• Published 22nd Sep 2016
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My Little Engineer - Soren Mercer



A space explorer, crossing the known spances of the universe comes across an unregistered planet out in deep space. What happens when he's forced to co-operate with a new species to not only save his life, but the entire species?

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Shared Experience


Date: 02/05/2406 23:04


“Funerals suck.” I announced as I crawled into bed with Luna who’d returned to her pony form some hours back for Fleetfoot’s ceremony and burial.

“I know that all too well, believe me.” Luna sighed and wrapped her legs around my body as best she could to cuddle in and rest her head just over my own. “Just over a thousand years of life, I’ve had more than my share of burials.”

“Understandable. Still, funerals suck.” I agreed and wrapped my own arms around Luna’s forelegs with the blankets pulled right up to our necks, though it stopped just under my chin. If one wasn’t looking carefully for me, a pony could mistake Luna for sleeping alone.

“That twenty-one gun salute was an interesting addition, however.” Luna’s remark gave me a chuckle, an act that was echoed by Luna’s body.

“Like I had said, that’s an Earth custom for military funerals. Was a bit more difficult setting up the New Moon’s turrets to do that for us given a lack of ceremonial firearms available, though.” I breathed heavy and let myself sink deeper into the mattress, blankets and into Luna. Luna, in return, curled in closer around me, as though staking a claim over my body.

“I find myself morbidly curious about what Earth’s funeral proceedings are for Royalty, assuming that Earth has Royalty to provide proceedings for.” Luna whispered after a few moments of silence, her voice sounding concerned for the four alicorns and their fates in coming months.

“I don’t know specifics since Earth hasn’t had a monarchy for a hundred years last I know, but it is different from a military funeral. Why do you ask? You’re not planning on dying on me before we get to the new planet, are you?” I raised an eyebrow and glanced back behind me as best I could towards Luna, daring her to tell me she was going to die.

“Absolutely not! I am as fit as… well, as a horse!” Luna proclaimed defiantly and lightly tapped my chest with her hooves. “We alicorns live for thousands of years in perfect health before we even begin to feel a decline in our health! I’ve never even been ill before!”

“That good of an immune system huh?” I chuckled lightly and mostly to myself. “I wish. Whenever I got hit with an illness, whether it’s an influenza or even a migraine, I’m almost always down for the count for a day of agonizing pain.”

“A most unfortunate aspect of humanity, I suspect.” Luna acknowledged before going quiet and just resting. I, too, joined her in doing so and the pair of us followed after the ponies in the darkened town around us into sleep.


Dreamscape

Location: Blackwater Cavern

Time: Unknown


Bolting upright where I laid, alone and on the cold stone floor startled me severely. My eyes darted around my surroundings, trying to ascertain where exactly I was.

Stone spires rising and falling from the floor and ceiling, water and calcium dripping from those spires to create the ones below with the entire room barely illuminated from the very stonework around me. I was seated on the floor, cased in a heavy fur sleeping bag made of a fur sourced from what I guessed was bear. Next to me, sleeping comfortably to herself, was the body of Dark Knight Luna whose horn protruding from the bag was the only indication of the body within.

Off in front of us, only a couple feet away, was the remains of a fire pit ringed with stones scavenged from the area around us the night before. While a bunch of vegetable remains littered the ground around Luna’s form, the remains of some kind of meat laid and decayed near me after likely having been roasted on a spit.

My weapons, the modern railrifle and similar handgun, were well within reach of me just in case I had to suddenly defend myself from anything or anyone. Next to Luna, her greatsword and just as huge shield laid next to her, opposite me from her and glistened almost purplish blue in the faint light around us.

Crawling out of my sleeping bag, I left it where it was but placed my weapons in their appropriate holsters for storage before setting to the task of restarting the fire with a few summoned logs from my virtual inventory; it’s menu originating from that strange tattoo on my arm.

A single failed attempt and not only did I have a blazing fire going, but I also apparently increased a construction skill which now let me build simplistic wooden furniture. The next step was to set up the spit again, comprising of a couple of sticks planted into the ground and held in place by large stones so I could set a morsel of meat wrapped around a leg bone to roast for a breakfast meal. Accompanying that would be nearly stale bread and a jug of water which was somehow enough to accompany both Luna and I for the next seven days of travelling, despite that the jug was as small as my sidearm.

Sitting back down on the bedroll of mine, I went about the actions of checking out my rifle for flaws. Taking the whole thing apart piece by piece and setting them down on the black fur beneath me, I disassembled the weapon to thoroughly look for incongruities in the weapon’s metal. Finding none, I reassembled the weapon out of sheer muscle memory, something I didn’t think I had given I’ve never actually held one of these rifles before.

