As if things couldn't get any worse for Sora and his friends, it did; they found the Tree of Harmony from Twilight's vision, but they couldn't find a way to save it. And the only pony who even had a ghost of a chance to save it was sent back to town by her companions. Because of this, Ponyville's most competitive ponies plus Sora were now in a heated argument over the current situation and the foolishness of their choice.
"It was YOUR idea, Applejack!" Rainbow accused.
"We all agreed it was th' best thing, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack shot back. "We were tryin' to protect her!"
"Well, in case you forgot, I hardly agreed to any of it!" Sora added in anger.
It was then the sounds from grunts of pain came from the steps as Spike unceremoniously stumbled down with scuff marks on him that most of them weren't from the stairs. The group rushed over to see if he was okay, Applejack held him in hooves as the other gathered around.
"Twilight! Trouble! Help!" Spike managed to get out before he fainted.
With newfound vigor, Sora flapped his wings and took to the skies without realizing what he's doing, "That's all I needed to hear!"
Meanwhile, back at the clearing, Twilight has passed out from the lack of fresh oxygen and breathing the noxious gases from the snapping plants. One of them screeched and prepared swallow her whole, until a lasso made from the black vines wrapped its maw and pulled back, slamming it into the ground. The one responsible, Applejack, tightened the lasso to prevent it from escaping and spat it out, glaring at the remaining opponents as the rest of the gang gathers.
"Listen here, you rabid rhododendrons!" Applejack proclaims, "Ya mess with one of us, ya mess with all of us!" Pinkie proceeds to blow from a party noise blower at the end of Applejack's speech for some reason.
The plants to screech louder than ever when something was sprouting from each of their stems; they were miniature vines coiling around themselves, shaping into small, bipedal creatures with makeshift claws on their hands and feet and mossy antennae, then in front of their heads, two glowing yellow dots appeared like they were the creatures' eyeballs.
Sora's own eyes widen in horror, "Oh no..."
"What is going on!?" Rarity asked.
"I don't know how, but...these plants...are using themselves to create copies of Heartless!"
"But that's impossible!" Donald argued.
"No sense in whinin' about it, let's jus' do what we do best and stomp these critters!" Applejack said.
"YEAH!" They all declared.
The snapping plants screeched once more as they and the Heartless-hybrids advanced on them.
Rainbow flew up into the sky and taunted, "Up Heeere!" then flew past the snapping plant as they spewed their gas, but they were caught in a spiral from Rainbow's speed and fell to the ground in a heap.
"YOO-HOO! COME AND GET ME!" Pinkie singsonged as she bounced away from one of the snappers and a few Hybrids.
"Don't forget about me!" Rarity chirped as she did the same.
Fluttershy flew away from another snapper as it followed her, causing it to wrap itself around a stray tree as Sora destroyed any Hybrids that came near her while Donald and Goofy spread out to deal with the rest of the Hybrids. It tried to bite her, but got caught in her trap as she flew to safety, giving Applejack the chance to hop over the part of the stem near its maw and used gravity and inertia to slide on the ground under the part of the stem that was stuck as the snapper charged at her instead of the yellow pegasus, but it couldn't reach her as it was now stuck in a massive knot that somehow formed from other snapping plants with some of the Hybrids trapped with them.
Out of nowhere, Pinkie appeared in front of the knot and threw a bunch of confetti in the air, declaring, "TA-DA!" But failed to notice one more snapper was about to chomp her, until she ducked from an incoming beam of magic that exploded its pony-muncher.
(stop music)
Everyone turned to see a now conscious Twilight with her horn alit, indicating that she was the one who fired that beam. Spike rushed to her side as she struggled to stand up and eventually did, all of her friends gathered around her with smiles as Sora walked up and gave her a one armed hug.
"Ah sure am glad ya came lookin' fer us." Applejack said.
"Me too." Sora agreed.
"Not as glad as I am that you found me!" Twilight added.
"The truth of it is, Twilight...we're simply lost without you." Rarity said.
"Yeah," Rainbow begins, "Equestria may need its princess..."
"...But we need our friend." Fluttershy finishes.
The gang came together in a big group hug, including Sora and his own friends.
"Aww, isn't this sweet?" Jiminy asked.
"You said it." Donald answered.
