//------------------------------//
// Top Bolt 
// Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria 
// by Codex92 
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Within the days that passed after Sora announcing his engagement with Kairi on Hearts and Hooves Day, a few odd shenanigans occurred in and out of Ponyville. One of these was the grand opening of Rarity For You, Rarity's new boutique in Manehattan when she was with Pinkie and Maud during their Pie Sisters Surprise Swap Day, or P.S.S.S.D. for short. It needed a bit of sprusing up, and with her friends, they were able to get it cleaned up and set up...although with several minor setbacks, and the rest of the Mane Six who went along to assist her nearly making matters worse. There was the landlord's daughter who wanted to pitch in her odd ideas to make the boutique better, a family of raccoons that had taken residence in the back storage room, a dance club a couple floors higher in the building, which was owned by Vinyl Scratch, was hosting a party with loud, thumping music that would be a big distraction to the grand opening, and trying to find out which pony would be best suited to run the store in Rarity's absence while handling her other two stores, or saving the day, whichever came first. She was unaware of the disaster in her new store, locked up in the display while making it catch customers' eyes for the grand opening, until she read the news a week later that had the summarized interviews of each of the six mares after the surprisingly successful opening, utilizing those problems and turning them into solutions that helped make it better.

Then came an odd case involving a grayish-black griffon named Gabby, who came from Griffonstone to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and she requested their help in getting her a cutie mark. Despite the odd, and probably impossible goal she had in mind, Gabby was not like the griffons back in her kingdom. She was far more energetic, bubbly, incredibly optimistic, and through all the miscellaneous ideas Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo came up with, Gabby was pretty much a jack of all trades, and a master of all. Sadly, there was no cutie mark on the helpful griffons flank after any of these completed tasks, upsetting the filly trio when they felt like failures. Gabby cheered them back up when she painted on a cutie mark, claiming she earned it, but after helping a random stallion with his cart getting stuck in the mud while flying back home to avoid disappointing the Crusaders if they found out the truth, she got drenched after helping the stallion, washing off the fake cutie mark before them when they found out. She did however discover the purpose of her life, even without getting a cutie mark in a flash of light like ponies do: she was a great helper to those in need of assistance or cheering up, and she had the attitude and personality to be that kind of charitable person. Gabby was made an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader, with a special "cutie mark" the Crusaders gave her, a pair of wooden shields similar to their cutie marks that could be worn on her lower back, set on her flanks to show off her talent. Twilight was unfortunately disappointed when she heard a griffon got a cutie mark, excited at the phenomenon and was ready to do a multi-paged research paper on it.

The next few days after Gabby's visit, things escalated to absurd or insane scenarios. When Twilight had to leave to Canterlot to help teach students in Celestia's prestigious school about enchanted items, she left Starlight with the others to learn more friendship lessons, passing or succeeding the magic lessons the two had when they weren't busy. Unfortunately, Starlight took the task a bit too seriously, thinking it was some kind of homework assignment where she had to bond with the rest of the Mane Six and the Keyblade wielders, and taking care of them all at once wasn't as great of an idea as she expected. Especially when she used a spell to hypnotize Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie into obeying her every command, most of the time taking it too literally, Sora and the rest of the wielders luckily outside when a Heartless invasion distracted them from bonding with Starlight. When they returned and discovered the chaotic mess that Discord would probably agree makes perfect sense, she was harshly scolded by Aqua about going back to manipulating ponies to do whatever she liked, thankfully fixing the mess before Twilight returned and properly punished her student for using magic that irresponsibly. Starlight did learn, however, this time more laxed and enjoyed the lessons at a calming pace instead of being stressed for time.

And to top it off, there was a terrible misunderstanding out by the sea when Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity sailed together on a boat to enjoy a friendly ride. Each mare had different stories to tell, giving their perspective on how the other two behaved, mostly unlike how they usually acted, while also sharing a few similar details, their ending having their ship get tossed over and broken by a massive tidal wave, which sparked the blame game between them. It turned out that each of them had tried to get their other two friends to come out of their element while out on the ship, and neither of them noticed they were doing the same thing. And the crash didn't come from the storm at the end of their stories; it was caused by an aquatic creature called a tri-horned bunyip, a docile creature who sought the cucumber sandwiches Rarity brought that got knocked over in the water, where cucumbers happened to be its favorite food as it rose to the surface from the shallows. Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack forgave each other when the truth was revealed and tried again, even including the bunyip in their second trip to make it more fun. Fluttershy was immediately jealous upon hearing that tale, too busy with Rainbow Dash as they took a trip to Cloudsdale for their flight school reunion.





Up in the locker rooms of Cloudsdale's Wonderbolts Academy, Rainbow Dash finished showering after a the scheduled training for the day. With her official Wonderbolts flight jacket on and grabbing her belongings from her locker, always giddy to live out her dream, even if it's just a moment to train and learn new flight formations for their shows.

"Spring training was awesome, but I can't wait to get back to Ponyville," Rainbow said aloud. "Gonna catch up on some Daring Do with Twilight, help Applejack make my favorite cider, get in a prank war with Pinkie against Sora and Riku-"

"We get it, you have a lot of plans this week," a Wonderbolt member, Misty Fly, groaned.

Spitfire walked in, having just finished with her shower as she headed toward her locker. "Meanwhile, I'm stuck here running trials week at the Acadamy," she said disappointingly.

"But you love blowing your whistle and yelling," Rainbow stated, confused by her captain's disheartened statement.

"Yeah, I do," Spitfire said with a wistful smile, making the rainbow-maned pegasus roll her eyes.

"See you guys later!" Rainbow said, zooming off once her saddlebags were set on her back. Once she was finally out of the area, she casually flew through the sky. She froze when she felt her cutie mark suddenly glowing, looking back at the colorful lightning bolt and felt excited to have another map mission after a long while. "Sweet! The map's calling me! I wonder who's coming along with me this time."

An ethereal form of her cutie mark flew out from her flank, guiding her toward the castle as she chased after it. It didn't take long for her to reach the Castle of Friendship, finding the window connecting to the throne room and peeked in, where Twilight, Starlight, Spike, Riku, and Terra were gathered around the Cutie Map.

"And it looks like we're all here," Riku said, spotting Rainbow climb through. "Ever heard of a door, Rainbow? We use them to enter a building, not the window, you burglar."

"Did you want me to break the door down when I fly at sonic rainboom speeds?" Rainbow asked. "And hi, by the way. So, where's the map taking me today? The Crystal Mountains? Vanhoover? Here?...Please tell me here."

"Well, the good news is that you, Riku, Terra, and I are all called by the map," Twilight said.

"Awesome!" Rainbow cheered, though her excitement dwindled as they moved onto the bad news. "So, what's the bad news?"

"Just take a look at the map," Riku said, pointing to the Cutie Map.

Rainbow did just that, the location of their friendship quest unfortunately a disappointment to her: their mission was up in Cloudsdale, though the four cutie marks floating around their destination was at the Wonderbolts Academy. "Aww, come on! I was just there!" Rainbow groaned. Despite dreading going back after planning to relax from training, she was curious why Terra was coming along with them. "Wait, why's Terra coming again? We're going to Cloudsdale, and he's not a pegasus."

"That's what I'm wondering about as well," Terra said.

"Well, at least there's some physical ground at the Academy, so we don't have to worry if he falls when we get there," Riku said. "Though getting there for him is a problem if he uses his glider to fly up there. Can't exactly reveal that to anyone."

"Do you think you can pilot a hot air balloon?" Twilight suggested. "It's not as conspicuous in Equestria."

"I can learn," Terra said. "It would be a lot embarrassing than getting a ride on any of your backs, or floating around in your magic like a helpless rag doll."

"Alright, we got a plan," Rainbow said, letting out a frustrated huff. "Let me drop off my things and we can get going."





Once Rainbow Dash dropped her belongings back to her home, she regrouped with Twilight, Riku, and Terra, the latter stallion settling into Twilight's old hot air balloon and learning how to operate it fairly quickly. The group set off to Cloudsdale, Terra following behind as he used Aero spells to help push him through the air to catch up with them while trying not to rock the basket too much. They saw the large mass of the flat summit the Academy was built on through the clouds, recruits flying laps while staff set things up the training courses for the young cadets. Down on the runway, Spitfire paced in front of a group of new recruits, wearing her uniform jacket and sunglasses as she was in drill sergeant mode, sizing up the new ponies to intimidate them.

"Looks like there's fresh meat this year," Riku said. "Thankfully, no sign of Lightning Dust. I would not want to see another cocky flyer crazy enough about being the best while getting the rest of the squad injured."

"I was kinda responsible for creating that tornado with Lightning that day, too," Rainbow said.

"But the idea was Lightning's, and you were supposed to follow your lead partner in any of the training regiments," Riku reasoned. "She wasn't a team player, which is the whole point of the Wonderbolts, and if she risks her team's life without thinking about the repercussions of her 'brilliant ideas' to get things done quicker. She was never meant to be a Wonderbolt with her attitude, impatience, and lack of respect to her superiors or her team."

"Weren't you the lead pony when showing an example to the recruits that week?" Twilight recalled.

"I was, but even though Sora and I are competitive and butt heads, we work together as a team," he said. "We work with our strengths and weaknesses, just as the recruits should when paired up."

The group of four landed in the clearing far from the runway, the hot air balloon settling to the ground with Rainbow and Riku's guidance. Terra climbed out of the basket, Twilight making sure to cast the cloud walking spell on him in case he ever needed to use the clouds to reach certain parts of the training course. They walked over to the runway, listening in to Spitfire welcoming the recruits.

"Alright, newbies! Welcome to trials week for the Wonderbolt Academy!" Spitfire greeted in her strict, Wonderbolt captain way. "You will be judged on your speed, strength, agility, and technique, culminating in a final evaluation. Will it be hard? Yes! Will you cry? Maybe. Will you fly so much your wings fall off?" She paused as she thought about her last question. "...That's only happened once."

"Umm, she's just exaggerating to make a point, right?" a mare asked another of her fellow recruits, her coat a pale magenta with a slightly darker shade of magenta hair with slightly dark pink streaks, a pink bow tied in the back of her mane. "I mean, wings can't really fall off...can they?"

"You think you've got what it takes to be an elite flyer!?" Spitfire asked the recruits.

"Yes, ma'am," a cocky-looking stallion responded before the rest of the recruits.

"Yes, ma'am!" the others said.

