//------------------------------// // Prelude and Training // Story: CMO: Cutie Mark Online! // by Paradox Theory //------------------------------// Scootaloo sighed as she sat in a tree outside of Ponyville. Her mind wandered in the sky, wishing more than anything to fly. Damn human anatomy... Why the hell did we have to evolve from apes? Birds would have been SO much better... Her dream was snapped off when a paper hit her face.Ow. Peeling it off, Scootaloo read what it had to say. CUTIE MARK ONLINE! Join a world of ponies as you begin a quest to find your special talent! Form parties and guilds! Win cool prizes for your avatar! You can even choose a different race! Tired of relying on hooves? Be a Unicorn! Tired of using magic? Become an Earth Pony! Tired of being grounded? Become a Pegasus and Soar! Scootaloo stopped reading, and started squeeing. A chance to fly? To really know what it feels like? She had to know more! Looking at the bottom of the sheet, she read: This Game utilizes a new system called the Nervegear, a special electronic device capable of placing your consciousness in a virtual world. Ask for one at your local store! Nervegear apparaus only $499.99 Just like that, her dreams were crushed. How was she going to afford this? Little did she know that Sweetie was heading straight toward her with wonderful news. “Scootaloo! Scootaloo? Where are you?” Sweetie Belle called out. “Up here!” Scootaloo replied from the tree. “Scoots!” Sweetie squeaked, “You won’t believe what Button Mash just did!” “What did he do?” Scootaloo asked in wonder. “He just bought six of these Nervegear things, and that CMO game, and wants all of us to play!” Sweetie said. Scootaloo tried her hardest not to bounce up and down at the news. “All right, let me get down from here and then we can go get Applebloom.” Scootaloo shimmied down the tree and started walking with Sweetie. But that a thought stopped her in her tracks. “Six? Who are the other two for?” She asked Sweetie, who had started skipping. “Oh! Um. . . he said something about his friends playing too.” She answered, still skipping. “Friends? As in Featherweight and Rumble?” Scootaloo asked, her mind traveling to those moments in class when she’d catch herself staring at Rumble. Sweetie put a hand to her chin, “Yeah, I think that’s it.” Scootaloo smiled. "Those guys are cool- alright, let’s go get Applebloom!” Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom found themselves standing outside Button Mash’s house, if you could call it that. It was huge. At least 4 stories tall, and long enough for four extra car ports, it was no secret Button was wealthy. So when Button befriended Sweetie Belle first, the class vied for her attention, even Diamond and Silver tried to befriend her, but to no avail. Scootaloo, (eager to play) rushed up and pressed the doorbell. DING-DONG A few seconds later the door opened to find three boys standing there. One had a propeller hat on top of orange hair. Then next kid was rather skinny with short brown hair. The last one was athletically built, with shaggy black hair. Button, Featherweight and Rumble smiled at the girls. “Ready to play the most funnest, coolest game ever?” Button asked with a smile. "Yeah!" The girls shouted, chatter now breaking out between the two groups. Button turned and walked away from the door. "Follow me, Comrades." He spoke, leading the group down into the basement to his coveted game room. Inside sat a couple of beds, which faced a flat wall that a projector would cast the game’s picture from one of his many consoles. But tonight, the six eager kids walked to the beds, as they held six different NerveGear helmets. “So how does this work exactly?” Applebloom asked picking up one of the helmets. “Well,” Button said, picking up one for himself, “You just put the helmet on and say “Link start!” It’s voice commanded that way.” Button paused, blinking before getting a 'A-Ha' moment and sliding the CMO disc into the Nervegear. "Well, you do that too!" Everyone laughed. “Anything else we should know Button?” Sweetie asked, her voice sounding a little nervous. “Just one thing, dying in the game will only wake you in real life- So don't sweat it too much. You guys ready?” Button asked. All of them nodded as they picked up their own NerveGear helmets, slid the discs in and laid on the beds. “On three,” Button instucted, “One.” “Two.” Featherweight and Rumble said. “Three.” The Crusaders chimed. As one, all six kids shouted the two words that would change their lives forever. “Link Start!” Scootaloo was extremely worried as to what she had done, all she could see were flashing cylinders of color streaking by, as if she was in a tunnel. Eventually, they stopped, and she saw five orbs arranged vertically on the far right end of the screen. The first one popped out, reading SIGHT. It paused, then glowed green and returned to it's shrunken state. The other four replicated this, but they read SOUND, TASTE, TOUCH, and SMELL, respectively. Soon, a rectangular message popped up in her field of vision. WELCOME TO CMO! Please Create Your Character! Scootaloo smiled. "Awesome!" PLEASE CHOOSE A RACE - <|Unicorn|> <|Pegasus|> <|Earth Pony|> Scootaloo paused. "Can I get more info on each race?" She asked the AI. PROCESSING RETRIEVING INFORMATION- RACES Soon, an Octagon appeared below each race choice, describing their special attributes and such. PEGASUS- The Pegasus Ponies are gifted with the power of flight, and are capable of flying in 15 minute increments, followed by 5 minute rest periods. They have higher Speed, Agility, and skill with One-Handed blades than the other races, and are the only race that can wield Weather-based magic by manipulating clouds. They also posses a fair amount of health. UNICORN- The Unicorns are gifted with magic, being the most potent spellcasters in the game. They have a Mana bar that is used for casting