//------------------------------// // When Myst fails to win (written by Greycait) // Story: Tale of the Misfits: Deleted Scenes // by bluemoon1996 //------------------------------// “Can I have a short sword, a pair of bracers and one of those crossbows?” “Just a moment,” the storekeeper said before trotting away from his counter. He eyed me, and picked what seemed to be a random sheathed sword from the collection hanging on the wall. The crossbow he pulled from the stand though he vanished in the back of the story for a little while before returning. He set them all on the counter, the sword in its sheath, the crossbow with a large presumably hoof friendly trigger, a pair of bracers and a large pouch with a generous supply of bolts. He snorted slightly at my expression at the bolts. “It comes with the crossbow. Everything totals to 110 bits.” Will you purchase these items for 110 bits? - Yes - No I tapped yes without hesitation, and flinched slightly when a pile of coins appeared on the counter before me. The storekeeper swept them up without pause. “Thanks for the patronage.” Okay, there were a few things I’d have to get used to about this place. Admittedly, it didn’t work that much differently than how I would have expected a game to operate, but the nature of it, being a virtual reality, it threw me off. I managed to get my purchases balanced between my wings and left. Slowly making my way down the street, I brought up the player menu again, trying to figure out how to put the items away instead of having them out. “Okay… that’s the system settings… the message option… I should have taken notes…” Walking wasn’t helping the process any, so I found a random corner to squat in to fiddle with the player menu. The player stats page was useful though. It took me more time than I’d like to admit, but I eventually found my way back into the inventory. The long way around… Of course, my luck would have it that I recalled the actual shortcut to the inventory after wasting all that time taking the long way around. With a muffled curse, I stored my purchases, tapped the sword in my inventory list like Bubbles mentioned and headed off to start exploring the town on my own. I figured it would be worth it to know my way around. Something of note; I was getting better at walking around and such. I hadn’t quite tried flying yet, though the relationship between my mind and my wings had finally settled and I could work them as if I know what they were for. Still, small victories. There had been a general game guide book in my inventory, and after fuming about how much more useful it would have been to have that available outside the game, I’d taken it out to skim as I walked. Walking on just three legs was surprisingly easy to figure out. Passing by the library actually got me wondering if the books were real. No, hear me out. If this was a virtual reality, leaving the books as just a patterned wall like they used to in older games would be disappointing. Some players would want to interact with them. I would want to interact. But coding books would be a massive chore. On the other hand, this world was all digital at its core. They could just have a database of ebooks and link them to the virtual book. It sounded like it was possible. My own digital library was over five thousand books last I checked. Not that I read most of them. My aimless walk eventually took me to the outskirts of town, and if I had been paying attention instead of musing away on the nature of the reality I was currently in, watching players and NPC interact and contemplating the nature of digital life, and skimming through the book, I might have realized my wanderings had taken me away from the safety the town represented. Instead, I had just been following the paths around, paying more attention to simply staying on it, than where it was leading. Unfortunately for me, I had somehow ended up on one of the paths that lead out of town and into the monster infested Everfree Forest. Huh. That sounded decidedly more intimidating when you were there in person. Even if it was just the path, the forest was still pretty foreboding, with the thick canopy, the low level of ambient light and the rather disconcerting sounds of wind and creaking wood. Still; I was already most of the way there, Bubbles help set me up with some weapons, and I wanted to get a few levels in before MoonAce got online. Thus emboldened, I reared up and waved my forelegs in the air and charged into the forest. “Myst Ryder Monster Slayer! Yay!” With the aid of retrospect, I could safely say that giving into the impulse to celebrate like the crusaders should have been a major red flag that my intentions weren’t going to work out. But that realization would come later. Prometheus I was not. Actually, Prometheus would make a pretty cool user name, but I digress. My initial