"Well, lemme tell you. You don't!" Spitfire exclaimed, pointing at one of the shorter pegasi in the group.

Rainbow let out a wistful sigh, nostalgia from her first day of training as a recruit. "I remember when she said that to me."

Spitfire was a bit surprised when she heard Rainbow Dash behind her, most of the recruits chattering in awe as the newest Wonderbolt member and one of the Elements of Harmony was in their presence. "You don't think Rainbow Dash was the pony whose wings fell off, do you?" the same mare asked.

"Quit your whispering and give me five hundred laps!" Spitfire ordered, the majority of the recruits taking off as they began their laps, but the pale magenta pegasus flew over to the visiting ponies, more specifically Rainbow and Twilight.

"Um, I just wanted you to know, you two are my favorite ponies in all of Equestria," she nervously said like a timid fan meeting her idols for the first time.

"Well, isn't that sweet, Angel Wings?" Spitfire replied mockingly before blowing her whistle. "NOW GET GOING ON THOSE LAPS!" Angel Wings immediately obeyed, taking off and joining the other recruits in their laps around the Academy. "Welcome, Princess Twilight, and nice seeing you again, Riku."

"Likewise, captain," Riku said, then gestured to Terra. "This is Terra. He's a Keyblade wielder like me and Sora."

"Hmm...I think I was able to tell that by the weird warrior dress he's wearing." Terra growled at the Wonderbolts captain's comment on his outfit.

"It's called a hakama," the stallion grumbled. "...At least she got part of it right unlike everyone else...Should I consider wearing something else to avoid this confusion?"

"Probably for the better if you don't want to get teased," Spitfire suggested, but Terra refused, too proud to take off something that reminded him of his home in the Land of Departure and his training with Eraqus. "But, Crash, what are you doing back so soon?"

"Official friendship business," Rainbow said.

"Have you noticed anypony having a hard time with their friends?" Twilight asked.

Spitfire hummed in thought with a hoof to her chin. "...Not really, but it's not my job to worry about their relationships. I'm here to make them elite flyers."

Most of the recruits fly past them, some with great speed, though most of them were a bit sloppy with their turns and keeping themselves from dipping too close to the ground with each lap. "They could use a bit of work," Riku said.

"Maybe you and Rainbow Dash should tell them," Twilight suggested. "I'm sure they'll appreciate any notes from you two."

"Nah. I wouldn't want to mess with their confidence," Rainbow quickly said.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Terra interjected. "I knew I had a lot of faults growing up when I was an apprentice, and I was kind of cocky when Aqua first showed up. They need to learn these weaknesses and improve on them so they can get better. And if they get too overconfident and screw up...that'll make things worse."

Spitfire looked up at the new trainees, observing their flying and judging them by their form, flapping power, and speed. "Sloppy wing placement, crooked lines..." The captain let out a sigh, adjusting her glasses while shaking her head. "Looks like I'm gonna have to drill them on basic technique in the classroom portion."

"Classroom portion?" Twilight asked, her eyes sparkling with glee.

"Uh oh, Spitfire said the secret word," Riku uttered.

"Yeah, the classroom stuff isn't everypony's favorite part of trail week, but it has to be done," Spitfire said.

"We can help!" Twilight eagerly volunteered, Riku rolling his eyes behind her back. "This is perfect! With Riku and Rainbow's flying skills and mine and Terra's teaching expertise, they can learn a lot!"

"Wait, teaching? Me?" Terra asked, laughing nervously at the unexpected claim. "I-I'm not exactly teacher material. I may be a Keyblade Master, but I haven't exactly taught anything to anyone."

"Oh, he's just exaggerating!" Twilight said. "Plus, once they get to know us, they'll be more comfortable coming to us for friendship problems!"

"Count us in!" Rainbow said, wholeheartedly agreeing with Twilight, though Terra and Riku were a bit unsure the only flightless pony among them could help teach future Wonderbolts.

"Great!" Spitfire said, accepting the helpful offer from the princess and her entourage. She blew her whistle, signalling the recruits to fly back down on the runway, where they mostly ended up crashing into each other, most of them laying in a heap of tangled limbs. "You guys have got your work cut out for you."

"Gee, thanks, Spitfire," Riku muttered as the Wonderbolts captain walked off.





While the visiting group took the time to prepare teaching this group of future Wonderbolts the basics, Twilight was already giddy as she levitated several scrolls around her within the span of ten minutes as they reached the building where their class was waiting for them. "Thank goodness I had time to whip up a few charts on flight patterns and wing symmetry! It's fresh on my mind from when I learned to fly!" Twilight said, showing Rainbow, Riku, and Terra the many different plans she had made, clearly showing just how crazy she was about the methods of learning. "THIS IS SO EXCITING!"

Riku squished the alicorn's beaming cheeks with his hooves, trying to get her back down from cloud nine. "Twilight, not everyone finds learning fun like you do," he said, rubbing her face while making her grumble at him in displeasure.

"Yeah, like me," Rainbow added. "I practically fell asleep when I went through this."

"I guess this is how a master or teacher feels when they try to teach the laziest of students," Terra uttered to himself. "The youth of a generation must have really short attention spans before they finally understand why they need to learn the things they need...Including myself."

"I tell you what. I'll leaving the teaching stuff to you guys, and I'll just make sure they stay awake!" Rainbow pulled out an airhorn, pressing the button while blasting the loud, irritating blaring sound at Twilight and Riku.

"Or make them go deaf," Riku commented, the couple rubbing their sore ears.

"I'm pretty sure that their thirst for knowledge will keep them bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," Twilight assured, but Rainbow laughed at her statement.

"Good one, Twilight," she said. Rainbow then burst into the classroom, blasting the airhorn and startling the recruits as they entered. "Wake up, newbies! Class is in session!"

Twilight approached and stood behind the podium while Riku and Terra stood on the other ends of the blackboard, which already had the lesson plan written up for the students. "Hello, students!" Twilight greeted enthusiastically. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Rainbow Dash, Riku, and Terra."

"But you can call us 'T-Sparks', 'Re-Cool', Terra-Bad', and 'The Dashinator'!" Rainbow exclaimed, trying to sound cool, but the embarrassing nicknames she wanted the pegasi to call them by only confused them. Twilight, Riku, and Terra leered at her with an unamused gaze, making her chuckle nervously as she hovered back down to the ground. "Just kidding."

"And we're here to go over basic flying technique," Twilight continued, though one pony in the class groaned in annoyance, which happened to be the same cocky stallion earlier who responded to Spitfire first.

"Alright, who said that!?" Rainbow yelled out.

"Me," the stallion said, his coat a dark blue with short light green hair, the front of his mane spiked with his bangs shaped like a lightning bolt while the rest had a windswept look to it, his cutie mark a yellow and orange striped lightning bolt pointing up instead of down. He sat in his chair in a way that showed he was an arrogant, incredibly bored "expert" in his field, and the teachers knew he was going to be a challenge if he behaved as ignorant as Lightning Dust had. "I mean, we're here because we're amazingly awesome crazy-good flyers. We're WAY past basics."

"And your name is...?" Riku asked as he approached the overly-confident stallion.

"Sky Stinger. You've never heard of me?" Sky Stinger said with a smirk.

"...No, I haven't," Riku said.

"He set the record for the fastest vertical acceleration rate!" a mare sitting next to Sky Stinger said, her coat a light chartreuse greenish gray with her hair a mix of light cyanish gray, light emerald greenish gray, and pale apple green colors, her cutie mark a yellow-orange shooting star. "Five hundred feet in two seconds!"

"Hmmm...That is impressive," Riku uttered, though he wasn't convinced until he saw Sky Stinger in action.

"It's amazing!" the mare exclaimed, as if cheering for Sky Stinger's achievements, which only seemed to boost the smug pegasus's ego as he leaned back in his seat.

"We can talk about personal records after class, Ms...?" Twilight said.

The mare winced and tried to hide behind her hooves, as if trying to avoid getting everyone's attention. "Vapor Trail," Sky answered for her. "She's my wingpony. I never fly without her."

"But you'll have to in the solo trails," Rainbow said, her response from her own experience making Vapor Trail suddenly nervous as she looked at Sky.

"T-There are...solo trials?" Vapor said with an audible gulp.

"It's part of your final evaluation to get in as a recruit," Riku stated. "And you don't get teamed up with a wingpony until we get your results."

"We'll ace that test with a wings tied to our flanks," Sky gloated, clearly not as nervous as his friend. "And my picture will go up there, right next to Rainbow Dash's."

"Careful with what you claim," Terra warned. "Overconfidence can be your greatest downfall, especially when everyone has a chance to be a Wonderbolt with the right training and skills."

"Yeah, yeah. It's in the bag," Sky said, shrugging off Terra's advice.

"Anyway, back on topic!" Twilight interrupted before they got off track. "Now, who can tell me the best wing angle to achieve minimal air resistance?"

Instead of seeing raising hooves or a eruption of answers, everyone heard Rainbow snoring as she slumped back against an empty chair. Riku and Twilight leered at the sleeping pegasus, setting a great example for their students by napping in the middle of a lecture that the recruits needed to go over. The alicorn held the airhorn in her aura, everyone quickly covering their ears as she pressed down on the irritating noise maker, waking Rainbow up as she flew up and yelled.

"CLASS IS IN SESSION!" she yelled, further embarrassing herself as the recruits laughed at her reaction.

Riku guided Rainbow back to the front of the class, taking the airhorn and held it in front of Rainbow Dash. "Now I know why you brought this with you: so you can use it on yourself if you were the one who fell asleep."

"S-Shut up," Rainbow muttered.

After a lengthy hour of teaching, the recruits flew out of the building to get some fresh air, feeling cramped while being lectured by an overly eager alicorn princess obsessed with learning and teaching fresh minds. The group of four walked out after them, Twilight evaluating how well they listened and paid attention to her lesson plan.

"Well, there were a few hiccups, but overall, that went pretty well," Twilight said.

"Except one of the teachers kept dozing off," Riku said, all eyes on the cyan pegasus mare.

"What? I'm not a student," Rainbow said, which the others found as a pointless excuse.

"You're a role model, Rainbow Dash, so behave like one and not give ponies like Sky Stinger a lackadaisical ego," Terra scolded.

"Do you want to have another Lightning Dust around and get everyone severely injured?" Riku asked, Rainbow seeing the point as she chuckled nervously, then sighed in shame.

"Hey, Teach!" Sky called out, though who the stallion was referring to confused the four of them.

