//------------------------------//
// July 1st (The Badlands) 
// Story: Equestria Legends Online 
// by Shadowflame 
//------------------------------//

	"Hey, there's Appleousa!"

Siren leaned against the railing of the airship, pointing a hoof down towards the ground below, "Everyone, say hello to my old home."

Everyone who happened to be on deck at the time, mainly me, Lexus, Soul, Neon, and Comet, rushed over to Siren to see. As I peered over the edge, I saw a very small, cowboy town below. I'm not kidding when I said it was small. The town only consisted of about two dozen wooden shacks, with nothing but some apple trees and desert surrounding it.

Of course, we could just barely see it, since the sky was growing darker. We had been sailing the whole day, and the sun was just beginning to set behind the horizon. Judging from the map Jupiter provided us before we left, at this rate I figured we would reach the border of the badlands by midnight.

Siren began pointing out a few buildings with a hoof, grinning like a little filly... Well, littler filly, "Down there was Team Vortex's old base when we started here, and over there is the tavern Eclipse, Cordon, and I used to hang out in."

"It looks, um, lovely." Comet replied, "It's too bad Eclipse isn't up here to see it." She glanced towards the helm where Swift stood, "Hey, goggles! Come look at this! The beginnings of our team are down there!"

"I can see it just fine from here, Comet." Our navigator shouted back. I could hear a sense of exhaustion in his voice, though I wasn't surprised by it. We had been flying for hours, and keeping an airship steady, on course, and steering with the wind currents really takes the energy out of you.

Of course, Comet only laughed with her loud chuckle, "Oh, lighten up, Swift."

We were planning to keep flying for the whole night, but fortunately for Swift, Eclipse had volunteered to take over for him at the helm once night fell. In fact, he was down below deck, taking a nap in his quarters so he wouldn't doze off when taking the helm tonight.

As for everyone else who wasn't on deck, they were doing a few other things. Cloud and Cross were below deck doing who knows what, Violet was in his own quarters as he tried to set up some sort of crafting area (I guess he wanted it to feel more like home), Soul was in the mess hall (yet I don't know what he was doing. In the corner of my mind, I had the feeling it had something to do with hiding his stash of muffins from Cloud), and Dylan... I actually didn't know where Dylan was. Come to think of it, ever since Sky left, Dylan had become as elusive as his brother.

Basically, everyone on the ship had been doing the same thing for the first few hours of our flight, making the airship our new home. I had brought my belongings on board and stored them in my own room, my quarters. Of course, my stuff hadn't been the only thing I brought aboard either.

This was something I forgot to mention in yesterday's journal entry, but better late than never, right? You see, ever since Sky left the team, no one had done anything with all of his belongings he'd left behind. Not even Cross or Cloud had done anything to it, so it remained untouched in Sky's room.

But when we had to move out, I took the liberty of moving his belongings on board the ship. I even grabbed one of the extra rooms we had and set up his belongings, just like they had been back in Canterlot...

... I don't know why I did. I guess part of me still thinks Sky is coming back... I mean, I don't want to lose hope in that possibility, but... It's been weeks since I sent that message to Sky, the one where I explained our situation to him. Although, after Sky didn't return after that, I thought I had given up on any hope that message could bring. But something was still nagging at me, something that really thought Sky would return.

... Maybe it was Discord's announcement? Maybe I thought that if Sky knew he was one of the only ponies that could help everyone fight the bosses, then he'd return to fight with us...

I shook my head as I thought about it. I couldn't keep hoping like that... I knew that if I did, I'd probably start moping about it... Just like Dylan is. But I couldn't do that now. We were making our way to the badlands to fight Queen Chrysalis. I needed to focus, not mope around just because my best friend has been gone for almost a month. My team needed me-, no, not just my team. Everyone in Equestria needed us to be at our best.

Resolving to not think about it, I turned my thoughts back to the present. And good thing I did too, otherwise I would have missed Neon say,

"I think it's time I start making dinner. Who's up for some petal club sandwiches?"

My stomach instantly growled at the thought of Neon's cooking. Her cooking skill level was the highest out of all of ours, and I will tell you, anything she made tasted phenomenal.

Four hooves shot into the air, mine, Lexus', Comet's and Siren's,

"Yes!"	      "Oh, Yeah!"
"You make the best stuff!"    "We're eatin' good tonight!"

Neon giggled a bit, "Okay, I'll head down to the mess hall and start making it."

"I'll help, too." Siren offered.

"I will do the same." Comet added.

The three mares then headed below deck, and Neon glanced over her shoulder, "Lexus, babe, could you get everyone together for dinner?"

Lexus smirked, "Sure thing."

As the only mares in our group disappeared below deck, I gave Lexus a sidelong look, "Bet you're glad your girlfriend is such a great cook."

He only smiled, "Yeah, but good food always comes with a price. Knowing Neon, she'll have me clean up afterwards for her services." The pegasus chuckled, "Still can't help but love her though."

With that, he and I gathered everybody together for a hefty meal in the mess hall.


_______________________________________________________________________________________________


"Ugh..." I groaned as loped down the ship's corridors below deck, "I guess I pigged out too much on Neon's sandwiches." Though my stomach wasn't agreeing with me, I was extremely satisfied.

Neon's delicious Petal Club sandwich was the best food I had ever tasted since I first came into ELO. It was basically a sandwich with a dozen different kinds of flower petals inside it. Though it might not sound good to a human, flower petals actually taste like, if not better than, food from the real world. Like my favorite flower to eat were red poppies, which actually tasted like bacon to me (Screw logic, video game physics). And then combine those flavors with Neon's cooking level (The higher cooking level will instantly increase the quality of the food you prepare), you have a masterpiece of a sandwich on your plate.

Everyone enjoyed it, and everyone made sure to thank Neon and the other girls for the meal.

After our group had dinner, Lexus was roped into cleaning up the mess hall after the meal, just like he said he'd be. But while he worked, almost everybody played.

After dinner, Soul pulled out a couple decks of cards, anxious to play some poker with somebody. Apparently he had gotten into a habit of playing poker around this time with his poker buddies in a tavern back in Canterlot, so he was really antsy to play. But knowing they'd probably lose all of their bits to him if they did, the others instead compromised to playing Egyptian Rat-screw, without betting money.

