Inside the castle's grand library, Twilight and Cadence rummaged and skimmed through several books they already pulled out, searching desperately for the spell they sought to piece the Crystal Heart back together. While they searched, Shining, Pinkie, and Rarity managed to chase the alicorn baby into the library, the filly giggling playfully as she flew away from them, thinking they were playing a game. All the while, the baby had uncontrollable magic surges, either blasting the walls with a beam or teleporting around and away from her daddy and two new aunties.
"Get back here, young filly!" Shining pleaded as he chased his daughter, only for her to teleport away and close to Pinkie Pie.
"Come to Auntie Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie called out, bouncing after the alicorn filly, feeling more exhausted than watching Pound and Pumpkin Cake on her own.
"'Bridle Buck's Boat Chants', 'Hayhoof's Intonements', 'Mystic Maps and Mazes'," Twilight said aloud, reading the titles of the non-magical spellbooks as she put them away, deeming them a helpless effort to their cause. "Anything up there, Cadence!?"
"Not yet! I'm not even sure how the crystal ponies even organized their books!" Flapping across the rows of shelves on the upper floors of the library, her baby suddenly teleported on one of the shelves, giggling as she managed to escape from Pinkie. Cadence tried to reach her hooves out to catch her, but the baby sneezed, shooting a beam of magic that struck a shelf on the far end of the massive library, forcing the mother to duck. The baby teleported down near her Aunt Twilight, flying around the table the lavender alicorn sat at with her stacks of books while babbling gleefully, then flew away from Shining Armor as he tried to chase her down. "Shining Armor, I thought you were taking care of her!"
"I'm trying!" the stallion shouted.
Turning a corner while following his energetic daughter, Shining was just about to catch her before she teleported away, reappearing by the row of shelves he just ran through and flying off in another direction. The alicorn filly cheered as she flew, but when she saw Rarity get in her way while wielding a bug-catching net, she let out a small blurb of confusion.
"Gotcha!" Rarity exclaimed, only for the baby to teleport behind her and continue flying. "Or not..."
A moment later, Riku, Starlight, and Spike entered the library. "Twilight, what the heck is going on out-!?" They soon heard the infant squeal as Pinkie chased after the baby, surprising the two ponies and baby dragon at the newborn filly flying around. "...Was that a baby alicorn?"
"I got her!" Shining said, only to yelp as a yellow magic beam narrowly hit him, singeing his mane as he fled from his daughter this time. "No, she's got me! Help!"
Confused as they watched the giggling infant trying to catch Shining Armor, Riku, Starlight, and Spike saw the frenzied chaos of the baby's magic bursts, Cadence fluttering around looking through book titles, and Twilight quickly skimming through hundreds of books. Another beam was released from the baby, Starlight and Riku ducking as it was shot over their heads.
"Someone tell us what's happening right now!?" Riku pleaded.
"Do you want the long or the short version?" Pinkie asked, being dragged by the laughing baby alicorn as she pulled the earth pony's back leg, dragging her lower half across the floor.
"Short version, please!" Starlght said.
"The baby's an alicorn and she accidentally destroyed the Crystal Heart because she didn't want to stop playing with Sora, so Twilight and Cadence are looking for a spell to put it back together and save the Crystal Empire from not only turning into a giant wasteland of ice and snow, but also from the Heartless that suddenly appeared in the bad snowstorm outside and are closing in on the center of the kingdom while Sora, Aqua, Kairi, Venny, and Terra keep them from getting to everypony," Pinkie quickly said, all in one breath while the baby continued dragging her around.
"...We asked for the short version," Riku said. At least they got an explanation as to why the barrier was gone and Heartless had appeared. He watched the filly, finding it odd how Twilight's niece was an alicorn, baffling him and getting a better understanding to what kind of chaos her, Sora, Pinkie, and Kairi were in. Shining tried to snatch the infant filly, only for her to fly up and cause him to crash into Pinkie Pie, dazing them while the baby teleported over to Riku, Starlight, and Spike. She hovered in front of the pegasus, tilting her head and stared at him curiously. "...So, the Crystal Empire is in danger NOT because of a tyrannical madpony with a lust for power, someone bent on taking over the kingdom, or someone who wants revenge on Cadence or Shining Armor, but it's because of a baby with insane powers...and is an alicorn?"
"Yeah," Pinkie said with a groan. "Go figure, huh?"
Riku looked at the filly hovering in front of him, who began squealing happily and latched onto his head, tugging on his hair with her mouth. "Ow! Hey! No hair pulling!" Grabbing her with his hooves, he pulled Twilight's niece off him, only for her to warp out of his grip and fly off, wanting him to chase her. "I can't believe the baby's an alicorn...How do the genetics even make sense?"
The question ignored for the time being, Cadence gasped as she seemed to have found the right book, taking it with her and hovering down to Twilight. "What about this? 'Trotter's Tome of Reliquary'?"
Twilight took the book and flipped through the pages, smiling as she seemed to have found a spell in the book that could restore the Crystal Heart. "I think this is it! 'Spell of Relic Reconstitution'! I don't know what we'd do if we didn't find it in time!"
While too distracted giggling and flying away from Riku, who didn't even move from his spot beside Starlight, the baby didn't notice Pinkie was right on her tail as she leapt up and grabbed the alicorn filly. Now caught, and hopefully not teleporting away, the baby suddenly sneezed, sending Pinkie flying back from the powerful whiplash as a beam of magic aimed straight for Rarity. Thinking quickly, Rarity held up a mirror in her magic and deflected it, heading straight for Shining Armor as he too reflected it with his powerful shield spell. He accidentally sent it right for Riku and Starlight, Riku holding his Keyblade up to deflect it away from them, making him yelp as he was knocked back, surprised by the baby's magical power. Unfortunately, he deflected the beam at Twilight by accident, missing her and instead hitting the book she held in her aura, creating a big, burnt hole in the center of the hard cover tome.
"Whoa. She's incredibly strong," Riku said, slightly stunned as he laid on his back. He sat up and saw the damage done to the book, everyone looking at him as he winced. "Oops. Sorry."
"Oh no," Twilight uttered. "That spell was the only thing we found in this whole library that was even CLOSE to what we needed!"
"And I'm going to be in the doghouse for not only getting a book destroyed, but also destroyed the spell that could fix the Crystal Heart," Riku said aloud.
Twilight let out a sigh, opening the book in vain as she watched the ashes of the pages fall to a pile on the floor. "It's not your fault, Riku. None of us expected this to happen."
"Can you remember the spell?" Cadence asked.
"I only read it through once!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Well, if anypony can exactly remember something she read for the first time two minutes ago, it's you, Twilight," Rarity said, trying to spark some confidence in the lavender alicorn.
"...Well, I'll try, but I'm not sure how long it'll take." Outside through one of the many holes Twilight's niece made, they could see the storm getting worse and getting closer to the castle.
"Is quickly an option?" Pinkie asked with a worried frown.
"I'll help if I can, but we should evacuate the city just in case," Cadence said, turning to her husband after taking their daughter from Pinkie. "Shining, you have to get everypony to the train station before the tracks freeze over."
"We will," Shining said as Cadence levitated the alicorn filly onto her back. "I'm sure the two of you will remember the spell."
After sharing a kiss, Shining ran out of the library to evacuate the empire, Rarity and Pinkie following after him to help. While Twilight quickly grabbed an empty scroll and a quill to write down what she could remember from the spell, Starlight approached the alicorn, feeling like she should do something to help.
"Is there anything I can do?" Starlight asked.
"I don't think so," Twilight said. "I'm so sorry about ruining your lesson."
"It doesn't matter anyway," Starlight said dishearteningly. "Sunburst and I don't have anything in common anyway...He's an important wizard, and I'm re-learning everything I ever thought I knew."
"Can't he help us?" Riku asked curiously. "He's supposed to be an important, powerful wizard, right? I'm pretty sure that cramped library of his has to have something in there to help us find the right spell."
"He could be very helpful to us right about now," Cadence said. "Maybe he'll even know what to do if the spell fails as well."
"Sounds like a plan. Starlight, we're heading back to Sunburst's." Despite her worries confronting Sunburst again after they just left, Starlight nodded, knowing they needed his help.
