"Nylock, hurry up! The hatching pits will be getting ful soon." Ember called out as Nylock was following behind, carrying a large assortment of baby items in a wagon.
"My lady please, I'm going as fast as I can!" Nylocke said, trying his best to move quickly while also not dropping anything.
"Did you really have to bring all that stuff?"
“Yes.” Nylocke answered plainly. “If not for our child, then at least for the many other newborns…better to be safe than sorry.”
"You do know the most any expecting parents bring to the Hatching Pits is a blanket and that's not exactly common right?"
“Time’s are changing, and I’m not going to take chances with our first child.” Nylocke said.
"You still didn't have to go this overboard." Ember said, carrying her and Nylock's egg in her hands. "I mean, that's like nine pounds of baby formula. Dragon don't nurse let alone feed that to a hatchling."
“Then how do they feed if they are literally an infant just born into the world?” Nylocke asked. “I doubt their born with teeth so they can’t eat gems…don’t tell me they’re only taken care of for maybe a year or two then told to leave and deal with life by themselves.”
"No, and hatchlings are born with a small set of baby teeth but we typically feed them crushed gemstones for the first few months to a year. After that they can chew and eat gems and ore and meat just fine on their own. And whelps typically don't leave the caves until they're ten, and when they're twenty they're either willingly moved out on their own or kicked out by the parents."
“Half of what you said sounds like what happens back home…” Nylocke said, really wanting to make sure that the kids are safe and sound. “I just…don’t want to screw this up ya know?”
"Just relax and breathe. Remember, by the days end we will be returning home with our hatchling, a new section in the cave has been carved and dug out for them, which you covered in bubble wrap and foam, and I'll be there to watch over them, and knowing my dad he'll probably check up and visit them daily."
“Most likely…” Nylocke sighed, knowing he might be overreacting here but…this is his first child! How can he not?
"Besides, you should be more excited to know if it's a boy or a girl."
“I am excited…but I’m still nervous about me being a good father.” Nylocke said honestly.
"The bar for good father in the Dragon Lands is low. So long as you don't lose, sell or accidentally kill or eat them you are considered a good father."
Nylocke looked at Ember in abject horror. “The fuck is wrong with you people?”
"Would you like that list alphabetically or?"
Nylocke facepalmed. “Really?”
"You asked. In case you haven't noticed Dragons are notoriously prideful and selfish. Getting a dragon to admit their wrong you might as well be arguing with a wall and getting a dragon to change their way of life, especially an adult dragon, yeah… besides, it's not that common anymore a drake accidentally eats their hatchlings."
“It still happens and that’s a problem.” Nylocke frowned. “Also, you said it’s not that common that it ‘accidentally’ happens! Why would they eat their own children on purpose?”
"Big, stuck up, selfish dragon who obsess with their hoards do not mix well with whelps. Hatchlings would get into their hoard, eat gems, big dragons get mad, eats hatchling. That doesn't really happen anymore but every once in a while… it's still more likely to happen accidentally and usually it's because one of the parents snores, sleeping with their mouth open and the little one crawls in there and gets swallowed by accident. Dad said I used to do that too when I was little. I actually remember one time when I was little I pretended his mouth was a cave and tried to mine one of his teeth. That woke him up and I got grounded for months." Ember said with a chuckle.
“Well…that does sound a little funny.” Nylocke chuckled. “But…all the rest is…worrying.”
"That's just how it is. It's the risk older, bigger dragons face if they decide to keep having kids."
“Well, thankfully I’m not going to be as huge as all the other dragons.” Nylocke said, thinking that there won’t ever be a magical growth spurt where he’s the size of a mountain.
"Huh… wonder how that will affect our sex lives when I get bigger?"
Nylock turned ten shades of pink.
“E-excuse you my lady?” Nylocke asked, so stunned and embarrassed that he mixed his two tones together.
"What? I'm only twenty three. I probably won't get as big as my dad, maybe half or so as I get older but that's centuries away. Though I guess I will eventually get taller than you."
