During the hours the Lady's cloak had been bathing in magic, and the Mikoyan had been high above and far away from anything else, the former had... adjusted the latter - at least somewhat. The bridge, where it had been, had been nudged the most - just about every visible piece of wood was now heavily engraved with pictures of sprouting plants and animals frolicking; or the wood itself was sprouting flowers. The effect faded with distance, so the prow of the ship looked the same as when we'd started.
As we'd come in for a landing, we'd carefully woken up the crew who'd let themselves get sleep-zapped rather than risk becoming part of a Bacchanalia. Most of them had just raised their eyebrows at the new decoration scheme, then gotten to work checking the ship for damage. Thus, moments after the manticore landed, half a dozen ponies were crouched behind pieces of cover, aiming wands at it. Fortunately, it didn't seem interested in immediate mayhem; but after landing and making its initial pronouncement, crouched in place, muttering to itself as its eyes flicked over the ship.
I walked side-by-side with Red toward the bow, trying to ignore the flowers that bloomed in each of my hoofsteps. As we passed the mast, I was able to start making out, "... multi-species crew, blue shirts with logos on the chest, holding, I don't know, maybe they're stunners, a flying ship with two engines out on pods - I guess somebody was feeling a bit derivative. At least they were smart enough to avoid making the shirts red. Oh, here come a couple more - maybe they're the speaking NPCs."
Red whispered to me, "He sounds like he's speaking Equestrian instead of the local tongue, but I'm still not sure I understand him."
I whispered back, "I think I do - and it makes me nervous. But - let's try introducing ourselves, maybe it'll work out."
Red nodded, then stepped ahead of Armina, who was the frontmost of the crew. "I'm Captain Red Hot Chili Pepper of the airship Mikoyan."
The manticore puffed out its - his - chest, and bellowed, "I am Dirk Steel, the Dark Phoenix! What are you doing in my bay?"
I coughed, and found myself stepping forward. "Our five-month mission is to explore strange, new continents; to seek out new species and new cultures; to harmoniously go where nopony has gone before." Red looked at me and raised an eyebrow; I shrugged.
"Well," Dirk grumbled, "So much for originality. I suppose this is the scripted encounter so players who munchkin on combat have a chance to take it over and get to the finale that way." I raised a hoof for attention. "What?"
"I'd really prefer if you didn't try to take over my ship. It really does need a full crew, and whether or not you beat the crew trying to take it, you might hurt so many of them that it wouldn't be of any use to either of us."
He lowered his head to peer down at me. He snorted a few times... and his breath, frankly, stank, of both rotten meat and unbrushed teeth. "Say... you're not a player, are you?"
I debated for a split-second about how much detail to go into, which layer of secrecy to focus on; and decided to go with the MIB (CIB?) approach. "Would the fact that I've learned the words 'human', 'internet', and 'Canada' answer your question?"
"Finally!" He flopped down onto his belly, curling his tail along his side. "I was beginning to think I was the only one in this beta test!"
"You think this is a.. beta test?"
"What, are you on a production server? Or an in-house one?"
"Um." I scratched my head with a hoof. "I'm not sure I can answer that, at least the way you meant it. Was there, by any chance, a mysterious stranger who offered to let you... be here?"
"What, you mean Harry? Yeah, he was so impressed by my tricked-out rig and my special sauce, he gave me an invite on the spot."
"'Special sauce'?" Even I was starting to get confused at that point.
"Oh, yeah - I've worked out a trick that gives me an edge in any game I play. Really brings my hindbrain into action."
"Is it secret?"
"Nah - it'd just take you years to manage it yourself. I use self-hypnosis, so that I see myself inside the game. Gives me just that fraction of a second improved reflexes - but when a camper's sniping, and the engine's good enough to throw in sound-delay for the shot, a fraction of a second's just enough to make the dodge. Harry saw me trying out my new upgrade to my rig - a biofeedback sensor helmet. Gave me a helluva shock the first time I plugged it in, but even without any improvements, it's let me reach a whole new level. I wouldn't attack me, if you're thinking of sneaking a surprise on me - my reflexes are so good I'd have your throat out before you could say 'gangam style', even if it did aggro your mooks."
I rubbed my head slowly. This was all sorts of not-good, in just about every way I could name - and in a few ways I couldn't, since I'd never heard the term he'd just used. "And... what about the real world?"
"Ah, this new game's a peach. Persistent continuous gameplay, so I've gotta be logged in most of the time to really get through the grinding. I don't know about your config, but I've got my logout tied in with having my avatar fall asleep."
