The next morning Moon Dancer walked out of Zecoras house feeling a lot better after a few hours of sleep and rest. Thankfully Gamer's body seemed to negate Lactic acid buildup and muscle inflammation. She had expected to feel horrible the next day after her ordeal.
Everything just seemed so much better and she could appreciate the little things. The wind in her hair, the sun on her face, and warmth on her skin. And the weightless feeling in her shoulders.
Moon Dancer bit farewell to Zecora. Thanking her profusely for taking her in last night.
She promised that she would come to visit the mare when she could.
Tho it was a little hard to look the zebra in the eye after the steamy dreams she had last night. Her WIS stat gained one point just from the sheer willpower needed to not stare at Zecoras behind when she was bending over.
Yes. The world now looked so much brighter and new.
Or that could have been the fact she no longer needed her glasses. It had taken her a hot minute to notice that she wasn’t wearing them anymore. They had either been lost in the castle or destroyed during her transformation.
The world used to look like a murky and watery mess most days. Only her bifocals gave her a chance at reading, but it had always been irritating to look farther than a few yards out.
Now the world was in a picture-perfect clarity. Clearer than she had ever seen before.
A part of her would miss her glasses. They had been a part of her for so long that not seeing their dull rim around her eyes was a bit jarring. But still a pleasant change. Just think of the research applications available to her now that her body could regenerate itself!
“I better get back to Canterlot soon.” She said as she cantered down the small winding path that leads from Zeoras home to the edge of town.
Zecora had confided in her that she often walked into town to buy whatever amenities she needed and could not procure from the forest. Nature was wonderful but she was only one mare and it was hard for one mare to make everything.
At first, a few of the shopkeepers had hesitatingly sold her some necessities. Much to Moonie's surprise. The bed and couch she had assumed were hand-made by her were actually bought from a skilled crafter in Ponyville.
Then all of a sudden ponies stopped speaking to her, most running into their homes and hiding from her. It had been so sudden and jarring to just suddenly get the cold shoulder like that.
She kept going into town, hoping that one day the ponies would get used to her.
Despite only being friends for a day Moon Dancer felt irked for her friend. It wasn’t right. She suspected that a certain pink Party pony had something to do with her sudden status of Pariah.
As much as she would like to march right into town and yell at the ponies for ignoring such a kind mare, there were way too many cons to doing so. First of witch is that the situation would resolve itself in a week or two tops if this universe was anything like the original timeline.
Relling on time lines to stay the same would be utterly foolish on her part but this part of the timeline still seemed likely to happen.
Plus it would be her word against the pink ones and she didn’t have nearly the clout needed to challenge an element of harmony in her home turf.
“If things don’t improve in a month ill do something about it. I’m way too week right now to worry about this.” She mumbled to herself as she walked through the forest. Taking heed of Zecoras warning about the various dangers along the way she was able to bypass the field of poison joke.
However, her inner researcher reared its head, not allowing her to leave such a crazy and fascinating specimen behind.
Not wanting to get pranked by a flower Moon dancer settled for picking up a pair of sticks and used them as a pair of Giant chop sticks to throw a few samples of poison joke into her inventory. The stones turning into limp hoses the moment she let go of them.
The rest of the way to town wasn’t any more interesting, but just in case she had her stealth skill active. In the lookout for any other monsters or Traps, her game’s system might decide to throw at her.
Thankfully nothing major popped out at her and she was able to get to the edge of the Everfree and into town just fine.
It seems that Her system could partially read her mind as well because it gave her a quest.
[A Wallflower.]
[Getting tangled up with one of Ponyville's adventures can be such a bother. Get to Canterolot without being spotted by any of the Main 6.]
Bonus Objective ???
Bonus Objective ???
[Reward ???]
Y/N
Accepting the quest Moon Dancer ducked back down around the trees. Mulling over how to get to the other side of town where she could just barely see the train tracks.
There were a lot of ponies walking around the town. Most of them seemingly ordinary. Tho there were a few whose level was especially high. One mare by the name of sweety drops had a level of 50.
