//------------------------------// // A Pegasus to study Part 2 // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship Hearts // by castillom2 //------------------------------// Sora and Spike had been making their way over to Rarity's boutique. It has been a few minutes since they were with Rainbow Dash, but the two haven't talked to each other since they left. The baby dragon was a little nervous about going over to the white unicorn's living space. After all, he did feel quite attracted to her. Everytime he was near her, Spike felt as if his heart could flutter away. 'Don't worry, you can do this' Spike thought to himself. Sora felt the need to ask him something. "Hey Spike. I hope you don't mind me wondering but why is it when you're around Rarity, you get so…. Um…. Well…. Distracted?" Spike knew exactly what he was talking about but he didn't know how to respond. How did he truly feel about the white unicorn? Even Spike didn't know the answer. Maybe it could be he….. No, that couldn't be it. "I- Don't know what you're talking about." He pretended to not know what the pegasus was implying. He Still maybe he did feel a certain way about her. * * * Rarity was getting everything set up. She had all of her clothes, inspired by Sora's own, ready for the pegasus to judge. Though that's not the reason she's waiting for him to arrive. Rarity finished the finishing (Ha!) touches on the outfits, but as soon as she did, she heard a pop-like sound. The white unicorn turned around to see who made it, finding out it was her good friend. The white unicorn decided to greet her. "Oh, Hello there Twilight. What brings you here-" Rarity quickly noticed something about her. She had branches, messy hair and bruises all over her. "-Sweet Celestia! Darling, what happened!" She shrieked as loud as she could. Twilight didn't have anything to say about it. The unicorn wasn't interested in the matter of her look. "Nothing, I just got a little messy on the way here." She stated before beginning to tell the unicorn about what she needed to do. "Oh right, I came here to tell you that I need you to check on Sora's clothes. See if you can find anything else about them." "Alright, if you insist." The white unicorn replied. Twilight then teleported away once again, leaving Rarity by herself. Just in time too. Sora, with Spike on his back, entered the place right after Twilight left. Rarity had to make sure to accomplish her task correctly. That means no letting out anything about Twilight, the other girls or what her goal was. She went over to greet the two. "Sora, I'm glad to see you could make it." "Oh, hey Rarity. Sorry I'm a little late." He apologized as Spike got down from the pegasi's back. As soon as his legs hit the floor, he turned around to see Rarity face to face. "Oh, hello Spike. I wasn't expecting you to come here as well." The unicorn greeted He tried his best to not lose himself once again. He tried his best not to think about… Her amazing diamond blue eyes. Or her… Majestic mane or even her... fabulous tail. Spike started to become lost in thought, thinking about Rarity. The two ponies saw Spike in his little state of mind. Both didn't know what to make of it so they decided to just leave him as such. Sora then turned his attention to the new clothing line Rarity had laid out. The clothes were all on mannequins which had the same autonomy as the ponies. "Wow, you really outdid yourself with them. I only got a small look at them last time, but they look even better then before." Complemented the pegasus. The white unicorn was pleased that he thought so. "Oh darling, you jest. I'm sure these are nothing compared to what Master Yen-Sid has done." Maybe Sora could reveal a little bit more about him. "So, which pieces of them work for your particular eye? The colored highlights? the color coding? The fabulous stitching work? The patterns?" Sora didn't know what exactly any of that was. He knew what he preferred to wear but not the reasons as to why. "Ugh… I really like the….. colors." The white unicorn wasn't amused by his description. "Well, what do you think Yen-Sid's opinion would be ?" Sora began to think as to what his master's master would think about them. Yen-Sid wasn't exactly a fashion person or maybe he was but Sora just never picked up on any signs. The keyblade wielder figured to just answer how he thought master Yen-Sid would in this scenario. "Well, I guess he would think they're pretty good. After all, you managed to get the style down, not to mention you put in your own touches on them too." The clothes had more belts then an average piece of clothing though used more sparingly compared to Sora's clothing. An average of two or six belts, along with more jewels such as diamonds or sapphires. "Why thank you." Rarity accepted the complement. She decided to start and try to get any more research on his clothes. Still she had to make sure to do so in secret so Sora wouldn't get too suspicious. "Why don't you try them on?" She asked. "Okay, if you say so." The pegasus moved on over to the clothes and grabbed some of them from the mannequins they were on. "So where can I change?" He looked around to try and find a changing room. Rarity was a tooken back a little by the pegasus asking. "Why not just out here? You wouldn't mind if I saw you clothless, would you?" The unicorn knows that some ponies do prefer some privacy but why would a pony like Sora mind? He is very social and sometimes a bit oblivious. "Well, I just want a little privacy." The pegasus knows that not all ponies here have clothes. Not even the unicorn in front of him had any, though him being mostly naked made him feel a little awkward. He did let her take notes on his clothes before but he was fully clothed then, and sure he was naked during the Pride Lands or Atlantica, him having clothes right then and there then being told to lose them was a stretch for his comfort. Rarity tried to make him feel a bit more comfortable. "You don't need to be frightened. I just want you to try them on." The unicorn went up to him, trying to take off Sora's clothes herself with magic but the pegasus stepped back a bit more. "I D-on't know. I don't think I can- you know." "Oh don't be so reserved. There's no need to feel uncomfortable. Here, why not try on some of the ones closer to your style " The unicorn brought over some of the tuxedos from her line for the pegasus to wear. Sora decided to ably. He took off his clothes, while still keeping his silver crown necklace. Rarity picked them with her magic as she placed them over on a table. The white unicorn then began to look at them more closely, using stuff such as magnifying glasses in order to examine them for anything peculiar. The pegasus tried one of the tuxedos on. When he finally put the whole thing on, it felt a little itchy. The bow tie wasn't as comfortable as he wished it was. A little too stiff for his liking. The pegasus began to take it off as he put on another one. Rarity took closer inspections on the clothes. She couldn't find anything odd, except a little spark. This is what got the unicorn interested. The clothes had something about them that seemed familiar yet odd. Something she was sure she felt before but never on clothing. She decided to try and get a closer look into this. Sora was getting tired of not having them on though, and being patient wasn't always his strong suit. "Hey Rarity, can I have my clothes back now?" He asked only to be stopped by the unicorn with her blue magic. She tried her best to try and buy herself some more time. Rarity hid some of the signs that she was examining the pegasi's clothes. "Huh, that can't be. Have you tried all of them already?" She was a little confused, that couldn't have been the case. "No, it's just that they're a little uncomfortable for my liking- Woah!" He yelled as he was carried away by Rarity. Sora was forced into a dress of some kind, while being buckled down extremely hard with the belt on the outfit. The unicorn left the struggling pegasus in a spot where he wouldn't see her studying his clothes. "Here you go try this one on you, tell me how you feel about it after a few minutes ok? Ok! Hahahaha…?" The unicorn said all of this very fast, trying to not seem suspicious. She then left as fast as she could back to study the clothes a bit better, leaving Sora struggling on the ground, trying to take the dress off though it was difficult for him. Rarity continued to keep on trying to study that little spark she took notice of. The unicorn finally got just what was on the pegasi's clothing. It was magic, though none of which Rarity was familiar with. She had never seen this kind of magic used in anything she has ever seen. Was this master Yen-Sid a type of wizard? She had to gather more information. Spike had just started to get out of his Rarity admiring state. The baby dragon continued to look around for where Sora and Rarity had gone off too. He quickly heard the sounds of…. Struggling? Spike went over to see just what was causing it, he ended up finding his friend Sora on the ground in a dress, struggling to take it off. "Sora what's going on?" He asked the pegasus while he was struggling. "Spike!!" Sora cheered as he noticed him in front. "Quick, get me out of this thing! It's way too tight, I can hardly breathe! And my tail feels like it's being shoved all the way up my-!" He was interrupted by Spike going over to him and unbuckling the belt, allowing the dress to fall off of Sora. "Ugh, few. Thanks Spike, I owe you one." He began to stand up on his legs once again while breathing