"Alright," Will says as we enter the town square of Ponyville, which has become a hub for traders of both player and NPC (non playable character) species alike. "Do you think they added a Sports Bar in this game? Or do we have to go wind down on cupcakes and frosting?"
Ed responds first, being the nostalgia geek out of the rest of us he would know the answer to that undoubtedly. "They expanded Sugarcube Corner so it has an area about as close to a sports bar as you can get."
Xavier begins to walk towards where we believe Sugarcube Corner is, until I check my map and notice Xavier is going the wrong way.
"Hey stick boy," I say, knowing he's going to hate my new nickname for him, "wrong way. The place we want to go is north, not south."
Xavier just responds by giving me a glare, followed by using his blink skill (short ranged teleport for complicated terms) to appear behind me and begins scooting the direction I pointed out, typical.
"I knew that." Xavier responds, still inching his way over in a direction that will cause him to bump into another player. Within a few seconds he does just that, sparking an arguement with the random person. Unfortunately, Matt got in between them before it turned into a conflict.
We open the doors to the Corner, and Ed was right in saying that it had been expanded. There's now a full on bar, serving Cider and other products that shouldn't be inside a kid's show or game, and Televisions that serve to announce game news, such as our confinement within this game. So far, the only casualties are those who, shall we say, lost hope.
We find one of those corner booths, that resemble a split tube, and manage to squeeze our bodies into it as a familiar pink waitress walks er… bounces over to us. Her poofy cotton candy like hair being a dead giveaway as to who will be serving us tonight. She's wearing a pink shirt that displays her cutie mark in the front-mid section of it, and she's wearing jeans.
"Hi there! You guys must be new," she chirruped, "What'syournamewheredidyoucomefromwhatcanIgetyou?"
Simultaneously, our heads swiveled to Ed’s direction, desperately pleading with our eyes for him to make sense from the gibberish that came out of her mouth. I guess that we all had the same idea, since Pinkie Pie is no doubt Ed’s all time favourite pony.
"Let's save the formalities for later," Ed says, seemingly comprehending whatever words that had come out of her mouth. As far as I know, that fanatic might as well have been speaking Klingon. At least that would have made some sense. "For now, we'll have one cider and two cupcakes each."
Pinkie merely nodded, sparing us all from another verbal assault and simply bouncing away to get what we ordered.
"Seriously Ed," Steven says as we all relax, enjoying this reprieve from an otherwise stressful day, "how can you understand that flamingo colored sack of ADD?"
Will and I shout before Ed can answer, not wanting to go through another one of his lectures about how Pinkie Pie is best pony. Ed understands, and leans back in anticipation of the upcoming cupcakes and cider.
"So," Steven says, trying to change the subject, "when we finish our snack, should we go to the Inn and try to figure out how to get a room that fits the six of us?"
I nod, followed by a "Mmhmm.", since the last fight, and this heavy armor, have worn me to the point where I would love to take it off for the day. Will however, wants to start a guild, which means looking presentable, so that we can have a decently sized group to go into the large dungeon with minimal casualties. Normally dungeons in this game only allow a total of six players, but the large dungeons allow a total of fifty players. That may be overkill for the first major dungeon, which is only equipped with level 5 monsters, but, again, Will wants to have as many players as possible.
Speaking of the non-existent guild, Will decides to put that on the subject.
"Alright, what should we name our guild?" Will asks, turning away from Xavier. We all know he would say something stupid like "The Dubstep Parrot Poonies" since I doubt he took his medication before jumping on this god forsaken game.
"Why not something symbolic of both the show and our mission to get out of this game?" Steven asks. Always the Artist type that guy. Not that I'm complaining, of course, because I have trouble drawing a stick figure holding a ruler but, you get the point.
Of course everybody liked that, and a heated brain storming conversation was born. Most of the ideas we couldn't get a majority vote of at least five of us, as our usual voting goes, so none of the options had made the cut.
"Well, seeming that there's no Celestia, why not something to do with our 'god and savior'" Xavier says, mocking the Jehova's witnesses that roam his neighborhood like kids would a candy store that participated in Black Friday.
"Celestial Crusaders why not?" Will says, grabbing his mug of Cider and drinking the last few drops. We had gotten our cupcakes and drinks a few minutes back, since this conversation seemed like it had taken an hour.
Everybody was too bored to argue this and, hoping to end this, we all raise our hands. Will nods, then goes into his menu to set up the guild.
Once the guild has been created, Will sends us an invitation to join. The message pops up in front of my face, and I read it because that's what I always do.
Will wants you to join the guild: "The Celestial Crusaders"
I hit the circle button, that indicates acceptance of his request, and my normal menu comes up, followed by a short tutorial of how to navigate to the Guild menu, and what you can do in the guild menu.
