//------------------------------// // It's About Time // Story: My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria // by Codex92 //------------------------------// Hearts and Hooves Day had come and gone as Ponyville went about its normal daily routine. Sora and Kairi headed into town to Sugarcube Corner, seeing the aftermath of us transformation inside the bakery from his poisoned state. He offered to pay for any of the damages he made, though the only thing broken were a few chairs and tables. Never again was he going to drink anything bright and colorful or bubbly and dark by accident unless he actually knew that there was nothing wrong with it. "Well, at least I didn't cause too much damage while poisoned," Sora said as the couple left the establishment, walking slowly with Kairi as she had only three legs to walk on at the moment. "Except almost killing you." "Sora, don't dwell on it. I only have a broken hoof, you're back to your normal, not-a-lovesick-doofus kind of goofball self, and we spent a romantic day and evening together while ignoring that little mishap." Kairi heard him grunt, visibly wincing at the terrible day yesterday. "A mishap Twilight and I tried to stop and ended up turning into idiots by drinking that potion." They stopped in the center of the town, Sora sitting down as he continued to feel guilty for his poisoned mind's attempt to kill the real girl he actually loved. "It would have been worse if I had no clue what I did to you." "No more, Sora," Kairi said, hugging the stallion with her good leg, nuzzling his neck to ease his worries. "Accidents happen, and I managed to stand against you when you were in one of your Drives. Maybe once my hoof's all better, we can have a little sparring match and see how much better I've gotten in combat." "You still have a long way to go before you even stand a chance against me when I'm not out of control," Sora said, draping a wing over the unicorn. "I've managed to take on Tidus, Wakka, and Selfie back on the island, three-on-one, and beat them without a scratch." "Riku did that several times, and each time he came out without getting hit. You got hit a lot, caught off guard by Wakka and his ball while Selfie and Tidus attacked you while you were stunned." Sora leered at Kairi, puffing his cheeks angrily, not wanting to be reminded of his failed attempts in a three-on-one match with their other friends on Destiny Islands or Riku's flawless matches. She giggled at his reaction, kissing his cheek. "But you're far better than Riku. Saving all the worlds and us more than makes up for your losses." "And yet he and the rest of you guys saved me from Xehanort, so that overruled any heroic efforts I made after almost giving him the X-blade." Kairi let out a sigh, tugging his ear hard in her white aura. "OW!" "You gonna stop being grumpy and turn back to the real Sora?" she asked, keeping a firm grip on the pegasus's sensitive ear. "Yes! Yes! I'm done moping! I swear!" She finally let go, Sora rubbing the sore equine appendage with a hoof. "Even after hurting you by complete accident, I'm questioning who's the more abusive in this relationship." Kairi tugged both of his ears this time, making him yelp as he was forcefully reared up on his hind legs. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" "Attention, Ponyville!" Twilight announced as she stood on the bridge over a small river in the town, catching everyone's attention. "We have a serious crisis on our hooves, and it could mean the very future of all of Equestria!" "What is it, Twilight?" Sora asked. "I was visited by myself in the future!" Everyone around who heard her out stood in silence, only to begin laughing at the absurdity. "This isn't a joke! I am one hundred percent serious! My future self tried to warn me about a horrible disaster that's going to happen by next Tuesday!" "EVERYPONY RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Pinkie shouted as she began screaming, flailing her hooves as she floated in the air by some balloons tied around her barrel. She stopped in front of Sora and Kairi as everyone stared at the random earth pony. "Hi, Sora! Hi, Kairi! Wanna panic with me!?" She didn't give them a chance to respond as she continued screaming, floating off to who knows where. "...Ok. Ignoring Pinkie Pie, first off, there's time travel magic in Equestria?" Sora and Kairi winced, both of them having heard Riku explain Xehanort's younger self able to travel through time when he fought him back in the dream realms. They really don't want to mess with changing the past, even if it was only a week back. "And second, what exactly is this disaster?" "...Uhh, well...I didn't exactly let my future self explain what exactly the disaster was." Twilight chuckled nervously, her cheeks tinting pink. "I got too excited about there being a time travel spell Star Swirl the Bearded made, which was how future me managed to go back in time and try to warn me." Sora facehooved, groaning in annoyance as Twilight's pestering for learning about magical spells prioritized over a serious event the future holds for them. In the next week. "But, not only was I there, but you came with future me, Sora." "Wait. I traveled back in time with you?" Sora asked. "What exactly happened?" "Last night, I was busy going through my schedule, going through which books I should read at specific times and other events I listed for the next month," Twilight said, making the Keyblade wielding couple roll their eyes, the lavender mare's perfect scheduling making her more stressed out than she should be. "So, while trying to fix that schedule, you and I from next week appeared in a flash of light, though you appeared after I ended up leaving abruptly after a few minutes. I was a mess, but you were normal." "...Define mess?" Kairi asked. "Future me wore a black jumpsuit that was slightly torn, a bandage around her head, her mane was in a wild hairstyle, sticking up and cut badly, an eye patch, and a scar on her face. It was like she came from a deadly future!" Twilight looked at Sora as she began to panic again. "But the strange thing about future Sora was that he wasn't as badly injured as I was! I know you're a talented fighter, but there was no way what future I was from could have been as peaceful!" "...So, what? The only thing you can go by after seeing yourself a week in the future is that something dangerous will happen, but future me was perfectly fine?" Sora asked. "How come you and Kairi aren't freaking out about this like I was!?" Twilight practically screamed, greatly worried about the future of their world. "It's better you don't know," Sora said. "But you're probably freaking out over nothing. Maybe if you let future you explain to you instead of having a nerd freak out as to why she was there last night, then you would have known what would happen." "...R-Right...But meeting yourself from the future! It was exciting!" The couple gave the unicorn a blank stare. "...You would freak out, too." Twilight gasped as she remembered something else, pulling out a folded piece of paper. "Before future Sora left, he told me to give this to you." Sora took the paper and opened it, a small list of something from himself to himself. "'Sora, be careful with a certain canine during this week, along with someone from another world. Just listen to Twilight and go along with keeping Ponyville safe from the "disaster". Also, you will lose in a duel against Kairi when her hoof gets better.' Huh?" He flipped the paper around to see if there was anymore writing, but that was all that was listed for him. And it was in his handwriting, or hoofwriting in Equestria. "Since when did I make cryptic hints?" "I'm just as confused about it when I read it myself. But if they're hints to any disasters that may happen, then I'm not risking anything." Sora kept looking at the paper, scratching his head at the odd occurrences his future self warned him about. "Why did I tell myself I was going to lose against Kairi?" he asked. "Thanks for the vote of self confidence, me. I'm not going to lose against her." "You never know, Sora," Kairi said as she looked at the paper herself. "Maybe you went easy on me just to let me