//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: P.A.T. 
// Story: Ponyville High 
// by Midori_Kuroba 
//------------------------------//

Ponyville High
Chapter 9: P.A.T.

Sitting at her computer in her pajamas after the events of Nightmare Night, Luna was occupying herself by installing her new game: Pony Ancestral Terrain. She noticed it would take a while for it to fully download, so she turned on her messenger system. Seeing a couple of her friends were on she invited them to a video chat. Luna turned her microphone on and said into it, "Hello, can you two hear me?"

A small looking boy appeared on her screen with short groomed brown hair and a pirate costume on. "Blimey love, it's about time you got on, it is! Happy birthday, Luna!"

Another window opened on her screen with Ditzy on it. "Hi there Milky Way! Happy birthday from me too!"

"Pipsqueak, Derpy, thank you!" Pipsqueak was her boyfriend from middle school, and though Ditzy was a teacher, the three of them were gamer pals and often played anything online they could together. That's why whenever communicating, they often addressed each other by their online names, aside from Pipsqueak who just used his own name anyways. "My friends made a haunted house and lured me into an awesome birthday party! I got Pony Ancestral Terrain finally, so we can play it together! Also, my costume was a pokemon trainer. What did you guys dress up as and do for Nightmare Night?"

Pipsqueak chuckled and said, "Isn't mine obvious? I was a pirate! I am every year, you know that. I took your advice and hung out with Derpy while she was nearby."

Derpy giggled and said, "It's just lucky that my daughter Dinky goes to the same middle school as Pipsqueak. The Doctor came with me too, and we had matching costumes! Doctor was the hero of time, Link, and I was princess Zelda! Dinky dressed up as Midna in Twilight form."

Luna noticed her boyfriend blushing when Derpy mentioned that, and got a sneaky grin. "I wish I could've seen them. How did they look Pipsqueak? I bet Dinky's was nice." 

This got the boy even more flustered as he stuttered, "S-So what if it was? I wasn't really p-paying attention. I couldn't stop thinking of… of… costumes you'd look hot in!"

Derpy and Luna had a gigglefit at his expense. "Aww, is my little Pipsqueak shifting his eyes toward another girl?"

"Bloody hell love, don't toy with me!"

"Derpy, is my boyfriend having an affair with your daughter?"

"Yes," Derpy stated bluntly, earning a high pitched, "No!" from poor Pipsqueak.

Luna laughed and said, "Alright, alright, we'll leave the matter alone. I'm just glad you two could spend some time together in real life. I'm sure it was just as interesting as the time I had tonight. So give me the rundown of the game so I don't have to read an instruction manual or something."

Pipsqueak cleared his throat and said, "Basically it's a game of social interactions based on our pre-evolved equine ancestors. The game scans you and makes a anthropomorphic pony avatar based on you in real life. It's pretty epic, and they even got races for all the races that play. Humans get earth pony avatars, Winglies get pegasus, Unimares get unicorns, and what few Alicorns there are like you get to use the super cool alicorn avatars. After it generates your base character you can customize it however you like with all kinds of clothes and stuff."

Derpy picked up from there as she said, "Every avatar is unique, especially if they make fighting styles for their character.

"Wait, I thought this was a game of social interaction." Luna took a look at the back of the box before Derpy continued.

"It is, basically. You can communicate with friends, or you can battle them. You don't really fight monsters or anything, unless you take on a quest. There's five classes: Fighter, Swordsman, Animalism, Morphology, and Mechanical. Fighters combine magic with martial arts, Swordsman do the same but with swords, Animalism have styles based on a particular animal, Morphology are kinda like amorphous slime people, and Mechanical are basically robots. You get to create four fighting moves for your character, so everyone is equal in strength. What wins fights are teamwork, and skill."

Interested, Luna asked, "So how does that work in game? How do you fight each other? Is it in an arena, or just anywhere? Might get annoying."