With the entire gang reunited, they all returned to the cave where the Tree of Harmony continues to rot from vines strangling it. Twilight starts walk over to it, then hops and flaps her wings to get closer to it. She gets near the center of the tree, where the replica of her Cutie Mark is, but gasps in surprise when a stray vine wraps itself around her forehoof, forcing her fly away from it and disconnect it with a magic beam. When she finally keeps her distance, the magically cut vine retreats and more coil around the tree, nearly covering its center. Suddenly, the ground began to shake and crack, revealing even more vines, but these were different, they seemed more like pinching claws. Then a large, sinister looking coffin with latched onto it in an 'X' formation dug itself out of the ground right behind the tree, it had a flower bulb with a creepy face atop its mass of vines, and on its front was a familiar black, crossed out heart mark.
"HEARTLESS!" Sora shouted as he summoned his Keyblade and charged into battle.
He went for the four claw-like vines first to make sure they wouldn't get to his friends, but at that moment, the Heartless staggers and slumps over itself. Sora saw his opening and went in to attack, and after three combos, the Heartless stood once more with four more of the claw vines popping out of the ground and opened its casket to swipe its hidden class at Sora, but with a quick flap of his wings, he jumped away from the attack at the last second.
"Sora!" Twilight called, "those claw things are its weakness! Attack them first!"
Sora nodded to her and charged at one of them, swiftly dispatching it, then made his way to strike at another one, only for it to reach out and swallow him.
"SORA!" Everyone screamed.
Before they knew it, Sora was spat out from the bulb on top of the Heartless, tossing him back toward his friends.
"Sora! Are you okay!?" Twilight asked, frantically.
Sora grunted in pain, "I'm fine, it's just a few scr—LOOK OUT!" Sora hopped up to push Twilight out of the way of a pellet with the speed of a bullet headed at them, the others saw it and jumped out of its flight path, exploding once it hit the ground. "Heal!" Sora called, casting his Curaga spell.
Once he was healed up, he returned to battle, his teeth gritting on the Keyblade's handle. Donald and Goofy decided that they stayed in the sidelines long enough and joined Sora with their own weapons. Donald destroyed one of the remaining claw vines, then Goofy dispatched another, and just before Sora finish off the last one, the Heartless spewed some sort of purple pollen and it spread around the battlefield, making the traveling heroes all wobbly.
"What's...going on? I feel...kinda funny..." Sora muttered as he put a hoof to his head.
"Wait a second..." Applejack mumbled as had her hoof to her chin, then her eyes widened in horror as she remembered the same purple stuff that nearly got her little sister. "That there pollen is poisonous! Git outta there!"
Sora and his friends heeded her words and retreated back to rest the group, as soon as they did, Donald got to work healing them, casting his own Curaga spell several times to make sure they were rid of the poison.
"What do we do? We can't fight like this!" Twilight pondered, believing the situation to be hopeless, but then her former mentor's words rang in her head,
(stop music)
"Even without these Elements, the Tree of Harmony will possess a powerful magic, as long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here."
With a determined scowl, she turned to her friends with a goal set in her mind, "I know how we can save the tree...we have to give it the Elements of Harmony."
There was a moment of silence among the group from Twilight's sudden revelation. Then Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy decided to break it.
"WHAAAAAAT!?" They shouted.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rainbow interjected as she flew to the ground, standing in front of Twilight, "how are we supposed to protect Equestria!?"
Rarity stepped up next to Rainbow, "How are we meant to reign Discord in if we can't use the Elements to turn him back to stone!?"
"Twilight..." Applejack began as she walked up in front of her, "the Elements of Harmony..." she put a hoof on the gem of her necklace, "they're what keep us connected no matter what."
"You're right about one thing, Applejack; the Elements of Harmony DID bring us together," Twilight smiled, "but it isn't the Elements that will keep us connected, it's our friendship, and it's more important and more powerful than any magic. My new role in Equestria may mean I have to take on new responsibilities, and our friendships may be tested, but it will never, EVER be broken."
Everyone smiled at Twilight's heartfelt speech.
"She's right," Sora said, "take it from someone who's connected several worlds together with the friendships my heart's made a home for."
Twilight smiled at Sora, but became serious again as she flew up again, "There's no time to lose, everypony ready?"
"Ready!" They all cheered.
Twilight lit up her horn and levitated the Element gems from her pony friends' necklaces and swirled them around her form as she removed her own gem from her crown and added it with the others. Unfortunately, a bunch of vines reached out and snatched Twilight, as if they knew what she was planning. Everyone gasped in shock as Sora with Keyblade at the ready charged in to free Twilight, but more of the claw vines popped up, preventing him from getting any closer.