Before they left, the alicorn filly teleported in front of Riku, babbling in her infantile speech as she plopped onto his muzzle in a clingy hug. "Ok, no time for hugs," he said to the filly, gently pulling her off his face, bringing her back to Cadence and set her back down on her mother's back, patting her curly mane as the baby looked at him in confusion. "Uncle Riku's gotta help save your home."
Thankfully, the baby didn't throw a tantrum like she did earlier when she was split up from Sora, Riku heading out with Starlight beside him as they made their way back to Sunburst's home. Twilight and Cadence continued remembering what they saw in the book before the baby accidentally destroyed it, praying for a miracle that the spell would work.
Flying through the skies, Celestia and Luna struggled to push back the uncontrollable clouds getting closer to the Crystal Empire. No matter how powerful their magic, their efforts were in vain as they just kept coming, making them wish these clouds were the chaotic cotton candy clouds Discord can create out of thin air. It didn't help that the freezing temperatures were starting to throw them off, even with Celestia's flaming blade of aura emitting heat that was only a fraction of the sun's.
"Push them back, Luna!" Celestia said, not willing to give up after the Crystal Empire had only recently returned.
Luna grunted as she worked with her sister to push back a thicker storm cloud. Suddenly, shooting through the clouds were Blue Rhapsodies, striking them with Blizzard spells that only further lowered their body temperatures.
"Ahh! These dark curs are going to be a nuisance!" Luna shouted, twirling her scythe and focused on the Heartless, slicing through the weaker mage Heartless while protecting Celestia from them.
They began getting surrounded by clouds as their numbers overwhelmed the two alicorn sisters, more Blue Rhapsodies floating around to try to stop them as they had no choice but to defend themselves from the blue mini-mages. Down below in separate directions around the empire, the Keyblade wielders confronted their groups of ground Heartless in the enclosing blizzard, toughing out the frigid temperature continuously dropping. They didn't anticipate the sheer number of Heartless that had surrounded the Crystal Empire, ranging to almost a million if they included the Blizzard Lords as several Icy Cubes clumped into the massive Blizzard mage they formed.
Sora was surrounded by thousands of Armored Knights and Surveillance Robots, getting some deja vu as it brought him back to the gorge back in Radiant Garden when Heartless ran amok no thanks to Organization XIII using him to take their hearts to create Kingdom Hearts. "Ah, this brings me back," he said to himself. "Only instead of a thousand, I'm seeing a hundred thousand...Not a smart idea ganging up on me with what kinds of Heartless you are." Looking up, he found one of the Blizzard Lords watching them, the wand it held glowing as it readied a spell to catch the stallion off guard. "Well, then...Bring it on."
The Armored Knights rushed forward, some of them leaping and spinning around on their backs as their sword-like limbs turned them into spinning blades. Avoiding them and countering back with a reaction as the ones who spun missed him, he dove through the waves of Heartless repeatedly, destroying several of them in a line as he thrust forward in random directions. After the sixth dive, he spotted a Surveillance Robot twitching about as small beams of light began forming around it. Flapping toward it, he grabbed it and halted its attack, gripping the Heartless tightly in his hooves, held it forward and slowly spun around, making it release an energy blast that decimated a the large group that surrounded him. After it was drained of power, Sora flung it at a few Armored Knights, bowling them over and grabbed another Surveillance Robot trying to use the same attack as its comrade.
This time Sora aimed this Heartless up at the Blizzard Lord, standing his ground as he fired its energy beam directly at the large ice mage, stunning it before it could retaliate. Slashing the Surveillance Robot in his hooves once its beam died, Sora leapt up and latched onto the Blizzard Lord, sending it hurtling down to the ground, unleashing a barrage of Firaga spells down after it. The giant fireballs struck it, making it bloat and explode from its weakness, splitting up into several Icy Cubes. Sora was slightly thankful there weren't Volcanic Lords teaming up with the Blizzard Lords, though due to the northern part of Equestria with its snowstorms, they wouldn't have been able to survive in the harsh blizzards that were creeping up on the kingdom.
Elsewhere on the battlefield in separate directions, the others were handling their own large groups of Heartless. Ventus was quick and agile, his shorter Keyblade able to help him maneuver through the Heartless and avoid any physical attacks, mixing strikes, magic spells, and Shotlock skills to destroy them. Kairi relied on her magic to deal with any that got too close to her or her blind spots. She even attempted to use the power of her light to keep the Heartless at bay, but she didn't use it too much in case it wore her out, which would be a really bad situation while she was out on her own nearly a mile away from everyone else. Terra stood his ground against the Heartless, just one swing of his Keyblade destroying groups that got in his way as he charged forward. Even as all the Heartless that appeared tried to pile on top of him, he flung them off with his massive strength, slamming his blade hard into the ground to cause small earthquakes, or to eradicate his group in a fifty yard radius, using his ultimate Shotlock ability, Ultima Cannon: after he was fully locked on to only a few Heartless, his Keyblade growing into a giant cannon he was able to hold in both forelegs, and fired a massive sphere of pure energy that blew up hundreds of Heartless helplessly caught in the blast.
Aqua, however, had some trouble with her group. After the disheartening realization from Terra's words over her distrusting Starlight, her mind kept reeling over what would have happened if she never gave Terra a chance when he strayed down the wrong path no thanks to Xehanort. She would never do anything to hurt him, even if he did anything wrong, but she believed Starlight didn't deserve redemption because of her actions. She tried to change the past, and almost destroyed their timeline because of petty revenge for ruining what she created, all because she didn't grow up and try to find new friends after Sunburst left her. Starlight needed to be punished, but most of the group thought Aqua was too harsh on her, even though she was right and had every reason not to trust her.
But Terra's words struck a chord with Aqua, making her relive the biggest mistake of her life by losing her boyfriend's trust back then when she was only trying to bring him back home. All of her mistakes came back to her, distracting her from combat as she didn't want to make those same mistakes again; to lose her friends again over something she didn't realize was actually hurtful to them. And she was afraid of losing Terra and Ventus again, fearing being alone after escaping over a decade of loneliness while struggling for survival in the Realm of Darkness, her psyche already broken from the lack of companionship, trust in anyone because of Xehanort's betrayal and anyone who manipulates her friends, and once succumbing to her own darkness in her despair despite her freedom. She began questioning herself if she really was too harsh after thinking back to what she said she'd do to Starlight, or even Xehanort back when they issued Starlight's punishment. She was so lost on protecting everyone, too focused on keeping the worlds safe and stopping Xehanort, she still believes the burden of reviving the way of the Keyblade wielder fell on her shoulders.
Aqua snapped out of her thoughts several times throughout her fight when Heartless struck her, either freezing her with Blizzard spells or slashing at her with their limbs. Getting frustrated by her thoughts, her beliefs, and getting struck because of her distracted thoughts, Aqua shouted angrily and lashed out at the Heartless, her magic spells near disastrous out of her rage as she blasted the Heartless to smithereens, even blowing up the Blizzard Lords around her with a deadly Flare spell when they hovered too close to her. She lost count of how many she slayed, even though she never counted them from the start, but after only a few minutes of releasing her frustrations and finally stopped, panting heavily, her head was cleared enough to see that she had left a large dent in the forces of darkness, but not enough to stop the massive army hiding in the growing blizzard.
"They just keep coming," Aqua muttered. "Either there's a portal of darkness they keep coming out of, or they want to destroy the Crystal Empire and its light forever..." It started to feel like a lost cause if the Heartless keep spawning in the blizzard, which was already getting worse as visibility started to get lower. Reaching a hoof to her ear, she contacted Twilight, hoping she's found the spell. "Twilight, any progress on the spell?"
"Well, we found it," Twilight said. "But Cadence and I are trying to remember how the 'Spell of Relic Reconstitution' went."
"'How it went?'" Aqua questioned.
"Uhh...All I can say is...my niece got to it," Twilight responded nervously. "...And by that, I mean she fired random magic, and one of them got deflected by everypony and burnt a hole in the book it was in."
Aqua groaned inwardly, having half expected something to go wrong since the baby accidentally broke the Crystal Heart. That thought alone made her question her actions as the Crystal Empire was going to be destroyed by the snowstorm by an infant alicorn, but the baby didn't know any better, so it wasn't her fault at all. Shaking her head from her frustrated and confused thoughts, she focused on what mattered right now, avoiding the Heartless around her as they began to close in.
