Thirty-six
Leeroy turns to Quick Fix, stunned. They all just watched a pony die. At least the screen had the decency to cut to static and hide the details from them, but they all know what happened.
GA: i… i think that tree was supposed to have something on it
GA: some fruit or something that would have protected him
GA: when he saw there wasn’t one, it was like he just accepted that he was going to die…
GG: That poor guy…
GG: I wonder if ours…
GG: Oh shit, Derpy! Hang on guys!
He takes out his phone to contact the Doctor, Derpy’s server player, but he sees that Derpy is online herself, and has posted an update. He forces himself to continue typing calmly so as not to alarm her, but his heart is pounding.
CA: puppets.
CA: that's really all there is to say on the matter.
guardianGuitarist began chatting with cross-eyedAngel at 12:07 P.M.
GG: Sounds like you found the stuff I set up miss Smarty Pants with.
GG: I knew it wouldn't wear off just because she switched owners.
GG: What happened though? She only comes to life in the presence of danger.
CA: so it WAS you that made her like that!
CA: how did she come to life? and why did you give a doll weapons?
GG: Funny story actually. Back before I enrolled in the knight academy, I still did some combat to help protect the town.
GG: But I could never find a wingman, and I really needed someone to cover my back.
GG: So I got FP to put a 'come to life' spell on her and write down a fire spell for her to use, and my sister installed a little shank in her arm.
GG: Surprisingly effective.
CA: ...
GG: IT MADE SENSE AT THE TIME.
GG: So who'd she have to fight? Are you alright?
CA: oh, yeah, i'm fine.
CA: me and doc went on a hunt for a guy who stole the video game he wanted to play.
CA: i found him first, and got the games back, but he had me play a game of his own first.
CA: he brought out a puppet too, and smarty pants had to fight him.
CA: i think his name was cal.
Leeroy pauses. He knows of such a puppet as Lil’ Cal. He’s heard stories, read creepypastas, seen pictures of those horrible eyes. He is far from thrilled to hear such an entity really exists.
GG: Lil' Cal?
GG: And Smarty Pants beat him?
CA: yup. she didn't even really get hurt that bad.
GG: GOOD GIRL SMARTY PANTS. DADDY'S SO PROUD OF YOU.
agelessTraveler began chatting with cross-eyedAngel and guardianGuitarist at 12:12 P.M.
AT: Oh.
AT: I was popping in to see how your search was going, but I can see you found him.
AT: Good. I was afraid both of us had wasted two hours with this quest. It seems it was only me.
CA: aw, i'm sorry about that doc.
AT: Worry not, my dear, the important thing is that the games have been secured. Once we redistribute them, we can officially begin.
AT: Oh, GG, I was meaning to ask, how are you contacting us right now? I thought you were back on the clock until later?
GG: Call it a self-assigned break.
GG: I found a thing. I think this is a bit more important than combat drills.
AT: A 'thing'... Could you possibly be a tad more specific? What did you find?
GG: I'll tell you as soon as I know. We've got some exploring to do right now.
CA: we?
GG: Oh yeah, TT is here too. Forgot to mention that.
TT: hey
GG: And also, GA is in a video chat with us.
GA: hey guys, what's up?
GG: Anyway, let's get back to business. I'll catch you guys tonight, provided the Battle Master doesn't catch me and chew me out for this.
guardianGuitarist left the chat room
gamingAvarice left the chat room
Leeroy switches windows and opens a private chat with the Doctor. He has to tell him to hurry and get Derpy to safety. If her icon is in yellow like that other poor stallion, she can’t have long.
guardianGuitarist began chatting with agelessTraveler at 12:18 P.M.
GG: Doc, you have to listen to me.
GG: You have to get that game started and get Derpy into the game as fast as possible. Her life is on the line here.
AT: What? My friend, please slow down and explain. What have you discovered? What is threatening Derpy?
GG: Meteors. Big ones. I just watched another poor sap playing this game die because they didn’t work fast enough.
GG: Space rock must have wasted his whole neighborhood, but the screen cut out before we saw the gruesome details.