She grunted as she struggled in the vines' grasp, they tried to take the Elements, but with the magic, Twilight allowed them to slip out and place them into their proper slots on the branches and her own in the center of the tree just before the vines wrapped her into a cocoon, making her black out.
(stop music)
Twilight soon found herself in a familiar area; she felt like she was both falling and floating at the same time. She tensed up when she remember this place, she was once again in Sora’s heart. Knowing this, she craned her head to face a very familiar stained glass platform. She decided to let this take its course and slowly descend until she place all four hooves on the glass. Twilight looked around for anyone or anything that may help her figure out her reason for being here.
“That’s what you really look like?”
Twilight turned around to find Roxas standing there in confusion, “Yes.”
“I knew you were from another world, but I didn’t think you’d be a horse—”
“—Pony.”
“Same difference,” Roxas countered.
“Look,” Twilight began, “is there a reason that I’m here again?”
“Yeah, Xion wants to see you.”
“Xion?”
“Follow me,” Roxas waved her over.
At that moment, a weird stained glass bridge formed on the edge of platform, leading to another one, but the image is too far to make out.
“Hey! You coming, or what?” Roxas called in the distance.
“Sorry!” Twilight ran over to Roxas, who about halfway across the bridge.
As soon they made it, Twilight took in the platform’s appearance; in the smaller circles at the top both familiar and unfamiliar faces: Sora, Roxas, in his coat and in what appears to be his usual clothing, Lea, the boy and girl she saw in her vision, and a blonde girl that Twilight has never seen before, especially in the center of the platform, a girl with black hair wearing the same coat as Roxas.
“Who is this?”
“Me,” a familiar feminine voice spoke.
Twilight looked in front of her to see the same black haired girl, “Are you—”
“—Xion? Yes.”
“Who exactly are you? Sora’s never mentioned you.”
“That’s because he doesn’t know me.”
“But that’s makes no sense! If you’ve never been involved with Sora, then why are you here!?”
“Allow me to explain…”
Xion took her time to explain the events that took place two years ago, from the day of her creation, becoming friends with Roxas and Axel, who Twilight informed them that he was reborn as his old self, Lea, her hardships in the Organization, and all the way to when her body was destroyed, but her memories of her and Roxas remains inside Sora. At the end, Twilight was shocked, he promised her no more lies and no more lying about anything he was hiding. Roxas noticed Twilight slowly getting mad and tried to intervene.
“I know about Sora’s promise,” he began, “but go easy on him, there’s a reason he didn’t tell you.”
“And what reason is that!?” Twilight all but screamed in his face.
Behind them, they heard crying, Roxas turned to see it was coming from Xion. He made his way over to her and trying to comfort her. Twilight calmed down and felt a little guilty for making Roxas’ friend cry. And that’s when it hit her; Xion was crafted from Sora’s lost memories, in a way, he was connected to her, so he feels what she feels, remembering what Roxas told her the last time they spoke. The reason Sora didn’t tell Twilight about this…
"...Because something like this is too painful for him to talk about." Twilight muttered.
Xion sniffled, “...Yes.”
“That’s also the reason why you were brought here,” Roxas added.
“Huh?” Twilight was confused now.
“Xion and I wanted to talk to you about that some things are just too hard for Sora to talk about and we wanted you to understand and respect that. I know you two made a promise, but even Sora can feel hurt talking about stuff like this, so try and be patient with him, okay?”
Twilight cleared her throat to avoid crying while clutching Sora’s crown necklace, “Okay. I will.” A familiar feeling of tiredness overtook her. “What...the…”
Roxas and Xion came up to either side of her and held her up, the former spoke to her, “It’s time to wake up, Twilight.”
“Yes, your friends need you,” Xion agreed.
Twilight could barely make out what Xion said as she once again lost consciousness in Sora’s heart...
Back in reality, the Elements were put in place and a bright rainbow light shined from the tree and the vines began to dissipate. The Heartless roared in pain as the light engulfed it, destroying it and releasing the crystalline heart within. Throughout the forest, all the way to Ponyville, the vines vanished into thin air, including the Discord was laying on, who was dressed in a tropical shirt and sunglasses, drinking out of a coconut, making him fall on his butt.
"Oh, poo." The now downtrodden Discord cursed.