win." "Oh no. If I'm going to duel you, I'm not going to hold back at all." Sora gently pressed his muzzle against the pink unicorn's, leering playfully at her as he smirked. "As soon as your hoof is better, you and I are going to have ourselves a little match, no holds barred. Loser does whatever the winner wants for a whole week." "Ok. It's a duel." Kairi kissed Sora's lips, sealing their little deal for their "lover's quarrel". "But don't feel too disappointed if you do lose. After all, if future you says you'll lose, you'll lose." "I don't know what I'm talking about. I'll prove myself wrong and win against me!...Uhh, you...I...?" The pegasus's brain was frazzled, rubbing his hooves against his head as he ended up confusing himself. "Wait, what did I just say?" "You can figure that out later," Twilight said, interrupting his friends' romantic bantering. "Right now, we need to safety proof every possible catalyst that can cause havoc in all of Equestria to keep the disaster from happening!" With Ponyville backing Twilight up, everyone split up into groups to fix anything that could end up destroying their world. The pegasi flew off in different teams, flying off to different sections of Equestria to spot any possible dangers in the other cities and towns. The rest of the non-pegasi got to work repairing or safety proofing the town. They fixed up the dam's cracks out in the distance from Ponyville, filling in cracks in the walls of buildings, pretty much anything Twilight thought to be a hazard. Within the next few hours, Ponyville was perfectly safe, Rainbow Dash flying down to the others to report the pegasi teams' findings. "I just got word that everything is all clear from Fillydelphia to Las Pegasus," Rainbow said. "And the Everfree Forest has nothin' goin' on," Applejack added after coming back from the direction of the dangerous forest. "And that's everything on Twilight's list." Kairi rolled up the long list of possible hazards the lavender unicorn had made, unable to do much help with her injured hoof. "Though, with how you described your future self's look, Twilight, shouldn't the danger be more life threatening? Like a wild beast?" As if Kairi decided to tempt fate, something big stomped across the ground, shaking the ground with each step it took. Everyone looked in the direction it was coming from while trying not to fall, spotting a large three-headed black dog. Its heads barked and growled, staring down at the ponies as they all stared back in fear. "Ok, everypony. Follow my lead." Pinkie screamed and ran off, the others following suit as they ran off to hide from the dangerous canine. "Cerberus!? How did he escape from the gates of Tarterus!?" Twilight asked, her shock slowly turning into a grin. "This must be the disaster!" "Bad time to get excited over something as dangerous as a three-headed dog, Twilight," Kairi said. As Cerberus was about to go on a rampage through Ponyville, the beast stopped as the heads sniffed the air. They looked down, their sights set on Sora, standing alone as he looked up at the canine, unable to shake the feeling they've met before. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Sora asked. The heads crouched low to get a better look at him, sniffing at him, nearly pulling him toward their muzzles. Their eyes widened and they began growling, their eyes turning completely red as they glared at him. "Why do those eyes look familiar?" Cerberus stood back up as a guttural rumbling came from its stomach. The heads reared back as black miasma began forming in their maws, the Keyblade wielder's eyes widening, recognizing that dark mist coming from their mouths. "Why does that look familiar!?" They lowered their heads and wretched up the black miasma built up from their stomachs, seeping into the ground and disappearing. Sora quickly ran, avoiding dark spires that began shooting up from the ground under his hooves, rolling out of the way and leaping up as soon as one shot up underneath him. Twilight's jaw dropped, having read up on Cerberus before, but never knowing it could do something like that. "W-What? What is happening!?" she asked, demanding answers to the baffling inconsistencies of the guardian of Tarterus with a sickening black sludge vomit she never knew it had. "I think I know why!" Sora called out, avoiding the last of the dark spires and now evading the homing fireballs Cerberus shot out of their mouths. "What I'd like to know is how the heck this stupid mutt got here in Equestria! It's impossible!" "'Got here to Equestria?' What does that mean!?" Twilight yelped as a fireball came hurtling toward them, Kairi quickly getting in front of her and cast a barrier around them, deflecting the attack back at one of the heads, standing on her hind legs with her Keyblade out. "It means this Cerberus is the same one I kept running into in the past from another world!" Sora summoned his own Keyblade to defend himself, avoiding the three heads' razor sharp teeth as they tried to bite down on him. "He really doesn't like me! And it definitely shows!" The side heads reared back and tried to slam into Sora, the stallion pushing them back with his hooves, trapped between the stronger heads as they tried to squish him with their skulls. The middle head opened its jaws and thrust forward to bite him. He managed to avoid getting chomped, holding his Keyblade out to block the maw from biting him, gripping his weapon tightly as he was flung around. Unlike with the ursa minor, the other two heads lunged at the free meal while their center head was struggling. He leapt up high into the air, avoiding the side heads as they crashed their faces into each other. Sora dove back down and aimed at the shoulders where their necks were connected, slamming his Keyblade down hard to stun Cerberus. It collapsed to the ground, the heads groaning as its body twitched. Kairi used her magic to create a leash made of her white aura, connecting it around the three unconscious necks of the demonic canine. Sora leapt back down to the others as they stared at the dog that was somewhat subdued. "...So...this Cerberus...is from another world?" Twilight asked, trying to process what she had just witnessed. "Afraid so. I recognize those attacks anywhere." The pegasus looked back at Cerberus as it slowly began to wake up. "Though, it looks a lot different. Its heads aren't supposed to look like bulldogs. They were...dobermans, I think where I fought them." "Twilight said Cerberus escaped from Tarterus," Kairi said, keeping a firm hold of the aura leash in case the dog began to act out. "That's similar to the underworld back home." "And that means there's some sort of gateway in Equestria that leads to the Underworld in Mount Olympus." Sora groaned, putting two and two together. "And if there's some connection between Equestria and Olympus, then that means...Hades can show up here if he wants to. Of all the rotten luck..." Cerberus shook its heads, shaking off the dizziness from getting stunned by the familiar spiky headed teen that beat them several times in the past. It looked down at them growling as it approached the Keyblade wielders and terrified ponies that were too scared to run away. Kairi decided this mutt needed some obedience training, tugging the leash hard with her telekinesis and pulling the three heads down. "Down, Cerberus!" It didn't obey, pulling back to try to free itself from the magical leash they were attached to. Her magic was far stronger, pulling harder and slamming their faces down to the ground. "I said down!" Cerberus growled, the rumbling building up again from their gullet to unleash the same sludge that created the spires that almost impaled Sora earlier. The pink unicorn levitated her Keyblade over their noses, giving them a hard smack, making them yelp in pain. "Don't you dare vomit that sludge again! Do you want to get neutered!?" They whined, shaking their heads no as their tail failed to cover their lower extremities. "Then I suggest you swallow that gunk and obey me." The heads swallowed the dark sludge, whimpering in fear of the scary pink unicorn that threatened to take away a vital part of their body. "Wow. You actually tamed Cerberus." Sora