My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria

by Codex92

Uprooted

Sora sat patiently in a chair in the throne room while Rarity cut down his mane to its shorter, spikey length. Everyone was still reeling from what he and the Mane Six showed them with the final battle against King Sombra. Luna had feared the vessel the Heartless inhabited before her fiancé would have been destroyed by how roughly the mares and Sora battered him, but it was much more resistant than they all expected. Rarity had even given Sombra a new change in wardrobe and a new manestyle to deter the public in seeing him as the Heartless that ran amok and tried to destroy their world with darkness. His royal red cape was replaced with a simpler cloak with stars dotted along the fabric, along with the insignia of Luna's moon on the back over both of his flanks. His circlet was taken off, not taking any royal status until he was properly wed to Luna, and he shall be a prince, not a king. His grieves remained on his hooves as a symbol of his prowess as a soldier, and his mane was combed back with the back length tied in a short ponytail.

"I am impressed you have managed to fashion something like this for in a small amount of time, Miss Rarity," Sombra said. "Though sewing in Luna's cutie marks seems a little much when all I need to prove my loyalty to her should only be the stars."

"Please, it wasn't a bother," Rarity said. "After all, as the only stallion of your time, you were more than likely her first worshiper and respected her as a princess more than any other."

"I...do not believe that is entirely true," Sombra muttered, feeling a little flustered as he subtly glanced at Luna, eyeing the coy smirk on her muzzle. "I had never heard of her existence while I was born and raised in the Crystal Empire as the only unicorn among the crystal ponies. I am sure there were...other suitors in the past who secretly vied for her attention."

"No. Not a one," Luna assured. "Although, in the present, you may have some competition."

"Er...I beg your pardon, love?" Sombra asked, confused. "I thought our love was true."

Luna laughed at her future husband's reaction, nuzzling him to comfort his worries. "He is not a stallion. A young colt from Trottingham who goes by the name Pipsqueak. It was his first Nightmare Night as it was my own, and he claims I am his most favorite princess."

"Oh! It was a-!" Sombra sighed with relief, his heart racing with anxiety at the misunderstanding. "Goodness, Luna, I have just returned not even a day and you almost made my heart give out!"

"My apologies. You are the only one for me," Luna reassured. "Nopony else has ever won my heart like you."

"Maybe when Pip gets older, Sombra will get some competition," Sora said. Sombra leered at Sora, hoping the stallion was only teasing him. Though he hadn't aged since he had forcibly changed because of his darkness, he didn't want to feel old. Sora grinned at him, only to grimace when Rarity began applying shaving cream to his face, finished with his hair and moved on to his messy beard and mustache. "Hey, maybe instead of taking this all off, I can be left with a neat 'stache?"

"Nuh uh. I want it all shaved off, Sora," Kairi demanded.

"I thought you didn't like mustaches when I tried spell number twenty-five on you," Twilight said.

"It was the spell that I thought was pointless, first of all," Sora corrected. "Second, that was a few years ago. I can change how I look if I want to."

"Except your hair's still the same since we were kids," Riku reminded Sora.

Sora turned his head to glare at Riku, but Rarity firmly gripped his head with her magic and forced him to face forward. "Sora, hold still before I accidentally cut you!" she scolded as she levitated a razor blade up to his cheek.

Gulping nervously, Sora obeyed, letting Rarity do her work. "I still can't believe Sora has yet another new form," Aqua mumbled. "And the other girls...now they have Keyblades, too."

"And you saw just how awesome we were! Like we were fighting like Sora!" Rainbow cheered, flashing her Keyblade and dancing around in midair. "Finally gonna shine as a Wonderbolt AND a Heartless hunter!"

"Not so fast!" Aqua exclaimed. Gripping the pegasus's tail with her magic, she yanked Rainbow back down to the ground. "Even if what you girls claimed was a transference of battle experience from Sora through the Keyblades of Harmony, you are still considered apprentices to me!"

"Aww, come on! You all thought we weren't going to be responsible enough to wield one!" Rainbow whined.

"Neither of us said that, Rainbow Dash," Riku said. "It was just you."

"Huh!? Why!?" Rainbow asked.

"Because you were too immature," Terra said.

"And still are if you're supposed to be a respected stunt flyer," Ventus added.

"I'm totally mature now!" Rainbow argued.

"You were dancing around just a moment ago," Applejack mentioned. "Like ya got backstage passes to a Wonderbolts show if y'all were still a filly."

"But...what about Pinkie!?" Rainbow asked as she pointed to the pink party pony, who was busy balancing her Keyblade on her tail.

Everyone except Sora and Rarity gave Rainbow a deadpanned stare, questioning her illogical logic revolving Pinkie's "maturity" to her own. "Rainbow, have you already forgotten Pinkie's behavior with her randomness is unexplainable?" Xion asked Rainbow.

Rainbow eventually ran out of excuses, wilting and grumbling to herself as she dismissed her Keyblade. "If you really think you're that ready and feel like you're on the same level of combat as us, I'm going to see if for myself during training," Aqua said. "Regardless of the proof we saw, we don't know if Fluttershy's even up for it completely since she's not much into fighting."

"Well, for Equestria and all my animal friends if the Heartless attack them, I'm willing to learn how to fight," Fluttershy said.

"Don't think she needs to when she wrestled a grizzly bear as a method of 'chiropracting'," Sora chimed in.

"Harry is a brown bear," Fluttershy corrected. "He doesn't sleep well in his den, so he needs some help working on those neck cramps."

"We'll see how you girls do tomorrow when we evaluate your skills," Terra said.

"What about the Everfree Forest?" Twilight asked. "Without the Tree, it could invade Ponyville again."

"The Elements' power you released cleared the intruding vines as well as destroyed the Heartless Sombra's influence with his dark crystal's," Celestia said. "The Everfree has calmed down, but Star Swirl will overlook the forest in case it runs wild again."

"How long will that last for?" Riku asked.

"We're not sure. The Tree of Harmony took many years for it to grow," Celestia said. "It may be some time until we find another solution to keep the forest from overgrowing."

"And keep our world from falling to darkness," Luna added.

"Luckily, there's plenty of us with Keyblades to save the day from evil Heartless!" Pinkie said.

"As if our lives weren't busy enough, but we somehow find a way to manage everything without 'Twilight-ing'," Rarity said. Twilight let out an annoyed grunt, still adamant about a verb with her name expressing her anxiety attacks. Once Rarity was done cleaning Sora's face up, she wiped off the remaining shaving cream with a towel, then held up a mirror to Sora. "There we are. Good as new, and with a face as smooth as silk."

Sora tilted and turned his head as he gazed at his reflection, patting his face, the only hair present on his muzzle being the fur of his coat. "That shaving cream doesn't do wonders if I've still got some hair still showing," Sora joked as he rubbed his face. He stood up and looked at Kairi. "Happy now? I'm less hairy than before."

Kairi let out a small laugh as she approached him, then kissed him. "Very happy."

"Kinda wished he was still a little bit miserable for a while longer," Riku teased with a smirk.

"Ok, good luck trying to save the day without my help," Sora grumbled. "Besides, who said it was a smart idea to blab about Kingdom Hearts to a deadly Heartless like that!?"

Riku flinched, losing his grin and leered at his friend. "I know it wasn't a smart idea to begin with, but I said that so I could spare Kairi and Flurry Heart from his wrath!"

Sora scoffed and looked away snootily. "And all of you think I'm the one who keeps breaking the world order and meddle too much."

"Yup. Sora's definitely back," Ventus sighed. "He's being a goofball and arguing with Riku."

While Sora and Riku bickered like they were the married couple, Manami had been quiet sitting beside Sora's throne. As happy as she was to see her son stand up for everyone and defeat the monster terrorizing this world, but she was still perturbed by what she almost did to her son under King Sombra's control. Though she wasn't herself, the fact that her own hands could have ended her own child's life made her sick to her stomach, even if Sora could have overpowered her if she knew he had lost his strength in that moment.

"Mom?" Startled, Manami snapped out of her thoughts, not even realizing Sora had been trying to get her attention for a while. "You alright?"

"...I...I guess I'm just a bit tired," she mumbled.

"Are you sure?" Sora asked. "I think you're still reeling from...what happened before we went into Canterlot's throne room."

Manami let out a weak groan, hanging her head with a sigh. "...I guess the roles are being reversed right now, huh?" she asked.

"I know it wasn't your fault," Sora assured. "I didn't want to hurt you either. But...you have no idea just how vulnerable I became when the Elements were destroyed."

"Right...You get into a lot of scrapes with things worse than the norm, but for me to put my hands on you like that, when it's out of my control..." Sora hugged her, surprising her, but she welcomed it and hugged him back. "I guess I can see where you get your constant worries from." Sora chuckled in response as the pair parted. Manami ran her hooves over Sora's face, glad to see that amount of fuzz on his muzzle was gone. "Ugh. The worst thing I always hated about your father was thinking beards made him handsome. It was an itchy mess and made my own face itch looking at it. And you definitely don't look good with facial hair."

"Hey, that's not fair," Sora whined.

"I prefer seeing my son with smooth skin and still look young enough to be a child, even if you're growing up," Manami giggled, patting her son's cheeks. "And if you grow into a real man, I want those grandkids sooner rather than later."

Blushing heavily, Sora glanced at Kairi, who was just as flustered while everyone else snickered. "Ok, I think it's time for you to head back home, mom! Come on!"

Grabbing Manami by the hoof, he dragged his mother out the door. "Until next time!" she said. "But maybe when the world isn't in peril and I wind up getting dragged along against my will! I had enough excitement punching some Nobody in the face!"

"No guarantees, ma'am!" Lea called out as everyone watched the mother-son duo leave.

"As much as I wanted to pinch you for that comment, Lea...you're actually right," Aqua sighed. "There's always gotta be something crazy going on in this world for there to be any peace."

"...Then can you pinch me anyway so I can tell I'm not dreaming?" Lea asked curiously. "Because it is extremely rare for you to agree with me."

"...I'm going to bed," Aqua grumbled, giving Lea the stink-eye while he was actually confused by her disgruntled response.

Since it was starting to get a bit late, everyone else decided to turn in after the insane day today. Celestia, Luna, and Sombra returned to Canterlot, the two princesses needing to renovate their castle from the damage that was done. As everyone split up, Terra lingered behind in the halls, Eraqus appeared beside him in a flash of light.

"It is a shame the Tree of Harmony was destroyed," Eraqus said. "Quite pleasant company."

"While you possessed me for a few moments or between some sort of telepathy?" Terra asked.

"Perhaps it was both," Eraqus chuckled. Terra rolled his eyes in response. "But in all seriousness, She did sense the potential in your apprentices as the future bearers of the Elements of Harmony."

"Oh. Right. They don't even know about it," Terra grimaced. "They don't return to school in another month, though."

Eraqus hummed curiously as he closed his eyes in thought. "...There may be a way. They passed their test successfully by facing their fears...Fear may connect them in another way."

---

Silverstream soared over the skies of Ponyville, enjoying the sunshine and peace in the town. She knew she was dreaming since she was back home at Mt. Aris and it was nighttime. On occasion, she would have lucid dreams like this from her wild and hyperactive imagination, and they were just as fun as discovering new things in the real world. Her relaxing flight was distracted by a rainbow blur racing past her, recognizing the spectrum streak passing her as Rainbow Dash. She gave chase and raced after the dreamed up pegasus, catching up with her and somehow managing to pass her, their race leading them to the center of Ponyville as the hippogriff flew circles around the athletic pegasus mare. Silverstream landed with a powerful finish, barely phased from the superhero landing. Rainbow landed a few seconds later, wearing her Wonderbolts uniform as she took off her flight goggles.

"Whoa! Impressive, Silverstream!" Rainbow congratulated. "With that speed and your flight technics, you are officially the first non-pegasus Wonderbolt!"

Gasping in surprise, Silverstream turned to her teacher with glee. "Really!? That is such an honor!" she said. "Well, except being a Keyblade Master and a master of friendship, but still, that's awesome!"

"And as luck would have it, you are kicking off our show right now!" Silverstream's smile quickly flipped into a confused frown at the sudden announcement. "Now get up there and make me proud!"

Rainbow dashed off, making the hippogriff stammer as she watched the Wonderbolt disappear in the sky. "Wait, hold on! I don't even have a uniform!" she called out.

"Silverstream!" Distracted from the odd turn in her dream, Silverstream spotted Ocellus calling out to her as she ran toward her. She was wearing a graduation cap and gown, and she looked panicked and out of breath. "Somehow, I missed a class all year, and the final is today! If I don't pass, I can't graduate!"

"...But, aren't we in the middle of summer vacation?" Silverstream asked.

"No! It's the end of the school year!" Ocellus exclaimed. "How are you not worried!?"

"...Well, my dream just got weirder and weirder," the hippogriff muttered to herself. "I was having a casual flight all over Ponyville, then raced Prof. Rainbow Dash around, got accepted into the Wonderbolts as the first ever non-pegasus in the group, and when I'm expected to put on a show I wasn't ready for, you come running in freaking out about one class you missed and are afraid of failing."

Ocellus blinked, looking around, but found no sign of Rainbow Dash. "...W-What? But...What about-?" When she looked back at the town, she noticed that half of Ponyville suddenly looked like it was altered by Discord's magic. There were giant cabinets or dressers randomly placed about, several doorways leading to some alternate dimensions of sort, one leading to a beach and one a long, winding staircase that spiraled down into a pit, giant teapots pouring out tea along the ground and over the edge into an abyss. "...Wait...We're dreaming?"

"Well, I'll say this is definitely a dream, but I didn't dream up you or all this," Silverstream said. "Looks pretty fun, though."

They soon heard screaming coming from above, but they were screams of absolute terror. The two females looked up, spotting Yona flailing her limbs as she helplessly fell from several thousand feet and heading straight for the mixed up dream landscape.

"Yona!?" Ocellus called out. The yak screamed and panicked as she was reaching the ground faster than she would have liked. Ocellus and Silverstream flew off to save her, but Yona was falling faster than terminal velocity. Yona braced herself for the painful or deadly crash landing, only to feel her body suddenly stop just a few inches from the ground. Confused, she looked down, stopped in midair by some mysterious force, but not by either of her two friends. She gently lowered a hoof to the ground, followed by the rest before she flopped to the dirt and kissed at the earth. "Yona, are you ok!?"

"No, Yona not ok!" Yona exclaimed. "Yona no like falling! Why Yona have such bad nightmare!?"

"I thought you were afraid of spiders," Silverstream said.

"Yona not scared of spiders when Yona met Spindle," Yona said. "After magic failed, Yona no wanna be anywhere higher than where hooves can naturally touch!" While ranting over her new fear, her muzzle scrunched up with confusion when she looked at Ocellus. "...What changeling friend wearing?"

"Umm...It's a graduation outfit," Ocellus said. "I was afraid I was going to fail the school year when I missed a class...But, our first few weeks at school, we all...skipped out on classes when it wasn't...fun."

