My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria

by Codex92


Toy Box (Part 1)

The Young Six were hard at work training in The Land of Departure. They heard about what happened to Lea, and were glad to see he was alright despite his injuries. They were far from ready to fight against any of the Organization, but they vowed to keep training and learning all they can so that they could. Once they were through with their physical training, they moved on to their next magic spell: Blizzard. With another element in their repertoire, Aqua thought it would help benefit them if they ever faced more elemental Heartless.

With a lesson held earlier about using Fire offensively or defensively, Blizzard was more offensive, and she taught them the spell could either be just a single shot or a wide-spread shot that was useful at close range. Again, Silverstream and Ocellus excelled with this spell with their magical potential, but the others were faring well. Aqua had expected Smolder to have an issue with her being a dragon that can breathe fire, but she preferred to blast her target at close range with the spread shot variant, then shatter the frozen target with a single swing of her Keyblade. It was effective, but the violent aggression the dragons showed would have made her a bit of a liability to her teammates if her temper flared out of control.

Another target frozen and destroyed, Smolder cheering and laughing at the easy destruction of her eventual foes of darkness. "Oh yeah! Heartless better fear me when I come marching through!" she gloated.

"Yes, that's a good strategy," Aqua said, getting the young dragon's attention. "However, you need to be careful not to get too close to the Heartless, even with them having a weakness to certain elements. You'll never know what you'll face, and if you use the wrong spell or attack the wrong parts of them, they'll get the upper hand on you instead."

Smolder seemed a bit disappointed that she wouldn't be able to shatter every Heartless she would meet, but since she's around Gallus's level of casting spells a certain number of times before needing a recharge, she took her master's advice with a disgruntled nod. "Yes, Master Aqua," she said.

"I know this is all exciting for you, Smolder, and you have an itch to go out and slay some Heartless, but you need to tone down the aggression," Aqua said. "You won't be able to get up close to a lot of Heartless and beat them with brute force alone. You saw what Gallus went through on his first trek in another world. Never underestimate your opponents, even when you think your strength can't be outmatched."

"Yeah, I gotcha," Smolder mumbled.

Seeing the scrunched pout on Smolder's face, Aqua knew dragons were meant to be fierce, but this teenage dragon was still young enough to still have some sense of childish adorability in her features. Smolder hated a lot of the aggression her kind had, which terrified other races in the world, but it couldn't have been helped if it was part of her nature. Spike was a lot different considering he was hatched and raised by ponies. Smolder and her other fellow dragons were raised much differently and in a much more hostile environment, especially after hearing about what happened with Spike getting his new wings during his Molting phase.

She knelt down to Smolder's level and made eye contact with the dragon. "I know all of this is still new to all of you guys. You each have different methods of learning things, and you clearly don't feel comfortable holding back your strength."

"Of course I don't! Dragons don't show any weakness and never hold back!" Smolder exclaimed, blurting it out in front of Aqua, but she barely flinched. Realizing her outburst, Smolder grimaced and lowered her head in an ashamed bow. "S-Sorry, Master Aqua."

"It's ok, and I understand how much of a difficulty curb this is for you," Aqua assured. "Your power is phenomenal, make no mistake about that, but no matter how much stamina you have, you'll tire out much too quickly if you go all out. And if you get mad and lose all sense of reason in a blind fury, you could wind up hurting someone else, not just the enemy."

Smolder understood, giving Aqua a small nod. "Yes, master," she said.

"I could have you work with Yona and Terra to help with controlling your strength," Aqua suggested.

"I...I think I can handle it," Smolder promised.

"Ok. The offer's still available if you need it." Aqua stood back up, giving Smolder a small rub on the head, which made her grumble in embarrassment. "You know, where the other dragons several years older than you might be brutes, you don't have their appearance."

"Uhh...W-What's that mean?" Smolder asked.

"You're kind of like Spike," Aqua explained. "A bit older, but you don't look as threatening as the older teenage dragons. As a girl dragon, you're almost cute in a way."

Sputtering, her cheeks turning red, Smolder batted Aqua's hand and backed away from her. "D-Dragons don't do cute!" she exclaimed. "I'm much stronger than any dragon my big brother's age, and they all know it! I don't do any of those sissy mare things, and I am definitely not cute!"

Aqua didn't get upset at another outburst from the dragoness. "Maybe not to other creatures, but to a human like me, and with you being around half my height, others would think differently." Smolder stared at Aqua like she grew a second head. She then noticed the height difference between the two of them. And unlike her brother or his friends, she really didn't look that intimidating, especially with her smaller size compared to an adult human. Smolder growled, slightly annoyed, but kept her mouth shut before she blurted out another insult at her master. "It's ok to be proud of being a dragon, but don't be afraid of expressing your femininity. Rainbow Dash and Applejack don't like doing any 'sissy mare' stuff, but they do enjoy being actual mares from time to time."

Smolder's nose scrunched up in disbelief. She did not think that someone like Rainbow Dash would actually like being a mare. She glanced back to her friends, afraid they were listening to hers and Aqua's casual conversation, but they were a bit busy practicing their Blizzard spells to notice. Aqua noticed the awkward tension and the nervous expression on Smolder's face, like she was afraid of being called girly.

"W-Well...that's not me," Smolder anxiously responded.

She turned and walked over to another target, trying to get the awkward conversation out of her head with her grip on her Keyblade held tightly. She had named it Dragon's Fury, but if she was given a talk about her behavior in combat, she hoped it wasn't made out of poor irony.


After training was done for the day, the Young Six headed back to their dorms to enjoy the rest of their weekend. Smolder sulked in her bed, mulling over Aqua's advice. It didn't help that Yona, Silverstream, and Ocellus were busy with a makeup and spa kit Rarity gave each of her female students for one of her subjects in generosity.

"Ooooh! We got lots of neato spa stuff!" Silverstream cheered. "Claw and hoof polish, mud masks, exfoliating creams! Miss Rarity knows her beauty stuff!"

"I heard her talk about the spa in town being the best there is in all of Equestria," Ocellus said as she looked at each of the different colored polish. "I wish we had enough bits to go there."

"Uhh, what 'polish' do?" Yona asked. "Yona eat it?"

"You don't eat it, silly! It's kinda like...fancy paint!" Silverstream said. "Then again, being underwater for so long, and my Auntie Novo always being treated to a spa day, we usually don't wear lots of makeup stuff."

