//------------------------------// // *Chapter 06: The Cloud Library // Story: Equestrian Earth the MMORPG // by Chaotic Note //------------------------------// A Chaotic Production presents... The Adventuring Arc Chapter 6 ~ edited by ultra1437 Second Arc's Theme Song: Color - Code Geass OP1 A mare raises her purple Hoof in the air, proclaiming her Mark on the world. A goddess of the world looks down and Smiles upon the adventuress. The Tides of the Winds flow to the Adventurer's favor. Five Friends stand by her at attention, fully prepared to go where she takes them. "The Sun shines in our favor, everypony! The Air moves for our victory! "With our combined Efforts and Friendship, we shall take to the World by Storm!" “What will you have today, madam?” “I’ll just have a daisy sandwich,” Twilight Sparkle replied, not even looking at the café’s menu. An older gentlecolt, sporting a brilliant mustache, diligently picked up café's small pamphlet. He politely nodded towards her and commented, “It shall be out shortly madam.” She nodded in return and the waiter left her to her thoughts. She’d been here in the game for several minutes now with Spike, waiting for her friends to arrive. However, she hadn’t received a single ping that announced their arrival online. They were all supposed to catch a ride to Trottingham, which was scheduled to leave in a few minutes. Unfortunately, this was the last scheduled ride because of the server overload. So everypony that didn’t use any of the aerial transports are either stuck on the floating city, or they would have to ask other pegasi to glide them down. This was extremely dangerous though, so the librarian decided to relax in a café recommended by Rarity. As she sipped on her cup of tea, she thought on the lecture she’d have to give to her friends about ‘Being Tardy’, a couple of pings on her Friends List broadcasted the arrival of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Twilight exasperatingly took out a slip of paper and a quill from her Scrolls Inventory. She began writing on the Private Messaging Letter (PML), an item that allowed ponies to send instant messages to their friends. It was a very convenient tool, especially for a certain unicorn that wanted to give a scolding to her friends. As she placed the tip of the quill upon the parchment, the cloudy skies above began to darken and a droplet of water fell on the paper. Twilight looked up with dread, knowing that the paper will probably get ruined. Virtual reality is very similar to life, and water was no exception. She could already feel the drops seeping down through her mane, leaving behind a cold, wet feeling. Twilight hastily wrote down a message to the both of them to rendezvous at the Cloud Library for shelter. If they’re going to take shelter from the rain, might as well be a place of her choosing. Besides, she wanted to find out more about the Diamond Key her friends won after yesterday’s PvP match. No time to explain girls. Just meet me at the Library for shelter. See ya soon. Without a moment to lose, she stuffed the slip back into her pouch, not evening wanting to find out what her friends’ responses were. She poked the sleeping dragon, who was now taking a nap on one of the café’s chairs. Spike woke up with a groan and rubbed the grits out of his eyes. He let out a big yawn and shot Twilight an indifferent look. “What is it Twilight?” he groaned groggily. “Are they here ye- WHOA!” Twilight grabbed Spike with a magical glow and tossed him precariously onto her back. She swiftly swiped her books off the table, quickly sorted them out in her sack, and trotted past the waiter who was bringing her sandwich. He looked at Twilight with dazed eyes as she made a beeline for the Library. He looked back at the plate he was holding, and held his breath at his sudden remembrance. “Madam!” he called after Twilight. She stopped and quickly turned to look at him. He raised the sandwich higher in the air and stated, “You have forgotten your sandwich.” He yelped a little as the sandwich sparkled with a purple glow, and shot straight out of the platter. As it chased after Twilight, he could see a swarm of bits coming from her direction and gently stacking themselves on the plate. He carefully counted out the bits, still amazed by the sudden departure of his customer. When he was satisfied with the pay, he walked back into the café wondering if he’ll ever get a normal day. He still wasn't used to these strange adventurers that just waltzed in and out of the little coffee shop. +Ω‡‡¥‡‡Ω+ Twilight speedily rushed past numerous hasty players in her way as each of them tried to make their way under a nearby roof. Unlike modern times in Equestria, pegasi of olden times had little control over the weather back then. They didn’t have the technological advances that Cloudsdale currently has now, and relied on the guidance of the winds