Equestrian Earth the MMORPG

by Chaotic Note


**Chapter 11 Part 1: Trouble in Trottingham Town

A Chaotic Production presents...

The Adventuring Arc

:Rainbow Dash:

Chapter 11 Part 1

~ edited by TLSpark and Reddened Chaos

Second Arc's Theme Song - Code Geass - Opening 1 (HQ)



Luna had left the game a while ago to tend to her nightly duties, explaining about how her sister will make a fuss if she doesn’t raise the moon in time. After their short goodbyes, the princess promptly logged out of the game, leaving the mares to roam in the digital town, Trottingham. They’ve soon went around town to turn in the plethora of quests they’ve finished in Winsome Falls, and retreated back to the inn, where they had a generous round of drinks.

The inn, at the moment, was filled to the brim with various players. The feel of the place was very friendly and loud, and there was plenty of chattering amongst the occupants. Dash’s group was no different from the others as they were listening to a long-kept secret that Applejack was revealing to them.

“And the thing about it is that Caramel actually likes stallions,” Applejack harshly whispered.

Rarity raised one of her eyebrows. “Really? How do you know this?”

“Ah saw how he was eyein’ Big Mac. The stallion didn’t even try to hide it. He was always comin’ down to the farm to try to help mah brother with the work. Ah also overheard him shooting out a few subtle hints here and there. Was casual with the flirting as well.” Applejack motioned the waiter over for a refill. “I swear to Faust that Caramel is now just coming up with excuses to leave his work.”

“Oh my. I always did find him to be a bit nicer than most stallions. I suppose it could be that side of him contributing to the matter.” Rarity took a small sip from her slim glass. Unlike the other girls, she didn’t prefer the wooden mugs and requested vintage wine.

“Maybe we should throw a party for them! Hook them up together!” Pinkie happily shouted.


“Pinkie, I don’t think that would be the smartest way to go,” Twilight scolded her. “Also, I wouldn’t be too sure about all this, Applejack. Maybe he’s just really friendly towards Macintosh for another reason. You can’t just make assumptions based on actions alone.”

“Yes,” Trixie added, siding with Twilight. “I think the two are just friends. I don’t see why those two would be together. From what I’m hearing from you, it sounds like Caramel is just being forthcoming.”

Applejack flustered a little with her cider. “You wouldn’t know about what I’ve seen, Trixie. Ah’m telling you that Caramel has a crush on mah brother! You can’t just— look Ah know for a fact that Caramel has been hanging out with my brother ever since he moved into Ponyville. You can’t ignore that.”

Trixie frowned a bit, and then started paying her mug of cider more attention. “Alright, if you really insist on believing that. To be honest, I think you’re being a bit too paranoid about this. It’s not good for you.”

“Maybe Caramel is just being a good friend,” Fluttershy quietly suggested. She was enjoying a small cup of tea. “But Applejack, you sound like you wouldn’t want Caramel to be around Macintosh. I don’t see anything wrong with two stallions being… together.” Fluttershy blushed a little, and let out a small squeak. “O- of course, I didn’t mean it like that way.”

“It’s okay Fluttershy. However, I’m not against the fact that Caramel might be a coltcuddler. Ah don’t disapprove it at all, but I’m nervous that Mac might not have caught onto this and doesn’t share the same feelings with Caramel. Ah’m afraid that sooner or later, Mac might accidently hurt the poor stallion’s feelings.”

The mares took a moment of silence to think about what Applejack just revealed to them. Then Rainbow Dash peered into the bottom of her mug, gazing at the shallow pool of apple cider that was left in her mug. What would she do in Caramel’s horseshoes? She felt like she had the answer in her grasp, however, she didn’t really know how to make of it. There seemed to be only one solution, but it was a risky one. She decided to suggest it anyway.

“I don’t know, AJ,” Rainbow Dash said. “Maybe we should tell him about it. The big guy has gotta figure it out someday.”

Applejack backed away from the table in surprise. “What? No! Ah can’t do that! That’ll just make the matter worse!”

