A Changed World
No. No. No no no no no!
Twilight Sparkle dashed around a tree, leaping over a mass of tangled roots. Her body was a blur as her forehooves, covered by bright silver gauntlets, struck the grass and pushed her forward at full speed. A long lavender coat fluttered in her wake, the tail whipping violently in the wind. Her body didn’t scream from the exertion, nor did her lungs burn for more air. Still, her breathing remained labored out of habit. She gasped in each breath of air as she turned to look back for a second.
Behind her, the shadowy, dense trees gave only the faintest hint of her pursuers, shadows flitting between the thin rays of light. She scanned quickly before returning her gaze to her front and narrowly avoiding a thick branch that stuck out in her path. Ducking down, she slid along the grass and dirt, then put on an extra burst of speed. She couldn’t let herself get caught. She was strong right now, but a dozen of them were chasing her. It wouldn’t matter how strong she was with those kinds of odds, they’d definitely kill her. She could not let that happen.
If she could just get to Ponyville, and out of the Everfree, she’d be safe. But she was still a good five minutes away from the edge of the forest at this speed. A quick glance back again confirmed her suspicions. They were gaining on her. And here she’d thought she’d done a good job improving her running skill. Still, she had some tricks that could probably buy her some time. Taking another quick look, she saw one of the dark figures start to close the gap, surging ahead of the rest of the group. With a glow of her horn, Twilight yanked one of the tree branches back in her magic and released it. A loud yell of vulgarities rewarded her ears as the victim took the backlash of the stiff appendage. That would probably do a decent bit of damage, but would be easy to recover from. The delay was what she needed, and another peek showed that the other eleven shadows stopped to help the wounded one, but it took only a few moments before they gave chase once more.
Only a few seconds, but a few seconds could make all the difference, couldn’t it? Hopefully so. She couldn't afford to be distracted. As the trees whipped by, she dodged left and right at full throttle. Her vision narrowed, with the rush of the wind on her muzzle, she could see lights through the trees. She was almost there! Almost to the safe zone!
She could make it.
She had to make it.
She couldn't die before she had accomplished anything.
Just as she reached the edge of the forest two shadows fell from the treetops, landing in her path. The moonlight streaming from the edge of the treeline cast sharp silhouettes of their forms. The slender, bipedal shapes, clasping weapons in hand, were unmistakable. Above each of their heads a glowing, diamond shape icon appeared, glowing with a deep sapphire that nearly matched the night sky. She inwardly cursed her foolishness at letting herself be so easily routed into an ambush.
She didn't stop.
She kept going full gallop.
"Looks like the Teleportation Nullification Crystal did the trick," one of the shadows said with a vicious chuckle before charging forward. A long silver blade glinted with moonlight as it swung the broad, two-handed weapon down over its head.
Instinct kicked in. An instinct she still wasn't used to, but had nevertheless honed in the last month. The metal of her gauntlets shifted and flowed like liquid, and an opening formed at the front of her forehoof, aiming down. Mid-step, she angled a hoof to the side, and --
Bang!
Her body was violently pushed to the side and she rocketed out of the way of the sword, which crashed uselessly into ground. She had evaded by a wide margin, but she wasn't done yet. The instinct boiled again. That unnerving but exhilarating instinct.
Her killer instinct.
She didn't like it, but she needed it. Well, maybe that wasn't quite right. It really was exhilarating in a way she never imagined, but at the same time her morality rebelled against necessity.
Shifting her hooves once more, she flicked her gaze to the side as the second shadow came right at her and pushed a broad shield forward for a bashing strike.
Not fast enough.
Bang! Bang!
With one burst, her body shot straight into the air, the ground beneath her caved inwards from the force striking it. She rocketed up and over the shield that tried to ram her, and with the second impact, she flew over the attacker's head. Tumbling back down to the ground, she gritted her teeth against the mild pain as she tumbled and slid into dirt and grass. She tried to right herself, but before she could her back slammed violently into the unyielding bark of a tree. She gasped as a more intense wave of pain wracked her body, but it was still duller than it should have been. Her back might have been broken normally, but it wouldn't be.
