Equestria Legends Online

by Shadowflame


Special: January 22nd (Cross' View Part 1)

Cross heart

It was a clear day outside my house. Everything was so clear and beautiful, most people couldn’t imagine how a person could stay inside the house all day… Well, I’m not like most people. If you're like me, you probably don’t know how to stand to be outside for more than five minutes. You know why I say this, because it's true.

Let's make something straight, now. My parents died in a accident when I was seven years old. I was at my grandma's house that day. I remember somebody calling us on the phone. I remember my grandma telling me with tear streaked eyes that my parents had died. Since that day, I've lived with my grandma, promising every day to her that wouldn't lose my smile that she loved so much. So far, I've never broken that promise.

Well let's get to back in the moment. Right… I bought the new game that was released, called ELO. I was kind of excited because that was a game that brought together two things that I like: Ponies and video games.

Oh, yes. I forgot to mention that I am a brony. Yep, the type of person that likes to watch colorful, talking ponies. But I keep it in secret from my friends. Why? Because they bully a kid for liking it. So, I decided to never tell to them the truth… What? You’re worried that I hang out with bad people? Hahaha, it's not that they're bad, they're just stupid. And as to why I keep hanging out with them?… Because I'm not very good at making friends because of my childish personality.

I glanced to the clock. It read: 11:59.

I sigh, “Time to enter the game.” I put the Nervegear on my head and laid back on my bed. Glancing over, I see that now the clock read: 12:00. I took a breath and shouted “link start!”

The inside of the helmet seemed to come alive as lights and colors of all kinds swept through my vision. Suddenly, Five bars of text appeared, showing the progress on the start-up of the game.

Sight: Ok
Hearing: Ok
Smell: Ok
Taste: Ok
Touch: Ok

The text bars disappeared and another text box appeared:

Language: English
User name: CrossHeart
Password: ********

The text box disappeared as the console signed me into my account. Suddenly, my entire vision went black, displaying white text:

Welcome to Equestria Legends Online

The text disappeared and I found myself standing in a completely dark place, with only a small spotlight shining down in front of me. More text appeared,

Now you must choose your avatar. Select which pony race you would like:

A small box appeared in front of me:

-Earth Pony
-Pegasus
-Unicorn

I reached out with a finger and tapped the unicorn button.

Suddenly the screen changed:

What would you like your avatar to be?
-Ponified self
-OC

“I not good at doing OC’s, so I'll go with ponified.” I touched the "ponified" button, making the box disappear. Soon it was replaced by:

Please hold still.

Suddenly, a large beam of blue light shone down on me. I tried not to move, but I couldn't help but try to see where the light was coming from. But after a few seconds, the light withdrew from me and like wisps of smoke, it weaved itself into the spotlight in front of me. The light began to wrap itself up, taking the form of a translucent pony.

Soon after it took shape, the light disappeared, revealing a dark blue unicorn stallion. His mane and tail were black with a red steak in the middle of them. I examined the pony, or rather myself as a pony, and it wasn't too shabby. It looked pretty cool.

Suddenly, another window popped up in front of me:

Please make your cutie mark

In the window, it had a open box, along with several icons for designing, sort of reminding me of my friend's old Photoshop application. I wasn’t very good drawing detailed pictures, so I used my finger to draw out a picture of a red "X". It was simple and cool, just what I was looking for.

Once I hit the "Ok" button in the window, the cutie mark flew out of the window stuck itself on the flanks of my pony self.
I looked at my pony with a bit of satisfaction. I was excited that I'd be taking on this form.

The window in front of me changed again:

Is this design acceptable?

I touched the "Ok" button, and the window withdrew from me. Suddenly, a voice sounded out from nowhere, "Now that you have chosen your pony, you may now enter Equestria."

A bright light suddenly swept through the dark place, blinding me for a moment. Before I entered the game, I heard the voice say, "Good luck."

When the light subsided, I found that I was standing on all fours. I looked down at my feet to see that they had been replaced by hooves. I noticed that I could move them like I would have with a normal arm or leg.

I looked around to find that I was in the town square of Ponyville: The starting town for the game. Around me, several other players were appearing as ponies as they logged into the game as well. I then noticed a dark gray unicorn with a dark red mane and tail, looking anxious as if he were waiting for someone. I shrugged and decided to ignore him.