"What happens if something knocks you...r avatar out?"
"Hasn't happened yet."
"I've got something that's supposed to create a pretty good sleep effect - mind if I try it on you?"
"Very funny. Still haven't decided not to take your ship - or at least kill everyone aboard. Don't want you hitting the final quest before I do."
I bluffed a bit, "What makes you think it's the final one?"
"Are you kidding? The graphics are great, but whoever they've got writing this is a hack - start on one corner of a linear continent, and at the far end is the mysterious island shrouded in storms that nobody's been able to get to? You're not exactly a shining beacon of creativity yourself, even if it is a nice-looking airship. What are those things your party's pointing at me, magical phasers?"
"The name 'fuzzer' was proposed for them," I admitted.
"See? I bet that once somebody picks up the plot coupon to get to that island, it'll be a straight-up fetch quest. Kill the local elite team, then the big boss, get a nice shiny reward, and maybe have your character become the big boss for the production release. Or my character, I should say - I'm not going to let you win just because you picked up some fancy toys. If I'd known there was steampunk stuff available, maybe I'd have worked more on crafting than collecting an NPC army?"
"... A whole army, you say?"
"Yeah - they've really made a good conversational engine here. Well, I think they have - I think the whole thing might be bankrolled by that phone company, since everyone around here speaks Finnish, or something like that. But I've picked up enough that I can show up, shout a few words, kill anyone who challenges me, and the rest of the fighters join right up. Hey, how'd you like to be on Team Phoenix? I don't know what you were thinking when you picked that species, but you've got a nice ship - and coming in second's better than getting tossed out of the game entirely, right?"
"Depends. Maybe I should be asking you to join Team, um, Dairy."
He bellowed a laugh. "You haven't even picked a name yet? Lemme guess - you're a role-player, not a munchkin, aren't you?"
"So you can defeat locals in duels - are you really enough of a combat monster to even help taking down an endgame boss?"
The tip of his tail apparently teleported, the stinger resting against my throat. "More of a monster than you. The local random quest system has its hits and misses, but I've killed enough evil lords and local monsters to up my stats pretty high."
I tried to pretend I was completely calm as I gently touched the end of his tail with my hoof, and pushed it away - and tried to ignore the drop of clear fluid that was beading at its tip. "Tell you what," I said, "I may not be a meat-shield, but I do have my uses. For example, I've crafted a magic item with the command word 'vomitere'," and here I paused a moment, for I was concentrating on the opals in my cow-stomach and getting this monster - in several senses of the word - to lose his lunch. Unfortunately, he seemed to be just as resistant to that sort of magic as the local dragons, so I continued, "which has the effects you might guess, and-"
"Wait," he said, grinning, "did you just try and whammy me? While we were talking?" He snapped the fingers on one of his forepaws together, and I briefly envied him the ability to do so. "I bet you started off on a different continent, and that's why you've got all this cool stuff but you've been pumping me for information. I bet you don't even know how the local anti-magic system works. Still - if you're up to trying that, then whatever secret weapon you're getting ready inside your ship is probably almost ready to go."
I tried to keep my expression blank, as if I was hiding my reaction to his statement about the secret weapon that I wished I'd thought of working on. Things seemed to be coming to a head - or, at least, the conversation seemed to be winding up - so I tried to think of something I could do to neutralize Dirk - as he didn't think any of what was around us was real, he didn't have any qualms about taking who-knew-how-many lives. Maybe I could use my glue spell on the planks he was standing on, and hope the effect was physical enough to affect him; or I could run back to the safe the Warden Whistle was in; or... there was the powered-up Lady's cloak, which I was still wearing. (The thought came across my mind that maybe Dirk was bluffing about having anti-magic, and maybe the cloak had just drained my opals' magic.)
Mind-control was a terrible thing - but mass-murder was at least arguably worse than using minor mind-control to prevent it. So I tried activating the cloak's powers of command by concentrating on what I'd have to do to him if the cloak's magic failed, and ordered him, "No killing."
He blinked a few times at me, then shrugged. "Nah, I'm not going to kill you. Too many games have those stupid cooperative puzzles near the end, and you're the only other player I've found. But I'm getting bored here. I think I'll get back to the ol' pillaging, looting, raping, and setting fire to stuff grind, and come back for ya if I need ya."
I tried to hurriedly shout out, "No rap-!" but before I did, his wings had spread and he was gone.
I closed my eyes and let my head thunk against the railing.
