//------------------------------//
// Dungeons and Discords 
// Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria 
// by Codex92 
//------------------------------//

It had been a long night for Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Riku, and Kairi as they searched Equestria for any signs of Xehanort's other followers after Marluxia's disastrous plan to capture Sora while also diminishing his psyche, but thankfully, the world was clear after their search. They returned to the castle to get some sleep, hearing Sora had woken up after suffering the aftereffects of the dispelled Doom curse the scythe-wielder cast on him. Kairi was a little surprised to walk into the bedroom she and Sora shared and found him sleeping with the CMC in his hooves. She did feel jealous, as Sora predicted, but after the far more terrifying experience they had from being kidnapped in their sleep by a dangerous stranger to watching Sora nearly die before their eyes, she let them stay with him for the night to be positively reassured that he's not going to leave them anytime soon.

The following morning, things were finally calmed down, at least Sora hoped it would if his mother didn't curse the day after Christmas. He finally found out how the others knew where he was thanks to Pinkie, neither him or Marluxia knowing the party pony had overheard them back at Sugarcube Corner. The CMC brought their presents over to the castle and opened them, none of them caring if the holiday had already passed. Everyone had gathered in the library to open their presents, Twilight even feeling a lot better after the rest she got and the motherly care from Manami.

"Well, it's better late than never celebrating a holiday when it's actually calm," Manami said irritably. "Just once, while I'm here, I want nothing to go wrong!"

"Mom, you're going to jinx us," Sora grumbled.

"Isn't that our life in a nutshell?" Ventus rhetorically asked, making the others laugh at the ironic twists fate had given them.

When they calmed down, Yen Sid presented his gifts for Sora, Riku, and Kairi, placing them in the trio's laps. "Whoa! You even got us something, Master Yen Sid?" Sora asked curiously.

"And no gifts for us?" Aqua asked teasingly. "What's the catch, master?"

"It's a little something I've been working on with the help of the Three Good Fairies," the wizard explained.

Sora gulped nervously, starting to regret accepting something that was helped made by the finicky fairies who gave him his first wardrobe change. "Uhh, great?"

"It's better than what I heard with them constantly changing your clothes color to match their favorites," Yen Sid chuckled, having found it amusing that day he first met Sora. "Trust me, you'll like them. And they're enchanted to help protect you from darkness, even with the suits of armor Aqua helped you all forge."

Sora, Riku, and Kairi looked at each other, then looked down at their presents. Opening them at the same time, as they removed the tops, they got a look at what was inside and were in awe.

"Well, what do they look like?" Rarity asked curiously. "Were these fairies not well-suited to tailor the clothes they made for you?"

Pinkie snorted at the unintentional pun Rarity made, though the looks on their faces proved otherwise. "How about we try them on and show everyone?" Sora suggested with an excited grin.

"Aww man, we have to wait?" Rainbow whined.

"Well, if they're enchanted to fit us, I think we have to be wearing them first," Riku pointed out. "There's new shoes and pants for me, probably the same for Sora and Kairi."

"And when you don yours, Sora, I will transfer the powers of your Drive Forms into your new clothes," Yen Sid added. "Out of all of them, you will need your Harmony Form if times get tough."

"Sweet!" Sora cheered. "Come on, guys! To our Gummi Ships!"

Sora was the first to race out of the castle, the rest of the group following while Riku and Kairi shook their heads. Once they reached the hidden spaceships out in the snowy fields, the trio got in their respective vessels and flew out of the atmosphere of Equestria until they turned into a human to get themselves in their new clothes. After a long while of waiting for the others, two of the ships came back down, Kairi's still out in space to all of their confusion.

"I wonder what Kairi's doing up there," Twilight pondered curiously.

"Hmm...There wasn't that much in the way of clothing for her to put on," Yen Sid muttered to himself.

"Why does that sound so wrongly perverted coming from you?" Lea asked worriedly, earning an irritated grumble from the wizard as increased the gravity around the red unicorn stallion, making him faceplant into the snow.

"It is just a simple shirt, jacket, boots, and skirt, you idiot," Yen Sid grumbled. "Simple articles of clothing for a girl that can function in a combat situation, which will work much better than her casual clothing she's worn the last few years."

"...Poor...word choice...from you," Lea weakly reasoned, barely able to move as his body felt incredibly heavy as he tried to lift a hoof up.

Yen Sid just sighed, regretting taking in Lea as an apprentice, despite having a Keyblade appear in his hand out of the blue. Thankfully, the awkward situation was ignored as Sora's Gummi Ship ramp lowered down first. The tan pegasus stallion stepped out, comically strutting down the ramp like a model on a catwalk, then posed as he walked onto the snow and revealed his new clothes. His new shirt and jacket were still black like his older one, but now the hems were red around the collar of his hooded jacket, sleeves, and edges, a white jagged line around his waist splitting the upper black half from the darkish gray lower half. On his forelegs were black leather gauntlets, which would have served as gloves for his hands as a human, a yellow strap around the wrists of his new hand gear while the rest was similarly colored like his jacket. Outside of Equestria, he would wear black pants, though with the sides gray with red straps around his upper thighs, and his shoes were similar with its black and yellow coloring, though in a different style. Even though he didn't have a pair of satchels to go with his new outfit, Sora kept the red ones from his old gear attached to his hind legs.

Everyone was already amazed by the clothing they could see already as black greatly compliments Sora, despite the irony that he actually favors fighting for light and for good rather than evil and darkness. "Wowee zowie!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Loving it already!"

"Oh, black is definitely Sora's color," Rarity complimented. "So bold. Stylish. And it looks quite functional. But I do hope I don't have to try to repair this one if he gets in a scrape, right?"

"I'm not exactly fashion savvy, nor are Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather," Yen Sid said. "But I assure you they are much more durable than their old clothing."

"I sure hope so," Rarity uttered.

Next came Riku as his ship's ramp opened up and he walked out to show off his new outfit. He didn't show off like his friend, simply standing before everyone with a confident pose, hoping it would interest Twilight. Enchanted to fit him as a pony, all it showed on Riku was a white shirt under a simple dark-grayish black jacket, the lowest section of his new jacket with a white, gray, and black checkerboard pattern that wrapped all the way around the article of clothing while having pretty big pockets on the sides. Like Sora, he too had a pair of gauntlets on his forehooves that would serve as gloves as a human, matching the similar shade of his jacket. For the rest of his clothing as a human, he had a new pair of blue jeans with the same checkerboard patterns around the end of the pants legs, three black straps wrapped around both his upper thighs with a pair of satchels attached to them, and a pair of black boots.

"Nice! Riku actually looks pretty good in a jacket instead of that boring white vest," Rainbow commented. "Hey, Twilight, how's your coltfriend look now that he's got a look that matches his hairstyle?" she asked the alicorn, nudging her side as she emphasized his new attire.

"W-Well...it's...different," Twilight said. "...And he does...look a lot more handsome in a jacket than a dull vest that matched his fur."

"My vest was dull?" Riku questioned as he slumped over in exasperation. "This jacket looks a lot more simple compared to that thing, and I think this is a lot more dull than what was on my old vest."

"Maybe if she saw the complete outfit, she'll have a second opinion," Yen Sid said.

"Or maybe no outfit," Rainbow suggested with a toothy smirk, making Twilight blush while Riku rolled his eyes at the cyan mare's comment.

"R-Rainbow!" Twilight chided, her brash pegasus friend snickering at her reaction.

Sora and Riku looked at each other in their new attire, amazed by their friend's new look, but when Sora looked around to see Kairi's, she and her ship didn't come back yet. "Where's Kairi?"

"Ah think she's still up there," Applejack said.

"Heh. Typical girl problems," Sora said, getting hit in the face by a snowball from Aqua.

"You're surrounded by several girls, Sora," the Keyblade Master reminded the cocky stallion. "Not all of us are picky with our choice of wardrobe."

"I think the only one who is picky is Rarity," Ventus pointed out. "You've worn your outfit for almost two decades..."

"Mine and Terra's clothes are traditional garbs under Master Eraqus's tutelage," Aqua reasoned. "I...want to continue his traditions in memory of him, along with his Keyblade mounted in the lounge."

After another few minutes, Kairi finally lowered her ship back down to Equestria and set down her ship's ramp. "Finally, Kairi!" Sora teased. "I know you girls want to look good when you want to show off some new clothes, but aside from the dresses for the gala, when have you ever-?"

Sora froze when she walked out, his jaw dropping as he and the others were shocked by her appearance. Her new clothes were pink like her old attire, only now she wore a jacket with a hood with some black around the shoulders, the pockets on her combat skirt, and the lower right side of her skirt while the lower left was a lighter shade with thin pink and white streaks. Aside from her clothing, the skirt length long enough to cover her flanks, all that were missing were the black combat boots that would appear when she was human. The bigger change that everyone was surprised about her was that the unicorn had cut her hair, shortening its length about an inch above her shoulders and styled it similarly to how it used to be a few years ago back before their grand adventure.

"Well, how do I look, everyone?" Kairi asked.

"You...cut your hair," Lea pointed out in surprise.

"Well, we can clearly see that," Rarity said. "Shorter hair really does fit you, Kairi. And with that outfit, you look ready to fight Heartless. Oh! Aqua, maybe we should cut yours! You two would practically be sisters!"

"Uhh, I'm good," Aqua said. "I like having my hair grown out a little."

"More like a lot," Terra pointed out, wrapping his leg around the blue unicorn's barrel. "You had the exact same length Kairi has right now when we grew up. Preferred to keep it short to make sure I didn't cheat by pulling on your hair."

"I did not say that!" Aqua exclaimed, puffing her cheeks angrily, which only made Terra laugh at her defensive claim.

Kairi approached Sora, still speechless with his jaw hanging loose, his eyes glued to her new look. "What do you think, Sora?" she asked him. He made no response, not even uttering a squeak. She giggled at his dumbfounded expression, gently patting his cheeks to try to wake him from his stupor. "Sora, you lazy bum. Answer my question, silly."

"I think your new look broke him," Riku said.

"Maybe this will wake him." Grabbing his face with her hooves, Kairi pulled Sora's head forward, pressing their lips together in a kiss. That managed to snap him out of his trance, his eyes blinking as he brain tried to process what was happening. Kairi pulled away, their lips separating with a light smack as Sora got a closer look at his beloved's new look. "Morning, sleeping beauty. Now, are you going to tell me how I look, or do I have to keep interrupting your dream land until I get a response?"

"...You, uhh...gave yourself a haircut," Sora mumbled, already stating what everyone already knew. Lifting a hoof, he gently ran it through her bangs, feeling a bit of nostalgia in their youth when Kairi began to keep her hair short as they grew up on the island. He grinned, cupping Kairi's cheeks in his hooves. "I kinda missed that look."

"Really?" Kairi asked curiously.

"Well, after being asleep for a whole year, I was hoping to see you again with the same short hair you had when we parted," he said.

"Then I'll gladly keep it this way." The couple giggled, then shared another brief kiss. "You look really good in black and red."

"Ok, save it for the bedroom, you two," Kaito interjected, shocking Manami at his poor word choice as she glared angrily at him, snatching the Nobody in a headlock and choked him.

"Don't suggest a crazy idea like that if they forget about protection, you dunce!" she scolded, her hold making Kaito's limbs flail about as he struggled for air. "They're still young and they need to be prepared to take on such a huge responsibility!"

"I-I'm...sorry!" Kaito gasped.

Sora let out a groan, ignoring his mother dropping the hacking Nobody. "I'm not that clueless. You keep reminding me, and you have magic to force me back until we're properly prepared."

"Mhmm. But I think you'd be a great father if we decided to have a baby." Sora looked at Kairi, startled by her confidence in him as a parent.

He grinned and laughed bashfully, his girlfriend unaware of the irony he had when he was planning to propose to her sooner or later, and having a child with her would further cement their relationship in their marriage. "R-Really, Kairi?" Sora asked, the mare nodding her head confidently. "...Would I be a great dad?"

"The Cake Twins? All the foals around Ponyville? I think you're capable of being an incredible dad," Kairi said.

Sora rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Heh. Does this mean we're going several steps further in our relationship before we're even married?"

He soon yelped when Manami rushed toward him, then yanked his ear hard. "You're not have a baby before you two are even properly married! AND are completely serious about taking care of one with how dangerous your career choice is compared to your father's!"

"OW! Mom, I was joking!" Sora exclaimed, yelping as the mare tugged his ear harder. "Marriage first before the baby carriage! I got it! LET GO OF MY EAR!"

"At least I don't have to go through this madness with my parents," Riku said to himself, only to cringe at a thought that came to him. "...Although, introducing them to Twilight...That's going to be a nightmare..."

After Sora was finished getting punished by his mother for his joking around, it was time for Manami to head back to Destiny Islands, even if she wanted to stay a while longer. After she said her goodbyes to everyone, both Manami and Kaito stepped onto Sora's Gummi Ship, even though the Nobody could transport himself through the portals of darkness he can summon. Once they were settled in their seats after Sora had the enchantments from his old clothes transfer into his new ones, Sora started up his vessel and flew out of Equestria, turning all three of them back to humans after leaving the world. Activating the Warp-G in his ship to reach Destiny Islands faster, Kaito wasn't prepared for the heavy G-forces from warping almost all the way across the universe, clutching his seat while his body left an imprint as he sunk into it.

They reached Destiny Islands in no time at all, Sora landing his ship out in the usual spot outside of town to avoid it getting spotted. Sora got up first, showing off his full outfit to his mother and his father's Nobody, snickering when he saw the paralyzed, startled Nobody glued to his seat.

"So, have fun riding on a Gummi Ship, Kaito?" Sora asked teasingly.

"...I'd prefer...using the portals instead," Kaito mumbled.

"Oh, don't be a big baby," Manami said, getting up and surprising the man at how little she was shaken up from the ride. Both her and Sora had to help Kaito up on his feet, his legs shaky and feeling like jelly, but he managed to recover from the aftereffects of light speed travel. Once he was on his feet, Manami looked over Sora's new clothes. "My, my...These look twice as better than your older, lazy clothes when all this mess started. At least make you look like you're prepared for an adventure than a casual day on the beach."

"Feels just like when I got my new clothes after my one year coma," Sora said. "Only they're actually new and not magically altered. My old shorts ended up becoming short shorts with how tight they got when I woke up."

"Let's just hope you don't grow out of these," Manami said. The trio exited the ship as the ramp opened up, Sora giving his mother one more hug before she headed back home. "Take care of yourself. And don't forget-"

"I know, I know. Protection," Sora groaned.

"Yes, there's that, but about what I told you last night," she said. "Don't lose hope if you fail. Your friends will back you up like you have for them, and you learn from your losses."

Sora nodded his head, Manami giving her son a kiss on the forehead before parting and making her way into town. Sora and Kaito watched her leave until she was out of sight, the Keyblade wielder facing his father's Nobody.

"You look after her for me," Sora said. "If Xehanort finds out about mom, he could use her to get an advantage over me."

"I bet she could kick his ass, and she doesn't have magic or any skills with a weapon," Kaito said, both men chuckling at the remark. "But, I think it's you who needs the protection. Xehanort will have his group hunt you down knowing where you've been staying."

"I can protect myself just fine," Sora argued.