"If it fails, then we have no choice but to evacuate the crystal ponies," Aqua said before getting in contact with the others. "Guys, this invasion's never going to end, and the weather's only getting worse. Twilight found the spell, but they have to recreate it, and if it fails, then the Crystal Empire will be lost to the storm. We have to fall back and protect the ponies as they evacuate."
"Aqua, are you sure about this?" Terra asked, making Aqua hesitate at her decision, fearing it would be a terrible one and chalk it up to another mistake that'll weigh heavily in her mind.
"...I don't know anymore," she replied, but only to him before ceasing her contact. She ran back to the kingdom, ignoring the Heartless behind her to begin evacuating the Crystal Empire's citizens. "...I'm not sure which is right or wrong anymore..."
Riku took the lead while Starlight followed as they encountered more Heartless on their way. Thankfully, all the crystal ponies were by the castle, which seemed to be the only safe haven among the city. Riku slashed his way through, unleashing spells in case any got by him and headed toward Starlight, the unicorn wishing she was able to defend herself. If only they ran into Aqua, she could have at least made this an exception if they didn't know Shining Armor and Cadence's child would be able to shatter the Crystal Heart just from crying. They arrived at Sunburst's house, quickly slamming the door open and ran inside, Riku slamming the door closed and locking it with his Keyblade to keep any Heartless from getting to them, their entrance startling Sunburst and dropping the books he held in his yellow aura.
"W-What's going on!?" he asked. "Why did you two barge in?"
"Sunburst, have you even looked outside after we left!?" Starlight asked, pointing at a nearby window.
He looked outside, surprised to see it snowing inside the of the Crystal Empire. "What?...But, how could there be snow? The Crystal Heart-"
"It was shattered," Riku said, shocking the unicorn stallion. "Shining Armor and Cadence's foal turned out to be an alicorn, and she has insane magic where her crying caused it to break."
"...Really!?" Sunburst asked, almost sounding excited.
"And what's worse is that not only is the weather going to kill everyone, but also Heartless have spawned in the snowstorm outside, getting closer to the center of the empire and is likely going to kill every pony in it," Riku continued, Sunburst's excitement quickly faltering as he had heard about the dark creatures that had appeared in the last few years. "Twilight's trying to fix it as we speak, but seeing how you're just as big of a nerd as she is, we need your help to fix the Crystal Heart."
"...M-Me?" the stallion asked fearfully.
Starlight and Riku looked at each other before the she responded. "Well, of course! You're an important wizard in the Crystal Empire! It makes a lot of sense!"
Sunburst winced, backing away and turning away from his long-lost friend and lover of the Princess of Friendship, getting back to his books and began sorting them. "Y-You know, I'd love to help. Really, I would, b-but I just have so much, umm, important w-wizard work to do here."
"Huh!?" Starlight exclaimed in confusion, but Riku gave the stallion a stern leer as he figured out why Sunburst was acting so odd when being called an important wizard. "Sunburst, you can't really be that busy just in your house! The Crystal Empire's in trouble, and we need your help!"
"I-I wish I could," Sunburst said, keeping his back turned while sorting and resorting the same books over and over on his shelves and piles. "I have...so much work piled up...Besides, fixing an ancient relic? I-I can't even come close to doing something like that!"
"Are you serious!?" Riku exclaimed, stomping over to the stallion, grabbing the collar of his cloak after forcefully turning him around, and picked him up with one hoof as he stood on his hind legs, leaving Sunburst to dangle helplessly as he stared down at Riku in fear. "You're supposed to be a magical prodigy like Twilight! You've read several spellbooks and mastered them! You were in Celestia's prestigious school for magically gifted unicorns! And you're going to be this stubborn to save a kingdom that had just returned from a thousand years because you're too proud of your title as a master wizard!?"
"Riku, don't hurt him!" Starlight pleaded as she approached them, but Riku stopped her as he pointed his Keyblade at her.
"What is it you want, Sunburst? Money? Fame? Mares to kiss your hooves and bask in your magical power?" Riku questioned.
"N-Neither!" Sunburst said. "I just wanted to learn about magic! Nothing to gain but knowledge!"
"Then how was someone as pathetic as you considered an important wizard if you don't use that knowledge to help the Crystal Empire!?" Riku shouted.
"Because I'm not an important wizard!" Sunburst shouted back, his eyes welling up with tears as he told the truth. "I'm not even a wizard at all!"
Starlight gasped in shock while Riku continued leering at him. The pegasus let out a sigh, dropping Sunburst down, and dismissed his Keyblade. Sunburst couldn't look Starlight in the eye after admitting his secret, which only confirmed her disappointment as he let the truth out.
"...I knew it," Riku said. "I knew something was up with you when one of us so much as mentioned how you're an 'important wizard'. So, I guess that was one of the things you regret that you didn't want Starlight to know, wasn't it?"
Sunburst said nothing, staring at the ground as he straightened his glasses back on his muzzle. "Sunburst..."
"I know it's hard for you to understand, Starlight, but not all of us end up achieving greatness," Sunburst morosely said.
"Why wouldn't I understand?" Starlight asked.
"Really? You're the protege of the Princess of Friendship!" Sunburst said irritably. "I don't think she just picks anypony for that!"
"She's technically her student," Riku corrected. "She only just started today."
"Whatever..." Sunburst pawed at some of the books he dropped when Riku grabbed him. "I'm sorry I'm not the big important wizard you were expecting."
"Sunburst, I don't care if you're a wizard or not," Starlight said, trying to reassure him that she would still like him no matter what he had as a career. "I'm just really surprised. You always knew so much about magic. Just look at all the books you have! And all the books you brought when we played together!"
"Yeah? Well, reading about magic is one thing, but you have no idea what it was like at magic school!" Sunburst exclaimed. "I knew so much about it, learned a lot of advanced spells and how to cast them, but executing them was an entirely big issue for me! Any spell you need, I can find it, but I'm too weak to actually use them, so everypony expected me to be great when all I am is just a big nerd!"
Starlight was still shocked to know Sunburst wasn't as strong as she thought he was. She never really did see him go all out with his magic like he had, either he still never found his potential after all these years, or that display he made saving her from those toppling books before getting his cutie mark was by complete accident and he just wanted to rescue her. Despite hearing what he said, Starlight was irritated by how miserable Sunburst was with his failure as a wizard when hers was far worse. She couldn't hide it anymore, releasing all of her pent up anger and sorrow on her old friend/crush she kept bottled up since Twilight gave her this lesson.
"Well, YOU don't know what it was like to get left behind!" Starlight yelled. "Then get so bitter that you steal the cutie marks from an entire village, then get defeated by Twilight and her friends, so you travel back in time to get revenge on them, but then Twilight and Sora beats you again, teaching you about friendship and bringing back repressed memories of the pony who up and left you without even so much as saying goodbye, but you end up fearing ponies will find out what you've done, never give you a chance, and the best friend you had a crush on would never accept your true feelings and shun you into being alone forever and ever with no friends or love ever!!!!"
Tears streamed down her face as she belted out her emotions and revealed her past mistakes to Sunburst, choking back several sobs as she wanted to break down and cry. Sunburst was stunned as he processed everything she said, but Riku's jaw had dropped when Starlight mentioned her true feelings for her best friend, not expecting her to actually like Sunburst that way. Sunburst's glasses slid a little off his muzzle, slowly moving his hoof up to settle them back up.
"...Did you really travel through time?" Sunburst asked.
"...Seriously, dude?" Riku asked the orange stallion, raising a brow at his question. "THAT'S the first thing you question!? I think we should be asking when she had a thing for you!"
Starlight's pupils shrunk as Riku reminded her of the one secret she didn't want Sunburst to hear, quickly covering her muzzle with her hooves as more tears continued to flow. Sunburst was sure to feel awkward, not accept her feelings, or hate her after telling him how she ended up nearly destroying Equestria on several occasions after being fascinated by being able to time travel. Sunburst felt a bit flustered, but mostly guilty after hearing how hurt she was after he left.
"...Starlight...I'm sorry," Sunburst apologized, ignoring the mare's crush on him and focused on what caused her to turn into a villain. "I wish I had reached out to you, but I was always so busy and never had the time...Maybe if I had, you could have helped me at magic school, and I could have helped you to..."