A light pinging rang in her ears, making her eyes instantly rivet to the upper left, to the bar that rested in that corner of her vision. In a bar labeled with her name, a strip of green began to slowly tick down in time with the high pitched ringing in her ears, growing deeper as it depleted. Below that was a full blue bar, and off to the side was an icon of a sealing glyph.
Her HP was dropping way lower than it should, and the pain in her back spread into her side. Looking down, she saw the cause, a thick, broken branch sticking out of her side. She must have impaled herself on it when she hit the ground. She would have been more worried before, but things had changed.
Instead of blood pouring from her wound, tiny red motes of light lifted up from the gash in her body. The bright red mark on her side, with the branch sticking out of it, denoted the inflicted damage. This was the way the world had become. She still didn't understand all of it, but it was a heck of a lot better this way than having actual internal organs to puncture and bleed out.
Her horn lit up with magenta light and she grasped the intruding object. Pushing herself onto her hooves, she braced herself and clenched her teeth, yanking the branch free in one hard pull. She resisted the urge to scream as the signals of pain shot through her. She didn't let herself, though. It was only half as intense as it should be, at least supposedly. She wouldn't let herself be so weak as to be bothered by something that was only half as painful.
"Looks like the little pony took some nasty damage just trying to get away," a new voice called out to the side of her.
Whipping around, Twilight lifted her hoof and pointed it towards the source of the voice. The weapon on her hooves aimed at the figure. The gleaming metal gauntlet wrapped elegantly around her hoof, the metal seeming to writhe as it transfigured, opening up a cylindrical barrel that contracted and narrowed out. Her horn lit up, and the same light shined brightly in the barrel of her weapon, her Casts. Embracing that exciting, uneasy instinct, she fired.
A beam shot from the barrel, more finely focused than her horn could produce. The magic of her basic telekinesis spell, the easiest magic for any unicorn, amplified and funneled. The beam splashed against a raised shield, and the defender was pushed back as tiny beams spidered out, digging into the earth below and shredding through leaves above before dissipating. A wasted attack.
Desperately looking behind her, she saw the edge of the forest only a few yards away, and beyond that, the flickering lights of Ponyville. She was so close, but she hadn't gotten far enough.
She heard the clattering of heavy steps and shuffling armor as the shadows that had been pursuing her caught up with her, quickly surrounding her and blocking off her line of escape. Each and every last one of them had the same sapphire icon over their heads; proof that they were her enemies. It wouldn't be easy to get around them. That crystal item they'd used on her had disabled all of her teleportation spells, both long and short range. Without those, she was likely to get herself killed trying to break through their line. She returned her gaze to her HP gauge. 426 out of 685 left. That was over a quarter lost.
She looked left and right, front and back, but all fourteen of her attackers left no opening, all of them baring their blades at her, but keeping their distance. Smart on their part. Her magic power was already well known, so they knew that if any of them got too close, she could finish many of them with a deadly combination of spells and shots. Unfortunately, they would resurrect if they were killed, while she wouldn’t. To make things worse, she could only cast so many spells before she’d run dry. With this many enemies, she'd run out of MP well before she could kill the last one.
"So this is how I go, huh?" Twilight growled, swinging her hoof around and pointing it back and forth at all of her enemies. "I won't just lay down and die to you humans."
One of the men stepped forward into a ray of moonlight, revealing gaunt features and shaggy black hair. In one hand, a Cast took the shape of a small kite shield. In the other, a Cast-formed short blade Twilight recognized as a gladius stuck out menacingly from his clenched fist.
"No hard feelings, Twilight Sparkle," the human said, his face betraying no emotion besides grim determination. "But in order to get back to my family, you need to die. Defeating you will bring us one step closer to beating this game."
"Well, I'll be taking as many of you down with me as I can. Even if I can’t kill you permanently, I will make sure it’s as painful an experience as possible!" Twilight tensed up and aimed at the man, fear of her inevitable death rising within her, but the fighting instinct in her compelling her to keep up her strength.