“Well…then I’m probably going to have to endure that as well…”
"It's alright. Once I get that big I'm sure we can find ways to make it fun~" Ember teased, laughing as Nylock broke out in a cold sweat and began stuttering.
Game Crazed huffed, they and Luna were in another spar. Another he was losing.
“I shouldn’t be losing this hard…” Gamecrazed panted, dodging another magical bolt and dashing forward with an overhead slash of their sword arm.
"While your skills in close range are near that of a master, you lack proper long range offense." Luna informed, dodging the swipe and blasting Gamecrazed back.
“I do have ranged attacks…” Gamecrazed grunted, firing off several shadow balls towards Luna to prove a point.
A wave of magic and a Luna was protected by a magic barrier that took all the hits before vanishing. "Then perhaps the issue lies in versatility?"
“I did the best I could with the limits I was given by TOME’s world.” Gamecrazed said, phasing into the ground and turning themselves into a wave of spikes towards Luna.
"Ah, but you are not bound by that world or its laws anymore." She said, with a flap flew above Gamecrazed's attack and countered with a beam of ice magic that froze them solid.
GC grunted and shattered the ice as a giant shadow fist rushed towards Luna.
With another wave of magic Luna's shield came up, the impact from Gamecrazed vibrating the air around the two but Luna's shield stood. "You have been improving."
“Still not strong enough…” GC said, opening their hand and grabbing the shield and Luna and throwing them strongly into the ground.
"My, you're angry today." Luna replied, somehow behind Gamecrazed. He spun around, and received a cupcake smeared on his face. "Sorry! I forget you don't have a mouth…"
GC blinked, then gave a flat look towards Luna that looked like a frown. “Thank you but…really?”
"It's not really noticeable until you look or .. forget." She said, a flash of her magic and cleaning Gamecrazed as the two were now on the ground. "But you are angered. What bothers you?"
“I…I don’t know…” GC shook their head. “The more I’m here, the more I realize that my mistake could burst forth at any moment and start hurting those I care about…how these All Maker’s could already be after my parents…my brother and sister…”
"You feel like you should be doing more?"
“Yes…” They nodded. “If I don’t do more, than Kajet could break free and bring destruction to this new world…I fear that Void…or Pain as they call her, is already making Kajet so much stronger now…”
"That is likely, but there is not much we can do for now. They out-power us by untold fathoms. All we can do is train for when they unleash that threat upon us."
“I…I just hope we’ll all be ready for it…” GC sighed bitterly.
"That is why we train regularly. To ensure we are." Luna said with a smile and a nod. "But, mental health and physical health are linked. Perhaps we can take a short break for now."
“I…suppose we can.” The shadow morphological admitted.
Rockcoon sighed as he left his new job. It had been a month since his arrival in this world and Ponyville, and after admittedly several mental breakdowns about possibly never going home, he managed to live with that possibility.
He got out of the hospital fast, magic was great like that, and with help from his new friend Derpy, had a place to sleep and the means to job hunt.
He ended up with the perfect job. A gravel mine an hours train ride from Ponyville. His endless bombs made his a highly valued, and paid, employee. First time an employer ever complimented his work that he can recall even.
He walked through town and to his home where he lived with his friend, or rather, girlfriend, Derpy.
At some point the two began dating and Rockcoon, having never had a girl, or female in general think of him as attractive or romantically, accepted.
He even got along with her daughter Dinky.
“Ah, this is the life.” Rockoon said in contentment, fixing his miner’s helmet as he walked through the shockingly inviting town of Ponyville.
While the apples still held a small grudge, they still accepted him now that his act was cleaned up.
He entered the house he shared with Derpy and Dinky and took a seat on the couch. "Hey Rock." Derpy said, handing him a glass of lemonade. "You're back early."
“Yeah, just had to do some quick thing’s at work, bomb some spots that they marked down and that was the day…don’t know why I can’t help more than just the bombs, I can dig like a champ after all.” Rockcoon said, bringing up his clawed hands as he knew he had a few digging based attacks.