“Well, time to go exploring the town.” I started to walk around the town, looking at all of the buildings and NPC's that were selling weapons and items.

“Watch out!” a voice suddenly cried out. I turned to see an orange Pegasus stallion flying within a few inches of crashing into me. I rolled to the side to avoid the oncoming player, and he shot right past me. Glad that I wasn't hurt, I rapidly looked back to see that the orange Pegasus was already gone.

“How strange.” I said out loud, before deciding to continue walking. I then notice a big clothing store that stood in front of me, and I decided to check it out.

Entering the store, I noticed a light brown Pegasus stallion with an orange mane standing in front of the counter of the store. His cutie mark was a cloud with dozens of lines that resembled rain. Above his head, his player ID read: Cloud Burst . Right now, he was pleading with the NPC for something that I couldn't hear. Taking a step closer, I listened to what he was saying.

“Can't you cut down the price a little?” He asked, but the NPC shook his head.

“Sorry, sir. But the price cannot be cut,” At that moment, Cloud's head banged against the counter in annoyance. I felt a bit sorry for him, so I decided to help him.

“How much does it cost?” I asked, talking to NPC. Meanwhile, Cloud looked at me with a confused expression on his face.

“ 50 bits” The NCP replied, showing me what Cloud was buying. It was a pair of sunglasses.

I frowned, Don't all players start with 200 bits at the start of the game? How does Cloud not have at least 50? I glanced towards Cloud to see a giant, three foot sword strapped to his back. It sort of reminded me of Cloud's sword in Final Fantasy 7. (Ironic, right?) I raised an eyebrow, Oh, I guess he spent all of his bits on that sword.

I turned back to the NCP, “Okay, I'll take two pairs, one for me, and one for Cloud.”

As soon as I said that, a small window appeared in front of me:

Will you purchase these items for 100 bits?
-Yes
-No

I tapped the "Yes" button with my hoof, and the money appeared on the stand's counter. The stand owner took the money and held out the sunglasses.

I picked up the pair of sunglasses with my hoof and put my pair on, and I then gave the other pair to Cloud, “Here you go.”

He blinked at me, “Oh, thanks. You don’t know how much I wanted these.” He said doing a little nod of gratitude, putting his pair of sunglasses on, “My name's Cloud. Who are you?"

"I'm Crossheart, but you can call me Cross."

"Hey, want to go gain some levels with me? There's a forest nearby with some weak monsters."

I rub my neck, but then I looked at him and nodded, “Sure. But, I'll need to get some weapons before we actually head off.”

“Okay, let's go to the weapon's store.” He replied with excitement in his voice. I let out a small chuckle.

“Okay, let's go.” I said.

We both trotted out of the store and began to look for a weapons stand.

Cloud pointed a hoof out in front of us, "Hey, over there."

I followed his hoof until I saw a single stand that stood in the middle of an alley-way, just a couple of feet away. Even from where I stood, I could plainly see the vast amount of weapons on the stand's display racks.

Cloud and I walked up to the stand, and the stallion behind the counter asked, "May I help you?"

“We just need to buy some weapons." I responded

The stallion nodded, “Right, feel free to look around. Tell me what you want when you're ready."

I nodded to him and began looking around at all of the weapons. But I only 100 bits left, so I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to buy anything. But as I was looking around, I spotted a hammer that reminded me of the Mjollnir (Thor's Hammer) and a small Viking shield. I checked the pricing to see that the hammer cost only 50 bits, which meant I had enough to buy it.

But then I figured that I'd need some sort of defensive item, so I kept searching for a shield. I continued to browse through the racks until my eye caught a small viking buckler. I checked the price to see that it cost 45 bits, which meant I could get both the hammer and the shield.

I turned back to the stand owner, “I'd like a small hammer and a small Viking shield.”

The stand owner retrieved one of the hammers, in its sheath, and a small Viking shield. Placing them on the counter in front of me, "Okay, that'll be 95 bits."