"After yesterday?" Sora was about to give him an excuse, but he paused, realizing he was in over his head after suffering through a lot of turmoil in the past year. "We all know you're strong, but you could use all the backup you need."

"I guess you're right," Sora solemnly agreed. "Marluxia resorted to blackmail and holding hostages I care about to make me lose on purpose. I won't him get to me again."

"Neither of them ever will." Kaito reached a hand to his ear, pulling out a similar-looking earpiece made of crystal that Sora recognized as their enchanted communicators. "Before the others left to scope out any signs of Xehanort's men, Aqua gave me one of these. She said these can allow me to communicate with any one of you."

"She had enough of those crystals to make another?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, and they sure did work wonders when I not only searched for that pink-haired masochist, but got a little more of a taste for Equestria," Kaito continued. He placed his earpiece back where it belonged, tapping his ear to make sure it fit back in right. "I'll keep an eye on your mother for you. But don't be afraid to ask me to come help when you're in a pinch, son." Kaito winced a few seconds after he realized what he said. "...Sorry. Odd force of habit when his words come out of my mouth."

"I'll let this one slide," Sora said. He held his hand out to the Nobody, returning the gesture as they both shook hands. "I'll let you know when I need help."

"Good." After breaking the handshake, Kaito began walking off, putting his hood over his head to conceal himself from the townspeople if anyone knew the man who had died out at sea. He turned around and walked backwards, one last thing to say as he cupped his hands to his mouth. "When you finally propose to Kairi, you better make me the best man!"

"No way! Riku's taking that spot!" Sora called back. "You're staying in the back row during the wedding!"

Kaito laughed, having expected that response before turning back around and waving to him as he hurried after Manami. Sora let out a small laugh as well, shaking his head slightly. He was going to think about who would be standing on his side of the alter, but he knew Riku was going to truly be his best man, and the rest will be decided after he proposes to Kairi and they both plan their wedding. He walked back into his ship after some thought, heading back to Equestria and figure out when to properly pop the question to his future fiancee.





A few days passed, New Years come and gone as everyone planned out their resolutions for this year, Sora's was hoping that he wouldn't go through anymore painful, heartbreaking, and traumatizing moments. During that time, Celestia had delivered a letter to Twilight, giving the girls all a chance to go to Yakyakistan for a goodwill tour the next day. They were grateful that Pinkie helped settle good ties with the Yaks from the frozen north, even though their first meeting with Prince Rutherford and his entourage didn't go so well at first with all the random destruction and smashing things the party pony tried before to make them feel at home with their customs instead of Ponyville's. Sadly, it was a girls only trip, and since Yen Sid and Lea headed back to the Mysterious Tower after New Years, Sora, Riku, Terra, and Ventus had to stay behind.

Early the next morning, Fluttershy was busy packing up some heavy winter gear in her saddlebags to wear during the overnight tour. She turned away from her bags to grab a small bit purse, but when she turned back to place it in her bigger bags, Discord was there holding a platter with a tea kettle and cup, surprising the pegasus.

"Tea?" Discord offered. Not waiting for Fluttershy to respond, he looked down and saw her half-packed saddlebags. "Hmm...Trendy coats? Bedrolls? Saddlebags? Oh! A surprise vacation for the two of us!? How thoughtful." Before Fluttershy could tell him, Discord used his chaotic magic to summon a layer of sand in his best friend's living room, sitting in a lounge chair under an umbrella while wearing a pair of sunglasses and sipping on a tropical beverage. "I hear Puerto Caballo is lovely this time of year. Sand like powdered sugar."

Discord sprinkled some of the sand around, the rough grains really feeling like powdered sugar as he left a mess on Fluttershy's floor. "Actually, Princess Celestia's taking us on an overnight goodwill tour of Yakyakistan," she finally managed to say. "We just found out the other day, and we're leaving today."

"So, what you're saying is no tea?" Fluttershy nodded her head, the draconequus blowing a raspberry in disappointment, tossing his drink and cleaning up the sandy shore he created with a snap of his fingers. "That's fine. I wasn't even thirsty anyway."

"Well, if you're looking for something to do, you could spend the evening with the boys in the castle," Fluttershy suggested.

Discord guffawed at the absurd idea, but the look on the yellow mare's face told him she was serious, his laughter ceasing as he felt uneasy about the suggestion. "You're not kidding...Wait, what about Kairi and Aqua? They're not staying?"

"It's an all girl's trip," Fluttershy stated. "Besides, they'll be hanging out with Spike and Big Mac. Those two have a 'top secret' thing they do when we leave Ponyville...even though everypony knows about it, so it's not really a secret. The other boys might join them, too, so you don't have to feel left out."

"Hah! Fun with the sidekicks??? You must think you're in a dimension where everything is opposite." With a snap of his fingers, Discord suddenly changed all of Fluttershy's cottage into an alternate realm, the colors warped in different shades in the chaotic reality he made up. "Da-dee-la! I'm Opposite Discord, and I want to hang out with Spike, Big Mac, Sora, Terra, Riku, and Ventus! I'm sure I'd have fun!"

"Well, guess what, Sassafras!?" Fluttershy exclaimed boldly, the effects of Discord's "opposite" dimension changing her. "I'm Opposite Fluttershy, and I'm sick of being nice and quiet all the time!"

Discord snapped his fingers, bringing the cottage back to reality. Fluttershy brought her hooves to her mouth, shocked to hear herself belt that out while in that strange dimension Discord made up.

"Let me explain this to you as simply as I can: Me? Amazing! Them? Well, I've already forgotten who we're talking about."

"You don't know Spike or Big Macintosh well," Fluttershy corrected, the draconequus responding with a pout. "All I'm saying is it's a good opportunity to expand your circle of friends, and maybe better bond with Sora and Riku." Discord's frown only grew at the idea of making up with Sora, considering the shenanigans he pulled on the stallion before and after his reformation. Fluttershy smirked, knowing him all too well to get him to give it a chance by tricking him into thinking he was too good to try it. "Unless you're afraid Spike and Big Mac won't like you?"

As she expected, Discord took the bait as he sneered at what he saw as a challenge. "Oh, please. Don't stoop to such tedious reverse psychology. You're better than that."

Fluttershy hid her grin, continuing her packing as she helped him learn more about friendship. "It never hurts to make new friends. Or make enemies into allies. We trust you."

"Sora doesn't," Discord scoffed, but he was going to give it a try. "Consider it considered." He then poofed away in a blast of smoke, disappearing and leaving Fluttershy to continue packing. Once everything was in her saddlebags, she closed the flap, but a shrunken Discord popped up, startling the pegasus. "Couldn't I just come with you instead?"

"Discord, I told you it was a mare's only trip," Fluttershy reiterated.

Discord smirked, snapping his fingers as he returned to normal size, then another poof of smoke veiled himself. Once it cleared, Fluttershy's eyes widened as she saw Discord in a more feminine form, her serpentine body thinner with slender curves, long white hair that flowed messily down her shoulders, a rounded muzzle, and big eyelashes. The female Discord posed, showing off her new look to her close friend.

"How's this, Fluttershy?" Discord asked, a sultry, feminine voice coming out of the draconequus's mouth while flashing a wink. "Call me Eris, Goddess of Chaos."

Fluttershy blinked a few times, impressed with how Discord would look if he was a girl, but she was putting her hoof down as she gave "Eris" a blank stare. "Discord..."

"...Oh, fine!" Another smokescreen appeared around the Discord, changing back to his male self with a scowl. "I bet the audience would have loved to see my Rule 63 counterpart running around causing trouble, but you had to ruin the fun by...hanging out with them..."





Fluttershy and Discord were the first ones to reach the train station, ironic considering the pegasus's cottage is on the other side of town. Fluttershy had her packed up gear on her back while she wore a purple turtleneck sweater and white earmuffs with a flower design on them.

"I suppose this is goodbye, then," Discord said. "Have an absolutely fabulous voyage."

Behind his back, Discord snapped his fingers, a mountain in the distance engulfed in a flash as the train tracks wrapped around to the top, which turned into the mouth of an active volcano and the tracks ended over the edge. Fluttershy noticed and leered at the draconequus for his selfish reluctance of his planned evening.

"Discord," she warned.

"What? It's not my fault the new train route leads into an active volcano. Guess you'll have to stay." Fluttershy raised a brow, keeping a blank stare on him, which he gave in with an annoyed huff. "Oh, you're no fun."

Discord turned the train route and the mountain back to normal, satisfying the pegasus. The rest of the group had finally arrived, the rest of the Mane Six with their gear and wore their winter outfits while Kairi and Aqua had a few things in their own bags, though not as much as the other ponies. Along with them were the boys, including Spike and Big Mac, but as soon as they saw Discord, Sora let out a groan.

"Oh great. Knowing Discord's around, something bad's going to happen," Sora grumbled.

"The feeling's mutual," Discord uttered back. He did a double-take, noticing the new clothes Sora, Riku, and Kairi wore. "Ooh. Wardrobe change? When did that happen???"

"The day after the worst Christmas ever," Sora said. "Thanks for the help, by the way. You could use your chaotic powers to help us instead of wandering around the world doing whatever you want."

"If I were to have showed up, I would have made things too easy," Discord stated. "Besides, Celestia made me sign a clause stating that I would not use my powers around any dastardly villains, otherwise they would play mind games over my own mind games and turn me back into a villain, breaching my pact from being turned back into stone." A scroll appeared in his paw, unfurling it as there was actual legal writing on the paper instead of random jargon or pictures with Discord's signature at the bottom. "So, even if I could help, I don't want to go through another Tirek incident."

"You've got to be kidding me," Sora grumbled.

Aqua took the scroll and read through it. "...It's legitimate. And no chaotic influence, either. But you can breach this if it means the fate of Equestria is at stake. We just found out someone working for Xehanort tried to force Sora to join him after kidnapping all the kids and nearly beating him to death in both physical injuries and a forbidden spell that could have instantly killed him."

"Better to be safe than even more sorry," Discord reasoned, taking back the legal document and poofed it away with a snap. "And what if they were to try to conform me if they knew of my existence? How difficult would your lives be then?"

"Uhh...he does have a fair point, Sora," Riku said. "If Discord was troublesome to you the first time, imagine if he was a seed of darkness."

Sora grunted, understanding Discord's point, but his help still would have been useful a week ago. "Ok, so Ah think we got everythin' we need," Applejack said after double-checking her bags. "Anythin' we might be missin' Pinkie Pie? Ya are the Yakyakistan expert here."

"Nope! And I brought yeti food!" Everyone stared at Pinkie awkwardly at the mention of yeti food. "Did I forget to mention there's a pony-eating yeti on Frost Field Glacier?"

"...Yes. Yes you did," Ventus uttered.

"We're gonna have so much fun!" Pinkie cheered.

"With the trip or the yeti?" Kairi asked.

"If that thing messes with us, I'll turn that yeti into confetti!" Rainbow said, jabbing her forehooves against the air.

The train embarking for the north blew its whistle as it arrived. Once the doors opened, Spike and Big Mac were eager to have the girls leave, the latter nudging his sister into the train car. Twilight, Kairi, and Aqua gave their respective boyfriends a quick kiss before they joined the others, Twilight then hugged Spike, even though he just as badly wanted the girls to get on soon.

"I bet you boys have big plans, huh, Spike?" Twilight asked.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Spike said, clearly lying as the Mane Six knows about their "secret" plans when they're not around. "Although if I did, I certainly wouldn't be allowed to discuss it with you girls."

Twilight rolled her eyes, but said nothing as she hurried onto the train with the others. The girls said their goodbyes, leaving the boys on the station as they watched the locomotive disappear down the snowy landscape. The stallions and dragon stood in awkward silence with Discord around, the draconequus trying not to gain any attention.

"Ok, guess we just head back to the castle then," Sora said, but as he walked away, Spike grabbed his tail, stopping him from heading back.

"Wait, Sora, I don't think we should leave Discord by himself," Spike said.

"Great idea! Not it!" Sora quickly shouted.

"No, no, not like that," the baby dragon restated. "He usually has tea with Fluttershy on Tuesdays, and today is a Tuesday."

"So...he's got nothing to do today?" Ventus asked curiously.

"And what was Twilight talking about with you two having big plans?" Riku asked as well. "What exactly do you guys do when all of us are out somewhere saving the worlds or mending friendships?"

"You can join us if you want," Spike offered. "And...we're hoping Discord would want to come along since he kinda looks like he wants to..."

Big Mac nodded his head in agreement, the group looking back at Discord, who quickly summoned a random news article and began reading it. "Fascinating read, yes?" he asked aloud nervously, turning away and buried his face in the pages. "Don't let them come over, please don't let them come over, please don't let them come over..." As Discord whispered to himself, the males approached the draconequus, Sora staying far enough away. He noticed them, tossing the paper away as he played off being noticed. "Oh, salutations! Wish I could stay and chat, but I don't want to."

"Wait!" Spike called out before the draconequus left. "We were wondering...What are you up to tonight?" Discord mumbled to himself, almost expecting to be asked that after his chat with Fluttershy earlier. "Do you wanna, I don't know, hang out? Is that...something you do?"

"Oh, Twilight's friend, Applejack's monosyllabic brother, and the four male Keyblade wielders. If only I weren't so busy this evening." Discord was clearly lying, the troubled expression on his face conflicting him with being anywhere but around the ponies and baby dragon, knowing he didn't have any plans at all today or this week.

"Well, I guess guys' night will just be us," Spike said with a shrug, surprising not only Discord, but the stallion Keyblade wielders.

"Guys' night?" Discord asked, voicing Sora, Riku, Ventus, and Terra's question as well as they all wondered what Spike and Big Mac did for guys' night. "You mean a rowdy evening of reckless revelry? Zoot suits, fedoras, swing dancing?"

"Ok, I'm curious," Sora said. "But I doubt there's going to be any suits and swing dancing. Not with a baby dragon and a farmer."

"Well...it's something like that," Spike said, Big Mac muttering nervously in agreement. "You should come, Discord. The more, the merrier."

"That does sound like fun," Discord muttered to himself while stroking his beard. He did promise Fluttershy he would give it a try, and he was in the mood for some fun. "Well, I suppose I could squeeze you all in if I move a few important ponies around." A flash of light brought a desk in front of the draconequus while wearing a business suit, pushing the button of an intercom that was on the desk as he spoke in a gravely, strict businessman's voice. "June, honey, be a dear. Reschedule Luna and Cay-Cay."

"'Cay-Cay'?" the group questioned aloud.

"That's what I call Princess Celestia, what a hoot!" Discord explained, his finger leaving the button as he broke his character, then pushed it back as he resumed it. "In fact, clear the whole evening. Tonight is guys' night. These fellas invited me to spice things up and bring a little class to the whole affair." After ending his announcement to "June", Discord's desk and suit disappeared as he suddenly appeared between the guys, wrapping them in a massive hug, though leaving Sora in his tail instead of his arms. "Tonight will be the best night of your lives, and not just because you get to bask in my greatness."

"That greatness meaning causing a lot of chaos and getting on my nerves, I can't wait," Sora complained, letting out a grunt as Discord intentionally squeezed his barrel tightly. "AUGH! HEY!"

"Well, I guess we'll see you tonight," Spike said, whispering Discord the location, obviously being the Castle of Friendship, and the time, which was clearly at sundown.