"Well, you are basically a demolitionist and those are expensive so, they probably just want you to set up the bombs to break apart the rocks." Derpy shrugged, giving Rockcoon a kiss on the cheek.
Rockcoon never imagined himself as able to be in a relationship. Back on earth girls never gave him the time of day. He was a shy, quiet introvert back on earth. When TOME launched and he made his avatar, he wanted them to be someone people noticed and never forgot, and thus the bombing raccoon was born.
He became a hacker later on, first as a hobby then as a part time job since it paid well.
He couldn't believe how happy he was being more of himself with Derpy than as the trouble making hacker troll he was in TOME.
“Yeah, I’m honestly surprised at how expensive explosives are all thing’s considered.” Rockcon said, putting his miner’s hat and jacket on the coat rack.
"There's a lot of rules and regulations just to buy some. You having an endless supply at your grasp cuts the cost for them in half. Still, even half of expensive is still expensive."
“Hmm, fair.” Rockcoon shrugged. “So, how was your day my sweet muffin?”
"Slow. No major packages or letter deliveries so I spent the rest of my shift organizing the outgomail for tomorrow."
“Alright.” The bomber raccoon nodded. “Slow day for the both of us I suppose.”
"Just means more time together." Derpy said, giving him another kiss on the cheek. "But a package ordered did come in so I started making you a surprise one month anniversary gift!"
“Surprised it’s only been a month all things considered.” He said honestly.
"It does feel longer doesn't it. Come on, your gift is almost done and in the kitchen." Derpy said, Rockcoon following the mare. Upon entering the kitchen he caught the smell of pizza. Pepperoni pizza specifically.
That did surprise him. He knew Derpy and other ponies didn't eat meat. It's wasn't really taboo, some did find it gross but they were all herbivores.
“Pepperoni Pizza? How? And…are you sure?” He asked, even though getting the best pizza is great, he was surprised by this.
"Yeah, it was actually pretty easy getting the meats. Equestria may be primarily home to ponies, but omnivores and carnivores call the kingdom home too. While a minority, Celestia wanted to make sure their dietary needs were met and created a special mail order meat delivery service." Derpy explained. "I filled out the paperwork, mailed in the application and now that you're registered butcher shops send you several pounds of various meats and meat products a month. See, I even got a spare freezer for it." She added, waving a hoof over at the new standing freezer next to the refrigerator.
“Derpy…you have no idea how happy I am to know this.” The raccoon said with a giant smile, so glad to finally have meat again.
"I knew you'd enjoy it. My friend Carrot Top says I'm going a bit overkill this early in the relationship but my mom always said it's Overkill or nothing. That's how she got my dad." She said with a smirk, giving another quick kiss to Rockcoon, this time on the lips. "I know we haven't been dating long but… I like you, a lot. I like seeing you happy, you make me happy, and you get along with Dinky great. I wanna make sure this works out for a long term relationship."
“Yeah…to be perfectly honest, I was worried I wasn’t good enough for ya.” He said sheepishly. “Considering you’re…literally one of the only women that have liked me like this…or at all.”
"Well to all those other mates, I say too bad for them. I have no plans on letting you go." Derpy said, giving Rockcoon another kiss as the oven dinged. "Pizzas done!"
"Uuuuuggghhhhh. We've been walking forever…" Flamegirl whined as she and Alpha had been searching the White Tale Woods for the next dungeon for several weeks now.
“I know…this fucking sucks.” Alpha whined, thinking that they should have found this stupid dungeon by now.
"I hate hidden locations…"
“Same…” Alpha sighed. “But it should be around here somewhere…”
"Hopefully. I've gotten so used to hunting for food I think when I see a refrigerator I'm gonna temporarily think it's a gift from God." Flamegirl sighed. "Bright side at least I am in epic shape!" She said, flexing her more profound muscles.