I, however, didn't join in on account of my stomach's nagging me about being a glutton. But I tried to pay it no mind as I made my way back on deck.

Of course, not everybody was downstairs playing cards with Soul in the mess hall. When I came up on deck, I glanced over to the helm to find Eclipse standing behind it.

He and Swift had switched positions at the wheel around dinner time, and Swift was down below with the others. The whole of the ship was darkened by the night sky, and the deck was lit by only a few lanterns. If Eclipse hadn't been standing near one, I probably wouldn't have seen him wave to me.

Nodding, I waved back in reply and began to pace the deck. But as I did, I noticed that someone else was standing on deck as well.

It was Dylan, perched on the bow of the ship on his hind legs, leaning on his staff like a walking stick. Even though I was behind him, I could tell he was depressed about something, just by looking at his body language. His ears were drooped, his head sagged down from his neck, and his tail drooped down between his legs. He must have been thinking about Sky again, I was sure of it...

Oh, that reminded me of something. I had wanted to ask Dylan before, but I had forgotten to. I approached him quietly.

Dylan didn't notice me at first, but his ears perked up as he heard the clip-clop of my hooves against the wooden deck. Dylan turned around towards me, a glum tone in his voice, "Oh, hey Shadow."

"Hey, Dylan." I walked a further and took place next to him at the bow, "Are you alright? You seem a bit depressed."

"I'm fine." Dylan replied flatly, glancing downwards to avoid eye contact with me.

"Come on." I said, "We both know that's a lie." Dylan paused for a moment, as if he was wondering if he should reinforce his former lie or not, though it looked like he wasn't going to try.

I sighed, "Dylan, after Sky left, you acted depressed for the first two weeks, and I was beginning to worry about you. You were taking more risks out in the dungeons, and you were often times distracted. You almost died multiple times, andBut when you started to act more like your usual self between then and yesterday, I thought you were finally getting over Sky's leaving. But after Discord's announcement, I noticed you were acting just like when Sky first left.

"So, I've been meaning to ask, why are you acting this way?"

Dylan paused yet again, staring over the edge of the ship towards the dark ground below us. He stayed like this for a few moments.

Finally, he sighed, "I don't know.... When Discord said only the Elements of Harmony could fight the bosses, I thought... maybe I could convince Sky to come back and fight with us. I was thinking that if he saw that he was needed, I could bring him back."

I gazed off into the distance, silent. I could see his reasoning, and it did make sense. With only our small group able to fight the bosses, who I didn't doubt were more powerful than the last ones we fought, we needed more help.

Dylan spoke again, "I already sent Sky a message, about an hour after we took off from Canterlot. I asked to come help us with the boss battles... But he hasn't replied."

Softly, and more directed towards himself, he asked, "Why won't Sky come back already? We need him here."

I placed a hoof on his shoulder, giving a small smile, "Dylan, you say we need Sky now, only because he can fight the bosses. But in reality, we've always needed him."

"Then why didn't you stop him from leaving?!" Dylan snapped. I recoiled slightly. I had never seen him get so angry that suddenly. His face was twisted in anger and frustration, and he gripped his staff in his hoof so hard, it almost threatened to snap in half.

I quickly composed myself and took a deep breath. Glancing back at Dylan, "Just calm down, Dylan. I've already told you everything that happened back at Hollow Shades. You know I tried to stop Sky from going out on his own, but he still needed to leave, whether we liked it or not. And that doesn't mean he liked it either."

Dylan's teeth cringed, and his eyes threatened to water out, "I don't care if he needed to leave. It's been long enough! And Sky wouldn't have needed to go in the first place if it wasn't for you!"

"What?" I blinked in confusion. Was Dylan really blaming this on me and-

"Your alicorn powers: Apotheosis." Dylan growled, "Sky left because you were going around using your wings like a show off!"

"Hold on a sec." I countered, "I admit, Sky wanted a pair of wings for himself, but don't forget that I offered to let him have these" I flared my wings, "if he stayed. But he turned down my offer."

"But why?" Dylan groaned, "If your wings were all he wanted, then why didn't he take them and stay here with us?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but found nothing to say. I didn't know why Sky turned down my duel back then. I had thought about it for weeks, but I still couldn't figure it out...

I sighed, more glum than just a few seconds ago, "I don't know, Dylan.... I don't know..."

Dylan's expression softened from his scowl into something more apologetic. I guess it must have been him seeing that he wasn't the only one confused about all of this.

Sighing one last time, Dylan turned back towards the stairs leading below deck, "I'm... Gonna go to bed early tonight. See you tomorrow."

I nodded, "See you tomorrow."

As Dylan disappeared below deck, I silently hoped he would feel better in the morning. When we reach the badlands, we're all going to have to be at our best.


_______________________________________________________________________________________________


The sun rose higher over the horizon as Westfalia floated across the azure sky. Having rested the night before, my group now stood on the deck of the ship, weapons and armor ready to go. We were all spread out along the railings, looking at the surroundings of the territory we flew in: The Badlands.

Truth be told, the badlands looked almost the same from every angle. There was nothing except barren desert, plateaus, and lifeless wilderness for miles around. There wasn't a single trace of any monsters, or changelings for that matter. In fact, I was beginning to get a bit anxious for that reason. According to the map Jupiter gave us before we left, we were nearing the previous location of the changeling hive, and we weren't finding any signs that it was still there.

"Alright, everybody!" I called out, "Keep your eyes peeled for any signs of the hive. We should be getting close."

Everyone only gave a curt nod. I guessed they were starting to get bored of looking at the almost identical scenery for miles around.

Suddenly, Swift called out from the helm, "Hey, we're right over the spot on Jupiter's map! We should be right above the hive!"

I peered over the edge of the ship, down towards the barren ground below.

And saw absolutely nothing.

Crap, I muttered, This will only make our search for the hive longer. It'd be better to get moving now than later.

I turned back to my group, who all shared similar looks of disappointment, "Okay, everybody get into pairs. We need to spread out and search the surrounding area. Swift, set anchor down here, so we'll know where to meet back up if we don't find anything. But if anybody finds the hive, or even just a changeling, message everyone about it immediately. I'd rather you don't attack it, because it may lead us to the hive itself.

