Bug Problems
Twilight quickly dove to the side and barely dodged a huge ice shard that was aimed directly at her. Continuing to roll, she moved over to the edge of her high platform near the back of the stage. “Vinyl!” she yelled, looking down at her, “Hurry, you have to get above ground level!”
Vinyl hopped into the air in order to avoid a low sweep from the large monster. “I’m trying! I’m trying!” Landing, she brought out her machine gun and opened fire on the monster’s supposed weak spot. However, the more bullets she unloaded into the thing’s head the less she was sure of what she was doing. “Pinkie, are you sure this is right?”
Pinkie hopped off the wall and grapple-hooked over to the glowing spot on the monster’s legs. Hooked onto it’s side, Pinkie proceeded to unload all of her gatling gun ammo into it until the spot exploded, blowing off the arm. The beast fell over onto the pier and began spasming. “Well if it’s anything like that glowy spot it should do something!” she responded, landing back on her own platform opposite of Twilight.
Twilight leaned over her edge and called out once more, “Vinyl, now! While it’s crippled.”
Heeding her advice, Vinyl turned and shot a grappling hook toward Twilight’s ledge. When it proved to be too high up, Vinyl instead lifted herself up to the lower one in the middle of the stage. Once there, she turned to reach Twilight’s ledge, but before she could shoot the hook, Vinyl heard Twilight scream. Looking back towards the monster, she watched, jaw agape, as it regenerated it’s arm completely.
“What the buck!” Vinyl screamed. Now thoroughly disturbed by what she had just seen, she turned and shot her grappling hook in an attempt to lift herself to safety.
“Vinyl, look out!” screamed Twilight. Vinyl, however had nowhere to run as she zoomed through the air towards her destination. Vinyl turned her head just in time to watch the creatures newly regenerated claw come swinging at her. It connected with a solid crack as the slap knocked her out of the air and into the ravine behind the group.
The last thing Vinyl heard before her vision went black were her teammates’ crying screams.
~~~
“Welcome, Ponies of the Coast!” announced Princess Luna, greeting her contestants in the Velvet Room (name now subject to change).
Vinyl scratched the back of her mane confusedly. “Um… What?”
“Yes,” said Octavia, “I’m afraid I don’t follow.”
Luna chuckled and eyed one of the ponies in front of her, “Nothing. I just remembered something funny.”
At the mention of jokes, Pinkie began hopping excitedly. “Well, don’t leave us hanging! What’s the joke?”
“Can we just start the challenge?” said a curiously embarrassed Twilight.
“Twilight? Are you alright?” asked Octavia. She gave Twilight a curious look, then gave another when Twilight avoided the first one.
Luna chuckled some more, “Ask Twilight about Science the Gathering later.”
Lyra popped up and forced Twilight’s gaze onto her. Lyra, as impatient as ever, simply couldn't fathom the idea of ‘later’. “What’s Science the Gathering?”
Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself and regain her composure, “Science the Gathering is a widely popular trading card game in Equestria. It’s won several awards, and tournaments are regularly held in various cities. I-It’s my favorite game.”
Sweetie Belle chirped up with a smile, “Sounds fun. Can I learn to play?”
Twilight looked down at her with a sympathetic look. “Sorry, Sweetie, there’s an age requirement in order to learn to play.” Sweetie slumped down in disappointment.
Lyra wrapped Sweetie in a comforting half hug and said, "Yeah, everypony knows that only grown-ups can play a children's card game." Even though that did nothing to cheer Sweetie Belle up, Lyra grinned to herself for being helpful. Now smug, she turned that look towards Luna’s screen. “So what does that have to do with today’s challenge? Are we playing it?”
“Twilight is the national champion,” Luna explained, a small mischievous smirk covering her face.
Everypony turned back to Twilight with impressed looks. Twilight, on the other hoof, lowered hers in shame. “Former champion...” she muttered.
Luna put a hoof to her ear and leaned into the screen, “What was that? I didn’t quite hear you. Did you say 2167 wins… and one loss?”
Rainbow flew up to the screen with an impatient look. “So, what does this have to do with our challenge?”
“Oh, I just wanted to regale you all of how badly Twilight freaked out after I beat her. I--” she said, giving a small giggle. Luna opened her mouth to continue, only for another voice to scream out.
“Discord! What are you doing?” The Luna on screen immediately teleported away, and after a few seconds, another Luna stepped on screen. Everypony looked upwards in confusion.
“I am sorry, ponies. I needed a small refresher course for the challenge today,” said the new Princess Luna. “So, I asked Discord to gather you here. Though I do not know why he was dressed as I.”
Twilight waved her hoof dismissively. “Let’s not worry about it. What did you mean you needed a refresher course?”
“Yes,” Luna replied. “I haven't played this game for some time, so I needed to do so in order to correctly represent it today.” Luna cleared her throat and spoke in a clear loud voice. Once again she gestured dramatically to the area around them. “Welcome back, ponies... to the Velvet Room. Today, we will be undertaking a mission from a game that I personally believe to be a slightly underappreciated action shooter game. Despite its lacking multiplayer capabilities, this game features beautiful graphics and interesting design choices that serve to further enhance its over-arching story. While many think that, in regards to gameplay, it’s worse than its predecessor, they fail to understand exactly what--”
“Get on with it!” Rainbow screamed interrupting Luna. In her impatience she temporarily forgot who she was talking too.
“Yes, get on with it!” added Lyra.
