Riku's Tour of Ponyville
The sun began its ascent into the sky by Celestia's power, bringing the morning to the kingdom. The wedding the previous night was one to be remembered through all of Equestria, a royal wedding nearly taken over by an invasion by a strange group of insect-pony creatures called Changelings. Everyone would want to have some security measures set in place in case there were any stragglers that had been flung out of the capital city, so they can prevent anymore possible invasions.
The light from the glowing star shone into the opened window in Riku's guest room, shining down on the teen's face. He rolled over, averting his face from the sunlight, wanting some more sleep after stayed up longer than he should have last night. As soon as he rested his head back down on the pillow, the scent of strawberry cotton candy struck his nostrils. Though it was pleasant, the smell wasn't there before when he headed for bed last night. Squinting his eyes open, he stared at a pair of blue eyes on a pink body, the creature way too close around his personal space. His eyes opened wide as he saw Pinkie Pie laying next to him.
"Good morning, Riku!" the pink earth pony greeted cheerfully.
"AHHH!" The pegasus leapt back out of his bed, falling off the mattress and landing hard on his head.
Pinkie slowly peered over the side of the bed, Riku groaning as he began to slowly wake back up. "You ok?"
"...What were you doing on my bed?" he asked. "And how did you get in here?"
"Well, duh. The door." Pinkie pointed at the doorway, which Riku couldn't see in the position he was in. "You know, if you wanted to sleep in, you should have locked the door."
"I did lock it," Riku grumbled.
"Huh. Guess you didn't LOCK lock it." Riku sighed in annoyance and rolled on his hooves, cracking his neck from crashing on his head. "You know, cause you have a Keyblade like Sora and Kairi? And it can be used to lock and unlock anything?"
"I got it. Now, as a word of warning-" The teen grabbed Pinkie by the tail, opened the door to his room, and threw the pink earth pony out into the hallway. "-don't do that again."
"How else was I supposed to wake you up for breakfast?" Pinkie asked, completely ignorant of Riku's twitching eye and annoyed glare.
"Knock on the door, not scare the heck out of me by laying next to me in a bed." He slammed the door shut, ready to get back to bed as it was too early to wake up or have breakfast. Before he reached the soft mattress, he quickly backpedaled and opened the door with a frightful expression, seeing Pinkie still where he last tossed her. "...You didn't do anything to me while I was asleep, did you?"
"Nope! Just said, 'Good morning, Riku!', and then you screamed and fell off the bed!" The mare grinned, a squeaking sound ringing in the teen's head as she smiled at him like an innocent child.
"...Ok then." He closed the door again, though he didn't head back to bed. With his mind finally waking up, he couldn't fall back to sleep when Pinkie's little wake-up call spooked him. He was desperate to know what made that pony tick, but at the same time, he didn't want to know. Riku put his vest back on and opened his guest room's door again, Pinkie still sitting there, as if she knew he was going to come out at some point. "...You're kind of scaring me...and I don't know if I should be afraid of something that's completely pink and acts like a little kid."
"So, does that mean you're coming down to have breakfast with the rest of us?" Riku dumbly nodded, fearing another random jump scare from Pinkie's instantaneous appearance out of thin air. "Hooray! To the dining hall!"
Pinkie bounded down the corridor, Riku slowly following after her, trying to tell himself exactly what Sora had warned him about her. "Just ignore whatever Pinkie Pie does...Sounds more impossible than fighting back against the darkness..."
After eating the bountiful breakfast fit for royalty and loyal guests of the rulers of Equestria, it was time for the heroes of the kingdom to leave and head back home to Ponyville. Sora and Kairi convinced Riku to stay and see the town, take a little vacation from traveling around the worlds and fighting Heartless day in and day out. There was a big lack of Heartless in the other worlds for the past few months, and with the excitement from the wedding and the invasion, he could use a little break. It took a while to convince him, and by convince, Riku was given the sad puppy dog eyes by the three little fillies, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, and Pinkie Pie, guilt tripping him with those big eyes to have him stay.
While the others took the train, Riku headed down the mountain to his Gummi ship and flew it down to the small town in the distance. He spotted his friends' ships parked out in the open in a field far from the Ponyville and parked it alongside theirs. With his vessel out of sight from any other pony, he made his way into town and searched around for the train station to wait for his friends. The train from Canterlot had arrived right on time, the Mane Six, their families who had showed up for the wedding, and his two friends walked out of the cars, Sora wearing a big smirk on his face as he and the Crusaders approached him.