"Uhh, who were you talking to?" Rainbow asked. "Probably Twilight."

"Actually, all four of you," Sky Stinger said. "About the solo test. I'm actually kind of worried about it."

That statement shocked the quartet, thinking Sky Stinger's ego wouldn't ever be knocked down a peg, but the look of concern on his face said otherwise. "Well, well, well, looks like 'Mister Confidence' is doubting himself," Riku said mockingly.

"Oh, no, no! I have absolutely no doubts about myself. I'm a strong flyer; like really, REALLY strong." And their hopes were dashed when Sky still gloated, making the four ponies slump in disbelief. "This isn't about me. I'm worried about Vapor."

"How...very kind of you?" Twilight said, feeling unsure how to react with Sky's concerns after hearing him gloat after the fact.

"Well, it's almost time for the freestyle training," Rainbow said. "Why don't you grab her and show us what you got?"

"Yes!" Sky cheered. "Prepare to be impressed!" He then zoomed off, but came back just as quickly. "By me," he added before zipping back off, only to come back once again and slightly irritating his teachers. "Like I said, Vapor still needs work."

Sky flew off once more, thankfully not coming back to their relief. "I can't tell if he actually does care about his wingpony's abilities or he's too busy trying to suck up to us while also being as insufferable as Sora when he mentions Santa Claus," Riku grumbled.

"Let's just see how they all do during the freestyle stunts," Terra said. "If he can dish out what he boasted about the whole day, I'll be impressed."

They moved on out to the runway and observed the recruits and their freestyle maneuvers to judge their initial skills. When it came to Sky and Vapor's turn, the stallion's flips and incredible spins actually surprised the group when he pulled them off. Vapor Trail was always underneath him while she performed her own tricks as well, not as great as her friend's, but she definitely had a lot of stamina for someone lacking the same confidence as Sky Stinger.

"Well, he may be full of himself, but I have to admit, Sky is an excellent flyer," Twilight commented. "He must have shot up two hundred feet!"

"You know, Sora and I could do a lot better," Riku said. "And without a boost."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, I noticed that, too," Terra said. "While they're both flying, Vapor Trail's always flying underneath Sky Stinger. She's lifting him higher with her flaps when she twists around, giving him more air to help him flip that should be difficult with how often he keeps his wings spread out while performing."

"Really? I didn't even notice Vapor," Twilight said. "I was too focused on watching Sky..." Looking closely at the duo, Twilight paid most of her attention on Vapor Trail this time. To hers and Rainbow's shock, they saw Vapor always flying underneath Sky, flapping her wings hard to give the stallion a boost during his flips successfully, his eyes closed the whole time as if he had no problem if he misjudged his maneuvers. "Oh my gosh. I think you're right. Vapor created a gust of wind that catch's Sky's wing at a forty-five degree angle, propelling him into a flipping loop!...Somepony paid attention in class."

"And someone's helping their friend cheat," Riku added, Twilight's praise for Vapor dwindling as she remembered this was about the Wonderbolts recruits' solo test, not teams.

"I don't even know if they're cheating," Rainbow said. "It looks like Sky doesn't even know he's not that amazingly awesome."

"And Vapor's too busy helping Sky look good, she's neglecting her own flying skills," Terra added.

"This must be our friendship problem!" Twilight exclaimed with delight. "And there's only one thing to do!"

"Fix it without telling them."
"Tell them the truth."

After both mares said their ideas simultaneously, Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other, feeling aghast from their friend's insane idea. Riku and Terra were just as baffled, though they knew either outcome could make the situation between Sky and Vapor worse. No matter what, either outcome would result in Sky Stinger failing, denying he didn't need help from his friend and could pull off his stunts without anyone's help, only to end up failing in the end when the solo trials commence. Vapor Trail might have a chance, but with how much she wanted to help Sky show off, that potential is wasted by making him look good instead of improving her own abilities.

"You don't want to tell them?" Twilight questioned Rainbow.

"Of course not!" Rainbow said. "Flying is like thirty percent skill and seventy percent confidence! You can't mess with a flyer's confidence!"

"Where'd you come up with that kind of math?" Riku questioned skeptically.

"But you can't improve if you don't think you have to!" Twilight reasoned. "Besides, Vapor's keeping a pretty big secret from Sky, and that could lead to trouble!"

"Yeah, but if we tell them that they've been holding each other back, that could be trouble too!" Rainbow reasoned as well, both points making sense even if they both won't help Sky and Vapor with their skills and strain their relationship.

They didn't have much more time to argue over what they should do as Sky and Vapor flew back down to the ground, Sky toweling off what little sweat he made with a confident gait while Vapor panted in exhaustion. "Nailed that flipping loop," Sky gloated, tossing his towel back, making it land on Vapor Trail. "I'm actually surprised you're still here. Thought I blew you away."

"If you know about me, you should know I'm not amazed by simple tricks you and the rest of the Wonderbolts perform," Riku said irritably, starting to get more annoyed at Sky Stinger than with Sora, but at least his best friend can actually pull off whatever he claims he can do.

"Y-You...were great...Sky," Vapor commented, trying to get her breath back.

"Come on, Vapor Trail!" Spitfire yelled from the air, having watched the mare recruit from a distance. "You're gonna have to build up your endurance if you want a shot at the Academy! Wonderbolts don't get winded!" Spitfire looked up, watching Angel Wings attempt to buck a cloud, though it took her a while to hit it hard enough to bust it into nothingness. "Angel Wings, you call that cloud busting!? That cloud barely knew you were there!" The pale magenta pegasus winced, then flew off to try again with another cloud, Spitfire watching her as she let out a sigh. "I love my job."

The Wonderbolts captain flew off to oversee the other recruits, leaving Sky and Vapor alone with the four heroes. "We'll keep working," Sky said. "And who knows, Vapor? One day, you might come close to being almost as good as me."

"Oh, I don't think so," Vapor humbly said. "You were voted Statusburg's most promising flyer! I was voted best sneeze."

Vapor let out a fake sneeze, which was actually adorable sounding. "You do have a great sneeze," Sky commented, which was surprisingly sincere coming from the cocky flyer.

"Thanks, Sky, but I don't think I can sneeze my way into the Academy," Vapor sadly said, letting out a disappointed sigh. "...I'm actually pretty beat. I'm gonna hit the showers."

Vapor solemnly walked back to the Academy building to shower in the locker rooms, Sky looking to his instructors with a worried glance. "You guys have GOT to help her," he pleaded.

"Actually, she's not the one-" Twilight was about to say before Rainbow latched her hooves over her muzzle and interrupted her.

"Will do!" Rainbow quickly said. "Riku, Terra, watch the others for us!"

Taking Twilight with her, Rainbow zoomed off to the locker rooms to catch up with Vapor Trail. Riku and Terra weren't able to retort in time, left alone with the other recruits to watch over with Sky Stinger standing beside them.

"...So, how come you're helping them teach us about flying when you're an earth pony?" Sky asked Terra.

The earth pony let out a heavy sigh, slumping his head in woe. "I really have no idea why the map called me here..."





Vapor Trail sighed, closing up her assigned locker, finished getting cleaned up, though still sore from helping Sky. It didn't take Twilight or Rainbow long to find her when they walked into the mares' locker room.

"Hey, you did great," Rainbow commented. "You're a really strong flyer."

"M-Me?" Vapor asked.

"Vapor Trail, we know what you've been doing," Twilight said, making Rainbow and Vapor wince, but the rainbow-maned pegasus butted in to steer away from the truth.

"You've been doing great!" Rainbow said over-enthusiastically, but Twilight groaned in annoyance, shoving Rainbow aside.

"You've been helping Sky!" the alicorn stated, which made Vapor start to panic.

"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about!" Vapor Trail lied. "Sky doesn't need anypony's help. He's amazing."

Even if Applejack weren't here, the nervous grin on Vapor's face and the worried tone in her voice showed she was caught. Rainbow was about to interject, but a few hard nudges in the side and a glare from Twilight made her give in.

"Not without you," Rainbow said with a sigh. "And it's gonna be pretty obvious during the solo trails when he can't get enough air to do a flipping loop."

"No! I can't let that happen!" Vapor's outburst was enough to answer the princess and Wonderbolt's suspicions. "Gah! I-I mean...aww, sugarcubes..."

"Why are you doing this for him?" Twilight asked.

Vapor sighed, seeing no other choice but to tell the truth now that she was found out. "It started when we were kids. You have to understand..."

"I could if we could see why," Rainbow muttered.

Twilight's ears perked up, getting an idea as she teleported away, then returned a moment later. "I think I know the perfect way for us to see while Vapor tells us," she said. She held up one of the memory ornaments that were in the throne room, using Riku's advice last time with Thorax's trust in the Crystal Empire. Using her magic, Twilight created an image for the three mares to see, connecting it with the ornament. "We should probably all bring one of these with us for situations like these. Please continue, Vapor."

"Uhh, ok." The magical screen lit up as Vapor began her story, which showed her laying on a cloud as she looked down at a pegasus family playing in their backyard. The family lived on the ground, not exactly uncommon for any pegasi if they prefer to live closer to the earth for their children's safety, and with there being five foals, it was a lot for the couple to handle. One of those foals happened to be Sky Stinger as he was playing pony in the middle with his parents and siblings. "Sky grew up with a lot of siblings. It was tough, always trying to get his parents' attention...Meanwhile, I was an only child who hated all the attention I got from mine."

"Vapor Trail! Where are you!?" Filly Vapor Trail winced and looked behind her, finding her parents on their cloud home not too far away from where she was eavesdropping as her mother called out for her. "Do you need a snack? Do you wanna do homework?"

"Or we can just spend some time together!" her father said. "All day is never enough!"

The filly sighed in annoyance, her overbearing parents never giving her a moment alone even when she wanted to get away from them for just a minute, or maybe an hour. "Mom, dad, up here!" Young Sky Stinger said, trying to get his parents' attention while they were busy keeping up with the rest of his siblings. "Look, look-look-look-look, hey! Mom, dad, can you see!?"

Sky flapped his wings, straining to try to give himself enough lift to try to do a loop, but he could barely lift himself higher than how he was hovering. Young Vapor flew down, wanting to help him out and maybe find an excuse to get away from her parents for a bit longer. She flapped her wings, pushing a gust of wind under Young Sky's wings, giving him a boost up and help him complete his flipping loop he tried to start. He was a little startled that he managed to do it, but beamed proudly. Unfortunately, his parents were still distracted by his other siblings, his youngest baby sister who almost looked exactly like Lightning Dust nearly falling over on a precariously old unicycle, but thankfully Sky's father caught the infant filly. He was a bit disappointed that none of them saw what he did, but Young Vapor flew up to him to give him the attention he wanted.

