3rd Person POV
Sky-Space

"An' back when Ah was a walkin' blue marble," Rava spoke. "Ah didn't even 'ave that. There weren't holes ta fill in more than..."

"Then what?" Vareén asked, eying the Dwarf. "...What are you doing?" When Ravathyra didn't reply, Vareén reached over and tried to flick Rava's ear. Then she drew her finger back, waving it around.

Without a breath gone by, Vareén and Stostine were suddenly standing beside one another and facing the same direction. Even when they were no longer sitting in their chairs, the transition was so seamless. From their perspective, they only knew they were somewhere else upon staring at the endless expanse of a cloud-littered sky. Complete with the two suns of Prima hanging high above them.

Both girls spent a few quiet seconds glancing around while Stostine particularly took a deep breath to brace herself before looking straight down. As she expected, she was standing on nothing as she saw the world beneath her feet.

Then there was Stostine's ally. The moment Vareén looked down, she let out a high-pitched whimper as a chill so strong it was visible through her cloak surged down her back.

"Wh-Whe-Where are we?" She asked, her voice cracking constantly. It was the first time her voice sounded similar to her Player's. "Where's the ground? Where's the town? Where are—why i-is...Why are you not freaking out?!"

Stostine couldn't help but smile. "Remember how we told you we ended up in the sky? Welcome to the sky, Vareén."

About twenty feet away from them, a large goliath woman adorned in a silver-lined cloak with warm furs and a number of javelins on her back began looking around. Like Stostine, it all seemed greatly familiar. When she then noticed Stostine and a complaining Vareén, the goliath broke out in a grin.

The girls stopped, turning to watch the near seven foot tall woman bounding towards them in a sprint. Quickly, Vareén fumbled for her bow and was prepared to fire only for Stostine to gently grab her wrist and signal for the elf to stand down.

"Gekio," Stostine returned. "It is good to see that you are okay! You are okay, right?"

"Yeah! Oh yeah, I'm good," she answered, stopping about four feet away so the three were in talking distance. "But you have no idea how boring it is to sit around doing nothing all day!"

Stostine said nothing, only giving a comedic look that made Gekio rethink her words.

"Err, I-I mean stuck with nobody around, all day," Gekio corrected, remembering what Stostine told her about yesterday. "None of my group's awake, like you thought would happen."

From there, Stostine took the lead in the conversation. She began introducing her teammate to her Skellian friend before trying to get some more information about what the haze was acting like during the game on Gekio's side. Meanwhile, a group of four high school students were standing another twenty feet away. Except, they were occupied themselves.

They arrived in Sky-Space prior to the characters but all that time was spent with varying levels of terror. For Gilda, she only needed a little time to shake off the dizzying height below her. It especially helped that she had an experience with this already. As for the others, they had no such luxury.

To Sunset's credit, she wasn't screaming. Instead, every nerve in her body seized up as she couldn't tear her eyes away from the sheer drop below her. A 'call of the void' effect started taking her mind as she felt herself leaning forward with wide eyes.

It only lasted a moment before she was shaken out of it by Twilight who, in an attempt to find a solid object to latch onto, took Sunset's arm in her hand as she gave out this unsteady, breathless wail. Sunset turned to face her and saw the color gone from Twilight's face. Quick to help her, Sunset linked arms with her friend and distracted herself from the drop by helping to calm Twilight down.

Story on the other hand, had no prior experience to any of this. He was screaming and flailing in a mad frenzy, eventually clinging to Gilda's side like a lost child at a grocery store. He wanted to look anywhere else but he couldn't stop himself from screaming at the nonexistent ground. Ironically, his feet remained anchored in place because, by Story's instincts, he thought if he dared to move them he would actually start falling.

"Okay. Dude," she said as she finally pried him off of her hip. "I get that it's freaky but you're not gonna fall, alright?! Take a breather and stop. Looking. Down. Also, you're telling no one I let you hug me."

Story tried to form words but all that came out was babbling as he nodded frantically. He busied himself by looking at the clouds slowly drifting around them.

"There's...There's no breeze," Twilight began to register as she and Sunset slowly let go of one another. "There's no heat from the. The two suns?!"

"Yeah, Story's world has two suns," Gilda filled them in. The existence of them made Sunset's Equestrian mind shatter for a moment. "That's what made me and Dash realize the world down there is Story's too."

"Wait, my world? Down the-theeeeeeere...?" Story temporarily forgot his fears and looked straight down again. The airsickness felt like it was about to kick in again for him.

"I-I-I...I know. B-but..." Story trailed off, swallowing his fear and bringing up his finger. Then he started tracing the coastline as he made himself focus. "That. That's the Balrion Straight. And. And those are the Elven Steps. And that's the Dryne River. So that over there should be..." he kept mumbling locations to himself, most that none of the others had any hope of recognizing.

When he was satisfied, Story stood up straight and looked to the girls. "I. I think it really is my world."

Hey, are you guys done screaming yet?

Story opened his mouth to deny her but Gilda slapped his mouth shut with her hand, making him give off a muffled scream of pain instead of fear. At the same time, Twilight and Sunset began looking around for any sign of where that disembodied voice came from.