looked over at his girlfriend, surprised at how quickly she was able to beat it compared to him nearly getting chomped on just to knock it unconscious. "You ever had a dog before, or what?" "No, but I do know a disrespectful pet needs to know who's in charge. And a little threat with neutering may do the trick with something as big as Cerberus." Kairi tugged the leash, forcing the canine to sit up. "And if Cerberus continues to misbehave, I'll also consider castration too if he attacks my boyfriend like that again." Cerberus whined again, covering his lower half with his paws, not wanting to anger Kairi. "Ok then...So, we'll just take Cerberus back to where he belongs, and hopefully avoid seeing Hades again. Where are the gates to Tarterus, Twilight?" "Tarterus is far to the southwest of Ponyville. It's several miles away, located in the middle of an empty wasteland. Cerberus needs to head back to the gate before any dangerous creatures imprisoned there could escape try to destroy Equestria." Sora and Kairi nodded their heads, the former carrying the latter on his back as they lead Cerberus in the direction to where he escaped, leaving Twilight to finish dealing with any other hazards she may have missed. Sora walked along the barren lands where the gates to Tarterus lie, having spent the last several hours carrying Kairi on his back while she dragged Cerberus along. The overgrown, three-headed dog tried to fight back from the leash bound to her aura a few times, only to receive a forceful tug down and firm smacks on the nose with her Keyblade. They stopped trying to break away a while ago, following the teen they fought several times in the back and the scary mare sitting on his back. "I think we should be getting close. We've been walking for a while," Kairi said. "You mean I've been walking. You're riding on my back." The unicorn giggled and stood up on her hind legs. "Onward, my trusty steed! To the gateway leading to the bowels of the land to return the canine to its rightful home!" Sora looked up at her, Kairi giving him a silly grin. "...Ok, you leave the silly stuff to me. I'm supposed to be the goof in this relationship." Kairi pouted and plopped back down on Sora's back. "So I'm not allowed to have fun?" she asked, poking one of Sora's wings. "Boo. I've been bored the past few hours, and the only thing that snapped me out of napping on your back was keeping the disobedient Cerberus from trying to break free from my grip." One of the heads on Cerberus growled, making Kairi turn her head to them and leer at them. The side heads nudged the center head hard, keeping it quiet before she could bop them on the nose again, or give them that threatening neutering she promised them if they acted out. "Don't you dare growl at me! Do you want a lightning bolt shooting down at your jewels, or should I just use my Keyblade to do the deed, swift and painlessly!?" "And that explains why you weren't allowed to have a puppy," Sora said, earning a bop on the head from the unicorn. "Domestic abuse!" "Oh hush." They soon climbed over a ridge, finally reaching their destination. Down below at the bottom of a chasm was the gateway to Tarterus. It was a tall portal, seeing the inside of Equestria's version of the afterlife/prison for demonic souls. It looked just as gloomy as the Underworld in Mount Olympus, though it looked like a section that was unexplored by Sora when he accidentally wandered around in the energy draining realm of the dead. "Whoa." "That's the Underworld, alright." Sora headed down the hill leading down to the portal, noting the many prison cells littered all over the place. In each one, they held some kind of dangerous mythical creature that were from Equestria, their feeble attempts to try and break free from the dark stone cells halting when they saw Cerberus being lead back by a couple ponies. As Sora and Kairi headed through the portal, their bodies began glowing as they shifted forms. They turned back into humans, the couple falling at the sudden change in their limbs' anatomy. "...Well, glad to finally be the real me again." The two slowly got up, Kairi being careful with her arm. "Ugh...Why do I feel like my life's slowly drained away?" "That's the affect of being in the Underworld," Sora said. "Unless you have the power from the Olympus Stone given to you, it won't affect you all that much. I guess I still have it since I'm not that exhausted." They soon heard Cerberus growling, completely forgetting about the dangerous dog. Turning around, the three-headed canine was back to the way Sora remembered seeing it, Kairi's unicorn magic diminished now that she was a human now. "Oh great. Here we go again." "CERBERUS!" The beast winced as it heard its true master call him. Appearing around the corner was Hades, the God of the Underworld in Mount Olympus. His entire body was blue, including his flaming hair, wearing a black toga, his steps nonexistent as black mist seeped out underneath his robes. "For the love of my goody-goody brother, Zeus, I leave you alone for a few hours, and you wind up-" The God froze, spotting Sora back in his realm along with someone he didn't recognize. "Oh perfect. The brat's back. Again." "Nice to see you too, Hades," Sora glowered. "We brought your mutt back for you." Cerberus growled as the heads leered at Sora, but Kairi put a stop to them. Summoning her Keyblade, she shot a powerful bolt of a Thundaga spell behind it, the beast's heads yelping as it struck their tails, making it flee to its master, cowering in fear at the girl. "She another one of those little Keyblade buddies of yours, kid?" Hades asked. "Cause I'm kind of getting sick and tired of you guys messing around with my plans." "Do you have any other plans?" Sora asked back, getting in front of Kairi in case the blue flaming-headed God decided to strike. "I've run out and just gave up. So, I'm just doing what I usually do, which is looking after prisoners sent here." He looked around at the cells of Equestrian prisoners, scratching the back of his head while deep in thought. "I guess this part of the Underworld is a bit neglected. But I don't work well when it comes to equines that have added appendages and whatnot. Herc the Jerk's already got a birdbrain pegasus he treats like a pet, and I don't want to deal with any this stuff...Wait, how did you even get in here?" "The gates to Tarterus in Equestria. By the way, you're welcome for bringing back your lost dog. No need to reward us with anything." Hades grumbled at the snarky comment, controlling his temper. "I see...Equestria's a land I haven't seen in quite a long while, though I really don't like the look of the place. Too colorful for my taste." He disappeared in a puff of smoke, Cererus quickly hiding behind a large rock to hide from Kairi as Hades reappeared in front of them. "Why are you two back in that world of colorful horses?" "None of your business. We just came to bring Cerberus back to you, found out that Equestria has a connection with your world, and we're just about to leave before you think of a way to take over Equestria." Sora gently turned Kairi around, escorting her back out before she could collapse from the Underworld's draining influence, only for Hades to appear in front of them. "Oh, you won't have to worry about a thing with that world. With all the do-gooders that tall princess of theirs has, barely anything happens that warrant me to try and do anything there," Hades said. "Besides, my focus is more on Hercules and taking over my own world. So the only thing you have to worry about is me when you're trespassing in my domain...again. So...vamoose. Before I sic Cerberus on you again." "Good luck with that. He doesn't seem to like me, but he's dreadfully terrified of Kairi." Sora wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist, grinning at Hades as he pressed his cheek against hers. "I'm not going to get attacked with my own bodyguard kept by my side. Have fun getting your butt whooped by Hercules! And say hi to him for me!" The couple walked past the God of the Underworld, watching them leave through the portal back to Equestria as they turned back into ponies. "Pth. And stay gone." Hades looked back at