//------------------------------// // It Begins // Story: MagiWars! // by Draco Loco //------------------------------// A group of morning joggers were going through White Tail Park, the largest park in Canterlot City, when one of them stopped and took a seat on a nearby bench. She was dressed in jogging pants, a black hoodie, sneakers, and, oddly enough, sunglasses. She rested there for a few minutes before she noticed a similarly dressed woman take a seat next to her, holding a thermos. "Lovely weather this morning, wouldn't you agree?" the second woman said. "Eh, a little warm if you ask me," the jogger replied. The second woman smiled, offering her the thermos, "Here, this should cool you down." The jogger took the thermos, "Thanks." They both then got up and started walking in opposite directions down the path. After a bit of walking, the jogger opened the thermos, looked inside, smiled, closed it, brought out her cellphone, and made a call. "Sir. I have the package." "Excellent." Sunset Shimmer sat down in front of the fully restored Wondercolts statue, brought out her magic journal and a pen, and started to wright. Dear, Princess Twilight How are things in Equestria? Things are going OK over here. They even fixed the Wondercolt statue. My magic did start to feel weird a few days ago, but it's probably nothing. I started looking into it tough, so if you've got any ideas, I'm all ears, or eyes in this case. Your friend, Sunset Shimmer "Sunset Sunset Sunset!" Sunset Shimmer looked up and saw Pinkie Pie heading towards her. "Hey Pinkie? What's up?" Pinkie stopped in front of Sunset and produced her phone. "Sunset! You have GOT to see this!" Sunset closed her journal, grabbed the offered phone, and played the already loaded video. A woman appeared on screen. "You've played Airsoft." A window opened up on screen with footage of people playing a game of Airsoft. "You've played Paintball." And another showing people playing Paintball. "You've played Laser Tag." And again with Laser Tag. "But you've never played anything like this." The screen switched to show footage of a battlefield with people shooting at each other with what appeared to be laser based weapons, with tanks no bigger than a person and planes no bigger than a hang glider. "Suit up in our U.E. Soldier Armor." The camera zoomed in to show a person dressed in what appeared to be a modified military combat uniform, without the pouches for extra gun clips. "Control the land by taking command of one of our E.E. Tanks." The camera angled away from the person and zoomed in on one of the tanks, showing it to be less angular and more rounded than a normal tank. "Take command of the skies by controlling one of our P.E. Gliders." The camera angled towards the sky and zoomed in on one of the planes, showing it to resemble a less angular and more rounded version of a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk. "Customize your own weapons with fully interchangeable handles, bodies, barrels, stocks, and accessories." The camera changed to show people putting together their own guns from parts hanging on a wall behind them. The screen changed back to the lady with four windows depicting the soldiers, tanks, planes, and gun assembly area. "This. Is MagiWars!" she finished with a grand flourish. As the video came to an end, Sunset Shimmer said the only thing that came to mind in that instance, "What the heck?!" "I know, isn't it awesome?!" "No," - Sunset got to her feet- "I mean they're using Equestrian magic!" "What? Are you sure?" "I grew up with Equestrian magic, I know what it looks like!" Sunset snapped. Pinkie through her hands up in a placating manner. "Alright, alright. Jeez, touchy." Sunset sighed and started pacing. "Sorry. It's just, this is really, really bad. Remember what happened the last time someone tried to combine magic and technology?" "You mean when our world's Twilight created that device to track and store magic then used it to unleash the magic got consumed by it turned into a she-demon that looked more like a fallen angel then tried to rip apart reality so she could go to Equestria and you had to do the exact same thing and turned into an angel to stop her?" Pinkie said, ending with a smile. "Exactly!" Sunset said, without breaking stride. She then stopped and pulled out her phone. "What'cha doin'?" Pinkie looked over Sunsets shoulder as she went through her contacts list. "I'm sending a group text to the others to meet up at my place," Sunset said without looking up from her phone. "OK." When Sunset looked up, she saw that Pinkie was at the doors to the school. She looked to her, confused and asked "Pinkie? Where are you going?" "To get Twilight. She's still in the library reading. And besides, she's never been to your place, so she doesn't know the way." "That's right!" Sunset facepalmed, "Ugh, how could forget that?" She then started to walk towards Pinkie. Pinkie just shrugged, "I dunno. Maybe it has something to do with you being super stressed because the world could be coming to an end soon?" They walked through the doors and saw Twilight coming around the corner, "I'm so glad I caught you guys! Sunset, I got your text, but I have no idea where you live," she said with a sheepish smile, "Mind if I tag along with the two of you?" Sunset smiled at her, "We were just on our way to come get you actually. Come on, we don't want to miss the buss." And with that, they made their way out of the school and across the road. As they were waiting for the bus, Twilight turned towards Sunset, "By the way, Sunset? What's this emergency meeting about, anyway?" "I'll tell you when the whole groups together. Your initial reaction is going to be key to making my point." Sunset said with a smile. "OK?" Twilight said with a bit of uncertainty. Just then, the bus drove up, they got on, and spent the ride in an awkward silence, except Pinkie, who spent the ride making commentary on the scenery. As Applejack walked through the door, she noticed she was not the first to arrive. Sitting on the couch in the living room where Rarity and Fluttershy, have a conversation about sewing techniques. "Howdy Rarity, Fluttershy." She took her boots off and set them next to the others'. "Guessin' y'all got Sunset's text then?" "Hello Applejack, and yes, we received Sunset's text at