//------------------------------// // The Whitetail Woods // Story: Guardians of Magic // by Shire Folk //------------------------------// Today’s chapter brought to you by dragons, because every situation can be made better or worse with a dragon tossed in. Disclaimer: If I owned MLP, the Gameloft game would give you a gem on day one, two on day two, three on day three, four on day four, and five on day five before repeating the process. That way it wouldn’t be almost necessary to spend money to get all Mane 6 ponies. -G-M- Guardians of Magic Chapter 13: The Whitetail Woods Applejack woke with a grumble and groan at the crack of dawn. Pinkie Pie’s Ponyville party for the new arrivals to their world, and Trixie, had gone later than expected. Vinyl Scratch had been the DJ and just kept on playing more and more music, especially after Kairi had produced a rectangular object from her saddlebags that somehow had the capacity to hold hundreds of times more music than any of Vinyl’s records, and Vinyl Scratch somehow managed to use her fangled unicorn magic to get the thing hooked up to her speakers! None of the foals wanted to go until they fell asleep on their hooves because there were so many new and different songs for them to listen to. Riku mentioned that they were doomed as soon as Sora requested that Vinyl play a song called Run to You by somepony named ‘Bryan Adams’ (a singer whose style of music Applejack found similar to her late mother’s cousin, Baked Apples), and Kairi followed up by asking for a ditty called Run With Us from a certain ‘Lisa Lougheed’ (a name AJ knew nopony similar to). For some reason, Trixie had seemed entranced with that song, but Vinyl just kept playing more and more music from the strange little box until Mr. and Mrs. Cake finally told Pinkie Pie that she needed to shut the party down because it was running close to half past midnight and the twins needed their sleep. All in all, though, Applejack had had a good time, and she was certain that Apple Bloom did too. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Rei, and even Trixie seemed to have enjoyed themselves too, though Sora did embarrass himself when he tried standing up to attempt performing the ‘Time Warp’ as per Lyra’s instructions after the unicorn discovered his ‘interest’ in humans. Trixie’s mood went over the moon, too, when the town collectively decided to give her a second chance after her encounter with Pete, and she even dedicated a half-hour of her time there to giving a magic show to the foals that were present. While rubbing her eyes in an attempt to get the sleep out of them, Applejack thanked Celestia that Big Mac and the others had run Pete right out of Ponyville soon after she, the other girls, and Spike had left for the library. If he was some sort of bad guy from another world, she didn’t want him anywhere near her town. Applejack yawned and went to the window of her room, basking in the red and gold glow of the freshly rising sun. A bubble of pride swelled in her chest as the light filtered through the still-green leaves of the trees in the orchard and bounced off of ripe apples. They probably had one last good harvest to get in before winter would settle down for a while. Some figures were already moving down below in front of the barn, but the proud farmer had to pause for a second when she realized that the ponies down there in the early morning light weren’t her kin. She smiled. “Well butter mah biscuits. After yesterday, Ah never woulda taken them fer early risers.” Turning away from the window, she looked instead to a mirror and a brush, and worked to get the tangles out of her mane before the day began in earnest. “Ah wonder what it is they’re up to.” -G-M- “Come on now!” urged Sora as Rei galloped past him again. “You can do it! Just two more laps!” “Onii-chan! You said that three laps ago!” Rei whined before quickly drawing as deep a breath as she could. She almost lost her hoofing rounding the corner, but quickly recovered and proceeded back up to a canter. As much as spit was lathering in her mouth and her limbs were burning, Rei had missed this the previous morning. Ever since a week after she’d first summoned Thunderbell, Sora had woken her early in the mornings to exercise and practice her swordsmanship. Kairi often joined them, but this morning her brother’s girlfriend was practicing on her own. Rei collapsed onto the ground a few moments after Sora told her that she could stop and, even though she was annoyed with her master and wore a frown on her face, inside she was smiling. Despite the friends she had made and the many things she’d already seen on this adventure from her home, these painful moments where she loathed her brother were some of her favourites, simply because they were the moments where the two of them had time with each other without too many obvious distractions. “You ready?” Sora asked her after a couple of minutes’ break. Rei silenced her groan and got to her hooves. “What next, Hoshisho-sensei?” she asked. In answer, the Oblivion Keyblade appeared in his mouth in a flash of light. Of course: sparring. Sora suddenly flapped his wings and took to the air. Thunderbell appeared in Rei’s own mouth in a flash of light, and she bit down on the grip while shuffling back a few steps. Her brother barely gave her any more time than that to react, swooping down and twisting his neck to strike. Rei spun, following his movements and deflecting his stroke up above her head. Sora flew back up into the sky, and Rei kept her front to him as he banked and came diving back in. For a minute they kept this up, Sora treating her like the dummy in a joust and Rei constantly keeping his Keyblade from scoring a hit. Finally he stopped short to slam his Keyblade down from directly in front of her, not attempting a pass. Rei managed to block, but she had to bite down with all the strength her mouth could grant to keep Thunderbell from slipping out from her teeth. Sora stayed airborne, pressing Rei back with quick, sweeping strokes. Rei’s knees buckled as she held back another powerful blow and her neck wavered in its ability to keep up her resistance. Sora pressed and kept placing more pressure on her, and for a few seconds Rei was able to hold, but eventually it became too much for the filly and her teeth slammed against each other instead of the white-gold wire wrap of the grip. Thunderbell flashed in the sunlight as it tumbled to the ground. Rei winced at the sound of Sora lightly touching down, and bowed her head. She could hear both Oblivion and Thunderbell vanishing, and was able to see hers disappear in a flicker of white. A couple seconds of silence followed, broken only by their breathing instead of the shrill clash of metal against metal. Sora’s hoof touched her forehead, and Rei looked up in surprise at his smiling face. “Good job,” he told her. He vigorously rubbed her mane just behind her horn, smirking as Rei whined and pulled back with a swinging hoof. He let her knock his away and chuckled. “That’s the longest you’ve held out so far. I told you that you were getting better.” Rei’s eyes shone with the pride his words put in her. “Thank you very much, onii-chan!” She said, bowing her head again. “I’ll be sure to work hard to do even better next time!” Sora placed a hoof under her chin and raised it so that their eyes could meet. “Well, let’s leave next time until we have arms and hands again,” he said. “Mom’ll kill me if I make you hurt yourself while training.” “Then how am I supposed to practice?” Rei asked. Sora looked up, a thoughtful look on his face. “Well…didn’t you learn some sort of levitation spell from Trixie?” he asked. