"Hm, I don't know if I should get it." I contemplated out loud.
Sky groaned as he stood next to me, "Come on, man. You've been deciding whether or not that you wanted to buy that for at least a half hour now. Seriously, I want to at least get some training done before the day ends."
I rolled my eyes. It was true that Sky and I *had* been at this vendor's stand for more than a half hour, but I was still deciding on whether I should buy it or not.
Truth be told, I was terrible at making decisions when it came to buying things. That was one of the weird things about me. In a large battle, I could easily make tactical decisions that could help win the fight for my team. But if you left me alone in a random store and told me to buy one thing, I'd be as clueless as a cow standing in the middle of a road.
The item in question that I was deciding to buy was a single handed, double bladed long sword. The hilt of the blade was covered in black leather, while the entire length of the blade was a deep ruby red. The sword even had a name crafted with it: Inferno.
This really was an awesome sword, and when it came to stats, it was way stronger than my current sword. Of course, every weapon in this game came with a price. In Inferno's case, that price was 19,950 bits. Sure that was a very large price, but I had enough bits saved up that I could afford it... Of course, if I bought the sword, that'd leave me with only about 300 bits. I was reluctant to buy because what if something else came up that I wanted to buy, but then I'd find myself short on bits.
Sky sighed, "Look, you should get the sword. It's way stronger than your current sword, and besides, it's red, your favorite color. Just get it already."
I paused for a moment, but then I nodded, "All right, I'll buy it." I picked up Inferno and placed it on the vendor's counter. The NCP behind the counter asked for payment, and I handed over my 19,950 bits. And then, once I had taken Inferno off of the counter, I immediately equipped the weapon, replacing my old sword.
I then turned to Sky, "All right, let's go... Unless you want to buy a new weapon, too."
Sky shook his head, "Nah, I'm good with my current swords." He gestured towards his double swords, which he had recently upgraded into two double bladed, pitch black swords. Of course they'd be black, seeing as they belonged to a guy named Darkened5ky. But that wasn't the only reason that Sky had those swords. It was also because they were very powerful when equipped to a player that had an affiliation to darkness or shadows. In Sky's case, the swords were stronger when he used them because of his player ability was literally, 'Darkness'.
I nodded, "Alright, let's meet up with the others. I think they're already waiting for us in our usual training spot."
Sky nodded and we both turned down the street towards the city gates. However, we were stopped as a voice called out to us,
"Shadow! Sky!"
We both turned to see Violet Runner galloping towards us, today's issue of the Equestria Daily in his magical grip.
I waved to Violet, "Hey, what's up?"
Violet panted from his run, "Have you seen today's issue of the paper?"
Sky raised an eyebrow, "No, why?"
"The front page story. It says that the fifth element has been found!"
Mine and Sky's eyes widened, "WHAT?!"
Sky quickly snatched the newspaper out of Violet's grip and began to read it. I turned towards him, "Come on, Sky. What does it say? Who found the next element?"
Sky cleared his throat and began reading, "The fifth element has been revealed as the Element of Genorosity, which was found by a unicorn named Eclipse. The place where it was hidden was located in Appleoosa, just outside of town on the plains. The boss, a sand demon known as The Dust Devil, attacked the town of Appleoosa without warning early in the morning yesterday. The entire town of Appleoosa was required to fight in order to survive this unexpected attack.
"In the attack, nine players were killed, and everyone else beat The Dust Devil while in critical condition. Eclipse, now the bearer of the Element of Genorosity, gave the final blow to The Dust Devil as it tried to destroy the town by firing an enchanted arrow from his bow. Afterwards, it became clear that no one had even found a room where this boss may have hidden, or had even been released from its room. This is a growing concern, seeing that bosses can now leave their rooms and attack nearby towns and cities.
"Eclipse, along with his team, have been invited by Jupiter to join the Knights of Harmony Guild in Canterlot. Eclipse's team, known as Team Vortex, has eagerly agreed to join, and they are now making their way to Canterlot. Team Vortex consists of three players: Eclipse, a pegasus known as Siren, and their leader, Cordon.
"The leader of Team Vortex, a player name doom_squared but more commonly known as Cordon by his team mates, was a real surprise to find at the scene of this boss battle. He was known as the fastest player in Appleoosa, and was one of the first to enter the fight against The Dust Devil. However, it was during this boss battle that Cordon had revealed himself to be..." Sky's words trailed off as his eyes grew wide at what he read.
