//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: It begins with a Pegasus... // Story: My Little PonyStuck (BETA) // by Leafsw0rd //------------------------------// It begins with a Pegasus... A very familiar one at that. She is young, strong, and wild. She is fierce and untamed, a force of nature, a talented star. When she flies, her skill in the sky is above that of normal pegasi- She flies almost as if she is one with the air, as if she was an elemental being, given a pony's shape and a mortal's breath. Her fur is as blue as the sky, her mane a rainbow, each color glistening in the sun. She is beautiful, in a tomboyish way that bedazzles many a stallion. Her Magenta eyes are like rubies, glowing from within. She is the definition of grace and speed. Of course, if you told her this, she'd probably just stare at you. Then ask what the hay you were talking about. She is not the most poetic of ponies. Her name is Rainbow Dash. Normally, Rainbow would not be out of bed at 9:00 AM. Or at any time which could be followed by AM, if she could help it. She loved sleep, and the fact her pillow was made of the softest cumulus clouds outside of Cloudsdale did not help matters. However, there were two things which made this day different. The first of these was a parcel, from one of Rainbow's best friends- the scholarly Twilight Sparkle. This mail, while of mind-boggling importance in the grand scheme of The Game, was not something she would normally get up for. Rainbow does not usually get up for any sort of mail, ever. But the mail did bring good cause for the other factor to Rainbow's early morning. You know her as Derpy Hooves. Derpy landed on Rainbow's roof. She leaned forward, into what shall be charitably referred to as a new skylight. "Sorry Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?" The pony in question let out a groan. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up at the clumsy mailmare. Sarcasm kicked in. "A case just dropped through my roof and landed hard edged on my back. Of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" Derpy jumped up and down."That's good. I was worried for a second there. Anyways, here's the mail-" "It never fails, yeah yeah." The mailmare screws up a fair bit though. Dash stood up and stretched, wincing as she did so. "And why did ouch you drop it into my ah house anyways?" Derpy smiled, in her completely innocent, oblivious way. "It's from Twilight! She said it had a game in it or something". The wall-eyed mare slowly descended into the bedroom. "She gave one to all her closest friends, and even I got one! And I was supposed to get yours to you as soon as possible!" Rainbow mulled over this as she spoke. "A new game, huh... did she say anything about it?" Derpy nodded her head. "She said it was multiplayer, and that the Princesses played it! And..." She rummaged in her saddlebags, and pulled out an envelope. "She had a letter with it! You should read that!" "I will do that. Thanks for the mail, Derpy!" The Mage said her goodbyes, and took off. Rainbow turned around and picked the package off the floor. It was unassuming enough, just a fat brown envelope that read "To Rainbow Dash". With nothing better to do, and a bruised back reminding her that it might be worth resting a bit, she opened the package. How strenuous could a video game be, anyways? Inside CD case. It had a very basic image of a green house on them. This house seemed to be made out of eleven parts, a roof, eight squares forming a two-by-four rectangle, and two one-by-four rectangles flanking the squares, to make a large, four-by-four house. One of the squares had been split again, it's lower left quadrant detached, and hanging loose. The only other decoration on the case was the word "Client" hoofwritten on it as if at the last minute. It was, all in all, a very simple cover, to the point of being bland. And yet... There was a certain something about the case. It was indefinable, but almost tangible, in it's power. It drew Rainbow in, seemingly promising glory and riches, fame and power, magic and gods, pure, unbridled potential... Rainbow Dash blinked, and the magic was gone. This is stupid, Rainbow thought to herself. What was with that? It was just an ordinary video game. Nothing special about it, in any way. Nonetheless, Rainbow was intrigued. She wasted no time turning on he computer, even with her sore back. While she waited for it to boot up, she saw the letter Twilight had written. It was written in that purple the bookworm liked, and was surprisingly brief. She had been catching on, it seemed. Hey Dash! I'm coming back from my research at Canterlot soon, so I thought I'd give you a heads up! I sent all the other girls their own letter, and their own parcel which I will explain later. I just know that you're all going to enjoy it, and I hope I have the time too as well! Sadly, I wasn't able to figure out the ruins. But I did make some interesting discoveries. Scrawled on the walls are images, depicting what were always thought to be historical records of a sort. But they're not, at least not entirely- one of the images seems to depict us defeating Nightmare Moon! It's Luna's Cutie Mark surrounded by our own, which are in turn surrounded by the Elements of Harmony. If this really is about us, then that means the original beings that lived here had precognitive abilities, which confirms their advanced magic. I can't understand their powers, how they work or anything, and I don't think I ever will, even if I researched a hundred years. They're a mystery to everyone, because they've been in Equestria for longer than the Princesses- longer than ponies even! And even though they're so ancient, they've got powerful magical residue surrounding them- in a form completely foreign to me, and also impossible to recreate. Its thaumlines are seemingly random, and don't get me started on its wavelength variation parameters! But I digress; you and the girls are not interested in the BLUH BLUH HUGE BORE, as Pinkie Pie so kindly put it. In any case, that was all me and my study buddy could figure out. I'm heading back to Ponyville. Celestia said I probably shouldn't get too tied up by the ruins, as I may find it'll solve itself in time. She in fact said I should play a video game, which kind of caught me off guard, but who knows? She always seems to know the best course of action, even if she doesn't tell you. She always knows what to say and what to do. So if she says play a game, I trust her judgement, even if it doesn't always make immediate sense. She knows better than I do. Anyway, this brings me back to the parcel. Inside that parcel are two CDs, for a video game known as SBARN. There's one set I kept and nine sets I sent, five to you and the girls, one to my study buddy, and the remaining three to some other acquaintances I've been befriending. I've known them since we were all little, but it's only been recently I've actually gone out and tried to know them. We keep in touch via letters and such, and they're all pretty good people, so you should enjoy playing with them. Anyway, If you haven't heard of SBARN, I don't blame you- apparently, they're copies from (and I can hardly believe this myself) the Princesses' youth! It's pretty much the first thing I've ever learnt about their youth- in fact I'm actually surprised they had one! One CD is for starting up the "server" portion, the other for the "client". The Princesses say a server links up with a client to begin a game, and manipulates their game experience in some way. I don't know much more than that, sadly. Princess Celestia wouldn't say much more, so I guess you have to find out yourself! In any case, following Equestrian Mail schedules, this should arrive the day I get home. Once I get traveling, I should be able to talk to you guys over PonyChum, so please tell me what the game's like. I hope to see you tonight! Your friend, Twilight Sparkle She had been learning. A one page letter was a rare occurrence with Twilight Sparkle. And did she actually say she was going to be on PonyChum, the messaging app? Rainbow lightly whacked the side of her head, just to check if she was dreaming. And more interestingly, where was the second case? Twilight specifically said two, but Rainbow only had one, the Client portion. Did that ditzy mailmare take it with her? Honestly, one of these days... A beep suddenly caught her attention. The computer was now on. Rainbow stuck the CD in and got it installing, while she started up the messaging program. She had a server player to find. Boy, would she get one.