Red said, "We're going to have a nice little debrief about everything that just happened, aren't we?"
"Yep. Soon as you help me get my horns out. Again."
Author's Note: I know it's not my best work, but after the delays, restarts, and trying to pick up where I left off more than once, at this point I just need to get this out into the wild, so that I can get going on the next one.
...Well. A guy who thinks this whole thing is a video game. Would that make this Virtual Chess of the Gods? Man, that's just...
I'm gonna stop thinking before I hurt my head again.
I'm somewhat confused here, is this a crossover or an OC? Because there's at least one Piece (whose name escapes me at the moment) who's under the belief that the entirety of this Game is just that: a video game.
Holy shit. He reminds me of me. With looser morals, but my single-mindedness in video games is there.
1418572
'Dirk' is an OC, not a crossover. I haven't been keeping up with all of the Chessverse fics - I missed the one you're referring to, and I honestly thought I was using an original-to-the-Chessverse idea here.
1418607 Yea with so many people working in the universe there really isn't such a thing as an original idea anymore. Embrace the Darkness, Carpe Noctem was the fic I was thinking of.
Huh. Assuming 'gangam style' is a typo, that rules out most of the hypotheses that don't involve actual contact with Earth at some point.
1419069
Not all the Chesspieces were taken from Earth on the same date. Missy was taken sometime during April, 2012; Gangnam style (or, as 'Dirk' put it, 'gangam' style) first appeared in July. Throw in various pieces who were taken later and arrived in Equestria earlier, and vice versa - and pretty much every case has to be evaluated individually. (And that doesn't even count Marty Stu, or Omnius, who have further complications...)
*rolls eyes* Oh god, twitch gamers. I hate to think what kind of body count he's racked up. though I do like the idea of his brain shutting down if you ever managed to convince him it was real...Wondering who his 'sponsor' for lack of remembering if there's a better term was.
I'm reminded of the Evil Digimon Overlord.
I think this would have been a wonderful opportunity to try some rationalism on him.
"What do you know, and how do you think you know it?"
"What do you mean?"
"How do you know this is not real?"
"Because I log on to this from a computer?"
"Let me put it this way. A belief needs to be falsifieable, lest it becomes a delusion. You don't want to think of yourself as deluded. So, what evidence, what event, would convince you that this world is real, and that you have been burning, pillaging, raping and murdering real, live people?"
Or something like that. I'm sorry, I'm sleep-deprived right now.
1420231
My brain equals fried. Seriously though. That would be like trying to convince someone that reality is just a game. In the end it goes along the lines of "Is what you feel what is actually real?"
ALSO
Rage at this not being a crossover. I would have loved to read this guy's story.
Love this new character, aside from the whole raping thing (have ethical problems with it, not to mention it's an incredibly inefficient use of time). He's just so different from this story's normal style I 3/4ths expected there to be a cross over link at the bottom of this page. Well done, the dichotomy merges so seamlessly, and yet remains deliciously jarring at he same time.
1420958 Meh, it didn't mess up the main protagonist in Final Fantasy X too bad (\/) (;,,;) (\/) *woop woop woop woop woop*
1421283
Explain the scenario to me. I never got around to getting too far in FFX before i had to stop.
1421500 At first Tidus, the main protagonist as well as the audience, is made to believe that he has been sucked out of his own real world and brought into a fantasy world. He is then moved aside and believed to take second fiddle as Yuna takes on the mantle of main protagonist to try and save the world using the old plot device of destroy giant monsters to save the world. But we later learn that this is pointless because it doesn't solve the problem of why the monsters come. This is when the plot get flipped again and Tidus learns he was actually brought out from a fantasy world (the dreams of a god) and brought out into the real world to help fix it and retakes the mantle of main protagonist to destroy the cause of the giant monsters and finally disappears, rather happy with himself, as the god(s) wake up and he can no longer exist.
1421638
Wait what? So umm. Hrm. That's retarded. Is sin still Jhect? Does Aaron not exist as well? Is sin still Tidus's dad? Was sin the source of the monsters? I know a bit but not much about the game. Enough to be both intrigued about the paradoxical characters and still know that that ending is retarded.
Some more information is required. Please
1421806 It's all a bit convoluted when you look at all the deep meanings that are there, implied, not implied but could be, and so on, I recommend this:
Yay Wikipedia XD
It does work for helping to explain, but it uses alot of personal pronouns specific to the game, so just keep that in mind.