The light began to dim as Twilight, now fully awake, flew back to her friends and saw the last of the vines disappearing, revealing the two princesses that went missing. They all smiled at the rulers, glad that they were unharmed as they trotted over to them while rushed to her former teacher.
"We know how difficult it must've been for you to give up the Elements. It took great courage to relinquish them." She said as everyone looked joyful.
Then tree began to glow once more as the light from the Elements merged together and trailed down the base, lighting up the sun and moon symbols and stop at one of the roots. A plant began to sprout and grow a flower bulb, when Twilight got near it, it bloomed to reveal a three-dimensional, hexagonal chest with a keyhole on each side of the top half.
"What's inside it? How am I supposed to open it?" Twilight asked the two princesses.
Sora summoned his Keyblade and tapped the chest...but nothing happened.
"What the—my Keyblade! It's not working!" Sora exclaimed.
"But then...how can we get it open?" Twilight asked no one in particular.
"Six locks, six keys..." Luna pondered.
Twilight, Sora, and Luna turned to Celestia, who said, "Do not know where they are..." With a smile, she moved aside to reveal her friends, "but I DO know that it is a mystery you will not be solving alone."
They all smiled as Twilight smiled back while she and Sora tenderly embraced each other.
(stop music)
CLAP...CLAP...CLAP…
Everyone jumped at the sound of slow-clapping and turned to its source: the cavern's exit. There, they saw a bald old man with the only sign of hair upon his chin in the shape of a goatee, he is dressed in silver, black, and white clothing, and has upper body arched.
"Well done, Sora, you've saved the day once again." He spoke in a raspy voice.
"Xehanort!" Sora exclaimed.
"Wait! That's—!?" Twilight said.
"I see," Celestia interrupted as she and Luna stepped forward, both with furrowed brows, "So YOU are Xehanort."
"Yes, my dear princess, I see Sora has told you about me," He briefly shifted his gaze to Sora and then back to the princesses, "everything has gone completely according to plan."
"What do you mean!?" Sora asked.
"Why Sora shouldn't it be obvious by now? Then allow me to enlighten you, since there is no point in lying..." He hummed in his rasping voice as he recalled what he's been up to, "I had sensed a powerful magic radiating from this world and decided to take reconnaissance in secret. It was here that I had found this, ‘Tree of Harmony’ as you call it, from what my associate has told me, I had deduced that the ‘Elements of Harmony’ had originated from this very tree.”
Braig. Sora thought.
“I couldn’t go up against you or the Bearers of the Elements without a plan, and that’s when I felt it…” Xehanort sneered, “The Plundervines that have once overgrown in this area, they were trying to steal the magic from the tree, but its magic was far too strong. So, I used my dark power to weaken it, because I foresaw this very situation; the Plundervines growing out of control, you equines sacrificing your Elements to save the tree and Equestria as a whole, and rendering yourself weak to my darkness. I even left behind that powerful Heartless you vanquished.”
Everypony kept their eyes on Xehanort, preparing themselves for an attack of any sort.
“After the deed was done, I had done some research and discovered that there were and are dark entities here, entities that I could bend to my will. Even a nearly peaceful world such as this has a dark side; light and darkness go hand in hand, you cannot have one without the other.”
Princess Luna narrowed her eyes at his last sentence, slightly angering her with his philosophy.
“This world, like many others, shall become what I will it to be, after the second Keyblade War.”
“Keyblade War?” Celestia inquired.
“Yes. There is a world far beyond your own, known as ‘The Keyblade Graveyard’.”
“K-Keyblade G-G-Graveyard?” Fluttershy stuttered.
Xehanort nodded, “There, you would behold many lifeless keys that used to be full of power, united with their youthful masters, locked in combat…” He swung his arms outward, “As a great Keyblade War raged!”
Everypony was ready to pounce, except for Fluttershy who was trembling behind Rainbow.
“Countless Keyblade wielders lost their lives...all in search of one, ultimate key…” Xehanort held his left hand behind his back as his right formed a fist in front of him, “And this time, it will soon belong to me…” He raised a finger from his right hand a pointed at a certain tan Pegasus, “...X-blade!”
Twilight and Sora bared their teeth at the evil Keyblade Master, who conjured an orb of darkness while laughing to himself and shot it through the cavern ceiling. Once the orb reached the sky, clouds began to form and push themselves aside to reveal something that shocked everypony to their core…
Kingdom Hearts.