I raised an eyebrow, "Don't stop there. What did Cordon reveal himself to be?"
Sky put down the paper, still in slight shock, "... An alicorn."
_____________________________________________________________________________________
1 Day Later
The next day, after everyone had heard about the alicorn Cordon, The Knights of Harmony stood just inside the gates of Canterlot, waiting to welcome Team Vortex into our guild. At the Moment, Team Vortex was still travelling towards Canterlot. Already, thousands of players were buzzing with the news of an alicorn's appearance. Of course, this is due to the fact that no one had ever seen an alicorn ever since the admins were stripped of their power by Discord.
I glanced over towards Sky as we all waited at the gate for Team Vortex, "But seriously, how did a guy become an alicorn? Didn't Discord make that impossible?"
Sky frowned, "I don't know. I would say that this Cordon guy hacked the game, but Discord would have killed him immediately after that. So that option's out."
I nodded, "Right, it doesn't really make sense."
Lexus suddenly flew back to the gate, as he had been assigned to look for Team Vortex from the sky. Lexus turned to Jupiter, "They're here. They're only a few minutes out."
Jupiter nodded, "Good. Stay with them until they reach us."
Lexus nodded and flew back in the direction he came from. Jupiter turned to everyone else in our guild, "All right, everybody. Team Vortex will be here any minute. So, remember to greet them as one of our own, and welcome them as friends. Got it?"
Everyone nodded in response without any further comment.
But then, after only another minute, four figures came into view as they neared our position. One of them I could easily recognize as Lexus, but I had never seen the other three before. Without a doubt, that was Team Vortex.
At the head of the group, just behind Lexus, a tall, gray alicorn stallion lead his team. The stallion's mane was a dark gray color, streaked by a lighter shade of gray. I found myself snickering a bit at the alicorn's appearance as it reminded me of fifty shades of gray... But then again, he was an alicorn. The alicorn carried a single, two handed battleaxe on his back. His cutie mark resembled a green vortex of wind. Above his head his player ID read: doomsquared
I glanced towards Sky as several other players behind us began to mutter to each other at the sight of the alicorn, "That must be Cordon."
But then, my gaze shifted towards the two players following behind Cordon. The first of the two was a pure white unicorn stallion. He had a black mane that was similar to Sky's, except his tail was in a different style. Draped around his body and shoulders, he carried a steel bow and a quiver of arrows. His cutie mark was a ying yang symbol. Above his head, his player ID read: Eclipse
Sky muttered towards me, "That must be Eclipse, the bearer of the Element of Genorosity."
I nodded as I glanced towards the last of the approaching foursome. The last player was a deep purple pegasus mare. She had a short pink mane that only dropped to her shoulders. But I was surprised to see a crossbow mounted on her shoulder, despite the fact that the mare was smaller than most of the mares that I've seen in the game. Her cutie mark resembled a red rose with thorns. Her player ID read: Siren
Pretty soon, Lexus and Team Vortex reached us and stopped just in front of Jupiter. Everyone fell silent as Jupiter then greeted the new arrivals.
Jupiter gave Team Vortex a hearty smile, "Welcome to Canterlot. My name is Jupiter, head admin of ELO and leader of the Knights of Harmony. I'm pleased that you decided to join the guild and travel here from Appleoosa."
Cordon grinned smugly, "Of course we came. We're the best when it comes to what we do."
Jupiter chuckled softly, "Well, that's debatable. You haven't seen Team Equitum or Team Calvary in action." Way to go, Jupiter. I always appreciated the praise.
Cordon merely smirked, "Well, you've never seen us in action either."
Jupiter nodded, "True, but there will be time for that later, won't there?" He cleared his throat, "But for now, will Eclipse please step forward?"
The white unicorn nodded as he stepped forward, "I'm here."
Jupiter smiled, "Good. Well, since you're now an element bearer, I figure that you should meet the other elements as well." He glanced back towards our guild, "Shadow, Violet, Soul, and Lexus. Would you please step forward?"
All four of us quickly lined up beside Jupiter. The head admin then began to introduce us, pointing a hoof towards each of us as he went along, "First, we have Shadowflame: The Element of Courage. He's also the leader of Team Equitum. Next we have Violet Runner: The Element of Spirit. He's the leader of Team Calvary. Here we have Soul Cards: The Element of Loyalty. He's part of Team Calvary. And finally we have Lexus: The Element of Honesty. He's part of Team Equitum."
Eclipse nodded, a small smile on his face, "It's nice to meet all of you."
