//------------------------------// // Onward to Canterlot! // Story: Kingdom Hearts: Friends of Harmony // by indigohue //------------------------------// XII Onward to Canterlot! Author's Note: (So, this chapter was supposed to come before the Valentines Day Special so keep that in mind while reading this chapter you guys. My bad about that.) The room was pitch black. It was dark enough that one was not able to see their hands in front of their face. There was only one little glimmer of light and it was in the form of a pendant that was a around a certain girl's neck. As the pendant around her neck grew brighter, she noticed that around her in the darkness were hordes of dark creatures lurking after her. Petrified from this sight, she was not able to move one muscle. As the dark creatures crawled towards her closer and closer, the girl feared that this would be the end, until a bright flash of light illuminated the entire room, and what stood in front of the girl had amazed her. It was a majestic lion that had appeared in her path. Before the girl could say anything, the lion started to growl at the darkness, and he was able to eliminate the darkness with one single roar....... "grrrrrrrrrrrrr.....RRRRRRrrrrrrooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!["/i] Fluttershy quickly opened her eyes and jumped straight up into the air. She found herself in an unfamiliar bed as she started to look around to see where she was, but the one thing that quickly caught her attention was the purring that she kept hearing coming from the edge of the bed. She crawled to the edge of the bed and saw something that caused her eyes to go wide. I- I can't believe it...is that a lion!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Do you like him?" Sora said as he stood at the corner of the room. Fluttershy had jumped a bit from the fact that she wasn't expecting Sora to be right there. "Oh, Sora it's you." "Umm, why were you standing right there?" "Well, you know I.....was just.....worried, about you Fluttershy," Sora said as he looked off to the side of the room. Fluttershy's face became bright red as she tried to hide it with her hair. "You were worried about me?" "I-I mean everybody was y'now, you and Sunset going through all of that had to be something tough," Sora said as he tried to maneuver his way out of what he had just said. Fluttershy looked up at Sora at the mention of Sunset. She remembered that Sunset was with her too when they were captured. "Sunset, she was with me too, where is she?" Sora looked down to the floor at the mention of Sunset. "You see, something happened with Sunset , and she's not taking it that well." "What do you mean, what happened to her Sora?!" Fluttershy exclaimed. Sora grabbed her by the arms at an attempt to calm her. "Fluttershy, relax, something happened to Sunset, and she became like this demon monster when Vanitas, the guy who kidnapped you two, put dark magic inside of her." "She's.....not taking it so well, and neither is anyone in Ponyville." "What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked. "The way that some of the townspeople looked at her was...terrible," Sora said. "They totally forgot that she was their friend, and just saw her like that." "It happened again..." Fluttershy said. Sora looked at her in confusion. "What are talking about Fluttershy?" "This happened before a while ago, but it was an alternate world, mirror portal fiasco when she became that form and she tried to take over the alternate world, and everybody was terrified of her," Fluttershy said. "Are you serious?" Sora asked. "Mmmhmm, but Twilight had stopped her and showed her that all she needed was friends to show her the way," Fluttershy said. "Then she moved back to Equestria form the portal and basically started over here again, and having all of this happening again, she must be feeling awful!" "I didn't know about all of that," Sora said. "Where is she now?" Fluttershy said. "She's downstairs with everybody else," Sora said. Fluttershy got out of the bed, and as she tried to jump off, Simba had caught her on his back. "Simba, what are you doing?" "Look at that, you are good with animals," Sora said. Simba started to walk Fluttershy downstairs with Sora following right behind them. As they made it down to the living room, everyone looked and saw Fluttershy riding on Simba. "Fluttershy, you're okay!" Rainbow said as she started flying towards Fluttershy. Simba immediately stopped her as Simba started to growl at Rainbow. "Woah, relax cub no need to get feisty." Simba wasn't backing down at all from Rainbow. Fluttershy started to pet Simba's head