Humble Beginnings (1/2)
Today was January 22nd, 2020. A Wednesday, or, a school day. It was also a day full of snow. Coating not only everyone's yards but the streets as well. The kind of snow that scared the schools around me into closing for the day.
Whenever someone has the day off from school like this, they could be doing anything. As a high school student, one could have an even bigger list of options. Meet with friends, hang out with family, or just about anything else within reason. Sometimes beyond that.
For me though? There's one thing I do every morning I have off.
Sleep.
I hated mornings. With a passion. So much so that I'm pretty sure 'morning people' are aliens. I mean, they can't be human, right? Their heads will fly off a god-gifted pillow and they're ready for the day in like three minutes. They even drink this alien bean liquid that they call 'coffee.'
It's witchcraft is what it is.
Or at least that's my interpretation. An accurate one, if I do say so myself.
“Alex? Alex, come on, wake UP!”
Exhibit A: My kid brother.
This was Joey. Ever since kindergarten his head pops off that pillow like a reversed magnet. That was only a few years ago. Now, at eight years old, soon to be nine, he's been a shining example of a morning person. It terrifies me to my core.
Long have I wanted to learn the mystical secrets of his kind. To adopt the culture of the aliens that have inhabited our planet. However...
“Ugh," I groaned. "Joey, go back to bed.”
To escape his demented morning brain, I retreated further into the covers of my own bed coating myself in layers of warm, sun-blocking armor. And as the final lock to seal my impregnable defenses, I turned away from him.
Joey broke through all of it.
With a heavy thud, all of Joey's weight landed on top of my blanket cocoon forcing my elbow into my own side and hip. All at once, my brother snapped me out of my daze and kept hitting the blankets until I finally sat up and threw my blankets, and him, off of me.
"Joey," I glared at his laughing form. "It is way too early for this. Outta my room!"
“Really." Joey's laughter faded in an instant as he turned to look at me. "11:50’s too early?” He asked in this know-it-all look on his face.
“Oh, yeah, cause I'm buying that again!" Last week, he did the same trick to me. Since I had a date that day, he hid all the clocks in my room, and told me it was already two in the afternoon. Needless to say, he tricked me and I ended up waiting outside of the movies. For three hours.
In the rain.
To tell the truth though, it was the best prank that he had ever pulled on me. I wasn't up for a do-over.
Slowly, I spoke. "I'm going. Back. To bed." I laid back on my pillow and close my eyes. Blanket or not, my room was warm enough to pass out.
Still, Joey didn't give up. "You know..." I felt him jump back off the bed and turn towards me. "I didn't want it to come to this."
The sound of something dragging along the carpet came from below my bed.
"Oh please," I grunted. After adjusting my blanket again I turned my back towards Joey once more. "What are you gonna do?"
"Send your blankets to the laundry room."
Laundry room? My eyes crept open and turned my head. "What's that supposed to—"
In one motion, Joey wrenched the blankets away from me from one hand and then turned over a plastic pale in the other. My arms instinctively pulled the blanket back over my head. But not before the snow dumped out of the bucket and all over my upper chest and face.
"GAAAAA—" When I pulled the blanket over my head by complete reaction, Joey grabbed the edge of the blanket and held it in place. With every second I flailed, the snow got colder. Not only that but the blankets and bed sheets now just had snow caught up in the threads.
"JOEY!" I cried out for mercy. "FINE, I'M UP! LET ME OUT!"
When I finally managed to throw off the blankets and dive off the bed, I stared at Joey with a malicious gaze and plotted my revenge.
"Joey..." He looked up as he 'innocently' chewed on a small clump of snow in his hand. It was probably to keep him from flat out laughing at me. "What....Was that for...?"
"Why, what do you mean dear brother?" To complete his ‘innocent’ look, he tilted his head to the side as he watched in suppressed glee as I kept shaking from the snow. I swear, Joey was like a male version of Sweetie Belle in how he used his 'innocence.' Except, if that was the case, what did that make me?
However, when my scowl refused to leave my face, he dropped the act and giggled the tension away. "I'm telling the truth. Look."
I turned to the clock he was standing near and gave a small grunt. 11:50, like he said. Well, 11:52 now but same difference.
"Fine," I admitted. "It's almost noon. Who cares?"
Joey groaned in a whiny tone as he flicked his wrist, letting whatever snow was still on his hand fall onto my carpet. Then he pointed at the opened box on my desk. "The Nervegears?"
"Nervege—"
I immediately remembered the last two weeks. Us waiting in line in the freezing wind. Joey begging dad to let him play the same time as me. The boxes arriving. Creating accounts and going through the sensory tests.