"Why?" Yona asked curiously.

"Because it would run off before we even apply it," the hippogriff said. She squinted her eyes at the different colors, grinning widely as she picked a bright ruby red color. "Yeah, I think red would go perfect for you, Yona! Hold out your hoof!"

While Yona held out her hoof to Silverstream, Ocellus turned her head toward Smolder, who was trying her hardest to ignore their chatter. "Smolder, don't you want to join us and try these kits?"

"No thanks. I'll pass," Smolder said.

"But...Miss Rarity gave us these," she mumbled. "What if she tests us on how to apply makeup with the right tools? Or which color stands out for which creature's complexion?"

"I'd rather take the 'F' if there's an actual test on frilly stuff like that," the dragoness grumbled.

She turned away with a scowl. A few seconds later, she heard Yona giggling as Silverstream brushed the red hoof polish on the yak's hoof.

"Hold still, Yona. I don't want to make too much of a mess," Silverstream advised, sticking her tongue out in concentration while being careful not to get the polish elsewhere on Yona's limb.

"Y-Yona ticklish!" Yona wriggled around from the tiny brush in the hoof polish cap against her sensitive fetlock. Smolder grumbled, burying her pillow over her head to drown out their homemade spa treatment. Silverstream finally finished, letting go of Yona's foreleg to let her see her hoof. "Ooooooh. Looks pretty."

"I knew you'd like it! Now, just keep it held out while I get the other one!" Silverstream said.

Smolder let out a huff, sitting up from her bed. Her own little spa and makeup kit sat on her nightstand, untouched. She leered at it with disgust, then to her friends, where Silverstream finished Yona's other forehoof, then moved to Ocellus and gave her hooves a nice pink color to match her wings. Grunting in annoyance, Smolder stood up and headed for the door.

"Where Smolder going?" Yona asked the dragon curiously.

"Hey, you want me to do your claws next!?" Silverstream asked, making the dragon pause with a grimace. "I think purple will compliment your eyes!"

"I said I don't want to do this stuff!" Smolder exclaimed as she turned around. "And you're not touching me or my claws with any of that junk!"

"But you'd look so pretty!" Silverstream insisted.

"I don't want to look 'pretty'!" Smolder grumbled. "Dragons don't do this kind of stuff."

"Maybe because...you never have?" Ocellus asked timidly, keeping her hooves outstretched and still while her pink hoof polish dried.

"And I never will! I'll look silly with all that stuff!" Smolder said. "I have a rep to keep, and if Sandbar or Gallus see me wearing that, they're going to mock me!"

"Come on, Smolder, you're exaggerating!" Silverstream said. "How do you know you don't like it if you never tried it? Just one little claw, and if you don't like it, I can just wipe it off."

"No, thank you," Smolder grumbled. She hated being pressured and wanted to burn away those kits, but Aqua's warning about her aggression came to the forefront of her mind. Grunting bitterly, she huffed and began to pace around. She began to worry the other three girls before she stopped and spoke up again. "...Am I too aggressive?"

Yona, Silverstream, and Ocellus awkwardly glanced at each other, then back to Smolder with a nervous grin. "...Do you...want us to answer that question?" Ocellus asked sheepishly.

Despite her question answered with another question, the answer was clearly evident on her friends' faces. "So that's obviously a yes," she growled.

"W-Well, Smolder was nasty when we first met," Yona said. "Smolder friendly, but still really, really rough."

"Why bring that up?" Silverstream asked.

"...Master Aqua told me I needed to hold my power back during training today," Smolder said. "I know she knows better than all of us, but...she..."

"She...what?" Ocellus asked.

Smolder was embarrassed to say it, but she had to tell someone. "...She thinks...I shouldn't be 'afraid' of...doing stuff," she said. "...Like...what you're doing right now..."

The other girls looked at each other again, but a moment of silence was met with the trio laughing at how ridiculous Smolder was, and the dragon furrowed her brow at them. "W-Wait, hold on! Master Aqua said WHAT!?" Silverstream squawked. "You're afraid of makeup!?"

Ocellus caught her breath, using her magic to bring a tissue to wipe her tears. "I think she means she's afraid of being completely female," she said with a small giggle.

"It's not funny!" Smolder exclaimed. "I'm not afraid, you hear me!? I'm not going to look stupid by being all girly and doing sissy stuff like that!"

"Yona think Smolder really is scared of pretty hoof paint," Yona teased, which pushed Smolder's buttons as she blew out a puff of steam from her nostrils.

"I'm not scared of anything! No female dragon I've known ever backs down against male dragons!" Smolder exclaimed. "If I did any of this, other dragons would see me as a weakling! I'd be a laughingstock and humiliated for the rest of my long life!"

"...You're saying you'd rather be a boy?" Silverstream asked.

Growling, Smolder huffed and turned back to the door. "I'm out of here. I need to cool off before I bust down everything in this stupid room." Gripping the handle tightly, she slammed the door open, only to be startled by Sora standing in front of the doorway, his hoof poised to knock on the door that was swung open. He looked just as surprised as Smolder was, no doubt hearing her outburst. "...M-Master Sora?"

"Hey, Smolder," Sora greeted, awkwardly waving his lifted hoof. "Is...everything alright in here?"

"We're having a little girl time with these awesome makeup and do it yourself spa kits Miss Rarity gave us," Silverstream said. "Smolder's afraid of adding a bit of color to her claws."

Smolder grumbled, clenching her fists angrily. "I didn't say that."

"...Ok, then," Sora said. "Anyways, I was just coming to get you, Smolder."

The dragon let out a heavy sigh. "What did I do?" she asked, thinking she was in trouble with Aqua after talking back to her today.

"Nothing. You're joining me on a trek to another world that was just discovered," Sora said.

Silverstream and Yona let out an exasperated whine. Ocellus looked a bit relieved, quickly blowing on her hooves to help dry her pink polish faster to avoid being suspicious.

"No fair. Yona wanted to be next," Yona whined.

"Well, you don't want to ruin your hoof polish if you're running around fighting Heartless," Sora said.

"Ooh, he has a point. They'll get ruined," Silverstream agreed. "Oh well. Have fun, Smolder! Tell us how it goes!"

