My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria

by Codex92

The Crystalling (Part 1)

"Ok...Where in Equestria is the library again?" Starlight asked herself as she navigated her way through the Castle of Friendship. She had been living here for about a week ever since her plan to change the past ended, and she still couldn't find her way around, even with a map. The unicorn had to rely on Twilight or anyone else to guide her somewhere, to the ire of a couple of them. Mostly Aqua and Ventus. Sora seemed to have let go of his grudge, though he still seemed to be judge her at times, but Aqua still intended on treating her like a prisoner walking on incredibly thin ice and Ventus didn't want to trust her after admitting to him she had erased a few minutes of his memory encountering her back in Canterlot a while back. Looking down at her map, she was already lost. "Ugh. How was I lucky enough to find the throne room when I can't even find my own room? This place looked so much smaller from the outside..."

Starlight poked her head through any door she thought was the right way, only to find empty rooms and a couple supply closets, but not the library. She wished she could teleport around to her destination, but looking down at the choker around her neck, her magic was only limited to using basic telekinesis. Sighing sadly, she approached the next door and opened it up. Upon opening it, her eyes grew wide and her cheeks turned red as she ran into Terra in what she tried to go through was a small bathroom, the earth pony stallion wearing nothing but a towel around his lower half as he focused on the mirror, looking over himself with shaving cream on his face and a razor in his hoof. While in the middle of a stroke, he noticed the door was opened and spotted Starlight had barged in on him.

"...Morning," he calmly said.

"Gah!" Starlight quickly slammed the door shut, embarrassed at seeing the half-naked stallion, even though ponies don't usually wear clothes in the first place despite Terra and the other Keyblade wielders always wearing something. "Sorry, Terra! I still have no idea where everything is, even with this map...Wait, don't we have our own bathrooms in our rooms?"

"Aqua doesn't want me leaving a mess in our bathroom sink, so I'm using this one," Terra said. Inside the bathroom, he ran his hoof over the shaved portions of his face he did get. "I still don't get how I shave off my darker stubble without getting the fur on my face after all these years...Must be enchanted razors or cream."

"Well, do you know where the library is from here?" Starlight asked. "I can't tell if I'm on a different floor or not."

"It's the next door on the left," Terra said, pointing his hoof out between the door.

Looking to her left, she found the bigger doors that lead the library. "Oh...How did I pass it? Uhh, thanks."

Leaving Terra to his shaving, Starlight entered the library, where she found Twilight going through a list she was making. "Acceptance, mhmm...Altruism, definitely," the alicorn muttered to herself. She looked up from her work, noticing Starlight walking into the library and approach her. "Starlight, good morning."

"Sorry I'm late, Twilight," Starlight apologized. "Got a bit turned around...and this map is not helpful at all with guiding me where I want to go. I think you need some signs set up for every room."

"It's not that difficult. The maps are enchanted." Twilight took Starlight's map and showed her the layout. Earlier, it had showed the unicorn the outer halls, along with several doorways, but now it only showed the layout of the library, even marking where furniture was to avoid bumping into them, and there was a marker with Starlight's cutie mark showing her exact location. "They only show the room or hall you're currently in, but the details for them are exactly how you'd see it from a higher perspective."

"And they can't show me where each room leads to what room so I don't get confused?" Starlight questioned.

"Well...I didn't think much about that," Twilight said with a nervous giggle. "I guess we got used to finding where everything was after a while, we didn't need an added part of the enchantment to tell us what each room was. I'm sure you'll get used to everything in a while."

"Right..." Starlight took back her map, letting out a sigh. "I still can't believe you made me your pupil, even after all I did."

"Well, I'm not one to dwell in the past, and neither should you," Twilight said. "The castle's your home now, too."

"It doesn't feel like a home," the unicorn uttered sadly, pressing her hoof against the enchanted choker around her neck. "More like a...luxurious prison."

Twilight winced, nearly forgetting Aqua had issued punishing Starlight for her actions. Even though she went along with it, knowing that every terrible act deserves a consequence, she believed Aqua was a bit harsh in her judgement. But, then again, the Keyblade Master was only doing what she thought was the sensible reason for someone who threatened to destroy the future over something as silly as losing a best friend over a cutie mark when Starlight was a filly. And she's always on edge, fearing making another mistake by giving someone a second chance with how much damage they've done not to the worlds, but to the ones she loves.

"W-Well, as far as being my pupil goes, I was trying to figure out what your first friendship lesson should be!" Twilight quickly said, diverting the topic away from Starlight's imprisoning sentence and held out the list she was working on.

Starlight cringed at all the different things Twilight listed, wearing a fake smile, even though she was incredibly nervous at what that first lesson will be. "Heh. Well, looks like you've...really narrowed it down."

"Oh, those are just the A's." Starlight balked, her jaw dropping as she looked over the list again. "After this, I move on to the B's!"

Twilight pointed her hoof at several piles of papers and a couple rolled up scrolls, the smile on the alicorn's excited face only worrying Starlight as she gave her a scrunched, overly terrified grin of her own. "Oh...Great," she said, laughing nervously as her mind screamed, "I am going to die by learning! Help!" She couldn't help but walk over to the piles, looking through the seemingly endless lessons that were just the B's in Twilight's lesson plan. "Twilight, I know I'm just learning about friendship now, but I didn't think there'd be this many lessons. How do we even choose?"

"Uhh...I should probably pare things down a bit before we go through them." As Twilight began to second-guess herself on which of the lessons laid out were of most importance, she gasped before snatching away a couple of lessons Starlight didn't want her to look at just yet before approaching her. "Why don't you join the others in the throne room? They're planning our trip to the Crystal Empire when Shining Armor and Cadence have their baby!"

"Throne room! Got it!" Starlight said, eager to get away from the future lessons and ran out the door, only to skid to a halt and poke her head back through the door. "Uhh, which way is that again?"

"Need another bit of guidance again?" She yelped when she heard Terra behind her, almost threatening to blast him with magic if it weren't for her choker suppressing her spells. Cleanly shaven and wearing his clothes again, he let out a small laugh after spooking her. "Guess that's why we're not supposed to spook a horse from behind. They're bound to get you if you're stupid enough to stay behind them."