“I have to agree with Applejack on this,” Rarity said. “Wouldn’t it be better if Caramel were to confess to Macintosh himself? I’m sure it’ll feel more honest coming from the coltcuddler in question.”

Rainbow Dash winced a little. “Okay, okay. So it was a bad idea. No big deal.”

Applejack slumped in her chair. “It’s okay, sugar cube. Ah know you didn’t mean anything by that. I’m just… I’m just confused.”

The group sat there in silence again. What seemed to be simple gossip had turned into a dramatic soap opera. Or at least, that’s what Rainbow Dash thought it felt like. The sky-cyan pegasus downed the last mouthful of her cider, and got up from her seat.

“Well, I’m not going to stick around for much longer. I’m gonna go outside and see what we can do for the next few hours,” Rainbow Dash announced, walking towards the open door.

“Okay. Don’t take too long,” Twilight called after her.

“It won’t.” Rainbow Dash assured, quickening her pace from a slow trot to a run out the door and into the town square.

+Ω‡‡¥‡‡Ω+

Trottingham was a nice place. Its rustic buildings held up a nice, friendly atmosphere and it would have made the average pony long for simpler times. However, this wasn’t exactly the type of place meant for a dare devil like Dash. She knew she was meant for the open skies, where the floating cities were. Massive citadels like Aeroslida inspired awe in ponies, and were constantly moving. Just like Rainbow Dash. Trottingham, though, was down to the earth, and was miniscule compared to the air strongholds. The small town may be next to some pretty awesome and cool places like Winsome Falls, but she felt that if it had something like a flight course, or something similar, then it would brighten up the place. At least, that was her opinion.

Rainbow Dash walked from NPC to NPC, conversing with them along the way. Normally the mare would like to rush things, but these guys would sometimes tell her about places that just breathed excitement. The local blacksmith, sharpening his newly made sword, was telling her about Ghastly Gorge. She had been to the real deal before, but something about how the old stallion described it made her feel like it was a challenge again.

“I heard that those slick serpents were at it again, banging inside the walls of the rocky valley with their mighty roars. Those eels are causing a huge disturbance in the area, and it could only mean that something is amiss.” The brown-bearded earth pony propped the sharpened sword up on a wooden display rack. “The guards at Ghast village are paying a mighty sum of bits to whoever could figure out the cause. If I was an adventurer like you, I would probably take up a good team and storm the rugged ravine.”

“I already have a good team,” Rainbow Dash proudly told him. “Best friends I could ever ask for.”

“Really now? That’s good. That’s good.” The blacksmith took a shield from an iron bench, and starting banging out the dents on an anvil. “Be sure to keep them close to you. Good friends are what you need in this world.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “So, um, about any jobs my friends could take in the town…”

The blacksmith took a moment to ponder, searching his mind for any memory of any tasks that could be done. “Well little missy, there was a steady increase of patrolling guards around town. Nopony else noticed, but I know for a fact that something is amiss. I would ask them myself, but I’m far too busy here at my shop. If you could go ahead and ask them for me that would be appreciative. Not only for me, but it’s for the whole town as well.”

“Will do. I’ll come back with the news soon.” Rainbow Dash took back some of the repaired gear the blacksmith had fixed for her. She tossed an adequate amount of bits towards the blacksmith, who had expertly caught it. “Thanks by the way.”

The blacksmith had a proud twinkle in his eyes. “No problem. Blacksmithing is what I do.” He waved good bye as Rainbow Dash took flight after she put on her gear. It was used equipment, but Rainbow Dash felt like a million bits after putting them on. That old guy really knew how to fix stuff.

She flew a few circles above town square, searching for any shining tattle tells of a patrolling guard’s body armor. It was morning right now, and the guards usually polish their armor in the morning, giving them a really swell shine to them. But somehow, she could not capture a glimpse of their equipment at all. Were they sleeping in? That was something Rainbow Dash would do, but she didn’t think a couple guards would shirk on the job, much less an entire squadron of them.