Smolder rolled her eyes, ignoring the hippogriff as she went to grab her adventure pack. Since she was the only one of the group able to walk on two legs, Rarity designed her bag to be worn like a fanny pack, the pouch for her emergency curatives worn on her left hip while attached to a belt. After clasping the belt around her waist, Smolder walked out of the room, brushing past Sora. Sora shut the girls' door behind him and caught up with the annoyed dragoness.

"What happened in there?" Sora asked.

"Ugh. Master Aqua told me I needed to be less aggressive when I fight, and told me not to be afraid of my..." Smolder grunted as she tried to figure out what word Aqua had used earlier. "I don't know what she said. Started with an 'f', and it's the opposite of what I am as a dragon."

"Femininity?" Sora guessed.

"Yeah, that," Smolder said. She heard Sora let out a snort, quickly getting in the stallion's face and poked his snout roughly. "Don't you dare laugh."

A bit caught off guard, Sora gently grabbed and lowered Smolder's claw. "Maybe Aqua's warning you about that kind of aggression?" he asked, gesturing to the threatening reaction she made over his amusement to her dilemma. "I know dragons have a different way of expressing themselves, but if you don't like how rough you guys are toward everyone, maybe tone down on the intimidation and just letting your fists do the talking for your dislikes."

Smolder grimaced, letting out a sigh. "Sorry," she apologized. "I don't want to be the kind of dragon like my brother's friends are. It's just...what Master Aqua said...bothered me."

"About behaving more like a girl than as you?" Sora asked. She nodded, feeling uncertain about herself and a little ashamed that she practically threatened a stallion who could have easily flipped her over and pinned her to the ground in the blink of an eye. Sora placed a hoof on Smolder's shoulder. "Hey, we're not telling you to change completely and be something you're not. There's probably a lot of things you want to try since you've been staying here. There's no judgement if you want to do normal girl stuff like makeup or dressing up in different clothes."

Smolder grumbled as she felt uncomfortable discussing this. "Can we just keep going? I don't want to talk about this anymore."

She walked on ahead with Sora shrugging before catching up with her. "Understandable, Smolder, but Aqua did warn me about how into those Blizzard spells of yours in very close quarters," he said. "You may have the power, but you need to learn to keep your distance and never underestimate your opponents, no matter how big or small they are."

"I can handle anything better than Gallus could," Smolder muttered.

She remembered how crazy Gallus's first venture beyond Equestria turned out, but at least she was able to heal herself with magic. She might get a scolding for running into danger, but how can she get stronger if she's being told not to unleash all her power and rip apart every Heartless she sees? She wasn't going to back down and be soft against opponents she was meant to destroy to protect the worlds.

As they reached Sora's Gummi ship, Donald and Goofy were already inside getting the ship ready for takeoff. Smolder strapped herself in, ready to fight some Heartless. The ship flew out of Equestria and out into the cosmos in the direction of the next new world to explore. She hoped it would be some sort of world with danger all over, and there would be worst creatures that lived in the world that were as dangerous as the Heartless. While looking out of the domed glass of the cockpit, Smolder saw several other worlds they passed by, each one more different and exotic than the rest. She found it odd how they looked so small with what each world shows, but it can be so much bigger upon landing.

"We're approaching the world Aqua sent us to!" Goofy announced.

"Finally! I can't wait to-!" Smolder's excitement was immediately snuffed out when she saw where they were headed.

At the top of the world, it either looked like a city or massive building with some UFOs and a rocket ship flying above with some stars and distant "planets", the bottom had a single house with a garage, driveway, and a mailbox with a wooden picket fence, and the rest of the world had a bunch of building blocks, toy musical instruments, a roller coaster rail curling behind the huge building up top, and a variety of other toys scattered around the odd blue sphere with yellow star patterns around it. "Huh. Wonder what kind of world this is with all these toys," Sora pondered aloud.

"The world looks like it's on a big, rubber bouncy ball," Donald said as he pointed out the weird ground between the different toys.

"...You've gotta be kidding me," Smolder uttered. She slumped in her seat with a growl, leering spitefully at the childish world she had to set foot in on her first venture into a new world. "I'd rather be back with the girls getting my claws painted..."

Sora guided the Gummi ship down to the new world, aiming straight for the lone house at the bottom side of the world. As they reached the atmosphere, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were surrounded in a bright light, blinding Smolder as she winced in surprise. She didn't notice, but her body also glowed as well while she was rubbing her eyes. She knew her mentors were different and their magic could help them transform to fit in with whatever world they were on, but there should have been a warning for it so she didn't get blinded for a good while. When she could see, the ship landed, but it didn't look like the house Sora flew them toward: it was in a wide alley with a tall, wooden wall on the left and a stone one on the right with a turn leading around it.

"Gawrsh. The house sure looked a lot bigger than we saw it out in space," Goofy commented.

"Maybe we shrunk," Donald guessed.

"We've been to stranger worlds before," Sora said. He got up from his seat after shutting the Gummi ship down. Smolder saw the wielder's new look, which made her stare in shock. His clothes looked like they were physically attached to his body instead of looking loose and comfortable, but what startled her was how different parts of his body and limbs looked bulky and blocky, and his face looked much smoother and his hair seemed to have no sway despite its spiky style. He looked down at himself curiously, noting the odd change his body took. "Huh. I think we really did shrink. I look like an action figure."

Donald and Goofy got up from their seats as well, who were just as bulky-looking as Sora. Their hats were more cylindrical, possibly given that look like an actual toy's specific accessories from falling off their heads if they were being played with. They seemed just as intrigued as Sora, but when they all looked at Smolder, they were a bit surprised as they stared at her.

"Hey, Smolder's scaled look a little bit...smoother," Goofy said. "Did she change, too?"

"Huh? What happened to me?" Smolder asked. After unbuckling herself, she stood up and looked down at herself. Her scales looked a bit more shinier and smoother than they should, but when she ran her claws against her chest and belly, she was baffled to actually feel them completely smoothed out. She examined the rest of her body, from her tail to her horns. Her horns felt smoother, but were still tough and sturdy, and her wings looked like they were made of a strange thin fabric to make up the membrane. She gave them an experimental flap, relieving her slightly as she felt a slight breeze she made, but her transformed physique didn't ease her dread. "...Please tell me I'm not like you three."

