"I can't believe we were ever friends!"
"You big meanie pants!"
"You're not allowed near my pets again!"
"You disgust me!"
"Why don't you do the world a huge favor and fall into the Realm of Darkness?!"
"You see? Nobody cares, and they never will. If you disappeared, nothing would change. Everyone would be perfectly happy if you never even existed."
"..."
"Goodbye, 'Plen'. Please leave, and don't come back."
You wake up from your nightmare, but you weren't startled, by now you were used to the same night terror night after countless night. You crawl out of the box you were sleeping in and view your surroundings; you were in an alleyway somewhere in Canterlot City, you don't know exactly where, just that Canterlot High School was half a mile away from where you were. You came back after a long journey and prepared yourself for this day: the day you get your revenge on the students of CHS.
Today was supposed to be the quad-yearly Friendship Games, you scoff at the title, nothing has ever been friendly between CHS and Crystal Prep, the two schools that compete. Then again, nothing was friendly about Canterlot High after you left, you began to think if anything changed while you were gone, but shake your head in dismissal and disbelief, you made the mistake of opening your heart to friendship and allowing people in, only to get hurt, it's a mistake you won't make ever again. You look up into the sky and noticed the sky was being covered with dark clouds, you hoped it would storm, giving your return a more ominous feel.
Deciding that you've stood around doing nothing long enough, you pull the hood on your black coat over your head and walk to school.
Only this time, it's your former friends who are about to be schooled.
Shortly after arriving, you had just witnessed the rise and fall of Midnight Sparkle, a being born from the darkness of Twilight Sparkle, a student at Crystal Prep. She was defeated by Sunset Shimmer, who, somehow, harnessed the power of light. You couldn't believe this, Sunset Shimmer, the biggest bully in all of CHS, was the hero? Seeing this farce made your blood boil inside of you, but you kept it repressed, not wanting to go all out until the time was right.
After the bright light died down, Sunset and Twilight, with their hair messed up, stood before the students of both schools with the latter looking regretful.
"I am so sorry," Twilight said as tears escaped her eyes, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"I know." Sunset smiled genuinely, greatly unnerving you, "And going by my own experiences...they'll forgive you."
Sunset took Twilight's hands in hers and they both smiled, but you saw right through it.
Now was the time to make your move.
"LIES!!" you scream, making everyone in the vicinity gasp in shock and turn your way as you point an accusing finger at Sunset, "You're not worthy of forgiveness!"
"And why is that?" Sunset asked, confused.
"Why? Why?! WHY?!" you were trembling in anger, unable to hold it back as darkness began to shroud you, "During your little blackmailing spree, you stole everything from this school, EVERYTHING! Including its people! You're nothing but a Queen of Thieves, sitting alone on your stolen throne!!"
"How dare you?!" Rarity said, "What gives you the right to speak to our friend that way?!"
She and the rest of your former friends stepped forward, glaring at you.
You just chuckled, "Are you THAT desperate for friendship that you blackmail these girls to be your friends?"
"But Sunset hasn't done any of that in a long time!" Pinkie said.
"It sounds like you know us." Fluttershy theorized.
"Of course I do, after all..." you pull your hood back, making the girls shocked, "...I am your former friend."
"...Plen? Is that you?" Applejack asked.
You scowl, "Don't call me that. I cast that name aside years ago. My name...is Empty Abyss." you hold out your hand and summon something nobody would've ever thought you'd have.
A Keyblade.
"You...have a Keyblade...?" Applejack asked, breathlessly.
You pointed your Keyblade at Sunset, "It's time to settle the score: The Queen of Thieves...versus The Hero of Darkness!"
You readied your battle stance and charged forward.
"THE NIGHTMARE ENDS HERE!!!"
To truly see the end, one must first start at the beginning.
Kingdom Hearts: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
by Golden Flare
Chapter 1: I Walk A Lonely Road
"Agh!"
You grunt in pain as you fall on your back, looming over you was a certain arrogant magician with a Keyblade.
"Fool! You should know better than to mess with The Great and Powerful TRRRRRIXIE!"
You sit up and scowl at your attacker, "All I did was take the last peanut butter crackers!"
"Exactly!" Trixie whacks you in the face with her Keyblade, knocking you on your back again, "Peanut butter crackers is Trixie's favorite snack! And YOU should've known better!"
Trixie leaves you as you try to pick yourself up off the floor. Ever since Sunset came to Canterlot High, things have been difficult for you; you keep being attacked for ridiculous reasons, being picked on for not having a Keyblade, and a lot of other stuff. You stumble into the nurse's office to get a check up after your most recent attack, and amazingly, even the nurse had a Keyblade of her own.