Before Discord left, he flung Sora into a snowbank as he teleported away until this evening. Sora popped his head up from the snow, growling irritably.

"I can't wait for tonight," Sora sarcastically said. "And why didn't he fling any of you!? Or drop you in a vat of pudding or mayonnaise!? He and Riku fought at the gala last year, so why didn't HE get tossed into the snow or in a tree!?"

"Maybe he's nervous," Terra pondered. "I mean, we have no history, but it's clearly obvious he's not used to anything friends do since his reformation. That scene at the gala last year was apparent with how easily jealous he got with Tree Hugger."

"And he brought that Smooze slime monster to cause more trouble, which Tree Hugger thankfully managed to tame before its ooze devoured the castle," Ventus added. "Also, 'Cay-Cay'? When did Discord and Celestia get that close to for him to give her a nickname?"

"...You don't think those two are...secretly dating, are they?" Riku asked. The boys pondered the thought for a moment, only to shudder, unable to find it likely that Celestia would ever get romantically involved with someone like Discord. Though, after she expressed how much fun it was having Discord spring up some chaos at a boring social event like the Grand Galloping Gala, they hoped that it was just her desperation to spice up the party and avoid another dull event more than just his presence. "I just gave us horrifying images, didn't I?"

"Eeyup," Big Mac said.





It didn't take long for the sun to set, guys' night about to begin as Spike waited for the last of the light to leave the horizon from atop a balcony in the castle. "We have sundown. Repeat, we have sundown," he said. Leaving the railing, he leapt for joy toward the five stallions. "I declare tonight's guys' night ceremonies officially open!" Spike and Big Mac began to chant, the red earth pony saying "yup" after each verse the baby dragon said while performing an odd dance to celebrate their alone time away from the girls. "It's guys' night. Oh yeah. Havin' fun now. Oh, yeah!"

Their 'ritual' finished as they both posed, Sora, Riku, Ventus, and Terra stared at them after witnessing the incredibly awkward performance. "...Uhh...ok. That is the weirdest thing I ever saw," Riku commented.

"Don't tell me you guys do that all the time when you have your 'guys'' night," Sora pleaded.

The duo nodded, making the Keyblade wielders groan. They soon heard a fanfare played by trumpets in the foyer. Making their way down the stairs, it wasn't any surprise that it was played by a pair of Discords in what appeared to be noble attire meant for announcers presenting the ruler of their kingdom. The doors opened, where a tiny Discord in the same type of clothing ran down the hall toward them, cartoonish scrambling echoing with each step he took.

"And he's hamming it up," Ventus uttered.

The tiny Discord cleared his throat, his voice high-pitched due to his size as he held a scroll that had a picture of the draconequus in a goofy style. "Announcing the much anticipated arrival of the spirit of chaos and disharmony, the purveyor of pandemonium, lord of lawlessness-"

"Will you just get on with it!?" Sora shouted.

"The audience will remain silent as I continue," the tiny Discord stated, a cream pie soaring out of nowhere and smacking Sora in the face. Sora growled as the tin fell off his muzzle, his face covered in whipped cream while smelling a hint of coconut. "As I was saying-lord of lawlessness, earl of turmoil, bringer of bedlam - dum, da-da-dum, da-da-daaaaa! - Discord!"

At the other end of the hall, a poster of Discord in a basketball jersey and shorts was held up by ropes that blocked the door while also playing a different kind of fanfare. The real Discord soon appeared, breaking through the poster in the same getup as he held a basketball in his hands, all while an invisible audience cheered for him with female voices screaming like crazed fangirls. He performed a few tricks, barely impressing the stallions and baby dragon, but Discord managed to startle them when he threw the ball at them, making it explode into sparkles and confetti over them.

"Are you done?" Riku asked.

"Yes, quite," Discord said. "So, shall we hop to it? I made a list of the rowdiest establishments in Ponyville." Discord pulled out a scroll, but instead of it being incredibly long, it was surprisingly short with only a couple things written down. "It's rather short."

Sora wiped off the cream pie Discord threw at him, taking in several deep breaths to compose himself before beating the draconequus for his random chaotic attacks toward him. "Is one of those places a laundromat? You better not have ruined my new clothes. I just got these."

"Actually, we're going to stay here," Spike said. "I hope you guys like awesome games!"

"Games? I love games!" Discord cheered. "I'm great at games!" With a snap of his fingers, Discord transported everyone into a random room, which looked like a basement lounge. They sat in the random couches and chairs circled around the room, most of the guys worried that Discord planned on a weird game. The draconequus materialized a bowl filled with slips of paper, but thankfully, it wasn't for his snack. "Famous pony charades?" Discord offered, starting the game without the stallions' and baby dragon's consent as he pulled out a slip and read it to himself. "Oh, this is an easy one. Who am I?" Swiping his paw over his head, his face turned white as a long, thin horn sprouted on his forehead under a familiar gold crown and flowing aurora mane, shocking and disturbing Sora. "Huh? Huh!?"

"Ahh, my eyes!" Sora screamed, covering his eyes at the draconequus's physical impersonation of Celestia's face with his goatee and mismatched horns still apparent.

"Oh sweet Celestia," Ventus muttered. "There's not enough brain bleach in the universe to make me unsee that."

"That's right!" Discord said at Ventus's guess. "You guys are terrible at this game if you weren't able to guess that quickly."

"Discord, I'm talking about a REAL game," Spike interjected.

Discord had thankfully dropped his "Celestia" face, though the wig matching the alicorn's mane was in his lap as he pet it like a cat, and it was somehow purring. "Oh, you mean trapping best friend ponies in hedge mazes and turning them against each other. Ahh, those were the days."

Sora fumed as he glared at Discord, despising the horrible reminder of the draconequus's manipulative ways in the past toward him and the Mane Six, along with nearly killing him and blocking his magic. "Sure. Those were the days," he said sarcastically. "How about we relive that day? Where you lost after fighting me in my Harmony Form?"

"Sora, calm down," Terra warned. "We're here to have a good time, no hostilities. And Discord, quit messing with Sora. He's already upset enough as it is from everything he went through last year."

"Fine, fine." The flowing wig leapt out of Discord's lap before he brought them back to the foyer of the castle. "So, what are we going to play?"

"Wait right here while Big Mac and I set it up," Spike said, running off to the throne room with Big Mac in tow.

"Whatever it is, it can only get better by adding me to the mix," Discord gloated.

"Nothing gets better when you add your chaos in anything," Sora grumbled.

"You know I have ears, right?" Discord said, appearing in front of the tan pegasus, emphasizing his question by making several types of ears pop out all over his body like a weird breakout.

"Yeah, and you always INVADE PEOPLE'S PRIVACY!" Sora shouted in one of the many ears, making Discord wince and clutch his head, quickly dismissing the random ears he created on his person. "How about learning about someone without snooping in the background, or through someone's memories? That's a good lesson. Or does that go in one ear and out the other like our warnings before you were reformed?"

"I'm a good listener! I've been trapped in stone for a thousand years, so I've done nothing BUT listen while helplessly frozen in such a state!" Discord exclaimed.

They were about to butt heads, but Ventus intervened, pushing them back. "Alright, stop! We're going to have fun, play a nice calming game of...whatever Spike and Big Mac have planned, and maybe we'll do something else when it's over for guys' night. So, no bringing up the past, no more verbal assaults, and no more blames. Alright?" Sora and Discord continued glaring at each other before they turned around with a huff. "...I'll take that as a yes."

"This is gonna be a long night, isn't it?" Riku asked.

Spike soon called the four Keyblade wielders and draconequus to the throne room, their game set up and ready to start. As they made their way to the room, Terra hung back, pulling Ventus with him to talk to him privately.

"You know how bad the tension is between those two, right?" Terra asked. "Discord's reformed, even if he can be a bit...destructive with his chaotic power when he misunderstands certain things, but how come Sora hasn't warmed up to him?"

"When Discord returned from his imprisonment in stone, he messed with Sora and the girls when they tried to find the Elements of Harmony in the hedge maze outside Canterlot Castle," Ventus began. "He tried to forcible trick Sora into thinking he was back home, lower his guard to control him, but the little spark of light in his heart kept him sane and helped him break free from his mind control. Whatever lies that Riku and Kairi illusion he made Sora see were shattered, but that didn't mean the other girls were victims as well: Applejack was a constant liar, Rarity was a greedy hoarder, Pinkie became a miserable grump, Fluttershy was a horrible bully, and Rainbow Dash flew off during his little 'game' he forced them to play and abandoned them. Twilight eventually succumbed to his chaotic influence, believing she was better off without friends, even when Sora stuck by her. Discord's chaos also sealed away Sora's power, including his magic, so any injuries he had couldn't be healed."

"He could have still used potions," Terra pointed out.

"Yeah...but all his items were swapped around as well, the potion he used was actually green slime, only making a mess rather than heal him." Terra cringed, but nodded, finding it odd how powerful Discord is, but his potential is so random that he's either an unstoppable master or an inexperienced little kid who has no idea how to control his magic. "Messing around with the girls' personalities wasn't the worst of them, though. He was nearly killed by a pretty deadly attack and left gravely wounded from it, still unable to recover from it. During his reformation after turning the flooded orchard in Sweet Apple Acres into an ice rink when he manipulated the beavers to build a dam that created the flood, Sora tried to attack him, only to make a brick wall appear in front of him and slam into it hard. Then, when the Breezies came by, Discord had Sora 'taste test' a tea he wanted to try for his and Fluttershy's weekly teatimes, which made Sora shrink down to their size as a stupid prank that could have gotten him killed."

"What's a Breezie?" Ventus whispered to Terra what a Breezie looked like, giving him some idea as to their thin, very fragile appearance. "...Wow. Those sound freaking adorable."

"Too bad we won't see them again for a long while. But, you see Sora's point when it comes to Discord: after forcibly manipulating Twilight and the others, constantly teasing him to the point of being an aggravating nuisance, and betraying us for Tirek, there's no hope for him to even forgive Discord," Ventus said. "Not even if he tells us how miserable his life was before he became the tyrannical Lord of Chaos."

"Actions do speak louder than words," Terra quoted. "It seemed obvious from the gala last year after his jealous rampage with one of Fluttershy's friends. He's insecure about his feelings, lacks a lot of acceptable social skills, and his random antics involving his magic is like a cry for attention. Whatever he experienced in his youth, I can't even imagine."

"He...gave me some details when we fought during his 'betrayal' a while back," Ventus said. "Basically, he was by himself for a long time, no one he ever met liked him because of how different he looked, and he doesn't even know if he had a family." Ventus scoffed, despising how people in the past, no matter what world, always harshly judged others by their appearance, never getting to know them and sparking wars because of their differences, misunderstandings, or even lies spouted about them. "I feel bad for him. How stupid were people back then to not realize we're all the same, despite how we look?"

"At least times have changed now, even if some of them are still stuck in those ways mostly out of arrogance and who raised them to think that way," Terra said. "Discord seems to be trying despite his reluctance to hang out with us. Maybe a little game among us guys will help change his mind."

"I wonder what we're going to be playing." Sora, Riku, Discord, Terra, and Ventus entered the throne room, Spike sitting in his throne while Big Mac sat in his sister's.

On the table before them, to Discord, Sora, and Riku's utter shock and horror, Spike and Big Mac's game was one of many nerdy gamers' favorite form of tabletop games: a layout of a map dungeon, sheets with statistics for a plethora of fictional characters, a giant rulebook for different spells, statuses, enemies, etc., several multi-sided dice, a foldable cover to keep the game master's tricks to stop the heroes hidden and turn the tide in the made up story of the game. Spike had a flashlight lit under his chin, trying to seem ominous as he introduced their game of the evening.

"In a world where evil reigns supreme," Spike announced. "A small band of warriors stands tall against the darkness. This is...Ogres & Oubliettes!"

"...Ogres...and what?" Sora asked, flabbergasted and dreading the kind of game Spike suggested.

"Please do not tell me it's basically this world's version of Dungeons & Dragons," Riku begged, though it was obvious by the setup of the game and the rulebook on the Cutie Map.

"Oh, this looks like..." Discord paused, unsure of how to call it without being too mean, though he and Sora had an agreement on something: this game wasn't going to be fun at all.

"The best game ever?" Spike said, thinking he finished Discord's sentence when that was clearly not the case. "You're right!" The trio let out a collective groan, highly disappointed, even as Big Mac nodded his head in agreement. "Ogres & Oubliettes is a fantasy role-playing adventure game. Our goal, defeat the evil Squid Wizard, or-" Spike snorted, he and the red earth pony stifling their snickering. "-as we call him...the Squizard!"

Spike held up a small piece, which had the game's evil villain, and it was a purple squid wizard, wielding two wands, a light aquamarine wizards cap with blue stars, and a red cloak clasped around his neck with a gold letter "S". "...How original," Discord muttered.

"I'd rather have an actual fantasy game outside. With real weapons," Sora whined. "Riku and I could have fun doing that...While we were five."

"I'm game," Terra said, shocking Sora, Riku, and Discord, neither of them expecting someone like Terra to be interested in a tabletop RPG board game.

"Me too," Ventus said, just as enthusiastically as his long-time friend as they sat in one of the Mane Six's available thrones.

"Wait, you actually LIKE this stuff!?" Sora exclaimed.

"These games are all about strategy and quick thinking," Terra reasoned. "...Along with a bit of luck with the dice, but these kinds of games imply a sense of teamwork, critical thinking, and observing your foe's schemes to wipe out your party. Similar to chess, but this is way more fun with your imagination to help pull the story along."

"Don't knock it 'til you try it, guys," Ventus said. "Besides, it's a lot more entertaining than watching T.V. or playing those video games back then, Sora."

"I have a good imagination," Sora grumbled, challenged by the younger pegasus's teasing comment and sly smirk. Sora looked at Riku, then hesitated a glance at Discord, letting out a sigh as the disinterested trio sat down in the other empty thrones. "Fine...We'll play..."

Spike cleared his throat as he relayed the story he and Big Mac made for their game. "The Squizard has laid siege to the last free city of Spiketopia. That's the name of the land. He's kidnapped a beautiful unicorn princess named Shmarity." The stallions and draconequus looked at each other as Spike winced, all of them knowing full well this "Princess Shmarity" was just a fantasy princess inspired by his real crush. "Uh, which is like a normal name in Spiketopia, so, you know, don't think about it too much."

"Sure, Spike," Sora said with a smirk. "Let us save 'Shmarity' from the evil Squid Wizard."

"Why don't you just tell Rarity how you really feel, Spike?" Riku asked. "You clearly have a better chance than any of her own crushes that come from Canterlot. Those ponies are completely clueless when a girl likes them."

"I'm starting to wonder how many different crushes Rarity even had," Ventus said aloud. "There was Blueblood, who was a royal pain. Then that Trenderhoof unicorn who was invited to the Ponyville Days event set up by Rarity, but he was more infatuated with Sora when he was working in the orchard."

Sora grimaced and blushed in embarrassment while the others laughed, which didn't help when Discord began guffawing at the awkward love triangle. "Gee, thanks for bringing that up, Ven. I'd rather him go after Applejack, but I didn't think he was into guys."