to guide the clouds for their weather. Since Equestrian Earth was based around that time, she could imagine that today wasn’t looking good for the pegasi NPCs. They’re obviously not going to get any vacation time soon. After a few blocks down the wet, cobblestone street, the golden dome of the Cloud Library looming over the city came into view. It wasn’t as huge as Canterlot Castle in real life, but it was large enough to give Twilight the sense of being insignificant and small. She didn’t slow her run as she burst through the large, wooden doors that looked like they belonged more as a fortress’s front gates. She gave a little shake to rid herself of the water that tortured her cold body, leaving wet puddles all over the carpet. She heard a little yelp as she shook her body more. She looked over her back to see Spike holding tight onto her mane, desperately trying to keep his balance. He was giving her his best angry glare; He may still be a baby dragon, but those angry eyes sure unnerved her. Twilight chuckled awkwardly. “Sorry about that, Spike.” He harrumphed in irritation, and jumped off his caretaker’s back. As Twilight tried to give Spike her best apologetic smile to make everything seem better, she felt a poke at the crook of her neck. She turned around to see a yellow colt and a bunch of upset ponies, who were dripping wet. She looked at soaking players, then at her dry self. Instantly, she made the connection. “I believe this is your water Miss?” the colt asked with an edge in his tone that could have cut diamond. “Oh sorry, sorry, sorry!” Twilight apologized, using a dry towel she had on her. She used it to soak up all the water she had sprayed all over the others. The victims nodded with appreciation and went their separate ways back into the realm of books. As she tucked the tool back into her bag, she looked around for signs of a pink mane and a dash of rainbow in the crowd that was forming in the reading area. The place was filled to the brim with tables, but there was enough space between them for ponies to walk through comfortably. It remind her of her days in Magic School, when she would read through the pages of its thrilling, magical textbooks with accuracy and speed. She liked to read slowly, but she can read fast if she put her mind to it. As she reminisced down memory lane, she spotted a bobbing fluff of cotton candy bouncing over the crowd. As the pink fluff burst out of the sea of ponies, it revealed itself to be the top of Pinkie Pie’s mane. “Hiya Twilight!” Pinkie Pie joyfully exclaimed. “This place sure is crowded. I would like to throw a party in here, but the mean lady told me to no.” She pouted a little and moved her hooves around uncontrollably like she was dancing, or that she needed to use the little filly’s room. “Pinkie, this is a library,” Twilight sorely explained. She then held up a hoof. “You can’t throw parties in a sanctum for knowledge.” “I threw plenty of them at your place,” Pinkie replied with a bemused look. “Which doesn’t mean you can throw them here!” Twilight stretched her back a little. It was a bit tense from carrying Spike and running at the same time. She looked around for a tell-tale of Rainbow Dash’s mane, but couldn’t spot the prismatic sheen of her hair. “Have you seen Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked Pinkie, cocking an eyebrow in askance. “Nope, haven’t seen her all day,” Pinkie Pie answered dejectedly. “Although it’s technically night time right now, since we’re sleeping at the same time and letting our visors access our nervous system. That lets us play in this open simulation world. But it’s day time currently, but the rain clouds made the entire city's grounds dark... so it’s sorta like night time.” Pinkie Pie kept on ranting. “But I think it could be night time now in-game, since the time system is 10 minutes equals 1 hour. So 240 minutes equals 1 day in-game, and 240 minutes equal 4 hours, so that’s a long time for us to play. My usual sleep time is around 8-11 hours so I could stay in this game for 2 ¾ day cycles and-“ Pinkie’s explanation was suddenly cut off by Twilight’s hoof, as it stuffed itself through her lips. Twilight’s mane looked kinda frazzled, for reasons that would be obvious to a normal pony's eye. “Pinkie, no,” she commented bluntly. “No more, okay?” Pinkie Pie got Twilight's annoyed message, and metaphorically zipped her mouth the best way she can with Twilight’s hoof in the way. Twilight removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth, and let out a sound of disgust as she wiped Pinkie’s salvia off her purple hoof. “Let’s try to find Rainbow Dash,” Twilight decided. She looked back to both Pinkie and Spike as she continued, “She’s gotta be in here somewhere.” Pinkie Pie and Spike nodded and followed her lead as Ponyville’s local librarian went into the depths of the towering bookshelves. As Twilight