"Uhh, well...if we've been turned into toys...then you're a toy, too," Sora said with a sheepish chuckle.

Smolder groaned in disgust. "Great. This stupid world's already a blast," she mumbled sarcastically.

"But why did Smolder change?" Donald asked. "Gallus was still a griffon. His magic should have helped him change, but it didn't. Smolder seems to have changed, though not by much except looking like she's made of plastic."

"Huh. That is weird," Sora agreed. He didn't have time to think about it too long. They had a job to do. "We'll tell Aqua about this when we get back. Let's go see if there's anyone in the house."

"Right behind ya, captain!" Goofy joked with his signature laugh, he and Donald following Sora down the ramp.

Smolder slumped after them, looking at her claws, which were also as smooth as her plastic scaly body. "I can't believe I turned into some little filly's plaything," she grumbled. She let out a breath to test another thing, releasing a small puff of fire from her mouth. "At least I still have my fire breath."

"You just went through a physical change, Smolder," Sora reassured the grumpy dragoness. "You still have access to your Keyblade and even your fire breath. It's just to help you fit in so you don't stand out."

"Whatever," Smolder grunted.

Sora led the group along the side of the house, which seemed more like a skyscraper at their size. To compare their height as toys, the concrete base the house was built on was just an inch or two taller than Sora's height, or if they were more accurate, a couple centimeters. Looking around the back of the house, Sora looked up around the roof of what seemed to be the garage attached to the house. There was an open window on the second floor of the house.

"I wonder if there are any giant people who live in this world," Sora wondered curiously.

"I don't know," Donald said. "But if we wanna get in, it'll take ten minutes just to walk around and get in the front door."

"Then let's take a little shortcut and climb up." Sora summoned his Keyblade, casting Aeroga on the ground next to the wall. "Ducks and dogs first!" Donald and Goofy stepped into the swirling wind, getting launched up high enough to grab onto the gutter hanging on the edge of the garage roof. Sora glanced at Smolder, who looked as bored and annoyed as she was in Equestria. "You think you're able to fly up just fine?"

Smoldered flapped her wings, but as she tried to hover off the ground, she yelped as she fell and landed on her rump. "Seriously!? This stupid body can't let me fly!?" she exclaimed.

"Uhh...toys usually don't fly on their own," Sora explained. "The plastic and fabric and whatever else they're made of doesn't really help give them the right sort of lift." Smolder was able to breathe fire, and she could make small gusts of wind with her wings, but her temporarily transformed body made her wings useless for flight. "Maybe you can try gliding with some lift from Aero?"

Her sour mood slowly turned to trepidation when she looked up to the roof. She wasn't afraid of flying, but that was when she had functioning wings. Falling was a different case, along with getting an extra boost from the magical whirlwind in front of them. If anything, she'd rather get launched in the air than have to walk around the house for about half a mile to reach the front door. Swallowing her fear, Smolder ran into the wind and was shot up in the air. She scrambled slightly at the odd feeling of liftoff without her wings, reaching the roof with some help from Donald and Goofy as they grabbed her and pulled her to safety.

"Whoa. Ok, that was really sudden," Smolder said. She looked down to the ground, watching Sora run up the side of the wall and climb up with them, barely exhausted from performing such a feat. "...You think I can learn how to do that?"

"It's going to take a lot of strength in your legs and continuous stamina if you want to climb or run on walls," Sora warned.

"I can handle it," the dragon said. "Better than needing magic wind to help me fly higher."




Inside the bedroom of the house, the T.V. sitting on the desk finished neared the end of the commercial. The room was fit for a young boy's bedroom, with all sorts of different toys scattered around the sides of the room, on the dressers, and on two sets of high shelves, but they were all in still good condition. The wallpaper in the room was a light blue with yellow stars, where different posters with either space or cowboy themes were hung along the walls. The bed had a dark blue comforter with what appeared to be a space marine in a white and green suit with a pair of wings for interstellar travel and a domed helmet to protect him from the vacuum of space with the name of the spaceman above him: Buzz Lightyear. And sitting on that bed were a green toy T-rex and a pink piggy bank.

"Ooh! I can't wait for the next season!" the dinosaur squealed in nerdy excitement.

"I don't get those little pony things," the piggy bank said with a confused look. "Sounds like something Andy's sister would want."

"I hope Andy's mom gets one of the Gigas' to play with! And the next season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is gonna be a hoot!" the dinosaur cheered. Before the next commercial was about to show, a toy cowboy in blue jeans, brown boots with bronze-colored spurs, a plaid yellow and red long-sleeve shirt, a white and black splotched vest with a pull string hanging from his back, a red bandanna around his neck, and a brown stetson hat walked past them while carrying an alphabet block. He stepped on the remote sitting next to the dinosaur, shutting the T.V. off. "Oh! Woody, I was watching that!"

The cowboy looked behind him as he heard his name. "Sorry, Rex," Woody apologized. "But now's not the time to watch television."

Woody continued on his way, leaving his two friends be. "I kinda like that Verum Rex game," the piggy bank said. "Those Gigas things are pretty impressive."

"Really!?" Woody ignored their little conversation, but as he looked down at the floor, he paused when he saw voids of darkness begin to appear. Appearing from them were mysterious, toy-like creatures in dark battle suits, rocket packs on their backs, and packing a spear gun in their right hands. Panicking, the cowboy dropped the block on the bed, then ran toward his two friends. "I like Yozora best!"

Woody tackled the two toys, sending them tumbling across the sheets in surprise before they finally came to a halt. "Woody, what gives?" the piggy bank asked.

"Shh! Quiet, Hamm!" Woody hissed.

Leaping down onto the bed behind them, a toy that looked exactly like the space marine on the covers, but his plastic dome helmet was left down within his suit. "Are they back?" Buzz asked, getting shushed by Woody, confirming his guess.

They kept low on the bed and crawled close to the edge. The mysterious toys looked around for any victims as they wandered around the floor. Woody, Buzz, Hamm, and Rex crawled back out of sight as one of them got closer to the bed.

"Alright, guys. Today we teach those masked intruders who's boss," Woody said. "Is everyone in position?"

"Wait, hold on!" Rex said. "I don't think I'm emotionally prepared!"

"Would you calm down?" Hamm said to Rex. "Don't worry. I've got you covered."

