My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria

by Codex92

Toy Box (Part 4)

Sora grunted as he hit the ground, slightly disoriented after Young Xehanort blasted him at point blank range. He got up on his knees, rubbing his side, but he clearly wasn't in the Game Store anymore. He was in what looked like a massive battle arena with differently raised platforms, a central walkway meeting the center of a "room" with a glass floor hovering over an electric trap on the lower floor, and barricades scattered about. Beyond the arena's perimeter, he saw the lights on the many floor of distant buildings in a city. All around the arena, he could see Gigas' scattered around, with a blue one standing just a short distance away from him.

"Where...am I?" he asked.

"Haven't you heard, Sora?" Xehanort's voice echoed around the arena. Sora looked around for any sign of him with his Keyblade gripped tightly. "In this world, you come from a video game. So now, you can watch my experiment from inside that screen. That is...if you manage to find a moment's rest."

The Gigas' began to move, slowly stomping their way over to Sora. "Oh, great," he uttered. "I need to figure out how to get out of here. Woody, Buzz, and Smolder are in trouble." Glancing back at the blue Gigas, which didn't make any movements, Sora rushed toward it and hopped inside. "You want me to play your little game, Xehanort? Then let's beat this game!"

Sora charged in, raising his Gigas's firing arm and began blasting the incoming enemy mechs. They went down much faster than the ones in the toy store, and with each kill, he saw points popping up in the upper left corner of his HUD. Since this was a video game, if he killed enough of them, he might get out of there sooner. Running across the bridge, he spotted a group of them coming at him from the bridge on the opposite end of the battle arena. Sora shot at the glass floor, shattering it and sending the small wave of Gigas's dropping to the electrified center of the pillar. Dropping down, he hovered over to safety, shooting down other mechs around the platforms before they shot him down.

More Gigas's appeared in a flash of light around the arena with each new wave. There were the usual ones he and his friends fought back in the mall, but then there came the Gigas' in a silver color that were much more aggressive and tougher, with some of them even being smaller and much harder targets to shoot. These ones were far different than the usual foes he's been up against, but Sora was quick to adapt. And with such big clumps of mechs running around gunning for him, they were wide open to some of the explosive energy containers or to his mech's mortar cannon fire.

After fighting through several waves, Sora thought he was done, but the game was far from finished after racking up hundreds of thousands of points. The other Gigas' disappeared, and flying down from the night sky was a Gigas with a golden color scheme: the final boss of sorts. It landed at the top of the spire, spotting him, then hovered down with its thrusters and gunned Sora down. Sora dashed away from the incoming rapid fire energy bullets, retaliating while trying to find some higher ground. This Gigas was a bit smarter, managing to dodge sideways from Sora's fire, but with the hits it did take, it was going to take a lot more firepower to bring it down.

While searching for an unmanned purple Gigas, the golden Gigas shot forward, charging at Sora with its thrusters nearly at full blast. Sora braced himself as his foe rammed him, his mech's metal feet screeching loudly against the ground as he slid across the arena. He eventually hit a wall, stunning him from the impact slightly, hearing the wailing alarms alerting him that his mech was close to breaking down. One final punch did his Gigas in as it twitched and sparked. Sora quickly ejected himself, leaping far away from the gold Gigas.

"Wow. This thing's actually really tough," Sora uttered to himself. The Gigas turned its sights on him, the cannons on its back shifting forward and aiming directly toward its smaller target. "Uh oh!" Sprinting off, Sora managed to avoid getting struck by a powerful laser beam from the Gigas's cannons. He searched around for a free Gigas to hop into, but the boss didn't give him a chance to leave the center of the arena. After several energy bullets whizzed past him while contorting his body to dodge them, Sora was beginning to lose his patience. "Ok, that's it! Time for some speed!"

Swapping to the Keyblade of Loyalty, Sora thrust the blade into the ground. Lightning struck the field, the weapon popping back up into its spear form and Sora's clothes changing to his Loyalty Formchange. With his enhanced speed, he rushed the Gigas, colorful sparks of electricity following him in his wake, even as he sidestepped each barrage of energy bullets heading toward him. His spear might not do much, even if he launched Thunder spells with each thrust, but Sora wondered if he could change each of his forms regardless if they didn't go through each of their different forms. He decided to test it as he slid between the mech's feet.

His spear disappeared, only for the Keyblade of Honesty to take its place, taking away Sora's speed while the blade turned into its hammer form, his clothes quickly adapting to the change in forms as well. With a wide swing, the heavy hammer slammed into the Gigas's legs, causing it to trip and fall onto its back. Sora then slammed the hammer down on its face, hearing the metal creak and dent from the impact, but it didn't destroy the final boss that easily. Another swing, Sora smacked the downed Gigas across the arena, following up by shifting back to Loyalty's form and dashing after it, splitting the spear into twin thunder daggers. Catching up and running around the still tumbling mech, Sora slashed and stabbed his daggers into every part of its body, rainbow lightning sparking and shocking the metal to make its limbs and weaponry short-circuit. After enough damage, Sora sprinted on ahead, changing back to Honesty's Formchange, shifting the hammer into his trusty apple-shaped battle gauntlets and grieves. Lifting back his foot, Sora timed his kick as the Gigas got closer, then punted it hard and high into the air.

Another switch back to Loyalty, his daggers sparked wildly before taking a massive leap up after the Gigas. The electric wings appearing on Sora's back flapped hard and sent him flying higher until he reached the apex of this form's finale spectacle. He already began spinning as he turned around, facing down at the stunned Gigas only a few feet away from him. Diving toward it, Sora sent it falling back to the ground with a sonic rainboom, the ethereal wings of lightning giving one incredible push to create the extraordinary phenomenon. Halfway down, Sora pushed off the Gigas, watching it fall and crash to the ground, rainbow sparks and lightning bolts lighting up the island arena. Re-equipping his Honesty gear, he launched the grieves and gauntlets with swift kicks and punches, planting the target on its torso as the ethereal apple tree shot up beneath it, propped up by the tree's leafy branches. Sora dove back down, aiming both feet at the apple-shaped target. Stomping down hard, the Gigas was pushed down as the tree disappeared, hitting the ground again with magic apple bombs falling off the tree and blew up around it. The explosions scorched and battered the gold Gigas, its body rapidly twitching and flailing before it finally fell still, then blew up itself after suffering too much damage.

Sora landed on his feet, hearing some victory tune play at his triumphant win, then everything went white as his body felt like it was being lifted up. "Hopefully this means I'm getting out of here..."

He got his answer as he was launched forward, phasing through the TV screen, back in the mall in the Game Store. Upon landing, he found Donald, Goofy, Woody, and Rex, but Hamm, the alien triplets, and even the army men were there as well.

"Sora!" Goofy cheered.

"That game was not as fun as Xehanort said it was," Sora chuckled. Doing a head count, Sora realized there were two of their group missing. "Wait. Where's Buzz and Smolder?"

Donald and Goofy stammered, their nervous expressions clearly not a good sign for the Keyblade wielder. "...W-Well...Smolder went after Xehanort," Donald said.

"What!? Why didn't you stop her!?" Sora exclaimed.

"We tried, but Buzz wouldn't let us out of the store!" Goofy tried to explain, even when they knew Sora was going to flip out from the unfortunate news. "He kept shooting at us, guarding the exit for a long while, but after several minutes, he disappeared through a dark corridor."

Sora groaned, as if things couldn't get any worse for them. "Sora, can't you find a way to bring Buzz back?" Woody asked worriedly.

"Uhh, sadly, I don't have any power over those," Sora said apologetically.

Woody was understandably disappointed, looking down with a sigh. Sarge walked over to Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the awkward silence.

"Sir, did I hear you say 'dark corridor'?" Sarge asked Goofy.

"Yeah. Did you see something in your recon earlier like that?" Goofy asked.

"Well, it might be a long shot, but we've sighted a shadowy portal in the Kid Korral," Sarge said.

"The Kid Korral?" Sora mumbled. "You mean that indoor playground back when we rescued the aliens?"

"That's the place," Sarge agreed. "We can infiltrate from a window inside Babies and Toddlers and open the entrance from the inside."

Woody felt relieved to have a lead on finding Buzz. "You're a lifesaver, Sarge," the cowboy said.

"You get the way open, and in the meantime, we need to find Smolder. And fast," Sora said.

"But what about Buzz?" Hamm questioned. "He's probably in a lot more trouble. He got possessed and attacked you guys. What if he winds up like those other toys?"

"You guys don't know Xehanort as well as we do," Sora said. "I know Buzz is your friend, but...he and the group he's in are looking for others like me and Smolder."

"W-What do you mean?" Rex asked. "Smolder's from My Little Pony, not Verum Rex."

"Uh, she kinda does have a sword thing like Sora does," Hamm noted. "That show didn't have dragons with weapons, did they?"

Sora grimaced, stammering slightly as he came up with a reason for Smolder bearing a Keyblade like him while a counterpart from a cartoon show wouldn't likely had one. "Uhhhh..."

"She's a special kind of toy!" Donald quickly chimed in.

"Yeah! Very special!" Goofy agreed. "We know everything about her since she's been with us on the road for quite a while! We'll explain everything once we rescue her and Buzz, ok?"

"They're right. We have no time to lose," Woody said. "Sarge, we'll meet up with you once we find Smolder. And when you get that entrance unlocked for us, head back down to the lobby where it's safer."

Sarge saluted, then led his platoon out of the store to make an opening for the others into the Kid Korral. "Did anyone see which way Smolder ran off to?" Sora asked, hoping to get a lead in finding the brash dragoness.

"She ran left," Rex said. "I didn't see her run to the opposite side of the floor, though."

Sora quickly rushed out of the video game store and searched around from the left side upon exiting. The first thing he noticed that made him flinch was the closed off store now had a Gigas-sized hole in the bent open shudders, and there was a flood of water flowing out from the busted entrance.

"Oh no. I think I have a hunch that she went in there," Sora said as he pointed to the closed store.

As the others gathered to see the break in, they were just as startled at the damage that could have taken place. "The store's being flooded?" Rex asked.

"A sprinkler system must have gone off," Woody said. "And since Smolder's a dragon, she probably lit something up in there."

"Let's go!" Sora sprinted on ahead, his Keyblade in hand to pummel Young Xehanort with it if he so much as harmed a single scale on Smolder. The others followed behind as quickly as they could to help rescue Smolder. Sora ran inside the toy store, glancing around at the shattered toy houses, a little unnerved as he saw pieces of them that almost resembled the buildings from Ponyville, like the gingerbread roof of Sugarcube Corner. He ignored the water from the sprinkler system, whatever fire had started long since put out. Among the plastic wreckage, he saw a familiar orange, scaly figure curled on the ground, surrounded by more toy debris and some charred pieces of other playhouse buildings. "Smolder!"

He was relieved to see the dragon moving, though barely, rushing over to her to check on her. He slid on his knees as he approached her, checking her for any injuries while seeing her clutching her abdomen. As Sora helped lift Smolder to a sitting position, he gasped when he noticed pieces of toys scattered around Smolder; it didn't help seeing that those pieces were actually parts of toy versions of the other members of the Young Six and the Elements of Harmony. Even if they were toys, it was still pretty gruesome of a scene for a toy to witness.

The others ran in not long after, slowing down when they got a look at the devastation. "AHH! Oh no! This is all My Little Pony playhouses!" Rex cried out in horror. "And it's all of Ponyville!"

"Yeesh. What ran through here? A raging bull?" Hamm asked.

While looking around for what rampaged through the store, Donald found it with a worried groan. "Uhh...Found it?" He pointed to the broken down red Gigas, leaning back with a seriously impaled gap in its chest and back, barely missing where the rider would be seated. He and Goofy looked at each other after observing the carnage. "You don't think...Smolder...?"

Goofy gulped, shaking his head in response and hoping that his friend was wrong. Sora looked down at Smolder, who was still wincing from the serious blow to her gut, but she was conscious at the very least. He was glad to see her still here, unharmed or not, but he thought that the Organization was after the Young Six as well. He was left to ponder the questionable choice Young Xehanort made by leaving Smolder instead of kidnapping her, using Cure to heal the dragon teen's pain. Despite her pain now gone, Smolder still felt numb, anticipating a scolding for her stupid mistakes and her reckless, destructive behavior, and she didn't want to hear it.

"Smolder, what happened?" Sora asked, surprisingly gently, much to Smolder's annoyance. He helped her up on her feet, and when she was standing, though slightly staggered from the aftershock of getting kneed in the midsection, she pushed away his hand while he was still helping keep her balance. "Easy. I don't know what happened, but-"

"Just take me back to the stupid ship," Smolder grumbled.

"Huh?" Sora reached his hand out to the dragoness. "Smolder, what's-?"

As he touched her shoulder, she harshly smacked it away with a frustrated yell. "Just take me back home!" she shouted. "I'm already in enough trouble! Tell Master Aqua everything! I don't care anymore!"

Everyone was taken aback by Smolder's outburst. "Is she ok?" Hamm questioned.

She took offense to the piggy bank's question, glaring daggers at him. "Does it LOOK like I'm ok!?" she exclaimed. "Look around you! I wrecked this whole store and broke everything!"

Surprised, the group looked at the carnage, then back to Smolder. "Uh oh," Donald mumbled.

"...M-Maybe...maybe it was...an accident?" Rex uttered, refusing to believe a toy from a series he enjoys watching, and a new character that would learn from the main characters of said show, would cause this devastation.

"Oh! Sure! I 'accidentally' found a Gigas to break into the place, and I 'accidentally' trashed everything while I was chasing after that...that...!" Smolder yelled, breathing fire as she did in her conflicted, emotional state, the sprinklers putting them out before another fire broke out.

"Smolder, I warned you not to try to take him on," Sora said as gently as he could, knowing she royally messed up, but he didn't want to upset her further than she already was today.

"I know! And I didn't listen, but I did it anyway!" Smolder said. "Just come out and say it, Sora! Tell me how stupid I am!" Sora stepped back in shock in response to her words. He knew she was smarter than this; she just underestimated Young Xehanort and thought her own strength could beat his experience. Before he could diffuse the dragon's ire, she approached him, growing more and more agitated in her tirade. "I keep making things worse! I liked running around in some giant toy and smashing things about, without even knowing if any of those toys could feel pain! I tore apart that stupid doll in that baby store, and I destroyed this fake Ponyville and killed toys of every pony that lived here! Including my professors and my friends!"

Sora thought Smolder was exaggerating, but he knew she had some restraint in her. "Did...Xehanort trick you into doing this?" he asked.

The anger in her eyes faded, replaced with regret and sorrow. She clenched her teeth and lowered her head, refusing to shed anymore tears than she had in front of everyone, trying to keep what shred of dignity as a dragon she had left in her...or rather, what dignity of a friendly creature she had.