As I worked, and as the meat cooked, Luna stirred in her sleep, mumbling to herself about something incomprehensible to me. Within minutes I had my rifle reassembled and Luna woke fully, following her nose towards the fire.

“Morning.” I welcomed the woman as she rose and rubbed at her eyes with hair disheveled. “Or does that count in a dreamscape?”

“I ‘unno.” Luna shrugged back and muttered before stretching and giving away her secret of not wearing clothes as her sleeping bag fell just to barely save grace and her modesty. “Where are we exactly? I thought we were asleep in my home?”

“I think this dreamscape is of Blackwater Cavern, that dungeon we were going to attempt last night. The fact that we’re waking up and setting to a morning routine is probably just my dream making sense of everything.” I shrugged back and slung my rifle over my shoulder. “Breakfast before we tackle the dungeon?”

“You know I don’t eat meat.” Luna remarked with a scowling glare before realizing her state of undress just as the bag around her nearly exposed her. Rescuing her modesty with an arm, she inched herself back out of my eyesight to set about dressing herself and rearming in her weapons and shield once her armour was back in place.

“We’ve got vegetables to spare, don’t worry.” I remarked and set a glazed clay bowl of vegetables directly into the fire with a splash of water as a show of evidence. “We do need to find you some kind of protein though, otherwise you’ll be left weakened.”

“I’m fine!” Luna protested with hands on her hips and her black armour shimmering in the firelight. “This is a dream! We don’t really need to eat!”

After a moment of considerations, I surrendered the point with a shrug of the eyebrow. With a concealed burp, the meat, cooking vegetables and bread all disappeared, having been consumed through the power of dream editing.

“Fine fine, let’s give this a go then.” I stood and rolled my bag up to stuff it into my inventory by physically pushing it into my inventory window on my arm. Luna raised an eyebrow at me before doing the same, surprised that the menus I had were also accessible to her.

“How does this work, exactly?” she asked while browsing through the various system menus available to us.

“In the story this dream is based on, the system itself lies dormant in every creature’s DNA. by activating the system, however it was that I’d written it, a player gains access to these features and can freely join and leave the planet at their leisure. It plays like a typical fantasy MMO, just with your physical body transported across the galaxy.” I explained and helped Luna acclimate to her new body functions.

After a few minutes of Luna learning with interest how the system worked, the two of us stepped up to the entrance to the dungeon with weapons in hand.

“So, how do you suggest we go about defeating this dungeon?” Luna looked at me through the visor of her helmet. The rest of her seemed to almost vanish into the darkness around us, with her eyes the only source of light reflection from the surrounding glow.

“You’ll tank and do most of the killing. My job is to support you by shooting down enemies who try to get around you.” I explained and shouldered my rifle, the barrel raised towards the ceiling.

“Re-explain the title, tank?” Luna frowned at me in confusion. I nodded.

“Tanks are the heaviest of the group. They get as much attention on them as possible and keep that attention away from the support. Typically the DPS of the group does most of the attacking but since it’s only the two of us, we’ll have to share that role.”

“And you job is to keep the enemies from getting behind me?”

“Correct, otherwise you’ll likely get stunned and then stunlocked and die.”

“Is… is death as big an issue here as it would be in reality?”

“Nah. Likely we’ll just respawn back in here, the ready room and we can try again. We’ll probably suffer some kind of penalty but that’ll be it.” I shrugged back and peered into the dark hallway before us. Already I could see the shadowed figures of the furry little kobolds that we’d have to encounter in order to progress through towards Lier, the Kobold Lord.

“Then we can use a bit more reckless abandon then? Excellent.” Luna grinned and took off into the hallway with me trailing after her.

Combat began once the kobolds caught sight of Luna as she advanced on the enemy, screaming bloody murder as she first raised her shield to plow through the enemies and end on on their rear before bringing her massive great sword over her shoulder and through two of the bodies now staggered.

I took aim down the hallway past Luna and pulled the trigger, firing a rail past Luna’s hip and into, through and into a first and second kobold warriors’ shields behind her. Swinging her sword around in an arc before her, the Dark Knight Luna cleaved the last remaining four Kobolds in half before whirling around on the next group appearing from spawning holes in the walls.