Then the message of school getting cancelled last night.
I spent all of last night looking up videos or early reviews and beta testers talking about the game. I even tried searching if anyone found a trick to jump into the game early. Yeah it would have been hacking or whatever but I didn't care. My county almost never closed school for snow days, so what kind of asteroid pushed the last planet into line for that?
"I am so sorry." I rushed for my closet to get a towel and dry shirt. "Don't worry, I'll be ready in a few minutes."
"Good! Dad already got mine set up, so I'm done." Joey walked over to the bed and started shoveling whatever snow was still on my bed back into the pale before dragging the blanket off the bed and into the laundry basket.
As I finished with the towel, I tossed it to Joey before throwing my shirt on. With all the times I woke up to water and ice, I stockpiled towels. Looks like they were more useful today than usual.
Joey finished laying the towel on the bed and ran for his room. But not before glancing at the clock on the way out. He wanted to log in first second he got.
The clock read less than five minutes. My Nervegear was set to go. All I had to do was put it on.
Then a thought leapt into my brain.
"Joey, quick," I shouted. "What are you gonna look like?"
He poked his head out of his room that was beside mine. "Small, blue, and unicorn." There was a pause. "Four minutes! What about you?"
"Not sure yet." Making sure there was no leftover snow, I got my Nervergear. It was connected to the console but the cords were plenty long enough to reach my bed. "I know I'll be a Pegasus at least."
The three of us in our family, myself, Joey, and dad, were all obsessed with video games. And Dad and I knew how MMOs worked, especially day 1 release. We had Joey memorize my username and me his, but just in case we would explain what our avatar would look like.
"Something about lightning, right?" Joey's voice had a laugh behind it. Though to tell the truth it wasn't a hard thing to guess. Lightning was a favorite power of mine to have. If ever there was a time you could have lightning powers, I would do everything to claim it.
"Probably." I rolled my eyes. "The game lets you customize your Cutie Mark so I'm gonna make something with it."
"Hey."
I looked to my door and saw our dad leaning against the wall where both Joey and I could see him. He was sitting there with a strained smile on his face.
Dad wanted to jump into the game along with us just like any other new game. Except, despite the lifestyle we did have we weren't well enough off to afford three Nervegears. That meant one of us had to stay behind. Dad made the sacrifice for us.
"You two be careful in there, alright?" He then turned fully toward me. "And no renegade."
"Come on, like I'd play renegade," I defended innocently. "I'm the prime example of etiquette."
"No you're not," Joey snarked.
"You don't even know what renegade means!" I told him. I turned back to Dad. "I won't go player-hunting, promise. Not day 1 at least."
"Good," Dad nodded. "Because I'm playing tomorrow and we both know I'm hunting all those ponies."
"They're called Bronies Dad," Joey corrected.
Joey was the Brony of the family. I think he was born the same time as the show but that didn't stop him from finding the show on Netflix a little while back. As for me, I didn't hate the show. Honestly, it was better than a lot of other cartoons going on. Just not my thing.
Although, when Hasbro of all companies became linked up with top notch developers for the first Nervegear game to release, everyone jumped on the My Little Pony bandwagon. Even people that hated the show wanted a piece of this hardware. That's more where I fell in.
"And Joey, no bad talking other players." Dad's attention went fully to Joey next. "The last time you did that your brother had to go renegade."
Ah yes. Operation: Glitch Fixer.
Joey messed with a group in an MMO being that typical, whiny-child screaming through their mic. So put his avatar in a glitch where he couldn't move. And since the game didn't let you despawn, Joey was stuck until I came and blew up part of that group's base to save him. Too bad that server reset from an update. I had a good foothold base to farm boss loot.
Joey blew off the warning and had dad help him with the Nervegear. Only a minute until noon.
With a breath, I placed the helmet on my head and laid down on the towel on my bed. "Time to start," I said aloud.
I closed my eyes and listened as the Nervegear hummed to life with its curious boot-up whoosh sound. The creators never said what the sound was supposed to be; only that you had to guess.
Online forums accepted that challenge. Plenty of people thought it was a gust of air. Others thought it was a billowing cape. A few even thought it was an arrow whizzing past your ear. It was one of those sounds that, when someone points it out, that's all you can hear.
But I was lucky. I heard the sound before the forums got to my head. So I heard something that only a handful of posts actually claimed to hear.
Flying.
Thirty seconds. The visor had a time stamp on it. Seconds included. They knew what they were doing with that.
Twenty five seconds.
Twenty seconds.
Eighteen.
"Be back by seven!" I heard Dad call out. "Last thing we need is one of you becoming steamed broccoli!"