"...He didn't do anything," she said. "...I chased him...and he didn't lift a finger until I...broke everything in sight." Woody, Hamm, and Rex let out a small gasp, the latter bringing his tiny arms to his wide mouth in horror. Donald and Goofy winced at the news, and Sora couldn't believe it to be true. He looked down at the broken toys, the faces of his friends in toy form frozen with a neutral smile on their face with missing limbs or torn or burnt pieces of their snapped off head laying far away from where their bodies lay. "He...He just...toyed with me...I fought back, but he kept knocking me down. I-I...I couldn't even hurt him!" Smolder clenched her fists, growling angrily as she recalled the beating she took, being humiliated by someone whom she believed was a coward and ran away or stood on the sidelines. "I got one good hit that should have killed him, but he...he has some...stupid time traveling powers, and it was like I did nothing to him! I couldn't touch him, even if I tried!"

Sora looked back at Smolder, still confused with what the Organization had planned if they found out about the Young Six from the toys of the other five students. "Where did Xehanort go?" he asked Smolder. "And...why didn't he kidnap you? He had the perfect opportunity to do so."

"Who cares!?" she exclaimed. "He clearly didn't think I was worth being taken! I was just another one of his dumb experiments!"

"Experiment? For what?" Sora asked.

"...Do I have to spell it out for you?" Smolder growled. She waved her hand toward the toy store, pointing out the wrecked toy houses and the broken toys around them. No one understood what she meant, which only bothered Smolder more. "...Why? Why did Dragon Lord Ember have to pick me? Out of all the dragons to choose to go to that school...why me?"

Confused, Sora knelt down to Smolder's height. "Maybe she thought you would be the right dragon to learn more about friendship much more than she can," he answered. "I believe she made the right choice."

Lifting her head up, Smolder gave Sora a leer in disbelief. "Did she? After all this?" she questioned. "I never wanted to go in the first place! She forced me because, as the Dragon Lord, every dragon given an order has to obey them, no matter what!"

"But you've been enjoying the school," Sora reassured. "Well, after fixing the issues with the EEA's guidelines that Twilight was following. And you get along so well with the others." He gently grasped her shoulders as she looked away, her face still wracked with guilt and regret, and her body was trembling with emotion. "I know you have a bit of trouble adjusting to a different place and being a bit nicer and gentler with creatures that aren't as durable as a dragon, but you can improve from those faults to be a much better person. And you can teach the other dragons how to be nicer so ponies, griffons, any creature won't be so afraid of them."

"How, Sora!?" Smolder exclaimed. She smacked his hands off of her again and backed away from him. "I can't control my temper! I lost it and went after Xehanort! What if this place was the real Ponyville, if this was the REAL Equestria!? Not some fake, pretend world that looks like the real one!?" She kicked a piece of the Castle of Friendship near her hard, sending it flying toward the toys. Thankfully, Woody, Rex, Hamm, and the aliens avoided getting struck by it, and though they knew she didn't mean it, they had no idea what she and Sora were talking about. Smolder panted, her scowl deepening as Young Xehanort's words rang in her head, and her throat hitched in her throat as her voice began to crack while struggling not to cry. "...All we dragons do...is just take things from others, and we break anything in our way to take it. We're..." She choked, swallowing the lump swelling in her throat as she turned away from Sora. "...We're nothing but monsters...Everybody's afraid of us...and for a good reason..."

"Smolder," Goofy uttered sadly.

"That's not true, Smolder," Donald tried to reassure. "No one's afraid of Spike. He lives in Ponyville."

"He grew up around ponies," Smolder corrected. "Headmare Twilight hatched and raised him, right?...If anything, he's lucky he didn't grow up around other dragons...He doesn't count."

She winced when she felt Sora's hand grab her shoulder again, her eyes quivering as tears threatened to build under the guise of the sprinklers still pouring water on them. "Smolder, you're not a monster," he said. "The Organization are the real monsters. The Heartless are monsters. They don't care about what happens to others as long as they obtain what they want. You're nothing like that."

Smolder's lower lip quivered, grasping Sora's hand and removing it from her shoulder once more. "Then why did Xehanort prove he was right about us dragons?" she questioned. She held out her hand, summoning her Keyblade, staring at the dragon-shaped head at the end. "...Why me?" She turned around, leering at the blade's teeth, flames spewing from the dragon's maw with a look of rage, staring back at Sora, conflicted and angry. "Why was I chosen?"

The toys were confused, hearing Smolder ask Sora the same question again, but the wielder understood what her question was really meant to ask. He hesitated for a moment, unsure how to answer such a question. He then held his Keyblade out as well, that same question sometimes at the forefront of his mind in the past as he stared at the Kingdom Key. He already knew the answer long ago, at least for him, but for everyone else, he didn't know.

"...Destiny?" he said. Smolder frowned at the response, frustration rising further in her at the dull reason. "Some of us who are found worthy with the light in our hearts, we become the chosen wielders. We all felt the potential in you and the others before we even began to think about training you."

"...Xehanort has one. He's clearly not siding with the light," Smolder grumbled. Looking back down at her Keyblade, Smolder didn't feel so worthy when she used her strength, both her own and even the Keyblade's, to only wreck the different toys and the playhouse town of Ponyville. In her mind, the things some of the older dragon teens back in the Dragon Lands echoed, talking down about the ponies of Equestria and how their friendship ways made them weak or pathetic. "...Dragons can never do friendship. Dragons take what they want, and destroy all in their path." Sora shook his head, knowing what Smolder was thinking wasn't true. She growled, her hands shaking as she stared at her Keyblade, which she herself had named "Dragon's Fury", and a very unfortunate, fitting name to give it to emphasize the destruction a dragon's wrath can leave behind. Her grip tightened, wanting to snap it in half in her hands. "DRAGONS ARE HEARTLESS MONSTERS!!!!!"

With a loud grunt, Smolder flung her Keyblade across the store, startling everyone as they watched it fly toward a shelf of toys. The spiraling blade cleaved through the shelf, sending whatever toys were sitting on it come crashing down with the split shelf. Smolder breathed heavily, getting her point across to everyone, including what Xehanort had proved to her about her kind. Even Neighsay talking down to her and her friend's kingdoms plagued her thoughts, wishing Ember didn't show any restraint toward him and burnt his hide for disrespecting her and her kind. Her Keyblade was embedded in the wall, only for it to disappear in a flash of light, then reappear back in her hand. Having a weapon meant for protecting the realm of light returning to the hands of a monster only angered her more. She was about to throw it again, but Sora quickly grabbed her wrist, stopping her before she ended up breaking another shelf in her emotional distress.

"It'll just keep coming back to you, Smolder," he said. "Keyblades always return to their rightful owners if they're still worthy." Sora wasn't helping Smolder feel any better, feeling FAR from unworthy after today. She growled bitterly, dismissing Dragon's Fury, then yanked her arm away from Sora and ran away, startling Sora. "S-Smolder!" Smolder ran past everyone, sprinting out of the store to who knows where. Sora was about to run after her, but slowed, pondering whether he should try to continue consoling her or leave her be until she cooled down. "...Smolder..."

The group stood in silence for a moment, worrying for Smolder's emotional breakdown and the existential crisis of her dragon heritage. The sprinklers finally ran out of water as they clicked, leaving the store completely drenched and flooding out of the opening in the shutters. Woody rubbed the back of his neck as he observed the damage.

"Smolder doesn't feel like herself," he uttered. "What did that hooded guy do to her?"

"I wish I knew," Sora said. Sighing, he would have to search for Smolder later, possibly contact Aqua and get chewed out for getting split up from another apprentice again, but Young Xehanort just "toying" with her and not taking her back to the Organization really bothered her. "I don't understand what he wants. The Organization knows there are other wielders, but Young Xehanort didn't take her while he blasted me into that game. That was the perfect moment for him."

While Sora wondered just what the past Xehanort was thinking, Woody walked over to the broken pony toys. His brow furrowed, finding something odd after their last few encounters with the other toys in the Galaxy Toys mall.

"Out of all the toys we've run into, not a single one of them moved around or talked," he said curiously. "They only moved when those Heartless things possess their bodies." As he touched the face of a body-less Rainbow Dash toy, he expected a flinch or some sort of reaction. "At this point, most of them in this mall should have been awake and free to wander the mall with no people around."

"You think they're still 'sleeping', Woody?" Hamm asked.

"In this store, even after the destruction, most of these toys should have made some sort of movement," Woody said.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at the cowboy, wondering what was on his mind. "Do you know how long it takes for a toy, if they're newly made, to wake up and feel alive?" Sora asked curiously.

"I'm not sure." Woody stood up and crossed his arms as he thought aloud. "That Xehanort fellah said this world was a different one from ours. Our friends are missing, and only a select few of us wound up here. There's no sign of Andy or his family anywhere, or even any other person around the neighborhood or in this mall. This would be a perfect opportunity for us toys to move around without startling people." Looking up, Woody thought back to the toys in Sid's room. Despite being disfigured and used for the former toy mangler's sadistic surgical creations, they were still alive, whether they had a face, a voice, or even if they were just different body parts. "Sid's toys were still alive after what he did to them. All the other toys we fought and took down should have at least been confused by what they were doing, but they didn't make any reaction after those puppet things that possessed them were expelled from them."

Donald and Goofy hummed in thought while Sora pondered Woody's critical thinking. "Xehanort also said you guys have hearts from a powerful bond. Maybe from how much Andy cares about you guys," Sora said. He glanced at the broken down Gigas, the pieces slowly clicking into place between the toys in this world and one of the Organization's many plans to regain their numbers. "If all of these toys we've fought haven't come alive...then that means that this duplicate world of yours is actually supposed to be empty, and these toys CAN'T come to life."

"Huh. Sora's got a point," Hamm said. "Those puppet things took control of the other toys and made them move. It makes sense since there's no people and there's been no sign of Andy or the others."

"But one of them possessed Buzz, and he's probably being held hostage by that Xehanort guy," Woody said. "We need to get into the Kid Korral and find that dark corridor." While Woody was worried about Buzz, he knew Smolder was probably still reeling from emotional turmoil from her actions. "Unless...you want to split up and find Smolder."

Sora glanced at Donald and Goofy, both of them with uncertain looks as they debated going after Smolder or not. "...Well...if Xehanort ain't after her, then...I guess we should just leave her be until we get rid of him," Goofy said.

Woody trusted the trio's decision, but as he turned to tell his friends to wait for them back at the main entrance, he flinched when he noticed someone was missing. "Rex?" he called out. The others looked around, shocked to have lost sight of the dinosaur toy. "Where'd he go this time?"

---

Smolder didn't know where she was going as she ran away, but she didn't care. As long as she was far away from everyone, she wouldn't be more of a disappointment to her mentors, and she wouldn't end up hurting anyone else by mistake. After forcefully learning this eye-opening realization, and from an enemy rather than her own teachers after warning her numerous times, she was much more dangerous than any of her friends or family back home. Aqua was sure to take away her Keyblade and send her back home. She would be called a threat and a disappointment, lose her friends, which left a painful feeling in her chest at that thought, and return home to Dragon Lord Ember just to be kicked out of the Dragon Lands for failing to help unify the dragon kingdom and Equestria in friendship.

Her lungs strangled for breath, forcing her to slow down to a stop to catch her breath. When she got her bearings, she was standing outside the Kid Korral, which was right next to Babies and Toddlers. She spotted the green army men up at the top of the entrance to the play area, pushing open a window for an ease of access from the main doors that would most likely have been locked. She headed for the baby shop she detested, ignoring the army men waving her down when one of them spotted her. She climbed inside the open window, and when she got a look at the dolls and accessories, she saw the big doll and what remained of it in the middle of the floor, taking in how much damage she had done to it, despite it being for self defense earlier.

The burnt and maimed doll laid lifeless in the middle of the floor. The maid uniform it wore was tattered, its body scorched and covered in deep cuts and bite marks, all done by her own claws and fangs. Granted, she was targeted by the possessed doll and caught in its hands like a plaything, which made her feel helpless and humiliated her, getting her mad and unleashing her wrath on the bigger toy. She may have gotten carried away, but her pride and her image being inside of a toy store that was meant for little fillies expressed her ire with much more deadly intent than she wanted. Smolder grimaced, the aftermath only a reminder for how dangerous her temper can drag her, and who else she could hurt if she wasn't stopped.

Walking away from the doll, Smolder went to the back of the store, where she had tried on those princess dresses, and incinerated them to hide the evidence. She found the ashes of the doll clothes, part of her regretting burning the blue one since she liked it more than the other two, but Young Xehanort's final words before leaving her in a crumpled heap rang in her head. She scowled, leering at the ashes, only to let out a dejected sigh. She backed up into the display shelf, slumping down against it until she sat on the floor, her eyes glued on the burnt away clothes that she hated at first, but slowly had an appreciation for wearing one she liked. Sadly, the slight bit of fun she had pretending to a princess was shattered by who she is: a beast.

"...Why did I even bother...?" Smolder mumbled to herself.

"Smolder?" Flinching, Smolder heard a set of plastic footsteps around the shelf, and the owner was someone she did not want to see right now. Appearing around the rounded shelf, Rex found the dragoness, looking a little nervous as he timidly walked over to her. "...Are...Are you ok?"

She ignored making eye contact with the Tyrannosaurus Rex toy. "Go away," she uttered.

Rex twiddled his claws, part of him a little terrified, but he wanted to try to help her, knowing there was much more good in her. "...I-I know you didn't mean what you did...back there," he said. He glanced back around the shelf, wincing a little at the doll lying on the ground upon entering the store. "...Did you...also beat up that other toy over there?" She remained silent, fuming at the constant reminder of the damage she caused to it. "I-I mean, I think we all understand if it got possessed by those evil puppet monsters...I don't blame you if you had to do it to protect your friends." Smolder grit her teeth, her claws clenching tightly, almost threatening to make herself bleed if it was possible in her plastic toy form. "A-And all those pony toys...Y-You probably didn't know they were even-"

Smolder slammed her fist into the shelf with a grunt, shooting back up on her feet, and glared at the startled dinosaur toy. "I GET IT! Stop reminding me! I know I hurt all those toys!" she shouted. "I'm a dragon! That's all dragons are good for! It's practically our nature to be as destructive as we want, and we'll never be seen as friendly toward anycreature EVER!!!!"

Rex took a couple steps back, but he didn't run away. "B-B-But...T-That's not true," he said. "The next season, you're in the show. And with the other-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME, YOU STUPID TOY!" Smolder screeched. "Whatever this stupid show is, if it's anything like the real Equestria, than you're dead wrong! I'm not some stupid fake dragon! I am the REAL Smolder! In a REAL Equestria out beyond your world that your pea-brained mind will NEVER understand!" While expecting Rex to flee from her to avoid getting a taste of the Heartless or the other possessed toys' medicine, Smolder slowly realized what she blurted out. Her anger ebbed to stunned shock, then frowned with an exhausted huff as she turned toward the shelf, banging her forehead against one of the boxes of accessories. "I. Broke. The one. Rule. I shouldn't have," Smolder grunted to herself, emphasizing every word with each chastising headbutt.