the Equestrian underworld cells, sighing in defeat as he twirled his hand around, forming a checklist out of black smoke. "Might as well check the inventory, just in case. This area's cluttered, anyway." He walked over to each cell, snapping his fingers to command Cerberus to stay at his post in Tarterus. He checked off each cell with a specific dangerous creature that once lived in Equestria, but one cell in particular was opened, one of them having escaped. Looking down at his list, his eyes widened at the cell's number and the name of the creature that resided in there. "Uh oh...Well, that can't be good...Oh well. He's not my problem outside the Underworld." After checking the rest of the Equestrian inmates, Hades whistled nonchalantly as he walked back to his chambers, planning another attempt to take down the son of Zeus, and strongest fallen God from Mount Olympus, Hercules. As Sora and Kairi made it back to Ponyville, things seemed to only go from bad to worse around Twilight. The evening they got back to report to the lavender unicorn at her library, Spike had accidentally belched a scroll from Celestia, sending it flying at her face and giving her a paper cut. Ironically, that same cut matched the scar on future Twilight's face. It didn't help that she kept panicking about what horrible future will arrive, even after Cerberus was taken back to his home. The next few days were even more hectic for Twilight with her different plans to try to halt the future's supposed demise. Her next plan was to remain absolutely still so she won't end up causing whatever will happen. While the unicorn went with her "genius" plan, Spike decided that if Twilight was going to stand completely still and not do anything, he was going to eat a tub of ice cream by himself. Then, Rainbow Dash stopped by to give Twilight more word on the pegasi teams inspecting the other towns, only to join in the baby dragon's in tormenting her when she was greatly serious about their situation. Spike went a bit too far, tickling Twilight with a feather to try and make her laugh. She flung him away with her magic, forcing him to breath out green flames as he smacked into the bookshelves, burning the unicorn's hair to match the same manestyle future Twilight had. The next day, she tried to speak with Pinkie to see if she can foresee the future using her Pinkie Sense, hoping her odd twitches can give her some clue as to what may happen. Unfortunately, Pinkie was of no help, saying her Pinkie Sense only happens when it does. Her tail began twitching erratically, which meant something was going to fall. Then, by pure coincidence, a flower pot fell on Twilight's head while inside of the random pink earth pony's tent for her Madame Pinkie fortune telling odd job, wrapping a bandage around her friend's head that matched the same one on future Twilight. She held herself up in her library for the next couple days, whatever she was doing completely ignored as the only dangerous future that will happen is Twilight constantly getting herself hurt. By that time, Kairi's hoof was already feeling better, amazed at how quick Equestria's medical practice was compared to their own. The unicorn walked along the path to Sweet Apple Acres, looking for Sora as he helped Applejack and her family's farm. She found Big Macintosh putting the plow away in the barn. "Hey, uhh...Big Macintosh?" The farm stallion turned around, recognizing the pegasus teen's girlfriend. "Have you see Sora anywhere?" "Eeyup," he said, pointing over to a direction in the orchard. "Thanks." After thanking Big Mac, she headed down to a section of the orchard where the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse was located. As soon as the tree house was in sight, she found Sora repairing a hole on the roof, the fillies standing outside as they watched him hammer the new patch of roof in. "Can you three remind me how exactly you managed to blow a hole in your clubhouse's roof with fireworks? You know it's not exactly safe to light one off inside a building, or out in a vast orchard filled with flammable trees." "We were trying to get a cutie mark in firework production," Scootaloo said. "But I...kinda accidentally lit one up before we could take one of them apart, and it messed up the roof." Sora groaned as he hovered back down to the ground, finishing his work as he looked at the mini-Rainbow Dash clone. "No more fireworks. And if you buy anymore, I'm confiscating them. They're dangerous, even if you dismantle them!" "Aww man!" Scootaloo complained. Apple Bloom's ears perked up as she heard Kairi approaching them. "Hi, Kairi! You're hoof's all better now!" "Yes, it is, thank goodness." Kairi walked up to Sora and hugged him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "All the better to actually cuddle with Sora." The stallion grinned as he scratched his head in bashfulness. "And now that I'm all better...Sora, I would like to have a duel with you. Today." "Really?" Sora asked. "After you just got better?" "What's wrong, Sora? You scared your marefriend's gonna beat you?" Scootaloo taunted, backed up by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "Pth. I'm not scared," he said, ignoring the smirks on the fillies' faces. "Oh really? Are you sure you're not worried that future you's little warning about me kicking your butt in a little duel?" Kairi asked, goading Sora as she pressed her side against his. "You afraid you'll get beaten by a girl?" "Nice try, Kairi. I'm not falling for that. Nothing you can say or do will get me to fall for a possible event that may or may not happen." He stuck his nose up in the air, drowning out any taunts that could get him to crack and have a duel with his girlfriend. "Well, future you was right about Cerberus coming to Ponyville, and Twilight's slowly starting to look like how she described her future self a few days ago." The fillies nodded, the stallion's ears perking up as his defensive walls slowly cracked. "The future does look like it's coming true, though things could change if you actually did beat me. I guess I should wait a little longer for future Sora to show up and whisk me off my feet, obviously tough enough to admit defeat when he loses a duel against his girlfriend. Come on, girls. Let's go into town and get ourselves some ice cream." The girls giggled and began to leave the orchard to head into town. Though her back was turned to Sora, she knew he managed to get to him, always easy to tease and goad into a bet or fight. Counting down from three, he suddenly appeared before them, scowling at Kairi while she bore a smirk on her lips. "You and me. Duel. Right now," he said, mentally berating himself for falling for her trick. She gave him a light peck on the lips, though his expression remained unchanged. "Now was that so hard?" "You and Riku are evil." Kairi giggled and kissed his muzzle, nuzzling his neck while he looked down at the giggling fillies watching them. "So are you three." Their duel would take place out in the fields to avoid damaging any of the trees in the orchard, the couple staring each other down with wooden swords in their hooves. The Crusaders stood on the sidelines, making themselves some popcorn before the fight, acting as the judges and audience. "This is gonna be fun!