Before the chapter begins, I want to give an announcement on where I will be taking Kingdom Harmony in the future.
First and foremost, I want to disclose how I will be adapting the remaining seasons of FIM. The way I decided to format the story is as follows: Each season will have it's own story dedicated to it. The way I like to see it as is each season acting as a "volume" of Kingdom Harmony. What this means is "Best Night Ever" will be the final chapter of this particular story, or volume. Season two will have it's own story file dedicated to it, as will season three and so on. I decided to make it this way so that Kingdom Harmony wont have an intimidating 1,000,000+ words in the future.
The next topic I want to address is how I will be handling future Kingdom Hearts story content as it gets released in the future. Now that Re:Mind has been released, new details about the Kingdom Hearts cannon have been revealed to us. Before Re:Mind came out, I had plans for how I wanted things to progress regarding Kingdom Hearts characters. Because of Re:Mind, I have to rethink and revise a few concepts. I even had to scrap one particular idea I was really excited for.
Perhaps the greatest question that will arise as I continue the story will be "What's with Yozora?" I'll try to incorporate him as best I can, but we still know so very little about him as is. Who is he? What's his connection to Sora? And why does his driver suspiciously have Luxord's hair style? Obviously, Tetsuya Nomura has his own plans for the future of Kingdom Hearts, and I know I will not be able to predict what kind of insanity he will present us with next. With that in mind, I'll mostly stick with my own ideas as the story progresses. I might incorporate some of the new story elements from future games as time progresses, that will all depend if they mesh with what I have in mind for Kingdom Harmony. Normura is an unpredictable storyteller and he'll always answer questions that will lead to new questions. I am almost certain that the Master of Masters will be the next major villain now that Xehanort in done and dusted (at least I hope he is), so I might incorporate the Lost Masters in the future.
(If Sora turns out to be the Master of Masters, I will flip out in rage.)
One more thing I want to say, I am very happy that Kingdom Harmony has gotten such positive reception. Here's a little history lesson about myself, I created my profile years ago. Back then, I tried writing stories but I didn't have a developed writing style. Eventually, I abandoned the profile, where it lied dormant for years. As my writing style continued to grow throughout college, so too did my desire to write fanfiction. One particular fanfic combination I was interested in for a while was My Little Pony and Kingdom Hearts. The similar themes between the two franchises made it seem like an ideal combination. Strangely, there weren't many crossover fics with these two franchises.
I eventually decided to try it out for myself and draft "Kingdom Harmony." Interesting fact, the initial draft of the story originally featured Kairi as the main character. It would have been set during the events of Kingdom Hearts 3 while Sora's journeying through the worlds and it would have had Kairi being sent to Equestria as part of her Keyblade training. I was planning the idea before KH3 actually came out. In the end, I decided to wait until the game came out so that I could decide what I wanted to do. Funnily enough, Sora disappearing offered the perfect opportunity for him to be planted in Equestria, so I decided to focus the story on Sora after the events of KH3.
With the first chapter complete, and the next few in the works, I went back to my old profile and deleted everything I posted years ago. I had a clean slate and I'm glad that I did it. When the follows, favorites, and reviews were flowing in, I was overwhelmed with the tremendous response I received. None of the previous stories I tried writing in the past gave me this amount of success. I cannot fully express my appreciation to all of you who read this story.
One more thing, Sora will not be shipped with any of the Mane Six.
Anyway, sorry for the long prelude; I just wanted to share my plans of this story. With that said, here's The Cutie Mark Chronicles.
—
"Where am I?"
He floated down in the pitch black space, time seeming to have stopped completely. The only thing he had were his thoughts.
"Am I... Doing it again?"
He's been in this scenario before in the past. Each time just as confusing as the last. There was light in this place, and he was fast approaching it. He had seen it before, a stain glass platform with an intricate pink and white design, aside from six blank diamonds, one large one in the middle and five more surrounding it.
He flipped his frame forward, landing atop the platform gently. The whole area was familiar in some way.
"Ive been here before," He said, "This was before I woke up in Applejack's house."
Sora understood that each of his visits to the Station of Awakening usually meant something of significance, but he was never sure at the time.
Something else also dawned on him, "I'm in my normal body," No longer was he a pony. He looked around his surroundings once more. In almost an instant, one of the outer diamonds began to glow a bright light. Sora looked at the glowing diamond in curiosity. Seeing nothing else he could do here, Sora walked onto the glowing diamond.
His vision was blurred with a bright light, leading him to shield his eyes. He opened them shortly after.