With one more smack, she froze, awaiting the myriad of questions Rex was going to ask her. She glanced at him, the toy slackjawed and staring at her, though he wasn't intimidated; he was perplexed.

"...Uhh...What...did you say?" Rex asked. Smolder was more shocked that he wasn't offended by her insults, unsure if they went over his head or he actually believed the rest of her tirade. "Did...you hit your head? Or are you batteries knocked loose?"

Smolder was getting incredibly annoyed at this point. She just blurted out she was from another world, even though her world was ironically seen as a show for entertainment in this one. She was already going to get an earful and decades worth of punishments for this and her destructive behavior, so she might as well just break the world order even further when "their world" was fabricated in this world. Summoning her Keyblade, she face Rex and held the blade out, making sure to emphasize the strange design that swords couldn't possibly be.

"Have you seen a dragon like me in this stupid show with one of these?" she questioned, pointing at the dragon head blade repeatedly to get her point across. Rex shook his head in response. "Then why do you think I'm stupid and making things up!? I'm a real dragon, who looks like a toy to not 'stand out' in your world, and this show you like DOES exist, out in space, far, FAR away from here! And whoever else you know, like Headmare Twilight, Spike, my professors, every pony from Ponyville, they are all real! I wasn't supposed to say anything because I'm not supposed to break the world order, but I did it anyway because my day just can't get any worse and I don't care anymore!"

Smolder waited for Rex to say she was crazy, that another world beyond theirs seemed impossible. Instead, he was slowly processing what he heard, his jaw hanging open in a slow gasp. He lifted one of his hands, shakily pointing a digit up, most likely beyond the ceiling of the mall and toward the cosmos outside his world. He finally let out an excited squeal, making Smolder roll her eyes, getting him going with yet another fanboy episode.

"Y-You're really the REAL Smolder!?" Rex cheered. "And-and-and The Mane Six are real! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! Equestria DOES exist!" Smolder sighed as she slumped back down to the ground. She thought his eagerness about another world from his favorite show would distract him enough to avoid bringing up her mistakes, but his blabbering and elated laughter got more annoying with each place or pony he kept naming that he wanted to meet. "And I can meet your friends, the other New Mane Six! How did you even get here!? Are Sora, Donald, and Goofy from a real version of Verum Rex, or some other alternate world!?"

"You can't go," Smolder grumbled. "Like I said, I broke the world order by telling you, and now you know."

Rex was shocked, a bit disappointed, but he seemed to understand. "Oh. It was supposed to be a secret," he figured. "Ooh! Don't worry! I won't tell anyone else! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

Smolder glanced at the toy, watching him do the same motions of Pinkie's patented Pinkie Promise, even with his tiny arms barely able to reach one of his eyes to complete the promise. She let out a sigh, no longer caring if Rex blabbed to Woody or the other toys. If she had to live in exile from her own world, she didn't care where she ended up so long as she doesn't hurt or break anything. Rex noticed the dragoness's frown as she stared blankly at the shelves of dolls and doll clothes. Smolder stared at her Keyblade, sighing again as she dropped it beside her.

"I don't deserve this thing," she mumbled. Her Dragon's Fury disappeared in a flash of light, dismissing itself. She lifted her hand, staring at her claws, suddenly startled when she saw Rex's claw grab hers. She darted her eyes at him and his hand, confused and slightly weirded out by the award hand holding. "...What are you doing?"

"...I want to give you a hug," Rex said bashfully. "...My arms aren't exactly big enough to...when you're sitting down, so..."

"Why?" Smolder asked.

"Well, hugs always make things better," Rex answered. "And...you could really use a friend to lift your spirits."

Smolder grimaced, part of her needing someone to help her, but that need was far outweighed by her pride. She hated feeling so awkward and embarrassed, and she had joined her friends in a group hug with Aqua when she was distraught with her own misery from her past mistakes. Smolder didn't have those feelings in that moment, but why can't she accept Rex's when he wants to help her while SHE was depressed? Was she afraid of hurting him if she squeezed him too tightly? Or, as part of her dragon heritage, she's afraid to show weakness to anyone over something as silly as a friendly gesture like a hug?

Standing up, Smolder gently pushed away Rex's hand, confusing the dinosaur toy. "I...don't want..." She mumbled, looking away, feeling lower than low for turning down Rex's offer. "...I just...want to be left alone..."

"But why?" Rex asked. "You made friends with other creatures in Equestria. From the trailer, you kinda looked excited and happy around them."

"Ugh. Do I have to say it again?" Smolder grumbled. "You saw what I did...I'm...dangerous..."

"Well, I don't believe that at all," Rex confidently stated. Smolder wanted to argue further, but she didn't have the emotional energy left to yell at him. "What about back in Action+? The Supreme Smashers being controlled by those evil puppets, you slayed the one I knocked out of after my heroic rescue."

"What about that doll!?" Smolder exclaimed. "Or the spaceship toy thing!? I completely destroyed them!"

"I-I know, but you had a good reason to hurt them, even if it went a bit too far," Rex reasoned. "Hamm told me what that doll did to him when we all got split up." Smolder was going to, once again, emphasize what she had done, but Rex got a bit bold and approached her as she turned around. "And don't call yourself a monster! You're not like this evil boy named Sid, who tortures, hacks, or blows up his own toys for fun! You were protecting us, and you cared about our safety! That's not something a monster would do, and you aren't a monster!" Smolder blinked, startled and slightly impressed by the nerdy dinosaur being a bit more assertive against her. Sadly, that bravado faded quickly when Rex giggled nervously, backing away from Smolder slightly. "Sorry. I went a little 'Flutterbold' there...Fluttershy's my favorite pony."

Despite the shocking scolding she was given, Smolder still wasn't convinced she wasn't a monster. "...It doesn't even matter. I'm going to lose my Keyblade, my friends...everything," she mumbled. She lifted her hands and stared at them. "Whatever you think you know about dragons...you don't know the half of it...Not even me." Dropping her arms, Smolder walked by Rex, stopping in front of the box of princess clothes she ripped open earlier. There was a fake jewel necklace and bracelets that would have matched with the tiara, the loss of the princess crown making her grimace. She grabbed the necklace, staring at the accessory, contemplating what she wants to do with it. "I don't even know who I am anymore...except a monster."

She dropped the necklace, letting it clatter to the ground. Rex tilted his head curiously, never noticing the opened box as he walked by it, nor the missing contents.

"But you're not, Smolder," Rex said again. "Most of the dragons are jerks from what I've seen. You're much different from them, just like Spike. You have a lot more compassion for other creatures, even for the toys back in that store after...well, you know." Smolder grunted, giving Rex a sideways glance for the painful reminder. "Real monsters don't care about anything but themselves, and your regret is proof enough to show you're not one."

"Doesn't help that I still feel guilty," Smolder said. "I probably did so much worse than a fully grown dragon."

Rex hummed in thought, refusing to give up lifting the depressed dragon back to her old self. "...What if you don't look at yourself as a dragon?" he asked. Smolder turned her head, staring at the toy like he grew another head, but it was attached to his plastic tail and the head was a different species of dinosaur. "You don't like being like the dragons back at home, right?"

"...Not the horrible stuff they want to do to ponies or other creatures," she uttered.

"Then don't be a dragon; be Smolder," Rex suggested.

"...That...makes no sense," Smolder said. "I AM Smolder."

"Yes, but what I mean is be yourself," Rex simplified. "You get to choose who you want to be. You don't need to be the kind of dragon that does the things you don't like." Smolder groaned, still not following Rex, and somewhat feeling like this was some sort of lecture for one of her friendship classes. "Let me ask you this: is there anything you like to do that you discovered recently that dragons don't like or have never done before?"

Smolder didn't need to think hard to find an answer, but it was also the hardest answer she wanted to give. Glancing down at the floor, at the necklace she dropped, she hesitated for a brief moment before kneeling down and picked the necklace up. She stared at it, biting her lip nervously, her eyes darting to Rex and the patient look on his face, then back to the necklace. Her cheeks burned in embarrassment, her dragon pride screaming at her to keep her mouth shut and forget about what she did in those princess dresses. However, with Rex's suggestion to not be a dragon and be herself, Smolder was able to metaphorically punch her pride in the gut, gulping anxiously as she faced Rex.

"...You won't tell anyone about this," she said, her demand sounding more like a plea through the low tone in her voice. Rex nodded and did another Pinkie Promise, reassuring Smolder slightly, but she knew she was going to be embarrassed to death admitting to someone and herself what she enjoyed. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled, her limbs trembling with anxiety. "...I've been...moody all day today, mostly because of...what I was told. While training, my master, not Sora, suggested I try to express my...femininity. Just to...tone down my aggressive fighting style, but I took that as an offense to my pride...and it's been bothering me all day.

"After that, I've had Sora mention to be gentle and not be so rough, my friends wanted me to try putting on makeup from these kits Prof. Rarity handed to the girls in her class, and it didn't help that I wanted to stay far away from doing that because...I-I didn't...want to look dumb..." She gulped, swallowing the lump building in her throat as she was about to reveal to Rex the one thing she tried, surprisingly liked, and wished she could do more without feeling embarrassed. "...When we got in this place...I split up from the others...and my curiosity won over my protests. I tore open this box, grabbed the three dresses that were in there, and I tried them on...I liked the blue one, and I felt...so much different...like a different Smolder. I began to imagine I was a princess, with a tiara that came from this same box of stuff, and...I really, really liked it...But, it didn't last when one of those Heartless in those squishy animal things snuck up on me, and...I burned the dresses to avoid the humiliation of a dragon like me wearing a dress and dancing around...I guess...part of me likes this cute, girly, sissy stuff, but I don't want anyone making fun of me if they find out..."

As silly as Smolder felt admitting that she likes to be a princess, it felt like there was a small weight lifted off her shoulders. When she looked at Rex, she saw him with his mouth hanging open, stunned with silence, but had no idea from his expression what he was thinking. She frowned, expecting to be made fun of, and was ready to show Rex what it was like to be molten plastic. He finally let out a noise, but the sound he made came out as a squeal, which made her cringe.

"You like to play dress-up!" Rex finally said, giddy and elated for the dragoness. Smolder's face flushed heavily, groaning at the embarrassing response, immediately regretting saying anything. "That is so adorable! I didn't know you like to pretend to be a princess!"

Smolder grumbled, wanting nothing more than to hide under a rock for the rest of her life. "I...never did...until a while ago," she stated. "See? It's embarrassing."

"That's totally ok! You found something you like that makes you stand out!" Rex assured. "And if your friends don't support you and the things you like, then they aren't your real friends. Although, I highly doubt the others in the New Mane Six would make fun of you, and they like you for you are on the inside, not the outside."

"...I-I don't know," Smolder mumbled. "It's still..."

"It may be a little embarrassing, but you shouldn't hide how you feel or what you like to do," Rex said. "I'm a dinosaur toy, and though I'm supposed to be a scary, apex predator, I like to play video games. And watch a show that's really meant for girls. My friends don't judge me, and I even got Hamm interested in the show after he had his doubts. I know I kinda got on your nerves a little bit, but isn't that what the magic of friendship is also about? Learning about your new friends and being there for them through thick and thin?"

Smolder's blush faded as she mulled over Rex's surprisingly inspirational speech and praising her expressing herself. She still didn't want to be seen wearing a dress, but he did have a point. She doubted her friends would judge her, even though she flat out denied wanting anything to do with cute, girly activities. Raising the necklace, she pondered the advice Rex gave her, Young Xehanort's degrading insults were dulled out from her mind, although her actions still left her guilty for the harm she caused.

"...Maybe you're right," she uttered. "...But...I don't know if I can tell anyone...yet."

While pondering if she could make a change for herself and for her kind back home to be friendlier and less monstrous, a laser beam struck the fake necklace, startling her and Rex as it shattered to pieces in her claw. Facing where the trajectory of the shot came from, Rex screamed as they saw several Toy Troopers, some Marionettes, and a couple Large Bodies behind them.

"Oh no! More of them!" Rex cried out.

Growling, Smolder clenched her fist, summoning her Keyblade as she glared at the Heartless. "I'm getting sick and tired of you things!" she exclaimed. Smolder was going to charge at them, but she paused as she took one step, about to lose her temper again. The Heartless may be something she can wreck without remorse, but with Rex around, she didn't want to accidentally hurt him if he got caught in the middle. Plus, with how many of them there were, she could get overwhelmed, even with her strength and flame breath. She was by herself this time, so she needed to change how she fought as well as herself. Relaxing her grip slightly, she stared down the Heartless, breathing slowly as she waited for them to make the first move. "Rex, stay behind me."

Without any question, Rex scampered behind the dragoness for protection. The Toy Troopers fired more lasers at them, forcing Smolder to be on the defensive. She blocked and smacked away the shots as best as she could, refusing to dodge and take any her way to keep Rex safe. As she winced from a couple stray shots hitting her, the Marionettes slinked toward them. She aimed her Keyblade and blasted them with Fire spells, burning them and pushing them back. And then came the Large Bodies, waddling up to her with one of them giving a wide swing of a punch. She raised her Keyblade to block it, only to have the other one come up and sock her while she was holding back the first one's fist.

Smolder was smacked aside, hitting the ground with a grunt. Rex gasped, quickly turning and running away from the Large Bodies as they went after him now. Smolder shook her head and got back on her feet, aiming her Keyblade at the Large Bodies. Casting Blizzard, she managed to hit one of them and immobilize it in ice, but she couldn't chase after the other when a Marionette grabbed her from behind. It tightly latched its limbs around her torso, holding back her arms and forcing her to walk back into the Toy Troopers, all while she tried to shake it off of her.

"Smolder, help! The big one's after me!" Rex cried out, managing to outrun the waddling Large Body chasing him further down the store.

"Let...go of me!" Smolder growled. She wanted to claw the Marionette to pieces, but she didn't want to risk losing her temper and end up hurting Rex if she managed to free herself. The Heartless made her flail, turning her around to face the Toy Troopers while the other Marionette she burned helped its friend by grabbing her legs, keeping her held in place. She was getting frustrated, but she shook her head, afraid of losing her cool and going on another rampage. "No...Can't...lose it...Not again!"