AT: Oh my… And you say that Derpy is next?
Quick Fix seems to see something on the other side of the lab, and begins playing around with another machine.
GG: One of the next ones, yes. There’s a map here of all the different sessions, and the guy who died had a yellow dot, meaning the meteor was close to him. Derpy’s is yellow too. We have to get her out of there before that dot turns red. Red means we’re too late.
AT: I see… Thank you, my friend. Derpy has secured her copy of the game already. I will work to enter her into the Medium posthaste.
AT: I won’t tell her about this though. She doesn’t need to panic. I’ll get her in quick enough that she doesn’t need to worry herself.
GG: You’re a good friend Doc. I’ll let you get to it.
Leeroy hears Quick Fix laugh in victory, and curious, he trots over to her. He sees that on the floor of the other device are three manila envelopes, all labeled as copies of the game. She grins at Leeroy, and explains that the device teleported the games to the facility.
GA: does that work both ways? we could use it to get my copy to me quicker.
TT: I only saw the one thing, but Ill look
TT: if I have to I can tp over to your house and then just back to mine
TT: or heck, I think theres a spell that can just send stuff
TT: like a god damn magical postal service up in here
TT: Derpyd better watch out, theres a new mailmare in town
GG: This looks like the extent of the useful stuff in this room anyway, and I don’t know how to get into the others.
GG: Let’s all just head back and get ready to roll. We’re all in danger if we just hang around for much longer.
Quick Fix nods, gives Leeroy another hug in departure, then grabs two of the envelopes. A spell charges on her horn, and in a flash of light and smoke, she disappears. A scorch mark is left on the floor where she stood. Leeroy nods and makes his way out of the lab, hoping with all his heart that everyone makes it into the game OK. He doesn’t know what’s going to become of Equestria, but his thoughts don’t dwell on it. As a knight, his job is to focus on protecting that which he is sworn to protect, and that is his family and friends.
Derpy
Before Derpy reaches her home, she gets another message from Doc, saying she should start her copy of the game as soon as possible. Boy, is he ever excited to play! She doesn’t mind though. She walks through the front door, and can smell some pleasant aroma wafting in from the kitchen. It seems her MOM has come home, and is setting up a slow-cook dinner for later. She can also spy a daisy sandwich on the table, set out just for her. She is so thoughtful like that.
Derpy takes a quick moment to enter the kitchen to eat. Surely Doc won’t mind a minute or two more. There’s her mom, standing over the deep oven, her golden hair tied up behind her to stay out of the way, and slightly violet fur shining in the sunlight. Gosh, Derpy hopes to be half as pretty as she is when she grow up.
She notices Derpy enter and smiles, then politely asks where she was. Not incredulously, just curiously. Derpy tells her she was in town for a little while with her friends and new Smarty Pants, which isn’t entirely untrue. Mom believes it. Derpy tells her she’s going to head upstairs for a little while to play a game on the computer, and excuses herself. She doesn’t feel the need to explain further than that, since the details would probably be lost on her. As nice as she is, she doesn’t really understand the most modern technology, all the things that the internet can do. To be fair, Derpy doesn’t understand half of it either, but she rolls with it anyway.
cross-eyedAngel began chatting with agelessTraveler at 12:43 P.M.
CA: okay doc, i’m home!
CA: the game is in my computer. it’s loading pretty fast!
AT: That’s good. Mine is right behind yours.
AT: I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen next, so just be ready.
AT: Once my server version finishes loading though, I believe I will be able to see you and give you warning if anything is about to happen.
CA: looking out for me like always, huh? ^-^
CA: oh, oh! i think it’s finishing!
CA: um… what happened?
CA: it’s not showing anything now… just a thing that says ‘waiting for server connection
AT: Yes, just give it a moment, mine has to finish and connect to yours.
AT: Even then, I’m not sure much will appear on your screen. I think the server player is the one with more control options, while the client will focus on simply playing the game.
AT: And… there we go. Has anything changed?
CA: yeah, it says it made a connection and to press enter.