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Ah think Kairi will win!" "No way! Sora's got more skill! I should know. I watched him when he saved Rainbow Dash from those Heartless things," Scootaloo praised. "I'm going with Kairi," Sweetie said. "Sora may be better, but Kairi might have a few tricks up her sleeves." "Hey! I thought you two liked me!" Sora shouted, able to hear the fillies predicting who would win, and it was two-on-one favoring Kairi over him. "Ugh. I can't believe I fell for this." "Don't complain, Sora! You made a promise this week that we would duel, no holds barred!" He groaned, regretting ever making that promise. "Fine," Sora grumbled. "Ok, for our duel, we're not going to fight until we batter ourselves to a pulp! We're gonna do a ten point match, each strike worth one point! To make this fair, we will not use our magic!" "Is unicorn magic allowed?" Kairi asked. "...Yes. Telekinesis only!" he pointed out, not wanting there to be any loopholes to break through on either side. "Girls, you're counting each point to make sure none of us cheats. On your call, Crusaders, we'll begin our duel." "GO!" Scootaloo shouted, catching Sora off guard. "Not right-" While he was distracted, Kairi ran in and smacked the flat side of the blunt training sword against his flank, making him yelp in surprise and leap back. "You said they would start the fight, and it's started," Kairi pointed out, waving her sword around tauntingly as she grinned at Sora. "One point for me." "...Alright, then. But I gave you that hit, and that's the only one you're gonna get!" Sora rushed forward, a little miffed at the cheap shot, but he should have expected Scootaloo's impatience when it came to watching anything with action, especially a sword duel. Their wooden blades swung wildly, making an echoing clack as they connected, Kairi backing away while Sora went on the offensive. Though the stallion was far more experienced, Kairi was able to keep up with him after spending her time keeping the worlds safe from the Heartless. She may not match him in speed, but with her unicorn magic aiding her, she was able to move her toy weapon around to block each strike. She quickly ducked from a high swing, spinning around and tripping up on of Sora's legs, causing him to stagger as he was caught off guard. Unable to react in time, he was smacked in the flank again, giving Kairi another point, but quickly retreating before she got another hit on him. Rushing back at her, he struck again, parrying her sword and forcing her to stumble backward. He thrust forward, but the unicorn flipped backwards, avoiding his lunge and rushed forward, clashing wooden blades again. They both pushed back against each other in the stalemate, Sora easily overpowering her with brute strength as he dragged her back. But as he was about to try to make her stagger again, Kairi's aura suddenly grabbed his hood and slammed it over his face. Temporarily blinded, he was struck twice before flipping away, uncovering his hood from over his head. "Four points for me," Kairi teased, lightly bouncing on her hooves as she waited for his next move. "Hey! That was cheating!" Sora said. "Technically, I used telekinesis. So, I didn't exactly cheat," the pink unicorn corrected. "You didn't specify what I could use that magic on, not just my sword." "She has a point," Apple Bloom said, the other two fillies nodding in agreement. "Fair play!" Sora smacked his forehead, regretting not making anymore rules before their duel began. "Of course there was a twist with what I meant. You girls are all out to get me!" "Don't lose your focus, Sora!" Kairi yelled, rushing at the distracted pegasus. "That's it." She thrust her sword at him, but Sora flipped up and landed on the fake sword. "No more Mr. Nice Guy." Before he could slash Kairi, the pink unicorn was faster to react, flicking her sword hard in her mana, causing Sora to flip rapidly in midair and fall to the ground. While he was down, she skipped over to the pegasus, gently poking his stomach with the tip of the sword, giving her another point. "...I hate you." "Five to zero. You must be losing your touch, 'honey-bunny'," Kairi giggled as she reminded Sora of one of the embarrassing mushy nicknames he and Twilight gave while they were love poisoned, the Crusaders, wretching on the sidelines at the disturbing memory of Hearts and Hooves Day. "...Must you bring that up?" Sora asked, quickly spinning around on his back and tripping Kairi up. Losing her footing, the stallion flipped back up and smacked Kairi up in the air with his sword, finally giving him a point. Chasing after her, he managed to get a few more hits on her in a devastating combo, bringing the score 9-5 now. Before he could land the final hit, Kairi managed to avoid Sora in midair, slamming her sword down hard on him and making him fall to the ground. Her aura guided her weapon over him and managed to get in another couple hits, evening out the score with nine points each. He rolled out of the way as the unicorn nearly landed on him, both fighters staring each other down. "And the score is nine points on both sides!" Scootaloo announced. "They both need one more point to win! Go, Sora! Kick her flank!" "Go, Kairi!" Apple Bloom cheered. "Fillies rule, colts drool!" "Apple Bloom, you're gonna be in for a rude awakening with one of my friends if you betray me!" Sora scolded, knowing a perfect way to not only get back at her cheering for Kairi and not him, but for also waking him up if he had slept in. "Ok." The young Apple sibling reached behind her, and with Sweetie Belle's help, held up a banner depicting Kairi beating Sora in their duel with her sitting on his back, the unicorn wearing a fancy crown while the pegasus wore a dunce cap. "Beat Sora, Kairi!" "Fight with all your might!" Sweetie Belle cheered. Sora slumped his head down, glowering at the little fillies he will eventually get back at later. He turned his attention back to Kairi, gripping his sword tightly in his mouth as both ponies slowly circled each other, the last point in their sights, but they had to be extremely careful. They waited for the other to make the first move, until after nearly a few minutes of trying to intimidate each other, they both rushed forward. Swords clashed, slashes were blocked or dodged, many close hits only to be missed by mere inches. The fight ended with a shocking turnout. As Sora and Kairi's toy swords clashed, he tried to trip her up like she had done to him earlier, but she flipped over him, wrapping her hooves around his neck. Using her momentum, she flung him backwards and slammed him down hard on the ground back first. He was completely caught off guard by the sudden suplex that he let go of his sword, sending it flying across the field. After Sora shook the stars swirling around his head, he was staring cross-eyed at Kairi's wooden sword pointed at his nose. She poked him with it, earning her victory point. "I win." Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle cheered while Scootaloo groaned at the results of the duel. Sora couldn't believe he lost to Kairi. The mare moved the sword away and grinned at him, his brain trying to process his loss. Just like his future self warned him, he was going to lose his duel against Kairi, and it came true. It was a surprise to see how far she had come with just a physical sparring match, even though she won partly due to her telekinesis as a unicorn helping her by going from close combat to long range in a second. "I can't believe I lost," he said. Sora wasn't really all that mad, just shocked as the girl he wanted to protect was stronger than he thought. That, and a little of his pride was destroyed as he was just beaten by said girl. If Riku found out about this, he was never going to live this down along with living in a world of colorful talking ponies. "Well...I guess future me was right. You win, Kairi. Good match." Kairi held her hoof out to help him stand up. He took it, but he smirked as he pulled her down and rolled over her, pinning her legs down to the ground under his. "Sneak attack!" "Hey! You sore loser!" Kairi exclaimed, trying to squirm out of her boyfriend's stronger grip to no avail. "The duel's over!" "Yeah, but you know me. I always want a rematch until I actually win. Though, not right now, since you're the winner, I have to do what you say for the next week." Sora lowered his head to Kairi's muzzle, the mare blushing heavily as his kissed her lips while keeping her in a vulnerable position under him. Even though she was splayed out on her back by his hooves, she felt safe under him, closing her eyes as she kissed him back. Sora's gentle, firm grip on her hooves loosened, giving her freedom to move her limbs, which she used to wrap around him tightly as she deepened their kiss, pulling him closer to her. The pegasus pulled his lips away as he grinned, staring at the blushing mare beneath him. "So, what do you want me to do?" "...Well, there is one thing," Kairi said. She looked over at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, gripping his neck tightly and pulling him down