to calm him down. "Simba, it's okay, she's a friend." Simba immediately calmed down at Fluttershy's words. "Simba everyone in here is a friend, there's no need to be afraid." "He's afraid?" Spike said. "He's a ferocious lion for Celestia's sake!" "That doesn't mean that he's not a little bit uncomfortable," Fluttershy said. "He's in a world that he doesn't know, seeing people that he never met." "I guess that makes sense," Spike said. Fluttershy started petting the lion once again. "He's just a big lovable lion, and there's nothing wrong with that. "Plus, he's the king of his own pride, so he's kind of a big thing," Sora added on. "Well I'm glad that you're feeling better Fluttershy," Twilight said. Fluttershy started looking around the library to see all of her friends, but they all had melancholy expressions on their faces. "Why is everybody so down?" She looked again and noticed that Sunset wasn't in the room. "Where's Sunset?" All of the girls had worried expressions on their faces as soon as Fluttershy had asked her question. "You see Fluttershy, Sunset, well she's uhhh," Twilight said as she couldn't find the words to say. Spike couldn't keep it in any longer as he shouted throughout the entire library. "Sunset's not here! We don't know where she went. She started talking about how she wasn't a good friend, how can a demon like her have any friends, and how it's her fault that all of this happened." "Spike!" Twilight said. "Sorry, but someone had to say it," Spike proclaimed. "We don't know where she went," Applejack said. "This whole situation is just terrible." "I see.....poor Sunset," Fluttershy said with pity in her tone. Roxas looked up at her in confusion. "Really, that's it that's all you can say?" "One of your closest friends just walked out of here without even telling us if she's okay or not, and all you can say is 'I see'?" Fluttershy stood there in silence over the words that Roxas was saying. Simba started growling at Roxas, and before things got out of hand, Sora had stepped in front of the ferocious lion. "Hey, Roxas , relax ok?" Sora said. " Relax......most of those people outside of here, who were 'Sunset's friends' are turning on her because of what Vanitas did to her, and you guys aren't even worried!" Roxas shouted. "We are worried Roxas!" Twilight said. "Then why aren't you doing anything," Roxas proclaimed. "Because she won't listen to us," Rainbow said. "No matter what we say, and no matter how many times we'll tell her it's okay, she's not going to believe us when everybody saw her like that!" "To someone like Sunset, and with what happened to her in the past, how do you think she feels right now?" "She probably feels as if everyone is looking at her differently than before," Rarity said. Roxas tried his hardest to hold in his anger over the situation, but it was to no avail. "So that's it, that's all that we're going to do?" ".......Fine." Roxas immediately walked towards the door without saying another thing to anyone else. Twilight turned around to try and stop him from leaving. "Roxas, wait!" Roxas looked back at her with a cold stare in his eyes that stopped Twilight from doing anything else in that specific moment. He then proceeded to walk outside of the library, without saying another word. **** Outside of Ponyville, there the stood the Everfree Forest, home of many different things that are not normally found in the fields of Equestria. From different plants to different people. Even different monsters from beyond the realm of the gods themselves. "And this is where a monster like me deserves to be," Sunset said to herself. Sunset started walking through the entrance of the Everfree Forest as visions of that moment kept replaying her head over and over again. A Few Minutes Ago Sunset was walking through the main area of Ponyville not looking at anything or anyone. She was tense, and she felt as if everyone was staring at her. She started hearing murmurs, and those murmurs turned into whispers, and those whispers turned into unbearable sounds that she could not get out of her head. She felt as if she was losing her mind until she heard a loud scream. Sunset looked in front of her to see a child in her way. "It's the monster! She's trying to hurt me!" "No, that's not true, I wouldn't do that," Sunset said. The child started running away in what seemed like an eternal road. She tried telling the child that she would never do a thing such as that, but as she tried catching up, the child just kept getting farther and farther away. What replaced her attention from the feeling child, were the numerous whispers that she started to hear from