As soon as he said that, a small window appeared in front of me:

Will you purchase these items for 95 bits?
-Yes
-No

I tapped the "Yes" button with my hoof, and the money appeared on the stand's counter. The stand owner took the money and held out my weapons, "Thank you, and enjoy these while you can." I gave a polite nod to the owner.

I then tried to pick up my weapons with my hooves, only to fail miserably.

“Argh, how I am supposed to carry weapons with only hooves?”

Cloud rolled his eyes, “Why don’t you just levitate them?”

“Uh..." I just remembered that I was a unicorn, so I could use magic. (Facehoof) I then remembered that in my inventory, there was a guide that could show you how to use magic. I opened my player menu and opened my inventory. Once I found it, I selected the guide and it appeared in my hoof. (I don't know why I was able to hold this and not my weapons. Stupid video game physics.)

After I read the guide's magic instruction, I was able to learn how to use magic. I focused on my hammer and shield and the weapons rose off of the ground with levitation. Once I had a hold on them, I equipped my weapons and they appeared strapped to my back.

Cloud nodded, “Now that you’re ready, let's gain some levels.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

We both ran fast through the thick underbrush of the forest, three Timberwolves pursuing us and they were right on our tails.

“Remind me who's idea was it to fight three Timberwolves at the same time.” I asked, shooting daggers from my eyes towards Cloud, who was on my right. Above his head, his health bar was 1/2 full, just like mine.

“I said I was sorry.” He replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

I sighed as I continued to search the area ahead of us, just in case some other monster decided to pop up in front of us. But then, I discovered that we were running towards a dead end: The foot of a massive cliff.

I needed to think fast for a plan. If it was possible, a light bulb would have appeared above my head as an idea came to my mind. I glanced over towards Cloud, “At the count of three, jump to your left.”

“Okay” He nodded, not even questioning me.

“One,” The timberwolves were getting closer as we approached the cliff face.

“Two,” Closer.

“Three!!” We both jumped out of the way almost landing against the cliff face. But then, the Timberwolves were so intent on catching us that they had no time to slow down as they crashed into the wall of the cliff.

“Now, attack!” I shouted to Cloud and at same moment we both struck the Timberwolves blow after blow with no end. After a few seconds, the three timber wolves then burst into bits of blue codes.

But then, a box of text appeared in front of me.

Level up!
2 -> 3

“Heh, level three. Finally.” I said as sat down on the forest floor, breating hard. My health bar was still the same as Cloud's: ½ full.

Cloud nodded, “Well, time to log out. It's already 6:30 and my dad will kill me if I don’t come for dinner before 7:00.” My eyes went wide.

“It's already 6:30? Oh, no. I'll give a my grandma a heart attack if I don’t get back soon. She'd probably scare herself by thinking I'm dead on my bed.” I quickly opened my player menu to log out.

But it was then that I discovered that the log out button wasn't there, “Eh, where is the log out button?”

Cloud rolled his eyes, “It's right he-” His eyes went wide like mine as he discovered that the log button wasn’t on his player menu either. But then, before either of us could say anything, Cloud and I were suddenly enveloped by a bright blue light. I couldn't see anything; Not the forest, not Cloud, not even my own hoof in front of my face.

But then, the light subsided, and Cloud and I found ourselves in the middle of Ponyville's town square. I looked around the square, helplessly confused, to see myself surrounded by other players who were just as confused as I was. Almost the entire square was filled with bronies, and I could see pinpricks of blue light throughout the square as even more players were being teleported in.

“What the hay?” I muttered “What's happening?”

Suddenly, the blue lights in the square subsided as they finished bringing in the last of the players in the game. Everyone was just as confused as the next person in the square, but then a voice called out, louder than the combined volume of the crowd,

"Gamers and Players, May we have your attention please!"

The entire crowd quieted down as they turned to see four alicorns flying in the air above the square. Each of them were different in color and in size, but only one seemed to be the leader, which had been the one who had spoken earlier. The lead alicorn was the largest of the four. His fur was a bright red with a long white mane and tail that flowed out behind him, giving him a more commanding presence.