"And whatever you do, do not get separated from your searching partner. Jupiter said that changelings can take on your appearance and voice." I frowned, "And to make it even more unnerving, they can even imitate anyone's personality."

"Wait, what?" Violet raised an eyebrow.

"They can imitate a player's personality?" Siren asked.

"How could a video game program be able to do that?" Lexus wondered aloud.

I shook my head, "I don't know, Jupiter didn't explain that. But it does leave a problem. It'd be easy for a changeling to take somebody's spot and infiltrate our group. So, that is why you must not lose your partner for a single moment while searching. Okay?"

"Wait, hold on a moment." Comet interjected, "Why don't we just have a code word to use to make sure we're not changelings?"

"Yeah," Eclipse agreed, "That's a good idea, Comet."

"Okay, so what should the code word be?" I asked.

Cross suddenly shouted, "BARNACLE!"

....

....

....

Everyone just stared at the unicorn for a moment, though his only response was a goofy smile plastered to his face.

Cloud, the one player who could really understand Cross, just stared at him with a blank expression, "Uh, what?"

"That's the code word." Cross replied.

Another pause from the group.

"Ookaay..." I droned in, breaking the silence, "So, I guess the code word is 'barnacle'. Alright, everypony, grab a partner and start searching. Everyone needs to be back here by Noon, whether you've found something or not." I looked for a partner, "Lexus, you're coming with me. We'll search from the hive from the air."

Lexus looked at me, paused for a moment, then shrugged, "Alright. Why not?" I guess he was originally planning on pairing with his girlfriend. But hey, he couldn't complain. He practically spent every day with her.

I nodded to him as everyone else began pairing up, "Okay, let's go." I flapped my wings and floated up a few feet above the deck.

"Coming, hold on a sec." Lexus quickly gave Neon a parting kiss on the cheek before flapping his wings to join me in the air. And then, we were off, flying fast across the desert sky.


_______________________________________________________________________________________________


Lexus and I soared through the sky, just below cloud level... Well, that is, if there WERE any clouds in the badlands.

Even after searching beyond its borders, I could name two things that I did not like about the badlands. 1: There's not a single cloud in the sky, which gave way to number 2: The Sun. I don't remember it being quite so hot in Equestria. It was just like a single blazing dot in the clear sky, beating down on our backs as we flew (Though it didn't do much, cause of thermals that rise up from the heated desert below. Honestly, those make flying with your own wings easy). But I could seriously do without the sweat, cause being covered in fur doesn't help there. Just one word: ew.

I groaned as I gave a sidelong look towards Lexus, "See anything yet?"

Lexus only shook his head, and we continued flying wordlessly... Well, not entirely wordlessly.

Lexus gave me a curious look, "So, Shadow, why'd you choose me to be your partner to search?"

"Why do you ask?" I questioned.

Lexus shrugged, "Hey, I gotta think about something while we fly about aimlessly. That was just came to mind first."

"Hm, fair enough." I replied, "Well, I knew that if I didn't choose you, you would have gone and searched with Neon, but I needed you to search in the air. It would make the search go faster, and Neon wouldn't have been able to keep up with you if you flew."

Lexus nodded, "Alright, I see."

Another moment of silence passed as we soared, and I saw nothing but orange desert sand below us.

But Lexus spoke again, "Hey, Shadow? Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Well... You're the only person here I've known the longest, except for Sky, but he's gone so he doesn't really count at the moment. But because you're the one who's known me the longest, I want your opinion on something."

I raised an eyebrow, An opinion?... Lexus has never asked me about my opinion like this. I guess it's serious to him. "Okay, shoot."

Lexus' eyes dropped downwards to look at the ground below, but he did it in a way that might've suggested he was only avoiding eye contact with me, "It's about Neon..."

"Wait, what? Did you two get in a fight or something?"

Lexus' eyes widened as he vigorously shook his head, waving his hooves in defense, "Oh, no! no! We're fine. We're perfectly happy together. It's just that..." His expression turned more downtrodden, "... That may be the problem: We're happy together."

He sighed, "We only have three more bosses to defeat, and we know where two of them are. And then we have to fight Discord. If you think about it, this game is almost over for all of us. And assuming that we all survive to the end, we all get to return to the normal world."

He paused, and I raised an eyebrow, "Um,... I'm still not seeing a problem with what you're saying."

Lexus groaned, "Shadow, it's just that... Neon and I are both so happy with each other, and being with her everyday is something that I wouldn't trade away for the world. But... I won't be with her everyday after this game is over. After we defeat Discord,  I'm afraid that our relationship will kind of... die."

"Then why don't you visit her when we get back to the human world?" I suggested.

"Well, that's the problem." Lexus retorted, a bit frustrated, "Back in the human world, I'm just a dirt poor, college student with barely any money to my name. I asked Neon what her old life was like, and it turns out that she lives on the other side of the country from me. I'd have to buy a plane ticket if I wanted to see her again, and if our relationship has to be long distanced, then I'm afraid it won't last. What if I never get to see her again after this is all over?"

The gray pegasus' body slumped a bit, stopping in midair as his wings weakly held him up. I stopped my progression through the sky and doubled back to rejoin him.

Putting a hoof on his shoulder, I tried to comfort him, "Look, Lexus, I know you're feeling bad about all this, but I'd just put it out of your mind for now. After all, who knows how long it'll take us to find Queen Chrysalis here? And after that, when would we even find King Sombra? If you're worried about not having a lot of time with Neon, then you might want to stop a bit and realize that you may have even more time than you realized. Who knows? It may take us weeks before we can even find the changeling hive."

Suddenly, two solid *ping*s resonated through the air as a small banner appeared in both mine and Lexus' player menus. I read the message on it and silently cursed my big mouth:




New Message from Soul_Cards
Title: We've found them.




"You were saying?" Lexus deadpanned.

Groaning to myself, Man, perfect timing, Soul. Right when I was about to get Lexus out his mood. Really, the last thing I need is both Lexus and Dylan being depressed during all of this. "Lexus, I need you to just put this aside for the moment. The last thing we need is for you to be distracted when we're nearing a boss fight, because if you make one lousy mistake, you will die. Now just think about what that'd do to Neon."