"I hate you," Riku said. "Using three little ponies and Pinkie to do that to me. That's cheating."
"Tugged your heartstrings, huh?" Sora nudged his annoyed friend's shoulder, the fillies smiling innocently. "You got a soft spot for cuteness, Riku. Don't deny it."
"I went along with this because of her." Riku pointed at Pinkie, the party pony waving her hoof wildly at him. "I'm afraid if I didn't, she would find some way to pop up in my ship and cause it to crash on a moon. Several thousand miles from any nearby world. While struggling not to die from irritation."
"You'll warm up to Pinkie after a few days...or weeks. She throws a pretty good party, and you may want to be alert for one in the future." The moment Sora gave Riku the warning, Pinkie zoomed off into town to plan out a certain party for a new friend. "Speak of the pony devil."
As they left the station, the girls went about their business, leaving Sora, Kairi, and the Crusaders to give Riku a tour of Ponyville. The first place to look at first was where Sora had been residing since he arrived in Equestria: Sweet Apple Acres. As soon as they caught sight of the mass expanse of apple trees in the orchard, Riku just stared at the thousands of trees that stretched on for over a mile.
"Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Where mah family owns and runs the farm, sellin' the freshest and tastiest apples ya ever sunk your teeth into!"
"And judging by most of the apple-based food at the reception yesterday, I assume those same apples that made them came from this orchard." Sora and Apple Bloom nodded, Riku taking their word for it as he looked back at the vast orchard. "And...you're the only ones who take care of all the thousands of trees?"
"We do, but Sora does a lot of work to help us. He's even stronger than mah big brother for bein' so scrawny." Sora tussled the yellow filly's mane, making her giggle as he messed her red hair and her pink bow up.
"And you three are more trouble than you look." Their tour soon took them out to the western side of the orchard, where the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse was. "And out here in this section of the orchard is where Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo hang out for their Crusaders meetings."
"'Crusaders'?" Riku asked.
"We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Scootaloo spoke up. "We're on a never ending quest to find our cutie marks!"
"...What is a cutie mark?" Sora began to snicker, knowing how awkward it will be for his friend to find out what a cutie mark was.
"I think you've seen it already," Kairi said, pointing at her flank, showing him her Keyblade and white heart cutie mark.
Riku took the hint and looked at his own flanks, now knowing why there was a picture of his Keyblade etched permanently on his rear end. "...Oh...That's what this is...What exactly is the purpose of these...'cutie marks'?"
"Cutie marks show a pony's true talents and appears when they find it," Sweetie Belle explained. "And for us to find out what our talents are, we do a bunch of different things to see if we can get our cutie marks!"
"Like taming a manticore!" Scootaloo shouted, giving out a poor example as Sora stopped snickering.
"No! No manticore taming! Nothing dangerous, you little daredevil!" Sora scolded. "Can you think of anything that doesn't involve you three getting into deadly encounters with creatures that come from the Everfree Forest?"
"...Nope!" The tan pegasus groaned and hung his head in exasperation.
"You're going to drive me up the walls, Scoots," Sora grumbled.
"Are these three really that bad?" Riku asked Kairi.
"You have no idea," Kairi said. "When Hearts and Hooves Day came around, a holiday similar to Valentine's day, these fillies tried to make a love potion for Apple Bloom's brother and their school teacher. It turned out to be a poison, and Sora and Twilight drank it by accident, turning them into lovesick idiots who couldn't look away from each other. The only way to break the cursed creation of alchemy was to separate them for an hour...and the result was me getting badly beaten by Sora trying to get information on where his...'shnookums' was."
Riku felt his spine shudder in disgust. He may not be a lovesick romantic, even if he would like to know what being in love felt like, but giving awkward nicknames like that to someone was just embarrassingly cringe worthy.
"I'm surprised you two didn't break up after that." Riku watched the Crusaders and Sora, the fillies spouting out random ideas to get their cutie marks, though many of them involved something too dangerous for them to do, alone or with a chaperone. "I'm guessing I'll have to help watch what they do and stop them if they go too far, huh?"
"Yup." The two continued watching as Scootaloo suggested another dangerous activity involving a hydra, prompting Sora to noogie the pegasus filly's head hard to get his answer through her thick skull.