onto her. "Girls, help! I'm being attacked by the loser!" "Hang on, Kairi! We're comin'!" The three fillies roared out a battle cry as they ran up to them, tackling Sora off the "pinned" unicorn. The stallion flailed about as the Crusaders "attacked" the attacker. "Traitors! You three will pay one by one!" Kairi giggled as she watched Sora getting dogpiled by Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, the three fillies trying to wrestle the stallion, laughing as they "attacked" him. She leapt in and pinned Sora down, leaving him open to a triple team tickle attack by the fillies. He was completely powerless, defeated by his girlfriend and three little fillies as he was taken prisoner, forced to buy everyone ice cream as they made their way back in Ponyville. By midday on Monday, just one day away before this unknown disaster that Twilight was warned about. Sora hadn't seen the unicorn in the past few days after getting clonked on the head by a flower pot, so he decided to check up on her to see if she was doing ok and not having another one of her panic attacks. Approaching the library, he saw Pinkie bouncing up to the tree library as well. "Hi, Sora!" Pinkie greeted. "You here to see if Twilight's excited about that amazing birthday present she'll get in a few months still?" "...Uhh, no? I'm kinda worried," Sora said. "She hasn't come out at all for the last few days, and neither did Spike. She better not be having a meltdown in there." The two walked inside, their jaws dropping at the chaos ensuing inside the Golden Oak Library. "...Scratch that. She's gone mentally insane." Inside the main foyer of the library, stacks and stacks of papers littered the floor, a few odd devices Sora couldn't name were running, and Twilight was running to each one, checking whatever was on them. There were bulletin boards with graphs, equations, coordinates, and any other type of miscellaneous problem written out on them as the unicorn added or erased something. Watching her from the stairway was Spike, swallowing big spoonfuls of ice cream right from the large sized tub, several empty containers of the frozen dairy treat littered around him. "Wowie. She must really want that present." Sora facehooved, both at Twilight's stress over all of this data she's making and Pinkie's obliviousness to the situation. "Hey, guys," Spike said, stuffing his mouth with another spoonful of ice cream. "What'cha been up to?" "Spike, how much ice cream did you just eat?" Sora asked. "This is my eighth tub this week. Twilight's been so busy about this future stuff that that's all she keeps worrying about. So, I'm gonna eat as much ice cream as I want without her scolding me for eating too much." To emphasize his point, Spike stuffed his face in the tub of ice cream, eating at least half of the vanilla and strawberry swirl ice cream. "She warned me about that tummy ache, but that's future Spike's problem." Sora facehooved again at the absurd theory the baby dragon had. "You're going to be future Spike, Spike. That stomach ache's going to be all on you when that ice cream comes back to haunt you." Spike just shrugged and continued stuffing his face, Twilight looking up from her endless bout of data collecting to find Sora and Pinkie in her home. "Sora! Pinkie! Perfect timing! Pinkie Pie, can you help me recalibrate the apertures on the nine-and-quarter catadioptric telescopes?" "Okie dokie!" Pinkie said, bouncing over to one of the telescopes, though having no clue what to do with it. "Twilight? Are you alright?" Sora noticed how bloodshot the unicorn's eyes were, not only from the constant skimming of pages upon pages info, but from the lack of sleep. "Have you even slept?" "No! I haven't slept since future me came!" Twilight exclaimed. "You see, I had an epiphany after I got hit in the head by that flowerpot. Doing things to save Equestria didn't help, NOT doing anything didn't work either, and there's no way for me to predict the future. So, I came up with a smart idea; monitor EVERYTHING!" Twilight had gotten a bit too close as she explained what she had been doing, her muzzle mere inches away from Sora's, giving him a clear view of her tired and crazed pupils. "...Uhh, Twilight? Personal space?" He gently pushed her back, reminded of her manipulated state when she tried to kiss him months ago. "And you really need some rest." "I can't sleep! I only have three days until next Tuesday, and I need to prevent the disaster from coming!" Sora shook his head, Twilight having completely lost track of time from her constant fears of what the future held. "Twilight, next Tuesday is tomorrow." Twilight gasped in horror at the realization and began panicking more. "TOMORROW!? Pinkie, did you finish recalibrating the telescope!?" she asked, Pinkie just standing around like the clueless goofball she was. "I have no idea!" Pinkie said happily. "Grr! Move over!" Twilight shoved Pinkie aside and looked through the telescope she asked the pink earth pony to move. Her frantic recalibrating caused the unicorn to look up at the sun, blinding her as she accidentally poked her eye into the small end of the viewing device. "AHH! My eye! OW! OW!" "Hang on, Twilight!" Pinkie ran over to the fireplace and pulled out an eye patch from out of nowhere. "Good thing I keep eye patches hidden in case of eye patch emergency!" She put the patch over Twilight's injured eye, another feature that seemed to match up with her future self's look. "Now you look like a pirate! Or maybe a stealthy spy who has a deep, gruffy voice who was a clone of another pony who was a normal soldier. All you need is a stealth suit, and if you were a stallion, then it would be perfect! Solid Sparkle!" While Pinkie began slinking around, humming an odd spy theme as she pretended to be a covert spy, Twilight looked at herself in the mirror. "Oh no! Another sign! And the disaster's going to happen tomorrow morning! Sora, please tell me that nothing else has happened that future you warned you about!" "...Well, Kairi and I had a duel a couple days ago...and I did lose, just like I said I would." Her jaw dropped while Pinkie stopped pretending to play secret agent hearing the news, somehow wearing a red bow tie that looked like a walkie talkie. "It was a pretty close match, and I really didn't hold back against her." "Aww! I missed your fight!?" Pinkie whined, her voice sounding like an alien as she spoke into the bow tie. "Oh well, I'll read how it went down when I scroll up this chapter later today. It better be a good fight and not lazily written!" Sora, Twilight, and Spike ignored Pinkie, the unicorn grabbing the pegasus's jacket and pulling him toward her. "This is bad, Sora! It's coming true! There's only one thing to do to prevent the disaster from happening; stop time!" "You can't stop time, Twilight," Sora said, gently pulling Twilight's hooves off his clothes. "You can! Your Stop spells! If I can find some way to power it in order to permanently stop time until we can stop the disaster-" Sora stopped the unicorn from whatever crazy plan she had in mind for using his Stop magic, squishing her cheeks in his forehooves and forcing her to face him. "Twilight, don't even think about it!" he exclaimed. "My friends and I have already dealt with a young Xehanort who was able to manipulate time for a short moment, bringing back other versions of himself to recreate Organization XIII to get a powerful Keyblade that's far more powerful than any other! We are not messing around with time, or time travel, or freezing time! Stop is only used on opponents, freezing them in place for a short amount of time to deal damage to them or temporarily stop them from doing anything reckless!" "...Oh." Sora sighed, finally getting through to her. "Then we'll find a spell in the Royal Canterlot Archives that can help me stop time!" And the pegasus smacked himself harder in the face once again, groaning in irritation as Twilight didn't even listen to the dangerous outcomes of his and Riku's time through the dream realms. "Come on, guys! We're going to Canterlot and stop this before it's too late!" "Yay! Super secret spy time!" Pinkie cheered as she and Spike followed after Twilight outside the