"Please don't do that again!" Starlight exclaimed once her heart stopped pounding against her chest. "I feel more vulnerable if I can't use magic well enough to defend myself."

"Sorry," Terra apologized. "I'll show you where the throne room is."

Starlight followed Terra as he lead her down the halls, forgetting about the map of the castle and relied on trying to memorize where they were going. Out of the Keyblade wielders she expected to look down on her for what she had done, she never expected Terra to be the one who was the nicest out of them, along with Riku and Kairi. Terra was an incredibly tall and buff earth pony stallion, showing more strength than he appeared, but he's far from threatening by his appearance and spiky hair. Anytime she met with the others, getting dirty looks from Ventus and Aqua as they soon looked away from her, she always noticed a look of sympathy come from him, as if he knew what she had experienced.

"Hey, Terra?" Starlight asked. "...Why are so nice to me? I thought you'd be mad at me just like Aqua, but...you're more calm and level-headed than she is, and I expected her to be the same when I first met you all."

"Twilight told us the reason why you tried to change the past: your best friend left you, you felt betrayed when he got his cutie mark, and you felt bitter and resented cutie marks and wanted to get back at us for ruining the philosophy you were trying to make." She winced as he basically summarized exactly why she shouldn't be forgiven, but she stayed quiet and continued hearing him out. "You felt like your best friend had betrayed you, forgetting about you and never knowing how hurt you were after leaving, right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Starlight uttered, her ears drooping sadly.

"...I had that exact feeling with Aqua one time," he said, surprising the unicorn. "This happened a long time ago, probably while you were a filly. While I embarked on a journey after failing the Mark of Mastery exam, I tried to seek Xehanort for his guidance."

"The old stallion who helped Sora and Twilight in the Sombra timeline?" Starlight asked.

"He's not as nice as he seemed in that timeline," Terra reminded the mare. "See, before our former master, Eraqus, judged us during the exam, while Aqua and I dueled to show off our skills, I somehow tapped into the power of darkness by complete accident when I was outmatched. I didn't use it though, but it startled me, and caused me to fail in the end. Xehanort told me the darkness could be controlled, and like an idiot, I believed him and tried to find him so he could teach me how..." He sighed, thinking back to how naive he was back then. "After we split up, all three of us met together in a world called Radiant Garden, chasing down separate parts of a creature of negative emotion called an Unversed. We worked together to defeat it as it combined itself, but Aqua told me what I did wasn't the right way when confronting my darkness, I assumed she had been spying on me and thought I was straying from the light.

"I got upset with her and thought she didn't trust me, but she was only looking out for me and tried to help me...Everything I did after that only made things worse: I had a hand in killing Master Eraqus, Xehanort dealing the final blow after I only tried to protect Ven from him, I couldn't stop Xehanort or Vanitas in time, which lead to Ven in a heartless, comatose state, Xehanort overpowered me and took control of my heart, using my body to try to kill Aqua, and because she wanted to protect me, she sacrificed herself and brought me back from the Realm of Darkness while taking my place once she defeated me...My biggest regret was being so stubborn back then, and actually believing Xehanort after he used us in his schemes of obtaining Kingdom Hearts." Starlight recalled Aqua's own summary of what befell her, Terra, and Ventus, but hearing Terra's side to his unfortunate fate, she never thought someone like him would have ever lost his way and wound up being used as a vessel.

"...So, you thought Aqua didn't trust you with what you were doing and...you believed she wasn't your friend anymore?" Starlight asked.

"In a way, yes, but I should have known better when she made this." Terra stopped and pulled out his old Wayfinder. "These Wayfinders were something she made to remind us of how strong our bonds were as friends. Because of what we faced, all the turmoils we've struggled through in the worlds we visited, we completely forgot how unbreakable that bond was supposed to be." He put away his Wayfinder and looked at Starlight. "Though we acted out for different reasons, we both felt like we were betrayed by our best friend. It wasn't the case for either of us: I went down the wrong path, thinking I was right and tried to control my darkness and use it as a strength, but you were lost and didn't know what to do, only growing bitter as your thoughts lingered on what you lost. Aqua never gave up on me, and helped me realize my mistakes."

"...But Sunburst didn't," Starlight said, stating the differences for Terra. He had his friends, but she had no one, and Sunburst never knew how much pain he gave her. "...He never even said goodbye to me before he moved..."

"Don't think that he's already forgotten and abandoned you," Terra said. He placed his hoof on her shoulder, making her look at him as he tried to reassure her. "He probably missed you as well when he moved. But if he was in a very prestigious school, most of his time could have gone into his studies and he didn't have any to write to you. The one thing about your best friends is that they never give up on each other." Starlight doubted Terra was right, but she was willing to believe there was a chance. "Sora and Riku are prime examples of that...Even though Riku also went down a dark path like I had, but Sora helped him see the light."

"...What happened to Riku?" Starlight asked curiously.

"I think Riku can explain his experiences better," he said. "You'll have to ask him about his feelings of betrayal yourself."

Starlight made herself a reminder to ask Riku later, continuing following Terra until they reached the throne room. The rest of the council was already inside as they sat on their thrones, Terra's appearing upon entering the room, resting his Keyblade against his seat and sat beside Aqua, who was busy trying to fix the Cutie Map. Most of the group was in the middle of discussing their trip to the Crystal Empire, though Aqua and Ventus leered at Starlight before getting back to work on the map and listening on the others respectively.

"I say we should leave ASAP," Rainbow said. "I don't want to miss the Crystalling!"

"Don't we have to wait for the invitation first?" Kairi questioned.

"Frankly, I'm not exactly clear on the customs and traditions of the Crystal Empire," Applejack said. "Especially when it comes to the Crystallin'."

"What's a Crystalling?" Starlight asked curiously.

"Well, that's just it, darling," Rarity said. "Princess Cadence and Shining Armor's baby is due any day, and we're still not sure. The Crystal Empire has been gone for a thousand years. A lot of their customs are a bit murky."

"We know it has somethin' to do with the baby," Applejack said.

"And a party!" Pinkie quickly said.

"And the Crystal Heart," Fluttershy added.

