KH: Fragments of Friendship Chapter 8

Chapter 08: Sorry... with a Cherry on Top!

Back in the cave, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were still battling Xero as he kept swinging his blades at them, with Sora clashing his keyblade with his strikes, Donald casting fireballs and icicle darts, as Goofy swung hard, and blocked everyone of Xero's attacks.  Soon Xero fell to the ground and the mane six, and Spike jumped onto him at once, pinning him to the floor.  But that wasn't enough, as he sent a blast that caused them all to fly into the air and fall onto the ground.  He rose back up slowly, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who were all tired out, almost fell to the floor.
"Did you really think you could stop me?" Xero asked.  Sora looked up at him, and then back at the crystal seat, and smiled.
"Who said, we were trying to stop you?" Sora said.  "We were just stalling you."
"What?" Xero asked, but then he heard a sound coming from behind him.  He turned around, and to his horror, he saw the vessel was glowing, as the black smoke around it began to disappear.  And then, Riku, holding Twilight's unconcious body came out of the light, and the shadows flew up into the air.
"NO!" Xero shouted as he approached the wall, where the dark spirit fell into the ground.  "Master!"  Sora, Donald, and Goofy got up.
"Hurray!" Donald called out.  "We Did It!"  The mares got up to see Riku holding Twilight, and to their relief, she was no longer engulfed by the dark smoke.  They all quickly approached him.
"Is she alright?!" Rainbow Dash asked, with Riku lifting his head up.
"Yeah, she's alright..." Riku said.  "She's unconcious, but she's alive."  They looked at their grey colored friend, and saw that she was asleep.  They let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank Goodness." Applejack said.  Xero was still looking down at the dark shadow, and then lifted his head, turned around with a vicious glare, not at Riku, but Sora.
"You..." Xero said as Sora looked at him with confusion.
"Me?" Sora asked.  Xero turned back to the shadow.
"Master, Let Me Be Your Vessel!" Xero said as he raised his hands in the air, as the shadow floated in the air and went through Xero, who let out a scream as his whole body began to glow black and purple.  He rose up and turned to Sora.
(An Intense Situation Plays)
"I Will Destroy You!" Xero said as he lifted his hand and fired black wires at Sora.  He attempted to dodge them quickly, but the wires grabbed him, lifting him in the air.
"SORA!" Riku, Donald, and Goofy called out as Sora was lifted into the air, trying to get out of the wires, and Xero floated into the air.
"I Will Shatter You To Pieces!" Xero shouted in a demonic voice, showing that Sombra's shadow has possessed him.  Sora attempted to break free of the dark wires, but couldn't.
"I can't move!" Sora called.
"Sora... Don't Give Up!"
The words took him by surprise, very by surprise.
"What?" Sora thought.
"You Can Stop Him!  Use the Keyblade!"
Sora had no idea where the voice was coming from... no... it couldn't be Roxas, because it didn't sound like Roxas' voice.  Then, Sora's own hand slapped him against his own face, which surprised him even more, and not only that, his Keyblade appeared in his hand, and pointed straight at Xero, who laughed.
"Fool... no magic can harm-" Xero said, and then the Keyblade charged up with magic, and without hesitation, it shot a beam a Xero, piercing right through him!  The Dark entity within Xero jumped out of his body, flying back into the crystal wall.  Xero was surprised, as the energy from the beam began to engulf him.  He let out a painful scream as the beam disappeared and he fell to the ground.  All of this, surprised everyony, and everypony, including Sora himself.  Did he just do that, or was it the Keyblade itself?  And where did that voice come from?!  Xero struggled to get up, but knelt down on the floor, with his whole body beginning to fade.
"Im...Impossible..." Xero said as he began to fade away.  "Master... I failed you... forgive me..."  After saying his final words, his whole body vanished into thin air.  Upon seeing this, the rest of the mane six cheered, as did Donald and Goofy.  Sora then looked at his keyblade.
"Was that... me... or you?" Sora asked.
"Good Goin' Sora!" Goofy cheered as he and Donald approached him.
"Wha... what just happened?" Sora asked.
"You defeated that man and prevented him from unleashing the evil shadow!" Donald quacked with a smile.
"Oh yeah..." Sora said, but then was lost in his thoughts.  "Did the keyblade do that itself?  And where did that voice come from... It wasn't Roxas..."  He then quickly turned to see Riku, holding the sleeping Twilight in his arms, before he gently laid her down on the floor.  The three approached him.