“Y-yeah…you are…” Alpha looked away as he felt his face turn completely red. “Steph was pretty before…ugh, why must buff women also be really hot?” Alpha mentally whined at his predicament at the fact his girlfriend was even hotter.
"Don't act like you haven't gained some meat on your bones either Alpha~" Flamegirl said, rapidly rushing up to and pulling up Alpha's shirt, exposing his new, not quite rock hard but definitely visible six pack.
“St-Steph!” Alpha turned even brighter red. “Give me back my shirt please.”
"What? Girl can't enjoy her man's view?" She asked.
During their traveling and after an accidental kiss Alpha and Flamegirl began dating. While dates mostly consisted of who could find the tastiest, or most romantic food or rest stop, the two enjoyed them plenty.
Plus Flamegirl loves the isolation their adventure gave her with Alpha.
“I do have to wonder how the others are doing.” Alpha wondered. “They’d probably flip over seeing the both of us like this.”
"Ten bucks says Kirb is still gonna think he can beat you in a fight."
“I’m not gonna take that bet cause you know he’d immediately try something.” Alpha chuckled.
"So, think the others all have been training and getting stronger?"
“Most likely…except for Nylocke cause he’s probably worrying about being a dad.” Alpha said honestly.
"Think he and Ember will have more than one kid?"
“Maybe, depends on what they both want.” Alpha shrugged.
"Well, wanna make camp since we still can't seem to find that damn dungeon?"
“Yeah.” Alpha nodded. “We should get some rest…getting really sick of looking for this damn place…”
Zeto sighed, the first ever dungeon run between the two of them after so long of having to deal with the Kajet and making sure it didn’t break free…and it was somehow boring. “Ugh, you’d think these stupid things could take more than one hit…”
"It is weird." Kizuna hummed. "I don't feel any stronger than I do in The real world, but…"
“I was told we’re ‘demigods’ by one of our…’new friends’.” Zeto said carefully. “Not full gods because we’re Beta Testers, but I thought dungeon’s would have…I don’t know, kept up with us?”
"Demi God's? Like Hercules? That's kinda cool. So, does that make the others all Gods by that definition?"
“From what Voodoo said, yes.” Zeto nodded. “Makes the other Webkings Gods…and Sofdti a Goddess of Life.” He said, changing his robo-arm into a gatling gun and firing a bullet at a monster that thought it could sneak up on Kizuna while she was distracted by the conversation.
"So… that makes Kajet akin to a God of Death? Given he's more or less the opposite of Sofdti?"
“Sadly…” Zeto sighed. “Which makes our jobs a whole lot harder if the carrier of the Anti-Virus doesn’t work…” He shook his head.
"Given we're no longer dealing with ones and zeroes, we might have to completely rework or scrap the Anti-Virus entirely."
“Which would suck total balls if that’s true.” Zeto. “A lot of hard work and planning down the dragon if that’s true…”
"We should see what exactly god half of being a demi god can do for us and maybe work on a back up if that is the case."
“Yeah…hopefully things can go well this time around with the others…”
"Speaking of, how are those… friends of yours doing?"
“Alpha and Flamegirl went out dungeon crawling and haven’t been seen in weeks, Nylocke is currently panicking about his child being born, and Gamecrazed has been spending practically every waking moment with Luna training for…something.” Zeto said carefully. “I’d say I can bring you to talk to each of them as Kirb but kinda doubt they’d be entirely thrilled after the Tournament.”
"They are Kirbs friends after all, not Zeto's."
“Can’t really show them Zeto after I stole the Dragon Scepter after….having to wait for the newly weds…” Zeto shuddered. “Ugh…two fucking hours…”
"You make it sound like they were fucking for two hours."
“Did you know that dragons have two dicks?” Zeto asked, which made Kizuna blush brightly at how blunt he just asked that. “Cause they do, and Ember and Nylocke did it…for two hours…” He said, his voice sounding like a man broken from knowing too much.
