//------------------------------// // ...Has a Consequence // Story: Equestria Legends Online // by Shadowflame //------------------------------// February 12th Oh, my head. That lady must be pretty tough to make me feel a headache on this game. I thought to myself as I started regaining my consciousness. I slowly drifted my eyes opens to see I was inside a dimly lit room, torches shining the stone walls that they rested upon, showing that I was inside a small room as I could see the door at the other side from where I was. Where am I? I asked to myself as I tried to move around, only to find that my arms had been bound to the wall with chains. Is this some kind of dungeon? I tried to see if there was anything that I could use to free myself, not wanting to wait for whoever had chained me to come back. “Hang on, how come I’m still alive?” I wondered out loud as I remember that other player being part of a group of what I assumed were a player-killing guild, which were bound to exist in all MMO games. So why was I still alive? It puzzled me, but I would worry about that later. I looked at the chains holding my arms and tried to use my magic to freeze them, maybe weaken them enough to free myself. Only to see a blue glow emit from where my horn was, opposed of the normal red.  “The heck?” I looked towards where my horn was, and through my hair I manage to see a silver ring with a small blue gem, faintly pulsing with light. “Is this some kind of restriction item?” I asked out loud as I didn’t think such thing would exist in the game. I mean, the only way for you to wear it is for you to equip it yourself, right?....right? I stopped all my thinking as I heard the sound of a lock being unlocked, as the door to my room opened slowly. At the other side stood a light gray unicorn girl with white hair, she seemed to have a tower shield, but no weapons. Must be a spell user, a mage to be precise. She soon came into the room, followed by an orange pegasus, huh, I remember the name of the species, the show must be rubbing on me, ugh. He had a curved sword, cutlass perhaps? and a small round shield strapped to his back. The two neared me as I finally manage to see their ID’s. The lady was called Chess Queen, while the other was called...Ezekiel, I think we may have a religious fanatic here guys. “Nice to see that you’re awake,” Chess Queen said as she gave me a smirk, making me know that she didn’t really care how I was doing. “and I’ve heard that you caused a bit of trouble to some of our members.” “More like they found trouble.” I said back as I recalled the small skirmish that I had with the group. “I would agree with you, had it not been that the one in charge of that group was one of our top troops, and we make sure to only have strong pieces.” Chess queen said as she looked to the side with a frown. “One of the bests huh? then you must be a sissy if you only have a shield.” I laughed at my own joke, but maybe I shouldn’t have insulted my captor when I couldn’t do anything. So I received a shield to the gut. “Ugggh!” I grunted at the hit from the tower shield as she then went and smacked the top of my head hard, and then slapping me across with it as she finished with my punishment. “Don’t act so smug, or we may reconsider not killing you.” As Chess Queen said that, I saw the Ezekiel guy take out his sword, giving me a creepy smile that told me he would enjoy doing the job of killing me. “Ok,ok. No need to do anything brash right?” I said as I gave a sheepish smile, hoping it would convince them I would behave. God, it makes me sound like I’m some kind of s… Let’s not go there. “Good to hear that, wouldn’t want to lose a possible knight for no reason.” Chess Queen said as she put her shield back along side her, in case she would need it again. “Knight? I prefer the term of samurai, unless my appearance didn’t give it away.” I said giving a roll of my eyes, starting to find the situation a bit silly, all things consider. “As you wish, but I think we have prolonged this meeting for more than it was intended.” Chess Queen said before adopting a more serious demeanor. “Now tell me, who do you think it’s responsible for this?” She asked, leaving me a bit confused. “You mean me being chained to the wall or having a small headache?” I asked, trying to make heads or tails at the odd question. “No, who is responsible for your imprisonment, ‘our’ imprisonment?” She said as she waved her hoof around, making me see that she was referring to everyone in the game, hopefully. “You know better than anyone, it was because of that Discord serpent guy. He said it so himself.” I said a bit irritated as I recalled the day, how much I wanted to slice that thing’s head off and use it as a football. My response caused Chess Queen to chuckle a bit, making me confused even further. “And have you stopped to analyse it thoroughly? An AI, just manages to gain control of the whole system and then decides to have some fun with us. A program that someone else created.” I listened intently at her, having caught my curiosity in her explanation. “Think about it, a program that was created by humans, just decides to claim that it’s real and does anything it desires, and actually enjoys it? That sounds both very crazy and impossible don’t you think?” Chess Queen finished as she let me put the pieces together, not liking how it was coming out. Discord is an AI, a computer program that was created by humans. And even if we had develop technology enough to be able to connect the brain to a interlinked server, and still come out the same. We still haven’t develop AI’s advance enough to think for themselves, we were close, but not there yet. And even then, Discord seemed to be enjoying himself, clearly a sign of emotion which compliments the point of before, Discord couldn’t be able to understand emotion even if programed to. So either this whole thing has been a large staged prank or… “...The admins are the reason for this?” I asked, shocked and confused at my conclusion, both sounding like a lie and a truth. “Precisely, Discord is just a puppet, and the admins are holding the strings.” Chess Queen said as she gave me a smirk. “But why? Why would they want to kill people like this?” I asked, more to myself than to anyone else. “Don’t know, but the point is that we can’t just stand doing nothing while those killers are left free. That’s why we created this guild, so we can strike back and free everyone.” Chess Queen said as she came closer to me. “But for that, some blood must be shed to make them understand, that we won’t stand idle and let them get away with this.” “So that’s why your group attacked me, or any other player? To give a message?” I asked a bit angered at the prospective that they were as much of a killer as the admins, but it made sense, the admins were consider like kings in here, or at least symbols of hope. So they were heavily protected, and if they wanted to get to them, they would have to lower their numbers and morale, until the right moment to strike arises. “Yes, but what is worst? Playing along this game which may not have an ending and everyone dies, or lose a few lives, to save many more?” She said, falling silent as I thought about it. “Why are you telling me all this?” I asked, now a bit confused as to why this was all related to me being captured. “Well isn’t it obvious? I’m extending an invitation to our guild, we could use a fighter like you on this little quest.” Chess Queen answered as she looked at me in the eye, feeling that she would get the answer she wanted. I pondered the thought. i would have said no to any other group or team for obvious reasons, but right now, this was for something different, yeah I guess they have bronies in here somewhere, but this place felt like the thing where people who don’t like the show go. I actually wasn’t certain, in the one hand I would be killing innocent lives, if I actually got there. But on the other, there was a large chance that we would all die as this game had no end, and really was a deathtrap created by the admins. But then I remember my brother, I promised