library. "Dun dun, da-na-na! Dun-dun-da!" "Dang it, Twilight," Sora grumbled, feeling the red hoof mark forming on his forehead. "I better follow them and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid and make things worse for herself." Later that evening, Twilight, Pinkie, Spike, and Sora rode the train from Ponyville to Canterlot, following the sleep deprived and manically panicked unicorn to the castle. Inside was a special library only given access to those under Celestia's approval, where they would find the powerful spells Twilight needed, deep in her favorite idol's section of the archives. The former three were wearing black full body suits to camouflage them under the cover of night, though how Pinkie's mane was able to fit underneath her hood was beyond Sora. He couldn't really understand why they were sneaking around the castle since Twilight actually visited Celestia on a daily basis as her personal student and any guests she brought with her were welcomed, but it was mostly due to her being so tired that her brain can't think straight. After hiding behind a bush, Twilight leapt out of it, the branches digging into her suit and creating tears in it, now making her look like future Twilight. "This is ridiculous. We don't need to sneak around, Twilight." "Shush! Do you want us to get caught!?" Twilight scolded Sora, the pegasus sighing in defeat, just going along with her plan. Spike followed after her, carrying an ice cream cone, constantly putting a fresh scoop on the cone after licking his umpteenth amount of frozen dairy treat for the whole week. "Pinkie, I think Twilight needs another vacation. You have any ideas where she can go to, like a beach somewhere?" Sora didn't get an answer, turning around to see no sign of the pink mare anywhere. "Pinkie?" In his peripheral vision, the teen spotted movement on his right, noticing an oddly placed cardboard box just lying in the middle of the courtyard. He saw a fluffy pink tail stick out, rolling his eyes as Pinkie hid in the worst hiding place of all time. Sora approached it and picked the box up, Pinkie flinching as she was spotted, a large red exclamation point appearing over her head as a loud alarm blared for a second. "My cover's blown!" she shouted, earning a bonk on the head by the stallion's hoof. "Pinkie, quit fooling around," he said. "But I love playing as a spy. All I need are gadgets and I'm all set." Sora dragged Pinkie by her tail, the earth pony flailing her hooves as she tried to grab her box disguise. "Noooo! Without my box, I'm gonna be called Naked Pink!...And I'm wearing a stealth suit!" Meeting back up with the sleep deprived unicorn and the ice cream guzzling baby dragon near one of the open windows of the castle. The group "snuck" in and began searching around for the archives. Twilight lead the way, Spike and Pinkie following after her while avoiding guards down one of the corridors, Sora staying behind when he looked directly ahead of him. The Canterlot Archives were directly in front of the window they all snuck in through. "Well, I guess Twilight really has lost it if she can't pay attention to where everything in the castle was...when she's been in the castle for many years since she was little." Sora walked up to the locked door, seeing the many important scrolls and tomes stored away through the golden bars. Calling his Keyblade, her aimed it at the lock, shot a small beam of light into it and unlocked it, a quiet click echoing in the halls. "I hope I don't get in trouble again with the guards over Twilight's pointless plan." Sora walked inside and kept it unlocked for when the others made their way around the castle and realized they had found the archives as soon as they broke in. Shelves were filled with many years of Equestria's historical events, spells, recipes, important ponies, everything either kept for the world to know or locked away from any evildoers who wish to get dirt on someone or discover a dangerous spell they could use to take over the kingdom. Navigating his way through the many shelves, he found a wing dedicating the unicorn wizard over a thousand years ago that Twilight had talked about; Star Swirl the Bearded. There was even a statue of him, showing those who were curious as to who's work lied beyond the golden statue. The teen glossed over the many old scrolls of spells the old wizard had made, far too many cramped in different sections and completely unorganized. If there was a time spell in here made by Star Swirl, it would be a pain to find it in this mess, almost being as cluttered as Twilight's book reading binges. As he peeked around the corner, he spotted a large treasure chest, the same type that Apple Bloom had found, only it was colored gold and blue with white stars. It was a bigger than the other one, meaning it must hold something of great importance, and since it was not of this world, it probably didn't belong in the archives. Sora gave the chest a hard tap on the lid, opening it up to see what was inside. Hidden away in the golden chest was what looked like a spell orb. Inside of the orb was what looked like a clock, though the hour and minute hands spun around in opposite directions from each other. The orb was soon being absorbed by him, Sora feeling its power radiate within him and filling his mind with what it is and how to use it. Reverse/Forward Transports caster to different time periods. Uses a massive amount of mana, but is only available when it is needed to balance the flow of time. "Whoa..." Sora looked down at his Keyblade, feeling the new time traveling spell in his own power. It almost feels like the same kind of power Young Xehanort had used to bring his other selves to create Organization XIII, along with bringing the old man who started all of this back with him. "This is something I can't abuse. And I know better than to mess around with time...But, will it only work here for Equestria or when it's needed?...Like...me going back a week to give Twilight my list of things to look out for me specifically." Sora scratched his head, already getting confused with all the complicated time travel logic. "Time is a lot more confusing than wondering what other worlds there are out in the universe." He soon heard a commotion down one of the many shelves of Star Swirl's wing, peeking around the corner to see Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike searching around the thousands of scrolls for the spell to stop time. "Sora! There you are! Where were you!?" "...I was in here. The archives were obviously in front of the window we jumped in," Sora said. "Well, don't just stand there! Tuesday morning is about to come! We need to find that time stopping spell!" Twilight began skimming through hundreds of scrolls by the minute, finding no sign of the spell she was looking though. Sadly for her, the sun was already rising from outside the window, Tuesday morning already here. "No. We're too late! Take cover!" The unicorn plopped on her stomach and took cover, awaiting the inevitable disaster that would destroy the world. Nothing happened. Twilight had panicked for no reason to receive a message from her from the future and not pay any attention because she saw herself travel back in time. Now, she was future Twilight, meaning there was no disaster, just an unfortunate message unheard while she looked like she came from a deadly timeline ahead of the past version of her she met. "Hello, Twilight. Sora." Twilight's peeked out from under her hooves while Sora looked over at the entrance to the archives. Princess Celestia walked by to greet them. "Lovely morning today, isn't it?" "Sure is, Celestia," Sora said. "Lovely, and peaceful." Twilight slowly stood up and looked out the window, confused as to where the disaster was. "No disaster." "...But, did that mean I was frantic the whole week for nothing?" the lavender mare asked. "Afraid so. Now, you are future Twilight." She looked down at herself, looking absolutely ridiculous, almost as if she came back from a war zone after being imprisoned by the enemy. "You let your panic about what you should do in the next month or so that you ended up freaking out over the 'disaster' that you were 