But none of them were really looking for her. So she could slip by.
Deciding that it was too risky to just walk into town moon dancer walked along the edge of the forest. Looking all the world just like any other hiker wandering about the woods. At the edge of the forest closest to the far end of the town, Moon dancer walked out and skirted the edges of the town proper.
[Acting – LVL 2]
When she had no choice any more Moon Dancer walked out of the forest and into the edge of town. A few ponies giving her a double-take when they realized she had walked out of the Everfree forest. But non approached her. Possibly due to her unkempt appearance.
Passing through town She noted that this place didn’t look bad at all. It was certainly a lot less developed than a proper city but there was a certain charm to the place. Tranquil and friendly energy just made you want to relax.
She almost didn’t notice when she arrived at the train station till her snout slammed headfirst into the signpost.
It didn’t hurt but her face did heat up in embarrassment as other ponies around her stared. They were all staring in concern but she still felt embarrassed she had done that.
Getting back up onto her hooved she walked into the train station and handed the ticket officer a bit for a ticket and another bit for a newspaper.
She could not believe she had just done that and nearly ruined her cover like that. Hopefully looking through the newspaper would distract her from her own mortification. She opened the newspaper and looked through it for any interesting articles.
“Mane care? Not that interested yet. Hoofball scores? Nope. A story on Baltimore’s fish disappearing? Potentially interesting? Phillidelphias new art exhibit? Nope. Hmm, Maritime spells for the sea worth? Ok, that’s interesting.” She said as she began to flip through the newspaper as she waited for her train. Absorbing herself in the reading.
“Please darling, You simply must hurry back as soon as you can. Your outfit is only half-finished and you know how hard it is to get those last final touches if the pony in question isn’t there to try the outfit on first.”
“I did not know that. But I’ll be sure to hurry back as soon as I can. Thiers still some stuff I need to get from Canterlot before I can officially move in.”
“But darling, Didn’t the princess herself say she would have your bags packed for you and ship everything here?”
“Um, yes. But I need to be there to umm… Make sure they get everything. YAH. That’s it. Just need to get some of my more…Private books.”
“Ahh, Say no more darling. A lady never tells. Oh, I must sound so inconsiderate. Of course, you would want to make sure Everything is packed properly. Now hurry along dear the train is arriving.”
“Thanks for understating Rarity, and I hope Spike won't be too much trouble, He really wanted to spend time….”
As the train’s whistle blew it startled Moon Dancer out of her reading. She quickly got into the first compartment available and sat down quickly to read the rest of the article. It was a fascinating read on maritime spells and how certain spells only worked properly when in or around the sea.
It was a few minutes later a voice disturbed her asking “Scuse me, are you done with that paper? It has some interesting articles I’d like to take a look at.”
Still engrossed in her reading Moondancer mumbled out “One sec, just finishing.”
A minute later she was done with her article, content with the knowledge but also a little disappointed. The Article was well written but had a few magical theory mistakes that undermined the whole point of the article.
Moon Dancer quickly handed the paper over to the mare asking for it and then promptly froze in place as she took the newspaper and left to read it.
Twilight Sparkle – LVL 95
Title - Element of Magic
Moon Dancer was so shocked at seeing Twilight that she was unable to do anything but stare at the mare as she sat back down to read the newspaper. Completely ignorant of the mare now staring holes into the back of her head.
Why..what…is that…high level…angry…sad…angry….sad.
Moon Dancer robotically moved her head away from the violate mare and stared out the train window for the remainder of the trip. Taking in deep breaths and letting them out to try and parse through all the confusing feelings she was getting right now.
Ultimately she failed. Her emotions were such a jumble right now that she didn’t know what to feel.
[Gamers Mind Activated.]
Instantly Moon dancer felt better as the flurry of emotions subsided into something a lot more manageable if no less confusing.
“WEEEEE, Canerlot Stop, All disembarking disembark, all Embarking, All aboard.”
The voice of the conductor snapped her out of her shock as she spotted Canterlot Station outside the window.
Holly Shit. Where already here?
It had felt lime meer moments had passed and yet she was already home.
