//------------------------------//
// June 28th- Princesses and Ponies 
// Story: Equestria Legends Online: Tales of a Midnight Dream 
// by Kaffeina 
//------------------------------//


ELO
Tales of a Midnight Dream
June 28th
Princesses and Ponies




It had been over a month since I had last seen a sub-boss. That goes for everyone else as well. I had taken time to scout nearly all the way to Manehatten and found nothing. Sure, fighting mobs is fun, but in terms of challenges they suck. Flare, Aurora, and I had went off to Appaloosa. Apparently one of the players who had stayed had found a dungeon that looked very, different. Different meaning, a giant staircase to the heavens. Just walking up to it revealed, at the very least, it went to the clouds.
"This is it?" asked Flare.
"Yup," was my response.
"We're going up that?" he asked.
"Yup," I said again.
"Likely some dangerous thing up top?" he asked me.
"Yup," I responded.
"Brilliant," he said.
"Yup," I said.
The keys to opening the dungeon happened to be our necklaces. We only knew this from the information we received. Popping my neck I popped the necklace into the slot as did Flare and the doors opened. Stepping up, the staircase suddenly accelerated. Once it stopped I face planted on the ground, painfully I might add.. To my dismay, giggles came from the other two. I got up and glared at them both. In front of me was a massive dark blue door, literally. It was some, 30 feet tall. Pushing on it I found that the it wasn't that heavy, putting it off as video game logic, I opened the door and to my surprise, nothing. Just a gray barren landscape with the occasional rock.
"That's a bit... anticlimactic..."
"Indeed it is, Midnight," came a voice, a familiar one at that.
"Discord," I growled.
"No need for the anger, I just wanted to give you something," he said rolling his eyes. Literally.
"Why should I trust you?" I kept glaring.
"You've got those necklaces, so, I can't hurt you at the moment," he said.
"Why's that?" I said, suspicious of his attitude.
"My plans, such wonderful ideas!" he laughed.
"Like what?" I asked.
"This!" he said. Out of nowhere he grabbed the necklaces, pressed something, and I found myself blanking out. Within a few seconds I opened my eyes and groaned.
"Discord, what hast thou done?" I asked. Wait... what is with the Olden English? And why do I sound so forceful?
"Flare, what hast happened to thee?" OH FOR GODDESS' SAKE! This is ridiculous! I looked to my left and gasped.
"Celestia?"
She looked at me, "Luna?"
"Luna? It is me, Midnight."
"You're Luna. Not Midnight."
I groaned.
"We look like Luna, and you look like Celestia," I said.
Celestia's eyes went wide. "You mean I'm..." She looked like she was gonna cry.
"Yes. Thou hast been turned into a princess," I said.
"I'm a girl now!" She dropped to the ground sniffling.
"Wow..." I said, "We hast been playing as a girl for the entire game. Thou must learn to deal with it." The "ye olden English" is going to get old fast. I turned to Discord, "Why hast thou done this?"
"It's fun! Oh and Lulu? Have fun!" He disappeared and I groaned.
"Flare? Art thou fine now?" I said.
"Yes," she wiped the tears from her eyes.
"It lookS like there is nothing here, we should leave now," I said.
Suddenly my vision flashed black. I stumbled. 
"Are you okay Midnight?"
"We are fine," I said, and suddenly it blacked again. I stumbled and fell back. I could hear a dark cackling. Shaking my head, I spoke, "Come, we must go."
We left the room and the stairs took us down again. "To Jupiter."
I motioned for them to follow me. We made our way out of town and to the desert.



The mobs, weird tumbleweed creatures, kept attacking us. They weren't dangerous but they were quite annoying. That aside we had found a small NPC thing, a town or something, that was a rest stop. When I had entered all the NPCs stopped and started calling out.
"Long live the Princesses!"
"Hail the Celestial Diarches!"
"Forever may your path be lit!"
And some other pre-programed responses and that was just me entering. When Flare entered it all tripled. I ignored them and went to the NPC at the counter.
"Hullo. Yes, we need provisions. Dost thou know where we can get them?" I asked, looking at the NPC inquisitively.
"Of course your majesty, I'll get some for you right away," he said as he hurried off.
I turned back to where Flare, looking pleased, was... signing autographs? Autographs, for goddess' sake. I groaned and a filly ran up to me with a little colt. "Excuse me, Miss Luna. Can we hear the Royal Canterlot Voice?"
Oh goddess. Anyone but children and I would have refused. "Oh, um, of course."
I tapped my menu and began searching.
...
...
...
There it was! Listed as an ability of course. I tapped it and spoke, "What dost thou think now?"
Wow. Sounds a lot louder in person. The two foals smiled and said in unison, "Thanks Princess!" They scurried off.
I looked over and Flare was looking at me, "Having fun?"
In a very un-royal-like manner I stuck my tongue out at her as the NPC handed me the supplies, "Silence Sunbutt."
I could feel her still grinning as I walked off.