"Exactly!" stated Pipsqueak interjecting. "That's why there's three regions in the game. The Hanging Gardens are full of various beautiful environments dedicated to social interactions alone. Kinda like a safe zone." The first thought that came into Luna's head was 'If Fluttershy plays this game I'm sure she stays there'. "Yin-yang city is for social interactions, and battles between characters, but the only way to have a battle is to open up a battle grid so it doesn't interrupt other players. Last but not least is the Indigo Wasteland, where you can initiate a battle with anybody even without a grid. Sadly, theres a rank system in the game, and the only way to get rank ups for your wins is by opening a battle grid, but sometimes it's fun to just run around fighting each other randomly."

"Okay, I got the gist of it. I'll learn everything else by trial and error." Luna noticed the game had finished and started it up. "I'm gonna log on now. How do I find you guys?"

Derpy replied, "Transport to the Amethyst sector of Yin-yang city and we'll meet you at the spawning point. I hope you don't mind, but the Doctor and Dinky are here, so they're going to play with us."

"I don't mind at all! The more the merrier I say!" Luna logged off her messenger and loaded P.A.T. She took out her virtual helmet and hooked it up to her desktop, activating it. She slipped it on and hit the start button, watching the opening clip as it described their horse like ancestors and showed all kinds of cool stuff from the game. When it was over it offered for her to create an avatar. When she clicked yes, she could hear her webcam as well as the helmet scanning her, and the next thing she knew she was staring at a mirror.

She looked around to see she was in a blank white room, and thoroughly impressed she said, "Wow, this game is incredibly interactive. It actually feels like I'm in here looking around." She heard her voice echoing in the empty room, and then took a look at herself in the mirror. She was shocked, because looking back at her was a navy blue pony girl with a horn and wings, and a mane that looked just like her hair. She still had hands, but her feet had become hooves. What was even more shocking, and brought a blush to her face, was that all she wore was a fundoshi and a sarashi. "This game was totally made by people in Neighpon."

"PLEASE SELECT YOUR CLASS," came what sounded like an announcer voice. Five floating screens appeared before her, each with a different one of the classes she'd been told about on them. She looked between them for a moment, and selected Swordsman. A sword appeared in her hand as the announcer stated, "CUSTOMIZE YOUR APPEARANCE." Luna was shocked to find that she could not only alter her clothes and accessories with choices in the thousands, but she could do the same with designs for her sword. "Well, it already gave me oriental undies." She scrolled through the clothing options as they floated around her, settling on a pale blue samurai shitagi and a matching pair of hakama. A black tiara caught her eye, and with a slight blush she figured why not and added that to her outfit. It wasn't just because she's a princess, she just thought it looked cute. As for her sword she put a full moon design in the blue hilt, and made the blade glow with a silvery hue. She was then presented with four slots and a list of customizable moves, and not wanting to keep her friends waiting, skimmed through them and made the ones she chose as moonlike as she could, and even got to choose a name for her fighting style. Satisfied she took one last look in the mirror.

Player Name: Luna. Screen Name: Milky Way. Race: Alicorn. Class: Swordsman. Fighting Style: Moon Katana. Move Set: Crescent Slash, Moonbeam, Shroud of Night, Royal Voice.

The mirror vanished, and the white wall peeled away, opening like a pair of large doors. They exposed to her a giant floating island split into three sectors, and she found herself floating in mid-air before it. She saw several points glowing on the island, and when she looked at them the names of these locations floated above them. She found the Amethyst sector in Yin-yang city and activated it with a wave of her hand. The next thing she knew she was encased in white light, shooting towards her chosen spot until she met the floor and came into view. Around her were hundreds of other players marching about their business, the air was filled with voices, which distracted her from the oncoming tackle from her gamer friends. "Yikes! It didn't take you two long to find me." They all laughed and helped each other to their feet. Luna took a good look her friends characters, and their stats popped up while she did.

Player name: Pipsqueak. Screen Name: Capt. Pipsqueak. Race: Earth Pony. Class: Mechanical. Fighting Style: Buccaneer Bonzai. Move Set: Cutlass Flurry, Cannonball, Gunpowder Blitz, Cannon Jump. Pipsqueak was a small earth pony with creamy fur, a brown spot here and there, and a brown mane. He wore a pirate outfit much like his Nightmare Night costume: Green pants, blue vest, red bandana, and an eye patch. "Blimey love, you look like a samurai goddess, that you do!"