in and out. Spike had no idea what to say about what he just saw. His friend was wearing a dress that was too tight, not to mention 'he was in a dress'. "Why did you have one of those on?" He asked the pegasus. Sora told him about what had happened. "Rarity asked me if I could try on her new clothes. After I tried the tuxedo, she forced me into one of her dresses with her magic." "That's odd, why would she do that?" He asked. The two went over to the unicorn who was studying Sora's clothes more closely. She quickly noticed the two again. "Oh my done already here try another one!" Rarity exclaimed as she used her magic on Sora to put him inside of another one of her dresses. Leaving Sora to struggle on the floor once again. Spike was left in his delusional state of mind when he saw Rarity once again. The exact same thing happened over and over for quite some time. Sora was struggling, Rarity was examining his clothes and Spike wasn't focused until he heard Sora's struggling noises that broke him out of it. He went over to help him out of the tight clothes, which caused the two to go and check on Rarity again which led to her going to place Sora in new clothes, along with Spike being lost in thought. This continued for quite some time, until the cycle was broken. Rarity had been checking on his clothes for one last time, finding out that a special type of magic spell was placed on them. Allowing for extra protection against magic attacks. Her realization had come short though as she heard Sora's voice again. "Rarity, please can I….." "No I'm still not..!" She yelled incredibly loud at him before she stopped herself from finishing that sentence. Rarity looked all at the stallion in his new set of clothes which looked so amazing on him, it left Rarity speechless. His outfit had a white undershirt that covered the front part of his body, along with a red bow tie on his neck and a black jacket. It was nice and loose though without giving the impression of some sort of 'bad boy'. Sora looked simply amazing. "..... Darling, what in Celestia's name are you wearing!?" "Huh, This? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know.." "It's magnificent! It works absolutely perfect for you, it just works together with your style so flawlessly!" She completely forgot about her other discoveries, just so joyful to see him in her outfit. Rarity then had an epiphany. "Wait a minute, why don't you take it? Since we all have tickets for the Gala, it can work perfectly as your outfit!" Sora was a little shocked. He believed that the unicorn was ferrous with him for having a dress she put hours into without permission, turns out her loss of words was just because of how he looked in it. "Really, are you sure? I mean this did take you a long time to make." The pegasus questioned the unciors generosity. "Oh pish-posh, it's the least I could do for letting me study your clothes." Just not the second time she did so without permission. "Oh, here let me get them for you." She grabbed them with her magic and returned them back to Sora. He quickly took off the new duds Rarity gave him and placed his old ones back on his body. Rarity was packing the tux in a bag for Sora to take with him. After Sora finished putting them on, he dusted himself off a little. "Thanks Rarity. C'mon Spike." The pegasus called his friend over. "We need to go with Pinkie Pie, I promised to help her out at the bakery." The baby dragon went over and got on his friends back, resting. Rarity heard what Sora said about her pink friend. "Wait, you're going over to Pinkie Pie's." She asked, trying to hide the fact that she already knew where the two were going over. She went over and grabbed a few jem's in a basket with her magic. "I was saving these for future projects, but I figured I could give a few to you." She passed them over to Spike who grabbed them out of the air. "Thanks Rarity." Spike said, until his loving daze returned once again. "....You really are the element of generosity." Sora already knew the drill so he picked the dragon on his back. "Thanks again Rarity." Sora said, finally going out the door while the white unicorn waved goodbye. As soon as that happened, Rarity had forgotten her discovery, hopefully Twilight wouldn't be disappointed with her. * * * Pinkie Pie had been getting things ready for Sora to come over. Thankfully Twilight came over to tell her about what she had to do. Apparently the purple unicorn wants her to see what kind of food Sora likes to eat. With her and the pegasus planning on making some pastries, this was the perfect opportunity for what Twilight had in mind. Mrs Cake was finishing up a two layer cake by putting some blue frosting on the top. The mare began to bring out a box in order to place the cake inside of it. "Alright, I'm off Pinkie Pie. Now dear, please make sure not to make a mess while I'm gone." She told her daughter. Mrs Cake knows that Pinkie is special, very special. She could be quite chaotic at times with her party planning. Pinkie Pie reassured her mother that nothing would go wrong. "Don't worry Mrs C. I got everything under control. Me and Sora will be reeeeeeeeally careful." Mrs Cake was not all too familiar with Pinkie's friend. She got to see him for a little while when he and Applejack came over, which resulted in the 'food poisoned muffins' incident. Hopefully that was just because of Applejack being tired. "Oh well, if you think you can handle it." She was just about to make her way out the door with the cake, before the pegasus both she and her daughter had been talking about entered, along with a familiar baby dragon on his back. "Oh my, talk about good timing." She moved back into the bakery in order to let Sora and Spike in. "Hello, Mrs Cake right?" The pegasus greeted. "Is Pinkie Pie here?" "Oh, she's almost done. Just setting up a few things for your two's little cooking day." Mrs Cake then began to remember fond memories of a close friend. "I still remember when I was younger, me and a dear friend of mine would always bake together. It was messy for us, sure. In the end we always had fun, oh how I miss you Pear Butter." Sora thought that was very nice of her to share. Though he wondered, who is Pear Butter?' "Wow, that sounded like some good times. What happened to her? Did she move or something?" He asked. This brought out some dark feelings inside of Mrs Cake. "Well, I don't know how to say this but... Pear Butter isn't exactly with us anymore." Sora finally realized just what the mare was implying. "Huh, oh. I'm sorry I didn't know…" "It's quite alright. It was my fault for rambling out of the blue. So tell me a little bit about yourself. I'm pretty sure you're at least new to Ponyville, otherwise Pinkie would have had a folder filled with things about you, Hahahaha!" She laughed, making a small joke that ponies who only know Pinkie Pie personally would understand. Sora decided to break the ice with Mrs Cake a little. "Well let's see. I'm pretty good with a sword. I even had an exam not too long ago." "Oh, that's nice. Are you training to be a knight of some sorts? I know it's never too early to start practicing but I don't think the royal guard accepts ponies as young as you." "Well not really a knight but something like that. Still, even if I did try out for them I would probably fail like I did my other exam." He said a little jokingly. Sora thought back to his Mark of Mastery. It was supposed to be a test to see if Sora could become a keyblade master. Just like he said though, he failed. His best friend Riku took the test as well and actually managed to pass with flying colors. Sora had to admit, he was a little bummed out he didn't succeed, though he was still proud of Riku for passing even if he himself didn't. His best friend deserved the title way more than he did. "Don't feel bad. People fail time and time again. You never get it right the first time." Said Mrs Cake. She can relate to not succeeding with something. Still the more you try, the better you get. She really thought Sora shouldn't be so hard on himself for failing one measly test. "Do you know anything about baking? Just want to make sure that I don't come back finding the kitchen on fire." She asked jokingly. "Actually, I know my way around a recipe or two. I can thank 'little chef' for the help. He can make amazing food out of anything, like that 'tarte aux fruit' he made for me and my friends. He even has a famous bistro at a nice little town…." "Wait a minute!!" Yelled Pinkie Pie as she came up to both her mother and friends. "You never told me you worked with a famous chef before!" The pink mare grabbed the pegasus and brought him over to the kitchen. Mrs Cake felt the need to chuckle a little at her daughter's antics. She then looked at the time, getting herself ready to leave. "Well, I better get going. You three have fun!" She said as the mare went out the door with her delivery. Sora had finally been brought over to where Spike and Pinkie Pie were. The pegasus saw all the ingredients laid out. Flower, chocolate chips, milk, eggs and sugar. Along with fruits such as Mango's, strawberries and cherries. Sora also noticed the jem's that Rarity gave Spike on the corner. "Wow, there's so much to work with!" He exclaimed. "I know right!