“These things aren’t sentient, are they? No intelligence?” Luna demanded as she cast her illusion spell on all seven kobolds, converting them to temporary allies and allowing us to progress into the first mini-boss room; a kobold general waiting for us with a massive morning star and shield rivalling Luna’s in size. The general itself was as tall as we were, while the regular kobolds only rose to our stomachs.

“Nah, they’re just mindless mobs! Nothing to worry about by killing them!” I called back and ran off towards the side of the room where I could hopefully get a vantage point over the General to fire from.

“Still, I kind of feel a bit bad for this!” Luna shouted back with concern in her voice but sicced her minions on the General regardless, activating him and the room. A pair of great doors shut, closing off both exits from the room, preventing our escape entirely until we killed the mini-boss.

“Don’t, think of it as a violent, non violent method of relieving stress!” I grinned and lined up the first shot into the mini-bosses knee to try and cripple him. Luna shrugged in my scope having wandered into the cross fire as she leapt at the creature, bringing her weapon down and cutting into his body and dropping the first of two bars by a small margin of damage.

Her minions all were quickly dispatched in a single swing of the General’s morning star, crushing their bodies with an adorable squeak before they exploded into fractals of light. I, on the other hand, pulled the trigger and let the electrical charging of the weapon expel the rail from its magazine and propel the round into the knee of the General, making it roar out in protest at the attack.

It glared up at me, switching from Luna as she continued to attack it head on and aimed at me. Rearing back, it threw it’s weapon at me like a javelin, giving me no time to respond before it collided with my chest and knocked me from my perch.

“No!” Luna screamed and ran for me while I collected myself, having suffered half my health being disposed of in that single attack and subsequent fall. Sliding to her knees and placing a hand on my back, she wasn’t paying attention when the General leapt at us using the bottom of his shield as a blade to deal fatal damage to the both of us; through Luna’s back to score a critical and through my chest to finish me off.

The vision of the both of us faded to black while our bodies burned away to ash, then that ash proceeded to blow off in a non-existent breeze to reform and reconstitute our forms in the ready room.

Once our vision had both returned and our nerves reactivated, Luna and I collected ourselves in confusion.

“What just happened?” Luna demanded as she clutched at her stomach where the shield had protruded from.

“We died, pure and simple.” I announced and groaned as I sat up to check my inventory for the loss. Damage to my weapons and armour, as well as four thousand gold taken from my reserves. I certainly couldn’t afford to die again, that was sure. “Seems that just the two of us can’t take this on like I’d written.”

“What do you suppose we do then?” Luna navigated her legs around to land on her backside before draping her arms on her knees. I mimicked her seated position and let her topple over into me, resting her head on my shoulder.

“Well, ideally we’d bring in more players to help us. We’d want a true DPS and tank, a healer and maybe a mage while I cover ranged attacks and you cover debilitation attacks.” I replied, staring off into the stone of the floor around us as I thought. Then I got an idea.

Starting off with a slight chuckle, Luna raised her head to stare at me in confusion. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing. I just had a thought to bring some other dreamers into this world to help us out.” I calmed myself with a heavy breath and sat back to post on my arms. “Maybe your sister, Twilight and Sunset… Dash might want an outlet after what happened to her… Take out whatever rage she has on these monsters…”

“I hadn’t actually thought of that. I had figured that we’d go back into town and get help from the locals.” Luna sat up as well, looking surprised I’d come up with this idea. “Wait for a bit while I go talk with some ponies, see if they'd like to join us.”