—
"Huh?" This location was all but familiar to Sora, "This is the Apple farm. What am I doing here? And why aren't I a pony here?" As he was pondering, he noticed a few ponies in the distance. One was a filly with a bag on a stick who looked remarkably familiar. She was trotting away from the farmstead with Granny Smith and a teenage stallion with red fur looking sad.
"Wait a minute," Sora came upon a realization. The orange fur and the blonde mane should have clued him in, but there were a few characteristics that were missing, mainly the stetson and the three apple cutie mark, "Is that Applejack?"
Before Sora could figure out what was going on, there was a flash of light. Suddenly, he was off the apple farm and in a new location, one he had never seen in Equestria before, a cosmopolitan city with ponies strewing about every street, and Sora was still in his true form.
"Oh no!" Sora panicked, but then he soon realized that no one was paying attention to him. Confused, Sora reached out towards a random pony, only for his hand to phase right through, "Am I not really here? What's going on?"
Sora took notice of filly Applejack trotting along the sidewalk, taking in the sights of the tall buildings and impressive structures, "Wait, am I looking at a memory Applejack had? Does this mean she left home when she was a kid?"
When looking over at little Applejack, she accidentally bumped into one of the passerbys, "Hey! Watch where your going!" He yelled at Applejack
"I just can't imagine Applejack trying to live in the big city," Sora said. Little Applejack stopped trotting for a minute to look at an apartment building she was near.
There was another flash of light, now Sora was inside a fancy apartment where a couple was letting Applejack inside. The mare was a light beige earth pony with blue eyes wearing a golden necklace adorned with green and orange jewels. Her light orange mane and tail were neatly done, indicating a high financial standing. Her cutie mark was three orange slices. Her husband was an earth pony as well, sporting blue eyes, a dirty blonde coat, a well combed lime green mane, and a cutie mark of a single orange.
"Aunt Orange! Uncle Orange!" Little Applejack spoke in a cute, high pitch southern drawl, "Thank y'all so much for lettin' me stay!"
"Aunt and Uncle Orange?" Sora repeated, "I don't think I've ever heard A.J talk about them. In fact, I don't think I saw them at the reunion."
"'Y'all,'" Aunt Orange laughed, "Isn't she just the living end?"
"How quaint," Uncle Orange chuckled
"What the heck are they even saying?" Sora wondered.
"Don't worry," Aunt Orange lifted Applejack's chin, "We'll have you acting like a true Manehattanite in no time."
There was another flash. Now Applejack, her mane styled to look like her Aunt's, was sitting at a dinner table with a number of guests, each of them posh and snooty.
"And how are you finding good old Manehattan?" Asked one of The Socialites to little Applejack.
"Oh, it's simply divine," Applejack spoke in an uncharacteristically posh accent.
"Very well said, my dear," Aunt Orange complimented. Sora was beside himself.
"A.J talking like Rarity?" He said, "That just doesn't seem right."
"Although, I must admit the city noise took some getting used to," Applejack continued, "Where I'm from, nights are so quiet, you seldom hear a peep until the roosters wake you," The atmosphere of the room changed on a dime, the quests looking confused while the Oranges looked concerned.
"The... what?" One of the guests asked.
"I say, my dear, what in the world is a rooster'?"
"Huh? They really don't know what a rooster is?" Sora commented. That seemed so strange, "Even I know what that is."
Applejack began to show signs of nervousness, sweat was dropping from her head, her eyes clenched shut, and her frame wobbled.
"Dinner is served," a unicorn server stated levitating dishes with saucers over them over to the table.
"Thank goodness. Being a city pony's hard work. I'm so hungry I could eat a..." The saucer was lifted, revealing a single carrot crumb and a single piece of parsley.
"Seriously," Sora took note of how little food there was to eat, "Even Little Chef makes more than that," Nonetheless, Applejack looked exceptionally disappointed with her meal.
The scene flashed away once again. Now Applejack was in a posh and cozy room, overlooking the sunrise from an open window.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo...," She solemnly imitated before slumping on her windowsill, "Oh, I wonder what Granny Smith and Big McIntosh are up to. I bet they're applebuckin' their way through the Red Delicious trees. Oh, what I wouldn't give for just one bite..."
Sora, feeling sympathy for little Applejack. Sitting right next to the little filly, he could she that she was crying.
"She's homesick," Sora said with a sigh, "I know what that's like. Being apart from those you care for, it's lonely," His monologuing was cut short when he heard a loud explosion, startling him. Little Applejack heard that explosion as well, lifting her head up to see a miraculous sight. It was a bright and vibrant rainbow. Sora stood up in awe as the rainbow continued to drift downward to what seemed like Ponyville, "Huh? What's going on?"