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed herself. "What should we make first?! A cake, an ice cream frosted cake…?" The pink mare gasped before Christmas coming up with a better suggestion. "..Or what if we made a Cherrychanga!!" Sore didn't know what this dessert was about but it sounded quite tasty. "I've never heard of a Cherrychanga. What's it supposed to be?" "What! You've never ever ever tried one before?! C'mon we need to get started!" The pink mare yelled while pulling Sora over. "So, what are you two making?" Spike asked the two ponies. "Well, since you asked-!" Pinkie explained. "I created an entire list of things Sora and I can cook. We'll start off with small things like cookies and cupcakes, then move up to bigger things, like actual cakes!" The pegasus was impressed that Pinkie was able to make a list of things they could make by the respective challenge of each. "That's all well and good, but it sounds like it's gonna take forever." Sora commented. "Oh don't worry, i know the perfect way to pass the time." The mare went over behind a table to gather an old radio that could read cassettes. "Nothing helps work go by faster then an 80's montage." https://youtu.be/HgzGwKwLmgM (Don't stop me now - Queen, Jazz Album) Pinkie Pie put in the cassette and hit play while turning the volume up to eleven. "Ok, ready?" She asked as she looked over to Sora for a response. He motioned his head up and down. Pinkie smirked back as she began listing things she required. "Flower!" She yelled as Sora quickly got some and tossed it to her. The pink mare catched it and poured some into a bowl "Sugar!" The pegasus went over to get some of the shelves as he tossed it over to Pinkie. The mare rushed over to get some more ingredients while shouting, "Take over!" Sora did just that he poured some milk into the bowl while grabbing a wooden spoon to mix it all. Spike was amazed at how well they were working together. He decided to get in on the action with his own side project. Rairty's gems would come in handy. The pink mare came back with more things and played them on the other side for either of them to grab. She decided to cut a few strawberries into slices, along with washing them in the sink. She put them over to the side to dry a little before passing them over to Sora. The pegasus was continuing to mix the bowl. He put his hoof inside of it to get a tiny bit of the mix in order to taste it. He decided he needed something to make it a bit sweeter. "Hey Pinkie-" he was about to ask if she could cut some strawberries for him, but all it took was looking over next to the sink for him to notice that she already did. Sora proceeded to grab them and mix them into the bowl. As soon as he tasted it again, he got the taste he wanted. Now what was left was to put it into the oven to bake. With that done, the two went on to the next thing. (Stop song) A could hour's passed and with that, the two's little Song came to an end. The two cleaned up everything they had out. Both Sora, Pinkie Pie and Spike decided to sit down while they enjoyed all the food they made. Sora was trying out that Cherrychanga Pinkie Pie had told him about. It was a long piece of bread with some cinnamon on top of it. The bread also had a bunch of cherry jelly filled inside of it. Sora started to try it out, he picked it up with his hoof and placed it in his mouth before taking a bite out of it. He could see why Pinkie Pie was so insistent on bin trying the thing out. It was so sweet and savory. The sugar mixed with the cherry helped it out a ton when bringing out the taste. "Wow, Pinkie Pie, this is incredible!' exclaimed Sora as he proceeded to dig in into it more and more. The pink mare was happy to see him enjoying it fully. "I knew you would love it." She then proceeded to dig in into some Ice cream frosted cake, which was just as fantastic as Pinkie Pie knew it would be. "Here, try some of the cake, it's delicious!" She said as she passed some towards Sora. Instead of using a utensil to eat, he decided to slam his face into the cake, eating every single nibble he possibly could have. "Mm, frosty. But good." "Really good." Said Spike while he chomped down on some of the cake himself. He also ate a few of those jem cookies he made. "The Cherrychanga ended out better than any of the ones I've made before, how did you do it?" Questioned the Pink mare, trying one of them herself. Sora then explained how. "Well Little Chef always showed me that when baking, you just need to find a good way to blend all the ingredients together to make a new flavor." "Wow, that's amazing. No wonder he has a famous bistro." She then went back to eating her own food, enjoying every second of it. Sora was looking across all the desserts they had made through out the day. All exemplary, though he kinda wondered if he could have cooked anything with a special ingredient he has. "I'm a little bummed out that I didn't bring my Paopu fruit though." "Hm?" Pinkie Pie made said noise, as she slurped up any remains of the ice cream she was eating. "Paopu fruit? What's that?" Sora then proceeded to explain what it was, again, carefully leaving out details that he couldn't talk about. "Oh, they're a special kind of fruit that only grows where I come from. There were so many dishes we could have made with them." He said as slimmed down, disappointed he didn't bring it. Though maybe waiting to share it with someone was better. Pinkie Pie was even more curious to know about what they were. "Really, they sound so good! What makes them so special?" The pegasus figured he could tell her. "Well, it's actually a legend the fruit has. It's said that if ponies share them, their destinies will become intertwined, They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what." The pink mare paid close attention to the legend. It sounded like a fantasy people would have on their final day. Something that could only exist in fiction. "Do you know if it works? It would be super duper amazing if it did!" She asked him. "Well.." Sora scratched his head with his hoof before answering. After all, his last shot of sharing one didn't end so we'll. "... I don't know, but maybe one day I'll be able to find out." He figured maybe one day he would, maybe one day he would share it with someone. "Why are you asking me so many questions today anyways? I never figured you'd be that curious about a friend." Pinkie Pie was a little nervous to actually tell him about the actual reason. Keeping the secret was part of her assignment. "No reason, I'm just curious. Did you two ever cook anything besides just desserts?" She asked in an attempt to change the conversation. "Oh yeah, tons!" Sora continued. Not lingering any longer. "From tomato soups, Mushroom Terrine, Carrot Potage, oh and Ratatouille!" "Ratatouille?" Asked Pinkie Pie. She wasn't sure she ever heard of something like that before in her life. Though she had to admit it sounded a little funny. "The name sounds a little weird. It's like taking the words Rat and Patootie and just mashing them together. Doesn't really sound tasty when you think about it." After hearing the way Pinkie Pie described it, Sora couldn't help but start laughing at it. "Pfft-Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! Pinkie, you took the words- an- an- but- Ha-ha-ha-ha!" She thought back as to what she said, and couldn't help but giggle along with Sora as well. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! I guess it is really funny!" Both of them then proceeded to laugh as some more time had passed without either of them realizing how much. They decided to call it a day, afterall Sora does have one more stop to make for the day. Spike got his cookie's in a basket as he began to make his way over to Sora. Pinkie Pie came in and interrupted him, "Hey Spike, whatcha got there?" She asked with the baby dragon replying, though he was a little tired as he yawned. "Oh, it's just some diamond cookies I made. I'm gonna see if Sora wants any." He then went over to the pegasus in question. Pinkie Pie was ecstatic to hear that. "Aw, isn't that nice- wait." She stopped herself as she heard about what Spike just said. She went over to try and stop him from doing so but it was too late as Spike already made it to Sora "Wow, thanks Spike." Said Sora as he took a bite from the diamond cookie, chowing down. Pinkie was very concerned, biting her hoofs. Dragons might find gems delicious for a nice treat, but that didn't include ponies. Sora chowed down and swallowed the cookie. He might has well been in slow motion with how Pinkie Pie saw it. With that, the cookie had been devoured. "Mm, crunchy. Thanks a lot, it was great…" Zzz zzz Sora looked down to thank his friend but he was fast asleep, on the ground hugging his gem cookies. He remembered just why he was fast asleep, apparently baby dragons need to sleep more than other creatures. Pinkie Pie came over and picked the dragon up. "Don't worry, I'll take him back to Twilight. See ya later?" She asked. "Really? Thanks." He opened the door as he waved goodbye to his pink friend. The pegasus began to run through the sunset over to his last stop. Pinkie Pie was left with the dragon, so now she had to take him back to the purple unicorn, just so long as she cleaned the mess she and Sora made so that Mrs Cake wouldn't freak out. * * * Fluttershy had been waiting inside her cottage for quite a while. She was tasked to see if she could find out any new information about Sora by socializing with him, though she was a little scared that such a burden was placed on her. It couldn't be all that problematic. After all this is Sora, he's no wrong doer, he couldn't hurt a fly. Unintentionally of course. Fluttershy had been feeding most of her animals such as her pet rabbit, Angel Bunny and her birds. Those were just the small ones, not mentioning the others such as the bears, racoons and squirrels. She