"We know!" Both of us called in unison.
"Good. Have fun then!" He started to chuckle. "And be ready to tell me about it! I'm goin' in at night."
"We will!" Again, unison. We knew the song and dance.
I watched as the seconds ticked away. It was less than ten.
Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five...
"Alright," I hummed, a smile growing on my face. The Nervegear took a voice activation to let you log in. And as dumb as it sounded, I always thought that it sounded a little too much like some movie or anime. To say the key word out loud like you're announcing a fighting move.
And then I found out that you can personalize the voice activation. You can imagine the fun I had coming up with something dumber than 'Link Start.'
The clock on the visor changed to 12:00:00. It was time.
As Joey started crying out 'Link Start' several times, I grinned.
"Sink L'tart!" I cried in a dumb accent.
Bars of colors and distant sounds traveled past my eyes and ears as every part of my room faded away. The sights, Joey's cheering, and soon enough the rest of my senses faded away as my mind loaded into the Nervegear.
And then, five circular text bubbles appeared.
Sight: OK
Hearing: OK
Smell: OK
Taste: OK
Touch: OK
Each one shrunk until it ceased to exist, quickly replaced by a long block of text I had no hope of recognizing as it scrolled by at blinding speeds until more boxes showed up.
Language: English
Username: E1ectric_B1itz
Password: ********
Those boxes faded just as before, leaving the screen void. The silence and lack of response made me sit there with held breath. Almost as though I was left in Limbo.
Right as I was about to start calling out for something, three letters appeared in big bold letters. Soon after, the rest of the words faded into being.
Equestria
Legends
Online
Behind the title, a rolling landscape of blue text transformed into tranquil hills and peaceful forest. Not far in the distance was a cozy looking village familiar to fans of the show. In mean, it was always in the intro. Only now instead of main characters or heavy clouds I saw hundreds of different ponies all running in different directions.
I couldn't stop myself from staring in awe. "Is that all the players?"
The game seemed to react to my voice and had the view fade away, leaving only a small spotlight basking down on me as more text appeared in front of me.
Now you must choose your avatar. Select which pony race you would like:
Forming with shimmering aura were three touchpad-like buttons. They surrounded me like a triangle with a name and decorated symbol on each of them with all of them drawing my attention.
The first one read "Earth Pony," with a hoof striking the earth below it. Whenever I looked at it dust would kick up as if the hoof just stomped.
The next read "Pegasus" with two wings sprouting from the upper corners of the word. As I watched, the wings began flapping a couple of times.
And finally there was "Unicorn." Rather than have a horn like I expected, the letters shifted around as though levitated with magic.
Just as the game advertised, the only three races were the different ponies from the show. Some were angry that there was no griffons or dragons, or other mythical creatures. Hell, dad was hoping there would be a minotaur option to choose. They all probably wanted something that wasn't a candy colored pony which, I couldn't blame them. I personally wanted to be a griffon.
Already knowing my answer, I clicked "Pegasus" and watched as the other two boxes faded away. Then, as the "Pegasus" box lit up with a bright glow, a new box opened.
What would you like your avatar to be?
-Ponified Self
-OC
For the sake of curiosity, I pressed "Ponified Self."
Please hold still…
Before I could even think of doing otherwise, a blue heavenly light shined down upon me. Whether by fear or the game forcing me to keep still, my body refused to move.
After a few more seconds the light gave one last flash that snapped me out of my daze. However, rather than look back up at prompt telling me to be held against my will, I looked up at the dumbest thing I could possibly think of.
"That....That's not funny." With little care for this abomination, I clicked "Go Back" the second it showed up. My hair might have been red but the last thing it was, was a perm.
Would you like to edit your avatar?
-Edit
-New Base
-Upload OC
"Would I like to edit the avatar, YES I would like to!" With a frown, I pressed the edit button and watched as several customize options showed up. To summarize it, the menus were standard but there were dozens of options with an 'advanced' feature.
Sticking to basics, I changed the colors to a dark gray and resized the wings a little. Next, I tossed the freckles away, made the mane and tail spikey rather than frizzy and changed the color to a dull yellow. Finally, a darkened the green of my eyes.
"Okay..." I leaned back and looked over the picture one last time, rotating the image just to make sure that there was nothing else that needed to be done. "Done. Already leaps better than Carrot Top."
A new text box appeared beside the creation.
Please make your Cutie Mark.
"Annnnd here's where it all falls apart."
I chuckled as a new set of options came up beside a blank canvas. It was like art-making software and I had no experience there.
Luckily there were pre-made icons vague enough to expand on. So, running down the list, I spotted something that gave me an idea. Not a master artist's idea mind you, but still a good one.