[Quest complete]
[You have managed to get back to Canterlot.
Bonus objective – Don’t be seen by anypony – Failed
Bonus Objective – Don’t get recognized by twilight. – Succeeded.
{Reward: 10 bits, + 5 levels to sneek}
Bonus reward + 5 levels to acting. ]
She didn’t recognize me. She didn’t seem to even know who I was. Ten years. Ten years of working together on projects, going to school together, and competing academically and she didn’t even spare a second glance. Well to Tartarus with you too.
Her mood soured Moon Dancer walked out of the train and turned to take the long path back home.
##
After a log day and night, Moon Dancer was just done.
Completely spent, both physically, mentally, and emotionally.
She clumsily opened her front gate and just barely managed to get it closed again before getting to her door and heavily leaning on it. Not wanting to move from that spot.
Resting at Zecoras had been a good idea but it had only been a few hours before she had to move again. The walk from Zecoras to her house was still a considerable distance even with the train. Her weeker body protesting was sore and still tired. A bone-deep weariness had settled in as she had rested in the train.
Counter-intuitively staying still had made her even more tired. Moon dancer not having enough fitness knowledge to understand that she needed to keep her body moving if she wasn’t ready for rest.
Add in the sheer mental fatigue from constant shocks coming in one after another and she was ready to sleep for a week.
If only she could just get her door open!
Slam, Slam, Bang, Klank
Moon dancer's vision was starting to blur as she fought to keep her eyelids open. The sweet tempting voice of sleep whispering in her ears to just let go and fall asleep.
She only retained enough sense to know she should sleep inside instead of outside. She didn’t want to cause a panic with any concerned citizens.
Then the door opened on its own and Moon dancer stumbled in lethargically.
“Wow, Moony what the Tortures happened to you. You look like you've been through boot camp. Girls help me with her.” Minuet said as she caught a falling Moon Dancer. Dragging the half-asleep mare threw her door and into her living room.
Lemon drops and Twinkle Shin both ran out of the kitchen and helped Minuet with Moon Dancer.
All of them were shocked and worried at seeing their friend so out of it.
The three of them had only been at Moon Dancers' house to invite her to hang out. Inviting themselves in since they knew Moon Dancer could get lost in her own little world if none of them broke her out of it.
They didn’t expect that their little shut-in would actually be out.
With Moon dancer placed on her couch, Twinkle shine had the idea to find her a blanket while Lemon drop went back into the kitchen to get a pitcher of water.
When they returned it was to see Minuet with glowing hands and horn running her hands over Moon Dancer, now fast asleep. The low thrum of magic reverberating in the air as Minuet cast a diagnostic spell to see what was wrong with their friend.
After a few minutes of studying the results, Twinkleshine got impatient “So what's wrong with her?”
Minuet hummed as she cut off the spell and scrunched up her face in confusion. “ I have no bucking idea. She’s exhausted, Dyhidrated and very week. Her Mana pool is a fraction of the size it should be with bruises and sores all over her body. I…Have no idea what could have caused that. But I do know she needs fluids, now as well as like a week or two of sleep.”
Lemon Heard noded and placed the cup of water she held in her grasp up to moon dancers lips.
Even unconscious the Book worm still gulped down the water like a penguin in the desert.
Twinkle shine threw a blanket over the exhausted Unicorn and did her best to make her comfortable. She fidgeted in place, wondering if there was anything more she should do.
Lemon's heart sighed as she worried about her friend. “Clearly we can’t just leave her like this She’s far too week and exhausted. Should we stay over until she wakes up?”
Minute bit her lip as she mulled over the idea. Thinking of all the reasons that would be a bad idea. But ultimately she wasn’t going to leave Moon Dancer alone. Especially after she had saved their bacon at the party. “Yes. One of us should stay here with her just to make sure she doesn’t get any worse. Lemon you have work soon so you should head off to that. I’ll take the first shift and twinkle shine. You head home and sleep. Come here after our shift at work tomorrow and take over for Leamon. Sound good?”