was looking over at her clock, still no sign of the pegasus. Fluttershy was still worried that maybe he wasn't coming. What if she didn't accomplish her task? What would she do if she failed her friend? What if- Knock-knock Fluttershy heard the sound of someone knocking on her door. She rushed over to it in order to let the pony in. As soon as the pink maned pegasus opened the door, she was greeted by the stallion she had been waiting for. "Hey Fluttershy, Sorry I'm late. I kinda lost track of time, again." He took some steps into the cottage. Fluttershy stepped back in order to let Sora in, not wanting to stop him. "It's ok. I wasn't worried or anything." As soon as Sora came in, she closed the door before turning around to face him. The carmel pegasus had been examining the place as all the animals were relaxing. He managed to lay his eyes on a familiar rabbit. "Oh Sora, I hope you remember Angel Bunny." Fluttershy said while trying to ease the two in. The little bunny had his eyes squinted while staring at Sora. The pegasus had been doing the same, "Yeah, He's the one that slapped me across the room, right." He replied with the hint of edge. Angel Bunny gave Sora an 'I'm watching you' signal as he left to go do his own thing. Fluttershy felt a little sorry for her pets behavior towards Sora on his first visit not too long ago. "I'm really sorry for how he acted. I'm sure he'll learn to warm up to you." Sora stopped her, "No, it's ok. Besides, I've taken worse hits." He rubbed his cheek a little, still remembering the pain he felt when he was slapped. The pain went away no problem, as quickly as it appeared. "So, what do you need help with?" He asked "Well, there is one animal that got hurt." Fluttershy explained. She went over to her table in order to get a little red bird. She brought it over to Sora in order to show him what happened. "He accidentally crashed into a tree this morning. I need help placing a cast on his wing." The bird's wing did appear pretty badly. It was twisted in more ways than one, along with some feathers that were falling off. Fluttershy placed it on her couch as she left the bird with Sora. The pegasus figured he should try and comfort the bird. Sora had no way of healing it, maybe he could have used cure on it but thanks to his transportation to Equestria he lost that spell. Maybe he could have brought a potion or maybe an elixir but he left them back in his room over at Sweet Apple Acres. Ethers and Panicas probably wouldn't have helped as one was for restoring energy and the other was for getting rid of negative effects like burns, freezing temperatures or poisonous attacks. The pegasus was making sure that bird was nice and relaxed as Fluttershy made it back with a cast. "Hold him steady." She told Sora as he started to do just that. The pink maned mare was slowly placing the cast onto the birds little wing, being careful not to hurt it. Just as soon as she started, she finished placing it onto the wing. The mare let out a little sigh of relief. "Good job. You sure know how to take it easy." Sora complemented. "Oh, it was nothing, really." Fluttershy turned around as she twirled her hair with a hoof. "I still have a few more things to take care of. You wouldn't mind helping me with them, would you?" Sora shook his head in response. "Of course I wouldn't. I'm here to help after all." Both pegasi began to walk outside as Sora saw even more animals resting outside. None of them looked hurt or sick so it was probably just doing the norm with Fluttershy. She had done a really good job at making a good environment for a lot of them. The pink maned mare had some little coops for the chickens, along with a few bushes and birdhouses and a few other things. "Let me see," Fluttershy pondered with her hoof on her chin. "I still haven't fed the chickens. Sora, would you mind gathering them up while I get their seed's?" She asked. "Not at all. Wrangling a few chickens can't be any harder than trying to fly." He scratched his head a little. He still remembers how tired he got from jumping on all those clouds while trying to fly. Maybe not the best thing to compare it to. The pegasus made his way over to all the chickens. There had to be at least ten of them. The chickens all had been walking around aimlessly, not really doing anything. Sora tried to walk easily towards them, trying his best to not scare them. "Hey guys, how are you all doing?" He asked, trying to not alert them. He moved in a bit closer, trying to grab them. Sadly, he failed as the chickens began to run away from him in a hurry. The pegasus grumbled a little before he started to chase the chickens. The little animals were faster than he was expecting as they split up into teams of three. The chickens ran away to different sides. Sora was having trouble keeping up with the chickens, not knowing what to do. He then got the idea to try and corner them with his magic, but it didn't seem to be working as the chickens managed to avoid every single shot, leaving him with no progress. Fluttershy came back with the seed's, along with seeing Sora chasing the chickens with little success. "Wait, um Sora." She said, It didn't end up working though as Sora was still running around, chasing the chickens, again, with no success. "Um, Sora." It again didn't work, Sora was still chasing them down with no avail. Her final yell was what managed to capture his attention. "SORA!!!" As soon as she yelled, the pegasus came to an immediate stop in his movement. The chickens also stopped themselves, shocked at hearing Fluttershy yell at all. The mare herself realized this and quickly apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you." She said in her normal tone. The pegasus himself stopped, not wanting to anger his friend. Sora was standing completely still, as much as he could at least. Fluttershy began to fly up with her wings a little bit, hovering above the ground. She grabbed the seed bag and made a linear trail of seed for the chickens to follow. They did as they ate one after another, making their way over to the chicken coop. Fluttershy poured a bit more corn inside of the coup for the chickens before making her way out, closing it's door and then placing the corn bag down before she herself got back on her four legs. Sora was surprised by how well she handled the situation. He was just wasting time with his method but with hers, she was able to get it done in a couple of seconds. Fluttershy went back over to Sora in order to continue their day. "Sora, it's alright. You can move again." He let out a little sigh as he slouched down a little, feeling his body loosen up. "How do you do it?" He asked Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus didn't know what exactly he was asking about. "Huh, what do you mean?" "I mean how is it you're so good with animals? When I first visited you, I noticed that there were lots of them here but how did you manage to make them all feel so comfortable around you?" Fluttershy didn't really know that answer to his question. She's always had a great time with lots of the animal's she met but she never knew the reason as to why that was. "Well, I'm not really sure why. Most of the time when I try talking to one, I imagine how I would feel if I were them. So, I just do what would make me feel comfortable if I was in their situation." Sora pondered on her explanation. Maybe, if he could just see how the animals sae him, Sora could manage to get on their good side. "Alright, I'll make sure to try that out." The pegasus thanked her. "Anything else you need help with?" Fluttershy thought as to what else she needed help with. "Well, the last thing I really need to do is feed Harry." She said as she began to walk over to him Sora was curious as to who he was. "Who's Harry? A hamster or something?" His question was soon answered for him as a large bear showed up in front of the two. The bear was incredibly tall, towering over both of the pegasi. Sora got a little startled at first, jumping back and summoning his keyblade in his mouth. This caused Harry to get scared, running behind a tree in order to hide from Sora. Fluttershy quickly went over to Harry trying to calm him down. "Oh no-no it's ok Harry. Sora's not going to do anything bad to you." The pegasus in question un-summoned his keyblade, feeling a little bad for scaring the bare like that. Though, this might be the perfect opening to try out Fluttershy's advice. He began to imagine how he would feel if someone or something pulled out a weapon on him. Sora believed that he would feel saddened, that something saw him as a threat without even knowing each other. He didn't like something seeing him in that light. He had to admit, it kinda hurts him. So, he decided to take a more simple approach when going up to the bear. Sora walked over very quietly, trying not to make any sounds that would scare the bear. "Hello there, my name's Sora." Fluttershy noticed what Sora was doing, so she decided to step back a little bit. The caramel pegasus continued making his way over to the bear as he placed his hoof in front. Harry made his way carefully over to Sora as he shook his hoof. Harry was slowly starting to warm up to the keyblade wielder, feeling a light eluting from him. He grabbed and hugged him tightly. Probably for the worst though as Sora felt like he couldn't breathe a single bit. The bear was incredibly happy to see how well it was getting along with the pegasus. Harry's stomach began grumbling a little bit which got Sora's attention. "You're hungry. Here, let me go get you something." Harry