Yeah. I'm watching you guys through the screen that popped up in front of me. It's like watching a TV show, it's pretty awesome.

"Well, you're just a voice to us! It's creepy," Gilda shouted. She then let go of Story's mouth so he could nurse his jaw.

I'm right here Gilda, you don't have to shout.

Uh-huh. If you think it's weird hearing my voice, you have no idea what it's like to see you through the screen AND sitting right in front of me. You're not talking though. You're all just...sitting here.

Twilight nervously brushed some of her hair as she temporarily forgot about how there was no floor and paced forward a few steps. "Alright. That's not normal. Erm...May. Maybe, it's..."

Not fake after all and I was right the whole time?

Twilight glared in no particular direction. "I was going to say that perhaps the game's magic put us in a hypnotic-like state. We did start to get drowsy as you rolled the dice. That might have been what made us more subjective to a more extreme illusion."

Really? Hypnosis now? Weren't you the one that said hypnosis was a myth or something? Why is hypnosis suddenly more believable than this?!

"When I said hypnosis I. I-I meant sleep-like trance," she corrected. "A trance isn't restricted only to hypnosis. It can be plenty of things. And it's still much more believable than accepting that our characters came to life from a board game!" Twilight screamed in return. "And sure. Maybe I can't quite explain this right now bu-but that doesn't mean I'm wrong! I am not about to go along thinking this magic created any form of life! And you can't just go on believing it so easily either, Rainbow Dash!"

You think this was easy? Do you how freaky it was seeing our characters walk and move on their own?

The girls all turned to finally notice the only other people up in the space with them. Gekio and Stostine were still in the middle of their own conversation and were now sitting cross-legged on the floor with Vareén standing close by. She wasn't talking as much. Instead, Vareén kept her hood pulled tightly over her eyes so she wouldn't have to see the sky around her.

Upon seeing this, Twilight let out a continuous stutter that sounded as though her mouth was letting out sparks like a broken machine.

"How does this all work then?" Vareén asked, her voice full of grouch and gravel but obviously Twilight's. "You say this is where Ravathyra got 'fixed,' but there's nothing here."

"We have no control of it," Stostine explained further. "At least, we do not think we do. Previously, we sat around until Gekio and Rava vanished without warning. Then they reappeared later."

Sunset held her own neck for a moment. She didn't use a voice for Stostine, just a different tone. And yet the mage reflected that perfectly. There were a few moments where Sunset fell out of that tone but Stostine didn't have that problem.

"I mean, that's mostly true. Aside from the part where I beat up all three of you single-handedly," Gekio gloated. Gilda grinned at that.

"If I remember right, we were holding our own against you." Stostine smiled slyly. "I even got to practice my Ice Knife from that."

"Yeah, yeah. But if I remember right, I was holdin' back. You'da been stomped if I actually tried!"

"Cut the rivalry," Vareén dismissed venomously. Twilight took a step back when she heard her voice say that "Are you saying we're stuck until something else is done with us? Is it our Players?"

"We believe so." Stostine nodded. "Ravathyra mentioned that it was her Player that shaped the history she got after we arrived. Maybe this is where it all happens."

"S-Sunset?" Twilight asked, unconsciously feeling to see if her heart stopped skipping beats.

The fiery-haired girl shook her head, anticipating Twi's question. "I don't know."

Still think it's all fake Twilight?

Twilight frowned, a few hairs sticking out of place as she tried to gather herself. "I didn't say fake, I said programmed illusion. And when I said that I meant that this was a sort of magic built in part by what we imagine. Everything around us is something that we imagined."

Uh-huh. Story, did you imagine any of this?

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhh..." Story let out a single syllable as he continued eying the world below that he technically 'imagined' to life. "I don't know how to answer that."

While Twilight tried to find a way to build up a good explanation, Sunset took the opportunity to approach the characters. By now, their conversation temporarily shifted from what this space was to what the group had done in tonight's game thus far.

Vareén took the chance to turn and walk away to be alone with her thoughts just as Sunset closed in. When she was close enough, she waved a hand in front of Stostine's face and then furrowed her brow.

"By the way, we finally reached a town," Stostine carried on the chat with Gekio.

"Yeah? Nice, what's it like?" Then a thought came to Gekio's mind. "Wait, are any of the people there like us?"

The mage thought for a second. "That is where it gets tricky. You see, when our Players began running through the events of their game, the Master has these moments where he skips long periods of time. The haze gets thinner and we have this brief period where we can do what we want within reason."

"We can do what we want. Mostly." Vareén shrugged. "Basically, the haze doesn't turn on and off like a switch. It's more like a dial."

Gekio nodded to herself for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "What's a dial?"

"Hey, it's bad enough the mage in our group does that during the games." Gekio glared. "I was literally born yesterday, alright? Gimme a break!"

"Hold on. Your Player has had a game with you since yesterday?" Stostine blinked.

"No." Gekio frowned. "It's kinda like those memories we got about our past, ya know? I remember the games my Player had me in even though I wasn't awake for 'em. I remember some of what the other Players and Master said too."

By now, everyone came up to get a closer look at their characters. Gilda saw what Gekio was like before when she worked on her yesterday. Although, Gilda was able to play around with Gekio's design to make her cooler so she was able to admire her work now.

