//------------------------------// // The Return of a Departure // Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria // by Codex92 //------------------------------// "Come on, you guys! Keep those legs moving!" Aqua shouted. She watched her pupils as she ordered them to do some practice drills. To build up their stamina, she had the Young Six run several laps around the school, making sure the four flying teens remained grounded and didn't cheat by flapping their wings. The six teens were panting, exhausted, and sweating under the strain and the hot day today. Yona's heavy fur made it look like she took a dip in the pond before she ran, though it was incredible how she or the yaks didn't suffer from heat stroke when they traveled anywhere outside of the frozen tundra up north. "Build up that stamina! Heartless will come in droves, and you won't have any time to rest when they keep coming!" While the others panted, their muscles and lungs burning as their bodies begged for them to rest after running what felt like miles, Silverstream cheered, prepared for the training with a sweatband around her forehead and running with a pep in her step. "Yeah! No rest for the wicked!" the hippogriff cheered. "Hah...How...is this...helping us...train?" Smolder panted. "Aren't we...supposed to be...using our...Keyblades?" "I can't...breathe," Gallus complained, his jogging turning to stumbled slogging, unable to open up his wings thanks to Aqua keeping the flying teen's appendages at their sides to prevent them from cheating on this exercise. "I-I know...it's brutal...but Master Aqua...knows how to train us," Sandbar reasoned as he slowly passed the tired griffon, but kept running despite his exhaustion to impress the Keyblade Master. Yona heaved, slowing down as she finished another lap, her tongue lolling out, dying of thirst as she stopped in front of Aqua. "Y-Yona...thirsty...Yona...tired," the yak uttered, then let out a heavy gasp before finally collapsing on her belly. The others came around and tiredly ran into Yona, Sandbar, Ocellus, Gallus, and Smolder smacking into each other before falling back in a crumbled, sweaty pile. Silverstream still had energy to burn, confused by her friends laying down. "Is it nap time already?" Silverstream asked curiously. Aqua just sighed and shook her head. "Alright, I guess you can all take five," she said. "Take five what?" the hippogriff asked. "...Just take a break, Silverstream," Aqua rephrased, trying not to crack a smile from her overly curious nature. "Oh! Ok!" Silverstream said, then fell over on her back and let out exaggerated panting noises like her friends. That broke Aqua as she let out a small laugh. Luckily, she had them start their laps out by the pond in front of the School of Friendship. Levitating a large sphere of water, she hovered it over the students and let it trickle out in a cool, refreshing drizzle, helping cool them off. Yona especially with all that thick fur. At least the yak didn't trip over her hair thanks to Rarity making those hanging braids into loops. After cooling them down, she levitated some ice-cold water to the students, getting them rehydrated for the next set of exercises she had for them. "You're all doing very well after these last few days starting your training," Aqua said to her apprentices. "Your stamina will still need a lot of work." Gallus opened his beak to say something, but Aqua beat him to the punch. "You may be a strong flier, Gallus, but there will be Heartless who can also hover or fly just as fast as you can. We're working on your endurance for when you encounter hordes of them, and they can ambush you with great numbers." "Can we start learning how to fight them next?" Smolder asked. "S-So soon?" Ocellus asked nervously. "We just started learning the proper stances with our Keyblades. I'm still trying to get used to wielding it in my mouth should something happen to my magic." "I know some of you are eager to learn about fighting the real thing, but it's best to be properly trained than get too in over your heads and NOT die," Aqua lectured, then sighed. She really hoped she could find a place to train the Young Six, but now that they've gotten their Keyblades, she had to make due with building up their endurance and strength while having the others around for combat training in case Heartless appear in Equestria. "We're just going to progress gently until I believe you're all ready to actually face the Heartless." "Ooh! Why not that school you, Mr. Terra, and Ventus learned at!?" Silverstream suggested. "Umm, she changed how the world looked, remember?" Sandbar reminded the hippogriff. "When it was covered in darkness?" "Oh. Right," Silverstream mumbled, grimacing slightly as she mentioned The Land of Departure in front of Aqua. "...Can you...change it back?" "I'm not sure," Aqua said. "When I was announced as a master, my former master told me if anything happened to him, or The Land of Departure, I would use his Keyblade to change the world into what is now known as Castle Oblivion, keeping the secrets and knowledge of the Keyblade and whatever history was stored from being discovered by those who want to abuse their power for their own personal gain." "So...kinda like that old bald guy, who's your archenemy?" Gallus asked. "What was his name again?" "Xehanort," Aqua said. "Unfortunately, he's been a Keyblade wielder since he was a kid. He grew up with Master Eraqus and Master Yen Sid." "And they used to be friends?" Gallus asked again. "Some friend if he literally stabbed one of them in the back." Seeing Aqua frown, the other students glared at the griffon for bringing up that moment. "Gallus, not cool," Sandbar chided. Aqua shook her head, reassuring the students she isn't bothered by Eraqus' fate. "It's still hard for me to get over, but I know we'll finally put an end to Xehanort's long-term plan one day," she said. Though, what Silverstream suggested about bringing back The Land of Departure back puzzled her. She transformed the world to protect the Keyblade's secrets, but she didn't know if it was possible to turn Castle Oblivion back to hers, Terra's, and Ventus' old home. Eraqus taught her how to do it, with only his Keyblade as the literal key to shift the world. Would The Land of Departure still be as damaged as it was back then? Will the world forever be left as the distorted castle meant to keep out those from discovering what secrets lie inside and only allow someone like her to navigate its corridors? Aqua realized she got lost in her own thoughts, quickly shaking her head again, then clapped her hooves. "Ok, no more questions for now. Back to running laps." The apprentices all groaned, but they obeyed their master's orders. After drinking the last drop of their water, they got back up and continued running their laps. While resuming watch over her students' training, she couldn't help contemplating Silverstream's question. She may be a bit silly, almost like Pinkie Pie, but just like the party pony sans the breaking logic and reason behind her actions, the hippogriff had a lot of ideas involving "what if" situations. It was a good idea, but Aqua was still unsure if she would see her old home again, or a world too far gone in ruin and be a dwelling place for Heartless if it returned. Starlight hummed as she sat at her desk, sorting through the different books on her shelf in her office. Some were some psychology books, mostly just for show, while most of the others she had were some novels of different genres. They were just for her own entertainment if there weren't any counselling appointments from any of the students. At least not as many as there were when Twilight followed the EEA rules. "Ok, I think that should do it," Starlight uttered to herself. "Now...to wait for a student with an issue..." She stared at the books, frowning a little before letting out a disgruntled sigh. "I should be enjoying the little break from all the complaints before, but now I WANT there to be a problem with one of the students now. I want to help ponies, too, even if there are days where Lea or I can substitute for the girls if they're too busy." Her ears twitched as a knock rapped on the door. Excited, Starlight teleported to her seat behind her desk with a grin, quickly shifting the name plate on her desk with her magic to fit perfectly parallel to the edge, making sure her desk was neat and tidy before addressing her guest. "Come in~!" Starlight expected one of the younger students from the school coming in, but she didn't expect Aqua stepping inside. "Hey, Starlight. You busy?" Starlight's grin faltered, failing to hide her disappointment. "Oh, Aqua. It's you," she grumbled as the Keyblade wielder let herself in. "What's that supposed to mean?" Aqua questioned with a smirk. "Not happy to have me visit you at work?" "N-No! It's not like that!" Starlight quickly backpedaled. "I was...actually expecting one of the students, not you! I mean, I do appreciate somepony coming in for a visit, but I was eager to help a student, and-" Aqua chuckled, interrupting Starlight's rant by closing her muzzle with her magic aura. "I was kidding," she said. Starlight grumbled, watching Aqua walking over and sit down on the comfortable sofa for her clients to sit or relax on. "I think I'm already missing the old Aqua," she said. "This IS the old Aqua, not the emotionally overburdened and dead serious Aqua after living in the Realm of Darkness for over ten years. You want that me over the new, old me?" Aqua asked. Starlight grimaced, responding with a rapid shake of her head. "Exactly." Starlight just sighed and leaned back against her chair. "So, what brings you around?" Starlight asked. "Any wartime flashbacks coming back up again?" "No, thank goodness," Aqua assured. "It was something that Silverstream brought up while training the Young Six." "Oooh. Yeah. She's...quite the curious type, isn't she?" Starlight uttered. "What did she say?" "I talked