weaved her way through the shelves, she found herself emerging from the other side of the reading area. As she stepped out into the candle’s warm light, her bag shivered with vibration. She opened it up to find her PML updated with Rainbow Dash’s message. The answer itself was very vague to Twilight, but still clear enough that she wasn’t coming anytime soon. In the middle of doing something important. I’ll drop by later when I’m finished. Btw, the other girls want me to pass on a message. Applejack had to go to Manehatten for the Apple & Orange family reunion. Rarity is staying up tonight to finish some orders from Canterlot, and Fluttershy has some sort of animal to take care of. It’s actually a phoenix from the Everfree forest, so that’s pretty cool I guess. Also, it’s kinda hard to write with just my mouth. Sorry, that’s why it took me so long to respond. The guys at Digital Dreamscapers need to work on that. I guess I should stop writing, gtg work on this thing. ~Rainbow Dash “Well it looks like the others aren’t coming,” Twilight sighed with resignation. “Well, might as well gather around for some intel. Pinkie, the reason I called you here is because I want to find out about diamond keys before blindly heading out for our journey for the crystal chests. We might find out about a location for one nearby.” “Okie doki loki!” she cheerfully chirped, bouncing in place for a few seconds. “Come along Spike! We have many tomes to go through.” Spike groaned with anticipation of the stacks of books he’d have to carry for Twilight. He stomped off after Twilight, as she trotted around looking for the librarian of the building. +Ω‡‡¥‡‡Ω+ Twilight let out a large groan as she flipped the pile of books. Fortunately, there wasn’t a crowd of ponies in her area. They would have surely told her off for yelling in the library. Pinkie Pie and Spike looked on with concern as Twilight rubbed the wrinkles around her eyes. They were tense from all the books she had gone through, and the millions of words from those pages stuck to her eyes like faux glue. Yet absolutely nothing about diamond keys or crystal chests came up in the scrolls, encyclopedias, textbooks, history books, and tomes she had read in the past hour. Not even the Celestia-damned picture books gave her any clues. All she could glimmer from the texts were tales and legends of what the crystal chests possessed. Piles of gold bits showered in fountains, as lucky adventurers opened them. Heavenly weapons rose from the inner depths of its sparkling chambers, giving heroes the strength and might of a minor Alicorn. Armor that was forged from the fires of elder dragons gave its bearer protection equivalent to several mountains inside mountains. The only facts that she could capture from these stories were that the chests were extremely rare, and even more so were the keys to open them. Twilight could only imagine that she had a diamond key because she was friends with Sentinel. She somewhat resented that. It felt like he just gave her the key to send her on a wild goose chase, but she couldn’t hate him forever. After all, this entire chase had ignited a fire in her heart. This was a challenge to her, and these tales only bolstered her desire to find the treasures within the crystal chests. As her breath was slowing to a more manageable, calm level, she thought on the matter. Pinkie and Spike let out a sigh of relief as Twilight didn’t release her raging form. The ‘inner Twidash,’ her friends had taken to calling her in that state. Theyd gotten the name from the popular Ponymon games that Pinkie Pie had gotten her hooked on. As much as she liked the game, she was annoyed at her friends’ insistence for her to accept the nickname. To her, it sounded like some sort of weird shipping name for Rainbow and herself. She didn’t want to mention that though, since it would provide the girls more ammunition for their sleepovers. As she gradually calmed down to a tolerable state, she felt a suspicious presence nearby. She’d felt this shadowy presence before: Above the rooftops of Aeroslida, when she logged on the game for the first time. She jumped to her hooves and ran out of her reading corner to chase the being. She took Spike, and even Pinkie Pie, by surprise as she ran around the corner. “Twilight?” Spike shouted after her. “Where are you going?” Twilight didn’t answer his question as she swiftly laced through the bookshelves, like a thin sewing needle in Rarity’s dresses. In the time she spent thoroughly exploring the library for books on the diamond key, she came to know this place like the back of her hoof. She could feel the presence gaining speed as it was fleeing from her, but she knew that it was all in vain as she learned a pretty cool trick the night before. She was glad that Paperback took the time to share the spell with her; the process of how to use it was easy, after he shared