//------------------------------//
// Fluttershy uses a DEX build. 
// Story: Fluttershy's PVP Experience 
// by unscrewedunicorn 
//------------------------------//

	"Why don't you just play online?" Rainbow Dash shrugged, her hoof draped over the yellow pegasus's shoulder.  Fluttershy sat staring, unblinking, at her laptop screen. The pitch black screen with the thin, crackling font filled Fluttershy with a familiar sense of anxiety. Her haunches shook. Her tail flicked back and forth, and a quiet, unending squeak emitted from her throat.

"I mean, isn't the point of Pony Souls 3 to play with other ponies? I thought that was the main selling point, really. Besides the challenge." While she didn't play many video games herself, Rainbow Dash still knew that Fluttershy was somehow avoiding something. Something silly and stupid, no doubt. 

"But..." Fluttershy whimpered, her wings curling around herself, "it's just so much fun to play by myself. I don't have to worry about letting anypony down. Plus, I mean... wouldn't it take away from the challenge?" She smiled softly, her eyes glancing back towards her friend.

Dash rolled her eyes, knowing that this argument wouldn't go anywhere. This was always the case with Fluttershy. Back when she played Pony Fortress 2, she insisted that the bots were much more nice, and made her feel like she was a valuable member of the team. The very idea of playing the game (the way it's meant to be played, after all) simply petrified Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash didn't really know or care why. Her timid friend always made decisions from a place of irrational fear, a fear of something that didn't really exist. She was beyond reason, even for the silliest and most trivial of things.

Ugh, now I'm starting to sound like Twilight.  Dash thought to herself, a little shudder passing through her.

"Look, it's fine." Dash sighed. "You can do whatever you want. It's not that big of a deal." She gave Fluttershy a patient smile, and gave her friend a brief nuzzle when it was reciprocated. "I'm gonna head back to Twi's place, see if she needs help with any friendship stuff. You gonna be okay?"

"Of course!" Fluttershy smiled from ear to ear. "I'll just be here, taking care of the animals. Maybe I'll play Pony Souls later."

Rainbow Dash nodded, relieved that this brief spat of anxiety was overwith. "Cool. See ya!" She spread her wings and bolted out the door.





Maybe Rainbow Dash is right. How bad could it be, really? Fluttershy mused to herself, holding the controller limply in her hooves. She had just annihilated Ponytiff Sulyvahn, and alone, no doubt. If she chose to enter online mode, and was somehow invaded, she would be able to fend off the invader easily, right? Fluttershy was familiar with how online mode worked in Pony Souls 3, but it had always occurred to her, sticking in the back of her mind like a Giant Leech, how terrifying it had the potential to be.

"What if, what if I accidentally end up in someone's world, and end up having to fight them! And then after I win, they get so sad and so depressed that they cry! I would have made another pony cry! And somepony I don't even know, too." Fluttershy mused out loud to herself, reaffirming her fears. "It would be so awful to invade another pony's game, especially if they were doing such a good job. I wouldn't want to mess it all up for them!" A soft tweeting from her window brought Fluttershy back to her senses. It was the canary. Informing her that she was hyperventilating... again.

"Oh, you're right. I'll never know how scary it'll be unless I try it. Plus, there are millions of ponies who've played this game! Odds are, I won't be matched with the most sensitive pony in Equestria." Fluttershy did her best to toughen herself to the prospect of pony-versus-pony, but there was that lingering leech again, resurfacing. "But what if I can't handle the pressure! What if I let my new online friend down?!"

Fluttershy found her hooves fiddling with the D-pad, scrolling down to the imposing "Go Online" option. 

"It's now or never, Fluttershy." She held her breath for a second, and pressed A.





Fluttershy strained to get up from her sitting form, lingering by Ponytiff Sulyvahn's bonfire for a while before trotting towards the tall, strong stone archway. She was met with a gorgeous sight, as Pony Souls always managed to provide. The sky was painted grey, but enough shades of grey to catch the player's eye, and have them truly appreciate the beauty. If only the sun could break through the sky, and paint the world in its incandescence. That would make this sight even more magnificent, Fluttershy thought to herself. 