Twilight reeled back in horror, “Rainbow Dash! Lyra! You--”
“It is alright, Twilight Sparkle,” eased Luna. “I am known to go on to a tangent when it comes to reviews. Moving on, we will be playing a game called Lost Planet 2. In this challenge, you will be split into two even teams where you will each complete Episode Two, missions one and two. The team with the highest score wins the points.”
Octavia took a brief look around before raising her hoof curiously, “Excuse me, Princess Luna. But there are seven of us. How will the teams be even?”
Luna nodded. “Very perceptive, Octavia. There is a single catch for this match. One pony must sit out for it. In exchange, they will receive a courtesy of 1500 points for their exclusion. We have talked and decided that it would be in our best interests if Sweetie Belle sat out.”
Sweetie Belle’s ears perked up at the mention of her name. She put a hoof to her chin for a few seconds and shrugged. “Alright. Rarity says I shouldn't play any violent games like this one anyway.”
Luna nodded once more and summoned a second screen next to hers. “In case you were wondering, these are the current scores.”
Twilight Sparkle: 50,000
Rainbow Dash: 50,000
Pinkie Pie: 50,000
Sweetie Belle: 52,500
Lyra Heartstrings: 50,000
Octavia Philharmonica: 55,000
Vinyl Scratch: 50,000
“Aww, what?” Looking at the scores, Rainbow Dash groaned in annoyance. “Why does the squirt have more points than me? She’s barely done anything!”
“Well, maybe if you actually tried to win yesterday, you would have those points,” muttered Octavia.
Rainbow turned and glared daggers at the cellist, “I heard that!”
“Oh, well that’s a relief, I almost thought you didn't care.”
“I don’t!” Rainbow replied.
Octavia gave a mock look of confusion, “So, you just like the sound of my voice then, do you?”
Rainbow reeled back, “What? N-no!”
“But then… why did you listen?” she smirked.
Rainbow, now fuming, landed and trotted directly up to Octavia’s face, “I just--”
“Fight! Fight! Fight! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Both mares turned to see Lyra mere inches away from both of their faces. She had a wide smile and an excited look as she rooted them on. Rainbow quickly realized how close she was and distanced herself from both of them.
“I see that you have no reply,” began Octavia, further antagonizing Rainbow, “thus making me the winner this time around as well.”
Rainbow, turned back to her with fire in her eyes, “What? You--”
“Now *munch* at ease, ponies. *chew* We still have a challenge to complete.” Everypony found their attention diverted back towards Luna, whom had been finishing off a small bowl of popcorn while they were fighting. Bowl now empty, she gulped down the last of what was in her mouth before continuing. “Thank you for the advice, Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie Pie, whom had been finishing off her own bag, simply waved a hoof in acknowledgement.
“As I said, you will be splitting into two groups.” The screen next to Luna changed to show two columns, one labeled ‘Team Loose Cannon’ and another labeled ‘Team Headstrong’. “These are the teams that we have chosen.”
Six pictures appeared on screen. Each of them moved over to one column, and by the time it was over, each of the ponies had their picture on a column. “Team Headstrong will consist of Rainbow Dash, Lyra Heartstrings, and Octavia Philharmonica. Team Loose Cannon will consist of Pinkie Pie, Vinyl Scratch, and Twilight Sparkle,” Luna announced.
“No Way!” Rainbow declared, sweeping her hooves in a wide arc. “I’m not partnering up with her!” Rainbow finished her declaration by pointing directly at a bored looking Octavia.
Octavia took it with a smile. Trotting over to Sweetie and putting a hoof on her head softly, she said, “That’s alright. You can sit this one out with Sweetie Belle like last time. I’m sure you’ll get plenty of points on the next challenge.” She returned a pointed and mocking back towards Rainbow Dash.
“Please save all trash talk for the wrestling challenge,” interrupted Luna, “I am out of popcorn. Like I was saying, each team will undertake two missions. Your compared scores at the end will dictate who won.”
“How do we calculate score? Speed? Kill streak?” asked Twilight.
“Will there actually be a wrestling challenge?” Sweetie Belle asked curiously.
~~~
Opening her eyes, Twilight immediately began analyzing her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was that all three them were wearing mechanical suits of some sort. Her coal grey suit covered her entire body except her head. Covering her eyes however was a visor that had several displays on it. Looking around she could see Pinkie and Vinyl trotting around and getting used to their suits. Glancing up she noted that they were all standing in a gazebo-like home base surrounded by what looked like plain rock.
Over in an identical location, Octavia and her group made similar revelations.
Twilight flinched when she heard a crackle of static in her earpiece, “Welcome to E.D.N III everypony,” said a voice.
“Yo, Princess, that you?” asked Vinyl, putting a hoof to her ear.
“Indeed,” said Luna. “As you may have noticed, you are all wearing thermal energy suits. As of right now, consider those suits to be akin to a second skin. If they get damaged, so do you. Over in your upper left hoof corner, you will see a wide green bar, a thin blue bar, and a yellow circle around large four digit number.
Twilight glanced up and saw it. The yellow circle held a value of 1500 and the blue line said 2500. “Alright… what do they mean?”
Luna continued, “The green bar represents your health, as always. The yellow bar represents your thermal energy levels. You need this energy to survive. It also powers the harmonizer that heals you when you get hit. The more you heal with it the lower the number will go. Y--”
*RATATATATA* Octavia’s eyes went wide when the sound of gunfire reached her ears. Turning, she saw Lyra with a wide innocent smile and a smoking machine gun mounted on her shoulder.
“Lyra…” she whispered in shock. Her expression soon changed into one of anger, “Did you just try and shoot me?!”
