//------------------------------// // Boast Busters // Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria // by Codex92 //------------------------------// "So, tell me again why I'm your magical test dummy, Twilight?" Sora asked as he stood in the Golden Oak Library, in the home area with Twilight Sparkle and Spike. "Well, you have magical powers, so you must be resistant to some magical spells. Plus, Spike's needed to cross off the different spells I made." Sora looked over at the baby dragon, waving a piece of chalk around as he stood in front of the chalkboard with a list of magical spells, some of them crossed off from some earlier spells cast on the teen. He looked back at Twilight, who had an excited grin on her face. "And, maybe one day, I'd like to see how different your magic spells are compared to Equestria's." "Technically, I can't resist magic. I can take some hits from them when my enemies use them against me, but I'm not one hundred percent resistant." Twilight had pulled out some parchment and a quill, writing down what he just told her. Sora sighed, knowing he was going to be pestered about his magical potential continuously by the unicorn. "Just hit me with the next spell already." "Ok. Now, hold still." Sora did as he was told, remaining standing where he had been since this morning. Twilight's aura charged around her horn as she readied the spell she was going to cast. She then fired a small beam at Sora, aimed at his face, the glowing light disappearing after a few seconds. A second later, Sora's upper lip began growing a bushy mustache, similar in color to his own hair. "Number twenty-five, hair growth spell!" Spike said as he crossed off the twenty-fifth spell. "Yay. That would be useful," Sora said sarcastically, touching the magically enhanced facial hair. "Maybe for someone who's bald, but a mustache? Seriously? It's starting to remind me about that serpent we met in the Everfree Forest with that mustache of his." When he looked up at Twilight, ready to have his new features sheared off, the unicorn blushed slightly, staring at him blankly. "...Twilight?" "Huh?" She quickly shook her head, snapping out of her daze. "What?" "Can you get rid of this thing? I'm not a big fan of facial hair," he said, pointing at his fake stache. "But, I like the mustache..." Twilight looked down at the floor, scuffing her hoof along the wooden floor. "What was that?" Sora asked, unable to hear what the unicorn whispered. "Nothing!" She fired another beam at Sora, but with her frazzled nerves, not only did it dispell the magical mustache, it sent the stallion flying off the ground, making him slam into a nearby bookshelf. He slid down to the floor, a couple books falling down from the shelves and dropping on his head. "Oops. Sorry." "I knew reading was evil, ever since I was little." Another book fell down on his head, making him rub the sore bump he was going to get later. Sora, Twilight, and Spike wandered around Ponyville after taking a small break from the unicorn's magic casting. Spike kept praising the lavender mare and her magical prowess, but she didn't think she was all that great. Sora had no clue why Twilight would bring herself down like that, knowing more magical spells than he could ever learn. His magic may be unique and from another world, but twenty-five different spells without a single mistake on casting them was amazing. She could give Donald a run for his Munny if they ended up in a magical duel. "Look out!" Up ahead, they spotted two colts running up to them, though they failed to stop as they ended up bumping into Sora, toppling over on their backs. One of the colts was a lanky orange unicorn with a green mare, his cutie mark a snail. The others was a shorter, chubby unicorn colt, his color palette similar to the other's, though swapped around, his cutie mark a pair of scissors. Apple Bloom told Sora about these two colts when she got home from school one day, being a couple of the many students in her class that had seen him fight off the Heartless on that rainy day. They were named Snips and Snails, and they were the class goofballs, though more because they aren't the brightest of the bunch. "Hey! It's the key sword stallion!" Snips exclaimed, both colts getting up and bouncing around. "Have you heard there's a new unicorn in town!?" "There's a new visitor?" Sora asked. "I didn't think Pinkie threw a party already." "She's a powerful unicorn wizard!" Snails said as the two colts couldn't contain their excitement. "She's in town square!" The two unicorn colts ran