Kirito and Asuna opened their eyes back in Equestria. They were in Ponyville’s library surrounded by 5 of the Mane 6 (Fluttershy was in her home taking care of Silica along with Pina and Spike) and their daughter Yui. When she realized they were awake, she happily jumped to hug them.
“Mama, Papa, welcome back” she greeted.
They kissed her daughter.
“Is nice to see you too, Yui. Have you being a good girl with the ponies?” asked Asuna gently.
Yui giggled. “I’ve being nice, Mama”
Kirito smiled. “Is good to hear that; we already have enough problems here” he said joking.
Moved for the family moment they were seeing, the ponies didn’t interrupted; but at the end Twilight had to call their attention. She offered her hoof gently.
“Well, we started with the wrong hoof; so my friends and I were thinking than we better start over again. Nice to meet you, Kazuto Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki; I hope we became good friends”
Kirito and Asuna shook Twilight’s hoof.
“Is nice to meet you too, your highness” said Kirito. “But in this world my name is Kirito”
Asuna chuckled. “Well, my name is the same here than in our home so it’s okay”
At the end, the Mane 6 introduced one by one, reducing the tension. But the door opened letting pass Silica, Fluttershy, Pina and Spike (who were sharing an ice cream with their mouths too close from each other, irritating Rarity). It was after Celestia’s magic brought them back to their homes the ponies decided to let the bodies of Asuna and Kirito in the library while Fluttershy took care of Silica; after all the warrior rented her a room)
And Fluttershy was at very good mood, but she suddenly changed when she saw Kirito and Asuna. The pegasus grumped and sat between her friends ignoring the warriors. Twilight rolled her eyes better going to the main subject.
“Back to our business here, we were thinking and we know someone who knows a lot of dark magic; so he could tell us what’s going on with you. His name is Discord and he’s already waiting for us in Canterlot; so we have to move fast”
They were about to go but Kirito stopped them. “Wait, we’re still waiting for someone!”
“Who?” asked Rarity, but almost instantly she smiled. “Ah! You mean Princess Celestia! Don’t worry about her, darling; she has her own problems to deal with. But don’t worry, you can trust us”
“No, I mean, Asuna and I are still waiting for someone” said Kirito smiling too.
And before the ponies could ask who, some kind of blue light appeared in the library and gradually took the form of small squares, that Kirito, Asuna and Silica recognized as pixels. At the end, the pixels formed a green pegasus with blue eyes and a blond beautiful mane.
“You didn’t have problems finding the server, Leafa?” asked Asuna.
The blond pegasus winked an eye to them. “As my brother said, I could find it through his computer” then, Leafa turned to the surprised ponies. “By the way, we met before at our house; I’m Suguha, Kazuto’s younger sister. But here in the virtual world my name is Leafa”
Twilight nodded. “Good. Now that we’re all here, we can go to meet Discord”
In the train, Fluttershy was very rude to Kirito and Asuna, doing her best to ignore their presence; but she quickly became friends with Leafa and Silica. The rest of them could see it, but they better let them solve the problem by themselves. When they get off the train, Fluttershy was very direct:
“Just to let you know I’m watching you. Princess Celestia authorized us to report your behavior so you better don’t hurt an innocent creature again”
“Fluttershy stop, please” asked Rainbow Dash. “After all, it wasn’t their fault; was Discord’s”
Fluttershy mumbled something, but she accepted and walked with her friends. They found Discord drinking a cappuccino in a café, bringing inanimate objects to live for the irritation of the owner. Twilight coughed calling the monster’s attention, who only sighed annoyed and stopped tormenting the costumers.
“How are you, new Princess or Equestria?” he greeted. “What the old Discord can do for you? Or you just called me because you wanted to thank me for the pet I gave you to celebrate your ascension as Princess? It was very difficult to figure out what I could give you, but I heard about an incident with a friend of yours called Trixie and the rest is history. Did you liked my present or not?”
Twilight glared at him. “Very funny, isn’t it? Did you know how bad your prank ended, right? An innocent creature is now dead because of you!”
Discord laughed, making everypony get angry, especially Fluttershy.
“But of course I know, Twilight Sparkle! I was in first line enjoying the show. You and your friends were excellent dealing with such creatures. But is a shame than those Black Swordsman and the Flash were faster than you”
Fluttershy flew to Discord, using a furious Stare. And this time it worked because now the monster appreciated Fluttershy’s friendship. He quickly tried to apologize.
“Oh, please Fluttershy!! If it’s true I did wrong enjoying the show, what can you tell me about those two, eh? All I wanted was to see you dealing with the Ursa; not what happened”
Fluttershy mumbled something and he was about to answer when he realized the warriors were there as well.
“Oh my! What a nice surprise; I never expected to meeting you guys! Is a truly honor to meet you Mr. Black Swordsman, Miss. Flash. What are you doing hanging out with Princess Twilight and her friends? Last time I checked they didn’t like you at all!
“I still don’t like them” said Fluttershy angrily; making Discord laugh a little.
“This is serious, Discord” said Twilight. “Precisely, they’re in a situation and we need your help, so…”
Discord laughed even more.