Xehanort curled the fingers on his right hand in and out several times and swung his right arm out towards Sora, enveloping him in darkness and shocking the others, but before anyone could say or do anything, the darkness dissipated, and revealed Sora's true form.
"What did you do!?" Sora barked.
Xehanort chuckled, "I merely dispelled the duck's disguise," his right hand flashed a sinister light that summoned his Keyblade, "now you can fight me at your full strength."
Sora picked himself off the ground and summoned his own Keyblade and charged forward.
"Sora, wait!" Twilight called, but he didn't listen.
Sora jumped and delivered an overhead slash, which was easily blocked by Xehanort, raising his Keyblade in front of him and pushing back with tremendous force, making Sora stumble for a moment.
"Freeze!" Xehanort declared as volleys of black and white ice flew towards Sora.
"Defense!" Sora shouted, casting his Reflega spell that absorbed Xehanort's attack and shot beams of light back at him, only to teleport away from them.
Xehanort slowly walked toward Sora in an intimidating fashion. "Concede!" He yelled as he let loose a chunk of earth to rise from below him, but Sora was able to dodge in the nick of time. Sora ran to Xehanort and conducted a three-hit combo on him before he teleported away again.
"Fire!" Sora declared as he shot a Firaga spell at Xehanort, but swatted away with his Keyblade as if it were nothing but a fly.
"Thunder!" Xehanort shouted, casting a dark-colored lightning bolt at Sora, who dodge rolled out of the way.
The two stared each other down, neither ready to give the other an inch in this battle as the ponies from the sidelines could just watch.
"Is that really all the strength you can muster?" Xehanort asked.
"SORA!!"
Sora turned to Twilight's voice and saw a sight that made his heart stop; Heartless such as Darkballs, Soldiers, and Air Soldiers surrounding her and the others, Donald and Goofy could barely hold their hold against them, especially after fighting the giant Heartless from before. Sora rushed to their aid, only to stopped by an unbreakable, hexagonal barrier. Sora put his free hand on it as Twilight raised her hoof to where Sora's hand was, unable to even touch each other.
"You see how powerless you are to save them?" Xehanort began as Sora turned to face him with gritted teeth. "Savor that rage and despair. Let it empower you!" He swung his arms out as he declared.
Suddenly, a dark aura appeared around Sora as he clutched his Keyblade tighter than ever before, "Why, Xehanort...was messing with Riku and Kairi not enough for you or Xemnas or Ansem!? LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!!!"
"Sora! No!" Twilight pleaded, but once again it fell on deaf ears.
"Yes, boy, that's it! More!" Xehanort readied his Keyblade. "Let your whole heart blacken with anger!"
All everyone could do was watch in horror as Sora slowly, but surely, gives in to the darkness...
SHING!
(stop music)
...Only to be put to sleep by a familiar face with a familiar Keyblade.
"Not today, Xehanort." The new newcomer said.
"Riku!?" Xehanort said in surprise.
He turned his head to Twilight and the others, who were now beginning to dwindle the Heartless's numbers, "Don't worry, I casted Sleep on him, he'll be fine." Riku returned his focus to Xehanort, "Game's over, Xehanort."
Xehanort scowled, "...For now, anyway."
The Corridor of Darkness appeared behind him and slowly walked backwards inside it, disappearing from the face of Equestria.
Riku turned and shouted, "Thunder!" using his Thundaga spell to destroy the remaining Heartless. Breathing a sigh of relief, he expelled his Keyblade and sat next to Sora's sleeping form. "You guys okay?" he asked.
"I...think so." Twilight says, reluctantly.
"Who are you?" Princess Celestia asked.
"Riku. Sora's friend."
"Wait! You're Riku!?" Twilight exclaimed.
Riku smirked, "I see Sora's told you about me." He shook his head, "But now's not the time for that. Which one of you is Celestia?"
"That would be me." Celestia said.
Riku pulled an envelope out of his jacket, "This is for you. From King Mickey."
Celestia's eyes widen as she gasped, "The King!?" She took the letter in her magic, opened it, and it read:
Dear Princess Celestia,
Gee, it's been a while, hasn't it? I wanted to inform you that a dangerous evil from the past has risen once again, the same evil that I believe brought the Unversed to your world all those years ago. But there's more to this letter than just that.
