Kingdom Hearts F.I.M: From One To Another

Chapters

Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
Chapter 1
Chapter 3

Chapter 2

“Ow… ow… ow… ow… ow… ow,” whimpered Pinkie as she was repeatedly being bopped on the head by Rarity. Currently, she was serving her punishment for crash landing in the middle of the desert. What’s worse, was that the hot sand was beginning to hurt her legs since she was also on her knees, tied up. A sign had been taped to her forehead, saying: “I’m the dummy who crashed the ship.”

“I said I was sorry,” she sobbed.

“We stopped accepting that after the 3rd crash. I told you, since we can’t remove you from control, we’ll simply increase the punishment each time it happens.” Rarity continued to bop her lightly on the head with her keyblade.

“But it’s my birthday!”

“Which is why I’m the one hitting you and not one of the others.” While Pinkie softly cried in the corner, Rarity turned back to the others who were either recovering from the crash, or if they were Twilight, checking their watch.

“Twilight,” -BOP “ow”- “what are you doing?”

“Timing.” she answered, eyes still glued to her watch.

“Timing what?” BOP “ow”

“How long it takes.”

“Twilight… stop that.” BOP! “owie”

Twilight looked up from her watch, honestly confused. “Stop what?”

Rarity sighed. BOP “ow” “Twilight, I will ask this once more, please give me a complete answer. What are you timing?”

“How long it takes for the local militia to come attack us. I’m comparing the data of it to other worlds.”

Dash stepped up near Twilight. “How sad is it that we’ve crashed so often, Twilight is able to make a chart of how long it takes for us to get attacked.”

Spike stood to the side, stretching his muscles and dusting cheetos off of his shirt. He got slightly annoyed when he noticed that the green flame on his shirt was stained with orange dust. “Personally, I love it when we get attacked. I usually time how long it takes for Twilight to sort everything out.”

“Well, it’s good to know that the worlds are good at protecting themselves,” Shia chimed.

“Except that crystal planet….” Dash looked downcast, genuinely sad about the outcome of that particular adventure. “Poor ponies.”

Everyone took a moment of silence, some slightly upset that they couldnt stop the ruthless dictator from driving them away and sealing off the planet.

BOP “OW!”

Their moment was interrupted by a large band of soldiers moving through the desert directly toward them. Twilight instantly checked her watch.

“20 minutes 38 seconds. A little sluggish, but I suppose it’s probably because of the desert terrain,” thought Twilight.

As soon as they reached the girls they surrounded them, weapons pointed outward. They were dressed in typical heat blocking attire; white colored robes that covered every inch of skin. However, they all wore the same style of robes, with the small image of a genies lamp on each. Other than a few glances, Dash and AJ shrugged and didn't react. Like always Shia shied away behind her hair.

“Who are you? State your business,” one of them yelled.

“It’s my birthd-BOP-ow.”

“Shush.”

Twilight stepped in front of the troublemaker. She held her arms up and talked diplomatically. “We’re sorry if we’re trespassing. We’re just traveler’s loo-”

“Oh, I know who you all are!” Instantly, the circle parted to reveal a tall man wearing the same white clothes as the guard, except that his’ shoulders were flared out with had a flowing cape hanging from them, “Hey, you in the back, beating up the pink haired girl. Would that happen to be a keyblade in your hand?”

Rarity stopped her swing, looked at the tool in her hand, and nodded.

The man laughed. “I thought so! Stand down men, these girls are honored guests.” As all the men relaxed their grips the tall man in puffy pants made his way toward Twilight. She found herself looking almost directly up at him. “Welcome, keyblade masters, to what do I owe the pleasure.”

Twilight blushed slightly, “Well we arent masters yet. We’re still in training.”

Dash flew over her, able to look him in the eye. “So what, are you like the captain or something?”

The man smirked. “Nope, my name, is Aladdin. I’m sure one of your masters have mentioned me,” he said confidently.

All of the girls shook their heads.

Aladdin looked downcast. “Seriously? Not even once?”

Another shake. Pinkie, however, beamed at him. “Do you know the Genie?”

“Hold on, you know about Genie, but you don’t know who I am?”

This time they nodded.

Aladdin looked insulted and disappointed at the same time. Slumping, he turned and began to slink forward. “Whatever, let’s get back to the castle.”

One of his guards tried to comfort him. “It’s alright, you still have the boys.”

“Well that was awkward, but hey, he’s taking us to the castle, so we get to meet the king now!” said Dash. The group followed Aladdin and the guards back towards the city in the distance.

“Dash, Agrabah doesn't have a king, it has a sultan.”

AJ walked up next to them. “What in the weepin’ horseshoes is a sultan?”

“It’s like a king,” she explained.

“So what’s the difference?” AJ asked

Twilight giggled. “There is none, both mean ‘absolute ruler’ in a similar sense.”

Dash looked at her stupidly. “So what’s the difference?!”

“Proper edicate. You need to call him by his proper name.”

Aladdin called back. “Nah, you can just call me Aladdin.”

Dash ignored him and rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Pinkie popped up bouncing next to them. “Guys, can you untie me now?”

Shia flew up next to her and began untying the ropes. “Oh my gosh. Pinkie, where’s Rarity!?”

“She’s up there trying to flirting with the guy with the cool hat. Just up and left me. I mean, can you believe that.”

“Yes,” Dash answered, “yes I can.”

“Well, I guess as long as he’s not married, she’s free to flirt with whomever,” Spike muttered.

“Shucks, I hope this fella actually leads us to Genie.”

“Do you think that Genie is the sultan?” Pinkie beamed.

Twilight considered this. “Perhaps, he is famous and powerful enough for it.” she said, once again feeling sorry for not knowing about Aladdin.

“OhmygoshthatwouldbesoCOOOOOOOOOOWOOAAHHHH!!” Pinkie began bouncing in place. Her bouncing increased and it quickly became less of a bounce and more of freaky set of spasms twitches and stretches.

“Pinkie, are you okay!?”

The tall man up front, Rarity, as well as all of his guards turned back to see the spectacle happening behind them. Pinkie was spasming in all sorts of strange ways, she bounced, stretched, bent, and even inflated at some points. Then all at once, she stopped, and stood completely still.

“It’s a doozy…” she whispered. All of the girls immediately summoned their keyblades and went on the defensive, gathering around Pinkie so that there was a keyblade aimed in every direction. Spike stood at the forefront of the group with his emerald colored keyblade out. He was ready to take down anything that threatened the girls.

Twilight’s eye darted around nervously. “Where is it coming from?”

“I-I don’t know, it feels like everywhere, and nowhere, all at once. It’s kinda making my head hururururuururt.” Pinkie began vibrating rapidly.

Aladdin stepped forward, somewhat nervous, and somewhat intrigued. “Alright, what’s going on?”

Pinkie’s head popped up from her circle of friends. “I just had a doozy!”

He nodded in understanding. “I see, don’t be embarrassed, we are in the desert, so the sand will cover the smell. Don’t worry, you can clean up when we get to the castle.”

Half the faces in girls in the group lit up neon pink, especially when Spike burst out laughing. Neither noticed that there were indeed several unnatural lumps in the sand, all heading right toward them.

A guard noticed though, and was just fast enough to jump in front of Aladdin and received the attack in his stead. Spike merely glanced at the creature for it to burst into bright green fire.

“Oh no!” The man leaned down to his fallen companion. All the girls refocused on the lumps of sand periodically moving around them. They were unfamiliar, so Twilight told them all to be cautious.

Twilight’s mind was racing with the task of trying to identify these creatures. ”Could these be world specific?” she wondered, reminded of the demons from Dante’s world. Whatever is was that was attacking them noticed her distraction and leaped for her.

It was swiftly batted away by Dash, who was now floating in the air. “Get your head in the game Twi!”

“Sorry. Go get them, they seem weak!” she ordered, “Shia, go-”

Twilight didn't even have to finish, Shia was already working her healing magic on the fallen man. Twilight felt relieved, Aladdin, however, wasn't so easily calmed.

Standing to his full height, he produced two Scimitars and joined the girls in the fight. “Men, we’ve found what we’re looking for! Attack!”

All of the remaining guards attacked the mysterious creatures alongside Aladdin. Seeing that they were outmatched the Lumps sank into the ground and disappeared one by one.

Twilight waited for a fair amount of time, wanting to see if they would return. Determining that they were sufficiently chased off, she lowered her stance and relaxed her magic. “Is everyone alright?”

She got a chorus of affirmations in response. Looking back, she saw that Aladdin had already run back to his fallen officer. “How is he?”

Shia looked up at him with a smile. “He’ll be fine, whatever it was only managed to leave a few scratch marks. He should be fine.”

Aladdin sighed in relief.

“By the way,” Twilight began, walking up near them. “were we not the one’s you came to find?”

“Nah, there have been strange occurrences and missing people all over Agrabah, it’s getting bad. We think that the heartless have returned. In fact, isn't that why you guys are here? To seal the keyhole or whatever?”

Twilight nearly laughed. “Keyhole? Heartless? Don’t be silly. All of the heartless were sealed behind the door to darkness after the last great keyblade war; plus your keyhole should still have centuries before it unlocks.”

Aladdin stood up crossed his arms and attempted to poke a hole in her logic. “Oh really, then what were those monsters under the sand?”

“I don’t know some new type of enemy probably. In fact, even if the keyhole is broken, we'd either need the Kingdom Key, or a keyblade master to close it.”

“We have two of those,” Spike pointed out.

Twilight turned on her heel and directed a glare toward him. “Just because you and Pinkie have strength comparable to masters, does not mean that you are officially!”

Spike smirked. “You jelly?”

Pinkie popped up in between them. “Well that’s enough about that. We came here to celebrate my birthday by hanging out with Genie! Do ya know him doyadoyadoya??” By the time she finished asking Pinkie had her nose pressed hard against Aladdin’.

Aladdin used a finger to gently shove her away. “Wohohh back off, I have a wife you know.” Rarity visibly deflated. “Anyway, yeah I know him. Why? Do you wanna see him?”

“Well it’s my birthday, so my friends brought me here without me knowing so I could throw a party with the best party thrower ever. Plus, I also wanna see if he’ll make me his student and teach me his ways!”

“What about Master Luna?” AJ asked curiously.

“I can have two masters! Right, Twilight?”

Twilight who was currently trying to figure out the identities of those enemies flinched back when she realized that she had been put on the spot. “Umm, I guess... I mean there’s no rule that says you can’t. However, I’d check with Master Luna first.”

“See everything works out!”

The group continued walking but the conversation was soon picked up by Dash. “Alright, but I got something. If you get Genie to be your master then you’d have to stay here. Right, Twilight?”

Twilight, now paying full attention, nodded.

“Right, if you go who’ll fly the Gummy?”

“Duh, control turns over to Twilight if I’m not there. All she has to do is get the control key from inside the hollow manual I keep hidden under her seat,” she explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Twilight stopped in her tracks and looked at her shocked. “Wait, there’s a control key? There’s a manual!? You hollowed out the manual?!” Ever since the very first crash, Twilight had been trying to wrestle control from Pinkie, but until now it had seemed like an impossible task. It stunned her to think that the literal key to control the ship was under her butt this whole time.

Dash smirked, “Then that means you’d be stuck here while we go see another world. Not to mention that we’d get have other world desserts and hold otherworld parties.” Dash began hovering around her in circles. “Make new friends, fight new villains, learn new skills.” Dash ceased her circling and began to lazily drift to the front of the group, fake sighing as she left. “While you’d be stuck here… without us… having the same of everything everyday….”

Pinkie’s eyes went wide. “Wait, no! I don’t want to be by myself I’m not allowed to be! Take me with you!!”

Another fake sigh, “Nah, you have a new master now.”

Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Shia, AJ, and Aladdin began laughing at the two girls antics. Even some of the guards were beginning to crack a smile on their stone like expressions. What was usually a dull patrol, gradually turned into a lively walk home for Aladdin.

Chapter 4

Aladdin finally broke down and stopped running. Leaning against the wall, he struggled to put air back in his lungs. “Jeez -pant- that girl -pant-can run.” After finding out that Genie was in fact not in the castle, Pinkie immediately decided to track him down; a feat that Aladdin himself had deemed impossible after countless attempts to keep up with Genie in the past. Pinkie only took that as a challenge and left to go get her friends. Aladdin tried to follow her but soon found out that there was indeed a second person who he couldn't hope to keep up with.

Eventually, after catching his breath, Aladdin decided to stop trying and just leisurely make his way down the palace corridor, thinking about what he would do now. Soon, his thoughts turned back to the odd creatures that they fought, they were beginning to become a nuisance. Were they creatures made of sand? Were they creatures hidden under the sand? He had never seen anything like them, and he’d seen quite a few things when he worked alongside Sora in his youth. A part of him began to wonder just what the energetic boy was up to until his thoughts were interrupted when he noticed his pet and monkey-friend Abu carrying a largish brown sack and heading somewhere.

Aladdin knew that Abu would probably just throw the sack out the window and bolt at the first sight of him, he was the one who taught him to do so after all. So instead of calling out to him, Aladdin carefully snuck up behind him, slightly thankful that his shadow was currently being cast the other way; as it would have given him away.

Abu’s survival instincts alerted him that he was being stalked, but it was too late. Aladdin pounced, grabbing both the bag and the smallish monkey. After some struggling and resistance, he finally held the bag up in with one arm and Abu under the other, victorious.

“Ahah, and what do we have here?” he asked the chimp, who only squirmed in response. “You know, if Jasmine catches you stealing, I’LL be the one in trouble right?”

Abu screeched and pointed at the bag, crossing his arms afterward.

“Stealing for a good cause? Sure, just like that time you stole that diamond for Jasmine’s birthday.”

Abu hooted in confusion.

“It wasn't technically a good deed because first of all, you stole two and kept one, and the one you gave her was fake.”

Abu looked away, arms crossed.

Aladdin narrowed his eyes. “What’s in the bag, Abu?”

Abu frantically reached for the bag screeching and hooting in alarm.

“What do you mean, ‘don’t look in the bag’?” This was a first, usually Abu would own up to his crime, this is the first time that the kleptomaniac monkey actually acted secretive about something. This only made Aladdin more curious of the bags contents. “What’s so important that I, as your best friend, can’t see?”

Abu began pleading, eyes wide and watery. Aladdin saw the emotion behind his eyes and made his decision. “Fine,” he said, letting the monkey down and handing him the bag. “I better not find you sleeping with a pile of stolen objects in your room again. If I do, its the cage for an entire week,” he said grimly.

Abu shivered, he hated being cooped up in that cage for any amount of time. Nodding, Abu continued down the way he was going, making sure that he wasn't being followed this time.

Aladdin watched him leave, once he was out of sight, he reached behind his cape and pulled out the object that he swiped from the bag while he Abu wasn't looking. “Heh, still got skills,” he chuckled. In order to practice what he preached, and to avoid a whopping from his wife, he drastically cut back on his own thieving habits. Aladdin looked down at the object in his palms in confusion.