Smolder heard Rex calling out to her for help, making her panic and struggle harder. The Toy Troopers charged her altogether, jumping into the air with their harpoon guns aimed down at her. She refused to get mad and go in a murderous frenzy, but she wasn't going to let these Heartless overwhelm her and take her heart. Risking it, she took in a deep breath to use her fire breath to burn away the Toy Troopers. She paused, feeling something strange in her gut as she held her breath, but ignored it, clenched her eyes, and exhaled every ounce of air in her lungs. However, her breath wasn't hot; it felt ice cold. The Toy Troopers balked as a wave of icy breath blew at them, quickly turning them into blocks of ice. They fell and shattered to the ground, releasing the hearts within them. Smolder shot her eyes open when she heard shattering ice, her jaw gaping at the shards of ice all over the flow, feeling an icy chill on her breath.

Confused, she exhaled to try to breathe fire, only to see an icy haze come out of her maw, chilling the air, even making the Marionettes shiver. She snapped out of her stupor, remembering the puppet Heartless latched onto her. She looked down at the one holding her feet, blowing more frozen breath onto it, covering it in ice. Unaffected by the chilling, frozen limbs attached to her legs, Smolder kicked herself free, shattering the Heartless's arms, then stomped down on its torso to finish it. Then came the one still on her back. She reached her hand up, grabbing the strings connecting the Heartless to the control piece, and yanked it down to her face. Another blast of ice breath froze the piece, making the Marionette shudder violently before its limbs went slack, releasing the dragon. Now freed, she slammed the controller to the ground, breaking it, then faced the immobile Marionette, stabbing its back with her Keyblade.

She watched the heart fly up and fade away into the ceiling, but she wasn't done yet. She hurried around the shelf, finding Rex backing away from the last Large Body slowly waddling toward him. Just as she was about to rush over to save him, she heard the sound of ice cracking behind her. Turning around, she nearly forgot about the first Large Body she froze with her magic, and it broke free and was incredibly mad as an aura radiated from it. The Large Body lunged forward, sliding on its armored belly toward her like a heavy sled. With a flap of her wings, she quickly jumped over it. She landed, breathing a sigh of relief, only to turn around and watch the Large Body veer in a U-turn and come charging back to her. Smolder dove away, letting loose another ice breath, freezing the Large Body once more, then quickly grabbed one of its arms before it slid away and crashed into a shelf or the wall. While it still moved, Smolder used its momentum and spun it back around, sending it sliding down toward the last Heartless with a hard throw.

"Rex! Move!" Smolder shouted as she ran after the frozen Large Body.

Rex perked up, looking around the wide body of the Large Body, letting out a yell when he saw the frozen Heartless heading right toward them. He ran away, confusing the still kicking Large Body, unaware of its frozen comrade sliding its way. It turned around just in time to get body slammed by the frozen Heartless. It got knocked back into the wall while the other one shattered to pieces, releasing its heart. While it was stunned, Smolder had a chance to finish it off. Holding her Keyblade in front of her, she blew out more of her new ice breath, coating the blade in a sheen of ice, the flame breath teeth jutting out sharp icicles to make it much sharper, hopefully enough to pierce through the thick front of a Large Body. Rex watched, his jaw about to detach from his maw after witnessing the cool enhancement with an even cooler dragon breath he never knew Equestrian dragons could use.

Smolder yelled, swinging her Keyblade hard into the slowly waking Large Body. The sharp icicles struck the Large Body's armored belly, and they managed to pierce through the tough material and iron blubber gut. Its eyes popped out in shock, feeling the icicles snapping off and digging into its body. Smolder raised her Keyblade, and with an overhead slam, smashed the Large Body's tiny head in, slaying it in a puff of darkness and releasing the heart inside it.

Smolder panted, her adrenaline winding down while her brain suddenly went into overdrive. She stared at her Keyblade, watching the ice she coated it in melting away, wondering how she was able to breathe ice when she knew every dragon at home only breathed fire. Afraid she lost her ability to breathe fire, she exhaled after focusing on her inner fire in her gut, relieved to see she blew out a plume of flames. She can't process what was happening when Rex expressed what he witnessed with his fanboyish excitement.

"That was so cool!" Rex laughed. "I didn't know you could use ice breath, Smolder!"

"...I...didn't," she uttered.

Smolder yelped when Rex nearly tackled her, his arms managing to grab her hips while he hopped around. "You were so heroic and cool! Both in awesomeness and temperature!" Rex exclaimed.

Smolder stammered, giving the toy an awkward pat on the back. "Uhh...right...cool." He finally let her go, his arms still waving excitedly from Smolder's new powers. "...How did I...do that?"

"I don't know, but can you do it again?" Rex asked. Giving it a try, Smolder focused on this new ice breath to come out from her gut. As she took in a breath, she could feel the temperature in her mouth drop, and she blew out a puff of frost. She at least blew it away from Rex, avoiding either burning or freezing him if either happened. She tried again, this time focusing on fire, and blew out a puff of fire, learning she was able to use each of her breaths at will. "Wow. Fire and ice! Oh, if this were like Verum Rex, you probably leveled up a lot to learn that!"

Smolder didn't understand what Rex was talking about, but gaining a new type of dragon breath was almost similar to how Gallus struggled and learned to use a unique Cure spell. She wasn't over her guilt for her actions, and part of her was still afraid of doing it again if she got mad enough in a fight. What sparked this new power in her, and would she be redeemed after being evaluated by her master? Whatever happens, she'll do whatever it takes to make up for her mistakes, and maybe take Aqua's advice and join Yona for some strength control classes with Terra.

"At least I let off a little bit of steam," Smolder said. "...And I...guess I really needed that pep talk. Though I didn't expect it from some toy like you, Rex."

"Heheh. Happy to help," Rex said.

"I better find Sora and the others...and apologize," Smolder said. "...I'm going to be doing a lot of apologizing."

"Well, we were about to head down to the Kid Korral after finding you," Rex said. He then let out a gasp, remembering something important. "Oh! I almost forgot about Buzz!"

Groaning, Smolder rolled her eyes, still sore about the space ranger shooting at her, despite being possessed by a Marionette. "What about him?"

"Before Sora got out of the game, Buzz was taken by a dark portal thing, and he's somewhere in the Kid Korral with that hooded guy!" Smolder gasped, barely concerned with the toy space ranger up until hearing this news now.

"Oh, crud. Xehanort took Buzz?" Smolder asked, slightly annoyed that Young Xehanort decided to take Buzz instead of her. She shook that frustration aside, wanting to help despite being far outclassed by the time manipulating man. "Rex, find somewhere safe. I'm gonna help Sora get Buzz back."

"A-Are you sure?" Rex nervously asked.

"I'd rather not see you get attacked again, or the others," Smolder said.

Rex nodded and began to leave. He stopped as he was passing Smolder, then surprised her with a hug. Caught off guard, Smolder winced a little, but relaxed, returning the hug with a bit less awkwardness than the last one.

"Just be careful, Smolder," Rex pleaded.

"I'll try." Rex was reluctant, but he let go and hurried off to find somewhere safe. Smolder followed him to the window, making sure he didn't get himself into more trouble before making her way down to the Kid Korral next door. She reached the entrance, planning to climb up through the open window, but she noticed the front gates leading into the play area were wide open. "That was closed before. Who opened it?"

Taking the front entrance, Smolder looked around the Kid Korral, finding some Gigas' placed around the play area with a few in standby, though there were a few broken down ones scattered around. She could hear fighting in the distance, spotting Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Woody fighting Heartless inside the massive jungle gym at the other end of the Kid Korral. There were a couple entrances that she could see where she stood, including a tunnel entrance in the middle left side, and on the right was a ball pit. Above the ball pit's roof, she saw what seemed like an unfinished statue of some sort made of green blocks, the line patterns on them making it glow a neon green color. Further up, her eyes widened when she saw a vent high above the room leaking out a dark aura. That must be where Young Xehanort and Buzz might be, but there was no way of reaching that height unless she was able to fly in this toy form.

An electric hum echoed in the large play room, which came from the jungle gym. Suddenly flying out from the top opening where the slide was, several similar blocks matching the structure on top of the ball pit flew out with a surge of electrical energy. The blocks clicked in place, building more and more until the structure actually formed into a cactus creature, three glowing yellow spikes planting atop its head, playing an oddly catchy jingle that sounded like a victory theme. The cactus statue leaned to the right, tilted slightly as its outstretched arm knocked out the vent's opening. It appeared to look like it was running from the way its limbs were posed, with wide open eyes and an open, oval-shaped mouth.

"...The hay kind of cactus is that supposed to be?" Smolder questioned, tilting her head to gauge the shocked gasp it wore.

Ignoring the cactus creature's strange appearance, Smolder focused on rescuing Buzz. She ran over to the ball pit room, unable to find any sizable ledges for her to jump on to reach the roof. There was that wall running trick Sora did, deciding to give that a shot. Smolder crouched her legs, prepping herself to run, then ran toward the small building. As she reached the wall, she jumped, planted her feet, and without stopping continued running. Surprised, she was able to wall run, but she didn't stop, otherwise she'd fall flat on her back and humiliate herself. She grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up, exhilarated to figure out such a difficult, but awesome skill, like rail grinding.

She looked up, standing by the foot of the cactus, feeling a little bit more nervous running up what looked like a wall running maze. She had to sprint up the leg, up the torso, and make an awkward, angled run across its outstretched arm to reach the opened vent. Smolder just figured out how to run straight up; this was going to be a challenge, and she wasn't going to let that stop her. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself, then took off. She climbed up the leg and body just fine, then tried to angle her run up and to the right to the cactus's arm. It felt awkward running sideways, nearly losing her footing as she had to lift her legs and angle her upper body to avoid pushing herself too far from the flat surface of the statue. By some miracle, she succeeded and quickly ran up, grabbing onto the edge of the opened vent, panting heavily from the exhausting workout. She was kind of grateful for the stamina training, otherwise she would have cramped up or been too out of breath to move.

After taking a moment to catch her breath, Smolder looked further in the vent. There really was a dark corridor at the end of the vent, the aura of darkness radiating from within making the dragon's blood run cold in fear. She thought she was scared for her life during her molt when predators would come after her, but seeing an ominous portal of darkness billowing a sinister dark aura was far more terrifying than being chased by a Roc. She didn't know if it was even safe to step through that portal, even though she saw Young Xehanort pass through it like it was nothing.

Growling to herself for being scared of a little darkness, she smacked her cheeks, steeling her nerves and began walked toward the portal. Sora and the others would catch up to her, and they didn't have much time to waste when Buzz was in trouble. Smolder stopped in front of the portal, gulping back the wave of fear rising in her gut. Taking a deep breath, she shut her eyes, reached a hand out and slowly, cautiously stepped through. She didn't feel any pain, but the world went much darker through her closed eyes, like all the light from the mall was immediately snuffed out and sucked into this void of a portal. She didn't dare let go of her breath, like she was underwater and afraid to inhale a lungful of water and suffocate. When she felt herself finally pass through the other side, she gasped and opened her eyes.

Smolder was able to see, though the massive room she was in was more like an empty void, darkness flowing around the dome-like setting, even on the ground at her feet. There were what looked like pieces of building blocks floating all around the room, lazily spinning in an anti-gravity field. Up ahead, she flinched, spotting Young Xehanort in the center of the room, and behind him was Buzz, held aloft between two pillars of darkness flowing from the ground and ceiling. The space ranger was unconscious, floating helplessly.

"Still intended on chasing me down on your own?" Young Xehanort asked. "I thought you learned a lesson a while ago, but just as I expected, you don't understand what you're up against."

Smolder growled, not letting him get to her as she summoned her Keyblade for self-defense. "Sora and the others will be here soon," she said, hoping she wasn't bluffing. She walked forward, trying her hardest not to show any fear, but her nervous gait didn't convince the robed man. "I volunteered to...scout ahead."

"Scouts observe from a distance," Young Xehanort correct. "They don't run into a dangerous location without knowing what lies within."

Smolder knew she was making a such a dumb and risky decision, but there was no turning back now. "I don't care. Release Buzz," Smolder demanded.

"And you want to take his place instead?" Young Xehanort scoffed and shook his head. "I told you we don't need you."

"Why not!? He's just a toy!" Smolder said. "He won't do you much good outside his world! I have a Keyblade! I'm a dragon!"

The man shook his head once more, amused by the dragoness's willingness to give herself up for the Organization, despite his explanation earlier. "Maybe so, but it won't matter in the end. We'll find our last few vessels in time. Why don't you take the hint and quit while you're ahead?"

"I'm not leaving until we get Buzz back from you," Smolder growled.

Behind her, sprinting out from the portal, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Woody finally caught up, surprised to see Smolder already there about to confront Young Xehanort again. "Smolder! Wait!"

She turned around, which turned out to be a big mistake. Lifting an arm, Young Xehanort thrust his hand forward, causing the darkness around Smolder to rise and surround her. She gasped and tried to escape, but she couldn't get out in time. Trapped inside of a dome of darkness, Smolder searched around helplessly for a way out, hearing the muffled yells from Sora and the others as they tried to get her out.

"Can you feel the darkness in the air?" Smolder gasped, looking around as Young Xehanort's voice echoed in the small, confined dome. "This all came from your space toy friend. All because he was ripped away from the boy who cares about him most."

"S-So? I'm not scared!" Smolder exclaimed.

"Oh, you're not a very good liar, are you, Smolder?" Young Xehanort asked. "You're terrified...As well you should be. Quit acting tough to save face, and let your fear strengthen the darkness in your heart. Sora claims that 'friendship is power', and the princess of friendship claims it to be a form of magic, but the darkness of being alone is far greater. Darkness is the heart's true nature...especially in a bloodthirsty dragon's."

Smolder was about to protest, figuring out where Young Xehanort was hiding, but surrounding her in the dark aura, she was startled to see her friends. She thought they were toy versions of them with a plastic sheen to their bodies, but they looked real, only they were badly scuffed, scratched, and even burned, neither of them happy to see her.

"You destroyed all of Ponyville; my home," "Sandbar" said. "How could you, Smolder? I thought you wanted to learn about friendship."

"You ruined everything!" "Silverstream" screeched. "I always thought meeting a dragon would be fun, but you're dangerous!"

"And mean!" "Yona" added, glaring spitefully at the dragon. "Yak like to smash, but yak don't smash innocent pony homes for fun!"

"You torched down everything!" "Gallus" shouted, pointing a claw at Smolder. "You burned all of us, and you kept going on a rampage after we begged you to stop! You were going to kill us, you monster!"

"We...we can't trust you anymore," "Ocellus" sniffled, on the verge of tears, terrified of Smolder as the dragon saw more damage done to her than the others. "You'll never change...Never..."

Smolder reeled back, facing all her friends as their voices all collectively insulted her, calling her out from her destructive behavior to her lack of remorse for hurting them. "N-No, I didn't," she uttered as their bodies disappeared in the darkness, though their voices still rang all around her. "W-Wait! No! Guys! Don't leave me!"