about their training and still searching for the right place to properly teach them how to fight with their Keyblades," Aqua said. "Silverstream mentioned The Land of Departure, but it's Castle Oblivion now, and...she had a weird thought about...bringing the world back to the way it was." "Is that actually a possibility?" Starlight asked curiously. "But, Twilight told me you, Sora, Riku, and Kairi had trained her here in Equestria. She was new to being a wielder at that time." "Twilight encountered the Heartless when Luna returned while she was still Nightmare Moon. She knew how dangerous they were after properly meeting Sora. Not like Rainbow Dash when she first assumed he was summoning them." Starlight snorted a little at that. Even she would have made the same assumption if she met Sora in such a circumstance. "The difference with the Young Six is that despite only a couple of them witnessing some of the Heartless attacks, or in Ocellus' case, the Unversed, none of them know just how deadly they can be in the large numbers they may spawn in. With proper training using the right tools and environment, they have a much better chance at surviving than Sora and Riku did when they were forced to learn on their own. Even with their playful sword fighting growing up, that gave them barely enough to handle something as dangerous as the Heartless." "I guess that would make sense," Starlight said. "The first time I ever saw them when I kept changing the past, I had no idea how to react. Thank goodness Sora fought that tower of Heartless off. And saved me from losing myself in my anger, which brought out my own darkness and tried to consume me." Aqua nodded, then laid down on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. "I really don't know if I should bring The Land of Departure back," she said. "If there's no other worlds that are safe from the darkness like it, then the world I called my home would be the perfect, ideal training grounds for them. But there's so many possibilities aside from that, and they can all be the worst possible outcomes. I might not be able to bring The Land of Departure back, or if I do, then it'll either still be as scarred with darkness as it was after Master Eraqus' death, or its protection will be forever lost and Heartless will roam about like it's their new nesting ground." She covered her face with her hooves, groaning internally from the unfortunate conundrum her mind wrestled with. "There's so much learning material in the library there that we could teach everyone else, and we can't access it anymore." Starlight hummed in thought as she tried to figure out how she could help, even if she didn't have the right answer Aqua was searching for. "...I don't know if I can give any advice or suggestions. All I can say is just give it a chance and see if it can come back." Aqua lowered her hooves and turned her head, giving the counselor a confused stare. "Sometimes, going with your heart or your gut instinct might be the right call. Although, when I went with my gut on my first friendship quest with Sora, switching Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's cutie marks around wasn't the smartest idea. And even though it did upset them, they understood how difficult each of their duties were and saved them from sparking another Nightmare Moon fiasco." Aqua sat up and gave Starlight a deadpanned leer. "So, you want me to try to bring it back, and go with the worst possible scenario that might happen to the Land of Departure?" she questioned. "I didn't say it was a GOOD bit of advice or suggestion," Starlight reiterated. "I'm just saying that you might want to take a chance at it. And if it isn't as great as you expected, then you try to find another solution. You can't always worry about everything like Twilight does. Or...like how you always worried about trusting anypony who wanted to change after doing something they finally realize was wrong...Like me when I tried redeeming myself to all of you." Aqua's gaze softened, humming with uncertainty while staring at the floor. She will admit that she had feared the worst since her return over anything, but it was out of her ideals as a Keyblade wielder; keeping the worlds safe from threats that could bring them to darkness, whether by the Heartless or someone with evil intentions. Keeping those ideals only enhanced that fear of failing to save those worlds. Even when others let those who wished to redeem themselves after doing something horrible, like Starlight, she had refused giving them a second chance from the fear of them turning their back on them and continuing their evil plots. And those very fears she dreaded all stemmed from Xehanort: once trusted as a teacher and great Keyblade Master, only to trick everyone into splitting each other apart, killing Eraqus, who used to be his friend, and planning every single moment from the start of his wicked schemes until now with contingency plan after contingency plan should they manage to interfere. "...I...don't really like taking any chances," Aqua uttered. "...Not after the chance I hoped for when I sacrificed myself to the Realm of Darkness to save Terra." Running a hoof through her mane, Aqua sighed, feeling much more conflicted with taking this one chance, for the better or worse for not only her new apprentices, but for her, Terra, and Ventus' old home. "...Maybe I'll sleep on it tonight. I pray that it's still not surrounded with darkness if I can change it back." "You won't know until you try," Starlight said. "Took that lesson from Twilight and Sora when they turned me around. I never tried to seek out new friends after Sunburst moved away. I had no idea what I was missing as a filly, but I at least made up for it now." Aqua nodded, fully aware of how much Starlight changed ever since they all met the mare bent on creating a cult of equality. "Anything else you wanna talk about?" "I think I'm good for now," Aqua said. She sat up, but as she turned around to face the door, Aqua looked back at Starlight. "...Starlight? We're...friends, right?" "Well, obviously," Starlight scoffed. "I mean...like we're on good terms," Aqua elaborated nervously. "After my accusations and only viewing you as a villain who would never change her ways, you don't have any resentment toward me for acting so harsh toward you? Even when I...threatened to take your life?" Starlight winced, remembering the warning threats Aqua made to her back when they heard of the arrival of the first natural-born alicorn baby, Flurry Heart. "Yeah...That was...actually kind of terrifying hearing that come from you," Starlight admitted. Aqua grimaced and looked away in shame, but Starlight stood up from her desk and walked around it, approaching the blue unicorn. "But, at least I understood why you were so hostile toward me. I took away your cutie marks by force, tried getting revenge by stopping Twilight and her friends' connection to becoming friends in the present, and created several alternate timelines with Sora dying and unable to save Equestria or other worlds. I was absolutely terrible, and I deserved a much harsher punishment than being so easily forgiven when I showed Sora and Twilight why I was so spiteful toward cutie marks. You must have trusted Xehanort as a master a few times in the past, and you didn't want to be betrayed by somepony who committed such horrible things. "But you were able to put your trust in me, give me the benefit of the doubt, but only after I stood my ground against you and begged you to believe me. I proved myself, and I could tell it was tearing you apart when you were split between what you believed since your time in the Realm of Darkness and who you used to be before you lost everything." Starlight gently placed a hoof on Aqua's shoulder, making her look at the heliotrope unicorn mare again. There was no fear, resentment, or anger; Starlight smiled at her, her eyes expressing her heartfelt trust toward the wielder despite her prior actions that should have separated the two farther apart from even being acquaintances. "If anything, Aqua, the day after we returned from the Crystal Empire, when you dragged me back to the village to make amends with everypony I misled, I think that was the start of our friendship. You were willing to help me be a better pony, just like the others, and now, I'll do the same for you. As your own personal counselor, and as a friend." Aqua blinked in surprise, her lips curling into a small grin as she let out a small laugh, part of her relieved to hear Starlight see them as friends. "Thanks, Starlight," she said, then turned and hugged Starlight, who hugged her back in return. "I still feel so guilty about what I said to you. I'm sorry." "Eh, water under the bridge," Starlight shrugged off as the two mares broke the hug. "Although, I can see just how crazy I was back then. Maybe I should have had my horn cut off for all my crimes against ponykind and the whole universe for cutie mark snatching and destroying the time-space continuum." Even though Starlight was grinning as she poked fun at herself, Aqua was baffled by the mare being so nonchalant mentioning her crimes in such a joking manner. "...Eheheh. Yeah, I kinda poke fun at myself when I mention anything terrible I've done." "...Right. That's...definitely a sign of craziness," Aqua said. The two unicorns stood in awkward silence before Aqua slowly backed away. "Well...I'm just gonna...go and check on my pupils. Make sure they're not slacking off from their training while I'm away." "Ok. See you later." Aqua quickly opened the door with her magic and slipped out of Starlight's office. Starlight sighed, feeling really dumb being so casual while mentioning her own past mistakes. "And that friendship's going to be strained because you're being weird. Great job, Starlight. At least she's feeling much better." Later that evening, Aqua laid on her side in bed with Terra snoozing away behind her. She couldn't