It was a dirty brown oil lamp.

~~~

Twilight slammed her book down. “She did what?”

Jasmine, who sat at the table in front of Twilight in the castle library, giggled before passing a piece of paper toward her. “Your friend Pinkie is quite the ball of energy, in only ten minutes she’s scoured half the city looking for Genie.”

Twilight read over the sheet. “This is a guard report, and a list of complaints.”

Jasmine nodded and Twilight continued to read down the list.

“Random appearances, sudden bursts of song and dance, strange movement, unauthorized balloon based weaponry, unnatural… flexibility...? Spontaneous combustion!?”

“Yes, it seems that some of our citizens are allergic to bubblegum. I was told that it was quite the sight to see.”

“Queen Jasmine, I am so so-”

“Please, don’t apologize. I think it’s hilarious. Your friend is bring back the laughter that we’ve been missing in Agrabah lately.”

“But… Genie lives here, there’s no one funnier than him anywhere.”

Jasmines face fell, and was quickly replaced with one of concern. “Yes, that was true, but I can tell that something is weighing on his mind. He hasn't been acting like himself, and although he would never admit it, he seems almost… tired.”

“Tired?”

“Twilight, between you and me. I think that I may know what’s wrong. These are still just my thoughts, just so you know. So don’t tell anyone this just yet.”

Twilight made a few odd motions. One of which involved her hitting herself. “Don’t worry, I Pinkie promise!”

~~~

Pinkie finally stopped near the edge of Agrabah, behind her lie a path of complete destruction, complete with hundreds of people dancing singing, laughing and just having a good time. It seemed that nearly the entire kingdom was wrapped up in one huge celebration. If anyone were to ask what the part was celebrating the only answer would be a confused look and a quick, “just because”.

Pinkie looked around, not at all concerned with the city wide party. “Alright, looks like no one’s seen-- OH HEY WHAT’S THAT OVER THERE!”

Pinkie’s head snapped almost 135 degrees around, her body soon following, toward three kids surrounding a tall figure wrapped completely in a white coat. Two things attracted Pinkie’s attention to him. One, she loved kids, B, she loved balloons, and 2, that man just materialized three already made balloon animals for the kids.

Pinkie’s mouth made a perfect O shape when she gasped, “Hey you!”

The hooded figure looked up and immediately flinched back at the sight of the girl now bolting toward him. Without delay, he ran the other way with Pinkie close behind him.

“I want a balloon!”

“Stop chasing me and I’ll give you one!”

“Alright.” Pinkie stopped in her tracks near Agrabah’s exit, the only thing past her was open desert. However, the mysterious figure continued to run. Pinkie waited for a few seconds before realizing that she had been tricked.

Pinkie dashed forward at an even greater speed. “Hey! You lied to me!”

“No I didn't!” The stranger quickly tossed a large fish shaped balloon animal behind him, directly at Pinkie.

Jumping and catching it Pinkie was surprised to see that it was literally a balloon animal. A fish shaped living balloon animal.

“This is not what I asked for!” Pinkie looked up to find that the cloaked figure was now driving away in a blue cart of some sort.

Stopping in her tracks, Pinkie reached into her hair and pulled out her keyblade. Laughter’s Sake; a mid-length keyblade with a pink balloon shaped handle and one magenta ribbon running up and around the baby blue colored shaft, to the three layered piece of cake that acted as the teeth.

“You’re not the only one with an awesome bike.”

The three balloon key chain swung freely as Pinkie directed her Keyblade straight upwards. A soft light shot up from the tip of her weapon and gathered just above her in a largish sphere. It began expanding and opened into a portal. Something burst out of the sphere, popping it like a bubble.

The small pink rod fell from the sky into Pinkie’s waiting palm. Tossing her keyblade away, she began to run. Slowly building up momentum, she lept forward and held out the rod in front of her with both hands. Instantly, she was engulfed in a bright magenta light, revealing that she had begun riding in a long dark red motorcycle with sections of it glowing bright neon pink. Driving extremely fast, even across the desert, it left a long dark pink contrail behind it.

The light cycle easily caught up to the go cart-like vehicle. However, just as she evened out with him the stranger suddenly jerked into an unnaturally sharp right turn. It took Pinkie by surprise and subsequently caused her a few seconds before she was able to do the same. It was even more of a surprise when she sped full speed in that direction only to realize that the one she was chasing did not make simply one right turn, but two, and was now driving back toward the city.

Having the time of her life, Pinkie made another sharp turn and sped full speed after him. Their chase was wild, every time Pinkie would close in on him something odd would happen. Either the stranger would make a U turn and drive upside down through the air. Or he would drive in circles. Or he’d simply pop like a balloon and appear somewhere else driving in a completely different direction. One time he even throw a small green shell at her. Thankfully, Pinkie managed to follow him at every turn, only slightly delayed by every trick the stranger could come up with.

The chase was fairly short lived, however, because as soon as Pinkie managed to ride up to him side by side, she was violently thrust into the air and off her bike.

Pinkie slid a few feet on her face into the sand, and after some struggling, managed to pull her head out. “Owww, what was that,” she moaned. Squeezing her hair, she left sand fall out of it as if it were water.

Turning around, she saw a large dune rising from the ground, the sand pouring off it in mounds. “Oh, so that’s what that was. Uh oh”

The monster raised a black claw and swiped at Pinkie, knocking her high into the air. Thankfully, she was spared the harsh fall when she was caught in the air by the same stranger that she was chasing, landing in the back seat that was clearly there the entire time.

“Thanks, Genie!” she beamed.

The stranger threw off his good to reveal a short blue skinned man wearing red overalls; sporting a rather impressive handlebar mustache. “I’ma not-a the Genie, It’s a me, Genio!”

“Can I have my balloon animal now?”

Chapter 5

The cart that the two were riding in suddenly jerked back and into the air. They were soon turned around and came face to face by the largest creature Pinkie had ever seen. In fact, it was the largest thing she had ever seen, period. Larger than the mountains in Radiant Guardans, bigger than Pride Rock, and certainly bigger than Midgar’s largest tower. It looked like a massive, muscular giant with pitch black skin, feet that curled upward, and twisted warped wings on its back. There is a large, heart-shaped hole cut right through it’s body. It’s entire face seemed to be covered in long twisted crooked tentacles its small, glowing yellow eyes were the only things that seemed to be visible.

“Ehh, I’ve seen weirder.” Leaning over, he whispered something into Pinkie’s ear which caused her to laugh uncontrollably.

While she was giggling, Genie jumped out of the kart. “That’s not how you pick up women!” he yelled as he slapped the creature with a giant hand, causing it to drop Pinkie.

Still giggling Pinkie picked herself off the ground. “W-with a toothbrush?”

“That’s right! Would you like to do the honors?”

“Yes sir!” With that, Pinkie jumped up and began attacking the beast, however she was quickly shoved back down on her rump by a swift backslap.”

“Well that was my idea, you got anything?” she asked looking up at her hero.

Genie couldn't answer, because at that moment the giant lifted his fist and crashed it deep into the ground in front of them, shoving them both backwards. Looking up they were shocked to see that the beast had actually shoved his into the ground, as if it passed right through it. Around it emerged an inky black puddle, and spawning from it, tiny miniature black bug like creatures. They squirmed and wiggled, their movements jerky and erratic, and they had the same beady yellow eyes that the giant did; as well as the sand creatures from before.

Genie ran up to one and plucked it from the ground. “Oh hay~! What’s up little buddy, havent seen you in centuries… or is it decades. You just can’t tell anymore! So how ya been~” he sang, seemingly understanding the creatures jerky as communication.

“Uhuh, uhuh preachin’ to the choir buddy, being sealed away is no walk in the park. Mommy, do ya think Al would let me keep one as a pet? Doyadoyadoya?” he asked looking up at her in a childlike body, clutching the creature to his chest.”

Pinkie Pie giggled and snorted as she watched Genie look up at her with bulbous sparkling eyes, even more so as she watched the black creature fail to struggle out of his grip. She stop giggling when she felt her butt twitching and she was forced to grab Genie and dodge as a large ball of dark energy on top of where they once stood.

“Black Snootie!” Genie cried as he was forced to release the creature that he was holding.

Pinkie looked up and saw that large black spheres were dropping down like rain from the sky. Holding on to child Genie she quickly dodged the remainder of the attacks. “Genie do something!” she cried, now actually a little scared.

“Like what? I already tried hitting it.”

Before Pinkie could answer, one of the black creatures grabbed hold of her leg, causing both her and Genie to fall face first into the sand. Taking this chance all of the black creatures jumped on top of her fallen body.

“Pinkie!!”

In a polychromatic blur, each of the creatures were swiftly knocked away before they could harm her. Getting up, Pinkie saw her Dash floating above them.

Pinkie jumped up and hugged her savior. “Dashie, you came!”

“Of course I did, we could see that thing from the castle, what the hell is it!”

Pinkie disentangled herself from Dash.“I don’t know, where are the others.”

“Twilight’s on her way she had the gather everyone up.”

As if on cue, with a flash and a pop, 6 figures appeared in front of Dash and Pinkie. The first one forward was Shia, worriedly checking them for injuries. “Oh my gosh, are you two alright?”

Dash waved her off. “We’re fine. We just need to know what the hell that is!”

Twilight looked up at the towering colossus, eyes wide in fear and confusion. “T-that’s a Darkside, one of the highest level heartless,” she stammered. “What’s it doing here, and why is it so huge!?”

AJ summoned her keyblade and took a fighting stance. “Who cares what it is, or what its doin here, we need to get rid of it!”

Aladdin pulled out his twin scimitars. “Heartless huh? Haven't seen these in a while.”

“I know right, life just goes past so fast,” sniffed Genie.

Aladdin jumped in surprise. "Genie? When did you get here?"

"Oh, well now I am offended. I've been here this whole time, but does anyone check to see if I'm ok? Nooooo."

“Watch Out!” Acting quickly, AJ pushed both Genie and Aladdin out of the way just as the Darkside’s fist came crashing down. The rest of the girls began attacking it from every angle. Darkside’s fists remained in the ground continuously summoning more and more heartless.

Dash and Spike went right toward the head, however the tentacles wrapping around it’s face acted as both offence and defence. They continued to lash out at them each time she came close. Pinkie somehow made it on to it’s shoulders and began destroying the tentacles covering it’s face, trying to help Dash. Spike fended for himself, blazing emerald fire turned anything that got in his way into ash. He was certainly doing the most damage by far.

Twilight and Rarity worked long range, sending spells and summoned blades at the creatures heart devoid chest.

“This ain't good!” cried AJ. Surrounding her was several of the small black heartless, each time she smacked one away another would take it’s place. Aladdin found himself in a similar position. Twilight and Rarity were protected by twilight’s barrier, and the two Avians were flying around and attacking the beast itself. Dash resorted to backing off and shoot off precision strikes with her gun Spiral. However, they weren't doing much damage by themselves. “Ah can’t get close enough to hit that thing without these little things gettin’ in mah way!” she grunted, smacking one that tried to jump her.

Aladdin did the same, briefly glancing over to the blonde haired girl. “Perhaps we can bolt through together. Genie!” he called.

From under his fez Genie leaned down to look at his friend. “Whattup?”

“I need to you make a distraction so I can get over there and help her. If we’re together we’ll be able to burst through and fight the main one.”

Genie began to fidget nervously. “Gee, I don’t know, today’s kind of a bad day for me. I need to get my socks washed and my room clean. It’s a pretty big deal.”

“Genie! We need you!”

Unable to ignore his friends call, Genie summoned up his magic and multiplied himself, several identical versions of him appeared, each holding a different weapon, ranging from a tire iron, to an oddly familiar keyblade. “I gotcha back bro! Go get the girl!” they said.

After Genie made an opening, Aladdin ran over to AJ’s circle and began attacking from the outside. His plan had worked, and now they were both free to attack the beast while Genie fought the rest of small army of heartless. What they didn't notice, was how heavily the genies were breathing.

Twilight looked over and saw both Aladdin and AJ running up to the beast. “Great, we needed some help!” she said.

Rarity looked at her friend. “Twilight, you obviously know what this is, how do we defeat it?”

“The books weren't very clear, this kind of heartless isn't very commonly seen. My only guess is to attack the head.”

“Most of us are already doing that, darling. Is there any other method?”

Twilight began casting a new spell. “I don’t know! I never thought I’d even see one of these!” Beginning to panic, Twilight messed up and the spell backfired and shattered not only her focus, but the barrier around them; leaving them vulnerable to the heartless around them.

Seeing their chance, all of the heartless jumped at the two, the only reason they weren't immediately swallowed was that Rarity had retracted all of her keyblades and began attacking all of them at once. At least 12 individual keyblades swung through the air, viciously attacking anything that got close, and since each one had to be controlled by Rarity herself, it become a task that was incredibly strenuous for her. “Twi… light” she groaned.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Shaking her head twilight got up and began to recreate the barrier. However, a blind spot in Rarity’s offence turned defence allowed a single heartless to get past her and attack Twilight.

Her scream caught the attention of everyone around as the heartless’ claws dug three deep scratches in her arm. Dash, Spike, AJ, Pinkie, Shia, and Aladdin were all at her side in an instant, creating a protective circle around the two. Rarity fell to one knee from mental exhaustion and the others took over the fighting. Shia quickly got to healing Twilight.

“We’re backed into a corner!” Dash screamed.

“There’s just too many to fight off,” AJ added.

Twilight flinched as her wounds were being healed. “Ugh… we have to take down the one bringing them all here!”

AJ angrily swatted away a few heartless, slightly annoyed that she was back in the same position as before. “Yeah, we got that. But we can’t do that as long as we’re stuck here!”

Rarity groaned in annoyance. “And it doesn't help that he’s making more. They look like a burnt toast, all black and icky!”

“What do we do then?”

“Worst, birthday... EVER!!”

“Pinkie, do you think Pinkamena cou--” Before Twilight could finish her idea, Spike stepped out into the open.

“Twilight, make a barrier around you and the girls. A strong one.”

“What? Why?”

Spike’s keyblade began to glow red hot, and steam rose from his entire body. “This deserts about to get a little bit hotter.”

Taking the hint. Twilight casted her strongest barrier spell. “Be careful,” she said.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Dash added.

Nodding, Spike took a step toward the heartless. His smile got wider. “I guess it has been awhile hasn't it? Since I let the flames roar freely,” he thought.

Aladdin looked out from under the barrier. “What’s he doing?” Dash looked at him, a wide smirk stuck on her face.

“Something awesome!”

Spike was now in the middle of the heartless army. The only reason he wasn't being attacked was that the heat that radiated from him acted as a temporary repellant.

Breathing out slowly, Spike closed his eyes and held his keyblade with both hands. In his mind, a lock appeared, one of several. Taking his emerald colored keyblade, he broke the first lock.

On the outside, Spike’s keyblade began to shimmer brightly before splitting into two. A bright silver keyblade, and a pitch black one. They both held the same shape as his original; fire shaped teeth attached to long a shaft with chain link decorations that wrapped around the circular handle. A single dragon scale swung freely at the end of the key chain. Spike crossed both of them in front of his chest and opened his eyes.

In an instant, pitch black flames burst from his body, incinerating anything and everything, except the girls, completely. All the heartless in the immediate vicinity suddenly met a fiery death. The rest of the heatless took this as the start of a war and swarmed Spike. Eventually, enough of them made it past the initial burst of flames to engulf Spike’s body, smothering the flames. A second past before the flames burst forward once more. However, this time Spike was on the move, taking the flames with him. Like an enraged phoenix, he moved through the crowd, his every step caused a small burst of flames and his every Strike sent out torrent of fiery death. However, just as he began to really let loose, he heard a scream.