Twikleshine and lemon heat both noded. Thankful that their heard leader was in fact a good leader. She had managed to finagle them out of worse situations before. So if she said they only needed to look after Moon dancer for a few days. They would.
2 days later.
[For resting in your bed all status ailments, hp and mp recovered.]
Blinking her eyes open moon dancer promptly closed them again when the light from the nearest window fell right into her face. Annoyed she buried herself further into her blankets.
She knew that she should probably get up and start her day or evening. But all she wanted to do was tuck back into bed for a few more hours. Letting her brain stay numbs just that bit longer as she rested. All this excitement of Dark castles, ancient powers, Bicons, alicorns, and resets could just shove off till she was good and ready.
She enjoyed just staying there for a while but eventually her body deciding that it had enough rest and she agreed.
Yawning as she got out of bed…er, couch, She arched her back and felt several satisfying pops as her backbones cracked.
She was deliberating if she should take a shower when she heard a gasp from her side and a solid squishy mass launch into her. Nocking her back into the couch.
“OH MY Gosh. You're ok. You're ok. You're ok.” Twinkle shine said as she hugged Moon Dancer into the couch. Her body pressing hard enough into her that it was getting a little hard to breathe. Thankfully she let go soon after and Moon dancer was able to ask.
“What happened? Why are you in my house and why am I on my couch rather than my bed?”
Moon Dancer wanted answers but it didn’t look like she was going to get them soon since Twinkleshine was still hugging her. From the way her back was shaking moon dancer could only assume she was crying.
Oh god, she is Crying! What did she do? Why is she crying? Should she call for help? Try to comfort her? What do I do?
Moon Dancer was thankfully saved when her front door opened and a worried Minuette walked in with a shopping back in hand. Shen walked all the way over to the kitchen and placed down the bag before she realized something was wrong and turned around.
“Sweet Celestia, You're awake? How? That sort of exhaustion should have had you on your ass for days.” MInuette said in disbelief.
“Hmm, Heavy.” Moony stammered out. Minette noticed her predicament and quickly pulling Twinkle's shine off her before she started to suffocate.
Moony gasped of air as the pressure around her middle was released.
Twinkleshine might be on the short side of being a unicorn mare but that girl had a Grip. Thankfully she was usually just so sweet that no one ever minded if her hugs had some extra umf.
I have really got to do some mild training and get some of my stats up to par again. Being as weak as a little filly again is going to get old fast if even the slightest breeze tosses me around.
Minette sat down on the side of the couch and handed Moon dancer a bottle of water. Making a few last-minute checks with her magic. Moony chugged down the whole bottle in moments, not realizing just how thirsty she was. Her mouth still felt like cotton but it was a lot better now.
In her face, Minuette asks. “OK Moony, Spill. You're gone for a whole day on some mysterious trip. You come back super late the day after Dehydrated, exhausted, and bruised. Your body is super weak and all my scans show that your Magic is super low and isn’t coming back as it should. And yet I can’t find any discernable reason why.”
Moony recalled vaguely that Minuette was studying to be a surgeon and would probably know better than anyone something was wrong with her. So even if she felt like lying to her, which she did not, It wouldn’t make much of a difference.
“Hmm, Sorry girls. It’s been a long few hours. I’m still sorting things out in my head. All this shouldn’t last too long. I’ll be back to normal in a week or two.”
“I’ll be the judge of that Moony, You're not getting out of that bed till I’m 100 % sure your ok or I’ll strap you down myself.”
“Um. Gosh um, Minuette? Wouldn’t it be super uncomfortable to sleep on the couch all that time? Shouldn’t we get her to bed?”
Minuette blushed but held her proud pose. “Fine but straight to bed. And don’t think I haven't noticed you dodge the question.”
The two of them were going to help Moon dancer get off the couch and into bed but moon dancer felt bad enough she had to have her friends look after her at all. What little pride she had wasn’t going to allow her to accept help up the stairs.
Twinkle and Minuette protested this but eventually let her do it herself. Even if they hovered around her in case she collapsed again.
Moony sat down on her bed, not feeling nearly as bad as she expected to. The gamer's body did good work on her.