It took me a couple minutes but after finding the right symbols and colors I gave the symbol a once over and felt proud enough with it. It was a light gray cloud with simple, blue jagged lines emitting outward.
It was simple and got the point across: "Lighting iz cul."
After accepting the design, everything disappeared and left me standing there in complete darkness again.
“Now that you have chosen your pony, you may now enter Equestria.”
A bright light began to envelop me and force me to close my eyes as it kept getting brighter.
“Good luck.”
I blew a raspberry and spouted a sarcastic "thanks, I'll need it," as the light fully blinded me.
As it subsided, I peeked one eye open to look around. The blurriness of it all left me as the sun shined overhead. I began to feel the heat from it too as I realized I was standing on what felt like rocks. And from every direction I heard the sound of dozens of peop...Err, ponies, going about their day.
As each sense faded in I was taken aback. Everything felt...different but similar. Mostly with how my body felt. The edges of my vision had strands of dull yellow hair sticking loose. Then, between my eyes, I saw a dark gray muzzle jutting out from my face.
I looked down at the rest of me and gawked. Rather than a two-legged human, I was on four legs and had no feeling of the fingers and toes I was missing. Not a numb feeling but as if they were never there.
On a similar note, I could felt the wings now folded along my sides. It was as though my nerves were attached to a jacket or something.
But the weirdest part about it all? I didn't mind. Oh, don't get me wrong. It was real freaky to look at my body and see something very different. Since the game monitors your body right down to your nerves, maybe it was doing something to help.
Or maybe I'm just crazy and don't care that I became a pony in the flash of a light.
Became a pony...
My eyes slowly turned toward the wings still folded along my sides. Again, like a jacket.
Not pony. Pegasus, I corrected.
My wings were a dark gray, like my coat. The feathers on them had a nice, almost gloss-like shine to them. It reminded me of those holographic pictures you would shift side-to-side in your hand.
I took a second to focus on them. I imagined that they were like my fingers and tried curling them into fists. Sure enough, the tips of my wings responded and I both saw and felt the tips of my wings curl inwards. As I pictured myself straightening out my elbows, my wings slowly unfurled and span outwards from me.
It would take some getting used to but the dumb smile on my face told me, and everyone around me, that I did NOT mind at all!
"E1ectric_B1itz? Why would somepony want numbers in their name?"
I looked to my left to see a unicorn colt walking over with a big smile. He was less than half my size as his coat was light blue in color as his mane and tail were slicked back with a few locks pointed forward.
But I recognized him from his username, Light_Chill. Joey was lucky enough to get a username that didn't look half algebra.
I couldn't contain a stray snicker from slipping. "Somepony?" I questioned. "I was hoping I could go the day without hearing that."
"Well, duh," Joey started, his chipper voice showing through easily. "We're ponies now, Electric Blitz. Which means we need to talk like them too." He gave a sharp nod that matched his matter-of-fact tone. It was clear he had been thinking about this for a while.
I rolled my eyes and played along. "Alright, I’ll talk like somepony when we’re in Equestria, okay Joe-ow!” I instinctively took a step back, only to land on my haunches.
I held up a hoof to my poor schnoz. It was a stiff reminder that animal noses are much more sensitive, even in the video game world. So after shaking the feeling away, I looked at my pony brother who struggled to keep a serious face.
“Why did you flick me in the nose?” I asked sternly.
“Because that’s not my name,” He answered simply.
I frowned at him. “My God, you’re tak-Ow!” He flicked his hoof into my muzzle with more force than before, basically smacking it with his hoof. “Really Joe-Gah!” And that time, he really did smack my nose with my hoof.
“You’re nose is gonna be as red as Santa Hooves’ with this,” He warned me calmly. “Joey’s not my name here. And in Equestria, you say ‘my Celestia.’” He informed me.
I gave him a frown. “Uh...Yeah, I think some pe-” Seeing him wind up his hoof again, I quickly fixed myself. “P-ponies. I think some ponies would disagree with you on that last part.”
Setting his hoof down, he thought it over. “Huh...Okay, you got me there Electric Blitz. I’ll forget that part.”
“You can just call me ‘Blitz,’ Joey-” “I’m not Joey anymore, Blitz!” he cut me off. Although thankfully it didn't include smacking me in the nose this time.
“I am..." He paused. For dramatic effect probably.
...
Although the pause was a little too long.
"Light Chill.” He looked off into the distance, trying to act cool. And ironically enough, I think I heard two girls' voices ‘awe’ing behind me at his attempt.
“Uh-huh." I nodded curtly. "Was that supposed to be an impression or something?"