on ahead, leaving the trio to wonder who this unicorn was. "Whoever this unicorn is, I'm pretty sure they're no match for Twilight." "Spike, please. Cut it out," Twilight said. "I'm sure there are other unicorns out there that are far more powerful than me. Even Sora is, and he's not a pony." "I'm more based around physical combat, and I use my magic mostly as an emergency or solve puzzles that require magic in a world," Sora said. "Besides, my best friend Donald's a wizard, and he doesn't know half as much magic as you do." Twilight blushed at the compliment as they headed for town square. They soon saw a crowd of ponies standing before a collapsible stage that was also a caravan. Sora, Twilight, and Spike gently pushed their way to the front of the stage, where they met up with their other friends who were just as curious as the rest of Ponyville. "So, who's this new unicorn?" Spike asked. "Come one! Come all!" a feminine voice announced from behind the blue and starry curtains, which began to rise up as they saw the unicorn Snips and Snails told them about. A light blue unicorn mare, her mane and tail a mix of silver and blue, wearing a purple cloak and wizard's hat patterned with stars all over the two accessories. Sora could see her cutie mark underneath the cloak, a star-tipped wand with a blue crescent moon. "Come and witness the magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie! Witness the Great and Powerful Trixie perform magical feats never witnessed by pony eyes!" Fireworks soon shot out from behind her, the audience already enthralled with whatever she was about to perform. "She must be a traveling magician," Sora pondered. "Though...she just referred to herself in the third person after introducing herself." "Behold, Ponyville, as Trixie will weave a tale that is true and displays Trixie's magnificent magical prowess! For the Great and Powerful Trixie has vanquished an ursa major by the power of her magic alone!" The audience gasped, Snips and Snails having shoved their way up to the front, many of the ponies already interested in hearing the story. "That's impossible," Twilight uttered, Sora's ear perking up as he heard her. "Ursa majors are dangerous...Only Princess Celestia has the power to stop one." Trixie began using her magic to create a visual image of the "true" story of how she vanquished the ursa major. "The ursa major had went on a rampage, the ponies of Hoofington had no means of protecting themselves from the dreaded beast. But, the Great and Powerful Trixie had arrived, hearing the ponies' pleas, and used her magic to banish the ursa back to the Everfree Forest from whence it came!" "Hoofington's nowhere near the Everfree Forest," Sora heard Rainbow mutter to the others. "Her story makes no sense." Trixie had heard her, her spell showing her story disappeared as she leered at the front row. "Does Trixie hear a neighsayer in the crowd? Do you doubt the Great and Powerful Trixie's power!? Do you dare challenge Trixie's magic!?" "We don't!" Snips exclaimed, trying to climb up on the stage to better see the mare. "Yeah! Trixie's the most talented, most magical, and awesomest unicorn in Ponyville!" Snails announced as the two colts boosted Trixie's ego. "No! In Equestria!" Snips added, falling back on his rump. "Yes, yes, it is all true," Trixie said, ignorant of the glares given to her by Rainbow Dash and Applejack, already despising her gloating. "And if none of you believe Trixie, then I challenge anypony here in Ponyville! Anything you can do, I can do better. Who wants to face Trixie first?" "Anything, huh?" Sora asked. Before Rainbow Dash could jump up there to challenge the magician, Sora flapped his wings and hovered before Trixie. "I'll face you, Great and Powerful Trixie." "Well, well, well. A skinny pegasus as Trixie's first challenger?" Trixie questioned as she chuckled. "What exactly do you wish to give the Great and Powerful Trixie that you can do?" "Well, for one, Sora find's Trixie's third-person speaking to get on Sora's nerves very much." The audience laughed as he poked fun at the unicorn's speech, which got her to growl at him. "But that's not really a challenge. But, you did say anything I could do, you could do better, right?" "...Yes. Anything from magic to physical feats, Trixie can outmatch you." Sora grinned as he had a perfect challenge for her. "Ok. Then I challenge you, Trixie...to a sword duel!" Trixe's smug grin turned into a shocked frown, the audience curious to see how this would go. Many of the ponies know about his feats saving