Seeing that Spike had began destroying more heartless than it could produce, the Darkside lifted his arm and targeted the girls and Aladdin directly. With one massive punch, it shattered Twilight’s strongest barrier and knocked nearly everyone unconscious. Spike turned just in time to see it raise it’s fist once more.

“NO!” Raising both his keyblades, he tossed them straight at the Darkside. Moving his arm he maneuvered them the fly just above it’s head. Once they joined at the hilt, Spike thrust both his arms down and the keyblades began to spin rapidly above the Darkside’s head.

“Grand Black Flame Pillar!”

Immediately, an enormous tower of pitch black flames engulfed the Darkside’s body. Spike poured all he had into the fire, increasing its circumference and intensity. It wasn't helping that Spike also had to concentrate hard to contain the heat inside the pillar so he wouldn't burn his friends.

Eventually, his fire ran out and the flames began to recede. Spike fell to one knee gasping for air. Looking up, his face contorted into one of pure shock, when he saw that the heartless still there. It was not undamaged, however. It was severely injured. Part of it’s body had been burnt off and most of it’s face tentacles were gone. The entire section of ground under him had been turned into superheated glass.

However, the hand it was going to use to crush his friends was still raised and ready to strike. Spike quickly looked inside of his mind and summoned two more locks; but before he could break them he heard a pop next to him. Opening his eyes, he saw that the 6 Genies from before were standing right next to him, holding all 6 of his friends. They looked badly injured from the Darkside’s attack. Spike’s heart fell when he noticed that some of them had serious burns on them.

“Looks like Genie’s gotta save the day again!” they said. Gently dropping the group, Genie fused together into a singular Genie that grew to a height rivaling the Darkside. After stomping around and crushing a few hundred heartless, Genie turned to the dark creature and adjusted his cigar and fedora.

“You come into my world on the day of my friend’s birthday. You interrupt my race. You infest this place, and you threaten my friends.” Suddenly, Genie threw away his hat, his cigar, and his fake fake italian accent, and instead looked at Darkside with all the anger of a god.

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! COME HERE!” Grabbing the beast by the tentacles, Genie pulled it close and wrapped his own arms around them both several times. “You and me are gonna gonna go on a little trip, see?” He turned back to his friends and spoke in a softer, gentler tone. “Hey guys.”

Aladdin opened his eyes and looked up at him in confusion. His normally jolly friend looked sad, and more importantly, tired. “Genie... what are you doing?” he asked worriedly.

“Ahh nothing much, just gonna shoot me and Black Snootie here into the air. Should be a pretty good last show, right?”

Aladdin jumped up from the ground, but stumbled until Spike caught him. “Wait, what? Last show? You’re coming back right?”

Genie slowly shook his head, a sad smile still gracing his face. His legs morphed into a large rocket and began to charge, smoke started billowing out from under him. “I mean that this might just be goodbye, Al. I’m out, runnin on empty. I tried, I really did, but at least I can go out like this.”

“We don’t understand, why are you suddenly talking like you’re saying goodbye?” Spike yelled up.

Genie shook his head, a sad smile still on his face. “Sorry we couldnt have a birthday party for the girl, but at least she’ll get some fireworks!” With that, Genie shot himself into the air, taking the colossal Darkside with him. Fire and smoke from his lift off sent the two guys and the still unconscious girls tumbling backward.

Aladdin was up first, still confused beyond belief, “GENIE!”

True to his word, several gorgeous explosions appeared in the sky, each one a myriad of colors and shapes. There were even a few new colors that no human had ever seen before. They spontaneously brought a smile to everyone in the land, from the kingdom of Agrabah, to even the black hearted men in the den of thieves. Somehow, the fireworks even managed to appear in the skies of other worlds. Somewhere in the vast existence, a small pink pony got her cutie mark.

The only ones that felt no joy from it, however, were the 2 that stood the closest.

Next to the others, Pinkie fidgeted before opening her eyes slightly. Her blurry vision had instantly filled with colors and sparkles that caused a small smile appeared on her face. “Best birthday fireworks... ever,” she mumbled. Slowly, she fell back to sleep, blissfully unaware of the sacrifice that took place that day.

Chapter 6

A few days later, the girls began to wake up back at the palace. Shia was the first to awaken. Unfortunately, since she was also hurt, she was forbidden to heal the others. She did ask what had happened, but due to an agreement between Jasmine Spike and Aladdin; she had to wait for the others. Unfortunately, the pain stitched across all three’s faces gave her a pretty good idea of what happened.

Twilight and Dash woke up second and third. The former pressed Aladdin for details but came up with nothing. The latter immediately tried to get up and fly around, but shut up after receiving a quick hug from Spike for being alright; and an order to stay put for the time being.

AJ woke up alongside Pinkie, who woke up completely healed, but decided to stay in bed so Rarity wouldn't be alone. She couldn't explain it, but she felt… sad, for some reason. Almost as if she had lost a loved one.

Rarity was the last to wake up, a full three days after Shia did. But that point, Dash had almost gone stir crazy, and Twilight had almost began interrogating the three secret keepers.

Soon after Shia brought Rarity up to speed the door to the hospital wing opened, revealing Spike and the other two. “Oh good, you’re finally awake.”

“Yeah, it’s about time,” Dash groaned as she furiously scratched her bandages.

Rarity quickly began restyling her bed head. “Please, Rachelle, in order to properly recover one needs plenty of sleep.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you please tell us what happened now?” Twilight was nearing her bursting point.

“Yeah!” Pinkie cheered. “What’s with all the frowny faces. We couldn't have lost that badly.”

Aladdin shook his head sadly. “No… we lost pretty badly.”

“Why? What happened. Sure we’re all banged up, but I’m sure you torched the hell outta that thing! Right? I’m pretty sure seeing me knocked out sent you into Dragon Rage mode, huh?” she said smugly.

Spike’s sorrowful expression caused her own to smug one to disappear. “Hey… you--”

Twilight jumped up and made her way over to the group. She noticed that Aladdin and Jasmine hadn't said anything on the matter and were actively avoiding all of their gazes. “Tell us what happened.”

Spike immediately explained everything that happened after they were knocked out. About how he unleashed the mother of all flame towers on the Darkside. About how it didn't work. He even told them about how he learned that Darksides are darkness and fire resistant.

Spike clenched his fist. For the last few days Spike had been silently beating himself up over that fact. “If I knew, I wouldn't have used darkfire. I’d have used ClearFire or even my regular fire. In fact, Pinkamena should've been the one to step out. You guys got hurt because I wanted to be reckless and let loose!”

Twilight grabbed his clenched hand, she didn't even flinch when her skin came into contact with the heat of his own. His body always did heat up when he was stressed or angry. “It’s alright Spike. Weren't you the one who scolded me not to get upset about not knowing things?”

“Yea… but If I know then Genie wouldn't have--”

Aladdin decided to speak up. “Spike, you know that isn't why he did it.”

“It’s still a part of it!” Spike stormed out of the room past the couple. Dash immediately rushed out of bed after him. She was past the door before anyone could stop her.

Pinkie jumped up beside Twilight. “Wait, what happened to Genie?!”

Aladdin glanced at his wife before turning back to the girls, “You should come see for yourself.”

The Sultan and his wife led them far on the other side of the palace until the came to a room on the far edge, near a dead end with a single window. Aladdin pointed at the window. “Before we go inside. Look out there.”

The group gathered at the window and gazed out on the set of fireworks still playing in the sky, three days later. Now the fireworks were playing games, chasing each other back and forth. Making shapes and even spelling out jokes. The entire town was filled with joy, completely oblivious to the somber feeling inside the palace.

“It’s amazing!” Pinkie gushed.

Aladdin opened the door. Inside was a completely empty room sans one bed, and one hunched over man sitting on the edge of it. He wore a familiar garb consisting of no shirt and puffy blue pants with curly shoes. However the rest of him was strikingly unfamiliar. He looked up at the group standing and staring at him.

“Glad you like it.”

“Aladdin, who’s this?”

The man gave a sad smile. “What? You didn't tell them yet, Al?”

“I felt like you should do the honors.”

Instantly, the pieces fell together for Twilight. Cautiously, she stepped into the room. “Genie?”

Hearing this the man hung his head lower than it already was until his eyes were no longer visible.

“...no.”

~~~

“He what!?” Dash yelled. Going after him, the two entered into the gym; and after Spike calmed a bit he began explaining what happened.

“He sacrificed the last of his magic.”

“I… is he…?”

“No. I know it’s not my fault. But I can’t help but imagine what would have happened if Genie didn't do what he did. Or rather, what I let him to do.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“To answer your question, Genie is human now, but worse than that, he’s a shell,” he said, switching topics.

“What do you mean?”

“Technically, to be a Genie of the Lamp, one must have a lamp. What do you call one who doesn't have one?”

“I don’t know… a free genie?”

“There is no such thing. Jasmine has been curious about this. Never once has she heard of a genie without a lamp of some sort.”

“Well couldn't it just be that there aren't any? Why can’t he be the first?!”

“It’s not impossible. But only if he’s a pure genie.”

Twilight stood infront of the odd man. What was odd was the fact that he looked normal in every sense of the word. He had light dark skin. He had a bald head with a long tuft of hair tied at the top. He had a rather impressive build to him, sporting quite a bit of muscle but not overly so. What’s more was that he had four fingers just like everyone else. He was completely human.

“What’s a pure genie?” she asked.

“A pure genie is a genie with unknown origins. It is said that they are servants of Allah himself that are punished with servitude,” the man answered. “When they are released, they return to him.

“So ahm guess you’re not pure?” AJ surmised.

The man nodded. “I, like Jafar was a human who wanted to be a genie. Genies like us are given a set amount of wish granting magic from the genie who turned us in order to make us into one. Whenever we use the magic, it’s absorbed back into the lamp for repeated use.”

“Magic recycling? That’s amazing!”

Spike looked Dash in the eye. “But what happens when that genie has no lamp to store and recycle the energy?”

Dash’s eyes widened at the realization. “They run out…”

Spike nodded grimly. “Normally, a genie has centuries of years worth of Magic; for large scale or rapid fire wish granting. However, Genie is a very active magic user, very active. Most likely he was so caught up with his freedom that he only remembered this fact sometime ago. Genie became conservative with his magic. Aladdin didn't notice it, being around him all the time caused him to not pay as much attention to it. But Jasmine, she noticed it. She predicted that he was losing his magic, probably told Twilight about it too. Although, even she did not predict the full extent of it.”

“I began aging again.”

There was a sharp gasp from Jasmine and Rarity. Twilight sadly nodded in understanding. She had learned from her Masters that incredible amounts of magic tended to seep deeper into the body and slow down the aging process. It stood to reason that someone as powerful as Genie would not age and all, and only begin aging once again when that magic disappeared.

“I noticed that my hair was growing, and that I had to put forth more and more effort into the spells I cast. The bigger ones would become nearly impossible to cast at one point. I nearly began to panic until I remembered what was happening.”

Shia began to tear up as she felt the emotion in the man’s voice grow stronger. AJ calmly sat a hand on her shoulder.

“I sat down one day, and concentrated. I noticed that I was quickly running out of magic. I had less than a 10th of what I once had. That caused me to panic more, but I stopped when I realize that I was only using more magic. So I began looking for another lamp with a Genie that could restore my powers.”

Aladdin shot forward and grabbed the formoe genie by the shoulders. “Why didnt you tell us! I would've gone with you! I would've looked so you could save your magic. I would've have scoured this entire world… if you had just asked us,” he trailed off, tears in his eyes.

Genie did not react he still hung his head low, and continued his explanation, “This was around the time Jasmine had found out about her next pregnancy. You guys were just so excited, there was no way I was going to sour it up. Not to mention the heartless that began popping back up recently.”

“The heartless could have waited! Genie, you are my best friend. Nothing in this world would have kept me from helping you.”

“Your family--”

“I only have because of you! This place, because of you! My wife, my children, my happiness… my life. I only have any of it… because I found you that day. The day when Abu and I were tricked into the lion’s mouth Cave of Wonders by Jafar. We were stuck… buried under ten tons of sand and rock. I found you, and my life changed.” Aladdin hung his head, averting his gaze from the man’s still unaffected one

Shia and Rarity were openly crying at this point. Even Twilight and Jasmine struggled to hold back their emotions. Memories blazed in Twilight’s mind. A time when she gave a similar speech to Spike played out, and that only made her eyes wetter.

“Remember when we took down the den of thieves? Remember when you helped me reunite with my father? I always come to you for advice and you helped me without a second thought. Why couldn't you have come to me for the one problem that you had?”

There was no reply.

Aladdin lifted his head back up, anger filled he now tear dripping eyes. “Genie! Answer me!”

For the first time he lifted his head. However there was no light in his eyes, no joy or playfulness. They were a cold blue, and they stared right into Aladdins own brown ones.

“That’s just not who I am anymore.”

Chapter 7

Silence. Nothing but stoic suffocating silence reigned in the room. Twilight stood silently at the head of the table. The rest of the Harmony Wielders, sans Pinkie, sat or stood in various parts of the room. Pinkie decided that she wanted, above all else, to stay with the nameless man. Aladdin stormed out after hearing his final statement, and Jasmine went after him. The man said nothing for the longest, even when others tried to talk to him. Eventually the girls left and found Spike with Dash. They decided to gather together in a different room to talk about recent events.

Fed up with the noisy silence, Spike turned to Twilight. “So… what do we do now?”

Twilight hid her relief at the sound of something other than her thoughts and answered, “While I do think that we should help… him, I think our first priority would have to be to find out where all these heartless are coming from.”

Rarity turned to her with a quizzical look. “Well, with the Darkside gone shouldn't the heartless stop appearing?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, a Darkside is the amalgamation of hundreds of heartless, thousands in that one's case. The problem here is that almost no one noticed them until now.”

“Aladdin said that there have been many sightings and tremors lately,” Spike added.

“But no attacks. There hasn't been a single report of a direct attack. Before now, they were described as bugs scurrying around.”

“Ya'll don’t think that those critters were all gathering together on purpose, do ya?”

“No,” said Spike, “heartless gathering together is normal, it’s instinct for small creatures to gather. But to hide and wait… that takes intelligence.”

“That’s right, Spike. Shadow type heartless, the bug ones, are creatures of instinct. Not thought. For them to wait until they got that big means that they were being controlled.”

Rarity gasped, “You don’t think…!”

Dash jumped up. “No way, we beat her perverted ass so hard that she’s never coming back.”

Spike gave a light chuckle at Dash’s… interesting choice of language. “True, I don’t think that they’re coming back. Especially not so soon after their defeat.”

“Gosh, who do ya think it is then.”

Shia mumbled something almost inaudible.

Being childhood friends, each of the others’ “Shia sense” kicked in and all eyes turned to her. This caused her to shrink down even more.

Rarity leaned over to her. “It’s alright. This is a discussion so all ideas are welcome, darling.

Shia looked up at the others with scared eyes. “I… I was wondering… why was it hiding in the first place?”

“Pfft, easy, to take over this world, right?” scoffed Dash. “They want to overrun it with heartless.”

Spike brought a finger to his chin. “But even a regular sized Darkside could over run such a small world as this with relative ease…. I agree with Shia I do think it’s strange.”

Twilight leaned back in her chair at the head of the table. “Alright, so let’s assume that the Darkside’s controller had another motive. What would it be?”

Silence returned and brutally murdered the otherwise fruitful discussion as everyone thought up some kind of alternative reason for a Darkside to be hidden away.

Several minutes passed before Spike decided to take revenge and revive the noise, “Twilight, I have a theory.”

“What is it?”

“Before I tell you, I need you to keep an open mind here. Don’t flat out reject it like I know you will.”

Twilight scoffed, clearly insulted. “Spike, I trust your instincts completely. Whatever you’ve come up with I’m sure it has merit.”

He told her

~~~

In another, familiar part of the palace, another conversation took place. Although, this conversation was different; as it took place within the silence. A silent conversation that could out speak a stadium full of people.