"And a party!" Pinkie said again.

"And a strange energy that comes from the Crystal Heart," Sora added.

"Aaaaaaand-" Pinkie stood up on the Crystal Map, only to yelp as she was yanked off of it by Aqua's aura.

"A party, we get it," the blue unicorn said in annoyance. "Stay off this table until I figure out how to get this thing to work."

Pinkie whined and slumped back to her seat. "Am I that predictable?"

"Yes, and no," Riku responded.

"The Crystalling's not that hard to understand," Spike said as he walked in the room, carrying a scroll with him as he sat down in his small throne. "Most things in the Crystal empire aren't, like how Sora and I are big heroes there, for example!" Unfurling the scroll, the baby dragon showed everyone what seemed to be a drawn illustration he made of him holding the Crystal Heart above him, while Sora in his Harmony Form could be seen in the background. The others showed no amusement as they knew he and Sora were quite popular in the empire, though Starlight raised a brow when she heard Spike had helped saved the newly returned kingdom in the north. Spike giggled in embarrassment, lowering the scroll under the table. "Plus, I had to help Twilight do a lot of research on Crystallings."

"Even after coming back from an exhausting time travel loop, she still wants to study," Riku said aloud. "Then again, hearing from Shining Armor that her niece or nephew would be born soon and this Crystalling was of great importance in the empire, she always has energy when it comes to learning new things."

Spike then pulled out a purple vase, designs on the sides depicting the events of the Crystalling with a pony couple holding their newborn foal, one of the parents searching for something in a couple of similar crystals, a mare bowing to the parents, a group of ponies celebrating as they witnessed the mother with the foal, and finally showing the Crystal Heart above the foal as the ponies watched. "Whenever a baby is born in the Crystal Empire, the parents bring it before the Crystal Heart. They get the purest shard of crystal they can find, then pick a crystaller to present the baby everypony who comes. Then they all share the light and joy they feel, feeding it into the crystal that joins with the Heart, and increases its power! And this is going to be a royal Crystalling, so the whole empire will show up! Something like this has never happened in a millennia!"

"What do you mean it increases the Crystal Heart's power?" Starlight asked.

"Since the Crystal Heart is filled with light, the barrier surrounding the empire protects it from darkness," Sora said. "So that means it needs a power charge to keep it standing, keeping the land safe from Heartless and the harsh weather up there."

"Wasn't Sombra still inside the Crystal Empire when the mysterious Keyblade wielder back then forced the power of darkness in his heart?" Ventus asked. "How was it possible for it to pass through the barrier as Sombra explained it in his journal?"

"The barrier was probably weak enough if a Crystalling didn't happen around that time," Kairi theorized. "That darkness was able to slip by, and since the barrier itself was what destroyed Sombra, he was able to live in the empire without it killing him back then...killing the former ruler a thousand years ago."

"Oh," Starlight uttered, enlightened by the Crystal Heart's importance in the Crystal Empire. "I mean, I did hear news about it returning, but...I guess I was so busy keeping my town of equality in check to pay much attention to other parts of Equestria." Everyone then looked at her, making the unicorn realize she probably should have focused on what had happened throughout the kingdom, which could have prevented her from trying to capture them, steal their cutie marks, and attempt to change the past after not knowing how important the sonic rainboom truly was. Aqua's glare at her made her flinch, her scowl a sign telling her she should have known better from the start, making her giggle nervously as she tried to look away from the irritated Keyblade Master. "...I'm gonna find Twilight now..."

Starlight backed away, and as soon as she reached the door, she turned tail and ran, remembering where the library was this time. Aqua let out a heavy sigh, rubbing her eyes as she looked down at the map, having barely any sleep while working on the Cutie Map.

"For being smart, she's not the brightest," Aqua grumbled. "It took her several alternate futures to realize how important the girls are, and in neither of them did she bother seeing how it would all turn out if she was successful."

"Ok, Aqua, relax," Terra said, gently rubbing his hooves against her shoulders. "She realizes now, and she's serving her sentence. You need to take a break from working on the map."

Aqua groaned as Terra's strong hooves massaged her sore neck. As much as she wanted to disagree and keep finding a way to bring the map back to life as it was important for both finding friendship problems and searching for Heartless in the world's layout, her tired body was beginning to give in to her lover's treatment.

"We need it, Terra," Aqua said, letting out a grunt that lead to a sigh as the stallion pressed out a very painful knot in her shoulders.

"I know, but that doesn't mean you have to work on it every single hour of the day," he said. "You're already getting stressed out enough...When we get that invitation to the Crystalling, maybe seeing Shining Armor and Cadence's baby will help distract you. What do you think, Aqua?" Not getting a response, Terra stopped massaging Aqua's shoulders. "Aqua?"

He leaned over to check on her, her head leaning back against his chest as she ended up falling asleep, succumbing to her exhaustion thanks to his touch. "Wow, she must be that tired if she zonked out over a massage," Rainbow commented.

"Terra's got the magic touch!" Pinkie said. "Give me a nappy massage next!"

"I don't think so," Terra said, wrapping his hooves around Aqua as she twisted around, using his chest as a pillow as she mumbled something in her sleep. "Aqua really needs some rest...Hopefully this small nap will do her some good."

---

Starlight managed to find the library on her own this time, finding memory more helpful than the map, finding Twilight still going over her friendship lessons for her. "Hey, Twilight, can I ask you something about the Crystal Empire?"

"Huh! Funny you should mention it," Twilight said. She held up three separate pages in front of Starlight as she approached her pupil. "Because I just narrowed down your first friendship lesson to three different options, and one of them is in the Crystal Empire!"

"Really?" Starlight asked curiously, a little excited by her first official lesson being there of all places, especially if the Crystalling happens at the same time.

"I found out that's where the first pony you ever cared about lives!" The unicorn's excitement quickly turned to fear, having no idea how Twilight found out where her first and only friend and crush happened to be staying.

"S-Sunburst?" she uttered to herself.

"Of course, that is just one idea. We could also go to Griffonstone..." Twilight's words began to fall from Starlight's ears as she began to dread seeing Sunburst again as part of her first friendship lesson.

