I step onto the newly working train station, and look behind me to see Xavier and Ed carrying behind them a rather large suitcase. This piques my interest as I walk towards them.
"Why the hell do you need a bag?" I ask Ed, "We're literally staying there for one night and anything you get will just be put into your inventory." Rather than answering me though, Ed just tilts his head in Xavier's direction. I sigh as I figure out exactly where this conversation is headed.
"Before you speak..." Xavier says as I walk up to him, "I have all the equipment that wouldn't fit in my inventory in this bag and the one Ed is carrying."
"What the hell is so big that it can't fit in your inventory AND needs two bags?" I retort, half knowing his answer already.
"Everything I need for when I get laid." Xavier responds. I close my eyes and turn to Ed in order to make sure of something.
"Ed, this game is rated E 10+ right?"
"Yeah, why?" After hearing Ed's answer I turn to Xavier and raise my left eyebrow at him, wondering how he found playboy stuff in a game that isn't even rated T.
"Well I really just half-assed the crafting system and made these." Xavier says, opening up one of the bags and showing me a handful of condoms.
"How is that even in the crafting system?" I shout, my question only half answered. Xavier just shrugs and continues dragging his bag into the train car as the telltale blowing of a whistle signals that everybody needs to be on board now.
The train car is well lit with some rather nice leather couches to keep us comfy, and trays sit on our laps from the large amount of food he had due to missing both breakfast and lunch. Honestly I could just sleep here every night.
"Man I thought this train would go faster." Ed says as he glares daggers at Steven yet again. For some reason he's been giving Steven the death glare whenever he thought nobody was looking, and it's clearly been taking it's toll on Steven. He's begun looking paranoid and has attempted to leave whenever he could. Thankfully Will noticed this too and convinced him to stay after he tried to excuse himself again.
"Well you never know what this game would have coded as the speed for mounts, vehicles, and all the whatnot." Xavier says as he, for whatever reason, juggles fireballs with one hand. I would assume that he finds it cool in his twisted mind. "Hey Jake-" He starts before I cut him off quickly.
"Stay away from me you little lust vortex."
"Awh c'mon you know you're jealous."
"No, and I hope I never will be."
With that, he turns his face towards the window and begins thinking about god knows what.
"What's made you grumpy all of a sudden?" Will butts in. I turn to him and watch him dart his eyes to my right. Getting what he's trying to say, I turn my head and witness Steven exit the train car.
"My apologies," I say, "I just need to go to the dinner car and get a drink. You guys want anything?"
After finding a sheet of paper and writing down everybody's "orders" I walk out of the car and begin to pursue Steven to what I would guess would be the caboose. I mumble to myself as I realize that the word caboose sounds rather fun to say. I know, I can have the mind of a grade school kid sometimes.
Upon entering the caboose a chill goes down my spine as I realize how barren it is. The walls aren't even painted so the wood shows. There's no light, save for a swaying roof lamp above my head.
I swear this place is like the basement of a train; dark, creepy, and something you go out of your way to avoid.
Steven stands on the rail of the car just outside the back door, continuously leaning over the rail more and more. Realizing what he's about to do I rush over towards the back of the train and bust through the door.
"What the hell Steven!" I shout, grabbing his hand to keep him from jumping off of the train. He turns to me and the first thing I notice is his expression. His entire face was contorted in a heavy sob. I trudge him back to the inside of the caboose and sit him down on one of the bags, presumably Xavier's condom keepsake.
"Alright," I say, my voice now lowered to keep from sounding like there's any form of malice in it. "what's been going on that's so bad it made you want to jump off the bridge. Literally." I look back outside the train car and realize that we were over a bridge.
Rather than replying Steven puts his head in his hands and continues to sob harder. I get up from my spot and sit next to him, patting his back and consoling him until he calms down enough to tell me what's wrong. He looks up at me after getting out of the fetal position. What he says next surprises me.
"It's my fault." He says. I turn my head and raise an eyebrow in curiosity. Luckily I don't have to put my thoughts into words as he elaborates right after. "I just stood there as Matt died. I was the only one who could save Ed's husband and I fucked it up." He grabs a stray pebble and chucks it across the train car, "Now Ed hates me more than you could comprehend. I guess I couldn't take the pressure anymore ya know?" He turns to me expectantly and I run as many ideas about what to say as possible. Due to my morality I just pick the honest answer.
"No," I say, "I don't know what that's like, nor do I want to. I understand you feeling guilty and Ed's anger, but sometimes there are things that, no matter how much we want to, we just can't do them." The image of Ed letting is rage out on Nightmare Moon after Matt's death flashes through my head. "Like how Ed wanted to kill Nightmare Moon himself. We all knew that he wouldn't be able to do it and so I rushed in there to make sure he didn't get himself killed."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Steven responds. "That just says to me that Ed's anger is justifiable."
"It is. But maybe if you tried to settle things with him and let him know how bad you feel about it he'll be at least a bit less angry."