“Go for it, I'll be here.” I nodded back and flopped down onto my back, spreading my armoured arms wide. With a shimmer of light, Luna was gone.

~~~


Dreamscape

Location: Equestrian Countryside, Wyvern Crash

Time: Unknown, No Sun/Moon present

Dreamer: Rainbow Dash


“Get the hell away from me!” Dash screamed as she fired off another round into the bodies of a trio of griffons who’d pulled her out from the crashed ship before she could set it to explode. This was the seventeenth time that she’d suffered this particular nightmare and it was just as frightening for her. Firing off another round into another trio of griffons who all looked exactly the same, snarling and grinning madly, Dash backed herself against the remains of the ship with blood covering her head to hoof, or whatever was left anyways.

“You’re going to pay for what you’ve done, you little bitch! We’ve got all kinds of uses for a broken body, such as yours!” the leader announced wickedly as he approached, the rounds Dash fired at him bouncing off his head unhelpfully. “Maybe we’ll use you for relief, or maybe we’ll just string you up over a fire?”

“Somepony help me!” Dash screamed out in terror as the shadow of the griffon loomed over her terror stricken form. She knew exactly what was going to happen next, since she’d lived this particular scene over and over again, each time feeling lost in herself.

“Time to eat-” the griffon’s words were cut off just as quickly as it took for a massive black greatsword to cleave through his neck, severing the head from the body as the blade continued in it’s arc and chopped the remaining two in half in similar fashion to the first.

Dash’s scream drifted off as she no longer felt the invasive claws as she’d expected and lowered her forehooves to the sight of a giant, bipedal figure clad in black armour. Letting out another terrified scream, Dash nearly forced herself to restart the nightmare as the form lifted the weapon and stabbed it into the ground, banishing all traces of darkness from around the pony and figure. Even the crashed Wyvern with the remains of Fleetfoot were gone, leaving Dash to fall limp to whatever ethereal floor now existed.

“What… what happened?” Dash whimpered as she dared to look out at the blank space around her, noting the purple and blue swirling around the pair with stars dotting the horizon. Beneath her, a sheet of glass-like material kept the pair of beings from falling and after a quick inspection of herself, Dash found that her body was no longer broken and instead was whole and complete.

“It seems I’ve been neglecting my duties as Princess of the Night, I sincerely apologize, Rainbow Dash.” Luna announced as she removed her helmet and let her hair fall to her shoulders to be shaken out.

“Princess?” Dash raised an eyebrow at the human figure of the dark princess and looked her over. “What… what happened to you?”

“Much less than what’s happened to you, I'm afraid. I spent a night with the Pilot in his dreams and created for myself, and my sister, this human body to experience life as he does. He and I were in a shared dream together while you seem to have been in a nightmare.” Luna explained and crouched down to the body of Rainbow to place a leather bound hand on her shoulder. “Again, I apologize for shirking my duties.”

“N-no, it’s alright. I know you’re busy and can’t help everypony.” Rainbow shook the hand off and attempted to stand but found her leg, the one that had been missing, remained limp and simply dragged. “What’s wrong with my leg?”

“It seems that since you lost it in reality, your leg here no longer responds. I thought you might still be able to use it here with the ghost limb sensations I figured you would be experiencing.” Luna sighed and sat back before the pony. Dash ‘oh’d’ to herself quietly and dropped her head to weep before collapsing entirely and curling up.

“I screwed up, I let Fleetfoot die! I lost my own leg because of my mistake!” Dash cried out but didn’t resist when Luna scooped her up into her arms and held her in her embrace. “I’m a failure!”

“Never! You are the fastest young flier in all of Equestria! You are a brave young Wonderbolt and even more brave pilot of technology still far beyond us! The damage you dealt to the enemies proves that!” Luna offered in her attempts to console the pegasus, brushing her mane from her face to wipe off tears when they appeared. Beyond that, she merely cuddled the mare and gently petted her sides. “You were thrust into a warlike scenario without realizing it and unfortunately, death is a common factor of war.”

“But, I still let her die! She was right, I was dragging the tail of the ship too much and it was torn off! The crash was my fault and she died because of it! I killed her, not the enemy!” Dash protested with a sniffle before looking up at the princess with blurry red eyes. She continued to suck back mucus and tears before Luna pulled the young pegasus into her full embrace, clutching her in a full hug that she probably couldn’t have done if she was an alicorn.

After a few more minutes of sobbing, Luna released Dash just enough to look her in the eyes. “I’ve come from a scared dream with the Pilot in order to bring you with me. We believe that his dream will offer you an opportunity to reconcile what’s happened, burn out whatever rage or revenge you have in a safe environment.”

“What good am I going to be with a dead leg?” Rainbow Dash muttered back and looked away from the woman still holding onto her.