"...Not be a equality-ruling dictator who lied to the ponies whose cutie marks I stole and kept my magic while they lost everything and destroyed several timelines because of something so petty while also trying to kill Equestria's heroes from the likes of Nightmare Moon, Discord, the changelings, Heartless, etc.?" Starlight finished, her anxiety getting worse as her voice cracked, already awaiting the eventual disdain from her old friend, soon to be ex-friend forever.
Instead of expecting any backlash, Sunburst looked at her in pity, regretting leaving her as he sighed. "I'm so sorry, Starlight," he apologized again. He grimaced as Starlight cried, feeling completely responsible for making her out to be who she was not too long ago. Looking at the choker around her neck, he could tell it wasn't a simple neck accessory the moment he saw it on her. He could practically sense the highly powerful enchantment locking Starlight's magic, preventing her from using her full potential and limiting her to only simple levitation. "...That's not really an ordinary choker around your neck, is it...?" Starlight whimpered and nodded her head, keeping her gaze away from his, her body shuddering in sorrow as she struggled not to break down bawling. "...Did Princess Twilight Sparkle place the inhibitor so you didn't do anymore magic like that again?"
"It was actually a friend of ours," Riku answered for Starlight. "Her name's Aqua. Out of all of us, she was the one who heavily despises Starlight and can't trust her if she was the only one who could help her...Aqua's had a bit of a rougher past than Starlight, and some trust issues with anyone who tries to hurt the ones she cares about or anyone with insane motivations for world domination or destruction over something minuscule."
"...Like...me leaving?" Sunburst asked, his guess spot on as the Keyblade wielder nodded. Looking back at Starlight, he saw her helplessly pawing at the inhibitor choker, her chest heaving with sobs as it grew more difficult to hold back the emotional dam inside her. He hated seeing her upset, even when she struggled with magic and felt hopeless in perfecting anything she tried. Looking down at his flank, he lifted up his cloak to reveal his sun shining cutie mark, the reason behind her cutie mark stealing and her misery when he left without telling her or even saying goodbye. "If only I didn't get my cutie mark that day...I could have prevented this from happening to her..."
Letting his cloak fall back over his flanks, Sunburst looked back at Starlight, tears welling up in his eyes as he approached her. He caught her by surprise as he hugged her and held her close in a silent apology. Starlight broke down and cried her lungs out, burying her face in his shoulder and hugged Sunburst tightly. No more words needed to be said between them, both of them sharing something they regret that haunted them over what the other would think of their failures, and despite letting those secrets out, they let their mistakes go and were glad to be together again. Even though Starlight was relieved to know Sunburst forgave her for what she did to everyone, she still felt like she didn't deserve any mercy. And though he knew about her crush on him, all she wanted at this moment was to rekindle her friendship with Sunburst, and hopefully, their relationship will bloom into something more after they truly catch up with each other.
Riku remained silent as he watched them, getting the closure they needed and mentally marking Starlight's first lesson of friendship being completed. Looking outside, he saw the storm was getting worse as lightning bolts shot across the sky, and he swore he could see Celestia and Luna retreating back to the castle, unable to contain the clouds for long. As much as he didn't want to interrupt Starlight and Sunburst's moment, the Crystal Empire was still in danger, and lives were hanging on their shoulders.
"Ok, I don't want to ruin this touching moment, but we've got to go now," Riku said.
Starlight had calmed down enough to remember why they were here, breaking away from her embrace with Sunburst and wiping away her tears with the back of her foreleg. "He's right! The Crystal Empire's being evacuated right now and we need to get out of here! That is, unless you know a spell to restore the Crystal Heart so the baby can have her Crystalling and keep the kingdom safe from the Frozen North's harsh weather?"
"...The Crystalling...?" Sunburst gasped, suddenly getting an idea as he quickly ran to his shelves of books. "Of course!" Rummaging through his books, Riku looked at Starlight in confusion, but Starlight knew that look on his face. He had an idea, and with what he picked up, he was sure he knew the right spell to fix this mess. "Yes! I do know a way to restore the Crystal Heart! But we need to keep everypony in the empire and close to the castle!"
"Are you absolutely sure your plan will work?" Riku asked.
"One hundred percent!" Sunburst confirmed.
Riku decided to go along with the unicorn stallion's plan, the trio making their way out of Sunburst's home and quickly ran down the roads to the castle, hoping to catch the evacuating ponies before they got too far.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash began to get frustrated, their evacuation plan still failing as the crystal ponies continued to be stubborn and stay for the Crystalling, which won't happen with the weather now catching up to them. "Ya can't stay here!" Applejack said.
"Did I mention that this is a ROYAL Crystalling?" the stallion with the curly mustache questioned. "When the crystaller holds the young one aloft, all of the empire will share their joy and light, and the Crystal Heart will beat stronger than it ever has before."
"It really is a moving ceremony!" the stallion with the pins said, tearing up to express the overwhelming joy of the tradition the Crystal Empire had.
"It's not gonna happen!" The crystal ponies turned around as they saw Sora, Kairi, Ventus, Terra, and Aqua run toward them, the Keyblade wielders regrouping after returning from the edge of the kingdom trying to lower the Heartless' numbers. Many of the mares swooned and tried to rush Sora, but the pegasus hovered in the air, holding his hooves out to cease their praise as he looked down at them seriously. "All of you need to evacuate the kingdom now! The storm's getting worse, and we can't stop the Heartless from getting closer to the castle!"
The ponies all murmured in confusion at Sora's words, making Rainbow Dash groan as they seemed to believe him more than her, Applejack, or Fluttershy. "But the Crystal Heart-"
"It's shattered," Shining Armor finished, making the residents of the empire gasp in shock as they turned to their prince. "We have no time for arguments or complaints! Unfortunately, the Crystal Heart is no more, and we all need to escape before it's too late!"
"But what about the Crystalling!?" a stallion asked.
"...I'm afraid there might never be another Crystalling again," Shining sadly said.
"Oh, sure, they listen to Sora and Shining Armor, but not us!" Rainbow exclaimed, pouting angrily. "Are we even famous around Equestria for saving everypony with the Elements of Harmony, or are we always yesterday's news!?"
"Eh. It's a living," Pinkie said, wrapping a foreleg around Rainbow's shoulders. "But don't worry! You'll be popular soon! And you'll eat up their attention like cupcakes! Especially Scootaloo's!"
"It'll take way too long for me to even be an official Wonderbolt until there's an open spot, Pinkie," Rainbow reminded her pink, bubbly friend, but Pinkie had a gut feeling that was going to happen soon, looking beyond what the others couldn't and winked.
Before they could evacuate the Crystal Empire, the Keyblade wielders sans Twilight were suddenly contacted by Riku. "Guys, don't let the ponies leave the castle!"
"Huh? Riku, what are you talking about!?" Sora questioned. "We can't keep everyone here!"
"I'm bringing Starlight and Sunburst back with me!" he responded. "Sunburst knows a way to fix the Crystal Heart, and we need to do the Crystalling!...I don't know how that'll work, but we won't have another chance like this if the kingdom eventually gets overrun by Heartless!"
The Keyblade wielders looked at each other, then turned to Aqua for any disagreements. She winced as they all wanted her to make the decision, unsure if Sunburst's plan would really work and she would bring several ponies lives to fall to the clutches of darkness. Seeing the troubled look on Aqua's face, Terra decided to give the answer for her.
"Alright. We'll keep them here," he said, shocking Aqua. "If you trust Sunburst, then I'll believe this can work."
"Same here!" Kairi said. "We have something in this world that's pure of light and can protect part of Equestria from darkness!"
"Ok! We're almost there! Keep everyone protected!" They could hear Riku grunt from his end, spotting a barrage of spells in the distance where the stallion was. "The Heartless are starting to close in, and I'm kinda trying to keep Starlight and Sunburst safe until they reach the castle!"
"We're on it!" Sora said, flying over the group just as Shining prepared to begin the evacuation. "Wait! Hold on the evac!"
"What!?" Shining exclaimed. "Why!?"
"Riku's bringing Sunburst and Starlight with him!" he said, pointing to the magic spells shooting in the air as hearts from defeated Emblem Heartless flew up into the air. "He said Starlight's friend found a way to fix the heart!"
"Are you sure his plan will work?" Shining asked.