We all gave a friendly wave, and Jupiter continued, "Well now, upon your arrival, I hope that you've now realized something."
Cordon raised an eyebrow, "And that would be?"
Jupiter turned to the whole of our guild, "The arrival of Eclipse marks the halfway mark of our goal. We now have 5 of the 10 Elements of Harmony. We've come this far and neither Discord or the Haters' Guild has stopped us. I know for a fact that we'll be able to push through anything that comes against us and we will retrieve the last five remaining elements. Nothing can stop us, nothing ever will."
Everyone suddenly gave a loud cheer at Jupiter's statement, giving me a small bit of satisfaction. It really was hard to believe that we were finally at the halfway mark.
Jupiter grinned, "But for now, keep up the good work, all of you. And with that, you all may return to your regular activities." But then he cleared his throat, "However, I would ask that Team Equitum and Team Calvary stay for a moment."
Everyone did as they were told and headed back into the city, except for my team and Team Calvary, leaving us with Team Vortex and Jupiter. Jupiter turned to our group, "Shadow? Violet?"
We both responded, "Yes?"
"Today, I would like for Team Vortex to tag along with your group. Seeing as your teams are the only ones who bear the other elements, I believe that it would be wise to start working with Team Vortex now. Therefore, when the time comes that you have to use the elements, you'll be able to work together in harmony."
I raised an eyebrow, "Um... I'm not sure if that's the best idea. I mean, they just got here. Wouldn't it be better if they get a bit of rest before starting work again?"
Before I could react, a gray blur filled my vision and found myself looking in the eyes of Cordon, who appeared to be a bit insulted by my comment, "What? You think that we're just pushovers who can't handle hard work?"
I quickly stepped back, waving my hooves in front of me sheepishly, "Whoa, I didn't mean it like that. I was just wondering if you needed a small break. After all, you have been travelling for about two days straight."
Cordon rolled his eyes, "Whatever. We don't need a break. We're ready to go."
Jupiter nodded, "Good. Also, I would like for all of you to follow me now, so Eclipse can put his element into the vault."
Eclipse nodded, "Right."
Jupiter turned back to the city gates, "Follow me." And so, Jupiter lead all of us to the Canterlot castle. And once we reached the castle, we all waited outside while Jupiter and Eclipse went inside to stow away the Element of Generosity the vault.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
We all waited out in the courtyard of the castle for a long 20 minutes. Yet, that time seemed to pass by quickly for me. The entire time I was constantly trying to figure out how Cordon became an alicorn. However, no matter how hard I thought, I couldn't come up with a plausible answer.
I was lost in my thoughts, when somebody came up and sat down next to me, "Hey, what's up?"
I glanced to the side to see Siren next to me. "Oh, um... nothing," I lied.
Siren rolled her eyes, "Right, I'm not buying that. You're wondering how Cordon became an alicorn, aren't you?"
"Um, yeah. How did you know?"
Siren shrugged, "Well, that's pretty much what everyone else is thinking, right? Not to mention the fact that you've been glancing back and forth between Cordon and the ground for more than 10 minutes."
I chuckled a bit, "Wow, you are very observant." I paused for a moment, "Well, do you know how Cordon became an alicorn?"
Siren shrugged, "I wish I did. I mean, nobody else knows how it happened. Cordon himself doesn't really know either."
I sighed, "Hm, sorry for asking. It just seemed impossible to me."
Siren nodded, "You and me both."
But then, Sky walked up to Siren and I, "So, Siren. When exactly did you team up with Eclipse and Cordon?"
Siren smiled a bit, "Well, it started back when Discord trapped everyone in the game. After a week inside the game, lots of players had already left Ponyville for other towns and cities. I was one of the last few players to get sent to a different town by Jupiter. I was sent to Appleoosa with a few dozen other players. It was when we all were travelling to Appleoosa that Cordon, Eclipse, and I formed Team Vortex.
"Yeah, and so, the months rolled by in Appleoosa and everyone did what they could to help search for the other elements, but with us being so far away from any other town or city, the only news we got of the outside world was through the newspapers. So far, everything was a bit uneventful, except for the occasional close call when fighting Discord's monsters. But then, only a few weeks ago, something happened.
"It was supposedly a normal day, but that was the day that Cordon became an alicorn. Like I said, nobody knew how it happened, but that morning, Cordon woke up in his bed as an alicorn, even though the day before he fell asleep as an earth pony."
