High above the ground, a huge blimp was floating through the sky. Below the blimp was a large enough compartment box to set up base in. Sentinel was staring out the window, pondering about tonight’s assignment. He stared at the sky above him. It was pretty dark, considering the fact that their mission had to begin at night. It wasn’t exactly the most dangerous, but there was still the chance that they could be PK-ed.
After all, his superiors didn’t allow Code Warriors the use of god-mode cheats or mods. It would have made the job a whole lot smoother, but to be honest, Sentinel would have hated it if the job was easy. He preferred a challenge. A hard one. One that he expected out of most video games he plays. He adjusted his staff, his hooves stiffened from the tension.
The inside of the blimp compartment was a bit decked out. It had a nice ballroom theme to it. A wall of television-like screens covered one side of the room. The displays were filled to the brim with an ocean of codes and information, and they were constantly updating every few moments. The screens glowed brightly, basking the area around it in a ghostly blue.
Sentinel heard somepony come up from behind him. He turned around to be met with a familiar face. The slender stallion known as Rough Diamond swept a hoof across his jet black mane, which complemented his creamy white, wool coat. He had a grin on his face, and his twitchy wings showed he was obviously excited for what’s to come.
“So, what’s the battle plan,” Diamond asked.
He was a fellow Warrior that he could rely on, Sentinel thought with a smile. Diamond’s utmost accuracy with the deadly bow and arrow proved to be really useful in most of their raids. He had a couple of leather pads guarding his shoulders and shins. The confident guy always did like to travel light.
“The battle plan has always been the same Dia,” Sentinel said. “We go in, PK them, and get out before anypony notices we were here.”
A completely orange mare by the name of Pumpkin Fest looked at him with concern on her face. Her braided mane swayed with the wind.
“Sir? I’ve wanted to ask. Why have you choose me for this mission? I’m not even good at the game yet!”
“Don’t worry about it!” Sentinel confidently complied, wanting to assure the earth pony. “You’re gonna do great!”
Her face blushed into a deeper orange, and her blue eyes sparkled with admiration. “Are you sure? I mean really. I always messed up during our game nights,” she confessed.
“Totally sure!” Sentinel winked. “I wouldn’t want to have any other pony by my side. All of you!”
Diamond, Pumpkin, and a few others in the room eagerly nodded. They smiled gratefully for his inspiring words.
“Okay everypony, gather around the table.” Everypony did so. Sentinel then gestured towards the map on it. “Okay, let’s review the mission so we’re all on the same page. We’ve recently caught wind of a guild leader using abilities that are not specific to his class.” Sentinel brought out a photograph of a pony using a staff. He also had a bow slung across his back. “Even more so, this guy has been PKing players outside of the PvP arenas. Remember this face, and this operation should go smoothly”
A hoof rose from among the team. “Um, sir? Permission to speak freely, sir?”
Sentinel recognized him as one of the newer stallions that were hired last week. “Go ahead. What’s your name?”
“Target Code, sir!” the lean stallion responded. He ruffled his chestnut brown mane and coat, looking nervous as a jumpy rabbit. “Um, why couldn’t we just go ahead and ban the leader from the computers? Is it necessary to go in and PK him?”
“Target- may I call you Target?” The newbie nodded. “You see Target, the game of Equestrian Earth is really huge. I mean really really huge. The servers house a large number of players. We have about five of them dedicated to just storing everypony’s data, and we’re always buying new ones. Also, the game mechanics doesn’t house identifications. In fact, we don’t have actual game id at all, just nicknames.” Sentinel referred to his own nametag above him, which stated Chaos Galore. “These nicknames can be changed at any moment, and uses up less megabyte than permanent identification names. If we were to use them, this game would lag as if it was being covered in honey. Does that make sense?”
Target Code nodded, understanding the situation. Sentinel turned his attention back to the flat sheet of paper that housed information of the guild leader’s stronghold.
“We have a couple spies in there keeping an eye out for his arrival. When he logs in, Beta team will activate the lock-down perimeters, preventing anypony from logging in or out of the area,” he continued. “Everypony in there is a Celestia damned cheater. Our spies have confirmed that. Don’t let your guard down, and take out anypony you see. Don’t worry about the spies themselves. They’ll log out after giving the signal.”
He rolled up the map and stowed it away into a pack. He then took out a small pack out of his inventory. He opened it to reveal a small bundle of glowing, purple potions, enough of them for the entire team. He hoofed one bottle to each of them.
“Drink these potions, guys. We’re going to drop onto their base without parachutes, so these will prevent any unnecessary fall damage.” Sentinel uncorked his bottle and raised it in the air. “Good luck everypony.”
They all bumped their potions to his as if they were celebrating a night of drinks. Sentinel then quickly downed the entire drink, letting the violet liquid wash his throat. It tasted like a sour grape that was forcibly dried underneath the sun in the middle of a desert. He grimaced as the unpleasant swig landed in his stomach. It wasn’t exactly a mug of butterbeer, but at least it’ll prevent any untimely death in the next few hours. Everypony apparently shared his opinion.
A buzz was heard from a nearby radio. Everypony looked towards it, giving the little box their full, undivided attention.
“Hello, Alpha team? This is Lt. Sparky reporting in.”
Sentinel went over and pressed a small button on it. “This is Moderator Sentinel. You’re clear to report. What’s the update?”
The Code Warrior in the radio’s voice crackled a little, but it was still comprehensible. “Objective has arrived in the enemy base. I repeat. Objective has arrived in the enemy base. We’re clearing out now. Good luck Alpha team.”
The buzz died as the speaker hung up his end of the line. Sentinel went over the other side of the room opposite of the computers, with the others walking behind him. Another voice buzzed in, this time from the intercoms.
“This is your captain speaking. We’re about to let the bay doors drop, please stand clear.”
Sentinel equipped a couple of earphones to his ears. He turned up his handy I-Pon to his preferred soundtrack. The rock was sound to his pleasure. The walls then suddenly transformed as it parted, revealing a set of iron walls beneath the faux surface. The iron walls then dropped down, hanging by the hinges in the cold air. Sentinel turned around towards his team.
“Okay everypony, remember to equip your wing suits. Course correction only! You don’t wanna end up like Haybale,” he said, going through his inventory at the same time to equip the armor.
“What ever happened to Haybale?” Pumpkin asked, looking a bit scared.
Sentinel ignored that question, not wanting to freak her out. Diamond, however, was willing to try to answer.
“Nopony knows,” he grinned. “The poor bastard wouldn’t speak. Whatever happened to him probably scared him shitless.”
The time for small talk was then suddenly cut short. Sentinel Quill dove head first out the door, with all of others jumping out with him into the freezing wind that awaited them.