“I just wanted to see if--”
*Ratatata!*
“Rainbow Dash!” Octavia turned around to see Dash innocent whistling with her legs crossed in front of her, a smoking gun on her shoulder.
“Well,” Lyra began sheepishly, “now we know friendly fire isn't on.”
“You guys are abysmal!” Octavia yelled. Taking a second, she sighed and put a hoof to her ear. “I’m sorry, Princess. Please continue.”
“Uh.. yes. Thermal energy is important, but there are plenty of ways to retrieve some, ranging from killing enemies to destroying the environment. Now, what’s important to know is that while you can respawn in this game, there is a limit. Below your life gauge, do you see the thin blue line labeled B gauge?”
“Yes,” answered Twilight, “It says 2500.”
“That is a gauge shared by your entire party. Each time one of you dies and respawns it goes down by 500. There is only one way to increase it, and that’s by activating data posts.”
“And what are those?” asked Rainbow.
“Large metal canisters. Near the lower right and left-hoof corners you’ll see your machine gun and grenade ammunition, and near the upper right, your map. You may carry two of each type in this game. Two guns, two grenades. Any questions?”
“I have one,” began Twilight, “What sort of enemies are we fighting?”
“Duck,” answered Luna.
Twilight cocked her head curiously, “Ducks? Why would we--OOF!”
“Twilight!” yelled Pinkie.
“What the hay is that?!” yelled Vinyl.
Octavia and her group listened as the sounds of gunfire and screaming filled their intercoms, “Twilight? Twilight are you alright?”
Luna’s laughter sounded out through it all, and with one final “Good luck!” Everything went silent. The group stood stock-still, waiting for something to happen.
“It seems that we’ve been cut off from the others,” Octavia surmised.
“That might be a good thing since hearing them die would distract us,” shrugged Lyra.
Octavia nodded,“I agree.” She looked at Rainbow Dash and watched as she examined her gun. “First thing’s first, can we please agree not to shoot one another? It doesn't work and it only wastes ammo.”
Rainbow instantly turned the gun on her and shot a few bullets in her direction before shrugging. “Yup, nothing.”
Lyra pulled out a glowing orange orb, “What if I tossed this grenade down? You think it’ll kill us?”
“Don’t you dare!” Octavia ordered. “Are you even trying to win?”
“Sorry, sorry!” Lyra put the orb away, “We should move on, the others sounded like they got a head start on us.”
Octavia nodded and took up her own gun, “I agree, let’s head to the first point on the map. I think Luna called it a data post,” she said, glancing up at her map. As soon as she took a step forward, however, a large glowing plant sprouted from the side of the rock wall. Immediately it began spewing out dozens of hideous creatures.
An objective flashed onto everypony’s visors: “Get past the Akrid and head towards the reservoir!”
“Eww, what are those? Bug… plant things?” Lyra screamed, opening fire.
“They’re called Akrid, apparently,” Octavia hefted her gun and aimed it that the creatures crawling across the walls. “Rainbow Dash, can you fly up there?”
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings a few times. What she thought would be a heavy suit turned out to weigh nearly nothing. “Sweet! Guys I’m gonna head to the goal so we can win this thing!”
Octavia turned away from the enemies she was shooting just in time to see Dash fly off, “Dash, no, wait! Ugh!” she groaned, “Does that mare even understand the word teamwork?” Octavia jumped back just in time for one of the flying bugs to try and dive bomb her. While it was stuck in the ground, Octavia angrily unloaded a full clip into its head, “For the love of…”
~~~
“What the hay is that!” yelled Vinyl. Pulling out her machine gun, she proceeded to open fire on the manta ray-like creature that had dive bombed Twilight.
Twilight slowly picked herself off of the ground. She noticed that the machine on her hoof was glowing. Realizing what that meant, she watched her life gauge refill. But by the time it was full, her thermal energy meter read 1160. An objective flashed past her viser. “Get past the Akrid, and head towards the reservoir?” she muttered.
The creature now dead, Vinyl helped Twilight up, “Is that what these things are called?”
“Apparent--” Twilight suddenly whipped her head to the left, then the right, then turned in a circle. “Where’s Pinkie Pie?” she asked, slightly panicked.
“Here I am!” Both ponies hopped back in surprise when Pinkie fell in front of them, dangling upside down from the sky. “Look, I’m a Spiderpony!” she giggled, twirling in a circle.
Twilight looked up at her with a shocked expression. Pinkie hung down on a black wire that was attached to where the rock wall hung over them. “Pinkie, how are you doing that?”
“I found the grappling hook!” she sang.
Vinyl’s eyes nearly popped out of her visor, “We have grappling hooks!?”
“Yeah, it’s in your hoof,” said Pinkie.
Vinyl thrust her hoof out towards a wall close to them and shot out her hook. One yank and she found herself speeding towards that wall. “Hell yeah! Now all we need is a titan and we’re in business!”
Pinkie swung herself over to where Vinyl hung and smiled at her, “I didn't know you watched that.”
“Duh, it’s awesome!”
“Girls!” called Twilight, “Come down here so we can discuss what to do.”
Following Twilight’s orders, all of Team Loose Cannon gathered together outside of the gazebo base. Once together, Twilight quickly began giving out further orders and instructions on how to proceed. Since the map detailed a fairly straightforward path, they would stick together and fight together in order to preserve ammo and thermal energy. Before long they had an entire operation worked out.
Moving on they encountered the first wave of enemies that spawned from giant flowers. Swiftly they pulled out their weapons and shot everything they came across. A few Akrid manta rays took them by surprise by falling from the sky, but thankfully nopony ‘died’. After taking out the various plant-based enemies, Twilight and the others trotted over to what looked like a large metal canister attached to the ground.