Her ears drooped as scenarios played constantly in her head, all of them meeting with the colt now a full-grown stallion and ending in some kind of disaster. So many questions ran through her head, and the answers were those worst-case scenarios with her being hurt or unloved by her old friend: Would he accept her after she admitted all she had done? Will he turn her confession of her love for him down and call her a heartless monster? Would he hurt her, feeling just as mad as Aqua and Ventus are to her now when she explained what she did to those ponies in her old village of equality and changing the past? She clenched her eyes shut, tears beginning to run down her cheeks as her heart wrenched from the outcomes of losing Sunburst. She desperately wanted to see him again, but she didn't want to as well, just to avoid the rejection and scorn he might give her if he ever discovered the truth after they had split up.

"Starlight?" Starlight gasped, panting heavily as she was snapped out of her thoughts. She looked at Twilight, who began to look concerned for her when she saw her shedding tears. "...What's wrong?"

"Huh?" Feeling her wet cheeks, Starlight wiped away her tears and wore a fake grin. "I-I'm fine. I just...got something in my eyes. But, those ideas sound great. Heheh..."

"Oh. Maybe I should ask Spike to dust the library again." Starlight couldn't believe how gullible Twilight was when she believed her, the whole room completely spotless and devoid of any dust. "But you were right, Starlight; it IS going to be hard to choose just one of these three for your first lesson."

"Y-Yeah..." Starlight decided to leave, wanting to head back to her room and cry as her meeting with Sunburst ending horribly came flooding back. Leaving the library, she blindly made her way through the halls, unaware she was being followed as she opened a door she thought was her room. Instead, she opened up a supply closet, sending all the cleaning instruments falling to the floor, making her groan in irritation. "Oh, come on! I'm never going to find my way around this place!"

"It's not hard to find your way around with the map Twilight created." Shrieking in fright, Starlight stumbled over the fallen supplies, quickly turning around to find Riku standing behind her. "Maybe if you paid attention to where you were going, you'd find the right door to enter."

"Can you all stop scaring me!?" Starlight exclaimed, scrambling back onto her hooves and levitated the supplies back in the closet, slamming the door with a harsh slam. "And why were you following me? To make sure I didn't blow up some cleaning supplies? I can't do much except throw them around with this stupid choker on!"

"You didn't get anything in your eyes," Riku said. "Twilight might not have noticed, but I saw the painful look on your face after she mentioned reuniting with your old friend in the Crystal Empire." Starlight's ears drooped, unable to find an excuse as she lowered her head. She could fool Twilight, but not her coltfriend. "You afraid of seeing him again?"

"...Maybe...I don't know," Starlight said. "I didn't think one of Twilight's first friendship lessons would be reuniting with Sunburst..."

"How is that a bad thing?" Riku asked.

Starlight sighed as she began to tell him about her relationship with Sunburst. "When we were foals, Sunburst knew everything there was to know about magic. He always knew just what to do, and he was always there to help me..." Memories of her friend's bright mind flashed before her eyes, more repressed ones about Sunburst to keep her heart from aching back then. Whenever they were together, she always struggled with something, even basic levitation. But Sunburst, always with a magic book with him, showed her the proper method of how the spell worked, and after figuring it out, she was able to cast spells perfectly until mastering it within seconds. Anything from lifting objects, cleaning a mess she made during snack time, all it took was Sunburst's guidance through knowledge, and it was a breeze for her to do after being shown. Then came the memories of him getting his cutie mark, brushing her aside to show everyone in her old home, and then leaving without so much as acknowledging her. Tears welled in her eyes again from the pain, which only hurt worse when she sees him again and eventually finds out what she did as a result of losing him. "I guess...it's not surprising Sunburst got his cutie mark in magic and went off to Celestia's school...But when he left..."

"And the rest is history." The unicorn nodded, rubbing her eyes to wipe away her tears before they fell again.

"I don't want him to know what I did to all of you, everypony in my old village, or every world out there with my stupid revenge scheme," Starlight said. "He would hate me..."

"And how do you know he will if he hears you out?" Riku asked. Starlight opened her mouth, but she didn't have an answer. She really didn't know how he'd react, but it would only be worse if she also expressed her feelings to Sunburst, fearing rejection along with ridicule after telling her past to him. Getting no response as the mare lowered her head, Riku placed his hoof on her shoulder. "Starlight, if Sunburst really is your best friend, then I have a feeling he won't hate you if you told him why you were so hurt in the first place."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I was the same way with Sora," Riku said. "Terra told me he told you his little history of feeling hurt by Aqua, Ven, and their old master, right?" Starlight nodded, her ears perking up a little as she wanted to know how similar he and Terra were with their feelings of "betrayal" by their best friend. "Well, it started back when our home was swallowed by darkness. Sora, Kairi, and I got split up, and I was trapped in a world called Radiant Garden, formally known as Hollow Bastion a while back. I was lost, I couldn't find them anywhere, and I began to panic...I was found by Maleficent, and like the lost little boy I became in that moment, I trusted her when I truly shouldn't have."

"Y-You actually worked with her?" Starlight asked in shock, the stallion sadly nodding his head in response. "...But why? Why would you want to work with...that witch?"

"Like I said before; I was lost," he said. "And she promised she would help me find Kairi. I did find Sora, but he was hanging out with two others who had helped him in his long quests: Donald and Goofy. When I saw him interact with them, I felt jealous. Maleficent spouted lies about him, saying he gave up on me and Kairi and made them his new friends...I believed that witch over my best friend, whom I had known ever since we were kids. But because of my envy, and believing Maleficent, I went down a dark path, and my envy soon turned to anger toward Sora." Riku sighed, brushing his hoof against his mane as he thought back to how stupid he was. "Even after all the times I've taunted him, yelled at him, and even tried to kill him, he never gave up on me and tried to pull me back from the darkness I was following.

"I realized how wrong I was when I embraced the darkness, no thanks to Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem, promising me more power if I allowed him in my heart...Even with that, Sora knew deep down I was still in there, and without him, I would have stayed as that stallion you saw in the Nightmare Moon timeline Sora and Twilight went through." Starlight remembered the form the alternate Riku had taken in that timeline, looking far more menacing than he does now. She still felt a twinge of guilt for being reminded of the awful timelines she didn't see, and a few nightmares involving Ponyville trapped in the Realm of Darkness when the world was destroyed by the Heartless. "In the end, Sora's still my friend, even if I didn't deserve to after all I've done, but despite all that, he forgave me as if nothing even happened...Heh. I'll never understand him sometimes..."