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards in a smile. Rei blinked. “Yes, but…oh!” Realization dawned on her face and she beamed. “Can I start learning and using magic then?” Sora nodded, and Rei squealed and stomped her hooves. Magic, finally! “But first,” Sora told her, “we should probably hit the showers and see about breakfast with Applejack. Then we’re off to Twilight’s. Magic’s going to have to wait until we’re on our way, kapiche?” “‘Kay.” -G-M- “Hey, uh, Twilight?” Groaning and positively hating whatever foolish being was pulling her from her dream of being lost in a library with a hundred floors and ten million books, Twilight shoved her pillow further into her face to keep away the rays of Celestia’s sun. “What?” “Can I use your shower?” “Uhgh! Yes, you can use the shower, Riku, now let me sleep.” Promptly denying the stallion a second thought on her mind, Twilight tightened the blankets around her body and snuggled into her pillow. Unfortunately, a few minutes passed by and Twilight was absolutely no closer to getting back to sleep. Spike had forgotten to close the blinds, letting in all sorts of harsh sleep-preventing light from her mentor’s cursed sun, and the sound of running water and murmuring from her bathroom could be heard. Thinking perhaps that Riku was calling to ask her something, Twilight opened her eyes, looking longingly at her pillow, and finally sighed before getting to her hooves. “What was that, Riku?” she asked. She yawned and slowly plodded her way down the stairs from the bedroom area of the loft above the library towards the bathroom. Twilight stopped dead in her tracks. Trixie was already up, and was standing by the bathroom door that was just open by a crack and spying within. The other part that made her stop was that Riku hadn’t shouted out a call for something, now she could discern that he was singing in the shower. Twilight couldn’t quite make out the words, though, so her natural curiosity bid her to do the only thing that made any sense. As quietly as she could, the unicorn tip-hoofed her way over to where Trixie was standing. The other unicorn turned to look at her when she heard Twilight approach, first in surprise, and then with a lecherous smile. “Trixie thought you were more honourable than to spy on stallions while they showered.” “I want to know what he’s singing,” Twilight insisted. Trixie raised an eyebrow while her smirk remained. They held for a moment, and Riku’s voice came crystal clear over the running water of the shower. “I got passion in my pants and I ain’t afraid to show it, show it, show it, show it. I’m sexy and I know it.” Twilight stared at the crack between the door and the wall as an intense mental conflict arose. For years she had avoided the tittering gossip of the other fillies and mares at school about colts and stallions. None of their rampant flirting and stallion-chasing was at all practical to their valuable study time, nor would arguing about whether physical strength made a stallion more attractive than magical power assist in their own ability to properly learn and cast spells, or memorize the fifteen feats of Grand Archmage Evenstar the Faithful. She had her own ambitions and desires, and romantic relationships would take away precious time dedicated to her studies. She wouldn’t be able to complete her degree if she spent every third hour dedicated to a coltfriend or marefriend, not that she was of that persuasion, at least, as far as she knew she wasn’t attracted to mares in that way. No, she liked stallions, she was sure of it! Twilight shook her head quickly at the thought and turned away from the bathroom door. Gak! She didn’t have time to be thinking about this. She needed to check up on Spike and Sweetie Belle, make sure that breakfast was being prepared, review the notes she’d made last night on her assumptions as to where they could find the cave that the founders of Equestria took shelter in, eat breakfast, review her notes again, make sure that Owloycious was comfortably asleep in his nook just outside the kitchen window, and triple-check her notes before holding the briefing. “Girl, look at that body. Ah… Girl, look at that body. Ah… Girl, look at that body. I-I-I work out!” Her mind went blank, and Twilight’s tongue traced a path around her lips. Of course, the study of biology did have some...interesting aspects. Twilight lit up her horn as she cast a spell. A small notebook and a quill levitated over to her position and she turned around again, catching Trixie looking at her with knowing eyes. She blushed, and made a giggle she knew she was supposed to be ashamed of but just couldn’t bring herself to be. “Scoot over.” “You can just see his flank at the edge of the tub,” Trixie whispered. “He didn’t get the curtain closed the whole way.” -G-M- Scootaloo moaned comfortably as she slipped out of slumberland. The comfiest blanket she’d ever slept under was wrapped overtop of her form, and she snuggled deeper into the mattress beneath her legs. It was so soft, soft as cloud even, and much, much better than the hardwood floor of the clubhouse. Her fur felt nice and warm against her hide. It was like a dream. Except that it wasn’t a dream; it was far too real, and far too unfamiliar. Where the hay was she!? The blanket went flying off of her body and mane as she stood up too sharply, and abruptly lost her hoofing and nearly toppled out of the bed. She stared down at the substance beneath her hooves in surprise. “So it is made of cloud,” she whispered, awed. Scootaloo slowly raised her head. Not only was the bed made of cloud, but so was the ceiling…and the walls too! Adorning one wall above a chest of drawers was a poster of a white pegasus stallion with a teal mane and tail standing on a cloud in front of a sunrise and a smoke trail created by five other pegasus ponies, all six of them wearing the same blue and gold flight suits. “Where am I?” Scootaloo wondered aloud. She hopped off of the bed, bounced slightly on the checkered-patterned cloud floor, and looked up at the poster of the Wonderbolt again. She wondered who he was. He certainly wasn’t on their current roster, according to Rainbow Dash. None of the current Wonderbolts had teal manes. “Morning, squirt.” Scootaloo jumped a figurative mile at the sound of Rainbow Dash’s voice and sharply turned towards its source. Standing in the room’s open doorway was nopony other than the rainbow-maned most awesome mare in Ponyville herself, though her awesomeness was slightly mitigated by the loud and wide yawn currently spreading her jaw to unbelievable proportions. “Rai—Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “What are you doing here?” Rainbow Dash finished her yawn and gave the filly a small smirk. “I live here, duh.” Scootaloo’s mouth dropped open and her mind centred fully on the one thought now circling around and around in her head: I’m in the Rainbow Dash’s house! Dash kept on smiling as she walked into the room. She chuckled a little. “Sorry ‘bout the guest room not having a lot of stuff. I don’t often have house guests overnight. Uh…” she turned her head away. “You mind not staring so much Scoots? It’s kinda freaking me out.” Scootaloo blushed and snapped her mouth shut. She quickly looked away from Rainbow Dash, mentally kicking herself for making her idol uncomfortable. Come on Scootaloo! You’re in Rainbow Dash’s house with Rainbow Dash! This is your chance to show her how cool you are. Turning back around and smiling at her idol, Scootaloo gestured around with a hoof. “This is a great place you’ve got Rainbow Dash. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” “First time in a cloud house, huh?” Rainbow Dash asked, swelling. “I built it myself, and it is pretty rad, but nothing on the ground beats a cloud house for a pegasus. We belong up here in the sky.” She looked curiously at Scootaloo. “Say, how’s your flying coming along?” Scootaloo swallowed and flapped her wings as hard and rapidly as she could. She could feel thrust, but it was nowhere near enough to lift her body. Her hooves were far easier to look at instead of the best flier in Equestria. “Still nothing,” she lamented. “No wonder,” Rainbow said with a frown, “your technique is all wrong. It’s like you’re trying to be a hummingbird instead of a pegasus. What kind of lessons have your folks been giving you?” “Hey Rainbow Dash, who’s that?” Scootaloo asked quickly, pointing to the Wonderbolts poster, the only real defining feature of the room. “I don’t think you mentioned him being on the team.” Rainbow Dash smiled again as she looked at the poster. “Scootaloo, that is Storm Cell. He was Captain of the Wonderbolts back when I was a little filly in Cloudsdale. He was Captain for nine years before Spitfire took over, and holds the current record for the longest endurance run in Wonderbolts history, flying the Derby’s circuit for four days, three hours, forty-six minutes and ten seconds for thirty-one thousand three hundred and thirty-seven laps. Also won twelve consecutive Derbies at one point.” “Whoa,” said Scootaloo, staring at the former Wonderbolts Captain in awe. Rainbow Dash nodded her head in agreement before looking down at Scootaloo. “So, you hungry for breakfast, kiddo? Or are you still full from all that food you ate last night?” Scootaloo chuckled sheepishly and looked up at Rainbow Dash. “Uh, sure, heh-heh. Um, about last night…I don’t exactly remember getting here.” “I brought you,” Rainbow Dash stated matter-of-factly. “You and your friends were totally passed out when the Cakes called it quits, and Applejack and none of the rest of us actually knew where you lived, so…yeah, here you are.” She glanced at the wall before looking back at Scootaloo. “Listen, I’ve got someplace to be this morning and your folks are probably worried, so we should probably eat something quick so you can run home and tell ‘em you’re okay and I can go to the lib…where I need to go.” “Oh…” Scootaloo felt her spirits plummet and her ears flattened against the side of her head. “I had hoped that…maybe…you might want to hang out today; show me some more of your awesome moves that you’ve been practicing.” Rainbow Dash sighed and turned away. “Sorry Scoots, but I’ve got Elements of Harmony saving the world junk to do. But, as soon as I get back, how about I give a certain little filly a whole day of awesomeness?” She turned her head over her shoulder and greeted Scootaloo’s eyes with a smile that sent the perkiness right back into the filly. “You’ve got a deal, Rainbow Dash!” “Great,” her idol told her. “Now we should have a quick breakfast. Hey, have I shown you Tank yet? I know that a tortoise may not be the coolest pet in the world, but my buddy’s more loyal than any dog and has got more guts than Fluttershy on Opal’s bath day.” -G-M- “Alright, is this everypony?” Twilight asked a short while later when her friends and Sora, Kairi, and Rei had arrived at the library. “Looks like it,” Applejack said. “Though we almost made it here one filly short.” “Hey, I caught Rei every time,” Sora pointed out. “Right, Rei?” “Mmhm,” the filly agreed with a nod and smile. “Thanks again for letting me ride on your back, Sora-nii. It was really fun!” “That’s because flying is awesome,” Sora said with a superior look at Riku, who rolled his eyes. Rainbow Dash laughed and gave Sora a hoof-bump while agreeing with him. “So what’s the scoop, Twilight?” Pinkie asked. “Where can we find the heart?” Twilight raised her head and her horn became enveloped by her magic’s glow. A large map of Equestria floated out of a library shelf and unfurled on the round table in front of them. “Now, according to the records kept by Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Commander Hurricane, the three tribes travelled to what became Equestria from the south. From the descriptions in their accounts, all three of them crossed over the Stallionback Mountains at the southern border of Equestria and went through the San Palomino Desert or the Macintosh Hills and kept a wide berth to the west of the Everfree.” As she spoke, Twilight was levitating three separate coloured pencils (one blue, one orange, and one purple) and drawing lines with them on the map. “Now, they forded a river and traveled through a wood before crossing another mountain range into a valley. According to Smart Cookie, the land here was very fertile, and in the mountains behind them Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever found many valuable gemstones. When the three tribes discovered each other and Princess Platinum, Chancellor Puddinghead, and Commander Hurricane started bickering with each other again, they had to retreat to the mountains to take shelter from the storm of the windigos.” “So how’s that supposed to help us?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Rainbow, look at the map,” Twilight said encouragingly. “Those three ponies have already shown us exactly where we can go to start looking for the cave that they sheltered in. The fertile fields that Smart Cookie mentioned could only be Equestria’s primary farm country in the—” “Great Oat Meadows,” Applejack finished for her, tapping her hoof at the map. “Ah’ve gone there on Apple family business a time or two, an’ I remember seein’ a bunch o’ mountains south of Yonder Hill where some of our kin live.” “That’s the Unicorn Mountain Range,” Twilight said. “In the past there were many mines in those mountains for their precious gems. Most of them have closed down after ponies got tired of working them or the gems were mostly exhausted, but a few are still active today and there are still some mining towns that haven’t become ghost towns.” “So what you’re saying is that the place where the founders of Equestria took shelter from the storm of distrust and hatred is somewhere right here,” Riku said, tapping his hoof at a general area on the northern side of the Unicorn Range just a little to the west of Canterlot and Mount Ponylon. “Correct.” “So, uh, how long is this going to take?” Spike asked. “The Princesses probably want us to find the keyhole and seal it as soon as possible. That way, Equestria won’t be swallowed up in darkness because of the Heartless, right?” He glanced at Sora’s band, to which the four ponies nodded their heads. “Clover the Clever and Smart Cookie’s journals spoke of a pass through the Unicorn Mountains,” Twilight said. She circled a place on the map, in-between two of the stylized peaks of the mountains of the range. “I’m confident that it’s Ambling Mare’s Pass. If we make good time and don’t encounter too many surprises, we can be on the other side in three days’ time. Either on the way through the pass or once we’re through, finding the cave shouldn’t be much of a challenge, since the three tribes didn’t have much time to search for shelter out in the open on the Great Oat Meadows. I’ve sent a letter to Princess Celestia; she agrees with my deductions and sent word that Rarity will meet us there.” “Good thing too,” Applejack said. “Ah’d completely forgotten, but our Elements won’t work if we’re not all accounted for, right?” “Not necessarily,” Twilight said, looking up at her big crown thingy. “They might still function, but certainly not with their full power. If we were to come across a foe like Discord, I wouldn’t bet on them getting us out of it.” “That’s where we come in,” Kairi said with a definite nod. “Don’t worry, Twilight. We’ll handle the rough stuff.” “Three days?” Fluttershy asked. “Oh dear, I’ll need to find somepony to look after Angel and all my little animal friends while we’re gone.” “I’m sure you’ll find somepony, Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash told her. “And when you do, see if they can care of Tank, too, but you’d better find somepony quick. The fate of Equestria is in our hooves. We’ll meet at Town Hall in an hour.” Twilight nodded. “Agreed.” She turned to look at the one mare in the group who hadn’t spoken. “Trixie, I know that you’re new to all of this. Saving the world isn’t