"Worth a shot!" Shooting up from the ground, Neoshadows appeared closer than the others thought, the crystal ponies exclaiming in fear as the Heartless were already here. They charged forward with their sharp claws, but Sora reacted quickly, shifting into his Harmony Form and thrust the Keyblades of Harmony down in front of any unprotected part of the circle of ponies. He lunged down and slashed horizontally, releasing a shockwave from his Ultima Keyblade to send the attacking Pureblood Heartless flying back. The crystal ponies all stared in awe at the newly enhanced version of his form with his added black and white highlights. "Split up! Don't leave any side of the castle unguarded!"
They heard a cry of pain from above as Luna and Celestia dove down, being chased by a hoard of Blue Rhapsodies as they fired Blizzard spells on them. Their limbs were frozen from the magic and freezing snow clouds, their ethereal weapons fading as their mana waned defending themselves and pushing back the storm. Sora spun his Keyblade, casting several spells in a row: first a Reflect spell to prevent them from getting hit by more magic, then a Fission Firaga that engulfed all the mini-mage Heartless in an explosion of fire, instantly destroying them, followed by an Aeroga spell to lower them safely to the ground, and healed their injuries with Curaga. Once they were back on their hooves, can could feel them, they shook off their daze and flew over to the group, surprised by Sora's new look in his Drive Form.
"The storm was too strong," Luna said. "And those Heartless kept getting in our way."
"Has Twilight found a way to restore the Crystal Heart yet?" Celestia asked.
"Yes, and no, but there's also a backup plan," Sora said, confusing the two alicorns. "No time to explain, but here comes our backup right now."
Heading toward them up the snow-covered road, Starlight and Sunburst ran ahead of Riku as he blasted the Heartless chasing them with Thundaga. Celestia spotted the unicorn stallion as they turned, her lips curling to a grin as she recognized the ingenious stallion who graduated from her school.
"Luna, let's see if we can help Twilight and Cadence," Celestia suggested, her younger sister nodding as they flew over the crowd and under the castle.
Starlight and Sunburst passed through the crowd to reach the princesses while Riku regrouped with Terra and Ventus as they split up to protect the crystal ponies along with the floating Keyblades controlled by Sora's will. "So, this is gonna be a really close call, isn't it?" Riku asked.
"Looks that way," Ventus said, lunging forward and thrust his Keyblade through a line of Shadows.
"We've dealt with worse. We can make it through this, right, Aqua?" Terra waited for Aqua to respond, but when he stopped and looked around, he didn't find her anywhere around the ponies awaiting the Crystalling. "...Aqua!?"
"Uhh, I think this is everything?" Twilight said, feeling unsure that she and Cadence managed to recreate the spell.
Cadence gathered the shards of the Crystal Heart before the needle-like podium where it was supposed to rest, thankful that none of them were blown away, her baby riding on her back as the filly looked curiously at the mess she made. "I guess we'll have to find out."
Taking the chance, Twilight lit up her horn and cast the Relic Reconstitution spell on the shards. Cadence assisted with her own magic, both mares rebuilding the Crystal Heart as it was, making it hover over its resting place. It seemed to have worked as the shards were held together, but it failed as the ancient relic fell apart again, the shards clattering to the ground around the pedestal.
"It failed," Twilight uttered in defeat. "I don't know what to do..."
"An old student of mine believes he does," Celestia said as she and Luna hovered down before them.
As if on cue, Starlight and Sunburst ran up to them, both ponies gawking at the shards littering the pedestal before looking up at the alicorn filly staring at them curiously. "Wow," Sunburst said in awe. "The baby really did this?"
"Yes," Twilight said. She then showed him the spell she and Cadence tried to recreate. "We tried to use the-"
"The Spell of Relic Reconstitution," Sunburst finished before taking the sheet with the rewritten spell, crumpling it, and tossing it aside. "That's not going to do it. The Crystal Heart's been around for over a millennia, so restoring an ancient relic that old will take more than just one spell." He then pulled out a book from his saddlebags he brought with him, flipping through the pages as he continued his lecture. "You'll need to combine it with something else. Something unique to the relic itself. Something that strengthens it and provides it with power...?"
He showed Twilight the spells on the page he stopped at, finally getting what Sunburst was implying in his question. "The Crystalling!"
"Combining that spell with the light and love of everypony gathered for the ceremony, together with-" Pulling out a couple scrolls, he unrolled it to reveal more spells they would need to fix the Crystal Heart. "-Somnambula's Weather Abjuration to clear away the snow..." Sunburst heard the baby babbling, pulling out another scroll as he approached the alicorn newborn sitting on Cadence's back. "And a little Fledgling's Forbearance for the parents. That should curb this little one's power fluctuations."
The baby giggled, grabbing his muzzle with her hooves, already taking a liking to the new stallion. "You must be Sunburst," Cadence said. "Riku told us you're a powerful wizard."
"Oh, I'm no wizard," Sunburst said, no longer hiding his lack of prowess unlike the other mares around him.
The others gasped in shock sans Celestia and Luna, but Starlight trusted Sunburst and backed him up, neither of them aware of Aqua hearing them from a distance as she escaped assisting keeping the Heartless at bay. "But he's studied magic his whole life! You should see his house! And since nopony has any better ideas, what do we have to lose!?"
"How about an entire kingdom?" Aqua said, startling Starlight as the princesses and two unicorns looked at the Keyblade Master. She approached Sunburst, looking agitated as the stallion who claimed he had the solution didn't have a fraction of magical power that neither mare around him had. "You lack magical skill, yet you think those spells will save this kingdom?"
"Y-Yes, it should," Sunburst answered. "Uhh, who are you?"
Starlight winced, Sunburst noticing her nervous expression as she tapped at her choker, telling him that this was the pony who sealed her magic. Aqua glanced back at her, catching a small glimpse of her signing to her reunited friend.
"...So, Starlight's told you about me, huh?" Aqua asked. "What did she tell you about me? That I'm mad at her for actions that deserve severe punishments? That I'm too harsh and don't understand her petty sob story of why she stole cutie marks and tried to change the past to alter the future, because you left her?"
"Aqua, can we not do this right now!?" Twilight begged. "If Sunburst believes the spells he's found can restore the Crystal Heart, we just have to take a chance!"
"It'll take a bit of magic power to hold the shards together," Sunburst said. "At least until the Crystalling is complete, and the purity crystal merges with the Crystal Heart, thus restoring it while also strengthening its power."
"Then show me those spells," Aqua demanded.
Before she could snatch the spells to read them over, Heartless suddenly appeared around them. Growling in irritation, Aqua blasted them away with a barrage of spells, the mares and Sunburst ducking or stepping out of Aqua's aim as she almost hit them a few times, making the baby whine in terror as she saw the scary dark creatures attack them.
"Aqua, where did you go!?" Terra asked over their communicators. "The Heartless are about to outnumber us! And I don't know how much longer Sora can keep his Harmony Form up!"
"...They're here under the castle!" Aqua said. "I was going to help fix the Crystal Heart, and whatever these spells Sunburst has, he thinks they're really able to help us! And he's a unicorn with barely any magical power to help!"
"Aqua, you need to protect them, not help restore it!" Terra exclaimed. "We're running out of time! Let Starlight help!"
"I am NOT letting her help!" Aqua shouted, slicing through Heartless that got close to her in rage at Terra's idea. "Not after all her magic caused! Her magic is going to remain sealed, and I'm the only one who can dispel the inhibitor charm!"
"Why can't you just give me a chance to prove I've changed!?" Starlight exclaimed, starting to get annoyed by Aqua's distrust in her. She ignored her and continued fighting, Twilight wanting to help fend off the Heartless as well, but she needed to learn the spells Sunburst suggested, along with Celestia and Luna. "You trusted Terra when he made mistakes, didn't you?"
Starlight's question struck a nerve as Aqua glared at her, lifting her Keyblade to the sky. "STOPJA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" In a flash of light, time stood to a standstill as Aqua unleashed all of her pent up rage and mana into the powerful spell. The only ones moving were her and Starlight, the unicorn struck with awe as everything around her was frozen, even the blizzard outside. Panting heavily, Aqua stomped toward her, waving her blade around as Starlight backed away. "Don't you dare try to compare yourself to him. There's a difference in the term trust involving you and Terra, and you don't deserve mine!"
