February 4 2020
Six Days.
It's been six damn days since Chris and Myst went out to Whitetail Wood and we haven't heard a single peep from either since then.
We had spent the first two thinking the two had stopped off in Ponyville (still think that name is stupid as hell) or got sidetracked by doing some manner of side quest. But after hearing not a sound from them or seen hide nor tail, we started to worry.
Thankfully, they aren't dead; we can tell that much. If they we're they wouldn't be on the group's roster anymore. The only damn thing is that we can't find them on either of our maps and they aren't picking up any PMs we've sent. We've both gone to the admins several times and they've given us jack squat. Apparently Discord's been fucking with the game mechanics since he took their power.
Chris' friend hasn't been taking this all too well at all; apparently them flinging your friends into danger is what takes him to finally get scared. Phoenix already looked like he didn't get much sleep as is but now he looks outright on the verge of collapse. To be totally honest, I can barely stand being around the man but he is still my brother's friend so I'll at least try to like him. But the dude doesn't need to throw himself under the bus so damn hard; how in the heck was he supposed to know they'd vanish when they went out there?
Momma, if you are up there, happy late birthday; I've been busy worrying about other things. But second; please keep him safe. If anything were to happen to him under my watch, I honestly don't know what I'd do.
Krieger let out a sigh as he closed his journal as he finished his first. It has been Cass's idea for him to even have one in the first place. 'just in case I don't make it out, someone's gotta know' is what he had told him. And with the disappearance of Cass and Myst, it seemed liked no better time to start.
He let out a dry laugh; he had told Cass that thinking like that was bound to doom yourself and he was right. Krieger was utterly right and he hated it. He sighed as he heard someone coming down the hotel's stairs and looked up to see Phoenix.
The unicorn looked like hell to put it bluntly. Dark bags hung under his bloodshot eyes and he seemed to wobble a little with each step. His focus was entirely on the stairs before him or else he would fall flat on his face. When he reached the bottom of stairs, he looked up at Krieger and smiled weakly. "Hey Warhorse. Do I need to ask?"
"No, not a peep," he sighed, shaking his head. Phoenix seemed to deflate at that; his weak smile dropping into a frown almost instantly.
"Damn it," he sighed quietly. "Must have been a dream then."
Krieg raised an eyebrow, "a dream?"
"Yeah," Phoenix replied, laughing dryly, "they fucking showed up having beat all the bosses with Discord's head on a stick."
Kriger sighed, looking over at the fellow unicorn, "hey, if it makes you feel any better. I don't wanna kill you anymore."
Phoenix laughed dryly at that, "I'm sure Cass wants to kick my ass when he sees me again." He let out a sigh. "Hell, I'd let him kick my ass if it meant them showing up...Just fly through the door and just smack me so hard my jaw crac-"
As if on cue, the door to the hotel opened, casing a beam of blinding sunlight. Phoenix's eyes grew nearly three times as both he and Krieg saw the forms of two ponies in the light, the life seeming to return to the melancholy unicorn. But his spirits were dashed as soon as they were raised as the two ponies stepped inside.
One of them was a green pegasus stallion; his yellow and violet mane having a somewhat girly haircut. The mark on his flank being a cloud bank being cut in half by wind. His ID bearing the name Swift Mist. Phoenix muttered something unintelligible under his breath but from the look on his face, the stallion seemed to be angering him just by his presence.
The second stallion was a lot simpler; a pegasus as well but his coat was coal black and his mane and tail were a few shades lighter with a thin red streak through them. His eyes had this intense look to them that made Kriger cringe a little as he was reminded of several a chewing out by his mother. And the mark on his flank was simply a red asterisk. The ID over him simply read Necus.
"Hello?" Mist asked as walked up to the front desk of the hotel, "do you have rooms available for five?"
As the conversation between the stallion began, Phoenix quietly slipped closer to Kriger and let out a low growl as he plopped down on his haunches. "I swear to God the universe just hates us Warhorse," he hissed quietly, "I mean that guys names is Swift Mist man!"
"This is just coincidence Phoenix," Kriger let out a little sigh, "not everything is the universe mocking us." Yesterday, it had been a unicorn named Caligua and before that a yellow earth pony named Roman Writ.
"His name is Swift Mist and he sounds like a darn Mountie too!"
Kriger just rolled his eyes. "Coincidence, my dear pyromaniac; say it with me 'coincidence'."
"I know Canada is where the show was made and they're aren't a lot of people there so it-"
Kriger just started to tune Phoenix out as he once again opened up his PM window to try and send another message to his brother and Myst when you a notification appeared in his face.
New message sent from Cassius01
"Phoenix! I got a message from Cass!!!!!!" He nearly cheered like a little kid on Christmas morning, his eyes almost bugging out of their sockets as he just started at the pop up.
"Well what the hell are you doing!? Open the damn thing," Phoenix bounced to his hooves in an instant, shoving his head into Kriger's laps so he could read it as well.
"First off, get your damn head away from my crotch!" Kriger said, smacking Phoenix's horn with his forehoof, causing the stallion to retreat from his awkward position. "Second it's a damn audio message so you didn't even have to do that."
With that, Krieg opened the message and it started to play.
At first, all that could be heard was the indistinct sound of voices in the background and the chirping of insects.
"Okay, they're gone, Sarge. Better make this quick before they're back," Myst's voice said before another voice spoke up and Krieger's heart nearly skipped a beat.
"Okay Myst," Cass spoke up before sighing. "We don't have much time so I'll make this quick bro. Me and Myst have been taken hostage by goddamn deer elves!"
"Deer elves!? There was only supposed to be some bandits or Timberwolves the-" Phoenix was silenced with a glare from Krieg.
"And to make a long story short for the sake of time, we got ambushed at the wagon caravan and hit with paralysis poison a-"
"And the buckers cut our damn wings off!" Myst suddenly spoke up, sounding angry as hell.
"Yeah, what Myst here just said. We got our wings cut off and they won't grow back without a restoration potion or in a safe zone. And we're currently in neither so we can't escape."
"Not like that'd even be possible," Myst grumbled, "those buckers were able to pick us out of the sky with an arrow!"
"Look, I don't know where we are but we're somewhere in Whitetail Woo-"
"They're coming back!"
"Shit I gotta end this now! Bro, I love you and come save our asses!"
And with that, the message ended.
The two stallions just silently stared at one another in disbelief. "There's no way that couldn't have been Cass," Phoenix said after a little while. "No way in hell someone can mi-"
"You need help finding your friends yes?"
Krieg jumped in fright as he looked up to see Necus standing there in front of them with Mist a few steps behind.
"What?"
"You need help finding your friends?" the black Pegasus spoke up again, his voice sounding like he was from somewhere in Eastern Europe back in the real world. His intense gaze almost made Krieg want to spill his beans on everything bad he'd done recently.
"We heard the whole thing," Mist spoke up as well, "we can help if you want us to. Meadow and Ace will definitely want to save somepony if they need it."
"Of course!" Krieger said almost as soon as Mist had finished speaking. "We're gunna need all the help we can get to save them! Get as many as you can and meet us at the city gates at noon."
Both Necus and Mist nodded and quickly ran out the door to find their friends. As they did this, Krieger turned to Phoenix, a determined look on his face. "You know any other groups?"
"We did save the asses of one just before you joined up. They were...." He paused, hoof coming up to his chin, "they were... Team Awesome!"
"Good," he nodded. "Get in contact with them and get them to meet us at the wagon site."
With that, Krieger turned about face and started making his way to the door. As he reached the door, he stopped.
"It's time to save my brother," he muttered under his breath as he stepped through the door, a determined look on his face.