The lead alicorn cleared his throat and addressed the crowd, "Everyone, we are the administrators of Equestria Legends Online. We are in charge of analyzing the system and keeping it running in top condition. However, right now we are experiencing several technical difficulties in the system. One of which, as some of you might have noticed, was the absence of the log out button in your player menus. This is a major problem, since there is no other way for anyone to leave the game. We do not know the cause for this malfunction, but please bear with us as we try to fix this problem. While we try to find what's causing this, for your own safety, please remain in the Ponyville square for the time being."

This news brought up several outbursts in the crowd. Everypony began to converse to each other, as they tried to guess what might've happened or what would happen. One lone pegasus suddenly flew up into the air, yelling out for everyone in the square, "What do you mean you don't know what the problem is?!"

The lead alicorn shook his head, "This problem isn't from a lack in the system, so we don't know where the problem might have originated."

Suddenly, the entire square was plunged into darkness. Everyone broke out into chaos as they had lost their ability to see anything. But during the chaos of the darkness, another voice chuckled evilly, sending a shiver through my spine, "Oh, I think that I might know what the problem is."

My eyes widened in surprise. I knew that voice, and I was sure that everyone else did as well. Suddenly, lightning struck through the darkness, partially lighting it. The voice swept through the crowd again, "That would be me."

Another crack of lightning sounded, lighting the square completely for everyone to see the source of the voice. Flying high above the crowd was a character that any brony should know. Everyone stared in awe or shock as they gazed up at the familiar draconequus, the being of chaos, Discord.

Discord laughed evilly at the crowd below him, "Hello, my little bronies." He turned his head towards the admin alicorns who were flying in the air on the other side of the square, "And hello to you, my good administrators."

The lead alicorn glared at Discord, "How can you be the cause of the problem? You are a program in the system that we designed ourselves. You may have partial control of Equestria, but you don't have the power to change the layout of the system completely."

Discord snapped his fingers, making himself vanish. But then he reappeared behind the lead alicorn, "Oh, but you already know the answer to that. You designed me to be exactly like the me in your television show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."

He suddenly appeared next the dark-gray unicorn that I saw earlier, making him jump a good foot into the air, "That really is a terrible name for a show, don't you think?"

Before he could answer, Discord snapped his fingers and reappeared riding on one of the admin's backs, "You see, you gave me control over reality in Equestria, but with this power, I hacked into the rest of the system, giving me power over the entire program. Oh, and to make sure that I stay in power, " He snapped his fingers and in a flash, the admin alicorns' horns and wings disappeared, making them plummet into the crowd below, while Discord still floated in the air.

Discord laughed evilly, "Now the admins are just plain earth ponies, and I've also taken power over their admin codes. They won't be able to do a thing to change my world. As for the rest of you, I will let you keep your wings and horns while you play in a little game of mine."

The crowd burst in outrage towards Discord, but the draconequus simply snapped his fingers, literally zipping all of the mouths of the players shut. "My, I haven't even told you what the game is, and you're already anxious to get started. The game that I have in mind is a bit of a scavenger hunt. I have taken the Elements of Harmony and placed them all in secret hiding places, inside and outside of Equestria. Your job is to find the Elements and use them to reach me. There, we will have a fight to the death. If you manage to retrieve the elements and defeat me, then I will allow everyone to log out."

He lowered his head just over the crowd, "But it won't be as easy as you think, you see I've added a few features to the game. In the original system, if you died in the game, you would instantly re-spawn in the last town you were in. But that's too boring for me, so I re-wrote the system so when anyone died, their avatar would be lost, and their Nervegear Helmet in the real world will fry their brains. In shorter words, if you die in the game, you will die in the real world."

A collective gasp pulsed through the crowd. Discord laughed as he drew a line across his neck, making his head slide off of his neck and into his hand. The dismembered head laughed as it looked down at the terrified crowd, "No need to lose your head over it." He began to laugh even more, "And also, if there is any tampering with the helmet in the outside world, the helmet will kill the player instantly. Actually, quite a few of players have died already this way."

Everybody, including myself, gasped in shock. I couldn't believe it, "But... How... When did-?"

Discord continued, "Now, in this game, there are a few rules. First, you cannot receive help from the outside world, that is, if you can even manage that. If I catch anypony communicating to the outside world, all of you will die. Second, any tampering with the system from inside the game, the rule-breaker will die instantly."