"Ok, yeah. This dream is definitely weirding me out," Silverstream admitted. The three young wielders started hearing odd sounds from a mysterious creature and giggling nearby. What was weird to them was it sounded like it was Smolder who was giggling. They walked around a nearby teapot, but what they saw made their jaws drop in shock. At a small table, there was Smolder, wearing her princess outfit from her tea party from the Tree of Harmony's test in the catacombs, and she was having another tea party with several Moogles. Smolder did tell Ocellus how she enjoyed being girly, but to see her actually enjoying it, it was like she saw a completely different dragon under that dress, tiara, and makeup that made her more pretty. "I take it back; THIS is weirding me out."

"Why yes, there are gems as far as they eye can see!" Smolder tittered, answering on of the questions a fancily dressed Moogle asked in their native tongue. "You have got to try the amethyst. It is like...raspberries? Or maybe grapes, but it is to die for." She began to take a sip of her tea when one of her Moogle guests informed her of more guests joining them. When she turned around, she nearly spat out her tear, her regal princess persona caught by Ocellus, Silverstream, and Yona. Panicking, she gulped her mouthful of tea, then quickly pulled off her dress, wiped off the makeup, and flung the table with her Moogle friends through one of the opened dream passages. "Uhh, I have no idea what happened to me?"

Silverstream and Yona were still in shock, but Ocellus giggled after seeing the adorable princess act from Smolder and her posh accent. "It looked like you were having a fun tea party."

Blushing madly, Smolder pouted and crossed her arms, trying to look tough. However, after witnessing that, dream or not, her secret appeared to be out to the rest of her friends now. Another scream cried out, this time coming from the doorway leading to the spiral staircase. In the distance, they could see Gallus trying to sprint up the stairs, the walls within the cave closing in along with a darkness that was catching up to him. He tripped as the shadow caught up to his rear legs, pulling him back as he tried desperately to crawl out as the doorway began to close, threatening to trap him permanently inside.

"No! No no no no no! Let me out!" he screamed as he began to have a panic attack. He couldn't focus on distracting his mind as he felt the darkness creep up on him, his vision beginning to grow dark as the light from outside was slowly diminishing. "Stop! Please! Somebody! Help me!"

Silverstream gasped, knowing about the griffon's claustrophobia, and he wasn't able to face his fears with the threat of darkness creeping up to consume him into something far worse than the crushing walls around him. She sped off toward the doorway, summoning her Keyblade, and with a yell, she fired a beam of light into the closing realm. The door stopped, and the cavern returned back to normal, the darkness destroyed by Silverstream's quick save. While he tried to control his breathing, he saw Silverstream push open the door, reaching her claw out to him.

"I've got you, Gallus. You're safe now," she assured.

Seeing her shimmering in the light of the sun in the dream Ponyville, Gallus basked in her beauty. He shot out of the doorway, nearly tackling her as he hugged her tightly.

"Oh, thank goodness. I thought I would never see you again," he uttered. "The darkness swallowed you, a-and I tried to save you, but..."

"Hey, it's alright now, Gallus," Silverstream said, patting the worried griffon's back. "Nothing else will harm you in this-"

Completely catching Silverstream by surprise, Gallus cupped her cheeks in his claws, then planted a deep, passionate kiss on her beak. She let out a startled squeak, her cheeks burning bright red. Ocellus's jaw dropped as she could practically taste the amount of love Gallus radiated from him as he kissed Silverstream. It was obvious to everyone that Gallus had a huge crush on her, but seeing him lock beaks with her while in a dream, if they were even still dreaming at this point, was far more shocking than discovering Smolder's love of fancy princess tea parties.

Gallus broke the kiss and hugged her tightly again, unaware of their audience from the sidelines. "I swear, I'm not going to let anything hurt you ever again," he whispered. He started to nuzzle her and prepare for another kiss when he finally noticed the other girls watching him, Ocellus listing slightly from the overabundance of love in the air. "...What are you three doing in my dream?"

"Uhhhhhh...I kinda wanted to know why they were in mine," Smolder said. "And it wasn't something frilly or girly! I was...battling a giant, dark dragon who spewed darkness like a poisonous smog!"

"Oh no!" They then heard Sandbar over by the massive cabinet. They hurried over to help him with whatever was happening to the earth pony, Gallus forced to carry the stunned hippogriff. They found him backing away, trembling and staring at the inside of what the cabinet had in store: dozens of differently designed cupcakes, each pastry baked in a different flavored batter and frosting with additional toppings, all of them tantalizingly delicious. "This is...horrible!"

"Sandbar, what...what are you freaking out about?" Ocellus questioned.

"All those cupcakes...I can't decide which one I like best!" Sandbar cried out in despair.

Smolder facepalmed and groaned. "Seriously? Is that supposed to be a nightmare? I was in a dress and makeup playing tea party with a bunch of Moogles!"

Shocked, Sandbar looked away from the cabinet and gawked at her. "...You were in a what?"

"...I said nothing," Smolder mumbled.

"Yona have no idea what happening!?" Yona shrieked. "Someone tell Yona answers!"

In a bright flash of light, the Young Six winced as they were blinded by the mysterious light. As it faded, Square Equinox appeared before them.

"Hello again, children," the stallion greeted.

"Master Equinox?" Gallus uttered. "What is going on around here? What kind of weird dream did I wind up in?"

"You are all dreaming, but I had gathered all of your dreams together in one place by linking whatever dreams you were having," Square explained. "However, though you may all be asleep, you are physically in each other's presence. Key Bearers can also traverse the realms of sleep by leaving their subconscious through their bodies."

"So...that's why we're all here, and confused?" Ocellus asked.

Smolder's face went pale as her secret really was leaked out to her friends. However, Gallus was completely shocked at the realization. He glanced at Silverstream, who looked back at him as she had finally snapped out of her stupor, and the two immediately looked away.

"...I...I actually..." The griffon muttered incoherently as his face turned beet red in embarrassment.

"I...I thought my dreaming felt a little more...real than it had been," Silverstream mumbled bashfully.

Square was a little surprised to hear the hippogriff had moments of awareness in her sleep, though probably not this much with the ability to dream travel as wielders of the Keyblade. "There is much more for you all to learn, but from your real masters. Not me," Square said. "The reason why I gathered you all was to bring you all some dire news."

"What is it?" Sandbar asked. "Is Equestria in danger again!?"

"It was, but all is safe now," the older stallion assured. "Thankfully, Sandbar, you and your family were not present in the events that unfolded in Ponyville yesterday. If you were, then your masters would have had much more to handle with your current skills as a bearer."

"Can you just get straight to the point and tell us what happened?" Smolder impatiently asked.

"Where were your manners from earlier, Smolder? A lady, nor a princess, should disrespect their elders." The dragoness cringed, blushing heavily as she heard Ocellus and Yona snickering beside her. She forgot that the Keyblade Master before them oversaw their tests, which included her first official tea party. Square smirked, humbling Smolder as she glanced down at the ground. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Whatever you enjoy doing, take pride in it. It shows you're not afraid to change who you are because of what you are."

"...Y-Yes sir," Smolder mumbled.

Square cleared his throat, getting back on topic. "Yesterday, a terrible, foul darkness began to rage to the far north, where the Crystal Empire lies. The unicorn king who once usurped the throne with the power of darkness had made a return after he was alleged to be destroyed by the light of the Crystal Heart. The new body he was given made him immune to the light, preventing his demise, and almost succeeded had it not been for the Element bearers and Sora."

"So they won?" Yona asked.

"...They thought they had," Square said, his hesitation unnerving the Young Six, even Gallus and Silverstream after snapping out of their embarrassed shock to hear the news. "They returned to the Tree of Harmony and gave back the Elements they borrowed...but Sombra had managed to escape from their power, locate them, and destroyed the Tree and the Elements."

"WHAT!?" the Young Six cried out.

"The Tree of Harmony's...dead!?" Gallus exclaimed.

"How!?" Silverstream asked. "Sombra was a Heartless, right!? How was he able to do it!?"

"Sora believed that Sombra's return was due to the Organization creating a specific kind of vessel for him as a means of adding him to their numbers," Square continued. "He has no knowledge of the Organization, but it did make sense as to how it was possible. Many of the villains of that group were once defeated by your mentors, and they have made their returns through multiple vessels the Nobody Organization XIII experimented with for Xehanort's schemes.

"But, along with the Tree and the Elements' destruction, Sora had also been greatly affected by it as well. His Keyblades of Harmony were also destroyed, and with them, his strength." The young wielders gasped in horror. They already knew Sora had been suffering after Cozy Glow, but to have his power stripped from him must have devastated him far more than anything. "Despite the loss, Sora had jumped back from the pit of despair, his battle to keep his friends safe pushing him onward. In the end, they had managed to destroy the unicorn Heartless with one last gift the Tree of Harmony granted to Sora; a fragment of Her light transferred into his necklace and awakened by his confidence, bravery, hope, and love for all those he holds dear in his heart."

Behind Square, an ethereal screen flashed into existence, showing the Young Six Sora's transformation from within the rainbow light beam from the Elements unleashed by the Mane Six's hearts. The Keyblades of Harmony had re-forged themselves inside the light through the keychains, now owned by their professors as new Key bearers, and the light disappeared to reveal Sora in a new kind of Harmony Form, along with a brand new, upgraded variant of his Ultima Weapon.

"Wow," Ocellus uttered.

"So...Is this the Tree of Harmony's light?" Gallus asked.

"More or less, but the power seems like it's coming from Sora," Square pondered. "I will say this about Sora; he is quite unique for a wielder. His heart is connected with everyone he meets, and in his words, he is meant to be the hope that everyone needs." The screen flickered away into a flurry of small lights, disappearing into the sky. "Though hearts are weak and give in to the slightest hint of despair, Sora is just as frail as everyone else. But I believe he is meant to be the light that all the worlds need to save them from the darkness. The six Pillars of Equestria waited for their seventh Element for centuries while in limbo, and Sora was the very Element the Tree of Harmony had chosen for the bearers of the past, present, and future; Light."

The Young Six were glad to know Sora was doing alright while they were gone. And it made a lot of sense when the Tree chose to rescue him from the sphere of stolen Equestrian magic to help free it and stop Cozy Glow. Still, the horrible news that the Tree of Harmony was now gone was upsetting. With the Tree's tests, She and Square helped them fully realize how friendship was in their natures, and without being aware where the Tree was located, it was above the cave near the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters where they became Keyblade wielders. She chose them as the future bearers of the Elements.

"So what are we gonna do?" Sandbar asked. "Can we bring the Tree of Harmony back?"

"I'm...not entirely sure," Square muttered with uncertainty. "If the others were able to recreate the same process the Pillars of Equestria did with the former Tree, it may take years for it to grow from a sapling. Without Her power, the Everfree Forest would invade Ponyville again. And without Her light to stave off the darkness, Heartless will appear. Much stronger and tougher than either of you have seen."

"Then it's our job to get back to Ponyville and help!" Smolder said.

The other teens voiced their agreements, willing to try anything to preserve the safety of their world. "I do commend your determination, children, but you are still not ready for what-" Square wasn't able to explain further as the Young Six vanished in a flash of light, waking up from their dreams. He stared at the spots where they stood, letting out an exhausted sigh. "They are far too eager to play their part...I feel I'm getting too old to even catch up with the next generation of wielders..."

---

At the train station in Ponyville the next morning, Sandbar waited anxiously by the doorway as the train was pulling up. "Sandbar, what's the rush?" the teen's father asked. "Doesn't school start up in a couple more weeks?"

"Something urgent came up while I was asleep last night!" Sandbar said. "I gotta find my masters and help protect Equestria!"

"Honey, we know you've got a lot of responsibility with this Keyblade stuff, but we don't want you to exhaust yourself," Sandbar's mother advised, carrying the colt's baby sister in her lap while the toddler was busy watching the scenery through the window.

"That's why Master Aqua trained me super hard! The darkness doesn't rest, and neither should I!" he said.

"Even though he was sound asleep after yesterday," the mare grumbled to her husband.

"Come on, come on, stop faster," Sandbar muttered to himself. The train finally came to a screeching halt, and several agonizing seconds passed before the doors finally opened. "I'll see you back home!"

He sped off, trying to make his way through the crowd of ponies as they waited to board. He didn't think to just jump over everyone with his enhanced dexterity, only worrying about the state of Ponyville and when the Everfree Forest might invade again. He made it through, only to hear the crowd behind him yelling as they stepped aside.

"Yak coming through!" Sandbar turned around, only to get tackled by Yona, to his surprise, the only victim in her rough, solo stampede. She stumbled and sent the both of them tumbling outside of the train station, the yak flopping down on top of the stallion. Sandbar was crushed under Yona's weight, but she got up, giving him room to breathe while she looked down at him. "Sandbar!" He barely greeted her before she beat her to it, picking him up and giving him her usual yak hugs. "Sandbar wait for Yona to arrive!"

"A-Actually, I...was on...the train," Sandbar wheezed. Yona dropped him, letting him take a huge gulp of air. He sat up, rubbing his sore back. "Were you on the train, too?"

"Yes! Yona not go back to sleep, so Yona run off station close to Yakyakistan and got on train!" Yona said.

"That's...oddly convenient," Sandbar uttered. "No time to stop and chat! We gotta find our masters!"

"Right!" Yona and Sandbar ran off and hurried toward the direction of the school.

Above them, Silverstream, Smolder, Gallus, and Ocellus flew in from their respective homes, meeting up with their two grounded friends as the school was in sight. They didn't know if any of their teachers were there getting the next school year prepared, but it was one of the best few places to search and offer their aid. Yona sprinted ahead, ramming through the doors, only to wind up tripping and rolled down the main lobby. Inside, Twilight and Spike were startled by the yak's entrance, sorting through some school supplies, surprised to see Yona and the rest of the Young Six barging in. Twilight quickly caught the tumbling yak before she bowled her and Spike over, setting Yona back down once her head stopped spinning.

"What in the world are you six doing here?" Twilight asked, then began to panic as she pulled out some papers from the box of supplies. "Did I send out the wrong back-to-school date!?"

"We're not here for school," Smolder said.

"We were called in our dreams to help save Ponyville from the darkness in the Everfree Forest!" Silverstream cheered excitedly.

Confused, Spike and Twilight glanced at each other. "...Err, come again?" Spike asked.

"It's a really long story, but the Tree of Harmony tested us once back down in the catacombs beneath the school," Gallus explained. "She had some spirit Keyblade wielder named Square Equinox oversee what we do, and he gathered all of us through our dreams and told us about what happened to the Tree and the Everfree Forest growing wildly." While Twilight and Spike tried to process the shortened version of their reason for being back in Ponyville so soon, Gallus looked at Silverstream bashfully. "...Uhh...At least...I hope some of it was a...dream?"

"Dude, you smooched Silverstream thinking she was dead when she pulled you out of whatever nightmare you were having," Smolder said.

Gallus winced, completely confirming that what had happened last night in their dreams really did happen. Silverstream grew flustered, hiding her face behind her claws as she shyly glanced at Gallus.