him that I would get us both out of this alive, and it seemed that the best way for that was with this guild. “Alright I’ll join your guild.” I answered as I hung my head, not feeling the smallest bit glad of saying that. “I knew you would, and now we need to-” Chess Queen started but I interrupted her mid sentence. “On one condition.” I said making Chess Queen look at me confuse. “That I’m not sent to any mission that has a player with the description I give you.” I said with a straight face, making it clear that it was not up to change. Chess Queen raised an eyebrow, a bit confused at the request. “And what makes you think that we know who we are ambushing before a mission?” “I think you should manage your subordinates better, the group that attacked me said that some scout group gave them the info as to how dangerous I was. Really, I’m only worth four soldiers?” I said with an amuse smile, finding the situation a bit funny. “Hmm, I will need to sort this little matter with the members then. But why do you want to be excluded from missions because of one player?” She asked as she wanted details. “Personal reasons.” I said without hesitation. Let them think whatever they want, I wasn’t about to let them know I have a brother in here as well. “Hmm, I guess as long as it doesn’t interrupt with our plans it can be allowed. Very well, you can give us the details later, now we need to initiate you.” Chess Queen said as she flicked the air with her hoof, making her player menu appear. She soon selected an object on her inventory and it materialize as particles of blue code formed in front of her. Looking at the object, it looked like some small metal rod with a glowing red end, with a small design which I couldn’t make out as the metal was too hot to look at it properly. “Unfortunately, this method didn’t get the pain restriction like most weapons, so I’m afraid that you will have to bear it.” She said as she floated the bar near my head. “H-hey, what do you think you’re doing?” I asked a bit scared when she mentioned no pain restriction, and seeing the red hot bar wasn’t helping at all. “Sealing your alignment with us, so we know who to trust in this game of death.” She said before pressing the hot end of the bar to the back of my left ear. The pain following too unbearable. “ARRRRRRRGH” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I felt the hot metal touch against my skin, the pain even worst than the times I had been stabbed in this game. I truly was feeling real pain in here. I felt the metal leave my skin but the throbbing still making it hurt, I could have even swear I heard a small sizzling of what I thought was my fur and skin. “Welcome to the Hater’s Guild Cinnamon.” Chess Queen said as she started leaving the room, motioning with her head to Ezekiel to get me out of my holds so I could start as a member. February 24th I blocked an attack from my adversary as I kicked his nuzzle, making him stagger a bit. I used the moment to charge forward and slice at the neck of my opponent, not even using my frost ability to cause more damage as I knew I won. Congratulations! You’ve won the duel! I saw the message appear above me as I went down on all fours, walking to leave the small guild’s arena. “Not again! Curse that guy and his fighting style!” I heard my opponent yell from behind me, having this being the 5th time he has challenged me to a duel to prove my fighting technique was weak. It really was sad to say the least, he was considered one of the most skilled ones in the guild before I came, the surprise when he found out I had beaten BloodBoulder, the guy who was one of the strongests in the guild. Now you would say I’m the best fighter in the guild now because of that right? Nah, I’m just skilled, and possibly lucky. Because when Boulder challenged me to a duel, he beat me with two hits. Like I said, I must have bee lucky the first time. Still, it had been some time since I joined the guild, the guys weren’t much of the socialising type, which I guess was alright. But still, it was good to talk to someone once in a while, if only to make us remain more sane. “So I see you beat Edge again.” I heard the voice of a familiar person, and I had no problems with that. “Yeah, the guy is going to drive himself nuts if he keeps trying, or worse.” I said, looking back to meet the owner of the voice. Sw33tCr0ss, or like you may know her, the chick who stabbed me and kicked my head the day I joined the guild. “Oh like he could die from the monsters, that guy is tough as nails.” cross said as she came next to me. She was a blue unicorn with a black mane, a red streak running through it. Her tattoo was of two golden arrows which crossed on top of each other. “I was actually talking of him getting a girlfriend, the guy seems to need one.” I said as I gave her a grin, always having a bit of fun on making this type of jokes. “Maybe, men are know to go loopy when they don’t get laid.” She responded with a small chuckle of her own, “Good to know that won’t happen with you though” She said giving me a sly smile, which brought a grin to my face. “Are you inviting me to bed Cross? I thought you just enjoyed kicking my butt.” I said as Cross gave me an eye roll. “Well I do have fun sweeping the floor with you, but I enjoy having a conversation with you more.” She responded with a small smile, before changing the subject. “So you heard how big E have been going a bit, aggressive?” “Yeah, the guy seemed to be bother by something, but won’t tell anyone about it.” I said as I crossed my arms in thought. Ezekiel, or Big E as we like to call him, has been acting differently lately, all after that fail ambush attempt on the element bearer. Making our actions to stop the admin’s games harder. “I think he just doesn’t like the idea of having failed for the cause, especially since it was really important.” Cross deduced as she thought about it, not sure how the right hand of the queen was fairing. “Either way, this makes our jobs harder. Not just are the monsters stronger than before, but now people are gonna try to search for those elements even more, now that they have a new hope.” I said as the thought made me sad, those guys didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. “Yeah, and the fact that news of our existence is spreading doesn’t help at all.” Cross said before giving a sigh. “It’s like they get all the luck while we are left struggling, and I’m stuck in here because of a bet with my friends.” I remember when she told me about that, supposedly she and a group of friends heard about the game and bet that whoever managed to stay in the game for the longests before quitting would win 100 bucks. And then came Discord, telling them they were trapped in here and could die for real. From there, they tried to make it out to other towns but, things went sour. It seemed that they had decided to travel by night, and were unaware of the fact that monsters spawned more often at night. They...she was the only one to make it out. She lost her friends to this game in one day, and had no one else to turn to when she needed. That is until she found the Hater’s Guild and joined them, also determined to free everyone, even if she didn’t like them that much. This guild were her friends now, her family in battle, and like my brother, I would make sure we all made it through this. “Hey, we’ll make those guys pay. One step at a time, and if we get one of those elements we can halt these guys plans, and maybe save a few more lives.” I said as I wanted to make one, if not my only friend in the guild feel better. Cross chuckled a bit as she pushed my shoulder. “Always the one with the positive words, in a way, I think you have made this place a bit more spirited, at least for me.” She said with a small smile. I was about to response when I heard a voice call from the side as it interrupted me. “Sw33tCr0ss, you are needed for an ambush near Manehattan, the second element have been found.” A yellow unicorn officer said, which made me look in surprise before turning to Cross. She looked at me again before giving me a