Discord chuckled, "And just so you know, I have a couple of monster friends who want to go out of their designated areas, so I'm letting them roam a bit. Maybe you'll meet them when you go out of town, but they won't follow you into a city or town. They hate crowded places."

The draconequus laughed evilly, "But a few of you might have thought, 'There's only six elements, so this will be easy.' But I'm sorry to burst your bubble," Discord suddenly, belched out a bubble that was bigger than the length of his body, "But I thought that only six elements would be boring. So I added four new elements." He poked the bubble with a claw, making the bubble burst and reform into ten smaller bubbles. "They will be hidden all over Equestria, but they will be guarded by my favorite kinds of monsters, just like a boss of each element.

"If you find the element, and defeat its guardian in a boss battle, then you may walk away with the element. But I must warn you, my guardians are no push-overs."

Lightning struck again behind Discord, "Well, there you have it. So just remember, your lives are on the line, not mine." He laughed loudly, making lighting strike behind him again, "So, my little bronies, let the games begin!" The sky suddenly was filled with thunder and lightning, blinding everyone as Discord laughed maniacally. When the lightning subsided, Discord was gone, only his laughter echoed through the streets of Ponyville.

Everyone was awestruck, including me. I turned to see that Cloud was in complete shock. He didn’t even move.

“CLOUD!” I shouted, making him come back to reality again.

“Agh, what?” he said looking confused “What just happened?”

“This has become more than a game.” I replied, grimly.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The next day

Cloud and I spent the night in a hotel in Ponyville. Our plan was to leave town the next day and head for another town to search for the elements, but before leaving we needed to buy some health items in the shopping square.

“How many health potions do you think we’re going to need?” Cloud asked, turning towards me.

“Um, like 5 or more.” I responded, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Okay,” He turned back to the stallion behind the counter, selecting the "Yes" button to finalize the purchase. He then turned back to me, “Well, it's time to get going.”

We both started to walk forward to the edge of Ponyville, but we stopped just before the outskirts of town. I glanced towards Cloud, “So, where should we go first?”

“Well, Fillydelphia is one of the closest cities from here, other than Canterlot. With our levels, I think we can manage to get there in no time.” He replied.

I raised an eyebrow, “You know that we're only at level 3, right?”

“Hey, we can level up on the way there.” He replied as he began walking out of ponyville

I rolled my eyes,“If you say so”

Cloud stopped walking, seeing that I wasn't following, “Are you leaving or not? Come on!”

I let a chuckle out and follow him down the road and out of Ponyville. The road led straight to Canterlot, and there weren't too many strong monsters. On that trip alone, Cloud and I were able to level up twice each.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Here we are, Canterlot at last.” Cloud announced as we both gazed at the massive walls surrounding the city. Cloud's health bar was only 2/3 full, but mine was at 1/2. “So, do we want to spend the night here, or should we keep on heading towards Fillydelphia.”

“Heh, and get killed in the dead of night? No thanks.” I replied jokingly, “Come on, let's find a place where we can spend the night.” It wasn't very late, but I knew that if we tried to travel to Fillydelphia now, night would come. Travelling in the dark is hard enough, but monsters are more abundant during the night. I’m sure Cloud and I wouldn't have been able to survive the trip.

Cloud nodded, “Well, I’m gonna look around. Maybe we should split up and do a little recon?”

I nodded, “That doesn't sound bad.”

“Well, see you later.” With that, he flared his wings and took off to the skies, leaving me alone at front gate. Looking at the sky, I wonder what I’m going to do first.

“Well, for one thing, staying here doesn't help me.” I thought as I started to walk through the city.

Canterlot, despite what the show had made it out to be, wasn't at all crowded or largely populated. The streets were barren, and only a few NPC's could be seen wandering about. Of course, this was due to the fact that the majority of players in ELO were still in Ponyville or departing for other towns and cities. But I did spot the occasional player around the city.

After about ten minutes of walking, I saw a building that caught my attention. I spotted a sign on top of It that read Library. I frowned, "I wonder what could be inside a library in this game."

I then took a step forward and pushed the doors to library open, entering into the building.