Vinyl lifted her visor and stared at it curiously, “What’s this thing?”
Twilight glanced back at her map, “I… think it’s the data port. How do we activate it?”
Pinkie detached the gun from her shoulder and started banging furiously it against the machine. Twilight quickly used her magic to stop her, “Pinkie, what are you doing!”
“I’m hitting it!” she giggled, “I saw it on T.V. once. It works, trust me.”
“Well, you don’t--” Twilight stopped when the top of the machine suddenly inched upwards. “Wha-- did you…”
Vinyl stuck her head out from behind the machine, “Nah, she didn't do anything. I found a button. It’s not doing anything else though.”
“Press it again,” Twilight ordered.
“I did, it didn't do anything,” she replied.
Pinkie reattached her gun, “Is it activated?”
“Well… no. Nothing happened. We were supposed to get a thermal energy boost.” For a few more seconds the group merely stood around trying to figure out what to do. After a little while, Pinkie pushed Vinyl out of the way and began furiously mashing the button.
“Pinkie, I thought we--”
Vinyl held up a hoof to stop Twilight, “Hold on, look.” Vinyl motioned to the machine. With every few times Pinkie mashed the button, the top slid up a few more inches. Eventually it reached it’s apex and the bottom half opened. Immediately a wave of energy pulsed out from the machine and Twilight watched as her thermal energy bar raised from 2300 to 5120. “Who would design this thing that way where you have to mash the button?” Vinyl groaned, “That’s so stupid!”
“Pinkie, how did you know how to do that?” she asked.
Pinkie shrugged and gave her a large smile. “Saw it on T.V. Told you hitting things worked!”
~~~
Unfortunately, Octavia’s group fared a bit differently when it came to teamwork. Octavia and Lyra had made it halfway across the stage when they were ambushed by two Rhyno Akrid and a large praying mantis-type.
“Rainbow Dash, where the bloody hay are you?!” Octavia yelled as she grapplehooked to safety. Underneath her, the Rhyno rolled into a ball and rampaged around the forest. Tossing a grenade down, she blew up the praying mantis.
Lyra, who fell into a pool of water sometime back, finally grappled out, hefting a large gatling gun out with her. Screaming like a madpony, she began spinning in the air as she dangled from her hook, shooting everypony and everything around her.
“Lyra, you can’t do that!” Octavia screamed, “Its weak point is on its tail!”
Lyra stopped spinning and dropped down next to her, “Alright then.” Grinning, Lyra pulled out a grenade and hopped down towards the Rhynos. Octavia looked down for a second, only to jerk her head back from the explosion. A few seconds later, Lyra grappled back up to meet her.
Octavia watched as Lyra used her harmonizer to heal herself. “Don’t do that!” she hissed.
“Aww, why not?” Lyra asked mischievously, “I have like 7000 thermal points from killing everything.”
Octavia rubbed a temple with her hoof, “Still,” she sighed, “you shouldn’t just self-destruct like that.”
“‘Sup, guys.” Both mares looked up to see Rainbow Dash hovering above them with a sheepish look.
“Rainbow Dash!” yelled Octavia. “Where in the world were you!”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her head nervously and landed next to them, “Well… turns out that we can only finish if we’re together.”
Lyra rolled her eyes, “Well, duh.”
“Yeah, also seems that flying takes up alot of thermal whatevers. Like, a lot.”
Octavia prepped a facehoof. “You don’t have any left, do you?”
Dash glanced up and flinched, “Says zero-zero-zero-zero.”
Octavia initiated her facehoof, “Alright, from now on, let’s stay together, kill everything, and give Rainbow all of the energy.”
“Hey, who put you in charge?” Rainbow protested, “I say we bolt to the exit.”
Octavia turned to her with a look of immense frustration, “No,” she said softly as she trotted up to her face, “Because if we do, we’ll have to dash past all of the monsters, and if you get injured, you have no way to heal. I’m not letting you die and waste our respawn counter.”
“Then why can’t we just go around them. Let’s not fight anything,” Rainbow spat.
“No, no, we can’t do that! We’ll need to fight them in order to replenish your energy. Lyra and I will defeat them and you’ll collect the energy and activate the data posts. We don’t know what’s coming in the next mission either.”
“That’s not fair, I wanna shoot things too,” Rainbow whined.
“Then you shouldn't have wasted all of your energy flying around trying to finish the game without the rest of us!”
“I was trying to get us the best score!”
“This isn't a race, Rainbow Dash! We won’t get the best score by getting to the goal first--”
Lyra popped up in between the both of them with three grenades in her hoof. “If you two don’t stop fighting, I will blow us all up and lose the game!” she yelled.
Both Dash and Octavia slowly backed away. Lyra nodded and lowered the orb. “Thank you. Rainbow, come here.”
Rainbow hesitated for a second before taking a step closer. Lyra switched over her weapon to one that seemed to be charging with energy. Rainbow immediately wished she hadn't taken that step forward. “Woah, wh--”
“Stay there!” Lyra ordered. Releasing the trigger, Lyra shot a ball of energy that seeped into Rainbows armor. Rainbow watched as her thermal energy reading rapidly increased to 2000.
“Lyra how did you do that?” Octavia asked.
Lyra switched back her gun and gave Octavia a smug smile, “I found it while I was messing around with the suit. Come on, let’s go!” Lyra turned and bolted towards the next data post.