"What have you done, Smolder?" Smolder winced, hearing Aqua's voice. She turned around, finding her master, the other wielders, even the Elements of Harmony standing together in the darkness, all of them looking down at her in anger and disappointment. They were just as badly injured as her friends, the wielders' Keyblades drawn, prepared to fight Smolder and take her down once and for all. "We made a mistake choosing you to be an apprentice. Your crimes will not go unpunished." Aqua held her free hand out, the act suddenly making Smolder's Keyblade jerk forward, nearly yanking itself out of the dragon's grip. Smolder grunted, struggling to hold on, but it disappeared from her claws and reappeared in her master's hand. "You are no longer one of us. And we don't need this accursed Keyblade tainting the light we struggled to protect."

Aqua flung Dragon's Fury through the darkness, then aimed her Keyblade and unleashed a powerful spell Smolder had never seen before. She couldn't see through the dark void, but she could faintly see something the size of a massive sphere explode, and Smolder's heart sank when she heard the sound of metal exploding and shattering to pieces. Aqua turned her head, glaring with pure resentment at Smolder before she and the others disappeared into the darkness. Smolder tried to run to where her shattered Keyblade laid, but her legs gave out and she fell to her knees. She was in disbelief at what just happened, and the voices only kept getting louder and louder.

Her head was starting to hurt, her friends and teachers' verbal lashing about her giving her a painful migraine. Smolder grabbed the sides of her head, covering her ears in a helpless attempt to drown out the constant shouting and hurtful truths pounding into her skull.

"T-This...isn't happening," Smolder mumbled. "This...this...has to...be a trick..."

"Why is that when you know this is what will happen if they manage to survive your wrath?" Young Xehanort phased into the dome trap, walking over to the dragon while she writhed from the blended mesh of shouting and screaming from several voices in her head. "Your power would outweigh all of their combined. You won't be needing them when you'll do so much better by giving in to your darkness." Young Xehanort grasped one of Smolder's horns, lifting her up and turning her around to face him. "You want me to take you to the Organization that badly, then show me what your heart's true nature is from within."

The voices kept increasing in volume, making Smolder want to scream at them all to shut up and get out of her head. She was about to lose it, but through all the hurtful comments, accusations, and exclamations, there was one voice that stood out and breached through the myriad of familiar voices.

Most of the dragons are jerks from what I've seen. You're much different from them.

Real monsters don't care about anything but themselves, and your regret is proof enough to show you're not one.

Then don't be a dragon; be Smolder. You get to choose who you want to be.

And if your friends don't support you and the things you like, then they aren't your real friends. Although, I highly doubt the others in the New Mane Six would make fun of you, and they like you for you are on the inside, not the outside.

Rex's comforting and uplifting words suddenly made the voices stop. She was able to think clearly, and she knew he was right. She may be a dragon on the outside, but she knew that her friends wouldn't look at her any differently, and she would NEVER harm her friends. Looking up at Xehanort, who was smirking down at her, thinking he had gotten her to finally break. She glared at him, smacking his hand away from her horn, wiping the smirk off of Young Xehanort's face.

"No. I'm not like that," Smolder said. "I'm not believing a single word you say anymore. You don't know ANYTHING about me."

"Clearly, you don't know anything about yourself," Young Xehanort said. "One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

"Oh, shut up!" Smolder exclaimed. "What do you know!? All you know is I'm a dragon, and...maybe you are right! We're dangerous! But maybe that's why our home is a craggy wasteland; so we don't hurt or wreck anything else throughout Equestria! I'm not going to deny who I am. But that doesn't say who I am." Smolder marched up to Young Xehanort, no longer showing any fear as the dome of darkness began to fade away. "I'm no ordinary dragon; I am Smolder! I decide who I want to be, and I know I have friends that'll back me up because of who I choose to be: a friend, an ally,-" She slashed at the man with her claws, missing him as he leapt back, baring her fangs with menacing, confidant snarl. "-a protector!"

Young Xehanort grunted at Smolder's bravado, glancing at the stunned looks coming from Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Woody, who had been able to see and listen to what Smolder was going through within the fading dome, and Dragon's Fury was laying on the ground in front of them, completely unharmed. "Dragons? Protection? Need I remind you once again, painfully, how well your last attempt to face me ended?"

"I don't care," Smolder growled. "I know you're stronger than me, but that doesn't mean I can try to grow stronger and show you why you shouldn't mess with a dragon like me." She thrust her right arm out at her side, her Keyblade returning to her in a flash of light. Young Xehanort expected Smolder to rush him again, but she surprised him when she relaxed to a more defensive stance. "One day, I'll be much stronger than you, and I won't be alone. You'll never break our friendship, no matter how much you try to split any of us up!" While Smolder gave her friendship spiel to Young Xehanort, Woody looked at Buzz. Underneath his right foot was Andy's name written in black marker, just like his own foot. Despite their small disagreements throughout their journey through the mall, Woody knew they were both friends till the end, and their friendship will never die as long as Andy's heart is connected with theirs. "Together, we'll put you and your dumb Organization on ice."

Young Xehanort stood silent, staring down Smolder, no longer amused by her false courage. He warped in front of her, quickly thrusting his arm out and grasped her neck. Smolder gagged, caught off guard as she was lifted up once more by the surprisingly strong young villain, shocking the other four behind her.

"Your ignorance is finally getting on my nerves," Young Xehanort said. "And being a dragon, don't you mean to intend on burning our Organization to ashes?"

Even though she was choking slightly, Smolder smirked, ready to give him a surprise if he has no idea what she just learned. "No...I really mean...I'll put you...on ice!"

Taking in as much air as she could, Smolder exhaled and blew an icy mist in Young Xehanort's face. His eyes widened, half expecting fire, reacting too late as his face was blasted with the dragon's icy breath. He dropped her right as his body was frozen in ice, her breath still coating him until every inch of him was encased. Smolder let out a gasp and coughed slightly, rubbing her sore neck as she backed away, marveling at her work. Behind her, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Woody stared in shock at Smolder's new ice powers.

The dome around Smolder and Young Xehanort dissipated completely, leaving behind an open patch of light that revealed the ground underneath the darkness. Young Xehanort didn't stay frozen for long, breaking free with a yell, staggering back slightly in surprise. Smolder smirked, returning back to her fighting stance to defend herself as she managed to startle her powerful foe.

"...How?" he uttered. "That's impossible."

"Dude, I don't know how I did that, but now YOU learned not to underestimate a dragon like me," Smolder said. "Now, give back Buzz."

Young Xehanort was about to show Smolder he wasn't meant to be trifled with, but Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Woody joined Smolder, widening the light and eradicating the darkness around them. "You heard her," Woody said. "Give me back my best friend and buzz off." Woody took a step forward, charging a path in the light to reach Young Xehanort, Sora and Smolder stepping alongside him as they tried to intimidate the man. "Buzz and I are connected to Andy, and we will make our way back home to him. With all of our friends. You've probably never been loved by anyone before, because you don't know NOTHING about hearts AND love."

Young Xehanort backed away, forcing the darkness to surround them, but their light kept breaking through as they continued making their way toward him and Buzz. "Xehanort, you're so caught up in finding the shadows, you forget about the light that cast them."

"And if you throw us in those shadows, there's always someone who can bring us back to the light," Smolder added. "I should thank you for bringing me down that low. I'll prove you wrong and be a much better dragon than all of my kind."

The light around them shot forward, breaking a path through, past Young Xehanort as he flinched, and breaking the pillars holding Buzz in place. Practically feeling the light break the space ranger free, he looked back in shock, which became his own undoing this time. Smolder charged forward and blew another wave of ice, freezing up his right arm. Grunting, he turned back to attack Smolder, only to be met with Sora, Donald, and Goofy heading right for him. Breaking his arm free, he summoned his Keyblade, blocking the trio's weapons as they held him back.

"Woody, now!" Sora called out.

The cowboy nodded and sprinted forward. Smolder faced Woody, cupping her claws together to help give him a boost. Woody's foot met her claws, and she flung him hard into the air, sending him flying over the clashing quartet. Using his pull string, Woody gave it a lasso toss, latching the end on a piece of a floating building block, and swung his way over to Buzz. Woody grabbed his friend, sending the two tumbling across the ground with the cowboy landing on top of the space ranger.

"Giddy-up, partner! We gotta get this wagon train-a movin'!" Woody's voice box said as his pull string slowly retracted back into his back.

Smolder ran over to the two toys while her mentors kept Young Xehanort at bay. Buzz's eyes shot open, blinking in confusion as he wondered what happened to him.

"...Woody?" Buzz asked. Woody got off his friend, relieved to have him back as he sat beside the space ranger. Buzz looked around, noticing Smolder standing beside him, though he didn't recall being in this massive void of a room. "...What happened? Where are we?"

"Dude, you missed out on a lot," Smolder said. She held her hand out to him, which he accepted and was helped back up by the dragoness. She then gave Buzz a swift, hard punch in the arm, making the toy wince and rubbed his arm, giving her a confused leer. "That's for shooting me earlier."

"What? When did I-?" It took a moment before Buzz understood what happened.

"We finally got you switched off from 'dark and stormy' mode," Woody teased, giving Buzz a light jab with his elbow. Buzz grimaced, glancing back to Smolder, who grinned after she was satisfied getting some payback from his possessed self. "Glad to have you back, Buzz."

Buzz nodded to Woody, then focused his attention on Smolder. "...Uhh...Whatever I did, I-"

"Don't sweat it," Smolder interrupted. "I should be the one apologizing. I was the one who acted out of line. And...I maybe should have held back on hurting those toys...Learned my lesson about myself the hard way...So, no hard feelings?"

Buzz was a little perturbed by Smolder's change in behavior after seeing her grumpy or enjoy causing a lot of destruction in a Gigas, but he could tell she was genuinely apologetic for her lack of self control. "No hard feelings," Buzz assured with a grin.

"Hey, hurry up over there!" Donald squawked.

Smolder, Woody, and Buzz almost forgot that Young Xehanort was still around. They faced the clashing struggle as Xehanort was pushing them back. With a yell, the man was able to push the trio back, then looked back at the two toys and dragon. Buzz had his laser-shooting arm aimed at Young Xehanort while Woody and Smolder stood beside him.

"So, empty puppets really can be given strong hearts," Young Xehanort said to himself. He already knew of Xion from the older Organization XIII members and how she was able to defect from the old group so many times, but that even toys in another world could be given hearts as well intrigued him. "I'll make sure to remember that."

"Remember this; our hearts will always be connected to Andy's," Buzz said. "No matter what you do!"

"And that's something you'll never understand, because you're hollower than any toy," Woody added, making Smolder snort with laughter at the insult.

Young Xehanort wasn't fazed by the comment, grinning with an amused grunt. "But now I know a heart can be placed in the vessel of our choosing," he said as he an aura of darkness began surrounding him. "For that, let me give you a parting gift to play with."

Smolder grunted and charged Young Xehanort. "No you don't!"

"Smolder!" Sora warned as he got up and tried to sprint toward her, getting her to stop before she got hurt.

Smolder roared and swung her Keyblade, which only phased through him as he was about to disappear. "You are full of surprises," Young Xehanort whispered. "But are you able to truly face your real fears?"

"Huh?" Smolder turned around, confused by Young Xehanort's question and sudden praise, but he was already long gone.

Sora slowed to a halt, just as confused as his charge. Donald squawked and pointed up, the darkness in the massive room crawling away, revealing the room to be a massive play set with a toy-sized city and the puzzle piece playmat beneath their feet. The darkness gathered and transformed into a much bigger UFO than the toy one that attempted to kidnap the three alien toys. Its body was in a variety of dark purples, large, pointed barbs at the end of springs underneath it to act like landing gear, four spots connected to those sections on the top with propellers to help it fly, which were connected to glass domes that seem to have a mini-Heartless sitting inside with a black head and yellow eyes. The top of the UFO had another face with yellow eyes, a radar antennae on top of this one, the Heartless Emblem dead center on the front, and the headlights and the yellow, jagged frown on the underside made it look like another face on the flying Heartless saucer.

"Well, at least this thing isn't a toy," Buzz said, he and Woody regrouping with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Smolder.

Sora looked around the city, finding no sign of the dark corridor they came from, and there was only an open space around the ground they stood on with giant toys floating around in the background. Again, they were stuck with another tough and large Heartless with another inexperienced apprentice.

"Smolder, you up for this?" Sora asked the dragon teen.

"...Not really," Smolder admitted. She didn't know what to expect from this Heartless, but with a new mindset and gaining a bit more patience in combat, albeit still a learning curve, she wasn't going to let Gallus be the only one to tussle with a powerful foe with a newfound confidence. "But I don't back down from a challenge."

"Smolder," Sora warned.

"I'll keep my distance. I swear," Smolder promised. "Unless it comes after me, then that's not my fault."

Sora trusted the dragon, giving her a nod. "Alright. Let's go!"

Sora led the charge, but the UFO was acting defensively as it backed away, knocking into the toy buildings. They all didn't fall right away as the gravity for these foam structures was altered, making them float or fall from the impact, bouncing off the ground and rising back into the air. It created a barrier around its lower half, protecting its body as Sora and Donald cast a few Fire spells at it. As the two and Goofy chased after the Heartless, it launched a volley of rockets at random targets. Smolder was teamed up with Buzz and Woody again, dodging the rockets heading their way, or blowing them up with Fire magic or laser blasts.

"Not a lot of room to avoid getting blown up!" Woody said.

"Better than being strapped to a rocket by a twisted child!" Buzz said, shooting down more rockets aiming down at them.

As they ran for cover, the UFO wasn't the only Heartless that was the problem. Rolling out from around the nearby structures were a new type of Heartless. Bearing similar dark purple colors like the big UFO in the distance, these Heartless were a single sphere with glowing yellows eyes and a purple marking to make a face on the black surface, and it rolled on three wheels, two big wheels in front with a smaller, shorter one attached to the back. They sped off toward the trio, launching smaller missiles from the front ends of their tires.

"Heads up!" Smolder warned, smacking the missiles back at the tri-wheeled Heartless. Some were sent spinning about as their own missiles blew up in their faces while others picked up speed. Smolder got an idea, releasing a stream of icy mist on the ground beneath them. She leapt out of the way, watching a group of three try to skid and turn to aim at her, only to slip and spin wildly out of control on the ice patch she made. With them disoriented, Smolder ran at them and swung her Keyblade clean through them, slashing the hearts out of them. "Ha! These things aren't that tough." Suddenly, she was struck in the back by a small laser blast, making her yelp and stumble forward. She quickly turned and avoided more laser beams coming at her. "Ok, still gotta work on the focusing. Don't get too cocky, Smolder."