"And it was ridiculous how Rarity kept trying to pursue him, even when learning he had no interest in girls," Ventus said, then laughed at one of the highlights of the madness Rarity went through. "She even tried to dress like you, spiky hair and all, while waving around one of those Struggle bats as her weapon. And to get her to snap out of her hopeless romantic interest, you had to pretend to be a fancy, sophisticated person to make her jealous of herself and wake up!"

More laughs rang out in the air, Sora huffing and glaring angrily at Ventus. Those few days for preparing was a nightmare for him, being hunted by a stallion who had the hots for him upon seeing him a sweaty mess bucking apple trees and lifting heavy buckets despite his lithe frame, growing interested in his lifestyle and pulled a Rarity by dressing like he did before he was let down once he got the jealous unicorn mare to get her senses back in order. Rarity is capable of defending herself, just not like how he does with a weapon. At least there were no Heartless around during that, otherwise it would have ended up an even worse disaster than a weird love triangle that never made a connection.

Once the laughter died down, Spike got everyone back to starting the game. "First thing's first, you guys need to create a character. Names?"

"How about...Discord?" Discord said, not getting the point of creating his fictional game character.

"Discord, the whole point of these games is to use your imagination," Terra explained. "Be someone who you aren't."

"For example, I am Garbunkle, a famous magician," Spike said, showing his drawn character in Ogres & Oubliettes, which was himself dressed in an evergreen wizard hat and cloak, wielding a wooden staff with a bright, pale green gem held in a claw-like end of the staff, his character sporting a long gray beard and mustache, his fingers giving a "peace" sign with a crazy grin, making the wise wizard character more wacky and cartoonish than mature and knowledgeable. "Everyone treats me with the upmost respect."

"Just like in real life?" Discord questioned sarcastically, getting glares from Sora and Riku.

Spike ignored the draconequus and continued. "Don't get jealous, guys, but I'm a level 30 Enchanter with major skill points assigned to Intellect and Perception." Discord didn't pay attention, doing random things as he pretended to listen as Spike placed Big Mac's character on the map. The red stallion's character donned black armor on his body with a helmet that had curved silver horns, scars from many battles on Big Mac's fictional character as he wielded a heavy broadsword and a shield. His character was also a unicorn, the Keyblade wielders having expected the farm stallion wished he could be a unicorn during the Tantabus's escapade through everyone's dreams. "Big Mac's character is Sir McBiggun, a level 27 Black Knight unicorn from Castle Chadwick! When his king aligned himself with the Squizard, Sir McBiggun would not besmirch his honor."

"Nnope," Big Mac said in response for his character's backstory.

"And so it came to pass, the magician and black knight vowed to rid Spiketopia of the evil Squizard," Spike finished, though all of the story went over Discord's head as he slumped in his seat, deflating like a balloon out of boredom.

Sora and Riku were starting to get a little interested in the game, deciding to give it a chance despite their earlier complaints. They looked through the different class sheets, and after a moment of picking, the four beginner stallions found their roles and began creating their characters.

"Alright, I'll start with mine first," Terra said, showing off his drawn character card. His character was dressed as a monk, his hair still long and spiked, but the end was tied in a pony tail, and sported a small mustache. The stallion was standing on his hind legs in a martial arts pose, wearing a pair of black gi pants and bracers on his forehooves with small blades, making them look like claws. "My character is Yang, a monk from the far east who fights with nothing but his bare fists - er, hooves. Though his land is spared by the evil Squizard's tyranny, he will not stand to have his home and his family be brought to ruin as he makes the long journey to Spiketopia to help the band of heroes stop the magical cephalopod from causing more trouble."

"Cool. And nice choice picking the Monk class," Spike commented. "Ven, you're next."

"Ok, but don't laugh at what I chose since no one can deny a party can't be complete without one." Ventus showed his character, dressed in a white robe with red triangles patterned along the hem at the bottom, a plain staff in the fantasy character's hoof as a drawn aura of healing light surrounded the pegasus. "I am the White Mage, named Hope. Though unicorns can use magic, Hope was a special colt who was able to use the power of healing, both his parents unicorns and worshipers of religion. His white magic can heal the worst of injuries, cure illnesses, and even harm the undead with his healing light. Knowing the dangerous war the Squizard has wrought, Hope decided to fight alongside his friends and offer them support in their battle to save the kingdom."

"Seriously?" Sora asked curiously. "You want to be a healing support class?"

"Don't mess with the white mage," Ventus warned. "Good luck surviving if you suddenly run out of potions in the middle of a dungeon."

"Whatever." Sora was next as he revealed his character. Dressed in a white shirt under an open-chest blue jacket, a blue headband around his head, and a pair of blue pants, Sora's character sported a grin, twirling some daggers in the tips of his wings, a chest with a complicated lock in the background opened up and revealing the treasures inside. "I chose the Thief. Always on the hunt for treasure and able to pick the most difficult of locks, even if they're magically enchanted. Jewels, bits, and even a fancy blade to sell on the black market, money's all that's on my guy's mind. So, hearing how 'Princess Shmarity' is in peril, there's bound to be a reward for saving her from the Squizard. With that reward in mind, he decided to join the rest of the heroic troupe so he can claim the reward. The princess's hoof clearly belonging to Garbunkle." The group of males stared at Sora after telling his character's backstory, a cliched one involving a character whose natural abilities were stealing with a greed for treasure, though it was also an odd choice considering how honorable Sora really was. "...What?"

"...What's your character's name?" Riku asked.

"Locke, spelled L-O-C-K-E," Sora said, making his friend chuckle and shake his head. "What!?"

"And Discord said the Squizard and Spike's story was 'original'," the white pegasus said with a scoff.

"Ok, so what's your character then if you think yours is so much better than mine?" Sora goaded irritably.

"Mine is a class that is known as 'A jack-of-all-trades, master of none', perfect for someone like me," Riku said with a smug grin, showing off his drawn character. Riku's character wore a red cloak with white and black trimmings, a cavalier cap with a white feather, and carried both a sword and a staff while sparkles of light magic and a small burst of fire appeared above his character. Instead of being a pegasus, Riku took Big Mac's idea by making his Ogres & Oubliettes character a unicorn for his backstory. "I am the Red Mage, Luneth. Proficient in both magic and armed combat, Luneth tried out to be a knight in the king's army, but wasn't strong enough to wear the heavier armor as their uniforms. So, instead, he took a shot at being one of his mages, and even then, he couldn't pull off the strongest of spells the more experienced mages can do. Shot down by both sides, he decided to take on a new role, one who's skilled with a sword and also capable of performing magic, staying agile up close while fending off those from afar with spells, even lighter healing spells if he gets injured. He joins the heroes to fight the Squizard, save the king, and be appointed as one of his finest soldiers on both physical and magical fronts."

"...So, in other words, yourself but weaker," Sora summarized, making Riku's eye twitch in annoyance.

"Ok, we at least have our characters," Terra interjected before the two friends started an argument over whose character was better. "All we're missing is Discord's." They heard snoring from Discord's seat, the draconequus having passed out in boredom. Sighing, Terra summoned his Keyblade, then fired a Blizzard spell at Discord, snapping him awake as the weak ice ball chilled him back to reality. "Discord, it's your turn for a name and character."

"Ugh. I already have the best name in the universe," Discord stated. "Why would I change it for something like 'Captain Wuzz'?"

"Captain Wuzz it is!" Spike said, making the draconequus groan in annoyance as the others agreed. "Now, what class do you want to be, Captain Wuzz? There's Archers, Mages, Rogues..."

Discord huffed in boredom. "Can I suggest we take a break and, I don't know, go out and have some fun? Ponyville's not gonna paint itself red."

"You'll love it once it gets started." Spike picked up one of the multi-sided dice and rolled it, letting chance help choose Discord's first ever character class. "How about an archer? We could use a long-ranged character that's not magic-based."

Discord blew a raspberry, not even caring since the mention of the game started and hoping to get it all over with before he died of boredom. "Sounds just as miserable as the other options. So fine."

"Alright, gentlecolts, are you all ready to enter the world of Ogres & Oubliettes?" The stallions all voiced their agreements, though Discord waved his paw, telling Spike to get on with it even though his entrance earlier was drawn out. Spike began the game by rolling the dice, looking over the book behind the cover as he read out the scenario given to them, placing them drawings of their characters in a square, with Discord's character with long, flowing blonde hair, wearing a green tunic and holding a bow with a quiver of arrows on his back. "We find ourselves trapped in the dungeon of the evil Squizard. The bars are locked tight." Discord raised a brow, silently questioning the beginning of their fantasy adventure. "The bars exist in our 'imagination'."

"...Really?" Discord asked skeptically. "You describe things, and we pretend it's real?"

"Uhh, that's the point of having an imagination," Sora replied. "Shouldn't be that hard since you have chaos that can bring anything to life."

"And it's your turn first," Spike said. "What do you wanna do?"

"Curse myself for attending this infernal evening?" Discord suggested, and was about to plan on doing so. When he got looks from the stallions and baby dragon, he realized he didn't want to end up disappointing Fluttershy if he just up and left so soon, even if he loathed to be here playing a game he found boring before it started. "Ohhh...you mean in the game...What do I do exactly?"

"You can do whatever you want," Spike said, then held up the twenty-sided die. "Then, I'll roll this twenty-sided die and see if you're successful."

Snapping his fingers, he created a set of bars, taking Sora's advice by using his magic to make the imaginative scenario realistic instead of in his own head. "I stick my head through the bars and demand for an immediate release for the Lord of Chaos."

"That's a big risk," Spike warned. "You'll have to roll a seventeen or higher to succeed." He then rolled the die, and just as he and the stallions expected, the roll showed a failed attempt. "Oooh. Bad idea. The guard gets mad."

Discord growled, grabbing the book and skimmed over the different spells before picking one. "This spell here. I transform him into a parsnip."

"You're going to need eleven Intelligent points to perform the 'Transform Into Root Vegetable' spell," Ventus said as he looked over the magic spells in the game. "And...I don't think Archers start out with that much Intelligence for magic spells."

"I'm not intelligent!?" Discord exclaimed, taking the comment offensively rather than having the stats of Captain Wuzz's class looked over so he didn't lose right off the bat. "I cast it anyway because this game is stupid!"

He threw the book back down to Spike, the baby dragon rolling with the draconequus's decision. "The spell backfires. So..." Spike snorted at the results of the botched parsnip spell. "Your claws grow leaves and transform into parsnips!"

The other stallions imagined Captain Wuzz panicking with his digits turning into roots, snickering at the failure, which only angered Discord. "Parsnips," Big Mac uttered, snickering harder.

Spike rolled again, adding another scenario to Discord's fictional screw-up. "The guard laughs. He calls his friends over, and they laugh too."

Unable to hold back their laughter, the stallions and baby dragon burst out into hysterics. "Stop laughing at me!" Discord demanded. "Does it really say that? Let me see that dumb rulebook!"

"Oh, please don't let Discord's turn end," Sora pleaded, clutching his stomach as he tried to control his breathing. "This is a lot more entertaining than I thought."

Spike rolled again, granting Sora's wish. "As you get angrier, everyone laughs harder!"

"Well, I seal 'Locke' in a magic bubble until he stops laughing!" Discord growled, starting to get upset as everyone was making fun of him.

"Discord, you can't use magic," Terra stated, but again, took it as an insult toward himself and not the abilities of his character's class.

As they continued to laugh, Discord's face turned red as his eyebrows were lit on fire in anger, then snapped his fingers and trapped Sora in a bubble. "Whoa, whoa! Hey! Discord!" Sora shouted as the laughter stopped from the draconequus's tantrum.

"'Not intelligent enough.' Please," Discord muttered.

"Get me out of here!" Sora demanded, summoning his Keyblade as he tried to pop himself free, only to fail as the bubble felt more like rubber than a thin membrane of weak magic.

"Discord, let Sora out of there!" Riku warned, aiming his Keyblade at the draconequus.

"Oh, this game is insufferable!" Discord exclaimed, batting Riku's blade away from him. "Let me show you all a REAL guys' night!" Snapping his fingers, Discord teleported them all away from the castle and into a tropical-themed nightclub, upbeat jazz music played by a band to entertain the guests. Sora was freed from his bubble, thankfully, the draconequus wearing an orange suit with a really wide-brimmed fedora matching his attire, a thin black mustache on his upper lip. "Now THIS is the life! Jazz, dancing, the best table magic can buy! This is what a guys' night should be all about, right, fellas?"

Spike was a bit disappointed that their game ended so suddenly, though the stallions seemed to agree a little bit. Finding the table Discord lounged on as he emphasized the "best table magic could buy", he climbed up onto the plush seat circling said table, finding it perfect for their game of Ogres & Oubliettes.

"I know you probably didn't do this on purpose, but this table's the perfect size and shape!" Spike said, setting up a spare game set he kept on him.

"I don't think so," Discord said, slapping away the game as he set down several tall milkshakes before the group. "How about a drink? Chocolate milkshakes?"

"No," Spike said, letting out an annoyed sigh. "We want to go back to our game of-"

"How about a different game!?" Discord quickly suggested. The table suddenly grew bright in a flash of light as all of them sat on the wide couch, cards in their hooves as they also played with a few dogs. However, Sora had been turned into a dog as well: a brown-furred collie, keeping his spiky hair and the chain necklace he wore for several years. He let out a confused bark as he looked down at himself, then leered at Discord and growled at him while he looked over Spike's hand. "Those are VERY bad cards."

"ARF! RAWR-RAWR-RAWR-RAWRF!" Sora barked, telling him to turn him back to normal in dog, his transformation now noticed by the others, Terra and Ventus looking at each other nervously at the end result of Discord's prank.

"Discord, quit messing with us!" Spike said. "We wanna-"

"Have a dance contest!?" Discord interrupted, teleporting them out onto the floor and began dancing to the beat, Sora still a collie. He was the only one dancing, but after his little session, fanfare and confetti rain down on them as he showed them the gold trophy that appeared in his paw. "Surprise! We won!" Sora growled, then roared and bit the draconequus's leg. "OW! Bad Sora!" he scolded, spraying water in Sora's face with a bottle that he created out of thin air, making him yelp and rub his face against the floor as it stung his sensitive sinuses. "Should have put a muzzle on him."

"Discord!" Terra shouted, getting the draconequus's attention as he looked at the earth pony stallion sinisterly, the background behind him dimming and looking ominous.

"Yes?" Discord asked with a scowl.

"Turn Sora back to normal. Now," he commanded. Discord growled, but obeyed, snapping his fingers and changing Sora back into a pony, still rubbing his face from whatever he sprayed him with. "We get it if you didn't want to join us, but you can't expect all of us to do what you want to do. Especially when you keep attacking Sora like this, whether you call them pranks or not."

"Agh! What was in that bottle!?" Sora exclaimed, spluttering as he grabbed a pitcher of water at the bar and splashed off the liquid he was sprayed with.

"And I was just starting to get into the game," Ventus added. "If you don't like it, you could just sit back and watch instead of whine and complain like a little baby."

That struck a nerve in Discord, his glare making Ventus regret his poor choice of words over the spirit of chaos's poor behavior over their fun. "Sit and watch?" he questioned. "Fine. We'll play your game, but we'll play MY way." His clothes now gone, Discord loomed over the five stallions and baby dragon ominously, his eyes glowing as his body nearly faded into a silhouette, storm clouds suddenly appearing behind him, his voice echoing in the room as he spoke. "Are you ready to enter the world of Ogres & Oubliettes?"