"Whoa, that was amazing!" the filly said.

They both shook hooves, becoming friends and flew off together to have fun. "I kinda see how Vapor feels about her folks being that overbearing," Rainbow mumbled to herself, thankfully not loud enough for Twilight or Vaport Trail to hear.

"Flying together gave us both what we wanted," Vapor said as they continued watching, the two foals growing up to the age they are now, with Vapor giving Sky a boost with her wing power, and managing to keep up with him despite exhausting herself in the process. "But I never told Sky how much I was helping him. It started with a small boost here or a gust of wind there, but I didn't think my help could actually hurt his chances."

Twilight dispelled the image, putting the ornament away after they got some insight on the troubling situation. "I understand that, Vapor, but now you're both in trouble."

"You need to work on your tricks, and Sky needs to be able to fly without you or he won't make it," Rainbow added.

"But he has to!" Vapor exclaimed. "Flying with the Wonderbolts has been Sky's dream since he was a colt!"

"But what about you?" Twilight asked.

"I..." Vapor paused as she thought, never once wondering about what her lifelong dream would have been since she met Sky Stinger. "...I guess I haven't thought about it. I just want to be with my best friend."

"Then we have to find a way to help both of you," Rainbow said.

"Starting with telling Sky the truth," Twilight suggested, but Vapor did not like that idea, grabbing the princess's shoulders and nearly pressed her into the lockers in a pleading gesture.

"No, you can't!" Vapor begged. "Sky will be crushed! And without his confidence, he won't fly as well!"

Twilight understood why Vapor didn't want to tell her best friend the truth, but it would be better to at least tell the truth about his accomplishments than risk not saying anything and humiliate him in their tests. She looked over the panicking pegasus's shoulder, finding Rainbow smirking as her idea seemed to be a better option than her own. The alicorn sighed, left with no choice, even with either method given a worse-case scenario between the pegasi pair.

"Then I guess we'll give Dash's method a shot," Twilight said reluctantly.

"Yes!" Rainbow cheered with a laugh. "I love being right!"

"Don't push it, Rainbow," Twilight growled, but Rainbow ignored her as their job being here at the Wonderbolts Academy was to keep Sky and Vapor's friendship from breaking apart.

"Ok, here's what we'll do," Rainbow said, draping a hoof around Vapor's neck. "Sky needs to build up his strength: air drills, wing lifts, all that boring methodical stuff."

"But how are we going to get him to do that?" Vapor asked. "He doesn't think he needs to practice."

"We'll tell Sky that he'll be practicing with Twilight and Riku so you won't feel self-conscious about getting special training from me," Rainbow said.

"With you? Really?" Vapor asked, feeling honored to be trained under Rainbow Dash herself. "You'd do that for me?"

"Hah. You say that like it's not gonna be a blast," Rainbow said nonchalantly.





"So...that's why Sky think's he's so arrogant?" Riku asked after he and Terra were caught up on what Twilight and Rainbow Dash knew. "Vapor's been helping him since they were kids, and all these years, she's neglected telling him the truth, or else ruin their friendship?"

"And you two swore to keep it a secret so he doesn't lose his confidence?" Terra asked. It was obvious Rainbow was on board with her idea, and Twilight was still skeptical despite agreeing as well. "Guys, this isn't going to work. He's going to find out at some point."

"Not if he actually practices hard and does this stuff on his own," Rainbow reasoned. "Which is why Riku's gonna work with Twilight to help him on the basics, and I'll help Vapor see what potential she has after backing up Sky for so long."

"And...what do I do? Observe?" Terra questioned, still wondering what his role was for joining the others on their friendship mission.

"Well, you know the right things to say when you need to calm Aqua down," Twilight said. "Despite your upbringing with darkness, you're the logical and reasonable voice for her when she's not thinking rationally in her relapses."

"...Am I really?" Terra asked, both out of curiosity and confusion. He lowered his head as his past actions reflected in his mind: searching for Xehanort to discover how to control the darkness within him, turning away from Aqua after a misunderstanding that nearly tore their friendship apart, fighting Eraqus to save Ventus's life and getting him killed by the man he tried to seek advice on the power of darkness, even facing Xehanort alone to stop him from obtaining the power of Kingdom Hearts and complete his plans to forge the X-blade. He rubbed a hoof along the short blades of grass on the Academy's summit, questioning himself if he was best suited to be a Keyblade Master after all. "I'm...not wise enough to be like Master Eraqus...I can never fill in his shoes."

"Who says you had to be like your old master?" Riku asked, forcing Terra to look up at his response. "Look, the two of us have made some...poor choices, and there are still some doubts we both still have. The last few years since you came back, you clearly showed a lot of power in our Struggle fights during the Equestria Games, and bested me and ALMOST caught Sora on the ropes. Aqua may have more knowledgeable experience, but you have a much calmer mind, and if what you tell her and all of us as the voice of reason among us, I think that's a reflection of Eraqus you want to show us when we never knew him personally."

"Really?" Riku nodded in response, pulling out the memory ornament he kept on him since his and Twilight's last visit to the Crystal Empire. As Terra thought about Eraqus, the image of the Keyblade Master appeared in the enchanted decoration, where Twilight, Rainbow, and Riku got a closer look at who the late wielder was. Eraqus had a gaze that showed experience, giving silent instructions to Terra back then as the stallion recalled his late master's teachings in this memory. He may have been a teacher to Terra in others eyes, but there was a glint of the man acting as a fatherly figure in his eyes. Terra smiled fondly, the two younger wielders before him able to see where he got his sagely wisdom from after maturing and living on his own in Equestria. "...Heh. Maybe I do seem to teach like he does...I never noticed."

"I bet he was a great teacher," Twilight said. "I wish we could have met him."

"Yeah..." Terra shook his head and sighed. "I don't think it would be possible to bring him back...He will be missed." He looked at Riku, nodding his head in silent thanks for cheering him up a little, knowing the map was never wrong with who it sends to solve a friendship problem. Riku put away the ornament as Terra brought them back to the problem they need to solve. "So, if I'm going to help Rainbow Dash train Vapor Trail, what do I do?"

"Performing in front of an audience can get a bit scary, and Vapor needs to build up her confidence as well as perfect her tricks," Rainbow said. "Aqua does that meditating stuff to relax herself before starting her day, so...maybe you can show her something like that to keep her nerves in check?"

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Twilight said.

"I guess it's something rather than sit on the sidelines," Terra agreed. "Let's get these two pegasi ready to succeed."

With all four in agreement, Twilight, Riku, Rainbow, and Terra bumped hooves, then split up in their teams to help train Sky and Vapor. Rainbow and Terra worked with Vapor to help improve her skills, knowing she has plenty of power and speed to match that of an elite flyer. In the air, Rainbow helped her practice some aerial tricks and maneuvers that would help her shine with the actual judge, Spitfire. Unfortunately, in the beginning, she was so used to helping Sky, she overshot her ascents with each trick with her wing power, making her spin out or flail about as she misjudged her timing. Luckily, with Terra's advice on the ground, she learned to focus less on strength and more on dexterity. It was ironic for Vapor Trail to learn this from a bulky earth pony, but Terra was more limber than she expected. She no longer doubted herself and unleashed her full potential, taking Terra's sagely advice with her confidence and using those involving going with the flow instead of a lot of force in her synchronized tricks with Rainbow Dash, she was ready to make it into the Wonderbolts.

Sky Stinger, however, didn't fair any better. He had to relearn aerodynamic methods with Twilight and Riku, but the stallion tried to sleep through her lectures, thinking he didn't need to learn it to succeed. Riku scared him straight by snapping a fake eyemask he wore while he napped to make it look like he was paying attention off his head, acting like a drill instructor and yelling like one to get him to focus. Now he saw why Spitfire liked reaming out disrespectful and ignorant members of her future cadets, though if he were to teach his own Keyblade Apprentices in the future, he wasn't going to bark orders at them and blow a whistle right in their ears as the way of the Keyblade is a different practice.

Then came the physical training, and there was barely any progress made at all. One of the training exercises the couple planned for Sky was flying through wings with weights on his forelegs and barrel to help strengthen his wings. Riku showed him first as an example, barely feeling weighed down with his kind of training as he flew through the rings with ease. Sky scoffed at first, thinking the weights were nothing but over-exaggerated accessories, but when Riku put them on him as they hovered in the air, he nearly dropped to the ground like an apple from a branch when the weights were indeed real and heavy. Sadly, he could barely make it through the first ring, too busy trying to show off and knocking his head against the pole, hanging off the inside of the ring as he saw stars.

Next was a wind turbine used to help train pegasi to fly through tough weather conditions like heavy storms or blizzards. Twilight showed how it worked, the training devices using water to create the gusts as she placed a droplet of water into the funnel on top, which created a small, sudden burst of air to blow into the two stallions. Riku once again showed an example of what to do as Sky hovered out of the way, looking bored as he watched the demonstration. This time, Twilight poured a cup of water into the funnel, creating a huge gale to hit the white stallion, but he flew into the wind, pumping his wings hard to stay in place. He stopped when the wind did, then flew aside to see Sky's attempt. Twilight poured in the same amount, but after a few seconds of pushed against the wind, Sky lost control of his wings as they were pushed back by the simulated storm winds, sending him crashing to the ground. Riku facehooved while Twilight marked that part of the training as a failure.

After another successful trick performed by Vapor as she followed Rainbow's lead, the duo flew down and landed on the runway, Rainbow making a complete stop while Vapor skid a few yards further, but kept herself from crashing. "That was awesome, Vapor!" Rainbow cheered.

"Really? Thanks!" Vapor said. "I can't believe I was able to keep up!"

"I think that's the first nice thing we've heard you say about yourself," Terra commented. "You're gonna do spectacularly during the trials."

"Hey, can we switch now!?" Sky Stinger exclaimed, getting irritated by the boring training he was doing and wanted to do some real stunt flying. "I want to do tricks with Rainbow Dash!"

"Y-You can't!" Vapor quickly said, only to cover her mouth.

"What she means is that you're already good at the fancy stuff, there's no need for me to train you how to do that," Rainbow intervened, making Terra roll his eyes as they continued to lie for Vapor.