Meanwhile, Sunset saw Stostine's picture on Story's DM screen back when the group was about to fight Klarg but to actually see Stostine as though she was alive was completely different.

But to Twilight and Story, they took in every detail about the three characters. They could see the strained threads on Stostine's cloak, the spots of dried blood permanently matting Gekio's furs and even the multiple worn quivers resting on Vareén's back outside her cloak. More than that, while Twi witnessed Vareén in both appearance and attitude, she picked out every concept she had come up with for her. From being ambidextrous all the way down to the impossibly faint, cyan glow of her eyes.

However, it was the details that Twilight didn't create that confused her. There were archer's gloves that protected the index and middle fingers and then the three rabbit's feet fastened to her hip. Not to mention the bow on Vareén's back had a noticeable red tinge; something akin to cherry wood.

Curious, Twilight reached out to touch the bow only for her hand to go straight through it. She tried a couple more times but when Vareén had no reaction, Twilight broke out in a slightly manic grin. "Aha!" she exclaimed in a thin attempt of triumph. "I knew it! They aren't real, just like I thought! They're only illusions. There's nothing there. Every part of them is crafted from our own imagination."

Nice try Twilight. Try reaching into her chest. There's gonna be something there.

Confident to keep proving her theory, Twilight shoved her hand through Vareén's ribs without hesitation and felt her fingers stub into something hard. She pulled her hand out and cradled her fingers with a cringe. "Ahhh. Wh-What was—"

Ahaaaa~! That wasn't an illusion, was it?

Twilight ignored Rainbow's mockery and waved her hand around for a moment before her face settled into a hard frown. "That...That actually hurt. Illu...Illusions don't hurt...Do they?" She looked to Sunset who shook her head.

"There's some sorta giant die inside each of 'em," Gilda explained. As though to prove it, she reached into Gekio's back and pulled out a stone twenty-sided die the size of a kickball and tossed it in the air a couple of times. "They're really light-weight too. We can only pull out the one in our own characters."

They look like whatever your magic die does too. Mine was the storm cloud.

Sunset looked back at Stostine and then her own hands for a moment. "What happens when you take it out?"

"Nothing." Gilda shrugged, holding hers under her arm. "Just make sure you got a good grip on it. You don't wanna roll it by accident."

Twilight glanced down at her fingers and made her hand into a fist. "I...Th-This isn't...I don't get it."

Sunset took the advice to heart and gave her character one last look before reaching in her chest. With how thin Stostine was, it didn't take long for Sunset to find something solid. Without any effort, she pulled and the die came with her.

Like Rainbow said, it was the same bronze die that Sunset recognized whenever she held the magic die. It even had magic runes along the edge and her Cutie Mark in place of the '20.' And compared to Gilda's, it was smaller. If Gilda's was a kickball, Sunset's was a soccer ball.

Story let out a low whistle as he looked at the dice. Then he turned to Twilight. "What's yours look like?"

Twilight furrowed her brow. "I don't know. I never had the chance to use it myself." Wanting a distraction, Twilight reached into Vareén, carefully this time, and wrapped her hands around the die. Like the others, there was no resistance as she pulled the die free.

The die was also the size of a soccer ball but crafted entirely out of one piece of book paper that had no seam or fold anywhere. As for the numbers, they were each inked onto the die's faces in perfect Baskerville font.

"It feels like regular paper. But solid too," Twilight explained as she moved her hand across the surface. "It looks like the theme of these dice take after us rather than our characters. Pinkie had rubber, Rainbow Dash a cloud, and now my own with paper."

"They're unique to us. Which may be why only we can pull them out." Sunset then turned her focus away from the dice. "Gilda? You said you wound up somewhere else? Where did you go next?"

"I ended up in a shack in a rainstorm," Gilda clarified. "Dash was in a void and then said she appeared in her Dwarf's home."

"We did talk about Ravathyra's background," Story threw his own two cents. "We agreed Ravathyra never left Cragen her whole life, so...Rainbow, did you see Cragen then?"

Not all of it but I saw some. And those Root Guards are creepier than you were making them out to be.

"Yep, she saw Cragen," Story confirmed. "Maybe I should redesign those...nevermind," he shook away the distraction.

Anyways, whenever you roll your die, you end up somewhere else with your character. If you have nothing like I did, you end up in some sorta...void-thing?

It's really hard to explain. When I was there, I heard everyone's talking as if nothing was wrong and you were asking me a bunch of questions about Rava. When I'd answer them, stuff would change.

"Eventually, Story stopped asking questions and we just talked about nothing," Gilda went on. "That's when Dash and I got outta here. We kept quiet till Story left since no one seemed to notice."

"That's because, to us, you didn't," Sunset filled in. "This time we had the others all leave the room, which means we were right about controlling how the characters show up. But how's come my and Fluttershy's characters were here yesterday when we weren't?"

As everyone tried to come up with an answer, Story took a breath. "Maybe...That was me?"

Making it up as I go, Story said inwardly as all eyes fell to him. "You said that catchphrase causes everything to happen, right? Well, if I caused it last time, maybe that means I controlled who came in too? At the time, I knew we'd work on Rainbow's character and I figured throwing Gilda a few backstory questions would get Rainbow to open up more. I remember thinking we'd try working on Stostine or Thorn Wielder later but only if we had the time."

