//------------------------------// // Winter Surprises // Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria // by Codex92 //------------------------------// After the events of Nightmare Night, things have gone back to being relatively normal in Ponyville. The next couple months went by, some days just being a typical normal day, others with Heartless trying to attack the town, only to be stopped by Sora and Kairi. Some of the oddest of days were the craziest in the Keyblade wielder's opinion. One of them involved Apple Bloom, always being desperate to earn her cutie mark, made a potion out of a plant known as Heart's Desire, giving her what her heart desired by giving her a cutie mark. Only, the potion got out of control as it began constantly giving her cutie marks all over her body, giving her the talents that came with it. This little epidemic, though it wasn't at all contagious, was known as the Cutie Pox, the young Apple filly forced to do all those talents, even though it seemed hilarious at first when he saw her tap dancing in her room, speaking French, lifting weights with her tail, just about everything. Thankfully it stopped when Zecora brought some seeds that are from a special flower that can cure anything when someone, Apple Bloom, told the truth about how she caught the Cutie Pox. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to learn her lesson that much, going back to hunting for her cutie mark with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. They all celebrated Twilight's birthday a week after the Cutie Pox incident, though during that time, Rarity was up in Canterlot gathering supplies she needed to make her newest lines, and Twilight's birthday dress. Since the fashionista might not be back in time, they decided to move the party up to the castle, where Rarity was staying during that time. At first, she was a bit shocked and fainted when they showed up, and she wore a fancy dress, almost as if she was going to go out somewhere. During the party later that evening, Twilight wore her new dress, which was nothing more than a plain article of clothing, Sora had noticed Rarity going between the birthday mare's party to a formal one out in the garden. It turned out, during her stay in Canterlot, she had been hanging out with the elite nobles, mostly spending her time being in their company than making Twilight's dress. Out of all of the stuck up stiffs after crashing their garden party, only one of them was actually likable to the teen, a white unicorn stallion by the name of Fancy Pants, and ironically, he wore no pants. The rest of the nobles seemed to be more like kiss-ups, agreeing with anything the richer noble says, even after showing their disdain for the uncouth ponies that invaded their party. A couple weeks later, there was a point where Rainbow Dash began to get on the others' nerves when she let her ego get the best of her. After doing a few good deeds, saving some ponies from unfortunate circumstances, her heroics and the praise she received kept inflating her ego, making her a major nuisance as she acted like a famous celebrity getting too caught up in the fame. The rest of the group had formed a plan to teach Rainbow a little lesson on humility, Rarity creating a blue and purple outfit for Sora to disguise himself as a mysterious hero who would help those in trouble while staying humble and leaving as soon as his heroic efforts were done. Using Pinkie Pie's odd Pinkie Sense, which were strange twitches and movements the earth pony has that tells different things that may happen, Sora not questioning how it works and leaving it as a Pinkie Pie thing, he was able to reach the unfortunate accidents and save the ponies caught in them. Rainbow Dash began to get furious and grew desperate to try and be heroic, and when Sora, known as the Stallion of Mystery in his disguise, was given a celebratory parade for his heroism, she chased him down and unveiled his mask, shocked to see him as the Stallion of Mystery. How she never even realized it was him, while he clearly used a black Keyblade, called the Oblivion Keyblade, to help him slash through the collapsing construction site, he will never know. Then, just a week later, it was a disaster of a day when Spike caused some trouble in Ponyville. The day before, it was the baby dragon's birthday, and it was his first birthday celebrated in the town, where he admitted all he ever got for his previous birthdays were books from Twilight. The next day, however, he caught some kind of massive growth spurt, along with a serious case of greed as he had begun hoarding a bunch of random stuff. Spike wasn't himself at that point, only getting his greedy claws on anything that caught his attention, that also included a dust bunny under furniture. He didn't care if it was valuable or not, only wanting to fuel his insatiable appetite to take everything. He went from barely reaching the adult ponies' necks to a gargantuan behemoth of a dragon. He definitely rivaled Maleficent's dragon form in height, able to crush the evil witch with a simple stomp. Sora tried to stop him, but the greed made him unstoppable and indestructable. Luckily, he