the spell. After all, it was her specialty in real life. She concentrated the magical energy in her, as her horn flared up like a match. She focused on a picture of what the top of the bookshelves would look like. After she was okay with the image, she released the energy and initiated the spell. It teleported her in an instant, as it whisked her away to the top platforms of the shelves. She quickly looked around for the player that was stalking her, and saw a player in a dark cloak jumping from shelf to shelf with accuracy. She could catch a shade of yellow as her prey’s wings were revealed with each jump. The pony was gliding silently, to mask its escape. As Twilight started to run after the pony, Pinkie Pie called out after her. “Twilight!” she yelled. “Where are you?” “Up here!” Twilight shouted back. “Somepony was stalking our every move!” “What?! How rude! She didn’t even say hi to us! Grab on Spike!” Spike sounded hesitant. “Wh-what are you talking abou-AAAH!” Twilight spotted the two as Pinkie Pie rose up with Spike frantically holding onto her pink hood. Pinkie Pie gracefully landed on one of the platforms and made a couple of bounds across the gaps between shelves. After a couple of effortless leaps, she took her place next to Twilight. “Where is she?” she demanded. “She’s going to feel sorry for not saying hi to me! I wanted to throw her a party!” “You haven’t even met her Pinkie,” Twilight bluntly stated. “I’m not even sure if it is a she or a he. I didn’t see their face.” “Doesn’t matter!” Pinkie exclaimed, looking around as well to see the shadowy figure escaping from her. “Come back here!” She swiftly bounced after the pony in pursuit, with Spike yelling along the way. Twilight ran alongside with her, teleporting along the way to catch up with Pinkie’s unnatural ninja speed. After several minutes of chasing the pony down, they’ve reached the end of a hallway. It didn’t look like anything special, and there were no signs of the figure’s disappearance. Twilight carefully looked around, not wanting to be on the receiving end of any traps that the pony might have left behind. She had quickly learned that in video games, the shadowy pony that you chase always leaves traps to mask the presence of a secret entrance. She looked around for a lever or a button that could have been used to open a secret door. After a few seconds of searching, she found that one of the hanging wall candles were unlit. She pulled on the mount that held the candle and it gave way to a dim hallway behind it. As the door opened, the unicorn's every nerve shouted at her to not go down. It sent out waves of sinister power, and evil through her fur. However, these things were what she was born to go up against. Braving through the dark hallway is no more difficult. “Twilight,” Spike started with a hint of worry in his voice. “I’m not sure if I want to go down there.” “We have to Spike,” Twilight replied to him with determination in her voice. “I want to know what this guy is up to.” “But we don’t even know this pony. Why would we want to go after this guy? He might be dangerous!” Spike's arms flailed wildly for emphasis. “Because he knows about us! He obviously doesn’t want us to find out about him. I would like to ask him or her myself.” “I’m with you the entire way, Twilight,” Pinkie decided, with resolve. “I want to be friends with this pony.” Twilight shook her head with a roll of her eyes. Pinkie Pie could be so innocent sometimes. She stepped into the cobblestone hallway with her two companions behind her. Her vision grew darker and darker as she walked blindly into its depths. After several passing moments, she started to see the end of the tunnel, glowing red from an unknown light source. She emerged out of the darkness, to witness a huge chamber large enough to hold a blue whale. The room was filled with cobwebs, and red torches lined the walls with its crimson light. Several towering columns were left standing as they supported the rocky ceiling above. At the end of the chamber, a huge archway stood strong with a black sheen. Its surface glimmered with a black sheen, as if it was smoothed from the side of a volcano. The inside of the archway glowed with vicious purple as the portal flowed within it. The shadowy figure stood in front of the gateway as it basked in its brilliance. “Hey! Who are you?” Twilight bellowed after the figure. The pony was startled as he turned around. His sudden movement tossed his hood back, giving Twilight a peek at his muzzle. His yellow coat was paled to the point of looking almost snow-white. The bright, purple light showed off his messy, black mane as it tossed in the musky air. His face wasn’t chiseled handsomely like a hero, but he gave Twilight the impression of the cool guy from school. A vicious scar ran down through his right eye, starting from his eyebrow and stopping right at his cheek. His good eye shone with a brilliant bright red, as it burned with determination. “Oh wow!