"That would line up." Sunset crossed her arms. "That probably means whoever says the words has control of whoever comes in here."

"You hear that Dash," Gilda shouted out to the sky above her. "That means you're running this thing! Test something out!"

"Wait, is that a good idea?" Twilight cringed. "You do realize we're inside the thing Rainbow Dash is controlling, right?"

Gilda, for the last time, please stop screaming. It feels like you're right in my ear. And Twi, I don't get why you're so scared. You're the one that keeps saying it's all an illusion.

"Yes, I know, I did say that, but. But I don't..." Twilight groaned. "We should think things through a little bit."

"Well, let's take one thing at a time." Sunset took the lead. "We did this originally for Story to make his character. Rainbow Dash? Try focusing on that."

Got it! Okay, um...Story. You're. Making. A. Character. Now.

Despite Rainbow Dash went over the top by putting attention into each word, it seemed to do the trick.

A short distance away, this orb of light faded in from nowhere. At first it was the size of a marble but as Sunset and the others watched, the orb grew in size and solidity until it was the same size and shape of the others' dice; though without any design.

Next, this humanoid figure formed around the orb, completely engulfing the light. When this happened, the three characters began taking notice as they leapt to their feet with their guards raised.

"Dunno." Gekio held out her hands, summoning her glaive from a crackle of lightning that freaked out the high school students. "But if they were like me, they'll probably think we dragged 'em here."

Vareén took the hint and drew her bow and an arrow while Stostine watched the silhouette with great interest from behind the two fighters.

"It's formless," Stostine and Sunset said in unison. Sunset turned to watch her character but Stostine didn't react.

"It is similar to Rava's original appearance," Stostine went on, summoning a Mage Hand with a pushing motion of her hand. "No clear detail. Even the size and build is fluctuating."

"Rainbow?" Sunset called out. She kept her eyes trained on the shifting figure as it made no signs of movement or life.

I see it. It came up after I said the thing, right?

The group watched as Stostine's Mage Hand reached for the form's face. It sailed right past it.

Vareén decided to take their test a little further. Rather than shoot her arrow, Vareén took it in her hand and simply flung it. It too went through the figure, gliding through the center of it before the arrow clattered against the invisible floor.

"Nope." Vareén determined. She began walking around the figure in a wide berth to retrieve her arrow. "Just another weird thing."

"Alright," Gekio said abruptly, stabbing her glaive into the ground like last time she was hear. "Back off chumps. I got this." Then she stomped directly towards the figure.

"I kinda meant one of us," Gilda stated awkwardly. She then watched as her character walked up and comedically waved her hands through the shape. When that failed, Gekio went with the tried and true method of sticking your face inside of it like an ostrich.

"I guess I should," Story said hesitantly. "Rainbow said my name. Besides, if it's supposed to be a character like them then..."

"That orb was probably the die." Sunset stood apprehensive even as Gekio brought her head back out and shrugged at the other characters.

"Right." Story shook out his hands and started walking meekly. "Here does nothing..."

The closer Story got the shorter his steps became. But, eventually, he found his way within arm's reach. After a couple more deep breaths, Story brought his arms forward and closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch his hands go through the humanoid blob.

Story waved his hands around for a moment until finding something solid and seizing it. He stepped back and shrunk away from it, balled up around the orb in his arms as if he expected the blob to explode.

The texture of it became semi-smooth and porous as it earned an off-white color. Next, the die had several distinct-looking patterns and material on sections of the die. One was bright white with oyster pigment, another was a colorful Mardi Gras with soft fabric and feathers, a third had golden filigree, and finally the last pattern was carefully carved wood.

"It. it feels porcelain," Story explained, tapping a few fingers against the sides of it. Then, as he investigated the patterns, he chuckled. "I think they're supposed to be different mask designs."

As he held it up to show the others, the blob stopped shifting and froze in place.

Okay. Now get ready to roll it.

"What? Why would I roll it?" Story tried to give Rainbow a weird look. "It might break."

"When you roll that, you're gonna wind up somewhere else with your person-thing there." Gilda gestured to the silhouette. "You'll hear the rest of us talking but it's not really us."

You'll get what she means when you do it. A word of advice though; just go along with it. If you don't, it starts getting annoying.

It's a hard thing to explain. It'll be fine.

Curious, Gekio tried shoving her head back inside of it but all she did was bash her skull against the figure's solid form. "AAARGH! Ugh, that hurt!"

"Alright," he sighed. "Guess that's all I'm getting from you girls. Um...Wish me luck?"

"We'll be waiting for you when you're finished." Sunset smiled as Twilight nodded from behind.

Story nodded in return and, after one breath, he bent down and carefully rolled the porcelain die, still worried about breaking it. However, when it finally came to a full stop, there was no warning. Story, the die, and his new character simply popped away.

Wo-Woah! Uh, oh. Oh, alright. So that's how this looks.

Story just started moving out here. He's writing on the character sheet in front of him. Uh, Story, you there? Helloooo?...Nope. Not there.

Well, if it's anything like what happened to me, he's probably freaking out about not having a body.