Dash decided to fly towards a different part of town, hoping that they would probably be around in a huge group. It would explain why there wasn’t any guards spread out in the town square, where they usually would be. Sure enough, her suspicions were right on the mark. Rows upon rows of guards were standing tall in a square group in front of an unusual building.

It wasn’t exactly the strangest building Rainbow Dash had ever encountered, but it certainly looked a bit out of place in a town like Trottingham. The tall building was standing at three stories high, and was built out of white stone instead of brown wood. Small flags had decorated the walls with the Trottingham insignia on it: an earth pony with a pitchfork and a shield. A big flag pole stood at the front of it, proudly displaying its symbol and color. It reminded Rainbow Dash like a headquarters for a guard force, but she had seen the Trottingham guard station before. This building was something else.

At the stairs leading to the entrance, a stallion suited in a white uniform seemed to be reading off something in his hooves. Rainbow Dash couldn’t hear what he was saying, so she swooped down in a nearby alleyway where she could easily eavesdrop on the conversation. As she made her landing, a dirty cat yowled in surprise, angry from being woken from its nap. She silently cursed, and motioned the cat to go away. Indignant, the cat swiped at her menacingly, and leapt into the darker parts of the alley. Hopefully, the pesky animal didn’t give away her position.

Peering from her hiding place, Rainbow Dash could see that the stallion was still talking to the group of guards. She swept the sweat off her eye brows, and heaved a sigh of relief. She wasn’t noticed. Gathering her wits about her again, she lent her ears into the banter.

Now that Dash had a closer look, she could see that the stallion in white was a pegasus and had a stormy grey coat. His snow-white hair and tail were a bit unkempt, splaying out all over the place as if the guy didn’t care about getting a proper haircut for either of them. It was clear, however, that he got a trim every now and then. She could notice that the pegasus had a few noticeable bangs here and there. She had the local spa do that with her own mane sometimes when it grows too wild. His flank proudly displayed his cutiemark: a pair of yellow pegasus wings being showered upon with snowflakes by a white snow cloud.

Rainbow Dash bit her lower lips. She didn’t know why, but she somehow remembered seeing this stallion somewhere before. The thought kept slipping her mind though. However, as the words from the stallion’s mouth kept flowing, her mind finally grasped the needed memory.

Is that… Silvercast?” Rainbow Dash wondered.

It was him, Snowy Silvercast! Dash allowed herself a small smile as she took a small trip down memory lane. Seeing him here in the game made her nostalgic for older times, when she had a huge adventure with her friends. What’s he doing here in the game though? Wasn’t he back home on some sort of business? Maybe the game was sold in his country as well. Rainbow Dash pushed the questions out of her thoughts. She needed to know what was up in the town.

“I want a division in the market district and patrolling the alleyways as well. I don’t want any stone left unturned until we find the perpetrator. Understood?” Silvercast demanded, reading off a long list in his hoof.

All the guards saluted him and shouted out loud, “Yes sir!”

The pegasus swept a hoof across him. “Then spread out! Don’t expect any rest until real-world sun up. Players’ lives in the game are at stake here.”

The guards complied with his orders and trotted out in small clusters, looking for whoever they were looking for. That last line placed a bit of concern in Dash’s mind. Lives were at stake? What’s going on? What did Snow mean by that? Was something bad going to happen? A lot of questions were growing in Dash’s mind, and her eyebrows knotted at that. It was irritating.

Dash waited for the right moment to pop out from her hiding place, making sure nopony was around to discover she was there. When the correct time showed itself and when Snowy wasn’t looking in her general direction, she quickly rolled away from her hiding spot and corrected herself to make it look like she was just casually strolling along the main path. Dash looked around, and smiled. Nopony ever saw her.

Snowy hadn’t noticed her yet either, so she made a move to wave towards him. Before she could though, a creeping suggestion had popped into her head. Dash pondered for a moment, and then developed an evil, evil grin on her face. Since it had been a while that they had last saw each other, why not give him a nice surprise?