Player Name: Ditzy Doo. Screen Name: Derpy Hooves. Race: Pegasus. Class: Morphology. Fighting Style: Bubble Brawler. Move Set: Inflate, Flying Fist, Bubble Blow, Bubble Barrier. Derpy maintained even her eyes in the game, and had become a grey pegasus  pony. She wore a white leotard and an orange scarf. "Come on, the others are over at that café waiting for us!"

Luna giggled and said, "I see you're obsessed with pirates even here Pipsqueak." She made her way towards the café, and then looked Derpy over with a blush. "Are you wearing underwear under that?"

Derpy shook her head in response. "Morphologists tend to not wear clothes that restrict their fighting styles, if any clothes at all. This game has a doll effect when it comes to bodies."

"No exposed naughty bits basically," Pipsqueak added. "Underwear is optional, and can be changed just as much as the rest of your clothes though. Some morphologists have move sets that allow them to wear even heavy sets of armore, but one's like Derpy here use growing body parts as a weapon. It's quite common among her class." Luna mulled that over in her head as they got to the café. She immediately recognized who they were looking for thanks to the Doctor's style.

Player Name: Doctor. Screen Name: Dr. Time. Race: Earth Pony. Class: Swordsman. Fighting Style: Chrono's Rapier. Move Set: Slo-mo, Haste, Freeze, Warp. He sat in a large booth sipping tea and nibbling at a crumpet. He wore a white colored undershirt and a brown vest, as well as a blue-green tie and black pants. He was an earth pony with brown fur, a lighter shade than his hair. He looked up with a smile and said, "Ah, that was fast! Welcome back you two, as well as yourself your majesty." Sitting next to him was Derpy's daughter Dinky.

Player Name: Dinky Doo. Screen Name: Muffin. Race: Unicorn. Class: Fighter. Fighting Style: Breakfast Brawler. Move Set: Muffin Grenade, Waffle Shield, Boom Puffs, Pancakes. Muffin was a pale purple unicorn with a grey dress on. Her height was somewhere between everyone else's and Pipsqueaks. She giggled and said, "Hi there princess! It's nice to meet another of mom's gamer pals!"

Luna raised her eyebrow and said, "While it's nice to meet you both, are you eating and drinking in a virtual game?"

The Doctor had a good chuckle before he responded. "I like to be as realistic as possible, so I bought this chat animation with some game points I had. Sit around and drink tea with friends, like I would in real life."

"It's making me a little hungry," Luna admitted as she sat at the booth. Derpy and Pipsqueak pulled in with her and they all sat in a half circle. "This game is pretty interesting I'll admit. I'd love to explore what this place has to offer."

"Speaking of what this game has to offer," the Doctor interjected setting down his glass. "Why don't you and I have a battle so you can get the ropes of it in this game? You might have some fun, and you can test out your powers."

Luna grinned and said, "Sounds fun. I didn't think you'd be the blunt one for a fight right off the bat, but I accept your offer." The others vanished as did the rest of the café, and their surroundings looked like a cyber grid, boxed off and pulsing with mathematical movements.

A rapier appeared in the Doctor's hand as he stood before Luna. "Good, because I'm quite curious what your moves look like. I'm also curious how they match up against my own. Have at thee."

When the tip of his blade faced Luna she grasped her katana tightly in both hands and swung her blade at him. A crescent shaped blade of silver launched from the steel, as if the after-image of the katana had sprung forth. Doctor side stepped it, knowing his blade was too thin to block the attack. Luna swung several more of these blades at him, swinging from different angles and different directions trying to catch him off guard as he dodged. That's when she noticed he was moving with inhuman speed, dodging around them as he got closer and closer.

She gasped when she noticed he'd gotten so close he was standing before her. Before he could stab her with the sharp tip of the blade, she blocked it with the side of her own. "Come now Milky Way, that can't be all you've got." Luna's brow furrowed as she let out a loud shockwave from her mouth, a large force pushing against the Doctor and sending him flying backwards. His feet dragged on the ground as he landed, and he smiled with delight. "Now we're getting somewhere."