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “He looks kind of cute.” The colt was taken aback at the compliment. Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes and took a step forward accusingly. “Who are you and what do you want?” she demanded of him. “I want answers. You’ve been following us since the start, haven’t you?” The colt shied away a little at Twilight’s attentive perception. He dug into his cloak’s pockets and brought out a runed scroll. He quickly tossed the magic scroll in front of him and it suddenly busted into black smoke when it touched the ground. “Sorry Twilight,” he smirked. “You’ll have to catch me next time.” Twilight’s eyes widened with anger. “Hey! Wait!” she bellowed after him. It was too late however as he stepped into the portal. As the last of his tail disappeared, the gateway dissipated, leaving the group to deal with the smoke. A black figure emerged from the lightless cloud, and it gave off an unearthly growl. It was a black, giant Timber Wolf, the size of a double seated chariot. Its wooden skin had a sheen of black, glimmering faintly, and grey smoke was rising off from the cracks of its hide. Its red, deadly eyes spotted the group, and its deadly mouth drooled black slime at the anticipation of fresh ponies. Twilight Sparkle yelped as the wolf made a quick dash towards her. She jumped into the air as it charged right underneath her, baring its sharp canine teeth. Both Pinkie Pie and Spike quickly leapt to the left, with Spike leaving behind a fiery present of his green Dragon’s Breath. His attack burned the right side of its face, leaving it howling in pain as the fire consumed its body. That didn’t last long however as the smoke around it smothered the fire, extinguishing any burn effects that Spike caused. The monster howled darkly into the chamber, threatening the torches to go out. Twilight fearfully looked at the light sources, praying to Celestia that they wouldn’t go out. She landed behind the Timber Wolf and safely teleported away to a distance. As one of the torches went out, she cast an Incinerate spell upon the charred stick. The torch flared back to life because of the spell, but this time it had a bright orange flame instead of its original red color. “Spike!” she yelled out to the pair. “It’s trying to take out the torches! Stop him from howling while I re-light any torches he puts out!” Spike nodded with affirmation, and let out a couple more Dragon’s Breath attacks toward the beast. The wolf halted his howling to dodge the blasts. The wolf bounded towards the small dragon with its maw open wide, ready to gulp down the bite-sized dragon, with one chomp. It didn’t get the chance, however, as Pinkie Pie bashed the wolf with a huge lollipop from Celestia-knows-where. The impact shattered the weapon, dealing extra damage to the wolf as the mouth-watering shards pierced its hide. It staggered a little and let out a huge yawn. Pinkie Pie’s sleepy milk formula was doing its charm. As Twilight’s hopes were rising, they were quickly shot down like stone, as the smoke gathered in its mouth. The wolf snapped its derpy eyes back into focus and its face quickly took on an angry visage. Before Twilight could say anything to warn her friends, the wolf swiftly tackled against Spike’s small form. As the little dragon was down, the wolf grabbed his leg with its sharp teeth and tossed him in the air. Time seemed to slow down as Spike was falling down. The wolf had his mouth wide open, anticipating its much-needed meal. Pinkie Pie let out a scream as Spike landed in its jaws, his scaly purple tail and legs sticking out. Wolf closed its mouth crunched on the bones, letting the limbs fall to the floor. A shower of blood was tossed about as the wolf picked up the tail and shook it violently around in the air, and some of it landing on Twilight’s face. Something that tasted like iron landed in her open mouth. Pinkie Pie sat down on her haunches, sobbing up a lake, although a sound wasn’t uttered from either of them. Twilight’s vision was growing darker and darker with each passing second. For a moment, she thought the wolf was extinguishing the flames again, but it wasn’t. It was her rage building up again as Spike, whom she saw as a dear little brother, died right in front of her by that thing. That monster. The thing that was going to be a Dead, Piece, Of, Wood. Her vision blurred crimson, as she charged the wolf. Her eyes let out tears salted with fury as her horn charged up with Magic Missile. She let out a stream of magic bullets that slammed into the monster like a train. It knocked back the wolf several meters away, but it landed on its feet with unnatural grace. Twilight didn’t know she had it in her, but she roared like a ferocious, wounded lion towards the Timber Wolf. It intimidated the monster for a moment, but it then sneered cruelly at Twilight’s angry cry. “YOU STUPID, BUCKING MUTT!” Twilight screeched, her scream pounding and bouncing in the chamber. “HOW FUCKING DARE YOU! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THAT!” Twilight conjured up a ring of wildfire, as she cast Incinerate around the vicious beast. The wolf looked around all smug as the flames closed in on it. It let out a huge bark and snuffed out Twilight’s attack. This attack actually damaged Twilight’s health as the air swept her off her feet. She and Pinkie slammed into the walls and she could feel her health cutting away. When she fell to the ground, the pain was almost unbearable to Twilight, which shouldn’t be right. The pony visor should have blocked 80% of what the actual pain should have felt in real life. As she tried to get up, she suddenly panicked. She couldn't feel her legs. Twilight cursed as she tried to get her legs to work, but all she could do was let her body slide to the ground. The wolf arrogantly howled in victory and slowly walked over to their still forms. It was taunting her. Twilight silently swore that she’ll get her vengeance on the wolf. She can’t quit here. She tried to get up again, but only managed to exert all of her strength. As the mutt drew closer and closer with its snarling mouth, Twilight could hear a small whimper coming from Pinkie Pie. She remembered that she was here as well, and was now terrified for her life; unlike the angry unicorn right beside her, plotting the wolf’s downfall. “It’s okay Pinkie Pie,” Twilight gently whispered. “I’m going to get you out of here. I promise.” Pinkie Pie turned to see Twilight all bloodied up, but was also smiling gently with reassurance. It made her feel a bit better inside, but it doesn’t change the fact that the wolf was about to gobble them up. To Twilight, the feeling was mutual as well, when Pinkie Pie formed a small, sad smile of her own. As the wolf stopped right above them, Twilight could feel drips of its saliva falling down onto her face. The wolf opened its mouth over Twilight’s head and stretched it wide to fit her head. As it brought its teeth upon her, a cyan blur dashed into the wolf, sending it flying across the room. Twilight raised her head up to see Rainbow Dash smiling down on her. She could feel her hoof gently patting on her mane. “You did your part, ya egghead,” Rainbow Dash whispered softly, glad to know her friend was alright. “It’s my turn now.” Rainbow Dash swiftly turned towards the wolf’s direction and flared her wings up, preparing for flight and fight. It only took her to flap her wings once to achieve the unmatchable speeds, tackling the wolf again at the height of her wingpower. Twilight could feel her strength coming back to her again as a familiar dragon fed her a sweet drink. The sugary substance healed her wounds right away, as their magical healing properties traveled around her body, regenerating any loss of blood she had and fixed her broken bones. “Sorry Pinkie,” Spike apologized remorsefully. “I had to use your potions to heal you both.” He yelped as Pinkie Pie gave him a huge bear hug as she exclaimed, “It’s okay Spike! I’m just happy you’re still alive!” The party mare’s face then scrunched into confusion. “How did Rainbow Dash get here anyway?” “I told her we were in trouble, and I showed her the way here. It didn’t really take much to convince her.” “But the spawn point is so far away!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I don’t even think I can go around the city that fast. How did you find her so quickly?” “Well Pinkie,” he chuckled. “I had a little help from a certain programmer.” “Hey girls. Sup?” Twilight glanced up to see Sentinel also standing by, grinning from ear to ear cheekily. He had changed his mane since she last saw him. It was still the messy shape as always, but now it was colored red with two blue stripes of different shades lining down. The stripe pattern reminded Twilight of her mane’s style. He was strangely standing on his hind legs, making him taller than usual, and he had an opened laptop in his hooves. His brilliant, blue eyes shimmered as they reflected the blocks of code off his screen. “S– Sentinel?” Twilight asked quizzically. “What are you doing here?” “Well, I just happened to have spotted Spike all by his lonesome at one of the spawn houses. He was quite shaken up, and told me what had happened,” he explained. He sucked in a little air through his teeth before continuing, sounding a bit impressed and disturbed. “I have to say this; getting swallowed in one bite is one hell of a way to go. Anyway, he told me that you girls were in trouble so I decided to lend a hoof. I knew Rainbow Dash was in town so I used a couple of shortcuts to transport us to her location. After that, well, we went over to the library in a jiffy, and here we are.” He gave Twilight a