Even though Riku grinned, Starlight still felt miserable. After hearing both stories from Terra and Riku, she still couldn't see how all three of them had similar pasts. The two stallions had felt betrayed when they followed the wrong road, guided by Xehanort and Maleficent, both of them manipulating the Keyblade wielders into thinking they were doing the right thing, only for their naivety in how their friends truly expressed themselves blinded by the superiors they foolishly trusted. Starlight, on the other hoof, had no one to tell her what was the right or wrong thing, her actions toward the ponies she hurt her own under no influence of manipulation or darkness. The only similarity between them was being hurt by their friends, even though they never meant it, which only made her guilt worse when Sunburst leaving wasn't his fault to begin with as his family decided to up and move to Canterlot the next day after he got his cutie mark.

"Even if I could tell him, which I still don't want to, Sunburst is probably some big, important wizard," Starlight reasoned, then looked around at the hallway the duo were in. "I can't even find my way around this castle."

"You're giving your friend more credit for his own magic when you've been able to peel cutie marks off ponies, stealing what makes them unique, you managed to jump back several years in the past after perfecting a time travel spell, and you managed to hold your own against Sora in his most powerful form...even though you used the power of darkness by mistake, but that's still pretty impressive." Riku's list of Starlight's "accomplishments" only made the unicorn uneasy, being reminded of what she did to get her in trouble in the first place. "I think he'd be more interested in what spells you could do than the consequences using them."

"Gee, thanks," Starlight grumbled.

"I'm trying to help you look at the bright side." Starlight groaned as Riku's idea of making her look on the bright side was fruitless with being placed under vigilant watch while trapped in the castle like a prisoner. "If you don't like the idea right now, why don't you just tell Twilight?"

"I know, but I don't want her to think I'm not ready to learn," Starlight reasoned. "Or that I'm not grateful for everything she's doing...even saving me from being banished to the sun, or having my horn cut off like Aqua suggested." She shuddered, recalling feeling the throne room beginning to get colder the more angrier the blue unicorn had gotten that day. "She really, really doesn't like me."

"She's...been through a lot since she found her way out of the Realm of Darkness," Riku said. "...Actually, speaking of anger, why does Ven look at you coldly? Did you say something to offend him?"

Starlight chuckled, sweating nervously as she stammered, but luck was on her side as something caught Riku's attention as he winced with his ears pressing down against his head. "RIKU! COME OVER HERE, QUICK!"

"AHHH!" Riku yelped, pressing a hoof to his ear to answer his excitedly squealing girlfriend. "Twilight, for goodness sake, I can read you loud and clear if you talk normally. And where's 'here' you're talking about?"

"The balcony! HURRY!" He winced again as Twilight shouted, unfortunately unable to tune her communicator out after the time traveling loop she and Sora were trapped in a week ago.

"Well, let's see what Twilight's so happy about." Riku lead Starlight over to where Twilight was, the lavender alicorn leaning against the railing as she looked out to the north of her castle. A beaming grin rose on her face as she saw a large snowflake float toward her, Riku and Starlight finding Twilight as she held out her wing to catch it. "Is that a snowflake? In the middle of spring?"

Twilight caught the snowflake, opening up as it was made of paper, not frozen water, revealing the invitation to the Crystalling. "It's the Crystalling invitation!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly. "Shining Armor's a father! I'm an aunt! And Riku's an uncle!"

Taken aback by the claim, Riku snorted and laughed at Twilight's notion. "Ok, Twilight, don't get too far ahead. Technically, I'm not exactly going to be an uncle since we aren't married, and your niece or nephew won't be my niece or nephew."

"I don't care! You're an uncle, marriage or no marriage! Your princess orders it to be so!" The stallion sighed, shaking his head with a grin on his muzzle before being tackled into a hug by the squealing alicorn. She let go of Riku and faced Starlight. "Well, I guess that settles the issue! Since we're going to the Crystal Empire, your first friendship lesson is going to be reuniting with Sunburst!"

Starlight grimaced, swallowing the lump in her throat as Twilight ran past her and Riku to tell the others the good news. "Heheh...Great..."

---

After Twilight told the rest of her friends the invitation had arrived, everyone quickly gathered at the train station and boarded the next train to the Crystal Empire. On the trip over, the girls had brought gifts for Shining Armor and Cadence's baby that they made, and squabbled over whose was better: Applejack a wooden cradle made from her orchard's trees, the ones that couldn't grow fruit anymore at least, Rainbow a cloud mobile, amazing Pinkie as she tried to touch one of the hanging clouds with lightning bolts and made one of them drop off the thin wire it was on, and Rarity a hoof-knitted blanket to keep the baby warm. Though everyone else was excited to see the newborn princess of the Crystal Empire, Starlight dreaded the trip as she stared out the window. Twilight made the decision for her first lesson, and she wished it was the last one at this point.

"Come on, girls," Twilight intervened at the playful competition they were having over their gifts. "I'm sure Shining Armor and Cadence will love all of our gifts. But I think they're more happy that we'll be attending the baby's Crystalling."

"They might ask us all to babysit if they're too busy running the empire," Sora said. "Pound and Pumpkin were a handful even with Pinkie and I working together, but I can easily take care of one."

"Ooooh! I can't wait to see all that light and love make the Crystal Heart even more sparkly and shiny!" Pinkie said with her usual bubbly excitement.

"Actually, Pinkie, the Crystal Heart is an ancient and powerful relic," Twilight corrected. "Without its magic, the Crystal Empire would be lost to the Frozen North."

Finding a perfect excuse to try to sneak her way out of her first friendship lesson, Starlight acted impressed by the information, although she already was interested upon hearing about it. "Wow, this Crystalling sounds pretty important. I'd understand if you wanted to...you know...wait to do a different friendship lesson when we get back."

