2)2,876 words

Sacré Bleu

Joey's POV

I reached the edge of the plaza just as Discord's laughing finally stopped. Good, it was kind of freaking me out with how it sounded so close all the time.

No one else seemed to be leaving the plaza yet. Good, I thought. Maybe that meant I was the first one to leave. If I was right, that just made me feel even better.

I came to a stop when the road split into several different directions. It's a good thing that there were street signs at almost every turn. They pointed to all of the places that were in the show. Including the one I was looking for.

"There," I shouted joyfully, following the sign.

I was almost sure I wasn't the first one to think of it but I still wanted to try being the first one to get there. Everything back in that big open place was definitely pretty scary. Especially when everyone started getting angry at the game. But come on. How was a video game supposed to be dangerous?

Mom and Dad always said that some games were really violent but they didn't hurt people. Actually, Alex told me that's why some games were really violent in the first place. Like whenever people walk away and scream at a wall or something.

They all explained it better when they told me, but all I needed to remember was games didn't hurt people. So this game wasn't dangerous.

So why was everyone being so stupid and upset? That whole thing with Discord and the alicorns was probably acting or something like that. So after people calm down or do what I do and get the elements, then the game makers will let us go home.

I mean, it was Discord. In the show, he said that rhyme and the ponies just had to find them 'where they began'. Simple.

I looked stopped running for a second and looked behind me. Still no one following. No pony in the air either. Awesome! Maybe I really was the first to start looking. I think I'm doing pretty good on this MMO thing after all. Maybe I'll have something to tell Dad when we get home.

Or Mom.

A small shiver went down my spine. Why did they show Mom on those clouds? And why was she so sad? I was sure that she was talking about the game but, I mean, why? If everyone was trapped inside then how did anyone outside the game know we were trapped?

And, well, the part Discord said about...dying, was weird but there's no way that was real. Alex did say it was weird for a My Little Pony game to be T. But Discord talking about dying sounds like something a T game would have.

I shook my head and refocused. It didn't matter. After we get home then I can ask Mom why she was so upset about the game while Dad has his turn doing that 'renegade' thing with Alex.

...Oh no, Alex!

I turned back towards the main area with all the players. I can't believe I ran off without telling him anything. Oh, he's going to be mad...

I took a moment to cringe while I pictured his angry shouting. Him and Dad both.

"Maybe I should hurry," I mumbled to myself, spinning around before running through an alley for a shortcut. "If Alex catches me before I get there, he'll force me to stay away for making him worr—"

"Atten—!" "WHA—"

??? POV

Before I could even get a word out, the small figure running into the alley rammed into me at top speed. I wasn't responsive enough to try dodging in time and so both of us were sent crashing onto the cobblestone path.

The figure, a child by the sound of it, let out a painful groan. It looked like when they fell, their head thumped against the aluminum can set up in the alley.

I did my best to turn so I was laying on my stomach at least. I was in the game long enough to get some semblance of being a pony but it was still odd at moments. Not to mention I had next to no experience playing any kind of game, much less VR. Everything felt alien to me.

It didn’t take long for the child to recover. He slowly got up on all four hooves and shook his head to clear his mind. Once I saw that with him standing and me still somewhat taller, I was sure it was a child. Possibly a boy too.

Then again, a lot of these ponies seemed shorter than me thanks to my legs being longer than most others.

"That didn't feel good..." He mumbled something to himself before finally noticing me. Or, well tried to. The alley had no light so he couldn't see me well. But as I stood up, he took a few steps back.

"O-Oh. Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that." He seemed really upset as he spoke. Then a thought seemed to come to his mind. "Uh. You weren't going towards the...The, um..."

I watched him awkwardly, trying to figure out what he wanted.

"...Uh, f-forget it. I'm sorry. Gotta go, bye!"

And like that, he ran past me and back out of the alley where I had come in from without anything else.

I waited for a few seconds to see if he was coming back but then I quickly realized his running was getting further away from me, I turned to follow him.

"Erm, attendez," I shouted after him. "S'il vous plaît, attendez!"