"Heh. And the basic stuff," Sky gloated, though Twilight and Riku heard that as they caught up with him.

Riku grabbed Twilight's clipboard, showing the others his failed markings on what they taught him. "He failed every single bit of training," Riku stated.

"You're right. I don't need to practice at all." Riku growled, nearly breaking the clipboard with his hoof alone, his eye twitching in irritation as his statement was completely ignored.

"Are you deaf!?" Riku shouted, zipping in front of Sky and smacked the results in his face for a closer look. "YOU. FAILED. EVERY. SINGLE. TRAINING COURSE!!!!!"

Sky scoffed, pushing the clipboard away, no longer terrified of the Keyblade wielder's scolding tone. "I failed on purpose because those are boring. I'm already the best and everypony's gonna know it when I'm asked to join the Academy tomorrow."

Riku glowered at the stallion, his eye continuing to twitch sporadically until he threw the clipboard over his shoulder. "That's it. I'm done," he said, flying around as he began to rant. "We got another Lightning Dust on our hooves, only this time, he's just gonna hurt himself. Massive improvement this year, Spitfire!"

"Sky, if you don't practice..." Vapor tried to say, hoping to encourage him to improve himself before he made a fool of himself.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they asked me to become a Wonderbolt straight out of the trials," Sky continued gloating, to Riku's frustration, along with Vapor's as she started to show signs of giving in with a strangled squeal of frustration. "Boom, dream achieved."

"Sky, you're not as good as you think you are!" Vapor Trail blurted out loud, gasping in shock a second later as she clasped her hooves to her muzzle.

Riku froze in midair, sharing the same worried expression Rainbow and Terra had after Vapor practically screamed out the truth to Sky. Twilight, on the other hoof, was grinning widely, seeing Vapor admit to her friend that he wasn't as great as he believed he was and hoped to improve knowing that. She unfortunately didn't see the possible outcome that would come from many years of lying to Sky and how it'll effect his flight now.

"...What did you say?" Sky asked in befuddlement.

Realizing there was no way of backpedaling out of this, Vapor sighed and approached Sky. "Sky, I want you to get in as much as anypony, and you're amazing, but..."

"But what?" Sky asked, suddenly feeling skeptical of his best friend's choice of words.

"I've been...helping you," she admitted, but Sky scoffed, taking offense to Vapor's claim.

"Please! I don't need your help!" he exclaimed. "Just watch!" To prove his point, Sky shot up and tried to perform his favorite flying loop. Instead of flipping over like he thought, he strained to push himself hard enough to try to start the loop, only to exhaust himself and flop to the ground. He kept trying, which was painful to watch as Vapor withheld herself from assisting him. Several attempts in, still stuck at the start of his liftoff and barely getting anymore air to make the loop, he fell to the ground, panting heavily as all his confidence in himself was immediately dashed. "...I-I'm just...too tired from the boring training that I'm not even warmed up enough yet!" he lied. "B-Besides, nopony can do it that well on their first try like I could."

"Actually...it's not," Riku said, getting Sky's attention as he shot up in the air, performing the flipping loop with ease and slapping the boastful ego out of the stunned stallion. "It's easy to do if you trained hard enough. If you knew anything about me, or maybe Sora, you should have known we both train incredibly hard to do things far more dangerous than simple aerial stunts..."

As amusing as it was for Riku to put Sky in his place, he didn't smirk, seeing the distraught, furious gaze in the dark blue stallion's eyes. Vapor walked over to him, holding her hoof out to help him up, but he slapped her hoof away from him.

"How can you do this to me?" Sky questioned angrily, turning his gaze toward their teachers. "Did ALL of you know?" Reluctantly, the three Keyblade wielders and cyan pegasus nodded their heads. "Oh, great. So everypony but me knows I'm a joke! Was this your plan the whole time? To embarrass me!?"

"What!? No!" Vapor exclaimed in shock at the harsh claim. "Don't you know me at all?"

"I guess not, since it took me this long to find out your a terrible wingpony!" Sky yelled, making Vapor gasp, hurt by Sky's insult.

"I-I can't believe you!" she said, her eyes welling with tears.

"Well I can't believe I was ever your friend!" Sky flew off, leaving behind a heartbroken Vapor Trail and four astonished witnesses, Twilight no longer grinning as the truth sparked a misunderstanding, breaking their friendship apart.

"...Thanks a lot," Vapor morosely uttered before flying off.

Neither of the group tried to chase after either Sky or Vapor, partly knowing the truth would have ended up hurting Sky whether or not he found out sooner or later. Terra had a flashback to his argument with Aqua back in Radiant Garden after defeating the Trinity Armor Unversed, all of them conveniently meeting up as they chased a part of the Unversed through the town. Even though it was in the past, he still felt guilty walking off on Aqua after she tried to explain how worried Eraqus was about the path he was taking to control the darkness within him. Terra saw himself in Sky in that spat between him and Vapor, not even giving her a chance to talk while getting mad at her, not clearly understanding why she was helping him in the first place.

Terra was so lost in thought, he didn't even notice how much time had passed when he snapped out of the regrets he made in the past. Twilight and Rainbow watched the recruits from a distance as they were about to take a ride on the Dizzitron. Spitfire asked Riku to show them how it worked, some of them a little worried they'll end up crashing and losing their lunch at the same time from the insane amount of dizzying speeds the training device went. Sky was still mad at Vapor as he stood at the front of the line, the mare all the way in the back staring at the ground dejectedly. When it came to the stallion's turn, Riku could see the hopelessness in Sky's expression, everything he thought he was capable of nothing but a lie hidden away by his best friend's assistance all this time.

Spitfire activated the Dizzitron, sending Sky spinning around on what most ponies would find as the most dangerous amusement park ride they never wanted to ride on. Once he was released, Sky flipped rapidly through the air, flailing about as he tried to right himself, but he couldn't and wound up getting caught by a group pegasi with a safety net in their hooves, catching any who weren't able to reorient themselves and fly back to the ground after recovering from the spinout. Spitfire was not happy with Sky's performance, marching over to her voluntary coaches while the humiliated stallion hovered away in embarrassment.

"Alright, does anypony want to tell me why one of my most promising students is flying like a balloon with a punctured hole in it!?" Spitfire questioned angrily.

"I-It's a long story," Rainbow stammered. "But we'll fix it. I swear."

"Yes, you will," Spitfire agreed, sounding more like an order a superior would give to her screw-up newbie, emphasizing her superiority by blowing her whistle in Rainbow's ear.

Rainbow Dash winced, rubbing her ringing ears. "We really messed up, huh?"

"I knew either option would have been bad, but Sky had to know the truth," Twilight said. "What can we do to fix this?"

Terra brought a hoof to his chin, knowing how to rectify the problem before something similar that happened to him could be repeated. "Let me talk to them," he said. "You guys keep training the other recruits." Terra walked off, following where Sky hovered off in shame on the other side of the mountain. He found the stallion struggling to perform his favorite move, still unable to get enough of a lift or angle to do a loop and crash into the sand pit as a cushion. Sky grunted in irritation, slamming his hooves into the sand in frustration as he continued making a fool of himself. "Still trying to perfect your 'signature move'?"

"Well, apparently, I still need a lot of practice," Sky muttered, sitting up with a huff as he leered at the ground. "Guess I'm not the natural I thought I was..."

"Clearly not," Terra said in confirmation. Sky turned to glare at him, an assistant teacher to help Wonderbolts recruits bringing him down than he already was. "Getting mad at me because I agreed with your own statement about your abilities?"

"Yes," Sky growled. "You're supposed to be helping."

"The best way to let out some anger is to hit something until you get exhausted." Terra sat down, then held a forehoof up to the pegasus. "...Punch my hoof."

"...Seriously?" Sky questioned. Terra nodded in response, and despite wondering why this sounded like a good idea, it was better hitting a stallion than Vapor Trail after betraying him. Taking the offer, Sky stepped out of the pit and stood before the Keyblade Master, rearing a foreleg back and punched with all his might. His hoof connected with Terra's, a dull echo reaching past their ears from the impact, the earth pony's foreleg barely moving back. A second after, Sky's face turned from a scowl to a grimace, letting out a yell in pain as he shook his foreleg. "Ahhh!...W-What the hay are you made of!? Metal!?"

"A lot of training," Terra simple stated. "Still mad?"

"Yes...and no," Sky whimpered, unable to stop his sore foreleg from shaking. "...Maybe if I use my wings this time, I'll be excused and leave the Academy with a wing injury."

"You're going to run away from what you dreamed of doing all your life?" Terra asked. "Take the easy route instead of working hard enough to accomplish the goals you set your mind to?"

"What accomplishments!?" Sky exclaimed. "I did absolutely nothing while Vapor did all the work for me!"

"And that's the problem: you didn't do anything at all!" Terra scolded, stomping his extended forehoof down, causing a minor tremor where a few cracks in the mountain's surface was made. Sky's anger was quelled, now fearing the insane amount of power coming from the stallion whose name also means the very ground he managed to break through. Terra took in a deep breath, finally getting the pegasus to shut up and listen to someone other than himself. "Vapor Trail did NOT want to humiliate you in front of everyone. Twilight and Rainbow saw a glimpse of her past when you two first met, and the first time you two met, she helped you pull off that loop you love to do to try to impress your parents, even though they were distracted by the rest of your siblings."

"...H-How do you know about that?" Sky asked in shock.

"Back in the castle, we have enchanted ornaments that were used as part of a nature-esque chandelier for Twilight to help her feel at home after her old home in Ponyville was destroyed," Terra said. "Riku kept one on him after learning how helpful they can be, telling others of their past and reveal truths they've kept hidden for various reasons: fear, deceit, cruelty, revenge, etc. Twilight took one from the castle when Vapor failed to hide her worries about her helping you. And, to be honest, you should have known she was lying the moment Rainbow mentioned the solo trials."

"T-Then why did she-?" Sky tried to argue, but the stern glare Terra gave him stopped him from finishing his sentence, closing his mouth and pursing his lips to avoid seeing another fraction of the Keyblade wielder's power on something other than the ground beneath them.

"That's your problem right there," Terra said, pointing a hoof at Sky. "You got so used to thinking you were a flying prodigy that you became arrogant and sucked up the praise you got from Vapor...But that's the kind of attention you desired, wasn't it?" Sky Stinger stammered, scrunching his muzzle nervously at the claim. But, to his surprise, Terra nailed the head on the coffin as the pegasus sighed and hung his head. "Vapor kept cheering you on, telling you that you were great, but she had hoped that you actually would be great if you chose to practice and performed tricks on your own. You never did, and she helped you not to sooner or later humiliate you, but to keep you from being disappointed in yourself if you weren't able to do it on your own."