Pinkie sat by the man formerly known as Genie. Her poofy head leaning on his arm as he remained slouched forward. They had been like this ever since the others had left. Neither said a word aloud. However, Pinkie was saying a thousand words a minute with her continued presence.

“Hey…” said the man.

“Hm?”

“I remembered something just now…”

“What do you remember,” she said in a gentle voice.

“That I was a slave even before I was a genie. I traded one set of shackles for another.”

Pinkie leaned up and tried to look a the man. “Wait, you were a slave before?”

The man nodded slowly, “Back then slaves were legal, some were even used as currency. I was the slave of a traveler. A human mule for his use. Every time we went out I secretly searched for the one thing that could grant me what I wanted. Freedom.

“I spent my entire life looking for a lamp to fulfill my wishes. I was always told that genies were the epitome of freedom. They had all the magic in the world, and all they had to do was grant 3 wishes to the occasional human.”

Pinkie smiled “But that’s not what it’s really like… huh?”

“No… it wasn't. But I don’t regret what I did. I had so much fun with my new life. I could do anything I wanted as long as I didn't break the lamp’s rules. It wasn't the unlimited freedom I wanted. But it was an improvement from what I had.”

The man lifted up his head a gave a sad smile. Eventually the smile faded and he sighed sadly.

“I feel like I’m stuck in a loop. When I was a human all I wanted to do was be a genie. When I was a genie all I wanted to do was be free again. Now I’m human again, and guess what? I miss being a genie.”

“You miss being a slave?”

“No. I miss the magic, the fun, the adventure. It might be because I was a slave for long that I say this.... but I miss being useful.”

Pinkie hopped up and jumped in front of him. She grabbed his bald head and forced him to look at her. As a human, she realized that he had bright golden eyes. Seeing this, her smile grew even more determined. “You can still do all of that! Even as a human you can still have fun. You can still have adventures. You can still help this world. Come On!”

Without waiting for a reply, Pinkie effortlessly dragged the man off of the bed and out the door.

~~~

“Nope! Nuh uh. Impossible.”

Spike slammed a palm to his face. “See, this! This is what i’m talking about. Just think about it.”

Rarity looked at him incredulously. “Darling, you have to admit that it is far fetched. You believe that there is an enemy forcing the keyhole open from the inside?”

“I don’t know, Rares, I think it sounds kinda awesome. Old enemy forcing his way out of his prison using the heartless as his henchmen to break it? Like a movie or something.”

AJ looked over at Dash with a teasing grin. “Whatever, Rainbow, you’re just takin’ Spike’s side cuz ya fancy him. We all know it so no need to go makin' up excuses.”

Dash’s face turned a light shade of red. “Wh-wh-wh-what! No I don’t!” she stammered out, still blushing. “I just think that it would be cool if it was true because we’d get to fight it!”

“And ya fancy him, don’t forget that part.”

Dash blushed deeper. “Shut up! No I don’t! Spike tell them!”

Spike flinched back. “Tell them what?”

“Tell them were just friends or something!”

“What? Fine. Yeah, were just friends! Seriously, guys, she’s like my brother--I mean sister!” Spike immediately clapped a hand over his mouth.

“Wait what!” Dash screamed, getting in his face, “What do you mean, brother?!”

While those two went at it AJ and the others looked on in amusement. Rarity got up and stood next to AJ by the wall. “Now what did you do that for. We’re horribly off topic!” she quietly scolded.

“This room was gettin stuffier than the extra fuzz in a teddy bear. I needed a laugh and Pinkie isn't here,” she replied.

Twilight went up next to them. “You gotta admit, it’s nice seeing them like this again. They won’t show it, but they’ve been acting weird with each other ever since Spike came back with us. Both of them did things that they regret when he was with Chrysalis and both of them are too dense to know how to make it up to one another.”

“Hmph, a simple sorry would’ve sufficed. No need for the awkwardness,” Rarity scoffed.

Shia moved and joined the group by the wall. “That’s not the kind of people they are. Apologies don’t come easy to either of them. But it is nice to watch them when they get like this. Please don’t tell them I said that!”

AJ laughed, “Don’t worry I won’t.” AJ turned back and went back watched the shorter girl intimidate the powerful half-dragon.

“You didnt have to go and say that!”

“Well what was I supposed to say?”

“What I told you to say!”

“It would've sounded like an excuse!”

“ANYTHING WE SAID WOULD’VE SOUNDED LIKE AN EXCUSE. YOU IDIOT!”

All good things must come to an end however. After getting their fill, the other girls broke the two apart and got back on topic. Eventually the topic turned in Spike's favor after getting the other to decide whether or not it was impossible, rather than flat out denying it. In the end, the group decided to go find Aladdin to get his input.

They found him deep in the castle in his bedroom. He had removed his fez and sat with a similar position to a certain non-genie. Jasmine was on his bed trying to relax him. Her eyes instantly turned to the teens by the door.

“Oh, hello. Can I help you?”

Rarity stepped forward. “Nothing major, we simply want to ask a small question of you two.”

“Alright, dear are you feeling any better?”

Aladdin shook his head. “No, this is all happening so fast. The worst part of it is that I had no idea it was happening.”

Twilight also stepped forward. “About Genie?”

He nodded. “I’ve been so busy with the heartless sightings, I didn't even notice my best friend’s troubles. What does that make me?”

Jasmine continued to comfort him. “It makes you a devoted king. You were so worried about the people. It’s his fault for not telling you in the first place.”

Aladdin sighed and stood up. “Whatever. You wanted to ask me something?”

“Oh! Yes,” said Twilight. “We need to know. When you guys sealed the keyhole to this world were their any enemies that you had to defeat to do it?”

“Yes, we had to defeat an evil man named Jafar. He had used… well he had used Genie’s power to turn himself into one. When we beat him the second time we locked him in his lamp and tossed it into the keyhole, right before Sora sealed it.”

Spike joined the forward gang. “I have a theory as to why the heartless are reappearing. I think that Jafar has somehow escaped his lamp, and is now controlling the heartless from behind the keyhole. I think that he’s sending heartless through a crack in the seal, slowly widening it. Basically, the colossal heartless was meant to fully break it open, releasing him and the other heartless back into the world.”

“That’s a rather, disturbing theory. But I don’t think it’s possible. For him to escape, some idiot has to rub the lamp,” replied Aladdin.

“Heartless have claws don't they?”

“They can’t speak.”

“Do they need to?”

“Well… Genie once bent the rules to save me from drowning.”

“Well I’m surprised someone like Jafar would even follow the rules in the first place.”

Aladdin thought on it for a moment before nodding reluctantly. “Alright. How about this, let’s go to the cave of wonders where the keyhole is located. There we will see if the seal isnt completely secure.”

“Deal.”

Aladdin turned back to his wife. Despite everything he gave a mischievous smirk, “Want me to bring home some milk?”

Jasmine walked up to him. “I think I can manage. Just be careful, don’t do anything reckless, and come back safe. As always.” She then wrapped her arms tightly around him.

He gave her an equally strong hug in return. “Jeez you don’t have to tell me 3 times.”

Spike turned back to his own family. “Are you all sure sure you’re up for this. You did just recover.”

Dash jumped into the air, her wings appearing as they unfolded. “Dude shut up. You know me.”

Twilight and the others nodded.

AJ tipped her hat, “Ahm feelin fit as a fiddle.”

Rarity examined her clothes and skin, “Well, I could use a bath before I can be in pristine health. But otherwise I feel fine.”

Dash punched the air with excitement, “We’re ready to go!”

Shia did a small cheering motion, “I”ll help anyway I can.”

Spike smiled. “Well alright then. To the Cave of Wonders.”

Chapter 8

Pinkie finally let go of the man’s arm and let him to fall to the ground, trying hard to catch his breath.

*Huff* "Forgot *Heave* how tiring *Cough* running could be," the man wheezed.

Pinkie paid him no mind as she continued to look around the outside of the castle. “Alrighty! So what sort of adventure awaits us today?”

“Pinkie,” the man sighed, “I really don’t think I’m up for this yet. I’ve just become human again… I haven't really--”

Pinkie hopped right into his face and smiled, “Then this is the perfect chance to break it in, silly! I’ve got it! We’ll solve the mystery of the heartless,” declared.

“The… mystery of the heartless?” he asked.

Pinkie nodded resolutely, “Yup. Those mean old Darkside thingies are made from those small bug heartless right?”

“Yeah…”

“And bugs... have nests,” she concluded, “Agrabah has a heartless infestation and we’re gonna find it and get rid of it!”

“Pinkie, I’m not sure that’s how--”

“Come on let’s go!” Pinkie grabbed the man’s arm once again and dragged him off deep into the city. They scouted out a few places before finally coming to a stop at the home of an elderly woman. Sometime during the search, Pinkie picked up a detective's hat and bubble pipe. Blowing a few bubbles from her pipe, she knocked on the door.

An elderly women cracked open the door and peered out hesitantly, “Hello?” she asked.

“Excuse me, miss,” Pinkie began in a serious voice. “Me and my tall friend here heard that the people of this town have been seeing strange black bugs crawling around. Is this true?”

“Oh yes! I saw one the other day. Just scurried around my living room, but the moment I took my eyes away, it was gone.”

“I see, do you mind if we come inside to investigate?” Pinkie asked.

The woman’s face lit up in recognition. “Oh, I remember you now! You were with the Sultan yesterday. Please, come in!”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Pinkie and the man walked into the women’s home. It was small, humble, and there didn't seem to be anyone else home. Pinkie noted how messy the house was. Dust and various things were littered across the floor and walls.

“I’m very sorry about the mess. I live alone, and I can’t clean the house as well as I used to. I must ask though,” she said, looking up at the silent man. “Who is this handsome gentleman? I’ve never seen him around before.”

“This is…” Pinkie trailed off, she eventually realized that couldn't call him Genie. The women would never buy it the way he was now. She pulled him over and whispered quietly. “Do you remember your real name?”

The man shook his head sadly. Pinkie turned back up to the women and put a hand on her chin.

“I’m sorry but his name is a matter of security. You may call him by his code name: John Smith.”

The women smiled warmly. “Oh, how exotic. Please make yourself at home. I’ll make some tea.” The women walked off to what Pinkie assumed was the kitchen. The man looked at her blankly.

“John Smith?” he asked.

Pinkie shrugged, “It was the only thing I could come up with at the moment. Now, let’s investigate.”

The two began to look around for a few minutes before coming to a singular conclusion, “We’re not gonna find anything in this place,” surmised Pinkie. “We should clean up a bit first.”

‘John Smith’ nodded and picked up the first few objects around him, accidentally knocking over a vase of some sort in the process.

“Sor-” John backed away fro the vase and bumped into a nearby bookshelf, causing several books to fall.

Pinkie came behind him and held him still. “Genie,” she whined, “we’re trying to clean the mess not help it.”

“If I had my powers this wouldn't be that hard,” he sulked.

Pinkie patted his back, “It’s fine. Lets start by picking up the--”

Suddenly, the entire building began shaking. The bookshelf and the rest of it’s contents fell over completely. After several more various crashes, the fierce shaking finally stopped. Slowly, the man looked over nervously at the old women who staggered back into the room, liquid stains dripping from her clothes.

There was a beat of silence before something exploded from the ground. Pinkie once again found herself blasted into the air, this time alongside a now powerless Genie and an innocent women. Acting quickly, she activate her magic to slow down time. Everything around her drastically decreased in speed. Jumping from rock to rock through the air, she brought the man and the old women together before finally landing softly on the ground, just in time for time to resume and everything to come crashing down around her.

“Oh, my gosh! Are you two alright?” she cried.

The women wearily rubbed her head, “I-I think so. I’m just a bit shaken up. What in the world just happened?”

Slowly, the man lifted himself from the ground and looked upwards with a shocked expression. Pinkie followed his gaze and mirrored his expression. Rising from the rubble of the destroyed building was a Darkside. This one was only about a third the size of the first, but still fairly large.

Out of the corner of her eye Pinkie noticed several other explosions with several other small Darksides rising from the ground.

The former genie fell to his knees in despair. “So it was all for nothing….”

Pinkie quickly ran up and hugged him, “No it wasn't! Look! None of these black snooties are even half the size of the other one. I can fight these!”

With that, Pinkie took off to tackle the closest one. Jumping high into the air, she pulled out her keyblade and held it out in front of her. Closing one eye, she focused in clearly on the Darkside.

“Shotlock complete!” she announced, “Pink Blur!” Instantly, Pinkie charged forward in mid air, zooming back and forth around the Darkside and striking it mercilessly. By the time she was finished, the titan fell and dissipated back into darkness. Landing, she gave the man a wide smile, “See! I can do it!”

Without any hesitation Pinkie ran off to fight the next enemy.

The man simply sat there, feeling more useless than ever. “Yeah… wish I could too.”

~~~

“That’s it!” Dash announced, “It’s not here!

After the group had reached the bottom level of the lions cave, everyone went to work looking for the keyhole.

The only problem was that none of them knew how to go about doing so. Aladdin pointed out that all Sora had to do was point his key at it. Knowing this, everyone spent the next half hour simply began waving their keys around waiting for something to happen.

“I told you all,” Twilight sighed, “We need a master here to find the keyhole.”

“And I told you, Sora wasn't a master when he locked it.”

Spike leveled a glare at both of them, “And I told both of you to stop arguing and--” Suddenly, the entire cave began shaking.

“Wh-What the hell?” Spike cursed. Rainbow and Shia jumped to the sky and regained their stability. Looking down from the air Dash noticed something the others didnt.

“Guys! Look at the ground!” she screamed.

Everyone looked to their feet. Hundreds of black spots covered the ground around them, most of them slowly rising above the surface. It didn't take long for all of them to gather together in the center of the room and arm themselves.

“Where in the world did these critters come from!?” AJ asked.

“Do we have to fight them?” Shia worried, sliding behind Twilight.

Twilight looked around as more and more heartless began to rise from the ground. None of them were attacking yet, but the sheer increasing number of them unnerved Twilight.

“I-I don’t know. This could be a sign that the keyhole is opening… or that we may have found some sort of heartless gathering nest. Either way….” Twilight trailed off as she tried to figure out what to do next.