"Are you kidding? This trip is perfect!" And there went Starlight's hopes as she frowned. "Not only do I get to see the baby AND take part in the ceremony that helps maintain the magic of the Crystal Empire, but I'm starting my new pupil off with the most amazing friendship lesson ever! I can't wait!"

"Right...me neither..." Starlight sighed miserably, Twilight still dead set on having her reunite with Sunburst. She looked up at Riku, who was watching her, slightly tilting his head over to Twilight, signalling her to at least tell her how she felt about the lesson. As much as she didn't want to disappoint her teacher, she felt she wasn't ready to see Sunburst again. "Uhh, Twilight, I'm actually a bit worried about meeting Sunburst."

"Oh, trust me. I know what it's like to see old friends. But I'll be right there to help things along," the alicorn promised. Riku let out an irritated sigh as Twilight misunderstood Starlight's worries, his head slumped over. "I've even broken the whole lesson down into a few easy steps to ensure this reunion goes off without a hitch!" Pulling out a scroll, she unfurled it, which happened to be a lot longer than she swore it was supposed to be. It rolled all the way down the other end of the train car, the others watching it roll past them curiously while Riku facehooved, making Starlight more nervous than usual with the "few easy steps" Twilight made. "You ok, Riku?"

"I know you're smart, Twilight, but you do know the meaning of 'a few easy steps', right?" the stallion questioned, lifting up the overly long list in front of her. "Did you also add a list of your groceries, math equations you were randomly solving, and several letters to Celestia along with those steps?"

"Oh don't be silly," Twilight said, rolling the scroll back up and gently smacking Riku's muzzle with it. "They're a few steps, along with lists of all possible outcomes, where certain steps may or may not be glanced over to further establish a reunited friendship between two ponies who haven't seen each other since they were foals!" Riku gave Twilight a blank stare, and also made Starlight panic even more that there were going to be outcomes she put a lot of thought into for any point in the steps should those scenarios go awry. "...What?"

Gently pressing his hoof on her head, Riku leaned Twilight's head closer, moving his lips up to her ear. "Um, hello, Twilight's brain. I was wondering where exactly you keep giving the alicorn whose head you're residing in these strange plans? Not only does it make her more of a dork than ever, but I think you need to look up the definition for 'few' and replace her earlier statement to 'really, really long'."

Twilight's ear twitched as he whispered to her, her face scrunching as she struggled between giggling at his goofy act and being mad at him for it. "You're a jerk, Riku!" she said, trying to push him away from her. He smirked and whispered something else in her ear, making the alicorn blush heavily as she slapped her hooves against his chest. "Stop it! Somepony's gonna hear you say that!"

Riku chuckled deviously as he stopped, keeping the mare in his hooves as she squirmed, planting kisses on her neck despite her complaints. He stopped his assault and grinned cockily at Twilight, earning a growl from her as she lightly smacked his muzzle with her hoof. After leering at him, her gaze softened as she brought her lips to his in a chaste kiss, letting his teasing slide as she nuzzled him, catching up on what felt like years after her exhausting travels through time.

Starlight couldn't help but feel jealous as she watched the couple beside her. She tried looking away, only to see Sora and Kairi together in their seat, the pegasus teasing the pink unicorn with his wings, lightly tickling her sides until she used her magic to tease the sensitive parts of his wings, making them flare out and the stallion melt in his seat. Starlight remembered something Twilight told her when she lost herself in her rage after their final time back in the past, how Sora had sacrificed his heart to save Kairi out of his undying love for her. Just by watching them, she could tell that they were meant for each other, almost as if they had been together ever since they were kids. She envied them, too, forcing herself to look out the window with another depressed sigh and watch the scenery pass by. Her hoof subconsciously touched the enchanted choker, knowing she was never going to know what love would feel like, even if she tried to make amends with Sunburst.

The ride couldn't have been agonizing enough for the unicorn, until, at last, the train stopped at the station in the magic barrier of the Crystal Empire. The group disembarked, the mares who brought gifts gathering them as they followed Twilight, who was rechecking the list for herself in helping Starlight, see her niece/nephew, and watch the Crystalling while taking notes on the event.

"Step one, head to Sunburst's house and get you two started on the right hoof. Step two, get to the castle with enough time to visit the ba-" Twilight grunted and bumped into someone, not paying attention to where she was going. She ended up bumping into her brother, Shining Armor, although the stallion had seen better days with his hair a frazzled mess and bags weighing heavily on his eyes in exhaustion. "Shining Armor!"

"Twilight!" Shining exclaimed tiredly, hugging his sister almost desperately as she hugged him back.

"I didn't know you were meeting us here," Twilight said.

"Of course I am!" Shining said. "It's me, right here. Here I am. Why wouldn't I come to meet my sister? Though we have met before, heheheheh."

The others noticed how delirious the prince of the Crystal empire was, having a good idea why with his newborn foal had arrived. "Sheesh, Shining Armor, you're a wreck," Sora commented. "You doing ok?"

"Never better!" Shining exclaimed. "Being a father's amazing, and wonderful, and amazing, and confusing, and amazing, but surprising too, you know? I mean, not that you'd all know. You wouldn't know, I know...You know???"

Everyone was silent, neither pony or baby dragon sure how to answer the unicorn stallion's delirious rambling, that is until Ventus rose a hoof and spoke. "Uhh, is the right answer yes?"

After collecting his tired thoughts, Shining Armor shook his head, snapping back to reality. "Sorry. I haven't really slept since Cadence had the baby...Come to think of it, she hasn't either. It sure would be great to get a break."

"Oh, of course!" Twilight exclaimed, only now remembering how difficult it was raising a baby when she took care of Spike while growing up. Even though she was only a filly, Celestia took care of Spike more than she did, and he was a baby dragon, it may have been different, but it was a lot harder raising a baby with scales that could breathe fire than a baby pony. "I don't know what I was thinking! You two probably need all kinds of help." She then turned to Starlight, the unicorn sensing an opportunity for her lesson to be put on hold thanks to the baby. "I'm sorry, Starlight, but I guess combining your first lesson with this visit wasn't such a good idea."