Rainbow glanced over to Octavia and scowled, “Who put her in charge?”
Octavia groaned and ran after Lyra, “Just shut up.”
~~~
“Vinyl, above you!” screamed Pinkie.
Vinyl stopped slamming the button on the data post and brought out a grenade before chucking it into the lake behind her. “I got it!”
Pinkie quickly reloaded her gun and continued firing at a large Akrid Mantis. “No, I said above!”
“Wha-” Vinyl quickly found herself knocked out by the second Mantis that snuck up behind her. She opened her eyes to see that she was back at the data post halfway across the map.
“Oh no!” cried Pinkie.
Twilight finished taking out her enemy and turned to the one Pinkie had been fighting, “Why are there so many bugs at the exit?”
Vinyl’s voice came through on her intercom, “So we don’t make it out, of course.”
Finishing off the large Akrid, Pinkie dashed toward the one that killed Vinyl. Halfway there, she stopped and glanced over to something sitting in a corner. When she picked it up, she noticed that she had a new type of grenade on her screen. “I found gummi bombs!” she cheered.
“That’s great, Pinkie, now come help!” Twilight called.
”Oh, right!” Pinkie stashed away the new toys and ran over to help Twilight. Soon enough, the duo managed to reduce the large Akrid to a hollow dusk shell, such as what happens to dead Akrids. Finally safe, both of them crowded around the data post and jerked off the button until the post blew its thermal load.
“Alright, I think that’s all of them,” Twilight sighed. Right in front of them sat a large cave entrance that was blocked off by a red barrier that read as the goal on the map. “We have about 2000 respawn points. That means we only have four deaths between us. We have to careful from now on.”
Vinyl finally managed to make her way back to them, wearing a sheepish smile, “Sorry.”
Twilight shook her head, “It’s alright.” Now that Vinyl had entered the field, a countdown appeared on each of their visors. After it reached zero, the scenery changed. Instead of forest, there was a blank expanse. Then all at once, that expanse turned into a chart with each of their names. Area Results covered the top left:
Time: 00:17:20
Twilight Sparkle: 2520pts Rank A
Pinkie Pie: 1620pts Rank B
Vinyl Scratch: 1500pts Rank B
“Hmm,” pondered Twilight, “Not bad.”
Vinyl groaned, “We could’ve done it faster if some stupid pony didn't design such a stupid way to activate the post!”
“Well, they probably didn't expect ponies to actually have to press it like we did,” Twilight said optimistically.
“Ohh,” squealed Pinkie, “Look, the screen’s changing again!”
The entire area around them warped and shifted into a new area. Now the group stood in a small grassy area next to a large lake on one side and a large ravine on the other. Around the bend of the area sat a large metal bridge that had been raised. Twilight guessed that if it was lowered, it would stretch across the lake. “I’m guessing we have to lower that bridge for this mission.”
Vinyl looked around and noticed something odd, “Why are their barrels everywhere?” True to her word there were barrels littered all around the pier.
Further into the area, the group noticed the data post that rested on a large metal platform near the entrance to the bridge. As they trotted onto the platform, Luna’s voice crackled through their earpieces once again: “I’m sending some reinforcements your way.”
Twilight and the others glanced at one another in confusion. Twilight put a hoof to her ear, “Why do we need reinforcements?”
“Yo, Twilight. Check it out,” Vinyl gestured up to the air. The group watched with wide eyes as a large airship sailed their way. “Hey, I’m not complaining.”
Just as the airship came close a enormous claw lifted itself from the water and smacked the entire ship out of the sky. Continuing to rise from the lake was an equally enormous Akrid insect with enormous, sharp spikes and several extra, smaller legs. Once it rose from the lake completely it sat both of its enormous claws on either side of the platform and let out a screeching wail.
Twilight covered her ears and tried to yell to her teammates, “Activate the data post!”
Pinkie and Vinyl quickly ran over, with both of them together they erected the post in just under twenty seconds, just in time for the boss creature to prepare its opening attack. Luckily, both of them dodged to the side as the monster slammed its claw down on them.
“Looks like it can’t destroy the post,” Twilight noted, seeing that even though the creature slammed down on it, the post was undamaged, “We won’t get sent back to the beginning now.” Opening fire, she ran to the side of the field and took cover behind a pillar.
Pinkie landed next to her and gestured over to the glowing spots on the Akrid’s legs and head, “The glowy parts are the bug thingies’ weak spots, right? Let’s shoot them!”
Twilight nodded. “You're right, we--”
“Look out!” Vinyl jumped and knocked both of them out of the way of another furious stomp from the creature. All three ponies quickly got up and scattered in order to avoid being caught all at once. “‘Kay, got it! Weak spot on the head!” Vinyl pulled out the shotgun she had picked up and began unloading several rounds into its head.
~~~
“What the buck is that?!” Lyra screamed. She watched, jaw agape as the enormous beast knocked the airship out of the sky like it was a fly.
Rainbow immediately opened fire, “I don’t know, but shoot it!”
“Shoot the glowing parts!” ordered Octavia as she struggled to activate the data post by herself. “Bugger all! Who would design something this tedious?” she muttered. Immediately after activating it, she grappled up to the raised platform behind them that she noticed when they entered the area.
“How do we kill it?!” Dash yelled.
“I just told you,” Octavia pulled out her machine gun and opened fire on the small glowing area, “Shoot its head.”
Lyra was the first to notice the long thin red line at the bottom of her visor. She watched as it went down only a tiny bit as they shot at its head. Glancing over, she saw the large glowing areas on the creature’s large and small legs. She made a decision and began aiming at the legs. “No, shoot the legs. Cripple it!”