Rainbow Dash and the school from the Heartless, but only through the words of the foals. "Not with real swords, though. Just a friendly duel. Anyone got some wooden swords!?" "...T-Trixie has fake swords," the magician said, using her magic to levitate a couple of wooden swords out from behind her stage. "Must be for those tricks when someone jumps in a barrel or box and you 'stab' them through holes, making it look like you're killing them when they're perfectly safe. I love that trick. So suspenseful and scary." Trixie threw the sword at Sora, quickly catching it with his mouth. "Ok, let's make this a ten point match. First to hit their opponent ten times, in any way with their sword, wins the challenge. And to make it fair, I'll allow you to use magic." "Fair?" Trixie questioned. "That is not considered fair! You are giving Trixie a handicap!" "So, you're not all Great and Powerful?" Sora goaded, crouching low as he prepared to duel the mare. "...More like you have only made Trixie prove herself already." Trixie held the sword in her blue aura, already feeling cocky with the advantage to use magic to aid her in this challenge. "Ladies first," Sora said, giving the unicorn the first strike. "Thank you...for letting me win!" Trixie swung her fake weapon Sora with blind fury, easily getting the points she needed to best the pegasus. Unfortunately, the teen was far better than she expected him to be, dodging her quick stabs and parrying them with his own wooden weapon. Trixie stopped her barrage as she witnessed his flexible dodges, the crowd cheering for Sora as he got out of her attack unharmed. As cocky as the teen may be, he knows he has the skills to prove he was an expert at this sort of thing, giving the audience a bow as they applauded. "Thank you, Ponyville! But the show's just getting started!" He turned back to the still shocked magician, twirling his sword in his mouth. "My turn." Trixie blinked, and immediately flinched when she opened her eyes, Sora now standing in front of her. He tapped her on the head with his sword, earning one point. Pinkie in the crowd pulled out a board with two pins on it, Sora's name over one and Trixie's, which was instead named "Ego Boaster Meanie Pants", the party pony placing a slab with the number one on it under Sora's name. Sora grinned, keeping his sword in his mouth, annoying Trixie. She slashed at him, only for him to sidestep out of her strikes, keeping his eyes closed and further agitating her. After another failed strike, Sora parried and poked the mare in the chest three times, the score now 4-0. "Let Trixie hit you!" the magician shouted, swinging wildly as he avoided her and managed to get a couple more light taps on her. "Trixie needs to stop speaking to Sora like Trixie is in a storybook!" Sora countered as he flipped over Trixie. With another couple pokes on her neck and back, landing directly behind her. He then pulled his weapon back and smacked her in the flank with the blunt side of the sword, making her yelp and leap away from the teen with a bright red blush on her cheeks. The crowd laughed at her embarrassment, which only angered Trixie more as the audience had watched her get spanked by the pegasus that challenged her, taking her spotlight and humiliating her in her public. Desperate to at least get one hit one him, the magician shot her sword at him like an arrow. He was distracted by his showboating. She would get one free hit off of him. Her desperation attempt failed as Sora turned to her and flipped backwards, her wooden sword barely touching his belly. Before he landed, he grabbed the wooden hilt with his tail, taking Trixie's tossed weapon and grabbing it with a forehoof, now wielding two weapons. Flapping his wings, he rushed at the unicorn, Trixie flinching as she was about to get struck hard, only to feel both the swords press against her neck. "And that's ten." She opened her eyes, staring at the toothy grin Sora wore on his face. He dropped the swords, victorious as the ponies applauded and cheered for the stallion. "Thank you! Thank you! You've been a wonderful audience!" Out of all the ponies who cheered, Snips and Snails weren't as they expected the Great and Powerful Trixie to win. Trixie, however, was furious. While he was too busy bowing, she tossed Sora off her stage, making him fall to the ground. "Trixie has been tricked! Trixie has been dueling with...a spy! From Princess Celestia's royal guard!" Trixie exclaimed, trying to play off the fact she was bested because of Sora's supposed occupation. "Trixie has been