sleep, unable to steer her mind away from her old home. It was hard to sleep on a thought or suggestion when she wasn't asleep. She tossed and turned a little, trying not to wake Terra up, but she couldn't get comfortable or clear her head enough. Sighing in frustration, Aqua sat up, needing a distraction to help her eventually pass out. Being quiet, she climbed out of bed and exited their bedroom, thinking a little stroll through the castle would help. Her first stop was the library, hoping reading a good novel would help tire her out. Unfortunately, she only glanced at the titles, pulling different books out from the shelf just to put them back in their spot after glancing at the covers for a few seconds. Next was the kitchen, where she made herself some tea to calm her and help her sleep. There were some brands that helped with insomnia or assist lulling her to sleep if needed, but she instead chose to brew black tea, the bitter taste only keeping her more awake and left her mind wandering even further. She took her tea to the group's personal lounge room, right where Master Eraqus' Keyblade was mounted on the wall before the comfortable couch in the room. Aqua silently sipped at her tea while staring at Master's Defender, contemplating the return of The Land of Departure. Since her isolation in the Realm of Darkness, her master's Keyblade was passed down to her, substituted for her own when she gave it up to protect Terra from them both suffering the same fate. That very Keyblade helped her survive, a part of her master there with her. Even though it aided her, she felt ashamed to use it while in a mentally and emotionally broken state, using it to destroy the Heartless like an enraged berserker rather than a collected, experienced soldier. The day she learned how to use its power to change her home into Castle Oblivion replayed through her mind, which only made her miss Eraqus more and more as she tried to make her decision with what to do for her students' training. Aqua finished listening to Master Eraqus' request before setting off the stop the Unversed throughout the worlds. She didn't even noticed the darkness Terra had almost unleashed in their duel for their Mark of Mastery exam, and Eraqus was definitely worried about him. He even admitted that Terra was like a son to him, caring very deeply for both him and Aqua and would be saddened to see either of them falling to darkness. She believed Terra wouldn't give in to such a power, but complied with Eraqus' plea if it got out of hand. "Of course. I would never let that happen," Aqua said. "I promise you I will bring Terra back. Only this time, you'll see he has what it takes to be a master." She then looked out to a stain-glass window, silently hoping she wouldn't have to fight him to drag him back home. "He's not as weak as you think." She turned away and began to head out, only for Eraqus to speak up. "Aqua." Aqua paused and turned back around to face her master. "Now that you are a master, there is one secret in particular you must know. Should anything happen to me, and you find the legion of darkness at our doorstep...I ask that you take my Keyblade and use it to lock this land away." "What?" Aqua asked, both curious and slightly worried about what Eraqus was asking of her. Eraqus ushered Aqua to follow him as he walked around one of the thrones in the room. "Generations of Keyblade Masters have been charged with keeping this land safe. Light and darkness exist in balance here, and there are those who would abuse such neutral ground. This is why our predecessors devised a certain...trick." Aqua stood beside Eraqus as they faced the back of the middle throne, where she saw the enchanted gem the elder master used to communicate with Yen Sid. Eraqus summoned his Keyblade, aiming it at the crystal, and made a keyhole appear, but he didn't use his power to lock or unlock it. "Just use the key, and this land will transform," he instructed. He then gently took Aqua's hand, placing it around the hilt of his Keyblade along with his, and through some magical transfer, Aqua let out a small gasp as information about transforming the world, and many secrets she never knew of about it, flooded her mind. When it stopped, Aqua slowly removed her hand from Eraqus' Keyblade, staring at her palm, to the disappearing keyhole, then back to Eraqus. "From that day forward, all who visit this land will be lost to oblivion, none ever able to solve the mystery. None, except you, Aqua." Even though the new information didn't leave her with a headache, Aqua was stunned speechless. She was honored being given this responsibility, but the way Eraqus spoke about how he'll end up passing, it scared her. It was almost like he was foreseeing an unfortunate fate that will befall him, and he's entrusting her with the last secret a master like him will pass down to his successor to keeping this world safe. Unable to utter a word, Aqua silently nodded before the two wielders made their way outside, where the young woman will begin her journey, along with Terra and Ventus, to stop the new threat, and eventually stop Xehanort from achieving his ultimate goal. While looking back on the last conversation she would ever have with Master Eraqus, Aqua continued eyeing Master's Defender. "When we went to find Ven's body...I knew exactly where to go to find him in Castle Oblivion..." She realized that the secrets that she was given, the exact instructions and correct passages through Castle Oblivion to avoid getting lost, Eraqus had magically transferred them to her through his Keyblade. "...But...can I also...change it back?" Ignoring her half-drank tea, Aqua stood up and approached the wall. Using her magic, she levitated the mounted Keyblade off the wall and into her hooves. As she held Master's Defender, she held it tightly as Starlight's advice to trust her instincts echoed in her mind. She still doubted that The Land of Departure would ever be the same, but despite her lingering fears, Starlight had a point with always worrying so much. If there was a chance to train her apprentices properly, then she was going to need to start taking some chances instead of linger on what she's afraid of what might happen. Early the next morning, before the sun was scheduled to rise into the sky, the Young Six were sound asleep in their dorms at the School of Friendship. Ocellus, Silverstream, Yona, and Smolder are bunked together in one room while Sandbar and Gallus are roomed together in the one across the hall from the girls'. In the boys' room, Gallus snored, his limbs splayed out on his messy bedspread before rolling over and grabbing his pillow, letting out a low murmur as he enjoyed a very pleasant dream. "Mmm. Silverstream, stay a seapony forever?" the griffon mumbled as he cuddled with his pillow. Sadly, his dream was interrupted by an alarm clock going off, ringing loudly to wake up the slumbering males. Gallus was startled awake with a yelp, flailing about in bed before falling over and landing on his head with a painful grunt. Grumbling irritably, Gallus sat up while rubbing his head, watching Sandbar tiredly pressing his hoof on the ringing bells, ceasing its wake up call, then sat up with a yawn and stretched his forelegs. "...Sandbar, did you really set our alarm clock? On a Saturday?" "Uh huh," Sandbar said, then got up out of bed and fixed his sheets. "Dude, we don't have classes on the weekends," Gallus reminded the stallion. "Well, Master Aqua would probably wake us up early in the morning for training," Sandbar countered. "If we slack off, she'll probably barge into our rooms and dump cold water on us while we're still asleep to get us up and out of bed." "She'd probably give us a break every now and then, too," Gallus grumbled. "Let her wake me up. I'm going back to bed." Gallus climbed back in his bed and plopped his face back into his pillow. "And you ruined a really good dream." "I'm gonna see if the girls are ready to get up," Sandbar said, ignoring his grumpy griffon roommate. After opening their bedroom door, he paused when he saw a note taped to the girls' dorm room, then noticed a similar looking note attached to theirs. Curious, he took down the note and read it aloud for Gallus to hear, too. "'Boys, no training for today, but I have something I want to show everyone. Gather everyone out in the fields outside Ponyville. Aqua.'" "See? I told you she'd give us a break," Gallus said, tiredly gloating while his voice was muffled against his pillow. "I wonder what she wants to show us," Sandbar wondered. "We'll find out later when the sun's up. Now go back to bed." Gallus buried himself under his covers and went back to sleep. It only lasted all of ten seconds before Sandbar yanked the griffon's blanket off of him. "It might be a test for us to be up bright and early for future training," the stallion said. Gallus grumbled, leering bitterly at Sandbar. "Get yourself motivated while I wake the girls up." "Master's pet," Gallus muttered, grabbing his sheets and went back to sleep while Sandbar went across the hall to the girls' dorm room. Sandbar knocked on the door, hearing the girls on the other end muttering and grumbling at the unwanted knocking at five in the morning. "Up and at 'em, guys!" he called out. The door swung open faster than the stallion could blink, meeting the exhausted and tired glare from a grumpy dragoness. "Sandbar, it's too early to be waking us up," Smolder growled. "And it's the weekend. We don't have any school today." "Ooh! Maybe we've got early training today!" Silverstream said, only taking a few seconds to feel wide awake. "Ugh! Yona still tired!" Yona whined. "Yona want sleep!" "Do we really have to at this time?" Ocellus questioned. "Master Aqua left us notes." Sandbar took the note for the girls off their door and showed it to Smolder. It had the same message as Sandbar and Gallus', only it was addressed to Smolder, Ocellus, Silverstream, and Yona. "She's got something