"You guys entered the realm of dreams subconsciously?" Twilight asked curiously. "By yourselves?"

"Well, not really," Ocellus chimed in. "Master Square Equinox was the one who pulled our dreams together without us knowing."

"I've...never heard of a wielder by that name," Twilight uttered. "I don't think Aqua, Terra, or Ven do, either."

"He was made up by the Tree of Harmony," Sandbar answered, then looked back at the blushing pair of hybrid avian teens. "And what did Smolder mean? You two kissed?"

"D-Dude! Zip it!" Gallus hissed as he zipped over to the stallion, clamping his muzzle shut while his face turned bright red in embarrassment.

Ignoring the awkward romantic situation between Gallus and Silverstream, Twilight shook her head. "Well, however you figured out what happened, the Tree of Harmony was destroyed by Sombra," she explained. "The evil Heartless, not the recently returned lover of Luna's."

"Returned?" Yona repeated.

"That's another long story," Spike said.

"You six don't need to worry about the Everfree Forest," Twilight continued. "Star Swirl is preparing a spell to keep it contained for long periods of time. But after we unleashed the light of the Elements, it washed over the whole world. So far, none of the vines or roots have grown out of control right now, but we don't know how long it'll last for."

"Do you think we can see the Tree?" Ocellus asked. "...Or, what's left of it?"

"Just as long as the six of you stay together," Twilight warned. "The Everfree Forest isn't all that safe at the moment. If it isn't any of the wildlife that live in there, there might be Heartless lurking about."

"Better than puckwudgies," Yona grumbled. "Puckwudgies evil. Less evil than not-little pegasus pony."

The teens laughed at the awkward encounter with the puckwudgies last year, and the terror the little fuzzballs unleashed in their massive group. Twilight waved them off, then looked back at the school supplies.

"Now, back to the issue of these orange highlighters," the alicorn said, holding up the only stock of highlighters they got, consisting of twenty orange ones. "We need more color varieties, and hundreds more!"

"Ugh! We'll order more!" Spike exclaimed, snatching the highlighters out of his surrogate sister's magic. "Sheesh. We've got a few more weeks before the next school year starts. Quite 'Twilight-ing' so much."

"Mrf. You're all just milking that verb until it becomes a legitimate word in the dictionary, aren't you?" Twilight grumbled.

---

Terra sat near the bridge across the chasm from the Castle of the Two Sisters, waiting for the Young Six to arrive. After being informed by his master how poorly he gave his message to the young wielders, Terra laughed and shook his head in amusement. He was still smirking, eyeing his master's ethereal form beside him.

"I think you met your match on tough students to teach," Terra said.

Eraqus snorted in response. "I began training you and Aqua while you were both younger than them. You grew to have more discipline after your little phase of 'girls can't do what boys can' attitude," he said. "You humbled up just as swiftly as it came after...how many losses was it again? Twenty?"

"No. Not even close," Terra argued. Eraqus wasn't buying it, knowing full well what he had missed that day when Aqua whooped him as a new apprentice. Grimacing, Terra wilted and lowered his head with a grumpy frown. "...Twenty-five."

Eraqus chuckled. "Be glad the beatings you took was more punishment than what I gave you. It definitely quelled your ego."

Despite the embarrassing beatdown, Terra nodded his head in agreement. When he looked up, he spotted the Young Six along the path and headed his way. When they approached the bridge, they were surprised to see one of their masters within the forest waiting for them.

"Master Terra!" Sandbar called out. "What are you doing here?"

"Just checking the area to make sure no Heartless were lingering around," Terra said.

"You're not even the least bit surprised to see us back so soon?" Gallus asked.

"Well, after your runaway attempt last year when Neighsay shut the school down, I had a hunch you six would find some way of getting back together." The Young Six nervously laughed, their selfish actions that day almost leading to a world war between their six kingdoms. "And, conveniently, you're all here, deep in the Everfree Forest."

"Uhh, would you believe us if a spirit who works with the Tree of Harmony told us what happened to it and we wanted to see it?" Silverstream sheepishly said.

Terra glanced down at the cave at the bottom of the ravine, subtly shifting his eyes to his master before he looked back at the Young Six. "I've heard stranger excuses," he said. "It's not a pretty sight."

"We still want to see it," Smolder said. "That tree's done so much for every creature. Even us non-ponies."

"Alright, then. This way." The Young Six followed Terra down the natural staircase heading down into the ravine.

Neither of the young wielders had ever entered the cave before. They saw it once when they hurried to Aqua's aid when she was experiencing a severe psychological anxiety attack, but never once explored it. The only time they ever saw the Tree of Harmony was through a picture in their school books, the Gummi cruiser designed like the Tree, or through chalkboard illustrations during Twilight's lessons. When they reached the end of the cave, they all stared at what remained in sadness.

Bits of the earth within the cave were dented from Sombra's dark crystals, even around the patch of earth that trapped the Mane Six and all the Keyblade wielders inside. The broken gems from the Elements of Harmony remained on the ground, their pieces scattered and unable to be fixed, their magic now completely gone. Where the tree stood was just a mass of jagged crystals from part of the trunk still rooted to the ground. The rest of the crystal bark and limbs were either piled in the opened crater within the trunk or scattered around the cave.

"...This is just...horrible," Ocellus mumbled.

"We shouldn't have gone back home for summer break," Gallus growled. "If we stayed and continued training, we could have prevented that monster from destroying it."

"I understand you guys think it would have gone differently with your help, but neither of you have any idea just how powerful someone like Sombra was," Terra said. He picked up a fragment of one of the Elements, from the Element of Magic. "This Heartless spent at least one thousand years banished to the shadows. His darkness grew while trapped in there, making him a deadly force that not even the Organization can overpower with their own strength. Sora was barely able to match him with his Harmony Form in the past." He began to pick up the rest of the pieces of all six Elements. "He's already destroyed. It won't bring the Tree of Harmony back."

"I fought a giant tree Heartless that came from some wicked, evil 'mother' holding Rapunzel hostage and survived!" Gallus argued.

"And I took down some giant round toy thing while I fit in as a toy!" Smolder added.

"As much bragging rights as you two deserve, those Heartless don't compare to one who has sentience like Sombra," Terra scolded the griffon and dragoness. "Even when we fought together, Sombra was far more superior despite his one-track mind to cause destruction. All six of you being here fighting alongside us would have given him more numbers to enslave and use in his plan to try to take Kingdom Hearts for his own."

Gallus and Smolder grimaced, but they dropped their arguments. They both may have dealt a finishing blow to their biggest Heartless foes, but they didn't do it alone; Sora, Donald, and Goofy were with them. And reminding themselves of how well they handled Cozy Glow together, she doesn't hold a candle to how strong Sombra actually was.

"Maybe the Tree really isn't gone?" Silverstream asked. Everyone looked at the hippogriff, some of them wondering if she seemed a little too optimistic for her usual self. "I mean, didn't the Tree of Harmony give some of Her light to Sora? It became a new power and a Keyblade for him because he thought about everyone. If we think really strong friendship thoughts, the Tree might grow back!"

Terra's brow quirked at the odd idea, but Eraqus, the Young Six unaware of his existence, brought a hoof to his chin. "As crazy as it sounds, perhaps a connection through their hearts could spark some light back to the remains of the Tree," he said. "The light may create a seed and make a new sapling without needing to search for another replacement."

"Eh. I've heard worst suggestions," Smolder said with a shrug. "Let's give it a shot."

The Young Six gathered together, holding hooves or claws while sitting in front of the Tree's remains. They closed their eyes and thought about friendship, their light, their unity, anything about what makes friendship magical. Terra didn't see any results, not a single flash or spark of light among the crystal bark. Not even from the shards of the Elements in his hooves.

"Is it working?" Sandbar asked.

"Sorry, guys, but...nothing's happening," Terra said.

The Young Six opened their eyes, letting go of their respective limbs in dejection. "So the Tree really is gone," Ocellus utterd.

"Maybe...Yona and friends honor Tree if we can't bring Tree back?" Yona suggested.

"Hey, that sounds like a great idea!" Smolder agreed.

"That must be why Square Equinox told us about what happened to the Tree!" Sandbar said. Terra snorted at Eraqus's Equestrian name, making the ethereal stallion roll his eyes at his pupil's childish remark for a name he made up on the spot. "He wants us to keep the Tree's memory alive for all generations to remember Her!"

"Who's this 'Square Equinox'?" Terra asked curiously with a wry smirk.

"He's a spirit who's also an old Keyblade Master from the past connected to the Tree of Harmony," Silverstream explained.

"Oh, really?" Terra questioned, subtly eying Eraqus as he let out an annoyed groan. "Is that what he called himself?"

"No, but that's what we thought he was in another lifetime," Sandbar said. The colt rubbed his chin curiously, looking back at what Square Equinox looked like. "But...I swear he looks like somepony we saw before, but I can't put my hoof on it..."

"Ocellus!" Sandbar's thoughts were derailed when they heard Thorax at the mouth of the cave. Ocellus panicked, transforming into a rock to hide from the changeling co-ruler flying inside. It wasn't hard to find her in the middle of her friends, even when she clenched her eyes shut to avoid getting spotted. Terra had a feeling one of the rulers or delegates for the non-pony students would be searching for their charges when they woke up from their slumber. Thorax landed in front of the Young Six, looking down at Ocellus, who squinted her eyes open and was immediately caught, shifting back to her normal form. "Ocellus, the hive has been worried sick about you! Why didn't you leave without telling us?"

"S-Sorry, Thorax," Ocellus apologized. "It was an emergency."

Thorax wasn't angry at Ocellus, mostly worried and fearing the worst for her. "Next time, please tell us where you're going," he pleaded. "I thought you ran away with your friends again, and you missing would have caused a war between our nations again. Now, come on. Let's go back home."

Ocellus winced, lowering her head. Neither of the Young Six realized that they could have sparked another accusation between their kingdoms and start a war by running off like that again, even though this time it was an emergency involving the fate of their world.

"Wait, she can't leave!" Smolder explained. "We have a...a dragon quest!"

"But she's not a dragon," Thorax stated. Ocellus transformed again, turning into the same shy dragoness everyone met her as when the first day of school started. "You know what I mean, Ocellus."

Ocellus sighed, changing back to normal after giving Smolder's excuse a shot. "I understand you're worried about Ocellus's safety, Thorax, but she's able to protect herself as a Keyblade wielder," Terra reasoned. "They all had some kind of shared dream last night and learned about what happened to the Tree of Harmony. As strange as it sounds, the Tree chose them as future bearers when they helped stopped the one responsible for stealing Equestria's magic a few months ago. They thought they could try to bring the Tree back, because, without it, Heartless could appear more frequently while the Everfree Forest grows and takes over towns and cities nearby."

Thorax frowned nervously, gazing at the ruined trunk behind Ocellus and her friends. "Uhh...I don't know...Would it be better just to wait until the next school year starts? I've been working hard trying to keep relations between Equestria and the changelings since I became the king, and I really, really don't want anything to go wrong and have us be blamed again."

"But Ocellus need to be with friends for Tree!" Yona explained.

"Didn't you hear Master Terra?" Silverstream asked. "The Tree of Harmony kept our world safe, and without it, this whole forest could stretch out and take over everything! And I don't know if that'd be worse than having more Heartless running around and hurting every creature!"

Thorax still seemed uncertain. As much as he wanted to keep the credibility of their kind from falling back down the same rabbit hole Chrysalis threw them down, he didn't want their kingdom to be overthrown by the Everfree or the Heartless. He may not have seen any, but hearing about them makes his colorful chitin skin crawl.

"Then why not make this into an early school field trip?" Terra suggested. "I can swing by the school get some permission slips for their guardians to sign for them to help others and future students to commemorate the importance the Tree of Harmony gave to Equestria for the last millennia."

"Well...I guess that's fine," Thorax said. "As long as it doesn't involve anything too dangerous. When Ocellus went on her...'field trip' outside of Equestria from Aqua, I just don't want her to get hurt."

"I'll be chaperoning them personally," Terra assured.

"So, are the permission slips gonna be in triplicate, or is one going to be enough?" Gallus asked. Surprised, everyone gawked at the griffon. "...What? I like to be prepared."

"That kinda sounds like something Twilight would say," Thorax mentioned.

"Or perhaps more like Aqua," Eraqus guessed. The Young Six began to head out to the mouth of the cave with Thorax leaving to return back to the hive. While the apprentices waited for him, Terra brought the Elements' pieces to the base of the tree and buried them in front of the stump. "I have seen Gallus around Aqua the last few months after the purple goo fiasco on Hearth's Warming. She seems to have her own personal apprentice."

"Masters can have a favorite student among others, huh?" Terra asked. "Who was yours between the three of us?"

"...You." Terra paused as he patted the earth after the pieces were fully buried. He looked at his master, astonished by his answer. "Though Aqua was made a master because of...what happened, and everything else I thought I believed in, I saw a lot of myself within you, Terra." Eraqus frowned and lowered his head, feeling ashamed. "Even when I thought you were falling down that dark path, I did not want to give up on you. If only I had known Xehanort was luring you into his trap..."

Terra had always thought that Aqua would have been Eraqus's best and personal apprentice among the two of them before Ventus came around in their lives. She improved in her skills faster than he had, and he worked hard as well to keep up even though Eraqus had been training him for about a year longer than Aqua. From his mistakes after their Mark of Mastery exam when darkness began to appear in his left hand that day, he thought he lost that kind of respect from his master/father figure; he never lost it at all.

Terra grinned, turning around to look at his master. "I never thought you really gave up on me," he said. "But...I guess I was assured of that when you appeared several months ago; your light merged in my heart to...somewhat keep you alive, all the while helping protect me from Xehanort's influence as best you could." Eraqus looked at Terra and grinned back, bearing a smile that a proud father would wear. "...I'm glad you haven't lost faith in me...father."

---

Once they arrived back in Ponyville, Terra got to work on those permission slips, then they all set off to return the Young Six to their homes in their respective kingdoms while Sandbar, as a native Equestrian and Ponyvillian, stayed behind. With his glider, he gave Yona a lift, the yak clinging onto him tightly as they rose into the air and getting dangerously close to touching the clouds. Gallus, Smolder, Ocellus, and Silverstream followed as they made each stop, getting their respective leaders/parents/guardians permission for this special field trip as a means of earning extra credit in friendship.

Their first stop was the Dragon Lands, since the dragons were a little rougher to get them to agree with anything that didn't suit their lifestyle. But, with Ember as the Dragon Lord among the dragons, it's been slow going getting the dragons to cooperate, but progressing nicely. Terra had no idea who Smolders' parents were, but if they were unruly or were taking a century-long nap, he didn't want to disturb them. To gain Ember's approval, Smolder had to arm wrestle a few tough dragons, probably as a means to show their Dragon Lord they could handle whatever is in store. She easily bested her opponents without breaking a sweat thanks to all her training, and Ember signed the dragoness Keyblade wielder's form.