let Sora down on the ground as the caramel pegasus went over to go get something for the bear to eat. * * * A couple of minutes have passed as Sora and Fluttershy had been sitting down outside, sipping a few cups of honey tea. The animals were all enjoying themselves, especially Harry, who was eating a bee hive filled with honey that Sora managed to get for the bear. His experience doing the same for another bear came in handy when doing so. Fluttershy took another sip from her cup of tea while looking over the animals. "Good job today Sora." The yellow pegasus said. "I'm happy you managed to get along with Harry so well." She ended up finishing her tea, so she grabbed the teapot and poured some more of the liquid for herself. Sora was still admiring the other animals, before he stopped and looked back at Fluttershy. "Yeah, though even I have to admit, I didn't think I would have so much trouble." He took another sip of his tea before placing his cup down again. "I hope you don't mind me asking but how did you get the honey without the bee's getting mad?" Fluttershy asked. Sora chuckled a little before replying. "Ha-ha. Well, Harry isn't the first bear I've met. I had to get honey a bunch of time's for him." Sora motioned Fluttershy to pour him some more tea. She did just that as the mare then asked her own question. "Who was he? I hope he was nice." "Oh, well I know his name but I always just called him Pooh Bear. I met him in this place called the 100 Acre Woods. No matter what, he always wanted some hunny. I don't think he even went a few minutes without his stomach grumbling. So, I ended up having to get Pooh honey a lot of times. I guess doing it so many times just made it easier." Fluttershy was happy to hear about that. This 'Pooh Bear' sounded like a friendly one, maybe just like Harry. "He sounds nice, though I've never heard of the '100 Acre Woods.' Where is it?" Now that was a question Sora was hoping not to hear that day. Still, maybe he could get away with a tiny little lie. Not that he hasn't been doing it already. "It's… a forest where I'm from!" He quickly yelled, trying to get the question out of the way. Fluttershy was a little sceptical about his answer, curious as to why he said it like that. The yellow pegasus shy nature stopped her from asking that. "Alright, but that makes me wonder…. Why don't you ever talk about your home?" Sora knew as to what Fluttershy was asking about but he decided to act upon his foolishness, playing dumb. "Huh, what do you mean?" He asked. "Well, it's just, you never talk about yourself all too much. Ever since we and the girls met you, all you ever told us was just about you being a keyblade wielder, nothing else…" "Look…" Sora immediately stopped her, not wanting to keep it up any longer. ".. Can we talk about something else? I'd rather not talk about… that right now." Fluttershy figured as much. Her shy nature got the better of her again as she rapidly began to apologize, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to talk about something so personal with you…" The carmel pegasus stopped her once again. "It's ok Fluttershy. I know you didn't mean to." He shined a smile towards her, as bright as the sun. Fluttershy herself couldn't help it. She ended up forgetting about what just happened and decided to laugh a little instead of focusing on gathering any other information on Sora. Her laughter was getting contagious as Sora himself began to laugh incredibly hard. The two began to waste a few minutes laughing with each other. A few more minutes had passed. Sora and Fluttershy went inside her cottage as the twilight sky turned into a beautiful night sky with the stars and the moon showing up. "Thank you so much for the help today." Said the yellow pegasus. She was very thankful for all of the stallion's help, even if he did stumble a little bit. "No problem, what are friends for." Sora was walking around Fluttershy's house, looking around for a little while. He ended up laying his eyes on the clock, "Wow, look at the time, 9:30 already." He was a little amused that he spended the entire day doing nothing else but hanging out with the girls. Fluttershy was a little shocked hearing that. "Wh-What? 9:- 30?" The mare stumbled a little bit when hearing the caramel pegasus mentioning that. She remembered Twilight's word's back ago at her library. She and the other girls had to meet up with each other in order to discuss what they had all found out. She needed to get a move on, fast! Fluttershy was actually trembling, which Sora caught attention to. "Hey, Fluttershy. Why are you sweating so much?" He asked but she didn't give an answer. The mare decided to quickly head over to Twilight's library. She needed to distract Sora in some form in order to not seem suspicious. "Hey Sora, do you mind closing my cottage for me? I need to go somewhere." She mumbled incredibly fast, letting her shy nature take over. Sora didn't understand a single thing she said, asking "Huh, what did you say?" "Ok thanks, bye." As soon as she said, she boosted out the door as fast as she could, huffing and puffing. She was never under so much pressure before. Thankfully, she managed to get it over with as fast she could. Now all she had to do was go over and meet up with Twilight. Sora was left behind as he saw the pink maned mare take off, acting more suspicious than the pegasus could imagine. This was something that stayed on Sora's mind. All the girls had been acting weird today. Applejack seemed as if she was making up an excuse when he asked her what she had been doing at Twilight's. Rainbow Dash was stumbling a little when describing what she had time to do. Rarity kept forcing him into new clothes over and over while doing something he didn't even know about, Pinkie Pie was asking questions she never seemed to really care about before and now Fluttershy was acting odd? The yellow pegasus never acted like this around him. Maybe a little bit when he first met her but that was it. Just what was going on today? His suspicion finally skyrocketed. Desperate for an answer. He proceeded to follow Fluttershy over to the Golden Oak Library, making sure not to be spotted. He didn't hide like running behind bushes or things like that, more so keeping his distance to not be noticed. * * * Back at Twilight's library, all the girls along with an awoken Spike had been discussing their findings on Sora. They were all sitting down in the same way they had been in the morning. All the girls and Spike were a little scared at Twilight's expression as the purple unicorn was, let's just say, a little annoyed at her friends. Twilight Sparkle had been stomping around, trying to calm herself down. Her mane was incredibly messy, her eyes twitching as she made sounds with her teeth, scratching her lower set with her upper set. "So let me get this straight…" The unicorn began to speak. "....NONE OF YOU FOUND OUT ANYTHING NEW!!" She yelled as loud as she could. If she yelled any louder, then she probably would have woken up every pony in Ponyville. The rest of the girls and Spike stunt back a little bit. Twilight's yell was just that surprising. Applejack decided to explain herself to her unicorn friend. "Ah'm sorry Twilight. Still ya gotta admit, that race Sora and Big Mac got into was mighty intense." Twilight was still not amused. "Hey, at least I managed to find out how well Spiky was doing on his flight!" Rainbow Dash interrupted, trying to look as if she did a better job then the other mares. "I'm sorry darling, my train of thought was just interrupted when I saw him in those clothes. I must say, I really outdid myself." Rarity said, praising herself. Pinkie Pie was next to make up an excuse. "I actually did learn some new things about Sora. Though, It wasn't much." Fluttershy finished off with "I learned that he was friends with a bear." Twilight was starting to get infuriated. "What does that have to do with anything!?" She yelled at Fluttershy. "I just thought it would be interesting to share.'' The mare explained herself, showing a worried smile. Twilight decided to go over to a wall of her library and repeatedly hit her head, over and over and over again. The books started to fall off but Twilight was just that annoyed that she couldn't even care about the books. Thud Thud Thud The others were getting very worried for their friend's sanity, seeing just how stressed Twilight was getting over this whole day. Applejack was the first to try and calm her down. "C'mon Twilight, it's nothing to beat yer-self up about…" "When you think about it, knowing those things wouldn't have really helped you with anything." Rainbow Dash commented. Twilight stopped her head smacking for a while. "What do you mean?" "Well, what was knowing what he likes to eat going to help you with figuring stuff about the keyblade?" "Yeah, that didn't really make sense to me." Pinkie added. Rarity continued, "The magic clothing wouldn't have helped any better, dear." "The racing and bucking ones I get, endurance and what not. The rest, not so much." Rainbow Dash said. "Yeah, those were all mighty odd tasks but ya'h shouldn't beat herself 'cause…" Applejack said "It's everything to beat myself up about!!" She yelled back. As soon as she did, the banging continued as the unicorn continued to smack herself in the head. "I could have finally gotten SOME answers for that stupid keyblade, but in the end I got a whole load of nothing!!!" Twilight continued on yelling as she planted her head in the wall. Spike went up to Twilight in order to see if he could reason with her. "It's not so bad Twilight. It's not like today was a complete bust." He figured that this might just be what she needed to hear, but like Applejack's attempt, it was not. "WHAT? Spike, we didn't figure out a single useful thing! All we managed to find out is that he had a bear as a friend! No new information on the keyblade, on Sora or anything like that!" She began to walk forward left and right, back and forward, in circles as her friends saw her crazed state. "Spying on him was nothing but a waste of time! We have no idea what kinds of secrets Sora is keeping from us! We don't even know if we can trust him fully!