"...Was that why...she didn't tell me?" Sky asked, suddenly feeling guilty for yelling at her when he realized he misunderstood her intentions for so many years.

"Exactly," Terra said. He extended his hoof, revealing his Keyblade in a flash of light as Sky stared in awe at the heavy blade. "No one's perfect at anything they do. Not even myself as a Keyblade wielder...I'm sure you've heard of the heroic efforts of Sora throughout Equestria, right?" Sky nodded silently, his eyes trailing over the details of the earth pony's Ends of the Earth. "Well, he didn't get to where he is today by just being lucky...at least, not all the time." Taking the blade into his muzzle, Terra leapt back, showing Sky how he handled his Keyblade, pulling off a powerful combo strike, ending with a flipping, downward slam. Sky was shocked to see his final swing didn't cause the earth to shatter after putting that much force upon smacking the ground, though it showed Terra had control of his impressive strength. He then sat in front of the stallion again, shoving his blade into the ground as he rested both his hooves on the guard, kneeling down before it with his head held low. "Since I was a kid, I had trained hard to become a master of the Keyblade...That was my dream growing up, but I almost squandered it when I traveled down the wrong path.

"I know where you are when it comes to being mad at your best friend," Terra continued. "I understand how it feels when you think she doesn't trust you enough to do things on your own, that her worries about you felt more like telling you you're pathetic...But it wasn't true, and your doubts made you think they were..." He looked up at Sky, tears welling up in his eyes as that regretful moment in his life came back, and the painful guilt when he returned from the darkness keeping him trapped in his own heart by Xehanort after discovering Aqua was thought to be gone forever. "When I turned my back on my friend...my lover...I wasn't thinking clearly...I thought she was sent by our former master to spy on me and take me back home, neither of them having any confidence in me with the road I decided to travel...In the end, I died in a way...It may not make sense to you, but when I came back...and found no sign of her...I regretted everything I did, and blamed myself for putting her and another friend of ours in what was supposed to be the end of our journey...forever.

"You may still be mad at Vapor, but don't hate her forever, Sky...All she did for you was try to help you, but you were so blinded by what you thought was perfect that you never bothered to improve yourself on your own...If I were in your shoes, I would be lucky to have a friend who always had my back; who believed in me and knew I could do anything if I tried hard enough." Sky, for the first time since arriving at the Academy, was speechless. He didn't have any comments, snarky or sincere, and from the stoic, teary-eyed gaze of the tough Keyblade Master in front of him, he believed they both shared this same moment, but his experiences were much more grim than his own. Terra stood up, brushing his hoof across his eyes and dried his tears, then grabbed the hilt of his Keyblade, slowly pulling it up from the ground before holding it by his side and dismissed it. "Take my advice, Sky Stinger: you never know what you'll lose before it's too late. And when you do realize that it's also your fault and something happens to her...you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

After giving Sky an important lesson he hoped would sink in, Terra stood up and walked off to find Vapor Trail. Sky thought Terra's speech was a bit over-dramatic, but the pain on his face after mentioning dying and regretting turning away from the mare who he was close friends with and now see as a lover showed he was serious about his past. He sat silently, deep in thought as he looked back at his behavior around Vapor Trail, an overwhelming guilt in his chest as he imagined a similar scenario where he could really lose his best friend if he never apologized. And now that he was calmer and thinking clearly, he blamed himself for holding her back all this time, all because she wanted him to feel proud of himself and give him more self-confidence.





Terra asked around the Academy if any of the recruits saw Vapor Trail. The tests on the Dizzitron ended, the group of pegasi dispersing as they rested from the dizzying ordeal, though he was surprised to hear Vapor actually did well despite being out of it after her fallout with Sky Stinger. One of them last saw her fly off and perch herself on a cloud several stories above the mountain. This gave the stallion a chance to test out the cloud walking spell Twilight cast on him earlier, leaping up from cloud to cloud to reach Vapor's. As much as he wanted to admire how fluffy and soft the clouds were, he had a friendship problem to help solve.

Jumping onto Vapor's cloud, he found the mare laying near the edge, looking down sadly at the ground. "Pretty nice view, huh?"

He startled her as she looked back, shocking her even more when she saw an earth pony standing on a cloud and making it this high up with how separated the other clouds were. "T-Terra? H-How are you...? You can stand on clouds???"

"By scientific logic, I shouldn't," Terra said. "Twilight gave me this cloud walking spell, and I'm surprised that this actually works."

"...Oh...That makes sense," Vapor mumbled, then went back to sadly staring at the world below her.

"Vapor, I'm pretty sure Sky won't stay mad at you forever," Terra assured the depressed mare. "I talked to him, and I made sure he listened to me instead of himself."

"...Thanks, but it doesn't matter anymore," Vapor said. "I ruined his chances at being a Wonderbolt...My helping only hurt him more than I realized..."

"He just needed to know that he can't expect to be the best without practicing," he said. "Sure, it was a punch in the gut and a devastating blow to his ego, but he needed to wake up from the fantasies he created in his mind and focus on the reality of his laziness if he wanted to chase his dreams." Terra sat on the edge of the cloud, spotting Sky down below far from the Academy building. Even though he didn't have the vision of a hawk, he could tell the stallion was thinking, mulling over his advice and telling his story on the same mistake he made. Vapor admitted she was at fault as well for hiding such a secret from her friend, but with the way she was beating herself up, she never knew what she wanted to do in her life to accomplish. "Speaking of dreams, you have the potential to be a leader. You're an excellent flyer, and improved far better than any of us could have imagined."

"That's sweet of you to say, but no," Vapor declined. "I couldn't handle all that attention..."

"...Like when you disliked how much attention you got from your parents?" Terra asked. He expected Vapor Trail to be as surprised as Sky was after revealing what Twilight and Rainbow explained about their past, but she had a feeling he was told with the look she gave him. "I understand that it can be overwhelming having someone constantly doting on you. Trust me; Aqua and I do that with our young friend, Ven, just to tease him since he's younger than us. And he acts like a little kid most of the time." Terra chuckled, remembering the times he and Aqua picked on Ventus like he was their little brother. "But we do it to help distract him from his thoughts...Something awful happened to him when we first met him, and we wanted to make sure he was safe and sound, keep him as carefree as the kid he still was back then."

"What happened to him?" Vapor asked curiously.

"...Amnesia," Terra said, his response partially true as the actual horrible event that befell Ventus would be a bit too shocking for the mare to handle.

"Did he...get his memories back?" she asked.

"He did in time, but the moments he spent with us were the best memories he's had," he said. "And all three of us shared the same dream, despite the loss of his past." Holding out his hoof, he showed Vapor his Keyblade, putting her in just as much awe as Sky had. "To protect everyone from the threat of darkness, and protect the light from being snuffed by its power." Terra placed his blade in his lap, not wanting to let it drop through the clouds if it was possible as he looked at Vapor. "Tell me, Vapor. Do you want to be a Wonderbolt with Sky? Even though you tagged along to help him achieve his dream?"

Vapor silently thought, thinking over what Terra told her and what she wanted to do with her life. "...Well, not at first," she answered after a moment. "I just wanted to be with Sky...But when I was learning those tricks with Rainbow Dash and took your advice on how I can better improve my self-confidence, I realized that this IS something I want for myself."

"That's good to hear," Terra proudly said. "So, let's settle this."

"Huh?" Vapor stared at Terra quizzically as he stood up.

"Follow me." Dismissing his Keyblade, Terra jumped off the cloud, startling Vapor Trail as she looked over the edge and watched him fall to his death.

Vapor chased after Terra, fearing he was going to injure himself. He purposefully dove down, getting closer and closer to the ground. Vapor cringed and looked away, only to feel a sudden gust of wind from below as the stallion air dashed mere inches from the hard runway. He could have easily landed as light as a feather, but with the possibility of the other pegasi flying around when they're not busy practicing or setting up more equipment, he wasn't going to let them try to give him medical attention if they think he broke his legs. Vapor watched him perform his air boost, amazed by the strange trick he made upon landing, though she expected that to come from a pegasus.

"Wow..." she uttered, landing beside him while the stallion brushed off some dust on his shirt. "Terra...did you just fly...even though you're an earth pony?"

"Not exactly," he said. "Let's call that...'falling, with style'." Terra could see Vapor didn't believe him in the slightest, questioning what kind of pony he was. "...I could easily handle falling from any height and land perfectly fine like a cat. No need to worry about me if I fall from an impossible to survive height, even if I were to fall unconscious from an explosion or something similar."

"...Umm...Wow...You don't even sound like any normal pony," Vapor said in awe.

"You have no idea," Terra mumbled to himself. He lead Vapor over to the Wonderbolts Academy building, where Sky Stinger was slowly trudging his way toward them. He looked up, both him and Vapor Trail flinching as they stared at each other, then looked away as their argument was still fresh on their minds. "Alright, you two. Time for you to make amends and be friends again."

"W-What?" Sky questioned.

"I-I don't know if..." Vapor said before mumbling to herself.

"You two are childhood friends, and I won't stand to see the both of you separate over a misunderstanding and several years of holding each other back," Terra explained, gently pushing Vapor closer to Sky. "Sky, you have a right to be upset at Vapor, but not the way that you think. She was trying to help you, but in an unhealthy way that made you arrogant." Sky grimaced, already having this talk from Terra earlier, but it made the guilt of his actions weigh that much more. "And Vapor, you shouldn't have stayed in the background while helping Sky perform. You have a lot of potential to share, but you needed your chance to shine and show everyone your abilities." Vapor lowered her head in shame, though she did want to prove herself now that she felt ready to shine. "You two have great strengths, but you also have weaknesses. If you two worked together and helped each other improve on those weaknesses, you both can be as equally amazing in the Academy, neither one of you holding the other back or helping the other from a distance behind their back. So, what do you say? Forgive and forget, and look forward to the greatness you two can share?"

Terra backed away, letting the two pegasi make the choice to apologize and forgive each other or end their friendship here and now. It took a while for one of them to say anything, but Terra had a good feeling they would remain friends.