nod. “Seems that we get another chance at these.” She said before giving me a kiss on the cheek, making me jump in surprise. “Don’t do anything fun without me.” She said before walking away to go with the officer, leaving me with a stupid face. I shook my head to try to compose myself, damn that girl, always doing unexpected stuff around me, trying to fluster me. Not saying that I hate it, just that I didn’t get her game. I was about to walk away to where my quarters were, before I felt someone grab me by my shoulder. “Hey fresh meat, you are going on your first mission.” I heard the voice of an all too familiar person say. I turned around to meet face to face with Boulder, a yellow earth pony with red hair, which was combed in a way which made the hair look a ball at the front yet it hung loosely from behind, his tattoo was a large rock with a bloodied pickaxe resting next to it. Boulder was giving me his usual gruff smug look. “This mission, where exactly?” I asked, before another thought crossed my mind. “And you made sure to-” “Yeah, yeah. No one fitted the description you said. Again, no idea why you didn’t just give us the ID name, saves a lot of time for our scouts.” Boulder said as he waved me to follow him. “Like I said, personal reasons. Now, what is this mission about?” I asked, wanting to get the issue out of the way and deal with the problem at hand. “We are doing an ambush between the road from Canterlot to Dodge Junction.” He said, which made me groan a bit at the puns. “Heh, always love the faces you make when we mention words with puns.” Boulder said with a chuckle as we continued walking. “That is because they’re stupid, the only thing I can’t take about being here, is that we still use puns.” I said as I looked to boulder. “Still hard to believe that you used to be a brony, only to turn against them, kind of ironic.” “Oh well, it’s not me who is getting killed by that fact, so I pay it no mind.” Boulder responded before we came to another room with four other members of the guild, the room was a chamber that lead outside so we could all prepare beforehand for the mission. “Ok, so what is the target for this mission? Not very often I see so many of us go out, except for that time with the element.” I said as I went to a small safe, where most of the guilds supplies were stored, going to collect a few healing potions. “We got word that they are sending more players to Appleloosa, they are spreading their forces to search for the other elements as soon as possible, and our job is to either get rid of those players, or make them retreat back.” Boulder said as he equipped a warhammer to use in this mission, the guy having a like to use different two-handed weapons for every mission. Hopefully the latter. I thought to myself as I equipped my gear, having acquired some hindleg guards, which raised my health and stability, which was good as I would need those in the long run. “Alright everyone, we are leaving in five minutes, so make sure you got everything that you need and pack some food, we are most likely staying out there for three days the most, before we get back here.” Boulder announced as he went to equip the rest of his equipment. I checked all of my equipment again, and made sure I had a strong set as I deduced they were sending strong players to the new town, seeing as it was one of the places nearest to the badlands, so tough monsters could be thought to be near that region. I don’t know why, but I had the feeling that something bad was gonna happen today, only, it felt different than other times. February 25th I quickly parried the attacks of a high ranking officer of Canterlot as I backstep to avoid a magic missile spell from another. ‘Korera no hito o norou. (Curse these guys.)’ I said as I tried to attack my opponent, but he blocked my attack with his shield before using the moment to cut me across the chest. We had been waiting near the afternoon when we noticed the group of players coming our way, only four and didn’t seem very well equipped. So once they were near enough we attacked, only to see them quickly equip some high gear armour and weapons as suddenly four more came from our rear. We had been ambushed within our ambush, them smarts huh? ”Boulder, we can’t hold these guys for too much longer!” I shouted as I saw one of the unicorn officers use an electric spell and managed to stun one of our comrades, before they capture him and took him away. “No, I refuse to let them have the best of us!” Boulder shouted as he tried to smash a guard with his warhammer, only for his target to disappear and reappear right next to him, delivering a hard buck which only made boulder stagger a bit. I quickly parried another attack of my opponent as I made him lose his balance, before using the moment to use my frost ability and stab him in the chest, but only managing to cast the slowness effect on him. I used the opportunity to run away from my fight for the moment, as my health was near the yellow zone; as I turned I managed to see our pegasus marksman get finally take down by the other two pegasus on the enemies side. S**t, at these pace we are gonna be capture in no time. I cursed to myself as my attention was soon brought to Boulder as he was now in a fight with three officers. Boulder swung his hammer wide, trying to hit as many of his opponent s in one move as he could, but one of his opponents parried the attack, making Boulder lose his balance, as his opponent used the moment to close the gap and slice one of Boulder’s arm off. “Son of a gun!” Boulder shouted as he held his amputated arm, his weapon now laying on the ground but soon disappearing in a cloud of blue code as Boulder was no longer able to use it. I saw as the unicorn of the team charged a spell, sparks emanating from it as I knew what they were about to do. Losing no time, I dashed towards the battle and just in time as I manage to block the spell, and save Boulder from probably being paralyse and get capture. The spell didn’t affect me that much since I had higher resistance to magic attack than the other races, so my health only dropped a bit, but still entered the yellow zone. I faced my opponents as they gave me hard stares, making me feel a bit intimidated as I wasn’t sure what to do. The two non-magic users charged at me at the same time, only giving me enough time to parry away one attack as the other one hit me straight on, making me fall back a few feet away from my opponents. I tried to stand as I noticed that I now had a large red gash of code on my body, if it wasn’t for this being a game I would have been dead instantly. I was about to open my player menu to use a health potion but soon noticed a missile spell coming towards me. I quickly checked my health bar to notice I was deep in the red, and I knew that a direct attack from that spell would bring me down to zero without a doubt. I tried to move out of the way but I was too disoriented that I wouldn’t be fast enough to avoid it and I wouldn’t have time to block it either. I looked at the spell as it came towards me, seeing it in slow motion, like if I was watching the actual death coming towards me, and was about to take my soul. But was soon replaced by yellow as someone stood in front of me. Boulder received the full blast as he was sent to the ground cringing in the little pain he felt, but I looked in shock as I saw his health bar drop to zero before he gave me a smug look. “Well, that sucked.” He said before his whole body bursted into blue codes. “Boulder!” I yelled as I saw the code particles disappear. I didn’t really know the guy very well, but seeing him sacrifice himself for me made me feel guilty at his passing, but then I turned that guilt into anger as I faced the three officers, which were arguing about their inability to capture Boulder. I stood up quickly and brought my weapon forward as I dashed towards them, which they soon noticed as they got ready for me. The spell caster of the group charged a spell before firing it towards me, I saw the spell come to me and did something that I wasn’t even sure could be done. When the