Yakyakistan was next, and Yona's was surprisingly simple. After her family and King Rutherford were relieved to find her back safe and sound and explaining why she left, Yona decided to help her father with some of the chores around their hut. Terra wasn't allowed to help since yaks still had that yak pride and refused outside help. It was a rough ideology Pinkie told everyone when she visited Yakyakistan to take part in their customs, only for their stomping to cause an avalanche and bury their whole village in fifty feet of snow. In no time, Yona helped dust the rugs, cleared the snow from the paths around the village, and her father signed her permission slip.

For Gallus, Terra thought it would take a while, but it was...incredibly rushed. He got a look at Griffonstone for the first time, and it was as bad as Sora and Riku described it: dilapidated huts that didn't seem safe to live in, buildings that were in ruin from neglect and were once important to the mountain city, and all the griffons were rude or tried to be cheapskates by demanding bits over poor quality goods. He did spot Gilda selling scones to some of the griffons, the only edible food around here that was in good quality, and the griffon mail courier, Gabby, who sought out help from the Cutie Mark Crusaders some time ago to get a cutie mark, which was physically impossible since she wasn't a pony, but she earned a little cutie mark plaque the three fillies made for her since she was basically a Jack-of-all-trades, and a master of all. When Gallus flew down to his guardian's home, Grandpa Gruff seemed agitated at his presence, and before Gallus could explain what was happening, the old griffon snatched the permission slip, signed it, then stuck the paper through the teen's beak, slamming the door in his face. At least he got the signature, but Terra could see why Aqua doted on Gallus after everyone saw just how emotionally abusive the grumpy senior griffon was toward him. It was better for him to be away from Griffonstone sooner rather than later before the next school year started.

The remaining two locations, the changeling hive and Mt. Aris, were much swifter. At the hive, Thorax must have informed Ocellus's family about what they were doing, and they signed the paper. All of them; Ocellus's parents and even her two siblings. When Terra saw the signatures, he couldn't help but laugh and wished he explained to her folks that either of them could sign it, not the whole family, but it was good enough. With Silverstream's family, she explained everything to her parents and Terramar, even going as far as to draw out all the important details in order. She explained her lucid dream becoming much more than that, leaving out the part where Gallus randomly kissed her without realizing he wasn't actually dreaming, to a drawing of "Square Equinox" with the star-designed Keyblade he wielded as a spirit who assisted the Tree of Harmony, the ruins of the Tree, and all her friends coming together to help. Terra had no idea how her family was able to keep up with her eccentric storytelling, but her parents allowed her to come back to Ponyville to keep the Tree of Harmony's memory alive.

With written permission and avoiding another potential world war scare, they made their way back to Ponyville, descending into the heart of the forest where the ruined castle rested. Terra stowed the permission forms in his pocket and led Yona, Smolder, Silverstream, Ocellus, and Gallus back into the cave.

"Alright. Now that that's all settled, you guys can come up with a way to show the world-" As Terra looked forward, he and the other young wielders froze and gawked at the remains of the Tree of Harmony. Or rather, the lack of remains. The whole cave was cleared of the crystal bark, aside from Sandbar at the end, and planting a normal tree sapling in its place. "...What in the name of the Light happened to the Tree!?"

"Hey, guys!" Sandbar greeted, barely phased by the shocked expressions on their faces. "While you were gone, I decided to do a little bit of cleaning!"

"Oh for goodness sake, what did this colt do to the remains?" Eraqus questioned as he ran his hoof over his face, baffled by the "cleanliness" Sandbar worked on.

"Yeah, no kidding it's all cleaned!" Gallus exclaimed. "Where's the Tree, dude!?"

"I got rid of it to make room for a memorial," Sandbar answered. The others were flabbergasted. Terra felt like he was going to pop a blood vessel, and if not him, Aqua or Twilight would instead if they saw this. "...Uhh, wasn't that...what we were doing?"

"How can we remember the Tree if it's totally gone!?" Ocellus exclaimed.

"Oh, it's not gone. I planted a new tree." Sandbar pointed to the sapling he planted, which made the teens, Terra, and even Eraqus facepalm.

"I know his heart is in the right place, but planting a tree in a cave, without any sunlight or water, it wouldn't even last," Eraqus grumbled.

Terra swallowed his anger, calmly approaching Sandbar while he doted on the little sapling he was proud of planting without mentioning his idea to everyone else. "...Sandbar...You do realize it's not the same as the actual Tree, right?" he asked the colt.

"I know, but it's like a symbol that represents the Tree of Harmony," Sandbar reasoned.

"...It's literally called the 'TREE' of Harmony," Terra stated, his grin becoming forced as his eye twitched. "Your lessons about it depict it as a TREE...It's not a hard symbol to ignore."

"And this place was supposed to stay exactly the same so future creatures could come visit and experience the memory of the Tree!" Gallus added.

"Oh...Sorry, guys," Sandbar apologized. "I thought I was helping."

Terra sighed heavily, running his hooves against his face, taking a moment to compose himself. "Ok. It's...fine if you want to help, but seeing how your dreams connected to hear this message from Square Equinox, I assumed this ancient wielder's spirit wanted you all to come up with an idea together."

"Exactly!" Smolder agreed. "The Tree of Harmony's a big part of Equestrian history! We need to do better than replacing it with some other weaker tree!"

"Uhh, before that, I want to know what Sandbar did with the remains," Terra butted in, reminding the Young Six of the most important aspect of the Tree being the Tree itself.

"Smolder's right! Like lots of artwork that represents the symbolism and deep emotions of the Tree!" Silverstream said, completely ignoring Terra.

"No! It should be a museum!" Gallus interjected. "With all its history and artifacts!...Speaking of, Master Terra, what did you do with the pieces of the Elements of Harmony?"

Terra opened his mouth to try to bring the students on topic, only for Smolder to butt in. "No way! There should be a big and imposing monument here so everyone can see just how powerful the Tree was!"

"I think we should turn this cave into a place for creatures to reflect on the Tree's true gift - the Elements of Harmony," Ocellus suggested.

Terra clacked his jaw shut, staring bitterly at the wall in front of him. "Not so easy dealing with rambunctious teenagers with minds of their own, is it?" Eraqus asked, thankfully standing directly in front of Terra as his leered indignantly at his master.

"Ugh. That's so boring," Smolder groaned at Ocellus, the changeling taking offense to her brilliant idea.

"I like my idea better," Silverstream argued.

"What's more perfect than another tree!?" Sandbar argued.

The Young Six began bickering with each other over how their ideas were better, all except Yona. She hadn't voiced her idea, mostly distressed that Sandbar practically moved the Tree of Harmony out of the cave and went through with his plan without voicing it to them or Terra. And now they were all fighting with each other, which she knew was something the Tree of Harmony wouldn't want them to do.

Terra had enough, stomping his hoof down hard, causing the ground the shake violently. The Young Six stumbled, ceasing their fighting as some loose debris from the cave came down from the ceiling. Sandbar protected his sapling from any small stones that could fall and hurt it, everyone focusing on the furious, but eerily calm earth pony stallion between them.

"...Guys, need I remind you why you gathered yourselves here, and almost got all six kingdoms in serious trouble again when you all ran from home?" he questioned. Pulling out one of their permission slips, he showed them all what their early school assignment was, which their guardians had signed. "All of you were concerned about the wellbeing of your world with the Tree of Harmony no longer with us. You want to do your part as Key bearers and protect the world, and the best I will allow you all to do is to figure a way to commemorate the Tree and preserve its history for not only Equestria, but the entire world. To-ge-ther. How about instead of coming up with ideas, you all brainstorm what works best for everyone involved, and WITHOUT desecrating the remains of the Tree?"

Yona shyly nodded in agreement with Terra. It would be better if they came together to come up with an idea together. However, Smolder, Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus, and Silverstream looked at each other, clearly not in the same mindset.

"Nah," the five teens said, then split up to put their ideas into motion.

Terra stood completely still, dumbfounded. "...Great friends," he grumbled. He stowed the paper away with an irritated huff, glancing over at Yona, who seemed disappointed by her friends' lack of cooperation. "What was your idea, Yona? To make some kind of stomping ground for visitors to smash like they were the one responsible for destroying the Tree of Harmony?"

"...Yona wanted friends not to fight and listen to each other, so we make plan together," Yona sadly answered.

Surprised, Terra's gaze softened, not meaning to sound harsh when he assumed she had an idea she herself thought was better than the others'. "Oh...Sorry, Yona."

"Yona not mad at Master Terra," Yona assured. "But...Yona not think other creatures would like that idea."

"Right. I was just...getting a little frustrated." Terra took in a deep breath, still feeling disappointed with the others as he tried to calm himself down before he used his strength to cave themselves in. "I'm gonna get some air. If you need me, I'll be up in the ruins. Stay on the path if you need to get supplies in town."

"O-Ok," Yona mumbled, watching the stallion leave as she tried to figure out what to do.

---

Terra gazed at the clear sky through the open canopy of the forest, laying on his back around the front entrance of the ruins. So far, no signs of Heartless, but he was still a bit miffed at most of the Young Six for not working together. They promised they would work hard together and show them, especially Sora, how they wouldn't abuse the magic friendship brought, and yet they're being selfish with their ideas for the Tree of Harmony's memory. This was technically their assignment, which they chose to do, not by him or by Eraqus.

"Shouldn't you check in on them by now?" Eraqus asked.

"I should, but I highly doubt either of them would bother to pay attention to what I try to say to them," Terra grumbled. "I can't just intimidate them into doing what they're supposed to. They sometimes need to learn the hard way, but this just feels like common sense to not ruin a place that's considered sacred."

"Yes...Sandbar moving the remaining pieces of the Tree of Harmony wasn't the smartest idea," Eraqus said.

"If Aqua found out about this, assuming Twilight hasn't informed her through our communicators about their arrival just yet, she's going to kill me," Terra said.

Suddenly popping in front of his face via teleportation, Aqua was suddenly in Terra's point of view. "Terra!"

"AHH!" Terra yelped, shooting himself up in a sitting position at his girlfriend's sudden appearance. "Jeeze. You nearly gave me a heart attack, Aqua."

"Care to explain what the heck is going on here?" Aqua questioned.

"...Uhh, checking the Everfree Forest for trouble?" he answered.

"Well, after I left the spa for my usual a moment ago, why is there a flyer with THIS posted on the building?" She pulled out said flyer, holding it out in front of Terra in her aura.

His eyes widened as he gawked at the image of the Tree of Harmony, and big words above and below it reading "Tree of Harmony: Museum of Friendship History", along with catchy slogans and the location of where this museum was. "W-What the hell!?"

"Exactly what I said! Whose lamebrain idea was it to make up some kind of history museum about the Tree of Harmony, AND hold it in the heart of a dangerous forest!?" Aqua questioned.

As mad as Terra was, he grimaced as his eyes glanced down. "...I...think I hear my laundry calling," he said, then dashed off to the rope bridge.

Flabbergasted, Aqua stammered and gave chase. "T-Terra! What did you do!?" she demanded.

Ignoring the unicorn, Terra jumped down into the ravine. When he landed, he turned to the cave entrance, his jaw dropping in shock at what he saw. Pictures of the Tree of Harmony hung on the walls outside the mouth of the cave, a ticket booth in the center of the entrance with arrows pointing inside, a cardboard cutout for silly photographs having the bodies of Twilight, Star Swirl, and Sora with holes for their heads cut out for others' faces to take their place, and there were refreshments one would get at a tourist attraction. And the one responsible for making the Tree of Harmony that kind of attraction was Gallus as he already had a couple of ponies lured here by his flyers. Part of him was hoping he was protecting them as they walked through the safe path through the Everfree, but his blood ran cold when he heard Aqua land behind him and heard an aghast gasp from her.

"Step right up, folks!" Gallus said to his two lucky tourists. "Welcome to the one, the only, magical Tree of Harmony Museum!"

"Gallus!?" Aqua shrieked.

Hearing his name, the griffon flew over his tourists with a proud grin on his beak. "Master Aqua, what do you think of this brilliant idea I had to keep the Tree of Harmony's memory alive? The birthplace of the Tree all right here, with every single bit of history you could ever find inside this very cave!" He landed back in front of the curious mares, already intrigued by his exaggerated details. "Grown from the tears of a basilisk and tended night and day by pony wizards, absorbing the light of the universe to vanquish the darkness that threatens to engulf this land into unspeakable terror! Truly one of the many rare wonders of Equestria!"

While the mares were enraptured, Aqua's eye twitched, her head slowly turning to Terra. "Terra...why is Gallus here?" she questioned. Terra gulped and stammered, unable to come up with an excuse. "...Are the others here, too?"

"...Y-Yeah," Terra mumbled, caving in. Before she blew up from the negative ramifications of the Young Six being away from their homes, he pulled out the permission slips their guardians signed. "I...set up an extracurricular field trip before the school year started. They kinda ran here to help us with the forest and preserving the Tree of Harmony's memory in a dream."

"...Well, though I am a bit relieved that you did that, but...a museum!?" Aqua exclaimed.

"Hey, can you keep the noise down!?" Sandbar complained as he stepped out from inside the cave. "My sapling doesn't like all this noise while he's having some quiet time!"

"Sapling?" Aqua questioned. "...What in the world are they up to?" She stomped inside the cave, which made Terra worry to see her reaction to what she'll realize isn't there. When she spotted the sapling, which had a pair of earmuffs meant to deafen the tree's lack of hearing, she looked up, her face going pale when she saw not a single scrap of the destroyed crystal tree. "...The Tree...WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TREE!?"

"I moved it so we can build a new one," Sandbar said, walking back over and checking on the sapling.

"Uhh, Sandbar, not exactly the best choice of words," Terra warned the colt, but he had already pushed her infuriated buttons a bit harder than he intended.

Slowly, Aqua shakily turned her head to glare icily at Sandbar, unaware of her deathly gaze while he tended to his sapling. "...Sandbar...Please, do not tell me, that you...THREW the stump of the Tree away...for a regular tree sapling...in the middle of a cave with zero sunlight to grant it the nutrients it needs to grow properly," she quietly muttered.

"I didn't move it all too far from the cave," Sandbar said. "Kinda hard to pull the wagon out of the ravine. But look! Isn't Philip gonna grow into a healthy new Tree of Harmony?"

"Did Sandbar hit his head when he woke up so suddenly this morning?" Eraqus questioned, he and Terra dumbfounded by the odd name the earth pony teen gave to a sapling.

"I don't know, but why would someone name a tree something like Phillip?" Terra questioned.

The temperature immediately dropped around Aqua. She was on the verge of turning this cave into an icy nightmare, having no clue what Sandbar, Gallus, or the other girls of the Young Six were doing to "memorialize" the Tree of Harmony. Sandbar's smile quickly disappeared and he grew nervous, terrified of the dark, enraged fury about to be unleashed.