to show us today. And I think she's expecting us to be there pretty early, especially if we do have training." Smolder swiped their note out of the stallion's hoof and tiredly skimmed through the message. "...There's no specific time we need to be out there," Smolder reminded Sandbar. "I think she won't get mad at us if we continue sleeping. So we're well rested?" "What if it's important?" Sandbar reasoned. "Doesn't sound like she's in a rush to get us out there," Ocellus said. "She'd probably barge in and wake us up if that were the case." "That IS a good point!" Silverstream said. The hippogriff hopped down from her bunk, brushing past Smolder while taking the note from her claws. "Sandbar and I will go out and check if she wants to show us now, and we'll come back to get you with a big bucket of cold water to wake you up!" "Whatever. I'm going back to sleep." Ocellus and Yona mumbled their agreements before Smolder shut the door on the two wide awake apprentices. Sandbar looked back at his and Gallus' room, seeing the griffon curled back up in his bed, and refusing to budge as he continued sleeping. "I guess it's just us two," he figured. The duo set out to meet with Aqua, leaving the school and heading out to the fields she mentioned. Even though it was still dark out, Silverstream marveled at the outskirts of the quaint town of Ponyville in the glowing moonlight. The Young Six didn't explore much of this wide, expansive land, Sandbar and Silverstream unaware of the battles that took place here in the past. The two eventually found Aqua further ahead, who was pacing back and forth nervously while trying to be patient. "Master Aqua!" Silverstream called out, snapping the mare out of her thoughts and surprising her by two of her apprentices meeting earlier than she expected. "We're here for the special surprise! What is it!? A new, mysterious, otherworldly creature!? A pie!? OOH! Wait! Is it a magic spell!?" "...Uhh, I thought you would be asleep," Aqua said, confused. "The sun isn't even up yet." "Well, we figured you'd want us up super early for training," Sandbar said, then showed the unicorn the notes she left on their doors. "Actually, I did, and wanted to get the others up, but...only Silverstream was on board." "Can we dump cold water on them so we can see the surprise!?" Silverstream asked eagerly. "I can't wait to see what it is!" "...Oh...Did I not put a specific time on those?" Aqua asked sheepishly. Her question confused Sandbar and Silverstream as they glanced at each other. Aqua let out an exhausted sigh and shook her head. "Sorry. I'm actually surprised you were ready to get up so early expecting to train. I've been up all night after a lot of thought about...yesterday." Silverstream grimaced, feeling responsible for making Aqua overthink about bringing back The Land of Departure. "Oh. I'm sorry, Master Aqua," she apologized. "It's ok, Silverstream," Aqua assured. "I probably wasn't going to be getting enough sleep when finding the right place to train you all eats up most of my time. But it wasn't just for you guys; I wanted to bring everyone here." "Why's that?" Sandbar asked curiously. "You'll all see," she said, though the look of uncertainty on the mare's face said otherwise. Sandbar and Silverstream didn't know why she seemed so anxious, but they didn't question her and waited until everyone else arrived. As they waited, Aqua gave Sandbar and Silverstream some pointers on their fighting stances with their Keyblades. Sandbar tried mimicking how Sora's stance looked since he wasn't as bulky as an earth pony like Terra. Silverstream, who was able to change into a hippogriff and seapony at will thanks to piece of the enchanted pearl around her neck, she had two different styles to learn, both above and below water. On land, she hovered an inch off the ground while holding her Keyblade forward like Kairi does, relying on her wings to keep her balanced in her stance as she switches from ground to aerial combat. There might not have been many aquatic Heartless, but her fighting style as a seapony would be useful when she can freely breathe underwater and move with much more ease through the water. Aqua was going to have to transform herself and practice underwater combat herself to help Silverstream in that way. When teaching the rest of the Young Six on proper stances, Aqua had a little trouble with some of them. Gallus and Smolder wanted to be in more aggressive stances, though their improper footing would make them easy targets to get tripped up. Smolder could pull it off, standing nearly similar to Terra's stance while in human form, though with a bit less bulk, but if her mindset is to charge into enemy territory without and sense of caution, she could lose her heart faster than she could say, "Oops." Gallus' stance was like Riku's, but he kept both claws on his Keyblade, and he wasn't as balanced as the white pegasus was on two legs. His speed would be his key as a griffon, and if he replaced that speed with power, he'd trip himself over, or his wings while using them as balance or hovering an inch off the ground like Silverstream would slow him down and leave him open while staggering to regain his balance. Yona had a firm stance, mostly due to her size as a yak, and with her braids tied in hoops, she doesn't trip over as much. One downside is the size of her Keyblade, which was about as long as Terra's, and how quickly she needs to snap her head in order to perform a decent swing. But, unlike Smolder and Gallus, Yona COULD just charge forward at her foes, stampede to their sides, and swing at them, her running momentum along with her swing doing some serious damage. Ocellus, however, was a bit more of a challenge. She was willing to go through with this, but the timid changeling always felt unsure how to handle her Keyblade. It was obvious she wasn't keen on being as combative like the rest of her hive had when they were under Chrysalis' rule, but her nervousness wasn't what was keeping her from being comfortable in her stance: her style changed every so often. One moment, she thought she had her own stance to work with, only to stand similarly like Aqua, and when she changed it, it ended up being someone else's, like one of her friends', or even like the other experienced wielders'. Ocellus had no idea why she was being so indecisive without meaning to, which baffled Aqua when she either saw one flaw before seeing a perfect mimicry of her own stance or the others'. Aqua had one theory, but she wasn't sure if it was because of her kind as a shapeshifter that she's able to mimic anyone she becomes, or if her Keyblade was just as unique as Twilight's was. After a few more hours of waiting, the sun was already up in the sky, everyone finally arrived at Aqua's chosen meeting place: the Mane Six, Spike, Starlight, her fellow wielders, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, and the rest of the Young Six were all here. "We all got your note," Terra said, voicing everyone else's curiosity with the vague summons. "What's going on, Aqua?" "And you look exhausted, darling," Rarity noted. "Have any trouble sleeping last night?" "Yes, but it wasn't about me. I'm fine," Aqua assured. "I was mulling over what to do for the Young Six and their training. Finding the right spot to train them safely without running the risk of encountering Heartless before they're ready...And, I think I finally found the perfect world to train them." Everyone exclaimed in astonishment, most of the students excited to get to more Keyblade training in than exercise while the others wondered what world exactly Aqua found. "Really!? We're gonna do some real swordplay stuff!?" Silverstream squealed. "Yes! Finally!" Smolder cheered. "What world is it?" Kairi asked. Aqua slowly glanced at Terra and Ventus, lingering on them for a moment before looking back at everyone. "...It's a surprise," she answered vaguely. She then looked at her eager apprentices, giving them a small grin. "Actually, there's a second surprise for our young apprentices." "Second surprise!?" Yona asked. "What second surprise!? Tell Yona! Tell Yona!" "Please let it be that super cool armor you guys have," Sandbar uttered, silently praying with both hooves clasped together. Aqua overheard the younger earth pony stallion's plea and smirked. "Well, eventually, you six are going to get armor as well. But that's not the surprise." She tried not to laugh when she heard Sandbar let out a squee in excitement as she turned around and walked forward a little bit. "We're going to this world I discovered, and I'm going to show you how non-wielders got around to other worlds. And later, I'll teach you how to transform your own Keyblades into your very own gliders once you're ready to explore and protect worlds on your own." Aqua stopped, then reached her hoof forward. In a warbling flash of light, she unveiled one of the groups' Gummi ships; the one in the shape of the Tree of Harmony. The massive space cruiser vessel appearing had startled the Young Six, some staring in awe at the structure while others were baffled by the blocky pieces joined together to make a jagged-looking tree, the trunk where the massive cockpit is bearing a six pointed star while some of the branches had a butterfly, lightning bolt, diamond, balloon, and an apple, representing the Elements of Harmony and their respective gem colors. "...What...is that?" Gallus spoke up, pointing at the odd structure. "Is that a...tree?" "That's a pretty weird tree. And I thought Yona flying was the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Silverstream said. Aqua revealed the other Gummi ships, showing the more spaceship-designed vessels to the confused students. "They're called Gummi ships. These are made from a specific material called Gummi blocks. Unlike myself, Terra, and Ven, the others used these types of ships to fly to other worlds. And we're going in this big one, which is in the shape of the