As I entered, I noticed that nobody was inside. There were only stands with books, and a small place were you could sit and read the books.

Walking forward, I inspected the bookcases. But then I noticed that the books were guides to the game, numbering up with each different book.

I glanced towards the one marked, "Vol.1". I frowned, "I wonder what this says."

Grabbing the Vol.1, I trotted over to the reading spot and sat down to read the book. Once in a comfortable spot, I used my magic to open to the first page and began to read it.

Secrets of the Game:

1- There are some weapons that can be only be found in secret places. These weapons are common in other games for being the most powerful of their kind that can be found. Examples of these weapons are: Excalibur , Kusanagi ,Durandarte, gungnir … (For more weapons and detailed information please see Vol.5)

2- There are hidden skills that any player can unlock when they get to a certain level (Depending on the player and their abilities). These skills can greatly enhance a player and they can become extremely powerful.

3- There hidden caves all across Equestria that can be found by a few players. Most of them are hidden with spells and enchantments that need to be eliminated by a player with the power to do so. Finding these caves may vary in results, for some may hide rare treasures while some house hordes of monsters. But often times, the caves will hold both.

4- Every race of pony has their own natural attributes: Earth ponies have a higher power and defense, Pegasi have greater speed and agility, and Unicorns can use magic and have stronger defense against magic based attacks.

5- The more time that a unicorn uses a certain type of magic consistantly, they can upgrade it to become more powerful. (This is true, whether or not the magic in question is their "Ability-defined" magic.)

Suddenly, the sound of a new message rang out and a small banner appeared in my vision. The banner read: New Message from Cloud Burst.

“Huh, I guess he already found a place. That was quick.” I thought as I put the book I was reading on a nearby table. I opened the message and read it.

“Hey cross I haven’t found a cheap place to stay for the night and I don’t have enough money to buy one” At this, a sigh escaped from me, “But don’t get disappointed already. I found a way to earn enough money for both of us. Meet me at the Canterlot Coliseum at the 4:00. Don’t be late.” I checked my clock to see that it was 3:50.

My eyes went wide, “I only have ten minutes, and I don’t even know where the coliseum is. I better get moving.” I quickly put the book back on the book shelf and started galloping out in search of the coliseum, leaving the library behind.

As I galloped, I spotted a nearby gray earth pony stallion with a lime mane. I didn’t pay attention to his User ID or cutie mark. I asked him where the coliseum was. From my expression, he saw that I was in a hurry, so he gave me the directions to the coliseum. I quickly thanked him and started galloping again.

Soon, the coliseum came into view and I spotted Cloud waiting outside. “Hey, Cloud!” I call out to him and he glanced towards me as I ran up to him. Breathing hard, I asked, “What... is it?”

“I'll explain in just a sec. Come on, our match is about to start.” He said, pulling me inside the coliseum's reception area. I spotted an NPC standing behind the reception counter, and Cloud pulled me over to the counter, “Here's my team mate.” He said to the receptionist.

The receptionist glanced towards me, “Team name, please.”

Cloud paused for a moment. It was true. Despite all of the time that we had beem together, Cloud and I had never formed a team. “Team C” Cloud improvised.

Before I had the opportunity to say anything, the receptionist nodded, “Okay, name accepted." He then pointed a hoof towards a guard that was blocking the entrance of the participant entrance, “Follow him. He will guide you to the participant room.” The guard then turned around and started to walk to participant room.

As we follow the guard, I stare at Cloud, expecting some kind of a response. He notices the stare gives me a sheepish smile. I frown at him, “What's going on?”

“Well, as you probably know, neither of us have enough money to buy a room in any hotel. But then, I heard some players saying that if you win one match in the coliseum, you win a lot of prize money. So, I decided to try it."

“And the part that involves me?”

“Well, I saw that teams could participate and if you win as a team, you receive more prize money. So, I decided to choose you as my team mate.”

I sighed, “Well, who are we fighting?”

“They're some team called the Powerful Two.”

“We’re here.” The guard interrupted us, showing us a massive gate that lead to the center of the coliseum, “Good luck.”

Cloud glanced at me and I gave him a nod as we both entered the gates into the coliseum.