Dash mischievously giggled as she silently took the sky. Snowy hadn’t noticed her yet as he was too preoccupied with his list.

He won’t be for long,” Rainbow Dash impishly thought.

The pegasus flew around the sky, gathering around bits and pieces of clouds along the way. White ones, grey ones, dark ones, it didn’t matter. However, the darker shades of fluff were more important. Every now and then, Rainbow Dash would look down to see if Snowy had noticed. Luckily, he didn’t. Once she had gathered enough cloud pieces, she combined them together, making sure to stomp or punch in any lump of cloud that was out of place. The product was a ready-to-use lightning cloud. Small and safe enough for one pegasus to move around. With care of course.

Once finished with her masterpiece, Dash tapped into her ninja-like skills, and floated the cloud over the unsuspecting chump in a stealthy way. He would never see this coming! On the cloud, she raised both her arms in the air, gathering every force she had behind them. She waited for a minute to pass… then another. Snowy looked up.

*CRASH*

Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves on the cloud, causing a massive lightning bolt to strike down on the ground beside the poor stallion. Shocked, Snowy had leapt away from the blast, comically crashing into a hilarious heap. She howled in laughter after witnessing his reaction.

“Oh wow! That was awesome!” she hollered, unable to control her cackling fit.

He looked up again, his eyes widened in shock. “Dash? Is that you?”

“In the dash,” she joked.

“That wasn’t very nice you know.”

“Yeah, but you’ll forgive me anyway.” Dash smirked, knowing that he would easily forgive her. He was always a big softie.

Snowy glared at her from down below, and then rolled his eyes. “Well, I suppose just this once. And don’t you dare pull another one on me!”

“Won’t happen again.” Rainbow Dash kicked the cloud apart into harmless pieces. “At least… not in the same form,” she deviously added in her mind.

He slowly started to calm down. “Well Dash, I haven’t seen you in a long time.” Snowy motioned her over to sit by him. “How about you come down here? We have a lot to catch up on.”

The blue pegasus made herself as comfortable as she could of the marble stairs, and gave Snow her full, undivided attention. “Yeah. I’m always wondering what you’re up to each day.”

“Every day?” he teased.

Dash playfully slugged him in the side. “Not every day, you idiot.”

He laughed. “Sorry, Dash. Couldn’t help myself.”

“So… what are you doing here? Did you buy the game?”

“Yep. Just like everypony else over here. Magistrum isn’t that far away from Equestria you know.”

“Why are you here though?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I didn’t know you were allowed to order NPCs around. Maybe I should report this to the admins about this.” she joked.

“Hay! I’ll have you know that I’m assigned as one of the game’s patrol units,” he confidently said.

Rainbow Dash raised one of her eyebrows. “Really? Who hooked you up?”

Snowy gave her a knowing smirk. “Who else do you think would give me this job?”

Rainbow Dash gave it some thought for a good minute or two. Who would give Snow a job in the game? She didn’t think that the guy would have any connections to the development team behind Equestrian Earth… except for one other guy.

“It’s Sentinel, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Correct. This is actually more of a favor he called in rather than a job. One day while playing on this game, he found me in Aeroslida and asked if I could help him with a little something.” He brought out the list he had with him. “This is it. Orders from his superiors. You should probably read this.”

Rainbow Dash took the parchment from him, and read one of the paragraphs out loud, “Recently, there have been reports of players being randomly killed within the town of Trottingham, and having all their items stolen. While PvP outside of PvP Arenas are known and uncommon, the stealing of items after their deaths was alleged to be of illegal tampering with the game’s code. Victims have described the suspect to be a yellow pegasus with a scar on his or her face. Be sure to keep an eye out for the pony, and bring the hacker to justice.”

Snowy took back the paper. “That’s right. There’s a hacker loose in Trottingham, and I’m in charge of bringing this jerk to justice. It was the least I could do for Sentinel, so I said yes. And now here I am, looking everywhere for where ever this pony may be.”