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. "Ah wouldn't go that far Twi-" Applejack started to try and argue back but was quickly interrupted by a voice, one of which they wished wasn't there. "You were all spying on me?" Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Spike and Twilight all turned around to look behind them, seeing the stallion this whole situation was about. It was easy to notice that he overheard the conversation the elements had been having. His face had a mixture of many expressions, from disbelief, to anger, to fear. Finally, ending with a face of sadness. "So, this whole day, everything we did was because you all… You really think I'm not a good..." he couldn't even finish the sentence. His heart was damaged, hurt. Every single thing they did today was out of distrust. If this was the true reason as to why, what else did they think about him? What did all of them think about him? Furthermore, is the voice in his head really right all along? They all really did think he wasn't a good friend. All of the girls and Spike knew that the cat was out of the bag. It was to go downhill from there. The secret was out, their friend was probably sulking in pain because of this. They all blew it, they failed, all of it was to blame on them and no one else and they knew it. Twilight out of all of them was the one to turn her head the fastest in this whole situation. She was the one at fault out of all of them. The unicorn was the one who set it all up, after all it was her own curiosity that led to this mess, if anything it was her fault from the beginning. That was what Twilight kept repeating to herself in her head. The unicorn kept trying to blame herself and only herself for what was going on. She tried her best to try and approach Sora. The purple unicorn moved over to the caramel pegasus easily, trying to explain herself. "Sora I- " The caramel pegasus ended up backing off as he moved away from Twilight. "I-I gotta go." The pegasus said in his own sense of disparity. He ended up running out the door as fast as he could, turning his back from the others while trying his best not to cry in the cold of the night sky. He ended up failing at that last part. As he was crying, he constantly tried to wipe his tears away as he made his way over to the deepest parts of the forest. As soon as Sora ran far enough, Twilight and the others lost sight of him. She was shocked beyond belief, seeing her friend just run off like that. It was clear as day, Sora was deeply hurt and the girls all knew it. They had no idea what to do, they all just stood there and tried to absorb it all as well as they could. Spike on the other hand thought deeper than the others. He knew from the beginning that this idea was stupid. He hated what they had done, he hated how Sora looked when the pegasus found out, but more importantly he hated himself. Spike dragged Sora along throughout the whole day like that. He could have spoken up at anytime he wanted but he kept his mouth shut about the whole thing. He tried to push his thoughts about it away during the day but he couldn't anymore. The baby dragon had had enough about not doing anything about it. "Sora, wait!" He yelled as he himself made his way out the door. Spike started to run as fast as he could throughout the night sky, trying his best to catch up to his friend. He himself had ran beyond the view of the rest of the girls back at the library. Twilight stretched her hoof in front of her as if she was going to try and bring him back, but she quickly gave up putting it back down. The purple unicorns eyes looked down at the floor in shame as her face grew a look of sadness. Her ears fell down as she turned around to go lay down on the floor, feeling terrible about everything she did. The rest of the girls followed in Twilight's actions as they all grew their own faces of sadness. Everyone in the room didn't know what to do, just lumping around. Twilight, while on the ground, decided to break the silence in the area by speaking. "I really messed up, didn't I?" She asked the rest of the mares while trying to hold her own tears. Applejack herself responded to her purple friend on the ground. "We all' did sugar cube." The orange mare went up to Twilight to try and pick her up. "We must be the worst friends ever." Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she herself slumped on the floor, staring at it as if it was the most Interesting thing in the room. Her cheerful personality had seemingly left, leaving only a sad pink pony. Rainbow Dash was feeling as bad as the others along with Fluttershy. The rainbow mare thought, "I don't even know why we thought Sora was keeping something bad. He's not a bad person, not at all." She herself fell to the ground thinking about what to do. Rarity decided to chime in to the conversation. "Seeing as how we are friends, we should have known that from the start." Fluttershy wished she could have thought of an idea as what to do in order to fix this mess but nothing came to mind. "I-im sure we can figure something out though. There has to be something we can do." She suggested. There had to be a way to get Sora back. Twilight shook her head. "There's nothing we can do. How can I fix this?" She pondered, still blaming herself for the mess of that day. Applejack put a hoof on her friend's back to comfort her. "Now, now. Ah'm sure y'all think of somthin'" Pinkie Pie jumped up. "Actually, I think I might know how. Hey Applejack, is your barn open?" She asked the orange mare. "Well yeah, of course it is. It's my home' after all." She said. Pinkie Pie replied with a "Perfect!" The pink mare then proceeded to explain her master plan for the best apologie party in the history of Ponyville. * * * Spike was running as fast as he could through the forest. He looked left and right for Sora but he couldn't find him. "SORA!" Spike yelled, but he got no response. "SORA!" He yelled again, no response, just like before. Spike continued running through the forest, trying and hoping he could find his friend. The look on the pegasi's face was what told Spike just how hurt he was. Sora was completely destroyed inside, hurt. Spike knew he had to help him no matter what. The baby dragon continued to look for him, trying to find any sign of the pegasus' whereabouts. He looked more and more, but he found nothing. Spike decided to give up, right then and there. He sat down on the cold floor of the night, with only the moon's light to keep him company. Spike knew he and the girs were to fault. They knew what could happen if Sora found out, and they still took that chance. What kind of friends can go behind someone's trust and expect things to be okay. He still agreed to doing it, he could have told Sora like an actual friend would, but he didn't. Spike was ashamed in the role he played in this plan. While he sat down, he managed to hear something. It was the sound of…. crying. Spike could even hear the small, tiny little tears hitting the river. The baby dragon decided to get up on his two legs to go check it out. When he went over to the sound's location, he found the pony he was looking for. Sora had been sitting next to the river, crying heavily. Spike decided to go over to him. "Sora! There you are! I was looking everywhere for you!" Spike stopped as he got close enough. The pegasus looked over at him, finally noticing the baby dragon. He wiped his tears away before speaking, as he 'Sniffed' a little. "Oh.. hey Spike." Sora was trying everything he could to not cry any more then he already has, though it was becoming harder to do so. Spike quickly started on his apology, "Sora I'm sorry. We didn't want to hurt your feelings, we were just a little suspicious about you not telling us too much about things…. "No, don't apologize for that." Sora interrupted. "You and everyone else had every reason to be suspicious. I kept secrets from all of you, one of the things about friendship is honesty." He went back to crying, as more and more years hit the river. "I-I just feel hurt. R-Rem-ber this morning when I-I asked y-ou and Twilight if you two saw me as a friend? I was thinking that you and the others really didn't. I knew what I was doing and I still didn't do anything about it." Spike heard him loud and clear. "C'mon Sora, I-" "No, you don't." Sora interrupted once again. "I know you're trying to help but you don't understand, Spike." The baby dragon knew that deep down, he really didn't. "You're right, I don't. But, that doesn't mean I can't at least try to understand." Spike started to sit down right next to Sora. "Tell me how you feel. Anything you want to tell me, I'll listen." Sora stopped his crying as nice again. Talking about it was worth the effort at least. He had to make sure not to tell him anything that could expose the other worlds to him though. "I used to live on a little group of Islands. Destiny Islands, it was my home for a long time. Me and my friends did everything