At first, the lights of the coliseum momentarily blinded me, even while wearing my sunglasses. But after my eyes finished recovering, I was able to see how big the coliseum was. It was then that I spotted that the other team was standing at the other end of the arena.

There were only two of them, seeing as their team name was the Powerful Two. The player on the left was a unicorn with a purple coat and a white mane. On his back he was carying a rapier. His player ID read: Hasteclock.

The other one was buff earth pony. His coat was cyan, his mane was two different colors, the left side was red and the other side was blue, and his weapon was a giant rawhide hammer. His ID read: Str0nguy. However, I couldn’t see the cutie marks of either of them.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to the coliseum!" An announcer shouted out, his voice ringing across the coliseum, "Today we are presenting a tag match of two teams. In the south corner, we have our challengers: A new called Team C.” As he said our team name, a television screen showed Cloud and I. Only silence and some laughs were heard throughout the crowd of spectators, “And in the north corner, the most known team here for winning the first five matches in this coliseum in a row, our reigning champions: Theeee Powerful Two.” This time the crowd cheered and stomped their hooves in a massive applause.

I couldn't say that I wasn't a little jealous of them, receiving all that cheering. Of course, the cheering was making the Powerful Two a bit more arrogant, which could turn to my team's advantage.

The announcer continued, “Each of the teams will have to choose one team member to fight. The team member can’t be changed until the fighter's health reaches the yellow zone or until they win the round. When both players of one team reach their health's yellow zone, the other team wins!”

“Teams, choose your players!”

Suddenly, a text appeared in front of Cloud and I, with both of our names listed on it. Cloud and I glance at each other.

“You go first, Cloud. After all, this was your idea.” He nods in approval.

I selected Cloud's name and then another text box appeared:

Cloudburst is selected. Is this OK?
-Yes
-No

I selected "Yes".

“Both teams have selected their participant. Give an applause for Cloud Burst and Strong Guy!” The crowd cheered as they took their places in the arena. A textbox appeared in front of Cloud:

Str0nguy has invited you to a duel. Will you accept?
-Yes
-No

Cloud tapped the "Yes" option with a hoof, and a counter suddenly appeared in the air between Strong and Cloud, counting down from 10.

Strong gave a creepy smile towards Cloud as the counter began, "Heh, do you think you can actually defeat me?” Cloud simply glared back at him.

5...

4…

3…

2…

1…

START! The game blared with the sound of a bell chime, signaling the start of the duel.

Wasting no time, Cloud grabbed his sword and lashed out with an attack, directly at Strong. Strong dodged the attack before he swung his hammer from the side. The blow hit Cloud across the side, his health bar decreasing slightly as he was sent flying towards the arena wall. Using his wings, Cloud stopped his momentum and quickly flew back towards Strong.

“Back for more, eh?” Strong grabbed his hammer like as if it was a bat and stood on his hind legs in a batting position, “Well, time for a home run.”

When Cloud come close enough, Strong swung his hammer with all of his strength. Having saw it coming, Cloud quickly avoided the blow by doing a barrel roll. With his opponent open, Cloud swung his sword at Strong, leaving a line of code across the pony's flesh. Instantly, another line of code appeared in Strong, quicker than a flash, along with another one, and another, and another, and another, leaving six line of codes stretching across Strong's body. Strong cried out in pain as his health bar suddenly dropped into the yellow zone, ending the match.

Suddenly, a large window of text appeared in the air above Cloud:

Congratulations!
You've won the duel!

Everybody was left awestruck, including me. Cloud had only hit Strong once, not six times! For a while, it was only silence. But then a stomp could be heard in the crowd, another one following it, and another, until the entire coliseum was cheering for Cloud. Cloud, now exhausted from his difficult opponent, came back to the participant zone and sat down by me.

I raised an eyebrow at him, “Okay, what did you do? You only gave him one strike and six wounds appeared instead.”

Cloud paused as he tried to catch his breath, “that's my ability. It's called, "Burst attack". If I can hit my opponent at least one time, I can strike him more times than that. The only problem is that it leaves me exhausted. I'll need you to take the next fight.”

I sighed, “Okay.” I turned to the gates and entered the arena. Before I was too far off, I heard Cloud say, "Good luck."