“Ok, so spill, What happened. Did you get mugged? Magical accident? Baleful teleport? Archana mishap? Did you accidentally lose another book and look all over the city for it?” Minuette prodded determined to get some sort of answer.
Moon Dancer mulled over how much she wanted to tell her friends. On one hand, they were her friends so keeping thins from was going to be hard. It wasn’t like they really needed or deserved answers. But on the other hand, they did help her when she was at her weakest and she didn’t want to alienate them again.
“I was doing some Private research into a Personal matter in the Everfree forest. I was hoping to do some research on an ancient castle there.”
“Everfree, Everfree, Everfree? Isn’t that the giant wild and chaotic forest due south? The one with Hydra’s sleeping dragons and all manner of strange and bizarre things?” Twinkleshine asked.
Minuette’s face darkened as she heard this “You went out into the wilderness. On your own? That was incredibly reckless. No wonder you looked dead on your feet when you got back.”
“Oh, no the forest part was easy. I got through that with minimal difficulty. (if you call a couple timberwolf attacks and giant ents easy). This is the result of interacting with a magical anomaly inside the castle. I…um… miscalculated. It was supposed to make me stronger and more powerful but um… It failed. Kind of.”
A smack to the back of her head jolted her forward, looking back a bit in surprise that Twinkleshine of all ponies had given her a head slap. “Moony, that was incredibly irresponsible of you. You could have been seriously hurt. You were seriously hurt. Do we have to have another Intervention on mad science and evil wizardry?”
Moon Dancer paled at the memory. So many hours of safety lectures. A shudder rand threw her as she vehemently denied it. “NO, no. No need for that. I just got a little emotional and excited is all and things kind of spiraled out of control for a bit. And everything worked out in the end.”
“Yeah, and now your whole magic system is wack, and you as weak as a little filly. Exactly how is any of that end well?” Minuette asked in exasperation. Wondering if she was doing the right thing by holding her at home instead of rushing her to the hospital. Or at least a shrink.
Moon dancer winced at the sharp tone. “Fiar. It looks bad. But in exchange, I have a growth multiplier to an of my skills.”
Twinkle and Minuette both tilted their heads at the same time before motioning for her to explain.
“Basically I can grow faster at whatever I train in now.” She explained.
“What?” Minuette asked with a concerned face again. “Did you hit your head too? Moony everyone grows from training that’s kind of just how life works.”
“Well, I guess. But now I can train the proficiency of my skills far faster than I normally would. Just imagine all the new experiments I could do when my mana pools get even bitter?” Moon dancer got afar off look in her eyes as she imagined all the new experiments and spells she could do now that she had enough power. Or would have anyway.
MInuette seeing the long-suffering look that had caused Moon dancer to be so isolated snapped her fingers in front of her face. Snapping her out of her thought.
Feeling a bit miffed at Moon dancer Minuette came up with a dastardly plot that would both help her grow up a bit as well as teach her a lesson. “Alright if you’re so sure then you won't mind going to the gym with me and the girls from now on?”
“Um, The gym? I well… Isn’t that a little…Um” Moon dancer did not like going to the gym. So many ponies walking around. So many machines she had no idea how to use.
“Yup. It’ll be good for you and if your spell or whatever does what you say it does then weight training will only help you.”
Rollin her eyes Moon dancer agrees.
Minuette and Twinkleshine both soon leave. Extracting a promise from her telling her that if anything else happened she needed to call them straight away.
After the two of them left moon dance was filled with a sense of relief and calm. Soon shattered by the grumble and rolling rumble of her belly telling her that she was starving. The bits of water and tea that she had drunk doing nothing to calm her hunger.
He held her stomach in pain as the wave of hunger subsided. Only to discover that she was absolutely filthy.
She wasn’t a clean freak or anything but the day's worth of dust and sweat on her body was starting to feel very uncomfortable.
She stumbled into her bathroom and quickly set about preparing a shower. Brushing her teeth while she was at it.