hussled!" Sora sat up, brushing some dirt out of his hair as he looked up at the sore loser of a magician. "Actually, Trixie, you said anything I could do, you could do better. I chose swordplay, and I am really good at it. You claimed you could best me, when everyone in Ponyville knows how good I am, and uhh...What's the score again?" "Ten to zero!" Pinkie exclaimed, holding up the wooden board. "And we do know how good Sora is! He saved Dashie from crashing, stopped evil black thingies, stronger than he looks for being so scrawny!" "And I won against a pony who could do anything better than me. Sorry, Trixie, guess you can't win them all, huh?" As Sora shrugged, Trixie threw one of the wooden swords at him, smacking him in the face with it. "Trixie's show is over! All of you leave!" Trixie disappeared behind the curtains as the stage merged back with the caravan, her show over as some of the ponies were a little disappointed that it ended from her frustrated loss. As the crowd disperesed, Sora rubbed his sore head, picking up the toy sword. "Cool. I got a souvenir." The angry magician poked her head out of her wagon, snatching her sword back and slamming the door to her caravan. "...I lost my souvenir. Aww." "Sora, that was awesome!" Rainbow shouted. "You showed her a thing or two!" "Ah think it would have been more fair if ya went easy on her," Applejack said. "And ya didn't have to show off like that." "Are you kidding, AJ!? He deserves to! I mean, come on, he's helped us find the Elements of Harmony and fights off those Heartless things!" Rainbow slapped the teen on the back. "But he's not as awesome as me. I'm way more awesome." "Uh huh," Sora said, rolling his eyes. "But don't take it out on Trixie. She's a performer. She's kinda supposed to show off and be entertaining...I mean, sure, whatever she says is probably false, but I went up there to entertain her, and also prove her that I'm more than what I appear to be. Besides, if you or Applejack got up there, it wouldn't really help that much if you tried to showboat the showboater." Twilight wilted at Sora's words. With how her friends had reacted to Trixie's gloating and claims of being powerful, she feared they would have done the same to her with her magical feats. Applejack and Rainbow bowed their heads, giving Sora an apologetic look. "Well, that sure was a fun fight, even though Sora only kept getting points," Pinkie said as she bounced next to the teen. "You guys should have a magical duel! That'd be more fun!" "If she does have magical potential, then I think she should duel Twilight. I mean, earlier today, she cast at least twen-" Sora's lips were suddenly sealed shut by a zipper that appeared on his mouth, silencing him. "Ha ha ha ha! Sora! You're so funny!" Twilight said, trying not to sound suspicious. "I mean, me? In a duel? Of magic!? Ha ha! I'm not powerful at all! Just a normal unicorn! Come on, let's head back to the library and get you caught up with how Equestria works! Got a lot of studying to do!" Twilight then dragged Sora by his jacket, confusing the stallion as well as the others. While the unicorn dragged the Keyblade wielder back to the library, Spike hurrying after them, Snips and Snails watched as they tried to figure out a way to help their unicorn idol. "That wasn't fair at all," Snips said. "He chose the wrong challenge when fighting the Great and Powerful Trixie." "Uhh, yeah!" Snails agreed. "We need to find something for the Great and Powerful Trixie to do that he can't...But what, though?" "Hmmm...Wait...I think I got an idea," Snips said as he pulled his lanky friend's head down to his height, whispering his plan. "Ohhhhhhh. Yeah! Yeah! That'll work!" The two unicorn colts ran off somewhere to execute their plan to bring Trixie back in the spotlight. Sora sat in a chair, staring blankly at Twilight as she began setting up the many different books on Equestria she was able to find in the library. Books on the world's history, important figures of the past, magic spells, geographical locations, and many other things. And while he waited for her to finally stop, he couldn't voice out any complaints with her "zip-lip" spell, as he calls it, still attached on his mouth. The unicorn finally gathered all the unnecessary books she grabbed for his "study session". "Ok, I think that's about everything!" Twilight said as she sat in front of the temporarily mute teen, holding one of the books from the several stacks she had next to her. "Now, let's talk about the history of Equestria." She smiled, acting oblivious