Keeping herself levelheaded, Smolder continued taking out the small fry. Sora weaved and dodge around the UFO's rockets, switching to the Keyblade of Generosity and accessing its Formchange. Leaping onto the top of the flying saucer, the elemental diamonds floating around Sora giving him cover from more of the tri-wheeled Heartless in their section of the toy battlefield by blasting them with their respective elements. He lunged for the central head, giving it a few quick thrusts to damage it, where it flinched and spun about from each impact. It didn't stay ignorant for long as it flipped backwards much faster than a normal spacecraft like this was capable of pulling off, dropping Sora back down to the ground as it flew back. It soon retaliated, turning itself sideways, then began to rapidly spin and circle around the arena, launching volley after volley of rockets everywhere.

As the Heartless spun around, it knocked over the buildings, toy cars, and fake trees around the play city, sending pieces flying all over, making a huge mess and more random, harmless projectiles to be more of a nuisance to the group. Luckily, Smolder took out the last of the smaller Heartless before she was blindsided by a foam, triangular roof. She yelped and staggered slightly, more surprised than hurt, looking back at the flying saucer before avoiding another bit of soft, bouncy debris knocked in her direction. At least they weren't made of plastic or a tougher building material. Simply witnessing the "playful" destruction of the toy city strengthened the dragon's resolve to not be the reckless and destructive creature she and her kind were made out to be.

The flying saucer righted itself back to normal, then flipped rapidly in an aileron roll before charging straight down the middle of the arena. It sent more pieces in its path flying all over, missing Sora as he managed to duck and avoid getting clipped by the tough spaceship and its barrier. Smolder, however, got knocked back by one of the incoming foam building pieces, sent flying back a ways before landing on her back with a grunt. Thankfully, the ground was just as soft, but it was getting annoying with how dodgy and fast this Heartless was for its size.

"Ok, I've had enough!" Smolder exclaimed. Buzz and Woody ran over to help the dragoness up, watching out for more Heartless and bouncing, floating building pieces. Once Smolder was back on her feet, she looked around, trying to figure out something they can do to break down the Heartless and leave its head vulnerable. "I don't know much about spaceships, but I don't taking out those parts in the corners is gonna take it down, is it?"

"We need to find a way to stall it and bring it to the ground," Buzz said. "But how? We can't get close to it, and it's moving too fast for even Sora to climb back up on it."

Suddenly, the sky went dark as the Heartless hovered back to the center of the arena. Appearing around it in an orbit, eight orbs in blue and red released an electrical current around the saucer. The gravity altered, mostly for the toy city as everything began to float up and slowly spin in an orbit around the Heartless. While the buildings left the flat surface of the play mat, some building blocks or tougher plastic pieces were set closer to the Heartless, set up like stepping stones, and there were some of those plush animals sliding around from the orbital pull on the ground. Sora, Donald, and Goofy tried to climb up to reach the antennae head, but a whirring, electric sound grew louder around the saucer, then released a shocking electric barrier, zapping the trio and sending them flying back from the defensive countermeasure. And, again, some more rockets adding to the difficulty of climbing up the platforms to force them to stick to the ground.

"This ain't good," Woody said. "Now how do we stop this?"

Smolder looked around the now empty space, doing a double-take when she spotted what looked like a massive rocket near the edge of the arena behind them. She didn't know where it came from, or if it was hidden somewhere in the toy city and they couldn't find it from all the jumbled pieces flying around earlier, but it wasn't affected by the flying saucer's gravitational pull. Her curiosity pulled her toward the strange rocket. It was colored blue with a red cone and wings, a fuse wire at the bottom that would activate its "thruster" once it was lit, and it had the words "The Big One" in red letters in front of an orange and yellow background that simulated the active thrusters and a huge explosion at the end.

"What's this?" Smolder asked curiously.

Buzz and Woody wondered what caught Smolder's interest and followed her, only to wince at the familiar, yet much bigger version of the rocket that Sid strapped Buzz to. "Where did this come from?" Buzz asked.

"Not sure, but with this rocket's size, it'll have a much bigger explosion than the last one that almost took us out," Woody said.

"A big explosion, huh?" Smolder mumbled, getting an incredible idea with the use of this rocket. "You think we can guide this thing while it's going?"

Buzz and Woody balked at Smolder's idea. "You want to ride on that rocket!?" Buzz exclaimed.

"Duh! So we can let it blow up on the Heartless!" Smolder said.

"Smolder, that's insane!" Woody said. "Buzz and I nearly made it out in one piece with a smaller version of this thing! Who knows what damage it can do in this version of our world!"

"You have any other idea to knock that thing out of the sky?" Smolder asked, pointing the the flying saucer giving Sora, Donald, and Goofy a difficult time climbing up to attack it head on. Buzz and Woody looked at each other, feeling unsure and not willing to risk getting blown to pieces again. When they looked back at Smolder, she was already climbing up on it, sitting at the back as she grabbed the fuse. "Come on! I don't know how to steer this thing!"

Buzz sighed and shook his head. "Do we even have a choice anymore?" he asked.

"Well, if we're goin' down, I'd rather go down together with you, Buzz," Woody said.

Buzz glanced at his friend, giving a amused grunt. "Likewise, Woody." With the two deciding to take the risk, they rushed over and climbed up onto the rocket, Woody in front and Buzz between him and Smolder. Smolder blew her fire breath at the fuse, lighting it up and let it go as she clutched the base of the rocket. "Go time!"

The fuse disappeared into the rocket and activated the dangerous pyrotechnics within, the riders lurching slightly as it was propelled by a powerful stream of flames. Buzz, Woody, and Smolder held on tightly as the rocket veered left and right before finally getting enough control. Steering the rocket toward the flying saucer, they tilted it upward, keeping themselves out of its sight to avoid it using its electric barrier to shock them and protect itself. With time running out before The Big One explodes, the trio leaned back, tilting the rocket around in a backflip until it was diving down toward the Heartless.

"Ok, time to see if this'll work!" Smolder said. "Jump off!" Woody and Buzz nodded and leapt off the rocket, the space ranger grabbing hold of the cowboy as he released his wings, letting them glide down to safety. Smolder, however, stayed on, crawling up to the nose of the rocket. She took a deep breath and blew a huge stream of ice over the front end of the rocket, freezing up half of the fireworks rocket. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, get under that thing! Weather's calling for a hailstorm!"

Hearing Smolder, Sora looked up, letting out a startled yell at the large rocket she was riding on heading straight toward them. Heeding her warning, he and his team quickly scrambled underneath the flying saucer before it blew up. Woody and Buzz chanced a glance up, seeing the big mass of ice coating the top of the rocket. Buzz dove down as fast as his plastic wings would allow him, cutting it close with the rocket about to blow at any second, but they managed to get underneath the Heartless for cover. Smolder pushed herself off the rocket, stretching out her wings into a glide to slow her fall. Seconds after she leapt off, the rocket finally blew up, the explosion simultaneously giving Smolder a surprising lift higher into the air and shattering the ice she blew all over the cone.

Hundreds of thousands of sharp pieces of ice were sent scattering downward, aiming right where the cone of The Big One firework rocket was headed: on top of the flying saucer Heartless. Before it could process what was going on, the raining hail of jagged ice struck every part of the saucer's surface. It twitched and swerved, dropping its anti-gravity field, letting all the pieces of the toy city unceremoniously fall to the ground. Its tough exterior was punctured by the sharp ice, wrecking the corner propellers, bending the antennae on the center head, and even broke off one of the yellow lights that made the eyes of the face on its front.

Underneath the Heartless, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Buzz, and Woody winced as they heard the blast from above, followed by several sharp objects seeming to strike and pierce through metal. Looking up, the saucer wobbled as they heard it short circuit, its electric barrier surrounding its underside fading and sputtering out. Its engines began failing and began to slowly descend. The group quickly scrambled out from under it before it fell and crushed them as it crash landed. It hit the ground, the spiked springs underneath barely able to hold its full weight, leaving the flying saucer to lay helplessly, slightly slanted. Even its cannons to fire its homing missiles were busted from the explosive hail, now completely vulnerable and defenseless.

The others saw the amount of damage done to the Heartless, stunned by the fact that it was all done by Smolder with that rocket and her new dragon ice breath. "Whoa," Sora uttered in disbelief. Above them, they all heard Smolder cheering as she glided around from her new height thanks to the updraft from the rocket's explosion. "Nice thinking, Smolder."

"It's not done yet, though," Donald said. "It's still there."

Smolder laughed and cheered, unable to believe her crazy idea actually worked. "That was so awesome!" she exclaimed. Looking down, she saw her prey wasn't truly defeated just yet. "Alright. Time to bag me a huge Heartless."

Smolder dipped her wings and went into a nosedive. She aimed straight down toward the center of the flying saucer. While staying on target, Smolder held her Keyblade out in front of her, wondering if she's able to do a bit more with both her fire and ice breath, or use them at the same time. Even if it gave her indigestion, the final blow to this Heartless would definitely be something worthwhile to see. Taking in a larger gulp of air, she focused on using both her breath powers and meld them into one. As she exhaled, a mix of hot and cold breath spewed from her maw and coated her Keyblade, both fire and ice swirling about as it reached the dragon-shaped end. The ice coating and the jagged teeth didn't melt under the heat of the flames, and the spiraling fire didn't die from the chill of the ice. Grinning widely, her elementally enhanced blade ready to add more pain to their foe, she took aim, yelling out a battle cry that grew louder as she got closer to the Heartless.

Smolder slammed herself into the saucer, the icy-hot Dragon's Fury running through the Heartless's head. The impact sent sparks of fire and shards of ice shooting out from the area, causing much more damage to the saucer's main head, but it was enough to make its body fade away and release a huge heart from inside. Smolder leapt off of the decaying saucer before it disappeared from existence, stumbling forward when she landed on the ground as the adrenaline rush finally caught up with her. She hunched over, panting in exhaustion while feeling elated at how much use she could put into her new ice breath. When she looked up, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Woody, and Buzz surrounded her, wondering if she was ok after such a display of her newfound dragon breath.

"Can I go home now?" Smolder asked. "I think I've had enough fun for one day..."

---

After finding an exit out of the arena, Buzz, Woody, and Sora's gang climbed their way back down to the first floor. The other toys waited for them, glad to see Buzz was ok and they all came back safe and sound. Since the toys other friends were never really taken in this duplicate world of theirs, their search was fruitless, but at least they knew they were probably still back at their real home, along with Andy and his family. The group exited the mall and made the long walk back to Andy's house in this world. Smolder didn't complain, even though her legs were starting to kill her from all the walking and running they did, but she was more concerned with what'll happen to her during her evaluation on her first journey to another world with Aqua. They soon arrived in front of Andy's house, where Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Smolder would soon split up with their toy friends.

"Sorry we couldn't find a way to get you guys back to your real world," Sora apologized to the toys.

Buzz and Woody glanced at each other, smirks on their faces. "Yes, it does seem like we're still stuck here," Buzz agreed. The other toys murmured their own agreements, slightly disappointed from their current situation remaining unsolved. "It is a shame we'll have to stay a bit longer...with our new best friends."

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Smolder balked slightly, being considered best friends from Buzz startling after the constant amount of suspicion he had toward them. "Really?" Smolder questioned aloud.

"Yeah. After all the adventures we've had, we're not quite ready to say, 'So long,'" Woody said.

Sora grinned, adding some more new friends on his ever growing list. Buzz approached Sora and held his hand out to him, giving him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry that I was being so stubborn toward you," he said. "Please forgive me."

Without a second thought, Sora shook his head, immediately taking Buzz's hand, and gave the space ranger a firm handshake. "We understand. You were just looking out for your friends," Sora reassured. "After getting thrust into a fake world and running into Heartless, you had a right to be a bit wary of us, too."

"Well, someone's gotta be the sensible one, especially since Woody's always getting into trouble," Hamm chimed in.

"Gawrsh, that kinda sounds a lot like Sora way back when, huh?" Goofy asked.

Sora and Woody exchanged quizzical looks while pointing at themselves. "Yeah, and I'm the dependable one!" Donald added with a confident grin on his beak.

"Like Buzz!" Rex said. No one else reacted as they stood in silence for a moment, staring at the smug duck mage. "...Uhh, kinda."

Everyone laughed at Rex's uncertainty, which made Donald leer at them and mutter something under his breath. "Besides, if we do go back to the real world, we'll never see you guys again, right?" Woody asked.

His question did make their newly formed friendship much more strained than Sora thought. If the toys did find a way back to their world, would this world still exist for all of them to still be a part of, or would it disappear and they would need to find their actual world somewhere out in the cosmos? Smolder even felt a bit disheartened at the issue. She glanced at Rex, the only toy who knew about the existence of other worlds after blurting it out in her frustration and her existential crisis, and he was just as distressed at the thought. After getting such a motivational pick-me-up from the dinosaur toy, Smolder didn't want to let it all be for nothing if that means she can't visit Rex or the toys ever again. Then again, it was for the best since they weren't supposed to be a part of this world, only to save it from the Heartless and the darkness snuffing the world out.

"...What about Andy?" Smolder asked. "You guys want to get back to him, don't you?"

"We do, but he's still here with us," Buzz said, patting the left side of his chest, emphasizing that Andy was with them in their hearts.

"If we follow our hearts, we'll find him again and make it back to our real world some day," Woody added.

Sora nodded, believing the toys would be reunited with their kid soon. "Right. And if you're still stuck here, just keep an eye out for anymore Heartless," he said.

"What about the guy in the coat?" Buzz asked. "Are you going after him?"

"We're gonna let him go for now," Goofy said. "Might not be a good idea after he got to Smolder once."

Smolder grimaced, knowing it was definitely for the best that she wasn't with her veteran mentors if they wanted to chase after Young Xehanort. They probably already lost his trail anyway, and she didn't want to be given another harsh lesson in reality with him. She clearly wasn't ready to fight any of the Organization, especially when Young Xehanort was technically the man in charge of the new Organization from the past.

"And I assume we can't join you on this mission," Buzz said.

"That's ok," Woody assured Buzz. "They're a part of our hearts."

"And you're a part of ours, too," Sora added.

"Oh, we definitely won't forget any of you after today!" Rex excitedly said.

"We're no strangers to a wild adventure from time to time," Hamm added. "Just as long as it doesn't take us all over the county to save a good friend."

The toys shared a laugh as Woody grinned bashfully as he was reminded of the chicken suit-wearing thief who stole him a while back. "Well, we won't keep you from your travels," Buzz said. "If you do come around before we find our way back to the real world, don't be a stranger." Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Smolder nodded, hoping they would one day come back. Buzz gave the adventurers a salute as he backed up to the trampoline. "To infinity, and beyond!"

The space ranger backflipped onto the trampoline and jumped, bouncing high as he flipped rapidly before landing on the edge of the garage roof with perfect form. The other toys followed Buzz, using the trampoline as a lift to get up to the roof to climb back into Andy's room, seeing that the doors and the garage would be hard to open normally for a toy. Buzz helped each of them as they bounced high enough to reach the gutters while Sora, Donald, and Goofy waved them goodbye before heading off around the alley where their Gummi ship was docked. The last of them to part were Smolder and Rex, the dinosaur toy hesitating to get on the trampoline and might not ever see Smolder again.

