Chapter 02: Experiment
Gunsmoke
by Wanderer D
Chapter 02: Experiment
"So, what do you think?"
Twilight Sparkle looked away from the computer screen to the girl behind her and shrugged. "The readings are all over the place, Sunset." She then smiled. "But... that's the point of experiments!"
Sunset chuckled and walked over to where her diary rested, open to a pageful of notes. "I see you already sent the information you gathered to Princess Twilight?"
"Yes, I did!" Twilight said, pushing away from her desk and stretching before standing up. "She hasn't replied yet, but I'm sure she'll have some interesting theories about what's happening to you."
"I look forward to finding out just what my magic is doing to the system..." Sunset looked up at the clock.
"Um, I was hoping we could put in a few more hours of data analysis?" Twilight asked, stacking a few printouts together and giving Sunset a hopeful look.
Sunset shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't, Twi. I promised the girls I'd be there in time for practice today." She grinned at the despondent look in her friend's face. "Doesn't mean that I don't want to help you with it! But we should wait until we see Princess Twilight's theory as well. Then I can help you bridge the magic component into science!"
"For science!" Twilight cheered, pumping up her fist.
Their conversation was cut short when Lemon Zest opened the door to the lab and peeked inside. "Hey, Sparkle! Are you ready for our—oh, hey Sunset."
"Hey, Lemon Zest," Sunset replied, bumping fists with the girl. "Don't worry about me, I was about to leave."
"No worries," Lemon Zest shrugged, leaning on the wall and glancing at all the equipment strewn around. "You two are really into science, aren't you?"
"Science is magic!" Twilight Sparkle stated.
Sunset rolled her eyes and chuckled, picking up her diary and putting it inside her backpack. "Well, let's get back together when we hear back from the Princess." She winked. "I'll leave you girls to do your thing."
Lemon Zest nodded, but just as Sunset was passing next to her she spoke up. "Are you and the Rainbooms participating in the state's music event?"
Sunset paused and nodded.
"Hm." Lemon Zest frowned, chewing her gum. "Well, don't expect me to take it easy on you girls just because we're friends."
Sunset grinned. "I wouldn't expect any different."
Lemon Zest nodded, then stepped forth to grab Twilight's hand. "Good. As for you, Twilight, come on. The others are waiting."
"B-but! Science!"
"Science can wait!" Lemon Zest insisted, dragging Twilight out of the lab. "Besides, I swear your dog has been hitting on Sunny Flare again!"
Sunset Shimmer chuckled, closing the lab door behind her. "See you later, girls!"
"B-bye!" Twilight called out just before she was pulled around a corner.
Sunset made her way out of Crystal Prep, nodding to the few students that had grown used to her presence by now, thanks to her frequent visits and her participation in the Friendship Games. She paused though, and looked around. For some reason she felt like someone was looking at her, but a scan of the crowd revealed nothing unusual, just the regular groups of students and staff.
Shrugging, she stepped out of the building, hurrying to her motorcycle, the feeling still nagging her just a little.
Sunset watched the others discussing the last song among themselves, having chosen to sit down after practice. 'How long before they notice? I've been distant, I'm sure I've smiled a lot less... I haven't even joined them to go out for a couple of weeks and yet... is it respect for my privacy or do they just...' She pulled her knees closer to herself, her finger strumming her guitar as it rested on the floor.
"So have any of you thought how we can make sure not to pony-up when playin' at the State Music Fair?" Applejack asked.
"I'm not sure, darling, but I think we really should figure it out. It would not do to lose because we suddenly grow tails and pony ears."
"Um, maybe we could... not get too excited?" Fluttershy suggested.
"What?! No." Rainbow Dash jumped up from stringing her guitar. "What's the point of competing if we don't give it our all? Right, Sunset?"
The girls all looked at their friend.
"Sunset?" Rainbow Dash repeated. "Earth to Sunset!"
Snapping out of her thoughts, Sunset gaped at the others. "Wh-what?"
"Geez, come on! You can't be bored already!" Rainbow Dash snapped.
"Sorry! I just—"
"Look, just tell us if you have any idea how we can avoid ponying-up for the fair," Rainbow Dash interrupted, crossing her arms.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity gasped. "That's no way to talk to your friends!"