Before I could reach the alley's exit, I felt my leg step on something and nearly slide out from under me. I stopped to catch my balance and as I looked down, I found myself standing on a small, disc-like object that wasn't there before.

Curious, I used my magenta colored magic to levitate the disc in front of my face. As I did so, I quickly figured out it was a some sort of shield. But it was so small compared to all the others I noticed in the marketplace. I would sooner call it a toy than a real shield.

Unless it was the child's, I surmised.

I opened my mouth to call out to him but it was a waste of time. Wherever he was going, it was already too far to hear me. So instead I clicked my tongue frustratingly.

Well, now what do I do?

I started walking through the alley again, stepping out the side the child had entered from. Why was he in such a hurry? I thought everyone was at the plaza. Well, everyone but me obviously.

I left as soon as that goat monster appeared from the sky. It looked so uninviting, to say the least. That wasn't all either. Many of the people around me gave me these odd stares.

I had no idea who any of them were either. I came into the game entirely on my own. And I was almost positive that I would not find any of my friends either. To tell the truth, that was the real reason I left. The flying goat was simply a second reason.

There wasn't anything keeping anyone from leaving either. The pathways were open. Some of those people tried to say something to me but that didn't matter. Then, as if the game was telling me not to leave, the sunlight vanished and I was forced to follow the street lamps.

But the last straw was when my mouth literally turned into a zipper. A zipper which, by the way, would not open regardless of what I did. These hooves wouldn't work and using my magic just made my jaw feel sore.

By the time I debated whether or not to use the dagger I had bought I realized this was ridiculous and went to the menu to 'Log Out' like my cousin told me.

Except there was one more problem. The 'Log Out' button was nowhere in that annoying menu. I read every option it gave me, while my mouth was still a zipper and the sun was missing, and I had no idea how to get out of this creepy game. And while I was in that menu, I wandered aimlessly until—Poof! Here I was, lost in an alley.

I frowned at the little shield in my grip and sighed. I wish Cateline was with me. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do without her and I just want to go home.

"Joey? Come on, are you there?" A voice called out from above.

Oh now what? I looked around for the origin of whoever was talking.

Alex's POV

I called out for him each time I flew over an alley or whenever the road turned as I felt myself getting more winded by the second. With all of the sporadic flying I was doing, my flying ranked up to 3 but that was all the progress I made on anything.

I figured that I needed to take a breath or else I was going to collapse before I ever found him. So slowly I got myself closer to the ground before letting myself fall the last 7 or so feet.

The guy said he ran this way, but I've already passed ten different roads. He could be anywhere by now. How do I track him down?

I started pulling up my menu. Joey and I never formed a group since we stayed close in the forest. Besides, all making a group would do is let me see Joey's HP bar under mine. It wouldn't tell me where he is anyways.

"Maybe I can send him a message," I muttered under my breath as I found his name in my friends list. The idea died before I even clicked the PM button. "No, it'd take too long. And would it even tell him if he got a message?"

"Um...'Xcuse-moi?"

I blinked and closed my menu. Down the road about twenty feet from me was a figure walking over towards me from down the lane. From the username and gem floating above them I already knew it was a player.

"Erm, yes?" I squinted my eyes but thankfully the player took the hint and walked into the light where I could see them. More specifically a her.

Their coat, or at least the coat around their head, was a pure white with a pinkish mane to match. Then, poking out from under their mane was an obvious horn and light-purple eyes with eye shadow added on top of it all.

As if that wasn't enough, the player was a whole head above me and most other players I saw in height. The avatar was so different from the base form that I almost questioned whether or not this was actually a player and not an NPC. If it wasn't for the green gem above her, I wouldn't be shocked either way.

"You're not Joey," I said with half sarcasm and half disappointment.

"Jo...Joey?" She repeated, trying carefully to pronounce the name. "Euh, non monsieur. Mon nom n'est pas Joey." She spoke in a quiet tone. As if she wasn't sure talking was the right choice. However, from that alone I knew her accent matched the language.

"French?" I narrowed my eyes. "Are you speaking French?"

She slowly nodded along, some hope coming to her eyes. "Tu parles français?"