Rainbow Dash nervously shuffled her wings. Something about the description made her think a bit again. The description of the suspected hacker was completely identical to the stallion she, Luna, Trixie, and her friends had saw a few hours ago in Winsome Falls! Was this hacker and the mysterious pony one and the same?

“Snow,” Rainbow Dash said in a serious tone. “There’s something I have to tell you. I think I may have seen this guy before.”

Snowy was stunned by this news. “You have?! Where?”

Rainbow Dash quickly summarized the story about the events leading up to where she met the yellow stallion. How Trixie had appeared in Aeroslida and attacked Twilight, how Twilight went to Canterlot to confront her and found out about the petty jealousy Trixie had and how the ex-showmare apologized (in her own way), and how they teamed up with Luna to go on a grinding session and found the scarred pegasus. Snowy listened quietly, attending to every detail she spouted out from her recent adventures in the game.

“Well, it sounds like you and your friends had gone through a lot in the past few days.” He got up from his spot, and spread his wings. “I’ll be sure to tell the Sentinel about this. I’m sure he and his colleagues would like to know about this. You be sure to tell your friends about what’s going on too. I don’t want to know that you guys are getting mugged.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed at the idea. “It’s not like it’s going to happen. I’ll tell them anyway. You can be sure of that.”

He nodded towards her. “I’ll see you around. It’s been nice chatting with you.” Snowy soared into the open blue skies.

“Same here!” she called after him.

+Ω‡‡¥‡‡Ω+

Back in the inn room where the mares were sleeping in for a bit, Rainbow Dash was recounting what she had found out in the town of Trottingham. The blacksmith’s tale of Ghastly Gorge, playing catch-up with Snowy Silvercast, and going back to the blacksmith to tell him the troubling news. It was a long story, and it has sent everypony except Trixie in the room on the edge, leaving them with varying amounts of concern.

Applejack, standing against the wall next to the bed Rainbow Dash laid upon, was the first to speak up. “So you’re sure that the stallion we saw earlier is here in Trottingham.”

“He might be,” Rainbow Dash said. “The description was really close. It has to be him!”

“But why would he go around killing ponies for their items? It doesn’t add up.” Twilight objected.

“Maybe he was desperate,” Trixie suggested, tending to her hooves with a hoof buffer. “Those players that were tied up next to the portal were probably going to have their items stolen. If I was a hacker and wanted to do a clean job of stealing items in-game, I would probably create a gateway to a location hidden from the admins I could easily access without the fear of being caught, kidnap players and send them through the portal. From there I could use a program to steal their items, kill the player, then move the gateway to another location.”

“But darling, the portal we saw earlier was enormous!” Rarity pointed out. “There’s no way that stallion could hide that.”

Trixie shrugged. “A portal could look like anything. Maybe it was big because the guy was over compensating for… a little something something.” She gave the dress designer a sly wink.

Rarity took a moment to try to figure out what Trixie had just said, then gasped in shock. “Trixie! How uncouth of you!”

The azure mare let out an evil chuckle. “What can I say? It’s probably true. Am I right?”

Rainbow Dash allowed herself a small laugh as well. What Trixie said was kinda funny. “Right. It’s probably just that.”

The two mares hoof bumped each other, much to Rarity’s displeasure at the thought. “Well girls, I do hope you know that size isn’t everything. A gentlecolt must also be well mannered and humble.”

“Yeah, and I bet he must be great with the tongue too,” Trixie added.

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack snickered a bit at the comment. However, Twilight and Rarity blushed a bit. Fluttershy was brighter red to a great degree, covering her mouth in alarm.

“W- well…” Rarity stuttered. “Twilight, help me out here!”

“What? No! I’m not going to be a part of this!”

Rarity turned back, and huffed in disappointment at Rainbow Dash and Trixie. “Honestly, this is why mares are stereotyped as being immature all the time! It’s perverted thoughts like these!”

“Come on, Rarity. Lighten up will ya?” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re just having a bit of fun.”