CA: *push*
CA: another loading screen.
AT: Give it a few moments, this one should be just as fast as the last one. This is a large game, you see.
CA: pretty backgrounds…
CA: and music…
A blue loading bar slides across the screen, accompanied by a fluxing spirograph, swirling and pulsing colorful backgrounds and a catchy upbeat tune that gets Derpy’s heart racing for the adventure ahead of her. This is surely the greatest loading screen she’s ever seen. When it finishes, the screen goes dark, and a single green logo rises: SGRAZE. This logo remains on screen, and it doesn’t appear to be doing much or thinking about leaving. Derpy can access your chat client just fine though.
CA: um, doc…
CA: nothing’s coming up on my screen.
CA: :?
AT: I see. I see you as well. My connection has given me a large amount of options. I wonder what they do?
CA: you can see me?
CA: where’s your camera? or, where are you seeing me from anyway, i guess games don’t usually have real cameras. XD
AT: The southeast corner of the ceiling, behind your computer.
Derpy turns around and waves happily at the spot where she imagines Doc would be seeing her from.
AT: Yes, I see you.
AT: You’re as beautiful as ever.
CA: asdfghjkl d’aawww!
AT: Anyway, I’ll keep you informed as I learn how this works. It seems the game runs on some sort of currency called ‘grist’, of which there are many different types. I assume that we may be able to use it as building material, though I can’t imagine what we’ll be building.
AT: Right now there are only a few kinds we can collect, and of those, we only have 20 of the ‘Build Grist’ type.
CA: okay… is there anything it can be used for yet?
AT: It does not seem so, not yet. There are a few devices that can be deployed that have an icon saying that normally, items such as this would cost grist, but that these particular ones are free.
AT: There is also a captcha card with what looks like punch holes (also free) and a fourth device that costs a bit of a different kind of material.
CA: okay, well, let’s get the free ones first!
AT: Right! Though they seem rather large… This looks like it may be able to solve the problem…
A few seconds later, Derpy hears a low rumble, feels the earth shake under her, and looks beside her to see her room has expanded several feet to the west.
CA: 0_0
CA: you made my room bigger?!
AT: This game seems to have more power than I thought. I can manipulate the very environment with it… ah, but only in a certain radius around you.
AT: Doing this cost us five units of Grist, but I don’t believe that should presently be a problem.
AT: Now that we have space, let’s see what all these devices do…
Derpy watches as a series of odd white machines appear in the new space in her room. One which has a cylinder rising up slightly and with a lid sealing something inside, one with a large, round base and with another device rising up from the side, and one which fits neatly and flatly against the wall, which she couldn’t even imagine the purpose of. To be fair though, she couldn’t imagine the purpose for any of them.
AT: Alchemiter, Cruxtruder, Totem Lathe… All seem interesting, though their purpose is as of yet unclear.
CA: hm… let’s try opening the crux-thingy! i bet there’s something inside!
CA: but… it’s too heavy! i can’t get it by myself, it’s too tight.
AT: Hold on, I may be able to drop something on top of it. It looks like it is a push-to-open container.
AT: Mind if I use this toy chest?
CA: nah, go ahead.
Derpy watches as her toy chest carefully floats up above the sealed device, falling hard enough that the lid dislodges. Almost immediately, what seems to be a floating ball of violet light pops out and hovers around the room, flashing and making unintelligible noises. In addition, the top of a purple cylinder pokes out of the container.
CA: okay, now, what’s this thing?
AT: I’m not sure. When I hover my cursor over it, it shows a label reading ‘Kernelsprite’.
AT: The item in the Cruxtruder is a Cruxite dowel.
CA: that makes sense. sorta.
CA: it looks the right size to fit on that place on the alchemiter. i’m going to try it.
She retrieves the Cruxite dowel from the Cruxtruder, and places it on the Alchemiter. For a moment, nothing happens, then an arm extends from the side and shoots a small laser at the dowel, scanning it. The arm then folds back up at the side of the Alchemiter. She waits several more seconds, but nothing more happens. She gives the whole setup of devices a confused look, then picks up her phone again, as Doc is talking.