Aiming the tip of her katana at the doctor, Luna's sword glowed as if it was building up energy. It fired off a large beam in the direction of the Doctor. He responded holding his sword upright and snapping his fingers, and the beam, not to mention Luna, stopped moving. Luna could still see as the Doctor stepped to the side of the beam and snapped his fingers again, letting the blast fly right past him and explode against the grid wall that surrounded them. Before she could curse his time manipulation, he teleported right in front of her and went for another stab. She sidestepped it and brought her sword downward, but he twirled out of the way and behind her. As he swung his own blade for her, she vanished much to his surprise. He looked around the area curiously and said, "She doesn't seem to of teleported. Unless she teleported above me. Where could she have-" He noticed a feint light coming from behind him, and turned around to see Luna's glowing blade facing him. "Ohhh, it's an invisibility power. Fancy that."

With an explosive blast the Doctor flew away and rolled across the ground. When he stopped rolling Luna aimed her Katana at his throat. Red text floated above the Doctor that announced "Lose!" while green text floated above Luna that announced "Win!" She smiled and her sword vanished as she reached down to him. His own sword vanished as he took her hand, pulling himself to his feet as the grid world vanished. They were back in the café standing by the table with all their friends. The Doctor adjusted his tie and said, "Very well done! You certainly got the drop on me. As your first victory in your first battle, I'm sure you've earned a nice rank up."

"Thanks!" Luna responded, beaming with joy. "I sure got the hang of this game pretty fast. It was surprisingly easy. Your time powers threw me off though."

Derpy waved to them and said, "Welcome back you two! Hope you had fun. So Milky Way, what do you want to do now?"

"I want to explore of course," the princess admitted. "There's a lot to see in this world and I'd like to get started."

Dinky raised her hand and said, "Why don't we go to the Hanging Gardens and enjoy the scenery?"

A loud raspberry came from Pipsqueak who said, "That sounds like going to a museum! Luna might not have long on, so why don't we all just go to the Indigo Wasteland and goof off?"

Luna laughed and said, "That actually sounds like fun. I'd like to show off my powers and get better acquainted with all of yours." Everyone agreed and began opening floating panels, Luna doing the same with her own personal panel. "Let's meet on the Lavender Plains everyone!" With that, one by one they all disappeared, and Luna found herself vanishing until she shot like a beam of light to her new location. Reappearing in front of her friends on a wide open plateau of canyons and flat rocky surfaces of the same color as the locations name, Luna giggled and rushed off. When it appeared in her hand she swung her sword back at them, and a silver blade shot out and smacked Pipsqueak in the face and to the ground like she'd thrown a vase at him.

Everyone laughed and split up, going various directions. Luna waited for them to all be out of view, and began to look around cautiously, noticing rocky inclines that they could use to take her by surprise from above. It wasn't long before she noticed a muffin with a lit fuse flying at her, and she smacked it away with a Crescent Slash. The muffin not far from her, and she was taking by surprise by a giant grey fist emerging from the smoke of the explosion. She flipped over it as it crashed into the rocky surface behind her, and she looked back to see the fist wasn't attached to anyone. When she looked back before her she had only a moment to dodge a series of punches from Derpy and Dinky.

The whole group split as the wiz of a cannonball exploded into the ground where they stood. Luna looked to the rocky incline to see Pipsqueak grinning with his arm in the shape of a ship cannon. It twisted and transformed back into his hand, and then his arms opened on either side to let out a set of cutlasses. He leapt down and she desperately blocked his barrage of blades with her own. "You're mad about that little hit to your face aren't you?"

"Little ol' me? Mad?" Pipsqueak's blades clung to every side of Luna's katana and yanked it from her hands, throwing it to the ground. She gasped and bent down to pick it up, blushing and squealing as she felt a sharp smack to her rear. She rubbed the spot the small hand had struck her and danced for a moment, glaring at Pipsqueak who had a sly smirk. "Well, I'm not mad anymore." Derpy and Dinky had a giggle fit as Luna picked up her sword eyeing him cautiously. "You know, you coulda just re-materialized it in your hand, but thanks for giving me a nice target."