"Sky, I'm sorry," Vapor apologized first. "I was only trying to help you. I...I never wanted to embarrass you in front of everyone. I should have told you from the start that I helped you complete that flipping loop you tried to show your parents when we first met, but you looked so proud of doing it that I didn't want to shatter your confidence..." She sighed, looking away from Sky. "...I was afraid to tell you. Because, if I did...you wouldn't have wanted to be my friend anymore."

"W-What!?" Sky exclaimed. "I-I wouldn't do that!"

"'I can't believe I was ever your friend,'" Terra said, quoting the exact words Sky Stinger said, which made him wince when he looked at the stern gaze of the earth pony. "You said that after learning she had been helping you just a moment ago."

Sky sputtered, trying to come up with an excuse, but there was none to give when he looked back at the despondent mare before him. He gave up, sighing pathetically as he looked down at his hooves.

"I-I...I'm sorry," Sky apologized. "...I didn't mean that. I was mad, but...it wasn't at you, Vapor...Maybe a little, but I was more mad at myself when I found out I wasn't...the best flyer..." He rubbed the foreleg he used to punch Terra's hoof, still feeling a bit numb after hitting the equivalent of a steel wall reinforced with the toughest bit of obsidian. "I guess I got too carried away being awesome that I never bothered to practice...And I should have realized that when I felt that odd gust of wind that picked me up that day when it was clear and sunny, barely a breeze before we met...

"...I'm also sorry for holding you back, too," he added. "...You're clearly a much better flyer than I am, and I ended up taking advantage of your help all these years..."

"But you are a great flyer, Sky," Vapor reassured. "It's all my fault for getting your hopes up and sent them crashing down on you."

"No, it's not," Sky argued. "I got a wake-up call, and a scolding from a brick wall to make me realize something important that he had experienced with his own friend." Terra chuckled at the comment, rolling his eyes in response while continuing watching the two friends make up. "...I don't want to lose my best friend over me stupidly overreacting to a misunderstanding...Can you forgive-?"

Vapor suddenly lunged toward Sky, almost bowling him over as she hugged him tightly. Sky was a bit startled, but he smiled and hugged her back, taking it as her forgiving him. Terra nodded his head, glad to see them back together again.

"Looks like that's a mission accomplished," Terra said to himself.

Vapor Trail pulled away, but even though she was smiling, Sky's began to fade. "Sky? What's wrong? I forgive you."

"Yeah, I know...It's just...how am I gonna make it in the solo trials if I can't even make a loop?" Sky asked morosely. "They're tomorrow, and I'm gonna mess up."

"Not without proper training," Terra said. "And we still have time to get the both of you into flying shape." As he reached a hoof to his ear to contact Riku and Twilight with his enchanted communicator, Sky and Vapor were a bit unsure if it can be done in time. "Hey, Riku, Twilight, I got them back together."

"Yay! That's great!" Twilight cheered. "What did you tell them?"

"Let's just say I had a bit of deja vu when I watched Sky and Vapor fight," he said. "But we've got another issue to deal with. What do you three say to a little more training for these two?"

"Training Sky in only a matter of hours?" Riku questioned. "How are you sure he'll actually do it this time and not act like an egomaniac sitting on top of the world?"

"I've got a good feeling about him actually putting the effort into training this time," Terra said, looking over at Sky, who nodded his head, ready to really put in the work to practice.





Riku, Twilight, and Rainbow met up with Terra, Sky, and Vapor, Riku unsure about this bout of last minute training would help Sky Stinger, but he was willing to give the stallion one more chance. They repeated the same training regime Riku and Twilight put Sky Stinger through, and to their shock, he actually tried, struggling at first, but at least he wasn't showing off or being lazy. When they did the water-powered wind turbine again, Sky had managed to last a bit longer against the simulated storm winds, though he did get sent tumbling back across the ground. Trying again, Vapor Trail encouraged him on the next round, which helped him power through and make it without getting tossed back by the wind.

While Sky improved on his basic training, Vapor practiced some routines she and Rainbow practiced by herself. During a spiraling spin through the air, she flew out of control, getting dizzy easily and crashed into a cloud. Sky Stinger noticed as he took a break, then came up with an idea to help her out so she didn't lose control while spinning and flipping through the air. Her second attempt was a success, taking her friend's advice by focusing on a cloud while spinning, and earning praise from Sky to help encourage her and boost her confidence. Both pegasi's practice session ended as the twilit sky began to fade into night, getting themselves a good night's sleep, and even though they had both improved greatly, the solo trials would definitely put them to the test if the last minute training had paid off enough.

The next morning, the solo trials were about to begin as Spitfire and two other pegasi judges working in the Academy stood before the row of recruits, all of them wearing their given Wonderbolts recruit flight suits the stat of their training. One by one, each of the other pegasi performed the tasks expected for them to pass, judged by their dexterity, speed, and skill as stunt flyers as Spitfire and her fellow judges marked them down, deciding whether they weren't ready yet or placed in the Academy among other Wonderbolts reserves in the future. Sky and Vapor were last, but despite their nerves and being the last ones down the line, they both showed an air of confidence.

Sky was up first, tested on his dexterity and speed as he flew through the rings scattered throughout the course. He zigzagged through each one with incredible speed, Vapor cheering him on as he zipped through each one perfectly, skidding to a halt before the Wonderbolts captain on a bit. Spitfire graded the stallion, impressed by his skills after the embarrassing performance on the Dizzitron, then moved onto Vapor Trail, hoping to see if this idea of alternating between her two best trainees would get either of them to slip up as a secret test. Vapor shot off and flew toward one of the clouds, spiraling as she spun around the cloud, shaping it into Spitfire's image like the practice sessions she made with Rainbow the other day, Sky whooping as he cheered her on as well. He stopped and grinned nervously when Spitfire leered at him for the interruption, wondering why these two were trying to motivate each other when all her's and her judges' attention should be on the trials, but she was impressed by Vapor's cloud portrait of her face when the mare landed before her with a grin of confidence.

The trials continued, the pair of friends flying in the sky at the same time as they performed their free-form stunts. In an odd way, it was almost like Sky and Vapor were performing a synchronized routine, spaced out far enough so that neither of them were helping each other while sticking with their own performance for everyone. Twilight, Rainbow, and the recruits cheered them both on, Terra and Riku watching along with Spitfire and her fellow judges as they continued to entertain them. Sky and Vapor soon ended their routine, landing on the runway, almost skidding to a halt into each other. They both grinned, feeling proud of their tricks and maneuvers, but as they turned to their audience, Spitfire approached them with a stern gaze, which worried the duo as they stood at attention.

After a long minute sizing them up, Spitfire grinned, then placed gold lead pony badges on Sky and Vapor's chests. "Congratulations! You've both made it into the Wonderbolt Academy!" Spitfire said. Sky and Vapor gasped, then cheered as they passed. As Vapor tackled and bowled Sky over in celebration, the Wonderbolts Captain approached her volunteer coaches. "Whatever you guys did, it worked. They have a lot of potential. And who knows? They might even be better than you, Crash."

Rainbow blanched, then began to chuckle at the joke her captain made, hoping she wasn't serious. "Ok, let's not get carried away."

Angel Wings approached Sky and Vapor after they untangled themselves from their friendly celebratory hug. "Um, I just wanted you to know, you two are my new favorite ponies in all of Equestria," she said.

"Hey! I heard that!" Rainbow exclaimed, startling the mare and making her fly away, fearing getting punished by the Wonderbolt member.

"Relax, Rainbow," Riku said, patting the mare's head, to her annoyance. "You still got a number one fan out of Scootaloo, and plenty of others out there."

"I can't believe we did it," Vapor uttered, still slightly in shock as she looked at her badge.

"You were great," Sky complimented. "Even though you can out-fly me, you can be my wingpony anytime."

Vapor giggled, finding the sentiment sweet as she blushed slightly. "And you can be mine."

The two pegasi flew off, ready to continue their training together and become future Wonderbolts. Twilight, Rainbow, Riku, and Terra felt their cutie marks glow, signalling the success of their friendship mission solved, no longer needed as they were ready to head back home. They made their way to the parked hot air balloon with Terra climbing into the basket, the group flying back to Ponyville to relax, especially for Rainbow Dash. Once back at the castle and the balloon settled nearby, the group entered the Castle of Friendship, Twilight wiping her brow while Rainbow cracked her back.

"It's good to be home," the alicorn said.

"You're telling me," Rainbow agreed. "Now we can finally catch up with Daring Do, make cider with Applejack-"

"Dash!" Suddenly barging through the doors, Misty Fly appeared, looking worried as she had important news to share. "I've been looking all over for you! Wonderbolt emergency! We got to get back to HQ."

"You have got to be kidding me! I was just there!" Rainbow whined, falling on her back with a groan as her vacation was never going to begin.

"Oh well. Tough luck, Rainbow," Riku said. "Guess that prank war with Sora and Pinkie is gonna have to wait longer."

"Maybe that's a good thing since Sora and Kairi are busy coming up with their wedding plans," Twilight said. "But it won't be too much of a burden for them when they have expert wedding planners they're close to, assuring that their wedding will go perfectly without a hitch."

"You have been around us, right?" Riku asked. "Nothing EVER goes well for any of us."

"Oh, don't be that pessimistic," Twilight chided. Riku rolled his eyes, earning a smack in the side from the alicorn's wing. "Now that you have some free time, we can go back to helping continue plan the wedding. Let's start with where we should hold it."

"Can't we do something else?" Riku begged, tailing after Twilight as she made her way to the throne room. "I'm still stressed trying to train Sky Stinger when he was the arrogant showoff yesterday. Can't we just relax?...Twilight?"

Terra chuckled and shook his head as he watched the couple disappear down the hall. He left Rainbow Dash and walked through the halls, the mare flapping back up with a grumble before following after Misty Fly back to the Wonderbolts Academy yet again. Terra reached the lounge, flopping down on the couch with a heavy sigh. While splaying out his limbs on the sofa, his body taking up every single spot on the large three-seater, he turned his head toward where Eraqus's Keyblade was set on the wall. He began to wonder what the late Keyblade Master would say to him after today, if he was proud of his part in solving the friendship problem he, Riku, Twilight, and Rainbow were sent to solve.

"Hey, Terra," Aqua greeted, looking down at the daydreaming stallion.

He turned his head to the ceiling, finding his girlfriend's face hovering mere inches over his. "Hey," he said.

Aqua leaned closer, giving Terra a kiss. "Twilight told me you solved the friendship problem. And your doubts being a teacher."