As the tour guides gave Riku more sights to see in Ponyville, the white pegasus stallion wasn't all that amused with the town. Out of all the worlds he's been to, Equestria was a lot more like a little girl's fantasy come to life in his opinion, though it made sense when Sora told him how Kairi freaked out the first time she came here. He was surprised to see she was this calm now, though seeing his best friend for the last half year and being in this world several times would possibly drown out the frantic little girl inside her.
Their next stop was at Rarity's boutique, where they met up with the fashionista busy with her orders. Riku dreaded being in a clothing store with all of these differently designed dresses, though there were a few suits for stallions on display, though not many and too elegant for his tastes. Rarity had been working on a little side project with her new fashion line and showed it to the Keyblade wielders. Taking inspiration from Sora's clothing, she made a line that matched his exact clothing design, though they were all in different colors, in sizes for adults and foals, and even a blank patch on the back if anyone who buys one wants to add their cutie mark sewn into it. The Crusaders acted as models for the smaller jackets to show off their functionality: Sweetie Belle in a light lavender, Apple Bloom in a bold red, and Scootaloo in a dark azure. With how well known Sora was, anyone who knew of him and were big fans of his would surely buy one and wear something that matched the heroic teen's clothing, sans the Drive Form enchantments that his has. Unfortunately, the fillies didn't get a cutie mark as runway models, to their dismay.
Next was at Fluttershy's cottage outside of town. All of the timid pegasus mare's animal friends scurried about in and around her home, taking care of them after she had been gone to Canterlot for the wedding for a whole week. At least some ponies were kind enough to feed them while she was out, and they were all pretty happy to see their caretaker again. But out of all the animals, her pet rabbit, Angel, immediately disliked Riku the moment their eyes met. Sora could sympathize with his friend, the little white bunny not as cute and fluffy as he appeared to be. It was a surprise to seeing an actually grizzly bear in Fluttershy's home, and quite shocking for Riku to know that he isn't all that dangerous and was really tame. Not many of the animals seemed to come close to the silver-haired teen, possibly sensing his darkness, even though it wasn't a threat to him or others any longer.
The sun was about to set as they headed back into town, on their way to Sugarcube Corner for something to eat. Riku was completely neutral on the tour he was given, though he did admit Equestria was peaceful if they took out the sudden, life-threatening moments that had occurred.
"You're gonna like what Sugarcube Corner has in stock," Sora explained to Riku, the Crusaders and Kairi having gone on ahead after they left Fluttershy's home. "Applejack and her family may grow the best apples, but the Cakes bake the most delicious pastries you could ever eat."
"I'll take your word for it. Just as long as nothing has any flowers or grass in them." For breakfast back in Canterlot, the silver-haired teen never knew that some of the food laid out for them was made of edible flowers, hay, anything that herbivorous creatures mainly eat. Surprisingly, it was oddly delicious, though he wouldn't want to make it a habit to try them all with his body's odd taste palate. "I'd like to at least retain what humanity I do have while I'm here."
"Well, you can't eat meat, so that's a downside," Sora agreed. "But I don't mind it."
"Being here for nearly a year, and you don't mind eating grass...You're the weirdest friend I've ever made." The long time friends laughed as they nudged each other. The gingerbread house shaped building was in sight, the two pegasi walked through the door, but there was a lack of customers inside. In fact, the lights were off too, the bakery slightly dark as the last rays of sunlight shone through the windows. "Why are the lights out? I thought you said the place was still open."
The lights suddenly turned on and almost all of Ponyville popped out from their hiding places all around the front of the house. "SURPRISE!!!!!"
"Surprise!" Pinkie said as she was the last to pop out. "Darn it!"
Instead of being surprised, Riku just stared at the ponies in confusion. There was confetti hanging along the rafters, sweets littering the big buffet table on the other side of the room, ponies he had never met before having jumped out to try and startle him, almost like some kind of birthday party, when it actually wasn't. He looked over at Sora, the pegasus grinning at him like the others.
"...What is happening?" Riku asked.
"It's a surprise party!" Sora said. "Remember when Pinkie ran off earlier? She was getting your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party all set up. I did warn you."
"And good thing he didn't believe you!" Pinkie exclaimed, having somehow appeared next to Riku. The white pegasus yelped and leapt into his friend's forehooves, staring at the random mare that managed to teleport from behind the counter and appear next to him when he didn't blink. "Were you surprised, Riku!?"