Steven sniffles before standing up again.
"Alright," He says. "I'll try and mend things with him at the Gala. Let's go back." I stand up with him, and I'm about to follow him until I remember that I need to pick up a bunch of food for everybody.
The train blows it's whistle before coming to a slow stop at the station for Canterlot. I look out the window and notice that it's already evening and the Gala is to start at any minute. Ed seriously wasn't lying when he said that this train was unusually slow.
"Hey Xavier," I say as I realize something. "what are you gonna do with your bank vault of condoms and whatnot once we actually get to the gala?" Xavier turns to me and puts his finger to his chin in thought. He opens his mouth to reply, but quickly closes it again and begins to twiddle his thumbs.
"Good question." He finally replies. Everybody gives a short laugh before getting up from their seats and exits the train. As we do a sarcastically cheery voice sounds from the loudspeakers adorning the Station play the same message we're probably going to here everywhere we go from using the train. Welcome to Canterlot. Please enjoy your stay.
I see Will roll his eyes at the message as he begins stepping off of the platform with the rest of us following behind him. We find a road with green arrows pointing to our right and follow it with our eyes until we see the castle, and I must say that the Disney castle has nothing on this beauty. Well maybe a little but that's not the point.
"Dayum," Will says, putting on a suggestive look. "That thing's almost as good as the booty." We all just sit and admire the castle a little longer, as it really is a sight to behold in this game, before remembering why we're here and follow the green arrows to the castle.
The entrance to the castle is as grand as the show made it seem, with a plush velvet carpet along the center leading to the stairs that split halfway up and turn into two staircases, one going left and the other going right. The space around the carpet in barren except for some small groups of people clumping around the corners. Celestia stands at the bottom of the staircase, shaking the hand of anypony who comes to her for one.
I walk up to Celestia, and am surprised to see her actually change expression as she sees me. Her regal smile becomes one of joy as she identifies me directly.
"Ah, Jake Wasiner, the most well known member of the Celestial Crusaders. Some believe you're even the leader." My eyes go wide as I marvel at the clearly well written script this game's creators must have created to give an NPC this much personality. It really seems like she's alive.
"Well fortunately that last rumor isn't true, I honestly don't think I'd be cut out for leadership, though I would like to know how you immediately knew my name if it isn't too much to ask?" Rather than responding verbally she gives a small giggle and points to my name tag.
I look up dumbly, before looking back at her and nodding a bit.
"Pardon my idiocy," I say, "I'm still not comfortable with having a bunch of pictures constantly in my face." She nods her head in agreement and turns back towards the visitors who come to shake her hand.
"I'll look for you when I'm done smiling and shaking hands," She says discreetly, "there is something I need to inform you and your guild about."
I nod my head and turn to see Xavier doing something I legitimately never thought possible. He's dancing with a girl.
Xavier. Dancing. With a girl. That's just not natural.
I walk over to Will and realize that everybody is as surprised at this revelation as I am. We all watch in confused unison as Xavier does a perfected ballroom dance with this mysterious girl.
"Who used a decoy spell?" Steven asks, putting a hand over the right side of his mouth so it's harder for others to listen in.
"I hope that's a decoy spell." I respond, "Or else that girl's gonna wake up having nightmares about what's to come."
With a nod, Ed decides to jump in to make sure it isn't the real thing and that this poor woman is actually a decoy. Once Xavier is within arms reach of him, Ed reaches out to grab the supposed decoy. To our horror this is actually the real Xavier and he turns to us as he feels Eds fingers touch his face, before they engage in some discussion I can't hear.
I decide to avoid an awkward conversation tomorrow morning and look at the woman's username.
Tonya
"Oh she's fucked." I whisper, knowing Xavier's history with girls of the same name. Taking a better look at Xavier's new nightly plaything I notice a rather cliche purple wizard cap, tied together with a purple cloak adorned with stars As for skin she chose a dark blue one and a pale white mane that drapes down to her shoulders. She's a mage alongside Xavier and looks both innocent and brash from the body language I'm seeing as Ed and Xavier discuss... things.
Dear god Xavier's trying to bang an anthro version of Trixie.
"Literally," I hear Steven saying as he adds on to my sentence. I look at him and see the grin he has on his face, looking rather pleased with what's going on. Before I can give a reply a message pops up in front of me.
Come meet me in the Gardens.
-Celestia.
I quickly close the message before anybody else and slip away while everybody's attention is focused on Xavier's new prey. I open my map to figure out where the gardens are, but for some reason they aren't marked. As a matter of fact none o the places I haven't visited yet are even on the map, as though this place wasn't meant to be public just yet.
Rather than message her back I wander around aimlessly until I find my destination. Leave it to a man to not ask for directions when he most needs it. Anyways, I look around until I see Celestia's name tag appear over a hedge. I decide that just going through the hedge would be a better idea than walking around. I found out that it wasn't as good of an idea as I thought since I walk out the other side with half of my health bar taken and a multitude of thorns stuck in my arm.