together over there. One day, we decided to build a raft and see the world beyond the islands. Until one night, when I first confronted the heartless. After that, I got the Keyblade. It's become my responsibility since then. Throughout the past few years, I had to fight for what felt like forever. When me and friends finally won, I came here to Equestria. I don't have a way to go back to them, or a way to tell them I'm fine. I thought I could at least make some new ones here, but I couldn't even be bothered to tell the truth." Spike took it all in, listening to everything Sora had to say. He really had been through a lot. The pegasus had been through such a long journey and now he couldn't even be with his friends. "Wow, I'm Sorry. But, why can't you tell us? What kind of secrets are you keeping?" Sora answered as honestly as he could. "Ones I promised I wouldn't let out." The pegasus looked down at himself. Celestia is right, the world order can't be broken but Sora was wondering if it was even worth it anymore. "All I can say is that if I did, some bad things would probably happen." "You know what, I'm alright with you keeping secrets." Sora looked over to Spike who stood up. "If you have to keep them, it's for a good reason. I know who you are though. Your Sora, a keyblade wielder, the hero of light-" The baby dragon paused, before finishing off. "-and my friend. I'm sure the girls think that too. We've only known each other for a few weeks, but I know that deep down we are friends." The pegasus smiled a little, he was happy, just tinsy but. He still wanted to know. "Do you really think so?" Was Spike really speaking for all of them? The baby dragon didn't know much, but he knew it was the case. "I know so. Let's go back to the others if you're doubting me." Before he turned around to go off with Sora back to the girls, he was stopped by the pegasus who out of nowhere, started hugging him. Spike didn't know what to do while being hugged, except going along with it and hugging him back. "Thanks, Spike." Sora whispered as the two ended the hug. The pegasus kneeled down to let the baby dragon get on his back as they both made their way back. * * * Sora and Spike had finally made it. Night time at Sweet Apple Acres was the scenery that the two were under. Sora was still a little bit saddened, not because of what he friends were doing but more so as to the why. Ever since that nightmare, he has been feeling as if it might be true that they didn't trust him, that they didn't see him as a friend. Still if Spikes words have any meaning behind him he might as well see. The two arrived at the barn. Sora opened the door in order for both him and Spike to get inside. The baby dragon and pegasus couldn't see anything though, the barn was as black as imaginable. The two were looking for a source of light but they couldn't find anything. They could have sworn that something was off about the place. As if something, or something, was lurking in the shadows. "SURPRISE!!!" The two heard the yells of six familiar mares. All of them where right inside the barn, revealed by the bright light that had finally lit the place up. Sora and Spike also noticed some other things inside, such as different foods laid out, a pinãta with a red, blue, green and yellow pattern along with a banner on the top that reads 'We're Sorry'. All that didn't matter though as what really got the two's attention was the ponies that showed up. Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were all here with the biggest smiles they ever had. Sora questioned the mares. "Wait, what's going on here?" "Well…." Applejack explained. "We know how we made ya feel sugar cube. So… we all decided ta throw a little apology party." "There is no way in Celestia's name we can say just how sorry we are." Said Rarity. Pinkie Pie quickly came in and continued. "That's why we wrote it on a cake!" She wasn't lying, the cake she was carrying literally had the phrase 'We're Sorry' written on it. With frosting no less. "It's vanilla flavored, since you still haven't told me what your favorite flavor is." Twilight, the pony who needed to apologize the most out of any other one there, went up to her friend in order to do just that. "Sora, I'm sorry. I know what I did was wrong. Involving everypony here was also wrong. I understand I let my curiosity get the better of me, but I don't want our friendship to end just because of my stupid mistake. Please, do you forgive us?" Her head was down while she said everything. She was disappointed in herself and all she could ask for was forgiveness. Sora was on the break of tears, his friends were all apologizing. But for what? This was all his fault, he was the one who didn't tell them anything. If all it's his own fault for them being suspicious of him. Though, it didn't matter to him as of now, he was just happy that his friends do see him as well…. A friend. That was the little push that he needed to start crying. One tear fell from his eyes, then another and another follow led that one up. The girls' somewhat happy expressions fell and turned into worried frowns. Twilight out of all of them was worried that the tears meant 'no'. "It's ok, I understand why you wouldn't." She said while her eyes stared at the ground. Sora stopped his tears a little bit, whipping them away. "Are- you kidding? I'm not- you know. I'm just a little.. a little." His tears came back again as he moved over to Twilight and hugged her as much as he could. The hug felt warm, nice and kinder. The hug felt just right for both of them. Sora's tears had slowed down little by little until he was finished. Finally, he was smiling once again. Twilight continued hugging him right back, closing her eyes and enjoying the moment. She wasn't the only one though. The other mares along with Spike went over to the two and continued the hug. The moment felt right, and that's all they cared about at the moment. "Now take it easy, Spiky. I don't want you going all sappy on us." Said Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy still wondered though. "So, does this mean you forgive us?" The hug finally came to an end as all of them let go of each other. Sora wiped his tears away with his hoof once again. "Sure I do." He stopped as he pondered for a little while. He ended up getting the perfect idea. "Though, only on one condition." Sora said. Twilight nodded up and down. "Of course, whatever you want." As soon as Twilight finished, the pegasus made his way out of the barn. Sora ran as fast as he could, opening the door to the house. He quickly went up the stairs and over to his room, making sure not to wake up Big Mac, Apple Bloom or Granny Smith. The pegasus finally made it to his room. He went over to a drawer and opened it. Inside was a couple of things that belonged to him, Some Potions, Elixirs, Ethers and what not but the most important one was still there. A certain yellow star shaped fruit. Sora picked it up and made his way back outside. The girls and Spike had been waiting for a while for their friend to come back. Their wait quickly came to an end as Sora finally made it back, huffing a little bit. Twilight went over to him in order to see just why the pegasus went off. "What is it? What did you get?" Sora quickly showed her as to shat he got. He placed his hoof forward, revealing the Paopu fruit he brought with him. Pinkie Pie jumped up and down, knowing just what it was. "Ooh, Ooh, I know what this is! This is that Paopu fruit thingy you were talking about, right." "A what fruit?" Asked Applejack as she and the others went over to examine the star shaped fruit. "It don't look like anythin' Ah've seen before." "Indeed." Rarity said. "Just what makes it so special?" She asked. "It's actually because of an old legend behind them." Sora explained. "It's said that if peo- ponies share them, their destinies will become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what. I figured that since we're all friends, why not use this to make it official." The group all found that legend quite interesting. A fruit that could do that was unheard of. "Really, you want to share it… with us?" Asked Twilight. "Yeah, you only have one of them. Isn't it really special?" Continued Spike as he heard when the two were at Pinkie Pie's. "Well those are the only kinds of things worth sharing with those you care about." Sora replied. Though his line was pretty cheesy, they all couldn't help but admit that he was right. Then it was all in agreement, they would end up sharing this fruit together, as a way to solidify their friendship. Rainbow Dash came in order to explain her view. "While this is all great and all, why don't we save it for the end of the day. After all, we threw this awesome party for you, so why waste it?" The next few seconds passed as the entirety of them had a blast of a time in the barn. Many events happened in that little space of time. Applejack had been competing against Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash in a pie eating contest, it was as messy as you would expect. When the three finished, Sora had them been blind folded and was spinned around rapidly getting dizzy trying to pin a tail on the picture of a donkey. After that they enjoyed who knows how many different types of food. The party turned out to be a blast for all of them. While the group was enjoying their time, Twilight was watching from the sidelines along with Spike. She then looked down at a scroll she had been writing on, using her magic to write down a special letter to her teacher. 