//------------------------------// // Ch1: Welcome to BBO! // Story: Blazing Blades Online // by Saro0fdemonz //------------------------------// "Whoa, is that..." Scootaloo gasped as she stared "Eeyup. Th' new NervGear. Jus' got it today, along with this!" Applebloom grinned, showing off her copy of Blazing Blades Online. "Maaaan. I'm so jealous AB! Dash says I can't get it unless I bring my grades up." Scootaloo grumbled, leaning over the handlebars of her scooter. "That shouldn't be too hard Scoots. I'll help!" Sweetie Belle smiled, skipping along beside her friends. Applebloom tucked away her NervGear into her backpack and chuckled. "Are ya'll actually gonna be studyin' this time?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Last time they had studied together she had walked in on Scootaloo using Sweetie Belle's leg as a pillow. "Uh...so how'd you get a NervGear anyway?" Scootaloo asked, dodging the question. "Well, ah been helpin' out 'round th' farm an AJ was lettin' me keep a small share o' th' profits we been gettin' lately. Ah jus' had t' save up what ah had an wait." Applebloom smiled. "I guess its true what they say. Patience is a virtue." Sweetie Belle quoted. "What about you Belle?" Scootaloo asked. The girl blinked, looking at her friend. "What about me?" "Are you gonna play?" she asked. Sweetie Belle was silent for a moment. "Well, Button did get me a copy...so I kind of have to." she shrugged. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Geez, why don't the two of you just get a room already." she huffed, her wings twitching in agitation. Applebloom grinned knowingly as she glanced at her friend. "Awww, is someone jealous?" she teased. "H-Hey! I'm not jealous!" Scootaloo fumed. "Uh huh, sure ya ain't. Ah'll see ya later girls, ah'm gonna get a jump-start on my character!" she cheered, rushing towards Sweet Apple Acres. Scootaloo grumbled, giving a light kick to push her scooter forward. "Me and Button aren't dating or anything, we're just...good friends." Sweetie Belle faked a smile, trying to cheer up her friend. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Yea, friends. Look, I'll see ya later Belle. I gotta get home or Dash will make me sit through another one of Twilights lectures." Scootaloo slid down her goggles, her wings kicking into high gear and propelling her down the road. Sweetie Belle sighed, clutching her books to her chest as she headed home. The unicorn pushed the door open with her magic, making sure to lock it behind her. "Sweetie Belle? Is that you?" Rarity called from the kitchen. "Yea, it's me sis!" she called back, kicking off her shoes and rushing towards the stairs. "Ah ah ah! Homework first young lady!" Rarity scolded. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "I just need to check on something really quick Rarity!" she argued, running up the stairs. As soon as she was in her room she dropped her things and plopped down on her bed. There on her bedside table was her NervGear Button had bought for her. Cost me two months of my emergency game fund. But its worth it if it means you get to be there when I beat this game. Buttons voice filled her mind. Unlike her, Button had the chance to Beta Test the game along with a few of his friends. They had information no one else had, and with that they would be able to jump through the first few levels with ease. She chewed her lip as she lifted the helmet. "He said the servers were going live soon...maybe its already up?" she thought aloud. The unicorn peeked outside her room, making sure Rarity was still busy. Sure enough, the kitchen was still a-buzz with activity. "I'm sure she won't mind if I just pop in for a minute..." she grinned, locking her door and slipping on her helmet, careful of her horn and the rather small hole. She hummed as she popped in the game disc. "Please Configure NervGear" a woman's voice spoke in her ear. Sweetie Belle went through the slow process of configuring the system. It had her do everything from jumping in place, to holding out her arms, to patting down her entire body. "Geez, sure is thorough. Lets see...the instructions said to lay down on my back as comfortably as I can..." she mumbled as she crawled into bed. She took a slow breath, resting her hands on her stomach to try and settle the butterflies. "LINK START!" "Applebloom! Did ya finish yer homework?!" Applejack yelled. "Ah did it at school!" she yelled back, focusing on finishing the configuration for her NervGear. No doubt everyone was already logging in and here she was still trying to get set up. "Ah'm serious Applebloom, if ya'll are..." Applejack paused as she stepped into her sisters room, finding her half naked and running her hands over her body while wearing her new helmet controller. The two sisters stared at one another, Applebloom screaming and trying to shove the door closed. "L-learn t' knock!" she yelled. "Ah'm sorry! Ah didn't know it was that kind o' toy!" Applejack laughed, ducking to avoid a boot being flung at her. Applebloom