With nothing more to be said the man angled back, arm crooked and blade pointed forward. Yellow light wrapped around it as a skill activated, building up and ready for release. He didn’t get a chance to strike, as in a flash, a blue, crescent blade wrapped around the man, from shoulder to hip, causing him to freeze as he quickly realized what was coming.
The new blade lit up with a brilliant crimson glow as a voice behind him spoke, “«Bloody Lead».”
The execution was over in an instant, the blade pulling back into the man’s torso and cutting clean through him. His body was cleaved clean in two, and his face twisted in pain for the brief moment before he burst into thousands of aqua-tinted shards.
Standing behind the rising fragments was a new man. This man wore bright colors which stuck out even in the dark nighttime of the forest. A light sapphire coat, riveted with alabaster white bolts around the shoulders, which reached down to his ankles. Beneath that he wore a matching white breastplate that reached nearly to his waistline, where a cream shirt poked out underneath. His lower half was covered by a dark blue set of pants with a white stripe running along the outside of the legs, and lastly, a pair of brown boots. The whole set coincided with his uneven, hanging strands of bright white hair, and his light sapphire eyes. The bright color of his outfit belied the vicious look of his weapon. The long black pole of the weapon leading to the gem-like, azure blue blade of his scythe. Only a faint huff escaped his lips as he hefted the weapon's shaft onto his shoulder, the enormous blade curving behind him like a menacing scorpion's tail.
The icon over his head wasn’t like the other humans’. Rather than the dark sapphire hue, his reflected a dazzling gold as rich as sunshine. Still further, the shape of the icon was not that of a diamond, but instead was two swords crossed in an x-shape. The symbol of his status and allegiance was a welcome one in this dire moment for her.
Shock kept the remaining thirteen humans frozen in place as the human stepped through the remaining shards of the defeated enemy. Twilight wasn't intimidated by the newcomer. She loathed to admit that she was actually relieved to see him right now, even if she didn't trust him. She even felt the urge to smirk, which she repressed, when she heard one of the enemies mutter, “The Azure Reaper.” She quickly banished the impulse, though. She had to stay focused.
"I didn't ask for your help, Animus," she grumbled, eyes darting back and forth, expecting the shock of the attackers to wear off any minute and they would start attacking.
Reaching her side, Animus flicked the scythe back off of his shoulder, spinning it on his fingers in a blur before brandishing it at the enemies surrounding them. "Still not going to just call me Ani, huh? And here I thought we were becoming friends."
"Forget it, Animus, we could save her flank every night and she'd still tune us out," a female voice called from above. A rustling of leaves gave way to a streak of cyan and rainbow, a pegasus mare descending to a hover just a few feet off to Twilight's other side. She held up her hooves as her Casts manifested the twin triangular blades of katars. Above her head the golden, diamond shaped icon of their alliance spun slowly.
The foes around them started to stir once more, readying their weapons and coating them in various shades of colored light as skills activated and started building up. The two ponies and their human ally took a ready stance, their own weapons lighting up as they did the same.
Wicked grins started to replace panicked frowns as the enemy humans eyed the trio they still had surrounded. “Come on, guys!" one of them roared as he hefted his weapon. "Today’s our lucky day! Twilight Sparkle and Animus! If we beat them, Ponyville will be ours!”
"I think we'll have to talk about our debatable friendship after we get out of this," Animus remarked, his eyes almost glowing from the light that bathed his own weapon. "These guys are bound to have enough bits on them to treat us to a few rounds of cider."
Twilight could only roll her eyes in frustration as the pegasus, Rainbow Dash, chuckled, "We'll see, but if they don't, you're picking up the tab! I'll drink you into bankruptcy!"
"Bring it!" Animus shouted as they and their enemies charged in unison. Whether or not he was speaking to Rainbow Dash or their enemies was a moot point as they began yet another fight for their lives.
“«Dance Macabre»!”
“«Sword Rain»!”
“«Volt impact»!”
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What the hell were you thinking going all the way up to the castle on your own?" Animus scolded the defiant unicorn between deep drafts of cider. "You may be a pretty good at fighting solo now, but Nightmare Moon's soldiers are particularly targeting us! Celestia would probably be appalled by your reckless behavior."