had kidnapped Rarity and turned back to normal after staring at a red gem Spike had actually grown for his birthday to snack on, called a Fire Ruby, that was in a necklace on the white unicorn's neck. He gave the gem to her out of selflessness, only it seemed more like Rarity had flirted her way to getting it, and remembering that moment turned him back to his tiny size. Sora quickly caught them before they hit the ground, though there was a lot of collateral damage from the dragon's rampage. Ponyville was quickly rebuilt, and today was the first day of winter, snow slowly floating down from the clouds above early in the morning by the weather team. As soon as he felt the cold chill in his room at Sweet Apple Acres, Sora sat up in his bed and looked out his window, watching the snow fall along the now bare trees in the orchard. Leaping out of bed, he ran up to the calendar he had bought a month ago, the start of winter beginning on December 1st in Equestria. On the 25th, written in big, bold letters in the block was the word "Christmas", the teen's other favorite holiday. In another week and a half was Equestria's equivalent of the winter holiday was Hearth's Warming, where everyone was invited up to Canterlot to not only see the play of the historical event, but to also play a part in the play. Grabbing a red marker, Sora marked a big "X" on the first day, counting down the days remaining until Christmas. "It's finally winter!" he cheered, grabbing a black scarf Rarity had made for him hanging over his mirror, wrapping it around his neck. It was in the same design as his jacket, though it wasn't needed since his clothing was able to protect him from the elements when he was in the Land of Dragons as he and his friends were up on the frigid mountain with the army they helped in stopping Shan Yu. "And Christmas is right around the corner! I cannot wait to show the others about this amazing holiday, especially all the kids! I hope Santa can make it to Equestria...Oh, who am I kidding!? Santa lives in Halloween Town!...Or, Christmas Town...Hmmm...Maybe we should rename that world Holiday Central. "Oh well. Time for the first day of winter fun! If there's enough snow, I'm gonna get the Crusaders into a massive snowball war." With his scarf matching his clothing wrapped snuggly around his neck, Sora skipped down the steps to greet the rest of the Apple family. He reached the kitchen, expecting the Apple siblings eating breakfast already, but the only one present was Granny Smith. The elder mare was busy making some apple soup in a big pot on the stove. "Morning, Granny Smith! No apple breakfast this morning?" "Just some good ol' fashioned soup," the senior Apple said. "Ah know when the flu season's comin' round, and it sounded like mah grandfoals caught a nasty cold." "Wait, they're sick?" Sora asked. "Winter just started." "That bug spreads around fast. Soup's just about done. Can ya help me give them some hot soup and a cold glass of apple juice, deary?" Sora was a little disappointed to know his boss and her siblings were sick, but he nodded and brought out three trays, three bowls for the soup with three spoons, and three tall glasses for the juice. He was given a mask from the older mare, not wanting to let anyone else get sick around her home. He put it on to protect himself from the germs of flu bug. After pouring the soup and full glasses of apple juice, Sora balanced the trays on his head and wings, heading upstairs to give the Apple siblings their warm meals. Big Macintosh's room was first, the ill stallion sleeping off his sickness, hearing him sniffling as he slept. Not wanting to disturb him, he placed the tray down on the red stallion's side table, but before he left, he spotted Twilight's doll, Smarty Pants, at the foot of his bed. "Huh...So that's where Twilight's doll went to," Sora whispered to himself. "Why does he have it?" After a few seconds of pondering, the pegasus shrugged his shoulders and left the room. He left Applejack's tray in her room, the farm mare also fast asleep, seeing a large amount of used tissues next to her bed. Sora soon entered Apple Bloom's room, hearing her coughing from outside her bedroom door. As he walked inside, the filly was already awake, probably by her flu waking her up. Her cheeks were flushed red, blowing her nose into a tissue. She looked really miserable, knowing that no one wants to get sick, especially on a snow day. "Mornin', Sora," Apple Bloom said, her stuffy nose making her sound nasally. "Morning. Granny's made you guys some soup." The teen rested the tray on the filly's side table, feeling bad for the sick pony. "Kinda sucks you got sick. I was hoping we could go out and wait for a decent amount of snow to cover the ground and have a big snowball fight with the others." "Me too. Ah hate bein' sick." The filly sneezed, sniffling heavily as she wiped her nose with a clean tissue. "Of all the days to get sick when it's startin' to snow." "Sorry, Apple Bloom. Just get some bed rest, eat that soup, and drink plenty of liquids." Apple Bloom grabbed her bowl of soup and began eating the warm broth. "Hope you feel better. I just hope you won't