Chapter 107: Heart of Honey Part 1: A World in Pages
On the ship, May had just casted a spell to bring the ponies back onto the ship, everyone anxiously waiting for them, especially Shining Armor as he was pacing back and forth, fearing for the safety of his bride when they saw five different colored lights, lavender, yellow, pink, hot pink, and white, fly towards the ship, into the cockpit, landing on the ground and the glow disappeared, revealing the group of five, which SHining Armor ran over and hugged his fiancé and his sister.
"Twiley, Cadence!" He shouted, hugging them. "Oh, I was so worried. But... Twilight why are you wearing your armor?"
"Oh, we got done handling some Heartless and Nobodies." Twilight replied, pressing the gem and glowing again, the armor disappearing.
"Heartless!?" Shining Armor exclaimed. "Nobodies!?"
"Makes sense with the Heartless." May said, sitting down. "Frollo's heart was filled with darkness, so he'd be perfect for them to be drawn to him. But why were the Nobodies there?"
"They were after Spyro's Heart Piece." Rarity said, her armor disappearing. "A Nobody called Zexion corrupted Frollo and nearly burned Esmeralda at the stake."
"Esmeralda?" Scootaloo asked. "Who's that?"
"A new friend we made." Fluttershy replied, her armor disappearing along with Pinkie's. "There was also a hunchback there, Quasimodo, who had the Heart Piece."
"And we got it!" Pinkie exclaimed. "That makes two down, ten to go! Twilight, where's the next one?"
Twilight reached into the saddle bag and opened the book, going pass all the pages that had the chapter of the worlds they visited so far until she found a blank page, watching as the Roman numeral for three appeared at the top of the page and the title appeared.
"Chapter 3: Heart of Honey." Twilight replied, looking completely confused. "Honey?" A second later, a set of coordinates appeared under neath the chapter title, Twilight taking it to May to look at. "Well, where ever this world is, there's a set of coordinates."
May took the book to see what the coordinates were for, her eyes widening as she knew where this world was.
"No need, I know where we're going." May said, putting in the coordinates.
"So, where we going?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Radiant Garden." May replied, looking upset and unhappy. "Home."
Everyone looked at May, looking at one another and wondering why she was not very happy to be going back home, heading straight into Warp Space, flying through the corridor of light on their way to the next world. After a few minutes, they came out of Warp Space and flew straight to the world in front of them, a single castle in the middle of the world with a ruined castle underneath it, the surrounding area around both castles in ruins.
"Alright, the next world!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly. "I am so going to get the number needed for this."
"Relax Rainbow Dash, we're all going down there." May said, surprising everyone.
"May darling, did you say we're all going down?" Rarity asked.
"We are." May replied, turning to face them. "This world is relatively safe, and there are a lot of different people down there and we have many allies on this world."
"Allies?" Twilight asked. "Who?"
"You'll meet them when we land." May replied.
She then returned her attention to the controls and took the ship down, flying through the clouds and over the city below them, everyone looking out of the window and were all amazed by how it looked, even May as she saw how much better the world looked and how the palace looked, noting how much better it looked. A minute later, a hanger bay door opened and the ship flew in, landing on the extended platform before being pulled in and turning to face the entrance, stopping and outside the ship stood a couple of people, one was a dark haired girl dressed in a black sleeveless shirt with a black leather jacket with tan shorts and tan shoes while the other was wearing all black with a white shirt and brown hair. The two of them watched as the ramp lowered, already knowing whose ship it was as they waited for them, knowing only one person would make a ship with so many weapons and of a complicated design, watching as the ponies walked down the ramp, which the two of them were surprised to see twelve ponies come out of the ship, but saw other things that were freakier.
"Welcome to Radiant Garden." The girl said. "I am the great ninja master Yuffie and my companion here with very little words is Leon."
"Yuffie." Leon said, making her giggle. He looked back to the ponies to address them, but froze, looking up and seeing May walk down the ramp, both he and Yuffie at a loss for words as she walked to the middle of the group, standing before them as she smiled. "May."
"Hey Leon, Yuffie." May replied.
"May." Yuffie said, running over and hugging the Keyblade bearer, May returning the hug as she smiled. "I knew you were still alive! Nothing can bring you down."
"It's good to see you too Yuffie." May said, ending the hug as Leon walked over.
