//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Everfree's daring trek 
// Story: Legends of Equestria online 
// by tut895 
//------------------------------//

I wake, and look around the shanty-like hotel room. The velvet rug is barely visible under Matt and Ed’s intertwined body. Their fingers inches away from each other, as if they had been holding hands until they fell asleep.

Will had already woken up, and had brought coffee from whatever coffee stand that was nearest to the Hotel. He puts the cups filled with The nectar of the gods, according to Steven, and points his head to the door, indicating that he wants to speak with me outside the room.

I get up, trying to avoid the two lovers on the rug, and cautiously walk towards the doorway. Hopefully this’ll be quick so I can grab my coffee and start the stretches that the game manual recommends, supposedly to get used to how the game programs character movement.

Will closes the door behind me, and begins to talk quietly, in order to not wake anybody else sleeping within the hotel room.

“Steven has been thinking about leaving the team, and just staying here in Ponyville.” He says, which is followed by me slowly opening the door to glare at steven. He’s still sleeping, but something about him looks troubled, as if the dream he’s having isn’t exactly a dream.

"What do you mean?" I ask, honestly surprised that one of us wouldn't want to help everybody get out of the game.

"He's been asking some of the conversational NPCs about living in Ponyville," He explains, and goes into some hints Steven's shown since we were in here. "and have you noticed him in combat? He has yet to run his blade through anything. All he does is send his bird to distract the enemy, and hopes Matt will come swooping in so he doesn't have to." I'm not sure what, but something about this, or maybe all of it, makes me rethink Steven's loyalty to our Guild's cause.

“We need our Beast Tamer though,” I say, explaining something Will already knows, “his pet is great for distracting the smaller mobs while we attack the big guy in a fight.”  Will turns back with the most level headed response he can give.

“We know that,” he says, giving me some form of compromise “so what I think we could do, is to just let him be here in Ponyville, and try to find a higher level Beast Tamer. He can’t be the only person who had actually picked that class.” Will rolls his eyes as he says that. No matter how calm he tends to be, there’s always something that gives you a hint to how he really feels. From his hand curling into a fist for a second, to a small grin, to even a wink.

“Regardless,” I counter, agreeing with him, but still trying to poke holes in his theory, “if we do end up letting him tell us, what will he do? Is he just going to walk away from the fight shyly, or is he gonna come out about it during some form of party, or is he just going to tell us as soon as we’re all awake?”

Will just shrugs and puts his hand on the door lightly.

“I dunno,” He says, not exactly reassuring me, “but either way, it’s not something we can just put off until somebody’s dead, ya know?”

I nod, and Will opens the door. We both walk into the room, now buzzing with a slurred chatter since everyone’s awake now.

“Awww,” Xavier says, in a weird voice that sounds like a girl giving a pet name to her boyfriend during a dinner date, “Did you two finally come out of the closet to each other?”

Xavier’s question is answered, with a fist instead of words. My knuckles connect with his jaw, and the knock back effect spins him back onto the bed.

“Hey Will,” I say, shaking my fist to get rid of the numbing feeling. “You got me the kind of Coffee I actually like, right?”

Will grabs the tray of Coffee cups, and hands one to me, I grab it and the warmth pricks at my fingertips the longer I hold on to it. He then speaks with a slight tint of annoyance in his voice.

“Yea, yea,” he says, “I got you your Mandolin, or whatever.”

“Mandheling!” I shout, anger in my voice. It’s still surprising that he could mistake a musical Instrument for a type of Coffee.

"Like I could care about your weird sounding coffee," Will retorts, just as annoyed as I am, though for a different reason. "That's why I just drink tea, and add a little bit extra sugar."

I just shrug it off, and begin sipping my drink. Steven and Xavier refuse their drink, since they like to drink it after they've woken up fully, while Matt and Ed just grab their cups and drink them in stride, doing a mixture of chugging and drinking normally.

"So," I say, hoping to fully understand our plan for today. "How exactly are we going to take the dungeon effectively?"

Will, being the plan building leader he is, gives an explanation as detailed as possible without giving too many specifics.

"We'll be in small groups of six, each group in their own respective party, and will be moving with one minute intervals. When a group reaches the boss door, they'll wait for all other groups to make it there as well.

Once we're all at the boss door, we'll split away from the party system and turn into three divisions. Division one will consist of tank classes, thief classes, and beast tamer classes. Division two will be made out of the Unicorn classes, yes both, as they're a good mix of up close and ranged. Division three will be solely made up of archers, to keep them protected completely, since we know they won't be able to survive in any form of close quarters combat."