“With it being a shared dream, we can collect more ponies who’ll contribute to the dream and with that power, your leg with return. Not only that, but we can turn you human, like us.” Luna offered with a thin smile as Dash twisted out of Luna’s hold.

“I can’t deny that I haven’t been curious about humanity… You say this dream will give me a good space to let out my anger?” Dash looked up at her princess with a curious/malevolent gaze while her rear leg was pulled up and remained against her side.

“Very much so. They won’t be griffons we’re fighting, however.” Luna nodded back and prepared to open a doorway into the realm she used to move through dreams with intent on bringing Rainbow Dash back to her boyfriend’s mind. “I am planning to bring in my sister, Twilight Sparkle and maybe Sunset Shimmer if she wants to come.”

“Fine, I’ll do it.” Dash sucked in a deep breath and wiped off the remainder of her stained face. “Just let me clean up first, please.” she added as a small bathroom appeared nearby.

“Of course, I’ll be back for you in a bit.” Luna nodded and with helmet and weapons in hand, turned from the dream.


Dreamscape

Location: Canterlot Castle Courtroom

Time: Late Afternoon

Dreamer: Celestia


“I swear sister, even your dreams are boring.” Luna chuckled as she stepped around the nobles waiting in line for their turn at court. Celestia, in pony form, was sprawled out over her throne with her head hanging limp over the armrests. At the appearance of her sister, Celestia lifted her head to look at Luna properly before twisting over onto her hooves to welcome her arrival.

“Yes, I know. Unfortunately these dreams are quite common for me since I always fall asleep thinking about what blathering excuses the nobles have for whatever it is they want. I can never seem to get away from them.” Celestia sighed and leaned back against her throne’s back before she noticed Luna’s form and attire. “But I see you have much more interesting dreams.”

“Indeed. In fact, I’ve come to ask that you join the suit and I in our shared lucid dream. It should provide for much more entertainment than whatever these fools can provide.” Luna chuckled and gestured to the frozen nobles next to her, each in various states of making demands. “You will, however, need your human form though. And some armour which the suit can help you build according to the story he’s built.”

“Hmm, and I suppose that we’ll be looking forward to some heated combat?” Celestia grinned and began the transformation to humanity. Once fully human, Celestia uncrossed her legs and stood to step down from the throne. “I accept. I will head for the Pilot’s dream immediately so he can help me get set up.”

“Very well, I shall finish my rounds and be along shortly.” Luna beamed back and the pair of human alicorns vanished with a dual flash of light.


Dreamscape

Location: Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville

Time: Unknown

Dreamer: Twilight Sparkle


A quick twist of the head told Luna exactly where she was and for some reason, she wasn’t surprised about where she’d found herself. Of all the libraries that Twilight had been residing in or had spent any amount of time in, the Golden Oaks had always held a special place in the youngest alicorn’s heart and it showed with how pristine this recreation was.

“Princess Luna?” Twilight stuck her head up from the edge of the second floor above the princess. Of note, the head was already human in nature, plus the horn of a unicorn and wings of the pegasus on her back as Twilight now descended the stairs to greet the newcomer. “What’re you doing here?”

“I’ve been roaming around dreams looking for ponies who’d like to help the Pilot and I fight in a dungeon in our shared dream.” Luna explained as she stepped further into the abode, her head swivelling around to take in as much as she could. She hadn’t gotten the chance to spend very much time in this tree house before its explosion during the fight against Tirek. “I am quite impressed with the level of detail that you’ve put into this dreamscape.”

“Yes, i’ve been working tirelessly to recreate it from my memories. There are still parts I can’t quite work out properly, the space doesn’t match the reality in some parts.” Twilight sighed as a simple couch appeared near the centre of the room allowing her to take a seat on it and cross her legs at the knees. She was already wearing a fairly simple and airy dress which hung off her small frame lightly even while she was seated. Without footwear, Luna had to wonder if the texture of the tree’s interior was at all harsh on the soft soles of human feet. “That’s quite the armour you’re wearing, Princess.”

“Yes, it is derived from the Pilot’s dream. The world is set as a partially iron age crossed with his hyper-modern age. A sort of fantasy crossed with our fiction, if it were.” Luna nodded agreement and sat down next to the purple girl to set her helmet down on her knees. Her weapon and shield had disappeared into oblivion for the time being, ready to be called upon as needed.

“Well, it certainly gives you a dark and mysterious aire.” Twilight leaned against the left most armrest, her chin resting on her fist.

“I am classed as a Dark Knight, so I suppose it would be fitting.” Luna gave a light sigh with her words, getting herself comfortable before realizing why she’d come in the first place. “Which brings me to my reason for a visit. I’m recruiting ponies to join us in our current dungeon. I’ve already recruited my sister and miss Rainbow Dash who’ll be joining us to relieve some mental strain.”