"Well, she keeps ignoring us!" Rainbow Dash retorted, although she did glance away and cringe before looking back at Sunset. "We were here to practice, but she barely put her mind to it! This is important!"
"I'm sure she just has a lot of stuff to worry about," Fluttershy said, placing a hand on Rainbow Dash's arm. "We don't need to fight."
"Yeah, well, just because she gets to hang out with the Crystal Prep crew doesn't mean she should ignore us," Rainbow Dash grumbled, pulling her arm away.
"Now, Rainbow Dash, Ah'm sure it's not like that," Applejack spoke up. "Sunset's right here with us, ain't she? She's our friend."
"Come on, Dashie!" Pinkie Pie grinned. "It's not like you're not friends with Indigo Zap!"
"We're friendlies," Rainbow Dash grunted. "Not the same thing."
Pinkie Pie blinked. "What's the difference?"
Rainbow Dash pinched her nose. "Really Pinkie? It's simple. Friends care for each other, we share our problems and know when one of us is in trouble. We all get together and help whoever needs it. Friendlies... just greet each other on the street and hang out sometimes."
Sunset Shimmer felt a pang, but fighting it down, she simply sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter." When the others looked back to her, she shrugged. "I've thought about the pony issue, but I don't think it would be a problem. We are allowed to use special effects in the concert, as long as we're playing and singing live, after all. We can just tell them it's all for show."
"But won't we start shootin' rainbows?" Applejack ventured. "Ah'm all for pretendin' it's nothin', since it's still us doin' the singin', but... Ah don't want to blast the crowd."
"It would be quite a complicated thing to explain," Rarity agreed.
Sunset shook her head. "It's not a battle of the bands where we are fighting against the magic of an evil group of sirens, or a rampaging she-demon for that matter. We should do our best to not pony-up, but regardless of whether we do or not, we're not going to be blasting the crowd with friendship this time. We've managed to occasionally use our powers during practice to do different things, right? We even made a force-field recently when we did that one cover..."
"I don't like holding back," Rainbow Dash interrupted, crossing her arms and looking away. "What's the point of going if we're not going to do our best?"
Counting backwards in her mind to not get annoyed, Sunset nodded. "I'll try and figure out a way to keep the magic under control so we can play at our best without additional fireworks, but if we do pony-up, nothing should happen unless there's some sort of battle."
"Well, let me know when we're practicing again," Fluttershy said, standing up. "I have to get going if I want to make it in time to pick up Angel and read the other bunnies a bedtime story."
"See you later!" Pinkie bounced over to the others. "I baked a bunch of cupcakes this morning! Banana crunch! Who wants some?"
Rarity and Applejack shared a look. "Well, I could do with a latte," Rarity said thoughtfully.
"And Ah finished off my work this mornin'," Applejack said with a nod. "Ah'll take you up on some cupcakes, but you'd better have some apple ones too!"
Rainbow Dash grinned. "Set me up with a milkshake as well and I'm good to go! What about you, Sun—" she stopped. "Where did she go?"
'Figures that she wouldn't pay attention to what she was saying,' Sunset Shimmer thought as stomped her way down the hall. 'What kind of 'friend' does she think she is? I should—' She shook her head, forcing herself to let the vengeful thought go.
Looking around, she found an empty classroom and stepped into the darkened room, pacing back and forth for a moment before sitting down on one of the desks, resting her head in her hands. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Stupid. Don't think that way. You're not that person anymore. You don't use their weaknesses against them."
'Or am I? Maybe the effect of the Elements of Harmony was temporary. Maybe I'm showing my true colors again.
"It doesn't work that way," she argued lamely and sighed.
The silence in the room was comforting, but she still felt a bit empty as she gazed at the blackboard, like there was a weigh pushing on her chest and if she didn't remember to breathe she'd just stop doing so. "Am I actually their friend?" she wondered, "can I even say I am, when I'm not able to get through to them on how I feel?"
Unbidden, she remembered Rainbow Dash's words: 'Friends care for each other, we share our problems and know when one of us is in trouble.'
"But if you never see past the surface, how can you know I'm in trouble?" she muttered. She glanced down at the desk. "If that's true at all... am I even your friend?"