spell was close enough, I brought my blade forward and spun around, making the trajectory of the attack change as I made it go back to where it came from, hitting the unicorn straight in the face. it’s comrades seemed surprised as they looked back to see the unicorn nearly knock out from the blow. But as they turned around to see me, they weren’t ready as I attacked one of them. I channeled my magic into my weapon as I delivered an upwards slash into one of them, before bringing it down on the other before he could react, seeing as he gained the slowness effect. I turned around and parried the attack of the officer behind me, having seen him from the corner of my eye. I twisted my sword around until I made him let go of the blade, before I punched him in the face hard, making his health enter the yellow zone. I turned around as I saw the other officer going for a stab at me, but I deflected it to the side as I cut at his throat, seeing his health drop down near the red zone. I wasted no time as I trusted my blade backwards as I stabbed the other opponent which was behind me, hearing the sound of the freezing effect occurring as I knew he was unable to move. I immediately took my sword out and used the momentum to slash at the other officer, hard enough that I managed to see his health bar go back rapidly before hitting zero, making him burst into blue code. I spun around and delivered a straight punch against the ice cage where the other officer was trapped inside, making the ice shatter and in the process cause more damage to my enemy, seeing as his health bar hit zero as well as he burst into blue codes. The caster was starting to recover as he slowly stood up, shaking his head to clear his mind from his daze. But I quickly brought him back down as I kicked him in the face, making him fall to his back. He was about to stand up but I quickly buried my blade in his chest. The caster opened his eyes in shock as he felt the weapon penetrate him. He looked at me as I wore a face of pure rage, but he didn’t flinch as he gave me a glare as he charged his horn. I was not about to let him try anything, so I pulled my sword out quickly, twisting it around in my hoof before I slashed at him, hitting his horn with the blade and making it crack, breaking the unicorn’s concentration. I didn’t stop as I brought my blade down again and managed to amputate the horn, making the caster look in shock at seeing his appendage removed so forcibly. I made sure he didn’t tried anything else, as I buried my blade back into his chest, seeing his health hit the yellow zone. I looked at him in the eye, as he gave me a look of horror and fear, but I didn’t feel any pity for him.“Anata wa jigoku ni fuhai kanōsei! (May you rot in hell!)” I shouted with pure rage as I made my blade travel all the way through the unicorn, making a long red line of code appear on his body as I split his head in half. He had a look of shock and fear at my action before his health bar drapped to zero, making him burst into blue code like the others. I stared at the place where the unicorn officer stood a minute ago, slowly smiling at my act, before I was brought back to reality as I heard the sound of fighting around me. I looked around to see the battle still going, with only three of us left as the other two had being captured and Boulder was gone. I knew we would not last against five high ranking officers and looking at my health in the red zone, I knew that it would be suicide to do so.“Fall back, fall back you idiots!” I shouted as I saw the other two members of our group quickly break away from their fight and start running away, same with me. We ran towards our fall back position in case we needed to retreat for any reason. I looked back to see the two pegasi officers were after us, and gaining ground. “Stay away you f***ers!” I shouted as I stopped and made icicles of ice fly towards them, hitting them and seeing them get the slowness effect, I didn’t even care I had the conduct message, all I cared was to get out of there before we were captured or killed. Running to catch up with the others, a small thought crept through my mind, seeing as I had killed those three officers without any remorse, even when one looked ready to cry. I had just killed them, and I had felt...good. That thought scared me as I knew I had just killed, and it made me feel satisfied?“What am I becoming?” I said to myself as me and the others kept running, wanting to hide and avoid getting capture. February 26th I came through the door leading to the main chamber of the guild, the other two guys of the group breaking off to go to other places as they wanted to take in what had happen the other day. Myself, I just didn’t know what to do. Maybe talking with Cross would help me clear up my mind a bit. I searched around to see if I could see her, but didn’t see her on the usual places where she would hang around. But then I noticed the guy that had requested her to come for the ambush at Manehattan, oh God, the puns are starting to stick. I walked towards the member as I wanted to know if Cross’s team was still out on their mission. “Hey, you know if the team at Manehattan has come back?” I asked the guy, whose name was RazorBolley. Razor looked at me before giving me a nod. “Yes, they are back. We didn’t manage to stop the element bearer either, and we lost three of the eight we had sent there.” He answered as he gave me a straight face. When he mentioned losses I worried immediately, fearing that one of them was Cross. “Lost? Who did we lose?” Something inside of me told me I didn’t want to know, but I had to. Razor brought his player menu before making a small notebook appear on his hoof, opening it to read the notes inside. “According to this, we lost Sp4rt4nL4z3r during the trek there, and we lost Hammerfell and Sw33tCr0ss during the ambush.” He said before looking at me as I now had a shock look. “Is everything ok?” He asked as he saw my face. I stood there motionless for a bit before I regained my composure. “huh? Y-yes, I’m fine. Thanks for telling me.” I said quickly as I turned and left, leaving a confused Razor behind. I walked back to my quarters, ignoring any other member of the guild that I passed as my mind was in another place. I soon arrived to my room, I opened the door and closed it behind, not wanting anyone to disturb me. “....Arrrgh!” I yelled to the top of my voice as I flip a small drawer that was build for decorating the room, before it burst into blue particles. But I continued my rage as I smashed anything that was near me, even to the extent that I was punching the wall, getting a small window on purple which read ‘Inmortal Object’, but I didn’t care. I had just experience the loss of Boulder, and now I’m faced with the fact that Cross was gone as well, the only real friend that I had managed to make in this place, add the fact that I’m dealing with the guilt of killing three persons and you get a very emotionally unstable guy. I sat down as I held my head with my hooves, feeling a few tears of sorrow star forming in my eyes. “I hate this place, I hate this game, why did those admins do this, why?” I asked as I continued mourning to myself, only wishing for this whole nightmare to be over. April 2nd I put my katana back on it’s sheath as I went down on all four, not even caring that I had won the duel against three members of the guild. “You guys need to train harder, or we are gonna lose you quicker than if we went into a boss room.” I said, not even looking back as I addressed ‘my team’. “Yes sir!” I heard them yell back as they picked themselves up, making their way out of the arena as they needed to rest for a bit, seeing as I had done a number on them. “Sir, don’t you think you went a bit too much on them?” I heard the voice of another member of my group say, as I passed him. He was a beige pegasus with a long blonde mane which hanged by the side, his cutie mark was of a red halo which seemed to glow. His ID displaying him as RedSpartan. “In a real situation, the enemy will not hesitate to use their full power to bring us down. And I