"It's from this old YouTube video I found a few weeks ago," he told me. "But I think it would have been better with a fake mustache."
"Right," I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure we can buy one of those at the shop."
"You really think so?!" He gave me this huge grin.
I tried to stare him down, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from bust out into laughing as Joey kept that dumb grin plastered on his face.
It took two more second for both of us to die laughing in the street like two idiots. Some players walked by with odd looks on their faces but we didn't care.
After a little time, the laughter ran its course and I started to think over our next move.
"Now that I think about it," I started. "I think we should save our money for something else. How's about we find a weapon shop?”
“Oh, right," he cheered. "I saw some signs with weapons on them over there. Come on, let’s hurry!”
Without a second thought, Joey took off running as fast as he could. He looked shaky but aside from that he wasn’t doing bad moving around.
I sighed contently at his luck. “Of course it’s easy for him. Why wouldn't it be?" I looked down at my own legs. Moving each one carefully to test out how it felt.
“Let's see if I can keep up. Front left and back right,” I moved those two hooves carefully to keep my balance. “Then back left and front right.” My first few steps went smoothly enough.
“Blitz! Come on! You're taking forever!” Light Chill yelled out, already at the next street that led to the stores.
“Coming!” I yelled in response. “Eventually…” I said, slowly repeating the rhythm that I memorized as I made my way over to him.
Right before falling flat on my face in the middle of the town center where everypony around saw me front and center.
And I feel their silent judging already, I thought, picking myself back up to do it again.
As we finally made our way to the market, me ignoring my brother’s hysterical laughter at my expense, we spotted several places selling supplies. Everywhere was teeming with players that crowded every visible storefront.
However, every vendor that stood behind the stands seemed completely unphased by the massive amount of customers swarming them. In fact, several of them seemed to be eating the attention as they were wasting no time up-selling their wares.
Some even started shouting discounts or package deals that attracted the more frugal players. Which, in turn, convinced a few of the rival vendors to shout their own discounts to draw the customers back.
It was an entire virtual economy running and updating itself. Even if I didn't know the first thing about even my own economy I could tell something like this took a lot of attention to make.
And then from a nearby store I heard shouting.
All of a sudden, a bright orange colored Earth Pony with an orange mane and the Player ID reading Orange was practically thrown from one of the larger tents and into the streets where two armored pony guards stood in wait. Mr. Orange began to stand as he shouted every profanity I did and did not know.
Before anyone could react, a third guard walked out of the tent and began to speak to the player in a regular tone; meaning I couldn't hear him from here. Orange tried responding by charging the guards but they easily subdued him and began forcing him in the direction opposite of us.
As I slowly started to move my hooves away from Joey's ears I gave out a low huff. Asshole, I thought. He was probably trying to steal something from 'dumb AI' and got caught.
Oh well, I thought as I glanced around the marketplace once more. Only now I saw several ponies with Player IDs above their head all pulling up their menus and doing the same thing. Reporting the idiot.
Maybe that'll teach him not to cry about getting caught.
I ended up doing the same thing too. If you're playing an MMO at least have some respect. After a few more buttons pressed, I put away the menu and was now left with a mildly unimpressed Joey.
"What?" I asked with a shrug.
Joey gave me the most sass-filled head roll. "You don't have to cover my ears ya know."
"Are you kidding?" I rose an eyebrow. "The last thing I need is you asking Mom or Dad what any of those words are."
"I'm not stupid," Joey countered. "I wouldn't ask them what those words are. I'd use the computer."
I used my wing to hide my face as I groaned in frustration. "Not what I meant," I mumbled through feathers. Joey was still gonna get caught if he did that. The poor kid had no idea what search history was or how to delete it.
"Oh, look!" Joey pulled the wing off my face and pointed out towards a small wooden stand squished between two nice looking tents. It had only a few ponies at it while the other two tents were stuffed with players.
"Huh. Weird placement." Regardless, both of us walked up and looked the stand over. Aside from its 'better than thou' neighbors beside it, the stand looked in good condition. It had a nice deep blue cloth draped over the counter and two sizable bookshelves behind the vendor, packed with different kinds of weapons all on display.
The only issue was that all the weapons were wooden. Including the swords.
The three players ahead of us, only one of them looking satisfied, walked off before the vendor turned to us. After a quick moment, he broke into a warm smile.
Store AI, I noted. He had a noticeable pause to begin but then quickly came to life with a warm personality and voice.
"Welcome, Sirs, to Carved Combat," The somewhat aged stallion gave a slight nod of respect. "How might I help you?"