"I gotta admit, I had my doubts you survived that fight." Leon said. "But Spyro trusted his instincts, never gave up on finding you. Speaking of, where is he? Is he with you?"
As he asked, everyone fell silent, the two of them noticing how silent they went and knew what the answer was right away.
"Oh no." Yuffie said. "Is he..."
"Yes, gone." May replied. "But the Heartless didn't get his heart."
"What do you mean?" Leon asked.
"One of our friends, Rosy Hearts, who also has a Keyblade, scattered his heart." Twilight answered, pulling out the book. "This book is showing us where to find the Heart Pieces and one of them is here."
"Well, we'll help you look for it." Yuffie said. "Got any ideas where to start looking?"
"No clue." Twilight said, opening the book. "But maybe the book will tell use where to begin." As she looked into the pages, the name of the world appeared and an image of it, revealing it was another book, confusing Twilight. "Wait, what's the Hundred Acre Wood and where is it? And what's with the book?"
"Did you say a book?" Yuffie asked.
"Yeah, you know about it?" Twilight asked.
"We certainly do." Yuffie replied. "The Hundred Acre Wood is actually a world in a story book.'
"Wait, for real!?" Rainbow Dash asked, everyone shocked. "How does that work!?"
"We don't exactly know." Leon said. "All we know is that it's a special place where the Heartless can't touch it. They can't enter that world and they resorted to tearing its pages."
"Which Sora found and repaired the book a couple of times." Yuffie said.
"Well, where's the book!?" Twilight asked, her tail wagging with excitement.
"It's at Merlins house." Leon said. "Follow us and we'll take you to it."
Leon and Yuffie walked away from the ship with twilight running right behind them as she was excited to see a world inside of a book, everyone else running to catch up so they can see it for themselves. As they walked out of the palace, they saw many different shops and businesses from clothing shops and weapon smith's to Armorers and other shops that sold candy, having to drag Pinkie past them as she tried to jump in and eat some candy, which she tried to break free and run back to the stores but it was in vain as they kept walking. After a little while, they then ran into a familiar looking duck, which Applejack recognized immediately and smiled.
"Uncle Scrooge!" She shouted out, running to him, confusing the ponies.
"She has a duck for an uncle?" Pinkie asked.
"Huh?" Scrooge said, seeing Applejack run up, but not recognizing her.
"Well, hello there lass." Scrooge replied, turning to face her. "I apologize, but... do I know you?"
"Ya'll don't recognize me?" Applejack asked. "It's me... Applejack."
"Applejack?" Scrooge asked, taking a closer look at the farm mare before his eyes widened in surprise. "Applejack of course! How are ya lass? Been a while since I last saw ya. Gotta say, ya look a wee bit different than I last saw ya. Only way I could recognize ya was through your eyes."
"AJ, you know him?" Twilight asked, walking up to them.
"Sure do sugarcube!" Applejack responded. "This here is Uncle Scrooge, he owns the Bistro that Spyro and Ah went to for our first date."
"And it was a marvelous night at that." Scrooge said. "You two were madly in love when you were sitting at my table. Couldn't keep your eyes off one another. Speaking of, who are these other ponies with you."
"Oh, they're mah friends." Applejack replied. "There here is Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Zecora, Mah little sister Apple Bloom, Rarity's little, then we have Spyro's little sister, Scootaloo, Princess Cadence, and Shining Armor."
"Spyro has a little sister?" Scrooge asked, examining her. "Adopted I presume?"
"Yeah, I am." Scootaloo said. "Spyro adopted me a while ago and he's been the best big brother ever."
"I knew he would be." Scrooge said. "He's always had a heart of gold, especially with those who have disabilities."
"You mean my wings?" Scootaloo asked.
"I do indeed." Scrooge replied. "Spyro's autistic, which means he struggled with his education, but he's darn smart to say the least. Say what you want about people with autism, they are smarter than most people think. So, what brings you to Radiant Garden lass? Come to see the scenery?"
"Wish that were the case." Applejack said. "Spyro's lost his heart."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that Applejack." Scrooge said. "That's not easy for anyone to go through."
"Thanks." Twilight said. "He's a great friend, and a great colt friend."
"What do you mean by that?" Scrooge asked.
"We'll explain later." Twilight said. "Right now, we got to get to Merlins house, it's important."
"Well, I wish you the best of luck, whatever it is you're doing." Scrooge said.