get too jealous if I take your fun when Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle have a snow war against me." "Throw a big snowball at Scootaloo for me," she said, her giggling turning to coughing, groaning in annoyance from her flu. Sora left Apple Bloom's room and headed back downstairs. "I hope no one else got sick too. That would really be terrible if everyone was ill on the first day of winter." He took off the face mask and tossed it in the trash, heading outside in the chilly winter air to greet the others. The snow fell gently all across Ponyville, slowly littering the ground with powdery whiteness. While Sora walked along the slightly covered dirt pathways, the teen stuck his tongue out to catch some of the snowflakes on his tongue. He walked down to Rarity's boutique, wondering if Sweetie Belle would be up for a snowball fight. She could be a challenge since her coat could blend in with the piles of snow, assuming her swirly pink and light fuchsia mane didn't give her away. The store was open today, the fashionista selling her winter fashion line for those who need a bit more warmth that a pony's fur couldn't match. The Keyblade wielder walked inside, shaking off some snow that got in his hair, inspecting all the winter garments on display. "Hey, Rarity!? You and Sweetie Belle home!?" "Don't come any closer to the stairway, darling!" Rarity called out from upstairs. She came down the steps, wearing a face mask, obviously aware of the sudden flu bug. "Goodness. Of all the worst times for winter to start up." "You're sick too, Rarity?" the pegasus asked. "No, though I wish not to get sick. It's Sweetie Belle. She must have gotten ill last night, and it's showing now." They heard a squeaky sneeze come from upstairs, the sound either coming from a large mouse or a little filly. "I just gave her some medicine. She has it pretty badly." "Aww man," Sora whined. "Apple Bloom's sick too. I'm guessing Scootaloo's also sick, and maybe all of Ponyville is too. Some first day of winter this turned out to be." He pouted, falling on his stomach as he sneered at the the wall. "Too bad my healing magic only heals injuries. Not viruses or sickness." "Well, you'd better keep one of these on." Rarity levitated another face mask and put it over Sora's face, the teen rolling his eyes in annoyance. "You don't want to get sick either, right?" "I haven't gotten sick in years. I'm perfectly healthy." The teen tried to take off the mask, only for the white unicorn to pull his hooves back down to the ground. "Even with perfect health, you can still get sick. If Kairi weren't here and Heartless attacked while you were bedridden, who would save us?" He was about to retort, but he couldn't think of an answer. If he was out of commission, whether he was sick or suffering from a serious injury, he wouldn't be able to save anyone. "I thought so. Now, keep that on and stay warm." "Fine, 'mom'. I won't get sick." With the disappointment of having most of Ponyville sick with the massive bug flying around, Sora left the boutique and wandered about the town. "I hope everyone else didn't get sick." Far off in the universe, in the grand Disney Castle, the palace and the town overlooked by it have winter decorations set up for the Christmas season. Enchanted broomsticks were going about the halls, either cleaning the many rooms and corridors or setting up decorations for the holiday. Inside of the study of the castle, a small black mouse sat in a chair as he looked over some documents. His ears were big and round, wearing a red and black jacket and a pair of red shorts, along with a pair of big yellow shoes. He had just finished signing his name, King Mickey Mouse, on one of the important documents, a quill in his white gloved hand. "Oh boy. Doesn't seem like the Heartless are going to stop attacking anytime soon," he said to himself as he looked over a recent letter he had gotten from Riku, explaining the details of some of the worlds being randomly attacked by the dark monsters. "Too bad I'm too caught up in my own duties as king, especially after we had figured out what was missing in Jiminy's first journal..." He looked away from the royal papers in front of him and at the cards resting nearby, eager to make Christmas cards for his friends and queen. "I think I can afford a little break." Before he could reach out to the blank cards, the doors to his study opened as a tall anthropomorphic dog wearing armor and a duck wearing a wizard cloak and hat walked in, both standing at attention to the mouse. "Your Majesty, you summoned us?" "Donald, Goofy, good to see you," the king greeted, leaping off his seat. "Everything going alright in the town?" "Yes, sir!" Goofy said. "Decorations are all being set up, and everyone in town is all ready for Christmas in the next few weeks!" "And the castle is nearly finished," Donald added. "Excellent. And, you two can relax, you know. We're friends. You don't need to address me as your king all the time." The loyal mage and knight hesitated, but they did relax their stances a little. "You two heard anything from the outside worlds?" "No. Not really," Donald said. "We haven't even heard