One thing was certain though, Applejack's face lit up like a firefly on a summer night. Before Sora could comprehend it, the scene changed again.
Little Applejack was galloping towards the entrance of the farmstead with an enthusiastic smile on her face. Both Big Macintosh and Granny Smith were at the front to greet Applejack. Sora felt his heart melt as he saw the orange filly nuzzle her family members. Just then, Sora noticed something, Applejack's three apple cutie mark appeared.
"I see, this is the memory of when A.J got her cutie mark," Sora did not have much time to ponder as a bright light once again blinded his vision.
—
Sora was back at the Station of Awakening, contemplating what he saw, "I guess Applejack knows exactly where she belongs."
The diamond that was glowing glowed even more. Appearing upon the diamond in a flash of light was a picture of a crystal orange apple.
"Huh, I don't get it. Why did that appear? It looks like A.J's element of harmony," There was another diamond that began glowing, "Another?"
Thinking he might see something else, Sora stepped onto the glowing diamond.
—
When the light dissipated, Sora saw that he was floating in the air near cloud platforms where pegasi foals were flying about. This area must have been near Cloudsdale. Looking over towards a slide with a cloud ring above. On the top of the slide was a lanky pegasus filly with a very similar color scheme and mane style.
"Hey, is that Fluttershy?" It was strange, seeing her as lanky as she was when she was a filly. Little Fluttershy also seemed to be a very weak flier, evidenced by how she struggled to lift herself, only able to lift herself just above the ring. It wasn't enough as she tripped on the ring, slid down the slide, was flung forward, and collided with a flag that she inadvertently took with her before landing on a cloud.
"Ouch," Sora cringed, flying over to where Fluttershy landed as she untangled herself, "Fluttershy wasn't the best of fliers when she was a kid.
"Nice going, Klutzershy!" Spoke the voice of the brown pegasus bully Sora met when he was in Cloudsdale, only younger, "They oughtta ground you permanently."
The orange pegasus, also a colt, laughed at Fluttershy's expense as well, "Ha! My baby brother can fly better than you!"
"Man, even back then those two were obnoxious," Sora commented with a glare. Fluttershy shrunk under all of the scrutiny, tears falling down her cheeks as she did her best to hide herself. Up above, another filly was diving down towards the scene. Sora did not need to think to figure out who this was.
"Leave her alone!" Filly Rainbow Dash demanded from the two bullies.
They were not perturbed, "Ooh, what are you gonna do, Rainbow Crash?" The orange one taunted.
"Keep making fun of her and find out!" Rainbow threatened with a glare.
"Even when she was a kid, Rainbow Dash was fiercely loyal to her friends," Sora noted with a smile on his face.
"You think you're such a big shot?" The brown colt challenged, "Why don't you prove it?"
Little Rainbow smirked, "Whaddya have in mind?"
The scene flashed into a new one, the pegasi, sans Fluttershy, were standing on a starting line. Fluttershy was standing atop a small cloud in front of the start line, a checkered flag in her teeth.
"Apparently, Rainbow also never backed down from a challenge, even as a kid," Sora commented.
"You're going down!" The orange colt taunted.
"In history, maybe," Rainbow countered, "See you boys at the finish line!"
The three pegasi stood in starting positions. Fluttershy brought down the flag, signaling for the racers to go. The three racers passed by Fluttershy, making her spin at extraordinary speed. The motion of her spinning made her slide off of her cloud. Fluttershy plummeted towards the ground far below, her weak wings unable to make her stop falling. All the while, Fluttershy was panicking with her limbs flailing about.
"Oh no!" Sora flew towards the falling Fluttershy in a vain attempt to maybe save her. While he was able to keep up her the falling filly, but he in no way could catch her as he could not interact with anything. Fortunately for Fluttershy, something miraculous happened.
A swarm of butterflies flew underneath the yellow filly before she impacted on the ground. The butterflies were surprisingly able to support Fluttershy's weight as they carried her. Sora stopped to a halt as soon as he saw this. Fluttershy surveyed her surroundings with great interest. After a bit, she started to relax and curl her face into a smile. Then another miraculous thing happened.
Sora experienced this particular phenomenon in Equestria before, but it always puzzled him nonetheless. Soothing music started to play from nowhere as Fluttershy basked in the beauty of her current location. She was in such a state of bliss that she started singing.