as she opened the book up to a random chapter. "How about we start with-" "Twilight, I think Sora has something to say," Spike said, both males finding her behavior suspicious. "What are you talking about?" Twilight asked. "Just take off spell number seven on him." The unicorn winced, reluctantly freeing Sora from his silence, unzipping his lips as it disappeared. "You may number those things, but I'm gonna call that the 'lip-zip'." Sora got up from his seat and gently took the book away from Twilight. "Why did you cut me off earlier?" "I-I don't know what you mean." Twilight tried to grab another book, but Sora stopped her from avoiding the subject. "Yes you do. You stopped me from telling the others how good you are with your magic." Twilight's ears drooped, looking away from the pegasus. "Why don't you want them to know? You're amazing!...Even though you used one of those spells on me to shut me up." "...I don't want to be a showoff..." Tears welled up in Twilight's eyes, still looking away from Sora. "I don't want our friends to hate me...Trixie tried to prove she was better than everypony else, and nopony liked her..." Twilight sniffled, her tears starting to roll down her cheeks. Sora now realized why she was acting so strangely. She was afraid of losing her best friends because she believed that if she showed any of her magical spells to them, she would immediately be hated by them. She was Celestia's personal student, intelligent and quite powerful, but from her lack of making any friends in her youth, she never knew about what expectations her friends were supposed to make. And after seeing how freaked out she was when the girls pestered her over the Gala tickets, she was clueless to how they don't care about what she does as long as she didn't behave like Trixie. He quickly pulled the unicorn into his forelegs, hugging her tightly and stopping her from getting too upset. "Twilight, no one's gonna think you're a showoff." Sora didn't notice the growing blush on Twilight's face while he hugged her. "Just because you know a lot of magic spells, it doesn't mean that when you show them to anyone else doesn't mean they'll hate you. Trixie isn't liked because she kept bragging about how good she was, saying she's better than anyone else. You saw how I proved her wrong when she clearly said I couldn't beat her at what I'm good at." "Sora's right, Twilight," Spike said as Sora let go, the unicorn keeping her blushing face out of his sight, though she was listening to him. "You could have easily one-upped Trixie with the magic you knew. If the others tried to challenge her, and they failed, you would be using your magic to defend them and prove to her you were the better unicorn." "Exactly!" Sora agreed. "Your friends aren't going to abandon you that quickly. I mean, I was your test dummy for those spells, and I'm one of your friends. Do I hate you for learning a new spell you wanted to try out?" "...N-No..." Twilight slowly looked up at him, her cheeks glowing more as she looked in his eyes. "...No, you don't." "Right." Sora dug through his pouch and pulled out an Elven Bandanna, one of many different kinds of accessories the teen had made in the past as a bit of extra defense for when he fights the Heartless. He dried away Twilight's tears with it, hating to see someone with eyes bigger than their head cry. "Your friends wouldn't even be considered friends if they don't care about what you do. That's why I make hundreds of them." Twilight couldn't help but giggle, feeling a little better with his strong wisdom of friendship over her slowly growing knowledge. "You're so weird." "And don't you forget it." Sora placed the old bandanna in the unicorn's hoof. "If you ever feel like you need to talk to someone about anything, you can come to me. Don't bottle your feelings, otherwise it'll just get worse." He then pointed his hoof at his head, mimicking something an enemy-turned-friend does and says. "Got it memorized?" "Mhmm. I got it," she said, nodding her head. "Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I better head back to Sweet Apple Acres and get started on the chores you dragged me away from." Sora saluted to the mare, patted Spike on the head, and made his way back to the farm to help Applejack before he got into trouble for slacking off. "Well, it's a good thing you got somepony else who's able to keep you in check, huh, Twilight?" Spike asked, but received no answer from the unicorn. The baby dragon turned to look at her, staring at the doorway, clutching the bandanna to her