slammed the door shut, making sure to lock it. "Dinner is gonna be ready soon! Finish up what yer doin' an come on down!" Applejack called out after a moment of silence. Applebloom pouted, grumbling under her breath as she finally finished configuring her system. "Might as well get my character put together 'fore dinner. Then ah can jus' hop on an play" she murmured. She crawled into bed, arms at her sides and her eyes closing slowly. "LINK START!" She kicked off her scooter, grinning to herself as it glided to its resting place near Spikes skateboard. "Perfect shot, every time. I'm just too good." she chuckled. She stared at the front door to the library, groaning as she realized with her next few steps that she would be the only person in the world studying while everyone was playing BBO. "Might as well get it over with." she grumbled, grabbing the doorknob and pushing the door open. Twilight and Rainbow glanced at her from the couch. "I know, I know. Straight to studying." Scootaloo grumbled. "Hold up squirt." Rainbow reached behind the couch, wearing a smirk as she produced a NervGear helmet. Scootaloo stared with wide eyes as Twilight held up a copy of BBO. "I heard from Cheerilee how hard you've been working to bring up your grades. So, after Rainbow and Spike begged me, we got you these. Now, just because you have these doesn't mean you can drop your grades again." Twilight explained, the young pegasus nodded quickly, her wings buzzing as she hopped happily in place. "You can play for ten minutes, then back to your homework, okay?" Twilight held out the game, Scootaloo squealing happily. "You guys are the best!" "Oh, Spikes going with you. Just to make sure ten minutes doesn't turn into a few hours." Rainbow chuckled. Spike waved from the stairs, his own helmet tucked under his arm. "Ten minutes? But, the character creation takes like twenty..." "Its cool Scoots. Ten minutes AFTER that, we'll log out." Spike winked. She grinned from ear to ear, hugging the dragon and carting her gifts up the stairs. Spike had set a pallet for himself on the floor, leaving Scootaloo with the bed. "Go ahead and configure it. I'll wait for you in the town of beginnings." Spike chuckled, laying down on the pallete. "Link Start!" he ordered the machine, the lights flickering to life. Scootaloo forced herself through the time consuming process of configuring the system, shivering with excitement. "Heh, I bet the girls are gonna be surprised to see me." she grinned, hopping over Spike to get to the bed. With one last giddy giggle she calmed herself. "Link Start!" she ordered the NervGear, gasping as lights filled her vision. When the light faded she found herself staring into a mirror as the default character. A simple gray earth pony. She frowned, cycling through the options. "Wait...why aren't there any wing options?" she mumbled. She decided not to worry about it, running through the process of building her character. "Hm...I like the dagger...not good on damage, but I can add status affects and I can tame monsters." she continued to mumble. Her hair was much the same as in the real world, though now it fell into her face over her left eye and went halfway down her back. She wore a simple beginner brown t-shirt and a pair of orange shorts, a small dagger resting at her hip. She grinned as she spawned into the world, taking it all in with a deep satisfying breath. "Scootera. I guess its a cool name." a large dark purple stallion spoke up. Scootaloo stared for a moment, noticing his piercing emerald slitted eyes. She hadn't even seen that as an option. "Spike?" she asked, the stallion chuckling. "Brute. I'm Brute here. And if you're wondering, there isn't a Dragon Base, I got the eyes from being in the Beta." he explained. He stood in front of her, letting her get a better look at him. He was HUGE. The muscles were a bit over the top, but weren't too much past what he had in the real world. Living with Rainbow Dash had that effect on ponies...er...Dragons. "Well, we've got until Twilight realizes you aren't building your character anymore. We should get through the basics while we can. Walk over to me." Spike ordered, taking a few steps back. "Walk? Really?" she scoffed, gasping as her legs gave out from under her. "Yea, walk. This is different from the real world Scoots. You gotta learn the movements of this place if you wanna pull off any bladeskills. Just...think about the movement." Spike explained. She chewed her lip, pushing to her feet and wobbling forward, gasping as she leaned too far right, her feet pointed at awkward angles. "This wouldn't be so hard if I could use my wings!" she fumed. "Yea, that ain't gonna happen. Only race available is Earth Pony. Since there isn't any magic in this game they couldn't have Unicorns and it seemed unfair to have pegasi. So they just cranked it down to an even playing field." "Yea, even for the earth ponies." she grumbled, falling forward and grunting as her cheek met Spikes impressive abs. "Congrats, you can