"Terra and Riku told me how they felt betrayed by their best friends when they couldn't trust them," Starlight said, slightly terrified, but standing her ground. "Terra thought you didn't trust him back then, but you gave him a second chance. Even with the mistakes he made. So why can't I?...Because I'm evil?" Aqua was about to retort, but Starlight continued her ranting. "Terra was once controlled by that Xehanort stallion, but even though he was possessed, you sacrificed yourself and took his place in that Realm of Darkness for him, and he was considered a villain at that point, right?"
"There's a big difference between possession and by one's own will, and your actions fit the latter to a capital 'T', Starlight!" Aqua argued.
"But you still gave him a chance despite that!" Starlight countered. "Why can't you see I realized I messed up and want to prove to you and everypony else I'm different now!?"
"Because I don't want to make the same mistakes I made in the past!" Aqua shouted, panting heavily as her anger slowly ebbed into depression. Aqua lowered her head, tears welling in her eyes as they slowly rolled down her face, her regrets coming back to her along with her fear and anxiety of letting someone's trust cause them to backfire and hurt everyone. "...I-I...I don't want anyone I love leave me again...I don't want my trust to someone I believe was genuine to turn it against me, then stab me in the back with it..." Starlight was a bit stunned to see Aqua in such an emotional state, and she was letting out her own sorrowful regrets to her like she had to Sunburst not too long ago. The blue unicorn looked up at her, her eyes expressing pain, anger, loss, and sadness. "I trusted Xehanort once. As a Keyblade Master. His wisdom from his own journey as a Keyblade wielder I wanted to learn before I realized just how much his alliance to darkness he truly was...I'm glad I wasn't his pupil, but because of him, everything I did to try to right the wrongs I made with Terra and Ven...I ended up getting Sora, Riku, and Kairi involved in this mess..."
"...But, they aren't complaining about being Keyblade wielders," Starlight uttered. "You have more who can fight alongside you."
"...This war was supposed to be my burden alone," Aqua said. "...I'm the only master who knows much about our old home's history, teachings, skills and magic...just about everything we know after the tragedy of the Keyblade War." As much as Starlight wanted to learn more about the Keyblade War, they would have to save it for a time when there wasn't a kingdom in peril, or when she's trustworthy enough to know about it. Aqua lifted a hoof, pressing it against her head as she grit her teeth angrily, hating herself as she seemed to have failed being a leader after all these years. "I'm supposed to be smart, a leader...but everything I do or say turns out wrong for everyone, and now Terra thinks I'm the bad guy because I'm too stubborn to trust in anyone again after the man who was called a master and used to be Master Eraqus and Master Yen Sid's friend betrayed us, I'm terrified of being by myself after being trapped in the Realm of Darkness for over a decade while trying to survive, clinging onto some pointless hope of escaping until it became a reality after so long, and I can't even trust my own decisions anymore because I'm afraid I'll only end up hurting myself or anyone around me just for trying to save them from darkness!...I'm a terrible leader, even though I made the decision to be the leader out of us Keyblade wielders..."
"Well, maybe you should try to give ponies a chance again," Starlight said. "Like what Sora and Twilight had told me: try again, not give up and assume the worst immediately." Aqua's ears drooped, finding it impossible for her to ever give others anymore chances with how broken she had become. "And besides, you're not alone in this fight to save everypony from darkness, right? It doesn't have to be just you doing everything because you think that."
"...You don't know what I went through," Aqua muttered.
"I know I can't understand, but I've seen the Realm of Darkness with my own eyes. Being in there for only a few minutes can't compare to ten or more years being trapped there, and I'm surprised you're still standing; you're still fighting despite surviving through all that...I know I couldn't, even if I had a Keyblade." Aqua turned her eyes to her Keyblade, her chosen blade at a young age only just returned to her when she was reunited with Terra again. Her master's Keyblade became her own when she gave it up to save Terra from falling into the Realm of Darkness, letting go of what made her unique as she used Master's Defender as her strength instead of her own. Her own Keyblade wouldn't have been enough to help her through such a dark time, feeling weak despite her prowess and title of Keyblade Master. "Aqua, I know you can't trust me, but if we need to save the Crystal Empire, I need to use my magic again. Just temporarily." The distressed mare looked up at Starlight. "After this, you can seal my magic again if you still don't think I can change...But no matter what, I'm going to keep trying to show you I won't be the old Starlight Glimmer anymore."
Aqua slowly turned around, staring at the Heartless surrounding them, frozen in time and ready to strike anyone nearby. She was afraid to trust Starlight, and the unicorn knew how painful it was for her after she told her the real reasons why instead of for justice and consequences of her actions. And even though she chose to see Starlight as a prisoner, she was willing to give up her magic again after using it to help save the empire, continuing her sentence without so much of a struggle or complaint. Looking back at Starlight, the mare gave Aqua an assuring gaze, instilling that promise to remain powerless after this.
Aqua let out a quiet sigh, then lifted her Keyblade, aiming it at Starlight. Starlight flinched, but she kept still as she watched light begin to form around the tip of Rainfell, suddenly shooting a small beam of light at her. She gasped and shut her eyes, thinking Aqua was going to kill her, but the light struck her choker, her ears twitching as she heard a faint unlocking sound around her neck, then felt nothing around it as the inhibiting accessory unclasped and fell to the ground. Starlight felt her magic returning to her, rubbing a hoof against her neck and looked down at the choker. Looking up at Aqua with a thankful grin, her smile faltered when she stared back at her, a solemn frown on her face, her eyes still judging her.
"...Don't make me regret this," Aqua said, almost sounding like she was pleading to Starlight.
"...You won't," Starlight said.
Aqua closed her eyes, part of her believing her while another gave her the benefit of the doubt. Slowly, the air around them began to warp as Aqua's Stopja spell was beginning to wear off. Her eyes opened again, a stoic glare turning toward the Heartless as she dashed off, slicing through the still frozen Heartless before they could move, letting the aftermath of her strikes affect them once time resumed. Once the spell completely ended, everyone was moving again, the Heartless Aqua attacked flinching as the hits connected, killing them after taking too much abuse. As she continued fending off the Heartless, Starlight ran over to Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Sunburst, Cadence, and the alicorn infant.
"Starlight, the choker's off!" Twilight noticed. "What happened!?"
"No time! Start the Crystalling!" Starlight said, Sunburst and Cadence nodding as her friend gave her the book and scrolls to look over as they made their way to the crystal ponies outside to begin the Crystalling and save the Crystal Empire. Twilight, Celestia, and Luna immediately began using their magic on the shards of the Crystal Heart, forming it back together and holding it over its place on the spire pedestal. Skimming over the spell, Starlight lit up her horn and fired her own beam, helping keep the shards together. "I hope this works."
Outside, Cadence joined Shining armor with their baby and immediately began the Crystalling. Everyone ignored the fighting behind them and the threat of darkness getting closer, focusing on the newborn alicorn that will save them from their peril. Cadence gave Sunburst the baby to hold in his hooves, entrusting him as the crystaller, both parents silently agreeing since their original choice was Twilight, but she was in the middle of keeping the Crystal Heart formed until the Crystalling was finally complete. The baby looked at both of their parents, each of them giving her a kiss on the cheek, making her coo before their horns glowed, connecting with their child's and making a yellow aura glow around her. The baby giggled and began floating out of Sunburst's hooves, all the Crystal Empire finally seeing her for the first time while the crystaller picked one of the few pure crystals Rarity checked to use to merge with the Crystal Heart.
"Citizens! May I present the newest member of the Crystal Empire!" Sunburst announced, the crowd cheering as the baby looked down at them with a giggle.
"She's beautiful," the fashionably mustached stallion uttered.
"It's just so moving!" the pin-loving stallion added.
Soon, all the crystal ponies bowed their heads to their newest Crystal Empire baby and young princess. Beneath them, the ground began to glow a bright light, expressing their joy and light as every street in the kingdom lit up. The Heartless saw the light, which only spurred them to fight harder to destroy it, which made the Keyblade wielders struggle as they tried to hold them back as best as they could. Once enough light and love was seen, Sunburst lowered the purity crystal down to the ground, letting it soak up the light until it absorbed every last ounce of it.