“Rainbow Dash is going to be there? I have been wanting desperately to speak to her after the… event…” Twilight’s eyebrows rose at the mention of the pegasus and she leapt up from the couch to stare down at the older alicorn with hands planted on Luna’s heavily armoured knees. “And Celestia’s coming too?”

“Indeed, I was just in her dream and she was exceptionally bored. Apparently she can’t get her mind off her Court duties.” Luna smirked and stood as well, collecting her helmet and placed it over her head though leaving the visor up. “She’ll already be there in the Pilot’s dream getting fitted for her own class and armour.”

“What kinds of classes does the Pilot have? Is there magic?” Twilight narrowed an eye at the older princess, though with a curious smile.

“I would suppose so, but you’ll have to ask him when you get there since I don’t know. There does exist some semblances of magic in his world, as I have an ability to inhibit cognitive functions and provide illusions to enemy monsters to trick them into attacking their own.” Luna explained as lengthily as she could, avoiding the fact that her abilities were essentially mind-control.

“Huh, doesn’t sound like my preferred cup of tea, but I suppose that does offer options for other schools of magic; depending on how creative the Pilot’s gotten with his dream.” Twilight stood and shrugged, turning towards the front door that ordinarily would have opened to Ponyville but instead opened -with my intervention- to my dream walking realm. “Which way?”

“Just look for the large doors that looks advanced for our age of technology.” I smirked and stepped through the door after the princess. “I believe he’s that way.” I pointed, directing the princess in the vague direction. I turned in the opposite direction, aiming for my final destination.


Dreamscape

Location: Canterlot High School

Time: Late Morning

Dreamer: Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie


“You know, I am actually surprised about this one’s location.” Luna muttered as she found herself stepping out from what she suspected was the old portal connection between this world and Equestria. A quick look around showed she was severely out of place in terms of dress style so with a shimmer of magic, found herself back in her full length dual-toned blue dress.

“Princess Luna? What’re you doing here?” Sunset inquired as she walked up to the princess in her human form. She was joined by the memories of her human friends, each one curiously examining me. “Is something wrong?”

“Not at all, Miss Shimmer.” Luna replied while staring curiously at Pinkie who stared back, unnervingly close for the Princess.

“Woah! Princess Luna! How’re you doing?” she exclaimed, her eyes showing recognition of the Princess rather than the vice-principal persona Luna’s counterpart had here. Both Sunset and Luna looked curiously concerned at this question and it’s word use.

“Why do you look like you’re a dreamer here as well? I wasn’t aware that you could invade dreams as well…” Sunset remarked for Luna, pulling Pinkie back away from the alicorn of the group.

“I ‘unno, I just am I guess! I felt something really weird going on around the princess so I just kinda… popped in!” Pinkie shrugged back completely nonchalant in nature and stood back, out of reach of the Princess or main dreamer. “So, what’cha up to?”

“I.. am going around dreams to see who’d like to join the Pilot and I in our shared dream in order to help my sister, Rainbow Dash and Twilight complete a Fantasy dungeon.” Luna explained, slowly and still slightly concerned that somepony who wasn’t her had managed to cross the scape and entered someone else’s dream. More disturbing to Luna was how calm and casual Pinkie was in this human world, as though she were more than comfortable in her human skin.

“Sounds like a fun time.” Dream Rainbow remarked from behind, agreed with by the other friends nearby who were listening. “If I know my real life version, she’ll jump at the chance to fight something!”

“It seems that my subconscious is telling me to go.” Sunset chuckled and turned back to the princess. “You said Fantasy, right? Monsters, magic and swordplay?”

“For the most part, yes. It’s actually based on a story that the Pilot had written and published before he was shipped out on his journey.” Luna explained and turned back towards the statue plinth that acted as the doorway. “I myself am a Dark Knight in his world.” she added proudly and returned her dress to her armour, making Pinkie hop up onto Sunset’s shoulder in admiration.

“Ooh, shiny! Can I come? It sounds like a great party!” Pinkie first noted before staring up at Luna eagerly. Luna shrugged back in reply, otherwise fine with the suggestion.

“I don’t see why not, I’m sure that the Pilot has a suitable class for you.” she nodded and stepped partially into the portal, her right half disappearing into the shimmering. “Come now, we will make the trip quick and be where we need to be.”

“Sounds like fun.” Sunset took Luna’s hand with Pinkie taking Sunset’s and the girls were all lead into the portal in a blinding flash of light.


Dreamscape

Location: Blackwater Cavern, Ready Room

Time: Unknown

Dreamers: Pilot, Luna, Celestia, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie.