Lexus' eyes suddenly widened as he registered my words, "Oh,... Neon would... I can't do that to her."

"Exactly my point." I replied, "Now think, what would you rather happen, think about this later and help fight a boss, or die and leave Neon alone here. And I'm sure that we can both agree that the first of the two choices would serve all of us better."

... Actually, now that I think about it, that was sort of mean for me to say. It kind of made me sound like a prick, I think. But at least it was getting Lexus out of his moody state of mind.

I sighed again, "Lexus, don't worry about it. Once Queen Chrysalis is defeated, I'll help you work this out, okay? Heck, you might even want to talk about this later with Neon, and I'll even be there to help if you need it." I gave a small smile, "Would that be good enough for now."

Lexus paused, frowning a bit. But as the more he thought about it, the more a tiny smile began to grow at the corners of his mouth. Soon enough, he cracked a grin and nodded, "Okay, that'd be great. Thanks."

Thrusting my wings a bit, I flew backwards, calling out to Lexus, "Well, then, let's get going. The others are probably already waiting for us! Race you there!" I immediately began flying back towards the airship.

I heard Lexus laugh behind me, "Oh, you are so on! Don't forget it was me who taught you how to be fast in the air!"

... Yeah, he was right, which made me remember he was the better flyer between us two.


_______________________________________________________________________________________________


I glanced down at my player menu as I raced through the sky, with Lexus not too far behind me. It was actually kind of funny; We were still racing to get to Soul and Violet's positions, and I was managing to keep ahead of Lexus while checking my map in my menu.

The map I was using was a bit different from the kind I had back in Equestria, since the badlands were marked as an uncharted territory. So instead, my player menu had a black circle in the middle of it, criss-crossed by green grid lines to give it the look of a radar. On the radar screen, I could see several dots scattered about the area, each representing another player. Right now, about 9 other dots, not including myself, on the radar were converging on two other ones, Violet and Soul.

I smirked as I called back, "Hey, Lexus. If you were planning on beating me in this race, you should work those wings! Soul and Cross should be right up ahead, so unless you plan on losing-" Suddenly, a gray and blue blur shot past me, faster than my eyes could track. Startled, I glanced ahead to see Lexus zoom ahead of me, a smug grin on his face.

"Hey, Shadow!" He chided, "Next time we race, you should keep your mouth shut long enough to realize when someone's drafting you until the opportune moment!"

Wait a second... HE WAS DRAFTING ME THAT WHOLE TIME! I internally facedhooved myself for being so arrogant and quickly raced after the pegasus, He was letting me cut the air currents in front of him so he'd have to do less work? So, then I'd be tired out to catch up to me when he sprints past?! Almost sounds like something that happens in Tour De France.

But as I neared the two dots representing Soul and Violet, I looked up to see that Lexus had already lighted down by the two in question. I joined them down on the desert floor, and I can imagine my expression gave away the fact that I was not too happy at the moment.

Lexus gave me a smirk, "I win."

"Shut up." I muttered.

Taking a quick glance around, I could see that the others were arriving at our position too. I counted off everyone and found 

Shaking my domestic rage at lexus off, I turned to Soul and Violet, "Where did you two see the hive?"

"Well, we didn't exactly see the hive," Violet replied, "But we did find two changelings."

"Where?"

"Just over to the west a bit." Soul answered, "We traveled away from it to make sure they didn't see us."


_______________________________________________________________________________________________


After our group followed Violet and Soul back to where they'd seen the changelings, we took shelter behind a group of boulders (Not pebbles, thank you, Maud Pie). I peered over the boulders, and on the other side, in the middle of the desert floor, stood two monsters that none of us had seen before in the game, except Soul and Violet of course.

They both were armored with their natural, black carapaces, with silver bug wings attached to their backs. Each had a horn curved upwards like daggers, with mindless blue eyes just below them. Fangs protruded from their mouths, spines lined the back of their necks, and dozens of holes cut through their legs, as if somebody fired an M16 at them too low by accident. There was one small difference between the two of them, mainly being that one of them was covered in deep navy blue armor, while the other was entirely bare. Above the armored changeling's head, an ID read: Changeling Centurion, and above the bare changeling's head, another read: Changeling Drone.

"There they are." Cross muttered beside me as he looked at them, "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, if there are changelings right here, and we haven't seen any before, then I'm guessing the hive is somewhere close by." I whispered back, "But, the question now is how we'll find it." I ducked back down behind the cover of the rocks, glancing towards Comet, "Comet, you're the hunter in our group. Do you think you can track a trail back to the hive from these two?"

Comet glanced at the changelings, but then shook her head, "Not at the moment. Since I've never killed a monster like them before, I don't have enough information to see their trail. If we want to find the hive that way, then I'll need to kill at least one of them."

I nodded, "Alright, then I'd suggest you get your knives ready." I turned towards the others, more specifically the long ranged fighters, "Siren, Eclipse, how accurately can you shoot."

"Never better." Eclipse answered for them both.

"Good. I'll need you two to pick off the first changeling, preferably the drone since it looks like it can be taken out easily. And then, with only the Centurion left, Comet will need to rush in as soon as possible and take it out. Now, get ready."

Eclipse and Siren loaded their bows with arrows, while Comet unsheathed two knives from beneath her scarf. Eclipse looked towards the other two, "On my count."

"3"
"2"
"1!"

Eclipse and Siren both leaped out from behind the boulders, aiming their bows towards the drone, meanwhile Comet pumped her wings and took off to the air. Not missing a single beat, the two archers fired their arrows at the unsuspecting drone, causing it to disappear into blue code as two arrows pierced its carapace, depleting its health bar.

As soon as the centurion saw its comrade go up in code, he looked to see who had shot the arrows only to find a gray pegasus coming down on him with knives like an Amazon warrior. Comet stabbed her knives into the centurion's armor, making it crack from the powerful strike. After slicing at the exposed parts of its body a few times, Comet slit the changeling's throat to end the kill in style.

The rest of our group ran over to her as the centurion burst into blue code like the drone before it.

Comet looked back towards us as she stowed away her knives again, "I've got the info from the kill now. I'll be able to find a trail back towards the other changelings."

