//------------------------------// // Prologue (The Interview) // Story: Equestria Tales Online // by Kaffeina //------------------------------// Good Afternoon Miss-? “Midnight Evans,” a young black-haired girl answered from the table. Your legal name is Midnight? “Yes, I changed it after I was put in this body,” she said, looking at the man across the table with little interest. What do you mean about being put into your body? “Exactly what I said,” she said, raising an eyebrow. Could you elaborate? “I’ll tell the story from where it started,” she said, looking over at the wall. “Let’s see… Shadowflame and the Elements had run off and their friends arrived rather quickly as Celestia and I began to direct the players.” Celestia? “Yes. Like me, Flare’s avatar become one of the diarchs. Anyways, Shadowflame’s friends were thrust into battle almost immediately…” Swift and Comet launched themselves into the fray with ease, taking down the few mobs in with the players. “PLAYERS!” A blue alicorn was flying in the air above them, battling a small dragon. She slayed the creature with a swipe of her trident and looked down. She activated the Royal Canterlot voice, “WE ARE MIDNIGHT! WE MAY NOT BE LUNA BUT WE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE PATH THAT BRINGS YOU ALL HOME! FIGHT! DO NOT LOSE, FOR NOW IS THE TIME FOR US TO TAKE BACK OUR LIVES! FIGHT AND WIN!” Midnight rocketed down and began slaying the mobs there. Upon landing, she called out to Flare, “WORK ON HEALING. WE WILL TAKE THE FIGHT TO THEM!” The players watched as she began her battle, and, inspired by the sight of Luna fighting alongside them, began to fight themselves. Mob after mob fell, eventually clearing the square once again. Midnight’s ears perked up as she heard a roar and saw a sight horrifying beyond belief. Despite the impossibility of it all, nine of the ten bosses fought in ELO stood before her, their HP doubled and looking more vicious than before. One of the players nearby growled, “I knew Discord wouldn’t play fair, but that’s ridiculous!” Midnight nodded, “ALL PLAYERS KEEP BACK! WE SHALL TAKE THEM!” Midnight blasted into the air and dove at the bosses, swinging her trident all around, turning herself into a kind of berserker. Her attacking, partnered with Flare’s healing and the unicorns' attacks, turned the tables on the sudden appearance of the bosses. Close to an hour of careful attacking this way allowed them to defeat the bosses, The Alpha Timber, The Thunderbird Osiris, The Equine Reaper, all of them... But yet, Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra still stood strong. Midnight walked forward, glaring at the two. As she did, she heard a scream and looked back to see Flare had fallen, which further enraged her. “Discord will win, Nightmare,” Chrysalis said, her face filled with a dark grin. “And we will be eternal,” Sombra laughed. Midnight’s expression hardened at the sight of them. Nightmare knew that she likely couldn’t take them alone. “Then why don’t you help me?” Midnight asked. “I’m not sure I can,” Nightmare said. “Find a way!” Midnight answered, her thoughts raging. “I suppose I could try and take control of a few of the mobs to help,” Nightmare told her, slightly hesitantly. “DO IT!” Midnight answered as she dashed forward, Allusion before her as if a lance. Chrysalis and Sombra dodged, charging down at her only to be attacked by mobs from above. What happened afterwards? “Well, the mobs, mages, and I took down Sombra and severely weakened Chrysalis, and in fact, would have killed her, but…” Midnight’s eyes darkened, "...she cheated.” How? “Well, as soon as we were distracted by Discord’s defeat, she ambushed me with Changelings,” Midnight said. And you died from that? “Who wouldn’t? There were hundreds of them going after me. I only just managed to throw Allusion at her and win,” Midnight sighed. Did this ‘Flare’ live? “No, but I got a message when I went into EO a few weeks later. Apparently, only six players died in that battle, and Flare and Aurora were in EO,” Midnight smiled, “I never thought I’d heard such good news.” But six people died. “No. Five people died, and today, they are in new bodies, besides, I thought of it as more people lived,” Midnight got up. One last question. “Yes?” Why do you still join EO? “Why wouldn’t I?” She called behind her as the guards opened the door. I was escorted into the room, a small, blank space occupied only by recording equipment, a table in the center, and two chairs on either side of it; One already had a man in casual dress sitting on it. Upon seeing me, he gestured to the seat before him, which I took. From a bulk of recording equipment, a red light turned on to signal the start of recording. Good evening. May I ask for your name? I shrugged, “My name’s Randall Meaux, but I’m guessing you’re