Luna’s eyes registered the expanse of the Ready Room cavern of Blackwater Cavern almost immediately and noticed how much brighter it was with the numerous torches set ablaze around the place. A quick flash back and Luna retrieved a waiting Rainbow Dash who, after a bit of explanation from Luna, had her legs returned to full use by the combined efforts of everyone present.

Of the seven players now in the shared dream, Luna found Celestia waiting nearby with Twilight, both in some kind of new attire. Celestia was adorned in a similar armour set to Luna, though hers was much brighter, in white, silver and gold. Twilight was cloaked in what she imagined was some kind of battle mage armour of rune-etched half-plate and chainmail.

“I wasn’t aware that Pinkie would be joining us.” The Pilot remarked once he looked up from helping Twilight finish the details of her new class with her new system menus.

“She tagged along in Sunset’s dream.” Luna shrugged back and approached the Pilot from behind to wrap him in a light hug considering her armour. “So, what kinds of classes do you have for the newcomers?”

“Well, Celestia is the opposite of you, she’s a Rune Knight. She focused on holy magic enchantments and buffing the group. She also gets an added damage bonus to undead and cursed creatures.” The teacher explained, drawing attention to the oldest alicorn off nearby now with Sunset and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie was busy exploring every inch of the cave they were in and nearly stepped into the dungeon itself if it wasn’t for a cautionary tale from Luna.

“What about Twilight? What’s she?” Luna turned back to the pair in curiosity, content that Pinkie wouldn't go off without everyone else.

“Battle mage!” Twilight exclaimed proudly. “While I’m not to fond of the whole melee fighting portion, I do get better defence against physical attacks than a typical mage does. I am capable of enchanting my weapons, and the weapons of my teammates, with elemental damage like fire and ice and lightning.”

“Sounds helpful. What’s in mind for Rainbow Dash?”

“Normally, I’d want something quick moving or light on their feet. Right now, I want to do damage to everything.” Rainbow announced, directing the comment at both Luna and the Dreamer. The man of the group nodded back with a grin.

“I have just the thing for you then. How about a Berserker who wields two two-handed weapons at the same time? There’s a tank version where you wield two great-shields and use those for absolute defence and attack, but I think the regular version will fit you better.” she remarked and let Twilight go to experiment with her ex-mentor. Dash grinned and approached the Pilot while Luna took a seat on a nearby rock to wait.

***

“So, how’s this work exactly?” Dash inquired as she thrust her arm at me. Taking it in my hand, I traced the section of her left forearm with my fingers and engraved the tattoo onto her skin to give her control over her own systems. With a tap of the finger to her wrist, the holographic console appeared to her. “Woah, that’s pretty cool!”

“Thank you, I was quite proud of how I'd set up the game systems to work in a real life setting for my books.” I replied with a grin and helped her through her character creation.

A few minutes and Dash’s clothing of a t-shirt and jeans was replaced with a blank white shirt covering her modesty with leather straps holding up her heavy leg armour as well as the twin greatswords slung over her back. She had been upgraded to the same level that Celestia, Luna, Twilight and I, around level 120 in order to match the rest of us and had spent a good portion of her time putting in the 600+ stat points into the seven options.

Sunset made to approach me for her turn, however Pinkie appeared between us, ready to begin.

The addition of the new player was dreamscape quick, turning Pinkie into a gunner glass -the other subclass type of the archer tree like my sniper class. She was equipped with similar clothing and armour as I was, bullet proof armour covering her chest, legs and knees with her arms free to the wind. She wore over it all a similar trenchcoat to me, only hers was bright pastel colours of pink, blue and yellow in opposition from my crimson red, gold and silver.

For armaments, she’d taken the biggest caliber guns available to her class and level, in this case an old earth M134 minigun painted bright pink with blue highlights strung across her back and a railpistol similar to mine on her hip. She’d very affectionately called it her party cannon, an ode to a pair of confetti cannons she owned and often used back in the waking world.

Pinkie bounded off, somehow unencumbered by her minigun and ammo pack and was replaced by Sunset, our final new player to upgrade.

“So, what do you have?” Sunset sighed and took a look at the list of classes available on my arm’s menu. “Or, more appropriately, what do you recommend?”

“Well, I’d recommend being a healer out of necessity for our group but I’d go further and suggest some kind of magician type for you. There aren’t any kind of mage classes that’ll replicate your unicorn abilities so I don’t know what else to suggest.” I replied and ran through the magician type classes for options. “We also don’t have time for you to go out and make contracts if you became a tamer, so that’s out…”

“I think if it’ll help, being a healer would be best for me. What’re the options for that?” Sunset asked as I repeated the action of adding her to the player base with a couple fingers. Once she had the tattoo and the menus available to look through, she made her own selection.

