, the earth pony stallion sprinted off down one direction toward a group of Heartless making their way forward. Aqua felt tears welling up in her eyes, swallowing her emotions as the Crystal Empire's safety, and all of Equestria's, was more important than their argument. Summoning her Keyblade, Sora, Kairi, and Ventus followed her example, and with a silent nod toward each other, the remaining Keyblade wielders split up in different directions to stop the surrounding Heartless from getting closer to the center of the kingdom.

"Wow...That went dark pretty quickly," Pinkie commented. Before the last of the group began their search for a spell to fix the Crystal Heart, Shining and Cadence's baby had other plans as she babbled while looking at Pinkie. She suddenly teleported out of Cadence's foreleg, reappearing and latching onto the party pony's face. "AHH! Face hugger!"

Pinkie flung the baby off her face, making the other scream in panic at the stupid decision Pinkie did to an infant. Shining dove forward to catch his daughter, only for the foal to teleport away before hitting the ground, making him panic as he looked around for her.

"Where'd she go!?" he asked.

They could hear giggling coming from inside the castle, the baby running loose somewhere inside without any adult supervision. "She's back inside!" Cadence said. "Quick, Shining, you, Rarity, and Pinkie find her while Twilight and I start searching for the spell in the library!"

"On it!" Shining said as the group ran inside, hoping the baby didn't get herself hurt while she wanted to play.


Back in Sunburst's home, Riku came back into the living room with a fresh pot of tea. Unfortunately, the two unicorns barely said much since he left, Spike still fumbling around with the long and overly complicated list. What was odd a moment earlier was that he felt a dark presence all around the kingdom, but if it was Heartless, they couldn't even get past the barrier the Crystal Heart created.

"Come on," Spike muttered to himself. "There's gotta be something..."

"I know Princess Twilight is keen on the two of us rekindling our friendship, but it's been so long," Sunburst said. "I don't see how anything on that list is going to help."

"I know, right?" Starlight agreed. "It's not like there's some spell that could magically compel us to pick up where we left off."

Riku raised a brow at Starlight, questioning her with his gaze as she was actually serious about there being a spell that can force them to get back together, where manipulating both of their minds would only send the mare back down a peg after creating her equality cult. "Well, there are actually several," Sunburst said casually, making Riku turn his gaze to him in shock as the stallion levitated several books from his shelves. "Mistmane's Material Amity, Rockhoof's Rapport, Flash Prance's Fellow...ship..." Sunburst caught Riku's gaze, glaring at him with sharp daggers, clearly not approving of any of those spells to solve this lesson for Starlight quickly, and it being a bad idea in general. Clearing his throat, Sunburst put the books away and laughed nervously. "B-But I guess the princess isn't looking for a spell, is she?"

"Absolutely not," Riku said.

"I got it!" Spike exclaimed as he found a solution, part of him wrapped in the scroll after constantly searching for it. "'And if all else fails, ask them to share an embarrassing moment from their past, maybe even something they regret!'"

Starlight and Sunburst quickly looked at each other, Riku noticing the trepidation in both their expressions as they clearly had something they regretted doing, though the only one he knew of was Starlight's regrets. They both gulped nervously, and just as the pegasus expected, they steered past that topic.

"Uhh, I don't see how that would help," Sunburst said, adjusting his glasses.

"Yeah!" Starlight quickly agreed. "We should probably just get out of your mane!" Before Riku could protest and argue with their opinion on telling a close friend a regret that bothered them, Starlight grabbed him and Spike in her telekinetic aura, surprising him as her magical strength wasn't deterred even with the enchanted choker sealing the use of other spells for her, and dragged them to the door. "I think it's pretty obvious this isn't how Twilight hoped and I'm sure you have a lot of important work to do."

"What? Oh! Right, yes!" Sunburst quickly exclaimed, again making Riku suspicious as the unicorn stallion laughed nervously. "No rest for the...wizardly..."

Starlight pulled Riku and Spike outside, closing Sunburst's door and sighed in relief. "Whew...That was close."

"You're seriously going to quit?" Riku asked. "And can you let go of me?"

"Oh. Sorry." Dispelling her magic, she let go of the pegasus and baby dragon and made her way to the castle in shame, Spike and Riku quickly following after while not paying attention to the suddenly altered weather. "What's the use? I don't care if I give up and Twilight feels disappointed in me."

"...Well, I guess it wasn't you're fault," Riku said. "When Spike mentioned that step, I thought maybe you two would share your regrets, but you're still afraid of telling him what you did."

"Riku was right. We shouldn't have used this confusing list after all," Spike said morosely, breathe green flames at the scroll and sent it away.

"It's not the list, either of you, or Twilight," Starlight said. "I'm the one Sunburst doesn't want to be friends with."

"But he never said anything like that," Riku said.

Starlight lowered her head, sighing sadly. "He didn't have to..."