Spike too analyzed his surroundings, “I think we may have walked into a trap.”

Twilight gave him a confused look, “Why do you think that?”

“Think about it. We came here to find the keyhole and make sure it was sealed. Instead, we find a pool of heartless. Also, the heartless weren't here when we first showed up. We should get back to the castle. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

Dash hovered near him, “No way, we need to get rid of these things here before they escape.”

Spike turned to face her completely, “No! You guys have just recovered from something exactly like this. I can’t risk it happening again. Twilight, can you just get us back?” he pleaded.

Twilight nodded, “Spike, you know I trust your instincts… but if let loose these heartless could destroy the kingdom!”

“Which is why we need to get back.”

Dash ignored him and rushed forward anyway,“Forget that! There isnt a Darkside around this time. We can take them!”

Spike turned back just in time to see her unleash a hail of thunder on the crowd of heartless. With her attack, all of the heartless began to rush the rest of the group.

Spike obliterated the first few to charge his way. “Damn it, Dash!” he groaned.

Dash let go of the thunderstorm she created and watched as it tore apart her enemies. “Jeez,” she scoffed, “Calm down. Look, we’re wiping the floor with these things!”

Aladdin jumped back to avoid the crazy attacks of the other girls, “I hate to admit it, but she’s right, the heartless by themselves aren't a challenge.”

Twilight stayed near the back to keep an eye on Shia who took one look at the black bugs and nearly fainted. “But they just keep coming. How long have we been at this?”

Shia slowly leaned her head out from behind Twilight, “T-t-ten minutes. I agree with Spike; can we leave now?”

Twilight blasted a heartless that tried to attack her. “I’m not sure we should stay either.”

AJ momentarily stopped punching and turned to Twilight, “Well, I think that we had better come up with another idea. Even ah can’t keep fighting forever.”

“That settles it. Everybody regroup!” Twilight ordered. “I still think we should look for the keyhole later. With this many heartless its bound to be here.”

Spike lept up and grabbed Dash out of the sky before returning to meet Twilight. Before she could complain, Twilight activated her magic and teleported them back to the entrance of Agrabah.

The first thing Twilight and the others caught when they reappeared was the sight of pink blur crashing into the ground in front of them.

A voice groaned out from the crater, “Goddammit! I told her we couldn't just jump into that thing. Agh, my head hurts like hell.” A long figure rose up from behind the dust.

Twilight recognized the voice and took a step forward. “Pinkamena?”

The dust receded and revealed a girl that looked nearly identical to Pinkie. The only differences being the girl's hair, keyblade and gaze. One was flat and dull, another was sharp and dangerous, and the other was cold and dark. Upon hearing Twilight’s voice, she turned to the group.

“Yo,” she greeted.

Twilight gave her a confused look. “H-Hi… Why are you here?”

Pinkamena moved her long hair out of her eyes. “Can’t come out and say ‘yo’ every once in a while?”

“Well--”

“Never Mind that you might wanna turn around,” she interrupted.

“Why would we--” Twilight’s sentence died in her throat when she and the others turned around. High above the Kingdom of Agrabah, shining like the sun, sat a gigantic glowing keyhole that covered the length of the kingdom. A single large crack covered the front of it. From the crack, a blackish red substance oozed l and poured down into the center of the kingdom. Right onto--

“The castle! Jasmine!” Aladdin screamed, running right through the gate.

The rest of the girls turned toward Pinkamena with frantic looks, “Pinkamena,” Twilight began, “what’s going on? What happened.”

Pinkamena absentmindedly scratched her head, “Let’s see. According to Pinks; Genie was sad so she tried to cheer him up. Umm, something about heartless. Wasn't really paying that much attention to be honest. Ehh, basically there are Darsides in the city and they’re trying to break open the lock on the keyhole.”

“What!” Twilight screamed.

“Damn!” Spike spat, “So it was here the whole time.

“One more thing,” Pinkamena continued. “John said that some dude named Jafar is escaping.”

AJ tilted her head, “Who’s John?” she asked.

“It’s the name Pinkie gave to Genie now that he’s human and doesn't remember his real one.”

“Girls!” Twilight yelled, “Agrabah is being destroyed! We need to help them!

At her command everyone stiffened and lined up, eagerly waiting for orders.

Twilight walked down the line, “Rachelle, you fly above the city and try to get to the castle, find out what’s happening first. Spike, Jackie, and Pinkamena, you three run through and meet up with her. Whatever is breaking that keyhole would be gathering there and we have to stop it. Rarity and Shia we need to evacuate the city and heal anyone who’s been injured by the heartless.” Stopping at the end of the line she called out, “Ready?”

“Yeah!” everyone cheered excitedly before instantly stiffening back up in formation.

Twilight turned back toward Agrabah, “Go!”

Dash instantly took off high into the air, while Spike and the two girls dove into the city, jumping from roof to roof towards the castle. Twilight and Rarity took foot under Shia and maneuvered through the streets of Agrabah.

Chapter 9

It didn't take long for Dash to arrive at the Castle. The first thing she saw was several Darksides gathering in the courtyard and pulling on the rope-like substance that flowed down from the cracked keyhole. With each yank, the crack grew larger and larger. Her eyes drifted lower and shrank when she saw hundreds of heartless pouring in and out of the Castle.

“Rainbow!”

Dash turned around to see AJ, Pinkamena, and Spike hopping from roof to roof towards her. AJ called out to her, “What’s the situation?”

“Heartless are invading the castle and the Darksides are using this… black... thing to yank open the lock!”

“Take out the Darksides!” Spike ordered, taking charge, “AJ you help her. Pinka, since we can take out multiple heartless we’ll head into the castle to make sure Aladdin and Jasmine are alright.”

Without looking at him, Pinkamena sent him a sharp glare, “Spike, you know I hate you ordering me around.”

“Please just do it,” he sighed.

While AJ continued to dash towards the larger enemies, Spike and Pinkamena dropped down and immediately distanced themselves from one another. Scorch marks and deep gashes soon began appearing over the entire courtyard.

AJ glanced back at the utter devastation taking place and cringed, “Ah don’t know if I should feel sorry for the heartless... or the land.”

“Get your head in the game, AJ!” Dash yelled from above. Holding out her arm, she summoned spiral into her grip. Charging the gun with electricity, Dash let out a folly of electric shots at the head of one of the Darksides, blowing it off and causing the body to dissipate.

“Boom! Headshot!” she cheered.

AJ scoffed and jump high into the air. Hopping off Dash’s unsuspecting back, she lept over the head of another Darkside. Lifting her keyblade over her head, she rocketed down, splitting the entire giant in two.

“Shucks. This ain't so hard; we’ll be done in no time,” she whistled as she picked herself up. Looking up she was surprised to see the other Darksides not retaliating at all. Instead, they simply continued to pull on the black rope.”

“AJ, behind you!”

The cowgirl turned around just in time to see several dozen heartless hop on top of each other and merge into another Darkside to replace the others. It didn't take it long for more heartless to do the same.

“Alright, maybe not in no time,” AJ sighed.

~~~

Spike landed at the front door in a ball of fire. Behind him lie dozens of heartless writhing in a large burning mass. Spike glanced behind the flames just far enough to see a pink blur moving back and forth at insane speeds, leaving behind a malicious storm of death. Hundreds of heartless suffered as they were viciously torn apart.

“Looks like she’s got control of the situation here,” Spike muttered. “In fact… if I didn't know any better, say she was actually having fun. Anyway, I need to check on Aladdin.” With that, Spike dashed into the castle. With his incredible speed he zoomed through each and every hallway, making quick work of any sort of shadow in his path. Eventually, he found the gym, and inside of that, the former genie.

Several heartless surrounding him, the man himself stood defiant even as he awkwardly wielded a sword like it was his very first time. Charging forward, the man swung wildly.

Dodging a random swing, one shadow lept up and scratched his bare back. The nameless man grunted in pain but quickly batted away the shadow. Breathing heavily, he turned to face the remaining dozen. “I… I need to--”

In an instant, all of the remaining heartless lit up in bright green flames. The man turned to face Spike in the doorway, slivers of flame emanating from his keyblade. “Genie! Are you--”

The man immediately turned and bolted through the back exit. Spike faltered for a second but easily caught up to him. Grabbing his arm, Spike stopped him long enough get a word in.

“Hold on. You’re injured,” Spike said, motioning to the black marks on his chest. Dark mists seeped from each of the scratch.

The large man yanked his arm back, “I need to make sure that Aladdin and the others are alright. I’ve searched the whole castle and I haven't found them. The only place left is the master bedroom.”

“Then don’t rush in blindly. Let’s go together.”

The man looked down at the unfamiliar weapon in his hands for a second before turning and giving Spike a sad look. “No… I’m probably useless to them anyway. I don’t even know who I am.”

Spike gave him a piercing look, ”Don’t emo out on me now. We all know who you are. I’m just waiting you to remember.”

“Well you’re here now. you should--”

“No, I said ‘let’s go together’. You already risked your life to come this far so let’s keep going. Spike once again grabbed the man and rushed towards the far end of the castle. Upon arrival, Spike opened the doors and froze at what he saw.

An enormous hole had been blown into the back wall. Through it, a large black mass could be seen.

~~~

Twilight stood up and stretched to catch her breath, “That looks like the last of them.”

Shia gently led the last few people into a safe area before returning to Twilight’s side. “It seems like most of the heartless are gathered at the center.”

Twilight nodded and looked upwards at the lock in the sky, “Come on. We need to go help the others. That crack has gotten larger. I don’t know how long we have until it breaks completely.”

Raising her keyblade, Twilight wasted no time in teleporting both of them directly to the castle entrance.

Unfortunately, Twilight made the mistake of transporting directly into the courtyard of the castle and nearly getting herself torn apart in Pinkamena’s rampage. The sharp knives of Pinka’s keyblade stopped mere inches from Twilight’s face.

“Oh… it’s you,” Pinkamena noted.

“H-hi…”

“We have to stop meeting like this,” she smirked.

“Oh no! Twilight, look! Look!” yelled Shia as she frantically gestured toward the area behind her.

Twilight turned around just in time to see the last of the small heartless gather and morph into another colossal heartless, this time the size of one the castle towers. What caught her attention however, was the fact that it held Jasmine and the twin boys tightly in it’s grip.

“Jasmine!” Twilight’s eyes were drawn down to three figures standing in front of it.

Aladdin lept up to attack the titan. “Give her back!” he yelled.

With surprising speed, the Darkside backhanded Aladdin out of the sky and sent him crashing into the ground. “Filthy streetrat!”

With pained effort Aladdin glared back up at the monster before him, “Jafar?”

The Darksides eyes turned from bright yellow to dark red. A deep laughter sounded from it’s nonexistent mouth, “How astute, you remember me.”

“So it’s true,” Spike spat, “You are trying to escape.”

The Darkside slowly turned his glare toward Spike. Jafar’s voice continued to speak through it, “Of course I’m trying to escape. Trapped in lamp that’s trapped in darkness? You do not know the torment that you’ve inflicted. You will pay!” he screamed, a depraved cackle echoing through the air.

The possesed Darkside lifted a darkness imbued fist into the air and slammed it deep into the ground. From it, pool of darkness grew, creating a portal from which countless heartless formed. Those heartless began swarming the area and attacking everyone present.

“The heartless shall swarm and you will all fall to darkness!” Jafar’s voice cackled.

Spike acted quickly and began destroying any that came near. Meanwhile, Shia joined Dash and AJ in trying to stop the Darksides from destroying the lock. With more people present, Pinkamena had been forced to stop her rampage and lower her attack range. Even so, she was a deadly force to any that opposed her.

Sword still in hand, the former Genie did his best to fight off the darkness that tried to rush him Unfortunately, outmatched and outnumbered, the man couldn't hope to defend himself against the ravenous bugs. Before long, numerous shadows clung to his body, even as he struggled against it.

Just before they could completely engulf him, Twilight jumped in to blow them away. “Be careful,” she warned,batting away a few more, “If they drag you down you could lose your heart!”

Genie nodded and took up his sword in defence. Glancing over, he watched as Aladdin singlehandedly defended himself. He felt a small tinge of jealousy as he watched his friend make quick work of the things that, before, he could defeat with a flick of his finger.

Aladdin faced the heartless with no hint of fear. Wielding his twin scimitars with complete mastery and practiced ease, he struck down several shadow heartless, spun around, and destroyed several more. When one tried to attack him from behind he flipped forward and allowed it to fly past him. Before the shadow could attack again Aladdin drove his sword down into it. Without missing a beat, Aladdin turned and began to make his way over to his family. “Give them back Jafar!”

With a low growl, Jafar raised the hand with Jasmine and the boys in it, rearing back, he tossed them towards the ground.

Time slowed to a crawl in Aladdin’s mind as he raced, swords forgotten on the ground, toward where his family had been tossed. In an instant, he imagined his worse nightmare coming true. The future that waited for him should he not make it in time. The pain and unbearable agony that would consume him. All of this gave rise to a fire in his chest as he raced across the courtyard and caught his wife and children from crashing to the ground.

The first thing he did after crashing into the ground was make sure that they were all breathing. He let out a large sigh of relief before sucking it back in a grunt of pain. He noticed that both his back and right leg were in serious pain. He barely noticed the large shadow that loomed over him.

Aladdin looked up just in time to see the possessed Darkside bring his fist crashing down on him.

Realizing that he didn't have any chance of evading, Aladdin tightened his hold in his family and braced for the end. After a few seconds of waiting Aladdin opened his eyes to see the first being held back by a familiar man.

“G-Genie?”

The former genie grunted with effort, his feet digging into the ground with each second. “A-always savin ya. Huh, Al?”

Before Aladdin could respond, he felt himself being lifted off of the ground by Twilight. Next to him, his wife and children hovered in a light blue magic aura. Twilight wasted no time in moving back toward Rarity.

“Genie!” he grunted.

“I know, I--” Twilight voice trailed off as she was interrupted by the sound of Jafar’s malicious laughter. She turned around just in time to see the man lifted into the air in a ball of darkness that was held in the Darkside’s palm.

“Genie? I must say, this new look suits you; weak and powerless. Before, you were merely second rate, but now--”

A blast to the face interrupted him. Over to his side, Twilight charged another magic missile. While he was still recovering, Spike and Pinkamena both attacked his torso, leaving a scorching X mark and forcing him to take few steps back. On one step his leg refused to lift and the Darkside fell backward completely, demolishing a section of the castle. The vines that surrounded his leg detached and zoomed toward the arm that still held their friend. They wrapped around it tightly and began pulling it down. Shia floated up to the Darkside’s face.

“Um, could you please consider the possibility of… well… letting out friend go?” she muttered.

Before she could get a reply however, something orange fell from the sky, crashing into the Darkside’s face with the force of a meteor. “Let em go, ya varmit!” AJ demanded as she continued to pound away at the Darkside’s face.

“Enough!” a booming voice echoed throughout the city. The sheer voice of it’s volume caused just about everyone to cover their ears. While they were defenceless, black tendrils of Darkness rose up from the ground, wrapping around everybody and forcing them to the ground. Shia and Dash both avoided the ground ones but were taken by surprise when they shot out from the nearby wall.

Slowly, the Darkside lifted itself back up and revealed that it had taken nearly no damage from the group’s assault.