We're trying to gather seven Keyblade wielders of pure light to take place in a battle that will decide the fate of all worlds, including your own. I wish for you to train Sora to prepare him to retake the Mark of Mastery exam, he must pass in order for him to become a true Keyblade Master. Also, I would like you to meet Master Riku, he will aid Sora in his training.
I await your reply, Your Majesty.
M.M.
P.S. Tell Princess Luna I said, "Hi"
After Celestia finished reading Mickey's letter, she smiled and returned her attention to Riku, "I see. It is truly an honor to meet you..." She bowed, "...Keyblade Master Riku."
"Huh!?" Everyone said in shock.
"Oh, yeah!" Everyone shifted their focus to Twilight, "Sora told me that you were the only one out of the both of you who passed the Keyblade exam!"
Riku chuckled as he went to pick up the unconscious Sora, "Is anything you haven't told her?"
Sora began to stir and opened his eyes, "Ugh...what happened...?" His eyes swiftly widened when he remembered the situation, "Twilight!"
"It's okay, Sora, we're fine!" Twilight said.
Sora relaxed after seeing Twilight and her friends are okay, he then turned to see his best friend, "Riku!?"
"Hey there, 'lazy bum'." Riku joked.
"Alright," Celestia interjected, "I think we all had enough excitement for one day, let's return and deliver the good news, then we shall get the Summer Sun Celebration back on track."
"But first," Sora began, "Donald, turn me back into a pony, just so we don't have ponies thinking something else is going on."
"Right!" Donald said, returning Sora's pony form.
Afterwards, the group left the cavern and made their way back through the forest to return to town.
(stop music)
On the way back to Ponyville through the forest, Twilight hung her head low and eyes downcast, thinking about her recent visit within Sora’s heart. Xion... Twilight couldn’t understand how beings like the Organization can be so cruel. Sora noticed her upset demeanor and put his hoof on her shoulder, stopping them both midtrot.
“Hey...what’s wrong?” He asked.
She shifted her eyes to his and gazed deeply into them as she spoke, “Sora...who’s Roxas and Xion?”
The question caught everyone’s attention as Sora’s eyes widened in shock, “H-How did you—”
“I don’t know how, but I’m able to see inside your heart.”
Sora sighs deeply, knowing that this is something he can’t avoid, especially since he promised no more lies after Twilight had that vision of him facing the Seekers in the Dream Worlds.
“Something you’re not telling us?” Luna asked him.
Sora looked at everyone around him, the looks in their eyes pleading for answers.
“Okay...it’s like this…” Sora began.
He told them about when he met Roxas in the Dream Worlds, how he had transferred his memories into Sora, seeing and experiencing Roxas’ long, forgotten pain; the Organization’s deception, their cruelty towards Xion, referring to her as an “it”, Axel concealing the truth about Xion, the battle with Xion’s alternate forms, her eradication, and Riku stopping Roxas from storming the castle. Everything from start to finish. The group’s reactions varied from shock to sadness to fear and to anger. Luna looked at her sister, whose face held a concentrated expression.
“Is something wrong, sister?”
“Xion…” Celestia said, wistfully, “that name feels familiar to me, but I cannot remember where I heard it.”
“Princess…?” Twilight looked worriedly at her former mentor, who shook her head.
“I’ll have to ponder on it later, right now, we must leave the Everfree Forest, the plants and Heartless may have been stopped, but this place is still dangerous.”
They all nodded and continued on the path back to town.
"I'm sorry for opening up old wounds Sora, but I had to know." Twilight said, "Oh, by the way, Princess Celestia?"
"Yes Twilight?"
"Um...who's Eraqus?"
Celestia was shocked that Twilight knew her old friend's name, how did she know?
"I saw it in a vision from a potion I drank, it's also how I was able to find the Tree of Harmony."
Celestia hesitated, "He's...a long forgotten friend, Twilight. But that's a story for another time."
Twilight nodded, realizing that she opened up another old wound by accident. The rest of the trip continued in silence.
The group was just exiting the forest when Discord appeared with falling confetti, banners, and "#1" signs while waving a multicolored flag in his bird claw and a foam finger on his bear claw.
"Bravo, ladies and gentlecolts, BRA-VO!" he declared, then got in Rainbow's face, "How ever did you save the day this time? Blast the beastie with magic necklaces, I presume?" he teleported on Applejack's back, wearing a cowboy outfit, "Where are those little trinkets of yours? You know, the ones you used to send me back to my extremely uncomfortable stone prison?"