"...I'm more surprised by how you keep managing to do that!" As soon as he realized who he was holding onto, Riku looked down at Sora, his friend smirking at him. "...Wipe that grin off your face."
"You're actually scared of Pinkie Pie? She's harmless!" Riku growled, leaping out of Sora's forehooves.
"Well, at least he was surprised about something." Pinkie put a white and black striped party hat on the guest of honor's head, the stallion sighing in annoyance. "Now, let's party!"
The party planner zipped over to the phonograph, setting the needle down and played some music for the party goers. Soon, everyone began to either dance to the catchy song, conversing with others while also eating the variety of snacks laid out for the party, having a good time as they welcomed Riku. Riku, however, wasn't the kind of person to enjoy parties, especially one that seemed a bit too childish. He took off his party hat and laid it down on a nearby table, feeling embarrassed wearing the festive cap at his age. Sora and Kairi didn't seem to care, though the two were a bit more outgoing than he was.
While some of the other ponies greeted him, which he returned with a little less enthusiasm, Riku approached the punch bowl and poured himself a cup. After getting his drink, he grabbed a paper plate and filled it with a bunch of random assortment of goodies, then proceeded to the back of the party to munch on his chosen snacks. He wasn't alone for long as Twilight noticed him acting like a wallflower, uninterested in Pinkie's party.
"What are you doing over here, Riku?" the lavender unicorn asked. "You're not enjoying the party?"
"I'm not really much of an outgoing partier, but it's not that bad." He took a bite of a cupcake, enjoying the crumbly texture and sweet icing giving the pastry some flavor. "Sora's more of that kind of person than I am. I just hang out with him and Kairi, and our other friends back on Destiny Island."
"Oh. I see," Twilight said. "What's your home like?"
"Didn't Sora blab enough about every other world he's been to?" Riku asked.
"Well...First, it was more our fault forcing him to tell us when the Summer Sun Celebration came around last year. Things were a little...crazy as soon as I moved here." The mare giggled at the wild first day in Ponyville that she had, along with having Sora around to make things more strange. "And second, he only explained he was from another world. He didn't give much detail on where you, he, and Kairi came from, or what the other worlds were like aside from any he had mentioned based around holidays."
"...And you want to know what the islands are like?" Twilight nodded. Riku sighed and finished the cupcake, taking a small sip of the strawberry punch. "Not really much to talk about home. We don't exactly live on what we call Destiny Island. It's just a small island not too far from the coast where the town is. It's just a small hangout where we've heard legends of the tree on small island platform with the paopu fruit."
"That same legend that brings the hearts of two ponies together, intertwining them forever?" Riku nodded in agreement. "It's a weird legend...though it did come true for Sora and Kairi. Even though...what he did to save her..."
"...Yeah." Riku remembered that moment, being forced to watch through his own eyes as Ansem took full control of his body back in the clockwork castle that was in Radiant Garden, formerly known as Hollow Bastion.
Riku and Sora clashed blades in front of the technicolored gateway that would complete Kingdom Hearts and unleash more powerful Heartless in the world in the grand hall where the princesses were held captive. The Heartless taking complete control of him, Ansem, had crafted a black Keyblade, forged by the six other princesses' hearts to take Kairi's, held safely inside Sora's. All the teen could do was watch, feeling guilty and regretting ever acting like he had, terrified of the power controlling him. Both sides had fought heavily, Sora sporting several bruises from the swift impacts Riku's darkness had given him.
Eventually, the spiky-haired teen managed to avoid his quickest and dangerous attacks catching Riku-Ansem off guard and knocking him into an unbreakable combo. With one last, hard strike, he flew back and disappeared, dropping the dark Keyblade, though he didn't retreat. Instead, he hid in the shadows and watched, overhearing Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they hovered over Kairi. Sora tried to lock the gateway, but because it was incomplete without Kairi's heart, it won't close.
"...It's not working," Sora uttered. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"Maybe we need to wake up Kairi," Goofy suggested.
"Right...but how?" Sora looked down at his chest, placing a hand over his and Kairi's heart. Riku felt Ansem smirk, intentionally being defeated and left that dangerous Keyblade on purpose. He tried to break free from the Heartless's hold, but his darkness was far too powerful for him to escape. Sora looked back at the black Keyblade lying on the ground behind him. "A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts..."
"No! Sora! Don't do it!" Riku shouted, but his words couldn't be heard.