"Wait, what?" I jumped a tiny bit as Cloud seemed to appear next to me. Apparently I was so focused in on Siren's story that I hadn't noticed the dragon come up next to me. But then I glanced around to find that everyone else had gathered around to hear Siren.
"Cordon was just a regular earth pony before he became an alicorn?" Dylan asked, obviously very surprised.
Siren nodded, "Yes. That morning he became an alicorn, but that wasn't the only thing that had changed. His player ability changed, too."
Soul raised an eyebrow, "Really? What did it change to?"
"Well, his ability before he changed was called, "Gale", which doubled his speed stat. Back in Appleoosa, he was known as the quickest pony around. But when he became an alicorn, Cordon's ability changed to something called "Apotheosis". But what was weird was that the ability didn't have any description to it."
I raised an eyebrow as I knew that Apotheosis was another term used to describe the raising of someone to Godhood. I frowned, "So, you're basically saying that this new ability changed him into an alicorn."
Siren nodded, "Yeah, basically."
Violet Runner raised an eyebrow, "But, wait. You said that he became an alicorn a month ago. Nobody knew about Cordon being an alicorn until yesterday."
Siren cleared her throat, "That's right. You see, after Cordon changed into an alicorn, the only player we told about the ability to was the admin in Appleoosa. There was a bit of fear that the Haters' Guild would try to come after Cordon if they discovered that he was an alicorn, so Jupiter ordered us to hide Cordon's ability from everyone else."
Lexus interjected, "Wait, so you're saying that Jupiter knew that Cordon was an alicorn beforehand?"
Neon added, "Well, that would explain why Jupiter wasn't very shocked about the fact that an alicorn was coming into Canterlot. But what I want to know is how you were able to hide Cordon's ability. How exactly did you pull it off while you were around the players in Appleoosa, who had already known Cordon as an earth pony?"
Siren smiled nonchalantly, "It wasn't all that hard. Whenever we were in town, we just had Cordon wear a cloak with a hood to cover up his wings and horn. It worked pretty well, and when anybody asked about the cloak, we just told them that it was new armor. Nobody really thought twice about it."
Cross laughed a bit, "So, you just hid Cordon's wings and horn under a cloak? In that case, for all we know, Shadow could secretly be an alicorn, too." He glanced towards me and lifted up the hem of my cloak, thoroughly inspecting my side, "Well, no wings here." Cross joked.
I rolled my eyes as I shrugged Cross off, who only laughed at his joke harder.
Ignoring Cross, Soul glanced towards Siren, "Well, we don't know how exactly Cordon got this ability, but why did he get it?"
"Because, I'm the strongest in this entire game. It's only natural that got this ability."
Everyone glanced up to see Cordon flying overhead, lazily gliding above everyone as he listened to the discussion that was going on. Cordon simply smirked down towards all of us, "Well, if you're done talking about me, I'd be happy to continue by telling you all my whole life story."
Just then, Eclipse came back out of the Canterlot castle and joined our small group, "Hey, I'm back. Now that my element's locked up, what do we do now?"
I paused for a moment as I glanced around towards Eclipse, Cordon, and Siren, "Well, seeing as you three will be working with us a lot later, I think the best thing to do now is see what you can do in battle. Lexus?" I turned to the pegasus, "Do you have anything in mind that could work as a good training ground for Team Vortex, or even all of us?"
Lexus beamed, "I thought you'd never ask." He turned to Neon, "I think now would be good to bring out the spawner."
Neon grinned, "Great, you should fly ahead and get everything ready. We'll meet you there in just a sec."
Lexus nodded, "Great." He gave Neon a small kiss on the cheek, "See ya there." With that, Lexus flew off into the sky and out of sight, leaving the rest of us in silence.
Sky glanced towards Neon, "Okay... What were you two talking about?"
Neon smiled, "Don't worry. I'll explain on the way. Follow me." And so, Neon turned around and began to lead us out of the castle grounds.
However, as we began to walk, something caught my attention from the corner of my eye. As Sky trotted after Neon, Cordon suddenly lighted down next to him. Without a single moment of hesitation, Cordon swung out his front hoof low, knocking Sky's legs out from under him and making the unicorn go sprawling to the ground.
Seeing Sky trip, Cordon laughed at him in a haughty way, "Oops, my bad." Before Sky could get back up or retaliate, Cordon had already taken off again and now flew at the head of the group. Meanwhile, I helped Sky get back up to his hooves,
"Hey, you okay?"