It's kinda cool when you get used to it...Oh, wait a second! My screen has a second thing on it now! I think it's Story...I'm gonna trying touching it.

"Touching it?" Sunset furrowed her brow. "Rainbow Dash, what does it look like?"

Vareén and Gekio stared back at where they saw Story's character appear. From their perspective, a shape appeared, shuffled unresponsively, and then vanished as quick as it arrived. Stostine saw all of this too but was preoccupied with trying to piece it together.

"I have no idea," Stostine admitted. "But I think I finally understand what this place is about. This is where...I believe this is where we get made."

"What other word would you use?" Stostine frowned. "We know that we were created by our Players. And last time we arrived, you and Rava were improved upon. This time, we saw something like us appear and then get taken away; again, like you and Rava. Perhaps this space is some sort of waiting room."

"But that makes no sense," Vareén objected. "You, me, and the others all woke up before that goblin ambush. Not up here."

"Yeah," Gekio backed Vareén up. "And when I woke up, I did it with a bunch of history and stuff already on me. I didn't look like that thing."

"I understand your points." Stostine folded her hands into the sleeves of her robes. "But remember what Ricven pointed out to us? His Player, Rarity, used him to make a point to my Player, Sunset. Rarity told her 'if. We. Get. Hurt.'"

The hairs on the back of Sunset's neck stood on end. She felt a lot more self-conscious in that moment too.

"They do not understand the magic they are dealing with. Not at the start, at least," Stostine went on. "Maybe that creation we saw was a test. How our creation would have happened had their magic been present from the start. Instead, we were an exception. We woke up when the magic began. Which we can assume happened in the middle of their first game."

"Okay. Maybe that makes sense," Vareén admitted. "Does that mean each of us are going to get pulled away like that thing? That we'll get improved on?"

"That remains to be seen." Stostine walked forward in what she believed was no particular direction.

However, she coincidentally walked directly towards her Player, forcing Sunset to take a few steps back to keep Stostine from walking through her. When Stostine stopped a few inches from her Player's face, Sunset could see that same calculating look she used to wear. Only now it was from Stostine's dull golden eyes.

"Last time I was here, I had no such improvements. Neither did Thorn Wielder. But you saw how happy Rava was to get hers. What of you, Gekio?"

"I mean." The goliath shrugged. "I guess I am, yeah. Not all of 'em were good memories but I think it filled a few in blanks. Still have a few though."

Vareén gave a click of disapproval. "So, what, we're supposed to sit here and wait for our turn? Wait until our Players or the Master feels like giving us something?"

"Sunset?" Twilight asked, slowly backing away as she studied her die. "I...This isn't illusion magic. Is it?"

"CAN I HAVE A MOTHER?!" Stostine screamed at the top of her lungs, cupping her hands around her mouth as Sunset flinched away. She couldn't even cover her ears thanks to the large bronze die she was holding.

"Hello?!" Stostine kept going, screaming right into her Player's ear. "You gave me a father, Sunset! I can see his face. Did you create that too? Because you didn't create HER face! You want to fix that? Can you do something about it? After all, she's supposed to be important to me, isn't she? You decided that!"

Stostine paused, taking in a few breaths. Sunset, meanwhile, was forced to stare up at Stostine's face as a couple tears streamed down it. "...WELL?!"

The Equestrian watched as Stostine used Prestidigitation to clean her cheeks so Gekio and Vareén couldn't even see her wiping them away. Stostine knew she couldn't hide the emotion in her voice so the alternative was to make it seem like she faked it.

Next, Stostine gave a longer pause, pretended to glance around as though giving her Player a chance to respond. She was sure that if Sunset really could talk to her, that would have happened already but Stostine let herself play out the theatrics anyways.

All the while, Sunset was forced to back away once more, glancing down at the bronze die weighing into her arms as much as her thoughts.

I never gave her a mother, she finally processed. Why didn't I? I completely skipped that part.

"Waiting," Stostine droned, refolded her arms in her sleeves. Her expression turned bored as she stared off in no particular direction while the others stood behind her.

Sunset looked between the die and Stostine a few times until finally looking towards Gilda and Twilight. They shared the same look as their characters; like they didn't want to be here.

Sunset got a better handle on the die and flung it forward, watching it roll across the floor with a handful of louds 'clacks.' After a moment, it was about to come to a full stop; Sunset taking a deep breath as it did.

After a few seconds, Sunset forced one eye open, both terrified and curious about 'not having a body,' as Rainbow put it, meant. But as she stared down at herself, and the hunk of metal lying motionless ahead of her, and then the same surrounding environment, she put it together.

"It would seem not," Stostine finally concluded, spinning around to rejoin the others. "Perhaps they cannot hear us. Or, alternatively, perhaps they have more important things to deal with. If I was right, that creation was their test. Their real focus."

Sunset glared back at her die and hurried over to it before rolling it with more force. Still nothing.

"Um...Stostine?" Gekio scratched her neck. "Do you, erm...Do you wanna talk about that, or—"

"No." Stostine was quick to reply. "It does not matter anyways. After all, if my Player does not care, why should I?"

"What? No," Sunset cried out, this time reaching her die and simply kicking the damn thing, letting it clatter around to another stop. Nothing.