anything from Sora in the last few months." "Maybe he's been busy training?" Goofy questioned, tapping his gloved finger to his chin. "He was a little out of it after...well, you know." "I had actually gotten word from Master Yen Sid about Sora's whereabouts." Donald and Goofy looked at their king, eager to know what's happened to their friend. "He's been sent on a mission to continue his training at the end of the universe. Even from our world, it's a pretty long flight to reach where he is." "Gawrsh. I hope he's doing ok on his own." Both the mage and knight were really worried about Sora. They knew he was strong enough to take care of himself in a dangerous situation, but they couldn't help but fear for his safety sometimes after all he's been through. "Maybe we should visit him some time. That would be a good surprise Christmas present for him." "But where is he exactly?" Donald asked. "Did Master Yen Sid say where he was?" "I think he told me about the world Sora's in now, though he didn't really give that much information about it. It's understandable if it's supposed to be hidden, saying it was a land that was once untouched by the darkness for a thousand years. At least, until a few months ago when Sora made it there." Mickey looked around his study, pulling out a charted map of the universe. Donald and Goofy approached their king's desk as he rolled out the large map, watching him trail a finger around each of the stars. He finally found the right one from the coordinates Yen Sid had given his pupil. "There it is. Right here on the edge of the cosmos." "Whoa. That's far for a long trip," Donald commented as he calculated the distance between their world and the one Sora's in right now. "If he began from Master Yen Sid's tower...It would have taken nearly a week with occasional breaks to keep a Gummi ship from overheating." "But Donald, we don't have that many vacation days," Goofy said. "We would have to turn around as soon as we reached it." "That won't be a problem." As his loyal friends stared at Mickey in confusion, the king walked over to one of the bookshelves. Pushing a certain set of books deeper on the shelves, part of the shelf they rested in sank down, revealing blue shard shaped like a star with a smaller green one in the center, a circle surrounding that star inside the shard, a piece of it missing and replaced by the green energy, which replaced the missing point as a green lightning bolt. Mickey grabbed the special shard, holding it out to Donald and Goofy. "You might be able to reach that world with this." "Is that the Star Shard?" Donald asked. "Where did you get it, Your Majesty?" "After...'borrowing' it from Master Yen Sid, I gave it back to him. But, after a few years of maturing as a Keyblade Master, I began studying the properties of the Star Shard to figure out how it really worked," Mickey explained. "So, he gave this back to me to learn how to travel to different worlds without jumping into one at random. I didn't want to risk a test run after discovering how it works, but now I understand how to perfectly travel using this. All you have to do is let your heart guide you to where you want to go, more specifically, to your close friends. Not where you actually want to go to." "Really?" Donald took the Star Shard, looking at it closely. Being the kingdom's head mage in the castle, he had heard about this mystical gem from Mickey before, even reading about it in some books pertaining magical artifacts. "So, if we think about Sora, we'll be able to travel to the world he's in?" "Exactly. And, I think you two should go and see Sora, while also giving you two your winter vacation a bit early." Donald squawked in shock as both he and Goofy stared at their king with excitement. "I suggest you start your vacation now. But, before you two leave, I want you to give Sora an early Christmas card." Mickey headed over to his desk and grabbed one of the empty cards. Letting it rest horizontally on the desk, he cracked his knuckles together, flexing his fingers as he was preparing himself to use some non-Keyblade magic he had learned from Yen Sid under his tutelage. His hands began glowing as he channeled magical energy, thrusting his palms forward and sending a flurry of stars over the blank card. Within minutes, the emptiness of the folded paper began to turn into a holiday card, a pine tree littered with ornaments in the center with presents circling the festive plant, silhouetted images of Mickey's, Donald's, and Goofy's heads above the tree in a starry sky as snow floated down in the background. The card opened up on its own as more magic filled out the card, creating more festive themes on the inside, along with a small message from Mickey, wishing Sora a merry Christmas. After it was fully complete, the king ceased his magic, the sparkling stars disappearing into thin air. He picked up the card and handed it to Goofy, seeing how awestruck Donald was with Mickey's natural magical talent. "Gawrsh, King Mickey. Are you sure you want us to leave so early?" Goofy asked, seeming unsure leaving their kingdom unprotected. "I think I can handle everything in both your places. Plus, the Cornerstone