fall forward." he joked. "Shut up." she pouted, letting out an eep as he hefted her up onto his shoulder. She stared at the scenery with wide eyes, finally getting a chance to really take it all in. "It looks so...real." she breathed. "Yea, its pretty sweet. Just wait til we meet up with Rumble an Button. I think they've got some gear for you and the girls." he chuckled. She sighed, hunching forward slightly. "Oh, great..." she mumbled. "Aw c'mon Scoots. I know you've got this whole hate thing going for Button cause he stole Belle, but he's really a great guy!" Spike argued. "Uh huh...I've known Belle since we were little kids. This guy pops up outta nowhere like a few months ago and all of a sudden he's Celestia's gift to mares." she fumed. "Uh...actually thats Rumbles title. Button just got lucky that Belle is a gamer." Spike chuckled, carrying his friend through town. "LOOK OUT!" a familiar voice cried, a white earth pony stumbling through a fruit cart and falling flat on her face. She whimpered as she sat up, her shoulders slumped as she sighed. "Why is this so hard?" she whined. "Because you're trying too hard. Here, like this." a brown stallion held out his hand to her, the mare smiling softly and accepting his hand. Scootaloo scanned their names, seeing the mare was named Harpsichord and the stallion was called Blaze. Though it was obvious to her that the two were Sweetie Belle and Button Mash. "Hail swordsman!" 'Brute' called out, Blaze turning to him with a grin. "Hail Warrior!" Blaze returned the greeting, the two chuckling. "Whose your friend?" Button asked, nodding to Scootaloo. "Wait...Scootaloo?" Harpsichord gasped. The 'pegasus' chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. "I uh...haven't figured out how to walk yet." she mumbled. "I thought you didn't even have a NervGear!" "Blame Spike for that. Him an Dash suckered Twilight into getting me one." she beamed, patting the giants shoulder. "Wow Spike...uh...um..." Sweetie Belle stammered. "Geez man, stealin' all the mares and we haven't even started yet." Button grumbled. "Not my fault you went for the slender model." Spike grinned. Button whistled as he got a good look at Scootaloos character, earning a punch from Sweetie Belle. "Button!" "W-wait! Its not what you think! I was just admiring her weapon choice!" he defended. "Weapon choice? You mean my dagger?" Scootaloo asked, placing her hand against the weapon. "Yea, its a tough one to use, but its damn quick. Probably even faster than Belle's Rapier." Button explained. "Pfft, ah bet ah'm faster than all o' ya." Applebloom grinned. Her avatar had long flowing red hair that fell below her knees. An orange headband adorned her forehead, bandages covering her fists, shins, and feet. She was dressed in a small red top and matching shorts and seemed to have no issue maneuvering her character. Her name was simply Bloom. "Oh, yea, of course the Earth Pony can move perfectly fine." Scootaloo grumbled. "Wow, going with Martial Arts? Pretty brave in a game full of swords." Button murmured. "Helps that ah actually know Martial Arts." the farm girl grinned, crossing her arms. "Yea, I bet my Katana is way better though." Rumble argued, patting his hip where the blade rested. "I dunno, Spikes Greatsword is pretty sweet." Button pointed out. "Yea, but its not as quick as your longsword." Spike sighed. "Am I the only one confused?" Scootaloo asked. The group fell silent for a moment before bursting into laughter. "This is great! We can form a party and teach them combat!" Spike smiled. Button nodded, flicking open his menu and sending invites to them. "Just reach out and push the confirm button." Spike explained. The girls nodded, hesitating before pushing the button. They gasped as their vision was filled with the names of their friends. "AHHH! I can't see!" Scootaloo cried, flailing about on Spikes shoulder. The giant of a stallion laughed out loud, keeping an arm hooked across her legs to keep her from falling "Scoots, chill. Focus your vision forward." Spike ordered. She forced herself to relax, pulling her eyes from the list of names and blinking in surprise as it shrank to the corner of her vision. "Man...thats...thats weird. Its like theres a TV in my brain." she mumbled. "You'll get use to it." Rumble shrugged, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Should we use the west fields?" Spike asked. Button thought it over for a minute as they walked, Sweetie Belle leaning against him for balance. "Hm...I suppose so. We'll need an empty patch though. Most of the boars have probably been hunted already so we'll need to use wolves." "We should be fine. Its a level 5 area and the three of us are 12 already." Rumble grinned. "What!? How the heck did you guys already hit 12?" Scootaloo demanded. "Tricks of the trade Scoots." Spike chuckled. "Speaking of tricks..." Button reached into a pouch at his waist, undoing it from his belt and tossing it to Scootaloo. "The heck is this?" she asked, flipping the pouch open. "Throwing