something that can be asked lightly of anypony. If you’d like to stay behind here in Ponyville until we get back, I understand. You still haven’t fully recovered from your past hardship.” Trixie returned Twilight’s concerned and friendly look with one of smug confidence. “If you think that the Great and Powerful Trixie is afraid of a little cross-country trek and some danger then you are highly mistaken, Twilight Sparkle. Trixie has travelled all across Equestria in every kind of weather. I will show you, show everypony, that Trixie still has what it takes to be great and see her glorious sunrise.” Rei looked up at Sora. “Why’s she talking about the sunrise?” “I think she’s speaking metaphorically, Rei,” Kairi answered. “Meta…what?” The older ponies chuckled. “You’ll learn about it in school when you’re older,” Twilight told her. Sora nudged the filly towards the door with one of his wings. “Go on, Rei,” he said. “I know that you want to see Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom again before we head out. Just make sure that you’re at Town Hall in an hour.” She gave him a very quick hug before racing out the door. Two seconds later, she came back in. “Um, onii-chan, where’s Town Hall again?” “It’s that really big round towery important-looking building in the centre of Ponyville of course,” Pinkie Pie reminded her. Rei’s cheeks took on a delicate, rosy hue. “Oh, right. See you in an hour!” And with that, she was off. Twilight Sparkle turned to the rest of the ponies in the library. She looked over all of them, feeling completely calm and comfortable in the role she’d unconsciously taken on for their group since the very beginning. “Alright everypony, you each have one hour to see to your preparations. When you’re finished, meet up in front of Town Hall so that we can be on our way.” “Yeah!” Twilight couldn’t help but smile at the cheer that her friends put out. Pinkie Pie galloped out of the library right away, with Rainbow Dash flying out in a close second and Applejack just behind. Fluttershy was muttering to herself, trying to list possible candidates for looking after her critter friends, as she left too. Twilight raised a hoof to stop one pony. “Oh, Sora, could you stay here for a minute? I’d like a word with you.” The stallion shared a quick look with Kairi and Riku before waving them on and nodding his head. “Sure, Twilight, what’s up?” he asked while Riku and Kairi left together. Twilight led him to the reading room just off to the side and took a deep breath. What she was going to ask wasn’t something that she fully wanted to, but there weren’t really a whole lot of options available to her concerning the issue. It would probably be hard enough work for his friends as it was in case Heartless appeared on their journey; she took the liberty of assuming that unfortunate likelihood was somewhere between the range of “one hundred percent likely” and “you’re darn right Heartless are going to attack us”. “Sora, Rarity asked me to look after Sweetie Belle while she extended her stay in Canterlot to help Princess Luna on whatever it is that they’re working on. With their parents on vacation, there’s nopony else who can look after her on such short notice, so…I’ve decided that I want to take her with us.” The pegasus across from her looked like he immediately wanted to bark out, ‘NO’ as vehemently as he could, but stopped himself. A thoughtful look came onto his face and he gazed up at the roof. “Hmm…” he mumbled while pawing at his chin. He abruptly took to the air and hovered in place, though now his vision appeared to be focused on a spot just behind Twilight’s horn. “You know, that might not be a terrible idea,” he said. There was just the ghost of a smile on his face, and Twilight looked at him in surprise. “You really think so?” she said. “I know that it’s absurd, bringing a foal with us on a perilous quest and everything. I thought for sure as an experienced fighter that you’d be completely against it.” “I am against it,” he agreed, stunning her. “But I’m also for it.” Twilight’s answering voice was flat. “You’re going to have to explain that one.” “Well, I am against it because it is one more pony we’d have to make sure stayed safe, which means that we have to keep our eyes on her too instead of just the Heartless in front of us, so that sucks. But on the other hand…hoof…it’d probably be good for Rei to have another kid her age around with her for a while. Everyone else we’ve been with since we left Destiny Islands has been either an older teenager or an adult, and it’d be nice if she had a friend her own age for a bit.” “So this means that you’re okay with Sweetie Belle tagging along?” Twilight asked. It was always best to be sure in these sorts of circumstances. “Yeah,” he answered brightly. “I’m cool with it. If that’s all…?” Twilight nodded gratefully. “Yes, it is. Thanks for understanding, Sora.” “No problem. TTFN.” “TTFN?” Twilight asked, tilting her head. “What’s that mean?“ Sora stopped, and looked at her. He grinned. “TTFN! Tah-tah for now! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!” Twilight gawped as Sora then bounced out of the library. She shook her head and quickly levitated a book she needed in order to triple-check something. “That pony’s as crazy as Pinkie Pie sometimes...” -G-M- An hour later, the eleven ponies and baby dragon had all assembled again. Saddlebags were double and triple-checked to ensure that they had all the possible supplies that they might need for the few days’ hike it would be, Twilight gave them all a pep talk for the third time, Sweetie Belle was reminded for the fifth time that if anything dangerous showed up she was to get herself to safety and hide, and Fluttershy and Spike each got one last hug from Angel Bunny and Peewee, respectively, before leaving them behind with the enthusiastically waving Derpy Hooves and The Doctor; both ponies had agreed to look after the critters while they were away. They set off to the west at a comfortably brisk pace. Ponyville fell behind as the majority of them stayed on their hooves, while Sora, Kairi, and Rainbow Dash hovered above the rest with their wings. The two new pegasi were really enjoying flight, so much so that Sora took off into the sky, did a loop thirty metres above them, and make a wide corkscrew on his moderate dive back down to their level…and then threw in an aileron roll for fun while Rainbow Dash performed a loop with him in the middle. The land around them quickly changed, leaving behind the scattered buildings and farmland of the area surrounding Ponyville and exchanging it for the lightly forested paths of the eaves of the Whitetail Woods within a short hour. Before long the trees were all around them, and sunlight filtered in through the gaps in the canopy and shafts of gold streamed down in the larger breaks. Butterflies could be seen fluttering in the sunlight and a bee was buzzing near the blooms of a bush filled with small white flowers. Wind gently rustled the leaves, and the sounds of their flapping wings and the audible clip-clop of their hooves gave everything a sense of gentleness. “The Running of the Leaves should be happenin’ soon,” Applejack noted, looking up at the crown of a giant poplar tree. “Leaves look like they’ll be changing colours right quick.” “Running of the Leaves?” Riku turned his head and looked back at the farmpony from his point position just in front of Twilight. “Well sure,” Applejack said. “When the summer starts givin’ way to fall, and all the leaves on all the trees in Equestria change, that’s when we all run a race and shake ‘em off.” “The autumn leaves of Equestria need to be shaken loose or they’d never fall,” Twilight said when Riku still gave her a bewildered look. “Ponyville and the smaller villages close-by handle the trees in the Equus Valley and the eastern half of the Whitetail Woods. Naturally, with the need to have