Suddenly, I regretted not putting as much effort into French class as I could have.

"Erm..." I sucked in air through my teeth, knowing I was going to be wrong. "Je...parle petite français?"

I saw her eyes light up as she giggled at my attempt.. Then she started nodded. "Eh, oui—non. Yes. Yes. Français!" She looked like she was going to applaud if not for the tiny Frisbee thing in her hoof.

Now I feel like she's taking pity on me. As this girl tried to find the next thing to say to me, a new set of questions were going through my head. The Nervegears weren't restricted to only America but ELO was.

Interviews and articles said that for a player base to work for something like the Nervegear the servers needed to stay national at most. If the server had a weak connection, the game wouldn't let you login in the first place. France and other European countries were still setting up servers with their own game. But they're release was set for next month. So how did she get in?

"Pouvez...you, m'aider?" She spoke slow so I could follow along.

"Aidez? Aidez is...help? You need help?" I gave her a tense expression. "With what?"

"L-Log out?" She said, pulling up her menu as I cringed.

She didn't understand the admins, I thought. She has no idea what's going on, does she?

When she looked up from the menu she saw me trying looking visibly unnerved and her excitement stalled. "Log. Out?"

"...non," I let out tensely. "Nous." which meant we. "ne logout pas." Which meant we can't log out.

She gave me a long look. "Nous ne pouvons pa? Que voulez-vous dire?"

Don't know what that meant, I cringed again. "Désolé." An apology was all I gave her.

She turned back to her menu and kept poking around for a moment before closing it with a very confused look on her face.

I can't stay here forever, I thought. I need to find Joey.

"Rachelle," I started, regaining her attention. "Tu...see," I said, mimicking the action. "vu mon frère?" Which meant my brother.

"Votre frère?" She glanced behind her for a moment before returning to me. "Était ton frère...unicorn? Petit, bleu at jeunes?"

Small, blue, and young, that's him! "Yes! ye—oui. Oui, Joey est bleu et jeune!" Her excitement picked up again when she saw mine.

"Okay," I mumbled to myself. "What's French for where? What's quoi, why's pourquoi...When's quand? So where is—"

"Ici." She cut in. "Votre frère a laissé tomber ça."

"Hold on, I don't know that. Much..." I watched as she levitated a small shield in front of me.

"That's Joey's," I told myself.

"Est-ce à votre frère?" She blinked.

"Eh, oui. Ce est Joey's...buckler." I was pretty sure buckler was a French word at least.

"C'était donc Joey," She muttered before looking back to me. "Je peux vous...guider où Joey allait.” She nodded with a small smile.

Où is French for where, I remembered. Wait, guider? Guide. "Oui, merci. Guider. Uh, s'il vous plaît! Guide moi à Joey!" I took a breath of relief, glad to finally get catch a break.

Should probably introduce myself, I thought. "Uh, je m'appelle est Alex, ou...Aussi E1ectric_B1itz." I pointed up where my ID was. "Comment vous appelez-vous?"

She let out a soft chuckle before mimicking me. "Je m'appelle est Rachelle, ou...Aussi F1eur_de_7is."

The name seems a little on the nose, doesn't it? I bit back that question for now and gave her a small smile. "Salut Rachelle. So...guider?"

"Oui Alex." she nodded. "Suivez moi."

She turned and started off down the road with me running behind her. Not too long after, she turned and led me down a short alley as it led out onto another road.

Wherever you are, I'm coming Joey.

Author's Note:

So, this chapter is much smaller than the others as you all probably noticed. That's because while the other chapters were written a long time ago, this one was rewritten.

Nowadays, I write chapters about this size. I think it makes it a better read since you're not forced to either read a daunting chapter in one go or take breaks just to get through one.

Also, second note: F1eur_de_7 looks exactly like her name suggests: Fleur de Lis. Rachelle's story will be told later but because her appearance won't be fully explained; she didn't make her avatar. Someone else did.

I hope you all enjoyed the story so far! I don't have a schedule in mind but I plan to have another chapter before the end of the year. So until next time,

Cheers,
-Zeke

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Equestria Legends Online: Brothers - 4428Gamer

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