of Light downstairs will keep the world safe from Heartless." Donald and Goofy looked at each other, then back at Mickey. "Go on and get into your traveling attire and have fun. I'm sure Sora will be glad to be around you two again." "Y-Yes, Your Majesty!" Donald said. "We'll be taking our leave now! Come on, Goofy!" "Right behind ya, Donald!" The knight and mage laughed with joy as they ran out of the study to change their clothing, excited to see Sora again. With Mickey alone back in his study, he looked down at his hands, clenching his fists. "It's been a long while since I've used my own magic...I should probably brush back up on it, and make some good cards for the others." He looked back at the desk, staring at a picture of himself and his queen in their royal attire. "And a romantic one for Minnie." Sora leered at the sky as he laid lazily in the park, a thin blanket of snow layered around him. He had gone everywhere in Ponyville to see if everyone else was up for some fun in the snow, but a huge majority of the town seemed to have caught the flu bug. While heading to Sugarcube Corner for some breakfast muffins, he could hear Pinkie Pie sneezing from upstairs, while also hearing what sounded like a party noise blower going off every few seconds. Rainbow Dash was fine, though she had a lot of weather duties to attend to for the later days of snowfall in the future. Fluttershy was healthy, though she was busy taking care of her non-hibernating animal friends with their own colds. Even Kairi was sick when he visited her in her Gummi ship, the pink unicorn an utter mess, unable to move from her bunk. He couldn't even spend the first day of winter with his girlfriend because of this sudden epidemic. He gave up as soon as he arrived in the park, not seeing many ponies out and about, not even any foals. There were a few pegasi flying around, but they were mostly part of the weather team, checking on the clouds that were sprinkling snow down beneath them. Sora subconsciously moved his legs up and down along the ground, boringly making a pony snow angel until he sat up. He brushed off the snow that built up on him and stood up, trdging blindly around the park in irritation. "This day has just been absolutely boring," the teen grumbled. "Strange how a bug could fly around one place like a plague, before the worst of winter actually comes around...I could see any of the nearby worlds around Equestria, but there weren't any other worlds around that could only be reached in about an hour. Wish Donald and Goofy were here." Up in the sky, a white light moved erratically down into Equestria's atmosphere. The light exploded and made two figures appear above the clouds from the Star Shard, Donald and Goofy transformed to fit in with the world. Donald was a small griffon, though his body was all white like his actual feathers, the tips of his wings tinged the same color of blue his traveling hat and jacket, though his face had retained his duck bill. Goofy had turned into a diamond dog, a bit taller and lankier than an average one, wearing his orange travel hat on his head and a green turtleneck sweater, a black combat vest resting over his sweater, his face remaining the same. The two were a little delirious after landing, seeing stars blinding their eyes. "D-Did we make it?" Goofy asked. "I hope so," Donald moaned, feeling his stomach lurch from the erratic movement the Star Shard had made while traveling through the universe. He shook his head, looking over at his friend and battle partner, noticing the odd change the both of them had. He looked down, now realizing they were standing on a cloud. "Uhhh...Why are we standing on clouds?" "Huh?" Goofy looked down, his feet only able to feel air through the fluffy cloud. "...Uh oh." He fell through the crowd and yelled as he plummeted to the ground, Donald surprisingly able to stand on a mass of condensed water vapor. Down below, Sora's ears perked up as he heard a familiar voice above him screaming, getting louder and louder as it got closer to him. He looked up in confusion, only to suddenly have something slam down him hard. Both he and Goofy groaned in pain, Sora more as he felt his nearly body was nearly flattened into the snowy ground. "Urgh...Why me?" Sora questioned the forces of nature, as if his life ever since coming to Equestria wanted him to get crushed by someone or something on a daily basis. Donald hovered down, flying coming natural to him after he turned into a tropical bird in the Pride Lands. As he landed, he helped Goofy up off of the unfortunate spikey haired stallion beneath him. "Sorry about that crash landing, sir," Goofy apologized, rubbing his sore back. "I get enough pain from Rainbow Dash crashing into me. Now I've got other pegasi wanting to make me a permanent part of the earth." Sora slowly got up, cracking his back painfully. He turned around to face the new pony that landed on him, but as he was about to complain, his jaw dropped at the sight of the odd looking griffon and diamond dog. He recognized the clothing and hats they wore, as well as their faces, nothing like any other griffon or diamond dog from the teen's