So, Sunset kicked it harder, watching as it flew and tumbled maybe a full twenty feet before bouncing off an invisible wall. But when the die eventually came to a stop, still nothing. All it did was show the girls they were trapped in a cube rather than on a floor.

Concerned, Twilight rolled her own, watching it clatter despite being made of paper. It, again, did nothing as she was left standing there nervously. "Mine didn't work either. Girls? How are we getting out?"

Gilda flung hers like a football, watching it smacked off the room's wall before landing on one of its faces. She was crestfallen as she too had nothing happen. "Okay, I give! What happened?"

"Maybe your Player doesn't decide it." Vareén shrugged. "Maybe it's the Master."

Stostine considered it and nodded along, looking defeated. "Possibly. The girls did say they were taking a break. It could be the Master is working on something pertaining to us."

"The Master?" Sunset watched the three characters start to have their own discussion. "What do they mean Master?"

"Last time we were here, they said Story was the Master." Gilda walked over and kicked up her stone die like a soccer ball, catching it in her hands. "I mean, DM stands for Dungeon Master. Makes as much sense as anything else."

"But Story's a Player right now," Sunset reminded them. "That would make Rainbow Dash the Master. Maybe since Story's not the Master, we can't make any changes?"

"It's the only difference between now and when Gilda and Rainbow Dash came in. If our characters are from Story's world, wouldn't it make sense that Story has to be this 'Master' for us to do anything?"

"I guess that tracks." Gilda rolled with it. "Sounds more like a pull from you though."

"...Maybe." Sunset glanced back at her die. When she did, a thought slowly came to mind. "Gilda, is there anything else these dice can do?"

"I mean, if rolling them doesn't do anything and they're just sitting here, then maybe there's something else."

Twilight bent down and picked hers back up. "Well, what if we put them back? They start out inside our characters and, honestly, I'd feel better putting magical tools back where they belong rather than leaving them out on the floor."

With her piece said, Twilight approached Vareén and, after having to walk after the pacing archer, carefully moved the dice towards Vareén's chest. Once Twilight had it where she imagined it was to begin with, she let go and brought her arms back out.

When the die stayed inside, Twilight sighed and turned to face the others. "It's staying in place at leas—"

Twilight was gone. As was Vareén, both ripped apart into puffs of smoke. Twilight's smoke dispersed in every direction until it was gone while Vareén's rocketed down through the see-through floor and towards Prima below.

The remaining four girls screamed out, running where they last saw their respective friends while staring in the direction the two smokes flew.

"Where'd she go?!" "What happened?!" Both Gilda and Gekio screamed in stereo.

"No idea!" "I'm not sure," Sunset and Stostine replied, the latter forcing herself to remain calm.

"But." Stostine took a breath, gaining Sunset's attention. "It looked like Vareén flew back down to Prima. Maybe she went back?"

Sunset?! Gilda?!

The two jumped in a fright, truly caught off guard as Rainbow's voice kicked back in.

Sorry! I'm sorry! It's just, Twilight suddenly woke up and started yelling out of nowhere! She told me to check up on you!

"She's okay?!" Sunset's face lit up and she took a huge sigh of relief. "Okay, good. We just saw her turn into smoke down here. We didn't know what happened."

Oh, that's freaky...They said you turned into smoke.........You hear that Sunset?

The two girls shared another look and Sunset slowly shook her head. "No. Hear what?"

I guess you can only hear me. Twilight said to put your dice in your characters and you'll wake up in a flash......Flash, immediately, what's the difference?

Gilda let out a heavy breath. "Ya know what? I think that's a great idea." Without waiting for permission, Gilda stomped over to where her and Sunset's die landed.

Gekio leaned on her back foot. "Hold. Last time we all vanished at once. What's different now?"

Stostine didn't answer. Instead, she straightened up and kept a stoic expression.

Gilda reached for Sunset's die and tried picking it up for her only to strain herself as it failed to move at all. "Huh. Guess we can only move our own even outside their bodies. Sunset, you comin'?"

Sunset glanced back at her character, again in a position where Stostine's face was visible. "Uh, y-yeah. Go on ahead, I wanna try one more thing."

Gilda rose her brow but didn't want to argue. "Alright. Good luck with that." She approached Gekio with her die at the ready.

"Stost, what's wrong?" Gekio frowned, walking around to look her in the eye. "You're acting weird. Can you at least say something?"

Stostine grimaced lightly. "Sorry. I have a lot coming to mind. If I have this correct, I think we may be next. Sorry we could not talk for long."

Gekio groaned as Gilda stopped short of jamming the die into her back. "Yeah, same here. Alright, we'll. Hope to see ya again. And you better stay alive."

Gilda shifted the die around in her hand for a moment before quickly shoving the thing back into Gekio's die. The moment it was in, Gilda backed up and looked to Sunset.

Sunset smirked and settled for waving Gilda goodbye. Gilda rolled her eyes but couldn't do anything else as she and Gekio popped into balls of smoke like Twilight and Vareén did.

Stostine flinched slightly, watching as Gekio's smoke barreled back to the surface before taking a sharp turn and heading far north towards Skel.

Hey Gilda. Sunset, Gilda's back too.