so many ponies running and shaking the ground with their hooves for it to work, the ‘Running of the Leaves’ became a Ponyville tradition.” “So it’s a—” “—big race through the Whitetail Woods to shake down the leaves and having fun while we’re at it!” Rainbow Dash interrupted excitedly, zooming down and almost catching Riku by surprise. She looked back at Applejack. “It’d be nice to run in it again.” “No cheatin’ this time, Rainbow,” Applejack laughed. Rainbow Dash proceeded to perform a bunch of motions while saying, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Riku watched them for a moment while still plodding onward. “Huh,” he muttered, thinking about the saying that he was used to. “So is that sort of like a promise?” “It’s a Pinkie Promise!” Pinkie told him with an exuberant bounce. “She can’t break a Pinkie Promise.” Her eyes suddenly became the most intense, terrifying things that any of them had ever seen. “Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise.” Riku stood stock-still and didn’t move a muscle at the sound in Pinkie’s voice. A more accurate description would have been that he couldn’t move a muscle. It wasn’t until after she had started merrily bouncing along and humming to herself that he was able to move freely again. “…Okay, that creeped me right out….” He finished his mumbling and increased his pace to regain his place in the van with Twilight. She was levitating the map in front of her and craning her neck to spot the sun’s position through the leafy canopy above them. She was muttering quietly to herself, but he was still able to pick up enough of her words to understand her. “…keep this…and…(c)ourse…should…right on schedule.” “So we’re going the right way, then?” he asked. Twilight nodded her head without looking at him and turned her head forward. A confident gleam was in her eyes. Riku nodded as well and kept pace. For the most part, their walk passed in quiet. There were scattered conversations here and there in hushed voices, and their pegasi had returned to the ground to avoid smacking into low branches from the trees or flying above their lofty crowns and losing sight of the group. The sun continued to climb in the sky while it made its way west, and birdsong accompanied the clopping of their hooves along the dirt and grass. However, at one point, Fluttershy cast her eyes around and spread panic to most of the members of their company with just a quiet question. “Um…where’s Kairi?” “Uwa!” gasped Applejack, frantically turning around in a circle and looking everywhere. “I—I dunno! She was right beside me a minute ago.” “Trixie did not see her leave, either,” added the blue unicorn with an anxious glance. “We’ll split up,” Twilight said quickly. “Applejack, you and Rainbow Dash head back the way we came for a couple minutes, then, if you don’t find her, come right back. Trixie and Fluttershy will go that way, and Pinkie Pie and I will go this way. Sora, Riku, Rei, and Sweetie Belle can stay here to wait for us in case she wanders back.” Riku just smirked and continued following their heading, overtaking Twilight with a quick trot. “Don’t worry about Kairi,” he said. “She’s around.” “Uh-huh,” Rei agreed with a nod of her head, continuing as well with a smile creeping into her expression. “She’ll be back at lunchtime, right onii-chan?” Sora nodded his head and kept pace too. The Equestrian ponies stared at them for a moment. “Okey-dokey-lokie!” Pinkie Pie agreed, smiling suddenly and following the three. “La-la-laaa…” “…What just happened?” Applejack asked, glancing around at the others. “Shouldn’t we still look for her?” Sweetie Belle wondered. She sent her gaze deep into the forest surrounding them. “I know I wouldn’t want to be out there all by myself.” “Kairi’s a big girl, she can take care of herself,” Sora assured them all with a backwards smile from over his shoulder. “Now come on, let’s get going.” Slowly, the other ponies started to follow. -G-M- A few hours later they came across a small meadow in the woods. The sun had just passed its zenith by this point, so Twilight called it time for them to break for lunch. True to their word, Kairi flew down from over the treetops behind them and landed gracefully in the middle of the company, and glibly answered their questions about her whereabouts. The meadow wasn't really much bigger than a small mostly-circular clearing in the brush around twenty-two metres in diameter, but it suited their needs just fine. The sun was high, the birds were singing, the grass was a vibrant green, there had been absolutely zero signs of trouble, bunnies were grazing, and they had delicious carrots, apples, cupcakes, cookies, leafy sandwiches, and Applejack's divinely scrumptious apple fritters to munch on. “Oh, hey,” Rainbow Dash spoke up while Sora was taking a swig of water from his canteen, “I almost forgot...” she started rummaging in her saddlebags and quickly pulled out what looked like a magazine. “You guys made the front page of the Daily Bugle.” Sora’s water suddenly decided that his mouth was not a very good place to settle down in, and decided to take a one-way rocket trip to watering the grass instead. “We made the front page of the what!?” Sora yelped. “Well...more like Riku did,” Rainbow Dash added. She tossed the paper forward. “Here, take a look.” Sure enough, on the cover right beneath the tabloid’s name THE DAILY BUGLE there was a picture of Riku blasting a Soldier Heartless with a ball of dark fire from his horn. The header read, NEW HORN IN CANTERLOT! ‘BLAZING HORN’, FRIEND OR FOE OF MENACE SPIDER-COLT? “...who publishes this paper?” Riku asked, deadpan. Twilight rolled her eyes. “J.J.J.” she answered. “He’s Filthy Rich’s brother. His real name is Jaunty Jet Jewel, and is the editor and publisher of that paper.” “So that means that he’s Diamond Tiara’s uncle?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Well, this makes everything make a lot more sense with how she ran the Foal Free Press.” Sora, Riku, and Kairi shared a look. “Can I? Please?” Sora asked Kairi. She made a very long sigh in answer. “Go ahead.” “Parker in my office!” Sora suddenly barked out with a Manehatten accent. “ I want photos! Photos of Spider-Colt!” “Spider-Colt?” Riku retorted, sporting the same accent. “He’s old news! A hack! A train wreck! He couldn’t sell papers if he went out in his suit and gave them away for free. I want you to get me pictures of this ‘Blazing Horn’ beating the stuffing out of Spider-Colt.” “And then I’ll send him a medal for getting rid of that web-spinning menace!” “A medal? Ha! I’ll get Princess Celestia to give him the key to the city!” “Miss Brant! Get me Princess Celestia on the phone! I need her to get down here pronto so we can give the key to the city to Blazing Horn for beating Spider-Colt soon as Parker gets back with the pictures!” “Um, could I get an advance?” Kairi asked timidly. Sora and Riku stared at her for a second before both of them burst out laughing. Kairi could only hold onto her composure for a second herself, and then she broke down and fell to the ground, laughing uncontrollably. “Trixie is concerned,” Trixie said, raising an eyebrow. “Are you okay? Don’t tell me you’ve gone crazy.” “Hey, crazies are good ponies too,” Pinkie piped up. Sora tried to withhold a snort and looked up at Trixie. “Are you serious?” The trio dissolved into a second round of laughter. Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof. “Okay, that’s enough. What’s this all about? Because if you guys keep laughing for no reason it’s going to spread.” Riku weakly shoved himself to his hooves, his laughs subsiding slowly while Sora and Kairi remained firmly on the ground. “O-okay, it’s like this. See, there’s this graphic novel that’s pretty popular back home, and one of the characters is named ‘J. Jonah Jameson’ and he runs a newspaper called the Daily Bugle, and runs a slander campaign against...well against Spider-Colt the entire time.” Pinkie gasped. “You guys too?” “Of course us too!” Sora snapped, still with the bad accent. “Spider-Colt is a masked menace to the populace! He didn’t stop at just Canterlot, he’s terrorizing the entire world!” “I’ll give you a hundred and fifty munny to stop making J.J. jokes,” Riku said. “Make it three hundred,” Sora countered. “That’s outrageous! Done.” Kairi still remained weak in the knees on the ground, but Sora and Riku had both gotten a hold of themselves enough for Riku to hoof over a large assortment of yellow-coloured beads to Sora from out of a pouch from his saddlebags. “...so, uh, how did you enjoy your lunch, Rei?” Applejack asked, likely hoping to alleviate the awkwardness the Equestrian ponies felt at the antics of the filly’s brother and his friends. Rei gave the farmer a hopeful expression after a glance at Sora. “Can I have another apple fritter?” she whispered. Applejack smiled proudly. “Why of course ya can sugarcube,” she replied in a hushed voice. Applejack carefully extracted another apple fritter from her saddlebag, put it on a plate, lightly grasped the plate between her teeth, and transferred it to the filly with speed and practiced ease. Rei gobbled it up in two bites, and all she had to show for it afterwards was a muzzle dripping a little apple filling with crumbs and a pleased smile as wide as Rarity’s drama couch. -G-M- The creature sighed pleasantly as it looked at the closed doors. It was certain that within the room beyond them was a stallion working himself into a tizzy due to some project or another, and that the unicorn would have run himself completely ragged in the week of her absence. Knowing that the inevitable likely could not be delayed any longer, the creature raised one small clawed hand covered in copper scales and knocked three times, then twice more, before opening the doors and entering the office. Just as she thought, Coltinster was surrounded by so many books it would have been impossible to see that he was there if the golden nimbus surrounding his horn didn't provide the light that gave him away. She could hear the sounds of his excited murmurs and the scratching of the quill being kept aloft in his horn's glow. “I’m back,” the young dragoness declared, and shut the door behind her. No new noises greeted her salutation, only the scratching of a quill and the flipping of pages rushed to meet her. Sighing again and shaking her head with a good-humoured smile on her face, she walked through the room on her hind legs until she was on the opposite side of the desk. “Coltinster, I’m back. Aren’t you going to ask how it went?” Still no response. The dragoness eyed him sceptically for a few seconds, not sure whether or not she should believe how into his work he appeared to be, and then decided on the ultimate test. Grinning like the malevolent little imp she could be at times, she tiptoed past the stallion towards the large chest of drawers-that was twice Coltinster’s height-that he kept at the back of the room. She glanced around and spotted just what she needed. A minute later the small female dragon wyrmling was standing precariously on a pair of downy pillows that perched on a stack of four books, which, in turn, were sitting on the highest step of a stepladder. She reached a clawed hand out while being mindful of her balance. Almost there...almost...just a little more...  “Touch my chocolate without permission and you’re a newt for a week, Irithera.” “Yiahhh!” She landed with a thump and a clatter as the sudden sound of the Headpony’s voice cost her her balance and her shot at the jar of dark milk chocolate Coltinster always kept out of her reach. A pillow landed on her head, with one of the books dropping onto the pillow before bouncing to the floor just beside. Groaning just a little in disappointment more than actual pain, the young dragoness stared forlornly at the jar of chocolates, tail swishing back and forth agitatedly. Drat. And I was soooo close this time too... Coltinster’s hooves on the floor alerted her to his approach, and he chuckled faintly when his head appeared above her. “Irithera Brightflame, just what am I going to do with ye?” Irithera rose to her feet and looked down at them, feeling just a small amount of admonishment in the old pony's voice. She shuffled her feet while Coltinster turned away, hiding a smile. A piece of chocolate surrounded in golden light floated down in front of her nose, and the copper dragoness beamed in surprise before snatching it in her claws. “Thank you!” she told him with the sincere earnestness only a child could produce. Coltinster's answering laugh was barely audible. “Make sure that ye clean up the mess ye made,” Coltinster said. He returned to his writing. “So, how fares our fine furred friend in Drakken? He hasn't been eaten, I hope?” “Nope,” Irithera replied brightly, munching on the chocolate while putting her impromptu chocolate-jar-reaching device away. “He's as fine as he always is. I think that he has to have dragon blood in him or the nerves of the Princess to live around such big, huge dragons all the time.” Coltinster nodded his head and made a noise in his throat. Irithera finished putting away the pillows on Coltinster's napping couch and the books into the bookshelf before looking at the old unicorn again. He was back to writing down whatever it was he was writing, the Headpony also holding up a book with his magic, and glancing at it from time to time. What is he writing in that? wondered Irithera. Casually padding her way over to him, the dragoness clamboured onto his back and peered over his shoulder, inquisitiveness evident in her pointed face. Her tail waved back and forth, her ruddy brown scales faintly glinting in the light. “That's Aragrakh,” she pointed out, recognizing the pattern of the runes his quill was making on the page. He nodded. “Very astute.” “Why are you writing in draconic?” “This is to be a going-away present for Twilight Sparkle,” he replied. “Tell me, Irithera, what is written using draconic notation?” She peered at the page for a second or two, reading it, and then her expression revealed sudden clarity. “Spellbooks,” she answered. “Are you copying your super-secret spells to give to her?” “Only a few of them,” Coltinster relented. “I certainly wish for her to be prepared for what she may encounter on her journey, but by no means am I entrusting her with all of my spells.” “So which ones are you going to give her?” asked Irithera. “Are you going to teach her how to scry on ponies, or stop time, or turn into a raven?” “Nay, I shall not be teaching her anything. Twilight Sparkle is the Princess’ own pupil and the Element of Magic, remember? She will not need my instruction even if these spells are far more complex than what she has currently performed. From what I understand she has been able to teleport for over a year now and has since been able to create a moderately powerful Wall of Force. She will undoubtedly find these spells a challenge, but if I know her she will rise to the challenge.” Irithera nodded a couple of times, letting the silence sink in for a bit before opening her mouth again. “How do you tell if a foal has raided your pantry?” Coltinster grinned slightly. “How?” “Only the bottom shelves are empty. How do you tell if a dragon has raided your pantry?” “How?” “Only the gems are missing. How do you tell if a parasprite has raided your pantry?” “How?” “Pantry? What pantry?” -G-M- “I’ve got it!” Sora exclaimed suddenly. “Got what?