"...I don't like the way he asked that," Riku uttered, Big Mac nodding as he mumbled in agreement.

Discord pointed his fingers at them, flinching as two beams shot down at them from the draconequus's pointed digits, blinding them in a flash of light.





Sora, Riku, Ventus, Terra, Spike, and Big Mac squinted their eyes open, thankfully unharmed from Discord's magic, though they now found themselves out in what appeared to be a cardboard diagram of an open field. The trees and mountains looked hastily drawn onto the cardboard cutouts to act as the background, the dice for the Ogres & Oubliettes were also there to look like massive, multi-surfaced boulders. When they looked at each other, they gasped as they were all wearing their game characters' outfits, along with their accessories, appendages, and weapons they drew in: Spike as Garbunkle, Big Mac as Sir McBiggun, Sora as Locke, Riku as Luneth, Ventus as Hope, and Terra as Yang.

"Whoa," Spike uttered. "Sir McBiggun?"

"Eeyup," Big Mac said with an excited grin.

"And I'm...Garbunkle?" Spike asked himself, running his hand through his beard as he looked at his outfit and staff. "Then...that means...We're in the game!" Curious, Spike waved his staff and aimed it at one of the dice boulders, actually firing a beam of magic and blowing the die to pieces. Big Mac pulled out his sword, his weapon clearly made of cardboard like the background as it was just a prop, but with his magic when he had a horn on his forehead. He swung at a nearby tree, slicing it through as it made the sound of an actual blade cutting through wood like butter. The two nerdy players cheered as they lived out their game, doing their same guys' night dance and chant, to the Keyblade wielders' embarrassment as they had to watch it again. "Oh, this is so cool! Hey, Discord, where are you!? This is awesome! You made the game real!"

They heard Discord's laugh echo around the imaginative land, neither of them finding it pleasant as his face appeared in the clouds, acting as the game master. "Aren't games fun?" he asked, the Keyblade wielders looking around for any tricks he had planned.

"Making the game realistic does not sound like a fun time," Riku said. "Not after introducing us to it that ominously."

Several hoofsteps marching were heard over one of the cardboard mountains. Looking up, the party saw the Squizard and an army of drawn skeleton soldiers beside him, the slips with the drawings animated as their cards bounced around to move. The skeleton ponies had different weapons on them, some with swords, some with flails, and some with bows and arrows.

"Behold! I am the Squizard!" the drawn squid wizard proclaimed.

"Holy cow! They're moving!" Spike exclaimed in shock.

"You're welcome," Discord said with a sinister chuckle.

"GET THEM!" the Squizard ordered, his skeleton army letting out battle cries as they hopped down the mountain and toward the group.

As they got close, the world suddenly warped around them for a brief moment, then returned to normal as Sora, Riku, Ventus, and Terra stood in a line facing a group of four skeleton soldiers, Spike and Big Mac standing on the sidelines as the players were confused by the setup.

"What the hell was that!?" Ventus exclaimed.

"It's a random encounter. Duh," Discord said as he appeared behind them, sitting on a lounge chair while holding onto a video game controller, the wire reaching out until it broke into an ethereal line connecting the four stallions in front of him. They turned to look at him, surprised by the strange magical wire they were tethered to. "This seems a lot more fun than those boring dice games with all those incredibly complicated statistics that's relied on chance."

"You fools cannot defeat my skeleton army!" the Squizard said in the background.

"This feels way too easy," Sora said as he held his character's dagger in his mouth. He tried to step forward, only to feel his limbs glued to the ground and feel unresponsive. "W-What the-!? Why can't I move forward!?" He tried flapping his wings and flying away, but just like his legs, they didn't respond. "What's going on!?"

"I haven't even given you a command to do anything yet, Sora," Discord chided with a click of his tongue in disappointment. "Haven't you ever played turn-based RPGs? It's not like the hack-and-slash journeys you've been on where it takes skill to win. Or mashing the button over and over until you kill your enemies. Whichever comes first."

"Uh oh," Terra uttered, looking back at the magical lines tied to them. "I think Discord's controlling us, and nothing happens unless he does something."

"Why aren't we in the fight!?" Spike shouted angrily, wanting to test his magic spells, Big Mac agreeing irritably as well with one of his signature catchphrases.

"You two are higher levels, and these four are only at level 1," Discord said. "Give them some experience at least. Now, let's see...what to do...?" Discord thought over the four stallions' commands, then messed around with his controller a bit until he was done, beeping sound effects ringing as he made his decisions. "Alright, let's see what happens."

Automatically, they started moving and began "attacking". Sora was first, stepping forward only a couple feet  before randomly swinging his weapon in front of him. Despite being far away, he hit the first skeleton in front of him, numbers popping up above the enemy as he did some damage to it before stepping back in line.

"Ok, this is really weird!" Sora commented as the battle continued. Terra was up next, punching the air a few times against the same skeleton Sora hit, weakening it further, then stepped back in line. Ventus was next, only this time, he rose his hooves and wings up in the air as an aura appeared around him, casting some kind of spell Discord made him use. A light shone down on the skeletons, dealing a bit of damage to all of them, but killed the weaker one as its body faded away to nothing. It was the skeletons' turn to attack as they lunged forward from their spots, all of them hitting Sora as he let out a yell of pain, three different sets of numbers popping up after he was struck. "Ow! Why are they going after me!? Discord!"

"Not my fault I can't control the RNG in the game," Discord said with a smirk, lying through his teeth.

"What does that even mean?" Riku asked, before yelping as he suddenly moved forward, then raised his hooves up with his horn glowing a black aura, performing a spell against his will. He cast a Fire Spell, incinerating one of the skeletons and killing it off. "...Ok, this is...odd, but interesting...I think I'm having fun, even though I'm really confused by what's happening to us."

"Hmm...Well, it seems like 'Locke' got really badly injured after all those skeletons aggroed him that turn," Discord muttered to himself. "I better heal him with 'Hope's' healing magic." Discord waved his thumbs around the controller as he set up the next phase, Ventus beginning first as he cast another spell. It was a healing spell, only instead, it was wasted on Terra, who was already at full health. "Whoops! My thumb slipped and healed the wrong pony! Silly me!"

"You did that on purpose!" Sora exclaimed angrily, moving on his own as he thrust his hoof out, attempting to steal something from the skeletons, but failed to nab anything. He was attacked yet again, by both remaining skeletons, the first one making him fall to his knees as he was now in critical condition, then fell over after the last of his health was taken away by the last one. "AUGH! Oh, come on!"

"You're dead, Sora," Discord chided. "You're not supposed to speak. Unless I use a Phoenix Down or have 'Hope' use Life on you, which he doesn't know just yet, you'll stay dead until we reach an inn, which is pretty far from where you all began."

Ignoring the frustrated, forcefully prone stallion, Riku and Terra finished off the skeletons with their sword and hooves respectively, ending the battle as the world faded to black, then brought them all back to the field where the Squizard and more of his skeleton troops stood on the mountain. Sora was back on his hooves, though he was considered knocked out with a skull hovering over his head. When he turned to glare at the draconequus, Discord had mysteriously vanished, given free reign to move and do whatever they want again without him controlling them.

"Kill those heathens!" the Squizard shouted, commanding his skeleton archers to fire arrows down on them, which were also drawn on thin pieces of cardboard.

Big Mac held up his shield to block the arrows, covering Spike as the party of six fled from the Squizard's army. They fled into a nearby cavern, the walls covered with dice that shimmered like gemstones.

"This is crazy!" Spike screamed. "I mean, this is awesome, but if we can actually get hurt, this feels far too real to even be considered a friendly game!"

"Tell me about it!" Sora exclaimed. "And will someone revive me so I can get this stupid skull away from my head!?"

"I don't even know HOW I was able to use my magic when I just made up my character!" Ventus said.

"Maybe we have something on us," Terra pondered as he patted his pants. His ears perked up when he felt something, pulling out an orange and red feather, similar to that of a phoenix. "Is this that Phoenix Down Discord mentioned earlier?"

"Just use it or something if it'll 'revive' me!" Sora demanded. Terra threw it, a light shining down on Sora and getting rid of the ethereal skull hovering over him, "revived", though with a weak amount of health. "Ugh. I'm starting to hate this game with Discord constantly picking on me! He kept us from moving or attacking on purpose, along with everything else he's done to me today!"

"There they are!" Hearing the Squizard still on their tail, they continued running through the cave, avoiding a blast of magic fired as it flew past them.

Up ahead was a fork in the caverns, the Squizard's magic hitting the wall between the two paths and began causing a cave-in, the ceiling crumbling down over them. Rocks fell in their way, splitting Sora up from the others as they ended up almost crushing him, another of Discord's tricks as he fell behind and the right path they escaped through was blocked off. Growling, Sora had no choice but to dive through the left path, making it just in time as that was also caved off. They successfully escaped from the Squizard and his army, but now they were split up, and Sora was starting to get fed up with Discord's abuse.

"Oh no, it looks like 'Locke' got separated from the party," Discord's voice echoed in the cavern, both sides hearing him as he narrated what was happening. "Seems like the rest of the gang will have to meet up with their friend at the end of their respective paths. Good luck making it through the endless drove of blood-sucking bats and giant rats that lurk in these caves."

"Ok, that's it!" Sora shouted. "Discord, where are you!?"

"This isn't fun anymore!" Spike said from the other path. "You could have gotten us killed!"

"Why, thank you!" Discord said, taking it as a compliment, which irritated Sora more. "It's the little details that bring an alternate dimension to life, wouldn't you say?"

"Admit you're doing this to me on purpose!" Sora shouted angrily. "You're the absolute WORST person to even be around!"

Discord appeared down Sora's path, leering at the stallion as he knocked on the side of the wall, which opened up like a doorway to reveal the others on their path, thankfully halting the "game" he created. "Oh, I'm the worst, am I? Then why bother inviting me at all!?"

"Because we felt bad for you!" Ventus said.

Shocked, Discord sputtered in bafflement. "B-Because...you f-felt - WHAT!?" Snapping his fingers, Discord brought them all back to reality in the throne room, the game untouched and no one thankfully intruding. Spike and Big Mac were relieved to be back safe and sound, but Sora was far from relieved, feeling irate getting messed with by the draconequus all day. "I'm sorry, but YOU all felt sorry for ME!?"

"I'm starting not to after today," Sora grumbled.

"We know you spend a lot of time with Fluttershy, especially on Tuesdays where you plan your get-togethers every week," Terra said. "And when the girls left, you were just...standing there alone at the station."

Flabbergasted, Discord stared at the ponies and baby dragon, confused by their decision to invite him and the forced suggestion Fluttershy gave him earlier. "No, this can't be possible. I'm supposed to feel sorry for you because I'm ME and you're...YOU."

"You're SORRY!?" Sora yelled, fed up by the draconequus's excuse. "When have you even felt sorry even in the slightest!? You kept using you magic on me, physically assault me, and almost got me killed in that fictional world you put us in! What is your deal with me, you chaotic freak!?"

Ventus gasped in shock at the harsh term Sora called Discord, the draconequus's ear twitching slightly as his posture slowly began to slump aggressively. Sora could see his face, but the others did; scowling angrily, his expressing hurt as well as fury, and with no random dark backdrops or comical antics to show just how upset he was. It startled them, seeing him this genuinely hurt, Discord slowly turning his head to Sora, giving the stallion a death glare.

"What...did you just call me?" Discord growled, baring his fangs at him.

"You know exactly what I called you," Sora growled back.

Ventus quickly intervened, laughing nervously as he pushed Sora back. "What!? No! Sora didn't say that! He said you're...chaotic chic! No spiteful names toward you in any way!" Sora grabbed Ventus's shoulder, trying to push him aside, but the younger stallion was desperate not to have a chaotic deity blow up and wreak destructive chaos after being called something he despised to be known as. "Sora, just go in another room and calm down before you-"

"Back off, Ven!" Sora shouted, shoving Ventus aside. "I want to know why Discord keeps doing this to me! Every time you show up when I'm around, I'm the only one you seem to target with your mischief or 'pranks'! You think I'm easy to get riled up!? I've already had a bad enough year with the hell I went through, and I would appreciate it if you backed off and quit making my life miserable than it already has!"

Discord silently leered at Sora, his sneer slowly curling into a grin as he slowly began to chuckle darkly. Discord's laughter began to grow from silent, to sarcastic, then bursting out into uproarious, over-exaggerated cackling as he reared his head back, unnerving everyone except Sora keeping his glare on the draconequus. He slowly calmed down, tilting his head back down to leer at Sora, his eyes glowing menacingly.

"You think you're miserable after one bad year?" Discord questioned skeptically, his smirk quickly turning into a scowl as his fingers twitched. Sora suddenly felt himself being picked up by an unseen force, flung toward the enraged draconequus's outstretched claw, gripping the stallion's neck and grasping him tightly, almost cutting off his airway as the talons dug into his skin. Riku and Terra tried to pull Discord away, but Discord's free paw opened and slammed down, increasing the gravity around the two wielders and pressing them down into the ground. He brought Sora closer to his face, his eyes piercing through the pegasus's soul as tears began to form. "Try an entire lifetime."

"Discord, let go of him!" Spike pleaded.

"No," he growled. "You think you're suffering? Please. You don't even know the first thing about suffering!" Snapping his fingers, he brought back Sora's memory book, his magic flipping over the pages to show his last year's upsetting moments that nearly broke the Keyblade wielder. "The moment you felt every single world weighed on your shoulders when you went back in time several times to stop Starlight. Seeing your father die and meeting his Nobody. A nearly disastrous breakup with your girlfriend over a misunderstanding after encountering said Nobody. And losing a battle with a pink-haired Grim Reaper wannabe because he kidnapped a few brats! Oh, yeah, Sora! Pretty miserable year for you! How about you grow up and quit acting like such a child, considering you ALWAYS act like one!?"

"S-Says...the prankster...who manipulates and tricks everyone," Sora grunted, trying to pry Discord's claw away from his neck, to no avail.

"I've turned a new leaf, and you're the only one who doesn't see that!" Discord yelled, slamming Sora hard into the Cutie Map, sending the Ogres & Oubliettes game scattering on the floor. "Everyone has at least given me a chance, even after I betrayed you when working for Tirek! Twilight even forgave me, and I had the final key you all needed to give the seven of you new powers, this castle, and stop Tirek!"

"How...could I...when you pick on me...like a schoolyard bully!?" Sora exclaimed. Summoning his Keyblade, Sora shot a Firaga spell point blank in Discord's face. The fireball blew up as it made contact, knocking the draconequus back. Sora sat up, rubbing his neck, feeling the small puncture wounds Discord's sharp talon hand left behind, then held his blade up when the draconequus slithered back up on his feet. "How am I supposed to trust you when you keep hurting me!? You manipulated Twilight and the others, even tried to trick me and failed! Your reformation allowed you to run wild with your magic while trying to trick Fluttershy into giving up using her Element of Harmony if you acted out, also failing considering I can use the Elements of Harmony as well in their Keyblade forms! Your betrayal made trusting you even harder, despite your 'honesty' giving Twilight her key as a sign of friendship and actually helping us in the end! That doesn't matter when I'm still miffed at what you've done to me back then, including what you've been doing to me today!"