Now fully glowing, Sunburst quickly ran back to the Crystal Heart, skidding to a halt as there were a lot more Heartless that Aqua could barely keep up with, unleashing every bit of her mana into her spells to keep them away from the defenseless ponies. Steeling his nerves, he charged forward, Aqua noticing him and began protecting him, teleporting near him and slashing the Neoshadows chasing him. With a mighty leap, Sunburst grunted and slammed the purity crystal in the Crystal Heart. The relic began glowing brightly, the magical hold keeping the shards together reforming and restoring it as it once was. Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Starlight were about to turn around and defend themselves, but the Crystal Heart came to their rescue as it pushed out its protective barrier of light, phasing past everyone while destroying the Heartless, sending hearts flying up into the sky and destroying the storm clouds that threatened to engulf the Crystal Empire into a wasteland of ice and snow.
As the barrier passed through the ponies and baby dragon, their bodies shimmered like the crystals around them, the mares' manes all tied up in ponytails, to Rarity's delight as she squealed at the experience again, the stallions' a lot neater and smooth, even making Sunburst's hair the neatest its ever been in months and Sora, Riku, Ventus, and Terra's spiked hairstyles seem a bit sharper. The barrier was restored as it stopped back around the perimeter of the kingdom, the crystal ponies cheering while the Keyblade wielders relaxed, though slightly rejuvenated thanks to the Crystal Heart's light.
Aqua looked down at herself at the crystal state the ancient relic gave them, surprised at how her body almost seemed intangible, but solid like an actual crystal with light shining through it. In the reflection of the ground, she noticed her tied up hair as it made it look like her old style before growing it out while lost in the Realm of Darkness. As amazed as she was by this sudden transformation and wanting to know how the Crystal Heart's magic was able to do all this during this momentous event, she didn't feel scholarly at the moment as she noticed the choker she took off Starlight.
"Aqua!" Looking up, she saw the rest of her friends meet up with them, Terra skidding to a halt when she got a look at her hair. "...Whoa. Nice hair." Aqua said nothing, not even admiring Terra's slick and spikier manestyle as she looked down while walking over to Starlight's choker. He noticed her depressed, distant stare as she picked up the enchanted accessory. "Hey. Are you alright?"
"...No," she murmured. "...I don't know if I'll ever be alright..."
She looked over at Starlight, who turned to Sunburst after admiring herself in her crystal form. "You know, Sunny, for a pony who isn't great at magic, you did pretty well."
"Indeed he has," Celestia said as she approached the unicorns. Unlike the other mares, hers and Luna's manes still flowed in their invisible breeze, unable to be tied up in their flowing state despite their bodies crystalline in appearance as well. "I'm glad you've found a way to share your unique gift, Sunburst. You may be more of a wizard than you think."
Sunburst blushed as he was praised by the princess, chuckling nervously as he fiddled with his glasses on his muzzle. "T-Thank you, Your Highness..."
Aqua sighed and looked down at the choker, staring at the insignia that was once the symbol of the Land of Departure. She felt Terra's foreleg gently wrap around her, but she didn't acknowledge his presence. She hoped she made the right choice, letting Starlight off like this and giving her some trust to let her prove to her she's no longer the power-hungry, revenge-seeking mare she was. If she was wrong, then it'll be another note on the growing list of mistakes that would forever haunt her.
It was about time for the visitors to leave, the Crystalling celebrations over as everyone reverted back to normal. Aqua had distanced herself from everyone, even Terra and Ventus, constantly staring at Starlight's choker as she mulled over her thoughts. They headed to the train station, Shining Armor, Cadence, and their foal accompanying Twilight and co. as they spotted the train arriving. Before they boarded, Twilight gasped in surprise when they saw her parents, Night Light and Twilight Velvet, disembark.
"Mom! Dad!" Twilight ran up to her parents and gave them a hug, the couple laughing as they hugged their daughter back. "I figured you'd show up, but how come you're so late?"
"You will not believe what happened," Night Light said. "There was such crazy weather that delayed our train. It just came out of nowhere."
"Heheh. Crazy, huh?" Twilight asked, though the others knew what that horrible weather was as they practically survived it.
"But it was all worth it to see our grandfoal!" Velvet said excitedly. "Now, where is the little one?" Shining approached his mother with the baby held in one foreleg, the filly giggling as she met her grandparents for the first time. "Aww, such a cutie! Come to you grandmare!"
She was about to hold the baby, but the infant began inhaling, scrunching her muzzle as she was about to sneeze. "AHH! HIT THE DECK!" Sora shouted, everyone quickly ducking or hiding behind something to wait for the inevitable blast of magic.
"A-Ah-CHOO!!!!!" the baby sneezed, but thankfully, no magic.
"Heh. We have Sunburst to thank for that," Shining said. "Seems like that Fledgling's Forbearance spell really worked."
"I hope he takes his role as crystaller seriously," Cadence added. "Something tells me the baby will need a pony like him to look to for magical guidance."
"Ok, can we finally get a name for the baby?" Sora questioned. "Seriously, all day, we've just been calling her 'the baby'! What's her name?"
"We...didn't really think of a name when she was born," Cadence said, making everyone let out an exasperated groan, Sora falling over with a frustrated growl. "But...I was thinking of the name...'Flurry Heart'."
"Yeah. To remember the occasion," Shining said.
"Oh, we're not going to forget with a name like that," Riku said, slumping his shoulders over as they kept the almost unfortunate destruction of the Crystal Empire under wraps.
"It's a lovely name," Twilight Velvet said. She took Flurry Heart in her hooves as she and Night Light felt like proud grandparents. "Well, Twilight, it's going to be your turn to give us grandfoals at some point. Just make sure you're married to Riku before you even think about baby making."
"M-Mom!" Twilight exclaimed, her cheeks burning red in embarrassment. Riku also blushed, but after witnessing how destructive an alicorn baby could be, he was afraid of what he and Twilight could create if that time ever came and their child turned out to be an alicorn. She growled as her mother giggled, hating how she always teased the two of them. "Ugh...I hate when you mess with us. And threaten Riku if he does anything to hurt me."
"It's my job to embarrass you two," Velvet reasoned. "That, and your father's supposed to be the one to scare the daylights out of your coltfriend, so somepony had to be the assertive parent to their daughter's special somepony."
"I can be assertive, dear," Night Light argued. "I just don't want to get into a hoof fight with somepony who's more agile than me."
Twilight Velvet rolled her eyes, letting him hold Flurry Heart to show how 'assertive' he was to the baby as she grabbed his hoof. "Well, I hope the Crystalling wasn't all that exciting to miss, but we're going to be staying for a while to catch up with your brother and get to know Flurry Heart."
"Oh, trust us, ma'am," Ventus said. "You didn't miss a thing."
As everyone started to board the cars, Starlight stayed behind a little to talk with Sunburst. "Well, looks like you're the Crystal Empire's important wizard now, whether you like it or not."
"I'm not sure I'll be doing much wizarding now that I'm a crystaller," Sunburst said. "I think I've got a lot more responsibility more than ever. Hopefully, I won't have to change any diapers."
They both laughed as Sunburst summarized his role as more an important babysitter than a guardian. Their laughter died out, both unicorns looking away from each other as their thoughts were almost in sync. The topic of Starlight's crush on Sunburst came to mind, both of their cheeks turning a light shade of pink as they tried looking at each other.
"...Uhh, so...I guess I let out more secrets than I was supposed to, huh?" Starlight asked nervously.
"Y-Yeah," Sunburst agreed, clearing his throat as he adjusted his glasses. "W-Well...T-This is...kind of a first for a mare to actually tell me she likes me this way, and it was from my old friend I haven't seen in years." Starlight nodded in agreement at the odd circumstance, giggling nervously as she kept averting her gaze from him. "S-So...Uhh...D-Do you...want to...make our relationship...m-more than just friends?"
Every fiber of Starlight's being wanted her to scream yes, proclaim it to the heavens, and pounce Sunburst and share her first kiss with him. By some miracle, she was able to restrain herself, refusing to nod her head rapidly as they would end up moving too fast, especially when they were just reunited and became friends again. She let out a heavy sigh after a moment of awkward silence.
"Well...maybe not right away," Starlight said. "I mean, we just got back together as friends, and I feel like I would just make things awkward because of my feelings for you and I'm not sure you feel the same way...Do you?"