I nodded, "Good. Lead the way, we'll be right behind you."

Blinking a bit, Comet's eyes took on a familiar green glow as she activated her tracking skill. She looked around the area a bit, until she stopped, as if she saw something. Waving for us to follow, she led the way towards the hive.

But as we walked, Comet turned to look back towards me, "Shadow? There's something that we may need to know. It's a bit of info I got from killing that centurion."

"What is it?" I asked.

Keeping the trail she was following in the corner of her eye, she explained, "The information I got provides the overall stats of the changeling centurions. It seems like they have relatively low attack and defense, and by the way Siren and Eclipse took out that drone with two arrows, it seems that the drones have even lower stats. They have barely any magic power, or defense against magical defense. Basically their only high attribute is speed, but even then, it's lower than ours."

I nodded, "Okay, that'll be good to know. We'll easily be able to take out any changelings we meet on the way to Queen Chrysalis."

Comet hesitated slightly, "Perhaps. But what concerns me is how weak they are. After all, this is the Badlands, one of the most difficult places in the game that suggests only players level 65 and above enter. Maybe the changelings aren't the only thing we need to worry about out here. I'm thinking that there will be even more powerful monsters out here."

I realized that I hadn't thought about that. Looking back before, I remembered that the changelings we had just killed had been too easy. Usually the monsters we trained on back in Canterlot were stronger than that.

"Well, there's that. Or..." I turned around to see Cloud speaking, who had apparently listening in on the conversation. The little dragon was hovering in midair, a small contemplating frown on his snout, "...Or, it could be that we're going to be facing an army of changelings."

"What?" Swift questioned, "Why an army?"

Cloud explained, "Well, in some games I've played, a weak monster alone is barely even a threat. But that changes when there are multiple monsters of the same kind coming at once. And if Discord has based Queen Chrysalis off of the tv show, then she'll most likely have a whole army of changelings with her, just like in the Canterlot Wedding episode."

Soul nodded, "Yeah, it does seem very likely. We'll need to play it smart and safe if we run into anything like that. There's only twelve of us here, so the chances of us getting overwhelmed by all of them at once are fairly big."

Everyone nodded their heads, or gave a verbal agreement. The last thing we wanted to do was dive head first into a swarm of changelings.

"Hey, we're here." Comet announced.

I quickly turned around to see that Comet had led us to the giant wall of a mesa... But I couldn't see anything that resembled a cave entrance, let alone a hive entrance. All I could see was the mesa wall, and dozens of giant boulders piled on top of each other at its base where we stood.

And it didn't look like my team mates could see anything either. "Um, Comet? I think you might want to get your tracking skill checked." Cross piped up, "You kind of led us to a dead end."

Lexus shook his head, "No, she didn't. Look." He pointed a hoof towards the boulders in front of us. It wasn't until then that I noticed a fairly large gap between the giant rocks, about the size of a single pony. It was pretty dark inside the opening, but squinting closer, I realized that it was a cave that extended downwards underground. Figures, the only one on our team with enhanced sight saw it.

"Come on, let's go." Comet led the way inside the opening, and we followed, slowly and cautiously.


_______________________________________________________________________________________________


"Okay, who else is starting to think Comet led us in the wrong direction?" Soul asked, throwing up his hooves in frustration.

Truth be told, we had been traveling down the same underground cave for quite a while. We had been walking for about five minutes, and we hadn't come across any other outlets from the one tunnel we walked down. And we didn't have a very good sight of whatever laid at the end of the tunnel. It was completely pitch black, so the other unicorns and I were using out horns to light the gloomy underground.

Aside from the fact that the air felt very thin (I'm curious how the game mechanics worked for that. I'd have to ask Jupiter about that later), but the tunnel was starting to look the same from every angle. If I didn't know better, I would have thought this tunnel was endless, or we had just been going in a big circle this whole time. And not only that, but there wasn't a changeling in sight.

Comet shot a scowl at Soul, "I assure you, my tracking skills aren't leading us down the wrong path. For the last time, I can still see the tracks ahead of us, so I *know* we're in the right place."

"She's right." Violet added, "Just take a look ahead." He pointed a hoof forward, and we all looked to see that the tunnel ended just ahead, letting out into a larger area of the cave.

We walked into the larger area, lighting it up with the glow of our horns. But lo and behold, it was just like the tunnel, completely empty.

The 'room' we stood in had circular walls, making it look like it was surrounded in a dome of rocks. The place was about the size of my team's old living room back in Canterlot. But aside from the fact that there was nothing in the cave except rocks and dirt, I noticed there was something on the far end of it: The opening of another tunnel.

I heard Lexus groan slightly, "Looks like we still have a ways to go."

I had to agree with his attitude. I sighed, muttering to myself, "At least it's reassuring to know we've gotten somewhere down here."

Thinking that we'd never reach the end of this cavern, our group made their way to the entrance of the next tunnel. By this point, I honestly couldn't wait to get out of here. The air felt thin, making breathing little harder, and the walls of the cave seemed like they would collapse on us in the conquering darkness. Not to mention the whole place reeked, as if someone had sprayed a pesticide on a skunk's tail before the frightened animal fired its stink. And it was also very... quiet. The only sounds that echoed through the underground chambers were our hoof steps and our own voices. It was so silent, you could've heard a spider crawl up your own leg before you felt it.

But as we approached the next tunnel, the silence shattered.

*QITOOSH*

My muscles jerked at the loud sound, making the light from my horn falter as I lost focus. I felt my fur crawl backwards before it stood up on end on my neck, and I knew it wasn't because I was frightened by that-that... whatever it was, that sound. It was more like the feeling you got when static electricity runs through you... Exactly like that. Almost as if that was happening right then.

I don't know who said it, but someone shouted, "GET DOWN!"

Not caring what it was about, I curled my legs beneath me and dropped down to my belly like a frightened animal. And the moment I did so, I was blinded as the whole chamber illuminated with a giant white flash.

The same sound from before came again, only louder this time. But it was accompanied by another.

*QITOOSH!*
*VOOoooommmmmm*

As quickly as it came, the blinding light subsided, and the sounds from before echoed down throughout the cave, dwindling in volume. Finding that I could see in the cavern again, I got up onto my hooves to check on the rest of the group.