Huh? Oh, nah, he's still out of it. After he walked me through telling him what he needed to roll, he started figuring it out on his own. Apparently, you don't have to wait for someone to ask you questions unless it has to do with dice. He was almost as fast as I was...Almost.

"Go ahead and check up on him," Sunset suggested. "It's been about five minutes. Besides, I know my way out now."

...Are you sure?

Ehh. Alright. See ya in a few.

When Rainbow's voice stopped, Sunset took in a deep breath, and walked over to pick up her bronze die. Then, as she made her way back to Stostine, the mage spoke.

"That time with Gekio felt more deliberate," Stostine announced. "Like someone was waiting for the right moment. Now, I have no proof of this." Stostine shrugged under her robes. "Maybe it is just the Master here with me. Either way, it seems my outburst might have had some sort of effect. So, as I am alone now, I would like to say...

"Hello Sunset." Stostine bowed at nothing. "If it is all the same with you, I am going to sit down."

Stostine brought herself to the ground, cross-legged and settling herself in her robe like a blanket. When Sunset reached her, she set the die down beside her swallowed nervously, doing the same so they were at eye level.

"The others have opinions about our Players. What they are, I will not say. I feel like that would be going against this unspoken agreement," she said cryptically. Then she giggled sadly. "Wow. I really hope you are here. Otherwise, I am doing the dumbest thing in my life. I am less than a week old though, so, there is that."

"No. I'm here," Sunset said awkwardly. She knew Stostine couldn't hear her, but it felt wrong not to answer.

"We, that being myself and the other creations, talk about our creation a lot. Kind of the only thing we have," Stostine explained. "We know about our Players. You are all friends in some sort of academy. You all possess a magic that your world does not normally have, and it resulted in this. Beyond that, we only have a few glimpses of our Player's personal lives and history of the world we were placed in."

Stostine took a breath, preparing herself. "This is where I really hope the Master is not listening, but I suppose I am willing to make that bet at your expense. Sorry." Stostine flashed a look of semi-guilt. "I know about Equestria."

Stostine paused to glance around her before smiling smugly. "Huh. I think I was right. Someone is listening. That is the only reason I am still here, no? That or someone truly does not care."

"No...No, I think you care," Stostine decided. "From what I know about you, I believe you would. Although, if I were speaking to you a year ago, maybe you would not."

"Sorry, that was entirely uncalled for." Stostine shook her head with a frown. "As I said, I have glimpses of memories about you. Mostly when it pertains to something that we have in common with one another. For instance, you conceptualized this...brief summary of my childhood."

Sunset's heart kept crushing itself. "I am so sorry. I put in so many terrible things about that. I-I didn't know that you would. Tha-That this..."

"I suppose I should thank you for that," Stostine voiced her feelings. "It may sound dark, but...Giving me that terrible past makes what happens in the game— our lives— feel more exciting and wondrous by comparison. Although." Her face became flat. "I could do without getting stabbed every time you meet to play a game."

"However, that is not your fault. I blame the Master for that." Stostine gave an unsteady smile. "And the group has found a few ways to work around it. Would you know it, Pinks and Dash's characters have tremendous bedside manner. I feel I bonded with them thanks to that."

Stostine took some time to clear her head and got serious. "I do not know how long I have, so I will get to the point. If you are listening, I can imagine you must be terrified of the thought of putting us through fights. Or us getting hurt. That is why I wanted to speak alone like this.

"Ricven made a good point after the battle against the goblins and Klarg. That the game we are in is a story. That there needs to be a conflict for the story to go on. We were created to be adventurers; people that have either seen danger or are prepared for it. Thorn Wielder lived through a burning forest, Platick has worked as a hired merc, Glemerr and her surprisingly tough upbringing. Me. The list continues. Though we do not think fondly of those hardships, they are what bolster us to face everything.

"Do not feel bad about what you put us through. You created us by accident. That is what most of us think." Stostine thought over her next words carefully; Sunset seeing it in her eyes.

"Now, again. The others have their own opinions. I will not say what they are. However, that in mind," she explained directly. "I, for one, would like to see some of the problems of this world solved. Even if Prima is fake, I am of Prima. I want to do something. That is how you designed me, yes?"

Sunset lowered her hands in her lap and stared into her character's eyes, seeing conflict in her emotions.

"Just...One thing?" Stostine tested. "I meant what I said earlier. You made my mother important in this childhood of mine. How she did something for me. At your earliest...um..." Stostine leaned back, propping herself with her hands on the floor behind her. She dropped the serious voice, now sounding exactly like Sunset.

"Can you show me what she looks like?" Her voice was weak. "I'd love to have some good memories peppered in my past here or there, sure, but out of everything? I want to know what she was like. Please?"

Sunset sniffed unevenly, trying to keep herself collected as she looked back at Stostine. She didn't have to wipe her eyes like Stostine was doing, but that tightness in her chest made it so hard to focus. She could only settle on nodding along.

"I promise," Sunset said, knowing it was pointless to say it. "Consider it done. It." She took a quick breath. "It's the least I can do. Especially after everything I'm gonna be asking you."

Stostine tried considering her next move. She had clung to this hope of actually getting through to someone that she forgot to plan what to do next. She didn't just want to sit here crying.