"...Excuse me for one moment," Aqua eerily muttered, then teleported somewhere. It was far enough away from everyone, but the entire forest heard her let out a furious yell and a swift blizzard storming through the trees. Outside, Terra, Sandbar, Gallus, and the two mare tourists spotted a massive pillar of ice that shot up from where Aqua stood, which immediately collapsed after a few seconds and turning into harmless snow. She reappeared in front of Sandbar, slightly calmer, but still irritated, brushing off her fur from her magical outburst. "...Sandbar, I...understand you mean well...but, your 'memorial' for the Tree...why?"

"It's a symbol to remember Her by," Sandbar answered timidly.

"...As appreciative as that is for Equestria's history...you realize you just removed where it was located if you were meant to preserve its history," Aqua explained, feeling her brain melting from Sandbar's logic.

"I'm not the one who wanted to make the cave into a museum," Sandbar said, then pointed to Gallus. "That was Gallus's idea."

Confused, Aqua looked to Terra for some answers. "Ugh. The others all had different ideas, but didn't agree to one that they all thought was a good idea," Terra said. "The others had no part in moving the Tree's remains out of the cave; just Sandbar. We were off getting their guardians' permissions."

Frowning, Aqua quickly snapped her neck toward Gallus, the griffon gulping nervously as he was next on the chopping block for a scolding. "Gallus, can you explain why you thought it was a good idea to set this location up as some kind of history museum!?"

"Uhh...For a good cause?" Gallus sheepishly answered with a small giggle.

"What cause?" one of the mares questioned. "You said there was a protector's fee getting us through the forest."

Gallus flinched, his feathers ruffling in fear, not needing to look at Aqua to see the angered disappointment in her face. "...I-It was just a joke," he tried to reason, but the two mares didn't believe him. Neither did Aqua. Gulping, he pulled out the bits he took from his first two visitors and gave it back to them. "Uhh...I think the museum's...not quite ready just yet."

"No, it is permanently closed," Aqua scolded. "Escort them back to town, and while you're there, take down any and all flyers you made for this stupid scheme. I thought you didn't WANT to be like every griffon in Griffonstone and be selfish anymore."

"B-But I would have given it to a-" Aqua quickly shot her hoof forward, silently ordering the griffon to do as he was told and not make anymore excuses.

Gallus hung his head, turning and leading the upset mares as they glared at him for being tricked like that. As soon as he was out of sight, Aqua let out a frustrated growl, rubbing her temples, then glanced at Sandbar and his "new" Tree of Harmony.

"...Please tell me the others aren't making this place worse?" Aqua begged.

"Coming through!" Dropping down and flying into the cave, Terra, Aqua, and Sandbar ducked as a giant insect-like creature flew overhead, carrying a stone water fountain inside. Finding it very similar to what Ocellus had transformed into when the Young Six played hooky last year, the two masters questioned what the changeling was doing. Aqua grunted as some water inside the fountain spilled and splashed on her. "Oops! Sorry, Master Aqua!"

They watched the transformed changeling struggle to carry the fountain deeper inside, prompting Terra and Aqua to follow her, where they saw what she, Smolder, and Silverstream were doing. Ocellus carried the fountain past Smolder's attempt to make a stone statue of the Tree of Harmony, Silverstream's assortment of colorful paintings as murals depicting the Elements of Harmony or the Tree itself, and to her corner where she was making what appeared to be a Zen garden with wind chimes tinkling from the ceiling, throw pillows, etc. Though the girls' individual ideas weren't as nonsensical or greedy as Gallus or Sandbar's, the number of conflicting "memorials" clashed with each other. What was worse, there were more of Gallus's museum ideas along with the girls' stuff, and Terra growled as he found the Elements of Harmony in display cases, unearthed where he buried them.

"This...is much worse than we thought," Eraqus commented.

"Just need to carve the tree out just right," Smolder muttered to herself as she held her thumbs and index fingers out, analyzing the boulder like an artist to a sculpture. Envisioning her piece, she summoned her Keyblade, then rushed forward and sliced swiftly through the stone. The pieces flew as she hacked and carved away, slowly building a base of the tree trunk and thinning the upper segment for the branches. The loose debris accidentally struck the displays holding the Elements, knocking them over and scattering them on the ground. "Hmm...Should I have used a bigger boulder?"

"You're trying to make a monument of the Tree of Harmony?" Aqua asked the dragoness, distracting her from her artistic creativity.

"Yup! To show the world how strong the Tree of Harmony's magic was!" Smolder said. "I just need to smooth out the edges and cut very carefully through the branches...The Element of Magic was on top, right?"

"No, that was in the trunk," Terra corrected. "The other Elements were in the branches."

"Oh yeah...Ugh, I barely even saw what the Tree looked like, and I'm already forgetting about Her," Smolder mumbled.

"Smolder, we have a giant Gummi ship meant for larger group travel that's designed to look just like the Tree," Aqua reminded Smolder.

"I know, but it's all blocky with those Gummi parts! I want to make it as lifelike as possible!" Smolder continued with her carving, yelping when some blue paint was splashed close to her sculpture. "Hey! Silverstream, you're gonna ruin my sculpture!"

"Not my fault you're in the way of where the mural for Laughter should be!" the hippogriff exclaimed.

"Murals?" Aqua muttered. She and Terra glanced at the floor and wall paintings Silverstream designed. As artistic and vibrant her creativity was compared to Smolder's, her paintings on the walls spanned from the floor to the ceiling, and the type of paint she was using was easily able to be washed out. Some water from Ocellus's fountain splashed out and streaked the wet paint with each other, turning the bright colors she wanted to represent the Tree of Harmony with into darker, messily blended browns, which she desperately tried to fix and only made worse. "Why isn't she using a thicker paint if this is water soluble? If it rains, some runoff could stream through and ruin them."

"You like Silverstream's idea?' Terra asked.

"I'm not saying it's bad, but...it's not a great idea if the others are doing whatever they like and walk all over any floor murals," Aqua said. "At least it's not as scummy as Gallus forcing guests to pay to walk through a forest teeming with dangerous wildlife that could come out of nowhere and possibly pay even more to see what 'history' remains of the Tree of Harmony. Or be as clueless as Sandbar by digging out and removing what was left of it for a real sapling! INSIDE OF A CAVE!"

Ocellus flew over, sensing her master's distress. "Master Aqua, you sound like you need some positive healing," she said as she took Aqua's hoof and guided her over to her Zen garden of Harmony corner. Confused, the unicorn was led to one of the pillows, avoiding a splash of paint from Silverstream's artistry on the ceiling while she avoided stepping on the still wet rainbow swirl mural on the ground. Ocellus set her down on a pillow, then sat beside her in a cross-legged, meditative stance. "I borrowed a little guidance from our hive's feelings forum and set up this nice, calming meditative garden. Only positive energy will make the memory of the Tree of Harmony blossom forth around us."

"...Ocellus, the Everfree Forest isn't exactly the most peaceful place for a meditative garden," Aqua tried to calmly explain to the more sensitive of the Young Six. "Even if you went the same direction Gallus went by offering protection to reach what's practically the heart of this dangerous forest, which I still highly advise against, there may be a chance wildlife could wind up in here and wreck everything. Or use this cave as a new den."

"That's why the positive vibes will push back the negative energy of the Everfree. It can balance out with the subtle magical energy the Tree may have left in its presence," Ocellus reasoned.

Aqua was far from relaxed; she was only getting more frustrated and stressed. "I know this world works differently than others, but even then, I don't believe that logic is even possible." She stood up and walked back to Terra, leaving Ocellus to her meditating and "releasing" her positive energy in the cave. "Terra, this is just a complete disaster. I'm afraid of what Yona's going to come up with and make the whole thing worse."

"Hi, Master Aqua," Yona greeted, startling Aqua when she didn't even see the yak approach her.

"Yona! Goodness me," Aqua sighed, not even seeing her return to the cave when she had been missing out of the group. She had expected Yona to bring something in the cave along with the rest of her friends, but all she had was a rolled up scroll in her mouth. "Where were you?"

"Yona needed more time to think of best way to honor Tree of Harmony," Yona said, showing them the scroll.

Surprised, Aqua didn't think Yona was the one out of all the Young Six to have put more thought into the Tree's memorial. "...Really?" she asked.

"Yeah. She kinda shocked me when the others just came up with a spontaneous idea," Terra agreed. "...Though, I had thought she would have come up with a stomping ground and crushing wood with Sombra's face on them to show others that harmony would never be crushed by a villain if we crush them back."

Aqua turned and gave Terra a deadpanned leer. "Really?" she questioned. Terra grinned sheepishly in response, but with how the other teens did something on their own, Aqua could see how he would think that with how they bickered toward one another. Groaning in disdain, Aqua rubbed her forehead, feeling a migraine coming on. "...I think I need another spa session. Maybe get the extra-strength hot stone deep tissue massage, but ask Rockhoof to be my masseur instead."

"You actually like that massage?" Terra asked, astonished.

"I've spent a decade in the Realm of Darkness, and I have had knots within knots tied up in knots that built up as my losses and stress constantly grew," she said. "And I don't know why Riku is being a big baby over the pain. I've never felt more loose and relaxed after a normal session like that."

"And...you want to call Rockhoof to give you that kind of massage?" Terra questioned, blinking in bewilderment. Even Eraqus was startled, never once expecting Aqua to have such a heavy tolerance for such painful massage therapies. "He nearly broke Bulk Biceps's back when he tried working there."

"Then that's exactly what I need," Aqua said.

"Maybe Master Aqua try yak massage?" Yona suggested. "Yak strength harder than ponies...But, maybe Rockhoof strong as strongest yak back home."

"I'll take that in consideration, and a challenge," Aqua said, startling Terra. "I'll be back. And I better see Gallus's flyers gone when I get back to the spa."

Aqua teleported back to town, leaving Terra and Yona. "...I could have given her a massage," Terra mumbled disappointedly.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" Gallus had returned and approached Smolder. Terra didn't know if he did what Aqua asked of him, but he looked back to see the dragon had carved out her memorial for the Tree. Sandbar was minding his own business with his sapling, wearing his own earmuffs to drown out the noise as he casually watered the new tree. "You can't build this thing in my museum!"

"You got all your junk around the whole cave!" Smolder argued.

"Well that thing is an eyesore to the history of the Tree of Harmony!" Gallus said.

"You want to open up a museum and have tourists pay to see dumb pictures and broken gems that WERE the Elements of Harmony!" Smolder yelled. "What good will that teach creatures around the world about the Tree's power!?"

"Hey, guys! Cut it out!" Terra exclaimed, having had enough of the Young Six's differences.

"That's it! I'm getting rid of this stupid thing!" Gallus flew up to the carved branches of the Tree memorial, grabbing it and lifted it off the ground.

Smolder growled, grabbing the base and tried to yank it away from Gallus. "Let go of my statue!"

Both griffon and dragon grunted as they struggled in a tug of war for the statue. Terra was about to jump toward them and pull them down to scold them, only to freeze up when he heard the cracks coming from the Tree of Harmony monument. Smolder had made the central trunk of her monument too skinny, making it easy to split in half, and from the force of their tugging, if they lost their grip, it was going to snap in two directions: one end toward Silverstream and Ocellus, and the other toward Sandbar. Yona noticed too, and the moment happened when the cracked segment finally broke.

Smolder and Gallus yelled as they were sent flying back from their own pulls, releasing their halves of the stone statue. "Look out!" Terra shouted, getting Silverstream and Ocellus's attention, but Sandbar couldn't hear because of his earmuffs.

Silverstream and Ocellus were too late to react as the base flew and crashed into Ocellus's fountain. It broke from the impact, causing the water inside the splash out all over the cave walls, ceiling, and floor. Silverstream got soaked, and all her painting was ruined as they began to run off and streak in a mess of mixed wet paint, ruining all the individual colors. The branches were headed straight for Sandbar, his back turned and in danger. Yona sprinted off, dropping her scroll and tackling him out of harm's way, narrowly avoiding getting struck by the incoming stone structure.

Sandbar grunted, his earmuffs falling off as he looked at Yona, then back to his sapling. "Phillip! No!" he cried out.

"Sandbar not worry," Yona said. With her quick thinking, she also managed to save the sapling from getting crushed as well as it was plucked from the ground, the roots still intact for it to be replanted. "Yona save little tree, too."

Sandbar sighed in relief, but finally noticed the damage done to the cave. All of the Young Six's hard work had gone to waste: Gallus's museum was a bust after losing his first two customers, though it was justified by Aqua's disappointment, Smolder's statue was destroyed, Sandbar's sapling really wouldn't survive in the cave on its own, Silverstream's murals were nothing but brown, soaked smears, and Ocellus's Zen garden was soaked and lacking any positive emotions.

"My meditation garden is ruined!" Ocellus cried out, then glared at her friends. "Why couldn't you all have been more careful!?"

"None of this would have happened if you guys listened to me!" Gallus argued.

"You were making the cave into a roadside attraction!" Sandbar argued.

"All you cared about was a stupid, weak little baby tree!" Smolder shouted.

"You could have carved a Tree of Harmony on the walls instead of bringing a giant rock in here to make one!" Silverstream screeched. "Look at all my beautiful art! RUINED!"

"Like painting a cave in a rainbow art project was any better!" Smolder countered.

The teens continued to yell and point fingers at one another for the mess they all made. Eraqus frowned in disappointment, ashamed to have him and Terra let them escalate their ideas to being separate and ruining them among each other by accident. If they weren't impatient, he could have informed them they needed to do this together, but even when Terra emphasized it as they spitballed their own ideas without a collective agreement on one, they all ignored him. Terra was going to put a stop to it, but Yona stomped her hooves, creating a powerful quake stronger than his.

"STOP!" the yak bellowed, silencing everyone. With everyone's attention on her, Yona walked over to grab her scroll. "Friends all doing this the wrong way. All remembering what Tree WAS, not what Tree IS."

"...You mean gone?" Smolder asked.

Yona shook her head. "No. Yona mean even though Tree not here here, Tree HERE," she said, placing her hoof over her heart. "In our hearts. Tree made friendship even closer than we thought."

She revealed to everyone what she had been working on while the others were off doing their own thing. Instead of an idea, she had drawn the Tree of Harmony and all six of them together. Beside them were their Keyblades, though poorly drawn as she did her best to put into detail of their unique designs. It slowly dawned on the other teens, and it had to be Yona who had to enlighten them all with the reason why they got together in the first place. Their true friendship had truly formed when they all decided to run away together, and conveniently chose to meet in the ruins sitting above the very cave they were in. And their unity would be further strengthened when their Keyblades appeared after their masters discovered their potential to be the next generation of Key bearers.

"Yona's right," Terra chimed in, impressed by Yona's wisdom and being the more sensible one of the bunch. "You guys weren't the only ones impacted by the loss of the Tree of Harmony. The Pillars of Equestria actually felt the loss in their hearts. We all were beginning to lose faith, and even Sora took it the worst when the Elements were shattered and took his power. Even if someone's gone, their memories will always be treasured more from your hearts. No pictures, statues, paintings, symbolisms, or even positive feelings can compare to what your heart can hold. When I was back in my body after Xehanort possessed and used mine for more than ten years, I thought I lost Aqua and Ven forever, but I never let who they were to me ever be forgotten.