Sky's eyes seemed to pulse with anger, which was typical for him because he hated being pushed around, "I'm fine. I just need to get Cordon back somehow."
I sighed. Cordon seemed to have a really big ego, and I really hoped that this wasn't how he acted the whole time. Otherwise, I'm sure it'd start to get on everybody else's nerves.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Soon, we were all outside of the Canterlot walls, walking behind Neon as she led us through a small forest. But while Neon led us through the forest, true to her word, she began to explain what she and Lexus had been talking about.
"It's called a monster spawner, or mob spawner for short. Like its name implies, it spawns massive amounts of monsters all at once, nonstop until it's destroyed."
I nodded, "Right, I think we all know what one is. But I'm assuming that you've actually found one?"
Neon nodded, "That's right. You see, a while ago I started joining Lexus on his early morning training sessions. It was about a week ago, but Lexus and I stumbled across one. Luckily, we were able to stop the spawner from spawning too many monsters, so we didn't have too much trouble. But on the plus side, I did gain a level in that encounter."
Soul frowned, "How exactly did you do that?"
"Well, I happened to have an item that could prevent monsters from spawning in a 50 foot radius when activated. It's called a Silver Tear."
Violet perked up at the mention of the item, "Wait, so that was the item that you had me craft in my forge. I was wondering what it did. It did take a crap load of materials to make."
Neon smirked, "Well, yeah. Right now the Silver Tear is keeping the mob spawner from spawning any monsters. After Lexus and I stopped the spawner from creating any more monsters, we hid it away thinking that we could use it later in a group training session. Turns out we were right."
Cloud laid back on top of Cross' back, lounging while everyone else walked, save for Cordon who flew in the air above us, "So, you sent Lexus to get the spawner out its hiding spot for us, right?"
Neon nodded, "Right." A small pause passed through our group before Neon spoke up, "So, Team Vortex? What's your stories?"
Eclipse raised an eyebrow, "Stories?"
"Yeah, I mean, everybody has their story of why they got trapped here in the game. For example, I came into ELO because it seemed fun. Lexus came here because of a bet he made with his cousin. Shadow and Sky came in while playing together. Dylan, ironically enough, came in on his friend's game console because Sky was using their *only* Nervegear Helmet."
Eclipse frowned, "Why are you asking us?"
"Well, Jupiter does want us to become friends. It'd help if we knew you three a bit better."
There was a small pause, but then Siren spoke, "Well, back at my home, everyone treated me like a pampered doll. They'd always offer to do favors for me, even if it was something small that I could have done easily. But to make everything worse, I was expected to act like a young lady, all 'properly mannered and frou-frou' stuff. I To be honest, it just didn't fit me. Really, I'm more of a tomboy at heart. It was like I was living in a prison. But, I thought I could act more like myself if I came to ELO. So, I bought the game." She laughed a bit, "Now look where that got me."
Eclipse was the next to speak, "Back home, I was more of a lonely guy. I didn't really have any friends, and there wasn't very many people around who wanted to be friends with me. So, I bought ELO hoping that I could make new friends here."
A long silence passed as everyone glanced up at Cordon, who was lazily gliding through the air on his back. It took the alicorn a while to notice the silence, but soon he looked down to meet our gazes,
"What? You're waiting for me to tell my story?"
Sky rolled his eyes, apparently still angry that Cordon had tripped him, "Obviously."
Cordon simply rolled his eyes as he continued to glide through the air, "Whatever. I just bought the game because it sounded fun. That's all."
Neon smiled, content with the answer, "Well, now we know more about you. Hopefully we can keep your reasons for coming into ELO in mind, so we don't offend any of you guys. But for now, we're almost to the spawner."
Right on cue, we soon came to a small grove in the forest. Right in the middle of the grove, Lexus stood next to a large black cage, about two feet tall: The mob spawner. Inside the black cage, a small fire burned dimly. But then, I noticed something sitting on top of the spawner.
It was a small, silver piece of metal. It was about a foot long, extending into a thin tear shape. As sunlight shined on the metal, it seemed to give a soft glow to its surroundings. This small piece of metal I assumed to be the Silver Tear that Neon had talked about.
Lexus, upon seeing us, waved a hoof towards us, "Hey, you guys made it!" We all reached him and gathered around him and the spawner. Lexus cleared his throat, "All right. As you can see, the spawner can't create any monsters due to the Silver Tear. But once I remove it, monsters will begin appearing all around it. It can only spawn about three monsters at a time, so it should be enough for a small group of players to take down. But that leaves the question: Who's on first?"