bystanders. "Isn't that the demon girl?" "Yeah, what is she doing here?" "I don't know but she better do us all a favor and just leave." Sunset started to put her hands around her ears to block out the sounds but it didn't help in the slightest. As she slowly started slipping into paranoia, she started to hear someone started to call her name. "Sunset.........Sunset..........SUNSET!" Sunset snapped out of it as she looked around to see who called her name. Her eyes maintained focus on the only person who she knew that had called her name. "....Roxas." Roxas was panting as he started to walk towards her. "Sunset...I've been looking fo-" "Don't come near me!" Sunset said. "What are you saying Sunset?" Roxas said. "I'm sorry, but I can't be around you, or anyone of our friends," Sunset said. "I'm nothing but a monster, and a monster like deserves to be in only one place here." Sunset started surrounding her body with magic as she started to teleport herself away. "Goodbye Roxas." Roxas couldn't say a word as Sunset had teleported away. Roxas started to think about what she had said to him. "Sunset.....what is wrong with you? A monster like you? Only one place here?" "The only place that I can think of here would be......" Roxas stopped talking as he started running towards the only place that made any sense onto where Sunset could have gone. As Roxas runs out of Ponyville, he starts making his way over where he might be able to find Sunset. As he started getting closer to his destination, Roxas began to slow down his pace. What stood in front of him was the only place that he could think that she would have ran off to, the Everfree Forest. Present Time As Sunset walked through the forest, she started contemplating everything that was going on. What Vanitas was trying to do to her. He was trying to take her light away by using his dark magic, and by doing that, he showed everyone what she truly was. "Why did this happen to me?" "I'm nothing but a monster in everyone's eyes......but that's not the real me." "It doesn't even matter......I don't deserve to be around anyone. Not Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow, none of them.....not even him." **** Roxas went deeper into the forest in search for Sunset. "Come on Sunset, which way did you go?" As he continued through the forest, Roxas spotted something that was red. "Hold on, is that what I think it is?" Roxas started to run towards the red and yellow object, and as he got closer, he recognized that it was Sunset's hair. As he was getting ready to confront her, he stopped as he noticed that she was doing something unfamiliar to him. Sunset started walking through the forest as she began to sing. (Sunset) Look at me.... I do not deserve to be your side I am just a bother Could it be I'm not meant to play this part? Now I see that if I were truly to be myself I would only lose my heart Sunset continued walking through the forest until she laid her eyes upon a lake and decided to look in it and what she saw was a reflection of her demon form. (Sunset) What is that thing I see Staring straight Back at me Why is my reflection someone I.... Don't know..... Sunset proceeded to throw a rock at the reflection, causing it to ripple throughout the lake. (Sunset) Somehow I cannot hide What I am Though I've tried When will my reflection show who I am Inside...... Sunset then went to an old tree and decided to lie on the trunk of the beaten tree. (Sunset) When will my reflection show Who I am Inside...... Sunset rested her head on her legs as she sat there next to the tree. "Maybe it'll show once you stop picturing yourself in that way," a certain someone said. Sunset eyes shot wide as she looked up and saw Roxas in the forest as well. "Roxas, what are you doing here?" Roxas looked at her with a nonchalant expression. "Really, well, one of my friends is describing herself as a monster, and she did so with a beautiful song, that's the problem." Sunset just looked down at the ground. "But it's true. Everything about me is true. I have nothing but evil in me." "That's not true!" Roxas shouted. "Look Sunset, I know what it's like to be treated like the bad guy, trust me." I've done and been through bad things and through it all, I lost two good friends because of something just like this, and I don't want you to lose eight great ones." "Eight great friends?" Sunset asked. "Yes: Twilight, Rarity,Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Spike, and Sora," Roxas named. "But where does that put you?" Sunset asked. Roxas looked directly at her at she asked that question. "In actuality Sunset, you mean more to me than just a