“Verman, all of you!” Jafar’s voice echoed. He turned back to the man still held in his dark grip. “It’s too late, his heart has already fallen into the darkness.”

“That’s not true!” Aladdin screamed.

The Darkside suddenly closed his grip and crushed the orb containing it’s prisoner, stunning everyone and causing Jafar to cackle crazilly. “See?” Jafar said, motioning to the dark mist that rose from his reopened palm, “Nothing but darkness that will return to me.” The dark mist began to slowly drift towards the Darkside’s body, disappearing into it.

The possessed Darkside turned toward the group with a piercing gaze. “But this Darkness is trivial to what I will unleash upon you when the keyhole fully reopens.”

With another powerful yank the small Darksides caused the crack in the keyhole to nearly double in size. Countless heartless of various types began flowing from the keyhole and into the city. Flying heartless, fat heartless, large and small heartless. Each one different in appearance and power but each one equally capable of corrupting a heart.

Chapter 10

Darkness. The ever-present sea of nothingness from which creation developed. A wise man’s imposter once said, “All hearts stem from darkness, and so all hearts shall return.”

Or something to that effect. Genie couldn't really remember. A mere thought that passed through his head as he drifted through the stuff. It was the only thing he could do as he waited for the last of his light to fade.

The darkness was taking hold now, he could feel it. It spread itself out in every direction and touched every point in space. It was all, and it was nothing. It slowly gripped his heart and mind, detaching it from his mind and soul. The darkness that seeped from his wounds made it easier, for he had already been tainted by jealousy, desperation, shame, and self pity. All the darkness needed do is finish it’s work.

It didn't take him long to come to terms with himself, to accept his situation. In the end he was at least able to save his best friend and family.

“That’s all that really mattered in the end. Isn't it?”

As the darkness transformed him, memories of his past began playing through his head.

~~~

Boring. If anyone has ever even hinted at off possible chance that being a Genie is all it’s cracked up to be…

They’re half right.

Oh sure, once you’re out and about, you’re king of the world with only one person you take commands from. You could travel the world in the time between wishes. You can do anything you want as long as you stick around for the magic words.

“I wish for…”

However, once you hear those words for the third time… that’s it. Back in the lamp for another hundred or so years. It’s cramped, it’s smelly, and it’s sometimes dark. But most of all... it’s boring!

Genie thought so as he sat inside his lamp, neck bent forward, reading ‘The Introduction to Djinn’ for the 523,423rd time, give or take a few. There were only so many things one could do inside the lamp, even with magic. Sure he had a swimming pool a large scale, library, and countless other means of entertainment. But he was still alone.

“Let’s see, that makes year number 323,” he muttered, looking over at his completely generic clock. With the little foot pointing at the 14/13 and the X3A batteries popping up, nice and toasted, Genie could accurately tell how long it had been since the lamp had last been rubbed.

“What I wouldn't give for a--OHH ohhhhh, hehe! Some~body’s rubbing meh la~amp!” Genie cheered, sensing that familiar sensation of calling. With a flourish, he flew down the opening of the lamp and out into the outside world, He was certain that, with this much pent up energy, whoever rubbed his lamp was going to get quite the show.

Genie would soon come to know how this particular session would change the course of his life.

~~~

Unbeknownst to the man, as the memory played through his mind a small speck of light appeared in the darkness.

~~~

Jafar, as tall as a mountain, and as red as the devil himself. Stood tall above the kingdom. He had the power to crush gods. Genie felt terrible, having been the one to grant him this power in the first place. However, Genie was surprised to see that, even with all the powers of a god, there still stood one the defied Jafar.

A single boy with an oddly shaped weapon. This boy appeared from nowhere, but still did everything he could to help them over and over. That boy inspired Genie to regain the confidence he needed to fight again.

With the help of the flying carpet, the boy defeated Jafar and sealed him away. From that point forward, Genie devoted himself to come whenever he was called. To assist that boy in his adventures in different worlds.

It was that point that Genie began to travel alongside him, helping out when needed and seeing all new worlds.

~~~

The speck of light, still floating out in the distance, began to take shape.

~~~

Genie hovered above Aladdin’s head with a curious expression. Aladdin meanwhile continued to grunt in exertion with every thrust.

“Hey, Al?” Genie began.

Aladdin thrust the sword forward before swinging to the right in a wide arc, “Yeah?”

“Whatcha doing?”

Aladdin tossed the sword into the air before catching it in his other hand and repeating the maneuver, this time to the left. “Training myself to duel wield,” he answered.

“Why?”

Aladdin swung three times with his left, “So I can fight better.”

“Can I try?” Genie asked.

Aladdin froze mid strike, “You… want to try fighting?”

Genie floated down and landed on the ground, nodding energetically.

Aladdin smiled, “Alright, but no magic. If you really want to fight for real you can’t rely on magic to help you.”

Genie gave a large military salute, noticeably leaving out the costume. “A’Sir, yes sir!”

Aladdin gestured over to the armory near the back wall, “Alright then. Which weapon do you wanna use? We have a full assortment.”

Genie floated over and inspected the various sharp tools. “Let’s see... we have a sharp thing, a blunt thing, some sort of staff, and another sharp thing. “l’Il take the sharp thing thank ya kindly,” he said, grabbing a short sword.

“Interesting choice.”

“We~ell y'know, feels familiar and all.”

Aladdin chuckled, “You miss him don’t you?”

Genie gave a nostalgic smile, “Yeah, he doesn't summon me much anymore. I wonder where he went.”

~~~

“I never did ask any of those girls what happened to him,” the man with no name muttered.

Finally, the darkness took complete hold and dragged him into its depths. Fierce wind whipped him back and forth and his entire body began to feel numb. The memories that played through his head faded and disappeared. He felt like a hollow shell as he was pulled further down, this time into a complete void of nothingness.

At the last second, the far away light rushed down to him, disappearing into the void after him.

~~~

The man opened his eyes, his blank soulless eyes, to see that he currently sat on a rock overlooking a dark beach. The moon shone high in the sky, reflecting off the clear water.

“Never expected to find you here.”

The nameless man turned his blank stare toward a small light that fell from the sky. He watched as the light shifted and morphed, taking the form of a boy. He had spiky hair and a he wore a dark jacket with a silver lining and mid-length baggy pants. Around his neck swung a crown necklace.

“Who are you?” the man asked.

The boy took a few steps toward him and sat down on the sand. “Someone who’s been here before. And as someone who’s been here before, I can definitely say that you of all people don’t belong here.”

The man turned back to the sea. “How can you know that?”

“Because I know you,” the boy chuckled.

“That makes one of us. I don’t even know me.”

“You don’t remember anything?”

There was a moment of silence before the man responded, “I… have scraps. Bits and pieces of memories.”

“What are they?”

“I remember… being alone for a long time. I remember people, important people. They gave me something important... but I can’t remember what.”

“Do you remember me?” the boy asked.

The man looked back at the boy. I took a long hard look. Something did seem familiar to him but as hard as he tried he couldn't remember any details. Finally the man shook his head sadly, “I don’t--

“Held on a sec,” Getting off of the ground the boy turned to face him and held out his hand. In a flash of light, something familiar appeared. A giant metal key. “Do you remember now? When you used to travel with me?”

“I--”

“Look.” he said holing the key further out, “No matter what form I was in or what attacks we used. Whenever I summoned you, and whenever you fought by my side the first thing you would do was copy this.”

Memories began flashing in the man’s mind. Images and scenes from various places began to connect and form links. From those memories, more memories began to resurface. Memories of his past, his home and his friends. He even remembered who he used to be, the energy he exerted and the joy he brought to everyone around him. For the first time, he began to wonder what happened to that person.

“The magic never made you who you are. You are more than that, and this is the proof.” The boy held out his key and motioned for him to take it. “Here.”

The man hesitantly gripped it in his hands, “But I--” A soft light began to emanate from the grip.

“Take it. Use it to help your friends and discover who you are.”

The man smiled, the light in his eyes returned full force. “I finally remember.”

As the light grew to encompass them both the last that he saw was the boy’s bright smile.

~~~

Spike hopped from the top of the tower and held out an outstretched hand, “Dash!”

Hearing his call, Dash flew past and grabbed him out of the air. Flying him high into the air, she released him and sent him plunging towards the Jafar-Darkside in a blazing green ball of fire.

“Emerald Comet!”

The Darksides body transformed from black to red as it held up a single hand to stop Spike’s attack.

“M-more of Jafar’s magic is leaking through. It’s making the Darkside more powerful,” Aladdin said, struggling to stand. Twilight caught him on her shoulder and have him a teary eyed look.

“Don’t try to stand, you’re injured…. Also I--”

Aladdin held up a hand to stop her, “Don’t. Lets just stop Jafar right now.” Twilight wiped her face and nodded.

Both of them jumped when Pinkamena landed in front of the two and growled, “Look alive, ladies,” she spat, glancing upwards, “because all hell’s about to break loose.”

Glancing upwards, Twilight paled as the once small spiderweb crack in the lock now seemed to be on the verge of breaking completely. Bits and pieces of the sky began breaking away to reveal the darkness beneath.

Twilight tore her eyes away and turned completely around, “Jackie, Rachelle! The keyholes almost open!”

Dash quickly tried to reload her gun and resume her electrical onslaught, “We’re trying!” she screamed.

AJ switched from keyblade to gauntlets as she leapt up and punched two Darksides. Landing she scoffed at the sight of multiple heartless merging insides to replace the fallen ones. “These varmints are comin’ back faster than we can take ‘em out. Frankly, it’s startin to get on my nerves,” she spat, punching out another one.

Jafars laughter echoed out as the red Darkside blocked another one of Spike’s attacks, “It’s no use! Just surrender to your fates, you worthless...”

A small ray of light began to shine from the red Darksides chest.

“Ignorant…”

More rays of light, brighter this time, burst from the dark beast.

“Street rats!”

All at once a large ball of light exploded from the Darkside and shot into the air, destroying the Darkside completely.

Twilight watched the ball of light stop just under the keyhole. “Wha--”

A loud, energetic voice rang out from the light, a sharp contrast to Jafar’s malicious tone, “Street rat this! Street rat that! Centuries worth of time to think and you still can’t come up with something new? Come on, I’ll even give you a hint. How about shoeless. Oh what about Curly Cue? I know! Fez Head!”

Aladdin, having recognized the voice, looked up with wide watery eyes, “Genie?” he whispered.

The ball of light caved in on itself before exploding outwards in a large colorful explosion. A figure appeared in the middle of the explosion in a flourish of light and trumpet sounds. He still had his light tan skin and blue eyes, but he was leaner, and he had a head full of tied back black hair long enough to reach his waist. He wore a long blue open robe with no shirt and baggy blue pants with no shoes. In his hand was a long golden keyblade. It had a round blue handle with small arabic symbols written around it and a lamp without a lid acted that as the teeth. Swinging from the end was a small keychain version of a plain silver keyblade that he had been given.

“Y~ou know it, ol pal o’mine!” the man cheered. Taking in a deep breath, he took a look around, “Ahh it’s good to be back. Glad to see that nothing’s changed while I was gone. Same old darkness infested kingdom same old heartless, same old friends fighting for their… huh.”

The man pulled a picture down from his keyblade. On it was the picture of Agrabah as he knew it. The picture Agrabah was in perfect condition, his friends happy and cheerful. In reality Agrabah was overrun by darkness, his friends kneeling and exhausted. He looked from one to the other.

Perfect condition. Overrun.

Happy and cheerful. Kneeling and exhausted.

The man looked around with a blank look. “Well that’s not right…” he muttered. Turning around, he glanced above him at the nearly completely broken keyhole. Without batting an eyelid, the man pinched the middle of the keyhole and peeled away the entire set of cracks, leaving the entire keyhole unblemished.

Twilight gazed up in complete confusion, “Wat?” With the keyhole patched up the darkness that the Darksides pulled on evaporated and the stream of heartless that piled into the city ceased.

Turning around with a newfound smile, the man took stock of the situation. There were heartless in the city, several darksides that were still present, and a considerable number of small heartless in the courtyard. Spike, Twilight, Aladdin, Pinkamena, Dash, and AJ were here so that meant that Rarity and Shia were helping out in the city.

The man put a hand on his chin and nodded in understanding. Holding his keyblade high above, his head he closed his eyes in concentration. From the tip of his keyblade, a pulse rang out, then a flash of light that encompassed the entire courtyard.

As the pulse passed through Twilight’s body she felt a strange sense of irritation and displeasure. As it passed through Pinkamena’s body she felt a strong urge to switch back to Pinkie.

After the pulse and light faded. The man smiled and flew straight into the castle. Within a few seconds he returned with a small flashlight. Turning it on, he pointed it directly downward. Every heartless that got caught in the light instantly evaporated. Twilight watched as the tiny hearts flew upward and disappeared into the air.

Twilight stood up in surprise, “Did he just…” she trailed off as she continued to watch the man simply fly around and defeat heartless simply by shining a light on it. “....but that’s impossible,” she muttered.

Twilight turned on him with a shocked look, “What do you mean ‘what’? Look, he’s banishing them with a flashlight! I mean that flashlight is fine. I could enchant a flashlight to do that, but look!

Spike hopped over and landed next to them. “Look at what?”

“He’s freeing their hearts! Can’t you see it. Hearts are only supposed to be able to be freed by the Keyblade, but he’s doing it with an enchanted flashlight.”

“Oh common Twilight, don’t be so uptight.” Twilight looked up and watched AJ and Dash land next to the group. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth I say. If it weren't for whatever he did the keyhole woulda busted wide open.”

“Yea~h,” Pinkie wondered, “I wonder what he did?”

“Something that I’m about to do here.” Nearly everyone jumped when the man appeared behind them and huddled them together. “Watch this, it’ll be awesome. See all those heartless in the city?”

Everyone nodded.

“Presto.”

Everyone’s jaws hit the ground when they watched the man reach out an arm and literally flipped the entirety of Agrabah like a chalkboard. In fact just about everyone instantly put a hand to their head in pain. Their minds clearly rejecting what they saw.

Immediately afterwards the man began to wave his keyblade in everyone’s faces. “Ahah! Look, now I have one too! You see it. Mine’s cooler than your’s!” he taunted.

“Is that a challenge?” Dash threatened, instantly recovering.

Twilight shook her head to clear it before stepped up to examine the man’s new tool. “Genie that’s amazing! Where did you get it from?”

“An old friend who needs to update his wardrobe a bit. That’s all I’m saying,” the man answered.

“So? Cough it up, what’s it do?” Aj urged.

“Oh a little of this a little of that. A little of reality manipulation here and there. Little things.”

“Reality manipulation?” Twilight repeated. She nearly fell backwards when the man leaned in close to her face with a huge smile.

“Oh, I’m so glad you repeated!” Stepping back the man adjusted his reading glasses and continued. “You see, my keyblade is called the ‘Soul of Freedom’. It… Eh, you might want to write this down; we’ll be having a quiz later. It allows me to use a power called ‘Eternal Freedom’ that emits an area wild field. Inside this field, as you saw, there are no rules, laws, restrictions, or requirements unless I want them to be. While it’s activated, I temporarily have access to the sort of magic I had as a genie. Like this…”

Lifting up Dash, he peeled the rainbow from her hair and placed it on his own, giving himself a literal rainbow waterfall-like head of hair, while Dash was stick with slate gray. “There’s no rule that says this isn’t possible,” he gloated, flipping his hair excellently.