"Is she ok?" Donald asked.
"Yeah.  She's sleeping." Riku said as he got up.  "She'll be alright."  The rest of the mane six, and Spike were approaching them.
"Twilight." Spike said, as he was holding a picture in his hand, but then he tripped and the picture flew near Sora's feat.  The boy quickly picked it up and looked at it.  Soon they saw the unicorn beginning to move slowly, as if she was waking up.  And she was indeed waking up.  Her friends and Spike began to approach.
"Let me take care of it." Sora said to them, as they gave a nod in reply.

All she did was let out a sneeze, before slowly waking up, finding herself in a cold dark place, right in front of the ice throne.  She lifted her head up, and recognized the area.  Just seeing it made her feel sad inside.  But she then heard voices behind her.  She turned around to see Sora, who knelt down and examined her.
"Hey, are you alright?" Sora asked, as Twilight looked up at him.
"Yeah..." Twilight said, examining the boy.  "Who... who are you?"
"I'm Sora." He said, and lifted his hand to point at his three other friends.  "These are my friends Riku, Goofy, and Donald."  Riku gave a nod, as Goofy began to wave, and Donald just quacked.  She looked at them before turning back to Sora, and already knew that they weren't from this world at all.
"Wh... you're not from here..." Twilight said.
"Correct, we came here for a special reason." Sora said.
"And that is?" Twilight asked.
"Well, we came to find you, which was our top priority." Sora said.  "I'm glad we did too.  We almost lost you there minutes ago.  But Riku here helped you out of that Shadow King's grasp."  Twilight looked at the boy, and then at the other three, and then lowered her head in shame.
"I'm sorry... for dragging you into this." Twilight said as she buried her face in her hooves.
"Don't sweat about it, it wasn't your fault." Sora said.  "Besides, though I didn't know what we were up against, exploring a new world is actually kinda fun."  He looked at Twilight and noticed that her head was lowered in shame, with some tears coming out.  "What's wrong?"  The unicorn lifted her head up a little bit.
(Musique pour la Tristesse de Xion plays)
"It's my friends..." Twilight said.  "They-"
"I know...  I know what happened." Sora said.  "They told us about the Wedding Rehearsal.  Don't worry, it's gonna be alright-"
"No it won't!" Twilight said with a shout, almost startling Sora a bit, which he quickly noticed and lowered her head down.  "Sorry...  I'm still hurting... just thinking about how they left me like that, I'm afraid they don't care about me at all."
"Why would you think that?" Sora asked.  "They do care about you..."
"But for how much longer?" Twilight asked.  "I needed their support and they never gave it.  I almost lost everything that night... my friends, my teacher, and my Big Brother Best Friend Forever...  Am I not that important to them?"  She lowered her head, as Sora was surprised of what she said.  He sat next to her and stroked her mane.
"Twilight... you are important to them, and it's not because you're the Element of Magic." Sora said.  "It's because you're their friend, and they love you so much.  Just because they abandoned you, that doesn't mean it will happen again.  They all have seen the error of their actions, and they even came all the way here to find you."  Twilight lifted her head up, and looked at Sora in disbelief.
"My... they came looking for me?" Twilight asked.
"Yep." Sora said.  "They tagged along with us, even your brother did."
"My brother?" Twilight asked.
"He sure did." Sora said.
"But I thought he would go on with the wedding without me." Twilight said.
"Come on, he would never really do that." Sora said.  "He cancelled the wedding just to apologize to you.  He wouldn't continue until you, his little sister, was part of his life again."
"He... cancelled the wedding... for me?" Twilight asked.
"You bet." Sora said.  "He was hurting too, for what he did to you.  He and everyone else was feeling sorry for what they did, how they left you, and even Princess Celestia was the most devastated of how she left you."  Twilight couldn't help but look at Sora with more disbelief.
"Wh... Princess Celestia... She was?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah." Sora said.  "In fact, this is between you and me.  Before we left to look for you, I saw Celestia crying her eyes out, because she was afraid that you would never forgive her for leaving you like that.  That proves how much you matter to her...  She even said that you're like a daughter to her."  Twilight almost couldn't believe what he was saying, that the Princess, the ruler of Equestria, her teacher, thought of her as her own daughter.
"She... she really said that?" Twilight asked.