I nod, now understanding our plan, and get up to go prepare for the shit storm we're about to get ourselves in.





I thrust my blade forward, hoping it'll hit my target. He jumps out of the way though, so the only thing I hit is air. He comes towards my thigh, his body crouched making it harder to dodge, and aims his sword so that it's easier for it to puncture my body.

I jump backwards, but it's to no avail as the blade goes through my side. I feel the sting of metal, similar to the fight at the farm, and wince as my health bar empties and a screen appears, with a message I didn't want to show up.



DUEL OVER: You have lost



Black Star sheaths his blades, and wipes his hands on his pants.

"Well," he says, a smirk on his face and his eyes closed. "that was more of a challenge than I thought. You might be able to beat me one day." I nod, and extend an open hand.

"Yea," I say happily, "but if we weren't doing a 'first to get a hit' duel, I would've beat you easily."

Black Star nods his head, and shakes my hand firmly. He opens his menu, and after a few clicks his menu closes. As his menu closes, mine opens up with a message.



   New Friend Request
Black Star: Level 6 Thief
Y    N



I put my finger on the Y button, and Black Star's blue name tag turns green. Will walks up to us, after a half hour of organizing, and tells me to get into the group I'm assigned to, which consists of Black Star, a healer called Tris, a tag team of Beast Tamers called Rob and Big, and a Mage by the name of Fire Fly. A lot of the other groups have called us the Reference group, as I'm the only person with a username that doesn't reference something.

Will stands in front of the Everfree's entrance, and turns to the rest of us.

"Alright," Will announces to the group, "we all know how this works, and Jake's group is the first one, so we'll let him go first and hope he doesn't get killed." Will looks at me with a slightly twisted smile, commonly used when he gives a twisted joke.

"Alright, Jake if you could get going." Will says, pointing the way to the forest. I walk to the Forest entrance, and wait for the pop up to come.



You are about to enter the Major Dungeon: Everfree Forest.
Confirm



I tap the confirm button, and the pitch dark path lights up just enough to see ahead. I look inside, and the path seems relatively linear, with only a few curves to avoid tree roots and Timber wolf nests. I walk into the forest, and the wind shifts to an icy cold breeze. The change gives me Goosebumps, and I shiver as my group and I press into the forest, breaths hanging in the air due to the sudden freezing temperatures.





The trek through this forest has been excruciating. Surprisingly high level Timber wolves, unexpected large swarms of Parasprites, and plants that give you paralysis simply from touching them. I had to drag Black Star for a good half hour until the second group caught up with us, and a higher level Cleric was able to use one of his skills to remove the paralyzed effect.

I look up, and see the big stone doors marking the old castle, which is where the boss is supposed to be. My heart sinks to my stomach as I see something guarding it. Something that's supposed to be a normal enemy for level forty-or-more players. The creature in front of us, is a red, full grown, very pissed off, Dragon.

The Dragon charges directly at us, with no player, NPC, or mob to provoke it. Typical of Dragon mythology, Territorial, greedy, and very aggressive. 

We all run to the vegetation on the edges of the path, and wait until the Dragon stops it's charge. I jump out, activating my Flair skill in hopes of giving us a chance to run. The attack just give the Dragon a small amount of knock back, and it quickly wheels it's head to face me, blowing smoke into my face. I rush to his feet, making it harder for him to hit me, and rise my blade above my head.

I wait until the Celestial Strike ability is activated, and swing my blade down onto it's left foreleg. The cut is a white light instead of the usual red line, and the Dragon's body ignites into white flames. It gives a short huff, before it's throat lights with an unusual red glow, and within a few seconds it veered it's head toward where the rest of my group was hiding, and spit large balls of fire across the grass. My team ran out from their hiding spot, and began legging it toward the exit again.

"Hey," I shout, getting the attention of the other group that we had met up with. "you guys need to get out of here and tell the other groups to hurry their asses up! I'm not the highest level here by a long shot, so it'll help a lot when we can get the highest level player here."

The group leader, by the name of Nina, nods her head and begins sneaking through the vegetation to get to the other groups without too many fights.

I backstep towards the end of the Dragon's tail, and hop onto the top of the tail. I sprint my way up it until I've reached the base it's neck, and run my sword through the back of it's neck. The dragon gives a wail, as it's health bar drops a miniscule amount.

I bring my blade out of the Dragon's throat, and jump to the ground. Hopefully I can hold it off long enough for the rest of the guild to get over here.