She tapped absently on the desk. All she cares about is that damn competition. It's not like they've needed me before to make the finals. If the Dazzlings hadn't appeared, I wouldn't even be part of the group. All I was, was a crony trying to vie for their friendship by being helpful because that was the only way I could think of—
"I'm reading too much into it." Sunset sighed. After a moment of thought, she pulled out her diary. Princess Twilight hadn't replied yet to the experiments Sunset and Twilight had done in this world, but that didn't matter much at the moment. Drawing a little design of her own cutie mark to indicate a break from the information they had sent over, Sunset debated what to say.
Finally, she just wrote the question that was bugging her.
Dear Princess Twilight,
If someone claims to be your friend, but doesn't care about how you feel and makes you feel like the only reason you're around is to fix problems... are they really your friend?
~Sunset Shimmer
Desert Mirage slowly crawled on her stomach, feeling the loose pieces of concrete scratch against her armor. The city around her provided plenty of cover for the most part, but against this amount of enemies it was only a matter of time before someone spotted her. Unless she was inside a building with no windows, she only had so many ways of moving around without drawing attention to herself.
She smirked when an explosion a couple of blocks away shook the windows of the nearby buildings. It seemed her pursuers had found her mine. 'It's not the first time I've had to deal with a hunting party, boys,' she thought as she took advantage of the moment and pushed up, running towards an upturned school bus. She chuckled. 'You hired me once, too, Surgeon. You should know better than to mess with me.
She didn't know what was the warning sign that gave the sniper away. Maybe it was sunlight reflecting off of the scope, or a sixth sense, but—had she not jumped and rolled to the right when she did—her head would have been blown off her shoulders. "Crap!"
She turned the roll into a running start, going around the corner of the nearest building. If the sniper had spotted her, Surgeon's team would have been informed already. She checked her timer. Still a few minutes to go before her mantle would be able to be activated again. Cursing under her breath, she studied her surroundings. 'Knowing "The Surgeon", he's already mobilized his squadron. I need to take care of that sniper.
Desert Mirage grimaced and started running around the building. "I need to figure out how to get close enough but—" she stopped and swore yet again. The street was a dead end, with a collapsed building in the way. Too high to jump, and even then, she would be within sight of the building where she suspected the sniper to be.
She walked up to the collapsed building. I've got a few more seconds at most... what to do?! the metallic scrape under her boot made her stop, and she looked down.
She smiled.
"We've got all the streets covered now! Keep an eye out, when she makes a run for it, shoot! Don't you dare miss again!"
"Okay, okay!" Reed muttered into the radio. He didn't even know why he had agreed to this. He was relatively new to the game, and now he was here, hunting down one of the most notorious PK'ers in the whole game. "I should've said no. But I had to be ambitious." He chuckled to himself, eyeing the streets through his scope.
He saw movement, but a quick re-positioning only revealed more of his team. They were looking all over the place for Desert Mirage, but there was no sign of her. Had she logged off?
It was then that the street where his squadmates were standing went up in flames. "What the? She's not there!" He swiped around, frantically looking for any sign of Desert Mirage, thinking that she would risk running with that distraction once more, but all he saw was another squad blasted away as soon as they stepped on... a manhole cover?
"The sewers!" he shouted, quickly pulling down to look at the street just in front of his building. He felt his blood run cold when he noticed the manhole in front of it was open.
"Smart boy."
He felt the gun push against the back of his head and gulped. He watched as she took his radio. "Hey, Surgeon," she said into the radio.
There was no answer for a few seconds, then a click and a resigned sigh. "Mirage."
"I found your sniper. You need smarter teammates."
"Tell me about it." Another sigh. "How do you want to do this?"
"I can kill you all, or you can vacate the area," Mirage offered. "But whatever happens, I'm going to have some words with you at the Capital. I know I'm not working for you right now, Surgeon, but this was uncalled for."
A chuckle. "Fine, we're done here. I've got what I needed. I'll meet you at the bar."
The transmission cut.
"Um... it wasn't personal?" Reed tried to keep his voice from shaking.
"Things in this place never are," Desert Mirage said, pulling the trigger.
"I want to say that I didn't feel good pulling the trigger. Gun Gale Online might only be a Virtual MMO, but the technology is just... beyond my dreams. Twilight's experiments aside, there is a freedom here that I can't bring to the real world.