The group continued walking in the direction of Merlins house, passing by other people and businesses, passing by people who were friendly and some who were arguing until they reached a house near the wall, entering the house to see a few more people there, one of them was a blond man wearing a white shirt, blue jeans and was working on a computer, the second person in there was another man, wearing a blue wizard outfit with a tall pointy blue hat and a white beard while the third person in there was a young woman with brown hair, watching over the first mans shoulder.
"Aerith, Merlin, Cid, we got company." Leon said, everyone turning around.
As soon as they all turned around, Aerith gasped while Merlin and Cid were beyond surprised when they saw May, the young woman, taking a step forward before rushing over, hugging her friend as May returned the hug.
"May, I can't believe it." Aerith said. "You're alive."
"And in one piece." May said, ending the hug.
"Well heck, good to see you again May!" Cid said, getting up and hugging her. "We thought you actually bit the bullet this time." He then looked down at the ponies, ending the hug as he knelt down. "And who are these little fellas?"
"My new friends." May replied. "They're Spyro's friends as well. Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Zecora, seven members of his herd."
"Herd?" Cid asked. "As in a group of females with a single male? Shoot, dudes getting all the ladies."
"And these fillies are Apple Bloom, Applejacks little sister, Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister, and Scootaloo, Spyro's little sister." May continued.
"Wait, Spyro has a sister?" Aerith asked.
"He adopted me a while ago." Scootaloo said. "Adopted me a little while after coming to Equestria. He's been the best big brother I could ever ask for."
"Aw, that's so sweet." Aerith said, kneeling down to the filly. "He's always had a good heart, so it makes sense he would do something like that."
"And last but nothing least, this is Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle's big brother and fiancé to princess Cadence." May said.
"Well, glad to meet you all." Cid said. "Tell me, is Spyro with you guys? I'd like to see him so I talk to him for a bit, been too long."
Like back with Scrooge and in the hanger, there was dead silence between everyone in the group, only Merlin knowing what had happened as he approached.
"I am so sorry." Merlin said, confusing Aerith and Cid. "He was a good man."
"Merlin, what do you mean?" Aerith asked.
"I'm saying that Spyro has lost his heart." Merlin said, shocking them. "When someone that powerful looses his heart, every powerful magical being can sense that."
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry." Aerith said.
"Don't worry, that's why we're here." Twilight said, pulling out the book and showing it to Merlin. "His heart may have been lost, the Heartless don't have it. It was scattered into twelve pieces and we're going from world to world collecting them so we can bring him back."
"Well, how can we help them?" Cid asked.
"A piece of his heart is here." Fluttershy said. "It's in a book called the Hundred Acre Woods."
"Well you're in luck." Merlin said, bringing the ponies to the book. "It so happens, I have it right here. Sora just got through visiting Pooh and his friends a while ago and said he saw something peculiar in it."
"Look!" Pinkie shouted, making everyone cover their ears as she pointed to the spine of the book, the symbol on it. "It's the symbol!"
"Then a piece of his heart is in the book!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly. "Twilight, does the book say anything about how to get it?"
"One second." Twilight said, opening the book to the title page, seeing the riddle. "'The body with change, the mind will alter, but how the heart will feel shall never falter. When at heart, your inner child will be, having fun with a friend will help you to see.'"
"Ugh, great, another riddle that doesn't make sense." Rainbow Dash said. "How are we going to figure this one out?"
"Maybe when we get into the book, we'll have a better understanding of the riddle." Cadence suggested.
"Is this world safe?" Shining Armor asked.
"Of course it's safe." Merlin said. "No danger or any threats are in that book as far as Sora told me. So it's perfectly safe for you to go in."
"Then let get goin'!" Apple Bloom said.
The book then opened and everyone crowded around to have a look in it, wondering how they were going to get in when Twilight started glowing, everyone backing away as they wondered what was going on before she was bulled into the book, her brother freaking out when he saw his sister get pulled in.
"What just happened!?" Shining Armor asked.
"Oh, I forgot about that." Merlin said. "You see, only one person outside of the Hundred Acre Wood at a time. It seems your friend Twilight was the lucky pony to go in."
"Will she be ok!?" Cadence asked.
"Oh she'll be fine." Merlin replied. "After all, there is no danger in there at all. Who knows, she might even like it in there."