"After the mistakes I made all those years ago, I promised that I would set things right for them. But, instead, for fear of confronting Xehanort, I fled to Equestria. Went into hiding so I didn't get anyone else hurt again." He pulled out his old Wayfinder from his pocket, having cherished it for so long when he expected the worst to both Aqua and Ventus. "Now that we're together again...I won't make those same mistakes again. And one day, when we face Xehanort again...I WILL make things right. For everyone, in the past, the present, and for the future."

"And we've made more of a mess before all this," Gallus said as he gestured to the disaster they wrought a moment ago. "Is it weird to say that we got schooled by a yak?"

"Yaks know things not forever. That's why smash and rebuild," Yona said.

"Well, we already did the smashing part," Ocellus giggled sheepishly.

"Then maybe we should start building." Gallus held out his hand as he looked at his friends, his gaze lingering on Silverstream's a bit longer than intended. "Together?"

The others grinned, putting their respective limbs together. "Together," the Young Six simultaneously said.

Terra and Eraqus grinned, Terra putting away his wayfinder as the teens pulled back their hooves/claws. "There is one problem, though," Smolder said. "We still haven't decided what we should do for the Tree."

"Yona have idea!" Yona ran out of the cave, making the group wonder what exactly she had in mind. She returned a moment later, pulling a cart that was filled with parts of the Tree of Harmony Sandbar had dug out earlier while they were gone. "We use stump and branches so friends can rebuild!"

"You found them?" Terra asked Yona.

"I did say I couldn't pull it that far from the cave," Sandbar confirmed with a bashful grin. "It was easy getting the cart down, but I doubt it'd be any easier climbing up a hill with heavy crystal tree parts weighing me down."

"Just be grateful Aqua or the others aren't strangling you for doing that to the Tree," Terra reminded the colt, making him gulp nervously.

"But what exactly are we going to 'rebuild'?" Smolder asked. "Can't make it into another big tree."

"Ooh! I know!" Silverstream squealed. "How about something that represent what the Tree IS; a gateway to our friendship!"

"Yes!" Yona agreed. She grabbed a couple pieces and held them up at an angle, connecting them as she made it look like a base for a small house between her. "Umm...what ponies call it? Club...home?"

"You mean a treehouse?" Terra asked curiously.

"Yeah! A treehouse!" Gallus agreed.

"That's a great idea!" Ocellus agreed as well, Smolder, Silverstream, and Sandbar also approving the idea.

Finally coming up with an agreed idea, they began to clean up the cave of their conjoined mess before officially working on their new treehouse. Though this was meant to be the Young Six's project, Terra figured they could use a little extra muscle, hefting the pieces of Ocellus's fountain and Smolder's Tree of Harmony rock statue out of the cave. They washed off the paint and cleared away any remaining debris, even getting rid of all the pointless museum additions Gallus brought, then got to work on planning to build their new treehouse.

[Silverstream]
We celebrate our friendship

[Ocellus]
We celebrate the Tree

[Sandbar]
The memories inside us

[Young Six]
We'll build for all to see

With their blueprint drawn out, the Young Six began to gather the pieces from the cart and start piecing together some of them while setting up their base.

[Smolder]
The Tree brought us together
[Ocellus, Silverstream, and Gallus]
(Brought us together)

[Smolder]
And even though it's gone
[Ocellus, Silverstream, and Gallus]
(Even though it's gone)

[Gallus]
Our monument of friendship
[Rest of Young Six]
(Of friendship)

[Young Six]
Can make the gift live on

While the teens worked with the pieces, Terra went over to grab the Elements of Harmony after they were knocked out of the display cases. He wasn't the only one with the idea as Ocellus and Silverstream flew over, helping pick up the pieces, reconnecting the correct halves so they could use them as part of their treehouse as well.

[Ocellus]
A piece from me, a piece from you

[Silverstream]
We'll use the Tree, and we'll make do

[Gallus]
If things don't fit, there's lots of glue

[Young Six]
Friends don't quit in the end
And together, we'll see this through

The treehouse was building up, as best as the teens were able, even with Gallus emphasizing the extra glue to keep some of the crystal planks and branches connected better. Eraqus watched them at work, grinning proudly as his head bobbed to the song the young wielders sang. He was starting to get how difficult it was not to join in, though with only Terra able to see and hear him, he wasn't going to just take over Terra's body against his will despite the temptation to sing along.

[Smolder]
It's hard to say farewell

[Sandbar]
To something you hold dear

[Silverstream, Sandbar, and Ocellus]
But goodbye isn't forever

[Young Six]
As long as we are here

Sandbar replanted his sapling, this time outside of the cave, but with the help of the others as they took a small break from their building. Terra glanced at the blueprint and what the treehouse was looking like so far, nearly halfway built, though it was a little askew and not exactly how they expected. What mattered to them was that they were building something together for the Tree of Harmony and how it represented their friendship. Eraqus scratched his chin as he stared at the structure, his ears flicking slightly as he thought he sensed something, however it was very faint. The Young Six returned to finish their treehouse while he just stood in place, staring intensely at the crystal tree's pieces.

The tree is in our memory (ahh-ahh-ahh)
Its roots have grown deep in our hearts
(Deep in our hearts, deep in our hearts)
Its branches raise our spirits, together we're all bound
Forever it stands, lost but now it's found

[Smolder]
So lift a beam and build it strong

[Silverstream]
Work as a team, it won't take long

Some of them began to paint some of the finished segments of the treehouse with the rest of Silverstream's paints. However, as she flew by, she accidentally brushed a trail of yellow paint across Yona's backside. The hippogriff realized the mess she made, but they all laughed it off.

[Yona]
Hey, Silverstream, I think that's wrong

[Silverstream, Gallus, and Yona]
We'll live the dream and sing our song

[Young Six]
And make the Tree something all can see
In a place where we belong!

With the last of the pieces in place, the Young Six's new treehouse was finally done. They gathered around and looked at their blueprint and compared it to their finished structure. Neither of them had much construction experience in the first place, and though it was stable, it was a decent beginner's treehouse. They used every part of what was left of the Tree of Harmony, along with some extra branches from the trees in the forest for some more support. Along with the glue that managed to hold, they also tied some of the ends with some thick rope. The steps were a bit off and looked rickety, even the little lookout above the treehouse looked unstable, but if it was able to hold Yona on her own, it can support all six of them.

"...Well, this looks...good?" Terra said, feeling a bit uncertain.

"It's...kinda messy," Ocellus admitted.

"Yeah," Smolder agreed. "Like a bunch of different parts all smushed together."

"Just like us!" Silverstream said.

"Yona think it perfect!" Yona said.

They decided to test it out, testing how much weight it could really hold with all of them on it together. "At least they put some good use to the Tree. Not exactly sure what Aqua will think when they see this, but I guess a treehouse built by friends feels like a good memory for Her. Right, master?" Terra looked at Eraqus, the older stallion barely responding. He hadn't made any comment throughout the construction, only staring at the treehouse, focusing on something Terra couldn't feel. "Master? What's going on?"

Suddenly, Eraqus suddenly faded into a flash of light in Terra's vision, startling him as he let out a gasp. His master's light shot out of his chest and headed straight into the treehouse. The ground suddenly began to shake violently, the crystal pieces glowing brightly. Panicking, the Young Six scrambled out of their treehouse, getting behind Terra as they all watched it glow brighter. From the ground, a massive pillar of blue crystals shot up around the treehouse, crashing through the ceiling and rising into the center of the main entrance of the ruins above.

"W-What's happening!?" Sandbar asked.

"I have no idea," Terra uttered.

Wanting a better look, they all hurried outside, watching the forest around the crystal spire on the surface shimmer brightly in a white light. As they climbed up to the bridge, the pillar began to form branches at the top, the blue limbs sprouting pink crystal leaves and expanded to form its own canopy around the ruins of the thousand year old castle. Terra and the Young Six raced across the bridge and entered the crumbled gates, only to gawk in awe at the beautiful spectacle before them. Though it wasn't much of a new castle, the crystals had formed into a new, much more pristine and fully structural treehouse. A winding staircase leading up to a second floor with a higher view above the Everfree Forest's trees, furniture within that the treehouse created within the rooms on both floors, the decorations the Young Six made still present from their messier version that it took inspiration from, and along the arch leading inside on the first floor, the Elements of Harmony were etched on the sides, and at the top was a silver crown, representing Sora.

"Holy crab baskets," Silverstream uttered.

"Uhh, how did this happen?" Gallus asked.

From the entrance, a bright light shimmered, blinding the seven wielders. Through the light, the silhouette of a tall, regal alicorn, even taller than Celestia, appeared. When the light faded, they could see this mysterious alicorn as their features became more visible. It was clearly feminine from her physique and rounded muzzle, though her light blue and white fur seemed to shimmer as if it were made of crystal. Her body had some silver patterns around her chest, forming the shape of a heart, and her white mane flowed down her back, billowing behind her in a slow, calming wind. She opened her eyes, revealing her bright blue irises as she gazed upon the bewildered wielders, her lips curling into a gentle, almost motherly smile.

"My young warriors, you are what made this possible," she said. Her voice surprised the Young Six, recognizing it as the voice they heard when the Tree of Harmony freed them and Sora from the magic Cozy stole and threatened to destroy forever. "Though my old form is forever lost, I have been reborn thanks to your selfless deeds and caring."

"It's...the Tree of Harmony?" Ocellus gasped.

"A new and improved Tree of Harmony." Another bright flash, though smaller, revealed Eraqus as he appeared beside the crystal alicorn spirit. He grinned as he approached them, fully visible to the Young Six as well as Terra. "I thought that Her spirit was lost when She was destroyed, but there truly was some lingering light within what remained that just needed that 'spark' of friendship to revive Her. As much as I would like to say this was planned, I did not foresee this myself."

"Master, what happened to you!? Did your light...merge with the new Tree!?" Terra questioned worriedly.

"Master!?" the Young Six exclaimed in shock.

Terra winced, glancing at the startled teens when they looked at him, then back at Eraqus. "But...Hold on, I'm confused," Smolder said. "You had Square Equinox as your master, too? Since when!?"

Sandbar's eyes widened as he put the pieces together. "Wait a minute. I knew he looked familiar!" he said. "Square Equinox isn't his name; it's Master Aqua, Master Terra, and Master Ven's old master, Eraqus! As a pony!"

The other teen wielders gave the ethereal stallion another hard look, and Sandbar was right. Their jaws hung open, seeing many similarities between Eraqus's human and pony form despite how brief they saw him through Aqua's memories in the past. Terra grimaced, their apprentices now knowing his true identity, but Eraqus let out a small chuckle in response to their surprise.

"I thought my persona was foolproof, but I guess it was going to be seen through at some point if I interacted with you children too long," Eraqus said.

"But...you're alive!" Gallus exclaimed. "Your light's still here! That means you can come back, just like Xehanort!"

"Master Aqua would be so happy to see you again!" Silverstream added.

Eraqus sighed and shook his head. "Sadly, no. I cannot," he said. "Terra had asked me the same thing when I decided to reveal myself to him while I had resided within his heart since my...'passing'. What light remained was used to keep Terra safe from Xehanort's influence, but his power was stronger than mine, and he possessed Terra while my power waned to almost nothing." The Young Six were disappointed by the unfortunate circumstances. "And...I do not wish to cause more distress to Aqua if she knew I am still partially alive. I implore you to keep my presence a secret to her and the others. When the time comes, I will reveal myself to her."

"Oh..." The Young Six glanced at each other, giving the unicorn stallion a small nod.

"And, as for what just happened a moment ago, Terra, I was suddenly pulled from your heart and entered the new Tree by Her," Eraqus added, gesturing to the tall alicorn spirit of Harmony beside him. "Scared the living daylights out of me, but I was just as surprised to see what She spiritually turned into."

"You may call it a 'harmless prank', Eraqus," the alicorn giggled softly. "If our lights did not sense one another, I would have given my new chosen Element bearers the very tests myself, but in the image of their mentor at the School of Friendship."

"I think that would have been even weirder if Headmare Twilight was all glowing down in those catacombs," Smolder said.

"Not even weirder than actually being taught a lesson by our master's master about how our bond as friends is inseparable?" Sandbar asked.

"Yona not think it weird," Yona said.

"As long as I'm not threatened to be crushed in a tight enclosed space again for a stupid test, I'll believe anything that's happening right now," Gallus said, earning a few laughs from his friends.

The alicorn looked down at Eraqus, giving him a silent nod. Taking her hint as permission to return, the stallion stepped forward, walking toward Terra.

"I think my work with the Tree of Harmony is done. For now, at least," Eraqus said, then stood in front of Terra. "Terra."

"Y-Yes, master?" Terra uttered.

"...I know you will make things right," Eraqus assured. He brought his hooves up and hugged Terra, which he returned in kind. "I wanted to do the same for you, Aqua, and Ventus...Know that I have always loved you, my son."

Terra choked up slightly, but he smiled and held Eraqus tighter. "I love you too...father."

Ocellus, Yona, and Silverstream teared up at the emotional scene, neither of the Young Six thinking Terra and Eraqus ever had a familial bond. Eraqus's body began to glow brighter, followed by Terra as the older stallion disappeared, his light returning to Terra's heart. He rested a hoof over his heart, hoping Eraqus will keep his promise and one day see Aqua and Ventus again.

"Thank you again, my Warriors of Light," the spirit said, getting Terra's and the Young Six's attention once more. "Know that if any of you seek solace, you may find it here. Your friendship, and the friendship of future generations, will always be safe within these walls."

As she turned to walk inside and fade into light, Silverstream flew up to her. "W-Wait, before you go, I have one question!" she asked.

The spirit turned to the hippogriff as the light around her began to dim, keeping her present as she lowered her muzzle down to Silverstream's. "And what might that be, Silverstream?"

"Well...can we call you by another name?" Silverstream asked.

"Oh? Pray, enlighten me as to why?" the spirit asked curiously.

"I mean, you're still the Tree of Harmony, but I don't think any of us have ever seen what you looked like. Or, if...what we see you as now is what you want us to think you look like," Silverstream rambled. "Are you still considered a tree when your spirit is an alicorn? Or when the Pillars of Equestria planted you, you wanted to take on the image of a pony, except, how could you possibly show everypony if you were using all your power to keep the world safe and the Everfree Forest from growing wilder and out of control? Or maybe, you're another alicorn who no one thought ever existed and are some kind of distant ancestor of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!?"

"Silverstream, Celestia and Luna ascended as alicorns in the past," Terra reminded the hippogriff. "The only naturally born alicorn was Flurry Heart in Equestria's history."

"Isn't she just going to be called the Tree of Harmony to every creature anyway?" Gallus questioned.

"Well, yeah, but we can all call her by a new name, and not just the Tree of Harmony," Silverstream reasoned.