"I heard it myself." Sora said with a smile.  Twilight couldn't help but smile back, as some of her color began to slowly come back, but then she made a weak frown.
"But what if there comes a time when I need help, they don't help me again..." Twilight said.
"They will." Sora said as he stroked her mane.  "After realizing how hurt they made you, I'm absolutely positive that they'll never let you down again.  Sure, you may have some hurt left inside, but that hurt can also bring you closer to them.  That hurt will help build your friendship with them even more stronger than before."  Twilight looked at the boy with hope, and to Sora's notice, her color was returning, though not at full strength, but it was indeed returning.  Sora then pulled out a picture, the one of Twilight with her friends, the one Spike gave to him, and handed it to Twilight.
"I'm sure that you had and still have wonderful memories with your friends, do you?" Sora asked.  Twilight looked at the picture and began to think back, and began remembering the good times she had with her friends, how they all met, their first adventure together, and every adventure they had.  They had good times and bad, and even through the bad times, their friendship was more stronger than ever.  Twilight began to smile and laugh, and her color fully returned to it's lavender color, her cutie mark sparkling again, and her mane back to it's blue, with magenta and purple streaks once more.
"See, that's the Twilight I wanted to see." Sora said with a wink, as she gave a chuckle.
"Thank you Sora." Twilight said with a smile, but she also frowned again.
"What's wrong?" Sora asked.
"I want to see my friends again... but, I don't know if I can face them, after leaving them behind like that?" Twilight asked
"Do you want to see them?" Sora asked.
"Yes, I do." Twilight said.
"Then go talk to them." Sora said as he pointed to his right, with Twilight looking to see Riku, Donald, and Goofy approaching them, and behind them, were Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, with Spike behind them, all with smiles on their faces.  Twilight almost gave a gasp upon seeing them, but Sora gave a nod to her, and she knew that she wanted to see them so badly.  She gave a nod and slowly approached her friends.
"Girls..." Twilight said.
"Twilight!" Applejack said as she hugged her friend tightly, with tears coming out of her eyes.  Twilight also began shedding tears and hugged her back.  "We're So Glad You're Ok!"  Soon enough, Rainbow Dash rushed up and gave her a really big hug.
"Oh I missed ya Twilight, Please Don't Ever Leave Us Like That Again!" Rainbow Dash cried.
"YAY, We Found You Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said as she hopped around Twilight happily.  "I knew we would find you again!"
"Oh Twilight Dear, It's good to see you in one peace." Rarity said.  "We were so worried about you.  We were afraid the worst has happened to you!"
"Oh Twilight..." Fluttershy said in tears as she gave Twilight a big hug.
"Girls... I'm so sorry." Twilight said.
"Don't be... it wasn't your fault to begin with." Applejack said.  "It was all our faults.  You needed our support and our aid when you were desparate, but... we didn't give it to you."
"Twi... we never meant to hurt you..." Rainbow Dash said.  "We're sorry, I'm sorry, and I'm sorry for calling you Egghead all the time."
"And it was terrible of us to think you were jealous, but only that you were just protecting your own flesh and blood." Rarity said.  Fluttershy couldn't help but begin to tear up, and even whimper like she always does.  She quickly hugged Twilight once more, very tightly.
"Oh Twilight, I'm sorry." Fluttershy said in tears.  "We're all Sorry!"
"Me too." Pinkie Pie said with a weak smile.  "I'm sorry... with a cherry on top!  We didn't mean to hurt you, or make you all sad."
"We don't even deserve a friend like you..." Rainbow Dash said, lowering her head in shame.  But hearing that brought a surprise to Twilight.
"How could you all think that?" Twilight asked.  "After all we've been through together?"
"Because we didn't fully embrace your recent lessons on friendship that day..." Rainbow Dash said, as they all lowered their heads, all full of the guilt, with Twilight looking at them and then turned her head.
"Well, I... I acted like a total foal during that rehearsal." Twilight said.  "Just seeing that monster draining my brother just... shocked and angered me."
"Well, we would've done the same thing Twi." Applejack said.  "If Apple Bloom or Big Mac were in that situation, I would've done what you did."  She let out a sigh.  "Twi, we didn't mean to leave you all alone like that.  We should talked to you instead of checking on that fake bride.
"We were gonna come talk to you immediately, but... we couldn't find you." Rainbow Dash said, with Twilight knowing why.