"Huh. One for each. Amazed she only laid one egg "
“I slipped on something…and I don’t want to know what it was…” Zeto shivered in horror. “Also…learned that it was magic that made sure that she would have been pregnant after the first try…”
"Huh. The opposite of a condom."
“Just be glad that the reason I had to endure that bullshit was to get an interdimensional phone so I could contact you.” Zeto huffed.
"Well, at least some good came out of it. Now, should we hunt something for lunch or should we run around this labyrinth some more?"
“Yeah, best to hunt for some lunch.” Zeto nodded, cause even if they were Demi-Gods, hunger was still a minor issue.
Aven sighed as he sat at his desk. Before him stood his newest arrival. One Trixie Lunamoon. Traveling Showmare by trade, luggage, one live in/storage wagon and a few boxes of small pyrotechnics and other various fireworks.
"Is everything in order?"
“Why do I need to deal with the washed up people?” The griffon in dragon bone armor grumbled. “Alright, so thing’s are getting sorted out fully considering you’re also bringing explosives through border patrol…at what point did you think it was a smart idea to bring explosives without a permit?”
"They're part of my act! Plus I do have the equestrian permits!"
“Yes, you have the Equestrian permit, and you’re going to a completely different world and reality.” Aven clarified. “Which that caused this whole thing to be sent to a few others and makes my workload bigger…”
"Well it's not like I knew that. Some skeleton gave me the passport and told me where a portal was. I wasn't even expecting there to be a sophisticated border like this, what are you, Quaksland?!"
“First, we’re not here to be racist.” Aven said, looking at Trixie. “And I’m the guy that hunt’s down monster’s that makes your fake story of fighting an Ursa Major look like a cake walk.”
"Of course my stories are fake, I'm a stage magician! It's all for show! Make foals smile! Also I wasn't being racist Quaksland is a real place, been there, preformed there, made a decent coin."
“Cause of course…” Aven sighed. “But, given I did a background check on you…looks to me like you took it a bit too far…several times…” Aven said, holding a folder about Trixie’s past deeds to make sure she wasn’t a criminal trying to escape to another world and continue the same shit. “Pride is unbecoming of a pretty mare like you, especially when it involves endangering people due to treating your act like reality and buying a very illegal artifact to hold a town hostage.”
"Hey! Those two idiot kids were the ones who brought that thing to town not me! Plus, I was never charged with a crime, just given a… several months banishment from Ponyville and a ticket of several thousand bits to repay damages, which is all paid off by the way!"
“That…sounds like criminal charges in the Town of Ponyville.” He said slowly. “But I can wave that off as you did pay off the damages and after that there wasn’t really any other big problems…though while I can agree children being stupid cause fancy magic show…just to be honest, a lot of stage magician’s in my world don’t really do the ‘I once did this’ unless it was for a stage bit.” He said, kinda wishing he could show Trixie some Pen and Teller’s ‘Fool us’.
"Stage bit? Like a comedy thing? Huh… actually, that sounds like a good idea. I will have to think that over during my stay in the land of TOME."
“Less ‘comedy’ and more ‘it was apart of the trick’, like telling a story while doing the magic trick.” Aven said. “Here, if you head to TOME and somehow magically get to watch TV, if you want to see what my world does with Stage Magician’s, look up Penn and Teller Fool Us, it’s a fun show that has two master class magician’s doing a game show for other magician’s to try and fool them…also, I will warn you, that TOME and my world are…technically two different places at the current moment.”
"Alright. So, am I allowed to pass?"
Aven sighed. “Yeah, you’re allowed to go. But I will warn you, a person named Chrysalis went before you and I heard the Net Kings…TOME’s God’s, did not take that lightly and soundly kicked her ass.”
"Good. She ruined a royal wedding and is considered a terrorist back home." Trixie said, walking over to her wagon, attaching the harness to herself and pulling it through the portal.
Aven gave another sigh as he took a sip of his coffee, hearing someone, a group it seemed, enter from.the TOME portal. He nearly spit out his coffee. In not spitting out his coffee he nearly choked on the drink.