Internally, Starlight was cheering to the heavens, thanking the almighty beings that she didn't have to see Sunburst right now, but she kept her act of feeling disappointed on the outside. "Oh, don't be ridiculous! You're an aunt now! That's WAY more important than some friendship lesson."

"I just wish there was a way to do both..." Spike began to think as Twilight seemed disappointed in herself, walking up to her and taking the list for Starlight's reunion with Sunburst.

"I think there is," he said. "You've already done the work for Starlight's lesson with this list. All we have to do is follow it, and she's sure to succeed!"

"Spike, that's a great idea!" Twilight exclaimed, hugging her number one assistant, happy to rely on him for a backup plan.

"Yeah," Starlight nervously agreed, letting out a small laugh before leering at Spike while gritting her teeth. "Genius..."

"Then it's settled! We'll head off to the castle while you two head to Sunburst's!" Spike gave Twilight a salute while Starlight giggled nervously, giving up on hoping for miracles at this point. Riku could see the light heliotrope unicorn was stressing out again, her first friendship lesson constantly switching between being canceled and getting back on track clearly making her panic. Spike wasn't going to make things easy for her either, actually considering using the long list to be Starlight's guide. "Ok, big brother, let's go see my niece or nephew!"

Her ears perked up, hearing snoring beside her. Shining Armor had passed out, falling asleep while standing as he mumbled something about the baby.

"And he's out cold," Terra said. Figuring the stallion needed some rest, Terra approached Shining Armor and hefted him on his back. "Let's go. I'm curious to see what their kid looks like."

"Me too!" Pinkie said with a squee.

As the others began making their way to the palace, Riku stayed behind, making sure to grab Twilight's attention. "Actually, I'm going to help assist Starlight with her friendship lesson with Spike."

"What!?" Twilight exclaimed. "But the baby! He or she needs to see his or her future uncle!"

"He's technically not an uncle since he's not married to you," Aqua said, surprising the two Keyblade wielders, unicorn, and baby dragon. "At least not yet. But someone needs to keep an eye on her, and not just Spike." She glanced at Starlight, who winced and averted her gaze before looking back at her Keyblade apprentice. "I'm not chancing anything with her. If she's forced to come with us when we're all outside of Ponyville, one of us has to stay close to her to make sure she doesn't run off. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, as they say."

"But she's not our enemy anymore, Aqua," Twilight tried to reason, but the unicorn huffed and walked off, following the others toward the castle. Twilight sighed, wishing Aqua didn't act so coldly around Starlight, even if she had every right not to trust her. Looking back at her pupil of friendship, she saw the scared look on her face, more disheartened as she kept pawing at her choker. "Starlight, I'm really sorry. I wish I could take that off of you, but Aqua placed a really powerful seal on it, and it'll only unlock with not just her magic, but her Keyblade as well."

"It wouldn't even matter," Starlight uttered. "She'll still hate me, even if I do redeem myself."

"S-She doesn't hate you!" Twilight reassured. "Aqua's just...gone through a lot...and finds it hard to trust somepony...when they hurt...her...friends..." Realizing her reason wasn't helping, Twilight groaned, trying to think of something to help Aqua change her mind. "Maybe she needs to see you are changing, and reconsider her idea for punishing you and keeping you under close surveillance. You're not like Xehanort, or Maleficent. You just made the wrong decisions while you were upset back then."

"Still doesn't excuse the fact I stole ponies' cutie marks, brainwashed them into being equals, and tried to change the past to get revenge on you guys for ruining what I thought made me happy," Starlight said, making Twilight's reassurances null and void.

"Look, Twilight, just head up to the castle and see the baby," Riku said. "Give Aqua some space from Starlight. We know she's always on edge after living in the Realm of Darkness, and after losing everything and just now getting back Terra and Ven, she's always stressing on finding Xehanort and killing him while also concerned with the worlds' safety from the Heartless."

Twilight hesitated with her response, but she reluctantly sighed, knowing Riku was right. "...Alright. I'll leave her be...But if you're going to stay with Starlight, don't help her figure out what to do."

"If I get frustrated, can I give her a hint?" Riku asked, but Twilight shook her head no. "Fine. My lips are sealed."

"Good." Twilight gave Riku a small kiss, making sure that promise was sealed before she ran off to catch up with the others. "Don't take too long! I want all of us to see the baby before the Crystalling!"

"Got it!" Riku called back. As soon as she was out of sight, the stallion sighed and rubbed his neck. "Alright. Let's figure out where Sunburst lives."

Starlight gulped, following Riku and Spike as they knew their way around the Crystal Empire more than she does. At least the sights were enough to distract her, viewing all the roads and structures made entirely out of crystals. It didn't help much as their destination was set on Sunburst's home, Spike looking over the scroll to find out where Twilight wrote the stallion's address.

"I know you're nervous about this reunion, but I'm sure Twilight's got it covered," Spike reassured.

"Everything except how I'd rather do absolutely anything else," Starlight grumbled.

"Oh, I bet she's taken that into account, too," Spike said. "It's all part of the lesson. Trust the lesson."

"Yeah, no," Riku interjected, swiping the long list dragging behind the young dragon. "Whatever confusing educational tree Twilight made on this thing, it's only going to confuse Starlight and make her freak out even more."

Starlight was somewhat grateful for Riku joining them, at least making her lesson easier to handle than the overly long list Twilight made. As Riku looked for the address, they began to pass by the two statues of Sora and Spike the native ponies in the kingdom made. Despite how big they were, they depicted the dragon and pegasus perfectly, even matching the designs of his Keyblades. It reminded her of encountering Sora in his Harmony Form when she unleashed the power of darkness to try to kill him and Twilight, the only thing missing were the extra black and white highlights on the statue. Suddenly, she got an idea to help her procrastinate her lesson for a bit, smirking to make sure Riku and Spike didn't notice her sneaky grin.

"Hey, is that Spike and Sora?" Starlight asked, pointing at the statues.

"Yeah, that's us," Spike said, irritating the mare as she expected the young drake to give her some exposition, and she was also curious despite this being a bigger distraction from her lesson. "So, what was the address again?"

"But why are there statues of you two in the Crystal Empire?" Starlight asked.

"Because Spike the Brave and Glorious and the Warrior of Light saved us all from King Sombra!" one of the crystal pony mares said, overhearing Starlight.