gallop fell to a curious trot as I traveled the path. “Now… where would I find monsters to slay?” Not staying on the path would probably be my best bet, so I slipped off the path into the forest proper. There was a marked strangeness in the air. Even with soft wind rattling the trees, the creaking of wood and the plant matter being crushed under my hooves, it seemed too quiet. I was a first level character wandering about in The Wild Woods. Unbidden, that annoying song from that really old movie popped into my head. You're in The Wild Wood, and every child could tell you that you got no business to be here! Maybe I should have tried the White Tail Woods. It sounded like it would have nicer monsters… It’s our secret to survival in a very nasty world. My fur seemed to be standing on end, bristling, and the air was a bit nippy. Actually… I was technically naked right now… Maybe I should buy a cloak. I did have the the bracers, but they didn’t really count… It’s our secret to survival in a very nasty world. I rolled my eyes. I was in the Everfree Forest, one of the wildest woods Equestria should have, and nothing had jumped me yet, but my subconscious insisted on pestering me with a song I found a few times on the internet. “Is it really such a nasty world?” Two howls cut through the air. “I swear I was kidding,” I groaned. Whirling quickly, I half crouched and made ready to face the monsters that finally turned up. I swear, if there was actually some mechanic in the code that reacted to statements like that… For a while, there was nothing, but then a bush rustled, a soft growl emanating from it. I shifted orientation and faced it, ready for whatever might leap out from it. A health bar popped up just in my field of vision. Awesome! My first combat. I was psyched. I was pumped. I was so ready for this. The attack came from the side. Something leaped out from behind a tree and slammed into my side. Pain lanced from my ribs as teeth and claws worried it. The pain didn’t last too long, thankfully, and I tumbled, rolling as bits of red code leaked from my side, my health bar taking a dip. I scrambled back to my hooves as a second timberwolf, the one I first heard rustling the shrug and growling, step out to at menace to the work of the one that blindsided me. They had their own tags hovering over their heads. I swallowed nervously. It was just two wolves. I could handle that, right? Maybe I should have stayed in the town… No, none of that now. I felt great! I could do this! I could win! I…. really needed to stop talking to myself. The wolves took my moment of confusion and mental deliberation and attacked again, the first wolf charging right at me, the second one darting out to cut in from the side. “Raaawr!” I matched their snarls with a yell and raised a hoof… only to realize I had no idea how to get my sword out. Bubbles never covered that practical! And I had skipped the combat part in the guide too, intending to get back to it later, too! The first wolf hit me hard, sending me reeling again as I cried out in pain and panic, my health taking another dip. It didn’t try to pin me or anything, and that was my one good fortune. The second wolf rushed in and clamped his jaws around my hind leg, drawing the red code that seemed to be the blood in this game. Even though I knew the pain wasn’t real per say, panic, rather, terror flooded my thoughts. “Get off me!” I yelled, lashing out with my other leg, managing a glancing blow, the timberwolf yelped and scampering back. Its health didn’t suffer much from the weak blow, and I was too panicked to care about that anyway. Why couldn’t I use my weapons? I turned tail and ran in the direction I thought the town was, cursing my own foolishness all the way. The crashing of underbrush behind me and the regular snarls and snaps motivated me to keep moving. My health was in the yellow at the moment, and I hadn’t thought to purchase any health potions, or whatever they were called in this game, meaning it was make it or break it. “Crap, crap, crap, crap!” My mantra wasn’t very helpful. Only the basic boost that pegasi got to their speed and agility was keeping me out of the literal jaws of death that were nipping at my flank and heels, chipping my health down further. The wolves were fast, especially in this terrain. They might have even had a ‘forest walker’ ability or something, being plant constructs and all. “Sword appear! Out! Summon! Equip! Mode Shift! Please?” I yelled out randomly, trying different things in futile attempts. I got blindsided again, one of the wolves’ love nips tripped me up and I got another recommended serving of dirt and turf for the day. I was learning though, and kept rolling, not staying down for long. Panting heavily, I faced them off, sparing a glance at my health. There was only a little bit of red left. I wasn’t going to make