Before his desk all stood the Netkings.
“Holy shit!” Aven coughed, pounding his chest to make sure he didn’t choke. “Uh…hi! Uh…why are you here?”
“Dropping off this bitch.” Bitshrum said, putting down a box that had Chrysalis’s head on the outside as she struggled against it.
“And also so we can…figure something’s out.” Webmaster sighed.
“Well…what do you need to figure out?” Aven asked, sitting up and trying not to geek out about meeting the five creator’s of the best game ever.
"That's personal. But we received word of this… unexpected edition to the game world. Are you with the party responsible?" Webmaster asked.
Aven sighed. “I was there when Vortex was…possessed by Pain, as it created the portal to Equis, and while the main five of Alpha, Flamegirl, Nylocke, Gamecrazed and Kirbopher got sent there, I got stuck in the Inbetween, where I met Genie and got hired as Border Patrol.” Aven explained. “And…I was a hacker that Solo’d Raid Bosses.”
“Wait, you’re that Avenborn?” Rubyrules inquired. “The one that we’ve seen some mild rumors about a guy soloing boss’s every week?”
“I may hack my stats to be able to solo Boses, but I will always be a true gamer and bitch about how low you made the drop rates.” Aven said readily.
“Well…at least you’re honest and didn’t do anything malicious to the game or the players.” Kinderspirit said carefully.
"So you're a victim as well. I'm assuming this means you can't leave this place unlike others?"
“Well, this is my job now.” Aven said. “Simple nine to five, overtime, get paid a lot of money to deal with the paperwork and stupid people that come into my office,”
“Lucky…” Exec grumbled.
“And I get to go out with my new form and powers and do exactly what I was doing and go out monster hunting and complaining about drop rates on the signature weapon or the proper drop cause even in this new reality RNJesus wants to spite me.”
"So, anything you can tell us about this other world?"
“Alright, so Equis…” Aven sighed. “So it’s a mythical land filled with Ponies, Unicorns, Pegasi, Griffon’s, Dragons, all the fantasy stuff,” Aven said as Chrysalis was carted off by another guard due to her nonsense and continued on with his explanation of Equis from what he is allowed to tell them. After about five minutes or so with a general run down of history and what to expect, he started to write down something’s with the slowly growing stack of paperwork.
"I see. And these All Maker beings are just sending people both from TOME and Equestria to each other?" Webmaster asked.
“Pretty much.” Aven said. “Why? Cause they are bored and want some entertainment…”
“Life isn’t a game though.” Kinderspirit said carefully, having personally helped bring new life through means that shouldn’t have been possible so she knew.
“Well, they are the being’s that God’s pray to so there’s that.” The griffon shrugged.
"All the more concerning." Webmaster muttered to themselves. "How long will it take for us to arrive in Equestria?"
“Just need to do some more paperwork, get you all your passports and travel visa, ya know how it goes.” Aven said.
“Well, hopefully this’ll go better than some of our other trips.” Exec grumbled.
“It was one time Exec!” Kinderspirit pouted.
“I mean, let’s not forget that we don’t need to rush to the airport at five am when our flight is at twelve.” Bitshrum added.
“It’s better to get there early and deal with all of it before our flight.” Exec retorted, which did help them all in the long run.
"Any idea where we will be arriving at?" Webmaster asked.
“Depends on where you want to go honestly. Cause while it can be random at least where you want to go, the portal at least spits you out around the area you wanted to go to.” Aven said honestly, remembering Rockcoon wanting to go to a simple town and appeared near Sweet Apple Acres.
"I see. Well, if you think you can get it to drop us off at the nearest authority that can help us recover players and settle this issue, that would be greatly appreciated."
“Alright.” Aven nodded, starting to write down something’s on more of his painful paperwork. “I’ll be sending you all to Canterlot, cause that’s where the Diarch’s of Equestria are.”
"As close as you can then."
To be continued...