Picks. There aren't any ranged weapons in BBO. But you can take one of these and chuck it at an Enemy. Swordsman like me can only use them to pull Aggro or take out small enemies. But dagger users can add status effects to them. Besides, Spike tells me your a good shot." he chuckled, taking the lead towards the Hunting Grounds. Button glanced over at Rumble, the two grinning as they drew their swords. "Alright, watch what we do." Button ordered, his sword glowing blue. He roared as he ran forward, a wolf growling as he charged. Button flicking his blade up, knocking back the wolf as it pounced. "SWITCH!" Button yelled. Rumble flickered into view, sword glowing red as he sliced clean through the wolf. The beast gave a howl of defeat as it toppled over, vanishing in a fancy show of data fragments. A small window appeared before each member of the party, displaying a small amount of Col earned from the kill and EXP. "Th' heck is Col?" Applebloom asked. "Its cash in this game. Think of it like Bits. They are worth about the same." Spike explained. "What was that Switch thing you did?" Sweetie Belle asked. Button grinned, sheathing his sword. "Switch is a method players created to protect one another and take down enemies. One player takes the lead position and strikes the enemy to stagger them. Then the two switch out." Button explained. "Whoever strikes first builds threat and the enemy targets them. But when you do a Switch you force the Enemy to target something else. Its slow to realize whats going on and leaves itself wide open for the next players attack." Rumble finished. "So...one player hits and runs, then the other finishes it off?" Scootaloo asked. "Thats the basic gist of it. Its a bit more complex than that. It works like that here because Wolves are only level 3. But if it were you an Bloom it'd take some strategy and a few switches to take it down." Button answered. "We aren't gonna let you guys fight anything until you can walk straight though." Spike chuckled. "Yea, we don't feel like backtracking to the Hall of Resurrection every five minutes." Rumble snorted. "...the hall of what now?" Scootaloo asked. "When your hp hits zero you respawn in the center of town in the Hall of Resurrection. But its far from the battlefield, so a party has to backtrack all the way through town to pick up their friend." Spike explained. He pointed to a nearby party, a spear user crying out as his avatar shattered. "See? Now those guys have to go pick him up because he was trying to show off." Spike sighed. The mentioned party grumbled, finishing off the wolf they had been fighting before gathering their gear and marching towards town. "Right...so we wanna know what we're doing and avoid wasting time heading back into town." Sweetie Belle reiterated. "Exactly. Since Bloom has the best control right now, we'll start with her." Button pointed to Applebloom. The farm girl grinned as she crossed her arms. "Bring it small fry." she chuckled. She blinked as a Duel Request appeared in front of her. The rules were set to Half HP and no Items. Damage Ratio was at 1%. "Hit Accept. This is the basic set up for Vets to train newbies. You can get the feel for combos and Bladeskills without worrying about getting killed." Button explained. Applebloom smiled, accepting the duel. Button drew the longsword from his back, shifting his stance as a countdown began above them. "Now, to trigger a bladeskill..." he blinked as Appleblooms hands began to glow bright blue, the farmer roaring as she rushed forward, faking a left jab before sidestepping into a right powerpunch, causing the swordsman to stumble backwards. "Whoa AB, where'd you learn that?" Rumble chuckled. She shrugged. "Ah read th' guidebook an practiced while ah waited on all o' ya'll t' show up." she admitted. "Heh, alright then. Show me what ya got!" Button roared as he rushed forward, ducking under a jab only to have a knee hit his chin. Applebloom hopped backwards, gasping as Button grabbed her ankle in his free hand, pulling her to the ground as he fell. The two leapt to their feet, Applebloom sliding across the ground and throwing a heavy left. Button ducked under the punch, flipping his sword and burying the hilt into the farmers gut, dropping her to her knees. "Ah give!" she cried out, clutching her stomach. "Huh, thats weird..." she mumbled, patting her stomach and realizing she was fine. Button held out his hand, helping her to her feet. "Yea, the pain sensors are toned down to a light tingle. Keeps the realistic feel without causing any discomfort." he explained. "Man, those were some pretty sweet moves Bloom. Never seen anyone floor Button like that before." Spike grinned. "Shucks, ah was only usin' what th' book told me t'." "Well keep it up. We can use you as a vanguard for players like Scootaloo." Button punched her shoulder gently, turning to Sweetie Belle. "I think you should pair up with Spike. His heavy strikes and your quick ones should go together nicely." he smiled, watching as Sweetie