[Young Fluttershy]
What is this place
Filled with so many wonders?
Casting its spell
That I am now under
Fluttershy was so elated that she started to gently fly in rhythm with the butterflies.
Squirrels in the trees
And the cute little bunnies
Birds flying free
And bees with their honey
Hooooonneeeeeeey!
The music began to pick up into a more bombastic tone, as did Fluttershy's singing. All the while, she began befriending all sorts of different woodland critters.
Oooh, what a magical place
And I owe it all to the Pegasus race
If I knew the ground had so much up its sleeve
I'd have come here sooner, and never leave
Yes, I love ev-er-ythiiiiing!
Sora smiled at how adorable Fluttershy was being. That came to an abrupt end when Sora heard the ground shake coupled with the sound of an explosion. Sora and little Fluttershy quickly turned theirs towards Cloudsdale, where a large and ever expanding shockwave of color could be seen.
"Wait..." Sora recognized what that was, "That was a sonic rainboom!"
The shockwave and loud sound was enough to make all of the animals scatter in fear, hiding in whatever they could find. Fluttershy noticed all of new little friends running off in terror. Something stirred within her. All of a sudden, she adopted a stern and determined face.
Sora saw Fluttershy meticulously approaching where every animal had ran off to and assure them all it was okay. She flew around, poked her head into bushes, and dunked her head in to water, all to comfort the scared creatures, and it was working.
"It's all okay," Fluttershy soothed all the little animals as the lied down, the animals all converging to her.
"I guess Fluttershy is more suited towards the ground with the animals," Sora noted. There was another thing that caught his attention. Appearing upon Fluttershy's flanks was her triple butterfly cutie mark, "Huh? Again."
Once more, the blinding light enveloped Sora's vision.
—
Sora was back in the Station of Awakening, this time a pink butterfly occupying one of diamonds.
"I've seen memories from both A.J and Fluttershy, and both times I've seen how they got their cutie marks. So, that should mean that I'll see how the others got theirs."
Right on cue, another diamond started glowing, prompting Sora to walk to it.
—
"Wait... wasn't I just here?" Sora was back at the beginning to the race, only he was next to young Rainbow Dash. Right after Fluttershy waved the flag, the racers flew forward, only this time, Sora was flying in perfect synchrony with Rainbow.
"Woah!" Sora flailed his limbs, wondering why he had no control over his movements. He could not feel anything that was happening, but moving at high speeds was still freaking him out. Every turn, dive, and flip Rainbow did, Sora did in tandem. After a while, Sora began to calm down and start enjoying the flight.
During a particularly tight turn, the brown colt mistimed his turn and collided into a cloud pillar. Sora had to laugh after seeing something like that. While Rainbow continued the race, her wide grin suggested to Sora that she enjoyed this. The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in her mane: She liked it—a lot!
Her excitement was short lived when the orange colt intentionally knocked her off course, sending her (and Sora) tumbling away.
"Ha! Later, Rainbow Crash!" He taunted.
Rainbow was having none of it. As the colt dived down, Rainbow followed him at top speeds. As she was speeding, Sora noticed a cone of wind forming around Rainbow Dash. He recognized what was happening. His suspicions were more than confirmed when Rainbow blasted at breakneck speeds, sidewinding her opponent into a wipe out. Then it happened, a grand explosion of rainbow colors as The cyan filly blasted upwards. Sora looked at Rainbow as she began smiling even wider once she realized what she just accomplished.
"It was Rainbow who made that sonic rainboom happen!" He said, seeing Rainbow Dash's cutie mark appear. Like before, a blinding light ended the memory.
—
Back on the platform, Sora considered what he had witnessed as a red lightning bolt occupied the space he stood on.
"So Rainbow helped Fluttershy earn her cutie mark? That's crazy. Now that I think about it, A.J did say that Rainbow did the sonic rainboom when she was a kid. That must have been it. Fluttershy just happened to be there at the time."
A fourth diamond began glowing. Wondering whose memory he'd see next, Sora walked into the light.
—
Sora was on top of a stage near the Ponyville schoolhouse, where foals where practicing a play wearing costumes of various objects.
"Whose memory is this?" Looking over to the side of the stage, he got his answer when he saw the pristine coat and elegant mane, "Oh. Huh, even as a filly, Rarity liked to look fancy."
"Well done, Rarity," Spoke an older mare who was next to filly Rarity, "The costumes are very nice."
Despite the praise she received, Rarity did not look satisfied, "Nice? They need to be spectacular!" She spoke over dramatically as present Rarity tended to do, "And the performance is tomorrow!"