"Erm, we are here to buy weapons," I said stiffly. Each vendor we kept passing had players only saying the minimal toget what they needed. I figured it was a voice command thing. Still, it was hard to say two word sentences to what seemed like a responsive per pony.
"Well, I'd be happy to help." the stallion didn't miss a beat. "What you see behind me are all the weapons I have in stock. I also have a few Simple Wooden Bucklers for sale too."
The name of the shield had the faintest hint of monotone to it but it was otherwise unnoticeable if you weren't listening. The synthesized voices were really good.
"I can do custom make weapons for you but it'll take some time," he continued. "A few hours or so, really."
Joey had to stand on his hind legs with his hooves on the counter so he could look at the wares better. From what we saw, nearly every weapon had 'Simple,' 'Wooden,' or 'Handcarved' in the title. And the cost and quality of the weapons were in that same order with Simple being the cheapest and Handcarved being the most expensive.
While looking for a stand we managed to check our stats in the menu. We also figured out that we both had 200 'bits' to start. And by the look of it, that was more than enough for a basic weapon and some armor.
"Oh! That," Joey, or Light Chill if you were to believe the Player ID, shouted as he pointed to the top shelf. "I'll buy that!"
Without looking, the Earth Pony grinned. "Ah, the Handcarved Wand. A perfect choice for a unicorn such as yourself."
The pony dragged the stepladder under the wand and began to climb. Sadly...
"It's not a wand, it's a staff," Joey corrected. This made the owner pause as his code spun its gears.
"Oh. My mistake." The pony stepped down from the ladder and turned towards one of the quarterstaffs standing in a barrel. "You wanted the Simple Quarterstaff?"
"What? No! Not that staff." Joey pointed back at the wand. "That staff!"
The NPC's eye started to twitch in what was probably confusion. The poor AI was trying so hard to follow this child's logic. I, meanwhile, just facepalmed. Well facehoofed. Which if anyone wanted to know, hurts. A lot.
"I'm. Sorry. Sirs." The NPC's voice started to slow and become more robotic, as though he was breaking. It was like seeing an animatronic at a theme park die in front of you; terrifying and awkward.
"I only. Have one. Kind of Staff for sale," he concluded.
"Light Chill," I said in a clear tone. "Will purchase the Handcrafted Wand." I watched as the NPC stopped looking confused and went for the wand again.
"It's not a wand," Joey gladly reminded me.
“Maybe not in your case," I said through my gritted teeth. "But that’s what it’s called. If you confuse the NPCs we'll be here all day.” That or watch an adult pony AI break down in tears.
She stallion came back down the stepladder with Joey's new wand, I flashed him a smile and went on as though nothing happened. “I’ll take the Wooden Tonfa, a Wooden Warclub, and two Wooden Bucklers.”
"Tonfa huh?" The stallion pushed the ladder aside and reached for the pair of weapons as they were at eye level. "You know, you're the first customer all day who's taken an interest in that."
In the back of my mind, I wasn't surprised. I only knew what tonfa were from an old PlayStation game. Since this game was full VR, people were probably gonna try picking swords, bows, and weapons that anyone could learn quickly. Tonfas were not only confusing, they weren't that popular either.
As the vendor put my weapon and the shields on the table, text boxes appeared in front of me and Joey.
Wooden Tonfas, Wooden Buckler (x2), Simple Warclub
Will you purchase these items for 150 Bits?
-Yes
-No
Sighing, I tapped yes and watched as my brother only paid 50 bits for his wand. The total of 200 bits all appeared on the counter as the vendor collected it all in one sweep of his hoof.
I was now down more than half my starting gold as I silently passed the second buckler to Joey and watched him smile. "Thanks Blitz." He wasted no time equipping his buckler and wand 'staff,' with both fitting securely on either foreleg. The buckler on the left and wand in a small sheath that appeared on the right.
The part that was interesting; the buckler resized itself as Joey equipped it. If it had stayed oversized then it might've just been a regular shield for him, meaning he would get more out of it than a normal player would.
It was minor but it helped keep people from exploiting the game by just playing as smaller avatars.
Then there was my stuff. The tonfa stayed sheathed along my back, crossing each other just behind my wings. At the same time the buckler rested against my shoulder out of the way as the warclub rested in a belt that materialized on me.
Already I knew the buckler wasn't gonna see much use. The tonfa were a pair of baton-like weapons that allowed you to move around without restriction; the kind of thing a Pegasus would benefit from. Not to mention tonfa could be used to block attacks, making the buckler even more useless.
The warclub and buckler were a backup. If I can't figure out how to use tonfa, I would need a weapon I knew I could figure out. That, and weapon durability was a thing in the game.