will not tolerate weaklings in this team.” I said with a strong tone, showing that I was not having any type of conversation which went against my plans. Spartan gave a groan but stayed in line as he didn’t argued back. “Yes sir.” He answered before I came out of earshot, as I had more important things to attend. Since the day I had come back from my mission and getting my first kills and the mourning of the people I knew, I had been offered the position of a team leader to take the more serious missions. It seemed that managing to kill one high officer from Canterlot was considered an instant promotion, which I have to argue was stupid. The new position’s role consisted of taking out strong groups of players, even as far as trying to find the boss rooms to try and collect the element so the admins wouldn’t get a chance to continue their plans, even if they already had four of them. In my time as new leader of a group, I had the time to familiarise with my team, which consisted of four, you already meet Spartan, which is our second front line attacker, as he uses a one-handed longsword and a large shield. Then there was MintyFreeze, our marksman as she was deadly with a bow and could hit her mark from half a mile away if giving the time. She is a lavender pegasus with curly blue hair, her cutie mark was of wind blowing. Then there was our spellcaster, KyleBomber. He is both good with a hammer and destructive spells, specially fire or explosion related. He was a black unicorn with an orange spiky hair do. His cutie mark was of a fuse bomb which was alight. And finally our spearman, and funny enough, was LightingSpear, go figure. He can take you out from a safe distance before you even get close, as he has better reflexes than normal earth ponies. He was a red earth pony, like I said, and had a straight green mane with black lines going through as well, his cutie mark was of a lighting bolt being held in a hand. In the time that I had this team, we have been sent in about eleven missions, and I had killed about six more bronies, with my team kills summing up to twenty-one. I had lost all feeling for killing them after my fifth, counting the first three. I don’t know why, but maybe I had grown used to the feeling, or simply I was too confused as to know what to think anymore. I didn’t find them as bronies anymore, but simply victims in a death game. And still, I felt fear that my brother had being killed by our guild, not knowing who they would try to target. But I would rather not know and fear his fate than actually knowing and blaming myself for it. After much walking, I came to the intel room, where scouts gathered to go on recon missions or to give a mission to another team so they could try and ambush them. And I was here for the mission for my team. I looked around to see some of the members of the scout team chatting about, and some leaving to go gather more information about players. “Cinnamon, sir.” I heard someone said to my side as I look to see someone dressed in complete black gear, which hid his features, his ID wasn’t visible which meant that he had a high stealth skill or he was using gear which boosted his skill enough to hide his ID, even if at a close distance like I was. “Your next mission has been chosen, a strong group of five players is in Detrot and are suspected to be searching for the next boss room in there, we fear that they are the best chance of getting it if they find it on that city.” The player said as he remained still, not showing any sign of body language. “Good, and did you check for-” I started but the player beat me to it. “There was no report of anyone fitting the description that you supplied to us.” He said not breaking his stoic posture. He took a scroll out of his persona, before giving it to me. “Here are the details sir.” “Thank you, now excuse me while I assemble my team for the mission.” I said as I walked back the way I came, having to plan my moves ahead if they were sending us to Detrot. April 3rd I sat in the roof of the building that I was using to oversee the street below, waiting for the group that we were suppose to attack. We were located in a section of the city that was outside of the safe zone for some reason, but we didn’t complain at the convenience. It was afternoon but with the black clouds above one could say it was starting to get dark. “Sir, just what do you think this group is like?” I heard Minty asked as she held her bow at the ready, scanning the street to see if she could spot our targets before me. “We are facing a group of five players, they don’t have any ranger so you should have your job cut out. They have one unicorn spell caster and a spear user unicorn. One pegasus who likes to use two handed weapons and an average earth pony with sword and shield.” I said as I never took my eyes off the street, not wanting to risk letting our targets get through. “The leader is what worries me, it seems that they couldn’t determine if it was an earth pony, a unicorn or a pegasus because of its armour. And I’ve been informed that he posses an area of effect attack that may limit our space, seems that it can use poison screen.” “So it can make our maneuverability on the street harder.” Spartan said as he saw our predicament with this group. “So should we take him out first?” He suggested which I shook my head to. “No, Minty, take their pegasus out first, I fear that he may want to reach you as soon as we attack, you still got a strong paralysis arrow with you?” I asked as I watched from the corner of my eye as Minty went through her player menu. “Yeah, but only one. These are a pain to buy, and more to make.” “One shot is all you need.” I told her as I looked down, immediately seeing movement on the street. “In positions.” I whispered as I raised my hoof, making Minty draw her arrow back, taking aim at the pegasus which was located near the front of the group, right next to the hooded leader. I waited as I saw them come closer, wanting to have them in the best position. When they came close enough I brought my hoof down, signaling Minty to shoot, the arrow hitting its mark on the shoulder of the player as he fell to ground, unable to move. “Attack!” Me and the rest, except for Minty, jumped down to the ground, landing around the group and surrounding them. “Seems like you brought the attention of...the…” I lost my voice as I noticed the leader. He held a large scythe which seemed thin and crooked, through the cloak I noticed his blue coat and darker blue mane, as well as I noticed a pair of shocked yellow eyes. I looked at the player ID and wished that I could just disappear. “C-cillian?” My brother asked as he looked at me with shock. I was about to response when the rest of my team shouted a war cry as they charged the rest of the players. How was it possible? I thought they said that they didn’t find anyone resembling my brothers description, and even if they couldn’t confirm his race, they could check his coat and mane color, as well as the eyes. I’ll worry about that later, now I had something more important to do. I looked up to see Minty pointing her bow towards my brother as she let go of her arrow. I wasted no time as I dashed in front of it and deflected the arrow from hitting my brother. Minty looked at me in surprise as she yelled. “Hey, what are you doing? I had a perfect shot!” “Cillian, why are you with the Hater’s Guild?” My brother asked from behind me as I could hear his anger. “No time to explain, you have to get out of here as fast as you can.” I said as I looked at him, ignoring the fight that was happening at the moment. Ray gave me a glare as he took hold of his scythe harder. “I’m not leaving without my team, so don’t tell me what to do.” He said as he went to run past me, but I held him down as I used my magic to hold his tail. “Those guys will not have mercy for you, and they are way stronger than you think. You can’t save them.” I said as I tried to convince him, only for him to give me a harder glare. “Maybe you can leave others like you left me, but those are my friends and I’m not letting them die.” He