He was forced to watch as his best friend approached the Keyblade and held it in his hand. Donald and Goofy tried to reason with the teen, but their words fell on deaf ears. Sora turned to his new friends and grinned at them, taking the black blade and plunging it in his heart. His chest began glowing as his heart was released, the Keyblade shattering and returning back to the six hearts of the other princesses down below, flying back into their rightful owners. Sora's heart floated over to Kairi's unconscious body, entering her chest and waking her from her comatose state.
Riku didn't want to see anymore, but Ansem forced him to watch. Sora began to fade away as he slowly fell back, Kairi quickly getting up on her feet as she watch him disappear. She ran up to him to catch him, but he faded into dozens of bright sparkles, slipping from her fingers as they floated up to the sky. His best friend had died, bringing Kairi back, and the corrupted teen was responsible for causing all this pain to her, Donald, and Goofy.
Everything around him went silent as Riku fell to his knees in the dark abyss of his heart that was now his prison. Sora had cared about him and Kairi, and he was too stubborn to realize he was telling the truth. He just killed himself, gave up his heart for the girl he loved, his guilt building as he began to fade into the darkness. Ansem soon made himself known in his real form, using his body as a host after lying to him about growing stronger if he embraced the darkness. He was about to kill Kairi, hearing his voice echo that she was of no use to him. Growling, his body began to glow as he used what remaining light that was in his heart, hoping to repent to his friends and keep Kairi safe from harm. For Sora.
While he was lost in the past, Riku's eyes finally noticed a lavender hoof waving in front of his face. "Riku? You ok?" Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked over at Twilight, who seemed worried. "You look like you spaced out for a moment."
"...Oh...Sorry...Just...thinking about...the past." He stuffed a cookie in his mouth, though the small pastry didn't help keep his mind occupied with the horrible mistakes in the past.
Twilight could tell he was hiding a lot from the nervous expression on his face, almost like how she seemed whenever an important test popped up unexpectedly or pressured to find a way to fix a problem. "The bad moments?" Riku ceased his chewing, though the answer was obvious as he looked down at the floor, looking a bit miserable. "...But, that's all behind you and Sora, right?"
"...Maybe...but you can never forget what you've done, no matter how long it takes for it to be nothing but dust in the wind," Riku said, brushing some of his bangs away from his eyes. "Sora's always so positive about everything. He never gave up on me when I was against him and listened to everything Maleficent told me about him, he kept searching for me even when I didn't want him to, and when we defeated Organization XIII for good, he believed we would find a way out of the realm of darkness after being trapped in The World That Never Was..." He looked out at the dance floor, watching Sora and Kairi dancing together to the music that still played, though the song fell deathly silent for him. "I sometimes wonder how I can have a friend like him when I really don't deserve to be his friend."
"I thought the same thing." Riku looked over at Twilight with a questionable stare. "I was also tricked by Maleficent, and I almost got Kairi killed."
"...That witch has been here?" the pegasus growled. "What happened?"
"...Well, before Kairi arrived...I was friends with Sora when I officially stayed here in Ponyville," Twilight began explaining. "After we stopped Luna, who was Nightmare Moon when she came back, Sora had...saved me from several things back then. I thought he was annoying at first because of his outgoing and hyper personality, but he was a lot more heroic than I thought...I had a crush on him, but, since I was so new to friendship during that time, I had no idea what to do to try to...tell him."
"You had a crush on him?" Riku asked, unable to believe someone like Twilight would like someone as hyperactive as Sora.
"Yeah...I know. I'm over it now though," Twilight nervously giggled. "One day, I grew a bit confused over what I should do when I had my very first slumber party in my life, and Sora, Applejack, and Rarity were a part of it by a dangerous lightning storm keeping them in the Golden Oak Library with me." The stallion raised a brow, questioning why the unicorn, at her age, would think of having a slumber party when she was now at adulthood. "...I've been focused on my studies and magical skills all my life! Don't judge me!
"Anyway, while playing 'Truth or Dare', he chose Truth and I asked him if he had a marefriend. It was a yes and no answer, and he told us about what he did to save Kairi that day." Twilight felt herself tear up, remembering every single detail Sora had explained with his noble sacrifice for the Princess of Heart. "After hearing that, I was so confused. He still loved her, and I didn't want to take somepony away from another after something like that. Soon, Kairi actually came down to Equestria and reunited with him after they haven't seen each other in months, but I began to grow jealous of her, thinking so many negative thoughts against her.