the spa. I wonder what could have happened that would make Sunset call for an emergency meeting like this." Rarity said, with a mildly concerned look on face towards the end. "I hope it's nothing too serious." Fluttershy said, concern evident in her voice. "Ah'm sure everythin'll turn out fine," Applejack said as she took a seat on the chair to the left of the couch. Just then, they heard mumbling coming from outside the door, "... afford a place like this?" They heard Twilight say as Sunset opened the door. "I brought some money from home, and the exchange rate was ridiculously in my favor." "Hello, darlings." Rarity greeted them. "Hey guys." Sunset returned the greeting. Twilight opened her mouth, ready to say something, "She doesn't even have to pay mortgage!" before she was interrupted by Pinkie Pie from in the Kitchen. "What!?" Twilight exclaimed with clear surprise. "How much money do you have?!" Sunset gave a small smile, "Enough for now." She then frowned, noticing something. "Hey, where's Rainbow?" As if on cue, a knocking came from the door, "Hey! Anybody in there?! I don't have my key!" Though the voice was muffled by the door, it was obviously Rainbow Dash. "Key?" Twilight said in confusion, looking at Sunset, who was already on her way to the door. "You get sick when you live alone, you learn to let someone have a key if you want some decent rest. Speaking of, I should probably get you one." Sunset said, then opened the door. "Hey Sunset." Rainbow greeted. She entered the house and turned so she was facing everyone else, "Hey, guys! You'll never guess what I just got," she said with barely contained excitement. "Athlete's foot?" Pinkie said from the front door. Rainbow got a disgusted look on her face and turned towards Pinkie, "What?! No!" "Wait. Pinkie? Weren't you just in the kitchen?" Twilight asked, briefly looking from Pinkie to the kitchen then back again. Pinkie just smiled, gave a brief nod, and said "Uh huh, but then I noticed I forgot to take my shoes off, and that's just rude, so I went back outside so I could come back in and take them off." She then looked at Rainbow, who then looked at her sneakers, rolled her eyes, and kicked them off next to the others' boots. "Anyway, what I got, is this!" She then held up what looked like a credit card. "You got a new credit card? That doesn't seem like something you'd get excited over, darling." Rarity said with an amused smile. Rainbow just frowned in response, "It is not a credit card," She then smiled, "It's a team pass for MagiWars!" Sunset cringed at the mention of the possible armageddon. "It cost me, like, a years allowance, but it was so worth it." Pinkie looked at Rainbow and said "Huh, that's ironic." Rainbow turned towards Pinkie in confusion, "What do you mean?" "She means that the reason I called this meeting is because of MagiWars." Sunset said, getting everyone's attention. "You see, MagiWars is using Equestrian magic in their technology." Twilight went pale, "M-m-magic? A-are you s-sure?" Sunset nodded, "Positive." She then noticed Twilight starting to hyperventilate, "Twilight? Are you OK?" she asked in concern. I was expecting a strong reaction, but not this strong. When she didn't get an immediate reply, she lead Twilight over to the couch and sat her down in between Rarity and Fluttershy. She then went into her kitchen and came back out with a paper bag. She handed the bag to Twilight, who took it and started breathing in it. After Twilight had calmed down, she gave the bag back to Sunset, "Thanks," she said with a small smile. "I'm good now. You can keep going." Sunset looked to Twilight with worry, "You sure?" Twilight just nodded. "OK." Sunset took a breath before continuing, "I was thinking we should investigate. See if the technology being used is safe, figure out how they got their hands on Equestrian magic, see if the ones who invented the tech are actually from this world or are banished criminals from Equestria, that kind of thing." "I agree with Sunset." Twilight said, and all eyes turned towards her, "We all remember what happened when I tried using magic without properly knowing how to. If MagiWars is using magic in it's technology, then what happened to me could potentially happen to everyone who plays it, and that can't end well." The others started looking between themselves, "So, how would we go about investigating, then?" Rarity said. "Yeah. It's not like we can just go up to 'em and ask 'em up front what's going' on." Applejack added. Sunset nodded "True," and started to pace back and forth with her hand on her chin in a thinking pose, "We'd need to get close enough to study their tech, possibly get into their HQ and look around without raising suspicions, no matter how unlikely it may be. Any ideas?" As it happened, Rainbow had one, "We could use my team pass, make us a team for MagiWars competitions. That'd get us close enough for you and Twilight to study the tech. That, and I, kinda, sorta, already put all of our names on the pass." Rainbow ended with a sheepish smile. Sunset stopped pacing when Rainbow started talking. When she was done, Sunset gave a small smile, "That's actually a pretty good idea." Rainbow lit up at that' "Really!?" Sunset nodded her head 'yes', "Awesome!" "Right, so we become a MagiWars team, and investigate their facilities before and after competitions." Sunset then looked towards Rainbow, "Uh, when is the first competition?" "The first competition's in about a week, but the fields open tomorrow for practice sessions, and friendly matches." Rainbow relied. "Alright. Since tomorrow's Saturday, let's all go do a practice session, and see what we can find out. Everyone in?" "Well, if you're sure there's no other way, I suppose I shall participate." Rarity said. "Hmm, I wonder what the outfits are like," she wondered out loud. "Sounds like fun!" Pinkie said. "Count me in as well," said Applejack. "If you think it's for the best, I'm in," Fluttershy said. Rainbow put her hands on her hips, "Do you even need to ask?" Twilight looked a little uneasy, "I'll just, help from the sidelines." Sunset nodes in acceptance of everyone's responses. "Well, since we'll be going to the same place tomorrow," she then looked to Pinkie with a sly smile. Pinkie was practically vibrating in place, "Slumber Party at Sunset's!"