AT: That seems to have added something to the ‘Phernalia Registry’ section. That’s where all the devices were.
AT: We now have ‘perfectly generic object’ in our inventory. It costs one unit of Grist. It seems to be mostly useless.
AT: I think I understand. We need to do something to the Cruxite dowel in order to generate different items. I’m not sure how we’d do that though.
CA: what about this kinda smaller one? it looks like a card could fit in this part…
Experimentally, Derpy sticks a blank card into the Totem Lathe, but nothing happens. She then tries putting the Cruxite dowel into the top part of the device, and while it is a perfect fit, the device is still inactive. She pouts slightly, then sees something flutter down beside her. She looks to see another captcha card, punched full of holes, and she thinks there is an image of a purple apple on it.
CA: think i should run this one through the machines?
AT: Yes, in a moment. The Kernelsprite seems very agitated about something. I think we need to interact with that somehow first.
CA: hm… call it a hunch, but i think it looks… hungry!
CA: i think i should put something in it.
CA: what about this paper mache bird my mom made out of old letters?
AT: While that is the exact opposite of a safe and secure thing to do with old letters… We may as well see if that does anything!
Derpy moves over to her dresser and takes the paper bird. Unicorn magic can make art out of anything, she thinks. Even crafted from an inaccurate material as paper and watered-down glue, the detail used to craft this birthday present is something to behold.
Derpy is sure that her mother would approve of putting it to a practical use, though. She tosses it gently at the Kernelsprite, and a flash of purple serves as a pretty clear indication that that did something. Before her eyes adjust, she can already hear the crinkle of paper, and when one eye does adjust (out of sync with the other, of course) she can see that the sprite and the bird have merged. Now, the bird has taken life, glowing purple and flapping its paper wings to rid them of their stiffness. Its attempts to communicate with you are still complete nonsense.
AT: Well. That seems to have worked.
AT: Though it doesn’t appear as though anything has actually changed.
CA: maybe it needs another thing?
AT: Perhaps, but right now I think we should focus our attention on that card.
AT: There is a counter on the Cruxtruder, and it’s getting rather low. I doubt something good happens when it runs out.
CA: okay!
She takes the pre-punched card and puts it into the Totem Lathe, along with the Cruxite Dowel. The machine seems to scan the card, and another part of the machine descends and changes the shape of the Cruxite Dowel. She takes both, then tries putting the Cruxite onto the smaller platform of the Alchemiter. The arm descends again, scans the Cruxite, and recedes. On the larger platform, a violet tree springs up, the same color and material as the Dowel. An apple sways on the highest branch for a moment, then falls into her waiting hooves.
Doc
Doc takes a breath to calm himself. He thinks she should be able to make it just fine. He guesses she must be supposed to eat the apple. He isn’t sure what that would do to stop the meteor headed for her, but he’s seen stranger things.
He takes the controls again and zooms out to check her time. He can now see plain as day a hunk of flaming space debris headed right for her house, probably without even a minute left before impact.
CA: okay doc, i got this apple… what do i do with it?
AT: Give me a moment… Erm…
AT: Eat it.
CA: you sure?
AT: Yes. Just, take a bite.
AT: It’s meant to protect you, I’m sure of it. Knowing the nature of these things, it probably has a spell or some other form of protection on it.
CA: that makes sense, and it does look tasty…
CA: protect me from what though?
AT: Don’t worry about that, just let it do its job.
At long last, Derpy finally takes a bite out of the apple, and her whole house is enveloped in a violet light. The building begins to fade, becoming transparent and taking the ground directly surrounding it with it. Just as the house becomes barely visible on your monitor, the meteor strikes, and Doc can tell that the neighboring houses must have been totaled by the explosion.
He wasn’t there to see it, though. His view is still focused on Derpy’s house, safe and sound, surrounded by darkness and fog. He allows himself to slouch in his chair and sigh, relieved that she made it in time. He doesn’t know where she is now, but knows that she’s alive.