'warned' about." "...Right...I'm going to stop worrying about the future and just go along with what's going on now," Twilight said. "If only I could just go back to tell myself not to worry." "Hey, Twilight! I found something!" Pinkie said, pulling out a scroll from one of the shelves. "It's not exactly a time stopper spell, but it can take you back in time! The only thing is that it can only be used once and lasts for only a few moments!" "I think that's all I need." Twilight grabbed the scroll with her aura and looked over the spell. "Now to tell myself not to constantly worry about a disaster that will never happen. See you guys in a little bit!" Twilight cast the spell and traveled back in time by a week to meet with her past self to warn her of the disaster that would never come. "She's not going to get the message out to her." "What makes you say that?" Pinkie asked, Spike too busy eating more ice cream to bother caring. "Because we wouldn't be sitting here in the Canterlot Archives right now with any memory of what happened the past week." Pinkie seemed to understand as she nodded her head, or she was nodding just to pretend she understood. Eventually, Twilight did come back in a flash of light. "-waste your time...worrying...about the..." The unicorn groaned, rubbing her forehead in irritation. "I can't believe I did that. Future Twilight was me trying to tell myself not to panic about the future, but I didn't listen to myself! Urgh. I am so annoying." Sora and Pinkie laughed, Twilight now seeing from another perspective over how annoyingly curious and stubborn she was. "Now I'm going to spend the next week freaking out...Unless...Sora, can you cast the spell?" "Well...I'm not really a unicorn, but I did manage to find a spell similar to it that was in a chest in here." Sora held his Keyblade out, wanting to test out his variation of the time travel spell. Before he tried the spell, he found an empty slip of paper and an abandoned pen, writing out his warnings to his past self just like the one written out to him. "I'm itching to test it out, though I can only use it at certain times. I'll be right back. I hope." Holding out his Keyblade, Sora spun it around in a counter-clockwise formation, as if reversing time on an invisible clock. He stopped, holding it vertically as a light sparked from the tip. "Reverse!" A clock portal appeared over the teen and slid down over him, making him disappear as it passed through him, sending him back to the time he requested to go, keeping the timeline from messing up. Sora appeared in a flash of light in the Golden Oak Library, making past Twilight yelp at his sudden appearance. "Whoa. That was a trip." "S-Sora!?" she exclaimed. "W-What the heck is going on!?" "I'm from a week in the future," he said. "Wait, the same future the future me came from!?" she asked. Twilight dragged Sora toward her with her aura by his shirt. "I got too excited that I didn't let myself explain why she was so messed up! What kind of disaster is going to happen next week!?...And why don't you look banged up like her...me...I'm already confusing myself." "Well, given the fact I can't exactly tell you because of possible paradoxes, which I really don't want to make, I can't tell you." Completely baffled, past Twilight let Sora go, the teen giving the unicorn his message to himself later in the day. "Make sure to give this to past me. He's not gonna believe any of it, but he will soon." He stepped back, dug into his red pouch to pull out a bottle of ether, regenerating his mana with the blue sparkles glowing around him. "Later. Forward!" Sora spun his Keyblade around clockwise to move forward back to the present, the same clock falling over him and sending him a week forward back to the others, leaving a very confused past Twilight behind. As soon as Sora returned back to the present in the archives, he felt mentally drained from casting his time traveling spells twice in a row. He couldn't feel the magic anymore, unable to be used right now, just as the spell had described to him. "Well?" Twilight asked. "Did you tell me?" "Nope." The unicorn's jaw dropped in shock. "I can't change the past, Twilight. Since everything's normal, that means I did my job as well." "You've got to be kidding me," she groaned. "I'm still going to panic." "Twilight, if I made any changes like you tried to, then you probably wouldn't exist right now," Sora began explaining. "I may not be smart at stuff like this, but I do know that messing around with time can create paradoxes and alternate the timeline to a different future. I really don't know how Xehanort was able to bring back multiple versions of his past self without screwing the timeline up, but we're lucky it didn't have any repercussions." "He does have a point," Pinkie said. "We'll just leave that panicky stuff for past Twilight." The ponies heard groaning nearby, seeing Spike curled up in a ball, clutching his stomach. "Oooogh. My stomach..." He dropped the ice cream cone, not wanting to be anywhere near the cause of his upset stomach. "I thought...this stomach ache would be...future Spike's problem." "You are future Spike now, Spike." Twilight, Pinkie, and Sora chuckled, the unicorn carefully picking up the baby dragon. "I'm ready to sleep the whole day after a week of insomnia." "I'll fly on ahead to Ponyville, guys," Sora said, fishing out one of his summoning pendants from his pouch, specifically the one with the ukulele. "I need to teach one of the two little fillies a lesson on cheering for the wrong crowd." The sun was peeking up along horizon, bathing Ponyville in its light and warm glow. Down at Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom was still asleep in her bed, sleeping in from the long day she had yesterday. Her bedroom door creaked open softly, a light pitter-pattering coming from the ceiling and not the floor. The skittering stirred the filly awake, sitting up with sleepy eyes to see what was scratching around. Finding nothing invading her room, she laid her head back down on the pillow to fall back asleep. Her eyes widened when she saw something looking down at her from her ceiling. It looked like a tiny blue koala-dog creature with black eyes, long ears, a short, stubby tail and it hung on the ceiling like it was a bug or a lizard. It just stared at her, blinking its eyes. Apple Bloom didn't dare move, having no clue what kind of animal this is or if it was dangerous, and wondered how it managed to get in her family's home. "Banzai!" the creature shouted, dropping down on top of the filly. Apple Bloom screamed as she was attacked by it, being licked and slobbered all over as it crawled all over her. From outside her room, Sora leaned against the wall with a grin as he heard the panicked filly trying to get away from his little friend. She came out of the room fleeing for her life, tackled by the blue ball of fluffiness and licked to death. After another moment of sticky, slimy licks, the odd little canine skittered up to Sora and sat on his head. "Good morning, sleepyhead!" Sora said, Apple Bloom groaning in annoyance as she sat up. As she leered at him, the pegasus began laughing as he saw the state she was in: her fur and hair were coated in saliva, huge clumps of her hair sticking up out of place, making her look like a disfigured pony porcupine. "I see you met my little buddy, Stitch. He's got quite the slobbery tongue, huh? Say hi to Apple Bloom, Stitch." "Hiiiiii," Stitch said, waving his paw at the filly. "...Why?" Apple Bloom asked, sneering at Sora. "Because you cheered for the wrong fighter when Kairi and I sparred. But don't worry. Sweetie Belle will get the same treatment." Sora chuckled, patting Stitch on the head. "Come on, buddy. Let's go meet another new friend." "Ooooooh! Agabita magunta!" Apple Bloom had no idea what Stitch had said, but he held the same sinister grin that Sora had as they left the farm to see Sweetie Belle. Her eye twitched as she grumbled, heading into the bathroom to clean herself of the sticky slobbering she got. "Sora, y'all are gonna get it later." She walked inside and closed the door, only to open it again and poke her head out in shock. "Did that blue dog actually talk???"