said before sprinting towards the battle, determined to save his friends at any cost. I stood there not sure what to do, but more at what he said about me leaving him. I grunted as I knew he wouldn’t listen to me, and that left one option. “Damn you Kyōdai (bro)” I cursed as I sprinted after my brother. Lighting and Spartan were confronting their opponent with efficiency, Spartan managed to parry the attacks of the magic wielder spear player as he counter by jabbing or slashing at him. Lighting able to evade the spells of the caster managed to come close enough to jab at his enemy, making him stagger backwards. “You bronies make this too easy, why don’t we ever get a good challenge out of you lot?” Lightning said as he went to jab again, only for his attack getting parried by a large scythe and then getting hit by it, sending him back a few feet from where he once stood, his health drapping a sixth of the way. Spartan looked to see the attacker, only to receive the sharp end of the scythe and get thrown next to Lightning, as he came to a stop, his health was reduced by a fifth. “You guys wanna pick a fight? Then pick it with me.” Ray said as he stood his ground, glancing back to address his comrades. “Guys, go help Liam, we need to get out of here quickly.” Ray said before he felt an arrow hit his back, catching him by surprise. “Die you stupid brony!” Kyle said as he launched a missile spell towards Ray, taking the moment of distraction to his advantage. Only for his attack to get deflected back by me as I landed in front of it, Kyle didn’t see it coming as he was meet with the full force of his attack and sent flying next to the other two members of my group, his health dropping by a fifth like spartans, as he was more resistant to explosive damage. “Stand down, we are aborting the mission.” I commanded as I saw Minty fly down from her position, seeing as things had turnabout for them. “What is wrong with you? We don’t allow players to live if we can.” Minty said as she draw her bow, pointing it towards my direction. I gave them a glare as I felt things were about to go south from here. “Guys, leave while you can. I will deal with these guys by myself.” Ray said as he held his weapon tight. “If I don’t make it in half an hour, you know what it means.” “Ray, we can’t leave you with those guys, they will-” One of the members of my brother’s team started to argue but I butted in. “You heard your leader, he will deal with these. And he won’t be alone.” I said as I glanced back, giving the guys a hard glare that made them flinch. “Got it?” They nodded their heads vigorously, finding my look very intimidating. They hurriedly carried their paralyzed friend on their backs as they quickly left the area, leaving me and my brother to confront my team. “What do you think you are doing man? we were suppose to kill them, not let them get away.” Lightning shouted as he glared at me, having a desire to torture me on the spot. “This is an exception.” I answered plainly as I meet them with even stares, waiting to see their moves. “I heard the hooded one call him Cillian, and they acted like they knew each other very well.” Minty exclaimed as she looked between the two of us. “So I was right.” I heard Spartan said as he came forward in front of the group. “The one that you always asked to get a heads up before missions is him, and I think I know why.” He said as he started to smile a bit. “You came to the game with him, which must make him your brother.” I grunted a bit as he was able to join the dots. “So what? I still believe in the word of the guild, I just didn’t want to find out the fate of my brother in the process.” I said to him, which caused my team to chuckle a bit. “You actually believe that stuff of the guild?” Minty asked rhetorically as she gave me a sadistic smile. “We were here by the time it was created, and I can tell you, it’s a lie.” Kyle said as he charged a spell, ready to start on the killing on possibly another player. “What are they talking about?” Ray asked as he gave me a look, not really trusting me at the moment but feeling that I could bring some light on the subject. “Oh nothing really, just how we convinced a lot of stupid players into believing that the admins were responsible for us getting trap in here. Although most are in for the killing.” Lighting said as it confused me while my brother looked at it with shock. “How would you know that?” I asked, not getting a lick of sense of what they were saying. “We can’t tell, but we know, I assure you.” spartan said before he went into his player menu, selecting something in his inventory. “But now that you know, we can’t let you live and tell the others, not that they would believe you either way.” Spartan said as his longsword was replace by another one that was red and had thorns running around it. The rest of the team seemed to grin even more as they knew what was to come. “I’ll take care of you first, then I will go after your brother.” Spartan said as he walked forward, confidence on his face. “Ray, I don’t like the look of this. You should really leave.” I said as I was starting to have a familiar feeling, like the time Boulder and Cross died. “No.” Ray said as he stood next to me, giving me a determined look. “I left you alone once and made you join a team of killers, I won’t leave you again so you can die.” He said as he gave me a nod. I smiled a bit knowing that I could count on my brother on this, he had really grown to be a better man. “Oh how touching,” I heard Spartan said in a mock voice, making me look at him with hate. “Stop wasting my time and face me, didn’t you say that we are suppose to fight at our strongests? Well, I’ll show you mine.” I groaned at him as I looked at my brother. ”Want to help me beat this flankhole?” I asked as it made Ray smirk at me. “Never thought I would hear you say the horse pun words. But yeah, let’s teach this guy a lesson.” He said as we faced our opponent again, before we both dashed towards him, wanting to deal with him quickly. “Kyle, Minty, deal with them.” Spartan said as I saw both of them leap over Spartan, firing attacks at us as we ran towards them. The attacks hit the ground, making a thick layer of smoke arise. Minty must have used a smoke arrow and Kyle a smoke screen spell, as I now couldn't see very far ahead of me. I was looking around the smoke screen trying to see if Spartan or someone else was trying to sneak behind me. I bumped into someone and I turned around, swinging my sword to attack whoever was behind me. My blade connected with the blade of a scythe, and I immediately recognized my brother in the smoke. "They are playing with us, and we can't see through these smoke." I said as I looked around again, only to feel three objects impale me in the back, making my health drop a bit. "Cillian!" My brother called in alarm as he was suddenly smashed by a hammer in the head, making him fall to the ground. Kyle standing over him as he was about to deliver another blow at Ray. I saw this and reacted quickly, bringing my sword under the path of the hammer, stopping it on its tracks. I quickly twisted my sword around, forcing Kyle to back away from me and my brother in order to not lose his weapon. "Nice try Cinn, but we know about your combat tactics very well, it will take more than that to win against us." Kyle said mockingly as he walked back into the smoke, hiding him from view. "Dang it, we can't do anything, this smoke is messing with our view." I said as I looked around, expecting any Kyle or Minty to attack us, having used these strategy when dealing with strong opponents with high agility like me. I felt as Ray rested a hoof over my shoulder, making me turn to him to see him with a small grin. "I'll deal with this." He said, making me look at him confused. Ray stood still for a moment, breathing in a control manner as he closed his eyes. I was about to ask what was he doing, before he opened his eyes suddenly and taking a long inhale. In an instance, I saw as the smoke around us was being collected into my brothers mouth. I stared mouth agape as every trace of the