knowledge. "Donald!? Goofy!?" "Sora?" Donald and Goofy recognized the pegasus's outfit and signature hairstyle, the Keyblade wielder highly shocked at his friends' sudden appearance. "Hey, it is Sora! What a coincidence landing on you, huh?" "W-Wha...?" Sora was still in shock as he questioned how they got here, why they were here, if anyone told them about where he was, what they had been up to, every single question in his head that weren't being cooperated by his mouth. "Well, he's definitely surprised," Goofy said with a chuckle. Sora slapped himself in the face to see if he was dreaming, but he still saw his best friends and teammates standing there. Ignoring finding the answers to his questions concerning how they got here, the teen beamed and tackled into them, pulling them into a group hug. He managed to pick up both of them in his forelegs and spun them around with glee, the trio laughing as they were reunited once again after so long. Sora lead Donald and Goofy to Sugarcube Corner to grab some lunch as they caught up on old times. They explained how they got here without their Gummi ship while the Keyblade wielder told them everything that had happened in his stay in Equestria and the reason why he was sent here. "Gawrsh, Sora. You sure do have a lot on your plate," Goofy said as he munched down on a cupcake on "his" plate. "Nothing I can't handle," Sora said. "I mean, I always did pull all three of our weight in the past." "Yeah, sure," Donald grumbled. "You caused us more problems back then. And you're bringing more here in this world." Sora opened his mouth to speak, but the duck-turned-griffon did have a point. "...I guess I did. Well, if I didn't come around, then this world would have fallen to darkness. So, problem solved, right?" "Right!" Goofy agreed, earning a nudge from Donald. "Hopefully you don't mind us staying around for a week and catch up, right, Sora?" "I don't mind it at all! It's been a boring day today. Most of my friends here are pretty sick with this flu spread around." Sora took a sip of his hot chocolate, warming him up a little from the cold creeping in the bakery from outside. "Even Kairi got sick, and she's a mess. I should probably bring her a thermos of Granny Smith's apple soup." "So, Kairi's here?" Donald asked as he snickered, wearing a teasing grin. "You finally told her your little crush?" "I did, and it's been a little awkward after getting together with her as a pony, but our relationship has only grown stronger." The small griffon's grin melted, failing to torment Sora with teasing about his crush on Kairi. "So, have you finally got some time to be with your lady in waiting, Donald?" "Yes," Donald said. "Uhh, Donald? Didn't you have a lunch date with Daisy planned out today?" Goofy asked. "...I-I did?" The mage tried to recall when he promised that date to his girlfriend, his pupils shrinking as he looked down at the table. "Uh oh..." Sitting alone outside of a cafe in Disney Town, a white duck sat at a table, wearing a purple ball gown and a tiara on her head. Her legs were crossed as she leered angrily at the empty seat across the table. She looked up at the clock tower to see the time, huffing angrily. "He's skipped out on another date...again," Daisy muttered angrily. "Donald, you have a lot of explaining to do for running off on me again..." Donald began sweating as Sora and Goofy stifled their snickering, knowing he was going to be in a lot of trouble. "...Uhhhh...I-I'm sure Daisy will understand." He chuckled nervously, only to slam his head down on the table. "She's gonna kill me." While Sora and Goofy laughed at their friend's future consequences for leaving his love alone on their scheduled date, none of them noticed a blue barrel of a small cannon poking up from underneath the table. It fired off, scaring Donald and Goofy as they yelped and fell out of their seats, confetti and streamers flying out and littering the bakery. Sora wasn't at all surprised, recognizing Pinkie Pie's party cannon when she used it at Twilight's birthday party, the sick mare herself popping up from underneath the table, somehow having enough energy despite her illness. "Surprise!" Pinkie said, only to quickly cover her mouth as she coughed. She pulled out a handkerchief from in her mane, blowing her nose into it as she sniffled. "My Pinkie Sense told me new ponies were here, and I have to throw a pa-pah-paahaahaaaaaaaaAAAAAACHOO!" As Pinkie sneezed, somehow able to send confetti flying out of her nose, sniffling again as her nose began to get runny. "Party..." "Pinkie, for goodness sake," Sora mumbled, rubbing his forehead. "You want to throw a party for them? While you're sick?" "You can never stop a party!" Pinkie shouted, irritating her throat as she began coughing again, thankfully moving her mouth away to keep from giving Sora, Donald, or Goofy her flu. "W-Where did she come from!?" Donald asked, trying to control his heart rate from the surprise blast of a cannon right next to him. "She does this kind of stuff," Sora simply said, not wanting to try and explain how Pinkie Pie functions. "Anyway, this is Pinkie Pie, one of my new friends here in Equestria. Pinkie, these are my friends