Belle read through the guidebook. "Wow, theres a lot of stuff in here..." she mumbled. "You only need the Rapier stuff. Anything else you can just ask us." Spike explained. Scootaloo frowned, digging through her inventory and pulling open the book. Nearby Applebloom was stretching and redoing her bandage wrappings. "Hey, it says here that Martial Arts doesn't get any attack bonuses. Whats up with that?" Scootaloo wondered. "Well, Martial Arts is just something the players came up with in the Beta. Its just fighting without a weapon. Its pretty much just barehanded attacks, so its all based on your Strength and Endurance." Rumble answered as he looked over his Katana, pouting as he spotted a knick in the blade. "Hey Button, you still got that waterstone?" he asked, smiling as his friend tossed him the sharpening tool. "Go nuts." he chuckled. "So all three of ya got t' run th' Beta? What was it like?" Applebloom asked. "Well, not to brag, but we were pretty awesome. Got all the way to the tenth floor before the Beta ended. They called us the Deadly Trio." Spike beamed. "They called us that because no one could PK us." Rumble pointed out. "PK?" Applebloom raised an eyebrow. "Player Kill. Some players get a thrill out of hunting down weaker players and taking them out. If you see a player with an orange or red icon, stay away from them." Button warned. Scootaloo continued to read through the guidebook, listening to Spike train Sweetie Belle nearby. Her eyes glanced at the clock in the top right of her vision. Crud, its already been an hour. "Hey Spike! We gotta go!" Scootaloo called out. He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes shifting slightly as he checked the time. "Crap, Twilights gonna kill us. Alright, well, you guys have fun. We gotta head back before Twilight takes away our NervGear." Spike flicked open his menu, blinking as he flicked through the options. "Huh...thats weird...Hey Blaze, did they move the logout button?" Spike asked. Button raised an eyebrow, flicking open his menu. "No, it should be...right...here..." he stared at his menu with wide eyes. "Its not there!" Button gasped. "Hey, chill out. Maybe its a bug. I'm sure the admins are working on it now." Rumble laughed. The party gasped as they were swallowed in a bright light. When the light faded, they found themselves in the center of the Town of Beginnings, players spawning in around them. "The heck is going on?" Spike wondered as he glanced around. "Maybe its an event? Or an announcement about the logout button?" Rumble suggested. "Welcome to Blazing Blades Online!" a voice boomed around them. The sky grew dark as a figure began to form through a large swirl in the air. Hidden in a large red cloak, the figure threw its arms out wide as it towered over them. "I am Doctor Dickson Accord, the creator of NervGear and of Blazing Blades Online. I hope you are all enjoying this world, for you are going to spend quite a bit of time here. Oh, but I am getting ahead of myself." he chuckled, flinging open a menu. "By now, many of you may have noticed that the logout menu is missing. I would like to let all of you know that this is not a bug or an error. This is an intentional feature of BBO." he explained. "An intentional feature? Then how are we suppose to logout?" Button wondered. "Oh, you aren't suppose to log out." Dr Accord answered, murmurs filling the air. "You see, I created this world, so that I could control it." he continued, multiple screens appearing in the air. "Even now, as we speak, the world is coming to terms with what is happening here." "What are you going on about?!" Spike demanded. "Ah, yes, I did skip that didn't I? Silly me. As some of you may remember, when a players Hp reaches 0, they will respawn in the Hall of Resurrection. But, within the completed game, there is no Hall of Resurrection." "So...where do we respawn?" Scootaloo asked. "We don't." Spike growled. "How very astute, but I expect nothing less of one of Celestia's puppets." Dr Accord laughed. "Should a players Hp reach 0, you will vanish from this world, and the NervGear in the real world will end your life." "B-But why?!" Sweetie Belle cried. "Many reasons. For science, for my amusement, and for observation." "YOU MONSTER! I DEMAND YOU FREE US AT ONCE!" a woman yelled, drawing a longsword and pointing it at the giant figure. "Ah Princess Luna, are you enjoying your copy of the game?" murmurs spread through the crowd upon realizing one of the Princess' was there with them. "I shall enjoy it more when we are freed of your madness." "I apologize Princess, but no one can leave, not even I. The only way out is to climb the 100 floors and defeat the final boss." "So you want us to beat an MMO? Seriously?!" Scootaloo yelled. "Well, you'll have plenty of time to do so. OH, and I left you all a little something in your inventory. ENJOY!" the figure vanished, leaving them to think on his words. "COWARD" Luna yelled as the figure vanished. Scootaloo however was curious. She flicked open her