The spirit raised her head, her eyes closed as she sat and crossed her hooves over her chest in deep thought. It was odd to see an alicorn spirit sitting like that, almost like she was mimicking Sora's posture. After a brief moment of silence, she opened her eyes and gave the Young Six and Terra a small nod.

"I am not opposed of being given another name among my young warriors," she said. "What would you all prefer to call me?"

Silverstream opened her beak, but paused, already stumped. "Uhh...I...I'm not sure."

"Maybe something like light?" Yona suggested. "Yona and friends Keyblade wielders. Tree of Harmony also light and help everypony."

"Our teachers and Sora were gifted strong powers from Her, too," Smolder added. "And our teachers at school also have Keyblades like us now."

"What about something similar to crystals or gems?" Sandbar suggested.

"And unique so She has a name that definitely stands out as a...deity?" Gallus questioned, scratching his head curiously.

"Oh, this is harder than I thought," Ocellus said. "I don't want us to bicker again over thinking of a name..."

While the Young Six were puzzled, Terra seemed to have a name in mind. "What about...Hydaelyn?" The teens looked at Terra, curious to know why he picked a name like that. "...Not sure if it's a good one, but...it just...popped into my head."

"Did Master Eraqus think of the name?" Sandbar asked.

Terra shook his head. "No. But...it just feels like...it fits Her," he explained. "Her voice, her appearance, her benevolent, motherly disposition; the mother of perfect harmony among all creatures in this world...and beyond."

The Young Six pondered on the name, and as odd as the name was, they agreed that it seemed to suit the Tree of Harmony in a spiritual state. The alicorn smiled and nodded her head, sensing the silent unison among the wielders.

"It is a wonderful name," she said. "I shall bear it with pride. Fare thee well, Warriors of Light."

With a spread of her wings, Hydaelyn's body glowed brilliantly, then dispersed into a flurry of light particles that flew into the crystal treehouse, causing the pink leaves to sparkle in her presence. They stared at the new tree, unable to believe they actually spoke with the Tree of Harmony and if the others would ever believe them. Behind them, they heard the sounds of teleportation from outside the front gate of the ruins.

"Terra!" Aqua cried out. Terra and the Young Six turned around, finding Aqua and the rest of their friends running past the gate toward them. "What was the strange light that just-!?" As they got closer, they all began to slow down and gawk at the brilliant blue and pink crystal treehouse. "...W-What in the world...?"

"Is that...a new Tree of Harmony?" Sora asked in awe.

"Well...No, but also yes," Gallus said.

"And Her name is Hydaelyn!" Silverstream added gleefully.

"'Hydaelyn'?" Lea questioned. "The heck kind of name is that?"

"That doesn't sound Equestrian," Twilight said.

"Master Terra think of name," Yona said.

Everyone looked at Terra, who just shrugged. "Just...out of the blue," he admitted.

"...Well, whatever you're calling it, does anyone want to explain how that appeared?" Ventus asked as he pointed to the crystal treehouse.

"Our apprentices finally got their heads on straight and came together to build a treehouse using the pieces of what remained of the old Tree," Terra explained.

"Actually, it was Yona who reminded us," Sandbar said. "We were so focused on our own ideas, we didn't work it out as a team."

"As friends," Ocellus added.

"You guys probably didn't want to see what we tried to build," Gallus said. "Grandpa Gruff's home looked more appealing."

"And our friendship was strong enough to transform it into this, and brought back Hydaelyn," Smolder said.

"Still not gonna get used to that name," Lea commented.

As Aqua gazed at the pink crystal leaves of the new tree, she was able to sense a presence of light within the forest that was just like the old Tree, but so much stronger. The former Tree of Harmony's power was drained thanks to Discord's plunderseeds along with the Everfree Forest's wild ecosystem and protecting Equestria from the darkness. The light's influence from the treehouse was able to do all that, and maybe prevent Heartless from appearing in the world. It was a rough theory that would be hard to test out, but if it was stronger, Equestria could be spared from the Heartless invading, just like Disney Castle was with the Cornerstone of Light.

"...If the forest hasn't stirred and the Tree - or, Hydaelyn, rather - really is back, then Star Swirl won't have to worry keeping it contained with his magic," Aqua said. "Who'd have thought that you six really are the next chosen bearers of the Elements of Harmony? And you found a way to save it and this world after all."

"Because we're all close friends, and we wouldn't have come to lend our help if Master Er-!" Gallus quickly covered Silverstream's beak, he, the rest of the Young Six, and Terra wincing as the hippogriff nearly blurted out Eraqus's name.

"M-Master Equinox!" Gallus corrected. "The...weird dream that we had that brought us here had this strange Keyblade wielder who called himself Equinox, and he worked with Hydaelyn!"

"A Keyblade wielder? In your dreams?" Aqua questioned.

"It turned out to be Hydaelyn pretending to be him so we could help her," Gallus calmly answered. He gave Silverstream a wary glance, helping her realize the horrible mistake she could have made in revealing Eraqus's existence. She sheepishly nodded her head when he let go of her beak, her cheeks turning pink from how close Gallus was to her. "So, we saved Equestria by working together. You're all welcome."

"Not so fast, mister," Aqua said. "As wonderful as it was that we have a new essence of light back in this world, you're still on thin ice for your Tree of Harmony museum."

Gulping, Gallus lowered his head. "Yes, ma'am," he mumbled.

"So, are we gonna take a look inside or are we just going to keep staring at it from the outside?" Sora asked.

"I want to see what it looks like!" Pinkie said, waving her hoof wildly in the air.

"Let's go, then!" Rainbow exclaimed, zipping on ahead with Pinkie and Sora on her tail.

The others excitedly followed to see the interior of the treehouse. It was quite spacious compared to how it looked on the outside, like it could replace the castle ruins it sprouted from. There were some sofas and couches that were comfortable to relax on, including a few beds on the upper floor. There were even a couple desks and a table, for private studying and dining respectively, though there wasn't a kitchen for cooking. Even if the treehouse was made of crystal, having a fire in the middle of the Everfree Forest might have spread and cause more damage. Built like it was a small house, it felt more like a safe haven for those in need of solace from the troubles beyond its aura, just as Hydealyn expressed it as to Terra and the Young Six.

Aqua stood on the balcony of the treehouse, looking out at the forest canopy, where they can see Ponyville in the distance. Terra joined her, leaving the others downstairs as they talked about what they could add to the treehouse and how they can build a safer trail through the Everfree to here.

"I think they get themselves an A+ for their efforts," Terra said. "Rough start, but, when are friendships ever smooth, huh?"

"I don't doubt it," Aqua said with a small laugh, remembering how rocky their friendship started out, but was quickly settled within the same day. "But, since our apprentices are here and school will be back in session in a few weeks, they might as well stick around until then."

"Because it would be a waste transporting them back home to only come back to Ponyville later, or...because you didn't want one specific apprentice to go back to their home?" Terra asked.

Aqua's ears perked up, but she didn't look at Terra to tell him exactly what she was thinking. "I...didn't want Gallus to go back home for the summer," she admitted. "His 'guardian' was just going to make his life more miserable if Griffonstone's welfare hadn't made it worse. I'm still upset with him for his insane history museum idea...I didn't overreact too badly when I yelled at him, did I?"

"Well, you blew your top from that and Sandbar's 'good idea'," Terra mentioned. Aqua groaned, resting her chin on the railing. "Uhh, at least you released your rage far from us, and from others?"

"Not helping," Aqua grumbled with a pout. Terra wrapped his hooves around her, lifting her head up from the railing as he held her. "I know he probably didn't intend to rip others off and he was going to use the bits for a good cause. I just don't want that selfish mentality Griffonstone's gotten to return to him."

"He's smarter than that, and he knows he messed up," Terra assured.

"Yeah," Aqua mumbled. "I don't want him to be left alone with that old griffon again."

"...Do you want to...adopt him?" Terra asked curiously.

"The thought's crossed my mind after I had a talk with him on Hearth's Warming," Aqua said. "I know Eraqus did the same for the two of us, especially for me."

"But you don't think Gruff's gonna agree despite wanting to get rid of him?" Terra guessed.

"Oh, please. That heartless hybrid would easily give Gallus up for his freedom," Aqua growled. "It's just...if I do...would we make it out of this war against Xehanort?"

"...Oh...I see," Terra mumbled. He hugged Aqua tighter, feeling her hooves rest against his. "You're afraid to disappoint him after he finally finds himself a real family to stay with if the worst comes to pass."

"I don't think it will, but...I still can't help but worry about how much it would hurt him if I did go through with it." Aqua looked up, the sun already beginning to set. Grabbing Terra's hooves, she freed himself from his embrace, turning around to face him. "After all of this, if we manage to survive...I'll see what I can do to adopt Gallus. Give him the proper home he deserves."

"Are you sure?" Terra asked.

"Positive," Aqua answered with a nod. "I want him to spend whatever youth he has left with a family who cares about him before he's legally an adult. Not mourning for a mother-figure he never had after only a small moment of time."

Unbeknownst to Aqua and Terra, they didn't notice Gallus hiding on the stairwell. He overheard their conversation after he went up to find them, and he was in shock. His master, the very woman who had seen the potential in to be a better griffon, who gave him the power to protect all worlds from darkness, wanted to adopt him. He thought he misheard her, but he didn't imagine it. The reason why she wanted to wait wasn't a surprise to him; he knew what would come in the future once the Organization made their move. Aqua was his inspiration to make a change, and he wasn't going to let her down, as he and his friends promised last year. He had confidence his mentors would come back and win this ongoing war, and when it's all over, he'll be happy to be a true part of Aqua's family.

Keeping his emotions in check, he continued up the steps to meet Aqua and Terra. "Masters? We're about to head back into town," Gallus said.

"Alright," Aqua said. "You all better get enough rest. Tomorrow, we're going to be doing a lot of training, and I'm going to see if Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, and Fluttershy are just as skilled as Sora now that they have the Keyblades of Harmony in their possession."

"Yes, mom," Gallus said with a salute, only to grimace as he shook his head. "M-Ma'am! I meant to say ma'am, sir! G-Gah, uhh! I-I mean..." As he stammered, Aqua tilted her head at the slip up. Gallus blushed bashfully, trying to play it off with a nervous giggle. "Uhh...M-My...tongue slipped?"

He rubbed the back of his head, hoping Aqua and Terra bought the excuse. Even if it was an accident, being called mom by the griffon teen didn't sound bad. Aqua laughed and shook her head, stepping closer to Gallus and ruffled his head feathers. The trio headed downstairs, regrouping with the others and returned back to Ponyville. The new wielders of the Mane Six were definitely going to be tested tomorrow, and their numbers are constantly growing, trumping the Organization's by a decent number, even though Xehanort had only expected seven of them as the seeds of light he needs to clash with his thirteen dark to forge the X-blade.

---

Demyx and Ansem the Wise stood outside of the study in the Organization's hideout, hearing Vexen groaning in despair, or wailing, whichever came echoing throughout the corridor. He was so distraught by the loss of hard work he put into creating the Equestrian puppet to control Sombra, and for it to be a waste of time when Xigbar mentioned how their twelfth seed was an Equestrian neither of them had known existed among them for quite some time.

"Yeesh. You think this guy can get a hobby or something," Demyx said.

"Even was always dedicated to his work," Ansem said.

"Uhh, who?" Demyx asked, confused.

"...That is his original name," the scientist explained.

"Ohhhhhh...I see." A portal of darkness suddenly appeared behind the two as Xigbar walked through.

"Ugh. He's still crying over a stupid little doll?" Xigbar asked, hearing Vexen's ramblings inside the room.

"Yup. Still going," Demyx answered.

"Well, he's gonna be in for a surprise when all of you see what I just bagged." Looking back at the portal, Demyx and Ansem noticed it was still open. Another person in the Organization's uniform stepped through, making Demyx sigh with relief that Xigbar found a new member of the Organization, and hopefully their final seed. Their hood was over their face, but it was obvious that they wore a scowl beneath the veil shrouding their face. "Aww, don't go pouting. We got a family reunion to throw. Well, for at least a couple of us."

"Soooo...Who is this guy?" Demyx asked curiously, getting a whiff of the mystery addition. "And why does he smell like the ocean?"

"Go grab the moody nerd and assemble the rest of the group in the main study," Xigbar ordered.

The door to the room slammed open by an irritated Vexen. "You know, these walls aren't as thick as your braindead skulls!" he shouted bitterly. "I don't even know why I put up with all of you if you disregard all of my-!" He then looked at the cloaked man behind Xigbar, letting out a startled gasp and backed away slightly. "...Y-You?"

"Huh? Wait, how do you know this guy?" Demyx questioned.

"Let's just say if we didn't find you, he would have taken the old Organization XIII's number IX spot instead," Xigbar said. Confused, Demyx scratched his head, looking at the man and trying to see his face under his hood. "Now, come on. Gather the group. We've assembled our thirteen seeds."

Xigbar walked down the corridor with their new member trudging behind them, the portal disappearing as they left. Baffled, Demyx and Vexen gathered the rest of the Organization, Ansem the Wise joining them to see just who this new person was. Once they were all gathered, Xehanort sat in a throne at the far end of the massive study filled with old books and gadgets that were once used for research in an ancient past. From his left, his Heartless, Ansem, and Young Xehanort stood, while Xemnas and Dark Riku stood on his right. On the opposite sides of the room were the rest: Marluxia, Larxene, Luxord, and Demyx on one end, Saïx, Ansem the Wise, Vanitas, and the recruited Equestrian on the other. In the middle of the room, Xigbar smirked with their final seed standing beside him, whose hands were clenched tightly as they were being gawked at.

"So, you have found our last seed, Xigbar?" Xehanort asked curiously.

"Ugh. He smells like he was drenched in salt water and hung out to dry," Larxene remarked as she pinched her nose in disgust.

"Wait...Why is that scent familiar to me?" Saïx questioned.

"An excellent question," Xigbar said. "You should be very familiar with his face. Along with our former Nobody boss in the old Organization."

Xemnas's brow quirked at the odd comment. Xigbar looked at their new member, who let out an irritated sigh, then reached their hands up and pulled down their hood. As they revealed their face, Saïx and Xemnas's eyes widened, recognizing who it was. Marluxia was also startled, having met him before a couple years ago back in Equestria.

"So, you still live after you escaped," Xemnas said.

"I'm just as shocked as you were when I fought him back in Equestria," Xigbar said. "But wait until you hear the real kicker, and how I 'convinced' him to come quietly."

Growling, their thirteenth seed leered at Xigbar. "You didn't give me much of a choice..."

---

Kaito's eyes grew wide, but he gave no other physical reaction to Xigbar's educated guess. He wanted to wipe the smug grin off the sniper's face.

"...What are you talking about?" Kaito questioned.

"Don't play dumb. You're Sora's dad," Xigbar said. "Or, rather, his Nobody. I bet the real you must have done a real good job parenting if you exist."

"So what? You don't have any proof," Kaito said.