smoke went into my brother. I looked around to see Kyle and Minty together, their eyes wide open in shock as they saw the act. I turned back to my brother to see him inhale the last of the smoke, before he looked towards our two opponents, letting out a thick layer of...purple smoke? The smoke soon came over Kyle and Minty, covering them like water before they started coughing violently. They came stumbling out of the smoke, holding their mouths as they cough into them, I even managed to see their eyes were red in irritation. My brother gave a light cough as he looked at his work with pride. "Poison Screen, always good to take haters by surprise." He said with a small smug look. I wasn't even sure how he even managed that, I didn't think poison users could control smoke, always thought that was darkness users. Either way, I faced our attackers again, seeing their healths drop ever so slowly, Minty's at a slightly faster rate. "Nice one, now let's do this." I said before looking briefly at Ray with a look. "Don't even think on doing that meme." Ray looked at me with an innocent look, apparently having had the idea of doing it. "No idea what you are talking about." He said before sprinting away towards Kyle. "Lerrrroooooooy!!" I facehoofed, but decided to let it be, we need to get out of this alive first. I quickly sprinted forward as I ran towards Minty, who was recovering from the poison status. Ray smashed his weapon against Kyle's body, hard enough that he managed to send him through the poison screen. I soon followed as I hit Minty through as well, sending them both to where Spartan and Lightning were standing last time. Ray waved his weapon through the poison mist as it quickly dissipated. At the other side stood Lightning, helping Kyle and Minty to stand up again. I noticed their healths were now in the yellow, while Lightning still remained on the green. "Stand down guys, unless you want to die here and now." I said threatening, wanted to end this now. Lightning looked at me with hatred at me, ready to,say something but stopped midway, gaining a large malicious smile, the others soon following suit. I looked at them confused, what were they thinking abou- wait, where is Spartan? I got my answer as I heard the low chuckling of him behind us, before I could even react, me and my brother were cut from the back. But something was wrong, it hurt. “Arrgh!” Me and my brother yelled as we felt a white hot pain erupt from our backs, the feeling very familiar as I had experience it the day I joined the guild. I tried to quickly get up but felt as the rest of the team pin me down, making me face towards my brother, who was crying profusely as he wasn’t used to this level of pain. Spartan walked in front of me as he went towards my brother. “How sad, all it took to bring you down to your knees was one messily slash of a sword, well I shouldn’t be surprise since you aren’t use to real pain.” Spartan said as he rested a hoof to the back of the head of my brother, pinning him down. “Let him go! He has done nothing wrong.” I shouted as I tried to break free from the others, failing as I couldn’t break myself free. “He is just a kid!” “Well he should have know better than to play a game about killing, so I think he deserves this.” He said before bringing his sword down on one on my brother’s arm, making him scream in agonising pain. “Let him go you monster!” I struggled harder as I saw ray’s health drop a bit, coming close to the yellow zone. “Nah, I think I’m gonna have fun making him squirm as you watch.” He said as he twisted the blade around inside my brother’s arm, Ray screaming even louder as he felt his arm being torn. “Stop it, stop it or I will kill you!” I said as tears formed in my eyes, seeing as Ray’s health was dropping slowly, having already entered the yellow zone. “Oh don’t worry, you will join him once I’m finished, so enjoy the show while you can.” He said as he took the sword out of my brother’s arm and then impaling it into his back. My brother screaming louder than he had ever in his life, crying a river as the pain was too much to handle. “Stop it, stop it, stop it!” I whimpered as I couldn’t do anything, not even my magic could help me as I couldn’t cast my frost ability to my captors or even levitate my weapon as it was held away from me by Kyle. My brother’s health now on the red zone. Spartan stopped the torture on my brother as he leaned down to talk to him. “Any last words you want your brother to hear before you go?” He said with an ice cold tone, making me want to kill him a thousand times over. Ray looked at me with teary eyes as he tried to muster words to say to me. “I-i-it’s not your fault, you did what you thought was right to protect me, and I’m glad for that.” He said as he gave me a sad smile. “So don’t blame yourself.” I stared at him as I felt my own tears pour out, not wanting to believe what was happening. “R-ray.” I said through sobs as I watch Spartan stand up again. “Touching, but this family reunion has been prolonged far too long.” Spartan then raised his sword again, ready to deliver the final blow. “Night night.” He said as he brought the sword down, my whole world going in slow motion as I saw it descend, while I screamed in denial in a vain attempt to stop it. I saw as it went through my brother, making me feel like someone was destroying a part of me, and in reality, that is what was happening. I watched agonizingly as my brother’s health went down before it finally reached zero. “Thanks, for everything.” Ray managed to mumble with a sad smile before he burst into millions of blue particles, making my world stop. I could see Spartan laughing his head off, but I couldn’t hear him, I couldn’t hear the sounds of the others laughing along, nor the breeze of the wind or the thunder that resonated from the clouds. Only the twinkling sound of the code particles as if they were the cries of my brother and everyone I knew back in the real world, making me feel like a failure. I felt something deep within me stirred, something that should never be brought out to the light of day. I felt as every part of me trembled in anger as I now wanted to make these guys, and everyone in the guild, pay for what they’ve done. I suddenly started hearing the voice of Spartan again as he started talking to me. “How did it feel? How minuscule and useless did you feel as you watched me kill your brother?” Spartan taunted as he came towards me, but I paid it no mind. “Don’t worry, you will be able to see him very-” He stopped there as he notice my body start to gain a coat of frost, making the others look at me confused. “-soon?” “I told you to stop, didn’t I?” I said as more of my body got covered in ice, making my body look like it was made of the stuff. “That I would kill you if you didn’t?” My body was nearly covered as even my mane was encased, making it look like it was snow. “And now you get just that.” In a flash, I made spikes of ice erupt out of my body as they impaled themselves against the ones that were holding me down. Minty getting killed immediately as she didn’t have as many health points as the others. Lucky her. The spikes soon bursted into code as the other two fell to the ground, I quickly made my katana come to my hoof as I slashed at Lightning. He somehow able to raise his shield to stop the attack, but still served for nothing as he was sent to smash against the wall of one of the buildings, bringing his health to the red zone. Before he even realized, I sent an air slash of frost at him, which hit him square in the chest, bringing the rest of his health points to zero. After I finished with lightning I turned towards Kyle, who was soon to follow the same fate. Kyle managed to recover somewhat and sent a flame spell at me, hoping that I would be weaker to the attack. But I simply sliced through the attack as I sent an air slash towards him, the guy never expecting it as he was hit full force by it, bursting into codes just like lightning did. I turned towards spartan, who had a look of fear and anger and he held his weapon at the ready. “You monster!” He yelled as he charged at me, impaling me with his sword. I didn’t even felt the blade, as I watched the killer with a hatred glare with my white crystal eyes. He looked in fear when he saw that I didn't react in pain from his attack, and decided that it was better to run away from this monster. Before he could even move a feet, I slashed low at him, cutting his front hooves as he fell to the ground, desperately trying to run with the stubs he had for arms. His health having dropped to where he now only had 2/3 left. I lowered myself down as I grabbed him by the neck, bringing him to eye level. He started wimpering as he could feel his death coming soon, but not before I had my way with him. I took hold of the still impaled hater sword, pulling hard as I meet resistance, seeing my health bar dropping ever so often, somehow not feeling anything. With one final yank I took the sword out and spinned it a bit in my hoof. "W-what are you do-" Spartan was saying but was interrupted as I drove the blade through his chest making him yell like a pig. "ARRRRRGH!" “Anata wa watashi ga itta koto o yatte inaide wa ōkina misu o okashita.