We walk out of the bar, our mission fulfilled, stomachs full, and tip payed, and begin to walk back to the Ponyville Inn where everybody has decided is the best place to stay right now in this hub. On our way there though, an announcement makes it's way on to a screen in front of us.
I hope you all have enjoyed your first day here in LOEO, as the physical world's beings call it, but I have wonderful news for all of you. A certain group has recently been formed to focus on the escape of this magnificent world. The guild, known as the Celestial Crusaders, will be the perfect spot to have fun fighting the many creatures in this vast, beautiful land.
In honor of someone finally taking initiative and forming a Guild to defeat me, I have set up a special event. Come to the Town Square where all of your lives in this game had begun, and I will give out the first clue to my identity. This, of course, will be different form the one that you will find within the first major dungeon, found in the Everfree Forest.
In summary, thanks to the Celestial Crusaders, you will receive a clue to my identity, and may even be able to reveal it, or at least make some theories. That is what some of you are known for anyways, isn't it?
I look at Will after reading, and closing, the message, and his face is back to the serious, though scary, Will we had encountered at the Acres.
"Will, stop giving that look. We're all gonna go, and we don't need you barking at us." Matt says, clearly seeing what I did just then.
Will nods, eases his face so that it seems normal, then begins to walk towards the Town Square to receive our first clue, and we follow in suite.
We arrive at the town square, along with an enormous group of other players, half of which had applied, and been accepted, for our group.
I look around at the large team that's already been formed. Some our level, and a couple even higher. If I remember correctly from the Guild roster, our highest level was a guy whose already reached 7. Will wants us to reach 10 before we attempt to fight whatever is in the dungeon, so that none of us are in immediate danger of dying.
The large group that had been formed spots us, and opens up a path for us to walk towards the center so we can get the best view to this event Despair had mentioned, but before we get enough time to even move towards the center, The sky loses it's blue hue and is replaced with a threatening night black. Lights coming from the roof of the town hall illuminate the gap left the recruits to our guild, and a thick smoke condenses in the center of the light. The smoke expands and contracts before shaping itself into the form of a player covered with nothing but a brown cloak, and the area where his face would be is pure black, not revealing any eyeballs or facial feature at all. I look above his head to check his name, but no revealing name tag appears. Just the word Despair.
"Hello residents of this beautiful town," Despair begins, his voice is dark, booming, and has a weird echo like Queen Chrysalis' voice. "You have obviously come here for the hint. Now, if you want it then the six players who created the Celestial Crusaders shall come here, into the center, so that we may chat face to face before I reveal this hint. I must say, it's a rather exciting hint as well. I'm getting shivers just thinking about it."
Will walks forward, followed by the rest of us, and once we all make it to the center, Despair begins talking again.
"So these are the six people who are going to kill me? Well then I must say, it's going to take some time before you're even half way there." Despair's eyes flash so that we can see them, but they're pure yellow. No pupils, irises, or anything. Just yellow balls, and then the teeth. His toothy, maniacal smile makes me uncomfortable, while only making Will's confident smile drop.
"Don't worry Despair," Will taunts, trying to sound unfazed by his threatening appearance. "We'll take our time getting to you. Need to ensure minimal casualties upon going into the first dungeon y'know?"
Despair just laughs. A small laugh, but enough to set the crowd around us on edge. Despair then grabs his cloak, and throws it off of himself. What is revealed is a fit, pure pitch black, body with nothing but the two features I stated about before.
"Woah," Xavier says, taken aback by this sudden appearance, "who left Slenderman out in the sun too long?" This remark makes Despair scowl at him, and the rest of us to give him a glare, though I do hear some snickering coming from the crowd to my left.
"Dammit Xavier," Will responds, clearly annoyed by his joke. "this is supposed to be serious." Xavier just shrugs and begins to look away, hoping Despair will forget him for the time being, which he does.
This is your first hint." Despair states, pointing a dark finger at himself as he begins to turn into smoke again, leaving us with only a few more words. "Use it, and take it wisely." His dark, wispy smoke flies into the sky, before completely disappearing, along with the night time sky and the spotlights on the Town Hall's roof.
"Alright," Will says, addressing the crowd as he turns toward us. "Everybody go home, I will create an intel division within my group to help decipher what this hint could be."
The crowd disperses in a wave of conversations both normal and concerning. Will walks up to us, his face tired, not too sure how, and his voice low so others don't hear us when he speaks.
"Let's go get a room." He says, which we all agree to. The road ahead of us is long, but it will be worth returning to the real world. Even if it means sacrificing my self for others.