magical tree that created the Elements of Harmony: the Tree of Harmony." Aqua used her magic on the Gummi cruiser to lower the ramp, which slowly lowered down from an opening in the trunk a few yards up the length. "Everyone climb aboard." Instead of using the ramp, Aqua teleported herself in the cockpit, waiting for everyone else to board. Though the veteran wielders, their allies, Spike, and the older mares wondered if Aqua was well, the Young Six made their way up the ramp first. Silverstream, Sandbar, Yona, and Ocellus marveled at the advanced structure's interior as they followed the pathway leading up to the cockpit while Smolder and Gallus wondered how this "giant tree" was going to get them to fly to the other worlds Aqua showed the group while she talked about her past. The others followed behind until they reached the cockpit, where Aqua was already at the helm, getting the ship ready for takeoff. "Alright, guys, find a seat and buckle up," Sora said. While the Young Six and some of the group found their seats, Terra helping Yona fit comfortably in her seat with her wide build taking up the entire chair, Sora approached Aqua. "Are you sure you're fine, Aqua? You want me or Donald to fly the Gummi ship?" "I spent some time understanding how this ships work," Aqua reassured. "Besides, I don't want to spoil where we're going..." Sora expected Aqua to be a little bit more excited, or even try to be sneaky while hinting at the surprise she had in store. Instead, she was worried, like the surprise was going to disappoint everyone if no one liked it. He let her be and found a seat between Donald and Goofy, the trio sitting behind Aqua as she commanded the vessel. "Everyone ready?" "As ready as we'll ever be," Lea said. "Whee! Another group space trip!" Pinkie cheered. "And we have everypony this time! I hope we go somewhere fun this chapter!" "Is this...our first field trip?" Ocellus questioned. "S-Shouldn't we have had...permission slips signed?" "I don't think you need one for traveling to other worlds," Rainbow said. "Yet we need one for the School of Friendship for any field trips in Equestria?" Gallus questioned. "What sense does that even make?" "As long as there's no studying today, I'm good," Smolder said as she relaxed in her seat, only to jolt, along with the rest of her new friends, when the Gummi ship shifted from the roaring engines. "Wah! I-It's moving!" Yona shrieked. Slowly, the tree-shaped Gummi ship began its ascent, letting the Young Six see out of the glass dome to see that they were indeed moving. Unlike the other smaller ships, this one's liftoff was a little slow due to its bigger size and heavier weight, but it rose faster once the thrusters managed to lift it high enough off the ground. The Young Six watched out the dome as they flew out of their world's atmosphere, witnessing the vast blackness of space, the billions of stars that were other worlds far in the distance, and seeing their home at a distance, where they could see everything from the ship. The initial fear of flying was assuaged as they marveled at the world of Equestria, seeing Ponyville, Canterlot, the Everfree Forest, and even their own homes on the planet. "Wow! This is so cool!" Silverstream said in awe. "Is this what every world looks like from out here?" Sandbar asked. "And how many are there?" Ocellus asked. "Quite a lot," Riku said. As the apprentices looked at him, they didn't realize leaving Equestria had reverted the non-Equestrians into their original forms: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Aqua, Terra, Ventus, and Lea as humans, Donald as an anthropomorphic duck, and Goofy as a different type of anthropomorphic dog, with the rest of their garments they didn't see on them as ponies, griffon, or diamond dog respectively. "Every star that we see out there is a world. And recently, we've got some new worlds that had appeared on the map. So there's billions upon billions of worlds, and we only explored barely a fraction of them." After letting the Young Six marvel at the wonders outside of their world and how their Keyblade mentors really look, Aqua pressed a few buttons on the console, preparing to warp them to their destination. "Here we go. Activating the Warp-G function." "Oh boy," Starlight grimaced, then looked at the Young Six. "I suggest you guys hold on tightly. It's gonna be quite a trip." "Umm, what Counselor Starlight mean?" Yona asked nervously. "Just brace yourselves," Spike advised. "The first time warping in these things are...heart-pounding." The Young Six gulped nervously, but didn't have any time to ask when Aqua pressed a button after inputting the coordinates, and the ship immediately shot forward as it warped through space to its destination. The Young Six all winced as they were thrust back in their seats, thankfully kept in place with their safety belts, watching the ship flying through a dimensional rift while flying at light speed. They had no idea how their teachers, masters, and allies barely felt the same force threatening to meld them in with their chairs, Pinkie cheering and whooping like they were on an exciting roller coaster. After a few minutes, which felt like an eternity to the younger wielders, the Gummi ship quickly slowed into its cruising speed after exiting the warp field. "Huh. It does get easier the more you experience this," Starlight said. "Just like when we left Twilight Town." "You kids ok back there?" Aqua asked as she looked back at the Young Six, all of them clutching their seats with a look of sheer terror while their bodies trembled from the adrenaline rush. Lea scoffed when he saw their stupefied, grimacing features. "Rookies," he laughed. His grin faded when he and the others noticed just where Aqua was taking them. The gummi ship passed through an invisible void, bringing them to a familiar empty void to many who came to this hidden world. "Wait a minute...Is this...?" Aqua lowered the ship down, settling it on a small stretch of a gray pathway down below. While everyone sans the Young Six stared at the empty void, Aqua got up from her seat, then walked past everyone. "Get the kids back on their feet and meet me up ahead," she said before exiting the cockpit. Dumbfounded, the wielders and Mane Six looked at each other. "This place is...where Castle Oblivion is, right?" Sora asked. "Where we wound up after stopping Ansem, and what used to be The Land of Departure?" Riku added, gesturing to himself, Sora, Donald, and Goofy. He then looked at Terra and Ventus, who were just as shocked as they were. "...Is Aqua planning on making Castle Oblivion our training academy for them?" "But isn't that dangerous?" Twilight asked. "Castle Oblivion can get others lost and send them back out if they don't know its secrets like Aqua does." "And I don't want to risk losing my memories again!" Sora exclaimed. "Sora, Naminé was the one who took your memories," Riku reminded his nervous friend. "Not the castle itself. Mine are still intact when I escaped from there while fighting back Ansem's control." "Oh. Right," Sora mumbled sheepishly. "Is she not thinking clearly since she didn't sleep last night?" Fluttershy asked. "We'll have to find out when we catch up with her," Terra said, then looked at the Young Six, still firmly attached in their seats. "...Right after we recover them from their warp lag." Everyone got out of their seats and helped the Young Six out of theirs, letting them take their time for their legs to stop melting into gelatin. "We warned you it was gonna be rough," Spike said. "But don't worry. The second time's a whole lot easier." "Whatever...you...say," Smolder wheezed. After several minutes, the Young Six were able to stand back up, albeit with shaky limbs. They hoped they didn't have such a heart-racing experience like that again, but they took their mentors' words for it if they had to ride and travel around worlds in the Gummi ships. The group began to exit the tree-shaped vessel and head down the only path leading down to Castle Oblivion. The distorted void of a realm the maze-like castle resides in was eerie to the Young Six, unsettling and empty as they wondered how adventurers would even DARE to try walking down the road to a place that would get them lost the moment they entered the front door. The walk toward the castle and Aqua was quiet when they saw the master stand before the door, staring up at the jagged, mismatched structure. They stopped just behind Aqua, but when Terra looked down, he was shocked to see the Master's Defender in her right hand instead of Rainfell. "Aqua? Is that...the master's Keyblade?" he asked. Aqua gripped the Keyblade tightly, then slowly turned to face everyone. "...I know all of you are wondering why I chose...this place," she said. No one responded, not even Lea with any of his smart aleck quips. Aqua lowered her head, grasping Master's Defender tighter. "I didn't want to get everyone's hopes up if it fails...But, if it works...Our new academy...will be our hold home: The Land of Departure." "T-The Land of Departure!?" Ventus exclaimed. "But...But wasn't it-!" "I know," Aqua interrupted, keeping herself from seeing the shocked looks on her friends' and students' faces. "I put so much thought into where we could go to train our apprentices, and thinking about the land we called home, so many worst-case scenarios about returning it flooded through my mind. It was threatened to be engulfed by darkness before I sealed it away, but what would happen if it came back just kept getting worse and worse: Would it still be shrouded in darkness? Will it be infested with Heartless? Or would it be impossible to bring it back after it's been sealed for so long?" Aqua sighed, then lifted her head up. Where everyone expected her to look dejected from the possible outcomes, she actually had a steeled determination written on her face. There was a hint of fear and waning hope in her eyes, but she wasn't going to let the bad outweigh