chest. Her cheeks blushed heavily, but Spike had no clue if the mare was sick with her face being so red. "Uhh, Twilight? You ok?" "I think I'm gonna...study," Twilight mumbled grabbing a random book, not from the pile she left behind, and headed upstairs to her room. "She's been acting so weird ever since they got back after finding the Elements of Harmony." Spike sighed as he began to put the books back up on the shelves. It was late in the evening as many ponies were getting ready for bed. Trixie, in her caravan, was still fuming, her humiliating defeat against Sora lingering in her mind. She stared at the wooden swords they used, growling angrily. "I can't believe he actually beat me...Some scrawny pegasus colt, somehow able to move faster than I can blink!" Trixie shoved the swords into the holes of a box for one of her tricks, one that Sora had mentioned before their duel. "I can't even show my face in this town after he slapped my hindquarters like that, in front of all those ponies! Toying around with me like a stupid, ignorant foal." Before she could get to bed, she heard some kind of commotion outside, along with an annoying thud that felt like several miniature quakes. Someone began knocking on the door to her caravan, groaning in annoyance at the insane ponies that want to disturb someone this late at night. She opened the door, finding the two unicorn colts who had admired her in some kind of panic, though they were also excited. "Oh Great and Powerful Trixie!" Snips said. "You must help us!" "Yeah! We got a big problem!" Snails added. "Really big!" "Do you two have any idea what time it-" Suddenly, a very large paw stomped down in her line of sight, the fur blue and filled with stars, almost like whatever the creature was came from the night sky itself. "-...is?" She slowly looked up and stared at the menacing red eyes of a large bear, the dangerous beast growling as it bared its fangs. "...U-U-U-Ursa m-m-major! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!" Trixie fled, Snips and Snails following after her, the giant ursa slamming its paw down on the magicians's caravan, shattering it to pieces. As they ran close to the Golden Oak Library, Twilight opened up the window to her balcony, wondering what the noise was. She gasped when she saw the living constellation pass by, chasing after Trixie, Snips, and Snails. "Oh no. I need to get Sora!" Twilight built up magic in her horn, attempting to teleport herself to the farm to get Sora quickly and return back to the center of town. As soon as stored enough, she cast the spell, successfully appearing in front of the farmhouse. "Sora!" Twilight knocked on the door, hearing Winona barking at the sudden intruder in the middle of the night. "Sora! Applejack! Somepony!" Sora opened the door, almost bumping into the lavender unicorn, the rest of the Apple family slowly stirring awake as the pegasus tried to keep Winona from leaving the house. "Twilight, what's going on!?" "No time to explain!" Twilight touched Sora with her hoof and teleported the both of them to the square. As soon as they had arrived, the teen felt delirious, having felt his body somehow turn inside out and upside down while going through the process of Equestria's style of teleportation. "Ooooook...I have a strong stomach, but warn me next time you do that." Sora shook his head, the nausea finally going away as he looked around Ponyville. "So, what exactly is it that-" They soon heard a scream as Trixie ran past them, Snips and Snails running as well in a panic, and the one thing that made the teen's eyes widen in shock was a giant bear made of stars stomp past them. "...Nevermind. I see why you needed me...What is that, exactly?" "It's an ursa minor," Twilight said. "...'Minor'?" Sora gently tapped the unicorn's head, pressing his ear against her head. "Did you put your brain in this evening? Because that looks more major than minor." "Sora, just help them!" Twilight shouted, slightly annoyed at the stallion's goofiness in a situation like this. "I think I know how to stop it, but I need you to buy me some time!" "Can do!" Sora flew off and chased after the ursa. While being chased, Trixie, Snips, and Snails were cornered as the giant, starry bear growled at them. The two colts pushed the magician forward, looking back at them like they were insane. "You can do it, Great and Powerful Trixie!" Snails cheered. "Yeah! Show Sora you can take down an ursa major better than he can take out those black monsters!" Snips added, the mention of black monsters confusing the