Octavia looked over to where Lyra had decided to shoot, and realized that if the legs came off, they would have an easier chance at winning. “Good idea, I’ll shoot the other leg! Rainbow!”
“No way, you gotta shoot the head, the brain! We gotta--” Rainbow stopped abruptly as she found herself suddenly frozen in a block of ice. It didn't take long for the beast to crush it under its claw.
“This thing can shoot ice? What the buck?!” Lyra screamed. Soon, Rainbow respawned and flew up to Octavia’s platform.
“Going to listen now?” Octavia smirked.
“Shut up. So, what are we doing?”
Octavia smirked, “I tried throwing grenades, but they bounce off of it before they can explode. We’ll have to rely on our guns. Lyra and I will shoot the creature’s legs, you keep its attention off of us by moving around and shooting its head. Don’t get killed though, we’re running low on respawns.”
“Wait, wasn't I already doing that?” Rainbow spat.
Octavia opened her mouth to respond with a snide comment, but stopped when she ducked to the side to avoid a large icicle that came flying in her direction. “Yes, but now you’re following an order. See the difference?”
“I see the difference in your face!” With that, Rainbow hopped off of the platform and rushed to the side of the stage. Predictably, the Akrid turned and followed her.
It wasn't long before Lyra completely tore off one of the Akrid’s legs, causing it to fall to the ground and begin spasming. Octavia stopped shooting at her leg and unloaded the rest of her ammo into the beast’s head, with Lyra and Rainbow doing the same. What surprised all three of them was when it suddenly regenerated it’s leg and immediately crushed the platform with Octavia on it. She growled when she respawned.
“Ha, who’s dying now!” Rainbow teased.
“Shut up,” Octavia hissed.
“Guys? He’s firing his laser!” Lyra panicked. She quickly grappled up to a small cliff near the back of the area.
Octavia followed her example and reached a similar cliff opposite of Lyra’s with Rainbow behind her. They all watched as the Akrid shot out a long stream of ice that covered nearly the entirety of the ground level, grass and all. Luckily for them, the ice melted almost instantly.
“Hurry, get back in formation,” Octavia ordered, “Rainbow!”
Rainbow saluted and hopped off the cliff, “On it!” Soon the group resumed their attack, and it wouldn't be long until Octavia ripped off the other arm.
Just as the Akrid went down a second time, Lyra screamed out in delight, “Look what I found!” she sang. Rainbow and Octavia looked over to see Lyra heft out a large gatling gun. With reckless abandon, Lyra unloaded the entire load of bullets onto the Akrid’s forehead while laughing madly.
Eventually, the Akrid’s health bar emptied and the Akrid itself shriveled and died. The bridge began lowering as a result. All three ponies hopped to ground level and sighed in relief.
Octavia and the others began trotting past the bridge in a tired pace, “Thank goodness. Hopefully, this mission is over, because I am tired. First-pony shooters were never my second choice of gameplay.”
“Well, sucks to be you, ‘cus we’re not done yet.” Rainbow gestured out to the end of the bridge where another wave of enemies emerged. Both of them stopped halfway across the bridge and clicked their weapons.
“We’re out of ammunition!” Octavia began to panic until she heard large mechanical foot steps. Turning around, she watched, jaw rolling on the ground, as Lyra stepped up in a large bipedal robotic suit with two gatling guns attached to the sides.
“Incoming!” she yelled. “Here I come!” All at once, she opened fire, completely decimating the entire wave of enemies. Lyra cheered and hollered in excitement.
“Well, that would’ve been useful five minutes ago!” Rainbow groaned, “Where did she even get that?”
Octavia pointed behind them at the other remaining suit, “I’m guessing we passed right by them. I’m also guessing that they suck thermal energy like crazy, so I wouldn't put one on if I were you.”
“What’s the point? Lyra’s already killed everything.”
Octavia realized that Lyra was already well onto the other side of the island, delivering bloody murder to every Akrid that she could find.
“I’m so downloading this game when I get home!” she could hear Lyra scream.
~~~
“Take a chill pill!” screamed Vinyl. She quickly lobbed a grenade at the downed Akrid, only for it to bounce off before. “Dang it!”
“Vinyl,” groaned Twilight, “Punning won’t help your bombs work.”
“But they do so much damage!” Vinyl quickly resumed her bullet onslaught on the Akrid’s forehead. “Man, if only they stuck or something.”
Pinkie immediately stopped shooting when something rang through her head. She remembered the new type of grenades that she had picked up. “I have an idea!” she screamed.
“What is it?” replied Twilight.
Experimentally, Pinkie lobbed one of her gummi grenades at the Akrid’s arm. Lo and behold, it stuck solid to its body and exploded, instantly ripping off the monster’s arm. Vinyl and Twilight looked on in shock.
“How did you do that?!” they screamed.
Pinkie held up her new grenade, “It’s a gummi bomb! I guess it sticks to whatever I throw it at.”
“Throw one at its head!” Vinyl yelled frantically. Pinkie flinched at her volume, but complied, anyway. All of them marveled at the large chunk of health it ripped off. Immediately the Akrid regenerated and resumed it’s icicle barrage.
“Do it again, Pinkie!” Twilight yelled, dodging a spike.
Pinkie pulled out another grenade, but ducked to the side to avoid the rapidly spammed move, “I can’t! It keeps shooting at me!”
“I hate when somepony spams the same move over and over!” Vinyl groaned.
“Vinyl, shoot it to get it’s attention. It’s not aiming at you!” Twilight ordered.