"And then again at the Equestria Games!" another said, starting to gather any nearby crystal ponies' attention when they saw the heroic baby dragon in their presence.

"Really?" Starlight asked sarcastically, Riku's ears twitching as he picked up on the sarcasm as a stallion of the empire approached Spike.

"Really!" he said before shaking the dragon's claw. "Big fan."

"Is the Warrior of Light here!?" one of the mares asked, soon spouting all of Sora's fanmares as they all questioned where he was if Spike the Brave and Glorious was around.

"I want him to sign my Warrior of Light plushie!" another squealed, holding a doll of Sora with his Keyblade in his mouth out in her hoof.

"...Wow," Starlight uttered, practically speechless as there was merchandise of Sora along with mares wanting to hound him like a famous celebrity. "When were you two going to tell me about this?"

"Eh, it's not really a big deal," Spike humbly said.

"It most certainly is!" the crystal ponies all said.

"Starlight, what are you-?" Riku yelped as his question was ignored, Starlight dragging some nearby lounge chairs toward them, sweeping the pegasus off his hooves and into the chair while she laid down on hers, snatching a box of popcorn from a nearby vendor after paying a few bits.

"That's it! We're not going anywhere until I get the whole story!" Starlight demanded, making the crystal ponies cheer as Spike gladly began retelling the heroic efforts of him and Sora liberating the Crystal Empire from the evil Heartless Sombra.

Riku growled, seeing right through the unicorn's ruse, her procrastinating only going to make their meeting with Sunburst far more stressful the longer they waited.

---

"You, uhh...didn't have to carry me all the way to the castle, Terra," Shining said, feeling embarrassed that everyone in the empire saw their prince being carried on another stallion's back as they followed the unicorn stallion through the palace halls.

"You were dead asleep, and you needed the rest," Terra said. "Like a certain mare who needs to learn to sleep when she stays up all night trying to fix a certain map."

Aqua scoffed and turned her head. "I've gone at least a year without sleep in the Realm of Darkness...mostly because there was no sense of time down there and days never seemed to end."

"Exactly my point, Aqua." The mare rolled her eyes, though she did feel a bit more rested after passing out earlier in Ponyville, even getting a bit more sleep on the train ride over.

After a bit of trekking, Shining finally stopped in front of a door with a butterfly symbol over the door frame, where the nursery for his foal was. "Before we go in, I should probably tell you. Seeing the baby might be a bit of a shock."

"Pth! Come on, big brother. I've met babies before. I expect meeting this one won't be any different." Shining cringed a little, but seeing how determined they were to see the baby, his magic lit up the doors to allow them inside.

The nursery was colored in many shades of blues and purples, the walls designed to look like a starry sky in a small grove of trees. Inside the room was Cadence, just as exhausted and frazzled as her husband, along with Celestia and Luna having come around to see the newborn royal of the Crystal Empire. As the alicorns nodded to them as they filed in, they saw the rest of the room's calming wall designs, a cabinet for baby clothes nearby, a changing table for diaper changes, where Sora was glad the couple were unicorns so they didn't have to physically touch a dirty diaper unlike the Cakes with their twins, a small chest with some baby toys, and a crystal crib where the baby was currently sleeping.

Wrapped in an aquamarine blanket was Shining Armor and Cadence's baby, a filly with light magenta fur and her curly mane purple with aquamarine blue highlights. A horn stuck out of her forehead through her curly hair, not really surprising the group as the baby seemed to be a normal unicorn. Everyone gathered around the crib to get a closer look, their hearts melting as they watched the filly sleep.

"Awwwww," they all cooed, their voices waking the newborn as her light blue eyes squinted open to see the new ponies.

"Oh, my gosh," Twilight uttered, her niece looking up at her and smiled.

"She's-" Sora began, only for the group to gasp and back away as her blanket unfurled itself, releasing a pair of large magenta wings as they stretched out in the baby's excitement, her wingspan almost twice as long as she is. The little filly cooed, making blubbering noises as if she was saying "Hi", but the fact that she had a horn AND wings threw everyone off, the shocking surprise Shining had mentioned earlier now apparent to his slight bit of insanity back at the station aside from tiredness. "...Wow...Impressive wingspan..."

"Well, I guess I could be wrong about expecting this to be different," Twilight said as she looked at her alicorn niece in shock.

Comments

[MLPFanForever]

Awesome chapter!

[Megaskullmon]

Heh amazing.

[ArcanaMaverick7]

Now we wait for the first half of the chaos of babysitting the newborn Princess. I'm wondering what everyone's reactions to the first burst of magic will be?

[zachary12]

yeah that will be good and nice work on the chapter.

[KingJoltik]

Good grief Aqua, calm down. She's being a total ***** in this chapter.

[BenictheHedgehog]

oh this is going to be good. cause even though Aqua really is being a real jerk, Riku and Terra are for sure showing to give Starlight another chance and to be friends with her other than Twilight. Also I like the bit of Twilight wanting Riku to meet her niece and seems to not mind if they get married or not so long as she is still a couple with Riku, it counts for her. Kinda now makes me want to know how Riku's parents will react when they meet Twilight.

[Starlight Glimmer1]

What’s ironic is the fact that Aqua is hell bent on stopping darkness but is leaning towards it herself by letting her anger take control of her.

[MagicLover2128]

Not bad, good job on this chapter.

[DiamondShimmer453324]

8716346

8717325

If someone did the same things Starlight did because a friend moved away how would you treat them at first?

[Starlight Glimmer1]

8717643
That has absolutely nothing to do with the point I was making.

[KingJoltik]

8717643
You would be surprised at how the little things can affect others. It can only take one tiny little event to snowball a disaster.

[Codex92]

8716792
Maybe you did ask, or maybe it was someone else, but I have heard of those shows, but never watched a single episode.

[Noctis Prism]

LOL-And the chaos begins!

[TheDarkMagic]

You make the episode even better!!

[Bahamut Omega]

Hey Aqua? If you treat somebody like a monster without ever considering their attempts to demonstrate otherwise, it just pushes them to embrace a little trope called "Then Let Me Be Evil."