Everyone crowded around again, looking into the book to see if they can see Twilight in the pages, hoping she was ok in there. In the book, Twilight was confused as she saw she was in the book, but didn't fully understand how she got there or what was going on, looking around to see if her friends were with her, but found she was all alone, feeling a shiver run down her spine.
"Shining Armor?" Twilight said, looking around. "Cadence? Anypony!?" She was about to panic when a tree popped up from the pages, looking at it as if the it was calling to her. "Wonder what this is?"
She then walked over to the pop-up, about to touch it as she reached her hoof to it, but a moment later, she felt like she was being pulled in, screaming as she was sucked into the tree as a light shined out, dying down as soon as she felt solid ground underneath her hooves. She looked around as she tried to figure out where she was and found she was near the tree, so she walked over to see what it was when she saw a small yellow bear sitting on a fallen log, looking like he was thinking. She approached the bear, being cautious as she didn't know who it was or if he was a threat or not, but when she was standing in front of him, the bear looked up at her and smiled.
"Oh, hello there." The bear said. "And... who might you be?"
"I'm Twilight." Twilight replied. "Twilight Sparkle. And who are you?"
"Oh, I'm Pooh." Pooh replied. "Winnie the Pooh, but my friends just call me Pooh."
"Well, it's nice to meet you." Twilight said. "If I might ask, where am I?"
"Why, you're at my home in the Hundred Acre Wood." Pooh replied. "I was about to do my stoutness exercises. Would you like to join me?"
"I'm good, but thanks for asking." Twilight said, backing away as Pooh started to do his exercises. "So Pooh, I want to ask you something."
"What is it you need to ask?" Pooh asked.
"I'm looking for something that had a Symbol like this on it." Twilight said, pulling out the book and opening it to show the symbol she was talking about. "Have you seen something like it?"
"Well... no I haven't." Pooh said, crushing Twilight's spirits. "But... I think Jacob might have seen it."
"Jacob?" Twilight asked. "Who's that?"
As she asked it, she heard someone running behind her, looking back to see a boy about eight to nine years old with brown hair, wearing a white shirt and black shorts with black shoes.
"Hey Pooh!" The boy said, running up and stopping in front of the yellow bear.
"Oh, hello Jacob." Pooh said, turning to Twilight. "This is Jacob, he arrived at the Hundred Acre Wood a little while ago and has been with us ever since."
"Hi there, I'm Jacob." Jacob said, turning to Twilight. "Who are you?"
"I'm Twilight, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said.
"Twilight Sparkle?" Jacob asked. "That's a funny name. And you look funny too. What's with the horn on your head?"
"Oh, I'm a Unicorn." Twilight replied.
"A unicorn?" Jacob asked. "Where do you come from?"
"From a magical land called Equestria." Twilight replied. "It's really far away and really amazing."
"If it's amazing, why'd you come here?" Jacob asked.
"Because I'm looking for something that has this symbol." Twilight said, showing it to the boy. "Pooh says you might have seen something like this."
"As a matter of fact, yes I have." Jacob replied.
"You have!?" Twilight asked, her heart soaring. "Where!?"
"Ah, ah, ah, not so fast." Jacob said. "I can't tell you."
"What!?" Twilight exclaimed, completely shocked. "Why not!?"
"Because I promised." Jacob said. "I promised I wouldn't tell."
"But... it's important!" Twilight said. "It has a piece of my friend's heart and I got to get it back, no matter what."
Jacob could see how desperate she was and couldn't help but feel bad for her, so he thought it over for a bit before nodding his head, making his decision.
"Ok, I'll tell you." Jacob said.
"You will!?" Twilight asked. "Where!? Where is it!?"
"Ah, ah, ah, not going to tell you that easily." Jacob said. "You gotta play with us first!"
"Play?" Twilight asked. "I don't have time to play, I need to find the Heart Piece now!"
"Oh come on, don't be a spoiled sport." Jacob said. "If you play with my friends and I until night, I'll show you where the dragon head is."
Before she could say anything else, Jacob started running down the path, Pooh waddling right behind him while Twilight was left in disbelief, having to play with a kid, who knew where the Heart Piece was at, but wouldn't tell her until nightfall if she hanged around with him and his friends, groaning as she walked down the path that the kid went, a light shining as it took her back to the pop ups, confusing her as she wondered how she got back there before she saw another tree pop up, wondering what it was. She then walked over to the tree, reaching her hoof out to touch it when the same light blinded her, causing her to close her eyes and open them a second later, finding herself at the base of a hill with a tall tree at the top of the hill. She walked towards the tree to see what she could find and found Jacob and Pooh, the former looking around and scratching his head as if looking for something, wondering what it was the boy was looking for, she approached them right as Jacob turned to look at her.