"Ohhh, I'll get you for that!" Luna's blade glowed as she fired a Moonbeam at him. He dodged only to find it was aimed at the ground in front of him, kicking up a large cloud of dust. When it cleared, Luna had vanished and everyone looked around worriedly. That's when Pipsqueak's pants hit the dirt and he stood there in his plain white briefs blushing confused. "Really sweety, I thought you'd have better taste than such plain undies." 

He gasped and bent down to raise them from his ankles, and received a smack to his own bottom that made him flip onto his back. He laid there looking unamused and said, "Note to self. Never smack Luna on the butt, even in the virtual world… without permission." He leapt o his feet and readied his blades. "Show yourself!"

His bandana was pulled down over his eyes, and he flailed in shock. "Peekaboo!" Luna kicked him down, only to have another huge flying first launched at her from Derpy.

"We see you!" chimed the grey pegasus as her fist grew and erupted from her wrist, firing at Luna again as she attempted to dodge the flying appendages.

As Luna got closer, she found her foot stepped in something wet. She looked down to see it was a bowl of cereal, which glowed with a high pitched siren. She noticed Dinky waving with a cheesy grin, and groaned before the bowl of cereal exploded like a land mine. The small Unicorn laughed and said, "No one ever suspected a bowl of cereal." She took out another one, but then everyone froze as the Doctor walked up. He took the bowl from her hand, flipped it upside down, and placed it on top of her head before walking by whistling casually. When they unfroze it splashed on her and the siren sounded. "Oh poop…" 

Derpy inhaled and a bubble like barrier erupted around her as her daughter was blown up squealing. The barrier wobbled and she sighed with relief, until Pipsqueak jumped on top of the barrier and began to run, causing it to roll in the opposite direction. Derpy cried out as she was rolled around as if she was in a laundry machine. She managed to disperse her barrier and her foot grew in size as she kicked Pipsqueak in the side in mid air, sending him flying like a golf ball.

Just as she thought she'd gotten a moment to brush herself off, a loud screaming force from behind her pushed her face first into a nearby rock. Luna stood there laughing and said, "Respawn!"

The Doctor appeared before her and said, "Warping."

He swung at Luna and she ducked under it stating, "Dodging."

When the Doctor felt her first to his groin he fell to the ground and said with an eye twitching, "Cringing…"

"Winning!" Luna happily exclaimed before a giant pancake fell on her. She crawled out from under it to see Dinky waving. "That's an odd power to have, you know that?"

Dinky shrugged and said, "I just think it's funny." She pointed up to the sky, and when Luna followed her finger she gasped. She ran for her life as a stack of ten pancakes with butter and syrup crashed into the floor where she'd been, tearing through the rocks before they slowly vanish.

Luna stared back at them and laughed. "I take that back. That's an 'awesome' power to have." The two girls laughed, as well as all their friends who walked up. "Guys I'm having a great time. This game is so fun already. I can't wait to see what kinds of adventures we have together on here." Everyone cheered, pumping their fists in the air. Luna noticed something approaching them, and gasped before she cried, "Everyone get down!" Everyone hit the deck as a line of curved fire flew over and past them. "What in the world was-" She was cut off by someone landing before the group and looming over them. "Wait a minute… are you… big sister?"

Player Name: Celestia. Screen Name: Solar Flare. Race: Alicorn. Class: Swordsman. Fighting Style: Sun Katana. Move Set: Sun Wave, Explosion Slash, Blinding Flare, Heat Spin. A tall white Alicorn with her sisters beautiful multicolored hair flowing like an aurora borealis as her mane stood before her. She was dressed like a Japanese shrine maiden, with the addition of a sheath at her hip. She held up her sword with had a sun crafted into the hilt and an orange blade, aiming it at the group as she smiled and said, "Greetings little sister, and to all your friends as well." The world vanished as a grid world took its place, and this time everyone came with Luna. "Now on your feet everyone, for I challenge you all at once to a battle. And may the best mare win." 

End Ch. 9
Continued in Ch. 10: Hackers