Standing up, I saw Comet curled down on the ground with her knives drawn for defense, Eclipse, Violet, Dylan, and Siren looking around wondering what the heck just happened, and Swift standing up on all fours again having not been blinded as badly due to his goggles. Lexus and Neon were curled together on the floor, the former protecting the latter with his body, and Soul was already up, brushing some dirt off of his leather jacket. The only ones left on my mental checklist were Cloud and Cross.

I looked around and found the two of them in the center of the room. But... I didn't expect to see them surrounded by something... Something big, circular, and pulsing with energy. The unicorn and dragon in question were surrounded in the middle of the chamber by... Was that a force field?

Well, it was the closest thing to a force field that I'd ever seen. It was a transparent dome, pulsing in cyan colored energy, about 3 feet in radius, and Cross and Cloud stood right in the middle of it. The entire thing hummed with energy, but its humming was fading slightly.

I hastily galloped towards the wall of the force field to check on my team mates, "Cross! Cloud! Are you alright?"

The two looked at the barrier surrounding them, taking note of its sudden appearance.

"Yeah, we're both fine." Cross replied after checking on Cloud, "But what happened? Where did this come from?"

"You got me." Swift replied from outside, "All I heard was that weird *TOOSH*, and then that flash."

Soul promptly disagreed, "Nah, it was more of a *QWOOSH* sound."

While Swift and Soul argued about sounds, Siren made a small gasp, "Wait, that flash! That must have been from the force field when it appeared."

"Okay, I figured that." Cloud muttered as he banged a claw against the force field, only for it to reflect off of it like the surface was a shield, "What is this anyway?"


But before anyone could reply, a cold voice responded out of nowhere, "I can answer that."

At those words, my blood instantly went cold and boiled in rage at the same time. The resulting feeling could be only accurately described as the equivalent of getting frostbite on top of a sunburn. A cold, dark laugh echoed through the chamber, a familiar voice that all of us loathed.

In a flash, Discord appeared, standing on top of the barrier surrounding Cross and Cloud.

He chuckled mockingly, "Hello, everypony. Long time, no see."

"Discord!" We all growled, shouted, etc. with all of the venom we could possibly inject into the two syllables. If we had to be in this game for so long with our necks on the line, it's only natural that we show the draconequus just how much we hated him.

Discord sighed, flopping down on his back on top of the force field. The weight of the Draconequus on it caused the dome to sag down under him, like a giant bean bag, and Cross and Cloud had to duck their heads beneath the indent to keep their skulls intact. Discord gave everyone a bored look, "Ugh, must we always have the same routine? I say hello like any good fellow would, and you just shout my name like an angry mob. At least you haven't drawn your weapons on me and I appreciate it, but the yelling is getting rather old."

"What did you do, Discord?" Lexus shouted, "What is this?" He pointed a hoof towards the force field.

Discord only groaned as he craned his neck backwards in a series of loops to look at the shouting pegasus, "You always have to be straight to the point, don't you? Can't you ever just say 'Hi' before we get down to business."

Lexus, as well as everyone else, just replied with a silent glare.

Discord shrugged, seeing his antics weren't getting anywhere, "Eh, it was worth a shot." He snapped his fingers, disappearing and reappearing just beside the force field, leaning an arm on its smooth surface.

"As for this beauty of a masterpiece, this is something that I've been working on for quite some time. After all, with having to wait for you to find all the boss rooms, I've had a lot of free time on my hands.

"This little energy shield here is part of what I call, 'the morality trap'. The trap itself is sprung when two players step into its zone, and it then captures them in a force field like this. Nothing can get in or out of it."

Discord turned and smirked at the two captives inside the trap, "But it's called the morality trap for a reason. There is no way in or out of it until the field disappears, but there's only one way for that to happen: When there is only one of you to escape."

...

Realization suddenly came to me, as did it for everyone else.

Discord only grinned at the shock contorted on our faces, "Yes, that's right. One of these two have to die before the other can be set free." He chuckled darkly, "But I can't wait to see how long both of them last, and who exactly will bite the dust first."

Discord's body moved like a snake, and he began to coil himself around the outside of the shield, like a serpent surrounding an egg it'd gobble down for its next meal, "Now it's true that they could try to wait it out, and both of them would survive... for the moment. That is, until one of the two dies of starvation or thirst. But by then, the survivor would be too close to that sorry state as well. He wouldn't make it out of this cave if he wanted to before the monsters in here cut him down to size."

The Draconequus snapped his fingers again, appearing on the ceiling of the chamber, upside down like a bat, "So I'll leave Crossheart and Cloud Burst with two options: They can *hang* out in there where they will both starve to death within two weeks. Or if they are driven insane by staying here that long, running a knife through their friend's back will begin to look very appealing. It's surprising what you players do to each other when you're stuck in a tight place."

Throughout the time that Discord spoke, I felt my hatred for him ignite with each word, until it became a burning wrath that twisted my face into one of hate. That- That little... I had to clench my teeth to keep from yelling out some colorful language (Which I did not hope to ever in my lifetime. The no-swearing record for me is still going strong). Discord had gone and tricked two of my friends, two members of MY team, into a death trap. It didn't take long for me to realize that Discord was trying to pick us off one by one now. And the worst part was... it was working.

Without a moment of hesitation, I drew my sword and swung it at the barrier of the trap. I had hoped I could at least damage it and get Cross and Cloud out, but as soon as my sword made contact, it glanced off of it, the steel of my blade ringing as if I had hit it against an iron wall.

From his perch, Discord only wagged a finger at me as if he were chastising a child, "Now, now, Shadow. Why is it that you always resort to destruction when you don't have your way? I made this trap to be indestructible, so think again if you were planning on busting your buddies out of it."

I growled at the Draconequus, but he ignored me anyway, "Well, while the rest of you wait for one of your friends to kill of be killed, the boss room is directly down that tunnel." His tail flicked towards the tunnel we had been meaning to go through before we had been interrupted, "And I must say, Chrysy is rather excited that your visiting her. She's almost *buzzing* in anticipation." 

He gave one final wave goodbye to the group, much to their annoyance, "That's all for now! Ta-ta!" In a flash, he disappeared, his signature laugh echoing through the chamber until it faded into silence.