"Oh, hello Twilight." Pooh said.
"Hey Pooh." Twilight said, looking at Jacob. "Hey Jacob, what are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for Piglet." Jacob said, getting up. "He said, he'd be around here somewhere, but I can't find him."
The three of them looked around to see if they could find whoever Jacob was talking about, looking around until Twilight saw something hiding behind the trees, looking closer to see it was a little pig, watching them from behind the tree.
"Hey, is that him?" Twilight asked, pointing to the pig.
"It is!" Jacob said excitedly. "Hi Piglet."
"O-o-oh, Jacob... hello." Piglet said, walking out from behind the tree. "Hello Pooh."
"Hello Piglet." Pooh said. "What were you doing hiding from us?"
"W-w-w-well... you see... I was really scared since I was alone." Piglet said, looking up to Twilight. "Who are you?"
"I'm Twilight." She replied. "Twilight Sparkle. But, what were you scared of?"
"Well... I was alone." Piglet replied. "I hate being alone, it's scary being alone. And... when I saw you coming up the hill, I got nervous and hid."
"Well, you don't have to be scared anymore Piglet." Jacob said. "Twilight's a friend. We have nothing to worry about." They then heard something growl, eveyrone looking to Pooh as they heard his stomach growl. "Except for Poohs rumbly tummy."
"Oh, I am feeling a little hungry." Pooh said. "I could do with a good snackeral of Honey."
"But... we don't have any." Jacob said.
"Well, we're in front of the Hunny Tree." Piglet said. "Pooh could get some honey from it... if not for the bees."
They all looked up to the Hunny tree, eveyrone seeing a bunch of bees flying around at some of the holes in the tree, which Twilight felt a shiver go down her spine as she remembered being stung by a swarm of them, but then felt something grab her leg, looking back to see Jacob, cowering behind her and holding her hind leg, shaking in fear.
"What's wrong Jacob?" Twilight asked.
"I hate bees." Jacob said, holding onto Twilight's leg tightly.
"Oh, I forgot about his fear of bees." Piglet said.
"He's scared of bees?" Twilight asked, remembering someone else who hated them.
"Yes, ever since he was stung by one." Jacob replied. "My parents and I went to a lake for vacation, but while I was trying to sit down, a bee stung me in the butt for no reason at all."
"But it was just one bee." Twilight said. "How can you be scared of them from one bee sting?"
"Because it wasn't just one bee." Pooh said, walking up. "What his mom told him was there was a hive that fell from a nearby tree and a whole swarm of them attacked him. He was lucky to have gotten away, otherwise it would have been worse."
Twilight looked back at the scared kid, seeing how fearful he was of being near the bees, using her magic to pick him up and set him down, sitting next to him as she wrapped her hoof around his shoulder.
"Oh, it's ok, I won't let them get you." Twilight said, looking up to the tree. "Maybe we should look somewhere else to find Pooh some Honey."
"Oh dear, I don't think that's possible." Piglet said. "Once Pooh's tummy is grumbly, he'll go to the closest place to get some honey and eat his fill, which so happens to be here as this tree has all the honey Pooh could eat."
"But... what about the bees?" Twilight asked, looking up at the tree.
"Oh, they're easy enough to handle." A voice said.
Everyone looked up to see an owl fly down, landing right in front of the tree.
"Owl!" Jacob said, running up. "How are you doing Owl?"
"Oh, I'm doing just fine Jacob." Owl said. "And I see you made a new friend too."
"Yes, this is Twilight Sparkle." Jacob said. "She just got here."
"Figured as much." Owl said. "Never saw anyone quite like you." He then turned to the tree, using his wing to scratch his chin as he was thinking. "Hmm, well we can;t let Pooh's stomach rumbling the entire day, so we'll need to get him some honey from this tree."
"But how?" Twilight asked. "The bees will string us if we get too close."
"Well we did something like this back when Sora first visited." Owl said. "Only, we need to find you something to whack the bees away."
"Well, I got this." Twilight said, summoning her Keyblade, which surprised them.