"Okay..." Stostine pulled herself up, conjuring another Prestidigitation to clean her face in an instant. Something that Sunset was now really envious about. "Assuming you're done, um...Can I leave now?"

Stostine took a few breaths to fully compose herself as Sunset picked up the die.

"Remember," Stostine spoke with an pseudo-upbeat tone. "Don't get me stabbed. My spells have a distance to them, and we have a Rava. Also, one more thing?"

"...Stop eating mushrooms," Stostine said aloud, looking up and around her. "I can't believe I have to tell you this. No. Mushrooms. You are not a horse anymore! Eat something human. Like a sandwich. Or whatever that pizza meal was you all spoke about earlier."

"I mean it!" Stostine shouted, giggling nervously. "And if you try something funny, like make me like mushrooms, I will find a way out of here, and you will pay."

"Why do you hate mushrooms?" Sunset found herself laughing along with her. "They're not that bad!"

"Okay, I think the fact that I'm not gone yet means you are saying something. It better be goodbye!"

She forced the die into Stostine's chest and took a large step back, watching incredulously as Stostine tried regaining her composure once more.

After a few seconds of the two shaking their heads in perfect unison, they both exploded into smoke.

There was no travel time in how they went. The two were forced to blink and then suddenly the two magic experts found themselves right back where they came from. With one in a tavern surrounded by a group of dysfunctional adults, and the other at a gaming table surrounded by equally dysfunctional teenagers.

Sunset leaned back, feeling the tears from Sky-Space tingling her cheeks. It seemed that Sunset in the real world didn't bother wiping them away, so she woke up to her friends giving her worried looks. All except for Story who's expression was glazed over as he kept writing.

"Ahehehe." Sunset used her wrist to clear her cheeks. "Sorry for the wait. I, uh. I was testing a few things."

The others all looked between one another, all with their own versions of worried.

Story suddenly sprung up, shaking his head and letting his lips make this rubbery sound before rubbing his eyes. "Oh, wow, that was weird."

"Weird," he stated with a nod. "I mean, it felt, like, I was haunting someone? But I was choosing and deciding what he was doing and where he was going. And I figured I would just choose a couple of big landmarks but then I saw those landmarks, and. And...Wow, that was weird."

"You already said that." Sunset chuckled, further pushing the conversation. "So what's the character like?"

"Oh, right. Well, he's a ⍙⌰⊑⟟⍜⌰⍾⟊ ⎅⎍⍙⌰⟟⌰⎎⊑⎍ and once I realized I could see where he was going, I ended up making him an ⎅⎍⍙⌰⎐⍙ that ⍙⎍⎅⊬⊑⍜⎐ around to ☌⊑⊬⊑⍜⍀⌇ ☍⌰⎐ ⎅⎍⍙ ⎐⍙⏚⍜⊑. Oh! And I came up with this cool idea to make his ⌇⎅⌰⍾⍙⎐ ⎅⎎⍙ ⌰⍾ ⌇⍜⎅⎎⊑ ⍀⟟ ⎅⍜⎎☍⊑⌿⏚ ⟟⍀—"

"Stop. Stop talking, this was a mistake!" Gilda cut in, massaging her forehead. "Almost all of that was gargling."

Story's face fell. "Aw, ya gotta be kidding me. Even the part about his ⌇⎅⌰⍾⍙⎐ ⟒⊑⌰—" "Yes, especially that part!"

Rainbow shrugged. "I was able to hear all of that. I didn't understand what it meant but I heard it."

Story huffed, glancing at the character sheet in front of him that was now almost completely filled out. "Oh well. Maybe I can bring him into this game as like a cameo or something?" Then a thought came to him. "And if he's a character...Then that means anything he does won't effect real life, right?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Twilight decided. "We need to help Principal Celestia before anything else."

Story nodded along, taking the character sheet off the table. "You're right. That's way more important here. Uh, should we still go back into that now?"

"Are you okay to do it now?" Twilight asked as the magical screen in front of Rainbow Dash faded away. Since no one was in Sky-Space, it wasn't needed anymore. "Are you sure you don't wanna take a break first?"

"I feel like that kind of was the break." Story rubbed his chin. "It'll take me some time to process that, but I know the more I stop to think about what happened, the harder it'll be for me to pick up everything tonight. Besides, didn't you say there was more when we actually play the game?"

"It's nothing compared to what we just did," Sunset promised him. "All we've seen are colors and your maps coming to life."

"My-My maps?" Story glanced at the pile of pictures he had spent several days working on. "You're telling me this magic makes my maps look better?"

"All that stuff is actually illusions." Rainbow folded her arms behind her head. "It's the coolest part about the game."

Story nodded along and then froze as he shifted to giving the jock this fake offended look.

"I-I mean, what you do is cool too," she backpedaled. "I was talking about the magic. But like, your games would be pretty fun. Without. It—Sunset, back me up here."

Rather than do that, Sunset stood up. "I'm gonna see if the others are ready to come back."

Rainbow's outrage was ignored and laughed off as Sunset left the room, shaking off the last of her nervousness. The way she saw it, the girls and Story were all on the same page, and there was at least a solution to fixing the problem they had created.

Canterlot High's D&D Club

by 4428Gamer

(24) What Would My Character Do?