her outlook on the future of training the six new Keyblade wielders. "Well, I won't know until I take a chance. "Ever since I got back from the Realm of Darkness, I never wanted to give anyone, or anything, a chance for the best to happen. I focused on the worse, tried to prevent those fears of mine from happening, but in the end, those fears and preventing only made them as worse as I imagined. My lack of faith and trust in those had changed me, because I never gave those who deserved it a second chance unless any one of you continued to help change my mind. Not everything will end perfectly, and it took all of you to remind me that I need to make the most of the present, forget the mistakes of the past, and learn from them to make a brighter future without clinging to those failures forever." Aqua held out Eraqus' Keyblade while everyone listened to her in awe, Terra and Ventus grinning as they heard her speech, seeing the confidence in her completely returned. "Our choices and actions define who we are as Keyblade wielders. As people. As sentient beings with hearts. Risks sometimes need to be taken, and those risks may spell disaster..." She looked at Starlight, who was smiling as Aqua took her advice, then her students, the Mane Six and Spike, Terra and Ventus, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, the cricket perched on the guard captain's hat, Riku, Kairi, and Lea, and last but not least, Sora. Her gaze lingered on Sora more, seeing how he's one who goes out of his way to take huge risks while in other worlds, choosing to sacrifice his life in exchange for others, and fighting until his last breath as he's stopped many villains on his journey to simply find his friends and bring them back home. She smiled at his selflessness, always knowing that Sora had such potential as a wielder when she first met him and Riku when they were kids, and part of her regretted not making him an apprentice to spare the two boys' friendship from being ruined while another was glad she didn't, otherwise Sora wouldn't have been the strong, courageous, loyal, kindhearted, and devoted protector of the realm of light he is today. "...Or, they could lead us to a brighter future." She turned back around, facing the distorted castle, then gripped the Keyblade tightly with both hands. Taking aim at the door with the teeth of the key pointing upward, she took in a deep breath, letting go of any inhibitions as she focused on her apprentices' future. A keyhole appeared in front of the castle's door, billowing the same wind-like aura from before when she was shown the world's keyhole for the first time. Everyone watched Aqua in anticipation, crossing their fingers and hoping that the world will return to normal. Aqua pulled her arms back, then with a yell, stepped forward and thrust Master's Defender toward the door with the teeth facing downward. Light built at the end of the Keyblade, then unleashed a beam straight into the keyhole, causing it to shine brightly, nearly blinding all but Aqua as she poured light into the keyhole, eventually causing it to disappear with a shockwave of light and the sound of breaking glass. Everyone, including Aqua, waited anxiously for something to happen. Seconds later, loud clicking sounds came from Castle Oblivion, and to the group's surprise, a bright silhouette of the castle's true form rose up from the ground, and the structure began moving. Parts of the castle shifted around, moving about like a gigantic puzzle as it seemed to be putting itself back together: sideways towers re-righting themselves, corridors and hallways straightening out evenly, and even the windows along the building that were warped had returned to normal windowpanes. Along with the sudden movement of the castle, the void slowly disappeared as everyone could feel wind blowing against them, the mountainous terrain slowly returning in the distance as the bleak, grayness of the void turned into a beautiful blue sky and sunlight shining down on them. The path they took was gone and replaced with the front courtyard of the world's training grounds for Keyblade wielders, a natural mountain path behind them to more of the other features Aqua, Ventus, and Terra frequented before losing their home. Sounds of awe rang out from the newcomers to The Land of Departure as they looked around, the five-towered building seemingly floating over the cloudy mist above the mountain range while chained to many of the nearby spires via golden chains. It was a marvel to be held, and despite what had happened over fifteen years ago, the darkness that threatened to engulf this world was like waking up from a horrible nightmare. Aqua's fears about their home didn't come true, to her relief, staring at the place she called home in stunned silence. "Whoa!" Rainbow exclaimed. "It actually worked!" "It's amazing!" Twilight said, marveling the structure before them, even observing the entrance's arches and the stone centerpiece of the courtyard. "And we get to train here!" Sandbar added. "This is so cool!" "...It's like nothing happened," Terra uttered in awe. Ventus suddenly gasped, then ran toward the steps leading to the building's front doors. The others followed suit, wanting to check out the rest of the training palace to see what former wielders had as they trained in these sacred and peaceful grounds. Aqua, unlike the others, slowly walked inside, at a loss for words with her master's Keyblade held loosely in her right hand. Ventus ran up the stairs of the main foyer, ignoring the throne room and headed down the many corridors to find what he was searching for. He came to a stop at one of the few doors down the hall, gripped the handle and quickly opened it. Ventus gasped and laughed with joy as he looked inside. "No way! My room!" he cheered. Everything in Ventus' dorm room when he first arrived in this world was all here. There was his bed beside the window where he could closely watch the stars in the night while laying comfortably in his room, a telescope between his bed and bookshelf to observe the "stars", a small table with a few knickknacks scattered on top, a few plants to add in some decor to his room, everything was where he last remembered it being. "Everything really is back! Ha ha!" Elsewhere, the apprentices explored around the rest of the palace, eager to see what their new training academy had to offer. Ocellus snuck a peek inside one of the rooms, and to her luck, she found the expansive library of the world, each tome filled with plenty of learning material for her and the others to read: different magic spells, history on the world, or worlds, and the many historical wielders of the past, Keyblade techniques, and much more. "Oh my gosh," Ocellus uttered, flittering inside and hovering around the shelves, unsure which book to look through first. "Oh, please let me be able to borrow these whenever I want." Twilight poked her head in the room and let out an excited squeal, joining Ocellus in her gleeful fluttering while glancing at the thousands of titles of Keyblade lore and training guides. "Please let me keep some of these for my own library!" Twilight begged, practically salivating at the amount of knowledge she had a right to learn and absorb. While the others were exploring the many rooms and design of the castle, Aqua finally reached the top of the stairway in the main foyer. She slowly walked to the center of the second floor of the foyer, glancing every single inch of the main entrance. Her gaze locked onto the thrones at the far end of the room, her feet slowly guiding her to the chairs. Memories of Eraqus standing before her, Terra, and Ventus in front of the center throne came up, even before sealing the world away as she had placed a comatose Ventus in that very seat to keep him safe. She thought her mind was playing tricks on her as she reached her free hand to touch the throne, but she was proven wrong as she glided her hand across the armrest. "...It's...It's back..." Tears welled up in her eyes, her grip on Master's Defender lost as it clattered to the ground. Aqua fell to her knees, supporting herself against the arm of the throne, shedding tears of joy. She never thought she would ever return home after all these years, and now she has, with no repercussions to the world that thrived between the realms of light and darkness. It was like a scar that was inflicted upon The Land of Departure; the darkness had tried to take over, but sealing it away was like a bandage to let it heal, and even though it left no physical mark, the events that nearly brought the world to ruin was still there, along with the pain that was left behind. Eraqus may not be around anymore, but Aqua still had Terra and Ventus. She swore that her home is wherever they were as long as they were together, even if her idea failed and Castle Oblivion would exist forever. "Aqua?" Looking back, she saw Terra approach her, growing concerned when he saw her crying. "You alright?" Aqua nodded, wiping her eyes with her sleeve, but she couldn't contain her happy tears as they continued to flow. "Yes. Never better," she said. "I...I can't believe our home's really back." "Neither of us can," Terra said. He helped Aqua back up on her feet, the overjoyed woman embracing her beloved as she sobbed happily into his shoulder. Terra gently held Aqua and rubbed her back, a brief flash of light glinting in his eyes as he looked at her while consoling her, along with a brief silhouette of Eraqus in Terra's place before the illusion disappeared. "I'm sure Master Eraqus would be just as happy to have our home return, too." Later that evening, the group decided to stick around The Land of Departure to celebrate its return, and a private opening of their "new" Keyblade academy. Pinkie somehow managed to stock party supplies in the huge Gummi ship cruiser, but she demanded to throw a party for this special occasion. She set up the food while they partied out on the summit