"Oh, that's perfect." Owl said. "And since you have something to handle those bees, all you would need to do is hit the bees and they'll disperse, but make sure they don't pop Poohs balloon, or else you'll have to start the process all over again."
Twilight looked up at the tree, seeing how tall it was as she gulped a mouthful of air, standing up and walking to the tree as Pooh walked over, Jacob getting the balloons as they got ready to help their friend get some honey. Once the balloon was ready, Jacob helped to tie the balloon around Pooh while owl told her what she needed to do, hop from branch to branch to protect Poohs balloon while he flew up to get his fill of honey. Once they were ready, Jacob gave the thumbs up to let them know they were ready, Twilight nodding her head to let him know she was ready, so the young boy let Pooh go and he started to float upward, floating to the first hole while Twilight kept an eye out for any bees, spotting the first swarm coming towards Pooh's ballon, so she leapt up and swung her blade, hitting the swarm of bees with no problem while standing on the next branch, watching the surroundings while Pooh ate honey. Swarms of bees came around a couple more times before Pooh moved onto the next hole, letting the bear get his fill as Twilight kept on protecting him from the incoming swarms of angry bees, barely keeping up with their attacks until Pooh reached the top, gorging himself on the honey in each hole until he reached the top, where he fell into the tree and ate the honey, enjoying himself as Twilight hopped down, backing away form the tree as she looked up.
"Geez, how much honey does that bear need?" Twilight asked.
"When it comes to honey, he's a bottomless pit." Jacob replied. "Well, what do we do while Pooh's busy eating his honey?"
"Well, maybe you could tell me a little more about yourself." Twilight suggested. "What brought you here to the 100 Acre Wood?"
"Well, honestly, I just wanted to get away." Jacob replied, walking down the hill, Twilight following behind him.
"Get away?" Twilight asked, sitting down as Jacob sat down. "From what?"
"People." Jacob replied, surprising her. "I came to the 100 Acre Wood to get away from people."
"Why?" Twilight asked. "Why get away from other people? Don;t you have friends besides those here in the woods?"
"I have a few, but not very many." Jacob replied, bringing his knees to his chest. "I get picked on in school. They're always picking on me because I'm the butt of their jokes. They make sounds, do gestures, and even say things to annoy and upset me. My family and I moved here just to get away from my old school. Which was probably for the better as I never really fit in."
"What makes you think that?" Twilight asked, now feeling concerned for him.
"Because to them, I'm weird." Jacob replied, lying on his back to look to the sky. "From what my parents told me, I'm special because they say I'm smart, but I don't feel smart. I mean, I do math pretty well and I have a good memory, but when it comes to social studies and reading, I struggle. Some books I can read just fine and find interesting, but when it comes to others, I have issues with." Twilight stared at the young boy, lying on her back next o him and looking to the sky as Jacob put his hands behind his head. "And when it comes to talking to others, I don't converse all that good."
"You seem to be talking pretty well with me." Twilight pointed out.
"That's because you're not a person." Jacob said. "With animals, I can tail with them without any issues. And when I'm outside, away from people and away from those who'd bully me, I feel happy, like I belong out here. That's why I come out here and spend my free time with Pooh and all my other friends here, to be happy and be myself without others judging me." He then turned on his side, his back towards Twilight. "If I could, I'd stay out here forever and never go back."
Twilight could feel how hurt he was, sensing he was having bully problems like Scootaloo has and she sat up, looking over to Jacob as she smiled.
"Well, you aren't the only one who's had problems with bullies." Twilight said, getting the young boys attention.
"You have bully problems too?" Jacob asked.
"No, but my friend Spyro did." Twilight said, looking up at the ring on her horn. "Spyro also had bullies where he's from. He's autistic and everyone always picked on him too, doing gestures that got under his skin and always left him out of their games, hurting his feelings as all he wanted to do was have fun and make friends." Twilight knew she had the young boys attention as he sat up. "When he got older, everyone started to love him because he had a good heart. Sure, he got into trouble from time to time, but in the end everyone loved him, accepted him as a friend as they got to know him better."
"He's lucky." Jacob said, pulling his knees to his chest again. "No one wants to be my friend in school. I'm lucky enough just to get a few friends who really like to hang out with me, but other than that, no one wants to be with me."