going to be asking about ELO. Back there, everypo- er, everyone knew me as Shadowflame.” Ah, Shadowflame, was it? I heard from the others that you were one of the ‘Elements of Harmony’ that helped beat the game, thus freeing yourself and the other survivors. His voice didn’t show it, but his face did. Apparently, my appearance didn’t look quite as impressive as my reputation made me out to be. I didn’t blame him though. I was just an average teen with shaggy brown hair that I never bothered to do anything with, and I certainly didn’t look like the type that could help heroically save hundreds of other people from a death trap. Oh well, to each their own, I suppose. I frowned, “Well, if you’ve interviewed others like me, then you’d know we barely lost any survivors from ELO, thanks to Equestria Online. The people who died lost their bodies, but their minds are still intact living in the virtual world. Now it’s only a matter of finding bodies for them to transfer to so they can continue life in this world.” Yes, we have heard of that, but it seems a bit too good to be true- “Believe me, it sounded that way to me. But I’m not one to go looking a gift horse in the mouth.” Aptly put. But as we were saying, there are families across the country, across the globe even, that first thought their family and friends and ELO to be dead. But now they generally couldn’t be happier to know there’s still a chance for them to live again. How do you feel about that? A small smile crossed my face, “Well, that’s exactly what we’re working towards in EO. We have a lot of customers, but it’s been decided the victims of ELO, whose lives were brutally taken from them, would be the only ones to receive new bodies. The others are allowed to live on in EO for as long as they so choose, but when they feel satisfied with how they’ve lived their life, we hope that they will move on from the point of living and finally rest in peace.” That’s quite a profound undertaking. However, I can imagine not all of EO’s customers will be satisfied with this decision. Are you sure no one else can receive a new body, even for the right price? “If that were true, then only the vastly wealthy could live on again and again, and believe me, that’s the last thing anybody needs. EO has decided that our server isn’t going to be a way to cheat death, but merely a way to postpone it long enough for people to finish what they wanted to in life.” Yes, that has been EO’s mission statement ever since their founding a few weeks ago, but I must ask, do you agree with it? “I have no doubts about it. People should have to try to cheat death and live again.” I could feel my expression harden in thought, “From my experience in ELO, death is a reason why life is so precious. If we were able to bring people back willy-nilly, all value we’d have of life would diminish to almost nothing. In all reality, if you can’t finish your dreams and goals in EO like we are offering, there shouldn’t be any reason for you to live again in this human world.” I got up from my seat, “Of course, that’s not up to us to decide. In EO, we merely help people back up on their feet when death is at their doorstep. Even at my age, I’ve seen too many die with regrets, so I couldn’t be more glad to help them complete their life if they wish it.” I turned and began walking towards the door, but the interviewer called out, Wait, before you go, would you mind answering one last question? I stopped, glancing over my shoulder, “Okay, shoot.” Right now, there are a few dozen people who’ve been admitted into EO as residents, besides the survivors of the ELO Incident. As of now, the total number of residents exceeds eight hundred, and all of them live in a computer generated world. Many are worried about the safety of these residents. Just how safe are they in EO? I paused only long enough to smirk, “You’re talking about a place built by fighters, who were willing to give their lives to ensure others would escape a deathtrap. Believe me, as long as we’re around to look things over, no one has anything to worry about.” With that, I walked out of the interview. As I did, a small sigh escaped me. Despite the good EO was providing so far, we were still questioned at every turn. Questions didn’t normally bother me, but most of the time when it involved EO, it was like people either believed what we were doing made us like devil’s defying nature’s course of death, or they simply believed we were using EO the wrong way. It was the same so far. People either called us “Impersonators of God” or “Idiots”. The former, mostly from religious people who thought we were cheating death, the latter, from others who wanted us to cheat death. Only a small number of people worldwide understood EO’s purpose. I was just waiting for the day when more people understood us, too.