//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Forming A Party // Story: A Buggy Game // by Bucking Nonsense //------------------------------// I'll take over for the next bit, honey. After coming here, folks have been surprised by my ability to shift 'mental gears' so quickly: Most folks will take a while to adapt to a new and unusual situation. Call it... mental flexibility, if you like. Honestly, I've always been surprised how long it takes a non-changeling to adapt. Changelings are used to a world where everything is hostile to us, and have adapted accordingly. In a way, it's kind of like why there are so few Type One's in the world: A changeling who cannot quickly adapt and overcome will not live to see adulthood. That is why, the moment that Hiro said 'Let's talk business', I had instantly shifted from elation at having a name, one that I thought was quite lovely, to suspicion as to what this 'Hiro' was really up to. Paranoia is another trait that changelings have developed to an art form. When everything really is your enemy, though, can you really call it paranoia? Anyways, the first words out of my mouth, in response to that little statement were, "Just what kind of business are we talking about, mister super-monkey?" The orb, still hovering at eye level, let out a chuckle, then said, "Well, I was sent to aid you in navigating the dungeon." Now, this confused me a little bit. See, when you humans talk about dungeons, it can mean two things, either a castle's prison or a complex maze of traps and puzzles. Back home, it's only the first one. I had explored the castle pretty thoroughly, I had thought, including the dungeons, and had seen nothing spectacular there. "Hmmm, maybe I'm using the wrong word for it," Hiro said, seeing my look of confusion. He paused, then asked, "What do you call a large complex of subterranean tunnels and chambers, filled with traps and monsters, all for the sake of protecting a treasure?" "Something I want no part of," I answered immediately. Traps and monsters were not something that I wanted any part of, and as for treasure... Changelings don't need money. We're a race that survives on love energy. As such, we don't place a lot of value on currency, or any other material wealth. In fact, in terms of possessions, the average changeling does not have much beyond what can easily fit inside of a stomach pouch. Me, myself, the only thing I had was a small, heart-shaped piece of rose quartz that I had picked up as a hatchling. Yes, this one, right here. Thank you, yes, it is quite lovely, isn't it? One of the first things I did after coming here was having it set in a gold chain. Well, after I threw it up... Ah, back to the topic at hand. The voice coming from the orb seemed a little surprised, as he asked, "Really? I would have thought you'd be at least a little interested. I mean, it may sound a little cheesy, but a Wishing Star sounds like quite a prize." Ah, I should probably tell you all just what a wishing star is, before I go further. Our pony friend here might have heard of one, but the rest of you likely have not. A wishing star is one of the rarest and most powerful relics in the entirety of the world I once called home. They are, given their nature, extremely rare, since they are quite literally stars that fell from the sky. In ancient times, one was turned into a sword that granted its wielder the limitless power to destroy an unkillable villain. Before that, an evil wizard used another such star to create relic that allowed him almost godlike control over the entire world... and the destruction of that relic damaged the world on a fundamental level. To possess a wishing star is to possess the ability to impose your will upon the world. So naturally, you can understand why I was immediately interested, yet at the same time, even more suspicious than before. Too good to be true, and whatnot. Very carefully, I asked, "There's a wishing star? Here?" The orb bobbed up and down, almost as if nodding, then said, "That's the information I have, yes. Fifteen floors beneath this palace, there is a wishing star. I've been informed that it doesn't have much power left, but it can grant a single wish to whoever reaches it." Just one wish. That would be all I needed, though. One wish would get me out of the palace, and could take me anywhere I wanted to go. I'd have to be careful how I said it, of course, but that would my ticket to freedom. Or better yet, I could wish for enough love energy to last me a lifetime (or twenty), wait for my wings to heal, and just fly off into the sunset. It would be what you humans would call my 'Golden Ticket', my chance at changing my life forever for the better. My suspicion levels rising, I asked, "And you're leading me to it? Right. Pull one of the others, they have bells on them." "I'm not joking," Hiro said, his tone completely sincere. So much so that I very nearly believed him then and there. But a lifetime of being a changeling gives one trust issues like you would not believe. "And why," I began, "pray tell, would you lead me to a wishing star? What's your game?" The orb began revolving around me, and said, "Game. Interesting way of putting it. Hmmm... I wonder. Nevermind, not important. My 'game', as you put it, is to get you from Point A to Point B, so that you can use that star to grant whatever