“That’s amazing!” Twilight cheered.

AJ whistled, impressed.

“Oh my gosh that’s so super cool! I wish I had that power!” Pinkie cheered, hopping up and down.

The man stroked his long rainbow beard. “Perhaps someday, young partyhopper.”

“Give me back my hair!” Dash all but screamed, trying her best to ignore Spike’s laughter.

As the group continued to be impressed by the man’s pranks Aladdin lifted himself up and took a struggled step towards the group. “Genie?”

All merriment stopped as the man turned to look at his dear friend. Several long seconds passed between them before the man ran over and hugged Aladdin.

“I’m sorry I never told you. I should’ve asked for help and I’m sorry,” the man whispered.

“It’s alright, I’m glad you’re alright,” he said, pulling away. “That is you right? You look different.”

The man scoffed and ruffled Aladdin’s curly hair, “Pa~lease. I’m the same old guy that helped ya out when you tried to lie your way through life, just with a gorgeous head of hair and sexy bronze skin. You don’t believe me?”

Aladdin chuckled, “No, I believe it’s you alright. How did you escape the darkness?”

“I met an old friend, and he reminded me of what’s important. Not my magic, but my friends and my purpose.”

The man was cut off by the sound of heavy breathing and sick moans. Everyone turned to see Shia and Rarity come through the castle gates, leaning on each other and looking unwell.

Shia moaned, cheeks bulging as if she was about to vomit. Rarity goaned, “I do not know what you all did… but please warn us next time…” With that both of them fell forward and passed out.

~~~

“Lets get this partay star~ted!” Pinke screamed.

Everyone cheered as they tossed the birthday girl into the air. “Pinkie! Pinkie! Pinkie!”

“Wheeeeee! Finally!”

After a few minutes of cheerful tossing and singing the group finally let the pink girls feet touch the ground.

“Noooo! I wanna keep going! Don’t stop,” she whined.

Dash put an arm around her and smirked, “Fine, but you know, the longer we do this the more the candles will burn.”

Having nothing to lean onto anymore, Dash ungracefully fell to the ground. Everyone turned on the spot to see Pinkie already sitting at the cake table. “What are you guys waiting for? Come on, I have like a thousand wishes ready!”

Everyone shrugged and stood around her. All at once they began to sing happy birthday, much to the girls immense pleasure. After finishing Pinkie immediately took in a huge gulp of air and blew out each and every candle simultaneously.

“So,” Dash began, “Which of your thousand wishes did you make.”

“Well, you know I’m not supposed to tell you,” Pinkie teased. She paused for a second before bursting out in giggles, “but I’ll tell you anyway!” she motioned for everyone to come closer, then closer, then closer until everyone formed a tight circle with everyone’s cheeks pressing against each other.

Slowly, Pinkies eyes trailed over everyone else’s before speaking, “I wish that Genie could remember his true name,” she whispered.

Aladdin opened his mouth to say something but nothing but air escaped when he, and everyone else, found themselves gripped in a tight hug by the man himself.

“Well wish granted, little lady! Because I do remember!”

“Yes! Birthday magic for the win!” she cheered.

Aladdin finally managed to extricate himself from the group hug. Brushing himself off he gave Pinkie an odd look. “True name? What do you mean?”

“Well, when I was trying to cheer him up he told me that he couldn't remember his name from before he was a genie. And that made a little sad because if I couldn't remember my name I wouldn't know what I would do or what I would want people to call me.” she turned back to the former genie with wide excited eyes. “But you said you remember right? What is it!”

Every eye in the room turned to the man as they waited for him to answer. Smirking, he cleared his throat, “Before I tell you that I have something more important to talk about,” he began in an uncharacteristically serious tone, “I’m leaving Agrabah.”

The room sat in shock silence before erupting in various arguments and questions.

“Wait, what?” asked Aladdin.

“What do you mean?” asked Twilight.

“Where are you going? asked Jasmine.

“Are you going to travel with us?” asked Pinkie.

“What will you wear?” asked Rarity.

The man put his thumb in his mouth and blew a loud trumpet noise that completely drowned everyone out. “Calm down ya babies. Now, like I was saying--Twilight!”

Twilight jumped, “Y-yes?”

“Is it or is it not true that people who wield the keyblade are tasked with keeping the balance between light and darkness?” he asked.

Twilight nodded, “Yes. it’s true. If--”

“Then is it also true that with amount of heartless that were released, the balance has been tipped?”

Twilight paused for a second, mulling it over, “I… suppose so.”

Aladdin stepped forward, “Are you going to come back?”

The man, stepped over to him and pulled him into a one armed hug, “Well where else would I stay, you guys have my bed. I’ll probably come back to visit every other few days or so.”

“You can’t ever stay in one place can you?” he smirked.

The man jumped high into the air, “No!”

“Come on! Enough stalling! I wanna hear your new name!” Pinkie yelled.

The man fell back to the ground and gave her a large smile, “I don’t blame you, my name is pretty awesome. I’m surprised I forgot it. My name is…”

Epilogue

Several months later.

“Run, Ahkem! Run!” cried a small boy as they ran through the back alleys of the slums.

The second boy that ran behind him tripped and fell. Out of breath and scared for his life he tried to get up, only to lose his balance and fall once more. “I… I can’t.... I can’t run anymore. Malik, leave me behind, get mother to safety!”

Malid turned back and hurriedly tried to lift his brother up. Looking behind Ahkem, Malik paled as he watched the strange dark bugs phase out of the ground and close in on them. “No, we need to go, I won’t leave you behind!”

Unfortunately it was too late the black bugs rose up from the ground in front of them, cutting of their path. Scared for their lives both boys began crying and holding each other.

The heartless closed in on them but passed when a familiar voice echoed out from nowhere, “Oh, look at the brotherly love!” One of the heartless reached up to it’s head and pulled down a zipper to reveal a dark skinned face beneath. “It warms my heart.”

All at once the man hopped out of his costume, grabbed his costume and beat each of the shadows with it. Once the last one dissipated the man whipped his costume forward and watched it morph back into his keyblade.

“And that’s that. Uhf...” Looking down the man noticed that the crying kids had clung to his legs out of fear. Smiling he leaned down and have them both hugs, “Hey, hey,” he said softly, “It’s all over. No need to get my pants all soggy now.”

The taller one, Malik, sniffled a bit, “Really? What about our mom?”

“Short? brown hair, big tush?”

Malik and Ahkem chuckled and nodded.

“Nahhhhh, she’s fine! Hey you guys wanna hear a story? It’ll cheer you up.”

The two boys wiped off the rest of their tears and nodded. The man stood up tall and motioned dramatically. “This,” he began, his voice loud and clear, “is the story of a new man finding his way. The story of travel and discovery, of friendship and magic. This is a story of a mission undertaken only by a chosen few!”

The two boys were already entranced by the man motions and excited tone. Images floated through the air, memories of the last few months taken directly from the man’s memory.

“This is the story of Sinbad!”

(Author’s Note)

I would love to kiss each and everyone who made it to the end of this horrible thing. That’s how much I want to thank you guys. I wanted to finish this sooner but stuff happened and now I’m 4 months late. I hope you all enjoyed this trainwreck through to the end. I had to fight through multiple writers blocks to finish this but now I can get back to the main two stories. As a special present for you guys who made it here, I have three things.

First is this picture that I made:

Second: The feelings you get from that picture.

Third: First look at my new story Days Long Past

Honestly, thank you guys for the attention.

Chapter 1

“Pinkie…” Twilight soothed, carefully moving closer to the pink party psycho, “please… put that down.”

Pinkie turned the gun on her, her arms still twitching and shaking, “Don't come any closer or I'll shoot! I'll have a party in here with your unconscious bodies if I have to!”

Twilight quickly moved back to the corner of the Gummy where everyone else had huddled in fear.

“B-be careful…” Shia stammered, Angel was on her shoulder, arms spread protecting her.

“Now don'cha go shootin that thing off in here! It’s dangerous.”

“Put that down before you kill us!” Dash yelled.

“NO! You all forgot my birthday!” It was true, ever since they woke up and left the previous world, Pinkie had been dropping hint after hint after strawberry flavored hint. She was proud to have finally remembered her own birthday, but was crushed when she noticed that everyone else seemed to have forgotten. Seeing them just act like they acted every other day eventually sent her over the edge. Stuff happened, and somehow she ended up with a gun in her hands and tears in her eyes, aiming both of them at her so called friends. Life, amirite?

“No, we didn't!”

“Yes, you did!”

Unfortunately, a certain half dragon chose that moment to stick his spiky green haired head into the cockpit. “Alright! Which one of you ate the rest of my cheetos!?”

Dash replied first. “Dude, who would even eat those spicy things? They literally catch fire in your mouth!”

Spike deadpanned in her direction, “Well tell that to the empty bag sitting on the counter.”

“Um… guys,” Twilight interjected. When both of them looked towards her she pointed at Pinkie who currently had smoke coming out of her ears.

“You!” she pointed at Spike, “Against the wall with the others!”

Spike deadpanned. “Yeeeaaahhh… no. I’m gonna go find my other bag of cheetos. Let me know how this works out though.” With that, he left the girls to their activities.

Without missing a beat Pinkie retrained the gun at Rarity. “Yes you did!”

Dash stepped in front of Rarity. “No! We didn't.”

Pinkie narrowed her eyes. “Prove it!”

Twilight stepped next to Dash. “Ask Maud where we’re headed.”

Pinkie pursed her lips in suspicion. “Maud?”

Current Destination: Agrabah. Calm your rocks, Pinkie, they didn't forget.

“Alright, so what?”

Twilight smiled slightly. “Don’t you know who lives there?”

Everyone relaxed when Pinkie tilted her head in confuzzlement and lowered the dangerous tool.

“Diane, darling, do you remember last year when you read that book on legendary figures?”

She thought about it. “Yeah, I remember begging Master Luna to take me to see one of them.”

“Do y’all remember who it was?”

“Do I?” she exclaimed, eyes sparkling, “He’s only the greatest, funniest, wackiest, all around magical comedian in all the worlds. Legend has it that he helped the old masters end the Dark Seeker era with the power of laughter! Not to mention he’s my personal hero!”

“Uhuh,” said Twilight, motioning for her to go on, “where was his homeworld?”

“His homeworld was some really sandy place, but what does… that... OHMYGOSHNOWAYNOWAYNOWAYNOWAY!”

Pinkie began bouncing herself all around the cockpit of the Gummy, springing from the walls to the floor to the ceiling frantically as she screamed. All of the girls looked at each other and giggled.

“Guess the secret’s out,” Twilight sighed.

“OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!”

Dash dodged Pinkie pie as she zoomed past her. “Awesome, cuz I have a question.”

“What is it, Dash?”

“The Dark Seeker got his but kicked ages ago, so how can Genie be still around? Is he, like, immortal or something?”

“Very good observation! He might be, but you see, Dash, every world has it’s own set of absolute laws and rules. Such as the law of physics, and the laws of time and space. Therefore, even though travel between worlds has become common place, with all routes open and easy to travel, each world retains an individual, unique, time flow.”

“Meaning?”

“Basically put, Agrabah has one of the slowest rates of time passage, if not the slowest. Even though centuries have passed for us, for them, it’s probably been around 20 or 30 years since the old masters first came to their world.”

Pinkie’s bouncing ended right next to Twilight when she sprang up and looked her in the eye. “THATS EVEN BETTER!”

Twilight rubbed the side of her head. “Yes, we were planning on having him appear at your party, if he’s willing of course. I would also love to know what the old masters were like.”

“OHHHHH, I loveLoveLOVE you guys.” Pinkie swept everyone up in a gigantic hug, easily squeezing them until they were the same shade of Rarity’s hair.

“Pinkie-squeak-Pie, I mean this is nice an-ugh- everything, but could you possibly.”

“LET US GO!” Dash screamed, finishing Shia’s thought.

Pinkie dropped them all, and began giggling. “Sorry, I’m just so excited to meet my hero! It’s gonna be soooooooooooo AWESOME!” In her excitement Pinkie aimed the gun that was still in her hands up at the glass ceiling, obviously about to shoot.

“NO!”

It was too late, the projectile bounced off the windows, off the wall and hit the floor in between Pinkie and the girls. It exploded and covered the entire cockpit in mountains of streamers, confetti, and deflated balloons.

Twilight sighed as she tried to untangle herself from the many streamers covering her body. “I knew I shouldn't have helped her make that handheld party canon.”

Dash thought of something and deadpanned in Rarity’s direction. “Rarity, why didnt you just use your magic to take it?”

“She would have simply brought out another one… I think.”

“Ahm pretty sure she only had the one.”

While they were arguing, Pinkie had already sat back down in the drivers seat of the Gummy. A maniacal smile spread itself across her face as she switched off the autopilot. Everyone felt the ship begin to speed up, eyes shrinking when they noticed who was at the wheel. Instantly, the girls desperately began to scramble back to their seat. However, they all found it extremely difficult to move through all of the party favors littering the ground and seats. Sadly, there were not able to strap themselves down in time for Pinkie to slam her foot down and zoom ahead full speed.

The group screamed as they slammed against the back door. Pinkie merely sank back into her seat and hollered in glee. Somewhere in all the madness, there was the sound of a bag ripping and angry goaning.

“I cant wait!” she screamed over the others, “I ACTUALLY GET TO MEET THE GENIE OF THE LAMP!”

~~~

A tall man wearing a royal set of white robes strode down the long hallway of his personal castle. His shoulder pads were flared out and pointed with his cape flowing behind him, both indicators of his high status. This was suitable, seeing as there was no one of higher status than the Sultan of Agrabah himself; Aladdin. He had cleanly trimmed goatee and curly black hair oddly topped with a small crimson fez that even after 20 years, he refused to take off. He choose to keep it as a reminder of his street rat origins.

Eventually, he found his destination, a large blue door that he could swear never stayed in the same place. He never paid it much attention because it would make sense when considering whose room it was.

He knocked a few times, “Genie, you in there? he called out. His voice had gotten noticeably deeper over the last two decades.

The door opened and the man was swept up in a crushing hug by a large blue skinned man. He was tall, wore no shirt and only had a small tied back tuft of hair on his head. “Hey there, Al old buddy, what’s got you suddenly visiting your old pal genie in this neck of the castle?”

Aladdin looked up in concern, ignoring the question. “Genie, is there something wrong?”

Genie’s grin laxed for a split second before he recovered and began to noogie Aladdin playfully. “Whaddaya mean, Al old buddy ol pal? I’m fine. No wait. I’m better than fine. IM DROP DEAD SEXY!” he said turning into what had to be the sexiest, most attractive man in the world.

Basically, it was just Genie but with large muscles. “See?”

Aladdin was unconvinced. “Listen, word around the castle is that you’re acting strangely.”

Genie raised one eyebrow, surrounding him was several large flashing signs. Each pointing directly at him and displaying some sort of message like ‘Look who you’re talking to.’ ‘Genie Here’. One even had a face, and under it read; ‘Ya don’t say??’. They poofed away after a few seconds. Eventually, Genie shook his head, and threw an arm around his friends shoulder.