"Here I can be as tough as I want, I can even lash out without really hurting anyone. I can excel at what I do. Use tactics I learned while still in Equestria and from the books I've read. I can mine for information. I can extort, threaten, blackmail and even start a criminal syndicate within reason and as long as people are not threatened in RL. Here, nothing is personal. Nothing escalates past some light frustration.
"So it should be easy to be the best I can be, both as a combatant and as a person. And yet... and yet I pulled the trigger when I could have let the rookie go. They say that your emotions will always display in full when in this game. That if you feel like crying, you can't hold it back like in the real world. How does that translate with anger and frustration? How does that translate with my true personality, if there is such a thing, and if it's being held back by magic?
"Am I liberating myself here, am I just escaping reality, or am I going to have to confront something darker inside me than I ever thought possible?
"I guess only time will tell. Save log."
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s17.postimg.org/z4l0wguj3/This_Chapter_Thor.jpg
Seriously, though, like I've said, this is brilliant.
Is your soul fed?
well..... DAMN!
Very nice. Interesting question, Shimmer. Will cutting loose in a game bring out your inner villain, or is it 'controlled burn' so to speak...
I'm really starting to enjoy this story now, for you've gotten me hooked onto it.
Clearly, following this story was the correct decision
Btw wanderer you got me to binge watch the whole first season of SAO. Thank you because I loved it. Also loved the chapter can't wait for more.
HAH. Kel and I were right! GGO it is. Although the other implications this suggests are.... hmmm....
Very interesting. While I'm admittedly not familiar with the world of Gun Gale Online, the story itself is quite compelling and clear enough to where I'm able to follow along and understand the setting, which shows how talented you are as a writer. Excellent work as usual! I'll definitely continue watching this to see where it goes from here!
Here, have some food for your soul!
Absolutely no idea what Gun Gale is, but still enjoying the chapters.
And indeed, being in a virtual world can be incredibly liberating. Just... don't forget that there is a difference between the real and virtual world. Also that was a note to Sunset, not to you
"Well, it's more like magic can be analyzed scientifically—forming hypotheses, testing them by gathering and analyzing data, and so forth—but the point is that science and magic can cooperate without someone having to transform into a dark angelic figure and tear apart spacetime in the name of discovery. Not really an option. I mean, how would you reproduce the results? And, you know, the whole 'everyone dying as existence is torn asunder' thing. That would be bad, too. I'm rambling, aren't I?"
I really hope this isn't a plot that could be resolved by the characters just talking to one another. Yes, Sunset is feeling alienated and uncertain, but still, here's hoping someone sets her straight.
Oh, and the MMO thing. Not sure what to make of that beyond a way of seeing Sunset's concern, especially since I haven't seen the source material. I'll have to wait and see there.
Ohhh, GGO. That makes sense now.
I have no idea what I'm reading, but I'm intrigued enough to track this.
So, now that that is confirmed, I have a question. Is Sunset playing on an American server or the Japanese one?
I thought Mirage's scenes in the last chapter seemed like a video game. Way to really paint the picture. It takes skill to get that feel without any specific tells.
6669078 My soul continues feeding!
Glad you enjoyed it! Have you started the second season yet?
6669301 Science will bring the answer!
6669388
6669423 Was there ever any doubt?
6669626
6669911 GGO does have a distinct feel to it, doesn't it?
6670306 Thank you, I hope you enjoy the future chapters!
6670705 *nom nom nom* I'm sure *nom* she'll remember *nom*
6670871 Miscommunication is the greatest magic of the 21st century!
6670988 There's always a plan!
6671370 Going in blind can have its own rewards, right?
6672760 American server, my astute reader.
6674843 I might have had to gone "mature" for this one otherwise!
6674873 Based on people obviously recognizing the name of the game, and the fact that, as far as I know, there's no game that you actually enter like this, what's the game from?
6674907 It's a game from the Sword Art Online universe.
6674873 It really, really does, but that's good! Besides, I rather enjoyed the GGO arc.
6674873 Yes I'm just starting on the second season.
6674873 I think you mean SCIENCE! thank you very much...
I knew it!
I'm giving the show a re-watch and just started with season 2.
Now the question is: Are we going to meet the SAO-Cast?
Anyway, still hooked like a herring!
6674911 well shit, guess I need to go watch SAO now... Damnit, D!