As I slowly pick the thorns out of my arm I hear Celestia give a small chuckle. I look up to see her suppressing a smile while holding a hand over her mouth. I roll my eyes and go back to plucking the thorns off of me before she speaks up.
"As I wanted to say back at the entrance, having a guild named after me is rather flattering, even more with the fact that you guys are the biggest guild in the game."
"Thank you." I reply, getting the last thorn out of my arm. "I was unaware that we were the biggest guild. Is that all you wanted to say?"
"No," She replies, "I wanted to warn you. Having your guild be the main contribution to getting out of here is a noble cause, but a multitude of guilds have risen to do just the opposite. They fear that they'll have to leave Equestria and go back to an arguably bad life back in the real world. Some of these guilds you guys have called 'Defilers' since they usually get your attention through murder. But in reality they're dreamers."
I run this through my head, contemplating the last guild of defilers we fought. They had only killed enough to get our attention before completely devoting themselves to war, whereas some of the other Defiler guilds would continue their murder sprees. Could they have been Dreamers, or just trying to conserve their supplies for our battles?
"The current one that's growing bigger and bigger by the hour," She continues. "is known as 'Neverland'. They haven't acted out just yet, but rather have been making sure they're well stocked for an all out war. You better prepare your guild lest you be demolished within the first battle."
I nod my head and turn around so that I can get back to my group but Celestia grabs my arm to stop me.
"One more thing," she says.
"Wha--" I try to say, but my mouth is invaded by a pair of soft, white lips touching mine. Frankly I though there was some kind of personal space mechanic in this, given that both adults and young children were playing this, but I guess not.
She quickly pulls back before anything else can happen and her face turns into one of puzzlement.
"So that's what it's like to kiss a human, Twilight said it was more fulfilling." She says, before going into a series of mumbles and other miscellaneous noises I can't quite decipher. I quickly turn tail and bolt back to the room where most of the players, alongside my friends, are.
When I get back inside I look around for where any of my friends could be, and find them split up around the room. Will is chatting away with Xavier, who has his arm around the back of Tonya's neck, sipping whatever it is they're serving as a drink at the snack tables. Looking around more I see Ed dragging Steven away into a seemingly less populated room.
This could go one of two ways, and I doubt it's the dirty one.
Knowing something's going to happen unless somebody intervenes, I quickly march my way up the stairs leading into that room and stay by the door way. Listening in, my suspicions are confirmed as I hear Ed yelling at Steven.
"Why the fuck did you just sit there as Matt was forced to die right in front of me!?" Ed's voice is filled with anger as I imagine he's using all of his self control to not harm Steven in any way, shape, or form.
"I don't know!" I hear Steven speak up, his voice choked up since he's probably crying. "I just don't know okay? I wasn't under the paralysis effect but I still couldn't move. I guess I was just too scared to do anything."
"Please," Ed retorts, clearly not believing anything Steven is saying. "we all know you could have easily gone in and saved Steven, but you clearly decided not to. You didn't even move until he was in realism mode."
Audible sobs are now coming from Steven, as I hear his voice sound more and more like he's pleading.
"Listen, I'm sorry okay? I don't know how to make it up to you, so please tell me how to show you that I'm sorry!"
I decide to step in before Ed does something too irrational, but I'm too late as Ed gets what he wanted to say out of his mouth before I could interrupt him.
"Leave the guild," he says, "I never want to see your damned face ever again."
Rather than shrugging this off, Steven does just as he was told before running out of the room, bumping my shoulder as he sprints away crying."
"What the hell Ed!" I shout, glaring daggers at him.
"He just sat there and watched as my fucking husband died!" Ed retorts, "You expect me to just shrug it off as though I didn't even know him?"
"No but you shouldn't force one of your best friends, hell anybody to abandon the only group of people he can trust in this literal death game."
Ed's face softens as he realizes what he's done, and quickly pulls up his map to figure out where Steven went. Steven dot, indicating his location, isn't on the map though.
"The hell?" I say, before checking my own map to discover he isn't on my map either. I push a few more buttons in the menu to check my friends list, before realizing that he removed himself from it. I don't go into a complete panic however, until a message pops up in the chat menu.
Guild Admin: Steven has left the Celestial Crusaders.
I sit there, in the middle of the Canterlot Gardens crying my eyes out. As much as I knew Ed hated me I never would have thought that he'd go this far.
"Steven Bonnani," A voice comes form out of nowhere, and I look at the man who said it. I can't make out his facial features because he's hiding in the shadows. "one of the legendary admins of the Celestial Crusaders, now forced out of his own group due to the cruelty of one man."
"What do you want?" I say weakly, trying not to sound like I was just sobbing.
"I want to give you redemption," He replies, "I want to help you become strong so that you never have to go through this again."
With one look at his name tag I nod my head and get up, walking to him in the shadows.
Pyralis
Thief: LVL 15
HP: 2,437/2,437
MP:750/750
Neverland.