Feeling a moment of hilarity, Violet interjected, "So you're asking 'what's the name of the guy on first'?"
Dylan joined in, "No, What's on second." The two of them were awarded with a few laughs from everyone else, but we quickly calmed down and got back to business.
I smiled, "Right. Well, let's start with Team Vortex. That way we can see what they can do in action."
Lexus nodded, "Right." He turned to Team Vortex, "Get your weapons out, because once I take this thing off, you'll only have a second before they come after you."
Cordon hefted his ax off of his back, while Siren and Eclipse loaded arrows into their bows, "We're ready."
"Good. Everybody else get back. This is their fight." So, save for Lexus, we all stepped back behind the tree line of the grove. Lexus then placed a hoof on the Silver Tear in preparation to remove it from the spawner, "Okay, it's coming off in 3...2..1.... NOW!"
Immediately, Lexus grabbed the Silver Tear and took off to the skies above. Just then, the flames inside the spawner flared and the air around it shimmered blue as it spawned three monsters. The monsters were a minotaur armed with a giant battleaxe and two skeleton ponies armed with swords.
But then, the monsters spotted Team Vortex and instantly began to charge towards them. Cordon grinned at the oncoming enemies, "I'll take the minotaur. Siren, Eclipse, take out the skeletons and don't get in my way."
And not a moment later, the two groups clashed.
Cordon and the minotaur swung their axes at each other, the minotaur only missing Cordon by a few inches, while the alicorn delivered a massive blow to the bull-man's leg. The minotaur lost its balance from the blow and fell to one knee, just as Cordon swung his battleaxe down towards the minotaur's head. However, before the blow could hit it, the minotaur blocked Cordon's ax with his own and quickly lashed out with another swipe towards the alicorn. But Cordon was faster than his opponent, and was easily able to avoid the attack.
Meanwhile, Siren had taken to the sky and had begun to fire her crossbow at the skeleton warriors below her. Eclipse also shot at the skeletons from a distance, using his bow to fire arrow after arrow at the enemies. Only once or twice, the skeletons came close to Eclipse, but they were picked off from the sky by Siren.
But then, just as Siren tried to fire an arrow from her crossbow, the skeletons dodged her fire and charged eclipse at the same time. Eclipse was still in the middle of loading an arrow into his bow when the two monsters lashed out at him with their swords. Eclipse barely side-stepped the attack, but then his horn flared with white magic as a small bolt of magic hit the ground underneath the two skeletons.
The effect was instantaneous, as the ground suddenly began to glow and the two monsters began to float into the air, as if they were no longer affected by gravity.
I found myself very impressed, as I had never seen gravity magic before. But nonetheless, I continued to watch the fight.
Now that the two skeletons were floating helplessly in the air, Eclipse reached into his quiver and pulled out two arrows. Quickly drawing back his bow, Eclipse fired both arrows at once. The two projectiles soared through the air and both of the arrows pierced through the bones of the two skeletons. The two monsters suddenly gave one last shriek as they disappeared in bursts of blue code.
With the two skeletons defeated, Siren and Eclipse stepped off to the side, obeying Cordon's order to stay out of his way, and watched as Cordon fought the minotaur on his own.
The minotaur swung its ax at Cordon, blow after blow, but the alicorn was able to dodge every single strike the monster threw. But then, as the minotaur swung its ax from the side, Cordon powered his wings and jumped over his opponent's head. As Cordon was in the air, his ax swung down and struck through the minotaur's skull. The monster roared in rage as the alicorn landed behind him unharmed.
The minotaur, in a blind fury, swung its ax behind him towards Cordon, but the alicorn swung his ax upward. The two axes collided with each other, and the minotaur's ax was sent spinning from its grasp. With his opponent unarmed, Cordon then swung his ax around his body and into the minotaur's abdomen. The blow sliced through the minotaur's midsection and cut the monster in two, just as it burst into blue code.
Everyone gave a loud cheer at Team Vortex's impressive fight. It was clear that everyone was impressed.
Lexus grinned as he came down from the sky and placed the Silver Tear back on the mob spawner to stop any more monsters from appearing, "Wow, that was great."
Violet laughed, "But I want to know how Eclipse learned gravity magic. I know I'd have fun fooling around with that kind of magic."
"Sorry, but it's my player ability. So, I don't think you can learn it." Eclipse replied.
