Chapter 1: HOW IT ALL STARTED
Brandon Keen.
That was the name everyone knew him by. He never considered himself to be popular. Why should he? From what he had seen from hundreds of teen movies, being popular wasn't worth his time. He mostly just focused on being kind to everyone he met, and in return, everyone he knew would go "Hey Brandon," or "How are you Brandon?"
Brandon was 21 years old, and didn't look that old for his age. Many people said he looked and sounded 16. Brandon was known for his bright red hair and blue eyes. His fair skin was often covered in acne which he could never seem to get rid of and had a bad habit of picking at. He always wore clothes he was comfortable in: a simple t-shirt, jeans and sneakers.
He was a second-year student at his college, a school for kids with disabilities, located in a small town in Florida. He attended this school because of his aspergers and ADHD. Most of the students were nice, but there were a few that got on Brandon's nerves, either by being rude, or having annoying habits. Still, he never said anything. He was always trying to be nice.
As his alarm went off in his room, Brandon slowly looked around. His room was rather messy, but it was comfortable. He slowly dragged himself out of bed, slipped on his clothes, and grabbed his stuff, ready for classes.
After breakfast, Brandon decided to walk around town. He had until the afternoon until classes started today, so he felt he could relax a little. Maybe there was something at the comic book shop he could grab.
Brandon smiled when he entered the store. It was a small comic book shop filled with nostalgic books, toys, and movies, as well as figures for the tabletop game Warhammer 40K. He often came here when he didn't have anything important to do. As he browsed the items on sale, a strange item caught his eye.
It looked like a portable game console, like a Gameboy Advance SP. However, it seemed more flimsy looking, like it was unofficial. It had a soft red shell that flipped open to reveal a small screen and buttons. Brandon picked it up.
"How much for this?"
The store attendant looked at the console. "Oh, it's about…$130.00."
"$130.00?!"
The attendant chuckled. "It's rare. Pretty expensive."
Brandon took out his phone and checked his balance.
$484.00.
He could, but he wanted to save his money too.
"Ah, the heck with it!" He took out his wallet, took out his bank card, and paid for the console.
It felt rather light as it fit in the palm of his hand. He opened it up and began fidgeting with it. It had some games like Mother 3 and Golden Sun built into it. Usually consoles like this had NES games built into them, so this was surprising to see. He took a look into some of the games, and started playing Sonic Advance 2 as he left to get to class.
Brandon sat at his computer for game design. He was having trouble paying attention. When he took this class, he wasn't expecting it to be so boring. The teacher was talking, and although he was desperately trying to pay attention, he just couldn't help but space out. His mind always drifted off to stories he wanted to tell.
That was his dream: to write stories. Stories about his favorite characters from his favorite franchises, stories about different characters meeting, and stories all about him being the main character.
Saving worlds.
Defeating villains.
That's what he wanted. To write stories just like this.
One way was to make video games of his own. That's why he took this class.
Still, he wasn't expecting these classes to be so boring.
As the teacher talked about working in Java, the classroom started to shake. The class began to panic.
"EARTHQUAKE!"
The lights flickered for a moment, and then it was over.
Brandon sat there confused and freaked out.
"What the heck was that?!"
The other students chattered quietly to themselves about the ordeal.
"Was that an earthquake?"
"That was scary!"
The teacher sat up.
"Class," he said, "I believe that we should be getting back to our dorms! We'll be calling the police to look into this earthquake! Shuttles will be waiting to take you home in the morning!"
Brandon quickly packed up his things and followed the other students out of the computer lab. He wasn't sure where to go now. He looked at his phone.
3:50.
He had some time to kill until the shuttle to his dorms arrived, and even then, he needed dinner. He went down to the student center.
The moment he walked through the doors of the student center, the ground began to shake again, only much harder this time. The lights flickered as he fell to the ground. The kids in the student center screamed and ran out of the building. Brandon quickly followed. He wasn't hungry for dinner anymore. He ran back towards the Dollar General Store near his apartment. He and a few other kids dashed across the street to the dorms area he stayed at. The gate was open when they ran through and dashed into their apartments.
Brandon wasn't sure what to do. He checked his Outlook.
"Lockdown."
Naturally.
After a long day, Brandon just went into his room and shut the door. He sat down on his bed for a moment and yawned.
He had to lay down.
Just for a moment.
His eyes were heavy.
He closed them for a moment.
He had to take a nap.
He woke up in the dark and looked out the window. It was pitch black outside.