"Well, I suppose this is where we say goodbye?" Rex asked.

"Yeah. But if this world does disappear, I'll steal the Gummi ship to find your real world," Smolder promised, though her laughter died and her lips curled into a frown. "I doubt I would leave Equestria once my master sees what I've done here, though..." Rex looked a bit down at the unfortunate news. Not wanting to leave the plastic T-rex depressed, Smolder sighed, then held her arms out. "Come here, you dork." Seeing Smolder offer him a hug, Rex gasped and let out a giggle, practically ramming into her to grasp his tiny arms to her waist in his best hug possible. Smolder grunted in surprise, but held the excited toy, even as the other toys on the roof watched them. "At least you don't try to run me over like Yona when she gets excited."

Surprised, Rex broke the hug and gave Smolder a curious look. "Who's Yona?" he asked. Smolder wondered if she should answer, but Rex seemed to find it himself, letting out a low gasp in awe. "...Is she one of the new characters in the next season?"

Deciding to tease the dinosaur, Smolder gave him a sly smirk. "Yona, Gallus, Sandbar, Ocellus, and Silverstream," she said, counting out each name she listed on her fingers. "Those are my friends' names."

Rex's jaw dropped, letting out squeaky gasps as he tried to process what he just learned. "...I...Is this...Does this count as spoilers!?" Rex exclaimed. Smolder snickered at his reaction, and he began to panic as he tried to put the names of the new characters along with Smolder in the My Little Pony show. "Ohhhh! Who's who!? I can't wait that long for the season eight premiere!"

"Then you gotta wait, sadly," Smolder said. Rex whined, desperate to know, but the dragon guided the toy and hoisted him up on the trampoline. "Go on, Rex. Get back in Andy's room where it's safe, or I'll have to carry you in there myself."

"Can't you give me a hint!?" Rex begged.

"Nope," Smolder said. She got up on the trampoline as Rex refused to jump, then jumped and caused him to bounce along with her. "Now, to infinity and beyond!"

As she copied Buzz's catchphrase, she gave the rubbery platform a hard bounce, sending Rex bouncing high as he yelled in surprise. Buzz and Woody quickly grabbed him as he reached the roof, pulling him up to safety while he still reeled from the rough bounce. Smolder gave the toys a wave, hopping off the trampoline and hurrying after Sora, Donald, and Goofy. She rounded the corner of the house, making her way inside the Gummi ship where Sora, Donald, and Goofy were beginning preparations to take off. Smolder strapped herself in, letting out an exhausted sigh, but she couldn't relax just yet. As the ship took off, she looked out to see the toys climbing inside the open window to their owner's room. Much like how she missed her new friends no thanks to Chancellor Neighsay forcefully shutting down the School of Friendship, she was definitely going to miss Rex if he and his friends made it back to their world. For being as silly as Silverstream and sometimes as shy as Ocellus, she was glad he helped her when she felt at her lowest.

---

After returning to Equestria, Smolder was immediately sent to The Land of Departure with Sora to review her first experience out in the field to Aqua. She was never scared or anxious before, but Smolder felt like her gut was going to flip itself out of her body from how nervous she was. Aqua watched from both their perspectives with a stoic expression, making subtle nods or a raised brow here or there. Smolder explicitly left out the parts with her wearing dresses in the Babies and Toddlers store, feeling humiliated enough when the real embarrassment of her actions were meant to be addressed. Several long, gut-wrenching minutes passed through the enchanted memory ornaments before the plastic baubles' visual screens faded away. Silence followed as Smolder bit her lip, knowing full well she was in serious trouble.

Finally, Aqua let out a sigh as she crossed her arms, looking disappointed at Smolder. "Well...I wish I could say I was surprised to see all that...But learning bits and pieces about dragon culture and behaviors, part of me was expecting you to have flown off the handle at some point," she said. Smolder winced, lowering her head in shame as Aqua continued. "I understand if the world I assigned you to travel to with Sora might not have been what you expected, but when you and the others were told NOT to engage with anyone from the Organization, you do NOT go after them."

"I know," Smolder mumbled.

"Then there was the destructive amount of force you used, be it from your own strength or those Gigas robots you controlled," Aqua added. "We're supposed to keep inhabitants of all worlds safe from threats that cause destruction of that magnitude, even when they were just children's playthings with sentient thoughts and feelings. Earlier today, I have warned you not to display that much aggression in combat to avoid something like that. And your first encounter with Heartless, you froze Sora with your magic, completely unaware of your own allies fighting with you. You're lucky Sora's just as experienced as I am, otherwise, if that were any of your other friends, you could have left them open to get seriously hurt. And I don't want to mention your careless pursuit of Xehanort into that closed toy store and the damage you caused." Smolder winced at the reminder, fully understanding the negative repercussions if it really were any of her friends in that horrible scene. "I want you to remember that you represent the dragons of your kingdom. Not just for the School of Friendship, but for us as well. Your actions will have serious consequences for you along with whoever you hurt if you blindly charge in and don't care about who gets in your way."

"Yes, ma'am," Smolder uttered.

Smolder was ready to turn in her Keyblade, having tarnished the wielders of light's credibility over her selfless, dangerous actions. Aqua knew Smolder was much better than this, and she was reassured that the dragoness had learned her lesson the harsh way. She was just as clueless as Sora when Young Xehanort had Smolder where he wanted her, yet didn't do anything to kidnap her and forcefully manipulate her into joining the Organization. She was relieved that he didn't, but she didn't trust the Xehanort youth and the Organization never needing the Young Six to complete their ranks. Whatever kind of trick he was trying to pull, her priority was keeping their apprentices safe as they learn how to explore through the worlds, and the other members of the Organization would still hunt them down.

Aqua approached Smolder after several minutes of anxious silence, kneeling down to her level, and gently placing her hands on the dragon's shoulders, forcing her to look up to her master. "I am going to punish you, but it won't be too severe after seeing how you reacted to what you've done in the aftermath," she said. "You regretted what you've done, and I know you wish you could take it back. Thankfully, that fake world had no other toys that had any sentience the ones you were with had, but at least you were empathetic toward the ones you did harm."

"...So...I'm not...losing my Keyblade?" Smolder asked, confused.

"You have far more potential in you to have your Keyblade taken away. What you learned about yourself has done enough to give you a reality check, and you won't let that happen again, right?" Aqua asked. Smolder immediately nodded her head in response, taking that lesson to heart and promising not to let her anger get the best of her again, assuming she can control her temper sooner rather than later. "Good. So, for your punishment, you will come here every day, bright and early in the morning on weekends and after classes on weekdays, and I will assign you specific tasks until it gets late, when you're finished, or if you're too exhausted to move."

"O-Ok," Smolder said, feeling a bit nervous to what those tasks will be, but she was willing to redeem herself. "...But...I also told Rex...I wasn't from this world...Am I being punished for breaking the world order, too?"

Aqua hummed in thought, glancing over at Sora. Sora shrugged his shoulders in response, uncertain whether Smolder should be punished for that after learning there was a cartoon show depicting nearly similar events that happened in a world that does exist.

"...We'll let that slide since Equestria in that world is considered fiction," Aqua said. "And Rex seems to be a really dedicated fan, so that'll be chalked up to his excitement and fascination toward 'Equestria'."

"Heh. Right," Smolder mumbled.

"But, one thing that interested me was your ice breath against the Heartless your rampaging pursuit with Xehanort." Aqua stood up and stepped away from Smolder. "Show me." The dragoness nodded, then demonstrated her new ice breath to her master. Aqua stared at the icy mist blowing out of Smolder's maw, freezing the air as the temperature around the dragon breath dropped. Aqua called her Keyblade, holding the end out to Smolder's continuous breath, watching it begin to freeze up. During Smolder's fights, she's seen her use her dragon breath to give it some more power with an elemental flare, possibly discovering this tactic or did it out of the blue to make it look cool and not realizing it to be a nice benefit in combat. Pulling her Keyblade away, she saw the tip of her blade was coated in a bit of ice, though it didn't hold any sharp icicles, which meant the dragon's own Keyblade was capable of being enchanted by her own dragon breath. "Hmm...Dragons are only able to breathe fire, right?"

"Yeah. I...don't even know how I did this, but...it feels natural, and I can switch between fire and ice," Smolder said.

"I see," Aqua uttered. Breaking off the ice on her Keyblade, she dismissed it and hummed some more in thought. Gallus had gained a Cure spell with more healing properties than any normal Cure spell, and Smolder now has the ability to breathe fire AND ice. She did recently teach her students Blizzard, though it couldn't be a coincidence if her theory would be spot on with her assumption. "When Kairi temporarily transforms into a dragon, she blew water bubbles that could freeze upon contact with objects or creatures. Granted, she has magic that could change the normal anatomy of Equestrian dragons of any species, but a normal dragon like you breathing a completely different elemental breath is different. It might be your attunement to your Keyblade, along with how you view yourself as you and not like the other dragons back in your home..."

"Is it like how you changed when you lose control of your emotions as a unicorn?" Sora asked Aqua.

"...Perhaps..." Aqua mulled over what could be the cause, despite how exhilarating it was learning how her apprentices are being granted new abilities the likes of which no recordings in history, either for Equestria or Keyblade wielders in general, have ever witnessed. "I may have to bump you up to learn a new magic spell very soon. As your punishment, of course."

Smolder blinked, uttering a noise in confusion, but she was able to accept learning a new magic spell early as one of her disciplinary lessons. "...Ok...What would I learn?" she asked curiously.

"You'll find out later," Aqua promised. "For now, just go back to your dorm and relax. You've had quite a rough day." Smolder nodded, giving Aqua a low bow, then turned to leave and get some rest. When she was out of earshot, Aqua turned to Sora. "She's holding out on a few bits from her point of view: some of them in the doll shop and in the closed store she tried to fight Xehanort in. Do you know what she was doing in those moments?"

"Beats me. She was fine on her own exploring in Babies and Toddlers when we first got there, but the other times, I don't know what happened," Sora said. "Why do you ask?"

"Gallus might have done the same thing, though I was more concerned with how he felt about himself from his thoughts due to his spellcasting," Aqua said. "I didn't really think nothing of it since Gallus's first venture lasted for a couple days, so anything could have happened. From your first time entering that store, Smolder was mindlessly wandering around, bored, then it just skips to her rushing over to you guys, but she was flustered when it transitioned." Sora crossed his arms, wondering if there was anything strange he noticed about her behavior before rescuing the lost toy soldier and finding Hamm in the dollhouse. "There was even an odd skip in her conversation with the toy dinosaur when they were suddenly attacked by Heartless, and their positions were in a different spot around that same area in that store earlier."

"Huh...Are the enchantments fading?" Sora asked.

"The enchantments are fine," Aqua said. She let out a small laugh, grinning a little, though what she believed was just a hunch. "Maybe she did take my advice earlier today..."

---

Smolder slumped through the halls of the school, desperate for a nap. Reaching her and her girl friends' dorm room after what felt like a long walk, Smolder opened the door, nearly bumping into Silverstream as she, Yona, and Ocellus were about to leave.

"Smolder! You're back!" Silverstream cheered. "And only for a few hours! That's a record!"

Smolder was taken aback by her friends, though it was mostly from the makeup on their faces rather than nearly bumping into them. All three girls were prettied up, wearing eyeliner, lipstick, blush, and their respective hooves and claws painted and dried with the colors they tried out before Smolder left. The dragon was astonished by the amount of time she was gone, and how long it took for them to pick the right look. Yona looked a little silly with all that makeup, but Silverstream seemed to wear it well. Ocellus looked a little bashful, looking more cute than beautiful with her timid nature.

"Umm...She's only the second one to go on a journey to another world," Ocellus mentioned to the hippogriff. "She had a...different experience...probably."

"Did Smolder fight many Heartless?" Yona asked.

"Uhh...yeah. But...I also kinda got into some trouble," Smolder admitted.

The other girls gaped in shock. "Oh no," Ocellus mumbled.

"What happened?" Silverstream asked.

"I...I'll tell you guys later," Smolder said. "I'm actually really tired. I guess I know how Gallus feels when he got back."

"What about me?" Coming down the hall, Gallus and Sandbar walked over to the girls, the griffon smirking when he heard his name. "Smolder, I heard you went off to a world. Have fun?"

"Yeah. Sure. Fun," Smolder grumbled.

"She's actually pretty tired, Gallus," Silverstream said as she walked out of the room. "She'll tell us everything tomorrow at school!" The instant Gallus saw the hippogriff, his beak slowly hung open as he ogled his prettied up crush. In Gallus's mind, Silverstream gazed at him with half-lidded, come-hither stare, with her lashes curled, blue eyeliner, red lipstick expertly applied to the edge of her beak, and pink blush to help accent the beauty in her expression. His cheeks burned and his breath hitched in his throat while staring at his crush like she was a goddess gracing him with her presence, feeling unworthy to be chosen as her mate. In reality, Silverstream just blinked curiously at him, having no clue what was wrong with him and his dopey, flabbergasted state. "Uhh, Gallus? Are you alright?"

"...Guuuuuuh," Gallus dumbly groaned.

Smolder snickered at the griffon's lovestruck gaze and braindead response. "I think that means he likes your look, Silverstream," she said.

"Really? Well, glad you like it, Gallus!" Silverstream said, still unaware of the fact the griffon clearly likes her and was enamored by her beauty enhanced by her makeup. Yona and Ocellus peeked out of the room to see Gallus's face, which made them giggle as he seemed as stiff as a board, blankly staring at Silverstream. "I mean, my choices were pretty easy, but it took Yona a while to find the right color for her."

Sandbar noticed the yak and changeling's makeup, the former's eyeliner a lighter shade of blue with ruby red lipstick and the latter's eyeliner and lipstick a bright pink, making her facial features pop from her blue chitin skin. "Wow. You girls look pretty good," Sandbar complimented.

"Eh, Yona not sure about lips being painted," Yona said. "Not very tasty."

"It's not supposed to be edible, Yona," Ocellus reminded the yak.

"We were about to show Prof. Rarity once we were done. You boys wanna escort us ladies to her place?" Silverstream asked with a flick of her feathery hair, even batting her eyelashes.

Gallus let out a startled squawk at the thought, his body tilting over to the side until he fell over, his limbs sticking out straight and stiff in his paralyzed, lovestruck stupor. Smolder snorted, both from Gallus and Silverstream STILL not getting the hint about how he feels about her.

"I think that's a no," Ocellus said.

"We were actually going to do a bit of studying tonight," Sandbar said. "Headmare Twilight's probably going to surprise us with a pop quiz, so it's best we be prepared for her classes this week."

"Ooh, right. She loves pop quizzes," Silverstream said. "Let's make our visit quick and be prepared for one of those!"