It was while she was going through her ablutions that she noticed several subtle changes to her body. Her first observation was that her teeth were different from her normal ones. They used to be smooth flat chompers like most ponies. But now she had a few teeth that were rouned out to sharp edges, they were not too noticeable if you weren’t looking for them but her toothbrush noticed when she bit right threw it.
She should have been more freaked out, but after the last day, she was just done with life and just rolled with it.
In the shower, she notices that a lot of her muscles were different as well. At least what few muscles a skinny nerd like her would normally have. They were certainly smaller, do to her weak state, but after running a hand over them she could tell the muscles were a lot harder. Some even moving a little differently than expected. She didn’t have a clue what any of that meant so she shelved those thoughts as she enjoyed the spray of hot water washing away the grime of the day.
Soon the growling rumble of her belly cut the shower short.
Throwing on a pair of shorts and a large shirt she liked to laze around in Moon made her way down to her kitchen.
She knew Minuette would have a fit that she was out of bed but she was hungry dame it. Her belly demanded food!
Opening her fridge she skimmed it quickly before grabbing some flour, a couple of eggs, some hay bacon, some sugar, and milk.
Tossing everything but the bacon into a bowl and stirring till it became runny Moony set the fire for the stove. Grabbing some apples from her countertop to snack on till she made breakfast. She was planning to make some pancakes with a side of bacon. And possibly some jam glazes if she still had some.
It was sacrilege to her friends but Moon dancer preferred a gooey and flat pancake over the fluffy others enjoyed. She supposed that didn’t make them proper pancakes but she didn’t care much.
It seems her system didn’t mind as well since it acknowledged the pancakes as a pancake variant. It even provided her with a plus 2 VIT for the next few hours. Something she was thankful for since it made her feel a lot less tired.
Before she knew it Moon Dancer had finished a whole stack of pancakes, several pieces of fruit, a baked sweet potato, two sandwiches, and a frozen pizza. It was only after devouring the last slice of pizza that she stopped feeling hurry.
“Strange, only the pancakes I made added a buff. Does this mean that to receive a proper buff I not only need to cook the food but make it from scratch? Or does it take into account the time It takes to cook? The amount of contact I have with the food? Or is it a complexity kind of thing?”
Curious Moon dancer went about her kitchen and made a new sandwich, this time taking more time and effort into making it and with a few more nutritionally packed ingredients.
[Hearty Egg Salad sandwich - +1 Vit]
Moon dancer raced over to her workstation and pulled out a notebook and proceeded to jot down all her hypotheses, tests, and observations. Noting how recreating the same sandwich again with less viable ingredients did not give a but and also didn’t give one has she rushed it and made it sloppily.
She continued to eat and test. Never quite getting to the point of being full. Even when her fridge stood empty.
“Hmm, perhaps there's a bit of magical transference occurring as I make the food. A magical spillover that only occurs if I take my time with making the food? No that doesn’t sound right. I took five minutes on the second sandwich and it didn’t buff. Perhaps the system also gages intent, time, and rarity of ingredients when it assigns a buff to a dish? And perhaps more importantly, what can I make with this skill?”
[Cooking skill -LVL 10]
Her cooking skill had certainly leveled up quickly. At the tenth level, she even got a new screen that depicted dishes she could try to make for specific buffs. She didn't have the ingredients for them but this new screen did spark a renewed interest in cooking.
She had never been all that great at it but if it gave her even more buffs then she was willing to do some work to improve her cooking skill.
After she was done with that Moon Dancer walked over to her study room. She decided she needed to work her INT score back up to snuff and she needed to get to work on her magic.
Looking for some of her old textbooks Moony tried to use Levitation to bring the book over to her. A deep yellow aura surrounded the book for a moment before the book dropped back down to the ground with a heavy thud.
Moony sighed as she realized just how much her magic had been set back and how much work she would need to put in to get back to just an acceptable level of magic. She wasn’t going to shy away from the work and nothing worth having come easy.
She sat herself down into her comfy chair and began to peruse her way through her Books. Taking head to try and levitate a small paperweight around her. Splitting her focus and hopefully leveling her stats and skills proficiently.