"Heal!" the nurse said as she cast Curaga on you, the pink bellflower appearing above your head and sprinkling green healing light, "There. That should do it. Now then, are you sure nothing happened?"
"...Yeah, I just fell, Nurse Redheart."
She frowned, she knew all too well that you were being bullied and that Sunset Shimmer was the cause of it, but she had no proof; you wouldn't say a thing and the witch herself was extremely good at covering her tracks, so all she could do was patch you up and send you back to class or send you home early. After your business with Redheart was done, you left for lunch as she sighed.
"Plentiful...why won't you stand up for yourself?"
Before you could make it to the cafeteria, you heard sounds of a struggle, you decided to check it out, then immediately regretted it; before you was Snips and Snails bullying poor Derpy Hooves with their Struggle Bats, since they can't wield a Keyblade of their own, thankfully. Derpy tries to fight back with her Keyblade, but acts like she doesn't know how to use it.
"I can't believe a ditzy dope like you was chosen by the Keyblade!" Snips mocked.
"Yeah! We should knock you silly for failing to be real person!" Snails added.
"But...I..." Derpy was on the verge of tears.
Before you could intervene, Snips lashed out with his Bat and knocked Derpy's out of her hand and over to where you are. Deciding that enough was enough, you picked up Derpy's Keyblade, wielded it backhanded, and just as Snails was about to strike her, you rushed forward and blocked him, feeling some momentum going, you also spun in a corkscrew towards them with the blade out, knocking them down and the Struggle Bats out of their hands, you involuntarily initiated Counter Rush.
Snips and Snails stumbled up as they picked up their useless weapons, "C'mon, Snails, let's get outta here!" Snips said, fearfully.
Snails nodded and turned to you, "Wait till Sunset Shimmer gets ahold of you!"
With that, they ran off, leaving you and Derpy alone.
You turned to her and held your free hand out, "You okay?"
Derpy nods and takes your hand as you pull her up, "Yes, I'm fine." her eyes brightened up, "That was so cool how you did that!"
"It was?"
"Yeah! Are you sure you've never held a Keyblade before?"
"Positive."
Derpy was the only one in CHS who didn't hate you, because she was going through just about the same problems as you, only worse; people mocked her for her disability, her ability with a Keyblade, not to mention the fact that it's a weird looking one, and just downright push her around, figuratively and literally. But not you, you saw her as another victim of Sunset's influence, and you two became quick friends ever since. The bell rings and students start entering their classes.
"Well, I gotta go, see ya Derpy."
"See ya later!" she called as she waved enthusiastically.
You chuckle, other than Pinkie Pie, Derpy always brightened up your day. You join your classmates in English and began listening to the lesson.
So, bad news time: Sunset caught wind of you handing Snips and Snails' butts on a silver platter, as in knocking them senseless, so now you gotta steal an Orichalcum+ from Rainbow Dash, which you partly mind. Why partly? Well, Rainbow and the girls, your childhood friends, turned their backs each other after some nonsense about lying, ingratitude, and the inability to take things seriously, you could easily tell this was Sunset's doing, but had no proof to back it up, so they abandoned you as well once Sunset started spouting false rumors about you, and even now they make it an every day occurrence to make sure the fact that they hate your very existence is clear.
That being said, you have no problem with stealing from a complete traitor, the only thing you have a problem with is who you're doing it for and against your own will.
Anyways, during Rainbow's gym class, you snuck into the girl's locker room, picked the combination lock to Rainbow's locker, and swiped her Orichalcum+ before trying to put everything back as you found it. How did you know she would have one, one would ask? A lesson for Rainbow: next time, don't go parading your rare belongings all over school. You had just managed to sneak out when gym class had finished, and ran as fast as you could, but you didn't get far when you heard her scream.
"PLEEEEEEENNNN!!!!!"
That was enough to double time it to lunch and act like nothing was wrong. As you did so, Rainbow barged into the cafeteria, made a beeline to you, and slammed a hand on your table.
"Where is it?!"
"Where's what?" you pretend not to know.
"My Orichalcum+, you locker room sneaking pervert!"
Everyone gasped as you chuckled, "...And where's your proof?"
"The only proof I need, is that you're the only one who could've done it, traitor!"
That struck a chord in you, this hypocrite has the nerve to call YOU a traitor? "Me, a traitor? Look at the pot calling the kettle black!"
"What're you saying?!"
"I'm saying that YOU are the traitor, Rainbow CRASH."
Everyone gasped even louder at that, knowing Rainbow's childhood nickname greatly ticks her off. She looked at you in shock, then anger.
"...Take that back..." she said in a dangerously low voice.
"No." you deny.