1420231
Teaser of what's currently the first line of the next chapter:
"You can't reason somebody out of a position they didn't reason themselves into."
1420958
The slight difficulty with making this a crossover is that I have... plans... for Dirk.
(I'm also surprised that nobody's yet commented on his self-proclaimed name and title - was my reference too obscure?)
1422654
"If Equestria was real, would you want to know?"
1422942
> "If Equestria was real, would you want to know?"
For one answer - don't forget the third sentence of this story. And, well, everything that follows from that.
1422948 ...
You evil genius, you!
1419185
*Winces*
Ah, crap. Knightmare claims that everyone was brought in somewhere within the week Echo was brought in, and everyone will suddenly pop in at the last day of the week, even those who have only died/left 10 minutes before the last day.
I suggest you talk to one of the canon historians about this, and whether that idea is still valid.
Oh boy, another guy who thought he was in a video game. He obviously doesn't know about MLP, and apparently is noticing the trope that reality is rather boring and unrealistic.
I find myself obsessively checking the page for this story, waiting for a chapter.
PLEASE GIVE US A SCHEDULE SO THAT WE MAY SLEEP IN PEACE
It appears that FimFiction is eating some comments with barely a hiccup - at least one other writer's comment has disappeared, and the comment I posted last night is also nowhere to be seen. So, assuming that this comment continues to exist:
Last night, I posted that after my blood donation and various subsequent errands, I was more tired than I expected, so while I'd gotten things plotted out, I wasn't up to the typing. Today, I and some family drove half an hour to the only place within that radius which serves actual deep-dish pizza pie - but as of tomorrow, my schedule should be back to normal.
What's normal? One per day?
1421806 the answer to all of those is 'yes'.
and yes, FFX was a major mindfuck.
1425907 Actually the whole 'within a week' thing isn't quite so big an issue. We've yet to reach Game 3 so n worries, no panic.
1421806
Skip this comment if you somehow care about spoilers for a game more than a decade old.
Sin is the armor worn by Yu-Yevon.
Yu-Yevon crafts the armor from the Final Aeon which is used to defeat the previous Sin.
Aeons are, essentially, the dreams of the dead (specifically, dreams of the Fayth).
The Final Aeon must come from a person who is very close to the Summoner -- one of his/her Guardians (the Guardian must die and become a Fayth).
In the sacred city Zanarkand, there are hundreds of Fayth actively dreaming... but producing no Aeons. Rather than producing an Aeon, they collectively produce the Zanarkand that Tidus and Jecht are from.
Years ago, Jecht somehow (not well-explained) left the dream Zanarkand and ended up in real Bevelle. He eventually went on the pilgrimage with Braska, and became Braska's Final Aeon... and then Sin.
Despairing over the loss of both Braska and Jecht, Auron challenged Yunalecsa (the Fayth of the first Aeon pitted against Yu-Yevon), who killed him. Auron (dead) managed to ride Sin (Jecht) into dream Zanarkand, establishing a relationship with Tidus, eventually pulling Tidus into the real world (the beginning of the game itself).
It's possible that Jecht and Tidus were real people living in Zanarkand at some point in the past; based on the storyline of X-2, it's most likely that Tidus is a dream based on the historical figure of Shuyin (the main antagonist of X-2). Of course, that would imply that Yuna is a reincarnation of Lenne, but the setting doesn't really have support for reincarnation.
The fiends have nothing to do with Yu-Yevon or the Fayth, they're simply a dead souls who did not receive a Sending from a Summoner and were not at peace with their death. Auron is dead, but a combination of a strong will and an unfinished purpose (watching over Tidus) kept him as himself, instead of turning into a monster. The same applies to most of the Maesters of Yevon (with the exception of Kelk Ronso, and Seymour Guado for about the first half of the game).
Yuna succeeds where every other summoner has failed because, rather than giving Yu-Yevon a powerful Final Aeon to possess, she only gives him the normal Aeons, which the party then kills before they can be crafted into a proper Sin. With no more Aeons, Yu-Yevon is flushed out into the open. In a fit of irony, Yu-Yevon (who casts Curaga on himself whenever he's damaged) is vulnerable to zombification. And Auron (the only party member who is dead) has the easiest access to the Zombie Attack power.
I've noticed that all of the Chess Pieces you show seem to have some sort of magic resistance, or have some sort of bad-ass ability like this Manticore's special reflexes.
Well, all of them except Missy, who instead is just the power of insanity and brainfullness.
Who is this Dirk guy and where did he come from?