Donald and Goofy. They're also from...not around here, if you know what I mean." "Ohhhhhhhh...Their faces look weird on a griffon and diamond dog." Sora really couldn't deny that fact, especially with what they turned into in Atlantica and the Pride Lands. Donald only leered at Pinkie for the rude comment while Goofy scratched his cheek. Pinkie sniffled again, wiping her nose as her sudden energy quickly disappeared as it had appeared. "Ugh. Being sick is not fun." "Which is why you should stay in bed and not get others sick. You don't want any other customers who come around to get sick, do you?" Pinkie shook her head, being pushed by Sora as he brought her to the stairs. "Get back up in your room, stay in your bed, and don't eat any sugary stuff. It's not good for your stomach." "Ok, 'dad'. I'm going." Pinkie walked up the steps to the second floor, back to her room. She stopped and looked back at the pegasus. "By the way, have any of you seen my pet, Gummy? I lost sight of him when I came down to try and throw a party. Party pooper." "I didn't know you had a pet. What do you have for a companion?" Sora asked. "Uhh, S-Sora?" Goofy stammered as he pointed at something behind him. The teen's skin suddenly crawled as he felt something wet and squishy clamp onto his tail. He lifted it up and turned his head to look at what it was, his pupils slowly turning to pin pricks as his face went pale. Attached to his tail was a baby alligator with purple eyes, each one staring in a different direction. It was terrifying to have something this dangerous roaming around inside of a building, but it was horrifyingly scary to actually feel not razor sharp teeth gnawing on him. It had no teeth, the supposedly dangerous reptile's gums scraping disgustingly on his tail, hanging on tightly like a immobile ornament. "AHHH!" Sora whipped his tail, sending the alligator flying up the stairs, clamping its toothless jaws on Pinkie's mane. "There he is! Boy, Gummy, you sure do get lost when I pop up in random places," she said to her "pet". "Maybe I should put a bell on you. And a leash. With a cute little collar." Pinkie continued walking up the stairs and into the hallway, entering her bedroom to get some rest. Sora, Donald, and Goofy stared at the stairway in utter shock, the teen slowly looking over to Mr. Cake, manning the counter and the kitchen, no sign of Mrs. Cake downstairs. "Gummy's relatively harmless," the baker stallion said. "Cup and I were a little surprised too when we saw him crawling around, but seeing no teeth on him, it made us feel...a little safer. It's better not to question her reasons as to why she has a pet alligator." "...I have so many questions as to WHY she thinks an alligator's a good idea for a pet!" Sora's shivered, still feeling the disturbing gums of a gator on his tail. "Urgh...That's Pinkie Pie, though...I'll never understand what goes on in that head of hers..." After recovering from the surprise of Pinkie's pet Gummy, the trio of friends walked together down the snowy pathway toward the Golden Oak Library to see Twilight, if she was healthy. Donald was interested in what magic Equestria had, especially after hearing about the lavender unicorn Sora had talked about along with the other mares he had befriended. Since her home was also a public library, they walked inside warm tree library and out of the cold snow. Sitting in the living room reading through one of her many books was Twilight herself, too engrossed on the story to hear guests walk in. "Hey, Twilight! You know it's rude not to welcome customers into your library without saying 'Welcome to the Golden Oak Library,' right?" She finally looked up from her book as she heard Sora's voice. "Oh. Sorry, Sora. I was just a little lost in-" Twilight paused, noticing the two new guests that were standing at the pegasus's sides. Her jaw tried to process the words floating around her brain, looking at the odd faces on the small griffon and lanky diamond dog. "...Uhhhhhh...W-Who are they?" "Oh, right! Twilight, I want you to meet my two best friends who traveled with me to help find my friends!" Sora exclaimed as he pulled Donald and Goofy closer to him in his forelegs. "This is Donald and Goofy." "...I see," Twilight finally managed to say. "I thought their faces looked...odd. Not like the griffons or diamond dogs I've read about in books." "Gee, thanks for the compliment," Donald said sarcastically. "Uhh, is Donald's voice ok?" the unicorn asked in concern. "His voice sounds a little...screechy." "Hey, this is how I talk!" the small griffon shouted, wriggling out of Sora's grip as he felt insulted. The teen quickly stepped his hoof down on Donald's tail as his temper began flaring. "I do not screech!" "Yeah. It's more like a squawk." Donald squawked angrily as he looked back at Sora, both the pegasus and Goofy chuckling at his reaction. "But his annoying voice aside, Donald's actually a pretty talented mage. Far better than I am. I think you two can be great friends and share some magical knowledge with each other." "Otherworldly magic outside of Equestria!?" Twilight squealed with glee, her horn glowing as she grabbed the griffon in her