"Then, the next day, while I holed myself up in my room, scared of what I had been thinking, that's when Maleficent appeared." The unicorn swallowed the lump in her throat, recalling the evil witch's words, the spell cast upon her to unleash her pent up frustrations, and attack both Sora and Kairi when she was denied her desires. "I became...something else. I watched everything my body did, controlled by a darkness in my heart I never knew...Kairi saved me, and they both forgave me, even when I shouldn't deserve their friendship." Twilight let out a sad laugh as she looked at Riku. "I'm still a complete novice when it comes to friendship, but Sora seems to be an expert on it. I don't know what any of us would do without him."
"...That's true..." They both looked back out to the party, the dance floor cleared out as Sora played against Rainbow Dash in a game of Twister. The tan pegasus had his body contorted in a twisted form with his hooves placed on the assigned, though the cyan mare over him was struggling to stay standing with her limbs in random spots. Many of the party guests cheered for Sora, the teen not breaking a sweat as he was given his next move. "I envy Sora sometimes. He's a barrel of laughs, cocky and arrogant, and he's not exactly the brightest out of us. But what I'm jealous about most is his personality. Always being optimistic, loyal to his close friends. A perfect best friend to have."
"RIKU!" Pinkie shouted as she appeared next to Riku again, startling the pegasus as he leapt away, accidentally ramming into Twilight and sending the two tumbling over each other. "Wow, you're more easy to spook than Fluttershy. And she's supposed to be timid."
"How the heck does she keep doing that?" Riku grumbled, untangling himself from Twilight, the unicorn mare having wound up on top of him while he was on his back. "What do you want?"
"You've been hanging out in the back of the party when you should be in the center of it! Show Sora a thing or two about flexibility and beat him in Twister!" Ignoring any complaints he might have tried to voice, Pinkie grabbed Riku's vest and pulled him out into the middle of the circle. She ran back to her place as the spinner, making the white pegasus plop down on the game mat, opposite where Sora stood. "Ok! Time for a good match between two bestest of best buddies!"
"...I'm never gonna get used to her, am I?" Riku asked.
"Nope, but I know I can kick your butt in a simple game like this," Sora taunted, though his words didn't bother him.
"You couldn't even beat me in a race." Pinkie spun and called out the first color and which hoof for Riku, the teen stomping his hoof down on the assigned spot as he stared Sora down with a determined gaze. "You'll lose every single time, just like when we were kids."
"Oh yeah? Bring it on!" Pinkie called out Sora's move, the tan pegasus stomping his hoof down on his spot as he leered back in the friendly competition.
As the party dragged on, Riku began to like his welcoming party, if only a little. During the little game of Twister, he manage to triumph over Sora, being far more flexible than he was, despite the skinny frame his friend had. He didn't really join in the dancing, though he did like the music, just standing around and talking with his new pony friends, though he steered clear of Pinkie Pie, knowing she could probably annoy him to death with a tangent. Even though his past mistakes still haunted him, those thoughts would always be quelled whenever Sora snaps him out of his dreary mood, helping him look forward to a positive outcome than dwelling on his dark actions of the past. He couldn't have been more lucky than to have a friend like him in his life, forever promising his best friend to be a better person, with or without him around.
Far to the frozen wastelands up north in Equestria, a constant blizzard blew down upon the land. Walking through this dangerous snow storm was Maleficent and Pete, the witch unaffected by the buffeting snow with her inner fire magic while the minion shivered violently, his snot frozen down his nostrils as his hooves shuffled across the few inches of snow littering the ground.
"W-W-W-Why are we o-out h-here in the c-c-c-c-c-cold!?" Pete complained. "I-I-I thought w-we were gonna -f-f-find someplace n-nicer!"
"If we are going to have ourselves a base to go to if we are ever in peril in this world, then we have to distance ourselves from any civilization where Sora and his friends could hunt us down." Pete tried to keep up, though his body didn't want to function properly, his limbs starting to shut down from the blistering cold, despite his fur and outfit trying to keep him warm. Maleficent climbed up the snow banks and stood at the top, staring in fascination at a gleaming city made out of crystal before them. "Ahhh...What have we here?" Pete crawled up to the top, still violently shivering as he looked down at the crystal buildings down below. "It looks like a kingdom of pure crystal. How interesting."