silly smile, like his actions weren’t a big deal. “Being a programmer for this game is fun, once you get to enjoy the perks!” Twilight slowly nodded, her expression still shocked. “Th– thanks, Sentinel. I don’t know what would have happened to us if you hadn’t come. B– but Spike here is– ” “Perfectly fine, and like I said, it’s because of him that I’m here.” Twilight turned her gaze to Spike, who was blushing profoundly in his spot. “It wasn’t such a big deal, honest! I just told him what happen that’s all.” Spike scratched his chin. “Although I can’t really remember what happened before I respawned. How the heck did that happen anyway?” Twilight stood there for a moment before deciding to tear up a little. She gave Spike her best motherly hug and cried a little. Tears trickled down her cheeks. “Thank you, Spike.” Spike was slightly shocked by her tears, but returned the hug stronger with a chuckle. “It’s wasn’t a big deal. I would have done anything to save you.” “Yes, but really I’m just happy you’re okay. You seriously gave me a scare when it ate you.” Twilight’s heart broke a little as Spike pushed a bit away from the hug, although she could see the shock on his face. “I was eaten?!” <----------------------> Rainbow Dash's BGM <----------------------> The very heartwarming moment lasted only for a few moments, before the wolf’s body was slammed into the wall next to them followed by a very angry mare. The wolf didn’t even get to let out a snarl before Rainbow Dash grabbed it by the tail, and tossed him away from the others. Rainbow Dash gave Sentinel an angry glare not because he did something wrong, but because it seemed like she had been through Tartarus and back. The wolf must have been something else to damage the swift Pegasus that much. “I can’t damage this bucker. What’s going on?” she angrily shouted, demanding to know why the monster was still up and fighting. Sentinel popped some rimless glasses out of thin air, and placed them upon his muzzle. “Well let’s take a look here...” He browsed through the laptop and gave a long whistle. “Wow, level thirty? No wonder you couldn’t kill him,” he then tapped a few buttons on his keyboard to bring up more data, then squinted at the screen, bewildered by the data he was receiving. “Huh, there’s something that’s preventing the monster from losing health points. A god-mode hack!” With the utmost precision, the sandy-brown unicorn turned towards the growling Timber Wolf, and then pressed down on the Enter key. The laptop shivered a little before shooting a bright, blue beam of light at the monster, covering it in a blue sphere of swirling data. It snarled loudly as it attempted to break free, but it couldn’t as the stream of code withstood its strength. Gradually, a stream of red fog was coming out of the cracks in the wooden monster’s hide, joining the rest of the blue data. The red fog was destroyed as the blue numbers enveloped it, destroying away the data that gave the monster godlike endurance. Suddenly, the timber wolf’s nameplate appeared above the monster, showing its designation name: Shadow Timber Wolf. That quickly changed, however, as the blue numbers flying around it swallowed the name, altering it to Shadow Timber Dog. It took a while for Rainbow Dash register what just happened, before raised an eye brow with an amused look on her face. “S.T.D.? Really?” she chuckled knowingly. “Hey, I gotta have some fun too, 'cause I can’t join you in this fight,” Sentinel reasoned. “This is the best I can do as an admin.” “Whatever, he’s going down.” Rainbow Dash pulled out a multi-colored sword from her sheath. “Wait a second. I can lower the monster’s level too, so that you can have an easier fight.” “No thanks. I like the challenge.” “You sure?” Rainbow Dash looked back and him, looking at him with a smirk. “Do you really need to ask me?” With her piece spoken, she charged forward at the creature like a speed demon, flying through the air like a sharp arrow. The wolf anticipated her move and opened his mouth to roared at Rainbow Dash, letting out a blast of air hit her. She however didn’t get hit as she intercepted the jet of air with the point of her sword, cutting through the gale with the tip of its blade. Before it could finish its vicious roar, Dash curved around the wolf and flanked around to its left. She quickly swung her sword down to his neck for the final blow, but it anticipated this and quickly spun its head up and chomped on the rainbow blade, preventing the attack from fully killing him. Drips of dark blood went loose from the wolf’s mouth, but it didn’t let go of its hold on the weapon. Rainbow Dash didn’t care about the trapped sword, as she had another tool stashed up her wings; her hoof. She brought it down to deliver a swift punch to the wolf’s eye, causing it to cry out in a pained howl. Taking advantage of the open window, she rapidly used Dash It on