"That's not true." Twilight said, putting her hoof on his shoulder. "You have some friends, that's good to have. Spyro always had his friends with him, making new friends and extending a helping hoof to them when they needed help. You just need to open up a little more and let yourself be vulnerable, show them you're just like them with only some differences. I'm sure that one day, you'll have just as many friends as Spyro does, if not more."
Jacob smiled at Twilight, a tear forming in his eye as he wiped it away, hugging the unicorn mare.
"Thanks Twilight." Jacob said, Twilight returning the hug before ending it. "Hey, Pooh should be done by now with eating honey. Wanna go and visit Rabbit? His house isn't too far, we can visit him and maybe help him get some vegetables from his garden."
"Sure, I got lots of time." Twilight said. "Plus, I'm kinda getting hungry myself. Maybe Rabbit might have some lunch we can share with him."
Twilight got up as did Jacob, walking away from the tall honey tree as a light shined, taking Twilight back to the pop-ups while outside of the books, her friends and her brother were doing whatever they could do to distract themselves while waiting for Twilight to return, most of them talking with Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith, which included Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, the fillies, and Zecora. Rainbow Dash went outside to fly around, stretching her wings as she got a Birds Eye view of Radiant Garden so she could figure out where to go if they needed to get somewhere quick, Applejack, Cadence, and Shining Armor were keeping an eye on the book to make sure nothing bad happened while May was talking with Cid, helping him with the cities defenses.
"Well, how's she doing?" Shining Armor asked.
"She seems to be doing fine so far." Cadence replied. "Looks like she made some new friends."
"Including that Jacob feller." Applejack said. "But Ah don't understand why he wants her to stay until nightfall. Ah understand it's a secret and all, but with how important it is, wouldn't it be better to just tell her?"
"Well duh, of course not!" Pinkie replied, scaring them. "He made a promise to keep it secret and would only tell until she's had fun and played with all his friends."
"But that could take forever!" Rainbow Dash complained, having returned. "We need to get that Heart Piece now!"
"Well, it's out of our hooves now." Cadence said, looking back to the book. "We need to let Twilight handle this and take her time because if she rushes this, she might not get the Heart Piece." She then looked at the book again, looking it over before turning to everyone else again. "Why don't you;t you go and get something to eat, I'll keep an eye on the book."
"You sure?" Applejack asked.
"Don't worry about me." Cadence said. "I'll be fine. You just go and relax for a while, I'll be just fine."
Shrugging their shoulders, everyone but Shining Armor, Cid, and Merlin left the house to get some food and to enjoy the town, failing to notice that they were being watched by a crow, who was watching them from the window sill and flew off, heading in the direction of the old ruined castle being used by Maleficent as her base. In the castle, Maleficent had just returned after looking for the Heart Pieces in a few worlds she knew of, not finding a single one of them and was growing frustrated, having reached the top when her pet returned, landing on her shoulder with a smile.
"My pet, you have returned." Maleficent said, reached her hand to her shoulder, the crow walking onto it. "Have those fools in the Restoration Committee done anything new?" The crow then leapt off her hand, flying to her staff and landed on the orb, an image of the ponies in their headquarters and the book with the symbol on the spine of the book, making the evil fairy smile. "You found one! Excellent work my pet, but... it seems to be in that book the restoration committee are protecting. No matter, I'll send some of my Heartless to retrieve it." She waved her hand and a moment later, multiple Soldiers and Armored Knights appeared, standing before Maleficent and awaiting orders. "Go to that fool Merlins house and retrieve the book from there. If any get in your way, destroy them!"
The Heartless nodded their heads and disappeared into the void again, leaving the dark fairy alone in her castle as she entered her map room to see where else the Heart Pieces could be, smiling to herself right as Pete walked in.
"You summoned me my lady?" Pete asked.
"I have." She replied. "As you know, the Prince is gone, but his heart isn't among the Heartless. I have located one of the pieces of his heart in the Restoration Committee's headquarters in town. I sent some Heartless there already to acquire the book, but I want you to retrieve it and bring it to me in one piece. Fail to acquire it and you will suffer the consequences!"
"No ma'am, I mean, yes ma'am!" Pete said. "I'll get the book, no problem."
"And make sure you are ready for a fight." Maleficent said. "Even though his friends are still new to the use of a Keyblade, they are capable fighters now than they were before. So be ready to actually fight this time instead of running away."
Pete saluted and walked out for the room, turning his head and grumbling at his mistress before continuing to walk away as he had something else in store for the Heart Piece once he had it.