"Take that back!"
"You freak, never!"
"I said... Take. That. BACK!"
The students all around us were chanting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" And Rainbow seemed happy to obliged them. Stupid traitor doesn't even get the fact that she's only doing this because SHE wants to.
"What's going on here?"
A newcomer came up to you two, wondering what was happening, you knew this guy to be CHS's resident darkness user, the only one who stood up to Sunset Shimmer and won, but what you didn't know was his name.
"None of your business, punk! This is between him and me!" Rainbow shouted at him, her eyes never leaving me.
"I told you that I didn't take your stupid Orichalcum+, why would I need it?!" you shouted back.
"Liar! You obviously took it! You're jealous of my Keyblade and you want to use it to get one just like mine!" Rainbow spat. You knew this to be not true, it took more than Orichalcum+ to get a Keyblade. And you sincerely doubt her Keyblade could even be upgraded.
"Ha, was that a joke?" you laughed, "Why would I ever want a Keyblade like yours? It's like the dullest thing I've ever seen! Makes sense though, dull Keyblade for a dull Wielder!"
Everyone had gasped yet again, you had obviously touched a nerve. Rainbow's blood was really boiling now.
"Alright punk, you asked for this..." She said as she extended her right hand, and summoned her Keyblade.
"YOU NEED TO BE PUT IN YOUR PLACE!!!" she shouted as she swung her Keyblade at you, making you embrace for impact. Before you knew it, the newcomer dashed in between you and Rainbow, and called forth a weapon of his own, blocking her attack.
"Stop this, Rainbow!" he yelled, using great force to push her back, and making her jump back a little, "You know we're not allowed to use our Keyblades on non-wielder students! Stand down!"
You couldn't believe it as you stood there in shock; someone was defending you, of all people.
"I warned you, stay out of this!" Rainbow said, pulling her Keyblade to her front, lowering her chest for more Speed Power. It seemed she wouldn't listen to reason. She was too angry.
"It seems we're going to have to do this the hard way," he spoke as he got ready to fight, raising his sword above his head, while extending his right hand at Rainbow, tensing his fingers to look like he were holding an invisible orb. Seeing that a duel was about to start, the crowd backed up a bit to give the two of them some room.
The battle didn't last very long and as Rainbow started to reach for her Keyblade, the newcomer knocked it away from her, pointing his sword towards her face. "You lost, admit defeat," he said with authority. With a scowl on her face, she pushed away the sword and slowly got to her feet, clutching her stomach.
"This isn't over!" Rainbow threatened, "Now that I know what you really are, I'll be ready!" And with those words, she left the cafeteria, most likely heading towards the Nurse's Office. Looking around, he saw that people were staring at him wide eyed, a flicker of fear within them.
"You're still here?" he asked the crowd, "The duel's over, go back to your business." Seeing that the fun was over, the crowd dissipated, allowing him to put his sword away and walked over to you, asking to see if you were okay.
"I'm fine," you said, dusting off your pants, "Oh, and thank you for saving me."
"No problem," he responded, but then asked, "So, what was that all about?"
You jumped a little, "Oh, that? Sunset Shimmer wanted me to steal an Orichalcum+ for her, said it was for upgrading her Keyblade. She said she would do something awful to me if I didn't."
"Sunset's behind this?" he asked and you nodded your head. "I see. Well, kid, do you know why I use the powers of Darkness when no one else will?
"No."
"It's because, people like Sunset, are only as powerful as you let them become. If you let Sunset frighten you with empty threats, she'll only gain more power, and soon she'll have this school in the palm of her dark hand. If you want change, you have to do something about it. Even if the rest of the school doesn't agree with you. Even if you end up getting frowned upon for it, as long as you follow your heart, you know you've done the right thing. That's why I use Darkness, because that is what my heart tells me. So, what does your heart tell you?"
You brought a hand to your heart, trying to look deep inside yourself for an answer.
He simply chuckled, "Welp, I'll let you think about it. By the way, what's your name?"
"Me? I'm Plentiful Happiness. Plen for short. What's yours?" you asked back.
He smiled, "My name is Nightfall. Nightfall Abyss."
You smiled, "Well Nightfall, I'd like you to have this, as a sign of our friendship," you pulled out the Orichalcum+ you had stolen, and placed it in his hand. He promised you that he would put it to good use. Then you two shook hands, and went your separate ways.
But one thing was nagging at you.
The Orichalcum+.
And now you gotta find a new one to replace the one you gave away.
Sunset Shimmer was NOT going to be happy about this.
...At least you finally had a friend.
Author's Note
A large part of this chapter was adapted from King Camelot's Kingdom Hearts: The Road to Darkness.