It was one of the bigger things that they advertised. They wanted everything to be as realistic as it could be without it being annoying. The way they showed it off was hilarious too.
I remember watching the video demonstrating it. He said "imagine a rare drop you get after hours of work. Now imagine someone getting it, first try. Next." the demonstrator, as if to prove a point, pulled out a blade that looked like it had been made out of the night sky with stars dotted across it. "Picture them banging it against a rock to rub it in."
When the demonstrator swung at the same rock repeatedly. On the fifth try, the sword burst into code and vanished. "Anything can break if you're careless. No materials from it either."
I couldn't think of anyone who would smack their sword on a rock but then again my friends didn't play RPGs often.
Joey tapped my shoulder and regained my attention.
"Come on Blitz, let's go!" He hopped in place a little bit. "Let's go fight something!"
"Right." I shifted my shoulders and turned to follow Joey as he was practically jumping around with how excited he was.
"Oh." Loud enough to catch our attention, the vendor cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Sirs?"
The stallion's eyes suddenly seemed guilty as though he were still making up his mind on what to do next.
Curious, I squared back up to the store. "What'd you need?"
"W-Well..." The stallion sighed in defeat. Whatever he was debating himself against, something won out. "You purchased a hefty amount of equipment from my humble shop. I take it that you are a bit more well-trained than usual customers, yes?"
I narrowed my eyes in confusion. “Uh...Sure. I guess so.” There wasn’t a point in explaining why I bought so much from only him. It was all automated anyway.
“I thought as much.” Some determination returned to him. “Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Oaken Handle. Some ponies simply call me Oak." As he introduced himself his voice and appearance started to remind me of Geppetto from the Disney movie. I wonder if that was on purpose?
"Um, I know you’re probably busy," Oak went on. "But I was wondering if you could help me with a small task of mine.” He kept acting as if I was some big shot adventurer.
“...Is this a side-mission?” Light Chill blurted out loud, but the vendor gave no answer. He was probably only programmed to talk to whoever activated the event, meaning that he only saw me talking to him right now.
I leaned towards Joe and whispered. “Probably. But..." An idea flashed through my mind, as did a smile. "Watch this.”
I looked towards Oak with a serious look on my face. If this was an RPG I might as well play along with it. “Alright, Oaken Handle, your task has enraptured my attention. I shall gladly hear you out.” I told him, acting important for the role as I deepened my voice slightly. “What is it that you require of me?”
After a few brief moments, and a couple of odd blinks, Oak went on still acting very humble. “Well, you see, my supplier goes out towards the outskirts of Everfree Forest and collects materials for me. Sadly, as he was out collecting some Timberwolf Lumber and such the other day, his cart was damaged. By the time he had returned, he lost nearly half of the supplies.”
I took in a slow breath, going over what all he said while in my mind thinking: Please no escort quest. Please no escort quest. Please no escort quest....
I cleared my throat. "I see. To lack your supplies during such a busy time of year for travelers passing by is...Quite an unlucky situation. My condolences for your misfortune." As I nodded along, talking a mile a minute, I could hear Joey and some other player waiting in line behind me trying not to snicker.
After another two blinks, the NPC nodded. "I know! Sadly, it's also left me behind on a few orders and I need somepony's help getting me back on track." His reply seemed vague but I guess there were only so many responses you can give each NPC.
"M-My supplier's already demanded I pay him in full for the small amount of supplies," Oak said with a glare towards the ground. "If I were to send him out again to get the rest of what I needed, he said he'll only do it for full price."
“And let me guess," I began with a small smile. "You want an experienced adventurer such as myself to go out and collect these supplies for an even lower price then what you would pay your supplier?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, ignoring Chill as he started causing a scene with his giggle-fit.
Another blink or three later and Oak was looking guilty. “Well, um,” He sighed. “Ye-Yes. Usually, I pay my supplier three-hundred bits for his work. But I’m afraid the few supplies I still need will never earn me that much. I do not mean to insult you by asking of your services for a lower pri—
I chuckled to myself as I kept my voice deep-ish. “You needn’t worry, humble shopkeep. I understand your unfortunate position quite well.” I nodded along. “I simply longed for a mere jest." When I realized that the game designers probably didn't program responses for 'Ye Olde Speak' I loosened up a bit. "I would be happy to assist you in however I can, big reward or not.”
More blinking. “You....” He chuckled in disbelief. “You mean that?"
"Why of course! What model adventurer would I be to these ponies," I gestured to Joey, who was still laughing, and the few ponies behind me either entertained or slightly impatient for me to get out of the way. "if I do not show the proper respect to our weaponsmiths?"