Brandon picked up his phone and checked the time.
4:30.
"Did I sleep through the entire night?"
He looked over to his roommate Derek's bed.
Derek wasn't there. He was ALWAYS in bed in the morning.
"Derek?"
No reply.
What about Lucas and Joey?
He went to their door and opened it.
Lucas and Joey were nowhere to be seen.
Brandon climbed back into bed and tried to fall asleep. His alarm woke him up at 6:00.
Brandon picked up his keycard and went outside. He knocked on a few doors.
There was no answer.
It was like the entire community just vanished.
"Where is everyone?"
As he asked himself this, his stomach rumbled. He needed breakfast. He checked his phone.
6:30. He had some time.
He went back inside and started getting ready. He brushed his teeth, got dressed, and packed his backpack. At around 7:55, he went outside and waited for the bus.
The bus never came. It always came around 8:00. Then Brandon remembered that he was in lockdown. He slapped himself for forgetting this.
Back at the apartment, Brandon poured himself a bowl of Fruity Pebbles. He was eating until he heard something outside.
It sounded like someone talking. There was someone outside.
Without thinking, he rushed over to the window to see who it was.
He got the shock of his life when he saw who it was.
Standing outside his apartment was Queen Chrysalis, the villain of the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. This was the first time he had seen her in 3D outside of Source Filmmaker or Garry's Mod videos, and she was actually kind of scary. She was surrounded by a group of Changelings, perhaps ones that didn't reform. She seemed to be looking for something. Michael wanted to listen in, but he wasn't sure if he wanted her to see him. He pressed his ear against the door to listen.
"Find him! Find that boy and that device!"
Find that boy? Did she mean him?
He looked through the window again. A Changeling was coming to his door.
Well, maybe he didn't have to worry. After all, you couldn't open the door without a keycard.
The door was bashed open. The Changeling looked at him and hissed loudly. The other Changelings ran to the door and joined in hissing. Queen Chrysalis herself approached Brandon.
"So, you're the last survivor," she said with a sinister chuckle, "Oh how unfortunate to be left all alone." She came closer. Brandon backed away until he hit the wall. "So, human…where is it? Where is the device?"
Brandon stuttered. "W-what device?"
"Don't play dumb," Chrysalis hissed. "The device you bought from that store!"
"Do you mean that bootleg Gameboy Advance? What do you want with that?"
Chrysalis just sneered at him. "Wouldn't YOU want to know?"
A Changeling came back. "Your highness," it said, "We found it!"
Brandon looked at the device floating in the air as the Changeling slowly gave it to Chrysalis.
Without thinking, he snatched it and burst through the door. He started running as fast as he could. He could feel Chrysalis chasing him.
"Give me that device," she hissed, "GIVE IT TO ME!"
Chrysalis tackled him to the pavement. The rocks cut his face as she stood on his head, pulling the device from his hand with her magic. Brandon grabbed hold as hard as he could, but that just made Chrysalis angrier. She stomped hard on his chest. Brandon let go of the device.
"Did you think you could run away from me?" Chrysalis bent down to his ear and hissed. "Oh, foolish human. Look at you: Unfit, weak, and pathetic. It's a wonder how you survived the merge."
Chrysalis took the bootleg device and spread her wings. She called her Changelings.
"My subjects, we have the device. Now come, we must return to the hive!"
Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings spread their wings and flew away, leaving Brandon, bruised and tired, on the ground. Brandon slowly got to his feet and looked at the sky.
Why did Chrysalis want his bootleg game console? What was so important about it?
If Chrysalis wanted it, it must have been important. It had to be.
Brandon tried to wobble after them, but the cuts across his body hurt too much, and his chest hurt from Chrysalis' foot. He couldn't keep up.
Eventually, he fell to his feet. Chrysalis was right. He was weak. He could barely take a cut on the finger.
He sat there…alone…
All alone…
What did she mean by this? How could he be all alone?
Just then, something made him jump. He heard the quiet sound of footsteps coming his way. A quiet "Clip Clop."
He looked around. Was a Changeling coming back to finish him off?
"Clip Clop."
It was coming back for him!
He started running back to his apartment. He tried to punch in the code to the gate, but he couldn't focus. He couldn't punch in the code.
"CLIP CLOP."
He pulled at the gate until he fell over onto his back. When he looked up, a familiar face greeted him.
It was a small, purple unicorn with a small, star-shaped mark on her flank. Her magenta mane barely covered her horn.
It was Twilight Sparkle, from the series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Brandon was silent…