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’ve figured out a working Spider-Colt song,” he declared enthusiastically. “A song for Spider-Colt?” Pinkie gasped. “Let me hear it! I want to hear it!” “I swear, if it’s a remake of Spider-Pig or just finding one rhyme for ‘colt’ I’m going to cut you,” Riku jokingly threatened. Sora mockingly laughed at him. “Spider-Colt, Spider-Colt, He’s so cool you won’t revolt. Spins a web, any size; Catches thieves, just like flies. Look out! Here comes the Spider-Colt. Is he strong? Listen bud, He’s got radioactive blood. He can climb any wall, And on the ceiling he’ll have a ball. Hey babe! There goes the Spider-Colt. In the chill of night, At the scene of a crime. Like a streak of light, He arrives just in time. Spider-Colt, Spider-Colt, Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Colt. Wealth and fame he’s ignored; Action is his reward. To him, Life is a great big bang-up; Wherever there’s a hang-up, You’ll find the Spider-Colt!” There was silence in the woods for a few seconds, and then Pinkie Pie rushed Sora and tackled him to the ground. “That. Was. AWESOME!” She told him, eyes bulging out of their sockets with every word. “You’ve got to teach it to me! Did you just make that up?” “Sora, you win two points in the game of life,” Kairi said. “But you lose two for stealing my catchphrase,” Rainbow Dash told him. Sora blinked. “Your catchphrase?” Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest with pride. “Never fear, your friendly neighbourhood Rainbow Dash is here!” “That's nothing,” Riku told her. “Your phrases have nothing on Green Lantern.” Sora and Kairi groaned. “Riku, we don't care about the Green Lantern Corps. or the Justice League!” Kairi exclaimed. “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. May all who worship evil’s might beware my power, Green Lantern's light!” chanted the blue unicorn. “What was that?” Twilight asked, impressed. “The oath that Hal Jordan took when he became a Green Lantern,” Riku answered. He then proceeded to spend the next three hours until they stopped for the evening telling Twilight about Green Lantern, and she listened eagerly to every word. Okay, that’s a lie. Spike listened eagerly to every word. Twilight got a little bored of the conversation after roughly an hour. Most of the rest of the party attempted to tune out Riku with varying degrees of success; Rainbow Dash and Applejack both joined in on the conversation after a while, Trixie and Sora both worked with Rei and Sweetie Belle on levitation while they walked (Rei showed moderate improvement while Sweetie Belle struggled to get a stick a centimetre off the ground but she would later tell anypony listening that she did get it to levitate, honest!), Fluttershy tried to stop listening and paid attention to the flora and any fauna she could set her eyes on, Kairi vanished again, and Pinkie bounded along, humming a merry tune to herself. Their evening resting place put them beside a stream cutting through the woods. Twilight and Applejack quickly set about putting the others to use ordering their campsite. “Hey, Sora,” Kairi said as she flew back down from wherever she had been, “can I talk to you for a second?” The other pegasus looked at her and nodded his head. “Where are those two going?” Rainbow Dash asked, setting some logs out for the group to sit on. “It looks like they’re going on a walk to me,” Fluttershy said. Applejack looked up as she and Sweetie Belle placed stones around in a circle for their fire pit. “What in tarnation do they think they’re doing?” she asked. “There’s still work that needs doing!” “Leave them be,” Riku advised. He slowly turned his head back and forth, aquamarine eyes sweeping the area underneath his silver mane. “Those two are probably just taking some ‘alone’ time.” “Oh, do you think I might be able to observe them?” Fluttershy asked timidly. “I promise I won’t get in the way.” Riku ceased his guardian watch for a moment to give her a startled expression. Rei was the one who spoke up instead. “Watch them?” she asked, frowning. “Why would you want to watch my brother and Kairi make kissy faces at each other?” Fluttershy blushed and laughed nervously. It sounded incredibly forced. “Oh, it’s nothing...just might be good research for my next novel...” Riku's ears were sharper than she expected. “Novel?” he inquired. Fluttershy squeaked and avoided eye contact. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “‘Shy here writes trashy romance novels to get her the bits for her bills since she won’t even charge ponies for any services she gives their animal friends,” Rainbow explained. “From what I hear, 'Lurid Quill' is actually quite a popular author.” “She is,” Twilight agreed. “In fact, Fluttershy's novels typically become bestsellers and have the high-class mares in Canterlot and Manehatten lining up for hours each time a new one is released.” “Wow, I didn't know that you were that famous, Fluttershy,” said Pinkie. “Hey, I know! You should hold a book signing party!” “No! I could never do that,” Fluttershy stammered. “All of those random ponies I don't know seeing who I really am and finding out I've never been in a serious relationship. I don't think I could handle the pressure of meeting with them and just disappointing my fans.” She hung her head, subdued. “Hmm...Should not somepony still go with them?” Trixie asked. “What if those black creatures, the Heartless, attack?” “And you’re worried about them?” Riku said dismissively. “Sora’s the guy who saved the entire Realm of Light twice, even if he did need some help to do it, and he’s not going to let anything happen to Kairi either. Relax, if Heartless do show, they’ll be able to handle themselves just fine.” He returned to giving the surrounding area a sweep with his eyes. Rainbow Dash kicked back on a log and broke out her Daring Do book, and Pinkie rolled in the grass. -G-M- “Alright, what did you see?” Kairi lay down on the cloud the two pegasi had taken solitude on. “We're being followed.” “I'd be insulted if we weren’t,” Sora answered. “How many?” “Four. Pete’s skulking back over there-you can just make him out behind that tree right there. Lyra and I have been playing ‘hide and seek’ with each other all day. I know she’s there and she knows I know but I haven’t gone down to ask why she is following us.” “Curiosity?” Kairi shook her head. “If she were just curious she would have left us in the first hour. She’s also wearing some form of the Royal Guard armour, so my guess is escort guard or something, but why I still don’t know.” Sora’s brow creased in thought. “Who would she be guarding, though? The Elements of Harmony?” “It could be Twilight Sparkle,” Kairi guessed. “I mean, she is the Princess’s personal student. It would make sense for such an important person to have a personal guard, right?” “But wouldn’t Lyra publicly be known as that then if that was the case?” Sora reasoned. “Isn’t it a better deterrent for there to be a guard that everybody knows about than a secret guard?” “Hmm, you may be right on that...” Kairi acquiesced. Sora sighed. “Well, Lyra’s hanging around and let’s say she’s a secret service agent or something keeping tabs on them or us, then. The other two?” asked Sora. Kairi smiled. “Two adorable little fillies who wouldn’t know stealth if it stabbed them in the back. They’re right over there, trying to just keep out of sight of our campsite.” She pointed a hoof, and Sora followed it with his eyes. He could see orange and purple, and red and soft yellow. “Scootaloo and Apple Bloom?” “Yep,“ Kairi answered. She unfurled her wings. “Want to go say ‘hi’?” Sora stretched forward for a moment, and Kairi enjoyed comparing him to a cat with how his limbs were positioned. “Ahh... I don’t get paid enough to babysit,” he chuckled before spreading his wings. “Sure, let’s go.” Kairi laughed. “Last I checked, nobody was paying us to save the galaxy.” Sora grinned at her. “Well maybe when we get back to the Highwind we should negotiate some sort of contract with the king,” he said. “Can we also ask for a bigger ship?” Kairi asked. “I don’t think the old girl’s going to cut it with the number of people we’re picking up.” Sora laughed mirthlessly. “Not gonna cut it, are you