'Dear Princess Celestia Friendship has been something I have been missing out on for most of my life. When I came to Ponyville, I received the greatest friends any pony could ask for. Though… today I risked losing one of them. Sora might be an anomaly I can't even begin to understand, but I shouldn't have betrayed his trust for that reason alone. I let my own curiosity get the better of me, without even thinking about what could happen. Friends respect, love and care for one another and no possible answers will ever change that. From your faithful student: Twilight Sparkle' She gave the letter to Spike as he used his fire breath in order to send it to Princess Celestia. With one little swoosh, it was gone. "Hey, you two aren't gonna spend the entire party just standing in the corner, right?" Asked the carmel pegasus. Twilight giggled a little because of his response, she stopped as she went over next to him. Sora began to apologize for his side, "Twilight, I'm sorry. I know lying to you was wrong and keeping secrets was-" "Stop." She said as she put her hoof on his mouth. As soon as Twilight stopped him, she took off her hoof, explaining as to why she did so. "You don't have to apologize. You not giving us the whole story isn't something I should be beating you up about. SI screwed up a ton." She took a deep breath as she stopped. The pegasus chucked a little bit thanks to her remarks, along with a realization he made. "Ha-ha. You know, you and I should stop making a habit of apologizing to each other at night." Twilight herself began laughing a little too. "Ha-ha. I guess you're right. Though I wouldn't mind if we did. I actually really like spending time with you." "Yeah, me too." Sora responded. The unicorns smile grew larger after what Sora said, him loving spending time with her. Twilight didn't know how it felt to be appreciated in such a way. The rest of the girls came over to Sora and Twilight in order to end the party by sharing the Paopu fruit. Sora grabbed it out of his pocket and threw it into the air. The caramel pegasus then summoned his keyblade in his mouth as he sliced the fruit mid air into eight equal pieces for each of them. The girls and Spike along with Sora each grabbed a piece from mid-air on their hoofs. All of them then took a bite out of their piece of the star shaped fruit. For the girls and Spike, whom never tried one before, it tasted quite…. Well they didn't even know how to explain it. Each had their own views as to how the fruit tasted but they could all agree it was delicious. Applejack took a few more bites out of her piece as she tasted the fruit more closely in her mouth. "Mmm, Ah gotta say, It's pretty juicy. Kinda like a mango but with a little sugar." She commented before taking a few more bites out of it. Sora was happy to hear that she enjoyed it and by the lake okay on the others faces, it seems as if they all enjoyed it too. It seemed as if all of them were pretty content with the fruit. He decided to get a move on and try and finish his part of the fruit. Pinkie Pie was enjoying it as well, far more than she thought she would. The mare couldn't really complain about anything. "Wow, it's really, really good! I can't believe a fruit so good can even exist!" She was really enjoying the fruit, really she was. Which made knowing the fact that she would ever eat a Paopu fruit once in her entire life all the more heartbreaking. "It's too bad we can't use them for more. Imagine all the desserts we could have made!" She yelled ecstatically. Twilight was ashamed too. "I know Pinkie, still it's not like we can just grow new ones." She said. The last part of that sentence did manage to spark an idea in Applejack's head. "Wait ah minute. Spike, can ah see yer Paopu fruit?" She asked the baby dragon. Spike decided to do just that. "Oh, sure thing Applejack." He went over towards the cow pony as he gave her his chunk. The orange mare grabbed it out of his claws with her hoof as she inspected it. Sure enough, she found exactly what she needed. "Ah got it!" As soon as she made her realization, Applejack boosted out of the barn and into the night sky. "Hey, wait for us!" Yelled Twilight, though not as loud as before. The unicorn quickly gave chase as she was accompanied by the rest of the group, making their way outside. All of them followed quickly, trying to not get left behind in the rush. The group finally stopped dead in their tracks as they found Applejack. They had all made it to a place around the farm where there weren't any trees, but there was atill plenty of land. The orange mare used her hoof to dig up a small hole in the center. She finally took that piece from the Paopu fruit Spike gave her and took out the seeds from inside of it. The seeds were pretty small but it didn't matter how big they were honestly. Applejack finished by placing the seeds inside of the hole she made. The mare then took the dirt from before and placed it on top of the seeds, along with giving the piece she had borrowed from Spike back to that baby dragon who gladly took the fruit back and chowed down on it. The orange mare then looked over to her rainbow maned friend. "Hey'a Rainbow Dash, bring me a rain cloud now, will ya." Applejack ordered. Rainbow Dash saluted Applejack by putting a hood near her head then throwing it back down. "You got it, partner!" She replied as she zoomed off into the sky with her signature speed, understanding just what Applejack was planning on doing. In 10 seconds flat, she came back with her rain cloud as well. Rainbow Dash made a ' stand back' motion with her hoofs as the group followed her command. The rainbow mare then kicked the rain cloud with her back legs, causing the cloud to create a thunder crackle along with it now pouring tons of water out of it, all landing on the area with the seeds. Sora looked closely at the area, witnessing all that was happening. Him and the others finally realized what Applejack was doing and all saw her as a genius. The orange mare might as well have been one with her idea playing out in front of them. The carmel pegasus noticed a little bit of a base starting to spread out of the dirt as two little leafs on each side sprouted alongside it. Sora marveled at the display. "Great idea Applejack. I'm surprised I didn't think of this." The keyblade wielder completed the cow pony. Twilight was also marveling at the sight of seeing the soon to be large tree just start off so small. "Ha-ha. Guess the Apple family is moving into the exotic fruit market too huh." Joked the purple unicorn. She knew that the seeds were one day going to grow into a tall and amazing tree that will be the gateway for many ponies in Equestria to enjoy such a fabulous fruit. Though, she and the rest of them would remember the tree as the day they all made sure they would be a part of each other's lives, forever. Not so bad a destiny in their eyes. * * * In the middle of a grassy field during the night sky in Equestria, a dark portal opened. This was something familiar, a corridor of darkness, a way to travel throughout the worlds though it was only available to those who allowed their hearts to be filled with darkness. Two figures began to walk out of the corridor. As they made it to the other side, the corridor behind them closed. The two figures appeared very villainous, reeking with evil. One was a tall woman with large pointy horn-like appendages on her head, a black cloak with a bit of purple, green skin and a staff with a green ball on top. The other person was a large, big black cat-like person with a blue and red outfit filled with belts and buckles. He had large big shoes and gloves, covered in belts as well. The large cat-like creature looked around the area, seeming all too familiar to him. "I don't get it! Maleficent, just what are we doing in this world?" Asked the large cat. "And what about those goobers with the creepy deeky animal masks? They're going to get their greasy hands on that black box if we don't do something about it!" "Silence fool!" Maleficent yelled at Pete, immediately shutting him up. He even stumbled back a teensy bit. "They will not be able to find it's secrets in time. The worlds each have their own time cycles, one year in one world may be ten years in another." She stepped forward, observing the world itself. She felt a sense of dread as she saw all of it once again. "Never in all my years did I believe I would return." "You and me both, I can't stand the cutesy cuddly feeling this place has. Still, just why are we here?" The dark mistress began her explanation. "In order to open the chest, we need a key. Since neither you and I wield a keyblade, we must rely on something else. Do you remember our last visit here?" She asked the large buffoon. "Uhh, I think?" Pete pondered on about it, not being able to remember. Maleficent was sick of waiting for his response, "Ugh, we came here in order to find a key. One that can open any lock, possibly even the one of the chest. Unfortunately, that 'wretched' Princess Celestia and those keyblade bearer's put an end to my plan!" "Oooooh, ok now that sounds more like it! But, um, how are you going to find it?" Maleficent started to laugh, filling the night with her evil pleasure. "Hahahahaha!! Simple, we search. We will walk over every last inch of dirt until we find what we are looking for. Not a single heart will be able to stop me. I Maleficent, the mistress of evil, shall show the land of Equestria my eternal wrath!! Hahaha!!!!" She started to walk into the night sky along with her companion, waiting until the perfect moment to give Equestria some much awaited havoc.