"Oh, boo hoo! Cry your little crocodile tears!" Discord mocked. "You're an adult! Learn to take your punches like a man!"

"Excuse me!? At least I have a lot more maturity than you do in your thousand plus years of existence!" Sora argued. "You were taking a stupid board game so seriously when it was all just for the fun of the game, and you had to act like a spoiled little baby throwing a temper tantrum because you didn't like things going your way!"

"Guys, cut it out!" Ventus shouted, hovering between Discord and Sora as they were ready to kill each other. "You both are acting like children!"

"Tell Discord to lay off me!" Sora demanded. "It's bad enough that Xehanort and the rest of his seeds of darkness know where I am! I've already got one monster trying to get me, and Discord's only making it worse when he's nothing but a manipulative, immature, compulsively lying, traitorous freak of nature!"

"Stop...calling me...A FREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Discord screamed, a powerful shockwave erupting from his yell sending all Ventus sailing across the room, Sora standing his ground while Spike clung onto Big Mac as he, Riku, and Terra braced themselves. Discord panted angrily, seeing red as his past came flashing through his mind, the pain and loneliness he felt coming back as he clutched his head in his hands. "...Why can't you trust me? I'm trying to change, but I don't know how..." Peering through his fingers, he leered at Sora, dreading to face him if he used his Harmony Form again to stop him if he loses himself. "How can I prove to you that I won't lie or manipulate you, or your friends, again?"

"...I...don't even know," Sora admitted, lowering his Keyblade as Discord's question stumped him. Discord's trying to change, but it doesn't help when he's been making him the butt of his chaotic jokes, painful physical humor, and embarrassing him in random ways that easily gets under his skin. And after last year, trying to get through the worst moments that have ever hit him more than it should any single person in any existence, Discord's teasing only served to further whatever attempt at friendship that always failed to forge. "...Getting betrayed by Tirek...I don't think it was enough to convince me. Not after you hurt Kairi and left her, Aqua, and Ven vulnerable for Tirek to steal their power. Without our abilities as Keyblade wielders, you practically doomed every single world in the universe to darkness if Tirek truly won."

Discord winced, reminded of the lies Tirek spouted to him, the fool played as a fool, getting a taste of his own medicine in the end. He soon had an idea, which only made him more somber as it involved his past, before he became the draconequus he was in Equestria's history of dangerous villains.

"...You know a time travel spell," Discord said. Sora's eyes grew wide, though he wasn't really surprised by how Discord knew, but bringing it up had shocked him. "...Anypony who was considered bad in your eyes, you forgave them when you understood the true reason for their actions; their mistakes. If they're willing to change, you give them a chance...You've done that with Luna...Sombra...Sunset Shimmer...even Starlight Glimmer, and she's the one who caused you the most harm."

"...I-I can't," Sora said. "I can't risk going back in time again. I've already gone through enough time traveling to see the results of what happens after changing one event several different times...I don't want to risk creating a desolate future if I go back that far."

"...Then, if not time travel..." Discord swallowed the lump in his throat as he shed more tears. "...Then, you'll have to see within my mind."

Without giving Sora the chance to agree, Discord snapped his fingers, teleporting Sora away and shocking the other stallions and baby dragon. "Where'd he go!?" Riku asked, he and Terra able to move now that Discord's magical hold on them was gone. "Discord, what did you do to Sora!?"

"He'll be back, when he sees...what my memories hold," Discord uttered. "...I-I...I have to go."

Discord teleported away to who knows where, leaving the remaining guys' night group to worry about where Discord took Sora and if the draconequus wasn't plotting to do any horrible harm to Sora in secret. "...W-What do we do?" Spike asked nervously.

"I...I don't know," Terra said. "The only thing we can do right now is...let those two sort out their issues...alone."





Sora was blinded by Discord's teleportation, rubbing his eyes with a groan to wipe the spots blinking in his eyes. He paused when he didn't feel hooves rubbing his face, slowly moving them away to find his hands instead. Wherever he was sent, he was back to being a human, but everywhere he looked was nothing but blackness, as if he was sent to a mysterious void.

"Where am I?" he asked himself. "Discord!? Where did you take me!?" Behind him, Sora heard the sound of something popping into existence. Looking back, there was a note floating a few feet away from him. Wary of any tricks Discord might have had planned, he cautiously approached the note, grabbed it, and read what was written on it. "'To better understand someone, one must look back on the beginning and not judge on the middle.' Hmph. I don't need a riddle when you practically told me to understand your past." The note disappeared in a flash of light, but as Sora clenched his fingers that held the note, he heard a gasp come from behind him. Looking back, he saw the silhouette of what appeared to be a child, something quadrupedal in appearance, though it was hard to tell what it looked like from the light behind them. "Huh? Who are-?" Frightened, the child ran into the light. "H-Hey, wait!"

Sora chased after the child, running through the light and thankfully stepping out of that empty void. He braced himself to run into a chaotic wonderland of a mess if he really was in Discord's mind, but as he stepped out, he paused in surprise to see what looked like a village in the distance, some woods a bit of a ways away and a few mountains in the background. The normality of this place startled Sora, nothing like he expected inside the twisted mind of the draconequus, who could show the Queen of Hearts from Wonderland a thing or two about topsy-turvy nonsense.

Making his way into town, the ponies there seemed normal aside from their blurred faces, either due to ponies who Discord once knew but couldn't remember their faces, or he thought it would be funny to make their faces seem mysterious. They didn't pay him any mind as he walked past them, clearly not part of Discord's mind, or they planned to ambush him, not even knowing what'll happen in his head.

"Get out of my house, you little cretin!" a mare shouted, one of the houses across the road opening as the pony kicked out the intruder. The same child he heard yelled and grunted as he hit the ground, shocking Sora at what he saw: a young creature that had body parts of almost every single animal on the face of Equestria, a fanged tooth sticking out from his upper jaw, and big red eyes with yellow sclera. Sora rubbed his eyes, unable to believe them as he was staring at Discord as a child. "How dare you sneak into my house, you little monster!?"

Suddenly, all the ponies in town looked at the young draconequus, glaring at him spitefully. Discord stood up and looked around fearfully, only he stood on all fours like a pony instead of his two legs. When he saw Sora, he panicked and fled from him.

"Discord!?" Sora called out, chasing after him as he leapt over the townsponies, their judgmental eyes glued onto the draconequus while frozen in place. "Wait, get back here!"

"No! Don't hurt me!" the young draconequus pleaded.

"Stop!" Sora said. He managed to catch up with Discord, but just as he was about to snatch him in his hands, a wall of cotton candy clouds stopped him in his tracks. Letting out an irritated huff, Sora pulled himself out of the sticky mess of sugary pink cloud, slicing through it with his Keyblade and continued his pursuit. "You brought me here for a reason, and if it's to pull anymore stupid pranks on me in your own head, I'm gonna get really mad!"

"Quit making these sticky clouds, you disturbing brat!" said a random stallion who saw the cotton candy cloud appear in Sora's path.

Discord ran through an alleyway, distracted by hearing the random pony's hurtful words, only to skid to a halt as he hit a dead end. He turned around, backing up against the wall as Sora blocked his way out, unable to fly away with his tiny, mismatched wings, or he didn't know how to fly or levitate in the air with his chaotic powers. His cowering confused Sora, but as he stepped closer, he heard a couple colts behind him slip past his legs, letting out sinister laughter as the blurred-faced colts cornered the frightened draconequus colt.

"If it isn't the weird freak!" one of the colts exclaimed, the insult making Discord's ears press against his head, psychologically hurting him as he sniffled, trying not to cry in front of the bullies and the Keyblade wielder. "Come on, you weirdo! Use your freaky magic on us!"

"Yeah! What kind of monster are you who can use magic without a unicorn horn!?" another colt mocked, the trio of bullies laughing as they broke Discord down.

"I-I'm...n-n-not a...m-monster," Discord uttered.

"You probably don't even have a family," the third colt said. "No wonder you make up those stupid clouds you eat so you don't eat through our garbage."

"Or steal from my dad's produce!" the first colt said angrily. Discord tried to get up and run away, but the bullies blocked any way for him to escape, the first one pushing the young draconequus on his back. "They punish ponies who take things that don't belong to them, you know."

"But you're not a pony, are you?" the second colt mocked. "You're a monster. And we ponies KILL monsters who take things and put bad curses on us!"

Discord tried to get up again, only to get shoved down harder as the bullies ganged up on him and began hitting him. He didn't even try to call out for help, knowing no help will come to a monster like him. Part of Sora felt bad for watching this happen, but the other part of him warned him that they were in Discord's mind, which meant he could be lured into a trap and caught by some chaotic prank. The first part won in the end, stepping forward with his Keyblade still in his hand as a precaution, then grabbed the young draconequus by the scruff of his neck, lifting him away from the colts who complained about their punching bag being taken away from them. Discord didn't show any physical injuries from getting beat up, more like a mental scarring of an incident that may have occurred in has past, his tail tucked between his legs when he was saved by the human he feared.

"Hey, give that creep back to us!" one of the bullies demanded.

"We were beating him up first!" one of the others said.

"Go on home," Sora said as he walked out of the alley, to the bullies disappointment. As he walked through town, all of the ponies living here were eyeing them, staring at Discord as they smirked at him, thinking Sora was going to kill the young draconequus and get rid of what they saw was a strange creature that didn't belong. He heard Discord whimper, scared out of his mind as he tried to curl into a ball while being held by his neck and began to cry. "Cut it out, Discord. If this is a scheme to lower my guard, I'm not falling for it that easily." Discord continued crying, aggravating Sora as he let out a heavy sigh. "I said knock it off!"

"I-I don't k-know what you mean!" Discord whined in confusion. "I-I wasn't d-d-doing anything!"

Sora dropped the colt, thrusting his Keyblade down beside the terrified child, dropping down on one knee and grabbing his neck gently enough to keep him from escaping from him. "Trying to pretend to look like a kid isn't going to help settle how I feel about you after all you did to me!" he yelled. "If you want to prove yourself to me, then do it as yourself while showing me how miserable you were back then!"

"I am." Sora looked up from the terrified draconequus child, hearing the present Discord's voice echo in the air. "You're only making it worse for younger me, holding him like that while brandishing that Keyblade of yours so close to him."

"The hell...?" While searching for the real Discord, he noticed the blurred ponies had gathered around them, hearing them heckling the child he was holding hostage while goading Sora to kill him. "...Discord?"

"You want to know the truth, so I showed you an example of what happened to me," Discord said, no sign of the adult draconequus merged as something else or even watching Sora from a distance. "That child you appear to be threatening is, or was, my childhood innocence. He resembles the old me before I was known as the Lord of Chaos in history books: alone, scared, miserable...unloved."

"And...I'm somehow interacting with this...clone of yours?" Sora asked.

"Not a clone; a past me," Discord explained. "A me I wanted to repress before I had snapped and caused so much more chaos than intended...But I couldn't. He reminded me of the pain of making friends, trusting others who weren't like me, and I was the only one like me." Sora felt the young draconequus tremble as he sobbed, looking away from him as he looked down in fear. "He also resembles my fears; fears of those who wish to hurt or judge me because of the way I look, fears of being alone, fears of never being understood by others in a cruel, cruel world you see as peaceful...The worst fear, however...is you."

"Me?" Sora questioned. Dumbfounded, his grip loosened on Young Discord's neck, but not too much as he didn't want him to run away. "...How can you be afraid of me? You could kill me with a snap of your fingers if you wanted to. Hell, you almost did during our battle from your return."

"I could have, but you know of my bad habit underestimating anything if I start to win. And when I lose, I get irate and try to cheat the odds in my favor...Like when I turned Fluttershy into her opposite personality by force when she kept accepting how helpless she was and knew her friends would help her and back her up." Sora grimaced, having no clue how Discord managed to manipulate Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow before finding them in the maze. Sora knew Discord was a sore loser, but going that far to trick Fluttershy, who eventually became his best friend, that was a low blow, even for someone like him. "I know I cheated...but I don't even follow my own rules when they seem fair. I do regret doing that, though...and betraying all of you."

"You should have thought of that before teaming up with Tirek," Sora uttered, Young Discord hearing him as he whimpered pathetically.

"Can you let go of him?" Discord asked. "You're not helping his anxiety."

"I don't want the young you to run away from me," Sora said.

"Do you have any idea how many times I've been pushed around by others around my age in the past? Or even by full-grown ponies when they see me and kick me out of their property while I mind my own business?" Discord questioned. "Do you even know what I see when those ponies around you glare at me?"

"...No," Sora uttered. "...But, why are their faces...blurred?" He got his answer as his vision went white for a moment, then faded to black. Confused, the darkness began brighten, seeing through someone else's eyes, more specifically, being Young Discord's. Scared to look up, the draconequus child looked at Sora's Keyblade, then slowly back up at him. Gasping in shock as he saw himself, he let got of the child and stepped back when he saw his face in Discord's eyes. His face was horrifying, disfigured with a ghoulish expression as he touched his face. When Discord looked at the ponies around them, they had the same terrifying faces, and he could hear them talking down at him with insults and threats, their voices distorted and menacing. "W-What the hell...?"

"A bit over-exaggerated, but this was how I saw mean ponies at my younger self's age," Discord said, returning Sora's vision returned back to his own. "Ironic how they all saw me as a monster, but they don't see  what kind of monsters they were for judging me by my appearance, hurting me, and treating me like I didn't belong anywhere." Sora brought a hand to his face, still reeling in shock at the disturbing imagery Young Discord had over others he tried to fit in with and never accepted him. The young colt didn't flee when it stopped, only curling himself up and hid his face under his hands as he sobbed, his ears pressed hard against the sides of his head to block out the hurtful words coming from the ponies around them. "What you went through was barely even a fraction of abuse I've endured, both physical and emotional. You may have gone through some turmoil, but unlike me, you had parents who were around, you had friends growing up, and you were loved far more than I ever was...Consider yourself lucky you weren't like me."

Sora looked at the townsponies, relieved to only see their blurred faces, though he regretted yelling at Young Discord as the real Discord really was giving him insight to his past life. "...But...why me? Why are you...scared of me?"

"I'm not only afraid of you, Sora," Discord said. "I...was jealous of you."

"F-For what?" Sora asked, baffled by the draconequus's response.

"When I glanced at your memories, I saw just how many friends you made in so many worlds," he said. "While I was going through my reformation, I didn't think anything of it, but when Fluttershy accepted me as her friend, I could have never imagined knowing what it was like to just having one friend. I wanted to make more, but I tried that in the past when I got older, and it resulted in me being hurt again, causing me to snap and become the Lord of Chaos everypony knew me as...I was afraid to try, and being so socially abnormal, egotistical, and downright rude, I get frustrated trying to fit in that I lose control of my magic and just...do what I want to so I'd get what I want...I didn't even know how Ogres & Oubliettes was meant to be played, and I took it seriously because I wanted to win the game, because that's what I thought about playing every single game created throughout the ages. The only pretending I know is how to talk to multiple copies of myself to feel like I'm not alone, even though I always feel like it.