their spells, and it will fully recharge within five minutes once depleted. They have higher Intelligence, Recovery, and Critical stats, and are the only race able to wield staves and wands as weapons. They posses a lower amount of health. EARTH PONY- The Earth Ponies are strong, resilient warriors, physically the strongest race in the game. However, they possess little to no magical capability, save for a few buffing spells. They have higher Strength, Stamina, Defense, and Magic Defense than the other races, and are the only race able to wield Two-handed weapons. They possess a great amount of health. Scootaloo rubbed her chin. Magic seemed like it would be cool, so that ruled out Earth Pony... And she was not passing up a chance to fly! "Pegasus it is!" She cried, pushing the rectangle. YOU HAVE CHOSEN: PEGASUS PONY. DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED? <|Yes|> <|No|> Scootaloo tapped yes, and the screen whirled and shook as the character creation menu exploded into existence. CHOOSE YOUR COLOR SCHEME. Scootaloo eventually decided on an orange coat, with a purple mane and tail. EXCELLENT. NOW, WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY THE TUTORIAL STAGE? <|Yes|> <|No|> Without a moment's hesitation she hit yes. EXCELLENT. ENJOY YOUR TIME IN CMO! With a swirl of color, Scootaloo found herself standing in a field. On her hip sat a sword. She wrapped her fingers around its hilt. She smiled. Another box popped up: WHICH TUTORIAL DO YOU WANT FIRST? <|Flight|> <|Fighting|> <|Skill Tree|> <|Miscellaneous|> Scootaloo went to hit flying. . . but she realised that fighting might come in handy first, as anybody could easily come across her and attack her. She then pressed the fighting option. PROCESSING -Welcome to the CMO fighting simulator! Here we will teach you the basics of fighting.- "Sweet!" -To combat the evil forces in CMO, players wield a variety of weapons, ranging from Swords, to Axes, to Spears, to Magic, and more. What weapon Archetype would you like to try out?- <| One-Handed Swords|> <|Two-Handed Swords and Two-Handed Axes|> <|Wands and Staves|> <|Spears|> <|One-Handed Axes|> <|One-Handed Maces and Flails|> <|Other|> "Huh. Well, I have a One-Handed Sword here, so why not those?" Scootaloo tapped the corresponding icon. EXCELENT! PICK UP THE SWORD TO BEGIN. Scootaloo picked up the sword, and as her hand- or rather, hoof- wrapped around the hilt, a box popped up next to it with various stats, the weapon's name (Trainee's Blade), and empty rectangles labeled 'Skill Slots'. -As you use your weapon, you will gain different skills to use with it. Place the skills in the skill slots to make them active.- -Skills, when seen on the playing field, look like scrolls- The A.I. magicked one into existence -Like so. Picking it up will add it to your inventory. Pick up the Skill.- Below her Health bar, a small bullet point appeared, along with the words 'Pick up The Scroll'. -That, is your Objective, in case you forget.- “Useful.” Scootaloo commented as she turned her attention to the scroll. She walked up to it and grabbed it, and as soon as she did, a small blue exclamation mark appeared next to her health bar. -Swipe down with your right hoof to open the Menu- Scootaloo obeyed, six circles popping up in a vertical line where her hoof had been. They read, top to bottom, <|Stats|>, <|Inventory|>, <|Cutie Marks|>, <|Social|>, <|Skill Tree|>, and <|Settings|>. -This is the menu. Each Circle here has a different function, and we'll get to that in due time. For now, tap on 'Inventory.'- The Orange Filly did so, her character's inventory popping up. In the <|Scrolls|> Column, there was an icon of the scroll she had picked up. Tapping on it revealed that it was called <\Basic Thrust/>, and the A.I. told her how to equip it to a weapon, namely, her Sword. -Now, Weapons can only use a set amount of skills, but they are swappable on the fly. As for the execution of skills, that's the easy part. Take a few stabs at this training dummy.- A small animal-like creature then appeared near Scootaloo. Readying her sword, she swung. As the sword cut the creature, a glowing red line appeared showing where the cut landed. The health bar above the creature’s head depleted a bit. -Excellent! Now, to execute skills, you have to do certain motions. For instance, a basic thrust is activated when running and thrusting the sword forward. Try it on the dummy!- The animal's health bar filled up to full as Scootaloo backed up a bit. Running forward, Scootaloo pushed her sword in front of her. After a few moments, she realized her eyes were still closed, opening them showed her the animal. A spiral of red surrounded it's body before it burst into what looked like shards of light. -The higher the level the creature is, the more likely it will drop rewards, such as money, weapons and armour.- Scootaloo smiled, she was going to love this game. -This completes the tutorial on fighting. Would you like to take the tutorial again, or try a new one?- <|Yes|> <|No|> Before she went to press a button, Scootaloo decided to check the time. Raising her right hoof, she brought it down to open her menu. 6:30 Scootaloo thought for a moment, she would like to learn how to fly, but she was sure that Button would probably want to round up the group for dinner. With a sigh, she looked back at the box. “Can I always take the other Tutorials later?” -Of course, just open the menu and look in the settings section.- “Thank you.” Scootaloo said. -No, Thank you for playing CMO! Where everyone can find their special talent!- With that, the tutorial box disappeared and Scootaloo turned to the center of the map. A tall tower sat there, and Scootaloo saw many ponies of all sorts heading that way. With a bright smile and high hopes, Scootaloo walked toward the tower, unaware that her life was in jeopardy. That all of the ponies here were in jeopardy.