“Gotcha! Hey ugly! I heard your mother has crabs! Now I know where you come from!” she screamed.
Twilight blushed furiously, “Vinyl!”
Vinyl shrugged, “What? I got its attention.”
Twilight resumed shooting, but still sent Vinyl an irritated glance, “But… you… you can’t say something like that!”
Vinyl ducked away from the freeze laser behind a tree, “Well, it worked. Pinkie!”
Pinkie popped her head up with grenade in hoof. “Okie-dokie, lokie!” Chucking the grenade, Pinkie blew off another leg; and chucking the final grenade, she finally put an end to the Akrid boss.
All three of them quickly gathered up all of the thermal energy that spewed out and grouped together at the now-lowering bridge. “Keep your guns ready,” said Twilight, “My map says that there are still enemies on the other side.”
“Ohh! Look! Look!” Pinkie hopped excitedly over to the large robotic suits halfway across the bridge. Putting one on she stood up and stomped over to Twilight. “Can I use it?”
Wide eyed, Twilight nodded dumbly. Glancing over at Vinyl she noticed that she was glancing between Twilight and the other robot suit. Sighing, Twilight nodded to her as well. “You two go kill everything. I’ll activate the last two data posts.”
“Sweet!” Vinyl hopped into the second suit and followed Pinkie into battle. Twilight smiled and shook her head. Looking back at her map, she tracked down the last two posts and waited for the other two at the goal.
~~~
Both groups stood proudly together in the final completion screen. Pinkie excitedly hopped over to the other group. “Hi Dashie! Hi Octi! Did you all have fun?”
“If babysitting two reckless and suicidal mares counts as fun,” Octavia rubbed her head.
Rainbow scoffed in annoyance, “Hey, you died too!”
Luna appeared before both groups in her actual body. “Please, ponies, save the fighting until you know your scores. Team Headstrong, step forward.”
Octavia, Rainbow, and Lyra all stepped forward. The blank area behind Luna changed to show the same results screen from before. “These are your scores from the first mission. Octavia, in the first mission you received a B. Rainbow, you received a D, Lyra, you received an S rank.
Octavia and Rainbow groaned while Lyra cheered ecstatically. “Told you we should’ve just ran to the exit!” said Rainbow, glaring at Octavia.
“And I told you that we should just kill everything, which is what Lyra did, in fact, do. The only differences were that I died once.” Octavia reasoned.
Luna nodded, “Correct. Now these are your second scores.” New scores appeared, and behind Lyra’s column sat an image of the monster she defeated, signaling that it was her that got the extra kill points. “Lyra, for your skill in the game and lack of deaths you receive another S rank. Octavia, for your skill, you receive an A rank. Rainbow, for your performance, you receive a B.”
Lyra once again broke out in a set of loud cheers. Octavia nodded, accepting her grade. Rainbow shrugged, figuring that a B was as good as anything.
“Factoring your other achievements, times and scores you total group score is an B+. Congratulations.”
“Did we win?” Rainbow said.
“Be patient,” Luna said. She then turned toward the other three ponies, “Team Loose Cannon, step forward”, she ordered.
Pinkie, Twilight, and Vinyl gathered together and stepped forward.
Luna switched over the screen to represent their scores, “Twilight, in the first mission you have an A, excellent as always. Pinkie and Vinyl, you both received Bs. Now, view your second mission scores.” Behind Pinkie’s column sat an image of the monster she defeated, signaling that it was her that got the extra kill points. “Pinkie, you gained an S rank for your skill in defeating the beast and lack of deaths.”
Pinkie joined Lyra in her celebration by doing a few flips and throwing a small amount of confetti into the air in celebration. Luna smiled and continued, “Twilight, once again you received an A. Vinyl, unfortunately, due to your repeat deaths, you receive only a C.”
Vinyl groaned for a second before giving a small smirk, “Eh, I’ve gotten worse grades in school anyway.”
“Factoring your other achievements, times and scores, your total group score is an A-. Congratulations, your group wins this challenge!” she announced. Lighting up her horn, Luna brought everypony back to the Velvet Room and removed all of their armor. “And you all win 6000 points!” she finished.
Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped as she watched the other group celebrate, “What? Seriously?”
Octavia yawned and stretched, “Well, I’m glad that’s over. I need some sleep.”
“What?” said Dash, “We lost!”
Octavia shrugged. “Well you can only blame yourself. You had the lowest score between the three of us. I would even wager that if it weren't for Lyra’s S ranks our score wouldn't have been as high as it was. Honestly, Rainbow, you really should try harder if you want to win. Perhaps you could even challenge me someday.”
“What? I.. You…” While she sat there fuming, Octavia trotted back to the rest of the group. Lyra met her halfway and looked back towards Rainbow.
“Why do you like antagonizing her?” Lyra whispered.
“Because it’s fun,” Octavia smiled. She continued to walk away, smile soon turned into a deep determined frown as she exited Lyra’s view, “...and because I need to check something.” She looked over with a curious gaze at the group of cheering ponies in front of her.
~~~
Pinkie, Vinyl, and Twilight all found themselves sitting at a table in a large courtroom. Looking around, they noticed a group of 5 black-cloaked ponies setting in the jury box and a large, grey-bearded pony sitting in the judge’s seat.
“Welcome, ponies,” he said in a gravelly voice, “We’re here today for you three to select whom you think created the challenge that you competed in today. You may choose any of the ponies that are sitting in the jury box, but you must call them by names. You have two choices. You may all either discuss it amongst yourselves and have one vote between you. Or you may all each have one individual vote.”