Oak took in everything I said and instantly bowed his head to me. "Your generosity meets no boundaries, sir."
“I try.” I smirked, knowing that he wasn't listening to that part.
"Wow, look at 'Rarity' over here." I heard one of the players behind me scoff.
I know enough about that character to know that was a jab. You be shush, ya fool! Of course, I couldn't say that. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of breaking character.
“Well." My attention was back on Oak as he spoke. "While I can’t offer three-hundred bits, far from it I’m afraid,” He said regretfully. “I would be willing to reward you half of what you had just spent a-and, and," Oak paused to rack his brain for an idea. "I can get you an upgraded version of that Wooden Tonfa you purchased.”
As soon as he finished his deal, a text box opened up.
New Quest
Shop Up Some Wood
Reward: 100 bits and Ironwood Tonfa (+EXP)
Conditions: Bring in supplies before 9 PM (EST), Jan. 22nd, 2020
-Accept Quest
-Decline Quest
Seeing that it said 100 bits, I realized that it was also counting what Joey spent. That in mind, getting all of our starting supplies for half price would be amazing. Not to mention we'd need some direction on where to go once we were done messing around with weak mobs.
I tapped the ‘Accept Quest’ button and saw that Oak was 'paused' again. So I cleared my throat. “I would be happy to assist an honest shopkeep such as yourself, Oaken Handle. Consider your supplies retrieved and delivered.”
“Thank you, Sir! You have no idea just how helpful you are by doing this,” The NPC bowed his head towards me one last time before pulling out a paper from under the counter. “Here’s the list of the supplies my supplier had failed to retrieve. They should be fairly easy to find for somepony such as yourself.”
I took the list in my hoof, somehow able to hold it still without fingers, and watched as it disappeared into my inventory. Making a note to read it before actually getting to the forest itself, I gave a determined grin to the NPC.
“Thank you! I shall get them. Post haste!” I turned around to see my brother, who had partially recovered from his laughing fit, and the other players who were now interested in the fact that I just got a quest after my ham-acting.
“Come co-adventurer," I shouted in my stage voice. "Let us be off! To find victory, honor...” Deciding I might as well get it out now, I reopened the menu, found my inventory, and brought out the list. “...And three Shedded Scales! Come, Light Chill, the future of Carved Combat and its proprietor depends on it!”
“Right it does, Electric Blitz!” Light Chill joined in, earning a couple of snickers and yet another 'awe's from a nearby player. Even the more annoyed players seemed to be enjoying the show now.
“Light Chill, awaaaaaay!” He yelled out, taking off running.
In the wrong direction.
I dropped my head as one of the players burst out in laughter. “Other way, 'Chilly,'” I deadpanned, slowly making my way in the correct direction towards Everfree.
“Light Chill now running this a-way!” Joey ran past me, resulting in a few more laughs before the players moved to the shop.
“Have a nice day,” Oak called out casually, seemingly forgetting our entire conversation as he turned towards the next pony in line.
“Yeah, sure...” I nodded dismissively, watching as Joey kept running forwards happily. “One of us will anyway.”
I gave myself a sad smile and picked up the pace. Our first quest had officially begun.
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dude where have you been all my life.
Hey you wrote your own too
what the hell is a tonfas?
5668545 I'd put a picture up here, but for some reason my computer hates it when I try to put pictures in my comments.
So here's a link of a random person using Tonfas instead. And a second one, just to make sure. You might've seen the weapon before, but not the actual name.
Dunno why, but I've always liked those weapons.
5668723
ahh, well that explains that
I haven't been keeping up with you, man!
Besides making maps for CS:GO ( Awesome PC game made by Valve. You must check it out on Steam. ), Writing my story and Gaming.
I have not been reading many Fan/Fim fiction stories.
Hell, I'm reading all the Halo Novels on my Amazon Kindle!
I'll probably catch up on things I haven't read from you in the future.
Good to see that you're still writing though, Zeke!
5676837 Good to see you're still reading man!
5681863 Thanks! I'm approaching the whole thing carefully. I have some ideas planned, but I'll have to be careful since the main storyline can't be crossed too much. Still, next chapter should be up soon.
-2 hp.
He did that on reflex and out of the goodness of his heart. Since it was on reflex, I'll rate the action as
Neutral good.
Buys a buckler for his brother.
Neutral Good
A set of wing-blades (If there were any to be had) would be more practical. No alignment change, Just saying.
Trying to fit in and accepting a quest, "big reward or not".
Neutral Good (x2)
Disrespecting a shopkeeper is typically Chaotic Evil, but since it's an NPC, i'll rate it as Neutral Evil.