“Okay folks. Both teams have selected their participant. Give an applause to Cross Heart and Haste Clock.” The Crowd cheered loudly, anxious to see another fight just like the one they had seen before with Cloud.

In the arena, I made my way to my position to start the fight. Across the arena, Haste glanced at me and sighs, "Your friend was lucky. Strong was too cocky, and I wont make the same mistake he did.”

I stared at him. Noticing my silence, Haste gave a short chuckle as he shook his head, “After I finish you off, you'll friend will have to fight. And I will make your friend pay.” I gave him a cold glare took a deep breath.

“That is, if you can finish me.” I replied, mockingly.

Immediately, haste opened up his player menu and tapped a few buttons. But then, a small box of text appeared in front of me:

Hasteclock has invited you to a duel. Will you accept?
-Yes
-No

I tapped the "Yes" option with a hoof, and a counter suddenly appeared in the air between me and haste.

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1…

START! The game blared with the sound of a bell chime, signaling the start of the duel.

Haste lashed out in an attack with the tip of his rapier. I quickly took a step to the right to avoid the blow. I just barely dodged the strike, but then he suddenly attacks me with a swing of his sword. Defending myself with my buckler, I was able to stop his attack and counter with my hammer. Noticing my hammer, Haste quickly jumped out of the way as I was about to hit him.

After this, our routine become basically the same the entire time: Attack, guard, attack, avoid. Pretty soon, Haste was starting to get impatient. He jumped back to avoid my hammer's blow, shooting a glare at me, “This was funny at first, but now this is just annoying. Time to end this.”

He started to charge his magic with his horn, surrounding it in a white aura. He took a deep breath, “Haste.”

Suddenly, a giant white clock appeared above his head and stuck to his chest, “This will only last 10 seconds, but that's enough time to end this.”

Haste suddenly starts to move twice as fast than before, making it difficult for me to evade his attack. I defended myself with my buckler, and at the same moment that I did, he attacked me again without hesitation, landing a hard blow. He swung at me again, aiming for my side. The blow barely nicked me as I rolled out of the way, taking a little bit of damage. I then started to gallop away from Haste, dropping my hammer in the process.

But then, Haste quickly caught up to me and lashed out at me with his sword. The strike dealt a lot of damage to me, but not enough to drop me into the yellow zone. I fall to the ground from the force of the attack, quickly glancing back up at Haste. The unicorn approached me, but I noticed that his "haste" status has already gone away.

“This took me more time than I was expecting.” Haste said as he glared down at me, “You’re a strong fighter, Cross, but not enough to defeat me.”

I grinned, “Heh, are you sure about that? Look under you.” He simply looked at me with confused eyes, but then he glanced down to discover that my hammer was directly under him. I let out a laugh, “Jackpot.”

I quickly levitated my hammer up from under Haste, striking his jaw and dropping his health bar a bit. The blow caused Haste to stumble backwards, trying to regain his balance. While he was distracted, I charged up my horn with magic and sent a fire ball to Haste's stomach, making him lose his balance again. I struck him again at his chest with my hammer, sending him flying back into a nearby wall. Haste landed hard against the wall, knocking him out at the same time that his health bar dropped to the yellow zone.

Suddenly, a large window of text appeared in the air above me:

Congratulations!
You've won the duel!

Just like they had done for Cloud, everybody was silent. But then the crowd exploded with cheers. Cloud entered the arena and put an arm around me shoulder, “That. Was. AWESOME! Man, for a second there, I thought you were going to lose. You definitely proved me wrong.”

I let out a short chuckle, but before I could respond the, the Announcer interrupted us, “Well, that folks, was the ending of the tag match, and the winners are Team C!” The cheers of the crowd grew wilder.

Cloud and I then left the arena and went to the reception area to claim our prize. The receptionist congratulated us and then gave us a fairly large bag of money. Inside the bag was 2,500 bits for each of us. My jaw and Cloud’s hit the floor at the sight of that much money in one bag. We hadn't thought that we'd ever be able to earn that much money at the beginning of the game. We both gave our thanks to the receptionist and headed for a hotel. We both agreed that tomorrow morning, we'd be going shopping before heading off to Fillydelphia.