Aqua, Terra, and Ventus frequented every night to view the stars. All sorts of pastries were laid out on the long folding table Pinkie had also stashed away, and she used the kitchen inside the academy to bake all of them within record time. No one questioned it, though, though the Young Six wondered how Pinkie could do the things she does. Aqua took a small break from the party, sitting on the bench that overlooked the landscape with Master Eraqus' Keyblade in her lap. It all still felt like a dream come true, but the familiar breeze of the mountaintops and the stars blanketing the night sky reassured her that The Land of Departure, her home, was truly back. Her gaze drifted back down to the Keyblade that saved her life when she gave up her own to sacrifice herself to the Realm of Darkness in Terra's place. Aqua stood up, then walked over to the edge of the summit, grasping Master's Defender in both hands before thrusting the blade into the ground, marking it as Eraqus' long-awaited grave. She silently prayed, thanking Eraqus for his Keyblade's power to protect her. "Making a grave for your master?" Aqua looked over her shoulder, seeing Twilight approach her. "Yeah. I just wished I could have made one much sooner," Aqua said. After a moment of silence, Aqua looked out to her new academy, the same building she trained in, and would have been passed down to either her, Terra, or Ventus, so they could train new wielders. She then looked back at the party, mostly at her own apprentices as they enjoyed the food and discussed different topics about their training. "Now comes another issue: those six are both our students, and travel by Gummi ship to here and Equestria will be time consuming." "Right. And my school's attendance days are from Monday through Friday like any other school," Twilight said. "Even if they leave to train after school hours, they're going to be overwhelmed from all the traveling and studying from both our ways of teaching every day. How are we going to teach them without stressing them out to the point of collapsing?" Aqua brainstormed for an idea, until she had one that could work. "Maybe...we could create a portal between here and there," she suggested, confusing Twilight as she tilted her head curiously. "There's that mirror Celestia gave you that's connected to the alternate Equestria. If we could make our own mirrors that connect to each other, just like the ones Celestia and Master Yen Sid have to talk to each other, we can create similar portals to walk between both our worlds within seconds instead of minutes." "That sounds like an incredible idea!" Twilight said. "Maybe if we borrow Celestia's mirror, we can figure out what enchantment spells were placed on it and recreate them in our own mirrors! And I can make another machine to help connect those worlds better if the magic mirror to Canterlot High retains the same 'waiting thirty moons' issue. But what can we use as a medium that helps connect Equestria to The Land of Departure?" Aqua hummed in thought, wondering what item would be perfect for the second device. Looking back at Eraqus' Keyblade, she looked at the keychain hanging in front of the guard. She grimaced at the idea in her head, feeling like she would desecrate her master's grave after just making it. But she realized that she was entrusted with his Keyblade should anything happen to him, so technically, the Keyblade was hers now as he passed it down to her. Stepping up to the Keyblade, Aqua gripped the chain tightly and pulled hard, startling Twilight when she physically snapped the chain connected to the weapon's pommel off. Aqua looked down at the Mark of Mastery token at the end of the chain, hoping Eraqus' spirit wouldn't be upset with her for taking off his Keyblade's chain and token. Aqua turned back around and held out the chain to the alicorn. "We'll use this," she said. "Are you sure?" Twilight asked. "Isn't that...wrong to just take a deceased wielder's blade in any way?" "I don't think Master Eraqus would mind," Aqua said, though even she was a bit unsure herself. "Besides, it's all about the future. About the next generation passing on our knowledge to the next." "Right," Twilight nodded. "But, seeing how I'm part of the earlier generation...am I allowed to take any of the books in this world's library?" Twilight gave Aqua a pleading, wide-eyed smile, but despite the puppy-dog eyes, Aqua glowered at Twilight. "You can BORROW them, and you'll bring them right back here when you're done with them. They hold many secrets about the Keyblade, and if any villains from Equestria find those books, they'll abuse the power and techniques they could learn from them." "Aww! But...but books!" Twilight whined. "You're also my pupil, Twilight," Aqua scolded. "And don't even think about writing notes to keep for yourself, either. Commit them to memory." "Oh, come on! One set of notes won't hurt!" Twilight begged, clutching the master's leg tightly. "I'll even keep them hidden in my room! Nopony will look at them!" "Twilight, get off of me! No means no!" Aqua exclaimed, shaking the mare off her leg and leapt back. Twilight continued begging, chasing Aqua around while she avoided the flying alicorn acting like a foal wanting candy at a grocery store. Sandbar heard his master and headmare bickering, looking over at them while gawking quizzically at the alicorn chasing after the blue-haired woman. "Uhh...what are they doing?" Sandbar asked, making the others look over at the commotion going on. "Oh boy. Twilight's begging to borrow some books," Riku snickered. "I wouldn't be surprised if she fell in love with a book over me." "Same old Twilight," Pinkie said. The others laughed as they watched Twilight chasing Aqua around, which got even more hilarious when Aqua tried to fend the book-crazed alicorn off with her Keyblade. "PLEASE LET ME KEEP JUST ONE!" Twilight screamed. "I! SAID! NO!" Aqua shouted while flailing her Keyblade at Twilight to keep her at bay like she was a swarm of hornets trying to sting her. After the party wound down, and Twilight finally gave up trying to "ask" Aqua to keep one of the books in the library for herself, everyone spent the night in the new academy and will head back to Equestria in the morning. Kairi was still awake, exiting the palace and took a stroll along the mountain path. Sora didn't come inside, so she figured he was outside somewhere, and she wanted an excuse to see more of the beautiful night sky in this world. When she reached the summit, she spotted Sora sitting near the edge of the cliff, watching the night sky all by his lonesome. She snuck up behind him, feeling a bit cheeky, waiting behind him patiently and silently. Sora finally moved, stretching his arms and letting out a yawn before laying down on his back, where she leaned over him with her hands behind her back, giving him a playful smirk. "AHH!" Sora yelped, shooting straight back up in surprise. Kairi giggled, reminding her of the same reaction Sora had years ago when she found him snoozing on the beach a couple days before their journey began. "Stop doing that, Kairi!" Sora whined as he stood up. "I swear, you're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days." "Then stop trying to sleep outdoors when there's a comfortable bed inside," Kairi teased with another giggle. Sora leered at her, grumbling slightly. He knew she was messing with him, but he wished she would stop sneaking up on him like that. Kairi approached him and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Oh, come on, Sora. How can I not resist?" "You could greet me like a normal person instead of ambush me into making my heart jump out of my chest," Sora said. "Nah. Too boring." Sora just sighed and shook his head. "And yet you call me the weird one." Kairi stuck her tongue out at Sora playfully, making him roll his eyes as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "Couldn't sleep without me next to you?" "Well, I was looking for you, but I wanted to see more of this beautiful sky," Kairi said. "It's so peaceful here. And there seems to be a lot more stars from this world's view than back home." "Yeah. There sure are," Sora agreed. The two stood in silence as they marveled at the scenery, Kairi gently leaning her head against Sora's shoulder. "...I think this place is perfect," she said. "Mhmm," Sora hummed. "Wished we could have started our training here than getting actual field experience first." "I wasn't talking about that," Kairi stated. Sora looked at her in confusion. Kairi lifted her head off his shoulder and looked at him, wrapping both arms around him. "This place is beautiful, no signs of darkness anywhere in sight, and out of the few worlds we could think of, this view, this mountain range sitting over an ocean of clouds, I don't think anything else can compare to where we'll hold our wedding." It finally clicked when Kairi spelled it out for him, startling him as he slowly looked out to the mountains in the distance, the sea of mist concealing the possible land far below, and the permanent semblance of peace of neutral ground between light and darkness. "...Here?" he asked, dumbfounded, making Kairi giggle at his expression. "Yes, you big goof," she said. "Equestria isn't all that lucky with its special weddings when it comes to going by peacefully. And if you compare the best locations from Destiny Islands, Radiant Garden, or anywhere else, this world feels much more perfect." Kairi leaned closer, meeting Sora's lips in a soft kiss, which he reciprocated after recovering from his stupor before she pulled away. "What do you think, Sora?" "...I couldn't agree more," he said with a grin. "Now, the next concern is if Aqua will approve." Kairi laughed and shook her head at the silly thought. Sora then surprised her by pulling her back into another kiss, his arm around her waist pulling her closer while his free one reached up, cupped her cheek in his hand and gently caressed it while making