Silverstream skipped off down the hall with Yona hurrying behind, accidentally stomping down on Gallus's tail, though the griffon no sign of pain in his lovestruck daze. Ocellus hesitated, but didn't want to skip out on possible extra credit, fluttering off after the other two to join them.

"Hey, guys! What about the mess!?" Smolder called out.

"We'll clean up when we get back!" Ocellus promised.

Smolder just sighed, running her claw down her face as she looked at the room, all three of their spa and makeup kits leaving a mess of polishes, powders, and even some of the green muck for the mud masks they must have used earlier before applying their makeup littered on the floor. The masks might have explained the long time if they were exfoliating their faces.

"I'm just gonna drag Gallus in our room until he wakes up," Sandbar said. He went around the stiffened griffon, grabbing his tail in his mouth, and dragged his friend back into their dorm. "Have a good night, Smolder."

"Yeah. Night," Smolder said with a slight wave, walking inside, shutting the door, and avoiding the mess the girls made to her bunk.

She was about to plop into bed and get some shuteye, but she looked at her nightstand, where her own spa and makeup kit remained untouched. Her princess fantasy came to the forefront of her mind, making her bite her lip nervously as she imagined how she would look, wearing makeup and looking as pretty as her friends. Part of her dragon ego was screaming not to do that, but she grew curious about dressing like a princess, and she liked it. She still didn't want her friends to know that she did enjoy cute stuff, still worried about looking too silly and be embarrassed being seen looking pretty. In private, however, she felt like she could express herself a little bit more, and maybe in time, she would admit to her friends that she likes this kind of girly stuff. And like Rex said, they wouldn't be her real friends if they made fun of her for what she liked compared to how she normally appears to them physically.

Giving in to her curiosity, Smolder grabbed her kit and made her way to the bathroom. Making sure the door was closed in case the girls came back early, she placed her spa and makeup kit on the sink counter and opened it. Inside were the usual basic stuff her friends had inside: different colored hoof/nail polish, a few different shades of lipstick colors from red to purple, blush and a fuzzy brush to apply the powder, some different eyeliner colors and a small eyelash curler and a little bag of the greenish-gray mud for the homemade mud mask facial. Smolder ignored the mud and the curler, finding no need for the latter with her lack of eyelashes, and focused on the rest of the makeup.

Silverstream thought purple nail polish would look good on her, so she took the hippogriff's advice. She picked up each small vial of colored polish until she found the purple one, twisting off the cap with the connected inside, carefully pulling it out without spilling the thick paint. Lowering the vial, Smolder outstretched her free hand, then began to slowly apply the nail polish to one of her claws. She winced at the texture, but held her hand perfectly still, coating the top of her nail with a slow stroke until it was completely covered. She then moved onto the rest of her claws, not bothering to dry them since she didn't want to keep them painted for too long.

Once the last digit's claw was coated, she lifted her hand, humming curiously as she admired the color, which matched her spines and spaded tail. "Huh...Silverstream knows her stuff," Smolder mumbled to herself, appreciating the color, and the purple really did compliment her cyan eyes. Placing the cap back in the vial, she moved onto the eyeliner, glancing at the different colors before picking a light shade of purple. She applied the eyeliner, having one eye closed to see she was putting it on right, then did the same to the other, and she could definitely see her eyes were much more appealing to look at. Then she tried on some lipstick, picking a dark purple color. Pursing her lips, as she's seen from Rarity's little lessons, she pressed the wax stick to her upper lip, slowly running it along her lip and being careful not to smear it elsewhere. Once done, she pressed her lips together, letting the creamy texture press and rub off on her lower lip for a few seconds. After observing her lips, she placed the lipstick back in the kit, then gazed at herself in the mirror. She grinned, feeling a little giddy as she stared at the dragon before her. "Wow. I look...pretty...I guess...this stuff's not so bad..."

Her grin slowly began to melt, her fear admitting her enjoying being girly still lingering in her heart. She definitely wasn't ready to tell anyone, and she probably won't for a long, long while. Maybe when she helps unite the dragons with ponies in friendship and show them it's not bad to express what they look to do in private, she might reveal she likes to wear dresses and makeup like pony mares. Sighing sadly, she closed her spa and makeup kit, turned on the faucet, and began washing off her makeup and nail polish. Once she was sure any evidence of her applications were gone, she dried her hands and face, exited the bathroom, placed her kit back where it sat, then laid down in her bed, her racing thoughts slowing down as her exhaustion caught up and fell fast asleep.

---

Young Xehanort walked through the halls of the Organization's new hideout, but he didn't wander to give his report to his older self. The real Xehanort would have already known, even if he was an alternate version of himself in the past. He was searching for a certain member among their group, smirking a little knowing of the little game of "Guess Who" some of them were playing with the new wielders. Down the hall, he spotted a bored Vanitas leaning against the wall, his helmet worn over his head, though he was currently wearing the Organization's black coat. Since he returned from his attempt to take Sora in, the dark teen had been in a foul mood since then.

"What exactly have you been up to, 'boss'?" Vanitas questioned sarcastically.

"Just a few experiments of my own," Young Xehanort said. "What about you?"

"What do you think?" Vanitas growled. "You should know, since you can travel through time."

"By leaving behind my real body and entering a future time in a new vessel," the silver-haired young man corrected. "Although, much like you and the rest, your hearts returned and inhabit the vessels we're currently in now. Thanks to me." Vanitas didn't respond, glaring at Young Xehanort through his visor. Coming around the corner, Young Xehanort spotted just the person to talk to. "Luxord. Just who I was looking for."

Luxord looked at Young Xehanort, ignoring Vanitas as he approached the youth of their big boss. "What is it you need of me?"

"I know you and a few others are on a little hunt searching for new Keyblade wielders," Young Xehanort said.

"Xigbar told you?" Luxord asked, slightly worried he would have the information on new wielders withheld from the higher ups.

"No, but I knew," Young Xehanort said, which didn't assuage Luxord any. Vanitas glanced at Luxord, unaware of what they were talking about. "An orange female dragon with curved horns coming from the sides of her head and purple spines. She's got quite a fiery temper to her, much like the rest of her kind in Equestria."

Luxord grunted, pulling out his deck of cards and flicked through them until he found a blank one. He showed Young Xehanort the blank side, then with a few quick flicks, Smolder's image appeared in the empty space, wielding Dragons Fury in an aggressive fighting stance with a cocky smirk.

"What is this all about?" Vanitas questioned. "New wielders? Since when?"

"I figured you would have known, but you're still sulking over your loss against your other half," Young Xehanort said.

Vanitas snarled, slamming his fist into the wall before he teleported in front of the man. "I had them right where I want them, and he was helpless! I lost because that stupid bug queen got too arrogant and didn't a damn thing to kill the traitor who stood up to her!" Young Xehanort barely flinched, not intimidated by the masked wielder of darkness. Vanitas then turned to Luxord, snatching Smolder's card out of his hand, then pointed at the gambler with a finger. "Who the hell are the other new wielders? Who, or what, are those idiots training to stand up to us!?"

Without batting an eye, Luxord flicked the cards in his hand, spacing them out, and pulled only one of the remaining five cards. "The first that was discovered by Marluxia. A young griffon teenager," Luxord said as he held the card closer to Vanitas. "These two are the only ones you all know of. The other four are yet to be-"

Vanitas roared, smacking Luxord's cards out of his hand, then summoned his Keyblade and aimed it at the gambler's face. "You KNOW who the other four are! Tell us and stop playing games! I swear, if you hold back anything else we should know, I will end you right here and now!"

Luxord was taken aback by Vanitas's outburst, but Young Xehanort came to his rescue. He had his own Keyblade summoned, flicking it into its whip form, then lunged the whip, wrapping it around Vanitas's extended arm, then gave him a painful shock. Vanitas yelled as his body was wracked with electric volts, forcing him to drop his Keyblade as he writhed from his erratic spasms. His head flicked back after the shock ended, sending his helmet flying off his head and toward Young Xehanort, who quickly caught it before it struck him. Vanitas panted, dropping to his knees, releasing Smolder's card as his fingers twitched. Luxord gathered his cards, letting out the breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"Calm down, Vanitas," Young Xehanort ordered. "You lost a battle, but the war is far from lost to us. You'll get your chance for revenge soon." Vanitas clenched his fists, staggering back up to his feet with a huff. His head hung low, seething with rage, but he wasn't going to lash out at Luxord again. For the moment. "Besides, Luxord's playing a game. And made a bet that he lost, so the rest of the new Key bearers will remain a mystery until we discover who they are. Have a little fun every once in a while."

Young Xehanort held out Vanitas's helmet with a smug grin, practically joking with Ventus's darkness given his own form. Vanitas turned around, glowering at the man bitterly for his remark. Ever since his loss at the changeling hive while assisting Chrysalis, her throne breaking apart as her former subjects' combined transformations destroyed it also struck him, particular in the face around his left eye. Luckily, his vision in his eye was spared from the impact, but now Vanitas had a jagged scar running diagonally down right, starting from the left side of his forehead and ending above the center of his upper lip. He despised earning this scar, a reminder of his failure at the changeling hive, both for helping Chrysalis and her own cause and defeating Vanitas when he was completely defenseless and without any magic to save him. He had an easy win, and it was taken away when the first changeling, Thorax, transformed, and granted Ventus a new D-Link to fight back, and succeed in making a fool out of him.

Without a word, Vanitas snatched his helmet out of Young Xehanort's hand, placing it back on his head. He walked off with a grunt, making his way past Young Xehanort to brood. Young Xehanort shrugged and looked at Luxord, who began to grow suspicious.

"You knew about my 'game', you met and possibly encountered the young dragon, and yet you come back empty-handed," Luxord said. "You have as much power as the elder you...Why?"

Young Xehanort let out a laugh and began to walk away. "Everyone loves a good mystery, don't they?" he asked before disappearing into a dark corridor.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Luxord questioned. He wondered what world he went to, and where he had been all this time. "...Does he know the identities of the other wielders?" Glancing down at his hand, they only revealed Gallus and Smolder, the other four left blank, but he knew by memory who the remaining four creatures were who bear a Keyblade. Grunting, he slid the cards together and dismissed them, continuing on his way. "I don't know what game that lad is playing at, but he'd best not help the others cheat at mine if he does know..."

Comments

[HarryBuilder]

So what happens next?

[HarryBuilder]

I'm guessing the other Young Six make an unlikely friend in the others worlds too?

Ocellus: Boo

Silverstream: Olaf

Yona: Baymax Or Gogo, Honey, Wasabi, or Fred

Sandbar: One of Jack Sparrow's men.

Also, now Sora and the gang have encountered (In their Timeline at least) all the members of the New Organization XIII, Except for the Original Master Xehanort, whom I belive will make his appearance in School Raze.

[shining paladin]

wesome chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Talk about getting foes to chill out! Honestly didn't see Smolder getting ice breath coming, but it kinda fits in a way.

[Postwarmonkey50]

Wow, amazing chapter.

And who'd thunk that Rex of all toys would be a words of wisdom kind of toy for Smolder.

And at least Smolder admitted she liked the make up...but uh not publicly.

And it was funny reading Gallus' reaction when he saw how beautiful Silverstream looked.

And yeesh, Vanitas knows how to hold a grudge, and i hate to say it, but i'm glad that Young Xehanort calmed him somewhat down.

All and all, great chapter. Can't wait to see the next chapter. Wonder which one will it be though.

[RainbowRaptorDash1]

Keep going!

[JesusG0987]

Great chapter and boy not only did they rescue buzz but Smolder finally found a way to express on how she want to be, and she not only made friends with the toys but also Rex, she may have reveal the world order thing but Rex swore to keep a secret and he and smolder are friends, talk about great and man that was a great chapter There and she learned how to fire ice out of her mouth, that was great, keep up the great work

[Kreotre]

Awesome chapter, keep up the good work 😎👍

[DeathRider2021]

I can't wait to see what will come next!

[Princespeedywhooves]

I loved this chapter so much.😍😍😍

[branix]

11197745
No surprise for a dragon and a dinosaur to being friends.

[JesusG0987]

11198324
No surprise at all, even when they started out tough but now their friends

[Bluedrangon]

Every time I read the chapters in this world I wonder if pinkie's fourth wall break stuff will get explain to Sora and friends. Oh well

[Codex92]

11200217
Explain? Pinkie Pie? Nah. Pinkie don't need no explanation. She's just Pinkie being Pinkie. Nothing wrong there.

[RayvenShade]

11197595

I think Yona would be better to go to Arendelle than Silverstream. Ocellus going to Monstropolis makes perfect sense, while Sandbar and Silverstream could both go to either of the remaining worlds, though I'm leaning more towards Sandbar in San Fransokyo.

[Kreotre]

I still think Ocellus going to Arendelle is a good idea 🙂

[Gambling_Sam]

Sandbar should totally go to San Fransokyo and meet hiro. the kid would fliiiiip

[TheNewFrederick]

11200547
11197595
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11202350
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11197639
Sad news everyone, Estelle Harris, the voice of Mrs. Potato Head, joined with Don Rickles in the afterlife, aged 93. So with all heavy heart, this chapter be declared to her memory.

[Postwarmonkey50]

11202748
May she rest in peace in heaven as her heart will be her guiding key.

[MLPFanForever]

Awesome chapter! Keep it up!

[Spark Shift]

2.6 million words

Oh boy.
Can't wait.

[TheNewFrederick]

11200547
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Another sad news everyone. Gilbert Gottfried, the voice of Iago, has passed away.

[Codex92]

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I've heard from a group I'm in on Discord. Rest in peace, Gottfried.

[karmathewriter]

How does everyone feel about the KH4 trailer, I think they gave our boy sora a nice upgrade.

[HarryBuilder]

Has anyone heard the rumors that in the Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer it may have been leaked that Star Wars may finally be included into the Kingdom Hearts series?

[Codex92]

11211420
Part of me is hoping that it won't happen, but despite there being a possible Star Wars world, I'll still play KH4 whenever it finally arrives. I just pray we don't wait too long for this sequel like the timeframe between 2 and 3, not including all the side games in between to add more lore for the whole timeline.

[karmathewriter]

11211484
Mind if I ask, why don't you like the idea of star wars being in KH4, I mean to me it could be a fun world, but maybe I'm not seeing something here.

[Codex92]

11214833
Eh. I'm not really a fan of Star Wars. I have played some Star Wars games growing up, but I never really got into much sci-fi stuff like that. I usually preferred other genres, both for media and gaming. I'll still play KH4 regardless because, damn it all, I love the damn series as I grew up with Disney as a baby, and got my first start into playing more RPG games from the very first KH game and Final Fantasy X that a friend I knew had.

[AetherToast]

11217146
Bit of a difference though. The sticks are literally a part of a tree that died or is dying depending on how green it is.