I stepped forward, "All right, now that Team Vortex has shown how they fight, who wants to go next?"
Violet raised his hoof, "I think it's Team Calvary's turn." He turned towards his team members, "Right, guys."
Soul grinned as he drew his swords, "I'm ready."
Neon nodded, "I'm ready to go."
But then, Dylan spoke up, "Um, guys? Is the spawner supposed to do that?"
We all turned towards the spawner to see that the flames inside were growing larger. The fire inside the small cage had reached the bars of the spawner and were now extending past them. It looked as if the whole spawner was ablaze.
I glanced towards Lexus, "Lexus, what's going on?"
Lexus shrugged, "I'm not sure. It's never done that before."
Neon suddenly gasped, "Lexus! The tear. look!"
We all glanced towards the tear to see that it had been consumed by the flames of the spawner. It didn't seem to be affected by the flames, but then a massive crack appeared on the outside of the Silver Tear.
My eyes widened in realization, "The spawner is destroying the Silver Tear." I quickly drew Inferno and my shield, "Weapons out, everyone. With this much activity from a spawner, as soon as the tear breaks, this grove is going to be filled with monsters."
Everyone quickly readied their weapons and faced the spawner. At that exact moment, the Silver Tear shattered.
Crack!
Suddenly, the whole grove lit up in blue light as the spawner created several monsters at once. Once the blue light faded, we found ourselves facing a horde of monsters, who were all guarding the spawner. There were at least twenty skeleton warriors and ten minotaurs, and there was only 12 of us. We were clearly outnumbered... But that didn't mean that we were outmatched.
I raised my sword, "CHARGE!" Our group galloped, or flew, towards the massive number of enemies. Instantly, our two forces met.
The first monster that I reached was a skeleton warrior. It lashed out at me with its sword, which I quickly parried with my own. With the skeleton opened up, I plunged Inferno into its ribs. I shouted, "Blaze!", lighting my sword while it still impaled my opponent. The flames burned through the skeleton and the monster burst into blue code. I ran forward through the opening in the horde, only to be faced with a minotaur.
Instantly, the minotaur swung its ax down at me. I sidestepped the blow and quickly slashed the minotaur through the midsection with my flaming Inferno. The minotaur, in fury, tried to retaliate against my attack, but it stopped as an arrow suddenly shot through its skull, making it burst into code.
I turned around to see that the arrow had been fired by Siren, who was in the air and loading another arrow into her crossbow. At the moment, Lexus, Siren, Cloud, and Cordon were flying above the horde and picking off enemies one by one. But the spawner was quickly replacing every enemy that they defeated, and the never ending stream of monsters continued.
I growled in frustration as I decapitated another skeleton warrior, Crap, we'll never reach the spawner at this rate. I glanced up towards the sky to see Lexus take out a minotaur with his spear. I called out to him, "Lexus. Get everyone who can fly and fly ahead to the spawner. We need to destroy that thing."
Lexus nodded, but then an arrow suddenly soared through the air and punctured through Lexus' hind leg, right at the knee. Lexus grunted in pain and quickly flew up higher as another arrow just barely missed him. I quickly glanced through the horde of monsters to see that the spawner was now spawning skeleton warriors who were armed with bows instead of swords.
I cursed to myself, "Dang it. Those archers will make it too risky to try destroying the spawner from above. It looks like we'll have to charge our way through." I glanced back towards my team mates, "Neon, Violet, I need you to behind me in a wedge shape. I'll need you both to use your magic to help cut through this horde. Sky, Cross, Soul, you three need to stay right behind Neon, Violet, and I. Keep anything that gets too close off of our backs." They all nodded and quickly got into position around me.
I glanced up to the sky, "Cloud, throw all of your bombs and create a pathway between us and the spawner."
Cloud raised an eyebrow as he quickly dodged an oncoming arrow, "All of my bombs?"
I nodded as I stabbed an oncoming skeleton through its skull, "Yes, all of them!"
Cloud nodded back, "All right, here it goes." The dragon quickly looped around through the air as he withdrew an armful of bombs from his inventory. He then flew just above us and began to scatter the bombs down to the ground as he flew towards the spawner. The resulting explosions created a small path through the horde, which was quickly being replaced as more monsters spawned.
I flared my horn, "NOW!" With that I charged forward through the small path, firing a continual stream of fire in front of me to clear the way. Behind me, off to the side, Neon and Violet followed in suit, firing their own magic to clear the way, Neon firing a stream of neon green fire and Violet firing a bolt of blue lightning. Behind us, Sky, Cross, and Soul followed along the path that we were creating, all while keeping any enemies from attacking us from the side or from our back.