wish your heart desires, with all your bits still attached." My suspicion levels were nearly at their peak, as I asked, "And what do you get out of it?" "The satisfaction of a good deed done for another," Hiro stated, coming to a stop right in front of me. Maximum suspicion levels reached. "Malarkey," I stated, flatly. "You're lying." The orb's voice sounded... hurt, strangely enough, as he asked, "What makes you think that?" Sitting, then crossing my forelegs over my chest, I stated, "'Follow me,' you say, 'and I'll lead you to a treasure that just happens to be the one thing you need more than anything else. It's all yours, I don't want it, and I don't want anything in exchange for helping you.' The world doesn't work that way." It was, to me, like that van in some pictures online that said 'Free Candy'. Obviously a trap, so much so that it would have made me laugh if it wasn't happening to me. "Maybe it should," Hiro said, flatly. With a snort, I admitted, "Yes, it should." Fitting him with a glare, I continued, stating, "But it doesn't. I don't know what it is you're after, if you're just trying to lead me into a trap, or if there really is a star and you need me to get you close enough to it so you can make a wish, but I know you have some sort of ulterior motive to all of this." Hiro was silent for a moment, then asked, "So... if I said that I did want something from you, in exchange for leading you to the wishing star, you'd be more inclined to trust me?" "Yes," I stated flatly, nodding. Yes, I know that may sound weird to you, but to me, someone doing something for me for no other reason than because they were trying to be nice was weirder. If I at least knew that he wanted something from me, I could at least count on him following through on his offer to help me in exchange for his reward. Okay, honey, you'll need to say this next bit. This one is even worse than the last one. I'm already giggling, just thinking about it. ------------------------------------ Alright, alright. Okay, a little bit of background, so you'll understand this next part a little better. Back when I was fifteen years old, my parents took me with them on a trip to Japan, to meet my grandparents. While we were staying in Tokyo, my father decided that it would be good fun to take me to 'meido kissa', or a 'maid cafe' in English. What is a maid cafe? It is a cafe where the majority of the staff is composed of cute japanese girls in maid costumes, who wait on you for the entire time you are there. Only in Japan? Would it surprise you to hear that there are a few here in the states as well? I thought so. Oh, and most of the maids at this cafe? Teenage girls around the same age I was. Yeah, it would sound like heaven now, but... As I said, I was fifteen, and I had just started noticing girls. So, understandably, I was awkward and embarrassed, to the point that I could barely speak. I was pretty shy back then. My father thought that the entire situation was funny as hell. It didn't help that my father paid extra to have one of the maids spoon-feed me my meal. He laughed the entire time, and it was a week before I spoke to my father again, and um... the first thing I asked him was if we could go again. Yeah, it turned out that I kind of developed a thing for cute girls in maid costumes. What? Don't look at me like that. At least I can admit it. Besides, as far as that kind of stuff goes, that's fairly tame, isn't it? I can think of much worse things to ask someone than to put on a maid costume and wave a feather duster around... Anyways, moving on! I told you that story so you'd know where this next part came from. "I... want you to serve me breakfast in bed," I stated, after a moment's hesitation. Elizabeth's expression of confusion was almost comical. "What?" "I want you to serve me breakfast in bed," I repeated, then decided to try for more. After all, at the time, I still thought it was a game, and I wanted to see just how far I could push the AI before it completely gave up and went nuts. "While wearing a maid costume. And by serve, I mean that you have to spoon feed every bite to me. And you'll have to do it every day for a month. And you know what? You have to stay at my place, doing whatever I ask you to do: My house could use some cleaning, and I'm not very good at doing that. And you have to wear that maid costume the entire time." I was on a roll: I was certain that, if I kept it up, I'd crash the game. That was the point of testing an alpha build, right? Take it to the limit, to see where it might break down. I was about to add more ridiculous demands, put icing on the cake, so to speak, when I heard a most unusual sound. Have you ever head Elizabeth giggle-snort? No? Well, you should sometime: It's adorable. Yes, even hearing it from H. R. Giger pony, it was still cute as hell. The fact that, just a moment later, she fell on her back, laughing her ass (Oh, wait, sorry, flank) off only made it more pleasant. She really does have a wonderful laugh, for someone who has spent her whole life being bitter. After a solid ten minutes of uncontrolled laughter (Yes, sweetie, I counted. Again), she finally calmed down, and regained her composure. Getting back up, she looked at me... and burst into a fit of the giggles. When she finally calmed down again, she admitted, "I haven't laughed so hard