kidding? She’s already too small for the people aboard her right now. If it was just me, Donald, Goofy, you, and Rei, maybe, but tossing in Twilight and Trixie with the others and this is just getting ridiculous.” He nodded his head, and Kairi jumped from the cloud and slowly began to gracefully circle down to the treetops, Sora following after a moment. For only having been ponies for a couple of days, the pair of pegasi landed very quietly a short distance away from where Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were hiding behind a tree with several bushes growing close to its trunk, giving them a good degree of concealment from the riverside campsite. “But Ah’m hungry Scootaloo. Ah told you we shoulda packed more food than just a lunch.” “No you didn’t! And we can't go out there! They’ll know we were following them and get mad at us.” “Ah did too say we should pack more!” “Did not!” “Did too!” “Did not!” “Did too!” “Did not!” “Did too!” “Did not!” “Ah did too say so!” Apple Bloom declared with a definitive stomp of a forehoof. Scootaloo looked away for a quick moment before returning Apple Bloom’s gaze. “Yeah, well...if we go out there, how are we supposed to get our cutie marks as tracker ponies or spy ponies? Getting caught won’t make them appear.” “Cutie mark or not, Scoots,” Apple Bloom said quietly. “Aren’t you startin’ tah get hungry too?” Scootaloo held her defiant posture fora few seconds before remembering that it was a member of the Apple family she was dealing with, and her friend. Scootaloo deflated and sighed. “Yeah...you were right. We should have packed more food.” “Well that's funny,” Kairi spoke up suddenly and startling the two fillies so much they almost jumped out of their coats, “because we have plenty with us.” “K-K-Kairi!” exclaimed Scootaloo as the two other pegasi stepped out from behind trees close to where she and Apple Bloom were hiding. “Wh-what are you doing here?” “Just stopping by to say ‘hi’ and invite you to supper,” Kairi answered with a smile while trotting up to the two fillies. She stopper just a couple of feet away from them. “You did good, I’m impressed,” she added with an encouraging smile. “No one else even knew you were here until just now when I told Sora.” “No one else?” Scootaloo asked. “So how long have you known, Kairi?” asked Apple Bloom. “Kairi has been following along behind us all day to keep track of anything or anyone that might be following us,” Sora answered. He gave her a quick smile before looking at the two goals with amusement. “She’s probably known you were here all day.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders shared a look before dropping their heads with resigned sighs. “Ah guess we aren’t gettin’ our cutie marks in stealth, then.” “Chin up,” Kairi said with a laugh, pushing Apple Bloom's chin up with her wing. “Like I said, I was the one actively checking for pursuit. None of these bozos noticed.” “I take offence to that!” Sora cried in mock hurt. Kairi quickly lowered her head towards the fillies. “Watch and learn girls,” she whispered, and gave them a conspirator’s smile. Kairi giggled suddenly and pushed her head underneath Sora’s neck. “Aw, you still love me anyway,” she insisted, batting her eyelashes. Sora looked uncomfortable for a moment before sighing and submitting to the dopey smile that had been threatening to crack his face into two pieces or it would cop him in the eye. “How come I can never say ‘no’ to you?” Sora asked in exasperation. Kairi pulled away and trolled a laugh that made even the leaves of the trees laugh along with her. “Because I have you wrapped around my hoof sashaying these bodacious hips of mine,” Kairi answered, slowly walking past him and doing her very best to sashay like she said. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both snorted in laughter while Sora just stared. “Did you seriously just say the word ‘bodacious’?” Scootaloo asked. “When are you from? The neighties?” Kairi hummed a chuckle in her throat. No sooner had she finished than a different rumbling sounded through their ears: the rumbly tumblies of hungry fillies.   “Come on,” Kairi urged softly. “Let’s go and get you something to eat. If you go now we can get it over with quickly.”   “Yer not sendin’ us back to Ponyville are you?” Apple Bloom asked.   “We’ll let Twilight and Applejack decide that, Apple Bloom,” Sora told her. “But I don’t think they’ll be sending you on a whole second day’s trek through the woods by yourselves.”   “So…” Scootaloo began, the gears in her head visibly turning as she worked out Sora’s intended words, “we can stay?”   “As far as I’m concerned it’d be for the best,” Kairi admitted. “You’ve followed us this far; might as well finish it. Now go on, through the bush and get the lectures over with.” Grimacing, the two fillies bowed their heads and reluctantly headed towards the campsite.   Sora and Kairi shared a look before Sora sighed. “Two more little girls to keep track of and safe. I’m going to regret this, I know it.”   “Sora…” Kairi began.   “I don’t like having to be the responsible one now,” Sora continued. “Why can’t we go back to the days where it was me, Donald, and Goofy searching for you and Riku and the King and saving the galaxy in the process, just playing it by ear?”   “Sora…”   “Now I’m dragging my little sis across the worlds on a dangerous quest because she’s the only one who knows who these Guardians are, and we’re supposed to find them all and train them so they’ll be prepared for when the Horned King, or any other villain who finds out what they can do, comes after them. I know this is going to end badly. I’ve read enough fantasy novels to know that the bad guy’s going to swoop in the moment we have all the MacGuffins in the same place and nab all of them while thanking us for doing all of his work for him.”   “Sora…”   “How am I going to keep Rei safe, Kairi? How am I going to keep Zelda and Trixie and Twilight safe? For all we know, the Horned King’s already beaten Maleficent, and I really don’t like the look of that Syndrome guy. They could have all of the Heartless under their command just like the Organization did.”   “Sora!”   “What?” he asked, sharply turning his head towards Kairi.   Kairi held his gaze and turned her whole body to face him directly. “This isn’t you, Sora, calm down.”   “Calm down?” Sora asked. “I am—” He was stopped by Kairi’s hoof over his mouth.   “No, you’re not. You’re letting the responsibility get to you.” Kairi removed her hoof and sidled up next to him. She wrapped a wing over his back. “If you like, I have a couple of words that you taught me that could help you out.”   “Yeah?” Sora chuckled humourlessly. “And what are those?”   “Hakuna Matata.”   Kairi smiled as she felt Sora begin to laugh just through how his chest was moving, and then it rumbled into her hearing. From beyond the bush they could hear the older ponies now finally catching sight of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo’s approach.   “What in tarnation are you two doin’ here?”   “I came to keep Sweetie Belle and Rei company.”   “An’ Ah came to keep Scootaloo company.”   “…”   “And we were also trying to get our cutie marks as tracker ponies.”   Sora’s laughter doubled as he no doubt imagined the look on Applejack’s face, and Kairi couldn’t help but join in on it. He glanced down at her as they shared in their laughter, and Sora waited until they’d calmed down before he moved in and surprised his girlfriend with a kiss on her cheek. “I knew there was a reason I loved you,” he said. Kairi hummed in response. “I’m sure there’s more than one reason,” she replied. “You’re right,” he agreed. “Your mother bakes me cookies.” Kairi stared at him with an open mouth, and Sora gave her a cheeky grin before breaking into a canter. “Oh I’m going to get you for that one Sora Hoshisho!” Kairi cried as she chased him back to camp. -G-M-