A flash of light, and the scene changed. Now Rarity was in her room using her sewing machine. Despite being in her element, she did not seem to be into her work like she is now.
"Maybe I'm not cut out to be a fashionista after all," She lamented.
"Rarity didn't have much faith in herself back then," Sora noted. Just then, little Rarity's horn began to light up inexplicably. All of a sudden, her horn began to act with a mind of its own, dragging Rarity out the door.
"What's going on?!" She screamed.
Sora chased after her, only for a flash of light to transport him somewhere else. He did not recognize the location. It was desolate and far from civilization. Rarity, who looked bored, was dragged to the location where she collided with something. She and Sora both looked at the object:
"A ROCK?!" Rarity screamed in rage. Even Sora had to question what a rock had to do with Rarity, "That's my destiny?! What is your problem, horn? I followed you all the way out here for a rock?! Ugh! Dumb rock!"
Then a loud sound echoed throughout the area, startling Rarity and Sora. When Sora looked up at the sky, he was hit with a startling sight.
"Wait, is that the sonic rainboom?" It looked exactly the same. The big shockwave of expanding colors. There was no doubt about it, that was a sonic rainboom, "This is happening the same time as the race."
As Sora was digesting this information, the shockwave reached the rock, causing it to crack. The cracks began to expand, until the rock itself split in half. That's when it was revealed that some things are beautiful on the inside. The rock itself was hollow, inside were hundreds of gorgeous and sparkling gems. Rarity's eyes glittered in amazement as a brimming smile appeared on her face.
Before Sora knew it, a flash of light happened. Sora was back on the school stage. Only there were a few key differences. The costumes were now covered with brilliant gemstones as the actors performed in front of an audience, who were mesmerized by the costumes.
There was one more major difference that Sora noticed, Rarity looked on at the costumes with pride. She was as happy with the costumes as everyone else was. That was when her cutie mark appeared, and that was when the blinding light transported Sora back.
—
"So Rainbow helped both Fluttershy and Rarity get their cutie marks?" It was such a weird coincidence, one that made Sora reflect on his experience in this place so far. There were now four diamonds with images on them. The one he had just been to now had a purple diamond adorning it.
While Sora was reflecting, something occurred to him, "A.J went home because she saw a rainbow pointing towards the farm. There was also that explosion sound. Does that mean that Rainbow helped A.J get her cutie mark too?" Every memory he had seen so far had a similar element about them. There always seemed to be a rainbow involved in some way. Maybe Rainbow Dash did help Applejack get her cutie mark as well.
There were two diamonds left, the one in the middle and one more on the side. The last outer diamond began glowing. Knowing what might come ahead, Sora stepped on top of it.
—
This location was far more drab and depressing than the other places Sora's visited so far. It was a farm with only a homestead, a windmill and a silo that were dull in color. The fields were dirt brown and covered in gray rocks. To add to the gloomy atmosphere, the sky was covered in a depressing gray cloud cover.
"What kind of a place is this?" Sora questioned. There were three fillies on the field pushing rocks, two of them were tones of gray in both mane and coat. Their manes were also flat, not styled in any way. As for the third filly,
"Wait a minute," Sora ran over to the little filly just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. The fur and mane were two tones of pink, and the eyes were blue, "Pinkie Pie?" She almost did not seem recognizable, her mane was flat and face was in a constant sad frown.
The sound of a triangle rang, prompting Sora to turn his head towards the source. There was a stallion with an earthy yellow coat with amber eyes and a shaggy silver mane wearing a wide brimmed black hat and a white collar with a black tie. There was a mare as well; she had a dirty white coat with a dark green mane tied in a bun and blue eyes. She wore spectacles on the bridge of her nose and a plaid black and white ascot. When the stallion who presumably Pinkie's father sounded the triangle, the other two filly's went towards the front door. All four ponies looked at Pinkie with frowns on their faces as they entered the house.
Sora could not help but feel for Pinkie Pie when she sighed. Just then, an explosion sound and a shockwave of expanding colors.
"Again?!" This was the fifth time in a row that the sonic rainboom had appeared. Pinkie looked up into the sky as the shockwave cleared away the drab weather, allowing sunlight onto the farm. The force of the shockwave hit Pinkie with full force, blowing her mane and tail back. When the winds dissipated, the filly's mane and tail frizzed into something more Pinkie-ish.