"G-G-Great. L-Let's hope there's w-w-w-warmth." Pete began to make his way down to the perimeter of the area, not caring if anyone sees him as his body demanded a fire, or a sauna.
Before she could walk down herself to take the castle as her own, the witch froze as she felt a dark force emanating around the crystal city. The power brought a chill down her spine, terrified at the overwhelming darkness that came from whatever was seeping out the power. Her equine ears perked up when she heard a low, demonic growl echo throughout the land, drowning out the harsh winds of the blizzard around them. Using her magic, she levitated her staff in front of her loyal minion, dragging him back to her.
"Did you feel that?" she asked, surprising Pete with how scared she sounded.
"F-Feel what? M-M-My body's all n-n-n-numb," he said.
"Then did you hear that growl? Your ears should still function, you idiot." The growl echoed around the land again, Pete hearing it this time as he began shivering more in fright than freezing cold.
"W-What was that?" Pete asked.
"...There's something lurking out here...It's power is...unimaginable..." Maleficent looked down at the crystal buildings and palace through the snow blurring their vision. As much as she would want to liberate this kingdom as her own, whatever was out there was probably thinking the same thing as she was. And if they had to fight it, even with Heartless fighting for them, the level of darkness from what monstrous creature that resides in this icy wasteland was far stronger than anything the witch had ever dealt with. "...As magnificent as this palace may be for a new kingdom of darkness, I don't want to know what's out here. If there is anything that actually lives down there...they won't survive..."
The duo quickly head back down the steep snow bank, getting far enough away from the land cursed by the powerful monster that haunts the kingdom. Through the blizzard, a dark mist began to rise up from the snow, though it was faint as if it was barely strong enough to stay floating in midair. A pair of red eyes appeared, the sclera green as purple mist seeped out from the sides. The strange mist growled as it weakly floated around the land, slowly regaining the strength it had lost as it looked out to the kingdom.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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intresing setup for season 3 episodes
I really like this story and love its concept but...this is probably the weakest chapter yet. I don't know, the last few chapters with the wedding and everything were great but this...there's way too much Pinkie in this chapter. It feels like Riku barely got to see Ponyville because most of the time is him getting annoyed by Pinkie or the CMC...maybe I like this story too much that I expect too much from it. Sorry...
7367299 Yeah, I know.
I have a ton of schoolwork to do for this month in college, which is why this chapter was pretty bad. It's filler for the next season's episodes anyway, so I just go meh.
Life destroys creative juices in my brain.
7367512 Naw, its cool dude. I didn't mean to bring you down, I was just saying I thought you used Pinkie way too much in this chapter. Sorry if I made you depressed, I didn't mean to.
7367517 Nah. I knew it was a bad chapter with all the delays I made. But Pinkie makes everything better, right?
Don't worry! The next set of chapters should be good!...if my schoolwork doesn't drag me down...
7367747 Take your time pal. Go at the pace you want. You make awesome stories you know!
7367785 I'm not sure if you've read my Pony Fantasy X fic before it got revoked. Curse those darn copyright rules when if comes to copying a story, but replacing the characters of that story with MLP characters...And my first one I actually posted...Well...
That'll be up to you if you like that one with all the dislikes it has. And it's an original I made
I'm also planning on making a sequel to that, though I don't know when I'll really release it. Just be warned of the tags if dark stuff isn't your thing.
It is rather a rather interesting situatiin that Maleficent is scared of Sombra.
Maleficent scared of Sombra is something new. the only one with darkness that scary is Xehanort. but it is also a good call back as well since considering Riku has endless fights against the Darkness that would try to control him since to him, getting control by the darkness means he will get controlled by Ansem and that is something Riku fears. but even if it is a fear, he has to keep facing it til Xehanort is defeated once and for all. and I have a strange feeling that Twilight might somehow be of some help. but overall, I look forward to see how Twilight, Sora, Riku, and the others deal with King Sombra. be funny if Riku has to be the one to fight him and keep him busy til the crystal heart can destory him, but the Crystal heart having a strange effect on Riku cause of his Darkness.
Never thought Maleficent would fear Sombra darkness
Pinkie you have got to stop getting into bed with stallions you just met!
8693173
I'm Sure Xehanort Would Be Terrified Of Sombra As Well.
Maleficent And Xehanort Have Emotions.
They Can Feel Fear.