friend. I can't really describe what this feeling is but, I only feel it when I'm around you, and that means something to me." Sunset started blushing from Roxas's words as she tried not to look at him directly. "You really shouldn't things like that if you don't mean them." "I meant every word Sunset," Roxas stated as he grabbed Sunset's hand to her surprise. "If anything bad happened to you, I'd go ballistic, and if it's one emotion I've experienced more than others, it would be anger and confusion. Roxas chuckled at his weak attempt of a joke, but it was enough to an emotion out of Sunset. Tears started coming down Sunset's face. "Hey, hey I wasn't trying to make you cry," Roxas pleaded. "Maybe that joke wasn't as well thought out as I'd imagined. As Roxas said this, he heard chuckling come from Sunset as she started crying tears of joy. "Wait, are you laughing?" "Yes, I am," Sunset said as she embraced Roxas in an intimate hug. "But, your crying," Roxas said. "Tears of joy, you idiot," Sunset said. "Don't think that was necessary," Roxas mumbled. "Roxas.........who are you," Sunset asked. "Well, I'm someone who wants to protect you, so I guess you can call me your knight," Roxas said to Sunset. "You always know exactly what to say," Sunset purred as she started leaning in towards Roxas. Roxas saw this, and he began to the same. As they kept getting closer and closer to each other, their emotions became more and more intense. This was a moment made just for them made just for them as the beams of light from the sun loomed over the lake and caused it sparkle, one could say that this was truly a magical moment. So what was Roxas waiting for? "Kiss the girl man, kiss her," Roxas and Sunset stopped inches away from each other as they both heard the same thing. They turned around and saw all of their friends right behind them. "Rainbow, why did you that, you ruined the entire mood," Rarity said. "The words, the dram, the atmosphere was so perfect. "Something like that will never happen again in that magnitude." "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself," Rainbow said as she started laughing loudly. "What in the name of Celestia are you guys doing here!?" Sunset angrily said. "Better question, what were you doing on top of ole' Roxas over there?" Rainbow teasingly asked. "I-I-I wasn't doing anything ok?!" Sunset said as she became flustered. "Sure you weren't," Pinkie pie sarcastically said joining in towards the teasing. "*sigh* Really guys, twice, like Christmas wasn't bad enough," Roxas said to himself. Roxas looked up and saw Sora looming over him. No words were exchanged as Sora sat down beside Roxas as the girls talked to Sunset. "So, how did you get her back to normal?" Sora asked. "What a way to start a conversation Sora," Roxas said. "Well, you just seemed angry back there at the library when we started talking about Sunset," Sora said. "I seemed angry?" Roxas sarcastically asked. "Says the guy who basically turned into a heartless when Vanitas tried to attack Fluttershy." "Hey, he's lucky that he got away," Sora said. "Don't worry, we'll find him soon," Roxas said. "So, how did you guys even find us here?" "We had some help from a little friend," Sora said. Roxas looked puzzled at Sora's sentence until he looked up into the sky and saw a familiar looking bird. "Philomena?" Philomena let out a loud screech in joy. "We asked Philomena if she could track down where Sunset went off to," Sora said. "Lucky us right?" "So why did you guys come," Roxas asked. "We figured..... that you were right," Twilight said. "We shouldn't have let Sunset leave like that. Real friends help their friends solve any problems that they might have together." Sunset looked at Twilight and the rest of her friends and saw the complete joy that was plastered on their faces from the fact that they had found her. The single moment just caused tears of joy to fall. "You girls.....are truly the greatest friends anyone could have ever asked for." "Awwwwwww group hug!" Pinkie shouted as she ran towards Sunset and gave her a massive hug that was soon followed by the rest of the girls. "Oh, and you don't have to worry about the townspeople treating you any different than before," Twilight said. "What do you mean," Sunset said. "Let's just say that I got a little help from the royal family," Twilight said. "Everything is all sorted out." As everyone started walking out of the forest, Sora and Roxas followed behind the group of girls as Sora just stood there with a smile on his face. "What are you so happy about?" Roxas asked. "Nothing, nothing, I was just thinking about how lucky we are to