"Well, I wasn't expecting to begin teaching life lessons when I'm supposed to teach others about the Keyblade," Terra said. "I guess it just came to me when I saw how Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail's fighting reminded me of our big fight back in Radiant Garden." Aqua knew what he meant, still feeling that guilt making Terra doubt himself in his strength as she tried to bring him back home to make sure he didn't do anything else harmful from what she had heard in the Enchanted Dominion and Dwarf Woodlands, especially in the former world where Maleficent resided. "...I'm sorry about that, by the way; turning my back on you and not letting you fully explain why you wanted to bring me back."

"Terra..." Aqua was about to tell him it was more her fault for pushing him and Ventus away, but she was silenced by another deeper kiss from Terra, his hooves gently pulling her head down to his and kept her lip-locked until they needed to breathe, not that she was complaining.

After they pulled away, Terra rolled over, sat up, and hugged Aqua, pulling her over onto the couch with him and nuzzled her neck. "I was going down the wrong path and didn't realize until it was too late...I should have listened to you and Master Eraqus..." While cuddling with Aqua, Terra looked back at the Master's Defender Keyblade. Aqua looked at their former master's Keyblade as well, memories of their days training with Eraqus flashing through the couple's minds. "I wish there was a way to bring him back...It's my fault he's gone."

"If only we knew if his Heartless or Nobody was out there," Aqua mumbled. "...But, there was something...strange I found. And it involved Master Eraqus."

"Really?" Terra asked with a small glimmer of hope.

"It's not actually him...at least, I think it isn't," she said. "Have you ever been to a place called the Mirage Arena?"

"A few times, actually," Terra said. "...What does that space arena have to do with Master Eraqus?"

"When I took some time to go there for some private training since I came back, I tried most of the stored matches inside the system...except for two of them. Yesterday, when you guys were gone, I decided to try out one...But what I faced wasn't an Unversed like the other simulated matches." Aqua looked back at the mounted Keyblade, clutching Terra tightly. "...I think it was Master Eraqus."

"Huh? Seriously?" Terra asked in shock.

"I don't really know...It might have been, but he wore Keyblade Armor," Aqua said. "...I-I never saw him in his armor before. Have you?"

Terra shook his head, never once seeing Eraqus in his armor. "He only showed us how to create our own armor...Did you...beat him?"

"...No. I barely lasted a few seconds when I saw the way the armor stood with Master Eraqus's Keyblade in his hands. I was so shocked, I forgot I was in a virtual coliseum and thought it was really him." Unable to express her short-lived battle against the armored Eraqus in words, Aqua teleported one of the enchanted memory ornaments and showed Terra what happened.

Inside the glass decoration, Aqua played back her shocking discovery yesterday. In her armor, Aqua stepped out from the entrance and toward the console, scrolling through the different challenges the Mirage Arena had to offer.

"Let's see, what to face off against this time," she said to herself. "Too bad Terra couldn't join me today to have a little fun. Hope his friendship problem with the others gets solved soon."

"You missed me already?" Terra teased, earning a nudge in the side as they continued watching.

"Easy...easy...not even challenging...Maybe if I figure out how this works, I can create other simulations to help train us..." She soon came across two different challenges she didn't notice before, both the silhouettes of the tough foes humanoid and wearing full-body armor. "Hmm...Strange. I didn't know about these two...I thought this place only created groups of Unversed to fight...Then again, one of them has a giant whale you have to beat while getting eaten, fighting your way out just to defeat it...Let's try...this one."

Picking the first one she thought would be a good challenge, she stepped into the center of the platform, warping down into the arena down below. Once she appeared, she stretched and got herself ready as the arena's battlefield shifted. She gasped when the virtual field was completed, finding herself on the peak overlooking the grand building she, Terra, and Ventus trained at in The Land of Departure. Stars filled the night sky, and it was as peaceful as it was before darkness began to swallow the world upon Eraqus's death. While looking out at the long-lost scenery, she quickly looked back when she heard a virtual teleportation sound on the other side of the peak.

Appearing in the light of data was what appeared to be a man in bronze and silver armor, the front of the torso a dull, faded green with the Mark of Mastery symbol on the abdomen. The helmet of the armored being had a similar mark Aqua, Terra, and Ven wore on its forehead, sporting a golden jagged lower jaw and had three long, thin, silver pikes on the top and sides. Aqua had never seen any other kinds of Keyblade armor aside from her own and her other fellow wielders, even Terra watching this memory was shocked to see this kind of armor. What really surprised them the most was after the mysterious armored man bowed to Aqua, showing her a sign of respect for a good match, then held out his hand and summoned the Master's Defender, Eraqus's Keyblade.

"What the hell?" Terra uttered while Past Aqua gasped in surprise.

"N-No...That can't be," Past Aqua muttered, beginning to panic when the armored man brought the Keyblade forward, standing in a similar stance the duo recalled seeing Eraqus stand in, his stance wide with both hands gripping the handle of the blade. "...M-Master?"

"And that's where I lost all sense of fighting," Aqua mentioned, the memory playing out still as she watched herself frozen in shock, followed by the armored man swinging the Keyblade down, sending a volley of chains made of light heading straight for Aqua.

She didn't have any time to react as she was bound in the chains, letting out a yelp as a flash of light blinded her. When she could see, there was a blue aura around the armor. She didn't get much of a chance to know why that was when the armored man seemed to zoom toward her, hovering barely an inch off the ground as it left afterimages of himself in his wake. In a blur of swings, Aqua was caught in a devastating combo, sent flying up the air as she was juggled, unable to escape until he released a shockwave as he slammed the ground, sending her flying across the peak. She managed to recover, only to be met with a few orbs of light sent straight toward her, getting struck by each one and leaving her stunned.

"W-What the hell is going on...!?" Aqua questioned. "W-Why is he-!?"

Forgetting this wasn't truly Eraqus, the armored simulation leapt up and hovered in the air, a light shining around him before swinging his Keyblade down toward Aqua, releasing more chains of light. As the blinding lights cleared after the chains were released, colored lights dove down and spiraled across the ground, coming together before splitting off. Aqua dodged a group of green lights, but didn't pay attention to red lights landing nearby, getting struck by one of them and suddenly couldn't see. The light that hit her struck her with the Blind status, leaving her helplessly dodging more incoming colorful lights, which she ended up getting hit by from her temporary lack of attention. When the onslaught ended, the battle ended after the armored warrior warped toward her, slashing her hard as she let out a yell, sent tumbling across the ground.

With the battle over by the Mirage Arena's judgment, the mysterious armored person dismissed the Master's Defender, then bowed to Aqua again before she was sent back up to the main hub of the space coliseum. The memory ended when Aqua panted heavily, getting back up and left the Mirage Arena, flying back to Equestria in a panic.

"After that loss, I came back to the castle," Aqua said, putting the ornament away. "I thought that Master Eraqus's Keyblade had been taken, but it's still up on the wall...I forgot that the Mirage Arena creates simulations for a moment, but it still felt like that was Master Eraqus in that armor."

"...Yikes," Terra finally managed to say. "If that's how he fights at his fullest...I'm kinda glad he went easy on me when I rescued Ven from him..." Mentioning his serious fight against his former master, Terra grimaced at how much simpler his battle against Eraqus was before his demise. Eraqus could have easily beaten Terra with how skilled he was, but despite showing how serious he was back then, he still held back, which bothered Terra. It also made the stallion feel guilty as he truly went all out, using the power of darkness to injure him, then have his life taken by Xehanort at his weakest. Eraqus couldn't help but hold back that day, unable to smear blood on his hands by killing someone he had raised like a son more than a student. Terra sighed heavily, wishing things didn't end the way they did, but it was already risky enough trying to change the past, and Eraqus would have wanted them to move on, improve in their own strengths, and be the better man he thought he wasn't when he aimed his blade at who he saw as his children. "...Is there a chance where we'll reunite with him?"

"I don't know, but if his Keyblade was left behind when he disappeared...I doubt it," Aqua said.

"But you were still alive, and I kept your Keyblade," Terra said. "...He might still be out there; his Heartless and Nobody. If we can find and kill them...maybe..."

"I sacrificed my armor and Keyblade to save you," Aqua corrected. "That's a big difference...and...it was a horrible decision...I really thought you were able to wrestle back control of your heart, but Xehanort...He was too strong..."

Terra held Aqua closer as they both stared at the Master's Defender. "Anything can happen with people like us: Sora was able to return to normal after sacrificing his heart for Kairi, I came back after Ansem and Xemnas were destroyed by Sora, Riku and King Mickey managed to find a way out of the Realm of Darkness without passing the Door to Light, you survived in the Realm of Darkness for years and finally got out. Even if there's no hope to be had, a miracle can show up and give you the hope you desperately need." Aqua looked up at Terra, surprised to hear such an optimistic outlook from Terra. He looked back at her, then leaned closer to give her another kiss. After breaking the small kiss, he stared into Aqua's eyes, gently pressing his forehead against hers. "We never give up that easily, even when it does feel hopeless...I'm actually grateful to know fate had brought us back together after an impossible miracle, and I'm not going to take that chance for granted."

Aqua blinked, then gave Terra a soft smile. "You're just as philosophical as Master Eraqus was. In fact, if I weren't imagining things, you kinda sounded like him."

"I guess I'm trying to teach like how he taught us," Terra admitted with a grin. "Keep his memory alive as best as possible." Aqua giggled, silently agreeing, then curled up beside him with her head resting on his shoulder. "...So, if I'm like Master Eraqus...does that mean you've been kissing our teacher behind my back?"

Aqua grumbled, practically feeling the cheeky grin on Terra's face at the disgusting joke he made. She gave him a swift punch in the gut, making him wheeze as he doubled over on the couch. He rolled on his back, staring into the annoyed gaze of the blue mare as she straddled him.

"What is wrong with you?" she questioned, looming over him irritably.

"Lightening the mood?" Terra responded nervously.

"You call THAT 'lightening'!?" Aqua exclaimed, pounding her hooves into Terra's chest. "What kind of brain do you have coming up with disturbing ideas of a student having feelings for a teacher!?"

Terra just laughed as he blocked her hooves while she continued ranting over the insane idea of her having any romantic interest in Eraqus. Even though it was tough to lose Eraqus, Terra was glad to be with Aqua and Ventus again, along with their new friends in Equestria and the next generation of Keyblade wielders. The Castle of Friendship may not have been their real home, but he did feel good to be home.