“So do you want my help, your highness? Of course! But first, you must do something for me”
“What?” asked Applejack.
“Entertain me!” announced the monster while clacking his fingers.
One of Canterlot’s main attractions were the beautiful statues all over the city. Every creature, celebrity or historic figure like Starswirl the bearded were represented by a real size statue in the city. And every single statue came to life at the instant Discord decided to have fun. They raised from their bases and started to terrified all citizens. Kirito looked at Twilight, who only nodded.
“It’s all right; they’re just rocks”
No need to say more; the warriors took their swords from their inventories (a dagger for Silica) and attacked while Discord clapped really excited.
In one of the cafes, Celestia and Luna were having a coffee break.
“So you had a very interesting day” said Luna eating her last cupcake. “Anyway; I would like to meet the mysterious warriors; looking they’re not evil after all”
“As I said to Twilight, my dear sister, they’re just children who thought they were playing. But you know? If one day our technology advance to that level I’ll forbid games that simulate violence”
Luna nodded and kept drinking her coffee.
But their relaxing time were interrupted by the screams from all over the city. The Princesses raised an eyebrow and checked what was going on. They could so a Nightmare Moon statue that pushed a green pegasus with blond mane directly to them. The impact bring down the three mares along with their table. A green bar appeared above the pegasus and lowered a little. Surrounding the Princesses, appeared a purple energy shield with the message IMMORTAL OBJECT.
Leafa grumped and taking her sword, she destroyed that Nightmare Moon monument and continued attacking the flying ones. A Celestia statue were about to attack Leafa; but this one was quickly destroyed by Celestia herself.
The warriors divided in two teams: Leafa and Kirito will destroy the flying statues and Silica, Pina and Asuna the rest. Discord was still laughing with the Mane 6 staring at him angrily; when Celestia and Luna landed between them.
“Princesses!” greeted Discord happily. “Please take a seat and watch the show with us”
Celestia was about to tell him to stop, when Kirito appeared and attacked the monster. The message IMMORTAL OBJECT appeared again.
“Damn it!” mumbled the Black Swordsman and vented his anger with a statue of Discord.
The monster laughed louder just before putting a victim face. “Oh my gosh! He tried to kill me! You all saw him, he was trying to do something terrible to me!”
The ponies stared at Discord angrily, but he only laughed a little bit more. But after five minutes, the show was over; Kirito, Silica, Asuna and Leafa terminated all the statues and Pina healed their wounds. The monster clapped.
“Thank you for the show my new friends. You obtained my attention; what the old Discord can do for you?”
…
It wasn’t common seeing Discord so interested into something (usually he would be annoying everypony around) but this time he stayed quiet until the end. The truth was he was thinking in create chaos in the human world; but he still needed time to plan it well. In the meantime, he was going to help the warriors, but only because he needed the Princesses lower their guard.
“Let me see if I get it: you want me to evaluate what kind of spell is bonding you to this world, right?” he asked; surrounding the warriors with his dark magic aura.
After fifteen minutes, he let them go.
“So?” wanted to know Twilight.
Discord shook his head. “I can’t help them, your highness. I do feel the dark magic, but is mixed with something else; something I can assure you is not coming from our side”
“What you mean?” asked Asuna.
“Whatever maintain their avatars in Equestria is using both our magic and their technology of computer programing. I don’t know who is after this but if you find him, please congratulate him for me”
They all were more confused, but at the end they thanked Discord and left. But the monster appeared before them.
“Now what?” asked Rarity.
Discord offered the best of his smiles.
“One more thing, something really important for our friends from the other world: I took the liberty to watch into your memories during my evaluation and what I saw was very interesting. You totally should sell your story to a novelist, guys. Whatever, I just wanted to warn you: perhaps you can move freely between Equestria and your world; but remember: here you are under the same danger you were in Sword Art Online”
“You mean…”
“If you die in Equestria, you’ll die in your world too. Moving to a real world is not like moving into one of your games. When you log in into one of your games, you’re projecting your mind; but this time you’re transferring your souls. Something to have in mind before risking in another battle. Have a nice day!”
Once he said it, he vanished. The gamers looked each other so as the ponies. Who was doing this and why?
…
“It’s done” announced the computer programmer Akihiko Kayaba; who was working in some kind of console that was showing him the codes and stats of the four players. “Now you have a body for your own “
In this world, the computer genius was a beige earth pony with light gray mane and brown eyes. He was wearing a black tie and his Cutie Mark was binary code.
“You did an excellent work. I’m satisfied with the result, Akihiko Kayaba” said Nightmare Moon coming out of the shadows.
The programmer kept working. “I told you: all what I want is to know the real reach of my invention; the NerveGear. Now can you finally tell me what are you planning to do with Kirito and his partners?”
“Not of your business” said Nightmare Moon. Or are you thinking in betray the TRUE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT?
Akihiko rolled his eyes and kept working.
“I made myself clear the first time we met: I’m not at anyone’s side. I’m only interested in my research”
Nightmare Moon nodded and left Kayaba. After all she had a very occupied schedule now than she was finally free from Luna.