Sora looked up at the clear sky, seeing a bright shimmering rainbow appear. Just looking at it made Sora smile. It had an effect on Pinkie as well; her eyes glowed with joy as her muzzle shifted into a wide smile of pure delight. Sora knelt down at looked at the adorable face little Pinkie made.
"That's the Pinkie that I know," Sora chuckled.
"Hi Sora," Pinkie waved at him.
"Hey, Pinkie," He replied. Sora did a trouble take, falling on his rear end, "WAIT, WHAT?!"
"Why do you look so weird?" Little Pinkie asked with a tilt of her head.
Sora quickly recomposed himself and wildly waved his front limbs, "Look, Pinkie, I can explain—"
"Don't worry about it, silly," Pinkie reassured, "I'm not the real Pinkie, I'm just a figment created from her memories, as far she still knows, your a pony."
"Huh?" Sora felt his brain going in all sorts of directions, none of which led him to any conclusions.
"I've never felt joy like that," Pinkie bounced in place, "That was so amazing I want to smile forever," Pinkie halted her excitement to bring a hoof to her chin, "But how do I keep the happiness going?
Sora tried to address Pinkie, "Um, what's going on?"
"WAIT, I GOT IT!" She exclaimed, startling Sora, "Scene changes with flash of light!"
Hey, that's my line... Ugh. The scene looked no different than before. The only difference was that little Pinkie was not there. Sora had to shake his head, of course Pinkie's cutie mark memory would be strange. The door to the house opened with Pinkie's family trotting out.
"We better harvest the rocks from the south field," Pinkie's father said. Something was amiss, however, as upbeat and peppy music could be heard from inside the silo.
"Pinkamena Diane Pie! Is that you?" Pinkie's mother said.
"Wait... That's her name?" Sora repeated it in his head. He could not have ever imagined Pinkie having a name like that. Speaking of Pinkie, she opened the door to the silo to address her family.
"Mom! I need you and dad and the sisters to come in, quick!" She requested. All of the family members looked amongst themselves before they obliged to Pinkie's request. As they (and Sora) walked into the silo, their mouths went agape. Pinkie had decorated the inside of the silo with colorful balloons, streamers and party favors. There were also tables with brightly colored table cloth carrying punch, cake and other types of snacks.
"Surprise!" Pinkie shouted with a wide smile, "You like it? It's called—a party!" Pinkie gave her family and expectant smile, but they still had looks of shock plastered on their faces. Their lips began to tremble, almost as if they were ready to cry.
All in an instant, Pinkie's exuberance left her as she reverted back to her sad state, "Oh, you don't like it."
Looking at formally excited filly bow her head in shame make Sora's heart break, "Poor Pinkie."
Fortunately, there was no need for sadness, for the Pies all exploded into wide grins of joy. In an instant, Pinkie's exuberance returned.
"You like it!" Pinkie exclaimed, officially starting the party when she began dancing with her family, "I'm so happy!"
As expected,Pinkie's cutie mark appeared on her flank. Sora now had a smile on his face as he saw the Pie family celebrating in Pinkie's first party, "That's what makes Pinkie special; she works hard to make others happy."
Little Pinkie bounced right in front of Sora and looked up at him, "And that's how Equestria was made," Sora's eyes went wide and he almost fell on his back, "Blinding flash of light!"
Wanna keep doing my job, Pinkie? *Sigh...*
—
Sora stared off into the black nothingness as he returned to the Station of Awakening. What was the meaning behind Pinkie's message?
"You know what, it's probably just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie," Sora said, starting to recover from that last memory. The five outer diamonds now had pictures on them, the latest one having a blue balloon, "All five of the memories I've seen involved Rainbow's sonic rainboom. There must be a deeper connection behind this."
The center diamond began glowing, prompting Sora to turn to it, "This last one has to be Twilight's," With that, Sora stepped onto the final diamond to let the light take him to see the last memory.
—
Sora was in a very spacious room. There was an incline of seats that rose up. On the top seats were four unicorns with critical and presumptuous expressions. Standing in the middle of the ground level was an anxiety induced filly Twilight.
Off to the side were a blue unicorn stallion with a well combed dark blue mane and a light lavender mare with a two toned white and purple mane, presumably Twilight's parents. They signaling for their little girl to put on a big smile, which she did.
"There's Twilight," Sora said, taking a moment to observe his surroundings, "I wonder what's going on."
"Miss Twilight Sparkle," One of the teachers addressed the purple filly with a critical glance, "We will now begin your entrance exam into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns," From a side door, one of the faculty brought in a wooden crate with a cute purple and green egg atop a stack of hay.