find a group of friends like them," Sora said. "They all have different traits, but they still come together as best friends, and help each other out through the hard times." "Don't you think?" Roxas looked at the group of girls and then focused more on Sunset. ".....Yeah." **** As the group of friends make it back to Ponyville, they decided to go back to the library and see if Spike would make them some of his famous cookies. "You think that he will?" Pinkie asked excitedly. "Of course he will, nothing will stop him from making those cookies if we ask," Twilight said as she opened the door to her library. "Spike, Spiiiikkkke, we were wondering if you would...." "Twilight, finally, you're back!" Spike ecstatically said. "Listen you're not going to believe what just happened!" "What's going on Spike?" Twilight said. "I just got a letter from the Princess," Spike said. "WHAT, a letter from the Princess?!" Twilight said in surprise. "Well, where is it!?" Spike walked over to a table that the letter was laying on and picked it up. "It's over here." As soon as he picked it up, purple magic to envelop his body as he was whooshed over towards Twilight. "What does it say?" Twilight questionably said. Spike started taking the tie off the letter as it fell open and he started reading. My Faithful Student Twilight, There has been an urgent concern that has recently put Equestria in a bind, and I believe that we'll need the help of the elements of harmony yet again. Along with the keybladers that you have met. I hope to see you soon in Canterlot. Signed, Celestia Spike closed the letter as there was nothing left to read from it. "Was that all," Twilight asked. "There's nothing left on the letter?" "No, that was it, I guess this is a matter the princess would rather speak in person about," Spike said. "How am I supposed to know what to do or what to bring if she left it so vague?" Twilight nervously said. "It can't be anything good if she's calling all of us to Canterlot," Sunset added. "I say we make our way there as soon as we can." "But what am I supposed to do Sunset, do you know how bad I'd look if your faithful student showed up to her mentor unprepared?!" Twilight spastically said. "That would be terrible!" "I.....think you're worrying too much about the wrong thing, but even so, it shouldn't be a problem, with all of us there we'll have this done in an instant," Sunset confidently said. "Yeah, I guess you're right, but just to be on the safe side, I'll pack some quills and ink just in case there is a pop quiz," Twilight said. "Alright everyone, to the train station, we're going to Canterlot!" Everyone nodded their heads and quickly headed out the door of the library and went towards the train station. As they make it to the train station, Twilight handed them each a train ticket boarding to Canterlot. As Twilight went towards Fluttershy, she noticed that there was a big gigantic lion missing from her side. "Fluttershy, what happened to the lion, you didn't let him loose in Ponyville did you?" "Don't worry Twilight, Simba's safe," Fluttershy said as she pointed at her charm necklace. "He went back inside his charm, and said he'll see me when we get to Canterlot." "Really, that's what he said?" Twilight unbelievably asked. "Well, he basically roared alot and went back inside the charm, but I have a good feeling that we'll see him again," Fluttershy said. "Just make sure he doesn't hurt anybody, I don't remember the last a lion was every deemed friendly," Twilight said as she handed Flutterhsy her ticket. "Simba wouldn't hurt anyone Twilight, he's as sweet as a butterfly," Fluttershy said. As Sora walked towards the train, he started to get a memory from the past. A time where he went on a magical train to another world, which ultimately led him to bigger adventures than he had before. As Sora looks back at the train to Canterlot, he started to grin. "Looks like I'm in for another adventure." "Hey, Earth to Sora, would you mind going inside the train instead of stopping at the doorway?" Rainbow said. "Oh, sorry about that Rainbow," Sora said as walked inside the train. The rest of his friends started to fall in the train as they found a seat and patiently waited for the train move. "ALL ABOOOOARRDD!" The train engineer screamed as he closed the doors to the train, prompting that he was about to start the train. As Sora sat down to a window seat by himself, he realized something different about this train ride compared to his last one when he went to Yen Sid's tower. "I'm not leaving any of my new friends behind this time," Sora said quietly to himself. "This time, there are no tears."