Woody looked out across the room, looking for some other friends of theirs ready to ambush the intruders. On a bookshelf next to the bedroom door, there were two little green army men standing atop a plastic bin that was used to store them. One of them had a pair of binoculars attached to their hand, using them to look around their surroundings. He looked back at his fellow soldier, who gave him a salute to confirm that they were ready on their end. On the dresser located on the other side of the door, three little green alien toys with three eyes, a thin antenna on their heads, and wearing blue space outfits gave the group on the bed a wave to signal they're ready as well. Woody gave them a salute, seeing their group prepared to trounce the mysterious toys.

"It's go time," Buzz said.

From the open window facing the garage roof, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Smolder climbed up the shingles. They peaked against the window sill, finding a bedroom fit for a ten year old boy inside.

"Huh. This almost reminds me of my old bedroom back home," Sora said. "Only it's not as messy as mine."

"Whoever lives in this room, they sure do have a lot of toys," Goofy noted.

Smolder looked around in boredom, until she saw what was happening on the floor. She watched the strange, dark-colored toys wandering around, noticing an odd heart-shaped emblem on their chests. It was hard to tell if they had yellow eyes because of the goggles they were wearing, but they definitely looked up to no good.

"Are those Heartless?" Smolder asked as she pointed to the armed troops down below.

"Yup. Heartless are definitely here," Sora said.

"Cool! Let's take them down!" Smolder climbed into the room, startling Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"W-Wait, Smolder! We've never seen those Heartless before!" It was already too late. The dragoness leapt off, stretching out her wings to glide down since her fake-looking wings wouldn't help keep her aloft. She summoned her Keyblade and divebombed the Heartless. "Darn it, Smolder! Come on, guys!" Sora said as he dove inside.

Donald and Goofy followed suit as they hopped down to join Sora. On the bed, Woody, Buzz, Hamm, and Rex were about to jump down, only to be caught off guard seeing a random dragon toy swoop down and land in front of the Heartless. They soon noticed Sora, Donald, and Goofy joining in to help the young dragon. Smolder, with an overwhelming confidence let out a yell, getting the Heartless' attention as she slammed one of them hard with her Keyblade, knocking it back.

"Come on, you wusses!" Smolder taunted. "Try to take down a real dra-!"

While too distracted by her gloating, the other Heartless aimed their harpoons at her and fired. Beams shot out, hitting Smolder with a startled grunt, sending her stumbling back until she fell on her back from the barrage. She sat up, gritting her teeth, then let out a gasp when the Heartless she smacked aside jumped in the air, then dive kicked her with a boost from its jet pack. Smolder quickly aimed her Keyblade with her eyes shut, ready to freeze the Heartless with a Blizzard spell. Sora lunged forward, dive kicking the Heartless away, only to get caught in Smolder's magic blast and turned into a frozen statue.

Smolder opened her eyes, thinking she got it, only to wince when she saw she wound up hitting Sora instead. Donald quickly rushed over to them while Goofy slid toward the Heartless while riding his shield, ramming into them to keep them distracted. Donald used Esuna to free the Keyblade wielder from his frozen state. Once he was freed, Sora turned to Smolder and gave her an annoyed frown.

"I've told Gallus this, and now I'm going to tell you," Sora said. "Do not underestimate the Heartless! Especially certain ones we haven't seen before!"

"I could have gotten that if you didn't dive in front of me!" Smolder argued.

Sora grumbled, but he shook his head as he faced the Heartless. "We'll deal with this later. We need to get rid of these Toy Troopers." Smolder got back up with a grunt, taking aim with her Keyblade again. Sora quickly grasped her arm, knowing exactly what she was going to do. "And watch your fire."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Smolder grumbled, pulling her arm back as she took aim again. VERY careful aim. She watched Sora run off to join up with Goofy, smacking away enemy fire from the Toy Troopers as they set their sights on one of the two banes of their existence. "'Watch my fire.' Not my fault he jumped in. I could have handled it myself."

"Smolder, we're trying to keep you safe while you learn!" Donald scolded, keeping any stragglers at bay with Aero spells as more Heartless joined the fray: Shadows, Vermillion Sambas, and stronger variants of the Yellow Opera, Gold Beats. "Running into danger like that will get you swarmed! Heartless can appear at any moment, and more could be lying in wait if you're not careful enough!"

"I can protect myself just fine!" Smolder argued. "Watch me!"

Donald squawked as Smolder charged into a group of Heartless caught in Donald's Aero spell. She launched a close range Blizzard on them, freezing them while still floating perilously in the small vortex, and to add fuel to the fire, blew out a deep breath of flames. The Heartless were destroyed, but Smolder moved on to the next unfortunate monster that would feel her wrath. Some Shadows tried to jump her, but she slashed through them in one swing to get to one of the Toy Troopers. One of them spotted her and fired their harpoon blasters. She spewed another wave of her fire breath, surprisingly dissipating the beam, and while it couldn't see her through her dragon breath, she shot a Fire spell at the unaware Heartless through her natural flames. The spell blew up as it made contact, burning the Toy Trooper to nothing but a released heart.

"Smolder, be careful!" Sora warned, deflecting more beams and dodging a Gold Beat's barrage of tiny lightning needles. She didn't listen, thinking she's got this handled when this was her very first battle against Heartless of any kind. He shook his head, unable to help that her dragon instincts are overriding her sense of judgement, especially with the power she wields and the real danger unlike anything in Equestria. A Vermillion Samba flew over the dragoness and launched a few fireballs at her. She got hit, but thanks to her resistance to fire as a dragon, she just stumbled in surprise, leered at the mage Heartless, then aimed her Keyblade at it and shot a Blizzard spell. It got hit by a shard, getting froze and dropped to the ground, then was immediately shattered by a hard swing. "Wow. For a fire breathing dragon, she really loves using ice."

Sora focused on taking care of the Heartless and let Smolder be. He'd come to her aid when she really does need help, but that doesn't seem likely for the furious dragon teen. It didn't take much longer to get rid of the rest of the wave of Heartless. The bedroom was soon clear of any Heartless. Sora, Donald, and Goofy relaxed, but Smolder laughed as she celebrated their victory.

"Oh yeah! Who should underestimate who now!?" Smolder taunted.

Donald used Cure on the dragoness, healing her injuries for her since she wasn't going to remember to stay healthy and in perfect fighting condition. "Smolder, that was reckless," Donald said.