the beast, aiming for all of his legs. She sliced at each and every one of his heels, causing him to howl even more. A Speed Down symbol appeared over his head. The symbol was a downward arrow and a pair of wings beside it, signifying the beast’s loss of agility. The Timber Wolf glared angrily at his opponent, now seeing it as not food, but as a foe of equal power. It was something that posed a very serious threat to him. Wanting to end the fight quickly, it let out a howl of deadly proportions, and it deafened everypony's ears in the room. The situation turned even more mind-boggling when the wolf’s shadow started to shiver violently, as if it was badly wounded. In response of the howl, several tendrils of solid darkness made their appearance as they rose from the wolf’s shadow. The tip of each one was sharpening until into they resembled some very pointy spears, looking very deadly and dangerous. The wolf continued howling as it commanded the shadow tendrils to dart towards Rainbow Dash, intending to impale her. Not worried at the slightest, she angled her way through the storm of shadows as she made her way towards the wolf. Then something amazing was starting to happen as Rainbow Dash raised her sword above her head. It seemed that the light the sword was giving off was playing tricks on Twilight, but she swore that she was seeing more than one Rainbow Dash in front of her eyes. In fact, Twilight was seeing a small army of them. Each one of them was seemingly unharmed as the shadows attacked them. Rainbow Dash’s blade shined with pristine light each time another Rainbow Dash appeared. Was this one of Rainbow Dash's new skills? The Rainbow Dash army finally dissipated when one of them reached within striking distance of the wolf, leaving behind the solitary Dash to deal the final blow. The real Rainbow Dash, with no hesitation, swiftly ran the blade through the monster's throat, finally putting an end to the monster's horrific howls. Both the Timber Wolf and the tendrils both faded away into shadowy dust as its health bar emptied. Rainbow Dash was left the last mare standing, panting breaths of musky air. She tried to lean against one of the pillars for some much needed rest, but she missed it by an inch and Rainbow Dash found herself falling towards the ground. Not really caring, she closed her eyes and awaited the hard impact of the stone floor, only to meet with the soft landing of Twilight Sparkle's soft, purple coat. The mare mage smiled as Rainbow Dash tiredly accepted the help, and wrapped one of her wings around Twilight. “Come on, Dash. I’ll get you some cider.” Rainbow Dash has reached Lv 22! She has gained the following Skills! ~Dash It – Rank 3: 110% Dmg. Rush through your enemies with a blade weapon. Aim for their calves to lower their Movement Speed. Debuff stacks up until all of the target's legs are cut. The percentage of Movement Speed lost is # of Legs Cutted/# of Monster Legs Next Rank: 20%+ Dmg. ~Spectrum Slash: Buff Skill. Used with ‘Dash It’ skill. Adds 30% more Dmg to ‘Dash It’ and gives it a Light Attribute. Gives the user the ability to create fake images of the user from the light of the blade. Holograms are cool. Twilight Sparkle has reached Lv 20! She has gained the following Skills! ~Magic Missile – Rank 4: Charge up a single blast for 240% Dmg or release a barrage of 3 smaller blasts for 40% each. Cooldown for Full Charge is 10 seconds. Cooldown for Barrage is 3 seconds. Next Rank: +10% Dmg. Knockback effect added. ~Incinerate – Rank 3: 170% Dmg. AoE. Inflicts Burn Dmg that deals -20 hitpoints to inflicted enemy overtime. Next Rank: +20% Dmg Burn your enemies to a crisp! Pinkie Pie has reached Lv 18! She has gained the following Skills! ~Lollichop: 150% Take out a large battleaxe in the shape of a lolipop. It shatters upon impact, unleashing shards of delectable goodness that can pierce through enemy's armor. Deals 10 HP dmg per sec X per shard. Next Rank: 10%+ Dmg. 5 HP Dmg per second for each shard. ~Sweet Needles! – Rank 3: Throw candy-disguised trauq darts to lower your all your opponent’s stats by 7%. Next Rank: 1%+ effect. ~Candy Cloud – Rank 3: Throw a candy-dust infused bomb that lowers your opponent’s speed by 50%. AoE. Next Rank: 10%+ effect. That really smells good. Can I rest here? ~Extend Jump: Increases your jump height by 50%. Next Rank: Double Jump. Almost like flying. Spike has reached Lv 16! He has gained the following Skills! ~Dragon’s Breath – Rank 4: 210% Dmg. AoE in front of Player. Inflicts Burn Dmg that deals -20 hitpoints to inflicted enemy over time. Can continue to cast it until MP is drained. Next Rank: 20%+ Dmg. I don’t know how to say this, but you are almost a fully grown dragon. ~Iron Tail: 150% Dmg. Smack your opponent with a tail as strong as iron. Knockback effect included. Next Rank: 30%+ Dmg. Totally not a stolen move from a certain pocket monster game.