telekinesis. Donald yelped and quaked in surprise as he was flung over to Twilight, dropping him in front of her as she brought a quill and a long scroll from upstairs in her magical grasp."Tell me everything! Leave no details about every kind of magic you know!" "...Do I have to?" Donald asked, only receiving a pleading gaze from the studious mare. "And any offensive magic you use when fighting the Heartless!" Sora cleared his throat, the unicorn turning to him, seeing him give her a stern gaze. "...F-For scientific purposes?" He still gave her that look, knowing how desperate she was with trying to learn how to defend herself using magic from outside of her world. "Well, you haven't taught me anything about your magic, Sora! I'm still waiting for that day to come!" "Until you realize I won't teach you after you actually stop asking." Twilight pouted, looking down at her hooves. "Well, Sora, if there are Heartless here in Equestria, then someone here should learn how to use magic to defend themselves," Goofy said. "Plus, how can you say no to something like that?" "Try a filly who's a lot more adorable when they give you the sad puppy stare. I've been struck by that so many times by Apple Bloom, it's become my weakness." Sora thought back on the several times Apple Bloom, and even Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, gave him those sad looks when they want his help with something, mostly if it involved getting their cutie marks in something dangerous. "I love those fillies, but I swear they could give anyone a heart attack over how cute they are doing that." "...I guess I can teach Twilight some spells, but only the basics." Donald was suddenly pulled forward by Twilight's magic and into a bone crushing hug, the griffon squawking as his eyes bugged out of his head like a stress toy. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Twilight squealed, dropping the limp and dazed mage as stars began floating around his head and his eyes rolled around in their sockets. "When can we start!? I want my friends to see and maybe learn how to use your magic if it's possible!" "S-Sure...why not?" Sora facehooved, seeing Donald easily gave in, and was going to be giving a lesson to not just Twilight, but everyone else. "And, I want to see Sora in his Drive Forms really badly. Think you can convince him to show us and let me examine the magic of his transformations, Donald?" Twilight pleaded. "Twilight, I'm not showing off my Drive Forms!" Sora denied. "You knew what it was like in my Harmony Form, you and the other girls were fused with me when we fought Discord!" "Aww, come on, Sora," Goofy said, bringing his paws up to rest on the Keyblade wielder's shoulders. "Them forms of yours ain't that bad. All you're doing is just showing her how they work. What's the worst that could happen?" Sora knew exactly what the worst case scenario would be. Donald and Goofy have had no clue in the past when he borrowed their power to transform into his Drive Forms when he turned into his Anti Form. They just black out and have no memory of what he becomes, or how dangerous he could be. He didn't want to risk using his Drives anymore, knowing that at any moment he could change into his darkened form and possibly hurt everyone around him. Even if he did try to break free, it might be too late if Anti Sora gets to them. He looked back at Goofy, nodding at him, then back to Twilight and Donald. Sora did tell his friends that only Twilight, her friends, and the rulers of the kingdom in this world know about the other worlds, and they knew they should tell them more if the world order was somewhat broken. The pegasus sighed in defeat, unable to keep saying no anymore, even with Twilight's thirst for knowledge on a subject she excelled at. "...Alright. I'll let you study my Drive Forms, too...along with what I can do in each one." Now it was Sora's turn to get a hug from Twilight, though his frame was a lot stronger than Donald's since he was just a few inches taller than the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Thank you! I promise I won't show anypony else. Only Princess Celestia...maybe?" Sora only sighed again as Twilight released him, knowingly going to regret it if any one of his transformations backfires on him. "So, when can we begin learning?" "...Maybe in a couple days," the teen said. "Most of our friends are sick or trying to avoid being sick..." "Ok! I can wait until then. In the meantime..." The unicorn lifted Donald back up, having slowly snapped out of his daze as he now sat on the couch. The small griffon looked over at Twilight, holding her quill and parchment as she waited for her new magic tutor to begin teaching her, wearing a big grin on her face. "Can I get some information on your world?" As Donald, and even Goofy, began talking about their world, Sora began to dread the day they would all learn about their magical power. He only hoped that he was lucky enough to keep his Anti Form from popping up unexpectedly. But if he did turn into that monster that's inside the darkness of his heart, even with Kairi around to try and help him, he still doubted he could fully control it in time.