"I was trapped in the Crystal Mines below the castle." Twilight said.  "It's where I found the real Cadance."
"Then we were gonna go find you, but that Bug persuaded us to stay for the wedding." Rarity said.
"The imposter said... that she took care of you..." Fluttershy said through her tears.  "And we were... so stupid to believe it."
"Fluttershy... she fooled everyone." Twilight said.
"But she didn't fool you though." Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie said.  "You're always good at noticing when something's wrong."
"Look Twi... we were fools to not believe you... if you don't wanna be our friend anymore-" Applejack said.
"Stop right there Applejack." Twilight said.  "How could I stop being your friend... I may be mad... a tiny bit, but I would never stop being your friend.  I too should be sorry for turning my back on you, leaving you all like that."
"Well, it's fair enough to say that we deserved it." Applejack said.  "It helped us realize how hurt we made you, and we finally felt how you felt."
"Well, I guess it's fair enough to say we all were hurt." Twilight said.
"Yeah, at least we can all be sad together." Pinkie Pie said.
"Can... can you forgive us Twilight?" Fluttershy asked in tears, with Twilight looking at her and the other mares.
"Can you forgive me too?" Twilight asked.
"We already have." Applejack said as she hugged the lavender unicorn.  "So... we're still friends?"
"Always." Twilight said.
"I promise you Twi, we'll do whatever we can to make it up to ya." Applejack said.
"I can make you new dress." Rarity said.
"I can even throw an We're Sorry Party!" Pinkie Pie said.
"I'll invite you to me and Rarity's daily spa whenever you like!" Fluttershy said.
"And you know what, go ahead and hit me if you want." Rainbow Dash moving herself closer to Twilight with her head wide open for an attack.  "Go ahead, punch me as hard as you want."
"Girls, girls, please." Twilight said.  "There's no need for that.  Just promise me that you'll never turn on me like that ever again, and that we'll always be friends."
"We promise." Applejack said.
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Pinkie Pie said doing her Pinkie Pie Swear movements, with the girls laughing, and they all embraced a tearful, but rekindled group hug.  As Twilight moved her head, she saw Spike coming toward her.
"Spike!" Twilight called.
"Twilight!" Spike said as the two shared a huge hug.
"Oh Spike, I'm sorry for ever leaving you behind." Twilight said.
"But Twi, I'm the one who should be sorry." Spike said.  "I wasn't there for you..."
"It's alright Spike, you don't have to-" Twilight said.
"But I do." Spike said as he lowered his head.  "Last night... I had this terrible dream, that when I found you, you kicked me out of your life.  You said that you didn't want me anymore."  Twilight looked at the baby dragon, who was almost on the verge of tears.  Twilight couldn't believe what he said.  She would never leave him in her entire life.  She nuzzled the little dragon.
"Spike... I would never kick you out of my life." Twilight said.  "You're my number one assistant, you always helped me when I needed it."
"But I didn't help you at-" Spike said.
"I know, I know." Twilight said.  "But it's alright Spike.  You were just confused and afraid, and that's normal for somedragon your age."
"Well... I never meant to hurt you like that." Spike said.
"I know you didn't mean to Spike." Twilight said.  "It'll be ok.  I forgive you."  Spike then quickly gave Twilight another big hug, which Twilight returning a hug too.  As the two broke the hug, Twilight turned to see Princess Cadance galloping toward them.
"Twilight!" Cadance called.
"Cadance!" Twilight said as the two approached each other with smiles and tears.
"Sunshine Sunshine, Ladybugs Awake.  Clap Your Hooves and Do the little Shake!" The two said in unison, doing a nursery rhyme dance they always did when they were younger, and they both embraced a hug.
"Oh Twilight, we're so glad you're alright." Cadance said.  "I missed you."
"I missed you too." Twilight said, but soon before breaking up the hug, Twilight turned to see Shining Armor, her older brother, approaching them, but his eyes were a bit teary.
"Shining..." Twilight said.
"Twilight..." Shining said as the two looked at each other face to face.  Twilight was the first to move her head, as he looked at the ground.  He was about to speak, but before he could say it, the room began to rumble a bit, causing everyone and everypony to become startle, and Fluttershy to panick a bit.
"We better skedaddle." Goofy said, as the others nodded, and everyone, everypony, and the baby dragon took off running out of the room and out of the caves.