their kiss more passionate. Kairi leaned her cheek into his hand with a content sigh, her arms shifting to wrap around his neck, pulling him deeper while her hands played with his spiky hair. Their lips parted with a light smack, staring longingly in each other's eyes. "I love you." "I love you, too," Kairi said back. They shared one more small kiss, then looked back out to the view and admired the twinkling stars in the sky. "So, that's another item crossed off our wedding list. Only a few more things to worry about." "At least Aqua's got Maud helping us find some more crystals so we can show all YOUR friends from every world you visited to see our wedding," Kairi said. "And for guests actually showing up here...well, let's just hope they get their space legs pretty quickly." "I know we're gonna invite Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Who else did you want to invite?" Sora asked. "We could invite Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus," Kairi said. "But...that would mean telling them about everything," Sora grimaced. "...Unless...Kairi, did you tell Selphie anything?" "No, but I hinted to her one day that you and I are definitely going to be married some day, and she begged me to invite her whenever we have our wedding day set," she said. "Aqua's really gonna need to know about them if we give them an invite," Sora said, Kairi nodding in agreement. The couple stayed longer for a few moments before starting to finally feel tired. They walked back down the path to the palace, discussing more about their future wedding plans as they were nearly done. Sora and Kairi couldn't wait until they were announced as a married couple as their wedding date was arriving ever closer. Things were starting to look up for everyone now: The Land of Departure was back, Aqua was slowly, but surely returning to her former self, the Young Six had their new training academy to look forward to training in, and the marriage everyone was anticipating to witness was almost here. A few days after The Land of Departure's return, Aqua and Twilight quickly got to work on creating their new portals to transport between Equestria and the returned Keyblade training grounds. The return back went smoothly for the Young Six after getting used to the sudden G-forces of warping through space, though Yona was the only one who preferred to stay grounded after that. Aqua and Twilight looked up the different enchantments, even studying Celestia's mirror after asking to borrow it to create their two-way portals. With the right spells, finding the perfect matching set of mirrors, leaving one in Twilight's castle while the other was transported to The Land of Departure via Gummi ship, setting up a similar device Twilight built to allow access to Canterlot High at any time with the chain and token taken from Eraqus' Keyblade as the connecting point between the mirrors, and with a bit of testing, their new portal was up and ready for the Young Six to use when they're called in for training. The six apprentices walked through the halls, guided by Aqua as they headed into the library where the new portal was held. "Wow! This castle is all pretty and shiny!" Silverstream gushed. "And made out of crystal," Smolder added, licking her lips with delight. "You think Princess Twilight won't mind if I try a piece?" "You're not eating the castle," Aqua chided. "It was bad enough that Ember took a bite out of almost every wall when she was invited by Spike to welcome her to Ponyville. That was almost a disaster when he also invited Thorax the same day." "Changeling leader and dragon leader fight each other?" Yona asked curiously. "Not exactly, although Spike trying to keep them from seeing each other would have sparked a conflict when he was called by the map to solve a friendship problem." The students glanced at each other curiously, all but Sandbar a bit confused by a map calling them and sending them somewhere to fix a problem between friends. "I'll explain more about that if the map calls any of you. If you feel something strange that you can't figure out, just head to the castle's throne room." "Is it like indigestion?" Ocellus asked. "Not really. You'll find out when it happens." The Young Six were unsure of that answer, but they hoped they didn't get called by the Cutie Map if they get a strange reaction from its clarion call. They reached the library and stepped inside. The apprentices stared in awe at the new mirror portal Aqua walked over to. Set in an arch around the mirror was a similar machine used to access the alternate Equestria, only what rested on top of it to act as the catalyst to connect the two portals from one world to the other was the Mark of Mastery token and chain that was part of Master's Defender. With that Keyblade able to seal the world before and bring it back, its connection seemed perfect to create the portal to The Land of Departure. "Follow me, everyone. We're going to the Land of Departure." "We're not flying in that giant tree Gummi airship thing?" Gallus questioned. "Not that I don't enjoy flying through space or anything." "It would be a hassle transporting everyone by vessel every day, so Twilight and I came up with a much faster and simpler method," Aqua said, then walked through the mirror and phased through the opened gateway. The others looked at each other, shrugged, then followed their master one by one. Thankfully, Twilight and Aqua got sizable mirrors for Yona to pass through, otherwise there would have been an issue with her wider frame and horns. They were a bit reluctant before going through, but once they passed through, it wasn't as bad as they thought as they now stood in the entrance grounds of The Land of Departure. "Wow! It worked!" Sandbar said. "Portals can really come in handy!" "This place is so pretty!" Silverstream squealed. "Maybe it was a good idea I suggested this world to-" "Silverstream, look out!" Gallus quickly lunged forward, tackling the hippogriff right as an orb of light flew down and tried to ram into her. The others gasped, startled, then dove away as more orbs shot at them from out of nowhere. "We're under attack!" Smolder exclaimed. While Sandbar, Smolder, Ocellus, and Yona summoned their Keyblades to defend themselves, Gallus awkwardly stared at Silverstream as he hovered over the hippogriff. "Wow. Thanks for saving me," Silverstream said. "U-Uhh, y-yeah," Gallus stammered, quickly getting off Silverstream, his cheeks turning pink as he looked away from her. "I mean, it was gonna hit you, so I had to get you out of the way. A-As a friend! Just a-!" Gallus was suddenly blindsided by another orb coming from behind him, smacking his head and slamming him down on the ground. "...You ok?" Silverstream asked. "Just peachy," Gallus grumbled. "Hey, can you two stop making out with each other and pay attention!?" Smolder exclaimed. "We're under attack!" Gallus was about to yell at Smolder for the comment, only for him to be saved by Silverstream by another orb heading toward them. Focusing back on the sudden attack, the griffon and hippogriff summoned their Keyblades and tried smacking the orbs away with their friends. The six gathered together and fended them off, having no clue where they came from after being assured this world was peaceful. "Where Master Aqua!?" Yona exclaimed. "Did something happen to the portal and we got separated from her!?" Ocellus worriedly asked. "I'm right here, guys!" The orbs flew away from the six wielders, hovering around Aqua as she watched them from the summit of the mountain. "Master Aqua! Stay away from the light! It's evil!" Silverstream screamed while flailing her arms, which made Aqua laugh at the ironic statement. "We're not in any danger!" Aqua called out. "Meet me around the summit!" Confused, the Young Six watched Aqua walk away from the cliff's edge and around the summit. The headed down the path, meeting Aqua halfway on a much bigger plain they recall passing to reach the viewing point. The orbs of light that attacked them earlier still floated around Aqua, but there were also some posts with circular targets on ropes attached to a set of boards connected to the top, letting the training tool cause the targets to spin around when struck. "What's this stuff?" Ocellus asked. "And...are those lights gonna hit us again?" Gallus asked, still feeling miffed for getting blindsided, even if it was his own fault for not paying attention. "These lights are actually training dummies, and I can control how they behave," Aqua explained, summoning her Keyblade, then provided an example by waving her blade, which made one of the lights float in front of her in a figure eight motion. "And don't think I didn't see your lack of focus, Gallus. In any situation when you arrive in a new world, never let your guard down. Even after you saved a pretty girl." Gallus flinched, his cheeks burning red in embarrassment as the others sans Silverstream snickered at him. "Take that as your first lesson involving encountering the Heartless: expect the unexpected. You're lucky I don't give grades for your performances." "Yeah. He would have already failed," Sandbar uttered to the others, making him snap his head in the pony's direction with a scowl. "I heard that!" Gallus squawked. "You get points for chivalry, but don't let distractions tear you away from the battle," Aqua said. "And for your question, Ocellus, those are training posts Terra, Ven, and I practice with to strike our enemies while also avoiding incoming attacks from around you. Quite handy when it comes to your reaction timing when your surrounded." "They look like those weird pole things with a ball tied to a rope," Smolder said. "This isn't used for playing, though. Now, Keyblades at the ready," Aqua instructed, then sent the orbs forward, making them surround the Young Six. They did as they were told, facing the orbs in their stances. "Who's ready to officially begin combat training with their Keyblades?"