Rarity turned around, not facing Rainbow Dash. “Having fun doesn’t cut foalish behavior.”

Twilight let out an exhausted sigh as she looked out the window. “Well girls, the moon is up. It’s time for us to get some rest. Don’t want you girls getting exhausted before we go out there again.”

The mares agreed and retired to their respective beds. However, there weren’t enough of them to go around, so some of them had to bunk together. Rarity and Applejack had no trouble with this since they had both shared one before at Twilight’s house. She and Trixie, however, had to be coaxed into sharing a bed. Despite their discomfort, Trixie was the first one to say yes.

“What?!” Twilight asked in disbelief, almost to a near-shout.

“Well, it’s obvious that we have no other choice. You know Fluttershy isn’t used to sleeping with somebody else in the bed,” Trixie reasoned.

The shy, yellow pegasus in question peeked from underneath her covers. “I’m sorry,” she quietly apologized.

Twilight heaved another sigh. “It’s fine, Fluttershy. It’s fine.”

And finally, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash would be taking the last bed together. It was the one next to the only window in the room.

“Ooh! This is going to be so much fun! We can pitch a small tent with the blanket, and have a lantern in there, and tell each other ghost stories, and make smores, and stay up all night, and—” Pinkie couldn’t continue with Dash’s hoof on her mouth.

“Please, not tonight,” Dash tiredly said.

Pinkie nodded vigorously before Dash let go. “Okie doki loki!”

+Ω‡‡¥‡‡Ω+

Rainbow Dash’s lungs couldn’t take it anymore. For what seemed to be the past few days, Rainbow Dash had been running through who knows where. The dark forest she was in held no light source for her to indicate what she was running to except for the silver moonlight above. She could tell it was a forest because her face greeted the bad side of a tree a few minutes ago.

She stopped for a quick rest beneath one of the towering tanks of a plant, giving her body the privilege to suck in more precious air. Her usually strong muscles shivered gratefully as they were allowed to rest for a bit. She could hear the crumbling leaves underneath her hooves cry out in several loud crunches.

Now that she could think straight, Rainbow Dash tried to remember why she was running in the first place. For one thing, the forest was way too creepy for her taste. She didn’t know where she was running to, but anyway was better than this dank place.

She moved on to continue, but a loud roar had pierced through the air, sending a cold chill down her spine. It was animalistic, and very unearthly. As if it didn’t come from the mortal plane of Equis. It sounded like it came from behind her.

Slowly, she craned her neck to see what was behind her. She could feel her forehead sweating a bullet storm. What if the creature wanted her to look behind? To see the whites of her eyes, and know that she was there?

Her head was almost there, and she could see what was behind her out of the corners of her eyes. Maybe it wasn’t too late to turn forward. She could just stop there, and continue running.

She looked back.

There was nothing there.

Laughing out of sheer terror, Rainbow Dash twisted her body towards the direction where she was looking at, and started walking backwards. It made sense to know if something was chasing after you, right? Not much later, Rainbow Dash felt her haunches bump into something.

She could feel her throat gasping for air as the dreaded fear clawed at it. She didn’t want to look behind her, but she had no choice now. It was too late. End of the line. Kaput.

She turned around, and was met with a masked face.

+Ω‡‡¥‡‡Ω+

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and quickly sat up, almost letting out a fearful scream. Fortunately, she had the sense to cover her mouth before she could possibly wake up her friends. It would have probably made them angry afterwards, and give them an excuse to laugh at one day. The time Rainbow Dash had woke up screaming in the middle of the night. That would have been something to talk about. Victoriously, Rainbow Dash silently cheered for herself.

Not tonight,” Rainbow Dash thought, thankful that her friends still don’t know that she could get scared sometimes.

What time was it anyway? Was it still dark outside? Rainbow Dash turned towards the open window to see if it was day time or not. The virtual moon was still high in the sky, indicating that she should go back to bed. It was a good thing too. Her eyes were being persistent on going back to sleep.