since I was a hatchling." "Well, I'm happy you're happy," I said, chuckling a little myself. She started laughing, but quickly got it under control, then said, "You sure know how to flatter a girl, Mister Super-Monkey. Do you even know what you just asked me to do?" Perfectly straight-faced, I said, "I asked you to dress sexy for me and wait on me hand and foot for a month." Well, hoof and hoof, but let's not get into semantics right now. She looked at me (Well, at the orb, I guess), then her eyes widened a little. Her jaw dropped, and for a moment, she seemed at a loss for words. After a few seconds, she closed her mouth with a click, and her face turned bright blue, starting with her cheeks, but quickly spreading out to cover her from the top of her forehead to the base of her neck. After a moment, she giggled nervously and said, "Um, yeah. That's more or less it..." Yeah, she was blushing like she is right now. If you think that a bug-pony can't be adorable, you've obviously never seen one blush bashfully before. I... felt kind of embarrassed then, seeing how much of an effect that request had on her. I started to say, "If you don't want to..." "No, no, it's fine," she said, maybe a little too quickly. "I just wasn't expecting you to say that. Changelings don't get compliments on our looks very often from non-changelings. And I..." Elizabeth paused, then said, "Nevermind. It's not important. I... I really am flattered. And if that's all you want for helping me, that's a surprisingly small price to pay. Especially right now." A little confused, I asked, "Right now? What's happening right now?" The blush beginning to fade from her face, Elizabeth admitted, "I'm sort of trapped here. After... well, after some things went wrong for me, I wound up here. My wings are damaged, so I can't fly out of here like I normally would, and the only road leaving this place leads right through monster-infested territory. A force field protects this place, so they can't come in, but if I take one step outside, I'll be eaten within short order. Worse, I'm... running out of love energy. I have a little more than five days worth, after which I'll... well, let's just say that any chance of escape that you can offer me looks pretty good right now, regardless of the price. So... yeah. If you're true to your word, it's a deal. The full maid service, for a month. And I won't breathe a word of complaint the entire time." The instruction manual hadn't included that piece of back-story, and normally, a time limit would be considered a major piece of information to share before the player starts the game. Then again, this was supposed to be a game still in development. A surprisingly well-crafted game still in development. I was starting to get suspicious, maybe, but I was not yet at the point where I was seriously considering the possibility that something magical was going on. I was still under the premise of Agent Smith's promise that this was never going to happen again being correct. Still, I was beginning to suspect that there was something going on here. It would still be a little while before that particular penny truly dropped, but it was getting closer to the point where the proverbial coin would start to fall. "Five days, huh?" I hmmm'ed, thoughtfully, then said, "Well, time's a wasting, then. The sooner we get this done with, the sooner you'll be out of this mess." With a small giggle, she added, "And the sooner you get to see me in a maid costume." I said, jokingly, "If you had one available, I'd ask you to go ahead and put it on now." A sly smile crossed her face, and she asked, "You mean, like this?" And then, the most remarkable thing happened. Green fire enveloped her body, and after a split-second, her appearance changed. When the fire faded, she was still a changeling, but one wearing a surprisingly frilly maid costume. Imagine a french maid outfit on a horse, but somehow... sexier. It was... alright, I'll admit it, I was at a loss for words. Nothing should ever look that cute, that sexy, and that weird at the same time. I honestly had no idea how to react to the adorable maid bug pony creature I was now seeing. My original plan had back-fired: The game had succeeded in fucking with my head. After a moment, I said, "Yeah, like that. That's... um, not going to make you run out of love faster or anything, is it?" "By about... three seconds, if I don't take it off," she admitted, after a moment. "It doesn't use up much power to change my appearance so little. It's only a small cosmetic change." After a moment, she blushed a little and said, "If you, um, wanted something a little more complete, I suppose I could..." "Let's put that on hold for right now," I said, stopping her from going any further. Her world, as far as I knew, did not have humans, and I wasn't going to waste her time trying to walk her through how to look like one, just for my own entertainment. The reasons I had were purely practical: I'll admit, I'm one of those guys who will spend hours at the character creation screen, making the perfect character. Once I get started, it is hard for me to stop, and we were currently operating on a time limit. Besides, odds were, the game didn't have a 'human' character model. I thought it was odd that there was even a 'maid changeling' character model, but I figured that I'd just stumbled