it. I was going to die in this forest because I’d been an idiot. And I wouldn’t even get a shred of XP from it! I snorted and shifted my stance slightly, aching body or no aching body, legs set wide, wings unknowingly flared in an attempt to make myself look more intimidating. I was weak and defenseless and they knew it. I know I was a pony and all, but I did not get this game to become a prey animal! But that was exactly what was happening; trapped with two wolves bearing down on me in a wild forest. I was scared, and inched backwards a bit. I was too exhausted to keep this up. If I tried running, they would still catch me. This was a bad idea. Hold up… Maybe that’s exactly what I needed. The wolves snarled as they prepared, decided if I would flee for them to chase, of if they should just rush at me and end it. I glanced quickly around the area, and picked my target. It would be close, but it wasn’t like I had anything to lose at this point. With a bark-like snarl, the wolves charged. And so did I. “Yaaaaa!” I bellowed senselessly. The timberwolves didn’t stop to wonder what their crazy target was doing, which worked for me. I ran right into the jaws of death. And leap over them. Ponies were good jumpers, pegasi even better ones. Who knew; maybe the stupid idea would have failed if I actually had taken the time to plan it out and make calculations rather than act rashly. Maybe I was just lucky, virtual adrenaline in my veins. Either way, my first bound landed firmly on the lead wolf’s back and I used him as a springboard to gain even more altitude. Wings flapped instinctively, because at that point the fact that I was a pegasus and had flight was not at the forefront of my thoughts, but they did propel me high enough for my legs to wrap around one of the tree branches. I shifted my death grip on it, pulling myself up so my hind legs could find purchase and security as well. The branch creaked ominously initially, but didn’t make any further protests as I held on for dear life. Beneath me, the wolves were stunned, momentarily confused by the turn of events. Please go away, please go away, please go ah crab-baskets… All the hopes I had about them giving up was dashed in very short order, though. Instead of leaving, they lurked, pacing around the tree, snapping and snarling, ever so often using rearing up on their hind legs or using the trunk, even leaping a few times, all in attempts to get at me. I quickly pulled my tail up from where it dangled after one of their leaping snaps grazed a few hairs. Up in a tree, wolves waiting below and no further plans at hand. With no dignity left to my name at this point, I took the only option I had. “HELP!” I bellowed out, banking on the slim chance that there was someone around. “SOMEBODY HELP ME!” Somebody did, charging out of the trees and yelling courageously like Big Damn Heroes. I would like to say they showed me what real players could do, taking down the wolves in a spectacular display of skill, but I couldn’t. I had long since clamped my eyes shut. Watching two predators salivate over you was not fun. Not fun at all. “You can come down now, the wolves are gone,” a voice called up. I peeked down. A dark brown pegasus and a white unicorn were looking up at me. And no wolves in sight. I exhaled thankfully. “Um… O-okay.” Now… how was I supposed to get down? Climbing a tree with hooves wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, and by the time I managed to shimmy down the trunk, I was scratched and streaked with bits of bark and tree sap in places bark and sap had no business being. “Thanks guys for saving me…” I sighed, too worn out to express it properly. Maybe virtual reality games weren’t my thing after all. “First off, no problem man,” the pegasus smiled. Only to frown in frustration a moment later. “Secondly; what were bloody thinking, coming to the Everfree unarmed!" “I-I am armed!” I protested, feeling my ears flick back from embarrassment. “I-I have a- bought a sword and everything. It… it just didn’t come out for the fight…” The unicorn was unimpressed. “It didn’t come out? Do you have it equipped?” I opened my mouth to protest, but then closed it back. I did equip it, right? Right? … I was an idiot, wasn’t I? I called up the inventory and low and behold; I forgot to actually equip the stupid thing! I must have confused the quick reference tip and the actual equipping instructions... A few taps later, the sudden weight of a sword and the touch of its securing straps wrapped around my barrel heralded my swords debut, far too late. I gave my rescuers a sheepish grin as they facehooved. “You are idi-” At the time, I was kind of glad that the blinding light cut him off. I really didn’t need salt in my wounds. But considering what we found out when the light faded… just being called ‘idiotic’ would have been like winning the lottery.