“Al, Al, Al. Part of being unpredictable, is knowing when to be predictable.” He leaned in a whispered in his friend’s ear. “That’s how you throw them off.”

Aladdin didn't seem convinced. “No, not like that. I mean that you’re acting weird even for you.”

“Hmm,” he hmm’d stroking the long white beard that he had just decided to grow. “Tell me more about these rumors that are ohsoprobablynotreallytruefalse.”

“Listen, I don’t know how to explain it, but for one thing, we rarely see you anymore, here or outside. You don’t even let us know where you go. Not to mention the little things that have changed about you; for example instead of doing something crazy like becoming the door itself, you just opened it normally. I don’t know if it’s just me but-”

Aladdin stopped when he noticed that Genie had disappeared, and in his place was a cardboard cutout of him. Attached to it was a small note that read. “Guess what I am?”

Aladdin sighed. “Fine, I get it, but even if there really is nothing wrong with you. I’ve known you long enough that you can tell me anything.”

Genie gently sat a hand on Aladdin, he had a soft look of appreciation on his face.

Immediately, he swept up the smaller man in another gigantic Genie hug, crushing him against her suddenly grown bosom. Grandma Genie teared up and squeezed him tighter.

“Oh, look at you, all grown up and caring about your friends,” she cried, waterfalls falling from her eyes. She shifted Aladdin into a strong one armed hug and, using the other, put two of her fingers within an inch of each other, a small 1 year old Aladdin appearing between them. “I remember when you were only this big and I had to change your little lie lie diapers. They-sniff- they grow up so fast.” Genie dropped the real Aladdin, stretched the small one into a hankie that had baby Aladdin’s face, and blew his nose into it.

The real, adult Aladdin picked himself up, chuckling lightly. “I didnt lie that much,” he mumbled. “But seriously, I may not have phenomenal cosmic power,” he said, throwing his hands into the air, imitating Genie, “but I can still listen if you have a problem.”

All genie did was thrust a large white sign into Aladdins arms, reading, “I WORRY TOO MUCH!”

Genie shrugged. “Seriously, Al, do I have to write it on my forehead.” Pulling out a mirror and turning around, he actually tried to do so. “I swear, I could reshape the cosmos into a chew toy, but I can't write a backwards A to save my life,” he muttered, somehow managing to write the A upside down.

“Alright man,” he said, turning around and walking back the way he came. “I’ll get outta your hair. I’m taking some of the guard out on another search, can you watch Jazz and the boys till I get back?”

Through the mirror, Genie watched his concerned friend walk away. The second he turned the corner, Genie’s smiling face became one of sadness. Slowly, he opened his door and walked inside. “That Al’s just too sharp for his own good,” he sighed, looking back down the hall where Aladdin disappeared to. “I can’t keep going like this…” he said, shutting the door completely.

Abu screeched angrily. “OO, ooh ah!”

He jumped when, sitting on his bed, he saw two things. One was a small brown furred monkey, wearing a small purple vest and a similar red fez to the one his owner and best friend wore. The other was a living piece of floating fabric named Flying Carpet. Even without eyes or arms it still managed to cross it’s corners, and shake it’s head alongside the monkey who did the same thing.

“OHHHhhhhey there little buddy, didnt see ya come in. I mean seriously, say something next time. Nearly scared the blue off me,” he said, still trying to act like his normal self by having his blue colored skin melt to the ground.

Abu continued to glare at him.

Genie dropped the facade and leaned back against the door. “Yeah, I know, but I can’t just spring this on him, not when Jazz is bakin the third cookie. He’d probably go on some big ol’ journey to fix it.” As he talked, a glass of water appeared in his palm. Gazing into it Genie observed, a small ship. At the head if the ship stood a tiny Aladdin, pointing outward. On Aladdin’s shoulder, stood a blue parrot with Genie’s face. Sitting on the Genie’s beak was a glass of water with a tiny ship in it. The entire thing poofed out of existence almost immediately after being conjured, rendering this prolonged description pointless.

“Ah, Ahah ah oo,” Abu screeched worriedly.

Genie looked down and sighed. He sat down on the ground and leaned back against the door. “I have been looking for a way, but everyday it get’s harder. Doesn't help that I can’t think straight when I’m looking.”

Abu and the Magic Carpet both came over and comforted the blue man they’ve both known for so long.

Chapter 3

Dash stared at Aladdin, jaw currently sitting somewhere on the ground the ground. “You’re the king!?” she asked as they moved down the Agrabarian streets.

In the presence of their ruler everyone eagerly waved, cheered, bowed or sent smiles Aladdin’s way. It was plainly obvious that he was extremely important.

Aladdin raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Pretty sure I said that I was.”

“Yup.”

“He does have regal flair about him.”

“Yes it was fairly obvious,” Twilight added.

“I knew it! I knew it!”

“Ah didn't really think that much about it tah be honest.”

“Even you, Shy?” Dash whimpered.

“He was dressed like he was important, so I just assumed….”

“Oh come on! How was I supposed to know. All I saw was a dude with a stupid hat waving two swords around. I mean, Spike can do that much! I thought kings just sat on their thrones and barked orders.”

Spike looked at her, unsure whether to be offended or not, “Umm... ow?”

Aladdin glared at her. “I like this hat; it’s cool,” he muttered. “Also, I’m not that kind of king. I enjoy fighting alongside my men knowing that I can keep my citizens safe with my own weapons.”

“Always an admirable quality in a king. As well as in a husband,” a smooth, melodiously accented voice rang out.

Everyone, including Aladdin, turned to see three forms; one tall women who was absolutely stunning. She had long silky black hair, full lips and figure that could put professional models to shame. Next to her stood two small boys wearing red and blue vests and the same poofy white pants. Said boys immediately ran up and glomped their father.”

Aladdin leaned down and hugged his children. “Ali, Hamid! What’s up? Been good?”

The two boys looked up and Twilight realized that they were twins, identical children. In fact, they looked almost exactly like Aladdin if he were 30 years younger.

The one wearing the blue vest spoke first. “Nope!”

The one wearing red mimicked his brother action. “I stole an apple!” he exclaimed, almost like it was an achievement.

“They sure are… honest children,” AJ whispered to Rarity.

“Well, normally that’s a good thing. But they’re in trouble now.”

“Hahaaa, well done!” Aladdin laughed and ruffled his kids hair causing Rarity to flinch in shock. “Were you caught?”

*SMACK*

That was the sound of Rarity ruining her make-up by slapping her palm to her forehead; mumbling something about terrible parenting. AJ and Dash both nearly fell out in laughter.

*Whap*

The slap fest wasn't over, because the strikingly gorgeous women from before gently slapped Aladdin upside his fez covered head, causing him to grunt in pain.

“What have I told you; stop teaching our kids to steal. And you two!” she said, grabbing the two kids that tried to escape. “What have I told you about listening to your father!?”

“Not to…” they mumbled simultaneously.

“That’s right, now run back to the palace while I welcome our guests.”

The kids turned and ran back the way they came. No one noticed when one twin casually snatched a fruit from a nearby stand. Everyone was too focused on what was happening to their Sultan.

Shia nervously glanced at all the sets of eyes looking their way. It was bad enough that she was both a stranger and a foreigner, but now she was next to the two most important people in the kingdom. Both of whom were making a scene right in the middle of the bazaar, the busiest, and most populated place in the kingdom. Needless to say, it was a bit too much for the shy girl. “Umm, shouldn't we get to the palace now… please?” she mumbled almost inaudibly to the girl who was right next to her.

“Yeah, yeah,. In a sec, this is getting guuud,” said Pinkie, munching on some popcorn. Next to her stood Dash doing the same thing. Where they got it from was anyones guess. But one thing that someone could make a guess at, was whether or not they invented popped corn for the people of Agrabah that day.

Twilight wasn't paying attention to the lovers spat, instead looking around and taking in the culture of this world. She eagerly moving around inspecting the stands full of food and jewelry. Meanwhile, Spike found a weapons dealer and began inspecting his wares. Rarity eagerly took in the scene before her with her full attention. Her inner gossip laughed at how juicy this was. In the middle, AJ watched with almost detached interest, only watching because there was nothing else quite as interesting to look at. Agrabah didn't have many apples in stock that day.

“I told Genie before I left,” Aladdin answered nervously.

“I haven't even seen the Genie lately.”

“Well I saw h--”

“Regardless,” she interrupted, “you should have told me personally. I worry when you and some of the guards just up and disappear. I almost feel like you just want to get away from me sometimes,” she said, her face softening to a mix of concern and sadness.

The nearby guards began to look slightly ashamed, mostly for allowing themselves to go along with their Sultan’s whims.

“I sorry. I didn't mean to worry you, I just wanted to solve this problem as fast as possible. Plus, I would never want to be away from you,” he said, looking her in the eye.

She met his gaze, their eyes locked onto one anothers. “I know, but I still would like to know that you are safe.”

Aladdin took his wife into a tight embrace. “Hey you know me, I’m always fine.”

“I know,” she said lovingly, returning the hug.

Almost everyone around them, including Rarity and Pinkie, coo’d and awe’d at the loving sight. Dash stuck her tongue out in disgust, a few pieces of popcorn falling out during the action. “Do they always do this? It’s like a friggin chick flick.”

“But… Rainbow, you are a girl,” Shy asked as she too smiled and let out a soft ‘aww’.

“Yeah, but I still don’t like it.”

A small peddler with a large turban and black-grey beard appeared next to the two girls, causing them both to jump. His mouth was spread in a creepy smile that unnerved the girls.. “Well you better get used to it, they do this every week or so.”

“Seriously?”

He nodded. “Indeed, though it’s usually something different; but as it is, it always ends the same way.”

“Wonderful…” she groaned.

After prying the two lovebirds apart and shooing away the spectators, Dash had finally got the group back on track to the castle. The only problem, was that they had to track down Twilight who had already covered an extensive part of the Bazaar and bought numerous items.

“So, Aladdin, are you going to introduce me to your guests?” the women asked sweetly.

“Oh, right,” Aladdin began, “Jasmine, these are keyblade masters in training. They’ve come to visit our world to meet the Genie, and they’ve also agreed to help us with our problem. Keyblade wielders, this is my loving wife. Jasmine.”

“Woah hold on! You didnt even--”

“Of course we’ll help you, Right, Dash?”

Dash grumbled in annoyance but noded anyway. She really thought that she was going to get a vacation.

Aladdin rolled his eyes and continued. “Anyway, would you all like to give us your names?”

“My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“Spike D'Draco.”

“Sparkle.” Twilight corrected.

“D'Draco sounds cooler.”

Twilight turned to him slightly miffed. “That’s the name she gave you. It would make me happy if you didn't use it anymore.”

“Yeah I know, but you gotta admit. The name’s pretty bad ass.”

“Be that as it may I would appreciate that you return to the use of your maiden name.”

While Spike and Twilight continued to debate Rarity gently grabbed the rulers’ attention. “Terribly sorry. Their just having a little sibling spat at the moment. let me continue. I am Rarity Belle, it’s a pleasure.”

“I’m Pinkamena, but you can call me Pinkie Pie. That’s Rainbow, but she doesn't like being called that, that’s Jackie, and over here hiding behind the pink hair is shy little Shia!” Pinkie finished, introducing everyone else.

Afterwards, Twilight nudged Spike back to the forefront. “Hello my name is Spike Sparkle. Nice to meet you,” he said as oppositely of enthusiastically as possible.

Jasmine clearly saw the discomfort in the boys eyes. “ It’s alright I think those are very nice names. I like them,” Jasmine answered.

“That’s not my real name you know!” Dash tried to point out.

“Rachelle, please, the queen is talking.” Rarity chided.

“So, are you the ones who crashed in the desert? I could see it from the palace balcony.”

“Oh, Oh, I know this one! Pick me! Pick me!” Pinkie bounced, arm stretched into the air.

Jasmine giggled and pointed at the happy girl.

“Okay! Well we were just coming back from this awesome world with the talking cards and mean queen who was like ‘Off with her head!’” she said, deepening her voice in a bad impersonation. “When I realized that I remembered that today was my birthday! So I waited and waited and waited and waited until I started to think that my friends forgot my birthday. But I was like nahhh and I kept waiting and waiting for like a whole hour after we left and I realized that I couldn't take it anymore and I freaked out on my friends. They told me that they were headed here to meet Genie so I could have a party with him for my birthday present! I was sooooooo excited! So I turned off the autopilot and ZOOMED forward full speed, buuuuuuuut I couldn't pull up in time and I crashed into the desert,” she finished sheepishly.

Jasmine began giggling long before Pinkie finished her story. By the time, she finished the group had already made it back to the palace. “Well, that was certainly an interesting story.”

“I could understand your excitement anyway.” Aladdin nodded.

Dash jumped in front of Aladdin. “Oh no, that is NOT an excuse. This like, the 6th time that she’s crashed the ship! Twice on the same world!”

Both Aladdin and Jasmine turned with blank expressions toward at the girl who at least had the decency to blush under Dash’s true accusation. “I… uh… get carried away sometimes.”

AJ passed her and stepped into the palace. Scoffing as she passed her, “Sure… sometimes.”

Once in the castle, Aladdin turned and welcomed them to the large palace. After some searching around the girls all found comfortable spots while Aladdin left with Pinkie to go see if he could find the Genie, and Jasmine went to check on the boys.

Twilight, like the predictable bookworm she was, instantly gravitated toward the library in hopes of finding some information on the world’s history; and silently promising herself that she would ask about the old masters the next chance she got.

Shia dragged a reluctant AJ to go see the elephants sheep camels and other animals. Dash had already began challenging the guards to one on one duels, no wings of course, and Rarity instantly made friends with the castle stylists and fabric weavers. Spike went and disappeared on his own. Everyone settled into their own corners, eagerly waiting for the arrival of the party master and the birthday girl.

Dash had just defeated the 10th guard when Pinkie burst through the door to the palace training room. “Guys! Genie isn't here right now so we have to send out a search party!”

“Pinkie, I’m the only one here right now. The others are scattered around the castle.” Dash quickly dodged a surprise attack from a guard that she was fighting. “Too slow, Jack!”

“My name is Jinad!”

“Right now it’s 'Jack' until you can hit me!”

The now irritated guard charged at her, but stumbled when Pinkie popped up between him and his target with her back to him. “Dashie, you can play with your little friend later! This is important; we need to find Genie!”

“Okay, where is he?”

“I don’t know, that’s the point, we need to go find him!”

Dash calmly put a hand to calm on her shoulder to calm her down. “Pinks, how are we supposed to find a near omnipotent magical genie. He could be anywhere in this world. Even Aladdin said that Genie comes and goes. I think that it’s best that we just wait for him.” Dash moved past the now whimpering girl and faced the guard, keyblade pointed at the collection of guards. “Alright, which Jack is gonna fight me next!?”

“Hold on, what about me?”

Dash waved him off with her keyblade. “Eh, I’m bored with you now.”

Pinkie, on the other hand, stormed away, determined to search this town for her target. Birthdays only lasted one day after all, and she was going to have her’s today even if it killed somebody.