(You made a big mistake by not doing what I said.)” I said as twisted violently the blade inside of him, making him scream louder the more I moved the blade. Anata wa watashi ni somui yori mo yoku shira rete iru hitsuyō ga arimasu.(You should have known better than to disobeyed me) I said as I removed the sword out of him and held it hard in anticipation. “Soshite ima, anata wa kakaku o shiharau.(And now you pay the price.)” I said as I thrusted the sword right through his skull, making it come out from the top. If Spartan wanted to scream in pain, he couldn’t as the pain was too much to handle for him, as he lost consciousness, just before he bursted into blue particles along with the sword, as its owner no longer existed. I fell to my haunches as I let the adrenaline that I must have created to do all that start to wear off, the ice around my body falling slowly as I noticed that my magic bar had been depleted. But I didn’t care about that. I looked at the floor with great sorrow as I let the death of my brother sink in. I screamed to the skies, as I felt tears roll down my face as well as rain started to fall, making the scene even more depressing. May 3rd “I can’t believe we were reduced to this.” An orange earth pony with a hammer and shield said as he looked at the dark road ahead with boredom. “Our guild gets raided and now we have to search for hunt ourselves.” “Will you stop complaining about that? we were lucky enough to not get capture by those bronies, the last thing I want is to be held by those guys.” A pink pegasus mare said as she had a pair of tiger claws gauntlets. “I still can’t believe that our fair lady got captured.” A unicorn mare said as she had a large shield and spear. “She was the best tactician I have ever seen, just how did she get capture?” “Will you three shut it? I see someone coming, alone.” The last member of the group said, an earth pony which had a large two-handed sword strapped to the back. He watched as he saw a lone cloaked figure walked by the road they were watching. “Finally! I have been asking for action for days.” The first earth pony said as he stood up, wanting to just go there and fight, but he knew better. “He is cloaked, don’t know what race he or she is, or what equipment he has. We have to be careful about this.” The unicorn hater said as she brought her weapons out. “I don’t care, I want to slice him to bits.” The pegasus hater said as she put on her equipment, ready to have some fun. “Ok, we go there and try to ambush him, if we find out he is too strong we run.” The second earth pony said as he got ready as well as the other. Slowly, the group crept about as they positioned themselves ahead on the road so they could ambush the player more efficiently. As they waited, they saw the figure walk along the path, keeping it’s head down to hide its face. When it came close enough, the four haters jumped out of their hiding spots as they surrounded the unsuspecting traveler. “Bad day to get lost friend, maybe your kind managed to catch most of us, but the Hater’s guild still lives.” The second earth pony said as he watched their hunt, before it gave a chuckle. “Been a while since I’ve been ambushed, wasn’t expecting it to happen since the guild got capture.” The hooded individual said which made the haters look at him confused, all except for the pegasus mare. “No, not him. Anyone but him!” She said as she trembled in fear a bit before taking off from the scene. “Everyone for themselves!” The mysterious pony, seeing as one of the haters fas running away took out a weapon before spinning around and sending a large air slash towards the fleeing hater. The mare never saw it coming as she was hit straight on, before her body was concealed in ice and soon falling to the ground, when the dust that had been created cleared, the Pegasus girl could be seen inside as she cried in fear, her health bar already in the yellow zone. “What the hell was that!” The unicorn mare said before looking towards the mysterious pony, only to freeze in fear as anyone that joined the guild had been given a warning to watch out for this person. The cloak had been removed as soon as the attack was launched, as it revealed the figure standing to be a light brown unicorn with a large black spiky mane, his cutie mark being three sets of swords arranged that they crossed each other. He wore a light leather jacket which went over a dark shirt, he wore a red headband which had its ends hang loose from behind, as well he wore a pair of dark blue gloves over its front hooves, while he had a pair of hindleg guards. The biggest feature of all was that it used a blue katana and stood on its hindlegs. In other words, me. “But after they lost fifteen of their best guys I wasn’t surprised they stopped sending them after me. A bit refreshing getting attack again.” I said as I took better hold of my weapon. “But now, let’s get back to business.” Anyone that may had been near the area would have been able to hear the sounds of fear from the haters, as they had their health bars drop down to zero, making any other possible hater near run in fear. I continued walking along the path that lead to where I needed to go. Soon, I saw large slabs of stones and crosses appear around the road as I came near where I needed to go. I drifted off the path as I knew by now where to go, passing the stone slabs as names were written on them. I didn’t care about those, only one as I had something to do there. I soon stopped at a small slab of stone that was lowered to the ground, making it look like it was a mini coffin of sorts as a name and date was etched on it. Raybony 2004-2020 I lowered myself to the ground as I looked at the stone with a bit of sorrow, but I tried not to show it on my face as I looked at it. “Hey bro, been a while since I visited huh?” I said to the cold stone like it was the actual person, feeling that if I tried hard enough I would get a response. “Good news, they managed to capture the Hater’s guild, so no more major killing across the game.” I said as I gave a hollow chuckle. “They will start looking for the elements again, and hopefully get us out of this place.” “Heh, can you believe that a small group that escaped from being captured ambushed me? But don’t worry, they won’t be causing any more trouble.” I said as I gave a sad smile, remembering why I came here. “I brought you something.” I said as I went through my player menu and selecting an object, the item soon appearing in my hoof, as it reveal it to be a muffin with a lit candlelight on top. “It’s your favourite, blueberry and banana, bought it just for you.” I said as I placed the treat on top of the grave. I looked at it with a forced smiled as I felt tears starting coming out of my eyes. “Happy birthday bro.” I said as I felt my voice get caught, feeling as now my tears came more freely. “I-I miss you.” I said between sobs, not caring if anyone was near me to hear, this was a special moment for me...and Ray.