Almost immediately, the ground was painted with red, a color so bold and bright in comparison to the otherwise bleak atmosphere. Fluttershy flinched in panic at the sight, but realized quickly that there was nothing to be afraid of. They were summon signs, from a seemingly infinite amount of games. Each symbol seemed identical at first glance, but each had a different character's name, when touched.

I don't think I wanna let another pony into my world... being on home turf would be just unfair. But if I got killed in my own world? That would just be embarassing. The idea of being shown up in her own game made Fluttershy flush with fear, and a tiny bit of rage.

She fumbled through her inventory, reaching for her own red soapstone. It felt chalky, slippery, and evil. 

Fluttershy, the Dark Spirit. The meek yellow pegasus repeated mentally. 

Fluttershy scrawled her name in the far corner, behind the leftmost column. "There! Now, I can get to exploring. I'm sure it'll take a while for-"


Being summoned to another world as a Dark Spirit...


"Oh."





Fluttershy, besides being intensely surprised by how little time it took for her to be summoned, broke into a cold sweat. "Oh goddess... what if they summoned me on accident and send me home? What if they thought I was a phantom, or a Pony of Sunlight?! Oh, they'll be so disappointed."

She thought for a moment, then furrowed her brow. "Oh, don't be ridiculous, Fluttershy. You're part of Rosaria's Hooves, this is what the game WANTS you to do. And plus, your summon sign is RED. Nopony would summon you, unless they wanted to fight." Fluttershy huffed slightly to herself, tilting her chin ever-slightly higher. "I'm a proud and noble servant of my covenant, and should really get into the role I've chosen to play here."

Fluttershy stood up from where she was summoned, and glanced around. This was... quite a bit farther from the little makeshift arena she saw earlier. Kind of counterintuitive, she thought to herself. "No sign of anypony... maybe I should head back to where I was summoned. There's gotta be somepony there. And then!" She breathed in, heavily. "Knightly combat!" For the first time in months, Fluttershy was excited for pony-to-pony contact.

As she trudged up the stairway to her destination, Fluttershy thought for a moment about what her encounter could possibly be like. "What armor should I wear? I mean, if I happen to find a host with a giant hammer or something, I should be nimble, and able to roll out of the way. But what if they use some kind of dagger, or an estoc?! I should wear something heavy, something that can take a lot of thrust damage... but what about-"

She had arrived at the arena. Even though she only glimpsed the scene for a half second, she recognized a crucial detail. There were four other ponies.

FOUR.

"OH DEAR SWEET CELESTIA, I'M BEING GANKED!" Fluttershy squeaked and lept behind the staircase. In a state of utter panic, she entered the game menu. 

"I knew this was a bad idea, I KNEW IT!" Fluttershy fumbled to exit her character, to quit the game, to do ANYTHING. A glint of red shone on her screen, another pony holding a torch. A fellow Dark Spirit, who was more than capable of ending her, and bringing his buddies with him to finish her off. Fluttershy could do nothing but freeze, and watch in utter horror as the Dark Spirit pulled out his katana and waved to her.

Waved to her?  Wait... what?

The red figure gestured to Fluttershy, and then trodded off. 

"Oh thank the goddesses above..." Caught up in her relief of the situation, Fluttershy slumped in her chair and closed her eyes, the tight and frazzled muscles letting go of their panic. "He must be peaceful, thank Celestia."


Hey!


Fluttershy was startled out of her relaxed stupor nearly instantly. The Dark Spirit came back, lunging slighly forward with the aggressive greeting. The voice sounded like it belonged to a mature stallion. That's what the pony behind the character must be roleplaying as, Fluttershy drew the conclusion.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Fluttershy was meant to follow the stallion. 

"Well... here goes nothing." Fluttershy was still shivering from the fright of the Dark Spirit's voice. Now that she was more mentally prepared for what she would witness, Fluttershy decided to take the time to observe what exactly she had been summoned into.

There were two ponies sitting on the upper level of the small arena-like space, one of them being the dark spirit that had beckoned Fluttershy. Since the friendly Dark Spirit carried a sharp looking Uchigatana, and that mentally labelling him 'Dark Spirit' wouldn't work with the circumstances any longer, Fluttershy decided to call him Katana. He sat with his hoof resting on his knee, and the other pony sat with his two hind hooves touching. It almost looked like a meditative stance. Either way, it was clear that they were observers to whatever spectacle was occurring below. Before glancing down to the arena, however, the outfit of the other stallion caught Fluttershy's eye. The one resting next to Katana.