"You were way too hasty and could have gotten even more hurt if we didn't jump down after you," Goofy added.

"So I did well for my first fight, right?" Smolder asked. Sora, Donald, and Goofy only gave the dragon a blank stare. "...Well, dragons are supposed to tough out any scraps we get into."

"And getting into a 'scrap' with a dozen Heartless that can swarm you is not a smart if you don't know how they fight," Sora said.

While the trio tried to explain how important of a learning experience this was supposed to be for Smolder, the toys on the bed stared at them in awe. "Who are those toys?" Woody asked.

"Whoever they are, they took care of those intruders," Buzz said, growing a bit suspicious of their sudden timing.

Seeing they were allies fending off the Heartless, the group of four climbed down the comforter and approached them. As they got closer, Rex let out a gasp as he stared at Sora.

"Ah! He looks familiar!" Rex shouted, rushing past his friends while also alerting the outsiders.

Sora yelped and took a step back from the dinosaur's excited run toward him. "Whoa, easy there!"

Rex slid to a halt, eyeing Sora curiously. "I think I recognize you," he said. "You must be..."

Hamm stood next to Rex and looked up at Sora. "It's Yozora!" he said, making Rex gasp in excitement as his tiny arms waved with glee.

"Huh? 'Yozora'?" Sora questioned. "My name's Sora."

Before he could introduce the rest of his entourage, a red light suddenly lit up and shone directly over Sora's chest. Seeing where it was coming from, Buzz had his left hand over his right arm, where what appeared to be a built in laser blaster was aimed right at him. He slowly circled Sora, keeping his aim on the mystery toys.

"Stay back, guys," Buzz warned his friends. "For all we know, the intruders sent them."

Sora held his hands up dismissing his Keyblade to ensure that he wasn't a threat, though he did have a sense of deja vu with Buzz's skepticism. When Rex glanced at Smolder, he immediately recognized her orange scales, purple head fin, horns, wings, and blue eyes.

"AHHH! You!" Rex shouted, startling everyone. "I saw you in the commercial! You're one of the new characters in My Little Pony!"

"Uhh, what?" Smolder asked. Rex suddenly lunged for her, making Smolder yelp as he tried to hug her with his tiny arms and wound up nuzzling her with his big head. "H-Hey! Back off, dude!"

"She sounds exactly like the new dragon, too!" Rex cheered. Smolder pushed the dinosaur back, but that didn't stop his excited rambling. "I didn't think the toys for the next season would already come out! Please tell me you know a Twilight Sparkle or the rest of the Mane Six!"

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Smolder gawked, astonished and flabbergasted as this dinosaur toy somehow knows who Twilight is, or even the rest of her friends. Sora wanted to try to say something, but he didn't know if he should question how he knew the alicorn and recognized Smolder or play dumb and have no clue what he's talking about.

"Hang on, Rex," Woody interjected. "We don't know them."

"But we can trust them!" Rex reasoned. "Verum Rex has the number-one-selling heroes in the country! And MLP:FIM is one of the most popular cartoons as well! Andy's mom must have bought them for him and Molly!"

Woody and Buzz gave the group very suspicious leers, not know where they came from or why they showed up out of the blue. Sora was coming up with a blank to keep the world order from breaking, but it must have already been broken if the toy dinosaur knows much more about Equestria than he's already said.

"Who's this 'Andy' and 'Molly'?" Smolder asked.

"Andy's our kid, and he loves to play with us!" Rex answered, much to Woody and Buzz's dismay. "And Molly's his little sister!"

"Rex," Woody warned the dinosaur.

"Hey, maybe they might be able to help us find out why our other friends went missing," Rex continued, completely oblivious to Woody's warning. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Smolder looked at each other, wondering how many other toy friends this bunch had. "And the can figure out why Buzz's laser started actually laser-ing."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Goofy asked.

"Well, ever since we lost our other friends, Buzz's laser was just supposed to be a light that blinks when he presses that red button on his arm." Buzz held up his arm, still skeptical of the group, though it did give Sora's group some insight to his curiosity with it. "And when he does press it to 'shoot', a real laser comes out, making him almost like the real Buzz Lightyear!"

"And a bunch of other weird stuff that happened around here, too," Hamm added. "I highly doubt a toy dragon would really be able to breathe fire, but that'd be a neat little feature if it wasn't a fire hazard."

Rex came up to Sora. "You'll help us, won't ya? That's what heroes do, right?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Buzz said. Woody hummed in thought, seeing how they managed to take down the intruders with ease. Buzz noticed his friend thinking, still uncertain if the group should be trusted. "Gotta be smart, Woody," he uttered to the cowboy.

Woody made up his mind about Sora's gang, wearing a much friendlier face as he approached them, to Buzz's surprise. "So, are you Andy's new toys?"

"Uhh...Well, not exactly?" Sora answered sheepishly.

"Well, whoever owns you, you sure did a big number on those intruders," Woody said.

"Those are the Heartless," Goofy corrected.

"They're bad guys," Donald simplified for the group of toys.

"We've been fighting against them for a while," Sora said, then gestured to Smolder beside him, who's eyeing Rex warily in case he tried to hug her again. "Smolder's still new to this. And she should have been a bit more careful."

"Her name's Smolder!" Rex cheered, laughing gleefully as he went to hug Smolder again.

"H-Hey! Personal space, buddy!" Smolder exclaimed, shoving Rex away from her again. "I don't want you getting clingy to me!"

Woody thought some more about these heroes. They knew he and his friends wouldn't stand much of a chance with the Heartless, and if they took their other friends, they were going to need all the help they could get.

"Ok. In that case, you four are alright by me," Woody said. His quick trust toward Sora's group baffled Buzz as he watched his friend step up to Sora and hold his hand out. "My name's Woody. Put her there, partner."

Sora brought his hand out and gladly shook Woody's hand. "Hey. I'm-"

"Yozora!" Rex interrupted, almost getting between the two in his fanboy excitement.

The toys looked at Rex awkwardly while he sheepishly backed away. "Uhh, my name's actually 'Sora'," Sora said with a small laugh.

"And I'm Donald," Donald greeted.

"Name's Goofy," Goofy greeted with a chuckle.

Buzz let out a sigh, just going along with it, but still keeping himself cautious around the new allies. "I'm...Buzz Lightyear."