menu, finding a key item waiting there. "A hand mirror?" she mumbled, grabbing the item, she gasped as she was swallowed in light, the mirror hovering before her. She groaned as the light faded, putting a hand against her head. "Ugh...I'm getting really sick of all these flashes..." she grumbled, blinking as she spotted herself in the mirror. Her hair had regained its natural curl and was cut short, no longer hanging over her eye. "I...I look like...me." she grabbed the mirror, trying to get a better look at herself. "We all do..." Spike spoke up. Standing beside her was the dragon himself, claws and all. Glancing around she spotted Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Rumble, and Button, all looking at their own mirrors as themselves rather than their avatars. "How is this possible?" Sweetie Belle cried. "The configuration. It made us pat ourselves down remember? Our bodybuild, weight, height. It could've gotten all of that information." Spike clenched his fists. "What 'bout our faces?" Applebloom asked, pointing to her face. "The scanner in the NervGear. That was probably the easiest bit." Rumble answered. Button grit his teeth as he hung his head. "If what he said is true..." "Then we're stuck here until the game is cleared." Scootaloo realized. Luna crossed her arms as she stood in front of them. "Spike, we are happy and troubled to see you here." she sighed. The dragon bowed his head. "Same to you Princess." he replied, the others bowing as well. Luna sighed as the crowd turned to her. "Let us away from this place to somewhere more private..." Spike and Luna had taken a room for themselves, leaving the rest of the group to sit about in an Inn. "What are we gonna do?" Sweetie Belle sighed. "If I know Twilight, she's probably taking care of me and Spike right now..." Scootaloo chuckled. "Oh no..." Appleblooms eyes widened, the farmgirl clenching her fists. "What? whats wrong?" Rumble asked. "A...Ah locked my door...Applejack doesn't even know ah'm still playing..." she gulped "I...I locked mine too...I-I didn't want Rarity interrupting me..." Sweetie Belle wrapped her arms around herself, Button putting a hand on her shoulder. "Its alright. Your sisters are Elements of Harmony right? I'm sure they can get past some locked doors." he grinned. "Th-thanks Button...Ah feel a lot better now..." Applebloom sighed. "Still, this is a bad situation. My brother is dating a nurse so I'm not too worried...still, the sooner we get out, the better." Rumble leaned back in his seat with a sigh. "Do ya think what he said is true? 'Bout th' NervGear..." "Being able to kill? Its highly likely it could do something like that. It works by intercepting signals from the brain and reading it as data. Its a seriously complicated algorithm, what with there being so much we still don't understand about the brain." Button explained. "Among those signals are the basic 'controls' for body movement to keep players from shifting about while playing. But the brain also controls background functions of the body like breathing and pumping blood through the body. Theoretically the NervGear could block these signals and send the organs into shock, causing death..." Button sighed, putting a hand against his chin. "But such things would've been noticed in testing and control. It would be impossible to get something like that past a production crew, let alone the Princess'." "Unless it was hidden away rather well. This is Dr Dickson Accord after all. He easily could've pulled a few strings or even bribed his way into mass production." Rumble pointed out. "Its best not to risk testing if its true or not." Spike said as he came back into the main room. Luna followed behind him with her menu open. "We've come to the conclusion that what Dr Accord has said is as close to the truth as can be. There is no way out of this game and there is no Hall of Resurrection. Players are scrambling for answers and many are afraid to leave the safety of town." Luna sighed. "We have to leave at some point, we can't just sit around doing nothing!" Scootaloo yelled. "You are quite right Scootaloo. We cannot sit around doing nothing. Our subjects look to us for help and guidance and we shall give it to them." Luna slammed her hands into the table, looking at all of them. "When we first entered this world, it was you three, Rumble, Spike, Button, who helped us learn its ways. As of this moment, we give you the title of Royal Knights and look to you for assistance in escaping this realm." "Royal Knights huh? Look at us all big and important." Rumble chuckled. "We don't know much Princess. We only reached the tenth floor in the Beta. You know that." Button replied "Yes, but we are aware that no other reached that point of the game. We will be relying on the knowledge you gathered in that time. Hopefully when we reach that point, we will be ready for what lies beyond it." "Well...one good thing came outta this." Scootaloo grinned as she leaned back. "I don't have to study for that stupid test!"