Dang I should've made a guess. Part of me figured it was a Sword Art reference but oh well. Oh and the EqG3 deleted scenes were better anyway so you won't here any complaints from me.
I've never heard of Gun Gale Online. This story does look like fun though!
Perspective feels a little isolated from Sunset, but other than that I'm liking this idea. Also, this battle of the bands thing is going to explode spectacularly on her, isn't it? Just not enough Sunset to go around and make all her friends happy.
Never heard of that anime, but I'm liking the story so far!
Every time someone says they've never heard of GGO in the comments I die a little on the inside.
Aside from that, looking forward to this!
I have absolutely no idea how SAO/GGO works, but whatever. I'm enjoying myself anyway.
My question has been answered.
Ahh, so Gun Gale Online? Assuming that the tech involved is generally the same as in season one of SAO, what happens when a magical pony turned human plays is really an open question. Especially so given the following:
If the system they are talking about is the network and the MMO, hold on to your butts.
omg. Sunny Flare. First time I see she's mentioned in any story since, I forgot since when. I forgot she existed.
Ah, Gun Gale Online. The SAO story arc after the one where I just quit. Alfheim wasn’t very good, is what I’m saying.
Still, maybe one day I’ll go watch just for the over the top nature of Death Gun with his weapon... the Death Gun! I can only assume he named his horse Death Gun as well.
It will be interesting to see where you’re taking this virtual reality MMO angle.
8218943
I actually gave it a shot, finally, after not watching SAO for around two years, and I actually found it to be fairly enjoyable. I would actually like to see some of the characters pop up here, but I figure the logic would be they are on the Japanese server, and Sunset is on the American. Plus language barrier.
hunting down one of the most PK'ers in the whole game
1. Hunting down one of the most notorious?/infamous? PK'ers in the whole game.
Nice, GGO! As far as I recall, GGO was created and hosted by an American company. Games in the series only had a single server in canon, if I remember correctly. There was no need for any others. Telecommunication technology was exponentially faster than modern capability, seeing as they were capable of interpreting and transmitting data for all 5 senses in what was essentially realtime, sometimes even wirelessly in the case of AmuSpheres. There was also mention of in-built translation software, though I don't remember if that was part of The Seed or the AmuSpheres.
Assuming that is all correct, meeting the canon characters would be possible. I suppose I'll find out if the author agreed as I read more of this story.
Should be <weight>.
This would sound a lot better as <what the warning sign was>.
Personally I guessed first that it was a Video Game
Then I thought about the FPS I knew because the first scene from the first episode felt like a wild west setting and before reading I wondered if it would be anything like Bulletproof Heart (by Paul Asaran) and that's partly why I started to read on the first place. I thought it would be maybe twice as vicious based on the picture.
I didn't expect a video game, but it made sense when she said kick ass and that she didn't want to lash out on her friends, instead of anything that would indicate that she was being chased by the law or anything Wild West-y
But then I thought, "what kind of game gives away that much realism and, well, you can name the weapons you come across, make them custom and such" and I thought of... Well, a few possibilities but GGO made the most sense even if I couldn't name it before looking it up in the comments
Anyway, so far I like it and after reading a review by Princess Columbia, I'm really excited for what comes next.
Hey Wanderer? is there a fanart of Desert Mirage with her armor and in game? Because I'm actually curious as to what she looks like and well the armor sounds really cool
Maybe even her outfit outside of battle too idk
Also character list where
Ok, you got me. Back when this first came out I never read past the first chapter and I was really freaking confused because I never understood how this was supposed to be a crossover with the 90s anime, Trigun (which involved lots of bullets and took place on the planet Gunmoke). Obviously, I was wrong. No wonder I was confused.
And because I'm old, I have no idea what GGO is, other than an on line thing I've never heard of. Oh,well I still expect it to be interesting.
11227771
GGO is from the Anime Sword Art Online: Gun Gale Online
I won't explain it but it's a good anime, not the best but it's good. Harems aside I really like the anime, watched all the seasons except for alicization when I was around 11-12 (didn't understand the concept of harem at that time)
BUT HECK GGO WAS THE BESTTT along with the other GGO Tha kinda doesn't involve kirito in it. Oh gosh I'm rambling haha, anyways yeah great chapter author and I really love this concept! (and the guns)