"If I'm being honest, I did feel left out when Fluttershy left with the girls on that trip. I joined you and the others for guys' night because she thought you all wouldn't like me, though the only one who didn't was you...I picked on you because I was bored and wanted attention...from you." That surprised Sora, silently wondering why Discord wanted his attention if his past attempts were either really harmful or humiliating. "I know it sounds stupid, but if we ever became friends, maybe I could learn to be a better one along with learning from Fluttershy. Sadly, I can't really control myself, and they come out as bullying rather than not-so-subtle cues...I'm sorry for what I did to you today, and making fun of your own issues you were going through..."

Ignoring the ponies in the background, Sora looked down at the young draconequus cowering before him. Now that he knew why Discord had been behaving the way he has and what feelings he kept hidden from everyone due to avoid getting hurt in the first place, Sora felt pity for him. All he needed was a better understanding of how to get used to hanging out with friends, doing things together with them while having fun, even if the idea they may have doesn't sound fun at first. Admittedly, if this was how Discord looked when he was young, he would have given in whether Discord intended to trick him into believing a sob story or not.

Looking up at the sky, wherever the real Discord was watching him from in his mind, he let out a sigh as he too felt bad lashing out at Discord earlier. "...I'm sorry, too," Sora said. "I know I won't understand what you went through, but...I felt like there's more of a burden on my shoulders after everything last year, and now Xehanort knows where I've been staying for the last few, which means I have to be ready to face him and the rest of his followers if they try to hurt anyone again." Looking back down at Young Discord, he grabbed his Keyblade and pulled it away from him. Gently, he lowered his free hand over the child's head, feeling him flinch as he touched him. He wasn't sure if Discord would be offended, but if he found a way to get back at him with teasing, he would  definitely tell Fluttershy how he looked as a colt and see her fawn over him, begging for pictures or a temporary transformation. "Sorry, buddy."

Sora gently scratched Young Discord's head, looking up as he peeked through his hands curiously from the odd feeling. "Uhh, you know I can feel that, right?" Discord said. "That may be child me, but adult me can feel your hands, and I'm not enjoying the pleasant tingling sensation when it's not coming from my own paw or claw."

"He's starting to enjoy it," Sora said as Discord's younger persona started to warm up to the odd affection, the town and the blurred out ponies slowly disappearing as Young Discord's fears were forgotten by the petting, leaving them out in an open field.  "And if I'm going to start trusting you, I'm going to need some payback for all the crap you gave me today. Consider this partially even."

"'Partially'?" Discord asked nervously. Sora responded with a smirk, Young Discord looking up curiously before he was laid down on his back, yelping in surprise then melted to bliss when both of Sora's hands began "assaulting" his belly with rubs and scratches. He heard Adult Discord let out a grunt, stifling his moans as he and his younger self was enjoying the attention, even though the former didn't want to admit how good it felt as the young draconequus was treated like a puppy. "Ahhh! N-No! I can feel that! Curse human ha-!" Discord yelped the colt began thumping his leg, his mouth open with his tongue sticking out as Sora's grin widened, getting his well-deserved payback in a nicer, non-violent way. "No, don't do the leg thump thing! Why does my past have a mind of its own!? I'm not enjoying this, just so you know!"

"Sure you're not," Sora said, letting up on torturing the young draconequus as he slumped over, panting heavily with a goofy grin. "You know I'm going to let Fluttershy know how cute you look as a kid when the girls get back, right?"

"Ugh. That's embarrassing to hear coming from you," Discord groaned. "And don't you dare tell Fluttershy. I'm not going to hear the end of it for weeks."

"But you would want that, wouldn't you?" Sora questioned, crossing his arms against his chest as he looked down at Young Discord, sitting up after recovering from the belly rub.

The draconequus colt expressed Discord's answer as he nodded silently, making the older Discord let out another groan. "...Not until maybe next Tuesday," Discord admitted. "Alright, I think you're more than convinced, right? You can trust in me again, completely reformed while still learning how to be a part of today's society and your circle of friends?"

"...Yeah, I think we can officially start over now that I know exactly what you've been through," Sora said.

In a flash of light, a doorway appeared beside them, which was probably Sora's way out of Discord's head. Taking it as his cue to leave, Sora stood up, but before he took a step, Young Discord tackled his leg and hugged him. Sora was a little surprised, unsure if Discord was subtly thanking him through his younger side's actions, or the child in his mind was its own being and found him as his first ever friend. He pat the draconequus on the head, watching him head off to the forest after he let go. Sora could have sworn he didn't see a cottage earlier when he arrived in this part of Discord's mind, similar to Fluttershy's, and waiting for the young draconequus was what appeared to be two more like Discord waiting for the colt. It was hard to tell from a distance, but judging by their height difference, the shorter one with longer hair, Sora figured it must have been what Discord imagined his parents would like.

Silently wishing Discord's childhood self would try to stay positive and not linger on his horrible past, Sora approached the door and opened it, stepping through. As soon as he was able to see, he fell back on all fours, back as a pegasus again, only to find himself in the most chaotic living room he had ever seen. It was obvious this must have been Discord's place judging by the nonsensical stairs leading nowhere, an endless void in the middle of the floor, upside down furniture, but it was more obvious just looking outside the window, the home resting in the middle of a chaotic dimension. Behind him, Sora seemed to have walked out of a closet, giving the door a blank stare as some sort of subtle joke Discord wanted to pull off unintentionally, but when he looked back at the room, Discord stood in front of him with a somber expression.

"To answer any questions that might be going through your head: You were in my mind, you walking out of my living room closet was not an intentional joke to poke fun of the romantic interest between you and Riku I made at the start of my reformation, pure coincidence it led you out of there, and I never knew my parents, but figured that's what they would have looked like if I ever did know them," Discord said. His sad gaze soon turned irritated, poking Sora's muzzle with his finger. "And I didn't appreciate the belly rub, by the way. Do you know how awkward that is when I'm over a thousand years old and you're...what, fourteen?"

"I'm in my early twenties," Sora stated, pushing Discord's hand away. "You weren't complaining when I did that."

"YOUNG me didn't," Discord restated. "Some of the other mes I create can have a mind of their own, and that part of me does..." He then sighed, looking down while twiddling his thumbs. "...Then again, even though it was just in my head, it felt...nice getting some attention like that...Just don't tell the others, otherwise I'll lose my reputation."

"What reputation?" Sora questioned with a smirk. "A cooler one than even mine?"

"Uhh, hello? Discord?" the draconequus said, gesturing all of himself with his hands. "Everyone loves me ever since my first debut, and I keep the audience entertained whether through animation or even writing, if the writers do their job justice to match my charismatic charm." Sora raised a brow at his statement, but shook his head, figuring it was something as random as one of Pinkie Pie's weird babbling about something she knew while the others didn't. Dropping his ego, Discord's ears drooped, looking nervous as he got back on topic. "So...are we good, now?"

"Hmm..." Sora crossed his forelegs over his chest, closing his eyes in deep thought, which worried Discord after he let out his past to someone. "...Yeah. We're good now," Sora said, holding out his hoof to the draconequus. Discord grinned and brought his talon to Sora's hoof to shake it, but the pegasus pulled it away, giving him a serious glare. "No joy buzzers."

"What?" Discord chuckled. "What joy buzzer? Who said I was going to pull a fast one on you?" Sora kept his firm gaze, taking this hoof/handshake seriously if they were to form a bond with each other. Discord sighed, pulling his talon like a glove to reveal his real hand, Sora's prediction right as there was a joy buzzer in his claw. "Did Pinkie give you psychic powers or something with that Harmony Form of yours?"

"I had a gut feeling," Sora said. "Especially after today when you threw me into a snowbank, trapped me in a bubble, turned me into a dog, had those skeletons constantly attack me-"

"Alright, alright, I get it," Discord interrupted, tossing away the buzzer with a huff, then thrust his claw out. "There? Happy?"

After examining his claw, Sora nodded and took Discord's hand, moving it up and down in an official, friendly shake. "Yes," he said. "Hi, I'm Sora."

"...You're not serious about actually starting over, right?" Discord questioned skeptically.

"What exactly are you?" Sora asked jokingly, getting a laugh at the annoyed draconequus's expression. "I'm joking. Kinda hard to forget someone like you."

"Gee, thanks," Discord uttered sarcastically.

Sora looked around Discord's chaotic house, his earlier comment involving the draconequus's imagination during the Ogres & Oubliettes game not exactly insulting, but seeing all the random mismatched living room, he clearly had a lot more imagination than when they were playing. He really did think he was trying to be better than the others when the Keyblade wielders were just as new to the game as he was when it was supposed to be a cooperative effort. It made sense after learning how well he had gotten along with ponies back then, always by himself and clueless as to how teamwork in a fantasy board game.

"Hey, Discord, that live world of Ogres & Oubliettes you created took a lot of inspiration," Sora said. "How come you didn't use your imagination without your magic when you basically do just that with it?"

"Well, it was boring just seeing a drawn layout of a dungeon," Discord admitted. "Board games are not fun if everypony just sits around a table taking turns doing whatever in order to win. I just wanted to get it over with, but when I made the game real earlier, I actually had fun." He brought a hand to his chin, looking back at his idea of fun. "Although, I bet it would have been a lot more fun taking part in the battle rather than controlling you guys during an encounter." Discord hummed in thought, running his paw through his short black mane. "I wonder how good I would look with long, golden hair..."

"Hmm...Aside from being controlled by you, living out the game is pretty exciting if there's no actual pain involved," Sora said to himself. He had an idea, one that would not only be fun for all of them, but also for Discord to learn about working together while also enjoying a friendly game with him and the others. "Say, how about we head back and start our Ogres & Oubliettes game over? But instead of Spike's way, we'll play it your way."





The next morning, the girls arrived back in Ponyville after their overnight tour of Yakyakistan. "Well, that was a pretty fun trip," Aqua said. "Getting to know the yaks' culture was...odd, but pretty interesting."

"We saw a lot of that when Prince Rutherford came to visit Ponyville," Rainbow said. "They really love to smash things."

"At least Aqua got the chance to blow off a lot of steam smashing things with them," Kairi said with a laugh. "I should have taken a picture to show to boys just how wild you went."

Aqua's cheeks turned red, but she huffed and turned her head, feigning embarrassment. "If you did, Terra would have probably poked fun at me, and I'd have to kick him out of the castle."

"I sure hope Discord hasn't caused too much trouble for them," Fluttershy said.

"Yeah, Discord and Sora don't really see eye to eye," Twilight said. "Hopefully the castle isn't destroyed."

They soon arrived at the Castle of Friendship and stepped inside. They stopped at the doorway when they saw the castle's foyer had turned into a giant board game world, the scenery they witnessed was an illusion of a wide ocean with a long bridge running across it, one side ending with a cardboard castle and town resting around it. There were drawn skeletons on cardboard patrolling the bridge, hopping around to move around as their portraits were alive while looking around. Suddenly, on the other side of the bridge from the castle, the checkpoint doors blew open, sending a few of the pony skeletons falling off the edge as they were smacked away by the blown open gates.

"What in tarnation is goin' on here?" Applejack questioned, their ears perking up as they heard what sounded a battle theme playing in the background, which oddly seemed fitting for the scenario.

"CHARGE!" Spike called out from the checkpoint, the band of heroes called forth to stop the evil Squizard running out in formation: Terra and Big Mac leading the charge, Sora and Riku taking the middle, and Spike, Ventus, and Discord in the rear, all seven of them in their Ogres & Oubliettes costumes courtesy of Discord's magic as he played his character, Captain Wuzz.

The skeletons on the bridge snarled as they prepared themselves to defend the castle, the Squizard hopping up on the other end, along with someone else, who wasn't like the drawn squid wizard or pony skeletons. It was a living pony like the stallions running across the bridge, his attire was the most awkward ever imagined if he was meant to be a warrior of some kind. He wore a red cloak under some black armor, the hood sporting horns that covered his head, his face painted white with red lines painted in an intimidating look, gray pants with with red diamonds splattered around them, and the oddest thing about him was the fact he had six forelegs attached to his shoulders, four of them resting under his cloak.

"So, they think they can get any closer to MY castle and rescue Princess Shmarity!?" the Squizard exclaimed. "Gilgamesh, keep them from breaching past the central checkpoint, or else!"

"Hmhmhmhm...With pleasure," the stallion said, leaping down onto the bridge and ran forward, meeting the fighting party halfway as they fought the Squizard's skeleton army.

Terra and Big Mac took on the charging forces heading their way, keeping them from going after their long-ranged Archer and two Mages with their skills, the former punching one foe into a group of others while the latter used his shield to block their foes weapons while slicing through them with his blade. Any stragglers that got through were dealt with Sora and Riku, their higher speed stats able to easily slip behind their foes and easily take them out before reaching their support group. Discord fired a barrage of arrows in the air, hitting skeletons farther ahead as they scrambled to avoid the raining arrows, Spike unleashed a bevy of magic spells to help break the groups away from their strongest hitters in front of them, and Ventus used healing magic in case anyone got injured and supplied them with status buffs to help aid them in their assault.

"Good thing we took the time to level up back in that cave before planning our siege," Sora said, ducking a skeleton warrior's flail while pickpocketing some goods it had on it, then lunged his dagger in its back, the cardboard it was drawn on crumbling to pieces like it was made of actual bones. "This is gonna be a cinch."

"Don't be so sure about that, Locke!" The skeleton ponies all hopped aside, revealing the stallion known as Gilgamesh standing in their way. "We still have a score to settle, you and I."

"Ugh, not again, Gilgamesh," Sora groaned. "Why do you want to pick a fight with me? I'm not a class that can wield swords!"

"Ah, but it is your other life whose sword I wish to take for my own," Gilgamesh stated. Sora looked at Discord, the draconequus whistling nonchalantly as he feigned ignorance on the random rival he created in this story. "I have honed my swordsponyship for many years, and I will have every single sword in my possession until I am known as a true master swordspony!" Pulling out his other four legs, he held them out, revealing a sword held in each one, all of them different, unique, and unlikely to be something that's found in the world of an Ogres & Oubliettes game: a huge metal sword that looked incredibly heavy as its length was as long as a normal pony's, a sword in the shape of a revolver, an aquatic blue sword with a small hooked end at the tip that reflected like the surface of the ocean, and a futuristic-looking sword with a curved blade that could turn into a gun. "Now, enough expository banter! We fight like stallions!...Even though one of you is actually a small dragon who has a beard, which is kind of weird..." Gilgamesh shook his head, crouching in a stance as his four legs wielding his swords waved about in preparation for combat. "Anyway, let us battle!"

"What compelled you to create him, Discord?" Riku asked, slightly annoyed by the foe they've faced several times before.

"I thought he'd just be a gag enemy boss I made up," Discord said, reaching into his quiver of infinite arrows as he readied his bow. "My creations can sometimes go out of control and have a mind of their own. Or maybe it's the fact Gilgamesh seems to be a very popular character in many eyes."

"Well, I've never heard of him until he first showed up," Spike said.

"Eeyup," Big Mac said in agreement.

Gilgamesh let out a battle cry and ran forward, Big Mac and Terra stood in front of their friends and blocked the multi-legged stallion's blades with their respective weapons. As two blades were each blocked by the two strongest stallions in the party, Sora took the opportunity to sneak around Gilgamesh and pilfer whatever goods the "sword master" had. He was successful in stealing, only to grimace in disgust as he somehow swiped the stallion's white and red polka dot underwear right out of his pants.