mare. "What!? You idiots brought that ursa major here to see me vanquish it!?" The two colts nodded in excitement. "...Are you two daft!? I'm an entertainer, not a warrior! I've never beaten an ursa major! Nopony has!" "B-But you said in your story-" Snips was immediately interrupted, scared out of his mind as the ursa roared at them, sending the unicorns tumbling into the wall of a building. "It was all just a story to gain your attention! It was just for entertainment purposes, and you two dunces have gotten all of us killed!" The ursa lunged at them, all three ponies screaming in terror as they were about to get eaten. Sora quickly flew in, summoning his Keyblade, holding it vertically and shoved it in the bear's mouth, blocking its jaws from snapping down on them. He clung onto his weapon tightly as the living constellation shook its head, trying to get rid of the obstructing blade keeping its jaws open. "I am so glad you don't have three heads! Or are a dog! Or both!" While clinging onto his weapon and avoiding the ursa's paws the tried to swipe him off, Sora spotted Twilight behind the enraged bear, her horn glowing brightly. "Twilight, anytime you feel like helping! I can't distract him for much longer!" Luckily, he didn't have to distract the ursa for long as they began to hear music being played from the cattails growing in Ponyville Park's lake. The music was soothing and it began to calm the ursa. Ceasing its struggles, Sora dismissed his Keyblade, letting its jaws close as he flew away, watching Twilight's aura go crazy as she went all out on the spells she was casting. Everyone who had heard the bear's rampage saw the unicorn work her magic, lifting the tired, heavy ursa with levitation. Sora heard something metallic being lifted up in the distance, Twilight "borrowing" the water tower nearby and hovering it over to a large barn, not from Sweet Apple Acres. He then heard surprised mooing from the barn as it passed through, being filled to the brim with milk as it came out the other side. She gave the makeshift bottle to the ursa, which instinctively took it and began sucking out the milk, almost like it was a baby. After another exerting grunt from Twilight, the living constellation was levitated over the town and toward the Everfree Forest, where Sora could faintly see it disappear through the trees and into a cave. With the ursa now back in its den, Twilight stopped her spells, heavily exhausted, her hooves dug deep into the earth from the powerful aura she had released. Her legs gave out as she collapsed, Sora quickly swooping in and catching her before she hit the ground. The unicorn slowly opened her eyes, feeling a little groggy. "How'd I do?" she asked. "That...was pretty cool." Sora dug through his pouch and pulled out a bottle filled with blue liquid. "This should give you some of your magic back. At least, I hope it does." Expecting to drink the potion, she watched as Sora tossed it up in the air, disappearing above him as the blue energy appeared around her. The liquid, having turned into powder, was absorbed into her body, regenerating a little of her mana, keeping her from passing out. "...Wow..." As fascinated as she was, wanting to know more about Sora's otherworldly magic and this strange potion he gave her, they heard all of Ponyville cheering for the two, dealing with the threat that nearly destroyed their home. Trixie was in utter shock, her jaw dropped as she saw how powerful Twilight was. "Impossible...She actually beat an ursa major?" While Twilight's friends crowded around her and Sora, Trixie had to know how somepony like her beat something so dangerous. "How did you do that!? Nopony can stop an ursa major!" "That wasn't an ursa major. It was an ursa minor. A baby." That was a shock to everyone, especially Trixie. "Seemed like somepony woke it up and made it go on a rampage because it was cranky." Snips and Snails gave each other a worried look, slowly slinking back into the crowd. Trixie broke out of her dumbfounded daze, looking around at everyone. "...W-Well, you and him may have stopped that ursa minor, but you have not bested an ursa major like I have!" Sora just sighed and shook his head as Trixie still wanted to prove she was better, even after getting beaten by Sora in a duel and running for her life from the ursa minor. "You have not seen the last of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" The unicorn stomped her hooves to the ground as a cloud of smoke appeared around her. As it cleared, she was able to be seen running out