"Call me Hamm," Hamm said. "It's an honor."

"And I'm Rex!" the dinosaur said. "Oh, I am such a huge fan!"

While Rex continued to geek out over Sora and Smolder, much to the dragon's irritation, the other toys came up to introduce themselves to the welcomed guests. The two green army men had a couple more comrades as they shuffled to them, which looked awkward with their feet connected by a bit of plastic underneath them that's meant to help keep them standing. The leader of the small soldiers, named Sarge, led a salute to his small platoon, which Sora, Donald, and Goofy returned in mutual respect. The last remaining toys, the three little aliens, literally rolled up on a skateboard, then hopped down and waddled up to Smolder.

"Strangers," one of them said in a tone that definitely fit for an actual alien visiting from a distant planet.

"From the outside," a second one said.

"Welcome," the last one said.

"Ok, this is...really creepy," Smolder said. She could feel Rex's eyes on her, regretting facing him as she saw his arms shaking in excitement. "And that wingless dragon is even more creepy."

Buzz approached Sora, needing some answers to see if they really can trust him and his friends. "Excuse me. You said you've battled those intruders before. Tell us why and where."

Sora stammered, still unable to come up with an excuse or explain without giving too much away. He could tell Donald was giving him that look, constantly reminding him not to break the world order, but that's been thrown out the window when Rex mentioned Twilight. Buzz was waiting for an answer, which felt like an interrogation from someone built to be in a space military force.

"Uhh...You probably wouldn't believe us," Sora said.

"Well, you must have come from somewhere," Buzz said.

"Hey, take it easy, Buzz," Woody said to Buzz. "What matters is that they got the intruders out of the way. At least for a little while. No need to interrogate them."

Buzz let out a sigh, but he was still going to find an answer sooner or later. "Noted," he uttered.

Slightly relieved, Sora had his own questions pertaining their visit. "Say, how long have these 'intruders' - the Heartless - been around for?"

"They only showed up a while ago," Woody said.

"In fact, those 'Heartless' materialized...right after our friends vanished," Buzz added.

"Really? Just like how your laser turned into a real one?" Sora asked curiously. He crossed his arms, intrigued by this sudden change. However many of their friends were missing as they seemed to have disappeared when the Heartless arrived, but one thing that bothered Sora was where the actual people are if the toys in this world were alive. "What about Andy, his mom, and his sister? Have you seen them?"

Woody and Buzz seemed a bit despondent by Sora's question. "Sadly, no," Woody answered, then looked up and out one of the windows in the bedroom. "It wasn't always this lonely. We woke up one day, and we were the only toys left here. There hasn't been any sign of Andy, Molly, or their mother." He lifted up one of his legs, where Sora saw the name "Andy" written in black marker under the boot. Buzz did the same thing, bearing the same name underneath his foot. "We keep waiting for Andy to come home."

Sora could tell these toys care very deeply for the boy who owns them, and with his name written on them to show who the toys belong to in case they got lost. "Wow. You guys must really care about him," Sora said.

Woody nodded as he, and even Buzz, smiled warmly. "We sure do," Woody said. "He's the best friend that toys like us could ever hope to have."

If something had happened to Woody and Buzz's owner and his family, Sora wondered if anything else happened to the people of this world, not just the toys. There didn't seem to be much activity while they were outside in the neighborhood, which was a bit unsettling. This world was supposed to have people, but if Andy and his family mysteriously vanished along with some of the toys, there had to be something going on in this world. Sora only hoped it didn't lead to this world getting lost to darkness like the other worlds from his first trek as a Keyblade wielder.

"Alright. We'd better start looking!" Sora said. "Do you guys have any clues we can go on? Or maybe anything strange that may have happened?"

The other toys heard Sora's question, most of them knowing something that might help. "Well, there is...one thing," Woody said.

"One big thing," Hamm added.

"Huge, sir," Sarge chimed in.

"Uhh, what thing?" Rex asked, having forgotten about their situation with all of his excitement today.

"After everyone went MIA, the intruders didn't come alone," Buzz explained. "They arrived with a guy wearing a hood, dressed in black, just like you. As a matter of fact, he's the only toy we've seen outside of your four."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy gasped at Buzz's description of this other toy. "Oh no! Here too!?" Donald squawked.

"You know who it is?" Woody asked.

"Unfortunately," Sora said. "He's part of a group we call the Organization. They're far worse than the Heartless."

"Huh. You seem to have a lot of enemies," Buzz suspiciously stated.

"We might have an idea who's behind all this," Sora said. He looked back at Smolder, who was listening in curiously. With the Organization around, they were going to find another one of the Young Six. He had to let Aqua know once they were far enough away from the toys. "We'll handle this."

"Sorry, but we're not gonna leave this to you," Woody said. Sora quickly looked back at the cowboy while he, Donald, Goofy, and Smolder gave them a confused look. "If that guy had something to do with our friends vanishing, then he's our problem too. We've got to work together."

Woody stretched his hand out to Sora once more to team up and take on the Organization member in the world. Sora wasn't sure what good some toys would do, but if Buzz could really shoot laser beams, they might be of some help. And they know this world a little bit more, assuming they were able to explore anywhere outside of Andy's room without any people around. It would have been scary seeing toys come to life and moving on their own without any reason.

"That sounds like a smart idea," Sora agreed, reciprocating and shaking Woody's hand again. Donald and Goofy weren't sure about the idea, but they needed some guidance around the world by any means. They just needed to keep Smolder out of sight in case they run into which Organization member was here. "So, where should we look first?"

After Woody let go of the handshake, he knelt down to the green army men. "Sarge, any word from the recon team?"

"The latest reports place him in town, sir. At Galaxy Toys!" Sarge said.

He pointed to a pinup board on the wall, which had a few different posters pinned up. One of those was a flyer for Galaxy Toys, which sounded like a massive toy store with some advertised prices of some of the toys they have on sale.

"Then Galaxy Toys is where we're going," Woody said. He pointed to the open window Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Smolder came in from. "We go out the window, down the roof, and down the street into town."

"Not so fast, cowboy," Buzz interjected. He got Woody's attention, making the cowboy wonder why they shouldn't leave right away. "You seem pretty gung ho about going, but shouldn't we stay here and wait for Andy?"