"Does she have to hatch that egg?" Sora wondered. That seemed to be the case as Twilight seemed unsure for a moment.
"Well, Miss Sparkle?" The teacher prodded, making Twilight drop sweat before she composed herself. She exerted herself with her horn pointed at the egg. Nothing was happening. She glanced back at the teachers and their critical gazes, furthering her anxiety. She tried different poses and positions in the hope that it would help; it did not. Sora hopped upon hope that Twilight would succeed, but that would not not come to pass. Eventually, the purple filly collapsed under the strain she put herself under.
"I'm sorry I wasted your time," Twilight solemnly accepted defeat, her head slumping in disappointment. Sora felt bad for her, all of that effort and it was not enough. The teachers furiously took notes on clipboards as Twilight almost began to cry.
Explosion sound, shockwave of colors.
"Again..." Sora breathed, seeing the sonic rainboom outside the window. The sonic rainboom affected Twilight too, but in more drastic ways then the others. The pure shock of hearing the explosion caused something in Twilight to trigger. All of a sudden, her horn began to glow with immense magical energy. A bolt of energy shot out from her horn onto the egg, making it immediately hatch into a familiar baby dragon.
"Huh? Spike?" Sora observed, it was an even littler version of the little guy, one that actually acted like a baby. It turned out Spike and Twilight's bond was deeper than Sora thought. That was not the end of Twilight's surge of power. Suddenly, her whole body emitted energy, firing lightning bolts and random spells. In this short amount of time, Twilight made the teachers float, turned her parents into potted plants, and made Spike grow to an exponential size, big enough to crash through the roof.
"Woah!" Sora exclaimed. He never knew Twilight had power like this. She was completely out of control, her body brimming with magical energy while her eyes were glowing a pupil-less white. Sora was unsure how long this was going on for, but it soon came to an end when somepony else entered, "Princess Celestia?"
Equestria's benevolent ruler placed a hoof on Twilight's back, prompting the filly to look to the majestic alicorn. Just seeing the Princess made Twilight calm down and revert to her original state, thereby reversing the effects of her spells. The teachers found solid ground, younger Spike went back to being a baby, and Twilight's parents returned to being ponies (but they were more than a little traumatized).
"Twilight Sparkle," Celestia addressed. Being under the gaze of Equestria's ruler, little Twilight crumbled.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean..." She stammered, thinking Celestia might punish her. However, the princess placed her hoof on the filly's chin.
"You have a very special gift," Celestia complimented with a warm smile, "I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities."
Twilight could not believe what she was hearing, "Huh?"
"But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study," The princess informed.
"Huh?!"
"Twilight Sparkle, I'd like to make you my own personal protégé here at the school," Celestia offered.
"Huh?!"
"So that's how Twilight became Celestia's student," Sora commented. It was not hard to see why Celestia sees so much potential in Twilight, she has such tremendous power, "Wait, how did Celestia know Twilight's name?"
"Well?" Celestia awaited Twilight's answer. The little filly looked towards her parents, who were excitedly encouraging her to accept.
With that, little Twilight jumped into the air and cheered, "YEEESSSSSSS!"
"One other thing, Twilight," Celestia interrupted the purple filly's celebration.
"More?" Twilight's eyes widened, falling onto the ground on her belly. When she landed, Celestia pointed towards The filly's flank. Twilight looked to her flank to see something special, "My cutie mark..." To celebrate, the purple filly skipped around Celestia, continually yelling "yes" the whole way.
"Twilight really is talented," Sora said, "She just needed someone to show her that," While Twilight was still jumping for joy, the blinding light transported Sora away.
—
Sora was back in the Station of Awakening for what should be the final time.
"The girls all got their cutie marks because of Rainbow's sonic rainboom," It all seemed like the biggest of coincidences, but Sora knew there was more to it than that, "All six of them were connected for years, and they don't even know it," Sora looked down at the stain glass image, Seeing Twilight's purple star in the center, thus completing the image, "I guess they were always meant to bear the Elements of Harmony," He somehow felt closer to the girls than ever before after this.
Something still did not make sense to him. Why was he shown all of this? What reason did he have to learn how his pony friends got their cutie marks? While he was pondering, the whole platform was bathed in a blinding light, forcing to once again shield his eyes, only this light was far more intense than the others. Sora thought that he might wake up at that moment, but he did not. Rather, he was now in a location other than Equestria.
"Wait a minute!" Sora yelled, his eyes wide and his breathing irregular and his torqued his head back and forth. He knew what this location was, "This can't be right... Am I... back on the islands?"