"Ahh! My undergarments!" Gilgamesh shrieked, his guard dropping in his embarrassment as Terra roundhouse kicked the stallion away.

Sora tossed Gilgamesh's briefs away, pulling out his dagger and swiftly tackled the stallion, leaving behind a few slashes before leaping back as he retaliated. Spike and Riku used their magic to deal some damage to Gilgamesh, unable to escape from the explosion of fire and magic beams from a distance. While staggering back from the magic attacks, Discord fired several arrows, some aiming for Gilgamesh, who kept himself protected with his swords, while most of them dealt with the skeletons still around as they tried to sneak up on his fellow warriors. Ventus helped deal with the skeleton ponies as well with his holy magic, making sure to stay away from any foes as he was their designated healer.

It didn't take long for the group to bring Gilgamesh to his knees, clearly outnumbered against the abilities of several different classes, even with a horde of skeletons on his side. "You gonna give up now and get out of our way?" Terra asked.

"Urgh...N-Not likely," Gilgamesh grunted. "I...I wasn't warmed up enough. But that doesn't mean you have won. Not yet." Gilgamesh stood up, placing his sword-wielding forelegs back in his cloak. "I will be back to take my revenge. And when I do, Locke, I will take you mystical key sword hidden within your power! Count on it!"

"Ok, is he trying to address me as my character or by my real name?" Sora questioned, only getting shrugs from his friends.

"Gilgamesh, you have failed me for the last time!" the Squizard yelled out, having witnessed the sword master's failure yet again. "You have no use to me if you can't even stop these ruffians from ruining my world domination!"

The Squizard shot a beam of magic at Gilgamesh's hooves, creating a dark void that began swallowing the stallion up. "Oh no, not again!" Gilgamesh cried out. "Not into the void again! First Bartz, then Zidane, Vaan, and now Locke! How can I have a rival if no one will remember meeeeeeeee!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

The party watched as Gilgamesh sank into the void, sent to who knows where as it disappeared. The Squizard hopped away back to the castle, the last of his army retreating to prepare for their arrival. Despite feeling bad for the stallion, the party cheered as they won.

"Oh yeah! Who's bad!?" Spike cheered.

"We're bad!" the stallions and draconequus answered, the Keyblade wielders and Discord joining Spike and Big Mac in their traditional guys' night chant, their ridiculous dancing and hip bumping making some of the mares who witnessed the clash on the big bridge giggle at their silliness.

Deciding to take a breather from their long game, Discord turned everything back to normal, making sure to keep a note of where they stopped so they could continue again on their next guys' night. "Whew. Now THAT was an awesome game of Ogres & Oubliettes," Ventus said. "Better than actually playing the board game."

"What the hell were you boys doing?" Aqua asked, making them jump, neither of them hearing the girls come in.

"Uhh, hey, ladies," Terra greeted. "Back so soon?"

"Yes. It's ten in the morning," Aqua said.

The boys all looked at each other, surprised to hear that they had been playing all through the night after Sora and Discord came back from their little spat. "Wow. We had a literal guys' night," Spike mumbled to himself, then yawned as he felt his adrenaline from their game dwindle.

"How much of that did you girls see?" Sora asked nervously.

"Long enough to see it end," Rainbow whined. "I wanted to play, too."

"Me, too!" Pinkie said. "I wanted to be the Dancer class; wear some revealing Dancer clothes and woo my enemies with my moves."

Sora and Riku's faces turned red in embarrassment when they heard Kairi laugh at them. "I didn't know you two were into those weird fantasy games," Kairi said as she approached Sora.

"Uhh...kinda hard to call them fantasy if we have even weirder experiences in our daily lives as Keyblade wielders, right?" Riku reasoned, trying to play off their nerdy LARP session as a simple sparring session.

"You had a horn and no wings in your...weird game you boys were playing," Twilight stated.

"...My character I created to play was a unicorn, and with Discord's magic...It was...fun using magic like that," Riku admitted, his cheeks threatening to explode with how dark red it was.

"You two are such dorks," Kairi said, grabbing the nervously grinning tan pegasus she fell in love with, then kissed his cheek. "But you are my dork."

"You didn't make a mess with the map while we were gone, did you?" Aqua questioned, giving the boys a deathly gaze.

"Oh, relax, it's fine," Discord assured. "We were using it for the boring board game earlier, but we decided on having a bit of live-action fun instead."

Aqua's eye twitched, making the stallions and baby dragon nervous. "None of you had better have ruined it after it just got fixed."

"You worry too much." Discord pushed Aqua over to Terra, pressing the couple close together to the mare's surprise. "Oh Yang, how about you head back home to your kingdom and spend a lovely evening with your beloved, overly worried wife?"

"W-We're not married!" Aqua exclaimed with a heavy blush, Terra chuckling as she squeezed her in his embrace.

"Good idea, Captain Wuzz," Terra said, confusing the girls as they used their character names. "Come on, Aqua. Let's head to our room. I'm pretty beat."

"B-But, the map! You guys were-!" She yelped as she was dragged off by Terra, unsure if he was even remotely tired after giving her a sly grin.

The rest of the guys began to head off to get some sleep after playing all through the night, though Discord stuck with Fluttershy as he walked with her back to her cottage. "So, did you enjoy hanging out with them?" Fluttershy asked, knowing the answer after watching their teamwork on the bridge during their game.

"Oh, it was boring at first, but it was actually quite enjoyable than I expected," Discord said.

"See? I knew they would like you," Fluttershy said.

"Yes, well, I was being rather...ridiculous, and I kept pestering Sora all day," Discord admitted. "Things got a little heated, and we...kinda almost got into a fight after I tried to liven things up. I was actually appalled that they felt bad for me...but, when they mentioned they let me join because I was all by myself, some memories of my past came up...and worse ones did when Sora called me...a freak..."

"...Oh," Fluttershy uttered. "But you're not a freak, Discord."

"He didn't mean it," Discord quickly said. "I kinda deserved it after I kept teasing him...but I showed him an example of...how my life was before I became the Lord of Chaos. We are on good terms now, and we're starting out as friends, so...it's a start, and everyone trusts me again after I betrayed you for Tirek." They soon arrived at Fluttershy's home, the pegasus taking off her winter clothing while Discord sat on her sofa, waiting for her to finish unpacking. Out of everyone, Discord had only told Ventus and Sora brief and somewhat paraphrased descriptions of his past, never truly letting out every single ounce of pain he experienced in his youth because of who he was. While she wasn't looking, he pulled out one of the enchanted ornaments from the chandelier that hung in the throne room, swiping one out of curiosity after watching them playing back some memories of the boys that were in the room. He wanted to tell someone he trusts more than anything with his life story, and he wanted to truly show Fluttershy what he looked like, how miserable his life was before being known as the chaotic villain he formerly was, and how much it had changed him into said villain when he could have been much more. "...Fluttershy?"

"Yes, Discord?" Fluttershy asked, coming back into the room with some tea and cucumber sandwiches to make up for their missed Tuesday tea yesterday.

"...Do you...want to know about my life when I was younger?" he asked nervously, twiddling with the ornament in his hands.

"...Well, if you want to tell me, I would like to know," Fluttershy said. "But, if it's too painful, you don't have to tell me everything."

"But I want to tell you everything," Discord said. "...Or, I'd like to show you..." He held out the ornament, making the pegasus curious about what her friend's past was like.

Snapping his fingers, the image in the ornament expanded in Fluttershy's living room, making it feel like they were actually inside the memories Discord wanted to show her. Just as Sora had predicted earlier, as soon as Fluttershy saw how cute Young Discord looked, she gushed and embarrassed the draconequus, wishing she was around back then to hug the draconequus colt. Her excited squeals quickly ended when she saw the misery in the young colt in Discord's memories, getting hurt by other colts his age back then and called horrible things by them and adults just because of his appearance, his magic he cast whether it was in his control or not, and how lonely he was when he was forced to find shelter in a cave or alleys in towns as he wandered around while trying to fit in with every single creature he met.

It was bad when he was a child, but as Discord grew older in his teens and as an adult, it only got worse. Even though he was able to control his magic and use it to try to help ponies if there was a thief or a natural crisis, none of them praised him trying to prove he could fit in with heroics and only judged him by his appearance. He tried to stop a thief who robbed an old mare blind, only to be called a monster when he tried returning her stolen goods and money. He tried to help an injured guard who was doing reconnaissance and got attacked by a cranky ursa minor, Discord teleported the giant star bear safely back to its den and brought the soldier back to his troops, only to be accused of being the one responsible for hurting their comrade and attacked after saving him, despite the injured stallion explaining how he saved him. Even performing good deeds did nothing to give him any credit; his magic able to create all kinds of chaotic confectioneries to feed those who couldn't afford food, but his witchcraft was called cursed, despite unicorns able to use magic and they weren't scolded or heckled by doing anything with their power, even if it was out of their control.

Discord truly felt like he never really belonged as he helplessly wandered around Equestria as years passed in the memories. More and more ponies called him a monster, tyrant, freak, demon, every single harmful word that described him just by his appearance, no one ever once giving him a chance to show how much good he could do. The final straw that destroyed any hope of fitting in happened when he tried to do one last good thing for someone, during one of the most tragic things Fluttershy had ever seen Discord go through. In one of the towns he wandered into, there was a panic as one of the buildings had caught on fire. Ponies scrambled to try to put it out, the town unfortunately suffering from a dry spell as there were barely any rain clouds to pour down and douse the fire. There was a cry for help from a small filly on the second floor of the home, the poor pony trapped while her parents got out and were crying out for someone to help save their baby. Hoping this would give him a chance for ponies to see he's not a monster, he ran past the crowd and dove through the front door of the house.

He could have used magic to snuff out the flames, but after trying to help others with his magic ending up failing several times, he was going to do this without his chaos, then maybe warm everyone up to what he can do. With his slender body, he kept low to avoid inhaling smoke, making his way through the burning building and up the stairs to reach the trapped filly's room.

"Mommy! Daddy! Help me!" the filly cried out, then began coughing as she was losing oxygen, trying to avoid getting burned by the growing flames.

"Hang on, little one!" Discord called out. "Here I come!" He barged through the door, finding the filly curled in a corner where there was less fire. She was frightened by his appearance, but he approached her calmly, but quickly, easing her into getting to know the draconequus. "It's alright. I'm gonna help get you out of here."

She was too scared to move, afraid of getting hurt by the fire and the strange creature coming to her rescue. The roof started to cave in, a large piece of it in the filly's room falling down on them. Discord dove over the filly, protecting her and, to his chagrin, created a magic bubble around them to keep them from getting hurt. When she looked up at him, he gave her a calm smile, seeing the trust she had in him as she held onto him tightly. Discord scooped her up and raced back downstairs, but just as he was about to reach the front door, the ceiling caved in, dropping burning debris in front of their escape route. Silently cursing to himself, Discord found no other way out with the fire starting to spread around them. Left with no choice, he unleashed his magic to keep them both safe, creating a massive pile of snow with a snap of his fingers inside the house, the flames dying out while some of the snow that filled up the house melted a little bit.

Outside, ponies were flabbergasted as the burning building suddenly turned into a smoldered winter wonderland. Inside, however, the filly blinked, staring in awe at the avalanche of snow in her home, saved from the fire thanks to Discord.

"...How did you do that?" the filly asked curiously, surprising Discord as this was the first time anypony so young was actually that interested in how he helped her.

"Oh...I have...magic," he told her, snapping his fingers as he created a few snow bunnies around them, literally made of snow as they frolicked around. "It's a bit...different. I tried not to use it, but desperate times called for desperate measures...It's not...scary, is it?" She shook her head, to Discord's delight. Sadly, his joy didn't last long as he made his way to the front door, moving the now snow-covered debris and opened up the snow blocking the entrance like a makeshift door. Spotting the filly's parents, avoiding the shocked expressions of all the townsponies as best as he could, he walked up to them and held out their daughter to them. "There you go. Your little filly's safe and sound now. No thanks necessary."

Just as the filly was about to tell her parents how Discord saved her, the mother quickly swiped her out of his hands, then glared at him silently, already judging him after he rescued her. His hopes were dashed when he heard ponies muttering about him, and his using magic to get rid of the fire with snow was a big mistake as some of them began thinking he was the one who caused the mysterious fire.

"What the hay were you doing!?" one of the ponies questioned. "Did you start that fire!?"

"N-No!" Discord said. "I-I just got here and saw the fire! Why would I stay if I did set the house on fire!?And I risked my life to save-!"

None of them heard his reasons, his frustrations trying to show he wasn't dangerous dwindling to sorrow as they all yelled at him to get out before they requested the aid of powerful unicorns to banish him, all for helping save a filly who was the only one grateful for his efforts. Their orders for him to leave fell on dead ears as he looked at the filly, silently begging her to help him, but her parents kept her out of his sight as she struggled to try to tell them he wasn't bad. Discord's shoulders sagged as depression kicked in, snapped out of his misery when he felt someone throw a rock at him.

"Get out of here, you dumb monster!" a teenage colt shouted, a few more rowdy teens stupidly trying to kick the "monster" out as they kept throwing rocks at him, the adults fearing Discord would do a lot worse as they antagonized him into doing something far worse than make snow appear and fill up a burning house.

Unable to take anymore, Discord teleported away, reappearing in a cave far away from the town that he made as his home, tears streaming down his face as he eventually broke down, his belief that he would ever be accepted by anyone forever hopeless. Fluttershy could only feel pity as she saw Discord this vulnerable for the first time. Discord stopped playing the memories, refraining from showing her what happened next, though it was obvious from the breakdown.

"Yes...I tried to do some good for Equestria," Discord said, holding the enchanted ornament morosely. "No one bothered to see that when they looked at me, though...After my final attempt to show everypony I was more than I appeared, I began talking to myself, a darker side of me questioning why I still hoped ponies would respect me when I could have done it in another way...I reluctantly agreed with that side, snapping as I turned into the draconequus history wrote me as, all while forcefully pushing away my past deep in the back of my mind, giving them what they wanted; a monster with chaotic powers, wreaking havoc while taking Equestria as my chaos capital of the world...And you know the rest after that..."

Fluttershy was in tears, startling Discord as she hugged him. "I'm so sorry, Discord," she said. "How awful...If only we knew about you sooner...You didn't deserve to be pushed away like that, or turned to stone."

"Better than wishing for my existence to end, I guess," Discord said halfheartedly. "Only one of me, and it wouldn't be right making my kind extinct."

"Well, you don't have to feel that lonely anymore," Fluttershy said. "You have friends now; you have us. You don't have to worry about those ponies back then judging you that way ever again." Discord's lower lip quivered at the heartwarming statement his first ever friend made, holding back his tears as he smiled. Fluttershy pulled back, rubbing her hoof against his paw, giving him a reassuring smile. "Thank you for telling me, Discord. I bet you feel a whole lot better letting it out."

"...I do, actually," he said. He then gave her muzzle a light boop, his playful side returning as he gave her a serious gaze. "But don't mention this to anypony. I don't want to be seen as soft, especially around Celestia, because I know she'll poke fun at me."

Fluttershy giggled and nodded her head. "Deal."

"Great! Now, let's enjoy some tea!" Discord grabbed a cup and slurped noisily, grateful to have met Fluttershy and made friends now than in the past, never wanting to take it for granted again after Tirek's mind games.