We blazed a trail through the horde, not even stopping for an instant. Our force knocked the monsters that spawned in front of us to the sides, and nothing even gave any resistance. I almost found it amusing when we actually trampled over an unknowing skeleton warrior that spawned right in front of me.
But then, as we blazed our trail through the thickest part of the horde, we reached the spawner. As soon as we reached the spawner, Neon, Violet, Sky, Cross, and Soul all took up positions around me and the spawner as they fended off the monsters around us. Meanwhile, I took charge to destroy the spawner.
Immediately, I began to swing Inferno at the black bars of the spawner with all of the power that I had. Yet, despite my efforts, each blow that I dealt to the spawner only caused a few dents to appear in the bars. It was going to take me a while to break through the spawner and take out its center.
Sky called back to me warily as he fended off a minotaur, "Come on, Shadow! Would you hurry up with that spawner!"
Violet nodded grimly, "Yeah, right now would be nice!"
"Hey, I'm trying my hardest, but this thing is hard to break." I replied as I continued to barrage the spawner with several sword swipes.
But then, high above us, I heard a voice call out, "Incoming!"
I quickly glanced up to see Cordon rise into the air, his horn brightly lit with gray magic. But then, I watched as the wind around Cordon began to race around himself, centering in around his horn. The winds whipped through the air like a twister, growing faster and larger with every second that passed. But then, as the winds reached their peak, they all condensed into Cordon's horn. And as every bit of wind condensed, Cordon unleashed the gale from his horn, aiming it right at the spawner.
Now, I would have been fine with this, and I kind of wished that Cordon had done this sooner. But the fact that I didn't like was that I was basically on top of the spawner when he fired the gale.
The force of the wind was so powerful that it collided with the spawner with a large crash. The impact of the wind crushed the spawner to a pulp, but the force also threw me back, high into the air. But while I was in the air, time seemed to slow as I saw the gale knock back everyone else who had been standing around the spawner. As they were thrown, I watched as their health bars dropped drastically into the yellow zone, all of them.
A bit of panic hit me as I worried for my team mates, but I then watched as the gale took out the monsters surrounding the spawner as well. The winds were so powerful that it took out almost all of the monsters in the grove.
But then, time resumed at normal speed as I landed hard against the trunk of a tree. I grunted in pain as the tree stopped my momentum and I dropped to the hard ground below. My vision blurred and turned red as I glanced towards my health bar. I watched it drop from the green and into the yellow zone... and down into the red.
Painfully, I stood up, a thousand different thoughts running through my head at once. I looked up to see that all of the monsters had been defeated and that the spawner was now destroyed. Everyone was now gathering in the center of the grove.
Violet called out to everybody, "Is everyone all right?"
"I was all right," Lexus joked, "But then I took an arrow to the knee."
It turned out that everyone was okay, which gave me some small comfort. But then, Cordon swooped down to the ground to join our group, "Well, I believe some form of gratitude is in order for me. Who wants to buy lunch for the guy who saved everyponie's skins?"
I found myself now glaring at Cordon. I mean, what kind of guy pulls a reckless stunt like that, which almost gets me killed in the process, and then asks for some one to buy him lunch!?
I growled as I walked towards the alicorn, "Cordon, are you out of your mind? Are you so egotistical that you don't even realize that you just did something crazy to destroy the spawner, injure everyone in the area, and then ask for lunch to celebrate the fact that you almost killed me in the process?!"
Cordon simply shrugged, "You could have moved out of the way. I did say to get clear."
I ground my teeth as my anger only intensified, "All you said was, 'Incoming'. You didn't say to get clear because you were using a spell that would throw me sky high when it hit. I thought you were coming to help me destroy the spawner, not send me flying twenty feet into the air on a gust of wind."
"The moment you got here, you've been nothing be egotistical, rude, and short sighted. If you keep that up, then it'll end with you taking the life of one of your team mates." I glanced towards my team members to see their own looks of surprise, which just made me more annoyed, "Look, that's enough training for today. I'm out of here."
And so, putting my weapons away, I turned around and left the grove without another word. With how Cordon acted that day, I knew that these next few weeks around him would be torture. Hopefully I could knock some sense through that huge ego of his. And I needed to do that soon, or else... Who knows how disastrous the consequences could be.