The Host of Embers, the one who had summoned her and the other stallion, was dressed in papal looking garb, with a tall, mushroom-shaped hat obscuring his face. He stood up when Fluttershy walked closer, and it was revealed that he was carrying two torches, and was waving them about erratically. This isn't fighting armor at all, she thought. Fluttershy gestured to the quirkily-dressed host, giving him a polite bow. Fluttershy decided to call him Mushroom.

Below the host, on the lower level of the arena, two other Dark Spirits were furiously swinging at each other. One carried a giant dragon's tooth, and the other with a massive halberd. None, to Fluttershy's surprise, carried a shield.

How can they be dueling without a shield? I mean, that hammer is far too big to block properly, but that halberd could be parried... maybe. Fluttershy said, internally. There was no way to commune with her peers properly, of course. Pony Souls had no typing feature, and enabling a mic was simply... against the spirit of the co-op experience, Fluttershy had read in some gaming magazine somewhere. Fluttershy, always a lover of names, decided to call the bigger one Hammer, and the smaller one Hal. Halberd isn't a proper name at all, the yellow pegasus giggled to herself.

Hammer and Hal grunted with every hit they took, and with every passionate swing of their respective weapon came the cracking of rock, and the breaking of stone. Why aren't they healing? Have they been fighting so long that they ran out of Estus? Fluttershy was filled with a new respect for this makeshift 'fight club'. It must be pretty intense, and take a lot of patience.

To be expected, Hammer's heavy armor weighed him down, and during his roll, took his last halberd hit. The character cried out in agony, before disappearing into dust. Hal pumped his shield in the air, victorious. It was a rather dreary ending to what appeared to be an epic battle.

You could have at least bowed. Fluttershy thought to herself, but quickly put the bitter thought aside. This was just a game. And besides, not every pony could be as kind as she.

Before she could even think, Fluttershy was pushed into the arena by Mushroom, landing flat on the floor of the arena. Ow... Fluttershy groaned, realizing that she was more immersed into this role-play than previously thought.

Hal stood before her, pointing his halberd directly towards Fluttershy's chest. Both Dark Spirits, both Hal and Fluttershy, stared each other down. The thought occurred to Fluttershy that she could avenge Hammer, and crush Hal in battle to preserve Hammer's spirit.

"Rainbow Dash was right, this IS fun!" Fluttershy giggled, realizing how much she was enjoying herself.

Fluttershy offered a formal duel bow to Hal, and was pleased to find the gesture reciprocated. She equipped her twin Dancer's swords, the weapons that, of course, were the most beautiful weapons in the entire game. It would be an honor to fight with such beautiful weapons, to defeat Hal in the most chivalrous and honorable of battle.

She was dead in one hit. A backstab. 

The keys ALT-F4 came easily to Fluttershy, and the game disappeared in a flash. The empty husk of what was once a hopeful Fluttershy opened her steam account, finding a notification, and comment on her page. A comment from a Pony Souls player.

Git gud.





The door to Fluttershy's cottage creaked open, and the blue pegasus carefully walked inside. 

"Yo, Fluttershy? You home? I don't think you've been outside all day, I was wondering if you were sick or somethin'..." Rainbow Dash asked tentatively, seeing that all of the curtains were drawn, and the lights were off. The only source of illumination came from the laptop in the corner of the room, and in it, sat Fluttershy.

"Damn, Fluttershy. Have you been playing Pony Souls all day? Did you end up going online at least? I asked Twilight, and she said it might be healthy to-"

"WHAT RINGS YOU GOT, BITCH?"  The familiar, soft voice of Fluttershy was replaced with an angry rasping, but still adorably high pitched.

"Woah, what? Rings? What ri-"

"SHIVA OF THE EAST? MORE THE SHIVA THE DECEASED." 

Rainbow Dash stepped back, filled with equal amounts fright and confusion. "I don't know what that me-"

"GIT FUCKING GOOD, FEGGIT."