of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash was about to fly after her, only for Sora to stomp on the pegasus's tail with his hoof. "Just let her go. She's not hurting anyone." From his peripherals, he spotted the two colts that praised Trixie slowly backing away from the crowd. He could see the guilty look on their faces, being the true culprits bringing the ursa to Ponyville. "Snips! Snails! Get over here!" The colts flinched, quickly approached the teen as everyone knew they were in a lot of trouble. "Y-Yes, S-Sora?" "You two brought the ursa minor here to Ponyville so you could see Trixie stop it, right?" he asked, the colts both nodding their heads. "Well, hopefully you two will learn not to believe every single story you hear. You're lucky Twilight and I took care of the ursa with no casualties and little collateral damage." "We're sorry," Snails said. "Yeah. Sorry," Snips said. "Hmm..." Sora crossed his forehooves and closed his eyes in thought. He needed to think of a good punishment for these two, though since they were just kids, he didn't want to get too severe. "...Alright. I think a punishment is in order. Tomorrow morning, you're going to be cleaning up the mess the ursa left behind. I'll be watching you two, so don't try to slack off." "Yes, sir," they both said, understanding what they did was wrong. "Good. Now, head home. Get to bed. And meet me in front of town square at dawn." The two colts groaned, not wanting to wake up so early. "No complaining or I'll have you run laps around Ponyville!" After knowing the dangerously cranky ursa minor was now safely back home, everyone headed back for their homes to finally get some sleep. Sora escorted Twilight back to the library, still feeling a little tired after using so much magical power to do all those spells to lull the bear back to sleep. "Sora, what was that potion you gave me?" Twilight asked. "It's an ether. I sometimes use those in case I run out of magic myself, but I usually wait until my mana recharges itself." They soon arrived at the library, Spike thankfully haven't been woken up by the stomping quakes of the rampaging ursa. "Well, at least another eventful evening has passed. And I told you the others wouldn't shut you out after saving Ponyville with your powerful magic." "You're right...I'm still not used to how friendship is supposed to be," Twilight said, looking down at the ground. "I mean, there weren't any books that helped me out that much in the library." "You don't need a book to tell you how to make friends," Sora chuckled, patting Twilight's shoulder. "It comes naturally. You just need a push in the right direction, learn a little from any small mistakes, but don't try to make everything in a relationship perfect. I mean, if we were all the same-" Sora messed with his spiky mane, slicking it back to make it look like it was straight from the front, staring at the unicorn with a bored look. "-then we would look and sound like this. Dull. Boring boring, droll. Humbug and blasphemy." Twilight couldn't help but laugh at the way he talked and looked. "You are the weirdest stallion I've ever met." Sora gave her his signature toothy grin, his hair fixed back to his messy, spiky style. "...I'm really glad you came to this world. And...thanks...for being there for me." "Anytime, Twilight," he said. "And remember. You need to talk, just come and find me. I'm all ears." Sora wiggled his equine ears, emphasizing his point, making Twilight giggle again. "I'd better get some rest. Gotta wake up bright and early for those two colts. Have a good night, Twi." "You too." Sora headed back to Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight watching him leave until he was out of sight. Sighing, the lavender mare headed upstairs and entered her room. Spike was fast asleep, snoring away in his little bed, a pretty heavy sleeper. She was surprised he didn't wake up when the ursa came into town, but she dismissed it as she crawled into her bed. Tucking herself in, she looked over at her side table, where the book she had taken earlier and the bandanna Sora gave her rested. The book was titled "How to Tell Your Crush has a Crush on You". She just randomly picked it up while lost in a daze, not even paying attention to what the words were on the pages. She levitated the red and copper cloth, holding it close to her. The fabric was soft, made out of some unknown material that was comfortable. Her heart raced as her cheeks turned pink, slowly succumbing to her exhaustion and fell asleep, her hoof keeping the bandanna against her heart.