Soul cursed out loud when the draconequus left, "You've got to be f-(Buy some apples!)-ing kidding me! There's no way I'm just leaving Cross and Cloud in there." As he said it, the unicorn drew both swords and lashed out at the trap in a flurry of combos. But the result he met was the same as mine, and his swords bounced off of the barrier harmlessly.

I quickly grabbed his shoulder with a hoof to stop him, "Soul, calm down. You already saw me try to break this thing."

Soul shrugged off my grip, replying flatly, "You didn't try hard enough." He instantly tried to hammer away at the shield, his swords still rebounding off of it with metallic *Clang* *Clang* *Clang*.

That's when Violet stepped in. The leader of Team Calvary grabbed Soul with a hoof, "Soul, Shadow's right. You just need to calm down. I know you're the Element of Loyalty, but you're not helping by banging away at this trap."

Soul gave him a scowl, but he at least lowered his swords at Violet's statement, "Then what do you expect me to do, wait until one of them dies? Well, Discord's got another thing coming if he thinks I'm just gonna leave two group members behind to die, even if they *are* the most annoying ones here."

Inside the trap, Cross gave a joking smile, "Geez, Soul. I never knew you cared about us."

Cloud smirked as well, "Don't worry about us, guys. There's noting Cross and I can get out of. You guys might not be able to destroy this thing from the outside, but we'll see if that's true on the inside."

Cross nodded in agreement, "For now, you guys need to head down the tunnel and beat Queen Chrysalis without us. We'll catch up with you after we've gotten out of here."

"Wait, what?" Neon shook her head, "There's no way we'd enter the boss room without you guys. We'd be down two members from the start of the battle."

Cloud countered, "Well, it isn't going to help for you to wait while we try to figure a way out of this trap. The only you guys can do to help anyone is fight the boss."

Everyone in the group glanced between each other and the two captives in the trap, unsure of the decision. But Lexus then gave a small nod, "Well, I guess he's right. There's nothing we can do for them out here. The best thing we can do is fight Queen Chrysalis."

Eclipse nodded in reply, "Right. We should get going now, before something else happens out here."

Siren walked to the edge of the force field, placing a hoof on it. "Are you two sure you'll be alright?" She asked, obviously concerned.

Both Cross and Cloud nodded, the former replying optimistically, "We'll be fine. Heck, by the time you guys beat Chrysalis, we'll probably be out here to congratulate you."

"Now get going!" Cloud waved a claw at us to get moving, "Good luck!"

I looked towards the rest of my group, and they in turn gave a brief nod to signal they were ready to go. I glanced back at Cross and Cloud, "Don't worry, guys. We'll be back in case you can't get out of there."

Cross nodded, "You got it."

Giving him one last smile, I turned around and entered into the last tunnel, the rest of the group filing into the narrow passage as well.


_______________________________________________________________________________________________


I sighed as we continued down the tunnel, which I found was completely identical to the one we had traveled down before. There wasn't really anything of interest down here so far, so my mind just wandered back to Cross and Cloud. I supposed that's why I was sighing in the first place.

I glanced towards Violet, who happened to be walking by me at the time, "Man, I wish we didn't have to leave those two behind back there."

"Me neither." Violet replied, his expression matching mine, "But we can't really do anything to help, so there's no sense in complaining about it, is there?"

I nodded solemnly, "I guess not. But I just can't help but worry for both of them. I mean, they're stuck in a literal death trap. I just wish there was something else I could do for them."

Violet gave me a small smirk, "Ha, I think I know the feeling. It's only natural that us team leaders worry about our members. After all, out of our whole group, they're the ones we've known the longest." His smirk dwindled a tiny bit, only to be replaced by a smile, "And Cross and Cloud were the ones who told us to get going, so I don't think you should be feeling bad for doing what the asked."

Somehow, that seemed to light the thoughts off my mind. A smile came to my face, "Hm, alright. I guess that makes me feel better. It's actually kind of funny, but usually Cross is the one who cheers me up after something bad happens. I guess you've been tuning into his optimism a bit lately."

Violet gave a laugh, "Ha, I try."

Suddenly, behind us, Lexus spoke, "Hey, looks like the boss room is just up ahead."

I turned my head forward, my horn lighting the darkness before us. And lo and behold, the familiar set of giant doors stood before us, partially covered in mounds of dirt on the door frame. The oaken wood on it was engraved just as intricately as the other boss doors I had seen before, and just like the others, these doors made the hair on my neck stand up as less desirable memories of past battles came to mind.

Our group reached the double doors and stopped before the structure as we made final preparations. But just looking at the door, my mind drifted back to the last boss battles I ever entered.

The Alpha Timber, The Hydra, The Thunderbird Osiris, The Equine Reaper, and now, I was about to add Queen Chrysalis to that list of battles... Well, assuming I survived this fight. Looking back, I suddenly realized just how many times I had come close to dying to these monsters, every time my health would drop down to the red or yellow zone, and every moment where a single attack could've been my destruction.

Seeing as I've done it before so many times, shouldn't this boss battle be the same? I wondered to myself, only to notice that my muscles were tensed, my fur was standing up on end, and sweat droplets proceeded to roll down my neck. It was clear... I was scared... Was it because my friends weren't with me here to fight? Out of Team Equitum, only Lexus was left here to fight. Cross and Cloud were stuck in the morality trap. Sky was gone. Sure the rest of the group was here, but... it didn't feel the same.

My team, all five of us, we were the tightest band of players I've ever seen, and I was glad to be part of it. But now... it felt like our band had shattered, like pieces of glass.

Shaking my head, I reminded myself why I was down here in the first place. This was for everyone in Equestria. We were the only ones who could fight these final battles. And for Cloud and Cross. They told us to fight without them. I said we would, and I intended on keeping that promise.

I glanced back at the rest of the group to see that they were all almost ready. But on the inside, I reminded myself, My other friends may be busy at the moment, but I still have everyone else here. Violet, Eclipse, Neon, Lexus, Siren, Swift, Soul, Comet, Dylan...

I stopped as I realized that I had something to do before we entered the boss room. I trotted over to Dylan, remembering that I had another promise I needed to keep.