"...Uhh...W-Well...I never thought about it at first, even when we were foals..." Sunburst mulled over furthering his relationship with Starlight, and with his cluelessness over how love and romance works, he agreed that they might need a bit of time before they could make it work as a couple. "I think...we both need a lot of time to think about things. Like catching up on old times."
"Yeah. Exactly," Starlight said, a little disappointed, but glad to know Sunburst would think about it. "And...promise me you'll stay in touch? And let me know when you move away from the Crystal Empire?"
"I promise," Sunburst said. "I don't want to hurt you like that ever again."
Starlight and Sunburst gave each other a hug before the mare had to leave. Twilight watched them through the window of the train car, feeling proud of Starlight for reuniting the him, though she wished she was there to take part in teaching her every lesson of friendship she had planned for her. Riku noticed her glum expression, tapping her side to get her attention.
"Something wrong, Twilight?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said. "I think I still have a lot to learn about being a teacher."
"You're not planning on giving Starlight an essay assignment on reuniting with Sunburst, are you?" Twilight growled and gave him a dirty look at the idea. "Well, knowing you, you would have probably taken notes on the night the two of us-"
"Shut up!" Twilight exclaimed, shoving the smirking stallion as he made her blush. "Why do you and my mom love to pick on me? I'm being serious here about Starlight's lessons!"
"And it went fine," Riku assured, moving her head back to face Starlight and Sunburst. "Those two have their friendship rekindled, both of them getting over their pasts and insecurities about how the other would think about them, all's well that ends well."
"But I didn't even help her," Twilight argued. "So much had happened today...I just wish I gave my pupil the attention she deserved during her first lesson."
While Twilight moped, Riku looked around the car, finding Sora further down the rows as he looked out the window, making faces at Flurry Heart to make her laugh as the grandparents and new parents saw them off. Without Sora helping Twilight when the Summer Sun Celebration began that year Nightmare Moon returned, she wouldn't have been able to discover the true meaning of friendship. And Celestia had sent her to Ponyville to not only learn about it, but also learn more about herself when she was around ponies she grew to like as friends. And in a way, he helped Starlight similarly to how Sora guided Twilight back then. Draping a hoof around her, Riku pulled Twilight closer to him.
"Well, sometimes teachers need to give their students space to fully realize their full potential in anything," he explained. "You keep holding their hand as they go along through it, it will only take that much longer for them to master it. Celestia wanted you to learn about friendship, and she asked Sora to help guide you toward that path of friendship while also protecting you and the rest of the girls from Nightmare Moon, right?"
Twilight thought about it, and Riku did have a point. All of her studies back then were guided by Celestia when she executed certain spells, and when she gave her the space to study them on her own, she grew to be more talented with magic than ever. And even though Sora tried to help her make friends, even trying to have her befriend him when they first met, it took a dangerous venture through the Everfree Forest and discovering what makes each of her friends special to fully realize how important they were to her. And if Sora never made friends with them, he wouldn't have gained the powers of the Elements of Harmony alongside her and the rest of the Mane Six, all their bonds connected by the sonic rainboom.
"...Maybe you're right, Riku," Twilight said with a small smile. "I never really thought of it that way."
"Then I suppose a 'thank you' for helping Starlight out with her friendship with Sunburst is in order?" Riku asked. He got his request, Twilight leaning over and gave him a passionate kiss on the lips. "Hmm...That works too."
The alicorn giggled, nuzzling her coltfriend and held him tightly. The train soon began to move, Starlight making it on board before it left, waving goodbye to Sunburst through the window as they left the empire. While the group relaxed as they headed back to Ponyville, she spotted Aqua sitting in the far back by herself, a little surprised to see her alone instead of with Terra. She didn't know why she wasn't sitting beside him, finding Terra sitting with Ventus, who seemed a bit worried when Aqua told him she wanted some space. She reached a hoof up to her neck, a subconscious action she got used to after a whole week, but she forgot she wasn't wearing the inhibitor choker at the moment. Sticking with the promise she swore to Aqua, she got up from her seat and walked over to the Keyblade Master.
She stared at the choker in her hoof, her gaze blank as she seemed lost in her thoughts, past memories, or whatever it was she was thinking about the seemed to have upset her. Starlight nervously cleared her throat to get Aqua's attention, the blue unicorn slowly looking up at her.
"Uhh, hey," Starlight greeted. Aqua remained silent, staring at her like she was a soulless puppet. "...Umm...I'm...ready to put on that choker again. I promised I was going to keep following my punishment. So...put it on and lock it up." Starlight lifted her head, presenting her neck for Aqua to put it back on. Aqua lowered her gaze down to the enchanted accessory, her thoughts racing like a blur, which made her feel numb. Sighing, Aqua dropped the choker, the clattering sound making Starlight look down at it before the Keyblade wielder's hoof stomped on it, breaking the metal insignia to pieces. "Huh?...W-Why did you-?"
"I was harsh in my decisions to punish you," Aqua said, silencing Starlight's questioning. Her tone wasn't as cold and threatening as it was when she spoke to her or about her with the others. It was more broken, confused, and unsure, as if she didn't even know if getting rid of what Starlight did was the right choice. Aqua lifted her hoof, the old mark of their old home's signature shape shattered to pieces, keeping her gaze on the broken piece of metal than the unicorn wondering what she was doing. "...You can use your magic...I know you won't do anything dangerous..."
Confused, but grateful, Starlight let out a small laugh as Aqua lightened her sentence, giving her free reign of her magic permanently. "I-I don't know what to say...Than-"
"Don't thank me," Aqua interrupted. She finally looked up at Starlight, her eyes filled with tears. "...Don't make me regret this...Please, don't let me make another horrible mistake..."
"But it's not," Starlight reassured. "I swear. No evil or dangerous magic on anypony. Only for self-defense of if anypony's in trouble."
Aqua looked down at the floor, wanting to believe Starlight, but she was too troubled to trust her, or even herself. Starlight let her be, starting to worry if Aqua was going to be alright as she made her way back to her seat. Aqua slowly laid down in her seat, hiding herself from everyone as her tears rolled down her face. She was scared of her choices, already feeling regret before something worse has yet to happen. Everyone already disliked her idea of punishing Starlight, continuing bashing the mare and constantly reminding her of her actions, but they were all willing to forgive and forget when they shouldn't with someone like her. She felt alienated with her voiced opinions, and Terra didn't approve of her verbally lashing out at Starlight, which only terrified her into thinking he was going to break up with her, not be her friend, avoid her, any worst-case scenario that ended up with him leaving her alone.
"Aqua?" She flinched, her ears snapping down to press against her head as she heard Terra's voice. She avoided looking at him, trembling in fear and sorrow as he judged her, but she was far from right as he actually looked down at her in concern. Terra noticed the broken choker by her seat, somewhat glad to have let Starlight free to use her magic, but it somehow left her confused, broken, and lost. He sat down beside her, gently placing a hoof on her shoulder, only for her to flinch and sob, trying to crawl away from him to avoid being hurt. "Aqua, what's wrong?"
Terra wrapped his forelegs around her, lifting her up into a hug, but the mare squirmed and whined, trying to get away. He kept a firm, but gentle grip on her, trying to calm her down as she sobbed. He heard her mumbling something about failing, mistakes, loneliness, all while she seemed to tremble in fear in his hooves. He couldn't get her to tell her what was wrong, no matter how much he asked, remaining calm as she tried to push away from him. Eventually, Aqua wound up passing out, apparently not rejuvenated enough from the Crystal Heart's magic and exhausting herself from crying. She also ended up bringing attention to herself as the others heard her, wondering what caused her to snap and break down, though Starlight had a feeling it involved her.
The train arrived in Ponyville right on schedule, the group getting off along with other passengers as they made their way back to the castle, Terra carrying the sleeping blue unicorn on his back. As soon as they arrived, he took Aqua up to their room and laid her down in bed. He gently brushed his hoof along her bangs, the mare wincing at his touch. When she wakes up, he was going to treat her to a spa day to help her relax, and maybe she'll tell him why she got so upset. He leaned over her, planting a kiss on her cheek, only for her to whimper in fear as more tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I love you," he whispered to her before leaving the room, letting her sleep as he made his way to the spa to book her the luxurious package, hoping she'll feel better after a proper amount of sleep.