//------------------------------// // 2/2 - Live Or Die // Story: Avalon // by lunabrony //------------------------------// There was nothing else to do in the kitchen. Luna spent a brief additional moment checking various drawers and cabinets, but found nothing of interest. She slipped back out to the hallway and attempted to walk towards the next room, but walked headfirst into an invisible barrier with such force that the contact left her ears ringing. "Celly!" Luna called, a bit rattled. "Work with me, here! You entered an explore command, yes?" "Just the kitchen," Celestia's voice came from that disembodied void again. "I don't- oh!" There was a brief moment of silence, and that fizzling space in front of Luna vanished as the quadrant opened. "How's that?" "There we go," Luna agreed, and set about exploring the rest of the house. It was abandoned, had been for some time, and was dismally vacant. The only thing of even mild interest that she found was an old camping lantern with dented metal that had certainly seen better days, however she hooked it against her saddle anyway. Things in these sorts of games always had a use eventually. There was a distant rumble from downstairs, a heavy, ground-breaking sort of thunderous applause that left the floor shaking under her hooves. It was far off, but seemed to be getting closer. That certainly wasn't good. Luna had spent far too much time in this ridiculous house, but the house wasn't hers, abandoned or not. She darted to the window, looking out. She went pale, pupils dilating to pinpricks in a matter of seconds. A heavily armored troll that was uglier than Celestia without her coffee in the morning was stomping towards the house on its pachyderm legs. Nearly ten feet tall by just a look at it, its skin was dark blue and mottled with what appeared to be barnacles and ridges. Its face was a warped display of grotesque features from which a pair of tusks jutted upwards. A wild troll appears. It wants its toast. You probably shouldn't have eaten it. /fight troll "Alright! Boss fight!" Celestia cried, and Luna felt her legs plunging herself forward, despite her efforts to go in the absolute opposite direction. "CELLYWAITNO," Luna exclaimed, but it did no good. She raced outside, standing beyond the front door. The troll saw her at once, and snarled, thick wads of drool hanging from its jaws. "...Celly..." Luna said carefully. /hit troll Hit troll with what? Celestia thought about this for a moment. /hit troll with lantern Luna's horn suddenly lit up, picking up the lantern and hurling it at the trolls face. It was a fine hit, oil and kerosene running down its face into its eyes. The beast staggered backwards and clutched at its face with dirty hands. /run from troll "About time!" Luna cried, and booked it for the dark forest that she'd passed when she first entered this strangely bizarre place. The path branched, and she took the other road this time, leading into the forest. The troll, far behind, was recovering, roaring with anger, and charging in her direction with great, lumbering steps. Luna yelped and ran into the wooded area. The trees enveloped her at once, plunging the mare into shaded darkness. It was very dimly lit, and she could hardly see a thing. "I could really use a lantern right, Celly!" she called, reproachfully. "It was going to eat you!" "There's always another way, though! You never part with equipment in these games!" The troll was behind her now, but unable to get through the heavily wooded area. It was grabbing trees in its fists and shaking them, trying to pull them out of the ground. "We've got it now!" Celestia cried. "Do you still have that knife?" "A knife isn't going to do anything to a beast like that!" Celestia either didn't hear or ignored it, and inputted '/stab troll with knife' anyway Luna lunged forward, becoming quite tired of this useless puppeteering by now, and plunged the knife into the trolls nasty foot. The troll responded predictably, roaring in pain and hate and swinging its massive arms about, beating its chest before taking a swing at the night horse with a clenched fist. Luna tried to run, but she was too close, and the troll was too large. The last thing she thought before being impaled on a tree was how badly Celestia sucked at video games. --- Giving a startled cry, Luna sat straight up in her bed. The first thought was it was a dream, but she was tired, grass stained, sore. There were branches and leaves in her mane. No. Not a dream. Respawned? She rolled out of bed and landed on her hooves with a wince, emerging from the room and going back down the hallway. Celestia was babbling incoherently from Luna's gaming room, and that was her first destination. "No! Not game over! Can't be game over! I didn't mean it, Lulu, I never played this game before! Restart, restart!" Luna came up behind her sister, and smacked upside the back of the head. "That's for making me eat toast," she said. Celestia brightened immediately. "Lulu!" she exclaimed, and hugged her. Luna glanced at the screen over her shoulder. GAME OVER, indeed. "I really need to teach you how to play these games," Luna said, and broke the hug to turn the game off. She hit enter, and the game resorted to a sort of crude menu screen, which both sisters stared at it in disbelief. This has been a Discord Games Production. Patent Pending. All rights reserved. Discord Games Productions holds no responsibility or liability for injury or death that may have been accrued due to making terrible decisions. Celestia facehooved. "I should have known," she groaned. Luna just stared at it with a sort of 'nope' expression on her face, turned, and left the room.