"You have no business telling me what Celestia would think, Animus. You don’t know her," Twilight shot back, slamming her hoof on the bar the three of them sat at. Her untouched mug of cider bounced slightly at the strike. "As Princess Celestia's pupil and protegee, it is my responsibility to try to rescue her from Nightmare Moon!"
"And that close connection with the princess is making you act irrationally and irresponsibly!" Animus countered, pressing a finger against her chest, only for her to swat it away. "Your status as her pupil won’t mean anything if you get yourself killed. You can’t afford to go out whenever you please like the others can. We’re in charge here, and our burden is greater than any of the other players because of that. We need your help here with making sure all of our fighters get stronger. We can’t afford to fall behind Nightmare and her soldiers. Now, I have been doing what I can to organize the everyone here, but I can only do so much. The only pony I have helping me on the military front is Rainbow Dash, since she’s the best fighter we have, but she’s not that great of a teacher. No offense, Dashy."
“None taken, dude,” the pegasus gurgled through her mug, gulping down her fill of cider. “I just use my instincts, and I can’t teach that.”
Twilight's eyes fell to the floor. Why did she have to listen to this guy? And why did everypony in town trust him so much? He had made it clear to her what his position was, and if he had no intentions of helping her, then she had no reason to help him either. After all, over half of the humans that had been pulled into Equestria, ones in every town and city all over had been lured by Nightmare Moon's promise of a way home, and taken her side. Why should she believe that Animus and the other humans that stayed behind would be so selfless as to take sides against their own kind and fight them instead? It just didn't make any sense.
"Just forget it, Animus. You’ve been trying to get through to her for a month now, and she hasn't budged. She's more stubborn than Applejack, and I thought she was as stubborn as they came," Rainbow Dash muttered dryly before downing her umpteenth pint in one gulp.
He had a point, but she didn't trust him. All he wanted was to get out of Equestria, and his talk about caring about this world was nothing just that; talk.
If she was wrong, though, she was effectively excommunicating herself from all of them for no reason. She'd always been on her own, aside from Spike, so it was all she really knew. But she wasn’t being given much of a choice, was she? She was given this role before she could even think about it, and her instincts were now conflicting all over the place.
On top of that, if Animus and Rainbow Dash hadn't shown up, she almost certainly would have died. Her HP would have hit zero, and she would be gone forever. Not able to save Celestia, or stop Nightmare Moon, or anything. With the tension of battle gone, the terror of that thought struck her full force.
As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted to believe that she could trust him.
Sighing, Animus stood from his seat, Rainbow leaping down after him as he tossed a bag of bits back to the bartender, who had been silently going about his business while their argument had gone on. After Rainbow trotted out of the bar, the man glanced back from the doorway and left his final thoughts with her.
"You know, nobody ever accomplished anything great alone. No matter how much skilled and powerful you become, you’ll need to work with us eventually," he said simply before walking out and closing the door behind him.
Frustration building, Twilight doused the embers in her by chugging her entire mug in a single draft. Hanging her head, she whispered softly, "What should I do, Celestia?"
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Let's see how this goes
3148669
Hopefully well.
I have a few ideas that I hope readers will like, and I am adamant to follow through on them down the road.
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...
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http://www.fimfiction.net/story/70699/sword-art-equestria
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3149750
Haters gonna hate.
Just kidding, but really, we have two entirely different ideas in this story. In my story, MLP isn't known in the SAO universe, and while I haven't gotten to describing it, it takes place well after the SAO incident, when the World Seed is in full swing. Plus I'm using OCs, rather than SAO characters.
You, however, sort of merged Aincrad and Equestria together into a sort of strange mix, made Kirito a brony, and generally made a more direct crossover.
Two entirely different ideas that each of us had.
Plus I'm using a special weapon concept I started in my Legend of Dragoon fic, the Casts.
They're just too good not to use.