Two days...
We had been in the desert for two days and the weird visions kept coming. Slowly at first but then they kept getting worse as it got darker. Finally we found a safe location and laid down to sleep for a little while. I watched the moon come up slowly as if no one had programmed it, and it was being forced. All in all it was amazing. I laid down and as I watched the sky I felt the blackness over take me again...

Nightmare's POV

The little wimp had fought back but I managed to take her at last when she went to sleep. Her mind was far stronger than anticipated but I still managed to raise the moon. I stood up and found Celestia staring at me.
"Midnight! What happened? Why have you-" she started.
"Your pathetic little friend is gone!" I cackled.
"No! Midnight's stronger than that!" I felt something stir inside me. Pushing it down, I spoke up.
"HAHA! Your friend was nothing!"
"HOW DARE YOU!" screamed Celestia. I focused on the spell I had been given by my dear friend, Discord, and fired.
Celestia was enveloped in pure light, and then disappeared. Cackling I grabbed the other one, and teleported myself away.
When the blue light vanished I stood in front of Discord.
"Look at that! You took her! Well done, my friend, well done!" he clapped happily. "Where do you plan to put your base?"
"Isn't it obvious? The moon of course," I said. "Don't tell the players, that'll be too easy."
Discord nodded. "Of course, of course, ready for your BIG debute?"
"Very well."
Discord began to speak, "Hello, my little ponies. Good morning to you all. Just so you know, this is a nationwide broadcast, which means that every single player who is still alive can hear me. I have some very... er, 'breaking' news.
"You see, out of the ten elements I've hidden, it seems that seven of them have been found. Now that we're entering the final three, I think some rule changes need to be taken into account.
"Firstly, from this point forward in the game, only a certain group of players may enter the boss rooms and fight the boss. And by this 'certain group', I mean any team that already has at least one of the Elements of Harmony as a team member. Everyone else, the boss rooms are off limits, and the Elements of Harmony cannot add any more players into their own team, save for party members they once had in the past.
"Secondly, ever since our game started, we all know that two areas of Equestria had been closed off from any players: The Badlands and the Crystal Empire. Well, that is no longer relevant. These areas are now open to all players... Though travelling through them will be even more dangerous than you think. I doubt that half of you who are still alive at this point could even set hoof towards either place without dying.
Discord chuckled darkly, "Now, you might think that this all unfair, that I am purposefully changing the rules for my own personal gain. But I'm going to give you all a little something to help you with these new rules. I will show you my three, final champions to defend the elements."
Chryssie stepped forward, "As you all know, this here is Queen Chrysalis of the changelings. She is the first of my champions. The element she's guarding will be hidden with her in the changeling hive, in the wilderness of the badlands. But getting there will only be half of the battle, and then, the Elements of Harmony will have to defeat her. After she is defeated and her Element is recovered, then my next champion will be waiting for you."
Sombra, the idiot, stepped forward as well, "Say 'Hello' to King Sombra, my second champion, and in my opinion, the most underrated of this game's villans. Sure, he's not quite as good as me, but he can still be particularly nasty. His likes are stairs, crystals, and taking strolls in his dungeon. This tyrannical king will be waiting for you in the Crystal Empire, and it will be equally dangerous to reach it like the badlands. And after him..."
Motioning me forward Discord began to speak, "We have the one, the only, Nightmare Moon. Princess of the Night, being of darkness, and my third champion. Though she is the final boss for you to defeat, she'd rather keep her current location a secret. Which means you'll have to find her on your own when the time comes.
"Well, there you have it. Everything from here on out is free game. And whether you choose to obey the rules or not, that's up to you. Just know your lives are on the line, and mine isn't. Now, a quick word to the Elements of Harmony.
"You better hurry up now. Little Queen Chrysy is waiting, and so is every other player in this game. The sooner you get to the badlands, the better for you. That is all, Arrivederci!"
I watched as the Chaos Program closed the window. He stepped up to Chrysalis and said, "Off you go," and she vanished. I had a feeling she would be overly relaxed. I would not make that mistake.
Sombra looked at the Draconequus as he spoke to him, "You next." Sombra vanished in dark crystals.
"Alright Nightie, go have fun," he said, popping his claws. In the meantime a pink cloud floated past me.
"Don't worry. I will."