Applejack sighed, "Gone."
With a flash, Discord popped back to normal with a gleeful expression, "Gone?" then he looked deviously ponderous, "Gone...?"
"But our friendship remains," Fluttershy interjected, beginning to scold him as he shrinks, "and if YOU want to remain friends, you'll stop thinking whatever it is you're thinking and help us clean up."
Discord disappeared and reappeared again, but back to normal size, wearing a maid outfit, complete with a feather duster, "Fine. But I don't do windows."
With that quip, they all resumed their walk back to Ponyville when Applejack spoke up, "One thing Ah don't get: why'd all this happen NOW?"
"I have NO idea," Discord began, "those seeds I planted should've sprouted up ages ago."
"What did you say!?" Twilight demanded with a scowl.
"Oh, why should I try to explain it when you can see for yourself?" Discord asked, conjuring the potion in his bird claw.
Twilight levitated the bottle to her muzzle and drank from it, causing her eyes to glow white and see another vision.
"Playtime is over for you, Discord!" Past Celestia declared.
Past Discord brought a bag of black seeds and started spreading them around while had a bored expression, "Oh, I doubt that." He plucked one of the seeds as they fell out of the bag and shuddered in the delight when he ate one, "Hungry?" He offered. One seed bounced off each of the three's heads as they maintained their serious demeanor.
Present Discord began to explain, "Well, obviously, things didn't go according to my original plan; my Plunderseeds should've stolen the magic from the Tree of Harmony, and captured Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thousands of moons ago, alas, it seems the Tree had a enough magic to keep the seeds from growing up big and strong...until now, that is."
Twilight shook herself out of the vision while Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy looked like they were trying to put the pieces together, and when they did, they shared a cacophonous, "WHAAAAT!?"
"Tch. Figures." Riku scoffed.
"You realize this is information we could've used HOURS ago!?" Twilight asked.
"And rob you of a valuable lesson about being a princess? What kind of friend do you think I am?" Discord asked, rhetorically, then pinched Twilight, stretched it like elastic, and let go, snapping her skin back into place while she bore an annoyed expression.
Sora suddenly looked mischievous and whispered in Donald's ear, who chuckled sinisterly as they turned to face Riku. Donald cast the same spell on Riku and turned him into a pony, much to his shock; he was a pure white Unicorn with a silver mane and his usual cyan eyes, his Cutie Mark was the same as his Keyblade's token; a black heart with a red outline.
The girls blushed at his new look, Rarity more so, as she uttered, "Oh my..."
Riku went wide-eyed at the girls' reactions "Sora... change me back now."
"But Riku, you look so cute as a pony!" Sora cooed.
Riku became angry at Sora tease, "I'm serious, Sora, change me back now!"
Sora put a hoof to his muzzle, "Hmm, nah."
"SORRRAAAAAA!" Riku roared, barreling towards him.
"Run, Donald!"
The entire group laughed at the display of childishness, even Discord. After the chase finally wore Riku down, Twilight walks up to Sora and says, "Sora...when it comes to things like Roxas and Xion...you don't have to tell me unless you want to. I understand that some things are hard to talk about, even for you."
Sora smiled, "Thanks Twilight."
The two tenderly embraced each other while the girls, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy said, "Awww!" but Discord said, "Bleech!" and Riku responded with, "Oh, get a room, you two."
After the sun and the moon were situated, the group returned to Canterlot for the Summer Sun Celebration. The princesses, Celestia, Luna, and Twilight, who got a new crown, of course, stood before the crowd as the Royal Guard played their fanfare. Among the crowd were Twilight's friends, Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy, who sat on Sora's shoulder.
"Citizens of Equestria," Celestia began, "it is no longer with a heavy heart, but with great joy that I raise the summer sun, for this celebration now represents, not the defeat of Nightmare Moon, but the return of my sister, Princess Luna!"
The crowd cheered loudly at the princess's speech, especially Sora and the others. Luna flew into the air with her horn lit, telekinetically lowering the moon as Celestia did the same, but using her telekinesis to raise the sun, then when the sun and moon were next to each other, Twilight flew up, lighting her horn and creating a flash of magic as the sun rose, making a spectacular display and leaving the crowd in sheer awe. The three princesses returned to the ground Celestia and Luna smiled at Twilight, who smiled back and to the crowd.
"That's my girl." Sora uttered, proudly.
To Be Concluded...