3149856
That's good then, at least we're different somehow. i'll admit i haven't read yours yet but i may do soon.
and Kirito as a brony is just too awesome to not have
3149964
Hope you like what you read.
myfacewhen.net/uploads/4006-continue.jpg
3150318
I will!
Look ok so far.
Other than some basic mistakes, this was rather well done! After reading Sword-Art-Equestria, I didn't think there was a good cross-over for these two shows.
I'm hoping this improves a bit on the editing side of things, but you've got a fav. Update soon, 'kay?
3367709
Any mistakes come from the fact that I don't have anyone editting it but me yet, and I admittedly only put so much effort in catching errors. Still, I think I have a fairly small amount abd the rest of the quality outshines them.
Glad you enjoyed it though. I do try to make the most interesting concepts that I can and execute them in fun ways.
3367737
I see what you did there... Just enough to bug me, but not enough to complain.
Still, good read for what little there is. I'm one of the worst readers out there, really hard to impress. So if I start throwing you crap, just tell me to stuff it and don't take it personally.
3367748
Hehe, well if you want to see what I consider the best of my work thusfar, read my story, Dragoon Wars; Seven Lords Rising. It is a crossover with the game Legend of Dragoon, and I would recommend it even if you are not familiar with the source, since I have done my absolute best to make it accessible and enjoyable for everyone with a learning curve suitable for those who both are and aren't familiar with it. Plus, it is the story where I actually debuted the concept of Cast weapons that you saw in this story. They are a personal touch in some of my stories that I am very proud of.
3367772
I'll take a peek at it, since I'm currently out of reading material.
And I did find the idea of a specialized, collapsible weapon design EXTREMELY intriguing. Unless I've misunderstood your Casts?
3367775
It is a little better explained so far in Dragoon Wars, but would be explained in later chapters of this story too. They are amorphous magic gauntlets that bond to the ambient magic of their weilder, giving them weapons specially suited for them. They have three stages: The active weapon stage, ready for battle, and in my stories I plan for each to have at least one other weapon form of a similar nature to the original weapon form that they unlock. The second is the ready stage, with the silver gauntlet manifested on their hooves/hands, this form's only practical use is minor defense and being ready to immediately deploy their weapon. Last is the inactive state, where the gauntlet disperses and forms an invisible layer of magic over their bodies as a sort of means to have their weapons on them at all times, but not always have them around.
The weapon itself forms from tying into their magic inside of them and generating the weapon from the metal of the Cast to suit the bearer.
3367791
An interesting idea... Hopefully I won't spoil them for myself when I read your Legend of Dragoon story
3367795
Not terribly so, I think. The Casts are cool, yes, but they are more of a personal flavor of my writing than a pivotal element of any story.
3367805
Interesting. I've got to say, I'm rather excited about this.
3367810
Glad to hear it. I do take pride in my unique ideas that I blend in with existing ones, and do my best to make then sensible. For instance, the big question I asked that lead to Casts was "How can I create weapon-based combat while using hooves and no levitation?" Lo and behold, I came up with a special gauntlet that is a weapon they wear rather than hold.
3367825
See, my thought process travels more along the lines of, "How can I create an interesting skill or weapon that people will love to read about, without completely destroying any chance of suspense?"
3367830
That was the secondary question it answered. It needed to be a dynamic and interesting weapon that was believable in the world of Equestria. It's just the primary question was the hoof issue. The Casts are really very flexible in how I can use them, and add a personal touch for each character.
3367840
I'm assuming that the Casts as a whole have some glaring weak-point in their design that each user has to learn to compensate for, due to the fact that they reflect the wearer's magic/personality?
3367866
I really don't have any weaknesses planned other than those of the weapon forms they take. The gauntlets themselves are only as powerful as their weilder is skilled and strong, such being the case with any weapon.
3149964 Ehh... I think it'd fit his character archetype to not care either way about MLP. Maybe Asuna or Suguha, but not Kazuto Kirigaya. I just can't see it, since it'd completely change him as a character.
3368295 Hmm... I might "steal" your Casts, with permission, of course. I think they'd be interesting in a story I'm collaborating on for the Comment Warriors group.