Looking over to a different area, Sora noticed something strange, "Huh, is that me?" Something then dawned on him, "This is one of my memories."
—
"I think I see him up there!" Sweetie Belle pointed up to a cloud where Sora was napping.
"Is he sleeping?" Asked Apple Bloom.
"C'mon, Crusaders, let's get his attention," Ordered Scootaloo.
As the Crusaders were talking amongst themselves, Sora began to slowly open his eyes as consciousness graced him. As he was waking up, he heard the Crusaders calling out his name—very loudly. Sora sprung up, covering his ears in an attempt to save his hearing.
"It worked!" Apple Bloom stated triumphantly, seeing Sora wide awake.
"What?" Sora looked down to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders, "What are you girls doing?"
"Sora, we need yer help," Apple Bloom said.
"Okay, what is it?" Sora replied without hesitation.
"Can you tell us how ya got yer cutie mark?" Apple Bloom requested with a wide smile.
"Huh?" Sora was stumped. His cutie mark? He had one, to be sure, but he had no way of answering that.
"Yeah," Scootaloo added, "We've been asking other ponies how they got their cutie marks to see if it could help us get ours. But they weren't any help."
"Hey, Sora," Sweetie Belle called out, "Guess what. All the girls got their cutie marks because of Rainbow Dash!"
"Huh?" Sora was astounded. They knew about that?
"Yeah," Apple Bloom continued, "When they were fillies, Rainbow Dash did a sonic rainboom that made the other girls get their cutie marks! How Sweet is that?"
"Sweet?" Scootaloo remarked with disgust, "Try sappy. Besides, I can't take anymore singing," The tomboy pegasus turned her attention to Sora again, "Can you tell us your cutie mark story? Preferably something not namby-pamby."
Sora had no clue how he should proceed. He had no clue how he could have gotten a cutie mark. Something then occurred to him. He saw a seventh memory before he left the Station of Awakening. A memory that belonged to him. He knew what his cutie mark story was, even if he did not know it until now.
"Okay, I'll tell you," Sora agreed as he flew off his cloud and landed in front of an expectant CMC, "It all happened when I was really young, way younger than you. You see, I had this friend that I always played with," Sora paused for a moment but resumed, "He always managed to beat me in everything that we did: racing, fighting, climbing, you name it. I always just thought he was better at me at everything."
"One day, though, we were playing with wooden swords. Normally, he would beat me. But this time, I wanted to be the one to win this time. He kept at it to the point where I was close to collapsing, and he barely broke a sweat. But I suddenly got a burst of strength. I kept going at him, fighting with all my heart until I was able to knock him down. For the first time, I actually beat him. I was never more excited in my entire life until then. And that's when this appeared," Sora gestured to the crown symbol on his flank. All the while, the CMC were looking at Sora with wide eyes.
"So you just kept fighting with this guy until you won?" Scootaloo reiterated.
"And when you did beat him, you almost lost?" Sweetie Belle added.
"Sure," Sora nodded his head, "I knew that I just kept working hard, I'd eventually beat him."
The Crusaders absorbed what Sora told them. They then addressed one another.
"Do ya know what this means?" Apple Bloom asked her friends.
Sweetie Belle was quick to reply, "Yeah, we just have to work harder to get our cutie marks!"
"Yeah," Scootaloo agreed, "We'll try even harder than before.
Sora widened his eyes, "Wait, hang on, that's not what—"
"C'mon, Crusaders," Scootaloo announced, "Let's keep trying to get our cutie marks!" With that, the three fillies dashed away, presumably to attempt another cutie mark scheme.
Sora sighed, worried that he might have unintentionally cause Ponyville more problems. Thinking back to his dream, Sora still could not comprehend why he saw the girl's cutie mark memories. To make matters even more confusing, he was shown a memory that was his own.
There's so much that I don't understand, but I know that there must be a deeper connection between me and the girls.
And then Pinkie Pie hugged him.
Sora yelled in surprise, "P—Pinkie? What are you doing?" He asked with strained breath. Pinkie was hugging him just a little bit too tightly.
"What? Everypony else got to have an emotional hug with you besides me, even Zecora got to have a hug with you for crying out loud!"
"Huh..?" Sora was not following Pinkie's logic. All he knew was that his bones were starting to hurt.
"This is the last chance I'll get at something like this since the season is coming to an end."
"I don't get it," Sora sighed, effectively giving up trying to grasp what Pinkie was doing, so he just let her have her surprise hug.