Riku just shook his head, pitying Starlight as her fears continued winning out over her desire to be friends with Sunburst again. "Ok. I guess we can take a breather and try again once you two collect your thoughts. At least Twilight believes you're worth being friends...And so do I. As long as you don't zap me with magic. That's Twilight's job."

"I guess I am as well now that Twilight recovered from all that crazy future stuff," Spike added. "Maybe I was glad there was no mention of me in those timelines since I probably never hatched."

Starlight let out a small grin, at least grateful she did have some friends, maybe even finding on in Terra after he told her his tragic story about his relationships with Aqua and Ventus. Before expressing her gratitude to Riku and Spike, she suddenly shivered as she now noticed the drastic change in temperature, seeing her breath with every exhale, and snow falling down around them.

"What in Equestria?" Spike and Riku noticed as well, all three of them looking up at the dark clouds snowing down on the Crystal Empire. "Why is it snowing? I know we're in the north, but it wasn't like this when we went through the Crystal Heart's barrier, right?"

"Something isn't right," Riku said. "The Crystal Heart's supposed to protect the kingdom from the harsh tundra. No snow ever makes it past the barrier, even if it's supposed to be winter." While trying to figure out what was going on, Shadows and Blue Rhapsodies suddenly appeared around the trio. Riku summoned his Keyblade while Starlight and Spike huddled together. "Heartless!? How did they get in the empire!?"

"Ok, there really must be something wrong with the Crystal Heart if they somehow made it inside!" Spike said. He tried something crazy as he looked at a nearby Shadow, taking in a deep breath and releasing a stream of fire at it. His flames remained green, hoping he would feel the Crystal Heart give him that power of light to eradicate it. All Spike was able to do was give it small burn, the Shadow barely flinching before lunging out to try to slash him. Spike yelped and stumbled backward, Riku quickly thrusting his blade through the Heartless and killing it instantly. "Yeah! Definitely something wrong if the Crystal Heart isn't helping me blast these guys with white fire!"

"Spike, just leave them to me!" Riku said. "You and Starlight head to the castle while I keep them off you guys!"

Starlight quickly levitated Spike on her back and ran as fast as her hooves could take her, not wanting to stick around the Shadows if they were going to morph into that deadly tower she saw in the Realm of Darkness timeline. She wished Aqua didn't place the magic inhibitor choker around her neck so she could defend herself with her magic, but her hopes for getting a second chance from her would be impossible. Riku easily made quick work of the Heartless, finding no more nearby as he caught up with Starlight and Spike. Right now, he had to protect Starlight and Spike, seeing how there weren't anymore chasing them or anywhere near the center of the kingdom.

As they ran toward the castle, they didn't see all the crystal ponies waiting for the Crystalling on the other side of the crystal palace, Rainbow, Applejack, and Fluttershy failing to urge them to stay indoors. "Look, we're just saying that it might not be the best idea to stay outside!" Rainbow said.

"I camped out all night for this spot!" a mare said, sitting in a lounge chair. "I'm not about to just give it up!"

"Still, when you think about it, the view is just as good a little further back," Fluttershy said. "Like...inside your house?"

The crystal ponies began to complain, wondering why they were being told to leave on an important part of their kingdom's traditions until a stallion wearing a cap and vest covered in various pins of different designs, one of them being Twilight's face. "The Crystalling is one of our most sacred traditions!" he said. "And when the foal is held before the Crystal Heart, I plan to be as close to the action as possible!"

As much as they didn't want to reveal the baby or what happened to the Crystal Heart, they needed to get everyone indoors and out of harm's way before any Heartless slip by the Keyblade wielders and attack them while also avoiding getting frozen to death. "Honestly, Ah don't know if there's gonna BE a Crystallin'," Applejack said. "The truth is, the baby's an alicorn and her magic's plum crazy, so ya might not wanna be that close after all."

Unfortunately, Applejack's mentioning of the newborn alicorn only made the crystal ponies more excited. They could hear some of them saying they couldn't wait to see what the baby looked like, the size of the baby's "little" wings, and even what kind of crazy magic she could do. Rainbow growled as none of them were paying attention to them and getting to safety.

"Look, I'm one hundred percent sure the Crystalling isn't happening!" the cyan pegasus said.

Suddenly, shooting out from the castle as yellow beams of magic blasted through the walls of the castle, their warnings were ignored yet again as another stallion with a very curly double handlebar mustache noticed the magic beams. "No Crystalling, huh? Then why are they starting the fireworks show?"

The crystal ponies all began cheering as they watched the "fireworks", now unable to be budged from their spots at all. Rainbow smacked herself in the face and slumped over with a groan.

"We're dead," Rainbow uttered. "And so's the Crystal Empire..."

"We just need to keep tryin'," Applejack said. "We just can't tell them about the Crystal Heart...It's gonna be like tryin' to hide the fact we couldn't find the real one when the Crystal Empire came back."

"But we can't recreate another one, otherwise they'll find out!" Rainbow hissed. "Twilight had better find a way to fix that thing fast before we all turn into popsicles! Or get turned into Heartless! Whichever comes first!"