“The bishop, tied with the druid for best healer class.” I agreed with the selection with a couple nods of the head. “With Pinkie and I covering you, all you have to do is worry about keeping everyone’s health up.”

“Sounds easy, I guess…” Sunset tilted her head and began the task of applying 605+ stat points to her character in order to be able to dress in her mid-level armour and equip her weapons.

The Bishop was of the holy magic class, though instead of applying holy magic, they specialize in the highest-tiered healing spells and potion crafting. Dressed in as light of clothing as they can be, usually in robes and cloth, Bishops are usually the easiest targets for enemy monsters or players. That being said, while I would be up and out of the way as best as I could be, Pinkie would be down on the ground next to Sunset in order to provide proper cover fire.

“Okay, I’m going to make this declaration right now,” Sunset began once she’d put on her wardrobe and Rainbow Dash burst into a fit of laughter at her appearance. “I am not wearing the pointy hat.”

Stifling my own laughter as best as I could, I helped Sunset navigate to her apparel tab where her regular clothing was waiting to take the visual place over her robes and headdress. “You’ll still get all the benefits and defensive abilities of your robes, but you’ll appear to be wearing your shirt and jacket.”

“Could I wear something other than my shirt and jacket? Like another classes armour? Just look like I’m wearing non-stupid armour like the Bishop’s robes and hat?” Sunset looked at me with a hopeful gaze and offered a convincing smile.

“Since you wouldn’t be gaining the benefits or debuffs, yes. What’re you hoping for?” I replied and held my hands out to begin some kind of dreamworld summoning.

“Maybe something like… Yours and Pinkie?” Sunset grinned and stepped back expectantly. “In my colours, obviously.”

“Black, orange, magenta and light blue?” I raised my eyebrow in question while setting to summoning up a replica of my outfit, complete with trench coat in her colours. Everything I summoned was black in nature and I’d have to add the colour stripes myself after she’d put them on.

Sunset nodded and took the items, dropping them into her inventory and ignored the class incompatibility notification when it appeared. Swapping out her clothes for the new outfit was done instantly with a click and drag of the finger. Doing it that way defeated a need for privacy when forced to change quickly and in public.

“The colours?” Sunset asked about when she checked herself, looking for the modifications. I held a pair of fingers up and traced a pair of colours into the back of the fabric, changing them to the orange and magenta stripes of her preference before doing the same down the right breast panel of the coat and battle armour underneath. Leaving her jeans as their blue colour, I added the same orange and magenta stripe down her right leg armour, leaving the rest of it black. “That works!”

“Glad you like it. It’s simple, yet functional.” I nodded back acceptance of the complement and stood. “You will have to stick with your staff, though. There’s no switching that out.”

“Fine by me.” Sunset reinforced her acknowledgement by arming herself with her new staff, Cerodine in metallic makeup as Cerodine had the most magical conductivity in this world. Taking on a dark purple sheen, Sunset gave the staff a light twirl around her hands with practice, as though wielding a bo-staff.

“You’ve got practice with a staff?” I raised an eyebrow enthusiastically. Sunset grinned and nodded back but held the weapon still. “Handy, but don’t expect that staff to survive many physical hits. Cerodine doesn’t have a high damage threshold so it’d be best to avoid hitting anything with it.”

“Will do. Shall we get started?” Sunset called out, addressing everyone in the room.

“We shall, yes!” I replied with my voice echoing around. “Group set up will be as follows! Dash will pair up with Celestia at the front. They’ll act as both tank and DPS, switching out as necessary. Sunset, Pinkie and I will be next, acting as guardians for Sunset who’ll be between us. Luna and Twilight will be at the back to cover our rear.”

As I spoke, the changes in our filing was made, everyone taking their respective positions.

“When we get to rooms, Luna will attack from behind the groups that Dash and Celestia gather. Dash will pull as many enemies as she can while Celestia deals the damage. Twilight will cast her magic from the middle while Pinkie and Sunset remain at the back and out of the way. I’ll be off in an advantage point to cover everyone as best I can so you,” I paused to motion to Sunset, “Don’t have to worry about me as much as everyone else.”

With beating her greatswords together enthusiastically, Dash nodded agreement of my directions for everyone and lead us all into the hallway.

Author's Note:

I am hesitant to write the combat portion of this dream since fantasy MMO is not why you readers are here. I'm also not very good at writing group combat, so I am not confident how it would come out...


Side thought: I do actually have a story concerning the locations and details of this dreamscape. I haven't posted it anywhere (yet) since I don't really expect any people to get past the first chapter that I didn't/don't like how it came out. It's also not an MLP story, so I can't post it here so I'd have to go and find a posting service I like outside of Fimfic... I'm lazy and that would take too much effort for not much gain.