"Hey, Dylan. Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Dylan jerked his head up from his player menu, glancing towards me, "Oh, um.. sure."

Once I reached him, I sat down on my haunches so we were at a relative eye level. Sure, Dylan was younger and shorter than I, but while sitting down, his eye level stood above mine. Ignoring that fact, I spoke.

"Look, Dylan. Before Sky left, I made a promise to him that I'd look after you. And before you wonder if I'm keeping you out of the boss room, I'm not."

Dylan gave me a perplexed look, "Wait, what? If you're not keeping me out of the boss battle, then how is that looking after me?"

I gave a smile, "It's not. I'll let you fight, but on one condition."

"... What?"

My smile disappeared and I gave him a flat stare to emphasize the importance of what I said, "If you find yourself distracted from the fight in there, and 'your head isn't in the game' per say, then I want you to turn tail and run out of the boss room as fast as you can. I don't want you dying because you made a clumsy mistake during the battle. Honestly, if you died like that, and Sky came back to find that out, I'd never bring myself to speak to him again. Alright? Can you do that?"

Dylan paused, a blank look on his face. But his head hung a bit as glanced towards the ground, "Alright."

I gave him a smile as I nodded, "Good. You ready for the battle?"

He simply nodded, "Yeah."

"Then let's go." I got up and turned to the rest of the group, "Time to head inside. Weapons drawn everyone."

The chamber instantly echoed with the sheafing of steel, the drawing of bows, and the clanking of others as we drew our weapons. I pulled Almighty and my shield off my back as I trotted towards the door. Doing one last check, my horn sparked with an ember, and my wings spread from my sides. Weapons, magic, and flight were all ready to go.

It was time we fought this changeling.

I pushed the door open with a hoof and we entered.

In terms of the other boss rooms, the one we found ourselves standing in was quite different from the others we had been in before. Usually we found a completely square room made of stone bricks and rubble. But this room was different.

We found ourselves standing in a giant chamber, and big emphasis on giant. The sheer size of it yielded enough darkness that swallowed our lights up before they could reach the far walls and the ceiling. The chamber resembled that of the one we had left Cross and Cloud in, but, as I said before, much bigger.

Cautiously, we ventured farther into the depths of the darkness. And once the game system believed we were far enough inside, the doors we had entered slammed shut with a mighty *BOOM*.

Suddenly, the chamber illuminated from an unknown source... And every one of our jaws dropped as what we saw.

We were greeted by a familiar, feminine voice, "Ah, the Elements of Harmony at last!" She chuckled sickeningly, "I was wondering when you were going to show up. Say 'hello' to my changeling swarm."

Swarm?... No, swarm was an understatement for the horde before our eyes. The entire chamber was massive, looking as if it could easily hold the whole city of Canterlot inside it, buildings, castle, and all. And most of the floor, as well as every inch of the walls, was covered in black, hissing, buzzing changelings. At the center of the chamber, atop a stone pedestal, stood the very changeling ruler herself, Queen Chrysalis. Above her head, a health bar floated along with an ID: Queen Chrysalis

But behind the very boss itself, stood something that I could have easily mistook to be the 'head honcho'. I literally felt my pupils dilate as I looked at it.

Standing about 40 feet tall, a scaly monster showed its claws, its giant teeth, its red scales, and most of all, its massive wings, which spread out reaching tip to tip with the walls of the chamber. The spines on its head ran all the way down to its long tail, looking almost like razor blades. And while fire and smoke jumped from its mouth and snout, its eyes stared us down like a hawk a rodent.

Lexus, "Is that a-"

Neon, "Dragon?"

Swift, "Yep."

Comet, "Crap"

Chrysalis laughed again, "Now the battle begins! After them, my changelings!"

The changelings leaped from the walls and the ground, both running on hooves and flying on buzzing wings, right towards us. And behind them, the dragon roared so loudly, the entire chamber shook from the noise.

GRROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Me, "Oh-"

Soul, "F-(Buy some apples)!"


_______________________________________________________________________________________________


Cross could feel his fur becoming damp with sweat as his horn charged his 'dispell' spell. Behind him, Cloud stood with his back against the trap's dome, while Cross aimed his magic towards the other side of the dome. His horn sparked to signal the magic was ready to fly, and the unicorn fired the spell.

But like the few times he had tried before, the spell simply burst as it hit the barrier, leaving not even a scratch on it.

Cross sighed as he slumped onto his haunches, "Ugh, this isn't working."

Cloud rolled his eyes, "That's what I said the first time. You just had to try again, didn't you?"

Cross wiped his brow, giving the dragon a curt look, "You've never used magic before, so you wouldn't understand. Sometimes, spells can turn out to be duds. You have to try multiple times just to be sure."

A small silence passed between them, then Cloud suggested, "We could always try to blow up the shield with my bombs."

"And blow us to kingdom come in the process?" Cross chuckled, "Yeah, I don't think so. Any other ideas?"

Cloud shrugged, "Not unless-"

GRROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

The entire chamber shook from the noise, and the two friends gripped each other in shock. Cross felt a ripple wave through his fur from the surprise, "Whoa, what was that?!"

Cloud cringed, "That... was a dragon."

"And that means the others are in HUGE trouble right now, I'm guessing."

Both Cloud's and Cross' eyes widened as they realized a third voice had joined the conversation. They quickly turned towards the source of the voice, Cross muttering, "Wait,... I know that voice..."

They looked and found, standing just outside the trap's barrier, a singe pony. They couldn't tell any of his defining features, because he wore a black cloak, and it didn't help that anything outside the trap was completely pitch black. But they knew him from his voice.

The hooded figure spoke again, "What happened? Where are the others?"

Cloud quickly replied, without hesitating, "Don't worry about us. But the others will need your help. They're in the boss room just down that tunnel." He pointed a claw in the general direction of the tunnel, seeing as he couldn't tell where exactly it was through the darkness. But, he knew this guy could see in the dark just fine.

The cloaked figure nodded, and before the two captives eyes, his body suddenly evaporated into black smoke, forming a dark cloud that raced through the darkness and into the tunnel.

After the figure left, Cross grinned as he glanced towards Cloud, "Heh, Long time, no see."

Cloud nodded, "Tell me about it."