onto an Easter Egg. Either way, time was short: If the game truly was 'complete', I had a finite time limit to reach the goal, and I couldn't be sure if that was a limit in real-time or game time just yet. "Let's get to the entrance to the dun... the place where the star is being kept. We'll have plenty of time for shenanigans later." ------------------------------------ My turn, sweetie. Sit down for a spell. As Hiro's orb began leading me through the dusty and decrepit corridors of the palace, I was struggling with unfamiliar feelings. I was aware that Hiro wasn't a changeling, a pony, or anything else like that, but on the world I lived on, there were thousands of different sapient species, and inter-species romance was common enough that it didn't do much beyond raise an occasional eyebrow, and that was only in cases where the differences in size and/or biology were so extreme that they seemed nearly impossible to overcome. Changelings, at that time, might have been an exception, given the way that most species viewed us, but that wasn't the point right then. I'd assumed that, when he had first asked, that Hiro hadn't realized just how... alluring that some creatures find a female in a maid costume. Yes, as a matter of fact, some things do cross world boundaries. When he asked me to wear a maid costume, I assumed that he was just asking for all that because he thought that a bug in that kind of garb would be amusing. But when he specifically said that it was because he wanted me to look sexy for him... Sorry, I'm blushing again. Give me a second to get it under control. Okay, here we go. The fact that he had complimented me, even if it was indirectly, on my looks had struck a chord with me. Back when I was with the swarm, I was... filthy. Bottom of the bottom rungs, remember? I couldn't contribute anything beyond menial labor. As such, I was practically invisible: Other changelings wouldn't even look my way, growing up. Since nobuggy bothered to look at me, I stopped bothering with keeping myself clean. In fact, I made a game of it, at first, making myself as filthy and disgusting as I could: After all, if nobuggy wanted to come near me, then they wouldn't seek me out to give me additional work. When I matured, I went to greater lengths, to avoid... the wrong kind of attention. I made myself nasty enough that it was impossible to tell if I was male or female, and nobuggy wanted to come close enough to try for a close look. I'd wash myself when I was preparing to moult, for the sake of sanitation (You don't want to know what dirt can do to a still-soft exoskeleton), but as soon as my carapace had hardened, I'd find a nice mud puddle and roll around in it. Stinkmud for preference, but nearly anything would do. Although... I tried getting skunked once. Bleh. Skunk scent makes stinkmud smell like perfume in comparison. I never want to try that again... Anyways, after my arrival at the palace, I'd done a bit of exploration to kill time, and found that, while most of the place was in poor condition, the baths were almost pristine. I think that there it might have been some sort of enchantment protecting the place: A room that sees water and steam on a regular basis would benefit from spells that protect against the damage that both can cause. Either way, through some feat of architectural and/or magical engineering, water still flowed into the baths. As such, there was clean, running water, both hot and cold, as well as a variety of soaps and scented oils, kept in jars spread about the room (Preservation spells, darling: Even in modern day Equestria, they're pretty common. How else do they keep food fresh on a world where refrigerators are rare?). Without a single changeling for miles, I saw no point in keeping myself filthy, and took the time and effort to get myself cleaned up. Maybe after keeping myself filthy and undesirable for so long, hearing someone say that, yes, I was in fact physically appealing had a far greater effect than it normally would, but regardless, I now found myself... curious. About Hiro. About his species. About a lot of things, honestly. I was nineteen years old, and I'd not even been kissed before. And up until five minutes ago, that had been fine with me. Not anymore... "Here we go," Hiro said, as we came to a rather unassuming stretch of hallway. "If I'm reading this right..." The orb bopped itself against a brick that, upon closer examination, stuck out slightly from the rest. Behind the wall, the sound of hidden mechanisms whirred, and a section of the wall moved backwards, then to one side. Beyond the opening that was revealed, stairs led down into the depths. Dust was thick upon the steps, and cobwebs hung from the ceiling in thick strands. It was obvious that no one had come this way in ages. "It's dark," I noted, looking down into what looked like a stairway leading into a yawning abyss. "I don't like the dark," I admitted after a moment. Yes, I'm afraid of the dark. I'm also scared of thunder, snakes, and skunks. Happy? Good. Let's move on. "I think I might be able to help with that," Hiro said. After a moment, the orb began to glow with a gentle light. A few seconds later, a direct cone shone down the steps, allowing us to see further down. "Better?" "Yes, thank you," I said, then began my way down into the depths, Hiro descending with me.