She smoothed out the blankets over her, making sure that they were able to keep her warm for the remainder of the night. She then crashed back onto her pillow. Her eyes began to close and… wait. The window was open?!

Rainbow Dash shot straight up from her pillow again and double checked the window. She wasn’t imagining it at all. The window was clearly open, exposing the room to the cold air outside. Why was it open? Did somebody invade their room while they were sleeping? Was the unknown pony still in the room? Was it the hacker, looking forward to slitting one of her friends’ throats? Not on her watch!

Rainbow Dash swerved around to see if the would-be killer was still there. Once again, her suspicions were confirmed. Standing over Fluttershy, who was softly snoring, was a cloaked assailant with a polished knife. The pony’s figure was very slim but was also slightly taller than her. The cloak covered around his entire body except for his eyes, giving him an intimidating appearance. In the dark at least.

“Oi!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Get away from her.”

The hacker looked up. “Wha—”

The pony didn’t get a chance to speak as Rainbow Dash pummeled the hacker to the ground, causing him to drop his weapon. Repetitively, Rainbow Dash attempted to beat the living life out of him for threatening one of her friends, only to have each of her punches blocked. The both of them wrestled with each other, attempting to gain dominance over the other. The struggle was really rough, and they couldn’t find a good position to lock the other in, and was forced to let each other go. They then followed it up with a trade of vicious blows and kicks, all of them once again being blocked.

Rainbow Dash gave up the hoof-to-hoof combat, deciding to switch to a different tactic by standing on her hind legs and draw her multicolored sword out from the sheath around her waist. She would never take her sword off her, unless if it was necessary.

The sword’s glowing brilliance pierced the darkness within the room, and was enough to blind the intruder into a standstill moment. Taking advantage of the handicap, Dash swung a couple slashes at the mysterious pony, knocking off several points off his health bar. She couldn’t tell if the hacker was a mare or a stallion, but judging from the tussle she just had with the pony, she was going to assume it was a stallion.

The guy didn’t exactly look too happy with her bloody gift, and took a battle stance against her after picking up his knife off the ground. He then immediately rushed forward, and slashed the blade towards her head. She immediately blocked the deadly strike with the flat of her sword, and then lined her next combos with a series of hilt bashes and blade slices to his body, surely leaving dark bruises and bloody wounds.

Somehow, the stallion managed to escape her clutches, and gave her a return present in the form of a deep cut to her left shin. She winced as the pain from her leg intensified, feeling a trickle of warm, red blood running down her leg. However, she wasn’t going to let some punk stallion beat her in a sword fight. She was Rainbow freakin’ Dash for crying out loud!

With little effort, she used her wings to fly across the room, and slam her body against the stallion to the floor, knocking the wind out of him. The pony groaned as he attempted to get up, but Dash stomped on his chest, pinning him against the floor.

“Alright. You had your fun,” Rainbow Dash sneered. She reached for the pony’s mask. “Now let’s see what you’re hiding under that—”

“What the Tatarus is going on?” Applejack loudly demanded, getting up from her bed.

“Who’s interrupting my beauty sleep? Can’t a lady get any rest?” Rarity yawned.

Seeing that the other ponies were awake, the mysterious hacker grabbed something from a pouch, and threw it against the floor. Immediately, a cloud of smoke burst from it, shrouding the room in a vision-blocking veil. Rainbow Dash coughed from the smog that was entering her lungs, and strained her eyes to see where the attacker was. However, the dense smoke hid him from her vision, and she could hear him making his escape out the window.

“Hey! Wait up!” Rainbow Dash yelled, finding her way to the window.

She looked outside to see where the attacker had gone, but was only met with the still silence of the village. Frustrated, Rainbow Dash ruthlessly kicked the wall beneath the window. Celestia damn it, she missed her chance again. For the second time tonight! Damn it, couldn’t she do anything right today? With a vicious glare, she looked out the window again, this time at the stars.

I swear to Celestia that I’ll find you,” Rainbow Dash vowed. “and when I do, I won’t be so friendly like I was tonight.