"No proof? As if I need to show you any proof," Xigbar argued. "You two have the exact same face, the same battle stance, even the same stubbornness. I may not do background checks, but you know the old saying: like father, like son." Kaito growled, summoning his weapon, but Snipers suddenly appeared around him and aimed their crossbows at him. Xigbar had his arrowguns out, aiming them at the Nobody. "I wouldn't be too hasty if I were you."

"You wouldn't last a full minute against me," Kaito growled.

"I wouldn't...but would Sora's mother?" Kaito blanched, frozen in place. Hearing sand crunching on his right, where they were just a couple blocks away from Sora's home, he looked and watched a Swashbuckler being forced to walk toward them as three Snipers floated behind him. This Swashbuckler was ordered by Kaito to watch Manami when he wasn't around, and from the state the Nobody was in, he was ambushed and held hostage. One Sniper nudged its back hard with its crossbow, making it stumble toward Xigbar. Its hand was clenched, holding something as it looked at Kaito, silently apologizing, then opened it, revealing a folded photo. Xigbar took it and opened it up, letting out a chuckle as he turned it around to show Kaito what it had, which made his face pale. "What a happy family, huh? You and Sora share that same stupid, happy grin."

The photo showed Sora at the age of five on his birthday, his parents standing beside him as they smiled for the camera with a big birthday cake with Sora's name, five candles to show his age, and decorations hanging in the background for his party. Kaito looked at the Snipers, wondering how long Xigbar had known where he was hiding and how long he knew about Manami.

"...H-How?" Kaito mumbled, already caving into Xigbar's cruel tactics brewing in his brain.

"I wasn't called a recon specialist for no reason, 'Kaito'," Xigbar stated. "But, pretending to be Sora's dad as a creature who shouldn't exist, even taking his name...That sounds like a desperate Nobody trying to fill in shoes that they just can't fit in."

"No, I am not," Kaito growled.

"Oh? Then, I suppose if you aren't, then you wouldn't mind if I just waltz up to the house and see if the Missus is home." Kaito snapped, letting out a yell as he slashed at the Snipers closest to him.

"DON'T YOU DARE LAY A HAND ON HER!" Kaito shouted.

The Snipers began firing at him, deflecting each laser back at them. While dealing with the barrage, Xigbar vanished, catching Kaito from behind, then fired a swift barrage of beams into his back. Kaito yelled out in pain, but before he could retaliate, Xigbar grabbed the back of his head, warping them to the house. He smacked Xigbar's hand off of him and stood up, about to slice the one-eyed sniper's arms clean off, only to freeze when he heard Manami scream in surprise, not realizing he was standing in front of the window looking into the kitchen.

Manami opened the window as she was cleaning some dishes, huffing angrily at the Nobody. "For goodness sake, you scared me half to death!" she scolded. "I thought you were some burglar about to break in!"

Kaito was about to warn Manami to get back inside and hide, only to flinch when he saw a void behind her with one of Xigbar's arrowguns aimed directly at her heart. From his peripheral vision, he saw Xigbar smirking, bringing a finger to his lips, warning him not to do anything reckless, or else Manami was going to get shot. He knew Xigbar was a quick shot, and if he made the wrong move, he wouldn't make it in time to save her.

"...I...took my training...a bit harder than I thought tonight," Kaito said. He couldn't signal Manami to leave or run away, not with Xigbar's hawk-like vision as he watched him and waited for him to slip up. "Didn't realize I was close to the house. S-Sorry."

Manami let out a sigh and shook her head. "Look, Kaito, I get that you feel a little bit inferior compared to Sora, but I don't want you to be hurting yourself either," she said. "Sora just snapped out of his funk after what happened a couple months ago. He's gotten much stronger now, and he's back to his old self."

"...Stronger?" Kaito uttered, Xigbar grinning at the good bit of news he was hearing to relay to the Organization.

"It was...a little crazy. I wound up getting hypnotized by some evil unicorn king named Sombra," Manami said with a nervous, frightened laugh. "Sora didn't...take him out, and next thing I knew, I blacked out, and he told me I almost tried to choke him to death under that Heartless's influence." She rested her hands against the counter, hanging her head and let out a heavy sigh. "...I'm just glad he didn't hold that against me...just like before when he..." Kaito wished he could stifle anything else Manami was blurting out within earshot of Xigbar, but with his hands metaphorically tied and a weapon aimed directly behind her, he was helpless to do anything. Manami took in a breath and lifted her head up, brushing her hair out of her face. "Anyway, long story, short, he beat the Heartless, brought back the real Sombra who was actually good, and lovers with Princess Luna, and he's gotten a new Keyblade out of it."

"...Oh. That's...great," Kaito mumbled.

"...Are you alright?" Manami asked worriedly. She could see his face was pale, and he looked a little bit roughed up that no solo training was capable of. "Are you getting sick? Or, CAN Nobodies get sick?"

She was about to turn around to get something for him, but Kaito quickly grabbed her arm and forced her back to facing him. "No!" he shouted, startling Manami. His eyes glanced at the arrowgun, watching Xigbar's finger prepared to pull the trigger, making him panic. "I-I mean, n-no. No. I'm not sick. Just...a bit tired. I still need a bit more fresh air before I can...properly relax."

"O-Ok," Manami uttered. "Just...don't work yourself too hard. I've just gotten used to living with someone in my own house again."

"I...Don't think Nobodies even know what exhaustion feels like?" Kaito sheepishly said with an awkward grin.

He released her arm, convincing Manami with his white lies. "Either way, Kaito, I don't want to lose you again." She looked out the window, Kaito leaning aside to keep her from spotting Xigbar watching and listening to their conversation. "Say, have you seen Sinbad?"

"'Sinbad'?" Kaito questioned.

"The Swashbuckler who always helps around with the chores," Manami said. "I thought I'd give him a little name rather than just call him a Swashbuckler." As if on que, the front door opened, Xigbar retracting his hand from his portal right as Manami turned to face the front entrance. Stumbling inside with a basket of fresh laundry, the Nobody staggered forward, giving the woman an awkward wave with its hooked hand. "There you are. I didn't know if you were having trouble getting that with only one usable hand. And...why are you filthy?" The Swashbuckler flinched, lowering the basket to keep the clean laundry from getting dirty again. "Those just got washed earlier this morning, and I don't want to have to redo them in the morning."

"He...probably tripped and fell in the dirt," Kaito reasoned.

"Sinbad's not that clumsy," Manami uttered suspiciously. She let out another sigh, brushing it off as she walked over to grab the basket. "It's fine. I just want to fold these, then go right to bed. Don't be out too late, Kaito."

Kaito nodded as he and Sinbad the Swashbuckler watched her head upstairs. The lesser Nobody glanced at Kaito, hanging his head in shame for failing him, then disappeared in a flash of gray energy. Kaito grimaced, closing the window, then leered at Xigbar.

"...You're a sick bastard," he growled. "The whole lot of you."

"Says the Nobody who thought he found his heart," Xigbar mocked. "I may not beat you in a duel, but all is fair in love and war. Sadly, that very love from the real man's memories became your downfall."

"Leave. Manami. Out of this," Kaito warned.

"She's already been involved. One of our dumber, lazier members, Demyx, thought it was a brilliant idea to hold that woman captive to make Sora falter, just like we tried with Kairi," Xigbar explained. "But...with you, a confused Nobody who thinks they've found their purpose in life as an empty shell...I think you'll finally come quietly instead of rejecting what you were meant to be all along." Kaito snarled, clenching his fists, but froze when Xigbar was about to stick his arrowgun back through the spatial void, more likely coming out on the other side and aiming right back at Manami in her bedroom. "If you do care about her, and how Sora would feel that you failed to keep his mother safe, then drop whatever it is you plan to do. If I were you, I'd come peacefully, like the good, obedient, heartless puppet you were supposed to be years ago."

Kaito clenched his teeth, his fists trembling with rage. After an intense minute, Kaito's shoulders and head sagged, loosening his balled fists, his sword dropping and fading into a splatter of saltwater in the grass. He had no choice. He got to his hands and knees, groveling at the sniper's feet.

"...Just leave her alone," Kaito begged. "I'll do whatever you want...Just...don't hurt her."

Xigbar chuckled, dismissing his arrowgun. "That's better." He approached Kaito, forcing him back up onto his feet. He then summoned a portal of darkness in front of them, taking them back to the Organization's hideout. While Xigbar had his back turned, Kaito subtly brought a hand up to his head, looking like he was about to pull up his hood, only for an arrowgun to appear and aim right at his temple. "Oh, right. One more thing before I forgot." Xigbar turned around with a cocky smirk, holding his hand out to the Nobody. "That little earpiece you've got. I'll be confiscating that." Kaito growled, but forced himself to comply. He pulled his magic crystal communicator from his ear, placing it in Xigbar's palm. "I knew there was some way you guys were able to chat with one another from world to world. Who'd have thought Equestrian magic was this potent enough for intergalactic communication?"

Xigbar dismissed his weapon once again as he laughed, pocketing the communicator and passed through the portal. Kaito lowered his head, pulling his hood over his head. He stepped forward, pausing for a moment as he glanced back at the house for a moment, then turned away as a tear ran down his face, stepping through the portal behind Xigbar.

---

Kaito glared at the Organization silently while Xigbar gave very detailed information about who he is, or who he WAS, and his relation with Sora. It was a startling surprise to know this Nobody belonged to Sora's father, and as weird as it was, Vexen, Saïx, Marluxia, and Xemnas saw firsthand how strong Kaito was.

"No way, dude!" Demyx exclaimed. "Sora's own dad became a Nobody!? And...I replaced HIM!?...Oh yeah, I am totally staying on the bench now."

"Don't gloat about it like you just won first place, you imbecile," Vexen hissed. "If he didn't escape, you would have just been a Dusk."

"Better than doing all the hard tasks I wasn't cut out for," Demyx grumbled.

"I guess I can see the resemblance between him and Sora," Marluxia said.

The veiled Equestrian smirked at the irony that Sora would eventually have to face his father's Nobody in the upcoming war. "Already getting a warm welcome," Xigbar said with a laugh. "You're fitting in quite nicely, eh, 'Kaito'?"

Xigbar went to pat Kaito's shoulder, but he smacked the sniper's arm off of him. "I was given no choice," he repeated. "I'm not your tool. I didn't want any part of this, but you forced me to."

Xemnas suddenly teleported in front of Kaito, barely fazing him, even when a red energy beam shot from the powerful Nobody's palm and held against his neck like a blade. "You were lucky escaping from me the last time," Xemnas warned. "If you think of fleeing from us again, I promise you your life will be forfeit."

"Xemnas," Xehanort called out. The old man's Nobody glanced back at his original self, then back at Kaito. The beam retracted back into his hand and teleported back to his spot as Xehanort stood up from his seat. "Regardless of who he is, he is perfect to replace whom I originally thought would have come back when Xemnas and Ansem were destroyed. Originally, Terra was meant to be one of us with a version of me who still possessed him, but with him back in control of his own body, my contingency plans were foiled. Up until now."

"You really think you'll win?" Kaito questioned. "Against Sora? How many times has he beaten all of you?"

Xehanort stepped closer to Kaito, a sly smirk curling on his face. "The losses mean nothing unless the war is won. Besides, having Sora tested on his prowess is all a part of my plan. Even if he has gotten much stronger thanks to Equestria's magic, it won't matter in the long run once everything is in perfect position." He looked over at Vexen, then back to Xigbar. "A Heartless as powerful as Sombra may have been a perfect choice, however incredibly flawed. Not when Sora can harness the power of light on such a grand scale."

Vexen grunted in disdain, but being smart, he kept his mouth shut. "Is that why your Nobody sought me in the Realm of Darkness while gathering the first Organization?" Kaito asked. "If you're expecting me to fight Sora, I know I cannot win. Neither of you will."

"We will see," Xehanort said. "Once the X-blade is in my possession and Kingdom Hearts appears as the conflict wages, it will be too late for either of them to stop me."

He turned away and began to head back to his seat, but Kaito stepped forward, grabbing the old man's shoulder. "What the hell are you even up to!?" Kaito demanded.

The other versions of Xehanort aside from his time traveling youth were about to attack Kaito, but Xehanort raised his hand, stopping them. As they settled and the others in the room watched with anticipation at what was going to happen, Xehanort calmly turned his head, gazed at the Nobody, and smirked.

"You may find it cruel, but what I have planned...will create a new universe," he answered. "One I envisioned when a mysterious wielder came to me in my youth, wearing the very same coats you all bear and enlightened me on the imbalance between light and darkness throughout several thousand generations."

Kaito let out a confused grunt, gazing down at the coat he wore. His grip loosened, releasing Xehanort as he continued walking forward, then disappeared through a portal of darkness. Kaito didn't understand. Does Xehanort know he's going to lose, or is he overly confident in his plans that he really would succeed in creating a new universe while destroying this one? And who was this wielder he met who told him what was either the truth or nothing but lies? Whatever he was going to be forced to do, he only hoped he didn't have to face Sora in the near future. All the trust he gained from him would immediately be wiped away if he found out he was forced to be a traitor, and thanks to Xigbar knowing how they communicated with each other from lightyears away, he's unable to warn him or the others about what happened to him.

"...I wish I never existed..."

Comments

[HarryBuilder]

But that's only twelve vessels, who's the thirteenth?

[Princespeedywhooves]

Ok this is getting bad I don’t want Sora to fight his dad or lose kairi they both me the world to him if he loses one of them he would not recover at all he would end up disappearing forever anyway like in kingdom hearts 3 but Sora doesn’t have the power of waking so I think he should be fine but Riku has it so he might use it to bring kairi back or flurry heart to save them and for riku to vanish (not Sora) so Sora can be with kairi and all of his friends that he really cares for. That is what I think is what’s goin on in this story.

[Codex92]

11738751
Look back. Demyx and Vexen are still benched, and Ansem the Wise is being held prisoner. Their twelfth was brought in at the start of "The Beginning of the End". And if you're not including old Xehanort, HE is the first seed of darkness. They have their thirteen.

[HarryBuilder]

11738870
I meant who is the mysterious pony.

[Reed Oakwood]

NOOO KAITO! I Sora doesn't see Kaito as traitor or Manami's life being threatened.

[Codex92]

11738871
You'll find out when their identity is revealed...much, much, MUCH later.

[karmathewriter]

The feelings are gonna be real in the end of season 9

[Postwarmonkey50]

Now that's scary. Poor Sora and Maname. If Kaito's involved, they'll be devestated.

[Garuda IV]

Oof. Kaito being the 13th seed wasn't what I had expected when Xigbar confronted him, and though he can't get any messages out, I wouldn't be surprised if the others start to become suspicious when they message Kaito and don't get a response.

On a different topic, I absolutely loved the dream segment with Gallus and Silverstream, and am hoping we'll get to see them talk about what happened, as well as seeing Aqua talk to Gallus about the adoption. From the sounds of it, Gallus is already liking the idea, and I don't blame him.

[BenictheHedgehog]

11738924
I hope it’s not Roxas or a different version of Xion.