Twilight leaned over to the ponies next to her and whispered, “We should each have an individual vote,” she suggested. “That way they’ll be a higher chance that we get somepony, deal?”
Vinyl and Pinkie nodded. Twilight decided that she would go first, “I choose… Princess Luna!” Twilight announced.
The large grey stallion looked at her curiously. “I recognize your choice, but please remember, if you want to vote for the Princess, you must guess her new ‘game name’, as she calls it.
Twilight flinched back, she had completely forgotten about that. Feebly, she raised a hoof, “Can we at least have a hint? The list of things she could call herself is too large if you don’t.”
The grey stallion put a hoof to his chin and glanced over to the jury box. After a few hushed whispers amongst themselves, one cloaked pony stood up and spoke in Luna’s voice, “Princess Luna’s new name revolves around something that she is familiar with. You may take your guess.”
Twilight thought furiously about the things she knew that the Princess liked. After a few minutes, she reopened her mouth, “GamerLuna?”
“Incorrect!” the figure yelled.
The old stallion slammed his gavel loudly, “Next pony?”
“Sorry, guys,” Twilight apologized. Turning her head, she noticed that Pinkie was saying something to her. However no sound came from her, or Vinyl’s mouth. Rubbing her ear, Twilight looked at her curiously. Pinkie had turned towards the judge and looked like she was excitedly saying something, though Twilight couldn't hear what it was. “Of course they wouldn't let me hear their votes. That would be too easy wouldn't it,” she thought. “Good thing I can read lips.” Twilight stared intently at Pinkie for a few seconds before giving up. “Alright so I can’t read Pinkie’s lips… or lips in general… I should really learn to. I wonder if I have a book on it.”
After Pinkie finished talking, the judge turned toward Vinyl. Twilight watched as Vinyl opened her mouth once, and then as Judge opened his several times. One of the cloaked ponies stood up and apparently spoke as well. “What are they talking about?” Twilight thought, “Is Vinyl asking the same thing I did? It almost looks like she’s arguing…” Eventually, Vinyl gave up and shrugged. All at once, sound returned to Twilight’s ears.
“..ou Twilight, I mean, seriously, I can’t hear a thing. Sure I can see you all talking, but no sound is coming out. Can you hear me, Twilight? Can you, can you? I guess not them because you aren't saying anything--”
Twilight quickly covered her ears, “Pinkie, I can hear you now!”
“Oh, good!” Pinkie chirped.
The old judge hammered his gavel and brought attention back up to him. “All three of you have guessed incorrectly. You shall still receive your points however. Now, please return home.”
With a slam of his gavel all three ponies flashed out of the room. Still in the courtroom, one of the cloaked ponies stood up from their seat. “Summon the accused!”
With another slam, two ponies teleported into the defense seats. Lyra momentarily panicked until she realized where she was. “A-are we in Phoenix Right?” she whispered. “I love this game!”
Vinyl glanced up and down curiously. “Wait… why am I back here?”
“Silence!” the cloaked pony yelled. Lyra and Vinyl immediately shrank back. The pony slowly climbed down from the jury box and trotted up to Lyra. Throwing off her cloak, the real Luna stood tall in front of a shivering mint and white unicorns. “Lyra Heartstrings and Vinyl Scratch,” she began sticking her head in close. She glared at both of them, “We… need to have a talk about language,” Luna hissed.
Both ponies glanced at one another and gulped nervously.
Stats
Page generated in 0.029 seconds
Total duration
1,023 users online
1,335,207 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
D:
nice update!
Fun update, but there were tons of parts where names were not capitalized.
5298981 O.o seriously? Where? I can't find them.
Battlefeild 4!!! i wanna see some battlefeild!!!
Everyone knows that only grown-ups can play a children's card game.
Quick question before I read this fic. Is this supposed to be a crossover with the anime No Game No Life, or is this just sharing the name?
5313928 Technically, yes, but also no. It's sharing the concept: "Bored deity is bored, so they summon new, powerful players to shake things up and entertain them."
Other than that, no. No direct crossover with the anime itself. Plenty of video game crosses though.
5313935
Oh, OK. Sounds like I'll enjoy it!
As long as theres a section with references to Persona, I'll be happy!
And now that I've finished reading, let me take moment here to express my opinon on this story.
*ahem*
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Velvet Room as the waiting rom?! Excellent choice, though I wish you had used the Persona 3 design thats similar to an elevator... Otherwise this is great! Keep going!
5314313 Sweet, glad you love it. Have any Ideas you wanna throw my way? It's a nice cheap way to cameo yourself into the story
5314471
I do, but is it OK if I send the ideas via PM? Don't want to go giving my ideas away to the audience, now do I?
5314485 Np go right ahead
5314486
Great! I'll send it in the next couple minutes!
This story is so EPIC SCJUDBJIFWDBI!!!!!
Can you make a sequel were Luna send Sora and Shino (I think that's her name) to her world?
moar pls
I feel kinda stupid now. That should be "apologized". My bad.
I love lost planet, and remember mission 2. *shudders*
You should have them play the Attack on Titan Tribute Game!
And FNaF!
5465661 Oh yeah, I have plans for that one.
Also what's FNAF?
I call Button as the creator of this one. Nice shout out to Monty Python as well. Should totally get them to play portal.
I feel like, if this thing is actually being streamed live to Equestria, that the censors are having a hay-day trying to keep up with Lyra and Vinyl's language.
The Lost Planet Archids always reminded me of WayForward's Centipede games with their giant centipedes. Yuck.