Woody seemed to think about the idea for a moment, though Sora had a feeling Buzz would be disappointed if he realizes there aren't any other people around, if what he thought was true. "Well...You may have a point, Buzz, but we've tried waiting. If we go with Sora, we might find a clue. Are you with me?"

Buzz could see Woody's point as well. It was vague as to how long it had been for the toys for the outsiders since the Heartless appeared, but they must have been waiting long enough, and Buzz knew it. He nodded to the cowboy with a grin.

"Of course, Woody," he said, then turned to their new friends. "Let's move out!"

With everyone all prepared, they headed toward the window. Woody and Buzz were about to plan a way to get them all up to the windowsill, but Sora helped make it easier by casting Aeroga in front of them to help give everyone a huge boost up. One by one, everyone stepped into the magical wind to launch up to the windowsill. The army men were carried by Woody and Buzz, otherwise they would have probably flown a bit too high and hit the ceiling. They carefully slid down the roof, heading toward the front yard of the property. Luckily, there was a trampoline down below, giving them a safety mat to land on to reach the ground. They took a leap one at a time, bouncing a bit on the trampoline before climbing off to wait for the others and continue on their way.

Smolder realized just how huge the neighborhood looked compared to Andy's house at this size. They were all like ants, and the road down the driveway seemed to stretch for miles. If Galaxy Toys was located somewhere in the middle of town, it was going to take them hours just to get to the store alone. Smolder grumbled, wishing she could fly while trudging along with the group. At least she was somewhat grateful for Aqua giving her and her friends intense stamina training with all those laps around Ponyville so she didn't tire too quickly.

As they got to the road, they began their long walk toward Galaxy Toys. Thankfully, there weren't any Heartless getting in their way, but they had to be cautious. While silently traveling, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were still worried that someone in this world had figured out that there were other worlds out there, along with the fact they they knew about Equestria. Even though it was just Rex and they're all living, moving toys, but it still shocked them that they broke the world order. Sora hung back a bit to walk alongside the toy dinosaur, which made him squeal with joy to have his "hero" next to him.

"So, Rex, about earlier," he said. "Do you really know who Smolder is?"

"Well, not a lot," Rex said.

"But you said you recognized her," Sora recalled.

"Oh! You probably didn't see any of the commercials on TV," Rex said. "Although, it's understandable since you're a video game character, and both your appearances come from different sources of entertainment. But I know EVERYTHING about your game and the show she comes from: My Little Pony!"

The title sounded like a term of endearment used by Celestia to her subjects, or to an adult to a filly or colt. "Uhh, 'My Little Pony'?" Sora repeated. "Is that...supposed to be a show?"

"A cartoon, actually, but the toys the cartoons are based on are usually made before the show," Rex stated. "There were different generations, but the one Smolder is in is called 'Friendship is Magic', which is the fourth generation. And she appears in season eight! I've watched all seven seasons, and I know a lot about Twilight Sparkle, her friends, and all the misadventures they had while learning more about the magic of friendship! It's such an amazing show, even though it seemed a bit too girly, but you have got to see the animation! So much more action than I expected!"

"...Ok," Sora mumbled. He found it incredibly odd how Rex explained that he knew all this through a cartoon show, having no connection between that version of Equestria and the one far from this world. And as Rex explained some of the main plots for each "season", there were a lot of similarities from what he knew: Nightmare Moon as Luna, Discord's return and his redemption, Chrysalis and her schemes to take over Equestria during Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding and kidnapping everyone, Sombra's return, Tirek free from Tarterus and tricking Discord to steal all the magic in Equestria, even when Twilight earned her wings and became an alicorn. Surprisingly, the only major difference was that there was no mention of him or any of his friends being involved in most of those events. When Rex took a moment's pause to think of other moments, Sora decided to risk a very dangerous gamble. "So...what about me?"

"Hmm? From Verum Rex?" Rex asked with a tilt of his head.

"No. From this...'My Little Pony' show thing," Sora rephrased. "Was I there helping Twilight and her friends?"

Rex looked at Sora curiously, then shook his head. "No. There weren't any human characters," he explained. "Aside from the Equestria Girls movies. But that's an alternate version of Equestria where everyone's a human at a high school. Besides, the real Yozora would wipe the floor with all the villains in My Little Pony. Crossovers like that would NEVER happen on TV without some tough legal negotiations for both companies' characters."

"Uhh...Ok, then," Sora said, almost disappointed, but highly relieved that it was all just pure coincidence.

"Why do you ask, by the way?" Rex asked.

"Oh! Just...curious!" Sora lied with a sheepish laugh. "Smolder never...talked about where she came from or what it was about!"

"That makes sense," Rex said. "She is a new character, after all. I wonder if Galaxy Toys might have displays of the other new characters yet, or maybe different designs for the Mane Six!"

While Rex was busy talking about meeting the toy versions of the other characters from the show, Sora quickly walked ahead, joining back with Donald, Goofy, and Smolder. "What's he so excited about?" Smolder asked as she glanced back to the dinosaur and his excited rambling to himself.

"Uhh. You guys won't actually believe this," Sora said bashfully. "Turns out Rex doesn't actually know about OUR Equestria."

"Huh? What's that mean?" Donald asked.

"He knows Twilight and everyone and everything in Equestria because there's a show that coincidentally has very similar events that have happened to us in the past," Sora explained. "So, in some weird way, the world order around here isn't actually broken."

"Well, ain't that a relief," Goofy said.

"Let's just hope he doesn't find out everything really did happen in a distant world," Donald said.

"I'd have to really blurt it out to make a mistake like that," Sora exaggerated as he grinned while resting his arms over the back of his head.

While Donald berated Sora about making jokes like that, Smolder tuned them out as she stewed in her misfortune. Her first world was met with them all turning into toys, meeting other toys with one annoying fan of hers without even knowing who she was, and her first fight against the Heartless where she expected to hear a "good job" with a pat on the back, she was instead scolded about jumping into action and disobeying orders to stay back and miss out on some real training. And to make mattes worse, they were taking the long, long way to a huge toy store, where there's probably going to be even more toys there, and some of them might go crazy seeing someone like her or Sora again. She was really regretting refusing to join Silverstream, Yona, and Ocellus with their makeover party. Getting her claws painted purple sounded slightly less painful than walking for hours toward a boring toy store.